Spider-Man Homecoming - What sort of spider-man movie is it. (spoilers)

Vacation is over badgers... i back.

So...

Sony knew that they had screwed the pooch with Spider-Man. They reached out to Marvel and the Disney Marvel movie dept. Then they begged.

So did it help, was it worth it?


Yes... Yes it did.

Now i like many others think that  the Toby-Man 2 movie was the best Spider-Man movie as far. In my mind this movie trumps that one. Not only does Peter Parker come across like a very teenage... well.. teenager. Now the movie does take another step in blending two comic settings, the core marvel one and the so called Ultimates one. The later was a modern reboot of the marvel universe that instead of messing with the core universe Marvel set it up as it´s own thing. It was a bit more grim and gritty. But without going in to grimdark territory. In this setting Spider-Man was again a teenager (in the core universe he is grown up and sitting in that weird 30-ish zone) and his supporting cast where updated to be more independent. ezpecially Aunt May that went from a kind senior citizen to a much younger (more 45+ than 65+) woman on the move. Much of this does carry over in to the new movie.

It also sidesteps many of the weird issues that have been brought up in previous movies regarding the spider suite and other things . It simply runs on Tony Stark MAGIC.

Now the story it self is fairly basic for a opener in a franchise. The hero has gained the power ( guess what.. not origin story)  and now heeds the call of heroism only to mess up and is forced to find his resolve. Then comic book end happens. =P

But it is the care that has been taken to not only be funny and endearing but also have some serious nods to spider comic history. It also handle it´s villains in a good way. Not the hamfisted Toby-Man 3 or the re-boot who wasted a really good villain for a sequel bait that never came to be.

As for the actors. Tom Holland is the same kind of natural it that RDJ brought to Tony Stark and Well RDJ is as always good... In fact at this point it is hard to see where he ends and Tony starts. RDJ fill a good roll as mentor and also part of the more lighthearted comedy of the movie.

Marisa Tomei and Laura Harrier make for two good supporting characters and both are believable as Aunt May and Liz Allen.

But the star of the show is by far Mr Keaton who threads a thin line between creepy and endearing with just the right amount of chewing the scenery. After all you can not play a comic book villain without a little bit of overacting. Now he does serve as a replacement for the  green goblin in some ways but with a very simple and rooted motivation for his villainy.

All in all it is the Spider-Man that Sony needed and if they are smart they will learn from this and actually continue to produce good super hero movies.

Until next time

Stay safe, be kind and play fair.

Iron Fist. Putty in a silk glove or seriously good? (spoilers)

Did the Marvel/Netflix behemoth do their first bungle?

Well according to the score aggregators. Yes.

But i personally think that is mostly due to the expectations not being met. You see Iron fist is not kung-fu action series, it is in fact not really a kung-fu anything... Like most other of the Marvel/Netflix shows it is a personal drama about facing great personal adversity. In this specific case, it is a pretty much spot on "fish out of water" story about how someone who is basically an emotionally stunted child in a grown man's body with an understanding of the modern world of a 10-year-old. 

Now that does not for a good trailer make and I feel that Netflix was feeling a bit like I do about the character... Danny Rand is dry white toast (in the comics usually clad in green and yellow spandex) with the personality of a Weetabix. So they did not really have much to work with. Most of Danny's good stuff comes from bouncing his dry wit off Luke Cage in the comics and his role is most of the time the sage and calm centre. He is of course not at that place in the series... In fact, in the series he is dumb as rocks. But in a way that does make me at least sympathetic towards him. We also need to remember that Matt Murdock carried a pretty big idiot ball in the first season too. 

Now the worry i have is how they are going to complete Danny´s journey before the defenders (or more realistically at the start of the Defenders) to give him a role outside of "glowing punch guy". I guess he could have the Tony Stark role for the team. Using his money to solve some of the issues like transport and medicine. But for all intents, acting as the moral and emotional centre of the group. I have a difficult time seeing that. 

But the show is solid and while I feel the lack of a solid villain might a bit distracting  It does open up for some serious twists and keep you invested in what will happen. But just stay away from the idea of this being something akin to a Jackie Chan movie. 

Because it sure as heck is not. 

Until next time.

Stay safe, be kind and play fair. 

Logan... My opinions (no spoilers)

Ok to be fair... By no spoilers i mean no more than the trailers have spoiled (actually less) but fair warning is fair. 

So now this movie is way more in line with the MCU movies as in it is a story that happen to contain super heroes. It is not really s story about super heroes who does stuff. Now my biggest complaint is that the version we saw had a horrid audio mix but that might be down to the cinema and not the movie. But it was LOUD at times and not a pleasant gut punch loud, no this was a more along the lines of shaking your teeth kind of loud. 

