Wow. I’ll admit, I haven’t been 100% on board with the direction they seemed be going with this installment, but holy shit and fuck me sideways! This is dope as fuuuuuuuuck! In the immortal words of Kevin Smith: “Fuck you. Take my money!”
This looks fucking incredible. Doc Ock! Green Goblin! Electro! Sandman! The Lizard! Shitty Snowboarding Goblin!
I am very pleasantly surprised by what i saw. I honestly did not think this is how things would play out, But I really like the idea of Peter not wanting to send a bunch of villains off to their deaths in their own realities, and being at odds with Doctor Strange about that. I’m calling it now, after the obligatory first “misunderstanding” fight, Doc Ock will be more ally than enemy to Peter.
These two pics have me a little nervous, though. It looks like shit just got real. I really, really hope MJ doesn’t get “Gwen Stacy-ed”. Oh, on a lighter note, I can’t wait to see how self proclaimed “Spider-Man super-fan”, Flash Thompson, reacts to all this. Ya, did good on this one Marvel! ‘Nuff said.
Doctor Strange is acting like a real cu#t.
Thanks for reading! Follow us on Twitter @PJWrightWBM, on Instagram @worldsbestmedia2017, and our Facebook Page, Worlds Best Media. Those likes and follows, as well as iTunes reviews for the podcast, go a long way to supporting World’s Best Media. We really appreciate the loyalty and support shown to us by our fans, so thanks again! Stay healthy and stay safe!
Disney recently celebrated it’s first Disney+ Day. This was a chance for the streaming service to show its existing and potential new subscribers, the best currently available content on the platform. Perhaps importantly, this was an opportunity to showcase the thrilling new projects expected to debut over the next year. Unsurprisingly, a particular emphasis was put upon their plans for The Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars. Including first looks at the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series, new MCU shows like Moon Knight and She-Hulk, as well as some cool surprises, like the revival of the beloved 90’s show, X-Men: The Animated Series. Below we have some teasers, behind the scenes video, concept art, and more, to help you get the lowdown on the most interesting stuff coming to streaming service over the next year. A huge amount of material was released and revealed during Disney+ Day, so I decided to pick a few of my favorites and give you everything you need to know about these new shows/projects. Take a look, enjoy…
The Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase 4 Continues…
Moon Knight
When Moon Knight was first announced, I remember it was described by one of the producers, as “Indiana Jones meets Batman“. Well, that is one hell of a high bar to set, but from what I know about the character, I think I know what he was getting at. “Indiana Jones meets Batman“ is an appropriate way to describe the tone of some Moon Knight stories. Moon Knight is the story of Marc Spector, a mercenary and adventurer who becomes a brutal vigilante as the avatar of the Egyptian moon god, Khonshu. His adventures often involve various ancient and mystical forces. The Marvel presentation for Disney+ Day presentation only gave us the briefest of glimpses at how Moon Knight is being approached by Marvel’s show-runners. Its not a full trailer, but the video is long enough to be get some sense of where they’re going with the show and this fascinating character.
Moon Knight is a new globetrotting action-adventure series featuring a complex vigilante who suffers from dissociative identity disorder. The multiple identities who live inside him find themselves thrust into a deadly war of the gods against the backdrop of modern and ancient Egypt. Moon Knight is directed by Mohamed Diab and is coming to Disney+ in 2022.
Speaking of ancient, mystical forces Ethan Hawke is playing the shows antagonist, which is extremely exciting. Hawke is still in the middle of filming Moon Knight, so during a recent interview on Late Night with Seth Meyers, he still looked like his mysterious character from Moon Knight. Myers, who’s a big lover, supporter, and advocate of Comic Books and Graphic Novels, casually mentioned that Ethan Hawke was sporting “a real David Koresh vibe.” David Koresh was the cult leader at the center of the infamous Waco siege in 1993. Hawke was astonished and shocked because, as he told Myers, he did, actually, base his character on Koresh. Hawke went on to say, with great admiration for Myer’s correct guess, “I guess it’s working. You’re good, Seth. Or maybe I’m not out of character yet…I will say that he is the source of great character inspiration.”. Many have speculated that Hawke is playing Dracula in the series, which would be fucking awesome.
She-Hulk
She-Hulk, a new comedy series coming to Disney+, stars Tatiana Maslany as She-Hulk/Jennifer Walters, a lawyer who specializes in superhuman-oriented legal cases. She-Hulk will welcome a host of Marvel characters to the series, including the Hulk, played by Mark Ruffalo, and the Abomination, played by Tim Roth. The series is directed by Kat Coiro and Anu Valia; Jessica Gao is head writer.
