Open Discussion – December 24, 2008

@Ken J
Thor is able to lift one-third of the earth's weight due to that belt of his that doubles his strenght. Without it, Thor is only able to lift one-sixth of the earth's weight. One-sixth is less than one-quarter.

I agree with you about this lifting the Earth's weight ridiculous and only good for comic books. So Thor should just be made to be weaker than the Hulk for the movies and be portrayed as a Demi-God-like Hercules. The hammer should give him flight and lightning shooting ability, and he should have a max flight speed more slower than Iron Man, looks a little bit more buff than Captain America. And scrap the teleportation ability and the ridiculous armour. And make him someone that drinks beer like everyone else-LOL.

OH, BTW Fred, one-third is more than one-quarter, so if what you say is true, Thor should be MORE buff than Hulk...

Being able to life any significant percentage of the earth's weight is just ridiculous. But that's within the realm of comics so it's fine there, but not for the movies...

@High Kalibur
Thor is a God in the comic books and can lift one-third the earth's weight with that stupid belt that doubles his strenght. Hulk can lift one-quarter the earth's weight. So Thor should be slightly less buff than the Hulk.

I agree that Captain America should be an extremely buff solider, but not have superhuman strenght. According to the comics, his strenght is achievable by an ordinary human by doing years of weights.His strenght was only instantly given to him by the serum.
Captain America is the stratigist of the team, keeps everyone together and leads them well.That should be the focus for Captain America. Hulk should be stronger than Thor on the silver screen and only be sent back from hits or Thor's hammer instead of flying. Captain America's challenge should be to control the Hulk and have Tony Stark in compitition on who is the better stratigist and still respect Captain America. And Thor should demonstrate some form on reluctance in working with the team as well as have a very frictional interaction with Nick Fury.

@ Ken J

A technological spin would be a great improvement over magic but from what I understand, 'Thor' will take place in ancient times.

@ FRED

Not a bad Avengers Ensemble...

My choice team would be:
Iron Man
Captain America
The Hulk

and...

Thor: if it wouldn't ruin the film -- but how do you get around the magic and metaphysical with this dude? I don't think there is a way without completely pi$$ing off the fans of Thor.

I agree with most of your points of the 'tone down' except that I can't picture him flying in human form. And no one should be close to the Hulks' size or Buffness (word?).

Captain America should just look like an extremely buff solider, borderline superhuman not anything close to the Hulk.

Thor, my goodness... Thor...

The best way I see to handle it is in the fashion of how Achilles was handled in Troy -- He was among regular people but I still bought that he was indeed super-powered. What do you think about that?

I like your addition of the Black Widow to be included in the upcoming Iron Man and Avengers films. It could definitely work. I can easily see a subplot involving Fury and Black Widow foreshadowing the Avengers storyline.

I would like to throw another character out there -- I know it won't happen but I would love to see the Black Panther added and then eventually get a spin-off.

I definitely wouldn't mind War Machine being involved.

Hawk Eye could be alright but that costume...?

As far as Ant-Man and the Wasp are concerned, I think their very premise is ridiculous and I can't imagine being able to take them seriously zipping around, riding insects and shrinking or growing while Shellhead, Cap and the Green Giant are wrecking an all-powerful villain. I hope that I can take Thor seriously enough though.

I figure since Ant-Man and the Wasp are in the original cast, that Marvel would want to pay tribute but I really don't think they can work on screen... nope... not at all.

But there is another imperative factor here... the Villain. Who do you think it should be? Who do you think can work? I can see one main Villain with some lesser villains... but who?

I think the best villain would be Doctor Doom, I say forget the Fantastic Four films exist, if you haven't already and revamp the sinister mastermind who is the most intelligent villain in the Marvel Universe anyway.

I can't see how fans were satisfied with his recent film incarnation.

I dunno, I'm worried... what does everyone think...?

As long as they get Kevin McKidd to play Thor, that would be awesome, lol.

