Marvel Cinematic Universe

[gaastra]

Betty is back!

https://comicbookmovie.com/captain-amer ... #gs.trn3el

[Randall]

I like the news. Always good to tie back into the "forgotten" MCU film. And it will make the Harrison Ford recasting of her father go down smoother.

[Ben]

Although the "true" forgotten Marvel film is the original Hulk. No, it’s not an official part of the MCU, but there’s good reason to include it as such, or at least as a preamble to the series. For one, it was Marvel's first true co-pro where they shared rights and production (not just licensing out like Spidey or X-Men), albeit that Universal took overall control and distribution. It’s also the film whose failure was the real kick that gave Feige the impetus (as he has said) to actually take that full control on future films moving forward, thus giving birth to the notion of the MCU. We also know that The Incredible Hulk absolutely started and was intended as a sequel to the Hulk storyline (as is again well documented), hence why he's already in hiding after so many days since the last incident at the start of that film. And, lastly, it’s also the reason the Hulk character is still split between Marvel and Universal, an impact that continues to this day.

So…yeah, it may have been an inauspicious, some might say controversial start, but Hulk is absolutely at the beginnings of the MCU, for sure. And out of all the recastings the MCU has had, the Hulk line has had the most, so I don’t even mind it on that basis, especially now that we’re having yet another replacement. Now, it sounds like I’m a defender for this film, which I am most certainly not. It’s too big, too stuffed and too bloated. But if you’re talking forgotten Marvel/MCU films — especially now that it’s all gotten so fragmented and apparently all that came before is retroactively all part of the MCU, or at least what we could now call the Marvel Cinematic Multiverse — then Hulk is really the singularly thematic, storyline-driven entry that, if anything, should at least be considered part of the series, and I’m sure it would have been, had it been a bigger hit.

It’s just a shame it wasn’t a… Hulk smash!

[EricJ]

It's suffered from the Curse of Universal, but it took a good TWO YEARS for the rest of MCU to get the audience to jump on Iron Man's train.
"Superhero movie" was still dirty word in the mid-00's, thanks to Fantastic Four and Daredevil--hence Dark Knight's big overhyped rep of "It doesn't LOOK like a 'superhero movie'!" ( )--and if anything was going to change the audience's mind, a movie that reminded them of the '03 Ang Lee movie was the last one you would pick to do it.

Yes, it had to be at the beginning, and yes, it was Stan & Avi's "do-over" of a sad incident, but just shows how right Thor and Captain America had to be to fix it.

[gaastra]

[Daniel]

Marvelous! Kitty army! Kamala's reactions throughout were just perfect. So much potential, looks fun!

[EricJ]

It'll be interesting to see Captain Grannypuncher try to survive one of Marvel's "funny" films, going in off their Guardians, Ant-Man and Ms. Marvel: the Series vibes.
It's an environment she's clearly not used to.

[Daniel]

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will stream May 17.

[Ben]

Was just wondering about that this afternoon!

[EricJ]

And having gotten a look at it (I don't know if I'm ever getting back to theaters, at this point), let's see--
A goofy/dysfunctional family of heroic scientists and explorers--led by the family's legendary missing head, who's lived as a survivor fighting in the territory since disappearing decades ago--reconnect as they venture into a strange world of intestinal landscapes and blobby alien creatures...

...It's basically the Marvel version of Strange World.

[Ben]

Yes. Basically they’re all living on Spider-Man's back…

[gaastra]

https://deadline.com/2023/05/marvel-thu ... 235380504/

[Daniel]

The Fantastic Four cast has supposedly leaked:

Adam Driver - Mister Fantastic
Margot Robbie - Sue Storm
Paul Mescal - Johnny Storm
Daveed Diggs - Ben Grimm

Eh.

[Ben]

Seems a bit…desperate…??

[Randall]

What, the casting of Ben Solo and Harley Quinn? Yeah, seems more like fancasting. I'll believe it when it's really announced.

Having said that... it's not a bad cast.