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tomhollandnet · 3 years

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Spider-Man Star Tom Holland Wants to Make a Low Budget Peter Parker Film

Tom Holland may or may not be continuing his reign as Spider-Man. Following reports that his current contract with Marvel as the web-slinger was up, Holland told GQ that if he was still playing the role after the age of 30, he’d be doing something wrong. He’s currently 25. Then, producer Amy Pascal spoke up on behalf of Sony, who collaborate with Marvel on Spider-Man’s involvement in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She told Fandango that there would be more MCU Spider-Man films starring Tom Holland; three, in fact.

“You know, there is a future for Spider-Man — whether I’m a part of it, I don’t know,” Holland tells Fandom ahead of the release of the culmination of his first MCU trilogy, Spider-Man: No Way Home. It’s his sixth outing overall as Spidey in the five years since he made his debut.

“It’s been an incredible journey so far and if it’s time for me to hang up the cape and let the next person take over, I will do that proudly knowing that I’ve achieved everything that I wanted to in this world. And when I say this world I mean the MCU, I don’t mean ‘this world’ like in the actual world. So yeah, I feel pretty good about the future of Spider-Man and I’m happy to let someone else don the suit, but I also would love to squeeze back into that spandex again.”

He's pitched an idea

While we’re not sure that Spidey’s hi-tech suits are still made out of spandex these days, if he were to wriggle it on for Amy Pascal’s proposed new trilogy, what would he want to explore?

“That’s a great question,” he says. “The truthful answer is I don’t know. There is one idea that I have, that I have pitched to the studio — but by telling you that idea I’d be ruining this movie so I’m going to have to keep that one for myself.”

Whatever his idea might be, it clearly jumps off events in No Way Home, which is arguably the most anticipated MCU instalment ever. Indeed, fever pitch has already been reached amid rumours we’ve heard of much-loved past Spideys making a comeback and snippets we’ve seen in trailers of returning villains from alternative universes. The film unites past versions of screen Spider-Man stories in a historic move that blows the screen superhero universe wide open. Welcome to the multiverse.

Kingpin

With conjecture surrounding the return of another iconic villain from the small screen in Disney+ series Hawkeye, which is currently streaming, Holland’s desire to see Spider-Man face one particular comic-book bad guy will certainly get people talking.

“I think there are some interesting villains,” he says. “I think Madame Web could be something that is really interesting and we could do it in our own way. I’d really like to come up against Wilson Fisk.”

Clues point towards Wilson Fisk aka Kingpin being ‘Uncle’, the big boss of crime syndicate the Tracksuit Mafia in Hawkeye. Early in the series, we caught a glimpse of a large besuited man stroking young Maya‘s face. The character was her adoptive ‘father’ in the comics. Not only that but we heard him laugh — and his voice sounded remarkably like that of Vincent D’Onofrio who played the character in Netflix’s popular Daredevil series.

Together with talk of Charlie Cox making a return as the visually impaired lawyer turned superhero vigilante, a Wilson Fisk reappearance is a very real possibility. And since many fans loved d’Onofrio’s menacing turn as the crime lord — who also made an appearance voiced by Liev Schreiber in the animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse featuring Miles Morales as the webhead — the prospect of an encounter between Holland’s Spidey and Kingpin is mouthwatering.

Madame Web and Evil Spidey

As for Madame Web, a film about this Spider-Man character — a mutant with psychic abilities — is reportedly already in the works to slot into the Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters alongside the likes of Venom and Morbius.

“I also would like to maybe see what happens if my Spider-Man becomes a villain,” adds Holland. “I think there are some interesting things where you could make a film about an anti-hero, or things like that.”

There are various evil, villainous, and morally grey incarnations of Spider-Man in the comic books, including symbiote Spider-Man — which is, of course, all the more likely since the tease of a crossover between Sony’s Venom movies and the MCU in Let There Be Carnage. Then there’s Doppelganger, an evil entity created in Spider-Man’s likeness; a multiversal assassin version of the wallcrawler; and Superior Spider-Man, created when Otto Octavius‘s mind took over Peter Parker’s body. There are others.

A Lo-Fi Peter Parker Story and the Character’s MCU Future

But what Holland would really love to do around the character is a project he thinks might never happen.

“I’d like to make a film about Peter Parker that has nothing to do with Spider-Man,” he says. “Like, make a four million-pound indie movie about Peter Parker. I don’t know. They’d never do that. But it would be fun.”

One thing Holland is fairly certain of is how the character of Peter Parker will develop — and this means seeing him step into the role of a mentor. Just as Holland’s Parker has been mentored by Tony Stark up to now in the MCU, and we’ll see Doctor Strange also adopting something of a mentor role to him in No Way Home, he will one day pay it forward and take some green young thing under his wing.

“I think that’s very much on the cards and it would be a really interesting thing to see that side of Peter Parker,” says Holland. “I like the idea of him being a terrible mentor, I think it could be really funny. But I think you’re right, I think that probably will happen one day.”

With Miles Morales, perhaps, the young protégé, should he ever make his live-action debut in the MCU. So when Holland does eventually hang up the spandex, what advice would he give to any incoming Spider-Man?

“There’s so much advice I could give,” he says. “I’d like to say that I would be there readily available for that person so that if they need any help they can call me. But I’m not going to be an overbearing person and say ‘This is how you should do this’. I just would like to be an ally and let them know, ‘If you’re ever having a tough time, I’ve been through what you’re going through so call me and ask me and I’ll help you’.”

Kind words from your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

Spider-Man: No Way Home hits screens on December 15 in the UK and December 17 in the US.

#tom holland #interviews #nwh press

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ordinaryschmuck · 3 years

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What I Thought About Loki (Season One)

(Sorry this is later than it should have been. I may or may not be experiencing burnout from reviewing every episode of the gayest show Disney has ever produced)

Salutations, random people on the internet. I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons.

Do you want to know what's fun about the Marvel Cinematic Universe? It is now officially at the point where the writers can do whatever the hell they want.

A TV series about two Avengers getting stuck in a series of sitcoms as one of them explores their personal grief? Sure.

Another series as a guy with metal bird wings fights the inner racism of his nation to take the mantel of representing the idea of what that nation should be? Why not?

A forgettable movie about a superspy and her much more mildly entertaining pretend family working together to kill the Godfather? F**king go for it (Let that be a taste for my Black Widow review in October)!

There is no limit to what you can get with these movies and shows anymore, and I personally consider that a good thing. It allows this franchise to lean further into creative insanity, thus embracing its comic roots in the process. Take Loki, for example. It is a series about an alternate version of one of Marvel's best villains bouncing around the timeline with Owen Wilson to prevent the end of the universe. It sounds like just the right amount of wackiness that it should be too good to fail.

But that's today's question: Did it fail? To find out my own answer to that, we're gonna have to dive deep into spoilers. So be wary as you continue reading.

With that said, let's review, shall we?

WHAT I LIKED

Loki Himself: Let's get this out of the way: This isn't the same Loki we've seen grow within five movies. The Loki in this series, while similar in many ways, is still his very own character. He goes through his own redemption and developments that fleshes out Loki, all through ways that, if I'm being honest with you, is done much better in six-hour-long episodes than in past films. Loki's story was already entertaining, but he didn't really grow that much aside from being this chaotic neutral character instead of this wickedly evil supervillain. Through his series, we get to see a gradual change in his personality, witnessing him understand his true nature and "glorious purpose," to the point where he's already this completely different person after one season. Large in part because of the position he's forced into.

Some fans might say that the series is less about Loki and more about the TVA. And while I can unquestionably see their point, I still believe that the TVA is the perfect way for Loki to grow. He's a character all about causing chaos and controlling others, so forcing him to work for an organization that takes that away allows Loki time to really do some introspection. Because if his tricks don't work, and his deceptions can't fool others, then who is he? Well, through this series, we see who he truly is: A character who is alone and is intended to be nothing more than a villain whose only truly selfless act got him killed in the end. Even if he wants to better himself, he can't because that "goes against the sacred timeline." Loki is a person who is destined to fail, and he gets to see it all with his own eyes by looking at what his life was meant to be and by observing what it could have been. It's all tragic and yet another example of these shows proving how they allow underdeveloped characters in the MCU a better chance to shine. Because if Loki can give even more depth to a character who's already compelling as is, then that is a feat worth admiration.

