HeroDistrict

Well the Iron Man 3 trailer has been up for a few days now, and I’m finally getting around to writing about it. So while you should have watched it (several times) by now, here it is again!

Gut reaction, some serious stuff is going down. The tone is far darker than the previous installments. Iron Man 2 tried to go a bit more in this direction, but still maintained that superhero-y, tongue in cheek vibe. This seems like a very serious conflict with some hefty dramatic weight. Some fans seem worried that Mr. Stark has gone all Nolan on us, and the movie will lose the sense of fun that made the first movie such a joy. The movie certainly seems to have higher stakes and more realistic feel, but don’t expect the comedy to disappear. With Shane Black at the helm and Downey on board, this might have some of the best zingers of the series. Can you really expect our hero to go a whole movie without making fun of the Mandarin and his crazy fashion sense? Doubtful.

Robes are so last century.

I’m quite okay with this tonal shift. The Avengers is your bigger, brighter, more classic superhero action while the solo adventure takes Tony’s story in a different direction. This generally happens in the comics as well. The Avengers comic has stories like Galactic Storm while the solo Iron Man stories were more along the lines of Demon in a Bottle and World’s Most Wanted, both more tragic and haunting tales. I don’t want to see an overhaul of what makes the movies work, but taking things in new directions is the only real way to keep a franchise relevant.

Both suits also look great in studio parking lots.

But let’s get in to more concrete details. The new suit, as expected, looks much better in action. It’s very sleek and stylish, which seems to fit the tone of the movie. Iron Patriot armor looks superb. And then we have the Mandarin. I have to say I’m excited. He looks bizarre, full of menace, and has a voice almost as crazy as Bane’s. I think that somehow, they’re going to make this work. My big question is whether we see physical conflict between Stark and the Mandarin. The Mandarin looks very mortal, but maybe he uses the Extremis virus on himself? It would be a shame if we never see Iron Man throw down with his archnemesis. By the way, take a look at the symbol on the back of the Mandarin’s neck. Is that Cap’s shield emblem, with the star replaced by an anarchist A? I believe it is.

We don’t know what it means, but it’s awesome!

The new trailer has a lot to get excited about. If Iron Man 3 can hold on to what made the first movie such a success while pushing the boundaries of Tony’s identity, we could have a perfect follow up to the Avengers.

After much anticipation, The Walking Dead has returned with season 3! We recently wrote about what we were looking forward to, along with some things we were hoping we wouldn’t see, but I have to say that the season 3 premiere went above and beyond my expectations. Let’s recap what made this series great without giving up any spoilers.

Saying that Michonne kicked serious butt doesn’t count as a spoiler. It’s just assumed she will always do this.

One of the worries I had coming into season 3 was that it would start off as slow as season 2. Fortunately, that is not remotely the case. We all remember the season 2 finale and how much zombie action went down. This premiere episode had a very comparable amount of zombie slicing and dicing. We get it right from the beginning to the last scene of the episode. I don’t think anybody could complain about the pace of this episode being too slow or a lack of zombie related action.

I don’t think they intended for us to say “Finally!” when this happened, but we were all glad to move past this storyline.

For those who enjoy plot just as much graphic decapitations, there was also plenty of story in this episode. Part of what made last season feel slow was that it took forever for the story to progress. Most episodes had Rick and the gang searching for Sophia, arguing a bit, maybe seeing a zombie or two, then repeating it. The premiere takes place several months after last season, as several references are made to surviving the winter. It was a smart move to avoid the tedium of eking out survival in those harsh conditions and jumping straight into the action of what we were promised: the prison. This was the perfect way of avoiding any sort of slow start.

Perhaps the most interesting part is how the dynamic of the group has changed this season. There are definitely some differences now that they have been together for so long, and some characters have new roles. It will be very interesting to see how they play out. So far it looks like this could be the best season of The Walking Dead yet.

Hell yes you read that right. The Son of Coul is back, baby! When I read this I assumed I had a heart attack from the Notre Dame/Stanford game, died and went to heaven. But no, it’s real, and our boy Phil will be back in action on the S.H.I.E.L.D show!

