Avengers go Shhh!

The new version of Avengers: Endgame, with changes made to the film to help hype the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday, also had one of these "silence your phone" ads (I didn't see this in the theater; I'm happy with my copy of Endgame). The ad was very cute. I liked it, but I realized something: this is the first look we're getting of the new Avengers. I screen-capped it up above to let you see the new bunch (along with some old-timers). It looks like Doomsday is going to be BIG. You can see the ad itself below:

Diana Rigg in The Minikillers

The Minikillers is a short film that Diana Rigg did in 1969, shortly after leaving her role as Emma Peel on The Avengers TV series.

Although it's never mentioned in the film--in fact, nobody actually speaks in this film--The Minikillers plays out like its an unofficial episode of the Avengers.

Emma Peel goes on vacation from her hijinks on The Avengers, only to find herself in a mini-Avengers adventure by herself, one where she's caught aboard an enemy boat clad only in a bikini.

Sadly, she doesn't get tied up in the bikini, but she does get tied up later. There's a little something for everybody here, with a still-in-her-prime Miss Rigg on top of it all. You can watch it for yourself below:

Avengers 2012 pt2

A few more things from Avengers 2012, like the first time we meet Tony and Pepper.

After fixing it so Stark Tower can run on its own energy, Tony--AKA Iron Man--(played by Robert Downey Jr.) returns to his sanctuary, where Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) is waiting for him.

Pepper is barefoot throughout this scene, along with being clad in a nice pair of short-shorts.

Item 47 was a short film that was included in the Blu-Ray of The Avengers. It starred Lizzy Caplan as Claire, who finds a piece of alien tech and uses it with her boyfriend to rob banks. But SHIELD catches up with them. And, as a result, we have this nice shot of a barefoot Lizzy bound with plasti-ties.

Unfortunately, her boyfriend is also tied up right beside her, but it's still a nice little scene with a BF Lizzy.

Avengers 2012

I just learned that filming on Avengers: Doomsday had been completed. This latest Avengers film is number five in the series. It will be released in December, 2026.

I immediately thought back to the first Avengers, the one that started it all. It wasn't the first MCU movie, that was Iron Man. But Avengers '12 was the first Marvel superhero team-up film.

And, this blog being what it is, I would be remiss (remiss, I tell you!) if I didn't remind you of this wonderful scene with Scarlett Johansson.

She's playing Black Widow, a.k.a. Natasha Romanoff, who's been "captured" by the bad guys--but only because she allows them to.

Nat is trying to find out what the baddies are up to by pretending to be a helpless damsel, here.

Scarlett was recently in Jurassic World: Rebirth as its lead, and was superb. She's also directed her first film, Eleanor The Great.

Diana Rigg

The late great Diana Rigg had an acting career that lasted decades, starting with the part that made her famous: Emma Peel in the British spy series The Avengers, and ending with memorable roles in Game Of Thrones and the film Last Night in Soho.

Here, Rigg is doing a sketch called Three Piece Suite, where she's talking to her teddy bear, while barefoot the whole time. Thanks to the guy who posted the clip on the Tube of U; he also ID-ed it, as well.

It's a very nice BF clip featuring one of my all-time favorite actresses. You can see it below:

Helpless Black Widow...or is she?

This scene, from the first Avengers movie (can you believe that it's been eight years already?) has become iconic for me in how it's the perfect introduction of the character of Black Widow.

She already had her introduction in the dreadfully dull Iron Man 2, in which she had a kick-ass scene where she took down armed goons in a hallway.

But her very first scene in Avengers is better, and not because it presents her as being a damsel in distress--no, this scene shows Black Widow to be both devious and intelligent by pretending to be a damsel in distress.

It's only when she gets the call about Hawkeye that Nat decides to cut short this session with her 'captors,' whom she pretended to be helpless only for as long as she was getting information from them.

Of course the fact that Black Widow has her shoes removed throughout this scene was a big plus for me.

Scarlett Johansson was superb as BW, but I'm actually looking forward to the release of her stand-alone movie with mixed feelings. Let's just say that I really didn't care for what happened in Avengers: Endgame. But at least with the Black Widow movie we'll see her back at the top of her game once again.

Avengers: Endgame

I saw Endgame, and it was fantastic. I'm posting this during the film's opening weekend, so I won't give away any spoilers with a more detailed review. But it was worth every penny of the ticket price and well worth all of the aggravation of going out to a (packed to the gills) theater.

What an amazing ending to eleven years of Marvel films! A job well-done by all involved.

Captain Marvel second trailer

So here's the second trailer for the new movie about Captain Marvel. And this still bugs me, because, as a lifelong DC Comics fan, I always thought Captain Marvel is the guy who Billy Batson turns into whenever he says "Shazam!".

But yeah, OK, putting all of that aside, this movie looks good. I'd still like to see it, even though I've never actually read the Marvel Comics version of Captain Marvel. Having Brie Larson as the titular hero is the big draw for me. I enjoyed her performances in Kong: Skull Island (where she co-starred with Samuel L. Jackson and Tom Hiddleston) and Free Fire.

RIP Stan Lee

In the early 1960s Stan Lee revolutionized comics with his Marvel titles. Working with artists like Jack Kirby and Steven Ditko, we got Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four, The X-Men, the Avengers, and so much more. This eventually led to the present day Marvel Comic Movie Saga.

Stan "The Man" Lee died today at age 95. Rest in peace, sir. Excelsior!

Avengers Infinity War

Dread it, run from it...or just enjoy the hell out of it, which is what I did with Avengers: Infinity War. I won't reveal spoilers, but damn, this was a great flick. A magnificent culmination of all the Marvel superhero films released thus far (featuring every superhero we have seen up to now), this movie is very brash and ballsy and wonderful and I need to see it again. Don't miss it.

Black Panther

I saw Black Panther over the weekend, and enjoyed it very much. I liked this character when I first saw him in Captain America: Civil War, and immediately wanted to know as much as I could about him. Black Panther does all of that and more. It's a great superhero movie, with loads of the thrills that we come to expect from this genre.

But Black Panther doesn't cut corners on the characterizations. Everybody here feels like a real human being (there's a great cast here) with realistic goals, even the villain. And this makes Black Panther all the more enthralling because you care for them. I'm looking forward to Avengers: Infinity War (which this movie hints at) next. Make mine Marvel.

The Avengers trailer and Supergirl

The Avengers trailer finally dropped, and it looks like it's going to be very good. But I've heard of people seeing an Avengers trailer at D23 during the summer where they saw Thanos throwing a moon. There's no moon flinging here, which was what I was looking forward to seeing. I guess I'll have to wait until I see the film next year.

I also saw the second half of the Crisis on Earth X storyline that ran this week on the CW superhero shows. And I really enjoyed it overall. I also REALLY enjoyed seeing Melissa Benoist strapped down to a table, barefoot and clad only in a hospital gown. This happened in The Flash episode of the Earth X series. Bravo to everybody involved in these series.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

I saw The Avengers: Age of Ultron on its opening day. I watched it in "real" 3-D (as opposed to "fake" 3-D?) in a theater that was packed to the gills with people. The movie was a lot of fun. But then any film that has an army of killer robots flying around is fine by me.

Unlike the first Avengers film, which had Black Window tied to a chair, there was nothing like that in this one. No bondage scenes whatsoever. Still, despite this, I had a great time watching this. If you're looking for a good, fun popcorn film, you can't go wrong with Ultron.