Achebe - Black Panther Villain

February 28, 2018, 9:55 am

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Who is Achebe?

Achebe is a villain of the Marvel hero the Black Panther.  He was designed by Black Panther writer Christopher Priest to be a Joker like villain to the Black Panther.

First Appearance: Black Panther #3  (1998) Achebe was previously mentioned in Black Panther #2.

Real Name:   Unknown

Alias:  Doctor Michael ibn al-Hajj Achebe, Reverend Achebe, Bob

Achebe News:

• Who is the Black Panther?
• Wakanda  
• What is Vibranium / Carbine 

Achebe Multi-Media:



Bio:


The true origins of Achebe are unknown but at some point he sold his soul the demonic devil like being known as Mephisto.  Mephisto granted Achebe powers that are never fully explained.  Either through Mephisto or other means Achebe has a highly schemer, strategic and insane mind.  While appearing some what older he is also an extremely good athlete and acrobat.

The rumored tale of how Achebe came to be is that he was a humble Ghudazian farmer with an unfaithful wife.  Ujankan guerrillas came to his farm seeking refuge and he offered them hospitably.  They repaid his act of kindness by stabbing him repeatedly and burning down his farm.  He was said to have been stabbed 32 times.  They also stole his wife who may have gone willingly with the men.  Seeking revenge the dying farmer reached out to Mephisto and made a pact to sell his soul in order to get revenge.  He then hunted down everyone associated with Ujankan guerrillas and his wife and kills them all.  It is said even casual acquaintances who barely knew his wife were hunted down and killed.  Victims of Achebe were said to have been stabbed 32 times, the same amount of stabs he endured at the hands of the Ujankan guerrillas.

Achebe came to America under the guise of Reverend Doctor Michael Ibn Al-Hajj Achebe.  In the United States he earned multiple Doctorates.  At some point he becomes an information source for the US Intelligence Agencies who were seeking to gain an inroad to Wakanda.  Wakanda had made massive technological leaps but had remained in many ways reclusive and closely guarded its secrets.  Achebe purportedly came from the nation of Ghudaza a neighbor to Wakanda.  A variety of forces then come together to instigate a plan to take over Wakanda with Achebe as one of its driving forces.  The idea is to start a brutal war in Ghudaza that would create of waves of refugees.  These refugees would then ask to enter Wakanda.  This issue would greatly divide Wakanda and cause political stress inside the country.  If Wakanda accepted the refugees then trojan horse agents would be inserted inside the refugees to help instigate a revolution.  Achebe was repatriated back into Ghudaza and once the instigated civil war broke out he was brought into a Wakandan camp.

T'Challa  / Black Panther was lured to the United States through a scandal with the Wakanda backed charity known as the Tomorrow Fund.  With the Black Panther out of the picture Achebe successfully instigated a coup d'etat.  Ramonda the step mother of T'Challa agreed to share power with Achebe.



Unknown to Achebe, T'Challa had predicted that the refugees contained agents but he did not know whom.  He decided to allow them in with the express purpose of luring out his opponent.  His step-mother apparent betrayal was also a machination to learn more about his opponent.  She in truth remained loyal T'Challa and acted as a spy.  T'Challa learns of Mephisto's influence on Achebe and severes the connection between the man and demon.  This leads Achebe to go full on crazy.  Achebe begins talking to a puppet in meetings.  Seeing the level of his delusions his former allies break ties with the mad man.

Achebe releases security robots called Black Panther Prowlers on the populace and T'Challa battles the robots and removes Achebe from power.  Achebe however manages to escape while disguised as the Black Panther.

He later returns after T'Challa had been deposed by Erik Killmonger. Achebe desired to have T'Challa back on throne so he would have some to play with.  He sent a mercenary team led by Deadpool to steal Killmonger's pet tiger named Preyy.  He hoped that Deadpool would end up killing Killmonger in the process.  This did not happen but Achebe satisfied his blood lust temporarily by killing the tiger.


Powers:
Highly strategic and crazy
World class acrobat
Potentially has healing, regenerative abilities from Mephisto



Black Panther Store:
Toylab is a member of the Amazon Affiliate program which allows to find awesome deals on Black Panther merchandise and link them directly on our site.

Comics and Trades:
I normally only recommend 4 trades from Amazon however I have linked directly to 8 here.    I highly recommend Don McGregor's Black Panther Jungle Action the 1973series which fleshes out Wakanda.  I grew up on and love Christopher Priest's Black Panther that modernized the character.  The recent Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet is also phenonemal, while being very different from all other comics.



Toys and Merchandise:
Here are my favorite Black Panther Toys.  The Mask, Funko, Marvel Legends figure and the Lego Set from Captain America: Civil War.  This will be updated once the Black Panther film comes closer.





More Black Panther:

Black Panther: News, Toys, and Media

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Rising Sun - Head Quarters

February 28, 2018, 10:56 am

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Rising Sun is a new board game that is currently blowing up on Kickstarter.  The game is set in the dynamic period of Feudal Japan mixing fantasy creatures with Samurai and Ninjas.

Multiple Toylab Bloggers have jumped on to the Kickstarter and so you can expect to get a lot of news and reviews of the game right HERE!

This post is to bring together all of our coverage of this epic game so fans of it can find news, reviews, battle reports, tactics, explanations quickly.


Official Rising Sun Description:

Rising Sun is a board game for 3 to 5 players set in legendary feudal Japan. As the Kami descend from the heavens to reshape the land in their image, it is up to each player to lead their clan to victory. Use politics to further your cause, negotiate to seek the most profitable alliances, worship the Kami to gain their favor, recruit monsters out of legend to bolster your forces, and use your resources wisely to be victorious in battle.

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Ta-Nehisi Coates to write Captain America

February 28, 2018, 11:46 am

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Ta-Nehisi is going to write Captain America.  Issue number of the first series is  scheduled coming out on July 4, 2018.  The comic also boasts a Marvel rockstar artist team up of  Leinil Yu for the interiors and Alex Ross on covers.

Coates announced his new project in the The Atlantic where he is quoted as saying:

“I think it’s a really exciting time to be writing CAPTAIN AMERICA right now,” says Coates, “The country is in an interesting place, and I look forward to inhabiting Steve Rogers’ character—this guy who has been a sort of awkward fit for the world, ‘out of time’ as people say. I hope fans are excited to see something different, and I think there are some really compelling villains old school Captain America fans and Marvel fans will be familiar with.”

For what he plans for Steve's journey to be about he says:

“I think Steve is still figuring out where he fits into things. Does the country still trust him? Do people still trust the country? How do the other characters feel about him? This book is ultimately about relationships, and I’m a huge fan of that. I want to explore how he looks at this country and those close to him. It’s going to be a fun ride, and a perfect place for new readers to jump in.”

In era where writers have come under fire from both the right and left for being too political Ta-Nehisi has been heralded as one of Marvel's top writers for his work on Black Panther despite having a deeper history of activism and radical than any other Marvel writer.  The story "A Nation under Our Feet" is far from non political and if anything is heavily layered political arguments embedded into a superhero story.  It had an edge to it, but they were woven so expertly and that they avoided being easily classified.  

It will be interesting to see what he brings to Captain America and where he takes the character.  Steve Rogers has been on an interesting ride lately himself.  Someone broke down the past 5 years of Captain America and was something like Dead, Alive, Old, Young, Not Cap, then Cap, Then a Hydra Agent.  I really don't envy any writer trying to take on all of that, but Ta-Nehisi's idea is a good one.  Take the character back to his simplest roots of being a man out of time, struggling to find his place in the modern world.

I look forward to picking this up on July 4th.

Who is Sherry in the Walking Dead?

March 1, 2018, 10:21 am

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Sherry is a Walking Dead character introduced as being a member of the Saviors.  In the Walking Dead TV series she is played by actress Christine Evangelista.

