Rolling Marvel Cinematic Universe thread (+ a poll: Classic or Dud?)

um, what?

Rolling Marvel Cinematic Universe thread (+ a poll: Classic or Dud?)

I get you. Didn't know that, though I had heard that about Levitz.

There is certainly good stuff being published but I'm extremely jaded and fickle about comics but I don't think my relatively narrow taste is the problem. The fact that Fantagraphics were recently in trouble was some of the worst news ever. In recent years I did get into some great stuff (Frantisek Skala, Jeremy Bastian, Kentaro Miura, Carlos Nine, Dave Cooper, Patrick McEown, Jonny Negron, Nicolas Dr Crecy) but nothing has really blown me away in all aspects, in a long time. Always something good and interesting but rarely anything to get giddy about in the way that books, music, film and tv have several things a year to salivate over; the best you can usually hope for is some interesting drawings. Maybe if you can speak several languages and go around the world buying.

Really looking forward to Dr. Strange. I loved the Avengers, but two of the members were basically just every day normal human spies. Give me more cosmic stuff and I'll be there (the military stuff in Iron Man and Captain America kinda keep me away from those movies).

Joss Whedon has said this is one reason he wanted Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, because he realized the Avengers were dominated by "punchy powers."

That sounds good! One of the worst recent trends in superhero comics is the "superheroes act like soldiers/cops" macho vibe spearheaded by Bendis, and this seems to have bled into the movies as well. If I want to watch cops I'll watch a regular cop show, superhero stories should have cosmic shenanigans and weirdo characters.

Well Classic or Dud they making bank
http://www.slashfilm.com/marvel-cinematic-universe-box-office/

classic all around. best thing to happen to movies since wes anderson.

chris ware's hawkeye would be great as a silent movie directed by kathryn bigelow with nothing but a ragtime soundtrack and some tasteful explosions.

That sounds good! One of the worst recent trends in superhero comics is the "superheroes act like soldiers/cops" macho vibe spearheaded by Bendis, and this seems to have bled into the movies as well. If I want to watch cops I'll watch a regular cop show, superhero stories should have cosmic shenanigans and weirdo characters.

And why doesn’t Batman dance anymore? Remember the Batusi?

the hardboiled cop thing works for Batman (altho I thought the campy 60s series worked great too) but different characters are best suited to different approaches

Yeah, it might work for some characters, but I don't really care abot those characters (like Batman) anyway. But what Bendis and his followers did was to make pretty much all Marvel characters they touched into hard-boiled cops/soldiers, which I hated. Thankfully the worst days seem to be over (at least in comics), in the last few years titles like Avengers Academy or Young Avengers or Journey into Mystery have brought back the idealism and cosmic adventures and weirdo vibes, which I feel are much better suited for these characters.

Huh - I felt like Bendis made every character into snarky goofballs, like Spider-Man

I can't really imagine why someone would portray Captain America as a soldier.

I'd blame it more on Millar and the success of the Ultimates, but blame isn't the word I'd use.

can't imagine at all why the alter ego of a dude who was turned into a superhuman by the US Army via the Super-Soldier project would be portrayed like a soldier, nothing at all rings a bell.

And why doesn’t Batman dance anymore? Remember the Batusi?

― Your Favorite Album in the Cutout Bin, Thursday, April 10, 2014 12:53 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol

apparently Mark Millar is performing the Whedon-style creative consultant role for Fox's forthcoming superhero movies. That's their big plan

http://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images%3Fq%3Dtbn%3AANd9GcRBYlopjEgakr7HC0_klBA27EPY1kmDLkuRbuExoTU2AvoEXX9P8g

http://img0.joyreactor.cc/pics/comment/%D1%87%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BA-%D0%BF%D0%B0%D1%83%D0%BA-%D0%B7%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B1%D0%B8-spiderman-%D0%BF%D0%B5%D1%81%D0%BE%D1%87%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%86%D0%B0-456605.png

I can't really imagine why someone would portray Captain America as a soldier.

I'd blame it more on Millar and the success of the Ultimates, but blame isn't the word I'd use.

― Your Favorite Album in the Cutout Bin, 10. huhtikuuta 2014 20:52

can't imagine at all why the alter ego of a dude who was turned into a superhuman by the US Army via the Super-Soldier project would be portrayed like a soldier, nothing at all rings a bell.

― getting strange ass all around the globe (Neanderthal), 10. huhtikuuta 2014 20:58

Er, if you didn't notice it, I wasn't talking just about Captain America, but Avengers in general... And it isn't just portraying Captain America as a soldier (which has been done before Bendis, though some writers have also distanced him from that), but this all hard-boiled superheroes-as-paramilitary-experts, which was popularized by Bendis - and yes, by Millar too. Many writers have used Cap as the leader of Avengers in the past without the Avengers becoming all macho.

But Bendis quite specifically tore apart the whole concept of Avengers (in Disassembled) just so he could remake them in the hard-boiled style he favours. And I'm not saying there's a room for a superhero book like this, but the influence of Bendis and Millar was felt all across Marvel comics at this time, with the cosmic superheroes like Guardians of the Galaxy being the main exception. (Because of this, GotG was pretty much the best Marvel title around that time, so it's kinda ironic that now Bendis has taken over it and made into a macho comic too.) So it was kinda overwhelming, and depressing for those of us who don't particularly care for this kind of superhero writing.

