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Disney XD brings the Guardians of the Galaxy from the theaters to your kids TV in their own series. Our thoughts on the series premiere.

While the films under the Marvel Studios banner have proven to be enormously popular with moviegoers (even in what’s presumed to be an “off” year for the studio, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man are both currently in the Top 10 grossing films of 2015), there’s no doubt that there are certain creative difficulties behind the […]

I seem to recall a few years back that Marvel Studios was really hot on getting Mads Mikkelsen on-board with one of their productions, to the point where he was cast as Malekith in Thor: The Dark World, but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts with the then-debuting Hannibal. Given what Christopher Eccleston […]

I’m not at D23 this weekend, and I’ll reserve any of the “on the scene” impressions for Beat contributors Alex Jones and Victor Van Scoit, who are both there in person. But that doesn’t mean I won’t report on the biggest announcements that are worthy of attention and discussion, and when it comes to Disney […]

On the set of Captain America: Civil War (aka Avengers 2.5 basically), which is now filming in Germany, an intrepid photographer got the first live-action shot of the Black Panther costume that the public has seen thus far. The below photo is clearly a stuntman, but it at least gives you an idea of what […]

After a painfully long production process, Marvel’s smallest big-screen hero has finally arrived, and according to studio estimates (which could see some adjustment by Monday morning) Ant-Man is looking at about a $58 million domestic haul.

For what it’s worth, that’s the second lowest debut for a Marvel Studios picture, just shy of 2008’s The Incredible Hulk opening to $55 million and on the low end of Marvel’s projections for the property.

Ant-Man was always a bit of a dicey proposition for Marvel; he’s a little-known “C-list” hero, and while I doubt most members of the general audience know Edgar Wright from Edgar Bergen, there had been a certain level of tough buzz surrounding the production of the film due to Wright’s storied exit just before shooting was to begin in Atlanta.

Strangely enough, Guardians of the Galaxy was seen as an equally tough sell and opened in a worse month (August), yet it thrived. Both films had an “A” Cinemascore, the not terribly scientific polling of audience-goers who actually attend these screenings, so they were equally well received.

So why did Guardians thrive in its opening weekend (at $94.3 million) where Ant-Man failed to reach similar heights? If I had to guess, marketing was likely the key issue. It never seemed as though the studio knew how to actually sell the picture. Was it a fun romp for families? Was it a 20’s-30’s male leaning comedic affair? And Marvel’s last-minute attempt at stressing the connections to their shared cinematic universe with a number of ads to that effect didn’t really do the trick either.

That’s not to say $58 million is a flop by any means, because it’s not, particularly given Ant-Man‘s more modest $130 million budget (not counting whatever was sunk into marketing). But, this is a case of Marvel becoming a victim of their own success a bit. With each opening since 2010 ranging from $65-210 million, the inevitable film that hit below that was going to face some scrutiny.

It’s possible that Peyton Reed‘s newest directorial outing may find some legs in the coming weeks, and the international numbers are only now coming in ($56.4 million and counting), but as of now Ant-Man‘s “Avengers bump” is a bit non-existent it seems.

For the record, I don’t think if Wright stayed on as director it would have really done much, if any, better.

What did you think, readers? Was Ant-Man all you hoped it would be?

There’s a nice piece in The Hollywood Reporter, that’s getting lots of ink right now, in which Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige goes pretty in-depth (along with Paul Rudd) regarding a number of details about their upcoming slate, Ant-Man, why they aren’t coming to SDCC this year, etc.

But one of the quotes that caught my eye was Feige’s fairly pointed response to Warner Bros’ Greg Silverman recently stating that the difference between DC and Marvel films is that WB’s slate will be filmmaker focused and that they make “films about superheroes rather than superhero films”. Of which, Feige had this to say:

Warner Bros.’ Greg Silverman told THR that the difference between the DC/Warners movies and Marvel movies is that Warners allows directors to fulfill their visions. How do you respond?

FEIGE My response is: Look at the movies. Iron Man and Iron Man 2 are as Jon Favreau films as you can see. Kenneth Branagh has his stamp all over Thor. Captain America: First Avenger is very much a Joe Johnston film. The greatest example of that, look at Guardians of the Galaxy with James Gunn. And the one I always point out is Avengers. We knew the general structure when we sat down with Joss [Whedon]. But I don’t want you to think we gave him a story. We gave him a “Here’s where we think the movie should start, here’s where we think this character should come into it; it would be fun if something like this happened in the middle and in the end a hole opens up and aliens pour out into Manhattan.” So arguably, there were many pieces in place, and yet now that everyone has seen the movie, it’s completely a Joss Whedon film. He was able to take all the elements that were handed to him – that were studio-imposed, if you want to look at it that way – and make it his own. We wouldn’t have hired any of the filmmakers we’ve hired if we just wanted somebody who would do what we say.

To be honest, I’m not sure I agree with Feige here, and it’s worth noting that he mostly only highlights “Phase 1″ films, whereas the offerings of “Phase 2″ have seemed far more of a piece with one another structurally. My biggest beef with Marvel films, beyond the fact that their stakes are constantly huge yet the danger never feels immediate, is that each film carries a very similar A to B to C plot structure. The fact that literally every movie in Phase 2 (except Iron Man 3, which people don’t like talking about for some silly reason) has something falling from the sky in its third act (or rising as the case may be in Age of Ultron) tells you that there’s definitely a formula, set by the first Avengers film, that these movies are being poured into.

