Still Shots From The Avengers Trailer

I meant to post these last Tuesday, but whoopsie! Some wonderful person slowed down the quick-cut Avengers trailer and posted these stills so everyone could get a better look at everyone.
First we have Chris Evans as Captain America, in a modernized, sleeker look than in his solo movie. I guess I'm okay with that, although I liked how his WWII costume looked more functional and realistic yet was still bright and "comic book-y." In the comics, his shirt is chain mail armor. This just looks like spandex or some-such. I guess it moves freely, but Cap isn't the mightiest hero out there, so the added protection made sense. But overall, not bad at all.
Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. Not much to comment on there.
Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton, out of costume, so once again, not much to comment on.
And ditto Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner. Is he wearing a purple shirt? If so, cute reference!
RDJ as Tony Stark rocking a Black Sabbath tee, so once again, cute reference.
RDJ and Chris Hemsworth's ass.
Thor and his mighty guns. The tunic part looks good. It's faithful to the comics. The suit of armor in the Thor movie, I though, looked good, but I know some people thought it looked too rubbery and fake, so maybe those folks will like this look better. I still miss the helmet!

I was missing the cape in the earlier pics, but here we see it's added back in for the action sequence, so that makes me happy.
Black Widow has a boring look to begin with, so there's not much to say about her here. It just looks like a generic uniform. Like Cap's costume, it looks perfectly functional. In fact, it looks like it was clearly designed by whoever designed Cap's suit, so that's nice and adds a sense of "team" to their costumes. Hopefully, Hawkeye's also fits in the same way.

So far, looking good!

Avengers Movie SPOILERS?! (And a COOL Wonder Woman Illo)

THIS is Wonder Woman done right! (By joshwmc on Deviant Art.) It's really about as flawless as you can get! The addition of the gladiator skirt pumps up her warrior nature, I love reinterpreting the white stripe on her boots as shin-guards, the leather material looks durable and tough. I realize it isn't as radical a change as the pants and jacket, so if DC were to have gone with this revision, no one would have cared and there wouldn't have been that all-media shitstorm they were so desperately courting when they made the change. But yeah, whether in the comics or in any media adaptation, if they went with this costume, fans would be all on board!

Okay, now for the latest Avengers movie SPOILERS! Well, they're just rumors, but the source is Latino News, and they are almost always RIGHT! So don't read if you don't want to know...
Latino News, for whatever reason, tends to get the hard core scoop on super hero movie news. I find it odd, simply because these movies have like... um, yeah approximately NO Latinos in them. I suppose the argument is that Latinos like super hero movies? That's as good an explanation as I can concoct. So their latest scoop is on the villains in the Avengers movie. The post-credit scene in Thor apparently supports this revelation, but I wouldn't know as I still haven't seen it. But it was semi rumored that the shape-shifting aliens, The Skrulls, would be the involved, as would Thor's brother/enemy Loki.
The Skrulls are riding high after their involvement in Secret Invasion a couple summers ago. They can shape-shift in any way they want. There was this classic Fantastic Four villain, Super Skrull, who also had the ability to mimic all their powers. In Secret Invasion, they created an army of Super Skrulls who could mimic many different super heroes and teams. They also used their abilities to replace a bunch of heroes on Earth and attempt to destroy them from within.

But wait! Apparently, Loki and The Skrulls are just the beginning. The big scoop is that this is all lead up to the REAL big bad...
Thanos! Thanos is probably the most powerful, most cosmic super villain in Marvel Comics. He's their version of Darkseid. When he possesses the Infinity Gauntlet, he can do ANYTHING! He is also in love with Death and uses his abilities to attempt to please her, which always involves killing lots and lots of living beings.
The Infinity Gauntlet DID appear in Thor, so the groundwork is there!
Okay soooooo... that's a whole lotta movie, right there. This is supposed to be less than two hours and you have THREE MAJOR villains?! I wouldn't be surprised if Thanos actually only had a cameo, setting up the inevitable sequel. I can't imagine all three having huge roles in the movie, as in the comics, every time they pop up, the story runs for several issues!

Also, Thanos is way too powerful for THIS Avengers team. Hawkeye and Black Widow have ZERO super powers between them... technically neither does Iron Man, but that suit is powerful enough, but even Captain America isn't like super powerful. He's just slightly tougher than a normal person. To fight Thanos, I mean you need COSMIC level heroes like Silver Surfer and Adam Warlock. Dude with a bow and arrows and chick with wrist gatlings are doomed! I mean this match-up boils down to Thor and Hulk versus Thanos and some cannon fodder.

Which leads back to my idea that Thanos just pops up at the end to tease the sequel. If they are going to survive that battle, The Avengers are going to have to beef up their ranks with some real heavy hitters. My suggestions for Ms. Marvel and Captain Marvel (who, if both heroines were used, would definitely go by Photon) are plausible, given there are extraterrestrial origins for both their powers.
Oh man! Wouldn't that be SWEET?!

