DC and Marvel: Batman vs Spider-Man

Welcome again to the Guild to Geekdom. It’s been a long time since I’ve done an article and I’m sure most of you have forgotten that this was one of the main reasons why I started doing this in the first place. I’ve been ranting about these things for years and I finally decided to actually write them down. Today I want to talk about one of my personal favorite rants: Marvel vs. DC, but to be more specific, how these two comic book titans have competed over the years with Spiderman and Batman. Hopefully this play by play will enlighten you as to how much these companies have influenced their decision making.

The Live Action TV Series

This was one of the first times for some people to see these characters {comic books weren’t as popular back in the day}.  These early live action series were incredibly full of campy humor, cheap effects, bad writing and poor acting. 

What DC did:

Everyone remembers the classic Adam West series. Its kooky comic book antics kept it running for 120 episodes. If this series had such poor quality why is it so fondly remembered? This series helped define Batman for a whole generation and started his status as a pop culture icon.

What Marvel did:

Here is what you may not know. The Amazing Spider-Man was a live action TV series the aired in the late 70s. It only lasted 14 episodes and is generally considered of poor quality.

The Japanese Craze

During the rise of their superheroes’ popularity, both companies decided to expand their audiences by going overseas to Japan.

What DC did:

They released the Adam West series in Japan alongside a manga series that is still referenced today in comics. Recently (in comics) when Batman traveled to Japan he fought a revised version of one of the regular enemies from the manga.

What Marvel did:

They released an entire live action series. In this series Spider-Man morphs into his costume from a device on his wrist, fights evil monsters, and has a megazord named the Marvaller. Basically he was a Power Ranger.

The 90s

The 90s were surprising good to both companies as they both released multiple animated series based on the superheroes, usually interconnecting them in big storylines.

What DC did:

Batman the animated series is considered by many to be one of if not the best animated series ever to be released. This series is well remembered for its amazing writing and sometimes dark subject matter.

What Marvel did:

Spider-Man the animated series while not as highly praised as the Batman series, it was still well received for its lengthy story arcs that attempted to adapt current arcs going on in the comics. It was the longest running series in the Marvel Animated line-up, lasting longer than the immensely popular X-Men animated series.

The Cyberpunk Fad

During the late 90s there was a large growing fad known as cyberpunk {if you don’t know what it means, look it up}. This resulted in a number of cartoon series being depicted as being in a bleak futuristic metropolis.

What DC did:

Following up Batman the animated series, they wrote Batman Beyond. Beyond takes in the future where Bruce Wayne is now a frail old man and can no longer defend the streets of Gotham. Bruce takes in a young protégé and trains him to become the new dark knight. This series was very popular and is currently being continued in comic book form.

What Marvel did:

Following up Spider-Man the animated series, they wrote Spider-Man Unlimited. Unlimited takes place on an alternate futuristic Earth that is filled with an anthropomorphic animal populace. Spider-Man traveled to this alternate world in order to save John Jameson as well as stop Venom and Carnage who had already travelled there, but soon discovers that the people there need his help to take down their evil dictator. This only lasted about 13 episodes, but it is still a personal favorite of mine.

The Comic Films

Finally reaching the big screen, Superhero films have slowly started to take over the market and have become more accepted to the general public. Unfortunately, while these early series were popular, they were incredibly comic bookish in nature. Neither of these series has ended well.

What DC did:

 

The Batman film series was incredibly popular when under the direction of Tim Burton. Unfortunately, the series was taken over by……..other people.  What was once a fairly dark series became oddly vibrant in color, with outlandish villains and poor writing. No one has gotten over the tragic car accident that was Batman and Robin, which effectively killed the Batman film franchise for 8 years.

What Marvel did:

The Spider-Man film series, under the direction of Sam Raimi, was a very loyal adaption of the source material. The series was very popular except for the third film. The third film suffered from poor writing, over packed with outlandish villains, and…………….Emo Peter. On the other hand Spider-Man 2 is my absolute favorite superhero movie ever created {in other words, if I ever make a top 10 superhero films, expect this to be number 1 or really close to the top}.

The Streamlined Animation

During the 2000’s both companies made streamlined versions of their heroes in new animated series that were made not to adapt the current storylines, but to adapt the characters’ overall story in an easy to access formula to new viewers.

What DC did:

The Batman depicted the early years of his career when he was first running into super criminals and setting the mythos of the dark knight. The series was known for it’s very fast pace action and animation. The series didn’t have the deep psychological writing that the 90’s series was well known for, but still ended up being fairly popular {I will admit though that the writing for the later seasons of The Batman became progressively worse with actually good episodes being a rarity, and it really turned me away from the series}.

