Mike Ryan

On Sunday afternoon, we spoke to Emily Blunt who is promoting her role in Disney’s ‘Into the Woods.’ During this conversation, Blunt referenced her character in this summer’s ‘Edge of Tomorrow,’ comparing that role to what a possible Marvel movie might be. It just so happens, Blunt’s name has been mentioned in Internet buzz as a possible lead in Marvel’s ‘Captain Marvel’ (due in 2018), which would be Marvel’s first movie with a female lead. Has Blunt heard this buzz? As it turns out, she has. And she seems to find that buzz quite flattering, but admits she has had no discussions with Marvel at this time.

Opening on November 7 is the new Disney animated hullabaloo titled ‘Big Hero 6.’ In ‘Big Hero 6,’ five regular human beings are brought together to fight crime alongside an inflatable robot doctor. I swear that all of this will make sense, kind of. Ahead, as a service to the world, we answer every question that you could possibly have about ‘Big Hero 6.’

Late last week, word started to trickle out that Aquaman – who is all but confirmed to be played by Jason Momoa in ‘Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’ – made a cameo in ‘Man of Steel,’ but you just didn’t realize it because he was never on camera. Remember those whales that we see after Superman saves the people on the oil rig? Apparently, Aquaman sent those whales to help out.

For weeks, a friend of mine had been asking if I’d attend Marvel Universe Live with him. For weeks I had been saying “no,” because I had little interest in attending a two-hour production geared for kids that mainly consists of people running around in costumes on the floor of Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. The mistake I made was mentioning this to my editor, who then insisted it would be a good idea for me to attend.

We first met the cinematic version of Thanos in 2012 -- his face smiling at us during a mid-credits sequence of ‘The Avengers,’ there to let us know that this guy is the mastermind behind the whole operation. OK then! Eventually we learn that Thanos is trying to collect the Infinity Stones, because if he has those, he will become a god. Fair enough. Though, now, after ten movies in the Marvel cinematic universe – ten! – Thanos has a grand total of zero Infinity Stones. So far, Thanos is terrible at being a supervillain.

As much as ‘Guardians’ is a modern Marvel money-making machine, it’s also a tribute to a genre that died in the mid-‘80s. A genre that includes those very movies that people around my age think of fondly – in other words: ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ is more a tribute to movies like ‘The Last Starfighter’ than it is to ‘Star Wars.’