Happy Birthday Ewan McGregor!

Happy Birthday Ewan McGregor!  He started on the television comedy musical, Lipstick on Your Collar (1993).  Then, McGregor was in the Robin Williams drama, Being Human (1994).  He became a sensation playing Renton in Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting (1996) based on the novel by Irvine Welsh. Next, McGregor appeared in the “Cold War” (1996) episode of Tales from the Crypt.  He was Frank Churchill in 1996’s adaptation of the Jane Austen novel, Emma.  He starred in another Danny Boyle film with A Life Less Ordinary (1997).  Velvet Goldmine (1998), written and directed by Todd Haynes, had McGregor play Curt Wild, an Iggy Pop-like rock star.  Then, McGregor began the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (1999).  He played author, James Joynce, in the drama Nora (2000).  His next film was the last part of Baz Luhrmann’s Red Curtain Trilogy, Moulin Rouge! (2001).  In 2001, he was in the real life war drama, Black Hawk Down, based on the Mark Bowden book.  

McGregor returned as Obi-Wan in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones (2002).  He voiced Rodney Copperbottom in the animated movie, Robots (2005).  He finished the Star Wars Prequels with Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (2005).  The Dan Brown adaptation, Angels & Demons (2009), starred McGregor as Camerlengo Patrick McKenna. He was part of the family caught in the real life tsunami in The Impossible (2012).  McGregor returned as Renton in T2 Trainspotting (2017).  He was Lumière in the live action adaptation, Beauty and the Beast (2017).  McGregor moved back to television in the drama, Fargo (2017).  He was the lead in Christopher Robin (2018).  Then, McGregor was in the horror movie sequel, Doctor Sleep (2019).  The villain, Black Mask, was played by McGregor in Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn (2020).  He plays the fashion designer in the television mini-series Halston.  We also have McGregor returning to another iconic role in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series on Disney+.  Happy Birthday Ewan McGregor!  

#EwanMcGregor, #Trainspotting, #BeautyandtheBeast, #Fargo, #ObiWanKenobi 

Graphic Novels and Manga: A Publishing Proposal!

Graphic novels have become popular over the years.  It has gone from thin magazine size, 8.5” x 11” to thick, slightly smaller than comic book size, 6.6” to 10.2”.  I have watched over the years when there were only a handful of graphic novels in book store shelves.  The graphic novels went from one shelf to an aisle!  Still, there is some competition.  Let’s look at a few graphic novels and other books.  Let’s start back with comic book storytelling and the early graphic novels.  One of the early adaptations was taking classic novels and turning them into comic book form with Classics Illustrated.  A publisher of Classics Comics was the Elliot Publishing Company.  It soon became Classics Illustrated and one of my favorite issues is the adaptation of Lorna Doone, written by R.D. Blackmore, it is illustrated by a great comics artist, Matt Baker (more on him later).  Later Classics Illustrated was published by First Comics starting in 1990 with adaptations by Kyle Baker, P. Craig Russell, Bill Sienkiewicz, and many other fine artists.

St. John Publications published a “picture novel”, It Rhymes with Lust (1950) by Arnold Drake and Leslie Waller, with art by Matt Baker.  Another early graphic novel was Harvey Kurtzman’s Jungle Book (1959) taking the Mad magazine cartoonist work and published by Ballentine Books.  Blackmark (1971) was another book with art work by Gil Kane and scripted by Archie Goodwin.  Richard Corben created Bloodstar (1976), a fantasy work published by Morning Star Press, was one of the works using the term “graphic novel.”  Then, we had another pioneer of the graphic novel form, Wil Eisner with A Contract with God (1978).  Another collected a series into a trade paperback, The First Kingdom (1978) by Jack Katz.  We also had Sabre (1978) by Don McGregor and Paul Gulacy.  Marvel Comics had its first Marvel Graphic Novel with The Death of Captain Marvel (1982) by Jim Starlin.  This was the earlier hero, Mar-Vell, not Carol Danvers.   

                                                            Size comparisons of graphic novels and manga, photo by the author. 

The one graphic novel that solidified the form was Maus (1986), created by underground comics creator, Art Spiegelman.  It is one of the most personal, historical, and powerful stories that won the Pulitzer Prize in 1992.  Also in 1986 was Batman: The Dark Knight Returns collecting the four issue limited series.  It was highly influential on recent Batman films and adapted into two animated movies; Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 (2012) and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2 (2013).  The next year, there was another collection, this time of a twelve issue comic book series, Watchmen (1987) by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.  There was a Watchmen (2009) movie and a tv series Watchmen (2019).  This brings us to our first example, Marvel Graphic Novel #4, The New Mutants  (1982) by Chris Claremont and Bob McLeod.  This graphic novel of course introduced the New Mutants team, one of the first spin-off titles for the X-Men.  It is 49 pages, sported a $4.95 cover price (comic books priced at 60 cents), and is about 8 x 10.5 inches.     

