Marvel Cinematic Universe

[Mr Man]

Well in the Ultimate comics Venom is actually a supposed cure to cancer that Parker's dad created with Brock's, so I definitely think it's feasible that they use something like that for Venom. It might actually work better that way since we've already seen alien Venom before in a movie and it failed pretty badly so something fresher and new could be nice.

Well seeing as Peters father is a geneticist in TAS, and He, Connors, and Oscorp are heavy involved in a lot of genetic stuff in the two films.

Maybe some form of living power armour, a cross between the Goblin Super Soldier Serum and a bio-suit, Venom has to come to terms with being a lab experiment.

I'm interested to see how he'll be portrayed.

It'll be odd for me as I think I'm one of the only people who liked the two Ghost Rider films .

AoS posted a short clip on their FB page, he looks fairly bland, but he sounds interesting.

[montgocloud]

I think it's ironic that these movies are branded AMAZING Spider-Man when so much, including themes, stories, characterization, and even large chunks of dialogue, is lifted from the Ultimate comics.

Edited April 21, 2014 by montyofmusic

[Ultron]

I think it's ironic that these movies are branded AMAZING Spider-Man when so much, including themes, stories, characterization, and even large chunks of dialogue, is lifted from the Ultimate comics.

Ultimate Spider-man just doesn't sound as cool! Plus Disney/Marvel may have already had the rights to that name for the tv show so maybe they couldn't use it? Idk.

[Tanma]

So it turns out there are at least two Blackout's in Marvel comics. The one in the Ghost Rider movie, and the one they seem to be using in Agents of SHIELD. The latter's costume kind of looks like Electro's classic look, but sillier.

I think it's ironic that these movies are branded AMAZING Spider-Man when so much, including themes, stories, characterization, and even large chunks of dialogue, is lifted from the Ultimate comics.

Don't get my hopes up for an Ultimate Clone Saga adaptation, not that I need much prompting.

Fun fact, before the title of ASM2 was announced I guessed that each film would take the tile from a Spider-Man book. Like the sequel would be The Spectacular Spider-Man, the clone saga (if adapted) would be The Superior Spider-Man (since there woud be more than one) and so on.

[Ultron]

Blackout was...interesting. Kinda wished they had upped his powers a little bit more. I guess they had a limited budget though so, you know. And I'm guessing Agent May is trying to find Maria Hill? And thank God Skye found out Ward was evil. Hate him! Hope she kills him.

[Mr Man]

Old Woman, Department H?

The deleted scenes of the Avengers show Hill working an agenda for someone other than Fury, more schisms?

'"Handsome man saved me"', I was waiting for an Angel reference.

Blackout was a bit of a time filler, still less interesting than the Ghost Rider one.

Sky is actually starting to be an interesting character as is Ward.

Why is Coulson being a dick to May? Doesn't he realise she is the best character in the show?

[Tanma]

Old Woman, Department H?

The deleted scenes of the Avengers show Hill working an agenda for someone other than Fury, more schisms?

'"Handsome man saved me"', I was waiting for an Angel reference.

Blackout was a bit of a time filler, still less interesting than the Ghost Rider one.

Sky is actually starting to be an interesting character as is Ward.

Why is Coulson being a dick to May? Doesn't he realise she is the best character in the show?

On Coulson

I'm starting to think that Coulson is losing his mind as a result of his resurrection and his knowledge of his resurrection. Regardless of how he personally feels towards being spied on, he should prioritize working effectively over personal grudges. I understand his world might seem to be falling apart, but more the reason to cling to what order he has left. He just has seemed more...unstable in the recent episodes.

On the plot with Blackout

Personally this was the lowest part of the episode for me. Audrey had no depth, you pretty much could have replaced her with a puppy, and there would be no major change to the plot at all. She didn't contribute anything. Maybe they could have had her be angry at SHIELD, something. It just didn't seem like she had gained no additional character from the throw-away line she originated from.

On Maria Hill

Could she be taking down Coulson's team of her own initiative? I mean in Winter Soldier she was in favor of destroying SHIELD after Hydra was revealed, like Cap she might believe that SHIELD is a lost cause, especially since they let Hydra control them.

Now, I assume her episode appearance is going to be a side thing, since they won't show that scene at the end of Winter Soldier unless that was where we would see her next in the movies. I believe she is set to appear in Avengers 2, so we will probably see her with Stark Industries then. I'm guessing she attempted to apply there in order to watch Stark (and possibly Banner if he accepted Tony's invitation), either of her own provocative or under orders from Fury. Stark did destroy all his suits, he might need a bodyguard again, or at least Maria wants to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid. Though if Stark indeed makes Ultron, I'm not sure she will succeed there.

[Faefrost]

To be fair the regular comics costumed Blackout really is or was a fairly lame D list sub level villain and not all that interesting. His best use was as some sort of Zombie Puppet in Thunderbolts. Also don't read too much into Ghost Rider or Marvel's Horror based characters having different but similarly named villains. The horror stuff tended to be one shot or of limited use and interest. If the writers liked the name they would often sketch a character and costume around it and reuse it as a regular Supervillain. There are tons of holes like this in Marvel continuity. (See all the different "Ghost Riders" that they eventually retconned into some semblance of connectivity.)

[montgocloud]

Why is everyone comparing the AOS Blackout to the one in Ghost Rider? They're based on two different characters; it's apples to oranges.

