Marvel Cinematic Universe

Mildly unpopular opinion: Despite the weird CGI/bodypaint characters and the fantastical settings, Guardians 1 wasn't as weird as we all think it was. It's a very solidly-grounded movie that features weirder designs than normal Hollywood movies.

I wouldn't say the MCU started to get weird until Doctor Strange, and even then, it still kept one foot on the ground - for all the magical setpieces and the abstractified reinterpretation of Dormammu, the movie was still too scared to show magical combat as anything more than "glowy punches and glowy whips while the background transforms." Guardians 2 was the first MCU movie to fully embrace the abstract, and I personally (this is a bit stronger of an upopular opinion) feel the movie suffered from it.

Edited by MileRun on Jul 2nd 2020 at 11:44:11 AM

(*Jaw Drop*)

Oh dear god, that is creepy and awesome and I want it.

I don't even care if he attempted a Taking You with Me on Steve and Nat, just say Robot!Zola is a backup of the Zola from Winter Soldier kept in storage in case HYDRA needed another reboot.

Or maybe have him appear in the last episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and have him and Zemo establish Thunderbolts. And then they get funding from Oscorp.

Like I said, I don't care how they bring in Robot!Zola. I just want it.

And deep down, you want it too.

I agree with pretty much all of this. Guardians 1 is more akin to your average space opera. Even Groot and Rocket are still comparable to guys like Chewbacca and Jar Jar - weird but still not too' weird alien comic relief. And the bad guy is your average warlord with a paper army who wants to use a superweapon to blow up a planet.

Guardians 1 was the first step towards really starting to genre bust, but it's not quite the "this smashes everything you think you can get away with in a movie!" thing it gets remembered for.

Guardians 2 is where you get stuff like the heroes fighting a giant brain with a planet around it and reality warping weirdness and so on. Compared to that, the first one's kind of tame.

I know, right?

I wouldn't even need him to be the big bad of a movie. Just the idea that he's out there is such a cool thing. Have him cameo in Black Panther as, I dunno, a guy trying to buy Wakandan supertech from the real Big Bad. Or in Captain Marvel, as someone trying to get their hands on Carol's powers.

Or, hell, put him on the Masters of Evil.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Jul 2nd 2020 at 12:03:29 PM

I'm guessing the weirdness is more about the idea of the Anti-Hero Team being a pretty new concept for superhero movies.

Zola is a weird fit for the Thunderbolts though.

Edited by Cortez on Jul 3rd 2020 at 6:25:43 AM

I just wanted to chime in to say two things, irrelevant to the overall discussion:

1. I just love the pronunciation of the name Zemo. It has a nice ring to it.
2. Hit's head looks so much like a (you've heard it before) that it's so weird to see in a forum. And since I just rewatched the death of Darth Vader, and his unmasked head also has the same shape. Maybe I'm just crazy.

Who would even make up an MCU version of the Masters? Zemo, Blonsky (if they recast), and maaaybe Ghost if they find a way to coerce her into it?

Not to say that the idea is bad or anything just that I don't know of the movie villains who the roster would be. Or what version of the Avengers they would fight.

Guardians is weird in the context of marvel, who have run in a sorta semi kinda grounded sci fi for a while, even the two thors movies were more on earth.

but I will said marvel already embrace their weirdness, thinking they dont feel...weird.

×2

I don't know about Ghost, she was longer a villain by the end of Ant-Man and the Wasp.

I can see her being part of the Thunderbolts if they're a group of reformed criminals from the start though.

Edited by Cortez on Jul 3rd 2020 at 6:26:38 AM

That's what I meant when I said "coerced," because her being in the Masters would obviously run counter to her sympathetic portrayal in that movie.

I'm thinking an MCU version of the Bolts would take inspiration from the Busiek run and have them try to be the next Avengers while secretly being villains trying to take over the world, with some learning that Good Feels Good along the way.

Edited by Aleistar on Jul 3rd 2020 at 6:28:28 AM

I wouldn't want him on the Thunderbolts, but I'd love him for the Masters.

Since the Thunderbolts plot is all about Zemo (or another villain, if they choose in the MCU, since MCU Zemo character-wise might not be the "team-up" type) conning the government and so assembling a group of double agent villains to pretend to be heroes as part of an evil scheme, you could just have Zola as in on the overarching scheme but not one of the double agents.

That's basically the role he had in Earth's Mightiest Heroes' version of the Masters, though that version didn't do the Thunderbolts. Zemo had the main team of MOE who fought the Avengers and all that, which didn't include Zola, but Zola was his Number Two in all other respects (at least before Enchantress killed him, iirc).

Edited by KnownUnknown on Jul 3rd 2020 at 4:02:50 AM

Avengers Assemble did the Thunderbolts. It... had some issues.

There was a version of the Masters that had Shocker as a member. He was with the group during Hank Pym's renaissance after the evil robot and wife slapping incident.

Plus the Masters have had Spidey villains before. Abner Jenkins (aka the Beetle) was part of the team when he became Mach 1-5 of the Thunderbolts.

Granted everything that show did had issues.

Spidey shares villains a lot.

Boomerang, for instance, is a guy who's been all over the dang place but has become somewhat Spidey-centric recently. He'd be a good fit for both, too: put him as a minor villain in the next Spidey, then put him on the Thunderbolts.

As for Shocker, man does that guy need an upgrade in the MCU.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Jul 3rd 2020 at 6:44:32 AM

The problem with Shocker is Electro exists, who's basically Shocker 2.0 in every respect, so why bother using him by himself?

Shocker and Electro's powers actually have nothing to do with each other despite the former's name.

Check it.

More to the point, Electro is actually superpowered, while Shocker is a dude in a suit.

Shocker is also one the few spidey foes who's never fallen into becoming obsessed with getting revenge on the hero, sticking to just being a bank robber. This even carries over to his appearance in Spiderman PS 4

Edited by HandsomeRob on Jul 3rd 2020 at 8:24:04 AM

Also, Shocker what generally in comics called "concussive blasts" (technically it's compressed air, I think, but that's technicality) whereas Electro uses electricity. Their powers have nothing in common.

It's like saying Captain America is made redundant by Hulk, because they both punch very hard but Hulk punches harder. They don't really do the same things.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Jul 3rd 2020 at 7:51:54 AM

Shocker uses what amounts to a sonic/vibration weapon compared to the flying generator that's Electro.

On the other hand, black panther, winter soldier and cap does feel samey after a while, even more if you add black widow.

Ghost could be the Jolt of the team if she starts off more good intentioned than the rest and accidentally or not converts them to her point of view.

Ghost is good but she IS rutheless, you dont do mision for shydra without it.

Wasn't that a desperation thing?

Plus, her deteriorating body might have been affecting her mind too.

No, that was what she did for a while when they find it, granted it never said it was hydra but giving the lot of mission she did is clearly hydra was behind it.