“We’re in the endgame now.” The ominous words of Doctor Strange rang in everyone’s ears almost one year ago today. After months of crazy anticipation, and intense speculation by fans, we’re finally going to get closure and see what those words truly mean.
Continue reading “The Avengers Assemble for the ‘Endgame’”
This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend “Incredible Kid Day!” with the cast of Shazam! in Hollywood! The event, sponsored by Warner Bros., Camp Fire, Hispanic Heritage Foundation, Kizuna, and Jack and Jill of America, was organized to celebrate the achievements of some of the most impressive youths in the Southern California region, in such areas as science, sports, academia, and responsible citizenship.
Helping these kids celebrate their wonderful achievements were Marta Milans (Rosa), Jovan Armand (Pedro), Grace Fulton (Mary), Ian Chen (Eugene), and Faithe Herman (Darla), who play Billy Batson and Freddie Freeman’s adopted family in the movie. The cast passed out awards and the kids were able to take one-on-one pictures with the whole crew following the conclusion of the ceremony.
Continue reading “Talking with the Cast of ‘Shazam!’ on Incredible Kid Day”
That’s two in a row for the DCEU! At this point in time, given that even other WB/DC properties like The Lego Batman Movie have openly mocked the franchise’s former unnecessarily dark and cynical roots, we’ve certainly seen a gradual shift towards optimism and fun from Wonder Woman to Justice League. Then to the colorful craziness of Aquaman,and now, Shazam!; DC’s lightest and most family-friendly movie to date. And honestly, especially after seeing Shazam!, in my opinion the results work so much more than they did in the earlier stages of the franchise.
In which I wish I could have Monica Rambeau’s fearlessness when it comes to Black women characters in sci-fi, but I’ve been burned twice before.
Continue reading “Maria Rambeau and My Fear for Black Girls in Space”
Hot off of Captain Marvel’s $500 million box office domination, Marvel Studios is already hard at work assembling the future phases of their Cinematic Universe. After announcing Shang-Chi as the next hero to get a feature, Marvel Studios has tapped director Destin Daniel Cretton to helm their first ever Asian American-led superhero film.
Continue reading “Marvel’s ‘Shang-Chi’ Movie Has a Director”
Sorry to burst your bubble, haters, but Captain Marvel is really good.
With all the controversy surrounding Captain Marvel, created by internet trolls, it was refreshing to watch the film and see how wrong they were about it. Captain Marvel has been labeled a feminist film, and it is, but it does so without dragging men down. Instead, the film focuses on women empowerment, sisterhood, and friendships.
Continue reading “‘Captain Marvel’ Goes Higher Further and Faster For the MCU”
According to today’s live Q&A event hosted by Marvel Studios at a re-created Tower Records in West Hollywood, which also featured live sets by Bush and L7.
A restless crowd found itself eagerly awaiting the commencement of an important event on Friday afternoon in the gorgeous ballroom of a luxurious Los Angeles hotel. High spirits were palpable all around, as everyone had come from seeing one of the most hotly anticipated films of the year a few days before the event: Marvel Studios’ Captain Marvel. The film, a turning point for the ever-expanding success that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe, represented something more than just a typical superhero FX-driven origin story — it was to become Marvel Studios’ first female-led superhero movie. And as such, the crowd was anxious for the announcement that they would soon be joined by the captain, herself, Brie Larson, as well as co-stars Jude Law, Lashana Lynch, Samuel L. Jackson, Gemma Chan, Clark Gregg, directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, and producer-extraordinaire Kevin Feige to discuss candidly what indeed makes her a hero.
Continue reading “The “Marvel”-ous Ms. Danvers: The ‘Captain Marvel’ Press Conference”
In this bonus episode of Hard NOC Life, Keith talks to the creator of #OscarsSoWhite, April Reign, on the eve of the Academy Awards as she prepares to attend her first ever Oscars ceremony!
Continue reading “Hard NOC Life: April Reign is Going to the Oscars”
Captain Marvel is set to release in less than one month, and fans have been anticipating for more juicy details about our awesome HERo and the woman playing her, Brie Larson. During a set visit in May, Captain Marvel directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck revealed the importance of Captain Marvel, aka Carol Danvers, being the first woman-led superhero film for Marvel and the first being directed by a woman director.
“I feel incredibly honored to be given the opportunity to, to be here with this awesome group of people,” Boden told The Nerds of Color. “It amazes me that I am the first female director to be doing one of their films. But I, you know, [I’m] just kind of trying to tackle it like I would any other job. And the more I think about that stuff, the less focused I am. Just kind of trying to work every day, and one of the things that I love about this movie is that what a collaboration — what an amazing collaboration it is.”
Continue reading “‘Captain Marvel’ Directors Dive Deep into Carol Danvers and Brie Larson”
Back in May of 2018, a group of reporters visited the set of Captain Marvel on the Sony lot in Los Angeles to experience Marvel’s newest superhero in person. Although we have not been officially introduced to the feminist hero yet in the MCU, we were given signs of her arrival at the end of Avengers: Infinity War.
As we have seen in the trailers and released photos, we are introduced to Captain Marvel, aka Carol Danvers (Brie Lawson), in the 1990s. This isn’t an origin story. From her first introduction, she already has her powers and is part of the elite military force on the Kree planet Hala. Her Starforce teammates include Korath (Djimon Hounsou) and Minn-Erva (Gemma Chan). There are flashbacks to Danvers’ life as she embarks on her adventure on Earth and meets a young S.H.I.E.L.D. agent named Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). Together, they must work to stop the Skrulls, led by Talos (Ben Mendelsohn), from completing an evil plot.
Want to know more?
Be warned. Below are spoilers.
Continue reading “‘Captain Marvel’ Set Visit: Everything We’ve Learned About the MCU’s Newest Hero”
Brie Larson wants you to know she doesn’t believe the hoopla over the rumors surrounding her character, Captain Marvel.
“I do not look at that stuff, man,” Larson tells The Nerds of Color during the Captain Marvel set visit last May.
Like her character, Carol Danvers, an Air Force pilot who obtained alien powers to become the titled hero, Larson wants to focus on the good she could do in the world.
Continue reading “Brie Larson Talks Being a Feminist Superhero in ‘Captain Marvel’”
This week on Hard NOC Life, Shawn and Keith are joined by We’re Not All Ninjas co-host Melissa Slaughter to run down all the trailers that just dropped this week (there are so many, we didn’t get to talk about Creed II or X-Men: Dark Phoenix)!
This week on Hard NOC Life, Keith is joined by his DC TV Classics co-host Britney Monae to fill in for Shawn as they break down the week in Nerd Pop.
Continue reading “Hard NOC Life: Olivia Munn vs. Super Predator”
This week on Hard NOC Life, Shawn and Keith discuss the news from the waning days of summer, including Childish Gambino’s latest, the new Jack Ryan series on Amazon, and the reveal of Brie Larson as Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel.
Continue reading “Hard NOC Life: Feels Like the End of Summer”
UPDATE (9/18/18): The Captain Marvel trailer is here!
Continue reading “‘Captain Marvel’ First Look and Setting Up the Future of the MCU”
Keith invites his DC TV Classics co-host Britney Monae back to Hard NOC Life to break down the biggest movie in the universe: Avengers: Infinity War!
Humans star Gemma Chan is joining the MCU in Marvel’s first female-led superhero film, Captain Marvel.
The British actress has been cast as Kree geneticist, Minn-Erva aka Doctor Minvera. In the comics, Minn-Erva was a Kree spy and enemy of Captain Marvel (played by Brie Larson). Chan joins Jude Law, Samuel L. Jackson, and Ben Mendelsohn in the film. Mendelsohn is rumored to play a villainous role as well.
Continue reading “Gemma Chan Joins ‘Captain Marvel’ as Minn-Erva”
In an exclusive revealed by Buzzfeed, Marvel has announced a brand new multimedia animated project called Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors. Starting with a series of animated shorts, the plan is to have a full-length animated feature debut some time in 2018. Think of it as Marvel’s answer to the DC Super Hero Girls franchise.
Continue reading “A New Generation of Marvel Heroes is ‘Rising’”
Originally posted at Just Add Color
With the culmination of the San Diego Comic-Con, we’ve been getting a lot of DC Comics movie franchise news. Some of which includes the new footage of the Justice League movie, featuring Batman (Ben Affleck), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), the Flash (Ezra Miller), Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), Cyborg (Ray Fisher) and Superman (Henry Cavill).
With the introduction of DC’s superhero team, I started wondering — which movie franchise represents its diverse audience more?
Continue reading “DC vs. Marvel: Which Movie Franchise Represents Its Audience More?”
Originally posted on Black Nerd Problems
ESPN made a “Body Issue” based on Marvel superheroes, and it’s glorious. But before we get to that, let’s go through some fascinating history first. The first Body Issue was published in 2009 in response to a significant decline in ESPN magazine’s revenue during the financial crisis. Not only that, because it was also a response for that pesky high-selling publication from their competitor, Sports Illustrated’s annual Swimsuit Issue. ESPN photographers took shots of athletes — some more famous, others less known — nearly or completely naked, bearing it all with a soccer ball, or a baseball bat, or the snowboard they ride on. Where the Swimsuit Issue focused on homogeneous models showcasing bikinis and pandering to the typical standard of Hollywood beauty however, the Body Issue saw an opportunity: ESPN the Magazine would focus on the diversity of the human form by centering on the athletes themselves.
And focusing on diversity proved to be an amazingly successful strategy. Who knew?
Continue reading “On Body Image, Diversity, and Comics’ Outdated Standard of Beauty”
In this episode, I give my thoughts on the recent major movie announcements from Marvel Studios, specifically what I believe to be the true motivation for why Marvel finally decided to give Black Panther his own movie. Continue reading Why Black Panther is Really Getting a Movie
About a week and a half ago, Marvel Studios (owned by Disney) and DC Entertainment (owned by Warner Brothers) got into a bit of a pissing contest. Marvel struck first by announcing Robert Downey Jr. would be bringing Iron Man to the Captain America sequel, setting up a “Civil War” story line in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and making it the highest profile superhero vs. superhero showdown of 2016 (sorry, Batman v Superman).
The next day, Warner Brothers unveiled its long-gestating slate of DC Comics-based films that was supposed to satiate fanboys’ appetites through 2020. While a lot of folks found some of the choices in Warner’s ambitious schedule confounding — including yours truly — the one area where DC had a leg up on Marvel was in the diversity of its lineup. In addition to the inclusion of solo movies for Wonder Woman (finally!) and Cyborg (huh?), you also had people of color top-lining two more films — Jason Momoa in Aquaman and Dwayne Johnson in Shazam. As groundbreaking as the Marvel Cinematic Universe is, it’s also overwhelmingly white and male. At least until today.
