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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

Gaon Smoking Snake from Grim Up North Since: Jun, 2012 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
#28826: Mar 8th 2015 at 1:06:33 PM

I'd say I is excellent, 2 is mediocre and 3 is utterly terrible. So the trilogy as a whole is bad, but the first movie sort of makes up for it.

"All you Fascists bound to lose."
Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#28827: Mar 8th 2015 at 1:08:49 PM

Mixed bag...there is a reason why I am not keen on Iron man 4. The weakest franchise...well, it depends. For one on if you count Hulk as a franchise and if there will be more Hulk movies eventually after all, and two on who Thor Ragnarok will be. Since Iron Man is the only franchise which has three movies so far, we'll have to wait, though I guess it is safe to say that the Captain America Franchise is currently the strongest along with Got G.

Wackd Since: May, 2009
#28828: Mar 8th 2015 at 1:09:17 PM

I'd say one is above average, two is terrible, and three might be one of the best action movies ever made.

So yeah. It's pretty good, on balance.

edited 8th Mar '15 1:09:34 PM by Wackd

Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.
KnownUnknown Since: Jan, 2001
#28829: Mar 8th 2015 at 1:10:04 PM

The first is one of the very best movies in the MCU, but... yeah. The series got worse with each subsequent installment.

Though Iron Man 3, while the worst of the IM movies imo, is still a pretty decent action flick and isn't even the least well done film in the MCU, so I still wouldn't call the series bad per se.

edited 8th Mar '15 1:10:34 PM by KnownUnknown

comicwriter Since: Sep, 2011
#28830: Mar 8th 2015 at 1:10:47 PM

The series isn't bad. There's one bad installment (2) but 3 managed to end the series on a high note.

Bocaj Funny but not helpful from Here or thereabouts (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
Funny but not helpful
#28831: Mar 8th 2015 at 1:12:30 PM

I'm with Wack'd and [up], basically.

edited 8th Mar '15 1:13:02 PM by Bocaj

Forever liveblogging the Avengers
VeryMelon Since: Jul, 2011 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#28833: Mar 8th 2015 at 1:17:41 PM

I actually don't think that the second movie is any worse than the third one...they have both the same problems, good ideas, but poor execution. I might have given three the edge if not for those terrible ending, but as it is, I don't see much of a difference in quality. They are decent, but we all know that Marvel can do so much better.

Ironically now that I get to know Howard Stark in Agent Carter, Iron Man 2 somehow works better for me, because now it makes perfectly sense that he would hide the code to an element in the plans for the Expo.

edited 8th Mar '15 1:18:36 PM by Swanpride

SonOfSharknado Love is Love is Love Since: Oct, 2013 Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
Love is Love is Love
#28834: Mar 8th 2015 at 1:19:47 PM

One is great. Two is...okay. Three is garbage and I hate it.

My various fanfics.
TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#28835: Mar 8th 2015 at 1:20:34 PM

I was disappointed when we met Anton Vanko in Agent Carter but it was just a cameo and not at all related to why he was deported.

They had a perfect opportunity to fill in that plot hole and they missed it.

edited 8th Mar '15 1:20:43 PM by TobiasDrake

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
Tuckerscreator (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Drift compatible
#28836: Mar 8th 2015 at 1:22:48 PM

I don't recall Vanko at any point in Agents of SHIELD. Now, in Agent Carter, on the other hand...

Frankly, I was okay that they didn't address it. It's still much too early for him to be deported and it would feel too on the nose to allude to it that soon. That was a problem The Phantom Menace had, when they had a deleted scene with Kid Greedo and they had to throw in a not-so-subtle "you gonna get yourself killed one day" hint.

comicwriter Since: Sep, 2011
#28837: Mar 8th 2015 at 1:24:34 PM

I actually don't think that the second movie is any worse than the third one

Part 2 has the same problem most shitty comic book sequels have; they tried to cram in too many characters and plot lines so it pulled the movie in a million different directions. You have a story about Vanko seeking revenge only for that to get pushed into the background for a half-baked subplot about how Tony's dad didn't hug him enough, and another about Nick Fury trying to recruit him for a team of superheroes.

3 benefited greatly from a more streamlined narrative.

edited 8th Mar '15 1:25:15 PM by comicwriter

TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#28838: Mar 8th 2015 at 1:27:55 PM

I don't want them to allude to it, I want them to show it. With all the conflict surrounding the Russians and the stolen Stark weapons, I was certain this was going to be the incident that resulted in Vanko's deportation. But nope.

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
Bocaj Funny but not helpful from Here or thereabouts (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
Funny but not helpful
#28839: Mar 8th 2015 at 1:28:55 PM

So what was wrong with the ending to 3 again?

