What to Watch Before Wonder Man

 

The newest instalment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is set to release on Disney+ in mere days, so I’ve put together a list of the most relevant previous MCU entries of both the movies and shows to watch before the Wonder Man series hits our screens.

 

 

For this first entry, I recommend starting with Iron Man 3 (2013) which (kind of) introduced the armoured Avenger’s comic book arch-foe, The Mandarin. Controversially, the movie instead delivered a rug-pull moment and revealed ‘The Mandarin’ to be (SPOILERS!) actor Trevor Slattery (Sir Ben Kingsley) playing the role of the terrorist villain in propaganda material for the real mastermind of the film.

 

 

The fallout from the controversial decision was mitigated somewhat with the release of the short film All Hail the King, first released on the 2014 home release of Thor: The Dark World and now easily found on Disney+. The short focuses on the incarcerated Trevor Slattery being interviewed by a reporter who reveals there is a real Mandarin who is very much angered at his title and Ten Rings organisation being co-opted. The ending is ambiguous, with Trevor being broken out of prison to meet his namesake…

 

Next up, 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming introduced the Department of Damage Control, who were responsible for cleaning up in the wake of the Battle of New York seen in the first Avengers movie.

 

Notably, they grow and take on more responsibilities, collecting advanced technology and policing those with superpowers as we would see in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Ms. Marvel (2022) and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022). The most relevant DODC member is Agent Cleary (Arian Moayed) who will return in Wonder Man, pursing Simon Williams (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II).

 

Meanwhile, Trevor Slattery returns in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), having been kept almost as a court jester by Wenwu (the real name of ‘The Mandarin’) to entertain members of his Ten Rings organisation. I’m curious to learn how Trevor made it back from mystical Ta Lo and headed to Hollywood for Wonder Man…

 

Hopefully that’s all the background you might need before Wonder Man releases this week.

 

Until I go full method and gain superpowers requiring cool shades, I remain

 

frogoat

 

 

 

 

Is Devil Dinosaur in the MC2?

 

Here’s a fun idea I’ve been chewing over for a while now: What characters could exist in the MC2, but where never seen, referenced or perhaps simply weren’t introduced into Marvel Comics until afterwards? I’ve previously produced a post pondering this proposal when I looked at one of the members of the Guardians of the Galaxy to see if Groot could potentially exist in the MC2. For today, I wanted to take a bite out of another character I’m fond of, to see if Devil Dinosaur could exist in the MC2?

First, we must consider some rules, ironic though it may seem for a thought experiment such as this. Usually the MC2’s point of divergence, ‘cut off point’ or ‘branching point,’ is comics published after 1998, when the MC2 imprint began publication. There have been exceptions to this, with some characters who were created after this point appearing in the MC2, such as Anya Corazón aka Araña. With regards to Devil Dinosaur, we have a very different issue to consider.

 

Created by the king of comics himself, Jack Kirby, Devil first appeared in Devil Dinosaur #1 from 1978. Devil is a mutant tyrannosaurus-like theropod dinosaur of the species known as ‘Devil-Beasts’ (Fallen Angels #4). While Mr Kirby’s intent was for Devil and his ‘Small-Folk’ hominid companion Moon Boy to hail from the distant past of the Main Marvel Universe or Earth-616, it’s now firmly established that they originate from an alternate Earth known as ‘Dinosaur World’, which is officially and in-universe designated as Earth-78411 (The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (vol. 1) #3, The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #7, The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update ’89 #2, The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Master Edition #8,Marvel Monsters: From the Files of Ulysses Bloodstone (and the Monster Hunters) and so on). With all that information as support, it’s safe to say Devil Dinosaur is not native to the 616 Universe. So, does that rule him out of the MC2 Universe also?

 

Fortunately, Devil has traversed the multiverse on multiple occasions, in addition to interacting with visitors to his world from the 616 including Godzilla via Doctor Doom’s Time Platform (Godzilla #21-#22). Devil and Moon Boy have also encountered various others including a Skrull (Devil Dinosaur Spring Fling #1),Lockheed (and nearly Shadowcat) of Excalibur (Marvel Comics Present #174), Ghost Rider and Howard the Duck (Ghost Rider (vol. 3) #81-#83), Wolverine, Namor the Sub-Mariner and Ka-Zar (Wolverine: Global Jeopardy #1) and the Fallen Angels group which included members of the New Mutants team (Fallen Angels #4-#8).

 

One significant story came in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man Annual ’98 (aka ‘Annual #31’) written by none other than Spider-Girl co-creator Tom Defalco. This story saw the duo of Moon Boy and Devil Dinosaur stranded once again on Earth-616 and this time under the hypnotic influence of the Ringmaster of Crime. After Spider-Man liberated the pair, he suggested their relocation to the Savage Land where they were settled soon after.

 

Not only is this story written by MC2 alumni Tom Defalco, but it was also published in 1998 making it a likely inclusion into our hypothetical pre-MC2-publication cut off point. So, could Devil Dinosaur reside in the MC2? Yes, it is possible Devil and Moon Boy remain secluded in the remote Savage Land of Antarctica. Considering no published MC2 stories have visited the Savage Land, I’d like to think Devil and his friend are still out there…

 

Until we get Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur Season 3, I remain

 

frogoat

Spider-Symmetry: The Swinging 60's Spidey

 

For today’s post we have another entry in the occasional series where I endeavour to highlight the visual or narrative symmetry between the Spider-Man and Spider-Girl comics. For this entry of Spider-Symmetry, we are taking a look at a silver age era comic classic and a modern era classic. This instalment, we must credit the amazing penciller and Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko and MC2 and Spider-Girl co-creator, artist extraordinaire and friendly fella, Ron Frenz, but we have a few stops on the way…

 

First up we have the iconic cover to 1964’s Amazing Spider-Man #19 by sturdy Steve Ditko, featuring our webbed wonder, Spider-Man swinging directly toward the reader with various familiar faces surrounding him in a stylized web. Seriously, this guy was talented.

