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Marvelous May – And The Winner Is…!
Welp, Marvelous May has come and gone. And now, after all this, it’s time to announce the winner of this month-long fan-vote tournament. And so, our winner, and #1 Marvel Superheroine is…!
…GRANNY GOODNESS!!!
…Nah, I’m kidding, it’s Kamala. lol
And really, was there ever any doubt? This young woman has won the hearts of damned near every single person to read her book. She has earned her position as this generation’s favourite Marvel superheroine, a member of the Avengers, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, and the winner of the 2016 Marvelous May fan-vote tournament of superheroines. So congratulations to Kamala Khan, AKA Ms. Marvel. 🙂
And a big hand for everyone else who competed, as well.
Aaaaannnd I’m pretty sure this’ll be the last time I ever do something like this. lol That said, I’m glad I did it, and I’m very thankful for everybody who voted. But, now that this is over, be sure to check back in for updates on my Nuzlocke run, as well as my thoughts on DC Universe Rebirth #1, AND one last send-off/rant for DC’s The New 52. Ja né!
Marvelous May – Wasp vs She-Hulk
Welcome back to Marvelous May, and today, we’re looking at two of the most famous superheroines in the history of Marvel: Janet van Dyne, AKA The Wasp, vs Jennifer Walters, AKA She-Hulk!
Wasp
She is one of the founding members of the Avengers, and in fact, the one to come up with the name of the team, which has stuck all the way to 2016. When Janet van Dyne’s father was murdered by an alien, she came to one of his colleagues for help: Hank Pym, the original Ant-Man. After making it clear just how badly she wanted justice for her father’s death, Pym used his Pym Particles to transform Janet into his new partner in crime fighting. As the two began working together, Janet quickly fell in love with her partner, and the two even got married…and divorced after Hank’s multiple mental breakdowns eventually led to him striking her. Yeah, there’s a reason I’m not a fan of mainstream comics Hank Pym: He’s a psychotic asshole who never learns from his mistakes. Janet, on the other hand, has grown into a seasoned superheroine and at one point even held the position of Avengers chairman (and yes, I KNOW that’s supposed to be chairwoman, don’t even get me started, lol). Like Ant-Man, she can shrink herself to become tiny and communicate with insects, but unlike her male counterpart, she can also fly while small and can fire twin bio-electric ‘stings’. She’s also very talented as a fashion designer, and has actually redesigned her own costume multiple times, and is, in fact, the one who brought her opponent here today into the Avengers. And while the chances of seeing her suit up in the MCU aren’t great, I’d be negligent if I didn’t point out that that doesn’t mean we won’t see A Wasp. 🙂
She-Hulk
Once a rather meek lawyer, Jennifer Walters’ life was changed forever when she had a blood transfusion from her cousin in order to save her life. Thing is, her cousin is Bruce Banner…as in THE HULK. So yeah, gamma irradiated blood transfusion. Naturally, it resulted in a new Hulk being born: The She-Hulk! Becoming She-Hulk, she grows an extra 9 inches and gains 500+ pounds of pure muscle and bone tissue, and possesses inhuman levels of strength, durability, stamina, and speed. Unlike her cousin, though, she maintains a much greater degree of self-control, and retains her intelligence. Also, rather than becoming a massive hulking beast, she’s more like…well, a really hot, green-skinned bodybuilder. Could this change be influenced by sexist needs to show off women? Well, MAYBE, but there IS an in-story explanation: It’s the nature of the Hulk transformation. For Bruce Banner, the Hulk represents all the anger and rage he feels, and appears as his exact opposite: Towering, monstrous, and while not exactly stupid, lacks a LOT of Dr. Banner’s intelligence. Likewise, She-Hulk was Jennifer’s opposite: Confident, strong, needing little-to-no reassurance from others, and being perfectly comfortable and open with her body. Over the years, though, Jen’s been able to grow more confident in herself through her actions and heroics, and is currently the leader of the all-women contingent of the Avengers, the A-Force.
