Marvel Cinematic Universe

[Ultron]

To be honest, I'm kind of surprised by the amount of people saying 'x character is boring' or 'x character can't act'. I always though AoS had a pretty decent cast - not amazing, but certainly better than a lot of other shows out there.

I definitely agree with you there. It's not my favorite show but most of the acting is pretty decent. People give it a lot of crap that it doesn't deserve. Sure, it's not as great as I'd like it to be but I'm a hardcore marvel fan so I'll watch it to keep up on the MCU

[Mr Man]

I'm still willing to give it a chance and will watch it 'till the bitter end and I really hope it gets better.

[Tanma]

To be honest, I'm kind of surprised by the amount of people saying 'x character is boring' or 'x character can't act'. I always though AoS had a pretty decent cast - not amazing, but certainly better than a lot of other shows out there.

I can agree with that, and I will keep watching to keep up with the MCU. It's just so far I haven't seen a character that I really click with, if that makes sense.

[Leo604]

Michael Douglas cast as Hank Pym: http://ca.ign.com/articles/2014/01/13/michael-douglas-to-play-hank-pym-in-marvels-ant-man?utm_campaign=ign+main+twitter&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

[BrickG]

Well most people have issues with the cast. You might like them but if most don't there's going to be an obvious issue ;p.

Melinda May:

Boring and generic stoic warrior type. Doesn't have ANY personality. Just stands around being stoic. Even though there's already been a lot more screen time for Melinda May the Black Widow from Avengers still has more character (and she doesn't have much).

Grand Ward:

Another boring and generic somewhat less stoic warrior. He's better with people than Malinda but still showed as unsociable. His moral and manly man personality has been done 100 times on TV. There is zero unique about him or Melinda.

Fitz and Simons:

Quirky, nerdy and often weak scientists! If this was the 90s I might be more surprised but at this point they're just stereotyped and yet more personality types that have been done to death.

Skye:

I don't know what to say besides a lot of people have issues with her.

It's just... there's absolutely nothing unique or interesting about basically everyone in the cast. None of them are particularly good at excelling in anything (being lovable like Hurly from Lost, facinating character like Walter White, cool like Kirk, whatever).

Even Phil Coulson seems a bit drab. He's got the mystery of his apparently resurrection and that's it.

But it's not the cast's fault. The writing just isn't that good. Also despite being part of the Marvel universe we're never going to see anyone significant. No way will the big gun movie stars guest star. Marvel seems unwilling to let them use any characters of any significance. It seems actually very separated from the Marvel universe. Even when we do start getting real Marvel characters I figure they'll be basically the ones nobody likes already. :P

The whole show is "meh". It's absolutely not comparable to other Wedon works like Buffy and Firefly. It suffers from "meh" on in almost every aspect. From the characters to the writing to the limits put on them by Marvel... It's just too much.

It's not a terrible show. But it's also not one of the great shows like Lost, Breaking Bad, Buffy, Star Trek, etc. Not even close. It's average at best. Average won't be remembered much in history.

[Faefrost]

Michael Douglas cast as Hank Pym: http://ca.ign.com/ar...m_medium=social

So they are going for the "Hank Pym is a bit of a jackass" style of characterization?

[Ultron]

Michael Douglas cast as Hank Pym: http://ca.ign.com/ar...m_medium=social

Yeah I saw this. I'm kinda disappointed to be honest. That means Paul Rudd's antman won't be a genius scientist but instead a thief, no matter which of the 2 other incarnations they choose. This also means we probably won't be seeing wasp either which sucks. But it would explain why ant man won't be creating Ultron since he clearly won't have the mental capacity to. I'd say the only good thing about this is that there won't be the abuse of wasp since again, she won't be in it most likely..

Edited January 13, 2014 by Luna Lovegood

[Faefrost]

Well most people have issues with the cast. You might like them but if most don't there's going to be an obvious issue ;p.

Melinda May:

Boring and generic stoic warrior type. Doesn't have ANY personality. Just stands around being stoic. Even though there's already been a lot more screen time for Melinda May the Black Widow from Avengers still has more character (and she doesn't have much).

Grand Ward:

Another boring and generic somewhat less stoic warrior. He's better with people than Malinda but still showed as unsociable. His moral and manly man personality has been done 100 times on TV. There is zero unique about him or Melinda.

Fitz and Simons:

Quirky, nerdy and often weak scientists! If this was the 90s I might be more surprised but at this point they're just stereotyped and yet more personality types that have been done to death.

Skye:

I don't know what to say besides a lot of people have issues with her.

It's just... there's absolutely nothing unique or interesting about basically everyone in the cast. None of them are particularly good at excelling in anything (being lovable like Hurly from Lost, facinating character like Walter White, cool like Kirk, whatever).

