March to Infinity: Thor: Hammer time!

When you're done read, comment, spread the links, re-tweet and follow me on Twitter @OnDavidsBrain! and support me on Patreon.

 After Tony’s drunken antics and a brief detour to Wakanda we bring the hammer down with the Norse god of Thunder, the Mighty Thor!!! As per usual I’ll send you to where you can see a review of the origins of Thor’s comic book counterpart right here.

http://atopthefourthwall.com/journey-into-mystery-83/

 Notable differences is that Donald Blake is completely removed from the movies except for an Easter egg and there’s no alien rock monster things. Our tale begins with Thor (Played by Chris Hemsworth) who is about to be named the new King of Asgard when Frost Giants managed to sneak into the weapons vault attempting to reclaim an artifact called the Casket of ancient winters. Though the giants were killed by the Destroyer Thor's not happy since his big day was ruined and proved to Odin (Played by Anthony Hopkins) that Thor's as ready to take the throne as a psychotic Chihuahua. So after his temper tantrum he, his brother Loki (played by Tom Hiddleston) and his friends Lady Sif and the warriors 3 (played by Jaimie Alexander, Ray Stevenson, Tadanobu Asano and Josh Dallas respectively) head to Jotunheim to crack some skulls and take some names. But surprise, when they kicked down Laufey's front door and shat on his foyer floor you can guess what nearly happened.

 That's when papa Odin came riding in on eight legged horseback to pacify Laufey and bring the five schmucks back. After Thor made it clear that he puts the ass in Asgard Odin puts his foot down, by striping him of his power, Mjölnir and places a spell on the hammer making it so that only one who is worthy of the power of Thor may lift it, and to top it all off banishes him from Asgard. Meanwhile Loki discovers and confirms that he was stolen from Laufey by Odin as a baby and raised as his own. Thinking that he's nothing more to Odin then another spoil of war Loki is not exactly happy. He then usurps the throne when Odin falls into the Odinsleep after the stress of confessing Loki's heritage.

 As for Thor he lands on Midgard (earth to you and me) in the care of three researchers Jane Foster, Dr Erik Selvig and their intern Darcy (played by Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgård and Kat Dennings). While with them Thor hears about Mjölnir landing outside the New Mexico town they're at and goes to get his power back. As well as getting Jane's wormhole research back from Coulson. After Thor fights his way though S.H.I.E.L.D goons he tries to lift the hammer, but now it's time for Odin's humility lesson as he can't lift the hammer. After being taken into custody Loki appears before him and lies to him, telling Thor that Odin is dead and with his last decree he made his exile permanent.

 Meanwhile Loki plans to bring Laufey and his army to Asgard so that he can kill them while Laufey tries to kill Odin, proving his strength and right to the throne. Sif and the Warriors aren't putting up with Loki's crap however and sneak down to earth to bring Thor back thanks to Heimdal (played by Idris Elba) mastering the ancient Norse art of the loophole opening the Bifrost bridge for them. So Loki sends down the Destroyer to kill Thor to cover his tracks. However Thor after admitting that he was acting like a spoiled and angry child, sacrifices himself to save Jane, thus proves himself worthy of the power and defeats the Automaton. Afterwords he returns to Asgard and fights Loki, after Odin tries to save the both of them from falling into the abyss Loki falls himself rather then be saved by his false family and imprisoned for his crimes.

 So Thor denies the throne until he can prove himself worthy of being king, while still pining for Jane. However Dr Selvig meets with Nick Fury after the credits so that Fury can show him a powerful artifact called the Teseract, which draws the attention of the Loki possessed Selvig. (Again Marvel hedging their bets as I'll explain later.) Also Hawkeye was in this movie but who cares about that? Besides he was just a foot note he doesn't't even fire an arrow in this movie I honestly just had to mention him out of obligation.

