When it comes to the different kinds of superheroes, my favorite type is the street level vigilante. From the normal humans who have trained for years like Batman and Green Arrow from the slightly powered beings like Spider-Man and Daredevil, something always spoke to me about those who would stand up and fight for the everyman. Of course, the Punisher is a bit of an anomaly. His gimmick is that he uses guns and kills criminals without hesitation. He's not the standard superhero, and yet the character's endured over 40 years and fans enjoy the kind of "justice" he dishes out.
The Punisher has had a few live action depictions, going back to the Dolph Lundgren movie of 1989 (which I haven't seen). The 2004 Thomas Jane and 2008 Ray Stevenson films weren't well received but still had some love from fans. Between the two, I always loved the Thomas Jane version, but I can see why some preferred Stevenson. But in my view, all prior versions are moot to some degree since the character had arrived in the Marvel Cinematic Universe last year in season two of Daredevil, played by Jon Bernthal. While I viewed his arc in that season to be Frank Castle's journey to becoming the Punisher we all know, and we'd see that in his own series. Well, after the less than stellar outings of Iron Fist and the Defenders, the Punisher closes out the year by returning to the standard set by the Marvel Netflix series when it began with Daredevil and Jessica Jones.
With the spotlight now shined on him, Jon Bernthal's portrayal of Frank Castle has helped make this version become my favorite of the character, similar to what the MCU did with Hawkeye for me. What makes me love this Punisher is that there's more depth to him compared to other versions I've seen. Most of the time, Frank's shown to have been a normal guy with some firearm training until the day his family was killed, and afterwards, he seemed to have transformed into an emotionless unstoppable killing machine. Frank's emotions can show through, but he usually keeps the same demeanor. What sets Bernthal's depiction apart is that he has a wide range of emotions, helping you connect with him more. You can also sense an internal struggle with him, that he doesn't want to care about others or let them in, fearing that he'll lose them at some point too. Despite that though, there are moments where Frank's actions can make him unlikeable, a promise that was made by those working on the show prior to its premiere; I think that further sets him apart by not making him an all around hero. The show also features flashbacks of Frank's past that not only add some resonance to his storyline in Daredevil, but they also show that Frank's mind and body had already been through hell even before his family was killed; that was just the tipping point. Finally, while in Daredevil, they showed he could take a beating as well as deliver one, that doesn't really change here. Similar to how Daredevil was portrayed in his first season, Frank is shown to be just a man that can still kick ass, but he's not invincible; I will note that Frank does have training compared to Matt, but he's more adept to weapons than hand-to-hand combat.
That brings me to the action of the series, which is probably the best I've seen from a Marvel Netflix show since season one of Daredevil. The realistic brutality that helped set Daredevil apart from everything else from the MCU at that point is what helps the Punisher stand out now, and that brutality is expectedly elevated considering the character in focus. What definitely sets Punisher apart is the gun violence; sometimes the shots are unexpected, which can make some feel uneasy after the fact, but considering the apparently unresolvable gun control debate, that's probably a good thing. From the construction site massacre in the first episode to the carousel fight in the finale, you'll be rooting for Frank and maybe get a little queasy at the same time.
Like most of the other Marvel Netflix series, it has this way of making you either care or feel something for every character, no matter how minor. From Micro and his family to Lewis Wilson to Sam Stein, when something happens to a character, an emotion will rise out of you. Of the two characters that also stood out, it was Karen Page and Billy Russo.
Karen and Frank had formed a connection back in Daredevil, and it's grown more in his own series. I don't know if I'd fully support a Frank/Karen ship, but the chemistry between the two really makes it believable. It would definitely be an "opposites attract" relationship, where they shouldn't have feelings for each other but can't help themselves.
Those familiar with Billy Russo in the comics know about his villainous alter-ego, but in this adaptation, he's portrayed as Frank's friend who served with him in the military. As we watch this character throughout this series portrayed by Ben Barnes, we see him as a very likable guy, and it can make even those familiar with the character forget about his villainous nature until it shows itself, and then he becomes quite scary. That's what makes him a great adversary for Frank as he gets his comeuppance that sets up his likely return next season.
Overall, the Punisher delivers a wild ride and a version of the character all fans can enjoy. It's the right mix of a bad ass hero we can connect to like the 2004 film with the bloody violence seen in 2008's "War Zone" (except not to laughable levels). It ranks up there with Jessica Jones and Daredevil as the best to come from the Marvel Netflix series with a return to realism the line needed to pick things up again. Here's hoping we can get a winning streak going again with next year's seasons of Jessica Jones, Daredevil, and Luke Cage.
I first started my blog with a review of "Man of Steel", the Superman reboot that would be the beginning of the DC Extended Universe. It's kind of crazy that it's been almost five years and how much I've grown in my writing since then. I've been covering the DCEU from the start and it's definitely been a rocky road, and it's led to this: the Justice League. While DC has taken a different approach than Marvel did leading to the Avengers, I've always remained hopeful that Justice League would be just as epic. That said, Justice League is pretty good...but it's not epic.
The film has a bit of a rocky start with some odd choices in dialogue and fight choreography, but it really starts to find its groove after the scene on Themyscera featuring another Amazon battle and once the team starts to come together. After that, I was pretty entertained for the rest of the film between the action and interaction amongst the heroes. I'm not saying that I didn't like it, but compared to the previous films leading up to this, "Man of Steel" and "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice", it just felt really different than what came before. It didn't have any major themes from what I noticed. There were quite a few moments I really enjoyed, but nothing that made me geek out as hard as the Batman warehouse fight in BvS. Believe it or not, I actually still like BvS more. What's really sad to say though is that I kind of expected things to go this way for the film.
Earlier this year, director Zack Snyder had stepped away from the film after the death of his daughter, leading the reigns of the film through post-production and reshoots to Joss Whedon, director of the first two Avengers films. While Whedon did film additional material, it was constantly said that Snyder's vision and story were still at the forefront, even with the different styles of the two directors. But even so, what didn't help was that Warner Bros. had mandated the film's runtime to be under two hours. To put this in perspective, the majority of DCEU films are roughly two and a half hours with the extended cut of BvS clocking in at three hours, making Justice League the shortest film yet. This may not have been a problem if not for two things: 1) We're being introduced to three new heroes in Aquaman, Flash, and Cyborg. and 2) It was pretty clear that many scenes were cut, from the characters who were expected to appear but didn't (like Iris West) and scenes shown in the trailers but not in the actual film. It really did feel like a more condensed version of what Snyder intended. When the extended version of BvS came out on Blu-Ray, the extra scenes helped that movie flow better and filled in some holes the story was missing, many believing that the film may have been better received had that been the version released in theaters. It seems that not only has WB not learned its lessons from before, but they're doubling down when it comes to "Justice League". The DCEU hasn't had the best reception overall, which of course leads to course correcting, but sometimes it can go too far. "Suicide Squad" had this problem after the poor reception to "BvS" and you can say "Justice League" did the same after the success of "Wonder Woman". But of course, from my understanding, "Wonder Woman" succeeded because director Patty Jenkins was allowed to make the film she wanted with little interference from WB. Even "Man of Steel", with its more mixed reception was still its own story, as the major plan of the DCEU was still in its infant stage. My point is that if WB wants to get the DCEU on track, they need to allow the directors of these movies have more free reign, which I understand is supposed to be the direction they're going now, giving me hope still in the DCEU. All that said, I'm trying not to judge the Justice League film I saw too harshly as we clearly won't see the whole story until the inevitable extended cut will be released on Blu-Ray. But enough behind-the-scenes drama; let's talk about the film itself.
As the returning cast members, Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, and Jeremy Irons are still on point from their previous performances as Batman, Wonder Woman, and Alfred. Gadot continues to radiate divinity as the demi-goddess. I've seen some criticism of Affleck's performance in this film, like that he doesn't seem like he wants to be there or that he's phoning it in, but I say he's still on par with his portrayal in BvS. I've always thought of Bruce and Batman's voice to remain at the same serious tone with inflections when necessary, which he still has here. And let's be honest, it's not like Batman is the kind of guy who's good at expressing himself, not that he wants to anyway, which makes sense why his attempts to bring the team together at first aren't very successful. He's approaching them as serious Batman Bruce Wayne, not the charismatic business man Bruce Wayne. Besides that, I really enjoyed his character interactions amongst the others, from the co-leadership and romantic tension with Diana, the mentor role for Barry, and butting heads with Arthur and Clark.
Henry Cavill is also back as Clark Kent/Superman, and he's a bit different here than we've seen before. No longer unsure of himself and his place in the world, we see a Superman who's finally smiling and enjoying saving the day, the Superman some people have been waiting for since "Man of Steel". Of course, had they realized that this had been the planned character arc for Superman over three movies, they may not have had a problem with waiting so long, but I digress. The action scenes and character interactions involving him are some of the best of the film, really making the team feel complete by the end, especially for the big group shot. If I had any complaint, it's that his transition between coming back from the dead and suiting up as Superman went a little too fast, but this may be one of those instances where cutting scenes hurt things.
