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

Assuming this is now going to be a weekly Friday release?

Probably yeah, like the Mandalorian was.

Or was that on Saturdays?

I was considering a separate thread for WandaVision, but by the looks of things, there's not really going to be much overlap between the various TV series?

Pity, I was going to name it after the Fred Melamed Rhythmically Thumping Cinematic Universe.

Anyway, is this Paul Bettany's first comedic role since A Knight's Tale? He's really good - the drunkenness in the top hat & tails in the second episode reminded me a bit of Matt Smith.

I'd guess Brady Bunch this week? I'm hoping there'll be a Roseanne episode. With nine in the series, they'll have to run out before the end, even if things don't come to a head first.

Tomorrow's new episode is the last of the ones that went out for review - apparently there's a name said that may clue in Marvel fans?

Cookie Puss?

Oh, wait, Marvel. My bad.

I've already seen some speculation that Wanda and Vision's neighbour Agnes is actually Agatha Harkness, because of the similarity in names, and because she's played by a fairly well known actor for a seemingly minor role. But if that's true, I really, really, really hope this is isn't supposed to be an adaptation of that awful John Byrne West Coast Avengers story which pretty much ruined Wanda and Vision for years.

Tomorrow's new episode is the last of the ones that went out for review - apparently there's a name said that may clue in Marvel fans?

Unless it's something I completely missed it, I don't think any name or any other detail in this episode gave any more clue to comic books readers than to those only familiar with the movies? Unless the clue was supposed to be that Wanda did indeed give birth to Wiccan and Speed, but I'm sure all the comic book folks already guessed it after the previous episode's pregnancy reveal.

The Truman Show stuff towards the end of episode seems to confirm my theory upthread that the Vision is indeed back and not just a figment of Wanda's imagination, no? She still seems to have control over Westview and what's happening there, but it doesn't look like she created its inhabitants.

Now that Disney owns Fox, is she ever going to officially be called Scarlet Witch? I'm not a comic book guy so I don't know the exact details of the changes they made, but ... wasn't she revealed/rewritten to be a mutant in the comics? Has the MCU called anything she does magic or witchcraft or hexes or whatever? From a casual perspective she's been one of the more confusing characters in the MCU, since her powers are so ill-defined (iirc in the comics at some point she was considered one of the handful of most powerful superheroes). Vision, too, I guess, he's got a huge array of vague yet powerful abilities.

She was a mutant for most of her existence in the comics and was retconned into being an Inhuman.

Tuomas, could you as a favour shut the fuck up on the day of the episode's release?

Oh yeah, wasn't she Magneto's daughter at some point? I guess with Disney owning pretty much everything, plus exploring multiverse stuff, they can basically do whatever they want with any of these characters.

She and Quicksilver were mutants and Magneto's kids for most of the time they've been around. Now they're the product of the High Evolutionary's experiments (akin to being the product of Strucker's experiments in the MCU) and no longer Magneto's kids. I expect they'll kick the dirt over that stupid retcon eventually.

When were their new Inhuman roots mentioned, Dan? I honestly can't keep track of all the fuckery.

No you are right, I had stopped reading the books when all this happened and got details wrong

Quicksilver married the princess of the Inhumans and they had a child together. Their marriage felt apart some time ago, and especially after went he insane with time travel post-House of M. Too bad they... sorta pretended that never happened!

I elided Quicksilver's connection to the Inhumans via Crystal with the High Evolutionary stuff

I thought the High Evolutionary and the Kree were like, separate trees of this hooey

They are. For the moment. Until Wyndham is revealed to have been a secret Kree this whole time.

she's still magneto's daughter to me.
here's a few pages of Marvel Genesis if you're curious:
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/History_of_the_Marvel_Universe#Billions_of_Years_Ago

WV isn't something I'd personally choose to watch, but my roommate's been watching, and I got sucked in and it is dope asf. Can't wait til Friday!

I think it is Friday?

Next ep I mean

Black Widow comes out on DVD 2/3. Surprised to see it in my library catalog. Thought it'd hold out for a theater release.

maybe it's a straight to DVD spider horror film?

That's gotta be an error somewhere... they are very much still holding off for a theatrical release. Currently set for May 2021 theatrical release, but that seems in jeopardy:

A new report says that Black Widow will only get a Disney+ release if all other options have failed, with Marvel determined to secure a theater debut. The long-awaited Marvel Cinematic Universe movie was initially supposed to release in theaters in May 2020. It was then delayed to November 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic and pushed out once again, this time to May 2021, due to the pandemic still keeping most theaters closed in the US and worldwide. And a new report suggests Black Widow could be delayed again.

She and Quicksilver were mutants and Magneto's kids for most of the time they've been around. Now they're the product of the High Evolutionary's experiments (akin to being the product of Strucker's experiments in the MCU) and no longer Magneto's kids. I expect they'll kick the dirt over that stupid retcon eventually.

A new report says that Black Widow will only get a Disney+ release if all other options have failed

Sounds dire! We're rooting for you, Black Widow, for the sake of humanity.

it's coming out on DivX

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BN2EyMDIyYWItNWI0MC00ODZmLWJlYTAtNDhmOTU0YWZmNWJlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTA0MjU0Ng@@._V1_.jpg

This latest episode was really good. I only saw one or two episodes of "Legion" (which people ... liked?) but this seems to have similar vibes. Still no idea what's going on at all.