Even Phil Coulson seems a bit drab. He's got the mystery of his apparently resurrection and that's it.

But it's not the cast's fault. The writing just isn't that good. Also despite being part of the Marvel universe we're never going to see anyone significant. No way will the big gun movie stars guest star. Marvel seems unwilling to let them use any characters of any significance. It seems actually very separated from the Marvel universe. Even when we do start getting real Marvel characters I figure they'll be basically the ones nobody likes already. :P

The whole show is "meh". It's absolutely not comparable to other Wedon works like Buffy and Firefly. It suffers from "meh" on in almost every aspect. From the characters to the writing to the limits put on them by Marvel... It's just too much.

It's not a terrible show. But it's also not one of the great shows like Lost, Breaking Bad, Buffy, Star Trek, etc. Not even close. It's average at best. Average won't be remembered much in history.

I don't think its quite that bad. My take on them;

Malinda May - Yeah kind of stereotyped cold warrior with baggage. How she shines through depends a lot on who she is playing against. Her interactions with Coulson have lots of depth. As to a lesser degree her interactions with Skye. Everything with Ward is just a great sucking black hole of cardboard. No chemistry. No personality. No reason to interact at all. I still think they so pile her with so many "stoic badass asian woman" tropes in part to trick your eye away from the other non stereotypical asian woman in the primary cast.

Ward - he is the big pit of dull in the show. Badly defined character. Badly written and inconsistant dialogue. Completely wooden in every interaction. Utterly bland generic character. You could swap him out with any random guy from NCIS or similar and never even notice. Tossing him and keeping the Mike Peterson character would have been 100x more interesting.

Fitz and Simmons - overly cliched cutesy quirky scientists. Mildly annoying. Mostly pointless. Might have been less so if honestly Pacific Rim had not just given us a much better interpretation of a similar dynamic.

Skye - Honestly she is growing on me a bit. The worst thing about her character is the writers tried for her to be too much. Spunky and Peppy and uber hacker chick, and homeless yet stylishly fashion consciously so. Like some sort of "gucci bag lady" pushing around a shopping cart from Nieman Marcus.

Coulson - He's at his best when he has someone good to play off of. May, Peterson, Veronica Hand, Peter McNichol etc. The woodeness of the primary cast doesn't give him a lot of room to work. He's phenomenal in a lot of those end credits scenes. But some of the episode meat can fall flat.

Yeah I saw this. I'm kinda disappointed to be honest. That means Paul Rudd's antman won't be a genius scientist but instead a thief, no matter which of the 2 other incarnations they choose. This also means we probably won't be seeing wasp either which sucks. But it would explain why ant man won't be creating Ultron since he clearly won't have the mental capacity to. I'd say the only good thing about this is that there won't be the abuse of wasp since again, she won't be in it most likely..

But Wasp gave him tongue cancer!!!

The same announcement also said Paul Rudd would be Scott Lang. Which could be good. There is a lot to work with character wise in Scott. Kind of a down on his luck single father meets Peter Parker sort of shlub. It could work on film. certainly a lot better than O'Grady.

[The Legonater]

I really don't see why everyone finds Ward so bland. Though NCIS characters definitely have a lot more character than your give them credit for (the comment lines up for CSI, though. Such a boring show).

As for Skye, I wasn't that irritated with her to begin with, but after this past episode she's definitely starting to grow on me.

[Faefrost]

I really don't see why everyone finds Ward so bland. Though NCIS characters definitely have a lot more character than your give them credit for (the comment lines up for CSI, though. Such a boring show).

As for Skye, I wasn't that irritated with her to begin with, but after this past episode she's definitely starting to grow on me.

Rather I should say any of the NCIS characters could step into wards role without missing a beat, and be more interesting in doing so. he's just playing that generic agent. But doesn't really seem to bring that much else to the table.

[Tanma]

...This Ant-Man news is not welcomed. Sure, I want Cassie down the line, but down the line. We need Wasp first. And if Hank isn't Ant-Man, then the odds of her appearing are unlikely, at least in a major role. She could easily exist without him, like in the ultimate universe, but I doubt they will do that. Come on Marvel, her original origin story is practically Batman's. Only she doesn't angst all the time. People would see that.

[BrickG]

Ant-Man is a second rate character that I don't care about so I'll welcome Rudd 'cause I simply don't care :).

I mean seriously, whose favorite character is Ant-Man? Plus he's a wife beater. lol

[Ultron]

Ant-Man is a second rate character that I don't care about so I'll welcome Rudd 'cause I simply don't care :).

I mean seriously, whose favorite character is Ant-Man? Plus he's a wife beater. lol

I really only like him because he creates Ultron (my favorite and the most BA villain) who in turn creates the vision (possibly my favorite avenger). That being said, I'm still pretty excited for the movie. I'm glad ant man will be introduced into the MCU since he was a founding avenger. And Paul Rudd won't be playing the wife beating version of ant man so you don't have to worry about that. Hank Pym will be in it, but I highly highly doubt they'll even allude to his abusive nature/past.

