rmontro

That's good news. I liked his Clear History movie. It almost seemed like a long form episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, the character was very similar. Maybe he can do something like that.

They did pretty well with Natasha/Black Widow, she always came across as real (or as real as can be in a superhero movie). She was highly skilled, but you never got the impression she didn't earn it, or just magically have it like a Mary Sue, she was trained intensively. Of course that was before Marvel started failing.

That possibility did cross my mind, that the scene wasn't mean to show reality necessarily, but a surrealistic artful depiction of what was going on.

I just saw this again, and there's one particular scene I wonder about: The scene where Fred and Lloyd are in the cafe and Fred asks him to do the moment of silence to think about all the people who "loved them into being". All the people in the restaurant follow along with them. How do they know what they are doing? Have they been listening to the whole conversation since Mr. Rodgers is a celebrity? Or (probably more likely) are they so used to Fred eating there that they know what he's doing, because they've seen him do it so often, and they go along with it?

That sounds a little judgemental. When I was growing up, we were told we weren't supposed to "see color", because that was racist. Now we are told we are supposed to see color or people won't be seen. In other words, we are told that race is part of the experience of the person. So if that is the case, how could it be the same person if you change their race? If you think about it, that doesn't make sense. I haven't seen the new Wonder Man yet, but the race change there doesn't bother me. But if it is one of my very favorite characters, no I don't want the race changed, or anything else changed about them. Besides which, it's lazy. Make new compelling characters that are more diverse. That makes more sense anyway. Most of these characters from the Lee/Kirby days were from a time when the US was not at all as diverse as it is now, not even close. Let's have some creativity today, Hollywood seems to rely only on sequels, reboots, remakes, and adaptations these days. Where are today's creators?

It's not a big deal to me. But if someone was a huge Silver Surfer/Norrin Radd fan, I would understand it if they were a little disappointed, because they wanted to see their favorite debut in the MCU, and now is either going to have to wait, or never get it. And there are people upset about it. But although I like the Surfer, I'm not upset about this, mainly because I think we'll eventually be getting Norrin Radd Surfer in the 616 universe. Rumors are the FF universe is going to be destroyed, possibly by an incursion. Does that kill off Lady Surfer? Wasn't there going to be a Silver Surfer TV series on Disney Plus? Was that one of the projects that got cancelled when Disney went into the dumpster?

No, but I think there is a sweet spot in there. And more particularly, there are fans of each team or character. If you're a fan of Superman, for example, you probably want him to be from the planet Krypton, and not Viltrum. You might want him to be adopted by a couple named the Kents. You might want to see him seek a career in journalism. You might want to see him with a good upbringing, and not killing people left and right like he's the Punisher.

Agreed. One of the problems with the MCU's attempts to push more female heroines is they haven't done a good job of writing real female, feminine characters. If they can do that with Sue, while keeping Reed as the true, but distracted and sometimes misguided genius, they'll do well. Having more diversity is fine. Intentionally changing beloved characters in order to fill out those quotas is not. And I want to tell you, there are few things in pop culture as beloved to me as the Fantastic Four. I've been a fan since I was in the single digits. And I completely disagree that you cannot serve comic book fans. It isn't that complicated. They have done it, for the most part, up through Endgame. We don't ask for anything that unreasonable, for the most part. Most of us are aware there are differences in the film and comic format, and don't expect page by page recreations. We just want a little respect, and for them to capture the essence of the books that make them entertaining.

Bearing in mind that I don't particularly care that they're using Shalla-Bel in this case since it's a different universe, and we may see Norrin Radd in the regular MCU: Being "socially responsible" is fine, but there are plenty of ways to do that without having to change iconic characters. People don't want their very favorite characters gender swapped or race swapped, they want to see their favorites up on the screen, as if they had walked off the comic book pages. That's why RDJ worked so well as Tony Stark, he looked and acted like the comic book character. Why can't they show some creativity and create new characters that are "socially responsible" instead of hijacking old ones? Sue has acted as field leader for the Fantastic Four at times during the comic's run, but Reed is the leader of the Fantastic Four, and always will be. He is the entire reason they exist, and they go on their adventures because Reed is such a gifted genius that they have a unique opportunity to aid humanity by helping him bring his vision to life.

What you've said and they've said, DEI. Feige has said they want 51% of the heroes to be female, and reportedly when he saw the first three cast members of the Fantastic Four, his response was "Too white". Followed by their hiring Pedro Pascal. Now I think Pascal will likely do a passable job, but you have to admit, he doesn't exactly scream "Reed Richards". It may very well be as you say, that they chose the female Surfer for story reasons, but given their stated intentions, and past actions, I think it's much more likely she is there to satisfy the DEI factor. What Disney should realize is comic book fans have always been mostly male, and buy into that. I think I saw a stat that even with The Marvels (a movie aimed more at females), the audience was 2/3 male. As I said before, "Shalla Bel Surfer" doesn't ruin the movie for me, but I would expect to get Norrin Radd in the 616 Universe. There are also rumors that Sue will be considered the lead and focus of the FF movie. I can see how they might effectively tell the movie from her viewpoint, but if you know Marvel comics history, the Reed Richards character should really be the next Tony Stark, but better. Some have speculated that they will turn this Reed Richards into The Maker, but if they do that, what is the point of getting us attached to this Fantastic Four team? Unless they don't plan on having any sequels. Which, I guess they won't, if it bombs. But you would still expect the FF to be popping up in MCU movies fairly routinely for the near future at leats.

I've been saying this all along, but a lot of people disagree. IMO, you have to please the core comic book fans, you have to please the fans of the source material, because then you create a positive foundation from which to sell the product to a larger audience. Displease the core fans, and you create negativity and bad word of mouth around your movie, that simply isn't necessary. And maybe, just maybe, it's a good thing to respect the source material, because maybe, just maybe, there was something good there that attracted people to it in the first place. This is main difference between the earlier MCU movies (up through say, Endgame), and the ones we've received since. And it's clear a lot of this is because Disney is more interested in pushing their agenda than in pleasing the fans.

It's a different universe's Silver Surfer, so I suppose it doesn't matter much, although clearly some comic fans don't feel served by this. Problem is, this is a different universe's Fantastic Four also, so why should we care about them? Rumor is this Fantastic Four will be made a permanent part of the MCU reality, along with the X-Men, by some cosmic event. Okay. Now what about the female Silver Surfer? Does she get moved to the MCU also, or do we get Norrin Radd? I'm guessing, and I prefer, the latter. Because I don't like changes to iconic characters simply to please DEI standards, as opposed to storyline and serving the fans of the source material.

You're right of course, it was just my way of saying that it appeared she had done that to retire that character. Although I would also say that my impression was that all those skits had taken place consecutively up to that point.

From my observation, there are a lot of people who think and behave that way. I certainly don't agree with it, but it's their life. I'd say Jeff is a classic case of wanting his cake and eating it too. The whole relationship with Suzie, Jeff, and Larry is so odd to begin with. Larry and Suzie sometimes get along like best friends, and seem genuinely fond of each other. And at other times they are like mortal enemies.

Subtlety isn't the first thing I would have thought about with this sketch lol, but I guess you're right!