[Movies] MCU: Phase 5 - To Kang or Not to Kang

GasBandit

Staff member
Finally got around to watching Hawkeye this weekend. Liked it. Wasn't a fan of Kate for most of the first half, but she got better. And that final villain reveal!

When they said "Kingpin!" right at the end of the episode, I told Emrys "If anyone other than Vincent D'onofrio is playing Kingpin, this show is ruined."

It was not ruined!

Guess all the defenders stuff is canon now, right? RIGHT?"
 
Guess all the defenders stuff is canon now, right? RIGHT?"
Considering Matt Murdock appears in No Way Home played by Charlie Cox, this seems likely. Spider-Man and Hawkeye bringing back the same actors for the same roles tells me they are trying to fully canonize the Netflix shows. It can still be up in the air though, as Marvel Studios may have just loved the actors and decided to utilize them in the MCU in the same roles after Netflix cancelled Daredevil.

On the flip side, Hawkeye also went out of it's way to put the idea that Agents of SHIELD was canon fully to bed. "Laura" being revealed as a retired Agent 19 (AKA Mockingbird) means they are overwriting the same character who was a mainstay in the middle seasons of Agents of SHIELD, played by Adrianne Palicki.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
You're the admin, you can change the spoiler title to reflect it includes NWH spoilers and save others in the same position ;-)
Yeah but even changing the title to say that it was a spoiler for NWH would have in itself been a spoiler that there was something that connected the spoiler I was talking about in Hawkeye with something similar in NWH.
 
It's not much of a spoiler to be honest, it's not like he appears as a hero, it's basically a glorified minute cameo near the start. I apologize though.
 
Good thing I waited to watch Eternals on Disney+ instead of playing to see it in a theater (even in non-Covid times):

You know, with how well the MCU is doing lately, it's such a bummer that Eternals is as "meh" as it is. I don't think the blame rests entirely on The Eternals kinda being....well, fairly forgettable in the first place. Most of the MCU is built on characters who, at the time, were considered "B-list" or lower. I think a large part of it is due to the fact their was so many characters introduced, almost no one had a chance to develop a personality, aside from Phantos, and even then, most of it came from Brian Tyree Henry can do a lot with a little, like his role in Into the Spider-verse. Couple that with the fact that we just finished a 10-year arc with some of the most emotional highs and lows put on (superhero) film, and you give us a group who is not only aloof, but told they couldn't contribute in any way? You're setting these characters up to fail. You never give us a reason to care about them. When Ikaris turned on the group, as Mr. Z said to me, he didn't really care. There was no emotional investment in any of the characters or the Deviants, except MAYBE Phantos and Gilgmesh (which, #JusticeforGilgamesh.) And they got some pretty big name actors, but... why? There was nothing to do.

For all their maligned reputations, at least Iron Man 2 and 3 had RDJ and some good supporting cast, and Thor: The Dark World had great interactions between Thor and Loki. I may not watch those movies in full, but I'll still watch certain scenes from them. I've never said this about an MCU movie, but I don't care if we ever see these characters again....okay, maybe, MAYBE Eros/Starfox, but even then, WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU A FEW YEARS AGO?? I think the smartest thing for the MCU to do now is acknowledge The Snap...sorry, The Blip, but move away from it and Thanos. Shang-Chi, Far From Home, No Way Home and the Disney+ shows have been doing well with this. The Eternals are tied too much into major events, but then ask you to accept their lack of involvement. You can't do that: it gives us no reason to care about their situation in any way. I'm worried, based on some of the designs we saw leading up to the climax, that this will tie into the mystery of the 10 rings. Maybe, down the line, these characters will be more interesting in smaller doses, or interacting with others in the MCU.

And now tangentially-related, and because I couldn't find an answer on the internet,
is that Ashram who makes a cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy with the power stone? I've got Guardians on in the background and I just noticed him during The Collector's recap of the Infinity Stones.
 
