Amph "You think you're the only superhero in the world?" - The Marvel Cinematic Universe

weren't Iron Man, Hulk, and a lot of others identities already known long before Bendis?
some of the characters like Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne were in super hero mode so much i'm not even aware if their identities were secret

 

What hints?

I didn't see anything.

 

Tony's identity was revealed until around the time of "Extremis" as before then, he relied on the idea of an employee wearing the suit. The Hulk's identity was public knowledge when Bruce was able to control the Hulk and was pardoned for the Hulk's crimes. Hank and Janet wore costumes and I think their identities were still a secret during the 80's era of the Avengers comics.

The reference to searching for the origins of the alien problem. Now, granted it's about Phil, but the idea that they're searching for a cause for the Inhumans is an indirect reference.

 

Wouldn't that imply the Kree more.

 

Well, between the first three seasons of AoS, along with Ronan the Accuser, Korath the Pursuer, and the centuries-long war between the Kree Empire and the Nova Corp from Guardians of the Galaxy, they have done a fair amount with the Kree, so I don't know what else they will do with the Kree.

 

Superhero films. The ugly cousins of good sci-fi and fantasy.

Amen. And since Avengers, nearly every MCU films feels like that. Such tired, thin, smarmy and ugly movies. Polluting the summer season. I can't help but be pained by the thought of the great films all that MCU money could have financed.

Or humanitarian causes...

 

And yet the former resonate so much with people.

I don't know, I'm glad they're making them. They're entertaining stories, and that's the ultimate point of any movie. Besides, I like the variety of options their inclusion has.

I'd also argue that Winter Solider would qualify as a "great" movie within it's specific genre (spy/thriller). Guardians of the Galaxy was also a cut above the ordinary in terms of space opera material.

You could say the same thing about any movie, good or otherwise.

 

The hugely profitable MCU?

 

Yugely profitable. So yuge.

That said, I mostly sympathize with Gigoran Monk. There's certainly a feeling of fatigue with in regards to the MCU and all superhero films in general. I think a respite is necessary at this point. I'm mostly excited about GOTG 2 because it looks like a irrevently fun sf flick. But my interest in regards to the future Avengers/Infinity War cycle is almost zero. Mostly because I fear those movies will be a massive fustercluck of sfx and stars trying to shine a few minutes at a time while trying to wade through a nonsensical or at worse very dull and predictable plot.

 

Getting tired of them is a perfectly valid point. I'm not yet, but I'm sure I will. The thing about money though...it simply doesn't make sense.

 

There's enough variety to keep me interested. To be fair, I'm a huge fan of the comics, but not blindly so. For instance, my excitement for this year's Wonder Woman and Justice League films is extremely low, as well as for the DCEU as a whole. That pains me as a huge lifelong fan of DC, but that's just how it goes.

On the other hand, I'm very excited by Logan, intrigued by the idea of a New Mutants movie (especially with the Stephen King/John Hughes mashup vibe it's said to be going for), and I'm excited by the future of the MCU as well. The three films coming out this year all seem wildly different from each other, and GotG and Thor particularly seem like they're going to be "out there" in terms of tone and visuals. For next year I'm curious to see how they pull Infinity War together, but I'm actually most looking forward to Black Panther just because the cast and setting offers something different. Then there's the Netflix series, all of which hugely appeal to me.

 

I think it's kind of funny of how people comment on how privately earned money should be spent.

Marvel Studio is like any other corporation. They put out a product and it's consumed by the public.

As for the MCU and their films, I think they're great adaptations for non-comic book readers which are the majority of the movie going audience. The films have created a larger fanbase for the Marvel properties. Guardians of the Galaxy is a perfect example of an obscure Marvel property but because of the film is now pop culture. The MCU has taken B list characters like Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, etc and made them into A-Listers.

The criticisms of Civil War not being good as the comic are valid. However, it would be very difficult at this stage of the MCU to do a better film.

 

I actually think Civil War is far, far better than the comic. Shortly before the film was released I read the comic for the first time since it came out, and which point I was 12, and it was freaking terrible. To be fair, Mark Millar's writing rubs me the wrong way. It's so scuzzy and every character is the worst possible version of themselves. He creates great concepts, though, as evidenced by them being mined for adaptations (albeit loose adaptations) for the films. I.e. Civil War, Logan.

 

Yeah, the Civil War comic series did receive it's fair share of criticism. However, I liked it. It's the series that brought be back into comic book reading, after about a 12-15 year hiatus.

Civil War the film, definitely lack the large scope of the comic book series as well as the pivotal consequences of the "Registration Act" which was played out through Peter Parker/Spider-Man. The film does a wonderful job setting up the emotional final battle between Iron Man and Captain America. I mean, when Tony asked Steve, "Did you know?" and Steve responded, "Yes" there was a gasped in the theater.

I think MCU does an excellent job in churning out high quality popcorn flicks, especially when you compare it to other franchises.

 

I would argue that Civil War was whole unnecessary as an MCU film. It was a studio mandate through and through. The Winter Soldier story could've been capped without a gigantic yet empty superhero mashup where there were no casualties and just the usual (massive) property damage, all to create a schism in the ranks that'll be resolved with the next Avengers flick.

...

I'm sounding an awful lot like the Wock now. Somebody please slap me.

 

My quoted post above was mostly specifically about Captain America: Civil War, since I had just seen it at that time. Yes, I didn't like the movie much and I think Winter Soldier was probably the best MCU movie I've seen. But my bigger issues when it comes to superhero movies aren't just for the MCU. At least Marvel is apparently more successful at making movies people enjoy, when compared to Warner Bros. and the DC universe.

At any rate, on that note I see some other points in recent posts above about fatigue... THIS thread was decent for discussion about that before.

 

It could be argued that the MCU as whole is unnecessary.

IIRC, I read an article years ago that noted the Marvel decided to go with Civil War for Captain America 3 when WB/DC announced they were doing Batman v. Superman and WB/DC were going to release it the same day as Cap 3. So yeah, it probably was a mandate by Marvel Studio as Kevin Feige said they weren't going to back off of that release date of May 6, 2016. Not that I think it was a bad thing to have Civil War at this stage of the MCU.

I think Civil War did a very excellent job in balancing characters and setting up spin off films, which other super heroes flick did so poorly. The upcoming Spider-Man and Black Panther movies were well served by Civil War.

 

Yup, that one!

 

But then Disney can use that huge profit to fund other films, like the failure Tomorrowland.

 

Fair enough, but I loved the movie, so I'm glad they made it. Also the best Spider-Man movie since the original trilogy. You gotta love that.

 

All of the films are studio mandated. That said, it worked because it puts a new twist on the storyline by dividing the Avengers and allowing other characters to take the spotlight.

A bunch of Hydra agents were killed and Pierce's maid.

However, he also said that this was something that he wanted to do for years before DOJ came about.

 

sinister, the casualties I meant to were for Civil War. I don't exactly count a paralyzed Rhodey that'll "get better" with Stark tech a casualty. None of the major players died. The Avengers just had a schism that will be inevitably mended by the time Infinity War rolls out.

 

Everybody basically hugged and made up at the end of Civil War fallout too in the comics in the end. Basically, it took an outer-space invasion and freakin' Norman Osborn running the gat-damn Avengers but every team does get back together in superhero stories eventually. Hell, even when heroes kill each other they're usually back in about a few months.

This is also time for my semi-annual "Warren Ellis' Thunderbolts run needs to be a movie" post. Yes, I know the Thunderbolts don't start out that way but c'mon.

 

Yes, I remember the good old days when an unstable failed businessman with bad hair having complete power over the government was pure fiction. Now it's a Tuesday.