Comic Related - Life in Four Colors

Life In Four Colors #2 Bring On The Bad Guys!

By Bill Gladman

A story is only as good as its villain.

That’s something I have often times told my daughter (who also writes) and other writers I know time and time again. When you’re writing a story……you got to have a good villain. Someone who challenges your hero. Someone the readers (or as we will talk about today) movie goers can actually love to hate. In some cases, as pointed out by the always cool as the other side of the pillow...Mr. Samuel L .Jackson in the comic book inspired and cult classic film Unbreakable, some times the best villains were once friends to the good guys. Lex Luthor and Superman automatically come to mind, the same is true about Professor Charles Xavier and Magneto.

I borrow from this train of thought in my book, Jack the Rabbit with Mister Midnight and the wizard, Issoona.

In other cases the villain can be somehow related to the main hero of the story. Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker…..classic example. Another is Thor and Loki. This one gets us pointed in the direction I want to go with this installment of Life in Four Colors.

A few weeks ago the world at large was surprised (or maybe there were some of you out there who was not so surprised) by the fact the Iron Man proved to be worth his weight in gold when it comes to the box office.

Robert Downing Jr. and crew throw down the iron gauntlet in their virtually flawless
portrayal of classic Iron Man characters James Rhoades, Pepper Potts,
Tony Stark, and Obidah Stane.

Many who saw this movie, myself included, walked away saying that it could have been the best comic book movie made…with one of the best cast in a comic book movie as well. None of the actors in the above photo disappointed. As a matter of fact all of them over exceeded expectations. How often does that happen in any movie, let alone a comic book film?

Of course….the most exciting news about the success of the Iron Man film is the fact it was the first film that Marvel had complete say in the casting, production, storyline, writer, director…..they were calling the shots on almost every detail with this, the first film in a series of joint movie efforts with Paramount.

Within days of the Iron Man release a sequel was announced. Not only Iron Man 2…..but several other Marvel Movie properties came along with that announcement. Thor, Captain America, and even Ant-Man were all announced along with the already finished second Hulk film…..which was released today. All of these films leading up to a comic fans dream come true. A full length, live action Avengers movie to hit the silver screen in the summer of 2011.

Can the second Incredible Hulk film maintain the momentum created by
the successful Iron Man movie this coming Father’s Day Weekend? I think it will.

The second phase of Marvel’s “Bronze Age” of comic book to movies takes center stage this coming weekend with the Incredible Hulk…..a new “requel” starring actor Ed Norton as the tortured and tormented Bruce Banner….

…the film will also star Liv Tyler (no stranger to big screen fantasy/action adaptations) as Betty Ross, Jon Hurt as General “Thunderbolt” Ross, Tim Roth as the man (Emil Bronsky) who would become the Hulk’s long time arch enemy, the Abomination…and even has other Hulk supporting cast remembers such as Doctor Leonard Samson and a rumored appearance by secondary Hulk villain, the Leader. The Hulk’s “voice” this time around is provided by the Hulk t.v star Lou Foringno and also features the first part of the multi-marvel movie cross over madness with a brief cameo appearance by Robert Downing Jr. as Tony Stark.

In many ways the film leans more towards the Hulk television series of the 70’s and 80’s than the previous Hulk film and Marvel is hoping (and quite possibly banking) that this fact will go over well with the fans of ol’ Jade Jaws.

What is sure to go over well with many long time Hulk fans and first time movie goers is, unlike the previous film, this Hulk movie has a true blue bad guy. The Abomination….the one and only true bad guy that comes to mind when you mention the Hulk (with the Leader a close second….and who knows…..) Almost everybody I know who watched the first Hulk film was disappointed by the fact the story suffered to some degree due to the poor choice of antagonists the Hulk had to confront…..gamma radiated dogs….a poodle in the mix even….and a Nick Nolte portrayed amalgam of the Absorbing Man and Reverend Jim from Taxi.

Didn’t go over well. He might as well have fought the Toad Men for Pete’s sake.

The fans get what the want this time around. The fans (for the most part) got what they wanted with the Iron Man film when it came to the bad guy as well. There was a few Iron Fans out there disappointed with the fact the Mandarin wasn’t the featured villain in the first film, but we all know he’s coming. And nobody in their right mind can complain about Jeff Bridges excellent portrayal of Stane/Iron Monger.

Now if the new Hulk film does as well as to be expected, or even better it looks like it’s clear sailing for the new batch of Marvel films recently announced. Maybe. Let’s keep our fingers crossed. Some fans fear Marvel may let two back to back successful blockbusting films go to their head. There’s already rumors circulating that Marvel may be interested in shooting Iron Man 2 with a different director feeling that the first film was so successful they can get anybody to do the second and just coast off the success of it’s predecessor. That’s crazy talk. Director Jon Favreau (who also played Happy Hogan in the film) was crucial to the success of the film and Marvel already upsets the apple cart if Favreau isn’t involved in the next movie. And even if he is….Favreau has already mentioned that the Iron Man sequel cannot be done right within a two year time frame, this of course throws off Marvel’s whole schedule.

I like everybody else want the next movie as soon as possible, but still want it to be at least as good if not better than the one before.

Then the casting of certain heroes will be very difficult. We all know Marvel wants top notch talent for these parts…but at the same time they may be casting two of their most difficult characters.

Thor…

……and Captain America….

….finding two A-list actors that can pull off these two Marvel Comics legends as good as Downing did with Stark/Iron Man is going to be difficult. And the last thing they want to do is pack peddle on this thing. Brad Pitt has been linked to Thor…Pitt’s a great actor but he’s not Thor. But who knows…maybe he is Thor. How many of us thought Downing would have done such a good gob with the roles given him?

