Panel Vision - 11 Possibilities for Captain Marvel 2

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By this point, the success and sequalization of Marvel films feels almost like a given.  Marvel has gotten so good at making quality movies that manage to thrill us without skimping on characterization that the fact we’ll be seeing these heroes again in new installments is the norm and not the exception.  As such, and combined with its record-breaking success so far, it doesn’t seem too earlier to start speculating about what we can expect from the next entry in the blossoming Captain Marvel franchise.  

The first film has been a major success for Marvel, planting their flag firmly alongside Wonder Woman and Black Panther in the realm of relatively more diverse superhero blockbusters and promising a whole world of potential for the next installment in this new and exciting franchise.  Combined with the extensive collection of comic book history that Carol Danvers and the Captain Mar-Vell brands have been wrapped up in and the recent changes in ownership at Marvel and Disney and there’s plenty of places to take this series next: here are 11 possibilities.

Panel Vision - 7 Possibilities for Thor 4

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Well, this was unexpected.  I don’t mean that Thor: Ragnarok was good or successful, at this point a Marvel movie being pretty good and making money is extremely par for the course.  I mean just HOW good and HOW successful Thor: Ragnarok actually was, effectively bringing this franchise back from the edge almost.  The Thor films have had a very odd trajectory, back in 2011 Thor was a breath of fresh air, a “Shakespeare in Space” adventure movie that was easily the most family friendly of the Phase 1 Marvel films.  

Since then, however, Thor lost a lot of its potential when the 2^nd entry, The Dark World, suffered director problems and got creamed by Hunger Games: Catching Fire and then Guardians of the Galaxy became the new cosmic kid on the block & Ant-Man took over the family-friendly mantel.  

But now with Ragnarok Marvel’s finally got a Thor film with a renewed mass appeal that finally figures out how to use Chris Hemsworth right AND delivered on the large-scale action and mythos the character always promised.  Suddenly, out of nowhere, Thor 4 doesn’t seem like such a crazy possibility, especially with how transient the mantle of Thor is.  So with that said here are 7 possibilities for Thor 4. 

Spider-Man: Homecoming Final Trailers Breakdown

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With around a month left to go, Spider-Man: Homecoming is revving up to be a superhero film this year.  I’m not trying to denigrate the movie, in fact as we go through this breakdown I hope it shows I’m somewhat excited for the film, I’m just being honest about where it stands.  In many ways, 2017 has been kind of a hard year on Marvel Studios overall.  There are certainly successes, I don’t think anybody thought Agents of SHIELD would pull off a fourth season as well as it has and Thor: Ragnarok has smash hit written all over it.  But during a year when Marvel is facing down Wonder Woman, Logan, and Justice League none of their adaptations really seem to matter as much, and Homecoming is a pretty solid example of this. 

The film will be the second reboot of Spider-Man this decade and the fourth Spider-Man over the past 10 years.  There’s something in that to the fatigue of franchise management and repetition, especially with a character like Spider-Man who tends to revert to the same role of “teen hero” every time his film series reverts back to square one.  However, credit where it’s due that Homecoming looks very good, it just looks a bit like there might’ve been a more important movie lurking in the original script.  What am I talking about, let’s dive into this latest trailer, and I’ll tell you. 

Panel Vision - 8 Possibilities for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 is now a pretty unequivocal hit, more or less proving that it wasn’t a fluke and Marvel is Jim Henson levels of good at making us empathize with incredibly goofy cartoons like Groot and Rocket.  With a sequel already announced by Marvel, it’s already time for sites like mine to start wildly speculating about what we might see.  

Even though the film hasn’t been written yet there were some pretty much hints towards future storylines in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and James Gunn has said that he already has a sketched out idea for the third film and how it will allegedly set-up the new mega-story for Marvel Phase 4.  Additionally, the Guardians of the Galaxy may not have been major Marvel heroes throughout their career but they do have a fairly notable and bizarre history all their own worth digging into to figure out where things might be going next. 

Panel Vision - Top 8 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Easter Eggs

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So, if the Box Office is anything to go by, you’ve now seen Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.  I mean, if we're honest with each other that was probably always going to be the case- Marvel is the world’s cinematic guardian now, on the level of Pixar, what they make we watch and this was a sequel to one of their biggest cultural successes.  However, because this is a Marvel movie we all know the story doesn’t just end with the credits or even the after-credits scenes.  

Now comes the weeks of box office reporting and, most important, dissecting the film for Easter Eggs and hints about the broader Marvel cinematic universe story as part of generating hype for the next installment.  Let it never be said I won’t give the people what they want so, in that spirit, I’ve compiled my list of the top 8 Easter eggs from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, from surprise cameos to cheeky little references buried in the Marvel arcana on display.   

