Showing posts with label Black Widow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Black Widow. Show all posts

Saturday, March 18, 2017

Wonder Woman Movie and Black Widow


Do you know what is really upsetting for a Marvel fan? No Black Widow movie and the lack of Black Widow merchandise. Are you kidding me? Black Widow is a beloved character by women and men, yet Marvel continuously skips over her. Personally, I think the main reason Wonder Woman is getting her own feature film is because DC has sat quietly and observed Marvel fans begging for years to get a Black Widow movie and someone over at DC thought "hey, if these fans are asking for a female led superhero movie, why don't we make one for our star female superhero?!" And you know what, it's a brilliant move!


I am not a DC fan, but I will be seeing the Wonder Woman film and I know when I leave the theater I am going to be even more pissed that there is no Black Widow movie. My hope is that this movie will destroy the box office because that would get us a step closer to a Black Widow movie. It's sad to me though that Marvel has ignored fans for so long in this, but kudos to DC for seeing Marvel's mistake and jumping in. I also saw a comercial for DC Superhero girls dolls. So not only are DC fans getting a Wonder Woman film, but they're getting all of these female inspired toys and merchandise. Marvel is going to lose many young fans due to this. I mean when a little girl is going down the toy aisle looking for a Black Widow doll, but can only find Wonder Woman, who do you think she's going to pick? Is she going to hold out in hopes of a Black Widow doll magically appearing? No! She's going to dump Nat (and Marvel) and go for Wonder Woman (DC). So once again, kudos to DC for going this route and not alienating or ignoring your female fans.


What is so scary or wrong about having a female driven superhero film? As I said before, both women and men love Natasha, so where is the problem? I realize Marvel never had a Black Widow in their original master plan, but fans have been begging for one (and an Avengers type sitcom) for years. Had they jumped on it to start with they could have had a film out by now- before DC! Marvel has consistently destroyed DC when it comes to superhero films. I mean how long was the Avengers in the works before any of us even caught on? We all just thought they were trying to capitalize on a genre, but no, they were redefining this genre. Marvel worked hard to create each superhero in their own film and in their own way, only to tie them together slowly for years so that when it came time, the Avengers would make sense. But now they are losing their edge. Civil War and Batman vs Superman were (at their basic level) similar stories, and I think it's safe to say that Marvel annihilated them. Civil War made 1.132 billion dollars at the box office while Batman vs Superman brought in 872.2 billion. They both has a budget of 250 million. Now Wonder Woman is going to go on unopposed. Personally, I can't believe Marvel would just lie down and let DC take this. I'm afraid they're going to have some long term damage as a result.


As much as I want a Black Widow movie, I think it might be too late. Story wise we have been with Nat since Iron Man 2 which was released in 2010. All of these other heroes have gotten their origins told before they become too involved in the Avengers. We just met Black Panther and "Avengers" Spider Man and they're both getting stories. Ant Man got one before he joined team Cap. Nat has just been woven in to all of the other stories, with very little information on her past. She is a mystery (which makes sense because she is a spy) and if Marvel wants to keep her that way, then why can't we follow her on a mission? This would have made a lot more sense pre Winter Solider as now S.H.I.E.L.D. has been destroyed. Do you see what I mean when I say it might be too late? It makes me sad that people who only watch the films just think of her as a hot assassin. Yes she is a hot assassin, but do you know why she is so good at what she does? Do you know why she moves so quick and does the things she does? Most people assume that her quick work is just for movie purposes, but Nat's brain moves quickly and she is always anticipating the next move which is what makes her such a valuable fighter. She is always in the middle of the action for a reason. In Winter Solider she runs straight as guns are being fired at her. She's smart so she knows this is increasing her chances of getting shot, but it lowers the chances of civilians getting shot. She thinks on her feet, but movies that are so full of other major characters and their story lines you don't get to explore the nitty gritty of the "support" characters- no matter how much the fans love them.


I'm also afraid that if the Wonder Woman movie fails, then all hope for a Black Widow movie will go out the window. So please, try and support this film. It may be a roundabout way of getting our own girl on the screen as the number one star not just a support.

Sidenote: thanks to author Margaret Stohl for seeing the value in Natasha and creating "Black Widow: Forever Red" and "Black Widow: Red Vengeance" so fans can at least read about Nat. I recommend checking them.


(notice this gif above where a toy was made from this scene but the Black Widow wasn't the one on the bike- it was one of her male costars instead...isn't that nice of Marvel?)

