Thursday, October 16, 2014

Guide to the Spider-Verse: Scarlet Spiders


The Scarlet Spider is one of Spider-Man's most famous allies. And there have been quite a few individuals to don the webs of the Scarlet Spider. Ben Reilly was the first, and most famous, Scarlet Spider. A spider-powered clone of Spider-Man created by the Jackal, Ben initially believed that he was the real Spider-Man. Creating a red Spider-Man costume of his own from scavenged materials and tossing on a blue spider-hoodie , the Scarlet Spider swung into battle alongside Spider-Man, even taking over as Spider-Man for a brief while until his death. Joe Wade was a spy trying to infiltrate the ranks of the henchmen of Lady Octopus, but the villainess found him out and forced him to be her guinea pig in her holographic projector. Initially he was used to power a solid-light hologram of the Scarlet Spider used to discredit the real Scarlet Spider, but the tech malfunctioned and fused into Joe, changing him into the second Scarlet Spider. Clad in silver-and-scarlet armor, Joe terrorized the public until her was stopped by Ben Reilly (who was in the guise of Spider-Man). The third Scarlet Spider was also a clone like Ben, but unlike Ben, he was a clone of a Avenger trainee. Patrick and his brothers Michael and Van were clones of a super-hero in-training named MVP who was killed in practice while training to be an Avenger. A clone was sent home to pose as the real MVP, but three more were created to put MVP's athleticism to use in copies of Spider-Man's super-powered red-and-gold Iron Spider armor as the Scarlet Spiders. During the course of their career, Michael and Van would fall in battle, leaving Patrick the last surviving Scarlet Spider. A second clone of Spider-Man would take on the title Scarlet Spider after he was cured of a debilitating clone disease. Kaine was a disfigured Spider-Man clone who hated Ben Reilly for being a prefect clone. Kaine would be a villain for years until he was forced to undergo a metamorphosis and emerge completely cured and given powers the real Spider-Man didn't have anymore. In honor of his "brother" Ben, Kaine became the fourth Scarlet Spider in a high-tech red-and-black. In addition to his his tech Scarlet Spider suit, Kaine also took Spider-Man's black-and-red stealth suit. In the Ultimate Universe, Peter Parker was seen as a Scarlet Spider in a potential future wearing a variation of Patrick's Scarlet Spider armor. In another timeline, Felicity Hardy (daughter of the Black Cat) used her acrobatics and spider-themed gadgets to become the Scarlet Spider (wearing a garnet-and-light blue variation of Ben's costume). In a possible future in her timeline, Felicity upgraded her Scarlet Spider suit into high-tech garnet-and-black armor and led the Avengers.

All images owned by Marvel Comics.

Friday, September 26, 2014

Jurassic World: Rise of the Mutant Dinosaurs?

So a plot synopsis of the fourth film in the Jurassic Park franchise states that the movie will take place on a functioning amusement park called Jurassic World. However declining sales prompts the scientists to create new mutant dinosaurs using spliced DNA to draw in more tourists. Of course we all know what will happen with the dinomutants.The funny thing about this is that the ideas of a Jurassic Park filled with dinomutants was already tried via Kenner in the late 90's with a toy line called Jurassic Park: Chaos Effect. The premise of the toy line was that geneticists working for the park combined dino DNA to create new dinosaurs such as:

Compstegnathus, a hybrid of Compsognathus and Stegosaurus

 Armagospinus, a hybrid of Amargosaurus and Spinosaurus
 Ankyloranodon, a hybrid of Ankylosaurus and Pteranodon
 Paradeinonychus, a hybrid of Parasaurolophus and Deinonychus
Velocirapteryx, a hybrid of Velociraptor and Archeopteryx
And Ultimasaurus, a hybrid of Triceratops, T-Rex, Velociraptor, and Ankylosaurus.

Most of these toys never saw it onto the shelves due to poor sales and a lack of interest. Although the film Jurassic Park 3 did employ the idea of the researchers genetically enhancing dinosaurs to create giant Pteranodons with teeth and spiked super-Velociraptors, they never actually used dinomutants. However we may yet see Ultimasaurus chase tourists on an island next year in Jurassic World.




Saturday, July 26, 2014

Wonder Woman on the Big Screen

Despite numerous films featuring Superman and Batman, DC's mightiest mythical marvel, Wonder Woman, has had only a few appearances in the realm of film. Linda Carter was the first Wonder Woman in the 70's. Fighting for our rights in her satin tights (and a whalebone corset so tight she couldn't bend at the waist), Linda Carter's Wonder Woman was a TV icon. Over 30 years later, Adrianne Palicki was cast to play Wonder Woman in a made-for-tv movie that never aired due to advance fan-hatred over the shiny vinyl costume and bad script. And now in 2015, Gal Gafot will be the first Wonder Woman ever to appear on the silver screen in "Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice", clad in a darkly armored version of the classic Wonder Woman costume.

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

With the upcoming Superman/Batman movie next year, a new Batmobile is set to be revealed. Here are a few cars set to potentially be the next Batmobile. First we have a sleek black modified Lamborghini in definite Batman style. The second, and recently mentioned more likely to occur, candidate is an Audi inspired Batmobile with elements of the Michael Keaton era Batmobile, allegedly being designed by GM. The third is a modified Corvette  with elements of the Adam West Batmobile. Fourth is a mixture of the Christian bale Tumbler Batmobile with an armored sports car. The 5th is a futuristic retake of the Adam West Batmobile. And the final contender is a heavily modified black muscle car taking inspiration from the Batman comics.

Sunday, February 9, 2014

New Rangers for 2015: Power Rangers Dino Charge!!

The news for the new season of Power Rangers was just released. After Megaforce we will be getting Power Rangers Dino Charge. Let's meet the Rangers and zords.

Red Ranger will be the Team leader. His Bio-Battery is fueled by the energy of the Tyrannosaurus and he pilots the T-Rex DynaZord.


The Black Ranger has a Bio-Battery fueled by the energy of the Parasaurolophus and pilots the Parasaur DynaZord.

The Blue Ranger has a Bio-Battery fueled by the energy of the Stegosaurus and pilots the Stegosaur DynaZord.

 The Green Ranger has a Bio-Battery fueled by the energy of the Velociraptor and pilots the Raptor DynaZord.

 The Pink Ranger has a Bio-Battery fueled by the energy of the Triceratops and pilots the Triceratops DynaZord.

 The Gold Ranger has a Bio-Battery fueled by the energy of the Pteranodon and pilots the Pteranodon DynaZord.

 The Aqua Ranger has a Bio-Battery fueled by the energy of the Ankylosaurus and pilots the Ankylosaur DynaZord.

The Graphite Ranger has a Bio-Battery fueled by the energy of the Pachycephalosaurus and pilots the Cephalosaur DynaZord.

The Purple Ranger has a Bio-Battery fueled by the energy of the Plesiosaurus and pilots the Plesiosaur DynaZord.

The Silver Ranger has a Bio-Battery fueled by the energy of the Brachiosaurus and pilots the Brachiosaur DynaZord.

The Yellow Ranger has a Bio-Battery fueled by the energy of the Deinonychus and pilots the Deinonychus DynaZord.

The Talon Ranger has a Bio-Battery fueled by the energy of the Spinosaurus and pilots the Spinosaur DynaZord.

The Dino Charge Megazord. Combination of T-Rex, Stegosaur, amd Triceratops DynaZords
Dino Charge Megazord in Lightning Mode with Parasaur and Raptor Zord, Thunder Mode with Ankyosaur and Cephalosaur, and Blitz Mode with Deinonychus and Raptor Zords.
PteraMax Megazord form of the Pteranodon DynaZord.
PteraMax Megazord in Lightning Mode.

The Ptera Charge Megazord: Dino Charge Megazord plus Pterandon DynaZord

PlesioMax Megazord for of the Plesiosaur DynaZord.
Dino Storm Megazord: T-Rex, Plesiosaur, and Cephalosaur DynaZords combined.
Brachio Titan Megazord form of the Brachiosaur DynaZord.
Dino Charge Ultrazord: Dino Charge Megazord combined with Brachiosaur, Raptor, and Parasaur DynaZords.
Spino-Striker Megazord: Spinosaur Dynazord combined with Ankylosaur and Cephalosaur DynaZords.


Friday, January 31, 2014

Kid Omega's Futures as Phoenix


Quentin Quire aka Kid Omega likes to be this anarchist/anti-authority character who thinks his omega-level telepathy, limited telekinesis, and genius IQ put him above society and after a few attempts to overthrow the X-Men, has grudgingly been forced into their ranks. However in three separate futures, Quentin is not only a full-member of the X-Men, but host to the cosmic powers of the Phoenix. In one future, a future version of Jean Grey as the White Phoenix is given advice on saving the timestream by Kid Omega as Phoenix who wears a green-and-purple Phoenix costume. In a another future, an adult Kid Omega is leader of the X-Men and host of the Phoenix Force, wearing a black-and-red bodysuit with a huge gold Phoenix emblem. And most recently in the events of Battle for the Atom, Kid Omega is the Phoenix and member of a rag-tag group of surviving X-Men in a dystopian future, wearing a black-and-gold Phoenix costume.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Nate Grey/X-Man costume history


Nate Grey aka the X-Man, is the son of Cyclops and Phoenix, artificially created in a laboratory from the two mutants' DNA to be the most powerful telepath/telekinetic on Earth. His first uniform was a blue-and-gold leather bodysuit and jacket. Upon the destruction of his reality, he escaped into the current Marvel timeline using his psychic abilities to cross dimensional planes. He kept his blue and gold costume for a little while, until he was convinced by friends he had made to pick a more normal look, to which he changed his costume to an all black leather attire. Later he met this reality's version of his father Cyclops, who gave him one of his old costumes (a blue bodysuit with a white X emblem). When X-Man faced a powerful opponent while he was stripped of his telepathy, he used his telekinesis to form a body armor from surrounding pieces of metal to compensate for his reduced powers. After getting his powers restored, Nate donned a black X-symbol bodysuit with white swirl designs. As his powers grew stronger, X-Man became a "shaman" to his new home reality, and began to practice using his dimensional traveling powers to protect Earth from threats from parallel realities (a while wearing only a trenchcoat and black slacks). However, X-Man merged himself with the astral plane to protect everyone on Earth from a pyschic invader. He was lost as psionic energy on the astral plane until former super-villain Norman Osborn attempted to use a group of psychics to pull Nate's psychic energy from the astral plane and inadvertently reformed him. X-Man reappeared on the physical world wearing a blue trenchcoat with phoenix-wing lapels and an ornate golden X emblem on the back with grey slacks and an x-emblem belt. After Nate was stripped of most of his powers, Nate wore a black-and-gold hooded trenchcoat with black-and-gold leather pants. And in a possible future, X-Man finally joined the X-men and wore a blue-and-yellow uniform with a red x-emblem. In another future, X-Man was among a group of people who had been (or would become) hosts of the Phoenix Force, his Phoenix costume being a gold bodysuit with a black-and-yellow phoenix emblem accented with orange gloves and matching belt.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Araña/Spider-Girl Costume History




When Anya Corazon discovered a strange blue spider tattoo on her arm, she had no idea of what the arcane mark meant. Soon she discovered her strength and agility were boosted to near superhuman levels, and that she could cling to walls like a spider. Calling herself Araña (the Spanish word for 'Spider'), Anya took to the streets in a homemade costume comprised of a white-and-red spider t-shirt, black jeans, goggles, red fingerless gloves, and a backpack (to store her spider-shaped grapnel hooks and swing lines). Soon Araña discovered the true nature of the tattoo on her arm, when it formed a blue-and-red armor-like exoskeleton around her body. But when Araña's exoskeleton was ripped from her body by a villain called the Doomsday Man, she lost all her abilities. Anya soon tried to fight crime without powers. Her lack of powers placed her in harm's way on many of her adventures, but when a villain created a virus based on Spider-Man's DNA, Anya (now called Spider-Girl) was infected and found herself once again imbued with spider-like abilities. Wearing a modified black-and-white version of Julia Carpenter's Arachne costume, Anya used her new spider-strength, speed, agility, wall-crawling, and web-shooting powers as a truly super-powered Spider-Girl and a new member of the Avengers. Later Spider-Girl added a hooded cloak and a spider-symbol vest to her costume. Shortly after, Anya switched back to a sleeker black-and-white costume that was the combination of her Araña and Spider-Girl costumes. The Marvel Nanofigs toyline introduced a variant version of Anya as Spider-Girl wearing Mattie Franklin's Spider-Woman costume.

Friday, January 10, 2014

Emma Frost White Queen/Black Queen Costume history

When the telepathic femme fatale Emma Frost was introduced to comic fans, she was the villainous White Queen of the Hellfire Club, clad in a corset, thong, boots, and fur-lined cape (all in white). After White Queen switched sides and  joined the X-Men, she adopted a more conservative look with a white jacket over her corset, pants, and boots. When Emma was placed in charge over the junior X-Men (Generation X) she adopted a white version of the Generation X uniform (a white bodysuit with gold boots and matching x-belt). When she returned to the X-Men after Generation X disbanded, White Queen wore a provocative white leather bodysuit with cutaways in the leather forming an X symbol from the exposed skin of her torso. When at was agreed that the X-Men would look more like superheroes, White Queen adopted a white bare midriff bodysuit with a cape. When she tried to infiltrate the Hong Kong branch of the Hellfire club, White Queen wore a Asian-themed white dress with a blue dragon and a cape. Later White Queen put on a fur-lined cape and leather boots on a bare midriff white costume. When she became a student adviser to the younger X-Men, she wore a X-shaped white top with a sleeveless trenchcoat and white pants with a white x-belt. When evil genius Norman Osborne formed an evil team of mutants to pose as Dark X-Men, Emma feigned switching sides and became the Black Queen of the Dark X-Men with a fur-lined black cape and matching black bodysuit. After her return, she switched back to White Queen with a sleek white bodysuit with a white x emblem belt. When White Queen was possessed by the Phoenix Force, she adopted a golden bird themed armor plate over a skimpy white costume with a cape. After the Phoenix Force was stolen from her, Emma switched to the Black Queen in a revealing black leather costume with red-X shaped accents. In an alternate reality where Ultron ruled, White Queen wore hi-tech white body armor. And in a future where the X-Men were being destroyed, White Queen wore a bare midriff white leather bodysuit with a cape.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Rachel Grey's Phoenix/Marvel Girl costume history


Rachel Grey (actually called Rachel Summers) was the daughter of the X-Men Cyclops (Scott Summers) and Phoenix (Jean Grey) from an alternate dystopian future where all the X-men had either been captured or killed. Captured by mutant hunters, Rachel was forced to be a Hound, using her telepathic powers to track other mutants. As a Hound, she wore a black leather bodysuit with metal studs. Tapping into her natural link to the Phoenix Force she inherited from her mother, she escaped into the past. There she teamed up with the X-Men, and soon found herself embroiled with the X-Men's enemy the Black Queen. Black Queen tried to mind-control Rachel into becoming her servant and gave her a Phoenix-inspired black-and-red costume. However Rachel was able to break Black Queen's control with her rapidly growing psionic powers. Rachel soon found herself becoming one with the Phoenix Force as her powers reached their full potential, and created a red costume with a fiery bird emblem to signify her link to the Phoenix. Later Rachel was kidnapped by the evil TV obsessed monster Mojo, and he put her in a red version of her Hound costume. Even after her escape, Rachel kept the costume to make peace with her Hound past. When the Phoenix Force took her over completely, Rachel was able to regain her senses, but found herself in her mother's original Phoenix costume. Not happy with the green color scheme, she turned the costume red and gold. After a brief jaunt through time to save her teammate, and save the people of a distant future, Rachel returned wearing a darker version of her previous red Phoenix costume, with a dark crimson suit with a much larger stylized bird emblem (but ironically lost her Phoenix Force powers). When she found herself possessed by a dark telepath named Elias Bogan, Rachel's colorful costume was traded for a black leather bodysuit. When Rachel saw this timeline's version of her mother Phoenix die, she honored Jean Grey by changing her surname to Grey (also to show displeasure with her father and his new girlfriend Emma Frost). She also donned a green-and-yellow costume that Jean had designed early in her career (back when Jean was Marvel Girl and not yet Phoenix) but never wore, and took Jean's original codename Marvel Girl. As Marvel Girl, Rachel was displeased to be assigned to work with Emma Frost the White Queen, and even less thrilled to be given a new white costume with fiery phoenix designs as White Queen's White Warrior Princess when the two telepaths had to infiltrate Emma's former team. When reality got temporarily re-written to make mutants the dominant race on Earth, Marvel Girl found herself in a black-and-green costume with a phoenix symbol belt. When Marvel Girl had to head in to outer space to fight the alien race called the Shiar, she absorbed a dark echo of the Phoenix Force and donned a dark black-and-gold costume to symbolize her new powers. While in space, Rachel attempted to send a psychic message to Earth at the very moment the planet was altered by a deranged telepath, which affected her psychic self and created an golden Phoenix-like energy version of her called Revenant on Earth (trapping her thoughts and soul inside the energy form).  After the telepath was defeated, it released her psyche from the energy form, and she was able to return to Earth (and lost her Phoenix echo powers) Marvel Girl now wore red-and-yellow body armor that had ascpects of her Phoenix and Hound costumes. Finally, Marvel Girl slightly altered her suit to her earlier green-and-yellow color scheme with silver armor pieces and a brown leather jacket.