The next graphic novel is Kingdom Come (1996) by Mark Waid and Alex Ross.  It collected the four issue series which went for $4.95 an issue.  It was 47 pages, cost $14.95, and is 6.6 x 10.2 inches.  It has expanded to 392 pages and cost $19.99.  Also an Absolute Kingdom Come hardcover, $99.99, with 344 pages.  A current graphic novel is Harleen Book One (2020) by Stjepan Sejic.  The Black Label series ran for three issues.  The first book was 208 pages, cost $7.99, and is 8.85 x 11.16 inches.  The Black Label titles in this series were all about magazine size like the old graphic novels.  Now let’s move into the novel side of graphic novels with DC Ink.  Mera: tidebreaker (2019) is by Danielle Page and Stephen Byrne.  The book is 192 pages, priced at $16.99, and measures 6.02 x 8.99 inches.  A nice attempt to bring in YA readers to a manga-esque line, but needs refinements.  

Which one do you think you can carry around the easiest? Which one is bulkier?  

An example of the YA books is Star Wars: Join The Resistance (2017) by Ben Acker and Ben Blacker, illustrated by Annie Wu.  This is part of a three book series from Disney Lucasfilm Press.  It is 224 pages, hardback, price is $12.99, and measures 5.75 x 8.88 inches.  A few more examples.  A brilliant graphic novel, American Born Chinese (2008) by Gene Luen Yang is 240 pages, carries a $16.95 price, measuring 6.21 x 8.56 inches.  The manga examples include Eagle Vol. 1 The Candidate (2000) by Kaiji Kawaguchi.  It is published by Viz and runs 112 pages, $6.95, and is about 5.5 x 8 inches.  The manga is out of print now.  Next is Miyazaki’s Spirited Away (2002) from VIZ Media.  This is a full color book of the anime, but I checked it against another manga in black and white and it’s about the same size.  The book is 172 pages, $9.95, and measures 5 x 7.13 inches.  So here is a proposal for comic book publishers.  Manga is more popular than comic books.  Young people flock to the manga aisle at bookstores.  

There is casual interest by some readers for comic books.  At bookstores, the graphic novels are disorganized and all over the place.  Publishers need to tap into the lucrative manga market.  First is that while comic books seem geared for graphic novel collections, the biggest indicator is that writers have mostly given up on issue titles, it is just one storyline title, part 1, part 2, etc.  I don’t think young readers want to pick up a graphic novel that is about the size of their school textbooks.  This is fine for collector’s market, but comic books should go for the popularity of manga.  What is that popularity?  One, small, digest size books, go for the 5 x 7.13 inches size.  Two, the stories are easily categorized and one volume is a satisfactory read.  Three, there usually is two pages of color and the rest is black and white.  Manga readers are not picky about the full comic book experience.  

                                                        The perfect size graphic novel, all titles should be printed this size!  

So print in a handy, portable size, self-contained stories that might also go on for the entire series, and lastly, in black and white.  This should bring the comic book graphic novel to an affordable price, $9.95 is the target, and size, about 160 to 180 pages and under 6 ounces (Regular graphic novels go from over 13 ounces to a little over one pound).  Plus printing in black and white. Whatever hits that target price.  This can publish graphic novel titles in easy to shelve books for stores, libraries, and schools.  What about comic books?  This is where the collector’s market kicks in.  They can printed as they are now, full color, and offer an alternative to the graphic novels.  The smaller size graphic novels are for readers.  There can be different sized graphic novels, 6.6 x 10.2 inches, with higher price, and in full color, just like now.  This would be collector’s items like current graphic novels.  Also, there can be creator projects and special stories.  Anyone like a review of the pictured graphic novels and manga?  Comic publishers chibi-fy the graphic novels!  

#GraphicNovels, #ClassicsIllustrated, #WillEisner, #MarvelGraphicNovel, #Kingdom Come, #Harleen, #MeraTidebreaker, #StarWarsJoinTheResistance, #AmericanBornChinese, #EagleTheCandidate, #MiyazakisSpiritedAway 

 

Obi-Wan Kenobi Cast Speculation!

