After Thanos destroyed half of the universe, the Avengers have been shattered. The riveting conclusion to over 10 years of universe-building will be unveiled on April 26, 2019 when Marvel Studios releases the 22nd installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Avengers: Endgame.” Where will you be when the journey ends?
Whoever be so worthy to lift Mjolnir will possess the power of Thor… INTRODUCTION The third Avenger to be introduced with their own movie into the Marvel Cinematic Universe is Thor Odinson: The God of Thunder. In a film that goes towards the opposite direction of the rest of the Phase One stories, the audience looks to the stars where Thor is prince of Asgard. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE Now four films into the MCU, it was no secret that the movies connected threads were all leading up to an Avengers movie. Iron Man 2 basically paved the way for that film to be made, and Thor comes along just in time to shake up that superhero formula. See, while Thor is still technically an origin story, the character has already been a hero for many centuries. In fact, the interesting thing about this film is that it strips the hero of his powers for the majority of the film in order that he might learn a lesson about leadership. Most of this film was shot on a soundstage or on location in New Mexico. For this reason, the look and feel is very different from the other three MCU movies at this point. It is a fantastical adventure set in a faraway world where gods exist. However, the biggest problem of the movie is that Asgard is utilized all that much. PLOT Thor opens up with a scene on Earth where scientists, Natalie Portman (Jane Foster) Stellan Skarsgard, and Kat Dennings are chasing a cosmic storm (or seismic activity). When Thor lands on earth, the trio hits him with their car knocking him unconscious. This scene is great by itself, however, then we go to Asgard to learn how Thor got banished to Earth (Midgard). This backstory takes 30 minutes but feels so much longer because a whole lot of stuff is happening yet nothing at all. Thor is to be king. He attacks the Frost Giants and basically goes against a treaty that prevents war. Boom, banished. With his old-English dialect, his unearned confidence and habit for making stupid decisions, it is hard to care about this fish-out-of-water story, especially when Chris Hemsworth’s eyebrows are bleached blonde. (The worst part of the film.) The movie is so forgettable and long that it is hard to believe this is the cosmic universe that paved the way for Guardians of the Galaxy. All the scenes on Earth are charming, but it makes me wish the first half was retooled to make us care more about Thor. I also wish Jane Foster had more to do in the film, or even the Warrior Three and Lady Sif. They all felt wooden. Then there’s that final battle against the destroyer which is just garbage. That said, for what this film is, it was great as a fourth installment of a connected universe. However, now we know that Marvel movies can be so much better. WHAT THIS MEANS FOR “ENDGAME” The introduction for Thor is important to the set up for “Endgame.” I truly believe Thor will have a big role in taking down Thanos and avenging Asgard. STAN LEE CAMEO There is another great, hilarious Stan Lee cameo in this film. The cameo occurs when a bunch of locals are trying to pick up Mjolnir. Stan Lee attaches a towing cable to a truck and tries to move the hammer. He shouts, “did it work?” It didn’t, and Agent Coulson soon comes to retrieve it. END CREDITS SCENE Another staple of Marvel films are the after credits scenes. This wasn’t a new thing for films, but it has been a revolutionary concept in that every movie now has scenes during and/or after the credits. The end credits scene for Thor sets up the next year’s Avengers film. We open with Nick Fury inviting Eric, the scientist, to study another artifact that S.H.I.E.L.D. has, the tesseract. When Eric sees the tesseract, we see Loki controlling him through a mirror. CONCLUSION While Thor is still an entertaining movie, it is closer to The Incredible Hulk on quality than any other Marvel film. It does wonders to set up the cosmic universe and in turn, set up magic in the world that so far has been heavily science-based. RANKING Every week I plan to rank the movies in order from favorite (#1) to least favorite (#22). This week’s film didn’t manage to beat any of the predecessors in rank. I just found the original Thor to be boring and lacking thematically.
Next week we will travel back in time to see The First Avenger, Steve Rogers, as he punches some Nazis. HOW MANY DAYS TILL “ENDGAME” 119 days till Avengers: Endgame in theatres everywhere on April 26, 2019. [email protected] @GrahamWoodMedia
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After Thanos destroyed half of the universe, the Avengers have been shattered. The riveting conclusion to over 10 years of universe-building will be unveiled on April 26, 2019 when Marvel Studios releases the 22nd installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Avengers: Endgame.” Where will you be when the journey ends?