Yes, there are some superficial differences, Guardians of the Galaxy has some of James Gunn‘s wit, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier covers itself in a fairly entertaining conspiracy tale, but criticism is definitely warranted in this case.

The fact that Phase 2 firmly kicked into place right around the time of the Disney buy-out of Marvel, well, I’ll leave you to make your own conclusions.

After months and months of speculation, we now have a 100% official new Peter Parker as Tom Holland (The Impossible) will debut as rebooted version of Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War as well as the next stand-alone Spider-Man film hitting theaters in 2017.

Not only did Marvel and Sony announce their newest web-slinger, but they also jointly unveiled that relatively untested directed Jon Watts will helm the solo feature. While Holland’s name had been bantied about for a while, and he was generally considered the front-runner along with Asa Butterfield, Watts is more of a surprise choice, though he did show up on the studios’ director short-list that was produced a few week’s ago. Watts’ only major feature to this point was last year’s horror outing Clown, and his recent Sundance debuting film Cop Car was met with mixed reviews.

But, at the very least, the speculation on this topic can end, and we can look forward to further discussion on villains and just how Peter Parker will play into the new Captain America feature.

Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige compared Watts to some of the other director choices made by the studio in the past:

“As with James Gunn, Joss Whedon, and the Russo brothers, we love finding new and exciting voices to bring these characters to life. We spent a lot of time with Jon and find his take and work inspiring.”

Amy Pascal, who is working hand in hand with Feige on this project, spoke to Holland’s casting specifically:

“Sony, Marvel, Kevin and I all knew that for Peter Parker, we had to find a vibrant, talented young actor capable of embodying one of the most well-known characters in the world. With Tom, we’ve found the perfect actor to bring Spider-Man’s story into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.”

So there you have it, a Spider-Man and a director are now in place. What do you think about these two choices? Are you excited about the future of everyone’s favorite wall-crawler?

While we know Marvel Studios proper is skipping out on SDCC this year, creating a trend that also saw Sony and Paramount deciding to skip the show, their television division will indeed be there with a Ballroom 20 appearance covering both Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter, along with an animation panel the next day.

No sign of the Netflix shows though, mostly likely they will remain saved for NYCC instead.

FRIDAY, JULY 10

Marvel Television Presents — Panel Session

3:00 PM – 4:15 PM in Ballroom 20

Join the casts and producers of “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” and “Marvel’s Agent Carter”!

SATURDAY, JULY 11

“Marvel’s Agent Carter” – Cast Signing Event

10:00 AM at the Marvel Booth (#2329)

Cast Attending: Hayley Atwell, James D’Arcy, Tara Butters (EP), Michele Fazekas (EP), Chris Dingess (EP), Louis D’Esposito (EP) and Jeph Loeb (EP)

Marvel Animation Presents – Panel Session

10:30 AM – 11:30 AM in Room 6BCF

Go behind-the-scenes into the world of Marvel Animation!

“Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” – Cast Signing Event

2:30 PM at the Marvel Booth (#2329)

Cast Attending: Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Brett Dalton, Iain De Caestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge, Nick Blood, Adrianne Palicki, Henry Simmons, Luke Mitchell, Maurissa Tancharoen (EP), Jed Whedon (EP) and Jeph Loeb (EP).

Please note that both signings are ticketed events and passes will be available on a first-come, first-served lottery basis beginning at 9:30 AM on Saturday, July 11 at the Marvel Booth (#2329).

We’re halfway through both the actual calendar, and the Summer blockbuster season (which started in May).  Even though it feels like a Friday night at the video store circa 1990, there have been some amazing movies released so far. Dinosaurs are battling robots for box office supremacy, and Pixar is once again at the front of Best Animated Feature Oscar speculation with “Inside Out”.

Here’s the latest movie schedule, culled from various sources… Not much to update, except for the Smurfs getting an actual title.  There will probably be more after San Diego and D23.

NOTE:  My colleagues have noted the confusion over Warner Brothers’ superhero schedule.

To be clear: past Suicide Squad, Warners Brothers/DC Entertainment has not matched announced movies with opening dates.

So, you will see a listing like:

Unknown 2018

Flash

and

3/23/2018

Untitled DC

That does not mean that there are two movies scheduled, only that DCE is planning movies, and has claimed dates. Other news sites have linked titles to dates. This has not been officially announced or confirmed by Warner Brothers, and until I see official confirmation, will continue to list the names and dates separately. When do I expect to see that confirmation? Either at a shareholder’s meeting, or sometime in July or August, just like last year. Like last year, I expect Marvel, via D23, to make a bigger splash than DC, although DC could try to win Comic-Con this year, given Marvel Studio’s suspected absence.

Updates are in bold.  I have included links back to Box Office Mojo, which is the source of this data.

You knew it had to be coming. As soon as it was reported that Sony and Marvel would collaborate on all decisions related to Spider-Man for the SECOND live-action reboot of the character, it was just a matter of time before signs of dischord might surface.

We’re talking about two billion dollar studios and one of the biggest franchises of all time. There was no way this was going to be totally sunshine and happiness.