Did not detract from the story at large, but worth mentioning. 

So on to the movie it self. 

There is not much i can say about the plot without going in to spoilers so i will simply say that the story is well written and hit all the notes i would expect from such a story, the only nicks being that it get a bit lazy in the third act. But that might be due to editing, i can see a extended version solving some of those issues. It does also tie in nicely to the two previous movies without winking and nudging so much that you have to watch the, A basic familiarity with the character is enough. All in all it holds together to the end and wraps up in a satisfying way. 

Visually it is a stunning movie, the sets look very good, music and soundscape ties things together and the final track in the movie will do you in. Is it the best super hero movie... No not by a long shot, Nor is it even the best Marvel movie in my mind (that is still GotG). but it is with out a doubt the best movie featuring Wolverine in my opinion. The supporting cast is also very solid and i really like the story beats they choose to go with. 

Gha... I do not really know what to say... Go and see it, it is worth the price of the ticket. 

I will do a more spoilery dissection in a week or so. Because there is much to talk about. 

But for now.  

Stay safe, be kind and play fair. 

Bye. 

Stranger days. A Dr Strange review. (spoilers...)

Smolder smolder smolder

So i spent last night watching the latest offering Doctor Strange, based on the comic character by the same name,and right of the bat Marvel wastes no time reminding us that they have a interconnected cinematic universe as the logo now sports more movie clips than comic pages. 

But i get ahead of my self, in case you are not familiar with Dr Stephen Strange, he starts out as the less charming Tony Stark, both in this movie but also in his comic. A superstar surgeon with a ego that make Dr House look humble and a nurturing a budding god complex as he fancies him self one who holds life and death in his hands, and only the ones with a case big or difficult enough (but with a safe margin for success)get his care. It goes without saying that Dr Strange treats anyone not him self as shit. 

But fate, as it usually does in origins stories... Has other plans and send dear Stephen on a one way trip off a cliff and in to the caring arms of irony. The car accident destroys his hands 

Now with his entire life literary shattered and with no one really to blame but him self he reacts very human and lashes out at everyone. He spends his wealth on experimental surgery and consultations. But to no avail. He then hears about a mystic called the ancient one. Taking a desperate last stab Stephen seeks out this mystic. The rest is as they say history, Strange learns that there is a much bigger world beyond his science and in time ends up as the Sorcerer Supreme, the guardian of all magic.  

The movie follows this story to a beat, it is one of the most faithful translations Marvel Studios have done, Keeping strides with Captain  America. In the movie the car is a Italian supercar and it is hinted that if he was not such a huge arsehole people might have gone looking for him sooner and thus saved his hands, but beyond that the transition from surgeon Dr Strange to mystic Dr Strange follows the comics without any deviation. 

Now in the movie Strange have to find a group of mystics after learning of a man who regained the use of his destroyed spine after having studied with the Ancient one, After getting the acid trip of his life by the way of mind magic, giving a entirely new meaning to the phrase "tripping balls". Strange is unceremoniously tossed out on the street again having been deemed to vain and arrogant to handle the power the Ancient one could teach. 

This ties back in to the opening of the movie where a very angry and former student of the Ancient one Mads Mikkelsen compartmentalize the librarian of the mystic order and then steals "insert object of DOOM... (not that Doom)" and sets out to enable the overtaking of the world. Strange it would seem reminds the Ancient one of this failed pupil. 

At this point it should be obvious that the movie is not exactly breaking new ground, but it is ok, it would feel very out of place and the last time we really had a Superhero movie trying to break new ground we got Ang Lee´s Hulk movie... Not a fan. 

So the story from here on is pretty textbook, Strange get accepted, trains and fails only to triumph at the critical moment. what saves the movie is the excellent acting and comedic timing. It is a funny movie that delivers on the action and Benedict Cumberbatch get to channel some of the same sides he showed in Sherlock. 

The supporting cast is as good, starting with Mads character who manages to do surprisingly much with a script that is just a hair longer than the one for Boba Fett. He is more a catalyst for future events than an actual villain, a problem many of Marvels movie villains have had. But he is just the right amount of smug zealot that you feel very good when he gets his comeuppances. 

Tilda Swinton as the Ancient one did cause some commotion for all about... five seconds... Some allegations of whitewashing was leveled...   But seeing that this is what the Ancient one used to look like. Switching the gender and nationality was not that big of an issue, dude was not very Asian to begin with. Swinton does a really good job of playing this odd and peculiar mystic who defends the reality as it is.  

