TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Marvel Cinematic Universe

Go To

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

Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#103426: Jun 6th 2019 at 2:35:45 PM

[up] Ever seen any Beauty of the Beast adaptation? Trust me, you don't need to see the backstory to understand the loss there.

Gaon Smoking Snake from Grim Up North Since: Jun, 2012 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
#103427: Jun 6th 2019 at 2:37:05 PM

I could see a hypothetical "Fantastic Four come back to Earth after being missing for quite some time" not showing Ben's human days still featuring his angst. I figure in such a hypothetical plot, the focus would be on Ben being anxious about coming back home now that he is a stone human and hoping people will accept him as he is. Upon coming back and finding out the harsh reality that no, most people think he's a rocky abomination, he goes into a crisis of sorts ("maybe I am...") has to grapple with that. It'd be a way to address the same themes, but different from the approach of the 2000's F4 film.

Edited by Gaon on Jun 6th 2019 at 2:40:01 AM

"All you Fascists bound to lose."
KnownUnknown Since: Jan, 2001
#103428: Jun 6th 2019 at 2:38:07 PM

[up][up]You mean the movie where there’s only two principal characters, about a focus character who was introduced to the world of the changed character rather than directly about that story itself?

Edited by KnownUnknown on Jun 6th 2019 at 2:43:39 AM

Bocaj Funny but not helpful from Here or thereabouts (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
Funny but not helpful
#103429: Jun 6th 2019 at 2:39:13 PM

Its not like the original comic showed a lot of human ben. It got its point across in different ways. Which included sad about rocks.

Forever liveblogging the Avengers
KnownUnknown Since: Jan, 2001
#103430: Jun 6th 2019 at 2:41:27 PM

The original comic which has run for about fifty years and thus has he time and space to expand characters for more than a single story in the space of an hour and a half?

Are you talking about doing a FF tv show, or a tv FF movie. Because if they’re doing a movie, there are certain medium limitations in play there.

Bocaj Funny but not helpful from Here or thereabouts (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
Funny but not helpful
#103431: Jun 6th 2019 at 2:44:01 PM

The original comic which had to sell itself in one issue or the marvel universe would have faltered before it started because Stan Lee was way off mission with it.

Forever liveblogging the Avengers
KnownUnknown Since: Jan, 2001
#103432: Jun 6th 2019 at 2:45:05 PM

So, you’re specifically arguing that because the very first issue of a comic didn’t involve parts of an origin, that no adaptation should have to?

Because, ignoring that the principal issue of a comic is more akin to a tv pilot than a film, FF #1 did include the origin.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Jun 6th 2019 at 2:47:22 AM

Bocaj Funny but not helpful from Here or thereabouts (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
Funny but not helpful
#103433: Jun 6th 2019 at 2:47:26 PM

I'm specifically arguing that a lot can be done with a little in regards to Ben's characterization.

Past that you're putting words in my mouth.

Forever liveblogging the Avengers
KnownUnknown Since: Jan, 2001
#103434: Jun 6th 2019 at 2:49:30 PM

And your argument doesn’t work, because you’re specifically pointing to a work which has developed the character over several decades.

Comics Ben didn’t become the character he is in one issue, let alone resolve any personal arcs. Comic books are serialized, they don’t work that way.

ComicFan Since: Sep, 2016
#103435: Jun 6th 2019 at 2:51:59 PM

Expect news to drop at D23[1]. Has there been any news on Marvel Studios attending SDCC?

Edited by ComicFan on Jun 6th 2019 at 2:56:13 AM

KnownUnknown Since: Jan, 2001
#103436: Jun 6th 2019 at 3:26:07 PM

According to Kevin Feige, what exactly their plans are for SDCC would have been a spoiler for Endgame, so I'd wager they're intending to use it to show off some of their plans for the universe going forward.

Theokal3 Since: Jan, 2012
#103437: Jun 6th 2019 at 3:38:14 PM

I personally found it a little funny with the phrase Christian Alt-Right being a huge clue to its satirical nature, given that much of the alt-right is fueled by New Atheists and scientific racists types who hate Christianity.

Well, I guess that makes one more I can add to my list or reasons to hate these guys.

