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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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    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

Unsung it's a living from a tenement of clay Since: Jun, 2016
it's a living
#73801: Aug 9th 2017 at 8:23:17 PM

[up][up]I'm sure that thought occurred to the poster designer in Japan, of all places. Martial arts tournament movies aren't exactly without precedent, and somebody has to have noticed the parallels between that and the Grandmaster's arena.

edited 9th Aug '17 8:29:06 PM by Unsung

TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#73802: Aug 9th 2017 at 8:26:01 PM

That should be the tie-in game.

"Loki vs. Grandmaster. FIGHT!"

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
Unsung it's a living from a tenement of clay Since: Jun, 2016
it's a living
#73803: Aug 9th 2017 at 8:45:31 PM

They should partner with Capcom and have them release mini-fighting games using characters from the movies and movesets, animations, and modified models from Capcom's existing games. Cash-in it might be, but it obviously always is. Sell it for cheap and market it as a demo of sorts for Capcom's other games. I bet they could make a ton of money doing that.

TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#73804: Aug 9th 2017 at 8:49:49 PM

I'd rather Netherrealm Studios but since they're owned by Warner Bros., that's never going to happen. Grumble grumble DC grumble.

edited 9th Aug '17 8:50:09 PM by TobiasDrake

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
Unsung it's a living from a tenement of clay Since: Jun, 2016
it's a living
#73805: Aug 9th 2017 at 9:00:13 PM

Well, being as it's a cheap cash-in, I was thinking Capcom because they've already got a lot of the characters modeled and animated. If someone else were to make the next great Marvel fighting game, give it to them, sure.

KJMackley Since: Jan, 2001
#73806: Aug 9th 2017 at 10:48:54 PM

Poster is serviceable, not nearly as bad as the Homecoming group poster. This actually has some sense of visual structure with the V-shape team pose. The kaleidoscope poster is much better anyway, although not a very good "hero" poster.

AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#73807: Aug 10th 2017 at 9:50:58 AM

More importantly why the hell(a) isn't Hela in Marvel vs Capcom Infinite?

comicwriter Since: Sep, 2011
#73808: Aug 10th 2017 at 10:34:30 AM

[up]because capcom are lazy and reusing as many characters from the last game as possible.

Gaon Smoking Snake from Grim Up North Since: Jun, 2012 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
#73809: Aug 10th 2017 at 10:46:16 AM

That's false. Otherwise the best character of the Marvel roster would be here.

I'm talking, of course, about MODOK.

"All you Fascists bound to lose."
JRads47 Since: Nov, 2014
#73810: Aug 10th 2017 at 11:26:13 AM

That's not how you spell "Marrow".

PushoverMediaCritic I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out. from the Italy of America Since: Jul, 2015 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out.
#73811: Aug 10th 2017 at 11:39:37 AM

No, that's spelled right: that is how you spell MODOK.

JRads47 Since: Nov, 2014
#73812: Aug 10th 2017 at 12:37:18 PM

Jokes aside, Modok is a Love It or Hate It kind of character, but I don't know anyone who has strong feelings towards Marrow.

comicwriter Since: Sep, 2011
#73813: Aug 10th 2017 at 1:21:40 PM

That's false.

No, it isn't. That's why of the 32 characters revealed thus far, only six of them are new (Captain Marvel, Gamora, Black Panther, Ultron, Jedah and Mega Man X). It's by far one of the biggest complaints people are having about the line-up.

Anyway, Jaimie Alexander is indeed coming back as Sif in Ragnarok.

edited 10th Aug '17 1:23:01 PM by comicwriter

AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#73814: Aug 10th 2017 at 1:58:54 PM

I wonder how much screentime she's going to get> I remember it being up in the air because of her other show, but it could be just a minor cameo.

Gaon Smoking Snake from Grim Up North Since: Jun, 2012 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
comicwriter Since: Sep, 2011
#73816: Aug 10th 2017 at 3:28:04 PM

Okay? Not sure how that goes against what I just said.

[up][up]I'm guessing not big. There is a very brief shot of Hogun in the teaser, so I'm guessing Sif and the Warriors 3 show up at the beginning and face Hela so The Worf Effect can ensue.

edited 10th Aug '17 3:28:32 PM by comicwriter

Gaon Smoking Snake from Grim Up North Since: Jun, 2012 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
#73817: Aug 10th 2017 at 3:32:31 PM

It goes against in the sense you interpreted a joke about the fact MODOK is the best character in the history of comics as a literal statement about Mv C infinite's rather repetitive roster.

MODOK who, in fact, should be in Ant-Man II.

