Topic: Marvel Musings. Now with Spidey Spoilers.

[Jean Girard]

Watched Shang Chi with the kids last night having not seen it for some reason, but I've seen all the other stuff since the Thanos movies.  It's a lot better than all the other guff that's come out of Marvel lately, with a few notable exceptions - Wanda and Dr Strange. Was pleasantly surprised by Shang Chi. Inventive action, good characters, links well into the wider MCU. Was a breath of fresh air.   

The TV stuff has really diluted everything. It's too broad now and the quality has really dipped. Tonally it's all over the place now too.  Wish they'd go back to it just being a bit tighter with less plates spinning.

[Wolverine]

They need to hurry up with the Fantastic four and X-men movies that's the only Marvel related thing I'm looking forward to.

[SamAteTheRedAcid]

They need to hurry up with the Fantastic four and X-men movies that's the only Marvel related thing I'm looking forward to.

Username checks out

[PhilV]

They need to hurry up with the Fantastic four and X-men movies that's the only Marvel related thing I'm looking forward to.

Same here.


What Jean Girard said is on the money, they got greedy and got too many plates spinning now and they are dropping them all over the place, the TV stuff has ruined the MCU in many ways for me, the movies used to be so tight and something to really look forward to, now it's just something that is saturated.

[Wolverine]

Same here.


What Jean Girard said is on the money, they got greedy and got too many plates spinning now and they are dropping them all over the place, the TV stuff has ruined the MCU in many ways for me, the movies used to be so tight and something to really look forward to, now it's just something that is saturated.

Agreed Marvel haven't made anything good apart from Spiderman No way home since Endgame, Guardians 3 should be good looking forward to that.

Their TV shows are terrible even though I was a massive fan of the Daredevil TV show and it's right up there along with The Boys as the best superhero show ever, I've got no faith in the reboot being anywhere near as good as the Netflix show and will probably be on the level of She-Hulk and Ms Marvel which we're both dreadful.

[AndyMuller]

Yeah I'm only really looking forward to Guardians 3 out of the Phase 5 slate now, that should finish off the best trilogy of the series.

[Jean Girard]

Is there not a Blade movie coming? Be interested in that. Probably won't have the hilarious levels of blood and gore of Snipes trilogy. 

[tubby]

Is there not a Blade movie coming? Be interested in that. Probably won't have the hilarious levels of blood and gore of Snipes trilogy. 

Think it's a bit of a mess at the moment, isn't it?  Rewrites, arguments, delays, etc.  Don't think they ever got round to even starting filming.

[gerrardisgod]

Starts filming in the spring I think Feige said in a recent interview.

[Schmidt]

Marvel seem to be struggling with interference from on high, Doctor Strange 2 had similar issues to Ant-Man 3 IIRC. It's hard to see how a Blade movie that exists within the same MCEU won't end up a watered down version too.

[Nobby Reserve]

Is there not a Blade movie coming? Be interested in that. Probably won't have the hilarious levels of blood and gore of Snipes trilogy.

The Snipes movie worked as a stand-alone in its own universe.

How the hell do they introduce the whole vampire thing into an MCU where there's been zero mention of the existence of vampires ever.

Or is it going to be another convenient multiverse quirk?

[Nobby Reserve]

Marvel seem to be struggling with interference from on high, Doctor Strange 2 had similar issues to Ant-Man 3 IIRC. It's hard to see how a Blade movie that exists within the same MCEU won't end up a watered down version too.

Disney are building major branding around the MCU - eg, their theme parks are getting more and more MCU theming (entire sections turned over to MCU)

They want to ensure that even quite young kids can watch everything, in order to sucker them in as well. Kids want MCU toys and shit.

[El Lobo]

It really wouldnt be the worst thing in the world to keep stuff like that completely separate rather than trying to squeeze every single superhero into the MCU. Hopefully like Moon-Knight (I dont remember any other cameos or anything in that anyway, might be wrong).

[Draex]

Disney are building major branding around the MCU - eg, their theme parks are getting more and more MCU theming (entire sections turned over to MCU)

They want to ensure that even quite young kids can watch everything, in order to sucker them in as well. Kids want MCU toys and shit.

