Spider-Man: 30 Years Later

This was an idea I had for a Spider-Man comic a while back. I wrote a full script and plot outline, but I never could find time to pencil it.

Spider-Man: Thirty Years Later

Plot
Set many years after Spider-Man has retired, Peter Parker has settled down with a wife (nobody we know, someone new) and has a daughter. The world he lives in is still haunted by crime, but several other crime-fighters are still in service. After the shocking news of Wolverine's death, Spider-Man decides to come out of retirement to meet this killer.

Depiction of Spider-Man
Spider-Man is feeling the effects of his time off. He is slower and heavier than he was in his teen years when he was an active hero. This Spider-Man has been retired for over 15 years. His costume is relatively unchanged, but he has added some armored pieces, because he is not as durable as he once was. His physical appearance has changed drastically. Most depictions of Spider-Man are that of a 15-25 year old. This version is an older and scruffier version of Parker. His hair is starting to recede and he has grown a full beard, (he may shave).

The Villain(s)
At first, Spider-Man is obsessed with the notion that it was Norman Osborn, his greatest foe, that killed Wolverine. However, upon visiting Osborn in the hospital, Spidey discovers that the use of the Green Goblin serum has eaten away at his body, and the former Goblin is a vegetable on life support.

Another villain, Doctor Octopus, is paralyzed from the neck down, and his mechanical arms are the only moving parts on him anymore.

The true villain is named Null, a super-villain mastermind, whose mere presence nullifies any superhero's powers, thus allowing him to kill Wolverine. But, killing Wolverine was just a ploy to get Spider-Man out in the open.

Additional Superheroes
Wolverine doesn't look any older, because he is immortal.

Because of the super-soldier serum, the 150 year-old Captain America barely looks 40, though he has grown a small beard and put on some weight.

Matt Murdock's hair is slightly graying, but he is still in tremendous shape, as he still operates as Daredevil. However, his hearing is starting to fail him.

The Punisher is nearing 60, and all of the battles he's had have sent him into a permanent form of shell-shock, and war madness. He's become little more than a wild killer, blasting everyone in his path. He is under SHIELD custody.

After years of exposure to gamma radiation, Bruce Banner is a lifeless husk, and can only transform into the Hulk after a massive electrical surge. He is kept at a SHIELD Base as a guinea pig.

Resident Evil Films Rebooted: My Ideas

Resident Evil is one of my favourite video game franchises, if not my favourite. The films are a guilty pleasure of mine in that I enjoy them but they are not that great. One of the many reasons for this is the large deviations they make from the source material, including completely changing the main character. Imagine if a Harry Potter movie had a new character as the protagonist, while Harry was relegated to a side character.

Below, I have a very basic outline for what I would do with the Resident Evil film franchise. It makes some minor changes for an easier transition to film, simplifies the story, but mainly stays true to the source material. My franchise would be divided into two trilogies, much like Star Wars was. The first trilogy would be horror, taking place in Raccoon City, with the second being a more action-heavy trilogy, focusing on the events after Raccoon City. Obviously, as I only had six films I had to pick and chooser which stories to tell, so some spinoffs got lost (Revelations for instance, which I love) and some stories got merged into one film.

The Raccoon City Trilogy
Resident Evil
Cast
Chris Redfield
Jill Valentine

Barry Burton
Rebecca Chambers
Albert Wesker
Richard, Enrico, Forrest, Kenneth, Joseph


Enemies
Cerberus
Hunters
Yawn
Plant 42
Lisa Trevor
Neptune
T-002 Tyrant


Follows the plot of Resident Evil for the Gamecube
Two groups: Chris/Rebecca, Jill/Barry
Wesker is a traitor-antagonist, but this isn't shown until the final act
Chris/Rebecca fight Lisa Trevor and Yawn, Jill/Barry fight Neptune, Plant 42 & Lisa Trevor
Kenneth & Forrest are already dead
Enrico has the same role as in the game, as does Joseph
Barry is killed by Hunters
Resident Evil 1, establishes the universe and introduces the Redfield family arc
Claire will be "name dropped" a couple times in this film to build the universe