Wonder Wednesday - Top Female Avengers Who Deserve To Be In The Avengers Movie Over Black Widow

Marvel released the above image, I suppose to get fans pumped at the idea that The Avengers movie is inching closer to reality. I'm going to be in Chicago next week when Thor opens. How's that for shitty timing? Maybe I'll squeeze in a viewing when David and the boys are at the Reds/Cubs game, because I just love going to the movies by myself. But I feel like I need to throw my nerd dollars behind this movie as a show of support after what happened in Australia. Of course, I could see it anytime after I get back, but we all know it's opening weekend that makes the real statement and I hope Thor opens huge!

As for The Avengers, notice anything? Thor, Iron Man, Cap, Hulk. No mention of "the girl" Black Widow (or Hawkeye for that matter). But really? We're making this a boy's club? And as for their pick for "the girl," like I've said before, Black Widow is just one of those characters that I don't really care anything for. I've never really been into the spy thing, for one. She doesn't have any powers. Her only weapons are those wrist "venom" shooters. Okay, I get that she wears a sexy leather catsuit and is a redhead. (Trust me, I get the redhead thing. Ginger hair makes even a marginal guy hot. I'm still smarting that that cute ginger cowboy got kicked off The Amazing Race this weekend. Anyone?) I suppose she was used to good effect in The Ultimates. And I can see how she would appeal to filmmakers because... she has no powers, less CGI. They appear to be borrowing heavily from The Ultimates, with both she and Hawkeye being government super agents.

But if there's just going to be one "girl" on the team, the character Black Widow doesn't deserve to be the one.

First of all, this was the point during which she joined them... alongside Jocasta and the Two-Gun Kid and The Guardians of the Galaxy. And then she quickly got booted when the government initiated a seven member limit for the team. Long run there, honey. She's never to my knowledge returned for a lengthier membership, minus a recent gig on The Mighty Avengers pre-Secret Invasion.

On the other hand, there are more than a handful of female heroes who are synonymous with The Avengers! I could even make a case for Tigra, who isn't a major character and whose initial run on the team was only slightly longer than Black Widow's, but when the team set up a West Coast branch, she joined up and was a fixture for years and has constantly popped up whenever the call went out for reserve members to join in on whatever adventure required ALL the Avengers. When people look at Black Widow, they think, "That's the Black Widow. She's a secret agent. She dated Hawkeye and Daredevil. She was in The Champions and I think she was an Avenger at some point." When they look at Tigra, they think, "That's Tigra. She's an Avenger."

But Tigra's not on my list. I tried to whittle it down to just a Top Five, but I couldn't, so it's a Top Six.
6. Spider-Woman - Let's see, shady secret agent past, unclear alliances, spider-theme... notice any similarity to anyone? Yep, close to Black Widow, except, y'know with an awesome yellow and red super suit and super powers! Spider-Woman is a relatively recent addition to the Avengers, but she kicks ass and fans have embraced her. She can fly, cling to walls, fire venom blasts, has super strength and emits pheromones that can subtly influence people. Plus, her name is SPIDER-Woman. Spider-Man is already a household name and piggy-backing on his success gives her added cache. Except then you have to clarify that she isn't actually in any way related to him. But by then, you'd already have the movie-goers' money so shame on them for not doing their homework ahead of time.

5. The Scarlet Witch - In the comics, the second woman to join the team's ranks, she was also the "token female" for a number of years. She's been with the team off-and-on for DECADES and is one of two women most closely associated with the team. (You'll see who the other one is, but if you know anything about the team, you already know.) Drawbacks? Lengthy back story (she was secretly Magneto's daughter and served in his Brotherhood, battling the X-Men before she and her brother Pietro/Quicksilver joined the Avengers), unclear powers ("Hexes" she can affect probability) and kinda icky love-life (in the real Marvel Universe, she married an android, The Vision, in The Ultimates, she was romantically involved with her own brother, barf!).

4. Ms. Marvel - One of the most successful Marvel heroines in recent years, she co-led The Mighty Avengers alongside Iron Man and starred in her own series. A former Air Force colonel, trained spy and head of security for NASA, Carol Danvers has a government background which would have made it super easy to integrate her into the movie! And her powers, super strength, invulnerability, flight and energy projection would have really added some BAM to the team dynamics! Her "Ms. Marvel" identity was inspired by deceased male hero Captain Marvel, but her connection to him was tenuous and easily overlooked. Really no drawbacks, other than the fact that she first joined the team in the 70s, so having her appear in the movie as a founder is a bit of a stretch and might upset some die-hards. (Well, I'm a die-hard and I'd have been okay with it.)

