Video of the Week: Sony PULLING Spider-Man from Marvel ALREADY? – The Know Entertainment News (by The Know)

I would like to point out that these are just unconfirmed rumours, but given Sony’s track record with stuff over the last couple of years, it’s hard not to say this won’t happen. The future is a little uncertain, and that’s unfortunate, to be honest.

You could say the reason how Spider-Man came to be in the Marvel Cinematic Universe was the result of the huge controversy involving the film the Interview, where a bunch of secrets were leaked on the internet for everyone to read, and when they saw that there were talks between Marvel and Sony for Spider-Man it was an immediate effect. Fans practically demanded that Spider-Man be included within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Whether you believe Sony agreed upon a deal because they were having a difficult time with maintaining their reputation for this among other questionable decisions – it’s hard to say definitively, but it does get you thinking.

Sony did agree on a deal and Spider-Man was included in Captain America: Civil War, which was met with universal acclaim. During production, Marvel rearranged their schedule slightly to include a new standalone Spider-Man film within their line-up. Marvel made a good decision by not having the film to be just another origin story. There was a collective sigh when they announced that we were to be gifted with Peter Parker already having his powers, and that relieve quickly turned into strong hype when they then announced Iron Man was going to make an appearance.

Sony did a decent enough job with their Spider-Man movies. There will always be a strong debate on whether Tobey Maguire or Andrew Garfield is the best Spider-Man. Tom Holland’s performance was met with critical acclaim. The deal Sony and Marvel made together allowed Sony to have final creative control over any film they make that features Spider-Man as the main protagonist. Sounds reasonable, especially when the profits are split decently so everyone can remain happy.

What could possibly go wrong?

Why on Earth would Sony even want to pull Spider-Man from the Cinematic Universe? Do they realise the damage they can do to their reputation if they do, and their popularity isn’t exactly the best at the moment, is it? If Sony does make yet another movie, then of course it will be watched, but there will be an incredible amount of people boycotting it on the grounds that they’ve made a terrible decision.

What are they going to do next, make yet another failed attempt at Fantastic Four? Probably, actually. Marvel’s a gigantic studio now with buckets of money, and Disney can help with finances so together, surely they can just by the rights back for the two properties. Everyone would be much happy, except Sony because they won’t be making as much money as they were before, but it’s not as if they are making as much money as they were a couple of years ago, or a couple of years before that, and so on…. Spotting the pattern yet?

I do apologise if this article has unintentionally turned into a rant and a roast of Sony, but if they do genuinely believe that taking Spider-Man back for themselves is good for business then they will discover very quickly how bad a decision that would be.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)

1,000 Words: 3 Lego Mini-Figures

During my trip up London, I ventured into the Lego Store, and inside there were many activities, including a place where you can build your own mini-figures. 3 for £4.99. Here are those three that I built.

Those who know me, before I even saw you could build your own mini-figure knew that I would want one wearing a suit. I got quite lucky with this one, actually, because not only did I find the suit body, but it was also the only one there. The top hat was lying beside, so I swiped that before anybody else could. I couldn't find any black legs though, but a member of staff helped me out massively by diving into the back of the store and grabbing just one pair of legs. Also, the beard completes the look, I feel, as well. Also, if I were to say, he does show a likeness towards Alderidge Blackburn from Sector 22... yeah, I know; sad aren't I?

All I knew I wanted was the suit, so the other two designs I had not a clue what I wanted. Searching through the hundreds of chests, legs, heads, I came across a Police Officer. Now, I know the biker's helmet may not necessarily suit the Officer's uniform, but there weren't anything that suited it, and it did look odd not having anything on his head. He doesn't actually look like a character from my books, I genuinely liked the design so went with it.

The hair is held on by a very small piece of blu-tack because it kept falling off. I had two designs ready to be purchased, and I was stuck with the third. Nothing popped out at me and any combination I tried just didn't work properly, so I decided on a lucky dip, and what I pulled out was the hair. It was different, so I decided to try and find something that went with it, and I was happy to find the right combination in a matter of seconds. A business woman, with a bit of casualness; she would be my final mini-figure.

I boxed all three up, took them to the counter, brought them, and now I'm the happy owner of three personalised mini-figures.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)

Random Topic Generator: My Day out in London (Saturday 25th March 2017)

I would like to change things up a bit a replace the Film of the Week with what I did in London on Saturday. I would have done the usual film review, but it was because I caught a bug during my day out that it had desynched ever so slightly.