 Now before I talk about the movie itself I feel the need to talk about the director, Kenneth Branagh. For those who don't know Branagh is most well known for his adaptations of the Bard's work, most notably the 1996 version of Hamlet. If you haven't seen the movie, do so not only because it's a classic but also you can see how Branagh likes to do epic stories like this. That being big, grand and sweeping which, when dealing with larger than life characters and locations like Odin, Thor and Asgard is required to give the proper scope. Also since his background is in Shakespeare he seems to be a better fit for this project given the comic book source material.

 If anyone has studied Norse Mythology extensively the comic book and movie incarnations may make you want to eat your own noses. Similar to how actual secret agents laughed their asses off when watching the James Bond movies for the same reason, how much the writers left out and exaggerated. The point is that since the comic counterpart leaned more towards the stylization of the Bard then Tacitus Branagh seemed to be the best choice for director. It more then payed off as certain scenes wouldn't nearly have the proper weight to it without Branagh's direction. Scenes and locations just feel big and without someone who can handle these big sets and scenes the movie wouldn't nearly be as successful as it turned out.

 Also given their Shakespearian update; the characters tend to draw parallels from some of the Bard's characters like for example Tom Hiddleston described Loki as "like a comic book version of Edmund in King Lear, but nastier." Thor himself starts off as a boorish, violent war hungry ass, and eventually realizing that he was an ass, starts to turn himself around after discovering how to become a proper king like Henry the 4th. Now there are some parts that felt like they could have been improved upon. Darcy could have been left out and honestly not much would have changed, Hawkeye could have actually fought Thor before he got to Mjölnir instead of that one random guy, you know actually give this other guy something to do in his MCU debut instead of just standing there? Also maybe there could have ben a bit more action with Sif and the Warriors fighting the Destroyer, not too long but maybe just enough screen time to make the 7 year old boy in me smile. 

 But honestly those are the only complaints I can think of in what's in all honesty a very solid movie.  Though just because we're leaving Thor and Asgard behind for now doesn't mean that the Aesir are done being involved in the MCU. As Nick Fury said "Legend tells us one thing, history another. But every now and then we find something that belongs to both." While next time we may not be dealing with gods we'll still be seeing serious monsters and those who slay those monsters to protect their homeland. As next time the March to Infinity will have us marching into Berlin alongside Steve Rogers, Aka Captain America.


Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.

Thor is owned by Paramount Pictures, Marvel Studios, directed by Kenneth Branagh, produced by Keven Feige based off the comic by Larry Leiber, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
Hellsing Ultimate is owned by Kouta Hirano and Studio Madhouse, and licensed by Geneon, Madman Entertainment, Manga Entertainment and Funimation.
Hellsing Ultimate Abridged is owned by Team Four Star.

Let's Play Bioshock 2 HD Part 6: Fontaine Futuristics

When you're done read, comment, spread the links, re-tweet and follow me on Twitter @OnDavidsBrain! and support me on Patreon.

 So now here we are, we've heard about this place ever since the first game, we've seen this in the "Hunting the Big Sister" demo and... it's just ok. Personally for me this level needed to be more dark, run down and have a much more foreboding atmosphere. Not have a crazy pink variant of the Great Gazoo annoying me and sending easily disposable Splicers if I break his precious toys. Also this is where the excess ammo really hits the gas because from this point on, nothing presents even the slightest bit of a challenge. Oh no wait, that's for the finale of the main campaign.

 As for Gil himself, how in the name of Ursula's fat-folds is letting him live the merciful option? I mean look at him!!! He's a giant mutant sea monster who's completely insane who can only live inside of a special sea life tank. I know that if we killed him Lamb could have smashed the tank and let her Little Sisters drain his corpse dry of all of that ADAM but come on! For the sake of the "Savior" play-through I let him live but just like with Stanley any other play though I put the poor bastard out of his misery.

Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.

Bioshock 2 is owned by Take2 interactive, 2K Marin, and 2K Australia.

