Hulk Smash

Hulk Smash
Showing posts with label Green Lantern. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Green Lantern. Show all posts

Thursday, August 7, 2025

Superman Vs the Fantastic Four


width="320" />


  Before I have to tell you to shut the fuck up, when you say 

"U caN't CompAre the 2 jus cuz tHey r boof comic books movies" 

Let me tell you, that is exactly why they should go head-to-head.  In a comic book match-up, Superman should wipe the Baxter Building with their corpses, unless we are talking about the Superman from whatever comic books James Gunn was reading leading up to the making of his film, in which case, Reed Richards beats him single-handedly.

When it comes to comic book movies, the assignment is simple: bring what we love about the comics to life on screen. Many movies have done this successfully, going back to Richard Donner's "Superman", but have also included "Iron-Man", Tim Burton's "Batman",  "The Avengers", "Captain America", "Dr. Strange", 'Sin City", "Blade" , "Howard the Duck", "Spider-man; Homecoming" and James Gunn's "Guardians of the Galaxy" with the second movie in that franchise being the only one that was a bit clunky.  In fact, Gunn's horror take on Smallville, "Brightburn" showed he knew what could work.

Granted DC has struggled bringing their characters to the big screen, unless it's Batman, though even the last Batman film went down the drain halfway into the movie. Wonder Woman, the second Suicide Squad, "Black Adam" and the Flash are the only real working adaptations they have had, and the end of Wonder Woman felt like they dumped the rest of the budget into a CGI fight that stunk up the theater as if it looked like a video game. To this day, I have still not seen the second Aquaman movie, thanks to the Wonder Woman sequel being one of the worst ways I have ever kissed two hours of my time goodbye.

Fantastic Four has been poorly handled in the hands of filmmakers going all the way back to Roger Corman/s version. They were the staple of the Marvel Universe back in the '60s, more important than the Avengers. They had a lot of heart as the first family, and that is what Marvel tapped into with this version of the film. They knew they had to get it right; that meant no cosmic clouds, the real Galactus, leaving the only misstep being the depiction of the Silver Surfer. But they captured the essence of the characters. They did it in a way that stood apart from other Marvel Movies. 

The only thing that worked about Superman was his dynamic with Lois Lane. Krypto was fun, but overused, and in no way should Superman need him to pull himself out of a jam. Superman should be a god among men. Perhaps the focus group that signed off on this felt younger audiences could not see themselves in an invulnerable character, as they are too self-identifying with weakness as being an integral part of their personalities, so someone like the Henry Cavill Superman, who headbutts Wonder Woman into the ground, is too intimidating. The new actor donning the cape played a better Clark Kent, but Cavill embodied Superman more effectively, too bad he was surrounded by bad writing. 

Superman was entertaining, but mainly thanks to Nathan Fillion stealing the movie as Green Lantern, he needs his own movie in production ASAP. But Superman does not need the Justice League or Gang when he shows up, Green Arrow and Plastic Man breathe a sigh of relief. The scene that solidified how his weakness ruined the movie was needing to be pulled out of the Black Hole, it felt like the scene in "The Batman" when Cat-woman had to help Batman pull himself up onto a platform as he could not do a one-arm pull-up. Um, I can pull my weight up with one arm, and I am just a dude who goes to the gym. Bruce Way is a Billionaire who devoted his life to perfecting his body to the limits of human capabilities so he has state of the art equipment, much like Eddie Hall's basement to grant his muscles hi-tech recovery from both workouts and swinging aroung Gotham city, where he is also pulling his body weight with one hand on a nightly basis. This, like the handling of a Superman who gets his ass-kicked for the entirety of the movie, is not under the assignment.

Granted, there was online grumbling about how the movie was supposed to be 'Woke", claims that were also made about "Fantastic Four",  I saw none of that in either film, there did not seem to be an agenda. I think the studios know by 'woke-fishing" it creates a buz, and perhaps gets butts in seats as people think they are supporting something that is part of their indentity, who might have never cracked open a comic book. Otherwise, the only thing I could see would be, should  Lois and Mr Terrific had less screen time, in favor of placing emphasis on Clark? Sure, but I think that was bad editing. The same could be said of how Fantastic Four could have placed more emphasis on Ben Grimm, but at least when he was on screen, it was like he stepped out of the comic book. Superman would have been more like the 30-second fight the Thunderbolts had with the Sentry, that kind of speed, resilience, and power, it's who the character is, if you don't like who he is, then make another movie. This is why Fantastic Four proved to be a much better movie on most levels, from stylistically to bringing the characters to life. 

  

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

comics 4/11


New Avengers 24...Well drawn, though the red-Hulk could have been bigger, the focus is on Luke Cage and Jessica Jones and looks as if New Avengers is focusing on Cage's view point of the X-men vs Avengers throw down. This is a tie but appears it is going the same way as the Siege series did, no real fights at this point , in fact it doesn't give you any more than the first issue of AvsX did.
Thor 12.1..while the art was staggeringly well done , the story was one of those remember when ...? that didn't move the canon story further felt like they were stalling, I hope they keep this artist on board.
Avengers Assemble 2.. pretty heavy handed tie in to the movie as once again the second issue leaves me wondering how this ties into the Hulk's continuity. The art is good and the book is fun so thinking of it in the same way i think of the cartoon and try to not ask to many adult questions.
Secret Avengers 25...not convinced about this line-up . The art well you know how I feel about this pencil scribble scrabble. The super adaptoid story could still be lingering as we see at the end as the next issue ties into AvsX.
Scarlet Spider-Man 4 ...not sure what the point of this book is aside from the fact Ben is a compassionate as the punisher, so is this for those who want a book where a spider-man really
cuts loose? , the art was pretty good and it was fun.
Wolverine 304..was it a dream , did that really happen in cannon, all his enemies ...well lots of them in one place and he can waltz in a do that , little suspension of disbelief please. the art wasn't suited for the character for sure.
now onto D/C
Deathstroke 8.. felt like the weakest of the series so far, the art even felt a little slack, the story typical family bs.
Speaking of family bs it continues in Bat-man and Robin 8, the father son talk is like an aside on Dexter , the art is good but overall issue is boring.

Deadpool 53...or something, this book has been run into the ground by a bunch of moronic nonsense, the writing just pulls everything out of it's ass, we get that Wade has a death wish, it is hinted next issue is the last one, remember when he was like Wolverine and had 4 different books , proff Marvel can wear out a character's welcome and I'm still think the depiction of him in the Wolverine movie didn't help things.
It's a weird week in comics when Green Lantern is the best book going, the art was great and the story fun despite how convoluted this space opera can get and the whole mythology tends to stumble itself into knots but I got the gist right away and kept up, they need to keep this up.