I won’t be going into extensive detail, such as what time I woke up or what time I got the train, or even how much the carpark cost – although I was surprised that it was only £2.40 for the entire day, especially considering it was an NCP carpark, which are widely known to be one of the most expensive carparks in the country. Anyway, without contradicting myself anymore, let’s get to the day out itself.

I went to four stores and took part in one event in the evening. The Japan Centre, The M&M Store, The Lego Store, and the Hard Rock Café, and in the evening my mum and dad and I went on a ghost tour around London, which included brief and detailed descriptions of certain places that have had reported paranormal activity.

The Japan Centre can be located at…

Inside, you can find a variety of food, manga, and a few ornaments that’s traditional to Japan. Due to nearly all the products being imported, the prices are reasonable, except, of course the KitKats which were a tad on expensive side, but is worth it if you would like something different. I was actually more rather shocked to see that the products in the M&M World were far more expensive than those in the Japan Centre. Both places do include imported products, but I thought it would have been the other way round and be more expensive in the Japan Centre, especially when most of the stuff in M&M World are just the sweets and stuff you can buy down your local newsagents. If you have a choice between the two, I would recommend the Japan Centre over the M&M World.

The M&M World can be located at...

The Hard Rock Café can be located at…

And it was quite an experience. Rather loud music, so you do have to half-shout to be heard by anybody, but the food was divine. Hench burgers that certainly live up to the money you spend. I was hoping for a desert, but the burger was so massive and filling that I knew I wouldn’t be able to finish the desert, and I didn’t want to waste anything, so I resisted temptation, paid for the dinner, but before heading back to the Lego Store, we ventured down into the vault where a lot of genuine memorabilia from famous music artists over the years. I took plenty of pictures, which I will release over the next few weeks on my 1,000 Words segment tomorrow and subsequent Thursdays.  

The Lego Store, which can be located at...

At first I thought that the queue would have put people off because they can’t simple enter, only allowing a few people in at a time does prevent overcrowding. we joined the queue and although it was long, the security guards remained efficient and the three of us were entering the shop in less than fifteen minutes. Once you’re in, though, you can browse and take pictures and take part in the activities for as long as you want to make your experience as enjoyable as possible.

There were a few activities to get stuck into, including: Build your own mini-figure, pick-&-mix on a wide selection of bricks, the mosaic maker which takes a picture of you, scans your face and then give you a box full of bricks that you can then put together and create a portrait of your face out of Lego bricks. It’s an ingenious invention, but it does cost. £100 per person. I was interested in taking part, but unfortunately the machine had been completely booked for that day.

The build your own mini-figure allows you to pick up to three per box for £4.99. The pictures of which I will unveil tomorrow in my 1,000 Words segment. I also purchased a few models, and Iron Man, and one of the new Bugatti Chiron. Both models were easy to build and did what Lego does best and that’s include a lot of detail. They were reasonably priced. Upon browsing the store, there was a wide range of models from Batman, to MARVEL, to cars, to Pirates of the Caribbean, and so much more. I might be 22 years old, but I was certainly like a kid in a sweet shop throughout the entire shop. All the staff were incredible helpful, especially when I asked a few questions. They didn’t have to find out something, they knew everything already, which made the entire experience that much more easier and therefore enjoyable.

After we had explored the shops we wanted to, we headed to Westminster where we spent the next two hours exploring the area. We saw The Houses of Parliament, The London Eye, and The Westminster Abbey. The ghost tour started at 7.30 and was incredibly interesting. Whether you believe in the stories or not, you do find out a lot of information about the surrounding areas. Although I wasn’t expecting the hijinks, it was an entertaining experience that was both funny and knowledgeable. The tour guide certainly knew his stuff.

You do have to book a place on the tour before attending, and the of boarding can vary at times. We caught the bus outside the Grand Hotel near Trafalgar Square, which can be located at...

