Showing posts with label Marvel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marvel. Show all posts
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Monday, March 4, 2013
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Saturday, February 23, 2013
What Does Mandarin Iron Man 3 Poster Reveal?
Friday, February 22, 2013
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Iron Man Mark XLII By Hot Toys
Iron Man 3 is coming to theaters in just three months and it's time to activate the armor! Sideshow Collectibles is proud to present Hot Toys' Iron Man Mark XLII Power Pose Series Sixth Scale Collectible Figure. Hot Toys' new line of Sixth Scale collectibles, the Power Pose Series, will highlight the powerful poses performed by Iron Man's many brand new armor suits. Hot Toys will bring all of the new armors seen in Iron Man 3 to your collection soon, and the new Power Pose Series displays perfectly with the Movie Masterpiece and Diorama Series!
The Iron Man Mark XLII Sixth Scale Figure features:
Authentic likeness of Mark XLII from Iron Man 3
Approximately 30 cm tall
Semi-articulated collectible figure, able to perform powerful poses, such as 'flying' and 'battle' poses; waist and neck twist action
Metallic red and gold paint on armor
Special patterns on underarms
Ball joints on four limbs and wrists for posing
Two (2) poses performed including 'flying' mode and 'battle' mode with iconic repulsor blast action
One (1) interchangeable right thigh to switch modes
LED-lighted eyes and RT on chest (white light, battery operated)
One (1) pair of relaxed palms with light-up repulsors (white light, battery operated)
One (1) left fist
Figure stand with Mark XLII and the Stark Industries nameplate with transparent pillar
Collectible Figures from the Power Pose Series (PPS), Movie Masterpiece Series (MMS) and Diorama Series (DS) can be displayed together, 1:6 Scale
Button Cell batteries required (included)
Note: Prototype shown, final product may be slightly different
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Friday, February 1, 2013
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Saturday, January 19, 2013
CHARACTER CLOSE-UP : Thanos
Writer-artist Jim Starlin originally conceived of Thanos of Titan during college psychology classes. As Starlin described:
“I went to college between doing U.S. military service and getting work in comics, and there was a psych class and I came up with Thanos ... and Drax the Destroyer, but I'm not sure how he fit into it, just anger management probably. So I came up to Marvel and [editor] Roy [Thomas] asked if I wanted to do an issue of Iron Man. I felt that this may be my only chance ever to do a character, not having the confidence that my career was going to last anything longer than a few weeks. So they got jammed into it. Thanos was a much thinner character and Roy suggested beefing him up, so he's beefed up quite a bit from his original sketches ... and later on I liked beefing him up so much that he continued to grow in size.”
Starlin has admitted the character is influenced by Jack Kirby's Darkseid:
“Kirby had done the New Gods, which I thought was terrific. He was over at DC at the time. I came up with some things that were inspired by that. You'd think that Thanos was inspired by Darkseid, but that was not the case when I showed up. In my first Thanos drawings, if he looked like anybody, it was Metron. I had all these different gods and things I wanted to do, which became Thanos and the Titans. Roy took one look at the guy in the Metron-like chair and said : "Beef him up! If you're going to steal one of the New Gods, at least rip off Darkseid, the really good one!"”
Publication history
Thanos' first appearance was in an extended storyline that spanned Iron Man #55 (Feb. 1973), Captain Marvel #25-33 (bi-monthly: March 1973 – Jan. 1974), Marvel Feature #12 (Nov. 1973), Daredevil #107 (Jan. 1974), and Avengers #125 (July 1974). He returned in an extended storyline that spanned Strange Tales #178-181 (Feb.–Aug. 1975), Warlock #9-11 (Oct. 1975 – Jan. 1976), Marvel Team Up #55 (March 1977), and the 1977 Annuals for Avengers and Marvel Two-in-One (Thanos does not actually appear until the end of Warlock #9). He was also featured in a short backup story in Logan's Run #6 (June 1977) and had a small role in the Death of Captain Marvel graphic novel (April 1982).
The character was revived in Silver Surfer vol. 3 #34 (Feb. 1990) and guest-starred until issue #50 (June 1991), while simultaneously appearing in Thanos Quest #1-2 (Sept.–Oct. 1990) and Infinity Gauntlet #1-6 (July–Dec. 1991). Thanos had a recurring role in Warlock and the Infinity Watch #1-42 (Feb. 1992 – Aug. 1995). This was followed by crossover appearances in Infinity War #1-6 (June - Nov. 1992), Infinity Crusade #1-6 (June - Nov. 1993), Silver Surfer vol. 3 #86-88 (Nov. 1993 - Jan. 1994), Warlock Chronicles #6-8, Thor #468-471 (Nov. 1993 - Feb. 1994), Secret Defenders #11-14 (Jan.–April 1994), Cosmic Powers #1-6 (March–July 1994), and Cosmic Powers Unlimited #1 (May 1995).
In 2004 Thanos received an eponymous title that ran for 12 issues. In 2006, the character played an important role in Annihilation: Silver Surfer #1-4 (June - Sept. 2006) and Annihilation #1-6 (Oct. 2006 - March 2007). The character was re-introduced in Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2 #24-25 (April–May 2010) and played a major role in The Thanos Imperative: Ignition (June 2010) and The Thanos Imperative #1-6 (July–Dec. 2010).
The character returned in Avengers Assemble #1 (March 2012). A mini-series titled Thanos: Son of Titan by Joe Keatinge was planned for publication in August 2012, but was cancelled.
The character's origin will be revisited and expanded in an upcoming miniseries by Jason Aaron and Simone Bianchi titled Thanos Rising. The first issue will be released in April.
