Monday, August 25, 2008

A Glimpse into the Future

With a summer of fantastic blockbusters who would have thought that movies based on comic books would turn a profit that would rival the ages? Dark Knight, Hellboy 2, and Iron man are just a few of the movies that were inspired by such great illustrators and writers from the Marvel and DC Universes, but how can one top such greatness?

Taking a look forward we have the obvious sequels coming out such as Iron man 2, Transformers 2, G.I. Joe, and most likely a third installment of the Dark Knight/Batman Begins series. Though there are still many lesser-known movies that will be coming out within the next few years that will surely keep you on the edge of your seat as well as coming back for the sequel.

On December 5th, the installment to the Punisher series, Punisher: War Zone. Though this time instead of Thomas Jane playing Frank Castle, or his alterego The Punisher, we have Ray Stevenson. This major change of character may turn some people away from this movie because this difference is very clear but on the other side, Punisher: War Zone will still remain to have just as much violence as its predecessor.

Once the new year hits Marvel puts its best comics forth beginning with Iron Man 2 in mid-April, Thor in late June, Captain America and Spiderman 4 in May and July bringing in Marvel’s super team, The Avengers. With more than two dozen announced or in development that the next few years should be very filled with fantastic movies.

Marvel’s greatest rival, DC Comics, have not jumped on the band wagon and have only announced Wonder Woman and Teen Titans: The Judas Contract for the forth coming year or two. DC seems to be very vigilant of which comics they wish to bring to the silver screen since some directors and comics seem to turn south if the right crew and story line is not cast.
One of the most anticipated movies was not even created by Marvel or DC, The Spirit, from Quality Comics, is the next movie out from the twisted mind of Frank Miller, who created Sin City, 300, and many others. The Spirit is the story of a man who works almost like Batman but more of a detective who fights for righteousness and the justice. Another movie made fan boys wake in their shoes at Comicon, Watchmen. The Watchmen is a very dark and sinister comic about, what else? A murdered detective whose has then returned as a ghost like figure to patrol the city for vigilantes and villains only in this city, all superheroes must be registered with the government in order to keep some sort of precedent to keep the “masks” in line.

With everything from Punisher to Captain America and Wonder Woman, it seems that the big movie producers seem to have a plethora of storylines and heroes and heroines to create the big blockbusters of the next few years. And with everyone from Johnny Depp as a rumored Riddler, to Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, it seems that even the actors want to put their time in order to fulfill their childhood fantasies of being a super hero.

Only time will truly tell which hero(es) will become the best sellers and fan favorites but regardless of who ends up taking down the record of sales for the Dark Knight it will truly be a great few years for those of us who still want to remain kids at heart and watch your favorite heroes take to the streets to show that Justice will Prevail.

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