The Future of Marvel Movies part 2

About ten minutes after posting my Captain America review and look at Marvel's Cinematic Universe I was struck by a thought as I saw the leaked image of Hawkeye's new coat (comic fans will really get excited about anything). That thought was, are Marvel going to start putting out more Avenger films post Age of Ultron?

Obviously there's going to be more. But I mean Disney cutting down the time between each instalment, and cash-in on the one of the biggest names in Box Office. Step away from the core team of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Widow, Hawkeye and Hulk. Not in a cranking them out just for the money way. But in a not using all the actors and raising the lesser members to more prominent roles.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier - co-starring the Black Widow

This is going to end up part review of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and part a look at the state of the Marvel Cinematic Universe now that we're only one film away from Avengers: Age of Ultron, because to say that Winter Soldier upsets the cart a little is underselling just what the films does. As such I step away from my usual spoiler-free as possible stance, and here I'm incredibly spoiler heavy.

I make no bones about the fact that I loved Captain America: The First Avenger. I felt it pulled the period piece of brilliant. It was as exactly as pulpy as a Cap War film should be. And that's something Marvel have done really well. They don't just make superhero movies, but superheroes in other genres, which most of the best comics do as well. This time Cap was shifting away from pulp to my one of my most favourite genres. That of super spies. This film has a lot to live up to.

Shadowrun Returns Again: Dragonfall

Remember a few months ago, when I got all crazy about Shadowrun Returns being the first big Kickstarter to get a release, and how I thought it was amazing? That was more or less the general consensus, but there was a contingent within the RPG community that had a few problems with it. Those problems were mostly about its linearity, lack of side quests, no save system and non-existent companions. Basically, things that you expect from an RPG.

Now we're in a post Broken Age and Broken Sword Part 1s world, and both left me feeling a little underwhelmed. They're great, but they're part of a bigger game, and what we have just feels undernourished. That wasn't the case with Shadowrun Returns. Except that maybe it is. As Harebrained Studios have released the first DLC, Dragonfall, and it was funded by the Kickstarter money too. More importantly, Dragonfall feels like the game that Shadowrun Returns was always meant to be.

Agents of SHIELD - T.A.H.I.T.I. review

Spoilers for episodes T.R.A.C.K.S. And T.A.H.I.T.I.

After apparent reveals of how Coulson's resurrection took place, a revelation that barely answered anything, suddenly we get a proper answer. And it's a rather horrifying one. In an episode that seemed to be about something else much more pressing. It seems Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is finally getting itself sorted. But this all came about because after last month's (bloody hell, four weeks between episodes? Fox's schedulers just hate Whedon, don't they.) action packed revelation of Deathlok and Skye getting a couple of bullets in the stomach.

The Last Phantom: My First Phantom comic

I've been a fan of The Phantom for who knows how long. I'm not even sure why. He was pretty boring in Defenders of the Earth. The Billy Zane film was campy fun, but not amazing by any stretch. I think it might be solely down Phantom 2040, the 90s show in the animated style of Aeon Flux. It was pretty epic. For all the love I have for The Ghost Who Walks, that's pretty much my entire exposure to the character. I've not even touched a comic, which for me is practically a sin. So it's about time I fixed that with The Last Phantom.

For those that don't know, The Last Phantom was a reboot by Dynamite Entertainment in a more modern setting (worryingly we're getting kinda close to someone doing that and it actually being 2040, and no crazy near future tech). The story of the Phantom always revolves around the Kit Walker, the latest Phantom, who takes over the mantle after the death of his father. But in The Last Phantom, that isn't what happens at all.