Future Professor X: “Just because someone stumbles and loses their path, doesn't mean they can't be saved.”
So, as a fan of Professor X, I have to talk about X-men: Days of Future Past. There are even two Professor Xs in this one. Specifically, I liked the dystopian Terminator feel, which loosely matched the dystopian Terminator feel of the comics. It was basically Terminator with the X-men in it, but I like both those things! Everyone uses their powers, so if that’s what you wanna see, you’re in luck. Wolverine really stabs people, guys!
In fact, one of the angles about superpowers that I liked about this movie was that even though there are two Prof Xs and one (The younger version.) walks, when he walks, he can’t use his telepathy. I thought that was cool. He needs his disability. Now, there’s a lot of people complaining that this time travel stuff and the time doubles erase the current continuity, blah blah blah…I don’t care. The wonderful thing about fiction is you can choose which parts happened. If you like the old trilogy, you can say it happened. Personally, I like this one!
This timeline starts in the 1960s and goes through the 1970s…but there are giant robots in it, and an assassination attempt on Bolivar Trask…the creator of them. Mystique is the would- be assassin. Also, I think Peter Dinkelage is a great Bolivar Trask. He’s not pure evil. He thinks he’s protecting humanity from the mutants. His fault is he doesn’t see them as humans, which they are. And there’s a nice little lesson in there about not judging people based on fear. Future Professor X is a lot more optimistic than the past one!
But, Future Professor X needs to contact past Professor X to move forward, with the help of Magneto. Personally, I think all he’d have to say is “Don’t worry! You get my sweet hover chair in the future!” But, it takes a lot longer than that and they have a big showdown with giant robots, and Wolverine and Professor X have to stop him. Good stuff!
Overall, a good action movie that establishes a neat new continuity. I’d give it 4/5 stars. It’s a little weird to cover the sentinels in just one movie, as in the 90s cartoon and comics they lasted many years. They definitely upped the action. And I like how every movie covers a different era. I predict next will be the 80s. It keeps getting bigger and better. Mutant battles, robots, and good disability messages. What’s not to love? Go see it.
(Mutants face extinction in an apocalyptic future.)
All Superheroes Must Die (2013) (Originally Titled “Vs.”) (2011)
Shadow: “You're not the only one who gets to save people around here…”
Saw meets X-men! This movie is an independent film, and superhero thriller. That being said, it’s obviously low-budget, but does manage to make some good X-men-like characters: The leader is Charge, who has gains power as he gains momentum, or so it seems. He only ever uses this ability once or twice, I think. But because of an injection they all received at the start of the movie, their powers are gone/weakened. It’s a classic villain set-up.
The nameless superheroes led by Charge (Cutthroat, some sort of antihero ninja; The Wall; and Shadow; reminiscent to me of Shadowcat…) are robbed of their powers and made to fight for their nemesis’s amusement. As leverage, he has hostages around the entire city, and he can kill them or blow the place up. The villain is Rickshaw, and he is rather good at outsmarting the captive heroes in a game they can’t win…and he loves it. He reminds me of Joker….or maybe moreso Arcade. Are we meant to think of Jigsaw from Saw?
I digress…so, he instructs the heroes to pick their weapons and go to the first round. They fight two villains. A big shirtless guy with a Russian accent named Sledgeshaw, and a cannibalistic Uncle Sam caricature named Manpower. This is the only scene that feels particularly comic bookish. I liked it. But, maybe owing to the fact that it had heroes and villains more or less in costume, and Charge actually uses his ability, without giving away too much. Inexplicably, he still has his power...or some power from what I saw.
The rest of the movie is just Saw with Superheroes, with Rickshaw plotting games and trying to get the heroes to kill each other with tools he’s provided and using hostages as leverage. In one scene, Charge realizes it doesn’t matter…Rickshaw will kill the innocents whether they fight or not, so he decides to use a gun (with three bullets, one for each hero.) to kill three innocents and save themselves.
Well, the Wolverine-like Cutthroat protests. In another game, one of the hostages is revealed to be Cutthroat’s sister. Now, I know this is supposed to be an edgy thriller, but it does seem like Charge could’ve thought his way out of that one. Why not shoot non-lethally? I only say that because later this is exactly what he does to himself instead of shooting Shadow…kind of him to think of that then!
