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MCU: Phase 5 - To Kang or Not to Kang

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Jul 18, 2021#1

ThatNickGuy

We can just call this a variant of the other MCU threads.

Jul 18, 2021#2

Celt Z

I'm surprised this wasn't "MCU Phase 4: Variant Madness".

Jul 18, 2021#3

ThatNickGuy

Celt Z said:
I'm surprised this wasn't "MCU Phase 4: Variant Madness".

Who says it wasn't?

Jul 18, 2021#4

Ravenpoe

ThatNickGuy said:
Who says it wasn't?

Oh god we've moved into a variant timeline

Jul 18, 2021#5

PatrThom

Ravenpoe said:
Oh god we've moved into a variant timeline

Is this the one where Uatu is a heavy metal fan?
Heh. "Üatü."

--Patrick

Jul 18, 2021#6

sixpackshaker

But I don't want to get pruned.

Jul 18, 2021#7

Gryfter

I am Loki.

Jul 19, 2021#8

Bubble181

sixpackshaker said:
But I don't want to get pruned.

Helps digestion, though.

Jul 19, 2021#9

Shawn

Where's all the Spider-Women at?

Jul 19, 2021#10

GasBandit

Jul 19, 2021#11

DarkAudit

Shawn said:
Where's all the Spider-Women at?

Right here.

r/SpiderGirls

r/SpiderGirls: This is a subreddit for hentai involving spider-girl hybrids. It has nothing to do with the Marvel comic book character.

www.reddit.com

Jul 20, 2021#12

Celt Z

Jul 20, 2021#13

PatrThom

Ooo does this mean Danny Glover is joining the MCU?

--Patrick

Jul 20, 2021#14

sixpackshaker

PatrThom said:
Ooo does this mean Danny Glover is joining the MCU?

--Patrick

No he's been too old for this shit for 30 years.

Jul 28, 2021#15

Celt Z

Li'l Z's birthday is coming up next week, and I was on the LEGO site to find some info on one of his gifts, when I accidentally stumbled across a spoiler for Spider-Man: No Way Home. It's a minor spoiler (I think), but dammit, LEGO!

Spider-Man at the Sanctum Workshop 76185 | Spider-Man | Buy online at the Official LEGO® Shop US

Super Hero action at Doctor Strange’s magical HQ

www.lego.com

Jul 28, 2021#16

mikerc

Celt Z said:
Li'l Z's birthday is coming up next week, and I was on the LEGO site to find some info on one of his gifts, when I accidentally stumbled across a spoiler for Spider-Man: No Way Home. It's a minor spoiler (I think), but dammit, LEGO!

Spider-Man at the Sanctum Workshop 76185 | Spider-Man | Buy online at the Official LEGO® Shop US

Super Hero action at Doctor Strange’s magical HQ

www.lego.com

Pretty sure I've seen LEGO sets in the past released to tie in to the latest MCU film featuring characters doing something they don't do in the movie. So, maybe not a spoiler.

Actually, how long do LEGO sets typically take to go from design to release? They could easily be working off an early script rather than the actual shooting script.

Jul 28, 2021#17

Celt Z

mikerc said:
Pretty sure I've seen LEGO sets in the past released to tie in to the latest MCU film featuring characters doing something they don't do in the movie. So, maybe not a spoiler.

Actually, how long do LEGO sets typically take to go from design to release? They could easily be working off an early script rather than the actual shooting script.

Usually, at least with the MCU sets, they try to tie in with a specific scene. I think the exception was Infinity War/Endgame for the sake of spoilers.

Jul 28, 2021#18

evilmike

I still wonder what was going on here:

Jul 28, 2021#19

PatrThom

evilmike said:
I still wonder what was going on here:

It is obviously ThorinMan with his trusty MistyMountainMobile.

--Patrick

Jul 28, 2021#20

DarkAudit

PatrThom said:
It is obviously ThorinMan with his trusty MistyMountain~~Mobile~~Hopper.

--Patrick

Fixed that for you.

Jul 29, 2021#21

ThatNickGuy

So this is interesting. Scarlett Johansson is suing Disney because they did a dual release of Black Widow in theaters and Disney+.

Scarlett Johansson Sues Disney Over ‘Black Widow’ Streaming Release

Scarlett Johansson, star of Marvel Entertainment’s 2021 movie “Black Widow,” has filed suit against Walt Disney Co. over the decision to release the movie on Disney+ at the same time as in theaters.

www.wsj.com

Of particular note, "According to the complaint, Ms. Johansson’s representatives sought to renegotiate her contract after learning of the dual-release strategy for “Black Widow,” which she has said is her ninth and last Marvel movie. Disney and Marvel were unresponsive, the suit said."

If her contract states theater exclusive, sounds like she has a valid claim. She probably doesn't necessarily need the money, but Disney screwing her over like this would set an ugly precedence for anyone else. Especially people that don't have millions of dollars to take on The Mouse like this. We see how quickly Disney will screw someone over, like the writers who had to fight - and some STILL fight - to get paid for the Star Wars extended universe novels that are still in print.

Jul 29, 2021#22

Frank

Fuck Disney.

Aug 4, 2021#23

Shawn

Aug 4, 2021#24

AshburnerX

That WOULD be an MCU thing to do: it's the final magical showdown and everyone's out... then fucking Scott Lang start vomiting up decks of cards like a lunatic to distract the big bad until someone can actually do something useful.

Aug 4, 2021#25

Shawn

AshburnerX said:
That WOULD be an MCU thing to do: it's the final magical showdown and everyone's out... then fucking Scott Lang start vomiting up decks of cards like a lunatic to distract the big bad until someone can actually do something useful.

And watch you just called the ending of Antman 3.

Aug 4, 2021#26

Tiger Tsang

AshburnerX said:
That WOULD be an MCU thing to do: it's the final magical showdown and everyone's out... then fucking Scott Lang start vomiting up decks of cards like a lunatic to distract the big bad until someone can actually do something useful.

Magic Off, Bro.

Aug 4, 2021#27

evilmike

Clip from What If...?

Aug 4, 2021#28

PatrThom

evilmike said:
Clip from ~~What If...?~~ The Iron Giant.

FTFY.
Even the animation style and character designs fit. Add a soul patch and Bucky (I assume that's Bucky) would look just like Dean.

--Patrick

Aug 8, 2021#29

Shawn

Aug 13, 2021#30

Tiger Tsang

First episode of What If? was top notch.

Aug 13, 2021#31

Fun Size

Animation was so, so good.

Aug 13, 2021#32

Gryfter

Yup, looking forward to more What if?! It was always my favorite comic growing up and I think they nailed the tone and presentation of the stories with that first episode.

Aug 13, 2021#33

BErt

Rumored first look at Moon Knight

Aug 13, 2021#34

Sparhawk

Gryfter said:
Yup, looking forward to more What if?! It was always my favorite comic growing up and I think they nailed the tone and presentation of the stories with that first episode.

As long as they don’t take the route that was taken in the comics at times just switching character X with character Y and just telling the same story as the original.

I liked that they took a whole different storyline for Cap Carter and made her story different from Steve’s.

Aug 13, 2021#35

Far

I didn't like or hate it, my biggest gripe was that it feels like a cliff notes version, but there was one specific part that maybe I missed, I went back and rewatched it and still can't figure it out.

Who is she talking to? She keeps making these quips and banter as if there is someone with her but there is no one else there right?

Aug 13, 2021#36

Celt Z

Far said:
Who is she talking to? She keeps making these quips and banter as if there is someone with her but there is no one else there right?

Spidey and Deadpool are famous for that same thing, so I just took it as a comic trope.

Aug 13, 2021#37

Far

It just felt awkward and stilted to me.

Aug 13, 2021#38

Fun Size

I actually felt like she was talking to herself, enjoying the act of being in the action for all it was worth.

Aug 13, 2021#39

Tiger Tsang

BErt said:
Rumored first look at Moon Knight
View attachment 38583

Make it have a mystical reason for the appearance it has, otherwise it's kinda poop. *sigh*

Aug 15, 2021#40

figmentPez

What if we sat on the slopes of the Eternity Mountains and watched dinosaurs in the Savage Land? UwU

Aug 17, 2021#41

Dave

Aug 18, 2021#42

Piotyr

RIP Chadwick Boseman, the best Star-Lord we didn't know we had.

Aug 18, 2021#43

Dave

Ugh. I hated this episode. Nothing but fan service and dick sucking. God damn it was painful.

Aug 18, 2021#44

PatrThom

Dave said:
Nothing but fan service and dick sucking.

I mean, some people are into that.

--Patrick

Aug 18, 2021#45

GasBandit

Are you sure you didn't start watching hentai by accident?

Aug 18, 2021#46

Dave

GasBandit said:
Are you sure you didn't start watching hentai by accident?

It would have been an improvement.

Aug 18, 2021#47

Tiger Tsang

Dave said:
Ugh. I hated this episode. Nothing but fan service and dick sucking. God damn it was painful.

Besides Howard, I agree. A lot of this was large fists of Ham wielding a Ham Mallet while ignoring a lot a crap precludes the wrong abduction. It could have been done better.

Aug 18, 2021#48

HCGLNS

Oh, right new drops are Wednesdays now. That will help my meetings a lot.

Aug 18, 2021#49

Celt Z

I will totally agree that

the defection of Thanos and the adoration of Korarth

was too over-the-top, but I would totally buy that, given his upbringing and personality, T'Challa would have been a far more successful Star-Lord. I'm still confused why he would take the name Star-Lord, though.

Yes, it was a bit fan-servicy, but isn't that part of the point of "What If..?", even in the comics? They've always been, like, "official Marvel fan fiction".

Aug 18, 2021#50

Dave

Quill was called Star Lord because that's what his mom called him.
No way Thanos would have given up so easily and been turned to the good side just by talking to him.
Korarth being a fan boy. Shut the fuck up.
The Collector would not have grown as he did. He was never into power.
All the Ravagers being Robin Hoods - and making a fucking Robin LEECH joke?!? Fucking dumb as shit.
T'challa is Jesus. He can do no wrong. Fucking barf.

There's more, but god damn was this a shit episode.

Aug 18, 2021#51

HCGLNS

Oh, that was a perfect what if episode. Beautiful. Exactly right in every way.

Aug 18, 2021#52

ScytheRexx

My issue with the what if episodes so far...

Is that they kind of shit on the normal MCU a bit. Like, I get that they are trying to go all out and have some fun, but the minute Captain Carter started throwing trucks around, captured the Tesseract before it could be used by Hydra to make weapons, and pushed back a giant squid monster, I knew these were going to be more glorious fanfictions of the writers favorite characters more then anything else. "They did good, but this character would do WAY BETTER! SEE!"

The newest episode kind of confirmed it for me. Not only was T'Challa an actual famous "Star-Lord", but he convinced Thanos to become a Ravager, saved Drax's family, defeated the Collector who in this universe killed Thor, Captain America, Hela, and Korg, plus who knows who else, still got to be Prince of Wakanda by the end, etc. Then it had the nerve of showing Peter Quill working as the janitor of a Dairy Queen. Oh man the disrespect. At least they gave Steve a proto-iron man suit to help Peggy in the Captain Carter what if, giving him back his agency as a hero, but the disrespect this one showed Quill for the loss of his destiny was just a bit much.

I will say though, I DO like that this one at least implied that because of the changes, even though T'Challa ended up being fifty times better as Star-Lord, it likely won't matter as the Diary Queen Quill is likely going to just do whatever Ego wants and will ultimately destroy that universe. That little nod to the consequence of this timeline at least gave a smidgen of respect back to Quill and his importance as Star-Lord.

Aug 18, 2021#53

HCGLNS

That's exactly what a What If is supposed to do. It gives a surge of "yeah, see I told you this idea is awesome", combined with a reality check.

Aug 18, 2021#54

ScytheRexx

HCGLNS said:
That's exactly what a What If is supposed to do. It gives a surge of "yeah, see I told you this idea is awesome", combined with a reality check.

Not exactly? It's supposed to tell a story in a different way, and that's it. If can be fun fan fiction type stuff, yes, but I just hope not all of them are like that. We need some darker, meaty stuff too, where the change the hero undergoes leads to a worst history.

Aug 18, 2021#55

Gryfter

Yeah gonna go with HCGLNS on this one, this was absolutely a What if? story the likes of what you would get each month in the comic books. Was it over the top, sure, but What If? stories frequently are since the writers were set loose to tell whatever story they wanted. Still really enjoying it.

Aug 18, 2021#56

ScytheRexx

Gryfter said:
Yeah gonna go with HCGLNS on this one, this was absolutely a What if? story the likes of what you would get each month in the comic books. Was it over the top, sure, but What If? stories frequently are since the writers were set loose to tell whatever story they wanted. Still really enjoying it.

Not saying I didn't enjoy it. I did. Just had my critiques. It might be better for me when they stop just putting "X in same job as Y" type what ifs.

Aug 18, 2021#57

Far

Definitely preferred this to last weeks myself.

Aug 19, 2021#58

Tinwhistler

This weeks was ok. But I felt like they were really try-harding in their homage to Boseman. And for someone who hadn't had the heart-shaped herb, "plain ol' human" T'Challa was off the charts in his physical abilities.

Aug 19, 2021#59

bhamv3

I like it.

Aug 19, 2021#60

chris

bhamv3 said:
I like it.

Sorry, this trailer does nothing for me. I can't really put my finger on it but it looks like style over substance to me.

Aug 19, 2021#61

Shawn

I'll see it as I will any Marvel film, but it feels very far removed from the MCU.

And in most of the MCU films that deal with something off-world, Earth (or Terra as others seem to call it) seems regarded as a pathetic little world of little importance. And yet nearly EVERYTHING OF IMPORTANCE happens there.

Aug 19, 2021#62

bhamv3

One of the reasons I like it is precisely that it looks very different from the rest of the MCU. It feels grander, more epic and more cosmic in scope.

Also Gemma Chan is really hot.

Aug 19, 2021#63

Shawn

bhamv3 said:
One of the reasons I like it is precisely that it looks very different from the rest of the MCU. It feels grander, more epic and more cosmic in scope.

It's like a Highlander vibe to it.

Aug 19, 2021#64

ThatNickGuy

Still a big "meh" from me, but that's also my reaction to anything related to Eternals. It's just not a brand I care about. I'll probably still see it, since Marvel has a good track record, but yeah, this just isn't doing it for me.

Aug 19, 2021#65

evilmike

The early reactions are out for Shang Chi, and they are really positive.

Aug 19, 2021#66

Piotyr

Eternals to me looks like "What if Marvel made a DC movie property?"

Aug 19, 2021#67

Celt Z

Shawn said:
I'll see it as I will any Marvel film, but it feels very far removed from the MCU.

And in most of the MCU films that deal with something off-world, Earth (or Terra as others seem to call it) seems regarded as a pathetic little world of little importance. And yet nearly EVERYTHING OF IMPORTANCE happens there.

When you have Earthlings writing all the stories, they tend to do this because it's what they know. And they assume it will draw in an audience because it makes it familiar. But if it seems too derivative to have Earth as the default of everything, it's a good argument for why we shouldn't let keep letting white, American men design all our stories as well.

But at least they've tried to make things not quite as Earth-centric with the Guardian movies and some of Thor, though it still slips in there.

I'm willing to give The Eternals a shot. I was never into the characters, but I agree that it looks different enough to try it.

Aug 19, 2021#68

mikerc

bhamv3 said:
I like it.

Dane: "Why didn't you guys help fight Thanos?"
Sersi: "We were instructed not to interfere in any human conflicts unless Deviants were involved."
Dane: "By who?"

Me: Actually Thanos is a Deviant so you shou-oooooooh shit! Celestial!

Yeah, I'm down for this.

Aug 19, 2021#69

ScytheRexx

Wasn't he considered an Eternal from Titan? They were like their own thing different from the Earth based Eternals and Deviants, splitting off after a civil war.

Aug 20, 2021#70

mikerc

ScytheRexx said:
Wasn't he considered an Eternal from Titan? They were like their own thing different from the Earth based Eternals and Deviants, splitting off after a civil war.

Sometimes they call him an Eternal, sometimes an Eternal mutant, sometimes they call him a Deviant. It's ~~Marvel~~ comic books, you're not going to get a 100% consistent backstory.

Generally though the difference between Eternals & Deviants is treated as if they look human they're Eternal, if they don't they're Deviant. Thanos clearly looks inhuman (but not Inhuman), ergo he's a Deviant. Which admittedly when you type it out that clearly does look juuuuust a little bit racist.

Aug 20, 2021#71

ScytheRexx

mikerc said:
Generally though the difference between Eternals & Deviants is treated as if they look human they're Eternal, if they don't they're Deviant.

I get that, just saying in the MCU they have a few outs with why the Eternals didn't involve themselves with Thanos. It could be they considered him an Eternal rather then a Deviant because he was humanoid enough, while the Deviants shown in the trailer are highly mutated with tendrils and such, to the point they look more like monsters, or, and honestly the more likely option in my opinion, is that they just severed Thanos history as a descendent of the Eternals / Deviants and just made him an alien race from Titan that went extinct. The MCU is already starting to get a bit too much power creep into the narrative with multiverses and such, they really don't need to make it any more dramatic by connecting Thanos to the Eternals.

Aug 20, 2021#72

Shawn

ScytheRexx said:
I get that, just saying in the MCU they have a few outs with why the Eternals didn't involve themselves with Thanos. It could be they considered him an Eternal rather then a Deviant because he was humanoid enough, while the Deviants shown in the trailer are highly mutated with tendrils and such, to the point they look more like monsters, or, and honestly the more likely option in my opinion, is that they just severed Thanos history as a descendent of the Eternals / Deviants and just made him an alien race from Titan that went extinct. The MCU is already starting to get a bit too much power creep into the narrative with multiverses and such, they really don't need to make it any more dramatic by connecting Thanos to the Eternals.

I'm sure they are using the existence of Deviants as a mere starting point. They will want to set them apart from any other villain up to this point. My guess is they are some mistakes of the Eternals that were imprisoned in some sort of side dimension, only to have the prison weakened during the Snap.

Aug 20, 2021#73

mikerc

ScytheRexx said:
honestly the more likely option in my opinion, is that they just severed Thanos history as a descendent of the Eternals / Deviants and just made him an alien race from Titan that went extinct.

Yeah, that's what I'm expecting too. It's not like your average moviegoer is going to know Thanos's comic book backstory after all. I was just being pointlessly pedantic for a bit of fun because, well I'm a comic book fan. That's kind of what we do after all

Aug 20, 2021#74

@Li3n

bhamv3 said:
I like it.

So they made them just aliens instead of modified humans?

Disappointing, but expected, i guess.

mikerc said:
Generally though the difference between Eternals & Deviants is treated as if they look human they're Eternal, if they don't they're Deviant. Thanos clearly looks inhuman (but not Inhuman), ergo he's a Deviant. Which admittedly when you type it out that clearly does look juuuuust a little bit racist.

Well, no, the Deviants where made to have random mutations that made each different, while the Eternals where all just very enhanced humans with an energy manipulation power (although that might have come later, with the retcons about Titanians being Eternal off-shots etc.).

You can see that easily with that Deviant that was just a handsome dude with super-strength that was considered a freak by regular Deviants.

Thanos having "Deviant Syndrome" is more about the Eternal's own biases then an actual thing the Celestials left in them IMO.

....

Ad, of course, him being an Eternal is actually a retcon, and originally his chin was the only difference, with his whole family being that shade of purple.

Aug 21, 2021#75

GasBandit

I don't know why, but so far, What If isn't really doing it for me. I don't know why. And I was really looking forward to it.

Aug 21, 2021#76

Shakey

I think it’s hard because it’s taking what would probably be either one or two movies, or an entire series, worth of material and jamming it in to one episode.
I’ve like both so far, but I think they’d be so much better if they could be fleshed out a bit more.

Aug 21, 2021#77

HCGLNS

Try watching it with Fanta!

Aug 21, 2021#78

Frank

It's pretty similar to how rushed What If? comics were.

Aug 22, 2021#79

ThatNickGuy

Frank said:
It's pretty similar to how rushed What If? comics were.

Exactly this. They're working with basically similar time constraints as the comics. There's only so much you can do with a concept within a 22-page issue. Same here. I think stretching it out would be a mistake, anyway. Like the comic, these are meant to be short, inoffensive side-forays by tweaking circumstances and seeing how it plays out. Does it all work, like who joins T'Challa's Ravagers? No, but it's a fun, harmless foray into the idea.

I could see some ideas get expanded on if they're popular enough, like Captain Carter. That's basically how Spider-Gwen got her own comic series. They gave her a one-shot during the Spider-Verse event, it was similar to an issue of What If...? and she was popular enough to warrant her own spin-off series. I doubt many will feel that way about, say, T'challa's Star-Lord but there might be others.

If Marvel were smart, they'd greenlight a Captain Carter comics miniseries and fast track it to strike while the iron is hot. But they often fail at timely synergy like that.

Aug 22, 2021#80

figmentPez

Aug 23, 2021#81

evilmike

Aug 23, 2021#82

Tress

The first negative review I read on RT basically said "I hate how popular the MCU is in general, because I only like small indie movies, and therefore I hate this."

Aug 23, 2021#83

Fun Size

Tress said:
The first negative review I read on RT basically said "I hate how popular the MCU is in general, because I only like small indie movies, and therefore I hate this."

I saw the same thing, and all I could think was how appreciative I was that they immediately identified themselves as someone I don't need to take seriously.

Aug 23, 2021#84

ThatNickGuy

Welp, strap in, kids. It's about to get weird.

