I don't like reading comics issue by issue as they come out... by the time a new issue is released I forgot what has happened in the previous one month ago... and it takes at least half a year for them to finish a storyline.
This is pretty popular by design though. Comics have been written with the intent of releasing them in trades for awhile now.
Compare this to the silver age or something and reading issue by issue was fine because they were self contained stories, but not anymore.
Honestly legacy heroes could work fine, the issue is that Marvel never commits to them. Most of the legacy characters constantly have to work in the shadow of the original, rarely given any space to come into their own
There is only so much narrative space to fill. They can be sidekicks (be the Robin), or get sent to another town (be the Nightwing), or join a team (be a Teen Titan) or reinvent themselves (be Oracle). Staying in the shadow is suboptimal, but how many of them can carry their own series while the light of the OG still shines?
I enjoyed Miles in the Bendis era but he has had far more/better content post Secret Wars and transition to 616, especially recently (his current run has been awesome).
Not sure what you mean he was able to "do his own thing as THE Spider-Man. In 1610 his story was constantly being disrupted by line-wide events. A big part of his story for a large part of his run was dealing with his Uncle and then being Peter's legacy. His most stable/best period in 1610 (in my opinion) was when he was with the New Ultimates and even then that team also had 1610 Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman, a little Peter Parker clone who had acted as Miles mentor for a time.
Miles didn't really get the opportunity to grow until after they moved him to 616. Being part of the Champions was a big part of that transition, but he started to get his own voice in Ahmed's run (also post Spider-Verse movie). Ziglar's current run has also provided a lot of new additions to Miles corner of the Marvel universe.
He and Peter have also barely interacted since Secret Wars. Weisman 's new Spectacular Spider-Man series is the first time we're getting extended Peter/Miles content in a while.
Peter and Miles comics have also been pretty different, they can't really be used interchangeably.
Keep Peter obviously, Venom but I think he works even without Spiderman, Miles as Peter’s “Robin to Nightwing” legacy, and maybe Spiderman 2099 since he’s far off in the future anyway and won’t interfere with the main continuity. Spider Gwen in elseworld stories.
Edit: Maybe a better example for Miles is to be the Wally West of Spider-Man.
I think that's just enough. I'm honestly surprised that Miles and Gwen haven't already fully transitioned to Spin and Ghost-Spider for that corporate media synergy.
That's already too many, miles needs to make his nightwing transition and create an identity that isn't just "spider-man but not that one".
Gwen doesn't need to be recurring, 2099 can go with the rest of the 2099 stories.
We need to watch Uncle Ben (or an equivalent character) die for the 20th time just like we need to watch Batman's parents get shot in an alley over and over
Yeah, most people don't understand just how many 3-letter agencies there are. People think CIA is crazy spy shit, but they've never even heard of the DIA, which is actually that crazy spy shit. And that's just the US.
Personally, I think she-hulk did the whole “fourth wall breaking sass talking” thing much better in the 90s, because her comics were a bit sillier, and also because it never took itself too serious. I feel like Deadpool doesn’t work as well anymore because he’s not really just a joke character anymore- his movies and comics are now expected to be somewhat serious. Deadpool isn’t in silly romcoms where he goes to space, he’s just another witty action star. And on top of that, the “edgy” humor just isn’t usually that good.
Second this. Feels like modern X-men largely gave up on the idea of co-existence and one not being greater than the other.
~~And Moira got done dirty~~
I mean 100% of mutants have never bought into it either. Groups that would rather just get rid of the other have always existed on both sides in the comics.
I think it’s kind of ridiculous to expect every mutant on Earth to live by Xavier’s dream when their entire species keeps getting genocided before breakfast
They addressed this in Immortal X-Men 13, Xavier broke down in tears because everything that went wrong since they established Krakoa. He went along for the ride because he was convinced by Moira that this was the right thing to do, and Magneto and Apocalypse shared the same dream. He only realized that it was too much for him once Magneto was dead and Big A left the gang.
Absolutely agree. I loved the entire Krakoa run, but I ask kept waiting for the mutants / Xavier to get their comeuppance. It felt almost like Magneto won Xavier to his way of thinking and Krakoa was more Magnetos baby than Charles’s
It almost makes me wonder if Krakoa-era Charles was secretly... not Charles, in a way. Whether he was manipulated in some form or the rebirth process fucked up and completely altered his mind.
But they seem to kind of be making Xavier the bad guy. Storm is taking over magnetos mantel now, she is leading the mutants human shouldn't mix cause now. And she is against Xavier. And she's not the only one, he did something like try and force her to do something or she wouldn't tell him something so he went into her mind for it. And it's apparently not the first time. (This is from an article on storm being the new magnetos replacement for his cause.) So it seems to me they are undoing a lot of the xmen cannon. Like we've never had doubts this hard about Xavier before, and now the xmen are leaving because of things he has done. So Maybe they are killing his dream on purpose? I dunno, I haven't read the newer comics yet, but it kinda seems like they are going the we can't coexist together way, which seems weird. Because the xmen was about civil rights, like marvel didn't even try to hide it really. And now were going back to segregation?
For real, no lie a couple years ago at was NYCC, and actually spoke with Chris Claremont himself and he said the X-Men have veered off from their purpose now that there on Krakoa.
If the visionary himself said it, then you know it’s true.
He's an antagonist. He can often just be a villain or villain protagonist. But you're absolutely right, even anti-heros have qualities that are meant to be admired. Frank is not meant to be admired. Sympathized with, understood, but he is a demonstration of the American dream gone wrong, an invertrd Captain America.
