Superheroes!

[Plotinus]

I've only ever seen the movies. But in general that's what I was thinking of but go full pro. Like, not juts one fight and forget about it but go all in.

Well, that’s what he does, you see. On acquiring superpowers Peter Parker basically acts precisely as you’ve described. But he discovers that this isn’t viable, because - how can I put this? - with great power comes great responsibility.

Obviously the films give a greatly truncated version of the story.

 

[Arakhor]

The moment he effortlessly outplays an entire team by himself, no one is going to want to play against him. This applies in football, swimming, track and field etc.

 

[EgonSpengler]

The moment he effortlessly outplays an entire team by himself, no one is going to want to play against him. This applies in football, swimming, track and field etc.

Yeah, look at how people freaked out about the female boxer with a Y chromosome. Someone with comic-book super-strength would (a) literally kill people, and (b) render the game pointless. Imagine someone with access to The Speed Force playing rugby or NFL football. There'd simply be no game. There'd literally be nothing to watch. Any competitive endeavor that had a spectator component would be immediately ruined.

Many years ago, I read an interview with the actress Maggie Cheung, who mentioned that she loved visiting New York City because she could go out and only a handful of people would recognize her. At home in China, she literally couldn't leave the house without getting mobbed. Also many years ago, there was a brief interlude in The Flash where Barry was carrying an organ for transplant from the East Coast of the US to the West Coast. Imagine how many solicitations and scams and requests for help a person known to have super-powers would be subject to? And then of course, the first time something horrible happened because of someone with super-powers, the lid would come right off the jar of crazy. Look at how people freak out about immigrants, homeless people, queer people, et al. If the nutters will shoot a regular person for being on their front porch or playing the radio too loud, what would they do to someone they knew had super-strength and bulletproof skin?

Jessica Jones poked a finger at some of these problems: First, Jessica accidentally killed a woman just by punching her; then a crazy woman came after Jessica because of the Chitauri invasion of New York that happened in The Avengers. The former was an important plot-point in the series and for the character; the latter was barely touched. There's something fundamentally different about the world of the MCU, and isn't the presence of people with super-powers, it's the way the normal people react to people with super-powers: Regular people are much more chill in the MCU than I think people in our world would actually be.

 

[Clubber Lang]

The moment he effortlessly outplays an entire team by himself, no one is going to want to play against him. This applies in football, swimming, track and field etc.

------------------

The man you knew, the story you didn’t. Check out the Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story trailer for a look at this upcoming film. Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story is in theaters September 21 and September 25.The story of Christopher Reeve is an astonishing rise from unknown actor to iconic movie star, and his definitive portrayal of Clark Kent/Superman set the benchmark for the superhero cinematic universes that dominate cinema today. Reeve portrayed the Man of Steel in four Superman films and played dozens of other roles that displayed his talent and range as an actor, before being injured in a near-fatal horse-riding accident in 1995 that left him paralyzed from the neck down. After becoming a quadriplegic, he became a charismatic leader and activist in the quest to find a cure for spinal cord injuries, as well as a passionate advocate for disability rights and care - all while continuing his career in cinema in front of and behind the camera and dedicating himself to his beloved family.From the directors of McQueen, Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui, this film includes never-before-seen intimate home movies and an extraordinary trove of personal archive material, as well as the first extended interviews ever filmed with Reeve’s three children about their father, and interviews with the A-list Hollywood actors who were Reeve’s colleagues and friends. The film is a moving and vivid cinematic telling of Reeve’s remarkable story.

 

[Clubber Lang]

Jr pay cheque for Doomsday -

BREAKING: Robert Downey Jr. has been paid $95 Million for his role as Doctor Doom in #Avengers: DOOMSDAY!

Robert Downey Jr.’s massive Marvel payday includes private jets, personal security and a trailer encampment​

 

[Synobun]

I watched the second Shazam last night. I had no idea it was out, let alone so far removed from its release that it's out on streaming.

Surprisingly a solid flick. I will say that if you go into it with adult sensibilities and expectations that you'll probably hate it, but as a "kids' movie" it's pretty good. Odd to say since there's swearing and wanton murder, but, there it is.

 

[Clubber Lang]

Marvel @ 85,

Take a look at the Celebrating 85 Years of Marvel trailer for Marvel Comics. This narrated trailer by the one and only Stan Lee reminds the fans of the wonders, magic, and entertainment of the Marvel Comics and eventually the colossal Marvel Studios.

-----------------

Marvel Celebrates 50,000th Comic With 85th Anniversary Special (Exclusive)​

Marvel Comics is going big for the publication of its 50,000th comic book.

