Marvel Future Fight: Teases (X-traordinary) X-Men Announcement for SDCC 2018

     Ever since the 3 year anniversary of Marvel Future Fight, the game and developers have really turned things around from a few great flubs in the last year- such as the loot box Ultimates characters which resulted in amassive player boycott.
     Today after the official Marvel Games twitter account posted an image about what is in store for this years San Diego Comic Con without Future Fight, players questioned the lack of the game, and the official Future Fight account was quick to respond with an amazing teaser.

Calling all Agents! Your presence is urgently requested for a briefing  that is of the utmost importance! We have something... X-traordinary to  discuss! #MarvelSDCC #SDCC2018 https://t.co/DNUiL6WC0j

— Marvel: Future Fight (@Marvel_FFightUS) June 28, 2018

     This seems like an easy teaser for the Extraordinary X-Men comic series.  Granted we can only speculate at this point, but we already have a lot of the team in the game and there's an opportunity to give them new uniforms and even expand the roster with fan favorite characters like Deadpool.
     Considering that last years SDCC announcement was the Age of Apocalypse, I can only imagine this years will need to top the hype and subsequent letdown last year- Apocalypse himself didn't even arrive in game until a couple weeks after the initial update hit.

     The hype has already begun, and I for one, am very X-Cited to see what Netmarble has in store for Marvel Future Fight as SDCC 2018 at the Marvel Games Panel on Thursday, July 19th from 1-2pm.

     For related [ Posts ]

Morbius: Jared Leto Officially Cast as The Living Vampire

     In an out-of-left-field announcement, Sony has announced that Jared Leto has been cast in a Morbius film, based on the 1971 comic character created by Gil Kane and Roy Thomas for Amazing Spider-Man 101.
     This comes as an odd surprise as Morbius has never been a huge character in the Spider-Man universe, whereas the Venom film makes sense because he's been in countless issues and series as well as being wildly popular as a dark and gritty anti-hero.  Morbius has only appeared periodically since that first issue and even had a solo-series for a few years.

     Michael Morbius was a scientist with a rare blood disorder, and in a typical old horror story fashion through an effort to cure the disease via a science experiment gone wrong, he instead transformed himself into a pseudo-vampire- along with all the vampire-like traits that come with it such as enhanced strength, speed, a healing factor, night vision, echolocation, and the classic vampire staple- a thirst for blood.

     He began as a foe of the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, and eventually grew to be a tragic anti-hero and fight for the side of good.  Perhaps Leto will be able to really nail the tragic dichotomy of a man torn between seeking to do good and fighting his inhuman lust for blood.  Rumors say that Daniel Espinoza (Safe House) is going to be directing the feature, so hopefully we'll get something more character accurate than Leto's bizarre take on the Joker from Suicide Squad.  In addition, Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless are writing the script, and they will be overseen by Palak Patel.
     Now I'm curious to know if Sony hold the cinematic rights to Jack Russel, of Marvel Comics' Werewolf By Night. Or if they'll have a cameo appearance of either Venom or Spider-Man considering the relation of the properties.

     Morbius has no set release window yet.

     Venom is set to release October 5th.

     Spider-Man: Far From Home is slated for early July 2019 release.

     Source [ Variety ]

Inhumans: Jeph Loeb on Their Possible Future on TV (and a Possible Lead to the Fantastic Four)

INHUMANS PAST

     Back in 2015 Marvel announced the Inhumans were slated to get a feature film, which could've been amazing under MCU head Kevin Feige, and then there was a rumor that Vin Diesel would be possibly tapped to play Black Bolt, which would've been awful.
     Then in 2016, it was announced they'd be making the move to television instead, which had potential, until it was made known it would be on ABC and not Netflix- leaving me less than pleased again.  Things took a much worse turn as Scott Buck was then given the role of showrunner because his track record is essentially a death sentence for a show- see what he did to Dexter or the fan response to his mishandling of Iron Fist- and even the talented casting choices couldn't save the Inhumans.

     The great disappointment was made certain after the release of the first trailer.  It looked horrendous.  The CGI looked cheap, the story appeared to take the unbelievably amazing Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee Marvel Knights series and reduce it to the worst possible version, and the character designs were atrocious (outside of Black Bolt himself).  It wasn't a too great of a surprise as the show had been rushed, and the double-team of ABC and Scott Buck together didn't leave viewers with much hope that it would turn out even mediocre- because as their history has shown through Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter, they take great characters and neuter them.
     As I wrote then:

     I've made it well known that I think Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is crap, it's quite terrible.  Even with all the headway the Robbie Reyes Ghost Rider has been making, the show is still not nearly as great as it should be.  It gets 2 steps ahead and makes 5 steps back.  They need better writers and better directors.  Seriously, the showrunners have lost the magic of what made Agent Coulson so appealing in the movies.  The same can be said about Agent Carter.  They need to go back and study what made these characters special in the movies and focus on replicating it on television. 

     Skye/Daisy/Quake gained some powers and went from hacking-as-a-semi-superpower to master combatant.  It's absolutely preposterous.  Fitz and Simmons are in the same boat- everybody is now an action star, leaving no differentiation between characters.  That's very poor story telling. 

     And that's exactly why I'm very worried about the Inhumans being handled by a team that relegates their characters to daytime soap opera status.  We want things at least to have the quality the Netflix shows have.  The interpersonal relationship drama and angst is far too abused in S.H.I.E.L.D., maybe they need to focus on small tasks and awesome Mission Impossible type subterfuge as opposed to all the damn overused world threatening crap.  For Inhumans, they should simply adapt the 12 issue Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee run.  Keep it simple and meaningful.  A tightly knit story with a huge payoff.

