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

okay lol @ "nerd immunity"

it looks like the Maslany She-Hulk was just a rumor that she debunked in a recent interview, sadly.

I don't know, I smell a rat. Kind of like when Taika denied he was making a Star Wars movie and then was all, psych, I'm making a Star Wars movie.

I assume she's still negotiating her contract, and Ruffalo's tweet improved her payday/terms.

Oh I hope it's a feint, makes sense since she called it a "press release that got out of hand", which doesn't come across as quite the strong denial the article I read implied. I'm still hopeful she shows up in it.

maybe she plays jennifer and somebody else plays she hulk? and she plays "the voice in her head"? it's a weird bit of pr thus far.

https://www.vulture.com/2020/10/oscar-isaac-moon-knight-marvel-series.html

Just negotiating phase/tactics. Though I'd love to see his take on the character.

it's a meaty fuckin' role!

lol oscar isaac hated working for disney so much during Star Wars, wonder what kind of sweetheart deal they’re offering him for this

Well, much like Finn his role got worse and worse as the series went on, so I don't blame him

Is this the right thread for this(?) Kate Bishop on-set images have surfaced: https://www.comicbookmovie.com/tv/marvel/hawkeye/hawkeye-set-video-gives-us-a-much-better-look-at-hailee-steinfeld-and-jeremy-renner-a180551#gs.mgnaf1

The casting announcements for Spider-Man 3 make it really look like they are just going to repeat the multiverse thing that worked so well in Into the Spider-Verse with a live action version. Even for the MCU this seems really lazy. Happy to be proven wrong, but I really liked watching the first two with my son and this makes me way less excited for a third one.

I mean, given the Dr. Strange sequel’s subtitle, the multiverse was already long planned, but this seems like a questionable move.

Even for the MCU this seems really lazy.

McKenna was nominated for both an Emmy and a Hugo, for writing a multiverse story, seven years before Spider-Verse came out tbfttl

A bunch more Kate Bishop set pics circulating today; Steinfeld looks like a great casting choice.

Just misread that as 'Seinfeld' and I'm still laughing from that mental image.

McKenna was nominated for both an Emmy and a Hugo, for writing a multiverse story, seven years before Spider-Verse came out tbfttl

Oh I don't have any issue with McKenna and, again, this is total speculation just based on the casting, it's more just surprise that they'd use the Spider-Man film to redo the Spider-verse think so soon again.

It may be wise to speculate with caution, as you may recall that a lot of the pre-release assumptions about the last Spidey flick were upended (ie the thing about Mysterio dropping in from a different earth).

they'll need to add more Spiders-Man and Girls if they're going to sorta hit the key diversity theme

Maybe this is Mysterio running the same scam again. Maybe every future Marvel movie will end by revealing that actually it was Mysterio.

iirc doesn't Mysterio make that multiverse claim himself in the movie, as part of his ruse? Between the timeline resolution of the Avengers, Spider-verse and Dr. Strange title, and possibly what they hinted at with the Vision/Witch show, they're definitely leaning in to this. Someone versed in the comics could maybe make a good guess as to the overarching plot or big bad. I have no idea. Does Captain Marvel 2 have a title or casting? They've hinted at introducing Adam Warlock a few times now, I think. Certainly a multiverse scenario could allow, say, the Fantastic Four to just pop in as a deus ex reboot at the end of a movie. Lots of ways Marvel can go, assuming they even want another giant overarching crossover scenario.

Yeah, I have no issue with the multiverse idea and that's clearly where we are heading, I was just saying that it seems kinda lazy to launch into it with a do-over of the multiple Spider-Men thing. Especially since the Spider-Man flick is slated before the Dr. Strange sequel, which will obviously lean heavily into the multiverse too.

I just have no idea why they'd want to maintain any association with the awful Andrew Garfield movies

there's (un)surprisingly a small, vocal fanbase online who grew up with and liked those movies

i can't lie though - i am excited to see all those jabronis in one big battle royale. even the characters who died! let's get Topher Grace in there while we're at it

hoping they insert Mulaney's Spider-Ham Who-Framed-Roger-Rabbit-style

It could be cool if they do it right.

It’s kind of funny that a generation will grow up thinking of multiple Spideys as a basic “Spider-Man” feature, when for most of Marvel’s history, there was only one Parker, he was a very singular hero... even while there were a few different Caps, Thors, Captain Marvels, etc. (I’m talking back in the ’80s, long before there were a zillion versions of every character.)

I mean, a generation already has grown up thinking multiple Spideys are a basic Spider-Man feature; Ben Reilly, although created in the 70s, came into his own circa 1994.

Huh, I had stopped reading by then.

Spider-Man 2099 was an ongoing two years before that

not to mention that the film had Spider-Folk from six universes, but the original Spider-Verse comics on which the film was based featured Spidey-Persons from dozens of universes, crossed over half a dozen existing titles, launched several titles featuring new Spider-Ladies and recurring -Verse miniseries, and was itself adapting a video game by the same spider-writer-and-comments-troll.

