The Gauntlet Has Been Thrown: The Future of Superhero Movies

[CaptainNexus616]

Felt like they were trying to go with the Guardians of the Galaxy approach for the trailer with that music. Not criticizing or anything I just got that vibe is all.

That may very well be the worst Harley Quinn...I have ever seen..... her acting...*cringes*

[Mathim]

I agree with that but I will add that it lacked the charm of Guardians' trailers AND that it just reinforces that it is simply way too soon in the DCCU to introduce an element like the squad. It lacks enough universe-building development for something like this to make sense, especially if this is supposed to take place before the big events of MOS and/or BVS. Also, agreed about Harley Quinn. Honestly, I'd take that accent she has on the animated series over that. Making her overly sexual like that (with more than just Mr. J as the target) does nothing to ingratiate the character with audiences, at least not with those familiar with her. Also it looks like Michael Bay could be the director of it with all the seemingly context-less, gratuitous flames, gunshots and explosions. There's such a thing as restraint. I mean, hell, even Deadpool's trailers show enough restraint that it doesn't detract.

My main issue is that this is the second trailer and they failed to make proper introductions for most of the squad's members in the first one, where Guardians had it in both. Also at least two of the characters have powers based around magic or spiritual/mystical abilities. There's no room for enough backstory around how that crap works in a universe with aliens and junk too. Marvel at least has a handle on that kind of thing with Thor's whole deal being 'science we don't understand' and Doctor Strange's movie is going to actually go into detail about the real deal with magic. Seriously, DC, take it down a notch. If it were up to me I'd say fuck it and wait until Marvel starts to slip up before doing anything after MOS.

[Deamonbane]

Don't care, still gonna watch it.

[Beorning]

I admit that I like this take on Harley...

Still, I agree that it makes no sense for DC to make this movie now. This is a kind of story you make when you have your universe solidly established...

[Mathim]

I admit that I like this take on Harley...

Still, I agree that it makes no sense for DC to make this movie now. This is a kind of story you make when you have your universe solidly established...

I mean, at least wait until after Justice League Part I, am I right? Even if they are throwing THAT one together a bit too soon as well.

[Beorning]

Yeah, it's like making a Sabretooth movie without introducing Wolverine first. Or making a Thunderbolts movie before Avengers movie...

[Mathim]

Yeah, it's like making a Sabretooth movie without introducing Wolverine first. Or making a Thunderbolts movie before Avengers movie...

I think they're just taking for granted that everyone already knows the Justice League and its biggest members, but what they are failing to take into account is that there are so many different versions of them (i.e. this version of Superman that kills his enemies if he has to) and that the most appropriate approach (since they're already copying the MCU) is establishing or re-establishing characters in reboots and using those individual films to universe-build. This whole idea of throwing an Avengers-level ensemble at us in every film after MOS is just...well, it reeks of desperation to cash in and that's just laughable. Trying to get in under the wire before the superhero film crash that's being predicted to occur sometime in the next decade? Even if that were going to happen in the most catastrophic way, there's still plenty of time to do things properly.

As for the superhero glut, the solution is to limit releases every year. No studio gets more than two per year, for example (even if that will suck for us now that the MCU is stepping up their game). That wouldn't really be a problem for Fox with the X-Men movies which are tending to come out once every two years, tops. DC's game of catch-up could stand to have the brakes put on violently and just do one per year til they force themselves to get it right and make a true masterpiece to earn the success that their properties deserve to be. And Sony...well, they're screwing themselves anyway so Spidey's coming home sooner or later anyway.

[TheGlyphstone]

Found a joke on the internet today that I couldn't help but laugh at.

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

Q: What is Captain America's shield made out of?

A: Vibranium.

Q: What is Hawkeye's shield made out of?

A: Quicksilver.

[CaptainNexus616]

Found a joke on the internet today that I couldn't help but laugh at.

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

Q: What is Captain America's shield made out of?

A: Vibranium.

Q: What is Hawkeye's shield made out of?

A: Quicksilver.

*Slow clap* Well played internet. Dark. But well played none the less.

[Mathim]

*Slow clap* Well played internet. Dark. But well played none the less.