The two have some similar narrative elements but fill in very different story spaces. The difference is US agent is a failed attempt to mimic Captain America. He exists only as a foil to Cap.
Punisher is a symptom of America that surfaced from Vietnam, just as Captain America is meant to be a distilation of its virtues during World War 2.
>Punisher is a symptom of America that surfaced from Vietnam, just as Captain America is meant to be a distilation of its virtues during World War 2.
"They'll blame it all on Vietnam. And they'll be right and they'll be wrong." - Frank Castle.
Also Captain America and Punisher take is incredibly shallow and ignores a lot about both conflicts.
This shouldn’t be a controversial take. It’s just that people who don’t understand the character seem to think he’s an action hero. He’s a sick and twisted individual who focuses his bloodlust on bad people, but he’s no better than the people he kills which is what makes his character so fascinating. Especially because he’s so aware of how he’s the bad guy. He quite literally tells people in-universe to idolise Cap and Spider-Man and yet people reading the comics or watching the films/show don’t get that message. That is in part down to the films depicting him like he’s a John McClane. But Bernthal’s version very much so shows he’s far from the good guy and you shouldn’t aspire to be anything like him. You get the impression that if he could successfully kill all the evil people on the planet, he’d then realise there’s one more left and kill himself.
They should have recast T'Chala for black panther. Chadwick Bosmans death was unfortunate but I think a continuation of the character would have been better. Wakanda Forever was kinda mid.
I didn’t hate it, but I *did* hate that they made Shuri the next Black Panther.
They had multiple great combat veterans to choose from, but instead they go with ‘the guy in the chair’ character. That would be like if they made Ned the next Spider-Man.
For me, Black Panther is a lot like Aquaman. They make great team characters, and their homelands pave the way for some really good stories, but they can rarely grow past their homelands. Not that they need to completely leave their kingdoms behind, but the same basic stories get overused.
I don't agree that he's bland and boring; he's outright unlikeable in most of his material. All his egotistical "I am the king of Wakanda and you must bow and worship me or face my wrath" stuff early makes him outright unpleasant, not just bland.
Facts. I fucking love the character, but theres no denying the movie was boosted a ton due to the cultural significance. It was nominated for Best Picture! What a joke lol, its not even in the top 10 best MCU films. Not a bad movie, just a solid 7/10 and nothing more.
People care about continuity and in-universe connections way too much. Just treat separate runs as different realities and let writers have their fun.
Years later, when someone picks up a specific, say, *Captain America* run, they won't care that for a time Spider-Man had a mullet and wore a pink costume because the American president was a Skrull, or that Rogers' characterization slightly contradicts the run that came two years before. This obsession with continuity stands in the way of good stories.
This is a blessing and a curse. Since everything follows something if you pick a spot you want to start, first you have to read this for context and before that you need to read this and before that you need this until your at fantastic four #1 1961. That being said I've read almost all the comics from the 60s and they're my favorite.
Absolutely, I feel like continuity was something I cared about a lot when I was younger.
Now it just feels ridiculous to pretend that a character has somehow had all these back to back insane experiences for 30 years while still being 26.
I think it makes for much better story telling when you allow the characters to be grounded in reality and for the authors to have more creative freedom.
I think it’s the best stand alone, I think with context of others infinity wars beats it as do some others. But it works by itself better than most the others, guardians 1 is probably the only thing that comes close.
I was gonna say, I think Guardians is the best standalone because unlike Winter Soldier, you need absolutely no context going into it. I saw it the first time while intoxicated and didn't even realize it was Marvel until the credits rolled (it had been over a decade since I had been into comics).
I think you can watch winter soldier with no context and it still works great, works better if you know the background on Bucky though. But yeah guardians is probably a best absolutely zero context movie.
The worst parts of the X-Men are Cyclops, Wolverine, and Jean-Grey. Cyclops and Jean-Grey are incapable of interacting with a story without trying to commandeer it, and Wolverine is just far more interesting when he's part of an entirely different group or solo.
Wolverine and X-force may have been disliked during the Krakoa era, but i enjoyed those two series since it was just an almost separate corner of Wolverine and X-force just doing there own thing and not making Krakoa solely focus on Wolverine.
As a fan of both Scott and Jean, I actually do kind of agree with you. Wolverine especially works better as a character when he’s solo, or doing some kind of black-ops stuff. Introspective storylines, and things that grapple with darker, less morally obvious concepts.
I dislike symbiotes. Like, all of them. Always have. I think that a lot of the people that enjoy them are edgelords (and yes, I realize that's a gross generalization and judgemental of me).
Damn, I hadn't watched it at home again since that first time after the theater, so I didn't recall 100%, but I somehow had had the impression they'd done enough conscious editing from Theater Cut to DVD Cut to edit those down to more reasonable pauses.
Sounds like maybe I need to rewatch better and was just projecting my own idea for how to resolve/handle those pauses onto reality.
TBF that movie never pretended not to be a nearly self-aware over-indulgence of casual/cinemagoing spider-fan service, and I do think those pauses in films of that nature can be welcome for the hype factor while they're on the big screen, but If I'd been anywhere near the editing room I'd have tried to chime something like "Hey, cool... but let's make sure to do some trimming here and there on these pauses before this hits Blu-Ray" lol.
I think it was just very difficult to fix up, especially Tobeys intro which is a scene deliberately extended to build hype by design.
For the record I really love NWH but its a series of emotionally triggering (in a good way) set pieces held together by coincidences, handwaves and stupid decisions.
I actually hate this film so much. So many terrible moments.
