The Punisher is a fictional character, an antihero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita, Sr., and Ross Andru, with publisher Stan Lee providing the name. The Punisher made his first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #129 (cover-dated Feb. 1974).
The Punisher is a vigilante who employs murder, kidnapping, extortion, coercion, threats of violence, and torture in his war on crime. Driven by the deaths of his wife and two children, who were killed by the mob during a shootout in New York City's Central Park, the Punisher wages a one-man war on the mob and all criminals in general by using all manner of conventional war weaponry. His family's killers were the first to be slain. A war veteran of the U.S. military, Frank Castle is a master of martial arts, stealth tactics, guerrilla warfare, and a wide variety of weapons.
The Punisher is a vigilante who employs murder, kidnapping, extortion, coercion, threats of violence, and torture in his war on crime. Driven by the deaths of his wife and two children, who were killed by the mob during a shootout in New York City's Central Park, the Punisher wages a one-man war on the mob and all criminals in general by using all manner of conventional war weaponry. His family's killers were the first to be slain. A war veteran of the U.S. military, Frank Castle is a master of martial arts, stealth tactics, guerrilla warfare, and a wide variety of weapons.
The Punisher's brutal nature and willingness to kill made him a novel character in mainstream American comic books in 1974. By the late 1980s, he was part of a wave of psychologically troubled antiheroes and was featured in several monthly publications, including The Punisher War Journal, The Punisher War Zone, and The Punisher Armory. Despite his violent actions and dark nature, the Punisher has enjoyed some mainstream success (although toned down) on television, making guest appearances on Spider-Man: The Animated Series and even The Super Hero Squad Show. In feature films, Dolph Lundgren portrayed the Punisher in 1989, as did Thomas Jane in 2004, and Ray Stevenson in 2008.
by The Centurion December 23, 2014
The Fantastic Four is a fictional superhero team appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The group debuted in The Fantastic Four #1 (cover dated Nov. 1961), which helped to usher in a new level of realism in the medium. The Fantastic Four was the first superhero team created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby, who developed a collaborative approach to creating comics with this title that they would use from then on. As the first superhero team title produced by Marvel Comics, it formed a cornerstone of the company's 1960s rise from a small division of a publishing company to a pop culture conglomerate. The title would go on to showcase the talents of comics creators such as Roy Thomas, John Buscema, George Pérez, John Byrne, Steve Englehart, Walt Simonson, and Tom DeFalco, and is one of several Marvel titles originating in the Silver Age of Comic Books that is still in publication in the 2010s.
The four individuals traditionally associated with the Fantastic Four, who gained superpowers after exposure to cosmic rays during a scientific mission to outer space, are: Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards), a scientific genius and the leader of the group, who can stretch his body into incredible lengths and shapes; the Invisible Woman (Susan "Sue" Storm), who eventually married Reed, who can render herself invisible and later project powerful force fields; the Human Torch (Johnny Storm), Sue's younger brother, who can generate flames, surround himself with them and fly; and the monstrous Thing (Ben Grimm), their grumpy but benevolent friend, a former college football star and Reed's college roommate as well as a good pilot, who possesses superhuman strength and endurance due to the nature of his stone-like flesh.
by The Centurion October 27, 2014
The Shadow is a collection of serialized dramas, originally in 1930s pulp novels, and then in a wide variety of media. Details of the title character have varied across various media, but he is generally depicted as a crime-fighting vigilante with psychic powers posing as a "wealthy, young man about town". One of the most famous adventure heroes of the twentieth century, The Shadow has been featured on the radio, in a long running pulp magazine series, in comic books, comic strips, television, serials, video games, and at least five motion pictures. The radio drama is well-remembered for those episodes voiced by Orson Welles.
Introduced as a mysterious radio narrator by David Chrisman, William Sweets, and Harry Engman Charlot for Street and Smith Publications, The Shadow was developed fully and transformed into a pop culture icon by pulp writer Walter B. Gibson. The character would go on to become a major influence on the subsequent evolution of comic book superheroes, in particular, Batman.
The Shadow debuted on July 31, 1930, as the mysterious narrator of the Street and Smith radio program Detective Story Hour. After gaining popularity among the show's listeners, the narrator became the star of The Shadow Magazine on April 1, 1931, a pulp series created and primarily written by the prolific Gibson.
Introduced as a mysterious radio narrator by David Chrisman, William Sweets, and Harry Engman Charlot for Street and Smith Publications, The Shadow was developed fully and transformed into a pop culture icon by pulp writer Walter B. Gibson. The character would go on to become a major influence on the subsequent evolution of comic book superheroes, in particular, Batman.
The Shadow debuted on July 31, 1930, as the mysterious narrator of the Street and Smith radio program Detective Story Hour. After gaining popularity among the show's listeners, the narrator became the star of The Shadow Magazine on April 1, 1931, a pulp series created and primarily written by the prolific Gibson.