But if we're going with Marvels, I'll go you one better and suggest...

3. Captain Marvel - A lieutenant in the New Orleans Harbor Patrol, she was bombarded with extraterrestrial energy and gained the ability to transform her body into any type of energy from light to x-rays to ultraviolet radiation and so on. She can also absorb and manipulate energy and fire powerful energy bolts. She joined The Avengers as a novice but her natural level-headedness and ability led her to be named leader by none other than Captain America himself! She served very long tenures on the team, leaving only occasionally and returning to assist the team frequently as they needed her.

Originally depicted as being very serious and work-minded, most recently writers have given her a sarcastic sense of humor and a "complicated" dating life. Doesn't every team need a "sassy black girl?" (He said sarcastically... but hell, why not just once have a female be the "comic relief?" Has anyone EVER done that? Make it happen, Marvel!)

Oh, PS... she's AFRICAN AMERICAN, unlike ANY of the other Avengers in the movie!!! Equality, ya'll!

2. She-Hulk - Oh Marvel... how many times will The Hulk fail before you quit trying to make him work? First movie? Failed. Second movie? Failed. (Although, I didn't think it was that bad.) Let's keep milking this horse and see what happens. Okay, like I said, they seem to be borrowing heavily from The Ultimates and of course Hulk featured prominently in that. But in the real Marvel continuity, The Hulk agreed to join the team at the end of Avengers #1 but then... changed his mind and never showed up to any of their meetings or bothered helping them ever.

Fastforward to the 80s and his cousin, the similarly powerful but intelligent She-Hulk joins The Avengers and sticks around for a number of years, with her sassy attitude and tough demeanor making her a hit with fans! She filled in for The Thing as a member of the Fantastic Four for a number of years and during that time continued scoring fan love until she was eventually given her own title, a rarity among Marvel females and, at the time, she was the only one. She became Marvel's flagship heroine, appearing on all kinds of merchandising along side Cap, Spidey, Wolverine and even her own cousin. Through it all, she's remained a constant in the world of The Avengers, returning to aid them on numerous occasions, while also maintaining a career as the (literally) biggest lawyer in New York City. C'mon, government super groups have legal teams, right? Easy in for joining the onscreen team and look Marvel... maybe people just don't care for The Hulk. Try something slightly different... making The Hulk a tough, sassy (and sexy) lady!

And finally, absolutely no surprise...

1. The Wasp - Why look, who is that above on the cover of The Avengers #1? Why the sole female founder of the team, The Wasp! The Wasp served valiantly alongside her male counterparts. When her boyfriend, Ant Man became jealous of the physical abilities of his comrades Iron Man and Thor, he tweaked his size-changing powers to become Giant Man, but The Wasp remained The Wasp, tiny heroine with antennae to communicate with bugs and wings. Yup, that's it! She didn't even have her patented bio-stings yet!

After all of the founders left the team for a time, she was the first to return and was a constant fixture on the team for DECADES, skillfully leading the team for many years.

What I love about The Wasp is she was always a "girlie girl." She was vivacious, flirty, loved shopping... she was constantly designing new costumes for herself. She also just seemed to love adventuring. Who wouldn't? Wouldn't being a super hero be like the funnest thing ever?! But super heroes never really seemed to enjoy it, except maybe Spider-Man. But Wasp clearly loved it and I loved that about her. (I don't know how I managed to type this with Captain America's star-spangled bulge over to the left. Wonder Man's package is pretty impressive too. Oh look, The Wasp is in the picture, too.)

NOT to say she was a ditz or ineffective. I DID say she led the team for years and years on numerous occasions. She was also one of the first divorcees in comics, leaving her abusive husband Hank Pym (Ant Man/Giant Man) after he betrayed the team. And in The Ultimates, she and Hank were both scientists working for the government, so there's your in in the movie universe. She may be flirty and "girlie" but she's a strong, capable woman... and she should be in this freakin' movie!

WT Friday?! 11-19-10 Underoos!

Um... I kinda think I oughta stick a picture of Pedobear on this entire blog. It features lots and lots o' pics and videos of little kids dancing around and cavorting in their undies. It's completely innocent... well, to you and me anyway. Well... to me. I don't know about you. I hope. Anyway...

Aw yeah! One of the best things about growing up in the 70s-80s was Underoos! Underwear That's Fun to Wear! (That was their slogan.) Designed to look like the costumes of kids' favorite heroes, kids could wear these underneath their normal clothes... just like real super heroes did!