And let the voting commence! You have until May 8th to let me know in the comments below who you want to see face the winner of Captain Marvel vs Emma Frost. In addition, you can click the links below to learn more about these two, and you can feel free to check back to vote on the next match-up: Quake vs Thor… … …Jane Foster, that is. Not Thor Odinson. I know Loki can change between male and female, but I don’t think that’s a Thor thing…Ja né!
Marvelous May – Captain Marvel vs Emma Frost
Well, it’s finally time, folks! Welcome to Marvelous May!
And thus, we can finally begin the fan-vote tournament of Marvel superheroines. And right off the bat, we’ve got one hell of a showdown that, to the best of my knowledge (and a quick Google search) has never been seen in the pages of Marvel Comics: Captain Marvel, AKA Carol Danvers, vs White Queen, AKA Emma Frost!
Captain Marvel
In a world of Mutants, aliens, Inhumans, Gods, other dimensional beings, and swallowers of entire worlds, there are few with the résumé of one Carol Susan Jane Danvers. Created in 1968 as a supporting character for Mar-Vell, the then Captain Marvel, she was an officer of the United States Air Force at the time, until a device belonging to an alien race, the Kree, exploded, and she was caught in the blast radius. But because this is a comic book, instead of doing the logical thing and killing her, the device, revealed to be a “Psyche-Magnetron”, melded Mar-Vell’s genetic structure with her own, effectively making her half-Kree. Finding herself with superpowers, she decided to take on the name of Ms. Marvel, though nowadays, following the death of Mar-Vell, she has taken up the alias of Captain Marvel. She’s able to absorb different forms of energy to boost her already impressive strength, speed, stamina, and reflexes, can fire the energy back out in photonic blasts, and can fly at supersonic speeds. She also possesses a seventh sense, wherein she’s able to predict her opponent’s next moves, and possesses immunity to a number of different poisons and toxins due to her mixed physiology. Beyond her abilities as Captain Marvel, though, Carol is also an experienced pilot and combatant, and has gained experience over the years as a leader, having led the Avengers at one point, and more recently working as the commander of the Alpha Flight Space Program’s Low-Orbit Space Station, Earth’s first line of defense against extraterrestrial threats. And just tossing this out there? Kelly Sue DeConnick’s run on Captain Marvel might just be one of my all-time favourite comics EVER, and I am eagerly (and admittedly nervously) waiting to see who Marvel Studios casts as Carol for her upcoming film, which will be the first stand-alone movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with a female lead.
Emma Frost
To say Emma Frost’s alignment in terms of being a heroine or villainess has been complicated over the years would be a gross understatement. Needless to say, the White Queen’s no angel, whether as a member of the villainous and socially elite Hellfire Club, or as a high-ranking member of the X-Men. She is a skilled manipulator, thanks in part to her Mutant ability to read minds, though this can largely be attributed to her rather troubled upbringing giving her an overall lack of decency and morality. As such, she’s been known to do some rather…unethical things, like gleaning massive amounts of information from people, track others with psychic abilities, mind wipe and manipulate as she sees fit, and was caught having a telepathic affair with Scott Summers, AKA Cyclops, while he was still married to Jean Grey. However, she’s not without her good side, as she HAS helped the X-Men save the world on numerous occasions, whether it was appreciated or ever desired to begin with. And while romantic affiliation with Scott wasn’t without its more controversial moments, her feelings for him were largely genuine, and she has helped him however she could to get over his personal trauma and demons. In fact, she could get downright possessive of him to the point where, if you did ANYTHING to harm or insult him, she’d make you VERY sorry. She also has a secondary Mutation: She can coat herself in an organic diamond form to give her enhanced strength, durability, stamina, and immunity from other psychic abilities and attacks. The only downside is that she cannot use her own in this state, meaning she has to be able to identify and respond to threats appropriately using the right abilities. Oh, and as a side-note? If there is a more over-sexualized woman in the history of comic books than Emma Frost…I don’t know that I wanna meet them. lol
Anyway, voting on this match-up shall now begin. You have until May 8th, when the first bout of the second round begins, to vote in the comments below on who you want to see move on. Also, if you wanna know more about these characters, click the links below to learn all about their histories. And be sure to check back in for the next match-up: The Wasp vs She-Hulk. Ja né!