     Since I wrote this Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has gotten much better, but still suffers from these issues, but it IS progressing into a much better show.  Then, when the inevitable cancellation came for the doomed Inhumans back in December, my immediate thought was, "The #AgentsofSHIELD show should just pick up the #Inhumans on their show- it's a better show anyway."  Because despite its flaws, Agents is getting significantly better and has made huge leaps forward from where it began.  I've tweeted enough praise for the potential in the show, and heavy criticism against it, in hopes we could see them again in a much better way, so the following news makes me quite hopeful.

INHUMANS FUTURE

     During a Reddit AMA for the release of Cloak & Dagger Marvel's Head of Television Jeph Loeb answered a bunch of questions and gave out some great teasers for what is to come.  He stated numerous times when asked about show crossovers that there is a good possibility, for fans to "wait and see", and to "stay tuned" for news.

Then most applicably to this particular situation comes from these gems:

thatguy9234: 
Will the actors in Inhumans be brought back if their characters are revived in either Marvel TV or the MCU? I personally liked the casting choices made for the show. 

JephLoeb:
Hope so. Great cast and for what's it worth, still think is a fun show.

     Another great tease from this one, which includes some good New Warriors info:

Dennisw0w:
Thank you for this AMA, it's very nice of you. I have a few questions I'd love to get answered.
1. Do you think we could expect see the royal family again even though there's no more Inhumans? Perhaps in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 6?
2. Any progress with finding New Warriors a home?
3. Are there any exciting crossovers planned between shows or movies? No need to be specific. 

Jeph Loeb:
Well Dennis...
1. Wait and see
2. We're working on it.
3. Answered before.

     And lastly, this one:

blackbutterfree:
Dear /u/JephLoeb despite “Inhumans”… unique reception, Anson as Black Bolt, Serinda as Medusa and Iwan as Maximus are universally praised by fans as the best parts about that show. Could we ever see any of them reprising their roles in other MCU tv shows? Preferably a short arc on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

JephLoeb:
Hope so. We love these characters and the actors are the best!

     So the Inhumans may have a televised redemption after the ill-fated show.  The actors can be given a chance to shine, and better writers and directors can make fans of these wonderful characters in their new home.
     I, for one, am greatly looking forward to them being given a proper treatment and hope they appear on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. now that their creative team has been hitting their stride.

     Source [ Reddit AMA with Jeph Loeb ] [ ComicBookResources ]

A FANTASTIC POTENTIAL

     Now, for the Fantastic Four teaser- which obviously cannot happen until the rights that Fox currently owns, go back to Marvel via the huge deal that's been in progress for months.  I would like to say this is some crazily in depth analysis and ingenious sleuthing regardless if it is true or not.

     This entire next section comes from a brilliant Reddit User named KingInvalid96:

But my burning question to you has to do with my absolute favorite portion of the MCU- Marvel's Agents of S.h.i.e.l.d. I've got a fan theory that the show is actually an epic prologue to several iconic storylines in the marvel universe including Ghost Rider, Secret Invasion, SWORD, and most notably, The Fantastic Four and Doctor Doom.

This idea was planted in my mind after a reoccurring use of the word “Doom” by one specific character, or rather a set of characters that would eventually become one character. That which I’m referring to is Will, Ward, and Hive. These characters share an interesting proclivity towards the word “Doom” both in their dialogue and in their interactions, sometimes even quite literally saying “I’m Doom”. (SPOILERS)

1.) Season 3 Episode 5 (4722 Hours): Jemma, stuck on Maveth with Will, proclaims [“I’ll be the voice of Hope, you’ll be the voice of Doom.”](https://imgur.com/n7Pi10ehttps://imgur.com/n7Pi10e).

2.) Season 3 Episode 18 (The Singularity): Hive, before being stabbed by Jemma, quite literally says [“I’m Doom, you’re hope- remember?”](https://imgur.com/VR9FFmG)

3.) Season 4 Episode 19 (All the Madame’s Men): Framework Tripp is talking about whether Ophelia is building some sort of “doomsday device” and Framework Ward, uncharacteristically whines [“Can we not use that word to describe it? It’s not helping me think.”](https://imgur.com/hcH9RCf)

Now this would mean nothing if you assumed Hive's offscreen death meant he was actually dead. But with Graviton being dead in space where the Hive parasite can be drawn to it, I haven't lost faith. Especially considering [Robin's 8-in-1 person drawing shown on Enoch's fridge](https://imgur.com/LNCp0kE). General "My body is a steel trap" Talbot could house

1. Doctor Hall
2. Ian Quinn
3. Green Confederacy Alien (Skrull?)
4. Carl Creel
5. Will "Im Doom" Daniels
6. Grant Ward
7. Alveus Hive
8. Quake ???

I definitely believe they could all come together... like [pieces solving a puzzle](https://imgur.com/AndICKa). But it's been pointed out that the connection here is reliant on common words and basic math. So I thought about the parallels between the show and the F4 themselves:

• The Fear Dimension/Negative Zone
• Alien Energy/Cosmic Radiation
• Discovery of the Inhumans
• The Shield Academy/Empire State University
• The Fantastic Fitzsimmons literally becoming the First Family in the MCU in ep. 100
• Deke saying everyone in shield changed their names (what're the odds Fitsimmons choose Reed and Sue?)
• Fitz/Reed designing a spaceship
• Enoch's accumulation of wealth + reputation for Frozen Fitz/the Future Foundation

I could go on, considering I'm absolutely enamored with the idea that you guys are already planning something similar. But I won't continue to bore you with my fan theories and instead ask a very simple question:

Am I crazy, or are you guys producing Agents of Shield to be the epic prologue to something more? Can you elaborate or hint towards the future of the show now that it's been renewed for Season 6?

JephLoeb:
You're not crazy. But that's all I can say!

      Wow, that's a hell of a fan theory, and honestly, I'm quite impressed.  I had hoped for years that Fox (or Marvel if they got the cinematic rights back) would make a Fantastic Four film as a straight up period piece set in the 1960s, complete with the Galactus plotline and the four thwarting him and making a device that eliminates the memory of it from everyone on Earth- and thus preserving the Marvel Cinematic Universes timelines.