Mordo also plays a big role in this and while he is set up as the counterbalance for Strange it is not too hard to see what path he will take, and by the end of the movie he has gone full on magic fascist. But i like how they portray him and his motivations does make sense.  

Last but not least i have to mention Wong... Played by Benedict Wong... (i just fond that a little funny.) In the original portrayed as Strange´s manservant in a very stereotypical outfit. Here he is the ever important wall whom Strange can bounce jokes off. He also serves as the head librarian after the old one lost his.. well... head. 

The big-ish bad  is Dormammu and while he got a Galactus/Phalanx treatment and just becomes mostly a big head... It could have been way worse. He is the lord of a place called the dark dimention that lies outside of time and he wants to take over the world... How he is defeated i will not reveal here... But it is simply awesome. The second big thing is of course the time gem hidden inside of a relic that Strange picks up along the way. It serves a very important plot point and will be very important in the next Avenger movie. 

Verdict: I really enjoyed this movie and for what it is worth i would rank it on the same level as GotG, it is a fun and wild popcorn movie that have some really insane special effects but is a tiny bit hampered by the very classic narrative used. I say that you should go and see it while it is in theaters as it will lose some of its visual impact once it is on TV´s and monitors (unless you have a Gear.. then i would thing it is smart thing to wait. =P)

Also there is a brilliant end credit scene with Thor and a stein of beer. It also hints at the probability of Hemsworth, Hiddelston and Cumberbatch in the same scene... How they will contain that... who knows.

Civil War – Marvel style. Captain America 3 Spoiler version

Captain America: Civil War is the latest offering form the house of the mouse´s super hero division. And as usual when it comes to the Cap movies it is not so much a super hero movie as a movie with super heroes in it. In this case a political thriller mixed with a psychological drama… Is said genres where raised on Rice Krispies.  But seeing how it is an ensemble film following in the messy footsteps of Avengers 2 I had my doubts that it would not turn in to a horrid convoluted mess.

It is my great pleasure to inform you all that it in fact was not a horrid convoluted mess.

But I get ahead of myself. The story goes thusly.

In the aftermath of Age of Ultron the world in general and Sokovia in particular are not all that hyped about the Avengers any more. Sure they did save the world.. or at least New York from giant armored space whales, but since they have not had much in the way of wins… Between Iron Man getting his house blown up and thrash a commercial dock, SHEILD trying to take over the world by the way of Hydra (or the other way around depending on point of view). Captain America dropping three very expensive experimental aircrafts on a fairly populated area and no to mention the rogue AI trying to annihilate an entire country… An AI created in part by Tony Stark. And as the movie opens they manage to explode a building when trying to capture a terrorist. To say it has been a couple of rough years is a mild understatement.

So the plan is to turn the Avengers in to a UN/Nato attack dog. This is done by the way of equal amounts of guilt and threats and for ol Steve Rogers this does not really mesh with the idea of them being a global force for good. So there you have the schism. But most people agree it could perhaps be a good idea to at least appear to fall in line. As this debate is going on Steve is informed that his almost dame and favorite British spy Peggy Carter has passed away and while visiting her funeral gets some words of “wisdom” from Peggy’s niece Sharon aka agent 13 aka Steve’s old neighbor. So while Cap and Falcon goes on a buddy road trip the rest of the Avengers gear up to attend the signing of the so called Sokovia Accord.

Here we meet T'Chaka, the current king of Wakanda and his son T´Challa. He seems like a nice guy and as such T'Chaka very quickly get an explosion in the back making T´Challa the effective king. Fortunately for him he does not only get the throne of one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world but he also get a super suit and the alias of Black Panther. This is good as he seek to avenge his father. Go him.

Our buddy cop team of Cap and Falcon get involved in this when it looks like the Winter Solider was the one pulling the “trigger” and Cap want to save his old buddy seeing how pretty much everyone else he knew is dead. We do have to remember that Cap might be closer to 100 years chronologically but he is still a 25-ish year old nerd. This will also be important to remember once we get to Caps romantic sub-plot… if you like to call it that.

So with the issue and the motivation set up for this “civil war” the avengers set out to beat the ever living crap out of each other. As the story unravel we see that much of this fuzz was for a former Hydra agent by the name of Zemo to get access to the Winter Solider so he could find information on a very special mission that the Winter Soldier did back in the days. Turns out that Bucky was not the only Russian super soldier and that he did in fact kill Howard Stark. The plan here seems to be to drive a permanent wedge between Tony and Steve and in turn split the Avengers.

