Running MCU thread

The Kang Dynasty is over before it started. In its place is Doomsday.

At ComicCon Saturday, Marvel announced that the next two Avengers movies will now be Doomsday and Secret Wars. There have been rumors that they would turn to Dr. Doom to replace Kang as the big bad in the next two Avengers movies for a while, but the surprise is that Robert Downey, Jr. will be playing Doom. WTF? (Apparently, there was some story about Tony Stark becoming Dr. Doom. I'm not familiar with that one. Still, WTF?)

To me, the best news announced today is the return of the Russo brothers to direct both upcoming Avengers movies. I don't love Downey as Doom, but after The Winter Soldier, Infinity War, and Endgame, I trust the Russo brothers to get it right.

 

It would have to be a multiverse Tony Stark, either one where he never becomes Iron Man and becomes Dr. Doom or its the storyline where they are roomates in college and Doom tricks Stark into swapping minds.

I guess the third way is that since Doom always wears a mask and you make his voice unrecognizable he's playing a different character and if you didn't know it was him, there would be no discernable way to tell

 

I don't know how they are going to make that work. I would have preferred an actor new to the MCU in the role, but I trust Downey and the Russo brothers.

Here's a video from the announcement. None of the clips are included, but the interviews and the reveal of Downey are in it. The two Avengers movies start around the 40-minute mark.

 

On paper, this seems like an absolutely awful idea. I think it's going to be nearly impossible to divorce RDJ from Iron Man in the context of the MCU. Even if you do "this is from a multiverse where Tony Stark becomes Dr. Doom," it seems shortsighted. Evil Tony Stark from another multiverse is easier to do, and you still "save" Dr. Doom for another actor; it's a meaty role you should be able to lure a heavy to. The rollout makes me think that this is either a massive fake out, like Executive Decision, or that Feige has lost some sway at Disney and this is a decision made by Eisner or another executive.

 

Deadpool was a fun movie and I loved all the little Easter eggs. I was still confused as to which timeline we were in and which was saved, but not a big deal. Even back when I read comics, I was always able to just wave away things that didn’t make sense. Well, except for — nerd alert! — the Vision retcon in West Coast Avengers, which thankfully was addressed is Avengers Forever.

Not real excited about RDJ as Doom. I didn’t enjoy the Kang movies just yet but I was excited about what the finale might bring. I suppose most of that storyline might still be usable with Doom as the antagonist.

 

The biggest issue with this is how much exposition are they going to employ to explain this away?

 

They were always building toward Secret Wars. Dr. Doom makes more sense than Kang as the villain for that one given that he was the primary antagonist in the more recent comic book version of the story. My first reaction to the rumors about Downey playing Doom was that it was a terrible idea. I haven't entirely changed my mind, though I do have faith in his acting skills and the creative team that made so many of the MCU's best movies.

 

New Deadpool. An absolute assload of fun. I haven’t laughed that hard and much at a movie in a very long time. Great stuff.

 

Finally saw Deadpool & Wolverine tonight. How well did they straddle that line between meta jokes and fan service cameos, and just telling a fun Deadpool story? My wife, who has never watched an MCU movie but enjoys the Deadpool movies, loved it. That's a pretty damn good movie.

After two weeks I'd had a hard time avoiding some of the spoilers, but there were still enough surprises with the discarded characters in the Void that they were a lot of fun. I'm sure there were plenty that I missed. The meta jokes when they're introducing the main group really land on another level if you're familiar with the off-screen history of those characters (and in one case, the actors).
The end credits retrospective of the Fox Marvel movies was also a nice touch. This was a real love letter to the Island of Misfit Toys that was the Fox version of the MCU, and it was nice to see a lot of those characters get the ending they wanted.
10/10. Loved it.

 

There’s only one Blade.

 

I saw it last night and just can't say how much I loved it. I am ready to see it again. Echo most of Batman's comments.

I am not a comic book reader but have enjoyed many comic book movies, and got almost all the references in the movie. Well, at least I think I did. A lot of the industry/meta jokes might have gone over my head, but they didn't bother me. I saw some reviews that said they might distract the unknowing viewer.

It's funny, I loved the first Blade, and didn't realize at the time it was a comic book movie, but on a whim one night in the early 2000s I watched the original X-Men on HBO and have sort of been hooked with this stuff ever since. The Fox tribute at the end was really cool.

All of the Deadpool-Wolverine battles were fantastic. I'll leave it at that. I also know some people are getting tired of the multiverse stuff, and we will see where this goes, but man, I really enjoyed the whole element of it. I think watching at least the first season of Loki will help a lot if you haven't.

On a weird personal end, my wife, who has gotten into Marvel with me and has enjoyed the first two Deadpools, did not like it at all. I could tell during she wasn't having it. I didn't let her ruin my enjoyment, but asked her some of what she didn't like and after she described it, I said, so a Deadpool movie? She has done stuff like that with other series before, didn't like an installment at all then loved another even though it was similar.

Wasn't going to let that bring me down, though, we each have our own thoughts. But if you like this stuff and don't mind the over the top R rating offerings, this is just fantastic viewing. We'll see how it settles in the Marvel universe, but really high up there for me.

 

Since I guess we're acknowledging Blade, sans spoiler alert, I'll say that it's remarkable how much of a full circle moment that was to have him in this particular movie, in several ways:
• Blade was the often-unheralded catalyst for the past 25 years of comic book movies. Its success paved the way for X-Men, which paved the way for Spider-Man and Nolan's Batman trilogy, and then the MCU itself. The genre as we know it might not exist if that first Blade movie had bombed. Having him back here is nice closure for an entire generation of movies.
• Ryan Reynolds' portrayal of Hannibal King was obviously his trial run as Deadpool. If you go back and watch "Blade: Trinity" it's impossible not to see it. He was already playing Deadpool, just as a character with a different name.
• Reynolds and Wesley Snipes had a huge feud during that movie's production. Supposedly, they were trying to nudge Snipes out the door and replace him for a fourth movie with the new crew (or something like that) and Snipes was openly hostile toward Reynolds. So Blade's one-liner in D&W about his feelings toward Deadpool are yet another great meta joke in a scene loaded with them.