Discontent in the House of Mouse: Scarlett Johansson sues Disney over Black Widow release

With the blockbuster performance of the latest entry in the Marvel cinematic canon, you would think everybody involved would be pleased as punch. Dear reader, you would be wrong for there is one person not happy with the movie's release and that is none other than Black Widow herself, Scarlett Johansson, who filed suit against Disney today.

Her main complaint isn't that the movie was released, but where it was released. Apparently, her contract for the movie stipulated that Black Widow would be released in theaters first, before showing up on Disney+. Instead, Disney released the movie to both on the same day, earning Johansson's ire. It may seem odd at first that she would be upset at how the movie was released, but the mystery dissipates when you learn the real reason beyond it: money. According to the Polygon article, her contract was set up in such a way that she would bank more money depending on how well the movie did...in theaters. I'm guessing Disney+ isn't covered by that, so Johansson potentially lost quite a bit of dough. Can't say I blame her for being angry there.

Will you pay $30 to watch Black Widow on Disney+ this summer?

I'm just a tad bit late on the news, but Marvel recently(ish) announced that Black Widow will finally hit theaters July 9 and for those aren't willing to risk exposure to Covid because we're still in the middle of a pandemic, it'll be on Disney+ at the same time.

For thirty bucks. Which is like almost four times the cost of a movie ticket.

It does raise the question, however: would you pay that much to watch new movie? Me? Fuck, no. The fact that Disney keeps charging people extra for a movie on a streaming service that they're already paying a monthly subscription to is just plain greedy. Like, there's no other explanation for it other than greed. HBO Max, Netflix, or any of the other streamers have charged their subscribers extra for new releases.

I do want to watch Black Widow, so I'm hoping that it'll be safe to go to the theater by July 9. Knowing our (humanity) collective luck, Earth will be blown up to make way for a hyperspace bypass.

It's occurred to me that The Hulk has been an Avenger in the movies longer than in the comics

I had that realization pop in my head last week and while it's a minor thing at best, I thought it was interesting enough to post. So Hulk was a founding member of The Avengers when the comic debuted in September 1963. However, he left the team by the *checks notes* second issue in November.

Or to use an American sports idiom, he was an Avenger for a cup of coffee. I'm actually kind of astounded because while I knew Hulk wasn't on the team for very long and was gone before Captain America joined, I didn't realize that he'd left by issue #2.

Even Hulk is shocked by how short that was.

Now contrast this with the Hulk of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Like his comic book counterpart, he was a founding member of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, but unlike his counterpart, he stuck around for the long haul, appearing in every Avengers movie. So just on that front alone, he's got the comic book green behemoth beat in appearances. If we were to count actual time spent as a member of the Avengers, he would win there too. The first movie came out in 2012 and the most recent in 2019, so a solid seven years. I have no clue if he was still a member during that five-year span in Endgame between "The Snap" and the time heist. I'm also not counting Civil War because while it did feature the Avengers, it wasn't billed as one.

So clearly, the Hulk of the MCU had the staying power (and marketability *cough*) to be an Avenger, while the comic book original was fated to be a loner, at least for that period of time. I suspect that if they were making comic book movies back then, it would have been a different story altogether.

RIP Chadwick Boseman

There are no words other than Rest In Power and thank you.

Welp, Spider-Man really is far from home now

Because Sony is breaking ties with Disney and taking the Webhead back after failing to reach an agreement.

Marvel might actually be trying to commit mass murder with these Phase Four announcements

Remember, if the nerd boner lasts for more than six hours, seek medical attention.

Etsy store (not) coming soon!

As soon as I saw this Captain Marvel keychain at Walmart a couple of months back, one thought immediately jumped to mind: that would make a nice necklace.

Now, I'm not crafty like at all (AT.ALL.), but I figured that I could do this without a trip to the emergency room or a call to the fire department.

✨So crafty!✨

I was correct. Obviously, it wasn't Tony Stark building a suit of powered armor out of scrap and junk. All I had to do was remove the big ring and loop one of those beaded chains through the smaller ring. I'm not a big necklace wearing fella, but I like it. I might replace the chain later on.

Endgame was swell

Saw it a couple of weeks ago. Mighty fine movie. Tony and Natasha both dying was certainly a shock. Steve going back to live his life with Peggy was not a shock and it was something I really wanted him to do even before Infinity War came out. I'm really hoping that bit with all the female heroes teaming up wasn't just a nerd tease and leads to an A-Force movie.

Thanks, Chris Evans

Saw this on Twitter.

Source: Twitter.

