Re-Ranking Catwoman

Back on January 9th of this year I put up an article called "Ranking Catwoman" which you can find here. In that article I did exactly what it sounds like and ranked the various women who have played Catwoman throughout the years from TV, movies, animation and video games and in that article I said that I would revisit that article once The Dark Knight Rises came out to put Anne Hathaway where I think she belongs on the list so lets now take a look at where she stands against the rest with the new rankings (and more pictures!)

#10 Halle Berry (Catwoman 2004)

#9 Eliza Dushku (Batman: Year One)

#8  Grey DeLise (Batman: Arkham City)

#7  Ertha Kitt (Batman 1966)

#6 Gina Gershon (The Batman)

#5 Lee Merriwether (Batman 1966)

#4 Michelle Pfeiffer (Batman Returns)

 #3 Anne Hathaway (The Dark Knight Rises)

Anne Hathaway  might be the most faithful live action of Catwoman to date all without her being called Catwoman once in the entire movie. Much like her comic book counterpart Hathaway plays the part of a bad girl who doesn't necessarily want to be bad, she just does what she has to do to get by and if that means kicking a crippled Bruce Wayne in his bad leg to steal his mothers pearls. Though when the time comes shes ready to do the right thing she is there to help out. All that said though she is still not my favorite live action Catwoman.

#2  Julie Newmar (Batman 1966)

#1 Adrienne Barbeau (Batman: The Animated Series)

Once again you can check out the original article here with details on each Catwoman.

Game Review: The Amazing Spider-Man

Just when I think I'm done with Spider-Man articles for now he snags me with his web and pulls me right back in. Last week saw the release of The Amazing Spider-Man the video game fittingly enough based on the movie The Amazing Spider-Man.

The last few years hasn't been all that kind in regards to Spider-Man video games in fact you can pretty much say the webslingers games have been on a downward spiral since 2004's Spider-Man 2 which is the benchmark for all Spider-Man games. Spider-Man 2 introduced the open world play of New York, anything you can see you could swing to. In addition to that there was a solid story and game play all around. Up next we got Spider-Man 3 which much like its movie counterpart was garbage and a huge fall from the last game. Ultimate Spider-Man made another good showing but after that it all went to hell with Friend or Foe and Web of Shadows. Shattered Dimensions had its moments but that was followed up by the less then stellar Edge of Time.

So to say Spider-Man games have been hit and miss is a bit of an understatement. So what do I think of The Amazing Spider-Man? Well first off I had reservations because it has that horrible stigma of it being a "movie game" but then again the best Spider-Man game to date had been based on a movie. So with all that said what do I think of THIS Spider-Man game?

Well first off gamers be warned this game takes place after the events of the movie so there are some spoilers in the game that might ruin the movie for you. There is one thing in particular that is a major spoiler for the movie that comes up again and again which is terrible. To release a game that takes place after the events of a movie that isn't out yet was a poor decision. It should of been released the same week or week after the movie.

Of course this is something that will not be remembered even a month from now and all people will remember is the game based on its own merits. So how does it stand up? Well for the first time in years we once again get the open world game play that we loved in Spider-Man 2. New York is your playground and you can go anywhere you see fit. I don't care swinging around New York as Spider-Man is easily one of my favorite game play mechanics of all time. The swing around feels natural and you feel like you are Spider-Man.

The combat system here is pretty much the same as it has been since Spider-Man 2 but if its not broke don't fix it. Sure there are some things that are updated but that's to be expected they are only small updates that make things feel smoother.

I don't care for most of the character designs though, the game makers went for the Spider-Man villains based on animals, ok so that doesn't narrow it down, they went for the villains that are based on and looked more like animals like Rhino, Vermin and Scorpion. The designs were all done in a similar style to that of The Lizard and left a lot to be desired for me.

The costume variety left a little to be desired as well. One of the things I love about the Spider-Man games is the large variety of costumes and Spider-Man has a lot to choose from. This time including the default costume we get 11, though you can make a case of there being only 8 costumes altogether. The default costume is the one we see in the movie with the addition of a belt for some reason, so there is the costume with the belt and without. Another costume is nothing more then a party hat. That's three of your costumes right there. Another costume is the vigilante costume from the movie. The other costumes are for the most part newer ones from the comics.We get the Big Time, Future Foundation, Negative Zone and new Scarlet Spider costumes. The biggest disappointment is the "original costumes." Unfortunately they don't mean the old school red and blue or black costumes but the red and blue and black costumes from the original Spider-Man trilogy. The coolest costume is the Stan Lee skin which at the moment is only available to those who pre-ordered the game from Amazon. These costumes are good and all but what about the original costume or black costume from the comics. What about The Iron Spider, Bombastic Bag Man, 2099, Noir or new Ultimate Spider-Man costumes? Who knows maybe we will get some DLC with them later.

