Finished reading Guardians of the Galaxy: Angela continuing writer Brian Michael Bendis' run on the series as it deals with the fall out of Age of Ultron and the Guardians involvement during the events of infinity. The book opens up with the team at a bar celebrating a recent win as Gamora is pursued by a bounty hunter. The next story has the Guardians dealing with the fall out of the Age of Ultron story arc as Angela comes through a dimensional rift which comes to the attention of the team when Angela starts heading to Earth. After a big fight on the Blue Side of the Moon the Guardians interrogate Angela hoping to discover who she is and what she wants with Earth. As her story checks out Iron Man heads back to Earth as his time with the Guardians has come to an end. Not to soon after leaving Earth Thanos invades the planet with the Guardians receiving a S.O.S from S.W.O.R.D director Abigail Brand asking for their help to reclaim the space station from Thanos forces as the Avengers are on the other side of the galaxy dealing with the events of the Infinity story arc. The final story has Gamora and Angela teaming up as they try and stop a shipment of slaves from the Badoon in hoping to find the location of Thanos. Overall this was a great book the way Angela was introduced was very interesting as she and the Guardians instantly jump into a fight hotheadedly causing Star Lord to break it up. The comedic parts never fall flat and hit every time. While Tony Stark is as sneaky as ever expressly when Star Lord and Angela discuss about the damage to the multiverse as he already secretly knows about it. 8/10.
Finished reading The Superior Spider-Man: Necessary Evil this continues Doctor Octopus' story of being a better Spider-Man than Peter Parker after a last ditch to cheat death leading to him implanting his consciousness into Spider-Man. The book opens in 2099 as the future Spider-Man Miguel O'Hera deals with a time displaced dinosaur as he heads to the labs of Alchemax finding out that time is slowly being rewritten as Alchemax CEO Tyler Stone is being erased from history because of an event in the past. In the modern day at Horizon Labs annual Softball game Max Modell the CEO of Horizon Labs is arrested for questioning over the company's goings on because of former employee Tiberius Stone giving information to the government as part of his revenge plot. As Spider-Man gives chase to Tiberius and his new boss Liz Allen for answers he is stopped by Spider-Man 2099 preventing Ock from doing anything that could cause the collapse of the futures timeline. After a confrontation between the two Spider-Men Miguel is in need of some extra help and uploads his AI assistant Lyla from the future to his communicator to give him any additional information he needs to complete his mission as Tyler Stone was not helping at all. The final story of the book as Doc Ock facing a ghost from his past, Angelina Brancale who has awoken from her coma that was caused by an explosion of a virtual reality system that projects realistic holograms. After receiving the news of Doc Ock's death Angelina reactivates the virtual reality system and as Stunner heads out to find Spider-Man so he can pay for killing Doc Ock. Overall this was a great book the Spider-Man 2099 story as Miguel meets with Doc Ock Spider-Man for the first time makes the story unpredictable as Miguel has to deal with a different Spider-Man to the one he knows which complicates things. The side story of Peter Parkers ex, officer Charle Cooper finding out the truth of how Spider-Man is funding his Spider-Army helps foreshadow as her notes end up in the Wrong hands that spells disaster for Doc Ock's organisation. 8.5/10.
Finished watching Mr Holmes Directed by Bill Condon and staring Ian McKellen, Hiroyuki Sanada, Milo Parker, Laura Linney and Hattie Morahan. The film opens up to an ageing Sherlock Holmes (Ian McKellen) retuning to his retirement home after a trip to Japan in 1947 to find some prickly ash in Hiroshima with Matsuda Umezaki (Hiroyuki Sanada) as his guide to hopefully improve his memory as it's slowly decaying. At his home Sherlock begins to continue his story of his last case that lead to his retirement as Sherlock hopes to write it the way it was and not how his friend Dr Watson portrayed it to be, as Roger (Milo Parker) the son of his housekeeper Mrs Munro (Laura Linney) gives Sherlock the inspiration and motivation to finish the story as the two form a close relationship similar to that of a Grandfather and Grandson relationship. Overall this was a good film as it shows an aspect of Sherlock Holmes' life that is not normally portrayed and it gives a different angle to his life. While the case itself is very intriguing as it shows Sherlock in his element as the case of Ann Kelmot (Hattie Morahan) becomes more and more interesting as the story continues throughout the film. Also the relationship between Roger and Sherlock comes very organically and helps forward the plot of the film in the process. 7/10.