The release of the Obi-Wan Kenobi cast and the start of filming leads to which characters do they play?  Let the speculation begin!  Some of the Clone Wars animated series and characters were noted in an earlier article: http://geektruth.blogspot.com/2019/09/clone-wars-in-star-wars-story.html.  Of course, we have Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi, whom we followed in the prequels.  I don't think Obi-Wan will stay on Tatooine for the whole series, maybe the pilot, but this is territory already covered in the Legends novel, Kenobi (2013) by John Jackson Miller and the Star Wars comic issues with "From the Journals of Old Ben Kenobi: The Last of His Breed."  At the end of Revenge of the Sith (2005), Yoda says to Obi-Wan, “In your solitude on Tatooine, training I have for you.”  This training may refer to Yoda’s training he went through in the Clone Wars animated series.  The three episodes in the sixth season started with  “Voices” (2014) which is when Yoda first traveled to Dagobah.  

I don’t think Yoda gave Obi-Wan a primer for the training.  He will have to travel, probably not to Dagobah since the Sith might sense their presences.  It would have to be a planet strong in the Force, possibly Lothal from Star Wars: Rebels?  This would be a first live action appearance of the planet.  The next episode of Yoda’s journey, “Destiny” (2014) led him to the center of the galaxy where he finds the source of the midi-chlorians.  He meets the Five Priestesses that continue his training.  I suspect that Obi-Wan will not duplicate Yoda’s path, but I wouldn’t mind a return to the Five Priestesses.  Another option could be another figure that is part of the Force, the Bendu on Atollon encountered by Kanan Jarrus in Star Wars Rebels: Step Into Shadow (2016).  His time on the show was mysterious and too brief.  I can also see Obi-Wan traveling to Mortis in Wild Space.  He had traveled there in the “Overlords” (2011) episode of Clone Wars.  This was primarily Anakin’s story with Obi-Wan and Ahsoka Tano joined him.  Obi-Wan could meet again The Father, The Son, and The Daughter.  In the last season of Star Wars: Rebels we saw a Jedi Temple that had a depiction of them in “Wolves and a Door” (2018).  Could this be it for this mysterious family or is there more? 

The final part of Yoda’s training was seen in the episode “Sacrifice” (2014).  This was on Moraband, a world of the Sith, but I think it could be Malachor in the Outer Rim.  In “Twilight of the Apprentice” (2016), Ezra Bridger went to the planet and encountered the revived Maul.  What was Maul doing on the planet?  It could be Maul followed Obi-Wan to Moraband and was trapped there.   We saw that Obi-Wan finishes Maul in the Star Wars: Rebels episode “Twin Suns” (2017).  This would be right before ANH so Maul would be around before that time with the Obi-Wan Kenobi show set 10 years after Revenge of the Sith.  Yoda’s final training had him facing visions of the future.  Obi-Wan may have visions of the past at least during his time contemplating on Tatooine.   We also have Joel Edgerton returning as Owen Lars and Bonnie Piesse as Aunt Beru.  I hope Edgerton, who directed the drama Boy Erased (2018), directs an episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi.  They were of course on Tatooine watching over baby Luke on the moisture farm.  It may be interesting to see Owen protecting Luke.  Also, to see Luke from infant to young child.  I don’t suspect that any of the actors in the initial cast are set to play a young Luke Skywalker.  

Let’s look at the rest of the cast.  Tops is Hayden Christensen.  We saw the prequels focusing on his Anakin Skywalker.  Speculation is that he is returning to play Darth Vader, but this is not confirmed.  If he is Vader, then probably he is hunting Jedi as part of the Jedi Purge, traces of Obi-Wan might be found by him.  I don’t think he will face Obi-Wan since that would contradict ANH.  He could be the mastermind sending out the Inquisitiors like the Grand Inquisitor introduced in Star Wars: Rebels: Spark of Rebellion (2014).  He was voiced by Jason Isaacs, great if he reprised the character IRL.  It could be other actors play Inquisitors.  I sense maybe Moses Ingram from The Queen’s Gambit plays an Inquisitor like the Seventh Sister first appearing in “Always Two There Are” (2015) of Star Wars: Rebels.  I’m tending towards her playing an Imperial officer.  There has to be a droid somewhere in this show.  I think it would be great if the droid was played by Kumail Nanjiani.  He will be the Eternal Kingo in the upcoming Eternals movie.  A droid would maybe be like Alan Tudyk in Rogue One (2016) or maybe just voicing the droid.  It could be that he plays a human ally to Obi-Wan or even an Inquisitor.  

