MCU Multi-thread of Marvels

[RumHam]

Yeah that was weird. Also it seemed like Kamala was going to help them. A little more manipulation seems like it would have been a lot more effective than "fuck it, lets murder her entire family." Did they even say that like there was a ticking clock?

[Poobah]

Yeah episode was good but that must've been the fastest betrayal in history. I called it as soon as they revealed what they wanted from her but I expected the "twist" to come in an episode or two not in almost the next scene.

[RumHam]

I'm watching Doctor Strange 2 now. I had the impression people didn't really like it but it's great so far.
 

Spoiler

I loved Black Bolt's "I have no mouth and I must scream" thing. Who was the statue of that Wanda pulls down onto Captain Marvel? Patrick Stewart is such a treasure, it's really upsetting that Picard is such a shitty show.

What was going on with 838-Strange's cloak? Reed was holding it during the flashback in a weird way like maybe it was alive? Did it donate some of it's magic fabric to heal it's counterpart?

"all dreams are really happening to some version of you somewhere" is uuuh, a big reveal to drop for such a huge cinematic universe. Up there with "aliens are real." Like now no one in the MCU can have a dream sequence that is just their subconscious? What about the dreams that just make no sense at all? Or where I'm not me? Does MCU Peter Parker have dreams where he's andrew garfield?

Edit: ok how do you prove you're you to your alternate self with biographical information about your life? ...what if this strange didn't have the sister?

 

[RumHam]

Spoiler

Edit: I really like how they've sorta ret-conned how magic is represented to open up more options. Not just yellow sparks and energy weapons.

I'd love a one-shot or comic about the laborers who carved that ancient elaborate image of Wanda behind her throne / child sacrifice altar

Worker 1: "Remind me, why are we doing this again?"

Worker 2: "....shut up and keep chiseling."

 

[SpaceChampion]

In the Ms. Marvel scene in the past with the severed (Kree?) arm, with the Clandestines searching for the two bangles and only finding one, there was the Ten Rings symbol on the ground.  It wasn't just similar but had exactly the same Chinese characters.

[Werthead]

I also just finished up Dr. Strange 2. I thought it was very good.

Spoiler

Slightly messy ending - not unusual for Raimi - but otherwise a lightness of touch, some genuine horror scenes and some outstanding action-comedy.

They even seemed to nod to there being multiple Darkholds in some realities by saying they're just copies of the mountain cave Darkhold, so they can use that to explain why there's a different Darkhold in Agents of Shield vs. WandaVision/Dr. Stranger 2, if they ever want to pull SHIELD into continuity, and seriously it would be fucking trolling at this point if they don't but make nods to the shittiness of Inhumans of all things.

Otherwise pretty great performances and a really deranged, singular tone. And lots of shoutouts to the Evil Dead series that were both ridiculous and funny.

 

[felice]

On 6/23/2022 at 11:59 AM, RumHam said:

Yeah that was weird. Also it seemed like Kamala was going to help them. A little more manipulation seems like it would have been a lot more effective than "fuck it, lets murder her entire family." Did they even say that like there was a ticking clock?

It did feel a bit rushed, but I think the idea was that as soon as Kamala discovered helping them might be dangerous (to the general public), they knew there was no chance she'd go along with their plan willingly.

[Heartofice]

I caught about 10 minutes of the the new Ms Marvel before deciding to watch Dr Strange 2 instead. I'm a bit worried that now the show is moving more into superhero territory it will become much less interesting. I was certainly bored of all the talk around finding bracelets and Djinn, I've seen that sort of thing a million times before. Hopefully when I resume the show will get back to being more unique. 

As for Dr Strange 2.. I dunno. There are a lot of fun things going on in it, those moments where you can see the Raimi-isms are just great, where it veers into horror almost. It does feel like its let down by yet another weak Disney script.

None of it is really all that compelling, but maybe the core issue is that Stephen Strange is not an interesting character, Cumberbatch is a fine actor but a very bland Dr Strange. Add to the problem that Dr Strange must be the most incompetent hero in the entire MCU right now. How many movies has he completely fucked something up? In this he's almost continuously making fundamental errors, getting laid on his ass or destroying the universe. Not sure why more isn't made of just how crap he is. 

I guess thats why they centred a lot of the movie around Wanda, but even then it's very awkward. I can't imagine what someone who hadn't seen Wandavision would be doing going into this movie. It's absolutely required viewing going in, but even then, the shift in character from the end of that show to the beginning of this is quite jarring, even if they did try and set it up. 

[sifth]

3 hours ago, Heartofice said:

I guess thats why they centred a lot of the movie around Wanda, but even then it's very awkward. I can't imagine what someone who hadn't seen Wandavision would be doing going into this movie. It's absolutely required viewing going in, but even then, the shift in character from the end of that show to the beginning of this is quite jarring, even if they did try and set it up. 

I saw the film with two friends and one of them didn't see Wanda vision. He was indeed a little confused. On a different front,  I sort of wish Benedict Cumberbatch, could use his natural voice while playing Strange. He's improved his American accent a lot, but it still sounds a little off to me. To be honest I think it was better when he was a supporting character, since he has fewer lines, like in Infinity War, but when he's the main character and constantly talking, it just comes off as strange................no pun intended, lol

[Heartofice]

I've kind of moved past noticing his accent now, thought it was jarring at the beginning. I'm just not sure the MCU knew quite how to position Dr Strange as a character. Initially Stephen Strange seemed like a budget Tony Stark, all arrogance and quick one liners. As time has gone on, he just arrives in movies, acts knowledgable, totally messes everything up and then heads off to the next movie to the do the same. 

There are some attempts to define him as a character in this movie, his relationship with Christine for example, but it all feels a bit misplaced because its been so long since the last movie and we've just gotten a very paper thin version of the character in between.