6 Months Later… INTRODUCTION After the success of Iron Man and (to a lesser extent) The Incredible Hulk, Marvel studios went into pre-production on Iron Man 2 and Thor. However, when Disney CEO Bob Iger came knocking, Marvel was about to get a shakeup. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE Iron Man 2 (2010) was the first sequel and third film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film was released by Paramount pictures like the original, however, it came on the heels of an announcement by The Walt Disney Company, which purchased Marvel Entertainment in 2009 for $4 billion. The studio was already in pre-production on Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger, both of which were released in 2011. The next two films would continue to be distributed by Paramount Pictures, but in 2012 Disney took over control with the release of the highly anticipated The Avengers film. After paying back the initial loan that started Marvel Studios, and now playing in Disney’s sandbox, the sky was the limit for the MCU. (Or space technically since Thor came next.) However, they still had to get the right ingredients in the bowl with Iron Man 2 if they wanted The Avengers to be on the big screen like promised. These ingredients started with casting Scarlet Johansson as Natasha Romanoff, AKA The Black Widow, and bringing back Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury and Clark Gregg’s Agent Coulson. All three characters were stuffed into the movie to serve the world-building and tease the Avengers Initiative. However, it is arguably one of the less appealing parts of the film, which is ludicrous to say considering how important they are to the overall MCU plan. PLOT The film begins six months after the original Iron Man movie. (Which I have deduced took place in February 2008. This means both the events of Iron Man 2 and The Incredible Hulk are happening in the Fall of 2008.) The opening sequence recaps the final seen of the first movie with the reveal the Tony Stark is Iron Man. We see a Russian Scientist and his son watching the news and the father dies. This sets Ivan Vantos (Whiplash) on his path to get revenge on Tony Stark. Meanwhile, Stark is hosting the Stark Expo while dealing with his arc reactor poisoning him. He falls into an alcoholic slump, gives the company to Pepper and prepares to die, until Nick Fury tells him of a secret project his dad was working on that could save his life. Yes, this plot is convoluted and yes, it is made worse by a boring villain and a lot of SHIELD references. Olivia Munn, Elon Musk, and Kate Mara all have cameos in the film. Don Cheadle is great as War Machine, but Terrence Howard is missed. Scarlett Johansson plays a very different version of Black Widow but is great, nonetheless. Christine from Vanity fair makes an appearance. The film feels long. Tony is more of an asshole in this film than in any other, and the plot is dull. However, there are a lot of Easter eggs referring to Wakanda, Captain America, and Thor. WHAT THIS MEANS FOR “ENDGAME” The film goes to great lengths to show that this universe is connected. Now, eight years later, we are conditioned to expect those connections and the plot doesn’t have to rely on it. I think this film is a martyr in the universe and sacrifices itself to make way for better films. STAN LEE CAMEO This is one of Stan Lee’s smallest cameos. He doesn’t have a line but rather appears on the screen for one second and gets confused for Larry King. END CREDITS SCENE Another staple of Marvel films are the after credits scenes. This wasn’t a new thing for films, but it has been a revolutionary concept in that every movie now has scenes during and/or after the credits. The end credits scene for Iron Man 2 sets up the next MCU film, Thor. It opens on Agent Coulson arriving in New Mexico at the site of a crater landing; The camera pans down and we see that the crater is actually Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir. CONCLUSION While every Marvel film tends to get compared to Iron Man as the gold standard, I think Iron Man 2 is one of the most indifferent films of the entire universe. Even if it is a lame-duck, it is still a pretty great movie. RANKING Every week I plan to rank the movies in order from favorite (#1) to least favorite (#22). This week’s film wasn’t as great as the first Iron Man film. However, I did enjoy the film more than The Incredible Hulk. So Iron Man 2 takes the #2 spot.
Next week we will see if Thor really is the mightiest Avenger or if he’s the dud of the team. HOW MANY DAYS TILL “ENDGAME” 126 days till Avengers: Endgame in theatres everywhere on April 26, 2019. [email protected] @GrahamWoodMedia After Thanos destroyed half of the universe, the Avengers have been shattered. The riveting conclusion to over 10 years of universe-building will be unveiled on April 26, 2019 when Marvel Studios releases the 22nd installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Avengers: Endgame.” Where will you be when the journey ends?
