comment #1

Bart Smith says ...

This, of course, actually refers to THE AVENGERS... Unless you've been living under a rock, you'd know that JUSTICE LEAGUE is the Warner Brothers ever failing attempt at making a movie based on the DC Comics superhero team.

comment #2

Bocephus says ...

Yeah, Justice League is the DC comics supergroup whose members include Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, etc. Avengers is the Marvel version with Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, Ant Man, Wasp.

The Avengers thing was also mentioned in Iron Man, when Sam Jackson visited Downey after the credits. It is part of a master plan to tie the Marvel movies together into one big universe, like in the comics. This is why Marvel's stock is skyrocketing. They are proving that they can do what DC has failed miserably to do with their own Justice League film.

comment #3

Monument says ...

Yeah Bart, he's living under a rock, or he's a not a comic book kook and mixed up the titles of two movies that are essentially the same thing.

I would kill for a one year (at least) comic book movie hiatus.

comment #4

Rothchild says ...

Yeah, they don't have the "team" line the TV spot, but nice job asking if the spots have a line that could spoil the film. Brilliant.

comment #5

Aladdin Sane says ...

Post view alert. Post view alert. We all know Wells doesn't care for this stuff. It comes through obviously in his post. We all know he could have done his homework real quick. Now we're all gonna rail against him for the mistake and this post will have more views than it deserves.

comment #6

115thDreamer says ...

Nerd Alert, Nerd Alert!! Jeff, you have to get your comic book facts right, or the geeks will just hammer you relentlessly. It would be like going on 'AICN' and misquoting something from "Magnolia"....you'd never hear the end of it. But in all seriousness, there's an "Ant Man"? I had no idea... All of this talk just makes me think of the "Super Best Friends" from that 'South Park' episode, which in turn makes me smile, so I guess I have no objections. "It's Sea-MAN!!!"

comment #7

Bocephus says ...

Yeah, there's an ant-man. I'm not too familiar with the character, but he is a scientist who can grow really small or really big. He was also a major asshole. I think he's dead now, no one liked him so they turned him into a wife-beater and killed him off.

And Monumental, this Avengers thing has pushed the genre to the next level. There will be no haitus, it will only get worse from here. Expect a marvel universe movie by 2015 where they create some huge galactic event to clear up any plot holes and other discrepancies that occur between movies.

Maybe by 2020 the genre will run out of steam and die off like the Western. But you wont have much time to celebrate since most people will commit suicide soon after President Paris Hilton is elected that year.

comment #8

EDouglas says ...

No, they don't show that line in the commercial (nor did they at Comic-Con) but it's so nice that you and Todd McCarthy have spoiled it for everyone who actually goes to see the movie only for Robert Downey's 1 minute appearance.

comment #9

iamwhoiam says ...

I doubt Edward Norton will be a part of any Marvel project in the near future:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,365840,00.html

comment #10

wildphantom says ...

I just got back from seeing it. It came out today in the UK

Wow, it was pretty good!
Snappy, never dull. I got the feeling there was a ton of stuff left on the cutting room - but it didn't suffer for it.

The fanboys are going to go crazy over the last 20 mins.

Solid. Wasn't expecting this at all.

comment #11

Jason says ...

I love the internet but it's taken my virginity on nearly every movie I've seen in the last decade or so. I can't remember the last time I went into a theater with little or no foreknowledge of a movie's story beats, plot twists, critical reception, etc. I'm saddled with lead weights every time.

comment #12

Monument says ...

Monumental... I have a friend who calls me that all the time, often followed by "asshole." It's a nickname based on my height (6'7") not my inflated ego. Just sharing...

comment #13

Bocephus says ...

Please, I can't be bothered with such little things as remembering names that are printed several inches above what I'm currently typing.

comment #14

Geoff says ...

I can't keep up with any of this comic book shit. I had no idea what the fuck S.H.I.E.LD was when I saw Iron Man. I don't eve really know how it ties into The Avengers.

It's a big whatever to someone who isn't a comic book nerd.

comment #15

chicagodad says ...

First off, cut Jeff some slack on the JL/Avengers thing. I mean, 99% of people would look at a poster of the JL lineup and say "Hey, it's the Superfriends!"

