Marvel Cinematic Universe thread v3 (no recent spoilers)

[ariich]

The last one was 119 pages and now that Phase 4 has begun, it's probably a good time for a new thread.

Also, given that WandaVision had its own thread, I thought a good way to do things might be to make this a general thread for the MCU with no spoilers from the latest/current entries, but new movies/shows can have their own spoiler-filled threads. That would allow people who haven't caught up on the latest ones to still be able to discuss the MCU. I think we took this approach temporarily with a couple of the big Avengers movies, but any objections to doing it on an ongoing basis?

EDIT:

Old thread here: https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=48444.0

Spoiler-filled individual threads for Phase 4:

• WandaVision
• The Falcon and the Winter Soldier

[jingle.boy]

First!  I guess next on the docket is going to be Black Widow (finally).  jingle.son is prepared to drop the $30 it probably will be if/when it comes to Disney+.  Ain't no way theaters around here are gonna be open anytime soon, and he told me it was releasing in China soon??

[ariich]

Because of Covid delays, we're supposedly getting 4 movies and 6 Disney+ seasons during 2021, which is a huge step up in sheer volume of content if it happens that way.

The movies are:

Black Widow (May)
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (July)
Eternals (November)
Spider-Man: No Way Home (December)

The shows are:

WandaVision (January)
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (March)
Loki (June)
What If...? (mid 2021)
Ms. Marvel (late 2021)
Hawkeye (late 2021)

Of those, What If? isn't really canon except that with them seemingly introducing the multiverse, in a sense everything becomes canon but just happened in a different universe.

[faizoff]

That's a really stacked lineup. I doubt I'm going to see any of the movies in the theater. Will just have to wait for them to come on Disney+

[Kotowboy]

Iron Man 2 is the worst MCU film.

[DoctorAction]

I can't wait to get more Marvel on Friday. If the cinemas aren't very open or doing well for the rest of the year, I really hope they do streaming. I'll be disappointed if timelines get pushed back again.

[romdrums]

My wife and I are trying to catch up on the MCU.  We had been doing pretty good up through Age of Ultron, and then we had our son and other things took precedence.  We are now caught up through Captain Marvel, so, of the movies, we only have Ant Man & The Wasp and then Endgame to go. 

On the TV side of things though, we've been watching Agents of SHIELD, and, outside of Ming Na Wen, not really impressed with the show.  We're about midway through Season 2.  Does it get better?  The writing feels really clumsy, and the character Grant Ward (and the actor who plays him) just seems so stiff and awkward.  We're kind of hate watching it at this point.

[ariich]

My wife and I are trying to catch up on the MCU.  We had been doing pretty good up through Age of Ultron, and then we had our son and other things took precedence.  We are now caught up through Captain Marvel, so, of the movies, we only have Ant Man & The Wasp and then Endgame to go. 

On the TV side of things though, we've been watching Agents of SHIELD, and, outside of Ming Na Wen, not really impressed with the show.  We're about midway through Season 2.  Does it get better?  The writing feels really clumsy, and the character Grant Ward (and the actor who plays him) just seems so stiff and awkward.  We're kind of hate watching it at this point.

I enjoyed it from the start but it definitely improves and by season 3 is pretty great.

[jammindude]

Do NOT give up on AOS.

Personally, I don't mind the early seasons like some do, but there is a definite upturn in quality in seasons 3-5 especially. And a couple of the story lines have an impact on the story line in the movies.

Heck even WandaVision had a major reveal near the end that was a major plot point in one of the later seasons of AOS. (5 or 6...can't remember)

I just bought the entire series on DVD. Can't wait for it to arrive

[jingle.boy]

My wife and I are trying to catch up on the MCU.  We had been doing pretty good up through Age of Ultron, and then we had our son and other things took precedence.  We are now caught up through Captain Marvel, so, of the movies, we only have Ant Man & The Wasp and then Endgame to go. 

On the TV side of things though, we've been watching Agents of SHIELD, and, outside of Ming Na Wen, not really impressed with the show.  We're about midway through Season 2.  Does it get better?  The writing feels really clumsy, and the character Grant Ward (and the actor who plays him) just seems so stiff and awkward.  We're kind of hate watching it at this point.

I enjoyed it from the start but it definitely improves and by season 3 is pretty great.

I echo this completely.  I don't have an issue with S1 the way others do.  If you have the wherewithal to work your way thru one more season, S3 is a very good one and they only continue to improve.  However, if you aren't digging it even 1/2 way thru, it just might not be for you. Though, it may already not be for you if you didn't enjoy and/or aren't intrigued by the 2nd half of S2

[romdrums]

We are at the point in S2 where we found out that Whitehall killed Skye's mom, and Ward just killed his family.

