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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

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#111526: Oct 19th 2019 at 11:02:39 AM

Oh right, I forgot to mention Back to the Future. And the first two Terminator movies.

Edited by M84 on Oct 20th 2019 at 2:03:06 AM

Disgusted, but not surprised
alliterator Since: Jan, 2001
#111527: Oct 19th 2019 at 11:04:24 AM

I was going to say Primer at first, but while the rules are pretty simple, the movie itself is complicated as hell.

Tuckerscreator (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Drift compatible
#111528: Oct 19th 2019 at 11:11:16 AM

I like time travel stories, but it can be really hard to keep them consistent. I remember writing for a story a long time ago where my rules were “you can’t travel to the future, you can’t go back further than 98000 BCE, and going to your own life’s past erases your past self.” The temptation to fudge the rules was always there. tongue

Edited by Tuckerscreator on Oct 19th 2019 at 11:17:00 AM

slimcoder The Head of the Hydra Since: May, 2013
The Head of the Hydra
#111529: Oct 19th 2019 at 11:13:04 AM

I shall go back in time & throw a banana at someone’s car.

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."
Aleistar Since: Feb, 2018 Relationship Status: Hugging my pillow
Ultimatum Disasturbator from the Amiga Forest (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#111531: Oct 19th 2019 at 11:28:11 AM

but the person in the car is past!You

you've just thrown a banana at yourself

have a listen and have a link to my discord server
slimcoder The Head of the Hydra Since: May, 2013
The Head of the Hydra
#111532: Oct 19th 2019 at 11:33:10 AM

But that's impossible.

I don't have a car.

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."
Forenperser Foreign Troper from Germany Since: Mar, 2012
Foreign Troper
#111533: Oct 19th 2019 at 11:35:50 AM

Completely different question, if we would believe the rumors and Marvel really plans on bringing back the one and only Johnny Blaze as Ghost Rider in the movies department, who (aside from Nic Cage, off course wink) would you like to see playing him?

Certified: 48.0% West Asian, 6.5% South Asian, 15.8% North/West European, 15.7% English, 7.4% Balkan, 6.6% Scandinavian
Ultimatum Disasturbator from the Amiga Forest (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#111534: Oct 19th 2019 at 11:36:33 AM

Danny De Vito

have a listen and have a link to my discord server
Gaon Smoking Snake from Grim Up North Since: Jun, 2012 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
#111535: Oct 19th 2019 at 11:43:41 AM

Keanu Reeves for Johnny Blaze in full biker mode.

Someone young and unknown for Danny Ketch.

'Danny Devito for Mephisto

Mephvito

"All you Fascists bound to lose."
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#111536: Oct 19th 2019 at 11:46:42 AM

It just won't be the same without Cage.

I don't think any other actor could make something like this work.

Disgusted, but not surprised
Pseudopartition Screaming Into The Void from The Cretaeceous Since: Dec, 2013 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
Screaming Into The Void
#111537: Oct 19th 2019 at 11:52:39 AM

There's a bit in the novel First Among Sequels where the main character's husband talks about his plans to write a book of advice on how to write time travel. The advice? "Don't."

Of course, this is Thursday Next, so the novel is half about time travel. By the end, time travel has been erased from existence in part because it turns out no one had invented it yet, just relied on time machines sent from the future. They then prevent time travel from ever being invented. Yeah. I love those books.

Beatman1 Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Gone fishin'
#111538: Oct 19th 2019 at 11:52:57 AM

So I guess with the shake up there’s no way to give Robbie Reyes his own film?

[up]Honestly, all the discussion of time travel metaphysics just has me doing this at the end -

Edited by Beatman1 on Oct 19th 2019 at 2:54:22 PM

Akirakan Since: Feb, 2015 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
Forenperser Foreign Troper from Germany Since: Mar, 2012
Foreign Troper
#111540: Oct 19th 2019 at 11:56:07 AM

[up][up] Don't think so.