Forever liveblogging the Avengers
TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#28840: Mar 8th 2015 at 1:31:04 PM

Blowing up all of his suits was incredibly stupid, narratively nonsensical, and financially horrific; Tony Stark demonstrated his love to Pepper by destroying equipment that, taken together, is probably worth more than the GDP of some countries.

"Pepper, I love you so much that I am going to dump LITERAL BILLIONS of dollars into the ocean for you."

edited 8th Mar '15 1:33:31 PM by TobiasDrake

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
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.
#28841: Mar 8th 2015 at 1:33:05 PM

[up][up][up][up] You know, with "sins of the fathers" being prominent in Iron Man 2 (at least in theory), I think the stuff with Howard could have worked. Doesn't changed the fact that it wasn't handled all that well, though.

[up][up][up] I personally thought it was a little early for that.

edited 8th Mar '15 1:33:33 PM by KarkatTheDalek

Oh God! Natural light!
Bocaj Funny but not helpful from Here or thereabouts (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
Funny but not helpful
#28842: Mar 8th 2015 at 1:33:21 PM

Most of them were damaged and would have had to been scrapped or repaired anyway. And by the time he repaired them, they'd be obsolete and have to be replaced.

He was basically just saying 'yeah, not focusing on any of this until I fix your lava problem'

Plus, fireworks. More of a 4th of july thing but why not blow up shit on christmas?

And its Tony. He never makes any sound financial decisions. Ever.

Forever liveblogging the Avengers
TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#28843: Mar 8th 2015 at 1:35:56 PM

Then put them in storage and use them for parts. Don't dump at least $350,000,000 in titanium alone, not even counting all the other materials that went into all of these different suits, into the ocean on a romantic whim.

Also, there is now an Iron Man Graveyard underneath that oil rig that anybody who wants to make their own knock-offs can salvage for parts. Hopefully S.H.I.E.L.D. clamped down on that fast before they suddenly didn't exist.

edited 8th Mar '15 1:37:57 PM by TobiasDrake

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
Bocaj Funny but not helpful from Here or thereabouts (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
Funny but not helpful
#28844: Mar 8th 2015 at 1:37:36 PM

Pretty sure a self-destruct is intended to destroy the important components.

Forever liveblogging the Avengers
Tuckerscreator (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Drift compatible
#28845: Mar 8th 2015 at 1:39:36 PM

Leaked ending to Age of Ultron.

Flashback to when Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye was on SNL.

It's just a skit, but Thor refers to Jane as his ex. Does this lend more credence to that report claiming Jane and Thor had broken up...

TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#28846: Mar 8th 2015 at 1:39:43 PM

That's the point of salvage. It takes a lot more than an explosion to reduce components to such a state that they could never be recognizable in any fashion whatsoever. A random scientist might have to work with two burned-out halves of an arc reactor rather than a functional one, but they can still do a lot of reverse-engineering from those burned-out halves.

Only ash is irrepairable.

edited 8th Mar '15 1:40:30 PM by TobiasDrake

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
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.
#28847: Mar 8th 2015 at 1:39:44 PM

[up][up][up][up] And that could mean that Hydra got their hands on them...

edited 8th Mar '15 1:40:26 PM by KarkatTheDalek

Oh God! Natural light!
Khfan429 Since: Aug, 2009
#28848: Mar 8th 2015 at 1:40:57 PM

I figure 1 is fantastic, 2 is... shaky but not nearly as bad as a lot of people make it out to be, and 3 turned into one big slap in the face. Unlike certain other thirds in a trilogy, it was at least entertaining and not completely cringe-worthy, but was weighed down by the conclusion of the villain twist (which, on its own, would have been brilliant), the annoying kid, and the ending which made absolutely no sense. Plus the middle finger to the viewers that was The Stinger, even if it was hilarious.

All in all, not a terrible trilogy, it ranks slightly higher for me than the two Thor movies put together.

edited 8th Mar '15 1:41:55 PM by Khfan429

Wackd Since: May, 2009
#28849: Mar 8th 2015 at 1:53:14 PM

I feel like the movie gives us no evidence one way or another for what happened to the exploded Iron Man suits and how badly they were damaged, so why assume the worst?

Plus, Tony did fish his puppies college 'bots out of the ocean at the end, so why should we just assume he left all his other old junk sitting at the bottom of the ocean?

edited 8th Mar '15 1:53:26 PM by Wackd

Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.
Bocaj Funny but not helpful from Here or thereabouts (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
Funny but not helpful
#28850: Mar 8th 2015 at 1:54:33 PM

[up][up][up][up] We're talking comic book movie explosions. Unless his enemies have a cave and a box of scraps, all they're stuck with is a bunch of broken bits with explosion and water damage.

Or we get an armor wars movie if there's ever another Iron Man movie. Win-win.

edited 8th Mar '15 1:54:45 PM by Bocaj

Forever liveblogging the Avengers

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