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[I wrote this the Monday after the movie opened, then forgot it was in my drafts folder. Since it’s doubled the Chinese box office of the first film in one week, and has yet to open in Japan, it looks like it might hit $1 Billion overseas. But not $450 Million in the U.S. Anyway, I know the beginning of the blockbuster season was an eternity ago, and forgotten like every other Marvel event, but since the Marvel Cinematic Universe is  an ongoing money-making machine, this is still relevant.]

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

Enter a Messenger

Thou comest to use thy tongue; thy story quickly.

Macbeth, Act V, Scene V 

Sunday afternoon [May 4], I sat and watched Avengers: Age of Ultron with friends. We waited in line, but it wasn’t very long, and we got decent seats. Even though I paid $15 to watch, I did enjoy the movie, but I was sorely disappointed overall.

Here’s how I would have pitched the movie:

1. Following the success of the multiple “Marks” in Iron Man 3, Stark International markets “Iron Legion” androids.
2. The first “real world” test during the raid of Strucker’s lab is less than stellar.  Instead of A.I., the IL bots are drone soldiers, remotely controlled by soldiers far away. Then Tony sees his nightmare vision, and decides to create a better A.I.
3. Ultron gains sentience during the cocktail party, processes a million scenarios in a microsecond, and instantly disappears into the Internet.
4. A year passes. Secrets from the Battle of Midtown surface, including the decision to nuke Manhattan. Public opinion begins to turn against SHIELD and the Avengers. (See: DC’s “Legends”) (Include the current Zeitgeist of online harassment and “preaching to the choir”.) NASA reports that it has lost contact with a Lunar rover during landing.
5. Nobody notices that Sokovia [Latveria?], an isolated postage-stamp country in eastern Europe has had a regime change… their media is closed (a la North Korea), and the images released are, of course, CGI’d by Ultron. Meanwhile, its factories are converted to producing more armored robots. (Remember how Hitler rearmed the Rheinland right before the Second World War?)
6. A suitcase nuke explodes at the Ka’aba during the Hajj. Pakistan retaliates, and the Avengers have to once again deflect a few nuclear missiles, this time from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. As the missile detonate high in the mesosphere, Earth is hit with a worldwide blackout. Y2K15. Computer systems are offline. Substations and energy plants suffer extensive damage. There are a few nuclear plant meltdowns, most are self-contained. Did the Avengers cause the blackout via the nuclear missiles? Some think so, and voice their opinions online, and in public protests, and via talking heads.
7. People begin acting strange. Hydra? Extremis? Organic nanites replicating in human hosts are the cause, affecting the brain chemistry and neuron passageways. Some people, unaware of the tiny robots, suspect this is another symptom from the nuclear bombs. [Reference the strange health symptoms from Ground Zero.]
8. People become cyborg zombies, and Ultron activates a backdoor in the Stark robo-soldiers, turning them into Ultroids.  The U.S. and others go to DefCon 1, as everything goes south very quickly. Minutes after Cheyenne Mountain is locked down, meteorites from the Moon begin to pummel the region, and other parts of the globe.
9. A team of Avengers is sent to the Moon to take out the rail gun built by Ultron’s nanites. Micro-gravity, lack of atmosphere, are the dangers, including Ultroids. [Tease the Inhumans and the Blue Area of the Moon.]
10. While humans outnumber the Ultroids on Earth, the Ultroids are repaired by nanite swarms. The Deus Ex Machina? Iron Man himself. He uploads open-sourced armor schematics that anyone can build. (From Mark XL models similar to Tony and Rhodey, to simple Kevlar suits and “Iron Chariots” built from subcompact cars.) Lots of human casualties, a la Stalin. Maybe you add some visual teasers of other heroes fighting. (This gets the fans on your side. “YOU can be a superhero!” Maybe it’s like the 501st. Maybe it’s guys modding cars like people build Batmobiles and droids.)
11. Eventually, Ultron is cornered, but escapes by broadcasting himself into deep space.  The world starts to recover, but doubt remains. Did Ultron mirror himself? Is there Ultron code hibernating online? What about those nanites?
12. In the end credits, we hear Ultron speaking with Thanos, as we learn that Ultron (along with Loki) was just one part of Thanos’ plan to acquire the Infinity stones.

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This then leads into Captain America 3: Civil War

Public opinion immediately turns against Stark International. Class action lawsuits are filed. Tony Stark goes into protective custody as the United Nations immediately coordinates global recovery efforts, overseen by SHIELD. Faced with technical and extraterrestrial threats, a global government is created with great oversight powers, allowing countries sovereignty unless they threaten the peace. [See: Squadron Supreme miniseries.]

Stark International is “internationalized” as part of SHIELD, in return for protection against all lawsuits. Tony becomes a modern-day Howard Hughes, out of the limelight, hidden away in a SHIELD facility, doing mad scientist stuff. Iron Patriot assumes most of Iron Man’s duties.

Sokovia [Latveria] is the first to refuse SHIELD inspectors. It soon becomes a SHIELD “protectorate”. Public opinion is mixed… it was an oligarchy before Ultron, a possible powder keg. Now? And what do other countries think of this? Which will be next? And what is

Hydra planning?  (American conservatives are conflicted… they want security and a strong military, but will they give up freedoms?

So there’s the New World Order conspiracy theory, there’s the question of how do you control the superheroes, and who handles that power? SHIELD has been compromised once, why not again?

That’s where Captain American and Tony Stark disagree. The world itself is split. East vs West. Security vs Freedom. Conservatives vs Progressives. Brains vs. Heart.

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But maybe that’s all too dark for Marvel and Disney Consumer Products.

Were I a comics fan, I’d feel a little manipulated by Marvel. “Age of Ultron” is misnamed. There’s no “age”… it’s more of a “week”. There’s no robo-apocalypse; the robot hordes teased on the San Diego poster never really appear. (Just like those classice Marvel comic book covers!)

Tony Stark is correct in this movie…  the Avengers aren’t ready for another Big Threat like the Chitauri.  They can barely handle Ultron, or a trickster god with a simple mind-control device.  But that’s the crux of superhero team movies… how do you create a threat that’s too big for one superhero to battle? Eight heroes against one stupid robot? That’s not too difficult. Both Avengers movies don’t have that “End of the World as We Know It” urgency, or even a comeback moment from the Despair Event Horizon.

