So. Logan (2017)...

Here are my thoughts - 

1) The "bad guys" are Reavers.

No. Not those Reavers.

Those Reavers.

I know, but stay with me here...

2) 

That actress, Dafne Keen, is indeed X-23.

I know this is all common knowledge. But again, stay with me.

3) It's been made clear in the trailers that this film takes place in Texas...

...as opposed to the Australian Outback. Which would have been cooler.

4) 

Stewart's Xavier appearance tells me this is taking place before Days of Future Past.

Which means one of two things:

5a) The movie ends with this timeline being wiped out of existence, making it moot, and a new timeline begins with a new, younger Logan (played by a new, younger actor) growing up.

OR...

5b) The movie ends with this timeline being wiped out of existence, making it moot, and a new timeline begins with a new, younger X-Men team watching "The Incident" in New York on television.

Damn right.

Either way, we're gonna see a LOT more X-23 on the screen.

But you know what will most likely happen?

The film will end with some lame-ass tie-in with Legion.

'Cause desperate times...

So - Jubilee's in X-Men: Apocalypse?

Jubilation Lee was the last newcomer to the X-Men comic universe before I stopped reading comics. 

It had nothing to do with the character, it had to do with things like money, time, work...and other stuff.

I liked how she was introduced, her relationship with Wolverine (which is kinda like a throwback to his relationship with Kitty), and her look (which at one point kinda looked like Marvel's answer to Tim Drake...which they even made fun of). I'm sure she fought Apocalypse at some point in the books, but regardless - she's fighting him in the movie. And it was just announced that she'll be played by this young woman:

Lana Condor.

Just so we're clear, Condor isn't the same actor who played the character in previous films of the X-Men franchise. Kae Wong played her in both X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand. 

 But I'm happy for Ms. Condor, and I'm happy that Jubilee's in the film.

But maybe Singer should have her ditch the raincoat. Just sayin'...

That's Strange...

So, the decision has been made.

This guy...

...is playing this guy...

...23 months from now.

I'm indifferent about the whole thing. I mean I'm nowhere near a fan of "the Bennedict" as, say, my wife and daughter are. But I am very happy that Marvel Studios has cemented casting on some level, especially for a project this far into the future.

I know, these things usually start two years out, but remember:

Season 4 is a go,

he's got a wedding to plan,

plus other projects and stuff. So he's busy.

One of the (many) things Marvel Studios has been doing right from Day One is casting. We all know that. But what's interesting is they've made some (intentionally) significant decisions for each movie phase.

In Phase One, we had

For Phase Two, we had

And for Phase Three, we have this.

Now,

as for Clea,

can we get Lara Pulver?

Another thing to bring up is the Netflix stuff...

Defenders is happening,

Doctor Strange comes out November 4, 2016. Daredevil (which is Defenders - Part One) omes out in May of 2015. Will we see Doctor Strange on Netflix before the film? Will Strange show up somewhere else even before then, like in...

Because hey, it's all connected right?

Constantine's got his Spectre...

...well, actually Jim Corrigan.

While I wasn't a big DC comics fan, 

I was a huge Spectre reader.  

I don't expect The Wrath of God to appear in Season One, but I'm glad they're building the DC Dark Universe. Now if they could just get on with it!  I'm tired of waiting until October to start watching new seasons or new shows. 

My thoughts on Avengers 3...

There's growing speculation (as well as rumor) that Avengers 3: Death, Taxes and Thanos (or whatever they'll call it) will have a brand new line-up...and that's freaking people out.

(sigh)

After listening to Chris Evans' comments during SDCC 2014, it sounds like as of right now (as I write this) Cap's biggest problem isn't dealing with living in "the future", it's finding his place in that future. 

It's not with the Army...

It's not with S.H.I.E.L.D....

So where could it possibly belong?

Marvel Studios has been pretty clear that the Avengers in the comics have a revolving line-up. It stands to follow that the Avengers in the MMU will also have a revolving line-up. This makes sense, and I'm perfectly fine with it.

However...