March to Infinity: Black Panther (2018): All hail the king! (Spoilers)

When you're done read, comment, spread the links, re-tweet and follow me on Twitter @OnDavidsBrain! and support me on Patreon.

 Another year, a brand spanking new MCU movie for us to salivate over. Though I'm still waiting for that one movie that topples this constantly growing tower of success. I mean it has to come at some point, the law of probability and what not. But it's clear as crystal that this isn't the one because by Bast's yarn ball is this a good movie! With that being said it's not perfect but nothing ever is.

 Since this is still so new I'l try to keep spoilers to a minimum. After the events of Captain America Civil War where the King of the fictional African country Wakanda T'Chaka (played again by John Kani) was killed by Zemo disguised as Bucky during the signing of the Sokovia accords his son T'Challa (played again by Chadwick Boseman) dons the armor of Wakanda's warrior king; the Black Panther. Now that he's in charge he has to figure out what the future of his country is going to be, stay isolated from the world to protect their cultural identity and their massive stockpiles of Vibranium or expose Wakanda's super advanced technology so they can help the world with major relief efforts.

 However there's a bit of old business to take care of as Ulyssees Klaue (reprised by Andy Serkis) has resurfaced after Age of Ultron and has become priority #1 for T'Challa. However one of Klaue's partners Erik Stevens (played by Michael B Jordon) may prove to be a danger to not just Wakanda but the entire world as well. The Black Panther may be able to stop Klaue and Erik but not before learning some dark truths about his father that could help shape the future of Wakanda. But with the help of his family and loyal subjects T'Challa will find a way to save his country, people and the world.

 Let me get the positives out of the way and trust me there's a lot of them, the cast is fantastic, they really bring the characters to life and there's not a bad one in the bunch. Wakanda looks absolutely beautiful, I honestly haven't been this enraptured in the depiction of a fictional city since I first saw Rapture from BioShock. The story is competently written with various epic and emotional scenes that really make you feel for these characters and their world. The action sequences are fast, hard and awesome and any scene with Okoye (played by Danai Gurira) is a treat. Seriously she's on par Revy from Black Lagoon in terms of DON'T MESS WITH HER!!!

 Also this has one of the best villains in the MCU with Erik AKA Killmonger, despite the fact that he calls himself Killmonger. But trust me he does earn that name and Michael B Jordon's performance knocks this character out of the park. Sure he's not as powerful as Loki or Ronan or as nuts as Ultron or Ego but trust me he has the most sympathetic and believable backstory for a villain in the MCU. (At least in the main movies I've heard that The Purple Man and Kingpin are not to be trifled with.) My absolute favorite scene in the movie is when he goes back to his childhood home. I won't give the context behind that scene but trust me he owns that scene.

 This now makes the second botched Johnny Storm actor that the MCU has redeemed, congrats Michael, this combined with Creed means we can officially forget that Fant4stic ever happened. The action sequences were awesome and varied not only demonstrating T'Challa's capabilities as the Black Panther but also showing off the tech of his Wunderkind little sister Shuri (played by Letitia Wright) who not only makes Tony Stark look like a joke but is also just a precious little cinnamon bun. I honestly wish I could keep talking about what I think worked for this movie but then again as with most of these still in theater movie reviews I want you to be at least a little surprised. That being said this movie does have a few quirks that I couldn't really avoid. Mostly how this movie tends to borrow a few plots and backstory tropes from Thor Ragnarok.

 Mostly the "Father/King wasn't as saintly as our hero was lead to believe by a being from their dark past coming to destroy their kingdom" trope. The "newly crowned king wonders what direction their new kingdom should go" trope. Last but not least the "hero loses source of their powers/symbol of their powers and gets their ass kicked by the monster of their father's unintended design" trope. Also there's M'Baku (played by Winston Duke) who does the whole "I won't help you initially but will totally save your ass at the last minute" routine. But just because they're similar doesn't mean that the execution is the same.