You won’t like him when he’s angry. INTRODUCTION Iron Man was a critical and commercial success. At the time, not many people realized the connective tissue that would run between the Iron Man and Hulk franchises. So, when Louis Leterrier’s The Incredible Hulk opened to $55.4 million, significantly less than Marvel Studio’s first film, they worried Iron Man might have been a one-time success. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE The Incredible Hulk (2008) opened just a month after the massive success of Iron Man and was the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to have a crossover between character films. The Hulk character had been in a variety of studios for decades, getting a live-action TV series in the 70’s starring Bill Bixby, and an animated series in bother the 80’s and the 90’s. Lou Ferrigno played the hulk in the 70’s and most adaptations even to last year’s Infinity War. In 2003, Universal Studios brought on Ang Lee to direct a Hulk film The film wasn’t exactly a flop but was far from a success. Lee’s Hulk had strong roots in the comic book world and might be the most comic book-y film (visually) of the 2000’s. However, the acting was bad, the story was dull, and the visual effects looked cheesy even before we knew what good visuals looked like. The only plus side of the movie might be Sam Elliot’s General Ross and a peak at Eric Bana’s post-hulked backside. When the rights to Hulk became available, Marvel Studios quickly snatched up the character back from Universal (though the studio still retains distribution rights for any future Hulk movies, and that’s why Marvel has yet to revisit the character in a solo outing). Edward Norton was recruited to star in the role of Bruce Banner, the Hulk’s scientist alter-ego, and was given a vast amount of freedom to rewrite the script. Due to this, The Incredible Hulk feels the least like an MCU movie to date. PLOT The film doesn’t discredit the events of the 2003 Hulk film, but it doesn’t continue any dangling threads either. This soft-reboot of the character follows much more closely to the 1970’s Hulk TV series. The Hulk’s backstory is fleshed out in a montage during the first five minutes, showing Banner’s transformation due to Gamma radiation poisoning. The first 15 minutes of the film goes to great lengths to establish Norton’s Banner as a tragic character who is stuck in a foreign land trying to free himself from the Hulk. Norton is great as Banner but not amazing as the Hulk. I would go as far as to say that I really think I enjoy Norton more than Mark Ruffalo’s portrayal of the character (and definitely way more than Eric Bana or Bill Bixby’s portrayals). The plot is intensified when the government, lead by General Ross, locates Banner’s whereabouts and attempt to capture him in his home. Banner flees Brazil back to the United States and runs into Betty Ross, his ex-girlfriend whom he hurt in a fit of rage years back. The government continues to follow banner as they want to use him as a weapon. The plot is a formulaic and has been done multiple times with multiple other characters. While the dark tones of the film are pretty to look at, and the acting is fine, the story isn’t all the interesting and one might find themselves more interested in the consequences of Banner hulking out during sex, rather than the consequences of General Ross capturing him, which never seemed likely anyways, as Hulk is Ross’ own Mobey Dick. This is the one film in my rewatch series that I was least looking forward to revisiting. However, the film was better than I remembered and truly does hold up. WHAT THIS MEANS FOR “ENDGAME” In the last 10 years, Hulk has been through quite the journey. He isn’t a solo character anymore and is now a part of The Avengers. He traveled to space for quite some time where Hulk refused to transition back into Banner. This means the Hulk has been growing in consciousness and while in this film he is only able to say “Betty,” now he can have full conversations and even make his own decisions making Banner feel even more trapped. In Infinity War, we only get a brief scene with the Hulk losing the fight against Thanos. Hulk has begun showing more emotion and refuses to fight again leaving Bruce defenseless. The film has a lot of great Easter eggs, including references to the super-soldier serum in Captain America and references to SHIELD. The biggest question in the MCU related to The Incredible Hulk must be what happened to The Abomination and the hinted at character, The Leader? Both villains have yet to reappear in any movie since this one. STAN LEE CAMEO Every MCU film has had a cameo from the late Marvel Comics creator, Stan Lee. Many of the other Marvel films including ‘The Trial of the Incredible Hulk,’ ‘X-men’ and ‘Spider-Man,’ have also had cameos from the legend. Stan’s cameo in this film is less subtle than others. Here he is actually a main part of the story. After an accident in a bottling factory leaves Banner’s blood tainting a soda bottle, Stan Lee drinks the soda and immediately dies from being exposed to Banners blood. This is how Ross and his team are able to locate Bruce Banner. END CREDITS SCENE Another staple of Marvel films are the after credits scenes. This wasn’t a new thing for films, but it has been a revolutionary concept in that every movie now has scenes during and/or after the credits. This film has an extra scene BEFORE the end credits. I believe this was chosen so that no one in the audience would miss out on Tony Stark’s surprise cameo at the end of the movie. Tony Stark enters a bar where we see General Ross drinking away his sorrows. Tony banters with Ross about the super-soldier serum and then tells him that “we are putting a team together.” Ross asks, “Who’s we?” and Tony smiles as the film fades to black. Anyone who saw Iron Man, and saw the end credit scene for that film, knows that Tony is referring to The Avengers Initiative and he is here to recruit the Hulk. CONCLUSION While The Incredible Hulk doesn’t have much of a connective tissue to the rest of the MCU, including not having the same actor, General Ross does make an appearance later in Captain America: Civil War. The film is fun and intense at the same time. It feels like a solid middle ground between too dark” superhero films and the comedic films that Marvel is now known for. If you aren’t a fan of Norton or the Hulk, you may want to skip this film, but at least watch the end credit scene and that battle between Hulk and Abomination. Both are brilliant. RANKING Every week I plan to rank the movies in order from favorite (#1) to least favorite (#22). This week’s film wasn’t able to beat the film that started it all, so Hulk claims the #2 spot.
