CBR has the preview up for next weeks issue of Avengers Academy. Issue 35 hits comic shops August 15th. You can check out the preview here. It's part 2 in the four part Final Exam story arc.
Right off the bat, the preview itself explains the only minor questionable spot from issue 34. Apparently it's a delayed reaction to the how the "Clean Slate" was released in the lab. This preview also highlights and makes last issue highlight X-23's adaptability and situational awareness. Proving yet again that Gage and crew know what they are doing.
I for one can't wait to read the rest of the issue.
Friday, August 10, 2012
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Bryan Singer Confirms Days of Future Past.
An IGN interview with Bryan Singer, the producer on the majority of the Fox X-Men movies, has confirmed that the sequel to X-Men: First Class will indeed be called Days of Future Past.
Singer continued on and confirmed that director Matthew Vaughn will be returning for the sequel.
He also made brief mention of the potential to use this film to broaden the X-Men movie universe in ways similar to how Marvel has handled the Avengers multi-movie universe franchise.
Now what this could mean is many things.
What we do know is that Fox has several properties in the works that are connected to the X-Men. One that's the most vocal lately about having a future film has been The New Mutants. This alongside the Wolverine features gives them ample room for cameos and character interest building by using the future timeline. The potential is also there for Deadpool to be included in costume as he is meant to be.
So what does this mean for the possibilities within the sequel?
Well, we could see anyone from borderline any era in X-Men history, past and present. They could start to make audiences at large aware of The New Mutants characters for a future spin-off feature. They could include anyone from Academy X for the same reason. Cable has been much rumored to potentially make an appearance. X-23 could make an appearance, and with the entire future essence to the story, it opens up the door to let Summer Glau play her or they could opt to prep for an origin feature by casting a younger starlet to play the role. This would help prepare that character for her own film franchise and even tease for it. They could cameo Deadpool in costume, possibly even elaborate on how easy it would be to 'correct' X-Men Origins: Wolverine's take to still become the Deadpool fans have come to expect. This would also potentially help push along his own feature and create anticipation for it. We could see Sentinels, maybe even Nimrod or the XSE including Shard and Bishop. This being an alternate future also opens the door for Scott and Jean's daughter to be added to the cast. Really, the possibilities are endless. The only thing certain is that audiences are hungry for more expanded universe usage to wet their appetite and create anticipation for future films. This film can be used as a proving ground to gauge that interest and see which characters audiences at large are most interested in. I lean heavily on they should include X-23 in this as she'd also be a nod to the recent Wolverine and The X-Men animated series' take on the same idea. On the same token though, that could be said about Bishop, Shard, and Cable too. Cable also helps establish a potential Apocalypse story in a post X-Men 3 feature in the timeline. This also opens the door to seeing Patrick Stewart or Ian Mckellen to reprise their roles for the future timeline. That could also be used as a nod to the above mentioned animated series.
So far the only thing we do know story-wise is that the past side will take place in the 60s again(1963). Still roughly a decade away from when Scott Summers and Jean Grey joined the movie franchise's team, and still outright decades away from when Iceman would be able to join the team or Warren ever visiting the school. Though that too can be worked around thanks to the future storyline if they so tried. I'm just personally not sure if that would be worth the effort as it'd leave minimal room for the already established past timeline characters and potential future character spin-offs for new properties. We may also start to see potential character building for future X-Men franchise films though too. Like establishing a villian for the film universe that'll feature after the events of X-Men 3, but has been a steady growing threat since whichever prequel film they choose. Again, personally that's something I would save for the third prequel X-Men feature, and use the 2nd prequel instead to focus on established timeline characters and future characters to generate audience interest first. A third prequel feature, or possibly fourth would need to establish some minor things to pave the way for a post X-Men 3 feature by expanding on a handful of concepts like where Xavier learned about telepathic transplanting. A concept that's easy to explore by using Emma Frost of First Class to take possession of a younger diamond form, potentially that of Silverfox's sister from X-Men Origins: Wolverine sometime in the late 70s or 80s. This would allow her usage in modern films, and help create foreshadowing to the after credits scene of the third X-Men film. Beast is fine in the timeline now, as the serum he took in First Class has slowed his aging.
This film does have massive potential behind it though for any and all directions, and I look forward to seeing how it develops. Here's hoping that The Wolverine will also be taking these cues about establishing side details for use in future development. Like say someone taking a blood sample from Logan after they see his healing factor in usage against sword weilders. A sample they could sell on the black market that could potentially be developed into a certain side feature film that could very well interconnect into one of the characters from the Days of Future Past movie future roster.