And according to Jeff Sneider over at Meet the Movie Press, that very conflict is starting to take shape as Sony is lining up behind the casting of Tom Holland (The Impossible, Wolf Hall) and Marvel is backing Charlie Plummer (Boardwalk Empire). According to Sneider’s sources, those two along with Matthew Lintz (Kill the Messenger) are the final contenders for the role.

Surprisingly, there’s no mention of Asa Butterfield, who was long thought to be the front-runner for the role. Is he out?

Spider-Man’s scenes for Captain America: Civil War were supposed to begin shooting this month in Atlanta, but with casting at a stand-still, some changes may end up having to be made. Or perhaps something will snap into focus over the weekend or next week. Your guess is as good as mine at this point.

Chiwetel Ejiofor, Oscar nominated for the incredible 12 Years A Slave (also known as one of the few movies to ever make me openly sob in the theater), is the latest prestigious thespian to join the ranks of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Ejiofor, long rumored to be a part of the upcoming Doctor Strange in some form or fashion, was confirmed today by Deadline to be playing the role of Baron Mordo, the Sorcerer Supreme’s long-time enemy. In the comics, Mordo is Strange’s fellow pupil under the guise of The Ancient One (reportedly being played by Tilda Swinton), and after Strange thwarts Mordo’s plans to kill their instructor, they become adversaries.

Deadline’s report is quick to note that this version of the character will actually be “an amalgamation of characters culled from Doctor Strange’s mythology”. This sounds a bit similar to the approach taken with Ivan Vanko in Iron Man 2, but hopefully the results will turn out a bit better here.

Doctor Strange, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, is directed by Scott Derrickson (Sinister, The Exorcism of Emily Rose) and will see release on November 4, 2016.

So, readers, what do you think about the new Baron Mordo?

We’re a little over a month away from the release of Marvel’s next big adventure, the Paul Rudd starring Ant-Man. Today sees a new television spot that showcases some not yet seen footage, including a bit featuring Michael Peña, whose role looks to be along the lines of additional comic relief. That seems like a bit of a waste of a talented actor, but I will not judge until the finished product is seen (a repeatable mantra regarding this project if I’ve ever heard one).

Here’s the new spot:

Per THR, a fellow well regarded thespian may be joining Benedict Cumberbatch in Doctor Strange, as the outlet reports that Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton, Only Lovers Left Alive) is entering negotiations to play The Ancient One in the upcoming Marvel picture.

Were Swinton to join the cast, this would be her third comic book movie role, having played Gabriel in Constantine and the delightful Minister Mason in Snowpiercer.

The Ancient One, as most of you who are up on your Marvel lore probably already know, served as Stephen Strange’s mentor in the Himalayas. When the character died in the comics, Strange began to summon him through the spiritual plane and he continued to aide the good doctor.

THR also reports that Marvel originally sought a male for the role, but that the studio eventually retooled the role for a female.

It’s hard to argue that there’s any actress (and perhaps any performer, male or female) that’s been on a more incredible streak in terms of on-screen acclaim than Swinton. The sheer diversity in her role selection also speaks volumes about her avoidance to tread the same ground or be type-cast in any way. Honestly, Swinton is one of the few “sure things” in Hollywood right now, and if Marvel secures her services, it would prove quite a coup.

Doctor Strange, directed by Scott Derrickson (Sinister), will see release on November 4, 2016.

Captain America: Civil War started filming in earnest over the past few weeks here in Atlanta. As a matter of fact, it turns out the cast was having lunch at the sushi restaurant down the street from our house!

Today, Marvel revealed the full cast along with the official synopsis, and while much of it is old news, the biggest surprises here are that Paul Rudd and William Hurt will be taking part in the film. For Rudd, despite my prediction that Marvel might end up treating Ant-Man in a way similar to The Incredible Hulk (a one-off that sort lies forgotten in the larger machinations of the studio) it looks as though it will matter at least somewhat for the overall MCU narrative. Speaking of The Incredible Hulk, Hurt will be reprising his role as General Ross. I guess you need to hang on to those Blu-rays after all, despite Mark Ruffalo‘s Banner seeming like a completely different character than Ed Norton‘s version.

Here’s the full cast list from Marvel, there are some potential spoilers for Age of Ultron here:

The film returns Chris Evans (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” Marvel’s “Avengers: Age of Ultron”) as the iconic Super Hero character Steve Rogers/Captain America along with Robert Downey Jr. (“Avengers: Age of Ultron,” Marvel’s “Iron Man 3”) as Tony Stark/Iron Man, Scarlett Johansson (“Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”) as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, Sebastian Stan (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Captain America: The First Avenger”) as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier, Anthony Mackie (“Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”) as Sam Wilson/Falcon, Paul Bettany (“Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Iron Man 3”) as The Vision, Jeremy Renner (“Avengers: Age of Ultron,” Marvel’s “The Avengers”) as Clint Barton/Hawkeye, Don Cheadle (“Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Iron Man 3”) as Jim Rhodes/War Machine and Elizabeth Olsen (“Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Godzilla”) as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch.

After his debut in Marvel’s “Ant-Man” on July 17, 2015, Paul Rudd (“Ant-Man,” ”Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues”) will make his first appearance alongside the Avengers as Scott Lang/Ant-Man in “Captain America: Civil War.”

