The Marvel Cinematic Universe: The Avengers, etc.

[swanpride]

Yeah, me too. I hope we get some sort of wrap up now in Agents of Shield, even though it feels odd to have them clean up after another show.

I think AoS does a really good job regarding fitting into the larger universe, or at least they did until Infinity War required absolut secrecy. But all the comments I just heard about AoS just solidifies to me, what I always noticed: Those who don't like it tend to do so, because they wanted AoS to be something else. Which is fine, but one can't judge a show on what it isn't, only on what it actually tries to be. And what AoS tries to be is an enjoyable romp through different genres, where Characters are thrown into situations which get crazier and crazier and the audience is unable to predict what will happen next. But, to the credit of AoS, they NEVER cheat the audience. With all the twists they did, not one single time did they do something which wasn't carefully set up beforehand. At the same time, they are really good in implementing the hints in a way, that they are right there but usually you won't notice them. It's brilliantly made. I mean, even with Ward...we should have known. The hints were all there.

[Jeebus Cripes]

1 hour ago, Starfish35 said:

I think I’m in the minority in that I really could not have cared less about Lyndsey Fonseca’s character.  I did not miss Angie for one moment.  I agree, however, that the love triangles were tiresome, and the most uninteresting part of season two, and I never was able to fully get on board with Peggy/Sousa. 

But I enjoyed the rest of it.  I admit it wasn’t as strong as the first season, but it was still very enjoyable.  I wish they could have gotten that season three....I would have very much liked to see where they were going with some of the threads they were setting up. 

I remember secretly wishing the blonde dude from One Tree Hill would end up with her. I recall he was something of a shady douche but had moments where I found him sympathetic and compelling. 

[benteen]

I liked Agent Carter although Season 2 had the most unimpressive final "battle" with the villain that you're every going to see on television.  It made Clark vs Doomsday in Season 8 of Smallville look like the greatest battle scene ever done on television.

[Raja]

On 10/28/2019 at 3:20 PM, JessePinkman said:

Iron Fist and Inhumans are the only two universally reviled series they've made. That's not so bad.

This Fiege/Perlmutter thing further explains Inhumans IMAX release. He wanted to show "I can do movies too!" without actually doing a movie. Can you believe there are people out there who saw this in IMAX?

Well they had Youtube channels and podcast so like a professional reviewer had to go to their IMAX. While the entire budget seemed to be wasted on the IMAX ambush of some random (nu)Inhuman at the start even if they gave the royal family the treatment of say the Morlocks on The Gifted a few years later we will still left with a show without any heroes, just with some enhanced people.

[SimoneS]

I didn't even notice that Lyndsey Fonseca's character was gone and didn't mind the romance/triangle with Peggy and Sousa. 

[Raja]

On 10/29/2019 at 11:44 PM, Danny Franks said:

I

That's exactly what I hoped the show would be - a somewhat-tongue-in-cheek look at the lowly SHIELD agents who have to clear up after superheroes. Not a supposedly elite team with their own special plane, flying about and doing actual hero stuff, but without the budget to make it look good.

Marvel have made some really fun comics based on the people at the fringes of the superhero world, and that's what I wanted Agents of SHIELD to be. But it seems there was a distinct lack of imagination in the development of the idea, and they just made it TV Avengers.

But of course The Winter Soldier killed that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. premise 2/3rds of the way through the premiere season. But they still needed an explanation for the carrier up and running for the Sokovia rescue.

Showing Yo-Yo and Daisy actually living under the Sokovian awards along  with the "one of them" for the Defenders/NetFlix shows.  Being ignored only really hurt the show when excessive Infinity War security caused a guess and a miss as the show went into its natural finale before a last second two season reprieve was granted by ABC. Now the Inhumans should have used some Easter Eggs form the already existing In(nu)humans storyline going. Budget aside I don't understand why that didn't happen.

[swanpride]

Well, in hindsight it is good that it didn't, because that makes it easier to divorce Inhumans from canon.

