MCU/Superhero Discussion Thread

[Ameriganastan]

I've been conflicted about this hard left turn with Thor, but now that you mention it...first, the somber stuff wasn't working and the Thor movies only had The Incredible Hulk to keep them off the bottom of the barrel. And, Thor's most legendary run of stories that really stick out were under Walt Simonson who created Beta Ray Bill and a story where Loki turned Thor into a frog where he fought a frog war for a worthy frog you got his own tiny Mjolnir off a sliver of Mjolnir and became Throg. Which is to say, the most popular and legendary Thor comics are Walt Simonsons completely bonkers run which is right in line with Taika Watiti. Watiti is the Walt Simonson of MCU Thor. He even referenced Throg in Ragnarok.

...and now I want to read that Throg story.

Me too.

[New haven america]

I've been conflicted about this hard left turn with Thor, but now that you mention it...first, the somber stuff wasn't working and the Thor movies only had The Incredible Hulk to keep them off the bottom of the barrel. And, Thor's most legendary run of stories that really stick out were under Walt Simonson who created Beta Ray Bill and a story where Loki turned Thor into a frog where he fought a frog war for a worthy frog you got his own tiny Mjolnir off a sliver of Mjolnir and became Throg. Which is to say, the most popular and legendary Thor comics are Walt Simonsons completely bonkers run which is right in line with Taika Watiti. Watiti is the Walt Simonson of MCU Thor. He even referenced Throg in Ragnarok.

...and now I want to read that Throg story.

Hopefully it's going to be the basis of the next Thor movie.

One can only hope...

[Cannot think of a name]

I've been conflicted about this hard left turn with Thor, but now that you mention it...first, the somber stuff wasn't working and the Thor movies only had The Incredible Hulk to keep them off the bottom of the barrel. And, Thor's most legendary run of stories that really stick out were under Walt Simonson who created Beta Ray Bill and a story where Loki turned Thor into a frog where he fought a frog war for a worthy frog you got his own tiny Mjolnir off a sliver of Mjolnir and became Throg. Which is to say, the most popular and legendary Thor comics are Walt Simonsons completely bonkers run which is right in line with Taika Watiti. Watiti is the Walt Simonson of MCU Thor. He even referenced Throg in Ragnarok.

...and now I want to read that Throg story.

It's fucking bonkers in the best way.

[Forsher]

I doubt Anything will Bomb. Guardians III will make money, DS2, so will BP2, and Spider-man. All those things that are call backs to phase III. The rest? Can't say I'm super excited about "Inhumans"

Is an Inhumans movie still in the works? I assumed Feige just let that dream die in its cradle after the Marvel Netflix folks made that horrible show. (And it was horrible. I tried to watch the first episode, and already in the first five minutes I was beyond disappointed).

I think he means Eternals not Inhumans.

And Inhumans is NOT that bad. Basically the same story as Black Panther and Ragnarok with much worse special effects despite being the single most special effects reliant property adapted for the MCU so far (yes, I include Doctor Strange in there, although it's close).

[Ameriganastan]

Is an Inhumans movie still in the works? I assumed Feige just let that dream die in its cradle after the Marvel Netflix folks made that horrible show. (And it was horrible. I tried to watch the first episode, and already in the first five minutes I was beyond disappointed).

I think he means Eternals not Inhumans.

And Inhumans is NOT that bad. Basically the same story as Black Panther and Ragnarok with much worse special effects despite being the single most special effects reliant property adapted for the MCU so far (yes, I include Doctor Strange in there, although it's close).

Let's be real: Inhumans was only gonna possibly get a movie cause X-Men wasn't at Marvel yet. The Inhumans have been the B-grade replacement for them for years. Now X-Men is under the MCU (Or soon to be anyway) and no one gives a flip about them anymore. The ass TV show didn't help matters.

[Forsher]

Are the TV series connected to the films?

I don’t see any other the TV heroes giving a care in the world about Loki/Ultron/Accords/Thanos.

