MCU Abbreviated Cut - Phase One

The Challenge:

Create an "abbreviated" cut of the Marvel Cinematic universe, keeping all the best moments but watchable in a single sitting - or at least a weekend. Cut up chronology any way you like, but limit the time to 3 hours for each Phase and/or year of television.

My main process for shaving down the runtime is to cut a lot of villain "buildup" moments because, let's face it, it usually doesn't go anywhere, because most of the villains in the MCU are one-and-done. Following that, cutting any abandoned plot point that doesn't go anywhere saves a lot of time (Iron Man 2 has a lot of those because of the lack of continuation into Iron Man 3). Finally, any extensive buildup for characters or drawn out foreshadowing can be left out, because for this cut, we can assume it's fans watching, not a GA who doesn't know who characters are.

So here we go, draft one of my Phase 1 cut - let me know how you would do it!

Captain America: The First Avenger
I'm going to cut out a lot of "skinny Steve" moments because we know he becomes Captain America, so a lot of that is, for this cut, a waste of time. But I want to keep in a little so that we see that Cap spirit even without the body.

I would open in the theater scene, with Cap telling the bully to show respect. Include the alley fight and Bucky's entrance. Then cut all the way to the Stark Expo where Steve decides to enlist again. We don't need to hear about all the other times, just starting here will do. Include the talk with Bucky while Erskine overhears, and Erskine's offer to Steve. From there, we go to boot camp where we only spend a fraction of the time. Again, we know he's going to do it. But we include the introduction of Col. Philips and, more importantly, Peggy Carter. Cut out a lot of the "Steve's a weakling" shots, but include Philips talking to Erskine and my personal favorite moment of the film, the dummy grenade. Keeping the flagpole gag in too will help build the relationship with Peggy and the fact that Steve thinks differently than other men.

Pretty soon I would cut to the operation because, again, we know that's where it's going. So we have the operation, the death of Erskine, and the Heinz Kruger chase and fight. Show Skull with Zola containing the cube, but we don't need to see Skull obtaining it. Cut out the "chorus girl" subplot and go straight to Rogers rescuing the POWs. Maybe a brief snippet of the stage days to explain the costume, but we don't need to see a lot of that. After rescuing the soldiers, show Stark equipping Rogers for future combat, and the Howling Commandos montage, going right into the death of Bucky and the final assault on the Skull and the plane crash. No ending scene in modern times yet

Most of the cuts are from the first two-thirds of the film.

Agent Carter
From the series, show some footage (very trimly cut) of her working with the Howling Commandos, discovering the Red Room, rescuing Fenhoff, fighting Dottie, Fenhoff killing Dooley, and being put in prison with Zola.

The series is actually pretty self-contained, so we don't need a lot of it. More Howard Stark would be nice and certainly some of Jarvis, but the series shouldn't contribute too much to this cut. The short, however, would be nice to include, because that's already very trim, and aside from character points shows as much as clips from the show would.

Ant-Man
As a bonus, we could include the Pym-Carter-Stark exchange from Ant-Man's opening, and the scene of Ant-Man and Wasp in action.

Iron Man
Open with the opening shot of the convoy, but when it explodes, skip the whole casino scene. Cut right to the cave, waking up and speaking with Yinsen, and the "deal" made with Raza's second-in-command. I would cut out most stuff with Raza himself, because he's not actually that important. Skip right to Stark explaining the plan to Yinsen and them starting the breakout. Keep the Yinsen death speech of course and then Stark getting the Hell out of Dodge.

Back in the US, skip the press conference and Stane buildup, and testing of individual suit components (maybe keep a little for the comedy) and focus right on the test flight, and Mark III design. Keep the Stane reveal at the party, the scene with Pepper after Tony's first mission (Are those bullet holes?) and the Iron Monger reveal with Coulson and Pepper, leading to the final fight. No stinger yet.

The Incredible Hulk
The opening montage is gold - keep that in. Cut the subplot with Mr. Blue until it actually becomes important, but show Banner's homemade lab. Show the blood spill in the factory (Stan's first cameo in this cut) immediately followed by the attack by Ross et al. Cut to Betty finding Bruce at Stan's and meeting Sterns, along with Blonsky becoming abomination. Forget most of the helicopter shots and cut right to the Harlem fight. No Stark cameo yet.

Iron Man 2
Cut the opening Stark Expo nonsense. Cut the entire palladium poisoning and not-"demon in a bottle" subplot, and the new element, because none of those plot points are continued in Iron Man 3 (thanks, Shane). Even the Howard Stark subplot can go. Stark's first scene should be in the ring with Happy, introducing Romanoff and showing Pepper becoming CEO. Forget Whiplash's first fight - forget everything at the Grand Prix. Again, this is all about the Howard Stark subplot that Shane Black completely ignored, so it can go. Whiplash's first moment should be Justin Hammer breaking him out of prison, and him and Hammer meeting should be Hammer's first appearance.

Cut Stark meet with Fury at the donut shop and save the "Rushman" as Black Widow reveal for her scene with Happy. Show an argument between Rhodes and Stark ("they're gonna take your suits!") but skip the party. Just show Rhodes taking the suit and getting it weaponized. Cut to Hammer taking the stage at the Stark Expo (we don't need to see Vanko working on the drones much), and the whole fight between the Hammer Drones, Crimson Dynamo, Iron Man, and War Machine, and of course keep Black Widow's best scene in the movie, with Happy in the background.