Special thanks to Bleeding Cool for the heads up.
Singer continued on and confirmed that director Matthew Vaughn will be returning for the sequel.
He also made brief mention of the potential to use this film to broaden the X-Men movie universe in ways similar to how Marvel has handled the Avengers multi-movie universe franchise.
Now what this could mean is many things.
What we do know is that Fox has several properties in the works that are connected to the X-Men. One that's the most vocal lately about having a future film has been The New Mutants. This alongside the Wolverine features gives them ample room for cameos and character interest building by using the future timeline. The potential is also there for Deadpool to be included in costume as he is meant to be.
So what does this mean for the possibilities within the sequel?
Well, we could see anyone from borderline any era in X-Men history, past and present. They could start to make audiences at large aware of The New Mutants characters for a future spin-off feature. They could include anyone from Academy X for the same reason. Cable has been much rumored to potentially make an appearance. X-23 could make an appearance, and with the entire future essence to the story, it opens up the door to let Summer Glau play her or they could opt to prep for an origin feature by casting a younger starlet to play the role. This would help prepare that character for her own film franchise and even tease for it. They could cameo Deadpool in costume, possibly even elaborate on how easy it would be to 'correct' X-Men Origins: Wolverine's take to still become the Deadpool fans have come to expect. This would also potentially help push along his own feature and create anticipation for it. We could see Sentinels, maybe even Nimrod or the XSE including Shard and Bishop. This being an alternate future also opens the door for Scott and Jean's daughter to be added to the cast. Really, the possibilities are endless. The only thing certain is that audiences are hungry for more expanded universe usage to wet their appetite and create anticipation for future films. This film can be used as a proving ground to gauge that interest and see which characters audiences at large are most interested in. I lean heavily on they should include X-23 in this as she'd also be a nod to the recent Wolverine and The X-Men animated series' take on the same idea. On the same token though, that could be said about Bishop, Shard, and Cable too. Cable also helps establish a potential Apocalypse story in a post X-Men 3 feature in the timeline. This also opens the door to seeing Patrick Stewart or Ian Mckellen to reprise their roles for the future timeline. That could also be used as a nod to the above mentioned animated series.
So far the only thing we do know story-wise is that the past side will take place in the 60s again(1963). Still roughly a decade away from when Scott Summers and Jean Grey joined the movie franchise's team, and still outright decades away from when Iceman would be able to join the team or Warren ever visiting the school. Though that too can be worked around thanks to the future storyline if they so tried. I'm just personally not sure if that would be worth the effort as it'd leave minimal room for the already established past timeline characters and potential future character spin-offs for new properties. We may also start to see potential character building for future X-Men franchise films though too. Like establishing a villian for the film universe that'll feature after the events of X-Men 3, but has been a steady growing threat since whichever prequel film they choose. Again, personally that's something I would save for the third prequel X-Men feature, and use the 2nd prequel instead to focus on established timeline characters and future characters to generate audience interest first. A third prequel feature, or possibly fourth would need to establish some minor things to pave the way for a post X-Men 3 feature by expanding on a handful of concepts like where Xavier learned about telepathic transplanting. A concept that's easy to explore by using Emma Frost of First Class to take possession of a younger diamond form, potentially that of Silverfox's sister from X-Men Origins: Wolverine sometime in the late 70s or 80s. This would allow her usage in modern films, and help create foreshadowing to the after credits scene of the third X-Men film. Beast is fine in the timeline now, as the serum he took in First Class has slowed his aging.
This film does have massive potential behind it though for any and all directions, and I look forward to seeing how it develops. Here's hoping that The Wolverine will also be taking these cues about establishing side details for use in future development. Like say someone taking a blood sample from Logan after they see his healing factor in usage against sword weilders. A sample they could sell on the black market that could potentially be developed into a certain side feature film that could very well interconnect into one of the characters from the Days of Future Past movie future roster.
Special thanks to Bleeding Cool for the heads up.
A Few Random Thoughts on Avengers Academy Issue 34.
Well today in particular marks a special day. Today, August 2nd of 2012 is X-23's 9 year anniversary.
So let's see what Avengers Academy's issue from yesterday had ready for us. Being part 1 in the highly anticipated 4 part Final Exam story arc, it should be interesting. The issue does have a heavy focus on the original core team with White Tiger and X-23, but there were still some interesting and great X-23 moments to be seen.
