Marvel Cinematic Universe

At least they didn't misuse "decimate" again. "What, Thanos wants to destroy exactly 10% of the universe? WHY?!"

He's gonna prove Ted Sturgeon wrong if it's the last thing he does?

"Huh, turns out Thanos has really sensitive ears, and can hear every sentient being in the universe talking at once. He just wants to lower to volume, so he's going to use the Infinity Gauntlet to kill half of them!"
"...why doesn't he use the Gauntlet to tone down his hearing instead?"

I vaguely discuss Infinity War in my thoughts to this. Though let's face it if you haven't seen Infinity War yet you've definitely been spoiled on it to some extent.

Yeah, it's set before I think. I don't know why Marvel released it like this, but there's a pattern of Ant-Man movies coming out directly after an Avengers movie.

Marvel Phase Four
Or, Kevin Feige realising people will see anything if it has the Marvel Studios logo.



Kevin Feige announced the movie and Disney+ slate up through to the end of 2021, and there was much rejoicing. You've probably already seen people on the internet talking about it including me. Maybe just me. But now I'm going to talk about it some more. I'll go through the movies first.

Black Widow (2020)
Release Date: 1 May
Director: Cate Shortland, you may remember her from such movies as Somersault, Lore, and Berlin Syndrome
Cast: Scarlett Johansson, David Harbour, Florence Pugh, O-T Fagbenle, and Rachel Weisz
My best guess at genre: Superhero/Action thriller



It seems to be set in the gap between when Black Widow goes on the run at the end of Civil War and when she shows up with Cap's Avengers at the start of Infinity War. At Comic-Con they showed footage that I haven't seen because they don't let that leak, but apparently it involves a brutal fight sequence between Scarlett Johansson and Florence Pugh who are apparently friends, a montage of cool action stuff, and bad guy the Taskmaster. They talk a lot in the presentation about delving into the secrets of Black Widow's past and Black Widow putting the pieces of her life together to become a whole person.

The central runner of the movie seems to be Black Widow's notion that she has red in her ledger and she's looking to wipe it out. Scarlett Johansson talks about playing Black Widow as a 'fully realised woman in all of her many facets' and her flaws, or what Black Widow considers to be her flaws. She doesn't mention also portraying any trees or animals in this production so we can assume she is only a human named after a... not-insect. I forget what spiders are.

I don't often thirstwatch, but when I do it often involves Academy Award winner Rachel Weisz.

The Eternals (2020)
Release Date: 6 November
Director: Chloé Zhao, you may remember her from such movies as Stories My Brothers Taught Me, and The Rider.
Cast: Angelina Jolie, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Salma Hayek, Brian Tyree Henry, Dong-seok Ma, Lia McHugh, and Lauren Ridloff
My best guess at genre: Superhero/Romantic space opera



Okay so this is going to be a weird one. Here's what I've got from reading the comic history. Millions of years ago the Celestials (like Kurt Russell/Ego) came to Earth and performed experiments on ancient humans. The good results ended up as Eternals, loyal soldiers/brainwashed slaves who fought to protect humanity. The bad rules ended up as Deviants, evil shapeshifting monsters. There's a long and complex history, some schisms in Eternal society. Some break off and colonise Uranus. Others break off and colonise Titan (like Thanos). And in the end it turns out their mission was actually to cultivate humanity to be ruled over by the Celestials, and this awful truth leads just about all of the Eternals to kill themselves and/or each other. So we'll see how the movie goes.

The announced plot so far seems to follow the premise from the above paragraph. I just want to see what this looks like. Or how any of this works. We're about to get sci-fi as hell. Chloé Zhao talks about exploring the nature of humanity through non-humans. I'm just very excited to see this director (seriously watch The Rider) and this cast which top to bottom is just an insanely strong ensemble.

I don't often thirstwatch, but when I do it often involves Brian Tyree Henry.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)
Release Date: 12 February
Director: Desten Daniel Cretton, you may remember him from such movies as I Am Not a Hipster, Short Term 12, and The Glass Castle
Cast: Simu Liu, Awkwafina, and Tony Leung
My best guess at genre: Superhero/Martial arts



Shang-Chi in the comics universe is the world's greatest kung fu master, who becomes a hero to take down his father (originally Fu Manchu then Marvel lost the rights to the character). Simu Liu, who will be playing Shang-Chi, talked a bit about being the first superhero movie tentpole franchise starring an Asian-American protagonist.

They also talk about the history of the Mandarin who is replacing Fu Manchu as the Evil Dad - his gang the Ten Rings are involved Iron Man 1 and 2, a fake Mandarin shows up in Iron Man 3, and a random mook as a Ten Rings tattoo in Ant-Man. There's also a short where they allude to a real Manderin who's upset at people taking his name. So of course Marvel is playing it like 'we're playing five dimensional chess and had this planned allll along'. I guess if you want to sell something, what you do is you make it a sequel to Iron Man. It worked for Spider-Man: Far From Home.

As a franchise, Marvel probably has the best record in finding appealing and unexpected choices to play their new heroes. Simu Liu, whose top credit thus far is Canadian tv show Kim's Convenience, definitely follows that pattern.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2021)
Release Date: 7 May
Director: Scott Derrickson, you may remember him from such movies as The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Sinister, and Doctor Strange.
Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen
My best guess at genre: Superhero/Supernatural horror



Alright so this is getting freaky. Scott Derrickson, known horror director, promises that this is going to be the first legitimately scary Marvel movie. Kevin Feige chimed in that this is still PG-13, but A Quiet Place was PG-13 as well so that in no way precludes scariness. Benedict Cumberbatch stuck to the line that Marvel is getting scary, so let's get ready to traumatise some children!