Looks like they're taking the One More Day story concept, tossing out Mephisto (good call), and making it kind of a Monkey's Paw wish fulfillment.

I'm in.

Aug 23, 2021#85

Dave

HOLY FUCKING SHIT! HYYYYYP!!!

Aug 23, 2021#86

bhamv3

ThatNickGuy said:
Looks like they're taking the One More Day story concept, tossing out Mephisto (good call), and making it kind of a Monkey's Paw wish fulfillment.

That's clever, it didn't occur to me that they'd adapt One More Day.

I'm also in.

Aug 23, 2021#87

ThatNickGuy

bhamv3 said:
That's clever, it didn't occur to me that they'd adapt One More Day.

I'm also in.

Right? That's a story I never thought they'd touch, but with the set up, it absolutely works. Especially since they've already established Peter being war buddies with Strange.

Will it work with the final product? Jury's out until the movie releases, but it looks pretty danged promising.

Aug 23, 2021#88

Far

Looks great so far!

Noticed some Ditko graffiti behind Peter and MJ while they are on the roof.

Aug 23, 2021#89

AshburnerX

It's a nice touch having the protestors with signs that have Peter with Devil horns. They knew what they were doing.

Aug 23, 2021#90

Celt Z

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! :heart:

Aug 23, 2021#91

Tress

ThatNickGuy said:
Welp, strap in, kids. It's about to get weird.

Looks like they're taking the One More Day story concept, tossing out Mephisto (good call), and making it kind of a Monkey's Paw wish fulfillment.

I'm in.

Aug 23, 2021#92

Celt Z

*pant* ....ok, now that I'm done squeeing, and have time to review it 4 or 5 times, my favorite comment I saw someone else make is:

As if the Cross Bronx [Expressway] doesn’t already have enough shit to deal with. It’s hilarious that they have a big fight at one of the worst highway merges in the city (possibly the country).

I've had to drive this merge SO. MANY. TIMES. and everything about this statement it true. Whoever chose this location is pure evil.

Signs point to this movie being really, really good right now.

Aug 23, 2021#93

bhamv3

The memes have started.

Aug 24, 2021#94

Tiger Tsang

I thought Tobey was a decent Peter, Andrew (tho still too old) was a better Spiderman, Tom since they thankfully, didn't redo the origin story stuff seems to get the 'young' Peter Parker and Spiderman right. I just wish he hadn't gotten 'STARK' powerups so quick. As an old school guy, it just, to me, demeans him a bit.

Kind of along the lines of Thor. Odin "You never needed the hammer, you're the God of Thunder"
Next movie . . . need to make a new weapon.

Aug 24, 2021#95

Bubble181

Man...All of Phase 3 was about the Infinity Stones, and all of Phase 4 seems to be Multiverse shenanigans....I'm not sure how good it'll all work. The Stones left room to make whatever story you wanted to tell, and that half the McGuffins turned out to be Infinity Stones was just some extra lore and some stingers. But every story now has to tie up to extra-dimensional crossovers and so on. I don't mind the concept, I'm just a bit weary that I - and other viewers - will get burned out and confused about Thor-549613 and Hulk-331874 coming along to save Earth-31239741 from Zuul-951475.
And it'll be a god-awful mess trying to keep multiverse rules at least somewhat consistent over several movies and different directors and writers.
I mean, that teaser had me looking forward to it, but...we're still in the lead up to Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, how much of this movie, and Loki, and WandaVision, etc will people need to know and remember; or how much of the big movies will have to be given over to recapping stuff people need to know? It's...well, it may work, but it may turn away people not used to so much interconnectedness and comics-style cross-over.

Aug 24, 2021#96

PatrThom

It may also turn people away who hasn't been rushing out to see every single MCU feature as they came out.

--Patrick

Aug 24, 2021#97

chris

It's a bold move to adapt the most hated Spider-man story.

Aug 24, 2021#98

Sparhawk

chris said:
It's a bold move to adapt the most hated Spider-man story.

Sorry, but it isn’t the Clone Saga. It is right there in the top 3 though.

Aug 24, 2021#99

Ravenpoe

Sparhawk said:
Sorry, but it isn’t the Clone Saga. It is right there in the top 3 though.

I liked clone saga

Aug 24, 2021#100

@Li3n

But this isn't the parts that where hated, this is just erasing everyone knowledge of his identity, which it's a pretty old plot point for comics: https://www.cbr.com/superhero-secret-identities-whole-world-mindwiped/

Aug 25, 2021#101

figmentPez

Aug 25, 2021#102

chris

With the black costume and the train scene I have the feeling "the big bad" will be Dr. Strange.

Aug 25, 2021#103

Frank

Nanomachine costumes is my least favorite visual in current Marvel stuff.

Aug 25, 2021#104

PatrThom

figmentPez said:

Check out the new weapon
Weapon of choice
Yeahhhh

--Patrick

Aug 25, 2021#105

@Li3n

Aug 25, 2021#106

Shawn

@Li3n said:

I feel that there has to be more to this thing than the teaser is suggesting. Firstly this whole spell seems very irresponsible for Dr. Strange.
Perhaps there is something more at stake with the spell than just wiping memories.

Aug 25, 2021#107

bhamv3

Dr. Strange is actually Mephisto in disguise!

Aug 25, 2021#108

Ravenpoe

To be fair, while Dr Strange absolutely should know better and recognizes how dangerous such a folly is, it's also totally in character for him to go "Fuck it I'm bored, let's do it"

Aug 25, 2021#109

AshburnerX

On the one hand, Dr. Strange should have known better. On the other... nothing good has EVER happened to Peter Parker.

Aug 25, 2021#110

bhamv3

Ravenpoe said:
To be fair, while Dr Strange absolutely should know better and recognizes how dangerous such a folly is, it's also totally in character for him to go "Fuck it I'm bored, let's do it"

Ehhh... I feel like that's more of a Sherlock thing to do. Dr. Strange seems to recognize that you shouldn't do things to benefit just one person when it could have far-reaching consequences for everyone else. His own movie was about him learning "it's not about you", and he was willing to sacrifice Tony to defeat Thanos.

Aug 25, 2021#111

Shawn

Dr Strange seems to take his job as protector of the Cosmos pretty seriously. Unless there is more to Peter’s request (or the results are deemed not harmful to anyone for some reason) I don’t think it’s very in character for him. Yeah he might be down for performing a crazy spell, but even Strange was the first to tell Tony to go to hell when it was recommended they go to Thanos for the fight. He doesn’t like to gamble with the fate of the universe.

Aug 25, 2021#112

ScytheRexx

chris said:
With the black costume and the train scene I have the feeling "the big bad" will be Dr. Strange.

My theory...

It's a variant of Doctor Strange that banished the original one, Likely crossed over looking for some type of artifact that no longer exists in his own reality (maybe that cube seen in the scene were he knocks Peter's astral projection out of his body) and is using Peter as a way to find it, causing the dimensional issues on the way as a smoke screen. I already assumed Multiverse of Madness was going to be about Doctor Strange trying to escape the multiverse, I just didn't realize the setup of him being missing would start in No Way Home. A future What If also seem to hint to a "evil" Doctor Strange.

Aug 26, 2021#113

klew

It was all a dream, or a feature-length illusion created by a not-dead Mysterio.

Aug 26, 2021#114

ScytheRexx

Surprised no one is talking about the new "What If" in here. I just saw it. Probably my favorite of the group so far, for a few reasons...

Of course the biggest reason is that this episode didn't rely on the "different person taking over the role of original person" that was the core of the first two episodes. This made it feel way more organic to me. It also felt like it took the most risks, I mean, it's all our favorite scenes from the movies only with a ruthless assassin killing all the Avengers (and succeeding!) before they could ever form into a team. The last thing I liked? This was the first one that didn't give us the reveal of the divergent point at the beginning of the episode, instead letting the mystery of it all play out until the reveal that it was Hope joining SHIELD and getting killed by the Winter Soldier in the past, which lead Hank Pym down a murderous path of revenge. The mystery of why it all changed made it way more compelling to me. Oh, and maybe the fans need to be careful with their memes, considering the Hulk scene was basically a sterilized version of the Ant Man / Thanos Ass meme. :confused:

Aug 26, 2021#115

AshburnerX

It also helps they already had Fury's Big Week, so they could just modify that for this...

Aug 26, 2021#116

PatrThom

ThatNickGuy said:
Welp, strap in, kids. It's about to get weird.

Looks like they're taking the One More Day story concept, tossing out Mephisto (good call), and making it kind of a Monkey's Paw wish fulfillment.

I'm in.

--Patrick

Aug 26, 2021#117

GasBandit

ScytheRexx said:
Surprised no one is talking about the new "What If" in here. I just saw it. Probably my favorite of the group so far, for a few reasons...

Of course the biggest reason is that this episode didn't rely on the "different person taking over the role of original person" that was the core of the first two episodes. This made it feel way more organic to me. It also felt like it took the most risks, I mean, it's all our favorite scenes from the movies only with a ruthless assassin killing all the Avengers (and succeeding!) before they could ever form into a team. The last thing I liked? This was the first one that didn't give us the reveal of the divergent point at the beginning of the episode, instead letting the mystery of it all play out until the reveal that it was Hope joining SHIELD and getting killed by the Winter Soldier in the past, which lead Hank Pym down a murderous path of revenge. The mystery of why it all changed made it way more compelling to me. Oh, and maybe the fans need to be careful with their memes, considering the Hulk scene was basically a sterilized version of the Ant Man / Thanos Ass meme.

I think you hit the nail on the head. I really liked this episode and it is restored my interest in the series after the first two episodes fell so flat for me.

Aug 28, 2021#118

Shawn

The main reason I don't like the theory that Dr. Strange is someone else assuming his identity is that they already did that with Nick Fury in the last film.

Aug 28, 2021#119

Gryfter

It could be a Strange from a different reality, that way it is Strange and not Strange at the same time.

...That sounded strange.

Aug 28, 2021#120

chris

Or it is Strange from the same universe, who realised that he screwed up and want to change everything back.

Aug 30, 2021#121

ScytheRexx

Little musing back on the No Way Home trailer. Spoiling just in case.

One thing someone noticed was that on the bridge when Doc Ock appeared, Holland is wearing a grey suit that is almost identical to one Maguire wore in Spiderman 2. It made me think. We have yet to confirm if Maguire and Garfield are really going to be part of the movie, so what if this whole time we were wrong. Instead of teaming up with other Spider-Men, what if Peter is literally Quantum Leaping into other versions of himself from other universes? The trailer treats it like Doc Ock recognizes Tom's Peter, which only makes sense if the trailer is being deceptive and Maguire is there too, or if Tom is inside what would be the Maguire Spider-Man body, but we of course always see it as Tom. If that is the way they go then the name No Way Home itself feels like a meta play, considering the plotline of Quantum Leap.

Sep 6, 2021#122

figmentPez

Watched All Hail the King last night, the Marvel / Disney+ one-shot about Trevor Slattery. I liked it a lot. Trevor is such a fun character. I hope Marvel does more one-shots.

Sep 6, 2021#123

Tress

figmentPez said:
Watched All Hail the King last night, the Marvel / Disney+ one-shot about Trevor Slattery. I liked it a lot. Trevor is such a fun character. I hope Marvel does more one-shots.

I hear they are looking to start them up again, and pushing the existing ones on Disney+ was a way to gauge interest.

Sep 6, 2021#124

Tress

Just saw Shang-Chi.

Eh. Not bad per se, but definitely in the bottom half of MCU rankings for me. Sloppy pacing and a crappy final act were problematic. The acting was stellar, though.

Sep 8, 2021#125

Shawn

So how about those Shang-Chi post credit scenes?

The last one is pretty straight forward. The Ten Rings is going to continue but with new leadership, co-ed training rules, and possibly a new focus?

It's that mid credit scene that's the toughest to figure out: For a moment there I thought the entire movie was set before End Game because Marvel had her long hair and Bruce was... Bruce. But then I realized that Bruce was in his arm cast so it must be after End Game. So is he no longer Smart Hulk? That question right there seems more important than the origin of the rings.

Sep 8, 2021#126

ThatNickGuy

Shawn said:
So how about those Shang-Chi post credit scenes?

The last one is pretty straight forward. The Ten Rings is going to continue but with new leadership, co-ed training rules, and possibly a new focus?

It's that mid credit scene that's the toughest to figure out: For a moment there I thought the entire movie was set before End Game because Marvel had her long hair and Bruce was... Bruce. But then I realized that Bruce was in his arm cast so it must be after End Game. So is he no longer Smart Hulk? That question right there seems more important than the origin of the rings.

I saw one theory that using the gauntlet basically used up most of his gamma radiation in the process, so he couldn't maintain the form anymore. The theory further suggests that he might be "cured" of the Hulk, using up the rest of the energy sometime after Endgame finished. Which then leads into his appearance in She-Hulk, where Jennifer Walters needs a blood transfusion after an accident, not unlike her comics origin, and Bruce readily donates his blood, thinking it's gamma-free and safe.

Of course, that's all just theories and speculation.

Sep 8, 2021#127

Tinwhistler

So, something that struck me while I was watching Shang-Chi. I was totally confused about this guy's age. I immediately thought "he looks 34", and I had to do some math to figure out that in the movie he's supposed to be about 24.

His father sends him out as an assassin at 14. He kills the guy, and then immediately decides not to go home. Settles in San Francisco (at 14? we can give a year to escape to the USA, but he enrolls in high school once he gets there) and meets Katie, who he's known for 10 years (opening line of the movie). So he's gotta be 24-25, right?

This bothered me the entire movie, so I hadda look up the actor. I know some westerners have trouble aging Asian faces, but I've never had a big problem with it. I can also usually tell right away (to the suprise of my wife, every time) when an Asian actor in a show is of mixed heritage.

Simu Liu - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Yeah...32. I was pretty close.

What reminded me of this was the Pitch Meeting video for Shang-Chi (which I always enjoy) but you shouldn't watch unless you've seen the movie. Because of spoilers.

Sep 8, 2021#128

Tress

The real question is... why does it bother you in Shang-Chi but not something like Captain America: The First Avenger? Steve is supposed to be 20 years old, but he's being played by Chris Evans (who was 29-30 years old during the filming). Chadwick Boseman was 42 when Black Panther came out, but the character is supposed to be in his late 20's or early 30's.

Sep 8, 2021#129

phil

Tress said:
The real question is... why does it bother you in Shang-Chi but not something like Captain America: The First Avenger? Steve is supposed to be 20 years old, but he's being played by Chris Evans (who was 29-30 years old during the filming). Chadwick Boseman was 42 when Black Panther came out, but the character is supposed to be in his late 20's or early 30's.

I dont think ages are expressed as much in those movies. Like in shang-chi we have a pretty concrete age for him while in those other movies their age is more vague. Like really outside of Tony Stark I assumed most marvel heroes were early 30s in their premier movie.

I think it just bothered me a little bit since I don't think Simu Liu or awkwafina look 24ish especially having cocktails with their "successful" friends who also look mid 30s.

To be fair though I'm not sure it would have stood out to me as much had there not been a preview for a teen drama before the movie where the lead role is supposed to be 16-18 but the guy playing him almost certainly 35. Like this was on my mind going into Shang-chi.

Sep 8, 2021#130

Celt Z

Shawn said:
So how about those Shang-Chi post credit scenes?

The last one is pretty straight forward. The Ten Rings is going to continue but with new leadership, co-ed training rules, and possibly a new focus?

It's that mid credit scene that's the toughest to figure out: For a moment there I thought the entire movie was set before End Game because Marvel had her long hair and Bruce was... Bruce. But then I realized that Bruce was in his arm cast so it must be after End Game. So is he no longer Smart Hulk? That question right there seems more important than the origin of the rings.

They do establish when Shang-Chi takes place pretty early on. When Shang-Chi and Katy are out for drinks with their friends the first time, Katy mentions that 50% of existence could be snapped out at any time when they're defending their life choices. I think that showed they were in a post-blip world.

phil said:
I dont think ages are expressed as much in those movies. Like in shang-chi we have a pretty concrete age for him while in those other movies their age is more vague.

I think it just bothered me a little bit since I don't think Simu Liu or awkwafina look 24ish especially having cocktails with their "successful" friends who also look mid 30s.

Well, you're partially right. They do show on screen that Steve is 24 at the time of Captain America:The First Avenger. We see his birthday (July 4, 1918) on his Department of Selective Services card.

But I think it's also just Simu Liu's face that makes him look older. I mean, here is is at 27:

(This is Kim's Convenience Season 1, which aired in 2016.) He looks exactly the same, maybe with brighter lighting.

But if you look at his stock photo career, which he actually IS in his early-to-mid 20's:

He honestly looks around 30 here. I think it's just that his face is fuller when he filmed Shang-Chi.

phil said:
To be fair though I'm not sure it would have stood out to me as much had there not been a preview for a teen drama before the movie where the lead role is supposed to be 16-18 but the guy playing him almost certainly 35. Like this was on my mind going into Shang-chi.

Dear Evan Hansen. Yeahhhhhh. Great musical, but a mistake to cast the original Evan Hansen. Ben Platt is having a total "How do you do, fellow kids?" moment. From the time the first trailer aired, people complained about the very obvious miscasting, but Platt insisted the only way the studio would let it be made is if he reprised the role. I don't know if I believe that, but it now makes the RENT movie look better by comparison.

Sep 8, 2021#131

Tinwhistler

Tress said:
The real question is... why does it bother you in Shang-Chi but not something like Captain America: The First Avenger? Steve is supposed to be 20 years old, but he's being played by Chris Evans (who was 29-30 years old during the filming). Chadwick Boseman was 42 when Black Panther came out, but the character is supposed to be in his late 20's or early 30's.

Well, in Captain America I imagine the extreme CGI of his tiny body and then his transformation into a super sayan (lol) probably distracted me. I never gave much thought to his age, because I don't remember them explicitly making it a plot point. If they had said several times in the film "Look at how much you've accomplished, and you're only 20!" or some such, I'm sure it would have stood out to me.

I never knew how old T'Challa was supposed to be, and again, it wasn't a major plot point.

However, in Shang-chi, they spell it out as important several times in the film, and every time, I just got the whole "how do you do, fellow kids?" vibe

(Incidentally, I wrote this prior to reading @Celt Z basically saying the same thing about another show.)

Sep 8, 2021#132

ScytheRexx

For someone that was mistaken for 28 year old when I was 18, this conversation is weird to me. It's not unheard of that a kid battered and beaten into the ultimate physical weapon might look a few years older then he actually is in our super hero fantasy movie.

I have seen way more egregious examples of older people trying to play younger adults and / or teens. I guess it just feels weird that this seems to be what people are getting hung on for this movie.

Sep 9, 2021#133

figmentPez

The zombies episode of Marvel's What If...? is so stupid. Possibly the worst thing to come out of the MCU. Tonally this is all over the place, with a huge focus on dumb jokes. They're trying way too hard to make this gruesome content into something light-hearted, and and they hurt themselves in the process, badly.

I didn't find anything redeemable in the entire episode. I hope it never sees a follow-up.

EDIT: was reading back a bit to see if anyone else has seen this episode, and a spoiled comment about episode 3 struck me as relelvant:

[Movies] - MCU: Phase 4: Variant Madness

I feel that there has to be more to this thing than the teaser is suggesting. Firstly this whole spell seems very irresponsible for Dr. Strange. Perhaps there is something more at stake with the spell than just wiping memories.

www.halforums.com

"Oh, and maybe the fans need to be careful with their memes, considering the Hulk scene was basically a sterilized version of the Ant Man / Thanos Ass meme."

At least Hope didn't get inside Sharon via her ass!

Sep 10, 2021#134

Shawn

figmentPez said:
The zombies episode of Marvel's What If...? is so stupid. Possibly the worst thing to come out of the MCU. Tonally this is all over the place, with a huge focus on dumb jokes. They're trying way too hard to make this gruesome content into something light-hearted, and and they hurt themselves in the process, badly.

I didn't find anything redeemable in the entire episode. I hope it never sees a follow-up.

EDIT: was reading back a bit to see if anyone else has seen this episode, and a spoiled comment about episode 3 struck me as relelvant:

[Movies] - MCU: Phase 4: Variant Madness

I feel that there has to be more to this thing than the teaser is suggesting. Firstly this whole spell seems very irresponsible for Dr. Strange. Perhaps there is something more at stake with the spell than just wiping memories.

www.halforums.com

"Oh, and maybe the fans need to be careful with their memes, considering the Hulk scene was basically a sterilized version of the Ant Man / Thanos Ass meme."

At least Hope didn't get inside Sharon via her ass!

I have the opposite opinion on the What If... Zombies? episode. I could acknowledge that this was a show that needed to be okay for younger audiences but even then they still took some very interesting liberties with everything that happened. No blood but there was plenty of body explosions, decapitations, and other fun zombie destroying fun. I had a good time with it!

Cap's "death" was ironic and fun. Some nice splitting down the middle sequences. And the ending was both frustrating but like "aw crap. History is going to repeat itself... in the worst of ways."
The only thing I did not like was Vision's quick side-change. I didn't mind that he chose Z-Wanda over everyone else, but he changes his mind and help out the survivors way to quickly. And also I sort of envisioned crazy Vision cutting off T'Challa's legs and stuff to feed Z-Wanda, but he would have at least placed him somewhere comfortable WHILE doing it. "Yes I understand I have to sacrifice you piece by piece to keep my zombie bride satiated, but that doesn't mean you can't watch episodes of The Office."

Sep 10, 2021#135

Gryfter

I have enjoyed all the What If episodes so far. Some more than others but my current fav was last week's Dr. Strange ep.