Thanos was born on Saturn's moon Titan, and is the child of Eternals Mentor and Sui-San. Thanos was carrying the Deviants gene, and as such shared the physical appearance of the Eternals' cousin race. Although treated fairly, Thanos became mindful of his appearance and isolated himself, only playing with his brother Eros (Starfox). Thanos becomes fascinated with nihilism and death, and worshipped and eventually fell in love with the physical embodiment of death, Mistress Death. As an adult, Thanos uses bionics and mysticism to become the most powerful of the Titans, and is often referred to as the Mad Titan.
Thanos is a mutant member of the race of superhumans known as the Titanian Eternals. The character possesses abilities common to the Eternals, but amplified to a higher degree through a combination of his mutant Eternal heritage, bionic amplification, mysticism, and the entity Death. Demonstrating enormous superhuman strength, stamina, and durability, Thanos can absorb and project vast quantities of cosmic energy and is capable of telekinesis, telepathy and matter manipulation. Thanos is an accomplished hand-to-hand combatant, having been trained in the art of war on Titan.
Thanos is a genius in virtually all known fields of advanced science and has created technology far exceeding contemporary Earth science. He often employs a transportation chair capable of space flight, force field projection, teleportation, time travel and movement through alternate universes. Thanos is also a master strategist and uses a space vessel called Sanctuary II as a base of operations
Cosmic Cube & Soul Gems
Wishing to impress Mistress Death, Thanos gathers an army of villainous aliens and begins a nuclear bombardment of Titan that kills millions of his race. Seeking universal power in the form of the Cosmic Cube, Thanos travels to Earth. Prior to landing, his vessel destroys a nearby car as a family witnesses his arrival. Unbeknownst to Thanos, two of the family members in the vehicle survive: the father's spirit is preserved by the Titanian cosmic entity Chronos and is given a new form as Drax the Destroyer while the daughter is found by Thanos' father Mentor and is raised to become the heroine Moondragon. Thanos eventually locates the Cube, and also attracts the attention of Mistress Death. Willing the Cube to make him omnipotent, Thanos then discards the Cube. He imprisons Kronos and taunts Kree hero Captain Marvel, who with the aid of superhero team the Avengers and ISAAC (a super-computer based on Titan), is eventually able to defeat Thanos by destroying the Cube.
Thanos later comes to the aid of Adam Warlock in a war against the Magus and his religious empire. During this alliance Thanos cultivates a plan to reunite with Mistress Death, and secretly siphons off the energies of Warlock's Soul Gem, and combines these with the power of the other Infinity Gems to create a weapon capable of destroying a star. Warlock summons the Avengers and Captain Marvel to stop Thanos, and although the plan is foiled Warlock is killed by Thanos. The Titan regroups and captures the heroes, who are freed by Spider-Man and the Thing. Thanos is finally stopped by Warlock, whose spirit emerges from the Soul Gem and turns the Titan to stone. Thanos's spirit eventually reappears to accompany a dying Captain Marvel's soul into the realm of Death.
Thanos is eventually resurrected, and collects the Infinity Gems once again. He uses the gems to create the Infinity Gauntlet, making him omnipotent, and erases half the living things in the universe to prove his love to Death. This act and several other acts are soon undone by Adam Warlock. Warlock reveals that Thanos has always allowed himself to be defeated because the Titan secretly knows he is not worthy of ultimate power. Thanos joins Warlock as part of the Infinity Watch and helps him to defeat first his evil and then good personas, and cure Thor of "warrior Madness."
Other adventures
Thanos later recruits a team of Earth-bound super-villains and puts them under the field leadership of Geatar in a mission to extract a robot containing the knowledge of a universal library. Thanos uses information from the robot to battle Tyrant, a failed creation of Galactus. When trapped in an alternate dimension, Thanos employs the aid of the brother of Ka-Zar, Parnival Plunder and later the Hulk to escape, although both attempts are unsuccessful. Thanos is eventually freed and comes into conflict with Thor, and during their battles Thanos decimates the planet Rigel-3.
Thanos then uses the heroes Thor and Genis-Vell (Captain Marvel's son) against the death god Walker, who attempts to woo Mistress Death and then destroy the entity after being rejected. Thanos then devises a plan to become the All-Father of a new race of Gods created by himself. Thanos, however, finds himself opposed by the Avengers' former member Mantis and her son Quoi, apparently destined to be the Celestial Messiah. Thanos abandons this plan after having to unite with Mistress Death to destroy the "Rot", an aberration in deep space caused by Thanos' love for Death. Thanos also once conducted extensive research on genetics, and after studying many of the universe's heroes and villains cloned them and gene-spliced his own DNA into the subjects. Although he later abandons the project, five clones survive, being versions of Professor X, Iron Man, Gladiator, Doctor Strange, and Galactus respectively. A sixth and unnamed version of Thanos also appears, and it is revealed the incarnations of Thanos encountered by Thor and Ka-Zar were his clones. The true Thanos — with the aid of Adam Warlock, Gamora, Pip the Troll, Spider-Man, Captain Marvel, and Dr. Strange — destroys the remaining clones.
When an ancient Egyptian pharaoh called Akhenaten uses a source of cosmic power to seize power in present-day Earth (killing most of Earth's heroes in the process), Thanos uses a time-travel stratagem to defeat him. Thanos then uses the artifact to reverse Akhenaten's actions and also correct a flaw in the universe. Changed by the experience, Thanos advises confidant Adam Warlock he will no longer seek universal conquest.
