Marvel Movies

[Barendd Nobeard]

Ah, Tomb of Dracula... Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan. That was some really good stuff. And it was a great treat to see them all turn up in Dr. Strange, years later, to battle Dracula one last time.

They turned up again years later? Was everyone from ToD there--Rachel, Frank, Blade, Quincy, Hannibal? Those were the main characters I remember (some were more main than others). I always liked Dracula's daughter, Lilith, especially when she drained the blood off of everyone on a 747. I seem to remember Lilith more as an "off-screen" character--the others mentioned her, but she never was really 'in' the story.

I remember the one cross-over between Dr. Strange and Tomb of Dracula during the regular run of ToD. I have all the issues of ToD somewhere (along with the one issue of Dr. Strange with the cross-over, and the even more obscure and really not that good Werewolf By Night).

Dang, now I may have to track down this other cross-over.

 

[WizarDru]

Arrg! I recognize that name...just...can't...bah! I give...
And I just realized what I want to see...a Dr. Strange movie. I love that guy.

Ahh, the Rocket Racer. He was a really lame attempt at being hip, I guess. He wore bright reds and yellows, and was a spiderman villain on super powered 70s roller skates with a 'fro. He was one jive-talking cat, y'all. Ouch.

I remember Werewolf by Night only vaguely...and I associate it with winter and hot chocolate, for some reason.

 

[Chun-tzu]

By the time of his appearance in Morbius, he'd killed Ghost Rider, Johnny Blaze (they're two seperate people now), Hannibal King, Modred, and Demogoblin. He had the ability to spontaneously conjure weapons from Demogoblin, full vampiric abilities from King, uber-magic from Modred, and I don't know what the heck Ghost Rider or Blaze do.

Ghost Rider had super-strength and was indestructible, but his trademark power was his Penance Stare. When he used it on people, it returned upon them all the psychic pain that they had inflicted upon others (i.e., the more vicious and heartless they were, the more they suffered).

Originally posted by Ranger REG
Of course, Marvel Comics are more popular because of Stan Lee's approach to storytelling. He made certain that every character have a flaw that other people can relate to.

I disagree. This was a difference that held true maybe 10 or 20 years ago, but it's not there any more. DC super-heroes have more than their share of personal problems, even among the classic heroes (e.g., the revision of Superman by John Byrne; Batman's darker, more arrogant I-don't-need-amateurs-whether-or-not-they-have-super-powers and more paranoid has-back-up-plans-to-take-down-anyone attitude, and Kyle Rayner, the based-on-Peter-Parker Green Lantern). Marvel characters like Thor, Hulk, and Silver Surfer have done things as ridiculously overpowered as the often-scoffed planet-tossing silver age Superman.

Any differences in style vary far more from writer to writer than between companies, and most comic writers currently or have in the past written for both Marvel and DC (and often otehr companies). You won't see differences between Peter David's writing style in Supergirl or the Hulk based on the company, but rather based on them being different characters. To me, that's proof that there's no such differences between Marvel and DC characters any more: the same writers write characters of both universes.

Marvel is more popular than DC because they have hotter artists. I'm convinced that's by far the biggest factor. Most comic readers, for better or worse, are satisfied with mediocre stories as long as the art is good. The artist has far more influence on sales than the writer. DC doesn't put their hottest talents on their primary characters, thinking that the books will sell anyway. And they will. But when you put guys like Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee on Batman, just watch it take the comics world by storm.

If DC put a similar top-notch team on Superman, it would give X-Men and Spider-Man a run for their money.

 

[Villano]

Ahh, the Rocket Racer. He was a really lame attempt at being hip, I guess. He wore bright reds and yellows, and was a spiderman villain on super powered 70s roller skates with a 'fro. He was one jive-talking cat, y'all. Ouch.

I bet he was better than Marvel's attempt to cash in the the C.B. craze. Let's see, there was Razorback, a trucker who dressed like, um, a giant pig, and the space trucker guy. What was that comic? U.S.-One, or something like that? I remember that the U.S. stood for his initials. I think his first name was Ulysses.

