New Thor Armor

Here is a stunt double in the new armor from Thor: The Dark World.
I like it.

New Thor Trailer

Just in time to get my mind off the Wonder Woman TV series, we have the new Thor trailer with lots more Destroyer goodness and more shots of Thor and Loki.
You know, I really WANT this one and Cap to do well.

So I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Upcoming Marvel Movies - Thor

I can't really single one out, but out of all the upcoming Marvel movies, I may be looking forward to Thor the most.
Don't get me wrong, I want The Avengers movie and the Captain America: The First Avenger movies both to be awesome, but Thor, I think will be trickier to pull off.
I got to see the Thor trailer online before it got yanked, and I thought it was really good.

It looks like they are going with the Jack Kirby and Walt Simonson vision with the huge cathedrals and almost a sci fi / fantasy look.
Which I think is great.

And they are going with helmets!
I know that seems like a minor point, but Thor really needs to wear the helmet at least a few times.
It's like Cap without his shield.

I think the cast looks amazing....

Chris Hemsworth looks like he dove into his role as Thor, beefing up and adopting a "Mike Tyson" like fighting style for the Son of Odin.
Great!
I really didn’t want to see Thor fighting like Bruce Lee.

The more I look at Tom Hiddleston as Loki, the more I like him.
He has that "I look like a nice guy, but you can see the evil behind my eyes" look that Loki needs.
And Tom has said in interviews that he has adopted a ballet like fighting style, which is a perfect counter-point to Thor's "smash-mouth" style.

Natalie Portman as Jane Foster...well…I hate to sound bad, but Jane Foster was the least of my worries about this film.
Changing her from a nurse to a scientist is okay I guess.

Anthony Hopkins as Odin, looking at it, who else could you have gotten?
Well maybe Brian Blessed, who I think was actually considered at one point.

Jaimie Alexander as Sif, see, this is the female character that worried me.
Maybe because in the Walt Simonson run, she played such an important part.
Jamie was one of few girls on her Colleyville, Texas, high-school wrestling team, so we have the combat training halfway done already!

Then we have The Warriors Three with Joshua Dallas as Fandral, Tadanobu Asano as Hogun and Ray Stevenson as Volstagg.
Good choices all, but I really can't wait to see what Stevenson does with Volstagg.

Idris Elba as Heimdall has caused some Internet controversy.
A Norse deity being played by a black actor?
I really won’t know how I feel till I see what he does with the role.
If he's a great Heimdall, more power to him.

Rene Russo as The wife of Odin, Frigga.
I don’t recall too much about her in the comics, so I'm open to seeing what she can do.

Kat Dennings as Darcy.
She's supposed to be a co-worker of Jane Foster, I guess created just for the movie.
I know my first response was "Why?"

Of course, our hero Clark Gregg will be in it as S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Phil Coulson.
It wouldn’t be the same without "The Glue of the Marvel Cinematic Universe" there.

American-Canadian stage, film and television actor, Colm Feore will be playing Ymir.
I'm interested in seeing how that plays out.

Looks like they hit all the high points...but where's Balder?

Marvel Comics Movies - Fantastic Four

The first superhero team created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, The Fantastic Four appeared in The Fantastic Four #1 November 1961.
As much of a family as they were a superhero team, the FF caught on fast and soon became one of Marvel Comic's top sellers.
Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben never went the secret identity route, but embraced their fame and celebrity status.
And their fame with readers sent The Fantastic Four, or "The Greatest Comics Magazine in the World!!" as Marvel said into all kinds of media, including movies.

The Fantastic Four (1994)
The first Fantastic Four movie as sadly just an exercise to allow the producers to secure the copyrights to the property.
It was The Fantastic Four, made in 1994.
The film was produced by B-Movie legend Roger Corman and Bernd Eichinger.
Even though the film was made just to hold onto the copyright and never intended for release, the actors and crew were never told that.
The film starred Alex Hyde-White as Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic, Rebecca Staab as Sue Storm / The Invisible Woman, Michael Bailey Smith as Ben Grimm and Jay Underwood as Johnny Storm / The Human Torch. Although Michael Bailey Smith played Ben Grimm, Carl Ciarfalio was under the make-up as The Thing.
Corman made the film for under 2 million dollars.
As far as bad movies go, Wizard Magazine ranks this film as better (worse) than Batman & Robin, Steel, Virus and Red Sonja.
The best way to find this movie is bootleg copies.

The Fantastic Four (2005)
The franchise got a major reboot with The Fantastic Four (2005).
This movie was made for $100 million and grossed over $330 million worldwide.
It starred Ioan Gruffudd as Dr. Reed Richards / Mr. Fantastic, Jessica Alba as Susan Storm / Invisible Woman, Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm / The Thing and Chris Evans as Johnny Storm / Human Torch.
Julian McMahon portrayed a sort of "Ultimates" version of Dr. Doom.
The critics didn't love this movie, but I liked it.
Except for the way they did Dr.Doom.
It wasn't the greatest superhero movie ever made by any means, but I still don't think it was the worst.
And the movie performed well enough for a sequel.
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)
The FF returned in 2007 with Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.
The original cast returned with the addition of Doug Jones as the body of the Silver Surfer, and Laurence Fishburne as his voice.
Some critics liked the sequel better than the original.
But the film didn't pull in enough to go ahead and green light a third movie.
Fantastic Four Reboot?

Fantastic Four Reboot
20th Century Fox has announced plans to overhaul the Fantastic Four film franchise with a new movie produced by Akiva Goldsman and scripted by Michael Green.
This came right after the news of the proposed merger with Disney.
Akiva Goldsman won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the 2001 film, A Beautiful Mind.
But he also did Lost in Space, Batman Forever and Batman & Robin.
He's currently working on Jonah Hex and the movie adaptation of Teen Titans.
Television and film writer, as well as a comic book scripter, Michael Green has worked on the upcoming Green Lantern movie, the NBC TV series Heroes, Everwood, Jack and Bobby, Smallville, Kings and Snoops.