Civil War: What's the Deal?

Civil War: What's the Deal?
So the trailer for Captain America: Civil War, dropped this week and it has had comic book movie fans all in a frenzy. It looks really good. So rather than tell you the things you may have missed from the trailer I would like to speculate what exactly is going on with the movie based on what we see in this trailer. Bear in mind that there will be spoilers for the comic book it's based off and potential spoilers for the movie, if you want to go into the show blind, probably don't read this.

Comic Book Ties:
From what I can tell from the trailer it seems to be quite the departure from the actual comic book. In the comic, a horrific accident involving foolhardy superheros decimates a small town killing many people. Because of this the government forces heroes to reveal their identities and pretty much sign on to be super-cops for the government. Ironman, despite his rebellious nature sees this as a necessary step into stopping injustice. Captain America is very much about the opposite, and to many heroes such as Daredevil, Falcon, half the Fantastic Four and even the likes of The Punisher, Captain America is the guy to follow. It results in an all out war between many superheroes and quite an epic comic. But is the movie going to be like the comic?

Dark Knight Much?
Everyone knows that Batman v. Superman is taking ques from Frank Miller's, The Dark Knight Returns, but to me it seems that Civil War will follow that story line even more. From the Civil War trailer we see a lot of Captain America, which makes sense. It's not The Avengers: Civil War, it's Captain America: Civil War. With that said the trailer seems to tell us this:
We have a pretty great superhero who is considered a "vigilante" and the government wants to stop them, so who do they send in? The most powerful superhero they can think of to stop him. That's the exact plot of The Dark Knight Returns. The thing is that there will be more superheros fighting each other rather than just Batman and Superman, and this story affects a heck of a lot more than two heroes. All I'm saying is that I think this movie will not follow the comic book as much as we thought, and it doesn't have to. But those who want this movie to be a shot for shot cinematic adaptation, too bad! Marvel Studios doesn't even have half the roster it would take to remake the comic.

Introduction Of Other Superheros:
Lastly I'd like to talk about new heroes, well all want that right? In the comic book, all the heroes have been introduced already, which makes for some epic battles. However in the movie they don't have near as many, but they have the chance to introduce a few heroes worth mentioning here. Obviously we see Black Panther running around in his sick costume, he is of course the King of Wakanda, the fictional country that the Avengers visit in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Also, we know that Spiderman will play a role in this movie, like he does in the comics. Tom Holland has been cast as the webslinger, and it will be interesting to see the role that Spiderman will play within the movie. Now, there haven't been many rumors circling Captain Marvel but it will be very interesting to see any references there may be to her or perhaps a quick cameo of her character, Carol Danvers. Perhaps we may see some teases of Dr. Strange, which would be awesome. Also, I think this is a good opportunity to integrate some of the Netflix heroes into the movie, (Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, The Punisher), because this "hero registration" or "Sokovia Accords" very much affects street level characters. But I bet that if we see any of them it will probably be like one shot of them all fighting together or something. And maybe Agent Coulson will show up, and maybe he'll die again, for good. Who knows? What's for certain is that this is going to be a phenomenal comic book movie event.

The 5 Smartest People in the DC Universe

The 5 Smartest Men of the DC Universe:

The DC universe is literally jam-packed with smart people left and right. I think you need to be fairly intelligent to fight crime and save the world on almost a daily basis. But that doesn't mean that some people are more intelligent than the rest. These are the five people that through whatever means and reasons are the smartest of the smart, a League of Intelligent Men. This list will give a brief summary of the character and just how exactly smart they are and what separates them from the rest of the DC universe. So without further ado, the 5th smartest man:

#5, Ted Kord:
Theodore Kord graduated from high school at the age of 16, developed drones the size of insects at the age of 19, stopped the world from being taken over by his insane uncle while he was in college, revamped his fathers dying industry soon after and became the tech powered superhero known as the Blue Beetle. He's a brilliant scientist, a genius engineer and an all around nice guy to be around.

#4, Ray Palmer:
While studying at Ivy University in Connecticut, young Raymond Palmer found a piece of a white dwarf start that had fallen to earth. After this discovery his interest in matter suppression grew and he deduced that if he made a focused lense from the dwarf star material and shown an ultraviolet ray through it, he could shrink anything, and it did. He learned how to shrink matter in his first couple of years in college, leading to the construction of PalmerTech and The Atom suit and his ability to shrink at sub atomic levels and study atoms very very closely.

Ray Palmer as portrayed by Brandon Routh in the CW's "The Arrow"

#3, Michael Holt:
At a young age of 6, Michael Holt would read the works of Bohr, Einstein, Planck and Feynman in order to gain a greater understanding of the world of science. Growing from age six he studied space and time. Michael himself admits to having "a natural aptitude for having natural aptitudes." Before he began his superhero career of being Mr. Terrific he already had 14 Ph.Ds. Soon after he developed T-spheres (allowing one to be completely invisible to all technology), he was a self-made multi-millionaire, owned his own company and was a gold medal Olympic. As a superhero he plays a vital role in solving the worlds problems and is the chairman of the Justice Society of America.