Indira Varma, she was in The One and Only Ivan (2020) and also known for playing Ellaria Sand in Game of Thrones.  She is listed seventh in the Obi-Wan Kenobi cast list, but I think she is the most important.  I mentioned this before, I think she might play Satine Kryze, possibly the first meeting of the Duchess of Mandalore and Obi-Wan as Jedi Knight.  She was introduced in the Clone Wars episode, “The Mandalore Plot” (2010).  Maul finishes her life and takes the Darksaber in “The Lawless” (2013).  Obi-Wan discovered that Satine’s sister was Bo-Katan in that episode.  Bo-Katan was of course played by Katee Sackhoff in “Chapter 11: The Heiress” (2020) in The Mandalorian.  I I think the story of Obi-Wan and Satine is the most unresolved story in Star Wars.  I hope Varma will play Satine and the part is seen in flashbacks.  Rupert Friend is listed next, he had the lead role in video game adaptation, Hitman: Agent 47 (2015).  I’m not certain what character he could play, an Inquisitor?, a Mandalorian, part of the Death Watch?  Next, there is O’Shea Jackson Jr., he was in Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019).  He must have some kind of action role.  An early member of the Rebellion? 

Sung Kang is moving from the Fast & Furious franchise and he has F9 coming up.  Kang voiced Dang Hai in Raya and the Last Dragon.  Obviously, Kang would also have an action part.  I’m hoping against hope that he plays the Duros bounty hunter, Cad Bane.  He first appeared in “Holocron Heist” (2009) in season two of Clone Wars.  Simone Kessell, she was in the thriller show, Reckoning.  Not certain who she could play.  There was a Zabrak, same species as Maul, but tan with horns.  Her name was Sugi appearing in the “Bounty Hunters” (2010) of Clone Wars season two.  She worked with Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Ahsoka in the episode.  I’m not certain other characters Kessell could be playing.  Finally, we have Benny Safdie.  He is in the drama, Pieces of a Woman (2020).  Safdie also co-wrote and co-directed the crime film, Uncut Gems (2019).  Could he playing the droid or part of a droid duo?  I dunno.  This is all hints from the earlier Star Wars series, but The Mandalorian has shown that even when an actor is set to play a character, we are surprised.  Deborah Chow is one of the show runners of the show and she directed some great episodes of The Mandalorian.  Joby Harold, who executive produced John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019) is the other show runner.  Other expectations?  Just that Hondo Ohnaka shows up, one time ally to Obi-Wan, in Clone Wars and no updates on what happened to Jar Jar Binks.  Obi-Wan Kenobi features a great cast and the potential to be another great Star Wars series!  

#ObiWanKenobi, #DeborahChow, #EwanMcGregor, #HaydenChristensen, #MosesIngram, #JoelEdgerton, #BonniePiesse, #KumailNanjiani, #IndiraVarma, #RupertFriend, #OSheaJacksonJr, #SungKang, #SimoneKessell, #BennySafdie 

Happy Birthday Nathan Fillion!

Happy Birthday Nathan Fillion!  One of his early parts was as Private James Ryan in Saving Private Ryan (1998), part of Captain Hamill’s unit.  He also joined the cast of Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place in the second season as Johnny Donnelly.  Then, Fillion had a part in the comedy Blast from the Past (1999).  An early genre role was as Michael Ryan in the “Starcrossed” (1999) episode of The Outer Limits.   Then, he was in the horror movie Dracula 2000 (2000).  In 2003, he appeared as the evil Caleb in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  Fillion’s iconic role though was as Captain Malcolm `Mal’ Reynolds in Firefly.  Browncoats know that the show only had a short run, but we treasure those eleven episodes more than any television series!  It was a great suprise to see all of the cast return for the Serenity (2005) film.  Fillion played Bill Pardy in the James Gunn horror film, Slither (2006).  A fun part was Fillion starring as Captain Hammer in Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog (2008).  

