Marvel Cinematic Universe, Phase Three and BEYOOOOONND

[Ternaugh]

5 hours ago, zslane said:

There are numerous reasons to want to cast (a younger) Charlize Theron for the role of Captain Marvel. Being "hot" is pretty far down the list in my book (but it doesn't exactly hurt either). Brie Larson is attractive enough, at least to the extent that even matters for this role, but at 5' 7" (which I am skeptical of, tbh) she doesn't strike as commanding a figure as Charlize at 5' 10". I also feel Theron has more natural on-screen charisma than Larson, which I think goes a long way when playing a character described as "the most powerful hero in the MCU".

 

Now, this isn't to say Theron would be right for every role. Far from it. I wouldn't cast her in any of the previous female roles in the MCU. And she wouldn't be right, IMO, for a role like Sue Storm. I would cast someone like Brie Larson as Sue Storm. But for Carol Danvers, I just think Theron is perfect for it.

 

But hey, maybe Larson will surprise me the way Gadot did, and I really hope she does. I want this movie to be really good. I also want to be a big fan of the character on film, and right now I'm just not as optimistic as I'd like to be.

 

Yeah, 5'7" is a terrible burden at the box office. Just ask Tom Cruise.

[Old Man]

Blink hasn't reappeared for three months now

[megaplayboy]

46 minutes ago, Old Man said:

Blink hasn't reappeared for three months now

Yeah, she's been "disappeared" for possible tax evasion and for being outspoken in criticizing the government recently.  Every now and then the government of China gives the world a reminder of how awful they actually still are.  

[archer]

On 9/24/2018 at 4:55 PM, megaplayboy said:

Yeah, she's been "disappeared" for possible tax evasion and for being outspoken in criticizing the government recently.  Every now and then the government of China gives the world a reminder of how awful they actually still are.  

 

That's probably what happened.

 

But even in China, people sometimes disappear due to non-governmental kidnapping and murder.

[Starlord]

 

[Christopher R Taylor]

Looks like they're doing the same tired "Xavier surpressed her powers and she goes crazy" storyline instead of the far more interesting and bigger "entity saves her life in exchange for a body" storyline.

[zslane]

Apart from an out-of-control Jean Gray, I don't see any resemblance to the original story at all in that trailer. From what I can tell, it has essentially been completely re-written, as if the original story never existed.

 

I don't think Marvel Studios will go anywhere near this classic tale for the MCU now that it has been butchered for a second time. It's like how Verhoeven's SST movie thoroughly poisoned the well for any future prospects of a proper adaptation of the book.

[slikmar]

Wonder if it will open with her killing Cyclops again and deciding on Wolverine as a paramour, then joining Magneto.

[Greywind]

There currently isn't a Wolverine. Jackman is retired from the role.

[zslane]

There may be no Wolverine in Hollywood at the moment, but there is still a Wolverine in the X-Men movie continuity. Having said that, I don't think Wolverine is in this movie because if he was we'd know about it already, either because Fox's marketing department would not be keeping it a secret given how much that would boost interest in this troubled movie, or because the casting of a new actor in the role would have aroused a frenzy of conversation in the trades and on social media long ago.

[Greywind]

If you go by the re-established timeline from DoFP, Logan is off being reprogrammed following his drowning. After all when he wakes up and goes to see Xavier the last thing he remembered was 1973.

[archer]

I wish they wouldn't have gone straight for a Dark Phoenix storyline. It feels rushed considering the team just got together in the last movie. It makes me wonder if they aren't rushing to get in a movie before they cut a deal to get mutants into the MCU.

 

And I wish that they would stop doing the "everyone has to wear the same hideous costume" thing.

 

Costumes are great for anonymity since people will remember the costume rather than the face. And they're good for soldiers so they can tell the good guys from the bad guys at a glance.

 

But soliders are fairly interchangeable with their battlefield abilities while superheroes aren't. If you catch a glimpse of some team member out of the corner of your eye when you're busy with your opponent, it makes a difference whether you are seeing someone who is easily squished or mostly invulnerable, someone who is highly mobile vs someone who isn't, someone who can attack at range vs someone who cannot, etc. You can't even determine the level of threat they're facing or whether they could potentially help you if you can't easily tell one superhero teammate from another.

 

And maybe the studios don't think they're going to sell many toys based on X-Men movies. But they sure aren't going to sell them if kids can't see a lot of differences between the various action figures.

[Lord Liaden]

Team uniforms are not unprecedented in comics: original X-Men/New Mutants, Fantastic Four, Blackhawks, Green Lantern Corps, Doom Patrol, Power Pack, Challengers of the Unknown. Individual members usually have some distinguishing visual element, but if they're generally thought of as a team, a common look can make them even more distinctive and identifiable by the public.

[archer]

5 minutes ago, Lord Liaden said:

Team uniforms are not unprecedented in comics: original X-Men/New Mutants, Fantastic Four, Blackhawks, Green Lantern Corps, Doom Patrol, Power Pack, Challengers of the Unknown. Individual members usually have some distinguishing visual element, but if they're generally thought of as a team, a common look can make them even more distinctive and identifiable by the public.

 

Very true, team uniforms are not unprecedented.

