A Look at a Marvel-ous Universe Part 2

Hello everyone,

  Welcome back to my overview of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In my last post, I looked over the first 6 movies, A.K.A. Phase 1, of the MCU. This phase introduced Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America as movie characters, as well as reintroduce the Hulk to the big screen. Due to the success of the former three characters (Hulk has had some tough movies to sell) sequels were made as apart of Phase 2. During this phase two Marvel television shows were put into production.
  Note: There are spoilers ahead from Phase 1. I will not be vague when this information is spoiled!

  Phase 2 took place over a shorter period of time than Phase 1, starting in 2013 with Iron Man 3. After the Battle for New York at the end of The Avengers, Tony Stark is suffering from nightmares due to the trauma of nearly sacrificing himself to save the day. Due to his lack of sleep, he is also suffering from anxiety, as he feels the weight of the people on his shoulders.
  Meanwhile, Pepper Potts (played by Gwyneth Paltrow), Tony's girlfriend runs Stark Industries in his absence. A former love interest of her's, Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) enters her office and offers her a job at his Advance Idea Mechanics, or A.I.M. for short.
  All the while, a new villain has risen, the leader of the Ten Rings known only as "The Mandarin" (Ben Kingsley). He broadcasts terrorist acts on TV, threatening the American populace. However, the Mandarin isn't as he seems, and after Pepper is captured by this mad-man, Tony vows to find her, and stop the Mandarin once and for all.
  The next movie in Phase 2 is Thor: The Dark World.
  Centuries ago, a race of Dark Elves sought to corrupt and destroy the world with a force of destruction known only as "The Aether." Malekith (Christopher Eccleston), the leader of the Dark Elves, planned to use the world-linking "Convergence" to set the power free, but the Asgardians intervened, and the Dark Elves were believed to be defeated.
  After Thor left her without explaining his absence, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), searched earnestly for Thor. Eventually she gave up, and attempted to move on in her life. That is until her intern, Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings), brought her news of a celestial event similar to the one Thor arrived with.
  Having liberated Vanaheim, Thor visited the gatekeeper Heimdall (Idris Elba) hoping to use the gatekeeper's senses to find Jane. After discovering that Heimdall could not see her in his visions, Thor transported to Earth, hoping to find her. The woman he finds is not the same as he remembered.

  Between Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World, Marvel produced a TV show called Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. The show follows Agent Phil Coulson and his team of Agents as they travel the world solving missions under Nick Fury's orders. Ever so often, characters and plot points intersect with the movies. The show's second season only began recently and is scheduled to continue into 2015.
   Captain America: The Winter Soldier is the next movie in Phase 2. Steve Rogers, now under the alias of Captain America, is one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s top operatives. After rescuing important men off of a captured ship, Steve is addressed by Nick Fury about the future of the agency, and the message that they are trying to send.
  Somewhat considered the other head of S.H.I.E.L.D., Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford) is convinced that Fury is attempting to go rogue.
  After leaving the S.H.I.E.L.D. home-base, the Triskelion, Fury is attacked by a strange man referred to as "The Winter Soldier."
  It then becomes Steve's duty to reclaim S.H.I.E.L.D. for fear of what would happen if all of their intel would fall into the wrong hands.
  Guardians of the Galaxy is the most recent movie to release as a part of Phase 2.
  Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), a defunct of the Ravagers, sets off on his own to find an object called "The Orb." Not knowing what he steals, a group of Kree soldiers, led by Korath the Pursuer (Djimon Hounsou), apprehend him and the Orb, intending to deliver the object to Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace). Quill takes the Orb back and is again apprehended, but this time by the deadly Gamora (Zoe Saldana). They are both captured eventually by the Nova Corps, and are taken to the Kyln prison facility. In an attempt to escape, Quill, Gamora, and a group of delinquents named Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), Groot (Vin Diesel), and Rocket (Bradley Cooper) try to cease the facility, escape, and retrieve the orb before Ronan gets his chance to claim it.
  There are currently two more movies that have yet to release of Phase 2, the two of them being The Avengers: Age of Ultron (May 2015) and Ant-Man (July 2015). The teaser trailer of the former can be seen below.

 

  Marvel will also produce another television show called Agent Carter. Based on Captain America's Peggy Carter (Haylee Atwell), the series will tie in with the films and will be eight episodes in total.

  Ant-Man marks the end of Phase 2. Phase 3 will open with the next Captain America movie, with the title Civil War. The movie features Tony Stark/Iron Man as the antagonist of the film. Black Panther will be introduced in this movie, and will eventually star in his own movie afterward. Another Guardians of the Galaxy, Thor:Ragnarok, Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange, The Inhumans, and The Avengers: Infinity War Parts 1 and 2 round out the complete lineup for Phase 3 as well as four Netflix series based off of Daredevil,  Jessica Jones, Iron Fist and Luke Cage.

  And that concludes our look at the MCU. I hope you found it informative, and please let me know if you would like to see more posts styled like this one in the future.