Marvelous May – The Finalized Roster
Well, the time is nearly upon us, folks. Jyger’s Rant’s first-ever fan-vote tournament will begin in four days. As such, it’s now time to reveal the final roster of heroines that will compete in this tournament. Here are the 16 individuals who will battle it out, with the winners determined by you, the audience.
Quake, Mayday Parker, Ms. Marvel, Storm, Wasp, Squirrel Girl, Emma Frost, Gamora, Rogue, She-Hulk, Jean Grey, Jane Foster, Spider-Gwen, Captain Marvel, Scarlet Witch, and Spider-Woman
And, after finalizing the roster, I also set up the tournament brackets to determine who will face who at the start of May.
And that’s everything. Be sure to check back in on May 1st as the tournament begins with Captain Marvel vs Emma Frost. Ja né!
Marvelous May One Week Reminder
Just letting everyone know, we’re one week away from the official announcement of the full list of competitors in Jyger’s Rant’s first-ever Marvelous May fan-vote tournament of Marvel superheroines. You still have one week to leave a comment and let me know who you’d like to see in this tournament, as there are currently 8 spots unconfirmed. For those who didn’t see on my 5th Anniversary post, here’re the 8 confirmed competitors thus far, or the Initial 8 if you will…
Spider-Gwen, Jean Grey, Captain Marvel, She-Hulk, Jane Foster, Ms. Marvel, Storm, and Squirrel Girl
…and, just for reference, here’s a quick look at just SOME of the heroines you could see in this tournament.
Is your favourite not present? Well vote for them, then! XD
Lastly, here’s the actual tournament bracket, or at least how it looks for now.
The eight individuals that will be voted into the tournament will take up the empty spots. So, if you wanna see someone in this tournament, please let me know in the comments below, on Twitter, or on Facebook by April 26th, after which, I’ll be posting the full tournament bracket on April 27th, and then opening voting for the first match-ups on May 1st. See you all then!
Jyger’s Rant 5th Anniversary + 8 Confirmed Heroines For Marvelous May
So, I’d just finished typing up the parody lyrics to Talk Dirty, when all of a sudden, I get a notice from WordPress that IT’S MY FIFTH YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!!
On this day, five years ago, I felt the need to rant about some random crap to an audience. Thus, Jyger’s Rant was born, my very own blog where, for the past five years, I’ve pretty much rambled on about whatever strikes me at any given time. Comics, anime, Pokémon, wrestling, Power Rangers, Dungeons & Dragons, and just random stuff from my personal life. And on this, one of the most important days in the history of said blog… … …I have nothing planned! XD Yeah, for those that don’t have blogs and are considering getting them, just know that this happens. I just had so much planned for other occasions that this kinda slipped my mind. However, having said that, there IS something I’m planning for next month that I can give some info on: Marvelous May.
