Welcome to Hero Express, your one-stop sometimes SPOILER filled shop through the news filled world of superhero’s in Film, TV, Video Games and whatever else floats your boat.
This is the Hero Express for September 20, 2011:
Continue reading Hero Express – ‘The Avengers’ Villain Rumors and Possible Plot Details!
I went into Thor with high expectations, but an underlying dread – hoping it didn’t suck mortal ass. Thankfully it didn’t, and I was treated to an excellent example of what a comic book movie should be: fast, fun and captivating. There wasn’t really a dull moment, whether it was Thor in Asgard fighting frost giants alongside Lady Sif and the Warriors Three, or on Midgard (Earth to you mortals) where Thor beats the crap out of hospital staff and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents while trying to comprehend and fit into our world.
From the beginning, when I started listening to Anthony Hopkins as Odin explain the history of the nine realms, I was dragged into those worlds and I loved every second of it.
The story seems simple: The Asgardians have a truce with the Frost Giants of the realm called ‘Jotunheim’ after a long war between them. However on Thor’s day, when he is named Odin’s heir, the Frost Giants try to steal back one of their ancient weapons from inside Asgard. They are stopped and Odin let’s it pass, while Thor being a bit of a hot head, thinks they should go to ‘Jotunheim’ and retaliate against the giants. Odin forbids it, but Thor, with some subtle nudging from his brother Loki, decides to go to ‘Jotunheim’ against Odin’s wishes to find out how the giants were able to get into Asgard.
After a fact-finding mission turns into an all out assault and what appears to be the beginning of a war, Odin and Thor have a falling out. Thor is stripped of his powers and banished to Earth. And now the stage is set for the movie to kick into full gear.
If you’re a newcomer to Thor you will really enjoy the story as it unfolds, and even as a casual fan or comic reader, the movie’s story progresses well and doesn’t fail to entertain. I have to admit, I was a little worried about the Asgard scenes feeling too fake and cheesy with the way that Thor and his brethren speak, but truthfully the Asgardian scenes had some of the best acting moments, overshadowing much that occurs on the Earth portion of the story.
Asgard also looked fantastic in every aspect including the city, structures, the wardrobe and the many set pieces. On the scenes that take place on Earth you’ll definitely be itching to see more of Asgard like I was, but the Earth scenes are by no means boring. I mean come on, you have Natalie Portman to look at!
I’m still surprised at how great of a cast that comic book movies now command these days. You’ve got a heavy hitter like Anthony Hopkins portraying the All-Father Odin and Renee Russo as Thor’s mother. Natalie Portman plays astrophysicist and love interest to Thor Jane Foster, with Stellan Skarsgård as one of her mentors and colleagues. That’s not to mention the rest of the supporting cast like Ray Stevenson as Volstagg and Jeremy Renner making an extended cameo as Hawkeye in one scene. Everyone was brilliant all the way around!
Chris Hemsworth definitely held his own in this movie, which is his first starring role. He played the smug and arrogant Thor and the serious take care of business God of Thunder when the time called for it. Some of his most entertaining scenes were the ones on Earth where he still thinks himself a God with powers, being utterly proven wrong. He smashes coffee mugs on the floor and goes to pet stores wanting a horse to travel on. It’s all pretty funny without being over the top silly. Let’s face it, this movie easily could have degenerated into a farce much like Masters of the Universe, but it really did impress me with how well done it was.
Was it Oscar material? No. Was it more than I went in expecting? Absolutely.
Tom Hiddelton as Loki was probably right underneath if not on par with Hemsworth’s portrayal of his brother Thor in the movie. He played the part of good son and brother well and then the part of ultimate villain perfectly, but he wasn’t the generic villain archetype. Loki’s motivations were very human indeed and there was real emotion behind his word’s during the final battle between the two brothers.
I’m giving Thor a 4.5 out of 5 grizzlies. I really can’t think of anything I disliked about the movie and I would have given it full points if I was a hardcore Thor fan.
The acting was all top notch, the visuals stunning and story very well done. I’m actually inspired to pick up a few Thor comics and can’t wait for The Avengers and the eventual Thor 2 that will inevitably follow. I hope everyone else likes it as much as I did, and I recommend going to check it out. I think it would appeal to comic fans and non comic fans alike!
Comment below and let us know what you thought of the movie!
Fear Itself rages on as Thor is imprisoned by his father Odin, the ‘Hammers of the Worthy’ fall, and the Serpent unleashes his wave of terror across the world! If I could choose one word to describe this issue it would simply be: Chaos. Things are moving along at break neck speed and the heroes of the Marvel Universe are rushing to contain these newest attacks. Not much happened in the story department, aside from a few of the Worthy being revealed, but from the looks at the end of the issue we’ll have to pick up a few tie ins to see the others getting their hammers. If you haven’t read my review of the first issue I suggest you do that, but otherwise read onward into *spoiler* territory!
Well it’s here people. Fear Itself has arrived on comic book shelves. Did it wow me as much as my hype ridden brain was expecting?
