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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.
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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

AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#56326: May 4th 2016 at 11:19:01 PM

http://www.thewrap.com/captain-america-civil-war-writers-marvel-newbies-catch-up-backstory/

I guess it's official, the MCU has reached Continuity Lock-Out status. Granted there's no way it could be as bad as the comics due to the limitations on the schedule and number of releases they can make for movies compared to other media. And with this they can afford to take fuller advantage of the interlocked continuity, although I hope they don't go too far with the Sequel Hooks that the conclusions of each film feel too open-ended to be satisfying.

edited 4th May '16 11:24:13 PM by AlleyOop

Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#56327: May 5th 2016 at 12:11:59 AM

Partly, but I honestly don't see much of a problem there....I would say it is not worse than watching Harry Potter 4 or Lord of the Rings 3 or Toy Story 3 without having seen any of the prior movies. I wouldn't watch the third part of the trilogy without having seen the prior parts either. And in order to understand Civil War, there is no need to watch anything but the Captain America and the Avengers movie, though throwing in the Iron Man movies might be helpful. Anything else, you can skip. You actually don't even need to watch the Avengers movie, because Civil war does explain what Age of Ultron was about.

Whowho Since: May, 2012
#56328: May 5th 2016 at 3:49:58 AM

I think it's true you can watch First Avenger, Winter Soldier, Age of Ultron and then go strait into Civil War with nothing else, but someone coming fresh into the franchise wont know what they need to watch before tackling Civil War, and will see themselves looking at TWELVE prior movies.

Spinosegnosaurus77 Ramen Fairy from Ontario, Canada Since: May, 2011 Relationship Status: All I Want for Christmas is a Girlfriend
Whowho Since: May, 2012
#56330: May 5th 2016 at 4:47:55 AM

MCU/DCEU is an idea I can't keep out of my head either.

windleopard from Nigeria Since: Nov, 2014 Relationship Status: Non-Canon
thatindiantroper Since: Feb, 2015
#56332: May 5th 2016 at 4:51:24 AM

[up] I'll believe it when I see it.

[up][up] You mean a crossover? Yeah me too. I can't wait for JL so I can get some idea how this version of them would interact with these Avengers. If they ever do it, I say skip the fight scene and get straight to the team up. This Superman's tear through them like tissue paper anyway.

thatindiantroper Since: Feb, 2015
#56333: May 5th 2016 at 4:57:52 AM

Concerning Doctor Strange, I think Marvel should stick to their guns because no matter what they do, it will only lead to more complains.

Well at this point they couldn't possibly change it. How about next time, if they can't figure out how to portray an Asian character without seeming racist... maybe move on to the next idea.

Spinosegnosaurus77 Ramen Fairy from Ontario, Canada Since: May, 2011 Relationship Status: All I Want for Christmas is a Girlfriend
Theokal3 Since: Jan, 2012
#56335: May 5th 2016 at 5:30:47 AM

Marvel Will Tackle Its One-Dimensional Villains Issue with Thanos' "Avengers: Infinity War" Arc

I sure hope they will. The origin story excuse worked for the movies who actually were origin stories, but for Iron Man 2, Thor 2 and Age of Ultron? Yeah, not so much... though to their credit, they did a pretty good job with Zemo. My concern for Thanos is that they might have to not keep his love for Death, which pretty much is the only thing making him unique...

yellowturtle from Nowhere Important Since: Feb, 2015 Relationship Status: Coming soon to theaters
#56336: May 5th 2016 at 6:03:56 AM

whoa, I accidentally found a video when I was watching the one unveiling the Legends set, apparently Spider-Man fights Winter Soldier. Has this been posted? I haven't seen it, and I'm just avoiding actual, text spoilers, not previews. Small spoiler!

edited 5th May '16 6:05:07 AM by yellowturtle

Crow: There's a plot?
thatindiantroper Since: Feb, 2015
yellowturtle from Nowhere Important Since: Feb, 2015 Relationship Status: Coming soon to theaters
#56338: May 5th 2016 at 6:05:33 AM

[up] Huh. I need to pay attention.