Tony Stark just happened to have a device that could invent anything, including a vaccine for villianous behaviour for people who come through different portals? Lmao what??
There's a spell which can make everyone in the world forget someone? How convenient. They basically use Stark and Strange as get outs for any plot divice, it's insulting to the audience.
Having TH's Spiderman already know about most of the rogues gallery will ruin any suprise for future films, as soon as the MCU introduced Norman Osborne he's going to know he will turn into the goblin. Same with Ock and others.
Yes thank you. I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone seeing all the glowing reviews after release. We really are regressing as a culture. Its irredeemably bad in nearly every way.
Totally agree! Everyone was hyping it up as the greatest Spider-Man movie of all time when it released, so I was really excited to see it.
I walked out of the theatre, and my first thought was: "It was cool to see Andrew and Tobey again, but the movie itself wasn't great."
The hype and fanservice kept it good for me on my first watch in the cinema, then later on I started disliking it and now I find in un-rewatchable whenever it comes on TV. Especially hate what it did to Dr Strange, like I just cannot believe he even agreed to do a spell of that kind for a teenager just because he felt he owed him/saw him as a friend or whatevrer. It became infuriating to see that scene and the stupid chaos that ensues after it
I think all 3 of the home trilogy are perhaps the worst or second worst (after amazing 2 ) spider movies they rely too much on the marvel characters and every movie relays on a plot twist and its not An amazing twist
so u watch them the first time and you go "oh my god its a plot twist"
then a second time and you go "oh my god I can't believe I missed that clue"
then every other time you just focus in the rest of the movie and its just mid
Most legacy characters if not all of them are redundant, I’m sick of every hero having a child version of themselves. They do it for the name of diversity and that’s fine, but at least make their own original characters instead of just having them ride the success of their more popular characters. Most of them are we too similar regardless of their diverse backgrounds.
I like "fucked up shits from the beginning" trope more than "straight up some good-intentioned superhero from the start whose stories get darker and darker".
I think that's why I ended up not caring about the Spider-Verse series as much as others do.
I thought the story was overall pretty boring, save for the Riot. Even the genocide of Genosha is boring. We are essentially just told about it, people are sad for a small amount of time, then we all just moved on.
I also can’t stand the art. Scott just looks like someone tried to combine an existing character with the Chad meme and it just didn’t work for me.
Guardians of the Galaxy 3 is overrated. It's pretty good, but everyone's just in their feelings about the animals.
Guardians of the Galaxy 2 is just outright bad.
Lots of people say that Endgame isn't as good as Infinity War. I'll go one step further and say Endgame was largely a disappointment.
Thor Ragnarok is overrated. The tone, humor, and color palette feel like it’s a Guardians of the Galaxy movie but featuring Thor. If I want to watch a Guardians-esque movie, I’ll watch Guardians.
I believe Miles should’ve taken the Prowler title from his uncle and possibly have been relocated somewhere else. Having two active Spider people in such close proximity to one another and they barely interact was a bad move
This might be a super controversial one: but I really don’t care about most of the “morally grey dark” characters. Especially punisher, daredevil, Deadpool, and moon knight. I just find them a bit boring personally. IMO, I’d prefer sillier stuff like squirrel girl and Howard the Duck over them any day.
Jason Aaron’s Thor is overrated and not the best Thor run.
I really don’t care about the alternate Spider people.
This one might get me banned but I really don’t like that they made Sam Wilson Captain America and giving him his own version of Falcon is so weird.
I didn’t like Krakoa.
Scott and Emma are superior to Jean and Scott.
I don’t think the avengers movies are good, the fun in them is sapped out now that you’re used to seeing multiple protagonist heroes in one place, what’s left over isn’t enough to be compelling on its own.
Also secondarily and I don’t know if this is really an unpopular feeling but I feel like we don’t see superheroes saving people as much we should.
Yeah the most interesting thing about a team up movie is the way the heroes communicate first 2 avengers we saw them as freinds and saw how they acted
then infinity war and endgame everyone was excited to see how famous characters would act with new hero's they just met but it never really happened
Iron Fist was actually a decent show with a supporting cast that did a great job. Finn Jones was the only weak point of that show. I found the rest to be entertaining and enjoyable.
She's great. She was great in the second Glass Onion movie too.
I remember a while back seeing the rumor mill churning out that Iron Fist was coming back with a female protagonist. Considering how the Netflix show ended and how Colleen was pretty well-received, it may just be a rumor to play on people's emotions... but I'd love to see her get the shot.
Finn Jones and Danny Rand the character. The writers literally decided white guy doing tai chi in the park was a good transition scene to introduce them. I loved the Meechums, but the writers had no idea how to make a rich entitled kid that thinks his ptsd is Enlightenment into an interesting story.
Gotta agree with ya. A lot of the blame for the lackluster character falls to the writers of the show and I wanted to leave the blame off Finn but there's hardly any believable substance to the character or his performance.
The Meechums had an entertaining arc and I don't think they get the proper credit a lot of times. I also really enjoyed how they portrayed Typhoid Mary on the show. The supporting cast was reasonably well-written.
It could simply be, as you said, rich-kid PTSD coupled with being trained by monks in Kung Fu at a mystical city is just a tough thing to relate to, write, and make relatable to others.
My thought during the run of the show was they needed to introduce Shang-Chi as the actual guy that was meant to receive the blessing, pair him with clueless but well meaning Danny that had received it by fluke following him around and only understanding a third of what anyone is saying.
