We’re back for round two of this year’s LEGO Superheroes Mighty Micros and this time it’s Marvel that’s up to bat with a trio of terrific sets.

We get a nice mixture of franchises showcased this time with Spider-Man, The Avengers and X-Men all getting the spotlight! Let’s get started with Marvel’s golden boy himself…

Spider-Man! Scorpion! A match up that doesn’t happen nearly often enough in my eyes because Scorpion is a pretty cool villain, design-wise.

The Spider-Man minifigure is much like last year’s but with an all-new, all-different wince! Or a wink. I suppose it depends on your perspective. Scorpion, meanwhile, looks like an adorably cartoonish version of his minifigure in the LEGO Spider-Man: Web Warriors Ultimate Bridge Battle. Both minifigures also come with an animal accessory tied with their theme.

In terms of the karts in this set, I’d initially written the Spider-Man one as uninspired until I realised that it was a simplified version of the infamous Spider-Buggy and I kind of walked back that opinion. It’s cool but still not as cool as Scorpion’s brutish claw-tank-thing! This thing is essentially a box on wheels but between the claw-like appendages and integrating Scorpion’s own tail pieces for the vehicle’s stinger is pretty clever.

Over with the X-Men, we have the comically mismatched Wolverine and Magneto. We don’t see the X-Men often enough in these sets so it’s great to see them here (and I’m hoping next year will see Deadpool in a mini-chimichanga delivery truck).

The minifigures are just as adorable as ever but, in an ironic twist, even more-so because Wolverine is an immortal, ninja-slaying samurai Canadian and Magneto is a holocaust survivor who has a mad-on for a human genocide. These two characters, out of all of Marvel’s characters, should not be this cute.

Again, their associated karts are hilarious! Wolverine is flying around in a shrunken Blackbird jet and Magneto has a giant magnet on it! They’re both really fitting with the characters and exemplify the tongue-in-cheek humour that I really like about this line.

Finally, with The Avengers and in the spirit of the future movies, we have Iron Man vs. Thanos. Earth technology versus space magic. Tony shouldn’t be looking anywhere near as cocky as he is.

In terms of minifigures, Tony’s Iron Man design is so simplified that it looks like a Halloween costume and he’s not helping his credentials by bringing a spanner to an Infinity Gauntlet fight. It’s no wonder that Thanos has the kind of manic glee on his face that comes from a sadistic villain who knows he’s going not only murder the hero but wipe him from existence. Quip your way out of this one, Stark.

The karts are equally laughably one-sided as Iron Man’s is a variant on The Flash’s from last year but with a quartet of repulsor jets. On the other hand, figuratively and literally, Thanos has used the Reality Gem to conjure up a kart shaped like the Infinity Gauntlet! That’s decadent and arrogant on a truly cosmic level but if I had a complaint, it’s that the gold used for this kart isn’t uniform, with some blocks cast in a metallic gold while the rest are a dull, lighter gold. It’s kind of the same problem that Wonder Woman’s jet faced but still, it’s a brilliant show of Thanos’s silly side and that’s saying something from a cosmic villain who once pestered D-Tier hero Hellcat in a ‘Thanos-copter’.

Once again, the creativity of the LEGO Marvel Superheroes Mighty Micros line shines through again with a brilliantly clever and fun set of builds. You can purchase these online and in stores for £8.99 each and I highly recommend picking them up for yourself or the Marvel fan in your life!

This is it, boys and girls, the moment we’ve been waiting for; the Agents of SHIELD tie-in to Age of Ultron and it does a cracking job of establishing the playing field ahead of the May 1st US opening and even from my perspective, having seen the movie, it answers a major question I had and even does some clever nods to whet your appetite.

How does the episode hold up on it’s own merits? Pretty damn well! After all the infighting and set up for Coulson’s return as the head of SHIELD, this episode goes a long way in showing why Coulson was chosen and why his team is beloved while Gonzales and his team are mistrusted.

So hey, Coulson’s got the band back together, including Skye! Raina’s premonitions prove useful as she gives Skye the motivation and incentive to rescue Lincoln, reuniting her with the team just as they’re setting off. I love that the episode takes the time to address the fact that Ward betrayed EVERYONE and is a monster but, fair play to Brett Dalton, Ward comes off as quite repentant but there really is no forgiving him, as Ward himself admits later.

During the rescue mission, Skye has an awesome single shot fight scene that brings to mind the awesome hallway sequence in Daredevil. Chloe Bennet appears to be doing all the stunt work too which is astounding.

Another cool moment is Simmons trying to kill Ward with a Splinter Bomb. Fully deserved but Ward’s response is just PERFECT. Simmons has changed, we’ve seen it and certainly not for the better. It’s just so satisfying to having the psychopathic Judas say it to her and be disappointed. Loved it!