One of the things I was most curious about with this series, was how they would handle the look of the character. She-Hulk isn’t an inhumanly large powerhouse like her cousin Bruce Banner, but she’s not exactly a petite young woman either. She’s usually portrayed as being almost like an Amazon. Slightly larger and more muscular than a normal human. Even though she inherited her cousin‘s green skin with her transformation, what she lacks in raw physical power like the classic Hulk, she makes up for by having complete control over her mental faculties at all times. Meaning there is no split between Jennifer Walters and She-Hulk. We don’t see a lot of Jennifer Walters in her She-Hulk form, but I thought what little we saw looked great. Tatiana Maslany is a spectacular actress whose going to absolutely crush it in the role. Plus, it’ll be cool to have another Hulk running around The MCU, and any opportunity for an appearance of Prof. Hulk is a win! Check out the quick teaser here:
Marvel Animation Drops A Bomb!
X-Men: The Animated Series ‘97
Now this was a pleasant surprise! With the exception of Batman: The Animated Series, there is no superhero animated show of that era, more beloved, than X-Men: The Animated Series. The show’s ability to tackle mature content, not typically seen in “children’s programming“ at the time, as well as the extremely faithful adaptations of classic X-Men stories, made the show a hit, fan favorite.
Courtesy of Marvel.com, the producers of the new series have said that it will have the “DNA of the original show,” and follow a roster of X-Men similar to the original 90’s series. A major “impactful event” will be the jumping of point for this new series, setting the story in motion, and acting as a call to action for the X-Men. Many of the series original cast members will be returning for the new series, including Cal Dodd (Logan/Wolverine), Lenore Zann (Rogue), George Buza (Beast), Alison Sealy-Smith (Storm), Chris Potter (Gambit), Catherine Disher (Jean Grey/Phoenix), Adrian Hough (Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler), and Christopher Britton (Nathaniel Essex/Mr. Sinister). Unfortunately, some members of the voice cast have since passed a way. It also seems as if the show intends to grow along with it’s original audience, at least to some degree. Most diehard fans of the series are adults now and it sounds like this new iteration is evolving along with it audience. According to the show’s producers at Marvel; “As an animated show, the original X-Men was the forerunner to some amazing action series. Everyone that is making X-Men ’97, top-down, is a fan. On this project, instinctually, we knew exactly what this is. To bring this series forward and pick up that baton, and not just keep running at the same pace, but to really elevate. That’s the responsibility.”Unfortunately we have quite a wait until the show premieres in 2023. Despite the wait, I am really interested and intrigued by this new project.
Star Wars (Or Lack Thereof …
Obi-Wan Kenobi
Official Synopsis:
“The story begins 10 years after the dramatic events of ‘Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith’ where Kenobi faced his greatest defeat: the downfall and corruption of his best friend and Jedi apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, turned evil Sith Lord Darth Vader.”
After huge presentations from both Marvel and Pixar, many found it extremely odd that this teaser trailer for Obi-Wan was literally the only new Star Wars project showcased or discussed for this event. Nothing was announced about The Book of Boba Fett, or The Mandalorian Season 3. Let’s hope there aren’t any behind the scenes problems at Lucasfilm. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before we start to hear gossip one way or another.
Anyway, people has been clamoring for on Obi-Wan Kenobi film for years. Despite the reputation of the prequel‘s, they’ve aged surprisingly well. An entire generation grew up with the prequel trilogy as “their Star Wars”. With Ewan McGregor being particularly beloved in his portrayal of the Jedi Master also known as Ben Kenobi. With the Obi-Wan Kenobi series debuting in 2022, I would argue that a mini series on Disney+ is a much better option as a fan, than one movie. Considering how fantastic the Star Wars shows on Disney+ have been, I think we can expect to get what is a miniseries that’s essentially an 8 to 10 episode Obi-Wan Kenobi movie. One of the most exciting piece of information confirmed during this presentation is the return of Hayden Christiansen as Anakin Skywalker. I love the idea of another confrontation between Vader and his old master, taking place sometime between their duel in Revenge of The Sith and when they meet again in A New Hope.
