Oh dear. Superhero movies have enjoyed unprecedented success in the past decade, forever changing the way Hollywood approaches blockbuster filmmaking, but the cracks are finally beginning to show. The fact that Avengers: Age of Ultron is now the sixth highest grossing movie of all-time should fly in the face of that, except that analysts and critics alike were shocked when Joss Whedon's sequel failed to match the success of its predecessor. Marvel also had another hit on their hands this year with Ant-Man, an atypical hero who few had heard of outside of comic book fandom, but the film still performed relatively poorly in comparison with the rest of the studio's output.
Spinoffs suck. Thanks to programs like Joey and The Cleveland Show, this is the common misconception many audiences hold, but in reality, some of TV's finest shows started life as spinoffs. Frasier, Angel, Better Call Saul... Each of these programs wouldn't exist if the waters hadn't been tested first by the likes of Cheers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Breaking Bad.
Flashback, October 2012: Arrow premieres on the CW network to good reviews. Those who don't read comics or missed Smallville have no idea who Green Arrow actually is.
Flashback, May 2013: After an uneven start, the Arrow scriptwriters find their feet and successfully tie the majority of loose threads together into an epic season one finale. Some boring people die.
Flashback, March 2013: Laurel Lance does something irritating in season two. Standard.
Flashback, May 2014: Season two ends on a high. Superhero shows don't get any better than this.
Flashback, October 2014: Some batshit crazy stuff happens in the opening episode of season three, but a willingness to take risks is what keeps shows like this fresh. This could be the best season yet...
Flashback, December 2014: WTF mid season finale!?
Flashback, May 2015: Season three ends. Meh.
Comic-Con spoiled us rotten this year. The new Batman V Superman trailer surpassed all expectations, aside from Lex Luthor’s rat-tail hair of course, and the footage from Fox’s R-rated Deadpool movie blew the minds of everyone in the room. However, amongst all of the commotion, it’s easy to forget that another comic book trailer debuted at Comic Con too, one which could be the dark horse of ‘superhero’ movies and - whisper it - could even turn out to be the best movie of 2016.
The fact that one of the many Transformers sequels currently sits in the top ten highest grossing movies of all-time proves two things. First is that Michael Bay is a member of the Illuminati, and second is that some movies are far more popular than they deserve to be.
For decades, TV producers were unable to surpass the success of Wonder Woman and The Incredible Hulk, which didn't seem so bad back in the 1970's. Flash forward to the 2000's though and with little else other than Smallville and some animated shows to enjoy, it was clear that TV had a long way to go before it could match the big screen success of the X-Men franchise and Batman Begins.
Choosing a favourite video game of all-time is an extremely difficult task, but if push came to shove, a huge percentage of gamers out there would select Final Fantasy VII as their all-time favourite. Japanese role playing games were already successful to a point, but it was the seventh instalment of the series that popularized the genre worldwide and changed the landscape of gaming forever.
Almost every actor on this list has starred in at least one noteworthy movie, so this list hasn't been created purely to condemn and mock a star's decline in popularity. Of course, that is part of it, but the failing careers of the actors on this list should be considered more tragic than anything else. If the actors featured here chose to retire now, then perhaps it would be easier for us to remember them as they once were: talented people capable of making good movies.
Despite having the good intention of making people laugh, comedies can incite controversy, often leading to negative press and even boycotts in extreme cases. Art shouldn't be censored, but it's also worth considering the impact that offensive movies may have on the lives of those who are mocked in these films.
Recently, a little movie known as Avengers: Age of Ultron was quietly released in a couple of cinemas. From all accounts, the film did pretty well. Classic case of 'The Little Movie That Could.' For the rare few who were lucky enough to see it, Age of Ultron introduced a number of new Avengers, including the one Olsen who can act and that fast guy who was way better in the X-Men movie.