It's just huge levels of saturation, I much prefered Phase 1 and Phase. All the TV shows, which I'm sure some are decent, I just haven't got the time to watch any of them.

[Jean Girard]

Would like if they keep any supernatural/horror stuff as a separate thing too. Could be fun as it's own standalone part of the sandbox. But with the Agatha stuff coming etc - no chance.  Moon Knight will probably end up as an outlier and never be heard of again.

[Musketeer Gripweed]

They've already started down the supernatural path with Werewolf By Night. And bloody good it was as well. About the best thing they've done in a couple of years.

[Red Viper]

Is there not a Blade movie coming? Be interested in that. Probably won't have the hilarious levels of blood and gore of Snipes trilogy. 

I think everyone forgot about this. To be fair though, it was about ten years ago when they announced it with Ali

[Phineus]

Ant Man 3 seems to be getting bad reviews and even worse word of mouth, with Majors seemingly the only decent thing about it.

Rumours of reshoots and interference making it a tonal mess.

I used to look forward to these films but last one I saw at cinema was Thor and that was pretty excruciating, so I just wait for them now in Disney+ and think I’ll do same for this one.

All seems a bit of a mess at moment and nothing Marvel related has me as excited for next seasons of The Boys and Invincible, which with their roster of characters is mad.

[ScouserAtHeart]

Where's Deadpool 3

[Jean Girard]

Where's Deadpool 3

Not in the FA Cup anymore anyway

[Betty Blue]

Ant Man 3 seems to be getting bad reviews and even worse word of mouth, with Majors seemingly the only decent thing about it.

Rumours of reshoots and interference making it a tonal mess.

I used to look forward to these films but last one I saw at cinema was Thor and that was pretty excruciating, so I just wait for them now in Disney+ and think I’ll do same for this one.

All seems a bit of a mess at moment and nothing Marvel related has me as excited for next seasons of The Boys and Invincible, which with their roster of characters is mad.

I haven't seen a single one in the cinema since Endgame. Just felt like the end of an era and I haven't been as excited by anything since. Granted, Covid played a part, but Spiderman apart (I was away at the time) nothing has really pulled me in in the same way. Obviously as Disney's cash cow they could never have done this, but they really needed to hit pause and slow things down after Endgame. There was a finality to the ending and it felt cheap at some level that they just kept churning out movies and shows afterwards. Especially some that felt rather pointless - Black Widow is one of only two Marvel films I couldn't finish, the other being Eternals. I've enjoyed some of the series and I've watched all the films as they've hit streaming, but I just don't have the same desire post-Endgame. Maybe it's burnout? Maybe saturation? Maybe the quality has dipped too much?

Like others have said above, I've gone from believing everything Marvel touches turns to gold to thinking how are they going to fuck this next thing up. I should be excited for things like Daredevil, Fantastic Four, Secret Wars, and the like. But I'm not remotely. Maybe phases 1-3 was just as massive fluke? I don't know. But the goodwill that people have for Marvel is running out and they're not far off DC-ing their cinematic universe. Still, all the movies, the toys, the rides are probably making Disney millions, so they probably don't give a fuck what the core fans think.

Where's Deadpool 3

This is literally the only thing I'm truly excited about. I have my doubts about Disney not interfering and wanting to water it down, but I also trust that Ryan Reynolds loves the character too much not to make their lives hell if they try anything like that.

Not sure if this was posted, but this small interview with Hugh Jackman got me intrigued -

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/nMfglCeZ0tc" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/nMfglCeZ0tc</a>

[BER]

Pity Jackman couldn't resist coming back. Logan was the finest conclusion we've had to one of these comic book characters arc(s) on film, and even just as it's own stand-alone thing, nothing has bettered it since or come close, imo. Spider-Verse aside. 

[AndyMuller]

Spoiler

Yeah Ant-Man CGImania was rather poor and maybe I’m in the minority but what is the point in Kang if there is about a million different versions of him? Literally no stakes whatsoever.

[close]

[Barefoot Doctor]

Fire alarm at cinema went off with about 15 minutes left in the film… could have hung around and gone back in but just got in the car instead. Looked up the rest on Wikipedia. Will maybe catch it on Disney+ in a few months.

