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The Thor franchise has been sort of the “runt of the litter” for Marvel Studios, without a real guiding hand like The Russo Bros. or (at the time) Jon Favreau to steer that series of films, they’ve basically coasted on the great chemistry between Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston and not a lot else…though pecs […]

I seem to recall a few years back that Marvel Studios was really hot on getting Mads Mikkelsen on-board with one of their productions, to the point where he was cast as Malekith in Thor: The Dark World, but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts with the then-debuting Hannibal. Given what Christopher Eccleston […]

Some big news came out of Marvel Studios today as they unveiled some concept art from next year’s Captain America: Civil War.  The art confirms the members of each side in the film’s hero on hero war and gives us some new information about the movie’s major players. Of note is Agent 13 Sharon Carter, who made her […]

Remember a few months back when there was talk of a spin-off of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. that focused on Adrianne Palicki‘s Bobbi Morse and Nick Blood‘s Lance Hunter? At the time it seemed like we were either getting that or Agent Carter Season 2, and once ABC opted to renew the latter, the former […]

With Jessica Jones gearing up for its Netflix debut sometime later this year, the press around it is starting to gear up. Per IndieWire (easily one of my favorite film sites), their team got a chance to chat with Marvel Television head Jeph Loeb and showrunner Melissa Rosenberg during the TCAs about what’s coming for […]

Last April, Cinema Blend reported that Marvel’s Phase Two movies all share a common trope: So is this a spoiler for Ant-Man… not really. I’m obsessed with Star Wars. Who’s not? I’m 40 years old. I’m in the movie business. I went to USC. So I’m obsessed with Star Wars – and it didn’t start […]

Howard Stern fans got a candid interview with Paul Rudd the star of the well received and latest semi-successful Marvel film, “Ant-Man.” The interview took place on Monday after Stern admitted that he tried to buy the film rights because he believed in the character well before anyone else did, and Rudd discussed how he […]

Last weekend, the Paul Rudd led Ant-Man flick took home $58 million, shy of parent company Disney’s estimates of $60-65 million.  This was enough to give it the number one slot that weekend,, but it also gives the insect-inspired hero film the dubious honor of having the second worst opening of any of the MCU movies, beating out only 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, which actually had a higher per-screen average than Ant-Man on its opening weekend.

Audiences aren’t very interested, and frankly, that’s quite understandable.  The film has been riddled with production issues, the most prominent of which has been the departure of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Cornetto Triology director Edgar Wright.  Known for his outstandingly witty scriptwriting ability and technically dynamic approach to directing, many including myself were excited to see Wright take on a Marvel property and make it his own.  Many turned against Ant-Man when he left the project and never gave it another chance.  I was also one of those people.  Going into opening weekend, I was still bemoaning the loss of the visionary auteur, but I went to see Ant-Man anyways.

To my surprise, Ant-Man didn’t suck.  More than that, the movie was really, really good.  Most importantly, the picture is emblematic of what Marvel films should be in several important ways.   Thus, I’m here to ask you to give this movie a second chance like I did.  I want you to fall in love with Ant-Man too.

[There are no Ant-Man spoilers below, but I do go into a bit of detail on the humor and some of the general story beats. I actually do spoil Marvel movies that came before Ant-Man.]

Ant-Man is an awesome genre-bender

Most Marvel movies are relatively simple beat-em-ups.  They’re action movies with a few nice character moments and several large, sprawling set pieces that are inevitably torn apart by a big battle.  However, the Marvel movies that stand out to me are the ones that play with genre.  Captain America: the Winter Soldier is, in my opinion, the best movie to have come out of the MCU.  It’s not just an action movie.  It’s Marvel’s take on a superpowered political thriller.  In a similar vein, Ant-Man isn’t just an action movie about a man who can shrink and control insects with his mind.  Ant-Man is a superpowered heist film in the vein of The Usual Suspects and The Town.

The entire movie hinges around several “jobs” that Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), Luis (Michael Peña), and the rest of their gang work to pull off.  They’ve got the lookout, the brain (Lang), and even the muscle (Peña, in a hilarious running gag, knocks out anyone he punches with one swing).  The big climax centers around breaking into a highly secure vault and stealing the Yellowjacket suit, which works similarly to the Ant-Man suit, before Hank Pym’s protegee Darren Cross (Corey Stoll) can sell it to the highest bidding military organization.  The very fact that Ant-Man‘s goal isn’t just “beat up the bad guy” allows the film to do some really cool utilitarian things with Ant-Man’s powers, including short out a security system using a species of ant that conducts electricity.  You wouldn’t see that in a more straightforward film like The Avengers, where Loki’s solution to a locked door is to have a possessed Hawkeye rip out the eye of a man whose credentials are in the door’s security system.  The latter is brutal.  The former is interesting, fun, and innovative.

“Fun” and “innovative” are probably the two best words one could use to describe Ant-Man.  It’s a curious beast of a picture, stuffed between two huge Avengers movies in Age of Ultron and Civil War.  No matter what director Peyton Reed did, the film was going to feel small in comparison.  So, the Ant-Man team took the high road and embraced that smallness.  The big climactic set piece takes place in a bedroom instead of a city and yet was way more interesting and entertaining than Age of Ultron‘s final battle (Thomas the Tank Engine is a running joke, people. Please).

The most memorable character was Peña’s powerless con Luis, whose fast-talking personality, enduring positive attitude, and strangely well-cultured background had the theater audience around me in stitches throughout the entire movie.  He stole the show, and he did it without any fancy CGI.  Ant-Man is a film where Marvel let normal people have their day in the sun.

Now, knocks where knocks are due: Evangeline Lilly’s role as Hope Van Dyne never feels as fully realized in the film as it should have been.  According to some, her role was expanded from Wright’s original script, but her role basically amounts to her and the audience not understanding why she isn’t the character entrusted with Hank Pym’s incredible shrinking suit.  She’s better than Lang at literally everything. She’s a better fighter, an equally skilled thinker, has spent more time with the technology, and doesn’t need to be trained– which you’d think would be a big plus considering they only have a few days to steal Cross’ suit.  But nope, Pym insists on training Lang anyways, and even after you finally find out why Pym won’t let his daughter take the Ant-Man role for herself, it doesn’t really seem fair to her.

