MCU Hullabaloo

[IheartIheartTesla]

Its also hard to shake the feeling that the MCU movies peaked with Infinity War where the universe itself was saved, and all subsequent plots feel small potatoes by comparison.  Not just us, the remainder of the Milky Way must be annoyed at Earth having to be saved...yet again. Plus all the other structural weaknesses like the number of superheroes etc... and of course, Marvel fatigue.

The only way to get out of this funk is to have the stakes be saving multiple universes, which is what I hope Multiverse of Madness is all about

[sifth]

16 minutes ago, IheartIheartTesla said:

Its also hard to shake the feeling that the MCU movies peaked with Infinity War where the universe itself was saved, and all subsequent plots feel small potatoes by comparison.  Not just us, the remainder of the Milky Way must be annoyed at Earth having to be saved...yet again. Plus all the other structural weaknesses like the number of superheroes etc... and of course, Marvel fatigue.

The only way to get out of this funk is to have the stakes be saving multiple universes, which is what I hope Multiverse of Madness is all about

To be honest, I'm fine with smaller stakes. Not every MCU film needs to be about saving the world/universe. It's all about the characters and storytelling at the end of the day.

[polishgenius]

Yeah, it's the Doctor Who thing. They do, at least New Who, usually circle back to saving the world or universe from destruction at some point but a Dr Who episode or season does not live or die on the scale of the threat, and a lot of the better stories down the years have been smaller. 

Loki did set up a nice multiversal threat but I do feel like Marvel would also be well-served by dialling back not just on the scale but on linking all the stories to one end goal, let them all do their own thing for a bit and dig into the more out-there potential of many of the characters, really dig into individual-character lore, then combine back up in a few years. 

[Winterfell is Burning]

2 hours ago, Myrddin said:

You're right about X-Men being known. I'm more talking about suddenly expanding the super powered population within the MCU. Unless the Convergence Emergence which pushes the Eternals out of retirement is somehow connected to explosion of the mutant population, they'll need to come up with another trigger event that pushes Magento and Xavier onto the public (or maybe SHIELD/SWORD's) radar.

ETA I confused event title with Thor 2. Which leads me to believe the trigger event for the X-Men will be called the Disturbance. 

The X-men have an advantage in that most of the main characters start as teenagers or young adults (apart from Wolverine, Xavier and Magneto) , so if they are smart they'll start with them at this age just getting their powers, unlike what happens in the Fox films.

As to what makes them enter the radar, it could be as simple as a mutant villain Xavier can't keep quiet. Exodus would be a good choice for this, since he's not overused like Magneto (who can't be used anyway since he would have to be old due to his Holocaust ties and would have stayed quiet for this long) or Apocalypse.

[Kalbear]

I think the real big problem is that the Eternals are a big fat meh in the comics and in general. No one actually cares about them, just like no one cares about Inhumans. They have no existing fanbase or anything like that, and no real thing to draw from that's neat. 

That might not be so bad - see GotG - except the Eternals as a concept are also pretty lame. Secret super-powered people fighting a war against really generic alien thingies? Meh. 

[sifth]

18 minutes ago, Kalsandra said:

I think the real big problem is that the Eternals are a big fat meh in the comics and in general. No one actually cares about them, just like no one cares about Inhumans. They have no existing fanbase or anything like that, and no real thing to draw from that's neat. 

That might not be so bad - see GotG - except the Eternals as a concept are also pretty lame. Secret super-powered people fighting a war against really generic alien thingies? Meh. 

This is no GotG, you can trust me on that one. I didn't even really hate the Eternal all that much, unlike most of RT, but this movie and that one are like night and day. For one thing, The Eternals has a lot less comedy and the characters in GotG just feel a lot less stiff and more like real people to me (even Groot oddly enough). Not that I don't like some of the drama in The Eternals, it's just drama that only people who could live forever would ever have to worry about dealing with, which makes it less relatable to me.

[Rhom]

1 hour ago, sifth said:

This is no GotG, you can trust me on that one. I didn't even really hate the Eternal all that much, unlike most of RT, but this movie and that one are like night and day. For one thing, The Eternals has a lot less comedy and the characters in GotG just feel a lot less stiff and more like real people to me (even Groot oddly enough). Not that I don't like some of the drama in The Eternals, it's just drama that only people who could live forever would ever have to worry about dealing with, which makes it less relatable to me.

So it’s the navel gazing episodes of Highlander.  Got it.

[mormont]

8 hours ago, Winterfell is Burning said:

The X-men have an advantage in that most of the main characters start as teenagers or young adults (apart from Wolverine, Xavier and Magneto)

Interesting side note, Wolverine was originally supposed to be a teenager. And also a mutated actual wolverine. So, no word of a lie, Logan was originally a teenage mutant ninja wolverine.

[sifth]

5 hours ago, mormont said:

Interesting side note, Wolverine was originally supposed to be a teenager. And also a mutated actual wolverine. So, no word of a lie, Logan was originally a teenage mutant ninja wolverine.

I mean if we're really going back, Wolverine wasn't even introduced as an X-Men character. He started out as a villain for the Incredible Hulk. He was a member of the Canadian government, who's mission was to destroy the Hulk.