The Score: Let's give our gratitude toward Natalie Holt, who f**king killed it with this series score. Every piece she made is nothing short of glorious. Sylvie's and the TVA's themes particularly stand out, as they perfectly capture who/what they're representing. Such as how Sylvie's is big and boisterous where the TVA's sound eerie and almost unnatural. Holt also finds genius ways to implement other scores into the series, from using familiar tracks from the Thor movies to even rescoring "Ride of the Valkyries" in a way that makes a scene even more epic than it already could have been. The MCU isn't best known for its musical scores, partly because they aim to be suitable rather than memorable. But every now and again, something as spectacular as the Loki soundtrack sprinkles through the cracks of mediocrity. Making fans all the more grateful because of it.

There’s a lot of Talking: To some, this will be considered a complaint. Most fans of the MCU come for the action, comedy, and insanely lovable characters. Not so much for the dialogue and exposition. That being said, I consider all of the talking to be one of Loki's best features. All the background information about the TVA added with the character's backstories fascinates me, making me enthusiastic about learning more. Not everyone else will be as interested in lore and world-building as others, but just because something doesn't grab you, in particular, doesn't mean it isn't appealing at all. Case in point: There's a reason why the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise has lasted as long as it has, and it's not entirely because of how "scary" it is.

There's also the fact that most of the dialogue in Loki is highly engaging. I'll admit, some scenes do drag a bit. However, every line is delivered so well that I'm more likely to hang on to every word when characters simply have honest conversations with each other. And if I can be entertained by Loki talking with Morbius about jetskis, then I know a show is doing at least something right.

It’s Funny: This shouldn't be a surprise. The MCU is well-known for its quippy humor in the direct acknowledgment that it doesn't take itself too seriously. With that said, it is clear which movies and shows are intended to be taken seriously, while others are meant to be comedies. Loki tries to be a bit of both. There are some heavy scenes that impact the characters, and probably even some fans, due to how well-acted and professionally written they can be. However, this is also a series about a Norse god traveling through time to deal with alternate versions of himself, with one of them being an alligator. I'd personally consider it a crime against storytelling to not make it funny. Thankfully, the writers aren't idiots and know to make the series fun with a few flawlessly timed and delivered jokes that never really take away from the few good grim moments that actually work.

It Kept Me Surprised: About everything I appreciate about Loki, the fact that I could never really tell what direction it was going is what I consider its absolute best feature. Every time I think I knew what was going to happen, there was always this one big twist that heavily subverted any and every one of my expectations. Such as how each time I thought I knew who the big bad was in this series, it turns out that there was an even worse threat built up in the background. The best part is that these twists aren't meant for shock value. It's always supposed to drive the story forward, and on a rewatch, you can always tell how the seeds have been planted for making each surprise work. It's good that it kept fans guessing, as being predictable and expected would probably be the worst path to take when making a series about Loki, a character who's all about trickery and deception. So bonus points for being in line with the character.

The TVA: You can complain all you want about how the show is more about the TVA than it is Loki, but you can't deny how the organization in question is a solid addition to the MCU. Initially, it was entertaining to see Loki of all characters be taken aback by how the whole process works. And it was worth a chuckle seeing Infinity Stones, the most powerful objects in the universe, get treated as paperweights. However, as the season continues and we learn about the TVA, the writers show that their intention is to try and write a message about freedom vs. control. We've seen this before in movies like Captain America: The Winter Soldier or Captain America: Civil War, but with those films, it always felt like the writers were leaning more towards one answer instead of making it obscure over which decision is correct. This is why I enjoy the fact that Loki went on saying that there really is no right answer for this scenario. If the TVA doesn't prune variants, it could result in utter chaos and destruction that no one from any timeline can prepare themselves for. But when they do prune variants along with their timelines, it takes away all free will, forcing people to be someone they probably don't even want to be. It's a situation where there really is no middle ground. Even if you bring up how people could erase timelines more destructive than others, that still takes away free will on top of how there's no unbiased way of deciding which timelines are better or worse. And the series found a brilliant way to explain this moral: The season starts by showing how the TVA is necessary, to later point out how there are flaws and evil secrets within it, and ends things with the revelation that there are consequences without the TVA keeping the timeline in check. It's an epic showcase of fantastic ideas met with exquisite execution that I can't help but give my seal of approval to.

Miss Minutes: Not much to say. This was just a cute character, and I love that Tara Strong, one of the most popular voice actors, basically plays a role in the MCU now.

Justifying Avengers: Endgame: Smartest. Decision. This series. Made. Bar none.

Because when you establish that the main plot is about a character getting arrested for f**king over the timeline, you're immediately going to get people questioning, "Why do the Avengers get off scot-free?" So by quickly explaining how their time-traveling antics were supposed to happen, it negates every one of those complaints...or most of them. There are probably still a-holes who are poking holes in that logic, but they're not the ones writing this review, so f**k them.

Mobius: I didn't really expect Owen Wilson to do that good of a job in Loki. Primarily due to how the Cars franchise discredits him as a professional actor for...forever. With that said, Owen Wilson's Mobius might just be one of the most entertaining characters in the series. Yes, even more so than Loki himself. Mobius acts as the perfect straight man to Loki's antics, what with being so familiar with the supposed god of mischief through past variations of him. Because of that, it's always a blast seeing these two bounce off one another through Loki trying to trick a Loki expert, and said expert even deceiving Loki at times. Also, on his own, Mobius is still pretty fun. He has this sort of witty energy that's often present in Phil Coulson (Love that character too, BTW), but thanks to Owen Wilson's quirks in his acting, there's a lot more energy to Mobius than one would find in Coulson. As well as a tad bit of tragedy because of Mobius being a variant and having no clue what his life used to be. It's a lot to unpack and is impressively written, added to how it's Owen Wilson who helps make the character work as well as he did. Cars may not have done much for his career, but Loki sure as hell showed his strengths.

Ravonna Renslayer: Probably the least entertaining character, but definitely one of the most intriguing. At least to me.

Ravonna is a character who is so steadfast in her believes that she refuses to accept that she may be wrong. Without the proper writing, someone like Ravonna could tick off (ha) certain people. Personally, I believe that Ravonna is written well enough where even though I disagree with her belief, I can understand where she's coming from. She's done so much for the TVA, bringing an end to so many variants and timelines that she can't accept that it was all for nothing. In short, Ravonna represents the control side of the freedom vs. control theme that the writers are pushing. Her presence is necessary while still being an appealing character instead of a plot device. Again, at least to me.

Hunter B-15: I have no strong feelings one way or another towards B-15's personality, but I will admit that I love the expectation-subversion done with her. She has this air of someone who's like, "I'm this by-the-books badass cop, and I will only warm up to this cocky rookie after several instances of them proving themselves." That's...technically not B-15. She's the first to see Loki isn't that bad, but only because B-15 is the first in the main cast to learn the hidden vile present in the TVA. It makes her change in point of view more believable than how writers usually work a character like hers, on top of adding a new type of engaging motivation for why she fights. I may not particularly enjoy her personality, but I do love her contributions.

Loki Watching What His Life Could Have Been: This was a brilliant decision by the writers. It's basically having Loki speedrun his own character development through witnessing what he could have gone through and seeing the person he's meant to be, providing a decent explanation for why he decides to work for the TVA. And on the plus side, Tom Hiddleston did a fantastic job at portraying the right emotions the character would have through a moment like this. Such as grief, tearful mirth, and borderline shock and horror. It's a scene that no other character could go through, as no one but Loki needed a wake-up call for who he truly is. This series might heavily focus on the TVA, but scenes like this prove just who's the star of the show.

Loki Causing Mischief in Pompeii: I just really love this scene. It's so chaotic and hilarious, all heavily carried by the fact that you can tell that Tom Hiddleston is having the time of his damn life being this character. What more can I say about it.

Sylvie: The first of many surprises this season offered, and boy was she a great one.