As mentioned before, we have three new heroes introduced in Aquaman, Flash, and Cyborg. While I didn't really think too much about DC not having each hero get their own solo movies before the big team-up, now that the big team-up is here, I can't help but think Aquaman and Flash really would have benefited from having their own movies first. Both have already had their powers, so it would have been nice to have some idea of their lives before this point. Besides that, this is our first look at Atlantis, and we only see a tomb holding a Mother Box.
Jason Momoa as Aquaman was pretty good and a real badass. From a character perspective, I find his situation similar to Clark's in "Man of Steel" or even Thor in his first movie; he's not truly Aquaman yet and hasn't taken up the responsibility placed on him. He's yet to become the king he's meant to be.
It was said beforehand that Ezra Miller's Flash was the highlight of early fan screenings, and I can see why. He's probably one of the most entertaining characters of this film. While part of that is because he was the source of most of the film's comic relief, his powers were quite a sight to see, especially with the lightning flying around. One of Zack Snyder's tropes is his use of slow motion, and I can't help but think he had a good time when it came to filming Flash's scenes where he was moving so fast it was almost like everything around him was frozen in place. Besides that, we see a slight rivalry between him and Superman about who's faster, including an "oh shit" moment where Barry realizes Clark can still follow his movements at high speed. As for Barry's character himself, he's a bit odd. Compared to Grant Gustin's depiction on the TV show, he's very different. If anything, he reminded me more of Wally West than Barry Allen. Hell, swap out Barry's background for Wally's and there wouldn't have been a big difference for the main story. But again, Barry apparently had more scenes depicting his everyday life that got cut, so there's that to consider.
After his brief cameo in BvS, Ray Fisher makes his feature film debut as Victor Stone/Cyborg. Unlike the previous two, Cyborg's origin being integrated into this film makes more sense considering his connection to the Mother Boxes, not to mention that the New 52's Justice League origin was also Cyborg's introduction in that timeline as well. Fisher does a good job portraying Victor's character arc from being ashamed and angry about his situation to becoming more accepting of his gifts and working with the League. And if you're expecting him to say a certain line the character's known for, don't worry, he does.
Our main villain of the film is Steppenwolf, whose character likeness for CGI and voice is provided by Ciarin Hinds. Steppenwolf is evil and out to conquer the world...and that's about it. Some of you may remember Hinds for portraying Mephisto in "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance". Let's just say he's two for two when it comes to forgettable comic book villain roles. It's not that Steppenwolf is a bad villain, but he's just not memorable. Hell, whether you liked Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor or not, you can't deny he was a forgettable part of BvS. Besides that, I feel that Steppenwolf's story could have been plotted a little better. In the film, this is his second time coming to Earth after being fought off by the combined armies of man, Amazons, and Atlanteans. The way I would have done it would be that the Mother Boxes would have been sent to Earth a long time ago with Steppenwolf only now coming to Earth to conquer it. After he's defeated and goes back to Apokolips, he's punished by Darkseid for his failure, but Darkseid's curiosity is still peaked that his top general was defeated on such of meager world like Earth (and yes, I know that's similar to how Thanos probably felt after the Avengers defeated the Chitauri). Steppenwolf being defeated twice on the same world just makes him look more weak than Earth being that strong. Besides that, in both CGI quality and character design, he reminds me much of Incubus from "Suicide Squad".
Danny Elfman performed the score to the film and while I don't usually talk about this kind of thing, I feel the need to hear. From the Simpsons, Nightmare Before Christmas, the original Spider-Man trilogy, and so much more, Elfman's a fantastic composer. And while I got a warm feeling hearing his Batman theme return in this film, other than that and the music during Flash's slow-motion scenes, I couldn't help but miss Hans Zimmer's previous themes from "Man of Steel" and BvS. It's just another factor that makes Justice League feel more removed in terms of tone from those previous two films. While both composers are amazing, in terms of the DCEU, Zimmer's just produced more memorable themes.
So overall, Justice League is pretty much how I expected it to be and still entertaining enough to be worth seeing in theaters with a post-credits scene that does get me excited for what's to come, but it could have been much better. Between this film and the Defenders back in August, I can't help but think how the Avengers did it better, introducing the main heroes with constant momentum and build-up before the big pay-off of the team-up. But again, I'm talking about a film that I've technically only partly seen. If/when an extended cut comes out, I'll probably have some more thoughts to share on whether or not the extra scenes help deliver a more complete film. But until then, the two words to sum up this film for me are "pretty good".
Back in the first year of my blog, I reviewed "Thor: The Dark World". I wasn't a real fan of that film and didn't even give my review for it an introduction paragraph like I am here and usually try to do. "Thor: The Dark World" remains my least favorite Marvel Cinematic Universe film and is really the last in the franchise I had any hint of disappointment in. So when it came to the next Thor movie, I was cautiously optimistic. In comparison to Guardians of the Galaxy and Spider-Man, it was really my least anticipated Marvel film of this year, even behind other superhero films from the X-Men and DC universes. Still, the return of Mark Ruffalo's Hulk and major castings of actors like Cate Blanchett and Jeff Goldblum got me a little more excited, and the two trailers that came out shooed away any doubts I had about this film. And once it came out, reviews were saying it was not just another well received comic book movie this year but one of, if not the best, to come from the MCU. I try not to let sites like Rotten Tomatoes or reviews from professional critics sway my opinion, so I didn't want to go into this film with too high of expectations. Coming out of it, it was definitely one of the most fun and craziest films to come out of the MCU.
I think what makes this film so unique is how much different it is from the previous two Thor films, which is good and bad in some ways. Unlike the previous films, we spend very little time on Earth and there's no romantic subplot, now focusing mainly on Asgard and Sakaar. While the Thor films haven't given too much attention to the other main realms of Norse mythology, it was still nice to see some new environments.
One of the main points this film has gotten praise for is its comedy, and that's fair. There's plenty of laughs to be had in this film, but I'll admit I was worried about this aspect, especially during the opening scenes. When Thor's held captive by Surtur hanging on a chain and spinning around, his behavior was something I'd expect more from Deadpool than the God of Thunder. Maybe it just took me a bit to get the feel of the kind of comedy this film was giving us, as it didn't become too grating as it went on.
I'm not saying you can't be funny in a superhero movie, as it is a way of making sure your audience is entertained, but I feel action and drama are also important, which this film still delivers on. We have some good family drama when it comes to Thor, Odin, and Loki, which is expected from the past films. In this aspect, we probably have the best interaction yet between Chris Hemsworth's Thor and Tom Hiddleston's Loki. We get more of a feeling of their past together and I think their relationship has come full circle in some ways. Action wise, what really stood out for me was finally having a proper battle between Hulk and Thor that is really intense.
It's worth noting that "Ragnarok" is the conclusion to the trilogy of Thor films, the third character to finish one after Iron Man and Captain America. "Ragnarok" is in my opinion the best of the third films among the trilogies. It pays homages to moments from both the previous Thor movies, as well as both Avengers films. And not only that, but it's also somewhat of a dismantling of all those films and what they established for the characters. As Ragnarok is meant to be the end of Asgard, you truly feel that this film is the end of an era. While I still enjoyed "Civil War" more, that was partially an Avengers film as well as a Captain America one. In addition, while Iron Man 3 was intended to be Robert Downey Jr.'s last solo film, his future in the MCU was still up in the air at the time. Not only is "Ragnarok" truly Thor's movie, but it comes at a time where the heroes that started the MCU are almost out the door on the heels of "Infinity War" and Avengers 4.
Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston once again shine as the characters they began playing in 2011, so there's not much to say in that department.
Mark Ruffalo returns from "Age of Ultron" to play Bruce Banner and the Hulk, and it's much different from his previous appearances. Given the Hulk's film rights issues prevent us from getting another solo movie, Marvel has said that the character will be undergoing an arc beginning in this film and continuing in "Infinity War" and Avengers 4. Without spoiling too much, apparently Hulk hasn't turned back into Banner since the end of "Age of Ultron", and this sets up a major internal conflict Banner hasn't had yet. Previously, the Hulk we're used to is basically Banner either losing his temper and acting out of impulsive anger or Banner transforming and guiding Hulk into battle. But with how long the Hulk has remained in control, he's forming his own personality and finally talking more in the usual broken Hulk speech fashion. Banner's body is one of two minds, his own and the Hulk's; it's now a true battle for control with Banner worried that he may lose, and I really look forward to where the character goes next.
Of the newcomers that stand out, it's Cate Blanchett as Hela and Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie.
Right out of the gate, Hela proves herself as a formidable foe by breaking Mjolnir, making clear the kind of danger present. She's also well acted by Blanchett, and it's great showing from the first major female villain from an MCU film. I will say though that in terms of appearance and powers, she makes me think of a combination of Maleficent (with the horned helmet and green aura in her magic) and Ares from "Wonder Woman" (particularly the flying swords both of them can summon); not that that takes away from her character.
