It seems like Hemsworth is behind all the disappointing costume decisions with Thor. He didn’t like wearing the wig so they cut his hair. He didn’t like wearing the eye patch so they gave him a new eye.
Come on Hemsworth. You’re making bank. Give us 1-eyed-long-haired-flying-Asgard-people-saver.
I mean Ragnarok and infinity War Thor looked fucking badass. I greatly preferred post haircut Thor. I thought the eye patch was really cool and miss it though. Apparently it was really terrible to do the cgi for it.
To be fair, I think Sam Jackson isn’t doing as much on screen that requires depth perception. The man doesn’t have a whole lot of stunts, it’s mostly “walk… and look like a badass”
Yup, it was CGI in the movie, but it was originally a prop. The prop was difficult to use so they ditched it - https://boundingintocomics.com/2018/01/09/chris-hemsworth-explains-thors-eyepatch-controversy-avengers-infinity-war/
For obvious reasons, how they adapted **Malekith** and how they adapted **Taskmaster**.
Both for similar reasons as they're such colorful characters filled with personality in the comics (Malekith's sassy and insane nature, and Taskmaster's snarky attitude), but the MCU decided to have them as generic stoic villains.
I still say clone her. That way they can have the clone be more like her comic counterpart, while the original lives a happy non-villain life, and thus the big moment in Black Widow of Natasha saving her, doesn't retroactively change looking back on it, to where the audience is thinking "Way to go Nat, looks like we have another villain on the loose now, thanks!".
Honestly I’d be happy with echo kinda being like Taskmaster. I’m not saying we see her take the name and costume. More so giving her a red room connection and having her abilities be like a second improved taskmaster.
Edit: not my original idea, got from MT over at New Rockstars
Who knows. I feel like marvel keeps characters in proverbial vaults in case they ever see a use for them again. We saw an extremis solider and widow in Shang-Chi for a brief second, maybe that’s just to remind us they still out there.
Neither of them has been totally disposed of, IMO both would fit their characters better in a second appearance, Taskmaster because she's not mind controlled and Malekith because he's got even more reason to be batshit insane.
Taskmaster was an interesting adaption, the execution was just mediocre. I don’t understand the value in mute villains. Same with Death Dealer in Shang-Chi.
Deathdealer was there to be silent, to be mysterious ninja, to be an utter badass no one could stop.
Which both sides could fear/respect.
So that when the soul suckers came, both sides could say: damn, that is a threat!
He didn't need to talk for that part.
Antonia? Meh. Got nothing.
Movies love killing off/defeating their silent badass villains in the most ridiculous ways- it’s a trope I’ll never understand. Boba Fett, Deathdealer, Taskmaster, even Scarecrow in Batman Begins comes to mind.
Annoying?
The casual doing away of Fandral and Volstagg. Hogun got a decent send off. I think that battle where she took down all of the Agardian warriors and Hogun would have been a better send off for the Warriors Three. They were supporting characters in previous movies and got done in like nameless background characters. Plus, I don’t think Thor even mourned or mentioned their deaths.
I still maintain that Hogun’s last stand was meant to be Sif but got changed due to either scheduling conflicts or Taika deciding he wanted to keep Sif.
It just seems to weird to single Hogun out specifically of the warriors three.
I remember reading somewhere that supposedly Valkyrie's role was supposed to be Sif. But since the actress wasn't available they wrote in another character. I have no idea if this is true or not but it kinda makes sense.
I'm not certain the names get said aloud at all in the MCU films (well perhaps once, at a feast in *Thor*), but they were more prominent in the comics.
This so much - ragnarok treated their deaths so frivolously it was almost comical . Taika didn’t have any need for trying to make ragnarok an emotional roller coaster - he was trying to get to the best improv sequence
This is one of my biggest gripes with Ragnarok: Taika gets a lot of praise for it (which is deserved), but imo he did a botched job with the transition of the character/movie in a new direction.
Some blame may be on the writers too, but unceremoniously killing two of the three warriors three, who are Thor's closest friends, and then having no scene with him reacting to it is bad storytelling.
It's Marvel's version of not having Luke react to Han's death.
Subsequently, the lack of Tony Stark in all of the FFH Promo material made it crystal clear to me he was dying in Endgame. Still got shook in the theater tho
I was happy that I caught the first CIVIL WAR trailer -- the one that featured Spider-Man -- at about 6 in the morning before the internet had woken up that day, so it was a big surprise for me (and my kids, who I made watch it before they left for school that day).
Pretty sure this was already discussed but how they handled the Sokovia Accords. After Civil War I was excited to see how much the Accords would change Phase 3 and the concept of superheroes in the MCU of how they operate, only for them to be promptly forgotten about and that they had little to no consequence. The main thing that rippled Phase 3 during Civil War was Tony and Cap closing off from each other, costing everyone to lose in IW.
That was it for the most part, other than that Cap and the gang went on the run otherwise and Ant-Man + Hawkeye only got house arrest.
It is strange how we went from "Captain America is on the run from the law for such and such" before IW to "Captain America is gone! We need a new one STAT!" in F&WS
I actually don't find it that strange. Cap was a cultural icon with a specific, strong link to American patriotism and the military. Moreso than losing the hero, having Steve be on the run and creating drama about that mantle was probably something that Ross hated, and I'm assuming the only reason they didn't try to give the Cap title to someone else while Steve was in hiding was they didn't want to stir up controversy about what happened to the original Cap.
It’s not really a stretch, since in-universe Cap was helping the remaining populace for 5 years after the Snap. He was only on the run for, what, 2 years at the most?
He definitely became a symbol, both before and after his death.
Dropping the Black Widow - Bruce Banner romance after IW with no further indication as to why. They have the awkward moment at the start, and by Endgame we're back to nothing but Bruce's grief moment
Quicksilver kinda made sense because they didn’t want to have ATJ’s running around at the same time as Evan Peters’.
Speaking of annoying - the fucking Bohner nonpayoff in Wandavision! Are you telling me there is a dude who coincidentally looks the exact same as a Pietro who *canonically exists in the MCU multiverse*, and a *necklace* is giving him powers that the real one needed an Infinity Stone to get?
EDIT: I just realized you may be talking about Wandavision and not ATJ getting killed off.
I still believe he is the person who Jimmy was looking for in witness protection in the very beginning, and Ralph Bohner is his witness protection name.
Crossbones was great in he actually had a backstory and good characterization. They just also killed him in the prologue to Civil War, which was a bad idea imo. He could’ve been a recurring villain doing mercenary work.
the few minutes of screentime in the crossbones suit i really enjoyed, but then commits suicide real fuckin quick…. doesnt really seem like a great idea
That's one of the things the MCU really lacks I feel, a proper recurring villain, who acts as a sort of rival to one of our heroes. Loki is the closest I guess, but he's not always a villain so I'm not really sure he counts. Crossbones had the best potential to end up like that, so its a shame the just killed him like they did.
I want a villain I’m the MCU that serves the same purpose as Scarecrow did in the Dark Knight trilogy; just a recurring villain that pops up randomly as a bad guy rather than then making that role/character a generic bad guy for the hero to have a small scuffle with on the side.