Monday, July 11, 2016

"Captain America: Civil War" Movie Review




Holy Crap. This movie is freaking amazing. It is wall to wall action and heart...I don't even know what to make of it. 

SPOILERS AHEAD, SKIP TO THE END IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED!!!!!!


Ok so wow. That first scene, Wanda is so cute just sitting there trying to be a spy. That fight got intense quick and Steve got distracted when Crossbones (the villian) mentioned Bucky's name. Steve was questioning him and Crossbones set off a grenande to kill them both. In an effort to protect Steve, Wanda moves Crossbones and the explosion, but she accidentally lets go of it in a building causing a lot of destruction. Once again, the Avengers aren't looking so good. It really sucks, because she's still learning to control her powers but she was just trying to save Steve's life. Later at the tower, Steve tries to comfort Wanda as she is very upset and the news is blaming her and the rest of the Avengers, but mostly her for the destruction and death of innocent people. 

Meanwhile, Tony is giving a speech at a college about being an inventor and he relives, in front of their eyes, the last time he saw his parents alive. He tells them that no one would invest in the glasses that made it possible, so he invested in himself and he was going to invest in all of their projects. Pepper's name comes up on the prompter and he ends his speech. Apparently he and Pepper are on a break. Tony goes backstage and tries to get the elevator when he is met by a woman. She proceeds to give him a picture of her dead son and tells him that he was killed after their stunt in Sokovia. This really gets to Tony.



The Avengers are presented with a deal by the Secretary of State from the United Nations basically saying that they will no longer act without permission and if they want to do something, they need the approval of the UN. It is a way to put the Avengers in check so that they don't get to just do whatever they want. Tony has already signed it and he tries to convince the others to as well. Natasha, much to the surprise of everyone, agrees with him and signs the deal. She says that they need to gain back the trust of the public. Steve disagrees. He has seen what happens when you blindly follow what the government tells them to do. After the situation with SHIELD/Hydra, he thinks that the safest hands are still their own. He thinks they can make the right choices and protect the world. 

Before they can get more into it, Steve receives a text and finds out that Peggy has passed away in her sleep. He is devastated. Sam attends the funeral with him and he is a pallbearer for her. It was so sad. Then who gets up to deliver the eulogy? Why Agent 13 aka Sharon Carter. She explains in her speech how supportive her Aunt Peggy was of her career choice and how she never told people they were related because Aunt Peggy was a lot to live up too. After the funeral, Nat shows up and hugs Steve. Her only reason for being there is that she is still Steve's friend and wants to support him. After this she leaves to go to the UN for the meeting. 


She meets T'Challa, the prince of Wakanda and his father as they are signing in. The king of Wakanda is giving a speech when the building is attacked and he is killed. T'Challa takes his ring and mourns his father. Steve and Sam see what's going on on the news and are amazed. Sharon meets with them at the bar and tells them that her agency has security footage of Bucky Barnes at the UN. The footage is released to the media, so now it is a worldwide manhunt for Bucky. Sharon helps Steve get a head start. He calls Nat and she begs him not to get involved. 


Bucky is busy buying plums...yes plums...and he is returning to his apartment when he sees his face on the front page of a newspaper. He returns home to find Captain America waiting for him. He  asks Bucky if he recognizes him and Bucky tells him that he's Steve and he learned about him in a muesum. Steve tells him he knows that is a lie, but they have to go. He finds a journal where Bucky has taken notes about him. Before they can get much farther, soldiers try breaking in to arrest Bucky. Steve and Bucky fight them off, drawing them outside where Sam helps them. Bucky is running on the roof when he is attacked by a guy dressed like a cat. Hello Black Panther. They fight and Bucky is brought in. 

Meanwhile in New York, Vision tries cooking a Sokovian recipe in an attempt to cheer Wanda up and it is the cutest most awkward thing ever. You will ship them after this scene. Wanda says she is going to the store to get paprika and Vision won't let her leave. He says she is there for protection, and she says she can protect herself. He says it is for the protection of other people and he apologizes saying his orders are from Tony. He tells her that he hopes one day everyone will see her as he does, but right now that's not the case. Wanda is hurt that he's keeping her there. Obviously, Vision is on Tony's side on this. 




Back at the German headquarters, Bucky has been locked up and is going to be interviewed by a doctor. Tony asks Steve to sign the papers again, and Steve considers it but ultimately declines again. Sharon turns on the interview for Steve and he watches. He only gets a glimpse of the doctor before the screen shuts off. Steve and Sam run to the floor where Bucky is and find all of the guards are down. Meanwhile, the doctor (Zemo) is our villain and he is giving Bucky the Russian commands to bring out the Winter Soldier. He let's Bucky out and he goes on a rampage. Tony gets his butt beat trying to stop Bucky and so does Nat. Steve tries to stop him but Bucky gets in a helicopter, which Steve pulls back to the building. The helicopter goes down and Steve and Sam escape with Bucky. 