No.
But it wasn’t supposed to I surmise. It wasn’t bad, just a whole lot of needed set up. It set the stage by showing us the main villains, the heroes and where the Asgardians stand at this point.
*Beware my spoilers!*
I remember a little over a year ago talking to my comic guy about the then upcoming Marvel event, the Heroic Age which was about to start up. It was supposed to return the heroes to a more peaceful and manageable existence. He was ready for the heroes to get back to basics and just be superheroes without all the complexities of real life added in. His main reasoning was that there had been too many ‘dark times’ for the Marvel superheroes, and it was time for a mood change.
I couldn’t have disagreed more. I love nothing more than seeing the Marvel heroes collectively fight for their lives and deal with loss as normal people do. I love seeing that heroes from Hawkeye to Captain America are not only vulnerable, but killable. And heroes like Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are mentally vulnerable. The last several years at Marvel had been all about this, dark and depressing. And the story that started it all was of course Avengers Disassembled, where the Avengers were literally – disassembled.
And done so, from the inside by one of their own. We have an unknown force messing with the Avengers, which results in multiple casualties, seeing Ant-Man and Hawkeye both killed in the first wave. Tony Stark is then ousted as the U.S. ‘Secretary of Defense’ and Avengers Mansion is all but destroyed. Numerous Avengers are put out of commission including She-Hulk, Vision, and the Wasp. The big reveal is that it was the Scarlet Witch committing all of these attacks, and it was actually quite heartbreaking to see why she did what she did.
Years earlier the Witch used her magic to become pregnant with twins, using Mephisto‘s essence, but they were suddenly taken from her when that essence returned to Mephisto. Imagine trying to cope with your kids just ceasing to exist, I’m not a mother but that has to be a cause for severe depression. Combined with constant abductions by jobbers such as Chthon and Immortus and manipulations by her loving dad Magneto, and even Agatha Harkness routinely wiping the memory of her children away it’s no wonder she suffered a nervous breakdown. Maybe this all could have been avoided with a nice psychiatrist seeing Wanda a couple times a week. After the heroes confront Wanda and a super throw down ensues…in House of M.
In House of M, the Marvel Universe is transformed by the Scarlet Witch’s reality altering powers into a mutant utopia where humans are the minority, and Magneto is the ruler of the United States. Once the heroes determine what has happened they realize that Magneto didn’t manipulate Wanda into doing this, but that it was her brother, Quicksilver. I mean seriously, who needs villains at this point?
By the end of House of M we are left with the majority of the mutant population de-powered due once again, to the Scarlet Witch .
Civil War begins with the heroes slowly recovering, and the mutants effectively sitting it out due to their kick in the oblongs from the events of House of M/Decimation. A shenanigan involving the New Warriors and an obliterated elementary school eventually culminates in the passing of the superhuman registration act, where all heroes will work under the U.S. government, sans secret identities to keep the public safe. The inevitable then happens, with heroes taking sides on the issue and all hell breaking loose between them. Like I said, who the hell needs villains at this point? The series ends with many heroes going underground and Captain America death.
The next event kind of comes out of left field, but The Secret Invasion storyline was still pretty decent, and was a stepping stone to the next event.
Basically there is a Skrull invasion of Earth. All the heroes unite to defeat the aliens, but in the end it is too late to stop our old, psychotic friend Norman ‘Goblin’ Osborn from stepping up and taking control of SHIELD. Under Osborn’s leadership SHIELD is renamed HAMMER. [Ed. – Reminisant of DC electing Lex Luther President]
This leads us into Dark Reign, where the world is slowly placed in the grip of the world’s villains. Norman Osborn replaces the Avengers with his own team of “superheroes” consisting of :
Dark Reign the leads into Siege where Osborn tries to conquer Asgard, but is finally defeated by the Avengers and promptly arrested (His inner goblin finally reared it’s ugly head for all to see).
With the heroes finally united again, and the Heroic Age stuff about to wrap up it’s finally time for a new storyline for our superheroes.
The very ominous looking Fear Itself.
Not much is known about the seven part series except that the superheroes will be facing off against a God of Fear, perhaps from Asgard? The heroes will face their greatest fears, which should be interesting in itself. Just to see what currently haunts big hitters like the Thor, Captain America and the Hulk, sounds good. There is going to be a prologue where a supposed “concealed act” in Marvel history occurs that has ramifications for the story. This prologue involves the Red Skull during World War 2 and it reeks of some sort of change in continuity.
That part may be good or bad. From all of the recent promos for the storyline Asgard must figure in somehow with different trios of characters reaching for what look like different variations of Thor’s hammer Mjolnir.
I don’t need multiple doom and gloom storylines for the next five years, but I hope starting with Fear Itself Marvel gets back into the swing of making the stakes for our heroes high, and the ramifications of said event significant leading into the next one. So far Fear Itself is shaping up to be very interesting.
On the other hand I’m not excited about what Juggernaut appears to be doing in his promo picture. Is that Hercules in the peculiar position in front?
Grizzly Bomb 