Nerd Tuesday! The Ultimate DC vs Marvel Battle!

 Okay, I probably made this sound a whole lot more Epic then it really is, but when I went to Sensuous Sandwich for lunch today with my Dad and brother Steven, they had this Marcel vs DC fighting brackets on the giant chalkboard.  It's going to play out over 12 weeks, as voting is done while paying tips.  (It's a good way to make a little extra tip money.)  So, for fun, I pulled out a pen and we cast our own votes on a napkin.

Voting had already started for the first bracket, and Wolverine had already won, but I would have chosen his win as well.  I'm honestly not a huge Hulk fan, and the Wolverine is hard to kill.

Jean Grey vs Black Widow.  This was a tough one.  I personally chose Jean Grey, because she's crazy powerful, but I think, in the restaurant, Black Widow will win thanks to popularity.  But regardless if it's Black Widow or Jean Grey going against Wolverine, Wolvie will win.  He would kick Black Widow's ... and we already know Jean Grey asked him to kill her, though if she fought all out and didn't want to die, Jean Grey would win.  Her loss is due to a mental/emotional breakdown.

Loki vs Bucky.  Yeah, I don't even need to think this over.  Loki.

Ironman VS Captain America.  I personally would want the Cap to win, but thanks to the comics (and potential spoilers for the future of the Marvel Movie Universe) Iron Man wins.   Didn't mean to spoil anything there.  We'll know when the movie come out, but I'm thinking of the comics and Sebastian Stan's Marvel movie contract.

Now Loki against Iron Man?  I'm giving it to Loki again.  It did take, what, how many Avengers to beat him?  Yeah . . . and Iron Man is going solo.

And the final Marvel clash, Wolverine against Loki.  I'm giving it to Loki.  They're both super popular characters, super popular, but I just like Loki, and he's got skill.

Okay, now DC.

Aquaman vs the Green Lantern . . .

Yeah . . . not a fan of both.  On this my Dad and brother had a small debate.

Steven: Aquaman needs water to fight.  All Green Lantern has to do is throw him into space and he's beat.

Dad: If Green Lantern finds Aquaman in a bathtub, he's toast.

Okay, disturbing visuals aside, I'm giving it to Aquaman because, in the case of this fighting scenario, Green Lantern stumbles upon Aquaman swimming in an Olympic sized pool.  Case close.  And I really didn't like that movie.

The Joker vs Catwoman.  I personally think Joker would win, but my Dad said she's hot, so go with her.  (That spurred a "which version of Catwoman do you find hot?" discussion, but I won't get into that here.)

Batman vs Wonder Woman.  Batman.  Not going to think this one through.

Superman vs Sinestro.  Superman.  Another one I don't need to think through.

Back to the top!  Aquaman vs Catwoman.  I'm saying Catwoman, because this battle was fought in a desert.

Batman vs Superman!!  The great debate!!!  Technically, if Superman wasn't all small town moral and all that, Superman would pulverize Batman from miles away.  Kryptonite would have no effect.  Laser eyes.  But since the comics always paint Batman like a genius, and Superman as an idiot, Batman always seems to win in the comics.  And Batman wins here, too, though if Superman didn't hold back, he would win faster than a speeding bullet.

Now Loki vs Batman.  Honestly, unlike Superman (who has a weakness against magic and deception, proven by Wonder Woman), Batman would stand a fighting chance.  He's smart and knows how to exploit an opponents weakness, yet Joker is not nearly as powerful as Loki, and Batman has yet to defeat him, so in this battle . . . 

Loki Wins!

Now the real question . . . where was Thor during all this madness?

Nerd Tuesday! Just Because

I've decided that today is Nerd Tuesday!

Why?

Why not.

I'm tired and it seems like a Brilliant idea . . . 

. . . though technically everyday should be Nerd Day.

Anywho!

it's crazy how things have changed in just the last few years thanks to the book wars.  The dominance of Amazon and online shopping is to thank for that, and I'm just as much to blame, because I find myself ordering online time and again for a good discount.

But there have been consequences, such as the closing of Borders Book.  I still reminisce about Borders and how much I miss it.  I still have the rewards card.  (Don't judge!)  But I do miss that store, both the random meet ups with my siblings, which, for some reason, never carried over to Barnes and Noble.  And I miss the three story Borders store in Santa Barbara.  It's so funny, because my family would visit Santa Barbara, and instead of hanging out all day at the beach, we would spend hours in Borders.  Books are magical and that was a magical store.

