Marvel Cinematic Universe Thread

[Boogyman]

Majors was really good. 

[Dwide Schrude]

I just got back from Ant man, I understand the wide range of opinions on it. I didn’t love it, I didn’t hate it. I felt it was definitely better than L&T, and on par with MoM. It was a fun experience, but I’ll wait to rewatch it when it hits D+. It gave some fun life to the quantum realm, if there was any movie I’d want to watch while tripping on acid it’s this one 😂 I’ll put the rest of my thoughts in spoilers 

 

Spoiler

Majors was great, undeniable that he’s a quality actor but I wasn’t that crazy about this Kang. I think it was the writing more than anything. The build up to him was awesome through out the movie but felt disappointed that a bunch of ants took him out and that Ant Man & Wasp "killed him”, I’m supposed to believe this guy wiped out countless Avengers & that’s how he lost? To the JV team Avengers? I hope we have a much better Kang on the way, and this wasn’t the strongest one. MODOK was fun, I read about his turn to being a good guy was a great moment, I didn’t think it was all that special. The comedic bits from Paul Rudd were very funny and very well timed, was a highlight of the movie. The rebellion was kind of bland and basic, as was the rest of the movie’s story. The dialogue was campy/cheesy at times. I don’t think the chemistry is there between Paul Rudd & actress playing Cassie. I’m not crazy about this Cassie, or the "speech” she gave. Hope she gets better character development. The quantum realm characters were fantastic though, the designs and personalities of them were enjoyable. 
 

Overall, not the worst way to kick off Phase 5. But I think it could have been better

 

[UK Eagle]

I think Disney are solving 2 issues with their less is more MCU strategy.  They will have seen the performance of the last Spiderman film/Top Gun vs their own in house properties (outside of Avatar 2 which did very, very well in the box office).  You can't blame the pandemic forever for a lack of box office performance.

Also, the lack of growth on Disney+ both in terms of subscribers and the hours of stuff people have watched will have key in it too.  The variable quality on some MCU properties has been clear to all but the ultra fans. People will start a series and then not bother finishing it off.

They also need to cut costs too. So taking more time on fewer properties will hopefully increase accountability on show runners and put more eyes on quality before it hits the public

[Agent23]

Ant-Man: The Phantom Menace

[BFit]

I hate that I'm waiting till Tuesday for this

[20Safety_Hazards]

I enjoyed this far more than Dr. Strange and Thor.  Not as much as Black Panther and definitely not as much as Spiderman No way home.  At its core, Kang and Scott Lang were the most interesting parts of the movie and I wish we spent more time there.  The visuals were weird but I kinda liked it Because that’s what this world is. But I can understand why others won’t like it at all. The story was solid, nothing special a few things that were introduced for convenience.  But ultimately an enjoyable movie that is starting to bring the next overarching story into focus.  

[Mike030270]

It was too long. Could have taken out a bunch

MODOK was horrible

Spoiler

Didn't care for the resistance and the mother was pissing me off with the secrets

Had a lot of funny moments though

Thanos had a better introduction than Kang

[NOTW]

I agree with a lot of what's already been said. And

 

Spoiler

 

[NOTW]

On 2/16/2023 at 10:01 AM, 20Safety_Hazards said:

This movie is going to be one of the most polarizing movies the MCU has produced since Iron Man 3.  I've heard some people say the Special Effects are garbage, while others praising the special effects as creating one of the most unique visual movies in the MCU.  

I've heard plot is a bit jumbled and that this movie does not work outside of the MCU, while others saying it's setting up the next phase in a way that really brings the various stories together.  

The only constant I have seen is that Kang is incredible.  And for that I am excited.  Seeing it on Saturday. 

I read this before seeing it, saw it tonight. I didn't get any of that. You know you're going to spend the whole movie in the quantum realm (QR) the title alone lets you know it's going to be trippy. The visual effects were on par with previous trips to the QR, Doctor Strange, GOTG and even Thanos using the reality stone. 

