Marvel Cinematic Universe, Phase 4 & Beyond (and a chance to change your vote)

I guess if I used "them" instead of "it" it might have added the correct context.

'Series' works in both the plural and the singular but can be confusing. If only 'serieses' didn't sound so Gollum-esque.

In any case, I would love a Daredevil TV reboot or a movie. It's gotta be gritty, but they don't need to make it so gory.

Kingpin slamming that guy's head repeatedly in the car door was maybe as bad as it got.

Punisher getting a power drill through his boot was pretty gross. And kinda hilarious that like 1 day later he's running around again.

cool to see disney explicitly acknowledge that good morning america is indeed part of the propaganda wing of the military-industrial complex in this new episode

was that the actual host of good morning america playing the host of good morning america?

Haven’t seen it yet - do they acknowledge Marvel’s complicity in the MIC?

New one is pretty good, too. I like the way both of the MCU shows so far have been used to subtly fill in the gaps of what life was like with half the world gone, and also after they all came back at once.

Clearing something up, Sam is just a regular person with a flying wing suit, right? And nu-Cap ... is just a regular human, too, right? Neither seem like they would last long against people with super-human strength. I did like the truck fight in this, though.

Oh, and the buddy cop relationship between Bucky and Sam ... did they have much interaction at all in the movies? They're depicted as long time friends or rivals or frenemies.

Liked both the episodes, am just letting it ride a bit rather than getting too deep into wondering what’s up. Did like seeing that actress from the Solo film appear here, a striking presence.

Has the discourse decided yet whether this show is really gay or really homophobic?

I did see some clickbait thing about Bucky being bi, don't know what that was about.

Not a lot of wondering what's up just yet, imo. I'm not sure there's anything to do but tag along for the ride right now. But my not terribly ambitious prediction is that nu-Cap dies during this and Sam finally ends up Cap

Cool to see Isaiah Bradley show up, and hopefully they'll go deeper into his backstory. And the appearance of Elijah Bradley further cements the likelihood of a Young Avengers project in the future (after Kate Bishop in Hawkeye, the only other OG member left to make an MCU appearance* is Hulkling, and Secret Invasion might take care of that one).

(*And Kang is slated to appear in the next Ant-Man, in case you're inclined to split hairs about the OG membership.)

But my not terribly ambitious prediction is that nu-Cap dies during this and Sam finally ends up Cap

the curse of Lodge 49 strikes again

I don't know much about the comics, is Young Avengers just what it sounds like, more or less the Avengers, with the same powers and abilities, but ... teenagers? But not teenaged versions of the Avengers, right?

Oh, and the buddy cop relationship between Bucky and Sam ... did they have much interaction at all in the movies? They're depicted as long time friends or rivals or frenemies.

xp Correct, they’re a team of different heroes, who originally came together as teenagers.

my prediction is that sam, having uncovered the us government’s abuse of the super-soldier serum and turned against the department of defense, will reclaim the shield and become nomad at the end of the show

Clearing something up, Sam is just a regular person with a flying wing suit, right? And nu-Cap ... is just a regular human, too, right?

Huh, don't know anything about Power Broker or the nu-Cap character (John Walker?).

i enjoyed this ep & i like the interactions between sam & bucky

also it is kinda blowing my mind that nu-Cap is the Lodge 49 dude

His first speech felt like a lite version of his heartbreaking scene from the end of Lodge.

otm

yeah, Sam and Bucky chemistry can easily carry this series. but the action is good and the world building, post-Blip setup is pretty well done so far

though i did have to laugh Bucky's "He's means being... HYDRA." when the other touches on race issues were fairly keen

I only just found out that Lodge 49 dude is Kurt and Goldie's kid!!!!

Ha, that explains the jawline.

Meantime, another typically thoughtful Charles Pulliam-Moore piece

https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-falcon-and-the-winter-soldier-s-commentary-on-race-1846566829

everyone go watch lodge 49

I don't even mean that in a "don't watch this drivel watch this ART instead" I just mean....it's great, almost everyone who gives it a try ends up loving it

I just finished season 1 and it is wondrous

Yeah, I just watched Lodge 49 recently and it's astonishing that such a good show came and went without my ever having even heard the title. Maybe Russell getting cast in MCU will help drive viewers back to it.

