In case you want to do some binge watching leading up to the May release of Age of Ultron.
Now if you want to be incredibly inclusive and stretch out beyond the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe), you could always start with Howard the Duck and then blaze through the Blade, X-Men, Spider-Man, Punisher, Daredevil, and Fantastic Four movies. Not that you would want to.
Source: Imgur
Long story short? There are a lot of comic book movie adaptations coming out in the next six years…
Graphic is below, and I’m wondering right now: how many is too many? Do you think we’ll be sick of these films by 2020? Or craving for more…
The info graphic comes to us courtesy of comicsalliance.com. And as you can see, they’ve pretty much covered every base you can cover, down to the Lego Batman movie.
I’m also entertained by the fact that dates for “Unknown Movie (Marvel)” have been announced before the actual concept. Only in Hollywood.
This of course means they have several untitled projects (maybe a Hulk movie?) that they could slip into those release dates, and the powers that be are simply waiting on the call from preproduction. Won’t be long before they actually make the announcement.
Anyway, is the comic book movie market getting over saturated? It’s pretty easy to think so after looking at a list like this, and I’m tempted to roll my eyes. But the key thing to remember is that thanks to Marvel and D.C., “superhero” movies have been broadened to include more genres than just the men in tights gimmick.
These studios have proven that you can make movies that encompass genres that are faithful to their stories. Thor is a fantasy movie above all else. Captain America is a political thriller. And Iron Man is action comedy. With all of these movies telling different types of stories on different scales, I’m worrying less and less about over saturation. For now.
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Warning.
This theory could pretty much spell out what Marvel has been planning for the Avengers franchise, including not one, but two huge twists surrounding Captain America and his band of Marvel misfits. You’ve been warned.
I received an email from a fellow Marvel Cinematic Universe fan who made the startling claim that Captain America will perish in the upcoming 2018 film, Avengers 3.
Obviously, that’s pretty far off, and I was skeptical at first. But the theory makes incredible sense. It turns out that a Redditor started this idea pretty recently, and a lot of fans have ran with it. Here’s the general concept:
Steve Rogers/Captain America was born on July 4, 1918 according to Captain America: The First Avenger. That would make him 100 years old exactly by the time we get to Avengers 3, which will take place in 2018.
This is because the MCU tends to align its movies with the years they come out in. Iron Man took place in their version of 2008. Avengers took place a few years later in 2012.
Now to follow along with this theory, you have to know that it’s been recently implied by Marvel that Captain America 3 will be the start of popular comic storyline, Civil War, in which Tony Stark and Steve Rogers will create warring factions against each other.
This is because RDJ will actually be in the third sequel for Captain America.
Cap 3 is planned to come out in 2016, which means the “Civil War” would last for at least two years before Avengers 3 would come out in 2018. The idea is that Thanos will attack Earth in Avengers 3 (forcing the Marvel heroes to settle their differences and unite), and Captain America will sacrifice himself for everyone and die around his 100th birthday.
Thus ending the Civil War.
This aligns with the fact that Marvel needs a new actor to replace Chris Evans, who won’t be doing anymore Captain America movies after this.
In comes Sebastian Stan (AKA Bucky Barnes AKA The Winter Soldier) who has agreed to doing 9 films with Marvel.
And in the comics, Bucky Barnes takes up the Captain America mantle himself.
That leads us to Phase IV.
[Above: Cap suffers this fate in Civil War, thus fueling the theory]
Which would include…? Well Iron Man will be devastated, obviously, but does that mean RDJ will still be kicking around? Or will this Earth-shattering Avengers trilogy pave the way for a new team of heroes and a new franchise of Marvel films?
We’ll see in about 4 years.
Do you agree with this theory? Special thanks to Redditor samus1225 for sparking this spoilerific theory.
Thanks for Reading! You can subscribe to this blog by email via the prompt on the sidebar. Otherwise, be sure to stay connected with me on Twitter (@JonNegroni). I’ll follow you back if you say something witty and awesome.
Instead of watching the Super Bowl this year, I had the immeasurable benefit of having one night to finish a video I made for one of the nonprofits that I volunteer for. So instead of watching what is being considered by many as the worst Super Bowl of all time, I had my face buried in a computer (but what else is new?)
Aside from not being able to watch the game itself, I was equally distraught at having to miss out on the commercials, though I heard those didn’t fare well either. Still, I was anxious to watch two commercials in particular that were bound to be good (at least one had to, right?)
My wish was fulfilled and then some because both trailers were amazing, despite my immense displeasure with the first “Amazing Spider-Man” and my worry that Captain America would have nothing interesting to do in a sequel without Downey Jr. or the God of Thunder. Or Mark Ruffalo. Or Colson.
See, I was pretty worried, and although a trailer is only a halfway decent benchmark for anticipating the success of a film (critically, that is), I am happy to report that both movies look to be promising superhero flicks that will satisfy our itch for escapism once the weather warms up.
