Marvel Cinematic Universe Part II

[Albert1981]

There's hundreds of shows and movies out there, and Disney owns over 50% of the box office at any time. I think other companies streaming their movies might benefit them. The Eternals movie wasn't bad. It wasn't as action packed as other MCU movies, and people expect the typical MCU fight scene at the end of each of their movies. This wasn't Civil War. Their new strategy might be to not be so predictable and cliché, because that's what the MCU has become.

Yeah, I don't think it's bad. But I keep hearing the comments like the movie was "ambitious". To ME, that means it tried to do something unique and sort of failed. I could be TOTALLY wrong about that, but that's kind of how I see it. I don't think the Eternals is a bad movie from what I'm hearing. Just a little bit "dense" and "convoluted". It HAS to be if it's trying to explain over 7,000 years of human history! I do think they should have cut down the number of characters in it. I believe the VAST majority of audiences will forget the names and powers of each of the ten characters featured in the film after watching the movie. I think it's asking TOO MUCH of moviegoers to remember that shit. But as you say, it's not really connected to other MCU properties, so it might not matter...For now. Stuff like Blade, Doctor Strange 2, Spider-Man 3, Black Panther 2, and Thor 4 will herald a "back to basics" approach in my opinion. But I STILL think Feige and company should continue to take risks. Not having a fight scene at the end of an MCU project would be nice.

But boy, some of the reviews about the Eternals and the MCU in general have been BRUTAL:

https://nypost.com/2021/11/04/please...-its-too-late/

I've never seen the entertainment media turn on a Disney/Marvel Studios project like this ever before. It's crazy!

[inisideguy]

I think three is an ideal number. That's plenty to keep people satisfied every year. I can't stand Sony Marvel movies, and I try to avoid them at all costs. I agree with you about popular entertainment franchises though. Seems content like the MCU, the DCEU, James Bond, Fast and Furious, Mission Impossible and A Star is Born are the only things people wanna see in theaters these days.

Yea I mean the other movie studios have a job ahead of them. I mean say what you want but Disney is the only one that is putting out consistent stuff that people want to see. The other studios have some franchises. But I mean even universal can't put out 3 Fast and Furious movies a year ( although at this point they might be thinking about it). The future for these big studios is gonna be interesting. I will say Bond is lighting it up internationally, no doubt. But you can't do 4 bond movies a year either.

[Albert1981]

Yea I mean the other movie studios have a job ahead of them. I mean say what you want but Disney is the only one that is putting out consistent stuff that people want to see. The other studios have some franchises. But I mean even universal can't put out 3 Fast and Furious movies a year ( although at this point they might be thinking about it). The future for these big studios is gonna be interesting. I will say Bond is lighting it up internationally, no doubt. But you can't do 4 bond movies a year either.

I do believe television will play a bigger role in the future. I think "traditional" network shows like Law & Order, NCIS, CSI, and Grey's Anatomy are safe from disruption. But besides game shows and reality tv, I haven't seen anything NEW from network television in a while that's actually caught fire (I'm talking scripted shows here). I mean HBO had the Sopranos and Game of Thrones. But they're done now. AMC has been doing really well with the Walking Dead on cable tv. But that's it. The rest of television is dominated by streaming. Such a huge change from even a decade ago. I actually only started watching streaming products regularly THIS year, so I'm VERY late to the party. It's so weird to watch television with no commercials and fundraising appeals. Bond has an extremely loyal following which encompasses many generations. But his franchise does NOT take place within a cinematic universe. I don't really think Star Wars, Star Trek, and Doctor Who do either. All the shows I've mentioned in this post don't have an expansive cast of characters. Marvel has a huge one, and I don't believe they need to bring in so many characters so quickly. I LIKE endings. Tony, Steve and Natasha "retiring" made Endgame work for me. I think it's totally okay for Loki to retire after the second season of his show. By then Hiddleston will have been in the MCU for over ten years. I'm cool with Clint retiring after his show and for Banner to retire in She-Hulk or in his own movie in a couple of years. Ruffalo will have been in the MCU for over a decade by then too. Renner will have reached a decade by the end of his show. Sebastian Stan's Bucky has already been in the MCU for ten years and Jackson's Fury, Hemsworth's Thor and Cheadle's Rhodey have all exceeded that number by now as well. I don't mind them retiring in the next couple of years either. That's what makes the live-action stuff way better to me than the comic books. Everybody gets to complete their character arcs, for better or for worse. I just don't wanna have the MCU become TOO crowded. It's not like in the comic books when over 5,000 characters can exist at the same time.