And Bocephus, they've largely rehabilitated the character of Hank Pym, aka Ant-Man. That story line totally pissed me off as a kid. It was lazy shock value stuff from lazy writers who took a smart, likeable character and made him monstrous to add "grit."

But in some very good news, Frank Miller has come out and addressed the issues with the Spirit trailer. The movie will be in full color. the "Sin City" look was just for the preview. But the suit will be black.

comment #16

berg says ...

JW knows the diff between Justice League and Avengers, it's just his way up jump starting the blog. The SLJ sequence at the end of the credit roll to Iron Man was not included at the press screenings ... The RDJr cameo in TIH looks like it was shot last week. I mean why is a 3 star general sitting in a dive bar drinking shots of something that looks like creme de mint? Don't answer, it's a rhetorical question. You don't even need an actor for Hulk, just have him green and smashing things. By the way, how does the Hulk know his name when he says Hulk smash? The way I heard it Captain America is frozen in suspended animation at the end of WWII and joins the Avengers in the present day ...

comment #17

Kristopher Tapley says ...

"which will basically be just another X-Men series without the gay-culture metaphor"

Jesus fucking christ, Jeff. Educate yourself about something before you start talking about it. Whew!

comment #18

chicagodad says ...

Yes, Cap winds up frozen in the late days of WW2 and joins the Avengers in the present day.

Which could mean we'll get a cool period Cap movie to introduce the character.

And S.H.I.E.L.D. stands for Supreme-Headquarters- International-Espionage-Law-enforcement-Division.

Nerd Out.

comment #19

iamwhoiam says ...

"It's a big whatever to someone who isn't a comic book nerd."

Totally agree. I couldn't care less about all this. As it is, Iron Man is the only "comic" movie ever that i saw more than once, and would love to have on DVD, because it's a perfect entertainment and RDJ is amazing The only reason i'll go see Hulk is because i like Norton as an actor, not because of the story. I'm too old for this.

comment #20

Rich S. says ...

Oddly enough it was the Fantastic Four whose creation jump-started the Silver Age at Marvel, that was the response to the Justice League.

The Avengers was made up of a bunch of characters that didn't have their own titles but appeared as the feature in another comic usually shared with other characters. As I recall, Thor was in Journey into Mystery, Iron Man was in Tales of Suspense and Ant Man/Giant Man and Wasp were in Tales to Astonish. The Hulk had his own comic, but it lasted only six issues.

They joined as a loose confederation, I believe to take on Loki (who will undoubtedly feature prominently in the Thor movie). Hulk left almost immediately, not being much of a team player. The following issue, they were joined by Captain America, who had been frozen in suspended animation at the end of WWII. Those six characters are considered the "classic" lineup.

The Avengers' roster constantly changes. It's had dozens, if not hundreds, of members. It's shared members with the X-Men and The Fantastic Four and I think recently even Spider-Man joined.

So you guys have all that to look forward to. Here endeth the geek lesson.

comment #21

Rich S. says ...

Oh, and S.H.I.E.L.D. was not originally responsible for bringing The Avengers together. That is a relatively recent invention, which they're apparently adding to the movie series.

Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. was Marvel's answer to James Bond. His primary enemy is a group called Hydra (not SPECTRE).

comment #22

Fien Print says ...

It's hilarious that people are making a big deal out of Norton's supposed "refusal" to do press for "The Incredible Hulk," as if that has a darned thing to do with the quality of the movie.

Edward Norton doesn't like doing press if he can possibly avoid it, a fact that won't make a lick of difference to this giant studio movie. He also has skipped press days and declined interviews on tiny indie movies where his availability might have been the only chance for the films to get any publicity at all.

I mean, not everybody liked "Down in the Valley," but I loved that movie and was hounding its publicists to get the producer-star on the phone for five or 10 minutes, something I did just because I wanted a way to convince people to give that one a look. No dice. He was also AWOL on press for "The Illusionist," which ended up becoming a hit. So you never know.

But I'm not reading a thing into Norton not doing Leno or Letterman for "Hulk." Then again, I've seen the movie and I know that while it isn't nearly as good as some of the reviews are suggesting, it's solid.

comment #23

Redmond says ...

My prediction: Hulk does great box office, they release a Director's/Edward Norton cut on DVD to pacify the little whiner and get him on board for a sequel.

