Blogtrest Wrestling Talk: WWE SummerSlam 2017

MY WWE SUMMERSLAM 2017

PREDICTIONS

Summerslam 2017 has arrived, and will be live this Sunday at the Barclays Centre in Brooklyn, New York and I must say that this SummerSlam card is looking pretty interesting, this event looks as if it is going to have a sense of unpredictability as we have quite a lot of fresh match ups booked, which is something that always helps a wrestling product and gives you that curiosity that makes you want to watch and see how things will unfold which is the least that can be said about WWE's weekly TV shows Raw and Smackdown, which just do not intrigue me to the point where I feel I MUST watch anymore due to the repetitive booking of matches and predictability factor.

However, WWE always tends to deliver at SummerSlam to the point where match ups tend to be more exciting than even their flagship PPV Wrestlemania

Also add in the atmosphere of the Brooklyn, New York crowd and I feel we may just be in for another entertaining night.

I'm now gonna run down the match card giving my thoughts on what I think will happen in each match on the night and also throw in outcomes for each match that I would personally like to see happen on the night:

WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match: 

Akira Tozawa (c) (with Titus O'Neil) vs Neville

Will the self procalimed 'King Of The Cruiserweights' Neville (Right) get back on his thrown this Sunday and reclaim the Cruiserweight championship from the Titus Brand's hottest aquistion Akira Tozawa? (Left)

I must say I was very surprised  when Akira Tozawa finally dethroned Neville and his super long Cruiserweight title reign, this past Monday on Raw as I thought that Tozawa was just going to end up being a stop gap for Neville to keep his incredible championship reign going as I don't view the 'Titus Brand' stable featuring Apollo Crews as anything major or serious to the point where they would actually acquire championships. But it was a nice and unpredictable surprise to see.

This match will be a nice paced opener to get the Brooklyn crowd fired up for the rest of the night, and I can see this match being taken up a lot of notches compared to their Raw match and given a bit more time.

I also feel that WWE are going to give Tozawa some time with the Crusiserweight title to see what his reign can add to the 'Titus Brand' stable dynamic.

What Will Happen: Akira Tozawa will retain the Cruiserweight championship.

What I Want To Happen: Same as above.

WWE Smackdown Tag Team Championship Match:

The New Day (c) vs The Usos

Will the determined and hungry Usos (right) reclaim back the WWE Smackdown Tag Team Championships

The New Day's second go around as WWE Tag Team Champions now of Smackdown just hasn't really clicked with me, which could be down to their longest reigning Tag Team Championship run in company history on Raw which was very much outstaying it's welcome a good few months before they finally dropped them to Cesaro and Sheamus.

The Usos on the other hand, have been thoroughly entertaining ever since they finally made the much needed heel turn, way before The New Day arrived on Smackdown, which goes to show that a character tweak is always needed when a character or pair of characters run stale (cough) John Cena (cough).

The Usos have been so great as heels that I don't want them to ever turn babyface again anytime soon in the distant future, that's how great and entertaining they have been especially on the mic, and it's very telling that this is a heel gimmick they have been preparing for and pitching to WWE for years as they feel so natural in the role.

This match will definately be an exciting and fun thrill ride which will hype up the Brooklyn crowd, i'm not sure if the New Day are gonna get the desired reception from the Brooklyn crowd though, which we shall see.

I do feel that The Usos need and deserve to win back the WWE Smackdown Tag Team Championships.

What Will Happen: The Usos will defeat The New Day to reclaim the WWE Smackdown Championships.

What I Want To Happen: Same as above.

Singles Match:

Big Show vs Big Cass (with Enzo Amore In a Shark Cage)

Will Big Cass (right) prove to be the dominant big man on the night?

Now this match presents a weird but yet a possibly exciting dynamic that smells of a 'conspiracy' 'screwjob' finish.

Ever since turning heel and turning his back on longtime tag partner Enzo Amore, Big Cass has seen his singles heel run turn very sour and has lost direction  on the roster very quick and his little feud with the Big Show is the ultimate symbol of that, as the Big Show is always handed to you in a feud when the WWE just don't know where to take your character next or are figuring out what to do with said character next.

Enzo Amore has also lost even more fizzle since the breakaway from Big Cass, being reduced to nothing more than a roster rag-doll, that most definately looks either 'future endeavoured' or 205 Live bound.

Also take in the fact that Enzo is a babyface being locked in a shark cage which is always reserved for heels, there is a big smell of a twist here that I think WWE are going to use as the perfect remedy to revitalize both Big Cass and Enzo Amore's very mediocre singles runs.

