An all-new era begins this May as Marvel’s Mightiest Mavens assemble for an explosive new series launching during Secret Wars! Today, Marvel is pleased to present your new look inside the blockbuster A-FORCE #1 – from the creative team of G. Willow Wilson (Ms. Marvel), Marguerite Bennett (Angela: Asgard’s Assassin, James Patterson’s Max Ride: First Flight) and Jorge Molina (X-Men)!
As the Secret Wars begin, the Avengers as you know them are no more – and a new team will lead the way! In a secluded corner of Battleworld lies Arcadia, an island nation fiercely protected by a team of Avengers the likes of which has never been seen before!
So who are the Marvel powerhouses taking center stage? “She-Hulk, Dazzler, Medusa, Nico Minoru and other fan favorites, will take charge,” says series co-writer G. Willow Wilson. “We’ve purposefully assembled a team composed of different characters from disparate parts of the Marvel U, with very different power sets, identities and ideologies.”
And there came a day unlike any other, when Earth’s Mightiest Heroines found themselves united against a common threat. Fighting to protect the small sliver of their world that’s left, they stand tall, shoulder-to-shoulder, ready to take on the horde. Ushering in a new day with a rallying cry heard across Battleworld – A-FORCE ASSEMBLE!
A-FORCE #1
Written by G. WILLOW WILSON & MARGUERITE BENNETT
Art by JORGE MOLINA
Inhumans 50th Anniversary Variant by ADAM HUGES
Variant Covers by RUSSELL DAUTERMAN, STEPHANIE HANS, JORGE MOLINA and SKOTTIE YOUNG
Blank Variant Also Available
On-Sale – 05/20/15
Konami hasn’t officially cancelled the planned next entry into the Silent Hill horror video game series, “Silent Hills”, but the version many video game fans were hoping for, with longtime “Metal Gear Solid” director Hideo Kojima, film director Guillermo del Toro signed on to help with the story as a creative consultant and The Walking Dead star Norman Reedus playing the lead character, is officially not going to happen, or at least not as planned. And this absolutely sucks, because “Silent Hills” looked like it could have truly been the next evolution of horror games.
“Silent Hills” has fallen apart, less than a year after releasing a playable trailer (cleverly titled “P.T.”), which was in essence, a brilliant marketing strategy, only revealing the actual game it was teasing, “Silent Hills” at the very end along with Reedus in the rain. “P.T.” was released last summer, sort of under the radar, and isn’t exactly a demo of “Silent Hills,” but was more along the lines of a concept demo to show the vision and vibe of the “Silent Hill” game Kojima and del Toro’s team were making. The demo is a winding hallway in a creepy house, and you end up walking through a door only to loop back around to where you started, except every time you loop, things change. You might not notice them at first, but the subtle creepiness of the house and the sounds you were hearing gave way to some of the biggest scares I’ve ever played in a video game (and certainly the biggest since I was a teenager).
You can pretty much only run through the halls, with no jumping actions or weapons of any kind. There aren’t any real enemies, though you can “lose” the demo. Once you got to the end, the “Silent Hills” teaser ran, but initially there wasn’t a clear way of unlocking the trailer that worked consistently (though a reliable way has since been found). If this peaks your curiosity at all, the free “P.T.” demo is still available on PlayStation Network (PlayStation 4 only), but it’s going away forever on Wednesday, April 29, so if you want to have it (or keep it), download it. If you’re lazy, the end trailer is also here.
So while “P.T.” will live on for some lucky few (as long as their PS4s last, at least), it’s still a bitter disappointment to miss out on what was already one of the most intriguing upcoming games. The “Silent Hill” game series often lived in the shadow of the more-popular “Resident Evil” series, but the RE games were survival horror games in the sense that you needed to scrounge up ammo and health and save it, while the early “Silent Hill” games were as close to interactive horror as the PlayStation 1 and 2 would allow. The more recent SH games have deviated further and further away from the core horror at the heart of the series (and also reviewed poorly, leading to poor sales), and the most recent “Silent Hill” game released was 2012’s “Silent Hill: Book of Memories” for the PlayStation Vita, which was a role-playing dungeon crawler, of all things.