@High Kalibur
The only reason I have not been speaking of Ant-man is because there has not been anything word about the Pym couple(ant-man and Wasp).

I seriously do not see what is wrong with just using Warmachine instead of Thor. But Thor can work because most people do actually believe in the God of their respective religion, so Thor has a strange stigma of realism about it.

But Thor has to be toned down a bit, something like this:

Slightly weaker than the Hulk.
Slightly more buff than Captain America.
Slightly less buff than the Hulk.
Can fly , but less faster than Iron Man.
Scrap the teleportation ability.
The lightning attacks can only come out from the Hammer and not from clouds that form that shoot lightning from the sky.
No ridiculous helmet with wings on it.
He wears a jacket , so it looks more mordern.
He should be able to take slightly less damage than the Hulk.
His skin is to be as strong as the Hulk's.
No mention of than belt that doubles his overall strenght.
That idea where he is put into the body of a partially disabled human, scrap it.
Portray him as a Demi-God, after all , this is the silver screen, not some comics book.

Do not even get me started on Ant-man and Wasp, they should not even appear in the dreams of the producers. I would also prefer Hawkeye as he presents more of a human element to the Avengers team and since he is an arrogant jerk , it will make things a bit more funny. Black widdow has to be included as she is just a human with prolonged lifespan who knows
a lot about weapons and combat. Plus she is a Russian who uses guns, how is that not awesome.

Prefered Avengers Team Members:
Iron Man
Captain America
Black Widdow
Thor-only if made according to how I described him
Hulk

What do you think?

Kalibur, Tony Stark should create Thor's hammer so it would be more of a technological thing instead of a mystical thing, lol. Ok, I'm kidding about Stark, but they seriously do have to put some kind of technological spin on him. Maybe the "hammer" might not actually be a hammer per-se, but some kind of weapon/armor system that can be nicknamed the hammer...

@Ash Ali

Unless I go out of my way to see it, probably not. But with no pre-screenings next week maybe I'll go see it one night.

Vic

@ Vic

Well, after all the normal christmas-type hoopla -- a few of us headed out to see Valkyrie at about midnight and I must say, we were all pretty impressed.

It's a rare diagnosis when I say flawless but unless I missed something --that is the word I would choose to best describe our take on it.

Now, I know everyone didn't feel the same, I was really surprised there was no applause at the end of the film. For me, the film delivered exactly what it advertised.

Does anyone know of any large historical inaccuracies in the film? I didn't catch any...

It's too bad everyone cares more about Tom Cruise's Oprah Dances and Scientology phase then the actors ability to... act. He is marvelous in this film, the entire cast is, and BEWARE the acting is the entertainment because the 'action' is seldom existent.

The film is put together very well, the writing, music, editing and direction create a wonderfully suspenseful thriller.

There is pretty much no negatives -- If you like suspense and thrills, political type drama and stellar performences -- look no further. If you need senseless violence and nudity to be entertained, rent 'Chicks with Guns XXX'... and if you can't cope with the fact that Tom Cruise in undeniably a good actor despite his public falacies, skip it altogether because he carries this film.

Well, without any spoilers, I hope this holds you guys over until Vic gets a chance to review it. I'm telling you, it's good.

@ FRED

So... if you're worried about Thor, what do you think about Ant-Man? I say, spray him with Raid and forget about him. And you're right, Thor's powers definitely have to be more 'earthly'.

Is there going to be a review for "Valkyrie" from anyone at Screen Rant?

Basically once a full trailer is released, it means the movie is pretty much complete...

ya the movie is probably completly done so they cant mess it up to bad. I agree the WB is the best in the buisness they make excellent movies. And I think they deserve the credit and the rights to watchmen I mean it was there hard work that made this movie look so superb and well directed. Fox woulda made it cheap and tasteless. I am curoious though is there only one watchmen book or could we be seeing sequels in the future?