En route to the Kyln, an intergalactic prison, Thanos meets Death, who for the first time speaks to the Titan. Death claims it is worth wooing, but that he must offer something other than death. At the Kyln Thanos encounters Star-Lord and the Shi'ar warrior Gladiator, who are both prisoners, and the Beyonder, who has been rendered amnesiac by its choice to assume a mortal female form. Thanos battles the Beyonder and causes its mind to shut down, leaving its power trapped within a comatose mortal body. Thanos then instructs the Kyln officers to keep the Beyonder on life support indefinitely in order to prevent the entity from being reborn. Thanos departs the Kyln in the company of Skreet, a chaos-mite freed from the prison. Thanos then meets the Fallen, a former Herald of Galactus. Thanos defeats the former Herald and places him under complete mental control.
Annihilation
During the Annihilation War Thanos allies himself with the genocidal villain Annihilus. When the Annihilation Wave destroys the Kyln, Thanos sends the Fallen to check on the status of the Beyonder, whose mortal form he finds has perished. Before the Fallen can report back to Thanos it encounters Tenebrous and Aegis: two of Galactus' ancient foes. Thanos convinces Tenebrous and Aegis to join the Annihilation Wave in order to get revenge on Galactus, and they subsequently defeat the World Devourer and the Silver Surfer. Annihilus desires the secret of the Power Cosmic and asks Thanos to study Galactus. Once Thanos learns Annihilus' true goal is to use the Power Cosmic to destroy all life and remain the sole survivor, he decides to free Galactus. Drax the Destroyer kills Thanos before he can do so but discovers that Thanos had placed a failsafe device to allow Silver Surfer to free Galactus in the event that Annihilus betrayed him. During a climactic battle with Annihilus, Nova is near death and sees Thanos standing with Mistress Death.
A cocoon protected by the Universal Church of Truth is revealed to be hiding Thanos, who has been chosen by Oblivion to be the new Avatar of Death. Resurrected before his mind could be fully formed, Thanos goes on a mindless rampage before being captured by the Guardians of the Galaxy. Thanos pretends to aid the Guardians against the invading Cancerverse, and after discovering its origin kills an alternate version of Mar-Vell, the self-proclaimed Avatar of Life. This causes the collapse of the Cancerverse, with Guardians Nova and Star-Lord sacrificing themselves to contain Thanos inside the imploding reality.
Avengers Assemble
Thanos eventually returns to Earth seeking an artificial cosmic cube and forms an incarnation of criminal group Zodiac, but is defeated by the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy, and remanded to custody by the Elders of the Universe.
Thanos Rising
Thanos Rising is an upcoming 5-issue comic book limited series published by Marvel Comics that is scheduled to debut in April 2013 as part of Marvel NOW!. The series, written by Jason Aaron with artwork by Simone Bianchi, will focus on the origins of the supervillain Thanos.
'Iron Man 3' Assemblers Toy Line
Arriving in stores around Feb. 11, a new line of Iron Man 3 action figures from Hasbro features a slew of customizable pieces and parts to build your character's armor but also change it up and add accessories like projectile launchers from a different hero altogether.
Sixteen figures will be released throughout 2013 in this new "Assemblers" lineup, including a first wave including the new red-and-silver Iron Man suit Robert Downey Jr. wears in Iron Man 3 movie, the War Machine armor of James "Rhodey" Rhodes (Don Cheadle), and Rhodey's spiffy red, white and blue outfit as Iron Patriot.
Each pack ($9.99) offers more than 25 armor combinations, and the rest of the line draws from the other two Iron Man films as well as The Avengers, plus decades of various Iron Man get-ups from the Marvel comic books.
Friday, January 18, 2013
Saturday, January 12, 2013
CHARACTER CLOSE-UP : Ultra Magnus - Generation 1
In Ultra Magnus' mind, he is a follower, not a commander, and his reluctance to change that will see to it that he expends all options before accepting the idea that he is required to lead. As a leader, Magnus would be resolute, fair and courageous, ever-ready to sacrifice himself for the greater good of his companions and mission, and unyielding in preparation for protection of those under his command. Although not interested in overall command, Ultra Magnus was the City Commander for Autobot City in Transformers The Movie, and his toy also featured him in the role of City Commander (a title also held by his original opposite number, the Decepticon leader Galvatron), which indicates that he at least is willing to accept a leadership role in a smaller capacity rather than as supreme commander, a role filled by both Optimus Prime and later Rodimus Prime.
Ultra Magnus is armed with missile launchers capable of hitting a target 30 miles away, and transforms into a car carrier able to transport his fellow Autobot troops.
From the secret files of Teletraan II: Ultra Magnus is the most mature spokesman for the Autobot cause. As a soldier, he is always practical and serious. And he so is loved by his fellow Autobots that Wheelie and Daniel traveled millions of miles to the Autobot records asteroid, just so they could find out Ultra Magnus's birthday. In his vehicle mode, Ultra Magnus is an armored transport truck, a machine with magnificent fighting skills. His enemies, the Decepticons, respect his courage, but most of all, they fear Ultra Magnus's spirit of self-sacrifice. He always thinks first of the welfare of his fellow Autobots and his mission.
Ultra Magnus first appeared in Japan in the episode Scramble City. This episode never made it to the U.S.A. so Americans didn't see him until Transformers: the Movie. Ultra Magnus made his first continuity appearance in the Earth year 2005 as commander of Autobot City on Earth. Leading the defense of the city when it came under Decepticon attack, Magnus suddenly found himself commanding the entire Autobot army when Optimus Prime died in battle and passed the Matrix of Leadership to him despite his protestations. Subsequently, in a confrontation with the Decepticons on the planet of Junk, Magnus was blown apart and lost the Matrix to Galvatron, but was reassembled and reactivated by the Junkions. When Hot Rod recovered the Matrix from Galvatron and became Rodimus Prime, Ultra Magnus decided to step down as leader to give the role to Rodimus, but continued to act as his friend and advisor, keeping him on the straight and narrow and always reassuring him, attempting to urge him out of the shadow of Optimus Prime.