Perhaps we’re standing in the shadow of Victor von Doom’s tears and Superman’s gravesite, and we don’t want to be reminded of the real world around us. Maybe these types of movies should be nothing more than a death ray, a mad scientist, and a secret agent to thwart them, just like the Saturday matinees of yore. Perhaps we want escapism from the Big Threats in the real world, just as James Bond was a major distraction from the Cold War. We can handle radioactive gold vaults, atomic earthquakes, explosive space modulators, even disintevaporaters. Crumbling office buildings, not so much. That might be why Guardians of the Galaxy did so well… it has more fantasy than the Avengers. more distance from the real world, while replicating and mixmastering most of the tropes from the Avengers heroes.

Keep it simple and formulaic in tone… it worked for James Bond, it works for Transformers, it works for The Fast and the Furious (which likely will be the #1 movie of the year). Introduce the Macguffin, define the heroes and villains, create conflict, save the day, make it look cool, and Act Three sets up the next phase of the franchise, rising the action and anticipation with each subsequent movie.  If you want to win awards, make a black comedy about superheroes or doomsday devices.

This might be what dooms the DC slate, if it gets made.  Too much sound and fury, grim and gritty, Sturm und Drang, not enough escapism. Best to keep things light, maybe define a role model for the younger viewers. Make it all popcorn and picture shows, like Juvenal suggested, and pay no attention to the projectionist. Your suspension of disbelief is what keeps you from falling into the abyss.

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While the second biggest opening weekend in domestic cinema history doesn’t seem like painfully coming up short, Avengers Age of Ultron failing to beat The Avengers for opening weekend gross seems to have shocked many people. Personally I blame Floyd Mayweather, as he should be blamed and punished for all the world’s ills, but Vulture’s Kyle Buchanon has a more in-depth examination of possible causes, including: the fight; the downbeat marketing campaign; the been there done that phenomenon; the mixed critical and fan reaction; and…maybe the superhero movie fatigue we’ve all been expecting:

I have no doubt that comic-book movies will continue to make bank, including the looming, two-part Avengers: Infinity War — I just think they’ll be hard-pressed to reach the massive totals that superhero movies made when this shtick all felt a little fresher. The peril to the shared cinematic universe is that they can get awfully packed with stray story lines as time goes on, and all the comic-book minutiae that Age of Ultron expects you to know will be doubled and quadrupled in the years to come, keeping the casual moviegoer at arm’s length. Geeks may cheer as the Avengers add more recruits, but as the Marvel universe grows more populated, the domestic box office for this top-heavy franchise may have topped out.

I’m not sure that adding more and more Marvel characters is the reason for this fatigue—most everyone thought the new Vision was the funnest thing in the movie—but there’s no escaping the fact that the movie was kind of…a marketing plan in search of a story. Even the biggest boosters are now saying that whaddya expect, it was just a great set-up for Avengers: Infinity War….meaning we sat through two and half hours of elements that are just priming the pump for two more movies in three years time that will probably end up setting us up for Avengers: The Clone Saga, and…where does it end?

I’ll admit, one of my favorite things in the movie was the whole Andy Serkis/Klaw segment because unlike many people Andy Serkis does a mean Afrikaner accent, and his whole schtick was over the top and…fun. But let’s get real. Was there ANY STORY REASON for that whole segment other than setting up the Black Panther movie? And setting up the also unnecessary Hulkbuster battle?

The other day I joked to someone that superhero movie fatigue will set in for real whenever they release a Wonder Woman movie…or a Black Panther movie. But I think as entertaining as it was, the noisy, shapeless Age of Ultron may be where the cracks first appeared.

But then again, it WAS the second biggest opening ever even though half the population had to take Sunday off to watch a boxing match.

Even if the public doesn’t have Superhero Movie Fatigue, it’s pretty clear that Joss Whedon does. His three-year contract with Disney is reportedly up in June, and in interviews he hasn’t worked very hard to hide that he’s burnt on all that universe running.

AND NOW SPOILERS

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/203458029″ params=”color=ff5500″ width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

In a just released podcast with Empire magazine, Whedon opens up about many things, including variant scenes, whether you-know-who may have lived, and how much he had to fight to retains the scenes down on Hawkeye’s farm. Vulture has a transcript of some of the best bits:

Whedon explained to Empire that Thor’s cave scene caused a weird sort of chain-reaction drama. Initially, Whedon wanted Thor’s interaction with Erik Selvig to be much more fleshed out, with “Thor getting answers, but he doesn’t have to ask the questions. He’s the guy giving the answers. And [Chris Hemsworth] gets to do something exciting as an actor. And he’s got his fucking shirt off, so everybody wins.” But Marvel execs wanted Whedon to whittle this scene down because it didn’t play well with test audiences. “The dreams were not an executive favorite, either. The dreams, the farmhouse, these were the things I fought to keep.” Although Whedon talks about some of his filmmaking haggling in Avengers diplomatically, he admitted that when it came down to keeping his favorite scenes, things got unpleasant and he had to pick his battles. For instance: “They pointed a gun to the farm’s head. They said, ‘Give us the cave, or we’ll take out the farm.'” Yikes.

This level of filmmaking by committee is of course standard for the MCU and it comes as no surprise, but even though Whedon wanted to make the film MORE crowded by teasing Captain Marvel and Spidey (but contracts weren’t signed) we are getting a little bit into Spider-Man 3 territory here with characters being shoehorned in whether necessary to the director’s ideas or not. And that eventually makes flat, listless movies which fans reject.

Just to cap everything, Whedon quit twitter yesterday, which, given his uneasy relationship with the internet and social media, isn’t really a surprise. There were definitely a lot of ugly comments on Avengers, but Whedon, like all famous people with more than a million followers, gets abuse and dumbass fronting all the time, so it’s not clear if this was the trigger for the removal. A previous EW interview suggests that he was ready to quit months ago::

EW: You’ve quit?

WHEDON: I joined six months ago to specifically try to drive business to Much Ado About Nothing because I figured Much Ado needs all the help it can get. The moment I joined, oh my God, what a responsibility, this is enormous work—very fun, but it really started to take up a huge amount of my head space. I’m making a movie, I got a responsibility, this job doesn’t pay very well. It’s a fascinating medium, it’s a fascinating social phenomenon. People are like, ‘It’s like a drug.’ Yeah, and it’s like a job. It’s just another art form. Until I have a script I truly believe in or a tweet that’s really remarkable, I can just walk away and get back to the storytelling I need to do.