Anyway, for all it’s edginess, you do get a good sense of the relationships between the heroes. Hence my X-men analogy. The Wall would be like Colossus. Charge is like Cyclops personality-wise, but with the powers of Juggernaut. He takes charge. Both The Wall and Charge love Shadow…she’s the sensitive one who calls everyone by their first name, and acts like a damsel in distress. (So, Charge is Jon; Cutthroat is Ben; and The Wall is Charlie.) Stereotypical, but it moves the plot along quickly.
The last half of the movie as the heroes begin to kill off each other is rife with melodrama and romance as they avoid killing Shadow. Flashbacks are shown that supposedly heighten the relationships but they boil down to…two guys love Shadow, and Cutthroat hates Charge…hence my Wolverine analogy. (Fact: Lucas Till, who plays Cutthroat went on to play Havoc in X-men: First Class. (2011) Overall, my main problem with this movie is Charge…if he went through all that trouble to (slight spoiler!) spare Shadow…I dunno…why not make more of an effort to save innocents? He didn’t seem to care that it is was just part of Rickshaw’s scheme when it came to Shadow.
That and the melodrama…you really get a sense for the relationships, but it is two-dimensional. X-men is kinda like that, too…but they at least have more villains and thus more stories to go through…and fight for their rights. I suppose I should go easy on the movie. It is, after all, an independent film.
In conclusion, All Superheroes Must Die is both the title and the moral of the story...though I felt the moral was contrived: All superheroes must eventually compromise their moral characters…or make difficult moral decisions. Especially when there are budget limits! Heh heh! Given it’s small scale though, I think it did a good job… The movie had a good scenery-chewing villain, and built off of immediately identifiable superhero dynamics.
After first round though, when Charge discovers Rickshaw will kill innocents anyway, it loses steam… much like Charge does. I dunno, maybe some people like to see heroes lose. Still, I’ll give a nice 2.5/5 stars for this underappreciated superhero film. Not my kind of superhero movie, but it has it’s moments…and most of them involve Rickshaw, since he's so happy to be winning!
Yesterday, I played my first game of Heroclix. I used the Marvel starter set. If you’ve played D&D or Warhammer, it’s pretty much that with superheroes/pop culture miniatures. The one gimmick is that each miniature has a dial that you click to indicate when they take damage. Now, I love the premise of the game. Superhero fights are always (usually) on my mind, like any kid who grew up with fighting games/comics. But, it’s not particularly accessible for me…that doesn’t keep me from playing, I just have a friend help me turn the dial.
We played 2 games with this one 6-figure set. One 3-on-3 (Wolverine, Elektra, and Hobgoblin vs. Spiderman, Sabertooth, and Wasp.) and one 1-on-1 (Sabretooth vs. Wolverine.) Now, for those you who don’t play Warhammer or D&D, I’ll explain the game simply. Each figure has stats (Movement, Defense, Attack, Damage.) on it’s base.
You use these stats to play the game, along with dice, of course. For example, Wolverine in my starter set has 5 Movement 12 Defense and 1 Damage…but if you use his claws, his damage becomes 1d6. Anyway, all the figures have stats and powers like this. If you equal or surpass Wolverine’s Defense stat, you hit him, and deal the indicated damage on the figure’s base and click the dial. Neat stuff, but I never did click the dials. My buddy did.
He also set up the map and placed object tokens on it. Light objects increase damage by 1, and heavy objects (Only portable by characters with super strength!) increase damage by 2. In our first official game, it was basically a race to pick up the objects. Whereas I thought any team with Wolverine could win…the teams with Wolverine lost both times!
To be sure, once was due to bad strategy (I was fighting over a boulder with Spiderman and didn’t wanna spend all day playing catch with super strength.) And the second game, I won with Sabertooth because my buddy kept rolling badly! (It happens…but I got lucky.)
