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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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Did WandaVision Explain the MCU’s Previous Recasts?

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This article contains WANDAVISION spoilers.

“She recast Pietro?!”

The vexing vicissitudes of WandaVision accomplished what was once unthinkable in the Marvel Cinematic Universe when Wanda’s long-deceased twin brother, Pietro Maximoff a.k.a. Quicksilver, appeared on her pseudo-sitcom doorstep with a franchise-altering twist, since it was Evan Peters’s quirky version of the speedster—from Fox’s X-Men movies—in lieu of the homegrown version played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Thusly, with one whooshing streak, the MCU might have installed the missing mutant half of its comic book ties. Yet, the change came with a plot-based explanation passable enough to make one wonder if it canonizes the MCU’s previous casting swaps.

While the implications that could result from Fox-grown X-Men characters getting grandfathered into the Marvel Studios-produced MCU are potent (and Deadpool-prominent), the understated narrative here is that the scene in question from WandaVision Episode 5, “On a Very Special Episode,” provided a monumentally meta moment from Kat Dennings’s Darcy Lewis, who blurted outloud the aforementioned question that we as the audience—who are watching the show’s SWORD audience watch the show within a show—were all asking ourselves about the recasting of Pietro. In doing so, she provided the MCU the first canonical acknowledgement of one of its recastings; a moment that could bear implications—of a retroactive variety—it is own right.

Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff, who first made impact in the MCU—by way of an introduction in Captain America: The Winter Soldier’s mid-credits teaser a year earlier—in 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, was introduced alongside twin brother Pietro as young Sokovian HYDRA operatives who were manipulated into being experimented on by Wolfgang von Strucker with Loki’s scepter—specifically the Mind Stone it housed—which bestowed Wanda telekinesis and telepathic manipulation and Pietro super-speed. That backstory, however, was a workaround from the pre-Disney-acquisition movie rights to their traditional status as mutants who debuted in the pages of X-Men, a Marvel property whose film rights were held by Fox in a dynamic that limited how the MCU could portray those characters, and even forbade usage of the very term, “mutant.”

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Therein lies the surreal nature of Pietro’s arrival on the series, since Peters’ version is not only a member of the heretofore MCU-forbidden species, but is—as he learned in 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse—the son of an intrinsically-X-men character in Magneto. Yet, we’re still not quite privy to the nature of Wanda’s bizarre sitcom fiefdom, only with a vague scientific explanation that she’s controlling CMBR (Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation) to manipulate reality within the confines of the Westview anomaly. Thus, while this newcomer clearly looks like the Pietro from the Fox movies, his new existence—akin to rapidly-growing twin sons Tommy and Billy—connects to this proverbial matrix.

Yet, Wanda didn’t simply conjure the Pietro she knew (Taylor-Johnson’s Age of Ultron version), and was genuinely surprised by him, which seems to indicate that she’s losing control of the phenomenon, and may have unwittingly yanked X-Men Pietro from the multiverse, a concept that could figure prominently when she appears in upcoming movie sequel Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Moreover, the fact that Darcy—who was monitoring the scene from outside the anomaly—actually understood that this wasn’t MCU Pietro might just indicate that the reality-altering effects of the event are being contained within Westview… at least for now.

WandaVision: The Endgame Is In Sight

By Don Kaye

Marvel’s WandaVision Episode 5: MCU Easter Eggs and Reference Guide

By Mike Cecchini and 3 others

Consequently, by the time WandaVision reaches the inevitable moment in which Westview—Wanda’s reverse Faraday cage of sorts—collapses, the barrier containing her hex-powered quantum alterations would, theoretically, no longer protect the outside world from its distributive effects on the timeline. Thus, in a manner akin to Marvel Comics’ House of M storyline, Wanda could not only end up reshaping the reality of the present, but the past as well; an event that could (emphasis on “could,”) eventually be used to canonically reconcile the various aesthetically unpleasing inconsistencies we’ve seen across the MCU, most notably the instances in which major characters were recast. As we saw with DC’s Crisis on Infinite Earths (both the comic storyline and the CW television event), changes to the ever-fragile timeline often leads to the creation of people who, for all intents and purposes, are the same person, but are physically different, perhaps due to timeline variables connected to their conception. Therefore, (just as the title indicates), this initially-unassuming Disney+ television vehicle might just end up providing an invaluable plot-driven explanation for the MCU’s recastings!

Of course, the conventional industry move of recasting characters—a practice long-associated with sitcoms and soap operas—is hardly a new concept to the MCU, and even goes back to 2008 launcher Iron Man, in which Terrence Howard played James Rhodes (complete with an auspicious War Machine teaser moment), until the specter of studio politics and star-power-centric wage disputes led to an acrimonious exit. He was abruptly recast for 2010’s Iron Man 2 with Don Cheadle, who has been fielding the part ever since across the MCU’s lucratively groundbreaking moments, and will apparently do so again with an appearance on March-scheduled series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Moreover, the MCU’s 2008 sophomore effort, The Incredible Hulk, saw its A-list headliner, Edward Norton, recast with Mark Ruffalo for 2012 megamovie The Avengers, and, like Cheadle, he has reaped the wanton benefits with successful reprisals ever since.

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Hugo Weaving also put in a spectacular villain performance as the Red Skull in 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger, but eventually soured on Marvel, leading to an uncannily evocative Red Skull performance by Ross Marquand in 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War. The list goes on with the original Thor’s Fandral, Josh Dallas, who would be recast in the 2013 sequel by (eventual Shazam star) Zachary Levi, and—in a recent development—Emma Fuhrmann saw her Avengers: Endgame role as a teenage Cassie Lang (minor as it may have been,) slip away, with Kathryn Newton having been cast as Cassie for 2022-scheduled sequel Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. One could even point to the MCU’s ultimate big bad, Thanos, as a tangential example, since he was first played by Damion Poitier (sans lines), seen in The Avengers’ mid-credits scene, only to have Josh Brolin take over the role two years later, starting with the mid-credits scene of 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy, which yielded iconic results in subsequent MCU efforts.

Accordingly, while the reality-altered WandaVision originally seemed like a bizarre, artfully-indulgent way to launch Phase Four of the MCU, it might just end up being the perfect vehicle to not only neatly reconcile the canonical contradictions that have existed (the recastings), but also handle the array of unfathomable game-changers on the horizon now that the X-Men (and Fantastic Four) side of the Marvel Comics mythos is on a collision course with the once-insular 13-year-old Marvel Studios multimedia franchise.

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WandaVision, which is now past the halfway mark of its 9-episode run, continues premiering new episodes Fridays on Disney+.

The post Did WandaVision Explain the MCU’s Previous Recasts? appeared first on Den of Geek.

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doomonfilm · 4 years ago

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Ranking : Marvel Cinematic Universe - The Infinity Saga (2008 - 2019)

Outside of the Star Wars or James Bond franchises (or maybe even the longstanding BBC series Dr. Who), I am hard pressed to think of a bigger, more intricately connected set of films than those created by Kevin Feige for his Marvel Cinematic Universe (better known as the MCU to most people). With the help of numerous established and upcoming stars, a vast range of directors, and a rich history of characters and events the studio could play fast and loose with, Marvel Studios spent roughly a decade transforming “comic book” films from gimmicks into legitimized artistic storytelling, forcing many studios to attempt and emulate the success of a connected “cinematic universe” without laying the groundwork needed to do so.

With WandaVision in motion on Disney+, and the release future of Black Widow still up in the air, the trajectory in which the MCU will move forward is still a mystery, but these properties firmly close the door on the initial three phases of Marvel Studios releases, collectively known as The Infinity Saga due to their connection to Thanos and the six Infinity Stones. Individually, many of these pieces had impact, but as a whole, the overarching story that they tell is an epic feat yet to be matched.

But enough preamble, I know what everybody came here for. So, based solely on my opinion and nothing else, here is The Infinity Saga, as presented by Marvel Studios, ranked from least to most favorite...

23. The Incredible Hulk (2008) It’s a shame that my favorite Marvel character seems to be a conundrum when it comes to giving him a solo movie. With a decent slice of these characters, it’s about casting the “normal” version of the character, and in the case of this film, as great of an actor as Edward Norton is, I am not sure if he can play enough self-sabotaging behaviors to believably provide us with a Bruce Banner that audiences can connect with. As a result, The Incredible Hulk left us with an isolated protagonist (literally and figuratively) forced to carry audiences between long stretches absent of Hulk in his green glory.

22. Thor (2011) For a time, it seemed as if Thor was going to be the realm of the MCU where gravitas resided. The Shakespearean approach to mythic heroes adapted by Marvel was fresh at the time, as Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Black Widow and S.H.I.E.L.D. were around, but certainly more relatable. Bringing Thor, Odin, Loki and a host of other legendary Asgardians into the fold broadened the world, but with the entire picture of this stretch now laid out in front of us, it is clear that Chris Hemsworth had not yet found his voice as Thor. We knew he would have to earn his worthiness and his title as King of Asgard, but I doubt anyone anticipated Thor would become one of the consistently funniest aspects of the MCU... sadly, that was not yet developed in his first film, and as a result, his introduction falls to the lower realms of the list.

21. Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

20. Ant-Man (2015) It was not my intention to lump the Ant-Man movies together, but in all honestly, they do work best in that capacity. The events of both movies, for the most part, seem to satellite around the bigger nucleus narrative, and up until Avengers : Endgame, and appearance made by Ant-Man in the other films was cursory or meant to “balance the scales” (as in the case of Captain America : Civil War). Don’t get me wrong... Paul Rudd is a fabulous addition to the MCU family, and listening to Michael Peña tell stories never gets old, but when it comes down to the big picture, Ant-Man and his two films are not the largest puzzle pieces on the table.

19. Captain Marvel (2019) The possibilities for an epic film were all there... Krees and Skrulls would finally get a chance at the spotlight, we were being teased going back in time without realizing how it would play into the resolution of our Infinity Saga storyline, and the final moments of the film made us question everything we’d been presented with up until that point. Sadly, however, Carol Danvers turned out to be an extremely overpowered and dangerously self-unaware character, resulting in a lack of stakes or emotional connection ever really being established. While Captain Marvel does have fun elements to it, much of the work that managed to stick was undone by her forced and underwhelming appearance in Avengers : Endgame. Of all the properties in the MCU, this one seems to have the most whispers and rumors surrounding it in regards to its production and future within the MCU moving forward, but I will be curious to see how time treats this film.

18. Iron Man 3 (2013) Up through Phase Two of The Infinity Saga, Tony Stark was always positioned as the loner of the group. With that in mind, it does seem a bit strange to me that his final solo film, and the first solo film after Marvel’s The Avengers, would find Tony back in isolation mode so vigorously. In all fairness, War Machine is there (during his brief stint as The Patriot), and Pepper Potts is given the most room to play out of all three films, but as interesting as the antagonist structure for the film is, the convoluted nature of having at least three tiers of villainy almost begs the inclusion of at least one more Avenger. Ultimately, the film does move Tony closer to the rest of the camp, but it’s odd that more Avengers weren’t involved in the actual film.

17. Captain America : The First Avenger (2011) Of all the characters fans were presented with in the MCU, it’s hard to argue against the fact that Captain America received the most rewarding arc of any character in The Infinity Saga. Every journey needs a starting point, and simply because it was the origin story, Captain America : The First Avenger was never destined to be the best of the MCU. Visually, the MCU was still figuring a few things out, so some of the scrawny Cap scenes look awkward, but by the time this film is all said and done, all of the honor, character and heart needed to propel Cap forward was present and accounted for.

16. Thor : The Dark World (2013)

15. Iron Man 2 (2010) Maybe it’s a recencey bias thing, but I really enjoyed Thor : The Dark World and Iron Man 2. Up until deciding to make this list, I’d not seen either of these films, and it was largely due to the negative reactions I’d heard from most fans and critics. Thor : The Dark World gave us brief glimpses of where the Thor character was headed, it was a great look for Jane Foster (who is seemingly on her way back into the mix), it opened up some mystic doors that we will likely be exploring moving forward in the MCU, and due to these mystic elements, we may have seen the beginnings of S.W.O.R.D., who is already making its presence felt in Phase Four. As for Iron Man 2, we are given the polar opposite Tony Stark from his introductory movie, and due to his seemingly unstoppable mission to erase himself, War Machine is given autonomy, and the beginnings of the Iron Legion are built. Perhaps its a bit of a revisionist lens as well, hence these two being grouped together, but time seems to have been very kind to these two films, despite their flaws.

14. Spider-Man : Far From Home (2019) Avengers : Endgame would have been a perfect place to close the door on The Infinity Saga, but that monumental task was appointed to Spider-Man : Far From Home. Perhaps it was that implied burden that made the film feel a bit buried under the weight of expectations. There are certainly calls to a post-Tony Stark snap present throughout the film, but Mysterio’s plan runs seemingly independent of any previous events shown. The mid and post-credit scenes certainly tease big things for the future, but even before COVID-19 flipped the script on the industry, it was uncertain where things where headed as the new phase unrolled. This film was enjoyable, but almost feels like a stand-alone trapped on a bridge between two worlds of narrative.

13. Iron Man (2008) The one that started it all. I’ve never been the biggest Iron Man fan, but I can certainly respect the large risk that Kevin Feige took by kickstarting his empire with a character seemingly caught between fame and obscurity. Tony Stark has enough Bruce Wayne in him to make him an intriguing character, but Iron Man and Batman could not be more different from one another, which immediately gave the MCU a fresh feel in light of them using a Silver Age character. The pool of household name talent was limited, as Sony was sitting on Spider-Man, the X-men and the Fantastic Four in 2008, but ultimately, Iron Man was a roll of the dice that paid off in a major way.

12. Spider-Man : Homecoming (2017) Spider-Man is such an iconic character that it is sometimes hard to believe that he was not always involved in The Infinity Saga. Tobey Maguire was the definitive Spider-Man to many fans, and Andrew Garfield was starting to build a cult following, but after a bit of legal ping-pong, Captain America : Civil War went from being an anticipated mess to possibly a shadow of its comic book counterpart when Spider-Man appeared in the trailer. Tom Holland brought a pitch-perfect voice and sensibility to the character, and Spider-Man : Homecoming drove those feelings home (no pun intended). It wasn’t like Spider-Man needed a boost in tandem with his entry into the MCU, but his introductory movie did most everything right (including assuming we were WELL AWARE of his often repeated origin story).

11. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) Out of everyone that the MCU has introduced to the masses, it is safe to say that I knew the least about the Guardians of the Galaxy... in fact, my closest tie to knowledge of their existence came in the form of Howard the Duck, who shares that section of the Marvel comic universe with them. Marvel Studios had already made me enjoy films about Thor and Iron Man, two characters I did not consider myself a fan of prior to their films, so I went out on a limb in hopes that Marvel could sell me on characters I had zero connection to. Guardians of the Galaxy did provide another set of colors in the Marvel spectrum, and it helped open the door to Marvel’s space-centered stories, but it wasn’t until the sequel that I went back and really found an appreciation for Guardians of the Galaxy, which I will expound later. That being said, Guardians of the Galaxy is another Marvel film that has been benefited by time and revisitation.

10. Marvel's The Avengers (2012) The main pieces had found their way to the board by the time Captain America : The First Avenger was released, and it only seemed like a matter of time before the big players would cross paths. Rather than build to a mass collaboration via smaller duos and groupings, Marvel went all in to close Phase One by locking in The Avengers as the collective stars of The Infinity Saga. Loki found new agency as their protagonist, but he was really just a smokescreen for the big bad of the entire saga, Thanos. The entire run of 23 movies can be summed up or represented by the iconic shot that rotates around our heroes when they stand shoulder to shoulder for the first time, staring up at their enemy emerging from the sky. There was no turning back at this point, and this is largely due to the wonderful execution of one of the MCU’s key films.

9. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) I’m really not sure why Guardians of the Galaxy didn’t connect for me initially, but after watching Vol. 2, I felt a deeper understanding of Peter Quill, the relationship between Gamora and Nebula, and I came to love Groot and Drax even more (who didn’t immediately love Rocket Racoon?). Kurt Russell was the evolved mirror to Chris Pratt that I didn’t know I needed, and the soundtrack contained more songs that spoke directly to me than the first film. Some of the set pieces were downright beautiful in this film, I lowkey became a big fan of Mantis, and Yondu’s story culmination may have been the first time the MCU brought a tear to my eye. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 may deceptively be the most emotionally powerful of all the MCU films, short of Avengers : Infinity War, and for that, it must be respected, considering it all came from a little known band of upstarts.

8. Captain America : Civil War (2016) While Marvel’s The Avengers may be the first true “event” film in the MCU, the first major “event” attempted in terms of historic Marvel stories was the infamous Civil War run. A weird mix of anticipation and fear existed in the time preceding the film’s release, as a number of key players from the comic book storyline were either not available to the MCU or had not yet been introduced into the MCU. Speculation between who would be emerging, omitted and adjusted flew back and forth, but in the end, we were not only presented with a riveting triangle of emotion between Tony Stark, Steve Rogers and Bucky, but Spider-Man and Black Panther stepped into the spotlight (with a little dose of Ant-Man thrown in for good measure). Had the MCU waited for a different phase, there’s no telling how many heroes and villains could have ultimately been involved, but considering what they had at the time, the MCU definitely exceeded expectations and created their own iconic version of a Marvel narrative hallmark.

7. Black Panther (2018) Outside of the final two Avenger’s, there wasn’t a more anticipated or well-received release (to my knowledge) than Black Panther. After bursting onto the scene in Captain America : Civil War, it seemed everyone was ready for more of King T'Challa, Black Panther and Wakanda. Chadwick Boseman became even more of a fan favorite than he already was, and Black Panther became the first MCU film to be nominated for Best Picture at the 2019 Academy Awards. Marvel presented Wakanda, and Africa in turn, with the utmost cultural, historical and social respect, and short of a slightly underwhelming finale in terms of visual effects, it was hard to hang a complaint on Black Panther. If the MCU had to pick a single film that they were most proud of, I would not be surprised if this was the one that was chosen.

6. Doctor Strange (2016) As a fan of science fiction, mysticism and overall weirdness, I was incredibly hype for the announcement and release of Doctor Strange. Of all the active characters in the MCU at the time, Doctor Strange was the most obscure that I was already familiar with, and his introductory film did not disappoint. The visual representation of the mystic arts was brilliant, casting Tilda Swinton as The Ancient One was a stroke of genius (despite many that voiced reservation to the choice), and the introduction of different dimensions and realms to the MCU hinted at the future that was to come. With Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness coming in sooner than later, it is almost certain that I will be revisiting this film, and I hope that as time goes by, it finds a bigger audience with a deeper appreciation for it.

5. Thor : Ragnarok (2017) If I think about it hard enough, I can probably find a character that will contradict this statement, but I’m hard pressed to think of a character than took a bigger personality jump between individual films than Thor did between The Dark World and Ragnarok. We got shades of a new Thor in The Dark World, and he was really starting to come out of his shell in Avengers : Age of Ultron, but I’m not sure if anyone expected for Taika Waititi to not only turn Thor into possibly the most loveable Avenger, but make his third film a psychedelic masterpiece of fun. Thor and Loki have never had better chemistry, Cate Blanchett was surprisingly well cast as Hela, and most everyone’s favorite MCU iteration of the Hulk came to life (not to mention a brief nod to Beta Ray Bill being present for keen viewers). It may not be the best film in the MCU, but Thor : Ragnarok is almost certainly the one viewers gravitate towards if they make a quick selection.

4. Avengers : Endgame (2019) How do you end a story arc that spans more than 20 films? Well, for starters, you bring every character to the table, collect every expectation that fans have for them, and then kick all of those expectations to the side and forge a completely wild, new and unexpected path. For a large portion of Endgame’s runtime, it is tonally and stylistically different than any other Avengers film, but near the end, when the rubber hits the road, Thanos and his legions of followers take part in one of the most epically satisfying stands against our heroes already present, only for the world of the MCU to open up and rain the most enjoyable and acceptable fan service ever to be captured to film, including the most iconic Captain America moment of all time.

3. Avengers : Age of Ultron (2015) For a long while, this film stood as my clear-cut favorite in the MCU. I didn’t even know I was a Vision fan until he emerged from his chamber, and the introduction of Scarlet Witch has brought me nothing but joy. David Spader brought some of the best antagonist personality in his powerful portrayal of Ultron, and the party scene provided one of my favorite non-action sequences in all of the MCU. The interactions between the Avengers had the best balance of all their collaborative films during Age of Ultron, and Scarlet Witch took each of our heroes to the darkest corners of their mind. Perhaps people had other ideas in mind when they learned that Tony and Bruce’s murderbot was due for a screen appearance, but for my money’s worth, Age of Ultron was the first Avengers film that blew my mind, and still stands as my personal favorite of the Avengers movies.

2. Avengers : Infinity War (2018) Easily the most epic of all the MCU films, Infinity War set the stage for a truly iconic struggle between the Earth’s mightiest heroes and the seemingly unstoppable Thanos that had been promised over many, many films, and in the opening rounds, Infinity War delivered. For all of the combinations of characters we’d been provided, we’d yet to see Tony interact with Doctor Strange or Star-Lord, and each of those meetings yielded hilarious results. The stakes had never been higher prior to Infinity War, and the costs had not been greater up to this point. I personally remember people in theaters being nearly moved to tears when their favorite heroes (especially Spider-Man) began turning into dust, like they were watching Schindler’s List. If the MCU collectively raised the bar for comic book movies, then Infinity War raised the bar for the MCU.

1. Captain America : The Winter Soldier (2014) The MCU has more than a handful of classic films under their belt, but Captain America : The Winter Soldier is probably the sole film of the MCU that feels like a proper action/adventure suspense-thriller, like it was penned by John Grisham. The connection between Bucky and Cap is kinetic in its swings between impending hope and tragedy, and the level of combat and action in the film is second to none. This was the film where the Cap that the masses know and love stepped into his own as a hero and a leader. Of all the directors that Marvel Studios has tapped, the Russo Brothers seem to have the secrets unlocked to make a great MCU film, and Captain America : The Winter Soldier is the pound for pound best they’ve offered yet.

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giveamadeuschohisownmovie · 5 years ago

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Hypothetical plot outline for Guardians of the Galaxy 3

(spoiler warning for all past MCU movies)

For the sake of this post, let’s say the Guardians leave Thor fifteen minutes into “Love and Thunder”. Thor doesn’t appear in this movie at all. Taking place several months after “Endgame”, the Guardians are nowhere near close to finding Gamora. They’re in a bit of a slump. Not only do they have no leads, they lost their ship, the Benatar, to Wal Rus, an infamous mob boss who took the ship as payment for Rocket’s debt to him.

(there’s a minor subplot about Rocket’s past and how he used to do jobs for Wal Rus)

Without a ship and no leads, Peter Quill starts drinking heavily. The team considers disbanding but, much to everyone’s surprise, it’s Nebula who keeps everyone together by reminding each of them that Gamora is their family. Family doesn’t get left behind, all that jazz.

Their fortune starts to change when Mantis overhears gossip from a group of Ravagers. She learns that a mysterious being created by the Sovereign, known as Adam Warlock, was spotted in some galaxy quadrant hunting a “green-skinned woman”. Mantis relays the news to the team and they immediately make plans to track Adam down.

However, their plans hit a major snag when Drax sees an advertisement for the Grandmaster’s contest of champions. The Grandmaster has a new champion named Moondragon, who Drax immediately recognizes as his daughter Kamaria. Somehow, she survived Thanos’ rampage but was taken from him and later sold to the Grandmaster. Drax wants to go to Sakaar and save his daughter but Peter says Gamora is more important.

The Guardians steal a Nova Corps ship in a thrilling action sequence and they head off to find their loved ones. Unbeknownst to them, Nova Corps rookie officer Richard Rider is still onboard. The team starts to argue over who they should save, leading to Mantis saying that they should split up. Peter hates the compromise but is forced to go through with it as Drax is headstrong in going after Moondragon.

So for the middle of the movie, the Guardians are split into two groups. Drax, Rocket Raccoon, Groot, and Mantis go to Sakaar to find Moondragon. Star Lord and Nebula go their own way to find Adam Warlock and Gamora. However, after splitting with the group, Richard Rider ambushes Peter and Nebula and tries to arrest them. They manage to fight him off but stop short of killing him. Thus, Richard becomes the unwilling third member of their group.

As this is happening, Alternate 2014 Gamora encounters Adam Warlock and they fight, with Adam winning. Before he could kill her, Adam realizes he doesn’t want to and is only fighting her because he was ordered by Ayesha and the Sovereign. Adam goes radio silent and takes Gamora to a remote planet where he nurses her back to health. The two don’t get along at first but as time goes by, they start to bond.

Gamora teaches Adam about the universe and his purpose in life (since he’s newly born, he still has a child-like curiosity about the universe). At the same time, Adam helps Gamora cope with the fact that she’s time displaced and that another version of her died in this current timeline. There’s hints at their comic book romance but nothing concrete.

On the other side of the universe, we learn that Kamaria / Moondragon was sold to the Grandmaster after spending years as a mercenary. She was taken from her father at a young age and passed around by several groups (Kree, Skrull, Ravagers, etc.). She became a hardened warrior due to this but longs to be reunited with her father, who she knows is alive due to his popularity as a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy. The Grandmaster despises her for not respecting him but no matter who he sends to kill her in the contest of champions, she always emerges victorious to the point where she’s developed a massive following (rivaling even the Hulk and Thor’s).

Without getting into too much detail, here’s the middle of the movie:

1) Drax’s group lands on Sakaar and Drax willingly turns himself in to the Grandmaster’s forces. He’s placed in the ring with Moondragon and after a tearful reunion, she refuses to fight him. They are taken away to be executed. However, Mantis, Rocket, and Groot, with the help of the Sakaarians, break Drax and Moondragon out. They escape Sakaar but with the Grandmaster chasing after them.

2) Peter’s group lands on Adam’s planet and after a hostile encounter, Gamora calms both sides down. Peter tries to sway Gamora back into rejoining the Guardians but Gamora says she isn’t the woman he’s looking for and that the Gamora he fell in love with died years ago. We get some nice bonding moments between Gamora, Nebula, Adam, Peter, and even Richard. This peace is ended when Ayesha and the Sovereign arrive, angry that Adam has gone rogue. Adam refuses to kill for the Sovereign and the five escape, with the Sovereign chasing after them.

With the Grandmaster on one side and Ayesha on the other, the Guardians meet at their “super secret rendezvous point which they should only go to in case they are extremely f-word” (Mantis came up with the name). The rendezvous point turns out to be Morag. Both groups arrive and each side introduces their new members. Drax introduces Moondragon while Peter and Gamora introduces Adam. Richard is forced to introduce himself by Nebula.

The Guardians realize they can’t battle both the Grandmaster and Ayesha at the same time. Fearing that this is where they die, the team drink the night away, letting each other know what they think of each other. Drax is happy that he isn’t alone and that he’ll at least die at his daughter’s side. Peter confesses that he’s deeply in love with Gamora and was planning on marrying her before Thanos’ reign of terror. Adam says that although he lived a short life, at least he found his family before he died. Nebula, much to everyone’s surprise, is sad that she’ll die without knowing what it’s like to be in love. And so on.

To everyone’s surprise, it’s Richard Rider who comes up with a plan to save the group. When Peter asks why he’s helping them, Richard says, “The choice is either help you criminals out and live...or die at the hands of two power-hungry dictators. I think the choice is simple”. Richard tells the group what his plan is but we, the viewers, don’t hear it.

Climax time. The Guardians of the Galaxy confront both the Sovereign and the Grandmaster’s fleets. The fact that they are one ship versus thousands is emphasized. To Ayesha and the Grandmaster’s surprise, Moondragon is holding the Guardians (minus Peter and Gamora) hostage. She says that she wants to return to Sakaar. Grandmaster says he won’t accept her back and is only here to kill her and Drax. That’s when Moondragon says she is willing to turn over Adam Warlock to him.

During this time, Peter and Gamora, who had quietly flown off in an escape pod long before the encounter, stealthily fly into the Grandmaster’s fleet (Rocket made sure that their pod wouldn’t be detected). They sneak onboard one of the ships, leading to a tense sequence where they try avoid detection.

Moondragon makes a sales pitch, saying that Adam Warlock is a handsome, powerful warrior who would be extremely popular in the contest of champions. He has the potential to surpass the Hulk in sheer popularity. When Grandmaster asks how much she wants, Moondragon says she’ll do it at no cost. Ayesha angrily demands that the Grandmaster refuse her offer and that Adam is her property. She points out that Moondragon is baiting him into attacking the Sovereign. Tensions rise and it’s unclear what one side will do.

