Marvel Universe (Thar be spoilers ahead.)

[eldaec]

George Zimmerman is probably closer to a real-life version of the Punisher than we'd like to admit. There's a reason society doesn't tolerate vigilantes, everyone has a slightly different idea of who the good and bad guys are.

Its easy, the bad guys are the people who don't understand what probability is.

[Typhon]

George Zimmerman is probably closer to a real-life version of the Punisher than we'd like to admit. There's a reason society doesn't tolerate vigilantes, everyone has a slightly different idea of who the good and bad guys are.

Its easy, the bad guys are the people who don't understand what probability is.

LOL, so good.  Would read again!

[Margalis]

Some of you appear to be taking this discussion a bit too personally.

[Khaldun]

George Zimmerman is probably closer to a real-life version of the Punisher than we'd like to admit. There's a reason society doesn't tolerate vigilantes, everyone has a slightly different idea of who the good and bad guys are.

This was a small but pretty great element of The Dark Knight--the guys who all go out dressed as Batman. I really wish one of the two major superhero universes would engage this more thoroughly. Combine us (real-world modern humans) with those universes, and I guarantee you'd see the following:

1) Serious social movements and maybe even political parties built around the strongest or most extreme examples of superhuman vigilantism.
2) Massive bodies of law and legislation and whole businesses built around the consequences of superheroics. (e.g., Damage Control in Marvel Comics--a reconstruction and insurance agency specializing in the aftermath of superhero battles; the law firm She-Hulk worked for that dealt with superhero/villain litigation; etc.)
3) Religious cults around superhero/villain resurrections; also, at least in the DC Universe, the existence of God and Satan is a readily verifiable, straightforwardly empirical fact which would have at least a bit of impact on people;
4) Tons of people dying or suffering injury from irradiating themselves, jumping in toxic vats, etc. , in hope of gaining superpowers.

So yeah, Zimmerman isn't a bad premise for superhero stories--except that he shows that *some* people would very much tolerate vigilantes, especially IF they thought the vigilantes were beating up on or killing those "other guys".

[Fordel]

Jack Kirby: I'm getting it.  So if she's in a fight, and the floor is even a little slippery, the villain will slip and fall possibly hitting himself on the noggin?
Stan Lee: EXCELSIOR!

The problem is that a dude comically slipping naturally escalated into "the entire history of the universe is instantly re-written."

There is an art to creating superpowers. Spider-Man has remained almost unchanged since inception. If you look at heroes that have been re-written a lot it's very often because their powers are ill-defined, too restrictive or not restrictive enough, Very often these types of characters work in small doses but fall apart in continuing series.

I'd definitely agree with that. Spider-Man is clearly very powerful, but yet still clearly very mortal, BUT he's never so mortal that I'm left wondering how he isn't dead yet 50 times over.

[sickrubik]

Jack Kirby: I'm getting it.  So if she's in a fight, and the floor is even a little slippery, the villain will slip and fall possibly hitting himself on the noggin?
Stan Lee: EXCELSIOR!

The problem is that a dude comically slipping naturally escalated into "the entire history of the universe is instantly re-written."

There is an art to creating superpowers. Spider-Man has remained almost unchanged since inception. If you look at heroes that have been re-written a lot it's very often because their powers are ill-defined, too restrictive or not restrictive enough, Very often these types of characters work in small doses but fall apart in continuing series.

I'd definitely agree with that. Spider-Man is clearly very powerful, but yet still clearly very mortal, BUT he's never so mortal that I'm left wondering how he isn't dead yet 50 times over.

Yeah, you're just left wondering if THIS one is ACTUALLY Peter Parker or a clone or an alien.

PS, they killed him.

[Fordel]

I'm sure he'll get better!

[jgsugden]

This is the movie forum.  They didn't kill him in the movies.  They just killed him in all the comic universes to undercut the value of the character as a movie tentpole in a bid to get the rights back.

[sickrubik]

This is the movie forum.  They didn't kill him in the movies.  They just killed him in all the comic universes to undercut the value of the character as a movie tentpole in a bid to get the rights back.

There has been PLENTY of non movie talk in this thread about the basic structure of the characters that Marvel have/use.

[jgsugden]

This is the movie forum.  They didn't kill him in the movies.  They just killed him in all the comic universes to undercut the value of the character as a movie tentpole in a bid to get the rights back.

There has been PLENTY of non movie talk in this thread about the basic structure of the characters that Marvel have/use.

I know.  I was just looking for a way to work in the moves Marvel is making to diminish the film rights of the characters they do not control.

