CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Dan Baker on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on March 21st, 2024, reviewing the new streaming series “Manhunt” – based on the bestseller by James L. Swanson – currently streaming on Apple TV+.
Film Feature: Which X-Men We Want to See in Next X-Sequel
Armor
Photo credit: Marvel
X-Man: Armor
Real Name: Hisako Ichiki
Powers: She can create super-strong psychic body armor around herself, giving her super-strength and durability, and it basically looks like she’s beating people up while standing inside a see-through Japanese robot, which is awesome.
Why She Should Be in an X-Men Movie: She’s an ass-kicking, teenaged Asian X-Man created by Joss Whedon. Is that enough reason? (It should be.) Armor might be a relatively new X-Man – she debuted in the Whedon-scripted “Astonishing X-Men” back in 2004 – but she might be the coolest new mutant of the 21st century. Why? Because she’s the full package. She’s got a wonderful human core as one of the youngest X-Men, hoping to prove herself to her elders (just like a young Kitty Pryde back in the ‘80s), and her relationship with her gruff mentor Wolverine is equal parts drama and comedy. Her powers are fantastic, a compelling mixture of defense and offense, and they look extremely, extremely cool. Forget about Green Lantern’s ring constructs. Being able to imagine that you’re surrounded by a robotic super-suit and then running into battle to beat down your opponents with your imaginary phantom limbs? That’s seriously kick-ass – pure, unfiltered wish fulfillment - and it would look amazing on the big screen. Plus the idea of having a skinny teenaged girl as one of the big-time bruisers on a super team is just too much fun to ignore.
Who Should Play Her: The very first name that jumps to mind is Ellen Wong, who did such a tremendous job bringing Knives Chau to life in “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World”. Wong made Knives into a vulnerable, three-dimensional teenage girl who could kick butt in a boss battle when she needed to, which sounds just like Armor. But, if Wong is otherwise occupied, we actually think Brenda Song might be a fun choice for the role. Granted, Song is mostly known as a Disney Channel princess, thanks to the “Suite Life on Deck” and “Wendy Wu”, but she’s got comedic chops, she got a good head on her shoulders, and she was great in her small role as Andrew Garfield’s unstable girlfriends in David Fincher’s “The Social Network”.