Comic Book TV recap (2/13/2017 - 2/16/2017)

The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow are taking a week off, presumably for Valentine's Day.

Supergirl: "Luthors" - After showing some of Lena Luthor's backstory, Lena is accused of helping Metallo break out of jail, while Kara and her team feel sure she's innocent. Thing is, with Lena's mother pulling strings, Lena's public image isn't so good.

Agents of SHIELD: "The Man Behind the Shield" - Coulson, Daisy and Mack invade the base of Anton Ivanov to rescue director Mace. Anton is targeting Coulson because he believes him to be responsible for alien invasions. There is also a flashback story of when Coulson and Agent May first crossed paths with Ivanov. However, with AIDA around the base, can the SHIELD team be careful enough?

Arrow: "Spectre of the Gun" - After an unexpected shooting at City Hall, Oliver has to take action on gun violence. In flashback, we see what made Rene become Wild Dog.

Legion: "Chapter 2" - David and his new friends explore his memories. Many more questions arise and few answers are given. I know I'm not giving many details, but given the schizophrenic pacing of the episodes so far, it's difficult to say much about the plot without dropping major spoilers. My suggestion is to watch each episode twice, focus as much as you can. If you can use headphones, do it.

Powerless: "Sinking Day" - Van attempts to get promoted to the Gotham office with a pitch for products Emily's developed for Atlanteans. When he claims to have Aquaman attending a party for an Atlantean holiday, the Atlantean team asks to attend. Emily's staff believes a fellow employee to be a local superhero.

Riverdale: "The Last Picture Show" - Cheryl spots Hermione Lodge with what seems to be an unsavory character. Jughead works to save the drive-in movie theater. Betty and Veronica discover Miss Grundy's relationship with Archie and find that she has quite the history, Betty confiscating a gun found in Grundy's car.

Thor - This was the first of two movies in the MCU released in 2011, the second year Marvel Studios released two films in a year. That was their plan, but they weren't able to keep it up until 2013 and have been doing that ever since, now bumping their slate up to three films a year this year.

This one had the unenviable task of introducing Thor to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Thor in the original comics was a man named Donald Blake who found a stick in a cave and striking it three times, it gave him the appearance and power of the legendary Norse god Thor, the stick becoming his hammer Mjolnir. Eventually, the comics revealed that Asgard was an actual place, and eventually rewrote it that Donald Blake was actually Thor in exile the entire time. It got complicated as the comics eventually tried to make it so Donald and Thor were different people.

The movie streamlines it by having Donald and Thor nearly unrelated, with Donald Blake being entirely offscreen. When Frost Giants invade Asgard during Thor's (Chris Hemsworth) coronation, Thor, his brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and the Warriors Three and Lady Sif use the Bifrost to attack Jotunheim. Being stopped and reproached by Odin (Anthony Hopkins), Thor is banished to Midgard, also known as Earth, where he encounters researcher Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) and her team. Thor has to learn how to be worthy of his hammer again before he can return to Asgard, hopefully in time to save it from the schemes of Loki who orchestrated the Frost Giant invasion so he can take the throne.

Personally, I love this attempt to reconcile the grounded world of the MCU which had previously worked with technology and science with the fantastic realms of Asgard, reinterpreting the myth of Yggdrasil as a cosmic nimbus connecting the realms, which can be easily accessed via the Bifrost. Thor acts as a fish out of water, putting a spin on stories like The Wizard of Oz in which a normal person visits a fantastic world, this time being a fantastic character going to a normal world.

So, does it work? I've yet to see a compelling reason as to why it doesn't. There's a clear plot: Loki, being told since childhood that he will always be in Thor's shadow, conspires to get Thor out of the way. Thor has to address his own shortcomings, so there's also some good character development going on. Add to that a healthy dose of action, fantastic visuals, some excellent music and you got yourself a good time.

Captain America: The First Avenger - Captain America was one of the first Marvel heroes created by legends Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, and had already been the subject of three live action subjects: a 1944 film serial that costume design and name aside, had nothing to do with the character; a pair of 1979 CBS TV movies that served as a pilot for a never-realized series that were loosely based on the character; and a 1990 movie faithfully adapted the character with its slim budget, but was nothing spectacular.

The First Avenger takes quite a few cues from the revised version of the character seen in Marvel's alternate Ultimate universe. Instead of being a kid Cap recruits as his partner, Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) is now the longtime friend of Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), who continually tries to get drafted to fight in World War II despite his clear physical limitations until someone decides to make him the guinea pig of an experiment to enhance soldiers, turning him from a scrawny little guy into a physically perfect soldier. Instead of having a secret identity as in the original Simon/Kirby comics, Steve openly works with the military as in the Ultimate comics.

The movie has its own twist by having Steve begin his post-serum career as a mascot for the armed forces, intending to encourage goodwill, until he discovers Bucky's regiment has been either killed or captured and—with help from SSR Agent Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell)—he breaks away from the army to rescue the captive soldiers, including Bucky, but runs afoul of Johann Schmidt, the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving), the head of just divorced from the Nazis scientific group HYDRA.