Despite being an alternate version of Loki, I do appreciate that Sylvie's her own character and not just "Loki, but with boobs." She still has the charm and charisma, but she also comes across as more hardened and intelligent when compared to the mischievous prick we've grown to love. A large part of that is due to her backstory, which might just be the most tragic one these movies and shows have ever made. Sylvie got taken away when she was a little girl, losing everything she knew and loved, and it was all for something that the people who arrested her don't even remember. How sad is that? The fact that her life got permanently screwed over, leaving zero impact on the people responsible for it. As badass as it is to hear her say she grew up at the ends of a thousand worlds (that's an album title if I ever heard one), it really is depressing to know what she went through. It also makes her the perfect candidate to represent the freedom side of the freedom vs. control argument. Because she's absolutely going to want to fight to put an end to the people who decide how the lives of trillions should be. Those same people took everything from Sylvie, and if I were in her position, I'd probably do the same thing. Of course, we all know the consequences that come from this, and people might criticize Sylvie the same way they complain about Thor and Star Lord for screwing over the universe in Avengers: Infinity War. But here's the thing: Sylvie's goals are driven by vengeance, which can blind people from any other alternatives. Meaning her killing He Who Remains is less of a story flaw and more of a character flaw. It may be a bad decision, but that's for Season Two Sylvie to figure out. For now, I'll just appreciate the well-written and highly compelling character we got this season and eagerly wait as we see what happens next with her.

The Oneshot in Episode Three: Not as epic as the hallway scene in Daredevil, but I do find it impressive that it tries to combine real effects, fighting, and CGI in a way where it's all convincing enough.

Lady Sif Kicking Loki in the D**k: This is a scene that makes me realize why I love this series. At first, I laugh at Loki being stuck in a time loop where Lady Sif kicks him in the d**k over and over again. But a few scenes later, this setup actually works as a character moment that explains why Loki does the things he does.

This series crafted phenomenal character development through Loki getting kicked in the d**k by the most underrated badass of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's a perfect balance of comedy and drama that not every story can nail, yet Loki seemed like it did with very little effort.

Classic Loki: This variant shows the true tragedy of being Loki. The only way to survive is to live in isolation, far away from everything and everyone he loves, only to end up having his one good deed result in his death anyways. Classic Loki is definitive proof that no matter what face they have, Lokis never gets happy endings. They're destined to lose, but at least this version knows that if you're going out, you're going out big. And at least he got to go out with a mischievous laugh.

(Plus, the fact that he's wearing Loki's first costume from the comics is a pretty cute callback).

Alligator Loki: Alligator Loki is surprisingly adorable, and if you know me, you know that I can't resist cute s**t. It's not in my nature.

Loki on Loki Violence: If you thought Loki going ham in Pompeii was chaotic, that was nothing to this scene. Because watching these Lokis backstab one another, to full-on murdering each other, is a moment that is best described as pure, unadulterated chaos. And I. Loved. Every. Second of it.

The Opening Logo for the Season Finale: I'm still not that big of a fan of the opening fanfare playing for each episode, but I will admit that it was a cool feature to play vocal clips of famous quotes when the corresponding character appears. It's a great way of showing the chaos of how the "sacred timeline" works without having it to be explained further.

The Citadel: I adore the set design of the Citadel. So much history and backstory shine through the state of every room the characters walk into. You get a perfect picture of what exactly happened, but seeing how ninety percent of the place is in shambles, it's pretty evident that not everything turned out peachy keen. And as a personal note, my favorite aspect of the Citadel is the yellow cracks in the walls. It looks as though reality itself is cracking apart, which is pretty fitting when considering where the Citadel actually is.

He Who Remains: This man. I. Love. This man.

I love this man for two reasons.

A. He's a ton of fun. Credit to that goes to the performance delivered by Jonathon Majors. Not only is it apparent that Majors is having a blast, but he does a great job at conveying how He Who Remains is a strategic individual but is still very much off his rocker. These villains are always my favorite due to how much of a blast it is seeing someone with high intelligence just embracing their own insanity. If you ask me, personalities are always essential for villains. Because even when they have the generic plot to rule everything around them, you're at least going to remember who they are for how entertaining they were. Thankfully He Who Remains has that entertainment value, as it makes me really excited for his eventual return, whether it'd be strictly through Loki Season Two or perhaps future movies.

And B. He Who Remains is a fantastic foil for Loki. He Who Remains is everything Loki wishes he could have been, causing so much death, destruction, and chaos to the multiverse. The important factor is that he does it all through order and control. The one thing Loki despises, and He Who Remains uses it to his advantage. I feel like that's what makes him the perfect antagonist to Loki, thanks to him winning the game by not playing it. I would love it if He Who Remains makes further appearances in future movies and shows, especially given how he's hinted to be Kane the Conqueror, but if he's only the main antagonist in Loki, I'm still all for it. He was a great character in his short time on screen, and I can't wait to see what happens next with him.

WHAT I DISLIKED

Revealing that Loki was D.B. Cooper: A cute scene, but it's really unnecessary. It adds nothing to the plot, and I feel like if it was cut out entirely, it wouldn't have been the end of the world...Yeah. That's it.

That's my one and only complaint about this season.

Maybe some scenes drag a bit, and I guess Episode Three is kind of the weakest, but there's not really anything that this series does poorly that warrants an in-depth complaint.

Nope.

Nothing at all...

…

...

...I'm not touching that "controversy" of Loki falling for Sylvie instead of Mobius. That's a situation where there are no winners.

Only losers.

Exclusively losers.

Other than that, this season was amazing!

IN CONCLUSION

I'd give the first season of Loki a well-earned A, with a 9.5 through my usual MCU ranking system. It turns out, it really is the best type of wackiness that was just too good to fail. The characters are fun and likable, the comedy and drama worked excellently, and the expansive world-building made me really intrigued with the more we learned. It's hard to say if Season Two will keep this momentum, but that's for the future to figure out. For now, let's just sit back and enjoy the chaos.

(Now, if you don't excuse me, I have to figure out how to review Marvel's What If...)

#marvel cinematic universe #mcu reviews #loki tv series #loki #sylvie #mobius #ravonna renslayer #hunter b 15 #classic loki #alligator loki #he who remains #kang the conqueror #what i thought about

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afaimsarrowverse · 4 years

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The 14 Creepiest Arrowverse Villains:

Yes, this one should have been made for Halloween. But after the year we just had, let’s take comfort in the fact that were are not forced to ever meet this guys here on the street in the dark. While two of the villains on this list had rather big seasonal arcs, I specifically disqualified characters from here, have proper motivations and character arcs as well as villains, who are creepy but at the same time quite a lot of fun. This why you won’t find Alice, her Mouse, Ramsay, Eobard, the Trickster, Mallus, Neron or even the Thinker here.

This list mainly consists of people we want to put back in the box, they got out of, until not seeing them at least for a season or so, and who we want to yell at: „What’s wrong with you!“ while they are on screen.

14. Toyman Senior (Winslow Schott Sr., Supergirl, Henry Czerny)

Technically this one should not be on this list, because he was redeemed in Season 5, however that happend after his death and on Earth Prime rather than Supergirls Original Eart,h so we will ignore that for now (also I wrecked my head whom from „Supergirl“ to put on here, so I overlooked that on purpose). Toyman is more creepy as a concept than in reality. He blows up kids (and other than the Trickster is no fun at all while he is doing it), threatened the life of his son to get his wife to leave him and did God knows what else to said wife and son. And did not even stop terrorizing people after his death. Can you imagine growing up as Toyman’s son? Poor Winn, you truly deserved better!

13. Bug Eyed Bandit (Brie Larvan, Queen Bee, The Flash, Arrow, Emily Kinney)

Yes, it’s because of the Bees. Because she controls Mechanical Bees that sting and kill people! I am sorry, but what’s your problem, can’t you just kill your enemies like a normal person, Brie? Not to mention the whole Felicity-thing, because yes it’s totally normal to go around and kidnap and threaten to get what you want and then try to murder again. I still do not get why they let her into the Young Rogues anyway, but then … most members of that gang were all wrong, weren’t they?

12. Garfield Lynns (Arrow, Andrew Dunbar)

Most of us have tried to forget about Season 1 Episode „Burned“ for several reasons. But the villain of it is also one of those. Because, yes Mick was a Pyromanic as well, but for more complex reasons. Garfield Lynns was a fire fighter who started burning people and ended burning himself to death because of reasons and … well let’s be honest, he was nuts and burning people is not cool at all!

11. Jake Simmons (Deathbolt, Arrow, The Flash, Doug Jones)

That’s what you get, if you hire a creature actor (no offense, Doug, we love your work!) to play a psychopatic villain. Occasionally kind of fun, yes, but mostly Simmons is crazy and creepy, and we never liked him very much, but crucial Captain Cold killed him with a flimsey excuse, which no one ever bought, and let’s put it that way: If Leonard killed him just like that, there had to be something wrong with him in a big way, and yes, the hints were there, so, yeah, what a creep.