Magnus would later fall afoul of an unrepentant Cyclonus when he went to the aid of Wheelie and Daniel Witwicky when they stumbled into trouble while attempting to discover Magnus's birthday. In addition to these and other battles with Cyclonus, Magnus also found himself facing Galvatron on several occasions - the deranged Decepticon would even occasionally focus his rage more upon Magnus than Rodimus Prime; such a notion is not inappropriate, since Magnus was the being he was originally dispatched to destroy, and who thwarted him in varying ways, certainly enough to permanently earn the deranged Galvatron's ire.
In the Episode "Only Human", Ultra Magnus, Springer, Rodimus Prime and Arcee found their minds transferred into human-mimicking "synthoid" bodies by the human crime lord Victor Drath.
In Episode 78, "Madman's Paradise", Spike and Carly hosted a banquet for a visiting ambassador. Daniel got bored and wandered off. Grimlock followed him, and they fell into a lost chamber where Quintessons banished their criminals to other dimensions. They slipped through to the sorcerous other-dimensional realm of Menonia, and were tricked into fighting on the Red Wizard's side, only to find out that he was the Quintesson criminal, who overthrew the Golden One. Ultra Magnus, Blaster, Eject, Rewind, Ramhorn, and Steeljaw followed, and using Blaster's amplification, they help the Golden One defeat the Red Wizard. With the help of Perceptor, the Autobots and Daniel are returned to Cybertron.
When the galaxy became infected by the Hate Plague, Ultra Magnus was one of the first victims, and his calm, restrained soldier attitude was stripped away, leaving behind a raving, battle-hungry maniac who had particular interest in destroying Rodimus Prime. After the plague was cured by the resurrected Optimus Prime, Magnus led the defense of Cybertron during the battle for the power of the Plasma Energy Chamber in 2007.
In The Transformers: The Movie, Ultra Magnus was voiced by Robert Stack. For the subsequent episodes of the animated series, he was voiced by Jack Angel, who had previously portrayed characters such as Astrotrain, Ramjet, and Omega Supreme. His character was most famous for uttering the line "I can't deal with that now" whenever things got bad.
Although the American animated series ended with the three-parter "The Rebirth" storyline, it was decided in Japan to continue production of new episodes; to that end, "The Rebirth" was discarded, and in its place, a new 35-episode series, Transformers: The Headmasters was created.
Earlier Japanese-exclusive media such as Scramble City and TV Magazine's manga stories had previously detailed Ultra Magnus's earlier arrival on Earth and his role in the creation of Metroplex. In Headmasters, Magnus was a supporting character for the early part of the series, once again in charge of Autobot City on Earth, taking a proactive role in the defense of the planet against the Decepticons when they re-emerged in 2011. During the opening skirmish of the renewed conflict, Magnus crossed swords with the large and powerful Decepticon ninja, Sixshot, who went on to lead the villains' earth-based forces, leading to a smoldering enmity between the two. Their rivalry eventually came to a conclusive end when Sixshot and Magnus engaged in a one-on-one duel. Magnus was no match for the multiple powers of Sixshot's numerous transformations, and was felled by his seventh, secret mode. With his dying gasp, Magnus told the Autobots to protect the Earth. At Metroplex's request, the Autobots buried Magnus on Earth.
When Ultra Magnus died, his body did not turn white/grey, like all other Transformers who had died in the past (including those in the Headmasters series). Whether this is due to his body being composed of external armour over his truck-cab exoskeleton (like the original toy and Dreamwave comic) or simply because of animator error is open to fan-interpretation.
Ultra Magnus did not appear in Marvel Comics' American Transformers comic book series outside of a comic book adaptation of a third season episode of the animated Transformers series. However, its sister title in the U.K. did feature in the character extensively in its own original stories (particularly issues in and around the 100 mark); the American stories made no use of the new cast introduced in The Transformers: The Movie, and U.K. writer Simon Furman pounced on the opportunity to use them in his own ways. Whereas all the other movie characters who appeared in the stories — such as Galvatron, Hot Rod and Kup — appeared via the use of time travel, it was Ultra Magnus's present-day self who played a key role in many of the important UK storylines. As per the original intent of his character and toy, Magnus was presented as the arch-foe of Galvatron.
Ultra Magnus was first introduced — and, debatably, first constructed — in the Earth year 1986, as the underground Autobot resistance on Cybertron prepared to execute their daring "Operation: Volcano" plan, which would involve luring the Decepticons' crack troops to one location where Magnus and the Autobot commando squad, the Wreckers, would finish them off. However, when the Matrix Flame (a flame denoting the activity of the robot containing the Creation Matrix) suddenly extinguished, Magnus was dispatched to Earth to discover what had happened to Optimus Prime.
With time nipping at his heels, the launch of Operation: Volcano going ahead whether he returned or not, Magnus allied himself with the Earth Autobots and worked to discover what had caused Optimus Prime, Prowl and Ratchet to vanish from the middle of the Autobot base, while the other Autobots battled the threat posed by Galvatron, a Decepticon who had travelled back in time from the future. The appearance of three more Autobots from the future, Hot Rod, Kup and Blurr, gave Magnus his answer: the mass-displacement effect yielded by Galvatron's time travel had shunted Prime and the others into the limbo between dimensions. Ultra Magnus then engaged Galvatron in battle as Kup and the others set up a scheme to force Galvatron back into the future, and even though Magnus was severely beaten by the more-powerful Decepticon, the plan succeeded and the future Decepticon returned to his own time. Magnus, however, was too late to return for Operation: Volcano, but the plan was nullified when the intended Decepticon victims were called away by Megatron, but a parting shot took the life of the Wreckers' leader, Impactor.