[VCRTracking]

On 10/29/2019 at 11:31 AM, Starfish35 said:

I watched AoS for three seasons, but when Bobbi and Lance left, I thought it was a good exit point.  I liked most of the other characters, but didn’t love them, and Daisy was becoming intolerable.  And I never really warmed up to Coulson as the lead - he was just so bland.  He worked fine in the movies, I thought, as a side character, but I never thought he worked all that well as a lead.  And that’s not even getting into the whole Grant Ward thing - ugh.  😬

The only Marvel tv show I loved has been Agent Carter.  I tried a couple of episodes of Daredevil and an episode and a half of Jessica Jones, and decided Marvel Netflix just wasn’t my thing.  

I agree as well.  May was great.

Missing out on AOS season 4 is like ditching a piece of land just before they discovered gold or oil on it. The Ghost Rider and Framework arcs were some of the best stories in the MCU.

I have no interest in whether Marvel should have replaced Jeremy Renner or not but I'm bummed that we missed the opportunity where we had another instance of a TV Hawkeye different from movie Hawkeye!

On 10/30/2019 at 1:15 AM, swanpride said:

I think AoS does a really good job regarding fitting into the larger universe, or at least they did until Infinity War required absolut secrecy. But all the comments I just heard about AoS just solidifies to me, what I always noticed: Those who don't like it tend to do so, because they wanted AoS to be something else. Which is fine, but one can't judge a show on what it isn't, only on what it actually tries to be. And what AoS tries to be is an enjoyable romp through different genres, where Characters are thrown into situations which get crazier and crazier and the audience is unable to predict what will happen next. But, to the credit of AoS, they NEVER cheat the audience. With all the twists they did, not one single time did they do something which wasn't carefully set up beforehand. At the same time, they are really good in implementing the hints in a way, that they are right there but usually you won't notice them. It's brilliantly made. I mean, even with Ward...we should have known. The hints were all there.

This.

Edited October 31, 2019 by VCRTracking

[swanpride]

To make my point...here is everything they planted regarding Ward (Spoiler tags just because I am overly careful):

 

Spoiler

Pretty much the first thing which is established about Ward is that he is a specialist who doesn't play well with others, but it good in infiltrating places.

There is early on a conversation he has with Coulson, in which he says that there are some people you can't rescue because you are just too late.

When he is under the control of the berserker staff he immediately loses all the control. May on the other hand doesn't.

When the clairvoyant (Gareth) kidnaps Coulson, it is only possible because Ward somehow manages to position himself in a way that he can't see the relevant area - despite being established multiple times that he is a specialist.

There is a moment in which Skye stands in front of the wall of the fallen of Shield and there is some very heavy voiceover regarding betrayal, and the camera pans to Ward who (in hindsight) creepily watches her.

When he is under the control of Lorelei he still tries to kill May after Lorelei has already taken out. They play it off like an editing mistake, but nope, he totally used the opportunity and thankfully failed.

His relationship with Gareth is well-established. And the talks they have sound very different in hindsight, too.

He shot the fake clairvoyant.

Honestly they did the equivalent of having a bunch of red arrows pointing at ward, but then carefully hid them behind common tropes, knowing that the audience is so trained to not overly question stuff like this that it won't guess anything

Naturally by now they have to work even HARDER to trick the audience, but they still manage to do it on a regular basis. It's frankly amazing. The idea that they aren't good writers is really silly. I frankly don't know ANY writing team which is that careful in keeping canon straight. I mean, in this show event can become relevant again 5 seasons later.

[Raja]

1 hour ago, swanpride said:

Well, in hindsight it is good that it didn't, because that makes it easier to divorce Inhumans from canon.

Inhuman royalty, why we would want them in the first place? I never read their books so I'm prejudiced. When they get around to Ms. Marvel easy. She ate something and became one of them to use Defenders speak, and you are done.

[JessePinkman]

The only Inhumans book I ever read in the late 90s on the Marvel Knights imprint. It painted the royal family as very mystery, almost sinister, and the terrigen mists as a sort of right of passage. It was nothing like being a mutant, no one wants to be a mutant but citizens of Attilan basically have to be exposed to the mists when they hit puberty. And if you don't develop abilities you get shunned. I thought it was really interesting, they weren't portrayed like superheroes, they were these odd people in this weird society. I think the push they've gotten over the past few years has given them a bad rap.

