Christopher Nolan got quite a few Marvel fanboys upset the other day when he commented that "real" movies don't have post-credit scenes. (The director has since said that he was misquoted, which I believe). Listen, I like Christopher Nolan and always have ever since I saw his second movie, Memento.
But the truth is, Christopher Nolan has officially RUINED DC's cinematic universe rather than saved it. Let me explain. It all goes back to The Dark Knight. Sure, Batman Begins was okay, but it wasn't the touchstone film that its sequel, The Dark Knight, was. In fact, The Dark Knight created a sea change within the industry of comic book movies. After TDK, comic book films became much darker, and if they weren't dark, then they were seen as goofy and childish (Like Green Lantern, which bombed). This is a problem that has actually stuck with Warner Bros./DC and doesn't seem to be going away. While Marvel distanced itself from this concept of brooding superheroes, Warner Bros./DC seems to want to continue with the notion that if you're watching a DC movie, it's not going to be colorful and playful like a Marvel film. Man of Steel is a clear example of this.
(Image taken from: collider.com)
Instead of being bright and colorful--a real showcase of the red, the white, and blue--we instead got a much darker, both in color and in tone, picture, where Superman actually KILLS General Zod. This has caused contention with many fans of Supes, and has spelled a new era of Superman. This is an era that I will call "The Nolan Effect". Unlike "The Avengers Effect", which is all about throwing in as many characters as possible and making it one large spectacle, DC/WB is still under the impression that people want lugubrious and heavy superhero pictures. In other words, DC/WB is still trying to prove that they're NOT MARVEL. And if you want something for babies, then watch something like The Avengers. But if you want something more introspective and grown-up, come to us.
Don't believe me? Just look at this poster for Batman v. Superman:
(Image taken from: www.denofgeek.com)
I mean, jeez. More darkness? More bad times? No levity? I thought this was supposed to be SUPERMAN. Not The Crow. "It can't rain all the time," right?
So, in many ways, if DC stays with the Nolan mentality, it will effectively doom the DC Cinematic universe, as these are COMIC BOOK MOVIES. Maybe Batman can be taken seriously (I guess), but it doesn't apply for all of these other characters who are soon coming out the gate from DC. Because if something as corny as The Flash is going to be like watching a World War II movie, then they're doing wrong.
See the article here: http://www.complex.com/video-games/2011/05/10-best-marvel-games/
Oh, Marvel, Marvel, Marvel. What don’t we love about you? Well, how about your movie related video games for one? While your comic books, feature films, and even those old hologram cards of yours are the shit, you have a pretty sketchy track record when it comes to taking those same characters from the big screen and putting them on the Playstation or 360. We mean, besides Spiderman 2, everything else you’ve given us has either been mediocre at best (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Ghost Rider), or outright garbage (Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Iron Man, Blade, etc). And with the new game Thor (May 3) looking like something in-between the two, we’re not going to get our hopes up anytime soon.
But that doesn’t mean that good Marvel games don’t exist. In fact, lots of them do (Well, at least ten of them do). Here are the ten best Marvel games that we can think of. Can we get an “Excelsior!” Mr. Stan Lee?
10. Captain America and the Avengers (Arcade)
To hell with Thor and the Hulk. Who needs ‘em when you’ve got Vision (Who?) and Hawkeye? With Iron Man along for the ride as well, Captain America and the Avengers stormed the arcades and later the home consoles with this beat-‘em-up classic in the early 90s and we’re all better for it. Red Skull was of course the big, big baddie in the game, and all of the characters had their own special projectile attacks and hover vehicles (Except for Iron Man and Vision, they could fly) to combat him with. Other Avengers like Quicksilver and Namor: The Sub-Mariner, would also make cameo appearances, so this was Marvel stuffing the whole Avengers concept down your throat way before the second Iron Man movie. Oh, we thought you knew.
9. Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage (SNES, Genesis)
Coming in a black cartridge on the SNES, you knew that this game meant business right from the get-go. And with a soundtrack by Green Jelly, it only intensified the stage of battle. Set with the backdrop of the epic Maximum Carnage series behind it, Spider-man and Venom teamed up to take on the creature that once went by the name Cletus Kassady. Lots of characters joined in for the Final Fight-esque battle, like Iron Fist, Cloak and Dagger, and Morbius, but only Spider-man and Venom were playable, which sucked. What also sucked was that it got a little repetitive after awhile, but still, with both Spider-man and Green Jelly on one cartridge, how could you possibly go wrong?
Let's be honest. While Thor has his fans, the only reason he's getting a movie is because Marvel is releasing the even bigger Avengers film next year, and Thor just happens to be a key component of the original group (Even though, Ant Man is too, so why aren't they rushing to get his film out there?). But the fact of the matter is, if not for the upcoming Avengers film, Thor is a C-level character that not many people would even want to see a movie about when he's on his own. Some may argue that Iron Man was C-Level, too before he had his own film, but no. That is incorrect. Iron Man has always been at least B-Level amongst the fans and even had his own cartoon series. See the awesome intro for it below.