As the exhausted, gaffe strewn media tour for Age of Ultron showed, making these movies is exhausting, Whedon has seemed exhausted for a while, and he deserves a break.

Of course, that didn’t stop GGaters from painting Whedon as the victim of crazy feminists who drove him away by calling him a hypocrite. Or some actual feminists being disappointed with some of the aspects of the Black Widow character in the film. Because there is nothing in the world that can’t become part of GGate,

Joss Whedon may have the right idea after all.

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Avengers: Age of Ultron had a huge opening weekend domestically—$187.7 million, huge but still only the second biggest opening of all time. Luckily for Joss Whedon, the record is still held by the original Avengers movie which opened with $207.4 mil in 2012. While A:AOU is doing very well, the numbers for the weekend were definitely impacted by the Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao “Fight of the Century”

As the weekend wore on, it became apparent that Saturday night’s Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao fight was hurting Ultron in a big way. Some box office observers believe the movie could have approached $200 milion were it not for competition from the PPV event. Moviegoing tumbled 40 percent from Friday to Saturday in Los Angeles and San Francisco, for instance, and more than 50 percent in some Hispanic markets, such as El Paso, Texas.

Costing $89-$99 to watch, the fight is expected to have generated hundreds of millions in revenue. Additionally, thousands watched the fight on pirate sites. “The fight dinged all films across the board. The numbers on Ultron are still phenomenal but definitely less than they would have been,” said one rival studio executive.

While you ponder the idea that the once in a lifetime sight of two real life villains whacking each other’s gloves for 12 rounds for $100 could have been more appealing to people than a two 1/2 hour CGI toy-ad for $15 or so, note that A:AOU has already made $627 million worldwide. That’s a great number but Avengers made $1.5 BILLION, so the follow-up has a lot of catching up to do.

That said we hung out with many people this weekend who had yet to see A:AOU but were planning to as soon as they could, so the movie has a shot and really making some money.

It wasn’t just The Big Fight that singed the Avengers, it was Saturday’s entire sporting lineup:

Yep, apparently, the boxer walloped more than Manny Pacquiao on Saturday. He also beat up on the Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, and the rest of the Marvel heroes. Well, not just Mayweather. Saturday was a perfect storm of high-profile sporting events. Besides the much-touted boxing match, there was the Kentucky Derby, NBA and NHL playoff games, and some big-deal baseball games, including Yankees vs. Red Sox. So that’s a whole lot of eyeballs that were too busy watching sports to watch the superhero-vs.-robot competition in theaters, noted Disney Executive Vice President for Theatrical Distribution Dave Hollis.

BTW While Marvel’s The Avengers i currently the #3 domestic release of all times, on the inflation adjusted chart, it only clocks in at #27. While these comparisons are always flawed, it’s a reminder of what kind of entertainment drew people in the past, when attention spans were longre and a film like The Exorcist (#9 all time inflation adjusted) could have controversy grow over the course of a long run with more and more people going to see what the fuss was about instead of just downloaded it illegally.

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When the “House of Mouse” bought the “House of Ideas” in 2009 it opened up infinite synergy possibilities we’re only seeing the cusp of in film,television, and publishing. Without Disney; things like the Big Hero 6 movie or the new flood of Star Wars comics have a harder time getting made, maybe even impossible. One area that the deal has yet to see noticeable fruit in is the Disney theme parks.

Outside of a rumor about the possibility of a Marvel themed roller coaster we haven’t heard much about future plans for incorporation of their characters to the happiest place on earth. Before the closure of Hall of Innoventions inside Tomorrowland, the only signs of Marvel inside Disneyland were meet-and-greets with cast memembers dressed as Captain America and Thor. Note, if you ever want to be weirded out and amazed at the same time then meet Captain America at Disneyland. The cast members do a tremendous job of having an in character conversation with kids and adults alike; it’s the next level of taking pictures with someone in Cosplay.

I’m not the Disneyfile that most of my friends are, in fact I only have an annual pass to the parks because of peer pressure. Before Thor and Captain America were brought in there wasn’t really anything about the parks that felt like it was for me. From the first time I waited in line for the Marvel characters, I knew these were my “princesses” and now I want Disneyland to bring even more Marvel in. In the spirit of waiting for Avengers: Age of Ultron to hit theaters Friday, here’s 5 Marvel attractions Disney needs to bring to Disneyland:

1. Spider-Man’s “Swinging Over New York”

In the tradition of Disney California Adventure’s “Soaring Over California” ride, Marvel could be incorporated in a similar attraction that Mary Jane’s the audience on Spidey’s back as he web swings all over the city of New York. The 5 Burrows, Coney Island, The Brooklyn Bridge; all are just part of what could be an adventure that connects you with Spider-Man like never before. This could even cameo various heroes from across the Marvel Universe. You could pop over the X-Mansion, Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum, or Stark Industries tower. Plus, how cool would it be to swing over Hell’s Kitchen and glimpse Daredevil beating the tar out of some mugger. Probably not the most kid friendly moment but you get the idea.  This ride could even take a page from Star Tours and change up between different scenarios giving it a lot of repeat value.

 

 

2. Inhumans: Find Your Gifts

We don’t know anything about the upcoming film. From what we’ve seen so far in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, Marvel wants the Inhumans to have Guardians of the Galaxy level of appeal with audiences. One of the quirky things about Disney parks that’s always good for a kick are the exhibits that let you “find your spirit animal” or tell you “what disney character” you are. The Terrigen Mists are the perfect delivery system for an exhibit that let’s kids and adults find out what Inhuman power they’d unlock. You’d walk through the mist and have exhibits where one (through the magic of Disney imagineering) could lift a car, teleport, shatter a piece of the planet with a whisper, or just have deadly hair. Attilan could definitely rise at Disneyland.

 

3. Deadpool’s “4th Wall Break”

Sure it would be hard to justify Disney building a ride that would –in a round about way– promote a Movie they’d have nothing to do with, but this is all just hypotheticals. So let’s build a Carsland Racers style ride that takes you through the inner madness of Deadpool with twist and turns traversing the characters funniest moments right before a drag race that shatters a giant comic page at the end of the ride.

 

4. Marvel Midway

If Marvel attractions were built into California Adventure by the pier area they could take over the midway carnival games section. Imagine characters like the Punisher running the shooting gallery, or the test of strength with Mjölnir. We could even have Professor X guess your weight. A carnival atmosphere complete with Marvel prizes and Hulk cotton candy. Here’s another novel approach for something like this; publishing could even operate a newsstand style Marvel comics shop here complete with their own Skottie Young variants and all where kids could get exposed to the latest comics after they see the movies.

