Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

I haven't seen Black Panther yet.  I hope to see it soon.

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I've recently been watching the MCU films with my fiancee.  She's not into comic books or superheroes, and as I've said many times on this board, I think the MCU is very accessible to people who don't typically like comic books.  We finally got up to Captain America: the First Avenger, and I was surprised by it.  I hadn't seen it since it came out, and I'd resigned it to the pile of "worst MCU movies".  Whenever it's brought up here, it's regularly mentioned as a movie that worked only as a preview to Avengers and not able to stand on its own.

Watching it again....I really disagree.

It's not a movie without its flaws.  My fiancee certainly wasn't wowed by it or the character of Captain America, but I think it works on a lot of levels.  Steve is a very compelling protagonist that you're rooting for from the first frame he's in.  You believe in his friendship with Bucky (which will become more important in later movies), and the world that's built feels real and genuine. 

Does the movie set up the Avengers?  Sort of?  The Tesseract is both the McGuffin here and in the Avengers, and the ending certainly sets up the idea that Captain America is in the modern times, but I didn't get the impression that those two things were really enough to de-rail the movie.  The emotional thrust of the film is still Steve and his friends, and that's pretty resolved before any of the future stuff even happens.  Even then, Steve isn't wowed by the future or the potential of joining a team of superheroes...he's sad about Peggy.

There's stuff I didn't like.  I don't understand why Steve was so easily turned into a caricature.  He starts the movie so desperate to join the war effort that he's willing to commit perjury to try again and again.  Even if the Senator was a great salesman, Steve wasn't interested in helping domestically - he wanted to lay his life on the line.  If General Tommy Lee Jones didn't want him, I'd figure he'd simply enlist with his new body - there didn't seem to be anything stopping him.

I also didn't understand why General Tommy Lee Jones didn't want Steve.  Sure, he'd be disappointed that the super-soldier program only produced one guy....but it produced one guy.  Why not use him?  Or even *see if he's worth using* before just dumping him.  Steve literally changes the course of the war all by himself.  Even if he was just a great soldier, I thought it was crazy to turn him into a song and dance man, and I don't see what that really did for his arc.

And I get that Steve is now a top specimen, but the movie actually shows him running into a window because he's not used to being so big/strong/fast.  This wasn't a Neo situation and skills were downloaded into him.  He's the same scrawny kid in a small body.  I don't understand how he can, all of the sudden, fight.  And ride a motorcycle.  And shoot guns.  And fly planes.  He had the training at the base, but he was shown to be pretty below average.  He's small, but if he's beaten up as much as he is, he clearly can't fight either (and those are two different things I'm talking about).  He shouldn't have any of those skills.

SQ21 Edit - Skip the song and dance stuff.  Everyone involved immediately understands that Steve is a very powerful weapon.  But 1) he can't fight and 2) he's too important to be risked on anything but the most important missions.  He's sent to train (willingly) and gets trained by the best.  Meanwhile, different parts of the war effort keep asking to use him, but it's always rejected - not important enough.  When the POWs held by Red Skull are mentioned, it's declined.  And that's when Steve decides to take matters into his own hands, and the movie can continue from there.

All in all, it's not a great movie.  But while I went in thinking it's one of the worst Phase 1 movies, I think it's actually better than everything but the first Iron Man.  That's not saying much because Phase One is the weakest one, but I found myself really enjoying it.

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

I was there for a midnight premiere of Captain America; not an empty seat in the house.  It’s one of the few movies I’ve been to where at the end the audience stood up and cheered clapping; and I felt the same way.  The movie had alot of heart; and it really left me pumped up.

I attribute that more to director Joe Johnson than anything else.  That man really gets the idealized version of World War II filled with that innocent patriotism and a propaganda feel.  That’s really what Captain America is; it was a perfect fit.

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

I don't think that The First Avenger was a horrible movie. I rewatched it recently, and it's good enough. I just think that the movie had the potential to be a lot more, except that it was chained down to The Avengers. As a result, the Peggy relationship is a waste of time, and it feels like a lot of Captain America's story potential is thrown out the window, because they have to get him to the present by the end of the movie. The story didn't have a chance to breathe, so it ends up kinda feeling like an additional feature on some other movie's blu-ray, where we learn Cap's origin story.

It's far from the worst MCU movie, but it could have been a lot better if they'd been able to take their time with it and develop some of the relationships in the past.

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Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

I mean, I've read your idea on how the trilogy should've gone....building to him being frozen.  And I think that could've been a stronger story as far as Steve/Peggy, but I think for Steve on his own, I think it's fine to throw him right into the future.  He doesn't really get the Hollywood ending that he wants, and as soon as he feels comfortable with this life he's always dreamed of, it's torn away from him.

The other movies are really about Steve regaining what he lost.

I see where you're coming from regarding how the Avengers might've cut short a story that would've gone longer if they didn't need Steve in the future.  But if you consider his 1940s story done, then I don't think worldbuilding affected this movie as much as, say, Iron Man 2.

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

One problem is that Steve isn't really a character. It's just Captain America. Yeah, Bucky ties into who he was, but in a way that is entirely about Captain America.

But this is a problem for a lot of Marvel movies. They're built around the concepts for big action sequences rather than character. I guess that's their purpose, so it isn't a failure for them. It's just not how I prefer things.

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Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

I don't know if I agree with that.  Steve is a boring character, but he's boring in a lot of the same way (comic) Superman is boring.  He does the right thing.  He thinks with his conscience.  And he's willing to fight if someone disagrees with him.

That's sorta what I'm talking about in my review.  I was surprised at how much character stuff there was.  I think they missed the mark on some stuff, but you get a pretty good idea about the depth of his friendship with Bucky.  You get a pretty decent idea of what makes this guy tick and what makes him angry.  When you look at the Captain America trilogy, there's actually a decent foundation for those movies.  First Avenger is the worst of the three (in my opinion), but it's almost a Batman Begins situation.  Dark Knight is a better movie, but there's no Dark Knight if Batman Begins didn't do heavy lifting.

I was impressed.  Not blown away.  But impressed.

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

Of the three, I'd say that Civil War was the worst for me. It's one of the worst MCU movies that I've seen, because it's like the writers stopped pretending to care about a plot at some point. I'm far less likely to go back to rewatchable Civil War than I am the other two.

I will agree that The First Avenger had the most character depth for Steve as a person. I'd have just liked to have seen more development of that character.

This is why I like Man of Steel. Superman is usually a pretty boring, poorly written character. Man of Steel was all about developing Clark and using that development to drive the story.

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Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

Jessica Jones, season 2...

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The second season was better than the first. While it probably could have been tightened up, it didn't have some of the bigger problems of the first season... or, it probably did, but it was presented in a way that made a bit more sense.

In general, I'm not a fan of the "Person who was thought dead turns out to not be dead" trope, especially when that death is such a large part of the main character's story. And while bringing Jessica's mother back to life for this season did provide some emotional weight to the story, I'm still not sure that it managed to bypass my dislike of that trope.

Once it was done, I guess it worked out okay. There was definite struggle with Jessica and her mother, and it didn't feel illegitimate, given the circumstance. It made the arc between those characters really interesting in a lot of ways.

