The Avengers...My Addiction to Comic Books...

So, I know that I normally write strictly about wrestling on here but I could not help it, I had to write something about the Avengers and all of the movies leading to Avengers 2.  It’s been awhile since I have been on here because I am now writing for www.WrestleOhio.com , but I am back on here to talk about the Avengers.  Also, I wanted to let everyone know that this blog will actually become a podcast very soon under the same name, Pro Wrestling: Men in Tights.  Colt Cabana has been doing an astonishing job with his podcast, Art of Wrestling (which can be found on iTunes or at www.tsmradio/coltcabana ), but I want to get interviews with some of the lesser-known/up-and-coming talents out there today.  I will let all of you know what is going on with that once I get all of the logistical bullshit figured out.

Now let’s get into some fucking comic book movies!!!  Ha ha!  Let me just start out by saying that I LOVED the Avengers and went and saw it twice (once by myself, and once with my lady).  If you did not notice, “M-Dogg 20” Matt Cross was in the movie dressed as a soccer player during the scene in Germany (or Cleveland, OH…same thing) when Loki makes everyone kneel to him before Cap kicks his ass.  He is on the right-hand side of the screen and has a faux-hawk type hairdo going on.  So there is some wrestling talk, since this is SUPPOSED to be a wrestling blog.

Thanos

I wanted to give everyone a chance to go see the movie and hear some of the spoilers before I got on here and gave my opinion on everything.  This movie was great and they have already announced the Avengers 2, with Iron Man 3, Thor 2, and Cap 2 all leading up to it.  I am also pretty sure that everyone is signed on for a third Avengers movie, as well as Thor 3, Cap 3, and even another Hulk movie and talks of a solo S.H.I.E.L.D. movie.  Personally, I say keep bringing the movies on.  There are so many stories that they could go with that they could just keep pumping movies out, but I am about 100% sure that they are leaning towards the Civil War story, which is awesome.  All that I do know is that the extra scene in The Avengers showed Thanos, so obviously they must be setting up for a Skrull invasion sometime in the future.

With that being said, Iron Man has already revealed his secret identity in the movies, so that piece of the puzzle is already set.  There was some tension built between Iron Man and Cap in the Avengers, so that seed has been planted.  All of the pieces are in place; it is now time to bring in those additional heroes that will play a major part in the overall Civil War storyline.

So let’s get into the movies that are leading to the Avengers 2, and what I would like to see in each of these movies:

THOR 2 – Release date of November 15, 2013

So Thor 2 is in the process of being filmed sometime this summer, so they are wasting no time on getting to this one.  Just about everyone from the first movie is returning for the second and it is being said that they want to keep most of this movie “off of Earth” and give it a “Viking feel.”  I agree with this.  Also, they just got Alan Taylor (Game of Thrones) to direct, so it should be awesome considering how badass Game of Thrones is.

Mads Mikkelsen

It has been said that Loki will be in the movie, but will not be the main villain.  They actually just cast Mads Mikkelsen (Casino Royale, King Arthur) as the main villain apparently.  I would imagine that he is going to play either an Asgardian or someone from one of the other 9 realms.  They could throw a curveball at us though and have him be some villain from Earth that somehow gets access to the Bifrost, which could be cool.  All I know is that Mads Mikkelsen was an awesome villain in Casino Royale, and I look forward to seeing him in Thor 2.

I would like to see them build up more of the friendship/teamwork of Thor, The Warriors Three, and Sif.  They did this a little bit in the first movie, but he was only in Asgard for a short period of time.  Maybe have Jane Foster get kidnapped by the villain and have Thor and his buddies go after her or something like that.  It would be cool to see some sort of cameo in this movie somehow, but not really sure who it should be or how they could do it.  Whatever they do, I am sure it will be good either way.

IRON MAN 3 – Release date of May 3, 2013

This movie should be awesome, and sounds like it will be an integral piece of the Avengers 2 puzzle.  Two people that have already been cast in this movie are Guy Pearce (the King’s Speech) as Aldrich Killian and Ben Kingsley (Prince of Persia) as an unspecified villain.  Now the character of Aldrich Killian was introduced in the Extremis story arc and is a scientist that actually commits suicide but releases a dangerous serum known as “Extremis” beforehand for undisclosed reasons.  One of his co-workers finds a note that indicates this, so she contacts Tony Stark about it and whatnot.  It sounds to me like they may be using this serum as a replacement for Nitro from the New Warriors exploding in Connecticut, which is the catalyst for the entire Civil War beginning in the first place.  So I guess we will see there.