Good thing I waited to watch Eternals on Disney+ instead of playing to see it in a theater (even in non-Covid times):

You know, with how well the MCU is doing lately, it's such a bummer that Eternals is as "meh" as it is. I don't think the blame rests entirely on The Eternals kinda being....well, fairly forgettable in the first place. Most of the MCU is built on characters who, at the time, were considered "B-list" or lower. I think a large part of it is due to the fact their was so many characters introduced, almost no one had a chance to develop a personality, aside from Phantos, and even then, most of it came from Brian Tyree Henry can do a lot with a little, like his role in Into the Spider-verse. Couple that with the fact that we just finished a 10-year arc with some of the most emotional highs and lows put on (superhero) film, and you give us a group who is not only aloof, but told they couldn't contribute in any way? You're setting these characters up to fail. You never give us a reason to care about them. When Ikaris turned on the group, as Mr. Z said to me, he didn't really care. There was no emotional investment in any of the characters or the Deviants, except MAYBE Phantos and Gilgmesh (which, #JusticeforGilgamesh.) And they got some pretty big name actors, but... why? There was nothing to do.

For all their maligned reputations, at least Iron Man 2 and 3 had RDJ and some good supporting cast, and Thor: The Dark World had great interactions between Thor and Loki. I may not watch those movies in full, but I'll still watch certain scenes from them. I've never said this about an MCU movie, but I don't care if we ever see these characters again....okay, maybe, MAYBE Eros/Starfox, but even then, WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU A FEW YEARS AGO?? I think the smartest thing for the MCU to do now is acknowledge The Snap...sorry, The Blip, but move away from it and Thanos. Shang-Chi, Far From Home, No Way Home and the Disney+ shows have been doing well with this. The Eternals are tied too much into major events, but then ask you to accept their lack of involvement. You can't do that: it gives us no reason to care about their situation in any way. I'm worried, based on some of the designs we saw leading up to the climax, that this will tie into the mystery of the 10 rings. Maybe, down the line, these characters will be more interesting in smaller doses, or interacting with others in the MCU.

And now tangentially-related, and because I couldn't find an answer on the internet,
is that Ashram who makes a cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy with the power stone? I've got Guardians on in the background and I just noticed him during The Collector's recap of the Infinity Stones.
I posted over in the last movie you watched thread instead of here, but I turned Eternals off after an hour. It was bad, the characters were bland, the monsters were dumb and visually confusing, the cgi was bad,

I don't need to watch the rest of the movie to know that Ikarus turns on them

And as I stated over there, I got a weirdly fascist vibe from it.
 
I thought the new Spider-Man was 100% meh. Should probably avoid Eternals.

I'm pretty done with Marvel movie science magic. I'm pretty done with all hand wavey God machines in general. No more magic wands that fix spaceships with the power of hope (I'm talking directly to you Picard), no more magic boxes that can literally do anything (Stark fabricators) etc.
 
Good thing I waited to watch Eternals on Disney+ instead of playing to see it in a theater (even in non-Covid times):

You know, with how well the MCU is doing lately, it's such a bummer that Eternals is as "meh" as it is. I don't think the blame rests entirely on The Eternals kinda being....well, fairly forgettable in the first place. Most of the MCU is built on characters who, at the time, were considered "B-list" or lower. I think a large part of it is due to the fact their was so many characters introduced, almost no one had a chance to develop a personality, aside from Phantos, and even then, most of it came from Brian Tyree Henry can do a lot with a little, like his role in Into the Spider-verse. Couple that with the fact that we just finished a 10-year arc with some of the most emotional highs and lows put on (superhero) film, and you give us a group who is not only aloof, but told they couldn't contribute in any way? You're setting these characters up to fail. You never give us a reason to care about them. When Ikaris turned on the group, as Mr. Z said to me, he didn't really care. There was no emotional investment in any of the characters or the Deviants, except MAYBE Phantos and Gilgmesh (which, #JusticeforGilgamesh.) And they got some pretty big name actors, but... why? There was nothing to do.

For all their maligned reputations, at least Iron Man 2 and 3 had RDJ and some good supporting cast, and Thor: The Dark World had great interactions between Thor and Loki. I may not watch those movies in full, but I'll still watch certain scenes from them. I've never said this about an MCU movie, but I don't care if we ever see these characters again....okay, maybe, MAYBE Eros/Starfox, but even then, WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU A FEW YEARS AGO?? I think the smartest thing for the MCU to do now is acknowledge The Snap...sorry, The Blip, but move away from it and Thanos. Shang-Chi, Far From Home, No Way Home and the Disney+ shows have been doing well with this. The Eternals are tied too much into major events, but then ask you to accept their lack of involvement. You can't do that: it gives us no reason to care about their situation in any way. I'm worried, based on some of the designs we saw leading up to the climax, that this will tie into the mystery of the 10 rings. Maybe, down the line, these characters will be more interesting in smaller doses, or interacting with others in the MCU.

