Superheroes!

A thread for all things super-powered. We'll see if it *ahem* flies. I'm mainly into the live-action movies and TV shows these days, but if you're reading comics, watching cartoons, collecting toys, or attending cons, feel free to dive in.

I'm not half the comic-book geek that I was when I was a kid, but still the 13-year-old inside me can't stop smiling over the impending Daredevil reboot. I didn't loathe Affleck & Johnson's effort (good lord, was that really 12 years ago?), but this Netflix series already looks superior:


Link to video.

I was into the Saturday morning superhero cartoons as a child and teenager, but they were very different from the ones most people recognize now. I'll hunt up some YouTube clips later, but for now just consider the stuff available to Canadian kids back in the '60s, when having even 2 channels was a big deal.

I don't know if it qualifies, but Neil Gaiman's famous Sandman comic was to me the finest comic superhero. He's the personification of Dream, and higher than the gods, and hence the entire original series is chockful of the Humanities. Naturally since it began under DC comics, then many of these superheroes appear within.

On a side note, is anyone else having trouble linking images?

The writing and art of Swamp Thing under the Moore period as well as part when Veitch took over is a most excellent chapter in superhero history.

The Frank Miller era with Daredevil was particularly great.

Jim Lee's depiction of Wolverine was among the best.

If you want to post images, it's best to use a hosting site. You could also post it as an attachment. Keep in mind the rules regarding NSFW content and the 1-click rule.

Someone is doing a web series 'reboot' of Electra Woman & Dyna-Girl. If this is a parody of both superheroes and movie reboots of '70s shows, a la that Power Rangers thing that Katee Sackhoff did, I'm in.

Crackerbox said:

The Frank Miller era with Daredevil was particularly great.

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Amen, brother. I haven't read the Man Without Fear series that the Netflix show draws from, but the Miller/Jansen years are among my fondest memories. I'm sure I still have them in a box somewhere.

As the Marvel universe expands continuously on the big and little screen...where is Prince Namor?

I wonder how many Millenials know about Prince Namor outside of the Fantastic Four fans. I'd like to see a movie about him. Who do you suggest play the lead? Does it have a FF tie in? Or the Defenders?

There's a rumor that the Inhumans will be made into a film. Black Bolt and Medusa were very unique superheroes.

Link to video.

Some of the Kirby art is stunning from the origins of the Inhumans.
...
Here's a quirky Woody Harrelson film with Kat Dennings called Defendor (sic)

Link to video.

Timsup2nothin said:

As the Marvel universe expands continuously on the big and little screen...where is Prince Namor?

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Namor was/is one of the characters caught up in the rights wars. I think Marvel has the rights now.

Crackerbox said:

I wonder how many Millenials know about Prince Namor outside of the Fantastic Four fans. I'd like to see a movie about him. Who do you suggest play the lead? Does it have a FF tie in? Or the Defenders?

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Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson could work. He's going to play Black Adam in Shazam, iirc.

20th Century Fox owns the FF, and their relationship with Marvel has soured almost beyond comprehension. Marvel Studios is introducing The Inhumans specifically to replace The X-Men, essentially throwing in the towel on ever getting the rights back. Supposedly the word "mutant" cannot be in an MCU script. Marvel Comics is actually cancelling The Fantastic Four comic soon, and some people think it's because they don't want to provide free marketing for Fox's movie.

The Defenders are a different story. For some reason, Marvel has decided to use the name for its Netflix team of Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist. Doctor Strange is going to get his own movie, and it's expected that he will be a core character for a new iteration of The Avengers as Downey Jr, Johannson, Renner, and the Chrises move on to other things. A whole new Avengers team is already on the drawing board; The Black Panther and Captain Marvel are also getting their own solo films, and... [mild Age of Ultron spoiler]


I think The Silver Surfer is part of the Fantastic Four rights package. Trish Walker, aka Hellcat, has been cast for the Jessica Jones show, so she might become part of that team. The Valkyrie (Anna Torv, anyone?), Nighthawk, Son of Satan, and The Gargoyle haven't been mentioned at all, that I've seen.

Crackerbox said:

There's a rumor that the Inhumans will be made into a film. Black Bolt and Medusa were very unique superheroes.

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It's much more than a rumor. The Inhumans have been introduced in Agents of SHIELD, and the movie has been announced for some years down the road. 2018 or 2019. None of the iconic characters have been mentioned in the television show yet, as they're laying the groundwork for the Inhumans to replace mutants in the MCU (presumably Black Bolt, et al will feature in the movie, and Vin Diesel has publicly thrown his hat into the ring for a role). It's widely expected that some characters will be retconned from mutants to Inhumans in Age of Ultron and... [mild Agents of SHIELD spoiler]

“It’s hard to talk about the importance of an imaginary hero. But heroes are important. Heroes tell us something about ourselves. History books tell us who we used to be, documentaries tell us who we are now, but heroes tell us who we want to be.

