Nericus

If we must have a GR vs GR fight then I'd rather see Badilino in the movie as Vengeance. He at least had reason to hate GR, Dan wouldn't.

Blackout would be a good choice for a villain, maybe have Skinner teamed with him.

Just don't use The Orb.....ugh...

That's what I meant when I said that the last series turned everything upside down and on it's ear.

GR continuity has been murky at best since the 90's series. Howard Mackie was giving us bits and pieces then he leaves the book and Ivan Valez jr. pretty much ignores everything and gives us the Noble Kale stuff which didn't seem to fit quite well. Then that series was stopped at ish 93 instead of the last issue being 94 so answers were not quite given. Then comes Peter Parker: Spider-man #93 where GR emerges from the netherworld back on Earth as the Spirit of Vengeance again and remerges with Dan Ketch and rides off. After that, there is no sign of the Rider until that horrific Hammerlane mini series that arbitrarily reset Blaze as the Rider with minimal mention of Dan. Then came the mini series where the angels trick Blaze and release him from the devil's realm to stop the renegade demon only to stick him back there at the end. Then comes the recent 34ish series where its revealed that the Riders are the angelic force of heaven which led to the mediocre Heaven's on Fire mini series and also the 5 issue mini series GR: Dan Ketch that shows what happened to him.

It's all a twisted mess. Both are agents of heaven's blackops squad, Dan hosts a similar but different spirit then before and that spirit appears to be hosted by Blaze now which is according to Caretaker how it was meant to be, except that Dan was never meant to be the Rider at all.

I'm glad the movie is sticking with the old fashioned "deal with the devil and got cursed" reason. Simple.

Also I recently got lucky and found some old 50's comics of the original GR, Rex Fury.

Presuming that in the movie the spirit that is hosted by Blaze IS Zarathos like it was in his original comic series....

The more recent comic series turned everything upside down and on its ear, and while its clear that Blaze is the GR:Spirit of Vengeance in the comics, he's not hosting Zarathos this time around. It's a different spirit, most likely the one Dan Ketch hosted before he had it exorcised.


Still I look forward to the sequel, despite a few problems I didn't mind the first, especially since John Blaze as a comic character has always been pretty two dimensional/cardboard anyway so Cage can pretty much play Blaze how he wants. Though in the movie, Blaze being a twitching paranoid train wreck of a person before the devil activated the Rider was comic book accurate from the first series.

Wouldn't mind seeing Sam Elliot appear again as Carter Slade/Western GR, but that isn't likely.

Ok, I can understand that the CoP is perhaps the most infamous part of the whole game, given how it was launched and then deactivated in the same day and then was left to gather dust for a long time until its recent return.....

.....but stripping the Warburg Rockets from it is not going to help matters.

CoP is still buggy, the Storm AV is nigh impossible to kill. Yes, I've heard the tales that some have taken it out, hooray for you. Not every SG can fill the team rosters with a well balanced, fully armed strike force that can do this without resorting to mass nuking of the AV.

Please debug the CoP and fix the Storm AV before stripping any powers or weapons from it.

Cool, will Siege now show up in the new Praetorian arc? He's the one that doesn't seem to appear in any mission.

Now for the big question: is the base item worth 100 runs of CoP?

Heh sounds cool, have to see if I can locate my copy again.

Also they had some Batman/Judge Dredd cross overs....

Yeah the Expendables plot was about as sophisticated as Rambo 2, 3, 4, Cobra, Universal Soldier....oh wait...those had plots?

Wasn't expecting any serious plot, was just shocked at that great scene and how out of place it felt in the movie despite it putting the plot together and into motion.

Also Dolph Lundren playing a burnt out, junkie soldier who enjoys the killing a little too much.....okay I guess they decided to have him play his Universal Soldier character again. Also, is it my imagination or was it his ego that dictated his character survive that chest wound Stallone gave him?

Still it is a shame that Wesley Snipes was either unavailable or unwilling, and Steven Seagal was just plain unwilling to be in this movie (previous problems with the producers according to interviews), along with Van Damme (Van Damme due to ego).

Was Chuck Norris asked to be in this?

What's funny is that there was a Batman/Punisher special a few years back, don't remember all the details but I'm going to guess they didn't see eye to eye....

Well here's another one for you, it was stated that Joe Q. wanted to use BND as an excuse to bring Gwen Stacy back or to erase her death completely and pretty much everyone at Marvel ganged up on him and vetoed that idea. Here's a question: how could erasing the marriage negate her death when her death occurred LONG BEFORE the marriage was supposed to have? Really pathetic Joe Q.