Well... the GOOD Underoos looked like a super hero's costume. Unfortunately, The Hulk was hard to replicate as such, so his set were just lame white underwear with his picture on the shirt.
The same formula was used on characters like Fred Flintstone. What kid wanted Fred Flinstone over Spider-Man or Superman?Also, Fred Flintstone's costume would have actually worked as a typical pair of Underoos. Just give him an orange spotted shirt with his frayed tie silk screened on it! But still... no one wanted Fred Flintstone. I'm guessing this style of Underoos kind of flopped. Here's a commercial devoted to just these styles. Like, c'mon kids pleeeeeeaaaaaassssse buy them!

Archie Andrews?! Are you kidding me? That's worse than Fred Flintstone! You'd have to be a complete fag to rock those!
I guess Aquaman just barely avoided this fate. He's one of the few heroes without a chest insignia, so I'm sure they were probably challenged in coming up with a look for his costume, but cleverly, they translated his scale motif and then, just for clarity, added an "A." I had these over and over! They were OBVIOUSLY my favorite, with Robin swinging in second.

The best commercials featured animation.




Here's one that I can't embed, but it's the best. I love the girl spinning to switch her regular undies into Wonder Woman Underoos!
Another fun bonus, the packages had these great full body shots of the heroes, just right for the clipping out and making little paper dolls!
The girl super hero sets came in two styles. Wonder Woman, Spider-Woman and the I-didn't-know-this-existed Catwoman had tank tops.
While Batgirl and Supergirl had... I guess you call them bras.
I guess "women" wore tank tops and "girls" wore bra tops?
Also, as I discovered yesterday, they also released long underwear as well. I never saw these and didn't know they existed!

Here's a commercial I apparently never saw, featuring all the super ladies, including Catwoman! I'm guessing we all know how the little girl who wore Catwoman Underoos probably turned out. (Slut!)


I could have sworn that Green Lantern and The Flash had Underoos later on in the series, but the Wikipedia page only lists GL and I couldn't find a picture of it. No listing for Flash, although Iron Man appears to have had a set:
Their color schemes are the same, so maybe I got them confused.And they did make Shazam!, whose costume is very similar to The Flash's.
During Underoos' time, pop culture shifted away from the licensing juggernaut of super heroes in the 70s to Star Wars and other live action properties. The first batch of Star Wars Underoos followed the same pattern of the heroes, by making them look like the garments worn by the characters in the movies.
I just loved Underoos, so I kept buying them, even after they made the switch from super heroes to these, but I wasn't very keen on it.


I'm not sure why C-3PO was for girls, but I gotta admit, they're kinda cute! I also don't get the line in the jingle, "C-3PO has lots of style." Isn't he technically naked? That commercial was pretty neat though. It must've been fun for the young actors, being on set with the real Star Wars characters!

You can see the evolution of Underoos through the Star Wars line. I think eventually, they switched over from the "costume" look, to just images of characters across the board.

Empire Strikes Back Leia:
Return of the Jedi Leia:
You mean, they didn't think a Slave Leia costume would be appropriate for a 2-4 year-old? Madness!

On a similar note:
What 2-4 year-old was watching The A-Team?! One who needed to be taken away from their parents or guardians, that's who!
It was clearly harder for them to come up with ideas for girl Underoos. Here's Daisy Duke... but COME ON!!! Denim-print Daisy Duke-style panties?! Ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! I love them!
Ms. Pac Man? And Family? Fail. But the boys line had its share of stinkers. If you thought Fred Flintstone and Archie Andrews were bad...
GOD DAMMIT!!! Why did they stick the fucking Ewoks on EVERYTHING?!?! FUCK THE EWOKS!!! What BOY in their right mind would want this shit over Han Solo?!
Hell, I'd take the Dukes of Hazard over Wicket the Ewok!!!

E.T.?! That's almost as bad! And coming in third, "everyone's favorite, Pac Man!"

Not quite as bad, but still... not GOOD...
Tonto. Yeah, sorry... Robin may be a sidekick, but he's still a SUPER hero! NO ONE wants to be Tonto! And that design on the shirt is about as half-assed as you can get! Even so... I'd take this over Wicket, E.T. or Pac Man.

Underoos lasted way longer than I realized. This commercial features late 80s properties M.A.S.K., Transformers and Thundercats. These are all lame "picture of the character" styles, which they'd seemingly completely switched over to, which sucks, because a flesh colored shirt emblazoned with He-Man's metal harness was really a no-brainer! Oh well...

Here's an interview with Larry Weiss, the inventor of Underoos!


There's plenty of super hero undies these days...
But they're not QUITE the same. Superman doesn't wear his logo on his junk.
I wish someone would pick up this license again and make them old school... plus, I mean, yeah, I so want a grown up set of Aquaman Underoos. I'd buy like... all of them and that would be the only underwear I'd ever wear!

EDIT! I did NOT imagine it! They did make Flash Underoos! Also, note that The Hulk eventually got redesigned with a larger image in the middle of the shirt versus the small image over the heart.