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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

GethKnight Since: Apr, 2010
#23176: Dec 5th 2014 at 6:25:01 AM

Wonder who will be Mordo or Mr Firehead. Preferably someone with a deep baritone voice. Ron Perlman or the Old Spice Guy.

kalel94 Rascal King from Dragonstone Since: Feb, 2011
Rascal King
#23177: Dec 5th 2014 at 6:26:25 AM

[up][up] I don't get it.

Anyway, I hate when people complain about "pandering" or "forced diversity". You have a cast full of white people, and the second a black guy shows up, it's suddenly "forcing the liberal agenda on us". Literally nothing would change if the people in charge didn't force it to, because obviously audiences don't want it to change.

edited 5th Dec '14 6:26:45 AM by kalel94

The last hurrah? Nah, I'd do it again.
MousaThe14 Writer, Artist, Ignored from Northern Virginia Since: Jan, 2011 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
Writer, Artist, Ignored
#23178: Dec 5th 2014 at 6:33:57 AM

[up]Higherbrainpattern means that they've completely lost interest in the film now to the point of discontinuity. It's a mean joke and, in this case, unjustified.

As mentioned before, I am mostly disappointed they went with Cumberbatch because he's such an obvious choice as well as the ethnic monochrome of the MCU cast.

Why just this past Tuesday, Agents of SHIELD lost an awesome mechanic character of colour who was doing a really good job helping Fitz through his brain damage and was a decent straight man to boot. I miss Mac already.... 8(

I'm still going to watch Doctor Strange because I really want a Doctor Strange movie, but I'm just so sick and bored of Cumberbatch that I wish I wasn't seeing him in the robes.

Besides, have you seen that man and his snake face? there's no way that's pulling off a mustache. He was practically born to be clean shaven.

Also, let the man have his natural hair colour, I don't think he's ever been allowed to be blond ever and it's probably killing his hair.

edited 5th Dec '14 6:34:26 AM by MousaThe14

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Wackd Since: May, 2009
#23179: Dec 5th 2014 at 6:35:31 AM

But race lift have his issues even if chaning a white chararter, usually is feel they are milking the pularity of a chararter and pandering to fans("this is the spider everyone loves, but now is latino...yeah, just like that") and it feel a disrespect to the chararter and the fans
And as we all know comic books have always been above capitalizing on popularity and pandering to fans.

I don't know why such a change would be disrespectful, or at least be so in excess to the disrespect real actual people go through everyday.

Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.
GethKnight Since: Apr, 2010
#23180: Dec 5th 2014 at 6:40:06 AM

[up][up]I don't know, looks fine to me.

edited 5th Dec '14 6:40:38 AM by GethKnight

KnownUnknown Since: Jan, 2001
#23181: Dec 5th 2014 at 6:45:16 AM

I agree that that sort of thing is rather insulting to the audience's intelligence, and that the real solution is to introduce and maintain more and better minority characters in comicdom in general, or emphasize them rather then treat them as throwaway, as apposed to avoiding the issue and looking diverse by playing off a character of one race as a different one.

edited 5th Dec '14 6:46:51 AM by KnownUnknown

swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#23182: Dec 5th 2014 at 6:47:01 AM

[up][up][up] [up]First of all, Mack isn't dead yet. Even if we have gotten to see his body, I wouldn't believe that a Marvel characters stays dead unless they burn it on screen and salt the ashes.

And second...well, the obvious choice is usually obvious because it is a good fit. Why should Marvel not go with the good fit? I mean, Samuel Jackson for Nick Fury is also the obvious choice. Shouldn't they have picked him after they got the opportunity, just because it would have been obvious?

And honestly, why is always talk about the need for a black character for diversity? We already have a three recurring black actors in the cast (plus one turned green one), as well as one black main character coming up soon. Why not screaming for an Asian character, or a native American one? An English character would at least add to diversity in nationalities...that we have in Ao S (as well as Asian characters), but in the movies not so much. Aside from Natasha everyone is either American or Alien.

edited 5th Dec '14 6:47:44 AM by swanpride

MousaThe14 Writer, Artist, Ignored from Northern Virginia Since: Jan, 2011 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
Writer, Artist, Ignored
#23183: Dec 5th 2014 at 6:48:02 AM

Disrespectful? Last I checked no one was complaining that Nick fury was turned into a black dude and they haven't stopped making him a black dude since the Ultimate Universe Started. They did it in Ultimate Spider-man cartoon, The Avenger: EMH cartoon, these films.

Ideally race shouldn't matter but we are living in an overwhelmingly whitebred society where people like me are shafted to sidekicks and stereotypes, and that's if we're even cast at all and it kind of hurts to be considered less important by society and the media I enjoy consuming.

[up]People have been screaming for other ethnicities. You remember how excepted people in this thread were they thought there was a possibility Amadeus Cho was coming up?

Or when there were Latino options in consideration for Doc Strange?

Or how angry I was they chose Cumberbatch to play Khan, a Sikh character?

Oh, And Mack's mind was possessed by ancient alien technology and thrown down a deep dark hole. Even if h3e's physically survived he's been turned into a monster at this point.

edited 5th Dec '14 6:52:00 AM by MousaThe14

The Blog The Art
GoukaRyuu Since: Aug, 2012
#23184: Dec 5th 2014 at 6:50:33 AM

At least we don't have the same problem the comics do of having to justify why there is a whole wide universe but everything seems to happen only in NYC.