Finally we get to

The Stingers
First show the scene with Fury in Stark's house. I know this isn't technically correct chronology but it fits nicer. Then show the donut shop scene from Iron Man 2, cut to avoid plot points from that film (poisoning), but revealing Romanoff as Black Widow to Tony. Include the "Southwest Region" line from Fury to lead into A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer, and finally show The Consultant complete with the ending scene from The Incredible Hulk.

Thor
Cut out a lot of crap with Foster, Selvig, and especially Darcy. Focus on Thor.
Show the flashback of the battle against Jotunheim, but cut the coronation scene before the weapons vault. We need the weapons vault fight to lead to Thor leaving with Loki, Sif, and the Warrior's Three. Most of the battle on Jotunheim can stay, including Odin's interference and the subsequent banishment of Thor.

Cut to the "Excalibur" scene and the talk at the diner (we don't need to see Thor get hit, tazed, injected, and hit again), where Thor learns Mjolnir's whereabouts. Skip Jane's back-and-forth and cut to her driving Thor there (sorry, no "I need a horse!). Thor breaks in, keep Coulson, Hawkeye, and Selvig. After he fails, skip the interrogation, skip Loki's scene, cut to Selvig getting him out. From there, cut right to the Warrior's Three arrival (don't need to see Thor and Selvig act like fratboys), the arrival of the Destroyer, and the battle between the five of them. Thor returns to Asgard (cut out as much Jane as possible) and destroys the Bifrost. Then cut straight to the cube (no Heimdall, we don't need to see Jane and Darcy again), being shown to Selvig, and Loki's influence.

The Avengers
Cut out a lot of buildup. We've had five movies, four shorts, and a TV show of buildup. Cut all that filler. Show Loki attacking project PEGASUS to introduce Hill and show Hawkeye being taken. After that, show the scene from Captain America: The First Avenger where Cap wakes up and Fury makes contact. Then cut to Germany, where Cap and Widow attack Loki, and Stark comes in (Cap meets Stark). Keep some of the forest fight, but not too much because we know they aren't going to be enemies. At this point (not the same time as the film), have Coulson call Widow to recruit Banner. Show Fury imprisoning Loki, and Loki's speech to Widow. Keep some of the "Phase 2" banter but not much. Jump quickly to Loki escaping, Coulson dying, and almost immediately to them heading the Manhattan. Keep most of the fight, Thanos, and Shawarma.

Agents of SHIELD
Item 47 doesn't lead anywhere, because we haven't seen those again. If you include it, trim it. The more important coda to Phase 1 is the Pilot of Agents of SHIELD, showing Coulson back from the dead and the beginning of his adventure.

Can that all fit into 3 hours? I have no idea, and I probably won't find out anytime soon. But what do you think of this cut? Was there anything you think should be left out? Anything you thought I should have included? Let me know what you think!

Redwing

 

OK, we've had Falcon in (spoiler) two movies now, but we have yet to see his ever-present partner, Redwing. Redwing has been around since Falcon first appeared in Captain America #117, but the films seem content on leaving him out.

Why do we need Redwing? Firstly, because the character deserves the recognition. If we can center a movie around a gun-toting raccoon and a talking tree, surely we can thrown in a telepathic falcon (the Flash already did the telepathic gorilla, after all!) Secondly, it makes Falcon more unique. What does he have now? He can fly. Great. So can Iron Man, War Machine, Thor, and upcoming Captain Marvel and Dr. Strange. Oh, and anybody who has a plane. So he's not unique.

Further, in both (spoiler again) movies he's been in, his tech has been compromised. The Winter Soldier ripped his wing right off in the Captain America sequel, and Scott Lang was able to deactivate the suit from the inside in Ant-Man. So he needs something beyond the tech.

I present to you now, three methods of bringing in Redwing to the MCU.

1) The "realistic" method
The easiest to sell, but least cool IMO, would simply be to give Sam Wilson some backstory as a Falcon trainer (as in the comics) but leave out the telepathic communication, and ability to see and observe through the eyes of any birds. This would be similar to Falcon's earliest appearances, and give him a small fighting companion to make his fighting style unique, with commands that could conceivably be followed by an ordinary Falcon. Even though long-distance communication would be out, some cool feats could still be done using Redwing as a transport/delivery vessel. Don't tell me it wouldn't be amazing to see Scott Lang riding Redwing as a faster alternative to his flying ants (RIP Antony).

2) The "comic" method
One step past giving commands is actual communication with birds. And while before I would have admitted that this would be a little far-fetched for this realm of the MCU, Hank Pym changed all that. With very little explanation, audiences have accepted that Hank Pym, and ANYONE who's trained enough (Hope, Scott), can communicate with ants. What's to stop Wilson or Pym or whoever from modifying this technology to birds? Having Sam being able to talk to Redwing would not only make him a truly unique character with wicked awesome fight scenes, but I would love to see a moment when the villains thinks they have the upper hand only to turn and see a murder of crows blanketing the sky, coming right for them.

3) The "tech" method
Fine. Throw out any chance of audiences buying a bond between man and bird. Redwing could still work. How? By going the route of J.A.R.V.I.S. That's right, Redwing becomes R.E.D.W.I.N.G. - Remote-Enabled Dexterous Weaponized Intelligent Nonhuman Guardian. Do I even have to explain how awesome this could be? Preprogrammed fighting styles and moves, observational technology sending remote signal to Falcons HUD of what REDWING "sees" or "hears." Recording and playback make stealth missions easy peasy. Throw in some weapons for when emergencies arise - whether that be energy blasts, spraying gas, sonic screams, grappling talons, or all of the above - and you've got yourself one amazing little gadget. I personally think this would be the most MCU-appropriate method, although it would be made infinitely better if we discover that Wilson HAD a pet Falcon named Redwing earlier in life (just like the JARVIS/Jarvis relationship with Stark).

