Shawarma Time

Well, the battle is over and it's just about time for some shawarma.



My blog even has a Stan Lee Cameo



But the shows not over until they role the credit so I'm going out swinging, and what better way to wrap things up than to bring it all full circle. In my first post after my introduction I talked about how Marvel has better characters than DC, who's only two characters worth noting are Superman and Batman. However, in that post I gave arguments that were mostly quantitative and not qualitative, besides saying that Marvel's characters are better. So I would like to revisit that argument.

I've already established the gap in numbers between the charcuterie of the franchises, but what makes these characters so much fun to read about, watch, play as in video games and genera geek-out about. Some people say it's the powers that make the hero, or the villains they fight, although all that contributes to a character's awesomeness what makes us addicted to a hero is its relatability. I know it's not very noticeable or interesting but think about it. Who doesn't at some point wish they had super powers, or want to be a hero, and the easier it is to put yourself in their shoes the more you get interested in the character.

Not many of us know what it's like to have your home planet destroyed (if you do, I apologize for the insensitivity). Looking at the characters Marvel creates you can almost see yourself in their position, Thor may be a god, but his rivalry with his brother is something most of us can relate to, Steeve Rogers was a scrawny kid before he was Captain America(Role model for the wimps) and the X-men as a whole are outsiders(everyone can relate to that).  A lot of DC's heroes aren't even human (Superman, Wonder Woman, Martian Man-Hunter)

 But to say DC doesn't have it's merit (singular) would be untrue. I would like to go into depth about DC's redeeming qualities, but unfortunately I don't have time for that...My shawarma is here.

Excelsior, and for the last time, Marc out.

Never Heard of Him

Have you heard of...Nevermind you probably never have. Both Marvel and DC have obscure heroes that only the devoted fans know about. I thought I'd take a look at a select few obscure heroes who deserve some recognition.

 First, a hero by the name of Sentry.

 When I'm having arguments about Marvel vs DC (which is a lot), I'm often reminded of Superman's annoyingly powerful invulnerability and super strength among others. When that happens I like to bring up Sentry, a hero who not only has most of the same powers as Superman (including a big S on his costume) has something that makes the character interesting. Although Sentry is a superhero and a reserve member of the avengers, what makes the character intriguing is that he has a split personality. His alter ego is the Void, an evil entity based only on the need for death and destruction. Conflict not from villains but from himself that's what superman lacks.

 The young Avengers

 As you could probably guesse from the name, they are a team of superheroes that are also teenagers. Made up of heroes like Iron Lad, Hulkling, Patriot, Thor Girl ,Wiccan, Speed, Stature, Hawkeye II and many others. Admittedly sometimes coming off as a bit cheesy being a team with nearly identical powers to the original Avengers but younger. However, as a whole they are entertaining and do play to a younger audience, but come on... The Avengers. And these heroes are specifically created to be young, not like DC's teen titans which create teenage versions of some of their heroes. Personally, I think they have potential for a big screen adaptation but that's for the future. 

Lastly Moon Knight.

 The similarities to Batman are astounding. Both fight crime at night, both are millionaire playboys, both have a multitude of weapons, both have specialized vehicles, both have the word knight in their name (i.e Dark knight). What makes Moon Knight better than Batman is that he actually has super powers, his strength is affected by the moons phase(which is not the coolest power ever, but hey it's more than Batman can say for himself). Another thing that makes him awesome is that he does the will of Khonshu, an Egyptian god, who gave him his powers and an assortment of weapons. One more thing, he has the same name as me (i.e Marc).

 These heroes deserve some more recognition, they're just as good a some of Marvel heavy hitters and defiantly better than most of DCs.

 Excelsior, Marc out.

Righting Wrongs

I apologize sincerely, and with much regret I must say I made a mistake. Not about anything I said about DC comics all that's true. I refer to the comment I made in my last post "what's next":

"The team of alien fugitives protecting the galaxy from the Collecter(the guy in the after-credit screen from Thor: the Dark World)..."

The villain of the movie is not the Collector. Although he is planed to appear in the movie. The main antagonist will be Ronan the Accuser from the Kree. Which I hope will be a tie in for other characters like Ms. Marvel, Captain Marvel and many others.

Sorry for the mistake.

