50 Years of the Avengers

"And there came a day, a day unlike any other, when Earth's mightiest heroes and heroines found themselves united against a common threat. On that day, the Avengers were born—to fight the foes no single super hero could withstand! Through the years, their roster has prospered, changing many times, their glory has never been denied! Heed the call, then—for now, the Avengers Assemble!"

—Prologue from The Avengers used in the 1970

Marvel comics was created out of Timely Comics (1939) in 1960 however it would not be for another 3 years in 1963 when Stan Lee and Jack Kirby would bring "Earth's Mightiest Super-Heroes" together to form the Avengers. 

Avengers #1 first issued September 1st 1963 and was composed of Ironman, Thor, the Incredible Hulk, Ant-Man, and the Wasp, a little different line up than what we were given in Marvel's the Avengers movie showcasing Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, Hawkeye, and Black Widow organized by Nick Fury. 

Just like in the movie the first issue brought forth the nefarious Loki God of Mischief / Evil. In both renditions Loki tricked the team into battling the Hulk however the movie used it as a plot point to set forth Loki's war for the Tesseract aka, the Cosmic Cube. 

Issue #2 we started to see the line up change as Ant-Man became Giant Man and the Hulk left the Avengers sensing that they feared his unstable persona. The search for the Hulk brought the Avengers into contact with Namor the Sub Mariner who in issue #4 would bring from the depths of the ocean the Avenger's most iconic leader, Captain America. 

Over the years the many different incarnations of the Avengers. 

The West Coast Avengers  was created by Clint Barton aka Hawkeye, who's roster comprised of  Mocking Bird, Wonder Man, Tigra and War Machine (believed to be Iron Man) in an attempt to branch out with the Avengers. 

The New Avengers title brought us some of our favorite Marvel Super Heroes as Avengers consisting of Captain America, Iron Man, Spider Man, Wolverine, and Spider Woman.

Shortly after Marvel's Secret Invasion with the Skrulls the Dark Avengers seemed to run havoc all over the Marvel Universe with virtually opposite of some of our favorite Avengers of past. We had Daken son of Wolverine, Mac Gargan as Venom in place of Spider Man, Bulls Eye in place of Hawkeye just to name a few and was run by none other than former Green Goblin Harry Osborn as the Iron Patriot. 

In the last 50 years the Avengers roster has come to include some of the worlds most famous super heroes and villains be they a human with an iron suit, a God, a mutant, an alien symbiotic suit, or simply a super soldier. There is no question as to how far this time will go and who they will recruit, the only question left is when will your favorite hero become one of them.  

-Nurd!

August 28th 1917 - February 6th 1994

Nurdgasmic would like to take a moment to honor the legendary Jack Kirby. He passed away on February 6th 1994 however would have been 96 on August 28th this year. Born Jack Kurtzberg, he was an American comic book artist and a veteran of WWII. With out you and your vision, not only for the Marvel Universe, comics would not be what they are today. We would be remiss on a day like to day talking about the Avengers and not mentioning you. Our world is now full of color with the characters that you helped create. Your work has inspired millions of would be aspiring comic artists. Thank you for your contributions in art and thank you for your service to your country. 

I still believe in heroes. -Nurd! 

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has just been picked up by ABC and tonight is your chance to view the first preview trailer. During the season finally of Once Upon a Time a teaser for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will air, so check your local listings.

There's no real saying over what the series will consist of however the official ABC description of the series is

"Clark Gregg reprises his role of Agent Phil Coulson from Marvel’s feature films as he assembles a small, highly select group of Agents from the worldwide law-enforcement organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D. Together they investigate the new, the strange, and the unknown across the globe, protecting the ordinary from the extraordinary. Coulson’s team consists of Agent Grant Ward (Brett Dalton), highly trained in combat and espionage, Agent Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen) expert pilot and martial artist, Agent Leo Fitz (Iain De Caestecker); brilliant engineer and Agent Jemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) genius bio-chemist. Joining them on their journey into mystery is new recruit and computer hacker Skye (Chloe Bennet). From Executive Producers Joss Whedon (“Marvel’s The Avengers,” ”Buffy the Vampire Slayer”); Jed Whedon & Maurissa Tancharoen, “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” pilot co-writers (“Dollhouse,” “Dr.Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog”); Jeffrey Bell (“Angel,” “Alias”); and Jeph Loeb (“Smallville”) comes Marvel’s first TV series.  “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” is produced by ABC Studios and Marvel Television."