And the influence of Bendis and Millar and co. has definitely bled into the movies as well. Take Hawkeye, for example: in the main Marvel universe he was an anti-authoritarian, tricksterish former criminal, which made him into a nice foil for Cap. But the movies have taken their cue from the Ultimates, where's his just this super-professional company man, i.e. a much more boring and generic action movie hero.

"DO YOU THINK THIS A STANDS FOR FINLAND?"

Take Hawkeye, for example: in the main Marvel universe he was an anti-authoritarian, tricksterish former criminal, which made him into a nice foil for Cap. But the movies have taken their cue from the Ultimates, where's his just this super-professional company man, i.e. a much more boring and generic action movie hero.

To be fair, Hawkeye spent most of The Avengers under Loki's control, and only regained his mind just in time for the all-action finale where there wasn't really much time to dig into his backstory. From what I've read about Age of Ultron so far, it looks like Whedon plans to put more of a focus on the characters that don't have their own movies, so we may yet find out that there's more to Hawkeye than we say in The Avengers (Pizza Dog cameo ftw!)

Renner seems like a pretty boring dude tbh

Yeah, I guess it's still possible to make Hawkeye interesting, but given that he's so obviously based on the Ultimates version and not the main Marvel universe one, I'm not so sure it'll actually happen. I doubt he'll be revealed to be a ex-carny or anything like that...

And I'm not saying the movie characters need to be exactly like their comic counterparts, just that most of the changes they've done have made them more generic and boring than in the comics. (Except for Tony Stark, but that's mostly due to Robert Downey Jr.'s performance.)

It's partly that paradox I pointed out: they've got decades of mythology to juggle and fans to appease, but also, like, the rest of the living world to appeal to, so there's a limit to how deep these movies can go.

Frankly, unless it's happened, I'm surprised there hasn't been a must-read fill-in-the-gaps comic book tie-in with the movies. If not, seems like a missed opportunity to drag people over or back over to the books.

Are they still doing comic book adaptations of comic book movies?

Don't miss this Avengers Assemble novelisation, which apparently stars "Nick Furry".

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13615968-avengers

TS: X-Men: Days of Future Past Quicksilver (top) vs. Agengers: Age of Ultron Quicksilver (bottom)

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--aevHfQoV--/c_fit,fl_progressive,w_636/md4j6rcceqfqsdhqslnj.jpg

http://cdn01.cdn.justjared.com/wp-content/uploads/headlines/2014/03/elizabeth-olsen-aaron-taylor-johnson-more-action-packed-avengers-2-pics.jpg

Tuomas complaining about that Scarlet Witch costume in 3, 2...

Frankly, unless it's happened, I'm surprised there hasn't been a must-read fill-in-the-gaps comic book tie-in with the movies.

How can this surprise you after the last 13-odd years of Marvel tying in their publishing program with film releases

Because I don't read comic books anymore? And, from that vantage, I haven't felt any compulsion to check? I mean, I don't watch Agents of SHIELD, either, but I know the last ep tied in directly to Captain America 2. I realize the comics and movies sort of occupy the same plane, as it were, but my surprise is that, in the credits to Iron Man 3 or Avengers or Thor 2 or something - even a press release - there's not a direct, well, directive to pick up the current comic. Unless it's just implicit. But if they announced issues such and such of whatever title lay some groundwork for Avengers 2, wouldn't they get a reader bump?

Then again, Agents of SHIELD tie-in to Cap'n was apparently the show's ratings low.

Marvel puts out movie tie-in comics (and, yeah, there have been some fill-in-the-gaps books to go along with the straight adaptations), but they're generally shitty when it comes to synergy beyond that. Most recent case in point: a bunch of the Guardians of the Galaxy trades most pertinent to the upcoming movie are currently out of print and super expensive to acquire.

they did come up with "Nicholas Fury Jr."

I think there's a good chance of Guardians of the Galaxy being a relative flop, which will put an end to any idea of the cosmic/weird side of Marvel in favor of more mainstream/actiony stuff. That's just the way it goes with needing to appeal to an audience that mostly doesn't read comics.

Saw a trailer for the new Spidey last night, it looks absolutely terrible - whatever the MCU flaws, they're just so much better than the Spider-Man or X-Men movie universes.

xpost Yeah, they do kinda goofy and perfunctory stuff, like putting the X-Men in black leather when the first movie came out and revamping Spider-Man to give him organic jizz web shooters. I guess Coulson is part of the MU proper now? That's something.

The new Spider-Man action scenes still look like videogame cut scenes, which is pretty ridic for a blockbuster in 2014.

smash cut to Transformers: Grimlock Edition making crazy money

We got Dr. Strange movie: http://www.deadline.com/2014/06/marvel-doctor-strange-movie-scott-derrickson-sinister/

(Way too early for a dedicated thread, imo.)

Clooney or gtfo

My wife begs to differ: "Viggo or gtfo."

Elias Koteas, assuming he doesn't look weird with hair

Corbin Bernsen

oh that's good

The new Spider-Man action scenes still look like videogame cut scenes, which is pretty ridic for a blockbuster in 2014.
--Kiarostami bag (milo z)

That's why they got banished to canada

The Universe is not kind, it will be Patrick Dempsey.

rumour is Jared Leto. Ugh

Figured this was coming soon with that random shout-out in Winter Soldier

http://cdn.screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/doctor-who-peter-capaldi-costume.jpg

Vincent D'Onofrio as Wilson Fisk in the Daredevil series.