The film also includes outstanding additional cast, including Chadwick Boseman (“42,” “Get on Up”) as T’Challa/Black Panther, Emily VanCamp (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Revenge”) as Sharon Carter/Agent 13, Daniel Brühl (“Inglourious Basterds,” “Bourne Ultimatum”), Frank Grillo (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Warrior”) as Brock Rumlow/Crossbones, William Hurt (“A History of Violence,” Marvel’s “The Incredible Hulk”) as General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross and Martin Freeman (“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies”).

There’s no new Spider-Man listed as of yet, but Marvel and Sony may still be in auditions for that role, if the character does indeed appear in the film.

Captain America: Civil War releases on May 6, 2016, here is the new synopsis:

“Captain America: Civil War” picks up where “Avengers: Age of Ultron” left off, as Steve Rogers leads the new team of Avengers in their continued efforts to safeguard humanity. After another international incident involving the Avengers results in collateral damage, political pressure mounts to install a system of accountability and a governing body to determine when to enlist the services of the team. The new status quo fractures the Avengers while they try to protect the world from a new and nefarious villain.

We’re in the final stretch before those of us stateside will get an opportunity to see the latest Joss Whedon helmed Marvel opus, Avengers: Age of Ultron. You can of course expect a review here on The Beat, from yours truly, in just a few days.

Before we get there, it’s time to reflect: Can you believe that we’re now onto the 11th film of this one of a kind experiment? I remember sitting in a restaurant with my parents the week after The Incredible Hulk released, and I was telling my father about the Tony Stark cameo in the film’s final scene. I’ll never forget what he said, “that’s going to be the new hot thing and every studio is going to be copying it”.

And to my lack of surprise, knowing how trends work in Hollywood, he was 100% right. We’re now living in a world where studios are planning a Robin Hood Cinematic Universe, a brand new Universal Monsters Universe, and of course both Fox and Warner Bros are trying to do something along the same lines as Marvel’s meteorically successful endeavor. While I wish them all the best of their luck in their endeavors, one really has to tip their hat to Kevin Feige for turning something that would have been unthinkable, or just the far-flung wishes of the message board set, a decade ago into a reality.

But, it hasn’t been a road without a few bumps. Like any long-running series, the Marvel Studios filmography has its own peaks and valleys in terms of individual film quality. With that said, let’s take the time to revisit the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the prerequisite ranking of the films that have gotten us to where we are now:

10. Iron Man 2

This isn’t just a bad Marvel movie, it’s one of the more disappointing theater-going experiences I’ve had in a while. Iron Man 2 is muddled, embarrassing, and clearly the result are far too many cooks in the kitchen; be it Robert Downey Jr taking too firm a hand with Justin Theroux’s script, Kevin Feige shoe-horning in as much Avengers/SHIELD build-up as he can manage, Mickey Rourke doing… whatever the hell he was supposed to be doing, or Jon Favreau exerting little to no creative control or vision. Even the normally excellent Don Cheadle is a huge step down from Terrence Howard, turning Howard’s fairly charismatic Rhodey into a complete personality void. Only Sam Rockwell comes out a winner here, though I like the small cameo John Slattery has as Howard Stark, I wish we’d get more of that.

9. Thor: The Dark World

Speaking of too many cooks, in a recent interview with the Nerdist Writers Panel, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely noted that Thor: The Dark World had as many as 8 screenwriters working on this project. Sadly, this lack of direction really shows, and if there’s a movie that screams “made by committee” it is this one. This dull sequel tries its hardest to double down on what pleased the first film’s audience (namely Loki and D’Arcy), but does so to the detriment of narrative cohesion. The film does benefit from Hiddleston and Hemsworth having developed tremendous chemistry and following on from the events of The Avengers. But these moments are only a small sliver of a weak whole which is also marred by a poorly fleshed out villain, a continued reliance on the dud of a relationship between Thor and Jane (to the point of making her the major point on which the plot device turns), and some of the worst exposition this side of Green Lantern. I long for the day that Thor gets handed to a team that actively embraces the character and the weird, fun cosmic events that shape his world.

8. The Incredible Hulk

This second stab at a Hulk film (following on the heels of the rather glacial Ang Lee 2003 film) has quite a bit of good in it: Ed Norton making for a pretty compelling every-man, Liv Tyler giving a steady performance with a thankless love interest role, and a nice bit of chase action throughout (with the high point being the almost Bourne-like Rio sequence towards the film’s beginning). These benefits are off-set by some really hammy supporting performances, particularly from the two Tim’s (Blake-Nelson and Roth) and a mindless third act where a CGI thing fights another CGI thing. It’s also chopped to pieces, as one can tell just by watching the deleted scenes, much of which were nice character bits for Ty Burrell’s Leonard Samson. Overall, it’s not a bad film, but more like casual FX viewing on a random Sunday. Frankly, the bottom-line on this one is that it barely counts anymore, we have a new Bruce Banner as of The Avengers and its highly doubtful that any plot points or characters from this movie are going to return (other than some Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. “wink and nudge”).

