Marvel Cinematic Universe Part II

[Ascended]

It probably has to do with power scaling and keeping everything "grounded", the MCU is kind of stingy when it comes to superpowers, especially physical ones. Characters like Thor and the Hulk don't feel like they're as strong as they should be. Wanda, Strange, and Carol got the lion's share.

I think it's more likely that a super strong, super fast, super durable, flying young woman in her late teens/early 20's who can punch holes through universes wouldn't need Strange's help in the first place. America had to appear weaker and less capable than Strange, otherwise why need him?

A couple years ago I'd have agreed about Marvel keeping things a little more grounded, but since Endgame we've had several characters brought in who are at the very least on the same power level as Thor, as well as stories that have been as fantastical and wild as it can get. We left "grounded" behind us somewhere between "evil robot tries to kill planet by throwing a city at it" and "army of super aliens invade world looking for magic rocks to accessorize a gold glam glove."

I think my entire problem with the movie is the fact you just did a long review of the movie mentioning multiple elements good and bad....

And it had nothing to do with Dr Strange lol.

And you aren't even close to the first one to do this.

Ha! You're not wrong. Well, in my defense I did try to keep the review kinda short since everyone else had seen the movie already, and my thoughts on Strange himself are a little more involved.

I'm disappointed in his lack of a character arc. He basically goes from "I'm not happy; I saved the universe but lost the girl and people think I'm a dick because I let the Snap happen" to "I'm still not happy....but me and Wong will work through it together because we're BFF's." Wanda, and even America, got more of a traditional character journey than the main character did, and that's not cool.

However, I think there's actually a real interesting attempt to explore a different kind of arc via the Variants. We see the Other Stranges in a variety of situations and levels of mental health, all of which relate to 616 Strange's character arc in one way or another. It's like trying to put a puzzle together with pieces from different puzzles. Which is interesting, but it's not something that's obvious or spelled out and I don't know if it's satisfying either, because even though all this dialogue wraps around the idea of Strange's happiness (or lack thereof) it's still largely other people....even if those other people are also Strange.

And that's the entire character arc whether the Other Stranges count or not; Strange isn't happy with his life. That's it. He doesn't become Sorcerer Supreme, he doesn't get the girl or find a new love interest, even the destruction of Kamar Taj is glossed over (and they're rebuilding before the film ends anyway, making it a dead end for character development). Very little in his life changes until the very end when he picks up some dark witchcraft and an extra eye, but all of that stuff is left to his next appearance, it doesn't have any bearing on his story in *this* movie.

And there were a lot of distractions to pull our attention away from Strange too. The Illuminati, Wanda.....I feel like Strange could have gone through an amazing, huge character arc and people still would have walked out of the theater saying "Jim from the Office is Reed Richards! Wanda was insane and I'm pissed about it!" yknow?

[Frontier]

And that's the entire character arc whether the Other Stranges count or not; Strange isn't happy with his life. That's it. He doesn't become Sorcerer Supreme, he doesn't get the girl or find a new love interest, even the destruction of Kamar Taj is glossed over (and they're rebuilding before the film ends anyway, making it a dead end for character development). Very little in his life changes until the very end when he picks up some dark witchcraft and an extra eye, but all of that stuff is left to his next appearance, it doesn't have any bearing on his story in *this* movie.

spoilers:

Well, Clea finally showed up so I wouldn't say that, even if it was in an extra scene.

end of spoilers

[Albert1981]

I liked the Eternals and MoM, but understand that they misdirected a lot with the trailer and how we understood the way things were going to go. Eternals fleshed out the characters a lot, but the most important thing in my opinion were the Celestials mainly because I think by now origin stories are boring and that they should tie into other characters more. However, I understand the need for them.

The Multiverse of Madness advanced the MCU because it showed us that there are other beings and realities out there that can influence the main universe we've been following. I think a lot of people were expecting the movie to be about an incursion since No Way Home brought other characters to the 616, and Multiverse of Madness didn't. It did the opposite.

