My two cents on an actor to play Namor

So, its all but just a matter of time until we get a movie for Namor, the Sub-Mariner (Prince of Atlantis for those of you who don't know). He's been referenced twice in the MCU films (once in IM2 and once in Thor), and the team he's fought with in the 1940s (the Invaders) had another member (the original Human Torch) referenced in CA:TFA.

Ever since I started thinking of a live-action Namor movie, I've had Jason Statham in my mind. I know it's super unlikely to happen, but bear with me. (FYI: My basis for Statham in the following post comes primarily from the Transporter series, the Expendables series, and the Crank series).

1) The hair. OK, I know that Jason Statham is bald(ing) and Namor has hair, but think about this for a minute. Does it really make sense for an underwater monarch to have lots of hair? I mean, its not aerodynamic, or....uh....waterdynamic....it would get in the way of swimming. So, I think that the balding hairstyle actually makes more sense, even though its not exactly sticking to the comics.
2) The accent. Again, this isn't a full-on reason.Obviously it would be impossible to do an authentic "Atlantean" accent (because no such thing exists) but I think Statham's accent and his voice is very distinct, and I think that would work well, rather than a simple American accent. But I know this one is really subjective.
3) The attitude. Namor is a Prince, a nobleman, very self-centered, and very egotistic. But he still (usually) makes some attempt at doing the right thing -- whether that's for his people or for all of Earth isn't always consistent. Statham seems like he could pull off that I'm-right-and-I'm-better-than-you-but-I'll-still-help-you-just-because-I-can-and-I-would-sorta-feel-a-little-bad-if-I-didn't attitude really well (Transporter). More than look or accent this character needs to have the right personality, and Statham fits the bill.
4) The build. Obviously an actor playing the role of a character who's most commonly seen in nothing but a green speedo would have to be physically fit to be taken seriously. Statham has it. 'Nuff said.

There's a lot more here that I can't seem to be able to articulate at this time, but maybe I'll add/update more later. I could really see this happening well though.

Wasp Costume Contest Winner

So, there wasn't a whole lot of voting, but a vote's a vote. The winner of the wasp costume contest was the two piece winged suit!

X-Men: Days of Future Past

So apparently everybody except me knew this already, but the sequel to X-Men: First Class, X-Men: Days of Future Past, has a huge time travel aspect to the plot, and Bryan Singer, director of X-Men 1 and 2, is back at the helm, and he's brought back Patrick Stewart (Prof. X), Ian McKellen (Magneto), Shawn Ashmore (Iceman), Ellen Page (Shadowcat), and Anna Paquin (Rogue) back onto the cast list to co-star with the younger versions of Prof. X, Magneto, Mystique, and Beast from X-Men: First Class! Which is AWESOME!

This makes the possibilities of Ms Marvel discussed in one of my previous posts slightly more likely to happen! How exciting! Hopefully they finally do something interesting with Rogue in this movie!

Thoughts on Ms. Marvel or: Another idea for the Fox-Marvel content sharing plan

If you're not up to speed on how Marvel and Fox (who currently have film rights to the X-Men and the FF, at least) want to sort-of half-way play nice together, go back and read my post involving the Scarlet Witch. This post is another idea of how something like that could happen.

Let's talk for a moment about why Ms. Marvel should be brought into the films.
1) She's a strong female superhero. Not just strong physically, but strong as in she could carry her own in a film.
2) She can expand the Avengers universe with more heroes. Hey, a simple reason, but valid.
3) She's a part of the USAF. Which could have fun interactions with War Machine (also in the USAF) in various films. Iron Man sequel? War Machine spinoff that brings Ms Marvel in? A separate movie bringing them together? Lots of possibilities, just pick one!
4) She's a Kree. Which means that she could help set up the entire plot line of the Kree-Skrull war. Which could totally help build up the cosmic side of Marvel that they're obviously interested in doing with the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy film. That could help develop Thanos, it could be integrated into a Thor film, or another Guardians story, or her own thing. But there's a ton of potential there.
5) Rogue absorbed her powers. This is where the interaction with FOX comes in. In the original X-Men trilogy, Rogue is nothing but a whiny sissy who can't do anything helpful and never meets her potential. That's such a waste of a great character! Another strong female character wasted! In the comics, Rogue had an encounter with Ms Marvel that led to her permanently having her powers (including flight, strength, invulnerability, you know). So somehow if Marvel could build up Ms Marvel, she could have a brief cameo in a later X-Men film (if, say, Days of Future Past [The X-Men First Class sequel] introduces Rogue briefly), or Rogue could cameo in a Marvel Studios film, and they could have that encounter, then separate back into their own movies. This would provide a small bridge between the two franchises to suggest/show they're in the same universe, without going all out cooperative (because who could do that?)
6) More heroes means more teams. With the Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man, and Dr. Strange on the way, Marvel Studios is well on its way to forming a new team, whether that be a replacement team (likely due to other actors getting older/stale) or a separate team like the West Coast Avengers or Great Lakes Avengers. But as long as they keep developing and keep getting new material, this series can last for a very long time. Which would make me very happy.
7) She can fit in anywhere. I mentioned most of these separately above, but putting them together makes a point of its own. She could be brought into an Iron Man/War Machine film following the USAF relationship. Or a Guardians of the Galaxy or Thor film due to the fact that she's an alien. Or an X-Men film because of her necessity to Rogue's story. Or her own film like Ant-Man and Dr. Strange are getting. Or, if a film is made about a new team of heroes, using newer heroes already introduced, she could be one of even more new heroes introduced in that film.