X-23 and Finesse, a team-up unseen.
We're given a brief glimpse into these two in the savage land, with potentially more bonding than that behind the scenes. These are definitely stories I wish could have been explored more and it's a shame X-23's ongoing was canceled as it would have been the perfect place for that.
X-23's new costume.
As mentioned above, X-23's 9 year anniversary was the day after this issue was released. Whether it was accidental or not, her new costume is a nice gift for that date. It's a nice improvement, even borderline Future Foundation influenced in the design. Something that makes me curious to see how it would look in those black and white colors. I love the pallette choices for now though, but it's definitely a design that will work well with many different color pairings. This costume marks her 7th distinctly different costume. Her first being Innocence Lost Facility mission attire and the Target X variation thereof, the second was her commonly used athletic suit, her third was the variation on the Wolverine Fang costume, the 4th was her white and purple athletic attire as used in the Captain Universe oneshot, the 5th was her Academy X graduate suit, and the 6th is her X-Force costume alongside the minor X-Men variation it had. Counting the variations on these suits, this costume marks her 9th costume change not counting the full uni-power suit. Which is quite fitting as it has now been 9 years since the character debuted to the public through the first airing of her X-Men Evolution episode.
X-23 getting growly.
A little heavy on the animal nature which seems odd considering her history, but it also works in many ways because of the surprise and shock factor of the scenario. I was a little taken aback by how she didn't notice the scent difference with the "Clean Slate" but that can also be attributed to the fact she didn't have a prelim scent to base the environment off of, and even so her powers were slowly being negated once in the room anyway. This seems to create a logic issue though. If the room was pumped with the aerosol while they were there. She would have noticed, if the room wasn't, she wouldn't have known if Veil was lying or not. This I'll just attribute to the speed at which "Clean Slate" works with how it was distributed in the room as opposed to the pure aerosol sample that Hazmat dosed herself with. It could also be that X-23's training took over so she was looking for the tells of a lie and not basing it off of her abilities. This also fits with the dialogue moreso, but as would the tells if she were using her powers to detect them. It can go either direction.
X-23 without her healing factor.
This was punctuated quite well with both the Adamantium poisoning remark and the blood splatter when she pops her claws. We've also been given precedent on this with Wolverine back during Mutants vs Vampires when Cyclops used nanobots to turn off Logan's healing factor. So it's not that surprising that it worked here. X-23's healing factor has been the subject of many dependancy remarks going as far back as the Yost/Kyle usages of the character. It's going to be interesting to see how Gage and crew deal with Laura without that dependancy. Laura's always been one to step up to the plate even without it as seen in Circle of Four, but now we're given a chance for all her skill sets to truly shine without it in a more natural urban type environment she's accustomed to as opposed to magic where her training is somewhat lacking.
Overall there are also strong parallels between Final Exam and what's happening over in AvX. It raises the question of power corruption and arrogance alongside other concepts that play hand in hand with that when one party with alleged absolute betterment of mankind purposes wants to impose their will onto the world for what they think is best.
It's a decent kick-off to the Final Exam arc, and I look forward to reading more. With both Finesse and X-23 on the side of the angels, it should be interesting to see how this all plays out when they don't have their powers to rely on anymore. This is something both have had a tendency to depend on more than their training, and it should prove interesting to see how they adapt to the skillsets they have without that dependancy. All around it harkens back to some interesting classic Marvel nods, like when the Fantastic 4 temporarily lost their powers and had to adapt to a crisis without them. The same comparison can be made towards Spider-man who had to deal with similar once. Something X-23's costume itself somewhat alludes to with its Future Foundation Spider-man influences.
So let's see what Avengers Academy's issue from yesterday had ready for us. Being part 1 in the highly anticipated 4 part Final Exam story arc, it should be interesting. The issue does have a heavy focus on the original core team with White Tiger and X-23, but there were still some interesting and great X-23 moments to be seen.
X-23 and Finesse, a team-up unseen.
We're given a brief glimpse into these two in the savage land, with potentially more bonding than that behind the scenes. These are definitely stories I wish could have been explored more and it's a shame X-23's ongoing was canceled as it would have been the perfect place for that.
X-23's new costume.