 

 

So what do you think? Would you like to see Redwing in the MCU? If so, what method would you prefer? If not, what else can be done to make Sam more unique? (Aside from having him take up the Captain America mantle - that's a whole other discussion!)

 

#FridayisUpdateDay: June 28

#FridayisUpdateDay

OK so since this is is my first set of updates in a while, I'm just gonna throw a ton of information out here. Scroll down to see info for what movies you're interested in.

You'll notice there's a Stark-load of links throughout this blog. Each link will take you to another one of my posts about that subject. For example, if the post is about the film itself, the link will be in the title header of the film. If the post is about an actor or character, it will be in the casting section. Basically they're all in places that make sense, and if you want to know more about that, click the link.

As always, feel free to comment below with any questions, comments, or requests!

Wolverine (July 26, 2013)

- Set after "The Last Stand"
- Tweazer
- First footage
- Teaser Trailer/Poster
- Domestic Trailer/Poster
- Hugh Jackman (Logan/Wolverine), Hiroyuki Sanada (Shingen Yashida), Hal Yamanouchi (Yashida), Tao Okamota (Mariko Yashida), Rila Fukushima (Yukio), Will Yun Lee (Kenuichio Harada/Silver Samurai), Brian Tee (Noburo Mori), Svetlana Khodchenkova (Viper), Famke Janssen (Jean Grey).

Kick-Ass 2 (August 16, 2013)

- New heroes and villains
- First trailer
- Second trailer
- Aaron Johnson (Dave Lizewski/Kick-Ass), Chloe Grace Moretz (Mindy Macready/Hit Girl), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Chris D'Amico/The Red Mist/The Mother Fucker), Jim Carrey (Sal Bertolinni/Colonel Stars and Stripes), Donald Faison (Doctor Gravity), Robert Emms (Insect Man), Lindy Booth (Night Bitch), Daniel Kaluuya (Black Death), Clark Duke (Marty Eisenberg/Battle Guy), Augustus Prew (Todd Haynes/Ass-Kicker), Olga Kirkulina (Mother Russia), Andy Nyman (The Tumor), John Leguizamo (Javier)

Agents of SHIELD (September 2013)

- #CoulsonLives
- Will feature Coulson leading his own team of SHIELD Agents
- Will focus on non-superpowered people in the world of superhumans
- Watch the trailer
- Follow the blog
- Clark Gregg (Phil Coulson), Ming-Na Wen (Melinda May), Brett Dalton (Grant Ward), Chloe Bennet (Skye), Iain De Caestecker (Leo Fitz), Elizabeth Henstridge (Jenna Simmons), J. August Richards (unrevealed).

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (October 4, 2013)

- Featuring storylines from "A Dame to Kill For," "Just Another Saturday Night," "The Long Bad Night," and an original story.
- Jessica Alba (Nancy Callahan), Powers Boothe (Senator Roark), Josh Brolin (Dwight McCarthy), Jamie Chung (Miho), Marton Csokas (Damien Lord), Rosario Dawson (Gail), Julia Garner (Marcy), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Johnny), Eva Green (Ava Lord), Mickey Rourke (Marv), Bruce Willis (John Hartigan)

Thor: The Dark World (November 8, 2013)

- Takes place after "Thor" and "The Avengers"
- Will feature more focus on the nine realms.
- Watch the trailer
- 14 Questions and Observations about the trailer
- Learn about the prelude comic
- See some photos
- Chris Hemsworth (Thor Odinson), Natalie Portman (Jane Foster), Tom Hiddleston (Loki Laufeyson), Stellan Skarsgard (Dr. Erik Selvig), Idris Elba (Heimdall), Christopher Eccleston (Malekith the Accursed), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Algrim the Strong/Kurse), Kat Dennings (Darcy Lewis), Ray Stevenson (Volstagg), Zachary Levi (Fandral), Tadanobu Asano (Hogun), Jaimie Alexander (Sif), Rene Russo (Frigga), Anthony Hopkins (Odin), Clive Russell (Tyr), Chris O'Dowd (unspecified).

300: Rise of an Empire (March 7, 2014)

- Prequel to "300"

- Originally slated for a 2013 release but pushed back

- Will feature Xerxes' journey to becoming the god-king

- Sullivan Stapleton (Themistocles), Lena Headey (Quen Gorgo of Sparta), Eva Green (Artemisia), Rodrigo Santoro (Xerxes, King of Persia), Andrew Peavin (Daxos), Callan Mulvey (Scyllias), David Wenham (Dilios), Jack O'Connell (Calisto), Hans Matheson (Aeskylos), Andrew Tiernan (Ephialtes).

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (April 4, 2014)

- Takes place after "The Avengers" in modern day
- SHIELD and Black Widow play major roles
- Will feature the Trikselion, SHIELDs ground-based HQ
- See some concept art
- The blu-ray release will include a short film featuring Haylet Atwell as Peggy Carter after Cap's "death."
- Co-director Joe Russo says "It’s going to be much greater than any Marvel movie to date"
- Chris Evans (Steve Rogers/Captain America), Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Robert Redford (Alexander Pierce), Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier), Anthony Mackie (Sam Wilson/Falcon), Colbie Smulders (Maria Hill), Frank Grillo (Brock Rumlow/Crossbones), Georges St-Pierre (Georges Batroc/Batroc the Leaper), Haylet Atwell (Peggy Carter), Toby Jones (Arnim Zola), Maximilano Hernandez (Agent Jasper Sitwell), Dominic Copper (Howard Stark), Emily VanCamp (Sharon Carter/Agent 13).

