Marvel Cinematic Universe

[Counterfeit Obol]

And then the actor gets arrested, and then he gets replaced by black Galactus, who also gets arrested

It's Dindus all the way up!

 

[Beautiful Border]

Sometimes I like to browse through Chinese-language forums, and these were from a thread titled "Why are Hollywood movies becoming less and less popular in China?":

There are currently very few foreign films introduced, and at the same time, the political correctness of Hollywood films has become very serious recently, which is not in line with the current taste of Chinese people.

1. Political correctness is serious. Black people appear too frequently, which is annoying to watch. They always praise black people and discredit other people, which makes people vomit blood.
2. It can’t get out of the creative cycle. Just like China’s domestic films, Hollywood can no longer produce high-quality and exciting films. They are either pretentious or mindless. How can we produce the passion of early Marvel films? And depth, this is a big problem

There are some funny responses in the thread if you're willing to go through the effort of translating them. Shows that it's not just "angry white men" who feel this way.

 

[Vect]

If you see Major's texts and audio clips, he sounds like an unhinged cult leader. He really thought playing Kang made him the next civil rights hero.

Majors: …be doing right now? Period. This is actually, period. Do you understand that?

Jabbari: Yeah.

Majors: Do you really love me? Do you really?

Jabbari: Yes.

Majors: Then how dare you come home drunk and disturb the peace of our house when we have a plan.

Jabbari: I’m sorry

Majors: I would like to get to the point where your friends know what job I’m on and go “I think Grace is gonna be out of commission.” Get me?

Jabbari: Yeah, I won’t.

Majors: No, no, do you understand that? Because that team, that unit, right? Grace has to be of a certain mindset to support — Coretta Scott King, do you know who that is? That’s Martin Luther King’s wife. Michelle Obama, Barack Obama’s wife.

Jabbari: I know, I shouldn’t have gone out. I’m sorry

Majors: Let me just lay it out for you, right? If I am, I’m just gonna say this. My temper, my shit, all that. All that said, right? And let’s say, I’m a great man. A great man. I am doing great things, not just for me, but for my, for my culture and the world. That is actually the position I’m in. That’s real. I’m not being a dick about it. I didn’t ask for it. I’ve worked, and that’s the situation. The woman that supports me — that I support, the work that — needs to be a great woman and make sacrifices the way that man is making for her and for them ultimately. Last night, two nights ago, you did not do that.

Jabbari: I’m sorry

Majors: You did not do that, which was took away from the plan. And the plan is everything. If it was just you, maybe I could swallow it. Or I was just gonna like, “Hey, let’s go just bed. I’m just gonna bed, I’m not hungry, blah blah blah. Because Grace isn’t here. Why? She was drunk. Why else? She was clogged by whatever was going on.”

Audio: https://variety.com/2023/film/news/jonathan-majors-trial-texts-grace-jabbari-1235836247/

 

[XYZpdq Jr.]

And then the actor gets arrested, and then he gets replaced by black Galactus, who also gets arrested

first you have The Silver Surfer get arrested as the Herald of Galactus who then gets arrested

 

[Calandrino]

He really thought playing Kang made him the next civil rights hero.

Well, he's on the right track with the violence against women at least

 

[Mac Monster]

Nigger really had delusions of grandeur. As if playing this shit villain would somehow solidify his name in the history books. Even if he wasn't fired and still played Kang in the upcoming Avengers film, he would still have been forgotten whenever the next piece of capeshit media came out.

 

[jspit2.0]

Sometimes I like to browse through Chinese-language forums, and these were from a thread titled "Why are Hollywood movies becoming less and less popular in China?":
View attachment 5577827


View attachment 5577828

There are some funny responses in the thread if you're willing to go through the effort of translating them. Shows that it's not just "angry white men" who feel this way.

Dude, Chinese people REALLY don't like black Americans. I...don't think most black people in America realize how much the world outside of Western Europe and the US doesn't like them. It's weird, because you'd think they'd at least be popular among Africans. But, not really. They at best get a mixed reception. I still remember talking to Jamaicans who LOATHE US blacks.

Fun fact I remember looking up, Black Panther's (First one) gross was heavily American, while Captain marvel (First one) gross was foreign heavy. Just gives a good idea of what your markets look like.

 

[Overly Serious]

So I recently started watching Ash vs. The Evil Dead tv show. (I'm a little behind the times, who cares - it's ageless).