Finished reading Infinity, this is Marvel's big event spinning out of writer Jonathan Hickman's Avengers and New Avengers series. The book opens up to a couple of prequel stories the first one has the illuminati dealing with their actions of destroying an alternative Earth above Dr Doom's Castle during an incursion between the worlds. This causes Dr Strange and Mr Fantastic to convince Doom otherwise while tensions between Atlantis and Wakanda grow as Black Panther's sister Shuri declares war on Namor and the Atlantans. The other prequel story has the Avengers dealing with the Origin Bomb site in Perth as it becomes active causing problems to all of Earths electronics as planes begin to fall out of the sky and blackouts are experienced across the planet. As the Avengers deal with the bomb site Captain Universe takes Manifold to a distant planet to show him an oncoming force threatening to end the universe as they know it. Back on Earth Manifold reports back to the Avengers as they begin to expand their ranks in order to tackle this oncoming threat. The main story begins with one of Thanos' henchmen traveling to Earth undetected to find the whereabouts of his son by infiltrating the Inhuman city Attilan to read the mind of the Inhuman king Black Bolt. Meanwhile the Avengers prepare to deal with the galactic threat of the Builders as they head into space to meet with the Galaxy's Galactic Council to hopefully defeat the Builders and stop them from destroying any more planets after receiving distress signals from destroyed worlds. After being discovered by the Inhumans Thanos' henchman returns to Titan beaten with the information of Thanos' son and along with the a spy's intel of Earth being without its Avengers Thanos plans his invasion. With Avengers on the other side of the galaxy dealing with the omnipotent threat of the Builders along with different galactic races they meet up, while back on Earth Ironman is the only Avenger as the planet is invaded by Thanos and his army so he can kill his last offspring the Inhuman Thane causing Ironman to reassemble the Illuminati to combat Thanos' forces. Overall this was an amazing book as it flowed very organically with both stories of the Avengers in space fighting the Builders and on Earth as the Illuminati deal with Thanos' invasion. The space scenes are consistently breathtaking as it feels like something out of a epic science fiction film. While the Inhuman parts of the Earth based story is very captivating especially with characters like Black Bolt and his brother Maximus who both steal the spotlight from other characters in the scenes their in. 9.5/10.
Finished reading Superior Spider-Man Team-Up: Versus this showcases a few stories of the Superior Spider-Man teaming up with other heroes in the Marvel universe. The book opens up with Spider-Man fighting most of the heroes in New York, which comes to the attention of Captain America as he calls the Avengers in order to stop Spider-Man. With the Avengers assembled the villainous Carrion revels himself as the reason for Spider-Man fighting the various heroes as Carrion can possess anyone he comes into contact with including Avengers member Hyperion. The next story crossovers with the Scarlet Spider series as Kaine meets up with Peter while in New York only for a fight to break out as Doc Ock remembers Kaine killing him and seeks vengeance. The fight is interrupted when the Jackal and his army of Man-Spider's kidnap both Spider-Man and Kaine in order to extract their DNA so he can have an army of Spider-Clones to takeover the world. The final story is set during the events of Infinity as Spider-Man and the newly assembled Mighty Avengers are fighting Thanos' army in New York when the Terrigen Mist travels throughout the city thanks to the destruction of the Inhumans home Attilan as it turns people into Inhumans including student Sylvia Prell who becomes a being of pure electricity, which gains the attention of Spider-Man prompting him to use her to defeat the remaining forces of Thanos. Overall the was a good book as it played with Doctor Octopus being Spider-Man and how he interacts with other heroes. The Scarlet Spider crossover uses this to its advantage as its the first time Kaine has met Spider-Man since Doc Ock taking over his body creating a new dynamic between the two characters. 7/10.
Finished watching Jurassic Word Directed by Colin Trevorrow and staring Nick Robinson, Ty Simpkins, Bryce Dallas Howard, Katie McGrath, Chris Pratt and Irrfan Khan. The film opens up to brothers Zach (Nick Robinson) and Gary (Ty Simpkins) getting ready to go to Jurassic World for a holiday with their aunt Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) the parks manager. While leaving the kids with her assistant Zara (Katie McGrath) Claire heads to the Velociraptor enclosure to meet with Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) to help consolidate on the Indominus enclosure only for it to go undetected as it camouflages itself thanks to the use of having the DNA of a Tree Frog and a Cuttlefish leading to it escaping when Owen and a couple members of staff investigate large claw marks on the wall of the enclosure. With the Indominus on the loose Simon Masrani (Irrfan Khan) the owner of Jurassic World closes half the park after the security fail to contain it. However Zach and Gary were in a Gyrosphere during the announcement and went into the restricted area of the island, knowing this Clare finds Owen to help find the kids while the rest of the island staff deal with the Indominus. Overall this was an amazing film as it played with the tension and danger of the Indominus while keeping the film a sceptical with the many different dinosaurs appearing within it. The only negative part of the film is that some of the deaths of characters where very predictable with some being foreshadowed at the beginning of the film. One other good thing about the film is that does explain why some dinosaurs don't look the same as the first film and not been changed as its because of the cross species genetics that was also used in the original film. 9/10.