 

It would be remiss of me not to mention the amusing Spider-Man cameo from the pages of Fantastic Four Annual #3 released in 1965. I’ll let it speak for itself.

 

For the generations of Spidey fans who know the 1967 Spider-Man cartoon will no doubt recognize this pose, as it (along with many other poses) was ‘recycled’ for various episodes’ swinging segments.

 

Now, here’s the cover to Amazing Spider-Man #68 by jazzy John Romita Senior, coincidentally released in 1968, which features a similarly swinging Spider-Man albeit rendered very much in the style of Mr. Romita.

 

 

One more time, we have the original Steve Ditko pose brought back and referenced in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man #261 by artist and major Marvel fanboy Ron Frenz.

Coming full circle, the cover to Spider-Girl #42 pencilled by Ron Frenz and released in 2002 demonstrates a combination of both Mr. Ditko and Mr. Romita’s cover poses and art styles, no doubt influenced or informed by Mr Frenz’s own affection for the 60’s Spider-Man animation.

 

Once again, it’s wonderful reverence and references like this that really make the MC2 feel familiar and inclusive of the whole history of the Spidey mythos.

 

Until I make a post about the 70’s series, I remain

 

frogoat

Spider-Girl Versus Doctor Doom

 

Thank goodness for the Internet Archive! The Wayback Machine is an invaluable source of information on the lost and long gone days of the wild west internet. Today, as a sort of early present, I thought it would be nice to post the promotional comic commonly referred to as ‘Internet Super Heroes Meet Internet Super Villains’ in its entirety.

But what is it, exactly? Well, for starters, it has two names. ‘Internet Super Heroes Meet Internet Super Villains’ is the title that appears on the cover, but the comic’s indicia gives it the title ‘Wired Kids’, along with listing it as ‘No.1, November 2005’. I would argue this latter title should be its official title on places such as the Marvel Wiki, but that’s not important right now.

 

The comic was a custom comic printed under exclusive licence and donated by Marvel to Wired Kids Inc., a charity in the United States which was partly dedicated to promoting internet safety for children and teenagers. It appears Microsoft contributed to the comic’s production, as they are also attributed on the cover and in the indicia, along with their own internet safety program at staysafe.org. And yes, this comic was originally distributed for free. Here’s a few examples of the groups aiming to educate the public about internet safety, courtesy of the internet archive:

 

The comic is written by C.B. Cebulski with pencils by Scott Hepburn, with Cebulski and Nicole Wiley acting as editors. The latter name, Nicole Wiley may be familiar to Spider-Girl readers where she also served as an editor for a time. I have to point out that Mayday does appear visually familiar and similar to her MC2 or Earth-982 counterpart but as will become clear, this is not the MC2 Universe.

‘MayDayOne@internetsuperheroes.org’ is May’s email address, while Queens, New York is her physical address, though the Parker Family Home depicted does not resemble the design we are used to, and in my opinion resembles more the one from the Sam Raimi Spider-Man films. May is definitely out of character with her actions in this story, though perhaps it’s forgivable given the purpose of the comic. The less said about this facial hair free Peter Parker the better!

 

The Human Torch is a younger, more immature version, while the Thing…isn’t half covered in metal. So this appears to be an incarnation of the Fantastic *FOUR* closer to the early days of the Main Marvel Universe or Earth-616, albeit with a mature adult Peter Parker who’s a father to a teenage daughter and has an obsession with internet security! Evidently, Mayday is known to Johnny and Ben in her civilian identity. That’s nice.

 

The mysterious secret shadow-dwelling big-bad ‘Mood Dood’ is revealed to be none other than Doctor Doom! Not only does Doctor Doom know Spider-Girl’s secret identity as Mayday, having used her personal email to infect and spread his trojan horse virus, but the story rather uncomfortably suggests Victor Von Doom formed an entire online identity and parasocial relationship to do so. I’ll let that sink in.

Another contact of May’s is targeted, Bruce Banner aka the Incredible Hulk. Bruce’s Xbox gaming session is interrupted by one of Doom’s emails leading to him hulking out. The Human Torch, Thing and Hulk all track down Spider-Girl, three adults knowingly plan to beat up a teenage girl. And keep in mind, they all know her secret identity and therefore know Peter is Spider-Man.

Thankfully Peter shows up in costume and clears things up, shortly before a page stuffed with dialogue balloons that delivers the message the whole story has been laying on thick. Oh, and Victor? Maybe next time don’t use your work email to troll people online? ‘Mooddude@Latveria.com’, I mean come on, really!

As much as I am dunking on this harmless and well-intentioned promotional comic, I will say ‘We’ve beaten him so many times, maybe he feels cyber-crime is the only way he can take us down.’ Is possibly the most savage take down of Doctor Doom I’ve come across. Then again, Doom delivers a rather shocking self-own after he is arrested at the Latverian Embassy by the police (can they actually do that?): ‘I wonder if they have internet access in prison…hmmm…so many kids, so little time.’ I know he’s a villain, but I’m surprised Marvel approved portraying their most high-profile villains in this way.

 

Well this was fun. Happy Holidays! I’m off to update my internet security!

 

Until I decipher what THINKB4UCLICK means, I remain

 

frogoat