Of all the character arcs of this film, Thompson's Valkyrie goes through the biggest. She's a character with a dark past unwilling to face it until she realizes she has to. I think some people will see her as just the female lead or as a supportive role, but after watching her, what I see is a future major player in the MCU. As I said before, Hemsworth may be leaving just as Chris Evans and RDJ are. There's already potential Cap successors in Bucky and Falcon and it looks like Spider-Man will take Iron Man's place as the top dog, so who better to fill Thor's shoes than Valkyrie? In the comics right now, Jane Foster wields Mjolnir as the new Thor. In the MCU this isn't plausible because we're very unlikely to have Natalie Portman come back in the role and not only does Mjolnir function differently, it's been shattered (so sadly no chance of Cap being able to pick it up to fight Thanos). I don't think that matters though as Valkyrie proves in the film she is able to handle things well in her own right and I hope she continues to proves herself when she appears in "Infinity War" and beyond and that it could lead to her own film.
To sum things up, "Thor: Rangarok" not only serves a fitting end to the Thor trilogy but also hints at elements to the future, delivering a funny action-fueled ride, bringing us another successful adventure from the MCU.
My Personal Marvel Cinematic Universe Film Rankings:
1. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
2. Captain America: Civil War
3. Thor: Ragnarok
4. Avengers: Age of Ultron
5. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
6. The Avengers
7. Guardians of the Galaxy
8. Doctor Strange
9. Spider-Man: Homecoming
10. Ant-Man
11. Iron Man 3
12. Thor
13. Captain America: The First Avenger
14. Iron Man
15. The Incredible Hulk
16. Iron Man 2
17. Thor: The Dark World
Spider-Man is a character that has had so many animated adaptations going all the way back to the 60's, and because of that, there's a scale for how things could go. They're either well received to some degree like the 90's series and The Spectacular Spider-Man or they can take the character far away from the norm like Spider-Man Unlimited and Ultimate Spider-Man. With that in mind though, there were two reasons for excitement when a new Spider-Man series was announced. For one thing, it meant that Ultimate Spider-Man was finally ending after four seasons. While it did have its moments, the series was mostly reviled. The fact that it was ending was good too because season four had the show's quality taking a dive again after its improvements; after the slow trainwreck of the Spider-Verse sequel, there was another three-parter that not only ruined Mary Jane by making her Carnage/Spider-Woman, but they even somehow found a way to botch the Clone Saga, and believe me, that's quite a feat. Granted the finale was a good wrap-up to the series though. Still, I somewhat thought that with Spider-Man's debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and his new solo movie coming out, they would have just reformatted Ultimate Spider-Man to match things up. The fact that they didn't do that was the second thing that made a new Spider-Man series cause excitement, particularly the fact that they were going to go back to basics with Peter balancing his superhero and high school lives. While Spider-Man's inclusion in the MCU may have facilitated this new show, don't go in expecting some kind of copy of what we see Peter's life is like in Homecoming. So just how does the new Spider-Man series match up to its predecessors?
Unlike my past Marvel cartoon reviews where I only focused on season premieres, with Spider-Man, I decided to hold off until multiple episodes were released and the show went into its first hiatus. I did this because when it came to Spectacular Spider-Man, it took me a few episodes in for me to make up my mind on that series, so I wanted to give this new series the same benefit. Between August and October of this year, 14 episodes have been released, which was more than I expected considering season orders are generally 26 episodes, which means we're already over half-way through the first one. That said, I won't go into every detail about each episode, but just the things that stand out to me.
The series premiere was the two-part "Horizon High", where we pick up on Peter not long after the death of Uncle Ben. He's just starting out and he's still wearing his rookie suit, which is something I don't think has ever been featured in a past Spider-Man cartoon. Things start to look up for Peter though as he's accepted into Horizon High, a school for geniuses, where he's able to develop the classic Spidey suit. It gets props right away by actually feeling like a Spider-Man show, at least compared to Ultimate. He's not relying on SHIELD or other heroes, he actually has a supporting cast and is fighting his own villains. That said though, part one had a lot of parallels to the first episode of Spectacular, particularly the first villain being Vulture and Peter wanting to help Aunt May as she's going through money troubles. The latter doesn't have much focus on this series in comparison though, as it's quickly resolved by Peter getting a job as a lab assistant. He does lie to Aunt May though by saying he got a partial scholarship; at this point, this hasn't been brought up again, so there's no telling if it will later on. The animation style has more of an anime influence not only in character designs, but it also helps the action become more fluid compared to Ultimate, particularly when he's in a fight with Scorpion in a subway compartment, which limits the space of the battle, but gives us a chance to see some of Peter's acrobatic skills.
One thing you'll definitely notice is Peter's love of science. That's always played a part in past Spider-Man series, but they really notched it up in this one. That's a good thing and a bad thing. On one hand, it's nice to show Peter's love of science and how he's able to apply it to his Spider-Man activities. But sometimes it can get a little overboard where he can't stop himself from bringing up something scientific in a regular conversation, and it can get to the point where I feel the need to scream "NEEEERRRRD!" Thankfully as the series went on, Peter's love of science is still present, but he's able to have conversations like a normal person. That said, even though Peter is at a school for geniuses, he's definitely one of the more well-rounded students there. Hell, not only do they scoff at the idea of a school dance, but when he and some of his friends go to Coney Island for fun, they still bring their top secret project with them for some reason. Wait, if they're supposed to be geniuses, why did they take out in the open where it could be compromised?
In addition to Horizon High, there's also a rival school in Osborn Academy, created by Norman Osborn, which is the focus of episode three. I didn't really care for this episode because it has Norman essentially making two teenagers with advanced tech fight each other for a spot in his school, causing tons of collateral damage and putting so many people in danger, and they don't face any consequences. It's here where we're introduced to John Jameson (who is interested in astrophysics in this version and turns into the Man-Wolf in episode 11) as well as this show's version of villains Shocker and Clash, all of whom are teenage geniuses. This is something I'm worried about with this show, that half of the Spider-Man characters are going to come about in this fashion. Besides that, Otto Octavius was introduced in the first two-parter as well, and he's also a teenage prodigy, not to mention Peter's advisor. It's such a weird departure from what I'm used to with the character, but he does have the same arrogance you'd expect from the character, and I'm looking forward to see his transformation into Doctor Octopus.
By episodes four and five, this is when I started to notice the show coming into its own. Not only was it nice for them to showcase the social drama of Peter's life, but it's here we start to notice how the episodes play off of one another and set up future elements, though not to the same level of serialization that Spectacular had.
Now would be a good time to start talking about this show's version of Gwen Stacy. Like Peter, she's definitely more well rounded compared to the other students, and she really reminds me to some degree of Emma Stone's portrayal of the character from the Amazing Spider-Man films, particularly in that she may actually be smarter than Peter. While romance was pretty much non-existent in Ultimate, I sense one slowly blooming between Peter and Gwen here. In episode four, while Peter's in a rush somewhere, he stops when Gwen says hi and they talk for a bit, and in episode five, Peter's there to comfort her after the events of that episode (which I'm not going to spoil here though). And later on in episode 14, she actually helps Peter when he's having a hard time decoding a flashdrive with information on Hammerhead, which he says is a school project, and I got a warm feeling when he said "I think what I was missing was you." It would be hard to not miss the double meaning of that line. On that note, I have a strong feeling that Gwen knows Peter is Spider-Man. Like I said, she's a smart girl and should be able to figure it out, but she also doesn't really question why Peter has a drive with info on Hammerhead. I know it may seem weird how I'm wishing for romance on a kid's show between two teenagers, but that's always been a part of Peter's life in almost every version of the character, and he's supposed to represent the everyman. To take that out like Ultimate did is a disservice to the character. It's the relationships that Peter himself has with family and friends that make him the kind of man he is and in turn the hero Spider-Man is.
Episodes six through eight are our requisite symbiote/black costume arc. I know it may seem early for that, but let's not forget that the 90's series had this happen around the same time in its run as well. My main complaint is that it was much shorter compared to how long both the 90's series and Spectacular had it last. While Spectacular still did it the best in my opinion, this show's version of the story did a good job at showing how aggressive the symbiote made Spider-Man, and if you listen closely, it actually distorts Peter's voice the more he wears it. Another problem though is that when it came to how the symbiote affected Peter himself, he was acting cooler than he thought he was. Did they learn nothing from Spider-Man 3? Let's just be glad we were spared a dance number.
Something nice is that much like in the comics, there's a space between Peter wearing the black suit and when we're introduced to Venom. This comes to some fruition when a sample of the symbiote had bonded with Flash Thompson (as a majority of it had been taken by Iron Man to contain at Avengers Compound), but it only transforms him into Venom when he's feeling angry and he loses control. I didn't mind how it was done here, as not only is Spider-Man able to destroy that symbiote sample, but still opens the door for a proper Venom later on. I still have hope that we'll be introduced to Eddie Brock in this series and that he eventually creates a true bond with the symbiote with the goal of destroying both Peter and Spider-Man. When and if that does happen though, I think it would also be nice to see Eddie's more heroic side, i.e. Lethal Protector, something that hasn't been done before in animation.