Resident Evil 2
Cast
Leon Kennedy
Claire Redfield
Sherry Birkin
Ada Wong
Echo Six (Dee-Ay, Tweed, Harley, Shona)
Brian Irons
Marvin Branagh

Enemies
Cerberus
Lickers
The Gator
Mr. X Tyrant
William Birkin

For the most part follows Resident Evil 2, from Claire's perspective, further establishing the "Redfield Arc"
Leon is a supporting character
Ada has a semi-antagonistic role as an Umbrella spy, but also as a semi-romantic subplot with Leon
Chief Irons has 1 scene, the scene where he is killed by William
Marvin appears twice, once to give a card to Leon, and once as a zombie with Claire
Claire kills the Gator
Mr. X is mainly after Leon, and William is after Claire and Sherry
Echo Six are featured as a supporting crew. Over the course of the film, they land in Raccoon City, make their way into the sewers and eventually sacrifice themselves so that Claire and Sherry can board the train at the end
William's multiple malformations are all explored in this film

Resident Evil: Nemesis
Cast
Jill Valentine
Carlos Oliveira
Dario Rosso
Nicholai Ginovaef
Mikhail Victor
Brad Vickers

For the most part follows Resident Evil 3: Nemesis
Carlos, Mikhail and Nicholai are dropped in with the UBCS to rescue civilians, but Nicholai eventually betrays them
The film shows that it was actually Nicholai who shot Mikhail from a distance, and then met up with Carlos when he followed Mikhail to finish him off. He pretends to be an upstanding soldier
Nicholai is killed by Nemesis in this continuity
In a post-credits scene, Umbrella retrieves Nemesis' body from the wreckage of Raccoon City. This will set up a surprise in a later film




The Post-Raccoon Trilogy (I will find a better name for this)
Resident Evil: Code Veronica
Minor Changes
The entire movie takes place on Rockfort. There is no Antarctica, but Rockfort is greatly expanded upon
The plane and attempted escape is all still there, but they crash back on Rockfort after the tyrant fight

Alfred Ashford
Slightly less feminine
Very much like Norman Bates/Mother character
A more depressed, pathetic character
Death: Steve punches, he falls, impales himself, gets to Alexia's chamber, and dies at her feet as she awakens
Steve actually tries to catch him after he begins to fall

Alexia Ashford
Main villain of the third act
Distraught over brother's death
Releases many insect B.O.Ws including spiders and moths, as well as ants
Chris kills her with the Linear launcher

Steve Burnside
Jack Dawson from Titanic, right down to his sacrificial death, speech & monologue
Wields a single golden Luger for much of the film
Steve's father is a zombie

Alexander Ashford/Nosferatu
Breaks free in the attack on Rockfort by Wesker
Roams the complex, barely missing Claire and Steve
Is killed by Claire on a helicopter pad

Tyrant
Minor role, only 2 scenes, the first scene being its release
The fight on the plane is there
Death: Pushed off the plane by a cargo crate

Wesker
Similar in appearance to his Re5 look
He moves much faster in this film, again closer to Re5


Resident Evil 5
A mix of RE4 and RE5
Wesker replaces Saddler
instead of the president's daughter, it is Sherry Birkin
Chris and Leon go in as a unit to the European region from RE4
The Chris-Jill arc from RE5 remains the same

Enemies
Jack Krauser appears and is told through flashbacks
Executioner appears
Dr. Salvador appears
Garrador appears
Wesker is fought but doesn't mutate

Resident Evil 6

Ustanak is actually the recovered Nemesis with modifications
Follows the story of Chris and Leon, with Piers and Jake as supporting characters
Follows Chris' general campaign, but with zombies
Carla and Ada's arc is followed as a subplot
Again, Claire is name-dropped but does not appear. The Redfield story arc finished with CV for the most part

That's my ideas on how a Resident Evil Reboot should be executed. If you have any ideas, or would like me to elaborate on anything, then leave a comment.

