Modern Pantheon: The Justice League

All of the image credits for this post go to Alex Ross, DC Comics, and Warner Brothers. For me, the above picture represents a standard. I have mentioned in a previous post that I thought that Warner Brothers and DC had made an artistic mistake when designing the costumes of their superheroes for this franchise. I mean, why mess around? The work has already been done, and I regard the work of Alex Ross as the gold standard for the visual appearance of DC characters. It’s okay to update things a little, and I would point to the design work for Wonder Woman as a less controversial example.

I don’t normally review trailers or other promotional materials for movies since I prefer to see the finished product before writing about it, but this was too intriguing. The poster below is a step in the right direction, and I hope it is an indication of visually more satisfying things to come from the DCEU. Featured in the movie poster are Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash, and Cyborg. I’m still not totally satisfied. After all, we’re talking about cherished images from my childhood here, but I’m willing to keep my mind open for the time being.

You can’t go wrong with imitating an Alex Ross poster. I was enthused about the following version as well. It gives an indication that Superman isn’t going to stay dead (surprise, surprise). They might even redeem the colors in his costume. Then again, am I looking at a fan art insert? The lighting on the Kryptonian doesn’t seem to match.

The trailer showed some good action scenes, some good dialogue, and some dialogue that still makes me wince. From the studio that brought you, “The bat’s dead; bury it,” we now have “Dressed like a bat; I can dig it.” Delivered by the king of Atlantis, no less. I read that Joss Whedon has been brought into the project, but I don’t know how much influence he’ll have since the filming was completed before he came on board. From all this, I expect that the final version of the movie will be uneven, but I think it will be worth seeing. I will test this hypothesis by firmly planting my 64-year-old derriere in a theater seat come November.

Ancient To Modern: Borrowed Gods (4)

Loki

In Norse mythology, Loki is a shape-shifter (hence, a trickster) who is ascribed various powers in different versions or accounts. He is sometimes described as helping the other members of the Norse Pantheon and sometimes as working against them. This diversity makes him nuanced and interesting. In the original myths, he is completely unrelated to Odin, Freya, and Thor.

Loki shown in an 18th Century Icelandic manuscript.

The punishment of Loki by Louis Huard (1813-1874).

Loki and Sigyn (1863) by Marten Eskil Winge.

This Norse god has been skillfully re-written in Marvel Comics. In their version, he is the adopted son of Odin and Frigga (Freya) and the envious stepbrother of Thor.

Credit: Marvel Comics

This unavoidably sets him at odds with the Avengers (get a load of the old Iron Man).

Credit: Marvel Comics

The imagery for this character has been  effectively re-invented in the comics. Below is a later version.

Credit: Marvel Comics

Disney Marvel also got Loki’s imagery right, and Tom Hiddleston excellently portrays him in the movies. In my opinion, he has become one of the best villains in cinematic history.

From The Avengers (2012), directed by Joss Whedon.

“Marvel’s Thor: The Dark World” (2013, directed by Alan Taylor)
Loki (Tom Hiddleston)
Ph: Film Frame
© 2013 MVLFFLLC. TM & © 2013 Marvel. All Rights Reserved.

We’ll look at one more Norse god next week and then move back to the Greek pantheon.

 

The Modern Pantheon: Thanos

From The Avengers (2012), directed by Joss Whedon

So I did something I hadn’t done in a long time. I bought some graphic novels. And what did I choose? I  decided to read Thanos: The Infinity Revelation and Thanos: The Infinity Relativity, both by Jim Starlin, Andy Smith, and Frank D’Armata. This betrayed my interest in a character which I had seen during those brief clips at the end of The Avengers and Avengers: Age Of Ultron (both directed by Joss Whedon) as well as more prominently in Guardians Of The Galaxy  (directed by James Gunn).