Agent Carter: Possible Revival: Marvel's Head of TV Jeph Loeb - "Find Us a Network"

     Two years ago ABC made the brilliant decision to cancel the fan-favorite show Agent Carter to free up the talented lead actress Hayley Atwell for their new show Conviction in hopes doing something more mainstream and subsequently boosting ratings.  That plan worked out quite well and Conviction was cancelled after a mere 13 episodes.  Now, after the Roseanne got the axe due to some seriously poor life choices and Ambien, fans are jumping at the chance to convince the network to pick Agent Carter back up.

     In a Reddit AMA Marvel's Head of TV Jeph Loeb replies to a question by user Super-Finch's question about an Agent Carter revival with the response, "Wouldn't that be cool? Find us a network! Hayley has been so kind of saying she'd love to come back."
     Which is true, she said when the show was initially cancelled that she would love to return to the role saying, "Yeah, 100%. Absolutely. Yeah, I love Peggy, I love the people that are working on this project together, the fans are incredibly warm and welcoming and it would be an absolute privilege and an honor to bring her back for the fans."  She's also voiced the character again in the animated feature Avengers: Secret Wars, and even admits to previously bugging Marvel people about getting a movie.  Hell, she's even written she'd do "whatever it takes" to bring it back.
     Though, it should be noted, Huffpo claims Atwell has said she's left the Marvel Universe and isn't looking back just yesterday in an interview, but that isn't really what she's said at all.  When asked about possibly returning she said, “To get a call now would be like, ‘Oh, God!’ I’m sure anything could happen, but it’s this genre world that’s so multifaceted it’s like, will it ever die?”  Atwell doesn't appear hopeful about the possibility, but she isn't completely discounting it either- even as of last summer mentioning she'd love to see more of Peggy in the films.

     Netflix had already passed up on the chance to save Agent Carter and explained why in an Entertainment Weekly article back in July 2016 by saying, “We’re looking for truly original brands to own, and in that Marvel space we already have [original comic book shows] - so that was mostly why.”
     Hulu might be an option, as they've got Marvel's Runaways.  Perhaps NBC might be interested because fans spoke up recently, and the network stepped up and saved Brooklyn 99 from cancellation.  Then there's even a chance for Carter to return via Disney's (and thus Marvel's) own streaming service which is set to launch next year...

     Considering the fact that Loeb has said that Cloak & Dagger getting made was wholly due to fans calling for it, the chances of Agent Carter returning aren't too bad.  In my opinion, however, as much as I wanted a Cloak & Dagger series, I wasn't expecting it to be such a kiddie-teen show- I was expecting the hard drugs and abuse stories from the 80s comics, and in essence mimicking the grit of the Netflix Marvel shows.  It looks cheaply done, and from what I've seen it might not last long, and possibly might follow in the footsteps of the Scott Buck ruined Inhumans.  Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. took a while to really hit the mark, it started off as more like Agents of S.H.!.T., so perhaps Cloak & Dagger will as well.
     I for one just hope that if Agent Carter does make a triumphant return they can get the appropriate crew to write and direct a good 1950-60's era Cold War spy thriller show that she deserves.  The first two seasons were enjoyable following the Agent Carter Marvel One Shot (the special was great), but the show simply lacked the punch she had in the films (they did the exact same thing to Agent Coulson translating him from film to TV).  The show could easily be tied to some rough early years of S.H.I.E.L.D., a more in depth crossover with the Black Widow's backstory, and keep it as an all-around good period piece show.

     So for fans of the show, dust off your Life Gem Infinity Stones, and get out there to be heard so that Agent Carter may once again have life.

     #RenewAgentCarter

     Source [ Comicbook ]

Marvel Heroes: BLACK FRIDAY Will Be the End, Gazillion Fires Everyone, Shutting Game Down in Two Days

     Only five short days after the announcement that Gazillion was closing its doors and Marvel Heroes would be no more as of December 31st, we've received even worse news.  In a spectacularly awful move, Gazillion has fired all of their hardworking staff the day before Thanksgiving via an internal email to their employees.  What makes this so much more awful is the fact that the firing of the employees leaves them without severance, PTO payouts, and no insurance according to Andrew Hair, who before today was a Gazillion gameplay engineer, and confirmed by one of Gaz's former game designers- Brian "Asros" Waggoner.

     It's been leaked from ex-developer Winterthur (@Zurick on Discord) that the Marvel Heroes (Marvel Heroes Omega) will NOT be playable until December 31st, but will in fact end in a mere 2 days (on November 24th) making it a true Black Friday- and in a feat of villainy Gazillion will be giving us the true Omega Update as the game vanishes from our lives.
     While my long-standing and deep appreciation for Marvel Heroes is extremely disappointed in its far too swift server shutdown, my heart and condolences go out to all the awesome Gazillion employees that kept us happily entertained for the last 4 years both in game and on the official forums- they were the real heroes in this, and they have a tough time ahead after CEO Dave Dohrmann's (he of the inappropriate sexual conduct scandals, harassment, and accusations) email destroyed their Holiday season.  It's sad to say, but it looks like instead of taking responsibility, Dohrmann would rather ruin the lives of everyone around him- and tanking any hope of Gaz reaping the rewards of all the great things that were on the horizon for the game.

     There is a very little hope left for the game to be salvaged, though there IS some hope still, there's a petition for Marvel and Disney to save the game, (and on twitter) perhaps under different leadership it could be bought up and given new life, perhaps it will be forgotten and ignored by The House of Mouse- either way, try to show your support for the devs that worked tirelessly for these last few years in whatever endeavors they choose to pursue in the future.  Thank you for all the great memories.

