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

Though of course having the word "Avengers" on the cover made them easier to market than Thuderbolts anyway. (That's probably also the reason they added the "Hawkeye and..." bit into those Thunderbolts TPBs, even though they weren't originally called that.)

One of the best things about the movies making Avengers a household name is that a lot previously neglected Avengers comics have now been reprinted, or collected for the first time. For example, pretty much all of Roger Stern's run (except for his first handful of issues, but in those Stern was basically just tying loose ends from Jim Shooter's run that preceded it) is finally available as TPBs. Which is great, since it's still the best bunch of Avengers comics ever published, IMO.

Marvel even collected Steve Engelhart's entire West Coast Avengers run as two of those big omnibuses, though to be frank it didn't really warrant such special treatment, regular TPBs would've been fine. But at least it's now available for people like me who didn't have chance to read WCA back in the day, AFAIK this is the first time those issues have been reprinted.

(xpost)

They did? Sorry about that then, I guess I missed those other reprints.

But still, doesn't look like they're reprinting the newer Thunderbolts issues (by Ellis etc.) now, the ones that are based on the SS premise...

They did reprint the Ellis run in a single collection not too long ago. The only uncollected Thunderbolts at this point is the weird hinterland between the end of Busiek's run and when it was rebooted as New Thunderbolts.

Isn't that exactly what's collected in these new trades? Busiek's run ends in the third of those old TPBs (with Nicieza following him) and it looks like the new "Hawkeye and the Thunderbolts" books will continue straight from that.

Oh, I didn't realize those Hawkeye trades were the start of Nicieza's run. At any rate, there's a big chunk that's still uncollected prior to New Thunderbolts but I guess they may keep going with this reprint series.

That thing about Iron Man 3 not having a female villain because female action figures don't sell well enough. Has this been known for a while? I think I'm getting deja vu.

I think it just came to light. But it's worth noting that that was a decision made by the infamous Isaac Perlmutter, who has subsequently been shut out of the Marvel Studios decision making process by Disney.

I don't think Marvel in general has managed to create that many strong female villains? The only sorta well-known Iron Man female villain I can think of is Madame Masque, and even she falls into the ages-old "the love of a good man turns you from evil to good" cliche. (They had a version of her in Agent Carter, but she was so different it was practically a new character.) And many of the other famous female villains, like the Echantress or Emma Frost, have similarly turned away from villainy.

My favourite Marvel female villain is Moonstone... I just love villains who are pragmatic and opportunistic instead of fanatic and grandiose, who know when to fold 'em, and when it makes more sense to side with the good guys. Taskmaster is another villain I like for the same reasons. I'd love to see either of them in the movies, but the problem is that the movies typically only use villains who want to rule the world or destroy it, not ones who just want a bit of money and power.

I guess they could use Moonstone in the Ms. Marvel movie, because she's sorta become her dark counterpart, but she probably wouldn't be the main villain.

huh, I didn't know that Red Skull had a daughter:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sin_(Marvel_Comics)

dc apparently doing a damage control tv show before marvel does
http://comicbook.com/dc/2016/05/16/dcs-powerless-trailer-screened-at-nbc-upfronts/

hmm, hadn't thought of brie larson as captain marvel but i can see it working

Oscar Winner Brie Larson Is in Talks to Play Captain Marvel

yeah i'd thought katee sackoff in wildest dreams, emily blunt in plausible dreams. brie larson would totally work though.

katee sackhoff would be great but i think the ugly truth is that she'll be pushing 40 by the time the captain marvel solo movie comes out and it's super-unlikely a studio would cast a woman her age in a leading role that could last another decade

it'll end up being someone mid-20s to early-30s because hollywood is horrible

not that I disagree with you in general, but has Katee Sackoff done anything BSG? Seems like fanboy fantasy casting

A cops-in-Wyoming series called Longmire, on A&E and then Netflix. My wife's a big fan.

I'd actually love a 40-ish Captain Marvel — an Air Force colonel in her late 20s/early 30s seems a little Doogie Howserish.

