Month: September 2014

Man Out of Time: Chris Evans’ Future as Captain America

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Chris Evans has been the cause of major controversy among fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in recent years due to statements he made about quitting acting in favor of directing. After the success of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, this has put many true believers into a panic over the future of the character and led to many jumping to conclusions that Steve Rogers will die sooner than later and the winter soldier or the falcon will take up the shield and star spangled uniform.

Before we jump to conclusions, lets examine what we actually know about the situation.

  • Chris Evans’ contract with Marvel includes a total of 6 movies, not including his cameo in Thor: The Dark World.
  • Evans has already met his contractual agreement for 3 of those 6 films. He finished filming the 4th one, Avengers 2 which is in theaters this May.
  • Captain America 3 is on the docket for 2016
  • It is well documented that Evans is not a fan of the grueling training routine, and was reluctant to play Cap in the first place, refusing a 9 film contract, and requiring convincing by Robert Downey Jr.
  • Sebastian Stan has signed a 9 movie contract, and many believe he is next in line to be cap.
  • Evans stated in an interview that he would like to quit acting in favor of directing

So the evidence is great, but take it with a grain of salt, everyone is asked to sign long contracts just in case, so a 9 movie deal for Sebastian Stan is not an indicator of intent. Additionally, actors have been known to make public statements as pre-negotiation tactics in order to get more money which was  likely the case with fellow Avengers’ star Robert Downey Jr. who became the highest paid actor in the world after publicly stating that he did not want to do Iron Man 3. Renegotiations are common after successful movies such as Winter Soldier. We’ve seen it recently with Guardians of the Galaxy star Dave Bautista who renegotiated his contract for more movies, higher pay, and a prominent roll in Avengers 3 after GotG’s success this summer.

Even more compelling, Evans clarified in a later interview that he would like to continue to play Captain America, but quit acting in non-Marvel films in favor of directing

Even more recently, he has stated his love for playing the character and resistance to his shield being taken from him. His devotion to the character has been backed up by Captain America: the Winter Soldier directors, the Russo Brothers, who caution fans about jumping to conclusions.

Will we see Rogers’ die and pass the shield on to the winter soldier or falcon? Possibly. But it may not be as soon as you think. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is still quite young and has plenty of places to go for character development.

Robert Downey Jr. is not getting any younger and when he hangs up his Iron suit, Marvel might make someone else the highest paid actor in the world? Could that be Chris Evans?

That depends on how well Age of Ultron, and Captain America 3 does. If he brings in billions for Marvel the way RDJ does, Marvel may begin construction of a money pipeline directly to the Evans’ residence to keep him around.

How lame is that? Mascots in professional hockey

micahrt 1 Comment

The Dallas Stars in recent years have become one of the more exciting up and coming franchises as they have seen new ownership, a new general manager, head coach, color scheme, logo, uniform, and a completely retooled line-up that saw the Stars return to the post season for the first time since 2008 with only one player on the roster from that 2008 team. They are gaining traction as the twitter world and hockey blogger communities sweetheart and generally believed to be returning to the glorious team they were in the mid to late 90’s. But they are missing one key component to become a true NHL power house, and I’m not talking about a #1 defenseman.

What the team that brought ice-girls to the hockey world sorely lacks is a horribly cheesy, cringe-worthy mascot.

But it appears that is about to change. The winners of the 2014 off-season are poised to introduce their first ever mascot, and all we know is that it will have over sized sneakers to walk on and a cowboy-boot-hockey-skate-hybrid for on the ice.

So how does a team like the Stars come up with a mascot? Let’s take a look at some of the best and worst that the NHL has to offer, and see what the stars can learn from them.

Before we start, can we all agree that the Montreal Canadians win the greatest mascot of all times with Youppi! He is a furry guy, his name is the french word for Yippee!, he has an exclamation point in his name and his jersey number is also an exclamation point! It does not get any better than that.

The runner up is obviously Wild Wing of the Anaheim Ducks, but they really had an unfair advantage as a Disney originated sporting franchise. Disney has a history of successful mascots, and the Ducks were able to pluck theirs directly out of the Mighty Ducks cartoon that is based off of Disney’s the mighty ducks movie.

But the stars do not have a disney cartoon to draw from, and the glory of Youppi! cannot be replicated. Additionally, it is not as easy for the Stars as it is for a team like the penguins, who obviously made their mascot a penguin, and the coyotes understandably have a coyote.

The following is a list of do’s and don’ts for selecting a mascot

DO

  • Crawl into the crevasse, the cheesier the better, embrace it. See Harvey the Hound
  • Draw upon your teams name-sake. See SJ Sharkey
  • Draw upon your city or states culture. See Gnash the saber tooth tiger drawing upon the first archaeologically excavated cave site in America which is near Nashville.

DON’T

  • Make your mascot a bear if you are not the bruins. See St. Louis, Toronto
  • Change your mascot to a St. Bernard when you have a perfectly good Yeti a la Colorado
  • Have your mascot be a green colored bee when your team is called the blue jackets
  • Anthropomorphize a whale. Hartford did it perfectly the first time. There can be only one, and his name was Pucky.

So where does this leave the stars? Obviously they need a big ugly star with boots on, a la this lovely toddler costume except with cowboy boots.

Please feel free to post your thoughts on a future Dallas Stars mascot, or who gets your vote for the best mascot in professional hockey.

*update*

The stars have selected their mascot. Victor E. Green, and from what I can discern, he’s a fuzzy green Nerds candy, with cowboy boots and hockey sticks coming out of his head. Something for everyone.