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

Perfect... that was one of the ones I missed in the earlier season!

 

Is this the thing where Haley eventually brought out Chris Evans, or is this a different thing?

 

Bo Burnham's stand on Lip Sync and I wholeheartedly agree

Anyone watch Celebrity Lip Syncing on The Tonight Show? It's the end of culture. Culture's over everybody. We lost. This is entertainment. How is this entertainment? People we've seen too much of mouthing along to songs we've heard too much of. And this is the bread and butter of American television. And it's always one of two things on celebrity lip-syncing. It's either a male celebrity lip-syncing to a woman's song...
[fake laughs] But he's not..."
Or it's a rich, young white actress ironically lip-syncing to a hip-hop song.
[fake laughs] "**** the police coming straight from the underground. Can you believe this song was once an honest articulation of class struggle? [fake laughs]"
**** these people. How dare they think that them ******* around is worthy of your attention? Them playing Pictionary? Your attention's a valuable thing. I worked for three years to get it for an hour. And I barely get there.
[Silence]
See?​

 

That's something different. It was a dubsmash challenge/battle between the cast of Agents of SHIELD and Agent Carter that was held on twitter.

Here's the complete compilation of the dumbsmash videos. Chris Evans shows up around the 2:43 mark of the video.

 

Thanks, Sithy!

 

Sorry, your argument is invalid...

 

You're proving my point.

 

It's definitely the lowest form of entertainment since the last lowest form of entertainment, and will remain so until the next lowest form of entertainment.

 

if you're watching the tonight show i'm not really sure what you're expecting. i mean, "dead dove, do not eat".

 

Okay, now I expect Agent Coulson to break out in song and dance in Captain Marvel. Added bonus if he manages to fool Ronan into joining him.

 

That would explain Ronan going mad in time for Guardians of the Galaxy.

 

Continuing on the road to Infinity War, next up Ant-Man.
Release date: July 17, 2015 - Worldwide box office: $519,311,965
Rotten Tomatoes: 82%



"Baskin-Robbins always finds out."

On June 28, 2012, The Hollywood Reporter posted an article confirming the rumors that Edgar Wright was working on a script and test reel for an "Ant-Man" movie.

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So, like Guardians of the Galaxy, (which wasn't announced at the time) many Marvel fans had the initial reaction of, "What? An Ant-Man film? Really?" There were many doubters and skeptics stating that Ant-Man will be Marvel's first flop and this won't work. I was somewhat skeptical myself, in that I didn't know what to expect from the character or how it was going to fit within the MCU. I mean, he's a tiny character, what good would get be in a fight with Thanos or any other Avengers villain, despite being a founding member of the Avengers in the comic books. But, I was pretty excited to know that Edgar Wright was going to direct the film as I'm a big fan of Shawn of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.


On July 14, 2012 at San Diego Comic-Con, Edgar Wright made a surprise appearance at the Marvel Panel and showed off the "Ant-Man test reel" he was working on. And it astonished the crowd, much like the leaded Deadpool test footage.

SyFy posted this article, Edgar Wright Surprises Comic-Con with 1st Ant-Man Test Footage:

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Another write up on the "Ant-Man" panel and Test Footage from the 2012 SDCC by Slashfilm titled, "Is ‘Ant-Man’ Marvel’s First Comedy? Edgar Wright Screens Test Footage [Comic-Con 2012]":

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Here's the Ant-Man leaked test footage video from the 2012 SDCC.










When this test reel was leaked on the internet, the online community was pretty stoked for the film. Edgar Wright was poised to deliver a very unique MCU film and therefore Marvel fans and Edgar Wright fans both eagerly anticipated his "Ant-Man" film.

Of course, however, a couple of years later on May 23, 2014, Variety posted Edgar Wright Exits Marvel’s ‘Ant-Man’ as Director.

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On June 7, 2014, it was announced that ‘Ant-Man’: Marvel hires director Peyton Reed to replace Edgar Wright.

This announcement really didn't do much to create any excitement or anticipation for Ant-Man. It really didn't make much of a splash.