What's the relevance to a thread on Marvel movies? Well I wasn't quite sure if I was going to stick with the show. I mean it has Bruce Campbell who is great, and it has a naked Lucy Lawless (but you don't find that out 'till several episodes in). So I'm watching a scene in the first episode wondering if this show will be for me or not and Ash throws an axe at one of the deadites (possessed corpse). It's a dramatic moment and the camera hones in on this axe flying through the air and I thought to myself - if this axe comically misses after all the musical build up and camera work, I'm turning this show off and watching something else. And you know what? THE AXE HIT THE MONSTER! It was an actual unironic heroic moment, where a competent dude does something competent.

I said "yes!" out loud I was that relieved. Thank you Sam Rami - a show that doesn't rely on bathos for its humour. I am SO sick of that in MCU.

 

[Mao Hao Hao]

So I recently started watching Ash vs. The Evil Dead tv show. (I'm a little behind the times, who cares - it's ageless).

What's the relevance to a thread on Marvel movies? Well I wasn't quite sure if I was going to stick with the show. I mean it has Bruce Campbell who is great, and it has a naked Lucy Lawless (but you don't find that out 'till several episodes in). So I'm watching a scene in the first episode wondering if this show will be for me or not and Ash throws an axe at one of the deadites (possessed corpse). It's a dramatic moment and the camera hones in on this axe flying through the air and I thought to myself - if this axe comically misses after all the musical build up and camera work, I'm turning this show off and watching something else. And you know what? THE AXE HIT THE MONSTER! It was an actual unironic heroic moment, where a competent dude does something competent.

I said "yes!" out loud I was that relieved. Thank you Sam Rami - a show that doesn't rely on bathos for its humour. I am SO sick of that in MCU.

That's why the Doctor Strange that he directed was so sad for me, because you could see his attempts to make something good out of the terrible writing/edits etc they wanted. A version where he could have gone full Raimi, no holds barred, no pandering to kids/marvel geeks etc would have been far more interesting than what we ended up with.

 

[Mr. Zed da Robot Poon Fed]

Sometimes I like to browse through Chinese-language forums, and these were from a thread titled "Why are Hollywood movies becoming less and less popular in China?":
View attachment 5577827


View attachment 5577828

There are some funny responses in the thread if you're willing to go through the effort of translating them. Shows that it's not just "angry white men" who feel this way.

Jack Ma said that the Chinese government stifles innovation and puts too much focus on minimizing risk at a conference one time. Then, he got put in house arrest and rarely appeared in places afterwards.

Both the Chinese cinemas and American cinemas seem to have that problem, hence the knockoffs, sequels, reboots, remakes and general lack of originality.

 

[Drag-on Knight 91873]

Jack Ma said that the Chinese government stifles innovation and puts too much focus on minimizing risk at a conference one time. Then, he got put in house arrest and rarely appeared in places afterwards.

Both the Chinese cinemas and American cinemas seem to have that problem, hence the knockoffs, sequels, reboots, remakes and general lack of originality.

This is the fundamental problem with America. Instead of being peak America--which is the 1950s, not the 80s Gen Xers--it insists on being the gay version of China.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

I wonder if Disney higher ups will eventually reboot if the downward trend keep happening, and will it be a hard or soft reboot (full recast or just return to the beginning with some twist). Issue is the franchise is 20 year old by now, the big stars are either ill or too old for the part.

 

[Not A Bunny]

Sometimes I like to browse through Chinese-language forums, and these were from a thread titled "Why are Hollywood movies becoming less and less popular in China?":

The fact that black people are annoying to watch to them is certainly not surprising, but damn, these people are just calling it out.

It makes me want to be in a meeting with American studio executives trying to pander to the Chinese and showing them this. "Oh, you love your minorities? Guess who doesn't..."

That's why the Doctor Strange that he directed was so sad for me, because you could see his attempts to make something good out of the terrible writing/edits etc they wanted. A version where he could have gone full Raimi, no holds barred, no pandering to kids/marvel geeks etc would have been far more interesting than what we ended up with.

It was a foregone conclusion that Marvel would rein him in. I thought even from the beginning (when Joss Whedon was tapped for the original Avengers) that any "name" director was tapped for nerd cred, not their actual personality.

The only problem is, Marvel's gone so far off the rails that there's no need for the conformity now that they demanded early in the MCU's run. So, there wouldn't have been reason to fit Raimi into the Marvel mold, and it probably would have been a welcome change of pace.

But it's Marvel. They have a way of operating that works orthogonal to reality.