It’s sort of tracks that there would’ve been another confrontation or fight between the two of them, before their final reckoning in A New Hope. Because, when you think about it, Vader is pretty calm when he runs into Obi-Wan on The Death Star in Episode IV. I would think that if someone cut off my arms and legs, left me to burn alive, forcing me to live in agony inside a cybernetic suit that keeps me from dying, I’d be fucking PIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISED! It will be interesting to see if and how they rehash the past upon their meeting. Will Vader blame Obi-Wan for Padme’? Will Ashoka be discussed? As much as I love the idea of Hayden Christiansen returning to play Anakin Skywalker again, I wonder exactly how they’re going to use him. For example, when he becomes Vader in Revenge of the Sith, that’s Hayden Christiansen in the Vader costume, but it’s still James Earl Jones‘s voice. I would think if they’re going to go to the trouble of using Hayden Christiansen, they would want the audiences to at least see him. I think flashbacks are probably very likely, we may even see some thing like his helmet get partially damaged, just enough damage to keep him going, but also just enough to see Hayden Christensen’s face inside. Allowing him to show us his portrayal of Anakin whose utterly and completely given himself to The Dark Side. I’ve always wondered what it would’ve looked like if Anakin wasn’t mutilated in his fight on Mustafar. Even if Anakin didn’t necessarily beat mObi-Wan in the fight, what would’ve happened if he had gotten away more or less in one piece? Without his horrific injuries, the robotic suit, and a near constant state of agony, what would Anakin have become? Based on his track record and what we know about The Force. Anakin most likely would’ve killed The Emperor after a relatively short amounts time and seized control of The Empire himself. I can say with confidence that he probably would’ve ended up as the most powerful and horrifically dangerous threat, the galaxy had seen in thousands of years.
The show boasts and impressive cast of new and returning characters like Luke’s aunt and uncle, Owen and Beru Lars. You can take a look at the full cast below.
Obi-Wan Kenobi is by far one of my most anticipated projects of 2022!
As of Disney+ Day, Disney upgraded multiple MCU films to IMAX level quality. You’ll notice a bit of a crisper, cleaner, more realistic look. All of the upgraded titles are listed below:
Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings
Iron Man
Guardians of the Galaxy
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Captain America: Civil War
Doctor Strange
Thor: Ragnarok
Black Panther
Avengers: Infinity War
Ant-Man and The Wasp
Captain Marvel
Avengers: Endgame
Black Widow
Thanks for reading! Follow us on Twitter @PJWrightWBM, on Instagram @worldsbestmedia2017, and our Facebook Page, Worlds Best Media. Those likes and follows, as well as iTunes reviews for the podcast, go a long way to supporting World’s Best Media. We really appreciate the loyalty and support shown to us by our fans, so thanks again! Stay healthy and stay safe!
We had a lot of very interesting and exciting new trailers this week. As with all trailers, will the final films live up to the promise of the trailers? Probably not. But I can say with a high degree of confidence that The Book of Boba Fett is going to fucking rule. So, without further ado, please enjoy our… TRAILERS OF THE WEEK!
Thanks for reading! Follow us on Twitter @PJWrightWBM, Instagram @worldsbestmedia2017, and our Facebook Page, Worlds Best Media. Those likes and follows, as well as iTunes reviews, go a long way to supporting World’s Best Media. We really appreciate the loyalty and support shown to us by our fans, so thanks again! Stay healthy and stay safe!
“The Multiverse is a concept about which we know frighteningly little” – Dr. Stephen Strange (This guy literally goes toe to toe with cosmic gods on the regular, so hearing fear in is voice when saying this line, tells us how completely fucked they are)
I’ll be honest, some may be surprised to hear, that I’ve had some big reservations about Spider-Man: No Way Home. After all, I’m an MCU super-fan and Tom Holland is without a doubt my favorite live action Spider-Man. When I’ve expressed my trepidation about this new movie I’ve been met with some pretty strong responses. Like this recent exchange for example, “What’s this guy’s fuckin’ problem?! Does this prick think he’s BETTER than Spider-Man?! You and little fucking website and your shitty podcast can GO FUCK YOURSELF!”. To which I replied, “Jeez Mom, that a bit much, don’t you think?”
However, in my defense, I think I had a few good reasons to be concerned. Far From Home had such a spectacular cliffhanger ending. Not only was I beyond thrilled too see J.K. Simmons return as J. Jonah Jameson, in The MCU no less, but Mysterio framing Peter for his murder, streaming the doctored footage, and revealing that Spider-Man is Peter Parker, for all the worlds to see. That is one hell of a way to end a movie!
I loved that J. Jonah Jameson was the one to get the scoop. Their decision to make Ole’ J.J., a controversial, fringe, Alex Jones-esque, online news outlet that broke the story was only the icing on the cake. I was really curious to see how this story would play out. But then as proctions was ramping up, rumors and information about No Way Home begin to trickle in. Jaimie Foxx was returning as Electro from The Amazing Spider-Man 2, then the great Alfred Molina would be appearing as Doc Ock from Spider-Man 2. They were playing the same versions of their characters that we had already seen in other Spider-Man franchises that didn’t take place in The MCU.