As you’ll recall, last year for the month of May, I did all articles based mostly around Marvel Comics, the movies and TV shows based off of them, and so on. This year, though, I’m doing something a little different. Namely, I’m going to be doing a fan-vote tournament between different Marvel superheroines. Ultimately, I’ve decided to go with 16 combatants for this tournament of female Marvel heroes, and based on reactions I got the last time I brought this up, I’ve got a good idea of who to put in this tournament. For now, though, here are the first 8 opponents I want to announce. They are…
Carol Danvers, AKA Captain Marvel
Ororo Munroe, AKA Storm
Doreen Green, AKA Squirrel Girl
Gwen Stacy, AKA Spider-Woman
Jennifer Walters, AKA She-Hulk
Jean Grey, AKA Marvel Girl
Jane Foster, AKA Thor
And, last but not least, the most requested entrant into this tournament…
Kamala Khan, AKA Ms. Marvel
The remaining entrants of the tournament will be announced on April 27th, so if there’s someone you want to see in this tournament that hasn’t been announced yet, you need to let me know either in the comments below, on Facebook, or on Twitter by April 26th. That’s the absolute latest I’ll be taking votes. Until then, I hope everyone will have a Marvelous May next month. EXCELSIOR! 😀
Jyger’s Favourite 5 – 5 Things I’d Like To See Added Or Changed By Next May In Marvel
Well, it’s the last day of May, so I guess that makes this the last blog post for Marvelous May. I wanna thank everybody that came to this blog to enjoy my first ever theme month. Will I do this again? Meh, maybe, if I feel up to it. Still, if I ever do Marvelous May again, here’s some things that I’d like to see different with Marvel Comics and other related properties by that point. As usual, this is in no particular order. And I’m not even gonna bother mentioning that Marvel Studios should make a deal with 20th Century Fox, since I said that once already today. lol So, let’s start off with a big one that I’ve been complaining about for a long time now…
#1 – Less Heroes vs Heroes Event Comics
I cannot be the only person bothered by this. In fact, I know for certain I’m not. I remember being so excited for AXIS, thinking “WOW, they finally did it. They’ve got a big crossover event between the Avengers and X-Men where the focus is on stopping the villain and not fighting each other.” And what happened by the end of it? Heroes fighting heroes. Guys, it’s been played out to DEATH. I’m not saying you can’t ever do it again, that’s stupid. Of course, when you’ve got so many heroes from different walks of life and with differing view points on philosophy, methods in the field, belief systems, etc., things are naturally gonna get heated from time to time. But for God’s sake, it’s like at LEAST every other event in Marvel eventually boils down to or is centered around the idea of heroes fighting heroes. I’m just saying, it’s a new universe following Secret Wars, it’s a clean slate, let’s try something different. Hell, I’ve even got one in mind…
#2 – Marvel Ultimate Alliance
Here’s my idea: Have Marvel Ultimate Alliance be an annual Summer-long mini-series. Each year, the most insane yet awesome set-ups and scenarios occur, requiring the team-up of heroes that aren’t generally seen together. Stuff like ten villains being merged together into a single entity wielding the Mandarin’s rings, or a sentient sun that goes around literally turning whole planets to ash, or the Infinity Gems becoming entities that are out of control. Just crazy stuff like that where we’d need team-ups between the Avengers, X-Men, Guardians of the Galaxy, Fantastic 4, Inhumans, and so on. It’d be great, and it’d be about superheroes saving the day against incredible odds.
#3 – Stop Having Heroes Do Villainous Behavior
Look, I see nothing wrong with flawed heroes. It’s unrealistic to imagine heroes not having any kinds of problems, considering all they have to deal with, and frankly, it’s not interesting to read. But for God’s sake, there’s a difference between being flawed and just being plain unheroic. This is my problem with Hank Pym, Reed Richards, and modern-day Tony Stark and Scott Summers. They don’t act like heroes. Granted, right now, Tony kinda has an out where his moral compass has been inverted, but he was already kinda taking a dive to the dark side long before that, as I’ve documented before. Then there’s Cyclops, who willingly put the world in jeopardy to bring back the Phoenix, and then after doing horrible things while being possessed by it, has apparently decided in the set-up for Secret Wars to become the Phoenix AGAIN. I remember a while ago making a demotivator telling everyone to get over the fact that Cyclops was a villain, and then recently he decided to try to be a good guy again, and now he’s pulling this crap. Oh, and just saying this now, I don’t care what is done from here on out, I am NEVER accepting Namor as a superhero ever again. That was my ONE problem with A-Force #1, was when he showed up to help out. On top of everything else he’s done, he knowingly and willfully blew up a fucking planet, killing everyone on it. More than anyone else in the Illuminati, he is now unforgivable in my eyes. I would sooner read Tony as a hero than Namor. If you want these guys to be villains, FINE, make them villains. If nothing else, it makes their behaviour easier to understand. Do not, however, jerk us around with this crap by having them be heroes that do outright villainous things. It’s ANNOYING.
