Tag: X-Men

Is Marvel Eyeing Shia LaBeouf to Play Iceman in an X-Men Reboot?

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The Loop – According to We Got This Covered (the same site that correctly first reported a She-Hulk show at Disney Plus and a live-action Robin Hood remake at Disney), Marvel is hoping to land LaBeouf to play Iceman in their new X-Men reboot. Previously, MCU was supposedly considering LaBeouf to breathe life into Moon Knight (a rich vigilante character similar to Batman), and while the site reports that LaBeouf is still in the running for that role, the powers-that-be are supposedly more interested in his take on the X-Men character. And, considering LaBeouf’s previous criticism with doing big-budget studio films, this could be a nice way for him to ease back into things without having the pressure as a lead.

Yes, 100 times yes. Count me in. I stan for Shia LaBeouf because he has the makings of a truly elite actor. He’s got action chops (Transformers, Indiana Jones), he’s got Indie chops (Honey Boy, Peanut Butter Falcon), he’s handsome but not overly good looking, he’s already gone off the rails and been to rehab, and he is just generally a weird dude. Not to mention the man can tell one HELL of a drinking story.

LaBeouf is a more of an artist than a traditional actor, which is why I am fascinated by just watching what the guy does. He’s just as likely to be chopping it up on late night TV as he is going to yoga in the outfit of a homeless man.

In all seriousness though the dude is yoked these days and should have no problem convincing people he is an all powerful mutant.

Disney needs to nail this reboot and they know it. I am a huge X-Men fan and I enjoy all of the movies over the last 20 years, some of which were excellent (X-Men 2, Logan, First Class) whereas others were an unmitigated disaster (X-Men 3, Apocalypse). So in this reboot they have to do it right.

I know it’s going to be a massive popcorn flick as the next Marvel tentpole franchise, but all of the best Marvel movies had excellent actors like Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans anchoring them in reality. X-Men in particular needs great actors because the source material is so much more than just people with super powers; it’s outcasts kicked to the fringe of society because of their biological differences. Stan Lee was not afraid to paint the obvious parallels between the X-Men and the battles of similarly ostracized groups fighting for justice like the Civil Rights movement, LGBTQ etc. And this wasn’t just Stan Lee being a woke social justice warrior on Twitter, he was a vocal supporter of these issues dating back to the 60s.

“Let’s lay it right on the line. Bigotry and racism are among the deadliest social ills plaguing the world today,” he wrote in December 1968. “[I]t’s totally irrational, patently insane to condemn an entire race—to despise an entire nation—to vilify an entire religion. Sooner or later, we must learn to judge each other on our own merits. Sooner or later, if a man is ever to be worthy of his destiny, we must fill our hearts with tolerance.”

So Disney cannot just make another action flick here, they need legit actors who can tackle the breadth of the source material.

As you probably know Iceman has appeared in several X-Men movies already because he is a sick character with a truly awesome power, but he was such a puss in the original movies. He was portrayed like a mopey Abercrombie model pining over his girlfriend rather than the Ice God that he is. He was finally a bit more badass in Days of Future Past in 2014, which the beard probably helped to be honest.

He finally used his iconic ice surfing powers in that movie too.

Buttttttt only got about 90 seconds of screen time before (spoiler alert) biting the big one.

It’s probably going to be a few years before we get any new X-Men movies anyways, maybe even longer before someone attempts to fill the massive shoes of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. But rumors like this are encouraging because it shows you Disney and Marvel are taking this reboot seriously. The X-Men movies always had a ton of potential, but were undone by poor direction or shitty storytelling or continuity issues, most of which should be righted by the MCU.

The 300s Marvel Cinematic Rewind Presents: Captain America: Civil War

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Captain America: Civil War (2016) is one of my favorite Marvel movies and I think a lot of people agree with that sentiment. My worry going back and watching Cap 3 for the first time in years was that it would just be me remembering another OK movie through rose colored glasses because of the incredible airport scene. Fear not, despite yet another convoluted villain character, this movie still kicks ass all these years later. As it should, considering this movie really made up for the disappointing Avengers 2. They should have called this movie Avengers 2.5. It also has the distinction of giving Captain America hands down the best complete trilogy in all of the MCU. Iron Man 2 and 3 leave much to be desired. Thor 2 was not great, and Guardians 3 is TBD. Now lets get to it!

Oooooh I love cold opens.