I dont' expect much time to be given to this match and it will prove to just be a slow mini brawl that will facilitate a much needed swerve at the end.

What Will Happen: Big Cass will defeat the Big Show with the help of Enzo Amore who will feed Big Cass a weapon from the shark cage beginning a new heel dynamic of Enzo Amore being manager and mouthpiece for monster heel Big Cass.

What I Want To Happen: Same as above.

 WWE Raw Women's Championship Match:

Alexa Bliss (c) vs Sasha Banks

Can Alexa Bliss (left) hold onto her WWE Raw Women's Championship or will the rise of Sasha Banks (right) be too much for her to handle?

The WWE seem to be very much getting back behind Sasha Banks as a major player for their Raw women's division, as it seemed like she was being demoted months back when out of no where she was paired with cruiserweight Rich Swan in some kind of dancing valet gimmick which just made no sense, and also seemed to be heading for a heel turn against Bayley down the line in a 'jealousy feud' as it seemed Bayley had replaced her as the beloved top women's athlete on the roster.

Well forward to the present day and it seems that Sasha Banks is in pole position to become the top 'boss' on Raw with an opportunity to win back the Raw Women's championship from the superbly entertaining Alexa Bliss who deserves a very long championship reign in my opinion.

But I do feel that reign is coming to an end here to freshen things upcoming out of this PPV.

What Will Happen: Sasha Banks will defeat Alexa Bliss to become the new WWE Raw Women's Champion.

What I Want To Happen: Alexa Bliss finds a way to retain the WWE Raw Women's Championship.

 Singles Match:

Finn Balor vs Bray Wyatt

Who will win the battle of the enigmas?

As great as this match has potential to be, I can't help but be underwhelmed at the build up to this point in the past week's on Raw as yet again much like many feuds that the Bray Wyatt character engages in, with his feud with Randy Orton earlier this year being a prime example. Also take in the fact that the Bray Wyatt character loses every big match he ever takes part in after delivering 'chilling promises' in his promos and never delivering on those promises by being the one to eat the 1 2 3 pin almost every time.

And it's why I don't get excited for Bray Wyatt feuds anymore. Finn Balor equally seems to be suffering a struggle like Bray Wyatt as I feel that he could be doing so much more, like donning the Demon character more often and incorporating it more into feuds.

To put it simply: On paper a Finn Balor vs Bray Wyatt feud should be nothing but epic. But it hasn't come across that way on TV.

This will be a great match for sure as I feel Finn Balor's high flying technical style will mesh perfectly with Bray Wyatt's explosive unorthodox style.

This could well be in a position to be match of the night. Yes, it very much has the potential to be.

What Will Happen: Finn Balor will defeat Bray Wyatt.

What I Want To Happen: Same as above.

 Singles Match:

Randy Orton vs Rusev

Will the Bulgarian Brute Rusev (right) make a huge statement and de-fang The Viper Randy Orton?(left)

Randy Orton has possibly had the worst ever year in the WWE so far with his feud with Bray Wyatt falling very flat after having so much potential to be the stuff of legends and his not so stellar feud with Jinder Mahal which led to some very dragged out matches and Orton losing the WWE Championship leaving him without a solid direction.

The same can be said about Rusev also, who seems to have been bought back on the roster without a solid plan, as I for sure thought he would be in the WWE Championship mix when he returned, he was instead fed to John Cena. 

So in WWE land if you have both talents that are lost on your roster, what do you do with them? You put them both randomly in a match and expect them to make a great feud out of it.

which is a booking decision that we see a lot of nowadays on the product and it really does not help going into a big four PPV like SummerSlam.

I really don't expect to be moved or thrilled by this match at all, as I feel this will be a slow methodical affair, and I doubt that Rusev despite how brilliant he is in the ring as a commanding presence, can mesh well with Randy Orton's style.

I do feel that Rusev really needs a win here, as he does not have any major victories over top superstars like a Randy Orton.

But we shall see.

What Will Happen: Rusev will defeat Randy Orton.

What I Want To Happen: Same as above.

WWE Raw Tag Team Championship Match:

Cesaro & Sheamus (c) vs Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins

Will Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins (right) be able to replicate their Shield days and become the New WWE Raw Tag Team Champions?

We've had a bit of a 'buddies' dynamic between Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins in the past weeks with a 'Will they re-unite? or won't they? dynamic that culminated in the former Shield members re-uniting in the ring with their signature pose followed by a massive crowd pop! Which just goes to show how great of a job the WWE did with The Shield back at their height.

This should prove to be a fun tag team championship match that is needed to spice up the bland Raw tag team division at the moment.

