Five Avengers I'd like to see in future movies

My post on The Avengers will go up next week, but before that, I hope you'll forgive me as I indulge in my inner geek and talk about semi-obscure comic book characters. Actually, given the levels of geekdom in the online media, not to mention in Hollywood studios, I should probably stop thinking of comics this way. I mean, in recent years, we've seen movies based on some pretty unlikely properties: Scott Pilgrim, Constantine, The Losers,  A History of Violence - not to mention The Walking Dead on TV. Regardless of quality, it's assuring to know that Hollywood is investing in more than just superheroes.


But for those of us of a certain generation, we first discovered comics through Marvel and DC superheroes. (For younger people, manga - Japanese comics - are the thing now.) The Avengers was one of my favorite comics for a long time, and like the X-Men, they've had a wide variety of characters over their half-century of publication. Here are a handful that I'd love to see make the jump to the big screen:

- The Wasp. At one point she was gonna be in this movie, but it didn't happen. The Wasp is one of the original Avengers, and when I started reading the comic, she was beginning a crucial transition from ditzy, one-dimensional, stereotypical female to a more well-rounded, competent and confident hero who would go on to be one of the greatest team leaders - without losing her femininity and becoming grim and gritty and dark. Chances are she'll wind up in the Ant-Man movie (she and Ant-Man are an item), if they ever get it off the ground. I've always liked her, and as one of Marvel's first ladies, she deserves some respect. Who I'd cast: Elizabeth Banks. She radiates the perkiness and spunk that would work perfectly for the character.

- The Vision. Another long-time Avenger, I would like to see a theoretical movie version of him that either avoids the "artificial intelligence learns the meaning of humanity" angle or finds a new way to approach it. He's a "synthozoid," which is not quite an android, nor is it a robot. That's definitely something that should get explored, since that's relatively unique in sci-fi movies. He has ties to Ant-Man (and to a lesser degree, the Wasp), as well as another Avenger, Wonder Man, which could either be used or not, I don't care, but he would make for an excellent addition to the cast if long-time villain Ultron, another AI, is used for the sequel. Who I'd cast: I dunno. Gerard Butler?

- The Scarlet Witch. Can't have Vision without her. They were married for a very long time in the comics, but I think they might've broken up recently. Comics marriages tend to be as fleeting as Hollywood ones, most of the time, except of course for Reed and Sue Richards of the Fantastic Four - they're like the Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward of superhero comics. The Scarlet Witch is a mutant, however, so Fox may want to stake a claim on her (and her brother Quicksilver) at some point, but I hope not. Her powers are a bit hard to define - it used to be simply altering probability, but now she's become a full-fledged witch, I think (it's been awhile since I've read the comics), so I would pick one or the other and stick to it for the film version. Who I'd cast: Um... Not sure. Preferably someone European, since she's from Eastern Europe. I'd like her to have an accent at least (still kinda disappointed that the Black Widow doesn't have one).

- Firestar. Speaking on behalf of everyone who ever watched Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends growing up, I think this would be awesome, but again, there's that fear that Fox would claim her for the X-franchise (I'm surprised they haven't already). Not every mutant needs to be an X-Man or an X-villain or whatever. She could fill the role of the youngster still learning how to use her powers and learning through interacting with the rest of the team. (And no, we can do without her boyfriend Justice.) Who I'd cast: Jennifer Lawrence would be perfect, but she's a little busy with a franchise of her own. How about Elizabeth Olsen?

- Captain Marvel. This will never happen, but a fan can dream: she's actually gone by several different code-names, but she debuted as Captain Marvel (no, she didn't yell "Shazam!"; that's somebody else). She probably wouldn't go by this name if she appeared in an Avengers movie, but that's how I still think of her. Anyway, she's a New Orleans naval officer with vast energy-based powers. She led the team for awhile, but in recent years, she's been written wildly inconsistently (but then, what superhero hasn't at some point?). I've always loved her too; during her first few years as an Avenger she was part of some epic storylines, and I'd totally geek out if somebody found a part for her. Who I'd cast: Gabrielle Union.