And honestly, even though how it all went down was kinda shitty, I was just never a big fan of the Reyes version. Ghost Rider with a car just kills all the fun the concept brings for me.

For me, the flaming skull is absolutely synonomous with a bike.

Certified: 48.0% West Asian, 6.5% South Asian, 15.8% North/West European, 15.7% English, 7.4% Balkan, 6.6% Scandinavian
Gaon Smoking Snake from Grim Up North Since: Jun, 2012 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
#111541: Oct 19th 2019 at 12:01:58 PM

I have nothing against Reyes and find him a fairly solid example of representation, but I prefer Blaze and Ketch. Partially because, yeah, I prefer him with a bike.

Fun fact: Portuguese has no word for "Rider", so GR's name in Portuguese varies by his vehicle. The OG Old West Ghost Rider (sometimes known as Phantom Rider) is called "Cavaleiro Fantasma" ("Ghost Horseman" or "Ghost Knight"), regular Ghost Rider is "Motoqueiro Fantasma" (something akin to "Ghost Biker").

This makes Robbie Reyes be often called as the much less imposing "Motorista Fantasma" ("Ghost Driver" or even "Ghost Chauffeur" if you wanna be funny).

"All you Fascists bound to lose."
unknowing from somewhere.. Since: Mar, 2014
#111542: Oct 19th 2019 at 12:18:46 PM

[up]Motorista fantasma is also is name in spanish...when he obther translating that it, is kinda like Ghost motorcycler or something like that

"My Name is Bolt, Bolt Crank and I dont care if you believe or not"
RavenWilder Since: Apr, 2009
#111543: Oct 19th 2019 at 1:12:35 PM

The problem, however, is that the movie leaves the rules of time travel vague and inconsistent. Like, we know taking an Infinity Stone will result in a branched timeline and returning it will cut the branch...but what happens to everything that was changed? If Gamora's branched timeline was clipped, why is she still here? What the hell happened with Loki? Is there or isn't there a timeline where Thanos and his army disappeared?

Assuming Steve did return all the Infinity Stones to the exact moment they were taken, then no, there are no alternate timelines where Loki made off with the Tesseract or where Thanos and his army disappeared. Gamora's still around because, when her branched timeline was clipped, she was no longer in that branched timeline.

Anomalocaris20 from Sagittarius A* Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: Love blinded me (with science!)
#111544: Oct 19th 2019 at 1:17:28 PM

She'd be an orphaned temporal clone.

Conversely, does that mean Black Widow's corpse doesn't exist anymore?

You cannot firmly grasp the true form of Squidward's technique!
Ultimatum Disasturbator from the Amiga Forest (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#111545: Oct 19th 2019 at 1:21:27 PM

She becomes Schrödinger's cat

have a listen and have a link to my discord server
AyyItsMidnight Look, just be decent to one another ok? Since: Oct, 2018
Look, just be decent to one another ok?
#111546: Oct 19th 2019 at 1:25:17 PM

Schrodinger's Flerken.

Self-serious autistic trans gal who loves rock/metal and animation with all her heart. (she/her)
slimcoder The Head of the Hydra Since: May, 2013
The Head of the Hydra
#111547: Oct 19th 2019 at 1:34:19 PM

It’s an evil cat.

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."
Andrei_Bondoc Since: Jan, 2019
#111548: Oct 19th 2019 at 3:21:49 PM

I have finally finished watching... Doctor Strange (2016)!

Summary: Skilled, but arrogant neurosurgeon loses his hands and trains in ancient mystic arts to become a sorcerer to protect us from Dormammu.

Stan Lee cameo: Bus passenger. He says ''This is hilarious!" after Strange is smacked, while reading a book.

