Five feature-length action adventures based on the Marvel comic.

In 'X-Men' (2000), mutants Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellen) are former friends, but look set to become mortal enemies when fascist US senator Robert Frank Kelly calls for the registration of all humans with abnormal powers. While telepath Xavier, who runs an altruistic academy for superhuman 'X-Men', wishes to enlighten non-mutants and break down the prejudices which divide them, Magneto believes that the only solution is for the mutants to take over. Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) - an aggressive loner with an admantium skeleton and the ability to heal his body of any wound - and teenager Rogue (Anna Paquin), who can absorb the life force of others simply by touching them, are selected by Xavier to join his academy, but it isn't long before Magneto's followers are attempting to capture them so that they can assist in his plan for world domination.

In the sequel, 'X-Men 2' (2003), Xavier, Wolverine and the X-Men find themselves in the firing line after a failed assassination attempt on the president points the finger at the school. It was in fact the mysterious teleporter Nightwalker (Alan Cumming) who ordered it, and, in an attempt to clear their names, the X-Men are led into a trap set by the evil William Stryker (Brian Cox), a mysterious scientist apparently working for the government. As it soon becomes evident that Stryker's agenda is to destroy all mutants, the X-Men need to call in the help of many of their old friends and foes, including Magneto, if they are to stop him.

In the third film, 'X-Men: The Last Stand' (2006), the mutants are given the option of giving up their powers and becoming human after a private laboratory supported by the government finds a way to use the DNA of a powerful boy to correct the mutants. However, Magneto opposes and decides to join a force to fight against the government and kill the mutant boy. Meanwhile, Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) resurrects, uncontrolled by Xavier, and with the personality of the powerful Dark Phoenix. She destroys Cyclops (James Marsden) and Xavier and allies herself to the evil forces of Magneto, making them almost invincible.

The fourth film in the franchise, 'X-Men: Origins - Wolverine' (2009) is a prequel to the other three films. Hugh Jackman reprises his role as Wolverine, who, some 20 years before the action of the original movie, is seeking revenge on his half-brother Victor Creed (Liev Schreiber) for the death of his girlfriend, and eventually signs up to the ominous Weapon X programme.

Finally, 'X-Men: First Class' (2011) charts the beginning of the saga, following Professor X (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) through their formative years in the 1960s as they come to terms with their newfound superpowers. Initially close friends who work together to fight against evil, the two men are driven apart by a conflict of opinion that ultimately leads to the eternal war between Magneto's Brotherhood and Professor X's X-Men.

Nicole Kidman, Colin Firth and Mark Strong star in this adaptation of the bestselling novel by S. J. Watson.

Christine Lucas (Kidman) suffers from anterograde amnesia, waking up every day without any knowledge of who she is. Christine regularly visits Dr. Nash (Strong) who, with the help of her understanding husband Ben (Firth), is assisting her with the recovery of her memories.

When Dr. Nash takes her to the place where she was attacked to try to reconstruct the event in her mind, Christine realises that she may be better off not remembering...

Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone and Rhys Ifans star in this superhero action adventure film based on characters from Stan Lee's classic Marvel comic strip. Gawky teenager Peter Parker (Garfield) lives with his aunt and uncle in New York City. Aware that there is some mystery surrounding his history and his parentage, Peter does his best to make sense of the few murky clues he has about his past - until one day he discovers the shocking secret that will change his life forever.

Andrew Garfield reprises his role as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in this superhero sequel based on the Marvel Comics characters. By day Peter Parker enjoys an ordinary life, spending time with his girlfriend Gwen (Emma Stone), but by night he flies high amidst New York skyscrapers as he battles evil. The emergence of Electro (Jamie Foxx), a figure with startling power and malevolent intentions, poses Spider-Man his greatest challenge to date, while he also has The Rhino (Paul Giamatti) to keep under control. The unexpected return of his old friend Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan) is more welcome. Together, the pair come to realise that shadowy corporation Oscorp seems to be responsible for much of the evil they encounter. Can they find a way to put an end to Oscorp's nefarious activities?

All 12 episodes from the first season of the Golden Globe-winning US drama about a CIA officer determined to prove that a returned hero is actually an Al-Qaeda mole. Out of favour with her superiors after returning home from an unauthorised operation in Iraq, CIA officer Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) is warned by one of her contacts that an American prisoner has been turned by his terrorist captors. When she subsequently learns of the rescue of US Marine sergeant Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis) after eight years in captivity, Carrie's suspicions are immediately raised. But with the returning Brody hailed a hero, and her concerns falling on deaf ears, she's soon forced to break ranks to prove her theory.

Four-film collection featuring Marvel Comics superheroes.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Hugh Jackman reprises his role as clawed mutant Wolverine (formerly James Logan) in this blockbuster superhero action prequel based on the Marvel comic strip. The film, set over the years leading up to the action of the 2003 'X-Men' movie, follows the young Logan from the first awakenings of his mutant powers in childhood up to his amnesiac rebirth as Wolverine, and recounts his tumultuous relationship with his ferocious half-brother Victor Creed, aka Sabretooth (Liev Schreiber) and the events that lead him to sign up to the ominous Weapon X programme.