Jessica killing the prison guard... At first, I thought it worked and that it served a purpose, by making Jessica do the thing that she hates the most about her mother. However, when all is said and done, I don't know that that beat was played strongly enough to make the killing worthwhile. Yeah, she killed a bad guy and she felt bad about that, but nothing really became of it. Especially since the guy splatted on the sidewalk with the smashed side up, and no apparent cause for that injury.


Some parts of the season felt weird, in that they failed to reference The Defenders and Jessica's role in saving the city there, or the fact that she really could have used the help Luke or Danny at certain points, but never mentioned them. They do get points for having Foggy pop in and out really quick.

The whole combined MCU continues to be more of a distraction than anything else. They mention the Raft several times, which we saw in Civil War. But they also talk about being the most powerful women in the world, which probably isn't true (though, come to think of it, Marvel has really failed to build up female characters). Then you consider that we're also supposed to lump in Agents of SHIELD... it's just a mess. And needlessly so. It's not like they're going to combine the Netflix shows with AoS or the movies. At least, I hope that the Netflix characters won't appear in Infinity War, because it just doesn't fit. None of these properties feel like the same reality. And that's fine. It's good even. I just wish that the studio would stop messing around and commit to the fact that they're not the same world.


At the end of the season, I felt like the story with Jessica's mother was *ended* more than *resolved*. Trish just appears and shoots Jessica's mother, and then runs away, and the whole thing feels like an afterthought. The building conflict between Jessica and this problem that was her mother ultimately led nowhere.


Like I said, the season was better than season 1. I actually didn't dislike season 2. It just had some problems that prevent me from saying that it was actually good. It just didn't seem to come together in the end. It just kinda wound down.

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Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

I finally saw Black Panther.  SPOILERS below:

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I liked it a lot.  I wasn't really aware of much of the character's history, but I really thought it sold him and his world.  It all felt very real, even though Wakanda has barely been mentioned in the previous MCU movies.  I thought just about everything about it (the acting, the worldbuilding, the costumes, the action, the character arcs) were above average for MCU.  For a first movie, it might be up there with the first Iron Man.

And the villain might be the best in the MCU altogether.  He's a guy who, while twisted, really makes some strong points about how Wakanda should work in the modern world.  And it's one of those rare movies where the villain essentially changes the path of the hero.

The racial stuff is pretty heavy-handed, but I think it's important for it to be heavy-handed at this point in our history.  I think it's important for black kids to have a hero like T'Challa right now, and I'm very glad that they're feeling empowered by him.  And I hope that they didn't make Killmonger's message *too* empathatic because it could, obviously be dangerous.

It was really fun and well-paced.  Considering how important the Black Panther characters are going to be in Infinity War, I'm glad that I saw it in time.

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

I bought tickets to see Infinity War on opening night.  Whether or not the movie lives up to the hype, I want to see it the same time as everyone else.

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

I have my reservation for... Whenever it hits Redbox, or maybe a streaming service. smile

I don't think that it can live up to the hype. Everyone has a favorite character, and most people will probably feel like their favorite didn't get enough screen time. The cast is too big, so real character work won't happen. So it comes down to plot. We'll see how that goes.

Everyone complains when a DC movie comes out and has a CG villain. Then they praise Marvel movies for their CG villains. The thing is agree about is that you really can't get a great performance from them. Unless they're on a mindless rampage, like Doomsday or parademons, it's hard to sell them as a real villain. That will be another hurdle for Infinity War. Especially since Thanos looks pretty unfinished in the commercials.


The movie will make a trillion dollars and he widely praised, I'm sure. But it has a lot of challenges to face down, even for an MCU movie. Civil War was too bloated and the plot suffered. This is much bigger.

It really doesn't matter though. The movie could suck hard and Disney will still make a bunch of money. They probably don't care at this point. The MCU is a perpetual motion device.

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Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

Well I agree and disagree.  Regarding the size of the cast and character work...it's not necessarily crucial for a lot of this in that film.  It's probably not necessary for, say, Dr. Strange to learn a valuable lesson in this movie.  All these characters aren't going to need to change and/or grow for them to serve their purpose.  He might just need to be there to say some spells, open some portals, and show how powerful the villain is.  And, I think, that's okay.

There are obviously three levels of MCU heroes - there's the original Avengers who have had solo films (so just Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America), the next gen of solo-film heroes (your Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, Ant-Man, the Guardians, Black Panther), and everyone else (which would include secondary heroes like Falcon and even original Avengers like Black Widow).

This movie is doing to focus, character-wise, on the originals....since these next two movies are supposed to be a passing of the torch of sorts.  Robert Downey Jr. is going to be too expensive at some point, even if he's game.  Chris Evans has said he's done.   Hemsworth said that Ragnarok energized him, but he won't do this forever.  There's only so much for the Hulk to do since he can't have solo films.

So if this movie is about Tony finally coming to terms with all he's done....with Captain America finally making the ultimate sacrifice, with Banner getting the peace he's always wanted, and Thor growing as a hero....then I think it's fine if every other character just sorta shows up and says their catchphrase.  Because, soon, it'll be their time to step up and carry the emotional weight.

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

Yeah... but at the same time, Guardians is a huge movie franchise on its own. If they show up, say "I am Groot" and we spend the next three hours with the Hulk, someone out there is going to feel cheated. At the same time, if the focus is too heavy on the next phase of heroes, people will feel like they didn't get enough from the originals.

Star Trek always had a hard time balancing large casts in their movies. Ideally, each character will serve a purpose, and any character who shows up on screen needs some sort of personal arc. It doesn't have to be a huge thing, or a life-changing arc, but they need to get from point A to point B while justifying their presence.


It's possible that the film will be great. However, I think it's more of a challenge than people are expecting. Still, I don't think that the bar is super high for the MCU, in terms of story construction, world building, or characters. The movie will probably serve its purpose well enough.

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Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

Informant wrote:

However, I think it's more of a challenge than people are expecting.

I'll certainly be grading it on a curve.  To take all these huge characters and somehow make a movie that makes any level of sense will be impressive on its own.  I'm expecting it to either be a clusterf*ck on at least one level, and that's how I'm going to rate it.

The Russo Brothers have come out and said that the two main characters in the movie are Thanos and Thor.  So if they're gonna spend any time developing Thanos as a character and if they're able to determine that there *is* a main character, then a lot of these guys are going to be background characters.  And if you're a big fan of Scarlett Witch and she doesn't get an important role, you're just going to have to get over it, unfortunately.

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

And really, the limited leading roles is how the comics story was handled too.  The Infinity Guantlet mini-series focused on only a few characters (Thanos, Adam Warlock, Silver Surfer, Death, Mephisto and ultimately Nebula).  While every hero in Marvel at the time also appeared, they were just supporting players with maybe their own moment here or there.  Honestly, half of the major Marvel characters died in issue one when Thanos snapped his fingers.

Of course, the Infinity War movie will also include what was the lead-up to Infinity Gauntlet, and that happened completely in the Silver Surfer monthly series along with a two issue mini called Thanos Quest with Thanos as the lead collecting the gems.