I'm still sceptical about the end game of this Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose angle though as I can't figure out if the WWE are planning to go full force with a rumoured Shield re-union at the upcoming Survivor Series or if they are going to pull the trigger on a much needed Dean Ambrose heel turn against Seth Rollins.

Putting the belts on Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins here, would make for something interesting going forward.

What Will Happen: Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins will win the WWE Raw Tag Team Championships.

What I Want To Happen: Same as above.

 WWE United States Championship Match:

AJ Styles (c) vs Kevin Owens (with Shane McMahon as Special Guest Referee

Will Special guest Shane O'Mac be able to call this crucial WWE Untied States Championship match down the middle?

Speaking of fun, here is another match that has a interesting dynamic going into it, and that is non other than Shane O'Mac as Special guest referee for both competitors that he has a grudge history with.

I think WWE have done extremely well with the booking of the United States Championship and the characters revolved around it in AJ Styles & Kevin Owens, the United States Championship really feels like a important championship again.

This match will definitely prove to be a fun thrill ride as there are a lot of dynamics that could take place to feed into the finish and coming out of SummerSlam, and I have a idea where the WWE could be going with the possible finish. 

What Will Happen: AJ Styles will retain the WWE United States Championship due to incompetence from Shane McMahon, leading to a Kevin Owens vs Shane McMahon feud.

What I Want To Happen: Same as above.

 WWE Championship Match:

Jinder Mahal (c) vs Shinsuke Nakamura

Can Shinsuke Nakamura (right) add the WWE Championship to his illustrious career by taking down the Modern Day Maharajah Jinder Mahal (left)?

I along with many others probably don't know how exactly this match will work from a in ring standpoint, as I have my reservations about Jinder Mahal's style being able to mesh well with Shinsuke Nakamura's technical & methodical style.

This match could end up either being very underwhelming or surprisingly good, which in a way is a good thing, as the WWE have taken a gamble on a completely fresh match up for a major championship on a big four PPV.

Shinuske Nakamura has been put in a big position and along with Jinder Mahal, must put on a great match here and I hope we do see a great match.

But I'm not quite sure if WWE want to put the Championship on Nakamura just yet though.

What Will Happen: Jinder Mahal will find a way to retain the WWE Championship through The Singh Brothers shenanigans.

What I Want To Happen: Nakamura defeats Jinder Mahal to become the new WWE Champion.

Six Man Tag Team Match:

The Hardy Boyz & Jason Jordan vs The Miz & The Miztourage (Bo Dallas & Curt Hawkins) (with Maryse)

Who will come out on top in this inpromptu tag team match up? 

In what seems to be a randomly put together tag team match, I just have no idea what the WWE are doing with Jason Jordan, as it seems they have aborted the rumoured Intercontinental Championship bout between his self and The Miz and instead thrown him in a tag team match to cover up his 'son of Kurt Angle' storyline not getting over with the crowd as intended.

And that is a huge shame, because WWE could have made a great storyline out of Jason Jordan by eventually have him turn heel on Kurt Angle and reveal that he is not really Angle's son and conspired to get a big push up the ladder in WWE, as Jason Jordan's explosive and impressive in ring work very much hinted at the possibility of him becoming a monster heel. But it really does look as if plans have changed and been aborted.

As for this match however I feel that this will be a fun match as everyone involved here is very talented at what they can bring to the table and it will be great to see miss used talents such as Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel finally get some PPV time again, and I feel they could do with the rub here.

What Will Happen: The Miz & The Miztourage will defeat The Hardy Boyz & Jason Jordan.

What I Want To Happen: Same as above.

Singles Match:

John Cena vs Baron Corbin

Can Baron Corbin (right) make history for himself and knock down the WWE's franchise player John Cena? (left)

If Baron Corbin ever needed to deliver big time, it is most certainly this match, in what is Corbin's biggest match of his career he will need to bring his in ring A game to the franchise player of the WWE John Cena.

There have been reports that Baron Corbin has lost favour with the WWE and are slowly aborting his push, which is why he became the thrid man in history to lose in his Money In The Bank cash in (along with John Cena himself & Damien Sandow, which surprise, surprise both involved Cena)

But there are also rumours that Baron Corbin is being primed to become a angry monster heel, and losing his Money In The Bank opportunity is the catalyst for this and the fact that John Cena inadvertently distracted Corbin in his cash in loss is the catalyst for him to get revenge at SummerSlam.

But you just never know because this is John Cena, and you know he is a wall that anyone can bump into and lose track forever.

John Cena however does have a big SummerSlam losing streak, but I'm afraid deep down that he is going to break it at the expense of someone who could really do with a victory over him in Baron Corbin. 

