Doing It Better: Angel's Story Arc

Let's see if we can give Angel the credit he's due.

It’s been a while since I’ve done a Doing It Better post. I think I should change that. And I’ve had an idea stuck in my craw for a few days now that I wanted to talk… er… type out and see what happens. But, instead of a single movie that I rework, I thought I’d try reworking a single character’s story arc… or lack there of in this case. I’m talking about Warren Worthington III, or Angel as he’s sometimes known. For this, I’m going to add him into the X-Men: First Class time line and see if we can’t make his death in X-Men Apocalypse have a bit more weight then the “Oh, that bird guy died,” situation we were given in the final product. Just to be clear, I’m completely ignoring the little better then a cameo part he had in The Last Stand. Why? Because one of the most visually iconic and a founding X-Men deserves better, that’s why. I’m going to assume that you’ve seen the movies, and just focus on the scenes that Angel would be included in.

Part One: Icarus in Flight

...
Subtle.

For this, we’re going to insert Warren into the plot and dropping Sean Cassidy aka Banshee. I’m doing this because having two guys whose primary skill is flight is a little redundant, Sean was a minor character at best, and that the version we’re given here bears little resemblance to the Sean of the source material. Seriously, why is the famously Irish Mutant an American in this version? Because somebody somewhere wants all of the X-Men to be from the US of A, I guess… grumble.  So yeah, Sean out, Warren in. I’m keeping Angel Santiago as she ends up changing teams anyway.

For his introduction in First Class, I imagine it’d be something like, Xavier and Magneto tracked down Warren to a lavish party being thrown at his New York Penthouse. On the way up the two Mutants discuss how insane it is that someone as wealthy as one of the Worthington’s is actually a Mutant. Once inside, they track Warren down and try to get him to talk. He blows them of twice before Magneto, clearly annoyed, uses his mastery of Magnetism to pull Warren’s expensive watch from his wrist. A visually disturbed Warren pulls them into a private room. He’ll do the usual “Oh my god, I didn’t know if there was anyone else like me,” and then take off his unusually heavy coat to show off his impressive bird wings. After that, they’ll take him to the compound in DC.

During that little party the Mutants have while at the Division X facility, he’d explain the bird wings, and that he’s got the sharpened senses of a bird of prey, as well as a bird-like metabolism. He and Angel Salvidor would have a disagreement about which of them should get to call themselves Angel. I’d argue that, while Angel’s name is in fact Angel, Warren kind of matches the term a little better, no? They’d get interrupted before coming to a decision.

Things would more or less remain the same through Sebastian Shaw attacked the Division X base. He’d cause rampant destruction, kill most of the guy’s there and finally murder Darwin in front of the others. Warren would side with Charles and the X-Men, and continue on when the group relocates to the Xavier Mansion. He’d be included during the week training montage, I imagine he’d be doing something to increase his speed in the air and or the dexterity of his wings. Something like him punching a sand bag a few times with his fists before swapping over to slapping it with his wings. They could work some humor out of that. I’d include a scene or two of him bonding with Beast especially, as the two would be the only Original X-Men on the cast. Maybe make him be the first person to reassure him after Beast’s little experiment turns him all blue and hairy.

Jump ahead even further to the final battle, and Angel will more or less completely take over Banshee’s role in the film. They could use his super-human sight or rig up some sort of sonic pulse device to cover Banshee’s scream. What? Hank McCoy is on that Blackbird, he’s someone that I think could out MacGyver MacGyver.  As the… Hellfire Club, I guess, join the fight, he and Salvidor can have an aerial battle as they dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge around each other before he knocks her into the water as she acid blasts one of his wings. What? I think stalemates are more fun then out and out wins and losses. He’d rejoin the X-Men and the credits would roll.

Part Two: Icarus Falls  

Shame this isn't what we got, even if it had been
the fourth blue character in this film.