#4 – Reverse The Deal With Mephisto
Okay, let’s get this outta the way right now: I’m very happy that Renew Your Vows features a Peter Parker that didn’t make the deal with Mephisto, is still married to Mary Jane, and has a daughter named Annie-Wait, Annie? What happened to Mayday? Also, REALLY, guys? You had a redheaded daughter that you decided to name ANNIE? And yes, I know MJ has an aunt named Anna, but come on. Regardless, even if this is a change that will continue into the new universe, the bigger problem is that the deal wouldn’t have been UNDONE, just forgotten about and tossed aside to where it’s never addressed again. What I would much rather like to see is the main Peter Parker learning of this one living in Battleworld, recalling the deal, and before Secret Wars is over (or perhaps after it as a sort of follow-up story), he tells Aunt May the truth about what he did, then decides to go see Mephisto and call off their deal, realizing what he gave up and how wrong it was. THAT would be undoing One More Day and the deal with Mephisto, and would set Peter back on the path of taking actual responsibility for his actions and growing into an adult with real adult problems requiring real adult solutions. Granted, I might also like to see him still running Parker Industries as best as he can at the same time. Plus, then we’d have a really good excuse/explanation for why him and Miles are both Spider-Man following Secret Wars, since both have so much in their lives that they need to balance. Actually, I’m pretty sure that last part is more or less what they’re gonna do regardless of if the deal is undone or Peter and MJ are married or not, but whatever, just saying there’s more drama and potential storytelling to be had there.
#5 – A Better Frigging Animated Series
I like Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. I may have brought this up once or twice before. lol However, even if I didn’t, I can assure you, I would still hate its successor, Avengers Assemble. The writing is weaker, the choices of voice actors are kinda iffy, and whereas EMH started off with a team that paid tribute to the early days of the Avengers in the comics and then eventually added new members from various eras of the Marvel Universe, this team is pretty blatantly based off the movie team, with Falcon being added to basically be the viewer’s stand-in guy for the team. Kinda like Jubilee in the X-Men cartoon, where she was the new girl and was our eyes and ears in this world. Then Scott Lang joins, because he’s got a movie coming out, and do you see the problem? The quality of the show takes a backseat to advertising the movies. And I’m not saying they shouldn’t advertise the movies, just that we still need a quality show. What would be a MUCH better idea, in my opinion, is to have a show where all the new solo-movie heroes (Ant-Man, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, and Spider-Man), along with some of the new Avengers that joined in Age of Ultron (Vision, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Falcon, and War Machine) team up, and bring back the writing team that did EMH. That way, you’re still advertising the movies, but you’re also doing something different and you’re making sure the writing is good enough to where people WANT to watch. I have NO idea who is watching this show or why… … …Also, just saying this while I’m on the subject, EMH has the best frigging superhero cartoon theme. Not kidding. Play that shit.
Anyway, that’s all I got for now. Got one I didn’t list? Leave it below, and we’ll see how things change between now and next May. In the meantime, as we close out Marvelous May, be sure to check in next month when I give my thoughts on DC’s Convergence, both good and bad, and where this is all hopefully going. Ja né!
Next Month On Jyger’s Rant: Marvelous May
…Yup, I’m doing a theme month. lol I even made a temporary background for the month of May.
See if you can name ’em all! 😀
So yeah, next month is Marvelous May, a term I’m almost 100% sure has been used a billion times before. One month dedicated to nothing but Marvel-related news, stories, and so on. I’m gonna be talking about Age of Ultron when I go to see it, I’m gonna be talking about Free Comic Book Day and the preview book for All-New, All-Different Avengers, and I’ll be reminiscing about some Marvel-related TV shows that I’ve watched, and what I liked and didn’t like about ’em. And, as usual, I’ll be giving links to previews of Marvel comics that I buy throughout the month of May (which works out well, because other than Sensation Comic feat. Wonder Woman, I don’t think there are any DC books I’m getting next month), and I will TRY my damnest to get in some reviews if at all possible.
Oh man, if this is the state of Marvel superhero teams post-Secret Wars (plus the X-Men and Guardians of the Galaxy, of course), the future’s looking pretty good. 🙂
Anyway, feel free to leave some suggestions of Marvel-related topics I can talk about next month, and be sure to follow along with me throughout Marvelous May. Ja né!
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