Random Thoughts: The Fantastic Four Trailer

I've seen it, and I've been trying to figure out why I don't like it...

It's not that we're seeing New York again, even though I can't see NY without remembering Avengers. Sorry FOX, but that may be what you're going for, but you never saw a dime from it, and this just reminds me of that fact. 

Is it that X-Men: DofP is back in my face? No, but now there's two reasons for me to hate FOX (and two reasons we'll never get the Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars movie I'm dying for).

It's making Sue a scientist. Again!

It's too similar to the previous films. In the comics, Sue started out as a starry-eyed fan-girl of Reed's brilliance. Not an easy thing for Hollywood to translate for today's audience to be sure, but Sue deserves better that falling back into that pretty scientist trope. She's not like Reed or a soldier like Ben. She's not a housewife or a secretary. Instead of making her something she isn't, FOX should have focused on what she is:

 an older sister of a hothead.

Johnny's a mechanic as well, so why couldn't he be a "crazy-good" one with a certain skill Reed needs to build his rocket? Or at least a component of his rocket? Reed hires Johnny to build it (cause let's face it - as brilliant as Reed may be, he sucks at building machines...just like he needs Ben to fly the thing). Now as "crazy-good" as Johnny may be, he's a minor...or otherwise not qualified to go up into space. 

Johnny, being a hothead, ignores this formality...and convinces Sue to take her there. (Now, if Johnny's old enough to drive himself, Sue could call him to talk about something. He tells her he's at the launch site. She knows he's not supposed to be there, so she goes there to get Johnny - which could also work.) Meanwhile...

Reed, angry at the Powers That Be for grounding the project, convinces Ben to pilot the ship. They sneak onto the site and start the launch sequence. Sue and Johnny wind up trapped on the thing, and don't show themselves to Reed and Ben until it's too late to stop the launch. The four go up together, bad things happen, and they survive the crash landing. 

As for the rest of the film, it could be about the four of them learning about their powers. It could also be about the consequences they face for taking the rocket up without authorization. Maybe both.

 But either way, Doctor Doom shouldn't show up until the sequel.

Okay - The Latest Avengers 2 Trailer...

So this happened...

Here are my thoughts in to particular order:

1) We learn some Black Widow back story.

2) Scarlet Witch throws Iron Man into a wall.

3) There's more to the "Ultron's Minions" battle.

4) Tony, despite needing to fight Bruce, is trying to stop him...not kill him.

5) Natasha is the one who calms Bruce down.

6) Hawkeye's guiding civilians through the forest has nothing to do with the Iron Man/Hulk battle.

7) Klaw has a gun.

8) Scarlet Witch's hex powers cause Bruce to lose his s#!t.

and...

9) Some random woman falls down.

That's all I've got at the moment.

But I will say I think Quicksilver's slo-mo run past Cap in Trailer #1 is his helping Cap - because he's running past him...not at him.

Random Visual Thoughts on...Agent Carter

We know Agent Carter starts Jan. 6th, so here's what I think might happen:

1) 

We'll learn more about the 084. The first one.

We may find out where it was originally found by HYDRA, and what they did with it. Bringing me to...

2) 

Yeah. We'll see more of this guy.

3) 

The Commandos...definitely more Commandos. And Trip's grandfather.

4) 

Yeah. We'll be getting more Howard Stark, but five bucks says in Episode 8 we'll meet Maria.

5) Going back to the Commandos for a minute, we know James Montgomery "Union Jack" Falsworth in one of them. Could we see something that causes him to don his own costume? Maybe something involving...

...Baron Blood perhaps?

6) Agent Carter takes place in Post-WWII, and a familiar face predates even that:

so could Jim Hammond appear...in a flashback now...circa WWI?

Follow me through here -  if Hammond existed in WWI, is it possible that several heroes existed during WWI? Maybe even...

...just sayin'.

7) 

Aaaaand we'll see more of this guy.

8)

It also wouldn't surprise me if we meet Carter's future husband.