So Cap and Tony kick the snot out of each other and then Cap and Bucky makes off to Wakanda where they put Bucky on ice until they can figure out a way to break his brainwashing.

So… The movie is good in fact I would say it beats A2 by a mile and does so with about the same size of cast. Maybe it is because the story is much more personal and the conflict more anchored in… Well… Reality if that is the word to use. Sure we have to play with a lot of plot convenience and among other things I feel that Cap´s motivations are forced. But at the same time as I said we have to keep in mind that Steve is a young man who has one person left in the world that can relate to him and see him as the person he was before he became Cap. I would go pretty far for a person like that. Same goes for his rather hasty romantic sub-plot with Sharon Carter, forced but not entirely out of character. Sure it is a bit weird but she is the closest he will ever get to the love of his life. Not a healthy basis for a relationship but again he is a young (and in some way emotionally underdeveloped) man on the rebound from a lot of shit. To seek solace in familiarity is not unheard of.

Now I of course have to link back to the comics arch that provided name and over all story to this film… As expected they share very little beyond the name but the movie still do a very good job at hitting key points from the comics. The Stamford incident (one of the most emotional gut punches in modern comics history in my mind) where a villain out of hand blows up a good chunk of a town called Stamford including a school full of children. The super-person superMAX iirc called sector 42 or some such, Spiderman (did not do much in the movie but is kind of important in the comics) and the whole bit with Cap realizing that he is in fact going out of control. These moments all translated in to the film in one way or the other.

So it was a worthy end to the Captain America saga and a way to redeem Avengers age of Ultron for being a messy messy thing. It is with confidence I now turn my eyes towards the future of the Marvel cinematic universe.

//T

Daredevil season 2 – The good the bad and the ugly.

So Daredevil season 2 just dropped and like any Netflix series I watched the entire thing in one single sitting. This is in itself not a good idea as the series weigh in at a decent 13 episodes. But it also tend to make one a tad bit more critical as the series goes on.

Now the story so far goes thusly. (Spoilers… And more spoilers)

Matt Murdoc is a bland lawyer that run a kind of pro-bono practice with his law school buddy Foggy Nelson. Unbeknownst to Foggy Matt has super senses that he gained as a child after being splashed with chemicals… because that is a thing… when he saved an elderly man. Now as an adult he put these special skills to use to meet out vigilante justice on the people who the legal system cannot. During the first season we get to know Matt, Foggy and their first customer turned secretary Karen Page as they protect New York´s Hell´s Kitchen both in court and on the streets. The conflict focuses as the criminal and political power player Wilson Fisk makes his presence known putting him and Matt on a collision course. This whole affair resolves with Matt exposing his second life to Foggy and Fisk ending up behind bars. Setting the stage for season two.

In season two we find Matt and the gang pretty much where we left them last time… Just about a year later. With Matt doing his dance of being a sort of lawyer at day and fearless vigilante at night a new player enters the vigilante scene by turning several gang in the city in to Swiss cheese. And while Foggy and Karen go to war against the district attorney over first a survivor of the gang massacre and then later the Punisher aka Frank Castle as his repeated murders brought him in to conflict with Daredevil. Then the story goes completely off the rail... In short order we find out that Castle was a victim of a failed drug bust that caused his family to be gunned down, the DA office covered it up for political reasons, his former CO being a drug lord and that his entire war was based on a misunderstanding. All in all he had a very bad time. Add to this mess that Matt is cutting out on his duties as lawyer to run around with his ex-girlfriend who just happen to be an assassin as she try to take down a bunch of honest to god ninjas. In the end nothing get resolved and anyone familiar with Electra and her story from the comics should know how that storyline ends.

This season of Daredevil seems rushed, like they had a handful of episodes planned but then had to fill in the rest of the story… Maybe not as they went but it felt rushed. The Frank Castle storyline feels solid and apart from the weird twist on the end was well paced. The Electra story otoh felt slapped on and had some serious pacing issues. Now with that said the overall impression is that Daredevil season 2 still make for some really good TV but that it does not really live up to the previous season or Jessica Jones. We will have to see how the Netflix marvel series holds up as we move forward in to Luke Cage and beyond.

So my final recommendation is to watch it but make sure to spread it out over some time to counteract the dip in the middle of the season. 

Deadpool the good, the bad and man is he ugly.

Let us first get something out of the way. This is not a movie for everyone. The humor is not for everyone and in fact some people will find it way to over the top. It might also be one of the most intelligent movies you watch this year.