That said, I'd actually be interested in seeing the more in depth character scenes just to see if Ed Norton is the Jesus of screenwriting.

comment #24

Joe Leydon says ...

And Nick Fury was a WWII vet who was introduced in the comic titled (no, I'm not making this up) "Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos"

comment #25

Bart Smith says ...

"Yeah Bart, he's living under a rock, or he's a not a comic book kook and mixed up the titles of two movies that are essentially the same thing."

--

I don't see how that matters. Wells is a guy who's profession is film journalism and editorializing. At best, it is the kind of careless disregard for fact-checking for which he would call out print journalist. At worst, it is the kind of calculated statement meant to incite readers and drive up the hit count than gives bloggers a bad name.

comment #26

Monument says ...

Again, who gives a rat's ass? If he's doing it to drive up post count, more power to him. Do you pay to read this site and bitch on the forums? I don't begrudge him a single penny.

For all I know, he did it on purpose to laugh at all of the grown men who give a shit about comic book accuracy.

comment #27

PastePotPete says ...

And to outnerd you all, let me point out that they're clearly basing this Avengers series of films on the Ultimates comic, which is an alternative reality "more realistic/contemporary" retelling of the older stories. In The Ultimates a Samuel L Jackson-looking Nick Fury assembled the Avengers largely with the assistance of Tony Stark.

The films so far seem to be an amalgam of both versions of the characters, 616 (ie regular Marvel Comics, - don't ask why it's called 616, that's a whole other can of worms) and Ultimate versions.

Hopefully for the Avengers film they don't rely too heavily on the storyline of the Ultimates comic, that might not be very interesting(alien invasion).

comment #28

LYT says ...

I believe Edgar Wright's supposed to be directing the Ant-Man movie.

comment #29

Richardson says ...

"Wells is a guy who's profession is film journalism and editorializing."

I've always thought of Jeff as more of an X-factor malcontent big-mouth attitude columnist.

comment #30

Rich S. says ...

Well, the fact that your nom de post is Paste Pot Pete kind of outnerds us all from the get-go. But in a good way.

comment #31

chicagodad says ...

well, Irving Forbrush and Willie Lumpkin were taken....

comment #32

scooterzz says ...

fien print -- while norton does hate to do press, he was there for the junkets for 'down in the valley' and 'the illusionist'.....i just checked my tapes to be certain and found both round tables and one-on-ones.....jus' sayin'.....

and fwiw-- i walked into 'the hulk' expecting total crap (based on the trailers) and found myself pleasantly surprised....it's not very good but it's not entirely unbearable........

comment #33

Fien Print says ...

scooterzz - Maybe he did New York press days? He's an East Coast guy, so I sure can't rule that out (particularly if, you know, you have actual evidence). He definitely didn't do LA for either movie (We had Biel and Berger [and maybe Giamatti, actually, I can't remember for sure] for "Illusionist" and nothing at all for "Valley"). You'd have to let me know if we missed out on anything...

comment #34

gruver1 says ...

OKAY, I STAND CORRECTED -- AVENGERS, NOT JUSTICE LEAGUE. No excuse for getting things wrong except for the fact that I'm always rushed and going nuts. Sometimes I think I'd like to do a Uwe Boll with HE readers and stage an outdoor boxing match with anyone who wants to take me on.

comment #35

PastePotPete says ...

It's not a big deal Jeff. If you'd gotten it right people would have jumped on some other aspect of your post. Don't worry about them.

comment #36

Richardson says ...

"Sometimes I think I'd like to do a Uwe Boll with HE readers and stage an outdoor boxing match with anyone who wants to take me on."

Ten bucks says MiraJeff takes it within three rounds.

comment #37

D.Z. says ...

Bocephus: "They are proving that they can do what DC has failed miserably to do with their own Justice League film."

Just because Marvel can put together one or two successful superhero team movies doesn't mean an Avengers movie will be more successful than Justice League. In fact, it might actually end up costing *more* than JL, based on the salaries of the actors.

comment #38

Richardson says ...

"In fact, it might actually end up costing *more* than JL, based on the salaries of the actors."

It will cost more than 'Justice League' on the grounds that DC can't get their shit together to make a 'Justice League' movie. Actually making a movie will almost always be more expensive than that.