Sep 10, 2021#136

GasBandit

The T'Challa-Starlord one was a little fangirly, but on the whole I've enjoyed the show thus far.

Sep 10, 2021#137

AshburnerX

If this keeps going until Halloween, I would expect part 2 of Marvel Zombies then.

Sep 11, 2021#138

GasBandit

Sep 13, 2021#139

Tress

Sep 13, 2021#140

Dave

They are making it look like a buddy cop story.

Sep 13, 2021#141

MindDetective

I'm all in. But will there be a episode entirely from the perspective of a dog?

Sep 13, 2021#142

Celt Z

I love it, and PLEASEpleaspleaseplease give us more Rogers the Musical! :rofl:

Sep 13, 2021#143

PatrThom

As someone who has not yet seen the movies, that thumbnail looks like "Marvel Crossover: Hawkeye & Katniss Everdeen."

--Patrick

Sep 13, 2021#144

@Li3n

figmentPez said:
The zombies episode of Marvel's What If...? is so stupid.

Tonally this is all over the place, with a huge focus on dumb jokes.

So it stays true to the comic version?

Sep 14, 2021#145

ScytheRexx

Heard some interesting rumors on the vine.

Of course, take this with a grain of salt, but there are a lot of rumors that the stuff happening in "What If" is going to heavily set up many of the future movies. We know now through trailers that at some point, The Watcher is going to intervene and form an "Avengers" team made up of most of the main characters from many of the episodes. So far we saw Captain Carter, T'Challa Star-Lord, Supreme Strange, and Zombieland Spider-Man in this team group, but also upcoming heroes like Kilmonger Black Panther and Thanos Gamora will become part of it. I have said before how I don't think the Doctor Strange in No Way Home is the regular Doctor Strange, and further analysis has been really hinting to this Doctor Strange being Supreme Strange from What If. Why? Benedict has always played Doctor Strange having a shaky tic to his movements, due to his damaged hands. However, in the trailer for No Way Home, the Doctor Strange we see has been doing clean, précises movements during all but one of his scenes (which could be the tic, or could be just struggling with the spell.) which leads many people to believe it's actually Supreme Strange.

To make a long story short, with the death of Chadwick and the retirement of the T'Challa character, they don't have a good Black Panther replacement right now. Many people expected Shuri to take the role, but after many scandals with Letitia last year, it seemed those rumors evaporated. Then the rumors lead to them just not having a Black Panther, and focusing instead on Wakanda, but now we know that is actually happening in a tv show. So who can they get to take the role? Well, Michael B. Jordan has been rumored to be on the set of Black Panther 2, and considering he was such a popular character, even as a villain, and he is getting redeemed as a hero in the next episode of "What If", it could be they are pulling a huge multiverse play and will have Michael from the alternate universe somehow come to the main MCU, taking on the mantle. Do I believe this? Honestly, skeptical, because it just seems like such a crazy idea, but once long ago I considered all the Sony Spider-Man villains appearing in an MCU property to be impossible, so I am going to keep my mind a little open.

Sep 15, 2021#146

Shawn

Dave said:
They are making it look like a buddy cop story.

And I love it.

Sep 15, 2021#147

Shawn

ScytheRexx said:
Heard some interesting rumors on the vine.

Of course, take this with a grain of salt, but there are a lot of rumors that the stuff happening in "What If" is going to heavily set up many of the future movies. We know now through trailers that at some point, The Watcher is going to intervene and form an "Avengers" team made up of most of the main characters from many of the episodes. So far we saw Captain Carter, T'Challa Star-Lord, Supreme Strange, and Zombieland Spider-Man in this team group, but also upcoming heroes like Kilmonger Black Panther and Thanos Gamora will become part of it. I have said before how I don't think the Doctor Strange in No Way Home is the regular Doctor Strange, and further analysis has been really hinting to this Doctor Strange being Supreme Strange from What If. Why? Benedict has always played Doctor Strange having a shaky tic to his movements, due to his damaged hands. However, in the trailer for No Way Home, the Doctor Strange we see has been doing clean, précises movements during all but one of his scenes (which could be the tic, or could be just struggling with the spell.) which leads many people to believe it's actually Supreme Strange.

To make a long story short, with the death of Chadwick and the retirement of the T'Challa character, they don't have a good Black Panther replacement right now. Many people expected Shuri to take the role, but after many scandals with Letitia last year, it seemed those rumors evaporated. Then the rumors lead to them just not having a Black Panther, and focusing instead on Wakanda, but now we know that is actually happening in a tv show. So who can they get to take the role? Well, Michael B. Jordan has been rumored to be on the set of Black Panther 2, and considering he was such a popular character, even as a villain, and he is getting redeemed as a hero in the next episode of "What If", it could be they are pulling a huge multiverse play and will have Michael from the alternate universe somehow come to the main MCU, taking on the mantle. Do I believe this? Honestly, skeptical, because it just seems like such a crazy idea, but once long ago I considered all the Sony Spider-Man villains appearing in an MCU property to be impossible, so I am going to keep my mind a little open.

Not sure Kilmonger Black Panther is the type of guy that The Watcher wants on his team after seeing that episode.

Sep 15, 2021#148

ThatNickGuy

Latest What If...? was pretty good. Not "the whole universe is fucked by the end of the episode" like others, but still pretty solid.

Not that every episode needs to end in doom or that doing so makes it a better episode. It's more an observation on the overall series.

Sep 15, 2021#149

ScytheRexx

Shawn said:
Not sure Kilmonger Black Panther is the type of guy that The Watcher wants on his team after seeing that episode.

Yes I just saw. On the one hand, refreshing to see them stay true to the character. On the other hand, kind of throws a wrench in a lot of the theories right now. It has me intrigued.

Sep 15, 2021#150

Shawn

ScytheRexx said:
Yes I just saw. On the one hand, refreshing to see them stay true to the character. On the other hand, kind of throws a wrench in a lot of the theories right now. It has me intrigued.

Kilmonger's past changed way too late for him to be redeemable as a good guy. Now I just want to see Shuri and Pepper take him down.

Sep 15, 2021#151

ScytheRexx

Shawn said:
Kilmonger's past changed way too late for him to be redeemable as a good guy. Now I just want to see Shuri and Pepper take him down.

There is still the question of why he appears in the "team-up" Either it's Marvel trying to pull a trailer trick, which of course is totally possible (Hulk in Infinity War, anyone?), or something else is going to happen. My theory is that since Shuri obviously has proof of all the things that Kilmonger did, she and Pepper are going to expose Kilmonger to the entire world, thus turning him into a pariah hunted by both the US and Wakanda. He will still escape with the suit and the powers of the Black Panther, but he will be on the run constantly and unable to ever rest (The Dora Milaje ain't gonna give him that for killing T'Challa and deceiving them). This will lead to him having a similar thing as with Supreme Strange, where he likely joins the "team" simply to escape whatever existence he is forced to live by that point.

One thing I like each episode is how the Watcher keeps getting less and less mysterious. When it started he is just a shadow barely visible, then each episode he keeps looming closer and closer in the background. He finally showed himself in E4, and now he is appearing more and more physical and involved. The newest little thing I noticed during this episode was that right after the big battle versus the drones, Kilmonger is looking out from a mountain and the Watcher appears transparent over the sky, but you can see his eyes and brow kind of twitching, like all this stuff happening is leaving him distressed and he wants to do something but is trying so hard to stay out of it.

Sep 15, 2021#152

Celt Z

ScytheRexx said:
Heard some interesting rumors on the vine.

Of course, take this with a grain of salt, but there are a lot of rumors that the stuff happening in "What If" is going to heavily set up many of the future movies. We know now through trailers that at some point, The Watcher is going to intervene and form an "Avengers" team made up of most of the main characters from many of the episodes. So far we saw Captain Carter, T'Challa Star-Lord, Supreme Strange, and Zombieland Spider-Man in this team group, but also upcoming heroes like Kilmonger Black Panther and Thanos Gamora will become part of it. I have said before how I don't think the Doctor Strange in No Way Home is the regular Doctor Strange, and further analysis has been really hinting to this Doctor Strange being Supreme Strange from What If. Why? Benedict has always played Doctor Strange having a shaky tic to his movements, due to his damaged hands. However, in the trailer for No Way Home, the Doctor Strange we see has been doing clean, précises movements during all but one of his scenes (which could be the tic, or could be just struggling with the spell.) which leads many people to believe it's actually Supreme Strange.

To make a long story short, with the death of Chadwick and the retirement of the T'Challa character, they don't have a good Black Panther replacement right now. Many people expected Shuri to take the role, but after many scandals with Letitia last year, it seemed those rumors evaporated. Then the rumors lead to them just not having a Black Panther, and focusing instead on Wakanda, but now we know that is actually happening in a tv show. So who can they get to take the role? Well, Michael B. Jordan has been rumored to be on the set of Black Panther 2, and considering he was such a popular character, even as a villain, and he is getting redeemed as a hero in the next episode of "What If", it could be they are pulling a huge multiverse play and will have Michael from the alternate universe somehow come to the main MCU, taking on the mantle. Do I believe this? Honestly, skeptical, because it just seems like such a crazy idea, but once long ago I considered all the Sony Spider-Man villains appearing in an MCU property to be impossible, so I am going to keep my mind a little open.

I would take this rumor with a huge grain of salt, and here's why:

A number of the people mentioned above are currently finishing off their Marvel contracts/commitment. I remember Zoe Saldana saying Guardians 3 is her last. Hayley Atwell is a huge maybe at the point. I don't remember where Cumberbatch is with his DS commitments. Getting voice-acting from the cast is a lot easier nowadays because they can record from wherever they are, but a big part of the Disney+ and big screen projects is setting up the "new generation" of heroes, and retiring those who didn't die in Endgame, but are getting older/moving on. To my knowledge, What If...? is, at the moment, basically wish fulfillment/fan fic/etc. But that could change at any time, if Disney sees that's the way the money is blowing.

Sep 21, 2021#153

blotsfan

Spoilers for new Spider-man movie.

Sep 21, 2021#154

PatrThom

Aww, man. They left out the best part!

--Patrick

Sep 22, 2021#155

Celt Z

You know, after 2 weeks of very sad What If's...?, I can totally dig that they went completely silly with this episode. It helps that a lot of the characters used are good at comedy.

Sep 22, 2021#156

ScytheRexx

It was a good episode. Was a perfect one to also setup the "Big Bad" of the series.

Back when WandaVision was happening there were rumors that James Spader was at Marvel Studios, leading to lots of rumors about him voicing White Vision. That ended up not happening, but after todays episode it makes sense that he was likely there to record lines for this show instead. The Ultron/Vision we saw at the end seems to be one that succeeded in transferring his consciousness into the Vision body and destroyed humanity, went out and claimed all the Infinity Stones in his universe and now is moving into other universes to destroy them there too. Having Paul voice a fully ultronized vision wouldn't work, so they would have to either bring back Spader or get someone that sounds similar, like they did for the other actors that didn't return for it.

Sep 22, 2021#157

GasBandit

It is YOU who has pooped the party!

Sep 22, 2021#158

ThatNickGuy

I wasn't really crazy about this episode. It was fine, but I don't know. A lot of the jokes just felt forced to me.

Sep 22, 2021#159

Shawn

The episode was okay. I found myself a little bored and checking how much longer it had to go. Had some good laughs.
But there is one plot hole here.

Mjollnir only received the "Worthy" spell in the MCU when Odin added it when casting Thor from Asgard. It seems that the circumstances here are very different than if Loki were around.
Now perhaps Odin still inscribed the spell, but if he did how the hell is Thor carrying it? Surely this irresponsible party throwing Thor couldn't wield it in his current state of mind?
And before anyone questions: yes I believe the spell is still in place. The inscription is on the hammer in the episode (though I couldn't read it. So maybe it's different) and he keeps Captain Marvel down by placing it on her chest.

Sep 23, 2021#160

ScytheRexx

The hammer always had a spell that prevented others from wielding it, other then Thor and Odin (and Hela). Odin altered the spell by adding the worthy component as punishment for Thor, but also intentionally or unintentionally opening it up to others that fit the worthy component. So ya, it's not really a plot hole.

Sep 23, 2021#161

DarkAudit

MCU: plots a decade's worth of movies.

IATSE: nice plan you've got there. Would be a shame if anything happened to it.

:popcorn:

Sep 23, 2021#162

Shawn

DarkAudit said:
MCU: plots a decade's worth of movies.

IATSE: nice plan you've got there. Would be a shame if anything happened to it.

Gotta take care of those working on the movies too. Companies like Netflix and Apple are still trying to claim they don't have to pay their workers standard rates or give them lunch breaks because the streaming industry is so "unstable" and "experimental".

Sep 29, 2021#163

Celt Z

We've clearly left behind all the happy-go-lucky of last week's What If...?

Somewhat annoyed Disney didn't pony-up to get Spader. Say what you will, but his voice IS Ultron, and you just can't imitate that. On the other hand, minute 6:28 made me say aloud, "OHHHHHHH SHIT!!!", so they really wanted us at ease from last week.

Sep 29, 2021#164

ScytheRexx

New episode was fun.

Agree on Spader. I already told my contact that told me Spader voiced some lines awhile back that he is full of shit. If they were not going to use him in What If, there isn't anything else we will hear him in. I think the dude tried his best though to mimic Spader in this episode, just didn't have the gravity of it though.

This episode had a lot of, um, weird inconsistencies though.

How the hell did Thanos get nearly all the stones in this universe? They have him appear on Earth exactly like he did in Infinity War, which makes me feel they were trying to play a parallel to Infinity War, but that makes no sense. The Time Stone is still on Earth somewhere, which I guess we could argue he just went to Doctor Strange's irradiated corpse and took it, but then how did he get the Soul Stone? We see Gamora literally two scenes later fighting Ultron's drones as they destroy Sovereign, and since Gamora was literally the only thing he actually loved, how did he get the Soul Stone? How did he even FIND the Soul Stone when Gamora was the only person that knew where it was?

How "out of sync" the narrative felt after the stinger in the Party Thor episode. We have the Watcher being all like "Oh, then they lived happily. Wait what?" and we see Ultron appear, so we know he saw and was confused by Ultron being there. Then this episode starts and he is now watching Ultron get his body and destroy the universe, all the while getting confused when Ultron suddenly notices him and breaks out. Like, bitch, you literally saw him traversing space and time in an earlier moment in a completely different universe, why is this suddenly so surprising to you?

Anyways, one thing people seem to be upset about was how easy Ultron killed Thanos, but people kind of lose focus on the fact that Vision really could kill anyone he wanted in a blink if he desired it, but he was a good android, and never wanted to do harm unless it was necessary. Ultron does not have that quelm, and so of course he would just slice Thanos in half with the Mind Stone the minute he wanted something from him.

Anyways, this gives us the Black Widow with the Red Guardian Shield, so that means the only members of the "Multiverse Avengers" we have yet to see is Mad Titan Gamora.

Sep 29, 2021#165

Frank

I always liked Tom Kane's Ultron. Too bad he passed.

Oct 6, 2021#166

Shawn

Episode 9 was awesome.

But did we miss out on an episode with Thanos-killing Gamora?

Oct 6, 2021#167

ThatNickGuy

Shawn said:
Episode 9 was awesome.

But did we miss out on an episode with Thanos-killing Gamora?

Apparently that episode was delayed due to Covid restrictions interfering with production. It might be bumped to season 2.

Oct 6, 2021#168

ScytheRexx

Yup, they said one episode didn't get finished, and after they announced the last episode was the penultimate episode, I figured it was going to be that one.

Do find it kind of hilarious that the one universe Tony Stark seems to have a big role that does NOT involve dying, would be the one cut. I know he technically never died in the Peggy, Star-Lord (maybe), and Party Thor universes, but he has zero role in those, so they don't really count.

I was waiting for that Kilmonger betrayal. After his setup in his episode I knew they were going to keep him on that path and have him do something, and when I noticed he was missing from the second half of the big final fight I knew it was coming. Though I admit even I was not expecting him to literally use a severed Ultron-Bot head to learn how to control Ultron's nano particles. It was good to see the Zola virus also come to fruition, though Zola's AI being more powerful then Ultron is a bit weird to me, and has been since last episode. It was nice to see Supreme Strange do something good to make up for his mistake.

I kind of guffawed when they brought up the whole "each infinity stone is also different" to explain how Gamora's Infinity Crusher couldn't destroy them, because it also can be used as an excuse why Ultron or Kilmonger didn't just snap their fingers and win. That was something bothering me since Ultron got the stones, since he had the power to literally rewrite the universe and instead made a big army and manually flew around destroying planets, and then kept using the stones to fight the heroes rather then literally erasing them. For a time I figured they would just use the ignorance angle ("he didn't know he could do that since he never learned it from anyone.") and that they would explain away the fact all the stones together were not ripping Ultron apart because he was synthetic. Now after that throw away line and Kilmonger holding all the stones without any feedback harming him, it seems the stones from that universe are physically stronger but generally weaker then the ones from the sacred timeline, and don't have that extreme power.

Oct 6, 2021#169

ThatNickGuy

ScytheRexx said:
Yup, they said one episode didn't get finished, and after they announced the last episode was the penultimate episode, I figured it was going to be that one.

Do find it kind of hilarious that the one universe Tony Stark seems to have a big role that does NOT involve dying, would be the one cut. I know he technically never died in the Peggy, Star-Lord (maybe), and Party Thor universes, but he has zero role in those, so they don't really count.

I was waiting for that Kilmonger betrayal. After his setup in his episode I knew they were going to keep him on that path and have him do something, and when I noticed he was missing from the second half of the big final fight I knew it was coming. Though I admit even I was not expecting him to literally use a severed Ultron-Bot head to learn how to control Ultron's nano particles. It was good to see the Zola virus also come to fruition, though Zola's AI being more powerful then Ultron is a bit weird to me, and has been since last episode. It was nice to see Supreme Strange do something good to make up for his mistake.

I kind of guffawed when they brought up the whole "each infinity stone is also different" to explain how Gamora's Infinity Crusher couldn't destroy them, because it also can be used as an excuse why Ultron or Kilmonger didn't just snap their fingers and win. That was something bothering me since Ultron got the stones, since he had the power to literally rewrite the universe and instead made a big army and manually flew around destroying planets, and then kept using the stones to fight the heroes rather then literally erasing them. For a time I figured they would just use the ignorance angle ("he didn't know he could do that since he never learned it from anyone.") and that they would explain away the fact all the stones together were not ripping Ultron apart because he was synthetic. Now after that throw away line and Kilmonger holding all the stones without any feedback harming him, it seems the stones from that universe are physically stronger but generally weaker then the ones from the sacred timeline, and don't have that extreme power.

Given how he handled Thanos, I don't think Ultron needs the stones do cut things in half.

Thanos looked perfectly balanced. As all thing should be.

Oct 6, 2021#170

ScytheRexx

You know I just realized...

Kilmonger actually never had all the stones. The Mind Stone was still inside Ultron / Zola. They were fighting over the other 5 stones. Not sure how I didn't notice that before. Might explain why Kilmonger never experienced some sort of feedback like Thanos / Hulk / Tony since it only seems to happen at 6 stones together.

Oct 7, 2021#171

IronBrig4

THIS is how action sequences should be done. No jitter cam or quick cuts.

Oct 7, 2021#172

evilmike

What could have been:

According to Andrews, even before “What If... T’Challa Became a Star-Lord” became one of the first season’s strongest episodes, plans were coming into shape for a full-on animated spin-off about the variant. “I don’t know if [Boseman] knew this, but there was planning to have Star Lord T’Challa spin-off into his own show with that universe and crew,” (executive producer Bryan) Andrews said. “We were all very excited. We know he would have loved it, too. And then, you know, he passed, and so all that’s in limbo. So, who knows? Maybe one day.” (io9)

------------------

For the record, I agree with the two fairly common criticisms of this episode -- how they handled Korath, and the reason Thanos was in the episode. However, I thought virtually everything else about the episode was fantastic.

Oct 7, 2021#173

AshburnerX

evilmike said:
What could have been:

According to Andrews, even before “What If... T’Challa Became a Star-Lord” became one of the first season’s strongest episodes, plans were coming into shape for a full-on animated spin-off about the variant. “I don’t know if [Boseman] knew this, but there was planning to have Star Lord T’Challa spin-off into his own show with that universe and crew,” (executive producer Bryan) Andrews said. “We were all very excited. We know he would have loved it, too. And then, you know, he passed, and so all that’s in limbo. So, who knows? Maybe one day.” (io9)

------------------

For the record, I agree with the two fairly common criticisms of this episode -- how they handled Korath, and the reason Thanos was in the episode. However, I thought virtually everything else about the episode was fantastic.

It would have given them an excuse to use the "Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda" stuff they have going on in the comics too.

Oct 7, 2021#174

Celt Z

This reminds me of something I read the other day:

An episode pitch involving the Guardians of the Galaxy was suggested for the first season, but it had to be scrapped after A.C Bradley was told that she had inadvertently written half the plot of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

O rly??

Oct 7, 2021#175

HCGLNS

Oct 7, 2021#176

Sparhawk

HCGLNS said:

I just hope they use the song as the series theme.

Oct 7, 2021#177

Far

Regarding the cut episode referenced in the last one.

Tony's armor definitely had Sakkar markings on it right? I wonder if instead of Hulk ending up there, he does in the Hulk Buster armor we see then somehow meets up with Gamora.

Oct 7, 2021#178

Sparhawk

I think I remember The Watcher saying Gamora of Sakkar when he pops in at the forge. So you are probably correct and it sounds like Gamora may have been there awhile.