 While the plot of Thor Ragnarok was more focused on action and comedy Black Panther is more going for emotional drama and playing these tropes more straight to the films advantage. But having seen these tropes several times before I can't really help but notice them and point them out. Also as noted before Killmonger kind of steals the movie for me because T'Challa while not a bad character is kind of overshadowed. Not only with Wakanda being a much more interesting character (again much like Rapture) and his awesome supporting cast leaves us with a hero that, while still interesting, likable and a good guy he just kind of pales compared to everything else. Again I want to state that I have nothing against the character or Chadwick Boseman but when you compare him to Michael B Jordon acting the ever loving hell out of his role you can't help but see who comes up short.

 Another point in this films favor is that this is a pretty standalone movie, I mean aside from Everrett Ross (once again played by Martian Freeman) showing up and helping out there's not much to connect to the MCU aside from Klaue and the end credits stinger. Though since we see the Wakandan military showing up and kicking ass in the previews of Avengers Infinity War they might retcon in some connection. Like maybe the vibranium meteorite was sent down by Thanos or the heart shaped herb that the Black Panthers draw their powers from were mutated by an Infinity Stone or something silly like that. But yeah definitely go and see Black Panther you will not be disappointed.

Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.

Black Panther is owned by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Marvel Studios and Ryan Coogler. Based off the character created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

March to Infinity: Iron Man 2: Dumb in a bottle (Also Happy 27th birthday me!!!)

When you're done read, comment, spread the links, re-tweet and follow me on Twitter @OnDavidsBrain! and support me on Patreon.

 After the only solo outing of the Hulk it's time we checked in on Tony Stark so we'll do just that with Iron Man 2. Now from what I've heard this movie and Thor: The Dark World are considered to be among the worst of the MCU movies so far. While this movie isn't awful there are quite a few problems with it, but at least we can all agree its nowhere near as bad as Batman V Superman. Now while Iron Man is the main focus of this movie, (looks at poster) duh it does introduce Natasha Romanov aka Black Widow played by Scarlet Johansson so here's where she was introduced in the main comics universe.

http://atopthefourthwall.com/tales-of-suspense-52/

 So Widow is already working for S.H.I.E.LD and there are some Easter eggs from this comic that made it into the movie such as the name on Ivans fake ID being Boris. On to the movie itself; its been six months since Tony revealed himself as Iron Man and the US government want their hands on the armor but he isn't having it believing that they'll only use the armor for their own ends. So he makes them look like complete jackasses at an inditement hearing and walks off to reinstitute the Stark Expo to continue the legacy of his father; Howard. While he's on his "establishing a proper legacy" kick he makes Pepper Pots (still played by Gwyneth Paltrow) the CEO of Stark Industries. Not only does he believe she deserves it but it's insurance in case he can't solve his latest problem.

 Not the government goons I mean an actual problem, see the Arc reactor that's keeping him alive, it's slowly killing him since the palladium core the reactor runs on is poisoning his blood. So he figures that his days are numbered and decides YOLO! So he's boozing it up constantly and generally making a jackass of himself. On one of these stunts he's attacked by Ivan Vanko (played by Mickey Rourke) as revenge for his father Anton who was betrayed by Howard Stark and tossed into the gulag. Ivan is dealt with but he's busted out of prison by Justin Hammer (played by Sam Rockwell) who wants Ivan to perfect his own version of mass produced Iron Man suits to sell to the US army.