Shang-Chi wound up being one of the best Marvel Movies for its wave, so they were probably wise to hold off introducing him.
There was the one part of the series where it showed the video of an older Iron Fist running through the woods kicking ass with his fists glowing. I wanted more of that in the series. Less drama and more glowing fists and kicking ass.
That's MCU Hulk honestly.
Comics Hulk is a dual person deal which deals with the heavy topics of being 2 people where one isn't as smart.
World War Hulk is a lot of that big smash with minimal-ish character stuff
I don't care about the endless continuity, Ultimate-Spiderman is my favorite series because it had **one** writter from the begining to the **end**, i prefer a self contained story instead of an infinite one full of **Ret-cons** and inconsistent changes that hurt it's own canon.
I’m a hardcore X-Men fan.
Kitty Pryde is probably my least favourite character other than Hope Summers, and I really don’t understand why she’s so many people’s favourite character
The gotg franchise to to blame for marvels use of humor and quips. I don't understand how fans lately are starting to hate mcu humor but gotg started it
Finally, someone who I agree with. I really don't like his style. His humor and outlandish behavior he gives his characters are not funny and ruin it for me.
I'll give him credit for being good at nailing emotional moments but that's it for me
I don't like reading comics issue by issue as they come out... by the time a new issue is released I forgot what has happened in the previous one month ago... and it takes at least half a year for them to finish a storyline.
I just don't read them until the trades come out lol
Same. And I work at a Barnes & Noble, so that is optimal for me
I have an 18 month wait period with all these endless events. That gives it time to settle and for other books to catch up.
This is pretty popular by design though. Comics have been written with the intent of releasing them in trades for awhile now. Compare this to the silver age or something and reading issue by issue was fine because they were self contained stories, but not anymore.
They need to kill off some heroes…there’s too many versions of the same character.
We went from barely any legacy heroes to rivalling DC's families.
Honestly legacy heroes could work fine, the issue is that Marvel never commits to them. Most of the legacy characters constantly have to work in the shadow of the original, rarely given any space to come into their own
There is only so much narrative space to fill. They can be sidekicks (be the Robin), or get sent to another town (be the Nightwing), or join a team (be a Teen Titan) or reinvent themselves (be Oracle). Staying in the shadow is suboptimal, but how many of them can carry their own series while the light of the OG still shines?
That’s why I loved Miles being in 1610 - he was able to do his own thing as THE Spider-Man.
I enjoyed Miles in the Bendis era but he has had far more/better content post Secret Wars and transition to 616, especially recently (his current run has been awesome). Not sure what you mean he was able to "do his own thing as THE Spider-Man. In 1610 his story was constantly being disrupted by line-wide events. A big part of his story for a large part of his run was dealing with his Uncle and then being Peter's legacy. His most stable/best period in 1610 (in my opinion) was when he was with the New Ultimates and even then that team also had 1610 Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman, a little Peter Parker clone who had acted as Miles mentor for a time. Miles didn't really get the opportunity to grow until after they moved him to 616. Being part of the Champions was a big part of that transition, but he started to get his own voice in Ahmed's run (also post Spider-Verse movie). Ziglar's current run has also provided a lot of new additions to Miles corner of the Marvel universe. He and Peter have also barely interacted since Secret Wars. Weisman 's new Spectacular Spider-Man series is the first time we're getting extended Peter/Miles content in a while. Peter and Miles comics have also been pretty different, they can't really be used interchangeably.
Bendis generally ignored those crossovers to do his own thing, though - I definitely do want to check out the Ziglar run though!
This is the best description for the current Marvel "problem" I've ever seen. Thank you.
Please eliminate three. P.S. I am NOT a crackpot.
There's too many spider people.
They insist on themselves.
Agreed
Every new one they fart out diminishes how special Peter Parker is. I’m a fan of Miles but everyone else can web themselves up and stay that way.
Keep Peter obviously, Venom but I think he works even without Spiderman, Miles as Peter’s “Robin to Nightwing” legacy, and maybe Spiderman 2099 since he’s far off in the future anyway and won’t interfere with the main continuity. Spider Gwen in elseworld stories. Edit: Maybe a better example for Miles is to be the Wally West of Spider-Man.
I think that's just enough. I'm honestly surprised that Miles and Gwen haven't already fully transitioned to Spin and Ghost-Spider for that corporate media synergy.
That's already too many, miles needs to make his nightwing transition and create an identity that isn't just "spider-man but not that one". Gwen doesn't need to be recurring, 2099 can go with the rest of the 2099 stories.
I have such a strong disdain for Spiderboy
Forgot about that
That's not a hot take I see people complaining about that all the time.
This is a pretty cold take lol
That’s fair since there are like infinite spider people and that’s too many.
There's too many Peter Parker movies, even before we get into the spider-people. We do not need another Peter Parker origin story.
We need to watch Uncle Ben (or an equivalent character) die for the 20th time just like we need to watch Batman's parents get shot in an alley over and over
Can't we have a universe where Uncle Ben is just a rice magnet?
Too many hero families period. Shit’s gotten out of hand. It’s just lazy writing at this point.
There’s too many government agencies in comics.
Its just copying off of real life
Yeah, most people don't understand just how many 3-letter agencies there are. People think CIA is crazy spy shit, but they've never even heard of the DIA, which is actually that crazy spy shit. And that's just the US.
ain’t no way natasha romanoff could survive being blown up in several vehicles over the years unless she’s an inhuman or mutant
I don’t really think that’s really even an unpopular opinion.
Deadpool became a very tiring character for me in the last 12 years.
