Avengers Assemble

Some cute Avengers fan-art.

Started as a sketch of Captain America while at a crafts fair while I was bored. Went to another crafts fair, and drew Iron Man and Thor. Then Hulk and Black Widow the next day. And so it ended up with this.

All traditional pencils. Didn't use any reference as I wasn't too picky about it.

Hope y'all like anyway.

Thor Movie Review

Finally got around to seeing Thor on the bank holiday in glorious, revolutionary 2D! Well, with it being made 3D in post-production, I thought it would be a waste of money, and usually dulls the colour and detail making it a bit blurry anyway.

So Thor may not be the most well known superhero to Joe Public. Thor isn't really a comic favourite of mine and I personally enjoy seeing him as part of a team, and with the Avengers movie lined up in 2012, you would be mistaken in thinking this is a cheap rushed movie to get audiences aware of the character before the huge marvel movie event next year.

Thor deserves to stand alone in it's own right as a good marvel film. It sets up it's own unique universe and feels like it's own movie. There are nods to the marvel universe, but it doesn't feel as heavily drilled down the throats of an Avengers prequel as Iron Man 2 was.

Asgard looks great and so are the effects. Well I wasn't first convinced with Thor's costume in the promo pictures, it works in the film. Chris Hemsworth makes a good Thor, and Tom Hiddleston is a good Loki. It does seem odd why he auditioned for the part of Thor though, but in general the cast are good. I thought Natalie Portman would be distracting and out of place in a movie like this, but she had a character with substance and fitted in well.

Thor has everything to make it a blockbuster success. A good looking cast, big hollywood names, big special effects, action galore, very funny moments, and finally a heart. It feels like a Marvel movie, and while I am unsure whether Thor will personally get a sequel, I can't wait to see him in the Avengers.

Rating 4 / 5

Avengers Movie Concept Art

So Marvel have released images of concept art for Captain America and Thor revealing what will more than likely be their movie costumes, so I thought I put put all the Avengers movie characters (sort of) together to get a feel of the big screen super team.

When I first saw the Cap design, I wasn't feeling it. I mean, it looks cool and has an Ultimates sort of feel to it, but look at the design of the armour, the feel of the costume. It doesnt seem like something made in World War 2, it looks like an armour for modern times, more akin to the Avengers than the actual Captain America movie. Why go through the hassle of this design when the comics nailed a real life WW2 Cap right here.

As for Thor, I was never happy when they released the promo photos, and seeing this full design looks even worse. I understand ancient Asgardian Thor may not work on screen, and they dont want to go down the Ultimates route to avoid annoying the hardcore Marvel fans. So instead it looked like the costume was inspired by this. What is awful however is everything. The rubber armour arms to hide the fact that the actor is not very muscular. The rubber chestplate. Its all very reminiscent of Power Rangers and Batman Forever. While I can understand that the same chainmail type armour effect may look really camp on the legs, its stupid to mix and match costumes and just give him leather trousers and weird alien looking boots. Seriously, who designs all these costumes in the world they live in as they are all ultra modern, sleek designs that only a art design graduate could produce.

The team do work well together, but is that the downfall? I am really looking forward to every film, but are they trying to make these characters live in Iron Man's universe instead of standing alone in their own right, in their own designs. Thats the beauty of crossovers, the mix of visuals, but when you start making everything look the same, it loses abit of what makes them special.

Anyway, I am excited for these films and I hope they look better on the screen than what they do as these concept designs. Marvel are hitting home runs with their films and having a huge say in what goes on, so I have faith in them and that if they are going to approve it, then it must be pretty decent. Only time will tell.

Until then, Make Mine Marvel!

Leigh