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (May 2, 2014)

- Greatly expands Spider-Man's universe, including Oscorp and the Ravencroft Institute
- Mary Jane has been cut from the film, and will not appear until the third installment
- Andrew Garfield (Peter Parker/Spider-Man), Emma Stone (Gwen Stacy), Jamie Foxx (Max Dillon/Electro), Dane DeHaan (Harry Osborn), Paul Giamatti (Aleksei Sytsevich/Rhino), Sally Field (May Parker), Martin Sheen (Ben Parker), Chris Cooper (Norman Osborn), Felicity Jones (unspecified), B.J. Novak (unspecified).
- Release dates for the third and fourth films are June 10, 2016, and May 4, 2018, respectively.

X-Men: Days of Future Past (July 18, 2014)

- Bryan Singer returns as director, Matthew Vaughn stays on as writer
- Uses time travel to connect all previous X-Men films
- Will be reuniting many of the cast members of the original trilogy with cast members of the prequel First Class.
- Will feature Quicksilver, but supposedly not the same as the one in Avengers 2.
- James McAvoy and Patrick Stewart (Professor Charles Xavier/Professor X), Michael Fassbender and Ian McKellen (Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto), Jennifer Lawrence (Raven Darkholme/Mystique), Nicholas Hoult (Hank McCoy/Beast), Halle Berry (Ororo Munroe/Storm), Anna Paquin (Marie/Rogue), Hugh Jackman (Logan/Wolverine), Ellen Page (Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat), Shawn Ashmore (Bobby Drake/Iceman), Daniel Cudmore (Peter Rasputin/Colossus), Fan Bingbing (Blink), Evan Peters (Quicksilver), Peter Dinklage (unrevealed).

Guardians of the Galaxy (August 1, 2014)

- See some concept art
- Chris Pratt (Peter Quill/Star-Lord), Dave Bautista (Drax the Destroyer), Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Michael Rooker (Yondu), John C. Reilly (Rhomann Dey, leader of Nova Corps), Lee Pace (unspecified villain), Karen Gillan (unspecified villain), Glenn Close (member of Nova Corps), Beicio del Toro (unrevealed).

Fantastic Four (March 6, 2015)

- Reboot of the 2005 and 2007 films
- Will share continuity with the X-Men films

The Avengers 2 (May 1, 2015)

- Will feature Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, but supposedly not the same Quicksilver from X-Men: Days of Future Past
- Thanos will not be the main villain
- Loki will not be involved
- Rumors suggest Black Panther will be involved

Ant-Man (November 6, 2015)

- Will start Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
- See some stills from the test footage
- Rumors suggest Arnie Hammer may be up for the lead role, but the actor and Edgar Wright, the director, both deny this
- Edgar Wright tweeted that he directed a scene from a movie other than his movie "The World's End." A lot of people suspect that it's a post-credits scene for another MCU movie, and since it wasn't in Iron Man 3, I hope that it shows up in Thor: The Dark World.

Unrevealed future MCU films

- May 6th.2016
- July 8th, 2016
- May 5th, 2017
- Disney announced release dates for films without revealing what the films are.
- Speculations include new characters like Dr. Strange, Black Panther, Luke Cage/Heroes for Hire, Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, or a sequel to an existing movie, like The Incredible Hulk
- Rumors suggest that Dr. Strange will replace Tony Stark/Iron Man as the "hub" character in Phase 3

Expanding the DC Cinematic Universe

- Man of Steel is the beginning of a shared film universe of the DC comics characters, similar to Marvel's Avengers
- A prelude comic to Man of Steel provides proof that Kara Zor-El, aka Supergirl, exists and is present on Earth during the time of Man of Steel
- References to other chracters in Man of Steel include "LexCorp" being visible multiple times, as well as the "Wayne Enterprises" logo appearing, and "Blaze Comics," a reference to BoosterGold.
- Green Lantern may enter into the DCU with the recent film not officially existing in the same continuity, but still serving the purpose of introducing the character to film audiences.
- Warner Bros. is fast tracking a sequel to Man of Steel to come out as early as next year
- Superman's presence is said to "cause" other heroes to step forward, leading to the Justice League movie, which some report will come as soon as 2015

The status of a shared cinematic universe: 3-Way Comparison (DC, Fox, Marvel)

Marvel started from scratch in 2008, pioneering this idea in the superhero genre. Phase 1 is over, Phase 2 has begun, with the cinematic universe spilling over onto network television. Phase 3 is still in early planning stages.

Fox is retconning all of their X-Men films back to 2000, and will focus their future on X-Men and the FF. Days of Future Past next year will tie together all the previous films, and a FF reboot is planned for 2015.

DC jumped on the bandwagon and are starting fresh in 2013. Man of Steel is all they have right now, and they are hoping to jump straight from the sequel to the Justice League.

Meanshile, Sony is content with expanding their Spider-Man universe, and as production wraps up on The Amazing Spider-Man sequel, they've announced release dates for their third and fourth installments.

This is a little photo I've put together. Marvel is dominating, of course, while Fox is desperately trying to redeem themselves. Meanwhile, DC is sticking with their comfort zone, and Sony is clinging to Spider-Man for dear life.

Hey, DC, feel free to use my plan to help you catch up.