 

The original X-Men in their team uniforms weren't able to keep their comic book series going. It wasn't until after they individualized their uniforms that the comic books became popular enough to have a regular uninterrupted schedule of publication. Getting rid of the team uniforms wasn't the sole reason for the book becoming more successful but I think it played a role.

 

Power Pack wore different colors from each other, were noticeably different sizes, and if I remember correctly wore uniforms which someone else provided for them because they were little kids who had no money and couldn't sew.

 

The Fantastic Four had only one woman who is often invisible in combat, a man who looked like a walking pile of rocks, a man who was on fire during combat, and a man who was often stretched out of shape during combat. It is difficult imaging them ever mistaking one teammate for another during combat. Or out of combat.

 

Doom Patrol had a giant woman, a golden robot man, a green shapechanger, a man who was completely covered in bandages when out of combat and turned black and glowy during combat, and a man who looked fairly normal except for when he wore a giant helmet.

 

Blackhawks were ex-military which explains the uniforms. They spent much of their combat in fighter planes because they were pilots. Out of the cockpit they were fairly interchangeable because they used guns and fists in combat, no superpowers.

 

The Green Lanterns tend to come from different planets and show distinct racial characteristics or size differences from what we consider normal (Mogo, Kilowog, Ch'p, etc.) The Green Lanterns were supposed to operate solo in their own sector rather than operate routinely together as a team. The team uniform helps identify the Lantern as an authority figure on each planet he might visit, which sometimes cuts through red tape and introductions so the team uniform serves a purpose. In any case, the superpowers of the various Green Lanterns are fairly interchangeable when they do team up with each other.

 

Taking the movie X-Men, they have Mystique, Beast, and Nightcrawler who are all naturally blue and all wearing the same team uniform...it just seems like a bad choice, to me, even if the costumes were well-designed and attractive rather than hideous.

[Greywind]

It wasn't until the X-Men were rebuilt by Wein/Cockrum, Byrne/Claremont that the X-Men had individual costumes. They still ended up with team markers somewhere on their outfits.

[Christopher R Taylor]

I don't mind the team uniform kind of thing, but since they turned the uniform into a leather bondage outfit it seems pointless.  I guess we're lucky they aren't all wearing hoodies or something.

 

Frankly I think while they can make interesting movies, Fox has not handled the X-Men very well.

[zslane]

5 hours ago, archer said:

It makes me wonder if they aren't rushing to get in a movie before they cut a deal to get mutants into the MCU.

 

No, this final installment of the "first class" X-Men was well into production long before the sale of the assets to Disney. In fact, it wasn't even certain that Disney would be able to acquire the Fox assets until very recently.

 

As for the uni-style costumes, well, the X-Men have gone through a couple of periods of wearing them. The original 1963 team wore them because they were akin to prep school uniforms, and it was important to Charles to reinforce the idea in his students of acting as part of a team rather than as individuals. And then ten years ago you had the Grant Morrison run, which these latest movie costumes were clearly inspired by. I don't have a problem with them apart from the fact that the movies haven't established clearly (and convincingly) why Charles is making them wear them.

[Cassandra]

5 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

Team uniforms are not unprecedented in comics: original X-Men/New Mutants, Fantastic Four, Blackhawks, Green Lantern Corps, Doom Patrol, Power Pack, Challengers of the Unknown. Individual members usually have some distinguishing visual element, but if they're generally thought of as a team, a common look can make them even more distinctive and identifiable by the public.

 

And the movies with teams in uniforms generally bombed.

[zslane]

16 minutes ago, Cassandra said:

 

And the movies with teams in uniforms generally bombed.

 

That is correlation, not causation. Then again, the inability to grasp the difference is why Hollywood execs and producers are generally clueless about why some genre movies succeed while others fail.

[Cassandra]

9 minutes ago, zslane said:

 

That is correlation, not causation. Then again, the inability to grasp the difference is why Hollywood execs and producers are generally clueless about why some genre movies succeed while others fail.

 

So they have a uniform mindset.

[Greywind]

Actually with the sale there was some doubt as to what movies would be released and which wouldn't from some of the things I read. I was under the impression that Dark Phoenix was on the "wouldn't" side of the list.

[Cassandra]

It's time for a major reboot of both the X-Men and the DC movie universes.  Just start over.

[Christopher R Taylor]

I'd love to see someone with real talent and vision redo Fantastic Four and X-Men.  I have no real hope for the DC movies except once in a while a decent one.  They just do not seem to understand or even like their characters.

[zslane]

17 minutes ago, Greywind said:

Actually with the sale there was some doubt as to what movies would be released and which wouldn't from some of the things I read. I was under the impression that Dark Phoenix was on the "wouldn't" side of the list.

 

Doubt and speculation is the fuel that keeps the engine of the 24-hour entertainment news cycle running. Nobody outside of Disney and Fox had any clue what was or wasn't actually on the chopping block.

[Cassandra]

2 minutes ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

I'd love to see someone with real talent and vision redo Fantastic Four and X-Men.  I have no real hope for the DC movies except once in a while a decent one.  They just do not seem to understand or even like their characters.

 

Depending on how Wonder Woman 1984 turns out it might become the foundation of a New DC Movie Universe.  I'm hopping that Kristen Wiig's Cheetah will be more Julie Newmar then a motion capture Cheetah creature.  DC could use a villain with the panache of Loki.