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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

Bocaj Funny but not helpful from Here or thereabouts (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
Funny but not helpful
#84376: Apr 8th 2018 at 6:25:06 PM

Do you know that hazy atmospheric effect when something is unfathomably big on the horizon?

I want to see that

I want to see a mind boggling large purple man from miles away.

Millions will tremble before his pink armor

edited 8th Apr '18 6:25:37 PM by Bocaj

Forever liveblogging the Avengers
KJMackley Since: Jan, 2001
#84377: Apr 8th 2018 at 6:31:27 PM

The biggest struggle is that when depicting a cosmic-level force, reducing it down to a Nigh-Invulnerable giant or monster makes it feel plain. When something is physical you feel as though you can fight it. If an entity has no defined shape it feels more like a force of nature, how do you fight the ocean or a wind storm? But when you create a character in the abstract like that it becomes more difficult to see them as having a consciousness, that they are more than just a mindless entity.

The solution is probably to do something in the middle, a physical form you can comprehend but who has influence that goes beyond that form in something of a Battle Aura. I believe in Rise of the Silver Surfer it was intended to show the form of the comics Galactus inside the cloud. I consider Parallax in GL as slightly better if only because it was shown as being a self-aware threat directly attacking planets and the heroes, and was given a recognizable face even as its body changed size.

But consider also something like Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen (book or movie), where his powers come with a radically different point of view of the universe "I have walked on the surface of the sun..." Galactus needs a Blue-and-Orange Morality characterization to be more important than what it looks like.

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.
#84378: Apr 8th 2018 at 6:47:25 PM

I think Ego worked fine, just have Galactus be somewhere in-between his human form and his planet form.

KnownUnknown Since: Jan, 2001
#84379: Apr 8th 2018 at 6:49:00 PM

Imo, the problem with Galactus is a narrative one, not a power scaling one. Galactus is a cosmic force of nature, a balancing agent that has existed in this form as long as the universe itself (he's actually older, but he wasn't Galactus before that point). He has cosmic powers to boggle the mind, from matter manipulation and energy projection to temporal manipuation and powers over the laws of physics. He's a god, and all that implies, with a complicated and fascinating niche int the cosmos and has had a role both malevolent or otherwise in many of the universe's most pivotal moments.

But the thing is, most adaptations that feature Galactus are from the point of view of a character who isn't a cosmic actor who would interface with him in that way. Usually, it's just an Earthling hero with their own stories in their own backyard who just happens to be on the wrong end of his hunger. And to an Earthling, Galactus is just a big powerful monster showing up to destroy the planet, with no context for the greater implications and little way for a movie to organically insert it if it's primary focus is that hero's story.

That's why the typical Galactus story in adaptations usually has him significantly less nuanced and interesting than he is in the comics - because the comics can flesh him out and use him in a variety of ways, while a tv series has somewhat less of the luxury of variety and movies especially have basically none.

So in short, if they're going to really showcase Galactus, they need to introduce him as a cosmic character from the get-go rather than as a threat first. If Guardians wasn't already going in an Adam Warlocky direction for it's final movie, I'd say do it there. Have them meet this giant force in the universe that nobody is supposed to mess with, and play Galactus up as a force of nature rather than a villain or even a character: an ancient being they cannot truly interact, but must act around, etc - neither helpful nor harmful, except for those in the way.

edited 8th Apr '18 6:50:33 PM by KnownUnknown

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#84380: Apr 8th 2018 at 7:27:42 PM

We have that in the first Galactus story, Uatu the Watcher.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
Bocaj Funny but not helpful from Here or thereabouts (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
Funny but not helpful
#84381: Apr 8th 2018 at 8:04:01 PM

Guardians has given us so many giant space men that drawing the line at Galactus seems weird

Although I'd love to see a movie about Galactus played out like a disaster movie

Forever liveblogging the Avengers
KnownUnknown Since: Jan, 2001
#84382: Apr 8th 2018 at 8:06:02 PM

Not gonna lie. I really, really, really like the idea of a scene where characters come to meet this great, unknowable cosmic force, and to their surprise find a man the size of a star. With good cinematography, a scene like that would be gorgeous.

