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Marvel Cinematic Universe |OT4| Love You $22 Billion

sol_bad

Member
Phase 4

WandaVision: C
The Falcon And The Winter Soldier: D
Black Widow: F
Loki: B+
What if?: B-
Shang-Chi: B
Eternals: B+

I prefer a 5 star system. For myself it would be.

WandaVision: 4.5 stars
The Falcon And The Winter Soldier: 3.5 stars
Black Widow: 3.5 stars
Loki: 4 stars
What if?: 3 stars
Shang-Chi: 4.5 stars
Eternals: 4 stars

I want to go and watch Eternals again some time soon.
 

Doom85

Member
(out of 10)

WandaVision: 8. Great concept, pretty good cast, but the final few episodes could have been executed a bit better.
Falcon & Winter Soldier: 8.5 Started off slow, but slowly built up and went through the finish line with style. Final episode was the best
Black Widow: 7. Should have come out in 2016. But still some fun, Yelena and Alexei were the MVPs.
Loki: 7.5 Awesome design of the headquarters, some cool concepts, and Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson played off each other perfectly. Great setup for what is likely the next MCU major threat. But the pace could be a bit too slow at times, and I didn’t find Sylvie that interesting
Haven’t watched What If yet
Shang-Chi: 8. Excellent antagonist, some cool fights, and Awkwafina was great. But I did feel Simu Liu could have been more expressive, and his sister felt under utilized.
Eternals: 7.5 Most of the characters were fun particularly Kingo, and my god the cinematography was solid. But some characters barely had an arc, and the main Deviant villain was a cool idea that went nowhere even though I did like the actual final antagonist and the fight against him. Also didn’t care for the cliffhanger, ending IW on a cliffhanger worked because we knew that cast so well by that point, here it felt too much too soon.
 

sol_bad

Member
(out of 10)

WandaVision: 8. Great concept, pretty good cast, but the final few episodes could have been executed a bit better.
Falcon & Winter Soldier: 8.5 Started off slow, but slowly built up and went through the finish line with style. Final episode was the best
Black Widow: 7. Should have come out in 2016. But still some fun, Yelena and Alexei were the MVPs.
Loki: 7.5 Awesome design of the headquarters, some cool concepts, and Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson played off each other perfectly. Great setup for what is likely the next MCU major threat. But the pace could be a bit too slow at times, and I didn’t find Sylvie that interesting
Haven’t watched What If yet
Shang-Chi: 8. Excellent antagonist, some cool fights, and Awkwafina was great. But I did feel Simu Liu could have been more expressive, and his sister felt under utilized.
Eternals: 7.5 Most of the characters were fun particularly Kingo, and my god the cinematography was solid. But some characters barely had an arc, and the main Deviant villain was a cool idea that went nowhere even though I did like the actual final antagonist and the fight against him. Also didn’t care for the cliffhanger, ending IW on a cliffhanger worked because we knew that cast so well by that point, here it felt too much too soon.

I really hope they pick up the Deviant story thread in a future film. Like the Eternals come across a planet where the Deviants have beaten the Eternals of that planet and are fully humanoid like their comic counterparts. I don't know where the story thread will lead but I won't believe that the Deviant plot thread gets dropped like a rock like that.
 

ManaByte

Member
Affleck you were the bomb in Daredevil, yo!

Marvel Studios Reaction GIF by Disney+
 

ManaByte

Member
I know it's a bad film but I still enjoy Darefleck.

There are people at Marvel Studios who do as well and would like an opportunity to take a peek back into that universe one last time to close the door on that version of Murdock if there were such a movie where such a thing is possible and if the actor would be willing to sign on for a one or two minute cameo (he probably wouldn't though).
 
I really hope they pick up the Deviant story thread in a future film. Like the Eternals come across a planet where the Deviants have beaten the Eternals of that planet and are fully humanoid like their comic counterparts. I don't know where the story thread will lead but I won't believe that the Deviant plot thread gets dropped like a rock like that.

