Frequent visitors to my Blog (c'mon, I know you're out
there... somewhere!) will be aware of my fondness for the output of Marvel
Studios. That is an understated way of
saying that I am a huge fan-boy for them who geeks-out with every announcement
and movie release..! From time to time
(quite often, let's be honest) I am taken to write about the Marvel Studios
movies, discussing trailers, news and speculating pointlessly on their
forthcoming releases. Due to the
frequency with which I find myself doing this I decided to make it a regular
feature of my Movie blog. So behold
this, the first instalment of *takes deep breath*
MONTHLY MARVEL MUSINGS
(Yeah, I like alliteration, so what???)
In this month's instalment I will write about my reaction
to Marvel Studio's recent Phase 3 movie announcements; look at the up-hill
struggle Fox's Fantastic Four reboot is facing to win people over; and
speculate about what may take place in the next Captain America movie: Civil
War.
Get your Calendars ready - release dates for Marvel Films
for the next 5 years!
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| If you're in the UK, those dates are wrong - we get several of them a week earlier..! |
So on Tuesday 28th October at a special press eventMarvel Studios boldly, and to enthusiastic reaction at the scene and across theuniverse internet, announced every one of their Phase Three movies. I myself was one of the internet throng
losing their geeky mind over the prospect of more Thor, Guardians, two new
Superheroes joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), and a two-part Avengers sequel: Infinity Wars. Firstly, it goes to show how Marvel realise
they're on to a great thing when they can make a highly fan-fared event out of
this announcement, when Warner Bros in contrast put out their DC Superhero movie slate in a shareholders' meeting. This
is only backed up by the fact Marvel can announce films starring less-known
characters like Black Panther and Captain Marvel to a flurry of excitement,
when DC's slate - which includes major players like Wonder Woman, The Flash and
two Justice League films - was met with a far more muted response.
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| Marvel Studios Head Kevin Feige, with Robert Downey Jr, Chadwick Boseman (who will play Black Panther), and Chris Evans, at the Marvel Event. |
Secondly, although there had been rumours about this
line-up circulating prior to the event, and the 'Civil War' announcement had
some of its thunder stolen by revelations about Robert Downey Jr being cast in
it a few weeks previous, it was still genuinely exciting to see what Marvel
Studios has planned. There were some
slightly disappointing omissions - for example, who'll be playing Doctor
Strange - but it couldn't dampen enthusiasm for these forthcoming films -
topped off with the mouth-watering promise that Avengers: Infinity War will see
ALL of the MCU characters team-up to take on the plans of Thanos (yes,
including the Guardians of the Galaxy, and maybe even The Defenders from
Netflix's series). These are exciting
times for fans of Superhero movies, comic book movies, and of just generally
high-quality blockbuster entertainment.
In case you've not already added them, you might want to put these dates your diary..!
Fox, Fantastic Four, and a steadily brewing fan back-lash...
A new Fantastic Four movie is due out next Summer, a
reboot following two largely derided movies form 2005 & 2007
respectively. Fox, who have the rights,
are keeping their cards close to their chest about it though, only announcing a
Director (Josh Trank, behind the successful 'Chronicle' movie) and a cast. Despite the fact principal photography has
wrapped, there has been nary an image or production still circulated - only two
bootleg photos of a maquette of The Thing and of Doctor Doom against green
screen, both of which were swiftly hunted and taken down at the behest of Fox's
lawyers. But where it gets really
head-scratching is that the only other source of any information about the
films is from the cast and director, responding to rumours or answering
questions in vague, contractually adherent ways. And with each statement comic fans have been
left, to put it mildly, scratching their heads.
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| The Fantastic Four - pictured here in their 'Ultimates' versions - have been retooled and rebooted in comic format, so I have no problem with changing their ages, or any of their ethnicities... |
I'm not going to get in to the issue of changing Johnny
Storm's race (Michael B Jordan is right for the role, I don't see the issue) - but
other statements have been put out there which have provoked the ire of the
fans. Firstly, Kate Mara's statement that she didn't have to read any comics in preparation for the role, as they weren't 'following any of the comics or comic storylines'. Then news that the film would be similar to
Trank's found footage style used in 'Chronicle'. And finally, to top it all, Toby Kebbell spoke about the take on villain Doctor Doom he would be playing in this film - gone is the dictatorial ruler of Latveria, instead he's an American computer hacker.
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| Fantastic Four's talented cast - Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B Jordan and Jamie Bell. Still no pics of them on set or production stills, this was apparently taken when they were celebrating the finish of filming... |
As these broke they were met with various amounts of ire and incredulity from the fans - all of it stemming from an impression that Fox are being unfaithful to the source material in a disrespectful way. Whether or not this is actually the case is
yet to be seen - the film may actually turn out to be a decent piece of
work. But what is interesting is that
Fox are making no effort to try and defuse the negative reaction. There's no synopsis, no pictures, no stills,
no trailer - not even a satisfactory explanation as to why they're taking this
approach to the characters (beyond 'people didn't like the other films, we
assume it was because they were a bit far-fetched, so we decided these should
not be far-fetched'). This could be a
disaster for Fox, who have clearly spent a lot of money on retaining the
license to these characters, on top of the costs of developing and shooting
this movie. Despite the marketability of
the Marvel brand (observe how prominent the Marvel logo was on international posters for this
year's X-Men film, despite it not being a Marvel Studios movie),
there is the chance that negative perception of how the studio is handling
certain characters can hurt the film's box office. There was something of a backlash against
Sony's handling of Spiderman following this year's film, to the extent that
they've been re-thinking their long-term plans for the franchise - although financially successful internationally, tellingly US revenues were down. Negative reviews and reactions from fans
clearly played a part in this, so it's not implausible that the same could
happen with Fantastic Four.