Luckily, however, it seems like Marvel is setting Van Dyne up for a much bigger role in the MCU, so not all is lost on that front.  Plus, I don’t think the bad here outweighs the overwhelming good. Ant-Man is not the socially progressive Marvel movie people are clamoring for.  It is, however, a movie with a lot of heart, an interesting perspective that breathes new life into an old genre, and a prime argument against Marvel’s notion that more explosions = more fun.

Edgar Wright’s departure did NOT hurt the film

Before we go on, let’s just address the elephant in the room.  I love Edgar Wright.  Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is one of my favorite films and the editing in all the Cornetto Trilogy films is so inspiring that I want to be a director whenever I watch any of them.  To be clear, I majored in English and minored in Computer Science. I don’t know the first thing about directing or being anywhere near a film set.  I basically cried when I heard Wright would be making a Marvel movie and I did cry when I found out he was off of Ant-Man.

Yet, even though Wright didn’t end up directing the formicidaphilic caper, I could feel his sticky hands all over Ant-Man.  There’s a musical gag during a fight sequence based around a Cure song. That’s Wright.  Thomas the Tank Engine is a running gag. Definitely Wright.  Peña does a bang up job relating two job tip conversations to the audience where countless different people, men and women of various shapes and sizes, all speak with his voice. That’s actually not even Wright, but the editing and comedic styles feel like his.

Adam McKay and Paul Rudd did a great job rewriting the film while sticking to Wright and co-writer Joe Cornish’s original vision for the script, and Reed did a great job realizing that vision as director on Wright’s behalf.  Will this movie always live in the shadow of what could have been?  For better or worse, yes.  Did Marvel play bad politics with Wright?  Perhaps.  That said though, even if Wright was ultimately shorted, the Ant-Man film we got stands quite tall in spite of its production woes.  It’s a great film on its own merit, and its success could mean more like it IF we support it as an audience.  Which leads me to my final point:

Ant-Man is the kind of Marvel movie you should want to see MORE of

The Marvel train is unstoppable.  Even if Ant-Man doesn’t do well, Marvel movies are slated up until I hit my first midlife crisis in the late 2020s.  If we as viewers can’t stop this train, we should at least be able to steer it.  I don’t know about you, but I am really sick and tired of:

Drone Armies

The Avengers: Age of Ultron

The Avengers

Space Holes

The Avengers

Thor: the Dark World

Big faceless ship fights where things explode

Guardians of the Galaxy

Captain America: the Winter Soldier

Now, I like Marvel movies for what they are.   They’re fun pieces of action-filled entertainment that do a particularly outstanding job of developing characters that are interesting and rich despite their absurd and campy origins.  However, ever since The Avengers, Marvel has been in a size competition with itself, its directors competing to see who can make the largest-scale fight sequence or blow up the most vehicles in a half-hour span.  It’s gotten so bad that the studio collectively seems to have forgotten that the point of a movie climax is to bring the development of all characters, protagonists and antagonists, to a head, not just fuck up the world around the protagonist(s) and see how they respond.

Marvel has always had a villain problem.  No one except Tom Hiddleston’s Loki has ever felt fully realized as a character outside of their relationship to a protagonist.  However, villains like Jeff Bridges’ Obadiah Stane in Iron Man and Hugo Weaving’s Red Skull in Captain America: the First Avenger were still interesting because they had character arcs of a sort that were satisfactorily resolved by their climatic third-act battle.

While it’s rare (and stunning) to have a film where the audience actively wants the villain to win, movies are much more affecting when you can stake a claim with both the “good side” and “bad side.” The Avengers took the third act away from its villain, Loki, and even away from  Thanos the master puppeteer, leaving our protagonists to band together against a faceless horde that we could stake no emotional claim to.  We would have felt bad seeing Loki or Thanos win in The Avengers. We would have felt cheated if the Chitauri beat the Avengers.  The same goes for Ultron’s faceless robot army in Age of Ultron, the Dark Elves in Thor: the Dark World, and inversely, the faceless N.O.V.A. Corps soldiers who died staving off Ronan the Accuser’s invasion in Guardians of the Galaxy.

Yeah, more soldiers make for bigger fights, but who cares about the size of the battle when you know who’s going to win based off plot mechanics? Who cares about the big final fight when your protagonists aren’t even actually facing the antagonists you’ve been building up for the past two hours?

Letting your primary antagonist fly away from the climactic battle without resistance is a dick move, Marvel. Also: the “Hulk makes the villain a ragdoll” gag is played out.

Now, I’m not saying Ant-Man solves Marvel’s villain problem.  Despite Corey Stoll’s great acting, Darren Cross comes off about as two dimensional as Stane in Iron Man.  Their backstories and motivations are even somewhat similar.  That said, I like that Marvel didn’t feel the need to cover Lang and Stoll’s final battle with pointless window dressing.  The big climax was a twenty minute fight between just the two of them, and that was perfect.  It brought both their character arcs to a suitable finish and created a legitimate sense of tension throughout.  As I’ve said time and time again, the fight was also very cleverly concepted, more or less set entirely in a briefcase, a backyard, and a bedroom.  Ant-Man was a slimmer Marvel movie and it was better for it.

I’ve heard people say that Ant-Man feels like an early phase one MCU movie, and I think that’s true.  Those older Marvel films weren’t as big as their Phase Two brethren, and instead lived and died by the merits of their stories.  I’d like to see Marvel return to that method of thinking, and I think an Ant-Man success would prove to them that I’m not alone in this.

Go see Ant-Man.  It’s hilarious, well acted, and generally clever.  Most importantly, a vote for Ant-Man is a vote for a slimmer, better Marvel movie where story comes first.

