This week the internet and Twitter-verse have been chock full of cool comic book news. So instead of me rambling on, let’s just jump into the stuff that caught my attention.
Daredevil Movie Rights Go Back to Marvel
It looks like Marvel has retained the movie rights to Daredevil, as of October 10th 2012. After years of reboot news and stories, it appears that Fox has finally gave up on our blind Super hero.
If Marvel is going to make a Daredevil movie they better get it right. I am fine with a reboot because it has been 9 years since the Ben Affleck version came out. What I would like to see is a Daredevil movie trilogy. I have heard rumours of a movie version of the “Born Again” story arc, and I think that is a complete mistake.
Don’t get me wrong. I love Born Again. It is the story that made me love the Daredevil character. But that story is too difficult to just give to your audience without a back story.
That is why I’d like to see it as a trilogy. You can’t have emotions for a character you don’t care about. The first movie can be the origin story about Matt Murdock. The second movie can be the Born Again story arc. Then the third movie can be the redemption for the character and the finale of the trilogy.
I think it would work out perfectly.
The other benefit for Marvel having Daredevil back in its film ranks is (hopefully) the eventual Marvel movie event that includes every single Marvel character. It could be anything. Infinity Gauntlet/Infinity War. Civil War. Secret Invasion.
You name it, it could be anything. I think that is what the Marvel Cinematic universe is heading towards. It’s going to be cool… and maybe someday Marvel will get back Fantastic Four, Spider-Man and the X-Men. Or the other rights holders will play along and let everybody into the sandbox to play.
Superior Spider-Man
My Twitter feed exploded Sunday morning.
And it was all about Spider-Man.
The news about the final issue of Amazing Spider-Man (which is #700) and the new series Superior Spider-Man was announced at the New York Comic Con. The “friendly neighbourhood” Spider-Man fans were up in arms about the news that the new Superior Spider-Man may not be Peter Parker. Dan Slott and Ryan Stegman were taking the brunt of the abuse on Twitter.
The answer Dan Slott kept tweeting back to his Twitter-critics was essentially – read Amazing Spider-Man #700, Avenging Spider-Man #15.1 and Superior Spider-Man #1 and you will figure out what has happened.
It was amazing how mad the Spider-Man fans were getting. I don’t blame them, but at the same time I know that this is comic books and this stuff happens all the time.
We’ve seen it before where our favourite hero is replaced by somebody else. Bruce Wayne was replaced by Jean-Paul Valley. Superman was replaced by Superboy/Eradicator/Supergirl/Steel. Even Peter Parker was replaced by Ben Reilly as Spider-Man. So I am not going to get too upset if Peter isn’t Spider-Man anymore. The character has been around for 50 years and it’s just a small blip on the radar, and 50 years from now Peter Parker will still be Spider-Man.
The one thing I can say for sure is I believe in Dan Slott… and it’s going to be good.
Once Upon a Time
I don’t want to admit this, because I am a guy.
A manly guy.
I have a beard.
I love scotch, action movies and tacos.
So I think that proves that I am a manly guy.
But as I said I hate to admit it but I am getting sucked into the TV show “Once Upon a Time”.
If you haven’t been watching it, the premise of the show is about a spell being cast on our favourite fairy tale characters. They have been transported to a town called Storybrooke, and each episode’s theme flips between modern day, and a similar event that happened “Once Upon a Time”. At the end of season one, the spell was broken but the displaced fairytale characters were not returned to their homeland. The twist is they know who they are, and as long as they stay in Storybrooke they will have the memories of who they were in the fairytale land.
Now you might be asking what this has to do with comic books, but there are several connections. One connection is the male lead in the series, Josh Dallas. He plays David Nolan who was Prince Charming in the fairytale part of the story. Josh Dallas was also Fandral in Thor. And because of his commitments to Once Upon A Time, Josh Dallas will not be able to be Fandral in Thor: The Dark World.
Another connection for Once Upon A Time to comic book/nerd culture is Robert Carlyle. Robert Carlyle plays Mr. Gold who is also Rumpelstiltskin. Robert is a spectacular British actor who also played the villain in the James Bond movie, The World is Not Enough.
Jennifer Morrison who plays Emma Swan was also the voice of Wasp in Marvel Super Hero Squad.
Sebastian Stan who plays the Mad Hatter in Once Upon a Time, was Bucky Barnes in Captain America The First Avenger. He will reprise his role as Winter Soldier in Captain America 2. I didn’t like how Bucky was portrayed in Captain America. I didn’t think he was used enough. I partly blamed the actor. But after seeing him in Once Upon A Time, I think he will do a great job as the Winter Soldier. Especially if they use parts of Ed Brubaker’s character design in the movie.
It is an interesting show (which I don’t want to admit) and it has many ties to comic books. And fairy tales do share some of the same characters as comic books.
Is it a show you watch?
The closest thing that “Once upon time” has to comics is the fact that it is a blatant rip off of Fables.
“Once upon a time” was suppose to be Fables the TV show, but they pulled out of the Fables story line and decided to do their own.
Ed, you should check out Fables, you would really like it if you like Once Upon a Time.
While it still feels like I’m in the minority where the original Daredevil film is concerned — the Director’s Cut, not the theatrical mess — I’m glad it’s out of Fox’s hands.
I agree with you, Ed, as far as “Born Again” not being a good jump on point for a story. This is a story that was massacred for the sake of Hollywood with the original “Daredevil” and “Elektra” movies, and I think proper care needs to be taken on any second-go-round. The only logical route is to start with Miller’s “The Man Without Fear” story, which properly introduces the principal characters in Murdock’s life (i.e. Foggy and Elektra), and then move onto his Visionaries stories (“The Elektra Saga”). I would think the entire run could be finished over three movies, maybe even two and do “Born Again” as the third film, which I think would be a suitable closing arc. I think if they go “Man Without Fear,” “The Elektra Saga” and finish with “Born Again,” that that would make for a good trilogy.
With that said, I don’t think Daredevil is a character that should be injected into a bigger Marvel Universe. I feel he’s out of place now in the comics, and that any involvement in an Avengers scoped movie would feel too similar.