10. The Mist (Kyle Nimbus, The Flash, Antony Carrigan)

A former Mob Hitman that looks like that and can turn into Mist. Do I have to say any more? I would take Victor Szasz over this one any day. Because Nimbus … well you would not want to meet him during a misty night, would you?

9. Murmur (Michael Amar, Arrow, Adrian Glynn McMorran)

This one actually cares about his grandma, I will give him that, but SOMEONE SEWED HIS FUCKING LIPS TOGETHER! So you don’t really like looking at him, and he kind of went over board after he was pressured into joining Damien Darhk with, you know, killing everyone and joining HIVE, who as you recall planned to end the world as wen know it, so what about everyone elses grandmas, they can just die or what? No, Mister Amar, there is quite a lot wrong with you, that’s for sure.

8. Everyman (Hannibal Bates, The Flash, Various)

That one could be a tragedy, but well, he got so mixed up and wrong in the head, that he became a danger to everyone else. He is creepy trapped between shapes and he is creepy in other shapes because … you don’t just go around and kiss random women, who think you are somebody else. That is just wrong. But Bates is kind of mostly wrong, so, yeah.

7. Anthony Ivo (Arrow, Dylan Neal)

Ivo is Sara’s Personal Case of #Metoo, which really should be enough to earn him a spot on this list, but there is also his habit of keeping people in cages and the whole „You have to choose, whom I shoot dead!“- thing and all of that is only the tip of the iceberg. Not even Dylan Neal can stop me from wanting to scream at the top of my lungs: WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?! at Dr. Ivo.

6. Nocturna (Natalia Knight, Batwoman, Kayla Ewell)

We all know the story how Nocturna was not allowed to show up in the Animated Batman Series in the 90s, because she was considered too disturbing (Morbius on the other hand was allowed to show up in the Spider-Man Cartoon but had to … undergo some changes, which made a perfectly good vampire into the creepies cartoon-villain ever unleashed on kids and scarred me for life, but that’s another story). Here she finally is, and yes, she is rather disturbing. Because she acutally knows very well that she isn’t a vampire, but still strings her victims up and bleeds them out, after biting them with laced spikey teeth. It would be kinky, if it were the least bit sexy, which it totally isn’t, so yeah, put her away for good please.

5. Vandal Savages Hawk Creatures (Legends of Tomorrow, Various)

Season 1 of „Legends“ was quite different than what came after, but „Night of the Hawk“ was an early highlight. While it was kind of a parody, being Season 1 it still played it straight for the most part, which resulted in an episode with the vibe of „American Horror Story“: We are in on the joke, but it’s still Horror. No wonder, after all Joe Dante directed this one. Vandal Savage turned poor teenagers into hawklike monsters, that no one would want to meet … ever. So yeah, thanks, but no thanks.

4. August Cartwright (Ethan Campell, Batwoman, John Emmet Tracy, Sebastian Roche)

Oh, God, that guy. So his mother wasn’t particulary ... nice, but that is no excuse to kidnap, gaslight, and brainwash a young girl, keep that girl’s mother’s head in a fridge for years, turn said girl into a slave and get her to make facemasks out of actual human face! Nor is that any excuse for fear-gasing your own son just because you are mad at him. Or anything in any way related to face-stealing, ,killing, identitiy theft, or anything else Dr. Cartwright has ever been up to. Like, seriously it has been a long time a character that desevers to be hated that much has been on our televions screens. Creepy Creep!

3. Duela Dent (Batwoman, Alessandra Torresani)

Female Slashers have become kind of a common trope in fiction by now, but Duela is kind of different. Suffering from a pretty extreme version of of body dysmorphic disorder Duela sees beauty through a different lense than the rest of the world (we will never forget what she deems to be her face being perfect, even though we desperatly want to). So yeah, she slashes faces, mainly her own, is out to punish people, who force beauty ideals on her and othes, and somehow has no problem with … donating her face to Alice. … Can someone please get that poor woman help, I mean, seriously?!

2. Rag Doll (Peter Merkel, The Flash, Troy James, Phil LaMarr)

He did make Joe West throw up. And not only him. Rag Doll is plains disgusting. So disgusting actually, that the producers dialed him back in Season 6 and used more CG and less pratical „Troy James freaks us out“- bending. But while he could be fun all elongaty, we actually prefer him as his creepy original Season 5 Self. He is demented, wears a creepy mask, acts creepy, and we really don’t want to see him do his stuff but can’t look away at the same time. I have no idea why he was in the Young Rogues either, because he is really mainly creepy – und would be the Overcreep on this list, if it weren’t for….

1. The Dollmaker (Barton Mathis, The Broken Doll Killer, Arrow, Michael Eklund)

I am still amazed to this day that they were allowed to make this episode. You have to remember „Arrow“ had been only on for one Season at this point and „The 100“ was still about to premier. The CW was yet to change it’s image. Still they somehow got to made the Dollmaker-Episode, which left us disturbed to this very day. What Mathis was doing to his victims …. Well not only Quentin got nightmares about it. Poor Laurel went understandable full addict after almost being made into a puppet by him. So, Rag Doll might look creepier, but the Dollmaker is one of this Serial Killers we never want to even hear from again. It’s really no wonder he was an one-off, like I said, I am still amazed they were even allowed to make the episode on Network Television let alone The CW at all.

#Arrowverse #Creepiest Villains #Arrow #The Flash #Supergirl #legends of tomorrow #Batwoman

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noahmcknight · 4 years

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Caution: May contain spoilers for those who haven't seen Spider-Man: Far From Home! Also a HUGE nerdy rant alert! (Long post)

I may have a huge conspiracy theory on how this new Disney and Sony deal with the Spider-Man franchise will go down. From what I've learned, it looks like we're most likely getting Morbius set in Sam Raimi's original Spider-Man universe, and that Tobey Maguire's Spidey could potentially appear in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" which is set in Disney's MCU. Here me out on this folks. If you think about it, Spidey has one more outing in another Disney produced Marvel film set in the MCU, and Sam Raimi (who directed the original Spider-Man films from the early 2000s) could potentially be taking over the director's chair over Scott Derickson for the film and is currently in discussions with Marvel Studios (while it hasn't been confirmed that he WILL be directing, he is most likely in negotiations with both Disney and Sony to bring Spidey to this film, more specifically Tobey Maguire's portrayal of the character rather than Tom Holland's). Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2 back in 2004 actually made reference to Doctor Strange by name, but that's only because Sam Raimi is a huge fan of that superhero. Further explanation of this said deal goes towards Sony's solo produced film "Morbius". The first trailer was released to reveal key references to previous plot points to Marvel Studios and Sony's co-produced film "Spider-Man: Far From Home" (set in the MCU) such as the framed death of Mysterio and revealing Spidey's identity to the world. In a part of the Morbius trailer, a mural graffiti painting of Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire) is in the background with the writing of "Murderer" on it implying this takes place in the Raimi universe but with similar plot elements. The biggest reveal was seeing Michael Keaton reprise his role as Adrian Toomes (Vulture) from "Spider-Man: Homecoming" in 2017 which is set in the Disney's established MCU. It begs the question asked -- What universe does Morbius take place? Disney's MCU or Sam Raimi's Marvel universe? The answer is actually Sam Raimi. From my understanding, Sony's timeline will follow that of similar plot points from Marvel Studios MCU for Spider-Man's characters but with using Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man rather than Tom Holland's portrayal. With Adrian Toomes, it's literally the character from Homecoming, but set in an alternate timeline which is in the Raimi universe where certain events from Homecoming still took place. Another piece of evidence was just found recently via screenshots of reshoots that took place in LA for "Morbius". Part of the scene consists of a bus that has a sticker on it that has the header "Where is Spider-Man?" signatured with the Daily Bugle on it, but not the DailyBugle.net (which some of you are more familiar with from watching Far From Home). If you look closely at the image below, you can see that it's actually using the Daily Bugle logo from the original Sam Raimi trilogy further adding proof that this movie could potentially be set in Sam Raimi's original Spider-Man universe. This also implies that Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man identity was also revealed to the world in some way almost similarly to the MCU Spidey, and he has gone into hiding. This is all leading into speculation of what's to come in the future so I'll leave it at that for now. Lastly, it's been recently rumored that Tobey Maguire has been cast in an undisclosed role in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" directed by Sam Raimi. While this has yet to be proven, I'm extremely hopeful for the outcome of what's to happen with Spider-Man in the future of film making. Sam Raimi has always been a huge fan of both of these superheroes and clearly wanted to end the original Spider-Man series on a high note and it feels like he's finally getting his shot at redemption, and I couldn't be more happier with the outcome! :) P. S. I hope I didn't confuse anyone with this quick little shock to the mind on what has been on my mind for quite some time now, and I hope you all have a good day today! :D

EDIT: Guys, Now that Benedict Cumberbatch will reprise his role as Doctor Strange as well as Jamie Foxx reprising his role as Electro in the third Spider-Man MCU film only furthers this evidence. Pizza time.

