Tag: Avengers

Hawkeye Series by Fraction & Aja

Hawkeye #1 courtesy Marvel.com

  Matt Fraction reunites with David Aja for a brand new Hawkeye series debuting this August. The duo (along with Ed Brubaker) last worked together on The Immortal Iron Fist. The announcement was made at C2E2 in Chicago.

  Aja told Marvel.com his lifelonglove for the Avenging Archer is what led to the reunion.

 “Hawkeye was one my favorite characters when a kid,” he recalls. “One of first Marvel comics I read was Avengers #25, and I [fell] in love with [the] guy; he acted as real person, was a complete jerk, so I suppose I identified with him.”

 For Fraction Hawkeye represents a challenge after taking on the X-Men, Iron Man, and Thor.

 “Never had the chance to write a character like him, or to do a book like this before,” the writer reveals. “And I wanted to chronicle him in an ongoing series because it’d keep me from getting bored. Repetition bores me to death. I had this idea for how to do a book that wasn’t like anything else we’d seen him in before, wasn’t like anything I’d done before, and couldn’t stop thinking about.”

Hawkeye #2 courtesy Marvel.com

 Fraction went on the describe this series as Clint’s life outside of team and what drives him after the events of AvX. I was excited that Kate Bishop (you could call her Lady Hawkeye of the Young Avengers) will be in the series.

  “She’s his junior partner, his apprentice,” says Fraction. “It’s a very Avengers relationship—meaning Steed and Peel—and she’s as adrift as he is. What the hell are these two doing with their lives? Turns out, helping people is what they have to do to get through the night. In costume, in life, doesn’t matter. Good guys don’t punch a time card at 5:00.”

For the more quotes from Fraction and Aja here’s the Marvel.com link.

Fraction is one of the luckiest writers at Marvel. Iron Man and Thor movies were released during Fraction’s early runs on the those series. I don’t remember his clever quote exactly (at an Emerald City Comicon panel) but I think it went something like “nice of Marvel to do a million dollar promo for my comic book.”

  Hawkeye awareness will be at at all time high with Marvel’s The Avengers out May 3rd and then Jeremy Renner (who plays Clint Barton) is on the big screen again in August for The Bourne Legacy. Good timing for a Hawkeye launch.

  Hawkeye is currently leader of Secret Avengers under Rick Remender but that book is changing direction to tie-in with AvX. I hope after the event Hawkeye and his covert team return to their secret missions and Remender can continue The Descendants plotline he started.

By Editor

AvX: A Geek Divided

  I am a geek divided and torn. When it comes to AvX– there’s no doubt, I want the X-Men to win. They were my first comic book. They are the characters I can identify with the most. I love Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow, Luke Cage and more Avengers but I’ll always love mutants more.

 I’ve been declaring “Cyke is Right” and now I realize how close that is the “Magneto Was Right” t-shirt worn by Quentin Quire and other radical young mutants.

  Cyclops has been the leader the mutants needed. Even Professor X and Magneto have bowed to him. With AvX even Erik is questioning Scott. I think in her heart Emma Frost may be too.

Avengers vs. X-Men #2 interior preview art courtesy Marvel, a Comics Newsarama exclusive

  I just saw a preview of AvX #2 Marvel provided Comics Newsarama. The way this is written, the way the other characters react to Scott – it just made me think even more about a theory of mine – Cyclops is under the influence. He still has a remnant of the Void locked in his head. Scott is a great leader and strategist but is his zealot like attitude against the Avengers due to that sliver of evil that existed in the Robert Reynolds/The Sentry?

  Maybe the Phoenix can burn the Void out of him? I hope the X-Men win but I believe Cyclops will pay a terrible price for victory.

Cobie Smulders on The Avengers Red Carpet

Cobie Smulders on the red carpet for the Marvel's The Avengers world premiere, courtesy Marvel.com

 Imagine being the new kid on the block in Marvel’s The Avengers?

Colbie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother) plays one of my favorite characters, SHIELD Agent Maria Hill.

Smulders traded her tight spy uniform for a gown to work the red carpet for the world premiere in Los Angeles.

Here’s the Marvel.com link to watch the entire red carpet including interviews with the stars and more photos.

 

The Next Great X-Villain Is Here

Uncanny X-Men #10 courtesy Marvel

  Kieron Gillen is firing on all wicked cylinders with Uncanny X-Men #10. AvX is taking over for a while but I can’t wait to see what happens next with the devious plot threads he launched with this issue.

  Unit is an alien computer-like creation that’s cold and clinical. He’s a chilling hybrid of C3PO and Hannibal Lecter – that’s Gillen’s description and it’s spot on! I say he could be the X-Men’s Ultron. 

  Unit stages a prison break unleashing alien criminal across Earth and uniting the X-Men and Avengers one last time before AvX. But Unit’s real objective is the mutant messiah.

  Scott’s Extinction team of most powerful mutants is skillfully taken apart with cold precision by Unit. The monster’s endgame is an audience with Hope with the promise (or is it a lure) of learning about the Phoenix.