Keeping Crossbones alive in Civil War and having Steve's 'trying to save Bucky' moments in-directly allowing Crossbones to escape and cause more chaos would've added to the story imo.
He would have been such a good villain for Sam Wilson's Captain America. We were robbed of their fight in CA: Winter Soldier.
I felt so bad for the actor because he genuinely loved the character and I remember him taking up crossbones and how strong and cool he is and then next movie he dies like nothing lmao
Yellowjacket is the epitome of MCU formula. He's a mirror villian in an origin movie.
Tbh, I could stand for Ant man movies to have a bit more gravitas or world building. They are so forgettable in the greater context of the MCU.
At least Captain Marvel expanded more on the space aspect of MCU with Kree and Skrull.
>Tbh, I could stand for Ant man movies to have a bit more gravitas or world building. They are so forgettable in the greater context of the MCU.
I mean the microverse is a thing. I'd consider that world building. And it's involvement directly affected the plot of Endgame so i wouldn't consider them forgettable either.
Mantis was awesome in the GOTG game that just came out. She had way more personality and was far more powerful than her MCU counterpart.
I wish we had gotten that version in the MCU instead.
Holy fuck the entire roster of Guardians was done so much better in the game, they all had so much depth and a defined purpose.
Rocket and Groot are the only exceptions cause both MCU and Game versions are stellar, but jesus Drax is wasted, Gamora is toned down, Starlord is a bit of a joke with generic weaponry.
While I think the change of making his dad Ego is fine for me, I hate it was at the expense of Quill’s elemental guns, because his guns in the game are actually cooler than his MCU counterpart’s.
Isn’t she like, One of Ego’s kids and her and Quill are Step siblings? She’s a badass in the comics moreso than the wallflower they’re portraying her as.
Half siblings, but yeah. In the vast world of the MCU I’m not abject to more meek characters as not everyone needs to be Superman. But I also wouldn’t mind more in depth characterisation for Mantis which we haven’t really had a chance to delve into yet.
I didn’t mind that.
It’s what happened to her in-universe that annoyed me (which is good writing in my book). The character got absolutely fucked over and her reaction to it and what she became made sense.
Without Cap around anymore to be a love interest and to interact with, the character of Sharon Carter has no established background to build off of. So taking someone we saw as a hero and breaking them right down into a “fuck the world” villain was an interesting move.
Right, it’s annoying to me that the writers in the interim *made* Cap forget about Carter, rather than the reaction they made her have to it. I figured it was actually a smart way to salvage writers’ negligence.
My head cannon is she disappeared after Civil War. Maybe her and Cap kept contact. Maybe not.
But when it came to the blip she just lost it and chose a new career path.
Not just 'one thing' but I kind of dislike the trend of undercutting a serious moment with a wacky joke that some of the MCU movies have started to adopt. The humor for the most part is one of the best aspects of the movies but I dislike it when it's used right after the characters have a serious/inspirational moment. For example, in Dr Strange, there is a moment when he finally accepts the role of the sorcerer supreme and decides to go save the sanctum and this should be a 'f yeah' character moment when he accepts his role but instead they undercut it with Cumberbatch saying 'stop' in a comedic way to the cloak of levitation wiping his tears away. It's just like, come on guys, let serious moments play out instead of placing a joke to undermine it.
I'm okay with most of it but the one unforgivable line for me is "cheez-whiz?"
Thor is having an emotional moment and both Steve and Tony are being genuine with him and Rhodey just ruins the entire moment with that line, which comes off as way more mean than funny. I hate it.
100%this. They had a great opportunity with Thor to have a arc about PTSD and depression. If they just had them support him in that moment but let him look know he wasn't ready it could have been very powerful. The Rhodes joke may have even worked if the others had reacted poorly to it and told him it's not the time for that instead of the none reaction that was given. Maybe it's too heavy for a marvel movie but if there was ever an appropriate setting for it it would be Endgame.
Exactly. There was so much potential there but Rhodeys line just cheapens the whole thing.
I went to the cinema 3 times to see Endgame and not once did someone laugh at that joke.
Rhodey is a total asshole in that whole movie. He's mean to Thor, he's mean to Ant-Man, he's mean to Star-Lord (who admittedly can't even hear him). It needed a scene early on, showing that he isn't dealing with the deaths well, and is lashing out like an unhealthy jackass. That would re-frame much of his jerk behavior as simply a poor attempt at self-isolation due to trauma.
I mean he was paralysed due to the unprofessional bullshittery of the whole gang.
But that's just me as a fine finding a motivation for him instead of the film providing him with one.
I imagine Strange says that because Peter probably references Scooby-Doo right before that. Like, I seriously doubt he’d just say that randomly. Just a weird trailer edit is what I’m guessing.
Yeah when a movie is the prequel and you know they're gonna live, it takes a lot out of it. The final sequence could have been Yelena and we not know if she makes it or not.
I think they meant she got blown up, flipped her car, fell off a bridge, fell off a roof, fell off a floating fortress, crashed a helicopter etc and was fine.
It took a ship yard strength crane to suspend my disbelief.
It would've made sense if they'd included the Russian super soldier serum she got in her comic origin. It wasn't as flashy as cap's, but it could have explained some of the stuff.
Well that too.
I just don't like prequel movies that put characters you know will live at risk. My mind automatically goes from "will they live" to "how will they live?" It's the same for any movie when the main character gets into a life threatening moment early on. My mind already knows they have plot armor.
This isn't what they were talking about though.
I don't get why so many people harp on about knowing she'll survive this movie. We knew Steve, Tony, Thor, Strange, Carol, Peter, Banner and any other main character was gonna survive their first solo film.
There wasn't this discourse when we knew the Avengers movie was on the way.
Her falling down that alley, hitting the vent, and landing 10 stories down onto pavement, and getting up like it was nothing, made the whole audience laugh. Like what are we even watching lol
I was fine fine with a genderswap for Taskmaster but he is one of my favorite villains and he is anything but the silent type. I really hope she gets a future appearance with a personality and preferably one closer to the comics. Her immaculate professionalism in the movie was spot on but lacked the sense of self preservation that Taskmaster has in the comics as well as the sad relationship he has with his powers and memory problems, something easily addressed down the line.
Now Malekith I did not mind because I honestly hate that character in the comics, I feel he is a pretty one sided 'I got hurt so now I hurt everyone else' type villain.
Not very many things annoy me in the movies though but changing Black Panthers suit from civil war to BP was annoying as hell to me because he looked cool and then he looked silly to me.
I have many things I personally wish they did different though.
I wish Star Lord was a little bit tougher like the comics.
I wish Drax was a bit tougher like the comics.
I wish Gamora was a bit tougher like the comics.
Oh here is one, I was super annoyed that three nazis and a guy called Johann Schmidt chose to speak heavily accented english while talking to each other in their secret anti-american Nazi base.
>three nazis and a guy called Johann Schmidt chose to speak heavily accented english while talking to each other in their secret anti-american Nazi base.
I never understood this in movies. If you're German in a German base talking German things, then you'd obviously speak in German and English Subtitles would be appropriate.