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monday--vibes · 5 years

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Forcefully Optimistic: Spider-Man’s Exit From the MCU… Might Not Be Completely Terrible?

I’m not a big lover of Disney as a corporation, but there’s no denying that they’ve done some pretty amazing things with the MCU. So when the news first broke about this little lover’s spat between Sony and Disney over everyone’s web-slinging spider-child, I was (appropriately) devastated.

Then, because I both have no life and have a great love of knowing things, I started digging, sorting out the facts and the speculation and then taking a good, long look at what this means for Peter Parker and the Spider-Man franchise.

And I realize… maybe—just maybe—this isn’t completely horrible.

Let’s break it down.

The Facts:

As is the case with anything that changes and develops super-fast, there’s a lot of uncertainty and incorrect information floating around, but here are the facts that everyone can seem at agree on.

Tom Holland is still under contract to appear as Peter Parker/Spidey in a third Spider-Man movie; Jon Watts is being considered as the director for this third movie but, as his contract wrapped up with Far From Home, this isn’t a sure thing.

Under the current contract, Sony has the distribution rights of and creative control over Spider-Man and Spider-Man related characters; Disney, meanwhile, receives 5% of first-dollar gross (meaning that Disney would get 5% of ticket sales, no matter if Sony made a profit or not) and the right to include Spidey in the MCU. Disney already owns all the merchandizing rights for the character.

Disney also suggested that it get involved in other Spidey-related movies, including the Venom sequel. (For a price, of course.)

Under the contract initially proposed by Disney, the two companies would co-finance future Spider-Man movies, essentially splitting both costs and box office revenue 50/50. Therefore, while Sony would have to pay less to produce future films, the company would take a huge cut to their profits and would loose a considerable amount of control over Spider-Man and the related characters.

There are rumours that Disney has come back to play, offering a six picture deal wherein Disney would co-finance all Spider-Man related films, splitting costs and box office revenue either 30/70 or 25/75 split in Sony’s favour. Right now, neither company has confirmed this.

Sources:

https://www.businessinsider.com/sonys-spider-man-deal-with-disney-and-marvel-studios-explained-2019-8

https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/8/20/20825631/spider-man-marvel-sony-dispute-mcu-deal-film-rights

https://deadline.com/2019/08/kevin-feige-spider-man-franchise-exit-disney-sony-dispute-avengers-endgame-captain-america-winter-soldier-tom-rothman-bob-iger-1202672545/

https://boundingintocomics.com/2019/08/23/rumor-marvel-and-disney-offer-new-deal-to-sony-to-keep-spider-man-in-mcu/

The Speculation:

In Endgame, we saw the metaphorical baton being passed on to the next generation of superheroes as Black Panther, Captain Marvel, and—yup—Spider-Man played the most high-stakes game of Hot Potato ever while trying desperately to get the Infinity Stones to the Quantum Tunnel. This cemented Peter as one of Marvel’s new Big Three, meant to replace Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor.

It also, when combined with the current contract between Sony and Disney and the commercial success of Homecoming, Far From Home, and just about every other Marvel movie ever, undoubtedly resulted in Sony laughing all the way to the bank.

After all, it was their intellectual property that Disney just set up as a cornerstone for future Marvel movies.

However, Sony is also in the rather precarious position where its most valuable franchise, by far, is Spider-Man. Far From Home racked in twice as much money on its opening weekend than Sony’s second most successful film of 2019, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. The latest installment of Men In Black, which was made by Sony-owned Columbia Pictures, has yet to break even at the theatres (and, at this rate, it probably won’t).

Source: https://www.boxofficemojo.com/studio/chart/?view2=release&view=parent&studio=sony.htm

Plus, Sony’s had a pretty spotty history with Spider-Man movies—the Raimi trilogy saw a steady decrease of gross revenue across all three films, and The Amazing Spider-Man, directed by Marc Webb, were… not received kindly. Let’s leave it at that.

Venom, for all that it was a box office success that racked in more than US$ 850 million over the course of its run, was pretty much summed up as ‘meh’ by critics, making the success of its sequel not the shoe-in that Sony would surely like. The only Spider-Man movie that’s been an absolute critical success was Into the Spider-Verse.

And, even though Sony has a whole slew of Spider-Man related movies announced, including Morbius and a Venom sequel, they’re still missing their star character—the web slinger himself.

There’s no way that Disney isn’t aware of this, of course, and considering how successful they’ve made the Marvel brand, plus and their ability to churn out (mostly) decent superhero movies year after year, it’s clear that they have an edge over Sony on that front.

However, if Into the Spider-Verse’s critical success and Venom’s financial success are any indication, it’s also clear that Sony’s been paying attention and taking notes—at least as far as superhero films are concerned. This contract breakdown could be the perfect(?) opportunity for Sony to bring Holland’s Spider-Man under their own brand, using Marvel’s successful adaptation of Peter Parker to help bolster their own Spidey Cinematic Universe.

The “Why It Might Not Be Completely Horrible”:

Whew. That was long. Okay… Let’s keep going.

Right now, we’re in this really not-good point in time where companies are merging and consolidating faster than ever. In some ways this is good, because we get standardized service across different brands and we get the possibility of an X-Men/Avengers crossover.

In other, bigger ways, though, it’s… very much not-good.

1. Oligopolies are bad for creativity.

Oligopolies are the business version of oligarchies, where a small group of people (corporations) hold all the power. Sound familiar?

Right now, Disney owns the rights to all the Marvel characters (except Spider-Man), which according to the Marvel Database Wikia, is more than 60,000 characters. The only other big player out there for superhero movies is, of course, Warner Brothers, which owns the DCEU. You can’t get much more of an oligopoly than that.

Adding one more player to the mix—Sony—doesn’t help this problem much, but it does help to distribute the characters out, giving movie goers more ways to vote with their dollars if a major company makes something that they don’t like.

Big corporations only really care about one thing: lots and lots of dollar signs. When consumers don’t have a choice where they get their consumables from, those corporations know that they’ll make money no matter what, and so they have no reason to innovate and no reason to push their creativity.

And, they don’t have any reason to listen to consumer wants or needs, either.

The result? Complacent corporations, consumers who are ignored, and a stagnant movie culture.

2. Marvel is bowing under its own weight.

With 23 movies, five discontinued series on Netflix, plus at least seven more Marvel series set to stream on Disney+, the MCU is easily one of the biggest movie franchises out there. And that doesn’t even count all the preludes, novelizations, and other add-ons.

My point is, the MCU is really, really big, and all of this bloat is starting to show.

The most recent example of this is in Far From Home, when Fury brings Peter to the underground layer and we first meet Mysterio. When Peter asks why Dr. Strange, Thor, or Captain Marvel aren’t involved in handling the Elemental threat, Fury flippantly tosses out a series of vague excuses.

And we only cover three characters, too. If Strange isn’t available, but we’re still dealing with a guy who—it seems, at least—is wielding magic, why can’t Wong step in to help? Or at least consult? Why not call in Scarlet Witch?

We see this in Endgame, too, in the final fight scene. While it’s a great scene, I’ve heard a lot of people question why Carol Danvers even needed help getting the Infinity Stones to the Quantum Tunnel, or why she couldn’t be the one to snap her fingers. After all, she took the full force of a single Stone when she was fully human and ended up fine, so why wouldn’t she be able to withstand (or withstand better than very-human Tony) the radiation let off why the Snap?

Sure, this sounds like nitpicking, but it’s a problem that’s going to have to be addressed over and over again as we see more MCU films. Why is this character facing this conflict? Why can’t another, better suited character handle the problem instead?

As writers, we should always be asking why we’re putting a certain character in a certain situation—it’s one of the ways to ensure that our plot is an effective one. However, if the answer is “because if I put another character in their place, the plot would be resolved too quickly”… perhaps the conflict or the character choice needs to be revisited.