I hope I’ll learn how to click the dials soon. Another friend told me that sometimes they are hard to click, and each base can be different. So, perhaps I just don’t have the dexterity. Nonetheless, it is a game you play with a friend…so, in the event that I really can’t, I can either just have a friend do it, or make a mental note of the clicks in my head, possibly with a notepad. Practice makes perfect though. Just can’t wait to play again! 3/5 for fun, but there can be slight accessibility issues!
I like Heroclix because it’s a fun little strategy game to play with friends based on heroes! I would love to get more X-men, or a Professor X figure since he’s my favorite. I admit it’s not for everyone, but it’s still really cool! Though I do like the game so far without those pesky object tokens. Then, it just becomes a race to get them. It should be good physical therapy and great fun! Anyone know any cool sets with Oracle, Professor X, or other disabled heroes? Let me know!
“He... He only wanted you to be happy... Look what you've done to us, daddy.”
- Scarlet Witch to Magneto
I gotta say: I’m bored with DC Comics. It’s all about Batman vs., Superman right now, (Infinite Crisis, Batman vs. Superman movie, Injustice: Gods Among Us, Sacrifice, etc.) and they won’t even let Superman act like a hero. So, instead I’ve chosen to review a graphic novel that made me think: What would happen if Magneto suddenly got what he desired? This is the plot of House of M.
The X-men decide they have to kill Scarlet Witch as she lost control of her powers and killed several Avengers, including her husband Vision. To stop the X-men/Avengers from killing her she uses her reality-altering powers (Amplified by a mind-controlled Professor X to create a world where her dad Magneto gets everything he ever wanted. Mutants rule the Earth, and the Avengers are outcasts. But, this is not without good effects too. Peter Parker and M.J. are happily married and successful; Uncle Ben is alive, The Avengers are alive, several of The X-Men become Magneto’s elite Red Guard. Captain America walks on the moon to broker a tentative peace between mutants and humans.
But, beneath all that appears happy and successful and covered up by tabloids, Wolverine senses that the reality is false, because he’s had his mind wiped so many times before. He storms out on Mystique (who he’s married to.) and goes off to unite the other heroes, starting with Emma Frost, who also senses the reality is false and can convince others psychically. Wolverine fights past the elite guards, which notably includes Rogue and Nightcrawler as part of the Red Guard.
Eventually, Emma Frost (who’s happily married to Cyclops, and she lets him see reality.) runs into Layla Miller, a little girl who, unaffected by the reality-altering, still retains memories of the previous reality. Wolverine takes her to the Avengers’ hideout, where together they figure out this might have been Magneto’s work. See, the Avengers’ don’t have it so lucky. They are hunted by sentinels, like the X-men in the previous reality.
After that, Wolverine, Cyclops and Dr. Strange decide to crash a meeting of the world’s leaders, led by the House of M. Dr. Strange contacts Scarlet Witch, and of course, gets her to confess that she created this reality, and loses control. (With one special caveat I won’t reveal here!) But anyway, this comic just got me thinking in the midst of all this boring Batman vs. Superman stuff: How much good makes up for one evil? People were happy under mutant rule, but people were still oppressed. Is happiness really all that people seek, even under a dictatorship? What defines reality? This was some REAL philosophy to chew on rather than the old dichotomy between Justice and Revenge we see in DC Comics. It was refreshing: Of course, it all leads to a bigger plot which is a whole different beast (But, not Beast!) A vs. X! That’s how you do a vs. buildup!
Today, I saw The Wolverine. It was okay. It didn’t really have a hook though. It was just sort of like “Oh, hey, Logan…this guy hurt a bear. Wanna go beat him up and go to Japan to visit this Yoshida guy you saved in WWII?” And Wolverine thinks a bit…and he’s gruff, but then he says “One day…” and then flies to Japan with this girl Yuriko. While he’s there, he uncovers that Yoshida’s granddaughter Mariko is next in line to inherit the Yoshida Corporation which is actually the Black Ninja Clan. Yeah, I didn’t really follow either, but I think I got it.
What the movie lacked in hooks they made up for in cool fight scenes. See Wolverine fight: At a wedding, on a train, in laboratory rafters, in a Japanese love hotel. There are two in this movie. Overall, my sense of the movie is that in parts it tried to be Kill Bill. Weak story, good action scenes. Some funny moments. In short, a Marvel movie, but the acting is still better than The Dark Knight Rises. (Zing!)
