The Fantastic Four teleported to an alternate universe, which changed them at the physical level in some very unexpected ways. Dr Michio Kaku gives his own take on the science of inter-dimensional travel (and a few other topics) in this brief set of videos about the new movie.
There is a third trailer for the reboot of the Fantastic 4. And I believe this is the first time we get to see Victor Doom on the big screen, their longest running enemy. It will be in theaters in August, and I will be there to see it.
The pick this week is obviously the latest release from Marvel, Ant-Man. It brings everybody’s favorite mad scientist, Dr. Hank Pym, to the big screen for the first time, although interestingly enough they chose a story in which Hank wasn’t the Ant-Man himself. Since Dr. Pym was a founding member of The Avengers, there will be some serious Avengers connectivity here, although it will be interesting to see where they go with it. After all, in different guises he was both a Super Hero and Super Villain, as his mind got warped by the mental changes induced by his various super-suites. One of the risks of being a true Mad Scientist, after all.
While that one is my first choice, there is a second movie I feel compelled to see this weekend. Mr. Holmes has Ian McKellen as a retired Sherlock Holmes grappling with an unsolved case involving a beautiful woman. This looks like an good story with some quality acting and production values, and shares something with the first film; Marvel. McKellen plays Magneto, Robert Downey Jr plays Iron Man, and Benedict Cumberbatch will be playing Dr Strange for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and now all three of them have played the iconic Sherlock Holmes.
Finally, it looks like DC is ready to challenge Marvel for the Group Superhero Team Championship. Yes, I know I had recently said that about the whole prime-time character set they had put together for the movie Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the film where we get to see a major chunk of the Justice League for the first time. After all, they really were DC Comics most popular super-group, and the only possible opponents in theaters against the Marvel Avengers franchise. But they just up-leveled the entire process by putting together their own small-screen challengers to Agents of Shield, a series that features a lot of lesser known but just as important characters from both the Inhumans and S.H.I.E.L.D. story lines. How could DC Comics possibly go up against them? With Legends of Tomorrow, which feature Arrow, Flash, Atom, White Canary, Hawkgirl, and a few more, out to save not a city, but the world. I particularly like the fact that they brought in Doctor Who companion Rory as Rip Hunter, the Time Traveler who put the team together. Thanks to Topless Robot for the links to the videos!
This is the week when Avengers: Age of Ultron hits the big screen, and I will definitely be in the theater to see it. The word came from Chris Evens (Captain America) earlier today that they have already set up the shooting schedule for Avengers: Infinity War, filming the two part movies back to back over 9 months beginning in the fall of 2016. Part one will be out in May of 2018, part 2 in May 2019. Also they started filming on Captain America: Civil War today as well. That film will be near-Avengers in scope, including the return of Iron Man, Falcon, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and the Winter Solder, and giving us the new characters Black Panther and Scarlet Witch.
If you are up for a marathon, AMC Theaters, Showcase Theaters, Regal Theaters, and Cinemark (and probably others I didn’t find) are running 27 hours worth of Marvel titles back-to-back for the new Avengers premier. You start at 6PM Wednesday give or take a few minutes, and finish with the 7PM showing of the latest one Thursday evening, like so:
6:00pm IRON MAN
8:25pm THE INCREDIBLE HULK
10:35pm IRON MAN 2
1:00am THOR
3:10am CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER
5:30am THE AVENGERS
8:48am IRON MAN 3
11:15am THOR: THE DARK WORLD
1:45pm CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER
4:20pm GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
7:00pm AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON
Obviously the one that caught my eye was Guardians of the Galaxy, which has not been part of the Avengers filmography. This may be confirmation that there will be a film where the two teams meet, or perhaps it is Marvel/Disney figuring that film was popular enough they can sell out the theaters even though it isn’t new.
This came out a while ago, but I had a chance to post it finally and thought that I should do so. It will be on the big screen in only a couple of weeks at this point, and I am quite excited to see how well they do with this one.