Finished reading Captain America: Loose Nuke, this deals with the aftermath of what happened to Captain America during his time in Dimension Z. The book opens up with Bruce Banner and Hank Pym giving Steve a medical examination as Nick Fury is interrogating Jet Black in order to find out what happened in Dimension Z. After vouching for Jet, Cap takes her back to his home where they begin to properly morn over the deaths of Ian and Zola. After hearing what happened Falcon meets with Steve to catch up leading to Steve breaking down when he opens up to Sam as he has lost everything thing. Meanwhile in Nrosvekisan super soldier Nuke is causing carnage by killing innocent people and soldiers leading to S.H.I.E.L.D calling in Captain America to deal with the situation against Falcon's advice. Overall this was a good book as it dived nicely into Steve's emotions and how he deals with the loss of his son and the love of his life as Falcon tries to help him morn. While the presence of new villain Iron Nail is intriguing as his origin involves the original Nick Fury and the Winter Soldier in 1969. 7/10.
Finished reading Captain America: Castaway in Dimension Z- Book Two this concludes the Dimension Z story arc. The book picks up where the previous book ended as Jet Black is questioning her loyalty to her father Arnim Zola after meeting Captain America in battle who spared her life. Meanwhile Captain America begins his attack on Zola's fortress in order to get his son back as Zola prepares to brainwash Ian to become his son and an enemy of Captain America. Once inside the fortress Cap comes face to face with Jet leading to her joining Cap when he saves a Phrox from falling into a lava pit causing Jet to betray her father as she leads the rest of the Phrox to a rocket. While Captain America heads in the other direction where he's met by a brainwashed Ian and a mutant clone of himself as Sharon Carter comes in to help as Zola prepares to invade Earth with his mutant army. Overall this was good book as it dealt mostly on Captain America's one man war on Zola and his mutant army. While Jet Black has the most character development in the book as her role in the story takes some interesting directions as Captain America's story is full with some emotional gut punching moments. 7.5/10.
Finished watching Spy directed by Paul Feig and staring Jude Law, Melissa McCarthy, Rose Byrne and Jason Statham. The film opens up with Bradley Fine (Jude Law) on a mission to find out the location of a nuclear bomb, with the help of Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy) at the CIA headquarters relaying information to Bradley's earpiece throughout the mission. After accidentally killing the main suspect Bradley goes to the suspect's daughter Rayna Boyanov (Rose Byrne) for information about the bomb leading to Bradley's death. As the CIA morns his death Susan volunteers to go into the field and investigate Rayna as she knows all of the field agents of the CIA which Susan is not, causing Rick Ford (Jason Statham) quitting in protest. Once on mission Susan constantly runs into Rick as he has taken it upon himself to investigate alone while Susan eventually befriends Rayna in order to find out where the nuke is. Overall this was a great film as the action and the comedy blended very well creating some great laugh out loud moments as it doesn't feel out of place. 8/10.
Finished reading Captain America: Castaway in Dimension Z this begins Rick Remender Marvel Now series. The book opens up with Captain America above Manhattan stopping a plane from dropping a dangerous bomb on the city below before meeting up with Sharon Carter for his birthday as they detour to an old subway line which turns out to be an extra dimensional doorway as Steve is taken hostage to Dimension Z as he becomes Arnim Zola's test subject with his blood being transplanted to Zola's baby son. As Steve escapes Zola's fortress taking the infant with him. One year later Steve and his adopted son Ian seek refuge with the Phrox after being chased by Zola's mutant army only for them to be mistaken to be allies of Zola with one of the Phrox named Ksul taking Steve and Ian to his home to recuperate leading to Steve finding out that Arnim Zola injected a virus into Steve's body as a peice of Zola's conciseness appears on his chest. After eleven years living with Ksul and his family Ian discovers the Zola virus inside Steve leaving with them heading back to Zola's fortress in order to get back to Earth and get rid of the virus. Overall this was a great book as Steve becomes a parent to Ian which brings a new aspect to the character while making him relatable as Ian becomes his world after losing everything he knew from Earth. While the flashbacks to Steve's past shows how he became the man be is today and using his experiences to help rise Ian and get through the hardships of Dimension Z. 8/10.