First Appearance: The Walking Dead #105

Sherry News:


Sherry Multi-Media:




Bio:

Sherry is introduced as one of the female concubines / wives of Negan the leader of the the group known as the Saviors.  It is revealed that she is the former wife of the Savior commander Dwight.  Dwight and Sherry traded her to Negan in order to move up the ranks of the Saviors.  Dwight is caught sleeping with Sherry and is punished by having his face burned with a red hot Iron.

Sherry is seen attempting to defend another of Negan's wives, Amber after she too slept with her former husband.

Dwight refuses to play Ping Pong with Negan.  Negan responds that he is ok with that because he is going to have sex with Sherry.  Negan walks past Dwight saying a parting lewd comment about what he is going to do Sherry.  It seems this event is the straw that breaks the camels back and leads Dwight to becoming a spy for Rick in their battle against Negan.




After All Out War, Negan is defeated.  Rick appoints Dwight as head of the Saviors.  Two years later, Dwight and Rick are discussing how things are going.  Dwight informs Rick that Sherry is no longer with him.  He says that Sherry is with a nice guy with a lot more face.  He says that despite their separation they are on good terms.

During the Whisper War, Sherry helps lead the Saviors away from the other communities.  She feels they should stop getting involved in the wars of the other communities.  She leads a team of Saviors that ambush Rick and his group after they finished off a big group of walkers.  While negociating with Rick, Sherry grows increasingly erractic and agitated that Rick is not afraid of her.  She attacks Rick with a knife and when he pushes her off she slaws her head against a table and seemingly dies.


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TV:


In the Walking Dead TV series she is played by actress Christine Evangelista.

In Season 6 episode called  "Always Accountable", Daryl is captured by a man named Dwight with a wife /girl friend named Sherry.  They are part of a different group that has strict and bizarre rules.  Part of the rules include trading.  The pair steal Daryl's crossbow and motorcycle.   As they leave Daryl tells them that, "They will be sorry."

During this episode the sister of Sherry is killed.  It is possible she was trying to escape being one of the "Wives" of Negan.




It is not clear if this Dwight is the same as the Dwight in the comics but there are some similarities. He has a wife named Sher which is similar to Sherry.  He also now possesses a crossbow like his comic character.

When Dwight appears later it is clear that his face was burned similar to his comic character.  It seems likely that Sherry is now one of the wives of Negan.  Dwight at some point had inappropriate contact with her which Negan brutally punished with the burning hot iron to the face ritual that he uses on Saviors who break his rules.




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Who is Sherry? 
Who is Negan? 
Who is Abraham Ford? 
Who is Rick Grimes?  
Who is Paul Monroe aka Jesus?

Why is Korath not blue?

March 1, 2018, 5:05 pm

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Why is Korath not blue?

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From the Vault- Quasar 32-First Appearance of Korath


Ok, part of me really does not want to blog about this.  I think the group of fanboys that cling to comics like a holy text and demand that everything they see on TV look and be exactly the same as it was in print is SILLY.  I hate it if a film maker has no love or knowledge of the source material (Cough Batman and Robin Cough) but generally I expect them to take certain liberties.  The reality is when switching mediums some changes need to be made.  Sometimes these changes will be to speed up the story so they can fit into a movie length and other times it will be for other reasons.

One reason that this has been occurring in Marvel movies is to make the characters on the screen more diverse.  This makes sense to me because the movie going public is more diverse than the niche comic geek population and also comic characters are old and come from a time when almost all characters were Caucasion Americans.  Both DC/Marvel have made attempts to add new characters of different races and to switch old staples.  Sometimes they have been very successful.  The reality though is that the bulk of major characters are still white guys.  When Marvel wants to reach out to a global population they need characters that reflect that consumer population.

Fast sidebar:  Saying all black actor/actresses who took over a white character just for the sake of diversity cheapens their own significant accomplishments and sometimes I feel there are other reasons that need to be acknowledged.  Micheal Clark Duncan might have been the absolute closest thing you could have come to the physically domineering presence of the Kingpin.  My personal opinion is that he was chosen not because he was black but because he was the closest actor to the character of the Kingpin.

Ildris Elba also captured the mixture of big intimidation, otherworldlyness, honor, and kindness that form the character of Heimdale.  Skin color be damned I challenge anyone to say that Elba does not epitomize that character.

Now with Guardians of the Galaxy coming out there is a new racial change but this time it is a bit weird.  Once again we have a phenomenal black actor Djimon Hounsou who will play a character that had a different skin color in comics.  This time however the character he is playing was not a Caucasian but a blue alien.  Now, I think we can all say that if Marvel wanted Korath to be blue, they could make him blue.  They could use make up, cgi, etc to make Djimon's skin blue.  Zoe Saldana's and Bautista both in the movie will have their skin tone changed to be green to play their characters.  Obviously, Marvel did not want a blue Korath.  The reason for this is likely simple, Marvel wanted a black character and Gamora and Bautista are relatively more well known (though not by much).  Korath is a relatively new character, who has only appeared a handful of times and they felt hey here is a character we can play with and add some diversity to what appears on screen.  Also Korath is Kree and not all Kree are blue.

What does this mean for the Kree.

Who are the Kree? 

Korath is a member of the Kree aliens.  Discounting the Kree connections in Agents of Shield we have not seen anything about Kree in Marvel TV/Movies.
In the comics Kree were traditionally blue.  They end up being cursed by a powerful entity that makes it so they can no longer evolve like other species.  This makes the Kree rather static and they are forced to watch as new races evolve and know the other races will eventually surpass them.  The Kree then begin interbreeding with other species giving rise to the "PINK" Kree.  The pink Kree eventually make up the bulk of the Kree population but the blue pure Kree still retain most of the society's power.  While Kree are not shown in the comics as being the same hue as Housou I think Marvel will just say hey dudes the group called the pink Kree in comics come in a wider range of colors than Pink.  This makes perfect sense to me and I hope other fanboys will agree.  I think Marvel will simply show Kree in a variety of human colors and also have the old pure blue kree.  Maybe they will explain how they turned from blue to flesh tones, or maybe they will just say hey here they are figure it out and deal with it.

What does this mean for the character of Korath?  I'm tempted to say nothing.  Really what this means most is that an obscure Marvel character is going to played by an insanely awesome and talented actor and now that character has the chance to be seen and known throughout the world as a bad ass.  Djimon Hounsou can't help but be a bad ass.  This is Korath's breakout opportunity and with Djimon Hounsou at the helm I have no doubt that his popularity is going to soar after this movie.

If anything I am more worried about how the character of Korath is changed in other ways.  For details on that see the post below:
New revelations about Korath from the prelude comic

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Nova Corps Criminal Database
From the Vault- Quasar 32-First Appearance of Korath

Who is Klaw? Why is he so important to the Black Panther mythos?

March 2, 2018, 11:29 pm

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Who is Klaw?

Klaw is the arch nemesis of the Marvel hero the Black Panther. He is villain known for his mastery of the metal of Vibranium and the powers of sound.

First Appearance: Fantastic Four #53

Real Name: Ulysses Klaue

Alias: Klaw

Klaw News:

• Who is the Black Panther?
• Wakanda  
• What is Vibranium / Carbine 

Bio:
Ulysses Klaue is a Dutch physicist whose studies on applied sound lead him to exploring turning sound into physical mass.

Klaw becomes a mercenary and pursues a deposit of vibranium in the African nation of Wakanda.  Vibranium not native to the Earth is one of the rarest metals in existence and he immediately begins to mine it for his own purposes.  The Wakandan leader T'Chaka did not realize the full potential of vibranium but he is not a fool.  He tries to stop Klaw from stealing the metal.  Klaw kills T'Chaka, but his plan in the end is thwarted by the interference of T'Chaka's son, T'Challa.  Klaw escapes though loses his right hand in the process.