If Konami was going to bring the “Silent Hill” series back to the public eye, they needed top convince fans they were going to do the series justice, particularly on next-generation consoles. “P.T.” got many fans, including myself, excited. It was my first true “holy crap, I’m playing games of the future” moment on my PS4, and was truly scary as all hell. I was tired of just shooting ghosts and monsters with guns. I wanted to have the poop scared out of me by a video game, and “Silent Hills” looked like it was shaping up to be on point, with a well-regarded game director in Kojima, an acclaimed horror director in del Toro, and Reedus, star of television’s biggest horror show.
The short version of what happened is Kojima had some sort of a falling out with his longtime company, Konami, and announced he’d be leaving the studio after the next “Metal Gear Solid” game. The silence on “Hills” was deafening, with Reedus confirming via Twitter he was no longer involved, and del Toro following suit.
Super bummed about this was really looking forward to it. Hopefully it’ll come back around. Sorry everyone http://t.co/drZJ8tBsSN
It was too good to be true, but it was, and now it’s been snatched away. Yes, “Silent Hills” could certainly have been a terrible game; plenty of games have had fantastic demos and awful final products. Maybe “Silent Hills” would end up looking nothing like the “P.T.” demo. Maybe that was all the scary they were able to put together. These scenarios are all plausible.
And while there’s probably been no other time in the history of video games with such a variety of game types, too many of the “AAA” game types (the big releases, such as “Metal Gear Solid,” “Call of Duty,” “Assassins’ Creed” and so on) are simply boring versions of what companies know will sell, and “Silent Hills” looked like it might not be boring. That’s not to say “Silent Hills” was a sure-fire slam dunk, it was a risky type of game, but the level of talent fronting it such seemed like it was a worthwhile gamble, particularly for a series that had been stuck in neutral for years, and for a studio in Konami, which honestly doesn’t have a lot going for it at the moment, other than the upcoming “Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain” (which Kojima will finish before leaving the company officially). “Silent Hills” looked like it could have shaken up the doldrums of the usual annual release serieses.
No, we have no idea if “Silent Hills” was going to be a good game, let alone a landmark one. But being teased with “P.T.” only to never even know the final vision of “Silent Hills” might be the biggest scare of them all, and immediately becomes one of video games’ biggest “What if?” discussions, forever haunted by what could have been.
According to El Mayimbe, he has an unconfirmed rumor that the Spider-Man film will be Spider-Man: The New Avenger. This definitely adds some intrigue to Captain America: Civil War.
Spider-Man: The New Avenger is scheduled for release on July 20, 2018.
Billy Unger really wants to play Spider-Man in the next film. My vote would be for Asa Butterfield from Ender’s Game.
It doesn’t get any better than Cookie Monster as the Incredible Hulk in this Sesame Street parody of the Avengers.
A super villain was prepared to destroy all the healthy foods in the world, until one hero, actually, several heroes stuck together to save the world’s vegetables! Together, Dr. Brownie, Onion Man, Captain Americauliflower, Black Bean Widow, Mighty Corn, and Zuchin-eye are…The Aveggies!
This Winter – the “Best in the World” takes on the baddest in the galaxy! Announced at C2E2, CM Punk will return to Marvel for DRAX #1! Fresh off his thunderous Marvel debut in February’s Thor Annual #1, the wrestling superstar is blasting off into outer space for Drax’s very first ongoing series! Exploring Drax’s time outside the Guardians of the Galaxy, prepare for an ongoing series unlike anything you’ve read before!