With all these changes Barnes and Noble has changed their format as well.  Instead of being filled entirely with books and magazines, there's now a large assortment of board games, puzzles, toys, and nerd collectables such as Doctor Who, etc.

Honestly I'm cool with these changes.

And the other day I noticed they created display cases for some of the figures you can buy.  Being the nerd that I am I had to take pictures to share.

 Sailor Moon.  The memories!  Sure brings back some good times watching toonami with my brothers and reading the mangas.

 D.C. vs Marvel.

Marvel wins by default, thanks to the Green Lantern.

And Gundams!

Gundam.

As much of a fan that I am, it's a wonder that I don't own my own tiny mecha.  I should save up and buy a Wing Zero, and then have fun putting the model together.  I haven't put a model together since I was a kid!  Good times.

Avengers: Statistical Awesomeness. My review.

 Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars (Because it's awesome!)

So the question is, at this point, who hasn't seen this movie?  And, after answering that question, was there anyone who didn't end up loving the movie after watching the Avengers?  That would be the anomaly.  

The simple fact that I saw the movie twice proves how much I'm a fan.  My brother, Steven, has now seen it at least four times, and with how much the movie has grossed financially it proves that many others are repeat costumers as well.

To give you an idea, this is how the three Marvels, and one DC, movies performed in 2011.  Thor made $65,723,338 opening weekend, $181,030,624 domestic, and $449,326,618 worldwide.  Captain America made $65,058,524 opening weekend,  $176,654,505  domestic, and $368,608,363 worldwide.  X-Men: First Class made  $55,101,604 opening, $146,408,305 domestic, and $353,624,124 worldwide.  While the Green Lantern, the lone DC movie release last year, made $53,174,303 opening, $116,601,172 domestic, and $219,851,172 worldwide.

Clearly the opening for Green Lantern was on par with X-Men, only word of mouth was not as strong, resulting in an overall poor gross.  Now the Dark Knight, a DC Universe film, which had the strongest overall superhero gross up till now made $158,411,483 opening weekend, $533,345,358 domestically, and $1,001,921,825 worldwide.

How did The Avengers compare?  So far, with only three weeks into the domestic (U.S.A) release the movie has broken all sorts of records. (Worldwide territories opened in Australia, France, the Philippines, and New Zealand two weeks before the US; and in England, Germany, Brazil, Mexico, and India a week before the US release, which helped contribute to the buzz).  The movies opening domestic gross was $207,438,708, $468,271,215 overall domestic, and $1,191,571,215 worldwide.  And the movie is far from leaving theaters.

Sorry, movie stats make me geeky excited.  Further proof that I'm a cinephile.

So what did I think of the movie?  I thought it was brilliant.  Sure, it's not a super intense intellectual fare, but a masterfully crafted Summer flick filled with humor, great characters, action, and excitement.  I was worried that the movie would fill too crowded, with all the superheros and villains needing screen time, but the writing, direction, and editing was so perfect that every plot was nicely balanced. I really enjoyed the scenes that involved Iron Man and Pepper Potts.  Gwyneth Paltrow doesn't have a lot of screen time, but her character was memorable.  And the movie also explored Black Widows past and character a little more; she's interesting and deserves her own movie.  Joss Whedon, of Serenity/Firefly fame, sure knows how to work with strong female characters.

And I hope that everyone who saw the film took the time to stay till the very, very end.  With both showings I attended, I was amazed how many people got up and left!  They missed the best part.

The summer isn't over.  The Spider Man reboot is scheduled for July 3.  And the Dark Knight Rises is opening July 20th.  Every cinema geek will be watching the stats on this one.  With the amazing financial success The Avengers has been, and the records The Dark Knight broke when it came out, is there a chance that the final Batman movie in Christopher Nolan's Batman Trilogy will outstrip the Avengers?  It will be exciting.

With the success of The Avengers, Iron Man 3, coming out next year, just got a $60 million production boost, bringing the total costs to around $200 million.  Also coming out next year is the second Thor movie.  Oh, you want to hear an exciting movie season?  2013, Thanksgiving/Christmas, you have Thor 2, Hunger Games: Catching Fire, and The Hobbit: Part 2 all being released.  That's going to be fun.  Captain America 2 is coming out Spring 2014.

The Avengers is coming out on DVD/Blu-ray September 25th, and is packed with extra features including director commentary, blooper reel, and deleted scenes.   

Ah!  Now that I've geeked you all out,
Have a great day!
Sarah