It was without question Marvel’s biggest delay. Not only was Black Widow originally expected to arrive in theaters May 1 last year, getting a delay and never a proper theatrical release, it simply was Kevin Feige’s big misfire by not thinking to make it earlier in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s 23 movies. Content-wise it could have arrived around 2013 as part of the Phase II of the series, and ultimately must be wedged somewhere between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War. For those not yet ready to return to theaters, it’s been a long wait. Finally Disney+ has dropped its $30 premium for its subscribers and Vudu and other streaming providers have it where it should have been, at a sell-through price of $19.99.
So how does Black Widow stack up with respect to the previous Marvel movies, and did Marvel make the best superheroine movie of them all with Scarlett Johanson’s solo movie? First of all, the big word to describe this movie is “surprising.”
After Jeremy Renner’s good guy Clint Barton was converted to bad guy in the 2012 MCU Avengers movie, it seemed like there was nowhere for the character to go but down. Already merely a Green Arrow knockoff (who, in turn, was inspired by Robin Hood), the least interesting Avenger ultimately was relegated to lawless, one-note assassin status by the Endgame finale. That was the Avenger on the big screen. What the movie studio missed and is at last catching up to is what was happening in the comics pages while Avengers was in theaters. Enter writer Matt Fraction and artist David Aja, who tapped some of the better elements from DC Comics’ Green Arrow comic book series and suddenly Hawkeye became interesting in the comics.
But what would become a multiple Eisner-winning comic wasn’t just about Clint Barton. The next Disney+ Marvel series is coming this Christmas, and it’s bringing the even better character from Fraction and Aja’s comic book series forward, revealed in a first preview that looks like we may finally get a Disney+ Marvel series as good as the Marvel movies. They even got the logo and Matt Hollingsworth’s color scheme right. Check out the first trailer for Hawkeyebelow.
It’s a surprising and unique story in Phase IV of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s WandaVision, the almost hallucinogenic, time-tripping story of the aftermath of Avengers: Endgame through the eyes of Wanda Maximoff. Now fans have their first look inside the making of the series in Marvel’s WandaVision: The Official Marvel Studios Collector Special, a full color, hardcover, souvenir guide to the characters, creators, and development of the Disney+ series. It’s being released in three editions, one via newsstands, one via comic shops (add it to your pull list at Elite Comics now), and a hardcover version you can pick up here at Amazon and at brick and mortar bookstores (it’s currently an Amazon #1 Best Seller!). Enjoy a preview for borg readers below from Titan.
With an MCU Phase IV release schedule in chaos, and nothing but peeks and false starts last year, Marvel fans are more than ready for the first trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home, which officially arrived late yesterday after an apparent leak earlier in the day. It was originally scheduled to premiere in theaters last month. We won’t know until December if we’ll see the movie this year, but at least it confirms its set-up for the second Doctor Strange movie, Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness, and will lay the grounds for the possibility of a host of cameos, which could include characters from the animated hit Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Spider-Man has been Marvel’s #1 superhero for nearly 60 years because he’s a great character teens and adults can relate to, and because Spidey fights some of the best villains in all of comics. As expected Alfred Molina will reprise his character Doc Ock from Sony’s 2004 movie Spider-Man 2, as will Jamie Foxx as Electro, last seen in 2014’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2. These leave open the likelihood of at least cameos from former Spidey actors Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. But the best addition may be the return of Willem Dafoe as one of Marvel Comics’ best villains, Green Goblin, last seen in Spider-Man 3. Wouldn’t it be great to fit in a cameo of Nicolas Cage as Spider-Man Noir from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, or even the first live-action Miles Morales?
What will be the sixth appearance Tom Holland as Spider-Man (since this takes place right after his fifth appearance in (Spider-Man: Far From Home) looks like it has the potential of being as fun as his past appearances, more Marisa Tomei as Aunt May, more Jon Favreau as Happy, Zendaya as MJ, and the rest of Peter’s school friends returning. Plus Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange and Benedict Wong as Wong. And music again by composer Michael Giacchino.