After a painfully long production process, Marvel’s smallest big-screen hero has finally arrived, and according to studio estimates (which could see some adjustment by Monday morning) Ant-Man is looking at about a $58 million domestic haul.

For what it’s worth, that’s the second lowest debut for a Marvel Studios picture, just shy of 2008’s The Incredible Hulk opening to $55 million and on the low end of Marvel’s projections for the property.

Ant-Man was always a bit of a dicey proposition for Marvel; he’s a little-known “C-list” hero, and while I doubt most members of the general audience know Edgar Wright from Edgar Bergen, there had been a certain level of tough buzz surrounding the production of the film due to Wright’s storied exit just before shooting was to begin in Atlanta.

Strangely enough, Guardians of the Galaxy was seen as an equally tough sell and opened in a worse month (August), yet it thrived. Both films had an “A” Cinemascore, the not terribly scientific polling of audience-goers who actually attend these screenings, so they were equally well received.

So why did Guardians thrive in its opening weekend (at $94.3 million) where Ant-Man failed to reach similar heights? If I had to guess, marketing was likely the key issue. It never seemed as though the studio knew how to actually sell the picture. Was it a fun romp for families? Was it a 20’s-30’s male leaning comedic affair? And Marvel’s last-minute attempt at stressing the connections to their shared cinematic universe with a number of ads to that effect didn’t really do the trick either.

That’s not to say $58 million is a flop by any means, because it’s not, particularly given Ant-Man‘s more modest $130 million budget (not counting whatever was sunk into marketing). But, this is a case of Marvel becoming a victim of their own success a bit. With each opening since 2010 ranging from $65-210 million, the inevitable film that hit below that was going to face some scrutiny.

It’s possible that Peyton Reed‘s newest directorial outing may find some legs in the coming weeks, and the international numbers are only now coming in ($56.4 million and counting), but as of now Ant-Man‘s “Avengers bump” is a bit non-existent it seems.

For the record, I don’t think if Wright stayed on as director it would have really done much, if any, better.

What did you think, readers? Was Ant-Man all you hoped it would be?

Since they weren’t at Comic-Con, most of the media attention has not been focused on Ant-Man, Marvel’s next entry in their Marvel Cinematic Universe snowball, which shows no sign of stopping, and which becomes ever more complex and unfathomable with each movie.  (Why do I suspect that ALL of the Phase Three heroes will become Avengers, including Doctor Strange?)

Of course, every Marvel movie has “credit cookies”, little snippets of film tucked into the final credits. Sometimes they are little oddball moments, like the Avengers having lunch, and sometimes they foreshadow upcoming movies, like Thor. They add a bit of excitement to the movie, as well as generating lots of free advertising as numerous websites post analyses and explanations on what was briefly seen.

Being a heist movie with some humor, and being the last Phase Two movie, I expect Ant-Man to include some of these.  What might they be?

Well… Ant-Man can shrink. What happens when he shrinks too small? He ends up in the Microverse.

Where’s that?  It’s a sub-atomic realm in the Marvel Universe, home of the Micronauts. Like G.I. Joe and Transformers, Marvel created a fictional universe for the toys, currently owned by Hasbro. (IDW will be publishing new stories soon.) But how can Marvel use these characters? Well, they can’t. But they do own the rights to three characters which appeared in the series: Arcturus Rann, Marionette, and Bug.

My prediction?  “Bug” will make a cameo.  Why would this be likely?

1. The Microverse, home to these characters, is connected to Pym particles, as miniaturization allows one to access the dimension.
2. “Bug” is a bit of a pun reflecting off “Ant-Man” and the other insect themes in the movie.
3. Bug, according to the official Marvel Universe Wiki, is “an Insectivorid master thief and adventurer from the planet Kaliklak in the Microverse (a.k.a. Inner Space), a “sub-atomic” realm actually accessed via the energies of shrinking. Known as a humorous, lighthearted flirt, he is also a charismatic leader and adept warrior.”  This reflects Scott Lang’s character nicely.
4. Marvel can then use this teaser to develop “Ant-Man 2″, which would be a Fantastic Planet/Fantastic Voyage mashup set in the Microverse. (If Marvel is REALLY smart, one of the Infinity Gems is hidden there.) This would also allow Marvel to develop another dimension in the MCU, which can serve as a substitute for the Negative Zone, which is part of the Fantastic Four movie rights.  (Marvel is already developing the Inhumans as a substitute for mutants and X-Men, and the Darkforce dimension will be mentioned in the next season of Agent Carter.) AM2 can also be used to spin-off the Microverse into a cartoon series, similar to He-Man (high-tech swords and sorcery). Of course, the irony would be that Hasbro would probably market the toys!

So, this doesn’t sound so crazy after all, does it?  But I know this won’t happen, at least on Earth-1218. It’s too smart and perfect, and Marvel doesn’t think that hard. Heck, Marvel had two excellent opportunities to introduce Damage Control into the Marvel Universe via The Avengers movies, but hasn’t yet. (What’s Damage Control? They’re a corporation which repairs the property damage caused by superhero conflicts. Super-high-concept, right? Instant television series. Cold open with a superhero battling a supervillain and damaging something. Then segue to the office…)

So anyway, I’ll leave this here. Advance buzz on the movie is favorable (currently 76% at Rotten Tomatoes), so I probably won’t be disappointed watching the movie. Well, at least not while I’m watching the movie. Afterwards, I’ll probably nitpick it with a fine-tooth comb. (A little joke. Bon moths, if you will. Thank you, you’ve been a wonderful audience. Try the casu marzu.)