“Hello Peter”
The last piece of the puzzle fell into place for me when Benedict Cumberbatch signed on for a size-able role in movie as Doctor Strange. After No Way Home, the next MCU film is Doctor Strange and The Multiverse of Madness (You don’t have to be a genius to figure out the type of thing Doctor Strange will be dealing with that movie). As the months went on and more rumors about casting continue to swirl, it was sounding more and more to me like this was essentially going to be a live action version of Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse. Don’t get me wrong, I love Into The Spider-Verse. It’s easily one of the best superhero movies ever made Live-Action, Animated, or otherwise. That’s just not what I wanted to see from a third MCU Spider-Man movie. I was very excited to see what, I imagined was, a more grounded Spider-Man film that dealt with the fallout of the last movie. At this point I should simply learn to trust Marvel and Kevin Feige because this trailer laid my fears to rest. Not only is Peter’s identity becoming public a huge part of this upcoming film, it is the event that movies the entire story forward. It’s the catalyst for the whole movie.
I was pleasantly surprised how excited I was after watching this teaser. Now that it’s finally available for our viewing pleasure, I was really blown away by it and I thought the best way to cover it, would be a Trailer Commentary. Below, you will see the 1st trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home, If you’d like, you can sync up with me and follow along, as I give my commentary and my insights on this new teaser for The MCU’s third Spider-Man movie. I have a lot of fun stuff to cover so I hope you join the ride! When rumors and bits of information about this movie were hitting the Internet, it was clear that this was going to be a film that dealt with the multiverse and some other big, sci-fi concepts. Which is all well and good, but I was afraid that they were taking this route, at the expense of the story set up at the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home. I gotta admit my fears were laid to rest after watching this teaser. I mean…Wow.! What a trailer! This baby was certainly worth the wait! Watch it here:
There were so many things I loved in this. The return of J. Jonah Jameson! The pumpkin bomb! Goddamn it’s good to see Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock again. I can wait to see this Peter Parker fight those tentacles. They naturally lend themselves to interesting action sequences. I could be wrong, but it seeemed like Peter sees Doc Ock in the same place we see the pumpkin bomb and hear the unmistakable laugh of Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin. I was very critical of Dafoe’s Norman Osborn in the original film, so I’m surprised by how happy i was by the trailer’s suggestion of his return.
The set up of the film is reminiscent of the much maligned “One More Day” story arc in which Aunt May is shot after Peter’s identity becomes public. He then makes a deal with the demon Mephisto to put Spider-Man’s secret identity back in the bottle in exchange for his marriage to MJ. It’s pretty fucking stupid, but I love what they’re attempting to do here. Of course, it’s always a pleasure to see Jon Faverau, the man who started it all, return as Happy Hogan. Also, l’m calling it right now. This is going to be the biggest superhero blockbuster of all time. This is going to break box office records left and right. So pull up the trailer, sync it up with mine, and let’s dive into this Spider-Man: No Way Home Trailer Commentary!
Listen here: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/46225075 Or subscribe/listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Spreaker, iHeartRadio, Deezer, Podchaser, Castbox, Podcast Addict, Google Podcasts, & Apple Podcasts/ITunes…
Wong’s like. “This is going to go sideways very fucking quickly. I am OUT.”
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Check out the 1st trailer for Venom: Let There Be Carnage, directed by Andy Serkis. The movie sees Tom Hardy is return as Eddie Brock/Venom, with Woody Harrelson making his official debut as Cletus Cassidy, a psychotic serial killer who bonds with an alien symbiote of his own and becomes the monstrous Carnage. The character was first introduced in a post-credits scene in the first Venom film. Watch the new trailer right here:
Venom: Let There Be Carnage opens in theaters 9/24/2021
Follow us on Twitter @PJWrightWBM, Instagram @worldsbestmedia2017, and our Facebook Page, Worlds Best Media. Those likes and follows, as well as iTunes reviews, go a long way to supporting World’s Best Media. We really appreciate the loyalty and support shown to us by our fans, so thanks again! Stay healthy and stay safe!
WandaVision has finally premiered on Disney+, officially kicking off Phase 4 of The Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel Entertainment has posted this very cool video to mark the occasion. The video shows how the Phase 3 films, which begins with Captain America: Civil War and ends with Spider-Man: Far From home. The video shows how some the Phase 3 films perfectly re-create iconic images and moments from the comic books source material and put them on the big screen. Take a look:
Follow me on Twitter @PJWrightWBM or type Worlds Best Media into the search bar, you can also like and follow us on our Facebook page; World’s Best Media. We’re on Instagram @worldsbestmedia2017. Those likes and followsgo a long way to supporting World’s Best Media. We really appreciate the loyalty and support shown to us by our fans, so thanks again! Stay healthy and stay safe!
