Did you know that there are two versions of the Captain America what don’t you know? That there was a Nick Fury before the one played by Samuel L. Jackson? Recently, MarvelOrder delved into the sizable Marvel universe that’s outside of its current blockbuster saga. Or what is the same, in the unknown Marvel movies that are not as successful or of such quality as the current ones. The result was a vast collection of films appropriately titled Marvel’s “Phase 0.”
It is an interesting investigation about all the attempts of the publishing house, and now I study, to bring its characters to the screens. From failed versions of his best-known characters, to narrative experiments that did not come to fruition. The vast majority of Marvel’s unknown “Phase 0” movies seem to make it clear that the company didn’t have a very clear idea of where it was headed. Or what is more curious, what you wanted to achieve with the unique selection of hero storiesincreasingly crazy and strange.
We leave you five Marvel Phase 0 movies that you may not know. And that they are undoubtedly part of that historical phenomenon of cinema, as is the reinvention of the franchise almost by accident. From superheroes painted green to an almost parodic superhero quartet. The selection includes the strangest failures, narrative audacity, and accidents from Marvel’s recent timeline.
Howard the superhero by Willard Huyck
Before being part of the selection of species of El Coleccionista in Guardians of the GalaxyHoward Duck came to the live action. And she did it in a feature film that terrified and baffled the audience.
It was not only a reinvention of the classic Marvel character created by Steve Gerber and Val Mayerik that distorted the entire history in context. Also one that made the inexplicable decision to turn an existentialist satire into a full-blown sci-fi adventure. And that too with some social, cultural and erotic accents which stunned the public.
The unknown Marvel movie was a disaster from start to finish. From its cheap production, the rewriting of the script (more than three times), to the insistence on an adult and ambiguous tone. In the end, the argument turned into a capital nonsense. A meaningless mixture of genres that condemned the production to a commercial failure of considerable weight.
Oley Sassone’s Fantastic Four
The German production company Constantin Film had bought the rights to the characters The Fantastic Four from Marvel. And before losing them he decided to film a very low budget feature film. The intention was to tell the origin story of the superhero family, contained in the volume fantastic four #1 from 1961.
Shortly after, some narrative lines from Fantastic Four Annual #2 from 1964, which told the story of the traditional Marvel villain. But the combination was so disastrous on several different levels that it turned the film into a major blunder. The Fantastic Four titleholders had an unusual mix of powers, unrelated to the comics. So while Reed Richards could stretch his body, so could he was capable of throwing bits of it like projectiles. On the other hand, Sue Storm had an unresolved emotional conflict that affected her powers, causing her to throw up force fields when crying.
As if all of the above weren’t enough, Victor Von Doom was an outlandish combination of tragic villain and anti-hero. So similar to the character the Phantom of the Opera — yes, you read that right — that even the mask is similar. In the end there was a public confrontation between Marvel and the producer for the poor quality of the product. The rant was so nasty that this unknown Marvel movie was never shown in theaters in the US.
The Captain America series by Elmer Clifton and John English
In 1944, Republic Pictures Corporation adapted the Timely Comics (later Marvel comics) Captain America into a 15-episode series. The company, which was going through difficult economic times, decided it was a good time to boost American morale with an incorruptible hero. But despite wearing the country’s flag as a suit, the experiment did not work.
The plot of this unknown Marvel series is completely different from the Captain America comic book origin story we know today. At that time, the person in charge of wearing the stars and stripes was Grant Gardner, district attorney. A hero who embodied all the North American virtues and who, moreover, had to face the villain The Beetle. The latter’s alter ego was museum curator Cyrus Maldor, who had access to mysterious and slightly mystical weapons.
The combination was a fiasco and extremely expensive. Each chapter had a cost of $182,623 and when it failed, it ended up bankrupting the production company.
Nick Fury: Rod Hardy’s Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Before being the dangerous agent that he is today, the character Nick Fury was embodied by the idol of the nineties David Hasselhoff. The unknown Marvel television movie that tells the adventures of the super spy, premiered in 1998 and baffled the audience. Not only because of the extravagance of his script (which tried to combine up to nine different comics), but because of the absurd staging.
This time, Fury must confront HYDRA and their plans to devastate Manhattan with a deadly virus. He also has to deal with issues over his divided morality (to which the script devotes less than a line) and Fontaine’s Contessa Valentina “Val” Allegra. The combination of elements made the film a laughing stock in the industry. So much so that Samuel L. Jackson later confessed that the mere existence of the film rocked his decision to play Fury.
The Punisher by Mark Goldblatt
Back in 1989, and five years after facing Rocky Balboa, Dolph Lundgren played Marvel’s most charismatic antihero. Or at least he tried to do it without good results. The unknown Marvel movie has a very poor script, a lot of gore, meaningless explosions and a conflict that is not fully understood. The only clear thing is that Frank Castle must kill (and in the most exaggerated way possible) and show muscles.
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And showing muscles is, in fact, how little Dolph Lundgren does, while walking around with heavy weapons. In the end, the film picks up the pace and tries to bring an inexplicable — and unnecessary — redemption to Castle. But without achieving anything other than surprising for its capacity for the ridiculous — the final scene is a contempt for total logic — and its narrative chaos.