The Gauntlet Has Been Thrown: The Future of Superhero Movies

[CaptainNexus616]

What I love the most about the new Spidey outfit? The lenses actually move! In the comics that was a technique used to convey emotion for Spider-Man since the mask covered his entire face. The fact someone suggested "hey lets make his lenses move" somewhere in the development of this movie makes me want to hug that person. That little change to what is basically the fourth Spidey outfit seen on the big screen (Counting Andrew Garfield's ASM 1 and 2 outfits and the costume from Ramni's trilogy) makes me like it more than the other versions we have seen.

I will agree on the Spider logo being a bit small. You can argue that the first movie is normally to test run the character's look and improve from there. After the first Thor movie, his Asgardian armor went through several variations before they settled with the Dark World variation.

While Captain America the First Avenger introduced us to Cap having that thick armor with the big shoulder pads. When the guys for Avengers designed the Captain America suit for that they were trying to slim the look down and make it more modern like how all technology usually becomes sleeker and smaller but it was clear that they needed to go back to the basic shape of the First Avenger look.

Iron Man 3 tried to add more gold to Tony's armor while turning Rhodes into the Iron Patriot. Both of which looked ugly and saw them revert to their previous color schemes.

My question is this.....how many more hairstyles is Scarlet Johanson going to go through for the rest of the movies she will appear in?!

[SapphireStar]

The fact they gave Spidey's mask the ability project emotions makes a lot of difference. The previous masks were just, masks. No ability to convey emotion. I wonder how they did that? Animatronics built into the lenses? CGI? Or, applied something to Tom Holland's eyes to allow his natural muscles to control the mask?

Saw an article which was negative about the way his body looked in the suit. Several things, original Spidey was on the lean, not overly muscular side. So, the actor wouldn't want to appear too muscular. I mean, he's not Thor. They stated that in costume his muscles are more defined that the actor is wearing a muscle suit. Or, it is the stuntman in various scenes. The actor can't do everything, and the studio won't let them do the more dangerous stunts. So there could be size and muscle differences there.

If she appears in future movies, at least every movie. Like the comics, the characters go through hair and costume changes every few issues or so.

[Mathim]

The fact they gave Spidey's mask the ability project emotions makes a lot of difference. The previous masks were just, masks. No ability to convey emotion. I wonder how they did that? Animatronics built into the lenses? CGI? Or, applied something to Tom Holland's eyes to allow his natural muscles to control the mask?

Saw an article which was negative about the way his body looked in the suit. Several things, original Spidey was on the lean, not overly muscular side. So, the actor wouldn't want to appear too muscular. I mean, he's not Thor. They stated that in costume his muscles are more defined that the actor is wearing a muscle suit. Or, it is the stuntman in various scenes. The actor can't do everything, and the studio won't let them do the more dangerous stunts. So there could be size and muscle differences there.

If she appears in future movies, at least every movie. Like the comics, the characters go through hair and costume changes every few issues or so.

Well she can't tie her hair back in a ponytail, otherwise everyone will be like, "Why the hell wasn't this practical-for-this-line-of-work approach taken from the start?" But she's had the same style at least twice, right? Maybe they'll just have it be in a finite number of styles and rotate at the whim of the director(s).

I just don't like how Spidey's costume's material looked like it was made out of an old blankie. It just reminds me more of how he's a kid. Well, that and Tony calling him Underoos. If he were an adult, Tony wouldn't be so hasty to ridicule someone he wants on his team in such a situation and knows he should be treating as a peer.

[SapphireStar]

Black Widow has had several hair changes, some stayed slightly the same through the last several movies. Its all about looking good.

Tony has made fun of the other members of the Avengers. He called Thor, "Point Break", Hulk the Rage Machine, Captain America, I think Boy Scout and in Civil War told Cap he wanted to punch him in his perfect teeth.

Apparently, Spidey's costume seems to be made out of several different material. The red part of the torso seems to be a canvas like material. The black parts sort of vinyl or rubbery. At least it is not shiny.

[Mathim]

Black Widow has had several hair changes, some stayed slightly the same through the last several movies. Its all about looking good.

Tony has made fun of the other members of the Avengers. He called Thor, "Point Break", Hulk the Rage Machine, Captain America, I think Boy Scout and in Civil War told Cap he wanted to punch him in his perfect teeth.