     Sources [ Massively OP ] via [ Reddit ]

Marvel Strike Force: A NEW Mobile Marvel RPG Coming in 2018

     After the sad news of the epic MMO Marvel Heroes Omega being shut down on December 31st, Marvel Entertainment has announced a new mobile game arriving in 2018.  The new game is a free-to-play (with IAPs of course) mobile role-playing game featuring squad-based action being developed by FoxNext Games's Aftershock Studio (this will be their first game).

     The story follows Earth's mightiest heroes assembling against a long-forgotten Kree Eternal named Ultimus, who has become a general in the Kree Empire.  Being an Eternal he shares the same power source as Thanos, and as a Kree he follows warriors such as the religious Kree zealot Ronan The Accuser, and he has realized that Earth is a threat to the the existence of the Kree empire and he has come up with a plane to deal with it.  With his sights set on Earth, Ultimus' goal is to conquer not just Earth, but by every Earth in every dimension by using his technology to controls the minds of all the heroes.

    Aaron Loeb, FoxNext Games President of Studios, has said they are trying to liken the game to fantasy sports teams, where players can draft from a large cast of famous Marvel characters, ranging from Captain America and Doctor Strange to Guardians of the Galaxy like Drax or Rocket Raccoon, or even some of the Defenders like Daredevil and Luke Cage.

    The Creative Director for FoxNext Games, Jason Bender, has described the game's tactical range and gameplay as:

"There is immense depth of strategy across characters and squads, which typically have 5 characters on the field at a time. Players will build a force of around 70 characters, with even more to be revealed! 

Every character has to collect a variety of gear in order to grow stronger, and they have 3 to 4 unique abilities each. As abilities improve, new mechanics will unlock and reveal new tactical options. For example, Daredevil might start out attacking a single target at a time, but will quickly grow to chain his martial arts maneuvers to multiple enemies in a single attack." 

     The game will also launch with at least one player-to-player mode- being a highly competitive, but friendly arena allowing players to test their mettle against each other and earn rewards as they climb the ladder to the top- as well as the promise of a wide variety of more PvP modes planned.  In addition there will be alliances to aid in strengthening teams and collecting new gear and upgrades.

     It should be noted that Marvel Strike Force clearly resembles Marvel Avengers Alliance 1 & 2, both of which were shut down in September 2016, and definitely appears similar to another current Disney owned property's product- Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes, and by the sounds of it, ` will also rely on the gacha system of gathering characters and building them up, which is something I truly loathe.  I've got to admit, it looks like a better game than Contest of Champions, (Strike Force's art style is actually extremely similar to C.o.C.'s) but nowhere near as fun as the full 3rd person action of Future Fight.

     Marvel Strike Force [ Pre-Register Now ] and it will debut in 2018.

     Related Posts [ Future Fight ]

     Sources [ Marvel News ] [ Variety ]

Marvel Heroes Omega: My Thoughts on Disney Officially Shutting it Down

THE OFFICIAL NEWS

     After 4 and a half years of having some serious ups and downs, Marvel Heroes is finally being closed.  Over the last month many of us long time players have been speculating about this possibility on the forums, the first news broke from Kotaku letting them know Disney/Marvel is parting ways with Gazillion.

     As a Marvel representative stated in an email to them:

“We regret to inform our Marvel Heroes fans that we have ended our relationship with Gazillion Entertainment, and that the Marvel Heroes games will be shut down. We would like to sincerely thank the players who joined the Marvel Heroes community, and will provide any further updates as they become available.”

     Later AgentPilot posted an official statement from Gazillion on their forums:

"We’re sad to inform our players and our entire Marvel Heroes family that Marvel Heroes Omega will be shutting down. The Marvel Heroes servers will stay on until Dec 31, 2017, and we’ll be removing real money purchases as soon as possible. Players will be able to play the game entirely for free once this sunset period commences. We will share the exact date things go completely free as soon as we can. 

We’ve had the privilege of entertaining and collaborating with our players for over four years. We’re extremely humbled by that privilege and wanted to get this message out: Thank you. Thank you to our players, our tireless employees, and everyone involved in the life of Marvel Heroes, Marvel Heroes 2015, Marvel Heroes 2016, and Marvel Heroes Omega."

THE PROBLEMS

     Gazillion has been in a very turbulent times ever since David Brevik (of Diablo 2 fame) departed the company in January 2016 (check out these threads, the tone of the forums drastically shifted), and having other Gaz employees like Doomsaw and Ryolnir go was another huge hit- resulting in a quick downhill slide of the game.  Former long-time Gaz Community Agent Fenixion posted his own decision to leave on the forums on Halloween definitely gave us more worries, as well as Agent Vapor's departure.
     Really, the only good to come out of this was the surprise return of former Gaz employee Doomsaw to the forums.  He swung through and found he still had moderator privileges, but they were quickly stripped even with no other Gaz members posting anything.  Since no Gaz employees were doing or saying anything, he voluntarily went and tried to raise hope and bring levity to the forums.
     Much more recently is the highly inappropriate sexual misconduct issues concerning Gazillion's CEO Dave Dohrmann, and the fallout it's having on the rest of the staff and company. [ More references: 1, 2, 3, 4 (at about the 1.5hr mark) ]  And then Gazillion going completely silent shortly after this. [ Great video by DisKingdom about companies (Gaz particularly) going silent. ]  The long awaited and promised Omega patch, along with numerous other things like the costume closet, the Halloween event, and Thor Ragnarok tie-in pack, never arrived for the scheduled Oct. 27th date.

MY THOUGHTS
   
     It's extremely disappointing to hear, but honestly the PC player base had been dwindling from being essentially neglected for the console ports after the "Biggest Update Ever" shit all over the game (the BUE essentially prepped and simplified the game to be ported)- while it made a lot of good starts, it completely ruined the way a great many of the characters could be played, eliminating the vast variety of character play styles and shoe-horned them into essentially only one viable build for each character.
     Gaz pretty much ditched the extremely loyal PC player base for the potential for new console players and it was an absolutely terrible choice.