Oct 7, 2021#179

ScytheRexx

Actually have a few theories based on what little we saw from the episode 9 scene.

A few things that stood out to me, one, Eitiri still had his hands, two, Tony repeated one of his big lines from Age of Ultron ("How can we put a shield around the world."), three, Gamora is wearing the armor she wore while with Thanos, and not the sleeker outfit she wore while with Rhonin. This makes me think the divergent event had to happen before 2014, since Gamora never joined the GOTG, Tony never said the armor line (Otherwise why repeat it like you never said it before? Would he want to say it again after Ultron?), and the other realms abandoned by Loki after Dark World were not abandoned long enough for Thanos to cut off Eitiri's hands.

My theory? When Tony redirected the nuke at the end of Avengers and launched it through the portal, instead of falling back down to Earth, he got trapped, and drifted through a wormhole, ending up on Sakaar. This is why the armor has Sakaar symbols and seems to be battle ready for hand-to-hand combat, likely having taken part in the various arena battles, and probably over time even became the Grandmaster's Champion. Thanos learns about this sometime around the events of GOTG, and rather then sending his daughters to help Rhonin, he instead sends Gamora and Nebula to capture Tony. They go to Sakaar, and likely get trapped in the same games, all the while trying to get close to Tony, but the sisters bond and work out their differences during these events. When they finally get to Tony and free him, neither sister wants to follow Thanos anymore, and they decide the best way to stop him would be to prevent him from ever getting the Infinity Stones by destroying them. With Tony, they escape Sakaar and head to Nidavellir where Tony works with Eitiri to create the Infinity Crusher, which will be able to destroy the stones, but only when they are all gathered together, using the Soul Stone as a power source. Not long after this, Thanos attacked Nidavellir and forces the dwarves to start making the Infinity Gauntlet. Now who collects the stones, either the trio (Tony, Gamora, Nebula) or Thanos, I can't really parse, but I know it would end with Gamora, having known for a long time the Soul Stone was on Vormir, heading there to collect it with Tony and Nebula, only to run into the sacrifice requirement. Nebula ends up sacrificing herself to a tearful Gamora, to help them get the stone. It all ends with the stones together, Thanos appears and attempts to take them, only for Gamora to use the Infinity Crusher, destroying the stones and likely killing Thanos in the backlash. Free of him, but still torn because of their weird relationship, she takes his sword as a trophy / reminder. The scene in episode 9 on Nidavellir is Tony and Gamora returning to free the dwarves, but also destroy the recently finished but unused Infinity Gauntlet.

Is this the path they take? Probably not exactly, but based on what little I saw it feels like the path it would have taken.

Oct 8, 2021#180

IronBrig4

ScytheRexx said:
Actually have a few theories based on what little we saw from the episode 9 scene.

A few things that stood out to me, one, Eitiri still had his hands, two, Tony repeated one of his big lines from Age of Ultron ("How can we put a shield around the world."), three, Gamora is wearing the armor she wore while with Thanos, and not the sleeker outfit she wore while with Rhonin. This makes me think the divergent event had to happen before 2014, since Gamora never joined the GOTG, Tony never said the armor line (Otherwise why repeat it like you never said it before? Would he want to say it again after Ultron?), and the other realms abandoned by Loki after Dark World were not abandoned long enough for Thanos to cut off Eitiri's hands.

My theory? When Tony redirected the nuke at the end of Avengers and launched it through the portal, instead of falling back down to Earth, he got trapped, and drifted through a wormhole, ending up on Sakaar. This is why the armor has Sakaar symbols and seems to be battle ready for hand-to-hand combat, likely having taken part in the various arena battles, and probably over time even became the Grandmaster's Champion. Thanos learns about this sometime around the events of GOTG, and rather then sending his daughters to help Rhonin, he instead sends Gamora and Nebula to capture Tony. They go to Sakaar, and likely get trapped in the same games, all the while trying to get close to Tony, but the sisters bond and work out their differences during these events. When they finally get to Tony and free him, neither sister wants to follow Thanos anymore, and they decide the best way to stop him would be to prevent him from ever getting the Infinity Stones by destroying them. With Tony, they escape Sakaar and head to Nidavellir where Tony works with Eitiri to create the Infinity Crusher, which will be able to destroy the stones, but only when they are all gathered together, using the Soul Stone as a power source. Not long after this, Thanos attacked Nidavellir and forces the dwarves to start making the Infinity Gauntlet. Now who collects the stones, either the trio (Tony, Gamora, Nebula) or Thanos, I can't really parse, but I know it would end with Gamora, having known for a long time the Soul Stone was on Vormir, heading there to collect it with Tony and Nebula, only to run into the sacrifice requirement. Nebula ends up sacrificing herself to a tearful Gamora, to help them get the stone. It all ends with the stones together, Thanos appears and attempts to take them, only for Gamora to use the Infinity Crusher, destroying the stones and likely killing Thanos in the backlash. Free of him, but still torn because of their weird relationship, she takes his sword as a trophy / reminder. The scene in episode 9 on Nidavellir is Tony and Gamora returning to free the dwarves, but also destroy the recently finished but unused Infinity Gauntlet.

Is this the path they take? Probably not exactly, but based on what little I saw it feels like the path it would have taken.

That... makes a lot of sense.

Oct 11, 2021#181

evilmike

Oct 11, 2021#182

bhamv3

Huh. When I think of Adam Warlock, Will Poulter is not who comes to mind. But the MCU's generally done very well with casting, so I trust their judgment.

Oct 11, 2021#183

Tinwhistler

bhamv3 said:
Huh. When I think of Adam Warlock, Will Poulter is not who comes to mind. But the MCU's generally done very well with casting, so I trust their judgment.

I would've agreed on looks alone..but he's grown up a little, and his face has filled out. I think he'll look fine in the role. I assume the acting will be on point, because, you know, they do all of those auditions and stuff.

Oct 11, 2021#184

bhamv3

Yeah I have no worries about the acting side of things, Will Poulter is a very competent actor so I'm sure he'll do a fine job. And yeah, looks-wise he's really grown up. The eyebrows don't even stand out that much any more.

Oct 12, 2021#185

Dave

Wow he really looks different. He’s not the awkwardly ugly kid I’ve come to know him as.

Oct 12, 2021#186

Frank

He really Neville Longbottomed

Oct 13, 2021#187

HCGLNS

Okay, I am caught up on What if? And the last two episodes have lead me to the following information.

Uatu is in another dimension, with voyeuristic intention, well secluded and sees all.

Oct 13, 2021#188

Celt Z

They were into the time slip, and nothing will ever be the same.

Oct 14, 2021#189

evilmike

New Hawkeye trailer:

Oct 14, 2021#190

Celt Z

Still not tired of Rogers the Musical, although Clint's expression seems pretty apt.

Oct 14, 2021#191

ScytheRexx

One little thing someone brought up to me in What If that I thought was inventive.

When the Watcher collects all the GotMV, it mostly moves to the next scene right after, all except the Kilmonger universe, which lingers for a little bit while Shuri and Pepper look around trying to figure out where he went. Here is the fun thing though, the Watcher sends most of the heroes back to the exact moment they left. All except for Kilmonger, who was trapped with Ultron / Zola inside the pocket dimension. That little scene lingering, when looking back in hindsight, was hinting to his fate.

Oct 15, 2021#192

chris

Celt Z said:
Still not tired of Rogers the Musical, although Clint's expression seems pretty apt.

"It's shwabage"

Oct 15, 2021#193

Shawn

Celt Z said:
Still not tired of Rogers the Musical, although Clint's expression seems pretty apt.

Getting the feeling his reaction is going to be regarding how they portray him in particular in the musical.

Why do action/adventure/comedy films work so well when based around Christmas? It's just science at this point.

Oct 15, 2021#194

PatrThom

Shawn said:
Why do action/adventure/comedy films work so well when based around Christmas?

Two words: Juxta position.

--Patrick

Oct 24, 2021#195

evilmike

Nov 12, 2021#196

evilmike

Nov 12, 2021#197

Far

Nov 12, 2021#198

Tinwhistler

I loved Moon Knight as a kid. Probably because of that neat ass helicopter he had. I don't really remember much else, honestly. But I'm excited for the movie.

Nov 12, 2021#199

PatrThom

I wish they’d used distinct music, unless it’s going to be a rotating anthology series.

—Patrick

Nov 12, 2021#200

Celt Z

I still can't decide if I'm more excited for Ms. Marvel or Sestra-Hulk.

Nov 12, 2021#201

Far

Moon Knight for me but that's likely cause I crush hard for Oscar Isaac.

Nov 13, 2021#202

chris

Far said:
View attachment 39415

It had for a moment, but X-Men '97? Nice try.
But I have to admit, this looks really convincing.

Nov 13, 2021#203

Tress

chris said:
It had for a moment, but X-Men '97? Nice try.
But I have to admit, this looks really convincing.

Are you kidding, and I can’t tell? Because it’s real.

Nov 13, 2021#204

Tinwhistler

Tress said:
Are you kidding, and I can’t tell? Because it’s real.

yup

'X-Men: The Animated Series' revival is coming to Disney+ | CNN Business

Get ready to have this theme song stuck in your head again. "X-Men: The Animated Series" is coming back.

www.cnn.com

Nov 13, 2021#205

chris

Oh, so Disney has the rights for everything animated I guess. I thought the movie and tv right for X-Men owns Sony.

Nov 13, 2021#206

AshburnerX

chris said:
Oh, so Disney has the rights for everything animated I guess. I thought the movie and tv right for X-Men owns Sony.

Movie and TV for X-Men was Fox, which was bought by Disney. Sony has the Spider-man movie rights.

Nov 17, 2021#207

figmentPez

Because of the internet messing with marketing for Spider-Man No Way Home, #doCOCK is trending on Twitter. Capitalization makes all the difference to #DocOck.

Nov 17, 2021#208

ThatNickGuy

figmentPez said:
Because of the internet messing with marketing for Spider-Man No Way Home, #doCOCK is trending on Twitter. Capitalization makes all the difference to #DocOck.

View attachment 39456

That gives me an idea for photoshopping all four of his tentacles to look like something else, but boy howdy, that image would get flagged instantly on any platform.

Nov 17, 2021#209

Cog

I think these villains from another dimension are going to rob us of their origin on the mcu. Although they appear again with their updated versions, Peter will already know them. So maybe this movie ends with a reset.

Nov 17, 2021#210

PatrThom

figmentPez said:
Because of the internet messing with marketing for Spider-Man No Way Home, #doCOCK is trending on Twitter. Capitalization makes all the difference to #DocOck.

View attachment 39456

This really underscores the need for marketers to think long & hard about their formatting choices before putting it out there where everyone can see it.

—Patrick

Nov 17, 2021#211

ScytheRexx

Man the MCU power creep is still getting to me a bit. It's sometimes hard to imagine we started with a guy who decided to build a metal suit in the desert to... well all the stuff that happened in Eternals.

Nov 17, 2021#212

IronBrig4

ScytheRexx said:
It's sometimes hard to imagine we started with a guy who decided to build a metal suit in the desert to... well all the stuff that happened in Eternals.

Not just in a desert, but in a CAVE! With a box of SCRAPS!

Nov 17, 2021#213

Far

The Brazilian version of the trailer has a longer version of that scaffold brawl set piece scene that shows

Lizard getting punched by nothing. The other Peter's are definitely edited out of that, or at least something is.

Nov 17, 2021#214

figmentPez

SMNWH _ Youre not Peter just a common bitch.png

Nov 18, 2021#215

bhamv3

Far said:
The Brazilian version of the trailer has a longer version of that scaffold brawl set piece scene that shows

Lizard getting punched by nothing. The other Peter's are definitely edited out of that, or at least something is.

It's Mephisto.

Nov 25, 2021#216

ThatNickGuy

Finished watching the first two episodes of Hawkeye.

Eh, it's okay, I guess? Hailee Steinfeld is great and you can probably expect her to fully take over the mantle at some point. Renner feels like he's sleepwalking through the whole thing. Which is KIND of in character, but it's also just Renner's performance in general.

There was this whole side adventure with him in Ep 2 that felt like it was supposed to be this whole comedy bit, but it falls way short and felt like padding more than anything.

The Tracksuit Mafia like bad 80s villain cartoonish alongside what they're doing here. They were cartoonish in the comics, too, and they're an accurate representation, but...the Fraction/Aja run as a whole was also almost a comedic book at times. This show is far more serious.

And I think it all falls back on Renner again. He's far too deadpan with everything. In the comic, he's snarky, but in a kind of loveable doofus kind of way. Here, it's just Deadpan City. It really feels like Renner himself, not Hawkeye the character, would rather be anywhere else.

I'll keep watching through to the end because, well, what the fuck else am I doing with my life these days, but yeah, kinda disappointing.

Nov 25, 2021#217

figmentPez

I'll offer the contrasting viewpoint. I absolutely loved the first two episodes of Hawkeye and I thought Renner was fantastic. I was sobbing because of Clint's trauma over the loss of Nat, his difficulties in feeling safe and present with his returned family, and I'm not getting "deadpan" from him at all.

I'd say more but I'm exhausted. My health has not been great lately, and for Hawkeye to have grabbed me so thoroughly was no small feat given how tired I am.

Dec 1, 2021#218

ThatNickGuy

Watched Episode 3 just now. I don't know what it was but I really liked this one more than the first two. Maybe I was just in a bad mood before.

Wait...*double checks* STILL no boomerang arrow?

WORST. SHOW. EVER.

Dec 1, 2021#219

IronBrig4

ThatNickGuy said:
WORST. SHOW. EVER.

WHAT you say, Bro? BRO

Dec 1, 2021#220

ThatNickGuy

IronBrig4 said:
WHAT you say, Bro? BRO

Bro. BRO. Lemme level with you, bro. Hawkeye without boomerang arrow? Is not Hawkeye, bro.

Dec 1, 2021#221

Ravenpoe

ThatNickGuy said:
Bro. BRO. Lemme level with you, bro. Hawkeye without boomerang arrow? Is not Hawkeye, bro.

I need to know if he ever fires an arrow with a boxing glove on the end.

Dec 1, 2021#222

ThatNickGuy

Ravenpoe said:
I need to know if he ever fires an arrow with a boxing glove on the end.

While I'm sure Clint has used one, I feel like the boxing glove arrow is more synonymous with Green Arrow.

Dec 1, 2021#223

Shawn

Best Part of Episode 3:

Pym Arrow

Dec 2, 2021#224

evilmike

Shawn said:
Best Part of Episode 3:

Pym Arrow

I'm torn. There's also a really great scene involving a notepad.

And in totally unrelated news, Doctor Strange spoilers courtesy of Lego:

Dec 2, 2021#225

ThatNickGuy

Shawn said:
Best Part of Episode 3:

Pym Arrow

I laughed SO hard at that because it came completely out of nowhere, but it made enough sense that Clint would have access to something like that.

Dec 2, 2021#226

Shakey

Shawn said:
Best Part of Episode 3:

Pym Arrow

Not a huge fan of that one.

Didn’t they just go through a whole thing about having to time travel to get pun particles because they couldn’t make more? I’m guessing that arrow would need some, and it would be a huge waste if they did have some extra now.

It was pretty cool though.

Dec 2, 2021#227

Celt Z

Shakey said:
Not a huge fan of that one.

Didn’t they just go through a whole thing about having to time travel to get pun particles because they couldn’t make more? I’m guessing that arrow would need some, and it would be a huge waste if they did have some extra now.

It was pretty cool though.

Wasn't the maker of Pym Particles, Hank Pym, dusted, and he was brought back after the time heist? It's been a few years, and he's alive, so why couldn't he make more Pym Particles for the remaining Avengers at this point?

Dec 2, 2021#228

Shakey

Celt Z said:
Wasn't the maker of Pym Particles, Hank Pym, dusted, and he was brought back after the time heist? It's been a few years, and he's alive, so why couldn't he make more Pym Particles for the remaining Avengers at this point?

I only put it in spoilers because it referred to what happened in the show. You could be right though, he might have made more after that. It just seems like a really advanced piece of tech to just leave there.

Dec 2, 2021#229

evilmike

It occurs to me that if Pym particles were now unavailable, the next Ant-Man movie would be kind of sad.

Dec 2, 2021#230

ThatNickGuy

Celt Z said:
Wasn't the maker of Pym Particles, Hank Pym, dusted, and he was brought back after the time heist? It's been a few years, and he's alive, so why couldn't he make more Pym Particles for the remaining Avengers at this point?

No, you're spot on. The reason they couldn't make more Pym particles during Endgame is because Hank Pym had been dusted (at the end of Ant-Man & the Wasp). Since he was the inventor of Pym Particles, he couldn't make more for them and they had to rely on the remaining supply of it.

After he came back with everyone else, it's perfectly reasonable for Clint to get hooked up with some for a Pym-powered arrow.

Dec 3, 2021#231

Tinwhistler

Someone on Imgur posted a picture of the Watcher from the "What If" series. I had to change the text on the last panel. (Incidentally, Photoshop's 'content aware fill' makes getting rid of old text and replacing it so much simpler than it used to be)

Dec 4, 2021#232

ThatNickGuy

Warning: big Spider-Man No Way Home spoiler...

Dec 4, 2021#233

IronBrig4

Dec 6, 2021#234

evilmike

Kevin Feige, talking to CinemaBlend:

If you were to see Daredevil in upcoming things, Charlie Cox, yes, would be the actor playing Daredevil. Where we see that, how we see that, when we see that, remains to be seen.

Also,

Dec 10, 2021#235

Frank

Bye Letitia. One more for the Ben Shapiro studios.

Dec 10, 2021#236

ThatNickGuy

Imagine being handed the keys to one of the biggest selling, most culturally significant blockbusters in recent years...and completely fuck it up because you're an anti-vaxxer dumbass that wouldn't get the jab.

Dec 10, 2021#237

Frank

She's fucked as an actor if the movie ends up canned because of her antics. That's a lot of money to cost a monolithic evil studio.

Dec 10, 2021#238

Bubble181

ThatNickGuy said:
Imagine being handed the keys to one of the biggest selling, most culturally significant blockbusters in recent years...and completely fuck it up because you're an anti-vaxxer dumbass that wouldn't get the jab.

Right? And, well, not that I condone it, but fake vaccine cards are easy, plentiful, and cheap. I'm sure for a couple of hundred bucks she could find a doc to inject some saline and give her a vaxx pass.

Dec 10, 2021#239

AshburnerX

Considering she's also openly been a transphobe on twitter, I say this is a long time coming and maybe it's about time for Disney (and Warner Brothers) to start looking carefully at the shit people who might be working for them say in public.

Dec 10, 2021#240

GasBandit

If they can recast Rhodie, they can recast her.

Dec 10, 2021#241

Bubble181

GasBandit said:
If they can recast Rhodie, they can recast her.

Let's be nice and racist here: a large part of the audience wouldn't even notice, as long as she's replaced with a black woman of similar stature and the same hairdo.

Dec 10, 2021#242

AshburnerX

GasBandit said:
If they can recast Rhodie, they can recast her.

For what it's worth, Terrence Howard considers Iron Man a movie that almost killed his career.

Dec 10, 2021#243

Celt Z

For what it's also worth, Terrence Howard is a garbage person who tries to destroy his own career. Oh, and a Mysogynist with a captial "M".

Dec 10, 2021#244

ThatNickGuy

Celt Z said:
For what it's also worth, Terrence Howard is a garbage person who tries to destroy his own career. Oh, and a Mysogynist with a captial "M".

I didn't know that, but it wouldn't surprise me.

I thought Howard was okay at the time. But when Don Cheadle took his place, I thought Cheadle was much more suitable for the role. He carried more of a "military career" vibe and had much better chemistry with Downey Jr.

Dec 10, 2021#245

Far

Terrence Howard thinks 1x1 is 2 so who gives a fuck whatever else he thinks.

Dec 11, 2021#246

Frank

So officially people are calling the Letitia Wright thing bullshit and that filming will resume in January, but until that happens, I'm not holding my breath. She doesn't live in the US and in order to finish Black Panther she has to be vaccinated to re-enter. The last time she spoke about it she said it would be like injecting Satan into her veins. This sounds like the company assuring moneyhats that they'll be able to reign her in until the last minute.

Dec 11, 2021#247

ThatNickGuy

Dec 11, 2021#248

IronBrig4

GasBandit said:
If they can recast Rhodie, they can recast her.

They also recast Bruce Banner. Edward Norton left some huge shoes to fill.

Dec 11, 2021#249

ThatNickGuy

IronBrig4 said:
They also recast Bruce Banner. Edward Norton left some huge shoes to fill.

I don't hate Edward Norton, but Mark Ruffalo far surpassed him, in my opinion. He feels more like Bruce Banner than Norton ever did.

Dec 11, 2021#250

chris

And he had also good chemistry with Downey Jr.

Dec 11, 2021#251

figmentPez

I'm not sure how to react to this poster for Thor: Love and Thunder

It is impressively 80s, but it's also kinda impressively bad.

Dec 11, 2021#252

Far

It looks like these hand-painted movie posters from Ghana...

The Fascinating World of Hand-painted Ghanaian Movie Posters - Nerdist

These incredible Ghanaian movie posters are like nothing you've ever seen, and we talked to the man who's created a gallery devoted to them.

nerdist.com

or like a bootleg Chinese toy package.

Dec 11, 2021#253

PatrThom

Or a cover for a fantasy novel, or Heavy Metal magazine.

--Patrick

Dec 12, 2021#254

IronBrig4

"This tweet is unavailable." Hmmph.