7. Iron Man 3

Shane Black and Drew Pearce bring the funny! Iron Man 3 benefits from the momentum provided by The Avengers and is a decent bounceback after the dreadful Iron Man 2. Yeah, Cheadle is still a waste and the Extremis powered bad guys are a little anonymous, but Black injected some authorial life into what could have been another anonymous affair. I also loved the Die Hard-Christmas vibe that is the backdrop for the movie’s events, a constant in Shane Black’s work. And yes, I thought the Iron Patriot armor was pretty nifty as well. It’s the first Marvel movie (other than The Avengers and then later Guardians of the Galaxy) where you can feel the finger-print of its filmmaker throughout, instead of the journeymen that were helming these projects pre-Avengers. The only major detriment to the film, and why it doesn’t rank higher, is its fairly dull third act which includes the ridiculous visual of “super-powered” Gwyneth Paltrow, and Guy Pearce (who I love dearly) playing another member of the forgettable Marvel villain brigade. Sadly, my favorite moment in the movie (the Mandarin twist) is also the point at which the film becomes its most generic.

6. Thor

I have really warmed to Kenneth Branagh’s sole Marvel effort in recent years. Yes, its production design borders on laughable and Hemsworth has more chemistry with Hiddleston than he does with Natalie Portman (and their romance is written about as well), but there’s a level of straight-forwardness on display here that makes Thor a relatively refreshing watch, especially with the growing complexity and interconnectedness of the Marvel oeuvre. Sometimes the power of a simple story is all you need, and Branagh and company nail the glowing majesty of Asgard along with the tried and true “fish out of water” elements that are especially carried by Hemsworth, whose voice is all I hear now whenever I read a Thor comic. Marvel has yet to produce a Thor film that I’d call essential, but this is as good as it gets so far.

5. Guardians of the Galaxy

A lot of fun. The plot itself is no great shakes, and feels a little overly familiar, but James Gunn and a surprisingly humorous cast (Dave Bautista is hilarious as Drax especially) that makes it all come together. The dialogue is razor sharp and full of wit, and Chris Pratt’s Peter Quill is probably the heir apparent to Downey’s Tony Stark for the “loveable asshole” crown of the Marvel universe. Guardians also benefits from being separated from the other goings-on related to S.H.I.E.L.D., Loki and the Earth-bound concerns of the previous films. Someone could go see this film and know not a lick about The Avengers, and could enjoy it on its own space opera merits. And much like Shane Black before him, you can see Gunn straining the limits of Marvel Studios’ house-style, to the benefit of fans. Its also gorgeously shot with meticulously designed worlds and colors galore!

4. Captain America: The First Avenger

The team behind this first Captain America film had a big of challenge ahead of them. How do you portray Marvel’s most virtuous character without resorting to outright jingoism? Pulling together a mixture of writers that love the source material (Chris McFeely and Stephen Markus), a director familiar with period pieces (Joe Johnston), and the perfect leading man (Chris Evans) and you have the perfect combo to tackle this challenge. In so doing, they end up creating a fun adventure romp that up to that point was Marvel’s most comic-book faithful film. It’s still pretty cheesy in parts, but gloriously so and it’s incredibly stylized and doesn’t fall victim to the “filmed in a rush, looking cheap” trap that Thor did just a few months before. This debut feature for Cap also has my favorite love story in the entire Marvel filmography, subtle, well written and with some great back and forth between Evans and Atwell. Sure, the Red Skull is pretty poorly used, the third act montage is an annoyance, and the film completely whiffs the Steve-Bucky relationship. But, when you’ve got a film that includes all of the Howling Commandos, crazy World War II era planes, and an awesome show-tune number written by Alan Menken, you have a real winner on your hands, all things considered.

3. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

With its intricately plotted conspiracy storyline, some of the best shot action scenes of recent memory, and fairly compelling pathos (correcting one of the bigger sins of the previous entry). Joe and Anthony Russo take over behind the camera, and not only do they have a great handle on Cap, but they also find significant roles for Nick Fury and Black Widow. Two characters who had nice beats in The Avengers, but were still somewhat enigma-like. This is a movie packed with fun surprises as well, with call backs to a few films in the overall series (creating a sense of real history that matters to these characters) without being bogged down by them. What I think I like best though about this sequel is that its the first of the Phase Two films that doesn’t rely on the events of The Avengers to stage its plot. In reality, this movie is probably the first where you didn’t even have to see that team-up extravaganza and its story-beats would still make sense (unlike Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World). It’s hard not to appreciate that kind of dedication to the character and his slice of the Marvel Universe. It’s a heck of a ride.

2. Iron Man

There’s a crispness to Iron Man that I just can’t shake. I remember going to the theater to see this one in 2008 not expecting a whole heck of a lot and I was blown away. Iron Man was hilarious, exciting, well-paced and on subsequent rewatches all of those qualities still hold up. Just about everything that makes Iron Man work so well can be attributed to the actors. Obadiah Stane is one of my favorite villains in the MCU (admittedly, his only real competition are Loki and Wilson Fisk), mainly because of how loosely Jeff Bridges plays him. Pepper Potts is a very well rounded character because of Paltrow. James Rhodes is actually interesting for once due to the “swaggering stoicism” (is that a thing?) brought by Howard. And Tony Stark goes without saying really, but has there ever been a better meld of character and actor in one of these superhero romps? I love Hiddleston and Evans in their respective roles, but Downey IS Iron Man. Also, the movie is basically completely improvised, again, the story being formed by the strength of the actors involved. Iron Man also set everything into motion for the entire series of Marvel films, but its hard to describe just how exciting it was to see Jackson’s Nick Fury appear that first time after the credits rolled. This is a film that captured the public zeitgeist for a short time and is only eclipsed by our next entry in that regard.