I wanted to wrap up my look back at last year with my top 10 Movies of 2019. On last week’s episode of The World’s Best Podcast, we went over our favorite TV shows of 2019. Normally, I’d devote an episode of the podcast to my favorite films of the past year, but as I mentioned on last week’s episode, with exception of some great blockbuster, superhero films, I thought 2019 was a relatively week year for movies. Still, I wanted to share my favorites with you. So without further ado, here are my Top 10 Movies of 2019…
The Death and Return of Superman
The DC Animated film was originally released in 2-parts, now the story can be watched as one film, as it was meant to be. The movie deals with the death of Superman after his devastating fight with Doomsday and how the world, his allies, and his enemies deal with the aftermath of a world without The Man of Steel. Taken as a whole, this is one of the better DC animated movies to be released in quite some time.
SHAZAM!
This was a really good year for live action DC films. SHAZAM! was very a fun superhero movie for the whole family.
JOKER
Director Todd Phillips certainly does a great job creating a Gotham city filled with despair and darkness, but this film rides on the back of the mesmerizing and incredible performance of Joaquin Phoenix as titular Clown Prince of Crime.
I Am Mother
A very cool sci-fi gem about humanity and artificial intelligence where nothing is quite what it seems.
Missing 411: The Hunted
A thought provoking and chilling documentary about hundreds of unexplainable missing persons cases throughout our National Parks system. These are bizarre disappearances that have been ruled out as animal attacks, lost hikers/hunters dying of exposure, and traditional homicides or kidnappings. Good luck sleeping on your next camping trip after watching this one!
Captain Marvel
Brie Larson is great as Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel alongside Samuel L. Jackson as a much younger Nick Fury. Classic Marvel Comics stories like The Kree/Skrull War make their jump to the big screen. Like Captain America: The First Avenger, I love how Marvel chose to make this a period film (which is something I’d love to see more of). Taking place almost 30 years ago, this film fills us in on some very important events in MCU history.
IT: Chapter 2
Though not quite as good as the first film, this is still an excellent film that wraps up the story of IT and the now grown friends who have vowed to put an end to the creature’s horror.
Spider-Man: Far From Home
Probably the best Spider-Man film since Spider-Man 2, which is high praise (With the exception of Spider-Man: Into The Spiderverse). The bar was pretty high for the film’s villain after Michael Keaton’s excellent appearance as Adrian Toomes AKA The Vulture in the last film, but Jake Gyllenhaal is more than up to the challenge as the creepy and formidable Mysterio.
John Wick: Chapter 3 Parabellum
Somehow these movies just keep getting better. Keanu Reeves returns as The Angel of Death, Baba Yaga, The Boogeyman himself, John Mutha’ Fucking Wick! ‘Nuff said!
Avengers: Endgame
C’mon, you saw this coming. Was there really ever going any other movie at number #1? The fact that after 23 films, Marvel was not only able to make an excellent movie, but also a genuinely satisfying ending to The Infinity Saga is incredible. This is one of the best superhero films ever made.
Thanks for reading! Follow me on Twitter @PJWrightWBM or type Worlds Best Media into the search bar, you can also like and follow us on our Facebook page; World’s Best Media. Those likes and follows, as well as iTunes reviews, which go a long way to supporting World’s Best Media. We really appreciate the loyalty and support shown to us by our fans, so thanks again!
I want to start off, by saying, this post has been written, and rewritten more than a half dozen times in my brain. I talked to Paul about it at the beginning of the summer, and for several weeks, it seemed as though every time I was ready to write it, something new would happen in the news that would make me take pause, and wait to see how things were going to settle in the end. As of this past week, I think they’re all settled—at least for long enough that I can comfortably write this post and publish it before it’s out-of-date. That being said, let’s dive in.
“I’m totally gonna fuck you tonight.”
“Oh My God! I have a vagina!”
I have maintained, for a long time now, that Mary Jane Watson and Ariel from The Little Mermaid, are the reason why myself, and many men of my generation have a special place in our hearts (I’m going with hearts, since I had crushes on both characters pre-puberty) for redheaded women. As I grew up, most of the time I saw redheaded women, I found them more attractive on average, than a similar looking woman with any other hair color. As I grew up, the characters that caught my attention on shows, became the women with red hair, i.e. Joan on Mad Men, and Ygritte on Game of Thrones.
Ok, one of two possible scenarios are at play here: 1. Tom Holland’s Spider-Man suit has some kind of built in plastic cup or shield around his crotch to keep his erections from bulging out of the skin tight spandex. 2. He DOES have an erection bulging out, but Zendaya’s leg is obstructing the view in this photo. Either way, you gotta respect the confidence to be filming in THAT position, in that suit, on an open set, and be willing to roll the dice.