What Marvel did:

The Spectacular Spider-Man depicted the early years of his career when he was still in high school. The series was heavily influenced by the film series and the popular ultimate comics series at the time. Once again the action and animation were incredibly fast paced with streamlined versions of Spider-Man’s universe which allowed for easy access to new viewers. Unfortunately, Marvel cancelled it well before its time. I personally feel that this series was amazingly well accomplished in both writing and animation style. This series had a lot more seasons to come and for it to be suddenly cancelled really confuses me because I think that this series was by far the greatest Spider-Man series released to date.

In Conclusion

I hope this close comparison of what DC and Marvel have done for years have shown you how often the two companies actually influence the direction they take their superhero franchises. We can only hope that eventually they can take their heroes in opposite new directions that look at their characters in different ways. I don’t know if this will ever happen, but at the very least Marvel hasn’t come out with a more child friendly Spider-Man series that has him team up with other superheroes like Batman: The Brave and the Bold

 

….oh. Well at least DC hasn’t come out with a Broadway musical version of Batman like Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark

…oh. Well at least Marvel hasn’t come out with a gritty reboot of the film series that focuses on a younger version of the hero like the current Christian Bale Batman series

 

………….OH FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! WHY?!? Why can’t these two companies separate themselves? I’m your Guide to Geekdom and thank you for reading. Stay tuned for my upcoming Halloween special article.  {As a side note, yes I have been told that my previous persona as Headshot Bunny was incredibly lame. I’m probably going to drop it and just take up the persona of The Guide, you decide}.

Let's Review: Conan the Barbarian

Well I finally got around to writing this. I’m not even sure it’s still in the theaters. Probably not. In any case I hadn’t actually seen the original film until after I saw this remake. In that sense I’m not sure I can justly compare the two. But how did I feel about my first outing into the Conan Universe? Let’s Review Conan the Barbarian.

The Negative

Not so much a complaint, but something that I noted throughout the film, Conan sounds like he is doing a voice. I wouldn’t say it’s as bad as Christian Bale’s Batman voice, but it is a fake voice all the same. I have a hard time taking him seriously when I keep thinking he is only using that voice to sound more buff and menacing. It simply never felt real and took me out of the movie several times. At least with Batman it’s used to explain him covering up his real voice, but in this film it just comes off as silly.

Another problem that stuck with me while watching the film was how often people’s blood exploded from them when they were killed. Once again the problem was how unrealistic it looked. I get that it’s a gore factor, but when you want to have that gore factor at least make it look real. I remember one scene in particular where the main villain bashes a monk's head on a stone staircase and it looked like a giant packet of fake Halloween blood exploded off of his face. Most characters killed in a gruesome manner similar to this also had exploding blood packets. Once again the problem was realism. I know that’s asking a lot from a fantasy film, but these are very simple requests. Make sure his voice doesn’t sound forced and the gore isn’t cartoonish in nature.

As a minor complaint, the final couple of fight scenes jumped around too much. This is more of a problem with editing. It started around the fight scene with the sea beast in the dungeon and it doesn’t stop for the rest of the film. The camera jumps around so often that it becomes disorientating. I lost track of what was going on in the fight and the movie for that matter. I finally caught back up with the film when I saw Conan walking away victorious. I feel like I missed out on a really cool fight scene because I saw it through the eyes of a flailing idiot who was running around trying not to get killed.

The Positive

This was by far the best fantasy film I have seen in a long time. I truly thought the genre was dead after I watched the car wreak that was Clash of the Titans, but this film has renewed my belief that good fantasy films can still be made. This was everything that a fantasy film should be, and I loved every second of it. It could just be the drought of good fantasy films lately, it could be that I didn’t see the original until after the fact, but I thoroughly enjoyed this film and hope for more from it in the future.

Something I want to note is that I really enjoyed the opening off this story. I loved the origin of his birth on the battlefield, his life as a child in a village of barbarians, and the tragic fate of his loved ones by a ruthless conqueror. This is kind of why I was disappointed by Conan’s voice when we first meet him as an adult. It just felt like he was trying to compensate for something, while the story went out of its way to build up how awesome he was as a child that I didn’t need a deep burly voice to try and convince me he was awesome. My favorite moment in the film is literally his entire childhood before they jump into the future. It was the best part of the movie.

Another thing I want to praise is the scenery. Every single one of the sets were beautifully put together and brought me to a foreign exotic world that was far distant from my own. This is one of the reasons I praise it as an outstanding fantasy film as it actually had the look to pull it off. So many films have very bland and generic backgrounds that it was nice to see some fascinating architecture and beautiful geography appear regularly through the film.

