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

And how it literally ends with a bang, when Klaw blows up the safe. You sorta sit back and have to catch your breath. Fantastic scene.

 

I have a question about TWS. It’s probably obvious and I’m being dumb, or it’s been addressed and I missed it. Nat steals these files and Nick tries to open them, but access is denied on the authority of Nicholas J Fury. Is this purely down to Hydra meddling? SLJ played the scene like he was pretty unsurprised by this, so I wasn’t sure if I missed something.

 

It was then Fury realized that getting the Avengers ready for Thanos was going to be much more difficult than anticipated.

 

Thanks for the laugh, that's perfect.

 

"That's not a question I need answered."

You don't suppose, just because in the comics Foster took the hammer, I mean maybe Black Widow, well I'm just thinking out loud.

 

Are you suggesting that the MCU Widow's "red ledger" might be due to her being more than just a Russian Assassin and possibly a member of their pantheon who is worthy to wield the hammer? (Then again, the Russian versions generally wielded axes and spears.)

Thanks for putting this into my brain, I like it.

 

I can't get enough of this scene.

 

Civil War is probably the most character-drama-centric of all the MCU movies. It still feels like a Captain America movie, though, even if it has less of Cap's supporting cast and subs Avengers instead but he's still at the centre of it.

semi-related, I found possibly one of the last blu ray copies of Thor: Ragnarok in my town on a Saturday night, and it was at a Wal-Mart which has a pretty deep selection of new releases but the entire store was bare except for, like, 1 blu ray copy I found buried at the back. Still awesome, by the way.

 

Winter Soldier is still the top MCU movie for me, but Civil War is right behind it. Top 5 would be:

Winter Soldier
Civil War
Avengers
Iron Man
Black Panther

 

Think I'd go with... 1) Guardians of the Galaxy, 2) Age of Ultron, 3) Civil War, 4) Captain America: The First Avenger, 5) Thor: Ragnarok.

 

Yay. Lists.

 

At least I put mine into one line so as to take up less of people's screen space.

 

It's my favorite MCU movie, too. (In my opinion, Loki, Ego, Vulture, and Killmonger are the best character villains of the MCU to date, but I do get your point about how Winter Soldier handles the questions of government control and whatnot -- and Pierce was good for the more subdued role that he served in the plot.)

 

About government control, doesn't the movie pretty much dodge that entire issue with the whole "Hydra made us do it" thing? Are they saying that Project Insight would be perfectly fine were it not for Hydra...or not? Because at the end Cap isn't fighting against a S.H.I.E.L.D. that's gone out of control, he's fighting Hydra which has hijacked a S.H.I.E.L.D. weapon.

 

I would think that given Hydra's infiltration, that Insight was more of its idea than S.H.I.E.L.D's idea proper. It's kind of a frog being placed in cold water, then gradually boiled to death type of thing. Their influence was so subtle for so long that SHIELD may think its their own plan, but in reality, it was Hydra's.

 

I don't know about that. Cap was objecting to it long before we knew that HYDRA was involved. I guess that also, a story need not be an exact analogue to make a point about something. Even if there is the escape hatch of "HYDRA did it," it can still make viewers think about real government oversight and where the fine line between what's okay and what isn't is.

 

SHIELD's version of "Project Insight" was to use a terrorist's DNA and take them out as soon as they step out of hiding; sort of "confirmed" threats to the public at large.

Hydra's version of "Project Insight" included an algorithm to kill any "potential" threats to Hydra; thus Dr. Strange and others targeted. Hydra's Project Insight had targeted around three million people at noted by Pierce, IIRC; at least a few hundred thousands.

And yes, Cap didn't agree with SHIELD's version of "Project Insight," but he accepted it.

 

Continuing on the road to Infinity War, we got from the sublime of Captain America: The Winter Soldier and now it's time to go to the ridiculous that is Guardians of the Galaxy.
Release Date: August 1, 2014 - Worldwide: $773,328,629

Ooga-chaka Ooga-Ooga
Ooga-chaka Ooga-Ooga
Ooga-chaka Ooga-Ooga
Ooga-chaka Ooga-Ooga​

"What a bunch of A-holes."

That was a my initial knee jerk reaction back in 2011 (towards the powers at be at Marvel Studios) when rumors were being reported that a Guardians of the Galaxy movie was in development. I was, "seriously?" Out of all the characters that the "House of Ideas" has in their stable they're going with this 10 cent bargain bin comic book team of characters? I mean, these characters were so obscure and unpopular that even the most avid comic book readers didn't own an issue of Guardians of the Galaxy much less read an issue. This was a movie that nobody wanted or asked for. Many predicted that Guardians of the Galaxy would be Marvel's first failure.

Marvel’s Latest Rumor: ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ in Development, August 4th, 2011 by Russ Fischer

And then San Diego Comic-Con 2012 happened and the hype for Guardians of the Galaxy started as this little bit of footage leaked out giving the public the first look at Rocket and Groot:




The reactions by everyone in attendance that witness the footage for the film were stoked and excited. And about a year later when WB/DC were struggling getting Wonder Woman on the silver screen, as noted by this quote from Diane Nelson (DC Entertainment Chief/Warner Bros.' brand manager for superheroes) to the Hollywood Reporter, "She doesn't have the single, clear, compelling story that everyone knows and recognizes. There are lots of facets to Wonder Woman, and I think the key is, how do you get the right facet for that right medium?," angry DC fans started tweeting things like this:



So, a film based on characters that no one really knew of or wanted is now casting shade on one of the most iconic and well known super heroes of all time, Wonder Woman. It was crazy and shows the divide between the MCU and DCFU.