If you are wanting to take a trip out to London one day, I do highly recommend all of the places I’ve talked about above. Even if you go to just one of the places, I guarantee you won’t be disappointed, but please to take into account the prices, especially in the M&M store. It just had to end with me catching some stomach bug which rendered me bedridden for two days. I knew I shouldn’t have gone to that public toilet in Waterstones – it really was disgusting in there, although I cannot say for sure if that’s the cause, but it probably didn’t help.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)

The Watch – Part 164:

During the early hours of Sunday morning, I was hit with a sudden and strong bug. I was bedridden for two days. I knew Sunday's Jerry's Journal was scheduled and ready for uploading, but I knew Monday's post, Mum's Monday, wouldn't be uploaded yesterday. I would like to apologise for missing yesterday's blog. I hope things will resume as normal starting with today with The Watch - Part 164.

The concrete walls flickered and disappeared, indicating that they were actually holograms all along.

            ‘It’s strange that no one has ever tried punching the wall,’ he said. ‘Someone was about to, but opted out for they didn’t want to break their hand,’ he then laughed darkly, ‘that would have been so funny to see her reaction of there not being a wall there in the first place… Anyway, yes, challenges… You can walk forwards, you know,’ he said noticing that I was standing in the same place. I was merely waiting for him to finish what he was saying, but I guess I have no choice but to walk forward.

            A similarly small room sat in front of me. No doors, no windows, nothing, except there was a door at the other end.

            ‘Your first challenge is a simple one. Figure out the answers to the questions on the doors. Get the answers right, and you may proceed, get the answers wrong, well, you get another go at it, but fail two more times, then you will ultimately fail the test and you and your friends will suffer. There are three doors in total, each question will increase with difficulty, and you won’t have any help from me. Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it,’ he said before going quiet.

            I gingerly inched my way across the room until I reached the door. I knew that this was going to be a very long shot in the dark, but going by what had just happened, then I wouldn’t put it past him for doing this. I raised my hand and placed it in front of the door before pushing it forwards. It hit solid metal.

            He laughed over the speakers before going quiet once more.

            There was a screen in the middle of the door displaying the first question.

            What’s the odd one out: Car? Car? Car? Bike?

            What sort of question is that? I was expecting an incredibly difficult question that would test my knowledge right up to its limit. And then I get something like this. The answer’s obviously Bike…

            ‘Hang on,’ I said pulling my hand away from the screen. ‘There has to be a catch here.’ The concrete walls were a hologram. Not what they seem. There’s a very good chance that he may have applied that same level thinking to his questions. But, if I were to take the opposite route that would mean the answer to this question is car, and I can’t see how that makes sense. There’s no telling me what colour they are, there’s no telling me how many wheels each car has, how many doors; there’s nothing helpful. The answer has to be bike. There is no evidence to suggest otherwise.

            ‘Do I get three chances for each question or across the board?’ I asked. No answer. Exactly what I was expecting. I’m so glad there isn’t a time limit otherwise I would be in a state of panic, if I’m not already in one right now.

            I’m falling into that trap of over-thinking it again. Mainly because I just don’t know whether there is a catch or not.

            I have to go for bike. But I’m still getting that feeling that it’s supposed to be car. But if it is, what one is it: There’s three cars. Usually, when I met with something that cause me to be indecisive, I would usually go for the middle one. If in doubt, go for the middle one. But here, I can’t be sure that’s going to be the best choice. I can’t just blindly pick and hope for the best. I have to work out the actual answer or I won’t advance to the next door.

            OK, let’s think this through. Logically, the answer would be bike because it’s the only one of its kind in the list among many other factors that makes bikes different from cars, but flipping that logic upside down; illogically speaking, the answer would be car because… Well, because of the many differences between a car and a bike. OK, so, if I take that into account, the car would be the answer because of the same reasoning that the bike is the answer, which would ultimately mean they are both the correct answer… and the wrong answer at the same time. That made no sense whatsoever.

            OK, imagine the scenario that I’m on my bike, thinking that the event that I’m going to is a car show. I would look pretty silly being the only person with a bike at a car show. It would be rather comical. But if you flip that on its head, but keep the number of cars and bike the same, then the cars would be the odd one out because there are probably hundreds of cars at a bike show, making everyone else the odd one out. That’s a pretty solid reason behind car being the answer, and if you take into account the strong chance of his level of thinking, that makes two very solid reasons behind car being the answer. That’s one more solid reason more than bike, which tips the scales in favour of car.

            There is still a good chance that this is a very easy question just to make me go through all of this thinking for nothing, but that doesn’t seem his way. Although, saying that the questions are going to be very hard when they are in fact incredible easy is his sort of thing as well, which would then bring me back to square one as I try and figure out how his head works, and that’s an impossible thing to do. Everything he has said could have been a lie, and that’s terrifying, but I just have to dive in with both feet and… I don’t really want to hope for the best, but I think I’m going to have to.

