Frienemies: Captain America Civil War Trailer

This morning I woke up to Twitter being a buzz with all caps and every "feel" imaginable. The hash tags (#CivilWar #CaptainAmericaCivilWar) made it obvious what the fuss was all about--the official trailer for Marvel's Captain America Civil War was unleashed unto the masses.

I put in my head phones and pulled up YouTube on my phone. I wanted to see if this was as big a deal as everyone was making it out to be. I don't know much about the Civil War storyline from the comic books, only what I've gathered from hearing people talk about the upcoming movie or reading articles about it online. But the gist is simple, two Avengers pick opposites sides of an act meant to force superheroes to reveal themselves. This of course causes a rift amongst a team and friends with many super heroes taking different sides behind Captain America or Iron Man.

In the comics, Spiderman is heavily featured in this "war" who until recently was a Sony owned creative license for movies. Marvel wasn't going to be able to touch Spidey for their movie, but that all changed when Sony agreed to "loan" the web crawler out to Marvel for Civil War as a separate entity from their own upcoming Spiderman films. It would be a different actor, different character presentation. Spidey senses were tingling leading up to the big announcement and there was much rejoicing as there were many fans who could not see a Civil War movie happen without Spiderman.

Naturally, the world premier trailer was the first to pop up in my YouTube search and I pressed play with much anticipation. My eyes were glued as the faces of familiar and beloved characters flashed across my small phone screen. Immediately you feel the cockles of your heart warm at a much needed reunion. The action scenes and cameos aim to distract you, make you forget what's coming. But then it's happening, your jaw has dropped and you get sucker punched right in the ticker by three little words, "So was I". Yes, the "feels" are strong as you watch Iron Man get tag teamed and beat on by Captain America and Bucky (AKA The Winter Solider).

The trailer ends and it's at this point that I toss my head phones and sit back. My initial thought, "Hot damn! Wow, I am so excited to see this movie!" I turned to my co-worker and we had a good 10 minute conversation about the trailer, the comic story and Planet Hulk (that was us getting a little bit sidetracked). It was only after that I watched it again, because he mentioned Black Panther and I had completed missed him in the trailer. I found him, three separate, super fast scenes. But now I knew what the fuss was all about and I agreed completely. Fuss well deserved. I shared the trailer on my twitter feed and went about my day. Now I'm sitting here and writing this, naturally, I am required to watch it yet again. You know, for research.

The trailer starts out with Steve Rogers (Captain America, played by Chris Evans) and Sam Wilson (Falcon, played by Anthony Mackie), talking with a pinned down Bucky Barnes (Winter Soldier, played by Sebastian Stan). Bucky remembers his friend Steve, which is wonderful but short-lived. Jump to a voice over, inter-cut with fight scenes, by a grey-haired "suit" at Avengers HQ calling Captain America an unsupervised vigilante while handing Natasha Romanoff a Webster-sized block of papers with SOKOVIA ACCORDS across the front. Ruh roh, Shaggy.

The Black Widow tries to convince Cap to stay away from Bucky as the voice over continues to say there will be consequences and Iron Man confronts Cap in a stairwell. This is inter-cut with a scene of Steve and Sam watching as their equipment is carried away by a squad of soldiers. There is another voice over of Steve and Tony sharing their difference of opinions on the matter at hand which ends in one of the best lines of the entire trailer, "Sometimes I want to punch you in your perfect teeth." We then get many scenes of Falcon and Captain America, then a stand off scene with cameos galore. Iron Man and Iron Patriot on one side, Cap with Hawkeye, Scarlett Witch and Bucky on the other.

Supposedly, some are saying Ant Man is there as well but in his super tiny form, not sure if there is any truth in that, I couldn't see him. There are bullets, explosions and fights, oh my! Plus a long awaited cameo by The Black Panther for a quick split second and then another split second double kicking Bucky and half a second running after Bucky. Then this happens, Steve: He's my friend. Tony: So was I.

Wow. Can it be May now?

From Demon Traps to Barbed Wire Baseball Bats: Jeffrey Dean Morgan to join The Walking Dead

On Tuesday, November 10th multiple media outlets revealed the newest addition to the cast of AMC's hit zombie TV show, The Walking Dead. Jeffrey Dean Morgan, currently known for the TV show The Good Wife, will be joining in the role of Negan.

It all started the way I often get my news, a Twitter notification which caught my eye at work that morning. A friend retweeted an article and I immediately zoned in on the name Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who I have been a fan of for some time now. I loved his interpretation of The Comedian in the movie Watchman based on the well known comic of the same name. Also, enjoyed him in the short lived Starz series Magic City, about a hotel owner in 1960s Miami. More recently for me but years ago for him, he appeared as father turned supernatural hunter John Winchester in the still popular ongoing series Supernatural. Now, Jeffrey Dean Morgan has appeared in many other things, these are just to name a few. Some other credits include: Weeds, Grey's Anatomy, Texas Rising.

Left: Jeffrey Dean Morgan in between Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles (Supernatural). Right: JDM as The Comedian

In the comics, the character Negan is known for being a bad-ass villain prone to using a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire. Fans of the comic have long been speculating on when Negan would appear in the TV series. Especially with recent events where viewers have been left to guess whether a beloved character was actually killed off or not. I am of course referring to Glenn, who was last seen tumbling to the ground with Nicholas amidst a swarming hoard of zombies. There is an interesting connection between Glenn and Negan in comics that could possibly shed light on Glenn's fate but also may lend to a future spoiler. So if you don't want to know, stop reading now and jump down past the picture of comic book Negan.

For the rest of you that stuck around, it is written in the comics that Negan is actually the one who kills Glenn. If that is the case, we should shortly see how Glenn survives the hoard and can wait in anticipation to see what is in store for him once Negan shows up on the scene. Now that's not to say with any certainty that this characterization of Negan will mirror that of the comic book. There have been plenty of plot points the TV show has chosen to change or stray from, not entirely holding true to it's origin story in the comic. The best we can do is wait and see.

Negan from the comic book with his bat Lucille.

Negan is known to wield a baseball bat known as Lucille, and is considered by some to be even worse than the Governer--at least as far as villains go. As I mentioned before, Negan has been on the minds of fans for sometime. In fact, my co-worker and I actually had a discussion about Negan immediately following the recent episode with Glenn. He has read the comics and I have not. He filled me in on the character and also shared some of his theories on why Glenn was still alive. I'm of the mindset that Glenn should not survive such a situation. It would be improbable for him to make it to safety among all those zombies weighed down by a body that is being eaten. I would rather have a character who I like meet his end in a way that does him justice and not be saved by TV magic. But that's just my opinion. This would again mean a deviation from the comic as I mentioned above in the spoiler zone. 

Back to me and my co-worker...I'm sure you can imagine the surprise when I see the announcement a mere weeks after first learning of Negan. I turned to my co-worker and asked, "What was the name of that Walking Dead character you mentioned last time, from the comic?" He replied Negan and I shared with him the joyous news. We spent the next ten minutes excitedly chatting about Jeffrey Dean Morgan and how excited we were to have him join the cast. My co-worker shares my affinity for Supernatural, the CW show and also recognized Jeffrey Dean Morgan for his previous role as Daddy Winchester.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan is set to make his appearance towards the end of the current season and then become a series regular for the following season. I can hardly wait.