Somewhere Different Now

Huge news, y'all!  Marvel just released news about titles for a bunch of their upcoming films.  There is one that I'm not pleased about, but several more that fill me SO MUCH JOY.

Let's start with the amazing news.  First the one I'm damn excited about, then the one I'm so far beyond excited about that I squeed so loudly I scared the cat.

• November 2017:  Black Panther!!!  So awesome that we're getting a black MCU superhero!!  They even announced casting for this one.  It's going to be Chadwick Boseman, who I have somehow managed not to see in anything, but he's got a good resume and people seem pleased.  I don't actually know much about the character of Black Panther/T'Challa but I'm very much looking forwad to finding out.


• July 2018: CAPTAIN MARVEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do the dance of joy!!!


I literally started shaking with excitement when I saw the news.  (I use literally to mean literally, not just as an intensifier.) A Captain Marvel movie is all I have wanted from Marvel Studios, and really Hollywood as a whole, ever since I started reading her comics.  It's not just that we're getting a female Marvel superhero heading her own film, although that is a HUGE part of it.  Carol Danvers in particular is amazing, and a great choice for the MCU's first female-led film.  She is an aspirational character, someone that little girls can and should want to grow up to be.  Much as I wholeheartedly adore Natasha Romanoff and wish we were also getting a Black Widow movie, you don't really want to tell your eight year-old to emulate her life.  (Unless your eight year-old is already deeply damaged, in which case Natasha's story might be what she needs.)  And yes, if anyone was wondering, they confirmed that this will be about Carol, not Mar-Vell or any of the other people who have used that name.

I hope that the movie preserves the things I love about Kelly Sue Deconnick's Captain Marvel comics:  frequent Bechdel Test passes with lots of interesting female side characters (especially the theme of role models), Carol looking good without being even a tiny bit objectified, space, cats (Flerkens!), beautiful writing (like Helen's "the Lord put us here to punch holes in the sky" letter), a sense of joy as well as duty, etc.

Here's the full lineup that Marvel announced (via The Mary Sue):

• Captain America: Civil War - May 6, 2016.


• Doctor Strange – November 4, 2016


• Guardians of the Galaxy 2 - May 5, 2017


• Thor: Ragnarok – July 28, 2017


• Black Panther – November 3, 2017


• Captain Marvel – July 6, 2018


• Inhumans – November 2, 2018


• Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 – May 4, 2018


• Avengers: Infinity War Part 2- May 3, 2019

The one I'm not so happy about is that Captain America 3 is going to be Captain America: Civil War.  I haven't actually read anything of the Civl War comics, but many comics fans whose opinions I trust hate this storyline.  Also, my personal preference is for Cap 3 to focus heavily on Bucky, and that would seem harder to do if they're doing Civil War.  But I guess Captain America:  Steve and Bucky Cuddle A Lot While Sam and Natasha Kick Bad Guys' Butts was never realistically going to be made.

About the rest of it (some of this is stuff we knew before, but I'm sharing my thoughts now):  I like Thor's franchise and the first GotG movie, so those are both things to look forward to. I have no opinion about Doctor Strange, other than that if it would get Black Panther or Captain Marvel pushed a few months closer I'd be perfectly happy if they tabled it.  I only know that character from fanfic, so I really have no hopes/opinions beyond hoping it doesn't suck.  And also hoping they cast Pedro Pascal, because he deserves to be in more things with a higher survival rate than Game of Thrones, but that's looking pretty unlikely.

I haven't read the Inhumans title, but Kamala Khan is classified as an Inhuman, so the possibility that we might get our magnificent fangirl Ms. Marvel onscreen has me very intrigued by this.  Avengers 3 will actually be two parts?  Did we know this already?  More Avengers is certainly good by me, although whether this works will depend on the script.

Anyway!  I am not yet done giddily squeeing about Captain Marvel.  Behold, many gifs of celebration and feelings!  Please feel free to add your own in the comments.

( Many gifs of squee under cut to save your bandwidth )

So it's late and it's a work night, but I won't be able to sleep if I don't take a moment to flail my arms and/or typing fingers in delight at Neil Gaiman's episode of Doctor Who.

( SPOILERS lie within )

AT LONG LAST, I HAVE INTERNET AT HOME AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  JESUS H. CHRIST IN A ZEPPELIN, I AM SO OUTRAGEOUSLY HAPPY! 

Happy enough that I want to do this dance:



After one of the dimwits at AT&T finally told me that the dsl service I was receiving just fine three weeks ago absolutely couldn't be restored (*shakes fist at corporate idiocy*),  I bit the bullet and called Comcast yesterday about cable internet.  It costs a fair amount more than dsl, which is not good for me right now, but it's worth it.  Ordering by phone was easy and fairly quick, and they scheduled a technician to come out and make it happen the very next day.  (That technician arrived two hours later than the end of the time window they told me, but when he arrived he was rather hot, so that was something.)  Look how easy that was. 

Now I have beautiful, blazing fast internet that I can access from my own sofa, bed, kitchen, or any other location in the house.  It's like I'm living in the 21st century or something!   I want to pet the internet and whisper "my precioussssss" to it. 

Here is one of the many shiny things that I can once again view in the privacy of my home:  a brilliant fan-made map of the TARDIS.  It's gorgeous, intricate, funny, and sometimes even poignant.  This, kids, is why fandom is awesome.