The exclusive preview opens in the future, where an un-aged Wolverine is joined by the floating head of Deadpool as they tour an alien museum. The tour is centered on holographic reconstructions of stories based around artifacts such as Ms. Marvel's scarf, Captain America's shield, Thor's hammer, the Infinity Gauntlet, and more. This then sends readers to each of the individual stories.

What is Marvel 85th Anniversary Special #1 about?​

CELEBRATE MARVEL'S 50,000TH COMIC-BOOK RELEASE! In the far future of the year 50,000, the exploits of the heroes of the Marvel Age are the stuff of legend, half remembered but still celebrated! Come with us now on a tour of the greatest museum in all the cosmos, in which the few surviving relics of those bygone days have been assembled. Each piece tells a unique story – about the Contest of Champions and how it wrought an end to the Age of Heroes, about the greatest triumph of Ms. Marvel and the final, secret exploit of Excalibur! And more! Marvel's greatest storytellers gather to commemorate the whole of Marvel history in a once-in-a-lifetime celebration!

The exclusive preview of Marvel 85th Anniversary Special #1 is below. The issue goes on sale Wednesday, August 28th.

 

[Clubber Lang]

Gotham goodfella -

 

[Plotinus]

He was certainly a highlight of the film (and I didn't recognise him!), but I do wonder just how many re-interpretations of this character the world really needs. Didn't we just have Gotham?

 

[Sommerswerd]

Yeah, look at how people freaked out about the female boxer with a Y chromosome. Someone with comic-book super-strength would (a) literally kill people, and (b) render the game pointless. Imagine someone with access to The Speed Force playing rugby or NFL football. There'd simply be no game. There'd literally be nothing to watch. Any competitive endeavor that had a spectator component would be immediately ruined.

Many years ago, I read an interview with the actress Maggie Cheung, who mentioned that she loved visiting New York City because she could go out and only a handful of people would recognize her. At home in China, she literally couldn't leave the house without getting mobbed. Also many years ago, there was a brief interlude in The Flash where Barry was carrying an organ for transplant from the East Coast of the US to the West Coast. Imagine how many solicitations and scams and requests for help a person known to have super-powers would be subject to? And then of course, the first time something horrible happened because of someone with super-powers, the lid would come right off the jar of crazy. Look at how people freak out about immigrants, homeless people, queer people, et al. If the nutters will shoot a regular person for being on their front porch or playing the radio too loud, what would they do to someone they knew had super-strength and bulletproof skin?

Jessica Jones poked a finger at some of these problems: First, Jessica accidentally killed a woman just by punching her; then a crazy woman came after Jessica because of the Chitauri invasion of New York that happened in The Avengers. The former was an important plot-point in the series and for the character; the latter was barely touched. There's something fundamentally different about the world of the MCU, and isn't the presence of people with super-powers, it's the way the normal people react to people with super-powers: Regular people are much more chill in the MCU than I think people in our world would actually be.

In MCU's defense, they tried a few times to touch on this. Captain America: Civil War, did it first and then Falcon and the Winter Soldier did it again.

 

[BenitoChavez]

Florence Pugh is always a win. But otherwise it seems pretty meh. Seems like Marvel's version of Suicide Squad.

 

[Sommerswerd]

Florence Pugh is always a win. But otherwise it seems pretty meh. Seems like Marvel's version of Suicide Squad.

Marvel's version of everything is usually better.

 

[Gori the Grey]

Florence Pugh is always a win. But otherwise it seems pretty meh. Seems like Marvel's version of Suicide Squad.

Might be what they need to get out of their post Infinity-War funk, though.

No expectations that they're a bunch of Do-Gooders assembling for a 31-movie sequence where they stave off the next Threat-to-the-Universe.

Some familiar faces, like Bucky. Some re-boots like the Quasi-Captain-America(s). Some fresh faces. Enough to be intriguing.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Florence Pugh is always a win. But otherwise it seems pretty meh. Seems like Marvel's version of Suicide Squad.

Yeah, that trailer is really blah. That said, if it's The Suicide Squad (2021) and not Suicide Squad (2016), I'll be happy with that. It could also be Guardians of the Galaxy, which would certainly exceed my expectations. But, hey, Guardians of the Galaxy exceeded my expectations. I mean, who saw that coming? I loved Yelena in Hawkeye and Black Widow. I would have preferred to see Pugh team up with Hailee Steinfeld in something, but that's still on the table. I also like David Harbour. Ghost, Taskmaster and USAgent I could take or leave, but I didn't dislike any of them. The concept of a team of reluctant, damaged 'heroes' is obviously tired, but it's never the concept that makes a movie good anyway. It's always in the execution. A movie about two guys sitting at a table and talking can be [flipping] awesome if you make it [flipping] awesome.