Agent Carter is the only one where a character from that has appeared in the films. I've heard that a key point in Endgame

actually happens in a different universe instead of being a stable time theory, which does make more sense with what we see in Agent Carter.

SHIELD tends to tie in with the plot arcs of the films... even with Infinity War:

the bad guy was insane and was trying to level up to take on the aliens (i.e. Thanos but he didn't know that)... despite already being way too strong for Thanos if we're being honest... but, again, he was insane.

In this sense, it's more connected to the films than Agent Carter was... which was really set too early in the MCU to tie in closely.

As Alvecia already said the Netflix shows have loose connections but the Luke Cage storypoint that's mentioned is actually even more connected to the films since Hammer is supposed to have made the bullet. Similarly we're pretty sure that SHIELD has referenced that Luke Cage storypoint and the entire Netflix corner is premised on the existence of the Invasion of New York.

Inhumans is almost a SHIELD spinoff property in the sense it relies on the events of AoS S2 but they never ran it long enough to make a proper tie in.

Cloak and Dagger barely connects to anything. Runaways S2 is meant to have some reference to the wider MCU but it's either pretty obscure or not very noticeable since I don't remember spotting it. (I suppose it could also be really trivial which is why I don;t remember but I vaguely remember not having spotted it.) Having read CTOAN's post... yeah, I agree, the Staff of One is probably Dark Dimension connected.

The Disney+ shows mostly look like they'll be pre and midquels or... Endgame spoiler...

alternative timeline settings.

[Forsher]

I think he means Eternals not Inhumans.

And Inhumans is NOT that bad. Basically the same story as Black Panther and Ragnarok with much worse special effects despite being the single most special effects reliant property adapted for the MCU so far (yes, I include Doctor Strange in there, although it's close).

Let's be real: Inhumans was only gonna possibly get a movie cause X-Men wasn't at Marvel yet. The Inhumans have been the B-grade replacement for them for years. Now X-Men is under the MCU (Or soon to be anyway) and no one gives a flip about them anymore. The ass TV show didn't help matters.

I've heard that Feige was forced to include them in the line-up because Perlmutter wanted this. I don't know if it's true or not but I think I can see why Feige got rid of them if it is. In hindsight the bigger problem with Inhumans is that Wakanda, Attilan, Asgard and Atlantis are all actually pretty similar. As I said, Inhumans, Black Panther and Ragnarok all have serious creative overlaps in terms of plot (and there are pairwise thematic similarities between Inhumans & Ragnarok and also Ragnarok & Black Panther).

Of course, if you did want to do a knock off X-Men version of the Inhumans that misses the point of Inhumans and is imitating a really crappy story angle from a really crap era of the comics. It'd be like having a Wakanda without the virulent xenophobia.

But here's the thing... most of what I'm hearing about Eternals makes me think they're doing knock-off Greek Pantheon, knock off Inhumans or a fusion of both. And that's assuming the original comics property isn't one or the other of these to start with.

The Russos would also have really struggled with Black Bolt. They don't know how to handle powerful characters and Black Bolt isn't just extremely powerful but also extremely broken. Even the comics aren't so good with Black Bolt... he's spent the last ten years being handicapped and in a recent, broadly awful, story has effectively been depowered. The MCU honestly isn't ready for a character who can fight Iron Man in a brawl but to take on someone stronger basically takes things to the level of "blows up the planet".

But that's the point of difference with Inhumans versus the other advanced isolated civilisations of Marvel... Black Bolt voluntarily limits himself through self-control and is mute, so as a consequence the Royal Family are the main characters. And at a minimum that means Karnak, Medusa and Crystal. Four main characters is almost the upper limit of conventional movie story-telling and to do the Inhumans properly you also need Gorgon and, I know this undercuts my point, the fish one whose name I've forgotten + Maximus.