 

5. Captain America and Friends Character Breakfast

One of the best ,and albeit, most expensive things to do in Disneyland is the Minnie and Friends character breakfast at the Plaza Inn. It’s an all you can eat breakfast buffet, but what really makes it special are the costumed characters that roam around greeting you and taking pictures with you while you dine. It’s a value for anyone who hates waiting in long lines to meet Disney characters and the interactions feel more personable. Marvel has over 700 plus characters in their library that could rotate on different days of the week. Though I don’t think I’d want to look at MODOK while I eat breakfast. I definitely wouldn’t mind having the Hulk playfully try to steal my waffle or Black Widow greet me as I’m scarfing down my bacon and ham omelet. Even the food could be themed, if they can make waffles in the shape of a Mickey Mouse head, a Captain America shield should be no problem. Maybe even give the villains some love with Green Goblin eggs and ham, or Baron Zemo biscuits & gravy. Also you could have this…

 

With the D23 Expo this August in Anaheim, we might finally get new information on any plans Disney has to incorporate more Marvel themed attractions at the parks. In the meantime I’ll say this “Make Mine Disney Marvel!”

What are some of your ideas for a Disney Marvel themed attraction?

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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.

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Mistress of the infographics (and cover reviews) Kate Willaert has really outdone herself with this then-and-now piece on the Avengers. Willaert took stills of the Avengers from that Avengers: Age of Ultron movie—including news kids Vision, Scarlet Witch and so on—and matched it was a drawing of how they debuted back in the day. Suffice to say we’ve come a long way from simple four color designs.

The infographic was created for Shirts.com because…Avengers wear shirts? I don’t know. But whatever the marketing reasons, it’s a cool piece.

And in case you didn’t hit the first link above, Willaert regularly critiques the month’s comics covers here at The Beat. Agree or disagree, check out some of her columns.

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Movie #2 in a series is often bigger than #1—Aliens, Catching Fire, Despicable Me 2, Spider-Man 2, Terminator 2 etc etc etc. Avengers was the #3 domestic movie of all times. Will Avengers: Age of Ultron beat it?

What do you think?

While common sense suggests fans of the Vision, Scarlet Wtch and Quicksilver will give A:AOU that teensy boost needed to put it over the top according to the Motley Fool’s Tim Beyers, analyst Jaime Brugueras of Networked Insights has looked at the tweets and thinks that A:AOU will open at about $240 million, besting Avengers $207 milion.

Brugueras says Networked Insights classifies the social web. Every tweet and post is measured according to 15,000 identifiers, including emotions such as excitement, disgust, horror, and so on. The more emotion detected in the post, the more likely it indicates intent.

Twitter provides the most intelligence. “When we work with studios, we have data on 3 million blogs, YouTube, Disqus, WordPress,” Brugeras says. “We account for conversation on all those platforms as well as Wikipedia page views. Each of them adds value. But Twitter is the kingpin and offers the most value.”

Networked Insights studied 400 films dating to 2012 and found that, on average, a positive tweet lifts opening weekend box-office receipts by $560.

And not to keep banging that drum, but its also suggested that the Black Widow-centric trailer recently released has made this a hit with a broad-based audience: the opening weekend crowd is expected to be about 42% female and 58% male. Well within all of the data we’ve been crunching here for some time.

However, A:AOU’s reign at the top may be short-lived. There’s this little thing called Star Wars: The Force Awakens coming later this year, and people seem to have been tweeting themselves senseless about it. Either way, the Mouse is smiling.

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The first press screening of Avengers: Age of Ultron was held tonight in Los Angeles and New York, and Disney is apparently so confident in the film that there is no social media embargo for any critic attending these screenings. As such, there are quite a few reactions hitting Twitter.

Here are the ones I could find over the past half-hour, and they’re all uniformly very positive. I don’t think anything is particularly spoilery here, but if you want to go in completely cold, I’d turn away.

 

Avengers: Age of Ultron: An entire “phase” in Soylent brick form. More nerd plot, more spectacle, more sarcasm. Feeling good dizzy.

— Matt Patches (@misterpatches) April 10, 2015

Just saw AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON. Soooooooo many characters and soooooo much going on, I can’t believe it’s coherent, let alone so fun.

— Mike Ryan (@mikeryan) April 10, 2015

And out of all the AGE OF ULTRON chaos, somehow Hawkeye gets the best role in the movie. AND the best line of the movie, maybe the series.

— Mike Ryan (@mikeryan) April 10, 2015

Avengers 2 is both an amazing sequel and a fantastic setup for the rest of the MCU. So nerdy in the best possible way.

— Mike Sampson (@mjsamps) April 10, 2015

Whedon stuffs Avengers Age of Ultron with an impossible amount of great geekiness. Sometimes it feels like too much, but he pulls it off!

— Kevin P. Sullivan (@KPSull) April 10, 2015

#AvengersAgeOfUltron is darker, weirder and more emotional than the original. It’s also the thrill ride to beat this summer.

— Drew Taylor (@DrewTailored) April 10, 2015

.@Avengers#AgeOfUltron might be the most true to the comic movie ever. So many images taken right off the page that made me faint with joy.

— Alex Zalben (@azalben) April 10, 2015

I’ll add any others of note as they come in! We’re less than a month away!

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Happy Day Before Daredevil Day! Here’s a round-up of things worth paying attention to on the Entertainment-front.

– Paul Bettany just unleashed the first full-blown Vision poster on Twitter. We’ve seen concept art, and a few other promotional pieces for the character’s upcoming appearance in Avengers: Age of Ultron, but this is Bettany in android mode up-close:

– Bryan Singer added another update for X-Men: Apocalypse, this time sharing some concept art of another mutant that will be joining the cast:

Yes indeed, Archangel will be a part of the film, and according to Singer he will be played by previously announced cast member Ben Hardy.

Other than Iceman, who can’t make an appearance, it looks like we’ll be getting something pretty close to the original X-Men line-up, along with a few Giant Size X-Men additions (Storm, Nightcrawler).

– For you fans of The Incredibles, Brad Bird just confirmed that he is currently working on the script for the sequel, now that his work on his about to be released Tomorrowland is completed. In a spate of sequels from Pixar, this might be the one that may stir up the most excitement.

