by Stone Marshall | Jan 27, 2016 | Awesome Book News |
WHY THE WARCRAFT MOVIE WILL UPSET PLAYERS
Blizzard finally dropped the full theatrical trailer for Warcraft, the story that takes place before the World of Warcraft game. The film seems like it’ll depict the arrival of the brutal orc-race on the world of Azeroth. It looks as though it’s mostly centered on the orc and human races, but you can be sure we’ll be seeing some dwarves and trolls in there, and, with any luck, a few more notable races as well. And you can also be sure a big contingent of gamers are absolutely going to hate it.
LORE CHANGES
Hardcore WoW gamers love their lore, and when it comes to the story of how orcs came to Azeroth, there’s more than enough to occupy you for hours. Which means it simply can’t all make it into the movie. Will the film feature the same Dark Portal? Probably. Will we meet the human sorcerer Medivh who helped the orcs come to Azeroth? Yep, he’s played by Ben Foster. Will we get really in depth into the Burning Legion and Gul’Dan and drinking demon blood and orcs changing colors and Sargeras and other words we couldn’t fit into this paragraph because they make no sense to you if you’ve never played the game? Maybe not so much.
RACES AND CLASSES
This movie will tell the story before the story, and that’s a significant thing for fans to remember. If all you know is World of Warcraft, you may expect this movie to be brimming with panda bears and goblins. However, the movie is likely much closer to the original PC game, which involved a lot of resource-gathering and town-building, and was much lighter on story and characters than WoW. The result is that you can probably expect a total lack of Undead, since they shouldn’t even exist yet, no Night Elves, no Blood Elves, no Death Knights, no Worgen, no Horde Paladins, no Draenei, and also very few of the characters that exist in current lore, since this movie is mostly about their forefathers. That said, maybe we’ll get an easter egg or two.
WHO’S THE BOSS?
Every gamer takes a bit of pride and ownership of their adventures, and it’s no different in Warcraft. Ironically, this is part of the downfall of any movie based on a game, too. It tasks you with becoming the viewer instead of the hero, and you watch with a critical eye towards all the things that should have been different. Sure, this may be the story of Anduin Lothar, but if you were playing him you’d totally have better weapons and you’d absolutely hit up the Horde village with a badass raid from your guild and crush them all before the credits even finished rolling, so what the hell is the point of this movie anyway? Our point is that gamers like being in control of the story. The movie makes you watch someone else in control, and unless it’s on Twitch or YouTube, watching someone else play is always going to make hardcore gamers a little antsy.
EPICNESS
“Epic” is a regular part of our vocabulary these days thanks in large part to Warcraft, which set the standard for MMORPG’s and how you gear up. You have regular gear, you have good gear, and you have epic gear. Everyone wants to be epic. Everything must be epic, and this is true for a movie as well. Every fight must be more epic than the last, and every new character must be more epic than the one we just met. The movie must build in all things, and that means heading into the inevitable sequel, when everything has to be bigger and better and flashier—or WoW fans will be let down. Why? That’s simply the way the game works.
IS THAT AN ORC?
Quick, what color is an orc supposed to be? Brown? Grey? Green? Hell, red? “Yes” is sort of the answer, and so is “no” as far as Warcraft is concerned. Orcs started off green, and then that story got changed a little bit. Then the orcs were brown, and then someone drank some cursed blood and some orcs turned red and some turned green—and some orcs are more war-like than others as a result. And basically whatever the movie chooses to do—and it looks like they went both green and brown—some people are just going to say it’s wrong. Because when it comes to orcs, we just can’t see past skin color.
THE ADAPTATION BLUES
If you’ve ever heard “the book is better than the movie,” you know where this one is coming from. The original medium in which a story is presented to people is often the one they fall in love with. It’s not just the story, it’s how the story is told. In Warcraft, that’s via gameplay. That can never be replaced for some people and, in fact, can only be ruined by trying to translate it into anything else. You see this all the time with anything from TV to movies, or movies to video games. No matter what way the translation goes, something will be lost and fans of the original will curse it like it’s riddled with the plague.
TOO MUCH KNOWLEDGE
Warcraft fans are cursed with knowing the future of the franchise when it comes to this movie, and also with just how every character should be able to react to every other character. If Gul’dan is the first warlock, then we know he has a demon minion somewhere. If this guy is a paladin, we know he can heal himself and he should be able to bubble before the next round of attacks. And if there’s a mage in the fight, why isn’t he opening a portal so we can get reinforcements anyway? Just put the hunter’s pet on aggressive so it distracts everyone for a second.
