Superhero Zodiac Signs: Which one are you?

I have this strange habit of entering random search strings on Google and then further, googling related search results. For instance, today I happened to end up reading an article or two on the traits and personalities of various Zodiac signs. And an idea struck to me. What if, we could actually classify the zodiac signs according to the Superheroes exhibiting similar traits? This blogpost might be an answer. Also, interestingly only one DC Comics character ends up on the list, rest 11 being from the Marvel Universe. Check out for your birthdate and your own Superhero Zodiac. 

Aries: (Mar 20-Apr 20) The Invincible Iron Man

He is rich, arrogant, and a genius! Also, he is one of the fewer characters here who have all the qualities as listed in my source of reference. Highly energetic which is equally matched with his quick wit. Adventurous by nature, pioneering, courageous and not to forget slightly over confident at times. 

Also selfish, quick-tempered, very impulsive and impatient, leading to his frequent foolhardy and near fatal endeavors. 

Taurus: (Apr 21-May 21) Wolverine

Definitely ox-headed, fairly stubborn! But, patient and reliable in his own way. Also, Logan is warm-hearted and loving which is not quite evidently portrayed, but holds true. He is jealous of Cyclops and possessive regarding Jean Grey. The feral X-Man and Avenger is as adamant as his Adamantium laced skeleton and at times very inflexible and difficult to deal with. Known for his ox like rage Wolverine is a true Taurus.

Gemini: (May 22-Jun 21) Nightwing

Dick Grayson aka Nightwing, who was the first Robin and has even donned the cape and cowl while his mentor was presumed dead at the end of the Final Crisis. Very adaptable and versatile. Excellent at communication skills and fairly intellectual. Well known for his wisecracks. Even, the caped crusader has admitted that were it not for Robin lightening things up for him, it would have pushed him off his edge. Despite his confidence, Nightwing is nervous on occasions largely due to the fact that his mentor's are pretty big shoes to fill in.

Cancer: (Jun 22-Jul 22) Ms. Marvel

Carol Denvers, was an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. prior to a freak accident which merged her physique with the Kree physiology. She adopted the name of Ms. Marvel and became an Avenger. Emotional, loving and intuitive. Being an ex S.H.I.E.L.D. operative, she is a very shrewd and a cautious adversary. Unfortunately, owing to her Cancerian traits, she is very temperamental and moody. And, her adamancy is comparable to that of a Tauran.

Leo: (Jul 23-Aug 21) Thor

Thor the thunderer, Prince of Asgard and protector of the earth realm, Midgard. Lion-hearted and generous. Bravest of the brave, yet arrogant and pompous. He was banished to earth for his arrogance and lack of humility. But, he learnt his lesson and Thor still remains to be one of the greatest and most fearless warriors in the Marvel Universe.

Virgo: (Aug 22-Sep 23) Mr. Fantastic

Reed Richards, unarguably one of the smartest men in the Marvel Universe is the leader of the Fantastic Four. Very modest and reserved by nature. Reliable, meticulous, practical and highly analytical. Also, very fussy and a worrier. Richards is overcritically harsh at times owing to his perfectionist nature.

Libra: (Sep 24-Oct 23) Jean Grey

Jean Grey, is one of the original X-Men. She is also the host to a cosmic entity, the Phoenix Force. Diplomatic, charming, easy going, sociable and idealistic. Although she has a fairly balanced personality, but she is indecisive, gullible and easily influenced, which directly resulted in the emergence of the Dark Phoenix.

Scorpio: (Oct 24-Nov 22) Magneto

Once a Gobal threat, Magneto has switched sides too many a times. The Master of Magnetism is determined and forceful to the extents of genocide to achieve his goals. One of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe. Like a true Scorpion he is both obsessive and compulsive to achieve mutant supremacy over the humans.

Sagittarius: (Nov 23-Dec 22) Wasp

Janet Van Dyne aka Wasp, wife to the scientist superhero Henry Pym, was an avenger and she has even served as their chairman for a brief period of time. The Wasp is optimistic, fun-loving, jovial and honest. In fact she is blindly optimistic, to the extent of carelessness and irresponsibility. Like Sagittarians, Janet lacks tactfulness and she has a very restless persona.