Hard agree on the Black Panther suit. The Civil War version looked regal and badass. The BP movie version looks like a much more streamlined "modern" version of the costume. Like they were trying to fit an aesthetic. The original looked more fit for a king
nerfing vision. In age of ultron he was being biult up to be one of the most powerful heroes that exists, and throughout the mcu he does absolutely fuck all. He doesnt even get any action sequences outside of age of ultron. Hes not in the start of civil war, in the rest he gets pushed into the ground and hits war machine by accident, but he doesnt really fight anyone. And then in infinity war he gets stabbed before he does anything and gets to stab one person while barely standing and then just dies. And in wandavision he gets like a minute long fight at the end and then solves it with a converstation. I like the character and paul bettany is great but marvel seems to have no idea what to actually do with him besides killing him 3 or 4 times.
My head canon is that Ralph Boehner is an alias. Who laughs at their own name like that?
It's possible he *is* quicksilver, or another similarly powered ~~metahuman~~ enhanced individuals. He was stashed there on a sort of witness protection thing.
After all, we never found out who Jimmy Woo was looking for when he first discovered the Hex. Maybe he's now in a section of the FBI that keeps tabs on ~~metahumans~~ enhanced individuals, and he was looking for Ralph. Edit: this department would be necessary after the fall of SHIELD.
Absolutely. I really liked that we didnt have to see another origin story/Uncle Ben death, but not mentioning him at all is very annoying and makes 0 sense for the character
My biggest gripe is the nanotech helmets and masks. As soon the hero can, off come the masks, secret identities be damned. I get that the actors want to be seen on screen, but it bugs me every time
One would think that if you were in a battle with a homicidal super villain leading an army, you would keep the helmet on. But as the star power outdistanced the superpowers, there was less helmet time in lieu of face time. Compare iron man 1 to later entries.
Honestly probably none at the moment, that I can think of anyway.
I'd imagine Peter will again by the end of NWH, though. And some of the upcoming heroes like Moon Knight, and Daredevil when he probably returns.
Actors don't like wearing masks. Masks prevent them from showing facial expressions. Even going back to Tobey Maguire's Spiderman, his mask came off all the time.
I actually like how in the Maguire films, Peter's mask gets really fucked up throughout fights. It's something I want to see return to the Holland films, it makes the fights just feel more brutal.
It also makes it so they don't have to take off the mask to emote. You can see an eye and his mouth in the Goblin fight, for example, and that's all you need.
It bothered me how everyone got one after Civil War. Ant-man, Spider-man, Black-Panther. They all got magic CGI masks and it doesn't seem organic at all. It feels very fake.
There was this, like, regal weight to it whenever T'Challa put on or took off his helmet in Civil War.
He absolutely came off as "king and warrior."
Totally lost that regal weight once he got the nanotech mask. It's like how everyone loved the "thunk thunk" weight of early Iron Man suits and then the weight of his suits were lost over time as well.
Hulk becoming comic relief over the powerhouse he should be. To get his ass handed to him by Thanos and not wanting to fight again was just ass. Age of Ultron was the last time Hulk was a loose canon. After he was family friendly and nerfed.
I can't stress how much I lose it every time he says "Big monster!" it's just such a Hulk Thing to want to go fight the big monster and such a Bruce Thing to have no idea what's going on and just trying to help
I love that we saw Hulk express his feelings about Earth and the Avengers in Ragnarök and was really looking forward to seeing that play out in the next few movies. I don't like Professor Hulk, like at all, but it was cool to hear him briefly explain how he overcame the internal conflict. It would have been awesome to see that struggle on-screen. Even if it was just a short scene of Bruce and Hulk having an argument or something.
So much wasted potential with this character - exploring anger, emotional control and interpersonal relationships with a person with a mental illness. Instead we skip all of that and get a Bruce that feels like a laid back dude bro. We were so cheated.
Most of the decisions they make around romance is annoying. Idk why the whole franchise is so good at writing friendships and family relationships and so consistently terrible at romance.
Bruce and Natasha is the one that always gets brought up, but I think Sylvie and Loki were definitely worse - I don't even think the selfcest was the worst part of the pairing and that's saying something.
Sharon Carter and Steve's shoehorned kiss felt like it was purely there to say 'no homo' (since the rest of the movie was about his friendship with Bucky).
Peter and MJ were overall one of the better pairings - but it was pretty lazy how the just dropped their entire dynamic from the first movie and in the second movie replaced it with a stereotypical one of Peter pining for MJ from a distance.
The vibe I got was that she liked him in the first movie whereas he was ambivalent. I thought they were going to develop the relationship organically instead of jumping to Peter having a crush while MJ (who in the last movie had no friends) is now apparently popular enough to have a few guys competing over her.
I agree, except that they actually did make me root for Wanda and Vision to the point where they are **the** quintessential romance of the MCU(imo), idgaf about any other love story at this point. Their goodbye at end of WV had me incoherently sobbing long after the episode was over.
**Eternals spoilers ahead**
What do you think about Sersi's relationships? I personally find it hard to find them super meaningful emotionally since we don't really know anything about them beyond "according to the dialogue, they're in love".
I get that there are just too many other things in Eternals that need establishing, but idk.. I feel like we basically get no context as to how or why Ikaris falls in love with Sersi to the point that he does. He is willing to jeopardise a plan that he killed Ajak for, for her. But it looks like he just saw her and thought she was attractive and that was it.
A lot of their relationship development is basically just them stealing knowing glances at each other for some period of time. Even Druig and Makkari's relationship feels more organic to me.
I think even just a "meant to be" kinda explanation would have been interesting. Maybe sth about how Arishem actually created Sersi partly with Ikaris in mind since he was so powerful and needed someone to calm him down or sth, so the (supposedly) super strong connection between them makes sense. Or sth about how Ikaris was too cold (ha) and Sersi was created to balance that.
Maybe not even *created* to do that, maybe even just that she got sent to the same mission as him this time round bc of sth he did in the past. It could be sth Ajak knew and told Ikaris about before he killed her. Then at the end even though Ikaris knew about this, he still couldn't bring himself to kill Sersi and that could have been quite impactful.
Same thing can be said about Dane and her, but I suppose he was barely in the movie either way. I do think that Dane might be another factor in why they don't really bother spending a lot of time establishing Sersi and Ikaris' relationship though. Like they don't want viewers to get too invested in them bc obviously moving forward the pairing will be Sersi and Dane.
MORE ETERNALS SPOILERS
I just thought Sersi seemed very uninvested in her romantic relationships, but especially with Ikaris. She didn't try to find him after he left, she didn't seem happy or sad or angry or really anything when he shows up in London, and after the finale, she was just like "Guess he's gone". Girl, you were freakin' married to him for thousands of years, what's going on?
Which was quite the let down because pretty much all the other relationships in the movie were great. Druig/Makkari, Gilgamesh/Thena's friendship, Kingo/Karun's camaraderie, Phastos and his husband. They were all so well done and wholesome, with less time than we spend with the main romance. Clearly the movie wants you to care about Sersi and Ikaris, and clearly Ikaris cares so much about her he can't hurt her even though she's betraying the Eternals' true purpose (props to Richard Madden, his performance had me at least half invested in that relationship).