It’s 1991 and Winter Solider is back. It seems like he’s being tortured by the Russians, but after a series of code words uttered wake him up you see he’s basically a brainwashed spy for the Russki’s. They send him out on a retrieval mission and he whacks someone driving a caddy and takes some blue goo from their trunk. Title card.

We cut to Scarlet Witch, Captain America, Black Widow, and Falcon scouting out a scene in Nigeria for a mission which quickly turns into an all out firefight

“Wanda, just like we practiced,” Cap says to Scarlet Witch, implying the training thats been taking place before this.

But, wait its not just some faceless mercs, it’s Crossbones who is already an established villain apparently, but someone I again had to look up to remember his story. For anyone thats forgot like me he played Brock Rumlow in Captain America 2 as a sleeper cell agent for HYDRA. Welp Crossbones tries to suicide bomb Cap, only to be temporarily stopped by Scarlet Witch, who in an effort to levitate him to safety accidentally blows up half a building.

And thats how you get the Sokovia Accords.

Holy christ they CGI’d Tony Stark’s de-aged face onto a teenager’s body.

Tony Stark gets confronted by a woman who blames Stark for her son’s death in….you guessed it, Sokovia.

And thats how you get the Sokovia Accords.

The Secretary of State drops in on Avengers HQ to lecture the team about all the collateral damage they’ve caused with literally no repercussions.

It raises an interesting question though, what gives the Avengers the right to operate with “unlimited power and no supervision,” as the Secretary puts it?

We are introduced to Helmut Zimo, who is another HYDRA agent on a mission. Zimo is torturing another old Russian general. When he asks how Zimo found him he directly references the gigantic Wiki Leaks dump Black Widow did at the end of Winter Soldier.

This is where the split between the team members of the Avengers begins. Tony Stark the rogue “genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist” immediately opts to surrender his rights and sign the Sokovia Accords. This basically gives the Avengers the United Nations for a boss, which military lifer Captain America is just unwilling to do. It’s quite the role reversal we see here and drives the wedge between the team when half of them sign and half of them don’t.

Sokovia Accords ceremony gets bombed to high hell and King T’Chaka, of one Wakanda, is killed in the blast, which we will learn later leads to the introduction of another hero.

But who would bomb the Sokovia Accords? Oh well the news immediately identifies the culprit as one Bucky Barnes. That took 5 minutes, but sure. We’re then introduced to the first incident with the Sokovia Accords exposing why it’s such a pain in the ass. By not signing the document, Captain America isn’t allowed to interfere so he and his crew are officially outlaws at this point.

Cap going to help his friend out turns into Cap aiding and abetting a wanted terrorist realll quick though. He nearly gets out of it unscathed too until a goddamn Black Panther drops out of the clouds to stop them. United Nations sanctioned War Machine joins the party and congratulates Cap for now being a criminal before all three are arrested. Oh and we learn that Black Panther is in fact King T’Chaka’s son, T’Challa.

“I’m not getting that shield back am I,” Cap asks.

“Technically it’s the government’s property,” Black Widow shoots back.

This movie has a lot of parallels to X-Men 3: The Last Stand. As bad as that movie was it’s how this storyline could very easily turn, with the world calling for the eradication of Mutants and the Mutants fighting back. Here we have Tony trying to stave off “something worse” than signing a document.

Hey look its Zimo who somehow works for the government and is the exact guy interrogating Bucky Barnes. K? Zimo uses an EMP to knock out all the power in the building so he can say the code words to turn Bucky back into the Russian spy he was back in 1991. But, before we get into that, maybe War Machine can explain what the hell happened with that EMP?

Bucky is in brainwashed mode yet again and nearly kills everyone before Cap is able to knock him out before he can escape. He snaps out of it and explains to Cap how he got his brain scrambled again and what these guys might be looking for exactly.

“Because I’m not the only Winter Soldier,” Bucky says as a flashback shows exactly what that Blue Goo was from the opening of the movie. A group of psychos Bucky refers to as the most elite death squad in Hydra history were also injected with that serum, but they all seem to be pretty unhinged.

Tony Stark is officially given an assignment to bring in the rogue Avengers, but without half their team, Hulk, and Thor to back them up it’s time to do a little recruiting.

We head to Queens to meet the best Peter Parker ever put on film, who Tony quickly takes a liking to and invites him to Germany for a little project. Cut to Hawkeye who’s come out of “retirement” to bust Scarlet Witch out of house arrest, which takes a little duel with Vision to do so. Black Widow recruits Black Panther and Cap hits up Agent Peggy’s niece (whom he also macks on) to get back his shield and Falcon’s  suit. And to round out the crew we got a starstruck Ant-Man meeting Cap and the rest of the rogue Avengers.