The mission is a success, Lincoln and Mike are rescued, Ward is in the wind and Gonzales finally gets his grubby mitts on the unlocked Toolbox, only for Coulson to sandbag his accomplishment and strut off triumphantly to chat with Maria Hill about the location of Loki’s staff! This was an awesome little detail that answered my question from Age of Ultron. We also get an idea of what the Theta Protocol is because it involves The Avengers. I think I know what it is but I’ll wait ‘til next week to see if I’m right and to avoid spoilers.

Overall, a fantastic episode in it’s own right that is made better by it’s connection to the larger MCU.

I’m certainly hooked on a feeling and it’s the feeling I’ve had ever since this movie was announced and that feeling was that this would easily become my favourite of the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies. Why? Well, I’ll get into that but check out the trailer and then we’ll talk about that.

The Guardians of The Galaxy in this movie are obviously based on the second team of the same name. In the comics, they were formed by Star-Lord as a proactive response to galactic threats, made up of ex-cons, space magicians, assassins and a celestial madonna. During their tenure, they’ve fought mad kings, the space-church, and the eldritch abominations of the Cancerverse. They were an absolutely great team and they’re one of my personal favourite team books in the Marvel stable so what do I think of the jump to silver screen?

The Dashing Rogue

Despite humble appearances, Star-Lord is the leader of this merry band of misfits. A child of the 80’s who hasn’t been back to Earth since then. Accompanied by his trusty walkman (his only connection to his home), Peter Quill finds his purpose amongst the Guardians. I don’t know Chris Pratt other than his roles in this and The LEGO Movie but I’m really digging him, he’s a funny dude so I suppose I should watch Parks and Rec, right?

The Assassin(s)

Gamora is the adoptive daughter of Thanos (the purple, chinny geezer from The Avengers) and is an absolute badass in all ways. Zoe Saldana is no stranger to sci-fi nor playing sexy space women, having previously played Uhurua in Star Trek and swapping the blue hues of Avatar‘s Neytiri for green. I’d use this space to also talk about Drax but apart from having a boner for vengeance, he’s never really been an interesting character and he’s being played by shite-bag Royal Rumble winner Batista. Highlight of the trailer for him was getting a one-armed choke spot from Ronan The Accuser.

The DPS and The Tank

Okay, okay, I’m done with the D&D analogies but seriously, each member of this team serves a particular function and these two are no exception. By far two of the most bizarre and outstanding members of the Guardians are Rocket Racoon and Groot; one a genetic experiment that created a tiny furry sociopath and the other is Groot. Bradley Cooper will be the voice of Rocket and I think that’s a fine choice, even though we don’t hear him speak in the trailer. Vin Diesel provides the voice and motion capture for Groot, a sentient tree-like creature who usually speaks only three words “I am Groot” but his meaning is always known by the crew (or they’re just casting their own ideas about what he says onto him.) The two have a genuine friendship in the comics and I’d like to see that play out.

Nebulous Villains

My biggest desire for this movie was that they flesh out the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a more literal sense. We’ve seen what Earth has to offer but now we get to see some intergalactic baddies! Nebula is played by former Doctor’s Companion Karen Gillen. She appears to be just as much an assassin as Gamora and Gillen has alluded to a “complex” relationship with Gamora. Other villains include Korath the Pursuer (played by Djimon Hounsou), Yondu (Michael Rooker) and Lee Pace as Ronan the Accuser.

Sound of the Police! Whoop-whoop-whoop!

Not only are we getting an all-star team of good guys fighting an all-star team of bad guys, we also get an all-star team of other folks thrown in for good measure! The Nova Corps are an intergalactic police force and have some serious acting chops in their ranks. Glenn Close will be portraying Nova Prime Rael while John C Reilly is Rhomann Dey and Peter Serafinowicz another Nova Corps officer. Brilliant!

So that’s Guardians of The Galaxy and I am hyped! One of my favourite teams, backed by this immense cast and a damn good director shows that despite being the wild card for phase two, Marvel isn’t doing it half-cocked. It’s fully embracing the sci-fi and the silliness and will no doubt be a big hit with the fans. With mainstream audiences however? I dunno. Wait and see. Guardians of the Galaxy will be released August 1, 2014.

JJ and his amazing friend Jason return things to “normal”. The duo touch on the aftermath of The Avengers, and try to make sense of the backlash. Jason tries to tell JJ the story of how he spent a very interesting weekend at a Dallas ComicCon, but JJ keeps derailing the show with stories of his hatred of tennis and other sporting woes. The pair wrap things up with a request for you fine folk, as your input will shape next week’s episode…or not.

(Well, it won’t if you don’t send input)

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JJ “The Host” and his amazing friends “Jazzy” Jason and “Astonishing” Aaron are here to discuss Marvel’s latest blockbuster! First, the trio discuss the path that had to be paved to deliver this latest adventure! Will our trio be “Friends Of ‘Ol Marvel” or will they give the “Merry Marvel Marching Society” the boot? There is only one way to find out, True Believer, and that is to tune in to this DOUBLE SIZED issue…uh…episode. ASSEMBLE! EXCELSIOR! and stuff.