The last episode that aired before hiatus involved a very minor character from the comics named Screwball. In the issues I've read with her, she's an annoying internet prankster that has messed around with Spider-Man from time to time. The last time I remember her showing up, she pulled her usual shtick on the Superior Spider-Man, when Doc Ock had placed his mind in Peter's body; not having the same patience as Peter did, Ock paid her back with a severe beatdown. So when this character was said to appear, I expected to hate this episode. But imagine my surprise when they gave her actual depth; granted they had to make her Liz Allan (which she isn't in the comics), but it was worth it. She actually had a goal in mind with her pranks but lost sight of that when she noticed messing with Spider-Man got her more attention, eventually learning her lesson by the end of the episode. I may make this episode sound better than it actually was compared to others so far, but if this show can give us a better version of a character than the comics did, I think it's earned its spot among great animated comic shows.
When it comes to the current slate of Marvel animated series, also including Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers Assemble, Spider-Man is definitely on top. Guardians of the Galaxy is still good, but I think it kind of lost some of its luster after the film's sequel came out. The animated series is its own continuation of the first film with no real connections to the MCU, but after the sequel as well as the current Telltale game, I see characters like Yondu and Nebula in a different light compared to how they're portrayed in the show. As for Avengers Assemble, I finally gave up on the show after the season four premiere. With all the opportunities the show has had to improve itself over its run despite some stand-out moments, I get the sense that they're comfortable sitting in mediocrity, and I'm done supporting that.
So with fourteen episodes in, I can definitely say that this new series is a welcome addition to the Spider-Man animated legacy. Of course, it's not as good as Spectacular Spider-Man, which I don't think will ever be topped, and it does suffer from some of the same problems Marvel cartoons have had since Ultimate Spider-Man. However, it still has many opportunities to improve, and it may be presumptuous to say it at this point, but I believe the 2017 series can join both Spectacular and the 90's series as the Spider-Man shows that will stand the test of time, as they all showcase the world of Spider-Man and introducing new fans to a somewhat accurate depiction of the character.
Previously on Dragon Ball GT: After defeating Super Android 17 and sending all their revived enemies back to Hell, Goku, Trunks, and Pan sought out the Dragon Balls to repair the damage they did to the Earth. However, all of the Dragon Balls are cracked, and despite the hesitation to use them, they feel they have no choice. Upon summoning Shenron though, the sky turns red and a different dark dragon appears before them.
Welcome to part four of my look back at Dragon Ball GT. While I've managed to get the other sagas out earlier in the previous months, other things kept me from getting around to it this time around. But here we are with the Shadow Dragon Saga, the final episodes of GT and what could be considered the end of long running Dragon Ball series. Let's jump right in.
Picking up where the Super Android 17 saga left off, Goku and the others are left perplexed by the dark version of Shenron that has appeared. The Dark Shenron's first act: light up a cigar and blow smoke at everyone...as dragons apparently do. Following that, the Dark Shenron sucks up the Dragon Balls, splits himself into seven dragons and shoot out across the planet, each taking a ball with them. In a way, it's kind of like the horcruxes from Harry Potter. Following this, Goku and the others are contacted by King Kai, Old Kai, and Kibito Kai. Previously in the Buu saga, Old Kai had disapproved of the use and overreliance of the Dragon Balls on Earth. Well now he gets his big "I told you so" moment. He says that the creatures who spread out were all strong enough to destroy the universe. In a big exposition dump, we learn that the Dragon Balls were used too much, and that while they were mostly wishes for the greater good, negative energy can still arise from them and the balls could only hold so much before cracking as they have now. Usually the negative energy would dissipate after 100 years, meaning they were only meant to be used after that amount of time. Old Kai says Bulma's to blame for this because she invented the Dragon Radar, making it easier to find the balls in very little time. But Bulma tries to shift the blame to Goku, saying that she wouldn't have found the Dragon Balls if she hadn't met him and had his help. Now to me, this is kind of a bitch move on Bulma's part. You could say it's both of their faults, but Bulma still invented the radar in the first place; if she hadn't done that, she would have never met Goku and he most likely would have lived peacefully alone in the forest until Raditz came to find him.
But Goku, not really having the wherewithal to debate, accepts the blame and plans to make things right, but says he has to do it alone, despite Gohan and the others wanting to help. This is really dumb on Goku's part, which probably isn't saying much. I mean, this is pretty much an all hands on deck situation. Goku may be the strongest of them, but it doesn't hurt to have help. Plus, this would have been a good chance for other characters to shine. He could have taken Goten, Gohan, Trunks, and Majuub with him (not Vegeta though since he has a part to play later).
As Goku heads out, we get glimpses of the dragons landing across the planet and each taking on new forms. Pan and Giru eventually catch up to Goku to offer help, particularly Giru since he still has the Dragon Radar integrated into him. They come across a village seeped in sludge and come face to face with Haze Shenron, the two-star dragon, who has pollution powers. And for the first dragon to come across, he's not exactly impressive, as he keeps getting beat up by Pan. Eventually though, Haze begins to match Pan move for move, as well as Goku. He then reveals that the pollution he's caused in the area has weakened Pan and Goku, who can't even go Super Saiyan. Haze throws them both in the polluted lake, but Giru is able to pull them into an unpolluted area resulting from an underground spring. Goku and Pan blast the spring to fill the lake with fresh water, giving them enough strength to pop back up and destroy Haze with a double blast. Afterwards, they collect the repaired two-star Dragon Ball, figuring that defeating each Shadow Dragon will heal both the Dragon Balls and the Earth. Again, for the first big bad of the saga, Haze wasn't that impressive. I know he's still first, but if you compare him to Raditz, at least he had some major power instead of using underhanded tactics to weaken his opponent.
Giru detects the next ball in an seemingly abandoned city where they encounter Rage Shenron, the five-star dragon, who can produce slime that absorbs electricity. Rage is actually pretty small at first, but he can call forth his slime to not only attack Goku and Pan, but also form on him to make him grow, not to mention he can produce electricity based attacks. Goku then goes Super Saiyan 4, which evens the playing field and helps him withstand Rage's powerful Thunder Clap. Goku fires a Kamehameha at Rage, but it turns out Rage can hold and bounce back energy attacks; after sending the blast back to Goku, he's reverted back to his kid form. Rage then produces tendrils to steal energy from everywhere he can in the city, making him grow more and more. He eventually grabs on to Goku and Pan and begins shocking them, upping up the voltage each time. As luck would have it though, a rain storm comes through the area and starts affecting Rage, not only melting the electric slime he had gathered off of him, but essentially causes him to short circuit with explosions occurring all over his body, eventually shrinking back down to his original size, allowing Goku to destroy him with a Kamehameha and collect the five-star ball.
The next ball is detected in a fishing town, where it strangely begins to rain fish and other sea creatures. The townspeople come out and grab what they can, giving thanks to a "Princess Oto". Goku and Pan learn from a boy named Colm that because of these occurrences, the fishing business has disappeared, forcing kids to get jobs, the adults to become lazy, and seagulls to be injured in the fish rains. As you might have guessed, Princess Oto is one of the Shadow Dragons, specifically Oceanus Shenron, the six-star dragon, who has water and air powers. She begins fighting Goku, and after studying her moves, Goku begins to copy her spinning power, which looks kind of weird on him, almost like a genie. Oceanus gets the upper hand and has Goku on the ropes. One of the seagulls Colm healed tries to attack Oceanus, able to peck her on the forehead before being blown away. This attack helps Pan figure out her weakness. Like the eye of a hurricane, Oceanus has no way to protect herself from above, allowing Pan to blast her with a Kamehameha. Oceanus weakens, freeing Goku from her attack, who performs a Kamehameha of his own to defeat Oceanus once and for all, collecting the six-star ball.
Now would be a good time to talk about the Shadow Dragons' powers as well as the wishes that they were created from and how they connect.
Haze Shenron came from the wish that brought Upa's father back to life back in the original Dragon Ball series. While it was a simple wish to revive someone, making him the least powerful Shadow Dragon, Haze's power of pollution can spread from just poisoning the water, which affects the air, trees, and eventually people.
Rage Shenron came from the wish to bring Goku back to life so he could help battle Nappa and Vegeta after receiving his training from King Kai. Essentially, this wish was about acquiring the power necessary to defeat the Saiyans. As we saw with Rage, he had his own need to acquire as much power as he could.
Oceanus Shenron came from the very first wish of the franchise: Oolong wishing for the world's most comfortable pair of underwear, which he made to keep Emperor Pilaf from acquiring world domination. Considering the pair he received was women's panties, this explains her appearance as Princess Oto. However, I don't really understand how her powers of wind and water really connect. Besides that, what exactly was her plan? She made it rain fish and it helped feed a town. Sure, it was making the adults lazy, but was that her ultimate goal? It just wasn't as destructive as Haze's and Rage's. Considering Oolong's wish was pretty insignificant, maybe that transferred to Oceanus, as she mostly makes no sense.