3. Peter’s never been allowed to stand on his own two feet.

This new, younger, less mature Peter is an absolute delight on screen, and Holland does a fantastic job bringing him to life. In particular, this worked really well for Homecoming. As the first movie that really focuses on how the ‘regular’ world is affected by the Avengers, it’s interesting to see how this happy-go-lucky teenager sees a world that is, once we really get to explore it, surprisingly different from the real world we live in.

However, the MCU has since spent most of its time exploring what makes Peter special, as opposed to what makes him so relatable—one of the very things that made him such a popular character to begin with.

With Thanos’, the Vulture’s, and Mysterio’s motivations being completely unrelated to Spider-Man’s own motivations in the movies, he doesn’t ever have to question his own motivations, opinions, attitudes, or beliefs, meaning that he doesn’t have to grow.

And when the conflict of the movie does catch up with him, he doesn’t have to think his way out of things in the same way that his comic book counterpart or previous movie iterations have always had to do—someone else will always show up. In Homecoming, it was Iron Man; in Endgame, it was Danvers; and in Far From Home, it was Happy.

And, because these MCU Spider-Man movies all always working within the confines of a larger universe, they have to always spend time setting up conflict for other characters and other movies. This takes away valuable screen time that could otherwise be spent deepening his relationship with other characters, allowing him to explore his own thoughts and feelings, or establishing his character growth.

Taking Spidey out of the MCU will let us go back to basics with his character, so to speak. By necessity, Happy, Danvers, Fury, and the Skrulls won’t be in future movies. If something goes wrong, then, Peter will have to use his own grit and intelligence and resourcefulness to get himself out of his messes, grounding the stories of possible future movies in a sense of realism that’s sense escaped the MCU (for better or worse) and better allowing him to learn and grow from his mistakes.

4. It pairs Peter up with his greatest nemeses/anti-heroes again.

As great as it was to see Spider-Man team up with Avengers, the most obvious down-side, I don’t think, as missed by anyone: if Spidey’s hanging out with another corporation’s IP, then he’s not allowed to hang around with many of the 900 plus characters developed in his own world.

With Venom being as successful as it was, having Spider-Man under Sony’s banner means that the Venom versus Spider-Man rematch we’ve all been waiting for is all the more likely. We could see the Black Cat cinematic appearance that was teased in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, but was never explored. We could see Peter interact with Sable or Kraven the Hunter, both of which have movies in Sony’s line-up. The possibilities are nigh endless.

…

Or, of course, this could all go down in a giant dumpster fire. But let’s not think about that too much, eh?

#mcu #sony #spider-man #disney v sony #marvel #i'm seriously trying so hard to be optimistic right now guys

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thetygre · 6 years

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30 Day Monster Challenge 2 - Day #14: Favorite Invisible Monster

Some of the monsters on this list are so good at being invisible that I couldn’t even find a good picture of them.

1. Killer Brain (Fiend Without A Face)

The charm of any invisible monster is proportionate to how bizarre it is when it is inevitably revealed, and there are few monster that can compete with the killer brains from Fiend Without a Face. Even their explanation is unique; killer telekinetic thoughts that possess human brains and feed off nuclear radiation. These things are simultaneously adorable and grotesque; they’re slimy and have the eye tendrils of a slug, and even the way they move is creepy. They use their spinal cord tails to move around and strangle people, making more of their kind. These guys made it into Pathfinder where, frankly, I wish they had replaced Intellect Devourers in terms of being the game’s designated brain monsters (since the Mind Flayer is copyrighted). The killer brains just nail that perfect kind of creeping horror where I don’t want to touch one but I also kind of want to keep it in a tank as a pet. They do not disappoint once you finally get a look at them.

2. Monsters from the Id (Forbidden Planet)

The artist Francisco de Goya once stated, “The sleep of reason produces monsters.” The Monster from the Id from Forbidden Planet is the living embodiment of that phrase. On the alien planet of Altair IV, advanced aliens used incredible technology to make their very thoughts manifest into beings. But in a single night, the entire race was driven to extinction when their own subconscious thoughts manifested and killed them. Years later, a scientist by the name Dr. Morbius finds the aliens’ technology and uses it for his own, and the cycle begins to repeat itself. The monster is only briefly seen, and even then it’s only by the light of laser-blasts and electricity in what is frankly a perfect embodiment of raygun gothic.

Design wise, the monster isn’t particularly innovative, but I really think that’s to its credit. The id is the primal, brutish part of our minds; it would make sense for a monster based on the id’s subconscious desires to be a bulky, angry brute. And of course there’s also the classical element to the Monster as well; Forbidden Planet can be interpreted as a retelling of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, with Morbius as Prospero. If Robby the Robot, as a product of high intellectual science, is the spirit Ariel, then the Monster is Caliban. Caliban of course represented the elements of water and earth in Prospero’s miniature cosmos, and just as Caliban represented the primitive state of the world, the Monster from the Id is representative of the primitive state of the mind. Both monsters play to humanity’s earlier states. The Monster from the Id is, put frankly, a spectacular monster. Its invisibility reminds us that no matter how much we try to suppress our darker feelings and desires, there is always a monstrous part of us just underneath the surface.

3. Ghost Wolf (Fables)

Realistically speaking, all air elementals should be invisible, but so far Ghost from Fables is the only one to step up to bat. Ghost is of course the lost seventh son(?) of Bigby and Snow. He’s essentially an air elemental by virtue of Bigby’s father being the North Wind; it’s complicated. At first nobody even knows Ghost is around until he starts asphyxiating people to death. As an air elemental, air is his food, and the air in the inner city is polluted while the air in certain peoples’ lungs is nice and clean, which I think is a neat urban fantasy detail. After his mom sends him off so he doesn’t get killed, he joins up with his dad for some guerilla terrorism. It’s fine, trust me. I like Ghost first and foremost because we just don’t get a lot of air elemental characters, and when we do they tend to stick to the stock elemental character archetypes. But Ghost is an innocent kid, just a child trying to navigate around the mother of all handicaps. He doesn’t mean to be a monster, he’s just trying to survive. All Ghost wants his to be with his family; like all invisible monsters, Ghost’s is confronted with an issue of presence and acknowledgment. Ghost can’t be seen, but he can be felt, and his character makes us question how much that is worth is terms of bonding.

4. Griffin (The Invisible Man)

There have been a lot of invisible men through the years, but Griffin is still my favorite for his blend of insanity and sadism with a bit of underlying tragedy. Griffin achieved invisibility by use of a special chemical that also drives him insane with its prolonged usage. With that said, it’s hard to know whether Griffin is cruel because of the drug, or if that was always some part of him; both prospects ultimately play in Griffin’s invisibility.

First, while Griffin’s insanity is attributed to the chemicals he uses, it really derives more from his lack of recognition from other people. As an invisible being, people don’t attribute to Griffin all the dozens of minor cues a person receives every day that reassures them that they exist; glancing at them, saying hello, moving out of the way, etc. An invisible man would have to cope with the fact that outside of their own ability to sense the world around them, they don’t really exist. They are a total non-person, dehumanized in the most profound way possible.

This leads to the second point; a person treated inhumanly will begin to act inhuman. A lack of recognition is also a lack of responsibility, a state where you don’t have to be held accountable for your actions. That kind of freedom gives a person the chance to show who they really are. That is the tragedy of the invisible man; Griffin already felt inadequate before he was invisible, and was a complete non-entity with his power, so he used that power to hurt people and lash out, further alienating himself from humanity.

5. Prisoners (Silent Hill 2)

There’s a prison cell in Silent Hill 2. It’s not unusual to go to prison in Silent Hill; at this point it’s practically standard. And it’s also not unusual for the cells in that prison to have horrible monsters waiting inside. What is unusual is when you can’t actually see the monsters, and they don’t really do anything. They’re just… there. Existing. If you listen closely they seem to be chanting the word ‘ritual’, or maybe ‘are you sure’ backwards; it’s unclear. Like most monsters in Silent Hill, especially 2, all sorts of meanings and symbolism can be attributed to the prisoners. But more than anything, they’re there just to be creepy and add ambiance, and they’re disturbingly effective at it.