There is already evidence they’re following the Infinity Gauntlet Comic - the scene with Hulk falling through the skylight window at Doctor Strange’s Sanctum is a direct reproduction of a scene from Infinity Gauntlet #1 (the only difference being in the comic it was Silver Surfer who crashed through the window after a fight on the moon with a doppleganger Surfer that Thanos created).  So I expect we’ll see the comic formula followed. From what 21 is saying, I suspect Thor is sliding into the Adam Warlock role.

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

Incidentally, the lead up to Infinity Gauntlet in the Silver Surfer monthly, the Thanos Quest and the Infinity Gauntlet mini-series is one my all time favorite storylines in comics.  The art of Ron Lim in Surfer coupled with Jim Starlin’s writing (the creator of Thanos) was really the pinnacle of the material they produced in their careers.

Bonus trivia if you didn’t know - Thanos is based on DC Comics Darkseid.  Starlin went to DC first wanting to write his stories for Darkseid and the New Gods, but DC said no.  So Statlin went to Marvel, created Thanos and told his Darkseid stories anyway.

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

Focusing on one or two characters, with everyone else as supporting players, would probably work best... But is it what's been advertised? I'm a little shocked to hear that Thor is one of the primary focuses. He hasn't stood out in the commercials, at least to me. Spider-Man and the Guardians have stood out more.

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Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

Yeah, but that's one of the weird things about movies in general....the people who make the advertisements (trailers and TV spots) aren't usually the people making the movie.  Every once in a while, you see moviemakers complain that something was spoiled in a trailer or a TV spot - it happens on TV too...I can remember the LOST creators getting really mad at the ABC people for "Next week on..." stuff.

At the end of the day, they both have very different goals.  The people making the trailers want to get as many people into the theaters as possible, and the moviemakers want to make the best movie they can.

But if the movie is mostly about Thor and he's not been in most of the trailers....I sorta like that.  It's better than having a great deal of the movie spoiled for me.

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

I don't know. If I went into the movie expecting a lot of the Guardians (whose movies I do enjoy) and wound up with little of them, and mostly Thor (whose movies suck), I might feel like I'd been the victim of a bait and switch.


I say all of this as someone who is a rather passive viewer of the franchise as a whole, and who wouldn't consider himself a fan of the overall universe. For me, each new movie kinda has to earn my interest, because they have no points saved up. So I may not be the target audience for this movie.

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Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

Informant wrote:

I don't know. If I went into the movie expecting a lot of the Guardians (whose movies I do enjoy) and wound up with little of them, and mostly Thor (whose movies suck), I might feel like I'd been the victim of a bait and switch.

True, but for team up movies, you sorta have to be willing to get your one moment, cheer, and then try and enjoy the rest of the movie.  You can't really expect your favorite person to be the star because there's so many people to choose from.  That's why the ads can make it seem like Spider-Man or the Guardians are the star, when, in reality, the writers used the best character they thought the story demanded.

If TF is right, then Thor probably makes the most sense as a Adam Warlock equivalent.  Hulk as Silver Surfer....and then, after that, it's a lot of ground-level people.  Iron Man, Captain America, Black Panther, Spider-Man....they're not going to be able to put up as much of a fight in a brawl with Thanos.

That's what's sorta fun about Avengers movies.  While I enjoy the DC characters more, all of them are just so ridiculously powerful that team-ups seem almost pointless.  Flash is sometimes an afterthought in the Justice League, but Flash would destroy most of the Avengers by himself.  And don't even get me started on Superman...he'd put the Avengers out of business.

But in this movie, anyone can die.  Not just from a realism perspective....but since this is essentially the end of the road for a lot of these characters....anyone can die.  And that's why I'm seeing it the first showing in town smile

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

I guess we'll see how it turns out. smile

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Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

Knew this was coming, but now some solid word that development of Marvel movies at Fox has been halted pending the Disney merger (something currently set to be finalized sometime before next summer).  This means that Deadpool 2 and X-men Dark Phoenix will be the last of the Fox-verse.  The New Mutants movie is still hanging out there (set for release in February), but it didn’t appear to be very connected to the other X-men movies.

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2018/04/19 … men-movie/

Personally, I think Fox got X-men right more often than not; but Fantastic Four needed to go to better hands.  Done correctly, FF will be a seamless blend into the Marvel Studios movies.  X-men is going to be different; and I’m envisioning it as becoming something more like the old animated series in the 1990’s.

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

Fantastic Four should be really easy to write, and I don't know why it hasn't worked.  They're a family that get into wacky adventures.

Why they don't just hire Brad Bird and tell him to make a live-action Incredibles movie is beyond me.

No matter what they do, they need to get Johnny Storm and Peter Parker together.  Their friendship in the Ultimate universe was pretty fun.

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

One of the biggest boons of getting the Fantastic Four license back is access to Kang the Conqueror.  Kang is their ticket to actually one-up themselves on Infinity War if they attempted to adapt Avengers Forever.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avengers_Forever

It would need some re-tooling given how heavy the story was steeped in old Marvel continuity, but it could be done.

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

HOLY CRAP.  Spoilers.  Spoilers forever.....

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I don't know if this movie is good.  I don't know if it's too much or too many characters or if they went in such a strong direction that it doesn't work for people.  I thought it was an amazing achievement to get all these characters together and give them stuff to do.  Every character, I'm fairly certain, gets a moment to shine or a little character piece.  The movie is long but it takes time to breathe.  There are character moments...if not character arcs for a lot of them.

And the movie is brutal.  I feel, just watching it, like I've fought Thanos himself.  The movie more than makes up for all the teasing because this guy is a bad ass motherf*cker. 

I legitimately came out of the movie crushed.  So many people die, and even though I don't care about all of them, some of them were just gutting.  In particular, Peter....begging for his life. 

It's gonna get undone.  They can't wipe out all the new characters and only leave characters that make $50 billion.  They needed to sorta clear the decks so that they can give the originals (who are all still alive) a strong sendoff.  At this point, it almost seems like Thanos is going to have to have a change of heart for it to work out (I assumed that the Time Gem would get held onto, and that that's how they'd undo it). 

It's the most downer ending for a blockbuster like this that I've ever seen.  There's a glimmer of hope in the end credits, but even that's a downer.

Again, I don't know how to even grade it.  I don't even know if I want to see it again to give it a grade...I saw it last night and I'm still struggling with how I feel about it.  But I said it earlier that I'm grading it on a curve.  And on the curve, damn, it was an impressive achievement.

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

I will get back to you at some point after it hits Redbox. smile


I should probably see Ragnarok at some point too.

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387 (edited by Slider_Quinn21 2018-04-27 11:53:16)

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

Well, I don't know if you're going to like it.  If you're not invested in the universe, it might just be a lot of noise.

I'd just ask that you try and appreciate what they were able to accomplish.  Whether or not you like what they've done, they've done something that has never been done before.  And they turned it into a movie that is both, somehow, entertaining and makes sense.

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

If the movie is good, I'll say so. I never watch a movie and hope that it sucks, just so I can point out how much it sucks. I'm always happy when one of those movies surprises me. That just hasn't happened in a while.