Powers/Abilities: The Shadow: Master of Darkness possesses incredible physical abilities. He possesses astonishing reflexes and is an incredible marksman with a gun. He also has incredible muscular control and can slip his body through the bars of a prison cell like a contortionist or can actually distort and alter his very facial features at will by manipulating his facial muscles. He can also survive for hours without air and was also ambidexterous. He is regarded as highly experienced in various disciplines of hand to hand combat as well.
His greatest power is his ability to “cloud men’s minds”. He can hypnotize people instantly so that he can move as an invisible shadow. He can also hypnotize people so they forget things or to command them to perform certain acts (he once forced a criminal to write a detailed account of his past crimes). The Shadow wears a fire opal ring known as a girasol on his hand which he uses to focus his hypnotic abilities. He is an expert in many different languages and is also a master ventriloquist (he can project or “throw” his voice).
He is also a master of disguise and has been known to impersonate others, even fooling their friends and family members. The Shadow is apparently an expert aircraft pilot and skilled in infiltration and information gathering techniques due to his experience as an intelligence agent.
He wields a pair of .45 pistols and employs a fleet of automobiles and aircraft in his various operations.
His greatest power is his ability to “cloud men’s minds”. He can hypnotize people instantly so that he can move as an invisible shadow. He can also hypnotize people so they forget things or to command them to perform certain acts (he once forced a criminal to write a detailed account of his past crimes). The Shadow wears a fire opal ring known as a girasol on his hand which he uses to focus his hypnotic abilities. He is an expert in many different languages and is also a master ventriloquist (he can project or “throw” his voice).
He is also a master of disguise and has been known to impersonate others, even fooling their friends and family members. The Shadow is apparently an expert aircraft pilot and skilled in infiltration and information gathering techniques due to his experience as an intelligence agent.
He wields a pair of .45 pistols and employs a fleet of automobiles and aircraft in his various operations.
by The Centurion May 08, 2013
Captain America: The First Avenger is a 2011 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Captain America. It is the fifth installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film was directed by Joe Johnston, written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, and stars Chris Evans, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Hayley Atwell, Sebastian Stan, Dominic Cooper, Neal McDonough, Derek Luke, and Stanley Tucci. It was distributed by Paramount Pictures. Predominantly set during World War II, the film tells the story of Steve Rogers, a sickly man from Brooklyn who is transformed into super-soldier Captain America to aid in the war effort. Rogers must stop the Red Skull – Adolf Hitler's ruthless head of weaponry, and the leader of an organization that intends to use a device called a "Tesseract" as an energy-source for world domination.
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
(a body is discovered in the Arctic)
Search Team Leader: Get me the Colonel! I don't care what time it is! This one's waited long enough...
(Schmidt admires a wooden Norse carving)
Johann Schmidt: Yggdrasil. Tree of the world. Guardian of wisdom. And fate, also.
(discovers a wooden drawer, uncovers the Tesseract)
Johann Schmidt: And the Führer digs for trinkets in the desert.
Gabe Jones: Who are you supposed to be?
Steve Rogers: I'm... Captain America.
(Steve walks off to free the soldiers trapped below)
James Montgomery Falsworth: I beg your pardon?
Timothy 'Dum Dum' Dugan: Are you sure you know what you're doing?
Steve Rogers: Yeah. I punched out Adolf Hitler 200 times.
(last lines)
(Steve Rogers finds himself in New York)
Nick Fury: At ease, soldier! Look, I'm sorry about that little show back there, but we thought it best to break it to you slowly.
Steve Rogers: Break what?
Nick Fury: You've been asleep, Cap. For almost 70 years.
(Steve is silent with shock)
Nick Fury: Are you going to be okay?
Steve Rogers: Yeah. Yeah, I just... I had a date.
(After end credits)
Nick Fury: (finding Steve in a gym) Trouble sleeping?
Steve Rogers: You're here with the mission, sir?
Nick Fury: I am.
Steve Rogers: Trying to get me back in the world?
Nick Fury: Trying to save it.
(a body is discovered in the Arctic)
Search Team Leader: Get me the Colonel! I don't care what time it is! This one's waited long enough...
(Schmidt admires a wooden Norse carving)
Johann Schmidt: Yggdrasil. Tree of the world. Guardian of wisdom. And fate, also.
(discovers a wooden drawer, uncovers the Tesseract)
Johann Schmidt: And the Führer digs for trinkets in the desert.
Gabe Jones: Who are you supposed to be?
Steve Rogers: I'm... Captain America.
(Steve walks off to free the soldiers trapped below)
James Montgomery Falsworth: I beg your pardon?
Timothy 'Dum Dum' Dugan: Are you sure you know what you're doing?
Steve Rogers: Yeah. I punched out Adolf Hitler 200 times.
(last lines)
(Steve Rogers finds himself in New York)
Nick Fury: At ease, soldier! Look, I'm sorry about that little show back there, but we thought it best to break it to you slowly.
Steve Rogers: Break what?