Dec 12, 2021#255

PatrThom

IronBrig4 said:
"This tweet is unavailable." Hmmph.

No doubt taken down after a copyright claim from Disney Industries.

--Patrick

Dec 12, 2021#256

figmentPez

IronBrig4 said:
"This tweet is unavailable." Hmmph.

Turns out the poster was fake. Thor 4 Director Debunks Love & Thunder Poster Leak

Dec 14, 2021#257

evilmike

Initial Rotten Tomato score for Spider-Man: No Way Home has been posted: 100% (46+/0-)

Dec 15, 2021#258

evilmike

Dec 15, 2021#259

Shawn

evilmike said:
View attachment 39796

Vincent D'onofrio no less.

Dec 15, 2021#260

ThatNickGuy

Hawkeye Episode 5

Oh shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!

Dec 15, 2021#261

Celt Z

Hawkeye
Guys, guys...

...it's Mephisto.

Dec 15, 2021#262

Far

Spider-Man spoilers floating around, beware even your youtube front page if you've ever looked anything Marvel up before. Sucks.

Dec 15, 2021#263

evilmike

Far said:
Spider-Man spoilers floating around, beware even your youtube front page if you've ever looked anything Marvel up before. Sucks.

Seconded. Also, I'd stay away from live chats and comments sections.

Dec 15, 2021#264

figmentPez

The music playing over the credits, of Hawkeye episode 5, made me so happy.

Dec 15, 2021#265

evilmike

Dec 15, 2021#266

GasBandit

Dec 16, 2021#267

Shawn

As impressed as I was with the movie I must say I am very disappointed with the "brock-tease" aspect of the mid-credit scene. Continuing from the after-credit scene of Let There Be Carnage we find Eddie Brock in a bar in Mexico questioning how he got to the MCU universe. Then suddenly, as Dr. Strange's spell finishes during the events of the film, Eddie returns to his own universe. What on Earth was the point of that? And yes I'm aware that a small piece of venom is left behind which will likely kick-off a Black Suit Spider-man saga (hopefully), but why have that happen at all when it would have just been as easy (and less frustrating) to just introduce the symbiote into the MCU as a version that had always been there? You tease that the Sony-verse Eddie Brock/Venom is going to be in the MCU for several months and then just send him home without even being part of a major plot point, all so they can just leave behind a piece of the symbiote? What a waste. It feels like Sony was like "we're going to do this" and then Disney said "no you won't".
And let's also address that Eddie Brock shouldn't have been there in the first place as he doesn't fit the requirement of the spell that brought all the characters to the MCU: He has absolutely no idea who Peter Parker even is.
Rant done.

Dec 17, 2021#268

ThatNickGuy

Shawn said:
As impressed as I was with the movie I must say I am very disappointed with the "brock-tease" aspect of the mid-credit scene. Continuing from the after-credit scene of Let There Be Carnage we find Eddie Brock in a bar in Mexico questioning how he got to the MCU universe. Then suddenly, as Dr. Strange's spell finishes during the events of the film, Eddie returns to his own universe. What on Earth was the point of that? And yes I'm aware that a small piece of venom is left behind which will likely kick-off a Black Suit Spider-man saga (hopefully), but why have that happen at all when it would have just been as easy (and less frustrating) to just introduce the symbiote into the MCU as a version that had always been there? You tease that the Sony-verse Eddie Brock/Venom is going to be in the MCU for several months and then just send him home without even being part of a major plot point, all so they can just leave behind a piece of the symbiote? What a waste. It feels like Sony was like "we're going to do this" and then Disney said "no you won't".
And let's also address that Eddie Brock shouldn't have been there in the first place as he doesn't fit the requirement of the spell that brought all the characters to the MCU: He has absolutely no idea who Peter Parker even is.
Rant done.

I just got back from seeing it. I'll do a full review in a bit, but wanted to touch on your rant. Spoiler ahoy!

Yeah, it really didn't make sense why Brock was there at all. MAYBE it could be explained that the symbiote has a hivemind-like connection with others in other universes, like the one in Raimi's films? At the end of Let There Be Carnage, the symbiote did say "That guy" as if he recognized Peter Parker.

Of course, that's never EXPLAINED, so it's all fan theory garbage.

I'm guessing it was a thing demanded by Sony executives, not Disney, so it could seem like Venom might play a bigger role in this movie. Let There Be Carnage was kind of a mess and I bet there was some executive meddling there, too. So maybe they did some meddling to make this happen, but didn't care about explaining it. Or maybe someone insisted Venom/Brock be included, but didn't actually know the rules of Dr. Strange's spell. But I'm leaning more on executives not caring. Or maybe miscommunication between Sony & Marvel. I get the feeling the Venom/Brock mid-credits stuff was done entirely by the Sony side, not Disney/Marvel.

Funny enough, it's funny that this movie is loosely (VERY loosely) based on the comic story, One More Day. Because at the end of it, Joe Quesada wanted to use it as an excuse to bring not only Harry Osborn back to life, but Gwen Stacey. He got Harry, but whoever else was involved wouldn't budge on Gwen. When asked how the spell that makes people forget Peter was Spider-Man would also bring back the dead, he said "It's magic. We don't have to explain it." I get the feeling some executive said something similar. [/quote]

Dec 17, 2021#269

ScytheRexx

ThatNickGuy said:
Funny enough, it's funny that this movie is loosely (VERY loosely) based on the comic story, One More Day. Because at the end of it, Joe Quesada wanted to use it as an excuse to bring not only Harry Osborn back to life, but Gwen Stacey. He got Harry, but whoever else was involved wouldn't budge on Gwen. When asked how the spell that makes people forget Peter was Spider-Man would also bring back the dead, he said "It's magic. We don't have to explain it." I get the feeling some executive said something similar. [/spoiler]

Huh, I thought the spell was to prevent Aunt May from dying, and it did it by changing history by making it so Peter and Mary Jane never got married, thus altering the timeline with Aunt May not getting shot. Everyone forgetting he was Spider-Man was a side effect of this. So the entire intention of the spell was to bring someone back from the dead, it just did it through time alteration and not literal resurrection.

Dec 17, 2021#270

ThatNickGuy

ScytheRexx said:
Huh, I thought the spell was to prevent Aunt May from dying, and it did it by changing history by making it so Peter and Mary Jane never got married, thus altering the timeline with Aunt May not getting shot. Everyone forgetting he was Spider-Man was a side effect of this. So the entire intention of the spell was to bring someone back from the dead, it just did it through time alteration and not literal resurrection.

Oh shoot, you're right. I stand corrected. It was originally "Save Aunt May, but for the soul of your marriage" or something like that. Sorry, I'm so used to the biggest side effect being his identity being wiped that I wrapped it around with this. But even then, they had to explain why, if Peter & MJ never got married, why would that bring back Harry and/or Gwen? I don't know if it was ever explained in the comics, but I still remember the end point being "It's magic. We don't have to explain it" for various changes they wanted to make.

EDIT: Because remember, too, it also reset the fact that he had organic webshooters and other new powers. That was all whisked away without any real explanation.

Dec 17, 2021#271

Celt Z

I'm going to go with "Sony shoehorning in their Venom" because the only Venom that would have made sense would have been Topher Grace's. It was kinda lame on Sony's part.

Having said that,

my little Spidey-loving heart was so happy. Also heartbroken for Aunt May. People in my theater were audibly sobbing. I loved that when the Spidies were together, they played snippets of the original Spider-Man theme from the Raimi films. I'm also glad I spent the last week having Li'l Z watch the pre-MCU Spider-Mans. I could see it made the movie so much more exciting for him. Although he didn't get the Matt cameo, but I'm not letting him watch THOSE yet!

Dec 17, 2021#272

Shawn

Celt Z said:
I'm going to go with "Sony shoehorning in their Venom" because the only Venom that would have made sense would have been Topher Grace's. It was kinda lame on Sony's part.

Having said that,

my little Spidey-loving heart was so happy. Also heartbroken for Aunt May. People in my theater were audibly sobbing. I loved that when the Spidies were together, they played snippets of the original Spider-Man theme from the Raimi films. I'm also glad I spent the last week having Li'l Z watch the pre-MCU Spider-Mans. I could see it made the movie so much more exciting for him. Although he didn't get the Matt cameo, but I'm not letting him watch THOSE yet!

Aunt May dying, though even sadder than the death of even Tony Stark, was brilliantly orchestrated. We went two whole Spider-Man movies just assuming that Uncle Ben had died at some point before the events of Civil War. Now we know there was likely never an Uncle Ben and Aunt May is the "Power/Responsibility" death that drives him forward. Sad but damn wonderful story-wise. I really hope they continue this series with Tom Holland.

Dec 18, 2021#273

BErt

Dec 21, 2021#274

ScytheRexx

Shawn said:
What on Earth was the point of that? And yes I'm aware that a small piece of venom is left behind which will likely kick-off a Black Suit Spider-man saga (hopefully), but why have that happen at all when it would have just been as easy (and less frustrating) to just introduce the symbiote into the MCU as a version that had always been there? You tease that the Sony-verse Eddie Brock/Venom is going to be in the MCU for several months and then just send him home without even being part of a major plot point, all so they can just leave behind a piece of the symbiote? What a waste. It feels like Sony was like "we're going to do this" and then Disney said "no you won't".
And let's also address that Eddie Brock shouldn't have been there in the first place as he doesn't fit the requirement of the spell that brought all the characters to the MCU: He has absolutely no idea who Peter Parker even is.
Rant done.

After finally watching V:LTBC I wanted to just talk about this a bit.

My take is that they already established so much of the MCU cosmos in previous movies that bringing in another planet of super strong symbiotes might not have worked with what they established. Many old comics worked because by and large they were self-contained affairs, you didn't think too much of say "What are the Skrulls doing?" while reading Spider-Man because the only times the Skrulls ever existed for Spider-Man was when they were needed for a crossover issue with like the Fantastic Four. The movies are different in that they are DESIGNED to be a single established universe from the very start, and so those things become more restricted. Having Venom come into the picture through dimensional rather then planetary means they can establish him without going through the effort of trying to fit his "race" into the greater cosmos of the MCU.

As for the second comment, it's implied VERY heavily in the last V:LTBC scene that Venom himself knows Peter Parker / Spider-Man. The whole scene basically starts with Eddie asking Venom if he has any "secrets" he isn't sharing, leading to Venom talking about his "billions of light years of knowledge" he has shared as a hive mind with other symbiotes. This leads to them getting pulled to the MCU and the minute Venom sees the unmasked Spider-Man he takes over Eddie's body, says "That... guy!", and licks the screen like he is lusting over an old lover. It's pretty clear that Venom knew Peter, whether through a personal interaction at some past period of his universe (maybe he escaped the Life Foundation once before?) or through the supposed "hive link" he says he shares with other Symbiotes. Either way it's clear if he knows Peter he fits the rule.

Dec 22, 2021#275

ThatNickGuy

Couldn't sleep, depressed, so figured I'd watch the Hawkeye finale.

Really good. Nothing groundbreaking or universe breaking like the end of Loki. In fact, it stays pretty much within Clint and Kate's world. And that's fine. Not everything needs to be a world or universe threat. The villains in this weren't really developed enough for me to really care about them in the end. But everything involving Kate & Clint was absolutely top notch. There's a sequence around the halfway mark that is SO MUCH GODDAMN FUN.

More thoughts behind spoilers.

-ALL the trick arrows. God, that was so much fun. I didn't keep up with Arrow, but I'll bet it never had a sequence half as fun as that. BUT STILL NO BOOMERANG ARROW. So disappointed.
-Pretty much expected Yelena and Hawkeye to bond over Nat's death, but it was still sweetly delivered. Yelena is fantastic and you can tell the actress is having a blast in the role. She has insanely great chemistry with Kate. Which I just realized they re-created the Hawkeye/Black Widow due for a new generation.
-The Swordsman amounted to pretty much nothing. Maybe we'll see more of him in the future, because he's a fun character in this.
-Kingpin's not dead. Yeah, it looks like Maya killed him, but given that we only hear the shot off screen, they can come up with any excuse they want to bring him back. Superhero Rule #1: The villain isn't dead if you didn't see a body. Superhero Rule #1b: And even then, that doesn't always stop them from returning. Also, my god, I never want another actor playing Fisk. Vincent D'Onofrio is perfect in the role. Although the "Hawaiian Action Kingpin" outfit didn't really suit him. Especially the hat. I don't know why they chose that for him.

Dec 22, 2021#276

evilmike

Post credit scene.

Dec 22, 2021#277

evilmike

Multiverse of Madness

Dec 22, 2021#278

ThatNickGuy

Decided to finally rework my MCU rankings. Still not sure if I like where some stand, but it works overall. I feel like Endgame shouldn't be in the top 10, but there's not much that stands above it. Civil War could swap in with it.

As I've said multiple times, I don't think even the bottom ones are "bad." They have their own issues, but they're still overall good flicks. Certainly compared to many other superhero movies.

1. Captain America: The First Avenger
2. The Avengers
3. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
4. Avengers: Infinity War
5. Thor: Ragnarok
6. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
7. Black Panther
8. Guardians of the Galaxy
9. Thor
10. Avengers: Endgame
11. Captain America: Civil War
12. Doctor Strange
13. Iron Man
14. Ant-Man and the Wasp
15. Spider-Man: Homecoming
16. Spider-Man: No Way Home
17. Ant-Man
18. Shang-Chi
19. Eternals
20. Spider-Man: Far From Home
21. Avengers: Age of Ultron
22. Captain Marvel
23. Iron Man 2
24. Black Widow
25. The Incredible Hulk
26. Iron Man 3
27. Thor: The Dark World

I also almost added the Disney+ shows into the rankings, but decided they didn't technically "count" among the films. If I did?
- Hawkeye and WandaVision would somewhere around the top 13ish. They're good, though have some issues. WandaVision oddly falls apart as more of the mystery is revealed. Hawkeye's villains aren't really well fleshed out, but the chemistry between the two Hawkeyes is top notch. Kate Bishop, especially, has a big future in the franchise.

- Falcon & Winter Soldier would probably be around 18 or 19. It has some good moments, but the final product overall is flawed. I think Covid killed a lot of what they planned for the villains, so there's behind the scenes stuff that dragged it down.

- Loki would probably be around the same spot. It has some good ideas, Loki & Enchantress are great together and Tom Hiddleson carries it far better than it could have been. But it feels like half the show was exposition, explaining how the multiverse and the TVA works. It gets better along the way and ends on a high note, but it's an awkward start.

- What If...? would probably fall towards the bottom with Iron Man 3 and such. It has its moments, but it's a real mixed bag of hit and miss episodes. The ones that hit (Dr Strange, big finale) REALLY hit. The ones that miss (Zombies, Party Thor) REALLY miss.

Dec 22, 2021#279

Shakey

I see Bubble made an appearance in this episode.

Dec 22, 2021#280

Shakey

@Bubble181, an owl makes an appearance in the last Hawkeye episode.

Dec 22, 2021#281

bhamv3

evilmike said:
Multiverse of Madness

Calling it now, Wong dies in this one.

Dec 22, 2021#282

Tress

bhamv3 said:
Calling it now, Wong dies in this one.

I already had a feeling that would happen because in No Way Home…

Dr. Strange says Wong is the new Sorcerer Supreme. There’s no way they’ll leave that as is.

Dec 27, 2021#283

GasBandit

Finally got around to watching Hawkeye this weekend. Liked it. Wasn't a fan of Kate for most of the first half, but she got better. And that final villain reveal!

When they said "Kingpin!" right at the end of the episode, I told Emrys "If anyone other than Vincent D'onofrio is playing Kingpin, this show is ruined."

It was not ruined!

Guess all the defenders stuff is canon now, right? RIGHT?"

Dec 27, 2021#284

ScytheRexx

GasBandit said:
Guess all the defenders stuff is canon now, right? RIGHT?"

Considering Matt Murdock appears in No Way Home played by Charlie Cox, this seems likely. Spider-Man and Hawkeye bringing back the same actors for the same roles tells me they are trying to fully canonize the Netflix shows. It can still be up in the air though, as Marvel Studios may have just loved the actors and decided to utilize them in the MCU in the same roles after Netflix cancelled Daredevil.

On the flip side, Hawkeye also went out of it's way to put the idea that Agents of SHIELD was canon fully to bed. "Laura" being revealed as a retired Agent 19 (AKA Mockingbird) means they are overwriting the same character who was a mainstay in the middle seasons of Agents of SHIELD, played by Adrianne Palicki.

Dec 27, 2021#285

Frank

Yeah, Coulson's dead. He died when Loki poked him.

Dec 27, 2021#286

GasBandit

Aw man, I regret clicking that spoiler as I haven't seen no way home yet.

Dec 27, 2021#287

Bubble181

GasBandit said:
Aw man, I regret clicking that spoiler as I haven't seen no way home yet.

You're the admin, you can change the spoiler title to reflect it includes NWH spoilers and save others in the same position ;-)

Dec 27, 2021#288

GasBandit

Bubble181 said:
You're the admin, you can change the spoiler title to reflect it includes NWH spoilers and save others in the same position ;-)

Yeah but even changing the title to say that it was a spoiler for NWH would have in itself been a spoiler that there was something that connected the spoiler I was talking about in Hawkeye with something similar in NWH.

Dec 27, 2021#289

ScytheRexx

It's not much of a spoiler to be honest, it's not like he appears as a hero, it's basically a glorified minute cameo near the start. I apologize though.

Jan 15, 2022#290

Celt Z

Good thing I waited to watch Eternals on Disney+ instead of playing to see it in a theater (even in non-Covid times):

You know, with how well the MCU is doing lately, it's such a bummer that Eternals is as "meh" as it is. I don't think the blame rests entirely on The Eternals kinda being....well, fairly forgettable in the first place. Most of the MCU is built on characters who, at the time, were considered "B-list" or lower. I think a large part of it is due to the fact their was so many characters introduced, almost no one had a chance to develop a personality, aside from Phantos, and even then, most of it came from Brian Tyree Henry can do a lot with a little, like his role in Into the Spider-verse. Couple that with the fact that we just finished a 10-year arc with some of the most emotional highs and lows put on (superhero) film, and you give us a group who is not only aloof, but told they couldn't contribute in any way? You're setting these characters up to fail. You never give us a reason to care about them. When Ikaris turned on the group, as Mr. Z said to me, he didn't really care. There was no emotional investment in any of the characters or the Deviants, except MAYBE Phantos and Gilgmesh (which, #JusticeforGilgamesh.) And they got some pretty big name actors, but... why? There was nothing to do.

For all their maligned reputations, at least Iron Man 2 and 3 had RDJ and some good supporting cast, and Thor: The Dark World had great interactions between Thor and Loki. I may not watch those movies in full, but I'll still watch certain scenes from them. I've never said this about an MCU movie, but I don't care if we ever see these characters again....okay, maybe, MAYBE Eros/Starfox, but even then, WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU A FEW YEARS AGO?? I think the smartest thing for the MCU to do now is acknowledge The Snap...sorry, The Blip, but move away from it and Thanos. Shang-Chi, Far From Home, No Way Home and the Disney+ shows have been doing well with this. The Eternals are tied too much into major events, but then ask you to accept their lack of involvement. You can't do that: it gives us no reason to care about their situation in any way. I'm worried, based on some of the designs we saw leading up to the climax, that this will tie into the mystery of the 10 rings. Maybe, down the line, these characters will be more interesting in smaller doses, or interacting with others in the MCU.

And now tangentially-related, and because I couldn't find an answer on the internet,

is that Ashram who makes a cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy with the power stone? I've got Guardians on in the background and I just noticed him during The Collector's recap of the Infinity Stones.

Jan 15, 2022#291

Ravenpoe

Celt Z said:
Good thing I waited to watch Eternals on Disney+ instead of playing to see it in a theater (even in non-Covid times):

You know, with how well the MCU is doing lately, it's such a bummer that Eternals is as "meh" as it is. I don't think the blame rests entirely on The Eternals kinda being....well, fairly forgettable in the first place. Most of the MCU is built on characters who, at the time, were considered "B-list" or lower. I think a large part of it is due to the fact their was so many characters introduced, almost no one had a chance to develop a personality, aside from Phantos, and even then, most of it came from Brian Tyree Henry can do a lot with a little, like his role in Into the Spider-verse. Couple that with the fact that we just finished a 10-year arc with some of the most emotional highs and lows put on (superhero) film, and you give us a group who is not only aloof, but told they couldn't contribute in any way? You're setting these characters up to fail. You never give us a reason to care about them. When Ikaris turned on the group, as Mr. Z said to me, he didn't really care. There was no emotional investment in any of the characters or the Deviants, except MAYBE Phantos and Gilgmesh (which, #JusticeforGilgamesh.) And they got some pretty big name actors, but... why? There was nothing to do.

For all their maligned reputations, at least Iron Man 2 and 3 had RDJ and some good supporting cast, and Thor: The Dark World had great interactions between Thor and Loki. I may not watch those movies in full, but I'll still watch certain scenes from them. I've never said this about an MCU movie, but I don't care if we ever see these characters again....okay, maybe, MAYBE Eros/Starfox, but even then, WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU A FEW YEARS AGO?? I think the smartest thing for the MCU to do now is acknowledge The Snap...sorry, The Blip, but move away from it and Thanos. Shang-Chi, Far From Home, No Way Home and the Disney+ shows have been doing well with this. The Eternals are tied too much into major events, but then ask you to accept their lack of involvement. You can't do that: it gives us no reason to care about their situation in any way. I'm worried, based on some of the designs we saw leading up to the climax, that this will tie into the mystery of the 10 rings. Maybe, down the line, these characters will be more interesting in smaller doses, or interacting with others in the MCU.