In Conclusion

I’m not entirely sure why this film received so many bad reviews when I think that it was one of the better films in its genre as of late. I only have some minor complaints but I wouldn’t really say they ruined my enjoyment of the film. I just think that it could have used better blood effects, less Batman voices, and cleaner editing, other than that I’d recommend this film to anyone who enjoys the fantasy genre in films. 3.8 out of 5.

Update

I am going into a new semester at my college. This can mean only one thing.......expect less from me. I have my next few articles planned and I will be writing them in my free time, just don't expect me to come out with them as quickly as I have been. I'm sorry; I wish I had the time and freedom to write as I pleased. As a sign of good faith I will share with you the next couple posts I will be doing:
-Let’s Review: Conan the Barbarian
-Top 10 Underappreciated Superhero Shows
-DC and Marvel: Batman vs. Spiderman
-Top 10 Greatest Starships

Please look forward to seeing these in the future.
-Headshot Bunny

Let's Review: Cowboys & Aliens

Ah yes, the secret love child of two of the greatest film genres of all time. You all knew that eventually the studios would be desperate enough to try this, but does this film really live up to the standard of either of these genres? Let’s review Cowboys & Aliens.

The Negative

Let me answer my own intro question right off the bat here: it doesn’t, at least for the Science Fiction half of this film. The aliens never live up to the hype that this movie provides for them. Their true motives are kind of silly (they’ve come to our planet for the gold rush), their actions are extremely contradictory (they capture humans in order to study our weaknesses, but rush right out into the final fight without any weapons because they underestimate our abilities even though we have been kicking their butt the entire film), their biology with their use of this biology is baffling (they have a dense protective shell –like bullet-proof armor for skin, yet most of their deaths are caused by how often they try to grad people with their inner arms that also expose their vital organs), and they are by far the most intelligent incoherent species I have ever witnessed (none of them ever talk throughout the entire film, resorting to grunts and growls that make them seem more like mindless monsters than a highly advance alien species that crossed the stars).

Sorry to do that all in one sentence but the aliens really bothered me in this film. It was a cheap stereo typical alien monster with little to no thought really put into the design of these creatures and what they can do. Remember Predators (species not the movie). Within the Predator film series we have only ever had brief glimpses at the species and what they can do overall, the predators have never really spoken that much with their films being mostly horror based. In every brief glimpse of the Predators we get, they have never wasted a moment to showcase them more, be it technology, their home world, their religious beliefs, their motives. The reason I am comparing these Aliens so much to the Predators is because they are the Predators done wrong. We are given poorly execute explanations of the aliens throughout the entire movie, but with each new explanation these aliens just keep coming off as sillier and sillier. I feel like the War of the Worlds aliens had better explained motives than these guys.

As a final minor complaint, Olivia Wilde’s character is acted incredibly flat and also falls within the bad alien stereotype. Her character never really fit the mood of the film and a lot of the story exposition was just blurted out through her over time. Her character’s ultimate fate didn’t really faze me as I never really understood or like her character in the long run. I think that there was a good story for her character but it was just poorly executed.

The Positive

The Western half of this fusion film is what makes up entirely for the lacking Sci-Fi half. Which is good because it also makes up a much bigger section of the film. Daniel Craig is amazing in this film. I was truly surprised to find that a British actor could pull off a better old west accent than some of his cohorts.  Harrison Ford also gives an amazing performance as the sort of anti-hero Colonel. I have seen Harrison Ford play heroes for years and it was interesting to see him in a much more villainess role than his usual fare. It’s these two actors that truly help convince you that this is all taking place within the old west.

 

What truly keeps the film going is the townspeople. It’s just a shame that some of them didn’t get names and what ones did never really get said again. Most of these characters were named after their job (Doc, Preacher, Colonel) I’m sure these characters had names, but were truly unimportant to remember. In any case, it is the townspeople that keep the humor going and the mood lively. I found myself very invested in some of these characters and was wondering what was going to become of them. The scene where they aliens kidnap half the town does have a lot of weight to it because the film actually does a fair job of building these characters up a bit. We only get brief moments into each of their lives but you can tell that they are a community that is going to band together to save their loved ones.

The lone moments we have with Daniel Craig’s character were some of the best in the film. We were on this journey with him to try and piece together what happened to him. We have some slight knowledge of what kind of man he was before but it’s not the kind of man we want to be now. It’s a new lease on life and we have to decide what were going to do with it. Daniel Craig’s character is the one that is leading us into this world and is one of my favorite things about this film. He knows just about as much as we do and he acts upon his instincts to do what is right.