While, Klaw's initial plans do not work he does succeed in acquiring enough vibranium to study.  He becomes an expert in vibranium, its properties and uses.  He builds a device that can control sound.  This new sonic weapon is mounted where his right hand used be.  He uses this weapon in various battles and schemes against the Black Panther and other heroes.

Klaw joins various super villain groups including the Masters of Evil led by Ultron and the Pacific Overlords.  He also forms partnerships with the villains Solarr and the Molecule Man but both of these schemes are thwarted.

For a time Klaw is imprisoned inside his own sonic gun.  The gun is stored inside Project Pegasus.

Eventually, Klaw has his material form entirely dissolved in a battle with the X-Woman Dazzler.  He even becomes a being made and constructed of pure sound.  His sound energy is also sent out into space.  Due to his sound energy intermixing with the Beyonder and Galactus it is captured by Doctor Doom.  Doom hopes to use it to achieve godhood.  However, this bid is foiled by Klaw himself who eventually returns to his physical form.

At one point Klaw inadvertently heals Captain America's Vibranium Shield when he blasts Captain America with a sonic blast.  The blast hits Captain America's SHIELD and cures it of its Vibranium Cancer.

He continue to battle to try to overtake the small nation of Wakanda using what ever force and means necessary.  All to strip the country of its vibranium.

Powers:
Transformed into physical sound Klaw has super strength and durability.  He can manipulate sound to perform an array of functions.  He can create constructs out of sound and also create sonic concussive blasts.

In his sonic form he can be weakened and destroyed by vibranium which disrupts his form.


Klaw in the MCU
Actor Andy Serkis famous for playing CGI characters plays Ulysses Klaue in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Ultron seeks Klaw to get a supply of Vibranium.  Ultron agrees to pay Klaw billions for the Vibranium but not before angrily ripping off Klaw's arm.

It seems likely that when Klaw returns that he has an upgrade Vibranium replacement arm.

Klaw meeting with Ultron in Age of Ultron

Why is Klaw an important villain to Black Panther.
I have heard some criticism of Klaw.  Why is this Dutch super villain with a somewhat generic suit so important to the Black Panther mythos?

I personally see the Klaw and Panther's story to be one of the most complex and important hero/villain relationships in comics.  It is up there with Joker and Batman.  In a good story the characters are symbols for more than two beefy guys slugging it out.  The movie the Dark Knight is unequivocally the best comic book movie of all time because it plays with the notion of not who the characters are, but what they are.  Batman is a symbol of fear, violence on the side of order, and as he cracks down on the criminal world, up springs this psychopathic lunatic, counter balance that desires only chaos.  The Joker and Batman are personifications of forces, actions, and decisions. In many ways the decisions of Batman are parallel  to decisions in American Foreign policy in the post 9-11 era.  Joker and Isis have parallels with each other as reactions against forceful interventions.  In short it is not a super hero movie, but a movie of avatars that are battling across the philosophical questions that currently loom large across our minds.

Why does the Klaw / Panther relationshipnot attract the same level of notice as the Batman/Joker one.  While Batman / Joker walk in parallel to thoughts of those affecting the modern/current American psyche, those in Black Panther's do not.  Some of it is simply timing, the themes presented in the Dark Knight are in lock step with the post 9-11 American experience.


The fears of colonization, science without morals, westernization, and Americanization are not on the forefront of American's minds right now.   These are the themes of the Black Panther and Klaw relationship, they are not worse or less than the Batman/Joker relationship but simply not as in vogue at the moment.


Explaining Klaw from a thematic view:

First Klaw kills T'Challa's father so that immediately makes him important.  Beyond that though Klaw represents imperialism, powerful technology, science run amok, and these are important themes to the Black Panther story and history in general.

On the surface level you have an interesting martial battle between the master of sound facing off against the master of the jungle.  There is a contrast between the natural world and the scientific world that makes for a dynamic and visually appealing battle.  This contrast is used in multiple Black Panther stories but this is still on the surface, so hold on as I plunge deeper.


Klaw in one sense represents the threat of imperialism.  He sees the resource of Vibranium as being in the hands of lessers, who do not understand its worth.  Rather, than buying it he decides to simply take it and use it as he pleases.  In other countries this may be possible but Wakanda has a very powerful defender in the Black Panther.

While Klaw's actions of killing and attacking the Wakanda people are vile it also serves as a warning to T'Challa.  T'Challa changes his own course as the Black Panther as well as that of his entire people.  The historical event with Klaw reminds me of Admiral Dewey of the United States charging into the harbor of Tokyo.  The Japanese had isolated themselves from the world.  They saw people outside of Japan as barbarians.  Seeing the steam ships of the United States in their harbor was a wake up call for the Japanese that the outside world was passing them by.  The Emperor quickly begins to invite the foreigners to teach Japan about the outside world and its technology.  The Japanese quickly absorb the technology and teachings from around the world, integrate it into their own society and become a world power.  There are a whole slew of growing pains with these changes.  Wakanda under goes similar pains, what parts of their culture do they keep, what do they take away, these are hard questions.  The threat personified by Klaw provides a major impetus for them to change despite the hardships it presents.

The series of conflicts presented here are very complex.
How much should you change to be safe?  Should you change out of fear?  Are the changes for the good anyway?  Will we lose our own identity due to these changes?

Perhaps the most important question Klaw presents the Black Panther is how far does he change before he becomes his own enemy?  As the technology of Wakanda expands what separates himself from Klaw the man he hates?

Klaw is thus a representation of the threats of the outside world/science, as well as the threat of what one can become.  If you become your enemy does he not in the end win?


Black Panther Store:
Toylab is a member of the Amazon Affiliate program which allows to find awesome deals on Black Panther merchandise and link them directly on our site.

Comics and Trades:
I normally only recommend 4 trades from Amazon however I have linked directly to 8 here.    I highly recommend Don McGregor's Black Panther Jungle Action the 1973series which fleshes out Wakanda.  I grew up on and love Christopher Priest's Black Panther that modernized the character.  The recent Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet is also phenonemal, while being very different from all other comics.



Toys and Merchandise:
Here are my favorite Black Panther Toys.  The Mask, Funko, Marvel Legends figure and the Lego Set from Captain America: Civil War.  This will be updated once the Black Panther film comes closer.




More Black Panther:

Black Panther: News, Toys, and Media

Who is Whiplash?

March 4, 2018, 2:53 pm

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Whiplash is a villain known primarily for battling Iron Man.
5 villains have used the Whiplash moniker.  The two primary Whiplashs that are the most popular are Anton Vanko and Mark Scarlotti.
Both the Vanko and Scarlotti versions of Whiplash have appeared in the MCU.  Vanko is the primary villain in the movie Iron Man 2 and Scarlotti appears as the primary antagonist in the episode a "Fractured House" of Agents of SHIELD.


Real Names: Mark Scarlotti, Anton Vanko

Alias: Whiplash, Backlash

First Appearance (Mark Scarlotti): Tales of Supense #97 (1968)
First Appearance (Anton Vanko): Iron Man and Whiplash #1 (2010)




Mark Scarlotti (Universe 616)

Mark Scarlotti is an engineer at Stark Industries.  He invents a special whip technology.  Rather than give the technology to his employer  he steals the technology and embarks on a criminal career.  He uses a technologically advanced metal whip of his own design.   Initially, he works for the criminal organization known as the Maggia.  His missions for the Maggia were all thwarted by Iron Man.

Scarlotti joined up with a group of super villains While working for Hammer as a mercenary he is given a special bullet proof vest.  He then goes by the name of Backlash.  The group also includes the super villains the Melter and Blizzard.  They attempt to rob a casino.  Though the group has Iron Man out gunned he still defeats them per usual.

At one point Scarlotti attempts to go legit but after being rejected by his own parents and the people of his hometown he gives up.  He has made numerous criminal attempts over the years almost all of them end up being foiled by Iron Man.  Eventually, Scarlotti is killed by a sentient Iron Man suit that crushes his throat.  This is against Tony's wishes but he is unable to stop the suit.

