Praise4Media #66 - Avengers: Endgame

We finally come to the payoff to 12 years of Marvel films with Avengers: Endgame

Avengers Infinity War was a massive hit for Marvel, breaking the $2bn mark for the first time, Endgame would surpass it to become the highest grossing film ever, beating out Avatar (though still didn’t beat The Force Awakens in the US) and thank god that era’s over. It was a hell of an investment for Disney but one that paid off nicely, showing how far Superhero movies have come in the last 20 years.

And much with the rest of Marvel films, it was critically successful, 94% on Rotten Tomatoes with 8.42/10 average.

OK, this film is just over 3 hours long, the longest film I’ve done up to now is Batman v Superman’s extended cut and I don’t really desire to do a frame-by-frame plot dump for the opening hour. I’m gonna use this particular film to try something a little new. So, whilst this review may end up being on the shorter side because of this, I am looking to see if this is a worthwhile change because with all the changes going on at the moment, it’s getting tougher to motivate myself to do these anymore.

Praise4Media #57 - Avengers: Infinity War

It’s time, after a decade’s worth of buildup we begin the most ambitious crossover Marvel has ever put into film with Avengers: Infinity War

Infinity War is a movie adaptation of an event comic, not exactly the one it's named after but the concept in general. And not a personal, small story like Heroes in Crisis (come back next week for that) but a grand scale epic saga that brings together characters from across the universe. And it’s been building for a while, with the idea of infinity stones introduced properly in Thor: The Dark World (I know the tesseract predates, but this was the film where they were officially referred to as infinity stones) referenced in Guardians of the Galaxy and Doctor Strange and expanded on in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Thanos was introduced as early as the Avengers, making his official debut in Guardians of the Galaxy, where his two ‘daughters’ had become prominent characters. There’s usually build-up to event comics too. Infinite Crisis built off Identity Crisis, Day of Vengeance, The Omac Project, Villains United, pages of Justice League, Superman and Teen Titans and the Rann/Thanagar War. Secret Empire built off a crossover called Pleasant Hill, and the events of Captain America

The Infinity duo of films will draw off just about every film in the MCU but here are some important things you could do with knowing before jumping in.

The Time Stone is part of Doctor Strange’s Eye of Agamotto

The Space Stone/Tesseract was supposedly on Asgard when it was destroyed, we see Loki gaze upon it briefly when he was enacting the plan, and it's safe to assume he took it.

The Power Stone is on the Nova Corps home world of Xandar

The reality stone/Aether is with the Collector on N.O.W.H.E.R.E.

The Mind stone is currently in the head of the vision, he laments that he still doesn’t know what that is

During the events of Civil War, Thor and the Hulk were absent as Tony Stark, Rhodey, Vision and Spider-man fought against Captain America, the Scarlett Witch, Black Widow, Ant-man and Hawkeye, the latter half are now wanted fugitives, with Cap giving up his shield after his fight with Iron Man.

Black Panther had a role in Civil War but uncovered the manipulations and ultimately agreed to help Cap with Bucky Barnes. With help from his sister, Shuri, Bucky has recovered from his mental conditioning and is now living in Wakanda

With the people of Asgard having escaped the destruction of their home and heading to Earth, Thanos’ ship shows up right behind them.

With the departure of Joss Whedon after the hell that was working on Age of Ultron (I imagine working on Justice League was just as pleasant) the Russo Brothers have stepped up as director. They directed both Winter Soldier and Civil War, showing they have a good grasp of believable action and can handle a large cast with multiple plotlines.

Christopher Marcus and Stephen McFreely are writing the screenplay. They also have done a number of Marvel projects including all the Captain America films and Thor: The Dark World. Some of the best and worst of Marvel then.  But here it’s do or die time, so let’s take a look at Avengers: Infinity War.

#63 - Secret Empire (part 3)

OK, I’ve had a nice rest, let’s get back to it.

#61 - Secret Empire (part 2)

OK, let’s continue our look at Secret Empire. If you want to know what happened so far, go back and read my last review you lazy f*ckers!

Too far? That’s what this comic makes me.

