Tag: MCU

The Cosmic Adventures: Exploring the Best Guardians of the Galaxy Comics of All Time

Guardians of the Galaxy is a relatively new addition to the Marvel Universe, but it has quickly become a fan favourite. The team of misfits has captured the hearts of readers with their hilarious banter, exciting adventures, and compelling character arcs. In this article, we will explore the best Guardians of the Galaxy comics of all time, from the team’s first appearance to the most recent series.

  1. “Annihilation: Conquest” (2007)

Before the Guardians of the Galaxy were a team, they were a group of characters thrown together during the “Annihilation: Conquest” storyline. The event saw the Phalanx, a race of technologically advanced beings, take over the Kree Empire. Star-Lord, Drax the Destroyer, Gamora, Rocket Raccoon, and Groot all played a role in the conflict, and it was during this storyline that they first came together as a team. The “Annihilation: Conquest” storyline is a must-read for fans of the Guardians of the Galaxy, as it establishes the team’s origins and sets the stage for their future adventures.

  1. “Guardians of the Galaxy” (2008)

Following their initial appearance in “Annihilation: Conquest,” the Guardians of the Galaxy were given their own ongoing series in 2008. Written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, the series saw the team come together to protect the galaxy from a variety of threats, including the Badoon, the Phalanx, and the Universal Church of Truth. The series is notable for its focus on character development, particularly for characters like Rocket Raccoon and Groot, who had previously been more minor players in the Marvel Universe. The series ran for 25 issues and is considered one of the best Guardians of the Galaxy stories ever told.

  1. “Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Avengers” (2013)

In 2013, Brian Michael Bendis and Steve McNiven relaunched the Guardians of the Galaxy series with a new #1 issue. The series saw the team come together once again to protect the galaxy, this time from the cosmic threat of Thanos. The series is notable for its excellent characterization and for introducing new team members like Angela, a character originally created by Neil Gaiman for Spawn. The series ran for 27 issues and was the basis for the first Guardians of the Galaxy film.

  1. “Rocket Raccoon” (2014)

In 2014, Marvel launched a new ongoing series focused on Rocket Raccoon. Written and illustrated by Skottie Young, the series saw Rocket go on a series of wacky adventures across the galaxy. The series was notable for its humour and its beautiful artwork, and it helped to solidify Rocket’s place as one of the most beloved characters in the Marvel Universe. The series ran for 11 issues and is a must-read for fans of the character.

  1. “Guardians of the Galaxy: Legacy” (2018)

In 2018, Gerry Duggan and Aaron Kuder launched a new Guardians of the Galaxy series that focused on the team’s legacy. The series saw the team dealing with the aftermath of Thanos’ death and trying to establish themselves as the new protectors of the galaxy. The series is notable for its exploration of the team’s history and for introducing new characters like Cosmic Ghost Rider. The series ran for 12 issues and is a great read for fans of the team.

The Guardians of the Galaxy have had a relatively short but incredibly impactful history in the Marvel Universe. From their origins in “Annihilation: Conquest” to their recent adventures in “Guardians of the Galaxy: Legacy,” the team has provided readers with some of the most entertaining and compelling stories.

Liv Tyler to reprise her role as Betty Ross

In exciting news for Marvel fans, it’s been confirmed that Liv Tyler will reprise her role as Betty Ross in the upcoming film Captain America: New World Order. The actress previously played the character in the 2008 film The Incredible Hulk, and it seems that Marvel has decided to bring her back into the fold after 15 years.

In the film, Betty Ross is the daughter of General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, a military official who was previously played by the late William Hurt. This time around, Harrison Ford will be taking on the role of Ross, who will be the President of the United States in the movie.

Tyler will be joining a star-studded cast that includes Anthony Mackie as Captain America, Danny Ramirez as Joaquin Torres, Carl Lumbly as Isaiah Bradley, and Tim Blake Nelson as The Leader. While plot details are still scarce, it has been revealed that the film will see Captain America facing off against Thunderbolt Ross.

Speaking about the project, producer Nate Moore teased that the dynamic between Sam Wilson and Thunderbolt Ross will be an exciting one to watch. “There’s going to be some natural sparks there, which I think are going to be really fun,” he said.

Directed by Julius Onah (The Cloverfield Paradox) and written by Dalan Musson and Malcolm Spellman (who both wrote for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier), Captain America: New World Order is one of the highly anticipated Phase Five films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Spellman will also serve as a producer alongside Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige.

Captain America: New World Order is set to arrive in cinemas. on May 3, 2024. The return of Liv Tyler to the MCU is sure to have fans buzzing with excitement, and we can’t wait to see what this film has in store.

Film review-Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, the latest installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, attempts to continue the saga of Scott Lang, aka Ant-Man, and his allies as they venture into the Quantum Realm. However, the film struggles to find its footing, suffering from a lack of narrative direction and inconsistent pacing. While the movie retains some of the humor that made the first two Ant-Man films so enjoyable, it also becomes bogged down in attempts to tie into previous Marvel movies and remind viewers of past events.