Oh, and the Inhumans are pretty terrible people too. People don't like, as a rule, watching terrible people. Even House of Cards has this problem. The American adaptation made Frank a lot nicer than the original British adaptation. Of course, this also missed the point and made for a worse show but there you go.

I wish they'd made the Inhumans properly but now that I think about it there are a lot of structural elements that make them a difficult proposition for cinema. Maybe you can get away with prestige television but I think, realistically, the Inhumans probably require animation in order to accommodate budget and time necessities. How do you blend animation with an otherwise live action universe???

[Battlion]

Going back to see Endgame tonight with my dad, my dad only watched Infinity War for the first time last night... so excited to see what he thinks.

[HC Eredivisie]

Yo, it just came to me!

Thor jetting off into space is probably leading to Beta Ray Bill!

100% cool with that outcome.

In an interview with the NYT with the writers they mention that the resolution of Thor catching a ride from the Guardians was put in looooong after Gunn had written the story for GotG 3 so while there might be a rewrite that deals with them dropping Thor off, it should not be taken as any indication whatsoever that Thor is part of the Guardians of the Galaxy.

While I'm in spoiler tags...since this was all set up before Fox got consumed by the Borg Disney, my assertion that Kang is the next big bad is still in effect. For that I present the following things that will pass as evidence:

1. They fuckered with Time. As Mordo said, messing with the basic building blocks of reality has consequences. They have created alternate realities and timelines now. The very mechanics of time travel. Therefore, also opened the door for someone who can navigate alternate timelines and time itself, Kang the Conqueror. They have also created a reality without a Loki, Asgard, or Thanos. While these things don't exist because of the Heroes from Earth (and their alien friends), Kang might like his chances against the whoever takes the place of the Avengers. Or...

2. The Young Avengers has been teased. Tony Stark's daughter is actually named after Tony's weird uncle...actually cousin if I remember the story correctly, that thought that his dad was shafted by Howard Stark and is convinced by a bigger bad guy (forgot who) to attack Tony so he does it by making Tony think that aliens are invading. Tony goes ape shit in Central Park shooting at ghosts as far as anyone else is concerned and there's a public outcry against Iron Man. Morgan does it again to seal the deal except...aliens actually invade, thwarting his plan. He's outed during the battle and Iron Man is exonerated in the public eye.

That's obviously not Morgan's arc. But she could take over Rescue from her mom. But...BUT...Ironlad is...wait for it...a young Kang the Conqueror. He goes back in time to impress his younger self but instead horrifies his younger self who becomes Iron Lad to thwart his older self.

2.5 Also, Kang might be a descendant of Reed Richards. Or something weird like that.

3. Hulkling is part Skrull...who also just got introduced into the MCU. Casey is a teenager, there's no Kate Bishop but there's Hawkeye's daughter. The Young Avengers essentially have a built in foe in Kang the Conqueror. And since Kangs stakes are more personal with his younger self fighting him, you don't have to match the outsized event of Endgame because...fucking how.

I know most people are thinking that Fox merger means that the big bad is Galactus which puts the Fantastic Four at the center of the next saga. And they might call an audible now that they're going to take a chance to breath with no release dates set after Far From Home. But I think they laid enough pipe for Kang that my money is still on him.

I say "My money" like I wouldn't still show up if the next big bad was MODOK.

Actually, if it was MODOK I would be so fucking down.MODOK is ridiculous and I love it.

Why not both? In Avengers 5 Kang comes from the future, but instead of conquering the Earth for domination, he wants to protect it as it has been almost completely devastated in his time. The New (or Young) Avengers oppose him as his plans would still involve him ruling Earth. Then we learn Earth was actually devastated by Galactus and Kang merely wanted to prevent this from happening, so Avengers 6 can deal with stopping Galactus.

This way Disney/Marvel have time to properly introduce the Fantastic Four in the MCU, set up Galactus as a threat and makes heaps of money. A solo movie will focus on MODOK threatening a colony of frogs lead by Throg.

Or maybe the Squadron Supreme shows up as enemies.