The movie is directed by Joe Johnston, who also directed 1991's The Rocketeer, which also featured a WWII-era world with a good old American guy using a special weapon to fight Nazis. Also, both movies are a lot of fun with some great special effects when you decide you can enjoy them. I've heard criticisms that movie was nothing more than a prequel to The Avengers as it establishes the Tesseract, which comes up again in that movie, as well as introducing Captain America. But honestly, it's a story worth telling. Steve Rogers begins as a man who believes he has nothing to lose and wants to help fight in the war, then later, he discovers he actually does have something to lose, and has to decide to give it up for the good of the world. It's not about how a man became a hero: it's about how he always was a hero and how he was able to put that drive to good use.

The Avengers - The sixth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe capped off "Phase One," the first over-arcing storyline. Each of the previous movies told its own story but was also leading to this one. The original comics had several Marvel heroes meet up and decide to work together, but the movies take after the Ultimate comics version and have the organization of the Avengers be under the supervision of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Following from Thor, Loki (Tom Hiddleston) has met with a mysterious alien who has equipped him with a spear that grants him control of people's minds. He infiltrates S.H.I.E.L.D. and captures the Tesseract along with Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) and Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård). S.H.I.E.L.D. calls in Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) to bring in Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo, replacing Edward Norton from The Incredible Hulk) as Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) convinces Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) warms up Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) for the mission. Meanwhile, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is on the lookout for his brother.

The movie works not by having the Avengers work as a whole but by having them address why they don't easily work together. About midway through the movie, the team manages to capture Loki, but their personalities clash with each other in a way that ends disastrously, forcing the heroes to finally pool what they can offer to stop Loki's plot and recover the Tesseract.

Taking on a movie like this was ambitious, but Marvel wisely laid their groundwork and got good storytelling. Someone who hadn't seen the previous five films is given enough information about the characters that they can go in blindly and still understand the story. Seeing all the previous films only enhances the experience. An exciting, stirring, well-paced film, what more can you ask for?

Comic Book TV recap (2/6/2017 - 2/9/2017)

As Gotham and Lucifer take an extended break, Legion debuts this week.

Supergirl: "The Martian Chronicles" - M'gann realizes a white Martian is after her and she and J'onn discover it has breached the DEO. It's disguised as someone there, but who?

The Flash: "Untouchable" - Wally practices phasing through solid objects as a new villain arrives who can cause items to rapidly decay, including people. And he has his eyes set on the West family...

Legends of Tomorrow: "Turncoat" - The Legion of Doom brainwashes Rip to kill George Washington. The Legends recognize this as a trap and try to stay one step ahead of them. To make matters worse, all power on the Waverider has shut down, including Ray's suit while he's shrunk and Firestorm can't merge. Rip boards the ship, intent on getting a piece of the Spear of Destiny, and now altered by the Legion of Doom, he isn't afraid to take out anyone in his way.

Agents of SHIELD: "BOOM" - As Coulson meets the woman who AIDA is based on, Radcliffe's goals for the Darkhold and the LMDs becomes clear. Daisy and director Mace deal with a new Inhuman who causes explosions.

Arrow: "Bratva" - Arriving in Russia, Oliver and Team Arrow run into a face from Oliver's past who ends up compelling Oliver to take on a rival of his. But how can they do this and retain their status as heroes?  Meantime, Rene Ramirez (Wild Dog, played by Rick Gonzalez) and Quentin work together to prepare for a media interview after Quentin's trying times recently.

Legion: "Chapter 1" - David Haller (Dan Stevens) is in an institution for his schizophrenia, but it doesn't seem that simple as David finds himself slipping into realities that exist wholly in his mind and having telekinetic fits. This first episode of eight begins to tease what is going on with David with some very cinematic visuals.

Riverdale: "Body Double" - Archie tells the police that he heard the gunshot that supposedly killed Jason. Betty convinces Jughead to get involved with investigating the mystery. After being made the latest victim of a cruel slut-shaming prank, Veronica rallies the girls to refuse to accept this treatment. Betty plots revenge.

Powerless: "Wayne Dream Team" - Van Wayne bemoans that he isn't in the "Wayne Dream Team" photo and attempts to fix it. Emily feels that her coworkers' obsession with a superhero fantasy league website is interfering with productivity and reports the situation to HR, causing an intense filter software to be activated on all work computers. Just hope no one discovers that Emily is responsible...

Justice League Dark - The latest DC animated movie finds members of the main Justice League finding civilians seeing other people as demons and attacking them. Sensing that there might be something strange afoot, Batman seeks the help of mystical powered heroes: John Constantine, Zatanna, Deadman, Swamp Thing and Etrigan the Demon to solve the mystery of what's going on.

This one's very good in showing how this team works together as well as weaving a good plot and introducing who these characters are. Good one, DC.

Deadpool - Last year's R-rated super anti-hero hit was one of the best Marvel movies ever made. And it was from 20th Century Fox. Budgeted extremely low at $55 million, it became Fox's highest-grossing Marvel-based movie ever (not adjusted for inflation). And it's easy to see why, it openly embraces its origins—although the origin story and some characters are altered—and has a great time with it with humor and energy the audience can easily pick up on.

