Ten Things About the Avengers

I am completely stealing this list of interesting notes from this site because (1) it is really interesting and I don't want to have to keep up with bookmarking this page and (2) no one reads this blog anyway. Here is a link to the author's new book.

So here it goes:

1. The Hulk is green not because of gamma irradiation or because his skin is essentially bruising when he rapidly transforms from Bruce Banner into the Incredible Hulk; rather it was due to printing limitations at the time. The Hulk was originally gray, but that color of ink proved too expensive to use on a regular basis, so Marvel opted for the far cheaper alternative of green.

2. The Avengers Mansion is the Avengers' base of operations in the comics, a beautiful estate once owned by Tony Stark's parents, nestled in the heart of Manhattan. A real estate company called Movoto ran the numbers and estimated that an unfurnished Avengers Mansion based on the reported location would cost you $113.2 million.

3. Odin's Ravens are more than just a non sequitur exclaimed by Ron Burgundy; they're an enduring part of both Norse mythology and the Thor canon. Odin famously had two ravens, Huginn and Muninn, which he used to send information back and forth between Asgard and Midgard (Earth). When Thor extracts Loki from the Quinjet toward the beginning of Avengers, two ravens can be seen flying overhead, which is a nice little Easter egg for mythological-inclined viewers.

4. The Wasp is one of the founding members of the Avengers in the comics, but she is nowhere to be seen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Joss Whedon revealed in a Q&A at the Directors Guild of America that his original draft for "The Avengers" heavily featured the shrinking superhero, but he wound up having to cut her. The rumor on the street is that we may see her in flashback form in Ant-Man, but only time will tell.

5. Stan Lee isn't the only member of Marvel's creative team to appear in cameo roles. In Thor, writer J. Michael Straczynski can be seen as the first man trying to lift Thor's hammer Mjölnir, and legendary Thor writer Walt Simonson appears in the banquet scene at the end, sitting between Volstagg and Lady Sif. Likewise, in "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," writer Ed Brubaker can been seen as a S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist.

6. Iron Man's armor has been worn by many people over the years, including Jim "Rhodey" Rhodes, Happy Hogan, Pepper Potts, and Bethany Cabe. However, the most unexpected person to ever wear the iconic armor was Peter Parker's Aunt May, who appeared as the Invincible Golden Oldie in 1982's What If? #34. To be fair, she has been a herald of Galactus too, so it's not that ridiculous if you think about it.

7. The shawarma scene's origin can be traced back to Nicholas Brendon's audition for Buffy the Vampire Slayer. After an excellent audition for the role of Xander, Brendon said, "Does anybody feel like shawarma? I feel like some shawarma!" Whedon recalled, "I was like, 'This guy speaks to me!' And that's when I knew there wasn't any other Xander." Clearly, the actor wasn't the only thing that had a lasting impact on Whedon.

8. Captain America may be called the "First Avenger" in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but he was not a founding member of the team in the comics. Cap was still in deep freeze when the Avengers originally formed, and he didn't join the group until issue #4.

9. Star Wars actually wound up saving Marvel Comics from financial ruin in the late 1970s. In order to promote their then-unknown sci-fi story, the Star Wars team gave Marvel Comics the rights to a six-issue comic adaptation of the movie for essentially the price of free. Since two of the issues had to come out before the film premiered, there are many scenes and characters in the comics that do not appear in the final film. Case in point, Jabba the Hutt is a weird, jaundiced, bipedal walrus man rather than the slimy slug we all love to hate.

10. Agent Coulson's Captain America playing cards aren't just a clever piece of emotional manipulation to be used at Nick Fury's Machiavellian whims; they also contain an Easter egg. One of the cards features Captain America mid-punch, an homage to the famous cover of 1940's Captain America #1, which featured Cap throwing a haymaker into the face of Adolf Hitler himself. No wonder Coulson likes him so much.

Revelations from Celebration Anaheim

Quick Editorial - I really hate the grammatical misuse of the word "reveal". I cringe whenever I hear or read, "...did hear about the big reveal at the show last night?" There is a word for this people, it is revelation. It's not that hard. Okay, enough of my grumpy old man talk.

While I may not be there in person, thanks to the miracle of social media, there is plenty for a virtual attendee to see and hear. Below are my highlights from the first full day of the convention, in no particular order.

TEASER TRAILER #2

What is there to say, really?

BB-8 MAKES AN APPEARANCE

This is incredible. BB-8 is not CGI, but a practical model! This was developed by the small toy robotics company Sphero. Bob Iger chipped in a few bucks to the company to help build BB-8!

BB-8 Appears On Stage


THE NEW BIG 3

I love these shots!

NEW TROOPER ARMOR

In the Celebration program, we get our first full look at the new stormtrooper armor. Sweet!