@High Kalibur

I should drag my rear to see The Spirit and Valkyrie (wasn't on the list for pre-screenings) but I really would rather spend this weekend with my family.

Vic

I don't get why you guys are so worried about Fox not "making" Watchmen correctly... Do you guys not realize that it's basically already been made??? lol

Regarding Thor, I would like the producers of the Avengers/Thor film to make exceptions and not stick with the comic books and make it so that Thor is more of a demi-god than an actual God-this way he appears more like Hercules rather than some out of place supergod that would give audience the impression that Thor can take Hulk, Iron Man and Captain America all at once. His powers should be twisted in such a way that he has slightly less strenght when compared to the Hulk, can fly via that belt he wears and the hammer gives him all the rest of his powers because he is classified as worthy via his father Odin.
That would make way more sence to the audience.

I do not mean to be rude, but fox has screwed up almost every movie ever made. in contrast, WB always have great movies with very few exceptions. Maybe Fox was desperate for the obvious profit Watchmen is going to make, so they probably said that to make their case and the jury felt sorry for Fox's desparateness , thus Fox wins-LOL!

And Please tell me there is still hope that Warner bros will gain the rights to the film again. Fox will ruin the movie example DAREDEVIL ELECKTRA need i say more?

I love this site u guys have the best site hands down on movies and the most accurate posts. Keep up the good work.

Looking forward to that Spirit and Valkyrie review, Vic. :-D

MC, guys! :-D

Well...I guess now it's safe to say Mark Millar's alleged Superman movie deal was a HOAX after all.

I'd like to pass on a Merry Christmas to everyone as well. I know it's late on the day of, but everyone enjoy.

Go easy on the 'nog. :D

Hey here's a link regarding FOX's win of their claim to hold rights to Watchmen...D#$% FOX anyways..I guess they must have had a good case or they would not have won....

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/watchmen/news/?a=...

Cheers

@FRED

Thor?

I agree there is cause for concern about how Thor will be done but I think even more alarming is Ant-Man... I mean... C'mon?

I imagine the Thor movie like Troy - that would awesome. Achilles (spelling?) was like a superhero/antihero, I bought it enough to enjoy the film.

As far as Ant-Man, I just can't imagine it at all, I really can't imagine him on screen, shrinking, with Iron Man, Captain America and The Hulk.

@ Screenrant

PLEASE review Valkyrie, Benjamin Button and The Spirit...

The Spirit just looks like a joke... anyone else get that when they watch the trailer... it's like a Sin City spoof? I see no badassness about it.

Frank Miller... what are you doing? Just write... hopefully I'm wrong.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS! I should be asleep!!!

@Vic
If they are going to make Thor work, then they better make him less corny looking-the helmet and cape has to go. Then give him a jacket, so he fits in more well. Also , Thor should be less powerful so views do not get the impression that Thor can actually take on all the Avenger members at once and not break a single sweat. And Thor really does not need an origin film.

Ooh, if you're going on vacation and love taking photos, consider making a photo book, I just made one from my trip to Hong Kong, and it's awesome, it's like a professionally made hardcover book you find at Barnes & Noble. I did the "Eurobook" from dotphoto.com. It's a bit pricier than the competition, but it's well worth it. Much better print quality, better quality book all-together, and so many ways to customize it that the others don't allow. Check it out. I promise I don't work for them, I'm simply that impressed with it. lol

You too, have fun wherever you're going...

I am outta here until the 29th, From my family to all of yours,Have a merry Christmas Everyone!

@Homer

I agree, IM still rocks, but would just like to point out that I don't think you need to make a movie reference if you're going to wish them happy holidays. I doubt they will delete your post for being off-topic. It's always on topic to say something nice...

Wait, I should take my own advice... lol :-D

1)White Christmas
2)Christmas Story
3)Elf
4)How the Grinch Stole Christmas(Karloff)
5)Charlie Brown Christmas Special