Prior to being ripped from the Internet by Disney, the preview managed to sneak online a couple of days ago. The preview went on to showing Abomination's destruction of Harlem from the Incredible Hulk with the water mark "Rising Tide." There is a picture of someone named Skye and being labeled as a possible collaborator. One might also wonder if the series is set to tie the MCU together just a little bit tighter and maybe introduce concepts that will later be used in the movies.

Let me introduce you to your Agent's of S.H.I.E.L.D.

-Nurd!

Thor: The Dark World Trailer

The first trailer for Thor: The Dark World has been released today.

I was excited for a new Thor movie because the first movie had to be one of my favorite Marvel Phase One movies but after watching the new trailer, I'm even more excited.

Thor battles an ancient race of Dark Elves led by the vengeful Malekith who threatens to plunge the universe back into darkness after the events of The Avengers.

Thor The Dark World is set to release November 8th, 2013.




-Nurd!

Peggy Carter Short At SDCC!

It looks like Peggy Carter will be reappearing during San Diego Comic-Con this year.

Peggy Carter, played by Hayley Atwell will be resurfacing in a new Marvel short at this years SDCC. Haley Atwell was recently asked about her involvement in the Captain America movies and after being candid about Marvel's secrecy she had this to say;

 

 

 

 

 

 

"There’s been an online campaign for Peggy to be featured. People really liked her. So Marvel have made sure that as part of Comic-con there will be a little kind of snapshot as to what Peggy’s actually really capable of, which was finished here and which was great fun. Hopefully, it will lead to other things."

 

 

It's unknown if the short will take place before she met Steve Rogers's or after he crashed into the ocean. Either way what is for sure is that fan's haven't had enough of Peggy Carter.

 

Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier will not only include Peggy Carter, Steve Roger's wartime love interest, but also her younger sister Sharon Carter, Agent 13.

 

 

-Nurd!

Marvel Phase 2 Concept Art

With the Marvel's Phase One box set coming out today some Phase Two concept art is revealed. As of this point I am not certain if they are included with the box set; however either way, let's show them off!

???
This first one is a bit of a mystery. Speculation indicates that it is from Thor 2: The Dark World and if so, then this would be some of the first concept art that I have seen. With Iron Man 3 on the verge of coming out then it would make sense that we get to see some of the new Thor movie. In retrospect, since Thor is already filming I would believe this was for Thor IF we get some Iron Man artwork. It would only make sense. Other speculation is that this comes from Guardians of the Galaxy and that is my guess also.



Guardians of the Galaxy
I can't say enough how excited I am for this movie. This is not the first bit of concept art we are seeing for Guardians of the Galaxy but it is the first we are seeing of their ship. There isn't much to expand on here, it's a ship. Nuff' said. I do however speculate that we may see this ship in the end of Iron Man to help introduce the Guardians of the Galaxy. Maybe this is some of that Iron Man 3 concept art pushing the above art to be Thor 2 artwork.

More Guardians
This picture is very reminiscent of the Cantina scene in Star Wars: A New Hope. This picture is VERY interesting. It's interesting for a couple reasons. One, we see Rocket Raccoon, Drax the Destroyer, Groot, Star Lord, and is that Gamora in blue skin? What's even more important is we see the scene filled and even interaction with other characters which means the universe is that much larger. We now know the Cinematic Universe is filled with more than what we've seen so far.

(Special nerd note, not only does this reminiscent of the Cantina scene, Star Lord in front right is also dressed in similar, if not very much the same, out fit from concept art for Han Solo and that of Luke Skywalker, originally called Star Killer.)

Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier
At last some Captain America art and if anything, this is just pure joy for me. We see Chris Evans as Captain America squaring off with the Winter Soldier himself Bucky Barnes. This picture is somewhat telling also because Steve Rogers isn't in his which means if his attire doesn't change between this and the movie, then Winter Soldier is out to get Captain anytime anywhere. We also see sparks shooting out from the impact of Cap's shield and W. Soldiers bionic arm which means he packs a punch (no pun intended).

And just when you thought the info was gonna stop coming in I'm going to give you another morsel of goodness. Marvel studios is set to set up sharp in Pinewood - Shepperton at the end of this year and will begin filming Avengers 2 at the beginning of 2014! It's not confirmed who will be in the sequel and Marvel has already stated that not all Avengers from the first movie will make it into the second. While the landscape of the Marvel Cinematic Universe changing and only a few additions (Guardians) I can't imagine we won't see all of Marvel's finest taking it to the mad Titan Thanos.


- Nurd!

Marvel Phase One - Avengers Assembled

Marvel Phase Two is here and Iron Man 3 hits theatres in just over a month but today Marvel releases the Phase One collectors.


The Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase One - Avengers Assembled box set is the culmination of events leading up to forming the Avengers. Included in this set is the Blu-ray of all six movies since 2008 until current, dossiers,  exclusive movie memorabilia (INCLUDING A TESSERACT!), but also an exclusive bonus disc with an inside look at Iron Man 3 and Marvel's Phase Two.
 


Iron Man (2 May 2008)

Tony Stark is the complete playboy who also happens to be an engineering genius. While in Afghanistan demonstrating a new missile, he's captured and wounded. His captors want him to assemble a missile for them but instead he creates an armored suit and a means to prevent his death from the shrapnel left in his chest by the attack. He uses the armored suit to escape. Back in the U.S. he announces his company will cease making weapons and he begins work on an updated armored suit only to find that Obadiah Stane, his second in command at Stark industries has been selling Stark weapons to the insurgents. He uses his new suit to return to Afghanistan to destroy the arms and then to stop Stane from misusing his research.






The Incredible Hulk (13 June 2008)

Depicting the events after the Gamma Bomb. 'The Incredible Hulk' tells the story of Dr Bruce Banner, who seeks a cure to his unique condition, which causes him to turn into a giant green monster under emotional stress. Whilst on the run from military which seeks his capture, Banner comes close to a cure. But all is lost when a new creature emerges; The Abomination.











Iron Man 2 (7 May 2010)

With the world now aware of his dual life as the armored superhero Iron Man, billionaire inventor Tony Stark faces pressure from the government, the press, and the public to share his technology with the military. Unwilling to let go of his invention, Stark, along with Pepper Potts, and James "Rhodey" Rhodes at his side, must forge new alliances - and confront powerful enemies











Thor (6 May 2011)

The warrior Thor (Hemsworth) is cast out of the fantastic realm of Asgard by his father Odin (Hopkins) for his arrogance and sent to Earth to live among humans. Falling in love with scientist Jane Foster (Portman) teaches Thor much-needed lessons, and his new-found strength comes into play as a villain from his homeland sends dark forces toward Earth.











Captain America: The First Avenger (22 July 2011)

It is 1942, America has entered World War II, and sickly but determined Steve Rogers is frustrated at being rejected yet again for military service. Everything changes when Dr. Erskine recruits him for the secret Project Rebirth. Proving his extraordinary courage, wits and conscience, Rogers undergoes the experiment and his weak body is suddenly enhanced into the maximum human potential. When Dr. Erskine is then immediately assassinated by an agent of Nazi Germany's secret HYDRA research department (headed by Johann Schmidt, a.k.a. the Red Skull), Rogers is left as a unique man who is initially misused as a propaganda mascot; however, when his comrades need him, Rogers goes on a successful adventure that truly makes him Captain America, and his war against Schmidt begins.




Avengers (4 May 2012)

Nick Fury is director of S.H.I.E.L.D, an international peace keeping agency. The agency is a who's who of Marvel Super Heroes, with Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow. When global security is threatened by Loki and his cohorts, Nick Fury and his team will need all their powers to save the world from disaster.










-Nurd!               

Should the Gargoyles Return To The Night?

In today's movies we see a return of pop culture from the past, be it a TMNT reboot, a new G.I. Joe movie and even a new Jurassic Park movie. Even Transformers was successful enough to get a fourth movie. So why have we not seen a Gargoyles movie yet? Is it even still relevant?

The Gargoyles originally aired back on October 24th 1994 and ran for three years. The Gargoyles began back in medieval Scotland where a band of nocturnal creatures known as Gargoyles lived alongside the humans until they were betrayed and those remaining were magically turned to stone. Centuries later the spell would be undone and the remaining 6 gargoyles found themselves in New York, befriended by a NYPD detective by the name of Elisa Maza.


Gargoyles has since gained a cult following of fans and although the cartoon series ended in 1997 the series did not die. In fact the franchise was picked up years later to be adapted into comic books, even by the likes of Marvel Comics. The comic line ended in 2008 by Slave Labor Comics when Disney's licensing fees became too high to renew.

So why have we not seen a Disney's Gargoyles movie yet? Personally I believe that the following is there and that even years later, children and new fans will pick up on it. Disney has generally focused it's movies around princesses; however Disney did announce in 2010 that they will move away from creating princess themed movies to aim for a wider appeal. Since then we have seen Disney make such purchases as Marvel Comics and most recently Lucasfilm.

What I see is that Disney has repositioned themselves to market to young and adolescent boys. Furthermore, Gargoyles does include a strong female protagonist in the form of Elisa Maza to offer a positive female role model for young girls as well.