MCU (Universe 9999)

Marcus Scarlotti on Agents of SHIELD played by Falk Hentschel

Marcus Scarlotti is in the Agents of SHIELD episode a fractured house.  He is a mercenary who  been hired to impersonate SHIELD while attacking the UN.  Later he assassinated a SHIELD team.  He is defeated in combat by Agent May.  Scarlotti was taken into custody by the US Military's Glenn Talbot.


Anton Vanko (Universe 616)

A man steals one of Iron Man's suits flies to a Russian village and kills an innocent Igor Vanko.  Igor's son Anton shoots a gun at the attacker causing the chestplate from suit to fall to the ground.  Anton finds the chest plate from the suit and takes it home vowing to get revenge on Iron Man.   He turns the chest plate into a full suit that powers two energy whips.  Anton then seeks to kill Stark with his new suit.

Stark is being held for the crimes of the man who used the suit.  Anton Vanko attacks him in Prison.  Stark is barely able to survive the fight using various machines in the prison to hold off the assassin.  The two meet again at the head quarters of a secret consortium that had worked to frame Stark.  While Vanko learns the truth that Stark is innocent he does not care.  In his mind the technology that Stark created makes him responsible for the death of his father.   The two battle again.  Both are forced to retreat as the building now on fire collapses around them.

Stark rebuilds the village from the devastation wrought by the attacker.  Anton has been recruited by various super villains to battle Iron Man.

Anton Vanko MCU (Universe 9999)


Anton Vanko is played by actor Mickey Rourke.  His name in the film is Ivan Antonovich Vanko.  In this version he is part Crimonson Dynamo and part Whiplash.  His father was not killed by Iron Man in this version.  Here his father was a scientist who also created the arc reactor but was given no credit.  Vanko then seeks to show that Stark is not the only one made this technology by building his own suit using his own arc reactor.
Vanko is apprehended but released into the care of Justin Hammer.  Vanko fools Hammer into believing that he is upgrading the Hammer Industries military bots when he is really just turning them into his own army to use against Iron Man.
Vanko and his bot army are defeated by Iron Man with the help of James "Rhodey" Rhodes AKA Warmachine.

Related:
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See the epic Avengers Age of Ultron Trailer HERE!
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Madame Hydra Cosplay by Yaya Han

March 5, 2018, 1:11 pm

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Yaya Han is a model, costume designer and cosplayer.  She is has judged numerous Cosplay competitions and was featured in the Syfy channel show Heroes of Cosplay.  She also appeared as a judge in the show King of the Nerds.  She has cosplayed as many characters in many cons.
She debuted a Madame Hydra cosplay at C2E2 in 2014.  For more Yaya Han cosplays see her website at yayahan.com


For more Madame Hydra see:

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J Scott Campbell and Neal Adams cite concern over Stan Lee

March 5, 2018, 4:42 pm

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The world's most famous creator of comic book heroes Stan Lee is no spring chicken.  He finds himself in a position where people are questioning his care.

There was a recent video of Stan Lee on TMZ where Stan says he has pneumonia and is staying in his home.

Adding to the worries about it are the separation between Stan and his longtime friend Max Anderson.

Per Neal Adams

Can somebody tell me what’s going on with Stan Lee? 

Max Anderson has taken care of Stan Lee like a mother all through his senior years. Some people don’t like Max because Max protects Stan just like a mother, but that’s his job. Some people don’t like that Stan treats Max well financially and so Max has money. Well, dammit folks, Max is supposed to have money. That’s Stan Lee’s decision.
Somebody is keeping Max from Stan and I know Stan must be the worse for it and so I’m worried very much for Stan Lee. I wasn’t worried when Max took care of him. So what the hell is going on?

Per J Scott Campbell

I wanted to strongly echo the words Neal Adams expressed regarding his concern about Stan Lee’s wellbeing, and this bizarre smear campaign against his friend and manager of the past years Max Anderson, apparently instigated by these new mysterious “caretakers” of his. I’ve known Max for years and I completely agree with Neal, Max always looked after Stan and his wife Joan like the doting son they never had. He adores Stan and Stan adores Max.

Besides almost single-handedly architecting Stan’s tremendous financial turnaround this past decade through aggressively negotiating appearances all around the world, I happen to have personal knowledge that Max has also quietly looked after him by accompanying him to the sets for all his cameos in the Marvel films, regularly took him to his medical appointments, would often just visit Stan when he’d get lonely, the list goes on and on. In fact, Max and Stan have been very visible and regularly in public together for a decade, practically inseparable.

Forcibly cutting Max out of Stan’s life, and so soon after his wife Joanie has passed seems particularly cruel to the both of them and has caused a lot of us in our industry to talk, much of it about our collective concern about the mystery of who exactly is taking care of Stan now and why is he being kept out of sight and in his home, especially given these reports that he’s been battling pneumonia. I mean, think about it, instead of being taken to a hospital, this ill 95-year-old man is being kept hidden away in his house, the only glimpse of him filmed for exploitive TMZ videos?

Max took much better care of Stan than this. I have great concern for Stan and I do hope more in our industry start speaking up, start asking more questions and start shining more of a bright light on this situation to find out what’s exactly going on here before it’s too late.

Iron Man #1 direction by Dan Slott revealed

March 6, 2018, 8:20 am

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Iron Man #1 coming this June.

Iron Man has been dead but now he is not.  Too fans of comics this surprises absolutely no one.  One cool thing about his return is that long time Spider-Man writer Dan Slott will be at the helm.  The shake up and moving around of talent is part of Marvel's  fresh start initiative that will see many of Marvel's major characters return with a #1 issue.   These issues will start coming out in May but Iron Man will not hit shelves until Jun 20th.   Dan Slott is joined on the issue by Valerio Schiti and Edgar Delgado.

TONY STARK: IRON MAN #1

Written by DAN SLOTT

Art and Cover by VALERIO SCHITI

Cover by ALEXANDER LOZANO

On Sale 6/20/18

Tony Stark is back and it will be interesting to see how a futurist like Stark views on life have changed after being dead. 

I also really dig this tag line Marvel did:

From the cusp of tomorrow’s dreams to the forefront of imagination, one man always soars on the cutting edge of adventure.

You know his name. Tony Stark is Iron Man. And Iron Man…is an idea. Always changing. Always evolving. An idea without limit!

Prepare to witness the ultimate Self-Made Hero’s journey to new heights of inventiveness! Tony Stark is Iron Man. And the future is now.

I think that captures what makes Tony Stark interesting very neatly.   I am also curious where they take him personally I'd love to see Stark look at cryptocurrency.  To me that is a technology that really is futuristic but also existing in the present.  I know I know nobody loves talking economics in comics but that is my wish.I would also really like if they get his thoughts on the Planet of Wakanda.  You will also notice they added a bit of a nose to his helmet.  It looks pretty cool on the cover I am curious to see what it looks like on panel.

From Dan Slott as posted on Marvel.com

“As a futurist, Tony Stark thought he had all the answers. But since coming back from the dead, he now sees the Marvel Universe in a whole new light!” teased editor-in-chief C.B. Cebulski. “How does Iron Man continually evolve and stay relevant in a world where technology advances on a daily basis? Well, Dan Slott, Valerio Schiti, and Edgar Delgado are here to answer those questions as they take our Armored Avenger on adventures that push the boundaries comic storytelling and visuals! And Dan writes Tony with such heart…pun intended…we had to put his name in the title.”

Also see:
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Marvel finally doing some Good Sh#$! - Aeon River

March 6, 2018, 8:53 am

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At one I was pretty annoyed with Marvel, that happens when your a comic fan.  At some point I've even gotten angry at stories and directions the company has gone.  As big of a dick as I am though I normally don't rant and rave about it.  I try to focus on the good.  However, with Marvel over the past year I just have viewed their stuff with total apathy.  I looked at their shelf like it was a bunch of writers and artists collecting pay checks and going through the motions.