1. The Avengers

It made over a billion dollars. Sure, there are some terrible movies that can make that same claim, but clearly something connected with the American public on this one. It’s an utter spectacle, but a really well crafted one that gives equal time to basically all of its characters (unless you’re Jeremy Renner). Sure, it takes a minute to dispense with the “heroes having a misunderstanding” plot beat or two but its all tempered by such sharp writing throughout that its hard to dock it too many points for the cliche. The underlying threat is strong as well (with Hiddleston really hitting his stride as Loki here), with stakes that feel suitably massive. Joss Whedon brings just enough candy coated coloring to the visual palette that it makes The Avengers a literal comic book come to life and the final results speak for themselves. Is it cinematic brilliance? Not really. Is it a tremendously good time once you’re separated from the hype that surrounds it? Absolutely! It’s only real misstep was how it handled Hawkeye, and maybe Captain America’s costume. Luckily, I understand both have been adjusted for the sequel.

Bring on Age of Ultron!

What do you all think? Am I off my rocker? How would you rank these films? I’d love to see which of these entries have landed best with everyone else.

It’s the start of another week, here are the headlines that are making waves this morning!

– Bryan Singer is keeping the teases rolling for X-Men: Apocalypse, this time around, he shared some concept art for Kodi Smit-McPhee’s younger version of Nightcrawler:

This new Nightcrawler isn’t too terribly far afield from Alan Cumming‘s appearance in X2: X-Men United, which is surely the point. I do wonder though if we’ll get any explicit connection between Kurt and Mystique (and/or Azazel), perhaps that’s a road best not taken.

– Even though we pretty much knew this already, Daniel Brühl recently confirmed in an interview with The Independent that he will indeed by playing Baron Helmut Zemo in Captain America: Civil War, as he responded in the affirmative to a question about his upcoming role:

“I think I can tell you that without being thrown into Marvel prison… For the first few days I’ll walk around like a little boy, just amazed by the megalomania of it. It’s such a huge project. We could do 20 films with the budget.”

So there you have it folks, along with whatever is happening between Iron Man and Captain America, the appearances of Spider-Man and Black Panther, and whatever angle the Winter Soldier story takes, we’re also getting Baron Zemo. This movie is looking more stuffed than Age of Ultron.

– Over the weekend, and somewhat lost in the hoopla over Jared Leto’s Joker, TheWrap reported that Green Lantern and Blade Runner sequel screenwriter Michael Green will be penning the upcoming sequel to James Mangold‘s The Wolverine.

I’m not sure how much blame Green should take for what ended up on screen in Green Lantern, but given his recent high profile gigs (that also includes work on Prometheus 2), we’ll keep our fingers crossed that it was just an aberration on his resume.

Hugh Jackman has stated that this will be his final outing as Logan, so perhaps the time is right to adapt Old Man Logan, especially since it’ll be a while before the Wolverine films and the X-Men films catch up to each other on the timeline, most likely. The new film is scheduled to release on March 3, 2017.

– For those interested, Fox has updated the Fantastic Four movie website to now include bios of the team, with some interesting descriptions of their powers; for example Reed now has abilities that “can warp the space around him, and appear to stretch his body into impossible forms and to incredible lengths.”

Check out further details at the site.

As one female-fronted superhero film begins to get its building blocks into place, another one hits a big snag.

In the first of two reports from THR, Marvel Studios is negotiating with screenwriters Nicole Perlman (Guardians of the Galaxy) and Meg LeFauve (Inside Out) to pair up for their 2018 release Captain Marvel.

Perlman became a hot name in Hollywood after the massive success of Guardians, and holds the distinction of being Marvel’s first female screenwriter. LeFauve’s Inside Out is also being held as the next great hope in reviving the somewhat sagging critical response that Pixar films have received in the past few years.

Apparently, they had two different takes on Carol Danvers big debut, but Kevin Feige was so taken with them both that he thought they should team up on the final script. No director has been attached as of yet, but Marvel has been making a concerted effort to find a female filmmaker.

Perlman is repped by CAA and Management 360, LeFauve by Verve. Captain Marvel is scheduled to be released on July 6, 2018.

Sadly, it isn’t all good news this evening, as it was just announced that Michelle MacLaren (Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones) has left Wonder Woman over “creative differences”.

MacLaren’s involvement was easily one of the more exciting developments of the Warner Bros/DC film slate. The film is still scheduled to be released in 2017, so there’s still time to get another filmmaker in place, but it’s hard to not be reminded of the Patti Jenkins situation with Thor: The Dark World and the poor results that eventually produced with Alan Taylor at the helm.

Hopefully Warner Bros will be able to course correct. Some have suggested that perhaps MacLaren should jump ship and helm Captain Marvel, but the truth of the matter is, a filmmaker looking for creative freedom probably should avoid big tentpole superhero films altogether.

Are you still running on a Daredevil high from over the weekend? We sure are, and we’re working on our big post-binge review which you’ll see this week. But in the meantime, for those who are done watching, how do you fill that Marvel-Netflix shaped hole that Charlie Cox and company have left in your life?

Why, with AKA Jessica Jones news of course.

Marvel’s next Netflix series doesn’t have a release date, the network still lists it as a 2015/2016 release, but filming is well underway.