Observations:

  1. Super shiny new Marvel Studios Vanity Plate is a go!
  2. Didn't Doctor Strange: The Sorcerer Supreme came almost 10 years before this film? And is it worth a watch?
  3. With Benedict Cumberbatch joining the MCU, we have two Sherlocks. And after Sherlock Gnomes (retroactively), a Watson (specifically, Chiwetel Ejiofor). Also, Benny is well-cast here. Bravo for him!
  4. So, Dan Harmon helped with additional material here? That's neat!
  5. So, the Ancient One here is a Celtic woman. And I've apparently understood while reading the Trivia page of this film that for the Ancient One being introduced in this film it was a Morton's Fork? I don't know what to say about that other than Tilda Swinton did her part well.
  6. Tina Minoru had a cameo here?! How did I miss it?!
  7. After being discussed in Thor: The Dark World, the Multiverse is properly seen. Speaking of Thor, this time here is real magic, not science magic!
  8. I like Mordo here. He starts out as a nice guy, then he has doubts about the Ancient One's methods, becoming eeevil after.
  9. Dormammu being tricked by Doctor Strange into an endless time-loop to agree on Strange's bargain is both funny and awesome to me!
  10. I liked Kaecilius here, too.
  11. This film has some very great special effects. And I like how creative this film is in this department! Also, this film is trippy when it comes to dimensional travelling!
  12. Is it just me or is it similar to Iron Man 1 (and maybe Ant-Man)? And with Thor (at the arrogance department)''? At least, they are in their own ways different at something after all. Actually, this film is more of an antithesis of those, now that I think of it...

The Stinger: For the umpteenth time, two:

  1. Thor and Doctor Strange have a talk. Thor drinks from an unlimited beer (or something). That reminds me of an episode of The Garfield Show when Garfield once had an eternal piece of lasagna, now that I think of it... (mid-credits)
  2. Mordo sucks the power out of Jonathan Pangborn (a dude who also went to Kamar-Taj, but later chose to live a regular life), finally finding his problem: too many sorcerers. (post-credits)

9/10!note 

If I am wrong, please tell me and I'll apologize for my mistakes.

"Scooby Dooby Doo!"
AyyItsMidnight Look, just be decent to one another ok? Since: Oct, 2018
Look, just be decent to one another ok?
#111549: Oct 19th 2019 at 3:30:58 PM

Ah, this one. Not too keen on it but it has its moments, the highlight obviously being the Dormammu scene. Strange himself definitely gets to show off his abilities more in Infinity War.

On a lighter note, it's all uphill from here. Guardians 2, Homecoming, Ragnarok and Black Panther all make up an incredible winning streak for the movie side in my opinion. Infinity War I'm still plenty mixed on but I can still get some fun from it. Hope you enjoy!

Self-serious autistic trans gal who loves rock/metal and animation with all her heart. (she/her)
TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#111550: Oct 19th 2019 at 4:02:00 PM

With Benedict Cumberbatch joining the MCU, we have two Sherlocks. And after Sherlock Gnomes (retroactively), a Watson (specifically, Chiwetel Ejiofor). Also, Benny is well-cast here. Bravo for him!

Two Watsons, actually. Cumberbatch's Watson, Martin Freeman, joined the MCU in Captain America: Civil War as Everett Ross - not to be confused with Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross.

And I've apparently understood while reading the Trivia page of this film that for the Ancient One being introduced in this film it was a Morton's Fork?

No, it wasn't. Marvel was freaked out about introducing the "Wise Asian Master" stereotype because they were worried about being pegged for stereotypes. Marvel declared that Tokenism < Good Representation, and thus decided that erasing Asian representation was the way to go.

Actual Asian people, meanwhile, pretty firmly came out against this decision on the grounds that Erasure < Tokenism < Good Representation. Others, meanwhile, found themselves asking the question, "So why does 'Not Asian' automatically mean white?"

It's not a Morton's Fork. Marvel just made a bad choice, and their defenders have tried to declare it a Morton's Fork ever since as an attempt to downplay criticism.

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.

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