Episode 132: Coke : Pepsi :: Constantine : Doctor Strange

Sorry this week’s episode is late, but we had this thing, and we are late because of it. However! This past weekend, Marvel Studios’ Doctor Strange opened in theaters, marking not only the latest film in Phase Three, but the first to have an opening credit production logo featuring almost no comic books.

So we discuss the movie, its similarities to Iron Man, how Benedict Cumberbatch’s American accent is the enemy of suspension of disbelief, whether Doctor Strange is actually history’s greatest villain, how to pronounce The Ancient One’s last name, whitewashing and cultural appropriation, and, of course, spotted dick.

We also discuss:

• Avengers #1, written by Mark Waid with art by Mike Del Mundo, and:
• Superman #1, written by Peter Tomasi with art by Patrick Gleason!

And, as always, the disclaimers:

• Due to strange circumstances, this episode was recorded live to tape with no editing. So while it might mean a looser show from us than you are used to, it also means that it should suffice as a legal request for political asylum (Happy Election Day, everyone!).
• This show contains spoilers. So if you don’t want to know how to pronounce “Chiwetel Ejiofor,” well… actually, you won’t learn how to pronounce that here.
• This show contains adult, profane language, and is therefore not safe for work. Trust me: you don’t want your mom to hear the way Rob tries to pronounce “Chiwetel Ejiofor.” Get some headphones.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:19:09 — 77.1MB)

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Thanks for listening, suckers!

You Just Want To Suck The Joy Out Of Everything: UK Guardians of The Galaxy Trailer Features All New Footage

Yeah, I know that just yesterday I said that we couldn’t guarantee that we’d post every day… but it turns out that tonight was a little slow, and there was a cool thing that I wanted to take a minute to share with you.

Most of this summer’s comic book movies have come and gone, but there is one biggie still left in the pipe: Guardians of The Galaxy. Not just because it’s a Marvel Studios flick, and not further just because it’s the first wholly original Marvel Studios movie since Captain America: The First Avenger in July, 2011 (seriously: since then, it’s been all already-seen characters in Avengers, and a pile of sequels).

No, it’s because it’s directed by James Gunn. Gunn is a killer director of fun genre flicks (seriously: if you haven’t seen Slither and Super, you are robbing yourself of joy like a common vegetarian or teetotaler), and here at Crisis On Infinite Midlives, we are fans of genre flicks by auteur directors (hi, Edgar!).

Gunn is a dude who packs his movies with genuine tension and pathos, along with ripping dark humor. If he wasn’t doing Guardians of The Galaxy, we’d be waiting impatiently for whatever else he was doing.

Thankfully for we who are impatient, there is a new British trailer for Guardians of The Galaxy that features almost all unseen footage, along with dialogue from Bradley Cooper as Rocket Raccoon and Vin Diesel as Groot, that was just too awesome not to share. And you can check it out after the jump.

Ant-Man To Be Directed By Dude Who Did Bring It On, Written By Auteur Of A Public Statement From Anthony Weiner’s Penis

It has been a bloody couple of weeks following the announcement that Edgar Wright had walked away as director of Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man movie, with rumor after rumor of proposed replacement directors on the project. First it was Adam McKay of Anchorman, who announced he wasn’t gonna take the gig almost as soon as his name was floated to the press. Then there was Ruben Fleischer (who directed Zombieland) and Rawson Marshall Thurber (who directed We’re The Millers), but Thurber noped out of the job a couple days ago, while in the meantime Paul Rudd has presumably been at some undisclosed location, lifting weights and eating skinless chicken and steamed broccoli, and possibly wondering if he can use his new superhero physique to beat his fucking agent into oblivion.

But as of today, Marvel Studios’ (if not our) long national nightmare is over, because they have officially announced that Peyton Reed will be directing the movie. To which we, and I presume much of fandom in general, gave a loud and resounding… “who?”

Desperate Times: Ant-Man Director Search Continues While Guardians of The Galaxy TV Spot Is Released

I was originally gonna write another story about the trials and tribulations of the Ant-Man movie since Edgar Wright has abdicated on directing the film, but there’s still nothing but rumors.

One of those rumors is that, since Rawson Thurber and Adam McKay have passed on the project, Marvel Studios has approached Nicholas Stoller and Michael Dowse to take over the movie. Dowse we can kinda get behind, since he directed Goon which was actually pretty funny and featured one of the guys who played Sabretooth, so there’s a least a glimmer of hope that he can handle a superhero flick. Stoller, the director of the recent Seth Rogan movie Neighbors,  is also attached to a superhero movie… unfortunately, it is as the writer of Captain Underpants. I have less hope for that choice.

