Month: January 2018

Character Of The Month: February 2018: Killmonger

Ben DeSanti

Hello, and welcome once again to the Blog Of Hell’s Kitchen. This week, we have a Character Of The Month article about Killmonger, most famously known as one of Black Panther’s archenemies. Killmonger has not previously appeared in live-action. He will, however, make his live-action debut in this month’s Black Panther, the newest addition to the MCU. As per usual, this article will only go over the featured character’s history from the comics, and not what they’ve done in other film and television projects. So, without further ado, let’s get to it.

Erik Killmonger was originally born in Wakanda, under the name N’Jadaka. During his childhood, the supervillain Ulysses Klaue and his gang forced N’Jadaka’s father into fighting with them in a revolution against King T’Challa, the Black Panther. The revolution was eventually put down by Black Panther and the Dora Milaje, the all-female Secret Service for the Wakandan Throne. In the conflict, the father died, and N’Jadaka’s family was exiled from Wakanda. This caused a deep hatred of both Black Panther and Klaue from N’Jadaka, who after his exile, changed his name to Erik Killmonger.

Killmonger’s family ended up in Harlem, where he began to excel academically. He earned a scholarship to the Massachusettes Institute of Technology, one of the foremost tech schools in the United States. He eventually contacted T’Challa again, and he was repatriated back into Wakanda. He ended up settling into a village in the Wakandan countryside, which was eventually renamed after him as N’Jakada Village. He ended up becoming a prominent figure in the country, speaking about how Wakanda needed to rid themselves of the “white colonists”. While Black Panther was in America with the Avengers, Killmonger staged a coup d’état against the Wakandan throne with Baron Macabre. However, Black Panther returned to stop Killmonger, and Killmonger was killed in the fray.

Alright, guys, thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed. Please remember to come back Friday for my State of the MCU 2018 article. Once again, thank you for reading, and remember, have a nerdy day.

State of the Sony Marvel Universe 2018

Ben DeSanti

Hello, and welcome to The State Of The Comic Book Movie Union Series: 2018 Edition: Part 2 Of 6, on the Sony Marvel Movies. Unfortunately, there’s only one Sony Marvel movie, Venom, coming out in 2018, so we’ll be talking a bit about that movie, while also talking about the only other Sony Marvel movie that’s been announced so far, Silver And Black. Anyways, without further ado, let’s get to it.

Venom is due out on October 5th, 2018, and it seems like it will be one of the most anticipated comic book movies of the year. With a confirmed cast of Tom Hardy and Michelle Williams in the lead roles, and a rumored cast of Riz Ahmed, Jenny Slate, and Scott Haze in the mix, it’s sure to impress. Test pictures and models of what Venom could look like have slowly leaked out to a few positive reactions across the Internet, but I don’t expect many to make a hard opinion about the character’s actual look until a trailer debut. The last Spider-Man movie and Sony-Marvel film, Spider-Man: Homecoming, had it’s first trailer debut about 7 months before it’s release, on the second Saturday of the month the trailer was released, so that’s probably our best bet for a timetable for a Venom trailer. Using 7 months and the second Saturday of the month as a reference, we can best guess we’ll get a trailer for it on March 10th, 2018.

Next, we have Silver & Black, which will release on February 8th, 2019. Not much is known about this movie, except that it will be directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, as well as being written by Gina Prince-Bythewood and Christopher Yost. If we were to use 7 months and the second Saturday of the month as a reference once again, we can best guess we’ll get a trailer for it on July 14th, 2018.

Alright, thank you so much for reading. Please, remember to tune in on  Friday for my Character of the Month for February on Killmonger. Thank you again for reading, and remember, have a nerdy day.

State Of The DCEU 2018

Ben DeSanti

Hello, and welcome to The State Of The Comic Book Movie Union Series: 2018 Edition: Part 1 Of 6. I’m really most excited for this edition, and this series as a whole. I really enjoyed researching these articles, and I’ve been looking forward to applying the changes I’ve made to this site to this series. Unfortunately, there’s only one DCEU movie, Aquaman, coming out in 2018, so we’ll be talking in-depth about that movie, while also talking about some things we want to see announced from other DCEU projects. Anyways, without further ado, let’s get to it.

Now, Aquaman has been highly anticipated by both fans and critics alike, but so was Batman V. Superman: Dawn Of Justice, and so was Justice League, so as much I want it to be as good as they say it will be, I’m wary of it. On the other hand, I don’t plan to give an opinion how I truly think it will end up until after we finally see a trailer for it. I’m actually curious as to when we’ll finally be able to see a trailer for this movie. All of the other DCEU movies have had their initial trailers debut about 18 months before it’s theater premiere, which is very irregular for movies today, but in this case, Aquaman is the outlier in the story, with 11 months left until it’s release and still no trailer.

As for some of the other DCEU projects, Shazam, Wonder Woman 2, Cyborg, and Green Lantern Corps are the only other movie with dates that are officially attached to them, sitting at April 5th, 2019, November 1st, 2019, April 3, 2020, July 24, 2020, respectively. Two movies a year seriously isn’t anything to balk at, but if they want to compete with Marvel, they need to step it up to three a year after 2020. They also desperately need to showcase move of their Justice League, including a Batman movie, a Flash movie, which would be Flashpoint, and a Man Of Steel sequel. Going too fast has been what’s killed the DCEU thus far, but at this point, going quickly could probably help them salvage what they have.