By the time Secret Wars comes out, we'll see how the stint in another universe in Multiverse means that they'll have to ask for help from other universes since they have heroes that could help.

I haven't watched every solo movie or series, especially the regular action ones, but I do watch the flagship movies and series that drive the main story of this universe.

If they do Secret Wars right, people will return and watch the shows later. Which is something they probably want to happen. Multiverse of Madness made over $900 million dollars during this inflation period without the biggest market in the world besides the US. They need those "clapping" moments because people pay to see a show. The Eternals should've had at least one legacy character appear. They had no moments, but it was obvious they didn't care to have one since they had an Oscar winning director.

Didn't Star Ward crash with Episode 9, and that's why the movies are on hiatus? I swear, it should've been a Sith movie. They're cool and have never been explored like the Jedi. Anyway.

Yeah, Episode 9 was really badly received by audiences and critics alike. I haven't followed the Star Wars franchise for years, unfortunately. A Sith movie could have been interesting though. I think Star Wars is scared of doing anything new, so they play things safe. I agree Marvel hasn't done this that much. But to be fair, franchises like James Bond, Doctor Who, Law & Order, Star Trek and Star Wars have been around a lot longer than the MCU has and I think their fanbases have become more divided as a result. I actually didn't hate the Eternals as much as most people. I think if they cut down on the characters introduced, it would have improved massively. And I would have made them have "amnesia" or something, so they wouldn't need to explain their absence in previous MCU events. I appreciate the Multiverse of Madness trying to get into incursions, but I felt confused about how they worked. If you go into another universe for too long, bad **** will happen. But it seemed like Cap went into another "alternate reality" in Endgame and things seemed pretty swell according to the Russos. But then again Markus and McFeely did say that Steve Rogers was in the main MCU "reality", so I don't know what the hell was going on there. I just felt Strange 2 was more interested in explaining concepts and setting up future projects than focusing on Stephen. Like, the Christine he talked to most in his sequel wasn't even HIS Christine!!! To be honest, I felt sometimes that Cumberbatch, Olsen and even McAdams looked exhausted in some of their scenes. That's why I feel Marvel's quantity over quality approach is gonna hurt them in the long run. So yeah, I was disappointed in the MoM quite a bit.

I think with high inflation and a possible looming recession next year, it is all the more important for Disney Marvel to focus on a few projects and make them as good as possible. It costs a fortune to pay for gas to drive to theaters, buy tickets and various paraphernalia from concession stands to see a movie these days. Like, I recently got some takeout from a restaurant I usually frequent...And they didn't charge me extra. They just gave me less food. SCUM! I want Marvel Studios to make sure their creators watch the stuff WE are supposed to in order to "get" their films.

The clapping moments worked really well in NWH. That was impressively done, I don't question that. But they totally fell flat to me in Hawkeye and the MoM. It felt a little desperate to me. And I think we're gonna get more of that stuff in She-Hulk, Echo and Secret Invasion. I don't know anything about Secret Wars from the 2010s, but if they have SO many characters in it, I can EASILY see a movie interpretation getting bloated and out-of-hand. Hopefully Feige's team has a great plan in place. By the way, what's the difference between Star Trek's incursions and Marvel's?:

[Colossus1980]

I wonder when Secret Wars comes around will the MCU have enough interesting characters to entice the general audience? I mean by that time around most of the Original 6 Avengers will be gone, most if not all of the original GOTG will be gone, no Boseman Black Panther, probably more characters like the Winter Soldier, Iron Machine, etc will be gone. Will the MCU be able to introduce enough characters to engage in a successful SW? By that time the FF and X-Men should be involved, but newbies might be a bust like The Eternals.

[Frontier]

I wonder when Secret Wars comes around will the MCU have enough interesting characters to entice the general audience? I mean by that time around most of the Original 6 Avengers will be gone, most if not all of the original GOTG will be gone, no Boseman Black Panther, probably more characters like the Winter Soldier, Iron Machine, etc will be gone. Will the MCU be able to introduce enough characters to engage in a successful SW? By that time the FF and X-Men should be involved, but newbies might be a bust like The Eternals.