Whatever happens, I can't escape the feeling that however
good or disappointing this movie turns out to be, the full potential of
Fantastic Four is being wasted outside of Marvel Studios. It would be, erm, fantastic to see Doctor
Doom and Galactus - the franchises biggest villains - part of the MCU; not to
mention The Thing's bromance/rivalry with Hulk.
If that ever happens, it'll be a long way off as things stand...
What to (possibly) Expect from 'Captain America: Civil
War' - and what not to.
I might have misgivings about the manner in which RobertDowney Jr has upped his role in this film, but it's confirmed that the next
Captain America instalment will be inspired by the comic run of the same
name. I say 'inspired', as (most likely due
to licensing) this film can't be a straight-up adaptation - and this is
probably just as well, as it's a story in which almost no one comes out of in a
particularly good light. Tony Stark is
portrayed as duplicitous and at times heartless, and Captain America is
portrayed as slightly pig-headed and needlessly aggressive - neither of which really
fit with their cinematic portrayals.
However, there'll be a good deal to take inspiration from; all this has
been complicated slightly by the announcement of Daniel Brühl's casting as a villain (who will also be in Doctor Strange, so lots of people think he'll be Baron Mordo), and reports that Crossbones (played by Frank Grillo in The Winter
Soldier) will be the main villain. Add
to that they've got to make room for Bucky/The Winter Soldier, because at the
end of the latest Cap film he was about to try and find his former friend; and
hopefully there'll be more from Sam 'The Falcon' Wilson, Black Widow, and maybe
even Hawkeye!
Because the comic relies draws on just about every Marvel
comic character - especially ones that aren't in the MCU - I think there'll
only be the bare bones of it carried over to the film. As Tony Stark is involved, it's pretty fair
to say it'll be based around the introduction of the Superhuman Registration
Act, or some variant of it. The prompt
for this is a catastrophe which kills hundreds of civilians when a team of trainee superheroes
take on a team of villains. I think this
will be changed to make Cap more personally involved; perhaps he is leading a
team in a similar mission that goes wrong, or maybe he is set up to look like
it's his fault - this would justify the presence of villains beyond Stark being
the main 'antagonist' for Cap. Or maybe
it's Bucky who is framed, and Cap goes head-to-head against Stark to clear his
friend..?
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| If any, we'll only see a handful of the characters pictured above actually end up in this film..! |
I've touched on the licensing rights (Spidey and
Fantastic Four are pretty central to the comic, obviously they'll be absent here),
but there are a multitude of characters involved in this that Marvel haven't
even introduced yet. At the Marvel Event
Feige revealed that Black Panther would be introduced in this film, prior to
his own movie, and people have speculated that he'll take the role Spidey plays
in the comic: initially siding with Stark and the Registration Act, upon
witnessing the lengths he is willing to take to put down those resisting it, he
swaps sides. It'll be interesting to see
how they introduce this character, as he won't come with the same level of
awareness and emotional draw as Spidey did in the comic. However if they use this character in a
similar way, it's likely the trigger for him to join Cap's side will be the
same - Stark will deploy a powerful weapon he can't control, with unexpected
consequences. The details of this might
get changed again form the comics, as to be fair it sounds very much like the
plot to Avengers: Age of Ultron! With
that in mind, it's might be that Stark himself doesn't have an involvement in
this, but it comes from another player in the pro-Registration side.
Although the comics have them using a Thor clone, I think
it's highly doubtful they'll use this in the film, but it's plausible there'll be
something along similar lines that will have same results as the comic: the
death of a superhero. In the comic it's
Goliath, but he's not yet been introduced in the MCU. This could be the opportunity for them to do
something truly shocking and kill-off a long standing but supporting character
- but who? Also, if they don't use the
Thor clone, perhaps instead this could be an opportunity for them to introduce
Red Hulk to the MCU. This would make
sense, based on what we've seen of Avengers: Age of Ultron (Iron Man takes on
Hulk), and the talk of changed roster for that team. Perhaps coming out of that conflict, Stark or
someone else uses the opportunity to try and re-create a new, more easily
controlled version of Hulk. But, being a
'Hulk' it can't be controlled - leading to the death of a super. That's just pure speculation on my part -
though I think it'd be awesome if at somepoint Marvel introduced Red Hulk, but
if Marvel Studios want to introduce him, then this could be a good chance to do
so..!
The only other thing which I can 100% guarantee we'll see
in this film is a great punch-up between Cap and Iron Man. In the comic there's two, in the first Iron
Man has his suit record and counter Cap's fighting moves, in the second The
Vision deactivates this function of Stark's suit and Cap gives him quite a
beating. I think you'll only see one
fight between these two in the movie, though - but if they take inspiration
from the comics it'll be a bruising encounter - not to mention emotionally
impacting. In fact, I expect it will resonate
more greatly with audiences than the other superhero face up arriving in
cinemas later that year...
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| RDJ and Chris Evans look ready for their on-screen dust off..! |
Besides from that, this will have little in
common with the comic - and probably just as well. I think this is one of the trickiest stories
for Marvel Studios to handle, but then again you can say that about each of
their films - and they have, in most cases, succeeded emphatically. That alone gives me confidence they can pull
this off, despite my concerns and reservations.
By picking the best elements of the stories, while adhering to the arc
of the characters, this could well have the same impact that The Winter Soldier
did earlier this year - not only to the MCU, but also critically, financially and in
popular culture.
That's it for this month - as the title suggest there'll be more of this sort of thing at some point next month. Until then, thanks for reading!
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