What Will Happen: John Cena will defeat Baron Corbin

What I Want To Happen: Baron Corbin defeats John Cena.

WWE Smackdown Women's Championship Match:

Naomi vs Natalya

 

Will Natalya once again reach the top of the Women's division after a very long absence by defeating Naomi?

In what is perhaps going to be the least interesting of the two WWE Women's championship matches Natalya finally has the chance to rise to the top of the Women's division again after what seems like an eternity away from being in the mix.

As great as Naomi is in ring, I feel that her title reign has prolonged a bit too much and has not really done much of note with the WWE Smackdown Women's Championship.

Naomi and Natalya will no doubt put on a great match here, but I feel the time has come for Naomi to be dethroned from her championship run.

What Will Happen: Natalya will defeat Naomi to become the new WWE Smackdown Women's Champion.

What I Want To Happen: Same as above.

WWE Universal Championship Fatal 4 Way Match:

Brock Lesnar (c) vs Roman Reigns vs Samoa Joe vs Braun Strowman

Four goliaths will collide for the WWE Universal Championship, but who will emerge out of this battle as Champion?

And here we are, in what is sure to be a explosive WWE Universal Championship main event that will most definitely give meaning to the name SummerSlam.

Four goliaths will clash in what will be perhaps the most chaotic fatal 4 way we have seen in the WWE in a very, very long time.

This bout pretty much has the feeling of a dream match written all over it and I'm very glad that WWE went through with this.

There are rumours that Brock Lesnar could potentially be leaving the company soon which would make predicting him losing the belt here a very easy one, but I for one am not convinced about Lesnar leaving as much as it is hard to predict this one as it is very likely that anyone in this match can win the strap and run with it.

I can't wait to see this one, and it is a match that is very fitting for a big 4 PPV like SummerSlam.

What Will Happen: Brock Lesnar will retain the WWE Universal Championship.

What I Want To Happen: Braun Strowman becomes the new WWE Universal Champion.




And there you have my prediction for what I feel we will see tonight on what is a very stacked SummerSlam card.

Fell free to leave your comments and opinions on how you feel the PPV will play out tonight.


- Simeon Barrett

Will Marvel Netflix Eventually Join Marvel Movies?

I'll be the first to tell you that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a franchise that I absolutely love, and it's also a franchise that has turned me into a absolute Marvel nerd ever since it's formation starting with the excellent Iron Man movie in 2008.

Sure not everything that Marvel has put out, has been a runaway hit or gold as there have been some disappointing entries in the Universe such as Thor: The Dark World, and perhaps both follow up sequels to Iron Man in Iron Man 2 and Iron Man 3 (which in my opinion messed up a great chance to see Iron Man's arch nemesis The Mandarin finally come to life on the big screen)

Where It all began: Iron Man (2008) was a roaring success and a superb start for a Shared Universe

But don't get me wrong, these films have not been absolute disappointments, far from it, they still have great charm to them, and that's pretty much down to one key thing; the casting. I feel that Marvel Studios have completely knocked it out of the park when it comes to casting their superheroes on the big screen, you really believe and feel that Robert Downey Jr is indeed Tony Stark ripped straight from the comic book and thrown onto a live action screen, same can be said for Chris Evans as Captain America or Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange (Doctor Strange is damn near close to being my favourite MCU film so far by the way!)

Marvel Studios have done an excellent casting job as most characters look as if they have indeed been ripped straight out of the comic books and thrown on screen

The same can also be said about the other side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe; The Marvel Netflix Series, Daredevil has pretty much done for Marvel Netflix, what Iron Man did for Marvel studios and that is carve out a great connected and extended Universe, but this time with a more dark feel, but again Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist (despite his problems) & The Punisher (who cosmetically looks the most impressive out of the bunch) all feel like they have been ripped out of the comic books.

The same can pretty much be said about our Netflix Street Level heroes, the casting has been top notch, and yes Danny Rand's casting is the elephant in the room, but I feel there is potential with him if written and directed right, which is something I'm hopeful of seeing in The Defenders

Which takes me to what I want to talk about here:

With the success of BOTH the Marvel Movies & Marvel Netflix series I really do wonder If we will indeed one day in the near future, have the much wanted crossover of Daredevil & Co with Iron Man & Co?

There have been constant rumblings and rumours back and forth that there would eventually be a plan in place for a Series/Movie crossover ever since Daredevil set the Netflix world on fire with it's superb debut back in 2015, while also dropping nods to the events of The Avengers movie and referencing our favourite man in a 'Iron Suit' and Thor's 'Magic Hammer', which were moments that made me mark out like the extreme Marvel fanboy that I am.

