With “Avengers: Endgame” and the Mighty Marvel Cinematic Universe winning the box office and grabbing rave reviews, geeks of all walks of life are currently trying to deal with the emotional level of what unfolded in to the epic finale of the Infinity Gems arc. Now that you’ve seen “Endgame,” here are five animated Marvel movies that will keep the Mighty Marvel high going a little longer.
The Bootleg Files: The Sea Beast
BOOTLEG FILES 682: “The Sea Beast” (1926 silent film adaptation of “Moby-Dick”).
LAST SEEN: We cannot confirm last exhibition of this film.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: Only on a DVD of dubious heritage.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Warner Bros., which owns the copyright, has never released it for digital home entertainment.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Maybe some day.
In 1851, Herman Melville’s novel “Moby-Dick” was published. During Melville’s lifetime, the book was a commercial failure – only 3,200 copies were sold in the 40 years between its initial release and the author’s death 1891. It was not until the 1920s that literary scholars re-evaluated the work and recognized its importance as a work of literary art.
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Avengers: Endgame (2019)
“Endgame” accomplishes a grand feat. It’s not only a sequel that resolves just about every question we had with “Infinity War,” but it also acts as a wonderful book end to the first ten years of Marvel movies. This movie is a kind of “What If?” if you will, and I loved how the Russo Brothers don’t just make good on closing the epic saga of the infinity stones, but also have some fun tinkering in the Marvel Cinematic Universe established by folks like Joss Whedon, and Jon Favreau prior. It’s a marvelous and brilliant compilation of everything we love about this cinematic universe, plus a dramatic pay off for folks that have come to fall in love with these heroes and villains for of all these years.
Black Gunn & The Take – Double Feature [Blu-Ray]
Mill Creek Entertainment continues to unleash their vast library of exploitation titles, and they’ve continued running down the more obscure and lesser known blaxploitation titles. While other companies are giving us stuff like “Coffy” and “Cleopatra Jones,” Mill Creek Entertainment is offering up other interesting titles for pretty good savings for the collector looking to save a buck or two.
“The Marvel Action Hour” Was the Original Marvel Shared Universe
Countdown to “Avengers: Endgame”
The 90s were a turbulent time for Marvel Comics. While they nearly saw financial ruin, they also met with success by teaming with Saban Entertainment to introduce two of the most beloved animated series of the decade: “X-Men: The Animated Series” and “Spider-Man: The Animated Series.” Boosted by their success with Saturday morning cartoons, it wasn’t long before Marvel attempted to bring even more of their biggest properties into the world of animation… with varying results.
Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki (2018) [Blu-Ray]
“Never-Ending Man” is a meaningful documentary that explores the thoughts and ideas of Hayao Miyazaki that we can’t really find anywhere else. While some may go in to this expecting a more biographical and fluffy film about the man and his life, Kaku Arakawa seeks to give us more of a thoughtful and subtler peek in to the man, who is late in to his career and his life.
Looking Back at 1999’s “The Avengers: United They Stand”
Countdown to “Avengers: Endgame”
While Marvel Comics has dabbled in animation since the mid-60s, it wasn’t until 1999, when they joined forces with Saban International and 20th Century Fox, that the publisher offered up its first animated series based on The Avengers. The series, “The Avengers: United They Stand,” was heavily promoted and much hyped among Marvel and comic based publications. The collective fan response upon its debut on FOX Kids, however, was less than enthusiastic, and even to this day, there’s a relatively middling response to “United They Stand” especially in the face of superior fare like “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.”