But to me the movie is perhaps the most genuine depiction of a hero on the big screen so far. This most likely comes from the fact that Deadpool is a movie that the fans birthed. Nobody at studio level was interested in a R-rated superhero movie, or so the story goes. But Reynolds and the fans pushed and pushed until the project was greenlit.

Exactly how much of this is true we will most likely never know. But it makes for a perfect backdrop for a little movie that could.

So Deadpool the character is the creation of Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza. An intentional or unintentional (depending on who you ask) riff on the DC character Deathstroke, who should be familiar to fans of the Arrow show. Deadpool quickly developed in to a sort of “adult” version of Sinderman in regards to his banter and antics. Somewhere along the way he also picked up the habit of speaking directly to the reader of the comic. He is a hyper-violent mercenary who just so happen to do some good every now and then… Usually with a lot of collateral damage.

Now the movie for most part is a note by note recreation of Deadpool. Sure a few small things have been omitted such as exactly how he got his powers and they made him a tad bit more likeable. Beyond that he is every bit as foul and crazy as one should expect.

The story goes thusly. Wade Wilson is a gun for hire that falls in low with a stripper and finds out he has terminal cancer… everywhere. He get a offer to be the receiver of some superpower that will save him. In order to save his life and relationship he says yes. He comes out with a awesome healing factor and the looks of… and I quote…  “Freddy Kreuger if he facefucked a topographical map of Utah” But he has one shot. The guy in charge of the facility Ajax told Wade that he could restore his face if he wanted. So Deadpool breaks out and goes on a hunt for Ajax. After a lot of violence and some tender tender moments Deadpool track his nemesis down and… Well... More violence happens.  

Deadpool is not a movie you watch for its deep and engaging story, even if this one under all its sarcasm and forth wall breaking nonsense is surprisingly well crafted. It is easy to just see the dirty jokes and over the top action scenes. But beneath this does some really smart things. Like how it takes you in to a stripclub but elegantly refuse to spend any more time on the environment then it does any other. Or how it use the X-Men character Colossus as a counterpoint to Deadpools R-rated antics. Colossus is a genuine nice guy in the comics and this make him a perfect counterpart to Deadpool. There is also a really good chemistry between the actors in the movie and especially between Dreadpool and Weasel. Now we know there will be a sequel since the movie broke all projections and I think some records. My only fear is that the next movie will have more studio involvement in order to try and reproduce the breakout hit… And that never turns out well. 

Marvels Jessica Jones - a solid punch to the gut. (Spoilers… Duh)

So with Netflix rising to become an entertainment giant and Disney want to have their Marvel property in, on and around every place on earth the multi series deal that spawned Daredevil was not unexpected.

What was unexpected was how seriously Netflix took the deal. Daredevil was a very well-produced series that set the new bar for in my mind not only superhero series but any kind of fantasy drama. So when the teasers for Jessica Jones started to drop the “buzz” was real. But as a comics fan and as someone who is fleetingly familiar with the character of Jessica Jones I had some reservations. Mostly because Jones is a broken human being, used and abused in the worst of ways. How would Netflix tell that part of the story? The answer in hindsight should have been clear. They simply told it as it were.

So for the people not familiar with the story it goes thusly. Jessica Jones is a girl with superpowers, flight, super strength and some limited rapid healing. Like most people who get powers in the marvel universe she decides to be a hero. In the comics they wrote her in as a background character, someone who had always been there but never seen. But she had not even taken down her first Batroc before she fell under the control of the villain Purple man (aka Kilgrave/Killgrave). A sadist with mind control powers by the way of pheromones. Both in the series and the comics what follow is a period of mental torture and well… Rape. But it ends with her breaking free of his control and slowly trying to put her life back together. She hangs up her cape and goes in to private investigation and heavy drinking.

The series picks up at this point and tell most of the backstory in flashbacks, including a live action version of the outfit she used in the comics. The series love to toss in this kind of Easter eggs. In fact the very first scene in the series is a picture perfect recreation of the opening scene in the comics.

I mentioned earlier that the series does not pull any punches or really make any excuses for the way Jessica acts. They just drop her there and tell us to deal with it however we like. This is refreshing and lends a certain level of realism to the story. The series also does a very good job I have been told of portraying someone who have lived with abuse and trauma. While I have very little in the way of reference myself it felt very genuine. Now with this being Netflix and thusly not regulated by the American TV-censor board everything is a bit more gritty. While not as in your face gory as Daredevil, Jessica Jones has its fair share of both blood, sex and drugs. But I never feel they go overboard with it. It still fits very well in with the theme and mood of the series.