One question that was brought up on a group viewing of Daredevil this past Friday, what exactly is David Tennant‘s Kilgrave/Purple Man going to look like? Will he actually have purple skin? Marvel never seems to have an issue with embracing their comic roots, though if this past weekend is any indication, they seem to be going a bit more grounded with these Netflix offerings.

Thanks to an intrepid Instragrammer, we might just have the answer. This person was able to snap a shot of Tennant on set:

So, based on that, there’s no purple skin in sight. Then again, this may be before he gets his mind controlling abilities, we can’t say for sure as of yet. But, as Daredevil has given us the most compelling Marvel villain since Loki in Wilson Fisk, I’ll be fascinated to see how they handle one of Marvel’s more frightening characters.

Here’s a fun way to open your Monday morning; the next trailer for Ant-Man has appeared before your eyes.

In all the marketing push for Avengers: Age of Ultron (which opens next month), it’s almost easy to forget Marvel has another film opening this year, but here’s your newest look at the Paul Rudd-starring adventure.

There’s some nice humor here in small doses, but everything around it still seems rather stiff, unlike Guardians of the Galaxy, which sold its blend of action and comedy well in the first trailers. I’m not sure that’s the case here, but Marvel remains bulletproof thus far, and even a fairly rough Thor sequel hasn’t derailed them yet.

The last bit is very cute, though.

Ant-Man is the weird lost film of Marvel’s Phase 2 (it’s no longer considered a part of Phase 3), so its marketing push is coming at just the right time.

Ant-Man opens July 17, 2015

While most of us are still working our way through our Daredevil binge-watches on Netflix this weekend, a little bit of news regarding New York’s other masked vigilante broke today, as Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige relayed some interesting tidbits about the casting process for Spider-Man to Collider.

There’s been a lot of discussion surrounding Marvel’s newest character acquisition for their cinematic universe, as to whether we’ll see another version of Peter Parker or will the studio shake things up with Miles Morales? How old will he be? etc…

As a part of the press junket for Avengers: Age of Ultron, Kevin Feige cleared a good deal of this information up:

In terms of the age of an actor we’ll eventually to cast, I don’t know. In terms of the age of what we believe Peter Parker is, I’d say 15-16 is right…We want to play with Spider-Man in the high school years because frankly there’ve been five Spider-Man films and the amazing thing about it is, even though there’ve been five Spider-Man films, there are so many things from the comics that haven’t been done yet. Not just characters or villains or supporting characters, but sides to his character. The most obvious being the ‘young, doesn’t quite fit in’ kid before his powers, and then the fella that puts on a mask and swings around and fights bad guys and doesn’t shut up, which is something we want to play with and we’re excited about.

That makes it pretty official folks, we’re looking at a high school aged Peter Parker as the next Spider-Man.

With the character reportedly appearing in Captain America: Civil War, which began shooting this week, Marvel and Sony are clearly moving quickly to get their new webslinger in place. I wouldn’t be surprised if we get a big breaking news story on that front in the next week or so.

Does more Peter Parker make you more or less excited about the Marvel Studios supported version of Spider-Man?

I was tempted to not write anything today, for fear that no one would actually believe it given the date on the calendar, but a few things of note did cross our attention on a slower than usual Wednesday:

– In Age of Ultron‘s worst kept secret, Andy Serkis has indeed confirmed that he will be playing long-time Black Panther nemesis Ulysses Klaw in the blockbuster sequel opening in 30 days…but don’t take it from me, you can hear the man himself say it at around the 4 minute mark in this video:

– In slightly more left of center news regarding that same film, Devin at Badass Digest has uncovered that Julie Delpy (Before Midnight) and Linda Cardellini (Freaks and Geeks, Mad Men) are on tap for roles in Marvel’s biggest film of the year. They discovered this via a tip-sheet from Marvel announcing the World Premiere on April 13th:

Given that they’re on the back end of the cast list, it’s pretty unlikely that either is playing anything major, but you never know. As a huge fan of both actresses, I would not turn down either doing anything of significance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But, I won’t get my hopes up for Cardellini as Carol Danvers either.

– For those folks that are excited about the sequel to the Michael Bay produced Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, you’ll be excited to note that they’ve found their Casey Jones in Arrow‘s Stephen Amell. He marks only the second live action appearance for the character (originally played by Elias Koteas), though interestingly, TMNT‘s animated version was voiced by Chris Evans.

– In a super-fun JoBlo video, Ryan Reynolds has confirmed that Deadpool will be rated “R”, you gotta check this out:

– And one more quick video, Charlie Cox, who you’ll see prancing around rooftops in a week and a half on Netflix as Daredevil, stopped by The Late Show with David Letterman to talk about the new Netflix series (that’s getting early rave reviews by the way) and food poisoning:

Announced today via press release, Marvel has revealed that Cheo Hodari Coker will serve as executive producer and showrunner of the third Marvel-Netflix series: Marvel’s Luke Cage.

Coker will also write two episodes of the upcoming series that will star Mike Colter as the title character.

In years previous, Coker served as the supervising producer of the cop drama Southland, and also was the co-executive producer for both Ray Donovan and Almost Human.

His writing credits also include the screenplay for the feature film biopic Notorious, which centered on the life of rapper Notorious B.I.G.

