Tag Archives: NYCC

Thunderous Diplomacy

The Avengers Trailer (released last week) was downloaded over 10 million times in a 24 hour period, smashing previous records for trailers.apple.com.  The Marvel Team followed up such exciting fan-fare with a strong presence at New York Comic Con, where they discussed filming and shot some never-before-seen footage.  If you’re a closet nerd like I am, or just a straight-up nerd, you can watch the full NYCC Avengers panel here.
Tom Hiddleston somewhat dominates the panel as people seem to really love his portrayal of supervillain Loki.  The panel ends with Kevin Fiege (Marvel’s President) talking about Marvel moving into what he refers to as ‘phase two‘.
While a DC/Warner Bros. Justice League of America film is a looming threat for Marvel, The Dark Knight rises is an immediate one, as many predict that it will beat out the Avengers at the summer box office.  Many argue that Chris Nolan’s ‘rooted-in-reality‘ darker, more gritty tone is much more accessible to audiences than the sci-fi otherworldly aspects of the Avengers.
If this be true, Marvel’s woes with DC/Warner Bros. would seemingly be over after The Dark Knight Rises seeing as Batman is the only ‘superhero’ without any actual superpowers.  Indeed it would be difficult to make a gritty, ‘rooted-in-reality’ film about Superman.  DC/Warner Bros. however, is trying.
Christopher Nolan is undoubtedly the biggest power player that DC/Warner Bros. has access to, and although he’s done with Batman after TDKR, he is artistically and financially attached to other DC/Warner Bros. projects, including Man of Steel.  It seems obvious that if DC/Warner Bros. wants to actually beat out Marvel in Hollywood it is absolutely paramount that they stick to the realistic tone that has been wildly successful for Christopher Nolan and The Dark Knight franchise.
That being said, let’s take a look at Marvel’s most otherworldly superhero, the Asgardian God of Thunder: Thor.
Thor Odinson is the Crown Prince of the mystical realm of Asgard.  Our dear friend Thor is based off of the Norse God of Thunder, and acts accordingly.  A brave and mighty warrior Thor won many battles as a child, growing headstrong and proud.  In his arrogance, Thor put his realm and people on the brink of war after breaking a truce with Asgard’s enemies the Frost Giants.  Teaching his son a lesson in humility, Thor’s father Odin banished him to earth, and stripped him of his powers.  Thor came back humble, gentle, empathetic, and sympathetic to his fellow man.  Altruistic, enthusiastic, inspirational, and yet fiercely independent, Thor is undoubtedly a Champion Idealist.  Indeed Thor’s high-spirited attitude and warm enthusiasm for defending his realm is often mistaken for arrogance, a typical problem with most Champions.  In true Idealist fashion, Thor was only able to wield his hammer Mjolnir ‘the day that great deeds of selfless valor had proved him worthy of it’.  Indeed only those ‘pure of heart‘ are able to wield Thor’s mystical hammer.  A hopeless romantic, Thor fell deeply in love with the Goddess Sif before the age of 20.  Certainly Thor has several deep love interests over his Godly life span (including that of Jane Foster seen in the film) Sif however being his main squeeze.  Thor has undoubtedly proven himself as self-sacrificing over the years, most notably in the subject of his mischievous kid-brother Loki.  Indeed Loki has made countless attempts at Thor’s life, but Thor however always spares Loki, hoping (to no avail) that Loki has learned his lesson.  Indeed Thor has tireless faith in his fellow man, and time and time again Thor is sacrificing himself to save innocent people from Loki or any other dangers for that matter, as he will no doubt do in The Avengers.
Quote1.png Even the life of a Thunder God can offer no greater satisfaction than this! For I have helped a fellow man! Quote2.png

Thor Odinson (Earth-616)
Quote1.png We are gods, ’tis our purpose to set aright the path of lesser beings. Quote2.png

Thor Odinson (Earth-616)
Spoilerish: Marvel head honcho Kevin Fiege discussed Loki’s purported ‘alien army‘ saying that “it’ll be extremely extremely large and something that links not only into the movies we’ve made but the movies we’re going to make.  So it’s a big play that we’re not quite ready to talk about.”
This hint/suggestion of course goes hand-in-hand with theories that Loki’s army will indeed be the Skrull army from the comics.  If you don’t know what that is, then you’re probably normal.  Anyway this goes hand-in-hand with the ‘otherworldiness‘ described above.
The question is will such ‘alien army’, otherwordly concepts ultimately win over audiences or disconnect them?  Which would you rather see, a team of superheroes battling alien armies?  Or a vigilante billionaire fight a bad-ass prison-escapee on drugs?  Stay tuned as the Marvel/Disney vs. DC/Warner Bros. battle for Hollywood dominance rages on.