The film introduces us to Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds), a mercenary who falls in love with a woman named Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), but when he discovers he has extensive cancer, he tries an experimental cure offered by a secret organization led by Ajax (Ed Skrein) or—as Wade discovers his birth name—"Francis." After mutating with enhanced healing and regenerative powers and becoming horribly disfigured, Wade escapes, donning a red bodysuit and going by "Deadpool." Afraid to confront Vanessa, Deadpool hunts down Ajax, ending in an action-packed finale co-starring not one, not three, not ten, but two X-Men!

The Invincible Iron Man - This animated film (from the Marvel/Lionsgate partnership) offers a somewhat different take on Iron Man's origin. Tony Stark and James Rhodes investigate stolen shipments of weapons by Stark Industries. Being captured by a cult who are trying to bring the return of the Mandarin, Tony and Rhodey have to build a suit of armor to escape. But back in New York, Tony discovers that odds are stacked against him. Sneaking into his own company, Tony makes use of several armored suits to prevent the return of the Mandarin.

The animation is serviceable, these were really to tell a story rather than to stun. The big problem with these animated Marvel movies is that they don't really do a good job of introducing the characters. These are better enjoyed by people who already know the characters, which limits the audience.

Iron Man - Okay, NOW we're talking! This is the first movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel Studios decided to hang onto the rights to the characters that they still had and create an interconnected universe with them. The first two movies were released in 2008.

Careless playboy genius and weapons manufacturer Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is critically injured and captured by a terrorist organization in Afghanistan. Now living with an implant in his chest to keep shrapnel from reaching his heart, Tony is forced to make a weapon for them. However, he secretly builds an iron suit that he eventually uses to escape. Returning home, Tony has a new outlook on life that sets a new direction for his company and his personal activities. However, there was more to Tony's capture than he realized and he'll have to suit up again.

Being Marvel Studios' first big movie, it's strange how much it seemed to be just another Marvel character adapted successfully for the big screen like Spider-Man or X-Men but was actually preparing for the larger MCU, specifically introducing in a small way an organization called S.H.I.E.L.D.. They weave a good story around Tony and the villain of the story, pace the action of the movie perfectly, and do some really beautiful shots. Although I do like starting my MCU re-watches chronologically with Captain America: The First Avenger, it was nice to take Iron Man on its own and appreciate what they'd done.

The Incredible Hulk - This one is kind of the black sheep of the MCU. It is not quite as fun as the other MCU films, Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) was recast before he appeared in the series again, and add in that the movie is the only MCU film not outright owned by Marvel Studios. None of the characters aside from Bruce reappear until Captain America: Civil War. Still, it shares with its predecessor a lot of beautifully done shots and good pacing.

Bruce Banner is hiding out in South America, trying to keep a low profile as he tries to work remotely with another scientist to find a cure to the gamma radiation (and unbeknownst to him, an attempt to recreate the super soldier serum that created Captain America). However, Col. Thaddeus Ross (William Hurt) is on the lookout for Banner, but strikes by the armed forces cause Bruce to turn into a huge, green muscled rage-fueled monster of a man. Bruce makes his way to New York where he reunites with his girlfriend Betsy Ross (Liv Tyler), but when a special operative named Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) tries to recreate Bruce's accident to become more powerful than Bruce's alter-ego, Bruce realizes that the answer is not to seek a cure, but to embrace it.

There's a bit where the army uses a S.H.I.E.L.D. database and Tony Stark himself pops up right before the end credits, but the effects of The Incredible Hulk on the MCU seem to be slight, but with word that Betsy Ross might reappear in Avengers: Infinity War and General Ross having returned to the MCU recently, perhaps it might get more love soon. Don't write it off.

Iron Man 2 -  The sequel to Iron Man and the third entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe gets a lot of negative criticism from fans. It builds on Tony and his relationships with Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), James "Rhodey" Rhodes (now played by Don Cheadle). The main plot is to celebrate a new period of global peace, Tony revives the Stark Expo. However, the government wants to weaponize the Iron Man armor, but Tony doesn't want to turn it over. Enter competitor HammerTech, run by Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), who enlists the help of Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke) who has a vendetta against Stark after Tony's father had his own father deported. To top things off, the palladium core in Tony's arc reactor in his chest is slowly poisoning him. Oh, and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) are keeping a close eye on him.

A lot of criticism has come from the movie introducing Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) who gets hired as Tony's assistant Natalie Rushman as well as the reappearance of S.H.I.E.L.D., claiming this takes away from Tony's story. However, I respectfully disagree as I feel Tony's story in the film is told well enough, and S.H.I.E.L.D. and Natasha take up relatively little of the just over 2 hour runtime of the movie.

That said, the movie probably comes off a lot better now that I'm watching it as part of an ongoing series. I didn't watch the movie in theaters, and by the time I had a better idea of how to appreciate it after my initial DVD viewing, it was four years later. The stuff with Tony's dad which felt pointless to audiences in 2010 winds up paying off as we meet Howard Stark in Captain America: The First Avenger, seeing him again in Ant-Man and Captain America: Civil War as well as the Agent Carter TV series. And the plot with the government wanting Tony to turn over his technology to them or create an equivalent is cast into a new light when the senator demanding it is revealed to be a secret member of HYDRA in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. So, as the sequel to Iron Man, it may disappoint, but as a chapter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it does the job very well.