Anyway, back to Marvel-related topic, do you guys think they should change the origins for the Fantastic Four?

KnownUnknown Since: Jan, 2001
#103438: Jun 6th 2019 at 3:45:26 PM

I'm in the camp that they should have the Four be lost on an adventure and return in the present day. They could do kind of a newsreel thing: have their past be very visible as they return triumphantly into the future. When they show up, they find out there's a new player in Eastern Europe named Victor Von Doom - who they knew in the past - and try to warn everyone about him (though Doom shouldn't be the first movie villain).

Or do a throwback movie in general. That could work. Have them facing the Mole Man or the Skrulls of yesterday or Dr. Doom in the 60's or 70's, but now they're gone for some reason and Dr. Doom is still around.

A while ago, someone posted a video about the legal and psychological ramifications of Endgame, and one of the most fascinating things they brought up is that an unprecedented disaster like that would be a breeding ground for all sorts of despots and dictators, which would make the perfect set up for Latveria.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Jun 6th 2019 at 4:40:23 AM

Gaon Smoking Snake from Grim Up North Since: Jun, 2012 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
#103439: Jun 6th 2019 at 4:07:15 PM

I'm more or less in the same camp of having the film either be a deliberate throwback or have the Four be here from the past, but otherwise keep things broadly the same. You could say the cosmic storm that hit them opened a dimensional rift to The Negative Zone and they spent this time there.

Interestingly, I was thinking back to Red Ghost (AND HIS SUPER-APES!) and the thought occurred me he has a similar name and power-set (intangibility) to a previous MCU villain, Ghost (though Red Ghost's inganbility is usually shown as much more refined, e.g he can turn only parts of his body intangible while maintaining others solid). If you do feature him, you could say the cosmic storm that hit his team instead sent him to the Quantum Realm.

Following up on the previously mentioned idea of the film starting with an old-fashioned, kooky 60's educational reel (possibly animated) about the ill-fated mission of the Fantastic Four, I was picturing that reel ending with the narrator hoping we can someday find out whatever happened to the Four as it cuts to black...

...And then it fades in to a old-fashioned, kooky 60's Soviet educational reel (possibly animated) in subtitled Russian about the ill-fated mission of the Red Ghost (AND HIS SUPER-APES!) to reach the cosmic storm before the capitalist four, and how he likewise went MIA, with the hope that some day, the glorious proletariat of the world can find out whatever became of the Red Ghost (AND HIS SUPER-APES!)...

And then the film proper begins.

Edited by Gaon on Jun 6th 2019 at 4:07:54 AM

"All you Fascists bound to lose."
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.
#103440: Jun 6th 2019 at 4:47:40 PM

I really like that idea.

KnownUnknown Since: Jan, 2001
#103441: Jun 6th 2019 at 4:52:25 PM

They could do it Indiana Jones style, where it starts out as a group of explorers trying to beat some overdramatic Nazi / Soviet / Latverian antagonists to a treasure or something, but which then expands into a huge sci-fi adventure as they find more than they bargained for.

megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#103442: Jun 6th 2019 at 4:52:43 PM

[up][up][up] Yes! That would be amazing!

I would also love if they tried to go as Jack Kirby/John Byrne-esque as you can possibly get in live action, in terms of actual production design.

Edited by megaeliz on Jun 6th 2019 at 7:52:55 AM

Beatman1 Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Gone fishin'
RJ-19-CLOVIS-93 from New Zealand (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#103444: Jun 6th 2019 at 5:01:13 PM

If Cap going to 1945 makes an Alternate History where HYDRA never infiltrated the government, have the FF comes from that universe and be set in the 1960s. For fun you can have little details of alternate history like Nixon winning the 1960 election, or the Soviets landing on the moon first. FF deal with alternate universes all the time, which would let them interact with the main MCU

RavenWilder Since: Apr, 2009
#103445: Jun 6th 2019 at 5:05:09 PM

See, I think the lost in time thing is a little too much to cram into an origin movie.