#2, Bruce Wayne:

"Sometimes I think of Bruce as a man in a costume. Then, with some gadget from his utility belt, he reminds me that he has an extraordinary inventive mind. And how lucky am I to call on him."

~Superman

As a young boy Bruce wear tear through old literature ranging from Dickens to Tolstoy, he was always searching for something new to learn. After Bruce Wayne saw his parents gunned down in front of him, he swore an oath to protect his city that was tearing itself apart. At age 14 he would attend seminars and courses at Cambridge, the Sorbonne, and universities across Europe. He traveled the world for nearly a decade in order to reach physical and intellectual perfection training in everything including but not limited to: Chemistry, Forensics, Escape Artistry, Martial Arts, Disguise, and Martial Arts. He trained with Kirigi the Japanese ninja to learn stealth, Nepalese monks to learn healing, man hunting from the Frenchman Henri Ducard, hand to hand with World Class Boxer David Cain, and even trained in archery under Oliver Queen, the Green Arrow. He was soon to join the FBI at age 20, but deduced that he would not get to fight crime in Gotham the way it needed to be done. Bruce may not know as much about astrophysics as Michael Holt, or shrinking technology like Ray Palmer, but he has made it a priority to become proficient enough at literally everything in case it was ever needed in his crime fighting.

#1, Lex Luthor:

Alexander Luthor was born in the poverty stricken neighborhood called Suicide Slums in Metropolis. His parents were abusive and living the slums instilled aspirations to become better, somewhat. He dedicated his life to bettering himself and as a teenager orchestrated the death of his parents in order for him to gain a large life insurance from their deaths. With this money he created LexCorp. He would build this company from the ground up until it owned every media corporation in Metropolis, and was creating technology for the betterment of man. By the time he was a young man he was sitting atop a throne he had built himself. If anyone got in his way, he had blackmail on them. He kept the gangs of Metropolis active by selling them weapons and then striking the gangs down as a philanthropist, making himself appear as a hero. Everything he has was because of himself and nobody else. This is perhaps why he hates Superman so much. For as long as Lex has lived everything that has happened to him was through his own hard work, his own smarts, and here comes Superman, everything given to him from birth. Because of this, Lex developed Kyrptonite technology in order to keep Superman at bay. When Gotham was destroyed by an earthquake and abandoned by the government it was Lex Luthor who poured his funds into fixing the broken city. All in all, it shows the darker side of being the smartest man in the world, the one where he uses his smarts to gain advantage for himself. It's a shame that the smartest man in the world is a very crooked and bad man, but in the more recent comics he is portrayed as more of an anti-hero, even teaming up with the Justice League at times to save the world and his own empire. Too bad the only thing he can't seem to invent is some form of working hair growth serum.

Captain Britain, A Brief History

Captain Britain:

Since Captain America: Civil War is more than six months away, lets talk about Captain Britain, (see that perfect segue).

In all seriousness though, on the list of the most popular Marvel characters from a poll by Observationdeck.com, Captain Britain came out number 28, above Deadpool, Loki, Namor and Black Panther. Is this correct by any standards? No, I don't know who they were polling, (Probably Britain), but he isn't that popular. However, he has gathered sort of a cult following, and I'll admit, I've always been intrigued by him. So lets take this journey together, to find out who he really is.

Origins:
Brian Braddock was born in Malden, Essex. He was a graduate student in physics from England's Thames University. He worked under his mentor Dr. Travis at the Darkmoor Research Centre. When Darkmoor was raided by The Reaver, (a British Crime Lord), Brian jumped on his motorcycle to get help but was quickly run off the road and crashed by the Reaver's men. Luckily he was approached my Merlin, a man shrouded in mystery with a gift to give Brian. He told him that in order to survive he would need to become Britain's great hero by choosing between two artifacts, The Amulet of Right and The Sword of Might. Brian didn't consider himself much of a warrior so he chose the Amulet. When he touched the amulet he was transformed into Captain Britain with costume and super strength, he was then given the Star Sceptre by Merlin which enabled him to fly. Unfortunately the Reaver caught up with Brian. The Reaver claimed the sword turning him into an armored knight with great strengths. Brian defeated the Reaver and so Captain Britain was born.

Captain Britain in the Early Days

America:

Through his adventures in Britain he had various run-ins with many villains indigenous to Europe and even teamed up with Captain America to defeat the Red Skull during his escapade to England. It wasn't until Brian was studying abroad that he came to New York City and shared a room with Peter Parker at Empire State University. They did not know of eachothers alter egos, but as superheroes they teamed up a lot, finally Spiderman deduced his British Roommate was indeed Captain Britain, though Brian remained unaware that Spiderman was Peter Parker. 