Comic Book TV recap (1/30/2017 - 2/2/2017)

The lineup of DC shows expands this week with Powerless on NBC. Gotham and Lucifer will be going on hiatus after this week.

Supergirl: "We Can Be Heroes" - As Mon-El finishes preparing to be a superhero, Livewire returns. During a standoff with her, Kara discovers that James is Guardian. J'onn assists M'gann when she goes catatonic and relives her life on Mars in her dreams. Both James and Mon-El go after Livewire, trying to prove themselves to Kara. As it turns out, Livewire isn't their biggest problem.

Gotham: "The Gentle Art of Making Enemies" - Eddie confronts Oswald about killing Isabelle. Jerome kidnaps Bruce to kill him in front of his cult, but luckily, Jim and Alfred are not far behind, and Bruce has a trick or two up his own sleeve.

Lucifer: "A Good Day to Die" - In order to save Chloe, Lucifer has to take an emergency trip to Hell, where he winds up having to face his own demons.

The Flash: "Dead or Alive" - When Gypsy—a law enforcer from Earth-19—arrives to collect HR for punishment, Team Flash rallies around him, with Gypsy agreeing that she will face off against Cisco as to whether or not she'll take HR with her. Iris and Wally team up to take down a gang, despite the better thoughts of Barry and Joe.

Legends of Tomorrow: "The Legion of Doom" - Malcolm Merlyn and Damian Darhk try to get Rip to open a vault they hope holds the spear and also try to discover the reason of Eobard Thawne's erratic behavior. In fact, so are the Legends as they try to make some adjustments to the ship. Dr. Stein is forced to confront his daughter about her origins as a time aberration.

Agents of SHIELD: "Hot Potato Soup" - Radcliffe (the real one) and one of the Koening brothers are captured by Anton Ivanov in a plot to get the Darkhold. SHIELD is also on the case. A few twists, some extra details about LMDs in the MCU, and what seems to be terrible losses for SHIELD occur.

Arrow: "Second Chances" - Curtis discovers Tina Boland, who was affected by the particle accelerator accident in the first season of The Flash who has a sonic scream, and they track her down to hopefully invite her to become the new Black Canary. Felicity meets a hacktivist who was inspired by her as they work to get Diggle out of jail.

Riverdale: "A Touch of Evil" - As more details of Jason's death emerge, suspicion runs in Riverdale with several accusations being flung around loosely. Keep your eyes open for very classic Archie moments.

Powerless: "Wayne or Lose" - Emily Rose (Vanessa Hudgens) starts work at Wayne Security under Van Wayne (Alan Tudyk) in Charm City, which regularly  experiences supervillain attacks and of course, super-standoffs. Their job? Creating new products to help people in this world deal with living with that reality. When Bruce Wayne announces the closing of the company, Emily encourages the team to make a last ditch effort to create something new to make Bruce reconsider. A very fun new series.


So, as I try to wrap up watching more live action Marvel properties, here's a couple more:

Man-Thing - The mysterious man-turned monster who guards the Nexus of Realities in the Everglades is turned into a simple man-turned swamp monster who kills a large number of people as the new sheriff tries to figure out what to do. There's barely any actual character development. They tease the mystery, but basically, the monster is mad about a factory in the swamp. It could not be more of a basic monster horror movie. This is definitely one of the worst Marvel movies.

Generation X - 1996 brought yet another TV Marvel movie that was supposed to be a pilot for a TV show that didn't get picked up. Generation X was an X-Men spinoff comic about a group of mutants taught by Emma Frost and Banshee/Sean Cassidy at an academy in Massachusetts.  The TV movie puts it back at the Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters and changes out some of the younger mutants for new ones that would be more budget-friendly. The team of misfits bonds in an admittedly nice Marvel style where they function through dysfunction, but the plot they're saddled with—taking on a man who has found a way to crack into the "Dream Dimension," intending to profit by placing advertising—is less than impressive. Fans were also rightfully outraged that fan favorite mutant Jubilee was not depicted as Asian but played by a white actress. I guess X-Men fans should check it out to see how it eventually led to the X-Men movies (the same building is used for Xavier's school), but it's not very good on its own.

Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD -  David Hasselhoff stars in this first attempt to bring SHIELD to live action. Nick Fury is called out of retirement to help SHIELD take down the plots of HYDRA, who threaten to release a deadly virus on Manhattan unless they receive one billion dollars. Story is pretty basic, but it introduces a lot of fun concepts of SHIELD. The acting is pretty hammy and the proceedings never rise above the expectations of a late 90s TV movie, which is what it is. Fans of Marvel who want to see the various film and TV incarnations should give it a watch, but few will be returning for seconds.