There have been so many Movie references in Marvel Netflix shows that you just can't help but fantasise about The Devil of Hell's kitchen crossing paths with Iron Man on screen

One of the most interesting things that I have heard out of all the speculation, came from Vincent D'ONofrio, aka Daredevil's excellent Wilson Fisk who stated in an interview back in August of 2014 that "After the series stuff with Netflix, Marvel has a bigger plan to branch out".

Another Interview in April 2015 with. Charlie Cox aka Daredevil himself stated  that crossing over with the films is "possible. I think there's a way that the worlds can merge. I think our show feels tonally and thematically a bit different from the Avengers movies, but it's all one universe and I feel like there's a way for Daredevil—and other characters, Luke Cage and street level crime characters—to fit into that universe. I think there has to be a way, and I think it's about finding an autonomous tone for that [crossover] film"

Charlie Cox bought up an interesting point in his statement and it's that of the 'tone' of the Marvel Movie properties and that of the Netflix properties, for a crossover to work where we have the more light sided comical tone that the movies take and the dark brooding tone that the Netflix series take, people helming a possible crossover project would have to find the right balance to successfully bounce characters from both properties off of each other, which is not an impossible task. (I'll get to that later)

However there have been counter statements that have alluded to there not being a chance of there being a crossover:

Avengers Infinity War Director Anthony Russo stated in July 2015; It’s complicated. When we start to serialize the telling of stories it’s difficult. You have to have a lot of control and focus on the course of history. The films are controlled by a group led by Kevin Feige, so they function as a unit. Other products, even if they are from Marvel, are controlled by others. Then there is the possibility of a crossover, but it’s more complicated. It is a smaller scale version of the problem that exists when remembering that Fox holds the rights to some of Marvel’s most popular characters.

On top of this there has been constant rumblings over the past couple of years that vice president of Marvel Television Joseph Leob and vice president of Marvel Movies Kevin Fiege do not get along with each other making the possible relationship of a crossover a complicated one.

Can't Get Along?: You'd be hard pressed to find pictures with both Marvel Netflix Vice President Joseph Loeb (left) and Marvel Studios President Kevin Fiege (right) in the same room 

However I do have the belief deep down that we will eventually see a Marvel Series/Marvel Movies crossover, and it's down to the fact that we live in a era of trends, and what I mean by that is, we have gimmicks that are carbon copied from one company to another.

An example of this is the 'Reebot' trend that started in 2005 with the reboot of the much ill-fated Batman film franchise which started with Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins, the success and wide spread critical acclaim of this film made other film and entertainment companies take huge notice; which led to 'Reboot' of another famous film franchise that lost it's steam in the early 2000's, James Bond with Casino Royale in 2006, and the influx of these movies have gone on and on and on to the present day and beyond (the furthest reboot movie i can think of upon my research so far is The Mummy reboot with Tom Cruise, which was just awful)

The reboot success of both Batman Begins & Casino Royale kicked off a surge of reboot movie properties

Now with the reboot trend proving to be a favourable money maker for Hollywood and the entertainment industry, there is another trend that has taken over, and that is the 'Movie Universe' trend. 

And it has arguably all started and been pioneered by Marvel themselves with their 2012 Avengers movie which saw a huge ensemble cast of superheroes finally get together on screen all at the same time  to fight a common cause, this was a big gamble, something like this was never really done before in movies and it could of either been a big disaster or a huge phenomenon. The Avengers movie of course proved to be a huge phenomenon and pretty much a game changer for the movie and entertainment industry as now we have direct rival to Marvel, DC now building their own movie universe using the Marvel Studios blueprint and we are now seeing a influx of 'Universe' properties being paraded in the media.

The Avengers Movie (left) was a groundbreaking success and a true game changer for the film and entertainment industry to the point where we are now seeing direct rivals DC build their own movie universe with the Justice League (Right)

Now to my point; what is the one attribute that we have not seen in the Film/Entertainment industry yet?.....(have a think) The answer is a TV series interacting directly with a movie or movie series. 

If i was a betting person, I would say that Marvel are most definitely planning to set a trend of a TV series directly engaging with a movie in the cinema, a trend that will see a TV actor appear directly on the silver screen In conjunction with their TV show, this formula I believe, is a win win as it generates a lot of buzz and interest for both television and movie parties involved and in turn can become a gigantic money maker, and there is no way that Marvel are gonna just sit on something like that.

There seems to be a number of people who say that this is too complicated to work, but you could of easily said that way back in 2008 when Marvel Studios announced their idea of having their movies share the same continuity and have their main characters and actors all assemble into one big epic film, I myself was very doubtful of this working, and it seemed way too ambitious to work, but roll on near a decade later, it worked, and blew the roof off the place! Becoming a financial machine.