One of the few problems I had with Eternals is that the Deviants were generic looking
 
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I may be the only person that's ready for mutants now. I know we need to wait for the stench from Fox to go away but the last good movies were Deadpool in 2018, Logan in 2017, and even though it is heavily flawed, DOFP in 2014. Can't believe we gotta pay for the sins of Sansa Stark's Dark Phoenix and Arya Stark's New Mutant. Mutants as a whole is the most interesting lore in comics IMO and has a very deep bench. We need Disney+ and theatrical releases. R rated on some of these properties too (Imagine Logan being PG-13, wth). Claremont has the right idea in making the X-Men a TV show for the most part that leads up to a movie or movie trilogy. Basically do what they didn't do for Eternals.

Hell they could have shows on Brotherhood, Hellions, Hellfire Club, Morlocks, etc to set up the antagonists too. I don't know why Feige and Marvel Studios are so against the idea of TV shows/movies about villains and anti heroes. I guess Agatha can be seen as the first one which is good. Joker and Venom proved people want those. Who wouldn't want a Magneto project? Apocalypse? Dr. Doom? Hell give me a show telling me about Mystique, Sabretooth, Omega Red, Mr. Sinister, etc Any of those sound 1000x more interesting than Echo. Matter of fact Echo does not sound interesting at all. What's the point of that show? Give me a Kingpin show instead.

Anyways enough ranting.

Phase 4

WandaVision: C
The Falcon And The Winter Soldier: D
Black Widow: F
Loki: B+
What if?: B-
Shang-Chi: B
Eternals: B+

I prefer a 5 star system. For myself it would be.

WandaVision: 4.5 stars
The Falcon And The Winter Soldier: 3.5 stars
Black Widow: 3.5 stars
Loki: 4 stars
What if?: 3 stars
Shang-Chi: 4.5 stars
Eternals: 4 stars

I want to go and watch Eternals again some time soon.

I'll use a binary point system to differentiate. It's either 1 for Like or 0 for Dislike.

WandaVision: 1
The Falcon And The Winter Soldier: 0
Black Widow: 0
Loki: 1
What if?: 1
Shang-Chi: 1
Eternals: 0
Hawkeye: 1
Spider-Man NWH: 1
 

sol_bad

Member
I saw the first episode and wasn't impressed. Should I go back?

It steadily improves imo. Keep in mind I'm a massive MCU fan.
Episode 1 and 2 were entertaining but nothing amazing.
Episode 3 changed director and substantially improved, great action scene.
Episode 4 wasn't quite as good but still far better than episode 1 and 2.
Episode 5 was also great, lots of emotional beats.

Great interactions between Kate and Clint. I think it's my second favourite MCU show at this point.

WandaVision > Hawkeye > Falcon and the Winter Soldier > Loki

*EDIT*
And I know I rated Loki higher than FatWS just above but upon further reflection I like FatWS more than Loki.
 
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Phase 4

WandaVision: C
The Falcon And The Winter Soldier: D
Black Widow: F
Loki: B+
What If?: C
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings: B
Eternals: B+
Hawkeye: B+
Spider-Man No Way Home: D

Currently Updated
 
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bender

What time is it?
Phase 4 on a scale of Tank Girl or Not Tank Girl:

WandaVision: Not Tank Girl
The Falcon And The Winter Soldier: Not Tank Girl
Black Widow: Not Tank Girl
Loki: Not Tank Girl
What If?: Not Tank Girl
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings: Not Tank Girl
Eternals: Not Tank Girl
Hawkeye: Not Tank Girl
Spider-Man No Way Home: Not Tank Girl
 
Several days ago I saw a comment somewhere (Twitter, I think?) that said that the turning point for the MCU was Joss Whedon's directing Avengers 1: Before Whedon the directors were veteran film people and then Whedon marks a change to TV-first and/or relatively inexperienced people (obviously this is a broad generalization). And then a few days after this, I rewatched Inglorious Basterds (one of the best movies since 2000, imo) and got to thinking about a comment by Tarantino on a podcast about how he only has one camera on set and plans out all of the shots before they start filming, etc. And between these two things I got this brain worm about the differences between film and TV and the choices directors make.

