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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

VeryMelon Since: Jul, 2011 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#24926: Jan 14th 2015 at 10:27:35 AM

Yeah, Superman is what he does but Clark Kent is who he is.

Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#24927: Jan 14th 2015 at 11:41:02 AM

But he wears his mask as Clark Kent, not as superman. And what about Wonder Woman? I suspect that most people don't even know that her real name is Diana. At best they know her Diana Prince identity, but that is also some sort of disguise. And Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman are the big three of the DC universe. They set the tone.

Bocaj Funny but not helpful from Here or thereabouts (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
Funny but not helpful
#24928: Jan 14th 2015 at 11:41:41 AM

The Wonder Woman identity is just as much a mask, I think. Ambassador to man's world and all. Put on a good face, do a good job.

edited 14th Jan '15 11:42:14 AM by Bocaj

Forever liveblogging the Avengers
lackofsense Since: Jan, 2013
#24929: Jan 14th 2015 at 11:43:49 AM

On that logic, isn't the face we all show the world a kind of mask? Very few people are the same alone as they are in a crowd.

LizardBite Shameless Self-Promoter from Two Galaxies Over Since: Jan, 2001
#24930: Jan 14th 2015 at 12:34:29 PM

Comparing secret identities between Marvel and DC is difficult because of DC's many continuity reboots.

Clark Kent was the mask pre-Crisis, but Superman was the mask post-Crisis (that era made a point of how he grew up as Clark Kent and was instilled with the values of Clark Kent long before he even knew Krypton was a thing, and Superman acted according to the values and morals Clark grew up with). Post-Crisis also completely did away with Wonder Woman's secret identity, making her a public figure whom everyone knew was an Amazon. Batman's the only one who was always consistently his own mask.

In Marvel, characters without secret identities tend to be high up on the social ladder, with lots of connections, while characters with secret identities tend to be more street level characters with friends and family who live in the same neighborhoods as the criminals they fight (Spider-Man is probably the biggest example of this). Nowadays, most of Marvel's heroes tend to be in the first category. Originally, they all had secret identities, of course.

Bocaj Funny but not helpful from Here or thereabouts (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
Funny but not helpful
#24931: Jan 14th 2015 at 12:36:50 PM

Even when it made no sense. My god those early Avengers comics...

Forever liveblogging the Avengers
Gaon Smoking Snake from Grim Up North Since: Jun, 2012 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
#24932: Jan 14th 2015 at 12:39:27 PM

And then there's Daredevil, who by virtue of being a lawyer and a superhero at the same time, paints a giant target to his loved ones no matter which identity he uses.

Man Without Fear, after all.

"All you Fascists bound to lose."
KarkatTheDalek Not as angry as the name would suggest. from Somwhere in Time/Space Since: Mar, 2012 Relationship Status: You're a beautiful woman, probably
Not as angry as the name would suggest.
#24933: Jan 14th 2015 at 12:39:53 PM

When in the comics did Tony just come out and say he was Iron Man?

Oh God! Natural light!
Tuckerscreator (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Drift compatible
#24934: Jan 14th 2015 at 12:41:13 PM

It amuses me to see the retcons of those early Marvel secret identities.

40s Captain America: "Golly-gosh, this young boy Bucky has discovered Steve Rogers is Captain America! Let's give him his own suit and have him fight on the World War II battlefield!"

2000s Captain America: "Actually, that was just a cover story. Bucky was a 17 year-old black ops assassin, because no one wants to see Captain America backstabbing and slitting throats."

spashthebandragon thebandragoness from USA Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Yes, I'm alone, but I'm alone and free
LordofLore Since: Jun, 2012 Relationship Status: Consider his love an honor
#24936: Jan 14th 2015 at 12:51:29 PM

He did it back in 2002 but later said that the new Iron Man flying around wasn't him(it was him). He did it again in Civil War.

Bocaj Funny but not helpful from Here or thereabouts (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
Funny but not helpful
#24937: Jan 14th 2015 at 12:51:46 PM

In Iron Man (vol. 3) #55 (July 2002), Stark publicly reveals his dual identity as Iron Man, not realizing that by doing so, he has invalidated the agreements protecting his armor from government duplication, since those contracts state that the Iron Man armor would be used by an employee of Tony Stark, not by Stark himself. When he discovers that the United States military is again using his technology, and its defective nature nearly causes a disaster to Washington, D.C. which Iron Man barely manages to avert, Stark accepts a Presidential appointment as Secretary of Defense. In this way, he hopes to monitor and direct how his designs are used.

Before the movie.

edited 14th Jan '15 12:52:36 PM by Bocaj

Forever liveblogging the Avengers
GeekCodeRed Since: Sep, 2010
#24938: Jan 14th 2015 at 12:52:13 PM

As far as I know, Tony has been in and out of the secret identity closet since his inception.

