A Darker Spider-Man
April 15, 2007 | 2 Comments
I am certain that putting Spider-Man back in the black suit was primarily a marketing ply to bring him inline visually with the new Spider-Man 3 film coming out this summer. It can’t help but sell comics if the book on the newsstand looks just like the character on the big screen.
However, I have been pleasantly surprised by how they are playing out this change in the books. First of all, in the wake of Civil War, Aunt May was shot by a sniper hired by the Kingpin. All evidence indicates this bullet will be lethal, but for now she hangs on, in a coma, sustained by life support. He vows to avenge her by all necessary means. In fact, as you can see in the image on the left, he intends to find who is responsible and he “is going to kill them”.
Additionally, Peter Parker decides not to take the pardon offered by new director of S.H.I.E.L.D, Tony Stark/Iron Man. This leaves him as a criminal fugitive in defiance of the Superhero Registration Act. As part of this he remains a member of the New Avengers who are now made up entirely of heroes in a similar situation. Now led by Luke Cage, the New Avengers are made up of Wolverine (Logan), Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew), Iron Fist (Danny Rand), Ronin (unknown), Echo (Maya Lopez; formerly Ronin), and the surprise addition of Doctor Stephen Strange. This is a group who are known far more for street level crime fighting as opposed to global/galactic/cosmic level events. They start right out fighting Elektra and The Hand, but Spider-Man is here to fight the Kingpin’s crew.
This newly formed team is certainly darker, with a much more aggressive take on crime fighting. The US government considers all of them criminals and this combined with their plans, means they will be taking out their aggressions in potentially lethal ways. I would not want to be a street thug in the Marvel Universe with these guys out for vengeance. The image below shows that they are not implying this, but stating it outright.
Al of this leaves us with a Spider-Man who has turned to much darker tactics. His life has taken a dark turn. So… using the black costume as a symbol of his new stance both to fans reading the book and to criminals he will encounter in the Marvel Universe is a nice and accurate touch. Again, the marketing aspect of this change had me a bit hesitant about their decision to make this change, but I’m loving the story lines that are emerging.
Tags: "black suit", "Spider-Man 3", aunt may, avengers, danny rand, dark, doctor strange, echo, elektra, iron fist, iron man, jessica drew, lethal, logan, luke cage, marvel, marvel universe, maya lopez, new avengers, power man, Ronin, shield, spider-man, spider-woman, stephen strange, the hand, tony stark, vengeance, Wolverine
Moon Knight TV Series Coming Soon
October 25, 2006 | 12 Comments
Marvel announced today a deal with No Equal Entertainment to create Marvel’s character Moon Knight as a television series. Moon Knight is not the most well known of Marvel’s heroes, but he certainly has the potential for development. After many short and semi-successful comic series going back to 1975. Moon Knight did not experience real success until the 80’s when he managed to sustain 60 issues or so.
I count Moon Knight amongst Marvel’s other 70’s era vigilantes who have seen medium success, more so in the 80’s to early 90’s. Each of these heroes is currently being explored and expanded in new series by Marvel currently. These heroes include: Ghost Rider, Iron Fist, Power Man, and Punisher.
Since most people aren’t familiar with MK, from the Wikipedia character analysis:
Moon Knight is often criticized as an ersatz Batman and the parallels are indeed apparent. Writer of the 2006 relaunch of Moon Knight, Charlie Huston, attempted to answer these criticisms in an interview with Comixfan. The interviewer noted that the comparison is not baseless, as both Moon Knight and the Dark Knight are wealthy, “normal” humans that use gadgetry to fight crime. Though not specifically mentioned by the interviewer, further comparisons may be drawn due to the two characters’ specialized vehicles, use of themes in their gadgets, and use of fear to aid their fight against the criminal element.
Huston, though he disagreed, accepted that the character may be a rip-off of Batman, but went on to contrast the two by noting in particular differences in origin, motives, and personality. “Bruce Wayne,” he said, “fights crime to avenge the murders of his parents,” whereas Moon Knight “beats up whoever has it coming because he believes he is the avatar of the Egyptian god of vengeance and it helps him to feel better about all the people he killed when he was a mercenary.” Thus, while Batman is motivated by vengeance for wrong done to his parents, Marc Spector primarily seeks redemption from crimes he committed in his mercenary past. Huston further notes that Bruce Wayne, Batman’s alterego, takes on other personalities merely to aid in his fight. However, Moon Knight has three alteregos which aid him as much in dealing with personal demons as fighting law-breakers, and which have taken a further psychological toll of causing multiple personality disorder.
I actually think Moon Knight has the potential to be developed into a useful TV franchise. Since few people are familiar with the character, he can be expanded and developed in whatever ways the writers want to take them. Additionally, with his Batman-like characterization, there is plenty to fall back on. Add to that the dark and twisted features mixed with the multiple personality stuff and suddenly this vigilante story can go mainstream.
With this in mind, I remain hopeful. I’ll be paying close attention to casting and hopefully No Equal Entertainment can pull off a hit TV show with this. Anything has to be better than the short lived Blade Series…
Tags: batman, blade, charlie huston, comic books, comics, iron fist, marc spector, marvel, moon knight, no equal entertainment, power man, punisher, television