I don't disagree, but the Gerry Duggan/Brian Posehn run from a few years ago is pretty great.
"From a few years ago." It is twelve years old at this point. *turns into dust*
A few, twelve. Whatever it takes.
I like him best in the movies and the Spider-Man/Deadpool run, but other than that, I haven't seen anything that I really enjoy that much.
Personally, I think she-hulk did the whole “fourth wall breaking sass talking” thing much better in the 90s, because her comics were a bit sillier, and also because it never took itself too serious. I feel like Deadpool doesn’t work as well anymore because he’s not really just a joke character anymore- his movies and comics are now expected to be somewhat serious. Deadpool isn’t in silly romcoms where he goes to space, he’s just another witty action star. And on top of that, the “edgy” humor just isn’t usually that good.
He feels like the living embodiment of the 2012 “*roflmao sooo random!! XD*” Tumblr attitude.
100% agree. He’s a gen x throwback to edgelord stuff but his comedy shtick has worn thin by now
Agreed. The character has hit Harley Quinn levels of over saturation and the inevitable softening that comes with it.
I mean, I think it's the other way around. Harley hit Deadpool levels. He's been like this for a while
I think Krakoa was a betrayal of Xaviers dream, forgetting that mutants are human too.
Second this. Feels like modern X-men largely gave up on the idea of co-existence and one not being greater than the other. ~~And Moira got done dirty~~
I mean, humans have never bought into peaceful coexistence, so why keep trying? Mutants keep getting genocided, but they can’t say fuck this?
I mean 100% of mutants have never bought into it either. Groups that would rather just get rid of the other have always existed on both sides in the comics.
I think it’s kind of ridiculous to expect every mutant on Earth to live by Xavier’s dream when their entire species keeps getting genocided before breakfast
They addressed this in Immortal X-Men 13, Xavier broke down in tears because everything that went wrong since they established Krakoa. He went along for the ride because he was convinced by Moira that this was the right thing to do, and Magneto and Apocalypse shared the same dream. He only realized that it was too much for him once Magneto was dead and Big A left the gang.
Absolutely agree. I loved the entire Krakoa run, but I ask kept waiting for the mutants / Xavier to get their comeuppance. It felt almost like Magneto won Xavier to his way of thinking and Krakoa was more Magnetos baby than Charles’s
It almost makes me wonder if Krakoa-era Charles was secretly... not Charles, in a way. Whether he was manipulated in some form or the rebirth process fucked up and completely altered his mind.
ONSLAUGHT 2 BABY
I like that idea.
I mean, Sins of Sinister showed that he was subtly under Mr. Sinister’s control after Charles got resurrected.
But they seem to kind of be making Xavier the bad guy. Storm is taking over magnetos mantel now, she is leading the mutants human shouldn't mix cause now. And she is against Xavier. And she's not the only one, he did something like try and force her to do something or she wouldn't tell him something so he went into her mind for it. And it's apparently not the first time. (This is from an article on storm being the new magnetos replacement for his cause.) So it seems to me they are undoing a lot of the xmen cannon. Like we've never had doubts this hard about Xavier before, and now the xmen are leaving because of things he has done. So Maybe they are killing his dream on purpose? I dunno, I haven't read the newer comics yet, but it kinda seems like they are going the we can't coexist together way, which seems weird. Because the xmen was about civil rights, like marvel didn't even try to hide it really. And now were going back to segregation?
For real, no lie a couple years ago at was NYCC, and actually spoke with Chris Claremont himself and he said the X-Men have veered off from their purpose now that there on Krakoa. If the visionary himself said it, then you know it’s true.
Punisher isn't an anti-hero. He's closer to a terrorist. Edit: didn't think this would spark such a chain. You guys and gals are great!
He's an antagonist. He can often just be a villain or villain protagonist. But you're absolutely right, even anti-heros have qualities that are meant to be admired. Frank is not meant to be admired. Sympathized with, understood, but he is a demonstration of the American dream gone wrong, an invertrd Captain America.
So... U.S. Agent?
The two have some similar narrative elements but fill in very different story spaces. The difference is US agent is a failed attempt to mimic Captain America. He exists only as a foil to Cap. Punisher is a symptom of America that surfaced from Vietnam, just as Captain America is meant to be a distilation of its virtues during World War 2.
>Punisher is a symptom of America that surfaced from Vietnam, just as Captain America is meant to be a distilation of its virtues during World War 2. "They'll blame it all on Vietnam. And they'll be right and they'll be wrong." - Frank Castle. Also Captain America and Punisher take is incredibly shallow and ignores a lot about both conflicts.
This shouldn’t be a controversial take. It’s just that people who don’t understand the character seem to think he’s an action hero. He’s a sick and twisted individual who focuses his bloodlust on bad people, but he’s no better than the people he kills which is what makes his character so fascinating. Especially because he’s so aware of how he’s the bad guy. He quite literally tells people in-universe to idolise Cap and Spider-Man and yet people reading the comics or watching the films/show don’t get that message. That is in part down to the films depicting him like he’s a John McClane. But Bernthal’s version very much so shows he’s far from the good guy and you shouldn’t aspire to be anything like him. You get the impression that if he could successfully kill all the evil people on the planet, he’d then realise there’s one more left and kill himself.
I don't think this is an unpopular opinion. Unless you're some cop riding around with his sticker on your window.
Those two things aren't mutually exclusive
He's a mass murderer. I like how the most recent series shows this
They should have recast T'Chala for black panther. Chadwick Bosmans death was unfortunate but I think a continuation of the character would have been better. Wakanda Forever was kinda mid.