            Here goes nothing.

            I pressed car.

            Nothing happened. Did that mean I got the question wrong?

            ‘I will say that you’re not the first person to have figured that out, you know,’ he said, which meant that I got the question right. I never felt so relieved in all my life, only to then remember that I’ve got four more questions to do before I can move onto the next challenge, and considering that each question is going to get harder and harder, I am in for one heck of a mental ride.

            The door clicked and clunked before slowly rising upwards, revealing an identical corridor with an identical looking door in front of me.

            Question number 2.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Jerry’s Journal: Playing Outside

Jerry wanted to play and it was a rare sunny day, so we decided to take his new toy and play fetch. He loved playing with the everyone, running around the garden.

Jerry running with his new toy.

 Jerry playing with mum.

 Jerry playing with dad.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)

The Watch – Part 163:

One second I was standing in an open field, the next I was in a small, concrete box. There were no windows, no doors, no anything except a small source of light above, illuminating the box’s size. I knew that I had teleported to the right place because the watch wouldn’t have misled me like that, but Amy was not in here.

I don’t normally suffer from claustrophobia, but this box was certainly testing my limits of what I can handle. I could feel my thoughts clouding over by the sense of being pushed in every direction; I had to get out of here. Before I lost myself to this box, I slowly made my way through the watch’s menus, finding the setting to give me the strength needed to break through this wall.

‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you,’ a disembodied man’s voice boomed over the invisible speakers. I stopped what I was doing to see where that voice was coming from, but saw nothing helpful.

‘I know, right,’ he said obviously smiling to himself at how he managed to confuse me.

‘Who are you? What have you done with my friends?’ I shouted at the walls.

‘Don’t worry. They’re safe,’ he said.

‘You have a very different definition on what is safe,’ I said.

‘Well, sure, they may be locked up somewhere, but no harm has come to them, so I would say they are pretty safe,’ he explained, trying to weave in a technicality.

‘If you don’t let me out of here, I will force my way out, and you wouldn’t want that,’ I threatened.

‘And I said I wouldn’t do that if I were you,’ he counter-threatened once more.

‘Why not?’

‘Because if you do, harm will befall your friends,’ he teased.

‘I don’t think you know just who you are talking to,’ I said confidently.

‘Oh, but I do,’ he said casually as if we were meeting as old friends. ‘But before we get caught up playing that silly little game,’ he continued, ‘wouldn’t you like to hear what’s going on?’

‘Why?’

‘Because it ‘may’ help you save your friends,’ he said putting a strain on the word may as if I didn’t have much chance. But I really couldn’t bypass any help, even if it is from someone like him.

‘Fine,’ I said.

‘Don’t worry, I’ll make it quick. I know how being in a confined space can make you feel… weird,’ he taunted. ‘The moment you three came to this world, my advanced technology went haywire. You see, I have been keeping track of everyone who successfully crosses over from their world to this one, and then put them through a series of tests. If they succeed, they get to go home, if they fail, I send them off to somewhere random, but not after extracting some of the built up energy within their bodies as they crossed over to this world. I then use that built up energy to perfect my grand plan, which I’m sure you will respectfully accept that I will not explain due to confidential reasons.

‘I then use a sample of that built up energy to locate and teleport other people here so I can repeat the process. But then, I noticed something different about you three. About you specifically, that is. You are wearing the one and only watch. I’ve heard many stories involving the watch. Many that a good percentage of this world believes they are nothing more than fictitious fairy tales. I didn’t know what to believe. How could something that gives you unlimited power to do whatever they hell they want without consequence exist? But when I saw you teleport here, then looked at your watch and then disappear again, I knew then that you possessed the watch.

‘Long story short, I captured your friends, hoped that you would return, which you did, and here you are. You will now go through the same test as everyone else. If you win, you and your friends get to go with no charge, but if you lose, you and your friends will… Well, I’ll keep that as a surprise. Now, I know that you could easily use that watch to break your way out of here, but here’s the catch. If I see you using your watch, I will harm your friends. And I will do so without hesitation, just to add to the tension. Does that sound fair?’ he eventually finished.