Not just a little. I think the youngest colonel in recent history is a battlefield commission at 33 or so. And the USAF doesn't really do battlefield commissions.

yeah i thought brie might be too young but then remembered o right hollywood. sackhoff is on longmire which the two episodes i saw looked decent and she had a bout w/ cancer.

this looks potentially cool (+ Noah Hawley)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SZ3rMMYBLY

yeah, decent pedigree for sure - wonder if fox / marvel will branch out into more x-men-related stuff if this is a success? we could finally get that artie and leech show we've all been clamouring for for so long

also, brie larson cast as captain marvel!

oh, they're already branching out. Singer is exec-producing an unspecified X-Men show and there's one about The Hellfire Club in development also

My gut instinct for no reason beyond cynicism is to complain about the onslaught, but I still think this is a logical extension of comics themselves. Serialized, titles that go in and out of fashion, changing artists, changing "casts," crossovers, different visions for different titles, even big ups and downs in terms of quality, narratives, storylines, etc. At any given time there are how many Marvel comics titles on the shelves? Plenty. Makes perfect sense that the number of movies and TV shows should reflect it. I think it's kind of cool. And even if I haven't followed comics in years, I'd much rather this Marvel onslaught, in a way as much an extension/expansion of stories and titles as what goes on with the long running comics themselves, than lame reboots of blockbusters.

when are we getting an X-Statix show is what I want to know

That Legion show look INCREDIBLE

Yeah i am sold too

Hellfire Club show was nixed before it ever started development iirc.

Hard to get a sense of what that Legion show will be like from the preview but Hawley is a good move. I just finished reading Spurrier's X-Men Legacy run and was hoping they'd take a cue from that because it's really good but it looks pretty dissimilar.

(Neither of these things are MCU.)</nitpick>

Haven't seen Brie Larson in anything to my knowledge but I approve of this employment of post-Oscar cred.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5PYZR30sG4

lol

He's definitely Nick Furry to me from here on out.

i'd def be down for a movie about butthurt, bored thor in the style of what we do in the shadows

some new Marvel ABC show is buying a bunch of casework + fume hoods from my company for one of their sets. stay tuned :p

Breaking Batroc?

black-ish panther

The first reviews of Doctor Strange are quite good, but several of them seem to be along the line of 'THIS ones really good, while all the other Marvel films are shite'. But I feel like I saw the same sentiment around films like Civil War and Guardians of the Galaxy, and probably others. It's like the whole series is in this weird place, where people like the new ones well enough when they see them, but looked back upon, or considered as a whole, the series has become unmanageable and tiring. #hottake.

Benedict Cumberbatch IS Doctor Strange.

Actually that was dumb of me, sorry about that.

I think that Doctor Strange and Guardians of the Galaxy _are_ sufficiently non-superheroic for that sentence to make sense without endangering the MCU - notably GotG hasn't been tied into either of the Avengers films since. I haven't seen anyone say that about Civil War - citation?

I think the MCU is replicating the effect of the published universe precisely — that feeling of thrillpower in the moment and then wondering what all the hoopla was about later. It's profitable as hell, as predictable and comforting and healthy as a plate of hot french fries.

notably GotG hasn't been tied into either of the Avengers films since.

GotG explains what the Infinity Stones are and properly introduces Thanos as a major villain, both of which plot threads are followed in Age of Ultron. That's a pretty major tie-in! I mean, Thanos' whole role in GotG is totally superficial, unless you know he's being set up as the Big Bad of Avengers 3, and the whole franchise. If it was just a stand-alone movie, there's no reason for Thanos to be in it at all.

The Infinity Stones and Thanos are also pretty incidental to Age of Ultron!

The Mind Gem has heavy plot significance for both Avengers films

A Thing that does Stuff has heavy plot significance, that it's the Mind Stone is irrelevant.

I didn't say those plot elements were super significant in AoU, I was just commenting on the claim that GotG "hasn't been tied" into the the Avengers films at all. GotG includes a whole extraneous character because of that tie-in. If it was truly a stand-alone movie, the Power Stone would be just a random super artifact with no exposition about there being six of them, Thanos wouldn't be in it at all (he has no plot significance except as a way of tying GotG to the rest of the franchise), and Gamorra and Nebula would've probably been written as Ronan's (foster) daughters.

Watched Civil war last night - was satisfyingly like reading an old-school 12-issue limited series in one sitting.

xp that's more GotG's problem though - their presence, such as it is, in AoU is the bonus material. If you'd never seen Guardians and then you watched Ultron, you'd have no idea you missed anything - which you can't say about any of the superhero movies.

I feel like all of the movies worked relatively well as self-contained entities until Civil War. And that could probably be enjoyed on its own terms even if you didn't understand all of the relationships.

wondering if that green medallion dr stange is wearing in all the promo materials is/contains an infinity gem

Surely that's the Eye of Agamotto? Though I guess they could change it from the comics so that it's also and Infinity Gem, like they did with the Cosmic Cube in the Cap movie.

my dr strange background knowledge is super weak, but I just noticed that theres no green or orange infinity gem yet.