AVENGERS AFTERMATH

Let's cut to the chase here. The Avengers, the highly anticipated summer tentpole extravaganza patiently and brilliantly marketed by Marvel films over the past four years, has finally come to lucrative fruition. The movie has been in domestic release for two weeks now and has managed to rake in about a billion dollars. I contributed to that box office haul and while I had some issues with the film (I had hoped for a more literal translation of Mark Millar's Ultimates but that would have negated the kiddie crowd and thus hurt the box office) it was an enjoyable superhero romp that will always rank as one of my all time fanboy cinematic pinnacles. But now that we have seen the Avengers come and decimate every possible film industry record in Hollywood history...what's next? What's the encore? The new Spider Man looks gangster as hell. I like this Garfield kid and he looks like he will be the perfect dark/edgy Peter Parker in what can only be described as Spider Man Begins. The Dark Knight Rises appears to be ready to take all heads out with guns blazing...Nolan is ending the  series because all movie franchises for some reason have to conclude in 3 acts, but the trailers have me mesmerized especially after what he did to me with Dark Knight. But seriously, I truly believe the Avengers has reset the bar for Superhero Movies which may have been disturbed by recent fare such as Green Lantern and Ghost Rider 2...there are experts who continue to claim that these kinds of movies will die out like the western or the serials but I just don't see it. The Avengers has reset the playing field for other lesser known properties to be considered as films and or TV shows. DC Comics and Time Warner have to be shaking in their boots after the pimp slap that Marvel issued them in the form of The Avengers Movie. There is absolutely no reason that those two entities haven't gone into accelerated pre-production on a JUSTICE LEAGUE BIG BUDGET ACTION MOVIE...if they haven't, shame on them. As much as I love the AVENGERS and prefer Marvel to DC...I would go into a catatonic state of geek euphoria if I ever saw Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Green Arrow and Wonder Woman in the same film. A JLA movie would really have a chance at doubling what the Avengers made. THE AVENGERS success could also mean a much needed soft re-boot for the FANTASTIC FOUR franchise. I mean...THE X-MEN have been safely restored to excellence with FIRST CLASS. Marvel's First Family deserves to be a top notch sci-fi adventure with superheroes as it was written by Kirby and Lee years ago. The original Fantastic Four Movies were ok...I loved The Thing and Johnny...but give me a CGI Thing like you did with the HULK and let's spend a little more on The Human Torch. The AVENGERS also makes me hopeful that we may wind up seeing BLACK SUPERHEROES soon on the horizon. One of my favorite Black Avengers is The BLACK PANTHER. Maybe MARVEL will see the economic and diverse approach of exploiting their black superhero properties on screen and also claim trailblazer status in this arena as well. I have already heard advance rumors that the FALCON may be slated to appear in CAPTAIN AMERICA 2 which would make me ecstatic to say the least. The fact that LUKE CAGE has recently been a prominent AVENGER in the current storylines also presents an opportunity for some BLACK SUPERHERO action. Personally...I see Black Panther as being an epic/Raiders of The Lost Ark/action sci/fi vehicle that nobody would ever see coming. It would literally be some brand new shit that would defy categorization. I could see them spinning CAP and FALCON into the LETHAL WEAPON of SUPERHERO FILMS. LUKE CAGE would be difficult...the character is so controversial and has so many pitfalls and trapdoors...if it fell into the wrong hands it could wind up causing more harm to the BLACK SUPERHERO movement than anything else. But dig...I say all this as one big shout out and thank you to Joss Whedon. Thank you for the epic spectacle of THE AVENGERS and for ensuring that we will indeed see more superhero movies...hopefully future filmmakers will be as mindful as you were about the source material and remember what made the characters special in the first place.