Now I know you've got some dream choices of your own, so don't be shy; let's see 'em. Oh, and by the way, I'd be remiss if I failed to mention that today is Free Comic Book Day, so if you liked the Avengers movie, take a visit to your local comic book shop today and take home some freebies.


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Related:
'Avengers' will be a fanboy's dream come true

My Movie Year

My Movie Year Blogathon is an event in which the purpose is to write about a favorite year in movies, hosted by the site Fandango Groovers Movie Blog. For a complete list of participating bloggers, visit the host site.

It's hard to argue any year other than 1939 as the best year for movies: Gone With the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Stagecoach, The Women, Ninotchka, The Rules of the Game - and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Fortunately, I'm not here to discuss that particular year.


I've talked before about who I'd want to play me in the movie of my life, but I never talked about what the story would be. Covering the entirety of it would make no sense; I'm not famous, nor have I done anything that has significantly changed the world (yet!). I would choose instead to spotlight one particular year and fashion a narrative out of that. There are several that would do, but the one I keep coming back to is 1986.


It's memorable for a variety of reasons. It's the year the Mets won the World Series, of course, and that was a defining moment in my childhood. It was also the year I entered high school, and that precipitated a number of changes in the way I thought about myself and the world around me.

Okay, so maybe 1986 wasn't that great.

As far as movies go, it was a solid year: Aliens, Platoon, The Fly, Labyrinth, Blue Velvet, She's Gotta Have It, Highlander, Star Trek IV, Three Amigos, Short Circuit, Back to School, Hannah and Her Sisters, Sid and Nancy, Down By Law and Little Shop of Horrors, among others. What I wanna talk about in particular is the movie music from 1986.


In 1986 I listened to a whole lot of Top 40 radio, though by year's end that would change as I slowly started getting into classic rock. I was aware of movie soundtracks, and even if certain songs were from movies I was too young to see, thanks to videos, I could get a fairly good sense of what they were about. The following movies had some of the best songs that I remember well from that year:


- Top Gun. Duh! I still have this soundtrack on vinyl, and it's nothing but hits, "Danger Zone" and "Take My Breath Away" being the biggest. I remember being disappointed that "Danger Zone" didn't make it to number one on the charts - if I recall correctly, I believe it plateaued at number two! I also remember thinking how strange it was that Berlin's Terri Nunn had blonde hair with black tips at the bottom. Dyed hair was still a relatively new concept to me, and between Cyndi Lauper, Boy George, Annie Lennox and dozens of big-hair metal bands, there were plenty of examples of them to be found.


- Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I was a sleepaway camp counselor in 1995 when the Beatles Anthology was released, and all summer long, kids as young as six, seven, eight years old had the Beatles on the brain. So it was with us in 1986 when "Twist and Shout" got a big boost thanks to this film. The Beatles, man, they just never go out of style. I have a friend in her 70s who claims to not like them, but I suspect it's only a mildly passive dislike at worst and not an out-and-out hate.

 - Stand By Me. Oooh, man, I can recall it like it was yesterday, how big Ben E. King's classic hit was amongst us eighth-graders when this movie came out. I had a father who played old-school soul all the time, so I may have been a bit more familiar with this song than my classmates, but still, we all loved this song so much. We liked the movie, of course, but the song just felt special somehow even without the movie. Between this, Ferris, Soul Man and Jumpin' Jack Flash, it was a good year for old songs getting a new lease on life thanks to movies.

- Transformers: The Movie. "You got the TOUCH! YOU GOT THE POWERRRRRRRRR!!!"

Also, Weird Al.

- Pretty in Pink. Yeah, I was in love with Molly Ringwald like the rest of teenage America in 1986, and this film had another killer soundtrack, with "Pretty in Pink" and "If You Leave" being the big highlights. I wouldn't really begin to appreciate new wave music until later on in high school, though.