When the movie deviates from what fans think the characters should do, it’ll just be met with scorn. Just look at how uppity fans get when Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings adaptations strayed from source material—and that was only a couple of stupid books. This is a video game. It’s serious.
WHY THE WARCRAFT MOVIE WILL UPSET PLAYERS
by Stone Marshall | Jan 27, 2016 | Awesome Book News |
In the densely populated and competitive world of comic book movies, the pressure to escalate the stakes with each subsequent film is high. Speaking in a recent interview, X-Men: Apocalypse writer and producer Simon Kinberg described the upcoming sequel as “the biggest X-Men film we’ve ever done” – a statement that’s thematically similar to so many that we’ve heard before about other movies. After all, no one want to say that their sequel is going to have a smaller story than its predecessor.
Both Marvel Studios and Warner Bros. are escalating the stakes in the same way this year: by having their most popular heroes face off against one another in an ideological (and physical) battle. Captain America: Civil War will split the Avengers down the middle into two factions, led by Captain America and Iron Man. Meanwhile, Zack Snyder’s Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice‘s title represents not only the monumental prospect of seeing the Son of Krypton and the Bat of Gotham battling it out on the big screen, but also the groundwork being laid for Justice League.
The pressure on Batman v Superman to be successful is enormous. Warner Bros. already has a plan in place for the DC Extended Universe that stretches all the way to 2020, with multiple movie release s every year. Batman v Superman doesn’t necessarily need to be huge at the box office, but it does need to win audiences over to the idea of a shared DC movie universe in a similar vein to the world that Marvel Studios has built.
Comparatively, the weight on the shoulders of Warner Bros.’ second DC release of 2016, David Ayer’s Suicide Squad, is pretty light. The movie’s premise – a group of supervillains being recruited into a task force because no one will care if they get killed – is a pretty accurate reflection of Suicide Squad‘s role in the DCEU. Characters like Harley Quinn, Killer Croc and Enchantress are expendable in a way that Batman and Superman and Wonder Woman just aren’t. It’s even feasible that Jared Leto’s Joker could never appear in the DCEU again; it’s not as though Batman has any shortage of enemies.
As a core piece of Warner Bros.’ larger storytelling, Batman V Superman has to deal with a lot of narrative admin. It needs to address the fallout from Man of Steel, establish Ben Affleck’s version of Batman, introduce the rest of the Justice League members, and lay the groundwork for them eventually working together as a superhero team. All of this needs to be accomplished somewhere in between “the greatest gladiator match in the history of the world,” and another showdown between Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman and Lex Luthor/Doomsday. Meanwhile, the only thing that Suicide Squad needs to do is throw a bunch of wacky villains together and send them on an adventure.
They may be very different movies, but Warner Bros.’ marketing approach for Batman V Superman andSuicide Squad has taken a similar arc so far: a ‘serious’ first look trailer unveiled at Comic-Con, followed by several months later by a more ‘fun’ trailer designed to appeal to more casual fans and general moviegoers. For Suicide Squad, the latter was easy; throw in Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”, brief one-line introductions to the lesser-known characters (“He’s a crocodile and he eats people.“), a multitude of comedic beats, and increasingly rapid cuts until the whole thing reaches a crescendo of insanity.
For Batman V Superman‘s second trailer, selling it as a ‘fun’ movie seemed like more of a struggle – because it’s probably not going to be a very ‘fun’ movie. Many fans could make a strong argument that comic book movies don’t need to be ‘fun’, but Warner Bros. doesn’t need to convince those fans – it needs to convince everyone else. In terms of comedic beats, the best that the Batman V Supermantrailer had to offer was a rather strained scene between Lex Luthor, Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne in which the punchline is “you should not pick a fight with this person!” and the joke is that the two of them are going to fight. The rest of the trailer was spent struggling to pull together all the different elements of the movie, with the focus on the titular battle suddenly giving way to a scene of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman united against Lex and Doomsday – a character that non-comic fans aren’t going to recognize.
According to the studio logic that bigger equals better, that established characters will always be more popular than new characters, and that sequels are a safer bet than new ventures, there should be no question that Batman V Superman is going to be more successful than Suicide Squad. Yet in the wake of the most recent Batman V Superman trailer, most of the conversation surrounding it was arguing over whether the reveal of Doomsday was a spoiler or not. After Suicide Squad‘s second trailer arrived earlier this week, the conversation was: “That was awesome, let’s watch it again!”