“CM Punk has proven that he’s the best in the world in the wrestling ring and now he’s out to prove he’s the best in the Marvel Universe. How could you not want to read this book? I couldn’t be more excited for readers to see what Punk has in store for Drax the Destroyer!” – Jon Moisan, Editor
What does Drax do when he’s not saving the universe alongside the likes of Star-Lord, Gamora, Rocket Raccoon and Groot? DESTROY! Obviously. From inside the intergalactic octagon to the far reaches of outer space – experience the bone-crunching solo adventures of the galaxy’s most fearsome guardian as he makes his way through the Marvel Universe! And demolishes anything and everything in his path!
Prepare yourselves for the debut of a bombastic new series that no fan can afford to miss! The journey begins later this year as CM Punk returns to the House of Ideas for DRAX #1!
According to Comic Alliance, Bryan Singer the director of X-Men: Apocalypse posted a GIF on his personal Instagram of Kodi Smit-McPhee as Nightcrawler and then took it down.
Today is the first day of filming for X-Men: Apocalypse.
The film stars Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, James McAvoy and Nicholas Hoult, Oscar Isaac (Apocalypse), Sophie Turner (Jean Grey), Tye Sheridan (Cyclops), Alexandra Shipp (Storm) Lana Condor (Jubilee) and Kodi Smit-McPhee.
X-Men: Apocalypse opens in theaters on May 27, 2016.
This article was published on May 4, 2012.
This will go down as one of the most hated movie reviews in comic book geek-land (I thought a lot of myself in 2012), but Joss Whedon’s Avengers was a beautiful film in the same way that James Cameron’s Avatar was an amazing film. Both The Avengers and Avatar had great visuals but no substance.
Marvel films to date have just been too campy. Not every comic book movie needs to be Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, but a comic book film works well when there is a balance of dark and light moments. Maybe I wanted too much from this movie, but I was not inspired to join the Avengers. At no moment in this film do I feel like the Avengers will lose. Do you remember Toy Story 3, we all thought Woody and Buzz were going to die! No suspense in a film that had a $250 million budget means that they forgot to pay the writers, instead they focused on how to blow-up Ohio. Which is a waste because the film is well casted and the actors bring their A-game.
The Avengers will make a billion dollars ($1.5 billion according to Box Office Mojo) and kids will love it, but is it wrong to ask for more than just a popcorn flick? How the Avengers are brought together is done well, and the movie doesn’t feel like two plus hours but when the going gets tough, and the Avengers need to rise up and save the day, the moment was hollow. This happens because Nick Fury cons them into the moment instead of Captain America kicking some ass. How hard is it to write a Captain America inspirational speech? Have we all forgotten Braveheart?
The Avengers does nothing to progress Steve Rogers as a character. When the film ends, you learn nothing new about Rogers that you didn’t know already from the Captain America: The First Avenger. Rogers is the heart and soul of the Avengers, and whether it was the director, the writers, or the actor’s fault, there was no inspiration. During the major battle in the film, Captain America gets shot with a laser and Thor is tiring out from fighting the hoard of aliens, this could have been the instant when the Avengers pulled themselves up by the bootstraps and create that inspirational moment, but Whedon doesn’t swing the bat. Whedon continues to direct the film very light and stays in a very safe film-making zone. The problem is there are at least five times in the movie when Whedon could have stepped in and said, ”Hey guys, this is our Oscar moment, so let make it happen!” The trailer makes the Avengers look inspiring, but that is just the best two minutes of the film.
The Avengers is a fantastic popcorn flick, but they had many chances to hit a grand slam, and instead they struck out looking at the plate.
The best part of this film is it will make and an insane amount of money and a sequel will come out in 2015.
According to German publication Deutsche Welle, 193 theaters in Germany are refusing to screen the Marvel blockbuster because Disney announced it was upping the fee from 47.7 to 53 percent of ticket sales.
Additionally, Disney is cutting its advertising spend and will not provide advances for 3D glasses.
