Twilight

I'd like to read a detailed explanation of how a remote, hidden African nation can be both completely isolated from the rest of the world and also much more technologically advanced. The two states are pretty much mutually exclusive (as I'm sure learned archaeologists, anthropologists, sociologists, and economists could attest). Oh, right, I forgot, there's magic in the MCU now... (groan)

Unless an alien vessel crashed in the area and the locals have been studying it's tech for centuries and have been using the resources on said ship to build their economy which, in at least one continuity of Black Panther's origin, is the explanation for their wealth and Wakandan vibranium.  Also the fact that Black Panther took part in Civil War would seem to indicate Wakanda is not completely isolated from the rest of the world.  After all if they were, he wouldn't have been there.

just as long as they don;t make it more for kids than say 'Spy Kids' which is pretty much my lower bar for such things

If they stick close to the original comics, it won't be that kiddy.  More lighthearted then Avengers 2 sure but not kiddy in the sense you're thinking.  The characters might have been kids but the original writer didn't shy away from darker topics.  Power Pack was present for the Mutant Massacre, for example.

Power Pack? Isn't that a bunch of little kids?

It's a friggin awesome comic from the 80s and if Marvel does as good a job with them, presuming Rosenbaum can actually get the movie made, as they did with the Guardians of the Galaxy it stands to rake in a lot of money.

So apparently Michael Rosenbaum wants to write a Power Pack movie.  Since that's one of my favorite comics ever, that makes me very happy.

I haven't read Avengers Forever like you. But here's what Wikipedia says about Libra:

 

 

 

That exactly fits the stereotype the article was applying to movie Mantis. It also happened prior to him becoming whatever he was in Avengers Forever, canonically, so  . . . war bride mom.

 

 

 

 

You aren't really disagreeing with the point I made. You just made up a different point that you think you disagree on. The very article that you posted above accuses Mantis of being a bad stereotype for being a passive Asian woman. I haven't seen the movie yet, but given the obvious slant in the article, I'm going to reserve judgement until I do. However, I do know two things:

 

1. Movie Mantis isn't from Earth. So, she can't be Asian.

2. Comics Mantis is of Asian descent and a martial artist, therefore, according to people who harp on this nonsense like the article writer, a stereotype. (An aside: Hollywood can't win with martial arts lately. If you give the main/best martial artist role to an Asian actor, you're stereotyping. If you give it to a non-Asian (especially Caucasian) actor, then you're culturally appropriating or something.)

 

 

 

 

I know this. Why do you think I don't know this? Do you think the fact that her creator managed to keep the rights to the character across publishers is significant? I don't see it.

 

 

 

 

No. You'll just respond with more stuff that I'm forced to respond to, then we'll go round and round and round and create a space-time vortex that does irreparable damage to the universe, possibly causing a continuum where Leifield-created characters are the only movie and TV supers, and nobody wants to see that.

 

My central points to these two diatribes are these:

 

1. Comics aren't usually high art.

2. People whine too much about nothing.

 

MCU Mantis is a different character than an comic version of Mantis. Even if GOTG2 does commit some offenses to female characters or use some worn stereotypes that we're all supposed to be too enlightened to let slide . . . it doesn't really do any worse than the comics has done with the same character. Because you can pick apart anything if you have the time and energy. I'm willing to save the complaining until we see what they do to develop the character.

 

The vibe I was picking up from the trailers wasn't so much a passive creampuff of a character as one who seemed naive and full of wonder and innocence. I got the impression that despite her apparent age, she was practically a newborn. Given the connection to Ego, she could well be freshly hatched from some giant seed pod. Who knows? (No, really. I haven't seen the movie. What's her origin?)

 

Also, in the trailer she gets smacked by a meteor. Was that actually in the movie? Because if she survived that, then she's probably not a lightweight, just not trained in combat. Yet.

This is the advantage of the MCU, to me - they can re-envision the characters and only the fanboys know. The movies have worked in large part because they did not enslave themselves to 50+ years of backstory.

I certainly agree with you there.  I mean sure, I would prefer a Nova Corps where the members actually had superpowers as they do in the comics but aside from that I think it's worked out quite well all things considered.

It's tilll possible she could be having Ego's baby

I suppose, though she clearly wasn't pregnant when we saw her.  Also I think she'd have mentioned if Ego was doing her, given that keeping secrets did not seem to be her forte.  At any rate I still think movie Mantis is better then comic Mantis, for the reasons I've already stated.

One advantage Marvel has over DC is that most of their characters are relative unknowns in mainstream culture. They can effectively be reinvented for the movies. Make Superman a genetic experiment, rather than the last son of a dead planet, and watch the screaming begin. Make Starlord's Dad Ego the Living Planet instead of J-Son of Spartax and who makes a fuss?

