Oh man, this one is… damn, this just hits different, you know? The Lost Years is one of those. It’s not like the big, flashy Spider-Man fights or city-destroying villains. Nah, this one is quieter, smaller, but somehow… heavier. It’s like you finally get to see Peter Parker not swinging around, not cracking jokes, but…
I’m absolutely a fan of the MCU, despite the fact that seems to be getting to be an unpopular stance, so I had some hopes for Fantastic Four: First Steps.
Marvel’s “What If…?” series has been a lot of fun. The glimpses into different realities are always interesting, and Jeffery Wright has done a great job as the Watcher, the series “host” and guide to what could have been. The role has slowly shifted from impartial observer to occasional participant and humorous commentator. He breaks the fourth wall from time to time, and gets in a few of those in “What If Captain Carter Fought the Hydra-Stomper?”
Life has been busy, so I got behind on a few things, including trailers. I recently got a chance to catch up on several of them, so I thought I’d give a run through of what I saw and my reactions. There’s some great looking stuff coming up.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe concludes Phase 5 with its 36th film, Thunderbolts*. A very unlikely group of characters from assorted movies and shows comes to face what they think is a threat before finding out they really don’t know what’s going on at all.
With the movie arriving shortly, I decided to do a quick piece on the Thunderbolts. I’m going to start with several disclaimers. First off, this is about the original comic book Thunderbolts stories, not the movie version of characters. There is no crossover between the membership in the two versions.
Marvel has a lot of interesting characters in their ever-expanding universe. One area they’ve been fairly lacking in is Native representation, although they’re working on it. Among their few Native characters is Echo, Maya Lopez. The MCU version turned up during the Hawkeye series, and now she’s off on her own adventure.
Some comic book moments aren’t just memorable, I mean… they redefine everything. The Night Gwen Stacy Died and The Death of Captain Stacy are two of those moments. They didn’t just change Peter Parker’s life; they changed comics forever. These weren’t just superhero stories. They were tragedies, reminders that being Spider-Man wasn’t just about web-slinging…
Brave New World brings the Captain America franchise to its fourth installment, which only Thor has managed to equal. While pretty much all MCU projects are connected to a greater or lesser degree, most of them can also stand alone. I’d argue you could enjoy this movie without having seen the rest of the MCU (although I’m not sure why you’d want to), but it ties most closely to the movies Incredible Hulk, Eternals, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier series on Disney+.
In this episode, parts of both 2012’s Avengers movie and Thor: Ragnarok are reshuffled to give us “What if Iron Man Crashed Into the Grandmaster?”
ComicBookClog 