Someone should make that into a .GIF meme.

I know it's not technically a superhero movie but it is a comic book one...plus it has Samuel L. Jackson, this time as a villain as opposed to a Nick Fury or Mace Windu style good guy: Kingsman the Secret Service. I've just seen it recently, took forever to be able to get it from the library but I bought it immediately afterward, so awesome. The director had also done X-Men First Class so I'm not surprised at all. Sequel is coming out next year, looking forward to that, probably will see it in the theater this time. I'd love to see some blending of Kingsman with something like Agents of SHIELD or other Marvel stuff.

Also, I need some help figuring something out. I was watching the Ant-Man Honest Trailer and it introduced Yellowjacket as "Disposable Marvel Villain #9". I am pretty sure Loki is the only non-disposable villain but here is the conundrum: there are 12 Marvel movies in the MCU so far and Loki is only the main villain of two of them. So who of the other 10 movies' villains is the other non-disposable villain to make it only come out to 9 total disposable villains as of Ant-Man? I will try to line things up but help me figure this out:
Iron Man - Obadiah Stane: Most definitely disposable (dead)
Incredible Hulk - Abomination: Disposable (incarcerated/frozen)
Iron Man 2 - Whiplash: Disposable (dead)
Thor - Loki (non-disposable)
Captain America First Avenger - Red Skull: Pending whether disposable or not (status unknown, has yet to return)
Avengers - Loki (again, non-disposable)
Iron Man 3 - Killian: Disposable (dead)
Thor Dark World - Malekith: Disposable (dead)
Captain America Winter Soldier - Disposable as a villain (reformed as of Civil War)
Guardians of the Galaxy - Ronan: Disposable (dead)
Avengers Age of Ultron - Ultron: Disposable (dead)
Ant-Man - Yellowjacket: Disposable (dead)

So as far as I can tell, it's kind of down to either Red Skull or Bucky. Red Skull's definitely got the chance to make a comeback given his ambiguous fate, and it's kind of hard to nail down whether you could say the main villain of TWS was Pierce or Bucky, but then that would make Pierce disposable 'cause he's dead and it wasn't even Cap that took him out. Bucky doesn't even count as a villain anymore at this point, so what does that mean about his status as a disposable or non-disposable villain? Or does he not even count and TWS gets a pass because the villain was technically just HYDRA as an entity?

[CaptainNexus616]

Gonna go with Pierce in regards to your question Mathim since he was the big honcho in charge of Hydra at the time technically.

Ok I'm snowed for the second day in a row and can't go to work so someone help me out here please since the wiki isn't working for me.

Does Thor have a cult of human worshippers in the comics?

I mean honestly it would make sense. A lot of people tend to only believe in what they see. So if you start seeing the Norse God of Thunder flying around saving the world wouldn't that spark a renaissance in believing in the Norse Gods?

[Mathim]

Gonna go with Pierce in regards to your question Mathim since he was the big honcho in charge of Hydra at the time technically.

Ok I'm snowed for the second day in a row and can't go to work so someone help me out here please since the wiki isn't working for me.

Does Thor have a cult of human worshippers in the comics?

I mean honestly it would make sense. A lot of people tend to only believe in what they see. So if you start seeing the Norse God of Thunder flying around saving the world wouldn't that spark a renaissance in believing in the Norse Gods?

Seems like a perfectly legitimate question to type into google, but then there are more gods in the comics from various pantheons thanj just the Norse ones, so I'd say it's  a safe bet that almost all of them have some form of cult-like worship going on, like for Zeus or Hercules, and some of the Hindu gods. I think only DC is really going to go with that angle though in the films, since we've seen people bowing down to Supes in the BVS trailers. Thor doesn't even want to rule Asgard anymore so I doubt he'd put up with such worship after his time among the mortals taught him humility, but only in the MCU. Since all it took was the Red Skull to inspire HYDRA to become suicidal adherents, I think the bar was set a bit low for the MCU's whole god-worship thing, yet people merely acted like fanboys after the Avengers drove off the Chitauri in the movie (and some folk like the Stan Lee cameo didn't even believe it happened.) Aren't there even some Cthulhu-like Old Ones or something in Marvel's history? You KNOW those creepy crawlers surely have cults devoted to them. Perhaps we'll get a glimpse of some of that in Doctor Strange.

