Mavericks of the Marvel Universe

 Just a few of the Mavericks that make up the Marvel Universe.

I'll admit, I'm not nearly as familiar with Marvel Comics as with DC, having only a few random X-men, Thor and Spiderman comics in my collection.  Still, I thought I'd leave the DC Universe for a bit and share some very insubstantial thoughts about Marvel.   Rather than discussing at length anything pertaining to the comics, I'll focus instead on some of the Marvel films, particularly those which paved the way for The Avengers.  I'm pretty sure the first Marvel film I saw was the original Spiderman with Tobey Maguire back in 2001.  Back then I knew nothing about Marvel and nothing about Spiderman except that he had the powers of a spider (I was very perceptive, even back then).  Even so, I loved the movie and was instantly snared in the Spider-mania.  For a time Spidey even eclipsed Superman and Batman as Superhero numero uno.  Not being schooled in the Spiderman world I had no idea how Tobey Maguire stacked up as Peter Parker or how the film itself measured up; I just knew I liked it, plain and simple.  I liked Spiderman 2 even more, which deepened the story and had spectacular action sequences to boot.  Doc Oc has always been a badass Spiderman villain and seeing them duke it out on screen was the closest thing to a comic book coming to life.  It shouldn't come as much of a surprise that I was disappointed by Spiderman 3 (as I think most were), what with Peter's emo transformation and embarrassing Saturday Night Fever strutting down the street.  Sandman was pretty cool but I felt they completely wasted Venom, who's always seemed pretty hardcore in the comics.  Luckily, I thought The Amazing Spiderman reboot was really good.  I felt Sam Raimi's were getting way to campy and I liked how AS brought more of an edge to Spidey without sacrificing his sense of humor.  Andrew Garfield is more suited for the role as he looks younger and leaner which fits Spidey.  Garfield's Parker also felt less like a cliché geek and more like a withdrawn loner, which felt more relatable.  I also liked how they brought in Gwen Stacy first (played by the lovely Emma Stone), since from all indications she's really Peter's first great love.  Seeing Curt Conners become the Lizard was cool since the character was in the original Spiderman films but never got his villainous turn.  I'm wondering when The Green Goblin might appear since it seemed to be Norman Osborne talking to Conners in the post credits scene.  Will we see Gwen die at the hands of Green Goblin? 
I saw the first three X-men films and have to say the second's probably my favorite although the first one is close behind.  Singer did something very right in making us deeply care about this group of mutants who save the very people who hate and fear them.  I enjoyed X-men: The Last Stand but not as much as the first two.  I feel it started to get cluttered with too many mutants who aren't given their due.  I recently saw The Wolverine and will share my thoughts in depth later on.  I hate to say that I've read very few X-men comics although I'm deeply interested in the story.  Trouble is, as with most Marvel characters, I'm not sure where to start reading so I generally just watch the films which I know, gives me a very incomplete perspective.  I greatly enjoyed X-Men: First Class despite some glaring inconsistencies with the other films.  It just cool to see the origins of the first team. 
Then there are the string of films that ultimately gave us The Avengers.  First off we have Iron Man, which is not only one of the best Marvel films but one of the best comic book films of all time.  The fact that Favreau was able to take a largely obscure character and make him feel grounded and relevant in an all too familiar world of weapons and war was a monumental achievement.  The film stands apart from so many other comic films on a number of levels, one of them just being Tony Stark's character.  Although Stark undergoes a great change of heart in the film after his release from terrorists, he never loses his essential rebelliousness, which makes him Tony Stark .  In some ways, he's Marvel's equivalent to Batman, minus Batman's haunted streak; Stark's a brilliant, resourceful and determined DIY guy.  The film is grounded without ever losing the essential fun and wonder of comic book lore.  Iron Man 2 was a very good follow up but not nearly in the same league as The Dark Knight in my less than humble opinion.  However, I was severely disappointed by Iron Man 3 for a number of reasons, which I will explain in depth at another time.
After Ang Lee's forgettable Hulk film, The Incredible Hulk was a definite step up.  I liked Ed Norton as Banner and enjoyed seeing The Hulk not only battle the Army but also the Abomination.  Watching them tear up Harlem was awesome.  Even if the movie had sucked it would've been worth it seeing the after credits scene where Tony Stark confronts the distraught General regarding the Avengers Initiative.  Marvel established the post credits extra back in X-Men: The Last Stand but it was Iron Man that gave viewers the first hint of The Avengers Initiative when S.H.I.E.L.D Agent Nick Fury played by Samuel Jackson mentions it to Tony Stark.  From that point on, hardcore fans, including yours truly, dutifully remained seated after each new Comic book flick, and not just Marvel ones, to see if there was an extra scene. 
In Thor we got one in which we see Thor's eternally jealous brother Loki snooping behind the scenes when Fury shows Dr. Selvig the Tesseract.  Thor was another great smash for Marvel.  Like Iron Man, I didn't know much about Thor but the film brought the character to life for me.  What's great about Thor is how it shows the larger Marvel Universe while still taking place in the world established in Iron Man/Incredible Hulk.  Sci-Fi and mythology are blended very well in the film. 
Captain America: The First Avenger explores this connection even further, showing how Nazi occultists were searching for The Tesseract back in WWII as a means to unlimited power.  Chris Evans played the Human Torch in Fantastic Four, which I never really got into, but I think he plays a better Captain America/Steve Rogers, bringing humanity and humility to what always struck me as a one dimensional, somewhat outdated character.  Rather than being just an empty headed patriot, he has real heart and dimension.  More than any other character in Avengers, Steve Rogers represents us, the everyman.   Each of these films were obviously planned very carefully to compliment and connect with each other in a very cool way.  Seeing each of these character's origins play out in separate films and then come together so seamlessly in the Avengers was such a massive thing.  Although we'd seen groups of heroes in X-men and Fantastic Four, never before had four superheroes with their own movies come together so unforgettably in one film. 
Although these films had different directors, all of them, Avengers included, maintained pretty much the same internal consistency.  When we get to Avengers, we recognize the same world we've seen in the other films and pick right back up with our heroes.  What stands out in Avengers is how these diverse characters work off each other.  In most respects, each of these characters are societal outsiders used to working on their own (Captain America less so, but he's just woken up in the future so he's definitely out of place).  The core of the film really involves them having to put their egos and differences aside to find common ground and work as a team.  These characters are unique elements that when combined create a nitroglycerin explosion.  How they struggle to go about doing this is where the film's tension and humor comes from.  Of course, the epic battle in which they fight off the Chitauri Army over the skies of Manhattan is seriously awesome and I for one got chills seeing the Avengers standing in a circle with Chitauri warriors hanging from buildings all around them.
Again not being super familiar with the Avengers world, I didn't recognize the purple alien who turns around and grins in the post credit scene.  I learned afterwards that this is Thanos, who I can only assume wants to rule the cosmos like most alien villains.  It seems like he will pop up in a sequel although probably not the next one. 
Still, I'm excited to see where Avengers 2 goes as well as what Thor will be up to in The Dark World and what's gonna happen in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.  Pretty soon Marvel will move to the small screen in the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D tv show.  Who knows, perhaps eventually we'll even see Spiderman get in on the Avengers Initiative.  Regardless of how things shake out, 2014 and '15 will be gargantuan years for comic book films in both the DC and Marvel Universes.  If you're like me (and are a fan of Fringe), then you know that there is indeed plenty of room for both universes on the big screen in the years to come.