Angel would have a minor but significant role in Days of Future Past. He’d be absent from the far future part of the film, only popping up with a mentally time traveling Logan hits up the X-Mansion. Like Hank, he’d be living at the mansion and helping keep things afloat. As wealthy as the Xaviers are, you really can’t have too much money funding a private school for Gifted Youngsters, or what’s left of one. I’d also add that in the intervening years that Hank had discovered the healing properties of Warren’s blood and that he used it in his cocktail for keeping Charles’ legs working and his blue hair suppression medicine.

He’d join the group as they picked up Pietro, yes I’m still refusing to call him Peter, and spring Magneto from his prison cell. He’d probably make a few snide comments about Magneto’s accommodations, and like Hank, ask Wolverine about what happens to him in the future. Like with Hank, I think Wolverine would confirm his death but also be rather vague about it. Cause that’s just the sort of guy he is.

I’d include a scene of Hank and Warren bonding while the group is flying towards DC. It’d be something simple like sharing a drink and toasting to making a brighter future. Maybe include some jabs in about how pissed Alex is going to be when he finds out he missed a time travel adventure.

He’d largely be a background character again until the final battle at Magneto’s attempt on Trask’s life. He’d try to grab Trask and fly out the area, only to have Magneto point a Sentinel at him, and have the machine do something to cripple Angel. Either with bullets, rockets or a flamethrower. Something to destroy his wings. Angel would crash, sobbing in the dirt. Magneto would step over Warren to go after Trask, with a grim “I’m sorry, brother,” to his former ally. Things would continue as in the film, with Wolverine getting waterlogged and captured by Weapon X, the X-Men stopping Magneto and Trask, and the timeline changing for the better. The only downside being Charles sitting in with Warren as he is told that they can’t save his wings, and that his own healing factor won’t be enough to recover them. The scene would end with Warren’s pain riddled sobs of agony.

Part Three: What would you give to Fly again?

What would you give to Fly again?

Apocalypse would work very similarly to how it did in the real film, but with Angel getting a larger role. Like in the original, Mystique would arrive at the underground Mutant fighting ring, saving Nightcrawler for a life of gladiatorial combat. Warren would be there, too, doing his best to fight with his still clearly crippled wings. I’m thinking that at least one would be nearly gone and the other would be incredibly burned. He’d be a drunken, belligerent mess, lashing out at everyone that gets too close to him. Mystique would have a briefer interaction with him, asking him “What happened to you?” when she sees him. He’d snap something along the lines of “You and your bastard boyfriend!” before stumbling off.

Things continue as is, with Apocalypse waking up and recruiting Storm as the first of his new Horsemen, and the weirdly age swapped Alex Summers bringing Scott to the X-Mansion for training. Yes, I’m still weirded out that they made Alex the original X-Man and made Scott his younger brother. It was odd. Just before the Summers meet Charles, I’d include a short interaction between Hank and Charles. They’d be talking about Warren and if either had any luck on helping him. By Charles getting him to come back and talk, or Hank figuring out a way to restore Warren’s wings. Obviously, they would have no success, and Hank would look incredibly distressed that they might lose his friend forever.

Apocalypse would then track down Psylocke. Unlike in the film, Warren would be with her and Caliban, looking to get paid for the fight that got interrupted. Not sure where I’d work this in, but I’d include some indicator that Warren had blown most of his inheritance on treatments for his wings. Psylocke would be recruited, but just before leaving, a barely sober Warren would laugh at Apocalypse. The demi-god would force him to talk, with the half crazed former rich boy mocking Apocalypse and informing him that whatever plans he has will be stopped by the X-Men. Apocalypse, intrigued by the X-Men, would interrogate Warren on the group, and learning the who’s who about the current and former members. Warren would start sobbing about not being able to fight with his friends, at not being a real X-Man anymore in his own eyes. Seeing ‘great potential’ in Warren, and knowing how much of a boon it would be to have a former X-Man at his side, Apocalypse would offer Warren a deal, his loyalty for a new set of wings. Warren, without hesitation agrees. He’d restore Warren’s wings, and create Archangel.