Now Jessica Jones is backed up by a real nice cast of characters including childhood friend and former childactor-turned-radio host Trish Walker and bulletproof bar owner and sometimes fuckbuddy Luke Cage. Trish in many ways become Jessica´s flip-side. Someone who also have faced trauma and abuse but choose to put on a façade of normality rather than choosing Jessica´s “fuck all” attitude.

As for Luke he does not get as much development, mostly because he is next up for his own series on Netflix but the series do an apt job of making him a believable character and a stellar job of bringing the comic hero to life.  Also the sex scenes between Luke and Jessica are as comedic as they are tragic.

Now it would be a grave error to not bring up perhaps the best portrayal of a villain in the Marvel cinematic universe. Kilgrave is as scary as he is pathetic. The fact that he sees himself as the victim of his own power and honestly do not see any problem in how he bends peoples wills. He simply sees himself as superior. In fact Jessica is the only known case of someone resisting his control. This have made him obsessed with her and the length he goes to in order to play mind-games with her is downright scary. At the same time he is at the core just a very broken and scared man. Afraid to be left alone and forgotten. Like Kingpin his motivations are clear as a character and they are maybe not relatable but at least they are things we can understand. These are the same traits I think made Loki such a good villain, we can all understand rejection and obsession. The seeking of approval and that is what makes it so effective when Kilgrave goes to such extreme lengths, because we all have at one time or another wished we had that very power to bend others to our will.

So I say go watch Jessica Jones and Daredevil on Netflix. It will be worth a month´s subscription. (also if you do, check out Orange is the new Black. A very good series in its own right.) 

Agent Carter, a good start. (Spoilers… Duh.)

(and the promised content update.. in the nick of time as usual.)


So Marvel´s next TV series has hit the airwaves and this time we connect with future Alzheimer’s patient and founder of S.H.E.I.L.D agent Peggy Carter. For the full backstory on Peggy Carter in the MCU you have to watch the first Captain America movie. But the long of the short is that she is a British agent attached to the super soldier experiment and later Captain America. Now this series is basically a tall mini-series with 8 episodes and the opening act being a double feature leaves us with six episodes to go.

The Cast
Hayley Atwell is Agent Peggy Carter. Reprising her role from the Cap am movie and marvel one-shot feature Agent Carter is portrayed as a proactive but somewhat naïve junior agent at the Strategic Science Reserve (SSR) a covert department dealing with the fallout of Nazi super science and other oddities. To the world around she is just a switch-board operator.

James D’Arcy is Edvin Jarvis. Jarvis is Howard Starks butler and… well… go to guy it seems as he has Howards full trust and confidence. He is new for this series even if his character is a nod back to the comic-books as Tony Stark used to have a butler before that became “obsolete”. He is also supposedly the inspiration for Tonys A.I. He is a very loving and caring family man who has a strong sense of duty.

Dominic Cooper is Howard Stark. Returning for some more fondue as well as being the main plot point in this series Howard does not get that much screen time and in essence just provide the McGuffin of the day as his super-secret vault of bad stuff was raided, for those familiar with Iron Man comics it is pretty much the armor wars storyline. Still Dominic does a good job as Howard and pull off the loveable douche character well.

Chad Michael Murray is Jack Thompson. This is your average alpha male with a chip on his shoulder. Jack is a war veteran and see the SSR as a way to get up in life. Not much else Is known about him but he bears some resemblance to Eugene “Flash” Thompson of the spider-verse and could very well be said characters future father. Not that the subject will ever be explored due to licenses. =) Any way not much else to say. If you make it through even the first episode without wanting to toss a brick at him you are a better human being then me.

Enver Gjokaj is Daniel Sousa. Another original characters and filling the role of confidant within the SSR. Sousa have a defunct leg and thus preventing him from being an active field agent. Sousa is a desk jockey and take some flak for not being a “real” agent. He seems to have some interest in Carter but feel that he might have a hard time living up to her former fling… Not much else to say about him yet.

Apart from these main players a bevy of secondary characters flash by, the most noteworthy being Anton Vanko.