And of course there are some fans out there that can’t quite come to terms with the fact that Marvel wants to do an Ant-Man film. How does “Ant-Man” rank a film when my (fill in the blank favorite Marvel character …anybody from Black Panther to Shang-Chi) doesn’t?

Well….it seems that Marvel wants to reproduce the actual founding line-up of the Avengers as closely as possible and I like that fact. I like that they are not trying to “short-change” one (or two ….wherever there’s an Ant-Man there’s sure to be a Wasp) founding Avengers and give everybody a feature film before uniting them all in one team movie (Pay attention D.C…..this is how it should be done.)

I also feel that if done correctly the Ant-Man film can be very entertaining…especially if you find an actor and actress who can nail down the working chemistry of these two characters.

And once again I like what Marvel is trying to do here…..they already mentioned that most of the Thor film will take place in Asgard. The Captain America film will take place during World War Two. And if all goes well Captain America is floating in block of ice at the end of his film, Hulk doesn’t stay an Avenger long, and Ant-Man will become Giant Man in the Avengers film after the Hulk leaves in a misguided attempt to fill the power void created by the Hulk’s departure…and the beginning of his inferiority complex problems.

But let’s get back on the subject at hand…..the bad guys.
Let’s face it nobody wants to see Ant-Man square off against Egg-Head. So do you manipulate Avenger history just a little (which we have already….Iron Man did not create Captain America’s shield as the first Iron Man flick seems to be implying and the Abomination wasn’t created by a version of the super soldier formula)…and bring in Ultron in the Ant-Man film. That would definitely kick things up a bit….as long as it remains a crude, early version of Ultron that can be defeated or at least warded off by Ant-Man and Wasp.

And of course we all know that Loki….(once heard an interesting rumor that Kevin McKidd from the H.B.O miniseries Rome and the recently cancelled N.B.C television series, Journeyman was in line to play the God of Mischief…that would be cool.)….will be the main villain in the Thor film …

…and Johann Schmidt/the Red Skull will be the bad guy in Cap’s film. (I wouldn’t mind a little Baron Strucker and Baron Zemo as well)

The biggest question I have for you right now though…..who is going to be the bad guy(s) in the Avengers flick?

We all know that a team of heroes battling one villain, no matter how powerful he is, just doesn’t transfer over as well on the silver screen opposed to what we’re used to seeing in comics. A good example is the first Fantastic Four movie. I loved the movie…but the final fight scene with the FF against Doom was just a little anti-climatic for my taste.

On the other hand…cramming too much into one film can choke it to death. Spider-Man 3 and X-Men the Last Stand. Nuff Said.

So how does Marvel get around these pitfalls in the Avengers movie?

Bring On the Bad Guys!!!! All of them!!! Lead by this guy….

Kang the Conqueror, the Master of Time. A classic Avengers villain and a favorite of mine that first appeared waaaaaay back in Avengers (vol.1) # 8.

Yeah, I know…Loki is the guy that actually gets the Avengers together, but if Thor defeats Loki in the Thor film how can Marvel expect the movie going audience at large to buy off on Loki taking on not only Thor, but Captain America, Hulk, Giant-Man. Wasp, and Iron Man. They won’t. You just can’t do it.

And none of the villains above…with maybe the exception of a now modified version of Ultron could… (well Loki could in the comics)…. But you risk a similar ending that you had in the Fantastic Four film…..rushed. It’s going to be hard to pull off. (Marvel got sneaky in the second FF film and found a better way for all four members of the FF to get into a slugfest with Doom.)

But with Kang the possibilities are without end. He can separate the Avengers…..throw them throughout different time periods in their lives. Actually work into footage from the previous films as flashbacks, or change the same footage leaving people scratching their heads and saying…wait a minute that didn’t happen that way…..

…..you can switch things up. Iron Man could battle Loki (Iron Man hates magic you know)…while Thor could duke it out with Ultron IV, Wasp tangles with Zemo or the Red Skull, Hulk slugs it out with the Iron Monger, Giant-Man goes toe to toe with the Abomination leaving the Mandarin for Cap.

You can sneak in future Avengers like War Machine, Vision, Scarlet Witch or Hawkeye. Black Panther, Quicksilver and yes….even Yellow Jacket.

Or….let’s see Thor wrestle around with Sultur…or Ulik the Troll. Even Beta Ray Bill is a possibility when Kang is pulling the strings of time. Cap could have a run in with Deathlok, wouldn’t that be cool or the second Baron Zemo. Iron Man and Fing Fang Foom could mix it up. How about Hulk battling a future version of himself like the World War Hulk version or Maestro? And of course Giant-Man and the Wasp against Jocassta, the Bride of Ultron.

Heck….you can even throw a gamma radiated poodle or two in the mess, I don’t care.

In the end….the Hulk’s epic battle with one or more of his brutal future aspects causes a ripple in Kang’s time displacement traps freeing all the other Avengers (and at the same time allowing them all to see what the Hulk may one day become.) Jocassta follows Giant-Man and Wasp back to the conflict where she helps defeat him but at the ultimate price, and the Hulk now sensing a level of distrust among the team against him….quits.

Kang could do a lot to really make a killer Avengers film think about…..or better yet…but a bug in Marvel’s ear.

Avengers Assemble!!!!!

Look for Life In Four Colors # 3 “Crazy From the Heat”, coming soon.

Until then…..

….see you in the funny papers!