It’s still far too early to claim that Suicide Squad will be a better movie than Batman V Superman, but there’s no question that its trailers have been better than Batman V Superman‘s. A lot of that has to do with the music; Batman V Superman‘s trailers are locked to the movie’s scores, whereas Suicide Squad‘s trailers call on the classics like The Bee Gees’ “I Started a Joke”. The latest Suicide Squad trailer functions simultaneously as self-promotion and as an awesome new music video for “Bohemian Rhapsody”, complete with bullets firing in time to the music. It’s a model that proved to be hugely effective for Guardians of the Galaxy, and the comparisons don’t stop there.
Aside from the presence of Thanos, Guardians of the Galaxy was a welcome break from the ongoing story arc of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It took place in that same universe, but so far away from the antics of Captain America and Thor that it might as well have been a completely separate movie. There was no need to have seen a previous movie in order to get context for everything that was happening, and at the time it was made it wasn’t setting up Guardians of the Galaxy 2. It was a fun romp through space with a bunch of characters that had never been on the big screen before. Take out the “space” part, and that could just as easily be a synopsis for Suicide Squad.
It’s not fair to say that Suicide Squad is objectively more colorful than Batman V Superman; a lot of the footage we’ve seen so far takes place at night, or inside the walls of Belle Reve prison. But the raucous, in-your-face energy of Suicide Squad‘s latest trailer gives the impression of a more colorful movie – of something fresh and exciting and anarchic, if not necessarily important or with high stakes. Beyond earlier backlash to the new character design for the Joker, the buzz surrounding Suicide Squad has been overwhelmingly positive, whereas the response to Batman V Superman has been very mixed.
All of this does not, of course, mean that Batman V Superman should have simply tried to be more likeSuicide Squad. It’s a different movie with a different director who – for better or worse – has a different vision. But Suicide Squad‘s trailer plays to the movie’s strengths – chaos, humor, crazy characters, irreverence, amorality – and that’s something that the second trailer for Batman v Superman just doesn’t manage. The biggest selling point of this movie is an epic fight between DC’s most famous superheroes, and that should have been the core message that Warner Bros. drummed into the moviegoing public. For the trailer to show those two superheroes overcoming their differences in order to fight a common enemy is a serious misstep.
This muddled marketing can be traced all the way back to the title of the movie. By itself, Batman V Superman would have been a fine title for a comic book movie. Dawn of Justice would also have been a fine title. But instead these two concepts, which don’t gel together particularly well, have been forced together into one jumbled message that dilutes the appeal of the movie rather than strengthening it. The promise of Batman and Superman coming together with other superheroes to form the Justice League takes the bite out of the promise of Batman and Superman fighting one another. The reveal of Doomsday triggered a wave of complaints about spoilers, but really those spoiler complaints should have been directed at the movie’s title.
Perhaps Warner Bros. should have taken the advice of Billy Flynn, the charming lawyer from the musicalChicago, who tells his client Roxie Hart, “We can only sell them one idea at a time.“ Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice is trying to sell two very different ideas at the same time, whereas Suicide Squad has one idea (“Worst. Heroes. Ever.“) that it’s pouring all of its enthusiasm into.
There’s still time for Batman V Superman to turn things around with a final trailer that really zeroes in on an angle that it can sell to general audiences. It’s not too late for Warner Bros. to see what’s working with the Suicide Squad marketing, and apply that to the other big DC release of 2016 (and, indeed, to the rest of the DCEU as it unfolds).
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice opens on March 25, 2016, which is followed by Suicide Squad on August 5, 2016; Wonder Woman on June 23, 2017; Justice League Part One on November 17, 2017; The Flash on March 23, 2018; Aquaman on July 27, 2018; Shazam on April 5, 2019; Justice League Part Two on June 14, 2019; Cyborg on April 3, 2020; and then Green Lantern Corps. on June 19, 2020.
Why Suicide Squad’s Trailer is Better Than Batman V Superman’s
by Stone Marshall | Jan 26, 2016 | Awesome Book News |
APOCALYPSE’S POWERS
Now that we’ve learned just how closely the origin of this take on Storm will stick to the comic books, one might think the same would be true for Apocalypse. As the post-credits scene of Days of Future Pastshowed, Apocalypse would still rise to power (along with his Four Horsemen) in the days of ancient Egypt, and be blessed with the telekinesis needed to assemble an entire pyramid. After that, his powers get a bit more… comic book-ish. In short, he can do just about anything a comic book reader could think of.