To say that Chris Evans portrayal of Captain America is iconic would be the understatement of the year. I would easily rank him up there with Christopher Reeves, Hugh Jackman, and Evans' co-star Robert Downy, Jr.. He managed to do something that I didn't think was possible: he made Captain America a star. What I mean is that on the surface, you wouldn't expect Captain America to make a successful transition from comic to big screen. After all, we're talking about a patriotic superhero decked in a red, white, and blue costume named Captain America.

And yet, Chris Evans made him seem as big of a deal as any of the other more well known and popular heroes like Spider-Man, Batman, and Superman. Even in the Avengers movies when the character is sharing the screen with the likes of Iron Man and Thor, Cap still holds his own by dint of Chris Evans' presence in the costume.

I take my hat off to Chris Evans, thank him for giving us a great Captain America, and wish him the best. Thanks!

Here's the official trailer for Into the Spider-Verse starring Spider-Ham and some other people

Spider-Ham, Spider-Ham, does whatever a Spider-Ham can.

And here's a Captain Marvel trailer for you

I love it and the sudden mystery surrounding Carol's origins.

But damn, Carol, did you have to punch grandma?! 😆

Entertainment Weekly posts some nice pictures of the Captain Marvel movie + the cover of their next issue

It's been a shitty week, so let's indulge in some nice photography via Entertainment Weekly.

Indeed it is. Just don't fuck this up, Marvel!

Honestly one of the best supersuits I've seen. Bravo to whoever designed and made it.

[Kenny Loggins' "Danger Zone" blasting in the background if Marvel has any goddamn sense]

Look, sir, Skrulls!

With the addition of Jude Law, Marvel now has two pairs of Sherlocks and Watsons.

I want that whole outfit.

So, I was confused as to why Marvel would change Monica Rambeau's name to Maria, but the caption for this picture at the Entertainment Weekly website says that she has a daughter, which makes me think that she isn't Monica, but her mother. Captain Marvel takes place in the 90s, so her daughter would be an adult by now.

Nick Fury with two functional eyeballs is going to be weird to see.

My movie watching itenerary for the rest of 2018 (hopefully)

I've noted that I typically only watch one or two movies a year and that Marvel already maxed me out with excellent outings like Black Panther and Infinity War. Or so I thought. I've got the itch to see more movies this year and might actually have the funds to do it, so here's a provisional list of movies I plan on trying to see this year:

via Vulture.

Ocean's 8: I didn't even know until I was driving past the local movie theater that this movie had been released. I thought it was slotted for later this year or something. I want to see Ocean's 8 for the very simple and predictable reason that it has an all-female cast. The cast list itself is enticing, but I just really like the idea of an all-woman driven heist film.

via IGN.

Ant-Man and The Wasp: I haven't watched the first Ant-Man movie yet, but I still want to see the sequel. A big reason is that I will forever be amused that not only has there been even one Ant-Man movie, but that it did well enough to warrant a sequel.

 

via the official website.

Skyscraper: Jot this down as a maybe. I can't recall ever watching a Dwayne Johnson movie in theaters and this looks like it might be an enjoyable popcorn flick. Plus, his character where's a prosthetic leg, so it'll be interesting to see how they utilize that in the movie.

via IMDb.

Aquaman: I haven't watched a single solitary teaser, trailer, or anything about this movie but I am probably going to watch it because like Ant-Man, I never expected that Aquaman of all possible characters would get the movie treatment.

I have no idea what other movies are coming out this year and my dance card is pretty full with even just these three or four movies, so I'll probably pass on any others.

June's Nerd Trash Icon: Shuri from Black Panther

Because Shuri (played by Letitia Wright) was one of the tip top things about the Black Panther. I loved how she was a super genius who, judging from that scene in Infinity War, is probably smarter than guys like Bruce Banner and Tony Stark. I also dug how she took no shit from her brother T'Challa and had zero problems with dragging him. Being King of Wakanda and Black Panther doesn't spare you from your little sister.

http://fuckyeah-nerdery.tumblr.com/post/174437983135/toney-starks-i-invite-you-to-my-lab-and-you

 

New wall art

I decided to buy some new posters yesterday and Wonder Woman, Black Panther, and Ant-Man and The Wasp now grace my wall. They look pretty snazzy. Check out the poor quality pictures below.

The new additions triggered a general reorganization of all of my posters. I ended up moving the old ones elsewhere. The Flash poster is the only one that stayed on the same wall.

And yes, that is an apple tree on the wall in the first picture. At some point, there was a family that lived in this house before me and this was their kid's room and they painted a tree on the wall for some reason. I should probably paint over it one day.

Marvel has and will continue to rock us all

Tim Knight from HeroPress beat me to the punch on posting this tribute to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. No surprise there, because Tim is more active than I can ever hope to be. :P

I saw the first video on Tumblr a couple of weeks ago, but being lazy and distracted by real world happenings, I never got around to post them until now. Enjoy!