From Guardians Of The Galaxy (2014), directed by James Gunn

We know from his appearances so far that Thanos is a very powerful being who is attempting to collect the Infinity Stones for some nefarious purpose, so he’s not a very nice guy. I mean, he ordered an invasion of earth, for crying out loud. The movies have not yet developed his character sufficiently, but if they incorporate any of his characteristics from the comics, he should be interesting and fun to watch. In the comics, he is an intellectually as well as physically advanced alien with a nihilistic intellect. He loves death (literally), and death ultimately has no power over him. He is possessed by intellectual curiosity and cannot resist a good puzzle. This sense of inquiry could make him a psychological study to rival Loki if he is written properly. I look forward to seeing him in the Infinity Wars adaptations scheduled for future release.

The Modern Pantheon: The Vision

The summer of 2015 was a good one for my little boy heart. Jurassic World and Ant Man actually exceeded my rather low expectations, and I enjoyed them thoroughly. Between these two, Avengers: Age Of Ultron (directed by Joss Whedon) was released, and this movie introduced a character with which I became fascinated: The Vision as played by the excellent Paul Bettany, whom I have enjoyed in other roles. The imagery associated with this superhero was compelling in a different way.  His observant, newborn quality, his frank sincerity, and his emotional detachment give him an unusual aura of resolve and undefined purpose.

The concepts behind who and what The Vision is, as well as the circumstances of his creation, are intriguing as is shown in the clip below:

Born of artificial intelligence programs (Ultron and ultimately Jarvis), synthetic biology, the efforts of Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, and the electrical energy of Thor’s hammer acting on an Infinity Stone, he springs into being in an initially ominous way and then reveals himself as benign. Explaining himself to be neither Ultron nor Jarvis, he proclaims simply, “I am.” This and other cryptic quotations of scripture throughout the movie left me guessing at what the writers (Joss Whedon and Stan Lee) were trying to accomplish.

The Vision exudes purity and is more than the sum of his parts. Energized with unearthly, god-like power and incorporating scientific ingenuity as well, he is a hybrid being, a type of material and divine amphibian. It is within his nature to wield Thor’s hammer, something which only the worthy can do, and this puts him in the select company of Thor and Odin. The Mind Stone, a relic from the creation of the universe, is in his forehead, and this makes him a paradox, both new and ancient. Since the movies of the Disney Marvel franchise have already gone beyond the ideas of the original comics, we don’t fully understand who The Vision is and who he will become. I look forward to his further unveiling.

The Modern Pantheon: Loki

“Marvel’s Thor: The Dark World” (2013, directed by Alan Taylor)
Loki (Tom Hiddleston)
Ph: Film Frame
© 2013 MVLFFLLC. TM & © 2013 Marvel. All Rights Reserved.

Loki (played magnificently by Tom Hiddleston) is a god. Just ask him:

The above scene from The Avengers (2012, directed by Joss Whedon), in which Loki’s argument is rendered moot by the Hulk, reminds me of a passage from the second chapter of Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton (perhaps my favorite author).

“So you are the Creator and Redeemer of the world: but what a small world it must be! What a little heaven you must inhabit, with angels no bigger than butterflies! How sad it must be to be God; and an inadequate God! Is there really no life fuller and no love more marvellous than yours; and is it really in your small and painful pity that all flesh must put its faith? How much happier you would be, how much more of you there would be, if the hammer of a higher God could smash your small cosmos, scattering the stars like spangles, and leave you in the open, free like other men to look up as well as down!”

This kind of ambition – to dominate, to subjugate, to exalt oneself above others – is madness. By human standards, it may even be seen as an entirely reasonable madness. Chesterton again:

The madman is not the man who has lost his reason. The madman is the man who has lost everything but his reason.

And the cure?

I mean that if you or I were dealing with a mind that is growing morbid, we should be chiefly concerned not so much to give it arguments as to give it air, to convince it that there was something cleaner and cooler outside the suffocation of a single argument.

In various ways, I suppose we are all mad, that we all consider ourselves gods. Time to breathe, Loki. Otherwise, yourself is all you get.