Showing posts with label Hydra. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hydra. Show all posts

Sunday, April 23, 2017

Comic Book Review: Secret Empire #0 - Marvel Comics (2017)

Written by Nick Spencer
Art by Daniel Acuna

Captain America is a Hydra agent and now he is putting a plan in place to fully take over the world by strategically taking out the heroes of the world.

This story line started about a year ago and it just doesn't impress me.  I feel like Captain America being an agent of Hydra belongs in the old "What If..." comic book series.  I received this comic book in the Marvel Collectors Corps subscription box which is the reason why I read this comic in the first place.  My copy has Rocket and Groot on the cover which is the reason it's a keeper.  I look forward to this story ending as I've heard it is rumored Marvel will be going in a "back to their roots" type of run in the near future.  I like exploring other sides to characters but Cap being a Hydra agent all along just doesn't do it for me.

Daniel Acuna is an incredibly talented artist and definitely a wonderful choice to be in charge of the visual interiors when it comes to a comic book of this magnitude.  Acuna is tasked with drawing the heroes of the Marvel Universe throughout the entire issue.

I doubt I will be purchasing any of the other comic books in Secret Empire but at least I got to read one of the books to see if it was worth me forking over five bucks an issue.  Seriously Marvel, the cover prices are too much.  Get some advertisers to pay for it or use a less expensive paper stock.

What are your thoughts on Secret Empire?  I'm sure I'm in the minority on this as I have read many friends' posts on social media.  I look forward to reading all of your thoughts whether it be in the comments below, on social media or via email.


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Tuesday, August 23, 2016

One Man's Soapbox: A Disconnected Marvel Shared Universe


A Disconnected Marvel Shared Universe

I recently finished the first three seasons of Agents of SHIELD, I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by the end of season three. I will admit I was very harsh after watching the first season, there wasn’t much to like about the start of the series. However, for the most part many of my concerns went away by the end of season 3 with the exception of one, the MCU’s shared Universe. This is one of Marvels greatest strengths, who didn’t love those end credit scenes that led to Captain America and Thor, however this also may be its biggest weakness.


Let’s ignore the fact that Agents of SHIELD has now gone three seasons with no appearance from any of the Avengers or MCU characters outside of Nick Fury, Maria Hill and Sif. The bigger issue is continuity, this especially is the case with the last two Captain America Movies and to a lesser extent Ant-Man. Let’s start with Hydra, its had a presence not only in Agents of Shield but also Captain America, Ant-Man and Age of Ultron, and before I get started with my point, lets remember that I realize Hydra has many heads and when one is cut off another grows in its place. With that being said it always seemed like I was watching two different universes telling the same story. By the end of Winter Soldier both SHEILD and HYDRA have crumbled with SHIELD being disbanded and the top brass of HYDRA taken down. However by the mid point of Season 3 of Agents of Shield we have two Shield Agency and the true power of HYDRA, and there doesn’t seem to be any plans to cross those two back over in the near future.

Are you confused yet? Are you like me, wondering how the television and Cinematic Universe haven’t crossed yet even though they are ultimately shared? Well its about to get worse, cause now Im adding in the Netflix series. 


The entire plot of the first half of season three of Agents of Shield is the race to uncover humans with powers before HYDRA can locate them. But what about Jessica Jones, a human with powers yet the cross over never happens. Then it happened again during Captain America: Civil War. While in a need to add members to his team, Tony Stark goes out to locate a teenager named Peter Parker. While I understand from a fan stand point how awesome it was to see Spiderman suited up with the other Avengers, wouldn’t Starks first choices be Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage or even Deathlok? 

We are slowly starting to see the effects from the issue plaguing a shared universe concept, first Agent Carter was canceled and then the planned Agents of Shield spin off was canned, its only a matter of time when Agents of Shield gets the ax and is nothing more than a distant memory we pass over on Netflix.

So even though Marvel teases us with an idea of a share universe, they ultimately don’t see the need to address this in any of their movies. So for fans like myself, with each passing movie and season there is a bit of disappointment when we realize that the chance to see some one like a Daredevil, The Punisher or even Ghostrider team up with the likes of Iron Man and Captain America are beginning to fade away. 



Maybe we wont ever see the ultimate team up, maybe we will in one of the upcoming Avenger movies only time will tell. Until then, lets just hope that our favorite Agent of SHIELD finds his way back to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, cause Coulsons man crush on Cap is just way to entertaining. Let us know what your thoughts are of Marvels shared Universe by leaving a comment below.