Back to the story, Giru detects the next ball in a desert below ground and that it's tunneling towards them. Popping out of the ground, we meet Naturon Shenron, the seven-star Dragon. He doesn't seem that bright though, not knowing who Goku is or wanting to fight, only wanting to make earthquakes. He tunnels away again and Goku and Pan give chase. They notice Naturon is heading toward a city, putting the people in danger. As Naturon tunnels through, Pan and Goku go through and help all the people and keeping the city from falling apart; Goku even goes Super Saiyan 4 for the extra strength. When Naturon pops back out and sees the city still standing, he gets mad and now wants a fight with Goku. Naturon can direct blasts into the ground and have them pop back out, allowing Goku and Pan to trick him into blasting himself. He falls down and disappears, leaving the seven-star ball for Pan to collect. However, it starts to glow and sucks Pan in, resulting in Naturon reappearing in a more fighter ready body, trapping Pan inside. As it turned out, Naturon had tricked both Goku and Pan, with his slow act luring them into a false confidence, and that he had been possessing a mole beforehand. Goku is worried about fighting Naturon for Pan's safety, so Naturon goads Goku into fighting him by causing destruction and killing people around to the city.
It's worth mentioning at this point that the wish that created Naturon Shenron was the one that revived the people killed by Vegeta at the World Martial Arts Tournament while he was placed under Babidi's control. Everything about this situation speaks bounds to what resulted in Naturon Shenron. First off, taking control of another when not having the physical strength was Babidi's whole shtick. And the need for destruction and wanting Goku to fight him is just what Vegeta did.
Goku gives in and fights to stop Naturon from killing any more people, making it seem like Naturon bit off more than he could chew. However, Naturon still believes Goku won't kill him because he'll also lose Pan and wants him to hit him with a Kamehameha; he's basically using her as a human shield. Goku reluctantly does so, which surprises Naturon. As the dust clears, Naturon is scuffed up but still alive, and he thinks Goku was still holding back. Naturon goes on the offensive and just as he's on the cusp of victory, he allows Goku to see Pan one more time before he kills him. But this just gives the opportunity to pull Pan from Naturon's being to freedom. Naturon then reverts to his true form, and he's just as small as Rage was. This is definitely a "pride cometh before the fall" moment, but I have to wonder if Goku knew Naturon would show him Pan; if so, it was a pretty big gamble. Goku then gives Naturon a rightfully deserved pounding and finishes him off with a Kamehameha, collecting the seven-star ball afterwards. All in all, Naturon is the most interesting dragon yet, and it helps that it took more than one episode to defeat him.
We then begin the final stretch of the series as Goku, Pan, and Giru detect the next ball in an abandoned and ravaged city covered in sand with the heat blaring down on them. They are then confronted by Nova Shenron, the four-star dragon, who has fire powers. Nova quickly knocks out Pan, saying he's been waiting for Goku. Their battle begins, but Nova's intense body heat makes it hard for Goku to touch him. This forces Goku to strategize in a game of cat and mouse; while Goku tries to hide, it doesn't help that he keeps talking aloud to himself getting caught. Goku is able to get some shots in, but Nova keeps getting the upper hand. Nova then corners Goku and channels the sun's heat to attack him with his Nova Death Ray. Goku counters with a Solar Flare, which knocks Nova back. Goku tells Nova to stop playing games, since that move shouldn't have done that kind of damage. Nova then transforms into metallic gold form while Goku powers up to Super Saiyan 4.
Before we witness their battle resume and escalate, we have a bit of an interlude episode focusing on Vegeta. As he senses the battle between Goku and Nova, we learn that Vegeta still feels inadequate in power compared to Goku. He then starts thinking about how his relationship with Goku has changed over the years as well as how it's affected him as a person. Essentially, it's a clip show featuring their battles from the Saiyan and Buu sagas. Yes, this is pretty much a filler episode, but unlike the other filler we've had in GT, I saw this as a welcome addition. It shows where Vegeta's mindset is at this point and time, something that really hadn't been explored since the Buu saga. Besides that, it was kind of nice to relive some of Vegeta's big moments from Dragon Ball Z.
Vegeta then meets with Bulma, who has been working on recreating the Blutz Wave Generator to help Vegeta reach Super Saiyan 4. She then shows him clips from the Baby Saga of Goku's transformations into both a Golden Great Ape and Super Saiyan 4 on the Tuffle Planet, as well as Baby's own transformation into a Great Ape while he was possessing Vegeta's body. Say, how was Bulma able to get this footage?
Oh, okay.
Anyway, while the Blutz Wave Generator was able to transform Baby/Vegeta into a Great Ape, it didn't result in a Super Saiyan 4. The best theory is that Baby's infection of Vegeta's body kept that transformation from occurring. With Vegeta's body pure, he should have a better chance of reaching Super Saiyan 4.
We then get back to the battle between Goku and Nova. It's a pretty even fight and they seem to be actually enjoying themselves. There's also a cool moment where Nova's able to counter an Instant Transmission/Kamehameha combo from Goku. Goku has a chance to finish off Nova, but spares him, saying that he owes him for sparing Pan's life. Nova admits that he has a policy against killing innocents.
It's a good time to talk about what makes Nova Shenron unique among the Shadow Dragons. He was created from the wish King Piccolo made to restore his youth. Out of all the wishes that created the Shadow Dragons, this is the only wish made from a villain with selfish intentions. Considering the positive wishes had some negative effects, it only makes sense for the opposite to be true, and it shows in Nova's personality. A nice touch is that he came from the four-star ball, which was the ball Goku's adoptive grandpa Gohan had given him when he was a kid. As for where his fire powers came from, King Piccolo was believed to be a demon at the time. Demons come from Hell, Hell has fire. That's the best sense I can make of it.
The two are then interrupted by Ice Shenron, the three-star dragon, who Nova refers to as his brother. Technically speaking, aren't all the Shadow Dragons siblings? That said though, Ice is literally Nova's polar opposite. Not only does he have ice powers, but his personality is ice cold as well. Unlike the previous five Shadow Dragons, we don't get a clear explanation of what wish created him, but the best theory is that he came from the wish to erase people's memories of Majin Buu so the good fat Buu could be among the people without them freaking out. So I don't understand why when Nova and Ice are so opposite that Ice's wish would involve Buu instead of Piccolo? If anything, he should have came from the wish after King Piccolo's defeat to revive Krillin, Chiaotzu, and Master Roshi.
Anyway, Ice attacks Goku and freezes his entire body. Ice then gives Nova the chance to kill the frozen Goku, but Nova only uses his power to free him, making it clear that he disapproves of Ice's tactics and that he has his own code of honor. Nova allows Goku to fight Ice so they can finish their own battle afterward. Ice continues his dirty tactics by using Pan as a human shield to keep Goku from using his Kamehameha, followed by throwing Pan at Goku for a distraction to attack Goku again. He ends up freezing Goku again, but Goku's able to free himself this time. An infuriated Goku gets the upper hand on Ice to the point where he wants to surrender, but it's a trick to give him the chance to blind Goku. Despite this though, Goku still has the opportunity to destroy Ice with a Super Dragon Fist.
Still blind though, Goku is given an antidote by Nova, but before he can use it, a single blast that destroys the antidote, as well as kill Nova. The culprit: Sin Shenron, the one-star dragon. Like Ice, Sin doesn't reveal what wish created him, but it's believed to be the one that revived everyone killed by Frieza and his men on Namek. Considering this wish was part of King Kai's plan to save everyone from Namek's destruction and the battle between Goku and Frieza at this time would have determined the fate of the universe, there was a lot riding on the line with that wish, which in turn makes Sin the most powerful of the Shadow Dragons. He doesn't really have a gimmick like the others, only that he's pure evil. His name is Sin after all. He very much reminds me of Frieza, which makes sense considering the wish, as well as Cell. That said though, he doesn't really have a motivation other than to destroy everything and is pretty much evil for evil's sake.
Sin begins his beatdown on Goku, and while he's blind, he still tries his best and is able to get a few sneak attacks in, but it doesn't do much good. A spectating Pan wishes Gohan, Goten, and Trunks were there to help. Gee, it's almost like they should have came along with them. Coincidentally though, those three do arrive along with Majuub, and Gohan's even wearing his fighting gi. Mr. Satan, Chi-Chi, and Videl came along too, pretty much for emotional support, plus it makes it so they're all together for the end of all this. But it turns out Gohan, Goten, and Trunks are also only there for support, giving Goku all the energy they can to take on Sin. Majuub holds off Sin as they charge Goku up. They're successful and Goku starts to give Sin trouble, all while still blind. Needing a boost himself, Sin takes the other six Dragon Balls and eats them, absorbing their power and transforming into Omega Shenron, a slightly different looking version of Sin. Appearances aside, he's able to use the powers of the other Shadow Dragons, such as raising his body temperature like Nova, freezing eye beams like Ice, wind attacks like Oceanus, and Rage's Thunder Clap. Goku is obviously no match, but on the plus side, his eye sight finally returns and he's able to surprise Omega with a Kamehameha/Super Dragon Fist combo, punching right through him and apparently destroying his body. Unfortunately, Omega was able to turn himself into Rage's electric slime beforehand and soon reconstitutes himself.