And now tangentially-related, and because I couldn't find an answer on the internet,
is that Ashram who makes a cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy with the power stone? I've got Guardians on in the background and I just noticed him during The Collector's recap of the Infinity Stones.
I was 100% expecting them to acknowledge that the Ten Rings were Eternal tech. They didn't, ultimately, but the similarity in design does seem to be suggesting it.
 
All I could think of during the ending of Eternals was when are they going to say

WITH OUR POWERS COMBINED!

This whole movie probably should have been a 5 minute scene in another movie.
 
All I could think of during the ending of Eternals was when are they going to say

WITH OUR POWERS COMBINED!

This whole movie probably should have been a 5 minute scene in another movie.
Considering how they make a Celestial, the name "Captain Planet" becomes a literal harbinger of doom.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
I kicked the can down the street on Black Widow and it ended up biting me in the ass when I watched Hawkeye first and was all "Am I supposed to know who this is?" when you-know-who showed up.

So now I have FOMO if I don't watch Eternals, because even if it's crap I have to be able to catch references to it down the line.
 
I kicked the can down the street on Black Widow and it ended up biting me in the ass when I watched Hawkeye first and was all "Am I supposed to know who this is?" when you-know-who showed up.

So now I have FOMO if I don't watch Eternals, because even if it's crap I have to be able to catch references to it down the line.
I can break it down for you real quick if you'd like.

NOTHING HAPPENS.
Seriously. NOTHING. HAPPENS. 3 Eternals die and no one cares. They were here 7000 years and did jack-all except possibly recreate the ending of Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Also, Thanos's way-better-looking brother shows up at the end, and they give Jon Snow a sword. Again.
 
I've heard the sword thing might potentially be tied into a Venom or Blade movie down the line at some point for comic book reasons.
 
I've heard the sword thing might potentially be tied into a Venom or Blade movie down the line at some point for comic book reasons.
The Ebon Blade is the sword of the Black Knight, more of a tie in with Avengers and the magic users in Marvel Comics. Also, another “foreign based” character as opposed to the very USA centric original MCU Avengers lineup.
 
The Ebon Blade is the sword of the Black Knight, more of a tie in with Avengers and the magic users in Marvel Comics. Also, another “foreign based” character as opposed to the very USA centric original MCU Avengers lineup.
Yes, except it's the voice of Mahershala Ali (who is slated to play Blade in an upcoming movie) that pipes up when Dane Whitman opens the box.

Also interestingly... Black Panther has used the Ebon Blade as points too.
 

figmentPez

Staff member
I don't think this is a spoiler, since it's just a mash-up of MCU and another IP, but it might be based on casting rumors for Doctor Strange 2 (which was also an older casting rumor for Wandavision that didn't turn out to be true), so I'm going to spoiler it just in case someone wants the maximum chance to be surprised by everything MCU related:

 
I don't think this is a spoiler, since it's just a mash-up of MCU and another IP, but it might be based on casting rumors for Doctor Strange 2 (which was also an older casting rumor for Wandavision that didn't turn out to be true), so I'm going to spoiler it just in case someone wants the maximum chance to be surprised by everything MCU related:

And then it turned out to be Mephisto!
 
That's taking from Warren Ellis' run. I'm betting we'll see different outfits throughout the show. Maybe depending on which personality is in control? I'm honestly not all too familiar with Moon Knight. I plan on reading the original comic series from the 90s before the show starts up.

moon-knight.jpg
 
Ha! The very opening note of the trailer, I thought, "Hey that sounds like 'Blinding Lights'..." and then the rest of the trailer is them doubling down on the song again and again.
I'm going to assume the "touch" she's waiting to feel is of the Power Cosmic, tho, and not Mr. Shirtless.
...cuz that would probably be Divinyls, not The Weekend.

--Patrick
 
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figmentPez

Staff member
I'm really looking forward to Ms. Marvel.

I do wonder which criticism will be louder, though; fans bitching about how they changed her powers, or all the misogynistic racism?
 
On the one hand, I get why they changed her powers: it's hard to make something as... comic booky as shape changing look good. On the other hand, this makes me wonder if they'll still have her "Embiggen" with these new powers and how it's going to look.

If it looks good, it's all good, but I'm worried it's gonna look bad.
 
One theory that I've heard is that they are changing the inhuman connection to her origins and the item she finds in the trailer and apparently gets her powers from is a nega-band.
 
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