Summer Movies 2013

This isn't going to be as informative or persuasive as some of my earlier posts. This is just me talking about the films that I enjoyed the most this summer, in order from best to worst. To be honest, nothing this summer is going to nab any Oscars, so these are just movies I had the most fun watching.

1. Pacific Rim
Comparing this film and Transformers because they both have robots is like comparing Root Beer and dog crap because they are both brown. Although some of the human sections didn't capture my attention, the battles between the Kaiju and Jaegers did. I sat on the edge of my seat with a big dumb grin on my face nearly every time something big started moving. It was the most fun I had at the theater this year.

2. Star Trek: Into Darkness
This movie has a ton of issues, but it was still a lot of fun. I'm a Star Trek fan, and I thought this movie did a good job retelling "The Wrath of Khan" for this alternate universe. Benedict Cumberbatch did a very good job as Khan, and he has one of those powerful villain voices (see Alan Rickman, Christopher Lee and Ian McKellen)

3. The Conjuring
You know a movie is gripping when you buy food and then don't get to eat it until after the movie. I thoroughly enjoyed the Conjuring, and I'm not even a huge fan of horror movies. I think this one will go down in history with The Exorcist and Alien and The Shining as one of the best ever.

4. Kick-Ass 2
This film sits on the fence for me. It was funny at times, and had some great action, and Jim Carrey was amazing as Stars & Stripes, but there was just something... off-putting about this movie. Besides the obvious ones (like the poop humor) there were certain scenes where I was unsure it was appropriate to laugh, and that's not what I want when I go to see an Action-Comedy.

5. Despicable Me 2
Is it sad that I enjoyed this more than the superhero movies? In the completely out of character words of Johnathan Kent, "...Maybe."

6. Man of Steel
I liked it. I didn't love it. I thought the action dragged on too long at the end, and I hated Kevin Costner's Pa Kent, but the action was good, despite dragging on for too long.

7. Iron Man 3
As a comic book fan, I probably should hate Iron Man 3. I didn't like it, but it has a few redeeming scenes. I enjoyed the attack on Tony's mansion, and I liked the final battle with Nuclear Man from Superman IV, but certain things (*cough*Mandarin*cough*) and certain other things (does Rhodey actually use the Iron Patriot suit for anything?) took me out of the movie quite a bit.

8. World War Z
Don't fool yourself. This is not an action movie. It has a shaky camera and a lot of things move fast, but that isn't action. This movie should be called "Brad Pitt Runs Away" because that's all he does for 2 hours! Then in the final act he "Quietly Sneaks Away." Boring, and is a disservice to the (much better) book.

Movies Worse than World War Z in descending order

9. White House Down

10. The Lone Ranger

11. RIPD

12. Getaway

Superman as a Villain?

So, I spent all weekend playing Injustice: Gods Among Us to get inspired for a video project I'm working on, and got to thinking how much more entertaining the Man of Steel is as an adversary to the heroes. Not only does he look bad ass as the supreme ruler of the Earth, but because of his track record as an invincible hero, he makes for a villain that can instill real fear in both the characters and the readers.

Consider this: When you read a Batman comic that features, say, Two-Face, there is never the fear that the binary villain is going to win, because he's failed to do so on a major scale since the 1940s. Superman, however, has had few and far defeats since even the 30s. Only a handful of people have ever defeated him in a fight. Doomsday, Darkseid, Captain Marvel (Sometimes, he gets murdered in Injustice) and Batman. In most cases, those who have defeated him have only does so once, or they are about equal in their win-loss records with each other.

Which begs the question: How does one stop him?

This is what makes Superman a more intriguing villain than a hero. He is nearly invincible, has very few weaknesses, and has a reputation for always coming out on top. That said, he does have weaknesses, and more than just Kryptonite.