1) They're going up against freakin' Thanos. They're gonna need every hero they can get.

2) We already know RDJ's gonna be in Avengers 3 (and will most likely be his final appearance), so yeah Iron Man, but change is coming.

3) There's the AoS series - which has finally gotten off it's a$$ and will actually start featuring known Marvel characters - meaning we won't have to wait for features to get origin stories and/or more people populating the MMU.

4) Same goes for the upcoming Netflix series-es. 

So Cap will most likely live at Avengers Tower, 

and be in charge of calling whomever he can to "Assemble",

and he'll have quite the list to choose from...which is awesome.

so THAT'S what caffeine does to me!

I just saw this vid about how coffee affects the brain:

and while informative, it won't make me stop...

Have you heard of this artist?

His name is Mike Mitchell.

And no, your eyes are not deceiving you...this is a gif image.

He's on twitter, instagram, has a blog, and a bunch of other stuff. Check him out!

Well THIS wasn't too big a surprise...

Mockingbird has been cast for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

But what was surprising to me was the who:

Adrianne Palicki.

I haven't seen any of her work, including the WW pilot, but I haven't seen Marvel Studios make a casting mistake yet. 

Speaking of casting...

John Slattery will appear in Ant-Man...as Howard Stark.

So at least part of it takes place in the (not too distant) past. That's cool. I guess Hank and Howard either knew each other or worked together. Which makes sense if Pym spent any time with S.H.I.E.L.D.

Here's what we know:

1) Agent Carter comes out in January.

2) Avengers: Age of Ultron comes out in May.

3) Daredevil comes out on Netflix...in May.

4) Ant-Man comes out in July.

Since AoS interacts with the films, lets make some predictions:

1) Mockingbird will appear in A:AoU, meet Hawkeye and possibly (at least verbally) fight Black Widow over him.

2) Dominic Cooper's Stark will say and/or do stuff that will be brought up/referenced by Slattery's Stark. Either that...

2a) ...or Anton Vanko will make an appearance.

3) It will be in the aftermath of A:AoU that other heroes (Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist and...Dr. Strange?) start coming out of the woodwork. As if an alien invasion in Manhattan wasn't enough.

4) We'll see some documentation or mention/reference of Matthew Murdock's childhood accident in AoS...because hoping for an appearance by Cox would be asking too much. Either that...

4a) ...or Coulson will mention to Skye to keep an eye on "a new crime lord building a power base in New York". Because an appearance by D'Onofrio would be asking too much.

5) Coulson et. al. will learn about an artifact that was kept under wraps by the SSR (most likely Zodiac) which will be the plot arc of the Agent Carter series.

6) At some point, Slattery's Stark will be shown making the recording seen in the Iron Man 2 easter egg.

But SO HELP ME...

...if they cast Caine as Cooper's Stark's Jarvis, I'm just going to lose my s#!t.

I have a MMU problem...

To those unfamiliar with my blog, MMU stands for Marvel Movie Universe - my name for the MCU.

My wife and I were out and about yesterday with Adorkette getting school related stuff and I was killing time in another aisle when I saw this:

the Black Widow Strikes trade that includes her first appearance in Tales of Suspense #52.

It was roughly $4, so I put it in the cart.

Then the ladies told me they were going to be a while with the trying-on-of-clothes-thing, and let me take the car to another store.

Which was a mistake, 'cause then I saw this:

the GotG trade for $9.

But that wasn't the big one...

this was the big one.

I had not heard of this book's existence, and there was nothing about it on the back. Just an image of the HYDRA symbol emerging from under the S.H.I.E.L.D. image. It was less than $40, so I bought it.

In less than twenty minutes, I spent roughly 50 bucks.

I'm glad I got the prelude trades, especially for less than cover price, but the AoS was a splurge. A big one.

I mean yeah - it has the slipcover case, and fits in line with the Art of... Marvel movie books. And it has pages dedicated to every episode. Which I couldn't delve into because I was exhausted from the shopping spree.  

But still...the impulse.

I'm a dork...with (boxes of) issues...but I cope.