Excelsior, Marc out.

What's Next?

If you go into a theatre nowadays you can no doubt find a Marvel movie playing. From its multiple franchises be it the Avengers, X-men or The Amazing Spiderman they can always be trusted to bring an entertaining and action-packed movie (I said recently; don't even mention Dare Devil or Ghost Rider).  The next few movies in the Marvel franchises are as promising as ever.

The Amazing Spiderman 2 is presently in theatres and contrary to the Avengers where you get several heroes for the price of one, you get several villans. The classic Green Goblin, plus Electro and Rhino. I was originally opposed to the remaking of the Spiderman but the comedic performance of Andrew Garfeild and the more advanced special effects have changed my perspective (plus so far there hasn't been EMO Spiderman, see Spiderman 3 for reference). I Haven't been to see it quite yet but it seems promising.

Next to come to theatres will be X-men: Days of Future Past. I much look forward to seeing this next instalment tying together the original cast of mutants from X-men, X-2 and X-men: Last Stand with the new cast form the prequel X-men: First Class (a favorite of mine). I have long awaited the follow up to the original trilogie and would love some explanation to a few time parodoxs beetween the two series. Looks exciting and leaves the door open for sequels such as X-Men:Apocalypse.

Marvel is pushing the boundaries with Guardians of the Galaxy, and I couldn't be happier. There's nothing like seeing obscure heroes coming to the big screen and it's one big blow to DC comics knowing that Marvel got a superhero movie with a a talking tree and a raccoon made before it could pull together a Justice League. The team of alien fugitives protecting the galaxy from the Collecter(the guy in the after-credit screen from Thor: the Dark World) promises to be everything we've come to expect from Marvel movies and more. This summer is going to be action packed and just a little weird.

Further in the future we've got other movies to look forward to, Avengers: Age of Ultron come out a year from Tuesday, May 29 the sequel to the highest grossing movie ever made(single release). Shortly after we have Ant Man another somewhat obscure hero, I have very little information on the movie except for the fact that it comes out summer 2015 and it stars Paul Rudd. Even further in the future we have a Fantastic Four Reboot which I have absolutely no info on besides the primary cast.

What ever we movies Marvel brings to the big screen, I look forward to.With so many coming out at once it's hard to decide which to be excited about most. And DC is lucky if it gets two movies out in a year.

Excelsior, Marc out.

It's a Beautiful Thing

Breaking away from the typical superhero image, the female superhero or super heroine have had their successes and their failures. Being praised by feminists for the powerful image of women and at the same time being criticized for their physical appearance makes them somewhat controversial. However, given that the primary audience of comic books and superhero movies are nerdy guys who can't get girls, the super heroines aren't in danger of falling out of popularity.

That said, who has the best super heroines? I am so glad you asked. Marvel does. I know what a lot of you are thinking, Wonder Woman. She has her merits but she is REALLY lame as a hero, think about it. She has a lasso of truth (I don't get it; it's a lasso that makes you tell the truth?),  indestructible bracelets (which I'm sure are very useful), and an invisible plane (which would actually be kind of cool if she weren't still visible while inside) none of which make her interesting as a heroine. Then there's Super Girl who essentially is a female version of Super Man (real creative DC), Cat Woman for which the movie speaks for me, Hawk Girl who...has the powers of a hawk? Not very inspired.

Now let's take a look at Marvels line up of killer ladies. We have Black Widow the red-headed Russian assassin (she's in the Avengers, Iron man 2 and Captain America 2 nuff said), Jean Grey/the Pheonix with telekinetic powers she can use to literally tear people apart or resurrect them, Scarlet Witch the daughter of Magneto who can manipulate reality itself (she will be in Avengers:age of Ultron), the Invisible Woman female member of the Fantastic Four, She-Hulk green skin and a law degree, Electra the ninja assassin, Wasp, Storm, Emma Frost, Valkyrie, Spider Woman, The Lady Sif, Psylocke, Tigra, sorry for rambling there are just so many great female heroes in the Marvel universes (yes plural, if you read comics you know what I'm talking about). All totalled, Marvel has better super heroines, they are more powerful, more diverse, and it doesn't hurt that they're easy on the eyes (I'm a nerdy guy, deal with it feminists).

Excelsior, Marc out.

