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 )

Check it out, y'all:  John Barrowman has just been announced as a guest at Dragon*Con!!!

Squeeee!!!!  Everything I've seen indicates that he's great at public appearances, really hilarious and gracious.  I can't wait to see for myself. 

Eve Myles and Jane Espenson will also be there (yaaaaaaaaay!!!), meaning that the Torchwood panels should be EPIC.

Obligatory gif:

I need to sleep and/or finish editing fic (yes, I may actually post something in the not too distant future, unbelievable as that is), but instead I'm going to abuse exclamation points while I list my latest sources of joy and anticip...
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-ation!!

-Just saw Sherlock Holmes:  Game of Shadows!  Will try to post full thoughts later, but my sources of squee very much overpowered my gripes.  I got home after seeing it with a non-fannish friend and had to take a moment to jump up and down, that's how happy it made me.

-First Hobbit trailer is out!

-Less than a week until Doctor Who Christmas special!

-Clips from Sherlock S2 out!

-Less than two weeks until Sherlock S2!!

DYING OF FANDOM SQUEE, Y'ALL!  IT'S LIKE FOUR SERIAL SUICIDES AND THEN A NOTE, OR CHRISTMAS.   Oh wait, it actually IS Christmas, or almost. That may explain it. 

Tonight, there was Doctor Who on a pirate ship.  To repurpose Benjamin Franklin's comment about beer, this is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy*.  Mind you, it wasn't a terribly good episode in most ways, but I'm not going to let a little thing like that get in the way of my enjoyment.

*Note:  Moffat is very much not God, though when he okayed a pirate episode he might have shared the loving us and wanting us to be happy.  For now.

( Avast! Here be spoilers and abuse of capslock! )

-NEXT WEEK IS NEIL TIME.  THERE IS NOT ENOUGH CAPSLOCK IN THE WORLD TO EXPRESS MY EXCITEMENT.

I finally got around to seeing the final episode of Sherlock the other day.  ( spoilers afoot! )

Meanwhile, it has been super foggy and cold the past two days.  If y'all are tired of summer, come on over to the CA central coast.  There's none around here.  Bring a little of it with you for my sake.

I'm going to watch the latest Doctor Who later tonight.  Until then, let me interest about two or three people in my squeeing about Merlin.  (Note: spoilers for Merlin 2x04, "Lancelot and Guinevere," but I'm not bothering to cut because  it just aired in the US, and I think anyone who cares has seen it.)

I just saw “Lancelot and Guinevere,” which featured what appeared to be giant naked mole rats!  I bloody love this show!   

I was gleeful when Morgana distracted kidnappers with her beauty and then kicked ass.  Gwen showed once again that she is just ridiculously brave.   Morgana’s pleas for someone to rescue Gwen are the stuff of which femslash is made.

Lancelot is great, even if he does complicate my already complicated shipping preferences for the show.  He’s smart and full of chivalry (not to mention hot), but alas, I fear that his self-sacrifice in leaving to attempt to stay out of the way of Arthur’s feelings for Gwen will come back to bite them all in the butt.  (Side note:  I remember reading some retelling of Arthurian legend at some fairly young age and thinking how sad it was the Guinevere was supposed to choose between Arthur and Lancelot when she loved them both, and wouldn’t it be nice if she could have both of them?  And thus was my first OT3 born.  Then along came this goofy show, and suddenly it's OT-most of the cast.)

In conclusion, release the kraken man-eating giant naked fucking mole rats!

So, prior to watching a new Doctor get born, for my New Year's Day I saw an elephant seal get born!  I live near a major elephant seal breeding beach, so I've seen lots of baby seals (and lots of seals getting conceived), but this is the first time I actually saw one giving birth.  Very cool!  When she was done the crowd applauded.
( cut for a bunch of images )