We’ll have more to say about the big “Marvel Television Presents” Press room that ended just a few moments ago a little later on, but one big detail that we can share right away comes from Agent Carter showrunners Tara Butters and Michelle Fazekas who were able to share just a few tid-bits about the Season 2 antagonists that will be opposing Peggy and Jarvis when they come to L.A.:

Fazekas: The antagonists, I would say, exist in the Marvel comics, a version of them. And there’s even a group called the Secret Empire. And I can also tell you, and this is somewhat of a spoiler, there’s a thing called Darkforce, that comes from the comic book universe, which also created Blackout on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and it comes out of the Doctor Strange universe as well. That’s going to show up, causing problems for people.

Fazekas is surely being a bit vague in order to keep things under wraps, but The Secret Empire would indeed be a logical choice of villain for this upcoming season. In the comics, this organization began as a subsidiary of HYDRA and have always been led by a mysterious (and changing) leader, simply known as “Number One”. They later reformed as major antagonists for Captain America, with an implication that their leader was actually the President of the United States. They’ve existed in the background of the Marvel universe ever since, making a recent appearance in Mark Waid‘s seminal Daredevil run.

The fact that Agent Carter will also be potentially tapping into the Doctor Strange mythos most likely underscores the importance of the upcoming Scott Derrickson-directed feature film.

After months and months of speculation, we now have a 100% official new Peter Parker as Tom Holland (The Impossible) will debut as rebooted version of Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War as well as the next stand-alone Spider-Man film hitting theaters in 2017.

Not only did Marvel and Sony announce their newest web-slinger, but they also jointly unveiled that relatively untested directed Jon Watts will helm the solo feature. While Holland’s name had been bantied about for a while, and he was generally considered the front-runner along with Asa Butterfield, Watts is more of a surprise choice, though he did show up on the studios’ director short-list that was produced a few week’s ago. Watts’ only major feature to this point was last year’s horror outing Clown, and his recent Sundance debuting film Cop Car was met with mixed reviews.

But, at the very least, the speculation on this topic can end, and we can look forward to further discussion on villains and just how Peter Parker will play into the new Captain America feature.

Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige compared Watts to some of the other director choices made by the studio in the past:

“As with James Gunn, Joss Whedon, and the Russo brothers, we love finding new and exciting voices to bring these characters to life. We spent a lot of time with Jon and find his take and work inspiring.”

Amy Pascal, who is working hand in hand with Feige on this project, spoke to Holland’s casting specifically:

“Sony, Marvel, Kevin and I all knew that for Peter Parker, we had to find a vibrant, talented young actor capable of embodying one of the most well-known characters in the world. With Tom, we’ve found the perfect actor to bring Spider-Man’s story into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.”

So there you have it, a Spider-Man and a director are now in place. What do you think about these two choices? Are you excited about the future of everyone’s favorite wall-crawler?

When you think of Marvel games you think of… WB? I know it sounds strange but lately the best Marvel games have come from the corporation that owns their competition. Last time developer, TT Games did a game licensed from the “House of Ideas”, Lego Marvel Superheroes was an open free roaming good time full of laughs for everyone. This year they’re bringing block building magic to the MCU in Lego Marvel’s Avengers.

We played a small portion of the game on the E3 show floor, what follows is a bit of what you’ll get when the game releases this Fall. The slice of the game we started in put us right in the middle of the battle of New York from the first Avengers film. This part of the story had us switching between Captain America, Black Widow, and Hawkeye. As usual you’ll rescue civilians, smash things, and build new Lego creations out of the rubble. We battled countless Chitauri aliens using new team up attacks. Captain America is able to bounce Black Widow off his shield and while she’s in the air will obliterate the enemies using her dual guns. Puzzle solving also utilizes this feature as you’ll need to give agile characters a boost to reach high ledges and scaffolds.

Hawkeye has much of the tactics, Batman used in Lego Batman 3. He’ll be able to shatter glass using a “sonar arrow” and melt gold bricks with a… let’s call it “heat arrow”. Once the Chitauri scout was taken down, our gamed transitioned to the bridge where we were met by Thor. His lightning attacks are more devastating this time around. Our session saw us get to the part where Bruce Banner rides in on a motorcycle and punches out the giant flying alien as he turns into the Hulk. This time around he takes a victory selfie. During this part players will need to work with Iron Man to target the monster’s weak spots. At the end of the demo we built a missile to launch at the invaders just as when Iron Man flew it into the portal at the end of the film.

One thing we noticed while playing was the voice work in the cinematic seemed to be ripped from the movie. It didn’t feel like it was recorded for the game. No word on if this will be the final product or if voice will be added. Avengers has boasted to players about having iconic Marvel Cinematic Universe locations to visit. With some of those not being in strictly the Avengers movies, it’ll be interesting to see how TT Games handles voice work.

Fans can expect the same free roam world full of MCU easter eggs, Stan Lee saving cameos, and tons of characters from both Avengers films. WB, some Lego Infinity Stones might be nice.

Lego Marvel’s Avengers comes out this Fall for Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation4, PlayStation3, PlayStation Vita, WiiTMU, Nintendo 3DSTM, Windows PC. 

Find more on the game’s Facebook.

You knew it had to be coming. As soon as it was reported that Sony and Marvel would collaborate on all decisions related to Spider-Man for the SECOND live-action reboot of the character, it was just a matter of time before signs of dischord might surface.

We’re talking about two billion dollar studios and one of the biggest franchises of all time. There was no way this was going to be totally sunshine and happiness.

And according to Jeff Sneider over at Meet the Movie Press, that very conflict is starting to take shape as Sony is lining up behind the casting of Tom Holland (The Impossible, Wolf Hall) and Marvel is backing Charlie Plummer (Boardwalk Empire). According to Sneider’s sources, those two along with Matthew Lintz (Kill the Messenger) are the final contenders for the role.

Surprisingly, there’s no mention of Asa Butterfield, who was long thought to be the front-runner for the role. Is he out?

Spider-Man’s scenes for Captain America: Civil War were supposed to begin shooting this month in Atlanta, but with casting at a stand-still, some changes may end up having to be made. Or perhaps something will snap into focus over the weekend or next week. Your guess is as good as mine at this point.