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Update

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Despite the vastness of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the concept of sequels is a strangely sparse and foreign one.  Where this becomes the clearest is that even though the common working knowledge is that Marvel sequels are mostly poor, the actual breakdown is exactly even.  Iron Man 2 was a rush job that did little more than jog in place and remind people of upcoming films, Thor: The Dark World was about on par with its predecessor only with slightly sloppier editing and a more derivative climax, and Age of Ultron had plenty of ambition but lost a good chunk of it in the editing. 

Meanwhile, Iron Man 3 is a thoughtful and well-made revisit of the series core themes in a new context, Winter Soldier complete shake-ups the genre and style of the franchise in an adventurous way, and Civil War stands as one of the best entries in the series.  Now it’s coming time for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and amid the slew of trailers, posters, TV spots, and advertising tie-ins I can’t shake the feeling the brown, drippy lightning that is the lackluster Marvel sequel is gearing up to strike for a fourth time. 

Panel Vision - What If? #28-29

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As I write this, Agents of SHIELD is gearing up to do an entire episode in honor of the classic Marvel “What If?” format.  This was a whole comic series dedicated to asking bizarre questions about altered Marvel continuity like what if Daredevil had killed Kingpin or what if the X-Men died on their first mission.  

It was a popular series during the ‘70s and ‘80s with a handful of revivals around big events in recent years.  Speaking of big events, Marvel’s current big event for the summer is something called Secret Empire, in which Captain America reveals himself to be a Hydra agent after some reality warping shenanigans from a previous comic. 

The pitch has caused a lot of discourse; most of it I’d like to avoid getting into here.  However the subject of altered reality, evil Nazi Captain America, and What If comics reminded me of one of the greatest What If two-parters of all time- What If Captain America had Led an Army of Super-Soldiers in World War II and What If Captain America had formed the Avengers.  Obviously, there’s more going on than the titles or covers suggest so follow me into one of the darkest and most compelling and well written altered continuity stories this side of Superman: Red Son. 

Static Thoughts - Future of Marvel TV

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At the time of writing, we’re in a bit of a dead zone for Marvel TV.  Iron Fist has just finished its premiere and Agents of SHIELD won’t be back for a couple weeks.  As such, I’ve elected to take that time to revise an old topic and delve into where Marvel TV is headed.  I don’t think it’s an understatement to say that TV is the area where Marvel has enjoyed the least success.  That’s kind of a couched statement as Marvel hasn’t really branched out into that many mediums, but even so, it’s kind of impressive that Marvel has made 12 movies, all of them solid, but only one genuinely great TV show. 

It just seems like the house of ideas can’t crack the formula to bring its superheroes to the small screen, aside from 1 or 2 notable exceptions.  As such, the future of Marvel TV, though a clear slate of announced projects, feels more tenuous than anything else at their company.  It’s basically guaranteed that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 will be a blast and their upcoming Secret Empire event comic promises to be absorbing, but in the land of television, Marvel’s upcoming features read a lot more like a list of threats than promises. 

Inhumans Casting Breakdown

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As the future of Marvel TV lurches forever forward the time has finally come to speak once more about the Inhumans.  I actually blew most of my article formats on this particular Marvel property 2 years ago when it first looked like Agents of SHIELD was going to lead into the Inhumans.  Allegedly that’s still happening only now their debut will be in the form of a prestige TV show rather than a film, which is probably for the best.  Marvel spent 5 years trying to make the Inhumans into a suitable substitute for the X-Men with exactly zero success so abandoning that plan in the name of a television show is probably smart. 

However, there are still some pretty big red flags when it comes to the Inhumans show but rather than go through them in a list format I figured I’d naturally address them through a casting breakdown.  After all, an Inhumans show is going to have to focus heavily on a very small collection of characters, and while I’ve already discussed their comic book origins, the actors involved raise a whole new dimension to the conversation.  So, with that in mind let’s talk about the casting of Marvel’s Inhumans. 

Static Thoughts - 15 Netflix Shows for Marvel's Phase 2

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At time of writing Marvel has produced 4 massively successful Netflix series, with 5 more currently in development plus Iron Fist barreling towards us at high speeds.  Basically, Marvel has completely colonized the world of Netflix programming with the same level of success and drive as they brought to conquering the world of summer blockbusters.  