‘Are you expecting me to say yes?’ I asked.

‘Well, it wouldn’t hurt, would it?’ he answered.

‘You’re one sick, twisted person,’ I stated.

‘I’m just trying to make my dreams come true, and if I have to do it this way, then so be it.’

‘What will these challenges consist of?’ I asked.

‘Oh, a bit of this, that and the other,’ he said unhelpfully to increase the impossibility and decrease my confidence. I didn’t want to admit or show it, but I was feeling nervous. Not having the help of my watch through certain challenges that will test me in various ways doesn’t sound that good; I’m not that skilled in anything except having stacks and stacks of knowledge about all things trivia. I know a lot about science and computers, sure, but I have a feeling that having those skillsets won’t be necessary.

‘Are you ever going to utter the words, ‘I agree,’ or are you going to continue asking ambiguous questions?’

‘May I present my one condition?’ I asked.

‘Go ahead, you’ve made me curious as to what that might be now.’

‘Can I see Amy and Tom before I start my challenges?’

‘So, you accept?’

‘I do.’

‘Excellent. Then, yes, you may see your friends beforehand. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to speak to them giving where you both are, but you may see that I have kept true to my word and haven’t harmed them in anyway.’

I nodded in acceptance to his conditions and a screen flashed up on the wall to my left, showing Amy and Tom in their own separate glass box. They had their own double bed, fridge, toilet, shower, and a TV.

‘See, they’re fine,’ he said.

‘Very well,’ I said.

‘Then let the challenges begin…’

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)

Random Topic Generator: Could’ve Been Worse

Midway through Monday morning it proved to me what specific week I was going to get. I was plodding along merrily with my work and getting things organised and scheduled when my external hard drive decided to start acting funny, and then upon booting up, it started to make this strange clicking noise, as if the needle is struggling to attach to the disk to read any of the data. That means my external hard drive has packed up. That means I’ve lost a lot of data. That means I wasn’t as intelligent with my data as I should have been.

You can probably predict what I’m about to say next. Whilst a good portion of my data was backed up, the other portion has been lost. During that moment when my hard drive started making that noise, I completely forgot that I had even backed up some of my work and truly believed it was all lost. Over the next couple of days, I’ve spent as many hours as I can either making sure that every other bit of data I have on my computer across every hard drive I’ve got installed has been backed up properly, or trying to find what can actually be recovered via either reinstalling, re-downloading, and/or retaking from people whose copied some data from their computers. A huge amount of data can be recovered from various sources I was pleased to find.

I’ve lost my videos that I’ve either edited or downloaded, which equates to over 100, all the blog posts that I’ve written since the beginning, all my stories that I’ve written, all my Audiobooks, all the documents relating to physics, quantum mechanics, and advanced calculus, and all my college work from a couple of years ago. In total, I’ve lost 500GB+ of data.

However, the videos I’ve edited have been uploaded to YouTube, and all the videos I’ve downloaded can simply be re-downloaded again. It will take a good while to get all 100+ videos back, but at least they won’t be gone forever. All the blog posts that I’ve written since the beginning have been uploaded to the blog – I don’t delete anything I’ve written. I kept them because it would be easier for me to look back when I need to, but mainly because I don’t delete anything I’ve written as I do put my time an effort into making each piece of writing. All the documents relating to various aspects of science I found from various sources, which I know exactly where they are, so I can simply get them back as well. My Audiobooks I actually brought from the Humble Audiobook Bundle a couple of days ago, so they’re just sitting there, waiting for me to download them again. My stories and my college work I have backed up anyway, so I have lost them at all.

What I have lost that I wouldn’t mind getting back somehow are my pictures, but even then, a good portion of them has been uploaded to my blog in the 1,000 Words and Jerry’s Journal sections, so I can get them back easy enough. It’s those that I haven’t uploaded I wouldn’t mind getting back. If I’m unfortunate enough not to be able to, then that’s just life.

It’s a massive shock to my work and day-to-day life with the data being lost, and it is disappointing, but I’m not as angry as I was at first with myself because I can get about 80% or more back over time. Compared to what I could have lost forever, I’m considering that as a positive outcome.

Now I can write so many words about how important backing up your data is, but most of you already know that and don’t want to be constantly told that, and to those that wouldn’t mind hearing out what I have to say regarding the matter; but instead I’m going to say only a few words but will get straight to the point and explain all that I need to.