Chiwetel Ejiofor, Oscar nominated for the incredible 12 Years A Slave (also known as one of the few movies to ever make me openly sob in the theater), is the latest prestigious thespian to join the ranks of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Ejiofor, long rumored to be a part of the upcoming Doctor Strange in some form or fashion, was confirmed today by Deadline to be playing the role of Baron Mordo, the Sorcerer Supreme’s long-time enemy. In the comics, Mordo is Strange’s fellow pupil under the guise of The Ancient One (reportedly being played by Tilda Swinton), and after Strange thwarts Mordo’s plans to kill their instructor, they become adversaries.

Deadline’s report is quick to note that this version of the character will actually be “an amalgamation of characters culled from Doctor Strange’s mythology”. This sounds a bit similar to the approach taken with Ivan Vanko in Iron Man 2, but hopefully the results will turn out a bit better here.

Doctor Strange, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, is directed by Scott Derrickson (Sinister, The Exorcism of Emily Rose) and will see release on November 4, 2016.

So, readers, what do you think about the new Baron Mordo?

Now here’s a big surprise for your Tuesday as Marvel’s Daredevil gets its first new cast addition in The Walking Dead and The Wolf of Wall Street‘s Jon Bernthal, who will be playing the role of Frank Castle aka The Punisher.

Per Marvel’s press release announcing the casting, head of Marvel television, Jeph Loeb, had this to say:

Jon Bernthal brings an unmatched intensity to every role he takes on, with a potent blend of power, motivation and vulnerability that will connect with audiences. Castle’s appearance will bring dramatic changes to the world of Matt Murdock and nothing will be the same.

This iteration of the popular character is described as “a vigilante who aims to clean up New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen, by any means necessary, no matter how lethal results”.

According to rumor, it looks like the series will be looking to add a Bullseye soon as well, and possibly an Elektra. Though the Jason Statham rumors for the former have died on the vine a bit.

Daredevil and The Punisher have had a long-running antagonistic relationship in the comics and if that forms a major back-bone of the upcoming new season next year, we’re in for a real treat. It looks like 2016 is shaping up to be the year when heroes clash, between this, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Captain America: Civil War.

What do you think of this new addition? Bernthal looks to be pretty spot-on casting, and definitely has the chops to play the no-nonsense Castle.

AKA Jessica Jones was always kind of a clumsy title for the televised adaptation of Marvel’s Alias, even when it was going to be an ABC series a few years back.

But, thanks to the keen eyed folks over at TennantNews.com, it looks like Marvel is fixing that issue for the Netflix iteration of the series, as they’ll be dropping the AKA portion of the title, and it will be known simply as Marvel’s Jessica Jones.

Given that there was already the old Alias television series, starring Jennifer Garner, that you can watch right now on the streaming service; using the Brian Michael Bendis–Michael Gaydos title would surely be too tricky. Marvel instead went the most sensible route possible.

In additional news, it looks like we should be seeing before the end of the year based on that “Coming 2015″ bit. I wouldn’t be surprised if Netflix and Marvel Television stick to a Spring and Fall release schedule for all of their upcoming series.

Not to be outdone by this Friday’s release of Lego Jurassic World, WB Games UK debuted the first trailer for Lego Marvel’s Avengers on their YouTube channel.

The game centers around the Marvel cinematic universe and as you can see by the footage the epic battle of New York from the first Avengers movie just got adorable. This first trailer also featured the reveal of Ultron. While most of the footage we’ve seen depicts events from only the first movie, this is the first hint we’ve seen about any content from this year’s Age of Ultron film. Another prevalent detail dropped was the game’s release window. Fans will get to bring home Lego Marvel’s Avengers this Winter on all PlayStation and Xbox consoles as well as Wii U, DS, and PC.

We’ll get some hands on time with the game next week during E3 and talk about its Easter egg connections to the MCU.

We’re a little over a month away from the release of Marvel’s next big adventure, the Paul Rudd starring Ant-Man. Today sees a new television spot that showcases some not yet seen footage, including a bit featuring Michael Peña, whose role looks to be along the lines of additional comic relief. That seems like a bit of a waste of a talented actor, but I will not judge until the finished product is seen (a repeatable mantra regarding this project if I’ve ever heard one).

Here’s the new spot:

Per THR, a fellow well regarded thespian may be joining Benedict Cumberbatch in Doctor Strange, as the outlet reports that Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton, Only Lovers Left Alive) is entering negotiations to play The Ancient One in the upcoming Marvel picture.

Were Swinton to join the cast, this would be her third comic book movie role, having played Gabriel in Constantine and the delightful Minister Mason in Snowpiercer.

The Ancient One, as most of you who are up on your Marvel lore probably already know, served as Stephen Strange’s mentor in the Himalayas. When the character died in the comics, Strange began to summon him through the spiritual plane and he continued to aide the good doctor.

THR also reports that Marvel originally sought a male for the role, but that the studio eventually retooled the role for a female.

It’s hard to argue that there’s any actress (and perhaps any performer, male or female) that’s been on a more incredible streak in terms of on-screen acclaim than Swinton. The sheer diversity in her role selection also speaks volumes about her avoidance to tread the same ground or be type-cast in any way. Honestly, Swinton is one of the few “sure things” in Hollywood right now, and if Marvel secures her services, it would prove quite a coup.

Doctor Strange, directed by Scott Derrickson (Sinister), will see release on November 4, 2016.

Captain America: Civil War started filming in earnest over the past few weeks here in Atlanta. As a matter of fact, it turns out the cast was having lunch at the sushi restaurant down the street from our house!

Today, Marvel revealed the full cast along with the official synopsis, and while much of it is old news, the biggest surprises here are that Paul Rudd and William Hurt will be taking part in the film. For Rudd, despite my prediction that Marvel might end up treating Ant-Man in a way similar to The Incredible Hulk (a one-off that sort lies forgotten in the larger machinations of the studio) it looks as though it will matter at least somewhat for the overall MCU narrative. Speaking of The Incredible Hulk, Hurt will be reprising his role as General Ross. I guess you need to hang on to those Blu-rays after all, despite Mark Ruffalo‘s Banner seeming like a completely different character than Ed Norton‘s version.