Best. News. Ever.

Marvel has to reveal how he comes back. The simple answer is that he was never dead in the first place, and that Fury lied to the team about his ultimate fate. Another possibility is that he will appear in flashbacks, but that feels kind of unlikely since Marvel is playing up how Coulson is very much alive. We can then get into the more comic-booky answers with things like Life Model Decoys or clones and whatnot. Sooner or later, live action superhero stories had to take some cues from the comics, and now we have our first crazy resurrection.

A part of me is conflicted. On one hand, this was the most fitting way to end Coulson’s story. He was always the connective tissue of the Marvel U, and in dying he fulfilled his purpose by bringing the Avengers together. His death was emotionally powerful and one of the most memorable parts of the movie. On the other hand, Agent Coulson is awesome and I want him back. This is generally how resurrections go. While it might cheapen the original death in some ways, these are characters we love and we rejoice when they come back to us. All I need to know is that Coulson is back and this show got that much cooler because of it.

Wow, DC is making big power moves here. Superman is getting movie? How do we capitalize on that? Bam, take our best writer and artist and throw them on a new title. This move is simultaneously obvious and mind numbingly brilliant.

Superman got a snazzy new costume in the reboot and some A-list talent brought on to the franchise, but he hasn’t quite been catapulted to the top of the DC world just yet. I think the art style behind Action Comics is bold and exciting, even if Morrison’s writing never hit the same highs as his Batman work. Meanwhile the “Superman” book has been a consistent mess. How does DC gear up for a surge in interest for Supes? Scott Snyder, the man who has been delivering spectacular Batman work. Not only is his work of high quality and style, but he also captures the spirit of his characters while introducing new elements to the mythology. Court of Owls felt like classic Batman, offering dark mystery and action while adding brand new characters and insights. And don’t even get me started on his Swamp Thing run.

The take home message? This is a writer who can bring us everything we love about Superman while giving us something new to sink our teeth into.

On art duty? None other than Jim Lee. What can I say about Jim Lee that hasn’t been said already? Lee’s level of detail is unmatched and his designs have permanently shaped both Marvel and DC. My only gripe about this would be about style. I like the idea of the comic having a little bit of a cold, sci-fi vibe which has worked extremely well for the brightness of Superman’s character. I don’t know if this is the approach Lee will take, but I have enough confidence in the man by this point.

Long story short? This is a Superman comic to get excited for.

I think it seems like a safe bet that Warner Bros is going for a Justice League movie straight away. There has been heavy progress on a script, rumors of directors being talked to, and now a rumored actor being invovled. Whether or not this movie happens remains to be seen, but it seems like something on their to-do list. The latest rumor is that Armie Hammer, from “The Social Network” and the upcoming “Lone Ranger”, will play Batman for the League.

He certainly looks like he could pull off the rich party guy Bruce Wayne persona.

I find this rumor a little hard to believe. It seems a bit too unsubstantiated and predictable.  Hammer had been cast in the Justice League movie back when George Miller was working on it. That was years ago, when Hammer was still an unknown. This seems too much like classic speculation, where someone remarks that an actor was attached to the project, became famous, so would be sought after again. And considering the project doesn’t even have a director yet, casting speculation sounds highly premature at this point. It just feels too rumory to be of any value right now.

Not sure Hammer can be this awesome.

Now, would Hammer make a good Batman? Maybe. He’s a well built guy who is a talented actor, but I think Batman should have a certain sharpness or edge to him. Hammer honestly feels more like what Superman should be. But who knows, maybe Hammer will get his chance to play the Bat after all?

Tony Stark and Bruce Banner had great chemistry in The Avengers, as two super smart science guys are bound to when thrown together in an attempt to save the world. It has also been reported that the actors, Robert Downey Jr. and Mark Ruffalo, have become good friends off set as well. This is great for fans, and not just for Billy’s fan fiction, as that chemistry leads to great on screen performances. This has led to many of us speculating that Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk would have a part to play in Iron Man 3. Unfortunately, this rumor has mostly been dispelled by an interview with Kevin Feige. Marvel has still given us some good news to make up for it. They will soon be putting out a new animated movie, “Iron Man & Hulk: Heroes United”!

