Ideas for Fox's Marvel Movie Future

We're gonna need a little history lesson to start this post out. In the late 90's, Marvel had to declare bankruptcy and in the process had to sell the film rights of some of their characters to movie studios. As of today, the only franchises licensed out to other studios include Spider-Man at Columbia Pictures and X-Men and Fantastic Four at 20th Century Fox. Aside from characters from those series, Marvel Studios owns the film rights to the rest of their character library and has the liberty to use them in their cinematic universe. Given Marvel's success with the Avengers and the shared universe concept, Fox has shown interest in getting a piece of the action. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean they want to put the X-Men and Avengers on the same screen (at least not yet). No, their plan is to expand the X-Men movie franchise into a larger universe and include a reboot of the Fantastic Four series; to elaborate, this means the first Fantastic Four films released in 2005 and 2007 will not matter, which makes sense given Chris Evans is now Captain America. Recently, Fox has announced plans for a film based on X-Force; they're like the X-Men, but more militant, black-ops, and willing to kill. Given the information known so far, I, as a fan, would just like to share my ideas for what Fox could do with their own Marvel Universe, going by categories.

 

X-FORCE

 

Some of the things confirmed about the X-Force film is that it won't have a five person line-up but will not have a set line-up from the comics, which leads to believe they will pull members from both the Cable-led and the "Uncanny" versions of the team. This is just wishful thinking, but this is who I believe should make up the film's team:

• Cable: The leader of the original X-Force in the comics, it only makes sense for the future raised son of Cyclops to be a part of the team.
• Wolverine: Aside from being the former leader of the "Uncanny" version of the team, Fox will obviously need a draw for the film, and who better than their poster child for the X-Franchise. It's unknown if Hugh Jackman will continue playing Wolverine after next year's X-Men film, but maybe he can be talked into popping the claws one last time.
• Deadpool: Being Cable's best buddy and part of Wolverine's team, the Merc with a Mouth is a perfect fit for an X-Force film. I can just picture his dialogue now. "Oh look! Bad guys to kill! Okay, I'll stab that one. Shoot that one. Stab. Shoot. Stab. Stab. Shoot. Shoot. Shoot. Stab AND shoot. That one I'll leave for Logie since I'm such a team player. Stab..." Also, a solo Deadpool film has been in development hell for years, and given his botched appearance as "Barakapool" in 2009's "X-Men Origins: Wolverine", he may need another film appearance to get audiences interested in him again.
• Domino: Of course the film needs a badass female on the team, and Domino fits perfectly. Besides that, she has also been involved with both Cable and Deadpool, so it gives the film the chance to show her chemistry with each character.
• Angel: Since he didn't do much in 2006's "X-Men: The Last Stand", Angel could stand to have the spotlight on him, and he was part of Wolverine's "Uncanny" team in the comics.

Some other members I thought about for Angel's spot were Colossus and Warpath. While Colossus has made some memorable moments in X-Men 2 and 3 and Warpath will probably do some cool stuff in next year's X-Men, Angel needs to see some real action and not just fly around. To address fans wanting Psylocke in the film, I feel I should point out that she was killed during the Dark Phoenix's rampage at the conclusion of "X-Men: The Last Stand." While the character was hardly used and killed off very quickly, her appearance still stands, and it would help Fox to stand by that use, because the franchise is riddled with continuity hiccups and we really don't need to keep adding to the list.

 

Now there is one issue concerning introducing Cable into the X-Men film series. In the comics, Cable is the son of Cyclops and (technically) Jean Grey. As we saw in "X-Men: The Last Stand" however, both characters were killed. But I have thought of a way to make the character's appearance possible, which brings us to the next category...

 

 

MR. SINISTER AND APOCALYPSE



 

One of the elements that led to Cable's birth was the belief of geneticist Nathaniel Essex, also known as Mr. Sinister, that the offspring of Scott Summers and Jean Grey would produce the perfect mutant being. While in the comics, Cable had been born naturally, I think a way for him to come about in the film continuity with his parents being dead is for Sinister to create the child himself using their genes. In his hubris, Sinister would name him Nathan after himself. Along with that, the clone could also age more rapidly than a normal person, which would explain how he would look so old in the present day films. Eventually Nathan would Sinister and take on the last name Summers after his "true father."