“We are worried, particularly about eastern Germany,” Karl-Heinz Meier, spokesman for advocacy group I.G. Nord, told DW. “When prices go up, then we have a serious problem that could force movie theaters to close.”
Now that the dust has had time to settle and we’ve all gotten the feelings of love/hate out of our systems, let’s look at this release of Suicide Squad’s Joker from a different angle. Details are important, often crucial, but let’s not mistake the forest from the trees.
Gentleman! Let’s broaden our minds!
Richard Örmonde brought up an excellent point on Twitter.
@MatthewSardo has anyone stopped to think that the tattoos are just promotional for this photo and that they won’t actually appear in d film
I’m actually really happy you asked this, Richard, because it was something I was wondering myself. In truth, I don’t think this is the Joker that we will be seeing in the final Suicide Squad — and here’s why:
It’s all about that Dark Knight Returns, baby!
For staters, I doubt Jared Leto’s Joker will be shirtless for long, if at all. The rumors that have been circulating about this portrayal of the Joker have been pointing to Frank Miller’sThe Dark Knight Returns as inspiration. These rumors only gain traction when you take into account the depiction of Batman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and the recent announcement of The Dark Knight Returns III.
I think it is safe to assume DC is using The Dark Knight Returns as a basis for their shared cinematic universe, no doubt thanks to the success of Christopher Nolan’sDark Knight Trilogy. Cinematic Universes seem to be the trend with Transformersand X-Menfollowing suit. It only makes sense that Suicide Squad’s Joker will also share similarities with his Dark Knight Returns counterpart.
Gentleman, start your Photoshops.
It’s no surprise after the release of such a controversial image that people would quickly turn to Photoshop to mock it. But, what if the image itself already underwent a similar treatment?
I might be grasping at straws here, but if you really look at those tattoos — especially as long as I have in Photoshop — they start to look a little… fake. This is especially true when you look closely at the pixels. Let me just clarify that I’m not an expert, this is just from my own experience and observations, but let’s take a look at the bell on the jester tattoo on Joker’s chest.
What’s up with those pixels?
Click the image for a closer look. You can clearly see there is something up with the pixels around the bell. Do you see how jagged the pixels of the skin are around the bell compared to the rest of the pixels of the skin? This may be due to compression, but typically you find this when you introduce a new element or picture to an existing image. You’ll find the pixels don’t match up. Not convinced? Let’s look at the infamous ‘damaged’ tattoo.
Not damaged, just Photoshop.
Make sure you click on this one, because it becomes extremely apparent. We find the same issue with pixels on the skin not matching around the tattoo. Look at the transition of pixels from his hair, to his glove, to the shadows. None of these have this kind of artifacting. It is only found around the tattoo.
So if this indeed is an altered image — which I believe it is — then why would David Ayers bother to add such silly things that will cause a shitstorm? Maybe I already answered the question, which brings me to my next point.
Let the nerd rage commence.
It’s nothing new to learn that Warner Bros/DC Comics have fallen behind the unstoppable juggernaut (bitch) that is Disney/Marvel. But, how far behind are they?
Just this month, Howard the Duckoutsold Batman by nearly 17% (seriously?!). I would never have believed in a million years that Howard the Duck would outsell a Batman title, but here we are. Does this mean the popularity of the DC brand is waning? It is clear their studios are trying to catch up with Marvel in terms of movies as Marvel is nearing Phase 3 and DC only have one film released under their cinematic universe.
You know how you hate to watch a horrible trainwreck, but you can’t help but not look? This is basically how Lindsay Lohan has kept her career afloat. It seems DC is taking a similar approach. It’s a cheap and, dare I say it, desperate tactic to gain publicity. But you know what? It works. We’re all talking about it aren’t we? The Internet is abuzz with Jared Leto’s look as the Joker.
