Marvel Cinematic Universe News & Discussion

I agree about showrunners but I always think about the Clerks cartoon when they did a courtroom episode written by people who had never been in a courtroom, which I feel made it hilarious. She Hulk was a courtroom dramedy that barely dwelled on lawyering. I felt like that was part of the joke.

I think we should give them a bit of a pass as the pandemic really messed up whatever timing and momentum they had in terms of the overall story. The two-year gap between Far From Home and Black Widow didn't help the plans I am sure and likely changed around production schedules and actor availability for everything.

So I wonder if Feige might argue the opposite of them not having enough content on a regular basis, not having too much, in that the original plans - with 4 films and 6 or 7 shows a year with some feeding off each other - meant that if you didn't like the "horror" corner of the MCU you had the "cosmic" or the Avengers or the spy stuff to look forward to in the next few months. But things slowing down cut that production in half, and so shows or films that maybe were meant to be secondary projects ended up on the main track in terms of focus.

True, I'm sure the last few years have led to a lot of Pepto Bismol.

I real lack of Loki talk - folks not watching? not enjoying?

To me it is different enough to be interesting and fairly clever, and unlike most of the shows I don't have a great sense of the endgame (when we assume the other endgames are for the good guys to win, but not sure what winning looks like here, and motivations are interesting).

I'm watching and enjoying but always behind. I finally watched the first two episodes the day before the latest came out, so I'm never really equipped to discuss! The first season was definitely one of the best MCU shows and so far this new season has been as good.

I agree that I really appreciate the fact that the MCU plays with different genres because it reminds me of, well, reading comic books. A She-Hulk comic doesn't read like a Captain America comic doesn't read like an Avengers comic doesn't read like an Eternals comic, so those should all feel tonally different. It's interesting that a lot of the criticism of the MCU prior to Phase 4/5 focused on it being samey and cookie-cutter, but now that they're branching out the criticism is that they need to stick to the script. 

But hey, what do I know, I loved Eternals and She-Hulk both.

As did I.

Posted by: @ctv

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It's interesting that a lot of the criticism of the MCU prior to Phase 4/5 focused on it being samey and cookie-cutter, but now that they're branching out the criticism is that they need to stick to the script. 

That's a bit of a dismissive way to boil down the criticism. She-Hulk and WandaVision are the only shows that have actually tried something different narratively-speaking - all the others are variations of the exact same story beats, patterns, origins, delayed reveals and last-minute audience GOTCHAs! pasted together with reshoots and ADR. She-Hulk definitely has some of those same issues, but it aimed for something different and got like 75-80% of the way there.

TFAWS, MK, SI, Hawkeye, Ms. Marvel are very samey, cookie-cutter shows once you look under the color scheme and charisma (or lack thereof) of their titular characters.

I think the main criticism has always been not stick to the script but write better scripts. Or hire people who will.

Yeah, there's some truth there. There's only so many plots. Some say twelve, some say twenty-something. Either way, there's a formula to screenwriting, whatever the genre, and the best movies are the ones where you don't notice it at all. So if you're bored, you start noticing or even looking for the strings. You pay attention to how long the movie has been playing because now you're aware the second act is about to end, etc.

And that was my only real criticism of WandaVision, that they had this very unique idea (unique even outside of superhero movies/shows) that was resolved with the usual CG slugfest.

The other ones, like FATWS and SI, apparently were too plagued by production issues to pull out something great, and yeah Hawkeye and Ms Marvel were definitely 'safer' superhero stories, but both teetered into 'fun' enough for me to keep going at least. Moon Knight, I think I liked more than most people, but I've never read one comic book with that character so maybe that helped me.

Haven't enjoyed this season of Loki at all. Feels like the wheels are spinning but we aren't going anywhere.

Sylvie's haircut is so bad this season that it borders on cruel.

@tsi I felt the same about the first 2 eps but the third picked things up for me. It is a terrible haircut but she's settled in 1980s America so that ugly ass mullet probably fits right in.

I'm enjoying Loki S2 (not as much Gen V, but thats a different topic). I've got some stupid pipe dream that they'll reveal Mobius' alternate identity is Longshot. Different finger count, but if Hasbro can change that sometimes I bet Marvel could too ;p

@bolt Yeah, it's funny the imaginative ways some of us try to twist favorite characters into unlikely spots in current/upcoming projects. I've said before, but I'm constantly shifting ways in my head for them to work in Dark Avengers. I know Thunderbolts is likely to 'scratch that itch' but I really want figures with specific looks like Daken in a movie Wolverine costume, Moonstone as Captain Marvel, and Bullseye dressed like Clint Barton.

For a series I haven't been really stoked about from the beginning, this trailer certainly upped my interest significantly.

YES!!!!

That trailer is everything I wanted. Even a quick taste of Matt. I've been hoping all along the show would actually be great and some may come around, so that is fantastic to hear, Sepster.