I am not going to spoil the exact details plot per se but as I mentioned the driving force of the show is someone stealing a bunch of Howard Starks “bad babies” inventions that are too dangerous to let regular people… not to mention military scientists handle them. Howard himself is in a bit of a pickle and it is up to Agent Carter to find the items and untangle the mess Mr. Stark has created. To aid her and keep tabs on her Howard assigns Jarvis as Peggy´s driver/assistant… From there we get a fairly standard procedural drama with a McGuffin… In this case an explosive. But it is still well written and well-acted with set designs and music being very fitting for the era it takes place in, at least to someone who did not live in it. The show does lean a bit heavy on the “convenience” card as things very often just fall in to place for Peggy but at the same time they need to keep the run time of each episode down so it is forgivable. It is also a show with the roots in super hero comics… So one could say they are staying true to the source. Agent Carter did surprise me by being better than I expected but if it simple becomes an “X of the week” show I will be very disappointed. I will do a summary once the show has concluded and give my final thoughts, but for now I say give it a shot. If not for the banter between Carter and Jarvis.

Agent Carter is the first of the new lineup of Marvel series followed by DareDevil in April on Netflix as well as the next season of AoS 2015 is looking to be the definitive Year of Marvel.

Simply… Marvel phase three… .

. .

Potential spoilers ahead. 

So Marvel have let the cat out of the bag and shown us the heroes that are part of the third phase of their movie universe, In my opinion there are a few solid hits in there. And as the self-proclaimed Marvel aficionado that I am I will now give my take on the house of M.

Black Panther: As a key player in the modern Avengers mythos and often cast in the role of the moral compass, the character Black Panther is perhaps not the best known outside of the comics community but have the honour of being the first African superhero in mainstream Marvel comics when he was released back in the mid 60´s. He would later be followed by African-american superheroes such as Falcon, Luke Cage and Storm of the X-Men. Not only a superhero Black Panther is also the de-facto ruler of the small but advanced fictional nation of Wakanda. It is not an uncommon theme in the Black Panther comics that he is beings forced to choose between his duties as an Avenger and as the ruler of his people. But the Black Panther have remained true to his call as a fair ruler and as a hero, never sacrificing his people for the greater good.

So what kind of material for a movie franchise is there in this? Well… A lot I would say. Not only is Wakanda linked to the larger Marvel universe by the metal Vibranium. This fictional material is highly dampening and able to disperse impact force. This is the reason why the comic version of Captain America can block pretty much anything with his shield without breaking... well... everything, since it is made up of a Vibranium and Adamantium alloy. This mythical metal is also the reason why pretty much any villain known to the Marvel universe has at one point or another invaded Wakanda. 

But I digress… From a story standpoint Black Panther is something very different from the current roster of the Marvel cinematic universe. He is for a lack of better word... Pure. A real good guy driven by the highest moral fiber. A man who see the good in his people, even the ones who thirst for his power and the throne of Wakanda. But unlike Captain America he is very much in tune with the times and can in the right hands give a fresh take on what in movies often end up as the noble savage. He will also most likely play a important role in the aftermath of the second Avengers movie if the trailer is anything to go by (a hint.. I did mention Cap´s shield is part vibranium) and it is hinted that he will take the role of the mediator in the third Captain America movie.

Captain America 3: Civil War: Following the comic event by the same name this will deal with the fallout of a world being face by beings of unmeasurable power and the horrors they release. It pretty much comes back to the exchange between Nick Fury and crew in the first Avengers movie. When asked why SHIELD was developing hyper-advanced weapons, Nick points to Thor and simply states “because of you”. The comic arc is about superhero registration and take a not very subtle stab at things such as the Patriot act and it´s successors. In the comics the trigger is a very powerful moment. We follow a team of young heroes known as the new warriors that have been given a reality show. But it is not doing very well and to boos the ratings they get in way over their head. The result is that a villain called Nitro detonates and levels a large chunk of the community Stamford. Within the blast radius is a school and among the dead is over half a hundred kids.

The aftermath of Nitro´s blast

This triggers an outrage among the general population and pushes the politicians to enact the hero registration act. Now exactly how this will play out in the movie I do not know but at its core Civil war pits Captain America against Iron Man as the former take a stand against the registration and the later moves in to a position of power within the government as a result of the act.

I think this will be an epic story, I have always felt that parts of Civil war would make for a really good movie and to see it as the conclusion to the Captain´s arc I feel is the perfect choice. It will give heroes a chance to take a stance for what they think is right without being necessarily wrong.

Let us hope she get a more practical outfit.

Captain Marvel: Originally known in the comics as Ms Marvel, Captain Marvel will be Marvel cinematic universe first female lead. Based on Carol Danvers, a fighter pilot who gain superpowers after an encounter with the alien Kree race (Ronan from GotG was a Kree… They are blue and very pissed off.) And over the years she has fought off everything from shape shifting aliens to demi-gods and elemental forces. She is also the person from whom the comic version of X-Men´s Rouge got her strength, ability to fly and being nearly impervious to harm. So she is traditionally shown as a flying powerhouse who can toss the Hulk and shoot beams of pure energy from her hands.. At this point there is very little known about the movie and how it will fit in to the larger story. Her powers are very much cosmic but as Marvel them-self pointed out, most of her adventures are with the Avengers on earth.