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Sunday, August 16, 2015

"Captain America: Civil War" and Spider-Man

Concept art via cosmicbooknews.com
Recently we celebrated the 53rd anniversary of “Amazing Fantasy #15” which features the debut of the classic American super hero, Spider-Man! From the pages of comic books to television and then the big screen, fans worldwide have enjoyed the adventures of Spider-Man and all the nefarious villains who stand in his way. He was just your ordinary high school student who was given super powers and then he put on a mask to protect the ones he loved and the people of the city he lived in. Spiderman could be anyone who has it in their heart to do right and protect their family, friends and fellow man; perhaps that’s what makes the character of Spider-Man so endearing all these years.

In May of 2016, directors Anthony and Joe Russo will be presenting the third cinematic version of Spider-Man in their new film “Captain America: Civil War”.  In the comic book world the "Civil War" story line was spread over several titles and ran for over 90 issues. Teams of heroes fighting heroes and villains fighting heroes with Spider-Man caught in the middle. It's highly unlikely that the movie will capture everything in the comic books but it's not hard to imagine at some point in the film Spider-Man will be recruited for Captain America's team and at some point also for Iron Man's team. It's a knock down drag out fight between heroes for what each side believes is best and the movie going audience should be in for a cinematic treat!

Tom Holland (previously in "The Impossible" staring Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts as well as "Locke" staring Tom Hardy) has been cast by Sony and Marvel studios to play “Spidey” for the foreseeable future and it provides the movie going audience a chance to see a sixth Spider-Man film on the big screen in 2017.  Tom Holland now joins the ranks of Tobey Maquire (Spider-Man 2002 - 2007) and Andrew Garfield (Amazing Spider-Man 2012 - 2014) who have played Spider-Man on the big screen prior to Tom putting on the mask. He also joins rank with Paul Soles, (Spider-Man animated TV series 1967 - 1970), Nicholas Hammond (Spider-Man TV series 1977 - 1979), Christopher Daniel Barnes (Spider-Man Animated TV series 1994 - 1998), Neil Patrick Harris (Spider-Man Animated TV series 2003), and finally Drake Bell (Ultimate Spider-Man Animated TV series 2012 - current) who had/have the privilege of bringing the character Spider-Man to life.

As a film franchise it’s a challenge to argue reasons why another Spider-Man movie shouldn’t be made (even with the poorly received “Spider-Man 3” directed by Sam Raimi and  “Amazing Spiderman 2” directed by Marc Webb). With five films now in the can, the Spider-Man franchise has earned more than $3 billion dollars world wide and is the sixth highest grossing film franchise of all time. These types of figures alone provide the strongest argument for additional films in this franchise. Dollars make sense in Hollywood and the movie going public is saying loudly with the dollars from their bank accounts, “We want more Spider-Man!”  And in 2016 and 2017 John and Jane movie goer will get their wish. “Spider-Man” directed by Jon Watts staring Tom Holland as “Peter Parker/Spider-Man” and Marisa Tomei as “Aunt May” with a script being penned by John Daley and Jonathan Goldstein (best known writing for the films, “Vacation” and “Horrible Bosses 2”) is scheduled for tentative release in July of 2017.

Sony and Marvel haven’t yet officially announced who the villain(s) will be in this sixth installment but the gallery of villains who constantly try and thwart “Spidey” is packed with incredible characters. During an interview with Variety, Marvel studio head, Kevin Feige explained that this version of Spider-Man will be like nothing seen previously on the big screen and even went as far as to say he envisioned, stylistically, a "John Hughes" type movie for this particular incarnation of  Spider-Man. Also he went on to say “Right now we’re interested in seeing villains we haven’t seen before” to SlashFilm. That statement alone opens up so many doors for villains like, Black Cat, Scorpion, Shocker, Morbius, Carnage, Kraven the Hunter and Mysterio (Just to name a few).

Be sure to catch up on all the Spider-Man action by watching and/or reading his incredible stories available on Blu-Ray/DVD, Netflix or in the “Spider-Man” comics (of which there are many)! Also, be sure to see Tom Holland swing into action May 6th 2016 as Spider-Man when Marvel Studios releases “Captain America: Civil War!”

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