When the trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was first dropped many people were very confused about what it was. Some people weren’t even aware that it was being made and others wondered what its purpose was. Some people even wondered if it was our first look at Episode VIII and that obviously caused a ton of confusion. So, the question remains; what is Rogue One supposed to be?

Stated simply, Rogue One is a film that will exist in the “Official Star Wars Canon”, but will feature events at other points in Star Wars history outside of the “main episodes” that are being made (Star Wars Episodes VII-IX). You may be scratching your head and wondering what the purpose of a film such as this could be, but I assure you that it has all been part of Disney’s plan for Star Wars since the beginning.

The reasoning behind Rogue One is not just to create a larger franchise that will last a while for Disney, but also to appease fans. It’s obvious that one of Disney’s greatest goals for this new generation of Star Wars films is to give fans something that they want, but at the same time draw in a new generation. The Star Wars Anthology films, in which Rogue One is included, were intended to accomplish this task by providing a new “prequel” series for fans without having to get rid of all the lore from the old ones. Fans hated Episodes I-III and Disney has recognized this, so they wanted to please fans by giving them a “prequel trilogy that they deserve”.

Also, the number one complaint about The Force Awakens was that it redid too much from the old Star Wars films and did not present enough new ideas. Again, Disney heard the fans and decided to do something about it. Yes, Episode VIII is promised to present newer ideas now that the franchise has been successfully started, but the Anthology series provides a more exciting opportunity for this than the main episodes themselves. Disney intends to use the Anthology series to be the main source for new and original Star Wars ideas. They are unfettered by the pressure of having to tell the main story and can therefore focus on smaller stories in the timeline while featuring brand new concepts and ideas (or sometimes ideas that fans liked from the old Extended Universe that can be reintroduced such as the Grand Admiral concept that Rogue One seems to be using).

So, if you want a film with new and exciting ideas, or one that focuses on the “unseen” events in the Star Wars universe, then Rogue One is for you! I know that I’m looking forward to it!

Note: This post is outdated, but has been kept up for historical reasons…updated post will be coming soon!!

Marvel’s phase-III has officially been launched with the debut of Captain America: Civil War and this means that now everything that Marvel puts out there will contribute heavily to their Phase-III endgame of Infinity War. Now, we know Thanos is one bad dude and as they said in Guardians of the Galaxy; Thanos is one of the most powerful beings in the Universe. But what exactly makes him so dangerous and so powerful?

A brief Background on the complicated character of Thanos: In the comics, Thanos is from a race of beings called the Eternals who possess powers that dwarf the powers of most Earth-bound heroes. He is called the Mad Titan because he hails from the moon of Jupiter called Titan and he destroyed his own civilization while attempting to conquer it. He was born with a drastically different appearance from the rest of his entirely human-looking race (specifically, his massive size, purple skin and the strange lined grooves that are on his chin) and most speculated that his dark personality came from a deep-seated feeling of rejection from his own people.

Now, If the movies follow a similar path to the comics, which they seem to be doing in regards to Thanos so far, then the conflict of Infinity War will revolve around Thanos gaining possession of the Infinity Stones (also called the Infinity Gems) and what he does when he obtains them. In the films so far, we have been introduced to these Infinity Stones and what they are capable of. The Tesseract in Avengers was the Space Stone, The Aether from Thor: The Dark World was the Reality Stone, the stone in Guardians of the Galaxy was the Power Stone, the stone in Vision’s head that was from Loki’s staff is the Mind Stone, and finally the Soul Stone and the Time Stone have yet to be fully identified.

At the basic level, the Infinity Stones give their wielder power over that specific Infinity Stone’s attribute. However, in the comics when the Infinity Stones are collected and all brought together to be placed on the Infinity Gauntlet, then something even worse happens. When all six of the Infinity Stones are wielded by one person, that person gains complete control of the entire universe itself! This is why Thanos wants the Infinity Stones; he wants to gain complete control over the entire universe. With the Infinity Guantlet in his hands with all of the stones on it, Thanos could literally do anything that he desired. If they are going in this direction with the films, then the Infinity War films will be the largest, most epic, and the most difficult battle that cinematic superheroes have ever been faced with! That’s why Thanos is such a bad dude and may possibly become the greatest Marvel villain in the films to date.

Welcome Disney lovers of all ages to your one stop shop for Disney magic! The Disney Magic Fanatic blog is a haven for all things Disney for every Disney fan out there; whether you have always been a fan or if you are just getting into it now. With all of the new and fantastic entertainment that has been added to the Disney family, there has never been a better time than now to delve into all that Disney has to offer!

Ever since I can remember, I have loved Disney and the wide variety of entertainment that it has to offer. From the time I was old enough to be able to understand, I began to study Disney and all that such a subject entailed. I have literally read hundreds of books written in and outside the company on every single aspect of it that you could possibly imagine; from the construction of the Disney parks, to the company’s history, Behind the scenes lore, traditional animation techniques, Imagineering (the brilliant minds that bring the Disney parks to life), and so much more.

But the problem with studying Disney so in-depth and for such a long time was that no one benefited from it but me. So, I thought to myself that there must be something that I could do with all of this wonderful knowledge that I’ve accumulated over the years. That thought gave way to the idea to share what I know about all things Disney with the world through this blog. I hope to use this blog to help you better understand anything about Disney that you want, so please feel to ask me questions about what you want to know more about! Thank you all for your support and welcome to the universe of Disney Magic Fanatic!

Check out the first few posts for our Star Wars and Marvel series!

STAR WARS

MARVEL COMICS/STUDIOS