The tension is broken when Grandmaster says that there’ll be no deal and that he could tell that Moondragon was trying to bait him into attacking the Sovereign. Moondragon smirks and says, “What do you mean I was baiting you? We made this deal hours ago. You already said yes”. Ayesha furiously demands to know what she means by this and before the Grandmaster can refute her claims, Peter and Gamora hijack the ship they’re in and fire at the Sovereign fleet.

All hell breaks loose when both the Grandmaster and the Sovereign fleet go to war with each other, with the Guardians of the Galaxy caught in the middle. Peter and Gamora escape and fly off to their ship, with Richard and Rocket piloting. The Guardians flee the battle scene, hoping that Ayesha and the Grandmaster will kill each other before they could turn their attention to the Guardians. The final battle is primarily a space battle with several awesome moments, such as;

1) Adam Warlock exiting the ship and unlocking his full potential, destroying a great deal of both enemy fleets

2) Mantis manning the turrets and gunning down several enemy ships

3) The ship is boarded by the Grandmaster’s forces, leading to a hallway battle sequence where Nebula, Moondragon, Drax, and Gamora kill all the raiders.

4) The engine is damaged, leading to Rocket and Groot heroically going in to repair it, even though they’re told that the engine could explode at any minute.

The battle ends with Adam staying behind to make sure the Guardians escape. He leaves the ship and gives them a boost to the nearest jump point, much to Gamora’s horror. We get a tragic farewell as the Guardians escape and Adam crashes headfirst into Ayesha and Grandmaster’s ships, killing Ayesha and sending Grandmaster into a black hole. He is then seen floating aimlessly in space, knocked out from exerting so much energy.

Several weeks later, Adam wakes up in a Nova Corps hospital with the Guardians by his side. They tell him that they recovered his body minutes after he took Ayesha and Grandmaster down and that he’s been in a coma for weeks. Adam asks why they came back for him and Drax says, “You’re family. Family sticks together”. Adam smiles at that.

As the movie wraps up, it’s revealed that the Guardians bought a new ship with money that Gamora had on her (Gamora says that she was doing a few jobs while she was out on her own). Gamora officially rejoins the group but she and Peter are back to being just friends, although there’s a hint that she’s falling back in love with him. Not wanting to lose his best friend, Adam joins the Guardians to follow Gamora, much to Peter’s chagrin.

Nebula stays on and asks Richard Rider to stay. Richard says that although he would love to stay on, he has to rejoin the Nova Corps. However, if they ever need him, they know where to find him. How he leaves strongly implies that he’ll star in his own, Nova Corps spin-off movie.

Drax is the only one hesitant to rejoin the team. He wants to stay behind and bond with his daughter until it’s revealed Moondragon also wants to be a Guardian of the Galaxy. The two stay with the team. Movie ends with the Guardians of the Galaxy flying off for their next journey, Drax happy that he found his daughter, and the whole team happy that they found Gamora.

MID-CREDITS SCENE: The Grandmaster’s ship exits the black hole. As he tries to figure out where he landed, he’s cornered by a different ship. Onboard, a mysterious figure scans the Grandmaster’s ship and discovers that he is from the 2020s. The mysterious figure demands that the Grandmaster be brought onboard his ship and in a dramatic turn to the camera, it’s revealed that he is Kang the Conqueror. The Grandmaster is in the same spot where the showdown with the Guardians took place but in the far future.

POST-CREDITS SCENE: Drax accidentally walks in on Moondragon and Nebula having sex. He immediately shuts the door and walks away, horrified.

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that-shamrock-vibe · 6 years ago

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TV Review: Cloak & Dagger (Spoilers)

Episodes 1-2: First Light/Suicide Sprints

Marvel Formula:

You know you have to hand it to Marvel Studios, and Disney by extension, they are pretty good at giving us shows that nobody asked for yet once aired they develop a following. Yes when it comes to comic-book properties in television, DC has always had the upper hand both in animation and live-action but true Marvel fans have stuck by the studio and the shows they have released. Now like DC TV they are spread across the platforms covering Netflix, Fox and ABC, even Hulu.

But this isn’t a surprise turn for Marvel because the entire MCU begun with characters only die-hard Marvel fans cared about due to the fact that Fox had the franchise’s best characters. So Marvel Studios turned around and said “We know you love the X-Men and Spider-Man, but we have Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and Hulk and are planning a universe beginning with them”.

I wasn’t really aware of Iron Man prior to RDJ donning the armour in 2008, I was aware of Thor and Cap through their appearances in the 90s X-Men animated series and Hulk because of that god awful 2003 movie. But also I was unaware of the characters introduced in these Marvel Television shows; obviously Phil Coulson and Peggy Carter I knew from the movies but the Inhumans, Runaways and now Cloak and Dagger I had not heard of before. Yet both the Runaways and now Cloak and Dagger intrigue me, I am trying to catch-up on Runaways but have started Cloak & Dagger and I love it.

Initial Thoughts:

I understand why these characters earned their own series, I really like the twist on the everyday term “cloak and dagger” which is a term used to describe espionarge and secrecy, and turned it into two distinct characters who give new meaning to the term “cloak and dagger” as rather “shield and sword”. Reading the comics, I enjoyed the first episode so much I bought the Cloak & Dagger issue of the Marvel’s Mightiest Heroes graphic novel collection, I understand the relationship between the two characters with Cloak being the shield and Dagger being the sword.

The show gripped me with the opening scenes which acted as the characters’ origin within the MCU. A deviation from the comics where they were experimented on whereas here it was a freak accident that also involved the deaths of Tandy’s father and Tyrone’s brother...I guess some Disney tropes never die.

I do feel this show and the style of it slots in very well to other Marvel Television shows, maybe not so much Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. but Runaways definitely and maybe even the Marvel Netflix shows, especially considering the characters are based out of Hell’s Kitchen in the comics whereas here they’re from New Orleans...a very muted New Orleans at that.

Also when I discovered that the showrunner for this series was Joe Pokaski who worked as a writer for a number of episodes of Heroes i was optimistic, although not too overly as the episodes he wrote weren’t my favourite, not horrendous either but not the best.

Characters:

I do think that Olivia Holt and Aubrey Joseph are the right choices for these characters. Aubrey definitely has that righteous brooding nature that Cloak has and Olivia has a very teen angsty attitude that works with Dagger.

I found Tandy’s character very believable from witnessing her dad die and having a mother as an addict to living rough and doing what she needs to do to get by. I also really liked the twist on roofying someone not to take advantage of them sexually but instead to steal from them.

However I applaud the show for showing that Tandy’s actions had consequences and that guy Rick did corner her at the ballet recital that she stole his ticket for, also the scene before did show that Tandy is smart because she saw who I’m presuming was Rick’s parents sitting in the seats next to his vacant one and so knew if she sat there then there would be problems so she sat in the scaffolding looking down just to see a glimpse of her old life. I am however very happy she unwillingly stabbed him with a Lightforce Dagger.

I also love how there is somewhat of a role reversal with the two characters, as is the norm it would be Tandy who is the white privileged one and Tyrone who is sleeping rough, but I love how they’ve flipped that and made Tandy somewhat of an addict like her mother and Ty being the privileged one. It showcases the other half of what Luke Cage represents in the sense of growing up on the streets of Harlem.

With regards to Tyrone, I love exploring his darkforce powers, and darkforce has been used multiple times in Marvel Television as has Roxxon where they got their powers, but I love how pretty much any shroud he uses teleports him to places. My only negative is keeping up with what is really happening and what is a vision.

In terms of supporting characters, I haven’t really focused on them because first time watching I was fixated on the titular characters, but the two standouts for me was in Episode 2 when the show introduced Father Delgado and Officer Brigid O’Reilly. I read half of my graphic novel before watching Episode 2 because I’m watching it with my partner so was introduced to the two characters in the comics first and I have to say I really don’t like the redesign they have given Brigid. In the comics she has a short red haired messy bob akin to how The Wasp had hers famously in the comics before they besmirched it in the MCU. Here they have essentially styled her as every single supporting female character in Marvel Television shows; Jemma Simmons, Bobbi Morse, Karen Page, all of them have this slender Plain Jane appearance about them and that is what Emma Lahana looks like here.

I haven’t heard much from her yet which is why I didn’t automatically click with this like I did for Eka Darville on Jessica Jones but Emma like Eka is a Power Rangers alum appearing as the Yellow Ranger in Dino Thunder. I know both Dino Thunder and RPM fall under the Disney-owned Power Rangers serials but does that mean they’re easier to cast in shows like these under the same umbrella just in different universes? I mean it is good to see Emma acting again and hopefully she’ll do the character justice.

Hopes Going Forward:

In terms of where this season goes and if it continues beyond, I would really like to see a crossover either with the Netflix shows or Runaways. Once Ty masters his abilities as Cloak he should be able to control his teleportation powers so going from Louisiana to New York or California should be easy. Also both Cloak and Dagger were once members of the Runaways and their comic story talks a lot about runaway kids as it is but also Dagger has been a member of the Secret Defenders which could be a potential future incarnation of the Defenders on Netflix.

But the one thing I want to see happen is Cloak & Dagger meet Spider-Man. That is by far and away the best intro to the two I could have got in the comics and I think it could work rather well, also all we know about the timeline is that their present day is 8 years after they got powers so that may not be current present day.

Overall I am excited for what this series has to show me and I am really hoping for some amazing and surprising crossovers down the line. I haven’t been this excited about a non-X-Men Marvel TV series since Jessica Jones.

So those are my thoughts on the first two episodes of Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger, what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more TV Reviews as well as other posts.

#marvel #marvel studios #disney #cloak & dagger #cloak #dagger #tandy bowen #olivia holt #spider-man #runaways

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okiedokievariantloki · 3 years ago

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On Continuity, Plot, and Story: Each Thor Movie (including Loki on Disney+) Is Telling A Different Story...Part 1: Thor (2011)

One of the things I hear a lot in fandom is how a lot of characterization in the MCU is inconsistent throughout the movies. This goes especially for a lot of the earlier Marvel movies (Iron Man, X-Men, 2000′s Spiderman) before MCU was even a thing, but all of the films to some extent fall prey to this.

First off, this is not going to be a ship-centric post, so please don’t take it as invalidating or supporting any relationship/romance/pairing. That’s not the point, so if you’re looking for that kind of content, I suggest you look elsewhere.

Secondly, I’m not a hardcore fan of the MCU. I’ve watched all the movies and shows I will be talking about today. In fact, I have watched them in order of release because my beloved is a big comic book fan and I support them even though I’m more of a fan of silver age DC comics, weird science, indie comics, and seinen manga.

Third, I’m not a *huge* fan of how a lot of superhero comic books have characters literally vomit paragraphs of extrapolation in speech bubbles, but I understand the reason for it, and I grew up in the 90′s, when a lot of superhero comics basically decided to fanboy all over Frank Miller’s Sin City aesthetic and so a lot of superhero comics were both super grimdark and really violent, which was not the kind of stories I preferred to read. Add that to the time I watched that truly horrible Captain America movie from the 80′s or something on afternoon broadcast TV where he wears a motorcycle helmet and The Red Skull gave me nightmares for a week because their interpretation of the character is a guy whose face was just...glistening muscles and it was horrifying, and you can see why I might be a bit skeptical of the whole spandex-and-punching-baddies thing.

Anyway, let’s get started or this is going to be a rogue thesis paper.

You might laugh when I say this, but when I first heard about the Thor movies, it was on the back of Dr. Pepper cans. They had cans with images of all the Thor characters on it, and I remember looking at Anthony Hopkins as Odin and wondering why he was such a round butterball. The outfits *were* kind of ridiculous, but they also felt oddly overly shiny if that makes any sense. Like they weren’t wearing clothing that actually made a lot of sense for battle. It felt like they were trying to pull from the comics (which, to be fair, looks like someone decided to combine Conan The Barbarian with psychedelia, so I am fairly certain the costume department was doing their best), but also from the late 2000′s aesthetics popular at the time. I remember there were short “making of” shows on TV, including interviews with the cast, and I was familiar with the director (he also made a film version of Hamlet that he starred as Hamlet in) so from that information alone, I could pretty much guarantee that this movie was going to be like Shakespeare on steroids with a good hint of self-congratulatory auteur nonsense.

And I was not disappointed! The parts on Earth clashed terribly with the parts on Asgard, and I found it really funny because it was kind of like that meme where the detailed horse drawing gets more and more sketchy and terrible.

Like so:

You could really tell that the director just wanted to make an entire movie on Asgard without Thor going to Earth at all. The Earth parts were cringey and made me flash back to the early Iraq War Bush years (if you don’t know what I’m talking about it, it was a Whole Imperialistic Jingoistic Patriotic Bullshit Thing that I don’t want to go into).

The fight scenes were...ok...but they were also just...exhausting. I find this to be pretty much the case in most early to mid 00′s superhero movie. They are so obsessed with having The Big Fight To Make The Hero Look Really Powerful that the destruction ends up going on for so long that I get physically tired (I think I legitimately dozed off when Superman and Zod were fighting in the reboot film). The character development was ok, but once again, every character wasn’t really a character, they were an archetype.

And so, I wanted to stop here for just a second and go into that a bit more.

Thor 1 wasn’t really written as a Thor movie. Remember, the guy who had his fingers in this thing from day 1 is a Big Shakespeare Guy, and it shows. In plays like Hamlet, we don’t look at Hamlet and go “wow, I wanna headcanon Hamlet’s favorite breakfast and what he wears on Tuesdays.” (Though, of course, you are welcome to do so if you like- friendly reminder that Hamlet is in the public domain so go out there and write about him all you want!).

Hamlet isn’t really a “person” so much as an assortment of plot archetypes (prince, coming home after time away, depressed, vengeful, intelligent, calculating) wearing funny shorts. Nobody watches Hamlet because they want to know what Denmark was Like Back Then just like nobody thinks that Romeo And Juliet is a Very Accurate Depiction of Verona in Its Time, Actually. (Also, as an aside, for some reason, I always had this sneaking feeling that Shakespeare “borrowed” tropes from Oedipus and put it into Hamlet, but that’s an essay for another day).

In the movie, Thor isn’t meant to be a person. He’s a list of tropes because he is the Heroic Protagonist Archetype. In a lot of ways Thor’s personality and character (his pride and hubris) are part of the traditional heroic storyline. The hero has to have a fall before he can pick himself back up and reach the climax and resolution of the Hero’s Journey. Having him thrown out of his element and humbled by making him “mortal” (I’m still not sure what that means, but it doesn’t matter! It’s a plot point that serves the story, not the other way around!)