In case you are wondering, yes, I do have one of his comics. Before you judge me, it was part of one of those 3 packs they used to sell at supermarkets. I rememer one of the other comics was Rom. Anyone else remember him? Rom was actually pretty cool. Great art.

And before anyone makes fun of Marvel's disco, rollerskating, C.B. using heroes of the past, think about how silly current hip-hop characters will look 30 yrs in the future.

Getting back on track, I have very mixed feelings about The Hulk. It still looks like The Incredible Gumby to me. But I could even deal with that. I'm mostly worried about the fact that there's no villain to play off of. So, the Hulk is the villain? Or is the military? Either way seems to be a bad idea. If the Hulk is the bad guy, a lot of kids are going to be disappointed. And in either situation, the military is going to be a very weak opponent. He's the Hulk. What are you going to do, drop a bomb on him? Oh, yeah, that'll work.

C'mon! The Abomination or Leader would've made great villains.

 

[Richards]

POSSIBLE HULK SPOILER FOLLOWS





I don't know if this is old (as in no longer true) news, but when I first heard about the Hulk movie being made, one of the intended changes I had a little bit of heartburn about was that they were going to have Crusher Creel, AKA the Absorbing Man, in the movie...as Bruce Banner's dad. I don't know if this is true or not, mind you (I hope it isn't), but if so, Villano, you might get your "the Hulk movie needs a villain" wish.

Johnathan

 

[Villano]

POSSIBLE HULK SPOILER FOLLOWS





I don't know if this is old (as in no longer true) news, but when I first heard about the Hulk movie being made, one of the intended changes I had a little bit of heartburn about was that they were going to have Crusher Creel, AKA the Absorbing Man, in the movie...as Bruce Banner's dad. I don't know if this is true or not, mind you (I hope it isn't), but if so, Villano, you might get your "the Hulk movie needs a villain" wish.

Johnathan

I happened upon an unofficial Hulk site which mentioned this rumor and they said it wasn't true. But, like I said, it's just a fan site, so they might be wrong.

I'm hoping they are right, though. That would just be...stupid. Could you imagine Nick Nolte fighting an 8 ft tall, CGI Hulk?

 

[Welverin]

Do you mean that you saw them and found they didn't interest you, or that you have no interest in seeing them? That wording confused me.

Oops, must have gotten a litle distracted in the middle of that, hopefully it makes more sense now.

Basically Blade is the only one of the recent Marvel movies that I found interesting enough to want to see more than once.

 

[Green Knight]

Go to http://www.superherohype.com for more info on super hero movies.

What's come out so far, then? Blade, Blade 2, X-Men, X2, Spider-Man, and Daredevil, right? With The Hulk and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen soon to come out?

Think that's it. Seen them all and at the very least liked them all. Even Daredevil, which I consider the weakest of the bunch, I give a C+. Spider-Man and X2 are definitely dueling for the top spot as best comic movie, IMO. Can't WAIT til this Christmas, since by then X2, The Hulk, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Daredevil will be out on DVD (Nevermind The Two Towers and The Matrix Reloaded). I can't WAIT to add them to my DVD collection (I have Blade, Blade 2, and Spider-Man)! I want to build a sizable collection of comic based movies.

As for Blade, first off, Blade 2's pretty damn good. As someone else said, I wish they had stuck to the mystical aspect of vampires, and not this pseudo-science approach, but oh well. It's worked out well so far. Anyway, I heard that we may very well see Frank Drake eand Hannibal King in Blade 3. At least I HOPE so! I want to see the Nightstalkers back together, again. Also, in the first Blade Whistler mentioned that along with him and Blade, several others were fighting the war against vampires. I want to see those others (Who at the time I assumed the ranks of whom included King and Drake).

Also, it appears that Blade 3 will be the last Blade. Wesley Snipes apparently wants to make Black Panther. From what I heard, he wanted to do that first, but it was taking to long to get it off the ground, so he did Blade, instead. Here's hoping Black Panther makes it to the big screen.

