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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

Nikkolas from Texas Since: Dec, 2009 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#59451: Jun 17th 2016 at 5:46:06 PM

It be harder to cut Light's ego down any more than the manga did. Maybe if a bird flew in the warehouse and pooped in his mouth while he was screaming, it would have been more humbling. But aside from that ridiculous touch, it was a totally humiliating end. Kind of sad too in its own pathetic way, I felt. It's actually really interesting that the different continuities all have three different types of Alas, Poor Villain ends for him.

Anomalocaris20 from Sagittarius A* Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: Love blinded me (with science!)
#59452: Jun 17th 2016 at 6:16:14 PM

When Cap isn't home.

You cannot firmly grasp the true form of Squidward's technique!
AdricDePsycho Rock on, Gold Dust Woman from Never Going Back Again Since: Oct, 2014 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
Rock on, Gold Dust Woman
#59453: Jun 17th 2016 at 6:16:54 PM

They play jazz music?

Have you any dreams you'd like to sell?
Anomalocaris20 from Sagittarius A* Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: Love blinded me (with science!)
#59454: Jun 17th 2016 at 6:21:57 PM

It's based on this meme.

You cannot firmly grasp the true form of Squidward's technique!
alliterator Since: Jan, 2001
#59456: Jun 17th 2016 at 10:25:36 PM

Wow, James Gunn always sounds like he's one of the nicest guys to work with.

Anomalocaris20 from Sagittarius A* Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: Love blinded me (with science!)
#59457: Jun 17th 2016 at 10:49:09 PM

I thought people said he was a raging misogynist?

You cannot firmly grasp the true form of Squidward's technique!
AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#59458: Jun 17th 2016 at 11:29:33 PM

He's got an iffy record of tonedeaf jokes regarding women, some of the sexual jokes in GOTG are a little on the dudebro side, and he got kinda lazy with Gamora's character compared with the rest of the team. But some of the heavier accusations of misogyny strike me as reading too much into things to fit a preformed conclusion, similar to certain brands of Age of Ultron hate.

Nikkolas from Texas Since: Dec, 2009 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#59459: Jun 17th 2016 at 11:35:03 PM

[up] What were the "political" reasons for hating AOU?

Also, which movie should I look into now I want to continue with the MCU? I stopped with Avengers and I hope the films have gotten better since then.

AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#59460: Jun 17th 2016 at 11:44:35 PM

The usual "Joss Whedon is an anti-Semitic white supremacist, Stay in the Kitchen-advocating He-Man Woman Hater, Heteronormative Crusader, and warmongering imperialist inserting his political agenda into the movie and I'm totally not just mad because he sank my OTP, even though I have literally stated elsewhere that I literally refuse to consider him human because of what he did to my ships" type complaints. I mean, it's not that you can't criticize the film for having some of these elements in a thoughtful manner, but it's more a case of Whedon being an old-school liberal who failed to catch up with Society Marches On when it comes to media representation than him seriously meaning to use AOU as a means of spreading right-wing propaganda.

As for what movies to move onto next, I personally recommend The Winter Soldier. It's my and a lot of people's favorite films in the MCU ever. I also like Ant-Man, and most people loved Guardians of the Galaxy. The rest of the films in Phase 2 are all at least decent in my opinion aside from Thor 2 which has very little to offer that you can't get from reading a synopsis.

edited 17th Jun '16 11:58:55 PM by AlleyOop

AdricDePsycho Rock on, Gold Dust Woman from Never Going Back Again Since: Oct, 2014 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
Rock on, Gold Dust Woman
#59461: Jun 17th 2016 at 11:56:04 PM

I'd recommend Age of Ultron, but only so that you can gather your own opinion on it. It's a divisive film with a consensus of "has a lot of good, but the bad stuff is noticeable". I'd say watch it to get your own consensus on it. Same for Iron Man 3.

You're probably better off not watching Thor: The Dark World until maybe Thor: Ragnarok comes out. It's not really necessary, save for a couple things. It's pretty damn dull too.

Have you any dreams you'd like to sell?
Nikkolas from Texas Since: Dec, 2009 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#59462: Jun 18th 2016 at 12:00:01 AM

Yeah I really wasn't so sure about Thor sequels. Thor was my favorite MCU film by a lot and one reason I disliked Avengers was because it felt like Loki was getting Wolverine Publicity and that was going to ruin his character. Loki did some fucked up shit in the first movie but he was still ultimately a tragic figure. When you make him into a Big Bad behind an alien invasion who is about to kill Holocaust survivors or whatever that old man was supposed to be? Yeah, fuck that.

ANYWAY....I guess AOU is as good a place to start as any, if I don't have to worry about continuity problems or confusion. Thank you.

edited 18th Jun '16 12:03:14 AM by Nikkolas

AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#59463: Jun 18th 2016 at 12:04:06 AM

Oh, you're probably going to like The Dark World then. Loki goes back to being a complex and interesting character, though a lot of people would argue that it comes at the expense of the rest of the film since everything else comes off as dull or trite in comparison, and some would say it's the result of his Wolverine Publicity.