When I learned that Zendaya’s character in the MCU/Sony Spider-Man films, was supposed to be MJ (although not Mary Jane) it didn’t bother me, but it did make me think. At first I started thinking about the impact that comic book MJ had on me, and I wondered if this may have the same effect on a younger generation toward black women. Of course, at some point in the past few months, Disney announced that they were casting Halle Bailey as Ariel in the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid, and the question repeated itself in my mind.
Now, at first I thought, “that would be great if these characters helped another generation to find the beauty in a group of people that they may other-wise have not thought about in that way,” but I don’t think I was right on that. First off, I think that so far with Zendaya’s MJ as opposed to comic book MJ, there is a significant amount less sexualization, and that’s probably a good thing. I don’t remember much about MJ as a character, other than her calling Peter ‘Tiger,’ and I remember pictures of her more than anything. Ariel is the same thing, I remember her character, and while it was problematic I always liked it, but at least half of my fascination was with the seashell bra. This year’s Aladdin, live-action remake, did a lot of work desexualizing Princess Jasmine, and I think Disney is likely to do the same with Ariel.
Peter would have asked if he could take MJ’s coat for her, but all the blood in his brain had just plunged into his dick.
The second reason, that I think my initial thought that perhaps this idea was a good one, is that while there was something innocent about it, I do think there ultimately ends up being a fetishization of these characters, and their physical characteristics within the original material. There are demographics, based on race and gender combinations that are more or less statistically attractive, and unfortunately, black women (along with asian men) tend to be statistically disadvantaged in this way. I had heard and read that enough times that it supported my original idea that maybe lifting black women up in this was a good thing, and I will say this, if Ariel is bad-ass, and inspires black girls to be bad-ass, or if MJ challenges the stereotypes of women, that’s great, and so far I do think Disney is doing a great job with that. They’re doing better than I would have, based on my own warped logic going into this. I had to realize that there is a huge difference between fetishizing, and raising up. Disney is raising up, and I was thinking indirectly, “hey wouldn’t it be cool if a bunch of kids ended up with a black woman fetish.” It wasn’t my intention, but it was essentially what I was thinking. Hell, it was initially what I was pitching to Paul.
So, now that I have that out of the way, now that I’ve talked about the two characters who really shaped much of my physical attraction, I want to shift gears slightly, and talk about a bit of news that came out the day that I was first ‘ready’ to write this. In the next James Bond film, 007 will be played by a black woman. There has been speculation for years about who would be Daniel Craig’s replacement in the James Bond cufflinks, with a lot of speculation going to Idris Elba (who I think would be awesome if he’s still young enough when the mantel gets passed). Trying, I think to do two thing, test the waters, but also stir up some hype in the form of controversy, it was announced that there would be a new 007, and that it would be Lashana Lynch.
I think they were testing the waters, because they announced that she would be the new 007, and waited until speculation and feedback came in, before announcing, that in the plot of the new film, Bond has retired, and is replaced in his title of 007, and then he is pulled back in while in retirement. It was a soft way of testing things out, to see if perhaps we’re more into 007 or James Bond. It’s similar to what Mission Impossible did with Jeremy Renner a few years ago. It’s not a bad plan, and we will see how it plays out in that way, but it also kind of plays into my general topic.
I won’t lie, if I was going to have sex with a guy… Idris Elba is at leastin my top 3!
James Bond is perhaps one of the most sexualized male characters in cinematic history, and the way in which going about that has been drastically different from how they’ve sexualized women. Is it possible, that we’re going to get a female version of that? Will this change how female sexuality plays out on screen? Also, we have a character who is very much the coolest person in the room, and definitely has shaped young men’s idea of what a man is, will a black female 007 do the same for young women?
I think he’d make an awesome Batman
In the past few years in cinema, there has been a lot of talk about representation, and for the most part I think that it has been a good thing, and honestly I’m not one of these people who get’s bent out of shape when they change a character I like, or even love. I understand that most of these things are constantly evolving, and I don’t personally want to see the same old thing over and over. But I really think that these three examples are interesting, because they’re a bit different than other roles. Nick Fury, changing from a white man to a black man, had little impact as far as I can see, because the character was always one of authority, and I never associated with him, and I never felt an attraction to him, or to be like him. I also have to consider what it means for other people, and I don’t know. On the one hand, I think of all the black women I think are cool, or bad-ass, or beautiful, and it’s not a short list, and I wonder if that’s blinding me to a problem that’s real? Perhaps these casting decisions will help to solve that. I don’t know, but I think it’s important to ask some of these questions of ourselves.
Article by Michael Cole
–Mike Cole is a published author, freelance writer, & filmmaker. He is a happily married father of one.