He voiced Steve Trevor in the Wonder Woman (2009) animated movie.  Another iconic role was as the mystery novelist Richard Castle in the Castle (2009-2016) series. Fillion worked again with James Gunn on his superhero comedy Super (2010).  He played himself in 2011 episodes of The Guild.  Then, he voiced Green Lantern in Justice League: Doom (2012).  Fillion had a comic rol as Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing (2012).  Johnny was voiced by Fillion in Monsters University (2013). He returned to voice Green Lantern in Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox (2013). Next, he voiced an alien inmate in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014).  Fillion again voiced Green Lantern in Justice League: Throne of Atlantis (2015).  In Alan Tudyk’s series Con Man, Fillion played Jack Moore, the successful action star.  For Cars 3 (2017), Fillion voiced Sterling.  Fillion was Jacquest Snicket in A Series of Unfortunate Events (2018).  He voiced Green Lantern in The Death of Superman (2018) and Reign of the Supermen this year.  His current role is playing John Nolan in the police series The Rookie.  He is  T.D.K. in The Suicide Squad set for release at theaters and on HBO Max on August 6th!   Happy Birthday Nathan Fillion!

#NathanFillion, #Firefly, #TheRookie, #TheSuicideSquad 

Happy Birthday Leonard Nimoy!

Happy Birthday Leonard Nimoy!  The man who is Spock started in television and was in the serial Zombie of the Stratosphere (1952).  He played the Martian invader named Narab.  Nimoy also had role as Professor Cole in the sci fi movie The Brain Eaters (1958).  He was in the Twilight Zone episode, “A Quality of Mercy” (1961).  Nimoy was in two 1964 episodes for The Outer Limits, “I, Robot” and “Production and Decay of Strange Particles.”  The iconic part was as Spock in “The Cage” (1965) which later aired in 1988.  Then, he continued the role until the third season with “Turnabout Intruder” in 1969.  He played Paris in Mission: Impossible (1969-1971).  Nimoy was also in the “She’ll Be Company for You” (1972) of Night Gallery.  

He voiced Spock in Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973-1974).  His autobiography, I Am Not Spock (1975), was controversial.  Nimoy began hosting and narrating the series, In Search of… (1977-1982) investigating the paranormal and other phenomena.  Dr. David Kibner was played by Nimoy in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978).  Spock made it to the big screen with Nimoy starring as him again in Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979).  He met his fate saving the Enterprise in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982).  He played Lt. Paul McGuire in the “Vengeance Is Mine” (1983) episode of the show starring Shatner, T.J. Hooker.  

Spock found new life in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) also directed by Nimoy.  He voiced the Decepticon villain, Galvatron, in Tranformers: The Movie (1986).  Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) starred, was directed and co-written by Leonard Nimoy.  Nimoy directed the comedy Three Men and a Baby (1987) based on the French film, Trois hommes et un couffin.  He followed it up with Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989).  Nimoy was back at Spock to bring Romulans and Vulcans together in the “Unification” (1991) two part episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.  The final film for the Enterprise crew was in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991).  He voiced Mr. Moundshroud in the animated The Halloween Tree which adapted Ray Bradbury’s novel.  

Nimoy reprised his appearance in The Outer Limits with “I, Robot” (1995).  His second autobiography, I Am Spock (1995) reconciled his iconic character with himself.  He provided several oices for the animated film, Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists (2000).  Nimoy also voiced the Atlantean King in Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001).  He appeared in the Kelvin Universe as Spock Prime in Star Trek (2009).  Nimoy played Dr. William Bell in Fringe (2009-2012).  He voiced Sentinel Prime in Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011).  Spock Prime made a final appearance in Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013).  He died in 2015, but the words of Spock will always be with us, “Live long and prosper.”  Happy Birthday Leonard Nimoy!

#LeonardNimoy, #StarTrek, #IAmSpock, #StarTrekIntoDarkness 

Happy Birthday José Luis García-López!

Happy Birthday José Luis García-López!  The work of this Spanish artist spans issues of Detective Comics in 1975.  He provided art on the Hercules Unbound limited series before launching the Jonah Hex solo title with Michael Fleisher.  García-López also launched DC Comics Presents teaming up Superman with many characters in the DCU.  He pencilled the tabloid sized Superman vs. Wonder Woman (1978) and Batman and the Hulk (1981).  In 1982, The DC Style Guide featured Garcia-Lopez’s artwork putting a stamp on DC characters.  Garcia-Lopez worked on the Atari Force (1984) series with Gerry Conway that took the premise started in mini-comics to incredible visuals for this sci fi world based on the video games.  One of the most interesting and mature titles was another collaboration with Conway with the Cinder and Ashe (1988) limited series.  This comic book is about private investigators with ties to the Vietnam War now in New Orleans. One of my favorites for it’s bold artwork and writing. 