And don't worry about needing to catch up to understand AOU. AOU may as well be an immediate sequel to the first Avengers and that's actually one of its most common complaints, that it pretends none of the character development or plot advancements from Phase 2 happened. In fact that might be your best choice, that way you don't go the whole movie wondering What Happened to the Mouse? with all the stuff that happened in Phase 2.

edited 18th Jun '16 12:08:11 AM by AlleyOop

KnownUnknown Since: Jan, 2001
#59464: Jun 18th 2016 at 12:05:29 AM

Loki's one of those characters who is written entirely differently depending on which film series he's in at this given moment.

Kind of like Black Widow.

AdricDePsycho Rock on, Gold Dust Woman from Never Going Back Again Since: Oct, 2014 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
Rock on, Gold Dust Woman
#59465: Jun 18th 2016 at 12:08:18 AM

Yeah, they added additional scenes of Loki because of how popular he was, while cutting any scenes that could've given depth to the villain, Malekith.

Loki was still great in it. Just watch Winter Soldier and maybe Guardians and Dark World. There's some things in there that you'll need to know from there for Age of Ultron.

[up][up]

I didn't really notice much of that outside of Tony and Natasha, to be honest.

edited 18th Jun '16 12:12:34 AM by AdricDePsycho

Have you any dreams you'd like to sell?
MadSkillz Destroyer of Worlds Since: Mar, 2013 Relationship Status: I only want you gone
Destroyer of Worlds
#59466: Jun 18th 2016 at 1:24:43 AM

[up][up] Cap too.

Whedon Cap is disappointing compared to Russo Cap.

Nikkolas from Texas Since: Dec, 2009 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#59467: Jun 18th 2016 at 1:33:27 AM

Oh good, I'm glad I'm not the only one who loathed Avengers Tony. Just replace all his dialogue with "WITTY"?. GET IT? HE 'S THE SNARKY ONE. SNARK SNARK SNARK

That was another big issue with Avengers for me, obviously.

Also why was there that completely pointless, out of nowhere scene with Sam Jackson talking to... the Illuminati? SEELE? It's been a while but all I remember is he talks to some shadow puppet government EVILLLLLLLLLLL types who he has to convince to let him and the Avengers handle this.

God, that scene added nothing and i twas dumb.

AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#59468: Jun 18th 2016 at 1:41:35 AM

They show up again in The Winter Soldier and Agents of SHIELD.

MadSkillz Destroyer of Worlds Since: Mar, 2013 Relationship Status: I only want you gone
Destroyer of Worlds
#59469: Jun 18th 2016 at 2:07:49 AM

@Nikk I'd definitely recommend you watch the Winter Soldier first which is commonly agreed to be the best or second best film that's Marvel's filmed and then follow that up with Age of Ultron.

Age of Ultron is kind of a sequel to Winter Soldier and the Avengers.

edited 18th Jun '16 2:08:22 AM by MadSkillz

windleopard from Nigeria Since: Nov, 2014 Relationship Status: Non-Canon
#59470: Jun 18th 2016 at 2:23:56 AM

They were the World Security Council not the Illuminati.

Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#59471: Jun 18th 2016 at 2:53:05 AM

The movie in the MCU which one can easily skip is The Incredible Hulk, followed by the Dark world minus the scenes dealing with Loki (Really, I wish that Marvel would simply do a Loki movie...provided that they can get Hiddleston to sign another multi picture contract I would love to see him outside of the Thor franchise, too).

shatterstar Since: Apr, 2015 Relationship Status: I wanna know about these strangers like me
#59472: Jun 18th 2016 at 6:18:00 AM

[up] I'd love to see a Loki movie with Enchatress and Hela as supporting characters.

comicwriter Since: Sep, 2011
#59473: Jun 18th 2016 at 8:31:37 AM

He's got an iffy record of tonedeaf jokes regarding women, some of the sexual jokes in GOTG are a little on the dudebro side, and he got kinda lazy with Gamora's character compared with the rest of the team. But some of the heavier accusations of misogyny strike me as reading too much into things to fit a preformed conclusion, similar to certain brands of Age of Ultron hate.

More specifically, the controversy was about a very stupid, poorly thought out "humor" article he did where he listed a bunch of superheroines ranked on fuckability, which included a joke about Batwoman (who is gay) needing a good cock to "turn" her.

To his credit, he wrote it before he was famous or working for Marvel, and apologized and said he no longer finds things like that funny.

edited 18th Jun '16 8:31:54 AM by comicwriter

Cross (Don’t ask)
#59474: Jun 18th 2016 at 9:04:47 AM

So it turns out Cox only asked for a couple of the Funko DD to give to hospital and school, they were the ones that decided to drown him with them.

Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#59475: Jun 18th 2016 at 9:16:21 AM

I don't think that he went lazy with Gamora's character...people just tend to like the funny or cute character better than the straightforward badass.

In any case, there is always a difference between sexist writing and sexists writers. Everyone can slip up and add something questionable into a story. Whedon gave us Buffy and Firefly, but he also really felt that there was something between Natasha and Bruce in The Avengers, because he apparently confused good chemistry between the actors with romantic chemistry between the characters. (Personally I think the only character Natasha ever had sexual chemistry with is Falcon). And it works the other way around, too, in the first season of Arrow the writers somehow managed to create a number of compelling females (minus Laurel) which they then all destroyed through bad writing in the following seasons, reducing them to the worst clichés (I am now convinced that the original versions of Moira and Felicity were more an accident than anything else).


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