He's been "revealed" to be Iron Man about a dozen times.

comicwriter Since: Sep, 2011
#24939: Jan 14th 2015 at 12:54:03 PM

Latino Review is now claiming that a deal has been pushed through and that Spider-Man does indeed join the team in Infinity War, but will not appear in Civil War. Obligatory "Grain of salt" warning.

They also have about half a dozen other claims about Civil War and its outcome which while I smell bullshit, you may want to avoid in case of potential spoilers.

edited 14th Jan '15 12:54:18 PM by comicwriter

spashthebandragon thebandragoness from USA Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Yes, I'm alone, but I'm alone and free
thebandragoness
#24940: Jan 14th 2015 at 12:58:02 PM

What makes me suspicious is how specific this rumor is. If it was something vaguer, maybe I'd buy it. "X is going to happen" is more likely than "X, Y, and Z are going to happen in that specific order."

I've got fanfics for Frozen, Spectacular Spider-Man, Crash Bandicoot, and Spyro the Dragon.
comicwriter Since: Sep, 2011
#24941: Jan 14th 2015 at 12:59:50 PM

EDIT

edited 14th Jan '15 1:00:07 PM by comicwriter

Tuckerscreator (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Drift compatible
#24942: Jan 14th 2015 at 1:02:23 PM

He's been "revealed" to be Iron Man about a dozen times.

"Breaking News: Iron Man Puts His Mask Back On! We Don't Know Who He Is Anymore!"

edited 14th Jan '15 1:02:53 PM by Tuckerscreator

MousaThe14 Writer, Artist, Ignored from Northern Virginia Since: Jan, 2011 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
Writer, Artist, Ignored
#24943: Jan 14th 2015 at 1:37:27 PM

Why do we keep linking to the Latino Review when we keep acknowldging that it's barely a credible news source?

The Blog The Art
TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#24944: Jan 14th 2015 at 1:48:07 PM

[up][up] That's more or less exactly how Dare Devil did it. Matt Murdock has been publicly outed as Dare Devil four times now. After the third time, despite technically putting the genie back in the bottle, the whole world cried bullshit. People would greet him on the street as Dare Devil and ask him about his recent Dare Devil adventures, he was thrown out of court on a mistrial when the prosecutor moved that Murdock is a biased party on account of being Dare Devil, and at one point, Spider-Man actually swung down and started a conversation with him in the middle of the street because he didn't realize Murdock's identity was supposed to be secret again.

Murdock eventually started having fun with it by wearing a t-shirt with "Not Dare Devil" written on the front.

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
KarkatTheDalek Not as angry as the name would suggest. from Somwhere in Time/Space Since: Mar, 2012 Relationship Status: You're a beautiful woman, probably
Not as angry as the name would suggest.
#24945: Jan 14th 2015 at 2:00:59 PM

[up] How is such a genie put back into the bottle in the first place?

edited 14th Jan '15 2:01:09 PM by KarkatTheDalek

Oh God! Natural light!
LordofLore Since: Jun, 2012 Relationship Status: Consider his love an honor
#24946: Jan 14th 2015 at 2:05:09 PM

The usual reasons are:

  • Magic
  • Dying and coming back from the dead(because it clearly can't be the same guy as last time)
  • Switch suits
  • State that the one behind the mask was someone from another universe

TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#24947: Jan 14th 2015 at 2:50:51 PM

Also popular: have one of your superhero buddies wear your costume and be seen in the same place as you.

I don't know exactly how Dare Devil got his secret identity re-established - for all the good it did - but I know that for a time, Murdock was in jail and Iron Fist was running around in his costume keeping up appearances.

This method is exactly as stupid as it sounds and is largely discredited these days. I think there was a court case where Spider-Man did the opposite once, refuting the assertion that only he could have committed X crime by having a bunch of supers enter the courtroom in Spider-Man costumes and leap around.

edited 14th Jan '15 2:52:03 PM by TobiasDrake

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
comicwriter Since: Sep, 2011
#24948: Jan 14th 2015 at 3:37:35 PM

[up][up][up][up][up]Because they have been correct at times and if we barred discussion of rumors we'd probably have the same six discussions over and over again.

I mean more than we already have the same six discussions over and over again.

higherbrainpattern Since: Apr, 2012
#24949: Jan 14th 2015 at 3:45:16 PM

Yeah, I really love the reocurring rankings of all the phase 1 and phase 2 movies that we have all the time. cool

Heatth (X-Troper) Relationship Status: In Spades with myself
#24950: Jan 14th 2015 at 3:53:59 PM

[up][up]I remember that Spider-Man case. It was a She Hulk issue, I think. Those always had fun with superheroes and law.


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