– And in somewhat related news, given that Nic Pizzalatto pulled a good deal of influence for his True Detective series from the comics of Alan Moore and Grant Morrison, here’s the first teaser for True Detective Season 2. Given that I loved the first season, I can’t wait for this new one:

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We’re one day shy of DC rolling out their first phase of Convergence titles along with the rest of tomorrow’s new comic book day lineup, in the mean-time, here are a few of the entertainment headlines catching notice this week:

– The Marvel Studios films have become synonymous with post-credit stingers. At this point, audiences have become trained to not walk out of a Marvel film until the final credit has rolled, which I’d say is a good thing given the hard work that’s put into these blockbuster entertainments. Even non-Marvel films have attendees wondering if they should stay after the credits. No joke, I once heard some guys behind me at an Interstellar screening last year sticking around for a post-credits tag.

With Marvel’s upcoming Avengers: Age of Ultron though, Joss Whedon tells Entertainment Weekly that you won’t have to stick around too long after the final scene:

There is nothing at the very end. And that’s not a fake-out. We want people to know so they don’t sit there for 10 minutes and then go: ‘Son of a bitch! I’ll kill them!’

He’s probably referencing the reactions to the final post credits scenes of Iron Man 3 and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, both of which elicited some groans from audiences that I attended with. To be fair, I found both of those examples to be the most germane scenes to the films that preceded them, but clearly, audiences are in it for the big surprises.

Kevin Feige quickly stepped in and clarified that there would be a mid-credits stinger, just not a second one. So, feel free to make your plans accordingly.

– We’ve got another character confirmation for 2016’s Deadpool, as Ed Skrein (Game of Thrones) has revealed on Twitter that he will be playing Ajax in the upcoming Ryan Reynolds-starring X-Men spin-off (that’s a lot of hyphens).

 

#deadpool#ajaxpic.twitter.com/wfyRU9i9fV

— Ed Skrein (@edskrein) April 7, 2015

Ajax is a mentally unstable member of the Weapon X program that crosses Deadpool’s path during their time there. Later on, he goes on a killing spree, attempting to take out anyone involved in the top-secret project, including Deadpool himself.

– In only tangentially news, the third Tron film continues to gear up at Disney, as both Garret Hedlund (one of the stars of the upcoming Pan) and Olivia Wilde (The Lazarus Effect) are set to reprise their roles from 2012’s Tron Legacy, itself a sequel to 1982’s cult classic Tron.

While the film is still untitled and the plot remains under wraps, the new sequel will also see the return of Tron Legacy helmer Joseph Kosinski.

Tron Legacy accumulated around $400 million at the box office, sparking off a new franchise hit for the House of Mouse. This new outing will begin shooting sometime this fall. Wilde is repped by WME, Untitled and Ziffren Brittenham, Hedlund by WME, Brillstein Entertainment and Sloane Offer.

 

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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:

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The latest Avengers: Age of Ultron television spot is here, and it’s a fairly extended look at the team with some new footage for those of us who just can’t wait another month and a half. I particularly like how it gives a showcase for each of its stars, including the first line of dialogue out of Aaron Taylor-Johnson‘s Quicksilver, highlighting how Joss Whedon and company have kept the character to his Eastern European roots. Obviously, we’ll have to assume the same for Scarlet Witch.

Television ads like these do most of the heavy lifting of getting the non-diehards to fill the seats, and given that this provides a lot of what audiences seem to love (Tony Stark snark, ridiculously awesome action beats, and a reminder that this is the same team you saw in the first billion-dollar grossing film) it seems likely that this’ll do the trick.

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It’s been a slow news day today, post Age of Ultron trailer, but I did go see Chappie last night (it’s terrible, I suddenly fear for the Alien franchise). Here’s your quick round-up of today’s entertainment-related news:

– Per Latino Review, Jared Leto‘s hairstylist Chase Kusero just posted a picture on Instagram of a “work in progress” look at Jared Leto’s Joker hair as it will appear in Suicide Squad. From that back-shot, it looks very Greg Capullo-esque:

The end of an era

A photo posted by @chasehair on Mar 5, 2015 at 1:04pm PST

– As we’re on the verge of Avengers: Age of Ultron debuting, in just under two months, it should be no surprise that theaters are planning big Marvel movie marathons. But it’s not just Phase 2 they’re showing, no sir/ma’am, it’s the entire Marvel oeuvre to this point. Starting April 29th at 6 pm and ending just before 10 pm or so the next day, select AMC and Regal theaters across the country will be showing all 11 Marvel Studios films in their order of release.

Here’s the full schedule:

6:00 p.m. – Iron Man
8:25 p.m. – The Incredible Hulk
10:35 p.m. – Iron Man 2
1:00 a.m. – Thor
3:10 a.m.  – Captain America: The First Avenger
5:30 a.m. – The Avengers
8:48 a.m. – Iron Man 3
11:15 a.m. – Thor: The Dark World
1:45 p.m. – Captain America: The Winter Soldier
4:20 p.m. – Guardians of the Galaxy
7:00 p.m.– Avengers: Age of Ultron

As you can see, you can take a nap during Iron Man 2, and maybe run out for IHOP around the showings of Iron Man 3 or Thor: The Dark World. Otherwise though, there’s no breaks built in and you better make good use of that unlimited refill on the popcorn and sodas!

Those who are feeling a little more time crunched can instead opt for Cinemark‘s Avengers double bill. I remember I tried to do something like this once with The Lord of the Rings movies right before The Return of the King came out. By the time I got to the third film, I was ready to see Frodo tossed into Mount Doom. But more power to anybody that gives this one a go!

– Variety spoke with WB’s CEO Kevin Tsujihara for a piece about the possibility of audiences facing superhero fatigue, an assertion that he dismissed. Yet, the quote that fans are zeroing in on specifically is one that posits WB’s upcoming DC-based superhero slate against the meteorically successful Marvel one:

“The worlds of DC are very different,” he said. “They’re steeped in realism, and they’re a little bit edgier than Marvel’s movies.”