One of the most frustrating things about this movie was (I felt.) the forced bonding moments between Mariko and Wolverine. They’re already being chased by a rival ninja clan…and those are good scenes! We don’t need to see Mariko and Wolverine having tea together or revisiting the place where Wolverine met Mariko’s grandfather that the beginning of the movie already told us about. Being chased by ninjas is enough reason to get along and make out if you want. So, that was a huge break in the action, and a huge distraction.
Another thing…you would expect this movie’s main villain to be Silver Samurai! No! He’s in there, but the main villainess you see throughout the movie is Viper. She can poison people. She’s basically a more hardcore version of Batman’s Poison Ivy with a snake theme instead of a floral theme. But anyway, although Silver Samurai is involved, I expected to see more of him. We are in Japan after all. Also, Viper steals Wolverine’s healing factor for a bit. (Yes, it’s one of those movies…)
Honestly, I don’t know why it’s so hard for Hollywood to make a good Wolverine movie. He’s one of the most powerful mutants there is. We don’t need to see him go through a personal crisis and wondering if he’s killing for the right reasons. Not only is that boring, but he’s BEING CHASED BY NINJAS. We know he’s killing to survive and protect Mariko! With Wolverine, I think not wanting to be chased by ninjas is a good enough motivation. Let him claw his way out!
Overall, the movie had great action! I just think the story was a little weak, and the character transformation was a little forced. Wolverine goes from being a bum with no powers, back to the way he was, and then back again. Nothing really changes or is particularly unexpected. If they would’ve played out the BEING CHASED BY NINJAS part a little more instead of turning into a character study, it could’ve been a great over the top action movie, instead of an average Marvel movie. Some characters are simple: Wolverine has claws and one-liners. That’s how I like him. He’s Wolverine!
That being said, I’m looking forward to Days of Future’s Past. But, was the Japan story really the setup you want for that huge of a sequel, based on a great comic, that unites two different X-men? I guess we’ll never know otherwise now, but I’m hoping Wolverine has no trouble killing in his next movie. Leave the ethics to the two Professor Xs! By the way, I rate this one 2.5/4 stars or a B-, but I’m biased and being lenient: I’m a Marvel guy.
My favorite types of videogames are beat-em-ups and fighting games. Very disability friendly. There are no complex puzzles (aside from maybe Special Moves.) to solve. You just jump right into the game and start being awesome. My favorite types of these games are often X-Men games. While browsing the Internet recently, I came across a list of the so-called top 10 X-men games. I won’t do that, since I can’t really think of 10 good X-Men games that weren’t crossovers with Capcom. In my mind, there are only two real contenders for good X-Men games. X-men Arcade and X-men: Children of The Atom.
X-Men: Children of the Atom was so good with character animation that they used the same sprites for games as recently as Marvel vs. Capcom 2. I already reviewed X-men Arcade, so now I’ll review X-men: Children of The Atom. Now, the game has like 10 characters. And for some reason, one of them is Ice Man. Ice Man wasn’t even in the 90s cartoon that much. At least, not regularly. The game also used the original voice actors from the 90s cartoon, which is cool.
As per usual, the game is obsessed with combos, and you can do super jumps, and meter-dependent “X-Moves” similar to Marvel vs. Capcom’s super moves. On my Dingoo system, these attacks are triggered by pressing L+R at the same time. No doubt in the arcades it was HP+HK. Other things I like about this game are that you can knock people to different parts of certain stages, which later X-men fighting games would follow. I love Ice Man’s cheesy lines like, “When I say chill out, I mean it!” and the fact the Colossus’s stage is besieged by sentinels. Spiral’s stage spirals downward! Little details like that are fun to me.
The game has two boss characters and unique endings for each character. One boss is Juggernaut. Magneto is the other one. (Both would show up later as playable characters in Marvel Super Heroes!) I do know that Ice Man, in his ending, stands around on a beach making ice sculptures to impress babes. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why Rogue wasn’t added until X-men vs. Street Fighter! Wasn’t this based on the cartoon?