Next week, we will see if “Iron Man 2” is better or worse than its predecessor, and if it’s worse, then whether or not it is still better than this week’s film. HOW MANY DAYS TILL “ENDGAME” 133 days till Avengers: Endgame in theatres everywhere on April 26, 2019. [email protected] @GrahamWoodMedia After Thanos destroyed half of the universe, the Avengers have been shattered. The riveting conclusion to over 10 years of universe-building will be unveiled on April 26, 2019 when Marvel Studios releases the 22nd installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Avengers: Endgame.” Where will you be when the journey ends?
It all started with Iron Man. INTRODUCTION The year is 2008 and summer is barely beginning. In theaters was a Tina Fey comedy Baby Mama, a new Rambow film, and a little-known superhero movie made by a failing comic book company on its last breath. The company, Marvel Studios, was taking a bet on Tony Stark, an alcoholic hero in a suit made of a titanium alloy. This was the first, and possibly the last, film that Marvel Studios would create. Iron Man, a film that had no reason to succeed, misbehaved. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE Iron Man (2008) is the movie that kicked off what is now the Marvel Cinematic Universe, an interconnected story crossing over characters, franchises, and locations. The film opened to $98 million and was the second highest grossing movie of the year behind DC’s The Dark Knight and Lucasfilm’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. In the 90’s, Marvel Comics sold off many of their licensing rights to superhero movies. 20th Century Fox got the X-Men characters and after multiple Warner Brothers Batman films, Fox ushered in a new era of superheroes with Bryan Singer’s X-Men starring Sir Patrick Stuart, Sir Ian Mckellen, and a then fairly unknown Hugh Jackman. The film was a success and has since had 12 sequels or spin-offs in the same universe. After the X-Men took center stage, much with the help of a young Kevin Feige (remember him) Sony brought their own Marvel hero to life with Spider-Man. This too was a hit and since then has spanned six other movies based in Sony’s spider-verse (and two in the MCU…but we will get to that). Sure, it seemed like superheroes were popular Marvel Studios hadn’t come on the scene. Not yet. The Marvel studios history has been one long whirlwind. After making animated movies and TV shows like The Incredible Hulk, Marvel Films became Marvel Studios in 1996. Blade, X-men, Spider-Man, Hulk and more were all in the hands of other studios. By 2004, the studio started to realize that there was a market for superhero films and superhero toys. The company took out a loan of $525 million to make a total of 10 films, all of which have become part of this cinematic universe. The first film was Iron Man. This is the movie that revolutionized movies, helped put Disney at the top of the entertainment world, and made us fall in love with Robert Downey Jr, a reformed actor promising to stay sober. Robert Downey Jr. was made to play Iron Man. Jon Favreau directed the film after jumping from distribution studios, multiple actors and directors. The response was amazing and for me, only 11 years old, Iron Man flew completely over my radar. In fact, I didn’t even learn the name until two years later when Iron Man 2 would be released. I had a brief knowledge of the X-Men and the Hulk, but it was Spider-Man that captivated me through my prepubescent years. However, by the time I became a teenager, I would become fully immersed in Marvel Comics and Marvel movies (nobody really started saying the MCU until 2012). PLOT Iron Man is widely considered one of the best marvel movies ever made. A lot of that is pure nostalgia and the fact that the character seemingly blipped into existence from the ether. However, in 2018, I can proudly declare that this film holds up. The humor is lighthearted and pure. The characters are strong and expertly acted. Everything one needs for a perfect origin story is in this film. It all starts, with an ACDC song. The opening shot of the film is a caravan of army tanks escorting Tony Stark, a weapons manufacturer, through Afghanistan. (Even though Afghanistan is VERY 2008, it still feels current). The song “Back in Black” by ACDC plays and we get a sense of Stark’s playboy side right from the get-go. (I am making the demand right now that we MUST get this iconic song in one of Stark’s final scenes of Avengers: Endgame. The call back would be too amazing). Less than five minutes in Tony is getting an electromagnet put into a chest cavity to pull shrapnel from his body. This is Iron Man’s origin, and this is a scene that no one would expect from the MCU today. These first four Marvel movies feel real. The world continues to get more fantastical as the years go on, but I love that Iron Man is so grounded. Tony was a fully realized