I'm kind of afraid to watch season 2 lest it be a letdown from season 1, near-perfect TV

season 2 is better!

omg

Each time that The Falcon and The Winter Soldier stops to ask whether you see what it’s trying to do, it becomes harder to think of the show as doing much more than paying lip-service to a very surface-level understanding of how racism is bad. Racism is bad, and we shouldn’t gloss over opportunities to remind people of that fact, but The Falcon and The Winter Soldier is in a choice position to truly add something meaningful and more dynamic to the conversation. So far, it seems wholly uninterested in living up to its potential.

I don't actually think MCU does have the potential to do this kind of work. This is not a knock on MCU -- it is a great example of the kind of thing that it is, which is a thing that bangs major-key chords really hard, not a thing that embraces complexity.

A response would be the great line from episode 8 of Wandavision, but iirc that left you cold?

xp agreed, eephus. the fact that they're even going as far as they've gone is still a surprise. also, there's still four more episodes so let's see if they can do better. I liked the police arresting Bucky scene btw

The writer maybe should've waited to see whether we get the full Isaiah Bradley backstory before submitting that article.

I only just found out that Lodge 49 dude is Kurt and Goldie's kid!!!!

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Sunday, 28 March 2021 18:37 (four hours ago) link

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTT

Season 2 of L49 is impossible to find in the UK, even to bootleg

xpost Hah, yeah, I knew him mostly from that better than it should have been nazi zombie movie. A bigger superhero scion reveal to me was learning that the lead from The Boys is the son of Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid, which, if you look at him, totally.

once you realize he's kurt russell's kid you can't unsee it

ahhhhh no fkn way

is it too late to recast star-lord

omg how did u people not know this lol

smack smack smack

i know i know

Season 2 of L49 is impossible to find in the UK, even to bootleg

Was hoping it would turn up on Prime like Season 1 but never has

I did eventually track down torrents though so it is out there

So, based on the first two episodes, if Wandavision was the Marvel equivalent of Twin Peaks and similar surrealist dramas, Falcon & The Winter Soldier seems to be their 80s buddy cop action comedy, a la Lethal Weapon or Tango & Cash? If this the way the MCU series are gonna continue, I'm cool with, because I like the idea of experimenting within different genres within the same universe just lie they've done the comics (and obviously some of the earlier series like Agent Carter and Luke Cage had already attempted it). I'm not sure how well the attempts of addressing racism fit with that tone, but I do appreciate the effort, and using the series featuring the MCU's most prominent African-American character feels like the best place to do that. (Black Panther obviously was deeply anti-racist, and presumably it's sequel will be too, but the fantastical setting doesn't work as well for scenes dealing with everyday racism like we've seen in this series.)

Also, I was surprised how much they've adapted from Mark Gruenwald's Captain America run into this: introducing a MCU version of John Walker to replace Cap feels like a no-brainer (especially since, unlike in the comics, Steve Rogers isn't around anymore), but I was surprised that Flag Smasher and Power Broker are a part of this too. Obviously Gruenwald's run was by far the longest anyone's written Captain America in the comics, but I was under the impression it isn't that well-regarded these days, especially with its cheesier elements like the Serpent Society and Capwolf? Tho I'd love to see a MCU version of the Serpent Society! :)

One thing I felt was kept deliberately ambiguous is the fate of old Steve Rogers: is he still alive, or did he die between Endgame and this series? Obviously the world thinks he's dead, but the way Falcon and Bucky talk about him makes it sound like we're supposed to think he really has died of old age? So I'm thinking, maybe the ambiguity is intentional, and by the end of the series we'll get a suprise cameo of Chris Evans in old guy makeup, giving John Walker a speech about the true meaning of the American Ideals or something?

Also, regarding Gruenwald, it's kinda disrespectful that Kirby, Simon, Lee, Colan, Brubaker and Epting are credited in the end credits for having created Cap, the Falcon, Bucky, and Winter Soldier, but Gruenwald and the artists he worked with get no such credit, with him being listed among several other names they give "special thanks" to:

https://mlpnk72yciwc.i.optimole.com/cqhiHLc.WqA8~2eefa/w:auto/h:auto/q:75/https://bleedingcool.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Screenshot-3825.jpg

I get it that the "created by" credits are normally reserved only for the main heroes, but give hown much of the stuff here was originally created by Gruenwald (the characters of John Walker and Lemar Hoskins, them becoming replacements for Cap and Bucky with a more right-wing agenda, Flag-Smasher(s) as anarchist villain(s) opposed to Cap's nationalism, etc), you'd think he would've given him a more prominent credit for it? It's not like they even have to worry about him complaining about not getting any royalties out of using his characters, like Brubaker did with the Winter Soldier, since he's been dead for 25 years.