Also despite Mephisto saying to Mary Jane that as far as he is concerned this encounter didn't happen, that is bull also. That is a cheap way to attempt to negate his influence on this matter, yet that bird that "accidentally" opened the police car door for the criminal to escape and terrorize Spidey sure looked like a certain shade of red that Mephisto wears. Also that nurse that alerted that Kingpin seemed to be dressed in a similar shade of red.....also this whole thing about May coming back via the "power of love".....oh brother. Shall we all start singing the "power of love" song from Back to the Future now? Sheesh.

So Mephisto basically steals their marriage via a change to the timestream, yet the both still seem to live the same lives just minus the marriage, yet we are to presume that MJ still was pregnant for a time until Osborn stepped in and stole the kid? Yet Osborn's sole reason for returning to create the Ben Reilly clone and messing up Peter's life was that Harry had perished, yet OMD/BND has restored Harry to life and it was allegedly Mysterio in this revised timeline that helped fake his death?? Then as Aunt May lays dying from that sniper round (which should have been an instant kill-shot in the first place), Mephisto apparently doesn't appear but keeps his end of the bargain by healing her, yet instead of Mephisto doing the mindwipe of Spidey's ID, it was done by Dr. Strange, Reed Richards and Iron Man? Did Mephisto "mind-nudge" them into doing this? Or did Mephisto not expect any mindwipe to occur and was satisfied to erase their marriage and save Aunt May? Oh yes, not to mention that Aunt May DIED of old age in ASM#400 only to have it retconned away by stating that Norman Osborn substituted a FAKE Aunt May to die and break Peter's heart while he had the real one prisoner??? But again, Norman only returned to menace Peter because Harry died, yet OMD/BND restores Harry to life, thus Norman has no reason to return and steal Peter's baby and kidnap Aunt May and have a fake die in her place, etc. etc. etc. etc.

I remember after OMD was done that Joe Q was saying "It's magic, we don't have to explain it!" I'm starting to think that excuse is less lame then the explanations of OMIT.

Nah, not Mephisto just the bloodstone which from the sound of things will be removed from him after he is restored. Which will be good.

Correct.

Still would be nice if the mayhems and safeguards could be added to the ouroborus crystal.

Well according to the writer, becoming Frankencastle was essentially Frank's "punishment" for biting off more then he could chew by taking on super powered criminals and not sticking with the street level criminals. I doubt it was ever intended to stick but it sure did a great job of killing the book and tarnishing the character far worse then when he was an agent of heaven, sometimes referred to as Zombisher or the Spawnisher by fans.

So, let's see now...Frank has been an angel, and most recently an undead-Frankenstein imitation. Now he just needs to become a werewolf for awhile and then later get bit by a vampire and lose just enough blood to become a half-vampire like Blade for awhile.

Also for those that wonder how old Frank should be now in mainstream MU books since he is a Vietnam vet and been around for some time, the writer of Frankencastle has stated that the bloodstone will restore his body to full health and make him a 30 year old again. While in the Max Punisher its been stated that Frank has been in action for over 30 years and the Max books do not have the sliding timeline that the mainstream Marvel books have, thus Max Punisher should be in his mid 50's, possibly pushing 60.

Either that or else in a moment of utter lunacy, THOR allows Frank to be able to pick up Mjolnir and wield its power.

Precisely. Frank doesn't need super powers and he definitely doesn't need the supernatural.

For Frank Castle, the only things that I could accept him obtaining to help maintain his combat edge and skills would be to start taking Nick Fury's Infinity Formula (which is a derivative of the Super Soldier Serum) to slow down his aging, otherwise he needs to actually come across a sample of the Super Soldier Serum and utilize it. Frank pushes himself well past human endurance and pain tolerance levels and quite frankly should be dead a thousand times over. Give him the Super Soldier Serum and he will be at peak human levels of strength, speed, senses, stamina, etc just like Steve Rogers. The SSS slows down aging as well and with such a boost, Frank would be an even greater force to reckon with.

Oh man, such a movie........wow.....please make this!

Although I did have one question about the Expendables; when Mickey Rourke had that scene of recounting how he could have saved that woman and didn't I thought to myself "What is this rather excellent bit of acting doing in this movie?"

Seriously though, the Expendables was for the most part a fun movie and a horror movie star Expendables style movie would be awesome.

Well Frankencastle was worse then Frank being an Angel of Death for heaven.

Though I DO love how Garth Ennis fixed that little debacle: "Heaven wanted me to fight demons for them and earn my redemption. I tried it.....didn't like it. I told them where to stick it and then they showed me my family and how they have been at peace since they bled to death in my arms. Then they cast me out, back to a world where new evils are born every minute and the only sane thing to do is throw drug lords off buildings. They though for me it would be h---...........they were WRONG!"

