Murphy’s Law – Before the MCU’s ambitious Avengers film, there was Vivid’s Avengers XXX 2
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Avengers: Infinity War has been dubbed by some to be “most ambitious crossover event in history,” a claim that was hilariously refuted with countless Twitter memes. However, there’s no denying that Disney’s latest Marvel Cinematic Universe film, which features (by ScreenCrush’s count) 28 Marvel superheroes, three recurring side characters, eight villains, a Stan Lee cameo and a budget somewhere between $300 – $400 million, is a pretty ambitious undertaking.
But three years before Marvel’s 19th film, the porn company Vivid released their own ambitious superhero team up film – Avengers XXX 2: An Axel Braun Parody. The film was made for a fraction of the budget of Disney’s Avengers film, but it too features an impressive roster of heroes and villains. The film features Captain America (Josh Rivers), Iron Man (Dale DaBone), Spider-man (Xander Corvus), Hawkeye (Eric Masterson), Nick Fury (Lexington Steele), Maria Hill (Jayden Jaymes), Ms. Marvel (Rikkisix), Wasp (Zoe Voss), Mockingbird (Penny Pax), Black Cat (Jazy Berlin), Winter Soldier (Seth Gamble), Red Guardian (Eva Karera) and Viper (Juelz Ventura).
To celebrate the release of Infinity War, Vivid has been posting “exclusive, never-before-seen clips” from Avengers XXX 2 on its website all month. They also were nice enough to send me a copy of the film, which was a wonderful excuse to dust off my SFW reviews of Axel Braun’s films.
I have always been impressed with Braun’s nerdy attention to detail and his love of comic books. I truly believe in my heart that his Batman XXX film, which parodies the 1966 Adam West TV show, is damn near perfect. (The campiness of the show lends itself seamlessly to the world of porn.) His other superhero parodies have never quite reached those heights, but I’ve always appreciated the effort.
Avengers XXX 2 feels a bit disjointed. Because there are so many characters – and so much of its one hour and 39 minute running time is devoted to sex, not plot – it feels more like a series of quick vignettes than a cohesive story. But there is still a lot Braun is able to do with the characters and the story. The film deals with things MCU fans have already seen on the big screen, like Captain America’s attempts to save the Winter Soldier. It also shows us a glimpse of something to come (no pun intended): The Wasp kicking ass, which Disney will tackle later this year in its Ant-Man sequel (fittingly titled Ant-Man and The Wasp). But we are also treated to something that moviegoers have only glimpsed in Sam Raimi’s wildly mediocre Spider-man 3: the Venom symbiote attaching itself to Peter Parker, making him an evil, violent Spider-man. There are also characters we’ve never seen before on the big screen, like Onslaught, Mockingbird, Black Cat and Viper. Most impressively, the film even gives Hawkeye something interesting to do (okay, this time the pun was intended).
As always, the costumes in the film are spot-on. I think the MCU does a great job adapting the looks from the comics to make them work in a live-action setting, but there’s something cool about seeing costumes that perfectly match the ones in the comic books. (There’s also something hilariously jarring about seeing those costumes all have easily-opened crotches that allow our heroes to quickly and easily have sex with each other without disrobing first.)
The film is understandably light on action scenes, but it does give us one fun battle where we get to see Cap throw his shield and the Wasp unleash her tiny fists or fury. Also, Eric Masterson gets to whip around corners with a bow and arrow at the ready in another action sequence, which is pretty delightful to watch. I may personally question the logic of these heroes stopping to copulate with one another during an active investigation of a criminal’s lair, but I realize I’m the only person picking that particular nits.
Avengers XXX 2 may not have the big budget effects and epic feel of Infinity War, but if you’re a comic book fan still reeling from that film’s shocking ending, this could be the perfect palette cleanser.
Joel Murphy is the creator of HoboTrashcan, which is probably why he has his own column. He loves pugs, hates Jimmy Fallon and has an irrational fear of robots. Follow Joel on Twitter @FreeMisterClark or email him at murphyslaw@hobotrashcan.com.