[HC Eredivisie]

1.2 Billion is the estimated worldwide opening weekend for Endgame (350m US and 859m foreign, both also records)

The prior record was held by IW's 640.5m

They’re absolutely crushing it, happy to be seeing it again on Wednesday with my Dad who hasn’t had chance to go yet.

It's already the eight most grossing movie.

[Cannot think of a name]

100% cool with that outcome.

In an interview with the NYT with the writers they mention that the resolution of Thor catching a ride from the Guardians was put in looooong after Gunn had written the story for GotG 3 so while there might be a rewrite that deals with them dropping Thor off, it should not be taken as any indication whatsoever that Thor is part of the Guardians of the Galaxy.

While I'm in spoiler tags...since this was all set up before Fox got consumed by the Borg Disney, my assertion that Kang is the next big bad is still in effect. For that I present the following things that will pass as evidence:

1. They fuckered with Time. As Mordo said, messing with the basic building blocks of reality has consequences. They have created alternate realities and timelines now. The very mechanics of time travel. Therefore, also opened the door for someone who can navigate alternate timelines and time itself, Kang the Conqueror. They have also created a reality without a Loki, Asgard, or Thanos. While these things don't exist because of the Heroes from Earth (and their alien friends), Kang might like his chances against the whoever takes the place of the Avengers. Or...

2. The Young Avengers has been teased. Tony Stark's daughter is actually named after Tony's weird uncle...actually cousin if I remember the story correctly, that thought that his dad was shafted by Howard Stark and is convinced by a bigger bad guy (forgot who) to attack Tony so he does it by making Tony think that aliens are invading. Tony goes ape shit in Central Park shooting at ghosts as far as anyone else is concerned and there's a public outcry against Iron Man. Morgan does it again to seal the deal except...aliens actually invade, thwarting his plan. He's outed during the battle and Iron Man is exonerated in the public eye.

That's obviously not Morgan's arc. But she could take over Rescue from her mom. But...BUT...Ironlad is...wait for it...a young Kang the Conqueror. He goes back in time to impress his younger self but instead horrifies his younger self who becomes Iron Lad to thwart his older self.

2.5 Also, Kang might be a descendant of Reed Richards. Or something weird like that.

3. Hulkling is part Skrull...who also just got introduced into the MCU. Casey is a teenager, there's no Kate Bishop but there's Hawkeye's daughter. The Young Avengers essentially have a built in foe in Kang the Conqueror. And since Kangs stakes are more personal with his younger self fighting him, you don't have to match the outsized event of Endgame because...fucking how.

I know most people are thinking that Fox merger means that the big bad is Galactus which puts the Fantastic Four at the center of the next saga. And they might call an audible now that they're going to take a chance to breath with no release dates set after Far From Home. But I think they laid enough pipe for Kang that my money is still on him.

I say "My money" like I wouldn't still show up if the next big bad was MODOK.

Actually, if it was MODOK I would be so fucking down.MODOK is ridiculous and I love it.

Why not both? In Avengers 5 Kang comes from the future, but instead of conquering the Earth for domination, he wants to protect it as it has been almost completely devastated in his time. The New (or Young) Avengers oppose him as his plans would still involve him ruling Earth. Then we learn Earth was actually devastated by Galactus and Kang merely wanted to prevent this from happening, so Avengers 6 can deal with stopping Galactus.

This way Disney/Marvel have time to properly introduce the Fantastic Four in the MCU, set up Galactus as a threat and makes heaps of money. A solo movie will focus on MODOK threatening a colony of frogs lead by Throg.

Or maybe the Squadron Supreme shows up as enemies.

I would be cool with this. All of it.

[Pasong Tirad]

Nando V Movies makes a good point here (spoilers!)

NEBULA WAS ROBBED. DON'T @ ME

[Ameriganastan]

Nando V Movies makes a good point here (spoilers!)