Editors Note: Photos and their subsequent captions were added by Paul Wright… So, you know, don’t blame Mike.
With Spider-Man: Far From Home dropping digitally last week, as well as the Blu-Ray hitting stores on October 1st, Marvel’s “Phase 3” of films have officially come to an end. Looking back, Phase 3 really knocked it out of the fucking park. Phase 3 begins with Captain America: Civil War and continues with Doctor Strange, Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.2, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, Ant-Man and The Wasp, Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame, and Spider-Man: Far From Home. Jesus, that’s a fantastic run. Each of of these films are fucking amazing in their own way, with Ant-Man and The Wasp as the only semi-weak film, but it’s still a fun movie and by no means bad. Every film in The MCU, so far, from Iron Man to Spider-Man: Far From Home is collectively known as The Infinity Saga. One massive story arc involving The Infinity Stones and the looming threat of Thanos. Culminating in an epic battle between The Forces of Thanos and The Avengers, with the entire Universe hanging in the balance.
This a fantastic fan made poster by SPIDEYVEGAS
To say that I’m a big Blu-Ray collector is a bit of an understatement. Even though I still buy a lot of my content digitally, but I love being able to have a physical copies of Blu-rays. Basically you have a shit load of Blu-Rays. Especially Steelbook Special Editions. So when I started to hear rumblings that Marvel was putting together a Blu-Ray box set for The Infinity Saga, I was understandably intrigued. Especially because Marvel put out such fantastic box set for Phases 1 & 2.
As they were being released in theaters, The Infinity Saga was broken into 3 Phases, as I mentioned before, Marvel already released box sets for Phase 1 and Phase 2 (I actually have both of them and they’re really cool). It doesn’t look like they’ll be releasing an individual set for Phase 3, based on the comments made by Marvel Studios head honcho, Kevin Fiege. At the moment, Marvel is starting to put together a mega box set that collects the entire Infinity Saga. The video posted below is intended to make audiences excited and nostalgic for The MCU (It sure as hell does the job that’s for sure.
Kevin Feige recently talked about a 4K Blu-Ray Box Set release of The Infinity Saga being in the works. According to Fiege, the set would include all 23 films on Blu-Ray/4K Blu-Ray, the original special features from each film, and a ton of never-before-seen deleted scenes, extended cuts, additional special features, and much more brand new material exclusive to this unique release. The Phase 1 and Phase 2 MCU box sets included fun Easter Eggs like a copy of The Sokovia Accords, The Tesseract, The Orb with The Power Stone inside, or Nick Fury’s files on all of The Avengers, just to name a few. They were really cool sets. Below, I have some pictures of the cool collectible Easter Egg material that was included in the Phase 1 and Phase 2 box sets, something that we can expect to continue in a release for The Infinity Saga.
At the time I purchased them, they were around $150 each, so a 4K Blu-Ray set of The Infinity Saga could cost as much is $500 or more. However, this is just speculation on my part and there hasn’t been any indication of what the cost might be. This is going to be something for only the hard-core fans and collectors, like myself. If you happen to be as crazy as I am, then you better start following my lead and save all of your change in a piggy bank or a change jar, because when this thing drops, it’s going to be a real wallet buster. Also, I expect a release date for early next year for Christmas 2019 at the earliest, but I think spring 2020 is much more likely.
I’ll post more info on the Blu-Ray box set for The Infinity Saga as it becomes available. For now Marvel posted a great video celebrating the end of an era as The Infinity Saga comes to a close. It’s such a great clip because, for myself and so many other people out there, these movies have meant so much. We’ve fallen in love with these characters and their stories. Of course we’re going to be getting a ton of new stuff from The MCU, but one of the many reasons that Avengers: Endgame was so fantastic is that it really felt like an ending to this grand story we’ve been following for the last 11 years. That’s a really tough thing to pull off in superhero fiction, especially when we know that this universe and many of these characters are going to continue on in other films and TV shows. It goes to show you just how talented directors Joe and Anthony Russo ( Captain America:Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, & Avengers: Endgame) are that they crushed the ending. Even though this beautiful video is basically an announcement trailer for The Infinity Saga Box Set, it so damn good it makes me want to pop on Iron Man and start watching the whole damn series all over again. Watch it hear:
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So, for the past couple of weeks I’ve been working on a very long article about the different directions a 3rd MCU Spider-Man movie could go after after Spider-Man: Far From Home. Well, I wish I’d been a little more quick on the draw with that article, because yesterday, news broke that it’s very likely that Spider-Man will no longer be a part of The MCU.
Before getting into any details, like a lot of you I’m sure your initial reaction to this news is something along the lines of “well that fucking sucks“. That’s pretty much how I feel, as well. Spider-Man has been a great addition to the MCU and I was looking forward to all of the story telling possibilities his character brings to the table. It’s really disappointing as a fan of The MCU and the wall-crawler .