Paul Rudd should be in every one of these movies from here on out.

Tony and his crew of War Machine, Black Widow, Black Panther, Spider-Man, and Vision show up to shut that shit down. Let the Battle Royale begin.

Most of it’s all fun and games with some cheeky one liners, ya know except for Rhodes getting paralyzed. Other than that though, it’s all a pretty good time before Cap and Bucky escape and head to Russia to figure out WTF is going on. HYDRA winter soldier death squad, sleeper cell evil scientists?

The rest of Cap’s crew is on lockdown in the “max security underwater super pokey” as Tony describes it. He seems to be realizing this whole Sakovia Accords thing may have been a bad idea.

Tony learns of Zemo and with a tip from Falcon heads to Berlin, which don’t ya know is exactly where Bucky and Cap are headed. Zemo finds the old HYDRA lab in Berlin and locates the other winter soldiers saved on ice.

In a change of heart Tony realizes what Cap has been trying to do this whole time and joins forces with him.

Now this is where this movie gets weird. We finally see those other winter soldiers, but Zemo has already killed them all? So this whole thing was all a ploy to get the Avengers here? Bombing the UN, framing Bucky Barnes, killing innocent people for what?

“An empire toppled by its enemies can be rebuilt, but one that crumbles from within, thats dead forever,” Zemo says.

Zemo plays the security cam footage of Tony Stark’s parents not actually dying in a car crash, but getting straight up murdered by Bucky Barnes all those years ago. And it turns out Captain America knew the whole time.

Welp, there goes Tony’s renewed alliance with Cap and Buck. Blind with rage Tony will stop at nothing to kill Bucky now, even if it means going through Cap. After some serious hand to hand combat, it seems like Iron Man is in some deep shit, but with a blast from his goddamn chest piece Tony blows off Bucky’s metal arm.

Turns out Zemo’s family was killed in the shitshow that was Sokovia. Knowing he couldn’t kill the Avengers himself, he plotted to have them destroy each other. Black Panther apprehends Zemo before he can kill himself meanwhile Cap and Ton continue to beat the hell out of each other. Cap gets the upperhand and Tony drops a real heart wrenching quote that forces him to leave his shield.

Captain America goes full rogue and busts his half of the Avengers out of super max prison and leaves Tony with a promise, and a flip phone, that if he ever needs him he’ll be there.

Mid credits scene: Cap and Bucky are in Wakanda as Bucky decides being frozen once again is the best thing for everyone until they can figure out whats up. Oh and these guys have quite the technology don’t they?

Post credits scene:

This movie absolutely holds up and is one of the best of the entire MCU. It doesn’t really advance the overall plot of the Infinity Stones or the impending threat from Thanos, but this is a popcorn flick to beat all popcorn flicks. Captain America: Civil War is like when you finally get to open all your presents on Christmas Day and play with all your toys at once.

Final Rating: 9/10

New X-Men: Dark Phoenix Trailer Drops. Will This Be the Last X-Men Before Inevitable Marvel Reboot?

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If we’re being honest I’m pretty bummed about the inevitable reboot of X-Men now that Marvel owns the rights to the mutant characters. For better or worse I love the X-Men movies. Some are incredible like X-Men 2 and Logan. Some are god awful like X-Men 3 and Wolverine. I enjoy all of them though. So it’ll be bittersweet when Kevin Feige ultimately takes this crew out back and puts them out of their meandering misery. It’s bittersweet because we’ve seen great achievements by this cast including the first time we saw them all in X-Men: First Class, but we’ve also seen some pretty big misses in X-Men: Apocalypse. So in my brain I know Feige will probably create a better, if nothing else more cohesive, X-Men universe, but it’s still a bummer to see this franchise get rebooted AGAIN. But, hey they rebooted SpiderMan three times in 10 years and they wound up with the best Peter Parker ever put on film.

Now back to the trailer itself. It looks pretty crazy so I’m excited for that…but X-Men has a history of creating amazing trailers for pretty mediocre films a la Vinny Chase in Medellin.

Seriously just look at the Apocalypse trailer again.

That movie looks incredible. Yea, well it was not incredible. It was a convoluted mess and a waste of one of the best actors of our generation in Oscar Isaac. It currently has a 48% on Rotten Tomatoes and 52% on Metacritic. It does somehow have a 7/10 on IMDB though.