Crow: There's a plot?
thatindiantroper Since: Feb, 2015
#56339: May 5th 2016 at 6:18:59 AM

Not that big a spoiler. We knew he was with Stark.

Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#56340: May 5th 2016 at 8:13:52 AM

I see that the Tomatometer score for The First Avenger has risen...good for it, it is easily the most underrated movie in the MCU.

Concerning the continuity lockout question, I doubt that the audience not "in tune" is aware what belongs to the MCU and what doesn't, so they would just assume that they are good if they watch all the Captain America movies, and those who are "in tune" enough know what is required watching and what isn't.

TargetmasterJoe from Velocitron Since: May, 2013 Relationship Status: I like big bots and I can not lie
#56341: May 5th 2016 at 8:14:22 AM

I wonder if I should bother watching the other 5 Spider-Man movies before watching Civil War...

Little known fact, I'm more than aware that Spidey's had 5 movies, but I've never actually seen any of them in full...

Rvdz Don't mock the shocker from in a bar, under the sea Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Don't mock the shocker
#56342: May 5th 2016 at 8:17:27 AM

Well, given that this is a different continuity and a different take on Spidey I wouldn't say that's necessary. And for what it's worth, in my opinion only one of those five movies is any good (Raimi Spider-Man 2), but you'll find plenty of people will tell you otherwise.

Sing the song of sixpence that goes burn the witch, we know where you live
Galadriel Since: Feb, 2015
#56343: May 5th 2016 at 8:22:48 AM

Spider-Man 2 and Amazing Spider-Man are both pretty good in my opinion. The first Spider-Man movie is incredibly cheesy. Spider-Man 3 and ASM 2 both try to stuff too many unconnected plot points in and are kind of a mess as a result.

You shouldn't need to watch any of them to understand Civil War.

edited 5th May '16 8:23:49 AM by Galadriel

Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#56344: May 5th 2016 at 8:28:16 AM

[up] Yeah, I agree. If you have seen Spider-man 2 you have seen practically the whole Raimi trilogy, since he made basically the same movie again and again and if you watch it, this is the best take. And TAS is imho a pretty good take on the character.

wehrmacht belongs to the hurricane from the garden of everything Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
belongs to the hurricane
#56345: May 5th 2016 at 8:31:52 AM

I don't like TAS at all but I've gone over that enough already.

I'm just curious to see if the MCU's version of Spider-Man can surpass both attempts.

hollygoolightly Since: Apr, 2012 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#56346: May 5th 2016 at 8:51:56 AM

I think I had the minimum requirements to understand Civil War - first Iron Man, both Avengers, both earlier Cap movies - but I also had second hand knowledge of the characters and comics that came before. Someone in my group actually hadn't seen Winter Soldier, but she managed to follow, anyway. (She thought the story was a bit thin.)

Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#56347: May 5th 2016 at 9:16:06 AM

[up] She hasn't seen The Winter Soldier? That's nearly a crime!

Whowho Since: May, 2012
#56348: May 5th 2016 at 9:21:15 AM

The MCU could probably get pretty far just off the back of Cultural osmosis now that the films are household names.

Plus, continuity lock out is less tangible a thing now that it's so easy to google "what do I need to know to watch civil war" and you'll get You Tube video recaps or summations, and written viewing guides.

AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#56349: May 5th 2016 at 9:23:46 AM

You probably don't need to see the Iron Man films to really understand beyond the fact that Rhodey is his's best friend, Pepper is his girlfriend, his suit is powered by the glowing thing in his chest, his parents are dead, his mentor went evil, and Stane aside he tends to make his own villains due to his arrogance.

Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#56350: May 5th 2016 at 9:27:14 AM

[up][up] True, the MCU picked the perfect time to start. They can connect everything because we are all connected, plus, they started pretty much around the time at which CGI has developed far enough that it has become fairly convincing. And it also helped that Marvel could start with a pretty clear slate when it comes to Live-Action TV. Unlike with DC, there is no question what is connected with what. Everything is connected. It's like a big commentary about our current society.

edited 5th May '16 9:27:24 AM by Swanpride


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