by Ken Parker
This imaginary battle between Marvel and DC felt like it could have gotten a lot closer this year. After seeing Captain America: Civil War, I feel the battle is over. Its as if DC is playing a game of
cards with Marvel and earlier this year they showed their hand with a
pair of Jacks. Nice. Then Marvel comes out and has a Royal Flush.
DC throws their cards down and exclaims “What can we do to beat
Marvel?” The answer, you can't.
Captain America: Civil War - Marvel has done it again with an
incredible movie that does virtually everything right and it doesn't
matter what the Marvel haters or DC fans think. Don't get me wrong,
I was half thinking that Marvel could mess up with Captain America:
Civil War. First off, Avengers: Age of Ultron was not up to the
usual standard for Marvel. It wasn't bad but it just didn't reach
the standards we had seen with Guardians of the Galaxy, The Avengers
and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. It is possible that Civil
War was going to be a mess. Not even close.
First off, the movie had all those
characters and still managed to handle them perfectly. Ant-Man and
Spider-Man were perfect as the supporting characters that added a
level of humor we all expect in these movies. Introductions of
Spider-Man and Black Panther were near perfect and have really set
things up for their individual movies. The rest of the characters
were near perfect as well. The story made perfect sense and was
logical. There was no odd “My mother was named Martha” moments.
Also the bad guy was a simple almost generic but focused man who
underplayed his part in trying to destroy The Avengers from within.
The villains in Batman v Superman were a maniacal lunatic Lex Luthor
whose motivations need to be explained by defending DC fans in comic
book stores around the world. The other villain was an Cave Troll
that escaped from Middle Earth. But enough of Batman v Superman.
Captain America: Civil War was over 2 ½
hours long but felt more like and hour and a half. That movie could
have another half hour added to it and it would have been fine. The
pacing was perfect and not once did I check the time. The story was
not over complicated nor bloated with useless plot.
I left the theater with a smile and
while I do like dark movies I feel that DC's decision to make the
character of Superman dark a bit off. I felt Batman v Superman
needed to right the DC ship and it certainly didn't make it worse in
my opinion but it didn't do much to correct the situation. But enough of Batman v Superman.
Captain America: Civil War is
all good. First, it gave the Marvel Cinematic Universe something new
– a division of heroes. We probably won't see too much of the
fall-out of this and we can guess that all differences will be put
aside when Thanos comes to town. One would guess that November's
Doctor Strange won't deal too much with happenings of The Avengers
and Thor: Ragnarok and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 are both far
removed from these puny Earth happenings. Spider-Man: Homecoming
might deal with it to a degree but will Peter Parker sign a document
handed to him by Tony Stark? I should think not. Probably in 2018
Black Panther might deal with the Sokovia Accords to a higher degree
and then right around the corner that year we have the next Avengers
movie.
Actually, I think the biggest dealing
with the Sokovia Accords will be the Inhumans and SHIELD in Agents of
SHIELD. They have already woven the plot from Captain America: Civil
War into the final couple of episodes this season and you can bet
next season will continue to deal with it. The fact that Captain
America: The Winter Soldier injected much needed excitement into the
first season of Agents of SHIELD perhaps the fall out from Civil War
will do the same.
One of the sadder moments of Civil War
was the passing of Peggy Carter. This was a bit sadder as the Agent Carter series will not be renewed.
It is a shame because Agent Carter has been one of the best network
'superhero' shows this season. Marvel's Most Wanted, a proposed
Mockingbird spin-off is not happening as well. I would say the biggest
potential hit for Agents of SHIELD has been Marvel's removal of The
planned Inhumans movie from their schedule. AOS has been steering
their product toward a collision with the movie universe with
Inhumans and now it is up in the air.
My feeling is that Marvel is still
hitting home runs with The Avengers and both Robert Downing Jr. and
Chris Evans seem onboard for more appearances. The fuel is not
running out on these characters and now Marvel has Spider-Man,
Ant-Man, Black Panther, Captain Marvel and potentially a Black Widow
film (it is about time).
Back to Civil War for a second, while
all characters were excellent in the film and Spider-Man practically
stole the show, Black Widow was amazing. Scarlett Johansson continues
to be an incredible presence in the movies and she should be fine as
the lead.
I feel that I will like Civil War more
and more in repeated viewings. I didn't think it could possibly be
as good as Guardians of the Galaxy, The Avengers or Captain America:
The Winter Soldier but it has come really close to being that good.