It's a Fine Line

My last post about villains got me thinking about the Anti-Hero, a character that despite technically being a hero doesn’t posses typical heroic characteristics. The most famous anti-hero, or should I say, the hero most famous for being an anti-hero is DC’s Batman. (Yes I’m trashing Batman again).

Although he is praised as an anti-hero I really don’t see how he fits into the description. Besides the fact that he looks like a bat and he fights crime at night what qualifies him as an anti-hero. He doesn’t kill his super-villains he captures them knowing full well they will simply escape Arkam Asylum and wreak havoc again. He’s afraid to hit a woman (see Batman Returns), he works with children (robin), not to mention that he is affiliated with the government (which sort of makes him evil but not in the anti-hero way). Batman is NOT an anti-hero.

 Do you want to know who some REAL anti-heroes are? Well for that we look to the best superhero franchise ever, Marvel. Ghost Rider and The Punisher.

The Punisher is everything an Anti-hero should be. He is all about murder, torture and various other forms of pain in pursuit of…Justice? In addition to being highly skilled in combat, he is practically a walking armory with every firearm from machine guns to rocket-launchers, making him capable of vast amounts of destruction, leaving a trail of death behind him (if that’s not and anti-hero I don’t know what is). Another thing that makes him an anti-hero is the fact that he himself is an outlaw, Batman has sometimes been wanted by the police but only in certain versions and never permanently.

Ghost Rider. Let me start by saying that he is one of my absolute favorite characters in Marvel (not based on the movies). Just saying that he is a flaming skeleton biker who got his powers from the devil should be enough to prove that he’s one epic anti-hero. If you want more, how about that his primary weapons are flaming chains (hellfire chains to be specific), or how his powers are essentially a curse he has to overcome, or how he LITTERALLY burns your soul with his eyes. I’d take a flaming motorcycle over the batmobile any day of the week.

Compared to these guys Batman may as well be a boy scout.

Excelsior, Marc out.

For Every Hero...

A hero is nothing without his villains; the sole purpose of a hero is to fight of threats that no one else can. In this instance, and it pains me to type this, some of the most interesting villains are from the DC franchise. However, these villains are all exclusive to one hero…Bat Man.

Bat Man has an amazing line up of foes threatening Gotham city, from the Joker to Two Face to Mr. Freeze to Scarecrow to the Riddler they are interesting characters and I give credit where credit is due. But go outside the Bat Man franchise and you have…Lex Luthor…Sinestro…um…Brainiac…awkward.

Even within Bat Man the villains rarely threaten anything but the city itself. They arm themselves with bombs, toxins, high-tech weapons, or just brute strength to terrorize only within Gotham (did not one of them think about leaving the city and moving somewhere that’s Bat Manless). The best Marvel villains threaten entire countries, the human race like or simply life itself.

I could go on about all my favorite villains but instead I’ll focus on my absolute favorites.

 Eric Lehnsherr is a mutant with the ability to manipulate metal with his mind, you probably know him as Magneto. His past as a Holocaust survivor makes him one of the most sympathetic villains in comic books. His objective of Mutant supremacy, his incredible powers and his brotherhood of evil Mutants (including some of my other favorite villains such as Mystique, Juggernaut and Sabertooth) instills fear, awe and not a small amount of trouble for the X-Men.

 Loki brother of Thor, made famous by his film portrayal by Tom Hiddleston is Marvel’s answer to the Joker. Granted, the Joker is not a villain that you can compare many others to, but Loki has his own intrigue. Beside the fact that he is the god of mischief straight out of Norse mythology, being Thor’s brother creates an intriguing hero/villain relationship between the pair. Plus he the primary villain in the AVENGERS (best movie ever).

Finally, the villain to end all villains (and heroes for that matter) Galactus. The unstoppable force who’s only goal is to devour planets. Originally a villain for the Fantastic Four his massive size and power makes him the end-all villain (literally). He is often only defeated by a group of heroes fighting together. I would like to see Joker beat that.

These are only a few of the many heroes Marvel has to offer. I didn’t even mention Ultron, Dr. Doom, Red skull, Venom, Dr. Octopus, Abomination, the Mandarin and many others. We may love the heroes but the villains are sometimes the best part of a franchise.

Excelsior, Marc out.