[hefdaddy42]

I'm one of the weirdos who enjoyed seasons 6 & 7 more than anything else.

[bosk1]

I enjoyed most of it, from start to finish.

[jingle.boy]

We are at the point in S2 where we found out that Whitehall killed Skye's mom, and Ward just killed his family.

Ok, so you're about 1/2 way thru S2.  I suggest giving it a go to the end.  If it doesn't float your boat, it just might not be the show for you.

[ZirconBlue]

I'm one of the weirdos who enjoyed seasons 6 & 7 more than anything else.

I think both of those seasons benefited from having fewer episodes.  7, especially.  The first half of Season 5 could have used some similar trimming, IMO.  Season 4, with it's 3 mini-arcs made the best use of a 22-episode season, IMO. 

[Kotowboy]

Ok - what's everyone's favourite and least favourite film in the MCU ?

My favourite : probably Infinity War or Avengers (2012) or the first Iron Man. There's loads to choose from. Thor Ragnarok is also way up there along with the first GOTG.

When they're good they're very good. Could probably cheat and say Infinity War & Endgame as one film as it was originally titled Part I and Part II.

My Least favourite is definitely Iron Man 2. Not as bad on my second viewing - but a really mediocre follow up to Iron Man - which is almost a perfect film IMO.

That or the first Captain America or any Hulk movie. Stand alone Hulk movies are never good.

[ariich]

Personally, I'd definitely place Iron Man 2 at the bottom. It's still enjoyable, but I find it easily the weakest.

Favourite is harder, but it would be one of the following:
- The Avengers
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- Captain America: Civil War
- Black Panther
- Infinity War
- Captain Marvel
- Endgame

As you can see I generally think the franchise has strengthened over time and most of my favourites are in phase 3.

Those are just the movies. I would also add WandaVision as another favourite, and also some of the Netflix shows (if they count).

[Kotowboy]

Apart from Avengers and Iron Man - Phase 1 is not that great.

Iron Man 2 is just Mickey Rourke planning stuff for the whole film - only to turn up right at the end and almost immediately lose.

I can't even remember Sam Rockwell's part in it.

Phase 2 and 3 definitely improve as they go along. Plus I don't dislike Iron Man 3 - but I never read any comics so the Mandarin reveal went over my head

and I took it at face value.

[lonestar]

Least favorite would go to IM2 or Dark World.

Favorite on merit is probably Guardians 1 or Winter Soldier.

Nothing will ever compare to seeing Endgame on opening night in IMAX though, that was an incomparable movie experience that I doubt I'll ever have again. I even watch fan reaction vids of the on your left scene just to relive the moment.

[hefdaddy42]

My least favorite is easily Thor: The Dark World.

Favorite is more difficult.  My top 4 in release order are The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame.

[faizoff]

I've seen 13 of the MCU movies opening night/weekend and apart from a couple of them notably Ant-Man & The Wasp, the theater was packed and filled with hardcore fans and the atmosphere was just fantastic to watch those movies. Not one single person was talking or on their phones at any time during the movie, there was loud cheering, applause, laughter, etc.. it was honestly a lot of fun every single time.

Some I saw in IMAX, some in Dolby. I think the Dolby ones were the best, sound and picture quality was unparalleled.

I still can't rank the top 5.

It will have to be among these

Iron Man
Winter Soldier
Avengers
Civil War
Infinity War
Endgame

[King Postwhore]

My least favorites are The Incredible Hulk and Thor: Dark World.

Favorites are The Winter Soldier, Civil War, Infinity War, Endgame, Guardians Of The Galaxy.

[jingle.boy]

Nothing will ever compare to seeing Endgame on opening night in IMAX though, that was an incomparable movie experience that I doubt I'll ever have again. I even watch fan reaction vids of the on your left scene just to relive the moment.

Ditto.  Though, it's hard to pick between "On your left", Cap picking up Mjolnir, or "Avengers.... Assemble" as to which gave me the biggest goosebumps.  And by "goosebumps" I mean "boner"

I enjoyed Dark World well enough at the time, but it's the one that has aged the worst.  IM2 was the one I liked the least.  Least memorable for me would be GOTG2, and Ant Man & Wasp.  Both tried (too hard, imo) to capture the quirky uniqueness of their original counterpart, but both did not succeed.

[bosk1]

Favorite is Infinity War.  But Endgame, The Avengers, Homecoming, and GOTG are way, way up there too.

Least favorite probably depends on my mood at any given moment, but the candidates are Hulk, GOTG2, and Captain Marvel.  The next tier up from there would include IM2 and Thor 1 and Thor 2.  But, really, there isn't a single one that I actively dislike.  And they have all played a pretty important role in forming the complete MCU.

