Seattle’s real and fictional super heroes take the spotlight this week.
Fiction: Someone or something is carving up Seattle’s super heroes. Marvel’s mutant detectives (including former X-Men) head to the Emerald City to investigate in this week’s X-Factor #235 by Peter David.
Seattle’s Litterbug and The Insignia were introduced briefly only to be seemingly attacked in last month’s issue. In this week chapter a new villain named Scattershot is introduced. Given the cover – this new foe looks like a hybrid of two X-Factor members.
Fact: The Pacific Northwest is the home of a real super hero movement. Phoenix Jones and his patrols of Seattle generated big new coverage. Here’s a link to the KOMONEWS.COM stories about his impact and the controversy. Citizen Heroes is a new documentary project exploring the real life superhero movement in Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon.
Some of the real life heroes will be introducing Marvel movies this week when Avengers Assemble! at SIFF Cinema takes over the Uptown Theater in Seattle. You can meet the local pop heroes before watching a different Marvel movie (Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger) each night before Earth’s Mightiest Movie arrives.
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.
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.
Hulk helped create the Avengers (thanks to Loki’s meddling) but didn’t stick around. When Marvel’s The Avengers hits the big screen the Green Goliath will be fighting with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes this May. Hulk Smash Avengers hits comic book stores that month too. The 5 part series will feature different teams telling tales of the big guy and his odd relationship with the team. Joe Casey and Max Fiumura reveal an untold tale of a clash between Hulk and the Avengers in issue two. Casey knows his continuity history and revealed when this story happens to Marvel.com.
“This story fits in very specifically with Avengers continuity, right between issues #182 and #183,” he says. “For anyone who’s as obsessive about their Avengers continuity as I am, they would know that those were the members that would be hanging around the mansion at that point. Captain America’s in there, too, but there’s a reason why he’s not directly involved in going after The Hulk.”
Hulk Smash Avengers #2 courtesy Marvel.com
“Like I said, I can be a nut about Avengers continuity, so I wanted to make sure this story fit perfectly into the timeline of a period that’s probably my favorite run of Avengers comics, the Michelinie/Byrne issues from the late 1970s,” he notes. “Those are the comics that really hooked me when I was a kid, so to find a way to fit our story into that continuity was extremely cool.”
For his entire interview and more awesome preview art by Fiumura here’s the Marvel link.
Geek confession: I had a subscription for the Avengers in the awesome Micheline/Byrne run and could kick myself for not saving them!
For an awesome retro X-Men tale by Casey – check out his Children of the Atom series with artist Steve Rude. Casey is appearing at Emerald City Comicon in Seattle this weekend.
Marvel's Avengers The Hulk courtesy Marvel Studios
Will the third time be the charm for the big screen version of Marvel’s Green Goliath in The Avengers? Director Joss Whedon talked with SFX magazine about what he need to get right to make the Hulk work.
“So much. A Bruce Banner who’s not obsessed with his own problems. A Hulk who not only feels flesh and blood, but is clearly an extension of Banner himself and not just a CGI thing that roars. A Hulk who feels dangerous, who might actually hurt someone we care about, who belongs in a classic horror film. And much more. He’s the hardest character by far, and ended up being the most fun.”
Whedon revealed what Mark Ruffalo brings to the team as the new Bruce Banner.
“Mark is such a delightful mensch it’s stupid. His Banner is a bunch of contradictions: graceful and awkward, meek and confident, erudite and working class, funny and sad. And contradictions are what the Banner/Hulk dynamic are all about. Also, Mark kinda looks like the Hulk. So we got to build our Hulk from him.”
This Geek’s Opinion: Based on the awesome trailer I still wonder if Banner is on control of the Hulk since he’s working with the Avengers. I’m hoping we see Betty – at least in a cameo.
Marvel's Avengers The Hulk courtesy Marvel Studios
“We’ve got a Hulk!”
The Green Goliath is ready for action in this new photo courtesy Screen Rant. Mark Ruffalo plays Dr. David Banner. In the comic book origin Loki manipulates the Hulk into a rampage which unites the Avengers. All the clues from the trailers make it appear the Hulk is not an enemy but ally of the heroes. Has SHIELD found a way to tame or control the gamma powered powerhouse or could Joss Whedon have been inspired by the Peter David 90’s run when he merged Banner and the Hulk so you had Banner’s intelligence and the Hulk’s body?
Thor and Captain America in Marvel's The Avengers image courtesy USA Today
Praise for The Avengers that should get fans excited! The FX artist with a resume full of Marvel superhero films says The Avengers is the best he’s worked on to date. Chris Wells is a supervisor at visual effects house Hydraulx and seen a rough cut of the film. His company is working on the prologue.
“I went to a screening with all the temporary visual effects and it was pretty fleshed out. It’s a long movie but it doesn’t feel like it. Out of all the comic book movies and franchises I’ve worked on, this is the best one I’ve seen so far,” Wells tells Starburst Magazine.
“This thing has gone so big that Marvel are dwarfing their other franchises. For people who enjoy the comics and haven’t really liked the way some of the characters were treated in other movies, I think they’re going to be a little more appeased by this one. Especially the Hulk. They let the Hulk be Hulk and that’s great. He acts more like the comic book Hulk”.
Scarlett Johansson and Jeremy Renner on sete in The Avengers courtesy Marvel.com
“I think he [Joss Whedon, director] did a very good job of setting up the characters based on what we know from the Marvel franchise, integrating them together with all their differences and similarities and then getting on with business. And just when you think the movie is a character piece it just goes nuts.”
Thanks to Dark Horizons for the story. I’m thrilled by his comments – especially the Hulk! The Avengers Assemble this May.
AvX Iron Man Vs. Magneto preview art courtesy Marvel.com
The comic book version of Iron Man is unveiling a new suit of armor. Is the big screen version of the Armored Avenger suiting up in new tech to take on Loki’s army?
Marvel Comics Avengers Versus X-Men event will feature new armor designed for a specific foe according to Invincible Iron Man and AVX writer Matt Fraction. This AVX teaser image showing Iron Man versus Magneto is likely to be the foe. Iron Man will have to innovate to face the Master of Magnetism. Perhaps Tony is using some mystical tech he picked up from Asgard in the Fear Itself epic.
courtesy Cosmic Book News
Cosmic Book News is sharing an image of an Iron Man in “Stark Tek Assault Armor” and reporting that this the design for a toy tie-in. Comic book fans may think this is based on the Hulk Buster Tony created to tackle the Green Goliath. There’s also a Captain America version. I agree with CBN that if this armor is in the movie it could be used to fight Skrulls, Frost Giants or any other army Loki is using in his war that assembles Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
Stan Lee is not just a writer/editor/creative genius/my hero! (I may have mentioned or shown off my photo with him a few – million – times!)
Stan “The Man” Lee is also an actor, storyteller and showman! Stan is voicing two new apps for Disney. Amazing Spider-Man is available and The Incredible Hulk is available in April. The apps are for kids but I’m sure a few big kids may download and enjoy a story told by Stan.
BuzzFeed captured Stan in the Studio. Take a listen and imagine Stan as your grandpa.