So all of this has led me to rewatching the MCU, paying close attention to stylistic choices that affect the visuals. Right now I'm on Thor: The Dark World and I can definitely see a difference between Whedon and the rest, esp. with lighting. I suspect that, in terms of cinematography, things are about to take a downward plunge, but we'll see. I've been tinkering with a tier list just for visuals and photography, which I'll probably post here when I get done.
 
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Doom85

Member
Several days ago I saw a comment somewhere (Twitter, I think?) that said that the turning point for the MCU was Joss Whedon's directing Avengers 1: Before Whedon the directors were veteran film people and then Whedon marks a change to TV-first and/or relatively inexperienced people (obviously this is a broad generalization). And then a few days after this, I rewatched Inglorious Basterds (one of the best movies since 2000, imo) and got to thinking about a comment by Tarantino on a podcast about how he only has one camera on set and plans out all of the shots before they start filming, etc. And between these two things I got this brain worm about the differences between film and TV and the choices directors make.

So all of this has led me to rewatching the MCU, paying close attention to stylistic choices that affect the visuals. Right now I'm on Thor: The Dark World and I can definitely see a difference between Whedon and the rest, esp. with lighting. I suspect that, in terms of cinematography, things are about to take a downward plunge, but we'll see. I've been tinkering with a tier list just for visuals and photography, which I'll probably post here when I get done.

Not really true in my experience. Captain America 2 and 3 (and Avengers IW and Endgame by the same directors) were far better directed than Cap 1 which was competently directed but nothing stood out IMHO. The Guardians of the Galaxy films were done by James Gunn who is a great director. Black Panther’s director Ryan Coogler had directed the well loved first Creed film.

Now some of the other directors might feel like odd choices given their prior filmography but I mean I’m not really sure how one “earns” the right to direct a blockbuster. Yeah, it could not work out, but taking a chance on smaller talent can pay off (Peter Jackson had never directed anything on the scale of Lord of the Rings when he got the job, hell the New Line president briefly panicked after he gave Jackson the green light and only looked into his prior work afterwards, but once he visited the set his fears were calmed down). And honestly even in the films where the directing is merely competent the films usually overcome this with likable characters and such. Hell, a good director might not matter, Eternals was very well directed with gorgeous cinematography, but the script couldn’t exactly balance so many new characters so quite a few felt underdeveloped.

Also, I feel like we’re way past the point of dismissing TV directors as “lesser”. Breaking Bad’s Vince Gilligan put a TON of thought into the show if you look in the behind the scenes. The final 8 minutes of True Detective Season 1 involved a one-shot many film directors probably wouldn’t dare to attempt. Sure, there’s plenty of average or meh directors in TV, but that’s true for any medium. Sorry, you may not have meant to imply TV directors aren’t as good but just in case.

Also Whedon had done Serenity and Cabin in the Woods before he directed Avengers so he wasn’t new to film.
 

NecrosaroIII

Ask me about my terrible takes on Star Trek characters
It steadily improves imo. Keep in mind I'm a massive MCU fan.
Episode 1 and 2 were entertaining but nothing amazing.
Episode 3 changed director and substantially improved, great action scene.
Episode 4 wasn't quite as good but still far better than episode 1 and 2.
Episode 5 was also great, lots of emotional beats.

Great interactions between Kate and Clint. I think it's my second favourite MCU show at this point.

WandaVision > Hawkeye > Falcon and the Winter Soldier > Loki

*EDIT*
And I know I rated Loki higher than FatWS just above but upon further reflection I like FatWS more than Loki.
Ended up finishing it. It was pretty good! I think the villain was under used though
 

sol_bad

Member
Ended up finishing it. It was pretty good! I think the villain was under used though

The last episode wasn't as good as the previous 3, I mentioned it in the Hawkeye thread but I think it's a director issue. Still a very fun show but it dropped to number 3 for my MCU shows.