Come to think of it, is it possible that Carter could be...Trip's grandmother?

January 8th can't get here fast enough.

Random Thoughts on Marvel's Mockingbird...

Random thoughts:

1) Clearly, she's HYDRA in this picture and no doubt deep undercover. My guess is she went in prior to Fury's "death" in CA: TWS, and had to stay quiet during all that S.H.I.E.L.D. destruction stuff.
2) While it's possible she's met Clint at some point in the past, it wouldn't surprise me at all if Bobbi thought he was an a-hole.
3) There's no doubt in my mind that she'll show up in A2, at which point she'll realize he's not as big an a-hole as she thought.
and finally...
4) In the comics, Black Canary is a brunette who wore a blonde wig (until she dyed her hair). On Arrow, the character also wears a wig, even though her hair is blonde-ish. In the comics, Mockingbird is a natural blonde, so..?

Random Thoughts: Captain America 2

So...this poster came out:

and I'm waiting impatiently for the first official trailer to come out Thursday.

I guess the film will have scenes in both time frames...Cap's past during WWII and the post-Avengers present. Not sure how I feel about that, but anything with Toby Jones and Dominic Cooper is a win. But, looking through IMDb, there's no sign of Dum Dum...and I'm sad now. 

This pic also got me wondering - we're all talking about how AoS needs more Marvel cameos, but no one's talking about the possibility of May, Ward or Fitz-Simmons showing up in the films. 

At this point, anything's possible...and I love it!

In Marvel Studios I Trust

Random Thoughts on AoS:

Having watched the third episode, I've kind of formed some opinions about the series as a whole.

First of all, Joss is Boss.

But I think he's being haunted by his past...

Let's face it. Firefly is his Citizen Kane.

Yes, there were other creative people involved, but this was Joss being Joss.

It was his take on culture, society, the sci-fi genre...even relationships between men and women.

This feels a little (dare I say it) watered down.

Maybe I'm just seeing too much into it, but there are a lot of similarities between the two shows.

Then there's the premise of the series.

Iron Man set the bar of "grounded in reality" pretty high.

Incredible Hulk, IM2, and the rest all met that bar, but they were movies carefully planned out with Kevin Feige at the helm.

All the characters were presented as "this is how they're meant to be seen".

And I accepted everything.

AoS is a weekly series set within that universe, and Joss is at the helm. Which is okay...

...but three episodes in I'm just not feeling the excitement and awesomeness that was Avengers.

I thought it was because there wasn't enough "Marvel" in the stories,

but after seeing how Graviton was introduced in Episode 3, I'm left scratching my head.

Instead of an action-packed showdown with a baddie, I got a stereotypical-looking scientist falling in goo...

...and getting locked away.

Is Joss getting cold feet? Is he not committing to full-on Marvel for fear of cancellation?

I was really worried...

...until I saw this.

It turns out ABC had not committed to a full season of the show, until today.

And now everything makes sense. Joss wasn't afraid of commitment, ABC was.

We've only been shown the episodes made before the season started and the ratings came in.

So with the additional nine episodes ordered, AoS Season One will be a full 22 shows.

What does this mean? Well for one thing...

...the box set will be bigger.

For another, after the big sigh of relief Joss can tell the stories he wants to tell as opposed to stories he thought he could tell.

Plus it also means that we'll get that episode where Coulson's team is ordered to transport a "potential threat" to Project Pegasus...

...only to get ambushed.

Random Thoughts on Captain America 2...

It seems that along with Falcon, Black Widow and Agent Hill will appear...which I guess is old news.

But what I found interesting in the official synopsis is that they've got Steve living in Washington D.C.

I would think that after spending so long in suspended animation he'd prefer to acclimate in his hometown of Brooklyn, but D.C. is a good second choice.

We also know that he's got the motorcycle Banner was given in The Avengers, which kinda makes sense...

...but I wanna see the van circa 1987...

...'cause that would be cool.