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Welcome to the main discussion thread for the Marvel Cinematic Universe! This pinned post is here to establish some basic guidelines. All of the Media Forum rules still apply.

  • This thread is for talking about the live-action films, TV shows, animated works, and related content that use the Marvel brand, currently owned by Disney.
  • While mild digressions are okay, discussion of the comic books should go in this thread. Extended digressions may be thumped as off-topic.
  • Spoilers for new releases should not be discussed without spoiler tagging for at least two weeks. Rather, each title should have a dedicated thread where that sort of conversation is held. We can mention new releases in a general sense, but please be courteous to people who don't want to be spoiled.

If you're posting tagged spoilers, make sure that the film or series is clearly identified outside the spoiler tagging. People need to know what will be spoiled before they choose to read the post.

    Original post 
Since Thor and now Captain America came out this year, I wanted to get what Tropers thought of the concept and execution of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in general. Personally I love the idea and wonder why this idea hasn't been seriously tried before. It sorta seems to me like the DCAU in movie form (And well, ummm, with Marvel), and really 'gets' the comic book feel of a shared universe while not being completely alienating.

Edited by Mrph1 on Jul 29th 2024 at 3:09:00 PM

GeekCodeRed Since: Sep, 2010
#25901: Feb 6th 2015 at 5:13:22 AM

This has to be the only place on the Internet where comparing the style of something to the works of Joss Whedon is supposed to be an insult.

Wackd Since: May, 2009
#25902: Feb 6th 2015 at 5:22:00 AM

It is incredibly difficult for me to get invested in shows without at least a little bit of humor.

Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.
VeryMelon Since: Jul, 2011 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#25903: Feb 6th 2015 at 5:28:30 AM

Whedon-snark gets old for me after a while but regular humor is fine.

Mukora Uniocular from a place Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: I made a point to burn all of the photographs
Uniocular
#25904: Feb 6th 2015 at 5:31:48 AM

Whedon snark works for me because it's what I grew up with. But I can see why people wouldn't like it.

I just can't enjoy most shows that are super serious all the time. I need ham, or snark, or I dunno, emotion?

"It's so hard to be humble, knowing how great I am."
CorrTerek The Permanently Confused from The Bland Line Since: Jul, 2009
The Permanently Confused
#25905: Feb 6th 2015 at 6:11:21 AM

I hope the Marvel shows have a decent amount of humor and lightness to them, otherwise I'll have to stick with CW's The Flash for all my enjoyable superhero TV show needs. And considering their films (or even Arrow), it feels really odd saying that about a DC property.

Mukora Uniocular from a place Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: I made a point to burn all of the photographs
Uniocular
#25906: Feb 6th 2015 at 6:35:51 AM

Are Arrow and Flash lighthearted? I avoided them because I assumed their tone would be like the Dark Knight trilogy or Man of Steel.

"It's so hard to be humble, knowing how great I am."
VeryMelon Since: Jul, 2011 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#25907: Feb 6th 2015 at 6:37:25 AM

Don't bother with Arrow, but Flash is light.

KarkatTheDalek Not as angry as the name would suggest. from Somwhere in Time/Space Since: Mar, 2012 Relationship Status: You're a beautiful woman, probably
Not as angry as the name would suggest.
#25908: Feb 6th 2015 at 6:39:47 AM

Whedon-snark gets old for me after a while but regular humor is fine.

What does "regular humor" even mean?

Oh God! Natural light!
spashthebandragon thebandragoness from USA Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Yes, I'm alone, but I'm alone and free
thebandragoness
#25909: Feb 6th 2015 at 6:41:08 AM

Arrow has its lighthearted moments, but they're few and far between. Which is a shame because the show is a lot better when it's not taking itself seriously.

[up]I'm assuming he means something that's funny without relying on sarcasm and deadpan line delivery.

edited 6th Feb '15 6:42:12 AM by spashthebandragon

I've got fanfics for Frozen, Spectacular Spider-Man, Crash Bandicoot, and Spyro the Dragon.
KarkatTheDalek Not as angry as the name would suggest. from Somwhere in Time/Space Since: Mar, 2012 Relationship Status: You're a beautiful woman, probably
Heatth (X-Troper) Relationship Status: In Spades with myself
#25911: Feb 6th 2015 at 6:43:47 AM

Eh, I am a fan of the Marvel style myself, but I understand people wanting a break from all the snark and random jokes. Variety is good. And Daredevil is certainly a good character for an attempt on a more darker show.

Than again, Daredevil is know for snarking at times, so there is that.

CorrTerek The Permanently Confused from The Bland Line Since: Jul, 2009
The Permanently Confused
#25914: Feb 6th 2015 at 7:36:33 AM

Are Arrow and Flash lighthearted? I avoided them because I assumed their tone would be like the Dark Knight trilogy or Man of Steel.