Marvel's 'Phase Two'

Marvel Entertainment Inc. brought a strong presence to NYCC (New York Comic-Con) this weekend to further promote their beloved and blossoming potential blockbuster movie franchise The Avengers.  The panel showed some never-before-seen footage and did some Q&A.  Marvel head honcho Kevin Fiege then opened up to fans about how happy he was with the direction the studio was going, culminating in an Avengers film.  The Avengers however, as Fiege explained, is certainly not the end of the road for Marvel/Disney.

Fiege hinted at the fact that ‘phase two of the Marvel Movie Universe‘ will include another round of solo films, and then culminate in a second Avengers film.  That however, is not all.  Marvel reportedly has five projects currently in development.  Iron Man 3 is in pre-production for a 2013 release attached to director Shane Black.  Thor 2 will begin pre-production soon and just picked up director Patty Jenkins (Monster).  An Ant-man film is ‘still nebulous but definitely in the works’.  Guardians of the Galaxy and Inhumans films are also reportedly in the works.  With so much success in their mainstream characters it seems a bit risky to put out obscure characters like some mentioned above.  Lucky enough for Marvel it has an insurance policy: The Walt Disney Company.

Disney bought Marvel about two years ago for over $4 billion.  While things indeed seem to be going well for both companies since the acquisition, Marvel has made deals with other studios to distribute some of their movies (spider-man, x-men, daredevil, etc.) making the Avengers and its four superheroes a coveted ‘in-house’ Marvel enterprise.  Without kissing too much Walt-Disney/Marvel ass, let’s take a look at the first avenger to make it to the big screen, and also by far the most box office successful avenger: Iron Man.

Anthony Edward Stark is the son of industrialist and inventor Howard Stark, and demonstrated his mechanical aptitude and extraordinary inventive genius at an early age.  Inheriting his father’s company Stark Industries, Tony blossomed into a billionaire industrialist, and an ingenious engineer.  With a highly ‘innovative attitude‘, an ‘entrepreneurial spirit‘, and a ‘charming capacity‘ to ignore the standard, the traditional, and the authoritative: Tony Stark is undoubtedly an Inventor Rational.  Indeed the Inventor‘s tendency to depend on their capability and inventiveness can get them in trouble at times.  Tony took this concept a bit too far when he ignored security concerns and ended up with shrapnel lodged in his chest.  In classic Inventor Rational fashion, Tony used his creative and inventive genius to devise a mechanical suit that saved his life.  And thus, Iron Man was born.  Indeed Tony is constantly searching for new projects, as we will no doubt see in the Avengers, and always tinkering with and improving his mechanical suit.  Indeed given their exceptional propensity to innovate, Inventors have a tendency to live their lives somewhat on the brink of disaster: as evidenced by Tony Stark’s perpetuated struggles with alcoholism.  Tony Stark having a somewhat reckless and at-times irresponsible persona in the comics goes hand-in-hand of course with casting the likes of Robert Downey Jr.  The Armored Avenger can be seen amongst his super squad May 2012, and again by himself May 2013.

Quote1.png My kingdom for a Radio Shack. Quote2.png

Anthony Stark (Earth-616)

While Marvel/Disney seems to have it’s sh*t together, DC/Warner Bros. is still searching for solid cash cows to replace the likes of Harry Potter and The Dark Knight.  While they do have The Hobbit films coming up, they simply cannot afford setbacks like Green Lantern if they actually want to directly compete with The Avengers and it’s four characters with already well-developed fan-bases.

Marvel/Disney seems poised to keep churning out inter-related superhero blockbusters while DC/Warner Bros. still has yet to find solid JLA (Justice League of America) footing.  In the epic battle for Hollywood supremacy that is Marvel/Disney vs. DC/Warner Bros.Marvel/Disney is cleaning house.