I keep imagining something like this, but mixed with the reveal of the Death Star from A New Hope. Something so big and terrifying it just comes off as alien, even if it's bizarre.

edited 8th Apr '18 10:20:24 PM by KnownUnknown

Mizerous Pet Owner from Hell Since: Oct, 2013 Relationship Status: Brewing the love potion
Pet Owner
#84383: Apr 8th 2018 at 10:16:35 PM

Shit, a black hole would be scarier than a space lint ball.

Just Makima.
Luigisan98 A wandering user from Venezuelan Muscat Since: Oct, 2013 Relationship Status: I <3 love!
A wandering user
#84385: Apr 9th 2018 at 8:42:48 AM

[up] Oh, Chris you sly devil. tongue

The only good fanboy, is a redeemed fanboy.
ComicFan Since: Sep, 2016
Ultimatum Disasturbator from the Amiga Forest (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#84389: Apr 10th 2018 at 1:13:39 PM

> Hawkeye: Even Odds

Would anyone be legit sad if they killed Hawkeye off?

have a listen and have a link to my discord server
Spinosegnosaurus77 Ramen Fairy from Ontario, Canada Since: May, 2011 Relationship Status: All I Want for Christmas is a Girlfriend
Ramen Fairy
#84390: Apr 10th 2018 at 1:15:58 PM

[up] If he survives, I expect him to retire in-universe.

edited 10th Apr '18 1:16:20 PM by Spinosegnosaurus77

Peace is the only battle worth waging.
comicwriter Since: Sep, 2011
#84391: Apr 10th 2018 at 2:11:25 PM

As long as we get Kate Bishop out of the deal.

edited 10th Apr '18 2:11:53 PM by comicwriter

wisewillow She/her Since: May, 2011
She/her
#84392: Apr 10th 2018 at 2:13:26 PM

Hawkeye shoulda died in Ao U; I’m fine with him dying and would love to get Kate Bishop. Also a good chance to improve MCU diversity by casting an Asian-American or Latina Kate Bishop.

unknowing from somewhere.. Since: Mar, 2014
#84393: Apr 10th 2018 at 2:28:35 PM

[up]I disagree, I fill him retire would be intersting to see a hero who finally end is days without dying, also it would made the transition to a diversity hero less cliche or overly dramatic.

"My Name is Bolt, Bolt Crank and I dont care if you believe or not"
Tuckerscreator (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Drift compatible
#84394: Apr 10th 2018 at 2:29:39 PM

If any hero retires, I want it to be Thor.

phantom1 Since: Dec, 2009 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
#84395: Apr 10th 2018 at 2:59:36 PM

He does have a struggling refugee nation to run Or well hopefully he does I hope Thanos doesn't wipe them all out, but I'm terrified he will

BigK1337 Since: Jun, 2012
#84396: Apr 10th 2018 at 3:00:20 PM

[up]x3 Ditto. Rather have him be a retired badass who occasionally mentors new heroes than fucking dead.

edited 10th Apr '18 3:01:42 PM by BigK1337

Bocaj Funny but not helpful from Here or thereabouts (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
Funny but not helpful
#84397: Apr 10th 2018 at 3:31:08 PM

Give Kate a show clearly

Forever liveblogging the Avengers
Tuckerscreator (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Drift compatible
#84398: Apr 10th 2018 at 3:36:42 PM

Her solo comic series as a private investigator in Venice Beach, California has been pretty fun. Like Nancy Drew with superpowers and arrows.

AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#84399: Apr 10th 2018 at 3:39:49 PM

Part of the reason I think Hawkeye has a decent chance of living through this is because the fact that he's so off to the side means that nobody would also really care if something happened to him.

Sigilbreaker26 Serial Procrastinator Since: Nov, 2017
Serial Procrastinator
#84400: Apr 10th 2018 at 3:54:10 PM

I appreciate Hawkeye after AOU and I don't want him dead because he's the easy choice for death.

"And when the last law was down and the Devil turned round on you, where would you hide, the laws all being flat?"

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