With the changes at editor in Chief and CB Cebulski coming into the helm I expected some changes and that is starting to happen with what we are seeing come out in May/June.  The company is being pretty careful not to call their moves a Reboot, but certainly they are setting up an entry point with lots of Number 1s and many of the major characters returning.  Many are critical of them effectively rebooting the universe again and then not calling it a reboot but heck the reality is that if you are a Marvel fan you know that this thing needs a fresh start.  The previous fresh starts that have stacked up over the past few years are a sunk cost.  There are some real glimmers of hope here.  So call it what you want things here are looking interesting.

The big thing to me is that stories and issues coming out of the major characters all look interesting.  Instead of relying on an overall event that may be interesting but causes individual issues to suffer Marvel is doing the opposite.  Have a bunch of really interesting character driven stories with heroes at an interesting starting point.  Any one of the stories on its own may not mean much but when you step back and look at the whole thing its starting to look pretty cool.

I am genuinely excited about buying Marvel comics in the Spring and I have not been in awhile.

Look at these moves:

• Captain America being written by Ta Nehsi Coates in July with Steve Rogers making a come back after being a super villain.
• Iron Man being written by Dan Slott with Tony Stark returning.
• Black Panther will be exploring the Planet of Wakanda which should be fun and interesting.
• Thor returning as Thor with Jason Aaron still writing.
• Nick Spencer will take on Amazing Spider-Man - I know Spencer worries people with what he did no Hydra Cap.  I get it but he has done interesting things outside of that one horrible idea.  He actually has a good history of writing for the wall crawler.  I am also digging the classic comic feel of Ryan Ottley's artwork on this.  The free comic book day book for Spider-Man I expect to be the most popular book for that event and really kick off Marvel's restart.
• Stohl takes on Carol Danvers and brings her back to Earth and to her family as a homecoming of sorts.
• The Hulk title also looks intriguing.  The new title is called Immortal Hulk looks awesome and seems to be taking the character down more of a horror path.   The first artwork I saw for this was  for Avengers No Surrender and done by one of my favorite artists Mark Brooks.  It is of a very menacing looking Hulk and I thought it just looked awesome.  It really sets a tone for what I think will be a very interesting take on the Green Giant.

No book there is bad, each in their own way are interesting and intriguing.


When you look at all of this I just can't but help give CB and the Marvel team a slow clap.  I don't want to praise them too much before these come out but these actually look like titles I want to read, that I want to talk about.  Good Job!

You can blame Aeon River for this Sh BEEP:
Yell at me on my Facebook or ya know just stop by and say hi.  I'm mostly active.  And I am nice all the time that I am not being a complete and total dick.
https://www.facebook.com/aeon.river.54

I really think my posts should magically end with a song from the drop kick murphys blasting but when I tried to add it, it became annoying as all hell......so just imagine it!

How to beat Tyranitar in Pokemon Go

March 8, 2018, 11:23 am

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In Pokemon Go gyms across the world players will soon hear:

"Tyranitar is coming!........."

"Thud"

"Tyranitar IS COMING"

"Thud Thud"

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh" (Loud crunching sounds)

Pokemon Go is gearing up to launch its Gen 2 pokemon.  Some of the Gen 2 Pokemon the babies have already been released.  There are a whole slew of other Pokemon coming and of them all I think the most feared and highly anticipated will by Tyranitar.  Tyranitar is a big, as one would expect from a Pokemon based off a Tyrannosaurs Rex.  It might be more accurate to say he is based off of T-Rex and Godzilla.  He looks very imposing, and will have a massive high CP.  Tyranitar will have the highest Max CP of all the Gen 2 Pokemon coming in at an astounding 3600 Max CP.

Tyranitar is number #1 on the max CP list for Gen 2 Pokemon.
1 - Tyranitar - 3600 CP MAX

Tyranitar is also one of the top Pokemon Counter to use against multiple Legendary Pokemon.  It is a must for Legendary Raids!



That said Tyranitar does have some pretty big Type based weaknesses that should be able to be exploited.  In my mind this may make Tyranitar a attacking Pokemon rather than a gym defender.  That said I expect people to through them into gyms just because he has a high CP.  Many times people just through in high CP pokemon because they will be higher in the gym rankings.  Amusingly a gym of all low CP Chanseys (The Chansey Castle) would be far harder to defeat.

About Tyranitar:

"Its body can't be harmed by any sort of attack, so it is very eager to make challenges against enemies." Pokedex entry from Pokemon Gold

Tyranitar is a Dark and Rock hybrid type of Pokemon.  It is the final form of evolution of Larvitar.  Larvitar evolves into Pupitar and Pupitar into Tyranitar.  Tyranitar's have been depicted in some Pokemon series as being able to evolve into a Mega Tyranitar that is even more powerful.  At this point I do not believe the Mega evolution will be available in Pokemon Go.

One ability that Tyranitar is famous for is Sandstream.  Sandstream creates a sandstorm weather effect that last the duration of its battle.  This gives Tyranitar a massive step up on other Pokemon it is battling.  However, like the Mega evolutions I do not think this will come over into Pokemon Go.  Moves for Tyranitar will likely include:  Crunch -Dark, Earthquake - Ground, Stone Edge - Rock, and Hyper Beam - Normal.   I will say though that many rumors have gone around about expanding the battle system in Pokemon Go so its possible.



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Now for the ultimate question!  How do you beat, kill, defeat Tyranitar.  What Pokemon is a counter Tyranitar?


Tip: Generally Try fighting Pokemon!  They will get double type damage against Tyranitar!

Machamp

I don't have a Machamp with a very high CP so for me I will still likely use Prime Ape, Poliwrath or Vaporeon.  That said a Machamp with fighting moves and a high CP would be a good counter against Tyrnaitar.  The FIGHTING moves type damage would be doubled.

Another fighting Pokemon to try is Primeape in particular if you do not have a strong Machamp.


Vaporeon

The first option and I think the one that will be the most popular is using Vaporeon.  I know, I know everyone is saying Vaporeon again?  Well Vaporeon is a water type Pokemon and WATER is good against Rock.  Moreover, Vaporeon is powerful, high CP and also very popular.  I think everyone has a solid Vaporeon.  Too me the abundance of Vaporeon is the number one reason why I do not see Tyranitar lasting long in gyms.  There are just too many high level Vaporeons that will take its lunch.


Poliwrath

Poliwrath is a fighting and water Pokemon and is high CP to boot.  Poliwrath would be a better option than Vaporeon all else considered if he has fighting moves.  Both Dark/Rock have a weakeness to FIGHTING which should double the type set damage delivered by the FIGHTING moves.  The  WATER from Poliwrath will also work well against Tyranitar they just won't get a double attack bonus like the FIGHTING moves will.

Other Good Options

• Heracross with Counter Close Combat
• Vaporeon (Or other Water Pokemon with Water Gun, Hydro Pump)
• Venusaur, Exeggucutor or anything with Solar Beam.

The Poke fun has just begun...Also See!

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What is the Red Room?

March 8, 2018, 2:48 pm

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In the the Marvel universe the Red Room is a Soviet training facility where female agents known as Black Widows are trained.  It has been featured in both the Marvel tv series Agent Carter as well as by Natasha Romanov in film (Avengers: Age of Ultron).

Planet: Earth

Location:  Russia

First Appearance:  Black Widow #2 (Volume 1)

In Marvel comics the KGB begins a Soviet training program to train young girls into spies and assassins.  The girls are trained to blend into Western nations, to seduce, to manipulate and also to fight.  In some cases biological enhancements have been made to the female agents.  On top of the advanced training some of the Black Widows were also implanted with false memories to make the blend in easier or hide parts of the training.  At one point in time a male equivalent of the program was started called Wolf Spider but this was abandoned.