 

A lot of the MCU characters feel more like "inspired by the comic character" than transitioning that character to another medium. That's helped along by Marvel already having variants on many characters (Ultimate Universe versus mainstream Marvel is a big one). Hawkeye isn't a wisecracker in the MCU - that role is filled by RDJ's Iron Man. The Vision is a very different character, we lost much of the Scarlet Witch's history and Hank Pym's backstory is radically altered.

 

But it is interesting that the stereotypical Mandarin had to go, while Mantis is replaced with a stereotype geisha.

I wasn't aware the geisha stereotype included psychic powers.  At any rate given that Mantis' previous roles included blatant fanservice, knowing martial arts simply because she happens to be Asian and  having to get knocked up for the good of the universe (or however that Celestial Madonna storyline worked out, I know it involved her needing to have a baby though) I'm thinking this version of the character is superior.  She certainly has a better costume then the original.

Bayley is still champion going into Wrestlemania. The plan according to people is to have Sasha Banks turn heel. The Smackdown women's championship was to be in the pre-show but social media onslaught got it moved to Wrestlemania proper.

Also and perhaps most unpopular of all. Roman Reigns is supposed to retire the Undertaker. And it might be the last match.

Dunno if it's Taker's last match, though they definitely had Roman Reigns beat him and it was definitely the last match.  The reaction seems to be indifference which to my mind is WAY worse then the massive booing.  After all, indifference means they just don't care.

Here is the downside of Superhero TV shows.

 

Actors who think they can sing.

The guy who played the Music Meister CAN sing.

Obviously the U S should have elected Luthor instead of Trump.

Ain't it the truth.  Hell as President, Luthor was even able to restrain his natural urge to kill Superman.  Sure that only lasted, I believe it was a couple years in story but it was way longer then Trump was able to resist his base urges.

Recently on twitter somebody brought up the President Luthor storyline from DC Comics.  He mentioned that when Lex Luthor became President he divested his company and released his tax returns.  This doesn't really have much to do with actual politics of course, but I thought it might give everybody a chuckle.

Please don't confuse Trump with "the US".  At best it's "less than half the US", which I know is terrible, but still.

I know that, unfortunately he know decides government policy in certain things.  Hence in this instance I used "US" referring specifically to the government and those unfortunate enough to have to follow it's policies, rather then the people of the US.

The fact that the US doesn't consider that guy who shot up the mosque in Quebec a terrorist but considered all Muslims potential ones, even if they're as young as five, is absolutely sickening.

The Oklahoma Bombing (168 people dead) was the highest death toll of an act of terrorism until the 9-11 attacks (2,996 people killed).

My error then.  Still, it was very bad and committed by an admitted white supremacist.  Thus the fact that white supremacists aren't on the terrorist watch list is absolutely shocking to say the least.

That's bad but still not as bad as the guys who think Sandy Hook never happened and make death threats against the parents of the victims.

Okay now that's just disgusting on many levels.  Though sadly not surprising considering the current "government" of the US refuses to even acknowledge terrorism by white people even though the Oklahoma Bombing, which if I'm not mistaken has the highest death toll of any act of terrorism on US soil, was committed by a white guy.   

I'm inclined to think that any universe where what Trump says is true, is not a valid one.

And now certain folks on twitter are claiming that campus protestors are only doing so because they're being paid too.    I mean I'm used to stupid arguments from Trump supporters by this point but this sets new lows in stupidity, if you ask me.

Since everybody is changing their avatars, I figure I would too.  For some reason discussion to Trump brought to mind FFVI and a battle against an evil empire, so I chose Gau since he's my favorite character from that game.

Yeah, there was a definite learning curve there for him too, but eventually he seemed to get the hang of it (more or less).

I'm betting Arnie actually hired people who actually knew how to do their jobs too.

A Michigan GOP official just called for another Kent State for campus protestors.

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/michigan-gop-official-kent-state_us_58952eafe4b09bd304bb86f0?

In the name of free speech yet, if it's the same so and so I saw on Twitter.

Captain Marvel Comic Character Makes Brie Larson Movie Reference

http://screenrant.com/captain-marvel-comic-brie-larson-room/

 

Why is Captain Marvel declaring Tommy Wisseau a supervillain? O_o

US Senators call for sanctions against Russia over elections hacks

 

"We have to sanction Russia for these cyberattacks (and) send a clear message to the incoming administration that there is a lot of bipartisan support in Congress for going after this," Sen. Amy Klobuchar told The Associated Press by phone from Latvia.

 

 

Donald Trump dismisses US sanctions threat to Russia

 

"We ought to get on with our lives"

 

Too much to hope that that's enough to prove collusion between Trump's campaign and the Russians.  I'd definitely count it as evidence though.

LOL

Well Gal Gadot is clearly an adult female, ergo she is a woman.  It's simple really.

Nope.  I meant what I said. 

Then you're wrong, sorry.