Flash over to Magneto in Poland, after he’d killed the militia that murdered his family, Warren would fly in and start fighting him. The two would be reasonably evenly matched, with the newly christened Archangel proving stronger as his metal wings are non-magnetic, and the feathers are dripping with neurotoxin. Warren would give one extra sucker punch to Eric’s face and tell him that he’s lucky Apocalypse wants to see Magneto. He’d then bring a barely coherent Magneto to Apocalypse. Movie would continue on the same course, with Magneto destroying the ruins of Auschwitz, Apocalypse using his powers to force the launching of nuclear missiles into space and capturing Charles, and Pietro arriving just in time to superspeed the students from an exploding X-Mansion, but being too slow to save Alex Summers.

While being held hostage by Apocalypse and his Horsemen, Charles would make pleas to Warren and Magneto to help him stop Apocalypse, only to find his former student too consumed by barely suppressed fury to listen and Magneto unable to help. After that interaction, Magneto would ask Warren why he’s doing this. Warren would snap at Magneto and tell his former teammate to screw off. More things unfold like in the movie, Charles last desperate plea to get aid from Jean and the other X-Men, Magneto using his enhanced powers to alter the magnetic field and Apocalypse prepping to transfer to Charles’ body, gaining telepathy strong enough for him to mind control the whole of the Earth.

 The X-Men would arrive and do battle with Psylocke, Storm and Archangel. As the fighting continues, it’d end up being Warren vs. Hank. The two would fight, the whole while Hank trying to reach his friend. Lots of “you don’t know me anymore” from Warren and lots of “What has your anger cost you?” from Hank. Hank would ask Warren why, and he’d start screaming. He’d shriek about the futility of Charles’ dreams, about having his life stolen by hatred, and how Apocalypse world would be one without pain and suffering. Hank would ask something along the lines of, “So because you got hurt, the whole world has to burn?” and let Warren know that he and Charles never stopped trying to find a way to get him his wings back. We’d cut away before the fight resolves.

Yeah, the Metal Wings definitely have a few perks.

Things continue forward, with Pietro getting Magneto to switch teams and Storm joining the X-Men and the multi-wave attack on Apocalypse. He’d fend them all off for a while, rallying when he see’s his bird of prey swoop down to stand beside him. He’d tell Archangel to finish off his enemy, meaning Magneto, as his prize for being a loyal servant. He’d instead stab Apocalypse through with his bladed-wings. Archangel would give Xavier a fair well nod and a psychic call of Do It! Before being obliterated along side Apocalypse. We’d end on a memorial wall, with Alex Summers and Warren Worthington III being added to it. We’d then cut to the new generation of X-Men and they’d roll credits.

Was it the best rewrite to give Angel more love? No, but I think I added enough of him in that the Angel in the X-Men films would be more worthy of the character from the comics. One of the biggest flaws of the X-Men films, in my opinion, is a habit of zeroing in on specific characters, Wolverine in the classic films; Mystique, Xavier and Magneto in the semi-reboot and only giving the tiniest head nudges to the other legacy characters. I don’t think anyone wanted Archangel in Apocalypse just to see Archangel. We wanted to see Warren Worthington III, the good but flawed man that sold his soul to the devil to get back the thing he wanted most and though of as the thing that made him special. We want to see him fall from grace, but also to see him find a way to stumble back onto his feet. Or at least I wanted to. I hope some day to see Warren in something that covers his full arc, from X-Man to Horseman and back again, but sadly it looks like it’ll be quite a bit longer. But who knows? Since Disney got Fox, we might start seeing X-Men cartoons again and Warren can get another bite at the apple. Here’s hoping. 

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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

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X-Men (2000): Review and Doing it Better

Before I get started, let’s just take a minute and appreciate this movie. It was one of the first Marvel superhero movies ever made. Furthermore, it was the success of X-Men, and also Spider-man, that convinced Marvel to give making movies a shot when they got the rights to Iron Man back. It introduced Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan as Wolverine, Prof. X, and Magneto, respectively. It also helped restart the world’s fascination with comic book superheroes, and also helped fuel my own interest in the subject. It’s an important movie for nerds. Now that I’ve gotten a little gushing out of the way, let’s get to it.

