This show became one of my family’s favorites. It’s hardly Citizen Kane, but it’s an entertaining supernatural police procedural, cop dramedy, will-they-won’t-they romance, and while we enjoy the cast as a whole, Tom Ellis is, frankly, superb as the Devil with a Confused Heart of Gold-Tone Alloy.
The show, very loosely based on the DC Vertigo title of the same name, was canceled on Fox after three seasons, but a campaign by fans and the producers got it picked up for a new season on Netflix (starting 8 May). Looking forward to it.
The trailer in the tweet above gives a setup for the show, for those who haven’t seen it. (And, no, for those worried, the show doesn’t promote Satanism, any more than Hercules: The Legendary Journeys promoted paganism.)
What’s the minimum MCU watch list for a total noob?
So I met with some friends the other day over lunch to answer some questions about Captain Marvel, from the perspective of someone who’s watched all the MCU movies and is a huge comic book geek.
And I discovered that they had never watched an MCU movie before watching Captain Marvel. Which provide an interesting perspective, to be sure, on how self-contained a story it was (and wasn’t).
Thing is, they are now looking forward to Avengers: Endgame, and want to know what they actually have to watch before that happened. Which intrigues me, because while Captain Marvel was kind of a stand-alone film, Avengers: Endgame is going to be a lot more difficult to understand without some sort of MCU knowledge. It’s literally like coming into the final chapter of a story and starting with “Um, who’s that guy dressed up as a flag?”
Avengers: Endgame poster
I cannot realistically suggest that they watch all the previous MCU movies, and I don’t even think it’s necessary (though, certainly, it would be fun to do). So if I trim down the list, how much do I trim it down?
So here’s my answer, bounced off the Internet to see how people recoil. This is a list of all the MCU films, in chronological order. The letter grades are (definitely) not about quality, but about essentiality to the story, to figure out what’s what and who’s who in Avengers: Endgame. I.e., if you have only a minimal amount of time and opportunity to watch these, go for (in chronological order) just the A films (4 films). If you have more time to devote, go for the B films, too (3 more) . Even more binge-watching? Do all the C films as well (7 more). Etc.
One who was first called it isn’t any more. One who is now called it wasn’t before.
I knew pretty much all of this, but it’s still a fine analysis of “Captain Marvel” — the origin story(ies), why the original isn’t called that any more, why the one called by that name isn’t the original even in their own comic book company, and why the story is entangled not just with two comic book companies but with others foreign and domestic.
But the story of the Captain Marvels begins decades before Marvel Comics was even calling itself “Marvel Comics,” and it’s much, much wilder than you could ever expect. Among other things, it involves Superman, Spawn creator Todd McFarlane, the UK’s Children and Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act of 1955, the word “atomik” spelled backwards, and preeminent United States legal scholar, Judge Learned Hand.
And I liked this:
They say that life is stranger than fiction, but I know it to be true; because both Marvel and DC Comics have characters known as “Captain Marvel,” and in 2019, both of those characters have feature films out within a month of each other.
What Carol’s success might mean for the X-Men and FF, oh, and what about her romantic life?
[Possible spoilers for Captain Marvel, but, really, you should have seen it by now.]
As the movie approaches the $1 billion box office level, Marvel’s Captain Marvel is, along with Black Panther, demonstrating that the MCU’s films (and, perhaps, movies in general) don’t need to primarily focus on white guys as heroes.
Which, honestly, I have no problem with, and in fact, applaud. There are a lot of characters in the Marvel Universe who are not-white and/or not-male, and this only frees up the opportunity to see more of them center screen, too. I would prefer not to see white guys disappear totally from the MCU — but that hardly seems likely. Heck, even the Snap didn’t do that.
I’m not actually worried about running out of white guys in the MCU.
(And, yes, there’s even the possibility that some characters might be cast with people who don’t align with their complexion or even gender in the original comics. Nick Fury’s a kinda-good example of that being workable, as are changes with Mar-Vell. If done well, in a way that doesn’t significantly change something essential about the character, I don’t have a problem there.)
Beyond that, it’s noted that the success of these two heroes that are slated for prominence in the post-Avengers “Phase 4” movies, along with the movies already slated, indicates that Marvel need be in no big hurry to incorporate the massive properties they just inherited with the Fox deal: the X-Men and the Fantastic Four.
FF and X-Men — They’ve both been around for a while.
I mean, I’m as anxious as anyone else to see a decent film rendition of the FF, but I’m totally cool with both properties, esp. the X-Men, getting a few years of rest and reset, and then potentially centerpiece another phase down the line. Aside from the risk of super-hero flicks going out of style (which has been predicted multiple times over the last decade) before they circle around to those sagas, a break makes a lot of sense. Though in the meantime we can get some “hints” (news stories about mutations on the rise due to cosmic radiation or Infinity Stone leftovers; a NASA representative name-dropping Reed Richards; weird shenanigans on the news going on in the Sokovian neighbor nation of Latveria, etc.) to help tee up some excitement.