[Kingdom X]

Yeah, I don't think it's bad. But I keep hearing the comments like the movie was "ambitious". To ME, that means it tried to do something unique and sort of failed. I could be TOTALLY wrong about that, but that's kind of how I see it. I don't think the Eternals is a bad movie from what I'm hearing. Just a little bit "dense" and "convoluted". It HAS to be if it's trying to explain over 7,000 years of human history! I do think they should have cut down the number of characters in it. I believe the VAST majority of audiences will forget the names and powers of each of the ten characters featured in the film after watching the movie. I think it's asking TOO MUCH of moviegoers to remember that shit. But as you say, it's not really connected to other MCU properties, so it might not matter...For now. Stuff like Blade, Doctor Strange 2, Spider-Man 3, Black Panther 2, and Thor 4 will herald a "back to basics" approach in my opinion. But I STILL think Feige and company should continue to take risks. Not having a fight scene at the end of an MCU project would be nice.

But boy, some of the reviews about the Eternals and the MCU in general have been BRUTAL:

https://nypost.com/2021/11/04/please...-its-too-late/

I've never seen the entertainment media turn on a Disney/Marvel Studios project like this ever before. It's crazy!

I read an Eternals "review" on AiPT that was really just a complaint/ takedown of the MCU. The MCU has never been perfect, but maybe since a film has finally gotten negative reviews everybody thinks now is the time to bring up those longstanding complaints.

[Spiderfan001]

Yeah, I don't think it's bad. But I keep hearing the comments like the movie was "ambitious". To ME, that means it tried to do something unique and sort of failed. I could be TOTALLY wrong about that, but that's kind of how I see it. I don't think the Eternals is a bad movie from what I'm hearing. Just a little bit "dense" and "convoluted". It HAS to be if it's trying to explain over 7,000 years of human history! I do think they should have cut down the number of characters in it. I believe the VAST majority of audiences will forget the names and powers of each of the ten characters featured in the film after watching the movie. I think it's asking TOO MUCH of moviegoers to remember that shit. But as you say, it's not really connected to other MCU properties, so it might not matter...For now. Stuff like Blade, Doctor Strange 2, Spider-Man 3, Black Panther 2, and Thor 4 will herald a "back to basics" approach in my opinion. But I STILL think Feige and company should continue to take risks. Not having a fight scene at the end of an MCU project would be nice.

But boy, some of the reviews about the Eternals and the MCU in general have been BRUTAL:

https://nypost.com/2021/11/04/please...-its-too-late/

I've never seen the entertainment media turn on a Disney/Marvel Studios project like this ever before. It's crazy!

I agree

I also feel it's taking the hit for a lot of MCU problems and superhero fatigue on top of it's own flaws.It wasn't just ambitious in it's uniqueness IMO, it just tried to do too much.All the eternals, the celestials , deviants to the post credit scenes etc. that were never built up before nor audience having any idea who or what they are as opposed to Spider-man or even some of the Avengers.

It wasn't goofy like Gotg and didn't have a Quill character to ground it all, which was key to Gotg's success.

Marvel made a big gamble and it didn't really land, and the fact that enough critics/famous people are open about it leads to a lot casual audience to feel they can too.

[Force de Phenix]

I agree

I also feel it's taking the hit for a lot of MCU problems and superhero fatigue on top of it's own flaws.It wasn't just ambitious in it's uniqueness IMO, it just tried to do too much.All the eternals, the celestials , deviants to the post credit scenes etc. that were never built up before nor audience having any idea who or what they are as opposed to Spider-man or even some of the Avengers.

It wasn't goofy like Gotg and didn't have a Quill character to ground it all, which was key to Gotg's success.

Marvel made a big gamble and it didn't really land, and the fact that enough critics/famous people are open about it leads to a lot casual audience to feel they can too.

I don't get how people can say it was too much, with characters and story, when Dune is literally out in cinemas now. It's "easier" and less convoluted than Dune, and there's a scene where they sit the viewer down and explain everything to them just in case they're confused.

I wonder if they had included and involved the Eternals in other projects like they did the Guardians of the Galaxy, Defenders, and other Avengers beforehand, would there have been this backlash. A lot of people are hating on the Eternals on social media saying things like, "Marvel can't make me care about them" and "they're shoving the Eternals down our throats." The typical cynical garbage they always say. Critics are just sick of Hollywood's superhero craze, that Disney is pushing to the max until they lose money. If they don't lose money, they won't stop because if there's money to be made, who cares about anything naysayers say?

[John Venus]

I'd be fine with them just saying Galactus is a Celestial. Keep it streamlined.

And I definitely think the FF need to be central to the Galactus story but I'm kinda torn on how it should be done. I feel like Galactus has to be a big damn deal. Not necessarily a Thanos style, multi-phase big bad, but a multi-film villain at least. I don't think Galactus is a threat you deal with in a single movie, and unless you turn the entire FF trilogy into a big Galactus tale that kinda forces the narrative into other franchises.