In 1987, when Optimus Prime was transported to Cybertron, Ultra Magnus and the Wreckers nearly killed him due to deliberate Decepticon misinformation that claimed he was a masquerading Decepticon agent which was disproved by Emirate Xaaron. Prime and Magnus then fought side-by-side on Cybertron for a period, until Ratbat cleverly deployed the Spacebridge to displace Magnus, Prime, and an insane Megatron to Earth. As Magnus adjusted to his temporary new home, he stumbled across Galvatron, who had returned from the future with a new scheme to harness the power of the Earth's core. Continuing their deeply bitter feud, Galvatron battled Ultra Magnus with help from the future Autobots, but in the end, the two leaders were entombed in volcanic lava.
Galvatron was eventually able to effect his own release, and the Sparkler Mini-Bots (also known as the Sparkabots) extricated Ultra Magnus, who, by this stage, having suffered repeated defeats at Galvatron's hands, had developed a paralysing fear of confronting the Decepticon. Galvatron, to his own amusement, set about pulverizing the Sparklers, with the intention of further tormenting the temporarily quiescent Ultra Magnus. With his comrades' lives at risk, Magnus overcame his demons to defeat Galvatron.
The present-day Ultra Magnus would not have to face Galvatron again, but more terrifying threats were in store when he and the Sparklers returned to Cybertron and discovered that the city of Kalis had been overridden by hordes of zombie Transformers, reactivated by the renegade Autobot mad scientist, Flame. Ultra Magnus joined forces with the Wreckers and their allies to defeat Flame's plan to fire Cybertron's subterranean planetary engines and complete Megatron's ancient plan to turn the world into a huge battleship.
Soon after, Magnus found himself involved in a grotesque illegal gladiatorial game, and although he defeated his monstrous opponent and delivered a stirring speech to the crowd decrying their spectation of such a sport, his words failed to get through.
Although that was the last appearance of the present-day Ultra Magnus, the future version of Ultra Magnus (from the same era as Rodimus Prime) made further appearances. He was present when Rodimus Prime, Kup, and Blurr went back in time to confront Galvatron and Death's Head, stating his doubts about the mission, teamed up with Soundwave's Decepticons to defeat the Quintessons, and was part of Rodimus Prime's team in the Time Wars. He did not get his final confrontation with Galvatron, however, as Galvatron used Decepticon leader Scorponok as a living shield against Magnus' fire, prompting Scorponok's troops to attack him.
The U.K. Transformers continuity records that Magnus and the other future Autobots returned find to their own time-stream changed to a different, darker future, where Galvatron was alive and ruling most of Cybertron.
Ultra Magnus from Dreamwave Productions' 21st century re-imagining of the Generation One universe took the opportunity to indulge two contentious aspects of Ultra Magnus previously resigned to fan speculation: here, he was revealed to be Optimus Prime's "brother" in the Dreamwave continuity, and also hinted to be Dion, a childhood friend of Optimus Prime from the animated series, due to the name of a strike force he led.
Magnus first chronological appearance was in The War Within: Age of Wrath miniseries, where he had united the splintered Autobot factions such as the Wreckers and Lightning Strike Coalition (who had struck out on their own following Optimus Prime and Megatron's disappearance in a Space Bridge accident) and managed to negotiate a settlement with the Decepticons and Ultracons. The plan was derailed first by Starscream's Predacons and then by Megatron's return with an army of Seeker clones, with Grimlock taking a fatal shot meant for Magnus. After being beaten into submission by Megatron, Magnus was amongst those captured by the Decepticons. The closure of Dreamwave prevented the completion of the series.
Following the disappearance of Optimus Prime and Megatron's troops four million years ago, Ultra Magnus and Fortress Maximus took fluctuating joint leadership of the Autobots, until Maximus abandoned the war.
Ultra Magnus appeared in as a major character in Dreamwave Productions Micromasters mini-series. In issue #1, "Destined For Nothing", Countdown and Groundshaker return from space to find the Autobot base largely abandoned. The first Autobots they encounter, Topspin and Twin Twist seem surprised to see them, and more surprised that Optimus Prime isn't with them. Countdown and Groundshaker are equally surprised that Optimus has not returned to Cybertron before they did. Countdown confronts Ultra Magnus and Fortress Maximus and informs them that Operation: Containment, an attempt to prevent the Decepticon threat from spreading beyond Cybertron, has failed. Countdown explains that the Decepticon Skystalker and his forces ravaged the peaceful planet, Paradron, and that the Autobots need to mount an intergalactic patrol force to prevent the same fate from befalling other worlds. Ultra Magnus and Fortress Maximus disagree, stating that Autobot forces are already underpowered and spread thin as it is. Groundshaker interrupts, belligerently demanding the Autobot command take action, before he is pulled from the room by Countdown. As Countdown and Groundshaker leave the command center, they overhear Big Daddy and his patrol griping about the day's events, which interests Countdown greatly. Big Daddy and company then confront Magnus and Maximus, upset that Crunch lost his life defending Roadbuster. The argument grows more heated, before Fortress Maximus orders the Hot Rod Patrol to turn in their weapons and dismisses them.
100,000 years later, the Transformers, their war, and the entire planet of Cybertron itself ground to a halt when the world's energy supplies completely ran out, sending Cybertron into a period of reconstructive hibernation, during which the entire population was sent into stasis.
Three thousand years ago, Shockwave was the first Transformer to be reactivated, and set about restoring the planet and its populace, quietly working towards his own sinister ends. Unifying the Autobot and Decepticon factions, he appointed Ultra Magnus as his second-in-command, who led the attack on the Ark when they travelled to Earth and arrested Optimus Prime and Megatron as war criminals. (In reference to the theory that Ultra Magnus was formerly Dion, the name of the team Ultra Magnus led to take the Autobots into custody was team Dion.)
