Panel Vision - 7 Things to Expect from Spider-Man: Homecoming 2

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So, did you see Spider-Man: Homecoming yet?  Chances are you probably did given the film’s had a big box office success, more or less everyone is praising it, and Marvel is more or less our culture’s cinematic guardian.  What’s more, it does feel like Marvel has poured a lot of time and effort into establishing Tom Holland’s Spider-Man as a new standard bearer for the company.  He’s not quite there yet, mainly because of how much he’s defined by his junior Avenger status, but give him about 3 years I get the sense Spider-Man is going to be one of the faces of the MCU come 2020 along with Black Panther and Captain Marvel.  

As such, and given that the film itself was loaded with references, it’s not too early to start talking about what we might see in a sequel to Homecoming.  Spider-Man’s always had one of the most expansive single character mythos in the entire Marvel brand and a lot of that has already started showing up in the MCU proper so let’s dive in to see what we might see in Spider-Man: Homecoming 2. 

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. 

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. 

The Mummy Trailer Breakdown

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Let’s talk for a second about “cinematic universes.”  The idea of cinematic universes is a pretty new concept for most general audiences, but it actually finds its origins with the so-called Universal Monster Cycle.  

This was a collection of films produced in the ‘30s and ‘40s by Universal Studios and are considered the first major horror hits of the talking picture era.  Basically, our universally held conceptions of Frankenstein, Dracula, the Mummy, the Wolfman all come from these movies, and they all ended up sharing continuity with each other. 

The big reason for this was that aside from being owned by the same studio, each of the monster movies had a unique style while still fitting together as a cohesive whole.  That’s always been the secret of the cinematic universe, and now, 85 years later, Universal seems to have forgotten it as they return to this particular well with 2017’s The Mummy.

Tinkerer, Shocker, & Mary Jane Cast in Spider-Man: Homecoming

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Edited by Robert Beach

After weeks of actor announcements, we finally have a new casting announcement for 2017’s hotly anticipated Spider-Man: Homecoming. So far the film has assembled a murder’s row of talented actors, and that’s on top of the goodwill it’s built up from Spider-Man’s extended cameo in this year’s Captain America: Civil War. What’s more, Homecoming has consistently made headlines with their emphasis on color-blind casting and trying to make-up for Marvel’s stifling lack of diversity so far. 

For the first time, we’ve got a Marvel movie set in New York that tries to reflect the diverse make-up of that city rather than just a bunch of white people and their one black friend. Given that this casting news involves race bending a popular character, there’s been no small amount of Internet ire over it. Given this column is about speculation and analysis rather than character’s hair or skin color, I’ll just say everyone should just relax. Now let’s dive in. 

Panel Vision - Iron Man Armor Guide

So, Civil War was a big hit, a monster hit if we’re being blatantly honest with each other.  Given that I’m going to be writing post-Civil War articles for a while now and this is one of them.  As all the trailers and posters probably gave away Iron Man is a big part of the film so it’s about time I actually started talking about him on this blog.  What’s always been weird about Iron Man as a hero is that he was never all that popular prior to 2008.  Oh, he was around but he was a lot like Green Lantern, a C-list hero that came out consistently without ever being a “must read” comic. 

The only thing that kept Iron Man in the nerd consciousness was the awesome multitude of armor designs his character generated.  As such, this Comics Rainbow isn’t going to be about periods in Tony Stark’s life and history as a character but rather the different designs of his armor.  The only limit is that the armors have to be something of continuous substance rather than one-offs or cult favorites so don’t expect any stealth suits or arctic exploration mechs.  With that said, let’s get the full spectrum on the armors of Iron Man. 

Panel Vision - Captain America: Civil War Review

Edited by Robert Beach

Something that’s been on my mind a lot lately in the endless build-up to Captain America: Civil War is how much Captain America has become the embodying ideal of the superhero. This happens sometimes when a specific superhero property explodes into the popular consciousness, transforming its title character from well-known hero to universally recognized heroic ideal. Superman in 1978, Batman in 1989, Spider-Man in 2002, and now Captain America, they all stand as the best example of the superhero in their moment in time. 

The hows and whys of that phenomenon vary from character to character, but the essential unifying factor is each of these characters embodied some necessary conflict or fantasy that spoke innately to the concerns and ideas of their time. In the case of Captain America, I think what’s elevated him to nationalistic ideal and ambassador of an entire genre to the masses is his sense of loyalty, his commitment to ideals and to people. The quiet genius of Captain America: Civil War is it takes Cap’s great strength and turns into the fracture that shatters the entire Marvel status quo. 