The argument can be made that Marvel are making an even bigger gamble with their upcoming Avengers Infinity War, which will see an HUGE ensemble casting on a level never seen before in film, the gamble of course is juggling a massive roster of big characters and actors into a competent and evenly filmed movie.

If Marvel are willing to put up a gamble like that then surely having our Netflix heroes make an appearance in the movies is not a far stretch at all.

Avengers Infinity War is going to be the most ambitious movie project ever seen on film with it's crazy ensemble cast which shows that Marvel are up to pretty much do anything at this point

Another thing that also rings alarms is the fact that the Netflix shows go out of their way to reference events in the movies, If Marvel truly believe that people who watch the Netflix shows are different to people going along to watch the movies, then they are surely going back on their belief, because it really doesn't make any sense to reference 'The Incident' (Avengers Battle of New York) in not just Daredevil, but multiple references in Jessica Jones as well, we also have the 'Judas Bullet' from Iron Man 2 making an appearance in Luke Cage and salvaged Chitari weapons from the Battle of New York shown and referenced in the show too. So do Marvel just expect their 'separate Netflix' audience to just understand where all this stuff is coming from and why they are being talked about and weaved into a completely 'different /focused narrative'?

Marvel Netflix Shows such as Luke Cage seem to go out of their way to reference and include things that are going on in the movies, which tells me that there is more to these Netflix/Movie crossover rumours

Marvel surely have the sense to figure out that FANS of their properties watch BOTH of their Universe divisions and KNOW that these properties are all in sync with one another.

I for one and i'm sure many other fans know that there is a huge benefit to seeing Marvel Netflix heroes and heck even villains directly connect with the Marvel Studios movies as we have A tier movie actors like Vincent D'Onofrio as the Kingpin putting on a stellar performance that deserves to be on the big screen and I for one feel that he would fit right into a Spiderman movie, and yes he would fit right into any follow up to Spiderman Homecoming as I feel he has the perfect villain aura that would bounce off of our young hapless Tom Holland Peter Parker/Spiderman.

But then there's the argument that how can you transport a villain from a dark and gritty Netflix show to a family friendly movie? Well it's simple, you tone down the grit and violence that Kingpin has portrayed in Daredevil by simply not showing him doing any of that in Spiderman (simple concept right? Whowudathunkit?) You instead bring out more of the smart mastermind Kingpin which we started to see glimpses of in Daredevil Season 2, and you emphasis his wit more, he can still show violence but a toned down violence. 

Daredevil's Kingpin portrayed by Vincent D'Onofrio would transition perfectly into a Marvel Movie such as Spiderman

Also take in the fact that as human beings, in real life, we all see the world differently, someone might see the world as a scary hopeless place in their environment, where as someone will see a more bright and funny side of life, this can apply to the Marvel Netflix/Marvel Movie dynamic, for example Matt Murdock is a blind adult who grew up in the mean gritty streets of Hell's Kitchen, therefore the tone of his series reflects how he views his environment and how he feels with all the blood, gore and suffering, where as Peter Parker down the block in Queens is a hapless young teenager who's focused with the everyday trials of school life and growing up, sees the world a lot more brighter and a lot more quirkier than a Matt Murdock would, so therefore the tone of his movie reflects this and feels like this. So if you put someone like Kingpin in a Spiderman movie, the tone of the character reflects the view and the feeling of the main character.

So with that said, there does not seem to be any huge pitfalls preventing a much wanted Marvel Studios/Marvel Netflix collaboration on the Silver Screen.

I think that Marvel are doing their best to throw people off the idea of it happening as much as possible, so that when it does happen, it will come as a euphoric surprise, but Marvel, you don't have me fooled. I know those Movie references are in the Netflix shows for a reason (wink wink)


Feel free to leave your comments and opinions on what you think about all of this.


-Simeon Barrett

SPIDERMAN HOMECOMING

My Thoughts

Spiderman Homecoming is officially in the books after a long and anticipated wait of finally having what was once (and still is to me) Marvel's flagship superhero and pretty much the face of Marvel; Spiderman being returned home to Marvel Studios on the movie front (well actually shared with Sony, because like, they just can't let him go)

Having watched it last Saturday, I'm gonna give you my two cents on how I felt about the movie, things I liked, things I didn't like etc, this is pretty much gonna be a rundown of sorts not a traditional detailed review.