Finished reading Uncanny Avengers: Avenge the Earth, this concludes writer Rick Remender's story that started in The Apocalypse Twins. The book opens up eight years after the destruction of the Earth by Exitar the Executor with all the mutants living on a new home called Planet X as Havok is being chased by the X-Force which consists of the former members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants as he and his wife the Wasp destroy the Tachyon Dam onboard the Ark that brought everyone to the planet in the hope that help will come through. After Wasp is captured by Magneto as Havok heads home to see Beast and his daughter as Kang and his team of inter dimensional super beings hoping to fix reality with Havok's help as Kang takes Havok's daughter as a bargaining chip. Meanwhile the X-Council consisting of former X-Men lead by Eimin, an Apocalypse Twin, agree to stop Havok destroying their safe-heaven as they head to his home to stop him by using the Wasp as bait. While Thor leads a small team into the Ark to rescue Wolverine and Sunfire who have been in a state of torture since the formation of Planet X. With the Avengers back together Kang and Magistrate Braddock send the Avengers consciousnesses back to before the timeline changed giving Earth another chance to save itself from destruction. Overall this was a great book as it showed the world of planet X with the battle between Havok and the X-Force while the scope of the final battle at the end of the book was edge of the seat action and as there was the big battle on Earth while a smaller more personal one was being fought above the Earth. Havok's narration also brings a personal aspect to the story with some of the narration containing his thoughts at specific moments within the story. 8/10.
Finished watching San Andreas directed by Brad Peyton and staring Dwayne Johnson, Alexandra Daddario, Carla Gugino, Ioan Gruffudd, Paul Giamatti, Will Yun Lee, Hugo Johnstone-Burt and Art Parkinson. The film opens up with Raymond Gaines (Dwayne Johnson) and his rescue team being interviewed by a TV crew as they rescue a young driver after falling of a cliff. After heading home to get bits for his daughter Blake (Alexandra Daddario) Ray heads to his soon to be ex-wife Emma's (Carla Gugino) new home where she lives with her new partner Daniel (Ioan Gruffudd). Meanwhile Dr Lawrence Hayes (Paul Giamatti) and his coworker Dr Kim Park (Will Yun Lee) are using some new earthquake predicating equipment at Hoover Dam where they get court in the middle of a 7.1 magnitude earthquake leading to the dam collapsing. Back at his research lab Lawrence discovers that the whole San Andreas Fault is going to go off. Once onboard his helicopter Ray heads towards Nevada to help with the relief effort only to turn back to Los Angeles to save his ex from the enormous earthquake that struck while they were on the phone. Meanwhile in San Francisco Blake meets with brothers Ben (Hugo Johnstone-Burt) and Ollie (Art Parkinson) in the office building owned by Daniel. When the earthquake hits Blake is trapped in Daniel's car with him leaving Blake as the two brothers from earlier help her out as all three of them get word out to Ray as he and Emma head towards San Francisco to save their daughter. Overall this was a good film as it dealt with the contrast between each story as there is a slightly different tone between each setting within the film as there is a different type of tension at the research laboratory to the tension used in the San Francisco location. While the scientific element gives the film a nice element to the film as well. 7/10.
Finished reading Uncanny Avengers: Ragnarok Now, this a continuation of writer Rick Remender's Uncanny Avengers story that stated in The Apocalypse Twins. The book opens up where the last one left of with the Scarlet Witch getting Wonderman out of his prison in order to ask for his help to bring the mutants of Earth on to the Apocalypse Twins' ark to lead a fight against the Twins. Meanwhile Captain America, Havok, and the Wasp are heading to the ark to destroy the Tachyon Dam inside the ark so the team can get help from Immortus and his Infinity Watch in the future as this is happening Rogue and Sunfire unshackle Wolverine after being tortured by his son Daken, he tells Rogue about the spell that Wanda is going to cast leading to Rogue borrowing some of Wolverine's powers as she and Sunfire go after Wanda. After an intense battle the spell is completed as Wanda draws her last breath and all the mutants of Earth are teleported into stasis pods aboard the ark just as a Celestial named Exiter the Executioner emerges to judge Earth. On Earth the Avengers are with Dr Doom as they try to delay Exiter from passing his judgement upon the planet long enough for Thor to get his axe Jarnbjorn from the Apocalypse Twins. Overall this was a great book the stakes are built high and stay that way throughout the book. Even though this was a very action heavy book there is still some great character developments with the relationship between the Wasp and Havok building very nicely while Thor pretty much steals each scene he's in especially when he's fighting the Sentry and the Apocalypse Twins. 8/10.