So I’m cautiously optimistic for this one though, especially because of the source material. The Dark Phoenix saga is one of the best comic book stories of all time and they completely bungled it with that disaster X-Men 3. The main problem with X-Men over the years has been inconsistency in their vision and convoluted storylines.

It looks like it could very easily go down that path with what looks like a potential Mystique death at the hands of Jean Gray. But that would be too obvious to put in the trailer right? Right?

Either way, I’ve been over Mystique for a while now. They cast a completely unknown Jennifer Lawrence in First Class, a year before Hunger Games made her a superstar, and she was great. In every X-Men movie since though she’s looked less and less interested in even being there. So if Jean Gray offs her in the first 20 minutes of Dark Phoenix I will not shed a tear.

As long as we get ALL the Fassbender.

Dark Phoenix is set to release on June 7th, 2019…barring any more delays.

PS – Are we ever gonna get the forever shelved X-Men movie starring the other Stark girl; The New Mutants? Or we just gonna let that one die on the vine despite looking pretty much done? IMDB lists the release date as August 2, 2019, but it’s already been pushed back almost 2 years at this point. Theres even been whispers through the grape vine that New Mutants could just be released straight to Hulu whenever it does come out. Yuck. So I’ll believe a firm release date when I actually see it with my popcorn and Mountain Dew in the theaters.

The 300s Top 20 Most Anticipated Movies of 2019

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I’m not exaggerating when I say there are a billion movies coming out next year. Seriously, I was pretty shocked to see just how much is coming to theaters in 2019. So for your reading pleasure, I picked my 20 most anticipated and break down what you need to know.

20) The New Mutants

Release Date: August 2nd, 2019

Starring: Maisie Williams, Antonio Banderas, Charlie Heaton

This will probably be the last X-Men movie under the Fox umbrella. It’s billed as a horror film so it’ll be interesting to see how this goes. Disney is set to acquire Fox in January so you can fully expect to see the X-Men completely rebooted and added to Marvel’s Phase 4 plans. This film was supposed to come out this past February and has been pushed back several times so make of that what you will. Personally, i’m excited to see Arya Stark in a new role.

19) Men In Black

Release Date: June 14th, 2019

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson

We have the first reboot of the list on our hands! It stars a re-team of our two leads from Thor 3. I was a huge fan of the original 1997 film, but thought the two sequels it spawned were forgettable at best. I’m kind of surprised this wasn’t rebooted sooner to be honest. At least we’re not getting that rumored MIB/21 Jump Street spinoff. Nobody was asking for that. Dodged a bullet there.

18) Frozen 2

Release Date: November 22nd, 2019

Starring: Kristen Bell, Josh Gad, Idina Menzel

I was the last person on planet earth to see the first Frozen and I must say I was pleasantly surprised. I’m a big Disney guy (especially a big fan of Disney actually being Frozen himself) so this makes the list on curiosity alone. It’s ironic because the best part of the movie is Olaf who is voiced by Josh Gad, who I absolutely despise. Cautiously optimistic on this one.

17) Dumbo

Release Date: March 29th, 2019

Starring: Danny Devito, Colin Farrell, Eva Green, Michael Keaton, Dumbo The Elephant

Another Disney entry, the first of three live action remakes on my list. The cast is stacked and the CGI Dumbo is fucking adorable so how could you not be in on this? The original cartoon is low key one of the most depressing movies of all time so the inner emo in me is down to sob in a Regal Theater over a computerized elephant that can fly. Plus it’s directed by Tim Burton so you know we’re in for a trip.

16) The Lego Movie 2

Release Date: February 8th, 2019

Starring: Chris Pratt, Alison Brie, Jonah Hill

Legos are the shit. Case closed.

15) Dark Phoenix

Release Date: June 7th, 2019

Starring: Sophie Turner, Jennifer Chastain, Jennifer Lawrence

We actually have two X-Men movies coming out next year, and as I mentioned previously, it’s not looking likely we’ll see a continuation of this version of the supergroup after the Disney acquisition of Fox. Still, it’ll be nice to see these actors at least one more time to shine. If anything, we get one more turn of Fassbender as Magneto which is worth the price of admission alone.

14) Aladdin

Release Date: May 24th, 2019

Starring: Will Smith, Naomi Scott, Mena Massoud

2nd of 3 live action Disney remakes. This one has Will Smith as the Genie though. Big shoes to fill replacing the legendary Robin Williams, but if anyone can step into the role it’s the Fresh Prince.