I am not giving them points for what they've done so far, in terms of their cinematic universe. It's been a mess, with a few bright spots here and there. Making a ton of money doesn't make their movies good. They set an ambitious goal, and it would have been awesome if it had worked. I just don't think that it did. And they don't appear to be learning from their mistakes (because they're more about profits than craft, and that's fine). If they could do that, maybe the next round of joint-universe movies would be great.

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Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

Saw Infinity War, and I thought I would never see anything like that in my lifetime.  It was truly a comic story brought to life - for me, more so than anything that’s ever been done.

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And the ending - I’m glad they had the guts for it.  I was in a packed theater, and that’s the first time in my memory that it was dead silent when the film faded to black. Everyone seemed to be in shock.

But how to resolve this?  Thanos alone on the farm is how Infinity Gauntlet ended, but Thanos got there after losing everything and faking his death to escape.  He went to the farm for introspection; to try to come to terms with why he always loses.  Eventually he does find peace with it and becomes a kind of anti-hero for a time.

But this could play into the movie storyline resolution. In the comics, Thanos loses because deep down he thinks he’s supposed to lose - he expects it.  We saw glimmers of this in the movie with his relationship with Gamora and even Titan. But when you wield the power to make anything you wish come true, and some part of you believes you will lose - the Gauntlet will realize that.  I would think there is some trap door the Gauntlet has left in place to beat Thanos; something that Thanos created subconsciously. The heroes just need to find it; and given Doctor Strange’s actions to save Tony (directly contradicting his earlier statement), it would seem that Tony Stark staying alive is part of the key to finding the way to defeat Thanos.

And the stinger at the end of the credits of course is summoning Captain Marvel.  The original Mar-vell was the first arch-enemy of Thanos - well before Adam Warlock.  When Infinity Gauntlet was written, Mar-vell was dead and played no part; but it could be that the Carol Danvers Captain Marvel has some kind of history with Thanos.  That may be the key psychologically.  We’ll see.

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

SPOILERS continued

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I was wondering that too.  While everyone else seemed to be acting naturally regarding Star Lord's plan, especially when it failed, Dr. Strange seemed to think things were going according to plan ("We're in the endgame now").  The only question I had was...would everyone go along with the plan if it meant they'd die?  I think Strange would be willing to sacrifice himself, especially if it were only briefly, if that's the only solution the Eye showed him.

Tony might be willing to sacrifice everyone if he truly believed that they'd win in the end (and would trust himself to be able to do what's necessary).  But Spider-Man certainly didn't seem like he knew he was going to die (although it'd be almost as heartbreaking if he did know....and his begging was just a natural reaction of a teenage kid realizing he wanted to be noble but also didn't want to die).  And while Star-Lord is a good guy in general, I'm not sure he'd go for a plan that involved him dying.

Granted, Strange might've kept certain details from everyone.  He certainly might've lied at parts.  He could've made the whole thing up and only told Tony what was going to happen (because he'd be the only one who really needed to know).  But the way people acted, even after Thanos was gone, didn't make it seem like (outside of Strange and maybe Tony) that people thought things had gone according to plan.

Now I'd read something about the ending that people wanted - that the deaths should've been reversed.  That Cap/Thor/Tony/Hulk should've died, leaving Panther/Spider-Man/Strange/etc as the remaining heroes who have to step up and save the day.  And when everyone is resurrected, suddenly, all our favorite heroes get one last big action sequence before they say their goodbyes.

To me, I don't think that really works.  The torch is going to be passed, but it needs to happen the proper way.  The way the movie actually ended gives our heroes the time to really sit on things.  The original Avengers lineup still exists.  Assuming Tony can get off Titan, they can regroup and fight one more time as a family....and then they can pass the torch.  This is the fight that was started in Avengers, and they need to be the ones to face it.  Plus, Cap needs to face losing Bucky.  Tony needs to face *all* his failures (including the loss of his surrogate son).  Banner needs to face the Hulk.  Thor needs to face the fight he lost. 

It started with them.  And it needs to end with them.  Peter and T'Challa and Strange and Danvers and Lang will get their time.

One thing that was odd was the complete lack of Hawkeye.  I know he was referenced and I know he's coming back, but Hawkeye is an original Avenger.  And I wonder if there should've been a mid-credits sequence where we cut to the Barton farm, and Hawkeye's whole family disappears.  And we either see him go for his quiver or just zoom in on his face and he knows he has to fight again (as Ronin).  It would've been more downer endings on top of a downer ending, but why not add one more thing to the pile.  The fact that they worked in an (again, another downer) ending for Maria Hill but not Hawkeye was strange to me.

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

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I don’t think Strange told any of them what the real plan was; I think it goes back to the old idea of keeping changes to a bare minimum when you’re tampering with time.  Also, Strange couldn’t risk Thanos figuring things out; so the less people who could spill the strategy the better.

With Tony, we’re dealing with a genius engineer; and I’m reminded of that old Phillip K Dick story they used as the basis for that Ben Affleck movie “Paycheck”.  Can Tony reverse engineer the solution based on what Strange gave him?  Strange made Thanos promise not to kill Tony in exchange for the stone; and Thanos complied.  Thanos in fact complied completely - Tony was part of the half who lived after the finger snap.  Nebula is part of the half who lived (someone Thanos had a “family” connection to).  All of the original Avengers lived - possibly because Thanos had his respect for them on his mind when he saved Tony.   The clue is there that the subconscious of Thanos worked through the Gauntlet.   What can Tony reverse engineer from that to find a weakness Thanos left to exploit?

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

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I think that makes sense.  The movie does seem to strongly imply that Strange is pretty cool with what was happening.  Thanos even remarks that they didn't use the time stone when they could've.  Strange didn't because he was okay losing.

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

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I’ve been trying to think of what the title on next year’s Avengers movie could be; they said they withheld it because it’s a spoiler.  They’ve liked to use titles of existing Marvel Comics stories even if they don’t exactly match the story in the movie; so I’ve been mulling over what title could possibly fit and be a spoiler of some kind.

One idea that pops to mind is based on a series of specials and minis focusing on the final story of a Marvel character.  The first and most well known was “Wolverine: The End” which gave us Old Man Logan (and the concept on which the movie Logan was very loosely based).  Could the next Avengers movie be titled “Avengers: The End”?  I can see where it would work in many ways.

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

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Yeah but is that a spoiler?  I wonder if it would have Thanos' name in it (so we'd know that Thanos survives the story).  There've been a handful of stories with his name in it: The Thanos Imperative, Thanos Rising, etc.  Even something like Infinity Crusade could hypothetically be a spoiler since you'd know that the story was continuing.  Although, since this was Infinity War Pts 1 and 2, that might be less of a big deal.

There was some thought that it might be Secret Wars, but that's not necessarily a spoiler either.

One thing to consider is....what is it a spoiler for?  Is there a chance that it wouldn't be an Infinity War spoiler but a Captain Marvel spoiler?  Could Avengers 4 revolve around Skrulls, in addition to Thanos?  You'd think that they'd have enough on their plate after undoing Infinity War and then getting *everyone* together to beat Thanos....but every MCU villain needs a faceless army....could that be the Skrulls?