WandaVision > Falcon and the Winter Soldier > Hawkeye > Loki
 

Soodanim

Member
I finished Hawkeye last night. Usually I just take it for what it is and enjoy the ride, but that last episode palmed things into my face so that they couldn’t be ignored, and it brought it down.
Like Yelena vs Kate, where Kate was as successful as the script needed her to be. In the lift? Kate had no chance, instant parries. Going through the rooms? Kate somehow is on par with a Black Widow because she needed to be to set up the joke that came after. It’s egregious plot armour stuff. Then there was the police officers putting on their LARP uniforms like it gave them more confidence. I know that was supposed to be funny, but it was too silly for me.

The episode was balanced out by Kingpin, but it was a very short look at him. Underused. I hope we get more in the future.

All in all, it was fine. At times Kate was funny, at other times not so much. A bit hit and miss.

WandaVision - enjoyed
Loki - enjoyed, but less than Wanda
Falcon - at its best when it was the Zemo show
Hawkeye - better tone than the previous, but feels unfinished

I plan to see Spider-Man next week. Kids should be back at school so I can go in the day when it’s quiet.
 
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Just read a theory on how mutants are coming to the MCU and it kinda made sense to me.

Basically Wanda said no more mutants in the past in a different universe and it kinda erased everyone's knowledge of mutants save for a couple of people, of course, in our universe. Similar to Strange's spell in NWH that brings people that knew Parker before the spell from other universes.

I kinda buy this theory. Think it's a good one.
 

sol_bad

Member
I'm very excited for Moon Knight but I'm currently in the Philippines and there is no Disney+ here. Even if there was Disney+ here I still wouldn't watch it until I get home as I want my surround sound.
 

sol_bad

Member
Really not happy with how Gorr looks in the leaked Legends toy. Hopefully his look changes throughout the film.
 

sol_bad

Member
Not getting my hopes up with what they did to Taskmaster.

I'm not attached to Taskmaster so that didn't affect me and I feel like the MCU could easily bring the real Taskmaster back in a future story since it's just a code name.

Gorr is a singular character though and as we've learnt from the previous 30 MCU films most villains are one and done. And man, everything about the Gorr story in the comics is phenomenal to me, much closer to my heart.
 

ManaByte

Member
I'm not attached to Taskmaster so that didn't affect me and I feel like the MCU could easily bring the real Taskmaster back in a future story since it's just a code name.
The real Taskmaster is Tony Masters. They named the new one Antonia. There’s no intention to bring in Tony. Maybe because of Tony Stark or maybe this is just the Disney of the 21st century we’re talking about here.
 

sol_bad

Member
The real Taskmaster is Tony Masters. They named the new one Antonia. There’s no intention to bring in Tony. Maybe because of Tony Stark or maybe this is just the Disney of the 21st century we’re talking about here.

It's hard to say. When Iron Man 3 came out we thought we'd never get the real Mandarin. I know that was a long time ago but there's still hope.

And I know there are a lot of angry Taskmaster fans just like there were angry Mandarin fans.
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
The real Taskmaster is Tony Masters. They named the new one Antonia. There’s no intention to bring in Tony. Maybe because of Tony Stark or maybe this is just the Disney of the 21st century we’re talking about here.

What's wrong with the real Tony Masters? Why wouldn't Disney want to use that character?
 

ManaByte

Member
It's hard to say. When Iron Man 3 came out we thought we'd never get the real Mandarin. I know that was a long time ago but there's still hope.

And I know there are a lot of angry Taskmaster fans just like there were angry Mandarin fans.
Iron Man 3 was made when Perlmutter was still calling the shots. The gender swapped Taskmaster is 100% on Feige.
 

