marvel

Robert Downey Jr. Just Revealed the Fate of ‘Iron Man 4’

Will there be yet another Iron Man installment?

Sadly, no. At least if Robert Downey Jr. is to be believed. Variety got ahold of him at the Toronto Film Festival recently for an interview, where he broke the news.

“There isn’t one in the pipe,” said Downey Jr. “No, there’s no plan for a fourth Iron Man.”

He did mention that he’s signed on for at least two more Avengers sequels. That includes “Age of Ultron,” which will be coming out next May. As well as the third Avengers film in 2018.

iron man 4

This is important news because Iron Man is the first of Marvel films to open during the “Marvel Cinematic Universe.” It was the first to complete a trilogy (with Captain America, Thor, and perhaps even Hulk to finish their own within the next few years).

If there won’t be an Iron Man 4, then should we also believe that the rest of the MCU films will follow suit?

Fourth installments are rarely successful, with films like Rocky IV being the rare exception. It makes sense why Marvel Studios would want to shy from over saturating these franchises, and the fact that Disney is really running the show is important to note. Disney is, after all, notorious for avoiding big budget/big screen sequels.

Still, this could mean that we won’t see a standalone Iron Man film for a long time. Perhaps as a reboot with a new actor. And right now, it’s hard to imagine anyone besides Robert Downey Jr. being the man inside that armor.

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Disney & Marvel’s Next Crazy Experiment: ‘Big Hero 6’

Somehow, Disney decided to take one of the most obscure comic book franchises on the market and turn it into their next animated film.

Not only that, but Big Hero 6 is Disney’s first major attempt to adapt a Marvel comic book using their animation playbook. The trailer itself even advertises that the movie is “from the makers of Frozen and Wreck-It Ralph.”

As someone who is a huge fan of both superheroes and Disney, this is clearly a dream come true, but for those of you wondering just what the heck Big Hero 6 is, here’s a brief introduction that should get you pretty excited about this upcoming November release.

But first, here’s the trailer:

What you saw in the trailer is just a small part of the superhero team known as “Big Hero 6.” The character above is one of the main protagonists, Hiro Hamada, and the robot he is building is called Baymax.

The rest of Big Hero 6 will be introduced later on, and they’re a diverse bunch. Though we don’t have the full roster confirmed yet, we know that the team will consist of:

#1 Wasabi-No-Ginger: a highly skilled chef and swordsman who can materialize throwing knives (like Gambit, pretty much).

big hero 6

#2 Honey Lemon: a dimension-crossing woman with the ability to pull out almost anything from her purse.

big hero 6

#3 GoGo Tomago: once she utters her name, she can turn herself into a ball of energy that moves at incredible speed.

big hero 6

#4 Fredzilla: a tough guy who can transform into a Godzilla-like creature. He also has a major connection to S.H.I.E.L.D.

(with a connection to S.H.I.E.L.D.)

And then, of course, there’s Hiro and Baymax, who presumably make the 5th and 6th members of the team. Hiro is a 13-year-old prodigy who builds Baymax for a high school science project, not realizing that the synthetic behemoth would become his best friend and even father figure.

Aside from the interesting characters, the setting for Big Hero 6 is one of the most exciting aspects of the upcoming film. It takes place in San Fransokyo, a tonal combination of San Francisco and Tokyo. The rich themes borrow heavily from both Japanese and Western culture, making the world of Big Hero 6 stand out from other comic book offerings.

big hero 6
Silver Samurai

Speaking of comic books, you’ve no doubt noticed that this clearly takes place in the Marvel universe. In fact, two members of the team (in the comics) are actually from the X-Men universe, including Silver Samurai (the villain from The Wolverine) and Sunfire (a former X-Men). For legal reasons, they had to be left out of this film, at least until Fox allows Disney and Marvel to use X-Men characters.

As you can see, Disney is repurposing a lot of content from the original comic, and I’m expecting the final film to be a huge departure from what inspired it. It’s too early to know if that’s a good or a bad thing, but it’s for that reason I’m actually going to suggest that most of you go into this film without reading the comics.