[lonestar]

Speaking of memorable theater moments, the crowd for Infinity War was brilliant as well. There was a group of slightly drunk, very vocal young men behind me who were fucking hysterical. When Spiderman went all ashy, one guy was all, really fucking loud, "are you crying dude?"

When the credits started rolling, same guy says totally heartbroken "did we just lose?"

I was fucking rolling.

[bosk1]

And for me, the thing is, while we might laugh at reactions like that, both films (Infinity War and Endgame) earned those types of reactions. 

[jingle.boy]

And for me, the thing is, while we might laugh at reactions like that, both films (Infinity War and Endgame) earned those types of reactions.

Damn straight.  Like the chef said, I don't think I'll ever get a theater experience like either of those.  I think the biggest pop out of either movie was Thor arriving in Wakanda.

I really want to find 5.5 hours of free time some time to watch both back-to-back.

[Kotowboy]

But did anyone truly think that anyone who died in Infinity War wasn't coming back ?

I mean Endgame was originally titled Infinity War Part 2.

I thought GOTG2 was just as good as the first one and Kurt Russell was fantastic. Why have he and Jeff bridges never played brothers ?

have they even been in a film together ?!

The THOR films are mostly poop apart from Ragnarok which is awesome. Though i'm hoping that Love & Thunder doesn't double down on

the comedy. Plus I hope we get BUFF Thor back. fat Thor was funny for one film. We don't need it again.


Infinity War & Endgame are perfect cinema movies. You couldn't get the same experience watching it on TV by yourself.

The audience in my screenings were SILENT apart from the appropriate reactions. And that's what you want.

I went to a midnight premiere of The Force Awakens and they had to pause the movie to throw some people out who were shouting and throwing glass around.

[bosk1]

But did anyone truly think that anyone who died in Infinity War wasn't coming back ?

Died or who were dusted?  From what I saw, most people figured that those who dusted due to the snap were coming back.  But there was all kinds of speculation about those who actually died (e.g. Gamorra, Loki, Vision).

[Kotowboy]

Yes dusted. For instance we already knew there was a Dr. Strange and Spidey sequel.

[Zook]

But did anyone truly think that anyone who died in Infinity War wasn't coming back ?

I mean Endgame was originally titled Infinity War Part 2.

I thought GOTG2 was just as good as the first one and Kurt Russell was fantastic. Why have he and Jeff bridges never played brothers ?

have they even been in a film together ?!

The THOR films are mostly poop apart from Ragnarok which is awesome. Though i'm hoping that Love & Thunder doesn't double down on

the comedy. Plus I hope we get BUFF Thor back. fat Thor was funny for one film. We don't need it again.


Infinity War & Endgame are perfect cinema movies. You couldn't get the same experience watching it on TV by yourself.

The audience in my screenings were SILENT apart from the appropriate reactions. And that's what you want.

I went to a midnight premiere of The Force Awakens and they had to pause the movie to throw some people out who were shouting and throwing glass around.

Hemsworth got super ripped for that Hulk Hogan biopic, so they're gonna have to make his fat suit really thin. He'll probably be fat at the beginning and time with pass, or they'll show him training.  Thanos is dead and everyone who was snapped returned,  so there's no reason for him to be depressed anymore. All is right, except Black Widow and Tony, but he seemed pretty happy with the Guardians.

[ThatOneGuy2112]

.

[ariich]

But did anyone truly think that anyone who died in Infinity War wasn't coming back ?

Wasn't really about that though. As you say, we knew some other films that were on their way involving dusted characters, plus they were hardly going to actually kill off half of their superhero roster permanently, so obviously we all assumed they'd come back somehow. But it will a thrilling experience because of:
- Being surprised that they actually went ahead and did that in a major blockbuster movie;
- Feeling the emotions of the characters and what they were going through;
- Speculating about what would happen next and how things would get resolved (which none of us guessed correctly).

[hefdaddy42]

But did anyone truly think that anyone who died in Infinity War wasn't coming back ?

Wasn't really about that though. As you say, we knew some other films that were on their way involving dusted characters, plus they were hardly going to actually kill off half of their superhero roster permanently, so obviously we all assumed they'd come back somehow. But it will a thrilling experience because of:
- Being surprised that they actually went ahead and did that in a major blockbuster movie;
- Feeling the emotions of the characters and what they were going through;
- Speculating about what would happen next and how things would get resolved (which none of us guessed correctly).

At the end of Infinity War, my wife was legit distraught and furious with me for not preparing her for the fact that so many characters would be killed.

I was so happy.

[Stadler]

Wait, what?  People die in Infinity War?