Apparently, Spidey's costume seems to be made out of several different material. The red part of the torso seems to be a canvas like material. The black parts sort of vinyl or rubbery. At least it is not shiny.

LOL, yeah, he called Hawkeye 'Legolas', and called Cap a 'Capsicle' when he was referring to the time Cap spent frozen in the Arctic. But I thought Widow's hair was pretty much the same during each of the Avengers movies.

And that does suggest Spidey hasn't been given any tech or assistance from Stark with his costume. Really hoping they'll improve it in subsequent entries. Honestly, some of the parts, like his legs between where the blue turns to red, has a stripey pattern that made me think, "Wait, is he sort of copying the red-white-and-blue stripey theme of an American flag in homage to Captain America, despite him being on Team Iron Man right now?"

[SapphireStar]

I think one of the articles mentioned that the boots were seperate pieces. The stripes might be to give it a seperate piece look. Spidey might get an updated suit for his solo title. This may be the suit he created on his own when he started fighting crime after just being bitten.

Black Widow's hair was long, curly and a sort of dark red in Iron Man 2. Avengers, it was above her shoulders, straight and like cherry red. Winter Soldier, it was longer but a more rust color. Age of Ultron, her hair is short. Just below her ears, and more of a coppery/ginger red. Civil War her hair is back to long, just below her shoulders and an auburn shade.

[Mathim]

Here's another thing I'd like some opinions on. Someone on imdb was saying that Kevin Feige and the rest felt that having Spider-Man coming into the MCU as his high school age was the 'best' way to fit him into the MCU in order that he should not have been missed up to this point. I disagree, obviously, but tell me what you guys think of this:

Sometime prior to the events of Iron Man, Peter Parker is bitten by the genetically altered or, preferably, radiation-mutated spider and develops spider-powers. The whole masked costume thing/amateur wrestling deal happens which people don't really take seriously anyway keeps him out of the SHIELD gifted index and of course the Uncle Ben tragedy occurs. Again, because there are no witnesses to him tracking down the killer, the Spider-Man remains off of SHIELD's radar, but Peter now feels the need to use his powers unselfishly. But him being in high school seriously limits his time for crimefighting despite his gifted intelligence. Eventually he finds a dual life to be overwhelming and hangs up his tights before the public really gets to know their friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Even if he ended up on SHIELD's list, he would have disappeared from their sights and done nothing to arouse further suspicion.
A couple of years pass and Peter's either about to graduate high school or already has, and the events of the Avengers start happening. By the time he makes up his conflicted mind about whether to get involved in the battle of New York, it's already over, thus keeping him in retirement now that the prospect of college is coming up. Besides which, the Avengers seem to send the message that the world is in good hands, even without him.
But then along comes Age of Ultron, and Peter loses faith in the heroes' ability to keep things under control (hence being on Team Iron Man when Civil War comes up). Peter's well into his college years by now, obviously, and firmly an adult. This is when he finally decides to jump back in and make himself known, and publicly support Tony Stark's agenda.

Is that really not better than him being an out of place teenager among a team full of grown adults with years of experience under their belts? I mean, I get if Feige just has a boner for young Spidey but I don't buy it that this was the best solution their writers could come up with to explain Spider-Man not being present before now.

[SapphireStar]

Maybe they're tying young Spidey in the live action movie with the cartoon version seeing how Fitz and Simmons from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. made an animated appearance on the show. It all comes down to marketing to the younger audience. They need to have at least one "kid friendly" movie.

[Mathim]

Maybe they're tying young Spidey in the live action movie with the cartoon version seeing how Fitz and Simmons from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. made an animated appearance on the show. It all comes down to marketing to the younger audience. They need to have at least one "kid friendly" movie.

But they don't need that, and they should know that by now. Look how much money the MCU is pulling in without pandering to the younger crowd, and look how much the R-rated Deadpool is making by restricting itself from kids. The kid from Iron Man 3 was a completely wasted marketing tactic because he wasn't in any of the advertisements, so what was the point of having something like that in the movie when the people who want to see it are already in the theater and not expecting it? It doesn't contribute anything. It doesn't attract that target demographic, the superhero part is what attracts them. Going younger like that just alienates the adult fans of the genre. Hate to say it but at least DC isn't making a pig's ear out of things in that particular way, although we'll see how they handle the whole Billy Batson/Shazam thing.