Thanks all,

-Peter

A Look at a Marvel-ous Universe

Hello everyone,

  Since 2008, Marvel Studios has produced 10 films and a TV show. As of October 28, 2014, 11 more movies, another TV show, and a Netflix series have been slated to release over the next 5 years. Sounds like quite a bit of material to cover, am I right? With the recent announcement of 9 more movies in production, I realized that it might be a bit complicated for newcomers to these movies to figure out which movies to watch first, and in which order. So I thought I'd compile a list for you all to follow.
  To start, Marvel Entertainment began in 1939 as Timely Publications. In 1969 the modern incarnation of Marvel Comics began to launch titles based on their characters Iron Man, Captain America, The Incredible Hulk, and many others. Fast forward 10 years later, after producing several successful movies, Disney acquired Marvel Entertainment. From then on, movies began to be produced faster.
  The collective Universe created from these movies is called the "Marvel Cinematic Universe" or the "MCU" for short. This Universe is divided into three segments called "Phases." So, naturally let's begin with Phase 1.
  (Please note, these will be brief synopses, but each sequel may bring about some spoilers)

  Phase 1 began with Iron Man. The story focuses on the eccentric Tony Stark (played by Robert Downey Jr.), owner of a weapon production company called Stark Industries.
  Tony is abducted by a terrorist organization called the Ten Rings, where he is forced to use his technology to build them a weapon they can mass produce. Instead, Tony uses the parts to build the prototype armor for his escape that people would eventually come to know as "Iron Man."
  The next movie to release nearly a month later was The Incredible Hulk. Dr. Bruce Banner (Edward Norton), meets with General Thunderbolt Ross (William Hurt), hoping that the two of them could recreate a World War II era "super soldier" program. In the process, Bruce gets exposed to gamma radiation. It's side effects cause him to transform into a green "Hulk" every time his heart rate raises to 200.
  Over the next few months, Bruce would begin searching for forms of peace, that would keep him from transforming into the beast again, but as events turn out, hiding his angry form becomes more of a challenge.
  Note that the actors who play as Bruce Banner/The Hulk are not consistent. Although they perform as the exact same character, Edward Norton was replaced by Mark Ruffalo in "The Avengers."

  The MCU would continue with Iron Man 2. Tony Stark opens up the "Stark Expo," a gathering of scientists for the future of the planet. One scientist, Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), is there to present a line of military robots that he hopes will replace Stark Industries as the primary weapon's manufacturer of the world. However he finds his robots to be lacking.
  Meanwhile, Tony is suffering from being poisoned by the materials that power the "Arc Reactor" in his chest (Tony wears the light that you see amplified on the Iron Man armor's chest inside his own chest to keep himself alive). In his final days, he hands over his company to his girlfriend and heads to Italy where he intends to live a more exciting last days. He signs himself up to race in the Monaco Grand Prix, where he is attacked by Whiplash (Mickey Rourke), a man with a serious grudge towards Stark.
  This movie was released about two years after the first two Phase 1 movies. This was also the first movie in the MCU to introduce more than one super hero, as both Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and War Machine (Don Cheadle) were featured prominently.

  Thor is the fourth movie in the MCU. During the first century, Earth was invaded by the Frost Giants of Jotunheim aided by the world-freezing relic, the Casket of Ancient Winters.
  Odin (Anthony Hopkins) and the men of Asgard defended the Earth and defeated the Frost Giants, and sealed the Casket away.
  After years of peace, the Frost Giants infiltrated Asgard in attempt to steal the Casket back, inadvertently interrupting Thor (Chris Hemsworth), son of Odin's coronation as king of Asgard.
  Seeking vengeance for the interruption, and against his father's orders, Thor takes Loki (Tom Hiddleston), his adopted brother, along with some of Thor's compatriots to Jotunheim, ultimately sparking war with the Frost Giants again.
  This was the first movie of the MCU to take place outside of Earth for a portion of the movie, eventually opening the way for more "alien" characters to show up in later movies.
  The penultimate chapter of Phase 1 was Captain America: The First Avenger.

  The movie takes place during World War II, where a scrawny, health condition riddled man named Steve Rogers (Chris Evans),  lies to get into the military to serve his country. After being deemed unfit for battle, Dr. Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci) enlists Steve as a primary test subject for a "super-soldier" project (Thank-you Incredible Hulk for some foreshadowing. Many of these movies have little foreshadowing moments throughout each movie. Keep your eyes peeled as you watch).
  Meanwhile, Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving), leader of Hydra, a secret Nazi organization created under Hitler's nose, has located an ancient weapon called The Tessaract: a small, glowing blue cube said to contain unbelievable amounts of power. With the Tessaract, Schmidt plans a terrorist attack like no other, while no one is the wiser.
  Before we get to the final movie of Phase 1, allow me to mention a few things before going on.
  First off, all of these movies, even from the beginning have been specifically designed to be interconnected. In order to do this, they introduced an original character, Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg). Throughout each of these movies (excluding Incredible Hulk and Captain America), Agent Coulson would be a secondary character, following the orders of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division (or S.H.I.E.L.D. for short). However, he wasn't the only character who would pop in and out of these movies. Until his official appearance in Iron Man 2, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) would appear in quick scenes after the credits roll by. Here, Nick Fury would foreshadow future events. My advice to you, stay after the credits are finished during every Marvel movie you watch! There's almost always something to be seen!
  Second, this last movie is hard to explain without spoiling several things from previous movies, so I will be brief. It is by far my favorite of the Phase 1 movies.

  The Avengers was the culmination of all that began in 2008. As mentioned before Nick Fury appeared throughout the movies. During these moments, he typically would invite people to join "The Avengers Initiative." None of them ever officially accepted.
  So when Loki transports himself to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s base of operations, takes over the mind of Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), and runs away with the *SPOILER* in tow, Nick Fury issues the band of super heroes together to defend the Earth against Loki's plans.

  And that concludes this brief overview of the first phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Next week I'll be covering what we have of Phase 2 as well as a look at what we know about Phase 3.

Thanks all,

-Peter