Excalibur:

Upon Brian's return to Britain he would face many other villains but ultimately retire the life of being a superhero to his twin sister Betsy (better known as Psylocke from the X-men), who was quickly blinded while fighting crime in Britain. Through twin telepathy Brian felt her pain and went after the offender, The Slaymaster. Brian killed him and then resumed the mantle of Captain Britain. During the Fall of the Mutants, Brian was so upset over his sisters death that he took to heavy drinking and it wasn't until Nightcrawler threw Brian off of a lighthouse and convinced him that the other mutants needed saving. While successfully saving the X-men, Captain Britain and a few other mutants formed Excalibur, the premier British superhero team.

The Avengers:

After the Skrull invasion Captain Britain joined MI-13. While working at MI-13 he was approached by Steve Rogers at an international meeting and asked to join the Avengers as a reserve member, only fighting if they needed him. He joined despite murmurings from the other MI-13 members. He was just a reserve member at first but soon became a sworn in member of the Avengers at one point.

Captain Britain Corps:

During a multiverse crisis all iterations of Captain Britain banded together in order to fight the evil threatening the multiverse. This group of alternate Brian Braddocks is known as the Captain Britain Corps. During incursions where worlds collide the original Captain Britain was thrown back to his own Earth while the rest of the Corps was wiped out, and Brian losing an eye at some point.

Presently...

Presently Captain Britain is part of the Illuminati, (A think tank organization consisting of Reed Richards, Tony Stark, Namor, Stephen Strange, and other smart minds). He helps them find a solution to the many incursions popping up around earth during Time Runs Out.

Most Powerful Weapons in the Marvel Universe

Most Powerful Weapons in the Marvel Universe:

What is the most powerful weapon in the Marvel Universe? It could come in handy when the Avengers battle Thanos, or whenever they decide to fight Galactus, (Hopefully they'll get the rights to that). So rather than try and rate these by how powerful they are, we'll go over some noteworthy items in the Marvel Universe that are hailed as super powerful, then I'll tell you what is actually the best one. Lets get started.

Mjolnir:
Thor's hammer, Mjolnir is regarded in Nordic mythology as one of the most fearsome and powerful weapons capable of leveling mountains. According to Nordic legend the dwarves Sindri and Brokkr messed up on the length of the hilt making it shorter than intended, but still deadly enough for the God of Thunder to wield it effectively. The interesting thing about Thor's hammer is that it can only be wielded by those that are worthy, courtesy of Odin, (noteworthy people who can do this are, Captain America, Storm, Beta Ray Bill, etc). So why doesn't it fall to the ground when he hangs it on a coat hanger as seen in the movies? Is the coat hanger worthy? I popular theory as to why is that the hammer is sentient to some extent, meaning it knows when it's being handled by a human and when it's just being placed on a hanger. A sentient hammer capable of leveling mountains? Pretty great!

The Mandarin's Rings:

The Mandarin, (not Trevor the actor, the real Mandarin), is one of Ironman's most terrifying foes. What makes him so terrifying are the ten rings that he wears, (the Ten Rings being the name of the terrorist group in the movies). These rings can do a lot of stuff. They are almost like the b-list Infinity Stones. Not only are they functional for combat, but they are also very magical. Take a look:

The Destroyer Armor:

It is briefly seen in the first Thor movie but this thing is some seriously powerful stuff. It was created as a brainchild of Odin, Zeus, and Brahma; the three gods of their respective pantheons. The Celestials decided to judge humanity and cut their ties to the other worlds so Odin built this armor out of an unknown mystical metal and enchanted it to be stronger. The armor housed the powers of all three of the God Kings in order to stop the Celestials. It resides in Asgard and Odin only uses it under dire circumstances.

The Evil Eye:

It is a rod with a translucent eye forged of another unknown metal. It is indestructible and has the power to manipulate matter at a molecular level, shoot fire, break down force fields, create force fields, suck energy from power sources and has time/dimension traveling capabilities. It's like the Swiss army knife for superheros. Not only that, but if it's power is charged too high it would burst into six beams of light destroying everything in their path until they reach a sun.

The Infinity Gauntlet:

The glove of Thanos. Something that the MCU has been building up to for nearly ten years now. It houses the six infinity stones and has the power to do almost anything. Rearange matter? Done. Traverse time? Easy. Reverse the laws of nature? No problem. Punch someone really hard? That works too. This gauntlet has to be the most powerful things right? Not quite.

The Most Powerful Weapon Is....

DareDevil's Staff/Grappling Hook/Escrima Sticks:

No no no, just kidding. But seriously, as far as nonpowered, purely technological weapons go, his multi-functional fisticuffs assistance apparatus is really effective when it comes to battling crime from Hell's Kitchen to Thanos. The actual most powerful weapon is....