Given this, I figure it’s well passed time to start pitching new shows they could add to their Netflix roster, especially given how many Marvel characters would be better served by a series than a movie.  The diffused time frame, tight budget, and altered expectations basically set-up the Netflix realm to handle any number of more difficult or obscure Marvel characters and I’ve got 15 here that deserve their shot in Marvel’s inevitable Netflix Phase 2. 

Iron Fist Trailer 2 Breakdown

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One of the interesting things about Marvel’s lead up to Defenders is that each of the lead-up series has focused on a street level social issue that their hero is dealing with.  In Daredevil season 1 the story was about gentrification, Jessica Jones was all about rape culture, Luke Cage touched on race relations within the black community, and Daredevil season 2 was about…ninjas.  That last one, the one that breaks the chain and remains the weakest of Marvel’s Netflix offerings, despite Punisher’s excellent presence, seems to be the one most influential on the upcoming Iron Fist TV show.  

In a way that match up is pretty much perfect.  Daredevil Season 2 is a lot like Iron Man 2 in that it only happened because nobody expected Daredevil season 1 to be such a big hit, so the rush was on to get more of him out there as we pushed towards Defenders.  In that rush, the season ended up without much depth or passion outside Punisher because it was only really produced out of obligation, which is exactly the case with Iron Fist.  All the way from inception up to this latest trailer the message of Iron Fist has been “we’re making it, but don’t think we really care,” and this trailer shouts that loud and clear.

8 Things to Expect from Doctor Strange 2

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So, Doctor Strange has now gone from “just another good Marvel movie” to “bona fide smash hit that’s bigger than Man of Steel.”  Given that success, one can only assume that a sequel announcement is around the corner, especially with some of Marvel’s bigger guns like Thor and Iron Man on the fence about returning for more films in the 2020s.  Given that Dr. Strange 2 has now moved from stretch goal to likely scenario it’s time to start throwing out some guesses on what could be next for the sorcerer supreme. 

All we know for sure, however, is that his next adventure will take place in the wake of Avengers: Infinity War and the finale of their Thanos/Infinity Gauntlet saga.  Given that, the relatively limited scope of Dr. Strange’s own mythos as a hero, and the various changes that would have to come along with Marvel’s Phase 4, I’ve compiled a list of 8 possibilities to expect from Dr. Strange 2.

Spider-Man: Homecoming Trailer Breakdown

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No character more embodies the state of Marvel Studios at this moment in time like Spider-Man does.  On the one hand, he’s a multi-billion dollar franchise and ranks among the likes of Batman and Superman as some of the most influential and well-known heroes on the planet.  I mean, lest we forget, Spider-Man has had 5 mega-budget solo movies, a ton of TV shows, and even appears in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade- he’s one of the few characters that acts as an ambassador of the entire genre of superheroes.

On the opposite hand, he hasn’t had a good solo movie since 2004 and his past 2 bombs were so explosive they threatened to drag the entire franchise down to the bottom of the sea.  What I’m saying is that Spider-Man occupies the unique space of being essentially a sure thing but with enough franchise dead weight to seem like a risky venture, which is the exact Venn diagram center point Marvel Studios thrives in.  And, with our first look at the new Spider-Man: Homecoming trailer, thriving looks be exactly what Marvel’s up to. 

Film Land - Dr. Strange

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Another season, another Marvel movie- like the cleaning of a house, it ever ends.  That’s not a criticism of Marvel’s machinery of success or even their latest outing, just a simple statement of fact.  The Marvel Studios formula and structure are such an ingrained success at this point it seems like they’ll persist through the national zeitgeist and media frontier that initially spawned it to become a pop cultural institution of eternity.  This makes reviewing their films a bit of a tricky business. 

The fact that a Marvel movie is good is, at this point, something of a given.  Every Marvel movie out there is going to be at least enjoyable and will probably be the flavor of the month for about a week or two, but the bigger question now is whether or not they’ll actually persist.  Iron Man and Captain America have graduated beyond franchises to cultural touchstones while Thor and Hawkeye still struggle for relevance.  So how does Dr. Strange stack up against its Marvel brethren?  It’s alright.    

Panel Vision - is Tony Revolori Playing Nova?

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Edited by Robert Beach

As the various Spider-Man: Homecoming casting news continues to trickle in, one particular bit of casting has been niggling at me: Tony Revolori as Flash Thompson, Spider-Man’s best frenemy. It’ a relatively minor supporting role in the great scheme of Marvel casting. It's why you’ve most likely never registered Flash’s presence in the previous Spider-Man films even though he was on hand. He’s just not a dynamic character in the initial Spider-Man mythos as his primary role was wish fulfillment, acting as the bully jock to pick on Peter, but he worships Spider-Man. 