#60 - Secret Empire (part 1)

You may remember a while back, I covered Steve Rogers: Captain America. Written by Nick Spencer, it featured a revelation: that in bringing Cap back from being aged, the cosmic cube (Kobik) messed with reality and made him HYDRA, thinking that was for the best or something. I dropped the book after 4 issues because of its pacing, which was far too slow for my liking, but then we come to what it was all building up to, Secret Empire

Secret Empire was not a smash for Marvel sales wise with numbers dropping well below what is normal for an event comic. Why is that? Well, I’m not covering 13 issues in 1 go, especially when it’s of this sh*t, so I’ll be doing it in 3 parts making this my first and hopefully only multi-part review. Let’s take a look at Secret Empire

We’ll be looking at #0, the Free Comic Book day issue, and #1-3

Marvel Month - Mini Review - Captain America: The Winter Soldier

May I introduce the 2 best directors in the MCU right now: The Russo Brothers

And next up is their debut in the MCU. Captain America: Winter Soldier

Released in early 2014, Captain America: Winter Soldier was very successful, earning $700m on the $177m budget and an 89% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Does it still work? Here are my thoughts:

Marvel Month - Mini Review - The Avengers/Avengers Assemble

Next up in Marvel Month, it’s Time for Avengers assemble

I’ve already done a review of that, and a lot of my complaints still stand is it goes into *sigh* its 4^th season, that said I have seen improvements. But this time we’re looking at the other Avengers Assemble

Known as The Avengers in the US, the title was changed to not be mistaken for the British The Avengers, the Nostalgia Critic did his review on that and I have no unique perspective to cover it as I’ve never seen it, it’s a little before my time.

But Avengers Assemble was a massive gamble for Marvel, with a hefty $220m budget, a large cast and the pressure of being that movie everything was all building up to, this movie blew everyone away, meeting their expectations and of course, for Disney, who had recently acquired Marvel, made over $1bn at the box office, $1.5bn to be more precise. This is also the first Marvel movie I ever watched, at the cinema with my soon-to-be uni housemates.

But 2012 was a way away, does it still hold up, let’s take a closer look.

Marvel Month - Mini Review: Captain America: The First Avenger

Captain America is my favourite Marvel character, there, I said it, happy? I suppose this is mostly down to Brian Bloom in Earth’s Mightiest Heroes who gave the character exactly what he needed, to say cheesy lines, but in a way that is inspiring. Chris Evans also helped with that appeal. I will say that his portrayal of the Human Torch in the Fantastic 4 movies is cringe-worthy at best, but I’d chock that down to the writer.

So, how does his first movie hold up? Let’s take a look.

Sequel Month - Mini Review - Captain America: Civil War

It's sequel month

Captain America: Civil War came out in May 2016 and did what Batman v Superman didn’t do, get critical acclaim whilst making over $1bn in the box office. So, here to analyse why, is me, about a year after everyone else.

I know I haven’t reviewed Winter Soldier but this is essentially an Avengers movie with Cap in a more leading role, so I’m counting it as a sequel to Age of Ultron which I reviewed last year.

This might be a little different to my other reviews in that contains no plot summary of such, it will bring up certain plot details so spoilers will still follow. 

Guilty Pleasures #32 - Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow

You may remember way back when I reviewed Ultimate Avengers 2, a not particularly well received sequel to a better, though far from perfect movie that was Ultimate Avengers. I’m not going to review that movie. But there is a movie I am going to review and it came in the same collection. Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow.

I don’t have a lot to say about this one so let’s just dive in.

4 issue Test #30 - Captain America: Steve Rogers

It was only a matter of time before we got to this one, although it took nearly 2 weeks for the final issue to arrive. This comic eared significant controversy over things I’ll discuss in depth. Nick Spencer does not strike me as an idiot, but it would be idiotic to assume this twist could escape controversy. For many outside of comics, Steve Rogers is Captain America so him coming back and reclaiming the mantle was inevitable and it happened during the Assault on Pleasant Hill crossover. A lot of the crossover did help set up this title, but I’ll give details as they happen. Let’s take a look and see if this infamous book offers something to soothe the burn.