I do think that one of the reasons Loki is set up as a brother instead of as an uncle or older character is because Loki is known in the comics, and the whole “neglected brother who backstabs his golden boy brother to take the throne” thing is definitely a plot point in Hamlet.

I could see where the director and his team were stymied by the rules thrust upon them by the property they were trying to use. The story itself is a pretty standard heroic journey with other stuff sprinkled in. Loki has to be at least slightly villain coded for most of the film to serve the story, and the audience must unquestioningly believe he is “sneaky and devious” because it serves the story of Thor going through the growth he needs in order to be a hero.

BUT ALSO, Loki can’t be made into an irredeemable villain because in the comics as well as movies, these characters have to be allowed to have enough open-ended characterization to allow for them to be slotted into other stories. If Loki is a complete black-hearted monster, then the only part he can play in any heroic journey story is to die definitively at the end. By pulling back before making him go too far, it does weaken the archetype a bit (as absolute evil is a lot more cathartic to dispatch once and for all), but it serves a specific narrative purpose.

Which brings me to character design and how the audience takes it.

I remember when LOTR was first coming out in theaters. You had all the macho dudes going off when Gimley and Aragorn came on screen hacking and slashing, and then Legolas would show up and you’d hear a ton of screams from the teen girls in the audience. Feminine coded male characters are often really popular with with AFAB people, but they’re also popular with queer folks, especially villains due to queer-coding (villains often dress better and there’s a history of effeminate and queer Othering in media and society), so that’s definitely a Thing).

One of the main reasons I think this might be is that most films with a main male lead tend to be really man-character-heavy in general. If there’s a female character, she’s usually cast as the “cis-white-generically attractive love interest archetype” which literally exists specifically because the sausage fest of male friendships with close connection (in spandex) is very, very easy to turn into a gay romance. There is a reason one of the first and enduring fanfic pairings is Spock/Kirk.

A few more archetypes:

Thor’s three friends are basically versions of god Thor:

- A glutton who likes to boast/tell stories

- A battle-lusting solder who refuses to speak while he’s killing.

- A womanizer/narcissist

There’s also Lady Sif, who plays the roll of The Girl, No Homo on Asgard.

Thor’s parents, who are supposed to be incredibly powerful and capable, are basically kneecapped for story purposes as well.

If you want to ask yourself “why is Thor 2011 so irritating” it’s because it’s trying to tell a story despite the characters.

Well, actually...I lied.

It’s trying to tell TWO stories.

Oh yeah, that’s right. This is where the plot thickens.

You see, when this movie came out, people were highly derisive because it was an unknown property. Most people are familiar with Captain America (even if it was only the nightmare fuel movie from the 80′s) and they know who Iron Man is. Even the Hulk is pretty ubiquitous, though the main issues with Hulk are tied to the fact that pretty every superhero film that came out in the early ‘00′s appeared to be contractually obligated to include an hour long origin story because apparently nobody in the history of anyone is familiar with comic books other than a handful of [insert comic book nerd stereotype here] and in order to make a cash cow, the superhero genre needed to be attractive to South-Park-and-Jackass-watching-teens in the mainstream. If I can remember the movie posters and commercials correctly, most of it was being billed as a pure-action flick with clips of the fight scenes and manly men punching faces, because that’s basically the male power fantasy right there.

No think, just rage and beat because he good guy self insert, and that bad guy.

So basically, the whole Asgard part of the movie is a movie in and of itself that’s being rushed through to hit specific plot points- it’s an origin story, telling you who Thor and the Asgardians are so that when they tell the story about Thor on Earth, the entire theater of (and let’s not kid ourselves, this is for an America-centric audience) macho suburbanite young adults who take one look at Thor in his weird costume and weird speech don’t then start making up emasculating terms to refer to him and then walk right out of the theater because the movie is too lame and genuinely nerdy to be comprehended by the apparent dude-bro majority.

This was yet again another example of “We need to make this popular with the wrong demographic for money purposes so we need to spoon-feed them non-threatening hyper masculine narratives so that they don’t take one look at a property that is in effect a magic buff dude with long fabulous hair wearing very little and flying around with a hammer over a rainbow bridge and talking like Errol Flynn while he does it.“

I mean, they tried (insert gold star meme here) by making Jane a scientist (with all the PhDs, because more degree is more smart amirite guyz?), and the meet cutes where she keeps running him over with the car is funny enough, but in the end, she is still falls into the “OMG LOVE INTEREST AFTER LESS THAN 24 HOURS MY HERO” category and that is...annoying.

I mean, it’s better than Lady Sif, who...let’s face it, we don’t care about because she doesn’t matter and I literally had to look up those other guys’ names up on Wikipedia after watching them all get merked in the first five minutes of Ragnarok.

In any case, the movie doesn’t really even end in a satisfying manner because it’s trying to tell two different stories, and the stories themselves don’t really work well with one another. The whole Frost Giant/Loki part of the movie is largely just meant to be a hamfisted way to villain-code him from the beginning (if the blatant feminine coding doesn’t give that away). And the part at the end where he dies is, as far as I can tell, supposed to be a tragic end for Loki.

Of course, though, we all know Loki comes back, and characters in comic books are quite well known for dying and coming back from the dead when conveniently needed for a plot anyway, but you could definitely feel a huge tonal shift from the begining (Asgard/Jotunheim) to the middle (Earth) to the end (Asgard). It’s almost worse than having an Asgard origin story with a focus there and then moving to the superhero story and ending there, but they needed to have an excuse for Thor to be in the Avengers, so...there ya go.

Watching this movie is like watching one movie on one channel, flipping over to find another movie you like better, and then flipping back at the end of the second movie to find yourself in the last fifteen minutes of the first film. It’s jarring and the tonal change reduces the impact of the climax of the film.

In the end, the stories being told here are warring with themselves, which means that there are way too many unanswered questions, and a lot of the characters you’re supposed to hate/dislike (from a dudebro spoonfed perspective) end up becoming interesting and easy to fill in the blanks for. Loki is a prime example of this. His character does have a fair amount of screentime and his backstory has to be at least somewhat developed because it’s a driving force for the story of Thor’s hero journey. Loki provides some of the conflict that keeps the story from stagnating, and his character contrasts well with the hyper-macho, entitled Thor character by having more feminine characteristics, being thoughtful, cunning, and making plans. In a lot of ways, the intense love/hate (but still love one another) relationship between the two (and the “it’s not incest because my sibling’s adopted” porn trope) is one reason why people ship them so hard.

Loki is popular with a lot of AFAB folks because he represents a lot of common AFAB experiences- being smart, trying hard, yet still treated condescendingly and less than worthy by authority figures, and never good enough as The Dude Who Just Showed Up. A lot of people deeply identify with the casually abusive and dismissive way that Loki is treated, as though he is a monster, despite him trying so hard to be accepted. He falls into the abusive family trope under the Scapegoat archetype, but in the movie, there are explicit plot points that try to explain why he “deserves” to be scapegoated (thanks mainstream dude bro movie focus groups!). His character is often treated as sinister and suspicious long before he actually behaves in an antagonistic manner, which doesn’t help things. A lot of how Loki is treated in the film follows very closely to how a misogynist society treats AFAB folks.

Even if we discount the comic books and mythological lore, the bottom line is that this movie is designed to tell a certain story, and in this story, a certain type of person is lauded and shown as the example of Who To Be, and a certain type of person is reviled and minimized and shown as an example of Be Afraid Of This And Don’t Be This Or You Are Evil Garbage. This mirrors how marginalized people are treated in society so heavily that it makes a lot of sense why Loki is so beloved by fandom despite not being the focal character of this film, and why people have often deeply identified with Loki or associated deeply personal things with his character in fanart, fanfiction, and headcanons. A lot of people see his character as an excellent place to do introspective work and to work through personal traumas. I have also seen a fair amount of people look at Loki as a Sad Pale White Boi Who Needs to be Saved, which isn’t exactly true from a canon point of view, but I can see how there’s plenty of reasons to write or imagine the character that way, or to place him in situations where he can be validated or find romantic fulfillment.

Beyond Loki’s role in this film, you can definitely see that most of the characters are victims of the story they find themselves in, and this story is a Shakesperian tragedy coupled with easily digestible Hit Bad Guys With Hammer action segments. In a way, I would almost consider something like the Asgardian parts to have been better suited to a mini series, while the actual superhero movie part would be Thor being sent to Earth and then doing a Thing there. But that wasn’t really a thing back in 2011.

Thor is a very, very long, convoluted film because of the two stories that it is trying to tell while pretending that it’s only one. It’s so long that the novelization actually ends during the fight in the desert on Earth. And, speaking of long, this post is too, so I think I’ll post this now and if there’s interest, I’ll talk about Dark World and Ragnarok in subsequent posts.

Feedback, as always, is appreciated.

#Thor #Thor 2011 #meta #thoughts #loki #characterization #story versus plot #stories can be consistent but characterization is a bitch #characterization is inconstant if the story you're telling serves a different purpose

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thezakcave · 7 years ago

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Avengers Infinity War - First Reaction and What the Future Holds

By Zak Kneipp

The Russo brothers bring us the culmination of ten years and eighteen films worth of universe building the likes of which will surely be attempted for the next few decades by various other properties. That is to say that Avengers Infinity War Babe Ruth’s the ball directly out of the park in pure action packed fashion. Welcome to the beginning of the end. Reader be warned. Spoilers ahead.

From the opening moments in which we are greeted with the distress call of Thor’s Asgardian refugee ship (last seen in Ragnarok) where we witness the deaths of Loki and Heimdall (the latter of whom sends a defeated Hulk back to earth via bi-frost to warn the others) to the massive final battle between Thanos and the entirety of the Avengers across various locations… sans Hawkeye and Ant-Man who are on house arrest… we are greeted with a virtually non stop action packed superhero fest. The most defining and deeply dramatic of all the marvel films to date; this is everything a fan could have dreamt. But even as the shine of first viewing adulation brightly gleams in this reviewer’s eye. There will undoubtedly be kinks in the armor of this epic team up film. Until then lets just indulge a bit.

Hulk is thrown via bifrost straight through the large round window and into the stairs of Dr. Strange’s home and we are greeted with the title card. Quickly after we find Tony Stark explaining a dream he has had to Pepper while walking through New York when Dr. Strange appears via magic portal and asks Tony for help with Bruce Banner emerging from behind him to ease Tony’s defenses. Tony is informed of Thanos’ impending arrival and the assumed death of Thor. However when asked to contact Captain America and the rest of the Avangers Banner is informed of the events in Civil War and the disbanding of the Avengers. Before Tony can call Cap on the flip phone given to him in Civil War our hero’s find that Thanos’ children have arrived to collect Vision and Strange’s infinity stones. Tony reveals his new nano suit and we discover that Hulk can control whether or not Banner changes and he is seemingly afraid to come out to help. Peter Parker jumps into the fight and is soon sporting the Iron Spider nano suit made by Tony as he Iron-Man and Dr. Strange are jettisoned away to Titan on an alien ship. All while keeping the witty banter to a healthy level while not taking away from the seriousness of the events taking place.

That is just the first ten or twenty minutes of the film. What comes next is a massive race against time as Thanos collects the remaining Infinity Stones in various locations across the universe. With each hero getting fair service and their meetings logical and well planned out. We have pairs and groups of heroes coming together across universes. We have hints to what comes next also. We now know that Ant-Man and Hawkeye were absent from Infinity War publicity because they were in fact not in the film. We know that Ant-Man will likely take place during and after Thanos’ snap of the fingers that effectively erase half the population of the universe. That’s right. The Film ends with a massive battle between Thanos and the remaining heroes left on earth. Thor arrives with the StormBreaker axe and wipes out the majority of the alien army and ships in a stunning show of power and fury culminating in his driving the axe through Thanos’ chest. However before Thanos can die he snaps his fingers and as Thor questions what he has done Thanos backs away into a portal. Leaving the remnants of earths heroes to pick up the pieces as friends family and civilians fade away into dust before their eyes.

We know one thing for sure. Time travel is a big deal now. Dr. Strange uses it to see all the outcomes of the battle with Thanos and reports that out of the millions there is only one where they win. And it is here that we get the biggest plot hole. Ironman, StarLord, Mantix, Dr. Strange, Spiderman, and Drax have Thanos captured and are attempting to remove his gauntlet. By trying to pull it off. However as it is almost completely removed the plan is foiled by Quill’s rage in learning that Thanos has killed Gamora. And so I beg the question. Why didn’t they just cut off Thanos’ arm? Iron man has a nano suit of seemingly endless possibilities. Strange could make a magic sword. But I this is nitpicking as the entire scene is truly remarkably well crafted and the resulting outcome is spectacular to witness.

Beyond that what we have here is an epic build up to the next phase of films.

The sole end credits scene finds us in transit with Nick Fury and Agent Hill as people start to disappear. First Agent Hill fades away, then as Fury rushes to pick up a transponder and contact what we discover to be Captain Marvel he fades away as the message sends.

So who faded away with the other half of the universe?

Falcon

Scarlet Witch

Spiderman

Star-Lord

Groot

Mantix

Drax

Bucky

Dr. Strange

Black Panther

Nick Fury

Agent Hill

Probably The Wasp

Probably Hank Pym

Who bit the dust before the snap?

Heimdall

Loki

Gamora

Vision

Who is left to reverse Thanos’ destruction?

Captain America / Nomad

Black Widow

War Machine

Iron-Man

Bruce Banner / Hulk

Rocket

Okoye

Nebula

Probably Captain Marvel

Probably Hawkeye

Probably Ant-Man

So what can we expect moving forward?

A prediction from myself would lend to lots of time travel elements bringing us back to square by the end of Avengers 4 (rumored to be called Infinity Gauntlet). We are going to get an alternate version of events that will repair the damage Thanos has dealt while setting up the stage for a new group to take over the MCU. Ant-Man and his quantum realm discoveries will surley factor into a plan put together by the remaining Avengers. We already know that the majority of the characters that faded away due to Thanos’ finger snap will be returning as many of them have sequel films slated for future release. There is no way Marvel is going to kill off Black Panther right after his first solo film broke box office records. Same can be said for the Guardians crew, Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, Bucky (who is maybe 5 pictures into his 9 picture deal), and most likely all of the characters that faded away at the end of the film.

Here is what is up next for the MCU in order of release:

Ant-Man and the Wasp – Said to take place before and during the events of Infinity War.

