X-Men Legends: Rewind To The X-Men Glory Days

      I often mention how my the title 'Dayspring Discussions' is an X-Men reference, and how I feel like I don't talk about X-Men enough, even though Marvel's mighty mutants are my favorite thing about Marvel Comics.  Also, in recent weeks, I have been trying to get back into writing more.  This site started out as a blog to talk about all my theories, reviews, and fan castings for my geeky interests.  But as podcasting has become more popular I too made the switch over to modern media.  That is why I don't suspect anyone will read this entry, but like I said, it's more about getting back into writing for me.  And talking more about X-Men. So, this is me trying to hit two Sentinels with one optic blast. ZING!

     My earliest memory of buying an X-Men comic from the local comic book store was when Age of Apocalypse was going on.  I remember at the time Gambit was my favorite X-Man so the title was Gambit and the Xternals.  As I grew up my taste changed, and for years now Cyclops has been my favorite X-Man.  He's the leader who does what he feels is right and makes the tough calls.  And most of the time his colleagues disagree with him.  Nevertheless he does what he feels is best and never apologizes for it.  He takes responsibility for the entire mutant race and it's future.  Since the 2000's he's been more bad boy than boy scout, and some have compared him to being a mixture of Xavier and Magneto.

     Because of my current affinity for Scott Summers I feel like I know a good amount about the whole Summers clan.  Havok, Cable, Corsair, Rachel, Vulcan, Jean Grey, and I would even put Polaris in that group.  And during the 90's their were hints of Cyclops and Havok having a brother, and who it could be.  Some thought it might even be Gambit given that he was an orphan adopted by the Thieves Guild.  But, an answer was given in Deadly Genesis and Gabriel Summers, Vulcan, was revealed to the world.  But last week a new series came out that makes it seem that Adam X, a popular mutant in the 1990's, is indeed the brother of Cyclops and Havok.

     X-Men Legends starts off with the kidnapping of Scott and Alex's grandparents.  Followed by the reintroduction of Adam X.  Adam is being pursued by Erik the Red and thinking he is important on a cosmic scale.  Cyclops and Havok find Adam, and so does their father, Corsair, who then seems to fire a pistol at his own son.  And that's where issue one ends.

     I had heard about this series, but never really dug into what it was going to be about aside from the famous "third Summers brother" conspiracy.  The book is written by Fabian Nicieza who helped bring life to Deadpool, and has written many X-Men and Marvel comics in his career. This reminds me of years ago when Chris Claremont did another take where he left off with X-Men.  What would he have done if he was still writing X-Men?  To be honest, I could not get into the series because at that point the X-Men had grown so far past where Claremont left them.  That's how I feel about this comic series.

     I have mixed feelings about the current status of X-Men comics with House of X been going on for a while now, but at least it's something different and new.  I feel like Legends is just trying to take us back in time when the X-Men was the best selling book Marvel had.  I never knew much about Adam X because I thought he was created just to make a character that reflected the current youth.  I preferred Nate Grey; the X-Man.  

     While this series is great nostalgia for long time X-Men readers, I find it moot.  The costumes and art are great, but why dig up an old mystery that has already been solved by one of my favorite X-Men and Marvel writers; Ed Brubaker.  Brubaker created Vulcan into a far better character than Adam X ever could be in my opinion.  So even if you didn't like who the lost Summers brother turned out to be there is no point in living in the past.  That's when you become what you hate.  Right Magneto? 

My Top 5 Out Of Character Comic Book Movie Moments

The work "trainwreck" can be used to describe more than one movie currently playing in theaters.  Fox's Fantastic Four is now surrounded with drama as it's director lashes out at the studio on social media and it becomes a box office flop; barely making half of it's projected opening weekend numbers.  My thoughts on the film aside, I did find it odd that while the movie had Johnny Storm in it, a.k.a. The Human Torch, there was actually no sign of the character anywhere in Michael B. Jordan's performance.  

This isn't the first time film makers have taken liberties with comic book heroes to serve their movie.  But to change a character completely is almost as bad as calling your film an X-Men movie, but not having any trace of an actual X-Men root anywhere in the movie *cough*Brett Ratner*cough*.  I for one don't mind changing a character trait for another adaptation so long as it doesn't change what the original character stands for.  So after a little thinking I've got my top 5 moments in comic book movies that totally went against their character archetype.   

5) THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN

Peter Parker Stops His Bully From Bullying Someone Else

I always thought Tobey Maguire was the perfect Spider-Man casting.  He was shorter than the average male, wasn't too handsome, and overall looked like a nerd.  However, Andrew Garfield was the same height and stature as his bully; Flash Thompson.  In one scene, Peter stops Flash from picking on another fellow nerd.  Now, post-spider powers, Parker may have had the confidence to stand up to Flash, but pre-spider powers Peter would have seen the incident, thank God it wasn't him, and kept walking.  Peter Parker had no self-esteem before he become Spider-Man.  But after getting bitten he became a cocky little punk whenever he was slinging webs.

4)  FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER

Mr. Fantatic Busts A Move On The Dance Floor

For Reed's bachelor party Johnny decides to throw him a massive shindig complete with a fully stocked bar, dance floor, and lots of girls.  This of course is not Reed's scene at all.  Mr. Fantastic can barely lift his head from his microscope to talk to his wife.  He'd be sitting in the corner by himself at his own party; let alone nowhere near the dance floor.  This moment makes no sense and makes me truly believe the people behind this film didn't know the FF at all.

3)  BATMAN AND ROBIN

Batman Attends A Public Event

There is no much wrong with this film that goes against Batman myth I could go on "forever" about it.  But the moment that makes the least amount of sense is when Batman tries to lay a trap for Mr. Freeze.  He offers the Wayne diamonds up as bait, and Batman and Robin as security.  Batman didn't even show up to Superman's funeral!  He is only seen by those he's saved and savaged.  His power is him being purely myth to the general public, not at a charity event like he's an NFL player from the Make A Wish foundation.  This moment was followed by the Bat-credit card.  Oh Joel Schumacher, what did you do!

2) MAN OF STEEL

Jonathan Kent Tells His Son To Let People Die

"Maybe."  It was the word I shuttered at as I heard Kevin Costner say it in the trailer for Man of Steel.  I was hoping it was an editing trick for the trailer to spark more interest that this would not be the boy scout version of Superman.  However, as I watched the film, it indeed was in the movie. "What was I supposed to do?  Just let them die?"  "Maybe."  Oh come on!  Clark gets his moral compass from Jonathan and Martha Kent, and Pa Kent would never have told his son to let a school bus full of children die just to protect his own secret.  That moment goes against everything Pa Kent and Superman stand for.  Damn you David Goyer and Zach Snyder!  Now I'm reminded why I'm trying not to get my hopes up for Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice.

1)  X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE

Deadpool Has His Mouth Sewn Shut

His nick name is The Merc With A Mouth.  For about ten glorious minutes we got to see Ryan Reynolds bring to life the foul mouth, fast talking, Wade Wilson.  It was the only good ten minutes in the film.  The next time we see the character he has his mouth sewn shut and sporting all kinds of mutant powers.  Most of Deadpool's charm lyes in his wit and speech.  Luckily this atrocity seems to be rectified based on the latest Deadpool trailer.  The film is set to come out next year and looks to find Reynolds back as Wade Wilson doing what both of them were meant to do; never shutting up.

Deadpool Trailer Looks True To Character

So the first trailer for the upcoming Deadpool movie has been released and above is the red band version of it.  It premiered last night on Conan as Ryan Reynolds showed up in full costume to promote the film he seems to have put his heart and soul into.

For those who don't remember, Reynolds first played the Merc with a Mouth in 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine.  But the film makers made the biggest mistake about a character who's known for his quick wit and zany dialogue; they sewed his mouth shut.  Since then Reynolds has been the strongest advocate for the advancement of a true adaptation of the character, and judging from this trailer we might just get it.

Reynolds will play Wade Wilson, an assassin who becomes physically and emotionally scarred, and then proceeds to cause chaos as a sutio hero in the Marvel U.  From the trailer it appears that Fox is really trying to give Wilson a good backstory to make the character likable and relatable.  I can get behind this so long as when he his in the red costume he's a total nut ball.  Deadpool annoys everyone one in the Marvel Universe because he never shuts up and has a loose moral code for killing bad guys.  He's also known constantly for breaking the fourth wall and talking to the audience; which I would love to see in this film.

Truth be told though, I'm not a big Deadpool fan.  My brother however is.  I get the appeal.  I like the character.  But I feel he is great as a supporting character and not a lead.  I am interested to see this film, especially after seeing this trailer, but not as excited as seeing X-Men: Apocalypse.  I am however ecstatic that Fox seems to be sticking to the root of the character this lots of perverted jokes and a violent R-rating.  I'm not sure how this Deadpool will then fit into Fox's PG-13 X-Men Universe they are creating, but I think they are doing right by the source material, which studios need to realize is sometimes the best way to go.  