Capricorn: (Dec 23-Jan 20) Cyclops

Practical, prudent, ambitious, disciplined and patient. Reserved by nature, Cyclops is one of the best strategists and tacticians in the Marvel Universe. Leader of the X-Men, Cyclops projects concussive blasts (and not heat rays or lasers!!) from his special Ruby-Quartz visor. Like any Capricorn, Cyclops is a bit insensitive at times and focuses only on his goals despite what his teammates think.

Aquarius: (Jan 21-Feb 19) Deadpool

Wade Wilson aka Deadpool, the merc with a mouth. Friendly in his own way, Wilson is very original and inventive when it comes to killing. Perverted to the utmost extents of imagination, Deadpool is very unpredictable owing to his unstable psyche. Further, he is a cold blooded assassin, unemotional and detached by nature! (But, Deadpool is simply AWESOME!!!) 

Pisces: (Feb 20-Mar 20) Spiderman

Imaginative, sensitive, compassionate and kind. Time and again Peter Parker aka Spiderman has proved his selflessness with his heroic deeds. But, owing to his so called Parker Luck, Peter has grown into an escapist and he is very secretive when it comes to his super-hero life. Spiderman is unarguably the greatest hero in the entire Marvel Universe. 

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The Not-So-Amazing Spiderman

In 2001, came the very first Spiderman movie. Toby Maguire, played Peter Parker/Spiderman. It was a blockbuster, and thus came the 2 sequels. 11 years hence, director Marc Webb has cast Andrew Garfield as the AMAZING Spiderman! Garfield played Eduardo Saverin, in 2010's The Social network.

Andrew Garfiled played Eduardo Saverin in "The Social Network" (2010)

While Maguire appeared to be a bit overgrown for a school going teenager, Garfield's look perfectly matches with his role.

What remains the same?

The origin remains the same: the accursed spider-bite, in the comics it was a radioactive one, in the 1994 cartoon series it was again a radioactive spider only charged with radiation from a Neogenic Recombinator, in the 2001 movie it was a genetically enhanced spider and here we have another genetically enhanced spider (developed by Peter's own father! Wait for the "What's new?" section) which bites him and leaves him with a spider like agility, wall crawling (and annoyingly sticking to everything) ability along with the PROPORTIONATE strength of a spider! Uncle Ben, does die owing to Peter's own irresponsible behavior very much like Stan Lee's original story back in 1961. Flash Thompson is yet again a jerk who bullies other students, only that we see a milder version than that from the 2001 movie. And, lastly Spiderman's creator Stan Lee does a cameo, like all the other Marvel Comics movies. (except for The Blade, and Punisher maybe? No.. wait.. Ghost Rider too!)
Now, the whole Spider-bite thing, isn't it a bit too cliche? They could've come up with a rather more innovative origin for Spiderman. A freak gene splicing accident maybe, or maybe the use of a neogenic recombinator?

What's new?

Peter Parker here, is the son of a brilliant biochemist Richard Parker, who along with his friend/colleague Dr. Curtis Connors develops an effective gene splicing technique to transfer one species' traits to another. The very first scene shows a very young Peter being dropped in at his Uncle's place, where his parents leave him under Ben and Mary's supervision. Fast Forward: 15 years. Peter is a high schooler, a great photographer and an electronics whiz with a prowess in robotics as well. In the 2001 series Spiderman had an organic webbing, but this time round Parker develops his own uber-cool LASER-GUIDED web shooters!! (thwipp)

Killer Croc: A recurring foe of Batman

I definitely missed J.Jonah Jameson, but Captain George Stacy stepped into the foul mouthed publisher's shoes by playing an equally obnoxious part, and prejudiced Spiderman for being a two-bit criminal. Stacy, also turns out to be Gwen Stacy's father, Peter's love interest. Speaking of Gwen, everyone's favorite red-head Mary Jane Watson was not featured in the movie. Although, a cameo role from Irfan Khan, and a mention of Norman Osborn along with the mysterious plane crash killing Peter's parents suggest a sequel! And, hopefully we will see JJJ and MJ both in the sequel.

Curt Connors is a good doctor by day and a lizard mutate by night. Mutated into the LIZARD pursuing his obsession to grow back his amputated arm after splicing his DNA with the reptilian DNA, he is stopped by Spiderman, who helps him revert back to normal. Also, the lizard character largely resembles the Killer Croc from the DC Universe, and not even remotely resembling Marvel's Lizard, except for the regenerating tail!