(I'm legit asking, I'm not familiar enough with the source material smile )

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

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With Skrulls, the story “Secret Invasion” comes to mind (where several dead heroes show up claiming they’re the real deal who has been held captive for years - it was the impostor who died); but I don’t really see that fitting or being a spoiler.

I suppose they could use “Annihilation” (the mini that introduced the modern Guardians of the Galaxy); and while it could be a spoiler about the end of Infinity War, it would really have zero to do with any potential story in the next Avengers movie.

Incidentally, I went back and looked at the various The End books, and I forgot about “Marvel: The End”.  It was a Thanos story too in which he discovered a flaw had been created in the universe and ultimately the only way to fix it was for Thanos to sacrifice his own life.  Some possible ideas there about where the next movie might go.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvel:_The_End

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

New topic: Infinity War in relation to the TV shows:

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Season 1 of Marvel's Agents of SHIELD tried to be a close tie-in to the movies.  There were cameos (Nick Fury), full guest appearances (Sif), and direct connections (a cleanup from Thor: The Dark World and a huge tie-in with Captain America: the Winter Soldier).

After that....not so much.  There were loose tie-ins to Avengers: Age of Ultron, a few asides to people like Hulk and Captain America, and references to the Sokovia Accords.  But that's about it.  As ireactions has talked about at length, there's a weak connection between Marvel TV and Marvel Films, and it only goes one way.  The TV shows reference the movies, but the movies don't reference the TV shows.

It's even weaker on the Netflix shows.  There are references to the Battle of New York, but they're very vague about it.  I'm not sure about other shows like Cloak & Dagger and the Runaways.

At the end of the day, it's no big deal.  These shows are doing their own thing, and that's fine.  Not everything needs to be connected, and even when they're dealing with huge disasters, there's usually not any real reason why the Avengers would show up in the Netflix shows or vice versa.  Even when they're in New York in the movies (like Dr. Strange or in Infinity War), they'd have to be in Hell's Kitchen for any of the Defenders to show up.  So while a cameo like that would be cool, it would be more coincidence than fate.

But Infinity War ends with half the humans on the planet being turned to dust.  That's not something these shows can just turn a blind eye to.  Even if all the Defenders/Agents of SHIELD/Runaways/Cloak & Dagger all happen to escape Thanos' wrath....this is an insanely big development in what's supposed to be a shared universe.  And it won't be resolved for a year.

I don't watch Runaways or Cloak and Dagger.  Maybe they all take place before Infinity War and won't ever reach that point in MCU.  Same could be said of the Netflix shows....which could hypothetically take place at any time between Avengers and Infinity War without many mile markers to tell us when things happened (no one has mentioned Spider-Man, for example, so we can assume that he hasn't made an appearance yet).

But Agents of SHIELD has always been the one to tie in the most (aside from the sidequel series Agent Carter).  And while the show has shied away from too many connections in recent seasons, they did mention that something was happening in New York on the most recent episode (airing concurrently with Infinity War).

Half the human population can't disappear and that not affect Agents of SHIELD.  It just can't.

The one way out would be if, 1) the show gets cancelled and 2) the show wraps up its current storyline quickly.  People have analyzed it a bit - the fight between Iron Man/Strange/Spider-Man and Thanos' generals takes place during daylight.  A later scene takes place at night in Great Britain, and another scene takes place during the day in New York.  Then, the final scene takes place in Africa (during the day) and America (during the day).

It seems like Infinity War takes place over the course of a single day.  Maaaaaaaayyyyyybbee two.  Either way, New York is referenced on SHIELD at night (in America), meaning that Stark/Spider-Man/Strange are, at the very least, on their way to Titan.  Vision and Scarlett Witch are, at the very least, with Cap and his team.

So the remainder of SHIELD has to take place in the remainder of the movie or it has to be referenced.  And, to be fair to the universe, some of the primary agents are going to have to disappear.

Will they?  Or will this finally be the moment when Marvel TV and Marvel Films decide to go their own way?

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

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If it were me, I would take a page from what they’re doing with the rest of the movies this year.  Ant-man is set in the lead up before Infinity War; and Captain Marvel is set even further in the past.  Next season of SHIELD could be set in the lead up to Infinity War; and the final episodes of the season next May could serve as an advertisement for Avengers 4 and direct lead-in as we’re reminded of where Infinity War left things.

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

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Yeah, but unless they somehow retcon it, they've already referenced what was happening in New York.  Granted, it was definitely vague enough that Candyman could've been referencing anything.

It's a weird spot.  Marvel, wisely, isn't setting any movies during a time that would eventually get retconned.  And while it could be cool to have Agents of SHIELD explore the time after such a horrible thing happened....when (not if) it gets undone, it'd be a (at that point, a definite) final season that won't exist in canon anymore.

I like the show.  It's been much better in recent seasons since it was allowed to stretch its wings.  But the show's ratings have dropped, they're seemingly going toward a resolution.  I'd go ahead and end the show.  Maybe start a new Marvel show after Avengers 4 if they want to stay in the network TV game.

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

More Infinity War stuff...

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So, um....where's Cap's shield?  When we saw the Wakandan shield in the trailers, I assumed that Steve was hiding out there.  When Black Panther says "get this man a shield", I assumed that Tony didn't have time to equip anything.  He's been on the run, and T'Challa and Steve were forced to improvise.

Then, while watching the movie, it got a little more clear.  Tony goes into space before Cap even knows what's going on.  So it made sense....Tony was never able to give Cap his shield back.  He's in space the whole time...

....except, that's not it.  We catch up with Cap, and the first thing they do is go to the Avengers' headquarters.  Well, maybe there's no one there to give Cap his shield back?  Nope....Rhodey is there.  Tony would've trusted him to give Cap his shield back if the situation required it.  Maybe it's somewhere else?  Nope....Spider-Man: Homecoming showed that Tony was moving all the stuff from Avengers Tower (including a prototype shield for Captain America) to the new HQ.

So the original shield was almost certainly in the HQ....where Cap ended up....with Tony's strongest confidant.  They knew they were headed for a warzone when they left.  There's no indication that Cap asked for it, and I don't see any reason why Rhodes wouldn't have given it to him at that point.  If Tony was building Cap a new shield (and Homecoming said he was), then Tony would've forgiven Steve on some level (even if he still struggles with making that call).

Did Tony hide it?  Did Cap feel weird asking about it without Tony's permission?  It's weird because the movie (and, in some ways, Homecoming) makes it seem like it was destroyed in Civil War.  It wasn't....and the movie didn't really set up a good reason why he doesn't immediately get it back.

Just found that odd.  And, really, couldn't find anything online even talking about it.

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

Agents of shield started their tie in to the avengers movie last night. From what i understand last night was happening at same time as 1st part of movie, next week titled the end takes place with 2nd part of film. havent watched aos since mid yr2 so no idea how good it was

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

Agents of SHIELD has gotten much better since the show decided it didn't have to behold to the movies.

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

It's also gotten kind of cheap. This whole season looks like it was filmed in someone's basement and they clearly don't have the money for the extras and location filming that they once had. Excellent character-oriented writing and the stories are as strong as ever, but every episode feels like a bottle episode with only a few exceptions this year. I love the scripts, but the visual quality of the show has gotten frustratingly claustrophobic with the team constantly advancing down dimly lit hallways to get to more dimly lit hallways.