Anyway, with it’s attention to details, cartoon sources, modern combo chains, and two-button super moves, this might be my favorite X-men fighting game! In my mind, there can’t be a top 10 because the rest of the games just aren’t that good, and/or are way to easy to get stuck in. Children of The Atom basically invented the modern fighting game before Killer Instinct or any of the Marvel-Capcom fighters.
And yes, I know Ice Man’s moves are cheap, but “cheap” is also accessible. The modern button-mashing in fighting games has it’s genesis in a game based on the Fatal Attractions comic storyline. If they had gone one step further, and added fatalities, Magneto might’ve been able to rip out Wolverine’s metal spine! Truly, this game was ahead of it’s time.
What do you think? Did I miss any good X-men fighting games/crossovers? What other games are there? Let me know. Comment away! Until next time…I think next week I should have some new comics to review. Mostly DC! Although I’m a Marvel guy! Stay tuned!
TRAILERS AND SPECULATIONS: THE WOLVERINE AND IRON MAN 3:
Listen, I’m a Marvel guy. And because all of the DC posts I’ve been doing lately, I feel I need to regain my Marvel cred. So, I’m just gonna do some posts about some Marvel movie trailers. Wolverine and Iron Man. First off, in the Iron Man trailer we see Iron Man on the ground after an explosion. The Mandarin swears to hurt those closest to him. Iron Man swears revenge, and then finally Pepper Pots shows up in an Iron Suit to rescue Iron Man. So…off-handedly, what does this tell me about the movie?
First, it tells me that the Mandarin is not the main villain. That’s misdirection. I have a shocking theory. This trailer is eerily similar to the Iron Man 1 trailers where he gets injured in Afghanistan and builds the suit. Only this time the suit can’t save him. Who advised him to make a profit from the suits? Obadiah Stone, who went behind Tony’s back to sell his tech to the very terrorists who captured him. Who did Tony leave as CEO in Iron Man 2? Pepper Pots. You think she’s just gonna give it up that easy? How will she make a profit, with access to Tony’s suits? So…wait for it! Pepper Pots sells Stark technology to a foreign enemy, against the U.S.; the Mandarin. That’s why Tony has to challenge Mandarin 1-on-1; so there’s no nuclear warfare.
But Pepper Pots: Think about it. She’s the ex-CEO, at least. She’s thinking about how to profit. That’s why Tony’s friends (and Stone was his friend!) keep betraying him. He can’t make a profit if he keeps the suit a secret. Also…should I say spoilers? They can repeat the betrayal plot because we’ve all but forgotten about Obadiah. Pepper gets a pass because she’s pretty, and the two were formerly romantically involved, which will make her betrayal sting more. In any case, Tony will have to confront her, unless he wants his tech constantly falling into the hands of foreign terrorists.
I have no clue if Tony will forgive and forget or throw Pepper out a window. But, after selling his suits behind his back “she gonna have some serious ‘splainin’” to do. Also, I think this movie might be based on Warren Ellis’s 2007 Extremis storyline, in which (spoilers?) some female scientist sells Stark tech to a white supremacist. Poor Tony. He just can’t keep friends! And of course, you could go the easy route and say that it’s Mr. Hammer who tried to sell Stark technology to Whiplash, a Russian terrorist, in Iron Man 2! No! If you’re gonna up the stakes, you can’t repeat the same plot! I know there’s betrayal in the works. If they really upped the ante, it just might be Pepper Pots. Maybe not. But, betrayal is in the works!
Now, The Wolverine trailers don’t give me much to work with. I know he goes to Japan and loses his powers. But, I think at this point we all know it’s some variant of the Japan storyline. Early trailers (6 secs.) show Logan on a pagoda rooftop with a katana. Could this be where he fights Silver Samurai? Either way, the other trailer I saw is an ADHD mess of Wolverine growling and mowing down ninjas like it’s Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon! Was I excited? Yes! After the disappointment of X-men Origins: Wolverine, I think Wolverine deserves a few canonically accurate action scenes.