BACKUP YOUR DATA.

That is all.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)

1,000 Words: Old Knobbley

The exact age of Old Knobbley is unknown, but it has been estimated to be around 800 years plus. You can find the ancient tree at Mistley at these exact coordinates 51.938392,1.081335.

A lot of historical moments have happened during those 800+ years, including but not limited to: Henry 3^rd begins to rebuild Westminster Abby in 1245; The Great Fire of London destroys two-thirds of the city, 02 September 1666; the formation of the United Kingdom in 1707; Sir Robert Walpole becomes the first Prime Minister of Britain, April 1721, the seven-year war between Britain and France begins, May 1756; Sir William Armstrong’s home becomes the first to use electric light, 17 January 1881; 12-month Minors’ strike over pit closures begins, 12 March 1984; and Britain decides not to join the European Single Currency, 01 Jan 1999.

It should also be noted that during Old Knobbley’s life time, it has survived two huge fires that destroyed a large portion of Mistley Woods. Some believe that it’s still alive and growing, whereas others believe it has passed away some years ago, but what we do know is that it will be there for some time to come, sitting peacefully in its small corner of Britain as the world changes around it.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)

TV Show of the Week: Iron Fist

There have been some strong feelings regarding the show. The fans of the previous shows have been split down the middle. They either love it or they hate it, and upon doing some research, I’ve discovered that the majority of those who dislike are critics. I’m not that surprised really. During the weekend I binged watched the entire series to make sure this review was out by today. I have compiled a few thoughts that I have then separated into what’s good about the show, and what’s bad via categories, and I will hopefully put forward a neutral opinion instead of saying whether it’s outright good or bad.

The characters and their development:

What’s good?

They are a representation of what we see in the comics. Danny Rand comes home after having been away for 15 years in the hope of restoring some of his old life back and to find the answers for his parents’ death. We learn that he ran away when he saw the chance in order to find what he’s looking for. To keep the show in line with the previous shows the character is now the protector of his place of training, K’un L’un and is the sworn enemy of the Hand, a supervillain organisation that is the main protagonist of the up-incoming crossover series, The Defenders. The Hand has infected his company, Rand Enterprises and he must find a way to eliminate them for good.

With the show being the fourth in the series, the writers are free to take whoever from those shows and apply them to this or another, and that’s what they’ve done. We get to know more about these side characters along with the main. They offer a sense of familiarity, which does help us understand and learn more about the main characters instead of having to learn a bunch of brand new characters.

It was good to see Claire Temple return. Her down to Earth attitude offers as a subtle fourth wall break to help the audience understand more about the world she’s found herself in. Her introduction to Iron Fist’s world was through an innocent encounter that further established what her mother said back in Luke Cage’s show, that it was her destiny to help those who are gifted with powers. With her story being told over the course of four entire show, I do see her as the most developed character in terms of not being a main character, but because she has made such an impact and has helped many and has come a long way herself, it’s hard to see her as just a side character as well. She sits in the middle and the writers across all the shows have done a good job in telling her story without it being too ridiculous or mundane. It felt as if, during any scene she was in, we suddenly swapped perspectives and saw the world through her eyes.

The Hand also returns as the main antagonist of the show. We learn much more about the organisation than in Daredevil, which is what should happen considering this is the final show before the big crossover event. Madam Gao’s calm, manipulative, and sometimes paranormal appearance allowed her to steal every scene she was in. At first I thought that was a bad thing, considering the main character needs to be bigger than her, but I saw that we need to see just how well established she really is. She’s a powerful adversary who knows exactly what she’s doing, even when things don’t always appear to go the way she expects. Whilst we do learn a fair amount about her in Iron Fist, we still have some big questions we need answering, and hopefully we get what we need in The Defenders.

What’s bad?

The development of the main character himself. Danny Rand’s backstory wasn’t explained as well as I would have liked. We barely see glimpses of what happened during his training, which was a huge part of his life and is the very reason why he’s back in New York city. We do get a few explanations when two characters interact with each other, but it’s still not enough. We do need visuals, and more dialogue, because the last thing that a TV show wants is for me to be forced somewhere else. Whilst it would have been helpful if I had read the comics first, if the previous three shows have showed me anything, that’s I don’t need to have read the comics first. Everything was there, explained well, and made sense.