Not sure about the animation style, but still excited for this movie.

RDJ and Ruffalo are too busy doing important Hollywood guy stuff to lend their voices to the project, so Adrian Pasdar will voice Iron Man and Fred Tatasciore will voice the Hulk. They have both said that they will be going off of the banter seen in The Avengers, but it is hard to imagine they will do as good of a job as the aforementioned Avengers actors. Still, a new animated movie that has Hulk and Iron Man teaming up to kick butt is never a bad thing. DC has certainly had the superior animated movies in recent history, but Marvel’s have still been pretty entertaining. The villain of the movie, energy monster Zzzax, should provide quite the challenge for this formidable duo. If nothing else, this will be a good way to keep fans satisfied while we wait for the bevy of Marvel sequels to hit theaters. “Iron Man & Hulk: Heroes United” is set to come out on DVD April 23rd, 2013.

The biggest event of the year is over, leaving us with some winners, some losers, and a brand new direction with Marvel NOW. The event had its ups and downs, starting off slowly before kicking things up with a strong second act, before slipping down for a lackluster final act. There are plenty of reviews for the event, so I decided to break down three big ideas from Marvel’s latest project. If you missed it in the title, beware the spoilers ahead!

New Ideas

Professor X is dead, nobody really cares.

Generally, the best comic stories are ones with character defining moments or that add new elements to the mythology. Even something like Civil War added the Superhuman Registration Act, which has become a part of the tapestry of the Marvel U. AvX just plays with the pieces that already exist. The main antagonist is arguably the Phoenix force, something we’ve already encountered in a classic storyline. There wasn’t any mystery, and sense of wonder at what the conflict was about. It was like watching the writers play with a box of toys in new ways, rather than bringing in anything new. Even the big emotional punch, killing Professor X, loses emotional weight because we’ve seen it happen before. Look, Marvel has a rich tapestry of stories to draw inspiration from, but they need to start taking some more risks developing entirely new characters, conflicts, and ideas.

Heroes Vs. Heroes

Come on, this is pretty awesome.

Some people have commented that we’ve seen too many hero vs. hero conflicts. They bring up Civil War and Fear Itself as examples, nothing AvX just continues a lousy trend. First of all, anyone claiming Fear Itself was a hero vs. hero story is flat out wrong, since out of the 9 villains, only two of them were possessed heroes. Still, I think hero vs. hero conflicts have a lot going for them. Although simple good vs. evil superhero stuff is our bread a butter, infighting amongst heroes over weighty issues is extremely interesting. After all, everyone in the real world sees themselves as right, but we have conflict every day. Seeing different conception of what is right battle against each other out with the help of lots of explosions can still be really cool.

Cyclops As A Villain

Cyclops as a villain is arguably more interesting than Cyclops as a hero.

Many fans are complaining about the idea that Cyclops has taken a big step towards becoming a full villain, which I can understand as being frustrating for fans of the character. For me though, I like the idea of Cyclops’ journey towards villainy. The best villains are usually the most sympathetic, and Scott certainly has earned plenty of that. I just love the idea of the student of the peaceful figurehead emerging as a leader, while being ground down by the realities of survival as he turns into the very extremists he once battled. That’s an awesome storyline! It hasn’t been executed perfectly, but this is such a great premise when dealing with superheroes. Cyclops took the burden of defending a species against extinction and this is where it left him.

I hope the future holds more for Cyclops and, while he should never be as extreme as Magneto, I do want to see him as a little more of an antagonist. Of course we all know he will eventually return to the X-Men, and when he does he will do so he will be all the stronger of a character because of it.

So after months of battling, the dust has settled, and mutants are back, albeit leaderless. The new status quo might not be as exciting as in other events, but I’m really looking forward to Uncanny Avengers. Now if only I can go a couple of years without reading another story with Hope in it, I will be a happy comic book fan.

Despite the slow start to The Walking Dead season 2, it managed to finish off with quite a bit of excitement. The introduction of fan favorite Michonne and a glimpse of the prison just served to increase the anticipation for season 3. It looks like we will be diving right into what is arguably the best story arc from the comics. TV Guide has done an amazing job getting us even more amped up for season 3 with this exclusive trailer.