Another interesting thread of discussion that’s come up lately, viz Captain Marvel, is the question of Carol Danvers sexual orientation. It’s a little weird that it’s being brought up in large part because the character doesn’t have the traditional “boyfriend” in her origin movie, which is supposed to be a good thing because not every woman’s story has to be focused on her relationship with a man — but that’s, in turn, made people wonder if Carol’s relationship with Maria Rambeau or (and this would be an interesting twist) Mar-Vell might be more than just friendship.
I’m, honestly, non-committal. There’s nothing wrong with it, but there’s nothing particularly compelling about it, either. To be sure, I don’t have a personal stake in that particular representation, and I agree that getting some LGBTQ folk into the MCU picture (a million unofficial memes about Steve/Bucky notwithstanding) would be a positive thing in principle. I may just be a bit concerned at a meta level about the amount of heavy-eyerolling-See-it-was-all-a-feminist-plot that would ensue if it turned out that Captain Marvel was a lesbian, or even bi, but that seems inevitable no matter what happens with the character.
Honestly, the question of any sort of relationship for Carol is a more interesting one to me: a highly duty-driven person, whose memories have been messed up, who’s been betrayed by her closest friends, who’s just spent a few decades in deep space (has it actually been that long for her, or 3sd-are we talking some light-speed time contract compressing the interval for her?) … trust issues and understanding how to relate to people at all might be a serious uphill road for her, regardless of which way(s) she swings.
In short, on this as with other things, I’m more interested in good story than in particular agendas. If they want to have Capt. Marvel and Valkyrie as the hottest gay lovers in space-time, great. If she ends up in domestic bliss with Doctor Strange, well, that might be interesting. Heck, if she decides that Rocket Raccoon is her type, I’m cool with that, too. Just give me a good story about it.
Apparently, “realistic” heroes kill, lie, embezzle, and commit atrocities.
Snyder seems positively offended that other people are offended by how he handled Batman and Superman in the trio of DCEU movies he made.
Someone says to me: ‘[Ben Affleck’s] Batman killed a guy,’” Snyder said during a Q&A after a Watchmen screening event, as seen in a video posted to Reddit on March 24. “I’m like, ‘Fuck, really? Wake the fuck up.’”
Comic book fans complain to Snyder about the dark tone of his movies, he said, airing frustrations about how those heroes have killed people without any kind of remorse or conscience, especially in Batman v Superman.
Then he explained how Watchmen, his 2009 film, is about the gritty reality of superheroes — in no uncertain, or family-friendly, terms.
“Once you’ve lost your virginity to this fucking movie and then you come and say to me something about, like, ‘My superhero wouldn’t do that,’ I’m like, ‘Are you serious?’ I’m, like, down the fucking road on that,” Snyder said. “It’s a cool point of view to be like, ‘My heroes are still innocent. My heroes didn’t fucking lie to America. My heroes didn’t embezzle money from their corporations. My heroes didn’t commit any atrocities.’ That’s cool. But you’re living in a fucking dream world,” he added.
If Snyder only finds creative joy in writing about heroes that are “gritty,” who find killing to be just a natural part of how they express themselves … that’s certainly his prerogative. I just don’t care to go to any more films he might be asked to make within the genre.
Ironically, I suppose, I actually like Watchmen a lot, as a remarkably faithful adaptation of Alan Moore’s deconstruction of the superhero genre. But I don’t consider its characters heroic, and I don’t need Batman, Superman, or the Justice League to be remade in Watchmen style.* I’m “down the road on that.”
I realize others might have a different aesthetic. More power to them, and I hope Snyder gets to make some other movies along those lines that they will enjoy. But I won’t be spending any money on them, and I hope none of them involve characters that I enjoy.
* Also, Batman v Superman is a profoundly stupid movie, full of people doing and saying things that are far more improbable than that a man can fly or that a multi-billionaire can make all those wonderful toys. But that’s another topic of discussion.
Usagi Yojimbo is one of the greatest comic series of all time. Though an anthropomorphic, it is steeped in Japanese shogunate culture and samurai lore. Started in 1984, it moved to Dark Horse comics in 1995, and has been there ever since …
… until today's announcement that the comic is moving over to IDW. No word on the reason for the change, but it provides an opportunity for new publishing of collected editions of the tales of Usagi, which can only be a good thing.
I've had the opportunity to meet Stan Sakai, the writer and artist on UY, and he's a wonderful guy. All the best to him with his new publisher.
(And, just to be clear, I’m talking about the Marvel movie by that name, not the Shazam movie coming from DC, starring a character who used to be called “Captain Marvel” but now is called “Shazam.” Got it? Though I’m looking forward to that one, too.)