As mentioned above, X-23's 9 year anniversary was the day after this issue was released. Whether it was accidental or not, her new costume is a nice gift for that date. It's a nice improvement, even borderline Future Foundation influenced in the design. Something that makes me curious to see how it would look in those black and white colors. I love the pallette choices for now though, but it's definitely a design that will work well with many different color pairings. This costume marks her 7th distinctly different costume. Her first being Innocence Lost Facility mission attire and the Target X variation thereof, the second was her commonly used athletic suit, her third was the variation on the Wolverine Fang costume, the 4th was her white and purple athletic attire as used in the Captain Universe oneshot, the 5th was her Academy X graduate suit, and the 6th is her X-Force costume alongside the minor X-Men variation it had. Counting the variations on these suits, this costume marks her 9th costume change not counting the full uni-power suit. Which is quite fitting as it has now been 9 years since the character debuted to the public through the first airing of her X-Men Evolution episode.
X-23 getting growly.
A little heavy on the animal nature which seems odd considering her history, but it also works in many ways because of the surprise and shock factor of the scenario. I was a little taken aback by how she didn't notice the scent difference with the "Clean Slate" but that can also be attributed to the fact she didn't have a prelim scent to base the environment off of, and even so her powers were slowly being negated once in the room anyway. This seems to create a logic issue though. If the room was pumped with the aerosol while they were there. She would have noticed, if the room wasn't, she wouldn't have known if Veil was lying or not. This I'll just attribute to the speed at which "Clean Slate" works with how it was distributed in the room as opposed to the pure aerosol sample that Hazmat dosed herself with. It could also be that X-23's training took over so she was looking for the tells of a lie and not basing it off of her abilities. This also fits with the dialogue moreso, but as would the tells if she were using her powers to detect them. It can go either direction.
X-23 without her healing factor.
This was punctuated quite well with both the Adamantium poisoning remark and the blood splatter when she pops her claws. We've also been given precedent on this with Wolverine back during Mutants vs Vampires when Cyclops used nanobots to turn off Logan's healing factor. So it's not that surprising that it worked here. X-23's healing factor has been the subject of many dependancy remarks going as far back as the Yost/Kyle usages of the character. It's going to be interesting to see how Gage and crew deal with Laura without that dependancy. Laura's always been one to step up to the plate even without it as seen in Circle of Four, but now we're given a chance for all her skill sets to truly shine without it in a more natural urban type environment she's accustomed to as opposed to magic where her training is somewhat lacking.
Overall there are also strong parallels between Final Exam and what's happening over in AvX. It raises the question of power corruption and arrogance alongside other concepts that play hand in hand with that when one party with alleged absolute betterment of mankind purposes wants to impose their will onto the world for what they think is best.
It's a decent kick-off to the Final Exam arc, and I look forward to reading more. With both Finesse and X-23 on the side of the angels, it should be interesting to see how this all plays out when they don't have their powers to rely on anymore. This is something both have had a tendency to depend on more than their training, and it should prove interesting to see how they adapt to the skillsets they have without that dependancy. All around it harkens back to some interesting classic Marvel nods, like when the Fantastic 4 temporarily lost their powers and had to adapt to a crisis without them. The same comparison can be made towards Spider-man who had to deal with similar once. Something X-23's costume itself somewhat alludes to with its Future Foundation Spider-man influences.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Preview: Avengers Academy Issue 34
Avengers Academy Issue 34 was released at comic shops today. You can check out the preview for it over on CBR. This issue starts the Final Exam story arc.
So be sure to go pick up your copy today!
So be sure to go pick up your copy today!
MvC3 Minimates Round 3 Hitting Store Shelves Soon!
According to Art Asylum, the next wave of the MvC3 minimates will be hitting store shelves soon.
Special thanks to Toyark for the heads up!
After two rounds, Diamond Select Toys has still not decided who the winner is in their Marvel vs. Capcom Minimates line. Now it’s time for the third and final round! Series 3 hits comic shops this week, and will be coming to Toys “R” Us shortly, and DST has put together a series of exhibition bouts to show off the new characters’ moves! In a new photo shoot, DST has pitted Marvel characters against Capcom characters based on Series 3’s two-pack pairings.
That card includes:
- - Captain America vs. Ryu
- - Doctor Doom vs. Wesker
- - She-Hulk vs. Chun Li (specialty market exclusive)
- - X-23 vs. Felicia (specialty market exclusive)
- - MODOK vs. Akuma (Toys “R” Us exclusive)
- - Thor vs. Amaterasu (Toys “R” Us exclusive)
Each Minimate stands 2 inches tall with 14 points of articulation and character-specific accessories. Check out the gallery here, and pick up your specialty sets this week!
Special thanks to Toyark for the heads up!
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