NEBULA WAS ROBBED. DON'T @ ME

No, I'll @ you. Nebula has been in what, 4 movies counting this one? Yeah, she's not the person people are coming to the theater to see. That's the Avengers. So they didn't copy the comic page for page. Big whoop.

[Pasong Tirad]

Nando V Movies makes a good point here (spoilers!)

NEBULA WAS ROBBED. DON'T @ ME

No, I'll @ you. Nebula has been in what, 4 movies counting this one? Yeah, she's not the person people are coming to the theater to see. That's the Avengers. So they didn't copy the comic page for page. Big whoop.

It's been 10 minutes did you even watch the video

[Platypus Bureaucracy]

Nando V Movies makes a good point here (spoilers!)

NEBULA WAS ROBBED. DON'T @ ME

Thematic significance? In MY Marvel movie?

[Ameriganastan]

No, I'll @ you. Nebula has been in what, 4 movies counting this one? Yeah, she's not the person people are coming to the theater to see. That's the Avengers. So they didn't copy the comic page for page. Big whoop.

It's been 10 minutes did you even watch the video

I watched enough.

[Pasong Tirad]

It's been 10 minutes did you even watch the video

I watched enough.

So you didn't watch everything and you think "Yeah fuck you anyway?" Okay.

[Pasong Tirad]

Nando V Movies makes a good point here (spoilers!)

NEBULA WAS ROBBED. DON'T @ ME

No, I'll @ you. Nebula has been in what, 4 movies counting this one? Yeah, she's not the person people are coming to the theater to see. That's the Avengers. So they didn't copy the comic page for page. Big whoop.

If you actually did watch the video you'd know that that's not the point. That's so far from the point. The point is at the Avengers HQ and you're at Xandar.

This is still very much the movie of the original six - or just Thor, Captain America, and Iron Man if you're being very specific. The point was that the last leg of the gauntlet relay would have had a lot more weight on it if it wasn't run by Captain Marvel, the walking talking one-woman Avenger who literally just plowed through Thanos' ship like it was ice in front of an icebreaker. She didn't need help, she could have just flown past Thanos' army and maybe hit him a few times without sweating, as proven by the fact that Thanos didn't overpower her in her 1v1 fight with him, he outsmarted her with the maneuver of taking the power stone off the gauntlet.

The stakes in this last leg of the gauntlet relay would have been a lot - a lot - more significant if it was run by someone who had lost more from Thanos. That wasn't Captain Marvel - that would have been Nebula and Gamora. AND it would have made a lot more sense for Peter Holland/Tom Parker to ask "how you gonna get past them?" because he's seen Nebula in action, he knows what she's capable of and he knows what Thanos is capable of. Gamora and the rest of the female Avengers coming in to help them out would have made so much more sense and it wouldn't have ruined anything in the whole female Avengers montage, it would have in fact added a lot more thematic weight to it because this is Nebula fighting against Thanos and at the end of this you can still get Captain Marvel, Thor, and Captain America fighting Thanos like they did in the film.

I don't quite enjoy watching people's arguments sink into the sandy foundation they already have. You lose literally nothing from simply watching the whole video 'til the end before commenting.

[Cannot think of a name]

No, I'll @ you. Nebula has been in what, 4 movies counting this one? Yeah, she's not the person people are coming to the theater to see. That's the Avengers. So they didn't copy the comic page for page. Big whoop.

If you actually did watch the video you'd know that that's not the point. That's so far from the point. The point is at the Avengers HQ and you're at Xandar.

This is still very much the movie of the original six - or just Thor, Captain America, and Iron Man if you're being very specific. The point was that the last leg of the gauntlet relay would have had a lot more weight on it if it wasn't run by Captain Marvel, the walking talking one-woman Avenger who literally just plowed through Thanos' ship like it was ice in front of an icebreaker. She didn't need help, she could have just flown past Thanos' army and maybe hit him a few times without sweating, as proven by the fact that Thanos didn't overpower her in her 1v1 fight with him, he outsmarted her with the maneuver of taking the power stone off the gauntlet.