Alright, thank you so much for reading. Please, remember to tune in on Friday for my Part 2 of The State Of The Comic Book Movie Union, based on the Sony Marvel Universe. Thank you again for reading, and remember, have a nerdy day.

Character Of The Month: January 2018: Jonah Hex

Ben DeSanti

Hello, and welcome once again to the Blog Of Hell’s Kitchen. This week, we have a Character Of The Month article about Jonah Hex, most famously known as a B-list anti-hero of sorts in the DC universe. He has appeared in 2010’s Jonah Hex as the titular antihero of the movie and was portrayed by Josh Brolin (Deadpool 2), but there’s no particular reason I’ve selected him for this Character Of The Month article, except for the fact that I just didn’t have a movie or show coming out this month, and didn’t have a character to base this article on. As previously stated, Jonah Hex has in live-action before, once played by Josh Brolin in 2010’s Jonah Hex, and twice played by Johnathan Schaech on episodes of the DC/CW show Legends of Tomorrow. However, as per usual, this article will only go over the featured character’s history from the comics, and not what they’ve done in other film and television projects. So, without further ado, let’s get to it.

Raised by an alcoholic father in the mid-1800s, before the Civil War, Jonah regularly was beaten as a child. His father ended up selling him into slavery to an Apache tribe at 13, where he saved their chieftain from a puma, and he was welcomed as a member of the tribe. The chief took Jonah in as his son, and just like the story of Master Splinter from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, his adopted brother got jealous. The boys’ shared affections for a young girl and the Native brother left Jonah for dead with their enemies, the Kiowa, during their manhood rites of passage. He was rescued by the literal Cavalry, but not before they shot him in the gut. The Calvary left him for dead a second time, but he was nursed back to health by an old trapper.

Jonah ended up in the Confederate Army as a young man, but during the Civil War, his loyalties shifted to the point that he no longer believed in the Confederate cause, and he abandoned his post. He went to the nearest Union outpost and asked the Union commanding officer for asylum, which he was granted. The commanding officer, however, asks for the location of Hex’s former unit, but Hex refuses. Another officer notices the clay on Hex’s boot and is about to tell his commanding officer where the Confederate unit is, which leads to the entire unit being arrested. The commanding officer publicly thanks Jonah for his help, which marks him as a traitor. Jonah punches the officer, which landed him in solitary confinement. Jonah stages a breakout which becomes known as the “Fort Charlotte Massacre”. The “Fort Charlotte Massacre” was where Union soldiers ended up killing every prisoner except Jonah Hex, which spurred him into becoming the infamous bounty hunter we know and love today.

Alright, guys, thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed. Please remember to come back Friday for my State of the DCEU 2018 article. Once again, thank you for reading, and remember, have a nerdy day.

Featured News: December 2017

Ben DeSanti

Welcome once again to another edition of Featured News. First, we have some big news regarding a deal between Disney and 20th Century FOX. Secondly, we’ve got the Quentin Tarantino-led R-Rated Star Trek movie gaining steam. Finally, we’ve got to talk about the reception to Star Wars: The Last Jedi. So without any further ado, let’s get into it.

First, we’ve got the 20th Century FOX/ Disney deal. For the last few months, the Internet has been abuzz about FOX selling of its TV and movie arm, 20th Century FOX, to media giant Disney. Many have talked about the possibility of Disney finally releasing the theatrical cuts of the original Star Wars trilogy, and the potential return of cult classic sci-fi show Firefly, but no topic in the deal has been discussed more than the Marvel getting back the rights to the X-Men and Fantastic Four. Now that 20th Century FOX is officially part of the Disney family, Kevin Feige has already begun to formulate a plan on what to do with the Children of the Atom and Marvel’s First Family. However, many, including Logan director James Mangold and Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld, are worried that Marvel Studios may wipe out the current timeline of the X-Men movies, starting with X-Men: First Class through 2019’s Gambit, in favor of creating a more MCU-friendly adaption of America’s favorite mutants. The four X-movies that are currently in development, New Mutants, Deadpool 2, X-Men: Dark Phoenix, and Gambit, are said to be safe, but after that, we have no idea what the future holds for the Children of Xavier.

Next, we’ve gotten a lot of news on the Quentin Tarantino-led R-Rated Star Trek movie, which sounds pretty ridiculous. The story was thought for months to just be an elaborate joke or a publicity stunt put on by Paramount, but it seems the movie may actually be gaining steam. The project, which has not announced a specific inspiration for the story yet, has hired Mark L. Smith, who wrote Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s The Revenant, as it’s head screenwriter. The film will also be produced by J.J. Abrams’ production company, Bad Robot, and no release date has been given as of the time of writing this article.

Finally, we’ve got to talk about the reception to Star Wars: The Last Jedi. The film, while lauded by critics, has been more panned by fans, but still holds 7.7/10 stars on IMDb, which is better than what the Prequel films can say for themselves. In one week, the film has already made nearly $600 million, which puts it on track to edge out Star Wars: The Force Awakens as the highest grossing movie of all time. Nevertheless, fans are still skeptical of what the future holds for the Star Wars movies following The Last Jedi.

Alright, guys, thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed. Please remember to come back Friday for my Character of the Month for January 2018 on Jonah Hex. Once again, thank you for reading, and remember, have a nerdy day.