Month: April 2018

Avengers: Infinity War Theories

Ben DeSanti

Hello, and welcome once again to another edition of my Theories series. If you read the title, you should already know this article is on Avengers: Infinity War, which releases in the United States in theatres this Friday, April 27th. The reportedly 2-hour-and-36-minute movie is set to star Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, Chris Evans as Steve Rogers, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Josh Brolin as Thanos, Mark Ruffalo as Hulk, Scarlett Johannson as Natasha Romanoff, and Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton. Before I start, I just want to say there are MAJOR SPOILERS FOR ALL PREVIOUS MARVEL MOVIES and POSSIBLE SPOILERS for Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers 4, so proceed with caution. Anyways, let’s get into it.

First off, I believe Hawkeye will be one of many that will die in Avengers: Infinity War. He has yet to be shown in any footage or promotional material so far, and many have said that Jeremy Renner’s time on the set of the movie was fairly minimal for someone who is supposedly a star of the film. Hawkeye has been relatively mistreated by Marvel, between being given very little screentime compared to the other Avengers, as well as never being given a movie of his own, which would probably be fantastic. Him dying near the beginning would probably be a fairly fitting ending to the sad tale that is Hawkeye.

Secondly, I think that Loki will end up dying during this movie. He has only been shown in a couple different scenes in the trailers, and many have said that Tom Hiddleston’s time on the set of the movie was fairly minimal for someone who is supposedly a star of the film, somewhat similar to Hawkeye’s deal in the promotional material. Most of his story was wrapped up fairly well in Thor: Ragnarok, so I think that it would be fitting for Loki to die at the hands of Thanos, just like Thanos promised back in The Avengers.

Finally, I believe that even more major characters will die at the end of the film. In Infinity Gauntlet, the comic that Avengers: Infinity War will supposedly be mostly based off of, ends with Thanos using the Infinity Gauntlet to kill half the population of the universe, including some of our favorite heroes. Many actors like Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans who have their contracts running out at the end of Phase Three could use this scene to give their characters a satisfying death. I think some side characters like Nebula and Drax could also die in this scene to give the movie a more emotional ending, and to raise the stakes in Avengers 4.

Alright, thank you so much for reading. Please, remember to tune in on Friday for my review of Avengers: Infinity War. Thank you again for reading, and remember, have a nerdy day.

Character Of The Month: May 2018: Cable

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 Cable, most famously known as the leader of the New Mutants and X-Force. Cable has never appeared in live-action before, but he has appeared in animated Marvel shows many times over the years. He will make his live-action debut in Deadpool 2, which will debut next month. 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.

Cable was born as Nathan Summers to Scott Summers, AKA Cyclops, Leader of the X-Men, and Madeline Pryor, the clone of Summers’ wife, Jean Grey, AKA Marvel Girl. He was transported to the future to train to defend against the rise of Apocalypse in the near future. He ends up coming into conflict with Stryfe, leader of the Mutant Liberation Front, and they essentially become futuristic, more militaristic versions of Professor X and Magneto. Eventually, he is found to be in conflict with Stryfe as well as the US Government when the New Mutants intervene, and he becomes their leader.

Along with Domino, a mutant with the power to change the likelihood of something not happening or happening in her favor, Cable reorganizes the New Mutants into the X-Force. Among other missions, he leads them against the Genoshans, as well as leading them alongside Wolverine and Sunfire against the Mutant Liberation Front. Cable keeps going back and forth between the present and the future on his ship, Graymalkin. Cable also later meets his father, Cyclops, and finds out that his archnemesis, Stryfe, was actually a clone of Cable, which sends both into a tailspin.

Alright, guys, thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed. Please remember to come back Friday for Theories article on Avengers: Infinity War. Once again, thank you for reading, and remember, have a nerdy day.

CBMs Of Earth 2: Sam Raimi’s Spider-Franchise: Part 3; Spider-Man 6

Ben DeSanti

Hello, and welcome back to another edition of CBMs Of Earth 2. This edition of the CBMs Of Earth 2 series is Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 6. This is a continuation of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man franchise and will be treated as such by the team here at Blog Of Hell’s Kitchen. And with that, let’s get started with the next chapter of this series on Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man.

Release Date

11/ 6/ 2015

Again, I scheduled this movie to come out at the beginning of “Oscar Bait Season”, which is the period from September to December that studios generally schedule their more artistic movies to keep them fresh in the Academy’s minds. It would be a fun and interesting action movie to break up all those Oscar darlings.