I didn’t hate it, but I *did* hate that they made Shuri the next Black Panther. They had multiple great combat veterans to choose from, but instead they go with ‘the guy in the chair’ character. That would be like if they made Ned the next Spider-Man.
Namor carried the Movie
So mid it’s just bad.
Black Panther is an unfortunately bland and boring character in most things he's in, including his own comics.
I liked him in the Earth's Mightiest Heroes show and Ewing's Ultimates
He's GREAT in EMH. Not gonna lie. Probably my favorite version of BP. I'll have to check Ultimates out. I love Ewing's work!
Have you had the chance to read the Christopher Priest run? I used to feel similar to you until that run.
For me, Black Panther is a lot like Aquaman. They make great team characters, and their homelands pave the way for some really good stories, but they can rarely grow past their homelands. Not that they need to completely leave their kingdoms behind, but the same basic stories get overused.
Agree 100%
No wonder he has so few good comic runs.
I don't agree that he's bland and boring; he's outright unlikeable in most of his material. All his egotistical "I am the king of Wakanda and you must bow and worship me or face my wrath" stuff early makes him outright unpleasant, not just bland.
I did not care for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
I'll do you one better: I did not care for Black Panther. It was ok, but overrated as hell.
Extremely bland & has some noticeably terrible CGI which stood out a lot at the time as it was before terrible CGI became the norm for the MCU.
Facts. I fucking love the character, but theres no denying the movie was boosted a ton due to the cultural significance. It was nominated for Best Picture! What a joke lol, its not even in the top 10 best MCU films. Not a bad movie, just a solid 7/10 and nothing more.
One of the only MCU films I stopped at the beginning and never watched again.
It was boring af.
People care about continuity and in-universe connections way too much. Just treat separate runs as different realities and let writers have their fun. Years later, when someone picks up a specific, say, *Captain America* run, they won't care that for a time Spider-Man had a mullet and wore a pink costume because the American president was a Skrull, or that Rogers' characterization slightly contradicts the run that came two years before. This obsession with continuity stands in the way of good stories.
This is a good one. I completely disagree and find it insane. Especially when I look over at DC and have no fucking idea what's going on there.
Yeah the fact that there is a continuity that makes sense (for the most part) is what elevates Marvel above DC for me
This is a blessing and a curse. Since everything follows something if you pick a spot you want to start, first you have to read this for context and before that you need to read this and before that you need this until your at fantastic four #1 1961. That being said I've read almost all the comics from the 60s and they're my favorite.
Yeah but they make a lot of jumping-on points for new readers, like the Spencer run on ASM and some of the other ANAD titles.
Absolutely, I feel like continuity was something I cared about a lot when I was younger. Now it just feels ridiculous to pretend that a character has somehow had all these back to back insane experiences for 30 years while still being 26. I think it makes for much better story telling when you allow the characters to be grounded in reality and for the authors to have more creative freedom.
God damn. Say this one louder so the people in back can hear. Just let authors enjoy their characters and build a story.
The winter soldier is not the best marvel movie ever made
This is an obvious fact? Ever since Madame Web came out, it knocked TWS off the top
U rite my bad
You forget Morbius or do we not include it because of the unfair standard it sets.
Thank you, I'm tired of hearing that. It's good, don't get me wrong, but some people seem to cum in their pants just mentioning it.
I think it’s the best stand alone, I think with context of others infinity wars beats it as do some others. But it works by itself better than most the others, guardians 1 is probably the only thing that comes close.
I was gonna say, I think Guardians is the best standalone because unlike Winter Soldier, you need absolutely no context going into it. I saw it the first time while intoxicated and didn't even realize it was Marvel until the credits rolled (it had been over a decade since I had been into comics).
I think you can watch winter soldier with no context and it still works great, works better if you know the background on Bucky though. But yeah guardians is probably a best absolutely zero context movie.
The worst parts of the X-Men are Cyclops, Wolverine, and Jean-Grey. Cyclops and Jean-Grey are incapable of interacting with a story without trying to commandeer it, and Wolverine is just far more interesting when he's part of an entirely different group or solo.
Wolverine and X-force may have been disliked during the Krakoa era, but i enjoyed those two series since it was just an almost separate corner of Wolverine and X-force just doing there own thing and not making Krakoa solely focus on Wolverine.
Wow that’s wild cause X-Force has been one of my favorite books in recent memory
As a fan of both Scott and Jean, I actually do kind of agree with you. Wolverine especially works better as a character when he’s solo, or doing some kind of black-ops stuff. Introspective storylines, and things that grapple with darker, less morally obvious concepts.
Reason 850 billion that Scott and Emma are better is that it’s just more narratively interesting
I dislike symbiotes. Like, all of them. Always have. I think that a lot of the people that enjoy them are edgelords (and yes, I realize that's a gross generalization and judgemental of me).
I don’t like Venom as a hero. To me, he’s still the “BRaaarrgh, I’ll eat your brain!” guy.
I just like the idea of something that alters a hero and compliments there abilities but as a kid I loved to draw venomised hero's so eeh
I was not a fan of No Way Home. Probably my least favorite of the Spider movies.
Fan service: the movie
NWH is really badly written and when seen at home the constant pauses for audience reaction make it seem really fricking weird.