Regardless, every day that goes by makes Ant-Man look more and more The Island of Misfit Career Choices, so I don’t want to spend a lot of time wondering who is gonna direct the movie when the more pertinent question is who the hell will want to watch it.

Instead, here is a new TV spot for a Marvel Studios movie where they made an unorthodox directorial choice, stuck with it, and wound up with a movie that looks better than the unknown source material would lead one to believe. That movie is Guardians of The Galaxy, directed by Slither and Super director James Gunn, and you can check the latest TV spot for that movie, featuring actual dialogue from Rocket Raccoon, after the jump.

Enjoy it, while Marvel Studios tries to find someone to direct a movie about a character that exactly two people care about: departed director Edgar Wright, and Stan Lee, who stands to make a million bucks if he can get just one more person to give a fuck about Hank Pym.

Pay No Attention To That Man…: Dr. Strange Director Announced

So Marvel  Studios has spent a week and a half dealing with the aftermath of Edgar Wright leaving as director of Ant-Man with just over a year to go before the thing opens in theaters. And some of that dealing has been frantically trying to line up a new director for the project before someone gets the genius idea to start lobbying the masses to begin shipping crates of Cornetto ice cream cones to Kevin Feige… but so far, that hasn’t gone so well.

So what do you do if you’ve got a public relations mess, that you can’t solve right away, about a movie currently in production? Well, how about you make a snap announcement about a long-rumored future movie that isn’t currently in production?

To wit:

Crisis On Inifnite Midlives Podcast Episode 17: The Bucky Larson of Superhero Movies

It’s Sunday, so it’s time for another Crisis On Infinite Midlives Show! May God have mercy upon your soul!

It has been a big, weird week for Marvel, both the movie studio and the comic publisher, so we talk about:

• Edgar Wright’s departure from the Ant-Man movie, who might be a good choice from the directors who have been named as probable replacements, and who would actually be a good replacement
• The rumor (a rumor that is picking up some partial documentation and some steam) that Marvel might cancel Fantastic Four to spite Fox Studios efforts to promote the latest movie adaptation
• The concept that Marvel and DC might just be intellectual property farms for movies and TV, the deleterious effect that that could have on comics, and what, if anything, comics fans can do about it (spoiler alert: not much)
• Fantastic Four #5, written by James Robinson with art by Leonard Kirk
• Trees #1, written by Warren Ellis with art by Jason Howard

And, the usual legalese:

• This show was recorded live to tape, which means you might hear more weird pauses, aborted jokes, and jokes about abortion than you might hear on your normal podcast
• This show contains spoilers. We try to warn ahead of time, but there is every chance you will hear the odd spoiler of a story point or nine. What can I say? We ruin stuff.
• This show contains adult, explicit language, and is not safe for work. Invest in some headphones, even if they must be those awful Beats By Dre monstrosities.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:22:41 — 75.7MB)

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Enjoy the show, suckers!

Sandbox For Ant-Man Replacement Directors Gets Smaller

Well, as quickly as rumors that Anchorman‘s Adam McKay was to step in to direct Ant-Man, they have just as quickly been put to sleep. McKay is said to have made the decision alone and claims that it is because he is already committed to other projects.

Certainly, not because it has the stench of death upon it. Nope.

Meanwhile, this leaves Ruben Fleischer and Rawson Marshall Thurber in the running for the position. Fleischer is known for Zombieland…but, also, Gangster Squad. Thurber is known for Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story…but, also, We’re The Millers.

Pym Particle Fallout: Joss Whedon and James Gunn Comment on Edgar Wright’s Departure From Ant-Man

It is Saturday of the American Memorial Day long weekend. This means that, in general, there is fuck-all going on in the way of genre news other than redundant tales of heavy drinking by comic creators (and comic bloggers), and Edgar Wright’s departure from Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man movie.

There’s a dearth of actual hard news about what actually happened to lead to the split. Latino Review has a story based on a bunch of anonymous sources saying it had to do with the script, but with no names attached, I’m just gonna link to it and let you draw your own conclusions.

Wright himself hasn’t said anything, and his Twitter feed has been silent… except for a re-Tweet of a wordless picture post Avengers and Avengers 2: Age of Ultron director Joss Whedon threw up earlier today, and which you can check out after the jump.