The Green Lantern:
Release Date: July 17th
In a universe as vast as it is mysterious, a small but powerful force has existed for centuries. Protectors of peace and justice, they are called the Green Lantern Corps. A brotherhood of warriors sworn to keep intergalactic order, each Green Lantern wears a ring that grants him superpowers. But when a new enemy called Parallax threatens to destroy the balance of power in the Universe, their fate and the fate of Earth lie in the hands of their newest recruit, the first human ever selected: Hal Jordan.
In my opinion, this is the most important for DC in recent history, in a few different ways.
With the Batman trilogy coming to an end soon, they're going to be looking for another new big franchise and the Green Lantern could be that franchise.
Also, the Green Lantern is one of the most popular DC characters, he's right up there with Batman, and Superman, and if this film doesn't deliver, they're going to have a virtual hell storm of angry fanboys.
Here's where the problem arises, quite frankly, it's just not looking good for our emerald hero. We haven't seen much in the form of advertising besides a lot of poor looking toys and Halloween costumes, and some childrens books, which is making it seem like DC is going for more of a kid friendly movie, rather than worrying about appealling to the fans.
Then there's the one trailer we got, and we've seen nothing else in the way of footage since with no new updates on when we might see more, and in all honesty, we need more not only because we're curious and excited, but because the first trailer was mediocre at best, and most people have been basing their opinions on the film off of that footage alone, which isn't exactly a good thing. We need not only more footage, but more interesting footage, show us more of Hal Jordan in action.
I also really hope that Hal's friend we saw in the trailer, the man with glasses and a perm, doesn't turn into the next Jar Jar Binks, fingers crossed.
That all being said, I'm a huge fan of the Green Lantern, and I want this film to be able to stand up to the likes of Thor and Captain America, but frankly I don't think it will, I think the potential was/is there, but it's looking like they may have gone in the wrong direction with it. Of course I'm judging my opinion off of the one piece of footage we have, so I reiterate my point, we need more footage! If the studios want the fans to rush out and pile into the theatres in swarms for this movie, they need to give us a good reason to and so far I've yet to see one other than the fact that I love the comics and the character himself.
Captain America: The First Avenger:
Release Date: July 22nd
After being deemed unfit for military service, Steve Rogers volunteers for a top secret research project that turns him into Captain America, a superhero dedicated to defending America's ideals.
I'll admit, Captain America is a comic book hero that I know little about, having said that, I think this movie has the potential to be the biggest comic book movie coming out this Summer for the simple fact that, well he's frickin Captain America, he is the symbol of America and everything it stands for as much as Superman is.
We've seen a lot to do with this film, set photos, concept art, promo images, and the recent Super Bowl spot, and by the looks of things, it wont disappoint, everything about this movie looks amazing. They've made this film a period piece, which is hard enough to do on it's own, but they've also made it a superhero movie, which is damn near impossible to do without screwing everything up, and just from what we've seen, it looks like they've managed to ground this film in a the same way that Nolan gave us Batman.
Captain America isn't one of my favorite comic-book characters, I've never bought any of the comics, but none of that will stop me from being in line the day this movie comes out. I'm extremely interested in this film even though I'm not a big fan of the comics, and I think that's exactly what the film makers were trying to accomplish when they set out to make this movie.
Thor:
Release Date: May 6th
The powerful but arrogant warrior Thor is cast out of the fantastic realm of Asgard and sent to live amongst humans on Earth, where he soon becomes one of their finest defenders.
There isn't a whole lot I can say about Thor, before this film was being made, I knew little to nothing about the character other beyond my idea of him some viking with a sledge hammer, and I had little interest to learn more about him. As far as I was concerned, the only superheroes who mattered were Superman, Batman, and Green Lantern. As soon as I saw the first promotional image for this movie, that all changed, it became Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, and Thor.
This movie looks amazing, that's the simple way to put it. The cast is amazing, I will admit that when I first heard that Anthony Hopkins was going to be in a comic book movie like Thor, it made me laugh, I thought it would be the worst decision ever but after seeing the pictures, and his performance in the trailer, I'm convinced that he was the right choice, maybe not the best choice as far as looks go, but I think will bring the character of Odin to life perfectly.
I have read the script for Thor, I've read it 3 times as a matter of fact, and it's one of the best written scripts I've read in a long time, everything just comes together perfectly. The entire time I was reading it, I could see everything playing out in my head as if I was there watching the film in the theatre. Everything was amazingly written, each character had his own distinctions, no two characters blurred together and not being familiar with the story, I had no troubles telling who was who in the group. I hae extremely high expectations for this movie, and I know I wont be disappointed when I see the finished product.
X-Men: First Class:
Release Date: June 3rd
Before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Before they were archenemies, they were closest of friends, working together, with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop the greatest threat the world has ever known. In the process, a rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto's Brotherhood and Professor X's X-MEN
Oh my, X-Men: First Class... What can be said about this movie that hasn't been said a million times. Now I'm not going to rant on for 3 paragraphs about how much this movie is going to suck so don't worry.
I honestly don't know what to think about this movie, yes they've completely screwed up the origins of the X-Men, and are severely messing with continuity on the other films, but I mean come on, how many times have other super heroes had their origins changed or re-done in a new and different way.
People will go see this movie for the simple fact that its the X-Men, we all love them no matter what. I just rewatched the entire first season of the X-Men cartoon from the 90's and as soon as I heard that classic theme song I smiled, yea the artwork was bad, the writing wasn't great, but I loved it for the simple fact that it's the X-Men, and that's the same reason why this film will do at least half decent at the box office, it wont be the smash hit of the summer, but it'll do just fine.
Now, that being said, I don't like anything I've seen about this film so far, nothing has made me get all gitty and excited for it's release. Not because they'e been screwing with the characters or story, just for the simple fact that I'm impressed with what I've seen so far.
In my opinion Beast looks like the cat-man monster thing from 'Sleepwalkers', Google it, you'll agree with me.
Well there you have it, that's my take on this summers upcoming big comic book movies.
I think there will be two seperate battles to be the best, Captain America will be battling Thor, and then in the other category we'll have the X-Men going up against Green Lantern.. You guys have no idea how much it hurts me to group the Green Lantern in with X-Men: First Class, but who knows, maybe once we see some more footage, we'll have a three way battle between Thor, Captain America, and Green Lantern. Sorry X-Men fans, I just don't think First Class has what it takes to compete.