 With what he believes is his final birthday party Tony gets completely plastered which pisses off Pepper and especially Roddy Rhodes (now played by Don Cheadle) who takes the MK 2 Iron Man suit, kicks Tony's ass with it and takes it back to the Air Force so they can outfit it with Hammer's weapons. After Fury chews Tony out for his drunken stupidity Tony figures out the Arc Reactor problem with an old recording of his father and the diorama for the Stark expo, it being a disguise for a new element Howard was trying to make but couldn't due to the tech of his Era. So he created the new element, saving his life and goes to confront Hammer whose drones and Roddy's new War Machine suit were highjacked by Ivan to kill Tony. Widow eventually tracks down Ivan's server and gives control of the War Machine suit back to Roddy, so the two Iron Men destroy the drones and defeat Ivan once and for all. With that all wrapped up Tony tells Pepper that he was dying and she gives Stark Industries back to Tony and Roddy keeps the War Machine suit, while Coulson is reassigned to New Mexico. In the end credits stinger he's observing a crater and reporting to Fury that "he's here" while we see a hammer in the center of the crater.

 Now looking at this movie in retrospect to the rest of the MCU so far is Iron Man 2 really the worst of them? Well yeah there are some parts that are chores to get through but there is also some decent stuff to keep you interested. The worst parts are of course the birthday party sequence during the second act, by Stan Lee's pencil case is it annoying to see Tony acting like such an unhinged d-bag. While nowhere near as painful as the Napoleon scenes in the first Bill and Ted movie it's still not fun. Granted we know why he's doing this, to forget the fact that he's slowly dying and he's trying to cope but man it's still frustrating.

 I was honestly hoping that Roddy would smack the shit out of Tony and well surprise surprise, he did. It was also incredibly gratifying hearing Fury chewing Tony out for not only that PR shit-storm of his but also that Roddy stole MK 2 and brought it back to the Military. Another gripe I had was Hammer, he was mostly just a nebbish twerp trying desperately to beat Tony and failing miserably. Thankfully Ivan was the bigger threat of the two, Hammer just thought he could take advantage of Ivan's intellect and vendetta against the Stark name. While it did work he just didn't figure that giving a super intelligent psychopath with an axe to grind access to billions of dollars in robotics, programing and weapons technology would bite him in the ass.

 Just a reminder, Hammer is supposed to be the CEO of a multi million dollar weapons company. Sadly another part of this movie that felt wasted was Black Widow. I mean she was just supposed to keep an eye on Tony and what does she do? Why influence Tony into doing his meltdown at the party of course! Lady you were supposed to make sure he didn't cause Fury any migraines, not try to trigger a brain aneurysm!!!

 Ivan Vanko was.... pretty good. Mickey Rourke was great in the role but the character he had to play was competently written at best. If I had to rank MCU bad guys so far he'd be at least second place with General Ross at the top and Stane at #3. Now before anyone asks, no the Vanko that becomes Whiplash in both the movie and the comics has nothing to do with the original Crimson Dynamo. (Though since the Anton Vanko of the comics was created before the release of the movie I guess he was just introduced in the comics to set up his MCU counterpart Ivan.) Back on track, Ivan did have decently presented motivations for trying to kill Tony, his father destroyed his father Anton and thus Ivan wants revenge, simple but effective.

 But the real villain of this whole fiasco is Tony himself. No he doesn't turn evil or anything its just that a lot of shit is hitting him all at once and he doesn't open up to anyone to try and help him. Let's see he has his artificial heart slowly killing him with no available substitute to try and replace it, his reopening the Stark Expo bringing his daddy issues to the surface. (Though at least he handles this better then Rusty Venture.) The government breathing down his neck and trying to take his Iron Man tech and his drunken antics instead of helping him cope help dig a deeper hole for him.

 That last part is important because this movie borrows elements from the "Demon in a bottle" storyline which directly confronted Stark with his alcohol dependency. While the movie does have Tony's alcohol problems and Hammer from the story it goes in a different direction. Now I haven't read that story but from what I can gleam the tone is considerably different. While Demon in a bottle had Tony's alcoholism in the foreground Iron Man 2 had it as a background element. Also in later movies Tony is still having a few drinks but seems to be in more control so the alcoholism isn't the disease in this case its a symptom for Tony's psychological issues. I mean with your death literally just a few possible months or even weeks away and your not so great memories of your dick of a father bubbling back up you'd try to find someway to cope too.

