Movie Talk - Ant-Man, Captain America: Civil War, and Doctor Strange

Since Avengers: Infinity War is finally hitting theaters in April (I’m glad they moved it up so I can use that weekend for other things), it’s finally time to look at the other movies in the MCU. Right before Avengers: Age of Ultron was released, I pretty much went through every MCU movie released at that time. While I’ve given a little opinion on these movies in other posts, it’s time to revisit some of them. I was trying to get this out but one, "little" movie kept holding me up.

Since I got seven movies (Infinity War will be its own post), I’m splitting this up. Today, it’s Ant-Man, Captain America: Civil War, and Doctor Strange. I pretty much saw all of these movies in theaters. I was able to re-watch Civil War and Dr. Strange on Netflix somewhat recently. As for Ant Man, I had to look for that elsewhere.

Trade Tales! - Ultimate Spider-Man Volume 18: Ultimate Knights

Well, a new year has dawned on us and I’m starting it off by looking at media featuring martial arts. That’s what January has been about for the last few years and I still want to keep it up. Sorry for starting a little late. So, what can I say that isn’t related to me making fun of the fact that Spider-Man: Homecoming pushed Black Panther back a few months? I might as well let go now. I don’t need to mention it anymore especially since I watched Homecoming with a pretty cool lady. Wait, what else has happened that involves a certain creator of Marvel’s Ultimate Universe?

For those who don’t know, Brian Michael Bendis, the writer of this series and many other series, has left Marvel for DC Comics. It was something that literally got me out of bed when I saw it on my phone. I didn’t believe and I’m still pretty shocked. One may wonder what caused him to leave but I wanna know what he’s going to do at DC. Maybe he could do justice with the Outsiders or B’Wanna Beast. Just keep him away from Superman because I can see that going either way.

Anyway, the next volume for this series is "Ultimate Knights" and it contains Ultimate Spider-Man #106-111. The creative team is pretty much the same. Bendis is writing, Andrew Hennessy is inking, and Justin Ponsor handles the colors. Mark Bagley is still on pencils but it has to be said that this is his last arc with this series. He and Bendis stuck with this series for over 110 single issues. Not many teams have done that. At the end of this arc, he passes the torch-shaped pencil to Stuart Immonen who does a few pages here. So, let’s see what happens when Spidey teams up with some martial artists, a crazy guy, a sorcerer, and a blind lawyer.

Ultimate Spider-Man Volume 18: Ultimate Knights

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Pencils: Mark Bagley and Stuart Immonen

Inks: Andrew Hennessy

Colors: Justin Ponsor

Letters: Corey Petit

Trade Tales! - Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 12: Superstars

You know, if there’s one thing that literally gets away from me here, it’s talking about some Ultimate Spider-Man. Luckily, I think I know where I’m going to end it here with that series. I think after the last volume, I needed a break. It’s not that it was bad, but Bendis did do away with a character I liked. For now, let’s get back on the show. We’ll finally get an idea of what the new Spider-Man movie will be soon, so this feels like a good time to get back on the horse.

The next volume is titled Superstars. I don’t know if Bendis was a fan of Molly Shannon’s character from Saturday Night Live, but there you go. Instead of some weird woman, we get some heroes in this new batch. Think of it as “Ultimate Marvel Team-Up” or something. The creative team is pretty much the same as it has been for the last couple of volumes. Bendis is writing and Bagley is drawing. The inking is handled by Scott Hanna, the colors are done by J.D. Smith with Chris Satomayor, and the lettering is done by Chris Eliopoulos. So, let’s see Spider-Man go through some “hilarious” hi-jinks, make a friend, and suffer through a demonic nightmare.

Ultimate Spider-Man Volume 12: Superstars

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Pencils: Mark Bagley

Inks: Scott Hanna

Letters: Chris Eliopoulos

Colors:  J.D. Smith and Chris Satomayor

Movie Talk - Marvel Animated Features Part 2: Other Heroes

In part 2 of this three-part venture, I’ll be looking at the movies from this series that are solo adventures. I’ll be looking at The Invincible Iron Man, Doctor Strange, and Thor: Tales of Asgard. Iron Man's movie and Doctor Strange were both released in 2007 while the Thor movie was released in 2011. I actually bought IIM back in 2007 at Wal-Mart. I actually don’t have it now and I’ll tell you why when I get to the movie. I rented Doctor Strange from a video store when it was released. As for Tales of Asgard, this is the first time I’ve seen the movie and I’ll get to why later.

The Invincible Iron Man

This is pretty much the origin of Iron Man… sort of. I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be in the continuity of the other Ultimate Avengers movies are not. It might as well be since Marc Worden is voicing Iron Man here as well. In the movie, Tony Stark and James Rhodes get taken hostage by a group of Chinese militants when they accidentally unleash a prophecy involving the Mandarin. During his captivity, Tony falls in love with Li Mei, one of the women there. He and Rhodey are able to escape with the help of a suit Tony created during their captivity. When Tony finds out that the prophecy of the Mandarin is real, he uses his resources to combat his enemies and save the day.