"Guardians of the Galaxy" released 2014

Another Marvel comic burst onto the big screen, Guardians of the Galaxy, released August 1, 2014.  A gang of intergalactic criminals band together to protect a powerful orb, stolen by Peter Quill (played by Chris Pratt), from a villain bent on using it to destroy the universe.

It also starred Zoe Saldana (Uhura from the Star Trek movies), Dave Bautista, John C. Reilly and Glenn Close.  Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel provided voices for Rocket and Groot, respectively.

After its release, it became the third highest-grossing film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and garnered mainly positive reviews.

It was nominated for two Oscars and a Grammy for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media for its Awesome Mix Vol. 1, which reached #1 on the Billboard 200, the first soundtrack without original music to do so.

"Fantastic Four" released 2005

Marvel Comics brought its superhero quartet to the big screen, Fantastic Four, July 8, 2005. The film starred Ioan Gruffud as Mr. Fantastic, Jessica Alba as the Invisible Woman, Chris Evans as the Human Torch and Mike Chiklis as the Thing.  Stan Lee made a cameo appearance as the Richards' mailman.

It was a commercial success although critics were not impressed.

I still like it!

"Iron Man 2" released 2010

Iron Man 2, directed by Jon Favreau, was released in the US May 7, 2010.  It was the sequel to Iron Man released in 2008.  It starred Robert Downey, Jr in the title role with Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan.

It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.   It was the seventh-highest grossing film of 2010.

"Kong: Skull Island" released 2017

Kong: Skull Island, an entry into the Monsterverse which includes Godzilla, was released March 10, 2017.  It starred Tom Hiddleston (MCU), Samuel L. Jackson (favorite!), Brie Larson (also MCU), John Goodman and John C. Reilly (another favorite!).

Taking place in 1973, a group a soldiers, a photographer and a British Intelligence agent explore a mysterious island in the South Pacific and find it inhabited by huge monsters.

It was nominated for an Oscar for its visual effects.  Look for Godzilla vs King Kong later this year!

Celebrating Black History Month: Hannah Beachler, first African-American to win Oscar for Best Production Design

Hannah Beachler, a graduate of the University of Cincinnati in fashion design, is the first African-American to be nominated and the first to win an Academy Award for Best Production Design for her work on Black Panther. She is also the first female production manager of a Marvel film, in which she had a $30M art budget and supervised several hundred people.

Celebrating Black History Month: Falcon and Storm, first African-American superheroes

Marvel Comics introduced the first African-American superheroes to appear in mainstream comics  during the Bronze Age of comics. 

The Falcon (Sam Wilson) first appeared in Captain America #117 in September 1969.  He has mechanical wings to help him fly and possesses limited telepathic and empathic control over birds.  He was born in Harlem in New York City to Paul and Darlene Wilson.  He discovers he has a natural affinity for birds and creates the largest pigeon coop in Harlem.  His father is killed when Sam is 9 trying to break up a neighborhood fight.  His mother is killed two years later when she is mugged.  He moves to LA and becomes a career criminal and gang member.  On his way to Brazil, his plane crashes on Exile Island, which has been taken over by neo-Nazis bent on taking over the world. 

The Red Skull uses the Cosmic Cube to fuse Wilson with a falcon Redwing in a super-human mental link, but he is befriended by Captain America.  They train together until they are ready to overthrow the Exiles.  He becomes The Falcon and fights along side with Captain America.  The Black Panther gives him the harness with wings that allows him to fly.


Storm (Ororo Munroe) first appeared in Giant Sized X-Men #1 in May 1975.  She has the ability to control the weather which makes her one of the most powerful superheroes.  She was born in Harlem to an American photojournalist and a tribal princess from Kenya.  Her parents are killed in a bomb attack in Cairo during the Arab-Israeli conflict.  She grows up as a thief and pickpocket on the streets of Cairo. 

When her mutant powers manifested themselves, she was worshiped in Kenya as a weather goddess.  Professor X (Charles Xavier) convinces her to join the X-Men.  She was briefly married to T'Challa, the Black Panther. 

Remembering Stan Lee (1922-2018)

Stan Lee, one of the creative forces behind Marvel Comics, has passed away at 95.  He worked with Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko to create such immortal characters such as Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, the Fantastic Four and the X-Men.

Happy birthday, Thor!

Uber-sexy Chris Hemsworth, born August 11, 1983, has starred in Marvel blockbuster movies as the Norse God of Thunder, Thor. He has also starred as George Kirk, father of James T., in the new Star Trek movies as well. 

He was born in Australia and that is where he started his television career.  His first big screen appearance was as George Kirk in Star Trek (2009). He has appeared in three Thor movies as the title character, and three Avengers movies.  He had a brief, uncredited appearance in Doctor Strange with Benedict Cumberbatch.

"Ant-Man" released 2015

Everyone's favorite micro-superhero, Marvel Comics' Ant-Man, came to the big screen July 17, 2015.  It starred sexy Paul Rudd as Scott Lang (title character), Michael Douglas as Hank Pym and Corey Stoll as Yellowjacket (bad guy). 

Pym has created the amazing shrinking technology but has hidden it because he fears it will be used for evil.  Lang, returning to a life of crime after being released from prison, steals the shrinking suit, not realizing what it is.  Hank Pym then recruits Lang to locate and steal the Yellowjacket outfit, which has similar shrinking properties, from his former protege.

This movie was probably a bit more fun than it should have been.  It has amazing special effects and of course, Paul Rudd.

"Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" released 2007

Okay, I admit it.  I really liked this movie, even though it basically ended the series. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, released June 15, 2007, performed a little better than its predecessor but soon after, lost steam.  Although it made back its budget, it was panned by critics and fans.

I suppose that since I read Silver Surfer in the comics in the 70s, I enjoyed seeing him and the Fantastic Four on the big screen.  Of course, watching Chris Evans for 2 hours is not at all a bad thing.  Ioan Gruffudd is easy on the eyes, too. And Jessica Alba is on my top 5 women list.

I liked Michael Chiklis until American Horror Story.

"The Incredible Hulk" released 2008

The Incredible Hulk (version 2?) was released June 13, 2008 and starred Edward Norton, Liv Tyler and William Hurt.  Eric Bana was asked to recreate his role as Bruce Banner but he turned it down.  Sam Elliott wanted to reprise his role as General Ross but it was given to William Hurt instead.  I prefer Sam Elliott but I don't like it when he plays a bad guy, so I guess I was okay with it.

This movie pitted the big, green guy up against a new adversary, Abomination.  Played by Tim Roth, Emil Blonsky is infected with some of Banner's radioactive blood and turns him into a very, ugly version of the Hulk.  Lots of Hulk smashing stuff, and Abomination smashing Hulk.

Spoiler Alert:

At the end, Hulk defeats Abomination but the baddie is still alive.  How are they going to continue restraining him?  Will Bruce have to remain Hulk forever to keep Abomination under control?

"Iron Man" released 2008

Iron Man, the first in the Iron Man trilogy movies, was released May 2, 2008 in the U.S.  Starring Robert Downey, Jr. as the title role, it chronicled the Marvel super-hero's beginnings, downfalls and resurrection.  Originally, Iron Man was created during the Vietnam War but director Jon Favreau didn't want to do a "period piece" so he updated the setting to Afghanistan.

Favreau also appeared in the film as Tony Stark's chaffeur.  Gwyneth Paltrow starred as Pepper Potts and Jeff Bridges appeared in a rare bad-guy role as Obadiah Stane.

American Film Institute selected Iron Man as one of the best films of the year.  Empire Magazine ranked it as one of the best 500 movies of all time.


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Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month: Latin and Hispanic superheroes!

Sunspot, Cecilia Reyes, Living Lightning

I know I should stick to factual human beings and not fictional ones but it does seem that Latins and Hispanics are not well represented in the superhero genre, but that is so not true.  Hispanic superheroes have been around since the 1960's at least. 

I decided to celebrate some of my favorite Hispanic superheroes:

Roberto “Bobby” da Costa (Sunspot). Mutant. First appearance Marvel Graphic Novel #4: The New Mutants September 1982. He has the ability to absorb and channel solar power.  He had an appearance in X-Men: Days of Future Past, played by Adan Canto.

Cecilia Reyes. Mutant. First appearance X-Men Vol 2 #65.    She can create a psioplasmic bio-field around herself as protection from kinetic impact, energy signatures, temperature changes, etc.  She is a skilled medical doctor and surgeon.

Miguel Santos (Living Lightning) First appearance Avengers West Coast #63 October 1990.  He gained his powers when he absorbed energy from an experimental lightning weapon, giving him the ability to transform his body into electrical plasma.  In this form, he can fly at sub-light speed, generate electrical power as shocks and form a protective electrical force field.

Comic Book Artist Jack Kirby born 1917

Jack Kirby, known around the world for being one of the most prolific and successful comic book artists, was born August 28, 1917 in New York City.  He learned to draw comics by tracing them from the papers and in 1940, he was hired by Timely Comics, where he co-created one of the best heroes of all times, Captain America.

In the 60's, he teamed up with Stan Lee at Atlas Comics which would become Marvel.  There he and Lee co-created...well,...just about everybody.  In the 70's Kirby went back to DC Comics where he created the Fourth World Saga and New Gods.

Kirby passed away February 6, 1994 from heart failure.

Happy birthday, Benedict Cumberbatch!

Handsome Benedict Cumberbatch, born July 19, 1976, brought Marvel superhero Dr. Strange to the big screen.  I admit this is the only work of his that I've seen but I loved his depiction of Dr. Stephen Strange.

Happy birthday, Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld!

Rob Liefeld, born October 3, 1967, has been a comic book artist since about 19 years old, illustrating a story featuring the Black Panther, but his first published story was Hawk and Dove for DC Comics.  Later he worked for Marvel Comics, his first assignment being The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #23, and then on The New Mutants series and later he created X-Force.  The first issue sold over 4 million copies.

He is also the creator of Deadpool and made a cameo appearance in the film based on his most famous creation.

"Thor" released 2011

My favorite super-hero finally gets his own movie!  "Thor", starring the gorgeous Chris Hemsworth as the title role, premiered May 6, 2011.  It stayed true to the comic books by having Thor as arrogant and brash, and being thrown out of Asgard by his father Odin, until he learns some humility.

Here is a moving scene where Thor sacrifices himself for the residents of Midgard (Earth).

Horatio Hornblower is 41 today!

When I first heard Ioan Gruffud was going to be the new Professor Reed Richards in the movie version of the Fantastic Four, I was skeptical.  I had seen him in the Horatio Hornblower movies where I became a fan of his.  In "King Arthur", he played an uber-sexy Lancelot.

Seeing him in such dramatic roles from English history, I wondered how he would transfer to American pop culture.  He has truly shown us what a great actor is.  In the Fantastic Four movies, he comes across well as the hopelessly geeky, romantically awkward and faithful to his audiences.  I'm glad he became part of the Marvel Universe!