 Regardless of my opinions Iron Man 2 is a decent movie in retrospect and helped set up more building blocks for the rest of the MCU to come. Not just character wise but also in terms of world building. While the Hulk was starting to become more known to the world at large and with Tony revealing himself to be Iron Man and bringing with it serious government attention and with it the ramifications of beings with technology and powers beyond that of the average man. So with three movies and three of the main Avengers set up it was time to raise the stakes and scope of this strange new universe. So come join me as the March to Infinity takes us across the Bifröst bridge into the realm of Asgard. Though we'll be sure to stop by a diner or something.

Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.

Iron Man 2 is owned by Paramount Studios, Marvel Studios and Fairview Entertainment Based off the original comic by Stan Lee, Larry Leiber, Don Heck and Jack "The King" Kirby.

March to Infinity: The Incredible Hulk: HULK SMASH!!!

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 Continuing from the tin beer can is the big green galoot; The Incredible Hulk. Now going into this movie there were some advantages and disadvantages, while the Hulk was most likely the most recognized Marvel hero due to the 1978 tv series it also had the stigma of the previous Hulk movie directed by Ang Lee. To make it short and sweet it was a mess, the Nostalgia Critic gave this gamma green turd a proper smashing so check it out here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9PF-9MIkiM

Also for the debut story of the Hulk here’s Linkara’s review for context.

http://atopthefourthwall.com/the-incredible-hulk-1/

 The main differences here is that there’s no Rick Jones (except for a blink and you'll miss it Easter egg in the opening credits). There's also no Russian spy nonsense, no Gargoyle and we get straight to the iconic green Hulk instead of the the half way grey Hulk. Now since the Hulk has the two previous mainstream-incarnations Marvel most likely decided that they didn’t need to retread old ground. So they wisely decided to give a clip notes version of the events of the Ang Lee movie and just cut to Bruce played by Edward Norton hiding out in Brazil trying to find a cure for the Hulk while learning meditation and breathing techniques to keep him suppressed.

 Eventually General Ross played by William Hurt learns his location due to the Stan Lee cameo and sends down his special troops to bring him in. But Bruce loses control, goes green and escapes the Solders. However the field leader Emil Blonsky played by Tim Roth wants another crack at the Hulk so agrees to undergo an injection of some bootleg Super Solder serum resulting in him becoming the Abomination. So with a knockoff Hulk on the loose Bruce embraces the beast and takes the Abomination down before he retreats from society again not to learn how to suppress the Hulk, but control him. Which all ends with Ross drowning in his latest failure when Tony Stark pays him a visit telling him about the new Avengers initiative and that he wants the Hulk. I can just tell that there was a lot of trepidation going into this one especially given how the last Hulk movie turned out, but it obviously payed off. 

 We have the drama of Bruce trying to control himself but also a decent balance of action to keep the drama from overwhelming the movie. The pacing does seem to be better then Iron Man as we never stick to one location for too long. General Ross is a pretty hateful villain, wanting to turn a man suffering into a weapon just for the sake of the military, where they don't even have an appropriate force that something like the Hulk would be needed for. On top of that he's willing to kill or imprison for life anyone he deems an obstacle to his goals. Though with that said the "real villain" Blonsky is a little stock, he starts off as an old solder thriller junkie that wants a shot at the Hulk since he's a real challenge, goes crazy, starts splicing himself and becomes the Abomination, pretty much the template for this kind of villain.

 Now I'm not saying the archetype is the problem it's just the execution is a bit lacking. It's the motivation behind the villains that helps make them convincing but a stock motivation with a stock archetype makes for a, well stock villain. Speaking of lets talk about Tim Blake Nelson as Samual Sterns. This character, while playing a major part in the movie being the one Bruce is talking with to try to find his Hulk cure and completing Blonsky's transformation into the Abomination was a bit of a hedging of bets. We'll get into more detail once I cover The Avengers but anyone who knows the comics know what this guy was put into the movie for, to set up him becoming The Leader.