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

And here's one of the problems that has plagued AoS since the beginning... I haven't seen Infinity War, and even if I were super eager to see it, the odds of my getting to the theater in the first week or two would be slim to none.

TV is easy, because it happens on my schedule, and it's free. Totally different animal. AoS has spoiled movies in the past (most notably Winter Soldier).

I'm not super invested in the MCU, so I'm not the target audience, but if I were, I would find this very frustrating. Who wants to watch a tv show for free if it's going to ruin a movie that you're paying money to see?

But like I said, I'm not the target audience. I do agree that this season has been super cheap though. It's pretty ridiculous, given their basic concept.


Switching topics kinda...

I still haven't seen Ragnarok, and every time I think about renting it, it feels like a chore. Thor movies just suck, and the fact that Homecoming sucked and Doctor Strange sucked just kills my excitement for all of the other interwoven movies. I am a geek. We all know this. I find enjoyment in some pretty lame-but-geeky material. It's frustrating to me that so many people enjoy these movies and they make billions of dollars, and they should be exactly my type of movies, but I find so few of them to be the least bit enjoyable.

That said, I think that at least some part of their success is just a pop culture thing. Like Star Wars movies, the film's themselves aren't as important as everyone wanting something to be excited about. The DCEU is the same pop culture movement, but in reverse, since they represent the "other team", despite doing something completely different.

I'm rambling. I must be bored.

Please be informed that the political, scientific, sociological, economic and legal views expressed in Informant's posts and social media accounts do not reflect any consensus of Sliders.tv.

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

Agents of SHIELD doesn't spoil movies anymore.  The last couple of episodes have vaguely (and more recently, directly) referenced what's going on with the Avengers, but it wouldn't be anything you wouldn't know from knowing the movie exists.  They can't do it for long because Infinity War *will* impact their universe, but it doesn't have to yet (and the show only has, potentially, two episodes left).

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

But more importantly, will this movie mess up the Netflix shows? They've done a pretty good job of doing their own thing, and I'd hate for their stories to been driven now by a movie that, let's face it, doesn't *really* share a universe with them.

Please be informed that the political, scientific, sociological, economic and legal views expressed in Informant's posts and social media accounts do not reflect any consensus of Sliders.tv.

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

I 100% expect that Infinity War will have zero effect on the Netflix shows.

Back to Infinity War spoilers....

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So I watched a few minutes of Spider-Man Homecoming last night because it popped up on YouTube.  It was then that I remembered that Aunt May found out that Peter was Spider-Man.

To me, the Spider-Man death is the one that hurts the most.  And it isn't because I expect him to be dead because I don't.  While everyone else faced their death with relative grace and poise, Spider-Man might've been the only one in the entire universe that knew what was happening to him and faced it with true fear.  He begs for his life.

And it hurts because Peter, while being brave and strong and heroic, is a kid.  He's going to come back, and he'll be a hero again in his next solo film.  And that'll probably be fun and funny like Homecoming was.

But it's haunted me since I saw it because he's a kid in a very adult situation.  I've gone back and forth with the question of whether or not Peter knew that the plan involved him dying.  And I still don't know whether or not it's sadder for him to have known (and then freaked out realizing that dying, even for a noble cause, sucks) or whether or not he didn't know (and it's just a 15-year-old kid realizing he's going to die).  I know the moment is going to haunt Tony, but it still haunts me nonetheless.

And that's when I thought about Aunt May.  I know this is a younger, sexier Aunt May.  But it's still Aunt May.  And I realized that, while she doesn't know that Peter disappeared....she knows enough.  Infinity War takes place over a couple of days, and the inciting incident is a fight between Iron Man, Dr. Strange, Spider-Man, and two alien invaders.  The news would obviously cover a huge spinning spaceship arriving in New York, the ensuing battle, and the ship disappearing.

There'd be witness accounts of who fought, and what happened to them.  Someone may have seen (and heck, there could be video) of Spider-Man and Iron Man on the spaceship (since no one would really know who Strange is).

And Aunt May knows that Peter is Spider-Man.  Even before she can get worried that Peter hasn't come home yet, she'd know that Peter boarded an alien spaceship that traveled light years away.  Even before people started disappearing, she'd know.  And even if she disappeared herself, she'd have a couple of days to understand that Peter was gone.  Not missing.  Gone.

And that made me sad again.

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

Finally saw Ragnarok!

I can honestly say that it met my expectations.

Please be informed that the political, scientific, sociological, economic and legal views expressed in Informant's posts and social media accounts do not reflect any consensus of Sliders.tv.

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

INFINITY WAR was okay. I didn't hate it, I thought it was a good superhero epic -- it's just, I'm not really that into epics. I don't like seeing giant battlefields with hundreds of thousands of people charging forward; I prefer the three-person battles of CIVIL WAR or, despite reservations, Daisy and Coulson walking through a dimly lit hallway. It bothered me that INFINITY WAR trampled over RAGNAROK's ending by immediately slaughtering "half" of the survivors of Asgard and gave Thor his eye back.

I don't really have any strong opinions about INFINITY WAR except to say it's not really for me; I'd rather see superheroes more on the scale of Oliver and Felicity eating breakfast for dinner or Barry making his wedding plans or Kara and Lena eating Chinese food, if that makes any sense.

I found the scale of INFINITY WAR really difficult to relate to and, to be honest, the only reason I went to see it in theatres was so that I could watch this week's AGENTS OF SHIELD (which I will go watch now at the gym).

409 (edited by Slider_Quinn21 2018-05-13 20:29:52)

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

By the way, since you said it, I haven't been able to unsee how every episode of Agents of SHIELD takes place in a dim corridor.

When, in this week's episode, they confront Gravity Man in his neighborhood, the natural light nearly blinded me.

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

Regarding Infinity War:

I see where you're coming from, but I don't know if the small-scale moments were even possible with a movie like that.  They did their best here and there (Quill and Gamora, Thor and Rocket, Tony and Pepper, Thanos and Gamora, etc), but these types of movies lend themselves to big giant action sequences.  Although, to be honest, I found the Wakanda battle scene to be the worst of the movie.  I preferred the other, smaller action sequences.

(In fact, I would've gotten rid of the faceless army in general.  I know we needed some fun action sequences and big wins for our team, but I think fighting Thanos' generals and then Thanos himself would've been just as much fun.)

People have been saying that Infinity War overwrites the point of Ragnarok, but I don't see that.  Yes, Thanos destroyed half of the Asgardians, but half of them still survived.  Thor might've failed in saving all of them, but all of them were going to die on Asgard.  He still saved a ton of Asgardians because of that movie.  The eye stuff is weird because I think they could've kept it - I didn't see any particular reason to give him the eye back (they could've had him lose to Thanos because of depth perception or something).

That's actually the one thing I would've liked to have seen.  If Thor is really the warrior that can take Thanos down, I wish we could've seen how he lost so easily the first time.