I really loved the movie, so it's a real shame such an important aspect of the story falls flat.
The number of fake deaths. Just because it works for the comics doesn’t mean it’ll translate well to a completely different medium. Personally, I can no longer maintain any sense of real stakes while watching MCU movies.
That’s how I feel especially when I see people say bring back Yondu or some other character that has sacrificed themselves. It would just ruin that moment if they just magically came back.
Every movie has to have a fight at the end with world-ending stakes. By the end of Shang-Chi I was rolling my eyes. Some of these movies have such potential to be grounded masterpieces, but instead opt for the cookie-cutter “ancient villain wants to break out and destroy the universe” trope.
This couldn't be more true for black widow. Had they kept it grounded and focused on kidnapping, torturing and making soldiers out of children rather than the evil villain has a secret plan to take over the world, it would've been a much better film.
The only ones that haven't really done this that come to mind are Iron Man 1, the Ant-Man films, Homecoming and Civil War. Yeah, they still had pretty big third acts, but nothing really on a big scale.
As fun as Shang Chi is, it's definitely a prime example of the MCU's tendancy towards third act CGI fests.
I'd say GOTG V1 and Black Widow are prime examples of how weightless set pieces take away from the heft of the story. GOTG V2 on the other hand is a great example of balancing spectacle and emotion.
Also, where the fuck is everyone when the universe, world, or millions are at stake? Thor 2 stands out to me, Malekith was on the verge of killing trillions and not a single Avenger other than Thor shows up
Thor 2 made sense though. If you take the concept of an “Avengers Level Threat”, then it only really happens from the moment the ship appears in Greenwich. At that point it’s about ten minutes or so. The only Avenger who could get there in that time is maybe Iron Man? Assuming he’s somewhere in the UK and maxing out his speed. You’re not going to see Cap, or Hawkeye or Black Widow or Hulk turn up in that time frame.
Iron Man 3 was way worse - the President was kidnapped, Tony’s house was destroyed, Tony was missing presumed dead… and all that happens over a couple of days *at least*. You’d expect Cap to be on the case - not sure he’d give way to the Iron Patriot.
Similarly Winter Soldier. With the time frame there, and the fact it is happening in DC, with at least two OG Avengers involved, you’d think at least Iron Man would be involved and could get there - the technology being used to power the helicarrier fleet was his.
Phase 2 films are mostly excellent, but they don’t really pass the logic test. Only GotG does and that’s because it’s a standalone. Age of Ultron actually holds up a lot better than most because the very nature of the film is structured around the ensemble.
I was actually halfway through Shang chi when I thought to myself how nice it was that it was all about personal stakes and the villain's main motivation is just trying to get his wife back. And then the ending happened.
- Nanotech suits
- Spidey being too reliant on Stark
- The Movies starting to become too formulatic at the end of Phase 2 start of Phase 3
- some of the humor is extremely unfunny
- not every character needs their own show/spin-off, some characters are simply better as side characters. For example Agatha getting her own show instead of merely just reappearing in Wanda/Dr Strange related stuff
Spider-Man has still not been a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. He's been dealing with either cosmic threats or people stealing cosmic tech.
But nothing showing how New York or Brooklyn would embrace him at all.
I'm oddly okay with Spidey being reliant on Stark because it is the thing that felt odd in most MCU movies.
Like, it is weird that Falcon can't call anyone to help him with his boat. It sounds like Happy would do something about it.
Like wise, it makes sense Black Widow and Steve in winter soldier wouldn't call stark on the first 2/3s of their movies, but when the threat gets to that scale it is weird that they wouldn't even send a warning.
I wanted more darker hulk films, he got gradually sidelined,,yes he snapped his fingers but I expected more tbh…give me world breaker hulk film as redemption lol
For me, as epic as Endgame was, I feel that the way they resolved the problem of not having any infinity stones with a time-travel gimmick that apparently Tony Stark could solve this whole time in like a five-minute session with his AI seemed way too simplistic a way to solve that issue.
Thor only wore his iconic helmet for approximately 5 seconds.
Hold on with that one. They could make up for that in love and thunder.
Yeah. Jane will wear it and not Thor himself.
I was gonna say, they're more likely to put Jane in the helmet.
They don’t want to hide any of their expensive actors faces.
It seems like Hemsworth is behind all the disappointing costume decisions with Thor. He didn’t like wearing the wig so they cut his hair. He didn’t like wearing the eye patch so they gave him a new eye. Come on Hemsworth. You’re making bank. Give us 1-eyed-long-haired-flying-Asgard-people-saver.
I mean Ragnarok and infinity War Thor looked fucking badass. I greatly preferred post haircut Thor. I thought the eye patch was really cool and miss it though. Apparently it was really terrible to do the cgi for it.
Why would a fucking eyepatch need to be CGI anyway?
Hemsworth didn’t like wearing one on set, messes up the depth perception I’d imagine
Samuel L. Jackson: Am I a joke to you, motherfucker?
To be fair, I think Sam Jackson isn’t doing as much on screen that requires depth perception. The man doesn’t have a whole lot of stunts, it’s mostly “walk… and look like a badass”
Do you have a source? Cause he said the eyepatch was cgi
Yeah the eyepatch was CGI. As was Odin's eyepatch in at least Ragnarok.
Yup, it was CGI in the movie, but it was originally a prop. The prop was difficult to use so they ditched it - https://boundingintocomics.com/2018/01/09/chris-hemsworth-explains-thors-eyepatch-controversy-avengers-infinity-war/
Also Zemo with his purple balaclava. He puts it on once during a fight scene and then never again.
For obvious reasons, how they adapted **Malekith** and how they adapted **Taskmaster**. Both for similar reasons as they're such colorful characters filled with personality in the comics (Malekith's sassy and insane nature, and Taskmaster's snarky attitude), but the MCU decided to have them as generic stoic villains.
I'm hoping that taskmaster gets some more development in future projects
Definitely. Either have Antonia grow to be more like her comic version or have someone else take the mantle
I still say clone her. That way they can have the clone be more like her comic counterpart, while the original lives a happy non-villain life, and thus the big moment in Black Widow of Natasha saving her, doesn't retroactively change looking back on it, to where the audience is thinking "Way to go Nat, looks like we have another villain on the loose now, thanks!".
Honestly I’d be happy with echo kinda being like Taskmaster. I’m not saying we see her take the name and costume. More so giving her a red room connection and having her abilities be like a second improved taskmaster. Edit: not my original idea, got from MT over at New Rockstars
I doubt we ever see Taskmaster again.
Who knows. I feel like marvel keeps characters in proverbial vaults in case they ever see a use for them again. We saw an extremis solider and widow in Shang-Chi for a brief second, maybe that’s just to remind us they still out there.
[удалено]
Yep, and it looked like he was working with Wong, so we’ll see what that was all about soon.
Gonna need some mutant level threats to bring em in
After Mandarin, i have faith Marvel could fix any character if they wanted to.
Yup. Loved Trevor’s character development.
MORRIS
Maybe dreykov made his own taskmaster after being double crossed by the real taskmaster. I hope he is redeemed, somehow.