Anything with superheroes is fundamentally uninteresting to me, I don't like to begrudge others their fun but in the last decade it has become impossible to filter out while still being interested in other pop culture, just hope we can move on soon.

May I c+p your post into all 413,209 threads about things that don't interest me? I think people would really enjoy that.

We're 10,000 posts into the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Classic Or Dud thread, with about three or four of those posts saying "dud." You don't need to freak out on anyone who mildly says "idk, idgi"

10000 posts in and OL still doesn't realize that this mega franchise is in no way similar to anything else in existence in terms of pop culture dominance and sheer unavoidability, just a straight decade of acting like people are needlessly piling on some poor random movie and not the default interest of human beings under the age of 50

I thought my joek was pretty mild, sic, compared to the umpteenth hyperbolic claim that we are still collectively unable to avoid this franchise that hasn't had a new entry in (checks) 1.5 years now.

you've been posting like this much longer than 1.5 years and will continue to do so after covid dies down and disney begins pummeling movie theaters with their franchises once more

Yeah probably, because I enjoy the MCU movies and enjoy posting about how I enjoy the MCU movies in the thread dedicated to the MCU movies.

I've also posted about how Disney's business practices are increasingly fucked and how I don't enjoy that but please don't let me interrupt ya flow.

plenty of people here are capable of talking about enjoying this franchise without acting like someone shot their dog whenever it's lightly criticized. i still care enough about it to watch them in theaters. meanwhile you immediately jumped into this poll after it was made with your dukes up looking to rehash the same arguments with the same posters. it doesn't have to be this way!

there is only #onethread but unfortunately it's the politics thread

I'm done I'm done

Anyway dud

Every time an MCU is criticized, a dog of mine gets shot.

https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-ncregister/swp/hv9hms/media/2020082719080_aebd37695ca3c05e3fdadafb918400515fde44421e36f4e4bc558fb195d700e3.jpeg

Eh, who cares about criticizing the MCU? Plenty of valid reasons to do so imo and even those of us that are big fans do it too, at least about specific decisions/ideas. For me, it's just exhausting that people feel the need to go out of their way to jump into the one active thread about the MCU to remind us all how much they hate the franchise and don't get how anyone could possibly enjoy it. What's the point? Considering we keep it to one rolling thread at a time to cover multiple films a year, and now multiple upcoming TV series, it's not like ILM is getting flooded with obnoxious MCU threads.

I don't know, it's just that people get understandably annoyed when someone randomly parachutes into, say, the yearly rolling rap thread to remind everyone that they can't stand rap. But somehow it just keeps happening on the MCU threads and even just pointing it out is someone the wrong thing to do?

Understandable, but in that case it probably shouldn't be a Classic or Dud thread.

Fair, I don't know if I understand the reason of why we are structuring them as such still.

there just needs to be a thread exclusively for stanning the MCU and The 1975

*runs to the Guy Fieri thread*

#onethread

https://i.redd.it/tiuvweagqhn31.jpg

xp’s to sic – Obv. I’m aware of the Spider-Verse comics, which kicked off this trend – I was referring to there only being #OneSpidey in the sixties thru the eighties. (I acknowledge that the generation who began reading the comics in the early ’90s is also familiar with multiple Spider-Men; if not to the crazy extent of today.)

I mentioned the casting news to my son, and he just said, “They already did that!” (Then he added, “But this will be live-action, huh...”)

massive lol at Garfieri

it came out three weeks after cinemas reopened and was streaming hours beforehand

Gunn's Suicide Squad was great, miles better than Ayer's one.

Also spawned Cena's Peacemaker show which was a blast.

Controp: Jai Courtney was actually good as Captain Boomerang, possibly for the first time ever.

Speaking of the MCU, I, too, have more or less enjoyed most of the movie/TV releases; I think I've seen all of them in the theaters except for "The Eternals" and "Iron Man 2" (which remain MCU low-points, imo). I've even enjoyed less liked installments like "Thor 2" and "Black Widow." However, I haven't seen all the TV shows yet. Skipped "Secret Invasion," haven't watched "What If?" and only last night realized I never got around to "Echo." She's another character I know nothing about, but the first ep was pretty solid, and felt a little different, which is good.

BTW, this last year has truly been a banner moment for on-screen Native American representation/casting, hasn't it? "Echo," "Reservation Dogs," "The Curse," "True Detective" and "Killers of the Flower Moon." (Maybe more I'm missing?) Admittedly, it's sometimes the same actors, but it's a good (belated) start. Hopefully it's not a one-and-done trend and the correction sticks.

I've been going through everything in order with the family. We're currently almost done with Ms. Marvel, which is fun and cute but probably my least favorite of the television series so far. It doesn't seem very grounded and the bad guys and their conflict isn't that engaging to me, but I like the tone of it.

