The conclusion to our trilogy of columns looking at the Avengers Big Three, and the best actors to portray, them is here, and I’ve saved my favourite for last. Regular readers will be aware that I do love Captain America. Even wrote a whole piece about why a little while back. Cap’s put in more screen appearances than Iron Man or Thor, thanks in part to the fact that he precedes them in the comics by a good couple of decades. There were also two attempts at live action Cap movies before the recent effort with Chris Evans in the title role (winner of your vote for best Cap, by the way). In the seventies there were a couple of made for TV movies starring Reb Brown as a rather lacklustre, one-note Captain America. Then, the early nineties gave us Matt “son of J.D.” Salinger in the title role in a disastrous movie in which Salinger did his best impression of… Well, Reb Brown. And wore rubber ears as part of his costume. Who thought that was a good idea?

Neither of these efforts were ever going to make this list, and are now mostly regarded as, at best, curios. However, leaving them aside, I was more than ready to bombard you with a Super Soldier Serum charged column featuring one awesome live action Cap, and four awesome animated Caps too.

Then I discovered one more live action version...

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There have been some truly awful Thors over the years. In researching this column (yes, I do research. It involves watching a lot of cartoons) I was reminded of how difficult it can be to bring a character like Thor to the screen. Things that work well in the comics, such as his faux Shakespearian dialect or his long, girly hair, just don’t really translate that well unless done properly. You either have to go all the way, and adapt the comic character as is (will only work in animation), or you have to make some pretty drastic changes somewhere.

To pick a prime example, check out Eric Allan Kramer’s awful turn in nineteen eighty-eight’s The Incredible Hulk Returns. While the original Hulk TV series was absolutely brilliant, Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno’s return to our screens in several low budget TV movies left a lot to be desired. Of the three, and opinions are divided, but in this writer’s opinion, this first one was the worst. Yes, The Trial of the Incredible Hulk featured a completely uninspired version Daredevil, but the Thor who showed up in Returns, and had his ass handed to him by the Hulk, was, at best, a one note joke. An Asgardian warrior who relished battle, women and drink. There was no nobility to the character, and he was incredibly difficult to sympathise with. He also looked bloody stupid.

So, as with last week’s look at Iron Man, we’re faced with a dilemma. There are few truly great Thors, and not a whole lot of good ones to choose from either. Still, I did manage to find five who, at the very least, could be considered adequate. Four of the men on this list deserve their places. This first guy though, I’ll admit, is mostly there to fill out the numbers...

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This week’s column presented a challenge. When I decided to write the next three columns on the Avengers Big Three (Iron Man, Thor and Captain America), I hadn’t really factored in that they haven’t actually been played by as many actors as, say, Batman or Spider-Man. Until their recent movie adventures, the characters didn’t have the same level of popularity as their slightly more famous friends, and they just haven’t clocked up as many screen appearances.

Of course, all that changed with the release of the first Iron Man movie, but it’s only really been in the last few years that the general, non-comic reading public (or Flatscans. Maybe Muggles) have become aware of the Armoured Avenger, et al. This means fewer (though by no means a total shortage) animated or computer game outings in which actors can portray them, and a distinct lack of great Iron Man performances.

In fact, and I’m aware that this is a controversial statement that may well generate some backlash, for my money, while there have been several good Iron Men, there are only two performances who stand out as great. But let’s visit some of the good ones first...

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Doc Bruce Banner, pelted by gamma rays, turned into the Hulk. But chances are if you’re reading this, you already knew that. In this, part two of part five of my regular column, I’m looking at the actors who have played Banner, and giving you who I think are the five best.

Last week, when we looked at the Hulk, there was only one man who received any votes at all. Lou Ferrigno was, unanimously, picked as the best Hulk ever. But while there’s a clear favourite when it comes to the Hulk, the voting for Bruce Banner was much more varied. Four actors were very much in the running, with Eric Bana, Bill Bixby, Edward Norton and Mark Ruffalo all fighting for your top spot. Normally in this column, this is the point where I’d tell you exactly which one was your favourite. Not this week though. As it happens, I concur with your number one, and since it was so tight, I thought I’d try and keep you in suspense. Bana, Bixby and Norton all feature on this list. Ruffalo, much as I love him and awesome as I think he’ll be, doesn’t place here, much as Andrew Garfield didn’t for Spider-Man, simply because we haven’t seen him yet. Anyway, on with the list, and a man who got no votes from you at all.

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Well that’s that done, on with the review. This week is a look back at a darker time for the Marvel universe; it’s a book set bang smack in the middle of Dark Reign. Once again it features a number of stories so I will be focusing on them each listing the writers and artists and giving information of what to pick up after each story and how we got to where the story starts.

The Book is “The List” it was published originally in 2009 and was collected in a nice book that has some great stories in it. When these stories originally came out I only picked up the Uncanny X-men version as it became clear that it was essentially a jumping on point book for other titles. The list is something that Norman “Green Goblin” Osborn creates to make life easier for him and contains the following things to do:

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Another day, another tease from the comic book movie world, anyone would think there was some kind of mass media, movie/comic book event happening on the West Coast of the USA...

Shiny.

Link: http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=31051

In an interview with Empire magazine whilst at Cannes film festival, Stellan Skarsgard let slip that the now standard post-credit sequence in Thor was actually directed by upcoming Avengers director, Joss Whedon.

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It started off as a joke, then it became self-referential, then it became the target of fan ire and now it's on the verge of eating itself... Just how many comics is Wolverine in?

From the way people go on about it (including us!), you may be surprised at the answer. Or I may just be being a little naive... I've only counted regular titles and not one-shots and/or guest appearances but click through for the answer and some cool artwork!

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Having read the first two chapters of Age of X by Mike Carey just last night I can confirm that I am back into The X-Men. In all fairness I was never really out of The X-Men, just not reading much from their various books, only mangaing to stick with Uncanny X-Force. Now that the X-books are back in my heart we may aswell change this blog to the X-Sidekick blog as I will be banging on about my favourite little mutants all the time. Which brings us nicely to the case in point; Age of X: Universe #1.

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We've all known for some time now that there are creators stationed at Marvel who drive the direction the universe is going. Now it seems Marvel want to make that assurtion official with their Marvel Architects. The names are familiar and will be no surprise to anyone that is a fan of Marvel comics. Just what do these guys have planned and where will it leave our favourite books? PR stunt? Probably. Will status quo be 'irreversibly' altered only then to be put back together? Definitely. Am I still excited, even though I know all this? Hells yeah!

PRESS RELEASE

The very fabric of the Marvel Universe is changing and the Architects are the ones leading the charge! Marvel’s Architects initiative spotlights the writers and artists telling the most exciting and impactful stories that rock the Marvel Universe to its very core every month.

But just who are the writers in Marvel’s Architects?

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