He also has a weakness to magic, which someone like Shazam or Wonder Woman, could exploit. He can also be outmatched in strength, but this is limited mainly to other Kryptonians, or Gods.

As far as DC heroes (so not Thor and Hulk) who could match the Man of Steel's strength, I can only think of a few: Supergirl, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel/Shazam, Captain Atom or Power Girl. That is not a huge list, and it gets shorter depending on the buffs that Superman has at the time (Superman Prime, Gold Superman etc.)

Then of course one could exploit his power. Superman has incredible hearing. If a sonic emitter can incapacitate or even kill someone with normal hearing, imagine what it can do to Kal-El. What would happen if all of a sudden Superman got hit by Black Canary's "Canary Cry"? Even if he survived, he'd be vulnerable, and his brains would be at least a little scrambled.

That is the reason why Superman would be a great villain, because he gives writers a significant challenge. Supes isn't the kind of villain who can be solved by punching him in the face. Writers have to be clever when putting heroes up against him, because he is a villain that not all heroes could beat. (Contrast him to the popular villains. Besides Superman's rogue's gallery there aren't that many villains that are universally threatening to all of the DC Universe.)

In the end, whoever the writers did decide to finally take down Superman for good would have a huge feat under their belt. Just please don't let it be Batman again. We've seen him win in Hush, Dark Knight Returns, and several other mediums. Below are my list of people who would benefit from taking down Superman in an Injustice-style Dictator Arc:

• Wonder Woman - She is one of the big three in DC, and this could really solidify that spot.
• Green Arrow and Black Canary - The Canary Cry and a Kryptonite Arrow, and the super-couple are taken to a new level in superheroics.
• Nightwing - Superman is Nightwing's idol other than Batman, and it would be epic for him to take him out for good, using his brains of course. Nightwing isn't punching Clark out any time soon.
• an empowered Lois Lane - for poetic tragedy reasons, this would be a fitting end to Superman
• Aquaman - Because Aquaman Doesn't Suck! and it would be a fitting comeuppance for the oft-ridiculed Arthur Curry.

Aquaman Doesn't Suck!

Aquaman doesn't suck! (or: Having a Goofy Name Completely Dismisses your Credibility)

By Mitchell A. Quondam

Let's face it, when it comes to people's favourite superheroes, Arthur Curry isn't exactly the first name to come up in the discussion. Sure, he's got power to be one of the heavy hitters in the DC Universe, but many people just view him as a fish out of water. You hear the same jabs about him all the time:

"He's weak out of water"
"His power set's lame"
"What's he gonna do? Call some whales to save the day?"
"His Costume is lame"
"Aquaman Sucks"

But Aquaman doesn't suck. When written properly, Curry can be regarded as a hero of godlike power, one who could rival the power of other gods like Wonder Woman, and even Superman.

The first thing that turns people off of him is his name, "Aquaman" It is like they chose the gentlest word for water they could, and then (in Golden/Silver Age fashion) added Man to the end of it. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman... Aquaman. It doesn't quite warrant the response that the others do.

If I was to ever do an Aquaman story, I would refer to him exclusively as Orin or Arthur. Even "curry" doesn't really sound intimidating. It's a spice, ooh, intimidating...

Also, I'd alter his costume, make it something more armored, like something a king going to war would have worn. His Injustice skin was a good example of what I'm looking for. The tights were fine in the Silver Age, but he is due for a change.

His powers though, should be the focus of the story. This is Orin, the mighty king of Atlantis. He has lived under constant water pressure at the depths of the sea for his entire life. When he comes up to land, he should feel as though that weight has been lifted. He should have physical strength and durability to match at least Wonder Woman if not Superman himself. Our brick walls would be like cardboard to him, our strongest machine guns like pillows. In some continuities he can even dehydrate land life just by touching it. In the Justice series he has a healing factor. In the right hands these powers could make Orin a true force on any Justice League roster.

