General Discussion Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase 5 General Discussion (Spoilers discussed for All Films -- Please Read First Post) (1 Viewer)

[Malcolm R]

Just realized I haven't watched anything MCU since Shang-Chi, so though I dubbed myself a "regular viewer" I'm actually quite a ways behind (but have them all on disc, I think ).

 

[Jake Lipson]

I don't think most of the public knew this was a "big kickoff" for a new ongoing story. Most people just thought it was the third Ant-Man film and said, "Meh", and turned to other things.

I get what you're saying but whether the public knew or not isn't really relevant. Marvel hd a movie which introduced a villain they intend to use long-term, and the reaction to that film was "Meh." That's a problem.

 

[Malcolm R]

The info below makes me wonder if the Marvel team really has any idea what they're doing. As I mentioned elsewhere, if Deadpool 3 is going to be R-rated, it seems unwise to use that film to "set the stage" for upcoming movies when presumably much of the younger audience that supports these films will not be able to see it (at least in theaters).

Shawn Levy and Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool 3 will be Marvel and Disney’s sole superhero offering in 2024, and will now open on July 26 instead of May 3. The high-profile threequel, which co-stars Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, is the first Deadpool to be released by Disney since it acquired 20th Century Fox and is also the first R-rated pic to be released by Marvel Studios. The marquee title is described as a multi-verse spanning feature that will set the stage for Marvel’s upcoming Avengers movies. (The Hollywood Reporter)

 

[Jake Lipson]

presumably much of the younger audience that supports these films will not be able to see it (at least in theaters).

The MCU has been PG-13 since Iron Man in 2008. Young audiences who started with that movie are now more than old enough to see Deadpool. I guess it depends on how many current audience members Marvel thinks they have in the under-17 age bracket. I don't know the answer to that. They probably have enough audience members in the over 17 age bracket to compensate for any lost income from younger audiences.

If I ran Marvel, I would absolutely keep Deadpool in his own box and not have him interact with the MCU. But they're not asking me.

 

[TravisR]

Marvel hd a movie which introduced a villain they intend to use long-term, and the reaction to that film was "Meh." That's a problem.

Yeah, the tepid reaction to Ant-Man and then Jonathan Majors' real world legal problems made Kang being THE bad guy an even bigger problem.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Jonathan Majors' real world legal problems

I think the reaction to the movie is worse for Disney/Marvel than Majors is.

If the legal problems are the sole issue, they can just recast the character. Majors has been in one poorly received movie and a handful of TV episodes. Neither the fan base nor the wider public is attached enough to him for a recast to be problematic. This is a much different situation than Chadwick Boseman. If they want to continue with Kang, I think they can go with the "shut up, don't think about it" approach and just pick somebody else here.

But even if there was no legal problem -- even if Jonathan Majors is a saint who never hurt so much as a fly -- he still starred in a movie that the audience at large rejected. They can distance themselves from Majors as an actor going forward, but they can't change the fact that Quantumania was poorly received. They need to decide a way forward from that.

 

[Sean Bryan]

But even if there was no legal problem -- even if Jonathan Majors is a saint who never hurt so much as a fly -- he still starred in a movie that the audience at large rejected.

Did they though?

It definitely wasn’t a critical hit, and certainly got it’s fair share of “internet complaints”, but it seemed like the audience score here was pretty okay.

 

[Jake Lipson]

the audience score here was pretty okay.

I see your point and acknowledge it and would agree with it if everybody who saw the movie went over there and rated it. But the audience score on Rotten Tomatoes is only representative of people who care enough about it to go online and rate the movie. I don't think that's the general audience. I think it is a very specific subset of the audience. I didn't even know the Rotten Tomatoes audience score existed until there were online campaigns from jerks urging people to give things like Black Panther and Captain Marvel negative audience scores before they even came out.

I think the box office gives us a broader idea of how the general public responded to the movie. The fact that it had the highest opening for an Ant-Man movie but ended up closing below the other two demonstrates that word of mouth was bad and it really fell off a cliff after opening. If the film had been really popular and exciting to a huge audience, it would have had no problem outgrossing the other films considering that it had the highest opening. But that's not what happened.

 

[jayembee]

Disney+ seems to be trying various release strategies. Loki S2 was the usual one-per-week, Echo is going to be all-at-once, and What If...? S2 appears to be one-per-day. Doesn't sound like they've got any of the original voices for the characters this time around (except for Jon Favreau and Kat Dennings at the end of the trailer).

‘What If…?’: Unwrap New Season 2 Trailer Now

New episodes arrive each night for nine nights, beginning December 22.

www.marvel.com

Polygon reports that one of the episodes is "recorded entirely in Mohawk, introducing Kahhori, a new superheroine who comes into contact with the Tesseract in a timeline where it fell to Earth in pre-colonial New York State".

