SPOTLIGHT


Remember when Bonnie Tyler sang that she was “Holding Out for a Hero” on the 1984 Footloose soundtrack? Well, I do (’cause I’m old) and she may just have been right in tune with filmmakers’ decision to once again cash in on the superhero craze for 2011.


Thor, who is known in some circles as “The God of Thunder” and “The Mighty Thor,” is played by Chris Hemsworth as a powerful, yet snotty


warrior. Uh oh, someone’s got a bad boy complex and a big hammer to use as his weapon – is the outcast from Asgard (I will leave that one alone) overcompensating for his shortcomings? The Marvel Comics creation, which is based upon the Thor of Norse mythology, is banished to Earth and sent to live among humans (how dreadful!) by his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins). Naturally, he meets a pretty and witty scientist


(Natalie Portman, who will not be reprising her Black Swan role, even though the name sounds like a kick-ass villainess), just in time to save the world from a terror sent from Asgard – let’s just hope he stocks up on Preparation H. Yup, I went there this time. Opens May 6. More Marvel Comics heroes are here to save the day on June 3 and July 22, respectively. First up are Stan Lee’s Mutant Babies, AKA, X-Men:


First Class with a plotline that goes back to the origins of how Xs first marked the spot. The focus is on the characters of Charles Xavier/Professor X with James McAvoy taking on Sir Patrick Stewart’s older version from the trilogy, and Michael Fassbender subbing for Sir Ian McKellen’s Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto characters. The two unite with other mutants, until they have a slight tiff. C’mon, girls, work it out. I take it that since Chris Evans is portraying Captain America: The First Avenger that he will no longer “flame on” as Johnny Storm in The


Fantastic Four franchise (thankfully, they are rebooting that series). As the titular Captain, Evans undergoes an experimental procedure, known as “Operation: Rebirth,” which includes doses of “Super-Soldier Serum” (cough, cough) and “vita-rays.” While he and sidekick Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) don’t need to combat the military’s “DADT” policy during the 1940 setting, he does do battle with The Red Skull (Hugo


Weaving). Both Captain America and Thor are slated to be part of the long-awaited Avengers movie in 2012, let’s hope they do boffo box-office on their own accord, or they could jus be doing the equivalent of a cameo.


Ryan Reynolds’ The Green Lantern is given a wealth of superpowers, and bling, from an alien race. However, the recent People magazine’s


“Sexiest Man Alive” is saddled with the unsexy alter-ego name of Hal Jordan. Hal? Fret not; his super suit is very formfitting. Plus, the script about The Green Lantern’s attempts to thwart letting-it-go-all-to-his brain baddie, Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard), has contributions by openly gay scribe Greg Berlanti. Opens June 17.


by tim parks


JANUARY 2011 | RAGE monthly 37


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