So, going into Ant-Man, I was really disappointed that Edgar Wright left the project and I just went into the film with very little enthusiasm or fanfare as I never read any of the Ant-Man comic books. The only time I read anything regarding Ant-Man in the comics was when he crossed over in an Avengers story or a Marvel event story.

By film's end, I really enjoyed and liked Ant-Man. It's the adventure comedy in the vain of Ghostbusters and Honey, I shrunk the Kids, which has been severely lacking in the modern cinema.

I love how the Ant-Man starts off with the construction of Triskelion (which is a nice juxtaposition from the destruction of it in The Winter Soldier).


And then we see the precursor to the modern day MCU and SHIELD (Fury, Coulson, Hill, etc.) with Howard Stark, Peggy Carter, some other dude and a young Hank Pym. This was pretty geeky moment for me, as we see Hank Pym has been around for awhile and initially was working with Stark and Carter in the early days of SHIELD. And we get a tease about the fate of Janet Van Dyne in this scene, so that's a whole lot of Marvel characters going on right off the bat.


Cut to modern day, we see Paul Rudd's Scott Lange in prison on the day of his release. And that's where we first met the break out star of the film, Michael Pena's, Luis.





And that sets the tone for the rest of the film. Ant-Man is a fun and wonderful action/adventure comedy.

As the story goes on, we learn that Scott Lang was sent to prison for burgling a corporate CEO that was intentionally overcharging the customers. Scott hack the company's systems and return the overcharges to the costumers.

It was at the time the MCU experimented with the WHiH: Newsfront (The MCU's version of CNN):


Newsfront also provided the surveillance footage of Scott's break-in into VistaCorp, which also show footage of Scott driving the CEO's car into his pool.



We learn that Scott is divorced (IIRC) from his wife and has a daughter but has limited parental rights as a convicted criminal. Scott's daughter is so cute and adorable. I love that she loved the ugly bunny that Scott gave her for her birthday. So, in order to spend more time with his daughter, Scott's ex-wife (Judy Greer who I love), gives him a list of conditions to meet and thus we get Scott working as Baskin-Robbins.



Of course, Baskin-Robibns finds about about Scott's prison time and fires him. And that's when the story really picks up. Scott needs a big score and asks Luis for the tip, which is this wonderful scene that's so Edgar Wright:


After that, this is where Ant-Man earns its description as a heist film as he and his team break into Hank Pym's house. We see alot of "MacGuyver" stuff as Scott runs into various obstacles like a thumb print ID and an old school safe.



And in the safe is just an old "motorcyle suite and helmet."

When Scott puts on that suit and shrinks for the first time, the film really does provide the audience with an experience. The feeling of being the size of an ant.


During this first time shrink, Scott hears a voice but it's not his conscience. Scott so freaked about this experience he tries to return the suit to the Pym house and gets arrested. While in jail, Scott meets Hank for the first time.

And as usual, I'm running very long, so I'll wrap things up.

I love the montage of Scott training in the "Ant-Man" suit as we learn about the different types of ants and how cool it would be to run with them. A view of a "bug's life."




The biggest selling point of "Ant-Man" was this scene in the promo materials, and it still played really well in the context of the film.





All in all, "Ant-Man" is a worthy addition to the MCU. Marvel has taken another one of its C-list characters and made it a box office success (not a smash box office success) as well as a critical success. Not only was Ant-Man a welcomed addition to the MCU, but to the cinematic landscape in general as Hollywood has been lacking in adventure comedy films.

And as a heist and mission film, Ant-Man delivers; not only in the fun and action but it gives each member of the team a specific task to perform. Other weaker squad films just through random characters together without much thought to their function or contribution to the task at hand. In the mission to break into Pym headquarters and steal the Yellow Jacket suit and wipe out all the data and research thereof, each member of the team is given a role to play; from the various groups of ants, Luis being "in the system" as a guard, to the guys in the van, as well as Hope and Hank. It was a collaborative team effort.