It's basically on another planet just in the sub atomic level within ours so a lot of sci-fi with creatures and alien beings. 

I thought MODOK was corny but of all the movies to use him, this made the most "sense" I guess.

Spoiler

But having him be Darren was stupid.

Visually, I thought it was good. 

[Mike030270]

On 2/18/2023 at 9:47 PM, 20Safety_Hazards said:

I enjoyed this far more than Dr. Strange and Thor.  Not as much as Black Panther and definitely not as much as Spiderman No way home.  At its core, Kang and Scott Lang were the most interesting parts of the movie and I wish we spent more time there.  The visuals were weird but I kinda liked it Because that’s what this world is. But I can understand why others won’t like it at all. The story was solid, nothing special a few things that were introduced for convenience.  But ultimately an enjoyable movie that is starting to bring the next overarching story into focus.  

The humor in this was better than the humor in Love and Thunder IMO

I think Wanda was a better villain in Dr Strange than Kang was in this

[20Safety_Hazards]

19 hours ago, Mike030270 said:

The humor in this was better than the humor in Love and Thunder IMO

I think Wanda was a better villain in Dr Strange than Kang was in this

I struggle with Wanda in MoM because, while she was terrifying, we really got no development of her motivations.  If you watched WandaVision you saw this beautiful arc of struggling with grief and the harm you can cause by it. Then you get one brief post credit scene where she’s is reading the dark hold and that’s it. Wanda is immediately evil in MoM. No subtlety, she’s straight up ready to steal another Wanda’s kids. For me that just does not make sense. I understand the dark hold corrupted her, but I would have liked that to have actually been developed before or during MoM. Or make her believe that her kids are in trouble in that alternative universe and she’s doing what’s necessary to save them. Something that can explain the shift. 

[NOTW]

Some other thoughts on Quantumania.

I had my issues with it (below) but I think they were minor for me.  It continues to bother me that teams of writers, hundreds of people go into making a movie and the average fan can pick apart little dumb things.  By now movies should be able to do better.  Again, they're minor but completely unavoidable and easy to fix with a simple line of dialogue or shooting a scene slightly differently.  

It was an average MCU movie but it was at least fun and had good special effects.  It wasn't bad, wasn't great.  I don't really get any "controversy" or "division" over the movie.  I don't think it was polarizing or anything as I've seen some comments suggest.  Some people said it borrowed from Tron: Legacy and Spy Kids, you could argue for other sci-fi as well.  When you have other worlds with creatures and aliens, pretty much everything has been done.  Although they did have a few unique things sci-fi wise that I liked.

Issues with some specifics:

Spoiler

Hope/Wasp: she took a back seat to Cassie, she didn't do that much except a couple scenes.  Hope and Scott had zero chemistry, and in prior movies they had better chemistry.

Janet: it is really dumb and a tired movie trope where a character has knowledge they refuse to share because: reasons.  She had several opportunities to say even a little something, a summary, something that would prepare her family and teammates in this dangerous situation.  Instead she kept saying nothing and just trust me.  Even when their ride arrives which is a beast with strangers with weapons riding on top and the guy gets off and approaches Janet - a potential threat that Hope prepares to fire at - Janet doesn't tell them right away.  Writers/directors do this type of stuff to shock the audience or keep them guessing but it's dumb. 

Bill Murray:  pointless casting.  First, they showed him in the trailer so it's not some surprise that Bill Murray shows up.  Second, he wasn't funny or interesting.  I know a lot of people like him but he's very, very overrated.  He has this dry humor where he's not really doing anything but he is holding back a smirk.  It's like we're expected to think he's funny just because, even though he's just boring and doing nothing.