A nice and simple fix, too bad Frankencastle isn't fixed as simply.

Ok, in a nutshell during the Dark Reign when Norman Osborn was calling the shots and hunting down renegade heroes, he sent Daken the evil son of Wolverine to get Frank Castle.

Frank a normal human with big guns vs. a mutant with a super healing power and razor sharp claws and no sense of restraint or honor unlike his father Wolverine.

Daken carved Frank to pieces, literally. His pieces were then taken by the race of monsters called the Subterraineans that usually work for the Mole Man. It seems someone is hunting and killing monsters around the world and the monsters decide they need a "monster" like Frank to aid them. So the Living Vampire Morbius literally stitches Frank's body back together along with cyborg parts. Frank's skin is now grey, distorted and bloated and unfortunately he awoke before Morbius could finish the treatment thus his brain was "unstable" and he was literally acting like a berzerk monster until he was subdued and given pills that were "Synaptic glue" according to Morbius. Morbiius finishes repairing and rebuilding Frank and he arises as FRANKENCASTLE (and yes he was very much a Frankenstein monster). After nearly being killed saving all the monsters, Morbius inserts the legendary bloodstone into Frank knowing that it can fully regenerate Frank's body over time.

With the stone in him and still stuck as FRANKENCASTLE, Frank decides its time to deliver some punishment to some old foes and after dispatching one of them the next on his list was Daken. This led to a four part story that could have been told in two parts but they wanted it to cross over from the Frankencastle book into the Wolverine book and back again. Of course it ends with Daken and Frankencastle badly beaten and Wolverine intervening to save his son and return the bloodstone to Frankencastle.

Issue 21 is supposed to have Frankencastle on Monster Island as he heals and is mystically restored by the bloodstone, but according to solicts his body appears to be restored but the whole experience as well as the power of the bloodstone have made Frank even more crazy then he normally is. Apparently Else Bloodstone and the monsters are going to take Frank on. I suspect it will end with the stone ripped out of him and his mind coming back to its normal level of insanity and the Punisher will arise again.

Again, Shadowland 3 does show a hale and healthy FRANK CASTLE so we know he won't be Frankencastle much longer.

And here is a pic of Frankencastle:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Frankencastle.PNG

If it makes you feel better, Frankencastle is going to end with issue #21. The series ends and I think some mini series are slated, however you can rest well assured that these mini series will have Frank Castle, not Frankencastle.

As proof, get a copy of Shadowland 3, as page 17 and 18 were a delight to see! Page 17, Dark Daredevil orders the Hand to bring him the heroes heads, when suddenly the wall explodes, scattering them all! First panel of page 18, standing in the hole he made, fully armed and loaded for combat stands FRANK CASTLE, THE PUNISHER. And with his usual poetic grace he had two words to say to the evil ninjas: "KUNG-FU THIS!" and the bullets began to spray!

The you phrase it would likely get you turned into an indestructible statue. Any such wish would be twisted by a genie.

What you need to do is collect the 7 dragonballs......

Aye, Stateman and Recluse and the immortals of the Highlander franchise have the Immortality without the aging. Main difference is that Statesman can have kids and the Highlander immortals cannot.

Reminds me of when Methos was introduced into the Highlander series. Joe Dawson tells Duncan, "imagine an immortal so old that he doesn't remember his first quickening". Methos I think even stated that some of the centuries of memories tend to blur a bit in his head.
But then again, he has all the chronicles and journals he's written over the years to jog his memory.

Methos also once told Duncan that he can easily produce the paperwork to prove that he is a lawyer, a doctor, even an indian medicine man....... just imagine all the knowledge and skills that he would possess.

He's also a great example about how a long lived immortal does become a bit apathetic over some things "civilizations rise and fall, I've seen it many times."

He's also a great example about how a long lived immortal would not likely to be a "good person" for all his years. "Your friend rode with Kronos! Killed and ***** alongside him! He WAS one of the Horsemen!" Methos later tells Duncan "I didn't just kill 100 or 1000, I killed 10,000, and I was good at it! It wasn't for greed or for land it was because I LIKED IT! Do you know which one I was? I was DEATH! HAHAHAHA! That's right, DEATH ON A HORSE! When mother's warned their children of the monster that would get them, that monster was me! I was was the one that kept people awake in terror at night!"

I would think an exploding sun would do the job of killing you unless you can regenerate and reintegrate your incinerated and scattered atoms.

Likely once we dimension shift to Praetorian Earth, our Ouroborus portal will shift to connect to a Praetorian Ouroborus Zone with Crystals tied to Praetorian content.

This is sheer speculation, of course.

Cool. Figured someone already was aware of it, but figured I'd post up anyway. Hope they tune up the new arc I like it better then the original.