There are so many possibilities of getting her in the mix, and so many reasons to do it.

 

On to Dr. Strage

So Marvel has announced a Dr. Strange film to be released after Ant-Man. Now while I should (and likely will later) delve into thoughts of what this means about the potential for Phase 3 to be the big bringer of new heroes (Black Panther, Namor, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Vision) post-Avengers 2, I want to focus for now on a thought I saw somebody post elsewhere -- the thought of casting Jim Caviezel as Dr. Strange.

Now I realize that any talks of casting for this part right now are purely speculation, but this one seems such a good fit I feel a need to talk about why it would work so well, and what aspects of that need to be found in the eventual actor chosen, as it likely won't be Jim.

1) He has the physical look. The dark hair, the distant eyes, the facial hair, its all there, and that's a big part of it for me.
2) He's played unconventional characters before. Between Edmond Dantes and Jesus Christ, Caviezel has played the types of interesting characters that Dr. Strange would be similar to. It's not any superhero role, its a sorcerer, a magician, and it requires somebody that can bring that personality to the role, and Jim has proven he can do it.
3) It fits with the other actors. Jim Caviezel is 44, which is considerably older than most of the other heroes in the MCU (RDJ an exception, at 47). Chris Hemsworth is 29, Chris Evans is 31, Jeremy Renner is 42, ScarJo is 28, and Norton/Ruffalo are 43/45. Countered against a predominantly younger cast, the age difference would compliment his skills to show the wisdom and somber character of Dr. Strange. There's no buddy buddy like Stark and Banner, no chemistry like Barton and Romanoff, he's clearly separated from the others, and that's something that needs to be incorporated into the film, he's not just another superhero, he's different.
4) The role deserves an actor like him. Stark needed to be played by somebody with an ego. Thor needed a young actor to portray the banished son idea. Dr. Strange was already an accomplished surgeon before he gained his powers, and had to go through a journey between the two. But he was already distinguished once, and an actor like Caviezel could bring that out, and it would mirror his own life in a similar manner to the other actor-character relationships.

Those are the main focal points I wanted to hit, though I may add more later. If you're not a comic reader but you want to learn more about Dr. Strange, Marvel released an animated origin film recently that's available on Netflix Instant. This film won't come out until 2015 or later, so you've got some time.

Thoughts on Mockingbird

The Avengers hinted at some romantic chemistry between Hawkeye and Black Widow, but never really said whether or not anything was going on. In the early comics, the two were an item, but who knows how much of that will transfer over. Now, Captain America: Winter Soldier is bringing in the Winter Soldier (as the title suggests), who has his own romantic history with Black Widow -- what of this will be mentioned in the film? And if Black Widow has another romantic interest, maybe they should bring in the superhero who Hawkeye falls in love with later, Mockingbird.

Thoughts on The Amazing Spider-Man Sequel

The Amazing Spider-Man was a good film, even a good superhero film, but to me, not a good ADAPTATION of the character. If the second film wants to impress me more than the first, it's going to need to do a couple things.