But however its done the FF need to be right there, up in the action and leading the charge.

Not sure about him being a Celestial. We already have enough confusion about how Ego counts as a Celestial. Way too much streamlining can remove unique traits of characters.

Keep Galatcus as a survivor of the universe before ours and who turned into a cosmic being who has to survive on the life from other planets in order to survive.

Go with what Kirby intended for them to be: Galactus is GOD and Surfer is the ANGEL OF DEATH.

I love the old Silver Surfer cartoon so take cues from that; establish Norrin Radd and Galactus in a separate project. Show us Norrin being separated from his love interest to become Galactus herald. Then cross over with the Fantastic Four wherein the Silver Surfer arrives. The conflict should be that Galactus is this massive predator who is simply trying to survive but at the expense of our existence. Nobody is able to stop him or the Surfer, not Captain Marvel, not Monica Rambeau, not the Eternals, not the Scarlet Witch or Dr Strange or the Hulks or anybody.

Until, the blind Alicia manages to change the Surfers mind and Reed Richards finds the 'Ultimate Nullifier' and threaten to blow everything up until Galactus decides to back off. But the Surfer is banished to earth briefly until later he is given freedom to explore the stars wherein he tries to reunite with his lost lover and home planet. Meanwhile, Galactus chooses Frankie Rye as his new herald. After that, the most important thing to do would be to *not* do what the comics did wherein they turned Galactus into a jobber. When he shows up, it should be a big deal and nothing every truly phases him. Every being sees him in their own image.

Plus Kangs actor is black so if they're going with the descendant route it makes sense that at least either Reed or Sue is black

I had the same thought as well. I think that is the route they're going with the characters. Jon Watts is also directing this and his Spider-Man movies were very diverse.

make the fantastic four indian, nuff said

Rahul Richardswami
Sumi Surendra
Jayapal Surendra
Bhima Gupta
Fareed Richardswami
Vasana Richardswami

Heh, I used to fan cast Danny Pudi as Reed Richards. Just retcon the SHIELD techie he played in Cap:TWS as college Reed doing a part time job.

Speaking of all-black teams, do you all think the MCU would ever adapt “The Crew”? Both iterations were really short-lived, but I feel like both had some good ideas.

After Isaiah Bradley in Falcon & TWS, I don't put anything past them.

I guess it depends on how big a fan Nate Moore is of the property. Since he is the guy pulling the strings behind Black Panther, Falcon & TWS, Black Panther 2, Eternals and Priest mentioned that Nate Moore called him to talk about BP a couple of years before the movie came out.

[Ascended]

They don't need to introduce THAT many characters so quickly.

Oh I dunno if it's as bad as it seems at first glance. We got Yelena and Alexi, but Yelena is replacing Nat and Alexi is just supporting cast. We got a bunch of Eternals and Black Knight but the Guardians are wrapping up soon and not all the Eternals made it through their film. Kate Bishop is likely taking over for Clint. Then there's Shang Chi of course.

Meanwhile Spidey and Ant-Man are both wrapping up their trilogies and who knows if they'll stick around beyond that. We have a lot of new faces yes, but a lot of characters who are likely leaving soon too. The MCU is growing but I don't think it's expanding as much as it seems when you consider the heroes who're finishing up.

[Arsenal]

Yeah I agree it's nowhere near as bad as it looks when you factor all the old guard either being dead or stepping aside. I'm sure phase 5 will be mostly sequels with some new stuff sprinkled in.

[MindofShadow]

Just a reminder the Shang-Chi is free on D+ tomorrow

[Witchfan]

How many characters do you want in the next Avengers movie?

I want six New Avengers. None of the ones from the first movie should be on the team. Captain Marvel and Shang-Chi are safe bets to be on this team.

[John Venus]

Phase 6 and 7 (if they get that far) will probably be FF and X-Men dominated thus bringing everything full circle.

Unlike comic books, actors age in real life, so every MCU character will have a beginning, middle and an end (unless you're Loki). They'll introduce new heroes who will serve as jumping on points for newer viewers while wrapping up the story arcs of older characters.

[John Venus]

I want six New Avengers. None of the ones from the first movie should be on the team. Captain Marvel and Shang-Chi are safe bets to be on this team.

They'll probably do a version of A-Force with CM, She Hulk, Sersei, Monica, Kamala, Yelena and Kate Bishop. No way, they can resist doing a version of the circle shot but with an all female Avengers roster this time.

[BlackClaw]

I want six New Avengers. None of the ones from the first movie should be on the team. Captain Marvel and Shang-Chi are safe bets to be on this team.

Sam will probably be a lock as well.

[Frontier]

I'd need to see when they plan on introducing The Avengers, what movies will have been out by then, and what will lead to the formation of the new team before I make any roster assumptions.