So, yeah, Iron Man was never considered C-Level at all, but that's beside the point. The point is, there are a lot of other Marvel characters out there who deserve to have their own movie before Thor. And while some awesome ones are supposedly coming down the pipeline (Deadpool, Dr. Strange, Luke Cage, etc), there are others who deserve their time in the sun way more than Thor does. Here are just five of them.
5. Magneto
(Photo taken from Beyondhollywood.com)
What pisses me off about this one is that a Magneto movie was actually being planned before that horrible sounding X-Men: First Class movie took its place. But let's think about this. Magneto (Real name: Erik Lehnsherr) is the ultimate villain and has an infinitely more interesting back story than Thor. It was hinted at in the first X-Men movie that Magneto was a prisoner of the Holocaust. And just like the new Captain America movie is going to be set in that era, how awesome would it be if Magneto made an appearance in that movie that led to his own eventual film? Sure, he would be young back then, but it's a serious story that, if done right, could lead to a drama on par with The Dark Knight. Magneto's story could show his rise to power and reveal how he becomes just as bad as the Fuhrer himself in adulthood, the man he grew up hating. The parallels would be engrossing to say the least. And besides, if Wolverine got his own movie (Two, now, actually) then Magneto deserves his own, too. He's just as interesting as the 5'3 Canuck. He just deserves his own spotlight to prove it.
4. Morbius
(Image taken from thedigitalpinoy.org)
If there were still Blade movies being made, then Morbius would definitely be in it, what with how cross-over heavy Marvel is these days. But there won't be any more Blade movies and Morbius is screwed, which sucks, because the living vampire is a highly tragic character who could spawn his own series just like Blade if it was done right. A former biochemist, Morbius was trying to create a cure for a rare blood disease he had when he accidentally turned himself into a vampire. And he's not just any vampire, but like, a drug addicted kind of vampire who needs blood to survive, i.e. He's not drinking it out of wine glasses and taking pleasure in it like those wimpy vampires of today. Also unlike the vampires of today, he actually looks like a vampire. I know that old-school vampires don't get much love these days and have to sparkle in the sunlight (In the sunlight?!?!) for people to go out and see them, but with the Marvel name backing him up, a fanbase would form behind him. It would happen. Just look at the fanbase forming behind Thor now. Oh, and also the hate groups forming because of Idris Elba playing a traditionally white character. But that's a matter for a different blog post.
3. Cloak and Dagger
(Image taken from: comicbookmovie.com)
I'll be honest with you. The first time I ever found out about Cloak and Dagger was not through their own comic, but through the Maximum Carnage series in the 90s. While the duo, a black dude in a cloak and a white woman in tights, bewildered me at first, I really got into them when I found out their powers. While Dagger is not so cool--she shoots light daggers that can both harm and heal people, Cloak's powers are some of the most awesome in all of comic-dom. He can travel through portals and send baddies into the dimension of darkness, which resides within his cloak. How cool is that? And while I'm usually one who says, "Hey, stop straying so much from the source material," I think I could definitely see this one being a bit more modern and set in a high school where drugs have overtaken it. It definitely would make for a fascinating yarn, don't you think?
2. Namor The Sub-Mariner
(Picture taken from: marvel.wikia.com)
Namor is not Aquaman. For one thing, he started out as an antihero. For another thing, he came before Aquaman, which I'm not sure many people are aware of. Most importantly though, he's cool, and I think that would translate well onto the screen. Being the Prince of Atlantis isn't easy, and it's really hard to pinpoint where exactly Marvel would go with the character if they ever made a movie about him. Because of the fact that he can fly, he's technically considered Marvel's first mutant since it doesn't genetically make sense for him to have that ability just because he was born from a human and an Atlantean. No matter, maybe that could be explained in the movie. The fact of the matter is, he's just an overall interesting character with so many ties and run-ins with other Marvel characters over the years that it's a crime that he doesn't already have a movie. I mean, he fought against Adolf Hitler in the Golden Age of comics! Surely, that's more important than a guy whose hammer can return to him when he throws it.
1. Moon Knight
(Image taken from: kilowog.tumblr.com)
Everybody's allowed their selfish choice, and this one is mine. Moon Knight has always been one of my favorite characters in the Marvel Universe, and not just because we share the Knight name. Many people will say, well, that's stupid because he's just a carbon copy off of Batman, but they couldn't be more wrong. Sure, the man known as Marc Spector becomes pretty wealthy in the comics, but his backstory is very different from a child witnessing his parents murdered and cleaning up the streets because of it. And when I say very different, I mean it, because Moon Knight is an Egyptian God (You heard that right) or at least, that's what he thinks he is. Because of chance circumstances in Egypt with a former friend who betrays him, he becomes the avatar of a god named Khonshu after a dream he has about him when he's near death. In other words, he might be insane. I don't know about you, but I think comic book movies are missing their insane superheros. And while Kick-Ass may have provided that for some people with Big Daddy, I definitely think there's room for another. Seriously, Marvel, get on board this. Moon Knight deserves his day!