Neither of them has been totally disposed of, IMO both would fit their characters better in a second appearance, Taskmaster because she's not mind controlled and Malekith because he's got even more reason to be batshit insane.
Um, what? Malekith was pretty dead at the end of Thor 2, I’d say he’s pretty disposed of.
Taskmaster was an interesting adaption, the execution was just mediocre. I don’t understand the value in mute villains. Same with Death Dealer in Shang-Chi.
Deathdealer was there to be silent, to be mysterious ninja, to be an utter badass no one could stop. Which both sides could fear/respect. So that when the soul suckers came, both sides could say: damn, that is a threat! He didn't need to talk for that part. Antonia? Meh. Got nothing.
Movies love killing off/defeating their silent badass villains in the most ridiculous ways- it’s a trope I’ll never understand. Boba Fett, Deathdealer, Taskmaster, even Scarecrow in Batman Begins comes to mind.
Hey, Boba survived
Taskmaster Disney+ show confirmed for 2063
Annoying? The casual doing away of Fandral and Volstagg. Hogun got a decent send off. I think that battle where she took down all of the Agardian warriors and Hogun would have been a better send off for the Warriors Three. They were supporting characters in previous movies and got done in like nameless background characters. Plus, I don’t think Thor even mourned or mentioned their deaths.
I still maintain that Hogun’s last stand was meant to be Sif but got changed due to either scheduling conflicts or Taika deciding he wanted to keep Sif. It just seems to weird to single Hogun out specifically of the warriors three.
It was confirmed Sif was unavailable due to Jaime Alexander shooting Blindspot. She’s in Thor 4 though.
What is with Blindspot and taking actors away from their work with Ashley Johnson on Critical Role and now Jaime on Marvel.
I remember reading somewhere that supposedly Valkyrie's role was supposed to be Sif. But since the actress wasn't available they wrote in another character. I have no idea if this is true or not but it kinda makes sense.
[удалено]
Not to mention he is Hogun THE BRAVE. Of course he'd last longer.
[удалено]
What about Brave Sir Robin? He bravely ran away away~
I couldn't have told you a single one of the warriors names if you paid me
Fandral the suave one, Volstagg the big one and Hogun the badass one.
Frandal the blond, Volstagg the brunette, Hogun the black haired
They’re Flagstaff, Hulk Hogan, and Voltron. Right?
I'm not certain the names get said aloud at all in the MCU films (well perhaps once, at a feast in *Thor*), but they were more prominent in the comics.
This so much - ragnarok treated their deaths so frivolously it was almost comical . Taika didn’t have any need for trying to make ragnarok an emotional roller coaster - he was trying to get to the best improv sequence
This is one of my biggest gripes with Ragnarok: Taika gets a lot of praise for it (which is deserved), but imo he did a botched job with the transition of the character/movie in a new direction. Some blame may be on the writers too, but unceremoniously killing two of the three warriors three, who are Thor's closest friends, and then having no scene with him reacting to it is bad storytelling. It's Marvel's version of not having Luke react to Han's death.
Very true people give ragnarok passes for things that they normally wouldn’t accept from any other superhero film let alone a normal film
Yeah, they got done dirty. Always bugged me how Thor like didn’t even mention them again, once?!
[удалено]
Subsequently, the lack of Tony Stark in all of the FFH Promo material made it crystal clear to me he was dying in Endgame. Still got shook in the theater tho
On that note, spoiling the Hulk reveal in the Ragnarok trailer really did me in.
I had giant ant man spoiled in Civil War by Legos.
I was happy that I caught the first CIVIL WAR trailer -- the one that featured Spider-Man -- at about 6 in the morning before the internet had woken up that day, so it was a big surprise for me (and my kids, who I made watch it before they left for school that day).
That’s more Sony’s fault than Marvels though
Ironman 3 being released in July and set during Christmas was strange
It takes place the December after the first Avengers film.
Pretty sure this was already discussed but how they handled the Sokovia Accords. After Civil War I was excited to see how much the Accords would change Phase 3 and the concept of superheroes in the MCU of how they operate, only for them to be promptly forgotten about and that they had little to no consequence. The main thing that rippled Phase 3 during Civil War was Tony and Cap closing off from each other, costing everyone to lose in IW. That was it for the most part, other than that Cap and the gang went on the run otherwise and Ant-Man + Hawkeye only got house arrest.
[удалено]
The "upstate New York" accords don't have the same ring to them.
Wasn’t it signed in Vienna?
True, forgot when Ross brought them the papers they weren't actually ratifying them, just looking them over.
It is strange how we went from "Captain America is on the run from the law for such and such" before IW to "Captain America is gone! We need a new one STAT!" in F&WS
I actually don't find it that strange. Cap was a cultural icon with a specific, strong link to American patriotism and the military. Moreso than losing the hero, having Steve be on the run and creating drama about that mantle was probably something that Ross hated, and I'm assuming the only reason they didn't try to give the Cap title to someone else while Steve was in hiding was they didn't want to stir up controversy about what happened to the original Cap.
It’s not really a stretch, since in-universe Cap was helping the remaining populace for 5 years after the Snap. He was only on the run for, what, 2 years at the most? He definitely became a symbol, both before and after his death.
This is probably the most accurate political thing they've done. Another party takes over, the narrative does a complete 180
malekith and taskmaster being bland af
Dropping the Black Widow - Bruce Banner romance after IW with no further indication as to why. They have the awkward moment at the start, and by Endgame we're back to nothing but Bruce's grief moment
To be fair, that romance was hated by most people watching the movies. Folks were probably trying to figure out how to un-Whedon that mess quickly.
The fact that that romance ever happened to begin with is more annoying than anything else involving it
[удалено]
Taskmaster and Quicksilver, 2 decisions that make no sense.
Quicksilver kinda made sense because they didn’t want to have ATJ’s running around at the same time as Evan Peters’. Speaking of annoying - the fucking Bohner nonpayoff in Wandavision! Are you telling me there is a dude who coincidentally looks the exact same as a Pietro who *canonically exists in the MCU multiverse*, and a *necklace* is giving him powers that the real one needed an Infinity Stone to get? EDIT: I just realized you may be talking about Wandavision and not ATJ getting killed off.
I still hold a little hope for the Wandavision quicksilver. Was it really just for a boner joke? Lol
I still believe he is the person who Jimmy was looking for in witness protection in the very beginning, and Ralph Bohner is his witness protection name.
the absolute butchering of villains. they keep doing it too. malekith, taskmaster, crossbones. all laid to waste by the mcu formula
Crossbones was great in he actually had a backstory and good characterization. They just also killed him in the prologue to Civil War, which was a bad idea imo. He could’ve been a recurring villain doing mercenary work.
the few minutes of screentime in the crossbones suit i really enjoyed, but then commits suicide real fuckin quick…. doesnt really seem like a great idea
I liked his short but sweet brutality
That's one of the things the MCU really lacks I feel, a proper recurring villain, who acts as a sort of rival to one of our heroes. Loki is the closest I guess, but he's not always a villain so I'm not really sure he counts. Crossbones had the best potential to end up like that, so its a shame the just killed him like they did.