[frenchtoast]

3 hours ago, JessePinkman said:

The only Inhumans book I ever read in the late 90s on the Marvel Knights imprint. It painted the royal family as very mystery, almost sinister, and the terrigen mists as a sort of right of passage. It was nothing like being a mutant, no one wants to be a mutant but citizens of Attilan basically have to be exposed to the mists when they hit puberty. And if you don't develop abilities you get shunned. I thought it was really interesting, they weren't portrayed like superheroes, they were these odd people in this weird society. I think the push they've gotten over the past few years has given them a bad rap.

As someone who slogged through the Inhumans show (it had potential but it was such a chore with next to no likable characters), what you describe is the basis and the conflict of the show. Like I said, it had promise, but it was handled badly and they had these weird side stories that were just dumb. But that premise was interesting. 

[VCRTracking]

Oh man, I never thought of it that way but it's true, although I'd say Tony was more Krusty the Clown than Lenny!

Edited November 1, 2019 by VCRTracking

[Guest]

Peyton Reed to Direct 'Ant-Man 3' (Exclusive)

I’m excited about this one. The first two were fun and there is a good chance it will help set-up Young Avengers. 

[Morrigan2575]

Is this the first confirmation we got that there will be an Ant-Man 3 or did I miss a previous announcement?

I liked the first 2, although I thought thw first movie was better. I'll definitely watch the 3rd movie

[Guest]

15 minutes ago, Morrigan2575 said:

Is this the first confirmation we got that there will be an Ant-Man 3 or did I miss a previous announcement?

I liked the first 2, although I thought thw first movie was better. I'll definitely watch the 3rd movie

It is. There were rumors that started circulating about a week ago but this is the first report from a reliable site. 

[Morrigan2575]

5 minutes ago, Dani said:

It is. There were rumors that started circulating about a week ago but this is the first report from a reliable site. 

Thanks! I didn't even see the rumors 😁

This was a pleasant surprise

[anna0852]

2 hours ago, Dani said:

Peyton Reed to Direct 'Ant-Man 3' (Exclusive)

I’m excited about this one. The first two were fun and there is a good chance it will help set-up Young Avengers. 

Yaaaayyyyyyy!

[Danny Franks]

11 hours ago, VCRTracking said:

Oh man, I never thought of it that way but it's true, although I'd say Tony was more Krusty the Clown than Lenny!

Yeah that's not a bad analogy. The X-Men have been Marvel's flagship characters since the early 80s, and Spider-Man has been the single character that is as famous as Batman and Superman.

Obviously, the Fox and Sony movies for those characters set the stage for the MCU, but Marvel improved on pretty much everything in the superhero movie formula, when they got the chance.

They managed to get the blend of drama, humour and colour, just right. I remember when X-Men came out, and most people agreed that "yellow spandex" would look ridiculous on the screen, so of course it was fine for the X-Men to all wear black leather, and when the Green Goblin became an armoured, Power Rangers reject, because his comic book costume would look silly.

Marvel rejected those ideas, and instead looked at how they could keep the look of the comic book characters, but refine it for the screen.

And they had a much better handle on casting - finding actors who fit the characters, even if they were somewhat unusual or risky choices.

[swanpride]

At this point it is kind of disappointing whenever they go with the obvious choice.

 I honestly really look forward to the Eternals, just because I am curious what they have come up with THIS time around.

[clack]

Ant Man 3 is filming early '21 for a '22 release date. 

So far for '22 we have Black Panther 2 and Ant Man 3 confirmed -- with one or maybe 2 more on deck.

Speculation is that Fantastic Four and/or Deadpool 3 might also appear in '22, with Blade also a possibility.

[swanpride]

I want Captain Marvel 2.

[Raja]

The press speculation has been Black Panther 2, Ant-Man and the Wasp 3 followed by Captain Marvel 2 along with the new characters getting movies 

[Morrigan2575]

43 minutes ago, Raja said:

The press speculation has been Black Panther 2, Ant-Man and the Wasp 3 followed by Captain Marvel 2 along with the new characters getting movies 

When's GoTG3 coming out? 2023?

[Guest]

4 hours ago, Morrigan2575 said:

When's GoTG3 coming out? 2023?