[AndyMuller]

Close to being the lowest rated MCU film on RT now.

[BER]

Thinking back to WandaVision, especially those first couple episodes, really felt then that they were headed in an exciting new direction but... alas. Even that ended up with a Marvel copy-paste ending.

Even Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which i enjoyed at the time but got the shot kicked out of it, ended up being better than nearly everything that came after.

[Scottymuser]

Agreed Marvel haven't made anything good apart from Spiderman No way home since Endgame, Guardians 3 should be good looking forward to that.

Their TV shows are terrible even though I was a massive fan of the Daredevil TV show and it's right up there along with The Boys as the best superhero show ever, I've got no faith in the reboot being anywhere near as good as the Netflix show and will probably be on the level of She-Hulk and Ms Marvel which we're both dreadful.

Diagree - I enjoyed Dr Strange and Wakanda Forever, although both weren't as good as their originals (i'd guve them both  probably about a 6.5-7.5 our of 10).  Their TV shows have all been great, other than Moon Knight - Ms Marvel was fantastic fun (probably my 3rd favourite MCU tv thing behind Loki and Wandavision, a good 8.5/10), and I really enjoyed She-Hulk a lot (I'd guve it 8/10).  Hawkeye was a bit of a damp squib, I will give you that, but it wasn't awful (I enjoyed it enough for it to be worth a 6 or 7/10).

[Scottymuser]

Close to being the lowest rated MCU film on RT now.

That's just mental to me.  Went to see it Friday with some friends, and we all thought it was enjoyable, didn't over stay it's welcome (unlike a lot of modern films in general), was fun, had a great performance from Majors.  A solid 7/10.  To then see it being rated lower than Thor 2, Iron Man 2 & 3, Incredible Hulk, etc is a little odd. 

[Stockholm Syndrome]

That's just mental to me.  Went to see it Friday with some friends, and we all thought it was enjoyable, didn't over stay it's welcome (unlike a lot of modern films in general), was fun, had a great performance from Majors.  A solid 7/10.  To then see it being rated lower than Thor 2, Iron Man 2 & 3, Incredible Hulk, etc is a little odd.

I always thought Iron Man 3 was pretty decent, and received very well at the time, as it was one of the first of that 2nd phase that really explored the characters personality (With Tony being anxious and alcoholic because he struggled with how he survived a nuke and fall from space, and was starting to get super paranoid about the great threat of Thanos, which lead to everything in Phase 2 and 3

[wampa1]

Diagree - I enjoyed Dr Strange and Wakanda Forever, although both weren't as good as their originals (i'd guve them both  probably about a 6.5-7.5 our of 10).  Their TV shows have all been great, other than Moon Knight - Ms Marvel was fantastic fun (probably my 3rd favourite MCU tv thing behind Loki and Wandavision, a good 8.5/10), and I really enjoyed She-Hulk a lot (I'd guve it 8/10).  Hawkeye was a bit of a damp squib, I will give you that, but it wasn't awful (I enjoyed it enough for it to be worth a 6 or 7/10).

Moon Knight and Hawkeye are my favourite Marvel TV shows.  The only real dud was Falcon and the Winter Soldier. I thought Doctor Strange 2 was great but wasn't that sold on Wakanda Forever but they did the best they could given the circumstances.

Ant-Man 3 was fine. A silly mess that gets you from point A to point B.

[John_P]

Yeah was expecting it to be poor but I enjoyed it, and everyone else I've spoken to thought it was pretty good as well.

[stewil007]

Yeah was expecting it to be poor but I enjoyed it, and everyone else I've spoken to thought it was pretty good as well.

I've stopped listening to critics to be fair, if i want to see something, i'll generally watch it regardless of what somebody else thinks anyway.

Sometimes i read critiques and it seems likes they want to be upset about something.

[LiamG]

Yeah was expecting it to be poor but I enjoyed it, and everyone else I've spoken to thought it was pretty good as well.

Same here, i'd read that it had some poor reviews etc but i thought it was a really good film! not quite marvel top top standards but still good! and a lot better than some of the poor stuff they've had out recently

one thing though...

Spoiler

Not sure how the different variants of Kang make any of them look stronger? Especially after what happened to Kang in this film...  will be interesting either way to see how it all pans out!

