Avengers Music Video: The Wings of Icarus

Part of what inspired my JLvA post is the fact that I've been working on this video on-and-off all Summer. I'm decently happy with how it turned out. Fullscreen it in HD if possible.

Justice League vs. The Avengers

I thought it'd be fun to actually write out what would happen if the Justice League and the Avengers battled each other.

For the sake of simplicity, let's go with a smaller five-man team for the League, and the six-man team of Avengers from the movie. The number difference shouldn't matter.

The Justice League
Superman
Batman
Wonder Woman
Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)
Flash

The Avengers
Captain America
Iron Man
Thor
The Hulk
Black Widow
Hawkeye

As the two teams meet in the middle of a deserted street, Superman and Captain America step forward and trade words. Each leader explains his moral stance on whatever issue they're fighting over, and warns that he and his team won't allow the other to continue in whatever they're doing. A final word is exchanged, then both teams ready themselves for battle.

Black Widow sits quietly in a clocktower, sniper rifle in hand. She takes aim at Batman's head, but is surprised when he turns, looks directly at her, then grins. He taps the bottom of his fist, and Natasha flips her gun over to see a bat-tracer attached to the bottom of the grip. Batman has been tracking her for hours. He talks to someone over his earpiece, and the Flash suddenly appears from out of nowhere at Natasha's side, knocking her out with a super-speed punch.

Captain America rushes forward to attack Batman. The two are evenly matched. Captain America is the literal peak of human ability, and Batman has mastered nearly every form of martial arts known to man. They dodge, weave, and strike at each other, neither one able to land a strong blow. Every gadget that Batman throws, Cap is able to block with his shield, and Batman is too smart and skilled to be knocked out by the shield.

Flashback time:
At the Justice League watchtower, sometime before the battle, Batman lays out the League's plan of attack. Of particular note is the recommendation that Superman stay away from Thor, since magic, like kryptonite, is one of Superman's weaknesses.
Meanwhile, at Stark Tower, Captain America recommends that Thor tackle Superman directly, since Superman should be weak against Thor's lightning.

Back in the present, Thor rushes to engage Superman, but is quickly blocked by Wonder Woman. Thor looks to the Hulk for help, but Hulk is too enraged to be much of a team player, instead leaping fists-forward at Superman.

Hawkeye sits atop a nearby building, ready to snipe the Leaguers with his arsenal of trick arrows. As the Flash exits the building where he knocked out Black Widow, Hawkeye—with his extremely high level of perception—manages to predict Flash's movements, nocking an explosive arrow and lining up the shot.

Iron Man fires a few repulsor blasts that Hal easily blocks with energy shields. Hal fires back a few energy blasts that Iron Man dodges or is able to take without stumbling. Tony launches a cluster of mini-missiles; Hal creates a mini-gun energy construct and obliterates the missiles in mid-flight with a hail of bullets. Tony gets tired of being blocked and moves in close. Hal's energy aura protects him to a degree, but Tony's punches are actually able to hurt a bit. Hal and Tony wrestle in the air for a while, but eventually Tony gets impatient and uses his armor's chest beam to unleash an insane level of energy at Hal. Hal stumbles back, but then counters with a giant beam of his own. At this point, it's the power of Tony's arc reactor against Hal's power ring. Theoretically, both devices would run out of power roughly at the same time, but the power ring has a higher level of immediate output by an astronomical factor, limited only by the wielders' willpower. Hal overwhelms Tony in an explosion of light, blasting parts of the Iron Man armor clean off and damaging the rest of the suit beyond repair. Tony falls to the ground, unconscious. Hal, exhausted, floats slowly to the ground. A voice echoes from the ring: "Ring charge at 2%."

Hawkeye fires the explosive arrow at Flash; Flash barely manages to dodge it. Hawkeye quickly fires off a series of explosive arrows, each one singing Flash's suit. Flash eventually manages to zig-zag his way closer and closer, finally running and taking a long jump towards Hawkeye. Clint smirks; Flash can't dodge an arrow if he's suspended in mid-air. As Clint fires the arrow, Flash vibrates his body at super-speed, passing right through the arrow unharmed. Before his feet touch the ground, Flash's fist hits Hawkeye's face. Instant knockout.

Flash turns to go help Batman with Captain America. Captain America, however, with his perfectly strategic mind, is able to calculate Flash's exact angle and velocity. As Flash nears the duo, Cap swings his shield, backhanding Flash in the face with a wall of solid vibranium. Flash hits the floor, out cold.

As Thor and Wonder Woman fight, Thor is shocked to discover that Wonder Woman's bracelets easily block lightning. Wonder Woman tries to restrain Thor with the lasso of truth, but Thor grabs hold of the lasso and yanks it, pulling Diana close and slamming her in the face with his knee. Diana recoils from the hit, but isn't injured. As the battle goes on, neither gets the upper hand. Thor is stronger, but Wonder Woman is far more skilled. If Thor could land a full-force blow with Mjolnir he'd win instantly, but Diana is simply too fast. On the other hand, Thor is so tough that Diana can't seem to land an effective hit.