X-Men, X2: X-Men United, and X-Men: The Last Stand - After some these other Marvel movies, watching these again was a nice change of pace. Coming after Blade, but before Spider-Man, the X-Men series was the first to try to embrace the comic book nature of the X-Men while not being too silly or goofy. The trilogy follows a main group of the X-Men: Wolverine (played by Hugh Jackman and is depicted as a newcomer to the group), Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, Rogue, Iceman, and (in the last film) Kitty Pryde, led by Professor X. As the world fears mutants, Professor X with his "School for Gifted Youngsters" and the X-Men work to better relationships between regular humans and themselves. However, Magneto and his brotherhood of Mutants (featuring the shape-shifting Mystique) believe that mutants are the successor race to humanity, and for peace, humanity must either be subjugated, forced to mutate or wiped out.

The first two films are very good, the second being considered one of the best superhero films of all time, having good character development and action along with a good story. The third one gets a pretty bad rap, though it keeps up with the action, but planned as the final installment of the trilogy, goes too heavy with character death when it should've focused on the return of Jean Grey as a super-powerful telekinetic mutant calling herself the Phoenix. It also works in a plot about a "cure" for mutants. Overall, I'd say it's not bad, but it's just not as good as the other two.

The Amazing Spider-Man (1977) - This was the first pilot movie for the CBS Amazing Spider-Man television show, which only ran for thirteen episodes. It featured Nicholas Hammond as newspaper photographer and scientist Peter Parker, who gets the ability to climb walls after being bitten by a spider that has become radioactive from the experiments of Peter and his lab partners, which he uses to fight crime. For those familiar with later versions of Spider-Man, there is no Uncle Ben here. While mastering his powers and gaining recognition as Spider-Man, Peter helps the police foil a plot that sees several people of New York inexplicably commit suicide.

Apparently, Stan Lee did not like the series and called it a "total nightmare." It's believed he's preventing it from getting a DVD release, though I'm wary of that claim. It didn't seem any worse than the versions of The Incredible Hulk, Captain America and Dr. Strange that also aired on CBS. More likely broad market appeal isn't expected since the series would require four or five discs (vs. the one-off DVDs for Dr. Strange and Captain America and the big fanbase of The Incredible Hulk) and many people would likely prefer more recent versions of Spider-Man. Luckily for the curious, the pilot movie and some other episodes can be seen on YouTube.

Comic Book TV recap (1/23/2017 - 1/26/2017)

Switching the name as non-superhero but still comic book show Riverdale debuts this week! Legends of Tomorrow has been moved to after The Flash on Tuesday.

Supergirl: "Supergirl Lives" - Winn is deeply affected when a crook gets the drop on him while assisting Guardian. Kara and Mon-El investigate some disappearances and discover an alien kidnapping plot to send people to be sold as slaves on an alien planet. With a red sun. Where Kara and Mon-El are powerless.

Gotham: "Smile Like You Mean It" - Gordon discovers that a former Indian Hill scientist is working on reviving Jerome (Gotham's take on the Joker) and face a cult formed around the serial killer. Selina deals the fact that her mother returned just for a payout from Bruce. Penguin realizes Barbara is not on his side.

Lucifer: "Love Handles" - Lucifer tries to discover the reason why Chloe is infatuated with him as they investigate a designer lethal poison on a college campus.

The Flash: "Borrowing Problems from the Future" - Barry confides with his friends about his vision of the future in which Iris was killed by Savitar and they begin working to change the future. Wally strives to become a recognized hero as Kid Flash. Julian joins Team Flash as Caitlin asks him to help her get rid of her Killer Frost powers.

Legends of Tomorrow: "Raiders of the Lost Art" - The Legends discover that Rip used a piece of the Spear of Destiny to be displaced in time and find him directing a student film in 1967, being pursued by Malcolm Merlyn and Damian Darhk. Rip used the spear to alter his identity and his prop master is one George Lucas...

Agents of SHIELD: "Wake Up" - Agent May struggles to get free from Aida and Radcliffe while her LMD replacement discovers that she's programmed to not reveal her identity. The Senator Fitz

Arrow: "Who Are You?" - Oliver and Company meet a surprisingly resurrected Laurel Lance, only to discover that she's actually Black Siren from Earth-2, working with Prometheus. This leads them to question what to do about the Black Canary's legacy. Curtis deals with his life now that his partner has left him.

Riverdale: "The River's Edge" - Riverdale opens as a reimagining of the Archie mythos as school begins again and Veronica Lodge comes to town. Taking its tone from Teen Wolf, a central plotline is the death of Jason Blossom during the summer. Also involving the classic Betty and Veronica love triangle, this show looks pretty promising.

I forgot to talk about the animated movies I checked out during the break. The Marvel/Lionsgate animated movies and the current crop of Marvel animated films are all available on Netflix.

Hulk: Where Monsters Dare - Doctor Strange enlists the help of the Hulk and the Halloween Commandos to rescue children from Nightmare. A fun, fast-paced adventure.

Ultimate Avengers: The Movie - A prelude of the simpler-titled 2012 blockbuster to come, the Ultimate Universe version of the Avengers team up for the first time to face an alien threat. Nicely paced, well-animated, quite fun.