Phil Coulson....super Agent?

So I saw this online the other day (here), and I have no idea whether or not its true, but I had to post it because of the amazing level of epic this would have if it were in fact true.

If you haven't yet seen the short film A Funny Thing Happened on the way to Thor's Hammer featuring Coulson, go ahead and watch that first (4 minute video)

Ok, now check this out. The picture banner at the top is taken from the ending of Captain America: The First Avenger

Marvel has been known to pour Easter Eggs into the movie, and to not have hardly anything be a coincidence, so I was really starting to buy this. I thought, why have a line of dialogue there? And why name the child if it wasn't important? And why name him Phil unless it was supposed to be him, already introduced in three previous films? I was so ready to believe.

Now, I didn't remember hearing that line in the film, so I re-watched that scene, and the line isn't there. I watched it again. Nothing. Turned up the volume. Still nothing. Put the subtitles on. Nothing. Checked it with the director's commentary. All they say is that it was a reshoot. Check the deleted scenes, featurettes, everything the blu-ray has to offer, and it simply isn't there.

So I'm not sure where that line came from that started this whole thought process. Pages all over the internet say its there. Even IMDB has it listed in their trivia. But it's simply not true. Regardless, it's a fun idea. Another variation I've seen is that this boy is Phil Coulson's father.

Now then, allow me to use this instance to highlight my own integrity. While much of what I say is opinion-based, I promise to you, my readers, that whenever possible, I will confirm anything like this myself, and not take the word of the internet and continue to pass on falsehoods.

Consider this. Likely, very few people know of this potential Easter Egg. Of the ones that do, even fewer know that the line was fabricated. And you are now one of those people.

Of course, the Agents of SHIELD show could always address this and confirm or deny that it's Coulson. I can't say about that. All I can say is that the kid is never called "Phil" in the film.

100 Words or Less: Iron Man 3 (2013)

Plot holes everywhere, the story suffered from Shane Black’s influence, and in the end the poor story is really what brings this film down. I personally didn’t like the twist, but if the movie had been written well, I could get past that. 

Aside from plot holes, characterizations are all off, especially Pepper.

The performances by RDJ and Don Cheadle are really the only things that save this movie (to an extent). Even though I hate the story, I could still enjoy watching RDJ play Tony Stark.

This film is my least favorite of the MCU.

Some Love and Defense for "The Incredible Hulk"

It's an unfortunate truth, one that you can't really deny when you think about it: The Incredible Hulk feels like the "adopted stepchild" of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

(Note: If you happen to be an adopted stepchild, your family loves you!)

There's nothing inherently wrong with the film. It's a good flick, and the Hulk came to life in a believable way. So why is it often left out of our minds when we think of CA: TFA, Thor, and the Iron Man Trilogy surrounding the Avengers?

I think there are a few main reasons. Some are more obvious than others, so let's get into those.

1. Ed Norton was recast

This is the most obvious reason that it feels so removed from The Avengers. Other movies have had characters recast, but this movie had the star of the film recast. And, to top it off, they completely changed how they animated the Hulk as well. So not only did Bruce Banner look completely different, the Hulk was completely different as well.

(Sidenote: I was originally upset when I heard they were changing the method of animating the Hulk. I liked TIH version and thought, "why fix what's not broken?" When I saw the Avengers, I accepted it because it looked so good. But it wasn't until re-watching TIH after seeing The Avengers that I realized that TIH looks silly in hindsight compared to The Avengers version.)

2. No supporting Hulk characters appear in The Avengers

From the Iron Man films, you've got Stark, Potts, Black Widow, Nick Fury, and Phil Coulson.

From Thor, you've got Thor, Loki, Coulson, and Selvig. Jane Foster appears in a photo and is mentioned.

Captain America didn't have any of his supporting cast, but that was because he's supposed to feel out of place, and obviously the 70 years would kill a lot of them. Even so, there was a deleted scene where he is going through files of his old acquaintances and sees that Peggy Carter is still alive.

Still, without any of his cast back, you've still got the Stark connection. Cap knew Howard and Tony is Howard's son, so Stark and Cap sort of already have this odd relationship established, and Stark is comparing him to how Howard described him.

Aside from cast, you've got the Tesseract playing a major role in The Avengers, after being introduced and focused on in CA:TFA.

With the Hulk, however, no supporting cast is seen or mentioned. General Ross isn't around. Betty Ross isn't acknowledged (if you include Cap's deleted scene, she is the only love interest left out). Samuel Sterns/The Leader and Dr. Leonard Samson/Doc Samson are both left behind and get no more development. Rick Jones, who was teased in TIH has yet to be seen on screen.

Now, if you're trying to find a fault with this argument, you will say that Stark appeared in TIH in the last scene, and he was teased throughout the film with his sonic cannons, and SHIELD was teased throughout as well, and the super soldier serum was a direct reference to Captain America, but those things didn't have any great focus, and were so small and unnoticed by so many that it's just not enough.

Fun Fact: The university that Betty Ross works at featured in TIH, Culver University, is the same university that Jane Foster comes from in Thor. Most people miss that connection.

3. The 2003 Hulk film

When The Incredible Hulk came out in 2008, it was officially a "reboot" of the 2003 film. However, the studios recognized that many people had already seen the 2003 film, so they didn't feel the need to re-tell the origin (aside from a brief montage at the beginning of the film). They started a few years into his life as the Hulk. This made it feel more like an unofficial sequel than a reboot, even though Marvel tried distancing itself from the previous movie.