Captain Marvel – Said to take place mostly in the 1990’s.

Untitled Avengers 4 – Rumored to be titled “Infinity Gauntlet”

Untitled Spider-Man: Homecoming Sequel – Story status unknown

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 – Story status unknown

#avengers #infinitywar #captain america #iron-man #iron man #robert downey jr #chris pratt #thanos #gaurdians #review #reaction #future holds

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newyorkprelawland-blog · 5 years ago

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The Marvel Cinematic Universe And Intellectual Property Law

By Edward Godino, Skidmore College Class of 2020

January 29, 2020

Today’s cinematic landscape is dominated by comic book movies. While some, like famed director Martin Scorsese, believe that these CGI blockbusters are more akin to theme parks than real cinema,[1] their box office success is indisputable. Through the Marvel franchise, Disney has earned over $18 billion dollars since acquiring the company about ten years ago[2], and last year’s epic crossover Avengers: Endgame became the highest grossing movie of all time. But the legality of creating Marvel’s cinematic universe (MCU) is more complex than you might think.

Well before the release of Marvel Studios’ Iron Man (2008), which would spark the creation of the rest of the MCU, Marvel had licensed of many of their most popular characters to other film studios due to financial difficulties. Sony got Spider-Man, Universal got The Hulk, and 20th Century Fox got the X-Men. In the early 2000s, each of these studios attempted to create individual franchises for their characters, with varying degrees of success. According to actor Hugh Jackman, who played Wolverine in Fox’s X-Men franchise, there was an attempt early on to have his Wolverine make an appearance in one of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man films, but the cameo was ultimately scrapped due to logistical and financial issues. The actor commented on the difference between the comic book and movie formats, saying “in the comic books, what’s great about it is they’re just mashing together all the time — and it’s awesome. And people are like, ‘Yeah, well, let’s get this one with that!’ And, you know, I still think, one day, there may be an ability to do it.”[3] Jackman’s dream of uninhibited crossovers between superhero movies is one shared by many comic book fans, and Marvel Studios has come close to achieving it, but there are still some obstacles standing in their way.

While Marvel had sold the rights of their more well-known characters back in the ‘90s, they still had access to a plethora of lesser-known characters, including the likes of Captain America and Iron Man. The success of the first Iron Man in 2008 led to Disney purchasing Marvel Studios in 2009. From there, the company was able to continually achieve box office success by delving into the expansive library of Marvel characters, jettisoning previously unknown characters like Ant-Man and the Guardians of the Galaxy into widespread popularity. But while people loved seeing these “new” characters team up on the big screen, there was a strong desire by fans to see longtime favorites like Spider-Man join the fun. In order to do that, Disney would need to carefully navigate the preexisting licensing deals Marvel made with the other studios involving their intellectual property (IP).

A licensing agreement is a legal contract between at least two parties, whereby the owner of a property allows another party to use their property under specific parameters.[4]Before Marvel had their own movie studio, licensing their IP to studios like Universal and Sony was an easy way for the company to make money. However, what was once a lucrative deal has become a hindrance, as Marvel now wants to assemble all their heroes under one umbrella. Fortunately, most of these licensing deals include a clause which states that the rights to the IP are returned to the original owner (in this case, Marvel) if the party to which the IP was licensed does not start principal photography on a project involving the IP by a certain deadline.[5] This is how Marvel was able to get The Hulk back from Universal.[6] After Universal’s Hulk (2003) underperformed at the box office, the studio abandoned their plans for a sequel, allowing time to run out on their deal and reverting ownership of The Hulk back to Marvel Studios.

20th Century Fox’s X-Men franchise proved to be far more successful. The studio continued to put out X-Men movies every few years, preventing Marvel from using the clause they used on Universal to win back their characters. However, Disney managed to bypass Marvel’s licensing agreement with Fox by simply buying the company, thereby acquiring all of Fox’s properties, including those that originally belonged to Marvel.[7]

The most complicated deal is with Sony involving Spider-Man. Spider-Man has always been and continues to be one of the most popular superhero characters, so it follows that Sony would be resistant to giving up the property. However, after two failed Spider-Man film franchises, Sony came to an agreement with Disney in 2015 that would allow Spider-Man to appear in the MCU. This agreement involved Sony paying Marvel a producer’s fee while getting the most of the film’s profits, while Marvel/Disney profited from merchandise. Their first shared movie, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), was a great success, and the companies kept the deal in place for the sequel, Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), while also allowing Spider-Man to appear in crossovers. However, after the success of the sequel, Disney attempted to alter the deal with Sony so they would share film costs and profits 50/50. Sony refused, and for a time, it seemed as though Spider-Man would be removed from the MCU, which would greatly complicate the ongoing narrative of the series. However, thanks to interference from Spider-Man actor Tom Holland,[8] Sony and Disney were able to come to a new agreement (the details of which are undisclosed) for the studios to continue their partnership for at least one more movie. Fans can only hope that, by the time Spider-Man 3 hits theaters, the companies will have come to a more permanent agreement to keep Spidey in the MCU indefinitely.

________________________________________________________________

[1]https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/04/opinion/martin-scorsese-marvel.html

[2]https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/21/disney-has-made-more-than-18-billion-from-marvel-films-since-2012.html

[3]https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/news/108749-hugh-jackman-reveals-wolverine-almost-had-a-cameo-in-spider-man

[4]https://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/licensing-agreement.asp

[5]https://www.comicbookmovie.com/comics/marvel_comics/marvels-intellectual-property-issues-a41001

[6]https://screenrant.com/no-hulk-solo-movie-marvel-universal-rights-explained/

[7]https://time.com/5517975/marvel-cinematic-universe-x-men/

[8]https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/12/tom-holland-spider-man-mcu-deal

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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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A Tale of Two Pietros: Explaining the MCU X-Men Problem With a Mutant Speedster

https://ift.tt/3jFtUYS

This article contains WandaVision spoilers.

Since his creation by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee in the mid-60s, Quicksilver has been a fairly important part of the Marvel Universe. The mutant speedster started as a member of Magneto’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, then became one of the earliest members of the Avengers. Over the decades, he’s married into the Inhumans, joined various X-teams, been a mentor to the Avengers Academy, and had his parentage retconned several times over.

He’s never been the most popular character in the Marvel Universe, but due to some legal complications, he became the focal point between two rival movie studios. It’s those complications that make his appearance in the fifth episode of WandaVision such a huge deal.

But let’s get to where this all started. As hard as it may be to believe now, b ack in the ‘90s, Marvel Comics was on the verge of bankruptcy. One way to get some money together was to sell the movie rights of its various characters to whatever studio was willing to pay. After all, shared cinematic universes weren’t really a thing back then.

Not every movie got made, of course. There were instances of studios sitting on rights and not doing anything for so long that they had to give them up. For instance, New Line Cinema had the rights to make a Venom movie, albeit one where they couldn’t reference Spider-Man directly in any way. Such an idea was worth a laugh in the ‘90s, but Sony actually pulled it off 20 years later, so go figure.

Studios would only have so much time to make a movie before the rights would revert to Marvel. By the time Marvel decided to get into the movie making business themselves and kick off the MCU concept, the field had settled. Sony had the Spider-Man franchise and had just finished Sam Raimi’s initial trilogy, preparing for a fourth movie that didn’t work out and would ultimately be replaced by a reboot. Universal had a complicated hold on the Hulk that lent itself to a unique partnership with Marvel. Fox was able to make the X-Men a successful franchise, but had less success with two attempts at the Fantastic Four franchise.

Essentially, the entire Marvel Universe had to be categorized into different properties. A lot of these were pretty easy. Doc Ock? He was clearly part of Spider-Man’s corner and could only be used in Spider-Man movies. Dr. Doom gets around as a villain in the comics and fights just about everyone, but at the end of the day, he’s grouped in with the Fantastic Four and could only be handled by Fox. But it wasn’t as simple for other characters.

One major complication was what to do with Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. Which corner of Marvel did they truly belong to? They were technically under the X-Men umbrella as the mutant children of Magneto. Quicksilver himself was a major member of X-Factor.

On the other hand, the two were also huge staples of the Avengers. They were Avengers longer than the likes of Hulk and Black Widow. Scarlet Witch was even the centerpiece in one of the most important Avengers storylines of the early 21st century.

20th Century Fox and Marvel Studios finally came up with an agreement. Both sides had the rights to the Maximoff twins, but the Avengers movies couldn’t describe the two as mutants or mention Magneto and the X-Men movies couldn’t bring up the Avengers or, uh… Yeah, this was pretty much on Marvel’s side to be creative.

Around the same time, each studio cast their Quicksilvers. Marvel had Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Fox had Evan Peters. Marvel cast Elizabeth Olsen as Scarlet Witch while Fox declined to actually use the character, likely due to how hard to write her powers could be at times. The most they did was include an unnamed little sister for Quicksilver, but director Bryan Singer insisted she wasn’t Wanda.

LAP 1 – CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER

Fittingly, with each studio having their own speedster, there was a race to be the first to get their Quicksilver on the big screen. It was really Fox’s race to lose, considering X-Men: Days of Future Past was the seventh X-Men movie and the most the character has ever gotten beforehand was an Easter egg namedrop on a computer monitor in X-Men 2. At least Days of Future Past was going to be released nearly a full year before Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Marvel still won the race, though. Weeks before the release of Days of Future Past, Captain America: The Winter Soldier hit theaters with a post-credits scene that revealed Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Quicksilver and Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff to the world. And while they were indeed showing off their powers in those brief moments, it wasn’t because they were mutants, but rather had been altered by Baron Strucker and HYDRA using Loki’s scepter from Avengers.

LAP 2 – X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST

Fox got their chance later that year with X-Men: Days of Future Past. Overall, Evan Peters’ Quicksilver didn’t get too much screen time, but he was definitely considered a highlight by fans.

Referred to as Peter Maximoff in this continuity, the speedster is a little more laid back than other characters in the X-Men series. Not only does his power give him a feeling of casual superiority over others, but the unbelievability of it all makes him feel almost untouchable. His high-speed crimes would come off as more of a myth that nobody with authority would logically believe. He’s recruited by Xavier, Wolverine, and Beast to break Magneto out of the Pentagon, which he does for the sake of the challenge.

It’s there that he shows his stuff in a slow-motion segment set to Jim Croce’s “Time in a Bottle,” displaying seemingly endless charisma as he protects his allies from armed prison guards and spends his perpetual head start straight-up fucking with their would-be killers. It’s a fun moment in a film about dystopian genocide and Peters makes Quicksilver really likeable.

He doesn’t really get to do too much otherwise, though he does make a remark to Magneto hinting that the Master of Magnetism is his father, but that’s as far as it ever went.

LAP 3 – AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON

2015 gave us Avengers: Age of Ultron, which opened with the Avengers crushing the remnants of HYDRA while Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch got away. Still, Quicksilver was able to scrap with the Avengers and start up a rivalry with Hawkeye while Scarlet Witch could screw with Iron Man’s mind and increase his paranoia to dangerous levels.

In the comics, Quicksilver has been best defined in an issue of X-Factor where he described his demeanor by comparing himself to someone stuck in line at the ATM, having to wait behind an idiot who doesn’t know what they’re doing and keeps taking forever. That’s his every waking moment and Taylor-Johnson certainly tapped into that with his performance.

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In terms of action, Taylor-Johnson’s Quicksilver wasn’t quite as fun as Peters’, but he had his moments. The closest thing he really had to the slow-mo rescue scenes was a short sequence that had him punch Captain America and foolishly attempt to pull Mjolnir out of the air. There was a feeling of playfulness underneath the character’s resentment at times, but he wasn’t quite the goofball of Peters’ version.

He also didn’t come off as ridiculously fast as the X-Men Quicksilver, even though that was probably for the better. Sometimes a speedster can be impossible to write for and believe in. Taylor-Johnson’s version was still impressively quick and a danger to any enemy, but he didn’t come off as unbeatable.

Unfortunately for this version of Quicksilver, his relationship with Scarlet Witch was arguably his undoing. The Quicksilver of the X-Men films wasn’t held down by his siblings and got to stand on his own, but MCU Quicksilver was treated as an extension of Wanda and her story. That made him expendable by the time the movie was ready to wrap up.

The Maximoff twins went from being Ultron’s lackies battling against the Avengers to betraying Ultron and joining the good guys. In the end, Quicksilver sacrificed himself to save Hawkeye, and despite his gift for speed, it was a believable death, and felt far weightier than the way such character exits had been approached in the past.

As far as the MCU was concerned, Pietro Maximoff’s story was over. Wanda, however, had a new life waiting for her as an Avenger.

LAP 4 – X-MEN: APOCALYPSE

In the X-Men universe, Quicksilver showed up again in 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse. It took place about a decade after Days of Future Past, reminding us that Peters’ Quicksilver is like thirty years older than Taylor-Johnson’s Quicksilver. Ah, these X-Men movies and their screwy timeline.

Quicksilver’s arc in this film ultimately showed the innate problems of the later X-Men movies. When Magneto joined the mad mutant Apocalypse as one of his Four Horsemen, Peter Maximoff finally realized that Magneto was his father and tried to find him. This led to another fantastic slow-motion scene where he single handedly evacuated the X-Men’s school during an explosion to the song “Sweet Dreams” by the Eurythmics.

But Quicksilver’s larger arc in the movie remained unsatisfying, and he and Magneto never came to terms with the question of their relationship. Peter may have survived the final battle with Apocalypse, but he also was ignored in what should have been his big moment. Magneto and Quicksilver’s relationship was a card only Fox could have played and they fumbled it. It remains a missed opportunity for both characters.

Funny enough, around this time, Marvel Comics was going the opposite direction and placed a narrative wedge between the characters when Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver discovered that Magneto wasn’t actually their father after all. Though at the same time, it came across that Scarlet Witch may have altered reality to make that true. Regardless, it looked like Marvel was trying to go out of their way to sever Magneto from the twins’ existence.

FINAL LAP – DARK PHOENIX

Outside of a hilarious cameo in Deadpool 2, the Fox version of Quicksilver next appeared in 2019’s Dark Phoenix, the final film in the main X-Men franchise. Quicksilver only has about two and a half minutes of screentime. Halfway into the movie, he makes a slow-motion run at Jean Grey, loses his footing, tumbles, and is forgotten about for the rest of the picture. And his connection to Magneto? Never even mentioned.

