Pardon me while I geek out...

So... one aspect is that I used to be into comics...

Heavily.

No, not just read a bunch, or had a bit of an X-Men collection.

I used to be an addict. And my crack of choice was the Marvel Universe. X-Men (in all it's variants), Power Pack, Daredevil, Cloak and Dagger, Dr Strange, Avengers... colour escapism from a dull world.

I mean, it was SO COOL. A shared universe that the writers tried to keep internally consistent (or, at least, so it appeared for awhile). Little tidbits from one title would cross over into another. There was an issue in the Kitty Pryde and Wolverine limited series where there's unseasonably cold weather due to something going on in Thor at the time.

Details like that make the whole world more believable...

Then I got out of comics. The stories were getting stale, and the only other person I knew that was into them was turning into a serious dweeb. I don't know HOW many times I answered the question "If we lived in the Marvel Universe, what power would you want?" with "If we lived there, we'd be just like we are now, just in more danger"...

Then the movies started coming out... :GLEE:

Oh... wait... they're screwing up the storylines. even worse than the original writers, trying to correct a mistake...

Worse yet, all the stories and characters were in separate realities. I fully expected to see Spider Man swing by in a cameo during Daredevil ('course, I also expected Jay and Silent Bob, but that's different). The only time I've heard another hero mentioned in one of the movies was in Batman and Robin, where Batman comments "Now I know why Superman works alone". and that wasn't even in my beloved Marvel!

To date, Marvel has made at least tolerable movie versions of:
Spiderman
Daredevil
Ghost Rider
Punisher
X-Men
Howard the Duck*
Blade

And intolerable versions of:
The Hulk
The Fantastic Four (I'm referring to the original movie, haven't seen the actually released remake)
The Punisher (see note above)

And, of course, some I haven't seen:
Fantastic Four
Silver Surfer
Elektra

This doesn't count direct-to-video, or animated, or TV movies. Anyway... there's one thing I noticed, over and over...

No cross-overs. None. Nada.

Then today, I'm on Support your Local Gunfighter, and there's a link to the Iron Man movie (due in '08). The trailer is on YouTube.

I get excited. THEN I look at the list of other trailers... wait a sec, there are several DC titles showing there...

There's a new Batman coming out...
And Aquaman
and Green Lantern...
and Justice league...

JUSTICE LEAGUE!?!?

I've been saying for the last several YEARS that Marvel Studios could OWN the entire summer, buy doing a crossover series. A new movie every couple weeks, some introing new characters, then releasing the final blockbuster "starring everyone" flick right before school starts...

And someone at DC heard me...

The wait 'till 2011 (Justice League's projected release) is gonna be LONG...

BTW: here's a list of what Marvel's done, and what they've got planned. notice, STILL no cross-overs...



*Yes, Howard WAS in the regular Marvel Universe. He even had quite a bit of hero interaction. The movie qualifies as good because my pubescent self still has a crush on Lea Thompson...