As the Marvel Cinematic Universe developed, and many people mentioned The Incredible Hulk as one of the first films, lots of questions were asked like "wasn't there another Hulk movie before that?" which led into explaining about reboots, studios, blah blah blah. Point is, people still mentally connect the 2008 film with the 2003 film because many of the characters are the same. Bruce Banner/Hulk, Betty Ross, General Ross, the vague concept of "the military." It feels much more connected to that than The Avengers.

4.The Bill Bixby TV Series

In contrast of trying to distance itself from the 2003 film, the 2008 film embraces the old TV series from the 70s like a long lost son, and tries to reach out to viewers of that generation by referencing the show throughout the whole movie. I didn't watch much of the show, but even I caught plenty of them.

Bill Bixby's post-humous cameo, Lou Ferrigno's appearance and voicing of Hulk (also similar to the 2003 film), the musical theme of the show playing as part of the score, the use of the name "David Banner," the machine/experiment that caused the initial transformation, the green eyes signaling the start of the transformation. This movie tries so hard to connect back to the old TV shows, and the other movies in the MCU don't put nearly as much effort into doing the same for this movie.

5. The lack of a sequel

Iron Man just completed his trilogy. Thor has a sequel coming out later this year. Captain America will have his sequel next year, and Black Widow will be accompanying him, in her third film of the franchise.

After that, Guardians of the Galaxy starts the wave of new heroes and characters coming to the universe. That is, of course, aside from the TV show that starts this fall.

Then, in 2015, we get the Avengers sequel, and the Ant-Man starts Phase 3.

Where's the Hulk in all of this? He's got no sequel on the way, and the new TV show that was being planned for him has gone nowhere. It's assumed that he'll return for Avengers 2, but the focus has definitely been taken off of him and is raining down on the other heroes.

In Conclusion

The Incredible Hulk may not tie in as nicely to The Avengers as the rest of the MCU films do, but it's still a really good movie. You believe Banner's genius, you get to see him fight Abomination, you get a funny Stan Lee cameo, and its just fun to watch. I hate Liv Tyler's performance, Doc Samson is a complete wasted, and Sterns gets cheated out of becoming the Leader, but overall its a really good movie. And if you haven't seen it yet, or haven't seen it since The Avengers, give it a chance.

And don't make him angry. You wouldn't like him when he's angry.

20,486 views!

A quick summary of MCU comics: Part 9/9 [Thor: The Dark World Prelude]

NOW UPDATED TO INCLUDE PART 2 (after part 1)

So, I now have to re-number all of my comic posts on MCU comics, because they just released a ninth one!

Part: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

This one takes place after Thor and before The Avengers. This is part 1 of 2, so I expect 2 to bring more info, but this one isn't bad. Highlights?

- Shit is going down all over the 9 realms. Specifically,
+Frost giants on Jotunheim know something is going on. Plus, their king is dead now.
+Trolls on Nidavellir are getting ready to attack the Dwarves, since Asgard can't help the Dwarf king Eitri
+Badoons are falling into civil war, which will soon spread to other planets
+Mauraders are amassing near Vanaheim

Additionally,
-Odin tells Thor that he basically put the universe on fast forward to Ragnarok, essentially an Asgardian apocalypse
-We get a reference to Tyr, who is set to appear in the film, but we don't see him
-Thor keeps himself from looking for a way to Jane. "Now is not the time."
-Jane is trying to re-open the wormhole to Asgard. And she would have succeeded, except Thor broke it.
-Frigga (Thor's mother) finds out Loki is alive, and working with Thanos, and when they find out he's on Earth, Odin tells Thor there is another way to get between realms without the Bifrost -- dark energy.
-Turns out that the Asgardians need the Tesseract to rebuild the Bifrost. So, expect that to be a plot point future films.
-We see Coulson getting Jane Foster moved as mentioned in the film. Not new info, but nice to see it from the other side
-Lots of stuff from the movie, followed by "To Be Continued"

Frigga right before contacting Loki, seeing Thanos and The Other

PART 2

-Sif keeps tabs on Thor via Heimdall while he is on Earth during "Avengers"
-Jane Foster finds out why she was whisked away, and watches the battle of New York on TV
-Before Thor leaves, he gives a message to Selvig for Jane, but Selvig forgets it, and Jane is pissed at Thor. "Thor was here, and then he just left again. No message. Nothing. Not a word. For the last year, every waking thought I had was of him. Of finding him. All the work I did, it was for nothing. So, that's it. I'm done."
-Frigga still feels sorry for Loki, but Odin no longer considers him his son, calling him Laufeyson
-On Vanaheim, the Mauraders are ripping into the Vanir
-Thor gives the Tesseract to Heimdall, who uses it to restore to Bifrost.
-Thor gives a pep talk to Asgard about the entire universe needing they're help (more or less).

A quick summary of MCU comics: Part 8/9 [Fury's Big Week]

So I saved the best for last. That means its supposed to be last, so, if you haven't read the first ones, do so!

Part: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Now for probably the best and most important tie-in comic: Fury's Big Week.

Why is this one so cool? Well, for starters, the name. The title comes from the fact that the main happenings of Iron Man 2, The Incredible Hulk, and Thor all occur within about a week of each other. So this comic gives a nice timeline.

Additionally, this comic ties in to every movie/character, not just one, and has a lot of "between the scenes" stuff, not just "behind the scenes," and really helps tie the movies together and explain a lot of details. If you're going to read any of them, read this one. I'm actually not going to give much plot, just list some things this story addresses.