Back in the MCU, Pietro remained just a memory, one more trauma stacked upon trauma in the life of Wanda Maximoff. There was already the death of her parents and the horrible experimentation. Soon after, there was the trauma of the innocent blood on her hands, her incarceration, and her role in the death of Vision. It wasn’t until the third episode of WandaVision where Wanda even talked about her long-lost brother.

Wanda could puppet Vision’s android corpse and surround herself with people forced to be friendly to her, but the horrible loss of her brother was something she couldn’t undo. Or it was something she refused to undo. While we still don’t get the reasoning behind what’s going on, the Evan Peters version of Quicksilver popped into Westview, NJ to see his long-lost sister, all while acting like Uncle Jesse from Full House.

We have four episodes to go, but we’re left wondering what this truly means. Will Peters’ Quicksilver outright be a replacement for the disgruntled counterpart who died at Ultron’s hand? Will the joke run its course and he’ll be sent away where he came from? Will this be the big moment that instigates the existence of mutants in the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe, giving credence to the overused internet joke of Wanda demanding, “No, MORE mutants!”?

Whatever it is, it’s a special moment. The Evan Peters Quicksilver not only finally has a super-powered relative who seems to give a damn about him, but as the first link to the X-Men in the MCU (big or small, we’ll see), he finally gets the spotlight he deserves.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Now let’s see how long until Deadpool finally shows his scarred face.

The post A Tale of Two Pietros: Explaining the MCU X-Men Problem With a Mutant Speedster appeared first on Den of Geek.

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ramajmedia · 5 years ago

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10 Supporting MCU Characters That Could Return In A Big Way

D23 2019 brought a lot of surprises. Not only did we find out that we would be getting some brand new Disney Plus MCU series, there were also a few shocking casting announcements that very few could have predicted. While there are some high profile cases such as Kit Harrington starring as the Black Knight, or Gemma Chang returning to a completely different Marvel role, a couple of other casting choices flew under the radar.

RELATED: Disney+: 10 Things You Should Know About Ms. Marvel

The return of both Darcy Lewis and Jimmy Woo to WandaVision shows that Marvel is willing to dive deep into their list of supporting characters, in order to keep fleshing out the universe they have created. With the unexpected return of these characters, we're taking a look at some supporting characters that could return in a much bigger way during the next few phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

10 LADY SIF

It's no secret that Lady Sif certainly has her fans. The Asgardian warrior has been absent from recent films after a scheduling conflict meant that she could not appear alongside the Warriors Three in Thor: Ragnarok. This was probably good news for the adventurer however, as her brethren were killed in combat fighting against Hela. Sif was said to have perished during the snap, but will of course be around once again.

There's plenty of potential for Sif to now return, perhaps in the Loki series or Thor: Love and Thunder. Fans have been speculating that Sif could in fact be the Queen that Valkyrie has been searching for, marking a triumphant return to the franchise.

9 HARLEY KEENER

Avengers: Endgame saw the surprising return of another supporting character that had a much larger role during Shane Black's Iron Man 3. The young inventor Harley Keener was briefly seen during the funeral of Tony Stark. The producers over at Marvel Studios clearly felt it was important to continue to show the connection between the two characters.

Harley may be in for a much larger role in the MCU. With a successor to Iron Man probably inbound, it makes sense that Harley is part of that journey. The Young Avengers are supposedly coming, with the addition of Kate Bishop and Cassie Lang to the MCU, so it's possible Harley joins them as their in house inventor and mechanic.

8 ARNIM ZOLA

Zola had a completely hidden cameo in Endgame thanks to the production crew behind the visual effects in the film. This recent reveal has only reminded fans just how good the character is though. We last saw Zola in his computer form in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

RELATED: Disney+: 10 Things You Should Know About She-Hulk Before the Premiere

Zola has actually appeared in many more MCU properties than people might realise over the years and he is set to voice the animated version of the character for Disney Plus. However, with The Falcon and the Winter Soldier clearly bringing back many other supporting characters, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to see Zemo written back into the universe.Someone so obsessed with surviving probably has a backup stored somewhere!

7 RICHARD MADISON

A random choice, perhaps, and maybe one that readers don't even remember! During Thor: The Dark World, Jane Foster starts looking for other romantic partners and goes on a date with Richard, portrayed by the fantastic Chris O'Dowd. It would certainly be brilliant to see Richard return due to the charismatic actor behind the character, but what larger role could Richard actually play in such a vast universe?

It's been a while since we've seen Jane Foster and there's every possibility that she could have reconnected with Richard. With Jane becoming the new Mighty Thor, from a storytelling perspective, there needs to be a character that follows her on that journey and reacts to what's happening alongside her.

6 LEONARD SAMSON

The Incredible Hulk is a largely forgotten entry in the MCU. The movie has been partially salvaged, however, with William Hurt's recent reprisal of Thunderbolt Ross and Martin Starr's strange ongoing role in the MCU. There are a lot of great characters featured in the film, however.

Leonard Samson is one such example. The psychiatrist boyfriend of Betty Ross put himself in the way of the Hulk due to his jealousy over his girlfriend and Bruce Banner. Portrayed by the wonderful Ty Burrell, the character has probably gone through a lot since these events. There's definitely a role in the MCU for a superhero psychiatrist and we could see Samson's superhero alter-ego!

5 CHRISTINE EVERHART

Christine Everhart has actually been featured in quite a few MCU properties, especially in her role with WHIH, the fictional news station in the franchise. There seems to be a real potential to flesh out this character, who audiences will be familiar with.

RELATED: 6 Characters We'll Miss From The MCU's Spider-Man (& 4 We Won't)

By now, Everhart is probably at the top of her field and looking for the latest scoop on any case Jennifer could be working on. The two could share both a friendship and a professional relationship that could add a new dynamic to the show.

4 RHOMANN DEY

It was mentioned that Thanos had completely wiped out the Nova Corps and the planet Xander during his quest for the Infinity Stones. The means that Dey's family and friends are all likely dead, but there's a real possibility that Dey actually survived himself and is now looking for any kind of revenge in the universe.

In the comics, it is Dey who passes down the moniker of Nova, and this could very well be his role in the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3. It's also the perfect way to finally introduce Nova into the MCU.

3 NAKIA

Lupita Nyong'o is an absolute star and it's a travesty that her character Nakia hasn't appeared since the original Black Panther. It is almost certain that she'll return for the sequel, though. Nakia's story was already complex in the franchise, with the activist and spy feeling like Wakanda can do more for the world.

With the events of the last five years, she could have completely shifted in perspective, perhaps feeling like she was wrong and Wakanda should have stayed protected and hidden after its losses. Maybe she feels like even more could be done and it's now too late. Whatever the case, we could see her transition into a more villainous character.

2 KRAGLIN OBFONTERI

Kraglin's honorary position with the Guardians, his role with the Ravagers and relationship with Yondu have all made him a fan favourite of the galactic series. ,It really wouldn't be surprising if he had an even more extended role in the finale part of the Galaxy trilogy set to release in phase 5.

There's a lot more that Kraglin could do, from rising the ranks in the Ravegers to perhaps even becoming a fully fledged member of the team. Now with the use of the fin and arrow it's clear that James Gunn wants to explore the character some more and give him a larger and more dangerous role.

1 JANET VAN DYNE

You don't cast Michelle Pfeiffer without having a larger plan for her character. The return of the original Wasp was a big moment for Ant-Man fans, but the character has only since briefly appeared in the funeral scene. However, there must be more that Van Dyne can do in the larger MCU and there's surely a place for her to appear again.

What's strange is that we haven't heard anything about an Ant-Man and the Wasp sequel, which means the places she could appear are limited. But there's still a lot of story to be told there and Peyton Reed is probably eager to get back to work on the characters he loves. Maybe Van Dyne could serve as a mentor figure for a new female hero joining the MCU on Disney Plus?

NEXT: 10 Other MCU Characters Who Might Be Worthy Of Wielding Thor's Hammer

source https://screenrant.com/mcu-supporting-characters-cameos-may-return-phase-4-beyond/

#screenrant

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theprocrastinatingalien · 7 years ago

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10 MCU Characters That Could Lead Their Own Movie.

Since IRON MAN made it's debut in 2008, there have been 15 movies released for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with more on the way... and a lot of characters and actors.

However, there's only been a handful of lead characters - Tony Stark (Iron Man), Edward Norton (Hulk), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Chris Evans (Captain America), Chris Pratt (Star-Lord), Scott Lang (Ant-Man) and Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Strange) - and we know that over the next three years, they'll be joined by Tom Holland (Spider-Man), Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther) and Brie Larson (Captain Marvel).

In each case, the actor and character have been introduced with the intention of them to lead. Most of the lead from the get-go, whilst a few have been planted in other character's movies as a way of introduction (notably Spider-Man and Black Panther in CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR).

At no point has a character been introduced, purely as support, later to promoted to lead. But with so many popular characters, and able actors, surely, as we head beyond Phase Three, we can consider some of them 'lead worthy'?

Here are, in my opinion, the 10 most likely characters/actors that could lead a future movie in the MCU. So, in no particular order...

ROCKET RACCOON & GROOT

Okay, so, already I'm mixing it up by giving TWO names in one entry! The reason for that is - I'm not sure which one would actually get the top billing?! In the GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY films, Vin Diesel is credited before Bradley Cooper, so to that end, I guess Diesel and Groot would be seen as 'the lead'. However, as we all know, Groot isn't the most chatty of characters with only 3 words in his vocabulary. That suggests to me that if the two get their own story, it'll be Rocket and Bradley Cooper taking the lead.

Of course, this movie is one that might come to be made, I think even GOTG director James Gunn has said he'd like to do it, and with GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL 3 set to be the last outing for this group, if we want for of the characters, their own film may be the only way to go!

PEGGY CARTER

Hayley Atwell was, in my book, one of the highlights of CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER, and the MCU have found ways of bringing the character back a few times since - an aged appearance in THE WINTER SOLDIER, a dream sequence in AGE OF ULTRON, a flashback in ANT-MAN, and - most importantly - two seasons of her very own AGENT CARTER (not to mention a short, and a few appearances in AGENTS OF SHIELD).

Her series may have come to an early end, but there's still plenty of adventures for Steve Rogers' first true love. I predict we'll be getting quite a few female-lead superhero films over the next few years, and whilst not 'super' Peggy Carter works in that world, over many decades!

HOPE VAN DYNE / WASP

We've only actually met Evangeline Lilly once so far, in ANT-MAN, but we know we have more of her coming. in ANT-MAN AND THE WASP, she'll become the first MCU female character to appear in the title, and then she'll get to hang with the Avengers in the untitled INFINITY WAR sequel.

Now, it's possible the character will only ever play second fiddle to Paul Rudd's Ant-Man, but considering the fact Wasp was a character that Joss Whedon was desperate to include in THE AVENGERS, and it's possible - of the character proves popular - Marvel may wish to give her a solo film. As I say, I predict a few female-lead films on the way, and I wouldn't be surprise if Lilly finds herself one of the serious contenders.

JAMES RHODES / WAR MACHINE

Okay, I'll mark this as one of the most unlikely on my list, but that doesn't mean it won't happen. Of course, the character was introduced in the first film in the franchise, with Don Cheadle taking over from Terrence Howard in IRON MAN 2. He's since appeared in IRON MAN 3, AGE OF ULTRON and had a nasty, potentially life-changing, accident in CIVIL WAR.

It's expected that Robert Downey Jr's tenure as Iron Man will come to an end soon, so it's possible bosses will keep Cheadle on to keep that 'shellhead' vibe going. But will Rhodes offer anything new? Well, War Machine does have his own comic line, and Cheadle is popular enough.

I'm including him, but honestly feel, if Rhodes makes it past Phase 3, it might only be as a support.

DR. HANK PYM / ANT-MAN

Well, why not? Pym was the original Ant-Man, and we've already been introduced to him, as played by Michael Douglas in ANT-MAN. He obviously had a lot of adventures long before this new wave of heroes showed up (well, not before Cap, but still) and I think there's an audience for him, and Janet Van Dyne (the original Wasp).

Whether it'd be Douglas continuing on in the role - maybe with that fancy de-aging cg effect - or with a younger actor, it could work with a mix of the two - Douglas could book-end the film if not appearing throughout.

I actually think this is a strong option, depending on how much we get to see in ANT-MAN & THE WASP due out next year.

JANE FOSTER / THOR

Okay, I'm just going to throw it out there... Hemsworth's time as the God of Thunder is due to expire soon. He's a possible casualty of the INFINITY WAR, and if that is the way the movies go, the MCU might call forth a female THOR - just like in the comics!

Jane Foster was revealed as being the new Thor, and that's an interesting route to go down... especially as we know Natalie Portman won't be playing the character in RAGNAROK later this year. That's possibly due to her tantrum at Patty Jenkins leaving THE DARK WORLD (before going on to direct WONDER WOMAN for DC), or maybe they're saving her for bigger things? Portman is a popular actor, and capable of leading a superflick.

This might be something to look out for!

NICK FURY (and SHIELD)

Samuel L Jackson's appearance in the post credits scene that the end of IRON MAN, is what excited the world for the promise of THE AVENGERS. He's appeared in a lot of films since, although those appearances have grown fewer and far between as he closes in on the end of his contract.

It's thought that he has only two films left on his contract. He's going to be in at least INFINITY WAR, possible the next AVENGERS film too, but he also hinted that he might be popping up in CAPTAIN MARVEL, so who knows when we'll be seeing him... but there's been rumblings of Nick Fury for a few years now.

Fury was the Director of SHIELD until it imploded with Hydra-ness in THE WINTER SOLDIER. Since then SHIELD went underground, lead by Phil Coulson - as chronicled in AGENTS OF SHIELD) but it would make sense for Fury to take back leadership for a big screen outing. It would also be a good way of utilising Cobie Smulders in a supporting role as Maria Hill, and (fingers crossed) make use of our favourite characters from the series (such as Daisy Johnson, Fitz and Simmons).

Or maybe we'll get to see a younger version of Fury at the start of his career? I would definitely suggest they go with de-aging Jackson with CG for that, nobody can play Samuel L, like Samuel L!

Now, it might be too far down the line for this film to happen, but whilst Jackson's under contract there's still hope!

CLINT BARTON / HAWKEYE

Barton got a bit of a bum deal in THE AVENGERS, being all mind-possessed by Loki, but he was a highlight in AGE OF ULTRON, whilst getting some good blows in during CIVIL WAR. There character's already retired once, but he's still at it. There's nothing to say he'll survive INFINITY WAR, but if he does, maybe the guy deserves his own film?