13) Untitled Terminator 6

Release Date: November 1st, 2019

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton

We are FINALLY getting a direct sequel to Terminator 2. We’re just gonna pretend those pesky 3 other sequels never happened, okay? Linda Hamilton returns as Sarah Connor and i’m just praying we get a worthy sequel to what I consider one of the greatest sci-fi movies of all time. Hopefully the Governator brings his A game too.

12) Hobbs and Shaw

Release Date: August 2nd, 2019

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham

It only took 18 years and 8 movies to get a spinoff of the Fast and the Furious franchise going. Now that we got one coming soon, i’m not really sure how I feel about it. Vin Diesel is pissed about it. Tyrese is pissed about it. Hell, even Paul Walker is pissed about it I think. I’m a huge fan of the Rock, but this is not his franchise to take over. I’ll still be there opening weekend, but I am a bit weary.

11) Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

Release Date: August 9th, 2019

Starring: Every actor in Hollywood

No seriously. The better question would be to ask who is not starring in this movie. Quentin Tarantino brings us back to the 60s and tells us the story of Charles Manson and the murders he inspired. Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Al Pacino, Dakota Fanning, Kurt Russell, Damian Lewis, Emile Hirsch, Tim Roth, Timothy Olyphant, Michael Madsen, Luke Perry, James Marsden, and Zoe Bell star (to name a few).

10) Captain Marvel

Release Date: March 8th, 2019

Starring: Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson

This would probably rank higher for me if I had any clue who Captain Marvel is. I love Brie Larson and it’s a Marvel movie so it’s bound to be awesome and make a billion dollars. Cool to see a female led Marvel movie as well. I just wasn’t exposed to this character growing up so this will be my first real introduction to her. Very excited about it nonetheless.

9) Joker

Release Date: October 4th, 2019

Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro

This movie is not my most anticipated of 2019, but it’s probably the one that intrigues me the most. Jared Leto was so bad as the Joker that it left a sour taste in my mouth. This version however, directed by Todd Phillips, looks to stray towards Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the character which i’m more than happy with. Couple that with the lead being Joaquin Phoenix, a phenomenal actor in his own right, and this film has the potential to be something special. It apparently also operates independently of the DC Universe films which is completely fine by me, and i’m sure to you the reader.

8) John Wick: Chapter 3

Release Date: May 17th, 2019

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Halle Berry, Ian McShane

It’s great seeing Keanu Reeves utilized to his potential as he’s always been a phenomenal actor when given the right material. The John Wick films have been a great addition to the man’s already stellar catalogue (Point Break, i’m looking at you). Then again, I would watch Keanu eat breakfast so it’s no surprise i’ll be there in theaters when Chapter 3 drops next May.

7) The Lion King

Release Date: July 19th, 2019

Starring: Donald Glover, Beyonce, Seth Rogen, James Earl Jones

The final Disney live action remake on my list is the GOAT of Disney movies from the 1990s. Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino takes the role of Simba, which is just another badass resume booster for one of the most talented dudes out there. They even got James Earl Jones to return as Mufasa. This movie is going to make a billion dollars, mark my words.

6) Spider-Man: Far From Home

Release Date: July 5th, 2019

Starring: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jake Gyllenhaal

A sequel to last year’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, this movie will be the first set in Marvel’s Phase 4. Jake Gyllenhaal steps into the role of Mysterio, a character i’ve been waiting to see on the big screen since I was a kid. The action takes place in London this time, hence the title Far From Home. I love Tom Holland as Spider-Man too. Count me in for this one come next July.

5) Toy Story 4

Release Date: June 21st, 2019

Starring: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Jordan Peele

I thought Toy Story 3 was the perfect way to end the series, yet here we are. I’m not going to complain about getting more adventures in this universe, they just better have a great story to back it up. I still haven’t fully recovered from all the toys almost getting incinerated at the end of the last movie. Really traumatic shit, even for a 20 year old.

4) Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Release Date: May 31st, 2019

Starring: Kyle Chandler, Millie Bobby Brown, Sally Hawkins

I absolutely adored the last Godzilla movie, despite Aaron Taylor Johnson giving the most boring performance of all time. The subtle and gradual use of Godzilla himself throughout the movie was perfectly executed in my opinion and it brought us to a world I want to spend more time in. We’re getting all the big bads this time around like Mothra, King Ghidorah, and Rodan. Not to mention Coach Taylor is the lead this time around so i’ll obviously be seeing this one.