Naturally, you should check them out if you’re curious and want to read a good story. All I’m saying is that if you want to look into them for the sake of knowing more about what the film is going to offer, than I suspect you may be disappointed, and the film may even be ruined for you.big hero 6

You may also be wondering why Disney would choose this as their follow-up to last year’s massive hit, Frozen. Well, it’s not really complicated. First, Disney had no idea that Frozen would be the moneymaker that it was, and Big Hero 6 has been planned since way back in 2011.

If you’re waiting to see how Disney truly tries to replicate the success of Frozen, just wait about two more years. Until then, we’ll get to enjoy the risky projects they’ve already been working on, and I couldn’t be more excited for this one in particular.

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New Amazing Spider-Man 2 Featurettes That Actually Make The Movie Look Promising

Look, you guys know me pretty well at this point. You know that Spider-man is my favorite superhero ever, and I haven’t been pleased with a single Spidey film since Spider-man 2 seized my heart with mechanical tentacles.

I haven’t been looking forward to TASM2, despite how “action-packed” and “colorful” the trailers have promised it to be. I’ve seen this trickery before courtesy of Spider-man 3, and we all know how that turned out – too many villains and not enough Sam Raimi.

But I’ve decided to be almost optimistic for a minute upon the release of these new featurettes that are currently being shown in the pre-previews for Robocop. They actually show what TASM was lacking: someone who actually resembles Spider-man.

It’s not just about the funny quips and frenetic web-slinging. Spider-man only works as a character when you display his struggle with the price of being a hero. Naturally, the first featurette is titled “The Price Of Being A Hero,” and it addresses the concept pretty gracefully.

Let’s check it out first:

We see Peter Parker and Gwen Stacey’s budding relationship being strained by both Peter’s responsibilities and his promise to Gwen’s father. We’re also teased about Aunt May’s “secrets” concerning Peter’s parents (yeah yeah, we’ve all heard that before).

Oh, and Stacey points out that she’ll be going to London? How many problems does this guy have to deal with?

Well, the next featurette shies away from the drama in favor of the action. And it actually looks pretty good at the moment:

As you can see, we get a glimpse into some of the stunt work being done for the film. They claim that they’re cutting back on the CGI, but I’m skeptical considering they only really showed off one scene…

I will say, however, that the soundtrack here worked for me. It’s no Spider-man 2, but I guess we’ll have to make do.

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All Of The Marvel Movie Character Rights Explained In One Graphic

Recently, The Geek Twins put together this fantastic guide for which movie studios own the rights to every Marvel Comics character.

From X-Men, Spider-Man and even the often ignored Namor, you can now see in one clear picture how it’s all laid out (for now) in this graphic illustrated by Maurice Mitchell.

Be sure to show those guys some love by checking out thegeektwins.com

Marvel Movie Character Rights

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Trailer Breakdown – Captain America: Winter Soldier

captain america winter soldier

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.

Go on…Trailer Breakdown – Captain America: Winter Soldier

Top 7 Movies of 2012

Image Courtesy of Fanart.tv

This was a fantastic year for movies, so I just had to make a list. Keep in mind that these are the movies I personally enjoyed the most and may not be for everyone. I did leave out some great movies on this list, so I will be doing honorable mentions at the very bottom.

7. Rise of the Guardians (PG)

Image courtesy of catholicexchange.com

What? Pixar didn’t make my favorite animated movie list? Honestly, Brave didn’t even beat out Hotel Transylvania for me. I found it bland, boring, and ultimately underwhelming, especially for a Pixar film. No, Rise of the Guardians makes this list because it simply was the most enjoyable animated film I saw this year. It could have easily been a contrived mess, cashing in on the exciting premise of seeing Santa, the Easter Bunny, Jack Frost and the Tooth Fairy fighting the Boogeyman. Thankfully, the movie has some great storytelling behind it thanks to the series of books it’s based upon, making it an action-packed kid’s movie with some interesting, sometimes deep themes. Plus, it was great to see The Sandman actually being the “strongest” of the guardians. Definitely glad I went out and saw this one.