 We see some of the Hulks blood get on an open head wound of his, he starts to mutate and then he's out of the movie, BYE! Now this was obviously setting him up to be a new bad guy in a potential future sequel but that never came to pass so congrats at failing Chekov's gun on that one guys, though they could have set him up for another reason, again a story for another time. But of course my favorite part of the movie was the Lou Ferrigno cameo when Bruce was trying to find his old research data at the university. As Bruce said "you're the man". Oh and yes they do use a remix of the "lonely man" song from the tv show, god I love little touches like that.

 Now funny enough the MCU Hulk seems to have the same problem as his original comic book run. While this is the only solo Hulk movie (so far) the original comic run only lasted for 6 issues, and both seemed to do better in crossovers, kinda wacky how that turned out eh? Wrapping up I think The Incredible Hulk was an all around good movie, it did its job well and gave us some cool action scenes, especially with the final fight against the Abomination. Though the CGI was a little distracting cause I never got the impression that the Hulk was really there. But then again I might have been spoiled due to both future MCU movies and the John Wick movies so that could just be bias talking.

 So now with the promise that Fury made starting to seem plausible and the continuing success of the Hulk movie fans were starting to wonder if they were really going though with this. An entire movie universe of interconnected stories where we'll finally see a live action depiction of some of the worlds greatest heroes on the big screen? Where will they go from here? Captain America, Ant-Man, Thor? Well maybe they'll just have to settle for Tony acting like a jackass, borrowing loosely from the story that dealt with his alcoholism and blandly introducing Black Widow? Eh, guess that'll have to do, and I'll give you my thoughts on that next time as we continue the March to Infinity.

Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.

The Incredible Hulk is owned by Paramount Pictures, Marvel Studios based on The Hulk created by Stan Lee and Jack "The King" Kirby

Let's Play Bioshock 2 HD Part 5: Dionysus Park

When you're done read, comment, spread the links, re-tweet and follow me on Twitter @OnDavidsBrain! and support me on Patreon.

 Let me get one thing clear right off the bat. Any other play though Stanley dies like the sniveling, groveling little worm he is! I mean he floods an entire section of Rapture, leaving everyone to die a horrible, terrifying death and yet he tries to play the victim and have me clean up his mess so that Lamb doesn't find out?! NO times 1000000000000 on that front amigo! As for the level itself Sebastian the Crab can take that big song number of his and shove it up his carapace after seeing Dionysus Park.

Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.

Bioshock 2 is owned by Take2 interactive, 2K Marin, and 2K Australia.

March to Infinity: Iron Man: Should have gone in the hum-drumvie.

When you're done read, comment, spread the links, re-tweet and follow me on Twitter @OnDavidsBrain! and support me on Patreon.

 Now that we have the basic history of how the MCU came into existence it’s time to get to the nitty gritty and talk about the movies themselves. In no particular order I’ll mostly be talking about the major plot points, how the films still hold up from my perspective, what they borrowed and changed from their comic book source material and summarizing the major ramifications for the overall universe. So now we start with the one hero that started it all, Tony Stark aka Iron Man. For those who are unaware of how the main universe version of Tony Stark was introduced, here’s a link to Linakra’s review of Tales of Suspense #39.

http://atopthefourthwall.com/tales-of-suspense-39/

 In quick summation Iron Man is about Tony Stark played by Robert Downey Jr who is kidnapped by a terrorist group called the 10 rings while demonstrating his newest weapons in Iraq. While he was abducted his chest and heart are pierced by shrapnel from one of his missiles in a nice big irony blast that was sold to the 10 rings under the table by his VP, Obadiah Staine played by Jeff Bridges. Once in captivity Tony is ordered to recreate his latest missile for the terrorists, while he agrees to do it he actually works with another prisoner named Ho Yensin played by Shawn Toub who managed to finish making the prototype Iron Man suit at the cost of his life. Tony escapes, destroys the weapons the terrorists have, makes it back to the states and immediately shuts down all weapons development at Stark Industries.

