Marvel Cinematic Universe

[Daniel]

Very cool interview Jérémie did on "WandaVision". I'm really missing it! Really do love the show. The first two episodes are probably my favorites. Incredibly nostalgic! A very sincere love letter. After watching the Making of, you really see all the thought and care that went into it.

One thing I wish they would do is make more episodes and call them "lost" episodes. With so many callbacks to classic TV, that's the only thing the show never really touched! Naturally I would love more of the 50s/60s era. To watch more zany shenanigans, and to see things from a different perspective, much like the Agatha song. (Masterpiece indeed!) There's so much potential!

[gaastra]

Doc ock actor just confirmed he is playing doc ock in no way home!

https://variety.com/2021/film/news/alfr ... 53527/amp/

[EricJ]

Rumor has it MCU wants to reboot Sony's "Sinister Six" plan, but using ACTUAL Raimi-Spiderman (and Jamie Foxx from TASM2) villains. Even if Molina is reportedly getting some heavy CGI de-aging.

There's also the MCU question of who inherits Stark Tower after Tony, and in some canons, it's become the new Oscorp Tower for Norman "Green Goblin" Osborne...

[Ben]

Wait...this is news? Haven’t we have known about Molina and Foxx for months now? And that the Sonyverse Spidey movies are going to be unofficial-official crossovers with the MCU?

I do like that theory about Stark Tower, though, if Sony and Disney continue to play nice...

[Daniel]

Yep, old news.

[gaastra]

[Daniel]

Marvel Kombat!

[gaastra]

Shang-chi has been around decades before mortal kombat!

[Ben]

Yah, why he said MARVEL Kombat! I like it!

[Daniel]

[Ben]

Trailer looks kind of meh though. I have no clear idea of who he is, why I should care (or be excited), and don’t have enough insight to identify or be interested in him. Biggest lack of reaction to a Marvel title, original or sequel, in quite some time...

[EricJ]

Trailer looks kind of meh though. I have no clear idea of who he is, why I should care (or be excited), and don’t have enough insight to identify or be interested in him.

You shouldn't, shouldn't, and...don't feel bad.
It was literally Marvel's ONLY excuse for an entry into China-mania to go with Disney's "Mulan", and, no, they couldn't use Iron Fist after that Netflix thing.

Although it was also a good excuse to anti-retcon The Mandarin away from that "Iron Man 3" mess, and back to the comics' version, where Chinese audiences wouldn't be bothered as much.

[Randall]

I assume this is only a teaser, so I wasn't surprised that not much is revealed. I wouldn't have expected much more than what we got. I wasn't really wow'ed either, but I still find myself a bit intrigued to see more. After all, this promises to be yet another different genre-within-a-genre Marvel film. There were a couple of very brief neat effects shots. Looks like our hero is the son of... a bad oriental dude. (That was actually Fu Manchu in the comics, of course, but obviously not for the film.) He tries to resist his destiny/father's wishes, and will either submit or chart his own path. That's a pretty standard set-up, but whatchagonnado? Curious to see how The Mandarin fits in. And yes, finally we can move on from Iron Man 3's version.

Regardless of any intent to cater to the Chinese market, I love that Marvel continues to branch out. Shang Chi had a great comics run, and I'm happy to see him come to the big screen. (And nice to see a Canadian actor headlining a Marvel film, though we didn't get much sense of his personality from the trailer.) Hopefully the full trailer is more exciting.

[Ben]

And therin lies the rub: no sense of his personality in a clip, teaser or not (and, yes, it is just a teaser, though a long one that is more of an initial trailer than a tease) that is supposed to intro him to people like me who are not at all familiar with the character, or at least tenuously aware. And if it’s not even coming over to people like you, who do know the character and the background, then that’s not a real good thing.

It’s nothing to do with Chinese-catering, which I’m not bothered by either way, but Marvel have been here before, even going back to Iron Man, who famously no-one outside of comics knew who he was. Each time a "new" character is intro'd there’s been a buzz and inherent excitement/fun/intrigue from the initial look. Here I just didn’t get that, for a film I was actually quite intrigued for, and it doesn’t just seem to be me.

On a separate note: I didn’t actually have a problem with Iron Man Three's handling of The Mandarin: while a total departure, I loved that even comics fans got a major surprise that none of us was expecting, and it was a very funny twist and performance at that. I know that my head spun for a moment as the reveal was unfolding, in that Fight Club-Shutter Island kind of way of "wait, what, can we go back a sec!?", and though I felt "fooled", I also felt refreshed that I’d experience a genuine surprise. And it doesn’t negate them coming back with a more faithful Mandarin later...

[Randall]

I didn't mind the Iron Man 3 twist (which I had known well before seeing it), but it would have been better if they'd followed up on it much sooner. We have been waiting a long time for a proper Mandarin. I mean, wasn't The Ten Rings already teased in the first Iron Man? That is one slow burn.