Cast

  • Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker/ Spider-Man
  • Ray Winstone as Wilson Fisk/ Kingpin
  • Bryce Dallas Howard as Gwen Stacy
  • Anne Hathaway as Felicia Hardy/ Black Cat
  • Norman Reedus as Herman Schultz/ Shocker
  • Paul Walker as Johnny Blaze/ Ghost Rider
  • J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson
  • James McAvoy as Stephen Strange/ Doctor Strange
  • Rosemary Harris as May Parker
  • Omar Sy as Brother Voodoo (post-credits)

Changes

I also have Aunt May dying in this film, because I would recast her when I recast Peter and Gwen in the nest films. Stephen Strange, in between the movies, becomes Aunt May’s doctor in her later years, and become a sort of father figure to Peter, or at least a type of male role model. In the middle of the film, he is hired from his hospital and has become to work as head of medical R and D at Oscorp. He ends up getting Peter a job at Oscorp, as well, as a paid intern. Later in the film, Strange is run off the road by a Fisk goon to send a message to Peter, and he’s left bedridden and depressed at the end of the film.

Ramifications

This film would have two massive effects on to pop culture; Paul Walker’s death and the role of Daryl Dixon on The Walking Dead. Sam Raimi, being the evolutionary Hollywood nutcase that he is, requires everyone to be on the set every day of the shoot in locations including Vancouver, New York, London, and Atlanta. This would include the day of November 30th, 2013. If that date seems familiar, that’s because it’s the day Paul Walker died. So now, no dead Walker, which is fantastic. This film would also shift Norman Reedus into moving back into film, which would serve as a perfect opportunity to kill off his character on The Walking Dead. Reedus becomes attached to the Spider-Man franchise for years to come, while still prospering in other film endeavors. He ends up winning out an audition over Tom Hardy for the role of John Fitzgerald in the critically acclaimed The Revenant. He also ends up stealing the show a bit, winning the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor out from under Mark Rylance. That last part wouldn’t happen even if Reedus somehow won that The Revenant role, but that’d be funny, right?

In addition Tobey Maguire and wife Bryce Dallas Howard, yes, wife, announces their departure from the roles of Spider-Man and Gwen Stacy but will stay with the franchise, consulting and producing, with the possibility of directing a film or complete franchise in the universe. At the time of this film’s release, the stars will be thirty- nine and thirty- four, which would be alright in most other franchises, but we’re dealing with characters that are supposed to be twenty-five and twenty-three, respectively, considering in this universe the events of films four, five, and six take place in rapid succession. I want to have a kind of James Bond thing, that not many franchises actually successfully achieved. I would have the new Spider-Man in a kind of “I’m here for the fans, but I actually do something” pseudo-cameo in the next film in the universe, Doctor Strange, and have the new Gwen in the next Spider-Man film. Also, Bryce Dallas Howard never does Jurassic World, leaving the lane open for Evangeline Lilly to slam dunk that shit right up in Mrs. Tobey Maguire’s face, and win a bunch of awards. No Oscars, though. I’m not a complete idiot.

Thanks for reading. Please join me next Friday for my Character of the Month on Thanos in preparation for Avengers: Infinity War. Again, thanks for ready, and always remember to have a nerdy day.

State of the Star Wars Cinematic Universe

Ben DeSanti

Hello, and welcome to The State Of The Comic Book Movie Union Series: 2018 Edition: Part 6 of 6, on the X-Men Cinematic Universe. There is only one Star Wars film to talk about, with Solo: A Star Wars Story having a release date later this year, so this will probably be a shorter article today. Anyways, without further ado, let’s get to it.

Now, Solo: A Star Wars Story has had quite a few bumps in the road in the production process, so let’s talk about that before we get into some expectations for the film. Now, production for the movie was running pretty well until June 2017. All was going well until the 20th of the June when Lucasfilm and directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller jointly announced that the director duo will be leaving Solo: A Star Wars Story because of “creative differences”. Disney and Lucasfilm launched into a mad scramble to find a new director to finish filming because, at the time Lord and Miller left the project, the filming and post-production were largely unfinished. Lucasfilm and Disney eventually settled on legendary director Ron Howard, who was originally asked to join Star Wars- Episode I: The Phantom Menace, but turned it down. Howard was actually forced to reworked Dyrden Vos, originally a CGI alien crime lord voiced by Michael K. Williams, into a human character played by Paul Bettany due to time constraints. A few people have called this whitewashing, but I really wouldn’t go that far, because Dryden Vos is a completely new character, and because he’s an original character, he’s whatever the writer and the studio want him to be.