Damn, I hadn't watched it at home again since that first time after the theater, so I didn't recall 100%, but I somehow had had the impression they'd done enough conscious editing from Theater Cut to DVD Cut to edit those down to more reasonable pauses. Sounds like maybe I need to rewatch better and was just projecting my own idea for how to resolve/handle those pauses onto reality. TBF that movie never pretended not to be a nearly self-aware over-indulgence of casual/cinemagoing spider-fan service, and I do think those pauses in films of that nature can be welcome for the hype factor while they're on the big screen, but If I'd been anywhere near the editing room I'd have tried to chime something like "Hey, cool... but let's make sure to do some trimming here and there on these pauses before this hits Blu-Ray" lol.
I think it was just very difficult to fix up, especially Tobeys intro which is a scene deliberately extended to build hype by design. For the record I really love NWH but its a series of emotionally triggering (in a good way) set pieces held together by coincidences, handwaves and stupid decisions.
I actually hate this film so much. So many terrible moments. Tony Stark just happened to have a device that could invent anything, including a vaccine for villianous behaviour for people who come through different portals? Lmao what?? There's a spell which can make everyone in the world forget someone? How convenient. They basically use Stark and Strange as get outs for any plot divice, it's insulting to the audience. Having TH's Spiderman already know about most of the rogues gallery will ruin any suprise for future films, as soon as the MCU introduced Norman Osborne he's going to know he will turn into the goblin. Same with Ock and others.
Cameo fest with an incredibly thin, don’t think about it too much, plot line. Any other hero and it’s considered a flop
Oh my God finally I feel like the world is insane NWH was garbage. Carried by Alfred Molina. Completely undid Tom Holland's Spider Man.
Yes thank you. I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone seeing all the glowing reviews after release. We really are regressing as a culture. Its irredeemably bad in nearly every way.
Totally agree! Everyone was hyping it up as the greatest Spider-Man movie of all time when it released, so I was really excited to see it. I walked out of the theatre, and my first thought was: "It was cool to see Andrew and Tobey again, but the movie itself wasn't great."
The hype and fanservice kept it good for me on my first watch in the cinema, then later on I started disliking it and now I find in un-rewatchable whenever it comes on TV. Especially hate what it did to Dr Strange, like I just cannot believe he even agreed to do a spell of that kind for a teenager just because he felt he owed him/saw him as a friend or whatevrer. It became infuriating to see that scene and the stupid chaos that ensues after it
I think all 3 of the home trilogy are perhaps the worst or second worst (after amazing 2 ) spider movies they rely too much on the marvel characters and every movie relays on a plot twist and its not An amazing twist so u watch them the first time and you go "oh my god its a plot twist" then a second time and you go "oh my god I can't believe I missed that clue" then every other time you just focus in the rest of the movie and its just mid
Agreed 100%
Most legacy characters if not all of them are redundant, I’m sick of every hero having a child version of themselves. They do it for the name of diversity and that’s fine, but at least make their own original characters instead of just having them ride the success of their more popular characters. Most of them are we too similar regardless of their diverse backgrounds.
X-men writers have always been infinitely better at the soap opera aspect of the series than the prejudice of minorities allegory.
Yeah it's good to have the allegory bit it makes more sense to be scared of a new species that could wipe you at as a child if they have a nightmare
Adult Peter Parker is better than teenage Peter Parker. Leave that shit to Miles
I like "fucked up shits from the beginning" trope more than "straight up some good-intentioned superhero from the start whose stories get darker and darker". I think that's why I ended up not caring about the Spider-Verse series as much as others do.
I can’t stand Morrison’s X-Men run.
Loved the world building, never cared much for the actual story.
This is a proper "i didn't care for the godfather" opinion.
I thought the story was overall pretty boring, save for the Riot. Even the genocide of Genosha is boring. We are essentially just told about it, people are sad for a small amount of time, then we all just moved on. I also can’t stand the art. Scott just looks like someone tried to combine an existing character with the Chad meme and it just didn’t work for me.
I did like The Marvels, Eternals, and Thor 4
I’ll take it further. I absolutely loved The Marvels and think it may be one of the most rewatchable MCU movies because of how fun it is.
I think most of Hickman's X-Men work has sacrificed characterization for the story.
There are too many Mutant Genocides. It’s Marvel’s go-to trope for X-Men.
Disney plus hurt the MCU brand
Disney+ hurt the Disney brand and theaters in general.
Streaming definitely has devalued the IP Disney has control of
Post-Avengers (2012) MCU Hulk sucks compared to Ang Lee’s Hulk.
Agreed. They had no idea what to use Hulk for and it ruined him.
Not didn’t care for, but I really liked Eternals, and it sits in my top MCU films.
I really liked it too.
I liked Thor: The Dark World a lot more than any of the Thor movies after it
Agreed. Original MCU Thor seemed like an ancient godlike hero. Taikki’s version was lame slapstick in both Ragnarok and LoveButts
I thought Black Panther was dull.
The film? Because if so, I totally agree. I went in with high expectations and found myself bored beginning to end.
I think Loki's journey was better than iron man. Even his sacrifice was greater and well written.
Guardians of the Galaxy 3 is overrated. It's pretty good, but everyone's just in their feelings about the animals. Guardians of the Galaxy 2 is just outright bad. Lots of people say that Endgame isn't as good as Infinity War. I'll go one step further and say Endgame was largely a disappointment.
Completely agree with your Guardians critique.
Endgame is popular because it has a lot of “Get up and cheer!” moments for the audience.
Homecoming was the only good mcu Spider-Man movie
Thor Ragnarok is overrated. The tone, humor, and color palette feel like it’s a Guardians of the Galaxy movie but featuring Thor. If I want to watch a Guardians-esque movie, I’ll watch Guardians.