Back when the Spiderman movie franchise was announced to be shifting over to Marvel through a joint venture with Sony back at the tail end of 2014 after the abysmal all over the place train-wreck that was The Amazing Spiderman 2, it was pretty much safe to say that Spiderman/Marvel fans all over the globe breathed a huge sigh of relief and expressed barrage of joy, as the handcuffs of mediocrity that Sony had Spiderman locked in was finally lifted, Spiderman was finally coming over to the promise land the Marvel Cinematic Universe which was just crying out for Spiderman after it's big success.

The Amazing Spiderman 2 was truly a underwhelming and bloated entry in the Spiderman film franchise, even though it could be argued that Andrew Garfield was great when he was in the Spidey suit.

Fast forward to 2015 and we had the announcement of who would be taking up the Spiderman mantle on the big screen going forward in the Marvel Cinematic Universe; none other than a young upcoming Tom Holland.

Captain America Civil War would be a movie that would test the waters with what we could expect from the new Marvel Cinematic Universe Spiderman going forward and boy did Tom Holland knock it out of the park, his take on both Peter Parker and Spiderman were both proven to be hugely successful and well received, and I for one felt that it was a big breath of fresh air and for the first time in a very long time since Sam Raimi's Spiderman 2 did I actually feel like I was watching Spiderman from the Comics really come to life on screen.

We all breathed a sigh of relief when the Spiderman film franchise was announced to come home to Marvel, which would see Tom Holland cast and go on to put on a highly praised performance in Captain America Civil War

Let's forward to Spiderman Homecoming now and the things I liked:

What I really adored about this movie was the whole dynamic of Peter Parker balancing the everyday obstacles of School life with being Spiderman and saving New York, which is pretty much what the comics that everyone knows and loves were built on, this dynamic in the movie really felt just like real life, what any 15 year old teenager would be going through and that is what makes the foundation of Tom Holland's Peter Parker so relatable to the audience (especially teens)

Also add in the fact that we have such a diverse casting of actors in Peter Parker's school, the real life factor is at an all time high as in previous Spiderman films we had a Predominantly Caucasian casting, which is something that isn't very real world, the reality is school's have a huge diversity of ethnic backgrounds, the cherry on top here is that all of the characters play their part extremely well and bounce off of Peter Parker very well too, the chemistry and dynamics here are well on point.

A Relatable and Diverse setting: Spiderman Homecoming producers really knocked the casting for this movie out of the park, Peter Parker's life feels very real and relatable to fans and viewers

Peter Parker's best friend Ned Leeds, portrayed by upcoming Phillipino actor Jacob Balaton is the perfect yang to Peter Parker's ying in this movie as his deadpan moments of comedy really compliment Peter Parker's charm and wit.

The Deadpan Sidekick: Peter Parker/Spiderman's 'Guy In The Chair' Ned Leeds was a great touch in this movie and I felt his somewhat dimwitted character had excellent chemistry with Peter, they bounced off perfectly with one another in every scene they featured in

Michael Keaton as the Vulture is just a masterstroke of casting in this movie as in my opinion he could well be close to being the best villain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far, the way in which his character is gentle but yet brooding really had me glued whenever he appeared on the screen and the fact that he wasn't just another run of the mill Marvel villain plotting to 'Blow up the world' with some kind of laser beam (sigh) was great to see, he was pretty much a everyday street level guy that you could sympathise with in some cases.

Michael Keaton (above) bought a great layered performance as a street level down to earth villain as The Vulture 

The scene in particular that I absolutely loved and is perhaps my favourite scene in the movie that put Michael Keaton's Vulture on the top of my MCU villain list is the scene after the whole shock twist reveal that Adrian Toomes/The Vulture is actually the father of Peter Parker's love interest Liz Allan where Toomes/The Vulture gives both Liz and Peter a ride to the high school prom and asks Liz to go along into the prom while he and Peter have a man to man chat, the suspense that was building all the way from Peter's visit to the Toomes household in the car to the prom where Toomes/The Vulture is slowly piecing together that Peter is actually Spiderman is perfectly blown off here as Toomes turns around to Parker with passive aggressive menacing expression on his face, telling Peter that he knows who he truly is and if he get's in the way of his plan to feed his family he will kill him and everyone he loves, this scene then triggers off a big sense of urgency and danger that felt very real to me when watching it and it was a nice surprising change of tone in an other wise lighthearted comedic movie.

In what is my favourite scene in the entire movie, the light hearted fast paced comedic tone suddenly gets serious and silent with big sense of danger as Adrian Toomes (above) figures out Spiderman's identity, I feel this scene is sure to go down as an iconic superhero movie scene as time goes on, it really is that good!