And now tangentially-related, and because I couldn't find an answer on the internet,

is that Ashram who makes a cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy with the power stone? I've got Guardians on in the background and I just noticed him during The Collector's recap of the Infinity Stones.

I posted over in the last movie you watched thread instead of here, but I turned Eternals off after an hour. It was bad, the characters were bland, the monsters were dumb and visually confusing, the cgi was bad,

I don't need to watch the rest of the movie to know that Ikarus turns on them

And as I stated over there, I got a weirdly fascist vibe from it.

Jan 15, 2022#292

Frank

I thought the new Spider-Man was 100% meh. Should probably avoid Eternals.

I'm pretty done with Marvel movie science magic. I'm pretty done with all hand wavey God machines in general. No more magic wands that fix spaceships with the power of hope (I'm talking directly to you Picard), no more magic boxes that can literally do anything (Stark fabricators) etc.

Jan 16, 2022#293

bhamv3

Celt Z said:
Good thing I waited to watch Eternals on Disney+ instead of playing to see it in a theater (even in non-Covid times):

You know, with how well the MCU is doing lately, it's such a bummer that Eternals is as "meh" as it is. I don't think the blame rests entirely on The Eternals kinda being....well, fairly forgettable in the first place. Most of the MCU is built on characters who, at the time, were considered "B-list" or lower. I think a large part of it is due to the fact their was so many characters introduced, almost no one had a chance to develop a personality, aside from Phantos, and even then, most of it came from Brian Tyree Henry can do a lot with a little, like his role in Into the Spider-verse. Couple that with the fact that we just finished a 10-year arc with some of the most emotional highs and lows put on (superhero) film, and you give us a group who is not only aloof, but told they couldn't contribute in any way? You're setting these characters up to fail. You never give us a reason to care about them. When Ikaris turned on the group, as Mr. Z said to me, he didn't really care. There was no emotional investment in any of the characters or the Deviants, except MAYBE Phantos and Gilgmesh (which, #JusticeforGilgamesh.) And they got some pretty big name actors, but... why? There was nothing to do.

For all their maligned reputations, at least Iron Man 2 and 3 had RDJ and some good supporting cast, and Thor: The Dark World had great interactions between Thor and Loki. I may not watch those movies in full, but I'll still watch certain scenes from them. I've never said this about an MCU movie, but I don't care if we ever see these characters again....okay, maybe, MAYBE Eros/Starfox, but even then, WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU A FEW YEARS AGO?? I think the smartest thing for the MCU to do now is acknowledge The Snap...sorry, The Blip, but move away from it and Thanos. Shang-Chi, Far From Home, No Way Home and the Disney+ shows have been doing well with this. The Eternals are tied too much into major events, but then ask you to accept their lack of involvement. You can't do that: it gives us no reason to care about their situation in any way. I'm worried, based on some of the designs we saw leading up to the climax, that this will tie into the mystery of the 10 rings. Maybe, down the line, these characters will be more interesting in smaller doses, or interacting with others in the MCU.

And now tangentially-related, and because I couldn't find an answer on the internet,

is that Ashram who makes a cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy with the power stone? I've got Guardians on in the background and I just noticed him during The Collector's recap of the Infinity Stones.

I was 100% expecting them to acknowledge that the Ten Rings were Eternal tech. They didn't, ultimately, but the similarity in design does seem to be suggesting it.

Jan 16, 2022#294

Shakey

All I could think of during the ending of Eternals was when are they going to say

WITH OUR POWERS COMBINED!

This whole movie probably should have been a 5 minute scene in another movie.

Jan 16, 2022#295

Celt Z

Shakey said:
All I could think of during the ending of Eternals was when are they going to say

WITH OUR POWERS COMBINED!

This whole movie probably should have been a 5 minute scene in another movie.

Considering how they make a Celestial, the name "Captain Planet" becomes a literal harbinger of doom.

Jan 16, 2022#296

GasBandit

I kicked the can down the street on Black Widow and it ended up biting me in the ass when I watched Hawkeye first and was all "Am I supposed to know who this is?" when you-know-who showed up.

So now I have FOMO if I don't watch Eternals, because even if it's crap I have to be able to catch references to it down the line.

Jan 16, 2022#297

Celt Z

GasBandit said:
I kicked the can down the street on Black Widow and it ended up biting me in the ass when I watched Hawkeye first and was all "Am I supposed to know who this is?" when you-know-who showed up.

So now I have FOMO if I don't watch Eternals, because even if it's crap I have to be able to catch references to it down the line.

I can break it down for you real quick if you'd like.

NOTHING HAPPENS.

Seriously. NOTHING. HAPPENS. 3 Eternals die and no one cares. They were here 7000 years and did jack-all except possibly recreate the ending of Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Also, Thanos's way-better-looking brother shows up at the end, and they give Jon Snow a sword. Again.

Jan 17, 2022#298

AshburnerX

I've heard the sword thing might potentially be tied into a Venom or Blade movie down the line at some point for comic book reasons.

Jan 17, 2022#299

Sparhawk

AshburnerX said:
I've heard the sword thing might potentially be tied into a Venom or Blade movie down the line at some point for comic book reasons.

The Ebon Blade is the sword of the Black Knight, more of a tie in with Avengers and the magic users in Marvel Comics. Also, another “foreign based” character as opposed to the very USA centric original MCU Avengers lineup.

Jan 17, 2022#300

AshburnerX

Sparhawk said:
The Ebon Blade is the sword of the Black Knight, more of a tie in with Avengers and the magic users in Marvel Comics. Also, another “foreign based” character as opposed to the very USA centric original MCU Avengers lineup.

Yes, except it's the voice of Mahershala Ali (who is slated to play Blade in an upcoming movie) that pipes up when Dane Whitman opens the box.

Also interestingly... Black Panther has used the Ebon Blade as points too.

Jan 17, 2022#301

figmentPez

I don't think this is a spoiler, since it's just a mash-up of MCU and another IP, but it might be based on casting rumors for Doctor Strange 2 (which was also an older casting rumor for Wandavision that didn't turn out to be true), so I'm going to spoiler it just in case someone wants the maximum chance to be surprised by everything MCU related:

Jan 17, 2022#302

Celt Z

figmentPez said:
I don't think this is a spoiler, since it's just a mash-up of MCU and another IP, but it might be based on casting rumors for Doctor Strange 2 (which was also an older casting rumor for Wandavision that didn't turn out to be true), so I'm going to spoiler it just in case someone wants the maximum chance to be surprised by everything MCU related:

And then it turned out to be Mephisto!

Jan 17, 2022#303

Tress

Jan 17, 2022#304

Celt Z

I've never been a Moon Knight fan, but that looks intriguing, and I'm here for it.

Jan 17, 2022#305

GasBandit

I hope there are meme references.

#YouBigFuckingNerdWhere'sMyMoney
#RandomBullshitGo

Jan 17, 2022#306

Tinwhistler

I was a Moon Knight fan as a small child, but all I really remember of the comic now is that he had a dope ass helicopter thing.

Jan 19, 2022#307

mikerc

Damn...

Jan 21, 2022#308

ThatNickGuy

Not even photoshopped and this scene fits far too well.

Feb 12, 2022#309

evilmike

Feb 12, 2022#310

ThatNickGuy

evilmike said:

That's taking from Warren Ellis' run. I'm betting we'll see different outfits throughout the show. Maybe depending on which personality is in control? I'm honestly not all too familiar with Moon Knight. I plan on reading the original comic series from the 90s before the show starts up.

Mar 15, 2022#311

evilmike

Ms Marvel

Mar 15, 2022#312

PatrThom

Ha! The very opening note of the trailer, I thought, "Hey that sounds like 'Blinding Lights'..." and then the rest of the trailer is them doubling down on the song again and again.
I'm going to assume the "touch" she's waiting to feel is of the Power Cosmic, tho, and not Mr. Shirtless.
...cuz that would probably be Divinyls, not The Weekend.

--Patrick

Mar 15, 2022#313

figmentPez

I'm really looking forward to Ms. Marvel.

I do wonder which criticism will be louder, though; fans bitching about how they changed her powers, or all the misogynistic racism?

Mar 15, 2022#314

AshburnerX

On the one hand, I get why they changed her powers: it's hard to make something as... comic booky as shape changing look good. On the other hand, this makes me wonder if they'll still have her "Embiggen" with these new powers and how it's going to look.

If it looks good, it's all good, but I'm worried it's gonna look bad.

Mar 15, 2022#315

evilmike

One theory that I've heard is that they are changing the inhuman connection to her origins and the item she finds in the trailer and apparently gets her powers from is a nega-band.

Mar 15, 2022#316

Ravenpoe

evilmike said:
One theory that I've heard is that they are changing the inhuman connection to her origins and the item she finds in the trailer and apparently gets her powers from is a nega-band.

The inhumans are buried on the moon never to be spoken of again

Mar 15, 2022#317

HCGLNS

Ravenpoe said:
The inhumans are buried on the moon never to be spoken of again

But, but, Lockjaw!

Mar 15, 2022#318

PatrThom

HCGLNS said:
But, but, Lockjaw!

It’s fine. He can teleport.

—Patrick

Mar 24, 2022#319

evilmike

Mar 24, 2022#320

Celt Z

They missed an opportunity to call this the "Mark Ruffalo/Tom Holland Memorial Room".

Mar 24, 2022#321

evilmike

Celt Z said:
They missed an opportunity to call this the "Mark Ruffalo/Tom Holland Memorial Room".

Fair enough -- though they did hit on a number of other little details around the room. (Not just the demotivational posters.)

Mar 31, 2022#322

evilmike

Enjoyed episode 1 of Moon Knight; although, I wished they had better explained how Steven ended up at a Gorn wedding.

Mar 31, 2022#323

bhamv3

So I finally got D+ and I'm slowly working through the series I haven't been able to watch before. Currently I've finished Wandavision.

Overall I liked it, I'd say I'd give it a 7/10 overall, though I feel like I liked the later episodes a lot more than the earlier ones. The early ones were basically just "Look at this weird TV world, isn't that weird? And Wanda and Vision are in it, isn't that weird?" They didn't really start explaining things until like the fourth episode. I would've preferred if they started explaining things earlier. The later episodes were more interesting to me, because they actually explained things and moved the story forward.

Though I think part of the reason I didn't enjoy the early episodes as much might be because I never really watched the old sitcoms those episodes are based on, so there was no element of nostalgia or "spot the similarities" for me.

Anyway, the show was well acted (the last few minutes of the last episode got me a bit teary), the visuals were good, the action sequences are suitably exciting, and Wanda's overall story was moved forward nicely. I look forward to seeing what she can do in future MCU productions.

Also Wanda is hot. Monica is also hot. Agnes is hot, though I'm not really into the "witch grunge" aesthetic.

Mar 31, 2022#324

Ravenpoe

bhamv3 said:
Though I think part of the reason I didn't enjoy the early episodes as much might be because I never really watched the old sitcoms those episodes are based on, so there was no element of nostalgia or "spot the similarities" for me.

I'm the opposite. Growing up watching all of those shows rerun on nick at night, I even recognized each of the sets.

Apr 1, 2022#325

Frank

The first episode was torture because for the same reason. I have zero nostalgia for sitcoms that old and that first episode was just a 50s sitcom with a moment of weirdness at the end.

Apr 1, 2022#326

Shawn

I find it entertaining how the MCU handles marketing for films vs how Sony handles it. One clearly knowing that people will come see what usually amounts to high quality fun, vs the other's desperate attempt to get a piece of the MCU pie.

MCU: Here's some fun stuff to get you into the theater. But the big surprises we're going to make you wait for. McGuire and Garfield? Why would they be in this film? Don't know what you're talking about.

SONY:

YEAH! Michael Keaton is in this film! He's Adrian Toomes! This is the big secret cameo in the post credits! PLEASE SEE OUR FILM!

Apr 4, 2022#327

Celt Z

Why didn't someone warn me about the Moon Knight cold open? :Leyla:

Apr 4, 2022#328

Bubble181

Celt Z said:
Why didn't someone warn me about the Moon Knight cold open?

I dunno, does it have a cold open?

Apr 4, 2022#329

Ravenpoe

Bubble181 said:
I dunno, does it have a cold open?

You ever see Die Hard?

Apr 4, 2022#330

Bubble181

Ravenpoe said:
You ever see Die Hard?

The Christmas movie? Sure

Apr 7, 2022#331

Piotyr

Celt Z said:
Why didn't someone warn me about the Moon Knight cold open?

I don't know, seemed pretty sharp to me.

Apr 13, 2022#332

GasBandit

Apr 18, 2022#333

Far

Apr 18, 2022#334

ThatNickGuy

Yessir, I'm in.

I'm betting the Guardians are only in this at the start, though. Like dropping off Thor somewhere.

Apr 18, 2022#335

bhamv3

Natalie Portman got beefy.

I like.

Apr 18, 2022#336

PatrThom

This live-action Kung Fu Panda movie looks interesting.

--Patrick

Apr 18, 2022#337

Celt Z

Li'l Z: "That looks awesome!"

Yes, sweet child o' mine, it does.

Apr 19, 2022#338

figmentPez

But they didn't release the trailer until __ days before the movie came out! That means they don't have any faith in it! They're throwing the movie under the bus because they know it stinks! This is the end of the MCU!

Good gravy, the clickbait headlines I've seen around this trailer.

Apr 19, 2022#339

AshburnerX

The only time you need to worry about the quality of a film before release is if...

- it gets dumped in Jan-Feb or August-Sept with little fanfare
or
- they don't do critic screenings before the movie comes out

Apr 19, 2022#340

Tress

figmentPez said:
But they didn't release the trailer until __ days before the movie came out! That means they don't have any faith in it! They're throwing the movie under the bus because they know it stinks! This is the end of the MCU!

Good gravy, the clickbait headlines I've seen around this trailer.

While looking up some of this madness, I learned this is a small but vocal minority out there who fucking hate Thor: Ragnarok. I thought that was odd, since it's usually considered a good movie. Most of the complaints? Loki is not grimdark enough, the movie isn't serious enough (like the The Dark World, lol), and that Taika Waititi said in an interview that he only read a few comics Marvel gave him before meeting with the studio about planning.

Cardinal sins, all of them.

My point is that people will complain no matter what. The trailer strikes me as kinda "meh" but it's just a teaser, and I would want to see more or read some reviews before making up my mind in any way.

Apr 19, 2022#341

AshburnerX

As yes... Thor: The Dark World. The universally panned Marvel movie that was made before they had settled on a "tone" for the franchises. Something totally worth defending.

Apr 19, 2022#342

GasBandit

Am I weird for liking both Dark World and Ragnarok? I actually thought the first Thor movie was not as good as either of them. Not bad, just not as good.

Apr 19, 2022#343

Tress

GasBandit said:
Am I weird for liking both Dark World and Ragnarok? I actually thought the first Thor movie was not as good as either of them. Not bad, just not as good.

Weird? No. In the minority? Yes. But there's nothing wrong with that.

Apr 19, 2022#344

Celt Z

GasBandit said:
Am I weird for liking both Dark World and Ragnarok? I actually thought the first Thor movie was not as good as either of them. Not bad, just not as good.

I honestly like any parts in Dark World that have both Thor and Loki. They have such great chemistry as brothers that those are the best parts of the movie to me. I'm kinda "eh" on the rest.

Apr 19, 2022#345

Celt Z

Tress said:
While looking up some of this madness, I learned this is a small but vocal minority out there who fucking hate Thor: Ragnarok. I thought that was odd, since it's usually considered a good movie. Most of the complaints? Loki is not grimdark enough, the movie isn't serious enough (like the The Dark World, lol), and that Taika Waititi said in an interview that he only read a few comics Marvel gave him before meeting with the studio about planning.

I know everyone is allowed to have an opinion, and it's okay if you're not a fan of Ragnarok, but I'm confused about the hate? It felt very much like the comics published in the mid-80's through the mid-90's. Garish colors, wild cities, tongue-in-cheek humor mixed with violence, action, and some surprising emotional scenes. I don't have a ton of Thor comics, but the ones that I do have fit that description. Actually, a lot of the comics I have from that time period could fit that description. Maybe it needed more grimaces?

Apr 19, 2022#346

chris

Celt Z said:
I know everyone is allowed to have an opinion, and it's okay if you're not a fan of Ragnarok, but I'm confused about the hate? It felt very much like the comics published in the mid-80's through the mid-90's. Garish colors, wild cities, tongue-in-cheek humor mixed with violence, action, and some surprising emotional scenes. I don't have a ton of Thor comics, but the ones that I do have fit that description. Actually, a lot of the comics I have from that time period could fit that description. Maybe it needed more grimaces?

I guess the people who hate "Ragnarök" are the same who love "Watchmen" for all the wrong reasons.

Apr 19, 2022#347

Tress

chris said:
I guess the people who hate "Ragnarök" are the same who love "Watchmen" for all the wrong reasons.

Or people who think Man of Steel is a good portrayal of Superman.

Apr 19, 2022#348

ThatNickGuy

I liked The Dark World well enough, but I still rank it along the bottom of my MCU list. Ragnarok is definitely my favorite, largely because it was refreshing to have Hulk actually talk for a change. And the Kirby aesthetics are off the charts more than any other Marvel movie (including Eternals, where it SHOULD have been bleeding Kirby aesthetics).

I really like the first one, too, though. Probably gonna get flack for this, but I like it more than the first Iron Man.

Apr 19, 2022#349

MindDetective

Man, if anyone in this forum gives flack for how you rank some movies, then...I dunno. I guess we'll give them some flack for it.

Apr 19, 2022#350

bhamv3

I like all the MCU movies.

Though it's true that I would put Ragnarok way higher than Dark World on my personal ranking.

Apr 19, 2022#351

Shawn

I think I've seen Thor twice and The Dark World once. Haven't had much interest in watching either of them again unless my daughter shows an interest.

Apr 20, 2022#352

Dave

I hated Ragnarok because of how they fucked up Planet Hulk as well as turning Korg and ESPECIALLY Meek into punchlines.

Apr 20, 2022#353

evilmike

ThatNickGuy said:
I liked The Dark World well enough, but I still rank it along the bottom of my MCU list. Ragnarok is definitely my favorite, largely because it was refreshing to have Hulk actually talk for a change. And the Kirby aesthetics are off the charts more than any other Marvel movie (including Eternals, where it SHOULD have been bleeding Kirby aesthetics).

I really like the first one, too, though. Probably gonna get flack for this, but I like it more than the first Iron Man.

The original Thor movie is great and, all too often, overlooked. Ragnarok is fun, the cast is generally great, and the story has some interesting beats, but there are also some issues.

Also, speaking of Thor:

Apr 20, 2022#354

GasBandit

Apr 20, 2022#355

PatrThom

"Tits," hmmph. He actually calls them "Tanngrisnir" and "Tanngnjóstr."

--Patrick

Apr 21, 2022#356

Bubble181

PatrThom said:
"Tits," hmmph. He actually calls them "Tanngrisnir" and "Tanngnjóstr."

--Patrick

Otis and Marvin, really.

Apr 21, 2022#357

Celt Z

Let us not forget Toothgnip, whom Thor bestowed the Panties of Potency.

Apr 23, 2022#358

Tinwhistler

So something's been bugging me about Moon Knight. This shouldn't be too much of a spoiler, but there's a scene where they have to know where the stars were on a particular date and how that's like impossible, and so Konshu moves the heavens so that they can see it.

But the motions of stars and planets are highly predictable. In fact, there are books (called an ephemeris) that will give you the exact position of stars and planets for any given time and date--not only in the past, but for the future, as well. These have been around for a couple of thousands of years. In fact, you can get an app for your phone that will do it. And some of the surviving Babylonian artifacts are clay tablets of ephemerides, so I have a hard time believing Steven Grant wouldn't know about them.

But I guess that wouldn't have moved the plot along in the way it played out, so I can give it a pass. Still, it bugs me.

Apr 23, 2022#359

sixpackshaker

Hippopotamus?

Apr 23, 2022#360

Ravenpoe

Tinwhistler said:
And some of the surviving Babylonian artifacts are clay tablets of ephemerides,

Ancient Egypt definitely had these too, and in fact were used to help decipher the Babylonian ones.

1280px-Astronomical_Ceiling,_Tomb_of_Senenmut_MET_DT207429.jpg

Apr 23, 2022#361

GasBandit

I'm pretty sure there's something on Steam that does exactly that as well.

Apr 23, 2022#362

figmentPez

Tinwhistler said:
But I guess that wouldn't have moved the plot along in the way it played out, so I can give it a pass. Still, it bugs me.

It bugged me, too. And I was trying to figure out if there's any way to understand this that makes sense, and maybe if we assume that Konshu doesn't know the date, and only remembers how the stars looked. Which really just brings up the question of why there wasn't a less dramatic way to get that info into the app. Maybe this was originally written as a longer scene that got cut down until it reached the point of making anyone who knows just a little about astronomy scratch their heads.

Hypothetically if we think about the difficulty of an invisible god who has to act through his avatar trying to interact with a computer program to get the stars into the right position on the tablet screen. It's kinda humorous, especially if the impatient Konshu just goes "Fuck it, being imprisoned in stone is better than trying to learn how to use an iPad. I'll just rearrange the heavens for a moment, and then you can be on your way."

It's still a huge stretch, but at least it fits the characters.