And a lot of our heroes depress me. But, you know, when they made this particular hero up, they didn’t give him a gun - they gave him a screwdriver to fix things. They didn’t give him a tank or a warship or an X-Wing fighter, they gave him a call box from which you can call for help. And they didn’t give him a superpower or pointy ears or a heat ray. They gave him an extra heart. They gave him two hearts, and that’s an extraordinary thing.

There will never come a time when we don’t need a hero like the Doctor.”

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Link to video.

EgonSpengler said:

Doctor Strange is going to get his own movie, and it's expected that he will be a core character for a new iteration of The Avengers as Downey Jr, Johannson, Renner, and the Chrises move on to other things.

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By your parlance, Doc Strange is incredibly cool.

Timsup2nothin said:

By your parlance, Doc Strange is incredibly cool.

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Well, he is going to be played by Benedict Cumberbatch. Some would say that alone makes him incredibly cool. Chiwetel Ejiofor is reportedly being wooed by Marvel for an undisclosed role. Perhaps Baron Mordo, Strange's nemesis.

EgonSpengler said:

Well, he is going to be played by Benedict Cumberbatch. Some would say that alone makes him incredibly cool.

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Or that it makes him indistinguishable from about 60% of all film characters...

I'll admit, I've only seen Cumberbatch in two roles and he's 1-1 for me so far (Sherlock and Star Trek), but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. At any rate, I don't think "indistinguishable" would be a tag I'd hang on him.

I have nothing against him as an actor (I'm just jealous of his success, him being almost exactly the same age as me), but he really is ubiquitous.

Well other than Batman, DC comics ruins the transferal of superheroes to cinema. The next Batman is probably be ruinous based upon Afleck's asleep at the switch portrayal of Daredevil.

I'd love to see Black Panther come to the big screen but it'll probably be so over the top as to screw it up. He's one of the most interesting intelligent characters in comic history.
http://marvel.com/news/movies/23548/chadwick_boseman_to_star_in_marvels_black_panther

Yeah, except for Batman, DC movies have pretty much blown the last couple of decades. I didn't see Green Lantern or Jonah Hex, but I've heard nothing good about either of them. Arrow and The Flash are better than I expected them to be, though.

EgonSpengler said:

Yeah, except for Batman, DC movies have pretty much blown the last couple of decades. I didn't see Green Lantern or Jonah Hex, but I've heard nothing good about either of them. Arrow and The Flash are better than I expected them to be, though.

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Arrow really surprised me, but it was a shame to lose Caity Lotz as Black Canary. She was ideal as that character due to her ability to do parkour. She's also a trained dancer and martial artist. There's not very many actresses with her kind of abilities.

Link to video.

Link to video.
Green Lantern stunk; it was awful. I can't understand this because Ryan Renynolds had already done some fine work in one of the Blade films, has a genuine sense of humor, but I guess just wasn't prepared to play Hal Jordan???

If Afleck ruins Batman, I'm going to be seriously upset. Personally, I liked Henry Cavill's portrayal of Kal-el, but the crazy carnage scenes were so unlike the comics that it ruined suspension of disbelief. I think most comic fans were going, "WTF???" as Superman always tried to prevent mass destruction.

Antje Traue should have been the new Wonder Woman. She would have been perfect. Check out Pandorum where she does a lot of stunts herself as well. She's a German actress so it's difficult to break into Hollywood. She's in the Seventh Son film.

Link to video.

Crackerbox said:

Arrow really surprised me, but it was a shame to lose Caity Lotz as Black Canary. She was ideal as that character due to her ability to do parkour. She's also a trained dancer and martial artist. There's not very many actresses with her kind of abilities.

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And she was in that horrible girl-group.


Link to video.

I agree, though, she was a good Black Canary, better than this other woman. On the bright side, she's signed onto the next Arrow/Flash spinoff, some kind of team show with Brandon Routh, Wentworth Miller, and Victor Garber. No word on who she'll be playing, but nobody's ever really dead in the comics...

Crackerbox said:

Antje Traue should have been the new Wonder Woman. She would have been perfect. Check out Pandorum where she does a lot of stunts herself as well. She's a German actress so it's difficult to break into Hollywood. She's in the Seventh Son film.

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Pandorum was a pleasant surprise.