 He then goes to change his life and legacy, to create the first of the Iron Man suits and destroy all of his weapons that the 10 rings have which the dude most certainly does not abide by. So Staine salvages the remains of the prototype armor to create his own version called the Iron Monger which he plans to mass produce and create the next big arms race. Once Tony defeats Staine and removes his weapons he reveals his identity as Iron Man to the public which elicits a visit from Nick Fury played by Samuel L Jackson who has a proposition for Tony, the Avengers initiative.

 As you can tell there were some major changes from the original comic to the movie, for example the war was moved from Vietnam to the Middle East, thankfully removing Wong Chu and his improv wrestling ring. Tony is no longer talking about transistors and doesn’t have to be inside of the suit 24/7 though he still has to keep the arc reactor in his chest. He also starts off as a pretty blatant war profiteer and kind of an obnoxious asshole, keeping the original concept of his character intact. That being make the audience sympathize with someone who should be hated, mostly due to how he develops and learns from his time in captivity.

 For this movie being the one that had to be the foundation for the entire universe it had to knock it out of the park and believe me it accomplishes that and then some. Tony has a very believable arc, from hedonistic asshole to a hero trying to take responsibility and redemption for the damage his weapons and the Stark name has caused. Sure it's the Moses story but well, Joseph Campbell monomyth, blah, blah, blah but hey why fix what isn't broke? He sees first hand how his weapons have done far more harm then good and how those he once trusted were basically blowing smoke up his ass to keep the business of war going. Most likely if not for this change in his life Tony would have more then likely developed S.O.P or something just as ridiculous.

 But then reality came calling and now he seeks redemption and is actually taking responsibility for his genius, not just using it to make the biggest bombs and fastest guns but actually making something to make the world a better place. As for the movie overall, yes this still holds up 10 years after it was released. The writing is textbook brilliant, the casting, on the nose. Now I've never read any Iron Man comics but when I hear Tony Stark I immediately think Robert Downey Jr. Its a character/actor match up that's on par with Mark Hamill and the Joker, Kevin Conroy and Batman, Nolan North and Deadpool, Patrick Warburton and Brock Samson, Johnny Depp and Jack Sparrow and Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams I honestly can't imagine anyone else playing these characters.

 The effects look great, the Iron Man sequences look like they are actually there on screen and the emotional moments hit their mark. Though I do have some nitpicks with it. Mostly I felt that the first act with Tony being held captive went on just a tad too long and, while this is more in hindsight then the film itself, why was Terrence Howard replaced with Don Cheadle? Was it a scheduling conflict, contract renegotiation or did the studio think that Don was better suited for the role then Terrence? Now don't get me wrong I have nothing against Don Cheadle I've seen Hotel Rwanda I know he's a great actor but I just want to know why.

 Though it's honestly funny looking back on this movie 10 years afterwords since this was seen at the time as just another Marvel movie nobody could have predicted what this movie started. Not just for Marvel but Hollywood and the entire entertainment industry as a whole. Sure we had that one S.H.I.E.L.D guy Coulson dropping hints, but I bet that nobody could have predicted seeing Fury after the end credits making Tony the offer and for that matter that they were actually going through with it. For those who don't remember back then, end credit stingers barely paid off, now imagine everyones surprise when this movie not only kept this promise but went far beyond that. And go through with it they did as we'll see next time on the March to Infinity with the big, green Goliath himself, The Incredible Hulk!

Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.

Iron Man is owned by Paramount Studios, Marvel Studios and Fairview Entertainment Based off the original comic by Stan Lee, Larry Leiber, Don Heck and Jack "The King" Kirby.