Colter will debut as Luke Cage in Marvel’s AKA Jessica Jones later this year (or possibly in early 2016, as that timetable hasn’t been quite solidified in Netflix’s release calendar).

Marvel’s Luke Cage is schedule for a 2016 release on the online network, and this is a tremendous start. I mean, who doesn’t miss Almost Human?

Here is the press:

CHEO HODARI COKER WILL SERVE AS EXECUTIVE PRODUCER AND SHOWRUNNER OF MARVEL’S LUKE CAGE FOR NETFLIX

Beverly Hills, CA — March 31, 2015 — Netflix & Marvel Television announced today that Cheo Hodari Coker will serve as executive producer and showrunner of the anticipated series, Marvel’s Luke Cage. Coker is writing the first two episodes of the series that will premiere in 2016, everywhere that Netflix is available.

Most recently, Coker served as a co-executive producer on the second season of Ray Donovan, and prior to that was a supervising producer on the critically-acclaimed, fourth season of the drama SouthLAnd. Coker was a part of the SouthLAnd team that earned the show a 2012 Peabody Award. Coker also garnered a 2013 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Writing for a Dramatic Series for his work on that show. Coker’s feature film credits include Fox Searchlight’s rap biopic Notorious. He authored the book Unbelievable: The Life, Death, and Afterlife of The Notorious B.I.G as well. Coker started his writing career in journalism and was a staff writer at the Los Angeles Times and contributed to VIBE, Rolling Stone, Essence, among other publications. He is a graduate of Stanford University.

It was previously announced that Mike Colter (The Good Wife, American Horror Story: Coven) will play the charismatic lead character, Luke Cage, in the series.

Marvel’s Luke Cage is produced by Marvel Television in association with ABC Studios for Netflix.

We haven’t even gotten to Marvel’s latest big event picture, but Marvel is already getting their house in order for the next one.

While we knew for certain that Joss Whedon was bowing out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe after Avengers: Age of Ultron, we only had rumors to go on regarding his successor(s). Now, according to Devin over at Badass Digest, Captain America: The Winter Soldier directors Joe and Anthony Russo have closed a deal that will see them go behind the camera for both parts of Avengers: Infinity War, as had been rumored for some time.

The report also states that Marvel is looking to enlist Captain America screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (the duo that was also behind Agent Carter) to script both parts of the Avengers three-quel.

It looks pretty likely that Captain America: Civil War, which has been bantied about the studio as “Avengers 2.5″ will be the key lead-in to Infinity War and the one can’t miss film of Marvel’s Phase 3.

Avengers: Infinity War Parts 1 and 2 will be shot back to back in 2016 and 2017, with an anticipated May 2018 and 2019 release respectively.

It’s the start of another week, here’s your collection of headlines that are making some waves today:

– There was never any doubt that Jennifer Lawrence‘s future with the X-Men franchise was on borrowed time; she’s one of the world’s biggest movie stars in a part that thus far has been pretty thankless. The same could probably be said for Michael Fassbender and some of her other cast-mates, many of whom also see their contracts with Fox end after X-Men: Apocalypse. But it’s Lawrence who has made it clear that this third outing will be her last when speaking with MTV News.

Given that the attention of the franchise is shifting away from the core four of X-Men: First Class (Mystique, Charles Xavier, Magneto, and Beast) and onto the recently cast Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm and Nightcrawler, Apocalypse looks to be a fairly graceful close out for the previous era.

– Gal Gadot, upon being cast as Wonder Woman in the upcoming Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, received a ton of unfair (and in some cases, disgusting) criticism from some segments of the online community related to her body type and physical attributes. In a recent interview translated by RobotUnderdog, Gadot addressed some of this discussion:

They said that I was too skinny and my boobs were too small. [Laughs] I’m really lucky nothing in my life was instantaneous. When I was younger I would take criticism really hard. But now it mostly amused me. The true Amazons had one boob so it won’t bother them in their archery. So it’s not going to be like real Amazons. We always try to make everyone happy but we can’t.

She also went on to describe her excitement in playing the first big screen portrayal of Diana:

Playing Wonder Women is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I can’t describe to you how much I wanted to play this character without even knowing I wanted to play her. I met a lot of people from the industry in LA for meetings. They always asked me ‘what’s your dream role?’, and I never could define it. I always answered that I wanted to play a women that is strong and will be a source for women empowerment. I don’t want to play a damsel in distress that needs to be saved. I don’t like it when women in the movies are shown as the victims. I always thought that if I could send out a massage I want to show the strong side of a woman and how she can handle tough situations. Yes, I get to play the strongest most empowering woman ever – Wonder Woman. I’m so grateful and I thank god every day. I want to devour it and enjoy every bite. She has unbelievable endurance. She is exceptionally strong. she can jump really high and practically fly. She know tons of martial arts styles. She is a strong and serious Woman.

– Toss this last one into the rumor pile for now, but Badass Digest is reporting that Marvel secretly auditioned 16 year old Weeds‘ actor Mateus Ward for the role of Peter Parker. If true, it means Marvel is indeed going very young for the role and are clearly trying to recast Peter Parker rather than aiming for Miles Morales as some might have hoped. With shooting for Captain America: Civil War only about a week away, if Spider-Man is going to make some kind of appearance be it a cameo or something more substantial, they’ll need to get this role squared away fairly quickly.