Here’s the full cast list from Marvel, there are some potential spoilers for Age of Ultron here:

The film returns Chris Evans (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” Marvel’s “Avengers: Age of Ultron”) as the iconic Super Hero character Steve Rogers/Captain America along with Robert Downey Jr. (“Avengers: Age of Ultron,” Marvel’s “Iron Man 3”) as Tony Stark/Iron Man, Scarlett Johansson (“Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”) as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, Sebastian Stan (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Captain America: The First Avenger”) as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier, Anthony Mackie (“Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”) as Sam Wilson/Falcon, Paul Bettany (“Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Iron Man 3”) as The Vision, Jeremy Renner (“Avengers: Age of Ultron,” Marvel’s “The Avengers”) as Clint Barton/Hawkeye, Don Cheadle (“Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Iron Man 3”) as Jim Rhodes/War Machine and Elizabeth Olsen (“Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Godzilla”) as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch.

After his debut in Marvel’s “Ant-Man” on July 17, 2015, Paul Rudd (“Ant-Man,” ”Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues”) will make his first appearance alongside the Avengers as Scott Lang/Ant-Man in “Captain America: Civil War.”

The film also includes outstanding additional cast, including Chadwick Boseman (“42,” “Get on Up”) as T’Challa/Black Panther, Emily VanCamp (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Revenge”) as Sharon Carter/Agent 13, Daniel Brühl (“Inglourious Basterds,” “Bourne Ultimatum”), Frank Grillo (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Warrior”) as Brock Rumlow/Crossbones, William Hurt (“A History of Violence,” Marvel’s “The Incredible Hulk”) as General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross and Martin Freeman (“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies”).

There’s no new Spider-Man listed as of yet, but Marvel and Sony may still be in auditions for that role, if the character does indeed appear in the film.

Captain America: Civil War releases on May 6, 2016, here is the new synopsis:

“Captain America: Civil War” picks up where “Avengers: Age of Ultron” left off, as Steve Rogers leads the new team of Avengers in their continued efforts to safeguard humanity. After another international incident involving the Avengers results in collateral damage, political pressure mounts to install a system of accountability and a governing body to determine when to enlist the services of the team. The new status quo fractures the Avengers while they try to protect the world from a new and nefarious villain.

We’re in the final stretch before those of us stateside will get an opportunity to see the latest Joss Whedon helmed Marvel opus, Avengers: Age of Ultron. You can of course expect a review here on The Beat, from yours truly, in just a few days.

Before we get there, it’s time to reflect: Can you believe that we’re now onto the 11th film of this one of a kind experiment? I remember sitting in a restaurant with my parents the week after The Incredible Hulk released, and I was telling my father about the Tony Stark cameo in the film’s final scene. I’ll never forget what he said, “that’s going to be the new hot thing and every studio is going to be copying it”.

And to my lack of surprise, knowing how trends work in Hollywood, he was 100% right. We’re now living in a world where studios are planning a Robin Hood Cinematic Universe, a brand new Universal Monsters Universe, and of course both Fox and Warner Bros are trying to do something along the same lines as Marvel’s meteorically successful endeavor. While I wish them all the best of their luck in their endeavors, one really has to tip their hat to Kevin Feige for turning something that would have been unthinkable, or just the far-flung wishes of the message board set, a decade ago into a reality.

But, it hasn’t been a road without a few bumps. Like any long-running series, the Marvel Studios filmography has its own peaks and valleys in terms of individual film quality. With that said, let’s take the time to revisit the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the prerequisite ranking of the films that have gotten us to where we are now:

10. Iron Man 2

This isn’t just a bad Marvel movie, it’s one of the more disappointing theater-going experiences I’ve had in a while. Iron Man 2 is muddled, embarrassing, and clearly the result are far too many cooks in the kitchen; be it Robert Downey Jr taking too firm a hand with Justin Theroux’s script, Kevin Feige shoe-horning in as much Avengers/SHIELD build-up as he can manage, Mickey Rourke doing… whatever the hell he was supposed to be doing, or Jon Favreau exerting little to no creative control or vision. Even the normally excellent Don Cheadle is a huge step down from Terrence Howard, turning Howard’s fairly charismatic Rhodey into a complete personality void. Only Sam Rockwell comes out a winner here, though I like the small cameo John Slattery has as Howard Stark, I wish we’d get more of that.

9. Thor: The Dark World

Speaking of too many cooks, in a recent interview with the Nerdist Writers Panel, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely noted that Thor: The Dark World had as many as 8 screenwriters working on this project. Sadly, this lack of direction really shows, and if there’s a movie that screams “made by committee” it is this one. This dull sequel tries its hardest to double down on what pleased the first film’s audience (namely Loki and D’Arcy), but does so to the detriment of narrative cohesion. The film does benefit from Hiddleston and Hemsworth having developed tremendous chemistry and following on from the events of The Avengers. But these moments are only a small sliver of a weak whole which is also marred by a poorly fleshed out villain, a continued reliance on the dud of a relationship between Thor and Jane (to the point of making her the major point on which the plot device turns), and some of the worst exposition this side of Green Lantern. I long for the day that Thor gets handed to a team that actively embraces the character and the weird, fun cosmic events that shape his world.

8. The Incredible Hulk

This second stab at a Hulk film (following on the heels of the rather glacial Ang Lee 2003 film) has quite a bit of good in it: Ed Norton making for a pretty compelling every-man, Liv Tyler giving a steady performance with a thankless love interest role, and a nice bit of chase action throughout (with the high point being the almost Bourne-like Rio sequence towards the film’s beginning). These benefits are off-set by some really hammy supporting performances, particularly from the two Tim’s (Blake-Nelson and Roth) and a mindless third act where a CGI thing fights another CGI thing. It’s also chopped to pieces, as one can tell just by watching the deleted scenes, much of which were nice character bits for Ty Burrell’s Leonard Samson. Overall, it’s not a bad film, but more like casual FX viewing on a random Sunday. Frankly, the bottom-line on this one is that it barely counts anymore, we have a new Bruce Banner as of The Avengers and its highly doubtful that any plot points or characters from this movie are going to return (other than some Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. “wink and nudge”).