Also, I've been re-watching Agents of SHIELD and I'm thinking...there's no way DC is making the Cyborg movie. Deathlok is awesome and he's not even on the big screen.

[Inkidu]

But they don't need that, and they should know that by now. Look how much money the MCU is pulling in without pandering to the younger crowd, and look how much the R-rated Deadpool is making by restricting itself from kids. The kid from Iron Man 3 was a completely wasted marketing tactic because he wasn't in any of the advertisements, so what was the point of having something like that in the movie when the people who want to see it are already in the theater and not expecting it? It doesn't contribute anything. It doesn't attract that target demographic, the superhero part is what attracts them. Going younger like that just alienates the adult fans of the genre. Hate to say it but at least DC isn't making a pig's ear out of things in that particular way, although we'll see how they handle the whole Billy Batson/Shazam thing.

Also, I've been re-watching Agents of SHIELD and I'm thinking...there's no way DC is making the Cyborg movie. Deathlok is awesome and he's not even on the big screen.

Cyborg has a much bigger following than Deathlok. I think his name pulls a lot more weight. I mean equating Cyborg to Deathlok is sort of like saying Moon Knight is as popular as Batman. :|

[Mathim]

Cyborg has a much bigger following than Deathlok. I think his name pulls a lot more weight. I mean equating Cyborg to Deathlok is sort of like saying Moon Knight is as popular as Batman. :|

I'm just saying, with Iron Man having 3 movies to himself and appearing in 3 ensemble films now, plus Deathlok on Agents of SHIELD, DC is really going to have to scrape to make Cyborg interesting enough for his own movie and I just don't see them being capable of that. They're going to have the same problem with the Flash, between the CW's show and the feats of both versions of Quicksilver, him carrying a movie of his own interestingly enough is going to be a serious challenge to them. What is going to set apart the DCEU Cyborg and Flash from similar heroes in their own or other major studios' stables? Their roster already looks shaky enough as it is. They'll probably have to stick with ensemble films in the DCEU to avoid diminishing returns. That's just my prediction, though. Maybe, just maybe, if BvS is a success and exceeds their expectations, they'll take the whole franchise more seriously, hire good writers and directors and stop spoiling their movies in the trailers.

[Inkidu]

I think that has more to do with movie logistics than the actual heroes. The Flash is regarded as the single-most "one power" superhero of all time. I think Cyborg could carry a movie, especially since he's DC and they're less focused on emulating Marvel's Cinematic Universe. At least I hope that's the case. They're really shooting themselves in the foot trying to get that off the ground. I think their strength is in independent movies.

For instance, how could you even get a character like Deadpool into it? Just like the comics he does best more or less on his own. You over-spice in Deadpool and you run the risk of ruining anything you put him in.

Honestly the whole comic-book movie bubble is dangerously close to popping with each passing movie. It's all really confusing. I think as an independent movie though Cyborg could pull it off. He's the most popular of the Titan subgroup and generally strong in his own right.

[Mathim]

I think that has more to do with movie logistics than the actual heroes. The Flash is regarded as the single-most "one power" superhero of all time. I think Cyborg could carry a movie, especially since he's DC and they're less focused on emulating Marvel's Cinematic Universe. At least I hope that's the case. They're really shooting themselves in the foot trying to get that off the ground. I think their strength is in independent movies.

For instance, how could you even get a character like Deadpool into it? Just like the comics he does best more or less on his own. You over-spice in Deadpool and you run the risk of ruining anything you put him in.

Honestly the whole comic-book movie bubble is dangerously close to popping with each passing movie. It's all really confusing. I think as an independent movie though Cyborg could pull it off. He's the most popular of the Titan subgroup and generally strong in his own right.

But they'd still be better off doing a Teen Titans movie, but maybe make Cyborg the leader and let Robin be part of Batman's thing over in Gotham. I know the whole genre, both with Marvel and DC, needs more diversity so it just feels like (and I could be wrong since I don't read the comics much) that they brought Cyborg into the Justice League movies just to add some diversity even though he's more popularly associated with the Titans, at least from what I saw before I stopped reading (this was before the New 52).