3) Pokemon: Detective Pikachu

Release Date: May 10th, 2019

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Justice Smith

It only took a billion years, but we’re finally getting a live-action Pokemon movie and it looks…great? I was insanely pessimistic about this when I heard it was coming out, but the trailer completely sold it for me. Not to mention it apparently did some test screenings last week and got rave reviews. Do we finally have a good video game to film adaptation on our hands? I’m hopeful. Having Ryan Reynolds voicing Pikachu always helps.

2) Star Wars: Episode IX

Release Date: December 20th, 2019

Starring: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Mark Hamill

Episode IX is being billed as the final chapter in the Skywalker saga. Whether or not you believe that is up to you. I’ve really enjoyed this new trilogy thus far. Disney has done well keeping the spirit of the original films alive while adding new layers of depth to a universe that will surely go on well after we’re all dead. Couple that with two announced live-action shows on the yet-to-be launched Disney streaming service, and we’re looking at a whole lot of Star Wars in the near future folks. All hail the supreme leader, Kylo Ren.

1) Avengers 4

Release Date: May 3rd, 2019 (But likely to get bumped up to the last week of April)

Starring: Everyone that didn’t get snapped in the last movie

An obvious choice for #1. We’ve been waiting 11 years for the conclusion to this storyline, and the Marvel movies will likely never be the same after it’s done. How it all plays out is anyone’s guess. Some big names will probably bite the dust in this one too so get those tissues ready. My guess? Steve Rogers is a goner and Tony Stark becomes the new Nick Fury.

RIP Stan Lee

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TMZ – Stan Lee, the man who co-created Marvel Comics, has died … Stan’s daughter tells TMZ. We’re told an ambulance rushed to Lee’s Hollywood Hills home early Monday morning and he was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. We’re told that’s where he died. Lee had suffered several illnesses over the last year or so — he had a bout of pneumonia and vision issues.

Stan started Marvel with Jack Kirby in 1961 with The Fantastic Four. He went on to create Spider-Man, Black Panther, The Incredible Hulk, X-Men, Iron Man and The Avengers. Stan made cameo appearances in all of the Marvel movies.

Wow, what a sad and sobering headline to write. He was 95-years-old so he lived a long and incredibly successful life, but still a sad thing to see. Stan Lee made comic books cool. Fact, not opinion. Sure Kevin Feige deserves a ton of credit for nailing the formula for making a good superhero movie, but it was all based on Stan Lee’s work. Even before all the blockbusters, there were the 90s cartoons like Spider-Man the Animated Series.

But just think about the creative juices you need to have in your brain to create Spider-Man, the Hulk, Black Panther, the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, and the freaking X-Men! The guy was a genius and a lot of his comics touched on some pretty sensitive subjects way ahead of their time. While the underlying message of X-Men has become abundantly clear over the past couple of films, at its core this was a story that tackled civil rights and how they were granted to some types of people, but not others. Whether that was mutants, gay people, transgender, African Americans etc. – it was a pretty radical thing to write about when the X-Men were first created in 1963.

So Stan Lee was a wildly successful guy who created some of the most iconic characters and intellectual property of all time. The only sad part is that Disney just bought FOX and all its Marvel character rights, which is why we’ve only recently started to see crossovers like Spider-Man finally joining the Avengers. So unfortunately Stan Lee won’t get to see all his kids playing on screen together. I’m not sure what Marvel will do to honor the godfather of comic books, but after having a cameo appearance in every single Marvel movie, I’m sure it’ll be something special.

The 300s Just Had Its Best Month EVER. Get On This Train Now Before It’s Too Late

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So just a quick little update for everyone that takes the time out of their day to read this humble Boston blog from time to time. September was the best month EVER for The 300s.

And I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for reading, commenting, tweeting, and sharing our stuff. This site continues to grow as does The 300s brand as a whole. The 300s Podcast also had its best month ever, no big deal. We’ve got some new things in the works over the next few months so keep an eye out for all those announcements. In the meantime, lets take a look at the top posts from September, the top performing month since I started this operation way back in 2016.

X-Men: Dark Phoenix Trailer Leaks! LETS GOO

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Nerds unite! The first look I’ve seen of X-Men: Dark Phoenix ANYWHERE has finally leaked. I’ll forewarn you, there is no audio as apparently this was taken in Russia so the person who had the video just scrubbed it, but you get a pretty good look into the sweet visuals. Watch the trailer below or check it out here.