“Edgier” is a word I wish he hadn’t used, as that brings to mind many of the major criticisms that detractors struck Man of Steel with: that it was film too grim for its own good, among many other complaints. Whether that will prove true for the upcoming offerings in 2016 remains to be seen. Where I feel like WB should set the DC films apart from Marvel is by making them more auteur-driven, rather than forcing an overall edict of realism onto Aquaman and Shazam!. The one big Achilles’ heel that Marvel has is that they’re a bit “samey” in their approach, in that every film has to fit the same tone, plot beats, and has to uphold the on-going universe above all else. There’s no real room for a director to really lay his stamp onto the characters the way Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan did for Batman and Sam Raimi did for Spider-Man (the good ones anyway, whichever those are, I’ll leave to your discretion). But, I can’t think of anything less appealing than a cinematic universe that operates just like Marvel but in the same gray sludgey tones as Man of Steel. For all its faults, the MCU at least has some great color throughout and is a good deal of fun to watch on the biggest screen possible. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that I’ll be pleasantly surprised come next year.

– After Marvel’s early Age of Ultron trailer release, today they let loose with a few short behind the scenes videos with Cineplex featuring Joss Whedon and Jeremy Renner while in the midst of filming:

-Last but not least and just in case it slipped your mind; on March 17th, the same day The Flash returns to CW, iZombie will be debuting just after, here’s a trailer for the upcoming adaptation by Rob Thomas (Veronica Mars) of Chris Roberson and Mike Allred‘s Vertigo comic:

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Between some casting news and a few choice interviews, it was a busier 24 hours than most in the entertainment news cycle. Here are the headlines of interest for the weekend:

– CBS’ Supergirl added a few Superman franchise vets yesterday as both Dean Cain (Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman) and Helen Slater (Supergirl, the movie) have signed on for the series. It isn’t the first time these two have re-joined the DC Universe, both appeared in Smallville at different times: Cain as a Vandal Savage-like immortal scientist, and Slater as Lara-El. Their roles are being kept under wraps this time around.

– FOX’s Lucifer has found its lead as well, as British thespian Tom Ellis (Rush, Miranda) will be playing the former Lord of Hell who now helps the LAPD punish criminals.

– On the Avengers: Age of Ultron side of things, we have some new character posters promoting the film including The Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, and Nick Fury:

 

– Collider also has a great interview with Chris Hemsworth that’s worth a look at if you’re curious where Marvel may be taking Thor specifically. There’s one bit of exchange I found interesting, where Hemsworth slightly hints at why Thor: The Dark World wasn’t as necessarily successful as the first Thor:

What’s something Thor gets to do in this film that he hasn’t done before in the other fims?

HEMSWORTH: He’s loosened up a bit. I think we lost some of the humor and the naïveté, that sort of fish out of water quality of Thor from the first film into the second one. There were things I loved about what we did in the second one too, tonally, but that sense of fun… I would have liked it to be there a bit more, and Joss I think felt the same way.  So there’s more humor in Thor or at least because he’s been on Earth, he’s a little more accessible now.  He’s off Asgard now so he doesn’t have to be as regal and kingly as he is in that world, which is nice. I enjoy that more.  It’s sort of a box, which is tough to step out of on Asgard.  You know, that stuff just looks out of place whereas here, he can have a gag with the guys and he can throw away lines and be a party scene with them in civilian clothes, which is nice.

– Speaking of regal superheroes, Jason Momoa chatted briefly with EW while promoting Sundance TV’s The Red Road, and of course Aquaman came up. At one point he compares his DCU experience with that of Conan The Barbarian:

The whole mythology of Aquaman is pretty amazing. There’s so many things to tell, and there’s a whole backstory that’s just amazing. There’s a lot of surprises coming. I think, yeah, he’s been cast aside. But, um [laughs] times are going to change now, buddy. Conan was really hard, because you have 15 different types of fans and so many things to respect and honor. To do it right it’s got to be bloody-bloody-bloody-bloody-bloody, and not a lot of people go see that anymore. It’s not the ’80s anymore. It’s a really hard format. We busted ass, but there were a lot of cooks in the kitchen on that one. What’s great about this is Zack, man. We don’t want to just reinvent it, but he’s a got a whole idea of what Aquaman should be and I’m really honored to be playing it. I’m excited for the world to see it.

He also more or less confirmed that Aquaman’s role in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is fairly small and filming for Justice League has not begun yet.

 

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If you had the day off yesterday, we hope you had a lovely Presidents Day! Here are a few of the big headlines of interest making the rounds this morning…

– There’s a Deadpool Casting Call that appeared on Casting247, under the fake-title of “WHAM!”, and has led to speculation as to which roles these place-holder names represent. As I’ve said before, my X-Men knowledge is awful, but people better in the know think that “Ridge” is at least Garrison Kane, the villain of the film.

– The Dark Knight trilogy director Christopher Nolan sat down with Looper and Star Wars Episode VIII director Rian Johnson for a 30 minute interview regarding last year’s Interstellar at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica. It’s a pretty great, lengthy chat for anyone interested in the art of filmmaking. (recording made available via SoundCloud user TheBigKahoona)

– Robert Downey Jr. was interviewed by Empire regarding Captain America: Civil War, and states that the lead-up to the new Captain America sequel is in Avengers: Age of Ultron:

The clues are in Ultron about where we might find [Stark] next, but what would it take for Tony to completely turn around everything he’s stood for, quote-unquote, because he was the right-wing guy who could still do his own thing. The idea of Tony being able to march into Washington and say, ‘I’ll sign up’, wouldn’t have made sense if the political climate in the real world hadn’t shifted the way it has. It’s a little bit of things following a real world continuum in, ‘What would you do?’ You have to figure, ‘Were you to ask the question, what would the American government do if this were real? Wouldn’t it be interesting to see Tony doing something you wouldn’t imagine?’

– Bryan Singer has posted another tease for the upcoming X-Men: Apocalypse, this time a piece of production art that shows…something. If you’re on Instagram, it’s worth following Singer’s posts, as he shares a ton of info via his account.

Some production art. #XmenApocalypse #GrantMajor I was a little busy but will continue to snap more.

A photo posted by Bryan Singer (@bryanjaysinger) on Feb 16, 2015 at 11:52am PST

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A lot of foreign and random promo art for Avengers: Age of Ultron has been surfacing on the Tony Stark Sincero Iron Man FB page. Like the Vision in (most of) his glory and siniter Ultron pics and also THE ONE POSE THAT MST APPEAR IN EVERYSUPER HERO MOVIE, courtesy of Scarlett Johannson’s Black Widow.

Here’s more, including Hulkbuster and other things that will be selling toys for months to come.

Avengers: Age of Ultron opens on May 1.

 

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While we’ve seen a few smaller glimpses of Paul Bettany‘s Vision in Avengers: Age of Ultron concept art, we haven’t seen the actual man in costume.