Take a look at the first trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home:
There’s something quite deja vu about the origin story for the villain in the 2021 sequel to Marvel Studio’s 2018 surprise hit Venom. Woody Harrelson joins Tom Hardy and Michelle Williams in the second trailer for Venom: Let There Be Carnage. In this next trailer (check out the first one here if you missed it), it’s all about Harrelson’s new villain Cletus Kasady, and how he becomes the Venom (literally) spun-off baddie comic book readers know as Carnage. Yep, the entire sequence is in the trailer, so if you don’t want spoilers you may want to skip this one. The new trailer is below. While you’re waiting for its arrival in theaters (which seems every day like it’s going to get delayed), check out the bookThe Philosophy of Venom, the novel Venom: Lethal Protector, or the giant Venom Factor Omnibus.
Generations of comic book readers have loved the star-spangled superhero and actor Chris Evans made him popular for yet another generation in the 21st century. Created by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon in March 1941, Steve Rogers and his alter ego Captain America are being celebrated this month in a new decade-by-decade chronology of the influence and impact of the character in Titan Magazines’Captain America: The First 80 Years, a look at the characters, creators, and multiple incarnations of Cap in the comics. It’s being released in three editions, one via newsstands, one via comic shops, and a hardcover version you can pick up here at Amazon and brick and mortar bookstores. Enjoy a preview for borg readers below.
We’re continuing our ten-year celebration of borg today with our favorite comic books. If you missed them, check out our Top 40 movieshere and our Top 40 TV series here.
We reviewed thousands of books and comics that we recommended to our readers since June 2011, and some even made it onto our favorites shelf. We don’t publish reviews of comic books that we read and don’t recommend, so this shortlist reflects 21 comics and creators we view as the Best of the Best.
It was March 10, 2020, when Disney/Marvel released its “final” movie trailer for the final movie in the Infinity Saga–Black Widow. Another “final” trailer is… finally… here. It’s Scarlett Johansson as a younger Black Widow, and this trailer features the most we’ve seen of Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, expected to take on the Black Widow role for the coming phase of the Marvel universe–along with a new cast of characters. We’ll all forever scratch our heads over why it didn’t enter anyone’s mind at Marvel Studios to get Marvel’s top superheroine her own movie before Infinity War and Endgame. Let’s hope it’s worth the wait.
Check out the new, final, trailer for Black Widow:
As each new superhero gets his showcase in Marvel movies, we’re getting more and more lesser known characters pulled from the history of Marvel Comics to meet on the big screen. As we stray away from the actual superhero headliners, the obscure come to the fore. Probably the best of the darker, horror comics can be found in DC Comics, members of Justice League Dark, in recent years including Constantine, Swamp Thing, Zatanna, Deadman, Madame Xanadu, and Shade. But it’s the feel of JLD you’ll find in Brendan Daneen’s Morbius, The Living Vampire: Blood Ties, a new novel in the Titan Books library of novel adaptations of Marvel Comics. Taking place after the origin story of Marvel’s take on a “bat-man,” to be adapted in the pandemic-delayed, big-screen debut of Marvel’s latest monstrosity Morbius starring Jared Leto, this story gives an accounting of that “living vampire” first created 50 years ago in the pages of Spider-Man comics by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane.
Before Tom Hardy starred in the surprise Sony Pictures Entertainment success Venom, most of the movie-going audience didn’t know Eddie Brock. But after Marvel Studios kept delivering very similar takes on its 50-70 years of superheroes, anti-heroes, and villains, the 2018 movie (reviewed here) was a refreshing surprise, which stands up to re-watching much better than many contemporary Marvel movies. Why? It didn’t take itself seriously, and it featured Tom Hardy and Michelle Williams–two actors with plenty of critical acclaim behind them. They infused a great chemistry into their characters’ relationship and made the darker side of Marvel great fun for all ages. Now, will the addition of Woody Harrelson’s golden touch make the autumn theatrical release Venom: Let There Be Carnage another blast for genre fans like he brought to Solo: A Star Wars Story? It sure looks like it. Check out the first trailer for the movie below and see if you agree. It was shared this week by Sony along with the official poster (above).