I hope Holland is still Spider-Man long enough to do Secret Wars.

[Ascended]

spoilers:

Well, Clea finally showed up so I wouldn't say that, even if it was in an extra scene.

end of spoilers

That's a set up for the next movie's character arc, not this one.

I liked the movie, more than I thought I would from what I had heard about it. But Strange truly doesn't get much character development in it. And I'm okay with that, I had fun with the movie, but it *is* telling that so many people have apparently barely mentioned the main character while discussing the film.

[mace11]

Yeah, Episode 9 was really badly received by audiences and critics alike.

Rise of skywalker
Audience
86%
4.3 out of 5 average rating
4 stars out 5.
The cinemascore is b+ however so it's the least enjoyable starwars movie.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi CinemaScore is an A but it's audience rt score was review bombed.


Most of the audiences like Episode 9.
The ones that did not are a loud minority on the internet.
Most of the audiences like eternals and doctor strange too and they were given high average ratings(looking at the RT SCORES) but they are some of least enjoyable mcu movies so far looking at the cinemascores like thor 1 because they are in B'S.

[mace11]

By the way marvel studios would be putting out 4 movies by now if it was not for the pandemic and i think 4 shows a year too.
I think they still plan to put out 4 movies and shows a year.
DC was planning the same thing too fot the movies.

For the record i think the mcu is still fine and for me phase 3 and 4 overall are the most exciting and best phases so far.
Thanks goodness kevin and marvel studios team are not listening to a small minority on how to run thier studio.
Like i said in the past posts kevin and team keep doing what you are doing.

If there are problems in future they know how to adjust etc...
They did so doing the pandemic and still doing it.
If they need to slow down then i guess they will never get the mutants or it will take a longer time because i am way more excited for the avengers/ultimates stuff(blue marvel,america chavez,monica etc..) related stuff then x-men stuff.
Fox X- men had thier chance so keep that in mind.

Now those wanting mutant mcu projects(movies and shows) then those should be happy that marvel is putting has many projects as they are,because if anything has to to be sacrificed in the mcu from my point of view or is not needed it is x-men/mutants.
So if you want to the mutants in the mcu faster,then word of advice just be happy you getting projects faster now and alot because from my point of view and most of audience and critics phase 4 and 3 is the best so far.

[Albert1981]

Rise of skywalker
Audience
86%
4.3 out of 5 average rating
4 stars out 5.
The cinemascore is b+ however so it's the least enjoyable starwars movie.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi CinemaScore is an A but it's audience rt score was review bombed.


Most of the audiences like Episode 9.
The ones that did not are a loud minority on the internet.
Most of the audiences like eternals and doctor strange too and they were given high average ratings(looking at the RT SCORES) but they are some of least enjoyable mcu movies so far looking at the cinemascores like thor 1 because they are in B'S.

You're right. Most people liked that movie. I didn't do a good job of expressing myself earlier and I apologize for that. I meant to say that it wasn't as well-received as previous Star Wars entries. For some reason Episode 9 got a lot of hate. Star Wars fandom can be pretty toxic. I didn't really enjoy most of the Phase Four movies, but most people seem to like them. I wish they delayed them because I think they could have used more time to improve things. I think Love & Thunder should give the MCU some more momentum in the coming weeks. I was surprised by how quickly people stopped talking about the MoM a week after it came out. The bigger "tentpole" Marvel movies usually have a little bit more staying power than that.

I am not keen on the mutants/X-Men joining the MCU at all. I agree with you there. They already had TWENTY YEARS of movies and shows with Fox. That's a LOT of content as well. Fans of the mutants/X-Men have plenty of material to watch while they await for their entry into the MCU. I want Marvel Studios to "fix" the Hulk first. That's important to me. Banner fans deserve it. I think that takes priority over the Young Avengers/Thunderbolts/Midnight Sons stuff. I still like Phase 3 best and I don't think that will ever be topped. And that's fine. It'll probably be too hard to surpass that achievement, but the MCU can still maintain a high level of quality for the foreseeable future if they don't spread themselves too thin. I just want Disney/Marvel to stop introducing so many characters and storylines so quickly. I don't think that's an unreasonable ask.

