Tag Archives: Stan Lee

Will Kraven the Hunter Appear in the Spider-Man: Homecoming Sequel?

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Ben Affleck originally planned to star, write (with Geoff Johns) and direct a solo Batman movie for Warner Bros and DC Entertainment though he eventually decided to step down from the latter (it’s believed that he did so because Warner Bros was insistent that he make a 2018 release date, which he felt he could not do if he were to maintain the quality fans of the franchise had come to expect) and was replaced by Matt Reeves.

And when a new director comes onto a project–especially one in as strong a bargaining position as Reeves–they tend to rewrite a project, as opposed to going with the script that was already in place.

This means that much of what had been in Affleck and John’s screenplay will more than likely be discarded (though whomever does a rewrite could use the Affleck and Johns screenplay as a starting point).

Supposedly, the villain in the original screenplay was  Deathstroke, who was going to be played by Joe Manganiello.

Now let’s for a moment look at another franchise, namely Sony Pictures/Marvel Studios upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming.  

The third iteration of Marvel Comics venerable wall crawler will premier in theaters in 2018 though producers have said that they’re avoiding using villains from he earlier movies–which despite their iconic status makes a lot of sense–which means that it’s unlikely we’ll see the Green Goblin, the Lizard, Dr. Octopus, Sandman, Venom (and speaking of Venom, that’s a special case that I cover on my Screenphiles YouTube channel) or Electro.

Which means that villains that we have had yet to see will be appearing in Spider-Man: Homecoming–such as the Vulture, Tinkerer and Shocker–and its sequels.

Such as Kraven the Hunter! 

One of Spider-Man’s deadliest foes–created by Stan Lee and Stece Ditko and who first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #15–Kraven sought to defeat Spidey because he believed himself to be the world’s greatest hunter, though that’s not the only reason Kraven comes to mind as the next villain to menace Tom Holland’s Spider-Man because if you recall I mentioned Joe Manganiello a few paragraphs ago?  Well, here’s where things get interesting.

Here’s a picture of Manganiello.

And while I have no idea if there’s room in his schedule to play Kraven–nor that the villain is even being considered–there are few roles that an actor is so perfectly suited to play.

What Stan Lee Is ‘The Man’

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I don’t think that Kevin Smith is nearly as good a director as he seems to think he is.  That being said, when the man has done something good–unlike Red State, which was tonally a bit off, especially at the end.

Yet he almost redeems himself with this clip.

It’s actually pretty funny, though a lot of the credit goes to Stan Lee, as well as a dream supporting cast.

Everything You Need to Know About ‘Daredevil’ Before It Premieres On Netflix, But Aren’t Geeky Enough To Ask

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Screen Shot 2014-06-11 at 6.01.00 PMIf you needed another reason to love Marvel Studios–besides their awesome movies–it’s probably because they’re best at translating their characters to the screen, which is why when I heard that they were preparing to launch four new series exclusively for Netflix a few months ago, I was so happy that you’d think that I was somehow profiting from it.

The characters that they are using, Daredevil, Luke Cage, Iron Fist (which my fingers keep typing as ‘Iron Fish’) and Jessica Jones.  And like in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, where the adventures of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and the Hulk culminated in The Avengers, the characters on Netflix will meet and fight a common foe in The Defenders.

Who Is Daredevil?

Daredevil was created in 1964 by Stan Lee, Bill Everett and Jack Kirby and was introduced in Daredevil#1.  The character came by his powers when, as a child in Hell’s Kitchen, New York.  He was splashed by some radioactive substance that fell from a truck that was transporting it.  He lost his sight, but gained a radar sense that acted similar to a bat’s sonar.

His father, Jack Murdock, refused to throw a fight, and was killed by mobsters.  To avenge him, he created an alter ego called Daredevil, who’s known as The Man Without Fear.

It’s probably not an accident that Daredevil is in many ways very similar to Spider-Man.  Stan Lee had a hand in both characters, though this time he worked with Steve Ditko.  Both characters were raised by single parents–Matt Murdock by his father, while Peter Parker was brought up by his Aunt May after her husband, and his uncle, was killed.  Parker was bit by a radioactive spider, and like most radioactive substances in comics, gave him powers and abilities similar to the spider that bit him.

When he let’s a thief escape, the very same thief ends up killing his Uncle Ben.  Parker blamed himself for what happened, and dedicated his life to righting wrongs as Spider-Man.

Matt Murdoch was splashed in the eyes by a radioactive substance that spilled from a truck that was transporting it.  He didn’t get the proportional strength of a truck, though he did gain a radar sense, similar to the sonar bats use (and bats see quite well, by the way.  Their navigational technique, known as echolocation helps then to catch prey in the dark environs, or at night, that most bats prefer).

It will be interesting to see is how the makers of Daredevil will explain Daredevil’s athletic abilities, which in the comics seem on par with Spider-Man, despite being nothing more than a very athletic person with a radar sense.