The Costume

Ben Reilly's Spidey outfit

The costume is loosely based on the newer outfit designed by Ben Riley (a clone of Spiderman, a very looooooong and confusing story! Leave it for some other blogpost) during the brief time he donned the mantle of Spiderman. It is kinda good, and fairly realistic, but I simply hate the VISORS in his mask!!

Sequel: If any?

I have a very strong feeling regarding the production of a sequel. Many questions remain unanswered, Irfan's role, Osborn's mysterious illness and the deaths of the Parkers under suspicious circumstances.

Verdict

A one time watch, I watched Maximum a couple of days ago. The Amazing Spiderman, is not as amazing as the name suggests, but waaay better than Maximum! And, I was quite disappointed with the plot. Being, a devout Spiderman fan, it was a little awkward to see Peter Parker without his usual caustic humor. Surprisingly, Ben Parker never utters those lines which have immortalized him in the comic book history! Need I remind you? Oh C'mon!

"With Great Power..

Comes Great Responsibilty"

Also, the screenplay stands nowhere compared to the 2001 series. I sincerely hope that if they make a sequel, it turns out to be better. Needless to say I am waiting for THE DARK KNIGHT RISES!

Secret Origins: My Superhero Obsession

What defines a Superhero?

• Awesome Super-powers?
• Nice and Super-Tight Spandex costumes? (Which includes the very inconspicuous underpants worn over the pants!!)
• Cool Gadgets?
• Stupid sense of righteousness? 
• Bogus Origin story?  

(*Note: Readers are advised to suffix "Super-" before each of the list items: A reminder to the fact that this is a blog on "Super"-heroes and nothing below Super!!)

I don't seem to fulfill much of the above requirements, but the origin? (cut the bogus part) I do have one!!

These men (and not to forget, the women) in tights have always fascinated me. Although, I couldn't decipher the significance of the underpants!!

Added to the cartoons, an easy access to comics further fueled my interest which would eventually grow into fanaticism. All the rear pages of my notebooks, either displayed a strange bat-like drawing enclosed inside an ellipse (or an oval as I would say then) or a very carefully placed "S" inside a regular pentagon.

My fondness wasn't just limited to the doodles, I occasionally would jump from heights onto the floor climb up again and jump back and yes I tied a make-shift cape round my neck which would vary from a towel to a shawl to a bed-sheet!! Not to forget the "Batarangs"!! I would employ combs as my Batarangs .... throwing random projectiles at my imaginary Super-villain foes (sigh). My career as an Imaginary Super-hero extended to the time I ended landing on my rear side (oww) after a failed swinging attempt on a string I thought was my Bat-Line!!! Anyway, I can proudly say that I never tried underpants over my pants!! 

My parents? Oh, they are smart!! (Despite the fact that they used to repeatedly chant these lines: "yeh ladka toh gaya haath se..." and they still do so!) They devised an efficient way to rectify my self-destructive superhero antics. What they did was they bought me Action figures! I happened to have a vast collection of action figures from various toy-lines. After this apparent rehabilitation I shifted my focus from being a superhero to the one puppet-ting the Super heroes (action figures).

And, then came the internet. Although, Internet had been existing then for a decade and a quarter, but it was a relatively novel advancement in technology to the "Mishra Household". Graphic Novels: I got addicted, and ascended to that level of fanaticism which gradually transitioned into an obsession (although I even followed Pokemon, Beyblade etc., and as a matter of fact I still watch cartoons. What? Why grow up?) Now that, I am completely possessed by Superhero craze of mine I spend hours on the Internet reading Web-comics, Graphic Novels, Wikipedia and YouTube. (I even watched the Green Lantern Movie, all alone in a theater closely resembling the vast and empty parts of the Sector-2814 patrolled by the Green Lantern himself!!) 

To sum it all, this was my secret origin. (or lets say an origin to my obsession, for the sake of the blog title that is!) And......

I am sworn to create awareness regarding the superhero community. My superpowers? Umm.......

Leave it anyway! Hopefully, more adventures await!! Till then... *raises hands* "Up, up and away!" (Yeah, I prefer flying now, after the bat-line misadventure!)

PS: I just figured out my Super-power! The exceptional ability to end every sentence I write (read type) with multiple exclamation marks!!! (See?)