The film’s reliance on green screen technology to create its fantastical worlds is unfortunately marred by poor editing, resulting in distracting inconsistencies and uncanny character renderings. Despite this, the movie does have its moments of charm and heart, particularly in the subplot involving Scott’s relationship with his daughter Cassie. However, the broader narrative struggles to find a balance between the intimate family drama and the larger-than-life action sequences.

Perhaps the strongest aspect of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is the introduction of Kang the Conquerer, played with menacing brilliance by Jonathan Majors. Majors’ portrayal of the villain injects a much-needed dose of gravitas and terror into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, making Kang a worthy adversary for the heroes to face off against.

Overall, while Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania may please diehard fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it falls short of the high expectations set by its predecessors. The film’s attempts to expand beyond its titular hero and its reliance on callbacks to previous movies ultimately detract from the potential for a standalone adventure.

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Review-The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special

The Guardians of the Galaxy are back, and this time they’re taking on Christmas with a good old-fashioned seasonal special. While it may not have the same weight as some of the other MCU projects, the special offers a light-hearted, entertaining escape from reality.

Peter Quill, still reeling from the loss of Gamora, is surprised by his teammates Mantis and Drax, who have hatched a plan to cheer him up. After hearing about Christmas, they decide to kidnap Quill’s childhood hero, Kevin Bacon, and bring him to him as a present. While the break-in is the most surreal thing you’ll see this holiday season, it sets off a chain of events that lead to a heartwarming Christmas party and a surprise revelation about Peter’s family.

The special has its highs and lows, with some jokes hitting the mark and others falling flat. The scenes of Mantis and Drax experiencing Earth culture are entertaining, but at times they drag on too long. Nevertheless, the special’s message of togetherness and family makes it a perfect watch for the holiday season.

Overall, while the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special may not be the most memorable addition to the MCU, it’s a fun and heartwarming way to spend 40 minutes this Christmas.

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Amy Pascal and Kevin Feige discuss Spider-Man’s future

Amy Pascal, the longtime producer of the Spider-Man series, and Kevin Feige, the CEO of Marvel Studios, have an unusual creative partnership, as they demonstrated in a new interview.

Whilst speaking with the New York Times, about Spider-Man: No Way Home and the future of the wall-crawler, the dynamic-duo addressed Pascal’s previous comments that Tom Holland would star in a new “Spider-Man trilogy”.

Pascal said:

“We’re producers, so we always believe everything will work out, I love working with Kevin. We have a great partnership, along with Tom Rothman, who runs Sony and has been instrumental, a great leader with great ideas. I hope it lasts forever.”

Feige added:

“Amy and I and Disney and Sony are actively beginning to develop where the story heads next, which I only say outright because I don’t want fans to go through any separation trauma like what happened after ‘Far From Home.’ That will not be occurring this time”.

In 2019, the original deal between both studios ended, leading to a financial dispute between Disney and Sony. For a while, it looked like Peter Parker’s time in the MCU sandbox was done. Fourteunetly, cooler heads prevailed and the studios got to work on no way home.

In the interview, Pascal and Feige also discussed how they first collaborated. Feige had worked as an unofficial script consultant on The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Most of his advice wasn’t taken up by Sony. When the film was released to widespread negative reviews, she and Feige met to discuss the next way forward. He suggested a co-production deal, with Marvel studios taking control of the character. She didn’t take the suggestion well.

“I threw a sandwich at him,” she said.

Feige added:

“She said, ‘I really want you to help on this next movie. We have these great ideas for the next one. It’s amazing stuff and I said, ‘I’m not good at that — giving advice and leaving. The only way I know how to help is if we just make the movie for you.’”

Despite Pascal’s initial scepticism, she and Sony eventually warmed to the idea after Feige offered more concrete proposals for how to integrate Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe:

She said:

“He said ‘I have an idea. What if Tony Stark makes Peter’s suit?’ And as soon as he said that, I understood the possibilities of what we could do together. To have Iron Man and Spidey in the same world, one rooted more in technological innovation — the new suit — and less in medical experimentation, which is where we were confined before, felt so much more modern.”

Since then, each of Marvel’s “Spider-Man” films, starring Tom Holland and produced by Pascal, has been a critical and commercial triumph, with most fans dubbing Holland “the best Spider-Man ever”.

Personally, as a fan. I’m excited to see where this partnership goes. They’ve opened up the multiverse now and with Sony continuing to make their own Marvel movies, the possibilities are truly endless.

New Spider-Man trilogy in development

There has been a lot of speculation recently, including from Tom Holland himself – that Spider-Man: No Way Home, would be the end of his career as everyone’s favourite wall-crawler. The upcoming film does indeed mark the end of his current contract. However, according to producer Amy Pascal, this won’t be his last time suiting up, as there are already ideas in the works for a new trilogy.