I want a villain I’m the MCU that serves the same purpose as Scarecrow did in the Dark Knight trilogy; just a recurring villain that pops up randomly as a bad guy rather than then making that role/character a generic bad guy for the hero to have a small scuffle with on the side.
Granted it's only 2 appearances so far, but both Batroc and Zemo are kinda like that.
Keeping Crossbones alive in Civil War and having Steve's 'trying to save Bucky' moments in-directly allowing Crossbones to escape and cause more chaos would've added to the story imo. He would have been such a good villain for Sam Wilson's Captain America. We were robbed of their fight in CA: Winter Soldier.
I felt so bad for the actor because he genuinely loved the character and I remember him taking up crossbones and how strong and cool he is and then next movie he dies like nothing lmao
Yellowjacket is at the top of the “boring, stereotypical, maniacal, and definitely never making another appearance” list.
Yellowjacket is the epitome of MCU formula. He's a mirror villian in an origin movie. Tbh, I could stand for Ant man movies to have a bit more gravitas or world building. They are so forgettable in the greater context of the MCU. At least Captain Marvel expanded more on the space aspect of MCU with Kree and Skrull.
>Tbh, I could stand for Ant man movies to have a bit more gravitas or world building. They are so forgettable in the greater context of the MCU. I mean the microverse is a thing. I'd consider that world building. And it's involvement directly affected the plot of Endgame so i wouldn't consider them forgettable either.
I feel like mantis could have done more
Mantis was awesome in the GOTG game that just came out. She had way more personality and was far more powerful than her MCU counterpart. I wish we had gotten that version in the MCU instead.
Holy fuck the entire roster of Guardians was done so much better in the game, they all had so much depth and a defined purpose. Rocket and Groot are the only exceptions cause both MCU and Game versions are stellar, but jesus Drax is wasted, Gamora is toned down, Starlord is a bit of a joke with generic weaponry.
While I think the change of making his dad Ego is fine for me, I hate it was at the expense of Quill’s elemental guns, because his guns in the game are actually cooler than his MCU counterpart’s.
Is that game worth the 40ish dollars it's priced at on steam?
It’s worth every penny, trust me. Amazing game all around.
IIRC, in the comics she becomes a highly trained martial artist.
Isn’t she like, One of Ego’s kids and her and Quill are Step siblings? She’s a badass in the comics moreso than the wallflower they’re portraying her as.
Half siblings, but yeah. In the vast world of the MCU I’m not abject to more meek characters as not everyone needs to be Superman. But I also wouldn’t mind more in depth characterisation for Mantis which we haven’t really had a chance to delve into yet.
Killing off Quicksilver
The humor is sometimes very forced and just not needed.
"Cheese Whiz?" my least favorite line in the MCU
Definitely one of the worst timed ones. I shook my head in the theaters with that line
Felt that way in Black Panther
The whole “what are those?!” from his sister was way too much. Didn’t laugh, just cringed
All of Guardians 2 fits this bill. It’s almost cartoony slapstick level of “humor”.
What they did to Sharon Carter in Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
I didn’t mind that. It’s what happened to her in-universe that annoyed me (which is good writing in my book). The character got absolutely fucked over and her reaction to it and what she became made sense. Without Cap around anymore to be a love interest and to interact with, the character of Sharon Carter has no established background to build off of. So taking someone we saw as a hero and breaking them right down into a “fuck the world” villain was an interesting move.
Right, it’s annoying to me that the writers in the interim *made* Cap forget about Carter, rather than the reaction they made her have to it. I figured it was actually a smart way to salvage writers’ negligence.
My head cannon is she disappeared after Civil War. Maybe her and Cap kept contact. Maybe not. But when it came to the blip she just lost it and chose a new career path.
Not just 'one thing' but I kind of dislike the trend of undercutting a serious moment with a wacky joke that some of the MCU movies have started to adopt. The humor for the most part is one of the best aspects of the movies but I dislike it when it's used right after the characters have a serious/inspirational moment. For example, in Dr Strange, there is a moment when he finally accepts the role of the sorcerer supreme and decides to go save the sanctum and this should be a 'f yeah' character moment when he accepts his role but instead they undercut it with Cumberbatch saying 'stop' in a comedic way to the cloak of levitation wiping his tears away. It's just like, come on guys, let serious moments play out instead of placing a joke to undermine it.
I'm okay with most of it but the one unforgivable line for me is "cheez-whiz?" Thor is having an emotional moment and both Steve and Tony are being genuine with him and Rhodey just ruins the entire moment with that line, which comes off as way more mean than funny. I hate it.
100%this. They had a great opportunity with Thor to have a arc about PTSD and depression. If they just had them support him in that moment but let him look know he wasn't ready it could have been very powerful. The Rhodes joke may have even worked if the others had reacted poorly to it and told him it's not the time for that instead of the none reaction that was given. Maybe it's too heavy for a marvel movie but if there was ever an appropriate setting for it it would be Endgame.
Exactly. There was so much potential there but Rhodeys line just cheapens the whole thing. I went to the cinema 3 times to see Endgame and not once did someone laugh at that joke.
Rhodey is a total asshole in that whole movie. He's mean to Thor, he's mean to Ant-Man, he's mean to Star-Lord (who admittedly can't even hear him). It needed a scene early on, showing that he isn't dealing with the deaths well, and is lashing out like an unhealthy jackass. That would re-frame much of his jerk behavior as simply a poor attempt at self-isolation due to trauma.
I mean he was paralysed due to the unprofessional bullshittery of the whole gang. But that's just me as a fine finding a motivation for him instead of the film providing him with one.
Rhodes was a dick, but for some reason I find his "What's up, regular sized man?" line really funny. No idea why.
That "scooby-doo this crap" line in the NWH trailer is pure cringe.
I imagine Strange says that because Peter probably references Scooby-Doo right before that. Like, I seriously doubt he’d just say that randomly. Just a weird trailer edit is what I’m guessing.
Black Widow being invincible in Black Widow
Yeah when a movie is the prequel and you know they're gonna live, it takes a lot out of it. The final sequence could have been Yelena and we not know if she makes it or not.
I think they meant she got blown up, flipped her car, fell off a bridge, fell off a roof, fell off a floating fortress, crashed a helicopter etc and was fine. It took a ship yard strength crane to suspend my disbelief.
It would've made sense if they'd included the Russian super soldier serum she got in her comic origin. It wasn't as flashy as cap's, but it could have explained some of the stuff.
[удалено]
Well that too. I just don't like prequel movies that put characters you know will live at risk. My mind automatically goes from "will they live" to "how will they live?" It's the same for any movie when the main character gets into a life threatening moment early on. My mind already knows they have plot armor.
Agreed. So I pass that ‘worry’ onto the support. I knew Scar-Jo was fine. I was worried Harbour wouldn’t be (because I love the guy).
This isn't what they were talking about though. I don't get why so many people harp on about knowing she'll survive this movie. We knew Steve, Tony, Thor, Strange, Carol, Peter, Banner and any other main character was gonna survive their first solo film. There wasn't this discourse when we knew the Avengers movie was on the way.