When Bucky comes too he apologizes for what happened and confesses to Steve what happened with the doctor.  He tells Steve that there are more "winter soldiers" and they are just as lethal. They agree that they have to get back to the lab where he was kept and destroy them before this doctor unleashes them on the world. Steve, Sam, and Bucky meet with Sharon in secret who gets them their gear back. Bucky and Sam totally stole this scene. They were in the car and acting like children. Oh and Steve and Sharon kiss. I'm not happy about it. This felt rushed and strange because she's related to Peggy. I don't like it and neither do a lot of people. But anyways...

While this is going on, Tony goes to meet with...dum dum dummm Peter Parker aka Spider-Man!! 
Peter comes home and sees Tony with his Aunt May. Tony says that he would like to work with Peter and they need to speak in private. In Peter's room, Tony tells him that he knows Peter is this spider guy hero that keeps showing up on the internet. Peter tries to deny it, but Tony fishes out the suit (makes fun of it) and Peter gets him with his web. Tony is really impressed and offers him a better suit and asks for his help. 





Clint finally shows up after trying to enjoy retired life. He "rescues" Wanda from Vision's hold and once they get him down, they head out to help Steve. Clint tells her that they have 1 more stop to make before getting to Steve though. When they reach Steve they introduce him to Scott Lang aka Ant-Man. Scott is very very excited to be helping Captain America and it's hilarious and awkward. 




Then the battle begins. Bucky and Sam mostly fight with Peter Parker and they are even more annoyed with him than with each other. This Spider-Man is great. I have never been a fan of Spider-Man, but I like this one a lot. He was funny and he just kept talking his way through the fight. It was great. Finally, Steve and Bucky break away and almost make it to a jet but are stopped by Nat. She tells them she has to do the right thing, and let's them go. Black Panther is pissed and she points out that she only said she'd help him find them. They escape and in this Rhodes gets hurt. Vision was distracted by Wanda nearly getting hurt and when Tony told him to shot Sam, he shot and missed therefore hitting Rhodes and causing him to fall out of the sky. Rhodes ends up being paralyzed from the waist down and Tony helps tweak his suit so he can still walk using the legs. 

Well by this point Zemo is somewhere else and sets it up so housekeeping comes into his former hotel room. They find a dead body in the bathtub. It turns out that this was the actual doctor who was supposed to interview Bucky. Tony realizes Steve wasn't lying and maybe he has been wrong this whole time. He flies out to where the Secretary of State wants him to. It turns out to be a giant prison in the ocean. He walks through and sees Wanda with a straight jacket and shock collar on. He sees Scott Lang who tries to bash him, but Tony says he has no idea who he is. Tony passes Clint and Clint is furious with him. Tony finally stops on Sam. He asks Sam where Steve is and then he trips the system so the audio goes out and the Secretary can't hear what they're saying. He tells Sam what he's doing and that he is going to help Steve and Bucky. Sam tells him where he is and Tony lies to the Secretary saying he still doesn't know. He leaves and rushes to Steve's side. 


Steve and Bucky break into the old lab, without knowing that Zemo is there. They look around and Tony surprises them there. He makes peace with both of them and they work together. They find the other soldiers in their chambers, already dead. They don't understand why. Zemo tells them over the PA system that he would never unleash them on the world because they're evil just like the Avengers. He admits to the attack on the UN which Black Panther overhears and then he tells Tony about a mission the Winter Soldier completed. He plays the security video which shows Bucky wrecking the Stark's car and killing Tony's parents. Tony asks Steve if he knew and he says yes, and that he didn't want to make things worse by telling Tony. The 3 of them go at it and Zemo is loving it. Tony shoots off Bucky's metal arm and Steve bashes his shield into Tony's chest. Tony just lets him. He could have killed him, but he didn't. They leave Tony there and Tony yells out that Steve doesn't deserve the shield so he drops it. Meanwhile, T'Challa finds Zemo sitting with a gun and revealing about what he's done to the Avengers. He challenges T'Challa to kill him and he refuses. He hands him in. 

Tony gets a letter from Steve where Steve apologizes for what he's done and tells him he's always there for him. Steve includes a flip phone and says if Tony needs him to call. 