It’s supposed to start filming next summer so it may take one of the open 2022 slots. 

[Danny Franks]

I'm far more interested in seeing what they do with Captain Marvel than Black Panther, Doctor Strange or Ant-Man.

Will she be off in space, fighting Kree? Will the reversal of Thanos' Snap have thrown the galaxy into chaos? Are we going to see Super Skrulls, Quasar, Moondragon and more? Perhaps we might see Marvel start to move towards putting Annihilation on the screen (I know Carol wasn't involved in that, but she makes a more than adequate replacement for Nova).

[Morrigan2575]

1 hour ago, Dani said:

It’s supposed to start filming next summer so it may take one of the open 2022 slots. 

Thanks! I tried looking it up but, couldnt find any dates 

[Dandesun]

Sidenote: A young couple came trick or tricking with their baby on Halloween. Baby was in a crocheted Groot outfit which was adorable. Dad was Star Lord and Mom was Gamora. When I greeted her as such she was delighted and said 'You're the first person who got it!'

I also had a handful of Black Panthers, many Spidermen, a Spider-Gwen, a few Iron Men, still plenty of Caps and a Captain Marvel.

Pretty good night.

[Bruinsfan]

This is my favorite Guardians family cosplay so far:

[VCRTracking]

As a late-Gen Xer I'm enjoying the latest "OK Boomer" meme.

[clack]

My understanding is that FF, Deadpool, Blade, and Nova are in early stages of development, with Silver Surfer and Thunderbolts next in new IP queue. 

Since Feige said that we wants at least one non-sequel movie per year, it seems Fantastic Four is a possibility for 2022.

[VCRTracking]

I thought CAPTAIN MARVEL was just okay but my favorite thing about it was the unexpected choice of making the Skrulls sympathetic instead of evil conquerors. I definitely didn't need an endless questioning of which MCU character is a Skrull. I wish we could jettison more of Brian Michael Bendis' stories. He deserves credit for creating Miles Morales and Jessica Jones, but I can't stand his Marvel 616 writing. Anyway the Fantastic Four have far better enemies.

Edited November 8, 2019 by VCRTracking

[rmontro]

On 11/3/2019 at 7:53 PM, clack said:

Speculation is that Fantastic Four and/or Deadpool 3 might also appear in '22, with Blade also a possibility.

Okay, looks like I have to stay alive until 2022 at least (for the FF, not for the others).  Hope I can make it!

[Silver Raven]

Agent Carter is on Disney+ if anybody wants to rewatch it.

[Jeebus Cripes]

Just watched the Expanding the Universe special on Disney+ and the aesthetic for What If...? is mind-blowingly gorgeous. I've never much cared for the character design for most of the recent Marvel cartoons, so this is such a delight for me.

[tennisgurl]

I am waiting on pins and needles for Disney+ to start its MCU shows, everything I have seen from them look great. I am curious if they will fit in more with the cinematic stories, or just kind of be there own things like the current shows are? Maybe now that they are kind of starting over again with the MCUs TV wing (as most of their shows are over or ending soon) and will connect them more with the films? 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, tennisgurl said:

I am waiting on pins and needles for Disney+ to start its MCU shows, everything I have seen from them look great. I am curious if they will fit in more with the cinematic stories, or just kind of be there own things like the current shows are? Maybe now that they are kind of starting over again with the MCUs TV wing (as most of their shows are over or ending soon) and will connect them more with the films? 

I’m really excited for them, too. Feige recently said in a podcast that the cinematic universe will cross over between the Disney+ shows and the movies. The whole podcast is interesting but the talk about the future starts in the last 7 minutes. 

[Raja]

2 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

I am waiting on pins and needles for Disney+ to start its MCU shows, everything I have seen from them look great. I am curious if they will fit in more with the cinematic stories, or just kind of be there own things like the current shows are? Maybe now that they are kind of starting over again with the MCUs TV wing (as most of their shows are over or ending soon) and will connect them more with the films? 

They have just stopped short of saying that you have to watch Wandavison to get Dr. Strange 2. So far beyond the one sided ties Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D did.

[swanpride]

I doubt that you really have to. The trick of the MCU is that they suggest to you that you have to watch everything, but there are a lot of people who have only watched part of it and can keep up just fine.