     I'd previously written that, "It's the only game I've made an effort to play at least a half hour a day for the last year.  It's just amazing and it keeps getting better.  Thank you Gazillion.  Marvel Heroes 2016 is a must play for fans of any Marvel properties."  In all reality, I probably put in a thousand plus hours.  The original launch was a mess, but the game progressively made it amazing by the 2016 iteration, and until the Biggest Update Ever, was easily, without-a-doubt the best Marvel game ever made.  Sadly, after the BUE (and the changes in leadership and direction) the game never got back to what it was and what it could've been.

     It'll be very sad to see this game go, but honestly they could still make a few bucks by compressing what they can and makingthe game able to play on disc or download with private servers.  Sell the game as old games were, a whole item, playable without an internet connection.  Hell, just the Danger Room section itself could be sold (obviously we'd need to be able to keep all the crap we've already unlocked/bought) as a game in itself.  It'd also need to have the Hydra damage bugs toned WAY down, which should've been fixed a year ago.
     Though it makes me wonder if Disney and Marvel will still hold all the programming and assets and whatnot, and if they might bring in a new team to possibly relaunch the game somewhere down the line.
     As for me, I'll probably get a good couple weekends of play in on this, and go back to hyping the only other Marvel game I play every day- Marvel Future Fight.

     My own Marvel Heroes account link [ MrJRB ]

     Related-ish posts [ Future Fight ]

     Sources [ Massively OP & 2, 3 ] [ Kotaku ] [ HiMyNameIsLeo ] [ MMORPG ]

Disney TOYBOX Action Figures: Lineup, Price, and Packaging Revealed!

     About a week ago Disney Infinity fans received a small bit of good news.  The Disney Store teased the release of new action figures featuring the extremely distinct Infinity art design style.

     Now, it must be stated for clarity- these are NOT Disney Infinity extensions and don't have anything to do with the game- they are only action figures based on the art style.  The designs were taken from Infinity and re-engineered into a completely new toyline, with added articulation, and will be launched under the "Toybox" as an homage to the game, as was confirmed by former Disney Infinity VP of Production John Vignocchi on twitter.

     The launch lineup will include figures from Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar franchises.  There will be Buzz Lightyear, Woody, and Jessie from the Toy Story films as the Pixar Toybox figures, Spider-Man, Hulk, Thor, and Iron Man from the Marvel Toybox, and lastly, Rey, Kylo Ren, and a First Order Stormtrooper from The Force Awakens in the Star Wars Toybox.
     They all look amazing and have great packaging, and I really hope they continue the Toybox line with many more to come.

     The figures will be available EXCLUSIVELY on ShopDisney for $12.95 each on Nov. 3rd.

     Source [ Jason Inquires ]

Disney INfinity Returns via TOYBOX Action Figures

INFINITE POSSIBILITIES

     Last year was a bad year for Disney INfinity.  Small problems began began to emerge with the announcement that the Marvel Battlegrounds play set would ship with a single figure, then there was news that there would not be a 4.0 release, but rather 3.0 would be getting updates to continue the Infinity line.  In March Disney Interactive said they'd be dropping out of E3 without a reason giving, and then they officially announced in May of 2016 the video game series would be cancelled.

ENDLESS FUN

     It was a shock to fans, and there were a slew of problems that could've easily put off the toys-to-life game's closure- such as adding far more actual game content, more replayability, and even the simple feature of resetting a figure's data more than twice could've gone a long ways to it selling better.
     What the series did right, however, was in the art design.  The Disney INfinity design style was absolutely superb, and now fans of it are in for a treat.  Disney INfinity focused Youtube channel Infiniteer Adventures spotted an intriguing ad on the Disney Shop- showing that on November 3rd, Disney is releasing action figures that look exactly like they are ripped straight from the game's gorgeous designs.  Making the case even stronger, is the fact this toy series appears to be named directly after the specific Disney INfinity game feature called the TOYBOX as can be seen from the image above, featuring Rey and a Stormtrooper from the Star Wars: The Force Awakens playset.

     It's great to see that such wonderful toy designs are being salvaged for an even better use, bringing us articulated versions of the INfinity toys from Star Wars, Marvel, and Pixar properties.  This also offers the opportunity for fans to potentially obtain some of the previously cancelled figures such as Spider-Gwen, or the truly stunning looking Doctor Strange toy.  This is some truly exciting news coming a year and a half after the closing of the game and someone was smart enough to have held on to the game's slogan and put it to great use- "Infinite Possibilities, Endless Fun-" and we can all be thankful for it.

     Related posts [ Disney INfinity ]   

     Source [ Infiniteer Adventures ]

DC Unchained: DC Comics' Mobile Counterpoint to Marvel Future Fight

     It looks like Korean publisher 4:33 Creative Labs announced at a recent Comic Con that their development studio Thumb Ageis has been officially working on a DC Universe based mobile game, called DC Unchained, and it looks like worthy competition for Netmarble's massively popular Marvel Future Fight.

     Much like the Marvel Future Fight, players will choose a team of 3 characters- such as Batman, Superman, or Wonder Woman- out of an initial 30 heroes and villains, for a variety of modes including story, PvP, and even real-time co-op.  There's been hints that there are still a couple modes yet to be revealed, and there's always the potential for the DC roster to expand greatly after the initial launch.

     Not much else is known at this point.  It looks a little choppy at points, but overall it could easily become the best DC Universe game available once it launches as titles like DC Legends or the mobile versions of Injustice, the 3rd person RPG fun just hasn't been matched nearly as well as Future Fight nailed Marvel's characters.

     I'm seriously looking forward to this and will be updating here as more information and news comes in.

     DC Unchained is expected to hit Western shores in 4Q 2017.