Bonus: There's a volume two!



Ivan Burgueno certainly knows how to put together a kickass video.

Wow, so my Infinity War predictions actually panned out pretty well (spoilers)

Which is a shocker seeing as how some of them weren't serious. Let's run them down:

Some of the good guys die: Now, this was a safe guess because everybody was calling it. What nobody expected was just how many of them would die and who.

The Mad Titan Triumphant: Another safe bet owing to the very simple fact that Avengers 4 (which I erroneously thought was called Infinity War Part 2) is coming out next year and would be connected to the events of IW.

The movie will implode from the sheer number of Chrises: We fortunately avoided a Chris core breach! All of them were safely spaced out so that none of them were all in the same place at the same time. Dodged a bullet there, whew!

Then suddenly...Adam Warlock!: This was a disappointing letdown. We know he's in the MCU and I have to believe (and hope) that he'll be in Avengers 4 just owing to his comic book history with Thanos. IW was probably just too stacked for his debut.

Oh Captain, My Captain Marvel: I guess her logo in the the post-credit scene counts, right?

Tony will spend much of the movie trying to hire Shuri: Didn't happen and never thought it would. Still, it would have been hilarious.

Bucky Barnes' hair will look fabulous: This was the safest of my guesses because Sebastian Stan does not have a bad hair day.

So four out of seven predictions isn't bad at all.

I only watch like two movies a year and Marvel's already got me maxed out

Generally, I really do only watch one or two new releases a year. I usually claim that it's partly because of never having the cash when a movie I want to see drops (because I end up spending on other things, like books), but in all honesty, it's because I'm lazy and a master procrastinator. The local theater in town is a small one and typically only shows a movie for about two weeks before swapping it for another new release (Black Panther was an exception and rightly so) and I drag my feet long enough that I tend to miss the ones that I might have wanted to watch.

Fortunately, I did manage to see Black Panther. A side note here, but there were only about six other people there that day and most of them were old and white. That movie really did cross generational and racial barriers.

So that was the first movie and the second is going to be...Infinity War. Not on the opening weekend and maybe not even on the first week, but I will be seeing it, come hell or high water.

But of course the problem there is after that, I'm "maxed out" so to speak. I don't pay attention to release schedules, so, for the most part, I don't know what's coming out for the rest of the year. I know that Han Solo movie is hitting theaters next month, but I lost any interest I had in it last year after the kerfluffle with Lucasfilm firing the directors and whatnot.

So will Infinity War be the last movie I see for the rest of 2018? Unless the sequels to Wonder Woman and Black Panther are released this year, then probably maybe yeah.

Predictions for Avengers: Infinity War

Some of the good guys die: This is a big, big, movie and the stakes have to be equally as big and I can't think of any better way to raise the stakes than by having several of the protagonists die in the course of the movie. This would also be an excellent way of ensuring people are invested in seeing Infinity War Part 2 when it comes out. Have Part 1 end with several of the big namers dead and people will buy tickets to see what happens in the second part. Obviously, none of the deaths would be permanent and would be reversed in the sequel.

The Mad Titan Triumphant: As above, have Infinity War Part 1 end with Thanos standing seemingly victorious over our heroes as a way to build anticipation for Part 2.

The movie will implode from the sheer number of Chrises: We've almost reached Christical mass!

Then suddenly...Adam Warlock!: I have to imagine that Warlock will be in either Part 1 or 2. They've hinted at his existence in the MCU in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, he played a big part in the Infinity Gauntlet/Infinity War events in the comics, and he's like Thanos' #1 enemy, so he has to have a role in either movie. Personally, I'd save him for the second act with him only appearing at the end of the first.

Oh Captain, My Captain Marvel: I'm hoping Carol Danvers is in this somewhere. I know her movie is set in like the early 90s, but they could easily explain her lack of aging as being a side effect of her powers or whatever.

Tony will spend much of the movie trying to hire Shuri: Once he meets Wakanda's techno-whiz and sees all of the technology she's developed, I imagine he'll continually try and poach her with ever increasing salaries, titles, and perks.

Bucky Barnes' hair will look fabulous: The only prediction that will bear fruit because damn, that man has some nice hair. He had a lovely pornstache in I, Tonya too.

Saw Black Panther and it was good

I think it's been overhyped some and that's understandable given the social importance the movie has been given. Having said that, I think it is one of the best Marvel has put out in the past several years. Ryan Coogler has a bright future as a director and the cast is so chock full of stars that movie studios would be greatly remiss in not burying them in film roles.