I also wondered that....did Thanos "spare" the societies where he already destroyed half the life?  Or did places like Gamora's planet and Asgard lose another half?  I'm guessing, since it's Thanos' mind controlling the gauntlet, that he spared them.  But I wasn't sure how that worked.

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Regarding AoS and Infinity War....it's very strange to me that the aliens in the Confederacy are aware that Thanos is attacking Earth but don't seem that concerned about it.  Do they not know about Thanos' plan?  Because, you'd think, if they did....that the final fight on Earth wouldn't just be the Avengers....there'd be alien spaceships and superheroes and remnants of the Nova Corps and everyone that's still alive.

Because the Confederacy seems to be treating the conflict like "we wanted to plunder the Earth before Thanos got there...." not seeming to realize that Thanos is going to destroy half of *all life* - there's a 50% chance that he could kill any individual in the universe.  It should, in theory, be an all hands on deck vs. Thanos thing.

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

AoS was renewed. For the life of me, I have no idea why.

I expect next season to be set entirely in one room. The year after that, they won't even film it. It will just be an audio production... Which might actually help to improve their stories.

Please be informed that the political, scientific, sociological, economic and legal views expressed in Informant's posts and social media accounts do not reflect any consensus of Sliders.tv.

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

I'd be very interested in seeing Infinity War aftermath on Agents of SHIELD.  But I don't know if they'd go there (I guess we'll find out Friday), especially when it's likely that the aftermath would get undone.

There's some cool stuff they could do.  But if the budget has been definitively slashed, maybe it could help things.

Or maybe they'll divert more money to it with less episodes.  We'll see....even with the slashed budget, I think the season has been entertaining.  And I'm watching it on my DVR way earlier than I used to, since I'm eagerly looking for clues onto what Thanos is up to smile

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

I'm probably not the target audience, but I think the show has been a mess, both visually and in terms of story. There has been some interesting drama, but it hasn't been handled as well as it could have been. And visually, I can't get past the cramped feeling and the painfully bad makeup. Every CW show, and Gotham look way, way, way better than this. And I'm not sure why. How different are the budgets?

Maybe AoS went too big with their arcs, when they couldn't deliver big visuals to match. But even when the show started, it looked like it was made cheaply, obviously on the back lot most of the time. How much of this is lack of money, and how much of it is just poor showrunning?

Please be informed that the political, scientific, sociological, economic and legal views expressed in Informant's posts and social media accounts do not reflect any consensus of Sliders.tv.

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

Did they blow the budget in the first half of the season on CGI monsters and space travel?  I don't remember if that looked really cheap and crappy or not.

They're calling the season finale "The End" so I'm guessing the writers and producers were ready for the show to be over.  Between that and Infinity War making a season 6 a bit of a chore to make work, I'm wondering if some involved were glad it would end when it did.

But maybe part of the deal to make season 6 13 episode involved raising the budget so that it can work.  I know Marvel TV and Marvel Films are separate, but Marvel definitely has the money.  And maybe with the cancellation of Inhumans, they could divert some of the money that would've gone to Inhumans to SHIELD.

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

I don't think the budget was blown on anything. There were a few CG monsters in the premiere in dark lighting, but the bulk of the action was walking about in the Lighthouse which is still the case, except the lighting's been brightened. The CG space sequences were limited, too. The only episode to really cut loose visually this year was Fitz's interlude with Hunter which had location shooting. The bottle episodes will likely lead to a season finale that splurges.

I feel sad that SliderQuinn21 didn't notice the bottle episode look until I noted it. But you know it's there when even Informant notices seeing as he was blind to CHUCK suffering from the same in its last two seasons.

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I wouldn't change INFINITY WAR; I think the movie called for giant battlefield sequences. They're just not something I personally enjoy. I also don't enjoy racecars, savoury biscuits or gay sex, but I don't want them erased from existence.

INFINITY WAR going into production probably led to Disney overruling ABC's decision to cancel AGENTS OF SHIELD after Season 4 and led to another year of the team trading quips and cracking wise. It's fine. I agree with Slider_Quinn21 saying that RAGNAROK's ending hasn't been undone by INFINITY WAR.

**

I got the sense that the Confederacy on AGENTS OF SHIELD is perfectly aware of Thanos' plan and also don't believe they can stop him. A number of possibilities present themselves: they've accepted that one out of two of them will be erased by Thanos and want to proceed with strip-mining the Earth's resources and using the threat of Thanos to turn any potential resistance into willing allies in the extraction. The Confederacy races have already had their numbers halved by a previous Thanos attack (hence their belief that they can't fight him).

Another possibility -- although it's a stretch -- is that the AGENTS OF SHIELD writers didn't know Thanos planned to erase half of the universe's population. There are rumours that since AGE OF ULTRON, the SHIELD writing staff have been trying to tie into the movies by watching the trailers and that the flow of information from Marvel Films to Marvel TV has stopped dead, so the SHIELD writers couldn't give the Confederacy any knowledge of Thanos' plan as the writers had none. But -- I find this difficult to believe because Thanos' desire to erase people was in the INFINITY GAUNTLET comic book.

**

One thing that worries me is the idea that half of the cast of AGENTS OF SHIELD will dissolve into dust in the finale due to a conflict with Thanos from which they were largely disengaged. It would be awkward for SHIELD to lose half its cast, but it would also be awkward if they explicably suffered no casualties even though Nick Fury and Maria Hill were erased. There is a back door built into the show, however: in the middle of the season, rifts between dimensions were opened in the sublevel of the Lighthouse.

The rifts have since then been sealed, but if the entire team pass through one of the rifts or if a rift is briefly expanded to encompass the Lighthouse, then the inhabitants of the Lighthouse could be considered to be technically outside the bounds of our universe, and therefore untouched by Thanos' erasure of half the population. Season 6 could then take place in this depopulated situation with a number of episodes to air after AVENGERS IV is released and the situation is resolved.

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

Some Infinity War spoilers below....


ireactions wrote:

Another possibility -- although it's a stretch -- is that the AGENTS OF SHIELD writers didn't know Thanos planned to erase half of the universe's population. There are rumours that since AGE OF ULTRON, the SHIELD writing staff have been trying to tie into the movies by watching the trailers and that the flow of information from Marvel Films to Marvel TV has stopped dead, so the SHIELD writers couldn't give the Confederacy any knowledge of Thanos' plan as the writers had none. But -- I find this difficult to believe because Thanos' desire to erase people was in the INFINITY GAUNTLET comic book.

Man, I can't imagine things are that bad between Marvel TV and Marvel Film, but Ike Perlmutter still runs TV and is hated by the studio....so maybe you're right. 

It does make some sense.  First off, Marvel is notorious about avoiding too many spoilers, and I'm sure it was on a need-to-know basis (and I can't imagine TV writers were need-to-know).  Second, the references to Infinity War on SHIELD are very vague and could hypothetically be derived from trailers alone.  In fact, some of the references are, arguably, wrong when seen in context of the movie. The Confederacy says that "Thanos and his forces have begun an assault on your world, even as we speak"  But Thanos doesn't even arrive on the planet until the end.  His generals do attack, but the attacks are brief.