In Conclusion

While not being one of the best fusions of Sci-Fi and Western genres, cough *Firefly* cough, it was still very enjoyable. The film stumbles in sections and the aliens do not work at all, but I think it could have worse. It could have been Priest. I think this movie is works better as a western than a Sci-fi because the film is a Western but with Sci-Fi elements shoved in. It wasn’t a true fusion of the two genres and that is where it falters. 3.5 out of 5

Let's Review: Rise of the Planet of the Apes

I might not be one of the best people to ask about this film. Mostly because I am one of the BIGGEST PLANET OF THE APES FAN EVAH!!!!! At the same time though, I will admit that the 2001 reboot was a great disappointment and made little to no sense. Due to the failures of the 2001 reboot, I was worried what this new reboot could mean for the franchise. Let’s review Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

The Negative

The biggest problem this film is facing is the humans. This film isn’t really supposed to be about them, because of this we find ourselves not really caring about the human characters at all. Most of them act incredibly flat without any emotions being displayed. I can see why the humans devolve into the cave people in the original film, because these people don’t react at all. I like James Franco, but this was one of his personnel worst performances. ‘Oh, my smart monkey that I raised like a son is now taking over the planet with an army of apes, but it’s all good because he is free now and it’s important for me to let go and let my son live his life.’ I would have a much stronger reaction to this moment then go be free, enslave every human in your path.

The only person who had any kind of emotional reaction in this movie was the neighbor (maybe Tom Felton but I didn’t really care about his character either). This neighbor is one of the greatest dicks I have ever seen in film. I can forgive him for trying to protect his daughters from a loose ape, but being outraged at a man who was well known for suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and who was clearly having a relapse at that moment came off as both bizarre and silly. It just absolutely astounded me how dickish this guy was acting to a frail old man who was clearly suffering from a mental ailment. This moment completely took me out of the movie for a moment. I get that the movie was trying to have villains but this was very over the top. When the neighbor shows up again, Dr. Franklin was trying to get into James Franco’s house in order to talk to him about the disturbing side effects of the virus. Dr. Franklin is just casually going around Franco’s house doing normal stuff such as knocking on the door, shouting, looking in windows, when suddenly the neighbor grabs him by the collar, pushes him against the wall and demands to know what he is doing there. What the hell? He was trying to get someone’s attention at Franco’s house and he shoves him into a wall? This guy was way too over the top and it felt really unrealistic.

My final complaint is Caesar’s voice. Caesar only talks twice in this movie but the voice they used really stands out.  We have been closely following Caesar throughout this entire movie; he is represented as a little guy who becomes repressed, and starts a revolution in order to get his freedom back. The voice they use can be comparable to the Hulk. It is incredibly deep and a bit scary. It severely doesn’t match up with the little guy we have been following up to this point and it just comes off as weird.

The Positive

I loved this film. This was a Planet of the Apes film. For me the movie doesn’t really start until 2 thirds of the way in when Caesar first ends up at the zoo. That isn’t to say I didn’t like the first 2 thirds of the film, it’s the origin story and it does an amazing job of establishing the character and how he came to be, but this is when the movie becomes really interesting. We get to see Caesar’s fall from grace and his methodically planned rise up into power. The movie suddenly becomes a prison film. Caesar must understand how life works within the cell. Who is on top, who is his friend, who can help him in the long run, and how best to conduct his business, all of which became important lessons for Caesar. I suddenly found myself incredible invested in the ape characters (all of which didn’t talk, save for Caesar and Maurice who could sign). These characters had much stronger personalities than their human counterparts and I actually found myself cheering for them when they were attacking the humans. For only being in the film in the final third, I found them instantly more likable than any of the human characters. This provided an amazing final act for the film and I loved every second of it.

This film didn’t go the full mile and show the world in total control of the apes; instead it showed the absolutely first battle of this war. I was disappointed at first that the film wasn’t going to show the full progression and ultimate takeover of the planet of the apes, but then I realized that this was absolutely where the film needed to end. This was by all means the perfect origin story for the planet of the apes. It showed the beginning of Caesar and the rising up of his army. I can honestly say I hope they make more because I would definitely like to see the return of The Conquest of the Planet of the Apes.

In Conclusion

This film truly was a masterpiece and should be considered one of the best films within the Planet of the Apes film series. This film has renewed my interest in this franchise and has made me want more. The only thing that was missing from this film was Charlton Heston and Roddy McDowall. 4.5 out of 5

Let's Review: Winnie the Pooh

As a child I really loved Winnie the Pooh. For fun I decided to go see this film and see if it lived up to my memories. Did it live up to my childish nostalgia or were my young dreams dashed to the wind. Let’s review Winnie the Pooh.