Cassie:

Didn't like her at all.  First, she's lecturing her dad for not doing enough.  The man saved the world and fought with the Avengers, he's taking a bit of a break.  That was dumb.  A better approach would be how does a superhero who fought such huge battles with such huge stakes go back to their normal every day life?  Being more encouraging to him to look for ways to help others rather than lecture him would be better.  I did see social media comments saying that's just how a teenager would act because they are naive and always critical of their parents.  But that could have been addressed, Hope or others could have also corrected her.  Plus, Scott's entire story has been wanting more time with his daughter and she's like go out there and do something.  

It was odd that she spent a lot of time in the QR in normal clothes while Scott and Hope immediately put on their suits.  Then all of a sudden at one point she puts a suit on. She's never been in any threatening situations, you would think she'd put on a suit immediately for safety.  She also wasn't freaked out by everything like she should have been. It was also dumb that Hank would assist Cassie in getting a suit and training without Scott's knowledge or permission.  He kept his own daughter Hope away from it for so long even as an adult who was trained, so why allow another man's daughter to suit up as a teenager?  Especially knowing how much it meant to Scott to finally have time with his daughter, then just secretly train her?  And if Scott isn't working and they all live together how/when did they find the time to secretly train her anyway?  Doesn't make sense and was unnecessary.

Kang: I didn't like the Kang variant in Loki.  I thought it was a let down and he was acting silly, and the show led up to this "big bad" and it was meh.  I liked this variant of Kang much better, Majors did a good job and I liked him as an actor.  However, I didn't fully understand his powers.  How/why does he see other timelines?  What gives him abilities?  He stepped into his ship and created a suit, could create blue laser discs to walk on, shoot blue lasers out of his arms, can make objects stop, etc.  How does he "conquer" entire worlds?  In the end some device on his arm broke and he didn't have any powers anymore.  So is it a suit situation like Iron Man?  But it comes from his ship?  Does his ability to see/live in multiple timelines have anything to do with the ship and suit?  

I also thought the stadium full of Kangs was too much and came across corny.  

To also have him defeated by ants was dumb.  He's killed Avengers, he's supposedly a more dangerous threat than Thanos...but some ants took him out.  And Scott held his own fighting him (without his device and powers).  

M.O.D.O.K.:  as I said in another post, if you're going to include him having it be in the weird Quantum Realm at least is the best fit.  But having him be Darren was stupid. He also didn't kill anyone and was very ineffective and silly. 

 

[Mike030270]

Agree about Janet

Bill Murray was there to show that Janet had moved on in the QR and was banging other guys

I liked the father daughter moments with Scott and Cassie

I'm in the minority that was disappointed in Kang. I think it's getting overhyped because of the actor. Thanos>Kang in introduction and just show of power/intimidation

[NOTW]

Been going through the MCU with my son (10 years old) and he's current on all the movies but we've been watching the Disney+ TV shows.  Falcon is one of his favorite characters from comics and cartoons and the movies.  We watched the TV show Falcon and Winter Soldier.

My opinion on the show is the same.  Spoilers to save space or spare those that don't want to read about this show. 

Spoiler

Unnecessary side plot of his family's boat, his sister yelling at him for not being around to help when he's literally helping save the world, there's no way Sam couldn't easily get a loan or come up with a better plan.  Use his name and celebrity to either get sponsors, public donations, another bank would help him out, Pepper Potts surely has some charity money she could use, something.  Just skip that and deal with the main plot.

The way they threw John Walker in as the new Cap was stupid, they could have simply developed the fact that there was some need people had for a new Captain America.  It came out of nowhere, then later they sort of developed how/why he got there.

It was incredibly dumb to keep defending the terrorists and try to sympathize with them.  They would murder people and bomb buildings and Sam would be like "well, they have a point."  My 10 year old wasn't understanding why Sam would be talking to Carly or feeling sorry for her after she murdered people as a terrorist.  

It could have been interesting to deal with the people returning from the 5 year blip, but to yell at politicians to "do better" when they just said it's a complex issue was silly.  Sharon becoming a villain was dumb, plus she could have easily had her record cleared up way earlier, everyone else did.  She told Sam she didn't have the same connections or whatever...uh, Fury, Maria Hill, Sam, anyone she knows could have helped her that was dumb.