Plus, the 3D shows him busting out his claws while surrounded by ninjas! I think there’ll be a lot of good action here. Ninjas aren’t none to fight alone. They’ll have buddies for Wolverine to mow down with his claws. And, IF Silver Samurai is involved, there’s going to be some fast-paced sword fights! In sum, I don’t expect Wolverine to be a pacifist in this one. There will be blood. And Hugh Jackman has even dropped hints that someone uncovers how to hurt Wolverine! (In some unspecified weakness! No powers?)
In conclusion, I think these movies will raise the stakes for both heroes. Tony will be betrayed again. Logan will be injured somehow, possibly to where he has to use a sword. (Wouldn’t that be cool? Ok, no, but for a while; yes!) After the Avengers, Marvel’s Phase 2 should be all about setting the bar higher. And I…really hope they have!
“Bruce Banner, I know thee to be a man of honor. I know thee to be a hero. The lives at stake are not your concern, not even human, but I ask you anyway. Be that hero now.”
- Thor to Dr. Bruce Banner
“Go for it, big guy! Tear this whole godforsaken place down to the ground! DO IT!”
- Wolverine telling Hulk to destroy the Weapon X facility
HULK VS. (2009):
First off, the movie is actually two different scenarios. One is Hulk vs. Thor. The other is Hulk vs. Wolverine. In one, Hulk is captured by Loki, and separated from Hulk by magic, so that Hulk can fight Thor. In the other, Hulk is rampaging in Canada and is kidnapped by Weapon X while fighting Wolverine. Both movies are excellent and have tons of superhero battling action. Though, again, maybe not for the 12 and under crowd.
In the first scenario, Hulk smashes into Asgard and punches Thor into the ground. Loki seems pleased with himself, and goes to pick up Thor’s hammer, but only Thor can wield it, and he zaps Hulk with a lightning storm. This knocks Loki out of Hulk and he becomes free of any control. Thor convinces Loki to let Dr. Banner back inside Hulk, or let Asgard be destroyed. Loki reluctantly accepts. If you know Norse mythology, you know the dead are held in Hel. (One l.) They find Dr. Banner there, where he has been put to sleep and made to believe he’s living a happy life. Loki convinces Hela (Queen of Hel.) that she needs both Banner and Hulk to actually kill him, so she let’s Thor talk to him, and Hela lets him know he’s in a dream, and Hulk is on the loose.
Meanwhile, Hulk destroys Odin’s Valkryies (all of whom are shown riding Pegasus; who’s actually Greek.) Asgard struggles with the Hulk, in some truly great Hulk SMASH action. The sorceress Amora transports Hulk to Hel. Once there, Thor talks Banner into snapping out of his happy dream. Bruce insults Hulk to get him to run at him, and then Loki casts the spell to rejoin their bodies and Hulk transforms back. There are several messages here for disability theory.
One of which, of course, is that we all must deal with the monster within. I already blogged about that in detail in my posts called “Fighting Monsters”. Check out those posts! The other message is that we, as disabled people, mustn’t confuse comfort with satisfaction. Sometimes, we need to wake up from a dream to make our lives actually improve, not just settle for happy illusions, but confront uncomfortable realities and conquer the fear of physical failure. Uncomfortable though it may be, we can rise above it, and make a difference.
In Wolverine’s part of the story, he’s tracking Hulk in Canada when they are ambushed by Weapon X, who wants to experiment on them and turn them into mindless weapons. Unlike Thor, Wolverine convinces Bruce to use his anger to strike out at the villains, and tells him to “stop crying”. The message here seems opposite as to what Thor says. Wolverine and Hulk have anger issues in common, but Wolverine knows anger is useful if you can focus it on a common threat. Anger can also form into passion.
Omega Red, Deadpool, and Lady Deathstrike make appearances. As well as Sabretooth, Wolverine’s old enemy. It’s funny to see the names Hulk gives them. Talking Man, Ugly Lady, etc. Hulk’s vocabulary is hilariously limited to Frankenstein talk. But, he does smash. As I warned before there’s some blood and violence. But if you’re ok with that, it’s a great flick. I was happy to get into some more intense superhero punching. They all take a beating, and it makes the Hulk look very strong and great; with of course some messages about mastering one’s emotions and strengths. And Hulk sure knows what he does best.…HULK SMASH!
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