The Negative

It was too short; clocking in at about 69 minutes this was a short film. On the other hand, I understand that young kids can’t sit through overly long films.

 

Many of the voices for the characters were different. It’s not so much a complaint; it’s just that many of the new voice actors didn’t pull off the characters as well as the originals had. Though I’m sure the new voice actors did the best job they could to emulate their predecessors.

The Positive

‘Pause’…………………………………………………..

 

IT’S WINNIE THE POOH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT WAS FREAKIN' AWESOME! This film lived up to all of my childish hopes and dreams and managed to bring back a piece of magic that has been missing from Disney as of late. If you have little kids, this is the film you want to take them to. It is a pure film, not losing itself to the overly cheesy and terrible kid’s movies that are peppered with bad jokes and references that would make no sense to children.

In Conclusion

The media market is filled with so much garbage that they are trying to shove down children’s throats, that it becomes really nice when something pure comes along just for the children. 4 out of 5 (please don’t judge me)

Let's Review: Captain America: The First Avenger

After viewing Thor I was actually quite worried about Captain America. While I did think Thor was a good movie, there was something always holding it back that kept me from fully enjoying it. My worry was that Captain America would suffer from the same problem and that Marvel was just trying to get them out of the way before going into The Avengers movie. Were my worries correct? Let’s Review Captain America: The First Avenger.

The Negative

I want to say first that every single one of my complaints are simple nitpickings and the issues did very little to ruin my enjoyment of this film. That being said, my first issue resides in the scene where Steve Rogers first gains his powers and is chasing down Dr Erskine’s assassin. I understand that he isn’t used to his massive muscular build yet, but the whole scene just seems really awkward looking. I compare it to the first Spider-man film’s car chase scene with Uncle Ben’s murderer. That scene demonstrated Peter Parker getting used to web swinging as well as learning how to best use his new agility. My problem with the Captain America film’s car chase scene is that it looks exactly how it sounds. A very tall muscular man is trying to catch up with a car. He bumbles through the streets and then looks extremely silly when he leaps onto the car. The whole scene just looked really awkward but I’m not sure how else they could have done it.

My second complaint comes around the scene where Captain America is rushing through a crowd of Hydra soldiers in an attempt to catch up with Red Skull’s jet, The Valkyrie. In order to get past all the soldiers Cap decides to grab a hanging chain and swing past them all. There is an incredibly sudden jump cut where we see Captain America running towards the jet. I might have blinked but I should think it wouldn’t be that difficult to film a scene where he landed first and then started running. This particular scene also has some of the worst digital graphics in it as the long hallway for the jet seemed particularly out of place against all of the real life characters. That said, Bucky’s death sequence also had poor digital effects as it looked like he was going to hit the ground way before the scene was going to cut away, but he just kept falling. It just looked weird.

My final complaint is that for being placed within World War II, there is a surprisingly large amount of sci-fi lasers and technology flying about. I understand that Hydra was the Nazi’s science division and that this all falls within a realm of disbelief, but I found myself having a hard time staying with the film when suddenly they World War II battlefield had lasers shooting all over it. Once again, these are all minor complaints and did not ruin the film for me.

The Positive

Now that I have all of that out of the way…THIS FILM WAS AWESOME! I enjoyed absolutely every second of it. If there was one film that Marvel created that perfectly adapted the entire comic book it came from, this would be that film. Absolutely everything was done perfectly and I loved every single second of it.

I was worried at first when I heard that the former Human Torch was going to be the one playing Captain America, but I was completely wrong. Chris Evans does an amazing job portraying our Star-Spangled hero throughout his entire life easily showing the weak but strong willed kid, the egotistical yet bored super star going across the nation, the rise of a powerful leader who can charge into battle without fear, to the lost soldier being a man out of time. Everything was played out perfectly.

I also want to praise Hugo Weaving’s Red Skull. More so than then any other villain portrayal like Green Goblin, the Abomination, or even Loki did this portrayal get so close to the mark. If I had to picture the Red Skull this is exactly how I would have pictured him. The look was exactly how he is suppose to look, his motives were the same motives that have carried him through the pages of comics for years, the way he reacted to situation was perfectly done how the Red Skull would have acted. This was in my opinion a perfect portrayal of the character.

In Conclusion

This was by far a masterpiece on Marvel’s part. I loved every single moment of this film and it is now one of my absolute favorite superhero films. A fantastic final piece to the buildup of the Avengers movie, let’s just hope that the Avengers film lives up to all the hype these films have been giving it. 4.5 out of 5