By introducing Sinister, this also opens the opportunity to finally bring Apocalypse into the X-Men franchise, given their rivalry in the comics. It has already been rumored that Apocalypse will be a big part in the future of the X-films. Aside from that, in the comics, Angel has connections to Apocalypse. When Angel loses his wings, he makes a deal with Apocalypse to serve as one of his horsemen, and is given new metal wings, becoming Archangel. If both Apocalypse and Angel would be involved in the X-Force film, this would be a potential storyline to adapt that fans would love to see. There's also the potential of using the recent storyline where Archangel and another Apocalypse horseman, Ichisumi, had twins, Uriel and Eimin. 

 

With the introduction of Mr. Sinister also brings the chance to explore the concept of the "human mutate." To go into detail, a human mutate is a normal human that has been genetically altered with mutant DNA. Sinister himself is one, as is Deadpool, whose healing factor comes from Wolverine. With human mutates, this brings me to an idea that may be controversial to some fans...

 

(I include this picture of the team because I think it would be interesting if Fox would use the white suits this time around. It would also compliment the primarily black uniforms used in the X-Men films.)

 

FANTASTIC FOUR



 

Compared to the other Marvel movie franchises, I feel like the X-Men series is one that could work the best on its own and not necessarily need to cross over with other Marvel characters. With Fox's intention to bring the new Fantastic Four into their existing X-Men universe, I found it would be strange for such a team to be the only non-mutant superheroes in the same world. I wondered how it would actually work, but then the human mutate thought popped into mind.

Here's an idea: without knowing of his true intentions, scientists Reed Richards, Susan Storm, and Victor Von Doom would be analyzing/experimenting on mutant DNA with Essex. Eventually, an accident of some kind, possibly due to Doom's failure of an experiment or during Cable's escape from Sinister, Reed and Sue, along with Reed's best friend/bodyguard Ben Grimm and Sue's brother Johnny, would be embedded with their own mutations. While not mutants by birth, they would develop powers as if they were. Along with that, Doom would be disfigured in the accident, escape the wreckage without everyone else knowing and would be believed to be dead, setting him up to be a villain in a future film.

I realize this is a drastic change from the original Fantastic Four origin, but so was the "Ultimate" version. But this is quite a possibility in bringing these characters into a series dominated by characters being born with powers. It's certainly original and brings about potential plots. While they're not true mutants, would the public still treat them as such?

 

As the Fantastic Four prepare to make their redebut in film, it is quite obvious Fox will plan a team-up movie with the X-Men at some point in the future. But before doing that, we need to reestablish the X-Men back in the present.

 

 

X-MEN 4 AND BEYOND...

 

While I thoroughly enjoyed the First Class prequel, if Fox wants a crossover between their two Marvel teams to happen, they will have to bring about a true X-Men 4. With next year's "Days of Future Past" film will include the casts of the original trilogy and First Class, it seems Fox is heading in that direction by getting audiences settled into the present day cast so they could then work on a film to feature just them, i.e. X-Men 4. To make this clear, I'm classifying "Days of Future Past" as a First Class sequel, because if the film turns out anything like the comic storyline of its namesake, the future timeline that will be shown will be prevented but will still exist as an alternate world. So anything that may happen in the present/future scenes will not matter in the franchise's "main timeline." After this film, it would be nice to see what "really" happened after "X-Men: The Last Stand" and "The Wolverine", and then eventually get to the X-Men/Fantastic Four team-up movie. One of the ideas I have is Wolverine, Storm, Kitty, Bobby, and Beast running the school and we'd get the chance to see some newer mutants that have debuted since the third film. It would be like the concept of the "Wolverine and the X-Men" comic book series.

 

While Fox has had its issues with their Marvel films over the last decade, I feel that they've got their shit together in terms of the future. So as I cautiously look forward to what is to come in the Fox Marvel universe, I can only hope they can avoid any mistakes as bad as Barakapool or Galactus cloud.

Video Game Review- Deadpool: "We're about to change your fucking life."

If anything good came of 2009's "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" film, it made me more aware of the character, Deadpool. While his mouthless depiction in the film was terrible, coined by fans as "Barakapool", it did make me want to look more into the real version of the character, and his hilarious antics through comics, internet videos, and video games made me a fan of the character. When it was announced last summer that Deadpool would be getting his own solo game, I was ecstatic. Now that I have finally played it, I can definitely say that it was a game worthy of the character.

First things first though for the uninitiated, who is Deadpool you ask?

