Marvel Cinematic Universe, Phase Three and BEYOOOOONND

[Christopher R Taylor]

My concern is that the fewer outlets there are running entertainment, the less competition and hence consumer input there is into content and to deal with control over what is produced.  Say Disney decide that they no longer want to have any Asians in their content (to make a silly example).  If they control half the movies, that makes it very difficult for any Asian actor to get into work, or for viewers who want to see that kind of thing see what they want.  Monopolies have problems no matter what the economic sector is for a wide variety of reasons.

[Lord Liaden]

45 minutes ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

Not really an exaggeration at all

 

 

Which is why I specified movies, not television.

 

Although being in Canada I admit to having a slightly different perspective on variety of television networks.

[Lord Liaden]

Double post

[zslane]

I worry about the loss of net neutrality too, but I will go on record right now and predict that the Disney acquisition of Fox's entertainment assets will have no discernible negative effects in the long term.

 

I think people are wringing their hands for no reason (at this point).

[Christopher R Taylor]

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Which is why I specified movies, not television.

 

Just an example, its even less diverse in movies, toy manufacturing, games, even snack food.  Just a few very powerful parent companies over almost all of it.

 

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I worry about the loss of net neutrality too

 

Well we can discuss rules on the internet being rolled back to 2015 in an other thread, this is about film company monopolies limiting consumer accountability and access.

[Armory]

I think there's much ado about nothing where both are concerned (Disney and net-so-called-neutrality).

 

Personally, I'm looking forward to the Fantastic Four done right.  I don't even care if they cross over with the rest of the MCU, just get them right.

[zslane]

I see no reason the Fantastic Four can't be folded into the MCU; they strike me as a perfect addition. Call them the MCU's "First Family".

 

Same goes for the X-Men. Their adventures don't have to intersect with anyone else's, just like in most of their comics. But having them in the MCU opens interesting narrative possibilities that simply weren't possible before. In fact, I'd argue that there's no compelling reason not to fold them into the MCU. Just as there was no compelling reason not to have Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and the Punisher inhabit the MCU.

[Lord Liaden]

Well, while I agree with the Fantastic Four, I've always had a problem with reconciling the X-Men as presented in the comics, with the rest of the Marvel Universe. Mutants have for a very long time been used to explore themes of racism and minority persecution; themes which have been carried over into the X-Men movies. Yet in the comics non-mutant superheroes are portrayed as being much more accepted by the general populace, a very awkward coexistence that's difficult to justify logically. To date the X-Men movies have avoided that issue altogether by making "mutant" the only origin for super-powered beings. While the MCU now has superhumans firmly established in the public consciousness, but without mutants. (The Inhumans looked to be their attempt to bring something comparable to the television side of the franchise, but that doesn't seem to be going anywhere for the foreseeable future.)

 

Of course the possibility exists for a reboot for both settings, merging them together; but at this point both franchises are so well-known and popular, doing so would risk alienating fans invested in them. As I've said previously, the easiest course would probably be to keep the X-Men continuity separate from the MCU in an alternate universe. Inter-universe crossovers have a long tradition in comic books and media based on them. That way Disney would literally get the best of both worlds.

[zslane]

This presumes that the only way to use the X-Men is to yet again pursue the anti-mutant persecution narrative. I submit that it is not only not necessary to do that, but that it would be counter-productive to the goal of rebooting the franchise for a fresh start.

[Lord Liaden]

4 hours ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

 

Just an example, its even less diverse in movies, toy manufacturing, games, even snack food.  Just a few very powerful parent companies over almost all of it.

 

Note that Fox is retaining its television properties, including Fox News, Sports, and other media branches. So at least on that front they're not being consolidated. But the whole process is a lot more complicated. Media insider John Campea breaks down the possible permutations.

 

 

[Bazza]

5 hours ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

Well we can discuss rules on the internet being rolled back to 2015 in an other thread, this is about film company monopolies limiting consumer accountability and access.

