Weekly MCU Review for 3/6

Another week, and more MCU news!  There was a metric ton of Iron Fist-related news this week, from casting to potential additional heroes.  Also, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has been renewed for season 4!  Oh, and Sony is being stupid with its Marvel properties again…  Put some ketchup on your eggs, and catch-up on your Marvel news!

Mostly MCU Reviews

My articles from the week

Since I finished reviewing Jessica Jones season 1 last week, this week I gave my thoughts on Jessica Jones season 2.  What do you want to see in the second season?

Agent Carter’s season 2 finale, “Hollywood Ending,” aired this week (expectations and review).  Unfortunately, season 2 did not post the numbers of season 1, so it sounds like season 3 is not a sure bet, and that really is a shame.

Finally, I finished off my miniseries about how and why the Civil War needs to be more than just Captain America: Civil War with the small-screen tie-in possibilities.  How do you think Civil War and the Civil War will tie in with the TV shows?

MCU News

Links to news articles and blog posts about the MCU

Evidently the reports of 67 characters appearing in Avengers: Infinity War were incorrect.  No; instead there will be 68!  Let the speculation commence!

Here’s a new poster for Daredevil season 2 featuring Daredevil fighting the Hand.

Image Courtesy www.twitter.com/Daredevil

I’m really liking the costumes!

It’s rainin’ Iron Fist news!  2 years of nothing, and then in a relatively short period of time we get a showrunner (Scott Buck), lead actor (Finn Jones), and now the stunt coordinator, Brett Chan from Marco Polo (another show I haven’t watched).

Add one more to the Iron Fist news:  Danny Rand may be making his debut in episode 13 of Luke Cage.  It’s really not all that surprising, though I was under the impression from the recently-released Iron Fist synopsis that Danny wouldn’t be returning to NYC until his series.

So you know how so many people got upset with the casting of a white actor to play an originally-white character?  Apparently Marvel is trying to assuage the concerns of those upset by this decision by reportedly looking to cast Shang-Chi for Iron Fist.  Now, I do understand why people were advocating “race-bending” Danny Rand to be Asian-American (and would even have been comfortable with that decision), but I don’t know how you can fault Marvel Studios for keeping the character consistent with his comic book history.  Frankly, that is NOT “whitewashing,” and anyone who wants to cry “racist” at the news either doesn't know anything about Iron Fist or doesn't care.

Note:  buried in the previous story is the news that Iron Fist will begin production in April.  If this is true then it is entirely possible that Iron Fist will be ready for release this October!

Here’s an interesting article breaking down what exactly Agent Carter season 2 was about.  The author basically boils it down to an exploration of the Atomic Age, as the establishment is being threatened by new power sources which it cannot understand or control.  What did you think of season 2?

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has been renewed for season 4!

News from Around Geekdom

Anything not related to the MCU that I find interesting

Big Hero 6 has been given a sequel… TV series, to air on Disney XD starting in 2017.  The series will pick up after the events of the film.  Here’s my question:  Disney XD already has its own Marvel Animated Universe (Avengers Assemble, Ultimate Spider-Man, and Guardians of the Galaxy), so will this be connected to that Universe—thus bringing Big Hero 6 itself into that universe—or will it be unconnected?

Fant4stic got some major awards’-season love, cleaning up with no less than three awards at the… Razzies.  Fant4stic won the Worst Picture, Worst Direct, and Worst Remake, Rip-Off, or Sequel awards.  Hooray?

FOX has staked out October 6, 2017, and January 12, 2018, for untitled Marvel movies.  No idea what movies they could be, but it’s possible that they are Gambit and Deadpool 2.

You know, I got all excited when I saw this report stating that Sony is supposedly developing a Venom movie.  But then I read the article and saw that this movie is reported to be unassociated with the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Spider-Man reboot.  Now all I can say is:  Has Sony lost their minds?  Venom apart from Spider-Man makes even less sense than a Spider-Man-centric cinematic universe without any of Marvel Studios’ heroes!  The timing of this announcement can’t be a coincidence, considering that Deadpool is in the process of earning all the money left in the world as an R-Rated comic book movie.  My guess is that the next thing we hear will be that Venom is intended to be another R-Rated comic book movie like Deadpool, Wolverine 3, and the Batman v. Superman home release.  Because trying to copy the big boys worked out so well for Sony last time around (*cough*TASM2*cough*)!  Now, that’s not to say that Sony couldn’t produce an interesting and engaging Venom movie series as a spinoff of Spider-Man and set within the MCU.  As a matter of fact, I pitched exactly that last June in talking about MCU-set Spider-Man spinoffs:

Venom – The symbiote comes to earth and bonds with several different characters, eventually bonding with Peter Parker at the end of the movie.

[The Spectacular] Spider-Man 2 – Venom/Spider-Man fight crime while bonded together, though Peter struggles against Venom’s violent nature.  Eventually, Spider-Man “defeats” Venom by casting him off, at which point he bonds with Eddie Brock and escapes into the night.

Venom vs. Carnage – Venom/Eddie “births” Carnage.  Venom, Spider-Man, and a couple of other heroes (Luke Cage and Iron Fist, perhaps) must team up to take on Carnage and stop his murderous rampage across New York.  At the end, Venom and Carnage are both captured and contained by S.H.I.E.L.D.

Agent Venom – The first act tells the story of all the previous Spider-Man films from Flash Thompson’s perspective, along with his war service.  This is revealed to be a flashback of Flash’s while he is explaining himself to Coulson.  Coulson asks him to volunteer for an experimental bonding with the Venom symbiote.  The second act is Flash and Venom bonding, and his subsequent struggle to control the symbiote.  The final act shows Agent Venom meeting Spider-Man, and then the two of them teaming up to face a new villain together.

That 4-movie arc would take the symbiote through all of its classic iterations, from corrupting Spider-Man to becoming a villain and spawning a worse villain, to being given a shot at redemption.  However, it just plain doesn’t work without Marvel!  And Venom would absolutely fit into the MCU, but I just don’t see how Venom can work as a non-MCU movie and without Spider-Man!

Star Wars: The Force Awakens will be released in April—digital on the 1^st and Blu-Ray on the 5^th.  There will also be quite a few special features.

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