While Deadpool has made video game appearances before, he has usually had to share the stage with other Marvel (and Capcom) characters and had to tamed down for T rated gamers. Now with his own M rated game, he can be the Merc with a Mouth he's meant to be: a foul-mouthed, gore loving pervert. Using swords, sai, a variety of guns, not to mention a pair of mallets that create a big mess of henchmen blood, players can enjoy a great mix of action-adventure and shooter games.

As part of Deadpool's hilarious charm, he breaks the fourth wall. For those that don't know what that means, he actually talks to the reader of his comics or the player of his games, i.e., he knows he's a fictional character, though that will be usually written off as part of his psychosis by the other characters he's interacting with. This makes for great comedic moments in the game, such as this clip of him repeatedly slapping an unconscious Wolverine to wake him up:



 Not only that, but there are two songs developed as well. One for Deadpool himself, and this catchy one for his best buddy, Cable:



This is only a fraction of the hilarious moments players can have in the game.

Some reviews complain that the gameplay is repetitive, but when it comes to a guy who solves his problems with weapons, I feel it's forgivable. Besides, the comedy in the game should be enough for players to look past any shortcomings.
While I myself enjoyed the game as much as I hoped I would, I could not help but feel that the finale could have felt a little more "video gamey". Throughout the whole game, Deadpool constantly makes references to being in his own game, talking about levels and upgrades and the like. The final boss of this game was the mutate villain, Mr. Sinister. Gamers know that final bosses once beaten in their first form transform into a stronger form that will definitely be the final battle. Deadpool, however, did not include a "Super Sinister" as the final boss. Even then, Sinister is crushed by a giant Sentinel boot, so it's the ending cinematic that finished the job and not the player. You'd think with a game with a character that knows he's in a game, he'd make sure there'd be a big final battle.
Another thing I didn't really care for was the health meter. Due to his healing factor, one even more powerful than Wolverine's, he can't really die. I know games like this need to have a health meter to make a player feel like they'll fail if it reaches zero, but it doesn't really fit with Deadpool's character. I didn't die that much anyway, so it wasn't that big of a deal. I'm just pointing out the flaw of a health meter for a character that can't die.

Despite some issues, Deadpool is overall entertaining. It's a perfect mix of action-adventure and shooter games that includes enough comedy and gore to appease those who enjoy any or all of the above, especially during the stealth attacks. It's great for Deadpool fans and will definitely create new fans of those who weren't before. If you don't believe me, watch a walkthrough on YouTube first and then play it for your own joyful experience. With that I have two words to say: SEQUEL PLEASE!

Score: 9/10

Now if only they'd get the movie off the ground.

Comics Review- Age of Ultron: Was All This Really Necessary?

For those unfamiliar with the character, Ultron is an artificial intelligence created by Hank Pym, a founding member of the Avengers who has gone by various superhero identities, the most prominent being Ant-Man. But like most artificial intelligence programs, it went evil and became bent on eradicating humanity, and essentially became the Avengers' greatest enemy.
In 2011's Avengers #12.1, Ultron had been reactivated and escaped a confrontation with the Avengers to plan his next attack. Tony Stark feared that when Ultron came back, he would bring the end of everything. And thus, Marvel set the stage for a story called "Age of Ultron."
After a couple years of waiting due to art delays, Marvel finally announced "Age of Ultron" would happen in 2013. While I was a little peeved it was happening so soon after Marvel's last big event "Avengers vs. X-Men", the hype around it made it forgivable because I was excited to see what would happen. So, now that the story is over, did it live up to the hype? Short answer: no. Long answer: I payed almost $40 for this?

To begin, when Marvel first announced this series, they made it sound like that it would be Ultron succeeding in taking over Earth with the remaining heroes mounting a resistance, and that some of the focus would be on characters like Hawkeye, Moon Knight, Black Widow, and Spider-Man. As more info on the story started to come about, it was starting to sound like much of the events of the story, Ultron's takeover in particular, would be done away with through time travel and become a world in Marvel's multiverse, similar to the 90's "Age of Apocalypse" event. That theory was becoming very prominent from the first half of the series. For one thing, many prominent characters being featured in main Marvel books were killed or said to be dead, including 75% of the Fantastic Four, Hulk, Thor, Cyclops, and Black Panther. Along with that, there were many continuity errors for a story that was supposed to take place in the present, including Spider-Man acting like Peter Parker when Otto Octavius was currently in control of Peter's body, Emma Frost retaining her psychic powers even though she lost them after AVX, and Wolverine wearing a costume he has never worn before. In response to those first two errors, I would have forgiven them if Marvel said AoU took place before AVX, but they were adamant that Otto was Spider-Man in this storyline, even including a tie-in issue of "Superior Spider-Man." While on the subject, I think the tie-in issues for series like Spider-Man and Fantastic Four really hurt the impact of the series, because those issues were place in the middle of the regular runs of the titles. They showed Reed, Johnny, and Ben die in the AoU issue of Fantastic Four, but then they're back like nothing happened in the next regular issue.
By #6 of the series, the story shifted gears from what it originally promised and become a time travel story involving Wolverine and Invisible Woman. By the end of the series, Ultron himself appeared only in the final issue. So a storyline involving Ultron, and the damn robot is only it for one issue.