Bucky has decided to go back to being frozen until they can figure out how to fix his brain. He doesn't want to ever be "activated" again. Steve watches him go under again and then thanks dum dum dummmm T'Challa for helping! Yup, Black Panther who has been trying to kill the Winter Soldier all movie, ends up helping him because he recognizes that Bucky is a victim like his father was as well. We get a nice view of Wakanda and the giant stone panther outside of T'Challa's home. 

We also see Steve drop into the Secretary's prison in front of Sam. He's there to get his team out.

Overall, this movie was great. It was seriously great and the Russo brothers did an amazing job. I'm excited for the future of Marvel, but I really hope Steve and Tony become close again and the Avengers become a tight knit crew again. 




This movie DEFINITELY gets 5 stars!!! Go see it, you won't be disappointed!



Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Where's Natasha & Wanda? (and Clint & Pietro)

Dear Disney/Marvel/Whoever Is In Charge:

I'm writing this post in the futile hopes that someone- ANYONE from Disney or Marvel sees it. It is really depressing that there is no merchandise for the female characters. I don't understand why. Of course they want to go after the male audience, but what about the women? Yes we have a long line of Disney Princess and they're all great- I love them, but they aren't anything close to the Black Widow or the Scarlet Witch or even Princess Leia. Why can't there be Barbie dolls of the ladies? Why don't they get their own action figures. You want to go after the male demographic, but you could double your money by including the women. Little girls are just as persuasive, if not more persuasive, at getting their parents to buy them toys. Aside from the little kids, what about the grown women who would like some merchandise? A t-shirt, a collectable doll...whatever. Why don't we get any options. We have the Black Widow, Scarlet Witch, Peggy Carter, Captain Marvel, Jane Foster (eventually), Maria Hill....and who else? There are a few others, but the pales in comparison to the list of male superheros.

Furthermore, why are Hawkeye and Quicksilver exiled from your merchandise along with the ladies? The biggest reason Hawkeye had such a large role in the latest Avengers is because of fan demand (unless that was another pretty lie from the studio). Think Quicksilver merch won't sell? Then I invite you to check your Twitter and Tumblr feeds. He is beloved. Hawkeye is beloved. Of course we love Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, and the Hulk- but we love other characters too. There are more than 4 Avengers. Why not include the others? It can't be because they lack superpowers i.e. Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. The Black Widow is a badass to the extreme and Hawkeye is really talented. Why can't we include all of them? I want to buy their merchandise items more than the main 4.

It's just not fair and it honestly breaks my heart.

Sidenote: please bring Quicksilver back. He is a valuable asset to the team and we love him/Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Seriously. Don't toy with us like this.


Sincerely,

Basically Every Woman on the Planet.

Saturday, May 2, 2015

"Avengers: Age of Ultron" Movie Review





Oh. My. God.


This movie was everything it was hyped up to be and more.





As a fan of Hawkeye (and Jeremy Renner) I was really really happy to see that he was in this movie a lot more, and you humorously see what an important part of the team he actually is.



You finally learn about the Black Widow (Natasha Romanoff)'s past and wow- I understand her a lot more now. I have always loved her, but this movie brings her to a whole new level.



The Maximoff twins, Pietro and Wanda (Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch), are a great addition to this movie. I didn't think I'd end up caring much about them, but holy crap did that change by the end of the movie.





We finally get a better glimpse into the Hulk (Bruce Banner)'s life. It's not much of a surprise that he views himself as a monster, but it's nice to begin to see the man behind the monster.






Thor doesn't have a whole lot of character development- he just seems to be in a good place and in a good place with the team (until Tony Stark screws things up).






Iron Man (Tony Stark) is his typical self in this movie, but we get a good glimpse at his non-egotistical side. He loves the team and will do anything to protect them.






Captain America (Steve Rogers) has his own growth through the movie. I think he is finally getting a handle on being a man out of his time.





We start right in on the action as the Avengers take down a Hydra base while looking for Loki's scepter and thinks take off from there. Everything about this movie was flawless, I'm not even kidding. There was plenty of humor and one-liners (from more than just Tony Stark) and a lot of running jokes (good job Cap). There were a lot of fight scenes which I thought would get old, but it didn't. Each fight had a purpose- there was no fighting just to fight or blow things up just because. Also, we meet The Vision and he is awesome. Tony messes up by creating Ultron it somewhat rectified by creating The Vision.

I want to say more, but I don't want to give things away so I'm going to do another post on this movie in a few weeks when more people will have had the chance to see it.


All in all, SEE THIS MOVIE - YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED!