It’s Finally Come! Best Comic Book Movie Of The Year! #ThorRagnarok #recap #review #Marvel

It’s Finally Come! Best Comic Book Movie Of The Year! #ThorRagnarok #recap #review #Marvel

All pictures courtesy of Marvel/Disney Studios 

OK, before people start throwing rocks, let me, once again, reiterate, as I have in practically every other movie and/or Marvel-themed piece of entertainment that has come out this year, I wasn’t able to see Logan yet, so I don’t know if I would’ve liked it or not. But I did see Guardians of the Galaxy, Wonder Woman and Spider-man: Homecoming and can tell you that they were all overrated an—well... OK, I guess Guardians was closer to being properly rated, but it had many flaws that brought the movie down for me. And while, yes, Wonder Woman was great as a statement film for feminism and just having the first female-led superheroine (if we’re forgetting Supergirl, Elektra, and Catwoman) it was hardly worth its 90%+ Rotten Tomatoes score. It showcased some of the same flaws that we so vehemently called out Batman v. Superman, Suicide Squad and Man of Steel for and still somehow managed to feature some sexism in it against both women and men. And Spider-man: Homecoming was just... Ugh! I wasn’t even looking forward to the movie and still wound up disappointed.

So, with Justice League only a few days away, and my predictions about DC films so far holding true—I called that Batman v. Superman was a mess before it came out, also said that Suicide Squad wasn’t going to be any good, and that people would praise Wonder Woman as being the “savior” of the DCEU and almost literally quoted article headlines a near year before the film came out about how they would read “Wonder Woman Shows The Boys How To Do It” or “A Wonder Woman’s Work Is Never Done,” and I also said in the same post calling all of these things out that while WW would be a shining beacon for fans even though it would still not be very good in hindsight, the DCEU would return to mediocrity with Justice League and lead to headlines like “Wonder Woman Still Rules, Aquaman No Longer A Joke” or “Is The DCEU Better Without Batman And Superman”—I’d have to declare Thor: Ragnarok as the best superhero/heroine comic book film of 2017. With all that said, let’s dig into the recap review and let me note that outside of the plot of Thor being cast off of Asgard by the evil villain Hela and having to fight his way back, there will be spoilers. There will be spoilers galore.

SPOILERS!

I’d first say that the trailers really don’t tell you much of anything about the plot so much as they show you all of the cool scenes from the film. With my year of “first trailers” coming to an end, I can say that I didn’t see much after watching just the one trailer from a few weeks ago, so I was fairly clean going into it. However, even in that trailer (I think it was technically trailer 2) there was still a lot of stuff that made it into the movie.

As stated, the plot is simple. Thor, after Age of Ultron, set out on a cosmic journey to explore the nine realms and beyond to find this demon, devil-looking thing called Surtur. As was sorta alluded to in Age of Ultron with Scarlet Witch playing in Thor’s mind, there is an ancient prophecy on Asgard that says that one day Surtur will come and bring Ragnarok to the land. Ragnarok, for those not in the know, is essentially the Norse equivalence of the apocalypse. Everything gets destroyed and is rebuilt anew. In fact, I believe the very word Ragnarok means rebirth or restart or something like that. Just know that there’s a ton of destruction that must go on before the restarting part.

Obviously Thor doesn’t want the destruction of Asgard. Who the heck would want that? All that gold would just be... burned and turned to rubble and all sorts of terribleness. So, in the opening scene we find our hero actually captured in some kind of underground fiery lair of Surtur, because he wants to ask him about the evil demon/devil’s plan to destroy Asgard. Surtur tells him something about how much he hates Odin and how the guy is a total liar and an all-around douche. And Thor’s like, what? Dude, chill, that’s my dad. There’s some comedic elements in there where Thor is swiveling around on a hanging chain and at first I thought, oh God this is going to be like Guardians where the jokes were misplaced. But then I actually thought the chain joke sorta worked and I didn’t know if I had adjusted my expectations or the writers just didn’t overdo it like they tend to so often do in comedies as of late.

Anyway, Thor beats the crap out of this dude and takes his skull/crown, which Surtur said he was going to put into the eternal flame on Asgard that is in Odin’s treasure room, which was supposed to turn him into a giant, indestructible demon thingy. Thor then tries for a quick planetary escape but that’s when we realize that Heimdall (Idris Elba’s character) is not there at the bifrost gate anymore. Instead, there is a new dude there exploiting the hell out of his position. He lollygags about getting Thor back home and only after a few attempts does Thor finally escape.

The first thing Thor realizes is that something isn’t right about Asgard. Again, it’s assumed that he hasn’t been back at least since Age of Ultron, and probably not since The Dark World because he, in all of this time, didn’t realize that his brother Loki was ruling in their dad’s place, magically disguised as Odin, sitting on the throne—something we saw at the end of The Dark World. As he gets to the palace, he sees a bevy of beautiful broads feeding his hedonistic father lounging on a golden divan as he watches a play based on the “heroism” of Loki, who is said to have sacrificed his life to save the kingdom of Asgard. We get a few cameos here by Sam Neil playing Odin, Chris’s older brother Luke playing Thor and Matt Damon playing Loki. It’s mildly humorous.

Thor immediately realizes what’s going on and forces his brother to reveal himself in front of everyone and to show that he exiled Odin to New York City. Together, Thor and Loki go to Shady Acres old-folk’s home only to find it being torn down. We then see a strange magic being used that makes Loki disappear into the ground and leaves a card for Thor. At this point, I was actually surprised but shouldn’t have been. I don’t know if it was the stress of this year with politics and work and all, but it seemed like Doctor Strange came out so long ago that when he made a cameo I was totally surprised by everything. I had forgotten how he did his little magical portals and all of that. Well, he gives Loki back, and shows them where to find their father. He’s in Norway and we’re all supposed to be like, Oh! Duh! Ha!

They step through Strange’s portal to Norway and find Odin sitting on a rock near a cliff, ready to die and talking about how he failed to prevent Ragnarok, even though Thor is convinced he stopped Surtur. He then tells the two boys about how Hela is coming and that she is not only the goddess of death, but she is their older sister (Thor’s blood sister) and she is far more powerful. He dies and disintegrates into orange fairy dust and Hela arrives directly after that, ready to battle on earth. Thor throws his hammer and that’s when we get the trailer scene where she breaks his hammer and Thor is stuck without it for the rest of the movie. In that instance, Loki turns full coward and calls upon the bifrost to open, even though Thor knows this is bad because he thinks Hela will follow them into the bifrost. She does. They battle inside and she first flings Loki out of the rainbow bridge, then she does the same to Thor. She alone arrives in Asgard and kills Thor’s two soldiers of fortune from the first movie (or whatever the hell their names were; also should mention that Lady Sif is neither in this nor mentioned at all. I know Jaimie Alexander is busy with Blindspot, but it’s strange not to even spare a few seconds screentime to mention where she was, dead or alive), then recruits, as a minion, the other idiot bifrost operator who nearly got Thor killed at the beginning of the movie.

Finally home after years of being gone (she’s been gone so long that she never even met her brother Thor, unless, I’m guessing, she met him as a baby), she rips through the palace walls, murals and paintings to show the real stories of how Asgard got to be the “capital” of the nine realms. As opposed to the pictures and stories of Odin in which he brokered peace through treaties and governance, she shows how they ruled with iron fists, slaughtering millions of people across all the realms. But she got greedy and wanted to rule more realms than Odin did and once she overpowered him, he kicked her out and locked her away somewhere, where she remained until today.

Meanwhile, as she’s doing her evil thing and destroying the people while trying to galvanize some of them behind her, Thor lands on a junk planet where tons of stuff falls out of the bifrost and, I’m guessing other mystical cosmic pathways. Here, he meets Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie who serves as a scrap collector under the rule of Jeff Goldblum’s The Grandmaster. She collects the hammerless Thor, sells him to The Grandmaster who has plans to pit him against his greatest champion, and shows herself to be a true lush. As her story goes, she’s been on the junkyard planet since before Thor was born. She and the rest of the Valkyrie group of women (remember that Valkyrie were both the group all-female warriors of which she was part and is how she is referred to) went against Hela under orders of Odin. They were all defeated that day which then caused Odin to use all of his might to banish Hela. Valkyrie barely escaped with her life and wound up on this planet.

It bares mentioning that this junkyard planet has no concept of time. So even though Hela’s defeat was years ago, and Loki fell out of the bifrost just a few seconds before Thor did, Valkyrie looks the same age as Thor and Loki has been getting chummy with The Grandmaster for weeks by the time Thor arrives.

Ladies and gentlemen, uh... uh... Jeff Goldblum

And here’s where things get tricky and sticky, because Jeff Goldblum is gonna Jeff Goldblum, and he totally Jeff Goldblums here. And it’s actually quite good. The entire planet is over-the-top madness. Think of a mix of The Gladiator with Mad Max: Fury Road but with a Monty Python-esque humor behind it all. With most other actors, this could play out as entirely cheesy and stupid, but Jeff Goldblum brings so much Jeff Goldbluminess into not just his role but the entirety of this world that it doesn’t come off as a parody of a comic book. He geniunely made me laugh with his quirkiness, his facade of some kind of 80s/new-age DJ that’s in love with dubstep and strange crunchy, video game-sounding music. He felt like a slightly younger, hipper Hugh Hefner if Hef was more into fighting and music and Daft Punk cover bands rather than softcore porn. The eclecticness of his character fit in perfectly with the electicness of the junkyard world. Even the line where he explains how time doesn’t work there and talks about his age without ever giving a number is so bizarre, so eccentric and so fundamentally Jeff Goldblum that it made me laugh. It felt akin to those moments on SNL where one of the cast breaks due to something another cast member did, and the other cast member doing the funny thing just keeps making more and more jokes because they want to see their fellow SNL member crack up with laughter. Yes, that’s a long explanation but totally apt.

Anyway, as you can guess, the grand champion is the Incredible Hulk like in the commercials and they fight. There’s some pretty good comedy with Loki finally seeing this grand champion and realizing who it is, and then Hulk doing to Thor what he did to Loki at the end of the first Avengers film. There’s a bit of lull time in the movie in which they are trying and actually succeeding to build plot, character and tension to lead into the final act. It’s some pretty solid screenwriting, even if it’s a bit uninspired.

After some back and forth, Banner finally emerges from his Hulk cocoon and realizes that he’s been the Hulk for two years, ever since leaving earth in the Quinnjet. He went high into space and somehow jumped through a wormhole and ended up on the junk planet. He’s since, as Hulk, learned to talk a lot more than what we’ve seen in the other movies. The people on the planet love him as their champion. We also get Valkyrie’s story and how she felt ashamed that everyone else in her group died fighting Hela, save for her. They get Loki back on their side even after he tricks his brother one last time. It seems almost like he has to make a decision once and for all to be good or bad and he chooses good (I reserve the right to withhold final judgment until Infinity War because it looks like he’ll be right back to his treacherous ways again).

Thor, Hulk, Loki, Valkyrie and a prison full of other misfits escape back to Asgard where they discover that Hela has raised an army of the dead to either slaughter or bring to heel the rest of the Asgardians that have been hiding, and eventually conquer the rest of the realms. These rebels, led by Heimdall who has the sword to control the bifrost gate, plan to escape from Asgard but are bridge-blocked by Hela’s direwolf. And Thor and his team come in the nick of time to save the day.

While the rest of the team fights off the undead army on the bridge and get the Asgardian peoples onto this new huge spaceship, Thor fights Hela to try to defeat her or at least stall her long enough to empty the city. He has a come-to-Odin moment and realizes that he never needed the hammer but that the electricity, the power is within him. He channels it to strike Hela with a huge lightning bolt which wounds her but is still unable to defeat her. So he finally realizes that his father’s prediction was right and so was the prophecy, but it wasn’t a prophecy of doom but of salvation. Asgard was never the city but the people that lived there. The city is just a structure that could be rebuilt somewhere.

So, he instructs Loki to go and throw the Surtur skull/crown into the eternal flame and resurrect the hellbeast. Dude comes back ten times bigger and badder, and destroys Asgard with Hela on it, who fights to the very bitter end because she derives most of her power from Asgard and doesn’t want to see it destroyed. The place is destroyed as Thor, Loki, Hulk, Valkyrie and the other Asgardians stand on the spaceship looking out to the destruction. Now, they must find a new home on earth. Norway, maybe?

What’s my grade? I give it a solid B+. OK, so one of the things that we have learned this year is that yes, there is such a thing as comic book movie/tv oversaturation. At least I’ve learned that. It comes when you start seeing plots constantly recycled and very seldom improved upon, rather than something new and inventive or innovative. If we’re being honest, FOX’s The Gifted TV show is quite the same as every other X-men film: mutants are hated for being different, they run, they get caught, they break free, they run some more, they eventually end up doing something heroic. But what is worse is that The Gifted is practically the same as ABC’s Marvel’s Inhumans which saw Inhumans (the non-copyright-infringing mutants of the MCU) be stripped of their cool costumes, run around in a world they don’t know but where they are hated for existing, get caught by some bad guys, get caught by some other bad Inhumans, break free, run some more, then eventually do some hero stuff. It’s practically the same plot, just with different powers. Again, The Gifted is/was better (Inhumans is off now) because it showed more use of powers even if we’ve seen those powers a thousand times. But the worst is when you just end one of your shows only to have a movie premiere which is a carbon copy of that failed show.

In Thor we have a kingdom in peril from a jilted sibling who thinks they should be the rightful heir to the throne and rule it all themselves. They somehow get the current ruling sibling off of the entire world, let alone out of the city. That hero sibling ends up in a strange land they don’t know where they are forced to fight semi-familiar enemies only for some of those enemies to become allies later. They must then depend on the kindness of some locals to help them escape back to their planet where they then must defeat their sibling only to realize that the place they hold so dear, the city they lived in their whole lives, is not actually all that important. To be a hero they must let it be destroyed and then migrate to earth.

I started that last paragraph by saying “In Thor” only because most fans actually watched that movie as opposed to Inhumans. The problem is that it is an exact carbon copy of the entire first season’s plot of Inhumans. Maximus, Black Bolt’s younger brother, tried to overthrow him. Maximus and a few other Inhumans of the royal family were cast down to earth (hell, they even had Gorgon, the black guy, as one of the royal guards. What is Valkyrie, the black woman, if not some aspect of a royal guard to Odin?) where Black Bolt ended up in a prison for a while. They are forced to fight some locals (Karnak and the drug farmers), forced to fight some old familiars (Maximus loyalists sent after them), manage to team up and get back to the moon, only to realize that it is time to let the city of Attlan be destroyed with Maximus inside while they all escape back to earth. It’s the same exact plot. THE. SAME. EXACT. PLOT! Hell, they didn’t even bother to change the names enough to at least start one city’s name with a different letter. Attlan? Asgard? One of these cities couldn’t start with a B?

Granted, I know, almost nobody watched Inhumans, but the fact that this show and the Thor movie came from the same studio and that this show, which is an ABC show, is supposed to be connected to the broader MCU (unlike the Netflix stuff) is troubling because it shows that either no one saw these similarities in story or they did and really didn’t care. If you have fatigue at an executive level, that’s when you know that saturation has set in and that apathy will soon follow.

As far as dislikes, I also didn’t like how Thor had almost no bite. It’s strange the way a lot of these films are made today. I remember going to the movies really down and depressed last year thinking, man, maybe I’ve gotten too old to enjoy movies anymore because none of them really give me that spark of magic where I feel it deeper than just the back of my eyeballs. The dialogue seems cheap and yadda, yadda, yadda. I was actually nearly ready to give up on most films and then I saw La La Land and I actually felt something again. Was it a new plot? Hell no. It’s as old and played as every other plot in Hollywood, but the way it was made had an effect on me, stayed with me, inspired me.

Here, while Thor was a really good movie, it was actually difficult to talk about the movie three hours after it. There weren’t these parts that really had me emotionally invested. Even as Odin died I didn’t quite get to that feeling of, “Oh man, this character that I’ve been seeing since, 2011 is finally going to be no more.” I saw another reviewer say it was a fun, wholly forgettable ride and that’s so true. For me, it was like Chinese takeout: good while you’re eating it but hardly fulfilling and memorable. In the end, even with the good acting, the mostly well-timed jokes and the serviceable plot not full of holes, it couldn’t push into that realm of greatness. I think this is partially because this movie had little expectations, and thus little buildup like, say, Wonder Woman, Black Panther or Spider-man: Homecoming do/did. It was easier to either love or hate those films and feel passion about the projects because of the long waits for them and debates and excitement that surrounded them. Here, I just had the feeling of, “Oh, yeah! That was pretty enjoyable.”

Let’s see, uh... the directing was pretty good. With some of the scenes in the trailer like Valkyrie storming Hela, I thought it would look too polished and, thus, too comic bookish like the Justice League film looks, but I was pleasantly surprised that the film was filled with inhabitable environments rather than celluloid comic panels. Here’s a strange note: I actually really enjoyed the music. Outside of Immigrant Song (love that song), I thought the original music was actually good this time and, if not memorable, at least wasn’t as cookie-cutter as most of Marvel’s music is. Yes, some fans have argued that Marvel and the Avengers have great music but they either don’t have great taste in music or just don’t like music. Lift one track of the original score from any of the other movies (exception of Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain America: Winter Soldier) and put it onto any of the other films and you’ll hardly be able to tell any difference. Each superhero, to me, should have his or her own unique music that is identifiable by ear. If you used some of this crunchy, video-game-esque music in the next Avengers film to herald Thor’s and/or Valkyrie’s arrival, you would make the scene two times better at least, I guarantee you. It fit perfectly with this film and with the character’s laughably strong video-game-esque invincibility.

Going forward, what do I predict? Hm? OK, now that we’ve covered most of the movie and revealed tons of spoilers, we can also talk about the fact that Thor no longer has both of his eyes. This could stick and we have the character look like a younger Odin for the rest of his time in the Avengers. Or it could be quickly healed by Dr. Strange once Thor gets back to earth. We know that the huge ship we saw in the first post-credits scene is actually Thanos’ ship, so we could be in for a huge opening battle scene between Thor and his posse, and Thanos and his goons, with an assist from the Guardians of the Galaxy in there somewhere. A big brawl is how both of the Avengers films have started so far.

Then there is the question of the hammer. Is it possible for Thor to get his hammer back? I think the better question is does he need a hammer? I think maybe he could get a new one on earth possibly from some spell by Dr. Strange or some forging of vibranium by Black Panther or Tony Stark, but who knows if he will do that or if the character will even be around long enough to do that. Remember, as contracts are ending for all of the first Avengers and all of their movie franchises have come to their trilogy conclusions, we could see some big deaths in Infinity War; in fact, I’m hoping for some big deaths.

Ragnarok or “reset” could be alluding to more than just this one film but could spill over into Infinity War where the entire team is reset and Thor is dead. Also, we don’t now if Loki is actually good for... well, good, or if he will betray Thor yet again. We saw him stop and gaze at the tesseract briefly before he threw that skull/crown into the eternal flame. Does that mean he stole it? If he didn’t take it with him, then how would Thanos get it to complete his infinity gauntlet because Asgard is destroyed. And also, this is for those who have tried to watch as much Marvel MCU stuff as they could, but will we see the shows finally re-blend into the films? With Agents of SHIELD off-world for their next season, will we see remnants of Asgard or the beginnings of a fight between Thor and Thanos or the Guardians? What of the fact that we now have two peoples in the moon-Inhumans and the Asgardians now displaced and seeking home and asylum on earth? We know that Inhumans are part of the movies and not just the TV shows, so will there be some mention of them somewhere in Infinity War?

My prediction is that Infinity War will feature the death of Loki within the opening minutes of the film to bring his Avengers and Thor movie arcs all the way full circle. I also think that we’ll get a brief cameo appearance from Hela, goddess of death, only this time she may or may not be played by Cate Blanchett because I think she will come back as a skeletal being similar to the Mistress of Death’s design in the comics. That will be courtesy of her face having been burned off by Surtur during Asgard’s destruction. I think that somehow Thanos will use one of the stones to bring her back (he seemed to be near that general area of the galaxy because he ran into Thor’s ship so fast) but will only be able to bring her back to a certain extent, which is why she won’t have skin. Together, the two of them will be able to control dead superheroes and crush tons of enemies—as if Thanos wasn’t already enough. And I also think that Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD will finally join the movie team in some capacity and either make it back to earth at the same time as the Guardians and Thor, or help in the initial space battle with Thanos or something like that. I think this because the premiere date for the next season—December 1st—is such a strange time to premiere a season of something on a Friday unless they have some kind of timing element that needs to happen before Black Panther and/or Infinity War. Otherwise, why not just start the new season in the new year where you won’t get disruptions from holiday specials? Makes no sense unless they plan some kind of tie-in. And that especially goes for if one of the big three (Iron Man, Thor, Captain America) are to die in the film because I can’t see them getting rid of any of them without first letting Coulson fanboy over them again.

As far as the character melee goes, I think that there will be even more characters in Infinity War than we expect and that are listed on the cast sheet. So, who from Thor’s film do you expect to be in Infinity War? Because they did see Thanos’ ship right there at the end, it does make me think there’s going to be a little bit of a slaughter of some characters that we maybe just started to love. But I also find it an interesting concept to have Valkyrie and Heimdall make it to earth and end up in Wakanda in the next Black Panther film. Both are warriors and seem like they would fit well into that society. Granted, I haven’t seen the film yet, but from the trailers it looks like they could fit.

Should you go see it? Yes. I mean... if you’re over the entire comic book movies-thing, then don’t go see it. And if you’re only a DC fan, then I guess you shouldn’t see this. But know that I am not a super fanboy for either (although, I’ve always dreamed of writing a Justice League/Superfriends movie and am hugely disappointed by the entirety of the DCEU) but I think that this is an outright good movie regardless of its comic book source material. It’s good. Go see it.

What do you think? Have you seen Thor: Ragnarok? If you haven’t, are you planning on seeing it? If you have, did you like it as the end of a trilogy? What do you expect from Infinity War? Do you have comic book movie fatigue yet, or no? Were you satisfied with the rendition of Planet Hulk they did, or do you still want more? And which characters from this film would you like to see stay around longer in the MCU in some capacity? Let me know in the comments below.

Check out my 5-star comedy novel, Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My Ex-Boyfriend. #AhStalking

If you’re looking for a scare, check the YA novel #AFuriousWind, the NA novel #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or the bizarre horror #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic and adult, check out #TheWriter. Seasons 1, 2 and 3 are out NOW, exclusively on Amazon. Stay connected here for updates on season 4 coming summer 2018. If you like fast action/crime check out #ADangerousLow. The sequel A New Low will be out in a few months. Look for the mysterious Sci-fi episodic novella series Extraordinary on Amazon. Season 2 of that coming real soon. And look for the mystery novels The Knowledge of Fear #KnowFear and The Man on the Roof #TMOTR coming this fall/winter. Twisty novels as good as Gone Girl or The Girl on the Train, you won’t want to miss them. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right.

Until next time, “I’m not gonna say that I’m winning, I’m just saying that if we were keeping score and handing out trophies, I’d get the big gold one and you’d get the participation trophy.”

P.S. Yes, I have made plenty of scathing reviews about DCEU films but I’m honestly not trying to hate. I grew up watching and reading DC comics and cartoons that have filled our airwaves back since TV became popular. I hate this whole taking sides thing. I’m not diehard Marvel and actually didn’t like either of the Avengers films, but like the individual hero movies. As films, most of the DC films are not that good. But even more to the point, I feel like the one that was good was overrated in Wonder Woman. I guess it comes down to what you want out of a comic book film. Everyone throws around the word fun, but how about we have it be more than just fun? Because fun doesn’t always translated to good. To me Return of the Living Dead is fun, but that doesn’t make it good. So I hope that Justice League will be both fun and good even if it doesn’t rise to the level I know it could be. I want to write a Superman and Justice League trilogy so bad that maybe a little of that sorrow that I haven’t done it yet is spilling into my reviews, but still, these films can be better. Let’s hope I’m wrong on my previous predictions.

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Third Highest-rated Comic Book Movie Ever? Why? #WonderWoman #Review #comicbookmovie #Spoilers

Third Highest-rated Comic Book Movie Ever? Why? #WonderWoman #Review #comicbookmovie #Spoilers

So, I just saw Wonder Woman (#WonderWoman), and after reading online that it was not only good but that it was the third highest-rated comic book movie ever, I had high expectations. However, I also had to temper them knowing that this was another DCEU film and that they are three films deep into this thing and it has yet to get on the right track. But were the critics right? Did DC and Warner Bros. Finally right the ship, or is all of this talk of this film being good total bunk? Keep reading to find out.

Let me first start by saying that I absolutely called this a year or even more ago (it was either in a Suicide Squad review or in my Batman v. Superman review, I can’t remember. Although, now that I think about it, I’m not sure I ever posted my Suicide Squad review. I’m too busy to remember these things, and this parenthetical is already running too long, so...). What, you ask, did I call? The good movie reviews. I knew this was going to be a movie that you had to judge not just for what is on the screen but for all the things going on outside of the film, mainly politics and big money. I also called that this would be the first “successful” DC film as far as critics go. And, I even called some of the headlines that literally read: “Wonder Woman Shows the Men How to Do It” and “Of Course A Woman Would Save the DCEU.” OK, those are paraphrased or off by a few words, but I guarantee you can find those types of headlines all over the internet and in various publications. Remember, I called this before ever seeing the movie because I knew, regardless of whether the film was good or not, it was going to get a majority of good reviews. Why? We all know why, but before you push me aside and say I’m being sexist, hear two things: first, know that I’ve been pretty right on a lot of my predictions about the DCEU (still don’t know why we call it that instead of the DCCU) even dating back to Man of Steel, but that was before I had this blog and you couldn’t possibly know that so... Second, while I have been known to make plenty of remarks that can be construed as sexist, I am not, in any way, against female superheroes nor against Wonder Woman. And third—or, wait, did I say just two things? I meant and second part deux, while most of my criticism has nothing to do with the superhero being a woman, some of it does have to do with the fact that I still would like to write (read: reboot) the DC universe and do some Superman movies and a Justice League movie of my own, and know that the success of this current iteration may stand in the way of that if they decide to continue in perpetuity. Gahh! OK, we ready? We all good? Let’s get to it.

Do not believe the hype, Wonder Woman has fixed almost nothing in the DCEU. And, while I hate to say this let’s get this out of the way first before I level my criticism: yes, most of the reviews stem from the fact that she is a woman superhero, which has caused many critics and fanboys to overlook some of the film’s glaring mistakes. There, now with that said, let’s take the sexism blinders off and start looking at the film through the lenses of being the “third highest-rated superhero/comic book movie of all time” and being a “DCEU film.” We’ll start with the same criticism that some feminist might say to me: “Oh, if it was a guy, you’d love the film.” No, I would not. In fact, I know this unequivocally because it is essentially the mash-up of two other male-driven superhero films: Man of Steel and the first Captain America. Don’t get me wrong, I really liked Captain America, however, a lot of people didn’t and I understand why. But we can’t take some of the same criticisms we had of those films and completely ignore them here.

Women Warriors! Loved The Look. Story Is Flawed

For starters, at the beginning of Man of Steel and Wonder Woman, we see life as it is on the planet/island/realm from which our hero/heroine originates. I like that Themyscria is given some screen time, however, unlike in Man of Steel, I never quite felt as immersed in the island and its culture. To me, unlike in Man of Steel (which, I thought Krypton was one of the best parts of that movie), we don’t get as much world building and what we do get feels lackluster. OK, there’s some kind of hierarchy and they spend all their time training and fighting all day, but that’s about it. Not only do we not get great world building, the rules of the film are hardly defined here. I know, they did that little cartoon history lesson (again, just like in Man of Steel) to show how the island came to be, but everything went so fast, I only half-paid attention.

The rules? Right. As I was saying, while they are on the island I never get a full understanding of who the Amazons are. So, in that history story we have the gods, right? And we have the people. Did Zeus make a secondary race between gods and people in order to keep people from killing themselves and that’s what the Amazons are? Again, if we are just talking about the film and NOT the comics which are filled with lore and answers for every question, the film doesn’t properly answer this, because if they are just normal people, then how do they live so long? Does that island-protection spell also have something to do with keeping them ageless? Or has time stopped on the island? I just, I don’t understand. Assuming that they fought this great war back when Greeks ruled the world, that would make the island and every inhabitant thousands of years old, including Diana, right, because Zeus is dead and the last thing he did was make Hippolyta’s clay daughter Pinocchio to life. And if it wasn’t during Greek reign, then when (and why are they dressed akin to Greeks)? Or does the film technically start during ancient days (remember, historians, Greeks ruled even before Romans so we’re talking 3000 years ago here) and Diana slowly grows over the course of 100s of years? And for that matter, since she is the only child on the island, how is she the only one aging?

I hope by this time you’re starting to see that a lot of my criticisms really aren’t going to be sex-based. Granted, you can say that this criticism was a nit-pick but it really confused me because of Batman v. Superman. In that movie, Diana is shown once again not to have aged since World War I. And while we know that Captain Steve Rogers in Captain America was put into a deep freeze that the super-soldier potion allowed him to live through into modern day, we are given no standard by which Diana ages neither on the island nor in the world of man. However, maybe she returns to the island in-between the end of Wonder Woman and Batman v. Superman, which could explain her absence during Man of Steel. If we think of it that way, then she only pops out every few years or so as a vacation into man’s realm, just so she can be seen on camera because the island itself is magic.

I wish the island criticism stopped there but it doesn’t because while I can piece together how Steve Trevor just happened to fly through the island’s barrier after it had remained hidden after however many years—Diana smacking her arm bracelets and sending out that power wave—I can’t, for the life of me figure out why it was so easy to kill these women. Again, what the hell are they? If they’re gods, how weak of them. If they’re demi-gods, same thing. If they’re just regular humans on a magical island, then shouldn’t the island have more magical stuff that could heal them from things like gunshots and whatnot? I know, a gun is a gun, but you see them all training for so long, so many years, and suddenly the slaughter is on when a tiny brigade of men come? Really? Really? So, in other words, ladies, you can work your ass off, get all the education you want and could possibly ever need, do everything right for years and as soon as you’re up against a man for anything, you’re never going to be good enough? Maybe that is the artistic point they’re trying to make there, an ironic commentary on real-life women routinely getting passed up for positions they are qualified for, and if it is, then I can accept that. But I also wish they had done it in a better way that set clear boundaries as to what these women can and can’t do. With Superman, while you’ve always had some abilities ambiguity, Krypton has always been portrayed as a planet with a bunch of regular people. Superman, therefore, gets his powers from our yellow sun and hasn’t been born with them. The whole Wonder Woman movie (before the end, which I could have guessed even if I didn’t know anything about the comics), I kept thinking to myself after that beach scene, “Why don’t they just shoot her? Just shoot Wonder Woman. Two to the gut and this’ll be over.” And not at her like all the gunmen did, but actually shoot her. Catch her from the back or in the leg. Her shins may have been guarded but her thigh was out and easily shot. But I digress.

Moving on, in this opening we get the textbook definition of, “Well, it’s not OK when I do it, but you can do it all you want?” that men and women have complained about to each other since the dawn of this current society's feminism. For years, we’ve heard a chorus of people say that little boys should be admonished for wanting to rough-house and seek out rather violent ways of expression. We’ve had articles on how little boys playing warriors or cops and robbers, or playing violent video games is wrong and it reinforces “the patriarchal archetype of boys wanting violence,” yet in this film, Diana explicitly wants violence as a child. Unlike, say... Rey in Star Wars, she doesn’t just want to go out to explore beyond her island home, she is looking to conquer. She is born and raised in a fight culture that glorifies battle and whose sole purpose is to train and ready themselves for a war against man and Ares.

Now, while this criticism is overtly sexist, I have to also mention that some of the critics and fans didn’t like the first Captain America because of Steve Roger’s lust for war. Even though he wanted to go to WWII in order to help his brothers, some saw it as a lust for violence, which is the same thing Diana has here and throughout the movie. There literally is no other motivation, save for to murder.

Speaking of murder, this movie has the same exact problem that made so many critics hate Man of Steel: the death toll. Granted, maybe at this point in time we’ve gotten so used to our heroes killing people that we’ve become numb to it, but if that is the case, then I contend that we need to all go back and re-view Man of Steel in this light because it could change the entirety of how we view the film. In a universe where both Batman and Superman kill (two superheroes who were always determined not to kill at any cost), I thought maybe Diana would take the lead here and show the boys how it was done. But no. Yes, Diana is a warrior but again, why is it OK for her to kill at will and cause destruction but not any other superhero? We are shown a few scenes in which she slices the throats of some of the Nazi soldiers; she shield-bursts through a sniper’s tower (very similar, albeit fewer victims, to Superman and Zod bashing into buildings), and stabs through the guy who she thought was Ares all Terminator 2 style (remember that final scene where T-2 stabs Arnold through, then Arnold has to pull the rod out? Totally reminded me of that). And this, of course, is after the beach slaughter.

 Granted, it’s war and people do die, but the whole point of superheroes was for them to be better than regular heroes like soldiers and firefighters. Batman didn’t kill Joker, even though he was evil incarnate. Superman wasn’t supposed to kill Lex Luthor even though, again, he was a bad guy. Wonder Woman? Eh! Kill whoever you want, they’re just Nazis.

And as if that weren’t bad enough, we have to hear her run around the entire movie talking about how badly she wants to “kill” Ares. I don’t think I’ve ever heard the word “kill” in a superhero movie that often, and especially not coming out of the mouth of the superhero. The villain, sure. But the hero (heroine) having a killgasm like that? No. As an aside, I thought this was actually bad writing as they couldn’t come up with another word other than kill? Even Deadpool had other ways of saying what he wanted to do.

And one more thing about the murder rate in this thing, that end scene where she goes all hell-hath-no-fury on all of those soldiers either proves my killgasm point or is the worst, most blatant, “See? They’re really not dead and all is well,” cover-up since Batman v. Superman’s line about “luckily downtown is empty and everybody’s gone home for this death battle with Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Doomsday.” This woman was lifting up tanks and exploding through buildings just a scene ago. You’re telling me that when she loses her cool and can’t control her rage, her punches and kicks aren’t killing soldiers? Give me a break.

Then there are the characters. Steve Trevor is... sigh. To me, he was very one note. I liked the scene in which he and Diana are talking in the baths and he talks about his father. And I also liked the boat scene (though, I have gripes about that one too), but other than that, I found a lot of his scenes ushering on the movie. There was a lot of, “OK, Diana, we have to go. No, we can’t do that, we have to be here. Now we have to be here.” It felt more like he was a theater-house usher than a real character. And that dancing scene felt charmless to me. I don’t know, maybe I’m just not a fan of Chris Pine as he is also just OK to me in Star Trek. So, I’ll leave it at that. I suppose I can buy the romance between them. And also, what was he? I missed it when he said his rank and all of that. I know he’s a spy, but was he supposed to be American working with Brits? It just stood out because everyone else in the film has a thick accent, then he doesn’t. Confusing.

Anyway, the other characters were fine, albeit forgettable. I did find the scene between Diana and the Native American ironic, but I’m not going to waste time explaining why. But moving to the villains, well... sigh. To me, they were actually quite useless, almost as useless as most Marvel villains. I felt like Danny Huston’s character (can’t even remember his name he was so pointless; the general dude) was literally thrown into the movie as a red herring for the sake of having a red herring. Look, I don’t know the history of that particular character, so when I’m watching the film I want something explained to me. Why the hell is he taking that pill/capsule? Who was he really? And how did that capsule “restore him” or whatever? You see what I mean when I say red herring? He was there solely so you could think he was Ares. For a film that was touted as “reinvigorating the comic book genre,” I found this to be wholly unoriginal and uninspired. I didn’t even see the point of his evil, which is really hard to do with a character that is a Nazi. In comparing him to Red Skull, we at least knew that the red guy had other plans that superseded even the Furor’s and would continue regardless of what happened with the war. Here, does Huston’s character want to rule the world, is a psychopath that likes killing people for the sake of it, or what? He doesn’t seem to sway strongly either way. He doesn’t even seem to have a seething hatred for the enemy, he’s just... there, because why not?

Again, Huston’s character is there for the sake of throwing you off to think that he is Ares. A braver, smarter idea would have been to make Ares’ character genderless or gender-ambiguous in the opening story so that then they could have the doctor lady be suspected as Ares, only to have it be the British bloke or vice versa. I have not and will not ever understand women (and some men) who argue against a female superhero having a female villain to fight. The question of “why can’t they fight a man” is stupid to me. Yes, they can fight a man but when thinking about casting a film and the roles in a film, there are so few female villains, you’d think that Wonder Woman would have a strong one. Especially considering that villain roles are so often described as being some of the best, juiciest roles. Cate Blanchett looks absolutely wicked in the Thor: Ragnarok trailers and the female villains on ABC’s Once Upon A Time are so sinfully good. If the chemist woman was the main villain throughout most of the film, it would have made for a braver narrative. Instead, they had her as a secondary villain character, then are foolish enough to not even have a single scene of meaningful interaction between her and the heroine. And if you wanna talk patriarchy, Wonder Woman, after being raised in a matriarchal society, still somehow sees the evil woman as the delicate, helpless victim. And she spares her. Are you serious? “Yo, I’mma kill all these dudes because, you know, men are disposable and that’s what soldiers do, they die, but as soon as I see one woman, I’ve got to come to my senses and claim that love defeats all.” How is this any different than that Man of Steel family-at-the-museum scene that so many people hated? Seriously? The only difference is that Wonder Woman, unlike Superman, gets to actually say her piece on why she believes the villain is wrong, and uh... of course, it’s got somethin’ to do with love. But with that said, I believe Ares was pretty good for the tiny bit of screen time he had as the revealed villain. In fact, I dare call the performance inspired. Were he to have stayed around he could have been DC's Loki, but instead we are left with the sniveling Lex to fill that position, so... yeah.

While I thought that the linear storytelling was good this time around as opposed to Man of Steel’s time jumps, I still felt that the pacing was off here. There were huge swaths of this movie in which nothing of importance really happened. How many scenes do we honestly need of Trevor explaining the ravages of war to Diana? And the climax felt clunky and more distracting than anything as they switched back and forth between Wonder Woman and the others trying to stop the planes. It felt like they didn’t stay with one for longer than a minute at a time, which more so distracted than intensified the tension. It felt very much like how they kept cutting away from the Doomsday battle to show Lois being useless and the military being useless in Batman v. Superman. Hell, even the scene in which they’re trying to dress her goes on for too long. I can’t believe that a shopping montage went on for too long, yet it did. It blows my mind. But again, I digress.

Now, there are a ton of other nitpicks that I can make that I’m sure will one day be pointed out on CinemaSins, so I’ll just run through them here. First off (and this is definitely a personal nitpick), why do all of the superheroes now suddenly have their costumes just lying around? And more importantly why are the costumes always the exact colors that just happen to align with America? “Oh, we’re going to fight on the Allied side of WWI? I just happen to have a red, white and blue costume ready to go (I know it red, gold and blue but you get the point). Oh, I’m Superman and I’m from another planet? I just happen to have a blue jumpsuit with a red cape. How coincidental those are American colors.” Face-palm! Again, this movie was touted as being refreshingly new and invigorating to the superhero genre, yet... Just like in Man of Steel we get a, “Noooo!” scene at the death of a key character; just like in Man of Steel we get a strange apocalyptic vision/dream sequence in which the real villain shows our hero/heroine the world that could be (sans the cool skull sinkhole); we literally even get the same shot/plot point of a character long-diving off of a structure and going into water (Jor-el did it in Man of Steel, Diana does it on the island to go save Trevor; we have no hidden identity (Trevor was always meant to know but he then proceeds to tell everybody who will listen what kind of a wack job he’s traveling with); we get the destruction of a small town (like Smallville); we get a clip of our heroine walking through fire at the end (like when Clark saved the oil rig); we get an alley fight to show that Diana can still be a badass even when dressed in office clothes (ala Captain America); we get someone dying in and/or exploding in a plane (ala Captain America and Man of Steel with Meloni’s character being sucked into the phantom zone/drive thing); we get literally the same scene but in reverse in which the main villain is dressing for the final fight (in Man of Steel, Zod shakes off his spacesuit armor piece by piece to reveal an all-black under-suit, whereas in Wonder Woman Ares assembles his armor piece by piece into an all-black exo-suit); just like in Man of Steel, our hero/heroine must destroy/kill/defeat the last remaining person of their race (Zod and Kal-el are the last remaining Kryptonians; Diana and Ares are the last remaining gods, though Diana is a demi-god), and finally we get no clear definition of a code of honor or what the hero lives by. And this is still discounting the flaws that her powers, for the most part, go undefined (so, she can be cut by a regular blade but never sustains any other damage? I mean, her hair isn’t even tousled at the end); Zeus’ powers also go somewhat undefined (so, a god can just make other gods without doing the, uh... you know? Or is it only demi-gods he can create from virtually nothing?); and she essentially, has the exact opposite origin of Superman (so, where Kal-el was the only child born from natural “make-sex” ways, bucking the trend of genetic engineering, Diana is the only child engineered from clay and given life by a god. Yes, it takes a very subtle amount of massaging, but they’re virtually the antithesis of each other). But this is one of the highest-rated comic book movies of all time? Then what is Man of Steel?

What’s my grade? I give it a slightly higher grade than Batman v. Superman, a C+. Listen, there is no way that this movie is anything other than average. Was it OK? Yes, but it does not deserve to be rated as one of the top three great comic book movies of all time, and that did, unfortunately, influence my grade. If we’re even going there, the general list should start off in no particular order: Superman, Superman II, The Dark Knight, The Avengers, Batman and Iron Man. But because it’s Wonder Woman and there’s a woman lead, there’s a glossiness here. To me, the gloss is made even worse by people saying that it’s the first female-led superhero movie, forgetting about Elektra and Catwoman. Hell, that is almost as big of a slight as those Hollywood execs who, every three years or so, claim “women-led films don’t make money” forgetting about Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?, Misery, Aliens, Sixteen Candles, The Hunger Games, a ba-thousand horror films in which women play both canon fodder and heroine routinely and on and on. And the worst thing is that I know this will happen just the same when Black Panther comes out. Suddenly, everyone is going to forget about Blank Man, Meteor Man, Steel and Spawn, and claim, “Oh my god, it’s the first black superhero.” No, he is not. No, she was not.

I will, however, give them some credit because they did improve on some of the humorous elements, although that boat scene between her and Trevor almost epitomized the argument that some men and boys make against rape culture claims. Dressing how you want is one thing and I wouldn’t stop you from doing that, but don’t badger a guy to sleep next to you, talk about sex in innuendo fashion or otherwise, and then expect nothing to happen or for him to not have mixed signals. It just really made me feel uncomfortable because it’s telling both young girls and boys that courting/engaging in that kind of behavior is fine when neither of you should be putting yourself in a situation where something you don’t want to happen could happen. The conversation should literally have been, “Why don’t you want to sleep right next to me?” “Because you’re a woman and I’m a man. Period.” There’s nothing to argue about there. Don’t try to test him or his manhood by challenging him to do what you want, but I digress. I thought that the CGI was adequate and the acting was OK. Yes, I do still think that Gal has a lot of room for improvement but I thought she was bolstered by the cast of bit players and middling stars. Nobody in the cast was such a huge star that they outshined her just by being on the screen, not even Chris Pine who could often melt into the background.

While I will say that it is criminal that Patty Jenkins hasn’t gotten another film to direct since Monster, after watching this, I actually thought that this was the picture Zack Snyder wanted to direct more than anything. A lot of people kept saying after Batman v. Superman that Batman was more his style because of the darkness, but Wonder Woman was definitely his thing. If you look at the film, it has literally every hallmark of a Snyder film. It had the opportunity to be as dark as it wanted to be because it was a war film; had the blood and sandals style of 300; used the same type of slow-mo shots; followed a warrior who literally could kill anyone she wanted to; had a group of people protecting themselves from the encroaching evil that lurks just beyond their borders ala Dawn of the Dead; and like that Dawn of the Dead movie, has a band of misfits that come together to survive as they also wade through dangerous territory. You look at all of his films and he’s always done better with a bigger cast, rather than focused on one star and a bunch of supporting characters, whether that be in Dawn, 300, Guardians of Ga’Hoole, Watchmen or Sucker Punch. Focusing on darker world building was always his thing. That, however, does not make me more hopeful for Justice League.

I still think that it is as I predicted when I said that Wonder Woman would be accepted by most: Justice League will return to mediocrity for critics, there will not be a Justice League part 2 (at least not for a while), there won’t be a Man of Steel 2, they’ll continue for two more sequels with Wonder Woman, and they’ll have only one other successful character, but all the other plans will languish in development hell (currently, my bet on the other character is Aquaman but I reserve the right to see Justice League before calling it). In fact, I believe that the reason why they even chose WWI was to specifically distance Wonder Woman from the rest of the shared universe. They did everything they could to make it its own film completely apart from the JL universe. Yes, some will argue that they stayed true to the roots by using one of the world wars, but they could’ve chosen any war. The world has been in wars and conflicts ever since the fall of the British empire. They could’ve chosen the Vietnam or Korean war or et cetera, but we got WWI, and I partially think another reason the film rated so high is because critics love war films. For whatever reason, war films tend to almost always rate extremely high.

Just remember, folks, that these movies are based highly on the box office and while Marvel has cranked out the billion-dollar films, DC has yet to get one. But again, take everything I’m saying with a grain of salt as I always wanted to do a Superman and Justice League trilogy which look less and less likely as they keep on this path. Still keeping hope alive to write the Captain Planet film, though. Oh, and no, WB does not get credit for giving this film to a woman to direct. No congratulations for doing what you’re supposed to do, but I’ll definitely look at you sideways if you don’t at least add a female writer to Allan Heinberg for the sequel.

Oh, and just before I get outta here, I’d like to say that I was a little disappointed in the soundtrack as it played in the movie. I expected a little more, but... I don’t know. I don’t understand why they didn’t go with Junkie XL for this. Yes, I know he is doing Justice League, but he worked on WW’s theme for Batman v. Superman, it just seemed like he’d do all of the films and take over for Zimmer. I don’t know. Haven’t listened to the soundtrack raw and on its own yet, so I’ll probably be wowed by it there but it didn’t pull me further into the movie.

What do you think? Have you seen Wonder Woman, and if so, how did you like it? Did you see some of the many similarities between it and the other movies I mentioned? Do you think it is really deserving of the title of one of the greatest comic book movies of all time? And do you think this bodes well for the rest of the DCEU? Also, do you think this iteration of Wonder Woman can fly? Because I’m really confused by that. In BvS she was about to leave the city on a plane, right? But in this film, it looked like in the final battle she might have been flying a few times, or just had some serious hang time on her jumps. Anyway, let me know in the comments below.

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If you’re looking for a scare, check the YA novel #AFuriousWind, the NA novel #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or the bizarre horror #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic and adult, check out #TheWriter. Both season 1 and season 2 are out NOW, exclusively on Amazon. Stay connected here for updates on season 3 coming summer 2017. If you like fast action/crime check out #ADangerousLow. The sequel A New Low will be out in a few months. Look for the mysterious Sci-fi episodic novella series Extraordinary OUT NOW. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right.

Until next time, “We’re gonna solve this thing with love, damn it! And if that doesn’t work, we’ve always got fists.”

P.S. So let me get this straight, Batman’s got a gun and loves running people over; Superman enjoys snapping a neck or two; and Wonder Woman’s got a sword and shield that she totally uses to slice through necks and stab through people, yet we’re only outraged by the first two? Really? Hmph! Interesting.

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Superman Will Die In Batman V. Superman #BatmanvSuperman #Superheroes #ComicBookMovie

Superman Will Die In Batman V. Superman #BatmanvSuperman #Superheroes #ComicBookMovie

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Oh! My! God! So, I just heard from a friend that a whopping amount of craziness is going to go down due to the Batman v. Superman film and supposedly some of the real tea behind the scenes at Warner Bros.

For starters, you read that title right, Superman will die in Batman V. Superman (#BatmanvSuperman)... supposedly. Wondering why Warner Bros. hadn't really come out with plans for a second Man of Steel? That's why. So, here's the rundown. Apparently, fans needn't worry about that trailer that came out last week spoiling the whole movie. From my friend, I'm hearing that it only showed footage from the first 90 minutes of the film that is slated to be at least another hour longer than that. Basically, much of what you saw was from the first two acts of the film, with the exception of a few scenes not including the Doomsday thing.

Oh yeah, as for Doomsday, the producers are sticking close to the comic book and will actually have Doomsday kill Superman as they die together. Only after this does Batman fully come to respect him through his sacrifice for the cause. That little team shot you see of all three of them (including Wonder Woman) standing in guard doesn't actually bring them together like everyone thinks it will. In fact, Batman becomes almost more driven to destroy Superman because he blames him for the rise of this new supervillain in Doomsday, hence why Superman makes the sacrifice.

So, what then happens after that? And how does Superman come back? That is when the Flash comes in for his cameo. Were you wondering why they rushed to cast everyone so quick to stuff them into this movie? I was. The flash comes from the future--yes, they're going to use time travel this soon--to try to warn everyone what will happen. That scene that everyone is calling the nightmare is actually a scene from the future where Darkseid is somehow controlling various members of the Justice League which is where we'll see the entire team fighting in a short cameo both against the parademons and Superman.

But now learning that Superman has died, The Flash realizes the time line has been changed and ventures off to go further back in time to change the events leading up to this. Here's the kicker! The Flash's time travel and Superman's death is the whole reason why, skipping Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman is the next DC film release and it is set in the past. The Flash is supposed to make a cameo in that film too, though why is still unclear; but Steve Trevor is somehow supposed to come to this current time by Justice League part two.

Superman is supposed to be dead until the beginning of Justice League is all that the producers and writers know so far and he's supposed to be brought back to help defeat Darkseid. This whole thing blows my little theory earlier on Cullan Mulvey being Martian Manhunter and not KGBeast like initially reported out of the water. Again, the Flash scene is really only like three minutes long where he explains this to Batman and Wonder Woman toward the end of the film. But the film is supposed to both end on a serious cliffhanger while still giving a satisfying end.

What do you think about this new "news" (everything's a rumor until the movie opens)? Did you expect Warner Bros. to actually kill off Superman like they did in the comics? How many times do you think Doomsday will evolve? What do you think of the time travel of the Flash being crucial to the end of the story? Let me know in the comments below (hint: click the no comments button if you see no comments).

Check out my new 5-star comedy novel, Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My Ex-Boyfriend. #AhStalking

If you’re looking for a scare, check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or  #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is out now NOW exclusively on Amazon. If you like fast action crime check out #ADangerousLow. The sequel A New Low will be out in a few months. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right.

Until next time, "holy cow, Batman! Superman's dead'

P.S. I was surprised when they brought in time travel so quickly to the Flash TV series but maybe that is a testing ground for everything now.

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