I can basically summarize the story in five sentences:

• Ultron takes over the Earth, leaving very few heroes left to fight back.
• Wolverine and Invisible Woman travel back in time to kill Hank Pym before he can create Ultron, which they succeed in doing.
• They come back to a drastically altered present where a cyborg Tony Stark pretty much controls the world.
• Wolverine travels back again to stop his past-present self from killing Pym, where they devise a new way to stop Ultron before he attacks.
• The events of Avengers #12.1 are changed to when Ultron reactivates, he is unable to escape a battle with the Avengers, thanks to Pym, who was also able to give Stark equations to download into Ultron, that would lead to the robot being deactivated and its body destroyed by Thor.

So that's basically it. The past 9 issues becoming nothing more than paperweights because of the finale. I would have said "Spoiler alert!" but that would have been as fucking pointless as this series was.
The story doesn't technically end there though. Apparently, the main point of this series was to establish that because of Wolverine's tampering with the past, the space-time continuum had been broken and the walls of the Marvel multiverse were crumbling. While that plot point is very interesting, was 10 issues really needed to explain that? Hell, the issues dealing with the altered present felt more like filler. Honestly, with as much travel through time or between universes that has happened in Marvel's history, showing that they're heading towards a "Crisis on Infinite Earths" level event could have easily been done in an issue of "All-New X-Men" or "New Avengers", which deal with time travel and alternate universes respectively.
"Age of Ultron" was just Marvel's greed gone overboard. This tops "Fear Itself" as Marvel's worst event in the last 10 years. While the major after effects of "Fear Itself", the supposed deaths of Thor and Bucky, lasted what seemed to be only a few months, the story itself at least brought some allusion of possible change. With "Age of Ultron", when a majority of a story is effectively erased by its climax, it makes it hard to not feel cheated.
Also, when the potential stories coming out of an event sound more exciting than the actual event was, you know it was bad. One of them is the upcoming miniseries "Hunger", which deals with the main Marvel universe Galactus being transported into the Ultimate Marvel universe. I will probably wait for the collected edition of the series to read that, but I am interested in seeing how the Ultimate universe deals with a major threat originating from outside their own world, which will no doubt lead closer to the "Crisis" level event Marvel seems to be planning. When that happens, I feel that the main universe and Ultimate universe will become one, but that's my own wishful thinking.
Aside from that, while it hasn't been officially stated to be an affect of "Age of Ultron", Spider-Man 2099 will be appearing in an upcoming storyline in "Superior Spider-Man", which will pit Miguel against Otto to see who is the superior Spider-Man. Considering Miguel was used as a red herring as the identity of the Superior Spider-Man before the new book started, I'm happy to be seeing him back in comics. The end of AoU makes me glad to have a theory on how their encounter will happen.

As for the whole "Angela from 'Spawn' now in the Marvel universe" thing, it might be because I know nothing about the character, but I honestly thought it was over-hyped and did not give a shit when she showed up at the end of the book.

After this series, I am setting my expectations low for Marvel's next event, "Infinity." I want it to be good, but it's been hit and miss lately for Marvel events. Maybe if they actually spaced out their events...but that's probably too much to ask for.

For my comics reviews, there will be two ratings. The story rating is how I personally felt about it as a whole. The recommendation rating is how much I'd recommend it to friends or readers who are either new or lapsed. So the scores for Age of Ultron:

STORY RATING: 2/10
RECOMMENDATION RATING: 1/10

The story has its moments, but lasts too long and ultimately becomes pointless by the last issue of the series. You'd be better off waiting to see what future stories will come about because of it. If you're into post-apocalyptic, time travel, or alternate reality stories, it might be worth a look, but don't expect a big payoff.