Feeling there's no other choice, Goku plans to blow himself up along with Omega. Vegeta stops him though, and speaking from experience, tells him it wouldn't work anyway. Bulma arrives as well and fires the Blutz Wave Generator at Vegeta, who transforms into a Great Ape. He loses control at first but is able to collect himself, turns into a Golden Great Ape, and finally channels that energy to become a Super Saiyan 4.
Vegeta still believes that even with his and Goku's combined Super Saiyan 4 power, their only chance to defeat Omega is to fuse. Trunks, Gohan, and Goten run interference on Omega to give Goku and Vegeta time to peform the fusion dance. Even Bulma tries to help by firing the Blutz Wave Generator at Omega, who ends up destroying it. Of course, the fusion dance is successful and the two become Gogeta.
So just how strong is Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta? Well, he's able to blast Omega back with a single stare, his aura is so powerful that it bounces back Omega's punch, he can move so fast that Omega can't see his attacks, which are able to bruise him, and he can take rapid fire blasts from Omega like they were nothing. At this point in the franchise, it's safe to say that Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta was probably the most powerful character created. Desperate, Omega uses his Negative Karma Ball, which is akin to Baby's Revenge Death Ball, but Gogeta just kicks it into space. Gogeta then fires a Big Bang Kamehameha, and while it doesn't destroy Omega, it knocks the other Dragon Balls from his body, reverting him back to Sin Shenron. Gogeta prepares another Big Bang Kamehameha to finish him off, but suddenly separates back into Goku and Vegeta. Despite the fusion supposed to last 30 minutes, the amount of power they used just made time run out quicker. This gives Sin the opportunity to reclaim the other Dragon Balls and is able to absorb all but the four-star ball, which Goku intercepts and eats it himself for safekeeping. Goku and Vegeta try to refuse, but keep getting interrupted by Omega who is wiping the floor with both of them. The two eventually use the after image technique to confuse Omega, giving them the chance to successfully perform the fusion dance...except they're still separated. The two blame each other for possibly getting the other's stance wrong. Having a change of heart, Omega gives them another chance to fuse. After this attempt though, the result is Goku having reverted back to his kid form, with his power too low to transform back into a Super Saiyan 4, which Omega had realized. It's too bad no one brought any Senzu Beans; come to think of it, I don't think Senzu Beans appeared at all in GT.
Despite his size reduction, Goku won't give up. And as he says this, the four-star Dragon Ball protrudes from his forehead, eventually floating out and reforming into Nova Shenron. While Omega believes that he was able to corrupt Nova by absorbing his Dragon Ball, he's proven wrong when Nova teams up with Goku to attack him. Nova then grabs Omega and traps them both in his Nova Sphere, which eventually explodes. In the aftermath, Nova reappears unharmed. Unfortunately, his skin begins to crack and Omega Shenron shatters out of Nova's body, once again with all seven Dragon Balls. It turns out that within the sphere, Omega forcibly sent the other six balls into Nova before the sphere exploded. And if things weren't bad enough, Vegeta loses his Super Saiyan 4 power as well, and as mentioned before, the Blutz Wave Generator was destroyed. It's worth noting that even back in his normal state, Vegeta doesn't keep his tail. I don't really get that though. I can buy that his power got low like Goku's, but if the Blutz Wave Generator could regrow his tail, why can't he keep it?
Done playing with them, Omega throws a Negative Karma Ball at Goku and Vegeta. Goku pushes Vegeta aside and takes the full force of the attack, forcing Goku deep into the Earth's crush and leaving a huge crater afterward, most likely killing Goku. Omega then unleashes a wave of negative energy across the Earth, causing natural disasters across the globe, destroying cities and killing millions. Basically, it's the end of the world as we know, and nobody feels fine about it. Vegeta then leads Gohan, Trunks, and Goten into one last attack on Omega, and it goes about as well as you'd expect. With everyone down, Omega's victory is certain. That is until Goku rises out of the crater with a Spirit Bomb forming, growing large enough to dissipate the negative energy across the world. Goku then contacts King Kai telepathically, asking to him to create a link across the entire universe with the other Kais so he can gather enough energy for the Spirit Bomb to destroy Omega. From Namek and the other planets they visited during the Black Star Dragon Ball Saga, energy comes flowing from all across the universe to fuel the biggest Spirit Bomb in the franchise's history. Goku throws the Spirit Bomb, destroying Omega Shenron, who had absolutely no chance to withstand it. And with that, not counting movies, the Spirit Bomb now has a 50% success rate.
With the Shadow Dragons gone, the Dragon Balls are fully repaired and soon enough, the one true big green Shenron appears before Goku, Vegeta, and their families. What's different about this occurrence is that the sky doesn't turn black like it usually does when Shenron appears. Shenron says that because of the overuse of the Dragon Balls and all that happened because of it, he must leave and take the Dragon Balls with him. Goku asks him to grant one last wish though: while mostly reviving everyone that had been killed during both this and the previous saga, he essentially wishes for world peace. Afterwards, Shenron invites Goku to come along with him, and he accepts. Vegeta assumes he's going with Shenron to train, with Goku replying that it's up to Vegeta to protect everyone now. Oh yeah, trust the guy who's gotten whooped by every major villain since Frieza to keep the planet safe. Too bad his tail's gone and he can't go Super Saiyan 4 without a machine to help. All I can say is that it's a good thing Goku basically asked for world peace. Anyway, Goku bids farewell to everyone as he flies off with Shenron, but not before making a few stops. The first is Kame House, where he says goodbye to Master Roshi and the revived Krillin. I know I should nitpick that Shenron shouldn't have revived Krillin since he already did it once, but I'll just chalk it up to Shenron giving him a freebie. After that, Goku pays a visit to Hell to see Piccolo, who is working with the ogre guards to handle troublemakers. The two bid farewell to each other, with Goku telling Piccolo he believes he'll get out of Hell one day. As Shenron flies through the sky, Goku lays down on his back and closes his eyes as he and the Dragon Balls disappear into Shenron.
We then jump to the far future where an elderly Pan is watching her grandson Goku Jr. compete in the World Martial Arts Tournament Junior Division Finals against Vegeta Jr. The battle between these two is pretty much what you'd expect considering their lineage. They can both even go Super Saiyan, which they just refer to as becoming blonde. As Pan watches, she spots a grown up Goku in the audience and tries to make her way down to him. When she can't find him, she chalks it up to her imagination. Outside the stadium though, Goku is seen walking through the crowd, as we get a series of flashbacks from Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT, focusing on the friends Goku's made throughout the franchise (even Launch), the major enemies defeated, and the family he created. The narrator begins to close things out saying that should the Earth ever need him, Goku will return. He then jumps into the air, catches a ride on the Flying Nimbus, and we hear him say "'Til we meet again, guys" followed by a "THE END" title card.
After the Baby Saga, the Shadow Dragon Saga is the second best to come out of GT. I always thought the idea of the Dragon Balls turning on our heroes after being a tool mostly used for good throughout the franchise was a great idea for a closing story arc. The execution could have been better though, like giving some equal attention to the Shadow Dragons and more characterization to those that needed it. I think the ending was absolutely perfect though. We see in the future that everything's all right, and we get a good montage of most of the important characters of the franchise, with Goku even including the audience in his goodbyes. While GT isn't technically canon in some ways, it has a better sense of finality compared to how DBZ ended. Both endings can be seen as Goku "abandoning his family", but I think it makes more sense for him to go off with Shenron and the Dragon Balls considering all three had been the focus of the franchise, as opposed to going off to train with a 10 year old kid (Uub) he just met.
So what do I think of Dragon Ball GT overall? Well, it's okay. Just okay. Of course it wouldn't stand up to the quality of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, but it's very rare for a long running series to do that. Whatever problems GT had, some of them didn't really bother me as they did others, but I can understand where they're coming from. You could say I'm a GT apologist. Despite all that though, even with little involvement from series creator Akira Toriyama, I still think the people working on GT did care for what they were putting out, even if they did falter at times. Hell, this last season can be seen as a love letter to the franchise. And while the biggest problem can probably be seen as too much focus on Goku, I don't really blame them for making it that way. In the Buu saga, there seemed to be a lot of back and forth about who was going to beat Buu before the focus went back to Goku. I think it was this moment that solidified people's belief that Goku always had to be the one to end the bad guys, and it transferred over to GT.
So yeah, for me, Dragon Ball GT is still as much a part of the story as the previous two series and does a good job at closing things out.
And that concludes my look back at Dragon Ball GT. Hopefully you enjoyed some of my insights, and if you agree or disagree, share your own thoughts on GT in the comments.