[Im a brickmaster.]

Yeah I wouldn't get to jazzed up about Ant Man! Not many people are super overly devoted Ant Man fans. So don't whine, it's better then Nick Cage as Tony Stark...........or Ghost rider.

Edited January 14, 2014 by Im a brickmaster.

[Ultron]

So there's a rumor that Johnny Depp is being eyed for Dr. Strange....I hope this is fake honestly. What does everyone else think?

[Tanma]

Not to excuse Hank, but the event was not a regular thing, he was in the middle of a mental breakdown. It was still wrong, but it was not part of his "nature."

Honestly I only know Hank Pym from Avengers Academy and Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Hero cartoon. In the former he was a teacher trying to help young heroes to not grow up to be villains, and in the second he was a pacifist who wanted to rehabilitate criminals, not imprison them. Neither interpretations required any mention of the beating, so I don't think the movies would need to keep it either.

But the bottom line is I wanted Hank to be Antman because as I said, a lot of people associate him with the Wasp, who is my favorite character. And while it is possible to have the Wasp without Hank, odds are she is going to be linked to the past because Hank is so old, so she won't be able to be an active hero or get her own movie in the modern day. And that kind ruins the movies for me.

Edited January 14, 2014 by Tanma

[The Legonater]

So there's a rumor that Johnny Depp is being eyed for Dr. Strange....I hope this is fake honestly. What does everyone else think?

I've heard a lot of people asking for Depp and similar actors, but frankly I can't see it. Dr. Strange never really struck me as an extremely funny character. He has a good deal of deadpan snarking, but nothing Depp-class.

[Tanma]

...Feeling calmer now. I just get tired of Hank being everyone's punchline.

On topic, I don't really see Depp as Strange, pun unintentional. I am interested to see how they do Strange though, given how protagonists in the MCU do not regard Thor as a god with magic, but as an alien with advanced technology. And given Odin's statement that Asgardians are not gods, which aids weight to Asgardians being aliens, it sees a little odd to have a true sorcerer when the "gods" appear to just have more advanced technology.

[Freddy Bricker]

So there's a rumor that Johnny Depp is being eyed for Dr. Strange....I hope this is fake honestly. What does everyone else think?

Not so big on DR. Strange, but as far as looks go, I think he'd be great. But I haven't read a DR. Strange comic (there was one with him teaming up with some Avenger that I forgot at Barnes and Noble, never got it, though) so I don't know what to expect, hopefully it turns out for the best. But with a rumored Ms. Marvel, and DR. Strange as well as the confirmed Ant Man, how many Avengers should we expect in Avengers 3? Or are these rumored for Avengers 2? So many characters, I'm interested in seeing which get dropped and which stay.

[BrickG]

I also don't care about Dr. Strange.

The thing is, all these second tiered characters are second tier for a reason. They're just not as interesting. They're often not written as well. They're not as likable to the general populace for some reason. So I'm open to anything. That doesn't mean it'll be better but many of these characters simply need something to pull them into the general populace's eyes and for the most part simply doing them as they are in the comics will not get them any attention and they'll remain second tier.

So, while some of the casting might not be what we expect, and some of the stories might go away from the originals, I again, do not care ;p. Bring on change. Let the characters and their stories evolve. If Depp can do a good Strange then I welcome it. Of course I can't imagine him as Strange but... whatever works... if it works. Because I doubt Ant-Man or Dr. Strange would do that well with their normal stuff.

(Wonder Woman has a similar issue but I'm not sure making her freakin' Kryptonian is the answer... but that's DC)

[Ultron]

Not so big on DR. Strange, but as far as looks go, I think he'd be great. But I haven't read a DR. Strange comic (there was one with him teaming up with some Avenger that I forgot at Barnes and Noble, never got it, though) so I don't know what to expect, hopefully it turns out for the best. But with a rumored Ms. Marvel, and DR. Strange as well as the confirmed Ant Man, how many Avengers should we expect in Avengers 3? Or are these rumored for Avengers 2? So many characters, I'm interested in seeing which get dropped and which stay.

