Merry Christmas from The 4th Wall Four!

 

The comments from the team above say it all!  Thanks for another awesome year! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Iron Man Vs. Solomon Grundy

 

There was a lot of clutter removal and background extension required on this cover.  Here is a look at the behind the scenes progress: 

Aurora and Rose & The Thorn

 

These two have each had struggles with multiple personalities, which directly impacted their heroic careers.  It would definitely be interesting to see them share an adventure where they could compare notes.

Fantastic Four Vs. Lex Luthor

 

You just know that if Lex Luthor was in the MCU, one of his main targets would be Reed Richards. I don't think that Lex would be able to stand to have another person be considered the greatest scientific mind on the planet, and his ego would not allow that to go unchallenged.

Supergirl and Ms. Marvel in: "My Twisted Twin!"

 

This marks the 14th appearance of The Danvers Twins on this blog, and if there's any villain that can keep these loving sisters at each other's throats, it has to be the malicious Hate Monger.  Pity the pour soul that gets in the middle of these sparring siblings!

Supergirl & Ms. Marvel and Daredevil

 

For the 13th appearance of The Danvers Twins, and the conclusion to this two-part tale, it was time to bring in the one hero in town immune to the Medusa effect.  Did you guess correctly?  I am always glad to feature this particular Supergirl costume on a cover.  Of all of he various looks over the years, I liked this one the best.

Supergirl and Ms. Marvel in: "My Sister, Medusa!"

 

This marks the 12th appearance of The Danvers Twins on this blog.  The 13th appearance will be tomorrow, as this is only Part One of a Two-Part Epic.  Can anything - or anyone - help STF's most famous sister act out of this stony predicament? Make sure you come back tomorrow to find out!

Black Goliath and The Justice League of America

 

Ever since Laurence Fishburne was introduced in the MCU as Bill Foster, I have been hoping that we would get a flashback scene of his superheroic days. It seems that I may get my wish - sort of.  Recent interviews have hinted that we will indeed see a giant-sized Bill Foster in the future, but in animated form.  The next season of What If? is supposed to feature just such a scenario.  Of course, with most of Marvel's upcoming projects having their release dates pushed back, who knows when it will actually hit the airwaves?

Hawkeye and Mary Marvel

 

Another odd pairing here, but I liked how the poses fit together and think that this scenario would make for an interesting tale.  And hey, it's not like we haven't seen Hawkeye mentoring young brunettes in archery before.

Mary Marvel and Werewolf by Night

 

Mr. Mind was teased in the first Shazam! movie, but I see no signs of him actually showing up in the sequel.   We got a reference to Mr. Tawky Tawny, but I am not holding my breath waiting for him either.  I  miss the whimsy of the early Captain Marvel stories.  I suppose we could get some in a third sequel, but given the continued delays of Shazam: Fury of the Gods, Warner Bros. change in direction, and the rapidly aging cast, I have my doubts as to whether that will ever come to be.

Lex Luthor Vs. Medusa

 

Even as a kid, I thought the Silver Age origin given to Lex Luthor was pretty silly.  He and Superboy were on good terms as teenagers until the Boy of Steel had to rescue him from a fire.  In extinguishing the flames, the super-breath also blew some chemicals on young Lex, causing permanent baldness.  Lex swears revenge and thus a life long rivalry was born!  I mean, he did save your life and wigs do exist, Lex!

Kingpin Vs. Lex Luthor (With Daredevil!)

 

I realized that I had yet to present a meeting between the baddest bald businessmen in comics on this blog, so it is time to rectify that oversight. (Correction! they did meet before - in STF #2556!) I don't see any way that these two would ever get along - whatever truce they strike is certain to be broken by one of them.  One town is certainly not big enough to have them both operating in it at the same time. Who do you think wins this battle?