[sickrubik]

I don't buy that that is their strategy. Not even a little bit.

[Margalis]

Yeah, you're just left wondering if THIS one is ACTUALLY Peter Parker or a clone or an alien.

They didn't kill him because they had problems writing his character due to his powers. The fact that they killed him (sort of) for various other reasons is not particularly relevant.

[sickrubik]

Yeah, you're just left wondering if THIS one is ACTUALLY Peter Parker or a clone or an alien.

They didn't kill him because they had problems writing his character due to his powers. The fact that they killed him (sort of) for various other reasons is not particularly relevant.

I think you're reading too much into my comments. I was merely making fun of marvel and the clone peter parker stuff.

[jgsugden]

...
I think you're reading too much into my comments. I was merely making fun of marvel and the clone peter parker stuff.

Wait, how do you know it was him reading too much into your comments and not his .... DUM DUM DUM.... clone?

[sickrubik]

...
I think you're reading too much into my comments. I was merely making fun of marvel and the clone peter parker stuff.

Wait, how do you know it was him reading too much into your comments and not his .... DUM DUM DUM.... clone?

[Evildrider]

Vin Diesel will be voicing Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy.

[Fordel]

He is Groot!

[Evildrider]

Leaked Guardians of the Galaxy stuff from Comic-Con.

[sickrubik]

That page isn't working for me at all, but it appears the MarvelStudios reddit has a bunch of stuff, including stills.

http://www.reddit.com/r/marvelstudios

[Khaldun]

Feige confirmed that Ronan the Accuser is the main Big Bad of the Guardians movie, but that he may be working for or with Thanos, and that Thanos is the "big bad behind the scenes" who is seen fairly often in the course of the film.

Given the announcement of Ultron for Avengers 2, I think they may be lining up Thanos for Avengers 3 if the Guardians film does well. If by that point they've also had Doctor Strange, Black Panther and Ant-Man films, I could see 3 being a kind of crazy-ass "everybody against a big bad guy" flick.

[jgsugden]

Maybe on Thanks for 3, but I don't see them doing a physical fight with Thanks himself until Further down the road.

[Lakov_Sanite]

Why would the avengers fight Tom Hanks? He seems like such a nice guy.

[jgsugden]

Fucking after the fact spell check...

[Margalis]

I'm not jazzed on the idea of Thanos being a major villain at any point, as I suspect any Thanos story would involve the infinity gauntlet and thus be stupid.

[sickrubik]

I'm not jazzed on the idea of Thanos being a major villain at any point, as I suspect any Thanos story would involve the infinity gauntlet and thus be stupid.

It's not like one of the gems has shown up in one of the movies or anyt..... oh wait.

[Ironwood]

Worse than that :

The Infinity Gauntlet is glimpsed briefly during the Thor adaptation film. It is seen in Odin's treasure room.

[jgsugden]

They're not beholden to the comic continuities.  The Infinity Gauntlet will clearly be a 'thing', but it may not be right out of the comics.  I think they'll change a lot - for example, I doubt we'll ever see Thanos humoping the leg of any physical manifestation of Death.

[Margalis]

Thinking about it more I wouldn't be surprised if the angle they take is that the IG makes Thanos powerful in ways comparable to the Avengers - stronger than Hulk, smarter than Iron Man, etc. Sort of like an Avengers version of Super Skrull. Or even if it gives him massive power that's how he chooses to use it.

I don't think you can write a story around a guy who can do anything. The original IG series is proof of that - collecting the gems in Thanos Quest was cool, but the actual IG series was dogshit.

[Khaldun]

Starlin's version of Thanos has always been expressly about a guy who invariably defeats himself because he doesn't believe he's worthy of either ruling the universe or of the love of Death. Problem was that at the end of IG, he supposedly recognizes that and quits for good. It's not an interesting story or bad guy either way--it's Starlin's Mary-Sue version of a 'profound' bad guy who learns a lesson about power, and as such is just not very interesting.

[MrHat]

http://marvel.com/news/story/21099/exclusive_avengers_age_of_ultron_casts_james_spader_as_the_films_legendary_villain

[sickrubik]

Yeah, kind of left field casting, but I'm fine with it.

[Margalis]

I kept reading this as James Woods and thinking it was awesome. James Spader is ok though.

[Khaldun]

I can see it. He can definitely play a cold, calculating but somehow needy character, and that's a good take for Ultron.

[Ironwood]

It's just gonna be voice tho, right ?

[sickrubik]

I imagined so, even before this casting news. I figured Ultron would be CG anyway.