Marvel (Comics, Movies, TV Shows)

[PaulTheMarlfox]

Black panther in my opinion is number 1

[Sebias of Redwall]

I'm not sure which ones were my favorite... I liked Endgame and Captain America: The First Avenger movies a lot though. (Then again, I like most of the Marvel movies so...)

[Jack the Quick]

I liked Civil War and Endgame, but they're all good.

[Jetthebinturong]

So I rewatched Far From Home. As with Endgame, I liked it a lot more the second go around, but I still don't think I'd move it up in my rankings.

Also can we talk about the phase 4 slate? I don't know all the dates but from what I remember it's:

Black Widow (May 2020)
The Falcon and The Winter Soldier (Disney+ show)
The Eternals
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
WandaVision (Disney+ show)
Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness
Loki (Disney+ show)
What If? (Disney+ show)
Hawkeye (Disney+ show)
and finally Thor: Love & Thunder (May 2021)

Spoilers for Endgame and Far From Home, also don't open if you don't want to know anything about the upcoming movies/shows

So going through them in order:
Black Widow: Confirmed to be set some time before Endgame - possibly in the five years between Infinity War and Endgame, or possibly just after Civil War. Will feature Taskmaster as the main villain. Taskmaster, at least in the comics, has the ability to replicate any physical movement he sees, which makes him an expert martial artist. The film will also feature the Red Guardian - Russia's answer to Captain America. Possibly will feature the rest of the Russian Avengers (I think they're called the Red Stars? Don't quote me on that) Darkstar (flying, electricity-wielding woman), Ursa Major (bear-man) and Crimson Dynamo (Russia's answer to Iron Man). In the comics they obviously started as Soviets, but that may not be the case in the MCU. Although the guy playing Red Guardian is pretty old and has a bit of weight to him, so he may be retired. Might also feature the other Black Widow from the comics, Yelena whatever-her-name-is. Supposedly has something to do with Natasha's training in the Red Room, and will deal with what exactly happened in Budapest.

Pretty hyped for this. Looks to be a fun spy-thriller, and I love Taskmaster.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: Obviously about Sam and Bucky. I guess it will probably be about Sam coming to terms with becoming Captain America. The main villain will be Baron Zemo (the villain from Civil War) in a new comic-inspired costume.


Not especially excited for this. The only reason I care is a theory I'll get to at the end.

The Eternals: We know the actors involved and that's IT. Supposedly will feature the MCU's first LGBT+ protagonist. No idea who it might be. I've heard Gilgamesh and Hercules tossed around.

No idea how to feel about this. I need more info.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings: For those who don't know, Shang-Chi is one of the greatest martial artists in the world. In some newer versions he also has the power to clone himself. Will feature the real Mandarin (as in, not Trevor Slattery or Aldrich Killian, but the actual sorcerer with ten magic rings) - supposedly there have been hints leading up to this hidden throughout the movies. There will be a female lead, but the role hasn't been named and I don't know enough about Shang-Chi to speculate on who she might be.

Sounds okay. Looking forward to more magic.

WandaVision: Scarlet Witch's TV series! Will probably be about Wanda manipulating reality to get what she wants - her lover back, her brother back, and, possibly, children. But I'll talk more about that later. Will feature a grown up Monica Rambeau (the little girl from Captain Marvel). In the comics, Monica was the second Captain Marvel. She's also gone by Photon (which was Maria Rambeau's callsign in Captain Marvel, so that's probably what she'll be called here) and Spectrum. She has the power to absorb energy, and then fire it out of her (if I'm remembering correctly). I assume she'll get powers in this. Will lead directly into Doctor Strange 2.

Looking forward to this quite a bit, mostly for reasons that should be apparent later. But even aside from that, Wanda is a great character with a lot of potential, and I look forward to seeing what they do with her. Hopefully they'll fix their mistake of making her a Christian (she has crosses displayed prominently in her room in Civil War) and actually make her Jewish, like she's supposed to be. That would make some Wanda fans I know very happy. Monica Rambeau is also pretty cool from what I know of her. This is probably what I'm most looking forward too out of the currently-revealed slate.

Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness: MULTIVERSE! Will also prominently feature Wanda. Possibly about Strange trying to teach her how to control her powers after something goes wrong in WandaVision. But she could also be the villain, for all we know. Will apparently be MARVEL's first scary/horror film (but still rated PG-13, so it can't be that bad). Might feature Nightmare (the living manifestation of fear who infects people through their dreams) as the villain.

All aboard the hype train for this!

Loki: Confirmed not to be a prequel, so might ruin Loki's death which would annoy me. HOWEVER it COULD be about the Loki who escapes with the Tesseract from Endgame, and therefore not actually undo his death. Still a bit annoying though.

Not especially hyped for this. But seeing some more of the Thor mythos could be fun. Again, the big reason I care will be the theory I'll get to at the end.

What If?: An animated series following possible alternate scenarios for how the story could have gone. For example, the first thing they're doing is "What if Steve Rogers died and Peggy Carter became Captain America?" Will feature all the main cast from the MCU voicing their characters.

Here are the confirmed actors returning. You should be able to work out who the show will feature from this.

Honestly not too excited for this. It doesn't seem like it'll connect to the main story so I'll probably skip it entirely, unless a specific scenario interests me, and then I'll watch that episode/s.

Hawkeye: Will be about Clint Barton training Kate Bishop to be his successor.

Hyped. I love Kate Bishop.

And that brings me to THE THEORY.
And that theory is this: THE DISNEY+ SHOWS ARE SETTING UP THE YOUNG AVENGERS
The big, undeniable evidence for this is that Hawkeye has been confirmed to be about Kate Bishop, who was a prominent member of both the original and second Young Avengers teams.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier could introduce Eli Bradley (aka Patriot). Obviously Isaiah Bradley, the original Captain America doesn't exist in the MCU (though he could work without any too serious retconning). But I could see them making Isaiah a second attempt at Cap by the US, then go through the whole "tortured, mind shattered, retired, mocked, has an angry grandson who wants to live up to his name" thing. Or Eli could just be inspired by Sam to become Patriot. I'd prefer if that wasn't the case, but it seems most likely.

Then there's WandaVision. Will probably be about Wanda messing with reality to make her own perfect world, and what better way to do that than bring her fully-formed twin sons, Wiccan and Speed, into existence. She then loses control, and the soul fragments she accidentally used to create them could go and attach themselves to Billy Kaplan and Tommy Shepherd, waking up their latent X-genes and turning them into metahumans. Or maybe she'll bring them into being as teenagers already and they'll just stick around. Or maybe it's set some time in the past and all this has already happened but Strange has erased her memories, like in the comics.

Loki could end with Loki dying and being reborn in a teenage body, like in the comics.

Feige confirmed he was working on Young Avengers. Cassie Lang is already a thing. This is the way I see him doing it. Actually if they don't want to use Kang yet, since they haven't introduced Fantastic Four (and Kang is Nathaniel Richards, a direct descendant of Reed Richards, AKA Mr. Fantastic. He's also a time-traveller who uses his technology to attempt to conquer all of time and space) I can see them doing Hulkling's story as the introduction to Young Avengers, rather than Iron Lad's. Far From Home definitely implies more skrull involvement in the future of the MCU, so having the forbidden child of a skrull princess and a kree warrior being the catalyst for forming the Young Avengers.

and finally Thor: Love & Thunder. Will feature Valkyrie prominently, as the King of Asgard. Will also feature Natalie Portman's return as Jane Foster, and it appears they'll be doing a Jane Foster Thor storyline, in which Thor becomes unworthy of Mjolnir and Jane becomes the next Thor - in the comics, the power of Mjolnir also holds back the cancer she's suffering from, but they might not do that in the film. There have been hints at a romance between Valkyrie and Jane, Tessa Thompson having said that the King of Asgard might need her queen. But that might not be about Jane, but another character. Sif, maybe? In the comics, Valkyrie recently got a new love interest, an archaeologist called Anna Rigg or something, so it could be her. I suppose Thor might become the Jane Foster series, and Thor Odinsson himself will join the Guardians of the Galaxy, as was hinted at the end of Endgame.