When Optimus Prime then led a rebel attack on Iacon, Shockwave turned on Magnus, apparently deactivating him. Ultra Magnus survived, however, and his inner robot emerged from his damaged larger form, teaming with Prime to stop Shockwave's plan to use the Matrix to access Vector Sigma.
Ultra Magnus came away from the encounter with less damage than Prime, and soon had his systems repaired. He was seen in his familiar blue outer shell assisting Prowl when the burden of leadership threatened to become too much for him, and headed a mission to one of Cybertron's moons to fortify it against attack. Dreamwave's bankruptcy and subsequent closure, however, meant that any further stories of Ultra Magnus went untold.
The Transformers: Classics story printed by Fun Publications is set in a continuation of the Marvel Comics Transformers series, ignoring the Marvel U.K. and Generation 2 comics. Since Ultra Magnus only appeared in the U.K. comics (baring the movie adaption), the Ultra Magnus appearing in these stories is a new character.
In Transformers: Timelines volume 2 #2, "Games of Deception" this series Ultra Magnus leads a team of Autobots, which includes Elita One, Huffer, Snarl, Springer, Strongarm, Swoop and Tryanotron in pursuit of the Decepticon Bug Bite and his forces to Earth. Once on Earth they contact Grimlock to aid them.
Devil's Due Publishing
Ultra Magnus would make another appearance in the second G. I Joe vs. the Transformers crossover from Devil's Due Publishing, again as one of the leaders of the Autobot resistance to Shockwave. He and Perceptor saved a group of G. I Joes and Cobras from Shockwave's Decepticons, erecting a forcefield to protect them while they worked to repair the damage caused by Teletran-3, powered by Magnus' own strength. The shield eventually gave out and Magnus was captured. However, they were all rescued when the Dinobots returned and routed Shockwave's forces.
He reappeared in the third crossover as part of the combined Autobot/G. I Joe force attempting to rescue Optimus Prime, and even held off Trypticon single-handedly at one point. In the fourth crossover, Magnus was left in charge of the Autobot forces on Cybertron when Optimus Prime journeyed to Earth.
IDW Publishing
In issue #3 of The Transformers: Megatron Origin, a white colored Transformer (resembling Magnus' Titanium War Within toy) is seen from behind at the funeral of Bumper and Fastback. Whether this is actually Magnus is unclear.
In the new IDW Publishing continuity Magnus is a feared Autobot law enforcement officer. Magnus tracked down all those who broke the accords - be they Autobot or Decepticon. After arresting the Decepticon weapons dealer Swindle, the unscrupulous Decepticon managed to talk his way out of it by offering Magnus an even more tempting prize - the whereabouts of Scorponok. Despite his own personal reservations about doing so, Magnus agreed (planting a tracker on Swindle in the process) and tracked Scorponok down on the planet Nebulos. There he discovered the Decepticon's plan - upgrading several of the Nebulans with Transformer technology. Magnus soon found Scorponok himself, and lost the subsequent fight. However, a shot from Scorponok's beast mode seemingly killed Scorponok's already upgraded partner Lord Zarak. Magnus managed to shoot Scorponok in the head, but the Decepticon escaped again. Much later, after apprehending Swindle (again), the Decepticon again attempted to deal his way out. He reappeared briefly again in the Spotlight issue on Arcee, where he tracked down, battled and defeated the deranged Arcee, not realising that the facility was in was actually being used by Jhiaxus for the expansion.
Ultra Magnus also appears in the IDW ongoing series. He comes to Earth some three years after the events of the All Hail Megatron series, once again tracking Swindle. As acting Autobot commander, Bumblebee attempts to persuade Ultra Magnus to abandon his law enforcement duties and take up the fight against the Decepticons that still remained on Earth.
Binaltech
In the altered chronology of the Binaltech saga, Optimus Prime is still alive, having never had the final showdown with Megatron at the Battle of Autobot City. When Ravage arranges for the Autobots to be alone in the battle against the threat of Unicron, Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus team up to take on the planet-eater, having discovered that the Matrix is the key to Unicron's destruction. Within Unicron's body, Optimus Prime is severely damaged, and although not fatally, he passes the Matrix to Ultra Magnus to complete the mission. Ultra Magnus sheds his outer armor and proceeds on, successfully opening the Matrix and initiating the destruction of Unicron. Magnus and Prime escape the exploding giant.
Friday, January 11, 2013
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
WAR MACHINE WAS IN SPOILER DURING THE AVENGERS MOVIE; IRON MAN 3 PRELUDE COMIC BOOK
From CosmicBookNews.com
For fans of James Rhodes left wondering where War Machine was during The Avengers movie, we now find out exactly what happened.
Turns out War Machine was battling it out with some bad guys in Asia.
The Iron Man 3 prelude comic book was released today where we see Tony Stark calling his buddy for assistance to fight against Loki's invading army; however, War Machine was on the other side of the world and it would have taken him too long to fly over.
We can assume that since this is an Iron Man 3 prelude and that Rhodey was in Asia that it might have something to do with the Mandarin and the upcoming movie.
For fans of James Rhodes left wondering where War Machine was during The Avengers movie, we now find out exactly what happened.
Turns out War Machine was battling it out with some bad guys in Asia.
The Iron Man 3 prelude comic book was released today where we see Tony Stark calling his buddy for assistance to fight against Loki's invading army; however, War Machine was on the other side of the world and it would have taken him too long to fly over.
We can assume that since this is an Iron Man 3 prelude and that Rhodey was in Asia that it might have something to do with the Mandarin and the upcoming movie.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
CHARACTER CLOSE-UP : ROM: Spaceknight
Rom (also known as Rom The Space Knight or Rom: SpaceKnight) is a fictional character, a cosmic superhero in the Marvel Comics Universe. He first appears in Rom, Spaceknight #1 (Dec. 1979) and was created by Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema.
