The Avengers: Early Review Exclusive

And then there came a day unlike any other, when Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, and Thor would be on screen together. While it’s every fanboy’s dream, the harsh reality is that more often than not this can go very wrong, however every once in a great while a movie comes along and becomes the blueprint of what a blockbuster movie should be.

Let’s save the suspense, this was gigantic scale action on steroids. Avengers is every awesome two page spread you've ever seen in comics come to life. I’ll try to keep out major spoilers but in order to fully explain a film with so many volatile elements something has to give. The movie picks up where Thor and Captain America left off; S.H.I.E.LD has the cube and is trying to turn it into a weapon. Loki’s reappearance and attack cause it to fall in the wrong hands, we also loose Hawkeye for a bit but fear not. Nick Fury has to rally his troops, but each is less than thrilled to be working for S.H.I.E.L.D.

We get one awesome fight after another, Cap/Ironman vs Loki, Ironman vs Thor, Captain America vs Thor, Black Widow vs Hulk, Hulk vs Thor, Thor vs Loki, Hulk vs Loki. The battle against Loki’s army is the best mega battle scene since Two Towers or Braveheart, it clocks in at a little over 30 minutes alone.

My concern was Mark Ruffalo as Hulk/Bruce Banner, while he plays the role to hold his own on screen, one could not help but wonder what an Edward Norton Hulk would have been like in this film.

Also certain parts of the movie require you to have at least watched Thor and Captain America, but if you haven't it really won't take away from your enjoyment of this film.

There were only two things Avengers did which were not wrong, just a bit odd. First there was never an “Avengers Assemble!” battle cry (hope this is the scene that was filmed the night of the premiere). Second the death of one of the characters seemed like just a plot moving device and I really liked that character.

No doubt you were going to see this movie regardless of what my opinion would have been. All my intent here is to get you to brave the crowd on opening weekend and see this movie on day 1, it’s just that good.

Note: at the time only the Thanos mid credits scene (possibility of a sequel based on the Infinity Gauntlet story) was shown, there is word another post credits scene will be included in the May 4^th release.

5 out of 5 Thank you Joss!!

- David N.

Unknown, Overly Flamboyant, Possibly Gay Superheroes: Issue 1

With Watchmen opening in less than a week, I figured it was time to get into the superhero swing of things and present lesser known *!Super!*-heroes.

Actually, this will probably be the first/last issue unless David or anyone else has something more to add. You see, I came across the Texas Twister accidentally. An old X-Men episode featured the villain Red Skull, I Wikipedia'd said villain, which led me to S.H.I.E.L.D., which then led me to members of S.H.I.E.L.D. that included the Texas Twister, Drew Daniels:

Drew Daniels was born in Amarillo, Texas.. He is working at a cattle ranch when a tornado and radiation from a nearby nuclear reactor affect him at the same time. The net effect was to give him the power to generate tornadoes at will.

Safe to say I don't know much about the comic book/superhero universe. But I couldn't help but laugh at the bio of this southern fried dandy in all his baby blue glory. Texas Twister is an expert rodeo rider, mind you. But he's got other battles to fight, as explained further in another entertaining portion of his bio:

Soon, however, Texas Twister returns to the Avengers Compound at a time when Hawkeye was alone, demanding to see the captive demon. Twister declares his love for the demon, which turns back into Shooting Star. Texas Twister went on to explain that the demon had come to him months ago when Twister's powers seemed to be fading, making him afraid that he'd lose Shooting Star if their rodeo act broke up on account of his lost powers. The demon offered to augment the Twister's powers in exchange for his soul, and the Twister agreed, but after his powers were restored he begged to be spared. The demon then takes over Shooting Star instead. The demon proceeds to cast a spell that prevents Twister from telling anyone about this. The spell did not prevent Twister from researching the occult on his own; this is how he finds a way to break the demon's original spell.

If Iron Man knew this guy was in S.H.I.E.L.D. I'm sure he would have revoked his membership long ago. So goes the superhero universe I guess, filled with tons of obscure guys just like this. There's definitely too much radiation out there being accidentally used on the wrong people. There had to of been a better human casualty, even in 1976.

Congratulations, your 2009 Halloween costume has been decided.