Jeremy Renner would certainly like to do more, suggesting maybe Hawkeye could lead a Netflix series, but how about this - with the majority of the Avengers going their own way, or getting killed off over the next Avengers film (we assume) maybe Barton will end up being the boss of team, leading a new guard to save the world.

Just a suggestion, but realistically, I reckon Hawkeye will appear as a support for a different lead...

NATASHA ROMANOV / BLACK WIDOW

Scarlett Johansson is hot property. Black Widow is really the leading lady of the MCU at the moment, and there's been chatter of her own solo film for a film. Joss Whedon wanted to do one, and the Russo Brothers seem pretty keen too. Of all the names on this list, I predicted this is one of the most likely - although not guaranteed. As Johansson has said, she'll not want to fit into the tight costumes for ever, so Marvel are running out of time if they want to get the ball rolling.

I think it will happen though, in either 2021 or 2022, and I wouldn't be surprised if we get some flashback action, with her going on some missions with best bud Hawkeye.

And finally... last but not least...

CAPTAIN AMERICA

And by that, I mean either James Barnes (Winter Soldier) or Sam Wilson (Falcon)!

Steve Rogers didn't die in CIVIL WAR like many thought. That's just as well, we kinda already knew Evans was signed up to INFINITY WAR... but will he make it past 2019? That's a big question with most of the original Avengers. Chris Evans has made it known he intends on stepping away from acting (to behind the camera) once his Marvel contract expires - which it is due to very soon! He has made comments that he'd ready to do more, but that could just be a smoke screen.

In the comics, Bucky Barnes takes over as Captain America, and we do know that Sebastian Stan signed a 9 picture deal (to which he's only used 3 currently, with one to three more coming up with INFINITY WAR, AVENGERS 4 and that persistent rumour he'll be in BLACK PANTHER too (which would make sense considering what happened in the mid credits scene in CW). Rogers seems to have thrown away the shield, so it's possible this is where Barnes (and Stan) take over role). Of course, there is a slight hiccup... having killed Stark's parents, he's unlikely to be a welcomed member of the team, I certainly doubt Tony Stark will allow it, so it might be a tough sell in terms of the MCU.

So what about skipping Barnes for Sam Wilson? Anthony Mackie has proved to be a fun and energetic member of the MCU team, Falcon is certainly one of my favourites. In the comics Wilson has became a flying Captain America, under the watchful eye of an elderly Rogers. This might be an interesting way to pass the torch from Evans to Mackie, and Wilson would be a more accepted member of the team - he's already been an Avenger!

Of course, I quite like the idea that - following the death of Rogers - Bucky and Falcon battle it out for the Shield, possibly both becoming Captain America, with only one victorious at the end. They could even it up with Emily VanCamp appearing as Sharon Carter, in the race to become a female Cap. I'd watch that!

So far, Stan as been credited about Mackie and VanCamp in each outing and unless the writers decide Wilson will be Cap from the start, I guess Stan will edge it. Although, I'll admit it now - I want Mackie for Cap! I'm positive it'll be one of them though!

They're my choices for most likely leads from the supporting ranks. Think I've missed someone obvious? Let me know!

And remember to add my twitter - @procrastinalien - where I often run polls for fun!

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alohageek · 8 years ago

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The Ying and Yang of Comic Book Television Part I.

Today’s comic book culture has grown in leaps in bounds since the fundamental foundation of the industry in the 30’s. Comic book culture is thriving culture based on a mythos of characters created by writers and artist who was thought as low class artist in the golden age. However, It is their stories and artwork that captures generations of fans, which now encompass a social collective of connoisseurs. It is from this fan base corporations in the comic book industry invest in multiple media platforms to cash in on the culture. This investment can’t be more evident than in the film and television franchises.

There is a tremendous impact that both visual platforms have on the comic book culture. We can address the scope of impact that comic book movies have on the culture, but let’s examine Comic Book Television shows, since it is considered the lesser of the two platforms. This is based on the corporate studios theory of movies generating more income than Television shows. In this blog I’ll talk about the positive and the negatives of today’s Comic Book Television franchise brought to the masses. It’s the Ying and the Yang of Comic Book TV shows.

Part 1: Marvel’s Cinematic Universe Vs. Marvel’s Television Universe

Today’s current comic book film and TV franchise spark can be credited to Marvel Studios first film, Iron Man released in 2008. This spark was created by a studio with direct links to Marvel Comic book Company. Back in 2008 Iron Man was known as a B-list super hero, especially since Marvel sold the film making property rights to its popular heroes to rival movies studios (i.e. Spider-man and Fantastic Four to Sony Pictures and X-men to 20th Century Fox.) Now that Marvel Studios had full control of its remaining properties (the Avengers) and with the support of their head corporation (Disney) a full blown Cinematic universe was now created through their first film. From here the rest of the avengers were introduced in movies and linked together through post credit scenes, teasers, and in particularly one character who connects all the heroes together Agent Phil Coulson of shield played by Clark Gregg. Agent Coulson was not a cannon character in the comic books when he was introduced in John Favreau’s Iron Man movie.

The popularly of this movie character grew so much that Marvel Studio’s gave the character a “One Shot” short movie as a way to transition him from one movie to the other. This allowed fans to get to know Agent Coulson and gave him his own story for us to follow. Thus, expanding the MCU. The one-shot movie “A Funny Thing Happen On the Way to Thor’s Hammer” and the success of that short film included the film character into Marvel Comic books and Cartoons. In fact, this gave head of the Marvel Studios the idea to expand the MCU in to Television with Agent Coulson, an established character in the MCU, as the center of that story. So, in 2013 the Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. was created with Disney’s ABC Studios

The Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D was a ground-breaking Comic Book TV show because it linked the events in the Marvel movies into a weekly franchise that enticed fans to not only watch the TV show but watch the Movies. They even incorporated characters in the movies into the show like Samuel L Jackson’s Nick Fury from the Avengers, Jaimie Alexander’s Sif Character from the Thor Franchise and even Hayley Atwell’s Peggy Carter and the Howling Commandos characters from the Captain America Franchise.

No Show in the history of Television ever connected films and TV, and was able to have special appearances from blockbuster movies. This was a ground breaking opportunity to truly expand the potential income theory of Corporate studios.

With the success of the Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. Marvel studios started to grow the Cinematic / TV universe even more by giving Peggy Carter from Captain America (played by Hayley Atwell) her own TV show. This not only expanded the universe but also it gave the cinematic universe a Historical cannon allowing other characters from Captain America movie, like Howard Stark played by Dominic Cooper and Timothy 'Dum Dum' Dugan played by Neal McDonough a chance to expand their stories. Marvel Studios even expanded the MCU not only on network TV but to the streaming studios of Netflix with Dare Devil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron First. There is a lot to talk about Netflix but let’s save it for Part 2.

Expanding the MCU like this was a fantastic way for Marvel Studios to feed their hungry fan based. It continued the stories of the cinematic universe between the release of the next Marvel movie and incorporated major events from their movie into their TV shows. This can’t be more evident than the Plot of Captain

America: The Winter Solider effecting the story arc of The Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D season 2. Since the movie was scheduled to release near the season finale of the show what better way to merge the two. In fact, a major film sequence of that movie was included into an episode of the TV show. This brought out fans to the movie and made people stream the TV show. The connecting of Marvel Cinematic and Television Universe was a way of acknowledging one universe with several stories that tell one major story. And that’s what makes good comic book television and pays tribute to the source. Like the Comic books, the MCU has multiple stories and themes and together the entire story in the comic books are connected to one major event. Like “Civil War” in the comics, “The Secret Invasion”, “World War Hulk”, and “Infinity Gauntlet” all of them were key events in the marvel universe yet Each book had a different story and perspective of the events outcome. This is what makes the MCU an amazing homage to the source.

However, there is a down side and a particular event in the corporate enterprise that affected Marvel Studio involvement in Television and has hurt the MCU. Let us examine some of the hiccups of the Marvel TV Universe. First and Foremost, the major difference between Movies and TV shows is that television is looked upon not as glamorous as Hollywood movies. In fact, this can be traced all the way back to TV inception in the 1950’s Therefore Marvel Studios will not release headlining characters such as Iron Man, Natasha Romanoff Black Widow, or The Hulk on TV. Why waste the major characters when you can charge people to see them in movie theaters. Instead Comic Book TV shows will feature the lower rated comic book characters. Ergo the Agents of Shield instead of actually super heroes. Aside from Samuel L Jackson appearance on the show, (because he was a cool enough actor not to be paid as much as his appearance in the movies and was willing to make a TV Appearance because he loves playing the character), no other A-list star and character can make an appearance in the show.

The second thing that makes a strong difference is the budget of the series. TV shows get a smaller budget than the Hollywood movies and must stick to strict deadline to make the networks deadline. As such there are several things that are effected. The first is the campy look of the TV show. With the film franchise dwarfing the budget of the TV show, the look of the TV show lowered. From the special effects, on set locations used in ABC Studio’s and even the shared TV lot and costumes shared in other ABC studios shows. You can even see the difference in the quality of performances between the movies and TV shows directing style and even some acting.

Next is the strict TV ratings on Network Television that play a major factor in the campiness of the franchise. This is because it effects when the shows can air and the subject matter. It is the reason why there is a formula to some of the TV show writing. In particular, with season story arc. You see because ABC Studios produces the show it reads like a soap opera. That’s why if you watch the Marvel Television Universe you can see the clear difference between the movies.

The last thing I would like to mention is the new separation between the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Marvel Television Universe because of the head of each department. You see after Marvel Studios Phase Two series, the Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige and Marvel Entertainment CEO Ike Permlutter had reportedly been butting heads for years whe, in September 2015, a reorganization of the company meant that Feige began reporting directly to Disney boss Alan Horn rather than having to answer to Perlmutter. Feige now oversees Marvel Studios, while Perlmutter oversees Marvel’s comics, animation and TV. Although Marvel TV head Jeph Loeb has maintained references to the movies’ goings-on in TV shows, it’s very much a one-way relationship. Because of this The Marvel movies ignore Marvel TV and “Vice Versa”. It is a sad happening due to the ego of each department head. Even the much-anticipated return appearance of Agent Coulson in the Avenger movies never happens and therefore the link between the Cinematic and TV universe no longer exist. Furthermore, because the relationship of the MCU & MTU has been weakened, this cause a lack of interest in the MTU and led to the cancelation of the Agent Carter show. Even the possibility for any of the TV show characters including Marvels Netflix characters showing up in the movies may never happen. Who knows what the future holds for Marvel TV shows. But for me My hope is that the Fans will write into the studios and ask for a return to a shared Marvel universe. My next chapter will delve into the New Marvel Netflix shows and the Ying and Yang of that amazing franchise.

#Aloha Nerd and geek #Marvel Comics #marvel cinematic universe #agents of shield #agent carter #marvel #comics

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theconservativebrief · 6 years ago

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Stan Lee, the godfather of Marvel comics, died on Monday, but his spirit will live on in the comic book characters he created, the adventures he took his readers on, and the imaginations he ignited. And of course, there are all those cameos.

Lee has been a fixture in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), as well as in Sony and Fox’s Marvel superhero films since the studios began making mainstream blockbusters in the ’00s, briefly appearing onscreen in nearly every movie in a vast range of bit parts. (Marvel sold away its film rights to characters like the X-Men and Spider-Man in the late ’90s, so they are considered separate universes — though this may change now that Sony and Marvel have collaborated on 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, and Disney stands to acquire Fox’s Marvel properties.)

The cameos were a way for movie studios to honor Lee’s contribution to the work by sharing him with a massive, mainstream audience. Mainstream audiences might not necessarily be familiar with every issue of Lee’s work, but they come away from these big movies and these revered cameos with a sense that Lee is an important, indelible figure in creating these fantasies.

He even has cameos in more esoteric properties, like 1989’s made-for-television movie The Trial of the Incredible Hulk as well as voiceovers and appearances as himself in various Marvel animated television series.

The result: Lee has 20 cameos in the MCU (including Spider-Man: Homecoming); five in the X-Men universe (including the Deadpool films); a sixth in the X-Men universe if you include the short film that appeared before Logan; five cameos in the pre-Tom Holland Spider-Man films that starred Tobey Maguire and then Andrew Garfield; two cameos in Fox’s now-defunct Fantastic Four franchise; and a handful of cameos in one-off superhero films like 2003’s Hulk and Daredevil.

The cameos where Lee gets to speak and showcase his signature, enthusiastic voice are better than the non-speaking ones. But in this correspondent’s opinion, the best one may be Lee’s cameo in one of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’s five post-credits scenes.

[embedded content]

In it, Lee is seen wearing an astronaut outfit and talking to a bunch of weird-looking bald dudes with capes; it actually builds off his cameo in the “main” film, where he’s seen during Rocket and Yondu’s jump to the planet Ego. Lee is regaling the bald dudes with stories, but they start to walk away while he’s still talking. He yells that they were his ride home — with no indication of where that may be — and that he has more stories to tell before the scene fades to black.

In Marvel’s comic books, the weird dudes that Lee is talking to are a part of an entity known as the Watchers, the most famous of which is Uatu. The Watchers are spread out all around the universe, and exist to observe civilizations and life progress. They see and record everything, but they aren’t ever allowed to interfere.

The implication of the scene is that Lee might be one of the Watchers, and that the tales that Lee is telling his fellow Watchers are from his many different Marvel movie cameos, meaning that he’s the same guy in all those different films. And that he’s telling the Watchers what he’s observed could signal that all along, he’s been observing the Marvel universe that he’s been tasked to help care for. It’s a touching way to remember Lee and what he has helped build.

As of now, the most recent Lee cameo can be seen in Venom, in which Lee shares a passing scene with Tom Hardy. But with that said, there’s at least one more Lee cameo still to be unveiled, as it was reported earlier this year that he filmed one for Avengers 4, due out in May 2019.

Original Source -> Watch: Every Stan Lee Cameo from every single Marvel movie he appeared in

via The Conservative Brief

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undertheinfluencerd · 3 years ago

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https://ift.tt/3BQXGSj #

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is reportedly being pirated far less than fellow Marvel film Black Widow. After multiple delays due to the pandemic, Shang-Chi opened on September 3rd exclusively this theaters, a decision by Disney that surprised many. While multiple Disney releases throughout the COVID-19 pandemic has been a hybrid one, releasing simultaneously on Disney+ via premier access, Shang-Chi is the first Marvel film in two years to be exclusive to theaters; a gamble which paid off as the film garnered $94 million over the four-day weekend.