J-Pull's Poetry Corner: "'Give Me My Own Movie Motherfuckers!'"

With the release of the Deadpool video game this week, I thought this would be the perfect time to share a Deadpool poem I wrote for my poetry class I took in my final semester at EIU, which was well received by the class and hopefully loved by anyone else who is reading this. While on the subject, expect a most likely positive review of the Deadpool game to be posted sometime this week or next.

So, without further ado, for the inaugural edition of J-Pull's Poetry Corner (yes, this will be a recurring segment), here is "'Give Me My Own Movie Motherfuckers!'"

“Give Me My Own Movie Motherfuckers!”

By Wade Wilson (filling in for Justin Pullen (Good thing his first name isn’t Richard. Ha!))

Oh how patient I’ve been for my own movie.
                (And patience is really against his nature.)
So many years at work, yet nothing to show for it.
                (Like Brandon Routh’s career.)

Fans want to see me shoot
             (BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!)
 and slice the shit out of people in live action,
and quite possibly 3D.
            (4D would be fun though;
            heads and limbs falling in your lap!)
So somebody pull Ryan Reynolds out of Blake Lively
                (What a downgrade from ScarJo.)
and let’s make my goddamn movie!

Now to make sure
this college nerd won’t say anything
about hogtying him and using his junk laptop
to express my emotions.
             (You’re such a good poet.
          And those old white guys make it look hard.)
Where’d I leave my knife?
                (But you just cleaned your suit!
            ...It’s on the microwave.)

Hey Tammy! Does this long poem annoy you?
Or do my trademark yellow boxes make it hard to read?
             (Breaking the fourth wall for the win!)
Comedy over. Deadpool, OUT!

 

 

To clarify something, Tammy was a girl in the class that hated long poems.

Turning Off "Two and a Half Men" and "Anger Management"

As I'm sure most people remember, Charlie Sheen went pretty crazy around the start of 2011, which led to him being fired from "Two and a Half Men." Then he went on a media bender showing people just how crazy he had really gotten. He would call himself, and I'm paraphrasing here, a warlock with tiger blood in his veins. And who could forget his hashtagable use of "WINNING!" Eventually, it seemed that Sheen had cleaned himself and got a new show on FX loosely based on the Jack Nicholson comedy, "Anger Management." More on that later.

In the meantime, CBS decided to continue "Two and a Half Men." Charlie's character would be killed off, presumably murdered by Rose, and a new character, billionaire Walden Schmidt, played by new lead Ashton Kutcher, would buy his house and for some reason allow Alan to keep living there. I watched most of Kutcher's first season on the show and did find it, for the most part, entertaining. It was a good experiment and I did not bat an eye to when the show was renewed for another season.
The latest season, however, did not impress me. It mostly had to do with character and plot development. For the two seasons he's been on, Walden has been in two meaningful relationships that ended in him being dumped, with attempts reconciliation in both of them ultimately being sabotaged by Rose. It makes me feel bad for the guy, but if this is going to be pattern, it makes it hard to care for any relationship he has.
As for Alan, he has, in the simplest way of putting it, devolved into a total loser. When he was sponging off Charlie, it made sense because they were brothers. While the start of the Walden era on the show made sense at first for Alan to keep living there, I really find it hard to believe Walden would still have him there. Besides that, did his chiropractor practice just dissolve? To the best of my recollection, he has not been at his office or even mentioned going to work in the two years he's lived with Walden. It seems like he is sponging off Walden for everything, which does not make him very likable in my opinion. Then there is his on again/off again relationship with Lyndsey the last three years. This past season, they become engaged (I assume because it wasn't a very formal proposal) but then she just dumps him out of nowhere. This was practically the longest relationship Alan's had in the show's history and it ends just like that? Like I said, it makes it hard to care for characters' relationships you start to become invested in and then suddenly have them separate. I felt the same way with Charlie and Chelsea's relationship.
While Jake has not been on this much this past season since he joined the army at the end of the previous season, anytime he does appear, almost everything he says is insanely idiotic that I repeatedly smack myself in the forehead and check to see if I left a red mark by the end of the episode. I know this is supposed to be an absurd comedy, but no one is that stupid.
You can probably imagine my surprise when I found out the show had been renewed for another season. Along with that, it was announced that Angus T. Jones (Jake) would be downgraded to a recurring role, even though it seemed that way this past season anyway. If Jake is hardly around anymore, why is the show still called "Two and a Half Men"? He isn't even a "half" any more. As the show no longer has anything to offer me, I will not be watching this fall. If it is renewed after this coming season, I will have no words.