[close]

[Red Viper]

Hard to trust alot of critics when it comes to Marvel stuff after many gave rave reviews to She-Hulk

[AndyMuller]

Fair play to those who enjoyed it but I've literally forgot everything that happened besides the ending and the post credits.

[lobsterboy]

Agreed Marvel haven't made anything good apart from Spiderman No way home since Endgame, Guardians 3 should be good looking forward to that.

Their TV shows are terrible even though I was a massive fan of the Daredevil TV show and it's right up there along with The Boys as the best superhero show ever, I've got no faith in the reboot being anywhere near as good as the Netflix show and will probably be on the level of She-Hulk and Ms Marvel which we're both dreadful.

Daredevil was fantastic and the majority of the Netflix Marvel stuff was good.
God knows what they are going to do with Daredevil on Disney +. I'm guessing a bait and switch at some point though.
Either way I won't be watching. Cancelled my sub after Andor finished. Which was great but it remained an isolated beacon in a sea of Star Wars themed bilge.
No interest in their upcoming series based on comics that were cancelled due to being crap and not selling, or pointless side characters from WandaVision and Hawkeye.
Movie wise, Phase 5 looks to be going in the same direction as Phase 4 so I'll watch Guardians 3 but not wasting my money or time on any of the rest.
As for the critics, they either live in the same narrow Hollywood bubble or are paid Disney shills.
Like pundits praising Man City.

[wampa1]

The problem(s) is there was nothing remotely inventive or creative.

Spoiler

There's this great moment in a Grant Morrison DC comic were they need to get through a force field but can't and someone realises that light can get through because they can see through it so the Atom shrinks to size of a photon and Green Arrow shoots him through it on an arrow. In Ant-Man the solution is...hit it really hard? Being small to be unseen and being big to be strong is the least imaginative things you can do with those abilities.

Also, Kang's plan was to leave the Quantum Realm. Shouldn't everyone in the Quantum Realm have been glad about this? Wouldn't that have created dramatic tension? I think Kang's plan should have been to expand the Quantum Realm to 'normal' size. You can then play with scale as you have absolute mayhem in the Quantum Realm and then you cut to the normal world and it's the size of a marble wobbling around.  That would give you an identifiable sense of scale which is sorely lacking in a movie were things can get big and small.

[close]

[lobsterboy]

The problem(s) is there was nothing remotely inventive or creative.

Spoiler

There's this great moment in a Grant Morrison DC comic were they need to get through a force field but can't and someone realises that light can get through because they can see through it so the Atom shrinks to size of a photon and Green Arrow shoots him through it on an arrow. In Ant-Man the solution is...hit it really hard? Being small to be unseen and being big to be strong is the least imaginative things you can do with those abilities.

Also, Kang's plan was to leave the Quantum Realm. Shouldn't everyone in the Quantum Realm have been glad about this? Wouldn't that have created dramatic tension? I think Kang's plan should have been to expand the Quantum Realm to 'normal' size. You can then play with scale as you have absolute mayhem in the Quantum Realm and then you cut to the normal world and it's the size of a marble wobbling around.  That would give you an identifiable sense of scale which is sorely lacking in a movie were things can get big and small.

[close]

Story comes a distant second after box ticking and usually written by a committee as well.
Ret-conning old characters to push agendas or denigrating them to elevate their new "heroes"
Its not working though, the audiences are voting with their wallets. people are fatigued with this stuff and with the narrow Hollywood view of the world which doesn't reflect theirs.
Disney are losing billions and even Grogu isn't selling now.

[Scottymuser]

Hard to trust alot of critics when it comes to Marvel stuff after many gave rave reviews to She-Hulk

She-Hulk was fantastic fun.  Especially the cameos from Wong and Madissyn and Daredevil.  Played for laughs, which is the right way of doing it - and the court room stuff I enjoyed a lot more than more "realistic" type depictions would have been (mainly as I hate legal drama type shows). 

[El Lobo]

She-Hulk was a little bit like 'I'm not sure what this is meant to be, I'm not sure it knows what its meant to be, I'm not sure where it stands in the MCU, but I'm pretty sure its rubbish'.