OmegaSupreme

advanced basic bitch
GIF by Looney Tunes


Still waiting on Wolverine in the MCU. I wish I could de-age Jackman by 15 years as I think he was great. Even if he wasn't accurate to the appearance or even the attitude of the Wolverine I remember reading.
 
It's hard to say. When Iron Man 3 came out we thought we'd never get the real Mandarin. I know that was a long time ago but there's still hope.

And I know there are a lot of angry Taskmaster fans just like there were angry Mandarin fans.

I wouldn't say "angry", but that twist single handedly made Black Widow a bad movie for me whereas up until that point it was "fine". Nothing memorable, but not horrible until then.

The Taskmaster change, Eternals changes, and what Victoria Alonso keeps spewing are big reasons why I think they'll mess up my favorite - by far - lore in comics in the X-Men. Phase 4 has been very hit and miss and I have no doubt they'll mess this up.

Iron Man 3 was made when Perlmutter was still calling the shots. The gender swapped Taskmaster is 100% on Feige.

Indeed. We saw the writers saying, "Well there's no reason Taskmaster has to be a male" or whatever. They could have created a new original character for that, a new Widow antagonist that was in the comics like the Headmistress, a strong female character that hasn't shown up in the MCU yet like Elektra or Viper, or just do something, anything else.

Feige could have vetoed it but he didn't. This is on him.

I'm 100% aware of this. Doesn't change what I'm saying.

Kinda does. Perlmutter was Feige's boss and he had to do what Ike told him. That wasn't the case for Widow and he could have seen that this gender swap for a pretty iconic character would have major backlash.

Can they change it later and say that the fake Robocop clone with an obvious man as a stunt double - Antonia "Taskmaster" - was a faker? Sure, but the point is they messed this up like they did Mandarin. This is on Feige and his team.
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
I wouldn't say "angry", but that twist single handedly made Black Widow a bad movie for me whereas up until that point it was "fine". Nothing memorable, but not horrible until then.

The Taskmaster change, Eternals changes, and what Victoria Alonso keeps spewing are big reasons why I think they'll mess up my favorite - by far - lore in comics in the X-Men. Phase 4 has been very hit and miss and I have no doubt they'll mess this up.



Indeed. We saw the writers saying, "Well there's no reason Taskmaster has to be a male" or whatever. They could have created a new original character for that, a new Widow antagonist that was in the comics like the Headmistress, a strong female character that hasn't shown up in the MCU yet like Elektra or Viper, or just do something, anything else.

Feige could have vetoed it but he didn't. This is on him.



Kinda does. Perlmutter was Feige's boss and he had to do what Ike told him. That wasn't the case for Widow and he could have seen that this gender swap for a pretty iconic character would have major backlash.

Can they change it later and say that the fake Robocop clone with an obvious man as a stunt double - Antonia "Taskmaster" - was a faker? Sure, but the point is they messed this up like they did Mandarin. This is on Feige and his team.

After thinking about what you wrote here and earlier, I think you are 100% correct. And to the point that I don't think it can be argued any other way tbh.
 

sol_bad

Member
Kinda does. Perlmutter was Feige's boss and he had to do what Ike told him. That wasn't the case for Widow and he could have seen that this gender swap for a pretty iconic character would have major backlash.

Can they change it later and say that the fake Robocop clone with an obvious man as a stunt double - Antonia "Taskmaster" - was a faker? Sure, but the point is they messed this up like they did Mandarin. This is on Feige and his team.

Kinda doesn't, Drew Pearce and Shane Black came up with the Mandarin twist and Feige agreed with it. Nothing to do with Perlmutter.
 
Kinda doesn't, Drew Pearce and Shane Black came up with the Mandarin twist and Feige agreed with it. Nothing to do with Perlmutter.

Feige had to answer to Perlmutter at that time. Perlmutter was the big boss then and could veto or change directions of the movies. Now Feige only answers to Bergmann and Chapek and he pretty much has carte blanche veto power.

You can disagree with it but it's undoubtedly different.
 
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