Now, on to "Anger Management." They made 10 episodes for the first season, and I enjoyed it for the most part. Then they made the deal for 90 more episodes, a surprising amount to say the least. While I did continue to enjoy the show, I felt it has been lacking lately, prominently in the Charlie/Kate relationship, which has been my favorite aspect of the show. They start out as friends with benefits, even though they both seem to have real feelings for each other, but Kate doesn't want to get serious and decides to go back to being just friends with Charlie, but now they have to work together on a grant funded sex study which makes things totally awkward for them. Yes, it is as convoluted as it sounds. But with the whole "will they or won't they" aspect gone, I just haven't found the show as enjoyable lately.
This week, it was announced that Selma Blair (Kate) was fired from the show, per Sheen's orders.

Source: http://www.deadline.com/2013/06/future-of-anger-management-co-star-selma-blair-in-limbo-over-falling-out-with-charlie-sheen/

Now, I had thought that Sheen had gotten his act together after getting fired from "Two and a Half Men" and would start behaving a little differently. But as sources say, he is apparently being just as big a drama queen on his new show as he was on his last one, with many of the cast and crew becoming frustrated with him. Since Blair was the most vocal, Sheen issued the ultimatum that either she goes or he goes. I guess FX saw Sheen as a bigger a bigger loss than Blair. It doesn't end there though; Sheen apparently fired her through an expletive filled text message. Now the show is searching for a new female lead to replace her character.
I actually like Selma Blair, particularly in the Hellboy films. It seems like the show is taking a big loss letting her go. I think she'll be fine though; she's a talented actress. I wouldn't say that I'm that big of a fan of her that her exit would make me stop watching "Anger Management", but it's part of the reason I am. I feel as though that if I continue watching, I will be supporting Sheen's supposed reign of terror on the set. Like I said, the show hasn't been as entertaining as when it started so I don't feel like I'll be missing out.

So I say goodbye to a show that is long past its prime and another that I sense is going to start spiraling, of which I have seen the early signs. There's plenty of other shows for me to watch.
You can call this a rant about television shows if you want, but I thought this would be a good idea for a piece of writing.

Coming soon: Age of Ultron miniseries review

 

So today, spoilers leaked for the final issue of Marvel current event miniseries, "Age of Ultron." I decided to look at them due to my lack of enjoyment in the course of the story and just wanted to know how it ends. I have my own thoughts on the whole thing as a whole now, but will not post an overall review as I was already planning to until I have read the issue myself.
However, since I will not be able to make it to my comic shop until next week, I will be unable to read the issue or put up my review of the series until next week. So stay tuned, readers.

Movie Review- Man of Steel: Not Your Daddy's Superman (SPOILERS)

In 2008, Warner Bros. and DC Comics were in danger of losing Superman's rights to the heirs of his creators unless a new film in production by 2011. Rather than a sequel to the mediocre "Superman Returns", they decided to restart the franchise altogether. Once David Goyer and Christopher Nolan, the men behind the Dark Knight trilogy that revitalized my own interest in Batman with "Batman Begins", joined the project in 2010, I knew Superman was in good hands; Zack Snyder of "300" and "Watchmen" fame signing on as director only made it better. While the rights issue was taken care of, there was still much more on the line with the new theatrical Superman adaptation, not only for the character himself, but with any future DC superhero's film future aside from Batman. Now that the movie's out, has it lived up to what it was set out to do? As a starting point to a new universe, I believe it has.

This is the Superman movie I have been waiting for, and it did not disappoint. In fact, it left me wanting more. I will admit that it takes a little bit to get into, but it all pulls together as it goes on, especially when he acquires the suit. I have seen comments from people questioning why we need a new Superman movie or why they have to tell the origin even though it's so well known. To answer the first question, people tend to forget that he was the first superhero. THE superhero. Without him, people wouldn't be watching Batman, Spider-Man, or any of the Avengers on the big screen. He deserves such treatment as the rest of them. As for the origin, I saw similar complaints when "The Amazing Spider-Man" reboot came out last year. Here's how I feel about retelling origins: if the film makers feel there is something new to tell, then I am all for it. Considering how "Man of Steel" is the first theatrical depiction of Superman's origin since the original 1978 Christopher Reeve film. I'll admit, the opening Krypton scenes were very reminiscent of the original. Given that was over 30 years ago, it was time to restart for a new generation, especially in a time where, realistically, such an individual would be viewed with fear and mistrust, which is indeed what the film set out to do.
Some people have complained that the film is "too dark." Well to that I say, that's how the world is. The movie is supposed to show that even in a dark world, someone will rise up and give us hope. As Jor-El put it "[he] will give the people of Earth an ideal to strive toward...they will stumble, they will fall, but in time, they will join [him] in the sun." Like the title of this post reads, this is not your daddy's Superman. This is Superman in the modern world, and it's a broken one he is trying to help.