Guilty Pleasures #27: Samuel L Jackson Month - Avengers: Age of Ultron

It’s Samuel L Jackson Month

And yeah… I’m cheating a bit with this one, since Jackson barely appears but screw it, it’s my review blog and I say this counts! So, yeah, it’s the Avengers

Yeah… The Avengers was my first Marvel Movie. And I f*cking loved it. But that’s not to say it was entirely flawless, the first half or so can kinda drag and the way the Chitauri are defeated is kinda dumb but it’s 2 hours of entertainment. How long is this movie again?

2hrs 21 minutes

Goody! Yeah, despite making over a billion dollars, again, this movie has received a fair amount of critical backlash and some of it is kinda undeserved and I’m here to defend its corner, I’m not gonna tell you it’s a perfect movie, there’s no such thing and this isn’t even close. I also have a message for most of the critics of this movie but that’s for later, let’s dig into 2 hrs 21 minutes of Avengers: Age of Ultron

Civil War review

Civil war is arguably the most controversial of the Marvel events and it covers a lot of political themes. In some ways it’s baffling that this is the kind of story they’re adapting into the newest movie. Especially since secret identities have barely been established as a thing yet (outside of the Netflix's Daredevil which isn’t likely to cross into the movies) but given that the movie is adapting the comic, and that there’s supposedly a sequel coming out (because lord knows the idea of a mass brawl between heroes hasn’t been run into the ground by Marvel yet) I decided to get a copy.

Because of the very political nature of this book, it’s often avoided in detail by reviewers, but… I’m going to cover this in as neutral a way as possible. I will not egg on either side for their decisions, so this review may not be as funny as some of my others, my apologies for that

This is neither a Rage review, nor a Guilty Pleasure review. In as many words my opinion of this comic is that it’s ok. I want to break down the story, giving as much detail as possible. In the end, if you haven’t read Civil War, you can make up your own mind which side was right in their actions.

There's also not going to be an overall rating of the comic, I have certain preconceptions that mean it's difficult for me to judge, and since most of my knowledge of Marvel comics does not predate this event, I don't think I'm much qualified to have a final say. What I do know is as of this point Thor was dead and Planet Hulk was happening, so those 2, arguably the two most powerful participants were off the table.

Note: I am only recently a Marvel fan, there will be characters in this that I do not know, so apologies in advance if I get some of their names wrong.

Also, just in case I wasn’t clear: SPOILERS!

4 issue Test #20 - All-New All-Different Avengers

For the first time in a Marvel comic, I haven't been able to find a blank variant, so I had to edit the background out, apologies if it looks sh*t like my DC ones

I suppose this is really the flagship title of the Marvel comic universe at the moment. Featuring some of the big name characters, all be it their new incarnations in some cases and written by Mark Waid, writer of two of my favourite comic series. Can this live up to that potential? Let’s take a look.

4 issue Test #19 - The Astonishing Ant-man

Time I looked into another All New All Different Marvel Title. What’s that? I did one just 2 weeks ago, well get used to it, there’s plenty more on the way.

Scott Lang, AKA Ant-man, former criminal trying to find right in the eyes of the world, and particularly his daughter, since she was the reason he resorted to crime in the first place. She became a superhero briefly, and also died and came back to life, just like him… Yeah, it’s comic books. What’s in store for our hero now? Let’s take a look.

TV Retrospective: Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes Season 2 Episodes 21-26

TV Retrospective: Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes season 2 episodes 16-20

TV Retrospective: Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes season 2 episodes 11-15

TV Retrospective: Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes season 2 episodes 6-10

TV Retrospective: The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes season 2 episodes 1-5

The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes was renewed for a second season, but we’re starting to look into the Disney era of Marvel so let’s throw in as many characters as possible into this.

But with well enough written stories that isn’t necessarily a problem. Christopher Yost is still on the writing team and most of his work in animation is pretty good (Thor: The Dark World, we’ll get to maybe)

We’ve had a few hints of coming stories: the Kree, the Masters of Evil still being out there, the Skrulls, Kang’s warning etc.

So what does season 2 have to offer? let’s take a look