Somehow I didn’t have a review of the Marvel movie that started it all on this site, so in honor of “Endgame,” I’m pulling this one from the archives dated May 2, 2008, which, you know, was the day it came out. I’ve done better work, but there are a lot of points here that speak loudly to the future success of Marvel Studios.

Since it was announced, “Black Panther” has held the promise of something different from Marvel Studios. It’s been 10 years since the Marvel journey began with “Iron Man” and the narratives, spectacles and formula are in perpetual danger of wearing thin. Co-written and directed by Ryan Coogler (“Creed,” “Fruitvale Station”), “Black Panther” writes its own […]

The hugely successful Marvel Cinematic Universe has continued to inch further and further into comedic territory in recent years; with “Thor: Ragnarok,” it completely passes through the comic threshold. With its laughs-first approach, from start to finish “Thor: Ragnarok” is Marvel Studios’ funniest film. The comedic instincts of director Taika Waititi (“What We Do in […]

First they came for the TV shows of kids who grew up in the ’80s. It was only a matter of time before they came for my shows. As for how this big-screen adaptation fairs, color me indifferent.

No Marvel superhero has been through the ordeal of Spider-Man on the big screen. Peter Parker’s first two films practically launched the modern superhero genre, but then after creative issues, Sony rebooted him, and audiences were less than enthused. Probably with much reluctance, Sony and Marvel Studios reached terms on a co- production to let […]

DC Entertainment needed a superhero hit badly, and what better way to make a comeback than with a female heroine? Maybe “Wonder Woman” should be evaluated apart from its exciting feminist energy, but in a prolific superhero movie landscape, individuality matters, and the female star-director duo of Gal Gadot and Patty Jenkins is a large […]

Marvel Studios and writer/director James Gunn proved with 2014’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” that superhero movies don’t need to feature familiar (usually white, male, special suit-wearing) characters saving Earth; they just need to be fun, dynamic and easy to relate to. “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” doubles down on its investment in Peter Quill/Star-Lord […]

Hugh Jackman’s 17-year ride as beloved “X-Men” hero Wolverine has been full of ups (“X2”) and downs (“X-Men Origins”), but his commitment to the character has never wavered, and that’s undoubtedly a factor in what makes “Logan” a special superhero film.

After “Days of Future Past” bridged together the two generations of big screen X-Men into an epic time-travel blockbuster, it didn’t leave a whole lot of ceiling for future “X- Men” movies. Nevertheless, 20th Century Fox, director Bryan Singer and writer Simon Kinberg were quick to deliver “X-Men: Apocalypse,” bringing the X-Men’s biggest villain to […]

Believe it or not, there was a time – eight years ago – when Iron Man seemed just as obscure of a comic book character to the public as Doctor Strange had been (until now). So it would surprise no one if in 2024, Stephen Strange was almost as much of a household name as […]

Arguably the two biggest heroes in comics have come together for “the greatest gladiator match in the history of the world,” a pretty tall order for DC Comics and Warner Bros., who have struggled to build the cache of their superhero universe over the years and watched in anguish as Marvel has become an unstoppable […]

Welcome to Phase III of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where the solo superhero films get an “Avengers”-sized cast and even Spider-Man can swing out of the clutches of Sony Pictures and into a Marvel Studios movie. In other words, you’d need a lot of action figures to recreate “Captain America: Civil War.”

A superhero movie has never been funnier than “Deadpool.” Or more outlandish – or obscene. That should come as quite a relief to fans of Marvel Comics’ foul-mouthed anti-hero and especially Ryan Reynolds, who labored a long time to get Deadpool’s his own solo adventure on the big screen, a process that entailed – according […]

In the midst of “The Avengers” and the countless other successful films that Marvel Studios has turned into the mega-franchise of the last decade, “Ant-Man” has never felt like a priority. It has taken the studio ages to figure out how Ant-Man, who originated as a founding member of the Avengers in the comics, would […]

The task of bringing together Earth’s mightiest heroes took Joss Whedon into uncharted territory with 2012’s “The Avengers,” and, despite the weight of the Marvel Cinematic Universe on his shoulders, the results were staggeringly entertaining. The task of making a sequel to that ground-breaking, monumental event film, however, and being expected to deliver on par […]