Speaking of which, a fellow by the name of Benedict Wong has just been cast as Doctor Strange's sidekick, also known as Wong. Rather interesting that his last name is already that of the character (whose first name escapes me, if there even is one) and he shares the same first name as lead actor Benedict Cumberbatch.

[SapphireStar]

Warner Bros. did it again! They are sabotaging the tv series in favor of the movies. Despite the fact they have gone out of their way to say that the movieverse and TV universe are completely SEPERATE entities  >:(

Arrow Season 4 spoiler

Don't read if you haven't seen this week's Arrow episode

Last Chance

Last Chance!

Arrow Episode

They killed off Amanda Waller. Yet another character being used in the upcoming Suicide Squad movie! That makes three so far. Deadshot. The Joker. And, now Amanda Waller

At the rate they are going, there will be no characters left for their tv shows.

Speaking of the movies, they are already dropping hints in the Batman v Superman movie that Darkseid will be appearing soon.

[mia h]

Errr.. #2 on your list has never appeared on Arrow, however as for Katana's return to the show let's just say I'm not liking her odds.

As for Darkseid, they've pretty much come out and said he's the main villain in the Justice League movies, so no news there.

[Mathim]

Errr.. #2 on your list has never appeared on Arrow, however as for Katana's return to the show let's just say I'm not liking her odds.

As for Darkseid, they've pretty much come out and said he's the main villain in the Justice League movies, so no news there.

And even if they hadn't already done that, it's not like that wasn't already the foregone conclusion.

If they're killing of major characters from the shows that are going to be appearing in the movies, though, what does that say about the Flash, who is getting his own film at some point? Also if Katana might be returning, that's odd since she is already in the Suicide Squad trailers and I know they've been dropping hints about Green Lantern on the shows (there's been some small speculation that a certain scene in the Suicide Squad trailer #2 wherein a spectrum of colored lights may hint about the various Lantern Corps out there) and that movie isn't scheduled until I think 2020, so maybe the show can at least do that hero on the small screen in the time between now and the release of the film.

Marvel doesn't seem to have this problem since all their live-action stuff is happening within the same universe but it means they can't have separate universes unless you count the animated ones (and even many of those are interconnected, like Ultimate Spider-Man and Hulk: Agents of SMASH), but they also have the restriction of not having access to their entire character library. DC is farming out stuff to different networks (Gotham on Fox, for example) and yet they're still not ambitious enough to attempt a connection between their cinematic and TV universes, even if it means simply starting a new show from scratch. While that's understandable since that'll cost money (which they're getting all Ike Perlmutter-y about with Legends of Tomorrow) and it will detract from ratings for Arrow/Flash/Supergirl, but if you don't have complete confidence in your movies, this would be the next best thing to commercial advertising promotions. They've already had years since Man of Steel to copy yet another of Marvel's winning formulas, and nothing.

[SapphireStar]

It doesn't appear that there are any plans for the future for Katana to return to Arrow. After the end of Season 3, she made it clear she was returning to her life of solitude at the temple. Looking back at Season 2 of Arrow, they also had an appearance of Harley Quinn in the ARGUS prison during the episode where Diggle, Lyla and a few Taskforce X members went to go on a mission. The same mission where Amanda killed Shrapnel due to him running. Harley in the episode offered to provide counciling for Diggle and Deadshot since they were arguing.

It just seems to me that Warner Bros. movie division is trying to keep any and all "mainstream" characters for the movies in order to draw in the fans. In doing so, they seem to be crippling the tv shows, even though they have stated time and again that the movie universe and the tv universe were totally unrelated. It just seems like now, its like oh, well you can't have that character now or anymore because we want them for the movie and the movie stars don't want their character confused with the tv shows version.

There are rumors now that DC comics is about to do another reboot of their titles.

[mia h]

It doesn't appear that there are any plans for the future for Katana to return to Arrow.

1:26 - 1:34 say otherwise

https://youtu.be/bL9wyAjPfuY

[Mathim]

I wasn't that jazzed about season 3, not sure if s4 improves on it. I just don't want it feeling stretched just to meet 22 episodes if it could tell the story in 13.