Wow Marvel. Wow.
Upcoming Marvel and DC Superhero films
Here is an updated list of the DC and
Marvel films coming up and a few remarks.
2016
May 27 – X-Men: Apocalypse – Fox is
doing two things right with their Marvel products but just so-so
early reviews for this film may not help. Also, is this film coming
out to soon after Captain America: Civil War?
August 5 – Suicide Squad - The dark DC universe
(Murderverse) may be a perfect place for Suicide Squad and so I
expect this film to do well.
November 5 – Doctor Strange – this
is the next Marvel film that is a bit of a gamble. It is a bit
different from the other characters and may not do as well as the
rest of the Universe, just like Thor, Guardians of the Galaxy and
Ant-Man, so.... no problem.
2017
March 3 – Wolverine – not sure if
this is the proposed R rated Old Man Logan movie or if Fox will be
brave enough to put Deadpool in the movie.
May 5 – Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.
2 – Can't wait!
June 5 – Wonder Woman – The best
part of Batman v Superman. Yet again, DC is relying on this to right
their ship or at this point, at least keep the movie franchise
afloat.
July 7 – Spider-Man: Homecoming –
will Spider-Man's appearance in Civil War be enough to shake off any
preconceived reservations about yet another Spider-man film?
Probably.
October 6 – An untitled Fox film –
I would have to imagine Deadpool 2 needs to be placed in one of Fox's
holding slots.
November 3 – Thor: Ragnarok – I
think Thor 2 might have been one of my least favorite Marvel Universe
films but this one has a lot of set up including Loki in charge and ,
of course, The Hulk.
November 17 – Justice League Part 1.
Ummm.. Really, DC, you are really not going to bring out this movie
in November and you are really not dumb enough to put it up against
Thor? I expect this film to potentially be bumped. When, I have no
idea. August 2017 would be the best move because 2018 is crowded.
2018
January 12 – Fox Marvel unconfirmed
movie – probably Deadpool 2.
February 16 – Black Panther –
should do good but a very crowded schedule.
March 16 – The Flash – It all
depends on how well Wonder Woman does.
May 4 – Avengers: Infinity War Part 1
– I would have to imagine that either this film will not have a
cliff hanger and continue directly into part 2 the following year
since there are two Marvel films in between the two parts. If course
they could fit into the Infinity War somehow.
July 6 – Ant-Man and The Wasp – so
looking forward to this.
July 13 – Another Fox Marvel –
really? Maybe this is a Fantastic Four reboot. Expect this to get
booted as it will probably get buried this month.
July 27 – Aquaman – okay, we shall
see.
October 5 – a DC film – could be a
stand alone Batman film perhaps?
December 21 – Animated Spider-Man –
Sony – Okay, Sony, if you follow the Marvel blueprint, use Tom
Holland as the voice and don't screw anything up then you should be
okay.
2019
March 8 – Captain Marvel – long
wait for this.
April 5 – Shazam – DC, do you
really think all these 'new' characters are going to do well?
May 3 – Avengers: Infinity War part 2
– could see many characters for the last time.
June 14 – Justice League part 2.
Supergirl
Flies to The CW – In one of the best decisions by Warner Brothers,
The CBS series will now air on the CW. Also, production has moved to
Canada in order to save money. This is all good news but the bigger
question is, how will Supergirl interact with the CW series The
Flash, Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow? There are no legal reasons why
they cannot crossover but it was established earlier this season that
Supergirl is from a different Earth than The Flash. Will any
crossovers be inter-dimensional or will Kara just move to Earth 1?
Since Greg Berlanti and others have produced all these shows, there
is no reason why we cannot have numerous crossovers.
Krypton
– In order to milk the Superman universe as much as possible and
not have Superman in the series, the SyFy Channel has ordered a pilot
called Krypton. David S Goyer( Batman v Superman) will write the
pilot. Not sure how I feel about this. I feel more invested in
actual superhero series and not the prequels, although Gotham has
been pretty good.
Agent Carter Cancelled - Its not all good news for Marvel as they are losing their best network TV series with Agent Carter. It's not because the show was bad but its as if there is a disconnect between people who would watch it and the TV world. I know a few people who didn't even know about this show and gave blank stares as I described it. Anyhow, there is always a chance that this show may wind up on Netflix but more than likely there may be flashbacks in Agents of SHIELD to appease our Agent Carter need.And then there is this -
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