[Anduin]

27 minutes ago, swanpride said:

I doubt that you really have to. The trick of the MCU is that they suggest to you that you have to watch everything, but there are a lot of people who have only watched part of it and can keep up just fine.

Yep. I skipped some of the movies and nearly all of the TV shows. Of course, I'm a comic reader. I know the basic premise of the characters. Example: he's a surgeon turned wizard! If there's anything else I missed, the internet will fill me in.

[swanpride]

I have listened to the interview, btw. Really interesting.

[Captain Carrot]

17 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

I am waiting on pins and needles for Disney+ to start its MCU shows, everything I have seen from them look great. I am curious if they will fit in more with the cinematic stories, or just kind of be there own things like the current shows are? Maybe now that they are kind of starting over again with the MCUs TV wing (as most of their shows are over or ending soon) and will connect them more with the films? 

I think the MCU works because you don't need to watch every movie to follow along, but following along does allow for a fuller experience.

I think part of the problem with the previous Marvel shows (especially AOS) is that they were intended to be ongoing shows, and it was difficult to have the MCU experience between S6 of a show, and a movie coming out in May. (The Feige-Perlmutter rift was the other part of the problem).

So, I'm cautiously optimistic about the Disney+ shows as the movies and shows are under the same management now. Additionally, Marvel seems to be going for limited series instead of ongoing shows. That should make it easier to have a specific show fit in with a specific movie. (Like Wandavision and Dr Strange 2).

[Raja]

I'm old, so haven't figured out how to link on the phone. 

A Black Widow trailer is now up. May 2020.

[frenchtoast]

I watched it this morning. 

[AimingforYoko]

Victory lap is over. After dropping the Black Widow trailer on Tuesday, Feige unveiled Eternals footage at CCXP.

[Macbeth]

On 12/3/2019 at 10:45 AM, frenchtoast said:

I watched it this morning. 

This looks awesome!!!

Scarlett is a proven star that can open a movie.  Why this took so long - I have no idea.  But it is about damn time.

Edited December 8, 2019 by Macbeth

[Guest]

'Celebrating Marvel's Stan Lee' Primetime Special, Hosted by Clark Gregg, Airing December 20

Quote

Filmed in part in front of a live audience at The New Amsterdam Theater in New York City, Celebrating Marvel’s Stan Lee takes viewers on an action-packed journey throughout the life of Lee and across the Marvel Universe, sharing never-before-seen interviews and archive footage with Lee himself from deep within the Marvel and ABC News archives. . . . 

During the special, stars Tom Hiddleston, Paul Bettany, Cobie Smulders, Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Saquon Barkley, Mark Hamill, Jimmy Kimmel, Method Man, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, Lauren Ridloff, Kevin Smith, Deborah Ann Woll, Joe Quesada, Seth Green, Bob Iger, CB Cebulski, Todd McFarlane, Kevin Feige, Gerry Conway and more share their memories of Lee.

[Starfish35]

I think this goes here?

Marvel TV To Shut Down, Current Series Folded Into Marvel Studios

Quote

Marvel Television as we’ve known it the past decade will be no more. With its slate dwindling over the past year and its head Jeph Loeb set to depart, the television-focused division of Marvel Studios will be phased out.

The Marvel TV projects that are currently in production will continue but any further development is being scrapped. As a result, more than 90% of the unit’s staff will  be laid off, sources said.

A handful of current executives, led by Karim Zreik, SVP Current Programming and Production, will join the Marvel Studios group to oversee the remaining Marvel TV shows already on the books and on the go.

[Anduin]

Oh good. As long as the executives can keep their jobs. I was worried about them.

[swanpride]

Hopefully they move some of the units over to Marvel studios….I mean, they need people for their projects too, right?

But there isn't much left anyway, is there? I mean, there are the animated shows, but AoS is (sadly) currently wrapping up its last season (which has already been shot), all the Netflix shows have been cancelled (or put on hiatus until Disney can play with the character again), the Ghost rider show has already been taken off the books again (most likely because they knew this would happen), and Cloak and Dagger has also been cancelled, which leaver The Runaway as the sole Live action show they currently have on the books. It is actually a pretty good timing for the move.