Arrow certainly borrows a lot from Batman, but Flash is almost definitely the most light-hearted and fun live-action comicbook show on TV. There's the requisite relationship drama you see in every CW show, but the people working on the series very clearly have a love for the character and how fun he is.

comicwriter Since: Sep, 2011
#25915: Feb 6th 2015 at 7:37:09 AM

The first season of AOS is basically a documentary on why Whedon snark doesn't always work so I'm fine with them wanting to do something different.

CorrTerek The Permanently Confused from The Bland Line Since: Jul, 2009
The Permanently Confused
#25916: Feb 6th 2015 at 7:39:30 AM

Yeah, I can definitely agree on avoiding Whedon snark. I'm just hoping we don't get something relentlessly depressing, even though "relentlessly depressing" sometimes seems like it covers a good portion of Daredevil's life.

wanderlustwarrior Role Model from Where Gods Belong Since: Jun, 2009 Relationship Status: What's love got to do with it?
Role Model
#25917: Feb 6th 2015 at 7:51:32 AM

Agreed on being tired of Whedonsnark. Or all things Whedon, really.

I'd like to see more love for Wally, now that Justice League is over.

Whowho Since: May, 2012
#25918: Feb 6th 2015 at 7:52:02 AM

Well, humour comes down to either you're laughing with the characters or at them. Whendon's humour is very much the former, the characters themselves in universe make jokes. Marvel doesn't just rely on this though; they use a surprisingly large amount of slapstick in the Iron Man films and Thor The Dark World.

Personally; I don't see why a show would want to avoid snark; people in real like make jokes, it seems unnatural to write a cast devoid of a sense of humour. Character's employing humour allows the writer to display all kinds of things; from familiarity between the characters, confidence, misunderstanding and nervous hysteria. The good thing about snark is that it allows a work to be funny without breaking the immersion of the viewer. That's why the humour in the Dark Knight Saga and Man Of Steel is Just Snark, if sparsely used.

Wackd Since: May, 2009
#25919: Feb 6th 2015 at 8:04:31 AM

The first season of AOS is basically a documentary on why Whedon snark doesn't always work so I'm fine with them wanting to do something different.
Oh, no, the problem wasn't the bare-bones characterization, the dullness of the overarching plot, the seeming refusal to acknowledge the massive pile of contradictions in its politics, or anything like that—no, clearly the problem was that the characters were making jokes.

(I mean, seriously, if you remove the jokes the first half of season one gets even duller.)

Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.
wanderlustwarrior Role Model from Where Gods Belong Since: Jun, 2009 Relationship Status: What's love got to do with it?
Role Model
#25920: Feb 6th 2015 at 8:05:58 AM

People, please.
There's enough problems in AOS to go around.

Also, you two seem to be equating snark to all jokes. That sounds like a you problem.

edited 6th Feb '15 8:06:43 AM by wanderlustwarrior

comicwriter Since: Sep, 2011
#25921: Feb 6th 2015 at 8:06:26 AM

See I felt many of those things went hand and hand. Who wants to properly develop your cast when you can have them using Buffy Speak and snarky pop culture jokes? It got very old very quickly.

And while I hope Daredevil does have humor (Murdock himself is pretty big on Gallows Humor) in it I don't need it to be SHIELD-style. That's all I'm asking.

edited 6th Feb '15 8:09:47 AM by comicwriter

TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#25922: Feb 6th 2015 at 8:08:20 AM

No show should be 100% serious all the time because people aren't 100% serious all the time. Even people you would expect to be, like soldiers or emergency responders, don't abandon their sense of humor; it just develops into Black Comedy. The jokes are still there, but get darker because that's the world they live in.

Humor is an inherent part of how people communicate.

edited 6th Feb '15 8:08:54 AM by TobiasDrake

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
comicwriter Since: Sep, 2011
#25923: Feb 6th 2015 at 8:17:27 AM

This has to be the only place on the Internet where comparing the style of something to the works of Joss Whedon is supposed to be an insult.

I actually don't dislike him. Sure, the more vocal parts of fanbase are annoying, as are the people who act as though he can do no wrong, but I'm looking forward to Age of Ultron.

My issue was less "I hope this isn't like Joss Whedon" and more like "I can see why they made a point of saying this isn't going to be like Agents of SHIELD, which happens to be very Joss Whedon-y".

edited 6th Feb '15 8:17:45 AM by comicwriter

Whowho Since: May, 2012
#25924: Feb 6th 2015 at 8:21:36 AM

@Comic Writer character exploration through humour does work. It's one of the the many powerful tricks Stephan Moffat uses to this day for example.

My problem with Agents of Shield was that it felt like watching a fifteen year old show.

Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#25925: Feb 6th 2015 at 8:33:16 AM

I honestly don't see Daredevil cracking jokes, simply because that's not particularly terrifying. But Matt Murdoc as a lawyer? He better has some snark and some witty counterarguments (not one-liners). Otherwise this will be a very boring show.


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