However, I don’t think that Tony Revolori fits anyone’s idea of a jock given he’s the same size and build as Tom Holland. At the same time, Flash Thompson isn’t that important to the Spider-Man mythos proper. Flash went on to be integral on a cosmic scale. All of which has led me to the following wild speculation: Tony Revolori is set-up to play Nova.

Film Land - How Do You Solve a Problem Like Thor?

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Edited by Robert Beach

I have a lot of tangents that develop as I do these articles, and one of the most prominent ones has become “how do you solve a problem like Thor?” It’s a question that’s hung around Marvel’s neck like a dead weight ever since 2013 when Thor: The Dark World’s derailment came to a crushing finale. Thor's mighty sequel hammer lost to Hunger Games: Catching Fire at the box office. 

Overall, it’s easy to see how Thor ended up on the fringes of Marvel’s slate. The first Thor was a refreshing and fun fantasy comedy. It served as the world’s introduction to Marvel’s cosmic mythology and acted as the most child-friendly Marvel superhero production. 

Since then, Guardians of the Galaxy has come in as the new face of Marvel cosmic, and the Studio has reclaimed (Editor's Note: joint custody) the rights to Spider-Man to make it their kid-friendly franchise. Even Thor’s possible role as a mystics and magic franchise is teetering now that Dr. Strange and Iron Fist are on the way.  

It also doesn’t help that Chris Hemsworth has proved himself the least versatile of the main Marvel actors. With all that looming overhead, I still ask "how do you solve a problem like Thor?" And the answer from Thor: Ragnarok seems to be this: just make it a Hulk movie. 

Kurt Russell to play Ego in Guardians of the Galaxy 2

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Edited by Robert Beach 

And so another San Diego Comic Con comes to a close.  At this point, the SDCC exists as a trade expo, showcasing the various upcoming film and television projects the nerds of the Internet can obsess over for the next year.  

SDCC has made Marvel Studios king of the castle for the last several years, but, if we’re honest, this year and last year Marvel has been pretty underwhelming in their SDCC presentation. This year, Marvel’s heightened security and strike prohibition of filming makes it hard to get on board with a lot of their announcements. 

At the same time, pretty much all of their announcements were casting news, mainly revolving around Spider-Man: Homecoming and Black Panther. While I’m looking forward to those films, the roles announced have all been small.  

It’s a neat fact that Michael B. Jordan is playing Killmonger or that Tom Rivolo is Flash Thompson. Those aren’t barn burner announcements.  Thankfully, there were two pretty big casting announcements made: the first being Kurt Russell will be playing Ego, the living planet, in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2.

Is Ghost Rider coming to Agents of SHIELD?

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We are now about 2 weeks out from San Diego Comic Con, the biggest event of the geek media calendar year.  It’s basically Christmas in July for the geek world, the point in the year where we catch a glimpse of everything that’s going to dominate our social media conversations and news feeds for the next year or so.  Lately, each year has been marked by some major announces from the good people at Marvel Studios, even though recent offerings have been a little sparse given their greater focus on the Disney Expo.  As we all impatiently salivate for the latest major announcement from the little multi-billion dollar business that could one of the more shockingly relevant Marvel properties up at bat this year is Agents of SHIELD. 

Despite spending 3 years hemorrhaging viewers and slowly becoming the least integral aspect of the Marvel Cinematic Universe the show has managed to turn quite a few heads with a shocking train reveal of their new logo design which features a flaming chain.  While there are several Marvel heroes that use both chains and flames as weapon most fans have taken this to mean that Agents of SHIELD season 4 is planning to introduce Ghost Rider to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Panel Vision - Ant-Man

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I don’t think there’s been a movie to garner the same kind of snarky dismissal that Ant-Man has in the lead up to its release.  To some extent the press relationship to Ant-Man is understandable.  The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a cultural juggernaut unlike any we’ve ever seen before and it seems plenty of folks in film journalism are just sharpening their knives waiting for the big boys at Marvel to collapse and Ant-Man really seems like the best possible option for them.  An adaptation of a C-list hero so out there and bizarre even Marvel abandoned the character pretty quickly in the comics.  Follow that up with Ant-Man’s troubled production and the very public parting of ways between Marvel Execs and geek auteur Edgar Wright and it’s easy to see why this film might be considered at ‘high risk.’  However it turns out everyone was wrong because Ant-Man is really good, in fact it’s downright excellent, a true stand out of the overall very sloppy Marvel Phase 2.