Apr 23, 2022#363

Celt Z

figmentPez said:
Hypothetically if we think about the difficulty of an invisible god who has to act through his avatar trying to interact with a computer program to get the stars into the right position on the tablet screen. It's kinda humorous, especially if the impatient Konshu just goes "Fuck it, being imprisoned in stone is better than trying to learn how to use an iPad. I'll just rearrange the heavens for a moment, and then you can be on your way."

Considering the sheer amount of IT work we have often have to do for our parents and/or people of their generation+, I would TOTALLY by someone as old as Konshu prefering to rearrange the stars than learn how to send a damn text. This may be the most realistic part of the series.

May 6, 2022#364

Shawn

Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness
Review.
I exited the theater with the strong feeling that Spider-Man: No Way Home was a much better multiverse movie. Heck, Everything, Everywhere, All at Once was a better multiverse movie than this film. It isn't that it's terrible, but it isn't exactly the Marvel Universe changing film that I was expecting. My major complaint with the film is that all major twists or major plot points are not paced well. Things that you feel could use some build up to really pack an emotional punch are let loose far too quickly and the punches become more of a hearty tap. Make no mistake that I love Sam Raimi films but this does not feel like a film that he should have been put on. He brings a campiness to it that just doesn't feel right. Plus there are some scenes that feel like Raimi's signature directions were really pushed to only say "THIS IS A SAM RAIMI MOVIE" instead of tell a fun and engaging story. As an example there is a point in the film that Dr. Strange does something very uncharacteristically cruel to a character, simply so the film can make an obvious reference to The Evil Dead franchise.
A good way to demonstrate how this movie pales to No Way Home is by comparing the audience reactions. In No Way Home the theater would go absolutely nuts when certain things occurred or especially when certain characters appeared. In Multiverse of Madness my theater barely made a few hoot and hollers when the major cameos appeared.
The ending is abrupt and feels rushed. The 1st end credit scene feels the same and reminds me of the stereotypical ending you might see in a 90s Super Hero film (The Mario Bros movie came to mind for me almost immediately) . And the 2nd end credit scene is used just to continue the Evil Dead joke from earlier.
It is an absolute shame that this film did not meet my expectations pacing wise. I enjoyed the story and there was a lot of potential here. Effects were wonderful of course and there was even some pretty decent (though PG-13 level gruesome) kills.
Giving this one a C

May 6, 2022#365

Far

I thought the movie was pretty middle ground overall but I will say my theatre went just as wild for

the Illuminati as they did for No Way Home. I do think they telegraphed Reed badly by having Christine say she worked in the Baxter Building. Knew we were getting him at that point, when they could have just waited 5 minutes for his actual reveal. I get that it's only a if you know you know thing but still it made the other reveals less impactful for me cause all I was waiting for was Reed from then on.

May 8, 2022#366

@Li3n

The variant i wanna see:

May 8, 2022#367

PatrThom

@Li3n said:
The variant i wanna see:

I'm sure it will be an absolute win.

--Patrick

May 8, 2022#368

ThatNickGuy

Dr Strange and the Multiverse of Madness

Watched this with my niece and some friends afternoon. I dug it. Raimi's style is ALL over it, making me feel like rewatching his other work. The set pieces are phenomenal and the effects are outstanding.

It's well bookended, but everything in between is kind of hit and miss and drags at times.

Structurally, it feels similar to Civil War, in that the middle part has a bunch of cameos that don't really amount to much in terms of the story as a whole. Still a lot of fun, but the cameos felt like canon fodder.

It also feels like the story went out of its way to give Strange and another character side quests that take up the majority of the middle of the movie in order to keep them separated until the end. And it leads to some awkward moments.

Visually, it's absolutely top notch. Story-wise, it drags in the middle. A lot of scenes feel like expositional infodumps, either to explain certain magic stuff or certain multiverse stuff. It's necessary for the plot or themes, but it's done in a really dull manner.

It's not Raimi's best work and it won't rank terribly high in my MCU rankings. Definitely below the first Dr. Strange. Visually, it's by far the most interesting MCU film since probably the Guardians movies, both for its effects and for Raimi's specific directing flair.

Don't get me wrong, I still really enjoyed it. But I don't see myself enjoying or appreciating it more with rewatches.

May 9, 2022#369

Shakey

I really enjoyed it, as a parent the change in tone did bother me a bit. Not that I brought my kid to see it, but I know a lot of parents did not knowing that it would be quite a bit darker than the other marvel movies.

Pretty much every other Marvel movie was what I would consider a soft pg-13. Lots of fighting and explosions, but nothing really scary or gory. Yes, parents should do their research, but there wasn’t much to say that this would be edging in to almost the horror genre at times. The ratings were the same as the other Marvel movies, so unless they watched it first, they wouldn’t really know it was any different.

May 9, 2022#370

GasBandit

Top comment: "Legally, it's only Thor if they're from a specific region of Asgard. Otherwise it's just Sparkling Sexy Hammer Viking."

May 9, 2022#371

klew

Dr Strange 2 and the need to see the Disney+ shows

Would people who hadn't watched WandaVision understand Wanda's motivation for wanting to reunite with her children? I don't recall anything just from the films to reference a home life with VIsion. Unlike Falcon and Winter Soldier, where movie-only watchers can go from Endgame where Steve gives Sam the shield and go right into Cap 4 where Sam is the new Cap. I don't think What If is necessary to understand why there is a Captain Carter, and Black Bolt's superpower is shown anyway.

May 9, 2022#372

bhamv3

GasBandit said:
Top comment: "Legally, it's only Thor if they're from a specific region of Asgard. Otherwise it's just Sparkling Sexy Hammer Viking."

I like how they're not even trying to hide the fact that Lady Thor is Jane. It's like, "No, the comic readers already know, and they're going to tell everyone else, so just toss Natalie Portman into the marketing."

May 10, 2022#373

Sparhawk

klew said:
Dr Strange 2 and the need to see the Disney+ shows

Would people who hadn't watched WandaVision understand Wanda's motivation for wanting to reunite with her children? I don't recall anything just from the films to reference a home life with VIsion. Unlike Falcon and Winter Soldier, where movie-only watchers can go from Endgame where Steve gives Sam the shield and go right into Cap 4 where Sam is the new Cap. I don't think What If is necessary to understand why there is a Captain Carter, and Black Bolt's superpower is shown anyway.

Wanda has a short monologue that brings the WV stuff into it, I think you can fill in from there. Some people are more “you have to spell out everything to me” and will not be happy having to infer things that may have happened.
My verdict is that you don’t have to have it to watch MoM, but may want to watch it after. Start with Ep 3.

May 12, 2022#374

figmentPez

Spoiler for Multiverse of Madness

Reed Richards

May 12, 2022#375

Shawn

figmentPez said:
Spoiler for Multiverse of Madness

Reed Richards

I was thinking more Twizzlers Pull & Peels.

May 12, 2022#376

Frank

I enjoyed Dr. Strange a great deal and

Deadite Dr. Strange cloaked in hell spirits is both the dumbest and raddest thing in the entirety of Marvel and the Illuminati getting jobbed out as grisly as they were was great. I literally guffawed when Professor X came out in the yellow chair and the cartoon theme played for a split second. The musical battle was great too.

God this rules

Sam Raimi rules and I'm glad he got to splash some of his own unique B-movie sensibilities all over this big budget Marvel machine.

This was a better Dark Phoenix story than any of the attempts of making a Dark Phoenix movie.

My only major negative right now is that I'm pretty sure seeing this in theaters is how I got covid.

May 12, 2022#377

GasBandit

Frank said:
This was a better Dark Phoenix story than any of the attempts of making a Dark Phoenix movie.

That's... not exactly a high hurdle

Frank said:
My only major negative right now is that I'm pretty sure seeing this in theaters is how I got covid.

That risk is why I still haven't seen it yet, and will probably wait for it to hit the torrents.

May 12, 2022#378

Tinwhistler

GasBandit said:
That's... not exactly a high hurdle

That risk is why I still haven't seen it yet, and will probably wait for it to hit the torrents.

I've been to the movies a few times lately, but I always choose the more expensive IMAX (because less people show up) and I get my tickets at the last minute and try to reserve them as far away from others as possible. And, I tend to go at the end of a movie's run, so that most people have already seen it and attendance is way low.

May 12, 2022#379

GasBandit

Tinwhistler said:
I've been to the movies a few times lately, but I always choose the more expensive IMAX (because less people show up) and I get my tickets at the last minute and try to reserve them as far away from others as possible. And, I tend to go at the end of a movie's run, so that most people have already seen it and attendance is way low.

And really, even Pre-Covid, I pretty much stopped going to the movies. Last movie I saw in the theater was Thor: Ragnarok. Basically I've only gone to Marvel movies in the theater since, like, Avengers 1, I think.

May 13, 2022#380

ThatNickGuy

May 13, 2022#381

GasBandit

Ok, I just got back from seeing Multiverse of Madness and I basically echo everything @Frank said. I loved picking out all the Raimiverse references (HEY THAT'S ASH'S CAR FROM EVIL DEAD), and the leitmotif Frank mentioned got me giddy as a schoolboy.

So yeah, everything Frank said. Double for me.

Except the COVID part.

Uh, I hope.

May 14, 2022#382

HCGLNS

Took my son to see ut tonight.

THAT WAS TOTALLY WICKED!

Some chump tried to talk us out of watching the final credit scene. Total chump.

May 15, 2022#383

Shawn

HCGLNS said:
Some chump tried to talk us out of watching the final credit scene. Total chump.

I still think that was a total dick move on Strange's part.

May 16, 2022#384

GasBandit

May 16, 2022#385

PatrThom

Don't even get me started on the Banners.

--Patrick

May 16, 2022#386

Celt Z

Wait a minute... how come we get 1 brand of Wanda, but 2 brands of Pietro???

May 17, 2022#387

Bubble181

Celt Z said:
Wait a minute... how come we get 1 brand of Wanda, but 2 brands of Pietro???

"genetics"
Or, "infinity! There's a gazillion out there for every type!"

May 17, 2022#388

evilmike

Celt Z said:
Wait a minute... how come we get 1 brand of Wanda, but 2 brands of Pietro???

I'd blame Bryan Singer.

May 17, 2022#389

AshburnerX

May 17, 2022#390

bhamv3

AshburnerX said:

Looks fun. I like how they captured the contrast between Walters and Banner. Where Banner generally sees the Hulk as an undesirable side of him (Professor Hulk in Endgame notwithstanding), Walters tends to embrace her hulky side.

May 17, 2022#391

Tress

The writing in the trailer was laaaaaaammmme.

I hope it plays better on the actual show.

May 17, 2022#392

Celt Z

Yay, Orphan Hulk!

May 17, 2022#393

Dave

The CGI is fucking awful. Her face doesn't even reach the uncanny valley. It's that bad.

May 17, 2022#394

PatrThom

AshburnerX said:

I can see this appealing to a certain demographic, yes.

--Patrick

May 18, 2022#395

Shawn

PatrThom said:
View attachment 41537
I can see this appealing to a certain demographic, yes.

--Patrick

I for one am well prepared to die by snu snu.

May 18, 2022#396

PatrThom

I did NOT expect that pic to get as many reactions as it did. Wow.

--Patrick

May 18, 2022#397

evilmike

PatrThom said:
I did NOT expect that pic to get as many reactions as it did. Wow.

--Patrick

Is this your first time on the internet?

May 18, 2022#398

PatrThom

evilmike said:
Is this your first time on the internet?

Considering I pretty much haven't left it since I first hopped on decades ago, technically...yes?

--Patrick

May 18, 2022#399

ThatNickGuy

PatrThom said:
I did NOT expect that pic to get as many reactions as it did. Wow.

--Patrick

DEATH BY SNU-SNU!

May 18, 2022#400

Bubble181

In other news which...I guess is technically MCU related, Zara Phythian was convicted for sexual abuse of a minor.
She was best known for her role in Dr Strange.

If the name doesn't instantly ring any bells, it may be because she played the "Brunette Zealot" which, well, maybe wasn't a major part. It's her biggest role to date and probably ever, though.

May 18, 2022#401

HCGLNS

PatrThom said:
View attachment 41537
I can see this appealing to a certain demographic, yes.

--Patrick

Didn't that new Disney movie about the house make all kinds of merch for the perfect girl and kids went, fuck that we want strong girl?

May 18, 2022#402

PatrThom

HCGLNS said:
Didn't that new Disney movie about the house make all kinds of merch for the perfect girl and kids went, fuck that we want strong girl?

Yes.

--Patrick

May 18, 2022#403

Celt Z

To be fair, she had the better song.

May 18, 2022#404

bhamv3

Celt Z said:
To be fair, she had the better song.

I used to think this, but What Else Can I Do has really grown on me, to the point where I prefer it now.

May 18, 2022#405

HCGLNS

What if She-Hulk gets a song!? Then we will get all the human monies!

May 18, 2022#406

PatrThom

HCGLNS said:
What if She-Hulk gets a song!?

--Patrick

May 23, 2022#407

evilmike

May 23, 2022#408

bhamv3

I feel cheated out of Thor's butt.

And there's a sentence I never thought I'd say.

Also apparently Gorr's superpower is to transport you into Sin City.

Overall I like the look of this movie though. Definitely gonna see it.

May 23, 2022#409

evilmike

New poster too

May 23, 2022#410

Far

May 24, 2022#411

Bubble181

I'll definitely see it - either in cinema or Plex - but...Can I just say I really don't like the way Natalie Portman looks on that poster? I mean, I know it's computer generated based on a photo run through some filters and whatever, but her jaw line and mouth look...off. I genuinely hardly recognize her;

May 24, 2022#412

Ravenpoe

Bubble181 said:
I'll definitely see it - either in cinema or Plex - but...Can I just say I really don't like the way Natalie Portman looks on that poster? I mean, I know it's computer generated based on a photo run through some filters and whatever, but her jaw line and mouth look...off. I genuinely hardly recognize her;

I personally think she looks pretty awesome on that poster

May 24, 2022#413

ScytheRexx

"Hey Taika, for the poster how much lens flare you want?"

"Yes"

May 24, 2022#414

Sparhawk

ScytheRexx said:
"Hey Taika, for the poster how much lens flare you want?"

"Yes"

J.J. Abrams, that’s not lens flare…

May 24, 2022#415

Celt Z

evilmike said:
New poster too

I can't find the *exact* illustration I'm looking for, but the poster is giving me:

vibes, and I am here for it!

May 24, 2022#416

PatrThom

Celt Z said:
I can't find the *exact* illustration I'm looking for, but the poster is giving me:

vibes, and I am here for it!

Really? The first thing that popped into my head was Heavy Metal.

--Patrick

May 24, 2022#417

@Li3n

PatrThom said:
Really? The first thing that popped into my head was Heavy Metal.

But isn't that just R-rated She-Ra?

May 24, 2022#418

PatrThom

@Li3n said:
But isn't that just R-rated She-Ra?

This comment makes me wonder which of the two you haven’t seen.

—Patrick

May 24, 2022#419

@Li3n

I mean, she might as well be shouting "By the honour of Greyskull" here:

(i know, i know, it breaks down fast when considering it's a anthology collection etc, but it was a funny thought)

May 24, 2022#420

GasBandit

I think that's just basically how every movie poster looked in the 80s. Reminds me of countless posters... Beastmaster, Star Wars, Star Trek, Red Sonja, Blade Runner, Masters of the Universe, etc etc etc

May 24, 2022#421

Frank

Even the Transformers movie had a poster like that.

May 24, 2022#422

Tinwhistler

GasBandit said:
I think that's just basically how every movie poster looked in the 80s. Reminds me of countless posters... Beastmaster, Star Wars, Star Trek, Red Sonja, Blade Runner, Masters of the Universe, etc etc etc

yup

May 24, 2022#423

Sparhawk

It is a rather classic pose for a poster.

May 24, 2022#424

Celt Z

I was also referring to the color scheme, the almost identical tower in the background, similar font, floating figure in the background, all the long flowing blonde hair...all 80's things, but given the subject matter, She-Ra(and I guess He-Man) comes to mind.

May 24, 2022#425

PatrThom

Celt Z said:
all 80's things, but given the subject matter, She-Ra(and I guess He-Man) comes to mind.

This begs either for a Masters of the Universe poster but with the Thor cast done up in Filmation style, or vice-versa.

--Patrick

May 24, 2022#426

bhamv3

Tinwhistler said:
yup
View attachment 41582

I used to have a copy of this poster. I was mildly confused by the sight of Luke Skywalker's buff body, as I didn't remember anything like that from the movie.

May 24, 2022#427

PatrThom

It was a different time.

--Patrick

May 25, 2022#428

sixpackshaker

In the Multiverse of Madness...

It is alright. But still the Marvel movies are the best Tent Pole movies for the last 14 years, by far.

I did love the 3rd act horror fun...

May 26, 2022#429

@Li3n

@Li3n said:
(i know, i know, it breaks down fast when considering it's a anthology collection etc, but it was a funny thought)

Going to bed after posting this it dawned on me that Heavy Metal is also an Isekai...

May 26, 2022#430

chris

@Li3n said:
Going to bed after posting this it dawned on me that Heavy Metal is also an Isekai...

True but only one of the stories.

May 29, 2022#431

evilmike

Marvel marketing on the New Jersey turnpike:

May 30, 2022#432

GasBandit

May 30, 2022#433

PatrThom

First Iron Man, now Dr. Strange, who will get the next one?

--Patrick

May 30, 2022#434

Adam

GasBandit said:

My kingdom for a 24fps version of that!

May 30, 2022#435

PatrThom

PatrThom said:
First Iron Man, now Dr. Strange, who will get the next one?

Hulk.
Hulk should be next.
...Banner, getting angrier and angrier, music getting more dramatic/tense, upward string slide as we ECU in on Banner's tightly-squeezed eye, and then Banner's eye pops open and the sparkly, magical girl music starts...

--Patrick

May 30, 2022#436

Tinwhistler

May 30, 2022#437

PatrThom

They're not wrong, that's about how I feel at this point.
At what point do they start releasing them faster than you can actually watch them to stay current? And also at what point do some of them become "lost" because nobody is showing/streaming them and you just have to read some dusty underground wiki to find out what was going on, like with Doctor Who?

--Patrick

May 30, 2022#438

Celt Z

PatrThom said:
They're not wrong, that's about how I feel at this point.
At what point do they start releasing them faster than you can actually watch them to stay current? And also at what point do some of them become "lost" because nobody is showing/streaming them and you just have to read some dusty underground wiki to find out what was going on, like with Doctor Who?

Not to pick on you specifically, but I still find this an odd complaint, in general, especially from people our age. Most of these series are 6-8 episodes, and available to watch anytime you feel like it, thanks to streaming services and the internet. Didn't we all grow up when watching a show meant a 22-24 episode commitment, and if you didn't see it at it's specific aired time, and you didn't have a way to record it on your VCR (if you had one) you were S.O.L.? Maybe, *MAYBE* if you were lucky, you caught it when it was rerun, and they'd only rerun episodes once, or sometimes not at all. How have we gotten to a point where, especially as nerds/geeks/fans/etc, we complain that, "Oh no, every few months we get new content, and instead of hoping and praying that our local affiliate carries it in syndication, and if we're lucky we're home on a Friday or Saturday night to see it on TV, when instead we can watch it whenever and wherever and however we feel like it?!?" .

May 30, 2022#439

PatrThom

Celt Z said:
we can watch it whenever and wherever and however we feel like it

Except...I can't, really. I don't have subscriptions to the dozen or so services where I would need to go to find all the pieces (which is an entirely separate rant), the services themselves keep moving and/or removing content so there's no way to pick specific services in an attempt to guarantee my ability to see them, and, like I mentioned earlier, because I wasn't on top of these things when they were coming out, catching up now is going to mean a sizable time investment.
These are more the things which DO affect me, specifically, so I'm afraid I have no explanation for the other folks our age.

--Patrick

May 30, 2022#440

HCGLNS

HOLD IT!!!!!!!

Did you rapscallions just imply that Disney may transform streaming into their previous video system and put movies and series "back into the vault"?

May 30, 2022#441

GasBandit

PatrThom said:
I don't have subscriptions to the dozen or so services where I would need to go to find all the pieces

(Shiftily looks around)

May 30, 2022#442

PatrThom

GasBandit said:
(Shiftily looks around)

The way things are going, I may eventually come aboard completely out of self-defense.

--Patrick

May 30, 2022#443

evilmike

PatrThom said:
The way things are going, I may eventually come aboard completely out of self-defense.

--Patrick

If it helps, there are a number of MCU movies / shows that don't really require "homework". If you are looking for recommendations, I can put together a list.

Jun 2, 2022#444

GasBandit

Bradley Cooper's done playing Rocket

Bradley Cooper Goes Viral as Rocket Raccoon Actor Officially Leaves ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Behind - Inside the Magic

As the 'Guardians of the Galaxy' era draws to a close, Bradley Cooper has gone viral for his next movie role following Rocket Raccoon.

insidethemagic.net

Jun 2, 2022#445

Bubble181

Bradley Cooper has been entertaining Marvel fans for the last eight years. Debuting as Rocket Raccoon in James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), alongside Chris Pratt (Peter Quill/Star-Lord) and Groot (Vin Diesel), among others, the snarky character went on to appear in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), as well as helping Captain America (Chris Evans) and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) save the entire universe against the enemy Thanos (Josh Brolin) in Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and Avengers: Endgame (2019).

...Is the writer implying Vin Diesel is a character played by Groot and Thanos is pretending to be Josh Brolin?