Quite interested in this. We'll see how it develops.

[close]

The ComicCon panel also confirmed that the following properties were in the works:
Black Panther 2
Guardians of the Galaxy 3
Captain Marvel 2
Fantastic Four
and "Mutants" (AKA X-Men)

They also revealed that Mahershala Ali has been cast as Blade the Vampire Hunter.

HYPE FOR IT ALL.

I like that they're taking risks and experimenting.

Anyone else have any thoughts?

[One-Eye the wildcat]

Where are venom 2 and deadpool3?

[Jetthebinturong]

Venom is a Sony property, not part of the MCU. Beyond saying that Deadpool will stay R-rated (as he needs) and any future Deadpool content will be going on Hulu, rather than Disney+, nothing has been said about their plans for the character. And none of that is news, they said it soon after they bought Fox.

[Jack the Quick]

That was a good read. Thanks for that.

[Jetthebinturong]

Three new Disney+ shows have been announced for Phase 4!

Ms. Marvel
She Hulk
and MOON KNIGHT

Personally I think Moon Knight should be a Hulu property - darker and grittier. But maybe that's the plan and they're just listing everything under the Disney+ brand 'cause that's what Hulu is anyway.

[The Shadow of Korriban]

Has any fellow seen WandaVision?

[Jetthebinturong]

So I've been rewatching the MCU from the beginning recently, and I figured I'd share my reactions here. I just watched Winter Soldier today, which was the last MCU movie I hadn't previously seen (except Hulk, which I wasn't counting, but will go back and watch now that Abomination is becoming relevant again.)

Anyway, here are my initial reactions:

IRON MAN: Still a great movie. I give it between an 8.5 and 9/10
(Yes that's all I had to say on it.)

IRON MAN 2: Wow there is really just nothing special about this movie is there? Whiplash should be a compelling character, but isn't. Tony's emotional journey is a great idea but in execution makes me feel nothing. Justin Hammer is obnoxious. It's a decent intro to Natasha. Even the action scenes are pretty boring. 6/10, I think

THOR: It's actually a damn good movie. Loki is immediately probably the second most compelling character in the MCU and his confrontation with Odin remains one of the best scenes. Something I've never appreciated before is Laufey's implied ptsd, and horror at the possibility of another war. It's a weirdly subtle performance for a character that could've been just a one-note evil villain. Jane Foster is also much more compelling than I remember, and her relationship with Thor is pretty cute. The kiss scene was really awkward and vaguely disgusting though. Maybe it was how it was shot? 7.5/10

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER: It could've been a genuinely great movie, but the second half is much weaker than the first. Steve and Erskine are great characters, and Schmidt was a great villain. I expected the Tesseract and the shield to be much bigger deals than they were. How did the Tesseract end up with that brave Norwegian man? And how did Schmidt find out about it? I want to know the story of the Tesseract, and I never will, and that sucks. The action scenes were kind of lame, there was some truly awful CGI, and a whole bunch of nothing characters. I also now understand why people ship Stucky. I don't, personally, but I absolutely see Bucky as having an unrequited thing for Steve. OH! And Jenna Coleman (best known for her work on the greatest TV show of all time, Doctor Who) was the girl Bucky took to the Stark expo! Also why did they waste David Bradley on a bit part? 7.5/10

THE AVENGERS: Why did I used to underrate this movie so much? It's great! Almost everything about it is incredible. It's a great introduction to Banner, the action - which is almost the whole movie - was great, there were quite a few standout scenes. Loki is much less interesting than he was in Thor though, some of the camerawork was so fast that it's blurry on a small screen,

Spoiler

and the Chitauri all just dying when Tony blew up the mothership was dumb.

Endgame

Future Tony was very wrong about Cap's butt.