Ben Kingsley

Honestly, I think that Ben Kingsley is going to be playing the Mandarin.  I know that they had that dude from the first movie who was basically him, but I think that they may have re-cast the role.  Cannot really think of another villain that Ben Kingsley could play, but it could be someone who is not necessarily an Iron Man villain in the Marvel Universe.  So, once again, we will have to wait and see.  They only thing that I say is to keep the villain out of armor in this one.  Iron Monger was in the first movie and Whiplash had armor for whatever reason in Iron Man 2.  Find a villain who could be a legitimate threat to Iron Man without needing armor or any of that crap. (*cough*…Mandarin…*cough*)




Ashley Hamilton will play Jack Taggert/Firepower

I have also recently seen that they have cast Ashley Hamilton (son of George Hamilton, Dancing with the Stars) as Jack Taggert/Firepower and James Badge Dale (The Departed, Lone Ranger) as Eric Savin/Coldblood-7.  Jack Taggert is a guy that worked on an experimental suit like Iron Man’s called Project: Firepower for a rival businessman of Tony Stark, Edwin Cord.  Long story short, it is basically Iron Monger from the first movie to a certain extent.

Eric Savin was a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army that was put in charge of something called Project: Ultra-Tech.  He steps onto a mine and is blown to pieces, but is soon operated on by the love of his life Gina Dyson.  Gina does cybernetic surgery on Eric, which essentially turns him into a cyborg named Coldblood-7.  He becomes a freelance mercenary and has quite a few run-ins with Deathlok along the way.

I kind of see Firepower as just re-doing Iron Monger from the first movie, but hopefully they do something different with it.  Coldblood-7 should be pretty awesome though, as having a cyborg would definitely be something fresh and new that has not been done in a while.  Personally, I see these two being secondary villains in the movie, but it should be interesting to see what they do with these two characters.

I would like to see something a little different in this movie than what they did in Iron Man and Iron Man 2.  I love what they did with Tony Stark in the Avengers and think that they should stick with it.  The fact that he was at Stark Towers and that he was an asshole who seemed to secretly have everything under control was great.  Go with this model and please do one thing for me….SHOW THE FUCKING ARMORY!!!  I want to see him use AT LEAST 5 sets of armor in this movie and have War Machine in it somewhere.  The coolest part about Iron Man is the fact that he has a suit of armor for every situation, so show that.  Get him into some situation where he needs underwater armor or something like that.

Many people keep saying online that they need to bring in more characters during Iron Man 3, and I have to disagree with that idea to a certain extent.  I think that there are other movies that bringing new characters into would be better, but we will get to that in a minute.  I say build the relationship with Tony, Pepper, War Machine, and Happy Hogan in this movie.  In the comics, Happy is just as important as any of the heroes almost and he does not even have powers or anything.  War Machine is really only brought in when he needs to be a lot of the time, so there needs to be some sort of threat where he is needed.  Pepper is running the entire company now (I think) so show the fact that she is a badass and a genius, kind of like how they did for her short cameo in the Avengers, but take it to the next level.

CAPTAIN AMERICA 2 – Release date of April 4^th, 2014

This movie is a far way off, which I wish they would just move it to an earlier date, but oh well.  So Cap is in the present world now, he is a member of S.H.I.E.L.D. and he has no fucking clue what the hell is going on around him at all.  Right there is your movie people.  Show this guy who does not know anything about the modern world, trying to figure out who he is and what he is going to do now.  He lost his woman, lost his best friend, got pumped full of steroids, saved the world from some aliens, and now he is just here.  Let him take a breath for a second and take in his surrounding a little bit.



James "Bucky" Barnes as the Winter Soldier

I think it is pretty obvious to any comic fan that we will be seeing the Red Skull and Bucky again.  Apparently, on the audio commentary, they say that the experiments performed on Bucky by Dr. Zola actually enable him to survive the fall that supposedly kills him in the first movie.  So I guess we can all say “BRING ON THE WINTER SOLDIER!!!”  And I personally feel like Red Skull is going to pop back up in one of the next 2 Avengers movies.  He is one of those big-named villains that could be in that role as the main villain again in my opinion.




Ant Man & Wasp

I think that Cap 2 is the perfect opportunity to bring in those “extra” people that need to be brought in.  People like Falcon, Wasp, Giant Man/Ant Man/Yellow Jacket, Black Panther, and so many more.  The reason that I say this is because all of these people are being targeted by S.H.I.E.L.D. and Cap is hanging around with Fury, Hawkeye, and Widow all the time.  So it only makes sense that he is going to run into someone.  Jack Flag, Captain Britain, and U.S. Agent could also be good additions to this movie, or to get REALLY obscure, they could have Nomad in it!  I see Winter Soldier starting off as a secondary villain in the movie, but siding with Cap by the end of the movie somehow.  And I would imagine that they will have Cap falling in love with the modern-day Agent Carter or something like that.



Baron Zemo

The main villain in the movie could really be anyone, but I think that I would really like to see them do something with Baron Zemo.  Maybe give him a modern-day look of some sorts with a touch of the main characteristics that make the character overall.  They can always go back and play off of the Red Skull/Hydra story from the first movie somehow.  Re-working the character to make him a modern-day supporter of Hydra couls be kind of awesome.  Almost like how Christopher Nolan has re-worked some of the Batman characters to make them more realistic.  I think it could be something really cool actually.

Whatever they do with all of these movies, I am sure they will be awesome either way.  Everyone is going to piss and moan about certain details, just because that is how comic nerds are.  I say enjoy the fact that the fucking movie is being made in the first place, and have faith that the people they choose to put the movie out will continue to do it the right way.