Out of the reviews I have seen, critics complain that it devolves into a "generic blockbuster." Going in to the movie with that in mind, I could see where it could be seen that way. However, it was necessary. As far as cinema and special effects have come, Superman's capabilities could now be shown to their fullest in film industry of the 21st century. Yes, this was attempted with "Superman Returns" and what did they show? Superman LIFTING a space shuttle. Superman LIFTING a car. Superman LIFTING the Daily Planet globe. Superman LIFTING a boat. Superman LIFTING an island made of Kryptonite (which makes no sense). Did I mention he lifted things? My point is, "Man of Steel" was able to showcase the Superman of modern cinema in a fight, whether it was with Faora or Zod. It reminded me of the fights in Dragon Ball Z.
And while speaking of Superman's powers, I felt the filmmakers did a good job showing him develop his powers and the ways and reason in which he uses them. Whether or not it was intended, the way he was shown to be leaping at first is a good reference to the original Superman comics of the late 1930's where he would originally leap. The morality issue worked both in the ways of holding back, such as Jonathan Kent telling Clark to stay where he was in order to protect his secret, even if it meant he had to die, and doing what was necessary, such as when he had to snap Zod's neck to save a family from being incinerated by his heat vision. I feel I knew how Clark felt in both situations.

Now onto the cast members. I felt Henry Cavill did a brilliant job as the new last son of Krypton. He played the role of a man trying to find out who is very well, but apparently that translates to some critics as not showing enough emotion; I don't know where that's coming from, but I digress. The point is, Cavill portrayed Superman as I expected the hero to be.
Amy Adams played the go-getter reporter we know as Lois Lane quite well too, especially in the aspect that she goes deep into her investigations as she is usually shown too. But what I really like about this depiction of Lois is that she isn't an idiot. As someone who spends as much time with both Clark Kent AND Superman, she should know they are one and the same.
When they announced Zod would be the main villain of the film, I groaned because I hoped for a villain not yet used in film, like Brainiac. But in the first film of a new series, it worked out quite nicely. I liked Michael Shannon in the role. Zod showed how determined he was in his conquest to save his people and later on revenge. I liked her performance overall, but felt he overacted whe he kept yelling "I WILL FIND HIM!", referring to Kal-El.
While Cavill was the star, I believe Russell Crowe stole the show as Jor-El, a role I believed would only encompass a few scenes in the film. As much as Superman is supposed to be the symbol of hope, it was his father that helped him become that symbol.

With the movie out now, I wonder what will come next. Critics have been mixed but the box office is looking promising. Unlike "Green Lantern", this DC film looks like it will be a success and have sequel potential. If we also compare "Man of Steel" to the Transformers movies in terms of critics and box office, it is most likely we will see Cavill suit up again in the future. And in said sequel, I do have some questions. What will the relationship between Clark and Lois be in this new series and how will it develop? Will anyone else at the Planet recognize Clark as Superman even with the glasses? (Should be worth mentioning that I had a feeling he would join the Planet at the end of the film). Will this help springboard more DC films within the same universe and eventually lead to a Justice League movie? Like I said, alot was riding on this movie.

If there was one thing that was left to desire, it was set-up for the next film. I mean, in "Batman Begins" we had the Joker card. Something referencing Brainiac or Darkseid (for a Justice League movie) would have been nice. There were a bunch of LexCorp signs around Metropolis, but it's not like Lex is anything new. I can see why they would avoid it though, given that they do not want to get fans' hopes up in case nothing new comes to fruition (I'm looking at you "Green Lantern"-post-credit-scene-with-Sinestro-putting-on-the-yellow-power-ring).

In conclusion, I feel it's up, up, and away for the new Superman and here's hoping we get to see him soar again in the future, and maybe along with some other heroes. Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge.

Score: 8/10