I can’t wait until this next season starts. The clearing out of the prison should result in a fair amount of zombie killing to keep us entertained during the early part of the season so we don’t have any ridiculously long lulls in the action like last year. Of course the main conflict will be between Rick’s group and The Governor, most likely resulting in full out chaos like last year’s season finale. We will also get to see Michonne putting her sword to deadly use, which is never a bad thing.

If this doesn’t pump you up, nothing will.

The only worry I have is that the show will focus too much on a cautious clearing out of the prison that drags on like the search for Sophia. It might sound terrible, but I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who stopped caring what happened to that little girl by the fourth episode. It’s great that the show focuses on character development and interpersonal relationships, but we still need our fix of zombie blood and guts. What will really be interesting is whether Rick’s group encounters any living prisoners and what the reactions to that would be. There are just so many possibilities for this season and it won’t be long until we get to see how everything unfolds. The Walking Dead season 3 premieres Sunday, October 14th, don’t miss it!

We made some lists about who should appear in the upcoming SHIELD series. The list was a mix of classic agents and superheroes redesigned as heroes. Guess how many of them are on the show? Not one. Wow, I am not very good at this, am I?

I’m as good at guessing characters as Paste Pot Pete is at crime.

Instead, we have a cast of brand new characters designed purely for the show. The descriptions are pretty brief (a tough guy, an inseparable duo, a pilot, etc), so they don’t give us much to go on. The idea of creating new characters, however, is intriguing. These are entirely new creations thrown into a setting comic book fans are familiar with. I’m a big fan of SHIELD as an organization. The movies don’t go into a ton of depth with the organization, rightfully focusing on the heroes themselves, but there are some very interesting characters there. Do I want to see characters like Jimmy Woo? Of course, but there are other ways to explore this world.

I still wish she was involved.

Frankly, I’m probably more excited by this new material than I would be if they did nothing but rehash old stories. Staying loyal to the spirit of the material is generally important, but introducing new ideas and characters can work as well. In fact, I wouldn’t be averse to Marvel introducing an entirely new hero in the movies if the character was well designed. A necessity in stories is introducing new concepts and ideas. Playing around with the same characters and concepts endlessly can get dull awfully fast. With these new guys, anything can happen. As a die hard fan, it will be fun exploring something new for a change. I can’t wait.

Sony’s The Amazing Spider-Man was a very enjoyable movie. The Lizard had an interesting character design that many people weren’t a fan of, but I don’t feel like it took away from the fun of the movie. Apparently Sony didn’t think fans would mind it too much either, as they had announced that there would be a sequel to The Amazing Spider-Man before the first movie even released. Things are starting to actually come together as Andrew Garfield and Marc Webb have both officially signed on for the sequel.

And thus die my last hopes of being Peter Parker.

This isn’t exactly shocking news, but it does end the awkward possibility of another Donald Glover for Spider-Man campaign any time in the near future. The nice thing is that I’m actually looking forward to a sequel. Andrew Garfield is a great Spider-Man and I’m curious to see how he will perform as he portrays a more experienced crime fighter. Despite how awkward it would be to have somebody other than Andrew Garfield playing Spider-Man in the sequel, I think that Marc Webb might be the more important part of this news.

I am looking forward to seeing more of this.

There was never any doubt that Garfield would be reprising his role and it probably won’t be long until Emma Stone officially announces that she will be back as Gwen “I Look Great In Mini Skirts” Stacy, but director Marc Webb was not a sure shot to return. There had been reports of a scheduling conflict between several movie projects that Webb was slated to work on, which could have been caused by the fact The Amazing Spider-Man sequel had been put on the production fast track. Webb played a huge part in structuring this movie, and everybody who has seen it knows that there are several storylines to follow in the sequel. I’d assume that Webb has a good idea of where this franchise is heading which makes me extremely relieved that he will still be at the helm. Continuity in the cast and crew helps continuity in the movies. Most importantly, we will finally find out who the mysterious character in the final scene was. Seriously, that’s still bugging me.