[CaptainNexus616]

There are rumors now that DC comics is about to do another reboot of their titles.

AGAIN?! Geez screw the comparisons to Marvel what is with DC flipping the reboot switch so much like a kid abusing an actual light switch.

One minute this is canon.

Next minute now its not canon!

Barbra Gordon in a wheelchair? Not anymore!

Supergirl dead? Not anymore!

Hal Jordan a villain? Not anymore!

Superman married to Lois Lane? Not anymore!

Dick Grayson is a Batman in a different city? Not anymore!

Shall I continue?

Don't get me wrong mixing things up every once in awhile is cool and stuff...but they do it so often.

[Mathim]

AGAIN?! Geez screw the comparisons to Marvel what is with DC flipping the reboot switch so much like a kid abusing an actual light switch.

One minute this is canon.

Next minute now its not canon!

Barbra Gordon in a wheelchair? Not anymore!

Supergirl dead? Not anymore!

Hal Jordan a villain? Not anymore!

Superman married to Lois Lane? Not anymore!

Dick Grayson is a Batman in a different city? Not anymore!

Shall I continue?

Don't get me wrong mixing things up every once in awhile is cool and stuff...but they do it so often.

It does make continuity seem a bit meaningless, usually at least with TV stuff it's easier to keep track of since the most ambitious thing they've ever done is the DC Animated Universe which was 6 different shows (7, if you count Justice League and Justice League Unlimited as different ones...which I don't) so at least in the larger media scope, them doing things like that isn't as bad. I think they're learning better now that they've expanded the Arrow verse, but they're still behind Marvel. I want both big franchises to operate like well-oiled machines, why is that so hard? This is one case where competition isn't inspiring both to do their best.

[SapphireStar]

Apparently, according to news articles and Tweets by James Gunn, they have cast Star Lord's father and for the main villain. However, they refuse to reveal who for each roles. Which makes me wonder that they did not cast Kurt Russell and are afraid of potential backlash from excited fans. They also did this with Iron Fist, Mike Colter who plays Luke Cage stated they cast the role of Danny Rand, but there is no release of who the actor is.



In the early stages of the new Batman issues just after the reboot for the New 52, it was revealed that Batman had a brother named I think Thomas who was kept secret in like an institution or orphanage or something?

Huntress in the new 52 was now Helena Wayne from Earth-2 (which got destroyed) and was one of a few survivors along with that Supergirl. Helena changed her name to Bertinelli.

Speaking of the Jusitce League cartoons, they released a statement that there will be a new Justice League show. The show is called Justice League Action. Mark Hamill is set to return as the Joker. If the promo image I saw is accurate, the show's characters appear more teen-like in appearance then the previous shows.

[mia h]

In the early stages of the new Batman issues just after the reboot for the New 52, it was revealed that Batman had a brother named I think Thomas who was kept secret in like an institution or orphanage or something?

So only 4 1/2 years to catch up on then  ;D

Huntress in the new 52 was now Helena Wayne from Earth-2 (which got destroyed) and was one of a few survivors along with that Supergirl. Helena changed her name to Bertinelli.

Not exactly, when Helena left Earth-2 it was still in one piece. I don't want to spoil any of the Earth-2 stories for you but when the did have a weekly series Earth-2: World's End, I'll leave it to you to find out how that one ends.

[Mathim]

I was glad that Huntress on Arrow was as hot as the one from the Justice League Unlimited show, she is my favorite female DC heroine.

I wonder if Mark Hamill is the only one they're going to get to reprise a role from the previous series; I just bought Lego Batman 2 for the PS3 and the only voice actor who is common from the shows to the game is Clancy Brown as Lex Luthor, everyone else, including Batman (was Kevin Conroy seriously too busy?) was voiced by someone new. I don't usually complain but when the absolute most perfect person is cast, everyone else just pales in comparison when they have to step into their shoes.

