Topic: The Marvel Thread

@Th3solution See, this is where the problem lies. Hawkeye shouldn’t be a ‘badass’ at all really, and any sort of characterisation along those lines is misguided. He’s too silly to be played straight. He’s basically an idiot who runs around with a bow because that’s the only thing he knows how to do. He’s absolutely better as a Spider-Man like hero with mundane problems and no money than a SHIELD agent which robs him of all personality.

@nessisonett Was his Ronin persona just a complete fabrication unique to the MCU?

And having only seen a couple episodes, it sounds like Kate Bishop fits the description of what Hawkeye was in the comics. Good with a bow, but a bit of a socially awkward and goofy character.

@Th3solution Ronin was a thing and did directly lead to Kate Bishop taking on the Hawkeye mantle but it was the result of an extended ‘grimdark’ influence on the comics which all seems a bit silly looking back on it. The MCU is primarily influenced by the Ultimate universe iterations of the characters which again has aged incredibly badly. In that, Hawkeye is the whole stoic agent with zero personality which he is in the MCU but then his family were slaughtered due to Black Widow betraying them so there’s that. Hawkeye as a character was just done dirty by Whedon and there wasn’t really a clear way back from the damage he did without extensive retcons.

Also caught the original X Men film on TV the other night. Definitely showing it's age, but still an interesting look back on how far we've come (also reminded me how much I loved watching X Men Evolution as a kid).

Since (most) of the X Men films are on Disney+, I'll probably start watching through them since there doesn't seem to be much Marvel content releasing on the service in the first half of the year other than She Hulk sometime in the spring. Since No Way Home is likely skipping D+ until sometime next year, the next movie will probably be Multiverse of Madness sometime in the summer after it's may theatrical release.

@RR529 I suspect No Way Home won’t come to Disney+ given the weird Spider-Man franchise rights. Homecoming and Far From Home aren’t on it.

There are some good X-Men movies (and some bad ones). I think they are all good except for X3 The Last Stand, which although bad, is actually not as much a travesty as the internet makes it to be, and Dark Phoenix, which is as bad as it’s made out to be. Oh, and X-Men Origins Wolverine is supposed to be bad but I never took the time to find out firsthand.

@Th3solution, I did read an article this past week that Sony did reach a deal with Disney to have some of their films on Disney+ in the US (primarily the Spider Man movies I'd imagine), but that Starz & Netflix have "Pay Window 1" rights (meaning they'll get them first, for up to possibly 18 months before they can go anywhere else), while Disney signed on for "Pay Window 2" rights (meaning they'll get them after the previous window is finished).

It said that while the older (and legacy) Spider Man films might be added this year, No Way Home probably won't be available until 2023 (or even 2024).

That said, my parents sub to Netflix, so if it does show up there sometime this year, I can probably just watch it there now that I think about it.

EDIT: As for the X Men (& related) films I think I've seen them all at some point or another, but haven't watched the original trilogy (except for my mentioned rewatch of the first) or Origins Wolverine since they originally released in the 00's, so it'll be fun rewatching them since I don't have much recollection of them.

I do have a soft spot for First Class, Days of Future Past, & Apocalypse due to the period piece nature of them (but they kind of run together for me as I usually catch bits & pieces of them on TV), so it'll probably do good to actually watch them in full sittings. I actually got the Wolverine on BD (though just because it's set in Japan, lol).

Unfortunately Logan probably isn't on D+ as it's "R" rated (it's the only one I haven't yet seen), and the Deadpool movies are almost certainly absent as well for this reason.

@RR529 Yeah, I’m not sure if Disney+ has a hard line on rated ‘R’ films never coming to the service, but it seems so.

Many people feel Logan is the best of the bunch, although I thought it was merely good, not great. But I’m an anomaly there. I really liked Hugh Jackman in it and what was done with the character, but he’s probably one of my top 5 favorite actors so I like nearly all his performances. What I didn’t care for in Logan was some of the other elements involved and the story and other characters were actually a bit of a letdown, for me personally. It’s hard to put my finger on it, especially without spoilers, but I’m sure you’ll like it, because everyone does. I probably need to watch it again since I’ve only seen it once. Sometimes movies are better the second time.

I’ll be curious how you like your revisit of the franchise.

@RogerRoger, yeah, I just have the base subscription. I thought about upgrading to the bundle quite awhile ago, but I subscribe through Amazon as an intermediary, and while you're allowed to subscribe to D+ & Hulu individually that way, for whatever reason you can't bundle them together through that method.

I mean, it probably wouldn't be hard at all to cancel through Amazon & then simply sign up directly with Disney, though I'm not sure if it would be recognized as the same account & would probably lose my watch history (and that of the other family members' profiles).