Julie Louis Dreyfuss as Contessa whatever her name is, her acting is irritating and no one cares about that character.  I guess she's Marvel's Amanda Waller but she's annoying.

They also had this theme that no one would accept a black man wearing the stars and stripes...when Rhodes was literally wearing the stars and stripes and rolling with the President in Iron Man 3 as "The Iron Patriot."  Speaking of, why was he in the show and then not a part of hunting down terrorists?  I get that there will be solo projects and not every Avenger can be in everything but when you set up certain story lines, a military operation to hunt down terrorists where the military and new Captain America are worried that Sam and Bucky will get in the way...hey, why not bring in Rhodes to help them collaborate?  Doesn't even need to be War Machine in suit.  He was in the first episode so why not another quick scene at some point?

 

[NOTW]

5 minutes ago, Mike030270 said:

I'm in the minority that was disappointed in Kang. I think it's getting overhyped because of the actor. Thanos>Kang in introduction and just show of power/intimidation

I agree.  They teased Thanos over a series of movies and then when he showed up he was convincing at the beginning of Infinity War.  With Kang they're telling us he's powerful because he is.  Something something time and space and he shoots blue lasers.  I like Majors though and with more development (paging the Russo brothers) hopefully he's a great villain.

[Agent23]

35 minutes ago, NOTW said:

I agree.  They teased Thanos over a series of movies and then when he showed up he was convincing at the beginning of Infinity War.  With Kang they're telling us he's powerful because he is.  Something something time and space and he shoots blue lasers.  I like Majors though and with more development (paging the Russo brothers) hopefully he's a great villain.

I saw Devotion... it was just fine. For a movie about racial history and progress, it was extremely water down. I also saw Loki and Quantumanium. While I liked Loki, the Kang conclusion was average at best and similar with this film, nothing that wowed me. 

Basically my way of saying that Creed III is what I am expecting to be the best Jonathan Majors performance we'll getting. 

[NOTW]

1 minute ago, Agent23 said:

I saw Devotion... it was just fine. For a movie about racial history and progress, it was extremely water down. I also saw Loki and Quantumanium. While I liked Loki, the Kang conclusion was average at best and similar with this film, nothing that wowed me. 

Basically my way of saying that Creed III is what I am expecting to be the best Jonathan Majors performance we'll getting. 

I've seen a lot of people celebrate him for his performance in the TV show Lovecraft Country.  I haven't seen that.  He was in the Netflix Western The Harder They Fall, which we put on one night but was in the background so I didn't pay full attention to it, I want to watch it again.

But based on Quantumania alone, I felt like he is a decent actor and doing what he could with the material.  I think the writing and setup of his powers wasn't executed very well.

[20Safety_Hazards]

On the ending 

Spoiler

I had no problem with him losing to a bunch of Ants. They established in the final act that the ants had gone through like 1,000 years of development because of a time stream and, as a result, had become a class 2 society (compared to current MCU which is a class 0).  Essentially, they are as advanced technologically to the MCU as the MCU is to the Renaissance period.  As a result the ants were, technologically speaking, fair closer to Kang than anyone else. That plus the shear volume made them force.

The problem is if you missed that throw away line from Hank Pym and you didn’t know what he meant by it you would have no idea why they could compete with Kang.  They sacrificed development for the twist, which is never a good answer. All they had to do was actually show the Ants society, show us their advanced tech in that scene where we find them, and you understand why it worked. But the writers didn’t do that and so it comes across as dumb

 

[NOTW]

2 hours ago, 20Safety_Hazards said:

On the ending 

  Hide contents

I had no problem with him losing to a bunch of Ants. They established in the final act that the ants had gone through like 1,000 years of development because of a time stream and, as a result, had become a class 2 society (compared to current MCU which is a class 0).  Essentially, they are as advanced technologically to the MCU as the MCU is to the Renaissance period.  As a result the ants were, technologically speaking, fair closer to Kang than anyone else. That plus the shear volume made them force.