Famous Agents trained:

• Natasha Romanov - Later member of Avengers
• Yelena Belova
• Nick Constantin - Male Wolf Spider Trainee

Biological Treatments:

• Psychotechnics-  A process of implanting recruits with false memories.
• Kudrin Treatment- A biological treatment developed by biochemist Lyudmila Kudrin. The Kudrin treatment halts aging, add a moderate healing factor (5x normal), increases immunities and provides limited increases to strength and stamina.   The Kudrin treatment also sterilizes the participants so they can not get pregnant.

Training:
Black Widows are trained extensively in areas of:

• Manipulation
• Languages
• Martial Arts
• Technology
• Also trained to be mission driven,  morally cold, to use, and kill as required.

Red Room in MCU vs Comic Comparisons

Agent Carter in a Red Room designed to teach about America

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Who is Assassin Spider-Man?

March 8, 2018, 9:29 pm

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Who is Assassin Spider-Man?
The Assassin Spider-Man is an alternate version of Spider-Man who is comfortable with killing.


First Appearance: What if? Spider-Man Vs. Wolverine #1
Last Appearance: Amazing Spider-Man #11


Bio:
Assassin Spider-Man is from an alternative universe (8351) where Spider-Man teamed up with Wolverine as a mercenary and assassin.  This Spider-Man is completely ice cold and willing to kill to accomplish his mission. He does not joke. This Spider-Man had an ex wife named Mary Jane Watson that he left.  He now has a romantic partner called Alex (She resembles Gwen Stacey)

Assassin Spider-Man shoots bullets out of his Web gauntlets instead of webs.  He does still shoot webs but they are black instead of white.

He joins up with Superior Spider-Man to battle the inheritors in the Spider-Verse.  He was killed in battle in Amazing Spider-Man #11 by Daemos the Inheritor.

Powers:

Almost identical to 616 Spider-Man
Is shown have a heightened Spider-Sense in battle that leans toward full on precognition.  Can predict a Sniper trying to shoot his partner Wolverine from 100s of feet away.

Related:
Meet all of the Spiders of the Spider-Verse! 
What is the Spider-Verse?  
Who is Spider-Man? 
Who is Morlun?

Juggernaut Unstoppable Marvel Legends figure series

March 9, 2018, 1:09 pm

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The Juggernaut Unstoppable Marvel Legends figure series

Marvel Legends are a premium toy figure series made by Hasbro that focus on Marvel characters.  The new Marvel Legends figure set features a lot of X-Men and each figure comes with a component for a large Build-A-Figure of the Juggernaut.  The Build-A-Figure is popular component of the Marvel Legends figures.

The figures available in the series are:

• Havoc
• Jean Grey / Phoenix
• Wolverine
• Ice-Man
• Kitty Pryde
• Rogue
• Cable
• Deadpool

Each figure comes with one component of the Juggernaut build-able figure which is a pretty massive figure once you have all of the pieces.


Video Review of the Juggernaut Marvel Legends series by Shartimus Prime





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A closer look at the figures:


Wolverine



Wolverine is a natural place to start with this series as I believe this will be the most popular figure in the whole set.

The Wolverine figure includes some cool features including interchangeable hands and a butterfly movement chest meant for posing.   The figure articulates its arms very well to give Wolverine some furious, action poses.  The figure also has articulation in its abs allowing Wolverine to be posed in a leaning or prowling like pose.

The Wolverine figure has the blank white eyes that help make Wolverine look really angry.  The rest of the figures in the series have life like eyes but I'm happy they went with the plain white for Wolverine.  They did add some deep, wrinkles around Wolverine's eyes which make his face look even more angry.

The figure also comes with the Juggernaut head piece for the Juggernaut build a figure.

The figure looks good in a standing position but definitely looks better in more actions poses that take use of the figures shoulder and ab movement.  You can really recreate a lot of Wolverine's iconic poses with this figure.




The figure is clean looking with straight lines.  It does not have much in the way of painted on details.  So no shadows, furry arms or unshaven face on Logan here.



Some have pointed out that when figure is standing straight up that Wolverine's kneck can look a little long.  You can see this in the picture below.  However, I think is a subtle effect and it goes away when Wolverine is put in a more crouched like position which seems to be what the figure was designed for.




This might be my favorite Wolverine pose with the figure.  To me this comes straight out of the Wolverine 90s cartoon series.




Kitty Pryde



Kitty Pryde is an interesting character with her ability to move through walls however that power has always been hard to depict in a toy.  I think this is part of the reason why there have not been many Kitty Pryde toys in the past.  Without her power her costume is pretty vanilla, without much exciting going on.  That said Kitty is a very popular character and she has had a big role in recent X-Men comics as well as Guardians of The Galaxy with her burgeoning romantic relationship with Star Lord.

This figure kind of surprised me though because she looks really good even if her costume is vanilla.  The face of Kitty looks really good, very much like a real person.  The hair looks great with the bangs and pony tail.  Overall the effect is really pretty striking.  The eyes are neat and detailed as well.

The Kitty figure also comes with the character Lockheed who is the purple dragon.  This actually adds some spice to the set.  You can pose Lockheed on her kneck or make her hold him in her palm.

You also get two pieces for Build-A-Figures.
First you get the head for the Magneto Onslought figure.
Second you get the arm for Juggernaut Build-A-Figure

One thing about this Kitty Pryde is that she is pretty tall.  She is actually a slight bit taller than Rogue and in my head she should have been a little shorter than Rogue.




Rogue

The Rogue figure is meant to capture her famous Jim Lee design of the 90s.  Which is my personal favorite costume for Rogue.  I just think she has the most swagger the way Jim drew her.

Like the other characters in the series she has amazingly sculped hair that is both detailed and dramatic. The white streak that Rogue is famous for is clearly visible and well done.  The white streak blends well with brown hair in a natural looking way.  She also has a cool bandanna/headband that waves cooly to her side.

Rogue's face is very well done as well, looks very life like.  I think the eyes and cheek bone structures in all these figures are impressive but I think I like Rogues the best.

She also has Rogue's iconic bomber jacket that is fitting over the X-Men costume.  The jacket is very nicely detailed and really helps scream out that this is Rogue. 

One cool added feature is that Rogue has an interchangeable ungloved hand.  This is pretty cool as you can show her reaching out to touch someone and use her power.

Rogue comes with a leg of the Juggernaut Build-A-Figure.






Phoenix


This is not my most favorite figure in this set by any means but I do think she has a really different face, it looks life like.  The hair is also very detailed and dramatic and the poses you can make with Phoenix are very epic.

The Phoenix figure comes with the chest of the Juggernaut Build-A-Figure.




Deadpool



The Deadpool figure comes with most most and by far the most fun accessories of any figure in the set.  The accessories include of all things a taco, which I think is awesome.  My taco eating shirt is a Deadpool shirt so that makes perfect sense to me.

He also comes with two Katannas, a bazooka, a variety of guns and a knife.  He also comes with a maskless Deadpool face.



Ice Man



IceMan comes with the arm of the Juggernaut Build-A-Figure.


Cable


Cable has a really angry and life like face with cool detailed eyes.  His face overall looks really bad ass and cool.  You can see the scars and cyborgnetic parts of his face meeting the flesh and it just give off a really tough and cool effect.

His body is covered in pockets and straps which really make him look like soldier.

He comes with massive guns and a chain of ammo.

The most striking part of the Cable figure might his metal arm.  Its just full of metallic details and the color used really pops.  The hand on the metal arm is covered with a glove that also gives off a very realistic vibe.


Cable comes with the waist of the Juggernaut Build-A-Figure.




Havok




Havok is not the top of a list for a figure I want but I have to say that this figure is very cool. The light effects that slip over his hands really pop, especially in a dark back ground with a bit of a back light.


Havok comes with the leg of the Juggernaut Build-A-Figure.