So, how did we arrive at this place? Why is this tyhappening? Well the short answer is a very unsurprising one, one word: greed. When this new broke, many fans assumed that Sony was somehow fucking up this deal, due to their less than stellar track record in the past. But they’ve been able to turn things around a bit of the last few years (I’ll get back into that in a minute). This shit show rests squarely on the shoulders of Disney.
When Marvel was going bankrupt in the 90s, they sold the film and television rights to their characters to various movie and production studios. Which is why we didn’t see characters like Spider-Man, The X-Men, or The Fantastic Four in the MCU from the very beginning. Marvel Studios didn’t have access to those characters at the time because, legally when it came to the movies at least, these other movie studios owned the characters.
Another factor is Disney’s acquisition of Fox. Disney bought the entertainment division of Fox, finally giving so many fans what they’ve been clamoring: The X-Men and The FF in the MCU. We should expect to see more on the Mutant and FF front as things progress, but don’t expect to see an X-Men or FF movie for a few more years. That’s just because Marvel had so many film and TV projects in the pipeline and ready for production when the Fox deal went through. They couldn’t bring everything they had been planning and building to a grinding halt and awkwardly shoehorn The X-Men and The FF into the MCU. I would rather wait and get excellent interpretations of these characters from the company that makes truly incredible marvel superhero films, than rush things and fuck it up.
Marvel’s deal regarding Spider-Man is pretty different. It’s more of a partnership (Or maybe WAS a partnership, I suppose) with the movie studio, Sony. All of the characters that we’ve seen in the MCU so far, The Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, and many more were the characters already owned by Marvel Studios and Marvel can do whatever they want with them.
It’s different with Sony because, Sony still retains the film rights to Spider-Man. However, they reached an agreement with Marvel Studios where marvel can use Spider-Man in their movies like Avengers and Civil War. However, when a solo Spidey film is made, like Homecoming or Far From Home, Marvel makes those movies, they control the creative direction of the story and the characters. Sony essentially outsourced making Spider-Man movies to Marvel with the added benefit of the films taking place in The MCU, giving them a richer, more lived in feel to the world. Now like I said when Spider-Man is in Avengers movie, Sony doesn’t get any of the money that the film generates. But for solo Spider-Man films, Marvel gets 5% of the profits and merchandising rights, which is a lot of money. Plus having such an iconic Marvel character like Spider-Man back in the Marvel fold, is a huge win for the brand.
The problems started when Spider-Man: Far From Home became the highest grossing movie in the history of Sony. Not just the highest grossing Spider-Man movie, the highest grossing movie in the history of the film studio. For some stupid reason Marvel wanted to renegotiate their already lucrative and valuable contract with Sony. It’s important to remember that when I say Marvel, I mean Disney. The new deal Disney proposed ,was instead of getting 5% of the profits on Spider-Man solo films they get 50% of the profits. That’s insane. No movie studio would go for that. They were literally asking for 10 times the current deal. I don’t know what they expected from Sony as a response, but that’s an unreasonable demand. For Sony’s part they really wanted this deal to continue. They loved having Spider-Man in The MCU but they weren’t going to be strong-armed by Disney. Especially when they’ve had two big successes with the Spider-Man franchise on their own with Venom, which was a big hit for the studio, and Spider-Man: Into The Spiderverse which was not only a masterpiece of filmmaking, but a huge moneymaker as well. Sony is negotiating from a position of power. They have much more leverage than they did in the past. Which is why the actions of Disney seems so bizarre. But again, to be clear Sony did not want this deal to fall apart. It seems like Disney didn’t want to budge and Sony said, “fine” and walked away from the table.
This whole thing being so public is slightly odd, though not completely because it seems like everything leaks these days. There is an argument to be made that making it public like this was a negotiation tactic, because of the inevitable fan outcry about not getting to see your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man in the next Avengers film.
There’s still hope though. There’s still time for egos to cool off and sit back down to the table to renegotiate. Word on the street is that Sony is at least open to it. It kind of reminds me of the situation when James Gunn was fired from Guardians of the Galaxy vol.3 for absurd reasons (Which upset me personally because I really wanted to see the end of his Guardians trilogy). He had always talked about a three film arc for these characters. Eventually, months after being fired and even moving on to other projects, Disney finally saw the light and hired him back. James Gunn was gracious enough to come back when he could’ve just as easily told them to fuck off. So hopefully something like this happens when it comes to Spider-Man. Hopefully this is just a hiccup and we will continue to see more Spider-Man in The MCU for years to come. Here’s hoping….
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