Underneath this action comedy is a story about father and daughters. Hank and his problems with Hope. Scott and his daughter. Both Hank and Scott work their way to find their way back into their daughters' lives. That's where the heart of this film lies. And there's the bit of Scott's flying ant, Anthony. My wife cried when Anthony was killed.

Ant-Man, more than any of the solo films, really connects itself to MCU with references like every 20 minutes. I mean, as posted above it starts off with the construction of the Triskelion. And when Hank tell Scott why he need him, Scott says "call the Avengers" why Hank replies (paraphrase) "they're too busy dropping cities from the sky... and I spent my life keeping my tech away from a Stark." There are also Hydra buyers for the Yellow Jacket suit. And of course there's that final practice run where Scott has to break into an old Stark warehouse in upstate New York, which turned out to be the new Avengers headquarters.


And at the end of the film we get another Luis story...








That part of "we got a guy who crawls up walls" got nerds all aroused as it was a nod to Spider-Man, who was not part of the MCU at the time.

I thought Petyon Reed did an outstanding job in replacing Edgar Wright. However, in light of James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy films and Taika Witit Thor: Ragnarok, I think Edgar Wright's version of Ant-Man would have fit in the MCU, unless he was unwilling to include as the MCU references and tie-ins, like the Falcon scene or the Triskelion scene at the start of the film.

The end credits scene were some of the best as the lead into follow up films. The first is the Wasp suit.


And the second, Bucky for Civil War.




Some complain that Ant-Man too much like Iron Man or that it's just a "cookie cutter Marvel film" like any of those things are truly bad things. I mean, if that's the worse thing you can say about Ant-Man, then there's really nothing wrong with it. Ant-Man is truly the film that demonstrates that big things come in small packages and is a tale that truly astonishes as it makes it really to cool to be the size of an ant.

Edgar Wright was given a producer and writing credit on the film.

In a June 22, 2017 podcast interview with Variety, Edgar Wright said:

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A couple of weeks later, in an interview with Uproxx, Wright says he hasn't seen Ant-Man:

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As for as the difference between Wright's and Reed's versions of Ant-Man, here's the closest info I found was in this io9 article, Why There's Still a LOT Of Edgar Wright In Marvel's Ant-Man:

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@Sith_Sensei__Prime - another great review. For me, Scott works fine in the Avengers, but like so many other characters, I have no desire to see his solo exploits. Glad you enjoyed it.

 

There was also the speculation that an Infinity Stone would be revealed in the Quantum Realm that Ant-Man entered. That still may happen in Ant-Man and the Wasp, as it's not certain that Thanos would find the Soul Stone in Infinity War. Director Peyton Reed confirmed there was an Easter Egg in the Quantum Realm, which lead fans to speculate that it was the character Eternity, others Janet Van Dyne.








Or the Soul Stone could be revealed in Captain Marvel. Speaking of which, here's the official synopsis of Captain Marvel.

 

If Eternity shows up looking a lot like he was illustrated, I'd be very, very happy. I love the design of the Celestials and other ancient cosmic Marvel characters (and Galactus too). It frustrates me that the only MCU cosmic I've liked so far are the other dimensions shown in Doctor Strange.

 

The Avengers should be looking at Cross's Goo Gun tech with Thanos coming to town

 

It always nagged at the back of my head what was Wright and what was Reed, I think Wright is even quoted that the daughter subplot was in one of the rewrites Marvel off and did on their own that he saw. But the movie turned out great and you can't see the seams unlike something like Justice League which sometimes feels bolted together. Also another reason I'm excited for Ant Man and Wasp is just to see what a ground zero Reed Ant Man movie will be.

 

That's a great looking costume/uniform. Looks like Carol might be holding the Soul Stone. Being referenced as the MCU's most powerful character, I could see Captain Marvel wielding an Infinity Stone.

 

Yeah it is (great looking). I really like the laces up the sides of the sleeves and legs.

Spoiler

That's fan made (though the Russo Brothers did make it the avatar on their Twitter account) and I believe the artist probably put the Soul Stone in her hand because of the popular theory that Captain Marvel will escape from the stone in IW, explaining her absence from the MCU thus far.

They did crop the image to remove that part of the picture though.