I'd drop the "Trust a Few, Fear the Rest"
line from the top of the poster. Kind of goes
against what the movie is actually about.

The movie begins in Poland in 1944. The young Max Eisenhart, renamed Erik Lehnsherr for the movies, is separated from his parents at the concentration camp they are being forced into. Erik, distraught by the separation and fearing their or his own death, reaches out to them. The emotional trauma of the situation causes his powers to manifest and he savagely bends the gate before being knocked out. Jump forward to the present Day and we see Senator Robert Kelly proposing his Mutant Registration Act. The MRA would require any Mutant to submit their identity and powers to the US government so that they can be monitored. After Kelly is applauded by the assembled politicians, Xavier and the adult Erik, now going by Magneto, discuss the situation. Magneto remains certain that the bill will be passed, and it’ll lead to a Mutant Holocaust. And you know, given his past, can’t exactly fault this thinking.

In Mississippi, a young girl kisses her boyfriend and puts him into a coma. Her Mutant power to drain life force nearly killing him. The girl, now going by Rogue, somehow runs all the way to Alberta, Canada. Love to know how she managed that. But it’s never addressed. There, she meets Logan aka Wolverine, first seeing him fight a cage match, then humiliating his opponent and the bar tender with his metal claws. Don’t point a gun at Wolverine’s head. She stows away in Wolverine’s trailer, but he finds her pretty quickly. They travel for a few miles before meeting Sabretooth, whom demolishes Wolverine’s ride and nearly kills Rogue. They’re saved by the timely arrival of Cyclops and Storm. Wolverine wakes up in the X-mansion, and after Xavier messes with him a little bit, is introduced to the school and the X-Men.

They sure fit a lot of stuff under his house.

Meanwhile, Senator Kelly is kidnapped by Toad and Mystique, the latter of which had been posing as Kelly’s Aide for an unspecific amount of time. Magneto, after making an excellent speech about God Fearing men, uses a machine to forcibly trigger mutations in humans. Kelly uses his new… I’m not exactly sure what sort of power he has… rubber body? Liquid Flesh? No idea. Whatever, Kelly escapes and travels to the X-mansion. At the mansion, Wolverine has a nightmare/PTSD flashback to the experiment that gave him his metal bones, and Rogue attempts to wake him. Enrage, Wolverine awakes and stabs Rogue through the chest. She quickly touches him and borrows his healing factor.

The Mansion is infiltrated by Mystique, who poses as student Bobby Drake to convince Rogue to run off. Xavier locates her using his super computer Cerebro, and Wolverine runs after her. Rogue is kidnapped by Magneto and his goons, Senator Kelly reveals Magneto’s plan and then dies due to the instability of his mutation, and Xavier falls into a coma after trying to use Cerebro. Part 2 of Mystiques mission was to sabotage the machine. So it’s a race to reach Liberty Island, and stop Magneto from using his mutation machine to turn the world leaders gathered for a mutant summit into Mutants. It’s a good movie.

For the ladies. But seriously, compare Jackman then and now
and he's put a noticeable amount of muscle.

Good first, casting is great. Hugh Jackman, while being too tall for some people, did an amazing job as the amnesia suffering Wolverine. He does the anger really well, as well as the more vulnerable moments he has with Rogue. You could not have found a better Magneto and Xavier than McKellan and Stewart. They possess a regal sophistication and certain level of world weariness that is perfect for the two frienemies that have been doing this for several decades. The evil scheme, turning humans into Mutants, is decent. While I would have like someone to explain how Magneto’s magnetic powers plus this machine triggers Mutations in humans, I can give it a pass. And the effects a pretty damn spectacular for a movie made in the late 90s, early 2000s. So bad by today’s standards, but when I was a kid they looked phenomenal.

The Bad leads me into the doing it better segment.

Not as perfect a choice as Jackman, McKellan or
Stewart, but Famke Janssen was a good choice
too.