Hulk Vs. - A pair of short films that pit the Hulk against another Marvel Hero. In Hulk vs. Thor, Loki splits Bruce Banner and the Hulk, possessing the latter to attack Asgard. Thor manages to get Hulk into submission, but things take a major turn for the worse when Loki decides to dispose of Bruce. Then in Hulk vs. Wolverine, the Weapon X program pits a group of their mutants—including Wolverine and Deadpool—against the Hulk, hoping to add them to their team. Another fun film that rings true to the characters.

Thor - Tales of Asgard - Not quite a prequel to 2011's Thor, but still, young Thor and Loki work with the warriors of Asgard as they face invaders while Odin is in the Odinsleep.  Nicely done, but probably better suited to fans of Thor.

Planet Hulk - An adaptation of the comic book storyline that sees Hulk exiled into space, landing on a battle planet. Better suited for fans of the story as this one seemed to drag.

And here's some live-action Marvel movies I watched this week.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance - The 2012 sequel to the 2007 Ghost Rider film delivers on weird, but not much else as Johnny Blaze helps a mother help her child—Danny Ketch—stay out of the hands of the Devil, who also happens to be his father. Nicholas Cage seems to be losing it as Johnny Blaze, and another story about the Devil's son was not the right direction for the franchise. Luckily, we now have a new Ghost Rider courtesy of Agents of SHIELD.

Punisher: War Zone - This reboot of The Punisher films goes for a definite comic book feel, going a little high on gore and gross-out moments. After failing to kill a gang leader, Frank Castle is targeted by Jigsaw. While Frank has no reservations about mowing down the guilty, he has to check himself when dealing with the innocent. Probably the best of the Punisher films, but the version we've seen in Netflix's Daredevil and upcoming Punisher series promises to blow this one out of the water.

Superhero Shows Recap (1/10/2017 - 1/17/2017)

Well, Agents of SHIELD is officially the first superhero show I follow to come back from mid-season hiatus.

Agents of SHIELD: "Broken Promises" - As Fitz and Radcliffe go to clear the memory of Aida the LMD, she turns on the team, looking for the Darkhold and taking over the system at SHIELD. Meanwhile, a senator deals with her brother, who's recently emerged from terrigenesis as an Inhuman.

Agents of SHIELD: "The Patriot" - As Coulson fights with Daisy, Mack and director Jeffrey Mace, he discovers a secret about the new director. Fitz experiments with Aida's decapitated head.

Gotham: "Ghosts" - Falcone calls for a hit on James, Lee realizes the effects of the virus that affected her fiance, Penguin begins seeing visions of his father, Gordon and Bullock discovers that the Indian Hill experiments are not ended.

Lucifer: "Stewardess Interruptus" - As Chloe investigates the murders of two former lovers of Lucifer, Lucifer discovers that he's just a simple hookup. Mazikeen tries to discover her personal identity.

Here's some stuff I watched over the break I haven't blogged about...

Fantastic 4: World's Greatest Heroes - This animated series gives a CG/anime hybrid take on the Fantastic Four, going for a point where the FF are well-established and have adopted new costumes. The characterizations are spot on, the stories fun and although some plots are inspired by stories from the comics, they aren't just animating the comics. A nice touch is having HERBIE as Reed's AI assistant, and virtually everything with Johnny is hilarious. It lasted for only one season, so anyone looking to pick it up should ignore the volume collections and just get the 4-disc "Season 1" collection.

The Punisher (1989) - Released only overseas, this movie brought Frank Castle to the big screen in the most typical standard 80s action/slasher movie where Frank and the baddies mow baddies down, hostages are involved. Worth a watch for fans of the Punisher and Marvel in film, but nothing very special except that it was made by the movie studio that had bought up Marvel Entertainment at the time.

Ghost Rider (2007) Extended Edition - More fun than I remembered, Nicholas Cage stars as stunt rider Johnny Blaze, who made a deal with the Devil, who gives him supernatural powers when he comes to cash that deal in when he needs to deal with his son, who wants to unleash hell on earth. I do think that some parts get too goofy and that some shots exist solely to showcase CG effects, though.

The Punisher (2004) Extended Edition - A much better version of the Punisher explores Frank's human side and eases up on the extreme violence, despite some very intense moments. It explores how Frank lost his family and eventually got revenge on the people who did it. Some parts of the story felt a little underdeveloped, though.

The Punisher: Dirty Laundry (2012) - There's trouble on the streets as Frank Castle tries to do his laundry, finally, he has to get involved. This was a short film that's solely online and appeared at some comic conventions featuring Thomas Jane—2004's Punisher—returning to the role.

Daredevil (2003) - Mostly a pretty good movie about the blind lawyer turned vigilante (Ben Affleck) who defends Hell's Kitchen from the Kingpin (Michael Clarke Duncan) and Bullseye (Colin Farrell). The big downside is how they included and handled the character of Elektra Natchios (Jennifer Garner) as her character ultimately doesn't mean much to the movie. Fun thing is that Jon Favreau appears as Foggy Nelson, and he would later direct the first two Iron Man films and play Happy Hogan in the MCU.

Finally, this was a rewatch I did on a whim...