Now, the news about Solo: A Star Wars Story isn’t all bad For one, instead of just being left off the final project like they were going to be, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller will ultimately be credited as executive producers. It seems sort of like the exact opposite of the director situation with Justice League, where after Zack Snyder left the project after the death of his daughter, Joss Whedon came in and finished the movie, but Snyder was ultimately given all of the credit for directing the film, and Whedon was left off the final project. Besides that, there’s really not a lot I can say that’s positive about this movie. I think Alden Ehrenreich is a fantastic actor, and I want to see him in more things, but just not as Han Solo. I can think of probably 10 other actors right now that I would rather play Han Solo, but Ehrenreich is the one in the role. I did like that Disney cast Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian, it’s something that fans have wanted for years, and Disney deserves recognition for that move. I also like Woody Harrelson a lot, and I hope he’ll bring over some momentum from his Oscar-nominated performance in Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri. But I’ll admit, I’m very cautious about this movie, especially with all the reshoots and plot points changed so late in the game.

Alright, thank you so much for reading. Please, remember to tune in on Friday for my CBMs Of Earth 2 on Sam Raimi’s Spider-Franchise: Part 3: Spider-Man 6. Thank you again for reading, and remember, have a nerdy day.

Featured News: March 2018

Ben DeSanti

Welcome once again to another edition of Featured News. First, we’re going to talk about some news coming from the standalone DC Film Universe. Secondly, we’ve got major news on Avengers: Infinity War‘s Chris Evans status in the MCU after Avengers 4. Finally, we’re talking about a potential plot leak from Sony’s Venom movie. So without any further ado, let’s get into it.

To start today, we have some major news concerning the DC film universe that will stand alone from the DCEU, which is an interesting and potentially disastrous idea in and of itself. The Joker standalone film, that will be produced by Martin Scorcese, directed by Todd Phillips, and supposedly set in the 1980s, has cast Joaquin Phoenix in the role of The Joker. While that is an insanely cool and fun casting that would 100% work, I feel like that it might be wasted. The DCEU, with the failures of 4 out of 5 it’s movies, is in critical mode at this point, and both Aquaman AND Shazam! pretty much have to do better than expected to save this universe, so I have no idea why Warner Bros. would possibly want to move forward with this universe right now, or at least not until they see that Aquaman and Shazam! are successful. The standalone Joker movie currently has no release date.

Secondly, Chris Evans has shared his thoughts on renewing his contract with Marvel Studios after Avengers 4. In an interview with The New York Times, Evans said: “You want to get off the train before they push you off.”, referring to his departure from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and his role as Steve Rogers. Evans has starred in Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, and had cameo appearances in Thor: The Dark World, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and Ant-Man. Many have assumed that after Avengers 4, either Sam Wilson/ Falcon or Bucky Barnes/ The Winter Soldier will take up the mantle of Captain America, but I guess we’ll have to just wait and see. Avenger: Infinity War will release on April 27th, 2018, and Avengers 4 will release on May 3rd, 2019.

Finally, we here at Blog of Hell’s Kitchen are reporting on a potential leak of the plot of Sony’s Venom. Details on the plot include that Eddie Brock is an ex-con in the movie, he has an ex-wife, played by Michelle Williams, and a daughter. Honestly, it sounds a lot like the plot of Ant-Man so far. Eddie supposedly receives the Venom symbiote while passed out drunk in a forest. The Life Foundation kidnaps Eddie and starts to experiment on him when the symbiote manifests itself and leads Eddie to kill multiple evil scientists. The main villain is also supposedly the Carnage symbiote which is captured along with Eddie, and it breaks loose by the end of the film, resulting in the final battle between Eddie/ Venom and the second symbiote. There’s also supposedly a third symbiote that is shown in a post-credits scene for setup of a sequel, and that symbiote in supposedly the Toxin symbiote, which, in the comics, eventually attaches itself to Eddie Brock himself. The reason I keep saying “supposedly” is that none of this is confirmed, and we probably won’t know what really happens in Venom until it actually comes out, so take it with a grain of salt. Venom debuts in theatres October 5th, 2018.

Alright, guys, thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed. Please remember to come back Friday for my State of the Comic Book Movie Union article on Star Wars Cinematic Universe. Again, thank you for reading, and remember, have a nerdy day.