I'm liking WandaVision the more it plays the cards it has but it's still moving a bit slower - mostly, again, in the name of showing off its considerable style (dig that stork! love the brady stairs!) - than I would prefer. Still worth the time investment. I'm buying into the theory of the mustachioed guy being Nightmare and his wife as Clea but I never saw the Doc Strange movie (which is odd as I have some real fondness for the many incarnations of the character), so i dunno if the film precludes those characters from appearing.
Anyways, we got 80's sitcoms up next. Cosby?

i don't think anyone is touching the cosby show with a 500 foot poll for the next zillion years

all the 80s / 90's TGIF shows were ABC which means disney owns them*, seems possible if they're sticking to family stuff

* (probably? no idea how rights from that era transfer from individual studios tbh)

well this is pastiche so whatever they go with it's not going to be a direct copy of anything. but i could see cosby couch/stair/door set up being part of the layout. what are other likely 80's sitcoms they could emphasize? Family Ties?
oh shit, they're gonna do ALF aren't they

oh fuck Family Ties yesss
that house was so good

sha la la la

married... with children obv

I think of Married with Children as the true couch/stair/door (but only because it was on TV more)

There's definitely a division on my friends feeds between "This is awesome" and "The weird stuff is good, but when are they going to ditch the sitcom elements?" I'm curious as to whether the latter will soften when they get to Friends-era.

Well, the end of this ep was the longest they've gone breaking character, right? I assume it will speed up from here.

I don't know enough about comics to know who Nightmare or Clea is, but it's telling that Kathryn Hahn's husband has remained unseen for three episodes. They could be making him like one of the infamous invisible sitcom spouses, but there are rumors abounding that he could be the/a Big Bad. Certainly Hahn has pretty high billing for not playing a big role so far, so who knows. Teyonah Parris one assumes will re-enter the story, given who her character apparently is, having just looked at the wiki to see how to spell her name. In fact, I saw a couple of other (small) names that have appeared in other MCU shows on deck for this one. (Plus, weren't there rumors of a Dr. Strange cameo?) Then again, all these characters could just be easter eggs for comics fans, priming them for future MCU appearances, but one of the pleasures of this show so far is I have no idea!

Just looking some more, S.W.O.R.D. was allegedly going to show up earlier in the MCU, as early as Thor, but S.W.O.R.D. was owned by Fox. Likewise, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which was on ABC, apparently wanted to incorporate S.W.O.R.D., maybe in the series finale, but were reportedly refused permission by Marvel Studios. And I guess there was supposedly a S.W.O.R.D. reference at the end of the last Spider-man? I find it kind of fascinating, given how consistent the MCU has been, that they could not only juggle all these characters and storylines but also (as we've half-surmised) *potential* characters and storylines that might become available (after buying Fox, or working stuff out with Sony, say). Add in not just the green lighting of Disney+ and one presumes the absorption of those other Marvel Netflix characters, plus factor in the massive premiere and production delays of the movies, and there are suddenly even more moving parts. There must be some Disney vault with piles of different timelines and crossover ideas and new characters and other contingencies ready to be put into play.

I just want to say more clearly that whatever the deeper plot machinations Olson and Bettany are ABSOLUTELY perfect throughout this thing so far; chemistry for days and embracing the ridiculous conventions while still selling the 'off'/unsettled moments.

I think it definitely helps that they (but particularly she) are good dramatic actors, so that when they shift from exaggerated sitcom acting to realistic acting the effect is very, well, effective.

yeah, that's otm.
again, my issue is that i'm just not interested in watching tiresome sitcom tropes even when they're done winkingly and the first hour and a half of this program has been 80%+ tiresome sitcom tropes... filmed lovingly and cleverly, but still tiresome! get to the meat!
increasingly, i think the structure here just isn't for me. Even so, I don't begrudge the risk and I expect future episodes to be closer to 50% meat and 50% pastiche which is where I'm likely to get more into it.

it's telling that Kathryn Hahn's husband has remained unseen for three episodes.

filmed lovingly and cleverly

A small, very sharp touch has been how the camera angles have slowly started to shift at various points to be utterly unlike typical angles/framing from the era that they're replicating, often at moments of particular emotional stress. The first episode was almost totally on point for the early sixties though notably there were a few moments at the breakfast-dinner where that changed. In this most recent episode there were a lot more of those, like with the edit/glitch moment for Vision and especially during the birth scenes.

xpost Yeah, that's one theory. I think I saw a link to this:

https://www.theverge.com/2021/1/22/22243271/wandavision-episode-3-recap-explainer-mephisto-agatha-harkness-tommy-billy-sword

Huh, should that link be hidden? I don't think it counts as a spoiler, since it's total guess work and doesn't give away anything we've seen on the show so far, or even that we necessarily expect to see.

This potential Big Bad also has a lot of connections to Dr. Doom, who is perhaps the best known Big Bad as yet absent the MCU, but whom I assume is teed up somewhere along with the Fantastic Four. I still think they should release a stand alone Dr. Doom movie.

Incidentally, I think I saw someone note elsewhere that June 2, the circled day of the boss coming over for dinner in the first episode, just happens to be the date of the first Salem witch trial.