For the X-Men movie universe, some restrictions need to be applied. While that might sound disappointing to fans, Singer reveals a new origin for the villain – and an explanation for his immortality – that will have fans more curious than upset:
“He moves from body to body. Apocalypse himself is not a physical form, he’s an energy. I don’t know what he is. What he does is he accumulates powers over the millenia by moving from body to body, and what’s wonderful is he thinks in the beginning of the film he’s found this great body. I don’t want to give away what the power of the body this mutant has but it’s a familiar one that you’ve seen a number of very famous mutants have. It kind of ends up being the wrong one because he gets stuck in it for a long time, but then suddenly he has this opportunity and that becomes his agenda.
“He has a number of different powers that he’s acquired over the years as he’s moved from body to body, accumulating these various abilities. One of them is to imbue other mutants and to heighten their powers and abilities beyond anything they ever imagined. Secondly he can shield from psychic powers, he can form shields so that it makes it harder for a psychic like Xavier to tap in and get to them. He’s not a psychic himself though. He can amplify your power, transform you as a mutant but his ability to physically damage, destroy, or build is in the non-biological world. That’s in the physical world, he can change the inorganic molecules of things.
The one restriction should be immediately obvious, since the comics saw Apocalypse able to reshape his own body, size, and density at will (making him a tough villain to actually beat). The same thinking is likely behind the decision to remove telepathy from his power suite, granting him the power to manipulate others to his cause, but not sense when they may be straying from the path – a pivotal point if Magneto, Storm, Angel or Psylocke are ever going to return to the side of our heroes.
Singer went on to tease more powers being explored, since the possibly infinite number of former hosts could offer plenty of tricks up his sleeve – and the question of where Apocalypse’s true origin lies, as a being of energy, isn’t going to be answered before the movie hits theaters. The core mystery seems to be the one body Apocalypse attempted to occupy, when a mutant ability he craved turned out to be more than he bargained for, and presumably saw him disappear for centuries.
If he’s been able to actually plot or plan that entire time, then the X-Men looking to stand against him will be in for a massive fight.
THE RIGHT MAN FOR THE JOB
So, how do you find the right person to bring to life a mutant who is as old as time, perfectly equipped to manipulate minions, draw followers willingly to his cause, and attempt to rule the world with an iron fist? Apparently, it wasn’t a difficult question, since Oscar Isaac (Ex Machina) was their top pick:
“He was our first choice. When we started talking about Apocalypse, it was back when we were making Days of Future Past and we started talking about who could actually play the part from the standpoint of who could hold the screen and even dominate the screen with Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, all the actors we have.”
That’s a task that Isaac is more than up for, having earned critical acclaim in half a dozen movies in recent years. Ex Machina, Inside Llewyn Davis, Show Me a Hero, and A Most Violent Year may be targeted at a different audience than an X-Men adventure, but given what’s been said about Apocalypse, there’s enough character work to put Isaac’s skills to work. That’s assuming that Singer hopes to make him as nuanced and believable a villain as Magneto before him.
But talent wasn’t the only reason Isacc was a perfect choice. In a world where superhero franchises are regularly criticized for giving little representation to minority actors (or characters), Singer and his team made the decision to cast a non-Caucasian actor if they could. Their criteria wasn’t as explicit as Apocalypse’s presumed ethnicity – Egyptian? Arab? A blue-skinned alien mutant? – but it did play a role in their search:
“In terms of his ethnicity, we wanted it to be someone who wasn’t white so that was actually another part of the decision process, so that was a nice coincidence for us even though he’s not, as you say, Egyptian or Middle Eastern. But really it came from a place of who’s the best actor in the world to us who hasn’t already been in an X-Men movie [laughs] or some other superhero movie, because we couldn’t cast somebody from Avengers.”
Deadpool opens in theaters February 12, 2016; X-Men: Apocalypse on May 27, 2016; Gambit sometime in 2017; Wolverine 3 on March 3, 2017; and an unannounced X-Men film on July 13, 2018. The New Mutants is also in development.
X-Men: Apocalypse’s New Superpowers & Origin Explained
by Stone Marshall | Jan 26, 2016 | Awesome Book News |
With 2015 behind us, moviegoers are gearing-up for an onslaught of highly-anticipated comic book movies in 2016 – starting with
Deadpool in February, followed soon behind by the
Justice League kickoff
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. Initially developed as a
Man of Steel sequel,
Batman V Supermanhas grown into a full-on shared universe crossover movie – with planned appearances by iconic characters from both Batman and Superman’s respective colleagues and enemies. In addition to the titular heroes,
Dawn of Justice will also include appearances from Lex Luthor, Lois Lane, and Alfred Pennyworth, with confirmed cameos from several future Justice Leaguers (in various stages of their superhero journeys).