 
 The game isn't about Spider-Man's fashion choices though  its about the game play itself and that is top notch. This is easily the best Spider-Man game since the bench mark of Spider-Man 2. Spider-Man seems to be the exception to the rule of movie games sucking with his movie games being the best games he has to his name. If your a fan of Spider-Man and his games then I highly recommend The Amazing Spider-Man there isn't much out there better.

My Top 5 Worst Spider-Man Villains

After listing off My Top 30 Spider-Man Villains I figured that it would be only right for me to explore the other end a little bit and also list My Top 5 Worst Spider-Man Villains. Spider-Man might have one of the best rogues galleries in comics history (With only Batman's rogues gallery as any real competition to that title) They can't all be hits, in fact there are indeed some real losers out there, I think that these following five are the worse. Somehow "villains" like The Walrus, Grizzly, Gibbon and Kangaroo managed to avoid this list.

 #5 Rocket Racer 

 Real Name: Robert Farrell

First Appearance: Sept 1977's Amazing Spider-Man #172

About: Only mostly a villain Rocket Racer has had most of his run ins with the law as a small time bugler. Has his name would suggest he has a rocket powered skateboard, ok so the skateboard might not be suggested in the name but the rocket powered part is. Although still mostly a villain Rocket Racer unlike most villains has a very strong code of ethics and a deep respect for Spider-Man. Rocket Racer might of been well ahead of his time. Yup you heard that right had Rocket Racer debuted in the mid to late 1990s instead of the late 1970s he could of been a lot more relevant but alas that was not the case. Not helping matters is the fact that he seemed to be the only person to think the Bat-nipples in Batman and Robin were a good idea and stole the idea for his redesigned costume. Awful.

#4 Stegron 

Real Name: Vincent Stegron

First Appearance: March 1974's Marvel Team-Up #19

About: Gotta love Marvel's line of thinking. Hey The Lizard is popular so lets make a new improved version of the same character but instead of merely making him a lizard lets make him a DINOSAUR! Yeah kids love Dinosaurs right? He'll be a hit! Well not so much. Stegron even has a similar origin to The Lizard's. You see Vincent Stegron was obsessed with the experiments that Dr. Conners did that on himself that caused him to become the Lizard and recreated them only with Dinosaur DNA from the Savage Land instead of plain old Lizard DNA. Shockingly (not really) Stegron never caught on despite his dinosaurness since he is mostly seen (and rightfully so) as a Lizard wannabe and why use a wannabe when the real deal is already part of Spidey's rogues gallery.

#3 Hypno-Hustler

 

Real Name: Antoine Delsoin

First Appearance:  Nov. 1978's Spectacular Spider-Man #24

About: Disco was really damn popular at one point in the 1970s and during that time we have gotten great characters like Dazzler and Hypno-Hustler. Wait, what's that? You have never heard of Hypno-Hustler? I can't imagine why hes a guy who uses a guitar to hypnotize people so that he can carry out his petty crimes of robbing the small club owners safe. As if that wasn't enough he also has boots that emit knock out gas. Yup this Disco all star was a real dud.

#2 Big Wheel

Real Name: Jackson Weele

First Appearance: 1978's Amazing Spider-Man #182

About: Now here's a crappy low level villain if there ever was one. Simply put Big Wheel is a giant metal wheel that has spikes, guns, arms and runs over things. Sounds great huh? Jackson Weele is naturally  a crooked businessman who was blackmailed by fellow Spider-Man "villain" and top 5 worse Spider-Man villain, Rocket Racer, and attempted to gain vengeance on the kid by running him over in a giant wheel or something. Spider-Man saved the other would be crappy villain and Big Wheel flew into The Hudson River. Somehow Big Wheel has shown up more then once and every now and then pops up to terrorize skaters everywhere and to be a general non-threat to anybody.

#1 Typeface

Real Name: Gordon Thomas

First Appearance: Nov 2000's Peter Parker: Spider-Man Vol. 2 #23

About: You know your a crappy villain when you make Big Wheel look like hes on par with The Green Goblin but that's just what the pathetic Typeface does. Spider-Man might have some of the best villains in comics but as you have seen in this article hes got some pretty lame ones as well but all of those lame villains take a backseat to this smuck. Basically he writes letters on his face and uses weapons shaped as letters to fight with. Watch out Spidey Typeface just threw a giant lower case "g" at you!

Well there we go that pretty much sums up all of my Spider-Man villains lists, hope you enjoyed them. If so make sure to comment below or share it Twitter,