Do it Marvel.

You know you want to.

"All you Fascists bound to lose."
TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#73819: Aug 10th 2017 at 4:51:28 PM

Between the two, I've decided that Guardians 1 is the better film in my opinion than Guardians 2. I've talked in the past about the importance of a unifying narrative. Winter Soldier got away with having five, FIVE f*cking villains where other superhero movies couldn't even manage three because it understood that not every villain had to be equal to the others and that they should all be united by a single narrative.

Guardians 2 had a few different narratives, but it still managed to pull them off with a unifying theme. Despite being made up of a handful of short stories fused together not unlike Amazing Spider-Man 2, each of those stories emphasized one singular theme: family.

Peter and Ego's story is about family. Gamora and Nebula's conflict is about family. Drax and Mantis's weird bonding is about family. Baby Groot is about family. Even Rocket and Yondu's mutiny is about family. Five stories - well, four and a half - that are mostly divorced from one another, but all revolve around that same singular theme of family.

And then there's the Sovereign.

These assholes are a complete waste of screentime, contribute nothing to the central themes, and exist only to cause problems where problems need to be caused. They are a creatively lazy plot device utterly disconnected from everything that's happening. Their only purpose is to provide nameless mooks for the Guardians to fight in a film that, between the Ravagers and the fact that Ego can create life, never had any great need for a source of mooks in the first place.

Marvel Studios has often wrestled with the need to set up future films without having them distract from the present one. There have been many times in which they've been brilliantly successful at this and a few times where the story has suffered. In my opinion, this is one of those. The Sovereign only exist to provide Adam Warlock with foreshadowing for the next film and it's really noticeable.

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
TheMageofFire Since: May, 2012
#73820: Aug 10th 2017 at 4:55:51 PM

I can agree with that, though I do think the Sovereign still works as a cold open thing that kickstarts the plot. Like, around the part Ego shows up would be where they no longer needed to make their presence known. You can still have the Adam Warlock setup stinger with just that, and like you said Ego's ability to create life could have provided a distraction to the team during the final battle.

...I had honestly never considered how filler-y the Sovereign's appearance at the end was.

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.
#73821: Aug 10th 2017 at 5:00:33 PM

I mean, I'll agree that they're kind of filler-y, but I thought they were fairly charming in and of themselves, what with their whole shtick where they pilot their drones like they're at an old school arcade. That, at least, made them worthwhile to me.

Oh God! Natural light!
Anomalocaris20 from Sagittarius A* Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: Love blinded me (with science!)
#73822: Aug 10th 2017 at 5:04:34 PM

Their sudden appearance in Ego's core was a bit contrieved, but we did get a fun fight out of it at least.

You cannot firmly grasp the true form of Squidward's technique!
Unsung it's a living from a tenement of clay Since: Jun, 2016
it's a living
#73823: Aug 10th 2017 at 5:07:59 PM

Anarchic setpieces being a large part of the appeal of this subfranchise, I'd say the Sovereign serve their purpose and don't overstay their welcome. Subject to personal taste, of course, but I think if absolutely everything in the plot happens to sync up with a theme as personal as family, the story would feel smaller, less galactic in scale. The Sovereign provide texture and strangeness— they're a wrench in the works, and the fact that they're so unrelated to the main plot and ultimately completely out of their depth is the joke, pretty much.

So I'm glad they're there. The Ravagers' mutiny has a great, great payoff, but it's awfully convenient for them to show up when they do, even if it's employed that Yondu's Ravagers are specifically employed because of their connection to Peter. But again, it makes the galaxy feel smaller. Winter Soldier could get away with everything being connected because it was an organized conspiracy. GOTG 2 is much more a case of happenstance. Things could have panned out very differently if things with Yondu, Nebula, and yes, even the Sovereign hadn't come to a head when they did.

edited 10th Aug '17 5:32:14 PM by Unsung

KnownUnknown Since: Jan, 2001
#73824: Aug 10th 2017 at 5:09:03 PM

I think the intention was for the Sovereign to be the recurring obstacle/threat that keeps the plot going. Who they are as characters isn't really important, just that they're always around forcing the characters to move forward into the other plots.

Like Jabba the Hutt in regards to Han Solo, or Norrington and the navy in the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie. "Guys the characters annoy in the first five minutes, coming back amidst the climax to complicate things" should be a trope: it's a cheesy move, but something I definitely recognize.

Unsung it's a living from a tenement of clay Since: Jun, 2016
it's a living
#73825: Aug 10th 2017 at 5:11:08 PM

Yeah, it's a pulp convention. We must have some kind of trope that applies, here.


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