"What if" is sort of a loaded phrase in the Marvel Universe. Writers have always been able to ramble off a What If… Wolverine had hot dogs for claws!? and then you’d see "WHAT IF: HOT DOG WOLVERINE" on a spinner rack. But sometimes, just from the nature of comics being batshit insane, we get thought experiments played out long form. And so after Age of Ultron ended with a huge influx of artificial intelligence beings in the Marvel universe, we now have Avengers AI, an Avengers team captained by the Vision. An entire team of gadget Avengers, basically.
Kids love Iron Man. They don’t care about the guy in the suit. It could be a monkey in there and they wouldn’t care. They just want to watch him fly around and blow stuff up. Tony Stark is just some guy.
While Robert Downey Jr. was in western Massachusetts filming The Judge, he bumped into 1 1/2-year-old fan Jaxson Denno who was told that he would be meeting Iron Man. Instead, Downey showed up in jeans and a polo shirt. Any kid knows that that isn’t Iron Man. Little Jaxson was heartbroken. He cried more than I did over the Star Wars prequels.
According to his Mom, once Downey talked to him, he settled down. Seeing Robert Downey, Jr. in this image, I feel even more sorry for him. No one wants to make a kid cry.
[via Nerd Approved]
Turtle Beach outs Xbox One headsets, Call of Duty: Ghosts- and Marvel-branded cans
Posted in: Today's ChiliIn May, Turtle Beach shouted from the hilltops that it snagged Microsoft’s blessing to craft Xbox One headsets, and now it’s ready to show off the actual hardware. Based on the outfit’s Seven Series, the pair of XO Ear Force cans will be available at the console’s launch and feature 3.5mm jacks, detachable boom mics and deliver surround sound through wired connections to controller adapters. At $149, the XO Seven boasts a “premium finish,” on-ear cups with noise-isolating memory foam cushions, interchangeable speaker plates and a breakaway cable with an in-line mic for use with mobile devices. Liberating $99 from your wallet, however, will net you the more budget-friendly XO Four, which can also be used with devices outfitted with 3.5mm ports.
Bringing other platforms into the mix, Turtle Beach unveiled a trio of Call of Duty: Ghosts-branded headsets, but remained mum on pricing. The wireless Ear Force Phantom boasts dual-band WiFi, rechargeable batteries and compatibility with the Xbox 360, PS3 and mobile devices. The wired Spectre and Shadow are presumably less pricey, and play nice with PC and Mac as well. Sure, E3 may be a video game bonanza, but comic fans are getting some love with an Ear Force Seven headset embellished with Marvel branding, a red accent and swappable speaker covers with different characters.
Gallery: Turtle Beach Xbox One headsets
Filed under: Gaming
A couple of weeks ago we saw a sweet Amazing Spider-Man costume that looks like he stepped out of a videogame or movie set. I’m not sure if Ryan Turney’s Spidey costume is superior to that one, but it is at least equally astonishing. Especially since I don’t know if it’s based on one of Marvel’s comics or if it’s Turney’s original design. From an untold tale perhaps?
The image above and the one below were both taken by Isidro Urena.
Here are some more pictures of Turney taken at the 2013 Comicpalooza:
The web backpack is an awesome touch. Check out Turney’s Facebook page for more photos of him in his Spider-Man costume.
[via Isidro Urena Photography & Ryan Turney via GeekTyrant]
A few years ago, hacksmith/Weapon H/H-man James Hobson made a great pair of Wolverine claws. They had this unique curved ends that made it look like the claws actually burst out in between his fingers. But when he saw Hack A Day’s electrified Mjolnir, Hobson was inspired to do the same.
Hobson hooked up the claws to an old transformer from an oil furnace. Here’s the result:
Hobson says that he could theoretically wear the electrified claws as long as he wore well-insulated gloves as well. Then maybe he can do this!
I hope Mr. Hobson has a healing factor as well.
[via James Hobson via Hack A Day]
Most comic book lovers handle their comics with care. Some of them even buy multiples of one issue or book just to have a perfectly mint copy in hand. But not Amy Watkins. She believes that if you love someone – or something – you have to cut them to pieces and turn them into another art form. KAPOW!