My main issue with this movie is the focus, it’s centered almost entirely on Wolverine and Rogue. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, these two are important X-Men characters, but they could have expanded a little bit. The runtime on the movie is only about an hour and a half, they could have easily tacked on another ten or twenty minutes to it to flesh out characters like Cyclops, Jean and Storm. A little more from these three would have been nice. In twenty minutes we could flush out the Wolverine Cyclops relationship so it didn’t come out as “Hey Scott, I hate you.” “Why?” “Because I hate you.” “Good, because I hate you too.” It could have explained the Wolverine/Jean relationship a little more too, so it didn’t seem as weird when he kept hitting on her despite knowing she has a boyfriend. And I think that Storm could have just used more development all around. She has a really interesting heart to heart with Senator Kelly, where she admits that she hates humans in much the same way that human’s hate Mutatns (because they scare her) just before Kelly dies. It’s an intense scene, but aside from that we get very little of Storm. Sure she saves the group two or three times, but she really doesn’t say much. Not sure why.

Think any of these Nazis' have any idea who they are making right now?

Also I would have liked someone to explain Magneto’s machine. The device that somehow mutates humans is never explained beyond the need for someone with Magnetic powers to fuel it. Oh and that the pulse it fires off doesn’t affect Mutants, just humans. In the Marvel Universe, radiation led to the development of the “X-gene” which gives Mutant’s there incredible powers. Sure, there were Mutants before the atomic age, but they were few and far between. So are we to assume that somehow Magneto’s machine uses his magnetic powers to somehow trigger a massive radioactive pulse? A RAP if you will? Or does his machine use some other stimulant to somehow trigger the powers? The X-Men: Evolution universe has the Rubies of Cyttorak, the magic stone that give Juggernaut his powers, and uses them to enhance existing Mutations. Does Magneto’s machine work with something similar? It’s never really explained and it kind of bugs me.

And finally, I would have made some reference to Wolverine and Sabretooth’s past together. These guys have known each other for years, hated each other for years, and yet they hardly have any screen time against each other and their hatred of each other in this movie seems to only stem from Sabretooth stealing Wolverine’s dog tags. BS. And if you try and go with the “Wolverine doesn’t remember anything, how could he know he hates Sabretooth,” I make the obvious counter, “Sabretooth still remembers.” And that furry behemoth is a sadist and a sociopath. He’d love to taunt Wolverine with what he knows about our favorite Canadian. It’d be little things, like “You’ve gotten rusty, Logan,” or “Fight like you mean it Wolverine, I’ve waited too long for this,” small things that hint at a past together. Just enough to infuriate Wolverine about what he doesn’t know about himself.

So there you have it. X-Men the review, and a few little tweaks to make it a better movie. In summation, X-Men is a good movie, great casting and effects, but it is held back a little by the over focus on Wolverine and a few small details that only an obsessive nerd like me would point out. I give it a B. Could have been better but could have been a whole hell of a lot worse. But I’ll get to that when I cover X2 and X3 sometime in the future. Next time, the man that started it all, Charles Xavier.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-Men_%28film%29

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 https://www.pinterest.com/pin/350506783470779538/

 http://x-men.wikia.com/wiki/Jean_Grey_%28Cinematic_Universe%29

 http://www.superheromoviesnews.com/2013/08/x-men-franchise-x-timeline-finally.html

The Incredible Hulk: Review and Doing it Better

A real clash of Titans

He’s big, green, radioactive, and the strongest there is, and yes, this time I am talking about the Hulk. This is the Hulk’s second time on the big screen, but unlike last time, he actually left a lasting impression. I’ve combined the review and doing it better for a similar reason to Ironman, not because you’ve definitely seen it, but because the plot is more or less the same as other Hulk plots.

Like the backstory of Superman and Batman, the story can be summed up in a sentence. Bruce doesn’t want to be the Hulk anymore, he tries to find a cure while at the same time learning that the Hulk can be a force for good. It’s a long sentence, but an accurate one. Locations and actors may change, but the plot always seem to stay the same. The one new thing I’d like to point out is that Bruce has a small glimmer of hope, in the form of an internet friend named Samuel Sterns, who claims he has found a cure. So for once, Bruce sees the light at the end of the tunnel instead of grasping at straws.