 

[Sniperwoof]

Dude, Chinese people REALLY don't like black Americans. I...don't think most black people in America realize how much the world outside of Western Europe and the US doesn't like them. It's weird, because you'd think they'd at least be popular among Africans. But, not really. They at best get a mixed reception. I still remember talking to Jamaicans who LOATHE US blacks.

Fun fact I remember looking up, Black Panther's (First one) gross was heavily American, while Captain marvel (First one) gross was foreign heavy. Just gives a good idea of what your markets look like.

Jamaicans consider theirselves to be a part of the Pacific Islander ethnic block.

They typically get very very angry at being referred to as black or African.

 

[Alexander Thaut]

I am of the opinion that not having full access to the Spider-Man IP is now completely fucking Disney over. There's a fairly easy storyline you could've done after Endgame to ease into X-shit (and maybe the FF, not sure how to do it now) and that would've been to adapt Dark Reign. In theory you could've had any villain leading the group, but having Norman Osborn, Spidey's arch nemesis, would've been perfect to prop the MCU up during this slop period where they don't have their earlier heavy hitters (RDJ's Tony being the main one) anymore. Change to comic storyline enough so it'd fit the MCU's world, have Spidey be a bigger thing in the fight against the Dark Avengers - which was an actual weak point in the comics; Peter had so little to do with Norman's arc, though iirc OMD happened during that timeframe so he was having issues - and you can ease into the X-Men by either having Daken or a slightly more recognizable X-Villain on his team, thus leading to the good X-Guys revealing themselves.

No one has ever given a flying fuck about Kang. People give a shit about Spidey villains. More Spidey villains = more Spidey, someone who sells despite the MCU/Snoy.

I don't even think Disney would've done a good job of it (Snoy certainly isn't; I love Raimi-Man but everything after that has been terrible and will only get worse), so I'm not even on the side of them acquiring more IPs, but from their POV, it's a major loss.

Enjoyed his performance in Attack The Block.

Regarding the Majors stuff honestly I am happy (not that he hit the poor woman but that he actually is experiencing consequences for it). I want Disney to take every single loss they can and their "no, we'll wait for the courts to decide" was blatant desperation that every other actor they ever employ in the future should refer to for every scandal they go through. If Disney do anything but stand by them during that then the lawyers should be out in force.

The fact that black people are annoying to watch is certainly not surprising, but damn, these people are just calling it out.

It makes me want to be in a meeting with American studio executives trying to pander to the Chinese and showing them this. "Oh, you love your minorities? Guess who doesn't..."


It was a foregone conclusion that Marvel would rein him in. I thought even from the beginning (when Joss Whedon was tapped for the original Avengers) that any "name" director was tapped for nerd cred, not their actual personality.

The only problem is, Marvel's gone so far off the rails that there's no need for the conformity now that they demanded early in the MCU's run. So, there wouldn't have been reason to fit Raimi into the Marvel mold, and it probably would have been a welcome change of pace.

But it's Marvel. They have a way of operating that works orthogonal to reality.

Kang's someone that's always had the potential to be as recognizable as Magneto or Dr. Doom, but they never really did tap into this effectively because comics books and time travel result in what essentially looks like a schizopost.


I think Kang could hold his own as a trilogy's main villain as he's still one of the big Marvel baddies, but the MCU has been insistent on just killing off any potentially good villains. Malekith, High Evolutionary, and Ronan come to mind.

And yeah, Spidey villains have major name recognition. Almost all the good ones were made in the 60s. The only ones I can think of that weren't exclusively introduced in the 60s are Venom, Carnage, and whatnot. Maybe Morlun, Hobgoblin, and Mr. Negative if you really want to stretch things but they're kinda not on the same tier of being iconic.

The rest of the Avengers the MCU has used have kinda gone through their big archenemy major villains list already.

We've seen Red Skull. The rest of Cap's major villains were adapted in the MCU in some form.

Iron Man has like The Mandarin/Iron Monger as his big ones, which were done. The rest of his shit was almost all '60s armored/tech villains. Shame that we didn't get demon in a bottle as an adaptation.

Thor has Loki, Malekith, probably Hela. All adapted. Not the best, but it was done. He's got plenty of steam if we needed to pull from his rogues gallery because big buff god fighting monsters/etc. is fun.

Black Widow's stuff was used in one movie. Hawkeye's stuff was. . . IDK? He's never had a big rogues gallery that was notable.

We had Abomination for Hulk. Maybe we could get The Leader or Red Hulk someday but that's a big maybe.