Jun 2, 2022#446

ThatNickGuy

GasBandit said:
Bradley Cooper's done playing Rocket

Bradley Cooper Goes Viral as Rocket Raccoon Actor Officially Leaves ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Behind - Inside the Magic

As the 'Guardians of the Galaxy' era draws to a close, Bradley Cooper has gone viral for his next movie role following Rocket Raccoon.

insidethemagic.net

I doubt it. If The Mouse throws enough money at him, he'll come back.

Jun 2, 2022#447

Sparhawk

I don’t think you could say that Cooper ever really *played* Rocket since someone else was doing the mocap for the character. Voiceover work can take as little as a few hours to a few days to get it all recorded.

Jun 2, 2022#448

GasBandit

Sparhawk said:
I don’t think you could say that Cooper ever really *played* Rocket since someone else was doing the mocap for the character. Voiceover work can take as little as a few hours to a few days to get it all recorded.

Fun Fact - the "someone else" was the actor who also played Yondu's First Mate-turned-reluctant-Mutineer that inherited the arrow - the Director James Gunn's brother, Sean Gunn.

Jun 2, 2022#449

Sparhawk

GasBandit said:
Fun Fact - the "someone else" was the actor who also played Yondu's First Mate-turned-reluctant-Mutineer that inherited the arrow - the Director James Gunn's brother, Sean Gunn.

I just couldn’t think of his name when I was typing.

Jun 2, 2022#450

ThatNickGuy

Sparhawk said:
I don’t think you could say that Cooper ever really *played* Rocket since someone else was doing the mocap for the character. Voiceover work can take as little as a few hours to a few days to get it all recorded.

Sure you could. Same as I can say Vin Diesel played Groot. They might not have done the mo-cap, but their voices still brought life to the characters. Voiceover work is still a key element in film.

This would be like saying James Earl Jones didn't play Darth Vader.

Jun 2, 2022#451

Far

I'd long assumed that Rocket would be the one to die in this one, like Groot in the first and Yondu in the second, especially after his talk with Yondu and the events of Infinity War/Endgame, as a sacrifice himself to save those he loves thing.

Jun 2, 2022#452

Sparhawk

ThatNickGuy said:
This would be like saying James Earl Jones didn't play Darth Vader.

I say exactly that. JEJ only claims being the voice of Vader. Dave ACTED in the scenes, even learned all the lines and gave the actual physical presence of the character. I’m not saying that voiceovers aren’t a form of acting, far from it, but that there is a difference between voicing and the physical acting of a character.
Take Andy Serkis, LotR or Apes, he was both the physicality of the characters and the voice, he was able to more fully combine the the physical acting and emotion of what the body showed to go with the words or ad-libs of the script.

Jun 4, 2022#453

evilmike

The latest controversy with Kevin Feige and the MCU...

Jun 4, 2022#454

figmentPez

evilmike said:
The latest controversy with Kevin Feige and the MCU...

I'm in total agreement, it's wrong to have the MCU take the same universe number as the comics.

Also, it totally suits her character to have a strong opinion on the matter.

Jun 4, 2022#455

evilmike

Jun 4, 2022#456

HCGLNS

Just finished Moon Knight, and I have no idea what's going on. Best theory was, it's all in his head, otherwise some one woukd have shown up when 2 gods had a battle over Egypt.

Jun 4, 2022#457

Ravenpoe

HCGLNS said:
Just finished Moon Knight, and I have no idea what's going on. Best theory was, it's all in his head, otherwise some one woukd have shown up when 2 gods had a battle over Egypt.

I mean, in the world of the MCU gods and aliens and giant flying men have fights in the sky every other weekend.

Jun 4, 2022#458

ThatNickGuy

HCGLNS said:
Just finished Moon Knight, and I have no idea what's going on. Best theory was, it's all in his head, otherwise some one woukd have shown up when 2 gods had a battle over Egypt.

Same reason no Avengers showed up in Winter Soldier or Iron Man 3: because if they did, it becomes an Avengers story, and not an obstacle for the solo hero to overcome.

Jun 5, 2022#459

Shawn

HCGLNS said:
Just finished Moon Knight, and I have no idea what's going on. Best theory was, it's all in his head, otherwise some one woukd have shown up when 2 gods had a battle over Egypt.

I'm not even sure the two gods were visible to anyone but the avatars. No one was reacting to them specifically. The dog demons for example were invisible to everyone except Marc. Even cameras weren't picking them up.

Jun 5, 2022#460

evilmike

Jun 9, 2022#461

evilmike

HCGLNS said:
Just finished Moon Knight, and I have no idea what's going on. Best theory was, it's all in his head, otherwise some one woukd have shown up when 2 gods had a battle over Egypt.

If it was all in his head, how could he show up in the logo?

Jun 9, 2022#462

Far

I got a huge Scott Pilgrim vibe from Ms.Marvel. Funny that Edgar Wright would leave Ant Man years ago because Disney didn't want an Edgar Wright movie, only to have them then ape the style so readily.

That said I did really enjoy it!

Jun 16, 2022#463

evilmike

Jun 16, 2022#464

Tress

Too bad that Nathan Fillion is too old (probably). He would have been perfect.

Jun 17, 2022#465

IronBrig4

Ms. Marvel is an enjoyable romp after the grimdark that was Multiverse of Madness. Kamala is a goofy, sarcastic, awkward teen. I have lived in three Middle Eastern countries and they got a lot of the family dynamics right. But they got one thing egregiously wrong; if a Pakistani mother found out that her teenaged daughter snuck out and went to an event she had been forbidden from going to, Ammi would give her much more than a scolding.

Jun 17, 2022#466

sixpackshaker

IronBrig4 said:
Ms. Marvel is an enjoyable romp after the grimdark that was Multiverse of Madness. Kamala is a goofy, sarcastic, awkward teen. I have lived in three Middle Eastern countries and they got a lot of the family dynamics right. But they got one thing egregiously wrong; if a Pakistani mother found out that her teenaged daughter snuck out and went to an event she had been forbidden from going to, Ammi would give her much more than a scolding.

But her dad keeps mom in check... Because he is a Feminist deep down inside. Like my Bro's inlaws. The Dad left Iran to give his daughters freedom.

Jun 19, 2022#467

Sara_2814

I knew almost nothing about Ms. Marvel going in, but that didn't matter. I love this show. I love Kamala (and Iman Vellani). I love her family and friends. I love that a Muslim family and community are being treated as 'normal'. The story pacing is good, building up Kamala discovering her powers and the mystery of her great-grandmother and the bangle. It's a fun show. It's also very non-insider friendly, which was a major problem I had with Moon Knight. Moon Knight felt like it was speaking directly to established fans (I was completely lost most of the time and just didn't enjoy it very much), while Ms. Marvel doesn't care if you haven't read the comics. I'm really looking forward to the The Marvels now, just because of Kamala.

Jun 20, 2022#468

Dave

I couldn’t make it through the first episode. Just too much high school stuff for me. I’ll power through it soon enough but it didn’t grab me right away.

As to Moon Knight, I liked it well enough even though I knew nothing of the source material.

Jun 20, 2022#469

Sara_2814

I didn't pick up that Moon Knight had a split personality, so at first I thought it was some guy taking over another guy's body, and putting him in danger and asking women out on dates, and he creeped me out and I kinda hated him. Then I did some background reading and realized they were the same guy, but I still had a hard time warming up to the jerk version. I liked the last two episodes the most, because they finally got to the reveal of his mental situation and things finally made sense. Probably could have used that earlier.

Jun 20, 2022#470

Tinwhistler

I cheated and read backstory after the first episode. I thought Moon Knight was cool in elementary school long before the identity disorder stuff. I think I only actually read a couple of comics, and all I really knew about him from them was he beat up bad guys in a cool costume and had a helicopter that looked like the moon.

But boy was I obsessed, drawing his helicopter all the time and shit. :pud:

Jun 22, 2022#471

evilmike

Ultimate Easter Egg in this week's Ms. Marvel

Jun 23, 2022#472

IronBrig4

"Mmmmm! I just can't get enough of this light, tender crust and real fruit filling!"

Jul 9, 2022#473

Tress

Thor: Love & Thunder

I’ll keep it simple and spoiler-free:

Loud, dumb, and incredibly fun. If you like Thor: Ragnarok, you’ll probably like this one too.

Jul 9, 2022#474

Dave

Do they fuck up any source material? Are Korg & Meek still punchlines?

*grump* *grumble*

Jul 9, 2022#475

Tress

Dave said:
Do they fuck up any source material? Are Korg & Meek still punchlines?

*grump* *grumble*

It stayed pretty true to the Mighty Thor and Gorr the God Butcher storylines.

Korg and Meek are still comedic characters, but then almost every character in a Taika Waititi film is used for comedy. The big exception here is Christian Bale bringing all the acting cred to this role in a very serious turn as Gorr. And it totally works.

Jul 12, 2022#476

Mathias

Tress said:
It stayed pretty true to the Mighty Thor and Gorr the God Butcher storylines.

Korg and Meek are still comedic characters, but then almost every character in a Taika Waititi film is used for comedy. The big exception here is Christian Bale bringing all the acting cred to this role in a very serious turn as Gorr. And it totally works.

I went in with actually low expectations for Bale - after seeing his character in the trailer. I was afraid he'd phone it in for a paycheck. The only disappointing thing about Bale was you could clearly distinct his acting chops from everyone else he shared the screen. Absolutely nailed that role! I wish they had more Gorr and a little less

hilarious screaming goats seriously I cracked up every fucking time these glorious bastards showed up, but towards the end it was kind of getting overdone.

Jul 13, 2022#477

Celt Z

Thor: Love & Thunder is a good, fun movie. Not a deep movie, but a fun movie. And except for a few minor parts

(a few "shits", the word "orgy" mentioned twice, and a blink-and-you'll miss it shot of Thor's butt, which made my son laugh),

it's one of the few MCU films that kids could enjoy. There's pretty minimal graphic violence compared to most MCU films, too. Anyway, I enjoyed it, Li'l Z had a good time, and if I came away with anything negative, it's that

between this and Ms. Marvel, the subtle mention of things/people from The Eternals makes is clear that Disney is still trying to make The Eternals a thing. It's their "fetch".

Jul 13, 2022#478

Frank

I think after the last episode of Ms. Marvel, you'll never have to worry about Eternals again.

Her genes have undergone some sort of.....mutation (duh nuh nuuuuuuh nuh naaaaah!)

Jul 13, 2022#479

evilmike

No ambiguity -- it's in the credits

Jul 14, 2022#480

GasBandit

Man, those boots are something else.

And everything else is EVERYTHING ELSE

Jul 14, 2022#481

ThatNickGuy

There are boots in that video?

Jul 14, 2022#482

drifter

GasBandit said:
Man, those boots are something else.

And everything else is EVERYTHING ELSE

Big Trouble in Little China remake. Come on Hollywood, you love doing that shit!

Jul 14, 2022#483

PatrThom

You know, that's not a bad idea.

--Patrick

Jul 14, 2022#484

ThatNickGuy

drifter said:
Big Trouble in Little China remake. Come on Hollywood, you love doing that shit!

There WAS talk of a remake for the longest time, but with Dwayne Johnson in Kurt Russell's original role.

EDIT: Correction, it was planned to be a continuation, similar to the new Jumanji films also co-starring The Rock.

Jul 17, 2022#485

GasBandit

I think we found the crux of Dave's discomfit:

Jul 17, 2022#486

Dave

YES!

Jul 17, 2022#487

Ravenpoe

GasBandit said:
I think we found the crux of Dave's discomfit:

Jul 18, 2022#488

Mathias

Celt Z said:
Thor: Love & Thunder is a good, fun movie. Not a deep movie, but a fun movie. And except for a few minor parts

(a few "shits", the word "orgy" mentioned twice, and a blink-and-you'll miss it shot of Thor's butt, which made my son laugh),

it's one of the few MCU films that kids could enjoy. There's pretty minimal graphic violence compared to most MCU films, too. Anyway, I enjoyed it, Li'l Z had a good time, and if I came away with anything negative, it's that

between this and Ms. Marvel, the subtle mention of things/people from The Eternals makes is clear that Disney is still trying to make The Eternals a thing. It's their "fetch".

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Yeah, the MCU pisses me off when they do things like throw the word "orgy" or like in Spiderman Homecoming, Ned's looking at porn joke. During Spiderman, my (at the time) 10 year old asked me what "porn" was because she didn't get why people were laughing. This fucking time around, my other kid (who happens to be 10 this year asked me what "orgy" was after that Zeus scene. I can't fucking win... I like subtle adult jokes in movies - like they pull off in stuff like Shrek. I'd be nice if I didn't have to explain very adult concepts to my kids after taking them to a damn Marvel Superhero movie that should be fairly clean. Look, I don't mean to be a prude, but Spiderman and Thor movies aren't Deadpool or Punisher, they really shouldn't throw in super sexual context like orgies and porn, but I guess such is the way of the world...

Jul 18, 2022#489

Bubble181

Thor: Love and Thunder has a 12A rating, or PG13, depending on whose authorities you like. It's LISTED as containing "moderate violence", "mild innuendo" and "verbal references to sexual content".

I'm not sure how much clearer they need to advertise that a movie is intended for teens, not children. If you bring your 10 year old to a 12+ age advisory movie...You don't really get to complain that your 10 year odl has questions afterwards. That's what the advisory is for.

Jul 18, 2022#490

Mathias

Bubble181 said:
Thor: Love and Thunder has a 12A rating, or PG13, depending on whose authorities you like. It's LISTED as containing "moderate violence", "mild innuendo" and "verbal references to sexual content".

I'm not sure how much clearer they need to advertise that a movie is intended for teens, not children. If you bring your 10 year old to a 12+ age advisory movie...You don't really get to complain that your 10 year odl has questions afterwards. That's what the advisory is for.

**mild** innuendo" and "verbal references to sexual content

In my opinion, doesn't mean outright references to orgies and porn. Verbal references to sexual content for most PG13 movies means two characters got in on off screen and it's mildly suggested or shown. For example, Indiana Jones moves on Willy in Temple of Doom (where the PG-13 designation was first introduced). I'm aware what PG13 should be and should not be, thanks. It's not cool to bring up porn and orgies in a superhero movie that's primarily aimed at kids even if they are 13-17. My 15 year old doesn't need to hear about orgies in at Thor movie either.

Again, I took my kid to see Thor by the same guy that did Ragnarok. I was not expecting orgy references when the prior movie had nothing like that.

Edit: I guess Ragnarok did, but it was done way more subtly than Russel Crowe repeating it over and over

Jul 18, 2022#491

ScytheRexx

Mathias said:
**mild** innuendo" and "verbal references to sexual content

Huh, maybe it's because I am a dirty degenerate, but the words porn and orgy ARE mild verbal references. It's not like they are talking about double penetration or ass to mouth or bukkake.

In my opinion, doesn't mean outright references to orgies and porn. Verbal references to sexual content for most PG13 movies means two characters got in on off screen and it's mildly suggested or shown. For example, Indiana Jones moves on Willy in Temple of Doom (where the PG-13 designation was first introduced). I'm aware what PG13 should be and should not be, thanks. It's not cool to bring up porn and orgies in a superhero movie that's primarily aimed at kids even if they are 13-17. My 15 year old doesn't need to hear about orgies in at Thor movie either.

While I get what you are trying to say man, attempting to shelter those types of discussions with your close to teenage kids because you don't think it's appropriate just means he is going to hear those things from his 11-17 year old friends, and you will have no way to actually give a nuanced, decent take on the whole thing.

While I can only go into my anecdotal take growing up, my parents refused to talk about sex with me and so I didn't even know what sex was until I walked in on my mom and her boyfriend at 9 years old, I had no idea about anything until I made some rather perverted friends at 12 while in middle school, who liked to have sleepovers and watch skinnimax with big naked breasts. After that, I got interested in the idea (or more specifically, the aesthetic) of sex, and my parents never realized how interested I was till years later when they first caught me watching porn. All they did was scold me about it and still refused to tell me anything because it made them uncomfortable, which only made me get more and more interested in it. Now I make porn for a living. Would I have been that way had they tried to explain what any of it was rather then forcing me into grasping to understand it all on my own through teenage friends and media? Who knows. It probably wouldn't hurt though.

You have every right to raise your kids how you feel best, but getting upset that they mention some mild sexual phrases in a movie that, I am sorry, is aimed at teens and adults who would already have passing knowledge of these phrases from youtube alone, is just being overbearing and pushing away from doing any research on your own. Considering the entire MCU is absolutely filled with swearing (the only general swear they half censor is a full on f-bomb, "What the fu....", Samual L fading way with "Motherfu") it's really not ever supposed to be for younger kids, unless you want your 7 year old copying his favorite super hero Tony Stark by calling his teacher a "Son of a bitch".

This is why I personally follow the ratings as the first line, and then watch the movies myself before I consider taking my kids, just to be certain I am comfortable with it for their ages. That is just what I do though.

Jul 18, 2022#492

Tress

Oh look, people telling other people how to raise their kids! That always goes over well.

Jul 18, 2022#493

ScytheRexx

It's interesting that trying to give a personal take on something and even saying someone has the right to raise their kids however they feel is best, somehow becomes "telling other people how to raise them."

It's okay to share advice through experiences, in the end we all have to make our own choices though.

Jul 18, 2022#494

GasBandit

PG is not G. PG means "parental guidance suggested." It directly implies "hey, there's some stuff in here you may or may not want your kids to see."

Airplane! was PG. "I remember when I used to sit on your face and wiggle." Goonies was PG. They glued a penis back onto a statue upside down. On camera. Sixteen Candles was PG, and had a completely unobstructed view of a teenaged character (played by an adult) naked in the shower and even zoomed in on the breasts. "Earth Girls are Easy." Easy to WHAT, PG rated movie? "Splash." SO much naked Darryl Hannah, and a little male nudity thrown in to boot.

I realize these are mostly pre-PG-13 rating movies (which came about in 1984), but you also have to remember that the PG-13 rating was to signify greater intensity. The first PG-13 movie was Red Dawn, and pretty much the only sexual content in it was plot implication that someone had been raped.

I won't tell you what's right for your kids. But I will tell you that PG does not and has never been intended to mean "perfectly safe for kids." That's G.

Jul 18, 2022#495

Ravenpoe

I was allowed to watch R rated movies at 8, but I'm also a deviant so maybe I'm not the best example.

Jul 18, 2022#496

ThatNickGuy

I dunno, guys, I'm kinda on Mathias' side on this. I'm not a father, but I've taken my nieces to many of these. I didn't see Thor 4 with them, but I thought the orgy joke wasn't all that funny, anyway. It reminded me of a similar cheap "edgy" joke said during an MTV movie awards show skit (not a favorable comparison).

But I would hate to be the parent or other adult that had to try explaining that joke when it came up.

Heh, though it reminds me of when I tried explaining why one niece wasn't allowed to read my books. I told her there were quite a few innuendos in it. She asked "like what?" and I blurted out that there's a pearl necklace joke. I refused to explain what that meant.

But then she googled it.

She rushed back to me, slapping my chest, and yelled "Ewww! Why would you write that?!"

Jul 18, 2022#497

ScytheRexx

ThatNickGuy said:
But I would hate to be the parent or other adult that had to try explaining that joke when it came up.

I can understand the discomfort. I experience it all the time too with my own kids.

But sooner or later you have to answer these questions, they're going to learn what it means either through you, or someone else.

Maybe I am just more comfortable explaining things to my kids in the most diplomatic way I can, but I would rather my son hear it from me then wait till he has an opening to hear what ChadLad69 on YouTube thinks about orgies.

Jul 18, 2022#498

Ravenpoe

ThatNickGuy said:
I dunno, guys, I'm kinda on Mathias' side on this.

Oh I'm not against Mathias at all, he has every right to feel annoyed that his kid is exposed to things he doesn't want them exposed to. I assume he knows his children and what they can handle and what they can't, so I can't really opine on what is appropriate for them.

I also don't have kids, so I can only give anecdotes from my own childhood. And one I really like and still respect my mom for to this day happened when I was about 5 years old. My aunt was babysitting me, and she let me watch A Nightmare on Elm Street, and I was way, way too young for that and it scared the shit out of me. For a week I didn't want to go to bed because I thought Freddy would get me, until finally my mom had the idea to have me watch a behind the scenes special on the movie, which showed how they did the special effects and putting Robert Englund into the makeup. And at that point I was fine, my five year old brain was able to process that it's all just pretend, and from that point on I was allowed to watch scary movies because they no longer scared me (though, truth be told, it would be a few years still before they really let me watch anything too extreme)

Jul 18, 2022#499

ScytheRexx

This is what I am getting at. In the end your mother helped you understand the differences between real life and movie magic and that opened up your mind to understanding those fears in a healthy and less traumatizing way.

It's very clear in the end that everyone is going to parent differently and understand what works for their kids or not. In the end we have to use that responsibility to guide our kids best we can, even through the awkward times. Being annoyed at a movie putting you in that situation is valid, I just don't agree that a movie developed and rating for teenagers and adults needs to dance around difficult subjects or even things some may considered crass.

My other issue is just this weird idea that the MCU is for "kids" because it really isn't. Yes, most of us still let our kids watch them, much like I am sure some of us watched RoboCop as a kid (and that movie was a hard R), but every movie was designed more for adults that grew up with these heroes and want those nostalgia hits with just a pinch of modern style to hook teenagers, which is why the anthems of each movie seem to be old music from the 80s, with some of them leaning hard into that (GOTG). We decided all the swearing, the rampant murder, the horrible deaths, the sexual inuendo, etc was "safe enough", and I think then getting mad a high schooler says "porn" as the line cross is, personally, a weird take for me, but I can at least respect I look at the world way different then most people.

Jul 18, 2022#500

GasBandit

A play in two acts

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