And even last episode when Mac sees a news event about an attack in New York, it looks like different damage than I would've expected from the Iron Man/Spider-Man/Strange fight.  I don't remember any damage to buildings like I saw in that shot (although its been a couple weeks now and I can't remember exactly).

So, with that in mind, I don't think they'll address it at all.  They probably weren't given any warning so I'm guessing the finale will end before Thanos snaps his fingers.  Maybe they'd have time to film some sort of epilogue but even then, I doubt it.

It sucks - more than anything, SHIELD could be used to draw people to the movies and vice versa.  The show has, unquestionably, gotten better since SHIELD *depended* on the movies to work, but there could be cool "event" episodes that tie into what's happening in the movies.

(Although Infinity War hasn't really caused a spike in the ratings)

Slipping them into a parallel dimension could work.  Time travel could possibly work (either send them back in time to the 50s - maybe mix in some Agent Carter?) or sending them forward in time to avoid any consequences.

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

Chuck had a small budget, but some solid plot, great characters, and a cast that could sell it. AoS has... a small budget...

I should probably avoid reading much more here, with all of the Infinity War stuff. Not that I'm hugely invested. The MCU movies have been getting worse and worse. Like they have a release date, and will release a movie on that day, whether they have one or not. Ragnarok was just horrible. I was literally cringing through the first quarter of the movie, and then my face got tired. But I was cringing on the inside for the rest of the movie. smile

I just don't understand it. Why can so many people watch these movies and enjoy them, but I watch them and they're just embarrassingly bad? It wasn't always like this. Even the early "bad" MCU movies were somewhat fun to watch (First Avenger, Thor, Iron Man 2), but now they seem 100% horrible.

Please be informed that the political, scientific, sociological, economic and legal views expressed in Informant's posts and social media accounts do not reflect any consensus of Sliders.tv.

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

Informant wrote:

Ragnarok was just horrible. I was literally cringing through the first quarter of the movie, and then my face got tired. But I was cringing on the inside for the rest of the movie.

"By Odin's beard, you shall not cut my hair, lest you feel the wrath of the mighty Thor!" [pause] "Please, kind sir, do not cut my hair. NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"That looks painful. Dear brother, you're becoming predictable. I trust you, you betray me, round and round in circles we go. See Loki, life is about... It's about growth, it's about change, but you seem to just want to stay the same. I guess what I'm trying to say is that you'll always be the god of mischief, but you could be more. I'll just put this over here for you."

"The damage is not too bad. As long as the foundations are still strong, we can rebuild this place. It will become a haven for all peoples and aliens of the universe." [Asgard explodes] "Oof. Now those foundations are gone. Sorry."


Informant wrote:

I just don't understand it. Why can so many people watch these movies and enjoy them, but I watch them and they're just embarrassingly bad? It wasn't always like this. Even the early "bad" MCU movies were somewhat fun to watch (First Avenger, Thor, Iron Man 2), but now they seem 100% horrible.

Translation: "These movies and shows aren't made to serve MY personal interests and specific desires for film and TV, therefore they are objectively bad and people who like things I don't are wrong." Didn't you learn anything from your nervous breakdown in the DCEU thread?

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

Slider_Quinn21 wrote:

Some Infinity War spoilers below....

ireactions wrote:

Another possibility -- although it's a stretch -- is that the AGENTS OF SHIELD writers didn't know Thanos planned to erase half of the universe's population. There are rumours that since AGE OF ULTRON, the SHIELD writing staff have been trying to tie into the movies by watching the trailers and that the flow of information from Marvel Films to Marvel TV has stopped dead, so the SHIELD writers couldn't give the Confederacy any knowledge of Thanos' plan as the writers had none. But -- I find this difficult to believe because Thanos' desire to erase people was in the INFINITY GAUNTLET comic book.

Man, I can't imagine things are that bad between Marvel TV and Marvel Film, but Ike Perlmutter still runs TV and is hated by the studio....so maybe you're right.  [...] And even last episode when Mac sees a news event about an attack in New York, it looks like different damage than I would've expected from the Iron Man/Spider-Man/Strange fight.  I don't remember any damage to buildings like I saw in that shot (although its been a couple weeks now and I can't remember exactly). So, with that in mind, I don't think they'll address it at all.  They probably weren't given any warning so I'm guessing the finale will end before Thanos snaps his fingers.  Maybe they'd have time to film some sort of epilogue but even then, I doubt it.

I honestly find this unlikely. Thanos has been wanting to erase 50 per cent of the population since the 1990s if not sooner. I think probably, the AGENTS OF SHIELD team wasn't embedded into INFINITY WAR production the way they were integrated into WINTER SOLDIER. WINTER SOLDIER's footage was put to use in Season 1 of SHIELD; I think at this point, the SHIELD writers probably received a breakdown of events for INFINITY WAR and an explanation of INFINITY WAR's conclusion... but probably not any footage or an actual script, hence AGENTS OF SHIELD using generic NYC footage that wasn't made by the INFINITY WAR team.

I just thought it was an interesting writing challenge trying to tie into INFINITY WAR while knowing nothing about it, but that might not actually be the case.

If the tie-in to the INFINITY WAR film is the cast looking at an offscreen monitor and a news report and declaring that something terrible has happened without specifics, the SHIELD writers are probably writing in the dark. If it's more specific, then we'll know otherwise. We'll find out this Friday!

Slider_Quinn21 wrote:

Slipping them into a parallel dimension could work.  Time travel could possibly work (either send them back in time to the 50s - maybe mix in some Agent Carter?) or sending them forward in time to avoid any consequences.

I'd kind of like to see AGENTS OF SHIELD briefly morph into AGENT CARTER for a couple episodes via time travel to wrap up AGENT CARTER's plots -- but on the Season 5 budget, I don't think AGENTS OF SHIELD can afford to do AGENT CARTER's period drama unless it is also set in an underground bunker of shadowy hallways.

I just think it is unlikely that AGENTS OF SHIELD can allow the Thanos erasure to cause them to lose half their cast; the actors are on contract and it'd be foolish to break up the cast due to events that aren't specific to AGENTS OF SHIELD. Maybe they could disappear in a cliffhanger, but then the Season 6 premiere will require coming up with some reasoning that restores them but can't be extended to the other characters who were lost in INFINITY WAR. It's probably best just to avoid it entirely.

Re: Marvel Cinematic Universe by Slider_Quinn21

No, I was actually wondering if something changed with *me* at some point. I wasn't criticizing others for enjoying the horrible movies. I think it would be nice to be able to enjoy a movie, even a stupid one, and just be a part of the crowd for once. Instead, I enjoy good movies that nobody else likes, and I can't read any articles about them without being bombarded with comments about how they dun did them wrong.

It's like Star Wars. The originals have some nostalgic benefits, but none of the movies are actually good. Yet it seems like the majority of the people get to be a part of the game where they get excited for each new movie, as though there's still a chance that one might be worth watching.

I want to be one of the crowd at some point. I guess I'm in with the Stranger Things enjoyers, so that's something. I had it with Lost for a while, until people turned on that one too.

Please be informed that the political, scientific, sociological, economic and legal views expressed in Informant's posts and social media accounts do not reflect any consensus of Sliders.tv.