You've already got to establish and develop four lead characters (by itself, no small feat). Then you've got to establish each of their unique powers (which will require a little more time than for a group like the Guardians, where, outside of Groot, they're all just some variation of "good with weapons"). Then you've got to establish their particular niche in the MCU. And then, of course, you've got to establish the villain they'll be fighting and, y'know, the plot of the movie.

If you add in them being thrust 60 years into the future and having to learn basic stuff, like how to work a touchscreen, and you might be making the movie overstuffed.

chasemaddigan I'm Sad Frogerson. Since: Oct, 2011
KnownUnknown Since: Jan, 2001
#103447: Jun 6th 2019 at 5:12:29 PM

I don't think they have be literally lost in time. Just on an adventure that lasted years.

On the flipside, them having been on an adventure for years and only just coming back now kind of cuts out the appeal of the Human Torch as a young, inexperienced hothead. And ruins the idea of him and Spidey being compatible bros, for a potential crossover movie.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Jun 6th 2019 at 5:30:34 AM

Gaon Smoking Snake from Grim Up North Since: Jun, 2012 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
#103448: Jun 6th 2019 at 6:32:03 PM

Of course, it could be both, in the form of some Year Outside, Hour Inside adventure where (from their POV) they've only been away for a few days or weeks only to come back and realize it's been 60 years.

Also, I don't think time displacement would be that much of a problem. Four main heroes is a pretty regular number of heroes, nothing too extraordinary to establish and write I'd say, speaking from my experience as a screenwriter. Specially if you go with a more "simple" villain of sorts to give the Four more space to breathe.

Of course, there's also the Lost In Space route and have the entire film be set during their time lost in some inter-dimensional shenanigans, trying to come back home. You could have a opening scene of the Four and their spaceship floating through whatever eldritch realm they're locked away at, probably fighting some kind of eldritch monster, establishing their power-sets and their relationship to one another during the battle. After the fight scene ends, we find out they were battling whatever they were battling for a film reel hailing from Earth that ended up in their weird space anomaly through some Technobabble. they Then they bring the reel back to their ship and play it (and thus we get the kooky 60's video about them for a audience crash course), which gives them hope that the people back home are looking for them (which is surprising, since for them it's only been a few weeks, something that Reed is catching on but hasn't shared yet with the other 3 so as to not crush their spirits). Then they talk to themselves and point out how finding this reel means they're close to the exit point of this eldritch realm and Richards calculates the direction it came from and blasts off, yada yada. Following scene could be Red Ghost mournfully playing a film reel of his own (and so we get the kooky soviet animation), watching it sadly with his apes. He picks up the signal of the F4 ship traveling faster than normal and realizes they must have found a route out, and thus sets his sights on them.

Race to the exit point of whatever weird shit they're in ensues, with them stumbling upon various Marvel cosmic figures, threats and entities trapped/inhabiting whatever weird vacuum their in along their way home. Lost Skrulls, The Brood, maybe some Celestials and even a Early-Bird Cameo of Galactus and who knows what else.

At the very end of this hypothetical film, they finally do get out, only to discover they're sixty years ahead of when they got lost. Smash to credits. Post-credits scene of Mole Man underground, trying to calm his Moloids from the seismic waves caused by the F4 arriving (somehow, just roll with it, this is the first draft) and promising the surface world won't bother them for much longer. Second post-credit scene of Doctor Doom reacting to their arrival with a RICHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARDS.

A billion world-wide, guaranteed!

"All you Fascists bound to lose."
AyyItsMidnight Look, just be decent to one another ok? Since: Oct, 2018
Look, just be decent to one another ok?
#103449: Jun 6th 2019 at 7:28:35 PM

Well after coming home from some kidney stone surgery I felt like watching Jessica Jones with my mom while I relaxed. I got five episodes in before retreating to my room. It's quite good and intriguing. Kilgrave is of course a very effectively slimy, hateable villain. As usual with pre-2018 MCU works I've spoiled most of it for myself so I know how it ends but that ain't stopping me.

Self-serious autistic trans gal who loves rock/metal and animation with all her heart. (she/her)
alliterator Since: Jan, 2001
#103450: Jun 6th 2019 at 7:30:56 PM

The Fantastic Four rumor is probably false. That's from a Twitter account that's well known for getting things right.


Total posts: 186,763
Top