So, who else is left? The Ant-Man stuff adapted and mixed up some stuff. Captain Marvel didn't get anyone that good because Marvel blew Ronan for the Guardians and the other Danvers archenemy/big name antagonist is Mystique iirc. Black Panther's used Killmonger already and IDT We're getting an adaptation of Doomwar. Namor was used too. The Guardians rogues gallery is cosmic and overlaps with plenty of F4 stuff.

Who else is left. The Eternals? Nah. Dr. Strange? He's got some hope but it's a big maybe. There's a few fun ones that MCU could do like Dracula.

At this point we just have the Spidey villains, the X-Villains, and the F4. I can't wait for a decade or two of X-Villains rotating in and out.

 

[Miriam Margoyles]

That's why the Doctor Strange that he directed was so sad for me, because you could see his attempts to make something good out of the terrible writing/edits etc they wanted. A version where he could have gone full Raimi, no holds barred, no pandering to kids/marvel geeks etc would have been far more interesting than what we ended up with.

I actually quite enjoyed Multiverse of Madness, but all the way through, I kept thinking, "Will someone let Sam Raimi direct Carrie? He clearly REALLY wants to!"

 

[jspit2.0]

Jamaicans consider theirselves to be a part of the Pacific Islander ethnic block.

They typically get very very angry at being referred to as black or African.

True, but they black. Blacker than allot of US mutt blacks. But it was just an example.

I wonder if Disney higher ups will eventually reboot if the downward trend keep happening, and will it be a hard or soft reboot (full recast or just return to the beginning with some twist). Issue is the franchise is 20 year old by now, the big stars are either ill or too old for the part.

Soft reboot. Bring back Iron Man Downey Jr. I'd argue they shouldn't be so afraid of recasting characters. But we'll see. Realistically, they haven't done anything real with the FF, they're just now touching X-men, and they've barely touched on the larger Marvel universe.

Which they may not wind up doing? For the cred they get, Feige writ al have ignored the comics for good or ill since the OG avengers. I'm thinking the only big adaptations of the comics may have been...Thor? The Incredible Hulk? Over ten years ago. Oh, maybe Black Panther? I never really liked the character so someone else can figure that out.

GOTG is nothing like the comics so space Marvel is all kinds of fucked up, The Mandarin is Ben Kingsley larping, don't get me started on Spider-man.

Sometimes that isn't bad. Winter Soldier is better than Brubakers shit comics. Civil War was a hodge podge crapshoot, still better than the comic series. But on balance, I for one think history shows bad things happen when Hollywood strays too far from the source material when said source is actually really good.

 

[Mr. Zed da Robot Poon Fed]

I liked the approach in Batman Begins where Lucius Fox is explaining to Bruce Wayne the body armour that goes on to become the Batsuit. "Why didn't we put this into production?" "Because the US govt. didn't think that a US soldier's life was worth a quarter of a million dollars" (I can't remember the specific words / figures)

I think the phrase was “Bean counters didn’t think a soldier’s life was worth 300 grand.”

Sucks that other than the Nolanverse, people in films and television don’t delve into the relationship between Bruce and Fox, since Fox was a vital part of how Batman became Batman. And he delved into the technology and where it came from, which was nice. Shows a little technical knowledge instead of some mumbo jumbo.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Kang's someone that's always had the potential to be as recognizable as Magneto or Dr. Doom, but they never really did tap into this effectively because comics books and time travel result in what essentially looks like a schizopost.

I don't think so, good villains eventually became recognisable, ane Kang is basically unheard of outside really diehard fans.

I think the phrase was “Bean counters didn’t think a soldier’s life was worth 300 grand.”

Sucks that other than the Nolanverse, people in films and television don’t delve into the relationship between Bruce and Fox, since Fox was a vital part of how Batman became Batman. And he delved into the technology and where it came from, which was nice. Shows a little technical knowledge instead of some mumbo jumbo.

This made me think about how we don't really have a superhero cast this days. Everyone is another superhero with or without powers. Like Tony's wife getting a super suit, Ant Man's family getting super suits, you can't have a side character be a specific slot in the hero's life.

 

[Alexander Thaut]

I don't think so, good villains eventually became recognisable, ane Kang is basically unheard of outside really diehard fans.

This made me think about how we don't really have a superhero cast this days. Everyone is another superhero with or without powers. Like Tony's wife getting a super suit, Ant Man's family getting super suits, you can't have a side character be a specific slot in the hero's life.

the only Avengers centric villain that ever became a notably recognizable name on its own was like Ultron.