Anyway, last new Daredevil trailer before Friday:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMC7H23-sMs

[CaptainNexus616]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hiFHbkuTQg&feature=player_detailpage

Season 2 of Daredevil is here folks! Like the year before I shall Binge this like nuts!!!

[Mathim]

I'm 5 episodes in and I'm loving it so far. It's almost like they started it at the kind of point in season 1 where the action really started to pick up, so the 'slow burn' stuff got skipped. Way more in-depth about some of the characters than I expected and the biggest mysteries and plot points have yet to be revealed, so I expect things to ramp up even more in the next episode or two.

I'm becoming more and more impressed with Bernthal's portrayal of Frank Castle. They wrote him extremely well so that he doesn't just come off as the unsympathetic, psycho killer Punisher, which I think is a good thing. The Marvel/Netflix shows do characters (development-wise) better than any of the films, in my opinion.

Holy shit! A Clancy Brown cameo! Too bad he's not going to be able to be a bigger character in the MCU down the line, I really like him.

[CaptainNexus616]

I have to agree with Bernthal's portrayal of Punisher. While the movie could have been better I thought Thomas Jane had the look and character down. I'm four episodes in so lets see if Bernthal can surpass my opinion on who's the better. The rate he's going he may beat Jane.

[Mathim]

I have to agree with Bernthal's portrayal of Punisher. While the movie could have been better I thought Thomas Jane had the look and character down. I'm four episodes in so lets see if Bernthal can surpass my opinion on who's the better. The rate he's going he may beat Jane.

Jane didn't get as much time hand-to-hand and improv fighting groups, so I'd say Bernthal has a distinct advantage. But he had me from the word 'Bang'.

I love how they name-dropped

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

Jessica Jones

and the surprise

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return of Wilson Fisk, not just in cameos, but as a rising Kingpin awaiting his return to the outside world from his prison kingdom.

Okay, just finished it. STICK, YOU ARE THE MUTHAFUCKIN' MAN, DAWG!

Awesomeness. Really bold approaches, not formulaic at all, lots of twists and surprises, decent setup for both the next season and the eventual Defenders team-up, and of course for the Punisher solo series he's confirmed to be getting (and deservedly so, they got him spot-fucking-on this time!) All the acting is top-notch as ever, even with the newcomers. Really looking forward to more Marvel/Netflix.

[SapphireStar]

Looks like Marvel's Most Wanted spinoff has added another actor to the roster. Oded Fehr has been cast in a yet unrevealed role. They stated that the character he is playing is well known, and powerful who will basically give Mockingbird and Hunter a run for their money.

[mia h]

Most Wanted's cast is up to 5;
Adrianne Palicki as Bobbi
Nick Blood as Hunter
Fernanda Andrade as Christina Santos
Delroy Lindo as Dominic Fortune
Oded Fehr as "a force to be reckoned with."

[Mathim]

Not sure I want to add yet another show to the roster, particularly one that won't presumably involve superheroes among the main cast. Besides, I think they're more valuable to the team on Agents of SHIELD. Makes me wonder what'll be the reason they go off on their own.

Anyone see BvS yet? I've been hearing mixed reviews.

[Sasquatch421]

Anyone see BvS yet? I've been hearing mixed reviews.

Wanted to go today, but I'm getting nailed with more snow.... Perhaps I can get to it by Monday. Usually if the critics hate it then I like it... I really want to see how Affleck does as Batman. He has to be better then Clooney!

[TheGlyphstone]

Poor Clooney. He could have done so much better if the script he was stuck in wasn't such utter garbage. I think the only person who actually had fun in that movie was Ahnold.

[mia h]

Anyone see BvS yet? I've been hearing mixed reviews.

Not yet, although I'm more excited about Monday night and SvF (Supergirl vs Flash)  ;D

[Mathim]

Not yet, although I'm more excited about Monday night and SvF (Supergirl vs Flash)  ;D

Supergirl VS Flash? I thought they'd be pals!

[Callie Del Noire]

BvS

my take, without spoilers, two movies crushed into one. Jeremy Irons as Alfred, awesome, Aflect as Brice Wayne/Batman.. deserves his own damn movie..Godot as Wonder Woman/Diana Prince..can't wait to see her movie now.  The meta human teasers are very very nice.

The hints of what is to come...oh yeah.

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DARKSEID