Check out the Marvel shop up above.  It is designed to pull Marvel Legend figure deals directly from Amazon.


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Who is Master Izo?

August 9, 2018, 1:40 pm

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Master Izo is a martial arts master and the founder of the group called the Chaste in the Marvel Universe.  He is over 500 years old.  There is a theory that the blind beggar in episode 8 of Iron Fist (The Blessing of Many Fractures) is Master Izo.  The actor that played the blind beggar is actor Jon Kit Lee.  See MCU section toward the bottom of this page for more on this theory.

First Appearance: Daredevil #112 (2008)


Bio:


Centuries ago Master Izo was a member of the Hand warrior clan.  When the Clan sought to add power by adding the influence of a Demon, Izo left.  He disagreed with the evil energy that corrupted the clan.  He created his own clan high up on a cliff called the Chaste.

As part of his founding of the Chaste, Izo cut out his eyes, blinding himself so he could see the world in a special way.  In this way he developed the radar sense like power that Daredevil is known for.  Over many years he brought in other students and trained them in the ways of the warrior.  He also battled his old clan the Hand who had now become fully perverted by the evil of the Demon.

Master Izo is not saint, but more of an old, grumpy warrior.  He has many issues that made him hard to tolerate to the other members of the Chaste.  He was very impulsive and would do things on a whim.  He was also prone to bouts of alcoholism and gambling.

Eventually he is replaced as Leader of the Chaste by his blind pupil Stick.

He remains part of the group but also often goes off on his own way.  He has worked for both the Hand and the Chaste.  He has at numerous times tried to reform the Hand away from their evil ways.  As part of this schemes he has added his own mole Tarantula into the organization and even trained the woman Lady Bullseye to be the clans eventual leader.

He reappears in the Shadowland story to tell everyone that Daredevil has been corrupted by the evil demon the Beast.


Alcoholism:

Master Izo battles alcoholism much like Tony Stark.


Powers:

• Radar sense
• Highly Advanced Martial Arts
• Immortality or slowed aging (Current age is over 500 years old)

MCU:


Toylab blogger Marvel Matt has a theory that the blind beggar in episode 8 of Iron Fist (The Blessing of Many Fractures) is Master Izo.  The actor that played the blind beggar is actor Jon Kit Lee.

In episode 8 of Iron Fist season 1 Danny, Colleen Wing, and Claire Temple attack a Hand facility.  To gain information on the facility Colleen talks to a blind homeless man outside of the facility.  The man is non descript but seems comfortable talking in English.  He also willingly provides information to help the the group infiltrate the base.  The character is quickly eclipsed by the group's battles within the compound and not touched on again.  However, I would not be surprised if that blind homeless man appears in the Defenders.

While the homeless man may be nothing more than a homeless man, I feel that it could also be Master Izo.  He has not yet been shown in the Daredevil scenes with Chaste and he is known for going off on his own.  Possibly he was outside the Hand base spying on the group pretending to be nothing ore than a drunk, homeless person.  This would be away to help tie together the events of Iron Fist with the events in Daredevil.  It would also help to explain the Chaste and the Hand.

At some point the series needs to explore the origins of the Hand and explain who they are.



Related:
All Daredevil and Defenders Saga News! 

Who is Daredevil?
 

Who is Stick?

Kymellians

March 12, 2018, 9:00 pm

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Kymellians are an alien race in the Marvel Universe that have human like bodies but horse like heads.  They are most active in the Powerpack comic stories but have showed up else where.  They also joined in an alliance with the Inhumans and the Kree.

Kymellians live in the Andromeda Galaxy home of Xandar and the Skrull Empire.  Their original planet Kymellia was destroyed in a power generating experiment.  The Kymellians built a new artificial home planet that they live on called Kymellia II.

Related Posts:
Is Morag on GotG actually Kymellia I? 
Who is Beta Ray Bill? Is that him in Guardians of the Galaxy?
Marvel Alien Races and Cosmic Maps

The Kymellians technology feels like a mix of magic and science similar to depictions of Asgardian technology.  Kymellians have the ability to perform super powers but they must spend large amounts of time learning how to use them and control them.  Only a small amount master a large amount of powers and these Kymellians are called Sorcerers.  There is a wide range of powers that can be performed by a sorceror.

Earth and Powerpack
A Kymellian named Aelfyre Whiteman "Whitey" is studying Earth when he sees that a scientist Dr Power is working on a similar experiment that destroyed Kymellia.  Whitey reveals himself to Dr Power but the Kymellians enemies the Snarks show up and kidnap Dr Powers to get the energy formula.  Whitey teaches the 4 Powers children how to use powers like the Kymellians and they form the group the Powerpack.


Universal Inhumans:
 
The Kymellians are later shown being part of an alliance with the Inhumans, Badoon, Dire Wraiths and Centurians called the Universal Inhumans.
The reason for the 5 groups coming together is in Fantastic Four #577.  Apparently all 5 of the species were experimented on by the Kree in the hopes of jumpstarting Kree evolution.  The Kree believe that the 5 species all have the necessary genetic markers combined to help them.

Blackbolt is not happy about this and upon learning about it goes to Hala to kick Kree butt.  The other four species begin to look toward Blackbolt as a Messianic figure and the alliance is born.

Universal Inhumans

Cinema/Movie Universe:

In the beginning of the movie the Guardians of the Galaxy the character Starlord is traversing across the desolate planet of Morag.  There he observes remains that appear to have a horse head and a humanoid body.  It is not known if these were meant to be Kymellian remains.

Toylab has a freaking TON of Guardians of the Galaxy content related to reviews, the comics, art and cosplay check it all out at in the link below!

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Who is Beta Ray Bill? Is that him in Guardians of the Galaxy?


Marvel Alien Races and Cosmic Maps

Who is Spider-Man 2099?

March 12, 2018, 10:25 pm

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Who is Spider-Man 2099?
Spider-Man 2099 is the publication name of the Spider-Man that operates in the Marvel 616 universe in the year 2099.  He was part of the 2099 Marvel publications.  Spider-Man 2099's secret identity was Miguel O'Hara who was the first Hispanic character to assume the identity of Spider-Man.

First appearance:
His first appearances are kind of cool.  His first appearance is in Amazing Spider-Man 365 which features a holographic cover.
His first self titled book Spider-Man 2099 #1 has a foil cover.  These were the fun things that comics did with their covers in the 90s.

Amazing Spider-Man #365
 
First self-titled book - Spider-Man 2099 #1


Spider-Man 2099 News and Multi-Media:

• Spider-Man 2099 cosplay 
• Meet all of the Spiders of the Spider-Verse! 
• What is the Spider-Verse?  
• Who is Spider-Man? 

Spider-Man 2099 Bio:
Miguel O'Hara is a genuis child born into an abusive home.  He manages to get a scholarship to a special boarding school Alchemax Boarding School for gifted youngsters (Could be the renovated Xavier's school).  There he meets other gifted kids like love interest and genuis computer programer Xina Kwan.

Miguel O'Hara becomes the lead geneticist on a project to recreate Spider-Man's powers in soldiers.  With the aim of making super soldiers. He is working for the highly corrupt Alchemax corporation.  After the death of a test subject Miguel attempts to quit but is blackmailed to continue by the president of Alchemax.  The president injects Miguel with a highly addictive drug that only Alchemax creates.  If Miguel gets the drug from a different source (Black market) the president will turn him in.

Miguel is a genuis though and hatches a plan to rid himself of drug dependency.  He breaks into Alchemax and enters a machine to rewrite his DNA back to how it was prior to the inducement of the drug.  A jealous coworker sabotages the DNA rewrite and adds Spider DNA to the mix.  Leaving the machine Miguel learns that he now contains 50% spider DNA and has Spider powers like the Spider-Man hero he had been studying.  He makes a suit and begins fighting crime beneath the name of Spider-Man.  One of his prime targets are the huge Mega Corporations that have corruptly taken control of the world.