6. The Dunwich Horror (H.P. Lovecraft)

We don’t get enough abominable half monsters anymore. Not enough deformed masses of flesh that were simply never meant to be. The Dunwich Horror is where you can really see Lovecraft drawing from The Great God Pan in terms of influence. Growing up in rural country, I was always fascinated by the concept of the family monster in the cellar or the barn. The Dunwich Horror is too great, too terrible to be in our world. Its invisibility stems from the fact that it simply isn’t meant for our meager reality. Like Lovecraft says, it has more of its father than its mother in it. The Dunwich Horror reminds me of a storm or some other kind of natural disaster, the kind of thing the ancients would say a god was behind. But it also brings to mind the original definition of monster; ‘monstrum’ were omens in the form of deformities in childbirth, given by the gods. The unnamed Whateley brother is just such an omen; a portent of forces beyond mankind.

7. The Blair Witch (The Blair Witch Project)

Frankly, the Blair Witch could have gone on the witch list, and probably would have if I was doing a solely pop culture list. But I don’t think that should discredit the Blair Witch as an invisible monster, and there are angles to her absence that would be lost if she suddenly just showed up at the end of a movie. Most obviously, of course, is that the witch is supposed to be an ambiguous entity. Her existence could be entirely fictitious, and she might be nothing more than insanity. The Witch being invisible makes her manifest as a kind of madness, an insanity that appears solely through environmental cues. I would suggest that the Witch is invisible because she is a historic figure; specifically, she is a historic evil. She is something terrible that happened in the past, and even if that evil isn’t seen anymore, it’s still there, a part of the landscape. It’s a very basic horror reading, but I still think it applies to the Blair Witch as a monster.

8. Stealth Sneak (Kingdom Hearts)

I have a lot of good memories of beating up this guy in the Olympus Colosseum. I mean it’s utterly pointless for it to be invisible; the monster’s so huge you can even jump on top of it. But I just love this chameleon monster design! Chameleons don’t get enough play as monsters; they’re always getting upstaged by komodo dragons and iguanas. And obviously the superior color palette is green. I know that shouldn’t matter for a monster that can change color at will, but a line has to be drawn somewhere.

9. Death Sword (The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess)

This guy almost looks like he belongs on the evil weapons list until you actually get to see him. Then when you finally get a look at him, he’s one of the coolest designs in the game! Just look at this horrible thing. What was he? Why is he locked up in this musty old desert tomb? And what did he do that he had to be bound with all these amulets? There’s a lot of mysteries for this mini-boss, and we’re probably better off not knowing. Just appreciate his design and respect the cleaver.

10. Intangir (Final Fantasy VI)

This is just sheer nostalgia. When I was a kid, my cousin let me play her copy of Final Fantasy VI briefly, and I kept running into an invisible monster. Whenever I would attack it enough, it would appear and reveal this giant cat-dragon thing. For years, it became my default to assume that any invisible monster was a buff cat-dragon-man. Blair Witch? Cat-man. Cattle mutilators? Cat-man. Forbidden planet monster? Cat-man. This is Schrodinger’s Cat-Man, where every invisible monster is potentially a cat-man until proven otherwise. Years later, I can see now that this thing is a Behemoth palette-swap, but I like to think of it is a lesser subspecies.

#30 Day Monster Challenge #30 Day Monster Challenge 2 #the invisible man #silent hill #kingdom hearts #final fantasy #h.p. lovecraft #the legend of zelda #long post

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thecometpunch-blog · 5 years

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The Twisted Web of Spider-Man in the MCU

Our boy is back, safe and sound at Marvel like he should be. Or is he?

Earlier this summer, there was a short but vitriolic custody battle over the film rights to the webslinger between Marvel/Disney and Sony Pictures. On one hand, you had family friendly, can-almost-do-no-wrong Marvel/Disney who revamped the Spider-Man series with Tom Holland at the helm and then on the other hand, you had Sony who made Venom and botched the Amazing Spider-Man series and have--aside from Into the Spiderverse-- dropped the ball on quite a few of their franchises and movies over the years.

The battle lines were clearly cut, at least in the public’s eyes, with Marvel/Disney looking like the good guys and Sony looking like the bad guys. But it wasn’t as clear cut as that.

With Disney’s acquisition of Fox over the summer, Disney owns a huge slice of the media pie, owning properties from ABC to National Geographic, a majority share of Hulu and prepping to launch their streaming service, Disney+ in the fall. The number of iconic franchises that Disney now owns the rights to is kinda scary, and fears about them creating a monopoly are pretty justified. I mean, I enjoy consuming a variety of media from different companies with different visions. And if Disney owns all of it, I’m worried about things becoming too homogenized.

When put in that light, Sony looks like the Little Company That Could, trying to hold onto the one property that makes them the most money in Spider-Man against big bad Marvel/Disney who want the majority of profits.

Now that contracts have been agreed upon and who gets what share has been figured out, Spider-Man is back in the MCU and there are rumors that Sonyverse characters like Venom could appear in the MCU and that Spider-Man could appear in the Sonyverse movies, possibly in Venom 2, Madame Web, or Morbius.

The whole situation, to me, just reeks of corporate meddling and using public perception as a bargaining chip to get Sony and Marvel/Disney back to the table for rights discussions. We went from the split happening to Sony definitively saying that there was no chance they’d come to an agreement with Marvel/Disney to just a few weeks later going “Oh, look. He’s back in the MCU.”

While I’m definitely excited that Spider-Man’s back--it’d be a shame to end his run in the MCU on a cliffhanger after the ending of Far From Home-- I do worry about his future in the franchise. After FFH, he finally feels like he’s coming into his own and standing as his own hero rather than the successor of Tony Stark. One of the detriments of him being in the MCU is that rather than feeling like Spider-Man, he feels like Tony Stark Jr. This persona is finally shed in FFH, but it feels rather late in the game since he only has, at most, two more movies left according to the new Sony-Marvel/Disney agreement.

While he’s young, Peter Parker is still a full fledged hero. This perception of him being more like a sidekick or a protege is a pretty recent development and didn’t really become a thing until Captain America: Civil War and the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon (which was produced after the Disney/Marvel merger). Prior to that, even with the Raimi Spider-Man movies and in the comics, Spidey was usually just off doing his own thing or working alongside other heroes, but he was never really a second banana to anybody. Hopefully in future movies, they’ll get away from this so that he can stand on his own two feet, development wise, without relying on Tony Stark or anyone else.

On top of that, if the rumors prove to be true from the new contract, we’ll get the inclusion of tonally different heroes being injected into the MCU in the form of Venom and Morbius and all these other characters, and let’s be real here for a second: Sony’s writing and handling of these characters hasn’t exactly been consistent. Into the Spiderverse worked because Sony Animation took a step back and let the writers and artists do their thing and they came out with a great product, but studio mandated movies with heavy producer interference gave us Venom (*I’m sorry, I just really hate that movie). What I’m trying to say is that I worry about the clash of tones between the Sonyverse characters and the Marvel characters existing within the same space in the same movies.

It feels like the Wild West over at Sony. Like the DCEU, they seem to announce more movies than they’ve made, movies that seemingly don’t have any consistent rhyme, reason, or cohesion to them. They’ve announced a Silver and Black movie that would’ve followed Silver Sable and Black Cat. They wanted to do a movie featuring Silk, Spiderwomen (which would probably be cool), Venom 2, Morbius, Kraven the Hunter, Jackpot (who I had to look up because even reading the comics, I had no idea who that was). There was the failed Sinister Six movie they teased so hard that it killed the Amazing Spider-Man franchise. They even planned on doing a movie following the exploits of a young Aunt May where she would’ve been a spy.

Sony doesn’t really seem to know what they’re doing, but they know that they want to keep their hands on the Spider-Man franchise, even if it means they have to make a movie about Big Wheel or the Kangaroo (yes, those are really Spider-Man villains).

My hopes for the future of the Spider-Man franchise is the guided direction of Marvel-Disney with the creative freedom of Sony. Marvel’s got the superhero formula down, almost to a fault, where you can pretty much expect what you’re getting out of a movie. This doesn’t leave much room for risks and surprises, but you get a solid film outing with major profits. Sony throws whatever they can at the wall and sees what sticks, sometimes in a good way (like with Into the Spiderverse) or sometimes in a bad way (like with The Amazing Spider-Man 2). If they can work together to continue to make great movies with our Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, then I’m all for it. But I’m just really hoping this isn’t a monkey’s paw sorta thing where our rallying for his character to come back to the MCU comes with a cost. Because Sony already gave us Venom, and that cost was more than enough.