García-López worked with Howard Chaykin on the sci fi limited series Twilight (1991).  He later worked on a few Batman titles, Legends of the Dark Knight, Batman Returns: The Official Comic Adaptation (1992) as well as a few Superman issues, Superman: Kal (1995) and Superman, Inc. (1999).  His most impressive recent issues was Doctor Strangefate (1996) combining DC and Marvel characters.  García-López also worked on two graphic novels On The Road to Perdition (2003-2004) featuring Max Allan Collins’ hard-edged noir series.  He worked on JLA Classified (2006) with Gail Simone.  García-López worked with Len Wein on Batman `66: The Lost Episode (2015) that was written by Harlan Ellison for the Batman tv show.  This artist has a fresh, unmistakable style that is dynamic and powerful.  He can span across genres from superheroes to science fiction to detectives set in the real world.  García-López contributed a story to Action Comics #1000 (2018)!  Happy Birthday José Luis García-López!

#JoseLuisGarciaLopez, #DCStyleGuide, #SupermanKal, #DoctorStrangeFate

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, “The Star-Spangled Man”, Review!

The spoiler part of last episode, re:Cap, was that Sam returns to find Lt. Torres checking on the Flag-Smashers, he was knocked out by a super strong Flag-Smasher.  Sarah directs Sam’s attention to the television, an announcement by the Department of Defense, a new Captain America!, who is carrying the shield.  This is John Walker played by Wyatt Russell, he was in the WWII horror action movie, Overlord (2018).  The character first appeared in Captain America #354 (1989).  Sam watches stunned, betrayed?  This episode’s title refers to the part of the song from Captain America: The First Avenger (2011).  It opens with a zipper dropping before we shift to John Walker, a soldier looking at the football lockers in Custer’s Grove, Georgia.  A woman tells him she saw him sneak into the locker room and asks if he is nervous.  She wishes him luck and hands it off to another soldier, Lemar Hoskins (Clé Bennett).  The actor was in the horror movie, Jigsaw (2017).  Lemar Hoskins first appeared in Captain America #323 (1986).  

He watches as John goes over his speech.  Hoskins checks on John and the suit in the bag.  Drums start as the high school band kicks in.  The band plays a variation of “Star Spangled Man with a Plan” to a cheering audience. I’m not cheering.  Walker comes out in costume, signs autographs, and runs to the stage.  The new Captain America is introduced by Sara Haines from Good Morning America: GMA.  He gives the show’s tagline, is it a promotion?, I already don’t like this pretender.  Chairs are set up and Sara interviews Walker returning to his high school.  He has his mask taken off.  Sara runs off his accomplishments including winning three Medals of Honor.  We see Walker throwing the shield and hitting multiple targets.  Walker tells Sara isn’t like the other heroes, Stark and Banner, he has “guts.”  Stunned, Bucky watches the interview on the floor of his apartment.  Walker admits that he never met Steve Rogers.  Bucky knows this is no Captain America and he knows Captain America.  Sam looks at the poster of Walker in the uniform at a hangar.  A mass market product, not a hero.

Torres says he “seems like a good guy.”  Bucky walks towards them and says, “You shouldn’t have given up the shield.”  I think that’s the point of this series.  Bucky is angry that Sam wasn’t following Steve’s wishes and yes, it is not a great reunion.  Sam shows Bucky the cell phone image of the Flag Smasher in central Europe.  He says that Red Wing tracked them to Munich, Germany.  Sam tells Bucky that the Flag Smashers may be part of the Big Three, very funny.  Bucky insists on coming with Sam on his flight to Munich.  Yes, while “Captain America” is on tour, Falcon is doing the work.  In the cargo plane, Falcon sits rigidly across from the Winter Soldier.  Bucky asks what is the plan, this was seen in the show promotion, Falcon of course leaps away from the open door.  Bucky asks about a parachute to Torres, rips off his jacket to reveal his cyborg arm, and then leaps off.  Sam mocks his fall by saying it was caught on camera as Red Wing hovers above him.  Of course Winter Soldier isn’t exactly Captain America leaping out of airplanes and Falcon directs him north.  

`                        The Shield!, in this case for Avengers: Age of Ultron, 2015, El Capitan Theatre, photo by the author. 

He follows Red Wing to a seemingly abandoned building.  Winter Soldier meets up with Falcon who is checking on men moving boxes of suspected weapons.  Red Wing is monitoring the men as Winter Soldier heads towards them.  Sam was joking to Bucky, not a funny situation with his shield decision.  He says Bucky’s time in Wakanda made him White Panther and he’s corrected that it’s White Wolf. This was a hint dropped in Avengers: Infinity War and a character introduced in the comics in Black Panther #3 (1999).  Falcon joins Bucky and they see the Flag Smashers are super strong easily lifting the crates.  The Super Soldier formula or something like it is out with the new “Cap” and the Flag Smashers?  Falcon detects through Red Wing’s heat signature that there is another person in the truck, a hostage, both of them race after the truck.  Winter Soldier runs at his cyborg speed to open the door of a truck and finds medical vaccines, this is almost too topical, and he sees a woman. 

