Comic Book Movies

[Dr. Insomniac]

Yeah, not being able to see T'Challa and Namor duke it out in the movies sucks. And I still wish they got M'Baku to be the next Black Panther instead of Shuri.

Marvel abruptly going "Phase 4 is now ending! The movies and shows you thought were Phase 4 are now Phase 5!" reeks of last-minute reorganization. And it makes sense in light of 4's lukewarm reception, but I'm curious what the nerves there are like at the moment. Assuming The Gray Man getting bad reviews is why they made a note of saying the Russos aren't doing Secret Wars/Kang Dynasty. And Watts bailing is certainly why F4 got delayed by another year. They're obviously not sweating that hard, otherwise Phase 5 would have a bunch of Wolverine movies and revealing Steve didn't die off-screen and Chris Evans is back, but it's still interesting seeing Marvel realize they can't just rest on their laurels or else another Top Gun Maverick might overthrow them at the box office.

Also a little disappointed that "Giancarlo Esposito will be revealed as the new Charles Xavier" rumor didn't come true.

On the DC side of things, it's fun watching Dwayne Johnson chew the scenery, even if he seems to think Black Adam's a Superman villain for some reason. I'm fully aware why they pushed their Shazam characters this year, but you'd think Keaton, Momoa, Gadot, or even Cavill could've showed up to give some pretense that they still have a broader idea of where their movies are going, or at least distract viewers from the elephant in the room.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Cavill returning was just a rumor with no real source to back it up, and as I recall he's currently filming another movie overseas, so it never really made sense for him to appear at this year's comic-con. I will say that both Black Adam and Shazam! 2 look like a lot of fun. Ironically enough they closer resemble the energy and (at least seemingly so far) the entertainment value that MCU movies used to have on a regular basis.

Going back to Black Panther 2, I will say that I appreciated the more emotional tone of the trailer, and how it restrained itself from that last-second stinger (usually containing a throwaway joke) that most MCU trailers tend to have. I still believe that recasting T'Challa would've been the best way to go, as passing on the torch to a new actor does not dishonor Boseman in any way, but I am still intrigued to see what they come out with. In any case, I really do want this movie to be great, as the MCU really does need a hit on their hands from one of their own IPs (Spider-Man obviously doesn't count). I still stand by really enjoying Doctor Strange 2 despite all of it's issues, but Thor 4 is something that I keep souring a bit more on as time goes by even though I initially had fun with it. And none of the D+ shows have been a home run. Shang-Chi is their only original movie that seems to have been better than just passable, and even that was still pretty safe and expected MCU-style film-making. It'd be nice to have another Winter Soldier tier movie on their hands at this point.

Also, I'm not going to lie: after seeing how they handled Wilson Fisk in Hawkeye, I'm more nervous than excited about Daredevil: Born Again.

As for the Russos, I don't necessarily think that they couldn't make more great MCU movies. Their original films have been sub-par, but they are essentially four-for-four with the MCU. I chalk it up to them probably being better suited to working in tandem with Feige and other big studio heads while just focusing on the directing aspect of those movies and utilizing their clear love of Marvel comic books. When they are also producing and more creatively in control of their own movies, it probably exposes more of their weaknesses that they didn't have to deal with nearly as much when working under Marvel. I could be wrong of course, but I don't think that they suddenly just got bad after they graduated from the MCU. It seems more likely to me that they probably prospered under those specific conditions whereas it may be the opposite scenario for certain other directors (such as Scott Derrikson).

[Dr. Insomniac]

Yeah, I get why Cavill wouldn't show up, but you'd think they'd do something to say "No, we still remember we have Superman. We definitely have a clue what we'll do with him in the future."

And they should've recast T'Challa. I understand why they didn't, since Chadwick Boseman was already in 4 movies so the scenario was harder than replacing Terrence Howard with Don Cheadle or switching Edward Norton with Mark Ruffalo, but that could've saved them a lot of trouble in hindsight.

I'm also confused why they brought back the writers of Daredevil Season 3 (along with some Better Call Saul writers) to write Echo instead of Season 4. Yeah, of course you need some really good writers to get people to care about an Echo show, but why not just can the Echo show and get all those writers to do Born Again?

Like I think the issue with Phase 4 is Feige doing double-duty and taking over Loeb's old job instead of finding another producer to be the new Loeb. It's stretched resources a little too thin, and it's turned the whole "Why don't the MCU shows have some impact on the movies for once?" question that fans and even the actors used to ask for years into a monkey's paw.

