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Edited by Mrph1 on Jul 29th 2024 at 3:09:00 PM
I've been doing some thinking, and I think I really like the idea someone mentioned a while back: have the X-Men live in a separate universe that basically is a stand-in for the Ultimates universe. Have the X-Men universe be edgier (already done) and maybe do crossover events between it and the main MCU. You could even reinroduce characters from the MCU in the X-Men verse and have them either be recast or have the original actor reprise their role in a different way.
Have X-Universe Peter Parker already be in his 30s, to set up for his death and introduce Miles Morales, a young mutant who coincidentally has similar powers to Peter who decides to take up the mantle of Spider-Man. Have a Spider-Verse crossover movie where X-Universe Miles teams up with MCU Peter, as well as a bunch of other alternate universe Spideys.
On the topic of Magneto and changing his orgin to fit in modern time line: I’m amazed nobody didn’t just suggest he grew up during the Israel-Palestinian Conflict (btw this is another idea I have for the X-Men in my revised universe). I am debating on whether to have him being from Israel (to keep his Jewish ethnicity and reason for his extensive knowledge in military combat via being a part of the army) or Palestine (to retain his origin of experiencing great tragedies from the hands of humans), all I know is this is (IMO) the best way to update the character without trying to be insulting towards another race/belief/nation as we all know of the tragedies that conflict cause and its not to far fetched that it could create actual Magnetos from the event much like World War II.
Also to continue the updating train for X-Villains, lets do some obvious real world allegories with the human groups with F.O.H. being alt right and the Purifiers as Muslim extremists. For the former, duh. For the latter its mostly cosmetic update on the concept of said group of being religious fundamentalist who take their beliefs to violent measures by commiting acts of terrorism to get their way.
So....next villain article is up. This time it is about Ronan.
https://swanpride3.wordpress.com/2017/12/26/marvel-musings-ronan-the-accuser/
And yes, I know that I go a little bit against general opinions with this one....
I think most people in the thread like Ronan for many of the reasons you lay out.
Forever liveblogging the AvengersPeople seem to enjoy Ronan more than the other underdeveloped villains. I personally think Ronan is a serviceable villain who benefits from having a good actor really hamming it up. So he's an average yet entertaining villain. Hela's kind of in the same boat for me, although I think she's a stronger character overall.
Well, yes. They are both Disney villains in the traditional sense. They don't need to be complex, they need a great performance and a memorable design. Honestly, the main reason why Hela has a chance to win over Ronan is because of her helmet and a compelling performance - otherwise, I think she isn't quite as well-utilized as Ronan is. But I haven't written her article yet, so who knows where I will settle with her.
It's a pretty thankless role, in a way, but for lack of competition at the time, Ronan was one of my favourite MCU villains. Execution (yes) counts. Ham is part of the appeal with any supervillain, I like Lee Pace and he really rises to the occasion here, as a kind of modern take on Ming the Merciless. Now if only they hadn't wasted Djimon Hounsou as a flunky.
Ronan's hamminess is apparently a case of James Gunn wanting it to be as over the top as possible, with Pace being like hey, is this too much? and Gunn saying no, MORE.
Cate Blanchett gives an excellent physical performance (and that voice), but Ronan has better dialogue, plus some very memorable, very visual scenes. He also gets to be way more powerful than his enemies, which means he's never upstaged. GOTG keeps on reducing the number of active participants in the final battle, whereas Ragnarok actually adds more threats as it branches into multiple running battles.
edited 26th Dec '17 12:26:56 PM by Unsung
Hela probably would've worked better if they milked the deaths of the Warriors Three a lot more. I get why they didn't (the Thor movies have always had a problem with being overstuffed with cast), but they needed to twist that knife more. It feels like a bit of a disservice to those characters for them to die in seconds without anyone onscreen mourning them (other than Skurge, sort of, which was weird), and it also detracts from the display of power that Hela's meant to be showing. Nice that they gave Hogun that final charge, but it would've been better for them all to die together, after having at least one last scene with Thor, and hell, maybe Loki, too— they *were* all friends when this trilogy started, after all.
My problem with Ronan, is that he's far less interesting than his comic book counterpart. The latter is actually interesting, and complex. So when I see him reduced to a two-dimensional mustache-twirler, I cannot help but be underwhelmed (despite Lee Pace's performance).
Hela, well the problem with her is that her "new" backstory feels, undercooked. Like she and Thor being related doesn't end up mattering much as they don't really do anything with that dynamic. And she and Odin don't get a scene in the present either. As it stands, she could have just been a former general of Odin who wasn't related, or an ex-lover, or whatever, and it'd have had pretty much the same effect. Also her motives are pretty basic.
Even her being the "Goddess of Death" feels pretty superfluous.
In short, BOTH of them only sort of work as villains BECAUSE of the actor's performances (and cool visual designs).
"Far less interesting than their comic book counterpart" could basically be added to the character page of the entire MCU. .
My various fanfics.Decades of continuity to build them up usually
It took Ronan years to be more than a mustache twirler
Forever liveblogging the AvengersRonan had an uphill fight as a character because he had to share his screentime with five heroes who each needed their own backstory and development, not just one. In that respect, a more simple-minded villain who doesn't need too much backstory, like a fanatical terrorist, is an appropriate choice, and Ronan fills that role pretty damn perfectly.
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