#spiderman #spider-man #mcu #mcu spiderman #spidermanedit #blog #sony #sonyverse #spiderverse #mcu spider-man #peter parker #spiderman ffh #sm:ffh #sony spiderman

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movietvtechgeeks · 7 years

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Marvel Mishandles Diversity

Marvel Comics is currently doing damage control. The brand that can do no wrong in film is having problems in print. The damage control situation stems from a statement by Marvel Comics Vice President of Print and Marketing David Gabriel that their push for diversity in comic was not working. “What we heard was that people didn’t want any more diversity… I don’t know that that’s really true, but that’s what we saw in sales.” -- David Gabriel, ICv2 interview Earlier news suggests that Marvel will be bringing its core heroes back, probably after their last major event Secret Empire. Marvel also said that they’ll be doing a moratorium on multiple crossovers which they’ve relentlessly been doing the past years. There are comic book fans out there who can’t afford purchasing multiple titles. This fan for instance, lives off on borrowing from his friends or reading into them on Wikipedia or catching up on YouTube. In the pre-internet age, I was concentrated on Ghost Rider, Spirits of Vengeance and X-Men Classic. A friend of mine was into X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, X-Factor and X-Force and we borrow from each other every time we meet up. The only time I got into any major crossover was during the Midnight Massacre event (with black covers) and Siege of Darkness to which I had to buy all the books involved (NightStalkers, Ghost Rider, Spirits of Vengeance, Morbius the Living Vampire and Darkhold). These events were somewhat in parallel to X-Men’s Age of Apocalypse and the Onslaught Saga to which me and my friend cooperated on. That was an expensive undertaking. Imagine if we were still at it. So as for Marvel’s events, they’ll be cutting back as not all fans can buy all the books they need. Some fans may be into the X-Men; others the Avengers or Spider-Man. Secret Empire is going to be the last of those major events where Ultimate Spider-Man Miles Morales would be seen killing Hydra Captain America. With Miles Morales, let’s go back to diversity. Most of us geks probably know this but for others’ sake let’s elaborate on diversity. These past couple of years, Marvel has gone gangsta on diversity for some reason. Whether it’s third wave feminism, increasing gender equality awareness and the social media preoccupation with political correctness. As said before, Marvel often reflects the issues of the time. We now have more female leads, more ethnicities and some gender identities. The transition of Miles Morales to the mainstream Marvel universe, poised to replace Peter Parker who is now currently too busy running his own company. Tony Stark, after the events of Secret Wars is now in a coma and has been replaced by female black teenager, Riri Williams. There are actually two Iron Men flying around; Riri Williams and Doctor Doom. We’ve had Pakistani Muslim female teenager Kamala Khan who took on the mantle of Ms. Marvel from Carol Danvers who will be having a movie by the way featuring Brie Larson. The current official Captain America is Sam Wilson, formerly the Falcon. The Hulk is now Korean genius teenager Amadeus Cho who took Bruce Banner’s power. Bruce Banner is now dead by the way. She Hulk Jennifer Walters is being positioned as the current savage hulk persona because of PTSD. The mantle of Wolverine is now in the hands of teenager Laura Kinney also known as X-23 whom we’ve all seen on the awesome Old Man Logan film. Thor is now female whose secret identity is Jane Foster who the general public identifies with Natalie Portman; due to Odinson becoming unworthy in one of Marvel’s many, many crossover events. Ghost Rider is now Latino LA resident Robbie Reyes. And they made X-Men’s Iceman gay. Not the mainstream Iceman but the version snatched from the past. Confusing huh? It’s comics. There’s really nothing wrong with diversity. If Marvel only looked into its inner character line, their lineup is already very diverse. They already have the sexiest female lineup of superheroines like Ms. Marvel Carol Danvers, former White Queen Emma Frost, X-Men’s Rogue, Spider-Woman Jessica Drew and The Wasp Janet Van Dyne. They’re well represented in the African-American community with Nick Fury Jr., Black Panther, the Falcon, War Machine James Rhodes, Luke Cage, Misty Knight, the X-Men’s Storm and Cloak from Cloak and Dagger. Then we have the Asians Colleen Wing from Iron Fist, the X-Men’s Jubilation Lee, Big Hero 6’s Sunfire and Silver Samurai, British mind but Asian body Psylocke and X-Men’s Armor Hisako Ichiki. On the Latino side, Marvel has X-Men medic Cecilia Reyes, X-Force Sunspot Roberto Da Costa, Spider-Man Miles Morales, Slingshot Yo-Yo Rodriguez (featured in Agents of SHIELD) and New Mutants member Rictor Julio Richter. As for the LGBT community, there’s Alpha Flight’s Northstar, Young Avengers Hulkling, New Mutant’s Karma Xi'an Coy Manh, the Darkhold’s Victoria Montesi, and Daredevil’s Jeryn Hogarth. They just need to bring the focus back to these characters in main or supporting roles. What happened with Marvel according to some fans is that they did things too quickly even going so far as to replace their core characters like Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, the Incredible Hulk, Ms. Marvel and Spider-Man. There was previous talk before Captain America Civil War that Marvel should use Miles Morales instead of the traditional Peter Parker. Fans were totally divided because even the general public knows that Peter Parker is Spider-Man at the very least from newspaper comic strips. Marvel should have been promoting the hell out of their core characters who people are just getting to know in their films and introducing their diversity line in major but supporting roles. Marvel became too heavy-handed with the diversity thing, and many fans didn’t like the total replacement of their core heroes according to some forums. Even people just going into comics because of the films will be surprised that Bruce Banner is dead and is no longer the Hulk, that Thor is a lady and that Captain America is HYDRA. IMHO, if they wanted to replace Iron Man with a female, they could have just re-imagined the hero Spitfire (Jenny Swensen) from their 80s New Universe line. That could have gotten people excited because people are more familiar with the character instead of Riri Wiliams. Anyway, poor sales or not, Marvel didn’t pull off the diversity very well. If they did get new fans with their diversity line, they alienated others. It reflected in their sales numbers and is now blaming their sales on their program. Many argue that the diversity thing could have been handled with better stories and a lack of emphasis on major events. Whether or not you agree that Mr. Gabriel’s statement was not in good taste, the reality is often in the sales numbers despite other factors that are difficult to quantify. He chose to listen to the retailers griping about their poor sales because their respective clientele didn’t like the diversity program. Below are some statements of those retailers: “I don't want you guys doing that stuff… I want you to entertain. That’s the job. One of my customers even said the other day he wants to get stories and doesn’t mind a message, but he doesn't want to be beaten over the head with these things.” “When you talk about the Academy Awards, and how [inclusion and diversity] was a prime topic, I look at the cold, hard reality, and I'm in business. A lot of those movies, or other things in other media, aren't really big money makers. For me, I care more about whether I'm going to sell it or not.” The situation could be different elsewhere as individuals or entire areas of customers may have the opposite taste. Anyway, Marvel may soon bring back the classics. Good old Captain America Steve Rogers, Tony Stark as Iron Man, Odinson as Thor and Bruce Banner as the Hulk. Again, IMHO, what Jennifer Walters is going through, turning pleasant She-Hulk into Savage She-Hulk is quite interesting. Whatever happens to bring the classics back could have something to do with the Cosmic Cube that turned Steve Rogers into an agent of HYDRA. But fans of the new characters won’t be left out as Marvel won’t be letting go of the characters they’ve already created. “Discussed candidly by some of the retailers at the summit, we heard that some were not happy with the false abandonment of the core Marvel heroes and, contrary to what some said about characters “not working,” the sticking factor and popularity for a majority of these new titles and characters like Squirrel Girl, Ms. Marvel, The Mighty Thor, Spider-Gwen, Miles Morales, and Moon Girl, continue to prove that our fans and retailers ARE excited about these new heroes. And let me be clear, our new heroes are not going anywhere! We are proud and excited to keep introducing unique characters that reflect new voices and new experiences into the Marvel Universe and pair them with our iconic heroes… We have also been hearing from stores that welcome and champion our new characters and titles and want more! They've invigorated their own customer base and helped them grow their stores because of it. So we're getting both sides of the story, and the only upcoming change we're making is to ensure we don't lose focus of our core heroes,” -- Marvel Comics What’s truly important though, is that diversity or no, is for Marvel to continue producing great stories involving their iconic characters as well as their new ones. That they strike the right balance between art and storytelling that manages to properly reflect the world’s current issues like they used to do.

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