All-purpose, running Geek thread (formerly Battlestar Galactica thread)

[outofplace]

I'm dying to see more kid-friendly superhero shows. My kid loves all the characters, but I can barely show him any shows/movies because they're too violent or have foul language, etc.

The problem is sometimes the kid-friendly they come up with leads to lousy quality. Marvel got rid of quality stuff like Wolverine and the X-Men and Spectacular Spider-Man to go with "kid-friendly" Ultimate Spider-Man and Super Hero Squad. Ultimate Spider-Man played down to kids and Super Hero Squad was fart noises and other humor for six-year-olds.

I guess it depends on your definition of "too violent." There have been some great animated series that managed to be suitable for kids, but not so childish that the quality went in the toilet.

 

[bigpern23]

The problem is sometimes the kid-friendly they come up with leads to lousy quality. Marvel got rid of quality stuff like Wolverine and the X-Men and Spectacular Spider-Man to go with "kid-friendly" Ultimate Spider-Man and Super Hero Squad. Ultimate Spider-Man played down to kids and Super Hero Squad was fart noises and other humor for six-year-olds.

I guess it depends on your definition of "too violent." There have been some great animated series that managed to be suitable for kids, but not so childish that the quality went in the toilet.

Honestly, I don't even care about the quality. My kid is 5 years old, so I watch a ton of crap. I need a show that will stoke his enjoyment of the super heroes by showing Spider Man web-slinging, Iron Man flying, Hulk lifting shirt, and Cap flinging the shield around without any foul language, nobody dying and the fewer punches thrown, the better. That's going to make for a shirtty show for people our age almost no matter what. But it will give him a chance to see them use their powers for good, without making it seem that violence is the answer to every problem.

Spider Man, being a "neighborhood level" super hero, is actually the perfect character to get him into the Marvel Universe. Spidey can save some old ladies, rescue some cats, and stop some thieves with some slick web slinging, a few one-liners and a good moral to the story and I'll be happy.

Hasbro does this quite well with Transformers. The Rescue Bots are right in his wheelhouse. It's focused largely on first-responder type missions, but they still transform and entertain him. He's almost ready to graduate to the Prime series, but he's not quite there yet.

 

[outofplace]

Honestly, I don't even care about the quality. My kid is 5 years old, so I watch a ton of crap. I need a show that will stoke his enjoyment of the super heroes by showing Spider Man web-slinging, Iron Man flying, Hulk lifting shirt, and Cap flinging the shield around without any foul language, nobody dying and the fewer punches thrown, the better. That's going to make for a shirtty show for people our age almost no matter what. But it will give him a chance to see them use their powers for good, without making it seem that violence is the answer to every problem.

Spider Man, being a "neighborhood level" super hero, is actually the perfect character to get him into the Marvel Universe. Spidey can save some old ladies, rescue some cats, and stop some thieves with some slick web slinging, a few one-liners and a good moral to the story and I'll be happy.

Hasbro does this quite well with Transformers. The Rescue Bots are right in his wheelhouse. It's focused largely on first-responder type missions, but they still transform and entertain him. He's almost ready to graduate to the Prime series, but he's not quite there yet.

Oh, I remember that stage well. I'm just saying there can be middle ground.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

And Marvel getting all its characters back for movies:

21st Century Fox has been holding talks to sell most of the company to Disney: Sources

 

[outofplace]

It's about damn time. Now hurry this stuff up so they can bring Hugh Jackman out of retirement to play Wolverine for at least a cameo in Avengers 4!

(I'm not sure if he was serious when he said it, but Jackman reportedly did say the one condition that might bring him back to the role would be to play Wolverine in an Avengers movie.)

 

[bigpern23]

Jackman is going to be damn hard to replace as Wolverine whenever they reboot him. Part of it is that they never put him in a mask. Every moment of Wolverine on-screen, the audience sees Jackman.

Just about anybody can take over as Deadpool, Spider-Man, Batman, Hulk (because of CGI), Iron Man, Ant-Man, Cyclops, Colossus, etc. But Jackman is to Wolverine as Christopher Reeve was to Superman - Iconic and damn near irreplaceable.

 

[Batman]

Jackman is going to be damn hard to replace as Wolverine whenever they reboot him. Part of it is that they never put him in a mask. Every moment of Wolverine on-screen, the audience sees Jackman.

Just about anybody can take over as Deadpool, Spider-Man, Batman, Hulk (because of CGI), Iron Man, Ant-Man, Cyclops, Colossus, etc. But Jackman is to Wolverine as Christopher Reeve was to Superman - Iconic and damn near irreplaceable.

I disagree on a couple of those. Ryan Reynolds has made Deadpool his baby. It'll be hard to find someone who can strike the same tone and push that franchise the way he has and does.
I think they can get a new Iron Man, but Robert Downey Jr. has done basically the same thing with Tony Stark as Jackman did with Wolverine. He's been in it so long, and we'd never seen the character until he came along and elevated it to a new level. I'd have said the same for Patrick Stewart as Professor X, who was pretty much born to play that part, but I guess McAvoy is growing into the younger version of the role.
Other than that, you're right.
Another part of it is that the other characters you mentioned (Batman, Hulk and Spider-Man in particular) have already been recast and rebooted so many times that fans are used to new actors in the role every few years. Affleck is, what, the fifth Batman in 25 years? And we've had three Spider-Men in less time than Jackman has spent as Wolverine. Fans are used to different continuities, different actors, and have rolled with it.