     For related posts [ Future Fight ]

     SOURCE [ EDaily ] via [ 2P ]

Marvel Future Fight: NEW Now Update Teaser Hint 3 & Thoughts

     With the new Marvel Future Fight update nearing, the official website Mobirum has been giving us nice clues to try and puzzle out as to what we'll be getting.  Yesterday, I posted the clues and what they meant, and today we get a new one.

     The new message:

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Yet another code has come in, and we are unsure as to why Future_ME@mobirum.com is sending emails with images, and honestly, I was kind of concerned about opening them (after all, that seems like a fake email, and even if it was legit, we could've had some strange paradoxes and what not). After opening the file however, I was relieved that it was just an image of a random group of characters. 

I would Frame it if there was any quality involved in the image, but for now, I'll just leave it here so everyone can see it! 

     I like that they are going with a varied set of hints.  First the ASCII, then the simple cypher, and now an image.  The first two messages translated to, "3 New Characters,." and "ALL NEW THREE CHARACTERS ARE FEMALE."  This picture shows characters with the first letters of their names coming down to, NOW MARVEL.

     A clear indication that the 3 new female characters will be from the newer Marvel Now material.  Marvel does like to push things that tie in to their current content. I had previously guessed quite a few from that list with Spider-Woman, Kate Bishop, Medusa, Crystal, America Chavez, Monica Rambeau, Moon Girl (with a summon-able Devil Dinosaur).  Although I had forgotten about Hellcat, and she'd be pretty cool, or Riri Williams.  I also hadn't considered Mary Jane Watson from the Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows series.  But, honestly, that's a horrible costume design and do we really need yet another Spider-character?

     As much as I think we could do without another Captain America or Iron Man clone, chances are pretty high we'll be getting Miss America and Riri's Iron Man, but the 3rd go go any direction.  I wouldn't mind a Kate Bishop and I really, REALLY would like to see Moon Girl (& Devil Dinosaur) - especially because Netmarble has been pushing the summons like crazy lately.  Plus if they made it so she became Devil Dinosaur, it'd be the first time a non-human was playable.  Which could eventually lead to a playable Lockjaw to go with Black Bolt.

     In addition, I'm really hoping we get a plethora of new costumes as well.  Some characters haven't had a singe new costume yet, and others have a ton.  Some of the choices of costumes seem a bit strange as well, like the Attilan Rising Ghost Rider instead of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Robbie Reyes one seems like a huge miss.

     For related posts [ Marvel Future Fight ]

     Source [ Mobirum ]

Marvel Future Fight: Mysterious Messages Hint Towards Next Update & Thoughts

     The official Marvel Future Fight website has posted two new hints at the near future of the game. Netmarble always gives their player base a series of clues to the next wave of incoming characters and levels, bits at a time and allows us to try and figure out what we're getting. For this one we get some codes to decrypt.

     The first one reads:

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 

Our journey's into the future have seemingly stopped. It seems that we have altered realities one too many times, which has blocked our abilities to see into the future. This is not good as just last month our seers helped us in preventing catastrophic damage to Asgard! 

We have however managed to intercept messages sent through the fabric of time by our future selves, in order to reveal at least something in the upcoming update. We have no idea what it means, and we tried the lottery, and it doesn't seem to be that. Can you help us decipher the numbers and bring meaning to what is coming? 

051 032 078 069 087 032 067 072 065 082 065 067 084 069 082 083

     The second one reads:

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

More jumbled code has been discovered. We have our codebreakers working on deciphering the code, but we're starting to suspect that they have absolutely no clue what they're doing. We're forwarding this code to you, agent, so that you may decipher the code and bring light to the information that we can't decipher. 

 XII KBT QEOBB ZEXOXZQBOP XOB CBJXIB+3

     For those of you that do not wish to be spoiled finish reading the post here.  For those that want to skip to the good stuff, click the "read more" below to see the decoded messages and my thoughts.

For related posts [ Marvel Future Fight ]

Marvel Future Fight: Thoughts on Netmarble, Kabam, and the Possibility of Mutants

      A couple days ago news broke of Korean game giant Netmarble is purchasing a majority of Canadian Kabam's assets- with it's extremely lucrative licensed ties to Marvel, Universal, and Warner Bros.  Though, the thing I'm particularly interested in here is how the Marvel games will be effected.

     It's estimated that 95% of Kabam's income (over 450 million since Dec. 2014) came from the IAP heavy Contest of Champions, a game I found to be decent but HIGHLY repetitive, so this might be a huge hit in their production budgets.  On the opposite end of this Netmarble's far superior game Marvel Future Fight might not make as much money (couldn't find comparative figures for this) it's a much better game in so many ways.  It's a much more action RPG type game with loads of multiplayer additions and things to do. Contest is a basic 2D fighter. 
     My intrigue with this business deal comes from the fact that Contest of Champions has a one singular thing I see as better than Future Fight- the mutant populace.

     It is doubtful that well be getting mutants any time soon in Future Fight, but this does offer a slight ray of hope for our x-gene friends of the X-Men universe.  It's also a bit concerning that Marvel is pushing the comics from the mutants more towards Inhuman, meaning we have even less of a chance at seeing the popular mutants arrive any time soon.  I mean look at the crap Marvel did with Squirrel Girl, a long-time mutant, was altered to be now a non-mutant, meaning Fox can't cash in on the very profitable film rights while Marvel now can make tons of money off her popularity.  Marvel tends not to like to share.  But I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that we may still someday see characters like Colossus, Storm, or Wolverine in Future Fight.

     Source [ Wall Street Journal ] via [ Venture Beat ]

Marvel's Venom-ized Variant Covers

     Despite my waning interest in Marvel's comics' comic-book universe they still get me with a few things to keep me coming back.

     While I'm not really impressed with the new run of Venom, these recently released upcoming Venom-ized variant covers for all their monthly books are pretty damn cool.