6. Dark Knight Rises (PG-13)

Image Courtesy of Gawker

What a great way to conclude a trilogy. I have to admit that I wasn’t as impressed as everyone else with The Dark Knight, but I more than appreciated how well they crafted such a phenomenon. I had my doubts that DKR would even manage to come close to meeting expectations fans had for this film, but I was pleasantly surprised. Put simply, the movie did it for me. It had plenty of flaws and gaping plot-holes, but it was still an enjoyable ride from start to finish, and they managed to end the trilogy in a way that pleases pretty much everyone. I call that a win.

5. Les Miserables (PG-13)

Image Courtesy of aceshowbiz.com

What more can I say besides the fact that Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman were so good at their roles that absolutely everything else I disliked about the movie pretty much meant nothing because, holy crap, I got to see some of the best acting of the year done to a musical. See this in theaters while you can.

4. Chronicle (PG-13)

Image Courtesy of Best Movies Ever News

What a fantastic movie this turned out to be. At a time when we’re getting bombarded with the “handheld camera” style of filmmaking (Paranormal Activity 4 anyone?), I was relieved to see a studio really nail it with Chronicle. The movie already wins points on not being an adaptation or sequel. It was just an ambitious project that was filmed extremely well and ended up being one of my favorite movies of the year. It worked because it was simple and well-executed with believable characters and, of course, the powers these kids used evolved from entertaining to epic, making the final battle scene one of the best superhero finales I can say I’ve seen.

3. Ted (R)

Image Courtesy of filmofilia.comI hate Family Guy these days. Ever since the end of season 6, I have been extremely disappointed with the show and have completely given up on it. Sure, I watch episodes every so often to “check-in” and see if the show has managed to fix whatever it is that they broke. Hasn’t happened yet, but maybe that’s why I enjoyed Ted so much. Seth McFarlane, the mastermind (and pretty much every voice) behind Family Guy, American Dad, and The Cleveland Show produced this movie, and it really was like the spirit and humor of past Family Guy were revived. Ted was easily the most funny movie I saw this year, and the reasons it worked go beyond the humor. Just look at how they handled Mila Kunis, who we probably should have hated but ended up empathizing with. The casting was the most well-done aspect of this film, with Ted becoming one of this year’s biggest new stars. Not bad for a teddy bear.

2. Skyfall (PG-13)

Image Courtesy of Collider

I’ve been an avid fan of the James Bond franchise since I was old enough to watch them back when Goldeneye came out. To be honest, however, I haven’t enjoyed a Bond film (with the exception of Casino Royale, though even that was disappointing in part) since The World is Not Enough back when I was just 9 years old. The charm and mind-splitting plot of James Bond just hasn’t been there until we received Skyfall, a Bond movie that finally took some serious risks. They say that Bond films are most successful when they reflect the taste of the times. This is why Cold-War, macho villainy, and gadget hi-jinks were so popular back in the baby boomer days. Now, we’ve finally received a Bond film that adapts to the audiences of today. It was a fantastic action film that utilized the gritty realism and introspection we have come to expect thanks to Christopher Nolan. The villain ended up being the best movie villain of the year, I’d say, thanks to a brilliant performance by Sam Mendes. Just the fact that Skyfall actually took the risk of showing us a more emotional Bond without polarizing what makes him iconic is a testament to how well this film was made. 

1. The Avengers (PG-13)

I just enjoyed this film the most, okay? It wasn’t the most well-made film that came out this year. It wasn’t the best story. It didn’t have the best special effects. It didn’t have the best characters. Still, this was the most fun, escapism movie I saw this year. I lost myself in watching some of my favorite movie heroes fighting alongside each other against my favorite villain from their string of movies. I laughed and cheered alongside hundreds of people watching this movie, which is an experience I’ll never forget. When I think back, I waited four years for this movie, starting with Iron Man, so I easily could have been disappointed if just one of the characters fell flat. Not the case. Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, and The Incredible Hulk lived up to my expectations perfectly. Thank you Marvel Studios.

Honorable Mentions:

  • Argo
  • Lincoln
  • Django Unchained
  • The Hobbit
  • Cabin in the Woods
  • Moonrise Kingdom
  • Wreck-it Ralph
  • Looper
  • Life of Pi

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