The Hulk grabs Superman by the cape and swings him directly into Wonder Woman, sending them both tumbling across the street. As they both get up, they find themselves facing different opponents. Superman and Thor stare each other down while Wonder Woman prepares herself to fight the Hulk.

Wonder Woman unsheathes the sword at her belt. Tipped with magic, it's something she'd never use against a human for fear of killing him, but against the Hulk she'll need all the help she can get. The Hulk swings at her wildly, but she dodges him and jabs her sword at Hulk's knees and shoulders. The Hulk's skin isn't invulnerable, especially not against magic weapons, and he begins to slump down to the ground.

Green Lantern decides to use the remaining 2% of his power to help Batman defeat Captain America. He fires off his remaining power in one last blast... which Captain America not only blocks, but deflects directly into Wonder Woman's side. Wonder Woman isn't seriously hurt, but the break in her attack is enough for the Hulk to fight back. He pummels her repeatedly until she lay unconscious in a pile of rubble. At the same time, Batman is able to take advantage of Cap's distraction and throws a freeze grenade. Cap is instantly frozen in a large chunk of ice—something Batman finds pleasantly ironic.

Thor knocks Superman back for a moment, then summons an immense bolt of lightning and unleashes it directly into Superman. Superman yells in agony for a moment, but as the lightning fades he still stands. Both Thor and Superman are momentarily shocked, but Superman quickly realizes the truth: Thor's lightning is the same as any other lightning on Earth; it's elemental, not magical. Superman rushes forward, throwing a flurry of punches at Thor. Thor kicks him back, then throws Mjolnir. Superman barely ducks under Mjolnir's path, then leans over to pick up the hammer from the ground. Thor almost chuckles; only the worthy can lift Mjolnir. Superman is more than worthy. He lifts the hammer and slams it into Thor's jaw. Thor is out.

Green Lantern is powerless and Batman is entirely useless in the fight. Superman and Hulk are all that's left. They trade blows, each hit sending out shockwaves that shatter windows and crack stone walls across the city. Superman can't seem to do real damage against the Hulk with his fists; he fires a heat vision blast into Hulk's eyes. Hulk screams in pain and steps back, then opens his now-reddened eyes and roars with anger. Hulk slams Superman with punches that would level entire buildings. Superman coughs up blood, then wipes it from his mouth and decides enough is enough. He flies behind the Hulk, lifts him off the ground, and flies into space. Superman is capable of surviving in space for hours at a time, so long as he's near a yellow sun. The Hulk, however, still needs to breathe. The Hulk gasps for air that doesn't exist, then falls unconscious.

Back in the city, Batman and Green Lantern jump back, startled, when the Hulk falls from the sky and slams into the street below.

Justice League wins.

Fight as One

As usual, I've been spending a lot of time lately thinking about superheroes. Specifically, I've been noting what makes various superheroes great on an individual level. Today, I figured I'd talk about the Avengers.

The Avengers was created by Stan Lee under direction by Marvel to create a team-based book that could counter DC's Justice League of America. So, quite literally, the Avengers are a direct ripoff of the JLA.

However, if there's one thing that defines the Avengers on their own terms, it's the idea that they truly represent the idea of teamwork; of wildly different individuals putting aside their differences in order to help defend the Earth from evil.The opening titles of The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes sums it up pretty well.

Always we will fight as one

'Til the battle's won

With evil on the run

We never come undone

Assembled we are strong

Forever fight as one

That spirit of teamwork—that brothers-in-arms resolute determination to support one another and fight on—is what makes the Avengers' story one worth telling. Anyone who's ever been on a sports team, worked on a group-based school project, or even simply had a group of close friends can relate to that.

Temporarily Marvel

I'm a DC Comics fan. Always have been, always will be. And although I've been a huge fan of Marvel Comics as well, I've always had a lot of problems with their stories. They often get too dark for no reason, too soap-opera-ey, and seem to follow the creed of "the crappier we make life for our heroes, the more compelling our stories." It's a misunderstanding of the approach of Stan Lee, who always said "the way to make superhero stories relatable is to give the heroes problems." But there's a difference between creating conflict and simply beating the heroes down. One is compelling, the other is cheap storytelling done to provoke the reader. But I digress.

Simply, I've always preferred DC's stories and heroes over Marvel's. Heck, a small part of me wanted The Avengers to fail as a movie just because I didn't want Marvel to have the victory over DC. And yet, at this moment, I'm finding myself more a fan of Marvel than of DC.