Watkins turns her old comics into collages that highlight comic book sound effects, from Nightcrawler’s teleportation sound to the oldie but goodie pows and blams.
You can see images of Watkins’ other collages on Design Taxi, but if I were you I’d snap up the four collages I featured on this post. Watkins is selling them on her Etsy shop PopUpCollage for just $35-$45 (USD). Those are criminally low prices for such unique and wonderful pieces. She also accepts custom orders for $50, where you get to pick the colors and sound effect to be featured.
[via Design Taxi via Archie McPhee]
Remember those 8-bit video games from yesteryear, with thier pixelized animation and primitive music and sound effects? Well, CineFix is taking inspiration from these vintage games for a new series called 8-Bit Cinema, where they’ll be retelling popular movies in sixty animated seconds of pure awesomeness.
The series debuts with the original Iron Man movie. It skimps on the details but keeps all of the good stuff and retells Iron Man in a fun and compelling way – all in under a minute. You can check out the clip below:
Not only did they nail the major plot points of the movie, but it actually looks like a pretty fun game.
[via Laughing Squid]
Detroit is working on a Robocop statue, so of course Edmonton, Canada wants their own statue now. Not just any statue, mind you. They want a 1,000 foot tall statue of Wolverine. If this keeps up we are going to have superhero statues everywhere. I’m ok with that.
It all started as a joke by Brian LaBelle who wanted to mock the city’s plan to build a pricey new arena, but the idea began to gain traction. Of course. Who wouldn’t want a giant Wolverine statue. LaBelle started a petition for the project. Here is his argument for why the statue would be important:
It is important to build this statue because in order for Edmonton to be considered a “world class” city, we NEED a statue similar to the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Statue of Liberty in New York City. Wolverine is arguably the most famous Albertan around the world and this statue would be a major boon for tourism in the city. It is also important because it is what is commonly referred to as a “catalyst project”, meaning it will spur greater growth on the downtown of Alberta’s capital city and create numerous spin-off projects in much the same way that the X-Men comic book spun off dozens of other successful books. In order for Edmonton to join the ranks of other world-class cities we need a hero to champion Edmonton across the globe, because Wolverine already does that as a former student at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning and as the current Headmaster of the Jean Grey School for Gifted Youngsters, he is the natural choice. Please don’t miss this opportunity to revitalize our downtown core Edmonton City Council, I fear the downtown arena and other developments will be in jeopardy if we don’t.
I doubt they will ever build the 1,000 foot version, but I’m sure we’ll eventually see a smaller one in Edmonton. Seems like another good use for Kickstarter.
[via Nerd Approved]
We’ve seen a lot of cool costumes over the years and many look amazing, but this Spider-Man costume may be the most movie accurate costume we’ve ever seen. It isn’t just the details, but the quality is simply amazing too.
In fact, his costumes were so amazing that he claims Marvel sent him a cease and desist letter since he used to make them for other people too. Really, instead of being so heavy-handed, they need to just hire this guy. It is some truly awesome work. If I had a costume this good, I would move to New York and fight crime and put it all on my Youtube channel.
But, with a great costume comes great responsibility. I don’t know if I’m ready for that. Maybe I would just admire myself in the mirror.
[via Obvious Winner]
Tony Stark has a whole lot of nifty gadgets, but how does he keep them all juiced up when his arc reactor runs out of power? With the Iron Man Armor Power Bank, that’s how!
This (unofficial?) Iron Man-inspired charger holds a 4000 mAh lithium-ion battery, and can charge gadgets via its USB port. It’s decked out in Stark’s trademark red and gold armor, and even has a light-up arc reactor in the middle of its “chest.” It also makes a little “fweeeeee” sound when you power it on. They say that it has a “durable armor case,” though I don’t think you’d want to abuse this thing the way that Tony does with his suits.
If you want one, command Jarvis to set a flight path to Brando, where they sell for $65(USD).