Nick Fury: You've been asleep, Cap. For almost 70 years.
(Steve is silent with shock)
Nick Fury: Are you going to be okay?
Steve Rogers: Yeah. Yeah, I just... I had a date.
(After end credits)
Nick Fury: (finding Steve in a gym) Trouble sleeping?
Steve Rogers: You're here with the mission, sir?
Nick Fury: I am.
Steve Rogers: Trying to get me back in the world?
Nick Fury: Trying to save it.
by The Centurion July 07, 2012
Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a 2014 American superhero film featuring the Marvel Comics character Captain America, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the sequel to 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger and the ninth installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, with a screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, who had also worked in The First Avenger. It stars Chris Evans as Captain America, leading an ensemble cast that includes Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Cobie Smulders, Frank Grillo, Emily VanCamp, Hayley Atwell, Robert Redford, and Samuel L. Jackson. In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America, Black Widow, and Falcon join forces to uncover a conspiracy within S.H.I.E.L.D. while facing a mysterious assassin known as the Winter Soldier.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
1. The Winter Soldier (Bucky Barnes) is able to match Captain America (Steve Rogers) move by move, even to the point of catching Rogers' shield. This foreshadows Barnes taking over as Captain America (which happened in the comics).
2. Jasper Sitwell mentions some high-risk targets that HYDRA is keeping tabs on. Among these are Bruce Banner (The Hulk), Dr. Stephen Strange, and "a man in Cairo". The latter is most likely Marc Spector/Moon Knight, an Avengers team member who hasn't made it into the movies yet.
3. UFC Welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre plays a French mercenary in the film. For the filmmakers, landing the popular MMA fighter for the role was a stroke of luck and good timing but is was equally a stroke of luck for Georges St-Pierre who was excited to get his first chance at being in a big action movie.
4. Sebastian Stan is contracted for nine films but according to him, when production for this film began he was not told of anything of which films he will be incorporated. Stan only realized he was playing the title role of Winter Soldier when the title was formally revealed in San Diego Comic Con 2013.
5. Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen appear as Quicksilver and The Scarlet Witch in an extra scene during the end credits, which sets the stage for Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015).
1. The Winter Soldier (Bucky Barnes) is able to match Captain America (Steve Rogers) move by move, even to the point of catching Rogers' shield. This foreshadows Barnes taking over as Captain America (which happened in the comics).
2. Jasper Sitwell mentions some high-risk targets that HYDRA is keeping tabs on. Among these are Bruce Banner (The Hulk), Dr. Stephen Strange, and "a man in Cairo". The latter is most likely Marc Spector/Moon Knight, an Avengers team member who hasn't made it into the movies yet.
3. UFC Welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre plays a French mercenary in the film. For the filmmakers, landing the popular MMA fighter for the role was a stroke of luck and good timing but is was equally a stroke of luck for Georges St-Pierre who was excited to get his first chance at being in a big action movie.
4. Sebastian Stan is contracted for nine films but according to him, when production for this film began he was not told of anything of which films he will be incorporated. Stan only realized he was playing the title role of Winter Soldier when the title was formally revealed in San Diego Comic Con 2013.
5. Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen appear as Quicksilver and The Scarlet Witch in an extra scene during the end credits, which sets the stage for Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015).
by The Centurion December 06, 2014
Super Power Beat Down is a live action web series focused on bringing two fighters from assorted media into battle against each other. The victors are decided by popular vote.
Machinima and Bat in the Sun's web series "Super Power Beat Down" takes two super-powered legends and makes them battle. Experts Marisha Ray, Jennifer Wegner, Damian Beurer and Andy Liegl battle with their sci-fi/fantasy knowledge and comic wit to determine who they think the winner will be - however, the fans have the final say.
by The Centurion December 27, 2014
Jason Charles Bourne is a fictional character and the protagonist of a series of novels by Robert Ludlum and subsequent film adaptations. He first appeared in the novel The Bourne Identity (1980), which was adapted for television in 1988. The novel was very loosely adapted in 2002 into a feature film under the same name and starred Matt Damon in the lead role.
Jason Bourne has a tormented past, which continues to influence him throughout his lifetime. Jason Bourne is but one of many aliases used by David Webb. Webb is a career foreign service officer and a specialist in Far Eastern affairs. Before the events in The Bourne Identity, Webb had a Thai wife named Dao and two children named Joshua and Alyssa in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. Webb's wife and two children were inadvertently killed during the Vietnam War when a fighter plane strayed into Cambodia, dropped two bombs and strafed a spot near the Mekong River. However, unknown to Bourne, Joshua survived. Due to Cambodia's neutrality in the war, every nation disclaimed the plane, and, therefore, no one took responsibility for the incident. Having nothing left to live for, Webb went to Saigon and, under the careful guidance of Alex Conklin, ended up training for an elite Top Secret Special Forces unit called Medusa. Within that select organization Webb was known only by his code name, Delta One.
by The Centurion December 30, 2014