His backstory can also be played with. He is heir to the throne of Atlantis, and that heritage has taken several routes in his story. He's been a proud and noble king, a disgraced/exiled king similar to Thor's origin, and a warrior king not too dissimilar to that of King Leonidas from 300. He could also be a young prince, who has not yet taken up the throne, or he could be completely unaware of his royal heritage, and has to discover who he is destined to be. There are endless ways to go about telling Orin's tale.

DC Cinematic Universe

DC Cinematic Universe Fantasies

 By Mitchell A. Quondam

As a follow up to my fantasy-driven post about Batman in the DC Cinematic Universe, I had the idea to map out how I would advance the story, introducing new characters to the Universe and building up to big events like Marvel does. In this post, I cover the entire Universe, and give my thoughts on how WB/DC should go about their shared universe going onward

Confirmed Cast of Heroes:

Henry Cavill as Kal-El

Ben Affleck as Batman

Stephen Amell as The Arrow

Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan

Grant Gustin as Barry Allen

Wishlist

Gina Carano as Wonder Woman

Benedict Cumberbatch as Martian Manhunter*

Idris Elba as John Stewart

Garrett Hedlund as Aquaman

Joseph Gordon-Levit as Nightwing

Chris Pine or Matt Bomer as Tim Drake, the Red Robin

*Martian Manhunter being played by Cumberbatch is not whitewashing the character. He is green, and only pretends to be a black guy as a ploy. I would actually prefer if he didn’t try to blend in at all, and just stay green the entire film.

 

Major Production Players:

Zack Snyder – Man of Steel/Justice League Director and Universe Overseer

Christopher Nolan – Executive Producer

Guillermo del Toro – Director of Dark Universe and others

Ben Affleck – Director of solo Batman films

Phase 1 (2011-2015)

•                     Green Lantern 2011 (Introduces Hal Jordan, Sinestro, Star Saphire)

•                     Man of Steel (Introduces Superman, Lois, General Zod)

•                     Man of Steel 2/Batman Vs. Superman (Introduces Batman, Lex Luthor)

•                     Arrow TV Series (Introduces Green Arrow, Flash, Deathstroke and several villains)

            Big Event: Justice League (Introduces Wonder Woman, John Stewart, Martian Manhunter)

 

Phase 2 (2015-2017)

•                     Batman Solo Movie (Introduces Joker, and Tim Drake's Robin)

•                     Flash TV Series (Introduces Cyborg and some lesser known heroes and villains)

•                     Arrow TV Series (Introduces Black Canary as a hero)

•                     Man of Steel 3 (Introduces Aquaman, Supergirl, Bizarro)

•                     Dark Universe (Introduces Constantine, Swamp Thing, Zatanna)

           Big Event: Justice League 2 (Introduces a big villain, possibly Brainiac or Darkseid)

Phase 3 (2017-2020)

•                     Nightwing (Introduces Two-Face, Harley Quinn and Duela Dent)

•                     Batman 2 (Introduces The Court of Owls, Batgirl/Oracle)

•                     Arrow series finale, Flash is still on for now

•                     Green Lantern 2 (Introduces Red Lantern corps.)

          Big Event: Sinestro Corps. War

Bonus Phase: Movies I want but will never see

•                     Secret Six

•                     Deathstroke Origin Movie

•                     Any Villain Origin Movie (Mainly Joker and Bane)

•                     Shazam or Captain Marvel

•                     Injustice: Gods Among Us

•                     The Spectre

*All Images are from deviantart

Batman in the New DC Cinematic Universe

DC Cinematic Universe: Batman

A Blog by Mitchell A. Quondam

With the release of Man of Steel, and the announcement that its sequel will feature The Dark Knight, I recently became very excited about the idea of a “DC Cinematic Universe” similar to what Marvel has done at their studio in conjunction with Disney. Unlike Marvel Studios, Warner Brothers retains the rights to all DC characters, from the classic heroes such as Batman and Superman, to lesser known heroes like Cyborg and the Spectre, to separate universes like The Watchmen. WB and DC have a near-unlimited pool of resources to pull characters and story arcs, and yet, until now, they haven’t utilized them properly. We haven’t seen the long fabled Justice League movie, many of the second tier heroes underperform (Watchmen, Green Lantern, Constantine) or are just plain bad (Jonah Hex, Supergirl, Steel).