[close]

[close]

8.5/10

PHASE 1 MOVIE RANKING:
4. Iron Man 2
3. Thor/Captain America: The First Avenger (Thor is the more cohesive whole, but Cap's first half is 10/10)
2. The Avengers
1. Iron Man

And because this is the sort of thing I do, here is my character ranking for every single character in phase 1 who is even moderately important to the movies. Bare in mind that these opinions are based purely on how they appear in phase 1, I have attempted to not let their later appearances influence my opinion:

Spoiler

43. Beth the Waitress
42. Senator Stern
41. Justin Hammer
40. Ivan Vanko
39. Dum Dum Duggan
38. The Other
37. Jim Morita
36. James Montgomery Falsworth
35. Howard Stark
34. Heinz Kruger
33. Happy Hogan
32. Fandral/Volstagg/Hogun
31. Arnim Zola
30. Christine Everhart
29. Raza
28. Obadiah Stane
27. Frigga
26. Sif
25. Darcy Lewis
24. Maria Hill
23. Clint Barton/Hawkeye
22. Erik Selvig
21. Pepper Potts
20. Jane Foster
19. Colonel Philips
18. James "Rhodey" Rhodes/War Machine
17. Peggy Carter
16. James "Bucky" Buchanan Barnes
15. Thor
14. Heimdall
13. Laufey
12. Johann Schmidt/Red Skull
11. Phil Coulson
10. Ho Yinsen
9. Nicholas "Nick" J. Fury
8. JARVIS
7. Odin
6. Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow
5. Doctor Abraham Erskine
4. Steve Rogers/Captain America
3. Bruce Banner/The Incredible Hulk
2. Loki
1. Tony Stark/Iron Man

[close]

PHASE 2:
IRON MAN 3: Watched Iron Man 3 for the first time and it's just... such an American movie. Like moreso than most other MCU movies. Anyway it was good. It started out terrible, the way it was edited was really weird. Characters are fairly bland. It handles Tony's PTSD fantastically though. Has some genuinely emotional moments, though

Spoiler

Pepper's "death" was undermined by the triumphant music they used during his fight with Killian.

[close]

And the ending was undermined by the fact that there are more MCU movies where Tony continues to be Iron Man. 7/10

ALL HAIL THE KING ONESHOT: It was really good. But was no one going to tell me that the MCU's first attempt at queer representation was not Joe Russo's cameo in Endgame, but Justin Hammer and his prison boyfriend in this thing? Not surprised that MARVEL have tried to sweep that under the rug. What a tone deaf decision. Come to think of it, Justin Hammer will be a focal character in Armor Wars. Wonder if they'll acknowledge that they decided to make him queer or if that part of his character will just be erased when it's no longer a throwaway gag.

THOR: THE DARK WORLD: Well I just watched Thor: The Dark World for the first time and boy does the climax ruin what could've been a fun movie. There was some truly dreadful CGI, some truly dreadful costuming, Thor and Jane's kisses are still disgusting (seriously Hemsworth and Portman clearly have absolutely no chemistry). But the design of the Svartalf ships was fantastic, and there is a sequence in the middle of the movie that is almost pure gold, give or take some cringy lines. Asgard and Svartalfheim were both fantastically realised when they became important to the movie, but the establishing shots and the prologue made them look awful. Jane Foster was completely wasted, and by extension so was Natalie Portman. And what a total waste of Christopher Eccleston. That man has more acting talent in his left pinky than so many MCU actors, but in this film they just wouldn't let him act. They even had to dub over his voice with filters. Frigga was cool. Odin was ruined. Darcy was ruined and her romance subplot was terrible. The Warriors Three and Sif did absolutely nothing. Loki was boring Avengers Loki. And the climax was utterly nonsensical. Seriously I was loving this movie during the middle, but the climax just ruined it. 6.25/10

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER: The first word that comes to mind is overrated. Good movie? Undoubtedly. Best MCU movie? Nah. Subjectively, I even think I like Thor better. Maybe it's that all of the insane plot twists didn't land for me because I already saw the future movies. Still, great story, really interesting villain, well-handled themes, good action.

Spoiler

I think the helicarrier crash scenes were a bit dragged out,

[close]

but that's really my only criticism. 8/10

So far the trend for Phase 2 sequel movies is that it makes the characters less interesting. Except Tony.