Fantastic Four (2005) Extended Edition - This movie and its sequel get a lot of flack, but honestly, they're just fun movie versions of the Fantastic Four. The big problem is entirely how they handled Doctor Doom. Anyway, the extended edition adds a few more fun scenes, but also a number of good scenes that further develop the characters of Ben, Johnny and Sue. I especially loved an added scene of Sue looking at fanmail from (presumably) a little girl.

I might also want to mention I regularly listen to the Fantasticast podcast, which goes over all of the appearances of the Fantastic Four in comics as well as doing bonuses talking about other media appearances. As a perk for their Patreon backers, they offered an audio commentary for Fantastic Four (2015)/Fant4stic. Since I contribute a little, I decided to do the audio commentary experience. While I can't recommend the film, I can recommend this fan audio commentary, which opted to try to understand what the film attempted to do rather than just rant about how much they didn't like the movie. It's not to say they made it out to be a good movie, but instead of just complaining or "taking the piss" (which these guys would likely do well).

The Incredible Hulk Reunion Movies

After going for five seasons of David Banner hitch hiking across the United States and meeting people who need his help and sometimes the help of the Hulk, The Incredible Hulk series was cancelled and there was no proper ending. David was still on the move, he would still become the Hulk when angry, and Jack McGee was always on the trail of the Hulk. Even though that guy was responsible for David being on the run.

While I understand that there's a lot of fan favorite episodes that I missed by stopping after the first three episodes of Season Two when Netflix took the show off (for now), skipping ahead to the reunion movies that began in 1988, I didn't feel like there was anything I missed out on when it came to understanding the characters.

The Incredible Hulk Returns finds David "Bannon" (Banner would change his last name to conceal his identity, a standard through the show) helping to work on a machine that can draw out gamma radiation and convert it to energy. He intends to use it on himself secretly to finally be rid of the Hulk, but he is interrupted by former colleague Donald Blake who tells him how he discovered the tomb of Thor, and taking the hammer, was granted the ability to summon Thor, who needs to make up for his life of irresponsibility by doing good deeds before he can enter Valhalla. Blake summons Thor, who damages the machine, which makes David turn into the Hulk.

This sets David's experiment back and after a crime group targets the machine and David's current lady, winds up creating a standard "Hulk and Thor eventually beat up the bad guys and rescue the girl" situation.

The second movie, The Trial of the Incredible Hulk, has David "Belson" get thrown in jail after a woman claims he assaulted her on the subway. David's defense attorney? Matt Murdock. After discovering the woman was kidnapped and forced to lie by a gang run by Wilson Fisk (played by John Rhys-Davies), Matt and David reveal their alter egos of Daredevil and the Hulk to each other in a combined effort to take out the gang.

Both of these movies aren't too different from the TV show's original formula, ending with David back on the road. What they do differently is give other heroes for David/Hulk to work with. These were also supposed to be backdoor pilots for Thor and Daredevil shows, but they didn't take off. I couldn't help but feel that it might have been a better idea if CBS had done story arcs with Captain America and Dr. Strange instead of their pilot movies. Hulk on his own with regular people gets rather repetitive, but like the movie The Avengers would show people 23 years later, Hulk is best when he has other colorful characters to work with.

Thor again strays from his original comic origin, but Daredevil sticks to it, but Foggy Nelson has been replaced by a female lawyer named Christa Klein. Trial doesn't have a "real" trial scene, the only time David's in a courtroom is in a dream scene, which marks the first Stan Lee cameo in a live action Marvel movie.

The final one was released in 1990 and was titled The Death of the Incredible Hulk. Wow, guess how this ends?

David "Bellamy" manages to find a Dr. Pratt whose work might actually rid David of the Hulk once and for all. However, the work is pushed ahead by funding getting cut and then interrupted as a European spy ring tries to steal the research thanks to pulling in wannabe retired female Russian spy Jasmin who tries to double cross the other spies when she falls in love with David. The Hulk ends up confronting the leader of the spy ring on a plane, and when they try to shoot him, he makes the plane explode. He falls out of the plane onto the pavement below, where he turns back into David Banner and dies.

The ending doesn't really ring true to the nature of the Hulk as the character is supposed to be able to endure major injuries, and David even mentions that turning into the Hulk and back causes him to surprisingly recover from things such as gunshots. What should've been a major moment for the character feels like a poorly written cop. Also, why on earth wasn't Jasmin just Black Widow?

There had been plans to do another movie where David is revived, and something about an Iron Man follow up, but The Incredible Hulk reunion movies saw gradually poorer ratings, so future plans were cancelled. Three years later, Bill Bixby died of cancer. Lou Ferrigno's future would see him voice the Hulk in a 90s animated series and again for films for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He would also appear in cameo roles as security guards in the Hulk-solo movies Hulk and The Incredible Hulk.

Given that they had once proposed a reunion crossover with the quickly-cancelled Amazing Spider-Man show, we could see all the CBS/NBC live action TV Marvel properties as one universe. The Death of the Incredible Hulk wound up being the final entry in the tales of that universe, and\frankly, I'm glad they basically went on to do a much better TV universe in the animated shows that popped up in the 90s.