Well, here I am again talking about Inhumans and X-Men. Instead of focusing on the comics though, this time, the subject has finally spilled over onto the TV side of things. Within the last week, we've had the series premiere of both "Inhumans", set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Fox's "The Gifted" based on the X-Men comics. Mutants and Inhumans are two of Marvel's super-powered races, and while the timing may have been coincidental, now this is the chance to see how they compare outside of the comics.
Let's start with the Inhumans. While "Agents of SHIELD" has featured apparent normal humans on Earth transforming into super-powered Inhumans after being exposed to Terrigen, the proper "Inhumans" show focuses on the prominent Inhuman characters from the comics: Black Bolt and his Royal Family, along with a whole society of Inhumans living in secret on the moon in the city of Attilan. And while I tried to watch the premiere with an open mind despite all the negative reviews received, I'm afraid to admit that it sucks. The acting, costumes, and CGI are all just below the quality I've come to expect from the MCU, even by TV standards. And unfortunately, maybe this shouldn't have been a surprise.
Inhumans had originally been announced as a film to be part of Phase Three of the MCU. After some time, the project had been transferred to television. While this is just speculation, this may have been done due to many disagreements between Marvel's film and television divisions, eventually leading to Marvel Studios to split from the overall Marvel Entertainment umbrella and report directly to Disney. As I've said before, Marvel themselves have been trying to give the Inhumans a push, and while the comics and the use of them on SHIELD have been the most prominent examples, the film would have been the ultimate goal. Let's not forget that Inhumans were and have been intended to fill the role of mutants in the MCU due to the X-Men film rights being owned by Fox. Of course, things always change, and once Marvel Studios became its own entity, the Inhumans film inevitably fell out of the plans. When the Inhumans TV series was announced, they stated they believed the property would work better on TV rather than try to insert them along with all the other films already planned out. From my view, this makes sense, as while I don't know what the original plans for an Inhumans film were, at this point, I don't know how it would have fit in the grand scheme, especially with Infinity War looming.
At the same time though, it probably would have been better if Inhumans had remained part of the film slate. Again, everything about the premiere of the show was just so underwhelming. Let's take the CGI for example. Ghost Rider had been featured last season on "Agents of SHIELD" but he still looked awesome, especially compared to Medusa's hair. In addition to that, we have the character Gorgon, who has bull-like legs with hooves, but I forget half the time that he even has those. It really doesn't help that the show was reportedly made "fast and cheap". According to Roel Reine, director of the first two episodes:
"I think they liked me for the job because I was able with my action movies to shoot in a very short time, or with very low budgets, action that looks like a big-budget movie," he said. "It was not a feature film, it was a TV episode, but they still wanted to have the scope."
And speaking of the action, there's a fight between Medusa and Auran and it was so disappointing. There's a constant use of slow motion, and I think the only reason for that was because they couldn't make the fight look convincing enough.
There are so many examples of the poor acting, mostly due to lack of inflection from the actors' voices, but I'm saving one big instance for later.
Let's shift to "The Gifted" now. Much like the approach to the Marvel Netflix series, we put the world of the X-Men under a microscope and focus on a more grounded story compared to the grander scale of the films; the same can be said for the other X-Men related show on FX, "Legion", which focuses on Charles Xavier's son. And while we never get a straight answer to these shows' place within the X-Men film continuity, in my opinion, they're still able to tell their own stories in a way that doesn't contradict the films and retain the somewhat grounded aesthetic that the franchise has created.
But keeping in line with the tone of an established franchise isn't the only thing "The Gifted" has over "Inhumans". The acting is much more believable here. The prominent example for me was when Andy, the son of the lead family of the show, is dragged into the school gym showers by bullies, who turn on the water and apparently make it scalding hot. You can really feel the anguish as Andy screams and his mutant powers manifest. Let's compare that to a scene from "Inhumans" where Maximus shaves off Medusa's hair. In what's supposed to be an emotional moment, her screams are drowned out by the music and she's able to get over it pretty quickly a couple minutes later. I mean, she lost her hair, which was the whole basis of her power, and instead of feeling sorry for her, my main thought went to "Oh, so that's how they're gonna save on the CGI". Seriously, Natalie Portman showed more emotion when her head was shaved in "V for Vendetta."
In comparing these two shows, I think this verifies the feelings I expressed last year about why the X-Men work better than the Inhumans. "Inhumans" focuses on the Royal Family and the society of Attilan, where they're literally cut off from the world. And while much of the main cast are trying to get by after being stranded on Earth, the main conflict is still among themselves. "The Gifted" however focuses on a family that goes on the run from the government when their children are outed as mutants. While these are both stories of family, one rules a city and the other is from suburbia. Mutants have always been a metaphor for puberty and minorities, something prominently shown in both ways on "The Gifted". In terms of relatability, the X-Men will always win out.
So after these first episodes, I felt excited for what comes next on "The Gifted", while "Inhumans" just left me feeling like, "Let's just make it through these six remaining episodes." Of course, the feelings I'm sharing about "Inhumans" here are just based on the premiere. It could always get better with the rest of this season. My feelings on the X-Men/Inhumans debate in the comics aside, I really did want Inhumans to succeed within the MCU. But obviously something went horribly wrong, and perhaps another route should have been taken. They could have still done an Inhumans movie, which most likely would have prepresented them in a better light. Or if they still wanted to put them on TV, they could have tested the waters first by having the Royal Family appear on "Agents of SHIELD" and then spin-off their own series. But what's happened happened, and this series may have been the final strike for the Inhumans to become a household name.
Welcome to part three of my look back at Dragon Ball GT, as we begin with the second half of the series with the Super Android 17 Saga. Throughout all of the Dragon Ball anime franchise, this is actually the shortest saga of them all at seven episodes. However, the first episode doesn't have any bearing on the rest of the saga, basically being filler. So we'll skip that one, which means only six episodes to go through here.
We begin this season in Hell, where we see the deceased Dr. Myuu travelling the infinite abyss until he is approached by Dr. Gero, creator of the Androids and Cell. Gero proposes an alliance to get revenge on Goku, which Myuu quickly accepts.
It's kind of freaky how similar these two look, from the long hair to the moustaches. Maybe they have the same father who's travelling planet to planet having kids; let's just hope said father doesn't look like Kurt Russell.
Later on Earth, Bulma and Bulla are joining Goku and his family for dinner as Trunks is supposed to meet them there. When Trunks does arrive, he appears to have taken a beating and claims it was Android 17 who attacked him before passing out. Pan then notices something in the sky, and everyone looks up to see a black hole. King Kai then contacts Goku to reveal that the hole is a rift between Earth and Hell. What's the cause of this? Well it appears that our evil two doctors have created another Android 17, establishing a link between him and the original Android 17 on Earth, not only opening up a portal between the two dimensions, but corrupting the original 17's mind. Gero even says that the two 17's can merge into a being that will be even more powerful than Cell.
For those who may have been unaware, the original Android 17 was among those revived after Gohan defeated Cell, and he made a cameo during the Buu saga giving Goku some energy for his Spirit Bomb. It was one of those "blink-and-you-miss-it" moments.
So I didn't think much of this as a kid, but I really need to question this now. How in Hell did Gero and Myuu create another Android 17? And I'm not being dramatic in how I phrased that. They are literally in HELL. Where did they get the lab, technology, or any resources to create another Android? They even rebuilt Android 19, who by all means was a failure then and as shown later, still is. Did someone in charge give the doctors a lab thinking it would be therapeutic? Are there other services offered? Should I expect to see Recoome getting his GED or Frieza and Cooler seeing a family therapist to work out their issues? Maybe this is like the Hell in South Park where it's not so bad, and they're able to have luaus and celebrate Christmas.
Anyway, when Trunks wakes up and recounts how 17 attacked him when he was on his way to Goku's. After the beatdown, 17 gives Trunks a message to give to Goku, that he needs to go to Hell if he wants to stop the evil that's rising. And rise that evil does as the TV begins reporting multiple creatures coming out of the portal and causing chaos around the globe. Of course, these creatures are previous villains from throughout the series from the original Dragon Ball to Z and GT. We get a lot of quick cameos from some villains, where you'd really have to pause the screen to identify everyone. What's notable is that Cooler is among them.
While this is the only time we see him and is essentially just an easter egg, this still makes Cooler one of only two movie villains to appear within the actual show, the second being Garlic Jr., which means "Dead Zone" and "Cooler's Revenge" are both the only movies that are kind of sort of canon.
Speaking of movies though, the plot-point of villains escaping Hell and attacking Earth was already featured in "Fusion Reborn". Additionally, Androids combining to become a Super Android had also already been done in another movie, "Super Android 13". Basically, this whole saga is a rehash of past movies.
Despite the dangers he'll face, Goku flies into the portal and goes to Hell. In the meantime, the Z Fighters begin to fight all their old enemies, although we don't see them go through each and every one. We see Goten take down Pui Pui before being attacked by Yakon and having to be saved by Trunks. The two then fire a blast that destroys Android 19 (told you). They later join Majuub in wiping out a swarm of Saibamen. Elsewhere, Pan plows through members of the Red Ribbon Army with ease while Gohan faces off with General Rildo. Rildo is about to finish off Gohan until Majuub steps in and blows the general up. It pains me to say it, but it really isn't surprising Gohan couldn't take down Rildo himself given the direction the character went.