You may recall that over a year ago, I wrote about DC Comics relaunching their entire line of comics. Well, it's been eight months since the relaunch, and things, overall, haven't gone well. Basically, several titles in the relaunch have been astoundingly good (Batman, Animal Man, etc), some have been very good (Flash, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, etc) and the rest have varied between "pretty decent" and "terrible." It probably doesn't help that the handling of my favorite character, Superman, has been horrible. After eight months, there's been little-to-no character development for him, his relationships with his supporting cast like Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, and the Kents are nearly non-existent, and I don't even feel like I know who he is as a person yet. It's a far cry from the last DC reboot, where John Byrne completely laid out, in full, the entire world of Superman in the first two issues, including his origin, his motivations, his powers, and his relationships. If you've ever seen the TV series Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, that entire show was based upon John Byrne's Superman story.
The problem with Superman in the new DC universe is the same problem that the entire univers has, to a degree. DC has generally focused on telling action-heavy, in medias res stories, and as a result there's been very little worldbuilding. I can't mentally put myself into the DC universe because I don't really know much about it.

Furthermore, there haven't been too many good DC movies out in a long time. The Dark Knight Rises is coming out this year, which is cool, but aside from that the only other DC movie coming along is Man of Steel (yay!) which won't hit until next year. Actually, the only DC-focused things that are really holding my interest at the moment are the TV shows Young Justice and Green Lantern: The Animated Series, both of which are really well-done. But that's it, basically.

Meanwhile, Marvel has just released maybe the biggest superhero movie of all time, The Avengers, their comics are in a pretty decent place, and they've also got a decent cartoon on the air (Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. It's on Netflix; go watch it).

And right now, Marvel is just just a more fun place to be. I mean, The Avengers is a really fun movie that doesn't have any of the problems that normally turn me off from Marvel whatsoever. There's no paralyzingly stupid cynicism and no terrible plot twists. There's nothing but a celebration of heroism and fun.

I kind of feel like DC is a family member that's hooked on drugs and isn't making good life decisions. Until they get their act together, I'm gonna go hang at Marvel's place.

AVENGERS

I totally forgot that I wrote this on the night of the Avengers' midnight release. Oh well. Here it is, exactly a week late.

11:15pm, May 3rd

Been in the theater since around 8:45. The theater manager came out at around 10 and started asking random trivia questions to members of the audience. The prizes for getting questions right were two movie passes and two loyalty cups (40oz cups the theater sells where they give you unlimited $1 refills).

He asked around eight or so people questions, and I got asked the last one. Probably helped that I had friends furiously pointing at me as I pumped my Captain America shield in the air.

The question: "What is the name of the Avengers' aircraft?"

My first thought: "I know this!"

My second thought: "Wait, why am I not remembering it?!?"

My third thought: "QUINJET!!!!"

Admittedly, not the hardest question for a comic book fan, but decent enough. One of the coolest moments for me as a geek thus far.

4:03am
Too tired to write anything. Bed. Bed now.

Avengers, Assemble!

The Avengers is about to be released in theaters two weeks from today. This is pretty huge.

Yes, we've seen superhero movies before. The last decade's been littered with them. But this one is very different. It's not just that Avengers is the first honest superhero team-up movie; it's that the superhero team-up really represents something absolutely huge for superhero storytelling.

The one big question that often determines if comic book movies get made is, simply, will the audience buy it?
It's easy to make a movie based around only one hero. You can tailor the entire movie's world around a single character (or group of characters) without having to acknowledge that any other heroes exist. The bright, shiny, romantic world of the first three Spider-Man movies is clearly not the same place as the relatively dark and politically-driven world of the X-Men films. Comics actually work much in the same way. It's easy to have Batman off in Gotham City fighting crime, but once you bring in Superman and the rest of the Justice League, you have to wonder how it all connects. Why is Batman concerning himself with local crimes when there are literally world-ending threats out there? Once you have heroes' worlds cross over, it irrevocably changes the fabric of the overall story. You have to greatly relax the level of suspension of disbelief and hope the audience will buy the fact that such vastly different characters (mutants, aliens, billionaire tech geniuses, Amazons, space cops, etc.) can exist together.

It's something that the film industry hasn't even seriously attempted until now, and with good reason. It's every problem with suspension of disbelief from four different film series all stacked on top of each other.

The thing is, I've never actually bought the idea that suspension of disbelief was actually that big of a deal. With special effects being what they are today, as long as the story is decent there's only one factor you really need to deal with: fun.

There's something impossibly fun about having superheroes meet each other. Whether it's an initial misunderstanding that leads to two heroes fighting each other or a massive threat that requires a team of heroes, it's always fun. It's something we've seen in comic books for over half a century now, but only now do we really get to see it become real.

I mean, look at this page from Thor (2007 series) #3:

Then watch this clip from The Avengers:

Wow. Seriously, this is amazing. I've been lucky enough to have been witness to the entire modern arc of superhero movies over the last twelve years (starting with X-Men in 2000), and this really is a huge turning point for superhero cinema. This is the point where audiences will prove, with their soon-to-be-emptied wallets and handfuls of movie tickets, that they will buy even something this outlandish. And once that barrier's broken, we'll get a ton more movies that won't be shackled by studios' restrictions. Warner Bros. is undoubtedly going to get a Justice League movie made ASAP, Batman is probably going to be fighting more fantastical villains like Killer Croc on-screen, and there's already a huge wave of comic book TV shows set to hit the air within the year.

The floodgates are opening, and it's really exciting.