More Mighty Marvel

It's no secret that a big part of profiting from comic book characters is licensing. To supplement sales of comics, profit for comic creators comes through licensing toys, art prints, reprint books and other merchandise. And what can help drive the sales of both comics and merchandise? If there's a big movie or television series going on. Marvel was definitely not saying no to licensing ever since they began, though only a small number of their big 60s characters came to television.

The 60s saw a number of cartoons featuring the Marvel characters: The Marvel Superheroes (featuring Captain America, Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor and Namor), Spider-Man and The Fantastic Four. The late 70s finally saw some of these characters come to live action with CBS' The Amazing Spider-Man TV series in 1977 and The Incredible Hulk in 1978. The Amazing Spider-Man didn't last long, while Captain America and Dr. Strange TV movie pilots were not followed by a series. (The Fantastic Four's Human Torch had been optioned for a TV movie, but it never happened, which famously resulted in the character being replaced by H.E.R.B.I.E. the Robot in the second Fantastic Four cartoon series.) But The Incredible Hulk lasted for five seasons and a total of 82 episodes, with three reunion movies.

I managed to watch the first season and the first few episodes of the second on Netflix before it got removed.

The CBS Marvel stuff never sticks to the comics origin. In the original Incredible Hulk comics, Bruce Banner was working on a gamma bomb and was caught in its blast when he rescued a young man named Rick Jones from the testing field. He turned into the Hulk at night, and over time, it was changed to him turning into the Hulk when he got very upset. The TV show has widower David Banner looking into why people can suddenly have bursts of strength. He attempts an ill-advised experiment with gamma radiation on himself, which turns him into the Hulk when he gets very worked up.

Setting up the series is an investigative reporter Jack McGee, who's interested in finding out the story of the strange green creature seen around. He causes a spill in David's lab, which starts a fire which proves fatal to David's assistant who the Hulk attempts to rescue. As the Hulk is seen by McGee leaving the lab with the dying assistant and David Banner is nowhere to be seen, it's assumed the Hulk killed them both, and David decides it's better to anonymously be on the run until he can find a way to control or be rid of his alter-ego.

So, the series as I've seen it so far follows a general regular concept: David runs into a situation where he winds up helping people, and sometimes the Hulk helps out with his strength besides being a creature of rage. In one episode, David is taking a plane that is carrying valuable museum pieces that a stewardess and some passengers are conspiring to smuggle out, and the pilots are drugged. The Hulk and David's intellect manage to work together to stop the smugglers and safely land the plane. That particular episode is likely one of my favorites as it has high stakes. The others of the first season usually have David (and the Hulk) assist an innocent person being persecuted by other people who intend them harm.

Note that this was in the late 70s, and on television, so this wasn't flashy visuals or over the top action. The change between David Banner (Bill Bixby) and the Hulk (bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno) was done by having David wear special contact lenses that made his eyes turn pale, then shots of clothing bursting to suggest David growing bigger. Reversals would be depicted with fade effects, wigs and makeup. The Hulk appeared to sometimes have footage featuring only him to be slightly slowed down to make him appear heavier.

While such a show could hardly work today, I suppose it was like a superhero comfort food show when it originally aired. You ultimately knew how each episode would end, but the point of watching was to see what would happen. I'm not sure how I'd recommend the show. Fans with no idea what they're in for might be confused or bored. Those with a little more patience, love for classic TV, or even nostalgia may actually enjoy it.

In the other corner, we have Marvel's first box office hit. Marvel hadn't done well inspiring movies based on their comics. Howard the Duck was a flop, movies based on The Punisher and Captain America weren't even released to theaters in the US. The Fantastic Four was actually pulled from release. Then 1998 came around with New Line Cinema adapting Marvel's own vampire-hunter Blade to the big screen, and coming after 1997's disappointing Batman and Robin, the movie showed that maybe comic book movies weren't doomed.

Blade follows Eric "Blade" Brooks (Wesley Snipes), a human/vampire hybrid who hunts down vampires in his corrupt city. His big threat is a vampire leader who wants to become a vampire god and wipe out humanity. Blade has to get to his lowest and most daring to defeat the vampires' evil scheme.

The success of Blade is cited as inspiring other Marvel properties that had been licensed to to film companies to finally be brought to film: 2000's X-Men, 2002's Spider-Man, 2003's Hulk and Daredevil, 2004's The Punisher and so on.

Blade would get its own sequels: 2002's Blade II saw Blade and his buddies team up with some rogue vampires to combat the creation of a super vampire virus. This one features more action, more plot twists, and is considered the best of the series.

Blade: Trinity (2004) as a comic book film is enjoyable, with some of the action going into high gear and a little campy, and Ryan Reynolds as Hannibal King offering humor (the role would get people talking about him as a possible Deadpool) but has a fairly cut and dry story with vampires reviving Dracula as Blade's new allies develop a virus that once mixed with the blood of Dracula, will wipe out vampires everywhere.

These are definitely worth watching for vampire fans and Marvel fans, but are also not for young viewers.

The strangest thing about the Blade series is that at the time, New Line Cinema was owned by Time Warner, who also own DC Comics. Now, New Line has been merged into Warner Brothers, so the studio who releases movies based on their own line of famous heroes (Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, etc.) also owns a small number of movies based on their rival company's comics.