- A lot of tension between the World Security Council and Nick Fury, and how Nick Fury gets away with ignoring them. In his words, "We keep doing what we're doing and tell them that we're doing what they want us to be doing."

- The non-cure SHIELD develops for Stark's Palladium poisoning (Black Widow injects him in the donut shop).

- Major plot points of all the movies. Stark vs. Rhodey, him dying, Jane Foster's research, Thor trying to get his hammer, Loki trying as well, Hulk tearing up Culver University, Blonsky fighting him, the Destroyer, the Hulk fight in Harlem

- Some background, exposition on Hawkeye. Why he's in New Mexico with Thor.

- Nice references to the short film A Funny Thing Happened on the way to Thor's Hammer

- Some background into why Black Widow is so freaking terrified of the Hulk in the Avengers. Hint: she's seen him Hulk out in person before (Culver University). She saw the Abomination first-hand too.

- SHIELD using the Destroyer to make new weapons, as seen being used by Coulson in The Avengers

- Nick Fury and Gen. Ross whipping it out (not literally). But they disagree about a lot of things.

- Whatever happened to Samuel Sterns? Yeah, he transformed into the Leader. He just didn't get very far.

- Turns out SHIELD (Nick Fury) was actually looking for Cap -- for years -- they didn't just "happen" to find him.

- Turns out Loki met Hawkeye when he was "possessing" Selvig at the end of Thor, which is why he brainwashed him in Avengers.

- Lots of great Coulson personality in comic form.

- More Nick Fury magic. Remember in The Avengers, they wanted all their focus on Phase 2? Yeah, that's happening here. They want his top priority to be on learning about the Tesseract, and they get pissed when they find out he's been up to other projects. The way he defends himself is amazing, and he ties everything together nicely with the Tesseract.

"I not only saved Tony Stark's life, but I also provided the guidance he needed to finish his father's work. The greatest result of that being the creation of a new element, which might be extremely useful in reigniting the Tesseract. 

After that, I formed an alliance with the extra-terrestrial Thor and then recovered the Asgardian weaponized armor, which if I'm not mistaken comes from the same realm as the Tesseract. Maybe my pal Dr. Erik Selvig, another recent ally, can learn more about the Tesseract from the armor, or vice versa? Just a thought. 

After that I ran interference to keep that halfwit good Thaddeus Ross from destroying New York City with his enhanced psycho-soldier. I'd hate to speculate on how a man like Ross got his hands on the classified intelligence that led to that horrifying incident. 

Oh! And meanwhile I've kept a small team on the hunt for Steve Rogers, which I know might be perceived as disobeying orders...I just thought it might be handy to have access to the only human being on the planet that has had any direct experience with the Tesseract."

Here are some of the great photos from the comic, relating to the films. Because this comic is its own story, these pages help to remind the reader where they are in terms of the events of the films.

Romanoff updates Fury on Stark's "situation"

Stop. Hammer time.

My guess is the Hulk was mad that there was no Culver's at Culver University

Hawkeye in New Mexico after Thor pwned the Destroyer

Black Widow observing the fight in Harlem

Samuel Sterns did in fact start transforming into the Leader. He was then shot by Black Widow.

HULK STRANGLE!

A quick summary of MCU comics: Part 7/9 [I am Iron Man]

Didn't think I was ever going to finish this, eh? Well, I am. Today! Why? Because a new MCU comic comes out tomorrow, a Thor: The Dark World prelude. So I need to get caught up!

First things first. If you haven't seen the others, you should do that too.

Part: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

This post is about "I am Iron Man!"

And it'll be short. Because, well, it's basically just a comic version of the movie. Like the Thor comic.

There are a couple pages of dialogue between Fury and Stark picking up during the post-credits scene of the film. Basically, Stark gives Fury the cold shoulder, and Fury tells Coulson to prepare Natasha (Black Widow) that they need her services, so a nice lead-in to Iron Man 2, as well as the Black Widow prelude comic.

Quicksilver

Wow. A week since my last post. I wish I could say I've been really busy, but honestly I've just been too lazy to search for topics to post about, because its been kinda slow on news lately, not a lot going on. That just changed.

Listen up, kids. This could get interesting.

Let's look at the timeline, shall we?

Last year, the Avengers hit theaters on May 2013, and changed superhero movies forever.

In April of 2013, Kevin Feige, the president of Marvel, was asked about the characters of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. Basically the confusion comes from the fact that Fox has film rights to X-Men and mutant properties, while Marvel Studios has film rights to Avengers characters, but Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch started in the comics as mutant villains to the X-Men (they are Magneto's children), but they reformed and became Avengers, where they have been for a long time. So they belong to both worlds. When asked about how they could be used in films, Feige had this to say:

“It’s a little complicated, but if they [Fox, which holds the X-Men rights] want to use them in the X-Men movie they could, [but] if we want to use them in The Avengers movie, we could.”

Back on January 28, I published this post on the Scarlet Witch and how she and her brother Quicksilver could be used as a way for Fox and Marvel Studios to tie their properties together without fully crossing over.

Fast forward to April 28, when I published this post about Joss Whedon suggesting that Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch were in his current script for Avengers 2. A few days later, this was confirmed. Joss' quote was this:

"I've got these two characters...two of my favorite characters from the comic books, a brother-sister act, they're in the movie, that's exciting..."

Now today, May 23, Bryan Singer, the director of the first two X-Men movies (see what epic plan he's doing here) tweeted this:

Before he was an #Avenger, he was just a REALLY fast kid. Thrilled to say #EvanPeters is joining #XMen #DaysOfFuturePast as #Quicksilver.