It also says it will be informed by Disney+ television show WandaVision, which speaks to the vision Disney has of a streaming service you have to pay for if you want to be fully informed about the movies you love. Breaking new ground in monetising your customer base. Scott Derrickson talked about how if he was going to come back, he wanted to get really fucking weird and extradimensional with the threats Doctor Strange has to face. And how his fandom of the character stemmed from sure, the Avengers punch punchy guys in the face, but Doctor Strange has to magic against eldritch abominations of unspeakable evil and power. It's gonna get dark, folks.

Thor: Love and Thunder (2021)
Release Date: 5 November
Director: Taika Waititi, you may remember him from such movies as What We Do In The Shadows, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, and Thor: Ragnarok. Also, Korg.
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, Natalie Portman
My best guess at genre: Superhero/Romcom



Odin help me I can only be so aroused. Tessa Thompson talks about how her character as the King of Asgard is looking for ways to help her people, and to find her 'Queen'. And then just to make sure we all get it they announce that she is the first LGBTQ main hero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film series. Then Taika talks about how he had been reading The Mighty Thor, where Jane Foster becomes the new Thor. And then Natalie Portman comes out wielding a giant hammer. And God help me all I can think about is what if Natalie Portman is the thunder, Tessa Thompson is the love, and the whole damn movie is about a lesbian love story help me I'm drowning in excitement.

Chris Hemsworth talks about how Bro Thor in this time has hit up a 7-11 for frozen drinks and gotten a Netflix subscription. Somewhere Bob Iger was wincing at the Netflix shout-out, but it's doing nothing to distract me from my fan theory that Natalie Portman is the real lead of this movie and Bro Thor will just be on a ship somewhere making emotionally supportive phone calls and being a teeny bit too enthusiastic at the prospect of his very attractive lady ex and his very attractive lady friend hooking up.

But even if it's not that, Taika Waititi is doing it so you know it'll be fire.

Blade
Release Date: Unknown
Director: Unknown
Cast: MAHERSHALA FUCKING ALI
My best guess at genre: Superhero/vampire slasher



I have literally no idea what is happening.

Also announced: Black Panther 2, Guardians of the Galaxy 3, Captain Marvel 2, Fantastic Four, and mutants in some capacity.

I have a few takeaways. One, OH MY GOD I AM SO EXCITED. ahem. Two, HOLY FUCK THEY'RE REMAKING BLADE WHAAAAAAAAT AND WITH MAHERSHALA ALI WHAT I DON'T EVEN. Three, Marvel seems to be embracing that what keeps them going is hiring directors from a variety of backgrounds with a powerful artistic vision and giving them room to do their thing. I don't think 2019 Marvel would fire Edgar Wright. Of the directors announced, three of them are virtual unknowns with a few critically acclaimed indie films to their name, and two of them are returning directors further making their mark on their corner of the MCU. Also, two women, three people of colour, and just one white dude. Scott Derrickson you're okay as well I'm sorry for othering you to make a point. And after quite a bit of white man movies they seem to be going out of the way to make Phase Four diverse and varied. From the first Asian-American tentpole to the first deaf superhero in the Eternals (you go Lauren Ridloff) to making a movie where an LGBTQ woman dating seems to be a major part of the set up.

Much excitement, much hype.

Rintrah better be in Doctor Strange, by damn! I want my green minotaur sorcerer!

As for Eternals, I assume based on absolutely no evidence that it's going to be based on the Marvel Max miniseries which is like 10% bestiality and 25% regular people sex.

Also Marvel really messed up by not giving the directing job of their iconic Hong Kong character to iconic Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wai. Who's in the mood for love and kung fu fighting?

I liked the "well that was pretty weird, huh?" approach they took to the Snap/Blip in Far From Home, although I'm still convinced this would be much more apocalyptic if taken more seriously. Haha, the marching band comes back in the middle of the game! But what about all those people who were in airplanes and are now falling from the sky...I guess we can just assume Tony somehow used the gauntlet to make sure everyone came back safely.

There was a couple in the theatre who must have been SUPER HIGH since they laughed at *everything*. It was pretty funny but not that funny...actually the funniest part for me was "they said London Bridge but I knew they meant Tower Bridge". I don't know why that was so hilarious.

In hindsight there were lots of clues that Fury and Hill weren't really there - they were talking about Kree cells on Earth, Fury gets mad when Peter mentions Captain Marvel, etc. That was fun.

Also is there a multiverse or not? "Earth 616" is a nice touch but isn't the MCU canonically Earth 199999 in the comics?

In news that seems aimed specifically at this forum, specifically The Stuffingtacular She-Hulk and  Rainbow Rosa:
Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Stephanie Beatriz  "Would Die" to play She-Hulk

This would almost make me watch Marvel crap.

Almost.

NOT CINEMA

What started as a rewatch of Black Panther led to a rewatch of Captain America: The Winter Soldier which has now led to Lady Hachiman and I going through almost all of the MCU movies. We recently got through Age of Ultron, the two Guardians of the Galaxy movies, and Doctor Strange. It's nice in that she used to not care about Marvel stuff but got hooked with a few of the better ones and wanted to start working through the rest with the exception of those truly mediocre ones like Thor 2 or Iron Man 2. So far, her favorites seems to be Doctor Strange and Captain Marvel. She also likes pretty much any of the ones that involve the cube.

WandaVision looks interesting, yeah?