Ms. Marvel is rumored for phase 3 and Dr. Strange has pretty much been confirmed for phase 3. For avengers 3 it looks like we're expecting: Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Dr. Strange (if he does join or if it's just an origin movie), Ant-man (same thing), Maybe Wasp if she's somehow in antman, Ms. Marvel (again, maybe, as long as she gets a movie in phase 3 which I'm praying for), Maybe Black Widow/Hawkeye (but I feel like one or both will die/quit in or after avengers 2), Maybe War Machine (unless he also dies in avengers 2), scarlet witch, quicksilver (They'll probably be fan favorites so I'll expect we'll see them again), MAYBE Vision (If he's in avengers 2, antman or gets his own movie in phase 3), maybe Flacon who's in cap. 2, maybe GotG, (who knows). That's all I can think of. I highly highly doubt we'll see all of them. I guess they'll need a big team to take down Thanos and whatever else he brings to earth to kill everyone though, so I imagine it'll be quite a few of these. Bear in mind though that someone is going to have to die in avengers 2. I'm expecting either black widow, hawkeye, war machine, or maybe even cap? As for Depp as Dr. Strange, I'm sure he could look the part but when I think of him I think of him as a comedic actor. He has played some more serious roles like sweeney todd but I just don't picture Dr. Strange speaking with JD's voice.

Edited January 15, 2014 by Luna Lovegood

[The Legonater]

Dr. Strange really isn't second-tier at all. He's only been an Avengers fairly recently, but he's still a large part of the Marvel universe, especially considering pretty much anything inter-dimensional comes back to him in some way.

Ms. Marvel is rumored for phase 3...

A Ms. Marvel movie would be neat, but I don't really see it happening without involving Rogue and the X-Men. I mean, that's what a lot of people know Ms. Marvel from.

[Tanma]

Actually I would say less well known characters sometimes are written better and are more likable than supposed A class characters. Since they appear less often, they have less chance to be portrayed as jerks or hypocrite like Captain America has lately. For instance, in the comics, Wolverine often threatens to kill heroic children, Wiccan for example. Wolverine also, last year even, used time travel to assassinate a man who had yet committed no crime. And that led to a dystopia. He later went back in time again, and broke the multiverse. His utterly toxic, and he ends up hogging to much of the spotlight. Take the X-Men movies, the only major characters are Wolverine, Charles Xavier, and Magneto, three old white dudes. The upcoming movie's plot in fact is taken from a beloved storyline staring none of them, but instead Shadowcat.

Honestly you are being pretty rude to dismiss characters for being minor.

[Freddy Bricker]

I also don't care about Dr. Strange.

(Wonder Woman has a similar issue but I'm not sure making her freakin' Kryptonian is the answer... but that's DC)

I hope you know that was all pure rumor and it has been confirmed that the original source for that was just speculating.

Actually I would say less well known characters sometimes are written better and are more likable than supposed A class characters. Since they appear less often, they have less chance to be portrayed as jerks or hypocrite like Captain America has lately. For instance, in the comics, Wolverine often threatens to kill heroic children, Wiccan for example. Wolverine also, last year even, used time travel to assassinate a man who had yet committed no crime. And that led to a dystopia. He later went back in time again, and broke the multiverse. His utterly toxic, and he ends up hogging to much of the spotlight. Take the X-Men movies, the only major characters are Wolverine, Charles Xavier, and Magneto, three old white dudes. The upcoming movie's plot in fact is taken from a beloved storyline staring none of them, but instead Shadowcat.

Honestly you are being pretty rude to dismiss characters for being minor.

I agree, but I have seen enough and read enough to understand why most characters are obscure and why others are not. Comics aren't what they used to be, sure most still sell in the thousands, but they're the same people buying with very few replacing the others that leave their respective fandoms. Based off of both experience and what I've read online, I can tell you that a lot of these popular characters are only really popular because they appeared on the big-screen. Characters aren't really obscure because they aren't interesting, it's just that the general public can only identify with what they see in movies, and if Ant-Man isn't in a movie, then Ant-Man isn't popular. But really, it goes farther than that, because there are some people who read comics that still don't know who some characters are. For instance, take the Avengers, I know plenty of people who started buying comics in turn of it's success. They only read Avengers comics and up until recently wouldn't have known about Ant-Man or found out about him only when he appeared in whatever incarnation of the Avengers they were reading. People only know what's popular because that's all their exposed to, they don't all read comics, in fact, most people who watch these superhero movies don't.

And in regard to Brick G's comment about Wonder Woman, she has actually received a lot of positive feedback from her comics. Most readers enjoy who she is, it's just that sales aren't good. And sales aren't good because the cover art is usually really bad for her (though the actual art in the book is usually very good) and others hear "Greek mythology" and just leave, they want your stereotypical superhero-super villain type of thing in comics. And quite frankly, from those who actually read, she gets mostly positive reviews, but most people are I have seen/heard regard her comics say that they want more action-y type stuff. So I can see where you're coming from, but still.

[The Legonater]

So, getting off track for a second, this episode of Agents of Shield was amazing. Seriously a lot better than some of the stuff they've been putting out. The character melded better, the dialogue flowed better, and some of the pay-offs from past episodes were great, not to mention the set-up for future ones. Also, there was a nice reference to Bucky Barnes made. They're definitely setting up for Cap 2.