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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

Coobalt-Dahonli-One Lurker Veteran from Meet me there, but only when I'm late Since: May, 2013 Relationship Status: Owner of a lonely heart
Lurker Veteran
#105651: Jul 20th 2019 at 11:21:08 PM

https://www.deviantart.com/matthewroyale/gallery/51315544/fantastic-four-redesigns-a-to-z

This guy redesigned a few obscure FF vilains and the one that got me curious was Occulus. He gets his powers from gems encrusted into his eye. Wouldn't be hard to link that to the infinity stones without being them (since they're supposed to have been destroyed / brought back to their timelines). Plus, there's something cool about taking an Unexpected Character and improving upon him.

crazyrabbit: I know about Snipes' antics back in Trinity. He definitely deserves some of the blame, but the director being... Well... Not GDT probably played into his vitriol. My hope is that he's smart enough to not act like that again, lest Marvel slams the door on him.

Edited by Coobalt-Dahonli-One on Jul 20th 2019 at 2:25:13 PM

Tuckerscreator (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Drift compatible
#105652: Jul 20th 2019 at 11:24:39 PM

Not really hopeful for the Hawkeye show, unfortunately. It suggests it'll model itself after the Fractions series, but loveable disaster deaf 616 Clint is so far removed from murder weeb boring family MCU Clint. And the description that he'll be training Kate Bishop when she trained herself in the comics strikes me as a misunderstanding of her character.

Fraction's Hawkeye distinguished itself by its unorthodox paneling and storytelling. Stylistic, a Spider-Verse-type animated film would be more faithful. If they cast Adeline Rudolph or Lana Condor as Kate I might find the series compelling but currently my optimism isn't high.

Edited by Tuckerscreator on Jul 20th 2019 at 11:28:31 AM

Anomalocaris20 from Sagittarius A* Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: Love blinded me (with science!)
#105653: Jul 20th 2019 at 11:44:05 PM

I'm hearing they also used the panel to officially, formally announce that Endgame has finally beaten Avatar to become #1?

You cannot firmly grasp the true form of Squidward's technique!
Tuckerscreator (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Drift compatible
#105654: Jul 20th 2019 at 11:45:06 PM

The box office numbers officially update tomorrow, but yes, Endgame has passed Avatar.

Thanos Snapped out Pandora too. tongue

Cortez from Parts Unknown (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#105655: Jul 21st 2019 at 12:19:01 AM

Shang-Chi. My knowledge of the character is limited, but if they can do some Arc Welding

The going theory is that the Mandarin will replace Fu Manchu as Shang-Chi's father.

blank stares, weak responses

Comments like these keep being directed at female actresses and it's especially weird when they are thrown towards an Oscar winning actress.

Regardless, Natalie Portman has already proved that she's a good actress, that she can "do a good job". Whether you believe it or not doesn't change that.

Natalie Portman's shown better range in films like Black Swan and Annihilation. And she recognized the potential of Patty Jenkins when she was initially signed to The Dark World, which Jenkins later demonstrated with Wonder Woman.

Exactly.

If they cast Adeline Rudolph or Lana Condor as Kate I might find the series compelling

Great picks. Unfortunately, i don't think they'll go with an Asian actress for Kate. But i hope so.

Edited by Cortez on Jul 21st 2019 at 3:31:08 PM

Anomalocaris20 from Sagittarius A* Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: Love blinded me (with science!)
#105656: Jul 21st 2019 at 12:33:38 AM

She's always been a good actress. Even back as a kid in her debut film, Léon: the Professional.

Thor 1 and 2 just utterly squandered her by casting her as an incredibly bland obligatory love interest whose sole quality outside of that is being a scientist, except Dr. Selvig makes her completely redundant there too.

Edited by Anomalocaris20 on Jul 21st 2019 at 3:39:27 PM

You cannot firmly grasp the true form of Squidward's technique!
crazyrabbits Crazyrabbits from Mississauga, ON, Canada Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
Crazyrabbits
#105657: Jul 21st 2019 at 12:37:21 AM

^^ And Michael Caine famously didn't pick up his award for Hannah and Her Sisters back in 1986 because he was busy in the Bahamas filming (or rather, phoning in) Jaws: The Revenge. Being an Oscar winner doesn't mean you're exempt from criticism, regardless of your age or gender. Anyone can half-heartedly do a performance, for a variety of reasons.

I love Portman's work (Leon has been on my list of favorite films for a long time now), but she looked like she didn't belong in Dark World. And frankly, with the way they kept writing excuses around her absence (not to mention her being a glorified punchline in Endgame — wasn't that jury-rigged footage of her from Dark World), they're going to have to do a lot of work to bring that character back.

Edited by crazyrabbits on Jul 21st 2019 at 3:38:56 PM

jakobitis Doctor of Doctorates from Somewhere, somewhen Since: Jan, 2015 Relationship Status: I'd need a PowerPoint presentation
Doctor of Doctorates
#105658: Jul 21st 2019 at 12:50:48 AM

To be fair, in Thor 2 she was almost literally just a maguffin. As an actual character Jane was barely even relevant, if Thor had been looking for an actual literal stone the plot wouldn't have changed much.