The Ultimate Nullifier:

Gifted to Reed Richards by The Watcher in order to fight Galactus, the literal "eater of worlds". It has the power to erase somebody from existence. It is the only thing in the entire Universe that Galactus fears and is the only reason that he didn't eat the planet Earth. It also has never actually been used. Reed only threatened Galactus with it and keeps it at the Baxter building in case Galactus ever comes back for more. It seems underwhelming, and it is, but the fact that for whatever reason Galactus is afraid of it, makes it the most powerful weapon in the Marvel Universe.

Educate Yourself: Blue Beetle

The Blue Beetle:

For those of you who missed the first part of this two-part series, (Educate Yourself: Booster Gold), let me bring you up to speed. Booster Gold is a superhero from the future and great friends with the Blue Beetle. DC announced a teamup movie in the works with the creators of The Flash and Arrow on board. It will play as a buddy-cop comedy and is extremely exciting for these cult classic superheroes.

 The Blue Beetle is a title passed on through three people. This post will give a brief rundown of the three bearers of the name.  Keep in mind, we do not know which Blue Beetle we will see in the upcoming movie, but it is 99% going to be the second one. In comic book history Blue Beetle was acquired by DC comics in the Charlton comics buyout and has remained a big part of the DC universe ever since, no matter how small the role.

Dan Garrett:
In ancient Egypt, the Pharaoh Kha-Ef-Ra was said to have possessed a legendary artifact, a figurine in the shape of a Blue Scarab. With it, Kha-Ef-Ra protected his people from all evils and danger until he died and it was buried in his tomb. Many were killed trying to find it but never could, until Dan Garrett entered the tomb with his companion Professor Luri Hoshid just before the start of World War 2. The tomb started to collapsed as they entered the room with the Pharaoh's sarcophagi. Dan leapt to save Luri and the Blue Beetle resting atop the coffin lit up transforming Dan into the Blue Beetle and transferring it's powers, allowing him to stop the cave-in and save Luri. With his newfound abilities he became one of the mystery men of WWII and moved on to help with the Vietnam War. Little is known of Dan's career after that, but he was married and had a child. He settled down to teach archeology at a university where he met Ted Kord.

Ted Kord:

Theodore Kord, 5th smartest man in the DC universe, was 16 when he graduated from High School. At age 19 he developed a new way to create drones the size of an insect of which Lex Luthor said was "revolutionary". In college, Ted's uncle planned to take over the world, with the help of his archaeology professor Dan Garrett he planned to thwart his attempts. During the battle Dan was killed and passed the Blue Scarab to Ted. Unfortunately the idol did not work for Ted, but Dan's acts inspired him to train himself to his physical peak, create a vehicle adequately named "The Bug" and created a costume resembling Dan's. He revitalized his fathers company and created Kord Industries, rivaling S.T.A.R. Labs. During the Crisis on Infinite Earths he met Booster Gold where created a lifelong friendship surpassing their sarcastic whit and tomfoolery. 

Sadly after all his adventuring, Ted was killed by his old friend Maxwell Lord shortly after losing the Blue Scarab at the Rock of Eternity, (The Wizard Shazam's home). Maxwell shot him in the head with Ted's dying words being, "Rot in hell, Max." With the deed done, Barbara Gordon who was a long time friend of Ted, created a memorial for the hero. But the mantle of the Blue Beetle was yet to continue.

Jaime Reyes:

Jaime Reyes was a normal high school student in El Paso, Texas, until he found the Blue Scarab half buried in a disused lot. (When the Rock of Eternity was destoryed in a battle between Shazam and the Spectre all it's contents were blown across the world, the Blue Scarab landing in El Paso). With the discovery the Blue Scarab latched itself into Jaime's spine sending off signals that he was now a magical metahuman and giving him all it's powers and magic armor when in danger. Booster Gold sought out Jaime, for Booster had been to the future where Batman would look for The Brother Eye, and fail, getting killed. (The Brother Eye being a interdimensional phantom satellite capable of monitoring anything no matter where). The Blue Scarab was the only thing capable of finding the Brother Eye. Booster took Jaime to Batman and with Jaime's help, the Brother Eye was destroyed. Jaime is the current Blue Beetle.

Regarding the Movie:

As I said earlier, the Blue Beetle that will appear in the movie is 95% going to be Ted Kord. The movie will be set in the Arrow-verse, and there have already been easter eggs regarding Kord Industries. It only seems natural to pull both Booster Gold and The Blue Beetle in. Since Booster Gold is from Gotham City it may lead to even more references to Gotham within the Arrow-verse. Exciting things are in the works for the the Arrow/Flash Universe and for the DC Cinematic universe as well.