The stakes in this last leg of the gauntlet relay would have been a lot - a lot - more significant if it was run by someone who had lost more from Thanos. That wasn't Captain Marvel - that would have been Nebula and Gamora. AND it would have made a lot more sense for Peter Holland/Tom Parker to ask "how you gonna get past them?" because he's seen Nebula in action, he knows what she's capable of and he knows what Thanos is capable of. Gamora and the rest of the female Avengers coming in to help them out would have made so much more sense and it wouldn't have ruined anything in the whole female Avengers montage, it would have in fact added a lot more thematic weight to it because this is Nebula fighting against Thanos and at the end of this you can still get Captain Marvel, Thor, and Captain America fighting Thanos like they did in the film.

I don't quite enjoy watching people's arguments sink into the sandy foundation they already have. You lose literally nothing from simply watching the whole video 'til the end before commenting.

Alternatively, you could have just summarized the argument like you just did instead of asking us to watch some dude's 10 minute long video, maybe even share your own thoughts on it instead of pimping some dude.

[Pasong Tirad]

If you actually did watch the video you'd know that that's not the point. That's so far from the point. The point is at the Avengers HQ and you're at Xandar.

This is still very much the movie of the original six - or just Thor, Captain America, and Iron Man if you're being very specific. The point was that the last leg of the gauntlet relay would have had a lot more weight on it if it wasn't run by Captain Marvel, the walking talking one-woman Avenger who literally just plowed through Thanos' ship like it was ice in front of an icebreaker. She didn't need help, she could have just flown past Thanos' army and maybe hit him a few times without sweating, as proven by the fact that Thanos didn't overpower her in her 1v1 fight with him, he outsmarted her with the maneuver of taking the power stone off the gauntlet.

The stakes in this last leg of the gauntlet relay would have been a lot - a lot - more significant if it was run by someone who had lost more from Thanos. That wasn't Captain Marvel - that would have been Nebula and Gamora. AND it would have made a lot more sense for Peter Holland/Tom Parker to ask "how you gonna get past them?" because he's seen Nebula in action, he knows what she's capable of and he knows what Thanos is capable of. Gamora and the rest of the female Avengers coming in to help them out would have made so much more sense and it wouldn't have ruined anything in the whole female Avengers montage, it would have in fact added a lot more thematic weight to it because this is Nebula fighting against Thanos and at the end of this you can still get Captain Marvel, Thor, and Captain America fighting Thanos like they did in the film.

I don't quite enjoy watching people's arguments sink into the sandy foundation they already have. You lose literally nothing from simply watching the whole video 'til the end before commenting.

Alternatively, you could have just summarized the argument like you just did instead of asking us to watch some dude's 10 minute long video, maybe even share your own thoughts on it instead of pimping some dude.

I apologize for being as rash as I was, but it was very clear from Ameri's post that he didn't properly comprehend the video in question anyway. It would have cost him nothing to simply just, maybe, ask for clarification or just watch the video in its entirety to understand the whole point before lashing out in a "no u" the way that he did.

[The first Galactic Republic]

I for one skip almost all videos posted in this forum.

Comedy is okay, but I’m inherently distrustful of video “journalism”. There is too much bullshit peddled through YouTube.

[Fedel]

Hoping Endgame manages to surpass Avatar. That forgettable pile of mediocrity has been at the top for too long.

[Ameriganastan]

Hoping Endgame manages to surpass Avatar. That forgettable pile of mediocrity has been at the top for too long.

Amen to that.

[New haven america]

Hoping Endgame manages to surpass Avatar. That forgettable pile of mediocrity has been at the top for too long.

Amen to that.

You 2 make me not want it to surpass Avatar now.

[Fedel]

Amen to that.

You 2 make me not want it to surpass Avatar now.

Trust me, I'm as shocked as you that Ameri and I actually agree on something. That hasn't happened since I discovered he's also one of the dozen other people out there who's seen the entirety of Adventure TIme.