[Dr. Insomniac]

I wasn't expecting anything out of the Batgirl movie, but to shelve it even though most of the filming was already done?

[Dr. Insomniac]

Once again... no one's ever really gone.

[Avaitor]

Okay, so we got Stewart back, we got Jackman back, can McKellen put the helmet on just one more time now?

[Dr. Insomniac]

You'd think he would, if only just for some scene where he and Wanda meet and says something dumb like "I can't explain why, but I believe we must have some sort of bond."

Now I'm thinking about the old Marvel actors they won't randomly bring back for nostalgia bucks. I remember Wesley Snipes begged for them to let him play Blade again years ago, but Marvel read the same Blade Trinity behind-the-scenes horror stories we all did.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

All I know is that as long as we're dealing with all of these multiverse shenanigans, I want to see Chris Evans cameo as The Human Torch just for the shits.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Or have Gorr, Vulture, and the Affleck Daredevil pop up and banter.

[Avaitor]

All I know is that as long as we're dealing with all of these multiverse shenanigans, I want to see Chris Evans cameo as The Human Torch just for the shits.

Along with Michael B. Jordan's, right?

Although I just thought about something. Logan takes place in the future, a future where he, Xavier and Laure are the only surviving mutants... so how was Cable able to survive and make it to the future?

[Dr. Insomniac]

Either a family of Summerses were the ones in control of Eden, or branching timelines like I always assumed.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Some cool people made a silent film version of the 1989 Batman movie.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Finally got around to watching Thor 4. The Gorr parts are great and I wish we got a lot more of that, more of him living up to being a God Butcher, and just more of Bale chewing the scenery and terrorizing the Asgardians. He carries this whole film. But then the parts without him feel like one of those Robert Rodriguez kids movies.

And didn't feel the Jane plot. Kinda wish they cut her out and gave her screentime to Valkyrie, since she isn't given much to do here. I heard the original cut was a lot longer, and you can see it. Watching this movie felt like watching a TV re-edit of a film.

[talonmalon333]

Dang, I missed out on the No Way Home conversation from earlier this year. Sounds like my opinion lines up with a lot of people here had thought. That movie just made me really happy. Just seeing all the Spider-Man franchises come together like that was special. The conversation always used to be that Spider-Man got too many reboots, but this movie made it all worth it. It also reminded me that Garfield never got a fair chance. I feel like his movies got a bad wrap, and I'll admit I was never their biggest fan. But maybe that was because they came so soon after the Raimi trilogy? This movie also reminded me that he was maybe the bestSpiderman, even if he didn't have the best movies.

Also, William Defoe was as good if not better than he ever had been as the Green Goblin. I didn't even miss his mask, because he's just so expressive as an actor and fun to watch.

This, Shung-Chi, WandaVision and Loki have been my favorite parts of the current Marvel phase.

[Dr. Insomniac]

So yeah, Black Adam... it's not a good sign when the one time the theater audience reacted to anything was during the mid-credits scene. They were dead silent at everything else.

And I get it, since the movie's so mindlessly derivative of other superhero films ("Remember when Drax didn't understand sarcasm? Let's make Black Adam not understand sarcasm! Remember when Ant-Man did a funny? Let's make Atom Smasher do a funny! Remember when Doctor Strange used a Multiform technique and did that mirror thing? Let's have Doctor Fate use a Multiform technique and do that mirror thing! Remember when Diana murdered the shit out of those terrorists? Let's have Black Adam murder the shit out of terrorists!"). Like I know the whole movie's just a vanity project for The Rock, but it could've been a better vanity project.

Only character I liked was Fate, and that was mostly due to Brosnan doing his best to carry this film. Almost everyone else was meh, and I couldn't stand Atom Smasher. They try so hard to make him their own Ant-Man, but Noah Centineo can't even muster 1% of the charisma Paul Rudd has.

Spoiler

Also, how and when did Clark and Waller become allies? I can't even see it happening out of convenience since Adam didn't do anything that monstrous in the movie, and you'd think Clark would sympathize with him given his character arc in the previous DC movies. Pretty sure Diana's killed more people than Adam, and I'm not seeing Clark warning her that her actions make the world nervous.

And I found out WB didn't even want Cavill back and were just gonna use a stand-in like with Shazam and Peacemaker, but The Rock demanded they hire him to reprise Clark. Which leads to wonder what the hell is going on that WB was more willing to work with Ezra Miller on reshoots that happened as recently as a couple weeks ago, while they had to be strong-armed into calling Cavill.

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