Meanwhile in Hell, Goku comes to face to face with Myuu and Gero, but as you may have guessed, it was a trap. The two doctors and their new Android 17 travel through the portal to Earth, closing behind them and trapping Goku in Hell. Goku isn't alone though, as both Frieza and Cell are there ready to take their revenge. They underestimate Goku given his child state, leading to their surprise when he shows how powerful he still is. And so we have Goku going toe to toe with two of the most powerful and most well-known villains the franchise has produced. And yet, it doesn't bring as much satisfaction as you'd think. The main problem for me is that it's kid Goku against the two. Once again, they really should have just let Goku become an adult again once he reached Super Saiyan 4. They could have at least let him go Super Saiyan 4 here and not wait for his battle with 17. That doesn't mean there aren't any cool moments though, like Goku ridiculing them for using the same old tactics. There's a part where Goku actually rides on a Kienzan disc that Frieza threw at him. There are also callbacks to when Goku blew Cell's head off with a Kamehameha and caused Frieza to cut himself in half with his own attack (since they're already dead and in Hell though, they heal rather quickly). Cell even tries to absorb Goku like he did to Androids 17 and 18, only for Goku to crawl his way back out.
You know, I always figured Cell could grow his tail back in his perfect form.
Soon enough though, Cell and Frieza use a new technique together that traps Goku in an energy cage and then send him deeper into Hell. This leads to some unnecessary comedic filler, because that's what we need in what's supposed to be one of the biggest fights in Dragon Ball history, right? The end result of it is though is that Goku ends up being frozen, which was part of Cell and Frieza's plan.
There is a flaw in their plan though. Because Goku is still alive, the ice won't hold on him for long, as he's able to power up and burst his way out. Goku then turns the tables and freezes both Cell and Frieza, and since they're both dead, they stay frozen. Goku then subsequently accidentally knocks them over and shatters them.
Instead of the comedy before though, why couldn't they have had Cell and Frieza drop Goku into a river or pond that would freeze him, and then Goku could throw them in and trap them for good.
Back on Earth, after killing Nappa again, Vegeta encounters Myuu and Gero, revealing their new Android 17. The two begin to fight but are evenly matched.
Elsewhere, the original Android 17 attacks Krillin, Android 18, and their daughter, Marron. 17 wants 18 rejoin with him like old times. Krillin interferes though and ends up getting killed by 17. So for those keeping track, Krillin has had his neck broken by Tambourine, been blown up by Frieza, and eaten by Super Buu. This makes it the fourth time the little guy has bitten the big one. In summation...
17 then attempts to kill Marron, but 18 gets in the way of the blast. 17 just flies off afterwards, probably thinking he's finished the job.
The original 17 then arrives to the battle between new 17 and Vegeta, as do Gohan, Goten, Trunks, Pan, and Majuub, so we can assume they defeated all the other revived villains before coming here. Sure enough, Gero and Myuu's grand design comes to fruition as the two 17's merge to become Super Android 17.
This is not a good design in my opinion, basically being a roided out 17 with a bad haircut.
As you'd expect though, Super 17 begins wiping the floor with all the Z Fighters present. And while it probably wouldn't have made a difference, I think it would have been nice to have Goten and Trunks fuse into Gotenks again. We just had one fusion, so why not try to fight fire with fire? Besides, we've only ever seen Gotenks as a kid, so an adult one would've been cool to see.
But of course, they need Goku to save the day. Except Goku is still trapped in Hell, and King Yemma is unable to pluck him out due to some unknown force keeping him from doing so. Yemma is then contacted by Piccolo, now residing in Other World. He has a plan to send Goku back, but he needs Yemma to send him to Hell. Yemma is at first hesitant, as Piccolo's placement upon his death has already been fulfilled. Piccolo points out that maybe Yemma made a mistake and begins causing chaos claiming he's still the evil Piccolo he was before. This is enough to tick Yemma off and send Piccolo to Hell like he wanted. Piccolo meets up with Goku saying he has a plan. Piccolo then contacts Dende telepathically, as he wants to create an energy link that can open another portal between Hell and Earth, much like the link the two 17's did, so Goku can get back. While they are just copying their enemies' tactics, this is a pretty genius idea for Piccolo to come up with. After several failed attempts, Piccolo and Dende succeed in opening a portal allowing Goku to return to Earth. Unfortunately, Piccolo has to stay in Hell.
While Piccolo hasn't been as big part of GT as he was back in Z, the times where he does appear are great character moments for him, as they show how much he's willing to sacrifice himself. He lets himself die in the first place so the Black Star Dragon Balls won't threaten another planet, and even when he's earned his place to live in Other World, he gives that up in order to help Goku save the Earth again. Piccolo is one of the biggest badasses in all of Dragon Ball. And while he's in Hell, he at least still has some villains to beat down to pass the time, as he's soon approached by Nappa and some Red Ribbon Army members.
Back on Earth, while Super 17 is still fighting the Z Fighters, Pan sneaks up behind Gero and threatens to kill him if he doesn't tell 17 to stand down. While Gero relents, Super 17 then aims at Gero and Pan, revealing Myuu's treachery that he has been the only one controlling 17. 17 then fires, and while Pan gets out of the way, Gero is once again killed by his own creation.
Soon enough, Goku arrives to the scene and goes Super Saiyan as he begins battling Super 17. Unlike the others, Goku appears to be the only one able to actually hurt Super 17. Super 17 is able to get the upper hand again though, leading Goku to power up to Super Saiyan 4, the transformation astounding Myuu. Despite this though, everything Goku throws at Super 17 doesn't cause any damage. I figured out ahead of time though that Super 17 has the ability to absorb energy like Android 19, making him more and more powerful. Goku is slower on the uptake though, but when he does figure it out, he fires a huge Kamehameha hoping to overfeed 17 and hoping he couldn't take in so much energy at once. This greatly backfires for Goku as Super 17 is indeed able to absorb all the energy and overpowers Goku.
So while energy absorption explains why Super 17 is as powerful as he is despite just being combined from two Android 17's, this also makes him a poor villain and his fight with Goku isn't entertaining. Super 17 is just too overpowered and appears to have no limits compared to other main villains, and it undercuts the Super Saiyan 4 form. And while we've had plenty of one-sided fights in Dragon Ball history, the villains on the winning end at least had interesting personalities; Frieza, Cell, the different versions of Buu, and even Baby. And while 17 is just a puppet of Myuu, even during his original tenure in Z, his personality really couldn't hold a candle to other main villains.
Goku is eventually able to sneak up behind Super 17 and plans to pull a Chiaotzu, i.e. blowing himself up along with his opponent. And while the explosion is huge, Super 17 is able to put up a protective shield that also covers Goku, who has reverted back to a kid. Super 17 is about to finish Goku off before Android 18 arrives, trying to appeal to the original 17 inside by reminding him of how he was once independent and disobeyed Gero's orders. Myuu keeps barking orders at 17, telling him not to allow anyone to manipulate and control him. Myuu then gets hit with a deadly case of irony as Super 17 fires a blast at Myuu, destroying him. 17 then turns his sights back to 18, who begins firing rapid blasts at 17, who just keeps absorbing. Watching this, Goku realizes that 17 can't attack while he's absorbing energy. Goku then flies between 18's blasts and plows through 17's abdomen with a Super Dragon Fist.
With Super 17 weakened, Goku follows up with a Kamehameha, which obliterates the Android once and for all. It's a little anti-climactic, but that's what happens when you write yourself into a corner by making a villain as powerful as Super 17 was.
Unfortunately, danger still looms though as the rift between Hell and Earth has upset the natural balance and causing disasters across the planet like earthquakes and flooded cities. Thinking the Dragon Balls can be used to set things right, Goku, Pan, Trunks, and Giru set out to collect them all, but they make a shocking discover: the balls are cracked.
Despite hesitation to use them, the gang theorize that using the Balls to fix Earth will in turn make the Balls normal again. And so, Goku summons Shenron. Unlike all the other times the Balls have been used before though, the sky turns red and smoke begins leaking from the Balls, forming into a dark version of Shenron.
And so this saga ends while throwing in something ominous for the next one.
Despite a few elements I mentioned that I liked, the Super Android 17 Saga is by far the weakest storyline to come out of Dragon Ball GT. While it did rehash ideas used before in the franchise, there was still a lot of potential in those ideas but the execution here felt either wasted or rushed given the episode count, coming across as bad fan fiction. The Black Star Dragon Ball Saga may have had its problems, but the creators were still trying to give us something new. I don't really have much else to say about this saga, as just watching it kind of felt like a chore.
My look back at Dragon Ball GT concludes next time as the objects used to help the Earth so many time become its greatest threat in the Shadow Dragon Saga.