 

This thread is about the Marvel Cinematic Universe and also, mostly other Marvel films. And occasionally DC films. 

 

If if you want to discuss film monopolies & accountability why not create a new thread?  

[Christopher R Taylor]

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This presumes that the only way to use the X-Men is to yet again pursue the anti-mutant persecution narrative. I submit that it is not only not necessary to do that, but that it would be counter-productive to the goal of rebooting the franchise for a fresh start.

 

I agree, were I to relaunch the X-Men, I would focus on their training, youth, and the challenges of having superpowers as a teenager.  I would focus more on it being a schoolkid with school problems exacerbated by having uncertain, unpredictable, and sometimes unpleasant powers.  Imagine growing up as Scott Summers.  You're just a kid, but you have optic blasts that can kill a bull elephant.  You have to wear weird glasses all the time, if someone takes them off, you have to close your eyes or people may die.  You thought getting a pimple before the big dance was a problem!

 

Another thing I'd do is focus on bad guys doing bad things instead of fellow Mutants fighting each other or self-created problems.  The anti-mutant stuff might exist but I'd honestly play that down at first in order to differentiate from the fox movies.  And no Magneto at first, either.  At least one mutant should be weird, like Nightcrawler (the real version with the tail, not tattoo boy) but not a festival of freaks like Gen X.  A Netflix series might be the best intro, because most mutants don't really require much in the way of effects and that lets you do more long-story type soap opera school stories with a building superhero story behind it.

[slikmar]

So, you are saying something like Gifted, only without the government hates mutants plot.

[bigdamnhero]

11 hours ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

It is significant to me that the government steps in to control or stop mergers of corporations but does not seem to care that every single entertainment outlet on planet earth is controlled by an ever-smaller group of massive corporations.  Literally everything in the USA that's entertainment or media is split between like 3 huge companies.  And each merger, they get bigger.

It's not just the media. 4 airlines control 83% of air travel in the US. 3 rental car companies control 90% of car rentals. 2 brewery companies produce 70% of our beer. Etc. The US government has largely given up even pretending to enforce antitrust laws. John Oliver recently did a bit on it recently:

 

 

[bigdamnhero]

Yet another double-post. Sorry.

[Starlord]

"Incompetent dolts!  How does any of this help Namor!", Namor declared somberly

 

[Christopher R Taylor]

Hopefully they'll keep working to get all the properties in Marvel Cinema's hands, or at least use him in a film.  Namor vs Fantastic Four would be great.  Especially if there's a cameo from Captain America, who knows Namor from the old days...

[zslane]

It should be doable. On July 18, 2014, Kevin Feige told IGN in an interview that the Namor film rights are not with Universal or Legendary Pictures, but he explained there are a number of (other) contracts and deals that need to be sorted out before Namor can be used in the MCU. That would theoretically make Namor considerably easier to fold into the MCU than even the Hulk was. I wonder if a big reason Marvel never moved on this was that they preferred to introduce him as a Fantastic Four antagonist first, but couldn't do that until getting the FF rights back from Fox. If true, then that is how the Fox deal helps Namor.

[Dr. MID-Nite]

I vote for Zachary Quinto as Namor...

[Bazza]

Disney's latest princesses: Jean Grey & Sue Storm. 

[Christopher R Taylor]

And this princess

 

[Lord Liaden]

She's no princess. It was explicitly stated that she's a b!tch.

[Pattern Ghost]

This thread needs a punch montage.

 

 

[Bazza]

9 minutes ago, Pattern Ghost said:

This thread needs a punch montage.

 

 

 

Agree.

[Spence]

So I have been reading about the intended New Mutant show and how they are pushing a horror portrayal.  I am really not feeling that at all.  I went back and read my New Mutants 1-11.  Yes the actual original 1-11, and there is no horror.  It is a little dark, but not horror. 

 

Is this another case of the series being butchered sometime in the 90's/00's similar to when DC changed Harley from Harley to a crappy grunge whats'it?