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

[Adam Lenhardt]

MCU Phase 1
MCU Phase 2
MCU Phase 3
MCU Phase 4

This thread will contain spoilers so if there is any MCU film you haven't seen yet, the reading of this thread is at your own peril. Again, MCU spoilers will be discussed in this thread without any warnings.

A general thread for discussion related to multiple MCU movies and TV shows in Phase 5.

Known titles for Phase 5 (last updated: 05/26/2023):

#	Title	Type	Release Date	Director	Writer	Status
1	Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania	Motion Picture	02/17/2023	Peyton Reed	Jeff Loveness	In Theaters
2	Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3	Motion Picture	05/05/2023	James Gunn	Kevin Feige	In Theaters
3	"Secret Invasion" Season 1	TV Series	06/21/2023	Thomas Bezucha and Ali Selim	Kyle Bradstreet	Post-production
4	"Loki" Season 2	TV Series	10/06/2023	Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead	Eric Martin	Post-production
5	The Marvels	Motion Picture	11/10/2023	Nia DaCosta	Megan McDonnell, Nia DaCosta, Elissa Karasik, and Zeb Wells	Post-production
6	"What If...?" Season 2	TV Series	Late 2023	Bryan Andrews	A. C. Bradley	In Production
7	"Echo" Season 1	TV Series	Early 2024	Sydney Freeland and Catriona McKenzie	Marion Dayre	Post-production
8	"X-Men '97" Season 1	TV Series	Early 2024	TBA	Beau DeMayo	Post-production
9	Captain America: Brave New World	Motion Picture	07/26/2024	Julius Onah	Malcolm Spellman & Dalan Musson	Post-production
10	"Agatha: Darkhold Diaries" Season 1	TV Series	Fall 2024	Jac Schaeffer, Gandja Monteiro, and Rachel Goldberg	Jac Schaeffer	Post-production
11	Thunderbolts	Motion Picture	12/20/2024	Jake Schreier	Eric Pearson	Impacted by WGA Strike
12	Blade	Motion Picture	02/14/2025	Yann Demange	Michael Starrbury	Impacted by WGA Strike
13	"Daredevil: Born Again"	TV Series	TBD	TBA	Matt Corman & Chris Ord	Impacted by WGA Strike
14	"Ironheart" Season 1	TV Series	TBD	Sam Bailey and Angela Barnes	Chinaka Hodge	Post-production

Spoilers won't be needed for any MCU film, including new movies as soon as they release in North America.
Spoilers of MCU Disney+ series should be in spoiler tags until last episode of season has aired.

 

[Citizen87645]

I assume the What If series is not really meant as canon, although the end of season 2 had some tie in to the Multiverse of Madness. I watched the first episode of Season 3 and that was the hardest 30 minutes of TV I've watched in a long time.

 

[Sean Bryan]

I assume the What If series is not really meant as canon, although the end of season 2 had some tie in to the Multiverse of Madness. I watched the first episode of Season 3 and that was the hardest 30 minutes of TV I've watched in a long time.

Pretty sure it is canon to the MCU multiverse.

 

[Citizen87645]

I've enjoyed the previous seasons of What If, which is why I was so surprised by my reaction to the latest season. Others seem to feel the same way, that the hypothetical scenarios are more outlandish and the messages behind them cloying. Season 2 seemed to have a purpose of informing the multiverse plot, but with that plot being minimized now, it doesn't sound like Season 3 really has as much of a purpose, and hence the silliness.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

The head writer for the first two seasons was A.C. Bradley, while the head writer for the third season was Matthew Chauncey. That could explain the difference.

I never made it through the first season, to be honest.

 

[Citizen87645]

I might like the later episodes, just based on the summaries. The first episode with Hulk and gamma ray kaiju with mech Avengers just wasn't doing it for me. Mackie and Ruffalo didn't seem too enthused about the voice acting either.

 

[Sam Favate]

This is some of the best Marvel news I've seen in a while. I thought the Netflix shows were great and they deserve to be absorbed into the MCU. There are even references to the events of the Avengers in the various shows.

Marvel ‘Exploring’ the Returns of Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist in the MCU; Charlie Cox Recalls ‘Some Feud Between Netflix and Disney’

Marvel Studios is exploring bringing back Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and more years after their Netflix series were canceled.

variety.com

 

[Citizen87645]

That would be cool. It seems so long ago those shows came out, but I guess it has been almost 10 years.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

This is some of the best Marvel news I've seen in a while. I thought the Netflix shows were great and they deserve to be absorbed into the MCU. There are even references to the events of the Avengers in the various shows.

Marvel ‘Exploring’ the Returns of Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist in the MCU; Charlie Cox Recalls ‘Some Feud Between Netflix and Disney’

Marvel Studios is exploring bringing back Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and more years after their Netflix series were canceled.

variety.com

I would be on board with this, as long as we get Jessica Henwick's Colleen Wing as Iron Fist instead of Finn Jones's Danny Rand as Iron Fist.