Moon Knight > Loki > Wandavision >>> Falcon/Winter Soldier = Hawkeye > Ms. Marvel

The first half of Wandavision is probably my favorite of all, but by the end when it was color coded energy blargles it lost a lot of its charm.

As far as the movies, we just watched Thor: Love & Thunder. It was fun but leaned too far into goofiness. Thor 3 was one of my favorites and it was hard to see that perfect balance go sideways. We started going through these a year and a half ago and it's strange to think we've almost caught up with current releases.

She-Hulk
Werewolf
Wakanda Forever
Quantamania
Secret Invasion
Loki 2
The Marvels
Echo

I'm most looking forward to She-Hulk, least excited about Secret Invasion.

If my 9 year old has seen all of this stuff, is Echo too mature for her? I see that it's rated more mature and I'm not sure what that entails. We might skip that one, with her at least.

I really don't feel like watching secret invasion, will the Marvels make any sense if I skip it?

I would be wary of letting a 9yo watch Echo. It’s not as brutal as the Netflix Marvel shows but it trends that way. Probably best to watch them first by yourself and judge from there.

Yeah, first ep has plenty of blood/murder.

Don't know if watching "Secret Invasion" would make "The Marvels" make more sense, but there's not way it would make it better, heh. However, probably helps to see "Ms. Marvel" before "The Marvels." Maybe "WandaVision."

My tally of these:

She-Hulk

Werewolf

Wakanda Forever

Quantamania

Secret Invasion

Loki 2

The Marvels

Echo

I’ve diligently watched everything but let the wife and kids skip the stinkers. Is Secret Invasion as bad as Iron Man 2, Thor 2, and the Eternals?

Yes

Bits of it are fine but it’s mostly a pile of nonsense

Secret Invasion will arguably cause The Marvels to make less sense - as a comic book reader, I'm pretty inured to "oh this probably happened between issues of this other thing that contradicts it".

I wouldn't say nothing happens in Secret Invasion - it kills a couple of characters from the films, but mostly it's the closest thing to a Nick Fury TV show that you'll get, so if you want to see him scowl and bark (and have a few good character moments) it's good for that.

I liked The Marvels plenty - it's in the odd position that it's both the shortest film and has two obvious "tacked on for the memes" sequences - but the core plot and relationship between the three leads (and Fury) are all well done.

Also I dug that SI was operating in a genre (paranoid political thriller) that the MCU doesn't really do - the closest would be The Winter Soldier, if you squint?

Any five minutes of it is better than any five minutes of Malekith, or Tony Stark's Daddy Issues.

As far as the movies, we just watched Thor: Love & Thunder. It was fun but leaned too far into goofiness.

I maintain that it should've leaned harder into goofiness, and that they should've made more explicit the fact that the entire movie is a load of shaggy dog BS being whipped up on the fly by unreliable narrator Korg. It could've been a new Princess Bride. Something got seriously lost in translation/studio interference.

Yeah, that would have worked. It was tonally off-balance with wackiness and then deadly serious bits. James Gunn manages to make that work, but it didn't really click here.

I think it's maybe because the Guardians themselves are funny, well-written characters; the humor comes from their interaction/bickering. Whereas the central joke of Thor is that he is *not* funny, he's a pompous straight man, which can be silly, but just writing jokes around him is not innately funny. Iirc the smart move of "Ragnarok" was literally separating Thor from the drama, cordoning him off in his own wacky story while the serious stuff transpired elsewhere.

I like these movies but they're pretty simple-minded; I think you could easily skip Wandavision and Secret Invasion and Ms Marvel and still make complete sense of The Marvels.

("Why is Nick Fury in space?" "A. Cause he's a space guy now" is pretty much all you need to know, for better and worse.)

I got really bored with GOTG3 and stopped watching after 30 mins, maybe I should try again. I think, even if the quality of some of these movies is still quite good, the repetition is definitely getting boring.

Versus, say, Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks, which are doing plotlines I've seen countless times before in other Star Treks, but are somehow still pretty fresh and fun.

GOTG3 has the best Adrian Belew reference in the Marvel Universe, for this I give it many thanks.

X-Men '97 is super fun

I wasn't even a fan of the 90s show back then (and almost every boy I knew was!) but I'm enjoying this too

Just announced that Julia Garner will play the/a Silver Surfer, which rules.

Oh, right on. I have been 100% 'no notes' about the Fantastic Four casting thus far.

Yeah, the casting has been great so far. Very interested to see if they can stick the landing with the Dr. Doom casting.

xpost And I'm sure the entire open-minded and inclusive fan community will be completely onboard with this casting decision.............

the/a Silver Surfer, which rules

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dlYOD1_WU4

X-Men ‘97’s latest episode: HOLY SMOKES!!

I am very close to crowing this the best MCU product.