Whilst talking to Fandango she said:

“This is not the last movie that we are going to make with Marvel or the last Spider-Man movie. We are getting ready to make the next Spider-Man movie with Tom Holland and Marvel. We’re thinking of this as three films, and now we’re going to go on to the next three. This is not the last of our MCU movies.”

This is wonderful news for fans who were worried about the companies splitting up, we came very close to seeing Tom Holland exit the MCU when the previous deal ended in 2019. However, both companies were soon able to reach an understanding of the continued use of the character.

Whilst it hasn’t been stated officially, I personally believe it was Sony that pushed Disney to open up the Marvel multiverse, so they could bring in characters from the Venomverse. It will be interesting to see how both companies utilise Peter Parker going forward. But one thing is for sure, Miles Morales will be the future for the franchise.

More from Pascal can be found here.

Spider-Man: No way home is out in the UK on the 15th of December.

Film Review-Eternals

Chloé Zhao has had a short yet prominent career in the thriving world of independent cinema. Her renown grew even more last year when her film “Nomadland” dominated awards season, taking home Academy Awards for both Best Picture and Best Director. However, her latest work, the $200 million instalment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, titled “Eternals,” is disappointing. While Zhao unquestionably puts in the effort and gives it her all, the movie doesn’t utilises her strengths. The screenplay, co-written by Zhao, Patrick Burleigh, Kaz Firpo, and Ryan Firpo, spans 7000 years, sloppily hopping back and forth across their timeline, resulting in an overly long and overstuffed 157-minute running time. One key problem with “Eternals” is that it is overloaded with characters, and Zhao tries to give each of them some semblance of a backstory. Inevitably all end up feeling shortchanged to various degrees.

The story follows the Eternals, a group of ten good-looking cosmic beings who were sent to Earth aeons ago by Arishem the Judge to defend the planet against a ravenous species known as Deviants. Their centuries-long war ends in 1500 when the last of the Deviants are finally killed. The Eternals then go their separate ways, with each immortal settling and assimilating into different locations around Earth, waiting for Arishem to summon them home. 500 years pass and each Eternal has carved out a life for themselves (more or less). But when a particularly nasty new Deviant suddenly appears in London, it’s clear that it’s time to get the team back together.

The film has a lot of star power portraying the Eternals, and some are much more convincing than others. Gemma Chan is easily the most complete character as Sersi, an eternal with the weird ability to manipulate matter. Richard Madden plays Ikaris, a poor man’s Superman and one-time love interest of Sersi. Angelina Jolie plays Thena, a powerful Wonder Woman-like warrior who wields weapons made of cosmic energy. On the downside, some of the actors feel woefully out of place in most of the scenes they’re in, and some of their characters’ stories feel plucked from another movie.

As the movie predictably brings the former teammates back together, it tries to tell their individual human stories while also building up its cosmic storyline. Surprisingly that leaves little room for superhero action. We do get a couple of set pieces that look fine and check most of the boxes, but there’s little there that we haven’t seen done better elsewhere. Even the big CGI blowout finale is missing the energy and style of the better Marvel films, and it has no stakes.

The movie would have fared better as a Disney+ streaming series. There’s very little here that screams big screen.

There are two post-credit scenes, that will probably be retconned within the next year.

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Episode 261: Kate Herron interview

Martyn is joined by Loki director Kate Herron. The pair discuss her work on the Disney+ show.

The podcast is available from all good podcast services, such as but not limited to Spotify, Amazon Music, Podchaser, Player FM, Stitcher, and Apple Podcasts.

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Artwork by Penny Smallshire.

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Deleted scene from Iron Man

Recently, it was announced that Marvel Studios were planning to release never before scene footage, as part of The Infinity Saga boxset. The box set will consist of every MCU film up to Avengers: End Game.

Marvel Studios Big Boss, Kevin Feige has shared one such scene. It’s an unused post-credits scene from 2008’s Iron Man. Nick Fury mentions “Mutants” and radioactive bug bites”.

I imagine this was dropped due to rights issues, at the time 20th century Fox owned X-Men, Daredevil and Fantastic Four. Whilst Sony owned Spider-Man, this was years before the now defunct rights sharing deal. A similar thing happened with Blade, the original last shot saw Michael Morbius standing on top of a building staring down at Blade. This scene was dropped when Sony’s lawyers reminded New Line, that Sony own the character.

Spider-Man reboot rumoured to be called Spider-Man:Homecoming

Tom Holland is about to make his debut as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the upcoming Captain America: Civil War. The character will also star in his own MCU connected, solo movie in 2017, directed by Jon Watts (Cop Car). However; specific information on the reboot remain tightly under wraps at the joint Marvel/Sony compound.

rumoured titles such as; The Spectacular Spider-Man, and Spider-Man: The New Avenger have been doing th rounds since the Sony/Marvel deal was announced.

According to the BBC, Sony Pictures  have registered the domain name ‘SpiderManHomecomingTheMovie.com’. Which seems to suggest that Spider-Man: Homecoming could in fact be the upcoming film reboot. However, that doesn’t guarantee it. Studios will often register multiple domain names, just in case.