The first Asian-led film in the MCU, Shang-Chi follows Simu Liu’s titular master of the martial arts as he, his best friend Katy (Awkwafina), and his estranged sister Xialing (Meng’er Zhang), are drawn into the clandestine world of the Ten Rings organization that Shang-Chi thought he had escaped from. Together they are forced to confront Tony Leung’s Wenwu and stop him from undertaking a course of action that would have devastating effects on the world. The film introduced a number of new elements to the MCU that will undoubtedly come into play later in Phase 4, and also paid off one of its most enduring mysteries – the true identity of the Mandarin.

Related: Why Marvel Said The Ten Rings Would Return, Not Shang-Chi

Per Business Insider, citing piracy-news website Torrentfreak, it appears that Shang-Chi’s theatrical exclusivity is ensuring it is pirated less than other Disney properties, including Black Widow and Jungle Cruise, as well as films from other studios that received hybrid releases like F9 and The Suicide Squad. Where Black Widow held the top-spot for three weeks in TorrentFreak’s rankings of most-pirated movie following its release, Shang-Chi currently occupies the number 5 position for the previous week (which ended on September 6th). This represents a huge win for the cinema-industry and critics of hybrid releases.

Movie-theater owners have long criticized the recent trend of hybrid releases as directly damaging their industry at a time when theater attendance is already greatly reduced as a result of the pandemic. Likewise, the availability of releases on streaming platforms like Disney+ and HBO Max have also been cited as a cause of a rise in piracy, forming a major complication for the hybrid release format. While Black Widow’s opening weekend proved highly lucrative, earning $80 million in its opening weekend at the box-office domestically plus an additional $60 million from Disney+, the film saw a major drop-off the following week, in part due to the ready availability of pirated copies.

The existence of such pirated copies ultimately harms both studios and theater-owners, so it’s logical for the two to try and work together to try and combat it. As such, it’s easy to point to the fact that Shang-Chi releasing exclusively in theaters was a key factor in its reduced level of piracy, however its worth noting that the Michelle Yeoh/Michael Keaton action film The Protégé, which is similarly only available in theaters, occupied the number two position of most pirated movies last week. The difference is that The Protégé has been in theaters for two weeks already, meaning there is greater opportunity for piracy.

While the amount that Shang-Chi is pirated will likely rise in the coming weeks, it’s unlikely that it will reach the same levels as Black Widow. Moreover, the pay-wall of Disney+’s Premier Access, on top of the subscription cost, is significantly more than the cost of movie-ticket meaning audiences are more inclined to find a work-around. Regardless, Shang-Chi’s opening weekend still represents a significant win for those opposing hybrid releases, so hopefully Disney will be inclined to take note for future releases.

More: The Ten Rings Complete MCU Timeline Explained

Source: Business Insider

#marvel #avengers #marvelcomics #spiderman #mcu #ironman #comics #captainamerica #thor #avengersendgame #marvelstudios #xmen #dc #marveluniverse #art #cosplay #tomholland #hulk #disney #comicbooks #dccomics #peterparker #tonystark #blackwidow #marvellegends #endgame #deadpool #marvelcinematicuniverse #loki #bhfyp

The post Shang-Chi Reportedly Being Pirated Less Than Black Widow appeared first on undertheinfluencerd.net.

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smokeybrandreviews · 7 years ago

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Smokey brand Movie Reviews: Marvel’s Revengers

This review is a few weeks in the making. I actually saw Thor: Ragnarok the day it came out but i wanted to wait to review it. I was curious how i would feel about it after seeing Justice League. The fact that the architect of Marvel’s Phase One was brought in to “fix” what Snyder had produced was kind of ill so i wanted to see if i could discern that Marvel flavor in DC’s flick better after taking in Thor and having time to ponder those aspects altogether. I opted to take in Ragnarok a second time today because i figured out that i liked it more than i liked Justice League. Even with all of the good in that flick; Flash, Wondy, the levity, Aquaman, Cyborg sort of, i just found myself watching a third tier Marvel outing. Like, i left thee theater feeling like i watched Avenger 3 and it was worse than Age Of Ultron. Ultron wasn’t great but it was decent ,JL wasn’t decent. After watching Ragnarok a second time, my initial reaction was justified For both films. Thor: Ragnarok is a great movie and Justice League is a pale imitation of what makes Ragnarok great. I might write a piece later comparing the two, elaborating on my i think JL to be such a hollow abstraction of Ragnarok, and the Marvel formula overall, but this little essay is going to be a straight review of Ragnarok. Spoilers: Is Gud. Go see that sh*t. Again. But first, can we just appreciate the utter bad ass beauty of Tessa Thompson?

Ol’ girl was goddamn outstanding in a movie full of outstanding and she did while being bad-ass, beautiful, and brilliant. Hats off, madame, hats off. Swag on fleek, as the kids say.

The Best

Tessa Thompson killed as Brunnhilde. And, yes, she has a name, not a number. She’s Brunnhilde the Valkyrie or just Valkyrie. and Tess OWNED that sh*t, manq!

Speaking of ownage, can we just stop and appreciate Hela? Cate Blanchett embodied this roll and i loved every minute of it. I’ve always loved Hela. I thought she never got her due in the comics, with the exceptions of some solid f*cking stories (check out little loki and Leah’s adventure or Ultimate Hela, off the top of my head) so to see such a prestigious actor take on such an iconic character with respect, understand, and general awesomeness was spectacular. She’s my second favorite MCU villain after Keaton’s Vulture and i mean the closet of seconds.

Speaking of my beautiful and deadly Hela, i like the liberties they took with her history here. Don’t misunderstand, 616 Hela will always have a special place in my heart by her cinema appearance, an amalgamation of Gor the God Butcher, Angela Odinsdottir, (yes, that’s Angela’s guv’ment name now) and Hela Lokisdottir, (lookit me using comic logic to discern Hela’s last name) i was pretty okay with how she turned out overall. I mean, come on, looking over that last clusterf*ck of words, you’d think the character, herself, would be a mess but she’s not. She’s just plain dope. Dope and hot. and deadly. Deadly, dope, and hot.

How can Jeff Goldblum not be at the top of this list with the other two standouts in this flick? Yo, anytime you add Ian Malcolm to anything, it’s immediately +5 for snark and +20 for tight. Jeff, with all his Goldblumisms, just makes everything better. He’s like cinema MSG!

I loved the diversity in this flick. Beautiful, black, female, lead that happens to not only best the “Lord of Thunder and God of Mischief but the hulk, too? Check. Female antagonist that is arguably the best antagonist Marvel has ever produced? Check. Bad ass warrior monk who can see anywhere into the universe and happens to be black, too? Check. Respect and reverence for the multi-cultures represented by the majority of the cast while not feeling like pandering or false SJW placation? Check. Visionary, Academy award nominated, director who happens to be half Maori out here throwing his big cinematic dick about all over Disney’s Marvelscape? Check. Marvel is getting this sh*t right in their films and while i think Homecoming did diversity better, Thor is a damn fine continuance in that direction.

This movie was beautiful. It was like walking into a Jack Kirby comic from the 70s. I half expected a f*cking Eternal or Celestial to jump out of the screen at me. I thought Doctor strange had a heavy visual aesthetic but Ragnarok definitely pressed it for that title.

The Better

Taika Waititi is getting much better at his craft. I can’t say this is a perfect movie but it’s a damn good one. There are still some pacing issues and some rather interest plot points from the previous outings **cough**JaneFosterandLadySif**cough** that were just glossed over but i think they tightened the narrative overall. a better example would be the sudden injection, and that’s what it felt like actually, of Hela. That was more than sudden and jarring. That sloppy execution set me off a little, i guess, and that’s on the direction.

But dat Soundtrack, tho!

Mark Ruffalo turns in another spectacular, scene stealing, performance as Bruce Banner. Cat is kind perfect for this role and it boggles my mind that it took three tries to get that right. Marvel is usually really good at casting.Go figure.

Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston turn in their best performances as the Odinson boys and i’m glad to see a little closure with their arc. Seeing Thor actually mature and Loki come full circle was awesome. As a older brother, i identified with their overall growth closely. It was adorable and brotherly. Also, did anyone else notice how hot Hiddles was in that suit. I’m not gay but goddamn, you gotta give the brotha his credit where it’s due. He wore the f*ck out of that ensemble!

It was dope to see Heimdall get some finally. Cat out here using the Bifrost key to just mow down nameless asshole zombie Asgardians while saving basically the entire world, single-handedly. I saw a meme that referred to him as black Jesus and i can’t imagine a better way to sum his character up. Apparently, Idris Elba does have a dope pair of sandals so, you know, that’s a thing.

The visuals on Sakarr were inspired. i adored the textures and lived in feel of that world. It felt like something Jeff Goldblum would lord over. Muspelheim was just as majestic as Niflheim from the original Thor.

But dat Thorforce, tho. I know it was lightning or thunder or whatever but that sh*t was the goddamn Thorforce, son. Please see Rune Thor or King Thor and get at me, bro.

The Good

The supporting cast was legit. I thought Korg and Miek were just the right amount of hilarious with the right amount of exposure. I wanted more but i wasn’t hurting that i didn’t get more, you know? I think a one-shot would be fun for those two.

The Visual effects were on point. Nothing looked unfinished and this was the first time we really gt a great look at The Hulk. That whole gladiator scene was epic as sh*t! i wish it were longer but, you know, WWH can swing back around and address that. I mean, i’d love to see how Doug bit the dust, particularly considering New Doug basically destabilized and overthrew the entire social system. Also, Fenrir was cool as sh*t.

The Hulk was dope. Like, as a character, dope. Seeing him come into his own over his two year imprisonment of Banner was awesome. I said this before and i’ll say it again, i needs that WWH movie now. How can you gloss over that two year period? The f*ck was he doing in that time? How dope was he while he was winning?? i need to know, Marvel! I NEED TO KNOW!!

Sir Anthony Hopkins and future Sir Benedict Cumberbatch showed up and did what they do. They were short cameos but their respective skill in their craft carried their respective screen presences effortlessly. I will miss Odin though. He was pretty legit anytime he was onscreen. And the chemistry he had with Hemsworth has gotten considerably better. Is a far cry from literally all of the complaints he had for kid when they made the first Thor flick, all those years ago. Growth is good, manq.

But dat Fenrir, tho.

The Eh

Where the f*ck was Sif? i loved Sif. Why she gone, bro? She obviously wasn’t killed by Hela cuz she was nowhere near Asgard so i assume she’s on Midgar or whatever so why no Sif? Not even a mention, you know? I’d say this was “Bad” but it was more a discomfort than a slight.

Hela’s return from and general machinations of her banishment/imprisonment was kind of swampy. It was never clear how Odin put her away or how she knew where he was when he died. I imagine Magic or f*cking Magnets or some sh*t but still. Shenanigans.

Hela sacked the Warriors Three like they were lunches. I thought that was ridiculous but whatever. They needed a way to portray Hela’s dopenesss but you’re telling me Thor or Heimdall didn’t mourn their bros? that sh*t was whack, son!

Karl Urban was okay as Scourge. Like, his introduction was dope. That little bit when Thor returned from Muspelheim was chill as sh*t but after that? Meh. Kid was kind of an irredeemable weenie and a total plot throw away. Hela didn’t need him for sh*t. Still, it’s good to see Bones branching out. Maybe this will get him enough clout to get Dredd Two made. I want my Judge Death goddamit!

The Verdict

I adored Ragnarok. I think it’s easily one of the better Marvel films out there. It’s effortlessly the second best of the Marvel films released this year (I give Homecoming that distinction because i’m a giant Spider-Man fanboy and Logan is technically a Fox property or that thing would DEFINITELY get the “Best of the year” nod) and has left the MCU in a very intriguing place. As a direct lead in to Infinity War, i am satisfied. Satisfied and, as the kids say, crazy thirsty for what’s next. Taika Waititi has elevated this franchise from the worst of the MCU into talks as part of the best with one movie and that’s a goddamn feat. While i feel like World War Hulk should have been it’s own film, it’s own movie, i’m less frustrated by it being just a part of Ragnorok’s overall vision. Taika’s execution of that vision was just so deftly executed, none of that felt tacked on. It never weighed down the overall plot or narrative.Besides, there’s a two year gap there. We can always go back and see how Hulk became The Champion with a prequel. or something. Anything to get my girl Tessa back on that MCU screen, ya dig? Ma looked good in them silvers and blues.

Overall, i thought this was a solid film. There are some pacing issues and a few shots were a bit jarring; i thought the sudden appearance of that Norway scene was a bit heavy handed, but Sir Anthony Hopkins kind of saved that situation a little bit. Watching that guy act is a goddamn blessing. At the end of the day, this was an amazing film that entertained, regaled, and endeared. I adore the additions of Tessa Thompson and Jeff Goldblum and hope we see more of them going forward. This was a diverse, brilliant, fun, entertaining, film that deserves all of the accolades it’s received as well as multiple viewings by the audience. It kind of sh*t’s all over Justice League so go see Ragnarok again instead.

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smokeybrand · 7 years ago

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Smokey brand Movie Review: Marvel’s Revengers

Ol’ girl was goddamn outstanding in a movie full of outstanding and she did while being bad-ass, beautiful, and brilliant. Hats off, madame, hats off. Swag on fleek, as the kids say.

The Best

Tessa Thompson killed as Brunnhilde. And, yes, she has a name, not a number. She’s Brunnhilde the Valkyrie or just Valkyrie. and Tess OWNED that sh*t, manq!

The Better

But dat Soundtrack, tho!

But dat Thorforce, tho. I know it was lightning or thunder or whatever but that sh*t was the goddamn Thorforce, son. Please see Rune Thor or King Thor and get at me, bro.

The Good

But dat Fenrir, tho.

The Eh

Hela sacked the Warriors Three like they were lunches. I thought that was ridiculous but whatever. They needed a way to portray Hela’s dopeness but you’re telling me Thor or Heimdall didn’t mourn their bros? that sh*t was whack, son!

Karl Urban as okay as Scourge. Like, his introduction was dope. That little bit when Thor returned from Muspelheim was chill as ch*ts but after that? Meh. Kid was kind of an irredeemable weenie and a total plot throw away. Hela didn’t need him for sh*t. Still, it’s good to see Bones branching out. Maybe this will get him enough clout to get Dredd Two made. I want my Judge Death goddamit!

The Verdict

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