I was legitimately worried this movie was going to get shelved after all the setbacks and pushed release dates. Then Disney (Marvel) bought FOX and I wondered if they would ever release the movie and opt to reboot instead.

I am jacked up for a new X-Men movie that could potentially be one of the last we see with the current cast if Marvel does opt to go the reboot route. Well it looks like Dark Phoenix will still see the light of day, in Russia at least.

Thank god because if nothing else this movie needs to help fans forget the absolute garbage that was X-Men: Last Stand. They completely wasted one of the best characters with Dark Phoenix in a movie best remembered for Ian McKellen moving a goddamn bridge.

In the Dark Phoenix trailer we get glimpses of Jean Gray as a child in what looks like a car crash she may have unwittingly caused with her own powers, injuring or likely killing her parents. So thats a dark tone to get things started. Looks like we’ll see the story of how Professor X and Mystique find Jean originally with Cerebro maybe? Lots of Quicksilver, Cyclops getting his famous glasses, an angry Magneto, and Nightcrawler flashing his powers. In. In. In. In. Not a ton of Jessica Chastain in the trailer, but she is supposedly playing a prominent role as a character named Agent Smith.

Shit sorry, wrong one. Here we go.

Why this movie keeps getting delayed I have no idea, but IMDB still has its release date as February 14th, 2019, but thats less than 5 months away so if thats true we would need to start seeing teasers and trailers reeeeal soon.

Hold on, IS THAT SOPHIE TURNER’S MUSIC?? According to Sophie Turner’s Instagram, the official trailer should be dropping tonight! LETS GOOO!

 

Disney Confirms That Marvel Will Take Over X-Men

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OMG OMG OMG it’s happening and I am having a gigantic nerdgasm. So a few months back Disney acquired FOX, which I blogged about back in December, and after some anti-trust concerns, Disney finalized the deal. Now its been confirmed that Kevin Feige will oversee the X-Men, which is huge news as he is the president of Marvel Studios. Feige is basically the architect, the godfather, the puppet master of the $17 billion dollar industry that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He got people to see TWENTY movies over more than a decade and care about characters like Iron Man and Thor, who were absolute D-List superheroes back in 2007. Feige essentially created shared universes in cinema as we know it today. Very few, if any, movies were combining IPs to tie into one gigantic story across different franchises like Marvel.

Marvel’s success has only made the failures of company like DC and Sony loom even worse. Sony had a decent run with the first two Tobey Maguire Spiderman movies, but the third one was trash, and then they rebooted it with Andrew Garfield, which was trash, only to have it saved once they rebooted it yet again with the help of Marvel for the current iteration of Spidey.

Now X-Men has been much more of a mixed bag in terms of quality. There have been excellent movies like Logan, Deadpool, and X-Men 2 as well as some truly garbage ones like X-Men 3: The Last Stand.

Most recently they’ve run into trouble as two very publicly announced movies have been pushed back time and time again to the point where I don’t know if we’ll ever even see them. There was the Sophie Turner Dark Phoenix movie and the Maisie Williams X-Men movie, The New Mutants. Both seem to be stuck in purgatory, which says volumes about the overall quality of them both. I mean New Mutants already had a trailer drop a year ago for christ’s sake.

I think the biggest problem with X-Men though has always been seeing the bigger picture. The movies always jumped around without any bigger map of where it was all heading. They never really know where they’re going with anything aside from the one movie they’re currently in. Thats how you end up killing off one of the biggest X-Men ever in Cyclops in the first 20 minutes of X3 (spoiler alert) only to have Days of Future Past completely retcon the whole thing and fix it with some tricky time traveling.

See? Not confusing at all.

Now, enter the GOAT of universe building in Kevin Feige and we’re cooking with gas.
And thats BEFORE we even mention the inevitable crossover events. After Avengers 4 comes out next summer, a movie in which most expect to be the final film for guys like Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr, and Chris Hemsworth, Marvel will be banking on younger players like Black Panther and Spiderman to carry the studio. Just imagine the possibilites with all of the X-Men characters finally available on the roster? It’s going to be truly amazing to watch. Plus they might even be able to reboot Fantastic Four, which was an absolute disaster.

TWICE.

So this is awesome news for fans of comic books and blockbuster movies. Everybody wins. We can start imagining the movies we never thought possible due to bullshit exclusive contracts.

The only downside? It took too long. The greatest character in the 11 movie history of the X-Men universe is dead and retired in Wolverine himself, Hugh Jackman. Unless….

Its Official: Disney Has Bought FOX for $52 BILLION. So What Does That Mean for the Avengers and X-Men?