"These 'no-nonsense' solutions of yours just don't hold water in a complex world of jet-powered apes and time travel."
Cortez from Parts Unknown (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#105659: Jul 21st 2019 at 1:10:40 AM

Being an Oscar winner doesn't mean you're exempt from criticism

Valid criticism, sure. But this isn't it. She can't do much about the script she was given. Yet you ate singling her out.

[up]

Exactly and none of that is Natalie's fault. That was just how they wrote Jane in that film.

I wonder how different it would have been had Jenkins stayed.

Edited by Cortez on Jul 21st 2019 at 4:12:47 AM

crazyrabbits Crazyrabbits from Mississauga, ON, Canada Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
Crazyrabbits
#105660: Jul 21st 2019 at 1:27:48 AM

Speaking of which, Your Highness is still the worst Portman movie.

In all seriousness, my point stands. There was a reason (actually, several) why she stepped back from the MCU. Dark World did both her and Skarsgard wrong, and made out them out to be a mere shell of what they were in the previous film.

Edited by crazyrabbits on Jul 21st 2019 at 4:29:53 AM

theLibrarian Since: Jul, 2009
#105661: Jul 21st 2019 at 4:59:20 AM

Okay, so it was less of a Star Wars-style “Don’t really care about this it just boosted my career” and more “Wasn’t being used to my full potential.”

TargetmasterJoe from Velocitron Since: May, 2013 Relationship Status: I like big bots and I can not lie
#105662: Jul 21st 2019 at 5:03:32 AM

Unfortunate about Snipes not coming back, but his primadonna behavior on Blade: Trinity is almost legendary at this point — I'm not surprised.

I didn't even know about Snipes exerting such a bad attitude... surprised

Now I'm on board the Mahershala train even more than I already was. grin

ACW from Arlington, VA (near Washington, D.C.) Since: Jul, 2009
#105663: Jul 21st 2019 at 5:04:00 AM

Portman returning, as Thor?

BLADE??

Holy fuck!

The only thing that could be better is if Marvel said "fuck your Hulu" and moved EVERYTHING to the new Disney channel.

AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#105664: Jul 21st 2019 at 5:05:45 AM

Response to the news:

Shang-Chi: Congratulations to Simu Lu, after catching him on Kim's Convenience thanks to Czhang's recommendation. And congratulations to Known Unknown (?) for theorizing that they could use the true Mandarin as Shang-Chi's father, years in advance before we knew if they'd even consider it for the MCU.

Thor 4: The cynic in me feels that Valkyrie's LGBTQ storyline is going to be a repeat of Le Fou's from the Beauty and the Beast remake. Better than the laughable representation in Endgame, and probably more explicit in dialogue, but nevertheless mostly amounting to easily censorable speech and whatever physical intimacy they share will still be fairly ambiguous, but they'll hype it to high hell nonetheless. Also not the most excited about Jane Foster as I've never been that attached to her character, even if they do manage to pull her out of the dumpster. On top of the questionable handling of the Female Thor storyline in the comics, although with hindsight they probably will have an easier time of it. It will need some major reworking at the very least, and hopefully a significant design change.

Eternals: The new cast looks great. I'm very interested to see what they will do with Makkari in particular since it's such a large departure from the comics version.

Blade: Awesome. I don't think I'll ever fully unsee Snipes as the role, but Ali will kill it, no doubt. This is the first time we've had the same actor play two unrelated major characters in separate subfranchises within the same superhero universe, isn't it?

Loki: Disappointed this isn't his post-character development version, as I wasn't a great fan of his depiction in Avengers (though the main issue might be Whedon). Nevertheless I've enjoyed him to various levels in every movie he's been in, so I'm still cautiously excited.

Ultimatum Disasturbator from the Amiga Forest (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#105665: Jul 21st 2019 at 5:09:18 AM

Blade can be played by Will Smith!

have a listen and have a link to my discord server
Galadriel Since: Feb, 2015
#105666: Jul 21st 2019 at 5:47:05 AM

Portman’s brilliant when she’s in a good movie - she did a fantastic job in V for Vendetta and '’Black Swan''.

She doesn’t have some actors’ the gift of elevating a bad movie or a weakly written character.

If the writing and direction of Thor 4 is good, she’ll be good.

Falrinn Since: Dec, 2014
#105667: Jul 21st 2019 at 5:54:13 AM

[up][up][up] Honestly I have to admit that I'm not worried at all about how they will handle the female Thor aspect of the comic. Yes, some reworking will probably be necessary, but the MCU has always played it fast and loose with adaptations. At most they take a couple core elements and characters and then build their own original story around them.