This is actually Karli Morgenthau (Erin Kellyman) who was hinted at last episode.  Kellyman was in Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) as Enfys Nest.  A gender switch of the villain Flag Smasher in the comic books.  She knocks the Winter Soldier to the other truck and puts on her Flag Smasher mask.  He is dragged up to the top of the truck and held by two other Flag Smashers.  Karli destroys Red Wing and Falcon flies in to fight her.  Falcon is tossed to the other truck riding by its side and Karli is about to stomp on him.  Then, a shield strikes her, and she is knocked over to the side of the truck by Omar on a rope from a helicopter.  The fight ends with Falcon and the Winter Soldier knocked to the side.  Also a defeat to “Captain America” and the new “Battlestar”, partner to this “Cap”, Hoskins takes the name Battlestar, last name Galactica?, in Captain America #341 (1988).  The Falcon and the Winter Soldier covers the duo on a mission, great action, and the consequence of Sam leaving the shield, plus some shocking characters (which would be spoilers!) for the MCU!  

Five Redwings out of Five!     

#TheFalconAndTheWinterSoldier, #TheStarSpangledMan, #CleBennett, #ErinKellyman 

Understanding the Next Phases of the MCU!

It looks like the next phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is starting with WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.  Phase Four of the MCU is here, but let’s not wildly speculate, Mephisto.  It is possible to glean hints of the MCU from the comics.  We had the introduction of Billy and Tommy who were “born”(?) in the third episode, “Now in Color”, of WandaVision.  In the comics, Wanda gave birth to the twins in The Vision and Scarlet Witch #12 (1986).  We find that the twins rapidly grow up, which is a funny nod to the sitcoms, but also that they are independent of the control by their mother.  There are hints of their powers, especially in the last episode, but also that the twins are a part of the reality of the Hex or whatever it is called.  Wanda understands that she can’t keep up the Hex for its cost to innocent Westview citizens.  She shuts it down, but this also eliminates the children.  Or does it?  Back to the comics, Wanda found out the “truth” of her children in West Coast Avengers #52 (1989).  Master Pandemonium was using pieces of Mephisto that Wanda had used with her powers to create the twins and they are eliminated, kinda.  

You actually can’t trust a guy named Mephisto to tell the truth, in Scarlet Witch #8 (2016), it is revealed that the twins were “lost souls” and we later find out the twins are reborn to different families.  Billy is William Kaplan and Tommy is Thomas Shepherd.  This is still getting tricky, in Young Avengers #1 (2005) we find out that William Kaplan is the superhero Wiccan.  The superhero, later naming himself Speed, is really Thomas Shepherd who appears in Young Avengers #10 (2006).   The Vision tells the twins what happened in Young Avengers #11 (2006).  Now, we have Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, set for release on March 2022.  We know Wanda is in it, it could be she needs Strange’s help to save the twins, captured by Mephisto?  I’m not certain how this will be set up because it may need pre-knowledge of the WandaVision show.  It also ties into the Loki series set to debut on Disney+ on June 11th.  It deals with the Time Variance Authority and probably has problems with the Time Stone and eventually who I think will be the Big Bad of Phase 4! 

Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness also brings in America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez).  All of these time problems, I think will tie in to Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania which will be released sometime in 2022.  The villain in that movie was revealed to be Kang the Conqueror, who first appeared as Kang in The Avengers #8 (1964).  He is an enemy who can manipulate time with 40th century tech and he has a super suit.  I thought that Kang would be the next Avengers’ villain because the only way to top Thanos is to have a foe who can change time.  He could bring characters from the past like Tony Stark(?) or Killmonger.  Also, Kang could transport Avengers into the past.  “Wibbly-Wobbly, Timey-Wimey stuff.”  Could Kang have taken the Time Stone?  Ant Man 3 also has Kathryn Newton as an older Cassie Lang,  she was eight years old in the first Ant Man.  After the Blip, Cassie has grown up.  She first appeared with her father in Marvel Premiere #47 (1979).  In Young Avengers #6 (2006), Cassie becomes the superhero Stature. 

