Monday 15 April 2013

M is for Marvel - Blogging from A to Z April Challenge

I almost did A is for Avengers, but then I realised if I did M is for Marvel I could get them all in anyway and I could mention others too :).

I would call myself a Marvel fan, but I am not old school and I don't read the comics. I'm one of those annoying new Marvel fans who's gateway to the universes is the movies. Not that I don't respect the comic fans, I have several friends who are deeply into the comics and their knowledge is incredible, but I'm about to witter on about movies and TV shows, not comics :).

I discovered Marvel via cartoons. I remember many happy hours watching Spider-man and his Amazing Friends as a child. It's corny and bad, but I loved it when I was younger.

Then there was Spiderwoman and of course the original X-men cartoon. I was a big fan of Gambit and he was my favourite character, which made me very disappointed when he wasn't in the first three X-men movies.

It's probably why my favourite is the one every body pans: Wolverine Origins, because it has Gambit in it. Of course they did it all wrong because my favourite thing about Gambit in the cartoon was always his eyes. I have a thing about eyes :).

While the X-men movies were good (except X3) I was a fan of Toby Maguire as Spider-man. The first two movies were superb and the second one pushed all my reveal buttons. I love it when superheroes are unmasked and the whole scene on the train it my favouritest ;). (Yes, I know that's not a word).

I didn't see The Amazing Spider-man for quite some time and eventually watched it on Blu-ray because I was not sure they could make me love Spidey as much as I had before. I was wrong, the film is an awesome reboot of the franchise.

However, I'm getting ahead of myself.

What really dragged me into the movie love of Marvel properly, however (which I define as wanting to write fanfic and collecting memorabilia), was X-men First Class. The chemistry between Charles and Eric had me riveted through the whole film. It's played almost like a romance, which makes the ending all the more dramatic and heart wrenching. The rest of the characters are also brilliant.

The young Charles Xavier quickly became my new favourite X-man.

I know it was a different studio to the movies in the Avengers franchise, but this was the movie that rekindled my love and made me want to see lots more comic book movies.

There have been many, many bad comic book movies, but we live in an era where the special effects are brilliant and the fanboys/girls are directing and there are now some great movies out there.

Let's talk about Iron Man. Now I saw the cartoon when I was younger and I have to say, I never liked Iron Man. Then, along comes Robert Downey Jr and suddenly I'm an Iron Man fan. The first film is incredible, the second is awesome as well and I hope the third builds on what is a fantastic franchise. RDJ is Tony Stark, it's that simple :).

The films are visually stunning and the plots have actually been thought about. Add that to the fact that they have a brilliant cast and there is nothing left to ask for. I have to admit I did not see 1 or 2 in the cinema, but on blu-ray.

In fact the only one of the marvel movies I have seen in the cinema was The Avengers. However, I'm getting ahead again.

After seeing Iron Man I saw Thor, and was initially unimpressed. However, I saw it on a small screen and was half asleep. I know this because having rewatched it more than once, it is my favourite of the Avengers prequels. Not gonna lie, sorry Thor, it's not because of you, it's because of Loki. Tom Hiddleston plays the part of what is effectively the villain, in such a way that I wanted him to win, kinda.

It a very Shakespearian tale, which isn't overly surprising given that it's directed by Kenneth Branagh. It big, it's epic and it's just how we needed to be introduced to Thor.

Next I saw Captain America, which is my second favourite Avengers prequel. I love the humour, the characters, the plot and, well everything. The Steve/Bucky friendship is brilliant and the way Peggy has Steve blushing and totally confused is superb.

I own on DVD the 80's version of Captain America, which is so terrible it's almost good. This version is much better :).

This was the point where I gave up and just ordered all the blu-rays.

The less said about Ang Lee's Hulk the better IMHO, but if you like it, go you :).

I love The Incredible Hulk with Edward Norton. It's action packed and a great romp even if you can tell what mood Banner is supposed to be in by whether it's raining or not.

Then, however, we come to The Avengers. I may possibly have gone a little gaga over this movie.

I love Loki, not going to attempt to hide that. He made the film for me as Tom gave another stellar performance. I cannot wait to see him in Thor 2.

However, it wasn't just Tom. Joss Whedon did an incredible job on this film. He brought together four sets of characters from highly successful movies and merged them into one like no one else could have done.

It isn't just a superhero movie where everyone comes together, defeats the bad guy and all is sweetness and light. There is conflict, there is anger, there is plot and there is humour.