LANDO COMIC BOOK SERIES

Lando is getting his own comic book series - coming this July!

NEW FACTIONS

So I guess the Empire is not the "Empire" and the Rebel Alliance is not the "Rebels" or the "Alliance. I wonder what has been happening in the GFFA in the past 30 years since Return of the Jedi?!

Looks like the First Order is going for a Nazi look. Chilling!

BATTLEFRONT

I am not much a video game player anymore. The game will give us a first view of Sullust (based on the environment of Iceland no less!). 

But what I am most excited about is that there will be a playable level for the Battle of Jakku. So we will get to see how that crashed Star Destroyer in the second teaser trailer got there! Apparently the battle takes place one year after the Battle of Endor.  I'm looking forward to seeing You Tube videos of people playing that one.

Is that Anakin's lightsaber on top of Luke's?!

MORE PUBLISHING NEWS

Add Battlefront: Twilight Company to the list of publications hitting this fall. This will be written by Alexander Freed. 

Also coming this fall as part of the Journey to The Force Awakens series is the novel Shattered Empire by Greg Rucka.

Alan Dean Foster will be writing the novelization of The Force Awakens, which will be released digitally on the same day as the film and a hardcover coming the following month in January.

CAPTAIN REX RETURNS IN REBELS

I was hoping this would happen. I definitely wasn't expecting it to be this soon! I love the premise - a bunch of grumpy old men who still know how to take care of business. It reminds me of that great action movie RED. 

COOL REBELS CLIPS

Hando is back! 

Kanan and Vader face off.   

Whoa!!!

ROGUE ONE NEWS

The spinoff movies will be named "Anthology" movies. Rogue One takes place before Episode IV and will tell the story of the the Rebels stealing the Death Star plans. Awesome!

YOUTUBE VIDEO LINKS

The Force Awakens Panel Highlights

Entire Day 1 Stream

Entire Day 2 Stream

Entire Day 3 Stream

Entire Day 4 Stream

Celebration Anaheim Schedule

With the announcement that we will have live streaming on Star Wars.Com, (YES!), I put together a list of all the panels and highlighted the events that will be broadcast:

Here are the highlights (Central Time):

Thursday
Noon - Opening Ceremony
6 pm - Ian McDiarmid

Friday
12:30 - Battlefront
3:30 - Carrie Fisher
9 - Anthony Daniels

Saturday

1 - Rebels Season 2
3 - Smuggler's Bounty
9 -  Mark Hamill/James Arnold Taylor

Sunday
1 - Edwards & Trank
3:30 - Billy Dee Williams
5:30 - Closing


Here is the full list (Pacific Time):

CELEBRATION STAGE (James Arnold Taylor)

* * * Thursday * * *
10 - Opening
4 - Ian McDiarmid
6 - Feud of the Force

* * * Friday * * *
11:30 - Ray Park
1:30 - Carrie Fisher
3:30 - Cosplay Contest
7 - Anthony Daniels

* * * Saturday * * *
11 - Star Wars Rebels Season 2
1 - Smuggler's Bounty
6 - James Arnold Taylor & Mark Hamill

* * * Sunday * * *
11 - Edwards & Trank (Spinoff Films)
1:30 - Billy Dee Williams
3:30 - Closing

DIGITAL STAGE (David W. Collins)

* * * Thursday * * *
2 - Empire Strikes Back Original Music
3:30 - Untold Clone Wars
5 - Kazanjian Producer of ROTJ
6 - Episodes I and II in 3D

* * * Friday * * *
10:30 - Battlefront
12 - Bad Batch Clone Wars Story Arc
3 - Dennis Muren (VFX)
4:30 - LEGO:Droid Tales
6:30 - Episode III in 3D Premiere

* * * Saturday * * *
11 - John Knoll (ILM)
12:30 - Creative Dream Team
2 - Kevin Kiner
7 - Episodes V and VI

* * * Sunday * * *
11 - Shakespeare
12:30 - Star Wars Rebels (Filoni)
2 - Doug Chiang

BEHIND THE SCENES STAGE (Jimmy Mac & Jason Swank)

* * * Thursday * * *
11:30 - Collectors
1 - Costumes
2:30 - Disney Parks & Merchandise
4 - Costuming
5:30 - Hot Wheels

* * * Friday * * *
11:30 - Ralph McQuarrie
1 - Mos Eisley
2:30 - Star Wars in Navajo
5:30 - Rebel Women of the Clone Wars

* * * Saturday * * *
11:30 - Adapting Star Wars
1 - Marvel
2:30 - Del Rey
4 - Tribute to Aaron Allston
6 - Fan Film Awards

* * * Sunday * * *
11:30 - Novels
1 - Tattoos