[Myrddin]

6 hours ago, mormont said:

Interesting side note, Wolverine was originally supposed to be a teenager. And also a mutated actual wolverine. So, no word of a lie, Logan was originally a teenage mutant ninja wolverine.

Hero in a fur ball. Healing power!

[Slurktan]

1 hour ago, sifth said:

I mean if we're really going back, Wolverine wasn't even introduced as an X-Men character. He started out as a villain for the Incredible Hulk. He was a member of the Canadian government, who's mission was to destroy the Hulk.

I want alpha flight. Fuck the xmen and their generically shitty name. Give me guardian, puck and sasquatch over those losers.

[Kalbear]

 

 

[sologdin]

and all subsequent plots feel small potatoes by comparison

but there's always more potatoes.  the starlin books trotted thanos & co. out every few years for more nihilist shenanigans. 

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Just finished “Black Widow”.  I liked it.  I thought it gave depth to Natasha.  Wish they’d done this one 7 years ago though before they killed her off.

[ithanos]

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/eternals-banned-saudi-arabia-qatar-kuwait-1235042241/

Glad Marvel is not willing to make edits for local censors, hope they stick to their guns.

Overall I thought Eternals was a triumph. As I posted in the Jeffrey Wright character thread... 

Quote

I was apprehensive as to how they would introduce a team of ten new characters + Kit Harrington and have the viewer be remotely interested enough in their fates to sustain the 2hr 37min runtime. But Zhao manages to direct and attention to characters, in the backdrop of real settings, along with the prerequisite action & CGI of a Marvel feature, with success. It won't please everyone, but I absolutely loved it.

I will say the character I enjoyed the most was neither an Eternal or Kit Harrington, but one from the sub-continent. And the Celestials on a big cinema screen were fantastic (not th4t Fantastic), the cloud is dispersing and I can now envisage Galactus coming to the MCU. 

Of the mid-credits scene,

Spoiler

This is a spoiler, are you sure? OK open the next one.

 

Spoiler

Though I'd heard the name Harry Stiles, I didn't know what he looked like so when Eros appeared my first impression was - wow, he looks exactly like he does in the comicbooks - great casting. There were some rumblings of recognition in the cinema I was in but nothing like what I've heard elsewhere, where you couldn't hear what Eros was saying for all the women screaming.

Of the end credits scene,

Spoiler

Have always liked The Black Knight in the Avengers comicbooks, so its good to see this develop, and Harrington suits just right. I did not pick up the voice at the very end but was happy to find out it was Mahershala Ali.

 

[sologdin]

Spoiler

it was cool that eros is introduced by pip the troll.  warlock can get the gang back together now.

eternals was fairly engaging. not sure how they could've blended the group together like the avengers from separate origin installments. kinda stuck with lotsa exposition.  

[Corvinus85]

Just saw Eternals. It wasn't bad, but I didn't always feel engaged. I thought the first half was a bit boring but it picked up fairly well in the second half. 

I thought the best part was that

Spoiler

despite superheroes with CGI powers fighting CGI monsters and a world ending plot, it had a clean looking climactic battle. Ikaris vs the others was really well done, and Tiamut's scale was impressive without giving me a headache. So props to the director for this.

That being said

Spoiler

Not sure what the purpose of the Deviant absorbing their powers really was in the end, as he was unceremoniously cut to pieces.

A few other things

Spoiler

Bold of them to sideline the biggest actors of the bunch, but the others carried the movie well enough.

Ikaris being a baddie in the end was clear as day to me from the beginning, especially as Richard Madden was playing him as an potentially sociopathic robot at times.

Not being familiar with these characters, I have no idea who Kit Harrington is supposed to play but

Spoiler

since at the end he gets a magical sword and without additional information, I find it acceptable to still refer to him as Jon Snow. 

I was briefly taken out of the movie when Madden appeared. At last, the long awaited reunion between Robb Stark and Jon Snow happened. 

 

[SpaceChampion]

Just saw it too.  Yes, the beginning wasn't that engaging.  Somewhere around Phastos' home life it started to click and I quite enjoyed the second half.

This was a nearly impossible job for Zhao and she managed to do it in the end.

[SpaceChampion]

So was the "Dweller-in-Darkness" in Shang-Chi a Deviant?

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

On 11/5/2021 at 1:30 PM, Kalsandra said:

 

 

The Critics score... 48% now...

OK, I haven't seen this yet (I plan to) but there's considerable division among critics for a marvel movie, so it might be interesting. I personally don't care about the broader MCU anymore and the recent films were, in my view, massively overrated. The last one I saw was Spider-Man FFH.

I suspect I'm not alone in thinking the wave has crested with the end of the infinity saga. Also, I'm not a fan of "the vegetable consensus" and think the whole review aggregator model is seriously flawed. That being said, Why does this film have such a low critics score on RT? Last I checked, the audience score was over 80% so the people who are paying for movie tickets seem to be enjoying it. I know I've seen reviews on these boards that were positive. I've also seen the kind capeshit stuff that seems to please the consensus, so what's going on here?