     I mean, just Yasmine Putri's Gwenpool is downright superb.  It's a brilliant use of Symbiote as costume, with the Gwenpool flair of shorts.  The black, white, and pink color scheme works perfectly, and the whole image flows nicely.  Very awesome job to Yasmine Putri on this!
     The Ghost Rider is one great, Spider-Gwen's is a cool design, and the Squirrel Girl has the Symbiote on Tippy Toe.  It's nice they put it on the supporting character instead of the main, it gives a little bit of an added punch for interest.

     To see 23 of the 25 total covers head to:
          -Comic Book Resources [ CBR ]

Marvel Future Fight: Official Trailer for Asgard Update 2.7.0 (Update Arrives Wed. December 7th!)

[ UPDATE: IS ALREADY LIVE!!! ]

     The new Marvel Future Fight update is arriving much swifter than I had anticipated, hitting this Wednesday with the pre-update server maintenance occurring on 12/6 16:00 ~ 12/7 01:00 (UTC+0) and 12/6 08:00 AM ~ 12/6 05:00 PM (PST).

     Firstly, we'll be getting 7 new characters, Odin, the Warriors Three (Fandral, Hogun, and Volstagg), Hela, Ulik, and lastly the Enchantress will finally be arriving in game after a leak from early 2015.  Sadly, Odin looks to be only obtainable after completing the new chapter 12 stage 8, and can only be leveled up with Black Anti-matter, other character biometrics for experience and Chaotic Norn Stones for mastery.  Enchantress is locked behind the 20 Biometrics Daily selector package, which really isn't terrible, and the rest will be through standard level biometrics in the new chapters.  I also noticed that Malekith bios will also be in the chapters, which is a nice change.
     Speaking of daily biometrics, each level will now offer 10, boosted from the previous 5, which of course used to only be a meager 3 each day per stage.

     In addition, Thor, Sif, and Silk are getting great new costumes.  As always, they'll be on sale for their initial arrival.  The new upgrade material is Uru (awesome), a new World Boss Invasion has been added, and the top S.H.I.E.L.D. player level is being raised to 70.  There's a ton of other little changes, but I'm just pumped for the major characters and costumes right now.  Seriously, check out the link below for all the details.  There is a huge amount of stuff in this update, which explains why it took longer than many of the previous ones.

     Netmarble has made another amazing update to the best Marvel mobile game around.

     For the full update info [ Marvel Future Fight ]

     Related Future Fight [ POSTS ]

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: First Full Trailer

     Of course there's no surprise, baby Groot steals every scene in the trailer.  The full trailer gives us a bunch of little hints, a big monster, and we finally see Mantis.  Awesome.

     Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2 hits theaters May 2017.

Marvel Future Fight: 2.7.0 Update: Interim Report 2 & Thoughts

     It really isn't any surprise that the character Netmarble teased for the 2.7.0 "Asgard" Update is the Unworthy Thor.  Most of us assumed it would be with a few oddballs thinking it might be Taskmaster- which doesn't make sense either for the Asgard part or for the cape color.

     There's two new locales, Asgard and Muspelheim, being probably chapters 11 and 12 due to the Black Bolt image displaying a chapter 12 mission in the upper left corner.  We are also getting a new material, and the typical new characters and costumes.
     Maybe we'll finally see the Enchantress who was datamined way back in July 2015.  I suppose we might see other new characters like the Warriors Three (Fandral, Hogun, and Volstagg), perhaps Beta Ray Bill, Valkyrie, Heimdall, Thunderstrike (lol), or maybe even Surtur (because of Muspelheim).  Though I doubt that we'll see him, but only because they left the dreaded Dormammu out of the Doctor Strange update, which seems completely ridiculous.  On the other hand we are almost certainly getting Odin, who the new teaser pic below could be.
     There's a decent chance we'll see new costumes for Angela, Destroyer, Jane Foster, Malekith, and Sif.  Jane and Sif really need some new looks as they each only have one.  Plus, I'm crossing my fingers we'll receive new costumes for some non-Asgard related characters, as we got a few extras with the Strange update.

     To read the full interim report [ Mobirum ]

     For Marvel Future Fight related [ POSTS ]

Marvel's Inhumans: Thoughts on the Move from Film to TV (and in Video Games)

FILM/TELEVISION

     Just over a year ago, I expressed my extreme distaste for the rumor that Vin Diesel might play the role of Black Bolt in a film of Marvel's Inhumans.  Thankfully, in April of this year the film had been pushed back from its original July 12, 2019 release, and then completely cut from Marvel's film schedule.  Which is the good news.

" . . . "  - Black Bolt.

     The bad news, however, is that instead of getting a movie quality film featuring the royal Inhuman family, we'll be getting another ABC series.  The first 2 episodes will be shot on IMAX film and aired in IMAX theaters in early September 2017, prior to airing on ABC.
     I've made it well known that I think Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is crap, it's quite terrible.  Even with all the headway the Robbie Reyes Ghost Rider has been making, the show is still not nearly as great as it should be.  It gets 2 steps ahead and makes 5 steps back.  They need better writers and better directors.  Seriously, the showrunners have lost the magic of what made Agent Coulson so appealing in the movies.  The same can be said about Agent Carter.  They need to go back and study what made these characters special in the movies and focus on replicating it on television.
     Skye/Daisy/Quake gained some powers and went from hacking-as-a-semi-superpower to master combatant.  It's absolutely preposterous.  Fitz and Simmons are in the same boat- everybody is now an action star, leaving no differentiation between characters.  That's very poor story telling.
     And that's exactly why I'm very worried about the Inhumans being handled by a team that relegates their characters to daytime soap opera status.  We want things at least to have the quality the Netflix shows have.  The interpersonal relationship drama and angst is far too abused in S.H.I.E.L.D., maybe they need to focus on small tasks and awesome Mission Impossible type subterfuge as opposed to all the damn overused world threatening crap.  For Inhumans, they should simply adapt the 12 issue Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee run.  Keep it simple and meaningful.   A tightly knit story with a huge payoff.