Avengers #16 also had the Masters of Evil, a team of villains, formed by Baron Zemo.  Their team was made up of Black Knight (Nathan Garrett), Melter (Bruno Horgan), Executioner, and Enchantress.  The point of the supervillain team was to have opponents who were matches for the Avengers.  Executioner was played by Karl Urban in Thor: Ragnarok (2017).  Also, word is that Tim Roth is returning as the Abomination in the She-Hulk series.  She-Hulk joined the team in Avengers #221 (1982).  We also have Jacques Duquesne (Tony Dalton) introduced in the Hawkeye show.  He was the supervillain known as The Swordsman first appearing in Avengers #19 (1965).  It is very possible that Black Knight is part of the Masters of Evil, he was corrupted by his Ebony Sword, he may be made an ally by Sersei in the Avengers 3 movie.  I’m also suspecting that the threat to Ironheart, Riri Williams (Dominque Thorne) in her series, could lead to Armor Wars.  The later was a storyline that ran in Iron Man #225-232 (1987-1988).  

In the comic, Tony Stark finds out that Force, Carl Walker, has armor based on his design.  This was a character who first appeared in Prince Namor, the Savage Sub-Mariner #67 (1972).  So I imagine he will be the villain.  He has his armor modified by Justin Hammer, who was played by Sam Rockwell, he was arrested at the end of Iron Man 2 (2010).  The technology leads to the creation of Mandroids.  Iron Man, probably War Machine now, has to defeat all of the armored villains including Crimson Dynamo from Iron Man #109 (1978) and Titanium Man introduced in Tales of Suspense #69 (1965).  I see the stand out to be Force.  I imagine that the characters might show up in Black Widow.  We know that Zemo (Daniel Brühl) returns in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.  He may form the Masters of Evil or whatever name given for the MCU version.  I suspect that Zemo and his team will be the Big Bad for Phase 4!    

So let’s look at the Avengers team.  The initial team was Iron Man, Thor, Hulk (he left in issue #2!), Ant-Man (Hank Pym), and Wasp (Janet Van Dyne).  In Avengers #16 (1965), some of the members left the team; Iron Man (Tony Stark), Thor, Giant Man, and Wasp.  Captain America stayed on with the addition of Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver.   We already had the introduction of Monica Rambeau in WandaVision.  She had the code-name Captain Marvel, but most likely it will be Spectrum.  Monica joined in Avengers #227 (1983).  We also have the upcoming Eternals movie directed by Academy Award winner (?) Chloé Zhao.  One of the important Eternals is Sersei played by Gemma Chan.  In Avengers #314 (1990), she joined the team.  Another is Gilgamesh, the super strong Eternal, played by Ma Dong-Seok.  He joined the Avengers in Avengers #300 (1989).  The new Avengers team may be Ironheart to take the place of Iron Man(?), Falcon may take Captain America’s shield, She-Hulk for Hulk, Thor’s place could be taken by Gilgamesh, Spectrum, and Sersei could become the sorceress in Scarlet Witch’s position.  Plus, I think the leader will be Wasp (Hope Van Dyne) like in the comics.    

What about the Young Avengers?  I think we were only given hints of the Young Avengers in Phase 4.  The team, I think, will be in Phase 5!  Wiccan and Speed from WandaVision will appear as young adult superheroes.  Then, we have Kate Bishop, played by Hailee Steinfeld.  She will debut in the Hawkeye show towards the end of the year.  There is also Theodore “Teddy” Altman known as Hulkling.  This hero might be tied into the Secret Invasion series with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Ben Mendesohn as Talos.  His true identity was revealed in the comic series of the same name.  Hulkling later has a relationship with Wiccan.  Miss America (America Chavez) is on the team.  We also have Stature (Cassie Lang) adding to the team roster.  The Vision, White Vision?, was an important part of forming the new Avengers.  So all of the MCU shows and movies are building towards Young Avengers.  I think Phase 4 will be too early to have them as a team.  I think Kang is the Big Bad in the shadows like Thanos.   Kang was the villain in Young Avengers #1!  How the MCU will work out is all conjecture for now.  Phase 4 and 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will take some time to unfold, but there are promises with them! 

#MarvelCinematicUniverse, #Avengers, #Ironheart, #Falcon, #Gilgamesh, #SheHulk, #Sersei, #BlackKnight, #Zemo, #Abomination, #Executioner, #TheSwordsman, #YoungAvengers, #Wiccan, #Speed, #Stature, #KateBishop, #KangtheConqueror