"Rom The Space Knight" was a toy co-created by Bing McCoy, Scott Dankman, and Richard Levy (US Patent #4,267,551). It was sold to Parker Brothers, and was the inspiration for the comic book series. The toy was originally called COBOL (after the programming language,) which was later changed to "Rom" (after ROM, read-only memory) by Parker Brothers executives.
The toy set a precedent for the game publishing company, which up until that time had only ever produced board games. As this was a new venture for the company and given that electronic toys were still very new, a decision was made to produce the figure as cheaply as possible. As a result, the final product had very few points of articulation, and twin red LEDs served as Rom's eyes instead of the originally envisioned green, which were more expensive to produce.
Not long after its debut, Rom appeared in the corner box of the cover of Time magazine's December 10, 1979, issue. It was also featured in the interior article, "Those Beeping, Thinking Toys," which decried Rom's lack of articulation and predicted it would "end up among the dust balls under the playroom sofa."
ROM was licensed to Palitoy in the UK to extend the "Space Adventurer" line of Action Man, appearing in their 1980 catalog.
To build interest in the toy, Parker Brothers licensed the character to Marvel Comics which created a comic book featuring Rom. The comic expanded on the premise that Rom was a cyborg and gave him an origin, personality, set of supporting characters and villains, as well as interaction within the Marvel Universe. The comic was written by Bill Mantlo and initially illustrated by artist Sal Buscema.
Ultimately, the toy failed and only sold 200,000 to 300,000 units in the US, with creator McCoy blaming the failure on poor packaging and marketing. Parker Brothers subsequently abandoned the line and returned to manufacturing board games.
Regardless and with some irony, the comic book outlasted the toy which it was created to support. The series lasted for 75 issues over a seven-year period, with Rom's regular encounters with mainstream heroes and villains establishing him as part of Marvel continuity.
Fictional character biography
In the comic book, Rom is more than a simple cyborg, being originally from a utopian society on a planet called Galador. The series details Rom's defeat of an invading alien race known as Dire Wraiths, and the continuation of their battle on Earth and other planets. Unlike the technologically advanced Galadorian civilization, the Dire Wraiths rely primarily on dark magic and their power to change their appearance.
Some years before Rom's arrival on Earth, Galador is threatened by a fleet of ships manned by the Dire Wraiths. Galador's ruler, the Prime Director, calls for volunteers to be transformed into cyborg warriors called 'Spaceknights', so that they can defend the planet from the invaders. The volunteers are promised that their "humanity" (that is, the body parts that would be removed to accommodate the bionic armor) would be preserved and restored to them after the danger was over. Rom was the first to volunteer, and was transformed into a large, silver humanoid that at first glance appeared to be totally robotic. Rom was also given Galador's greatest weapon - the Neutralizer - which on one setting could banish the Wraiths into the dimension known as Limbo forever. Inspired by his example, a total of 1,000 Galadorians volunteered and were transformed into Spaceknights, each with his or her own unique armour, powers and code names.
The Spaceknights succeeded in stopping the Wraith invasion, although Rom decided to follow the remnants of the fleet back to their home planet – Wraithworld – which orbited a black sun. The Wraiths panicked, and after a futile counter-attack abandoned the planet and scattered throughout space. Unable to stop Rom, the Wraiths successfully used their sorcery to trick him into allowing their escape. Rom now felt responsible for spreading the Wraiths’ evil across the universe, and swore he would not reclaim his humanity until all Dire Wraiths had been vanquished. His fellow Spaceknights, including comrades Starshine and Terminator, swore the same oath and left Galador.
Rom arrives on Earth 200 years later, and it is at this point that the Rom series begins. Landing near the fictional town of Clairton, in West Virginia, USA, Rom encounters a young woman named Brandy Clark. After seeing Rom deal with the Wraiths firsthand, Brandy comes to understand his mission and helps to hide Rom from prying eyes. This becomes necessary once Rom uses the Neutralizer in public, as witnesses only see a "killer robot" disintegrating innocents - they do not realize that Rom is in fact banishing Wraiths in human form. In time Brandy's boyfriend, Steve Jackson, also helps Rom in his mission, although when Brandy began to fall in love with the noble Rom her relationship with Steve was strained.
During his time on Earth, Rom fights and banishes thousands of Wraiths. The increasingly desperate Wraiths also create new foes for Rom, such as the sorcerous Hellhounds, robotic Watchwraiths and Firefall - a fusion of human and Spaceknight. Two of Rom's greatest foes are the aptly named Hybrid (a hideous result of a union between Wraith and human), and Mentus (a suit of Spaceknight armor occupied by the dark side of the Prime Director's psyche). Many other opponents were more traditional and hailed from the Marvel Universe proper, such as the Mad Thinker, the Space Phantom, and the herald of Galactus, Terrax. Rom was one of the many heroes transported into an arena in space for the Contest of Champions though he was not chosen to participate.
At one stage, Rom's war against the Wraiths takes a turn for the worse - a new breed of Wraith appeared on Earth, and appeared to be far deadlier than the first variety. It is later revealed that these are female Wraiths, who rely on sorcery, as opposed to the weaker males who placed their faith in science. Unlike the males, the female Wraiths chose not to act in secrecy and openly attack Clairton while Rom is away, killing everyone (including Steve Jackson and superhero ally the Torpedo) with the exception of Brandy Clark. Furthermore, they also attack S.H.I.E.L.D.'s mobile headquarters, the Helicarrier, which gave Earth authorities clear evidence of the existence and threat of the Dire Wraiths. Rom manages to banish all Dire Wraiths on Earth to Limbo with the aid of his super-powered allies and members of the U.S. military.
