George R.R. Martin Weighs in on "Ant-Man," Wasp, MCU Villains & More

[Confuzzled]

Spider-Man also fought Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Sandman, The Lizard, and Electro. I don't know if Martin knows what he's talking about.

It's called taking an example. And even then, none of the other villains are similar to Spider-Man power and visual wise like Iron Man/Iron Monger, Hulk/Abomination and now Ant-Man/Yellowjacket. It makes for pretty lazy movie making and underdeveloped characterization.

[Beau Yarbrough]

It's taken him 10 years to put out 2 books. Martin's opinion related to anything literary became irrelevant years ago.

You should see how long it took Harper Lee to get her second book to market.

[RobinFan4880]

It's taken him 10 years to put out 2 books. Martin's opinion related to anything literary became irrelevant years ago.

The last book came out in 2011, so it has only been 4 years.

The process of writing a novel is complex and takes as long as it takes, especially when you are writing a intricate tome where much of what you write ends up on the chopping block.

[wjowski]

You should see how long it took Harper Lee to get her second book to market.

...Well that really depends on whether you think it was her idea to release it.

[MarvelMaster616]

Love George R. R. Martin's passion for Marvel movies. I think unlike other celebrities, he offers some valid criticism. I get that this movie was about Scott Lang, but I think Hank/Janet shouldn't be undercut because of that. It's an important relationship in the history of Marvel Comics, for better and for worse. And he makes a good point about the villains having similar powers. I think that's what makes Loki so great. He's unique, having his own personality and such. I think that goes a long ways towards making him awesome. Makes me wonder what he'll think of the new Fantastic Four movie. I have a feeling that movie is going to divide Marvel fans of every kind.

[DennisTheMenace]

The last book came out in 2011, so it has only been 4 years.

The process of writing a novel is complex and takes as long as it takes, especially when you are writing a intricate tome where much of what you write ends up on the chopping block.

Agent Scarlet is correct, although it actually took 11 years. Book 3 was published in 2000 and Book 5 was published in 2011. Thus it took 11 years for us to get two mediocre books. (4 and 5). It only took 4 years to get the first 3 masterpieces published and based on the massive amount of drivel in the last two books, I doubt anything he writes ends of on the chopping block. He probably squeezes it all in there somewhere no matter how meandering and useless much of it is. I'm now actually quite thankful that we'll get an ending via HBO because it's doubtful to me that we'll ever get a proper ending from the author.

[MisterPL]

I've been saying this for years. Marvel Studios has a very safe, successful formula:

Iron Man vs. Iron Monger and Whiplash
Hulk vs. Abomination
Thor vs. Loki
Captain America vs. Red Skull
Ant-Man vs. Yellow Jacket

Even the rival studios pit X-Men against the Brotherhood or Spidey against Venom or other animal-based villains.

Bring on Kraven. Show me accidentally super-powered scientists battling genetically evolved mutants. Let's see how Iron Man does against magic.

Plenty of good stories to tell.

[abulafia]

i appreciate him sharing his opinion. in the entertainment bizz you mostly hear only diplomatic praise.
but martin is one of us, a fan.
most of you know about this, but i think this is a good thread to post this, for those who might have missed it:

[chamber-music]

Legendary comic writer and editor Roy Thomas talked to The Hollywood Reporter about Marvel.

Thomas said he preferred the movie version of Yellowjacket to his version from the comics. Thomas also said he would like to see a Giant-Man film

[Flash Gordon]

It's taken him 10 years to put out 2 books. Martin's opinion related to anything literary became irrelevant years ago.

Have you ever written a book though? How about a big ole fantasy novel? Not something you can bang out in a year.

[DennisTheMenace]

Have you ever written a book though? How about a big ole fantasy novel? Not something you can bang out in a year.

But that's not really true. Some of the most popular fantasy authors of the day (including Martin) regularly put out large books every year/year and a half. Off the top of my head are Martin himself with the first 3 books of ASOIAF, Robert Jordan with the first half dozen Wheel of Time books (which are arguably the best of the lot), and Brandon Sanderson who's churning out massive tomes on a very regular basis. Martin's put out two books in the last decade that probably should have only been one book and in my opinion, are not nearly as good as the first three.

If Martin had started towards his endgame in books 4 and 5 rather than open entirely new plots and introduce new characters that no one cares about, we'd be rushing toward the finish line already. That's not even mentioning the hundreds of useless pages spent on describing feasts and clothing and people and storylines that go nowhere. (Where do whores go by the way?) Now we're going to have to watch the end on HBO rather than read it. (yes, I know that's a choice but I'd like to know how it ends before something happens where I'll never be able to---and like I said previously, I have doubts that the end of this series will ever see print.

[Ceebiro]

I've been saying this for years. Marvel Studios has a very safe, successful formula:

Iron Man vs. Iron Monger and Whiplash
Hulk vs. Abomination
Thor vs. Loki
Captain America vs. Red Skull
Ant-Man vs. Yellow Jacket

That's actually how it is in the comics though. All of the heroes are generally restricted to their realm of antagonists. Iron Man fights tech threats. Hulk fights gamma beasts and monsters. Cap fights threats to the American Ideal or twisted versions of it. Spider-Man has a menagerie of animal related threats including Kraven the Hunter (who should have been the villain for ASM2). Mutants police mutants and combat direct threats to mutant kind.

It's hard to fault Marvel for drawing from the comics when that's what most fans have been asking for.

All said a more mystic based Mandarin would have really helped to open up the MU leading up to Age of Ultron and hammer home just how much Tony didn't know about the universe.

[Ceebiro]

Drag them for the Janet fridging, GRRM!

He would be one to talk.

It's called taking an example. And even then, none of the other villains are similar to Spider-Man power and visual wise like Iron Man/Iron Monger, Hulk/Abomination and now Ant-Man/Yellowjacket. It makes for pretty lazy movie making and underdeveloped characterization.

So Venom never happened?

Dark mirrors are a standard storytelling concept and one that Marvel has been using from the beginning. Beyond surface similarities, there is still an incredible amount of space to create characters and define personalities to make compelling villains.

It's like how you can have Hobgoblin fans who just can't stand the Green Goblin or Doctor Sivana fans who think Lex Luthor is overrated. On the surface there are more similarities than differences, but when you dig into the details, that's where you find the character.

[Mia]

I agree with much of what Martin has said. I actually liked AM much more than than many of the other Marvel films (Thor, IM, Avengers and CM #1) because it had way more heart and wasn't just a giant video game.

Have you ever written a book though? How about a big ole fantasy novel? Not something you can bang out in a year.

It can be done, but it needs to be worked on consistently. Although I think that to do a novel of the scope that Martin is doing some thought needs to be put into it to give it some depth.