This still isn’t that, but thanks to the folks at Fathead Wall Decals (via ComicBookMovie), we now have our best look yet at Vision’s color scheme and how he’ll appear in the upcoming Joss Whedon-helmed sequel.

Looks good! Not much else to add here, except that Vision was always my favorite Avenger as a kid, so my own excitement is pretty palpable.

If you’re so inclined, you can purchase these decals, which include a limited selection of the rest of the cast, over at Fathead’s site.

Avengers: Age of Ultron releases on May 1st.

 

 

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By Davey Nieves

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, TT Games and The LEGO Group announced Thursday their 2015 slate of LEGO videogames, including LEGO Jurassic World, LEGO Marvel’s Avengers, plus new handheld and mobile titles. Here’s the full rundown straight from Warner Bros Interactive.

The upcoming LEGO videogame titles are:

LEGO Jurassic World™
Following the epic storylines of Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III, as well as the highly anticipated Jurassic World, LEGO Jurassic World is the first videogame where players will be able to relive and experience all four Jurassic films. The game will be available in June for the Xbox One, all-in-one games and entertainment system, the Xbox 360 games and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®4 and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment systems, PlayStation®Vita handheld entertainment system, the Wii U™ system from Nintendo, Nintendo 3DS™ hand-held system, and Windows PC.

LEGO Marvel’s Avengers
Avengers Assemble! Experience the first console videogame featuring characters and storylines from the blockbuster film Marvel’s The Avengers and the much anticipated sequel Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, and more. Play as the most powerful Super Heroes in their quest to save humanity. The game will be available in fall 2015 for the Xbox One, all-in-one games and entertainment system, the Xbox 360 games and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®4 and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment systems, PlayStation®Vita handheld entertainment system, the Wii U system from Nintendo, Nintendo 3DS hand-held system, and Windows PC.

LEGO Ninjago™: Shadow of Ronin™
The popular LEGO Ninjago franchise gets its most expansive adventure to date in LEGO Ninjago: Shadow of Ronin. The latest LEGO handheld game delivers an untold story of the LEGO Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu TV show. Using their Spinjitzu abilities, players can unleash their Ninja’s elemental power to smash their way through enemies and solve puzzles. Developed by TT Fusion, a subsidiary of TT Games, the game comes to the Nintendo 3DS handheld system and the PlayStation®Vita handheld entertainment system on March 24, 2015.

The LEGO Movie Videogame
The LEGO Movie Videogame for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch follows Emmet, an average, rule-following citizen, who is mistakenly identified as the key to saving the world. In the game, players guide Emmet as he is drafted into a fellowship of strangers on an epic quest to stop an evil tyrant, a journey for which Emmet is hopelessly and hilariously underprepared. With a delightful mix of over 90 characters from the feature film, including Batman, Superman and the Green Ninja, The LEGO Movie Videogame leads gamers on a journey through fantastical worlds in 45 exciting levels. Developed by TT Games, the mobile game is now available on the App Store.

LEGO Batman™: Beyond Gotham
In LEGO Batman: Beyond Gotham for mobile devices, the Caped Crusader joins forces with the Super Heroes of the DC Comics universe and blasts off to outer space to stop the evil Brainiac from destroying Earth. Players will unlock and play as their favorite DC Comics characters, including members of the Justice League and the Legion of Doom, and explore iconic locations such as the Hall of Justice, the Batcave and the Justice League Watchtower. Developed by TT Games, the mobile game will be available this summer.

 

Lego Jurassic World is scheduled for a June release in step with the film’s release while Lego Avengers could be the company’s November release. It appears that while the first Lego Marvel game focused more the entire comics universe, this new game will be more in tune with the Marvel MCU. It’s Lego so you can expect brick destruction and cuteness. We’ll have more on the game as news comes out leading to E3 in June.

What Lego games are you looking forward to in 2015?

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For a few months now, rumors have floated around that Avengers: Age of Ultron would be Joss Whedon‘s final bow with the franchise. Said rumors were quickly followed with reports that Joe and Anthony Russo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) would step up to direct Avengers: Infinity War Parts 1 and 2 for a 2018 and 2019 release respectively.

While there hasn’t been official confirmation from either party, Whedon recently spoke to Empire (quotes via CBM) about his future in the Marvel Cinematic Universe:

I couldn’t imagine doing this again.  It’s enormously hard, and it’ll be, by then, a good five years since I created anything that was completely my own.  So it’s very doubtful that I would take on the two-part Infinity War movie that would eat up the next four years of my life.  I obviously still want to be a part of the Marvel Universe – I love these guys – but it ain’t easy.  This year has been more like running three shows than any year of my life.  It is bonkers.

Based on the above quote, Whedon sounds like he’s ready to scale back his involvement with Marvel Studios. The popular filmmaker has been one of the creative forces of greatest influence for the studio since he came on board in 2010, particularly in providing re-writes to various scripts such Captain America: The First Avenger and Thor: The Dark World, along with completely overhauling Zak Penn‘s initial Avengers script.

It wasn’t too long ago when Jon Favreau was angling to direct that first Avengers entry. The years have really rolled by!

If Joss Whedon is indeed done after Avengers: Age of Ultron, who would you like to see take over? The Russos? James Gunn? Someone completely new?

Avengers: Age of Ultron hits theaters on May 1st.

 

 

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§ After watching the new Avengers trailers several dozen times, going frame by frame, I think I can reveal a shocking twist: The Avengers will be fighting Ultron! Whoa! If you wat a more conventional breakdown, Russ Burlinghame has a breakdown of the dark brooding and forest shuffling.  Also, Hulkbuster.

§ If you have read this site for a month or two, you will already have figured out 4 Things Everyone Gets Wrong About Graphic Novels and the People Who Read Them. Did you know that comics aren’t just for kids? Eye opining, I know. But perhaps you can beat someone who is intractable over the head  with this if necessary.

 

§ Fantagraphics has revealed the cover to Hip Hop Family Tree Volume 3 by Ed Piskor and it’s time for Run DMC. These books look so nice shelved next to one another.

§ ICv2 has the BookScan–Top 20 Graphic Novels list and now non fiction is added, making Ros Chast’s Can’t We Talk About Something More PLeasant? The #1 book for December, beating even The Walking Dead and Saga.  This also means that many people may have received this funny but bittersweet memoir about aging parents as a holiday gift. Think about that for a while.

