Marvel Madness! *Spoilers*

I had the best time yesterday. With the kids off for the summer visiting relatives, the old lady and I have the opportunity to spend some quality time together. We live in Tampa, and decided to........ no, screw the beach, it's raining. We went out to Ybor. The Ybor area is a mixed bag of clubs, bars, restaurants, shops, tattoo parlors, cigar stores and young people getting drunk and high and acting stupid, all amongst old Cuban-American architecture. It's kinda like the Bourbon Street area in Nawlins (it wishes). That being said, there is also a distinct "weirdo" element everywhere. So, we usually stay away on weekend nights. We might go down there to hear a blues or jazz band in one of the clubs. Sometimes a band from back in the day will pop up there. There's some great food around there also. Usually though, if we find ourselves in Ybor, it's to go to my favorite movie theatre ever. I have a nice TV and home theater system and prefer to stay home to watch movies. The Movico Centro Ybor 20 will get me out of my house. This complex still makes going out to see a movie worth it. It's an absolutely beautiful complex, decorated as if Disney designed it. It also has a section of 4 theaters that is 21 and up. I can go up to the snack bar and get a large popcorn and a Heineken.. or a Guinness. :) The seats are large and wide, thickly padded and covered in a soft pleather like material. They are also spaced farther apart than usual so you will never bump elbows with the person next to you unless that's what you want. I've digressed enough. The point is, I can enjoy even a bad movie in this place. Oh one more thing.... you can valet your car for $3. Very nice.

My wife and I had the unique fortune to see a double feature. We saw Iron Man followed by The Incredible Hulk. I have not heard much about Iron Man except everyone loves it. I have heard nothing about The Hulk at all. When I was pre-purchasing our tickets online, I read a few customer reviews of Iron man. One of them said to stay through the credits for a special preview.

If you have not seen these movies yet, do this:

>>>First, see Iron Man and watch through the credits

Then

>>>See The Incredible Hulk.

*Spoilers to Follow*

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Okay here we go. At the end of the Iron Man credits, It shows Stark going home to find Samuel Jackson waiting for him there. Sam tells him that he is part of SHEILD and needs him for a project called the Avenger Initiative. After I heard the word Avenger, I was kinda stunned. A lot of you may have already heard about this but I have heard nothing so I was very surprised. During the Incredible Hulk, references to SHEILD and Stark Industries were everywhere. At the end of The Incredible Hulk, before the credits this time, Tony Stark (yes, Robert Downey Jr.) approaches General Thaddeus, who spends most of the movie as the protagonist but seems to come around to the light side at the end. He does to the General as Sam Jackson did to him, spring the news of the new project. I won't say anymore about the movies. They were great fun, I enjoyed them tremendously. If you can, see them in order, starting with Ironman. I will say that I liked Iron Man better and Robert Downey Jr is the reason. His acting and timing is superb and the writing for his character was excellent.

So, does this mean that we will be seeing the Marvel Avengers coming? Well... yes. We've been seeing them. With all the movies that have been made so far: Spiderman trilogy, the Fantastic Four duo, The X-Men trilogy, Elektra, Daredevil, The Blade series, The Punisher, now Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, Marvel has been kicking DC's ass in the movie industry. There is no reason for them not to bring out the Avengers. Warner Brothers is also working on a Justice League movie. I'm going to do my best to reserve judgment until I see it. I really thought that Iron man was going to be a big disappointment and I thought that Robert Downey Jr was a big mistake. I could not have been more wrong. In my opinion, it's the best of all of those movies and Robert Downey Jr is the best actor in any of them. Still, the casting so far for The Justice League is not exciting me. Take a look.

Justice League: Mortal link:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0974015/

Here's the one for The Avengers:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0848228/

Here is a good article I found that was written in January: http://www.reuters.com/article/filmNews/idUSN1439793620070614.

I am completely stoked about these films and it's going to be a long wait until 2011, but there will be plenty to see until then. We may see Ant Man movie coming out. Punisher 2 (Punisher: War Zone) will be out this December. Next summer we will have Wolverine: Origins in theaters. A Thor movie is slated for summer 2010, just after Iron Man 2 (similar scenario as we have now with Iron Man/Hulk) to keep us going. Captain America is slated for May 2011 and the Avengers will be July 2011.

Here is a link that gives all Marvel movies past present and future: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_based_on_Marvel_Comics

Here's the one for DC movies: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_based_on_DC_Comics

I saw the movie poster for The Spirit in the lobby of the theater. It will be out in December also, and the Watchmen will be out in 2009. I am looking forward to The Green Lantern also. I have always loved the Green Lantern and it looks like they will be doing the character correctly (again imho) by making it the John Stewart character and having a black man play it. The Justice League movie shows the Lantern to be played by rapper and movie "gansta", Common. I would assume the Lantern Movie would have him as well.

Whether you are a DC fan or a Marvel fan, a cartoon fan or just love action movies, you have to be stoked right now. To borrow a line from a popular commercial, when comic companies and movie studios compete we reap the rewards.

Oh... did I mention that Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen will be out next year also. :)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1055369/

-Jim