Instead of giving audiences and fans what they want — and doing a damn good job at it like Marvel — DC gains their attention through controvery, which can be attributed to having the mentality of, “you don’t know any better, this is what you want, you’ll see!”. This goes back to the days of casting Heath Ledger as the Joker. The Internet also reacted with skepticism. DC is still trying to use this same tactic on us. The problem with gaining attention by these means is that it doesn’t instill trust in your other creative decisions, which have also been met with controversy, such as casting Ben Affleck as Batman or Will Smith as Deadshot. This marketing strategy only works if you actually deliver something that ‘wows’ people, but DC has already had misfires like 2011’s Green Lantern, and eventually audiences catch on to what you’re doing.
So in the end, it’s all just a clever ruse. The tattoos and grill? Probably a way of testing the waters and a means to stir up controversy. It seems pretty obvious when you think about it. This image of Jared Leto as the Joker almost looks like a joke. Expect new pictures to be released of the Joker sometime down the road that will blow us all away — with DC coming in and acting as if, “see, told you, your concerns were unjustified, trust in us” — though I may be giving DC a little too much credit as I wasn’t impressed with the new Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice trailer. Either way, it’s a marketing strategy designed to instill trust through mistrust.
Despite my cynicism, I really do want Jared Leto’s Joker to be one of the definitive portrayals. There is so much potential there and I think it was an excellent casting decision. But, when we have a world where Superman straight up murders his first villain with his bare hands, there is cause for concern.
Maybe I’m right. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I’m just going through the five stages of grief. However, if this new (unconfirmed) leaked image is any indication of what we might expect from Suicide Squad, then bravo.
With one simple tweet, it was as if millions of oysters suddenly cried out in terror — and then much like Alderaan — the Internet exploded. But there wasn’t silence. Oh no, quite the opposite.
What is this? What am I looking at? Please tell me David Ayer is just having a laugh. Is everyone else seeing what I’m seeing?
• Brock Wilbur said it best on his Twitter. Leto’s Joker looks like he’s a member of a screamo band, not a deranged psychopath. Is Warner Bros. trying to appeal to the tween demographic? Is he’s supposed to be hot or something because of all his ink — or just some kind of badass?
• The Joker literally has ‘damaged’ tattooed on his forehead. Do I even need to go into how wrong this is? Who was in charge of this design decision and do they know the meaning of the word ‘subtle’?
• The Joker has a grill — a full blown, busted rapper grill. Or maybe they were going for the Jaws look?
The original rapper grill.
• The Joker’s tattoos are of his own fan art. It is as if the character designers went to DeviantArt and just grabbed whatever Joker related artwork they could find that would look good as a tattoo, then proceeded to haphazardly slap it on Jared Leto. That’s like me tattooing my name on my chest, à la Johnny Cage. The Joker may be crazy, but he’s not stupid.
• The Joker has a big Joker/Cheshire Cat grin tattooed on his forearm. Why? Were the “hahaha” tattoos — that look as if they were ripped straight from the pages of a comic book — not enough?
• The Joker has a ‘J’ teardrop tattoo. From HLN — “The teardrop tattoo is perhaps the most common prison tattoo. It could mean that the wearer has murdered someone, served a long sentence, is mourning the loss of a murdered friend or family member, or has been raped in prison.” Was Suicide Squad’s Joker raped in prison? Oh, Mr. J!
• The Joker looks like the love child of Justin Bieber, Lil’ Wayne, and drag superstar Sharon Needles.
Did you think I was joking?
• The Joker’s look could easily be changed for the better; but it won’t be. Jared Leto is a fantastic actor and is more than capable of delivering a terrific, if not one of the best, Joker performances we’ve seen. But not when this is what you give him to work with. If you want to have tattoos on the Joker, go ahead, it has been done before. But he wasn’t covered in them like he’s straight outta Compton. Come on guys, just make a few modifications and it’ll be fine! See?
Just imagine him with clothes.
• But the worst part of all is…
What could have been.
Leave a comment and let us know what you think! Tweet Jacob @semperfilm