While it remains unclear how much Cyborg and The Flash, for example, we’ll see in Batman V Superman, Warner Bros. has made it apparent that the comic book face-off/team-up features a major role forWonder Woman. Making an appearance as both Diana Prince and Wonder Woman in the Dawn of Justice trailers, Gal Gadot has been a significant source of excitement – culminating in a show-stopping moment during the Doomsday battle. However, Batman V Superman is only the first stop on Wonder Woman’s big screen journey – as the character will return for a prequel story in 2017 (followed by futureJustice League universe appearances). Now, as Warner Bros. begins production on Wonder Woman, the studio has unveiled an official logo for the film.
The logo made its debut on Twitter – as a background wallpaper and profile image for the official Wonder Woman film account.
Check out the image in full below (via @WonderWomanFilm):
The Wonder Woman film Twitter account was only recently activated – and features just one tweet (the previously released image of Gal Gadot in costume that marked the start of filming), posted only 24 hours before the logo debuted. Currently, at the time of this writing, the account only has 1,700 followers (though expect that number to increase dramatically in the coming days) – meaning that the studio is likely just getting the film’s social media presence in place.
How active the account will be, as well as how much the filmmakers will reveal during shooting, remains to be seen – but, given that social media reveals have been a major component of Batman V Superman‘s marketing campaign, readers who are active on Twitter will definitely want to give the account a follow. After all, Zack Snyder’s Twitter followers were treated to first-look reveals of everything from bald Lex Luthor to Aquaman in costume to the Batman V Superman Batmobile, so there’s reason to think that Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins or Warner Bros. PR will take a similar approach with the WWI-set prequel tale. Given that set photos from the film are already appearing online, it’s likely that Warner Bros. will continue to use social media as a means to drown out leaks with a steady stream of official reveals.
As for the official logo itself, there isn’t a lot to analyze at this stage. The design takes blends the classic “stacked” double-W Wonder Woman logo with real-world textures and color themes from the character’s upcoming onscreen aesthetic. In keeping with Snyder’s depiction, the logo looks less like a superhero insignia and more like the symbol of esteemed warrior race – with ornate embellishments inspired by Wonder Woman’s eagle breastplate.
That all said, the timing of the Wonder Woman logo reveal and Twitter account debut is interesting – given that DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. are already teasing several reveals during tonight’s DC Films Presents: Dawn of the Justice League TV event, including a sneak peek at Wonder Woman. So, it’s likely the logo and Twitter account won’t be the only Wonder Woman news for today – given that the studio has also dropped first-look concept artwork of their founding Justice League members as well.
Check out the concept artwork featuring Aquaman, Cyborg, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and The Flash below (which was posted over at the DC Films Facebook page):
It’s worth noting that the Dawn of Justice League teaser image is stylized concept artwork – meaning the costume designs for new characters that have yet to be seen onscreen may not be finalized. Still, the designs certainly give an idea of what the studio is using as a template for The Flash and Cyborg, even if the on-screen versions depicted in Justice League are ultimately a bit different.
We’ll keep you updated with any reveals from the Dawn of the Justice League TV preview as well as future updates from Wonder Woman and Justice League production.
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice will see theatrical release on March 25th, 2016, followed by Suicide Squad on August 5th, 2016; Wonder Woman on June 23rd, 2017; Justice League Part One on November 17th, 2017; The Flash on March 23rd, 2018; Aquaman on July 27th, 2018; Shazam on April 5th, 2019; Justice League Part Two on June 14th, 2019; Cyborg on April 3rd, 2020; and Green Lantern on June 19th, 2020. The Superman and Batman solo films have release dates TBD.
Read original article here:Justice League: Cyborg & Flash Concept Artwork; Wonder Woman Movie Logo Revealed
by Stone Marshall | Jan 25, 2016 | Awesome Book News |
With well over a decade under its belt, movie audiences have come to rely on the
X-Men series for regular adventures, a rotating cast, and after
X-Men: Days of Future Past, the assurance that even death can’t keep fan-favorite heroes out of the fighter. But when the superteam’s new villain was revealed, fans knew that
X- Men: Apocalypse would be sending the mutants up against
the biggest, baddest enemythey had ever encountered.
