Weekly MCU Review for 7/30

Another week, and more MCU news!  Comic-Con concluded this week, so we've got a lot of new stuff to talk about.  Put some ketchup on your eggs, and catch-up on your Marvel news!

How Do We Define a "Tie-In"?

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In talking about Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and its connections with other media (particularly the movies), it has occurred to me that I use the words “tie-in” and “crossover” without really defining them.  And considering how frequently we talk about “tie-ins” and “crossovers” between Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the movies, it’s a pretty good bet that I’m not the only one who uses them in a number of different ways.  This can be confusing!

So partly to help myself out—and partly to help everyone else out—let’s take some time to define some terms when it comes to “tie-ins” and “crossovers.”  Next week I will apply these terms in talking about possible tie-ins/crossovers with the movies coming out during season 4 of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.:  Doctor Strange and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

Before we get started, remember that these are the definitions I’m using; I’m not saying this is what we have to use.  Though you’re welcome to adopt them for yourself!

San Diego Comic-Con 2016 RESULTS

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So another San Diego Comic-Con has come and gone.  If you recall, last week I posted my expectations for the MCU presentations at Comic-Con.  Let’s see how I did!  In some ways I was spot-on, but there were a few places I missed.

Last year Marvel Studios didn’t even go to Comic-Con, so there really wasn’t a ton of stuff to report.  This year, I think they were trying to make up for lost time, because they gave us a lot of new stuff to talk about!

Captain America: The Winter Soldier RETRO-REVIEW

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When I first started this Retro-Review series, I think this was the movie I was most excited for.  After all, before Captain America: Civil War completely changed the status quo and elevated the MCU to a whole new level, this movie was changing the game and elevating the MCU to a level it hadn’t reached since The Avengers—and arguably it even exceeded the level of The Avengers.  Just about every aspect of this movie works perfectly, from the character development and relationship elements to the stunt work and choreography.  This movie doesn’t make nearly as much use of computer-generated effects as most other MCU movies, but it really doesn’t need CGI to create convincing effects (other than the helicarriers and Falcon’s flight effects).  On the whole, there is really nothing in this movie that doesn’t work spectacularly.

Weekly MCU Review for 7/23 (SDCC Edition)

Another week, and more MCU news!  San Diego Comic-Con is going on this weekend, so there’s a ton of news coming out of that!  Put some ketchup on your eggs, and catch-up on your Marvel news!

San Diego Comic-Con 2016 EXPECTATIONS

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Today is the beginning of San Diego Comic-Con!  Over the next several days we will get tons of information about our favorite upcoming movies, TV shows, comic books, and the like.  It has already been confirmed that the upcoming Marvel movies, Luke Cage, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will be there this year, so let’s talk about what we expect to get from Marvel Studios.  I’m going to focus primarily on the Marvel Studios productions for this, though I may add in a few thoughts for Justice League and the like.

Thor: The Dark World RETRO-REVIEW

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Thor: The Dark World is another one of those movies where I’m torn.  I remember enjoying it when it first came out, but in the three years since then my attitude toward it has changed slightly.  On the one hand, I appreciate more of its intricacies, particularly where the main villain is concerned.  On the other hand, I’ve also become much more aware of this movie’s failings.  I definitely do not like this movie as much as the first Thor, and there are a lot of places where it tries way too hard to be something that it is not and has no right to even try to be.

According to Rotten Tomatoes, Thor: The Dark World is the second-worst MCU movie to-date, only narrowly beating out The Incredible Hulk on the “strength” of its audience score.  Now, I’ve said this several times already in this “Retro-Review” series, so I won’t harp on it too much this time around.  Considering how strong Thor: The Dark World is by comparison with other bad movies on Rotten Tomatoes, it’s really not that bad.  All of the other comic book movie universes/series have one or two worse, and some comic book movies can’t manage to get any better (*cough*Fantastic Four*cough*).  So if this is the worst that the MCU ever gets, Marvel Studios has nothing to be ashamed of.

Weekly MCU Review for 7/16

Another week, and more MCU news!  Not a lot of MCU stuff, but some exciting news about Star Wars Rebels this week!  Put some ketchup on your eggs, and catch-up on your Marvel news!

Wild and Crazy Captain Marvel Idea

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This is just a quick idea I came up with a while back.  You may remember that I’ve talked in the past about the concept of the female hero team (A-Force and the Lady Liberators both come to mind).  I’ve also said that this only really works in the MCU as it is set up (a lot of heroes without a ton of connections to each other beyond team boundaries) when you come up with a reason for the guys to stay home and let the girls handle it themselves.  Finally, when talking about this, I’ve pointed out that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. already introduced the perfect character to necessitate an all-girls team-up.

Well, let’s take that a bit further and talk about how this could work into the MCU using one of the movies that is already on the release schedule.  Specifically, what if Captain Marvel turns out to be an all-ladies team-up movie?

Iron Man 3 RETRO-REVIEW

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To be honest, I’m torn when it comes to Iron Man 3.  On the one hand it offers an excellent character study of Tony Stark, follows up on plots and themes from both The Avengers and the previous Iron Man movies, and introduces concepts and tech which appear in Iron Man’s next two appearances.  On the other hand, it’s the third Iron Man movie with a corrupt businessman as the villain.  There are a lot of good things that we can say about this movie, but it is not without its flaws—but, then, what movie is without flaws?

Weekly MCU Review for 7/9

Another week, and more MCU news!  Not a ton of new information, though the Doctor Strange prequel comic came out.  Oh, and Hikaru Sulu came out, too!  Put some ketchup on your eggs, and catch-up on your Marvel news!

Daredevil Season 2 Follow-Up: The Villains

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Thus far in our follow-up to Daredevil season 2 we’ve talked about the heroes and supporting characters as well as Foggy Nelson and the Superhuman Law Office.  We are almost done talking about Daredevil season 2, but we're not quite there yet.  This final article will discuss the villains who appeared in season 2.  This may actually be the most interesting article of the series, because there are so many possibilities available for these characters.

The Avengers RETRO-REVIEW

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Here it is:  the big one.  The Avengers is probably when most fans really started following the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  I know that for me The Avengers was the first time I figured out that all these superhero movies were connected.  Now, in my defense, I can’t have been the only one who saw the original Iron Man in theaters, left at the credits, didn’t see Nick Fury show up and namedrop the Avengers, and then didn’t bother to come back a couple months later to see the second Hulk movie in 5 years!  Needless to say, when I saw that The Avengers was coming, bought up the first 5 MCU movies, watched them all, and then went to see The Avengers 3 times, I was really kicking myself for not getting in on this thing sooner!

There’s a reason that The Avengers holds such a special place in the hearts of Marvel fans, comic book fans, Joss Whedon fans, and geekdom in general.  This was the first movie to prove that the standard comic book thing—taking a bunch of disparate characters from wildly different comic book genres and styles and putting them together—could actually work on the big screen.  This was the first movie to prove that you can build a coherent “cinematic universe” which encompasses a bunch of solo movies leading up to one big event team-up movie.  This was the one the movie that put Hollywood on notice:  comic books and universes are “in.”

Weekly MCU Review for 7/2

Another week, and more MCU news!  A lot of rumors, but not a lot of specific news.  Put some ketchup on your eggs, and catch-up on your Marvel news!