But which was better?
If you had asked me on Saturday, I would have met you with a resounding laughter. “Captain America, obviously.” is one of the 14 phrases I would have uttered. But with this latest look at The Amazing Spider-Man 2, I actually have to think about this, and I hope you help me decide.
Normally, I break down trailers individually with funny captions and litter them with interesting side notes about the upcoming film. I already did that for Captain America, and I was too disinterested to give Spider-Man more than a Tweet.
So this time, I’ll be comparing the two trailers side by side. Let’s get started!
You know what I love about being Spider-Man? Everything.
Yeah, really profound Andrew.
I liked this trailer a lot more than the first one, which reeked of Spider-Man 3’s villain overload. But what we learned from the first Amazing Spider-Man movie is that there are more problems with the handling of Spider-Man than introducing a lot of villains. The Lizard was the only villain, and the movie was still terrible, for instance.
But it looks like the sequel will be giving it the old college try at redeeming its creative decisions in the first movie. Most importantly: the costume is perfect. He actually looks like Spider-Man now, and his arms are no longer blinking.
Next, it’s comforting to know that the movie will focus more on the heroism of Peter Parker’s alter ego, rather than just focusing on his revenge quest against his uncle’s killer and his uninteresting girl problems with Gwen Stacey. This trailer gave us a glimpse of Spider-Man actually saving people and fighting crime, a small detail that has been overlooked since Spider-Man 2 (the best one).
I have to admit that the Max Dillon/Electro/Jamie Foxx plot makes little sense so far. The trailer explains that he is a villain because a brief encounter with Spider-Man encouraged him to gain powers. But when he did do that and became Electro, Spider-Man forgot his name, which set him off on a rampage.
That just seems…silly. For now, I guess we’ll just chalk this up to the fact the guy is wickedly unstable.
Finally, as much as I am excited to see the Sinister Six being hinted at and built up, I can’t help but feel like the Harry Osborn/Rhino thing is being crammed into the movie. The trailer doesn’t flow, as a result, and I feel like that may be a sign of pacing problems the movie is bound to have.
Still, the action looks far more creative and fun to watch than the last movie, with even CGI effects looking crisp and imaginative. Here’s to Spidey and Sony trying to make good on second chances.
Now, let’s take a look at the new trailer for Captain America: The Winter Soldier and compare:
If they’re shooting at you, they’re bad.
Yeah, really profound, Chris.
The first trailer did a good job of introducing us to another side of S.H.I.E.L.D. that is similar to the TV show, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, in that it features the “Black Ops” aspect of hunting down dangerous, god-like individuals. It’s setting the stage for Secret Avengers, a plot avenue that makes perfect sense for Captain America (and Steve Rogers).
Cap isn’t the most powerful Avenger. He’s not the smartest, or even the most good-looking (thanks to Black Widow). But he is the bravest of them. He’s a soldier, and his role as the “Captain” is something that this new trailer is willing to explore.
Unlike the first trailer, this featurette focuses more on the antagonist, The Winter Soldier. Many of you probably already know who he really is thanks to comic books and the Internet being terrible at keeping secrets, but please do not spoil the surprise for anyone who doesn’t know.
That said, we got a more full glimpse of the action behind this new villain and why we should actually be afraid of him. 1 point goes to Captain America for having a much more interesting and streamlined villain (which is surprising).
It was also great to see more of The Falcon joining the action, particularly when the two are being shot at toward the end. Between Falcon, Black Widow, and Fury all vying for Cap’s attention, it now makes sense why Hawkeye probably won’t get brought up this time around.
A point goes to both trailers for giving us some good action to rejuvenate our childlike lusts for violence and explosions, but I’m giving Spider-Man another point for costume design. Maybe it’s because it’s such a fantastic improvement over his last one, but it’s also because Cap’s helmet is just plain awkward.
Captain America gets 1 more point, however, because of Scarlett Johansson, but that is met by another point to Spider-Man for having more comedic moments. The “washing the American flag” bit, along with the chimney thing, actually had me laughing, while the Captain America trailer’s only attempt at humor fell extremely flat for me.
Thanks to Emma Stone, Spider-Man gets the last point, which means I actually pick The Amazing Spider-Man 2 trailer over Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Never in the history of the last few months did I believe such a thing was possible, but here we are.
Thanks for Reading! You can subscribe to this blog by email via the prompt on the sidebar. Otherwise, be sure to stay connected with me on Twitter (@JonNegroni). I’ll follow you back if you say something witty and awesome.
Good marketing Marvel. Releasing the Captain America trailer just a few weeks before your “let’s hope to God this sticks” premiere of Thor’s first sequel was a good move, getting fans hyped and movie bloggers over-analyzing.
Speaking of shamelessly breaking down trailers, let’s talk about the Captain America: The Winter Soldier trailer, which was actually 83% better than I thought it would be, as Barney Stinson would claim.