Sad Edward Norton.

The main thing worth talking about is the villain subplot. General Ross, in an attempt to counter the Hulk’s immense strength, offers to put Emil Blonsky through the super-soldier program that made Captain America. The idea being that they’d essentially be putting Blonsky’s experience mind into a body equal to or better than the one he’d had in his twenties. On paper, it’s a pretty good idea for soldiers. Blonsky does go through it, but there are a number of bizarre side effects like giving him poor impulse control, emotional instability, and this one time his spine rose out of his skin for a minute. Damn drug side effects.

At the climax, everyone believes that Bruce had cured himself. Blonsky forces Sterns to inject him with Bruce’s radiated blood. The blood combined with the Super Soldier Serum morphs Blonsky into the Abomination. He’s like the Hulk, except he’s got a few more exposed bones. It comes down to Abomination and Hulk throwing down to prove who’s the strongest. It’s a very well done fight.

As to the cast, Edward Norton does a good job as Bruce Banner. Tim Roth and William Hurt do an excellent job as Emil Blonsky and General Ross respectively. The weak link was Liv Tyler as Betty Ross. She’s not a bad actress, it’s just that I just can’t believe she’s a physicist. She would have been find with the old, she’s just the love interest, set up, but we’re just not doing that anymore. Probably for the best.

Blonsky? More like Gross-ky.
Not all these jokes are winners.

Overall the movie is solid B-. I like it, it’s just not amazing.

A few changes I’d suggest to improve the movie overall. First and foremost, swap out Edward Norton for Mark Ruffalo. I have no problem with Norton, I just think that Ruffalo did a better job as Banner. Hide sight is 20/20 and all that. I’d also recast Betty Ross, I’m just not sure with who.

I’d also show more examples of Blonsky’s instability. Just a subtle nod or two, having Blonsky ignore a few smaller orders, or having him break something during a bloodthirsty moment. For me, his shift from good soldier to homicidal monster seemed a little too quick. Also, include one or two more nods that the Serum being injected into Blonsky is the source of the ill effects. Something like muscles rapidly growing and shrinking, or patches of skin turning to the Abomination’s shade of green. That last one wasn’t so subtle, but hey, it’s an idea.

Come on, you kind of want to see a live
action version of this guy.

The biggest change would be to the post-credit scene. In the original Ross, who is drinking away his sorrow at losing the Hulk, meets up with Tony Stark. They chat a bit, and it’s hinted at that Stark is looking to recruit the Hulk for the Avengers. Overall, it doesn’t really go anywhere. Especially when by Ironman 2 we see Tony is trying to distance himself from SHIELD as much as possible. I’ll get more into that another day.

In my version, instead of meeting Stark at a Bar, Ross would meet a suited man as a team clears the Super Solider equipment from the military lab. The man would introduce himself as George Tarleton from the Advance Idea Mechanics Think-Tank. Tarleton would explain AIM had been tasked by SHIELD to looking over the Super Soldier Serum and improving it if possible.

You may ask, why is this an improvement? For three reasons. One, it would introduce AIM, and set them up as a much bigger organization then what was shown in Ironman 3. Two, it would be a very light set up to another super villain, the evil Bio-computer MODOK. MODOK stands for Mechanize Organism Designed Only for Killing, you don’t screw with MODOK. Tarleton is transformed into that gross monster in an attempt for AIM to create its own Tesseract. He does still do it, it’s just with his new big brain he feels that he is the best option for AIM’s leadership, and take over. This cameo wouldn’t do all this, but hint that Marvel is prepping to make the character. The third and final reason would be an example of something wrong with SHIELD, for those who know AIM. If you don’t know what I’m referring to, watch Captain America 2. I’m not going to do EVERYTHING for you.

That’s all I have to say about this one. Like Ironman, this is overall a good movie, I just wanted it to be a little bigger in scope. More connections, more hints of what to come, and just more Marvel. Next time, I’ll be covering one of my favorite Villain/Anti-heroes, Venom!

They kind of...broke Harlem. Which is impressive, and terrifying.

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