Rom leaves Earth soon after the battle and returns to Galador. Unknown to Rom, however, Brandy had accidentally met the entity called the Beyonder, and asked him to transport her to Galador. The Beyonder complied and Brandy found herself on Galador, now a war-torn world occupied by a new generation of cyborg-Spaceknights. Created to defend Galador in the absence of the first Spaceknights, this next generation of cyborgs became corrupted by their power, and feeling superior to normal Galadorians, massacred the entire race. In an act of sheer spite the new Spaceknights also destroyed the frozen remains of the originals. Rom arrived too late and could only save Brandy. Enraged, Rom summoned the original Spaceknights and together they destroyed the traitors. Rom then made a surprising discovery - his original humanity persisted within the entombed body of Terminator. Reclaiming it, Rom became human again and finally admitted his love for Brandy. The two chose to remain on Galador, with the intent of repopulating the planet. The remaining Spaceknights, their humanity now lost, set out to explore the universe, except for a few others that remained on Galador to protect Rom and Brandy.
During the wedding of Rick Jones to Marlo Chandler, the now human Rom returned to Earth, together with Brandy, as guests at the ceremony, and Rom greeted the Hulk with a friendly handshake.
Starlin miniseries
In the Spaceknights miniseries (Oct. 2000 - Feb. 2001) written by Jim Starlin it is revealed that Rom took the name Artour (a reference to Brandy's love of Arthurian legends, and perhaps in memory of his own encounter with King Arthur's ghost), and that he and Brandy had two sons. However, Rom himself is not actually seen in the series, nor is he mentioned by that name or shown in his spaceknight form (no doubt to skirt the fact that Marvel no longer held the license from Parker Brothers, which had retained the copyrights on Rom's name and armored likeness); his ship is attacked off panel just prior to the start of the story, with Rom himself missing and presumed dead.
Powers and abilities
Rom’s armor was composed of the Galadorian metal plandanium. It is extremely durable, even going so far as to stand up to Wolverine's adamantium claws. It was shown to be damaged from time to time, demonstrating that plandanium is not indestructible. The armor had self-repair capabilities, though it took several weeks to repair major damage. It provided him with superhuman strength, flight, and the ability to travel through space via backpack rockets. It also allowed him to breathe in any atmosphere and survive in the vacuum of space. Controls near the torso allowed Rom to lower the armor's temperature to well below zero. The armor also stored a "solar charge" that could be used as a weapon and could also drain power sources by mere contact. It also gave him the ability to summon three pieces of equipment stored in "subspace":
Rom's primary weapon, which is designed to banish Dire Wraiths to Limbo by opening a dimensional portal. Unfortunately, the process leaves considerable waste material that makes it appear that the weapon kills its target to an uninformed observer. In addition, the Dire Wraiths unsuccessfully explored the possibility of examining the gun to find some means of returning its victims to the normal dimension. This handheld weapon could fire energy beams that can be deadly at a high setting if Rom chose to select it and it can neutralize various forms of energy. This device was designed so that only Rom would be able to discharge it. The mutant Wolverine once tried to use the weapon and received a numbing blast of energy feedback. Rom's Neutralizer would inspire a similar creation by the mutant Forge when the US government tasked him with constructing a weapon against the Wraith horde. It is notable that his neutralizer for a time cost Storm her mutant abilities.
Analyzer
Allowed Rom to see shape-changed Dire Wraiths in their true form and could assess the energy and potential of any object/entity. It could also be used on an item which represented a world, such as a globe, and would display lights corresponding to Dire Wraith infestations at that point on the planet. Unfortunately, the device resembles a handgun, and Dire Wraith imposters have taken advantage of this fact to fool others into thinking that Rom is attacking them. Rom once arranged an ally to have the equivalent kind of vision, but the Dire Wraiths counteracted that by magically blocking his mind from recognizing that particular visual data. Regardless, Rom allowed SHIELD to examine the Analyzer in hope of creating equivalent devices among the Spaceknight's human allies.
Universal Translator
Allowed Rom to instantly learn the language of any creature, irrespective of their origin. This device was also used to scan and store printed information from an encyclopedia in Rom's memory banks for future use.
As Marvel Comics no longer possesses the licensing rights to Rom from Parker Brothers, the character is not allowed to appear in his armored form. However, Marvel has found ways to work around this dilemma.
In 2000, Marvel published a five-issue SpaceKnights series which featured a hero named Prince Tristan (codenamed "Liberator") in a redesigned version of Rom's armor. He fought along side other SpaceKnights named after some of the more popular ones from the original series.
In the Captain Marvel series featuring Genis-Vell, Rick Jones was shown to own a toaster in the shape of Rom's helmet.
In the alternate world of Earth X, Rom had ironically been banished to Limbo and was battling against the very Dire Wraiths he had sent there. Rom was seen in human form wielding his Neutralizer and using his chest-plate as a shield. He was referred to only as "the Greatest Spaceknight."
In 2006, Marvel reprinted the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe as part of their Essentials line of trade paperbacks, including the Rom entries.
In The Avengers 12.1 (2011), the super-villain group, The Intelligencia, was seen working with a 'spaceknight' that had actually been hosting the Ultron A.I.
Bibliography
Rom #1-75 (Dec. 1979 - Feb. 1986), Annual #1-4 (1982–1985)
Power Man and Iron Fist #73 (Sept. 1981)
Marvel Two-in-One #99 (May 1983)
Incredible Hulk #296 (June 1984), #319 (May 1986)
New Warriors #73-75 (July 1996 - Sep. 1996)
Spaceknights #1-5 (Oct. 2000 - Feb. 2001)
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