[Myrddin]

In the first movie, he always sounded like he was channeling Harrison Ford with his accent. (No pointing needed)

[Rhom]

I do agree that the best parts of this show are Kamala’s family and friends.  It’s going to be a bit of a shame when it makes the inevitable swerve into over the top superhero action.  It makes me think there should be room out there in the streaming televerse for a Muslim American sitcom.  I’ve never watched Blackish, but I assume something like that but for a different culture.   

I don’t know if the end credits sequence changes at all, but while watching last night I noticed a truck go by with the “Trust A Bro Moving Company” logo.  

[Rhom]

Speaking of last night… I’m on vacation at the beach.  Our AC in the condo went out and I had to stay up late to wait for the repair guy (he never showed… it’s hot here in south Alabama).

On a whim, I checked to see if the TV had Disney+ installed.  It did and I was prepared to log in with my credentials… but some other family apparently never logged out theirs.

So Lilly Grace with the Elsa avatar for her profile now has Black Widow.  

I was tempted to change the names on the six profiles to read “Don’t Forget To Log Out.”  But thought that was over the top.  So changing profile pics was the extent of my mischief.

Roger over on Amazon Prime did get Homelander as his Avatar though.  

[Heartofice]

15 minutes ago, Rhom said:

I do agree that the best parts of this show are Kamala’s family and friends.  It’s going to be a bit of a shame when it makes the inevitable swerve into over the top superhero action.  It makes me think there should be room out there in the streaming televerse for a Muslim American sitcom.  I’ve never watched Blackish, but I assume something like that but for a different culture.   

I don’t know if the end credits sequence changes at all, but while watching last night I noticed a truck go by with the “Trust A Bro Moving Company” logo.  

I read an interesting article only yesterday about the difficulty of creating tv about Muslim stories in the UK, mainly because there is a preconception about what its like to be Muslim and how if you are going to write those stories they have to follow a certain format and deal with certain issues. 

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/jun/23/british-tv-failing-muslims-ms-marvel
 

Quote

In 2005, he tried writing a thriller for the BBC with an Asian female lead, only to be frustrated by small-minded conceptions about how Muslims should be portrayed on TV.

“During the script development session, they basically said we should make this about honour killings. I just went no and the project died. We wouldn’t have been having that conversation if I made the character a white woman.”

What I liked about Ms Marvel is that it very much normalised the fact the family is Pakistani and muslim, it's not especially trying to push any buttons or tick any boxes. Thats why it felt very organic and natural. 

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

The imam of her Mosque really reminds me of my (now retired) Parish priest from Columbia.  The same wry smile the same sense of laughter underlying his personality.  

[Myrddin]

21 minutes ago, Rhom said:

Speaking of last night… I’m on vacation at the beach.  Our AC in the condo went out and I had to stay up late to wait for the repair guy (he never showed… it’s hot here in south Alabama).

On a whim, I checked to see if the TV had Disney+ installed.  It did and I was prepared to log in with my credentials… but some other family apparently never logged out theirs.

So Lilly Grace with the Elsa avatar for her profile now has Black Widow.  

I was tempted to change the names on the six profiles to read “Don’t Forget To Log Out.”  But thought that was over the top.  So changing profile pics was the extent of my mischief.

Roger over on Amazon Prime did get Homelander as his Avatar though.  

You should've named all the profiles to be:

                                       

Never   Going     To     Log     You      Out

[DaveSumm]

1 hour ago, Heartofice said:

What I liked about Ms Marvel is that it very much normalised the fact the family is Pakistani and muslim, it's not especially trying to push any buttons or tick any boxes. Thats why it felt very organic and natural. 

I enjoy that they don’t treat it with kid gloves, I think a lot of other series would play safe and depict everything to do with their religion as super serious and not dare to make light of any of it. But I really like that they aren’t model Muslims; Kamala and Nakia are late for prayer, talk back to their imam, possibly use tampons, Kamala doesn’t wear a hijab. It naturalises the whole thing seeing just average Muslims, who juggle their religion amongst all of life’s other concerns.

Not sure if you finished the episode but I had the exact same thought as you, pleased to say it comes back to the Khan family with her brother’s wedding though. Still a very fun episode.

[RumHam]

3 hours ago, Rhom said:

I do agree that the best parts of this show are Kamala’s family and friends.  It’s going to be a bit of a shame when it makes the inevitable swerve into over the top superhero action.  It makes me think there should be room out there in the streaming televerse for a Muslim American sitcom. 

I was thinking watching Doctor Strange yesterday that they need to do a crossover movie with no evil threat. Like Pepper or someone is throwing a big party at her estate and all the heroes are invited and they just hang out and chat. I would love that. Something sorta like Dazed and Confused but with super heroes. Like give me America Chavez trying to keep some space between her and Peter Parker because she's still not sure if he shoots webs from his butt. Or all the bug themed heroes reassuring each other that "it's not that weird."

[Heartofice]

America Chavez is maybe the most mcguffiney character I’ve ever seen in a movie, it’s just bizarre that she seems to exist as a thing to make the plot work with almost no effort to make her into a 3 dimensional (pun intended) character. 
 

I would like to see a Dr Strange, monster of the week tv show though, a bit like Buffy but with more silly hand movements. 

[sifth]

It should be of note, that I'm enjoying Ms. Marvel quite a bit as well. Mostly watching it because it's set in my home state, and in the city I went to college in, but all that aside, I find these kids to be very enjoyable. I will admit that I find the family life and high school segments much more enjoyable than the action scenes, which I think has already been mentioned by others here. Not gona lie, this might be my favorite out of all the MCU tv shows, because it's not trying to over extend itself.