The Sci-Fi Christian – 6/25/12 “The Sci-Fi Christian: It’s Time For Sci-Fi News” featuring Matt Anderson, Daniel Butcher, and Koby Radcliffe
Episode 67: It’s Time For Sci-Fi News
– June 25, 2012Posted in: Books, Comics, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Movies, News, Podcast, Sci-Fi, Television
I actually paused it and prayed for the avengers directors cut.
Iconic Marvel characters?
Other than Wolverine, Spiderman, Captain America
Here are some others that 75% of the general public can identify… of course they all have movies now…
the Hulk
Iron Man
Human Torch
the Thing
Silver Surfer
Thor
Nightcrawler… ok Nightcrawler may not be universally known… but he’s one of my favorites
You know, one other comment. Out of all the people I have heard bemoan John Carter have never seen it and refuse to see it… based on it not doing well in the box office. Not to jab at anyone on the podcast (jab, jab, jab…) but it would seem to me, that perhaps an additional reason it didn’t do well in the box office, was that it wasn’t doing well in the box office. Everyone I know who saw it, really liked it.
Conversely, I personally don’t care for Avatar at all, for numerous reasons that are pointless to mention, but people saw it, perhaps largely because it was doing well in the box office.
I didn’t watch it, until it hit video and actually got bored while watching it and worked on a model while it played out.
VIVA BARSOOM! Matt, what’s your excuse already !?! The DVD is out! Get thee to a DVD player! Koby, no fair dissing a film you haven’t seen. Doesn’t the Bible say a little something about “not bearing false witness,” hm? If you’re only parroting stuff you’ve heard others say, isn’t that hearsay, and isn’t that potentially a form of false witness, hm?
Daniel, congrats on the revamped Disney site. Looks very nice (and I enjoyed your review of BRAVE). (Oh, and if it’s any consolation, I was born in 1972 – got you beat by two years, so you don’t have to be the old man of the SFC if you don’t want to !)
(Point of order: Would AVENGERS (DIRECTOR’S CUT) really be counted as the same film as AVENGERS? And, if it is, should it be?)
I cant imagine a LOBO movie… if any character screams the 1990s, it would be him. Ugh. Shazam, though, could be an awesome film. Have you read the Jeff Smith SHAZAM AND THE MONSTER SOCIETY OF EVIL from 2006 or so? Awesome stuff and family-friendly, too.
Y’know, I can’t honestly recall Stan Lee’s AVENGERS cameo at the moment.. what was it?
I considered that DARK KNIGHT movie marathon, but eventually decided my tush couldn’t take that much movie at one sitting…!
Fun episode, guys – thanks!
Speaking of Shazam, I always like Shazam a lot. I think it could be a really interesting movie, if it wasn’t done tongue in cheek. It could be done in a fashion where the ailments of the world exposed via the view of a child.
I am wearing my Aquaman t-shirt as I write this!
RC- Don’t get me started on Avatar. Disney is getting ready to dump tons of money into an Avatarland, and only just now beginning to thing about what they can do with the Marvel universe they own!
To be honest before Iron Man got his own movie I saw him as a second stringer, never a guy that would carry two books or more like Batman or Spider-Man. But I really think that Thor and Iron-Man have been taken to the next level by the box office. As much as I love Nightcrawler, the Thing and the Silver Surfer I don’t think they would be considered iconic to the typical man on the street. But I think that proves my point. DC gives us Metal Men and Marvel gives us complex deep characters that we turn out to love.
You should check out Young Justice to see how they handle Captain Marvel. They uncover that he is a kid which causes a problem because the Justice League membership requires you to be an adult.
Mike – Thanks for the comment on Between Disney….just trying to keep moving it foward!
The reason I said interesting with Lobo is it could be a really bad Ghost Rider like movie…but worse than Ghost Rider. But with the right script and right director with the right attitude it could be brilliant and hopefully funny. But I don’t think I have ever said to myself we need a Lobo movie.
I will introduce Matt to Tars Tarkas…..the wheels are in motion.
For the record, I am looking forward to seeing John Carter.
I made the caveat for Nightcrawler… just my personal favorite
Silver Surfer is pretty iconic i would think. There’s people i know, who don’t even know comics, that know the silver surfer… probably because of his apperance, and the whole surf board/super hero thing. The Thing is also fairly recognizable by the average joe. But perhaps younger kids (6-12) aren’t so familiar with him, but I’d wager most adults (males in particular) 25+ are familiar with him, particularly being part of the fantastic 4 and their exposure in cartoons, comics and toys in the late 70s and 80s.
While we talk about super hero movies, I think one of the largest problems in the translation from comic to super hero movie, is they always use big stars. The problem with big stars is they have to have their faces visible. So just about anyone with a mask is problematic. The problem with that, is some of the coolest characters wear masks. So you get weird half attempts at character iconography. Bullseye was , with honorable mentions for Deadpool (if you want to call him Deadpool despite being very un-Deadpool-ish) and Whiplash.
While i realize some costumes might be a bit silly untranslated, they often loose the whole character appeal, IMO.
To be honest, as I thought through actors and heroes I think I would argue that the icons tend to be unknowns.
Nobody knew Hugh Jackman in the states until X-Men. Stewart was the biggest name in that pic and he has the smallest role.
Robert Downey Jr. is HUGE now, but I think for Iron Man he was a risk because of his past and I think his post Iron Man fame has been bigger than pre.
I think Batman has made Bale an iconic actor and not the other way around.
Even as a kid Christopher Reeve was a relatively small timer.
But then again, as I think through the Batman history the big names have been mistakes. Keaton was a risk that proved succesful, but Kilmer and Clooney could never latch onto the role probably because they were stars.
Was Ryan Reynolds the problem….or a horrible script?