GethKnight Since: Apr, 2010
#23185: Dec 5th 2014 at 6:51:30 AM

We have this Asian-American who is super smart. Brilliant and doesn't play with any Positive Discrimination whatsoever.

edited 5th Dec '14 6:53:08 AM by GethKnight

KnownUnknown Since: Jan, 2001
#23186: Dec 5th 2014 at 6:54:48 AM

Every nonwhite character in the MCU thus far has so dar been a Satellite Character of some kind, which wouldnt in itself a bad thing if it wasn't starting to draw serious attention to the fact that their front characters and headliners are invariably white and male.

Also, there's a difference betweenRaceLift for talent and Race Lift for simply the sake of having a minority hero to point to. One is progressive, and shows that Hollywood is starting to transcend its typical racial or gender character types. The other, on the other hand, is indicative of serious problems in the system. It also, arguably, sends the message that developers don't think the actual minority characters they have are worth developing movies for - but that's okay, cause they have good old fashioned white characters they can make black/Asian/etc for a few movies to pick up the slack.

edited 5th Dec '14 7:00:29 AM by KnownUnknown

swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#23187: Dec 5th 2014 at 7:08:38 AM

[up] Exactly. Especially since there is more to a racelift than a different skin colour. There is a whole different cultural background coming with it.

Mmmm...now I wonder how diverse the writers of Marvel are.....after all, a character starts with the writer, and most writers stick to what they know (which is a good thing, it can be very insulting when someone tries to portray a culture he knows nothing about).

ArthurEld Since: May, 2014
#23188: Dec 5th 2014 at 7:15:27 AM

[up]Exactly, that's where it all starts. Not with the actors, but with the writers.

A bunch of white men are gonna write about white men. That's the long and short of it.

TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#23189: Dec 5th 2014 at 7:22:22 AM

I always imagined Strange with a British accent anyway.

It's a typecast voice. Kind of like how giving someone a Canadian accent makes the audience assume politeness or a Scottish accent implies rugged manliness or an Irish accent implies drunkenness, the British accent says to audiences, "This character is five times smarter than you, and might have a stick up his bum about it."

Unless it's Cockney, which is the typecast voice of thugs and peasants.

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
ArthurEld Since: May, 2014
#23190: Dec 5th 2014 at 7:27:43 AM

I just figured he sounded like a smart, Northeastern American. More dependent on his emotions and experiences than an accent in any case.

However, from what I could find, his family was from Nebraska. Probably not what most people think of when they think of Dr. Strange.

swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#23191: Dec 5th 2014 at 7:44:36 AM

I would love him to be British, or at least having acquired a posh accent because he studied abroad. But straightforward British would be my preference, because what is really important about Dr. Strange is for me that he grew up to be privileged, successful doctor (which is btw a reason to go for a white actor, now that I am thinking about it...I don't think that my other preference, an Asian one, would have this air of supremacy natural to him), until he lost his abilities in an accident. Where he was born is not really important.

That's another reason why BC is such a good fit. He has a posh accent, but not the kind which makes me want to strangle the speaker the moment he opens his mouth.

TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#23192: Dec 5th 2014 at 7:56:24 AM

[up] Watson disagrees.

  • HOLMES: Punch me in the face.
  • WATSON: You want me to hit you?
  • HOLMES: Yes, punch me in the face, didn't you hear me?
  • WATSON: I always hear "Punch me in the face" when you're speaking, but it's usually subtext.

edited 5th Dec '14 7:56:48 AM by TobiasDrake

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#23193: Dec 5th 2014 at 8:04:02 AM

[up]I think that is more because of what Sherlock says and not how he says it.

MiscellaneousSoup (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#23194: Dec 5th 2014 at 8:04:17 AM

Should I do research on Benedict Cumberbatch? Maybe Wikipedia or something.

VeryMelon Since: Jul, 2011 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#23195: Dec 5th 2014 at 8:11:10 AM

Why not. I never needed to know who Benedict Cumberbatch was in order to enjoy Sherlock.

ArthurEld Since: May, 2014
#23196: Dec 5th 2014 at 8:11:22 AM

[up][up]Why? You don't need to understand his past roles to appreciate any given single role he plays.

For some people, the first thing they saw him in was Sherlock. For others, it might be The Other Boleyn Girl, or War Horse, or Star Trek: Into Darkness.

And for some people, it will be Doctor Strange.

It doesn't really matter.

edited 5th Dec '14 8:11:36 AM by ArthurEld

swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#23197: Dec 5th 2014 at 8:14:10 AM

[up][up][up] To be honest, I am kind of jealous that you can watch the movie without knowing BC beforehand. You must share how the experience was later on!

It is just surprising that you haven't seen him yet, because he already stared in two highly successful franchises (Sherlock and Star Trek), and that is not counting his role as Smaug in the Hobbit movies. He is kind of hard to miss.

TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#23198: Dec 5th 2014 at 8:15:15 AM

I think he's more concerned with understanding the controversy than the role.

To which I say, research will not help. When I live to be a thousand I will still not understand the sheer, unadulterated hatred some people have for Benedict Cumberbatch.

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
MiscellaneousSoup (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#23199: Dec 5th 2014 at 8:16:05 AM

I saw one of the Star Trek films. The reboot from 2009. Wasn't the most interested. I've never seen the Hobbit movies or Sherlock.

Also, I want to research him because I'm secretly worried of being made fun of for my pop culture ignorance.

VeryMelon Since: Jul, 2011 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love

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