Tigra and Zatanna

 

Zatanna is another DC Character that has had a movie announcement with no following information since.  There have been rumors that it will be a solo movie and others that indicate it may be a Justice League Dark story featuring other DC supernatural characters, with Zatanna in the lead.  There have even been actresses teasing that they are up for the role.  Still, with no official announcements, I'm not holding my breath waiting for this one.  It's been eight years since The Rock first started talking about playing Black Adam, after all.

Justice League of America and Nova

 

The Grey Gargoyle was a cool villain, if only because imagining being turned to stone was a frightening prospect to me as a young comics reader.   I did have one question about his costume, though.  It was cool that he appeared to be made of or at least covered with stone, but the cape confused me.  It appeared to fold and flow like normal cloth.  It seemed to me that it should have been at least somewhat rigid (or not included at all).

The Graveyard Shift

 

Wouldn't you know it, I had created this new team and had this cover all ready to go, when I saw the promotional campaign for The Suicide Squad start kicking in.  On the posters was the line, "They're Dying to Save The World!"  Hey, that's a little close to the tag line that I created for these guys!  Has James Gunn been spying on me?  Yeah, maybe not.  I'm sure he has more important things to do than set up surveillance on my mashup project, so I'll just chalk it up to coincidence.

Wonder Woman and Spider-Man in: "Aunt May's Other Life!"

 

Nothing makes my feel my age like the fact that the cinematic Aunt May is now portrayed by someone just a few years older than me.  Don't get me wrong, Marisa Tomei is pleasant to watch, but I'm used to the frail elderly Aunt from the comics.  Rosemary Harris from the first Spider-Man trilogy was like the character had walked right off of the page, still one of the best comic book movie castings ever, in my opinion.

Wonder Woman and Spidey first crossed paths in STF #572...

Supergirl and She-Hulk

 

With the final seasons of Supergirl and Black Lightning coming this year, it will be interesting to see how each series in concluded.  Superman and Lois is about to begin and Legends of Tomorrow, Batwoman and The Flash have all been renewed for at least another more season beyond the upcoming one, so the CW 's DC shows are continuing.  Will Supergirl and BL retire at the end of their runs, or will they continue on and we just won't have shows that follow their adventures?  I'd prefer the latter, so that they can still be available for crossover appearances.

Challengers of the Unknown Vs. Kang

 

I was very happy to hear the casting of John  Majors as Kang for the MCU.  He's been well reviewed in Lovecraft Country.  Although I haven't seen that show yet, I enjoyed his performance in Da 5 Bloods.  I have been waiting for Kang to show up since the first Avengers movie, and I can't wait to see the time travelling villain brought to life.  Even cooler, he will make his debut in Ant-Man 3, which is sure to make that the biggest film of the trilogy.  Will his involvement pave the way for the Fantastic Four to make their debut as well?

Deadpool Vs. The Flash

I've been getting a kick out of the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover on the CW.  My favorite part so far occurred in the last installment.  SPOILERS FOLLOW...

I loved that the solution to the problem of The Flash's destined sacrificed was resolved by having John Wesley Shipp's 90's era Flash taking the place of Grant Gustin's Flash at the last moment.  It recreated a key moment from the Crisis story, while finally giving closure to the 90's series that was abruptly cancelled.  I can't wait to see what's in store for the last two chapters.

Justice Society of America and Captain America in: "Zapped... By Zeus!"

There are a lot of question marks in my mind regarding the upcoming Wonder Woman 1984.  Reports are that is is not to be considered a sequel, but simply another adventure like the James Bond franchise, although I'm not sure exactly what the distinction is there,  Then there's the question of how Steve Trevor is still around decades after his apparent death.  There have also been rumors regarding rewrites and reshoots to either alter the role of Kristin Wiig's Cheetah or to give the DCEU a soft reboot.  Sounds a bit all over the place, hopefully the final product will be a cohesive hit.

Cap first met the JSA in STF #290, and this marks the 22nd appearance of the WW/Cap romance on the blog...