There is no lack of stories to pick from and seeing a female superhero in a lead role will be a breath of fresh air. In the right hands this could become a game changer.

Doctor Strange: Another less known character with big impact in the Marvel universe. In the comics Steven Strange is a neurosurgeon with almost a god complex, seeing himself as infallible while holding a scalpel. A car accident robs his hands of the dexterity they need for him to continue his work. Crushed he travels the world to find someone who can restore his hands, and by extension his life. But rather than finding a cure he stumbles in to a world of mystic energies as he seeks out an old mystic. Strange had been told that the old mystic would have healing abilities. The vain and petty surgeon soon find himself studying under the mystic and would later shoulder the mantle of sorcerer supreme, the guardian of magic on earth.

Yes that is about as stupid as it sounds and I was not at all very interested in this movie until I heard who they are in talks to play the good doctor… No other then Benedict Cumberbatch. While he is a little young to play the doctor Strange he most definitely have the chops to pull it off and his particular brand of subdued but powerful delivery would fit the character to a tee, Of course there is still no real confirmation on if Benny is in fact going to do the role, but i keep my fingers crossed.

No clue of how this one will fit in with the rest of the movies either but the realm of magic is one little explored outside of the Thor movies and could make for an interesting backdrop. Strange himself wields near limitless power in the comics and that of course will have to be adjusted for the movie universe but could be connected to the character Scarlet Witch, a character who can tap in to chaos magic via her mutant ability, altering probability and to a limited degree reality. Strange could act as a mentor to her.  

Inhumans: And then we went off the deep end… The Inhumans are a race of people that live on the moon in a microcosms called the blue area. They are an experiment on how to grant humans superhuman abilities carried out by a race of beings knows as the Celestials (or Kree depending on version... Are we seeing a theme here… ) Very little to say here as I am fairly unfamiliar with the property. But they are a family group, they tend to butt head with different cosmic threats like Thanos and they are led by Black Bolt who is a mute since his voice shatter mountains. It could be a very interesting movie but my bet is that it will end up a dud unless put in to VERY capable hands.  Of all the new movies announced it is the one I have the least faith in. It is simply too weird. Then again.. they made Guardians of the galaxy work… so who knows

Some of the Inhumans. Black Bolt in the foreground

Ant-Man: The odd man out, a fairly standalone movie if the director is to be believed. The story will focus on the second Ant-Man Scott Lang. The original Ant-Man was Hank Pym, one of the founding members of the Avengers and in the comics the creator of Ultron. For the second Avengers movie Tony Stark have taken over the role of “worst judgement in the history of humanity”. These changes are mostly because all in all Hank Pym is just a more insecure Tony Stark while Scott Lang has a much more interesting story, being a down on his luck guy who steals the Ant-Man suit to get his kidnapped daughter back.

This movie have been through development hell and back. I have the utter most faith in Edgar Wright to be able to produce a funny bit slightly dark story about a man that can shrink to the size of an ant… But I have no idea if one will be a hit or miss. I guess it will come down to marketing. Any way it will be another stand out that is only loosely connected to the other movies in the universe. Not very good odds on this one.

Thor 3 – Ragnarok: Not much to say… it will have more Hiddleston as Loki… I am happy. After Dark World it can pretty much just go up in my mind.

Guardians of the galaxy 2: Literally no clue about what this one will be about. Groot and Rocket I guess… It will most likely tie very closely in to…

Avengers 3 infinity war part 1&2: The “final” chapter of the Marvel cinematic universe and it will probably pitch everyone at Thanos…  By all account a loose adaptation of the infinity saga this will wrap up a storyline that started with the Tesseract and will end with Thanos having control over pretty much all of creation… Something you usually do not want a genocidal maniac to have. This will either be ass-kicking awesome or very much MEH depending on how much they have milked the concept and managed to keep the phase three movies fresh. A slight superhero fatigue could be setting in by the time the third Avengers movie comes around. It is also as I mentioned a two part story and I am ok with that even if it r4esults in having to wait an extra year to see all of it. It does give them proper time to tell a story.

That was the long and short of it. All in all it looks like phase three will shape up in to a feast for the fans of marvel superheroes in particular and with DC´s push for the Justice League super hero fans in general.

But next up we have Avengers: Age of Ultron and it looks like it will be bloody awesome.