Today's News: Marvel's Phase 2 sneak peek

Here's a news flash for ya:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/145974/eerste_beelden_marvel_phase_2

As a comic book lover, I'm obviously very excited about these, though my enthusiasm for Guardians of the Galaxy remains restrained, considering I never really got into that cosmic stuff and none of these characters honestly appeal to me (especially Rocket Raccoon, which I think is just a lame JarJarBinksian concept). Plus, it just seems so out of whack with the rest of the current Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's good to see Marvel isn't afraid to explore other avenues from its 70+ years of comic books run than just the regular superhero stuff though, but I have yet to be convinced.
Thor: The Dark World looks pretty decent, as I expected it to be after Thor's first foray onto the big screen which turned out so well. Nice to know Natalie Portman is still onboard despite her near falling out with the studio over the departure of the original (female) director. Little vexation regarding Captain America: The Winter Soldier either, even though I understand this overly patriottic super soldier isn't everybody's cup of tea. I'm not all that high on the Falcon being a participant, though considering his long history with Cap (the pair shared a comic book series for a long time) his presence is far from surprising. His look is pretty slick (definitely Ultimate Universe inspired, which I can appreciate), but he remains a guy with metal wings on his back, which isn't a really fancy ability to say the last. Plus, his appearance in this particular Marvel movie might spell doom for an eventual (and quite often foretold) presence of the Vulture in a future Spider-Man movie. In the latter's case, again, not much of a loss for moviegoers.
Ant-Man: now that's something I look forward to! A tough nut to crack, considering his rather awkward powers: getting small, growing tall and communicating with ants. However, also a deeply flawed though brilliant personality (depending on which particular Ant-Man they will use, since there have been multiple over the years) with a plethora of human traits making him that much more identifiable. Wife beating, voyeurist activities, having people eaten by army ants: all in a day's work for the not quite so heroic Ant-Man! Coupled with capable, witty and stylistically intriguing director Edgar Wright (of Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and Scott Pilgrim v.s. the World fame), this might very well turn out to be the most delectable and off-beat character of the bunch. It could also suck bug balls big time of course, but let's keep a little optimism here, Wright certainly deserves it.

Make Mine Marvel Phase 2! Iron Man 3 gets to kick it off in three weeks, The Avengers 2 will finish it in a few more years (2015 probably).