Spider-Man: Homecoming News Roundup

Edited by Robert Beach 

We're a little over 2 weeks out from Captain America: Civil War’s premiere. The reviews are already trickling in with a resounding cry of “excellent” from pretty much all corners of the Internet. At this point, that’s honestly not that surprising; like it or not, Marvel Studios has become a cultural juggernaut, and Captain America is easily their flagship solo franchise.  

What’s more impressive are the reports that the new Marvel/Sony joint Spider-Man, played by Tom Holland and debuting in Civil War, is really damn excellent. This response and Internet reaction to Holland’s appearance in the film’s latest trailer has given Marvel enough of a high to release some major info about next year’s new Spider-Man movie entitled Spider-Man: Homecoming. 

Panel Vision - History of SHIELD

Edited by Robert Beach

Let’s talk about S.H.I.E.L.D. Given that you and I are conversing on the Internet, I’m taking it as a bit of a given that you like or at least know of the Marvel cinematic universe. In less than a decade, the Marvel shared universe of films, TV shows, and one-shots have come to dominate the cultural landscape and occupies the same space in the pop cultural psyche that was once reserved for the likes of Star Wars or Lord of the Rings. There are a lot of reasons for that success, but chief among them is how the MCU has used continuity to cross pollinate its various properties, tying the distaff films and show together into a rich tapestry of genres and stylistic affects. 

This has allowed the individual Marvel endeavors to explore their own unique focuses like Captain America’s heavy political metaphors, Guardians of the Galaxy’s emphasis on universe building, or the villain-centric storytelling of Jessica Jones & Daredevil. And at the core of this continuity-driven exploration is S.H.I.E.L.D., the in-universe super spy agency tasked with bridging the gap between the government and the superheroes.  S.H.I.E.L.D.’s had a pretty crazy history in the MCU over the course of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. TV show, yet an even stranger history in the comic books. And today, we showcase that history.

Captain America: Civil War Trailer 2

Edited by Robert Beach 

There’s really no need for a preamble here is there? Captain America: Civil War is easily going to be one of the biggest films of the year, the starting pistol on phase 3 of Marvel’s vaunted cinematic universe after the mixed bag of phase 2 and the next installment of the seminal superhero of the 2010s. What’s more, the movie stars almost the entire Marvel roster of characters at the moment making it, in function if not in form, basically Avengers 2.5. 

It’s also serving as the introduction point for both Black Panther and Spider-Man, two long-awaited heroes finally making their way into the Marvel cinematic universe. The fact that everyone and their mother are breaking down this new trailer is as simplistic and acceptable a fact of life as gravity or the sky being blue.

1st Dr. Strange Images

So, I guess it’s about time to talk about Dr. Strange.  Honestly I’ve been kind of mixed on this whole project since the beginning, and I say that as one of the few genuine Dr. Strange fans.  I know a lot of folks are getting into the sorcerer supreme now thanks to the publicity of the film production but I’ve actually been a big fan of his since before the MCU got started and even I was pretty skeptical about a Dr. Strange movie.  The main reason for this is just that not every character or comic can work across several mediums. 

There are some comics that just only work as comics, the same way there are TV shows or books that could only work and be as resonant as they are in one particular medium.  It also didn’t help that I’m not really a Benedict Cumberbatch fan.  Now we’ve got our first look at him in costume along with some interesting concept art sketches and…while, I’m still not convinced this is going to work it certainly looks more interesting than it did before.

 

Panel Vision - Comic Book Presidents

In case you aren’t one of my American readers, and I know you exist thanks to blogger’s analytics page, we over here in the states are currently in the midst of a fairly crazy presidential election build up.  We haven’t started the primaries yet but they’re looming ever closer and it’s been a wild ride punctuated by a slew of hilariously awful Republican candidates and the still ludicrous convolution of the Democratic leads.  I’ve already released a number of articles capitalizing on this particular election cycle so here’s another one because if you think the real life candidates are insane…well you’re right but here are a bunch of completely weird and out there superheroes and villains who somehow managed to take the highest office in the land against the better judgment of the electorate and editors everywhere.

Armor Wars #5 Review

My exasperation with Marvel's Secret Wars event and the growing trend of Marvel forcing the comics into a movie shaped position comes to a head in my review of Armor Wars #5, over on All-Comic
 

http://all-comic.com/2015/armor-wars-5/