So for now, I'm on board.  I'm curious to see how Colossus will fit into this film, or if any other X-Men show up (come on Hugh Jackman).  But come February I'll be at the theater hoping for another successful and entertaining comic book film.  How else are we supposed to waste our time until Batman v Superman comes out?

Comic-Related News.....From Last Week

Greetings Muggles!  I'm about to unload on you the comic-related stories from last week that I was most excited to hear about.  I hope you are too!

DEADPOOL MOVIE GETS FAST TRACKED:  Fan boys have been drooling for a Deadpool film for years now, and there has been no bigger advocate than Ryan Reynolds, who played the character in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. A recent test footage revealed that a Deadpool movie is in high demand so last week Fox set a Feb 12, 2016 release date for the Deadpool solo film.
To be honest I'm not really a big Deadpool fan.  He's pretty funny, but Marvel waaay overused him when he became popular by putting him in every book; just like they did with Spider-Man and Wolverine.  The Merc with a Mouth is pretty obscene, and pretty violent given that he's a killer assassin.  Some have cried that the film must be rated R for it be done justice.  While I agree with this I don't for a second believe it won't be PG-13 like every other superhero film to bring in the biggest audience/money.
Tim Miller, who directed the test footage, is also on board to direct the film.  No word if Reynolds will reprise his role as Wade Wilson, but seeing how he also starred in the "leaked" test footage I'm sure it's only a matter of weeks before he is announced.  I'm just disappointed my favorite part of the character will probably be not mentioned in the film; the public mistaking him for Spider-Man because of their similar costume styles.  Below is a link to the Deadpool test footage on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CphFZGH5030

SUPERGIRL TV SERIES FLIES OVER TO CBS: A few weeks ago it was reported that Arrow and The Flash co-creator, Greg Berlanti, was developing a Supergirl TV series.  It appears CBS has picked up the series, which kind of surprised me.  Given that Berlanti was advocating this series I figured it'd end up on The CW with his other shows.  I'm sure we all even hoped it would help expand the DC/CW television universe even more.

I'm curious to see how this series will go given that there have been many different interpretation of the character since her appearance in 1959.  My favorite has been the version introduced by Jeph Loeb in 2004.  I will admit though I have yet to read the New 52 version since I'm not a fan of the current handling of Superman via New 52.  Either way, I'm just happy to see more comic book characters making their way onto more screens.

JARVIS ADDED TO AGENT CARTER:  We have to wait quite a few more months to see Hayley Atwell reprise her role as Agent Peggy Carter but we have learned that she'll be joined by Jarvis!  No, not Tony Starks artificial intelligence, the real Jarvis.  Actor James D'Arcy will play Edwin Jarvis, who, in the comics, was Tony Stark's butler but replaced by a machine in the films.  This kind of gives you the feeling that J.A.R.V.I.S. might have been help created by Edwin or perhaps leaves quite the impression on the right people to name a sophisticated computer program after him.

I love the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but I quit watching Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. after three episodes.  I am, however, excited for Agent Carter because I really like the character.  We learned that in Captain America: The Winter Soldier Peggy helped start S.H.I.E.L.D. so I'm hoping that's what this show is all about.

 

SCOTT GLENN IS STICK: Remember the wise old man from Sucker Punch?  Well now he's play the wise old blind man in Netflix's upcoming Daredevil series.  Scott Glenn will play Stick, the sensei who teaches Matt Murdock to not only live with being blind, but use it as a weapon to fight crime.
I'm psyched for not only Daredevil, but what Marvel Studios is doing with Netflix as well.  Producers and film makers promise this will be a grittier and more dark Marvel world than the films.  I'm a fan of Daredevil and Iron Fist so I can't wait to see this all come out!

AMANDA PAYS RETURNS TO THE FLASH: I remember as a kid watching the 1990 Flash TV series.  I was too young to realize how campy it was but I remember Luke Skywalker played a villain.  In any event, I'm anxiously waiting for the new Flash series that premieres in less than a month, and glad to see the original Flash, John Wesley Shipp, will be on the show playing Barry Allen's father.  Now, another Flash alumni has just been added.  Amanda Pays will return to play Dr. Tina McGee.
In the comics Tina was around during the early Wally West days.  But in the 1990 series she helped Barry discover his powers and the gave him the means to use them to help rid Central City of bad guys.  Word has it instead of working for S.T.A.R. Labs though like in 1990 series she'll be working for a company competing against S.T.A.R. Labs in the new show.  Either way, I'm happy to see familiar faces.