 

[Sam Favate]

I would be on board with this, as long as we get Jessica Henwick's Colleen Wing as Iron Fist instead of Finn Jones's Danny Rand as Iron Fist.

I’m fine with Jones ( I bet Marvel can find a better way to use him) but it would be malpractice not to bring back Henwick, who was easily the best thing about the Iron Fist show.

 

[Citizen87645]

I'm continuing to consume What If? in small bites and that seems to be going down easier. I have two episodes remaining. Shang Chi and Hawkeye (Kate Bishop) in the Old West was interesting, but Shang Chi being called the 10 Rings and being summoned by ringing a bell 10 times was kinda dumb...I did appreciate the context of the Chinese immigrant experience in the 1800s though.

 

[Citizen87645]

The final episode had a funny moment where The Watcher was being criticized for his intervening to save certain characters and one of them was “Madisynn with a y and 2 ns”.

 

[Citizen87645]

I LoLed when I read this article.

Carrie Coon Exited Marvel After the Studio Said ‘We’re Not Going to Pay You Any More Money’ for ‘Avengers: Endgame,’ Says Husband Tracy Letts

Carrie Coon played Proxima Midnight in "Avengers Infinity" but did not return for "Endgame" because Marvel wouldn't pay her more.

variety.com

Specifically this quote:

“She said, ‘Wow, you’re not going to pay me any more money, then I don’t think I’m going to do it,'” he continued. “And they said, ‘Well, you should feel yourself fortunate to be part of the Marvel Universe.’ So she declined… We would’ve made a bigger deal out of this, but it would have involved us watching the movies and we weren’t going to do that.”

 

[Jake Lipson]

What was that about slowing down the volume of releases to focus on quality?

Marvel Adds Possible Fourth Movie to 2028 Slate

Marvel Studios is scheduled to release an untitled movie on Dec. 15, 2028, which would be the Disney division's fourth feature in that calendar year.

variety.com

 

[Alex...]

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I rewatched Black Panther: Wakanda Forever last night, my first time seeing it since it was in theaters. My wife joined and it was her first time seeing it at all.

My initial impression of the movie had been unfavorable, so I was hoping that the passage of time would allow me to appreciate it more. Unfortunately, it did not. I was surprised, however, that my wife didn’t enjoy it either - she’s much less disagreeable than I am

With the passage of more time since Boseman’s passing since the original release, nothing in the film resonated with me. I think it was just misconceived from the start, killing the character rather than recasting the actor. If anyone ever comes to this film without knowledge of the real world circumstances behind its creation, I suspect they’d be completely lost as to why T’Challa is dead. It just doesn’t make any sense in-universe. It’s never motivated or explained onscreen in any meaningful way. Everything said about it (“I wish my brother hadn’t kept his illness a secret for so long”, etc) is a commentary on Boseman’s real life illness and not a response to anything the audience had previously seen. Especially since in every other circumstance where an actor proved unavailable, for tragic and more normal business reasons, the Marvel policy has been to recast. The decision here isn’t internally consistent with the studio’s own prior (and future) storytelling decisions.

It’s sort of a fatal flaw that makes it harder for everything else in the film to work. With T’Challa’s absence, the film is then forced to repeat a lot of the same story beats from the first installment - Wakanda being without a king, the magic herb being unavailable until the third act plotting requires a new source of it to appear suddenly, the triumphant return of the Panther mantle in the third act, etc. I also felt that the film couldn’t bear the weight of T’Challa and Queen Ramonda dying in the same film - it just causes a repeat of the funeral imagery that begins the film. T’Challa’s death breaks the fourth wall and asks us to bring our grief about Boseman to the movie. That makes it harder to care when Ramonda dies, because we know Angela Bassett is fine.

And it’s long. So long. With plot points that don’t converge nearly as cohesively as they did in the first film. There are three credited editors - accomplished editors - which suggests to me that the filmmakers didn’t know how to pull this together either.

I think in the short term, interest around how the studio would proceed without Boseman all but guaranteed this would be a financial success. But I think the way the film handled it is going to make it much harder for a potential third film to do as well. It’ll be really interesting to see if their choices circa 2022 come back to haunt them with yet another underwhelming box office performance.

I think I regret spending the high price to import the 3D version from Japan, and I’m not sure I’ll ever watch this again. My wife is she won’t.

I think it was well intentioned but I genuinely believe the greatest tribute to Boseman would have been recasting so that the character he so capably brought to life could have continued to live in his absence.

But at least I’m ready to watch Ironheart now.

 

[Jake Lipson]

From today's episode of Jeoprrdy...