The Avengers Re-Assembled

Director Joss Whedon is no stranger to the comic book, sci-fi genre. His best known works, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and the cult series "Firefly/Serenity" were television masterpieces. Whedon's latest turn with Marvel's iconic comic book heroes "The Avengers", is another jewel in his crown; a guaranteed box office blockbuster that will no doubt thrill audiences and comic book fans alike. The Avengers are Marvel's latest entry into the world of film, (following the Hulk, Spiderman, Captain America, The X-Men, Iron Man, Thor, the Fantastic Four and Daredevil), yet I am always curious see how these classic stories from the 1960's translate to today's world of 2012. Whedon does a good job with what he had to work with, however I'd love to see someone make one of these films set in the decade they were created. If they can do it with shows like "Madmen" and the BBC's "Call the Midwife", surely they can do it with superheroes without the camp and cliches. How much have the Avengers changed? A brief look back at the original is both revealing and at times, even rewarding.

The original Avengers featured Iron Man, (ably played by Robert Downey Jr.); Thor (played by Chris Hemsworth); the Hulk; (a CGI-enhanced Mark Ruffalo); Ant-man/Giant-man and the Wasp. The latter two characters aren't part of this modern update, however Captain America, (played by Chris Evans), would join the team later in their 5th issue, actually replacing the uncontrollable Hulk. Hawkeye, (played by Jeremy Renner) and the KGB operative/double agent Black Widow, (played by Scarlett Johansson), arrived many issues later, and were initially characters and villains-turned heroes from the Iron Man comics. After the departures of Thor, Iron Man, Giant Man and the Wasp, Cap would lead an all-new team with Hawkeye, Quicksilver and the Scarlett Witch, two more "villains-turned heroes" from the X-Men comics.

One of the best things about the Avengers was the arrival of the World War II hero Captain America. In the original, Cap was found frozen in a state of "suspended animation" by the Avengers, floating in a block of ice, following his final battle with Baron Zemo, not the Red Skull in the newer film.  Whedon and the previous film touch on Cap's survivor guilt and Rip Van Winkle-like angst. It was Cap's readjustment to the '60's that also helped make the Avengers a hit, and his struggle to keep the new team of misfits together while saving the world, a world he himself was still struggling to adapt to.

The plot of the original version had nothing to do with the evil Loki, (played by Tom Hiddleston), a powerful cube, "cosmic" or otherwise, so fans of the May, 1964 issue number 5,  "Invasion of the Lava Men", will have to live with the realty of today's modern adaptations. Nevertheless, Whedon knows exactly what today's fans want; action, explosions, 3-D, CGI, a dash of romance and butt-kicking galore. There are a few guest stars to make you smile; Samuel L. Jackson reprises his role as Nick Fury, agent of S.H.I.E.L.D, (Marvel's version of the C.I.A., MI-5, and U.N.C.L.E. all rolled into one), Gwyneth Paltrow as Tony Stark's gal Friday Pepper Potts, and cameos by Harry Dean Stanton, Powers Boothe, Jenny Agutter, (one of my all-time favorite actresses from Walkabout, American Werewolf in London, Logan's Run and the aforementioned Call the Midwife), Marvel creator Stan Lee, (who, like Alfred Hitchcock, appears in virtually every film), and even Lou Ferigno, TV's Hulk reprises his role as the green goliath's voice!

Eventually, Giant Man/Goliath and the Wasp would return to make Cap's team into a super-powerful new version, with many story lines involving the romance between the Black Widow and Hawkeye. Later, other Marvel comic book heroes like, Hercules, the Vision, the Black Panther and others would join and herald the Mighty Avengers into the 70's, 80's and '90s. Spiderman, bless his web-spinning heart, would eschew all offers to join not only the Avengers, but the Fantastic Four and even the X-Men.

As many folks know, Marvel has had a few losers in its history of turning their comics into films; Daredevil and the Fantastic Four come readily to mind; they've also had some so-so efforts; Blade, the Punisher, Elektra and Ghost Rider for example. Many of those films suffered from either poor scripts, plots, casting, or failing to adapt those stories to more modern times.

Films like Spiderman, the X-Men, Captain America, Thor and Iron Man are absolute winners. Whedon's the Avengers now can be counted among them.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Building Bill Bruford's Symmetrical Tama Kit

Image
In two of my previous blogs, I wrote about successfully restoring a Tama "Bill Bruford Signature Series Palette" snare drum , and then building a duplicate version wrapped in chrome . Although they looked and sounded great, I thought about completing this project by adding a kit to go with it. Now I suppose I could always could buy a Tama Starclassic kit, and use the snares I built, but where is the fun in that? Bruford's Signature snare drum had all black Tama lugs, just like his Tama kit with King Crimson. That particular kit was a Canary Yellow Tama with deep power toms. Bruford would reappear with a another version of that yellow kit at the 1999 Modern Drummer Festival alongside his all acoustic Earthworks band. That kit also had black lugs, and featured an 18" kick drum, 16", 13", 12" and 10" toms. That kit appeared to be a rarity, perhaps even custom-made for Bruford. I've never seen another Tama kit that matched it. If I could gather...
Read more

Building the Phil Collins Gretsch Kit - Part One

Image
Back in 2017, I managed to acquire a dozen of the revolutionary new wireless Versatriggers from Poland; Battery powered drum triggers you can mount inside a drum shell. Replace the acoustic drum head with a mesh head and you have yourself a v-drum. I first tried out the Versatrigger on an old Viking snare I'd converted previously with an internal Pintech trigger, and a Remo Silent Stroke mesh head. After connecting the Versatrigger wireless USB hub to my MacBook Air, I was able to tweak the sensitivity and trigger the drum surprisingly well. I also learned I needed to be able to access the trigger for adjustments and battery replacement, so double headed toms weren't practical. The kick and snare are easy enough to cut out a round hole in the bottom head, but the toms would have to be easy to access as well. A modest kit with concert toms would work perfectly. I didn't want to build just another small v-drum kit of virtually identical trigger pads either, so when ...
Read more

Building the Bill Bruford Signature Snare - Part One

Image
Bill Bruford's "rimshot" is one of the most unique and exquisite snare drum sounds ever heard. From his earlier days on his 14"x 5.5" Ludwig Supraphonic Super-Sensitive snare with Yes, to his brass 14" x 6.5" Tama Big Beat snare with King Crimson, Bruford's crisp rolls and sticking technique were a thing of beauty and a joy to behold.  In his later years, Bruford moved away from the metal snare drums of rock, to the jazzier sound of the all-maple 14"x 6.5" Tama Starclassic snare drum with his all-acoustic group Earthworks.  It was during that era that Tama offered the "Bill Bruford Signature Palette Series" snare drum, a customized, 6 ply Starclassic; 2 ply Maple, 2 ply Birch and 2 ply Maple. It was also outfitted with all black hardware; lugs, hoops, strainer and a custom "Black Metallic Sand Blasted" finish, with Bill Bruford's personally autographed and numbered decal. Listing for around $650, the snare quic...
Read more