The pix make it clear that Marvel is taking quite a few liberties in Carol Danvers’ origin / early story, instead tying her into much more active participation with the Kree back in the 1990s, as well as having participation an early SHIELD desk jockey named Nick Fury.
How it all works, how it all ties into GotG (and Avengers 4), let alone Kree shenanigans on Agents of SHIELD (assuming any level of interaction between Marvel’s movies and TV any more) — we’ll have to wait until next March to see.
The pix, at least, look interesting. Carol’s suit is more complicated than even the comic book one, and she’s lost the hip sash (which is somewhat iconic for the character, but, yeah). Marvel is investing a bundle into having this bridge the current and next phase of the MCU, so I hope it all works out well.
@PHenry1991 @79SemiFinalist @MattiaIulis Completely agree — Jessica/Alias is a title/character I’ve long loved, and this is a fully worthy passing on of the baton.
Oooooh. In addition to the focus on Angelville, where Jesse was raised, there are some characters shown there that … well, I had grave doubts as to whether we’d see them in the series.
As avid watchers of the past two seasons on AMC, and waiting this next one with bated breath — and as someone who’s reread the source material a dozen times — a lot of this article rings true. I don’t agree with all of the decisions Rogen, et al., have made (S.2 tended to wander a bit), but their principle approach has been sound, and the stuff they have brought in from the original comics has been quite well done, and a lot of the stuff they have left out — the more mean-spirited chunks of character treatment and plotline — have been dispensable.
I’ve no idea if the showrunners know where they are going with all of this — if there’s a final scene they are driving toward, as Ennis was. I hope so, because that, in part, is what redeems the story and the bad decisions the characters make in it (and gives the final volume such impact). But I’m certainly ready for the next season to begin.
The Kamala Khan comic book series has been tremendous fun, picking up the issues of a youthful hero, while taking on family issues in the context of an immigrant, unconventional family, all of it with good humor and hopefulness.
I look forward to Kamala’s inclusion in the MCU, and in more than a cameo.
Dealing with an established character / situation / reputation is difficult for second seasons of shows, both in terms of in-story plot and in terms of out-of-story viewers.
It looks like they’ve successfully spanned the difference between the CG of the original and the stuff that can be done today. It looks very nice, but also clearly an Incredibles movie.
More Elastigirl! Woot!
The problematic:
I didn’t see anything that really surprised me. Family sitcom, in both situation and comedy. Granted, it’s a short little trailer, and I really don’t want massive spoilers. But I’ve been worried about what they’ll do here, and the answer seems to be “When the wife gets the big important job and the husband has to stay home to watch the kids, hilarity ensues!” — and while that can (and, from the look of things, will) be funny, it’s also not exactly ground-breaking.
Not that anything is going to keep me out of the theaters the weekend of June 15th, but I’m not feeling quite as optimistic as I’d like.
Garth Ennis’ The Boys was one of my favorites while it was running. The over-the-top violence, cynicism, sex, and ragging on politics and the media and celebrity — well, duh, it was Garth Ennis — were a ton of fun, and something of a guilty pleasure.
Well, I’m tickled that Karl Urban is going to be Billy Butcher. Jack Quaid looks like he’ll look the part of Wee Hughie (the character was originally modeled by Darick Robertson after Simon Pegg).
How the show will actually run remains to be seen. That Preacher‘s Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen are on executive producers and directors of the first episode should be a good sign.
Hmmm. Now I need to reread the (planned) 72-issue series again.
There’s so much about this movie that I love, but most of all its focus on a husband and wife who, yeah, do have some problems, but who help each other get past them. Bob and Helen Parr are both great superheroes, and they need each other (with a little help from their friends) to see that.
I have a lot of trepidation about the sequel coming later this year. It’s hard to follow up adequately (and a decade-and-a-half later) to something so good on its own.
Definitely one of my desert island flicks.
A ★★★★½ review of The Incredibles (2004)
A fine family movie (about a family!) to watch on a wedding anniversary, and one that’s definitely on my desert island list. What I appreciate more and more each time is how Bob and Helen do (and don’t) work together as a couple, how both of them get opportunities to shine, to be right, to be wrong. This is not a film about a guy whose shrewish wife is holding him back. It’s not a film about a woman who struggles to keep her family together in th…
I generally loathe Deadpool in the comics, but the first movie (when I finally brought myself to watch it) was a hoot-n-a-half, and this one looks even better. Not for the violence or obscenity faint-of-heart, but I’m okay with that in measured doses.
(I think the distinction is cross-overs. I’m fine with stand-alone Deadpool movies, even if they play with Fox’s corner of the Marvel Universe. But I would hate to see him ever, ever, show up in a mainstream Marvel Studios MCU movie. He’s like mint chip ice cream: enjoyable on its own, but not what you want to mix with your fettucine alfredo, your chili con carne, or your PB&J.)