So while the franchise hasn't seen any new material in the last 5 years, could it still be relevant? In today's pop culture we see movies take a bit of a darker tone, featuring vampire and werewolves (Twilight and Dark Shadows) and even have zombies on tv (The Walking Dead). We are embracing the supernatural and Gargoyles would fit very well into today's standards.

Now that we know that Gargoyles could be accepted today, how would it be done? Live action would just be a dream come true, to watch these massive beasts come to life from stone and fly above New York, but I think that the younger generation would be lost or frightened. The next step would simply be an animated feature to capture the same excitement but also the wonder from the younger crowd. With Disney already owning Pixar it might as well be a green light. Pixar has done wonders with Toy Story, or more fitting for the editorial, Monster's Inc.

Let's take a side step back over into the live action genre. Again, Disney is poised to be able to handle this kind of a movie. I would take that the Gargoyles would have to be done via CGI and motion capture with obvious voice overs. . I would also cast Naya Rivera from Glee. She definitely has the look and notoriety for the role.

So what do you think? Do the Gargoyles have what it takes to make it to the big screen? Or should the forever remain in stone?


-Nurd!

Pepper Pott's to the Rescue

A new Ironman 3 international TV spot showed up online with what some may consider a spoiler. The new spot entitled "Save" doesn't appear to show any new material except for one small clip with Pepper Potts wearing the Iron Man armor. (I'm gonna let that sink in for a moment.)

Yes, Pepper Potts will be showing up in the suit and I can't say that I didn't see it coming. We actually saw this in other trailers but we actually never got to see who was in the suit. What we did see was Tony Stark on the floor as his mansion was in shambles with the suit kneeling over him and no idea of who was inside. We were led to believe that with the mansion destroyed that someone may have hijacked the armor but that is not the case at all.




Even in the posters that were released we get one of Pepper holding Tony's helmet and I got two feelings from this poster; one, as if something bad had happened to Tony and two, desperation. Desperation that would lead her down a path to put on the suit.

There's no doubt in my mind that this is just another nod to our inner fan boys and fan girls as we've already seen the Hulkbuster armor. While we do see Pepper in the Iron Man suit what does remain to be seen is if she will actually get her own and finally become Rescue?

Iron Man 3 pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy's hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?

Iron Man 3 is set to release on April 26th.


-Nurd!

*Update (3/27/13) The video had to be removed as it is no longer available.

Amazing Spiderman #700

The Amazing Spider-man comes to the end of it's monumental run with #700 today.

(WARNING: SPOILERS ARE AHEAD. IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THIS ISSUE, AND DO NOT WANT IT SPOILED, NOW IS YOUR TIME TO STOP READING.)

In the issues reading up to Amazing Spider-man #700 we have seen Spider-man take on Dr. Octopus. Peter Parker, as heroic as ever, dies battling Dr. Octopus.

I can't contest to the writing of this issue because I don't have it in hands yet. I only have leaked pages and whats word coming out of Marvel and MTV Geek.

The word is that it's not a quick death and that it is drawn out. I would assume Peter Parker fought to his very last breath.

As for Dr. Octopus, he survives. Peter fell short and in the end Dr. Octopus is triumphant over Spider-man.

Peter Parker was without a doubt one of my top super heroes. Unlike those of Superman who had no weaknesses on this planet, Batman's intelligence and billions, and even Captain America's unwavering ethics and patriotism, Spider-man was your every day hero.

In the last 700 issues we've seen Peter grow from a teenager to a photographer, a teacher, and a scientist and all along the way he's made mistakes, suffered loss, and as a whole, seemed to be the heart of the Marvel Universe. Peter Parker proved that "With great power comes great responsibility" as he seemed to carry the wold on his shoulders sometimes.



"Spider-Man can be anybody."



All of these make Spider-Man relate able. He was the every man's hero. In his inception and as to why he wore mask, unlike other super heroes of his time like Superman, any of the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, etc, Stan Lee said "Because Spider-man can be anybody under that mask."

So where does that Marvel Universe go from here? With Peter Parker gone now in the Ultimate universe and in the normal continuity what happens? Peter Parker, unless tucked away some where, is no longer part of the Marvel Universe.

Spider-Man will go on to a new title called "The Superior Spider-man" with someone else taking on the role of Spider-Man and it also came as a shock to me. Of course I won't spill all those beans just yet and there are plenty of spoilers for that one already.

This day belongs to Peter Parker, the man that showed us anyone can become a hero with just a little tiny spider bite and a lot of heart. Even when you come up a little short, if you give it all you've got, you can still Amazing.

Today the Marvel Universe just got a little smaller. Rest in Peace Peter Parker.

-Nurd!