Is Wolverine/Jackman the longest-running frequent pairing of character and actor in a franchise-type movie? I was thinking one of the James Bond actors, but most of them passed the torch within a decade. I'm sure there's some that have reprised roles after a long hiatus. Can't think of too many who have continually portrayed the character every couple of years for 17 years, though.

 

[bigpern23]

I disagree on a couple of those. Ryan Reynolds has made Deadpool his baby. It'll be hard to find someone who can strike the same tone and push that franchise the way he has and does.
I think they can get a new Iron Man, but Robert Downey Jr. has done basically the same thing with Tony Stark as Jackman did with Wolverine. He's been in it so long, and we'd never seen the character until he came along and elevated it to a new level. I'd have said the same for Patrick Stewart as Professor X, who was pretty much born to play that part, but I guess McAvoy is growing into the younger version of the role.
Other than that, you're right.
Another part of it is that the other characters you mentioned (Batman, Hulk and Spider-Man in particular) have already been recast and rebooted so many times that fans are used to new actors in the role every few years. Affleck is, what, the fifth Batman in 25 years? And we've had three Spider-Men in less time than Jackman has spent as Wolverine. Fans are used to different continuities, different actors, and have rolled with it.

Is Wolverine/Jackman the longest-running frequent pairing of character and actor in a franchise-type movie? I was thinking one of the James Bond actors, but most of them passed the torch within a decade. I'm sure there's some that have reprised roles after a long hiatus. Can't think of too many who have continually portrayed the character every couple of years for 17 years, though.

Reynolds is great in the role of Deadpool, but it really won't be difficult to find a snarky, foul-mouthed actor to fill the role eventually. If they tried to make Deadpool 3 in 2019 without him, fans might have trouble buying it, but they can reboot Deadpool as often as they did Spider-Man and no one will bat an eyelash. Same with Downey. He's the best actor I can imagine to play Tony Stark, but if he's out of the role for five years, the character could be rebooted without much fuss.

Your second-to-last paragraph emphasizes my point. Part of the reason those characters have been so easily rebooted and recast is the mask/CGI allow just about anyone to inhabit the role, to a certain degree (I'm looking at you Clooney). There has been no hiding behind a mask for Wolverine, so whomever takes over the role is going to face a steep challenge to ever gain fanboy acceptance.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Bad news for Marvel:

https://io9.gizmodo.com/brian-michael-bendis-leaves-marvel-signs-exclusive-dea-1820213198

 

[outofplace]

Bad news for Marvel:

https://io9.gizmodo.com/brian-michael-bendis-leaves-marvel-signs-exclusive-dea-1820213198

Definitely a major blow to Marvel Comics, though it really won't do much to the MCU.

 

[outofplace]

Reynolds is great in the role of Deadpool, but it really won't be difficult to find a snarky, foul-mouthed actor to fill the role eventually. If they tried to make Deadpool 3 in 2019 without him, fans might have trouble buying it, but they can reboot Deadpool as often as they did Spider-Man and no one will bat an eyelash. Same with Downey. He's the best actor I can imagine to play Tony Stark, but if he's out of the role for five years, the character could be rebooted without much fuss.

Your second-to-last paragraph emphasizes my point. Part of the reason those characters have been so easily rebooted and recast is the mask/CGI allow just about anyone to inhabit the role, to a certain degree (I'm looking at you Clooney). There has been no hiding behind a mask for Wolverine, so whomever takes over the role is going to face a steep challenge to ever gain fanboy acceptance.

Superhero casting is always going to be challenging. Plenty of fanboys hated the idea of Jackman taking on the role for the first X-Men movie. Wolverine had always been drawn as short and ugly. All anybody knew about Jackman at that time was that he is 6-foot-2 and good looking. Then people saw the first movie. He was great in the role. By the time X2 came around, nobody cared that he didn't quite look the part and in many cases, the character was drawn to look more like Jackman.

My first reaction to a deal with Fox above was to say they should hurry up to get Jackman into an Avengers movie, but I've got to believe Marvel would reboot everything X-Men. The one exception might be Deadpool. You could just leave Reynolds in the role and have the character joke about it during a fourth wall break. But it would be the perfect time to recast Wolverine.

 

[Batman]

I'm more excited that the MCU will gain access to the Fantastic Four characters -- specifically, their villains.
Given the talk that the MCU post-Infinity War will be oriented more toward the cosmic characters, building up Galactus or Annilihus as the Thanos-level payoff in 2028 would mesh well. They'd also get to bring in Doom, who can be the next phase's Loki as a persistent threat and a multi-faceted character they can properly evolve over time.