State Of The Fox: 2020

Welcome to the new decade, everyone! It’s the Uncanny Fox, ready to kick off the new year with another “State Of The Fox,” where I talk about some of my plans for the upcoming year and just sort of ramble about some of the things on my mind as I say goodbye to the previous one.

In a lot of ways, 2019 felt like an ending for a lot of the franchises we love. Avengers: Endgame wrapped up the story arc that defined the MCU since the first Iron Man movie back in 2008, Arrow’s final season began this year, serving as the final adventure for Oliver Queen before his heroic sacrifice in the Crisis On Infinite Earths crossover, X-Men: Dark Phoenix marked the end of the X-Men movie franchise as we knew it (except for Deadpool, of course), and Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker served as the conclusion of not only Disney’s Sequel Trilogy, but the entire Skywalker Saga that began back in 1977. Of course, these endings will also bring new beginnings, either in the form of more Marvel and Star Wars adventures in theaters or on Disney+, the planned spin-off featuring Oliver’s daughter Mia in the case of Arrow, or even a hotly anticipated MCU reboot for the X-Men, but that’s kind of what a new decade is all about, isn’t it?

There was plenty of drama to be had as well, with the continued division in the Star Wars fandom only growing in the wake of TROS (I liked it, by the way. The movie, not the division), and Marvel Studios facing a real-life conundrum as Sony withdrew the rights to Spider-Man for about a month, with fans dreading yet another reboot so soon after Far From Home’s gripping cliffhanger. Thankfully a new deal was reached, and everyone can look forward to another appearance from the now-bald J Jonah Jameson for the time being. On a lighter note, The Mandalorian took the world by storm at the end of the year, giving fans something to smile about in the form of the adorable Baby Yoda.  

As for me, this year was pretty eventful. Fox made both a new enemy in the form of My Family Pets’s Bocephus Von Guinea, as well as a new friend when the A.I. on his computer gained self-awareness as Eva. And then there was Moppy, which is a whole other kettle of fish… Outside the pages of this blog, I’ve been trying to branch out into the world of online scriptwriting, and have even landed my first real writing job at Screen Rant. Feel free to check that out here, and stay tuned for the final instalment of the Crying Wolf series, which is coming this year.  

In the meantime, I’ll be starting 2020’s blog reviews with a look at the cinematic adventures of a hero that has impacted a lot of lives, my own included. A hero that gave the world one of literature’s most important lessons: “With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility.” Uh-huh, we’re talking about Spider-Man. I’ll be reviewing every film starring Marvel’s wall-crawling, wise-cracking Avenger with a few caveats – I won’t be looking at Captain America: Civil War or the two Avengers movies Spidey was in, as in those cases he was just a bit player in a larger ensemble. For these reviews, I’ll be looking at the movies specifically focused on him, or at least a character explicitly tied to him, like how I did Catwoman (*shudders*) for the Batman ones. Here’s the list:

• Spider-Man
• Spider-Man 2
• Spider-Man 3
• The Amazing Spider-Man
• The Amazing Spider-Man 2
• Spider-Man: Homecoming
• Venom (Revisited)
• Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse
• Spider-Man: Far From Home

I’ll be starting that next week with a look at 2002’s Spider-Man, where Tobey Maguire gets bitten by a genetically-modified spider, skips about 6 months of crunches and Lasik surgery, wrestles Macho Man, tries to win the heart of a post-Interview With A Vampire but pre-Hidden Figures Kirsten Dunst, gets yelled at by JK Simmons (at least there’s no slapping or profanity involved this time) and tries to stop William Dafoe from chewing the scenery into oblivion. Also, there’s something about great power and great responsibility in there somewhere…

And so, we begin the New Roaring Twenties, an era predicted by such works as Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and Power Rangers SPD. And yet everything looks… the same as it did a week ago. Where are my Nanomachines and talking blue dog police chiefs? *Sighs* At least we’re getting the PS5 this year. Anyway, I’ve been The Uncanny Fox. Live long, stay gold, and be sure to make 2020 special… even if we still haven’t made contact with aliens yet. And let’s be honest, at this moment that’s probably for the best…