§ I know you have all seen Neil Gaiman’s amazing advice on how to become a writer but for the five people who didn’t, it’s a classic.

§ Dark Horse is publishing a hardcover edition of Cory Levine’s Bowery Boys: Our Fathers! with art by Ian Bertram (Detective Comics, Batman Eternal) and Brent McKee (Outlaw Territory). It collects the web series about rapscallion adventure in rough and tumble 19th century New York City. The book is due in August.  The pr described Bertram as “up and coming” and he really is. 

 

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“I’m going to tear you apart from the inside.”

Is it possible that Ultron is the first truly worthwhile “dyed in the wool” bad guy that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has had since Loki? He’s striking a menacing enough presence in this new Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer that I’m hoping the end of toothless, dull villains like Ronan the Accuser and Malekith is nigh.

There’s quite a bit to absorb here, but watching scenes of Captain America and Ultron fight hand to hand, and Hulk and Iron Man in a massive brawl…it’s rather exhilarating stuff. I didn’t think it possible, but Marvel may actually be able to top their recent high-point in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy. Here’s hoping!

It’s fun to be excited about things!

Here’s the official synopsis:

When Tony Stark tries to jumpstart a dormant peacekeeping program, things go awry and Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, including Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye, are put to the ultimate test as the fate of the planet hangs in the balance. As the villainous Ultron emerges, it is up to The Avengers to stop him from enacting his terrible plans, and soon uneasy alliances and unexpected action pave the way for an epic and unique global adventure.

Avengers: Age of Ultron opens May 1st.

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A peaceful fun-filled night of friends relaxing with a few drinks and playing with Thor’s hammer turns to TERROR in extra Avengers: Age of Ultron footage shown after Agents of SHIELD last night. Just watch.

BTW, it now has been confirmed that despite some 30 superhero movies on the docket, not one of them is a Hulk stand-a-lone. As shown thus far, Mark Ruffalo’s rather humorous Hulk seems more like a soupçon, a spicy garnish, and not the center of a whole film. Do we really need to see a whole movie about Bruce Banner looking sad after he’s accidentally smashed someone he loves to bits? No.

Meanwhile, the first ad for Agent Carter, an 8-episode winter event has been released:

#AgentCarter is coming to ABC Tuesdays this January. https://t.co/SjrLrVABgM

— Agent Carter (@AgentCarterTV) October 29, 2014

Silk Stalkings? The show stars Hayley Atwell as a WWII era super spy. She pals around with Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper) and has a BFF played by Lyndsy Fonseca.

It should be noted that Agent Carter is actually the first female-led comic book spin-off to appear in the “modern” (post MCU) Era, and as such it will be highly scrutinized.

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As we hastily posted from our phone last night, the AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON trailer was supposed to break next week during Agents of SHIELD, but last night leaked versions sprang up like bedbugs, unstoppable and immortal. Marvel Studios, being smarter than the average bear, just made a joke

Dammit, Hydra.

— Marvel Entertainment (@Marvel) October 22, 2014

and then OFFICIALLY RELEASED THE THING EARLY.

Poor Agents of SHIELD—can’t buy a break. (However I should point out that the show is FINALLY tying in lesser characters from the Marvel U, like Mockingbird, and should rebound just fine if they don’t mess it up.)

Rections to the trailer were swift, and as you read this there are probably 900 detailed frame by frame analyses of the thing. I’ve stolen the screen caps from all the other, better sites, but I must give Andrew Wheeler a shout out for noting the “shirtless, wet Thor”.

Anyway, here are some pics and thoughts, and ideas.

James Spader voices Ultron, the robot created by Tony Stark, and, wow he’s actually scary! This trailer has  a darker, Nolan-esque  feel to it, but sandwiched between some light heated outings Guardians and Ant-Man, it’s okay. The slowed down “I’ve got no strings to hold me up” song recalls the trailer for the very successful Maleficent, which also used a creepy version of a Disney classic to set up a sad, bad world.

As for what it means: Ultron is to Tony Stark as Pinocchio is to Gepetto, get it? Throughout the trailer we see Tony looking sad and other Avengers looking mad, so presumably everyone gets annoyed that Tony created this killer robot genius in the first place.  If one wishes to detect a trace of Joss Whedon in the idea of Ultron’s journey presented as a murderous, tragic take on the sturdy Pinocchio story, well go ahead. A nice solid dramatic spine is a nice thing in a superhero epic.

This is Tony Stark’s HULKBUSTER armor, as various leaks have shown the Hulkbuster fighting Donald Sterling. NO NO WHAT AM I SAYING, The Hulkbuster fights the Hulk! The internet went ape shit over the Hulkbuster. Because you see…

Mark Ruffalo’s Banner/Hulk looks to be pretty busted up in this one. As the only “Core” character without his own film series at this point, it’s time for The Hulk to get his due. Evidently he gets the feels over something, freaks out and in true Marvel Comics fashion, must be stopped by any means necessary.

 

Hey it’s Andy Serkis! The mocap madman did some of the acting for Ultron and gets to show his face as well…but as WHO WHO WHO? The internet has decided that he’s playing a supervillain named Klaw, and this has excited the internet because Klaw is the natural enemy of The Black Panther! And The Black Panther’s introduction into the MCu has been rumored for a long time.

 

This could be interesting because one of the MOST SHOCKING SHOTS IN THE TRAILER shows Captain America’s shield DESTROYED! Oh god, can someone called Stephen Colbert? IF this is not a dream, not a hoax, not an imaginary story (and I’m not convinced it isn’t) then maybe they have to go to Wakanda and get some vibranium to make a new shield? That’s the popular theory anyway.

 

Shirtless, wet, anguished Thor. Paging fanfic writers.

The trailer also shows the Black Widow looking jaunty on a motorcycle, Captain America looking grave, Hawkeye running around in the woods, and lots of rubble. Lots and lots of rubble.

Images are now leaking from the 'Avengers 2' trailer. Here's Ultron showing his good side, saving a helpless victim. pic.twitter.com/ttKrN6PQxg

— The Film Stage (@TheFilmStage) October 22, 2014

Finally, this was the greatest thing to come out of the Affair of the Early Avengers 2 Trailer. (That’s a still from CRASH, a movie in which Holly Hunter and James Spader play people who can only have sex at the scene of horrible auto accidents, in case you didn’t know.)

Anyway, that’s what caught MY eye. What did YOU think?

 

 

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