I have been on imdb forums debating on the whole Spider-Man being cast as a teenager thing and this one recurring point seems to be repeatedly being defended, which I want you all on here to weigh in on, if you would: They are claiming that (in spite of all other reasons) the best way for Spider-Man to enter the MCU without having been conspicuously absent from the beginning is to have him only just now getting his powers and thus he couldn't have logically been doing anything during the Battle of New York and other major events.

Now, even if that was the primary reason the studios made this call, this falls flat on its face. If we ignore that nothing eventful apart from his origin occurring during his teens, Spidey doesn't need to be a teenager to make his entrance into the MCU feel, for lack of a better term, natural. My own proposition is to have Peter Parker be, at minimum, 16-17 at the time he is bitten, which occurs prior to (depending on which happened first, I'm a little fuzzy on the timeline) either Tony Stark's fateful trip to Afghanistan or Bruce Banner's unfortunate experiment with Gamma radiation. Peter will attempt to use his powers to be a vigilante but, being that he's still in high school and has responsibilities both at home and at school and/or work, he becomes overwhelmed by that and will enter his 'Spider-Man No More' phase without actually having to waste any significant amount of movie time on it like in Raimi's movies. Not only will this stint be too short-lived for SHIELD to get any more than a blurry photograph of him and lead them only to dead-ends if they ever did decide to search him out, but this gives him a few years to get his life somewhat in order and then the Chitauri attack goes down. While he struggles to decide whether or not this is the time for him to respond to the call of duty, he is unable to enter the fray before it ends and has basically dodged the bullet of getting back into the superhero game before he was truly prepared for it. This also gives him his first real glimpse of the Avengers and both gives him a standard to which he can aspire if he does ever don the mask again, and gives him confidence that, even without his help, the world is in good hands. Both the fall of SHIELD and the Ultron debacle, however, change his mind and just in time for Civil War does he decide to come back out of the superhero closet.

Does that wrap everything up in a neat little bow and give him enough development that it covers not just the origin story but gives him some development before appearing and thus making him less of a child among a team full of adults? I think so, but then I am of course biased. I just don't want to accept that what seems like the laziest possible idea that they could have come up with is 'the best' that they could figure out, at least not if both Marvel Studios and Sony completely agree about it 100%, I'd only believe it if it was completely decided by Sony which has shown its ineptitude with every superhero property they own.

[SapphireStar]

They did say that Kevin Conroy would return to voice Batman for the new Justice League Action show. Unsure about any of the others like Greg Newbern who did Superman after replacing Tim Daly, or Susan Eisenberg, Phil Lamarr, etc.

Maybe Peter has just gotten his powers around the time of the Civil War movie which would make him new to the fight. And, he wouldn't really know which side to pick. But, ultimately swayed to Tony's side. Rumor has it, that Tony gives him his uniform, etc. I kind of liked Sam Raimi's movies, for the most part they were true to the character. Sure the casting of some roles was shakey. Fingers crossed that they will get J.K. Simmons to return for the new reboot of Spider-man as J. Jonah Jameson.

[Mathim]

They did say that Kevin Conroy would return to voice Batman for the new Justice League Action show. Unsure about any of the others like Greg Newbern who did Superman after replacing Tim Daly, or Susan Eisenberg, Phil Lamarr, etc.

Maybe Peter has just gotten his powers around the time of the Civil War movie which would make him new to the fight. And, he wouldn't really know which side to pick. But, ultimately swayed to Tony's side. Rumor has it, that Tony gives him his uniform, etc. I kind of liked Sam Raimi's movies, for the most part they were true to the character. Sure the casting of some roles was shakey. Fingers crossed that they will get J.K. Simmons to return for the new reboot of Spider-man as J. Jonah Jameson.

Well I found George Newbern's performance as Superman indistinguishable from Tim Daly, so apparently for some characters' voices you can mix and match and it's just as good, and with characters like Green Lantern, there are multiple different identities associated with it so if it's not still John Stewart, they don't necessarily need Phil Lamarr to reprise the role, although I will say he was the perfect voice for his version of that character.

I think considering J. Jonah Jameson's voice on Ultimate Spider-Man is still done by Simmons, there's a damn good chance that if they do go down that route (hard to tell since he'll still be in high school) that he'll return again. I just wish it would be easier to forget the older movies if that's the case.