With Jane Foster Thor, the easiest solution would be to just not depower Thor. Jane Foster gets some Asgardian physiology, Lightning powers, and a sweet weapon. Thor keeps his lightning powers and Stormbreaker, and obviously is still an Asgardian. They don't need to do the name transfer at all.

For her weapon perhaps they could reforge Mjølnir from it's fragments. So Jane Foster gets Mjølnir and maybe that's how she gains Thor's powers in the first place. Wielding Mjølnir grants the user Thor's powers, per Odin's enchantment and as depicted in Endgame.

...and maybe in a post credit scene we find out that a fragment of the original Mjølnir wasn't reforged into the new hammer. And that fragment is picked up by a certain frog...

Edited by Falrinn on Jul 21st 2019 at 8:54:21 AM

Forenperser Foreign Troper from Germany Since: Mar, 2012
Foreign Troper
#105668: Jul 21st 2019 at 6:02:01 AM

I'm so glad we'll finally get the real Mandarin with the Shang Chi movie.

Certified: 48.0% West Asian, 6.5% South Asian, 15.8% North/West European, 15.7% English, 7.4% Balkan, 6.6% Scandinavian
slimcoder The Head of the Hydra Since: May, 2013
The Head of the Hydra
#105669: Jul 21st 2019 at 6:20:53 AM

Now that I think about it, considering how Thor is a comedy, they’ll most likely just have a big laugh with the whole “there has to be a Thor” thing.

They won’t take it as seriously as the comics did, acknowledging the inherent silliness of the concept, & just have fun with it.

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."
KJMackley Since: Jan, 2001
#105670: Jul 21st 2019 at 6:28:08 AM

Snipes became famous for a prima Donna attitude with Blade Trinity, director David Goyer has his ups and downs depending on who he's working with but Snipes hated everything about the movie from the get go, which is partially why it ended up focusing more on other characters because Snipes refused to show up on set except for close ups. It's possible he got humbled from the jail time, but certainly at this point Marvel is looking for their own lead and not rehashing the older movies. Ali is a great choice, he's quite good at that unphazed Seen It All glare that would go perfectly for a vampire hunter.

Portman is a great naturalistic actor but she's just not known for having the magnetic charisma needed to carry a blockbuster. Even Samuel L. Jackson was a lot more dry in Star Wars, and he IS known for elevating any movie. In Thor, Jane was basically just the love interest and all the effort to make her more plot relevant couldn't get around that.

KusaMigeru Interesting Person #928 from Kanda Island Since: May, 2016 Relationship Status: Hooked on a feeling
Interesting Person #928
#105671: Jul 21st 2019 at 7:58:46 AM

Yeah, I believe Snipes is just not a good pick anymore, between his behavior on Trinity and his jail time. On the other hand, Ali is a great actor and gives off that mysterious, nonchalant aura when he puts his sunglasses on. That suits Blade perfectly.

As for the other movies:

Eternals: really like the cast; was surprised with Jolie being Thena and Makkari/Ajak being portrayed by women. I just found Madden a strange pick, as I was expecting someone more... "Thor-ish" for Ikaris.

Thor: Yeah, we seem to be getting two Thors this time. I believe OG Thor shall keep his powers, given what Ragnarok and Endgame have shown. And Waititi as the director at least ensures this won't be a borefest like the first two movies - alright, mostly Dark World.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: This title is so metal I had to repeat it. Nice to see Wanda is gonna be in it; perhaps this is when she starts meddling with actual sorcery, like her 616 counterpart?

Shang-Chi: I've always thought this was a weird pick. Then I saw the title and realized why they chose him for a movie. I wonder if the true Mandarin is gonna be a villain this time and I can't help but think how they wasted the opportunity to make him interact with Stark...

... And that's called jazz!
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.
#105672: Jul 21st 2019 at 8:04:54 AM

Wait, do you guys not think that Valkyrie's "Queen" is referring to Jane Thor? Didn't Tessa Thompson say that Valkyrie would be looking for a queen as an way to introduce Natalie Portman to the stage?

Maybe I'm wrong, but I was totally under the impression that Thor: Love and Thunder is going to be a lesbian romance action movie between Jane Thor and Valkyrie.

Ultimatum Disasturbator from the Amiga Forest (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#105673: Jul 21st 2019 at 8:09:19 AM

> but I was totally under the impression that Thor: Love and Thunder is going to be a lesbian romance action movie between Jane Thor and Valkyrie.

As much I want it i don't think Marvel has the courage to produce a film about the relationship between those two

have a listen and have a link to my discord server
Bocaj Funny but not helpful from Here or thereabouts (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
Funny but not helpful
#105674: Jul 21st 2019 at 8:10:45 AM

It’s funny in a kind of sad way if Vakyrie gets together with Thor’s ex after also getting his throne

Endgame Thor was still very much not over Jane, although he was very much over the throne. For like a couple of movies

Forever liveblogging the Avengers
Beatman1 Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Gone fishin'
#105675: Jul 21st 2019 at 8:19:49 AM

[up]Yeah, I am not feeling that one damn bit.


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