BTW: Whatever happened to Karen Jensen? Really annoyed me the way she just disappeared without a trace or an explanation.

Is it true that The Hulk has no villain, though? If so, that sucks. I want to see The Leader or Abomination. Hell, even Absorbing Man. I don't just want to see Hulk fighting Hulk dogs (BTW: Was it just me, or did anyone else get the impression from the commercials that it was Bruce's dad who sent those dogs? If so, Nick Nolte may be the villain, after all. Just not the Absorbing Man, as someone else mentioned) and tossing tanks around, although that WILL be cool! THAT, by the way, is what comic book movies of late have been missing. Somebody who's so massively strong that their fight tears up the town. Like the fight between Superman and Zod's Kryptonians in Superman 2. Knew the instant I saw Hulk throw that tank in the trailer what every other super hero movie has been lacking. Just hope the stories' good.

I don't know much about Punisher and Ghost Rider, but I don't see how Punisher will automatically be a bad movie. After all, we're not talking about a special effects fest. At the end of the day, a Punisher movie will just be an action movie, with the difference being that the hero wears a shirt with a skull on it. My only problem with what I've heard is that Frank Castle will be a FBI agent, not an ex-Marine. I dunno. I just don't see Frank Castle as the collecting evidence type. It makes more sense for the Punisher to have been someone who went to war, seen heavy combat, and have killed a crapload of enemy in numerous ways. That's just not an experience that your typical FBI agent goes through. So it makes less sense for an ex-FBI agent to resort to a method of total warfare to fight crime then it does for a guy who's BEEN to war, and as such applies the same methods to his war on crime, rather than changing his methods the way an FBI agent would have to do. Of course, this is all moot if Agent Castle was ex-military. :b

As for Ghost Rider, I love the Ghost Rider character, but after seeing a picture of Ghost Rider test make-up with the skull having red hair(!!!), I'm more than a bit hesitant about it. Hope they were just using that hair in place of CGI flames. I heard Nicholas Cage might be playing GR. While I was NOT liking the idea of him possibly being Superman, I DO like the idea of him as Ghost Rider. The guy owns a Ghost Rider motorcycle IN REAL LIFE! Who better to play Ghost Rider? Besides, the types of characters Nicholas Cage plays are more suited to Johnny Blaze then Clark Kent.

I gotta disagree with what someone else said, though, regarding DC movies. They NEED to make new Superman and Batman movies. Those're their biggest properties, much like how Spider-Man and X-Men are Marvel's biggest properties. Best to get things rolling with the best you got. Although from what I'm hearing, it may be best for the DC movies to stay buried. Has anyone else read some of the latest news on the Superman and Wonder Woman movies? Talk about GODAWFUL!!! It's a shame that DC can't seem to get its act together and get a decent movie done. Chances are, if they can't get a good Superman movie done, then you can forget about Flash, Justice League, Green Lantern, or whatever else they may decide to do. Lex Luthor a Kryptonian. *sigh*

 

[Green Knight]

Oops. Looks like I was wrong about The Punisher.

The Punisher

The story of FBI undercover agent, Frank Castle, who until now has beat considerable odds. A former Special Forces operative, he is finally moving out of the field and into a desk job -- and a normal life with his wife and son. Then Castle's world is shaken to its core by a nightmare he has longed feared: his family is executed as a repercussion from his final undercover assignment. With unparalleled intensity, ferocious intelligence and fearless actions, Castle seeks to punish the murderers -- and finds the one thing he least expected: redemption.

Excellent... /Mr. Burns

Here's hoping "The Punisher" turns out to be the 21st century version of "Rambo", with the exception of Frank Castle kicking the crap out of criminals rather than the local Sheriff's Department.

 

[Fast Learner]

Hulk could be pretty good, but I'm really not sure. I'm worried that it actually might be boring. Ang Lee is not a master of action films, although I consider him to be a fantastic director.

I seem to remember some pretty cool action in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, held together by a good story. Not a master, perhaps, but he's proven his ability.