The problem is if you missed that throw away line from Hank Pym and you didn’t know what he meant by it you would have no idea why they could compete with Kang.  They sacrificed development for the twist, which is never a good answer. All they had to do was actually show the Ants society, show us their advanced tech in that scene where we find them, and you understand why it worked. But the writers didn’t do that and so it comes across as dumb

 

I didn't miss it, it was explained clearly. 

I just thought it was dumb. 

[20Safety_Hazards]

32 minutes ago, NOTW said:

I didn't miss it, it was explained clearly. 

I just thought it was dumb. 

It wasn’t suggesting that you missed it. I am agreeing with you that it was dumb as set up.  My point is that a throw away line should not be the key to winning. If we saw any of the actual proof that it was what the writers claimed it was it would have been much better.

[Dwide Schrude]

On 2/22/2023 at 12:20 PM, NOTW said:

I agree.  They teased Thanos over a series of movies and then when he showed up he was convincing at the beginning of Infinity War.  With Kang they're telling us he's powerful because he is.  Something something time and space and he shoots blue lasers.  I like Majors though and with more development (paging the Russo brothers) hopefully he's a great villain.

Spoiler

That was my issue is well, the ants beating Kang annoys me less than Ant man/Wasp beating him. It gives Kang hardly any credibility to start Phase 5, and now you’re trying to convince us that Kang is strong through words instead of action. Thanos made a respectable villain in Ronin look weak, right off the bat in IW he beats Thor & all the other Asgardians off screen, and then handles Hulk like it’s no issue. Early on he defeats Three strong MCU characters, it set the stage very nicely for the rest of IW/Endgame. 
 

I think it would have been better if Kang made a narrow escape out of there. Ant man should have lost. It would have made for a more interesting story & then all of us would have fun theorizing where Kang went & what’s next.

 

[20Safety_Hazards]

There's a report that Marvel reshot the entire ending of Quantumania.  If true, I do not understand why they changed the ending.  Because it seems like the original ending was better. 

https://thedirect.com/article/ant-man-quantumania-ending-changed-reshoots

[NOTW]

7 hours ago, Dwide Schrude said:

That was my issue is well, the ants beating Kang annoys me less than Ant man/Wasp beating him. It gives Kang hardly any credibility to start Phase 5, and now you’re trying to convince us that Kang is strong through words instead of action. Thanos made a respectable villain in Ronin look weak, right off the bat in IW he beats Thor & all the other Asgardians off screen, and then handles Hulk like it’s no issue. Early on he defeats Three strong MCU characters, it set the stage very nicely for the rest of IW/Endgame. 
 

I think it would have been better if Kang made a narrow escape out of there. Ant man should have lost. It would have made for a more interesting story & then all of us would have fun theorizing where Kang went & what’s next.

I agree on the ending.  

Spoiler

At one point I thought they were going to have Kang escape and set that up for his future movie appearances.  I thought when Scott sacrificed himself to stay back that then Cassie would get to experience what it's like to be away from him and feel what Scott was feeling, and feel bad about her prior comments and realize his motivation for his family.  The ants should have just helped the people against Kang's army while the main heroes fought Kang.  

 

[NOTW]

Something about Phase 4 content both movies and shows:  they aren't the great experience most of the other MCU was.  They're just kind of ok, I'm not that interested in re-watching them again.  

[20Safety_Hazards]

2 hours ago, NOTW said:

I agree on the ending.  

  Hide contents

At one point I thought they were going to have Kang escape and set that up for his future movie appearances.  I thought when Scott sacrificed himself to stay back that then Cassie would get to experience what it's like to be away from him and feel what Scott was feeling, and feel bad about her prior comments and realize his motivation for his family.  The ants should have just helped the people against Kang's army while the main heroes fought Kang.  

 

 

Spoiler

But Cassie literally DID experience that already. For 5 years.