As the marketing rollout for Apocalypse has gotten underway, the scale of the threat has been a major talking point. But as unforgettable as the blue-skinned, armored Apocalypse known as En Sabah Nur – or ‘The First Mutant’ – may be, his origin story and mission don’t just threaten the mutants or humans of the X-Men universe, but the themes and narratives of the entire movie series.
We had an opportunity to speak with director Bryan Singer on the set of Apocalypse in July, getting some hints about the villain’s possible alien connection, what made Oscar Isaac the perfect actor for the role, and the indiscriminate order that he’s seeking to bring to mankind and mutants everywhere.
APOCALYPSE’S MISSION
Until now, the X-Men series has been based (more or less) on a single conflict: mankind’s fear, paranoia, and eventual dominance of mutants. It was a fairly universal allegory for stories of outsiders, segregation and hate the world over – but a nuanced, unpredictable narrative it wasn’t. With Apocalypse, Bryan Singer and writer Simon Kinberg are throwing that idea out the window.
Where X-Men: Days of Future Past saw mutants exposed to the world, threatening and saving President Nixon, it seemed that the ten year jump to Apocalypse would result in more of the same. But that all changes when Apocalypse arrives on the scene, with little interest in the difference between mutant and human – only the strong over the weak, and order over chaos. Singer explains:
“He believes with his heart that order is the only thing that’s going to save humanity, and he will provide that order at any cost… and for a person who begins as a unifier and then grows in power – What’s the old expression about power? Power does what? And what does absolute power do? Things just never go right, so that civilization goes down and he starts a fresh one.
“In this movie, something happens, he thinks he’s figured it out finally. ‘Oops,’ didnt really go well, he gets kind of buried and then wakes up, now he’s in a different situation than he’s ever been before… The Babylonians, the Sumerians, the ancient civilizations, and suddenly he wakes up in 1983. Now the world’s connected with television and radio. We see it as different civilizations, we see it as “super powers” as he says it, then the non-superpowers, the first world, second world, third, whatever. But to him it’s all just one giant interconnected, overly militarized, screwed up civilization that worships false idols and is self destructive, and needs to be refined and saved from itself.”
Hearing Apocalypse described by the director, it’s clear that he’s as complicated or conflicted a character as any of the mutants. He’s resolved in his beliefs, sure: as an ancient immortal being, he has seen enough to completely justify his desire for order above all else (to himself, at least). And for powerful beings seeking to rule a civilization through order, there’s no nightmare like the 1980s.
It will have to be left up to individual fans to decide how ‘fair’ the survival of the strongest really is, since it could also be said that Apocalypse doesn’t really play favorites. It’s the strong he seeks, as it was in the comics, recruiting his Horsemen to descend the world into war. Those who survive are the ones who deserved to, becoming the building blocks of an even resolved society.
Where he crosses from an aggressive, ruthless tyrant to a figure of religious worship will hopefully be explored in the movie, but if we had to guess, it’s his ability to reshape the world that wins followers to his cause. And even if we don’t know just how much of a role he played in ancient history, Singer promises that his return will be, in a word: Biblical:
“The way I describe him the best is he, to me, is the God of the Old Testament and all that comes with that. If there isn’t the order and the worship then I’ll open up the Earth and swallow you whole, and that was the God of the Old Testament. I started from there and when Oscar and I met we began discussing, since he isn’t really God, he’s the first mutant perhaps, but he’s not God necessarily. He’s imbued with certain unique powers. Some of them may or may not be from this Earth, we don’t know.”
X-Men: Apocalypse’s New Superpowers and Origina Explained
In the densely populated and competitive world of comic book movies, the pressure to escalate the stakes with each subsequent film is high. Speaking in a recent interview, X-Men: Apocalypse writer and producer Simon Kinberg described the upcoming sequel as “the biggest X-Men film we’ve ever done” – a statement that’s thematically similar to so many that we’ve heard before about other movies. After all, no one want to say that their sequel is going to have a smaller story than its predecessor.
Aside from the presence of Thanos, Guardians of the Galaxy was a welcome break from the ongoing story arc of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It took place in that same universe, but so far away from the antics of Captain America and Thor that it might as well have been a completely separate movie. There was no need to have seen a previous movie in order to get context for everything that was happening, and at the time it was made it wasn’t setting up Guardians of the Galaxy 2. It was a fun romp through space with a bunch of characters that had never been on the big screen before. Take out the “space” part, and that could just as easily be a synopsis for Suicide Squad.