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JJ and his amazing friend Aaron (not Arren, or Erin) recap recent events in the realm of comics. The Avengers trailer is dissected, the movie is prognosticated, and the Black Widow’s worth to the group is pondered. JJ issues a formal apology to a Mr. Andrew Garfield, it seems that his turn in the spider-tights will be more fun than “first impression boy” was willing to admit. You get the point, if you want to hear what two enthusiastic comic fans think of the upcoming year, please tune in. If you don’t, boy, do we have the wrong podcast for you this week.

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It’s quite fitting that I review yesterday’s TV spot for The Avengers as the first ever TMB on DOOM was for the Captain America Superbowl trailer. One year and 30 trailer reviews later and we’re still excited around DOOM Towers for the Marvel superhero franchise and the movie continuity experiment is almost ready to unleash it’s power punch.

It really can’t be understated just how much I admire the balls on Marvel for trying this. For them to stand up and see that their characters were being mistreated by Hollywood producers was one thing, and an admirable thing at that. To do it themselves, to start their movie production wing, was not only brave but an inspired move that has worked for them immeasurably well. To try something like this, to link their characters not only by material but by having them appear in separate movies and then come together has not been done before on a scale like this. Hands down. The closest thing was seeing Michael Keaton appear as the same character in Out Of Sight and Jackie Brown. Thats it. You can’t understate how cool this is!

However, the experiment hasn’t proven a success just yet. It all rests on how The Avengers does. If it’s a success, then Marvel can pat themselves on the back until their hand gets sore. If it fails, we’re unlikely to see it’s type again.

That being said, I’m frothing at the mouth to see the thing so this new trailer is… well… see for yourself.

Now to help me with the review this time, I’m going to enlist the help of the Tumblr blog “Fuck Yeah Avengers” who do a great job of amassing all the animated gifs and pictures associated with the movie (of which, I’m going to use below). If you don’t follow them already, you should.

– Thor Doesn’t Fly

But he’ll jump onto a plane that does.

It sure beats security checks.

– Who’s Hawkeye?

Most members of the public will never have heard of Clint Barton before.

… I think they’re going to like him.

– Her Power Is Guns

Big line-up shot here and we really see why Black Widow is so important to this movie.

She reloads that gun LIKE A BOSS. Real important, folks. You don’t want to run out of bullets or you might not be able to help the Norse god of Thunder when he really needs it.

– Liam Neeson Has Been Giving Hulk Lessons

When in doubt, punch it in the throat.

Whether it be wolves, French men, or space ships. Always punch it in the throat.

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This amazing trailer has given us SO much new footage, yet still feels like it’s only skimming the surface. I have a feeling this movie is going to be bat shit insane from start to finish.

And. I. Can. Not. Wait.

Considering the coverage this site has given in the past to the Marvel films of Thor, Captain America etc. it’s probably not very surprising that we here at DOOM Towers are quite excited at the prospect of seeing The Avengers. In fact, three of our staff have the same Thor action figure. So now that the first real trailer has been released we’re… well, lets say “giddy”.

I personally felt that the teaser trailer we got after the credits of Captain America was pretty weak. We got flashes of nothing in a pretty large sense and apart from one shot of the gang standing in the same room, I saw very little to get excited about. I also saw very little.

We have a year to go before this film is going to be released, so whatever we see now will be the easiest stuff to shoot and finish (so lots of talking and intense staring). But lets hope it manages to stir the same feeling in my loins as the last few trailers for the solo films.

Lets have a closer look, shall we?

– What Are You Looking At?

You may have noticed that there are a couple shots of people aiming guns at the sky. Lots of people, lots of sky, and they’re ALL looking up. So what has them scared?

I can’t believe that it’s just Loki. Is the Skrulls rumour true? Are they looking at an alien invasion?

– Hit Him!

Could we be looking at the first meeting of Cap and Thor?

It certainly has all the hallmarks of a comic-book meeting by two heroes. Read any comic about Spidey meeting Daredevil for the first time or Hulk and Wolverine… they’re all misconstrued fights that turn to a friendship. I look forward to seeing this playing out on the big screen.

– Blink And You’ll Miss It

So there is a half second shot of Loki choking Tony Stark and throwing him out a window. It’s so quick, any snapshot I tried to get of it ended up blurred like this.

But, with thanks to the internet (and specifically Tumblr) I found this nifty little gif of it.

Cool, right?

– Green Giant

They have shown very little of Hulk in the build up to this. It’s understandable why, though. His film was the least popular. The momentum is with the other characters who we’ve all seen more recently. And yet, THIS is the thing that got me excited.

I seriously can’t wait to see Hulk interact with the rest of the team and, well, I just can’t wait to see him smash stuff guilt free.

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Was I thrilled with the trailer? Not really. Am I happy with it? Sure. I wasn’t expecting much more than what we got at this early stage and there is nothing I’ve seen that would dissapoint me or bug me going into the film.

Although that “we’ll avenge it” line was laughably bad. Guys, you don’t have to give us a reason to call the team The Avengers. Just leave it be.