The pacing of the movie is incredibly done and did not bog me down with any scenes that dragged, as a matter of fact I don't think there was one boring scene in the entire film. The story is very simple and it works, 8 years after the Battle Of New York in the Avengers movie, Adrian Toomes and his salvage company are contracted to clean up the aftermath of the event in the city, however, Tony Stark's Damage Control department take over the assignment driving Adrian Toomes out of business, this in turn causes Toomes to move to an agenda along with his crew which includes another famous Spiderman foe The Shocker of keeping the Chitauri technology salvaged from wreckages to create and sell advanced weapons, Spiderman discovers this and makes it his simple mo to stop Vulture causing chaos.

The interesting aspect of Adrian Toome's crew was the inclusion of a very familiar Spiderman foe, The Shocker which despite having a interesting take on the character I felt that their needed to be more of a development for him, I felt that he could of done a little bit more in the movie as a nemesis for Spiderman, but I do hope that we see him get expanded in future films

The action set pieces in this film were very well put together and did a very good job of showing a  very young spiderman that hasn't quite grasped his powers yet which made him feel vunerable at times and there were definatley times where I felt Spiderman was going to be in real trouble especially when he went up against Vulture.

Due to being a very young and un-seasoned Spiderman, it truly felt like he was in trouble when going up against the bad guys in this movie which was a good thrill

Now let's get to the stuff that I particularly didn't like about what is otherwise a excellent superhero movie:

Something that did bug me in this film was Spiderman's over reliance on Stark Tech, to me this Spiderman did not feel like a traditional Spiderman who uses his natural instincts to survive, and yes I know that this is a very young Spiderman who hasn't grasped his abilities yet, but I just couldn't help feeling slightly annoyed by a super-teched up Spiderman who even has a built in Siri system called Karen, it felt like Spiderman was just another Iron Man, I really do hope that in future films, Peter distances himself from the use of technology and finds his inner natural abilities.

Too Much Tech: It was weird seeing Spiderman equipped with so much technology in the film (above), he was pretty much Iron Man in a Spiderman costume and it did feel a bit annoying as I didn't get the feel of a traditional Spiderman

One gripe I did have about one of the Spiderman vs Vulture fights was the moment where The Vulture dropped concrete flooring on top of Spiderman and we then had a scene where Peter was willing himself up using his strength to lift the pile of rubble off of himself, instead of having the voice of Tony Stark willing him on, this would of been a fitting moment to throw in a bit of Uncle Ben by having his voice quote some kind of inspirational phrase, Don't get me wrong, i'm delighted they chose to move away from the much milked Uncle Ben story in this Spiderman film, but I thought they didn't need to do away with him entirely, just a nice little voice from him in Peter's head would of made for a great 'rising up' scene.

I felt like scenes similar to the one above featuring a beaten down Spiderman/Peter Parker could of used a nice little 'voice of courage' from Uncle Ben as a light nod to the absent character

Zendaya's Character in the movie 'Michelle' was one that I did not quite take to too much despite having some moments that made me chuckle, but that's not what annoyed me about her, it was the clever quip that was thrown in at the end where she was referred to as 'MJ' which she claimed her friends call her, and yes MJ is an allusion to Mary Jane Watson, I feel that this was quite unnecessary and it seemed to go over viewer's heads in the cinema, what the producers here seem to be doing with the Michelle character going forward is potentially setting her up to take characteristics of Mary Jane Watson and set her up to be the main love interest of Peter in upcoming movies (the seeds are planted with her saying that she's very observant of Peter),which is something I just can't picture in my head right now as I can't see the way in which this character is portrayed, filling in that Mary Jane role for the MCU. But we shall wait and see about that.

In a nod to an iconic love interest of Peter Parker, Michelle's character reveals that she is called 'MJ' by friends, which was a weird twist by the producers and I don't quite know how I feel about it, it is pretty obvious however that she is going to end up being the main love interest of Peter Parker in future movies, maybe what feels weird now will make sense in the sequel which is years away, as our High School characters will be more grown up and feel different by then

  

One last gripe that I also had with the movie was there seemed to be no chemistry between Peter and his love interest Liz, there didn't seem to be much of a build up to them getting together, and when they came together on screen and interacted with each other, they looked really out of place with each other (and no it has nothing to do with ethnicity)

There just didn't seem to be much in the way of chemistry between Liz and Peter (above) for me in this movie and there was really no real build between them

Overall Spiderman Homecoming is a blast of a super hero movie that is a no nonsense barrage of fun, and a complete breath of fresh air for a movie franchise that has been ill fated for the past decade.

Spiderman is back. And he truly feels like he's back home in the MCU, hence the fitting movie title.


Feel free to leave your comments on how you felt about Spiderman Homecoming.



- Simeon Barrett