[Frontier]

That's a set up for the next movie's character arc, not this one.

I liked the movie, more than I thought I would from what I had heard about it. But Strange truly doesn't get much character development in it. And I'm okay with that, I had fun with the movie, but it *is* telling that so many people have apparently barely mentioned the main character while discussing the film.

Yeah, but I guess you could say that it was building up to that happening by closing the door on one end and introducing the person he's supposed to be with.

When your lead actor is questioning if his character even has an arc and had to fight to keep scenes in...I think you have a problem.

[mace11]

Of course when the mutants do come to the 616 mcu they will be done much better and be way more exciting then the fox-x-men,so i am curious because it will be much different.
So it's going happen away.

[mace11]

Doctor Strange 2 Just Broke the MCU's Disney+ Viewership Record

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is once again all the rage thanks to the project having hit Disney+. Now fans can revisit the adventure whenever they want to. It's hard to blame anyone for jumping back in - after all, who can't get enough of John Krasinski as Reed Richards? Or Elizabeth Olsen simply shredding through reality itself?

All this attention has brought new observations to the surface since its arrival on Disney+. For example, Mr. Fantastic's entrance into the Illuminati was actually a Doctor Doom Easter egg, and the film once had a darker alternate ending that saw Earth-616's Strange get trapped in a broken reality.


With a whole new audience diving back into the madness of the Multiverse, it looks like all that traffic has now caused the film to break a viewership record for the Marvel Cinematic Universe on Disney+.

Doctor Strange Breaks Disney+ Viewership Record

Samba TV released new statistics for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' Disney+ release, and the numbers see the project break a viewership record on Disney+.

According to the service, Benedict Cumberbatch's latest film saw 2.1 million US households watch the movie within the first five days of its streaming release. When it comes to this specific statistic, the most recent MCU project now ranks number one.

In comparison, the recent Eternals film was watched by 2 million US households in a comparative time period, placing it just behind Multiverse of Madness. Some other 5-day premiere viewership numbers for recent movies via Samba TV include:

Red Notice: 4.2M

Mortal Kombat: 3.8M

Godzilla vs. Kong: 3.6M

The Suicide Squad 2.8M

Without Remorse: 2.6M

The Harder They Fall: 2.5M

Soul: 2.4M

The Tomorrow War: 2.4M

Wonder Woman 84: 2.2M

Space Jam 2: 2.1M

Dune: 1.7M

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings: 1.7M

Black Widow: 1.1M

https://thedirect.com/article/doctor...wership-record

[mace11]

BREAKING John Krasinski WILL NOT Be MCU Mr.Fantastic Going Forward

[mace11]

Sam Raimi Hints John Krasinski Will Not Be Reed Richards In The MCU

[John Venus]

So far Dr Strange has been at his best in crossovers. His solo stuff has been lacking.

I wonder when Secret Wars comes around will the MCU have enough interesting characters to entice the general audience? I mean by that time around most of the Original 6 Avengers will be gone, most if not all of the original GOTG will be gone, no Boseman Black Panther, probably more characters like the Winter Soldier, Iron Machine, etc will be gone. Will the MCU be able to introduce enough characters to engage in a successful SW? By that time the FF and X-Men should be involved, but newbies might be a bust like The Eternals.

Between deaging technology, improvements in CGI (to the point where actors don't even have to be on set or suit up) and adding AI to the mix, I'm sure they could pull something off. Even right now, we are debating the ethics of 'resurrecting' actors using AI and whether a whole film should be made with dead actors. Even with technology that exists today they could create an entirely AI character complete with voice and body language that could pass as human and interact with human character.