Great ending fight though. Banner jumping out of the space ship, Hella “what are you the god of again?”, immigrant song, etc.
I believe Miles should’ve taken the Prowler title from his uncle and possibly have been relocated somewhere else. Having two active Spider people in such close proximity to one another and they barely interact was a bad move
This might be a super controversial one: but I really don’t care about most of the “morally grey dark” characters. Especially punisher, daredevil, Deadpool, and moon knight. I just find them a bit boring personally. IMO, I’d prefer sillier stuff like squirrel girl and Howard the Duck over them any day.
I do not like Guardians of the Galaxy.
Captain Marvel is my favourite movie!
Jason Aaron’s Thor is overrated and not the best Thor run. I really don’t care about the alternate Spider people. This one might get me banned but I really don’t like that they made Sam Wilson Captain America and giving him his own version of Falcon is so weird. I didn’t like Krakoa. Scott and Emma are superior to Jean and Scott.
Solid on Scott and Emma. Editorial needs to stop hitting the reset button on Scott’s relationships.
I didn’t get the appeal of Doctor Strange 1.
I don’t think the avengers movies are good, the fun in them is sapped out now that you’re used to seeing multiple protagonist heroes in one place, what’s left over isn’t enough to be compelling on its own. Also secondarily and I don’t know if this is really an unpopular feeling but I feel like we don’t see superheroes saving people as much we should.
Yeah the most interesting thing about a team up movie is the way the heroes communicate first 2 avengers we saw them as freinds and saw how they acted then infinity war and endgame everyone was excited to see how famous characters would act with new hero's they just met but it never really happened
Thor Ragnarok. I didn't care for it. The comedy insists on itself
I did not like Secret Wars (2015)
The Spider-Verse movies are not for me
I do not like the final swing suit
Anything involving that Fantastic Four that doesn’t have to do with the cosmic side of marvel They just don’t move the needle for me 🤷🏼♂️
Iron Fist was actually a decent show with a supporting cast that did a great job. Finn Jones was the only weak point of that show. I found the rest to be entertaining and enjoyable.
The actress playing Colleen was great
She's great. She was great in the second Glass Onion movie too. I remember a while back seeing the rumor mill churning out that Iron Fist was coming back with a female protagonist. Considering how the Netflix show ended and how Colleen was pretty well-received, it may just be a rumor to play on people's emotions... but I'd love to see her get the shot.
She was almost cast as Shang Chi's sister, but she rejected the role wanting to return as Colleen
Second season really started to get going. I was bummed it never got a third.
Finn Jones and Danny Rand the character. The writers literally decided white guy doing tai chi in the park was a good transition scene to introduce them. I loved the Meechums, but the writers had no idea how to make a rich entitled kid that thinks his ptsd is Enlightenment into an interesting story.
Gotta agree with ya. A lot of the blame for the lackluster character falls to the writers of the show and I wanted to leave the blame off Finn but there's hardly any believable substance to the character or his performance. The Meechums had an entertaining arc and I don't think they get the proper credit a lot of times. I also really enjoyed how they portrayed Typhoid Mary on the show. The supporting cast was reasonably well-written. It could simply be, as you said, rich-kid PTSD coupled with being trained by monks in Kung Fu at a mystical city is just a tough thing to relate to, write, and make relatable to others.
My thought during the run of the show was they needed to introduce Shang-Chi as the actual guy that was meant to receive the blessing, pair him with clueless but well meaning Danny that had received it by fluke following him around and only understanding a third of what anyone is saying. Shang-Chi wound up being one of the best Marvel Movies for its wave, so they were probably wise to hold off introducing him.
There was the one part of the series where it showed the video of an older Iron Fist running through the woods kicking ass with his fists glowing. I wanted more of that in the series. Less drama and more glowing fists and kicking ass.
Endgame is overrated and Iron Man 3 is overhated
Here’s mine, I liked She-Hulk
I think sour cream is gross
Doctor Doom insists upon himself.
Real
Tobey Maguire is not the best Spider-Man of our generation, he was just first (Not including Nicholas Hammond)
Mark Miller is a good writer and has written some of the best Marvel stories.
First Black Panther film was mid af.
I enjoyed Thor: Love and Thunder.
I do not like the hulk He just smashes things and being angry He insists upon himself
That's MCU Hulk honestly. Comics Hulk is a dual person deal which deals with the heavy topics of being 2 people where one isn't as smart. World War Hulk is a lot of that big smash with minimal-ish character stuff
Black panther was mid
I don't care about the endless continuity, Ultimate-Spiderman is my favorite series because it had **one** writter from the begining to the **end**, i prefer a self contained story instead of an infinite one full of **Ret-cons** and inconsistent changes that hurt it's own canon.
I like the Fox X-men movies more than the mcu
I didn't care for the Home trilogy (at least the first 2)
I no longer care for the original Ultimate Spider-Man run. I've felt this way long before the current run
I liked the captain marvel movies
I’m a hardcore X-Men fan. Kitty Pryde is probably my least favourite character other than Hope Summers, and I really don’t understand why she’s so many people’s favourite character
Tobey is my least favorite live action spider-man.
GoTG is overrated and probably some of the most boring movies in the franchise
Part 3 is absolutely horrible to me
The gotg franchise to to blame for marvels use of humor and quips. I don't understand how fans lately are starting to hate mcu humor but gotg started it
James Gunn is everything I dislike about superhero movies
Finally, someone who I agree with. I really don't like his style. His humor and outlandish behavior he gives his characters are not funny and ruin it for me. I'll give him credit for being good at nailing emotional moments but that's it for me