However things are rapidly changing. Under the trust and creative control of Zack Snyder and to a lesser extent Christopher Nolan, the DC Universe is starting to take form. Man of Steel started the universe, a universe which Batman exists in (and Cyborg and Aquaman if throwaway Easter Eggs in Man of Steel are to be believed). Eventually Batman will get his own solo movie, and there is also a movement in WB to connect Arrow (Which introduced Huntress, Deathstroke and soon the Flash) into the movie universe, possibly with a Flash TV series or solo film.

This particular entry, however, is all about Batman. I will quickly list my dream casting for the major supporting characters, and some ideas about which directions they should take with Batman (and the Bat Family)

Batman Dream Casting

Bruce/Batman –Ben Affleck

Joker – Benedict Cumberbatch, Sam Rockwell, Christopher Eccleston

Riddler – David Tenant, Johnny Depp, David Hyde Pierce (as an older Riddler maybe?)

Mister Freeze – John Malkovich, Ed Harris, Sir Ben Kingsley, a bald Harrison Ford, Ralph Fiennes

Alfred - Timothy Dalton, David Hyde Pierce

Catwoman – Rachel Weisz, Kate Beckinsale

Harley Quinn – Kristen Bell, Helena Bonham Carter

Penguin – Phillip Seymour Hoffman

Jim Gordon – Kurt Russell, Michael Keaton

Hugo Strange – Sir Ben Kingsley, Hugo Weaving, Bryan Cranston

Robin/Red Hood – Jensen Ackles

Hush – Eric Bana, Jude Law

Bane – Javier Bardem

Poison Ivy – Eva Green (No Pun Intended) Cate Blanchett

Okay, now that that is out of the way, I feel the need to mention that not all of those listed are “main villains” which goes into the first item on my wishlist

Villain Cameos

If you have ever read the Long Halloween, Dark Victory, or Hush, then you know that the idea of villain cameos isn’t new. The Dark Knight and Dark Knight Rises actually did this to a lesser extent with Scarecrow, but I’m thinking a little bigger. Under Snyder, the DC Universe has a sense of surrealism to it, similar in flavor to the Arkham Video Games, and there is no reason why we can’t have a simple, say, Poison Ivy, or Calendar Man cameo just to get some plot information out in an interesting way.

Court of Owls

I didn’t put any cast members down for this, but it is something that I feel needs to be covered in film. One of the popular complaints is that this arc doesn’t feature a major villain, and people won’t flock to see it. To that I respond, once you put “Batman” in the title, you already have the cash of the casual cinema-goer in your pocket. Court of Owls was a compelling story, and can introduce a new villain into the mainstream, similar to what Nolan’s trilogy did for Ra’s al Ghul and his daughter Talia.

                          Batman Family

Batman doesn’t need 15 year old kids following him around, but it could be arranged that they are in their early twenties and have become somewhat autonomous, acting without Batman, but still coming to his aid and following orders. This is also and “older, wearier” Batman, and there is a possibility that he has already trained several other heroes who are also out on the prowl, such as Nightwing, Red Robin (Tim Drake) and Batgirl (Barbara Gordon or Cassandra Cain). Oracle (if they go that route) could also replace Lucius Fox as Caped Crusader’s computer/gadgetry expert, opening up a new dynamic not seen yet in live-action Batman.

Using Batman as a Platform

Man of Steel 2 has essentially become Batman vs. Superman. Batman would be a good way to bring in some street-level superheroes, such as the previously mentioned Bat-Family, and film versions of Green Arrow, Black Canary and Huntress, who have all teamed up with Batman in the past (In one continuity, Huntress is the child of batman and Catwoman, and Green Arrow was originally an idea for a second Batman sidekick)