So we now have an actor officially cast as Quicksilver, but in the X-Men franchise. Will this interpretation be as a hero or a villain?

More importantly, will this tie in at all to the Quicksilver we may see in Avengers 2? Will it be the same character? The same actor? Or will the studios simply ignore each other, and each have their own actor in their own interpretation of the character? I think that's a bad move, I think that will confuse audiences.

The only other examples I can think of where the same fictional character was portrayed by two different actors at the same time are James Bond in 1983 (Roger Moore and Sean Connery) and Clark Kent/Superman in 2006 (Tom Welling and Brandon Routh) - although that was TV/Film, as opposed to two films. Still, Bryan Singer directed that film, and should have learned that it was a bad idea. I really hope that they put this actor in both franchises, or only use Peters in the "past" scenes as a young Quicksilver, and use another actor during the "present" in Avengers 2 as an older version of the character. Unfortunately, its been stated that both of the Maximoff's will be portrayed as younger characters in Avengers 2, so that won't work. So please, put this guy in both. Make it work well together!

X-Men: Days of Future Past is officially filming, and here's a first look at Jennifer Lawrence, back in blue as Mystique.

KANG

So there's been a lot (a lot) of talk lately on the end of the MCU. Will it end? When will it end? How should they end it? Is it better for characters to be retired, killed, or recasted? Should it end the story, or go on forever?

I think I've thought of a valid way to solve this problem -- at least once. (Go ahead, applaud).

Phase 1 is over. Introduce the heroes, bring them together.

Phase 2 is underway. Follow up on the main heroes, introduce a few new guys, and bring them together again.

Phase 3 looks to be, so far, all-new characters. Ant-Man and Dr. Strange are the only confirmations, but rumors abound for Luke Cage, Black Panther, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and more.

By this point (2016-2017), Thor will have been around for 6 years and 4 films, Cap for 6 years and 4 films, Iron Man for 9 years and 4-5 films, and hulk for 9 years and 3 or so films. These heroes might be played out, and the actors might be done wanting to play them. With the recent reports of pay disputes between Marvel Studios and the actors, its hard to imagine this going much farther without a lot of trouble. So new heroes will be the focus.

But what then? Bring new heroes in, bring them together, and just leave the old heroes behind? Constantly bringing in new heroes every few years and leaving the better known ones in the past? Can RDJ play Iron Man once he's over 50?

As you can tell by the title of this post, I think the villain Kang could be a way to solve this issue.

If you don't know, Kang is a major recurring villain in the comics, and his big thing is time travel.

Any other major franchise you know that uses time travel as a way to continue the series, tell new stories, recast the actors, but still maintain a sense of continuity, even if only as a technicality? Star Trek. Ok, so maybe the Black Hole was the greater plot point, but as an alternate reality/timeline, it was basically time travel (hence the two Spock's) that allowed this movie to exist, separate from the other films, yet still connected to them. It's the first film I've heard of that's a sequel, prequel, re-boot, and possibly spin-off all in one.

Another franchise is about to do that next year. After the original X-Men trilogy ended and Wolverine had disappointing box office returns, Matthew Vaughn directed X-Men: First Class, in what he created as a separate universe, not connected to the previous four films. New cast. New characters. New story. Well, now Bryan Singer, the director of the original and the first sequel, is back, and guess what, he's connecting the different universes using time-travel. In X-Men: Days of Future Past, Singer will use both casts, both sets of characters, and unite them into one continuity. Which is epic.

So why can't the MCU do the same? With Thanos being the big baddie for the next few years, either have him use the infinity gauntlet (time stone, reality stone) to seriously mess up reality, or, if you wanna end Thanos' time in the spotlight and jump-start Phase 4, bring in Kang, and have him mess up our timeline. And then we can start over with a new reality, a new timeline, and therefore, we have an excuse to use new actors.

That way, we don't have to worry about who will quit when, and have one Cap working with 3 different hulks and 2 different Thor's over the course of 4 films. Get everybody on the same story arc, end it by seriously screwing with the time-space continuum, and then recast all at once, setting the stage for the post-RDJ Marvel Cinematic Universe. Assuming this happens around 2018-2020, they could bring in fresh faces on a (mostly) standalone new "miniverse," welcoming new audiences and the next generation of fans, not required to watch 20 movies before them to catch up on the story, but without having to reintroduce the origin stories to America. Use the same backstory, use the same powers, but with a new face and a new timeline, the creative slate is wiped clean and ready to be re-used.

With this system, the MCU could exist in "realities" each made up of 3 Phases. And if at any time in the next 50 years Sony or Fox would be willing to work with Disney on a crossover movie, they could use time-travel/reality warping to achieve that fairly seamlessly as well.

So you've got Thanos. You've got Kang. You're potentially bringing in Scarlet Witch, who can mess up reality pretty badly. That's 3 resets right there. Throw in some Norse god of time (if there is such a thing) and some naive sap trying to control the Tesseract, and you've got a few more!

So far Marvel Studios has been doing a good job at thinking "long-term," but compared only to regular movies. But this is not a regular movie franchise. This is way bigger. So 8 years doesn't cut it as "long term" for these guys anymore. "Long term" for these guys means 20+ years, and they need to start figuring out how to endure, or else it will crumble like Iron Man 3 (and I really hope that will end up being the forgotten stepchild of this universe).

So that's my rant.

Kang.

Agent's of SHIELD Full Trailer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=PerIAuv27SQ

This looks really, really, really, good.