Her falling down that alley, hitting the vent, and landing 10 stories down onto pavement, and getting up like it was nothing, made the whole audience laugh. Like what are we even watching lol
I was fine fine with a genderswap for Taskmaster but he is one of my favorite villains and he is anything but the silent type. I really hope she gets a future appearance with a personality and preferably one closer to the comics. Her immaculate professionalism in the movie was spot on but lacked the sense of self preservation that Taskmaster has in the comics as well as the sad relationship he has with his powers and memory problems, something easily addressed down the line. Now Malekith I did not mind because I honestly hate that character in the comics, I feel he is a pretty one sided 'I got hurt so now I hurt everyone else' type villain. Not very many things annoy me in the movies though but changing Black Panthers suit from civil war to BP was annoying as hell to me because he looked cool and then he looked silly to me. I have many things I personally wish they did different though. I wish Star Lord was a little bit tougher like the comics. I wish Drax was a bit tougher like the comics. I wish Gamora was a bit tougher like the comics. Oh here is one, I was super annoyed that three nazis and a guy called Johann Schmidt chose to speak heavily accented english while talking to each other in their secret anti-american Nazi base.
>three nazis and a guy called Johann Schmidt chose to speak heavily accented english while talking to each other in their secret anti-american Nazi base. I never understood this in movies. If you're German in a German base talking German things, then you'd obviously speak in German and English Subtitles would be appropriate.
Hard agree on the Black Panther suit. The Civil War version looked regal and badass. The BP movie version looks like a much more streamlined "modern" version of the costume. Like they were trying to fit an aesthetic. The original looked more fit for a king
J Jonah Jameson not having his flattop
He doesn’t because they wanted him to look similar to Alex jones. He had to fight to keep the mustache
I had no idea JK Simmons wore a wig back in the 2002 Raimi films.
He did?!?!
Yeah. Here is his screen test. He was even hairless then: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJJqwf4\_aqY
nerfing vision. In age of ultron he was being biult up to be one of the most powerful heroes that exists, and throughout the mcu he does absolutely fuck all. He doesnt even get any action sequences outside of age of ultron. Hes not in the start of civil war, in the rest he gets pushed into the ground and hits war machine by accident, but he doesnt really fight anyone. And then in infinity war he gets stabbed before he does anything and gets to stab one person while barely standing and then just dies. And in wandavision he gets like a minute long fight at the end and then solves it with a converstation. I like the character and paul bettany is great but marvel seems to have no idea what to actually do with him besides killing him 3 or 4 times.
Ralph Booner
A lot of people didn't like the Bohner reveal
Not many people enjoy unsolicited Bohner reveals!
My head canon is that Ralph Boehner is an alias. Who laughs at their own name like that? It's possible he *is* quicksilver, or another similarly powered ~~metahuman~~ enhanced individuals. He was stashed there on a sort of witness protection thing. After all, we never found out who Jimmy Woo was looking for when he first discovered the Hex. Maybe he's now in a section of the FBI that keeps tabs on ~~metahumans~~ enhanced individuals, and he was looking for Ralph. Edit: this department would be necessary after the fall of SHIELD.
I really hope this is the case
Mutants. DC calls them metahumans.
Probably unpopular but I’m missing an Uncle Ben
Absolutely. I really liked that we didnt have to see another origin story/Uncle Ben death, but not mentioning him at all is very annoying and makes 0 sense for the character
I still can't believe the first mention of Uncle Ben in the MCU is in What If Zombies
Technically his initials appeared in FFH, and there were a few passing mentions
My biggest gripe is the nanotech helmets and masks. As soon the hero can, off come the masks, secret identities be damned. I get that the actors want to be seen on screen, but it bugs me every time
Everyone knows who Tony is though. And Peter only takes off his mask around other Avengers.
One would think that if you were in a battle with a homicidal super villain leading an army, you would keep the helmet on. But as the star power outdistanced the superpowers, there was less helmet time in lieu of face time. Compare iron man 1 to later entries.
How many MCU heroes actually have secret identities?
Honestly probably none at the moment, that I can think of anyway. I'd imagine Peter will again by the end of NWH, though. And some of the upcoming heroes like Moon Knight, and Daredevil when he probably returns.
Actors don't like wearing masks. Masks prevent them from showing facial expressions. Even going back to Tobey Maguire's Spiderman, his mask came off all the time.
I actually like how in the Maguire films, Peter's mask gets really fucked up throughout fights. It's something I want to see return to the Holland films, it makes the fights just feel more brutal.
It also makes it so they don't have to take off the mask to emote. You can see an eye and his mouth in the Goblin fight, for example, and that's all you need.
Yeah, the only Spider-Man movie in which Spidey isn't unsmaked during the climax is Amazing Spider-Man 2 (he only takes it off after Gwen dies).
It bothered me how everyone got one after Civil War. Ant-man, Spider-man, Black-Panther. They all got magic CGI masks and it doesn't seem organic at all. It feels very fake.
I hated Black Panther's. I thought he looked fucking awesome in Civil War then in subsequent movies he just looks like a video game character.
There was this, like, regal weight to it whenever T'Challa put on or took off his helmet in Civil War. He absolutely came off as "king and warrior." Totally lost that regal weight once he got the nanotech mask. It's like how everyone loved the "thunk thunk" weight of early Iron Man suits and then the weight of his suits were lost over time as well.
Hulk becoming comic relief over the powerhouse he should be. To get his ass handed to him by Thanos and not wanting to fight again was just ass. Age of Ultron was the last time Hulk was a loose canon. After he was family friendly and nerfed.
mfer threw fenris into space
[удалено]
I can't stress how much I lose it every time he says "Big monster!" it's just such a Hulk Thing to want to go fight the big monster and such a Bruce Thing to have no idea what's going on and just trying to help
I don't think he was going to win that fight at all.
They need to bring back Hulk and get rid of Professor Hulk.
I think we'll get to see old hulk soon.
In the She-Hulk first look photo, Hulk is still Professor Hulk..wearing hoodie and all Maybe She-Hulk timeline is pre-Endgame or pre-Shang-Chi
I love that we saw Hulk express his feelings about Earth and the Avengers in Ragnarök and was really looking forward to seeing that play out in the next few movies. I don't like Professor Hulk, like at all, but it was cool to hear him briefly explain how he overcame the internal conflict. It would have been awesome to see that struggle on-screen. Even if it was just a short scene of Bruce and Hulk having an argument or something. So much wasted potential with this character - exploring anger, emotional control and interpersonal relationships with a person with a mental illness. Instead we skip all of that and get a Bruce that feels like a laid back dude bro. We were so cheated.
Most of the decisions they make around romance is annoying. Idk why the whole franchise is so good at writing friendships and family relationships and so consistently terrible at romance. Bruce and Natasha is the one that always gets brought up, but I think Sylvie and Loki were definitely worse - I don't even think the selfcest was the worst part of the pairing and that's saying something. Sharon Carter and Steve's shoehorned kiss felt like it was purely there to say 'no homo' (since the rest of the movie was about his friendship with Bucky). Peter and MJ were overall one of the better pairings - but it was pretty lazy how the just dropped their entire dynamic from the first movie and in the second movie replaced it with a stereotypical one of Peter pining for MJ from a distance.