and flawed character before we even meet him. Only five minutes in we realize that his downfall is himself and now 10 years later, this may still be the case. There are a couple of dated quotes including a line about posting a photo on Myspace and a line about improving the Iron Man suit’s exoskeleton for interplanetary travel (which Iron Man actually accomplishes in Avengers: Infinity War). There’s even a scene where Tony arrives at a party at the Disney Concert Hall, which is ironic because Disney would later own the rights to the MCU. Rewatching this film I remembered how many great characters were set up. First, we get the introduction of Terrence Howard’s Rhodey, who later is replaced by Don Cheadle. I remembered how much I enjoyed Howard’s performance. However, Gwyneth Paltrow’s Pepper Potts really shines for me and I still think we haven’t seen enough of her. Jeff Bridges puts on a likable performance as Obadiah Stane and then later is a great villain. Even actors like Jon Favreau, Paul Bettany, and Clark Gregg have memorable performances as Happy Hogan, J.A.R.V.I.S. and Agent Coulson, who all have bigger parts to play in later films. The action scenes in this film were perfectly executed and the emotional balance was great. I think I enjoyed Iron Man more than I did the first time watching it now that I have 10 years of history with the character. WHAT THIS MEANS FOR “ENDGAME” Tony has grown in the last 10 years. He is now a father figure and a leader. Seeing him in his first solo film is a testament to the development him and all the other characters introduced in this movie have gone through. I can not wait to see what happens next with Pepper and Tony. One thing I do hope to see in “Endgame” are some Easter Eggs alluding to this first film. A reappearance of Christine Everheart or Obadiah Stane would be so cool. Maybe even shout out for Yinsen who died in this film but without him, Tony would have never become Iron Man. When Tony is fighting the terrorists in Gulmira, a child looks up at him in awe. I want one more scene of Tony being the hero for children like that. STAN LEE CAMEO Every MCU film has had a cameo from the late Marvel Comics creator, Stan Lee. Many of the other Marvel films including The Trial of the Incredible Hulk, X-men and Spider-Man, have also had cameos from the legend. This film, however, was the first in a long line of memorable cameos that became a staple for the MCU. In a brief scene as Tony is entering a party, he sees Stan donning a robe and surrounded by multiple young girls. Tony pats him on the back and mistakes him for Hugh Hefner of Playboy fame. The scene is short but gets plenty of laughs and sets up many great future cameos END CREDITS SCENE Another staple of Marvel films are the after credits scenes. This wasn’t a new thing for films, but it has been a revolutionary concept in that every movie now has scenes during and/or after the credits. This first scene features Tony Stark coming home to find a man in his home. The man is Nick Fury played by Samuel L. Jackson. Fury tells Stark that he isn’t the only superhero in the world and that he has stepped into a larger world and he doesn’t even know it. (Is this a reference to Captain Marvel and Captain America? I guess it can also be Black Widow and Hawkeye). The last line of the film is, “I’m here to talk to you about the Avengers Initiative.” And with that, fanboy minds collectively exploded, dozens of middle-aged men creamed their pants, and whole lot of people were super confused. In truth, that’s how almost every credits scene since then has gone; teasing something big, having fun with the fans, and training audiences to stay till the very, very end of the credits. CONCLUSION The Iron Man suit was groundbreaking in way of visual effects. Having Tony break the common superhero identity trope and say “I am Iron Man” was a move that will go down in history as one of the best lines from any movie ever. Now, I know that I am biased in that I am a huge Marvel fan and it will be hard for me to remain objective while revisiting all of these great movies, however, I truly believe that 2008’s Iron Man will be solidified in history as one of the greats, along with 1977’s Star Wars and other game-changing films. The film is pure fun and the story is solid. There is little-to-nothing to complain about when it comes to this movie and things tend to only get better from there. RANKING Every week I plan to rank the movies in order from favorite (#1) to least favorite (#22). This week will be easy since there is only one film to rank…so taking the number one spot is….
Next week, we will see if “The Incredible Hulk” is better or worse than its predecessor. HOW MANY DAYS TILL “ENDGAME” 140 days till Avengers: Endgame in theaters everywhere on April 26, 2019. [email protected] @GrahamWoodMedia |
Erick L. Graham Wood
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