  Watch for two big confrontations for Cyclops in this event filled issue. Due to Scott’s actions Steve Rogers sees a different side of the mutant – planting the seeds for how each leader may strategize against each other in AvX. Abigail Brand of S.W.O.R.D. and Cyke have a testy moment where they share dark secrets and the beginning of  darker covenant.

  Oh and I if you love Emma Frost and Colossus – there are some surprises for them in this issue too that will reverberate into future stories.

And I freakin’ love Adam Kubert’s cover – it’s a perfect representation for what Gillen does to the team and this book.

By Editor

Thunderous New Avengers Spot

Marvel's The Avengers courtesy Marvel.com

 

  I admit I had my doubts about taking the Asgardian God of Thunder from comic book to big screen was a challenge but Marvel and director Kenneth Branaugh pulled it off majestically. Chris Hemsworth displayed all the charm, swagger, and power as Thor.

 In this new Avengers extended television spot we get to see more of Hemsworth laying the hammer down and radiating the Thunder God aura. Thanks to Marvel and Spinoff Online.

 Take a look and feel the Thunder! By Editor

AvX: The Intimate Cost of War

New Avengers #24 courtesy Marvel.com

  I just read New Avengers #24. Avengers vs. X-Men is the epic. AvX: Vs is all fights. I think New Avengers (and the other X-Men, Avengers tie-ins) will have the emotion and intimacy.

  The majority of issue #24 is the day before Captain America leads a team to confront Cyclops on Utopia. There are moments of great emotional power with Luke Cage and Jessica Jones. The couple confront their conflicting roles as heroes and parents. I’ve enjoyed how Brian Michael Bendis has written Luke and Jessica. Marvel’s most romantic and engaging couple is once again challenged by their responsibilities as heroes.

  As we count down to the end of the Bendis Avengers era, I think Luke and Jessica may be my favorite of his many contributions to the Avengers legacy.

By Editor

 

Mark Ruffalo On His HULK Approach and Solo Movie

 

Marvel's Avengers The Hulk courtesy Marvel Studios

  Mark Ruffalo plays Dr. Bruce Banner and the Hulk in Marvel’s The Avengers. The actor talked with IGN Movies about his approach to playing the heroic monster and Banner’s state when the action picks up in the movie.

  “Yeah, it’s hard to watch a movie with a guy who doesn’t want to be there. I think Banner’s aging and living with this thing since — now it’s been two years since his last “one.” We’re kind of going for this world weariness of accepting — trying to get to the point where he can live with it, and maybe master it. Come to peace with it. And so there’s this kind of nice ironic wryness to Banner. He’s not sulking and miserable, you know. I think that’s sort of a throwback — we had talked about it being a throwback to Bill Bixby, which was the Banner that I grew up on basically. He had kind of a charm about him, and this world weariness. He was on the run, but he was still able to flirt sometimes and smile sometimes, and occasionally he’d crack a joke. When you have a movie where there’s so many characters you end up getting about 10 minutes screen time with your particular character. So in the screen time that we have we’re trying to bring out this charm in him, and maybe this idea that he wants to be a superhero. I mean, he looks at Stark and he’s like, “That’s the dude who did what I was intending to do. He’s the model. He made it work.” So Banner and Stark have a very cool relationship in the movie. ”

Marvel's The Avengers courtesy Marvel.com

  When asked about a Hulk solo movie:

 “Why not! It was the one character — you know, I was a comic book fan when I was a kid and I always loved the Hulk. When The Incredible Hulk, that show, came on, I would not miss that. And so if I was going to find myself in that world, this would be the guy that I would be most interested in doing. To make a very short answer long: Yeah, I’d love to have him do his own movie.”

  Ruffalo confirmed his Hulk will talk in The Avengers.

  For the complete interview here’s the IGN link.

This Geek’s Opinion: I love that influence of Bill Bixby. The Incredible Hulk was a can’t miss show for me as a kid. It’s has one of the best theme songs ever. As for a Hulk solo movie? I would love to see Marvel to get inspiration from Peter David’s long run on The Incredible Hulk. I loved when Banner and Hulk were merged and he was part of the Pantheon. I could see a Hulk-led Pantheon vs. SHIELD epic. Here’s a link to one of the many Peter David Incredible Hulk visionaries collections if you want an idea of the story.

 

AvX Before the War

Uncanny X-Men #10 courtesy Marvel

  Avengers Vs. X-Men #1 is out. War is declared. This week sees the final X-Men/Avengers team-up before the conflict in this week’s Uncanny X-Men #10.

  I sure hope the X-Men survive AvX so they can face Unit again. In last issue, the android triggered a prison break and unleashed an arm of escape alien criminals on earth. Writer Kieron Gillen calls Unit a cross “between C3PO and Hannibal Lecter.”

He’s created what I think could be the next great X foe in their extensive gallery of enemies. I think of him as the possible Ultron for the X-Men.

uncanny X-Men #9 interior art of UNIT courtesy Marvel