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Yahoo – After weeks of rumors, the deal is done — Disney will buy up large chunks of Rupert Murdoch’s Fox media empire for $52 billion. The list of what it won’t take is shorter: the Fox News cable channel, broadcast networks and Fox Sports, which are expected to spin off as their own business. The Disney conglomerate adds the Fox movie and TV studios (including big-name franchises like X-Men, Avatar,Alien and The Simpsons), it now has majority control of Hulu, cable channels like FX/FXX and more.

Thats Billion with a B. I’m always a little surprised when giant acquisitions like this actually go through with all the concerns around monopolies. Remember when DraftKings and FanDuel announced a merger last year? Well the United States government disagreed and basically nixed that entire deal. Whoops!

Now onto what everyone cares about from this gigantic deal; the X-Men are finally back under the Marvel umbrella via Disney. It remains to be seen what exactly Disney and Marvel will do with Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, but I am stoked for potential crossovers down the line (and maybe a Fantastic Four movie that doesn’t blow goats).

Its probably a little too late in the game to expect any current X-Men to show up in Avengers 3 or 4 as they bring Phase 1 to an end. Sure, maybe there’s some easter eggs or brief cameos thrown in, but X-Men has a ton of shit already going on they probably need to handle first. There’s the upcoming “Dark Phoenix” movie with my girl Sansa Stark seemingly taking the reigns of the franchise as X-Men does a second take on Jean Grey’s Phoenix character, which they royally fucked up in X-Men 3. *shutters*

Phoenix is slated for a November 2018 release. I haven’t seen much about that one yet, but I’m a huge fan of the X franchise so I’m always juiced for a new one. They’re not always critically acclaimed, but they always do their own thing and take some chances rather than rolling out the same old storylines. They did an entire movie around time travel for christ’s sake in “Days of Future Past.”

There’s also the incredibly intriguing spinoff/horror movie “The New Mutants” coming out in 2018, which the director has already hinted at being a trilogy.

The one thing that does worry me about this acquisition though is Marvel hitting the wrap it up box on the current X-Men universe before rebooting them AGAIN.

Disney/Marvel was not shy about rebooting Spiderman and introducing a third Peter Parker in less than 10 years.

Granted, the GOAT X-Men Wolverine played by Hugh Jackman is allegedly retired from the game so people probably wouldn’t cry too hard if Marvel went in another direction with a new flock of mutants.

Also, good luck fixing some of the inconsistencies that already exist now that both studios are under one roof; most notably the fact that there are two Quicksilvers. One, played by Aaron Taylor Johnson who (spoiler) got gatted in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Then there’s the FOX version of Quicksilver, Evan Peters, who is still alive and well.

So that character will either require some rickety duct tape explanation for being alive (and deciding which actor will actually play him) or he’ll most likely just get kicked to the curb, which is a shame.

I’m sure there are more of these inconsistencies as FOX owned the rights to X-Men, but not all of the individual X-Men characters, which is why garbage spin off shows with fringe mutants like The Gifted and Inhumans even existed in the first place.

All I ask is that the executives over at the Mouse don’t neuter Deadpool. It took years of Ryan Reynolds campaigning to get that movie made the way it was made and it was a goddamn mega-hit. Don’t fix what ain’t broke.

Now give me a Magneto vs Iron Man battle ASAP.

X-Men Has a New Horror Movie Coming Out and I Am ALL IN

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What have we here? Aside from Deadpool, this is the first real X-Men spinoff/side movie, however you want to phrase it, to really go away from the core characters. Not to mention they seemingly have decided to go a completely new route with the horror movie feel this trailer’s giving off.

I am ALL IN. The X-Men movies in general have always been criminally underrated. X2 is really the only one I remember, and I guess Logan as well, that got any love from people.

The original legit started the whole comic book movie era that we’re still living in today. The first Spiderman with Tobey didn’t even come out for another 2 years after X-Men.

There is some hot garbage in there of course like the clusterfuck that was X-Men: The Last Stand, but this franchise has always been the one thats not afraid of trying new directions. I mean how many other films can take their core characters, and then make prequels about them in the 1960s using completely different actors and have it work? (X-Men: First Class)

And then take that already convoluted idea, and send them back in time? Because time travel always makes things easier to understand. (X-Men: Days of Future Past)

But hey it worked, which is why I’m down with X-Men dipping their toes into the horror genre. Plus you got miniature Arya Stark in there so sign me up.