The cast could have not gelled, but they did. Mark Ruffalo taking the role of Banner and Hulk is simply brilliant, RDJ is as superb and on form as ever, both Chrises give great performances, Renner as Hawkeye is superb and Scarlett was knock out as Black Widow.

This film was a hell of a risk, if it had been bad it could have sunk the franchise, but it was gold and I am so looking forward to the rest.

And just to add, well done to The Avengers and Tom Hiddleston for their wins at the MTV Awards last night.

This year we get Iron Man 3 and Thor 2, next year we're supposed to be getting X-men First Class 2 and Captain America 2. Things are looking up.

Are you a Marvel fan? What was your gateway and who is your favourite Marvel character? Please stay and chat, I'd love to hear from you.

If you would like to see what all of my posts will be about in advance, click here to see my theme post.
My twin and I are also doing the A to Z Challenge over at our fantasy erotica blog: http://fantasyboysxxx.blogspot.co.uk/

7 comments:

  1. This is an outstanding blog, I really enjoyed it. As for The Avengers I used to watch the TV show here in the UK many years ago.It was in black and white then. My late husband was into much of the things you wrote about..I really enjoyed the read and pictures.
    Yvonne.

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    1. Thank you :). One of the things I love about Blogger is how easy it is to share text and images to draw people in. Some of the images from the Marvel cartoons bring back so many memories of when I was younger.

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  2. When I was a child (young young child) I LOVED the Hulk. My family would watch the TV show and I would stand in front a repeat the 'You don't want to make me angry' line and try to do the 'flex-y Hulk arms'. Which is why I am so disappointed in the Hulk movies. However I do love Mark Ruffalo as the green guy in the Avengers.
    After Hulk it was the Xmen. Like you I watched the cartoon and my favs were Wolverine and Gambit (and yes I may look for a good slash story from time to time with them)
    I am with you, I think the should have had Gambit in more of the 'through them a bone' part I feel they gave him. My only other problems with that franchise is whoever wrote X3 needed to be slap upside the head, and Storm, I don't like the way Halle Barry played it. To stiff and just wrong feeling for the character.
    My little nerdy heart is excited about the all the superhero movies coming out these next few years. With Ironman 3 being the prefect brithday present!

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    1. I totally forgot about The Incredible Hulk *looks over at DVD shelves* even though I have season 1 and the movies :). I used to love it too, but somehow it must sit in a different category in my head.

      I liked the second Hulk movie, but found the first utterly dull.

      I was never a Wolverine fan until Hugh Jackman :D - shallow I know.

      I am so looking forward to Iron Man 3 :)

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  3. I'd forgotten the cartoons until seeing the pic ahh Gambit, yeah he was my favourite too and the reason I haven't watched the movies (yet) - I like my remembered version.

    Spiderman never so much, as a kiddy I liked the idea of webbing :) but Spiderman is about adolesence (unless squabbling with the boys in work), he got overtaken by the camp darkness of Batman (yes DC not Marvel). I love the old series with Adam West and some of the films, Christian Bale plays him very intense.

    I used to like the comics, from compendiums rather than the originals; from them my favourite was Nightcrawler strange amongst mutants and yet funny and a total sweetie. I actually liked his protrayal in the films. Though Hugh Jackamn hmmmm ;)

    Never a fan of Iron Man so not seen it, though I can imagine RDJ being perfect casting. I think X3 put me off the rest of the films, I do kind of want to see Wolverine he's an interesting character. Ohh Captaun America, I need to ass that to my to-watch list :)

    As a phenomena comics (in whatever format televised..) are interesting. They get dismissed as childish but the themes in them are often dark. There's a lot about identity, acceptance, loss. Standing for what you believe in and murky values. If you ever look-up any of the Marvel characters 'lives' they suffer and rarely if ever end with HEAs, good versus evil but not as simple as it seems.

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    1. I have started buying the cartoon on DVD - taking me a while though because there are lots of parts :).

      I liked the first Batman movie with Michael Keaton and the first one with Chris O'Donnel and the first Christian Bale Batman movie, but have not been very fond of the others. I see a theme ...

      I didn't like Iron Man until I saw RDJ playing him :D.

      LOL about Cap :)

      See, I like Happy Ever After, which is probably why I've never gotten along with comics ;).

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    2. LOL don't give me ideas!
      No my 'big' dvd collection is The Avengers as in Steed (Patrick Macnee) and co.

      I liked the Keaton ones, the others didn't make much impact weren't they camped up? Then the first Bale one was good.

      Typo, Typo, Typo (Freud would be sharpening pencils!) *blush* but yeah, I want to watch that film.

      Me too. I can read most genre if I know it has a HEA.

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