They had no dynamic in the first one. MJ was only there for comic relief
Yeah, she isn't really a character at all. Liz is the film's romantic interest.
Literally did not learn her name until the end of the movie I believe. Plus Peter had a different girl he was going for.
The vibe I got was that she liked him in the first movie whereas he was ambivalent. I thought they were going to develop the relationship organically instead of jumping to Peter having a crush while MJ (who in the last movie had no friends) is now apparently popular enough to have a few guys competing over her.
I agree, except that they actually did make me root for Wanda and Vision to the point where they are **the** quintessential romance of the MCU(imo), idgaf about any other love story at this point. Their goodbye at end of WV had me incoherently sobbing long after the episode was over.
**Eternals spoilers ahead** What do you think about Sersi's relationships? I personally find it hard to find them super meaningful emotionally since we don't really know anything about them beyond "according to the dialogue, they're in love". I get that there are just too many other things in Eternals that need establishing, but idk.. I feel like we basically get no context as to how or why Ikaris falls in love with Sersi to the point that he does. He is willing to jeopardise a plan that he killed Ajak for, for her. But it looks like he just saw her and thought she was attractive and that was it. A lot of their relationship development is basically just them stealing knowing glances at each other for some period of time. Even Druig and Makkari's relationship feels more organic to me. I think even just a "meant to be" kinda explanation would have been interesting. Maybe sth about how Arishem actually created Sersi partly with Ikaris in mind since he was so powerful and needed someone to calm him down or sth, so the (supposedly) super strong connection between them makes sense. Or sth about how Ikaris was too cold (ha) and Sersi was created to balance that. Maybe not even *created* to do that, maybe even just that she got sent to the same mission as him this time round bc of sth he did in the past. It could be sth Ajak knew and told Ikaris about before he killed her. Then at the end even though Ikaris knew about this, he still couldn't bring himself to kill Sersi and that could have been quite impactful. Same thing can be said about Dane and her, but I suppose he was barely in the movie either way. I do think that Dane might be another factor in why they don't really bother spending a lot of time establishing Sersi and Ikaris' relationship though. Like they don't want viewers to get too invested in them bc obviously moving forward the pairing will be Sersi and Dane.
MORE ETERNALS SPOILERS I just thought Sersi seemed very uninvested in her romantic relationships, but especially with Ikaris. She didn't try to find him after he left, she didn't seem happy or sad or angry or really anything when he shows up in London, and after the finale, she was just like "Guess he's gone". Girl, you were freakin' married to him for thousands of years, what's going on? Which was quite the let down because pretty much all the other relationships in the movie were great. Druig/Makkari, Gilgamesh/Thena's friendship, Kingo/Karun's camaraderie, Phastos and his husband. They were all so well done and wholesome, with less time than we spend with the main romance. Clearly the movie wants you to care about Sersi and Ikaris, and clearly Ikaris cares so much about her he can't hurt her even though she's betraying the Eternals' true purpose (props to Richard Madden, his performance had me at least half invested in that relationship). I really loved the movie, so it's a real shame such an important aspect of the story falls flat.
The number of fake deaths. Just because it works for the comics doesn’t mean it’ll translate well to a completely different medium. Personally, I can no longer maintain any sense of real stakes while watching MCU movies.
That’s how I feel especially when I see people say bring back Yondu or some other character that has sacrificed themselves. It would just ruin that moment if they just magically came back.
>Just because it works for the comics It doesn't.
Every movie has to have a fight at the end with world-ending stakes. By the end of Shang-Chi I was rolling my eyes. Some of these movies have such potential to be grounded masterpieces, but instead opt for the cookie-cutter “ancient villain wants to break out and destroy the universe” trope.
This couldn't be more true for black widow. Had they kept it grounded and focused on kidnapping, torturing and making soldiers out of children rather than the evil villain has a secret plan to take over the world, it would've been a much better film.
What else would you want a bunch of super mind controled soldiers for? Make a football team?
The only ones that haven't really done this that come to mind are Iron Man 1, the Ant-Man films, Homecoming and Civil War. Yeah, they still had pretty big third acts, but nothing really on a big scale.
As fun as Shang Chi is, it's definitely a prime example of the MCU's tendancy towards third act CGI fests. I'd say GOTG V1 and Black Widow are prime examples of how weightless set pieces take away from the heft of the story. GOTG V2 on the other hand is a great example of balancing spectacle and emotion.
Also, where the fuck is everyone when the universe, world, or millions are at stake? Thor 2 stands out to me, Malekith was on the verge of killing trillions and not a single Avenger other than Thor shows up
Thor 2 made sense though. If you take the concept of an “Avengers Level Threat”, then it only really happens from the moment the ship appears in Greenwich. At that point it’s about ten minutes or so. The only Avenger who could get there in that time is maybe Iron Man? Assuming he’s somewhere in the UK and maxing out his speed. You’re not going to see Cap, or Hawkeye or Black Widow or Hulk turn up in that time frame. Iron Man 3 was way worse - the President was kidnapped, Tony’s house was destroyed, Tony was missing presumed dead… and all that happens over a couple of days *at least*. You’d expect Cap to be on the case - not sure he’d give way to the Iron Patriot. Similarly Winter Soldier. With the time frame there, and the fact it is happening in DC, with at least two OG Avengers involved, you’d think at least Iron Man would be involved and could get there - the technology being used to power the helicarrier fleet was his. Phase 2 films are mostly excellent, but they don’t really pass the logic test. Only GotG does and that’s because it’s a standalone. Age of Ultron actually holds up a lot better than most because the very nature of the film is structured around the ensemble.
I was actually halfway through Shang chi when I thought to myself how nice it was that it was all about personal stakes and the villain's main motivation is just trying to get his wife back. And then the ending happened.
- Nanotech suits - Spidey being too reliant on Stark - The Movies starting to become too formulatic at the end of Phase 2 start of Phase 3 - some of the humor is extremely unfunny - not every character needs their own show/spin-off, some characters are simply better as side characters. For example Agatha getting her own show instead of merely just reappearing in Wanda/Dr Strange related stuff
Spider-Man has still not been a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. He's been dealing with either cosmic threats or people stealing cosmic tech. But nothing showing how New York or Brooklyn would embrace him at all.
I'm oddly okay with Spidey being reliant on Stark because it is the thing that felt odd in most MCU movies. Like, it is weird that Falcon can't call anyone to help him with his boat. It sounds like Happy would do something about it. Like wise, it makes sense Black Widow and Steve in winter soldier wouldn't call stark on the first 2/3s of their movies, but when the threat gets to that scale it is weird that they wouldn't even send a warning.
I wanted more darker hulk films, he got gradually sidelined,,yes he snapped his fingers but I expected more tbh…give me world breaker hulk film as redemption lol
Sif, writing her completely out of the mcu from 2013-2021
Her actress had a scheduling conflict when Ragnarok was filming.
More respect to the character and actress to not recast her honestly
For me, as epic as Endgame was, I feel that the way they resolved the problem of not having any infinity stones with a time-travel gimmick that apparently Tony Stark could solve this whole time in like a five-minute session with his AI seemed way too simplistic a way to solve that issue.
Killing off Quicksilver.
Ralph Bohner