7. Iron Man 3

Shane Black and Drew Pearce bring the funny! Iron Man 3 benefits from the momentum provided by The Avengers and is a decent bounceback after the dreadful Iron Man 2. Yeah, Cheadle is still a waste and the Extremis powered bad guys are a little anonymous, but Black injected some authorial life into what could have been another anonymous affair. I also loved the Die Hard-Christmas vibe that is the backdrop for the movie’s events, a constant in Shane Black’s work. And yes, I thought the Iron Patriot armor was pretty nifty as well. It’s the first Marvel movie (other than The Avengers and then later Guardians of the Galaxy) where you can feel the finger-print of its filmmaker throughout, instead of the journeymen that were helming these projects pre-Avengers. The only major detriment to the film, and why it doesn’t rank higher, is its fairly dull third act which includes the ridiculous visual of “super-powered” Gwyneth Paltrow, and Guy Pearce (who I love dearly) playing another member of the forgettable Marvel villain brigade. Sadly, my favorite moment in the movie (the Mandarin twist) is also the point at which the film becomes its most generic.

6. Thor

I have really warmed to Kenneth Branagh’s sole Marvel effort in recent years. Yes, its production design borders on laughable and Hemsworth has more chemistry with Hiddleston than he does with Natalie Portman (and their romance is written about as well), but there’s a level of straight-forwardness on display here that makes Thor a relatively refreshing watch, especially with the growing complexity and interconnectedness of the Marvel oeuvre. Sometimes the power of a simple story is all you need, and Branagh and company nail the glowing majesty of Asgard along with the tried and true “fish out of water” elements that are especially carried by Hemsworth, whose voice is all I hear now whenever I read a Thor comic. Marvel has yet to produce a Thor film that I’d call essential, but this is as good as it gets so far.

5. Guardians of the Galaxy

A lot of fun. The plot itself is no great shakes, and feels a little overly familiar, but James Gunn and a surprisingly humorous cast (Dave Bautista is hilarious as Drax especially) that makes it all come together. The dialogue is razor sharp and full of wit, and Chris Pratt’s Peter Quill is probably the heir apparent to Downey’s Tony Stark for the “loveable asshole” crown of the Marvel universe. Guardians also benefits from being separated from the other goings-on related to S.H.I.E.L.D., Loki and the Earth-bound concerns of the previous films. Someone could go see this film and know not a lick about The Avengers, and could enjoy it on its own space opera merits. And much like Shane Black before him, you can see Gunn straining the limits of Marvel Studios’ house-style, to the benefit of fans. Its also gorgeously shot with meticulously designed worlds and colors galore!

4. Captain America: The First Avenger

The team behind this first Captain America film had a big of challenge ahead of them. How do you portray Marvel’s most virtuous character without resorting to outright jingoism? Pulling together a mixture of writers that love the source material (Chris McFeely and Stephen Markus), a director familiar with period pieces (Joe Johnston), and the perfect leading man (Chris Evans) and you have the perfect combo to tackle this challenge. In so doing, they end up creating a fun adventure romp that up to that point was Marvel’s most comic-book faithful film. It’s still pretty cheesy in parts, but gloriously so and it’s incredibly stylized and doesn’t fall victim to the “filmed in a rush, looking cheap” trap that Thor did just a few months before. This debut feature for Cap also has my favorite love story in the entire Marvel filmography, subtle, well written and with some great back and forth between Evans and Atwell. Sure, the Red Skull is pretty poorly used, the third act montage is an annoyance, and the film completely whiffs the Steve-Bucky relationship. But, when you’ve got a film that includes all of the Howling Commandos, crazy World War II era planes, and an awesome show-tune number written by Alan Menken, you have a real winner on your hands, all things considered.

3. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

With its intricately plotted conspiracy storyline, some of the best shot action scenes of recent memory, and fairly compelling pathos (correcting one of the bigger sins of the previous entry). Joe and Anthony Russo take over behind the camera, and not only do they have a great handle on Cap, but they also find significant roles for Nick Fury and Black Widow. Two characters who had nice beats in The Avengers, but were still somewhat enigma-like. This is a movie packed with fun surprises as well, with call backs to a few films in the overall series (creating a sense of real history that matters to these characters) without being bogged down by them. What I think I like best though about this sequel is that its the first of the Phase Two films that doesn’t rely on the events of The Avengers to stage its plot. In reality, this movie is probably the first where you didn’t even have to see that team-up extravaganza and its story-beats would still make sense (unlike Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World). It’s hard not to appreciate that kind of dedication to the character and his slice of the Marvel Universe. It’s a heck of a ride.

2. Iron Man

There’s a crispness to Iron Man that I just can’t shake. I remember going to the theater to see this one in 2008 not expecting a whole heck of a lot and I was blown away. Iron Man was hilarious, exciting, well-paced and on subsequent rewatches all of those qualities still hold up. Just about everything that makes Iron Man work so well can be attributed to the actors. Obadiah Stane is one of my favorite villains in the MCU (admittedly, his only real competition are Loki and Wilson Fisk), mainly because of how loosely Jeff Bridges plays him. Pepper Potts is a very well rounded character because of Paltrow. James Rhodes is actually interesting for once due to the “swaggering stoicism” (is that a thing?) brought by Howard. And Tony Stark goes without saying really, but has there ever been a better meld of character and actor in one of these superhero romps? I love Hiddleston and Evans in their respective roles, but Downey IS Iron Man. Also, the movie is basically completely improvised, again, the story being formed by the strength of the actors involved. Iron Man also set everything into motion for the entire series of Marvel films, but its hard to describe just how exciting it was to see Jackson’s Nick Fury appear that first time after the credits rolled. This is a film that captured the public zeitgeist for a short time and is only eclipsed by our next entry in that regard.