1) Gwen Stacy must die. Without assurance that this series will last past a third film, Gwen Stacy needs to die in order to give Peter a long enough time to grieve, and meet Mary Jane and start dating her by the end of the third film. Something else fun to throw in here would be the Black Cat, partly because after 4 Spider-Man movies she's never been in one and she deserves to be, and partly because of the fun to be had with Peter's girlfriend vs. Spider-Man's girlfriend, but as the first film showed that Gwen knows, that can't happen until she dies. Black Cat could be a great way to get him past that relationship, eventually leading to Mary Jane.
2) The Daily Bugle (and J. Jonah Jameson). I'm sure part of the reason this was left out was because nobody wants to recast J. K. Simmons, who was so perfect for that role. But the character needs to be there. If you can't find an actor, just hire Stan Lee.
3) A better villain. And by this I mean a better adaptation of a villain. Lizard was a decent enough villain for TASM, nothing great, but served the purpose of a villain. The problem (for me) is that he was NOTHING like the Lizard from the comics, at all. Spider-Man has great villains in the comics, and those need to be utilized. This brings me back to Black Cat. Besides her potential as a hero, she could have even greater purpose exploring the anti-hero role, and show the tension of Spider-Man teaming up with her when needed, even though he knows he can't really trust her, because she's a villain too. Lots of fun.
4) Figure out what you want to do with Norman Osborn. I think this was the biggest annoyance to me from the first film. Either use the character, or don't, but don't reference him a ridiculous amount if he's not going to be important. It put limitations on the Lizard that didn't need to be there, and wasn't necessary for the story. Go big or go home. I suggest going big, and give us a great goblin.
5) Mary Jane. She doesn't have to be a big deal yet, she just has to exist in the film.
6) Aunt May's failing health. They went a drastically different direction in TASM than in the original trilogy, and I think it worked OK, but Aunt May's health is a part of Spider-Man, simple as that. And that needs to be brought in here, even if just a little, and really be put to the test in part 3, maybe even killing her at the end.
7) Give us the untold story you promised us. You hyped up his parents then told us nothing about them, so TELL US ALREADY. Are you using the original comic story? Making up your own? Is Red Skull involved? Will this in ANY way connect to the MCU/Avengers? You promised us an untold story, and gave us the same story we've seen three times. Dive into that past.

Thoughts on the Enchantress

Loki is arguably the best supervillain in film. Mind you, Nolan fans, I didnt say the best portrayed villain, but the best villain. Starts off as an ally in Thor before becoming a secondary villain, then holds off the Avengers basically by himself. He's coming back for Thor 2 but not as the primary villain. I love Loki, but I don't want him to get stale, and if Thor 2 treats Malekith and the Dark Elves like the first film treated Laufey and the Frost Giants, we probably wont see much of them after. We need another villain to originate from Thor's world that can take on the Avengers as well. Looking at comics, the Enchantress seems a great fit, especially if you throw in the Executioner, you're well on your way to forming the Masters of Evil, which would be a sweet third Avengers film.

Thoughts on the Scarlet Witch

Fox and Marvel have stated that while they won't reach the point of officially "crossing over" their films anytime soon due to film rights, they do hope to be able to work together to try and make it seem like all the movies (avengers and xmen franchises) take place within the same larger universe. Which is confusing. How can you be in the same universe without crossing over? One possible answer might lie with the mutants Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. Brother and sister, these mutants are the children of Magneto (though they didn't know it for a long time), and were tricked by him into becoming enemies of the X-Men early in their careers. Later, they left Magneto and reformed, joining the second team of Avengers. Legally, they belong to both X-Men and Avengers franchises, and Marvel has stated that in film, they could be used in either one, or even both. This would provide an opportunity to have a shared element between the franchises, but with X-Men going with "days of future past," they could introduce an alternate reality plot point or something else to keep the two franchises from being officially "crossed over." Many people think Scarlet Witch is the cellist mentioned in The Avengers as Coulson's girlfriend.

Thoughts on the Wasp

Some people think the Wasp will be introduced in Iron Man 3. Even if shes not, shes sure to be a shoe-in for the Ant Man movie. If shes anything like the early comics, that could be annoying. But shes matured over the years, and photos like these give me hope that she could be a great female superhero in film.

Which costume do you like better? Two piece or one piece? Comment below!

Captain America (Female version) contest winner

So the results are in for the voting from facebook for the favorite female Captain America, here's the winner!

This is my first recruit for my very own team of super heroines!

Intro and Disclaimer

Welcome to Comics Conversations, my own blog to talk about comics and comic related things!

Disclaimer, this is not a news site, so don't expect new information coming on here! I'll be talking about things that people already know about, so don't tell me that you already know about something! Because I figure you do! Also, I can talk about rumors or ideas or anything I want, cuz it's my blog! So there!

As far as posting photos go, please don't be so naive as to think that simply because I post photos of females in revealing costumes, I must be some type of pervert. I simply happen to find them fascinating, and love that there are people out there that do it, and if I can post a photo of a great fan in a great costume that's relevant to something I want to talk about, it doesn't mean that all I care about are finding skimpy costumes.