Daredevil
For Daredevil, justice is blind, and for the guilty there's hell to pay. Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner ignite dangerous sparks and nonstop thrills in this "dazzling action-adventure" (The Film Journal) about the newest breed of superhero. By day, blind attorney Matt Murdock (Affleck) toils for justice in Hell's Kitchen. By night, he's Daredevil, The Man Without Fear--a powerful, masked vigilante stalking the dark streets with an uncanny "radar sense" that allows him to "see" with superhuman capabilities. But when the love of his life, fiery Elektra Natchios (Garner), is targeted by New York City's ruthless Kingpin of crime (Michael Clarke Duncan) and his deadly assassin Bullseye (Colin Farrell), Daredevil may be about to meet his match.

Elektra
Jennifer Garner proves that looks can kill as the sexiest action hero to burst from the pages of Marvel Comics. Restored to life after sustaining mortal wounds in Daredevil, an icy, solitary Elektra (Garner) now lives only for death as the world's most lethal assassin. Using her bone-crunching martial arts skills and Kimagure (the ability to see into the future), Elektra is on a collision course with darkness until her latest assignment forces her to make a choice that will lead either to her redemption or destruction in the ultimate battle between good and evil.

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Marvel's first family of superheroes, The Fantastic Four, meets their greatest challenge yet in Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer as the enigmatic, intergalactic herald, The Silver Surfer comes to Earth to prepare it for its destruction. As he races around the globe wreaking havoc, Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben must unravel the mystery of the Silver Surfer and confront the surprising return of their mortal enemy Dr. Doom before all hope is lost.

Encapsulating the multitude of challenges faced by the international corporate tax regime, this timely Research Handbook provides an in-depth comparative legal analysis of corporate income tax as it is practiced across the world. Beginning with four foundational chapters exploring the purpose and history of corporate tax, the Handbook goes on to provide a synthesis of the key issues in corporate taxation within the US regime, addressing some of the cutting-edge normative issues in designing a corporate tax. It then proceeds to set this against the experience in the EU and eleven other countries including the UK, Canada, China, Japan, India, Brazil and New Zealand. A further section on corporate tax planning includes careful analysis of such issues as corporate tax shelters, economic substance, social responsibility and governance, before final, horizon-scanning chapters consider the future of corporate tax and whether a new form of corporate tax might be possible. With a variety of paths to reform proposed throughout, this Research Handbook will prove an invigorating read for tax scholars working on taxation and tax law as well as for tax practitioners and those in fiscal policy seeking ways to improve, or navigate, the current state of affairs in international corporate tax law.

Three years on from the previous blockbuster, Marvel comic book character Spider-Man returns in his latest adventure. Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) and his girl Mary-Jane (Kirsten Dunst) are on the cusp of contentment - but not for long. His ex-friend Harry (James Franco), son of the Green Goblin of the first film, becomes the New Goblin in his desire for revenge against Spider-Man. Fugitive Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church), killer of Peter's Uncle Ben, has been transformed into the shape-shifting Sandman, possibly Spider-Man's toughest foe so far. To complicate matters further, a parasitic alien symbiote has attached itself to Peter's suit, giving him even greater powers but also bringing out the evil side of his personality. He has to struggle not only against two major adversaries but also against himself.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Children's adventure drama following the unusual relationship between a military search and rescue robot and an unpopular schoolkid. When Henry (Bobby Coleman) finds an abandoned robot called Cody (voice of Jae Head) in a dumpster, he decides to take it home and fix it. As Cody then becomes conscious, Henry soon realises that he is much more than a toy when it becomes apparent that the military lab that created Cody would very much like to get him back.

This book offers a nuanced reflection on the meaning of making and artisan agency, demonstrating how copper-smithing produces not only objects, but also lives, worlds, meanings, and social transformation. Through long-term ethnography, grounded in apprenticeship to master coppersmith Jesús Pérez Ornelas, Feder-Nadoff’s intimate description of communal and artisanal life in Santa Clara del Cobre, Michoacán, México provides a critical reappraisal of aesthetics and compelling ways to think about how aura and agency are produced. By mapping flows and frictions between persons, places, and things, this study closes the gap between economic and socio-political analysis of craft, on the one hand, and aesthetic, material, and phenomenological studies of making, on the other. Although craft historically plays a prominent national, even ideological role in Mexico, as in many countries, most artisans ironically remain absent, often living in marginalized, precarious circumstances. By tracing the cycles of life, death, and afterlife, of these maker-protagonists, their bodies of knowledge, skilled performances, and objects, this poetic monograph testifies to their presence.

The third film in the popular 'X-Men' film franchise. When a private laboratory supported by the government finds the cure for the mutants, using the DNA of a powerful boy, the mutants have the option of giving up their powers and becoming human. However, Magneto (Ian McKellen) opposes and decides to join a force to fight against the government and kill the mutant boy. Meanwhile, Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) resurrects uncontrolled by Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and with the personality of the powerful Dark Phoenix. She destroys Cyclops (James Marsden) and Xavier, and allies to the evil forces of Magneto, making them almost invincible.

This book is written to serve as textbook on biomaterials and biopolymers for faculty and students and thus  contains a broad introduction and basic terms, followed by major developments over the years with some emphasis on recent developments and future prospects. It provide a comprehensive overview in biomaterials and biopolymers. All relevant aspects of modern biomaterials, including: synthesis and characterization, biocompatibility and host response, the implementation of novel manufacturing processes, and advanced medical and biotechnological applications. Each chapter provides an overview of a specific field, its importance, the chemistry of biomaterials and the relations between chemical structure and the applications. Each chapter ends with a future prospective/concepts and a friendly quiz/multiple answer questions with answers that serves as a resource to provide guided additional practice.