Marvel’s What If…? season 2 visits a Mario Kart world, the year 1602, Christmas

For Christmas this year, Marvel Studios is giving us the multiverse

www.polygon.com

 

[Jake Lipson]

Taika confirms no involvement with Thor 5.

I just had an idea.

I want to be clear that I have not heard anything about this actually happening, so it shouldn't be considered a rumor. It just popped into my head as something they could do.

But if I ran Marvel, I would call up Kenneth Branagh and see if he would want to come back for the fifth movie. As I understand it, he had a good experience making the first one and only declined to return because Marvel wanted to move faster than he did. He has also made other films for Disney since then, including Cinderella, Artemis Fowl and A Haunting in Venice. Disney also handled the release of Death On the Nile after buying Fox and got Murder On the Orient Express as part of Fox's catalog. So Branagh seems to have a good relationship over there.

I think it would be interesting to see what Branagh would do with Thor now. The first film Is a solid watch, and Branagh casting Hemsworth and Hiddleston paid off long-term with two of the MCU's brightest and most tenured stars. I think it would be really interesting to see what Branagh would do Especially if Thor 5 is designed as a farewell for the character, it would be nice and symmetrical to go back to Branagh as the person to close it out.

Of course, I don't know what else Branagh has going on or whether he would want to come back. This idea is predicated upon the assumption that he would be interested in doing so. But if he wanted to, I think that would be cool.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Tom Holland Spins On Spider-Man, Says Fourth Film Was Discussed, But No Decisions

Tom Holland has an explanation on why no sequel to his blockbuster Spider-Man: No Way Home has emerged. During a press conference with the Critics Choice Association, Holland said a compelling stor…

deadline.com

 

[Alex...]

Iron-Man is not being resurrected

Robert Downey Jr.’s Third Act: ‘Oppenheimer’ Is Just the Beginning

Following an Oscar-worthy turn in Christopher Nolan’s film, Downey’s inner circle size up the man and his considerable legacy.

www.vanityfair.com

 

[Sean Bryan]

While I’m not convinced they’ll go that way, not resurrecting RDJ’s Tony isn’t necessarily the same as not doing something with the character in the multiversal sense. Downey playing a variant of Stark from another Universe would not be undoing Tony’s death. Just like the alternate Gamora from Endgame and Vol. 3 did not undo Gamora Prime’s death in Infinity War.

Since it seems unlikely that Downey would reprise the role, it may be more likely that the character would be portrayed by a different actor if they did want to use a Stark variant in the culmination of the Multiverse Saga.

 

[Jake Lipson]

While I see what you're saying, I don't think the audience at large would see it that way. Introducing a version of RDJ as Tony would be looked upon by most of the audience as a way of getting the character back, even if it was a different version of him from a different timeline. I absolutely support not doing that.

Although it's interesting that Feige says they worked very hard to get to the moment of Tony's death and won't undo it, but he apparently didn't have any problem with turning Tony's best friend who was there at the time of that death into an evil alien for no good reason.

 

[dpippel]

Marvel Settles Fight Over Spider-Man, Doctor Strange Rights

The estate of Steve Ditko, who co-created the characters, has reached a deal with the company and ended the last of five battles over copyright termination efforts.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

With this confirmation, I'm thinking it's unlikely that Hoult will have any role in the MCU (since he played the younger version of Beast in several of the Fox X-Men films, he could have appeared in Secret Wars, for example).

Not to say it can't happen (maybe a cameo or short scene), since many actors have appeared in both universes, but with such a pivotal character as Lex, Hoult will likely have plenty of work.

I think there's a possibility that they bring over the Fox X-Men actors to the MCU. But I also think it's possible that the Fox X-Men cameos will continue to be restricted to other universes within the multiverse and (Deadpool aside) they'll want to cast new actors for all of the main roles.

 

[Jake Lipson]

they'll want to cast new actors for all of the main roles.

I suspect they'll do that when the "multiverse saga" is finally finished. Bringing the Fox versions over feels almost like a cheat code of sorts for the multiverse because that universe had already been established in the Fox films. They don't have to actually do any of the groundwork to introduce those versions of the characters because the fans already know them. But the Fox cast isn't going to want to do this forever. It already seems like a minor miracle that they were able to convince Hugh Jackman to un-retire for Deadpool 3 after Logan was so conclusive.

 

[Alex...]

 

[Joe Wong]

If confirmed, it'll be interesting to see which character.

Online fans have been suggesting Captain Britain for a while.

An interesting idea someone mentioned on Twitter was Doctor Doom. Imagine, going from DC's (arguably) top superhero to Marvel's (arguably) top supervillain!

 

[Malcolm R]

He'd be older than I'd expect for Cyclops (based on prior movies), though I imagine he's appeared at various ages in the comics.