And when the first trailer dropped, it was paired with "Hooked on a Feeling" by Blue Swede, which revived the song and "the song's 2,000 in digital sales instantly gave the tune its best digital sales week ever." The marketing and trailers for the film was some of the best for a Marvel film; probably the best for any film until Deadpool showed up. I got the sense people started falling in love with the characters even before the film dropped. I mean, a cute gun toting Raccoon and his buddy is a tree, adorable. And then this (a rebel without a cause)...



Guardians of the Galaxy is my second favorite MCU film, as it has wonderful characters, an awesome sound track, well paced, brilliant script, seamless visual effects, excellent world building, heart touching and just simply the best "feel good" movie in Marvel Studio's stable.

After the bummer of the opening scene were it features a young Peter Quill sitting in the hospital listening to "I'm not in love" by 10cc and witnessing his mother die, the film picks up quite well and then it's pretty much just "a must see scene" after another. I mean we get some beautiful world building with Peter scanning the ruins of a planet that provide a holographic representation of what the society looked like. And then we get some nifty tunes with "Come Get Your Love" by Redbone and segues in the film's title card. Beautiful.








So, pretty much right off the bat, Guardians of the Galaxy breaks the mold and gives you the tone of the film and main character. This is going to be a fun ride, as there were shades of Han Solo and Indiana Jones; a space pirate as well as a tomb raider.

The introduction of the rest of the "Guardians' felt very organic as their appearances flowed in naturally as the plot moved along; Gamora hunting Quill for the orb and Rocket and Groot the bounty on Quill's head. And they're arrested and thrown in prison where the meet Drax (who wasn't in the trailer line up). The entire time in the prison was wonderful, as it developed, enhanced and established all the main characters. I mean, Rocket...







The prison scene gave so much in the machinations of Rocket. He's cute, very smart but a total jerk.

Guardians of the Galaxy doesn't provide a lot of exposition in character development, but rather through the nature course of the story and situations. I mean, we got some pretty intense moments and look into Rocket's origin with this...




Guardians of the Galaxy is the prime example why villains to matter in the MCU; it's about the heroes. The characters are so wonderfully fleshed out and endearing, you don't mind spending time with them. The film actually takes a down beat when the villain, Ronin, get some screen time. Seriously, I was like, screw that guy and get back to the raccoon and tree. But of course, Peter, Gamora and Drax has their moments too.











The film, like Captain America: The Winter Soldier is skillfully crafted and directed, as it builds up the heroes and takes the audience on a thrill ride into their world, much like the original Star Wars film. Moreover, the film has heart. It develops Groot as a childlike creature, as he's pretty naive to consequences. And despite the fact that Groot only says three words, James Gunn made him lovable, memorable and fully realized, and so when we get to this, it really is a tear jerker.




Damn it, I feel like crying now.

And again, I'm running long so I'll wrap things up.

James Gunn does a masterful job of taking these really obscure characters and turning them into pop icons. The script is pretty flawless; the character are quite remarkable and endearing and the film is a feast for the eyes, ears and soul. I think haters of the Marvel brand even enjoyed this film on some level. Pretty much from beginning to end the film invites you in for some fun, adventure, good tunes and good feels.



Guardians of the Galaxy does what all great and memorable films do, and that's create an emotional attachment; a feeling and an experience. Not bad for a bunch of A-holes.

 

Thanks for the kind word, heelsy.

It's not slander or libel if it's true.

True be known, I'm a huge DC fan as well. I've said it number of times before and I'll said it again, Dick Donner's Superman: The Movie is my all time favorite super hero film and always will be, as it cracked the super hero genre code in the 70s. In fact, I could make a strong argument that Marvel is using Donner's formula as a template for their films. Since it's the 40th anniversary of Superman: The Movie, I suppose I could do a review of the film in the DC thread.

 

Yeah, there were two things that I wanted to include in my review above but forgot to do so because I wanted to wrap things up and one of the was Ronan. Even though the character was under used and developed, he was important to the overall arching story of the MCU in that he's a stepping stone to Thanos. Much like Steppenwolf was suppose to do in the DCFU, Ronan serves as the precursor to the final "Big Boss" of the final stage of the video game. Ronan demonstrates the power of one of the Infinity Stones and how even one stone is a thread to the entire galaxy.

It helped that we got to see Ronan and Thanos interact. The second time since The Avengers has Thanos made an appearance within a film rather than post credit material.





The other thing I wanted to include in my review was the importance of Guardians of the Galaxy to the MCU. Obviously, the film is the gateway to the cosmic side of the MCU. The Thor films touched upon it (really limited to the Nine Realms), but never really developed the cosmic MCU the way Guardians of the Galaxy does. I mean, it introduces the Nova Corp, The Celestials and expands the MCU beyond the Nine Realms. Moreover, Guardians of the Galaxy provided the most information regarding the Infinity Stones through the Collector's powerpoint presentation to the Guardians.







If there's any one film to see before Infinity War it's Guardians of the Galaxy.

 

Dammit, you're right. I was going to minimalize my Infinity War viewing to just Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America Civil War (Avengers 4 I'll be going full MCU movie rewatch) but, yah, the first GotG is pretty essential. But that's it! Gotta draw a line somewhere.

And, for some random reason, I feel like watching Thor: Ragnarok after IW would make sense. At least to me. Probably because Loki is going to get splattered, like really early first 20-30 minutes splattered, so I'd want to feel better and watch his last hurrah. (Butttt, he may fake out his death again like he did in Thor: the Dark World - or hell, when we thought he was dead after the first movie. Which is cheating playing the same trick but he's a Trickster God so he gets a pass)

All this talk of soundtracks and nobody mentioned Thor: Ragnork's bugnuts crazy synth score? Watched it a few days ago and I just absolutely love it and the hint of the "Thor's theme" when he sits down at his captain's chair/Asgard's Throne at the end is just super.