Sometimes we lingered too long on Rand Enterprises. I found the conflict between Howard and Ward entertaining, because whilst the Hand was a constant enemy, Howard became the final showdown as he held the answers Danny was looking for. However, it felt a little unnecessary to have the Ward and Joy kicked out of the company, only to find their way back in again, only to be kicked out again when Howard returned from the ‘dead’. With the Hand inside Rand Enterprises, it’s necessary to have a bit of conflict, but Ward and Joy being kicked out didn’t seem linked in any way, and if it were, it wasn’t explained as well as it could have been. When they lingered on the company for that unnecessary amount of time, they just didn’t explain what needed to be explained, and they could have swapped out that storyline for helpful information regarding the main plot of the show, Danny Rand’s fight with the Hand.

The fight scenes:

What’s good?

The Hand is a powerful adversary, and with Danny Rand struggling to find his true-self, his skills were affected by that, so when he came face to face with someone who was very skilled, it was an entertaining fight, because I wasn’t sure if Iron Fist would pull through with little injury or not, and sometimes he does get rather badly injured. That counterbalancing kept things fresh as the story went on. With what development we had, as he overcame certain obstacles, his skills grew and soon the enemies who were knocking him to the ground are now being knocked down themselves. By the end of the series, he has reached that stage where, when we see him in the Defenders, alongside Jessica Jones, Daredevil, and Luke Cage, it does show promise.

What’s bad?

Unfortunately, I found a few things wrong with the fight scenes. Iron Fist is one of, if not, the most skilled martial artist in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, and I don’t believe they represented that as well as they could have. Some of the fights felt a little rushed, as if the actors needed more time to perfect the moves.

The fight scenes were ultimately dampened by over-editing. Iron Fist is a very skilled fighter, and with all those quick edits in such a short space of time, it was hard to see what was going on. The editing was done in such a way that, it tried to let us see each impact, each reaction, and each counter-reaction, but it would have been so much better if they limited the amount of edits to as little as possible, so we could see the fights as they are supposed to be. They would have been much more entertaining if they did that. There were also a few references to certain film styles along the way – which I have nothing against – but they did do too many references so they were unable to develop their own and therefore offered a unique experience that’s true to the characters of the Hand, Iron Fist, and K’un L’un.

The atmosphere:

Daredevil was dark, gritty and gory. Jessica Jones was dark but with that lust to be light-hearted as Jessica tried to escape the clutches of Kilgrave. Luke Cage’s atmosphere was told through its incredible usage of music – but it, too, was also dark in places. Iron Fist changed the format and went for a more light-hearted tone. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, it can be as light-hearted as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D if it wanted. It could be even darker than Daredevil with a heck of a lot more gore if it wanted. My main problem, however, was not justifying its atmosphere.

It constantly changed from one to the other between episodes, it was hard to connect with what’s going on. You can justify a scatty atmosphere as long as you’re able to understand why it’s scatty, not just showing us that it is. Iron Fist’s character is struggling with finding his identity, whether it’s as the Iron Fist, or as Danny Rand, that part is clear, but explain to us via a clear message. Each of the shows atmospheres took one aspect and ran with it, whereas this took one aspect used it for an episode, then took another aspect the next episode, then another aspect the very next episode, I had to adapt to a different tone each time, which was properly shown to me.

If it stayed true to one particular aspect throughout, I would’ve been able to slip right back into its world knowing what’s happening – and this is coming from someone who binged watched it. If I hadn’t have watched one episode straight after another, the different tones would have been rather difficult to grasp at first, and it would feel as if I had missed something in between – as if I had missed an episode when I hadn’t.

Overall opinion:

If this was the first series Netflix did, it could be forgiven because it would be a massive learning curve for them, and then the subsequent shows would have gotten better. However, this is the fourth show and they knocked it out of the park the other three times. This really should have been a lot better than what we’ve already gotten.

However, there is one major attribute as to why it didn’t do so well, and that’s time. Netflix and Marvel are on a strict time limit with the Defenders, and so they had to get Iron Fist out before, meaning as quick as possible. They couldn’t spend as much time as they did with the others and it really suffered. The Defenders is scheduled to come out at some point this year. I would be more than happy to wait until next year if it meant a little bit more polishing on this series.

I enjoy this show for what it is, but as soon as you start comparing it to the others, which you will ultimately automatically do anyway, it does start falling down the ranks.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)