---

In related news, the first two eps of Agatha All Along have been a pleasant surprise. It's too early to render a verdict - I feel like I've seen a lot of shows lately that started off very promising and then crashed n' burned - but so far, so good.

 

[EgonSpengler]

 

[Clubber Lang]

The Penguin : Episode 1, After Hours -

Wicked!!!

Loved every second of it, great premier.

#ThePenguin pulled in 5.3 million cross-platform viewers over its first four days on HBO and Max. That’s ahead of the most recent season premieres for both #Succession and #TheWhiteLotus over the same length of time

Spoiler :

I also recently had a mixed Slush Puppie this summer gone, ha!

The Penguin review – Colin Farrell deserves all the awards for this powerful Batman spinoff


It’s slick, fast – and doesn’t feature the caped crusader once. The Irish actor is a revelation in a series that’s so twisty it leaves you breathless

Though it stars Colin Farrell, reprising his part from Matt Reeves’ 2022 film The Batman, and is set just after the catastrophic events in Gotham that the Riddler masterminded at the end of the third act, you’re better off thinking of the Penguin as a kind of YA Sopranos than an addition to the Batverse. The Caped Crusader doesn’t appear and all the villainy on show – including that of the Penguin, now known as Oz Cobb instead of Oswald Cobblepot in a further move away from cartoonishness – is of a very human kind.


Carmine, his boss and head of the Falcone crime family, was killed at the end of The Batman. There is now a power vacuum in the city and the series follows the Penguin’s attempts to rise from his position as a mid-level gangster, trusted to run a nightclub and a portion of the gangsters’ drug business but never fully accepted. It is his yearning for respect that drives him on through the deadly game of snakes and ladders towards his goal of dominating Gotham and makes The Penguin into much more than just another money-grubbing spin-off of a famous franchise.

Cobb manages the first step – killing Carmine’s son and useless heir apparent, Alberto – with relative ease, after an exchange between them whose emotional brutality is almost as great as Alberto’s ensuing death. This lets viewers know from the off that we are in the presence of a show markedly better than it needed to be and likely to satisfy even the highest expectations of the fandom.

Cristin Milioti plays Alberto’s much more capable sister Sofia, recently released from a 10-year stint in Arkham asylum for a string of murders she supposedly committed. A tentative bond forms between them – Cobb used to be her driver when they were younger, and she too knows what it is to be passed over in favour of lesser men – but it becomes strained and then shattered as her suspicions grow about Cobb’s involvement with her brother’s death.

Cobb recruits a teenage boy, Victor (Rhenzy Feliz) – a gentle soul who lost his home and his family in the city flood and is trying to survive alone – as his driver and assistant. He takes the boy under his wing (no pun intended; it’s not that kind of show) and their relationship is punctuated by moments of tenderness in which we can see what Cobb might have become if … well, if either nature or nurture had been different. The different contributions these forces make is one of the questions The Penguin likes to play with. To which end, Cobb’s mentally unstable mother, Francis (Deirdre O’Connell), is introduced and comes to be an increasingly important part of the puzzle of Cobb’s origin story.

The Penguin lets nothing get in the way of its story, though. The plotting is fast and neat, with Cobb only ever a hair’s breadth away from triumph or disaster and the audience left breathless watching which way the latest twist will take him. Farrell – really a revelation here, despite being buried beneath layers of prosthetics – keeps the desperation of an underestimated, under-loved being running always just beneath the surface of the ruthless killer. Glimpses of the man he might have been (with Sofia, with his sort-of girlfriend and with Victor) are just frequent enough for us to mourn the loss.

The Penguin is a slick and powerful beast, with enough action and heart to capture existing fans and create many more. And Farrell himself should soon be swimming in a sea of awards.

Gotham Goombah -

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www.rataalada.com

 

[Clubber Lang]

Well done Sly too,

 

[Clubber Lang]

Spoiler :

Snowy Gotham

#ThePenguin premiere now has 10.4M views in its first 11 days
It's outpacing every other current HBO series besides #HouseOfTheDragon and #TheLastOfUs

 

[Samson]

I am really enjoying The Penguin, and now there is another superhero thing coming up that I am really looking forward to.

 

[Arakhor]

I was just reading the Guardian's article on that. It does look amusing.