1. The Avengers

It made over a billion dollars. Sure, there are some terrible movies that can make that same claim, but clearly something connected with the American public on this one. It’s an utter spectacle, but a really well crafted one that gives equal time to basically all of its characters (unless you’re Jeremy Renner). Sure, it takes a minute to dispense with the “heroes having a misunderstanding” plot beat or two but its all tempered by such sharp writing throughout that its hard to dock it too many points for the cliche. The underlying threat is strong as well (with Hiddleston really hitting his stride as Loki here), with stakes that feel suitably massive. Joss Whedon brings just enough candy coated coloring to the visual palette that it makes The Avengers a literal comic book come to life and the final results speak for themselves. Is it cinematic brilliance? Not really. Is it a tremendously good time once you’re separated from the hype that surrounds it? Absolutely! It’s only real misstep was how it handled Hawkeye, and maybe Captain America’s costume. Luckily, I understand both have been adjusted for the sequel.

Bring on Age of Ultron!

What do you all think? Am I off my rocker? How would you rank these films? I’d love to see which of these entries have landed best with everyone else.

With a new Spider-Man film headed to theaters on July 28, 2017, Sony is in full swing trying to find its new Peter Parker and according to The Wrap, while the studio is going to be sending out test offers over the next few weeks, there are five major contenders that paint a picture of the type of performer they’re looking for.

Those five include:

Asa Butterfield – Probably the best known of the group, and was the lead in Martin Scorsese‘s Hugo as well as Ender’s Game

Nat Wolff – Recently seen in The Fault in Our Stars, but I rather liked him in last year’s Palo Alto

Tom Holland – One of the stars of 2012’s tearjerker The Impossible

Timothee Chalamett – Seen both on Homeland and as Matthew McConaughey’s son in Interstellar

Liam James – Star of The Way Way Back

Wolff is the oldest of the group at 20, so it’s clear that Sony (and Marvel) are seeking actors that can grow into the role and sign a multi-picture deal. The Wrap also reports that Drew Goddard remains the top candidate to direct the new feature, who was of course attached to helm The Sinister Six before Sony scrapped those plans after the big Marvel deal was struck.

I’d expect to hear big news pretty soon.

After yesterday’s Valiant and Daredevil news items and today’s Eisner nominations, you’d think we could shut the door down on news for a while. But, surprise surprise, there’s still a few other items of note, here’s the rundown:

– Joss Whedon, while on the press circuit for next week’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, held court with Buzzfeed, and in a pretty revealing interview about his time at Marvel that is well worth reading, he happened to elaborate on his feelings regarding Edgar Wright‘s departure from Ant-Man:

I thought the script was not only the best script that Marvel had ever had, but the most Marvel script I’d read. I had no interest in Ant-Man. [Then] I read the script, and was like, Of course! This is so good! It reminded me of the books when I read them. Irreverent and funny and could make what was small large, and vice versa. I don’t know where things went wrong. But I was very sad. Because I thought, This is a no-brainer. This is Marvel getting it exactly right. Whatever dissonance that came, whatever it was, I don’t understand why it was bigger than a marriage that seemed so right. But I’m not going to say it was definitely all Marvel, or Edgar’s gone mad! I felt like they would complement each other by the ways that they were different. And, uh, somethin’ happened.

One you hear Whedon make a statement like that, it’s hard not to wonder what could have been (not that many weren’t already). I’ve long held that parting ways with Edgar Wright was one of the biggest missteps Marvel has made thus far and the loss of his idiosyncratic take on Scott Lang would be felt pretty heavily come this July. But, movies have to be seen before you can judge them, and we’ll find out soon enough.

On that note, Avengers: Age of Ultron is currently sitting at 84% on Rotten Tomatoes with 49 reviews in. If that score holds, it’ll put the film just below Iron Man (93%), The Avengers (92%), Guardians of the Galaxy (91%), and Captain America: The Winter Soldier (89%) in the Marvel canon, if you care about that kind of thing.

– One more Ultron related note, those of you who are aspiring to be professionals in the field of journalism may not want to follow the example set by Krishnan Guru-Murthy from Britain’s Channel 4 news, whose junket press questions caused Robert Downey Jr. to walk out of the interview:

Seriously, save the hard hitting stuff for when it’s warranted and expected, not in promotional interviews for a superhero film.

– The third Star Trek film in the rebooted franchise now has a rumored title: Star Trek Beyond. The rumor comes via TrekMovie who discovered Paramount’s recent MPAA registration of the title. To be honest, I don’t love it, but it’s also a good sight better than Star Trek Into Darkness, which was an awful pun. At the very least, perhaps this ensures that exploration will be the key factor for the new Star Trek entry.

– With True Detective Season 2 just a couple of months away, HBO has released some ominous looking motion posters via the show’s official twitter feed:

We get the world we deserve. #TrueDetective pic.twitter.com/iTkuP2t04n

— True Detective (@TrueDetective) April 22, 2015

We get the world we deserve. #TrueDetective pic.twitter.com/CFJuv00Nws — True Detective (@TrueDetective) April 22, 2015

Creepy stuff!

– And finally, in a fun little piece, here’s what this Summer’s big blockbuster releases would look like in 90’s VHS form. Oh, do I ever miss Blockbuster, until I think about the late fees and scrambling to get the latest video tapes.

In the fifth episode of the new Netflix series Marvel's Daredevil, lawyer-by-day, vigilante-by-night Matt Murdoch (Charlie Cox) explains to his new friend Claire Temple (Rosario Dawson) how he sees the world.  Blinded in a childhood accident, Matt discovered that his other senses had become superhumanly sharp, allowing him to perceive far more than ordinary people.  "You have to think of it as