     As for Diesel in the main role- thank goodness at least Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn doesn't believe he'll do it.  Which is great.  He has all the emotive facial acting talent of a slab of beef.  They would be much better off hiring someone like Jason Isaacs, or Christopher Meloni.  Or both and have one of them play Blackagar Boltagon's brother Maximus.  Get talent that can give extremely expressive performances without needing words.

GAMES

     I've been playing Marvel Heroes for a couple years and we'll finally be getting Black Bolt in game soon.  It's super exciting and I hope they've got him done correctly.  I mean, he's super fun in Marvel Future Fight, so I can only imagine the larger game will have him slightly better.  Obviously a mobile game poses a lot more limitations than PC games, so they'll have more opportunity.
     I'm also hoping we'll eventually get his Earth X costume pictured below for both games.

     Source [ Marvel ]

Marvel Future Fight: Doctor Strange Update & Thoughts

     Yesterday the Marvel Future Fight 2.6 patch hit and added a ton of stuff.  The obligatory 8 new characters, 4 movie tie-in costumes, a film related mode, as well as one huge negative.

     Despite the amazing new character additions, the only one I wanted was Doctor Strange himself.  But in leveling him up (which can ONLY be done through the 46 "Epic Quest" missions) I found he's got one monstrously large problem- and it's one that definitely feels like a paywall.  In order to rank up and master the good Doctor fully, you HAVE to get Baron Mordo, Wong, Ancient One, and Kaecilius to 4 stars, and then get Clea, Satana, and Hellstorm to 5 stars.

     What makes this so awful is the extremely limited way to obtain the biometrics to unlock and rank up the new characters.  Wong, Baron Mordo, Ancient One, and Kaecilius are available through the Epic Quest's "Memory Missions" which only allow for 10 runs for each character a day- meaning a maximum of roughly 10 bios a day (occasionally it'll give you 2 on a run)- and you need 150 total to get to 4 stars.  Whereas Satana and Hellstorm are available in the Epic Quest's "Dark Dimension," and Clea can be found as a Shifter in the same area.  Because each of them need to make it to 5 stars we'd need 310 of each character's biometrics.  Making things even worse is that the only way to get Clea or Satana outside of the extremely limited biometric chances a day is only via the store's Monthly Selector because they will not be available with the regular selectors.  I also don't know if rank up tickets will work for them yet, so that may be a small relief.
     Considering the total number of biometrics rewarded through the Epic Quest is a meager 250, that means either an absurdly long farming task, or a bunch of purchases- making it seem like the trip to Strange is a multidimensional journey through the metaphysical paywalls of gaming.

     Now, don't get me wrong, I don't mind the need to purchase stuff- as I do for extra costumes (including Strange's film one) and characters, and as I did for both Gwenpool and Carnage.  It's just here, they've made Doctor Strange ridiculously difficult to get to his full potential because you need to get all the other new characters boosted.  I mean why couldn't I just buy his character and feed him surplus biometrics as is necessary for the Boss characters like Thanos?  Why force us to obtain and rank characters we may not want just to get the one we actually do want?

     Strange is coming out in a movie and will likely draw in a crowd of potential new players, and what they've essentially done is create a funneled paywall to the in-game store in order to play him.  It definitely appears to be a frustrating limitation for not just us long time players, but will very likely be a reason many new players may give up or quit.

     On a side note, where the hell is Dormammu?  One would think that great Doctor Strange staple villain and fiery-headed mystical arts user would be a wonderful addition to the game instead of the slightly more obscure Satana and Hellstorm.   And now that I think of it, what happened to Enchantress, Sandman, and the Netflix Daredevil costumes for the Punisher and Elektra?

     Related  posts [ Future Fight ]

     Source [ Marvel Future Fight Official ]

Marvel Future Fight: Misty Knight & Shang Chi Update: Thoughts

     I was actually surprised when I logged in last night to get my daily play time in on the always amazing mobile game Marvel Future Fight only to find that there's already a new update so soon after the Gwenpool and The New Avengers one a month ago.

     This new update gives us two new characters, Misty Knight and Shang Chi, as well as 4 more costumes- one of which I was almost hopeful for- Ghost Rider.  Unfortunately, it's his Inhumans: Attilan Rising suit with a flair for the Prohibition era, although it has a car as his summon which is kind of cool.  That, however, makes me wonder why they wouldn't just go with either the much cooler looking comic version of Robbie Reyes (to go with his appearance on the new season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) or go with the really badass looking Trail of Tears costume with the fiery horse.  I've been waiting on the Trail of Tears one for Marvel Heroes 2016 for years to go with my cosmic prestiged Ghostie.  Or a Ghost Rider 2099 costume with some kind of cool digitized flame effects.  When will we get that in either game?!?

     In addition there's new Black Cat, Moon Knight, and Daredevil costumes.  Sadly, I'm not too impressed with them.  They're all pretty decent, I just don't care for them.
     We also get some more tier two abilities, some new 6* skills, and the new Shadowland mode.

     I have to say that after playing Misty Knight, she's absolutely fun as hell and has already taken a place in my main team.  I like the fact she's got a great look and freeze powers (sort of) complete with the nice bonus of boosting Lady Loki's ice powers with her mastery ability.
     While I don't have Shang Chi yet, his powers look wonderful on the screen in the testing area.  He appears to be a good alternative to the other fast combat characters.
   
     Overall, I'm always pleased with new updates and the surprises new characters bring, and we're still waiting for Doctor Strange from over a year ago.  Not even kidding, check the date on that link.  Anyways, just getting Misty Knight has made me downright giddy.  Once again I have to say Marvel Future Fight is without a doubt the best mobile Marvel comics game, and they keep proving time and again that they will remain that way for a long time to come.

     For the full update notes [ Marvel Future Fight ]