I’m hoping Oscar Isaac’s truly terrible English accent is on purpose in Moon Knight, due to it being a whole split personality deal. Otherwise they really heard that and thought, ‘that’ll do’. Sounds like Dick van Dyke in Mary Poppins and Keanu Reeves in Dracula had an ungodly baby.

Finally got to watch Spider-man: No Way Home… was alright I guess but no where near the greatest superhero movie of all time that some critics proclaimed it. Thought it was the weakest of the Holland Spidey’s until the last 30 minutes and then it was ‘saved’ somewhat.

@colonelkilgore Were many critics really saying that? I thought it was more the ‘nerd’ outlets using that sorta hyperbole because while I did enjoy the movie a lot, it was absolutely designed for that specific subculture with the callbacks and such.

@nessisonett yeah, maybe I was a bit too liberal with the use of the word ‘critic’ 😅… they were just Youtubers I visit for comicbookmovie news and the like.

Gradually making my way through Hawkeye and am 5 episodes in and really gotta say — after the initial couple episodes it’s much better than is advertised. I’ve been selling myself short by ignoring it. Kate Bishop is growing on me more and more. She’s lovable in that awkward and witty way. I really like her chemistry with Clint so far. I don’t know who the actress is, but I think this will springboard interest in her for future projects.

The story is actually compelling, which I couldn’t say for Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

@Th3solution I don’t know if you’ve seen it but Hailee Steinfeld was in True Grit years ago when she was quite young and was up for an Oscar for it. Hawkeye probably has the most Oscar nominees out of all the Marvel projects now that I think about it, the three main stars are all Oscar nominees.

@nessisonett Nice! I’ve got an eye for talent and didn’t know it. 😄
Haven’t seen True Grit. I did take a peek at her filmography and looks like she’s the VA for Spider-Gwen in Into the Spider-verse. That the extent of my exposure to her.

Speaking of, I had thought the one LARPer with the super deep voice sounded familiar. I thought maybe he was Miles’s uncle in Into the Spider-verse, but it looks like it’s not. His filmography has nothing familiar but I swear I’ve heard his voice before.

@Th3solution Mahershala Ali’s Prowler in Into The Spider-Verse and he’s in the MCU too as Blade, although that’s way off in the future minus a short voice cameo in a post-credits scene elsewhere! The LARP guy, I didn’t know him but I thought he was actually pretty good and brought the right amount of warmth to the show without it feeling corny. The weirdest cast member for me was that one of the Tracksuits played Pope John Paul II in a movie that we watched in school years ago in RE 😂

Finally got around to finishing the last episode of Hawkeye and it was a great conclusion to a really solid show. In fact, it might be my favorite MCU show after WandaVision. I mentioned how enamored I am with Hailee Steinfeld, and I really liked the Florence Pugh character in this one too. Much better than her role in the BW movie. She sells the accent better here and was much more charming and relatable.

The story was properly compelling and although it got messy at certain parts, it wrapped things up tightly enough.

Probably my main complaint is some of the action and fight scenes came across a little flat and contrived. I had a similar complaint about Black Widow, and I wonder if the fight choreography was done by the same crew. It wasn’t horrible, but a little too much of multiple goons being knocked flying across the screen from a simple kick, slash, or arrow (although I enjoyed the trick arrows, which were pretty funny at times). Several times it was clear that the enemy stunt actor taking the hit didn’t even get close to contacting the punch coming from Clint or Kate. Especially the use of the bows as melee weapons 🙄 — Yeah, like smacking someone with the end of the bow will knock them out cold and make them fly across the screen. 😅

@RogerRoger Same here, on both counts. The complex chemistry of Kate and Yelena was really well done.
And the stunt double thing was as aspect which reared it’s head again. It did seem more egregious in Black Widow, but maybe because there was just more fighting there compared to Hawkeye.

So I did a little reading after the last episode because I was slightly confused by the Rolex. So apparently the SHIELD symbol and the Agent 19 reference is something from the comics where in one series Hawkeye is married to Agent 19 or “Mockingbird”. But it’s a little messy since apparently they already introduced another Mockingbird in the show Agents of SHIELD? I seem to recall you were a fan of that show, which I haven’t seen, and wondered what you thought. Do you think they can mesh the two Mockingbird characters or maybe just have to write it off as a Multiverse aberration?

The other good news about my finishing Hawkeye finally is that I can pursue in earnest jumping into The Book of Boba Fett. 😄

@Th3solution I wasn’t happy with the weird Mockingbird tease. We already had a great adaptation of the character who now apparently doesn’t exist. Clint and Mockingbird may be a thing in the comics for a long time but it feels like a betrayal of a very good character to turn her into a wine mum.

The trailer for Doctor Strange and the funny multiverse released in the super bowl yesterday, it looks really good!

OH MY GOD PATRICK STEWART