Danny Franks

I think Marvel made more stars than they hired. Of the initial six, RDJ was by far the biggest name. But he was also the biggest risk. Few people doubted he could make a really good Tony Stark, but nearly everyone doubted he'd stay out of trouble long enough to do it. Then Scarlett Johansson, who was actually their second choice after the (at the time) less well known Emily Blunt, was a big star in her own right. But she wasn't exactly known as an action movie actress. Evans and Ruffalo were left field choices, for different reasons (Evans had already played Johnny Storm, Ruffalo was known mostly as a romcom guy). I understand them going back to Natalie Portman, because Jane Foster is a known character, to both comic book readers and movie audiences. And I understand her wanting to revisit it, if she felt there was unfinished business. It's not what I would have chosen, but whatever. I do hope they continue to do creative things when casting movies, and that seems to be what's happening with Phase 4. Also, I still hope that they decide to recast Katherine Langford, after not using her scenes in Endgame, and have her play Kate Bishop. It's a shame that Renner is such a dud, because they look to be basing that show on Matt Fraction's Hawkeye series, which was a lot of fun.

So I'm glad that Endgame unseated Avatar, because it recognises over a decade of planning and patience and careful structuring of an overarching cinematic universe. Feige's vision and decision-making, both creative and practical, deserve to be highlighted in as many ways as possible, even the ultimately meaningless overall gross. Endgame was the culmination of that vision, and part of a strategy that could end up redefining cinematic entertainment as a whole (whether that's good or bad remains to be seen). The excitement over Phase Four of the MCU indicates that Feige and Marvel are nowhere near to overplaying their hand. If they can manage to make box office successes out of The Eternals, Shang-Chi, and reboots of Blade and the Fantastic Four, then there's probably nothing they can't do.

But that's the thing, the fight to reclaim his reputation and expose Mysterio would be a pushover. The full weight of SHIELD and the US government should come down on Spider-Man's side, revealing Beck's past and all his criminal activities. They'll be rounding up Beck's associates, who will surely confirm everything, they have Beck's technology and the proof that his 'fights' were illusions. If they're going for a 'crackpot conspiracy theorists bury themselves even deeper when confronted with evidence and logic', then that could be fun. And with Jameson being positioned as a "controversial" figure, it may well be what they do - Most people still love and respect Spider-Man, but there are 'Spider-truthers' who propagate increasingly insane and toxic lies about him. Which, I guess, is something Jameson was always the prototype for.

They could just have a different woman be Thor. There's nothing in the current MCU that suggests Jane could, or should, be Thor, and they already abandoned the idea that Thor has a human avatar/alter-ego. Explaining why Jane gets the powers of Thor will be a bigger stretch, as far as I can tell, than having a random Asgardian woman have them.

Honestly, if they decided they wanted to do female Thor (which shouldn't be too surprising, as Thor spent quite some time as a woman in recent years), I wish they'd gone a bit more out of the box and found a woman who is as statuesque and imposing as Chris Hemsworth.

The sustained crowd welcome John got on Colbert's show was heartwarming, and a little surprising. I didn't think he was that beloved, but I imagine Colbert's audience have quite the overlap with Last Week Tonight. John is always entertaining, but I wish he didn't fall into the same pit that everyone else seems to, and act like Beyonce is some transcendent, superior being who any normal human should be honoured just to share the planet with. You can do that with tongue firmly in cheek John, but don't do it as straight as this.

I'd love to see The Longest Day remade, using modern film-making techniques, effects, and an all-star cast in mostly non-showy roles.

I thought the rumours about a gay lead character were about Hercules, who isn't actually in the Eternals. And it looks like there was some conflation, because a lot of the rumours state "gay, Asian lead". Well the Asian lead was obviously Shang-Chi, and will apparently be played by Simu Liu. I don't know if it was rumoured that Ikaris would be gay, but I do think it's cool that Makkari, rather than being a white guy, will now be a deaf, African-American woman.

Yeah, the problem with making Spidey such a big part of the Avengers setup is that stories like this don't really work. When he was just a guy in his teens or twenties, with nothing to fall back on but his own ingenuity, the idea of his identity getting out was terrifying to him. Because it put Aunt May, MJ and his other friends at risk. What if his enemies decided to target them? And how could Peter handle the spotlight and the attention that being a superhero comes with? But now he's apparently Tony's heir and an Avenger, with all the financial and material resources he could ever need. So who gives a shit if his identity is out? He can just lawyer the fuck out of Jameson for revealing it, and get Happy, Pepper and Fury to reveal the truth about Beck, which would immediately reposition Spider-Man as the wronged party. The idea of him being looked at as a villain doesn't really go anywhere, like it could if Peter was just that friendly, neighbourhood Spider-Man.

I can't say I'm thrilled that Jane is returning. I like Natalie Portman, and actually thought Jane was fairly charming in the first Thor movie, but she had no chemistry with Chris Hemsworth. I'm sure she only took the job because she wanted to work with Kenneth Branagh. But Waititi reinvented Thor to the point that Chris Hemsworth wants to do more with the character, so maybe he can do the same with Jane Foster. I still haven't seen the first Doctor Strange, and probably won't watch the second. I just don't enjoy Cumberbatch, or the Strange character. Really looking forward to Falcon & Winter Soldier, and each new bit of information about that is exciting. WandaVision sounds more and more like the MCU's mini-version of House of M, with Wanda using her powers to rewrite reality and bring Vision back. Not too interested in the Eternals either. Or new Blade. Or more of Jeremy Renner's bland Hawkeye.

The thing that didn't help the Independence Day sequel is... it was bad. Just bland and predictable, rehashing a lot of the iconic tropes of the first movie, but without any of the charm. It just followed the 'same but bigger' philosophy, which rarely works. I didn't watch MiB International, but I think MiB 2 and 3 were both crap, and while I don't know how profitable they were, the apparently cheaper and less convincing CGI suggests they were made on significantly lower budgets. It just seems like a dead franchise, and I don't really understand why anyone thought that a new entry would be a success.

They'd better not get too big, with Bucky and Falcon. Those two guys deserve a grittier, down and dirty, espionage show, not big superheroics and CGI. They each have their personal issues - Sam learning to carry the burden of Captain America (and if the show touches on the bigotry of a certain sort of person who wouldn't like a black man as the symbol of the country, all the better). And Bucky has to figure out how to be a person again, and to deal with the guilt over his actions as a Soviet assassin. Presumably, he did some thinking in Wakanda, but we never got to see it because Bucky hasn't actually been a character since Captain America: Winter Soldier. I'm also holding out hope that we'll hear that Stan has a role of some kind in the Black Widow movie, even if only to show that story she told, of when the Winter Soldier shot her. But I doubt we'll get that. Probably a load of boring ass Clint instead, and that tedious fucking Budapest thing that should have been a one line gag, but instead crops up so often I'm left thinking that's the only experience of real meaning they shared.

Initially I figured she stole a ship from Thanos' army, but they all disintegrated at the end. And she obviously didn't get the Benetar, because the Guardians and Thor left on it. I suppose Rocket must have replaced the space pod that he and Thor used, at some point in the last five years, and Gamora took that.

The cool thing about that is, I imagine...

I can answer those: No, but Cruise can't accept the fact he's growing old. Not a chance, unless they're playing the love interest's mother. At least twenty five years younger. Possibly thirty. Honestly, for a follow up to Top Gun over thirty years later, all moviemaking logic stipulates that it should be about the son of Maverick, following a similar path to his father but finding redemption and reuniting his family.