Miguel has a bit of a bizarre appearance that he must cover up.  He has red iris's that are highly sensitive to sunlight so he is constantly wearing sunglasses.  He also has fangs in his mouth. If he is angered or shocked he can also release his hand/feet talons or accidentally spray his webbing.  He has found a variety of ways of hiding these features.  He is forced to talk almost like a ventriloquist to hide his fangs. 

Spider-Man 2099 became stranded in the present during the Superior Spider-Man's run as the main Spider-Man in the 616 universe.  The Superior Spider-Man strands Miguel to battle an army of Spider Slayers leaving Miguel very angry at Spider-Man.  When Peter retakes his control of his body and effectively ends the reign of the Superior Spider-Man he explains the crazy story of how Otto Ocatavius took control of his body.  Miguel accepts the story because it is "too stupid to be anything but true."

Miguel has now joined with the other spider-totem in the Spider-Verse event.  Miguel sees the Exciles Spider-Man killed by Morlun and leaves to find Peter to let him know about the return of Morlun.

Spider-Man 2099 Powers and Skills:

Powers:
Due to his rewritten genetic code with that of a Spider, Miguel has similar powers to those of Spider-Man.
Super Strength, speed, agility, durability.

Faster healing- Not Wolverine fast but much faster than a normal human.

No Spider-Sense - He does not possess Spider Sense like many of the other versions of Spider-Men

Heightened hearing and sight.  Can hear a pin drop, and has highly advanced vision that can detect movement and zoom in on far off objects.  His vision is very light sensitive so he wears sunglasses to avoid blindness.  Even a normal light can cause him to go blind.

Wall crawling - Has talons that allow him to climb walls on his feet and hands.


Paralyzing Venom - Miguel can bite people and inject a venom that paralyzes his enemies temporarily.

Webbing - Calls his web lines Spinnerets that he uses to travel by web swinging, and to entangle his opponents.

Skills:
He has a genius level intellect and is one of the foremost minds on genetics in the Marvel universe.
No real martial training but develops skills with his powers as he goes along.

Marvel putting out Shuri Collection in March

March 13, 2018, 8:08 am

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Marvel putting out a Shuri collection

The immense popularity of the Black Panther film is both increasing his popularity and also causing attention to his supporting caste.   The film did a great job and showcasing a lot of Wakanda and giving many of its characters time to develop on screen. 

One of the characters that stood out was Shuri who had a cute sprite personality that meshed brilliant with her fierce intellect and warrior abilities to be a very unique character.   At has even been pointed out by some that Shuri is in fact a Disney Princess.  Which would allow the company to use her brand alongside Belle and Mulan.  With this new attention on the character Marvel is rushing to put to print a collection of Shuri comics.

Some people think that Shuri was created for the film or has always been in the background of comics.  This is actually not true.  Shuri had a significant arc under Black Panther scribe Reginald Hudlin who had her fill the shoes of T'Challa as Black Panther.  The series is pretty solid as well and has Shuri facing off against Morlun the eater of totems (A great villain).  Some people think of Morlun as purely a Spider-Man villain but he has faced the Black Panther on numerous occasions.  The popular X-Men Storm aka Queen Ororo also features heavily in this story as she was married to T'Challa during this period.  I liked this arc however I will say that the comic Shuri had a different personality as the character on film.  So just take that as a bit of a warning.  My guess is that in future Black Panther comics they may tweak the character to be a bit more like her movie counterpart.

The new collection pulls together Black Panther 1-6 of the Shuri arc and will be a total of 144 pages.

BLACK PANTHER: SHURI - THE DEADLIEST OF THE SPECIES (NEW PRINTING)
WRITTEN BY REGINALD HUDLIN
PENCILED BY KEN LASHLEY
COVER BY J. SCOTT CAMPBELL
Who is the Black Panther? Under the protection of the Black Panther, the African nation of Wakanda has thrived. But after attending a secretive, mysterious meeting, T’Challa — the current Black Panther and ruler of Wakanda — returns home with severe injuries and locked in a comatose state. Though Wakanda is a powerful nation capable of defending itself, its power comes directly from its leader, the Black Panther — and in the event that T’Challa doesn’t emerge from his coma, a successor must be chosen. For Shuri, younger sister of T’Challa, the time has finally come to take up the mantle. But as she embarks on the dangerous ritual to become the new Black Panther, the stakes have never been higher. An unstoppable force is headed toward Wakanda: Morlun is back, and he’s hungry! 

Collecting BLACK PANTHER #1-6.
144 PGS./Rated T+ …$14.99
ISBN 978-1-302-91419-6
DIAMOND CODE: JAN188892

Also see:
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Who is the Fusia Girl in Guardians of the Galaxy?

March 13, 2018, 8:49 pm

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Who is the Fusia Girl in Guardians of the Galaxy

Question who is the fusia girl in the newly released Guardians of the Galaxy Picture?  The girl is not treated particularly well by Peter Quill. A victim of his "Pelvic Sorcery".  She appears in his ship the Milano as he flees with the Power Infinity Stone from the planet Morag.   He apparently forgot she was on board at all.  Geez Peter.  Many people found her to be intriguing and wondered if she was a character from the comics and....


My research into who she was began before the movie even came out.
My first guess is that Fusia girl is the character Carina played by Ophelia Lovebond but that does not look like Ophelia Lovebond.  Carina is the daughter of the Collector in the comics and his assistant in the film.  This is obviously not Carina.

Learn more about Carina (Click Here) 

I think they are clearly different actresses but this brings up the question.
Who is she?

There is also another red girl shown in a cell in the collector's museum.  This girl appears to be a former assistant of the Collector who has fallen out of favor.  Apparently he is not a very nice boss.
The Collector's Museum


Update and Final Answer.........


The mystery fusia girl is the comic character Bereet.  Bereet is an obscure character from the Incredible Hulk stories.   She comes from a Humanoid-Avian like race (Not the Shi'ar) called the Krylorians.  She is a techno artist which is a person that builds life like movies that entertain her people.   A techno artist would be like combining a rockstar and a movie director.   Her people are very advanced but are addicted to escapist techno art.  Using her advanced technology she can manipulate perceptions of people around her.  Bereet appeared in Hulk around the same time Rocket Raccoon did.

Both Bereet and Carina appear to be Krylorians type aliens in the film Guardians of the Galaxy.
Who are Krylorians?

 


Melia Kreiling
Bereet is played by actress Melia Kreiling whom I had not heard of before the movie.  She is certainly becoming a popular name right now.  Even though it was a small part, many left the theater wondering who she was.
If you want to see more of Melia Kreiling she is a cast member in the Showtime show the Borgias.  Melia has joined the cast of the show Tyrant and plays Daliyah.

IMDB Bio of Melia Krieling states:
Melia Kreiling was born in Geneva, Switzerland to American father Randall A. Kreiling and Greek mother Katia Dimopoulou, and she was raised in Athens, Greece. Melia moved to the UK where she attended the Northern School of Contemporary Dance, and later the London School of Dramatic Art. She soon signed with London-based talent agent Piers Nimmo, and immediately landed her first role in the Neil Jordan-created TV series The Borgias (Showtime) as Bianca Gonzaga, playing alongside Jeremy Irons. She went on to work on television hits such as The Bible (History) and blockbuster Guardians of the Galaxy (Marvel), as well as art-house films Committed (S.Kliris) and Suspension of Disbelief (M.Figgis). Following these, Melia relocated to Los Angeles, CA. Melia remains with Piers Nimmo Management and was also signed by talent agents David Bugliari and Rick Kurtzman at CAA, and manager Stacy O'Neil at Brillstein Entertainment Partners. Melia is a series regular on the hit TV show Tyrant (FX Networks), and will appear in 2016 in the upcoming films DXM (A.Goth) and Healer (J.Erskine).

I believe this is her again.

Melia Krieling from Borgias

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