Though Daredevil is similar to Spider-Man in other ways, such as some of their villains.

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Movie Mistakes: ‘Iron Man 3’

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Iron Patriot
Generally I don’t particularly care about these sorts of things, but having seen “Iron Man 3” perhaps more times than should be legal, I noticed this little error.

Truth be told, it’s less of an error than the filmmakers apparently showing us what they can get away with when viewers are in awe over one of their favorite comic characters appearing on the big screen (for the fourth time).  What happens is that James “Rhodey” Rhodes/War Machine/Iron Patriot (Don Cheadle) is captured by Aldrich Killian/Fake Mandarin (Guy Pearce), who uses his Extremis-derived abilities to superheat a section of the armor, with the intention of forcing Rhodey to abandon it.

Killian knows that he’s damaging the surface of the armor, and so he strongly suggests that his henchman, Savin (James Badge Dale) had better be able to fix it.  Now, Savin may indeed be talented, but prior to this moment the movie gave no indication he also had some pretty awesome metallurgical, as well as painting, skills because the next time we see the Iron Patriot armor, there’s no sign that there was any damage at all.

I mean not even a smudge of the paint.  I also know that we’re watching a movie based on a comic book, but Savin making what looked like considerable damage disappear is probably the most outlandish thing in the movie.  Though you have to admit that the man is talented, and if Tony needed any help in his lab, he could do worse than hire him.

Iron Patriot

By the way, anyone that has been following the Iron Man films–Yes, even “Iron Man 2!”–knows that Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.) has an miniature Arc reactor in his chest, which keeps a piece of shrapnel from entering his heart, which is pretty much at the center of the chest (which is why the armored suits he wears don’t have the chest repulser off to the left or right).

In the penultimate act of the movie, where (Spoiler Alert!) where Tony Stark and Rhodes are squaring off against the Extremis-enhanced forces of the Fake Mandarin (that’s not his name, but if you have seen the Marvel One-Shot, “All Hail The King” you know it’s true) the Arc reactor is in the center of his chest, where the Universe and Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Larry Lieber and Don Heck intended it to be…

Arc Reactor III

Only to find that in later scenes it has somehow shifted considerably–and quite noticeably–to the right.  It’s not like it’s now on his shoulder or something, but it’s definitely no longer in the center of his chest.

Arc Reactor II

Occam’s Razor posits that when faced with explaining why or how an event happened, the simplest explanation with the fewest assumptions is more likely than not the correct one.  So, considering that that Arc reactor prop was entirely practical, it was probably somehow adhered to Robert Downey, Jr.’s chest, and with all the activity that the film required from him, shifted a bit.

And you know what, I’m OK with that because what the filmmakers could have went with was a CGI Arc reactor, as opposed to a practical one, though the problems it would bring would probably quickly disabuse them of the notion.  For instance, if it were computer-generated, it would have to look slightly different every time it appeared on screen because of changes in lighting conditions as well as his body shifting.

It’s certainly doable, by why would anyone want the added cost, when you could create an Arc reactor medallion, have him wear it, and save yourself (probably) thousands of dollars.

And besides, we’ve seen a movie that was so chock-full of computer generated effects that even the costume that the actor wore wasn’t real.

And we all know how well that went.

Like this movie, I am awesome!

A Movie About Me!  What Could Go Wrong?

Stan Lee Unleashes The ‘Annihilator’

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Stan Lee is obviously a talented man.  He’s had a hand in the creation of some of the most enduring characters in the Marvel Universe, like Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, and even some from DC Comics as well.

That being the case, why is it that he can’t seem to do anything lasting outside of the auspices of Marvel?  For instance, he’s in the past few years done a series of films under the “Stan Lee Presents” moniker, like ‘Mosaic,’ ‘The Condor’ and ‘Lightspeed.’

Here’s the trailer for ‘Mosaic’…

followed by ‘The Condor.’

The odd thing is that I not only haven’t seen any of the aforementioned films, though I am curious in a somewhat cursory fashion.  Part of me not particularly caring is due to my suspicion that Lee is a bit out of tune with today’s audiences.

Though I think he may have found a way to be taken more seriously, which is to work in live action, and to use creative people who’s at the top of their particular field.

For instance, his latest project, “Annihilator” is being written by  Tony Gilroy, who’s credits writing credits includes the screenplays for all the ‘Bourne’ films, among many others.  That being said, the premise of “Annihilator” sounds a cheesy take on Captain America (whom Stan Lee actually didn’t have a hand in creating), though in this case we have a Chinese expatriate who gets involved with a super soldier-type program that gives him abilities that happen to complement his pre-existing martial arts skills.

Which is always a good thing when you’ve been a part of a super soldier program, I’d like to think.

I shouldn’t be quite so snarky, considering that I suspect that the only thing that stopped the Batman films from looking like David Goyer’s “Blade: Trinity” was the presence of Christopher Nolan and his brother, Jonathan expanding upon Goyer’s concepts.