[Mr Man]

Why is everyone comparing the AOS Blackout to the one in Ghost Rider? They're based on two different characters; it's apples to oranges.

Because until the last post I didn't know they were different characters.

[Mr Man]

The Amazing Spider-Man: Rise of Electro

I don't know what it is with these two films? They have all the things that should interest me, but overall just seem off.

How did Electro form? Was he bitten by a genetically altered eel? Wouldn't that make him Eel-Man ?

Rhino was deliciously hammy.

I'm still not seeing anything that contradicts the MCU yet , in fact it seems like all Oscorps developments are mirroring Starks, the electric plant vs. the ARC reactor for sustainable energy, Goblin and Rhino Armour vs. Iron Man Armour, Goblin Glider vs. Repulsers, Vultures wings Vs. Falcons wings. Plus all the holograms.

Richard, Curt's, and Normans research similar to Ross's SSS programme.

Dammed good acting from Andrew Garfield especially after the thing that everybody in the world saw coming.

Who is Gustav Fiers? IS he a character from the comics? He's only just putting the SS together in this film, so does that mean the stinger from the first one was a flash forward?

That idiot sniper should be shot, if it wasn't for him Electro would be on Spider-Mans side fighting crime together.

[Im a brickmaster.]

Wait a sec, what's rise of Elctro? Amazing spider man 2? That's what ya get for staying of the Internet for a whole day......

[Ultron]

Wait a sec, what's rise of Elctro? Amazing spider man 2? That's what ya get for staying of the Internet for a whole day......

I think in some countries they used that as a secondary title for Amazing Spider-man 2

[BrickG]

Just opinions on the characters as they've developed so far on Agents of SHIELD.

Coulson's character needs adjustments at this point too. His character was great in the movies but had little screen time. The way they stretched out his character which was in a way designed to be limited isn't really doing great for him. He started out as a slightly... plain"?" character? Just an agent who does his duty. Seemed like a good guy and extremely trustworthy. Very straight forward. He does his business and does it well without bull. Not entirely emotionless as he could interact with characters like Pepper well enough. But then when they try to stretch out that character it doesn't quite work that well. He's more emotional this time but it's kind of hard to get past his level of cheese. Seriously the speeches about being humanity's "Shield" are getting old. And at this point he's less professional agent and more emotionally whiny agent.

But his character is still better than most of the others.

Skye is getting a bit better.

Ward is certainly better as an evil guy. He was really freakin' boring. Now he's got something interesting going. I assume he's going to be killed off though. I don't know how they could get past the stuff he's done and probably shouldn't. He went from one of the worst characters to one of the best.

May is still BORING. I don't know who was more boring, old Ward or May. I'm also VERY sick of stoic warrior types. I got sick of them after the great Worf and T'eal'k. It's just overdone at this point. Give us warriors with character! And no, not like this Clairvoyant guy. His character is annoying. Kind of a really disappointing villain.

Fitz and Simmons are still in very much the same place as they've been forever. Cliched kind of boring characters that aren't very well done. They haven't done anything to change that yet. And why do we have two of them? They're like the same person? This series has an issue with having two of things. Two cliched scientists and two stoic warriors. There is no need for this. Focus on fewer, better characters... I'm not saying 2 doesn't work but if you do 2 make them INTERESTING. I'd give an example of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. That show had very interesting warrior types. Buffy... was NOT cliche. Spike was cool as heck. Angel was awesome. Lots of warriors there but they had 10x the character that anyone in Agents of SHIELD has. It's another Whedon show which is confusing. I'm guessing Whedon didn't actually do much with Agents of SHIELD because it lacks the character that his work always has had before.

[Mr Man]

Wait a sec, what's rise of Elctro? Amazing spider man 2? That's what ya get for staying of the Internet for a whole day......

Some countries use it as the title for The Amazing Spider-Man 2, It's not used in England but I do 'cos I prefer subtitles to numbers

I'd give an example of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. That show had very interesting warrior types. Buffy... was NOT cliche. Spike was cool as heck. Angel was awesome. Lots of warriors there but they had 10x the character that anyone in Agents of SHIELD has. It's another Whedon show which is confusing. I'm guessing Whedon didn't actually do much with Agents of SHIELD because it lacks the character that his work always has had before.

They had 7 series and 5 of Angel to develop, in series 1 all the characters (except Giles) was a flat concept. Only Angel showed some development in series 1 and that's because they made him up as they went along (similar to Ward).

And yes Whedon does have a big hand in AoS, but it's Zack Whedon, not Joss Whedon.

Edited April 26, 2014 by Mr Man

[BrickG]

Buffy had a lot more going on within 1 season. And even though they didn't use Angel much in that season it's an example of using something much much more effectively.

I wish these famous actors and writers and directors would stop getting their family members hired. I understand why they do it and can't say I wouldn't do it themselves but there's clearly a lack of talent from the less known sibling like every time I see it.

[Tanma]

To be fair the more well known Whedon of the two has some problematic tendencies with his work, especially from an outside perspective.

Personally I like Simmons best of the AoS cast, she seems fun to me and I think she has a lot of potential for stories. For one thing in episode six she was exposed to an alien virus and alien antibodies. In a comic book world this just screams alien-human hybrid, especially since the virus seems to cause sparks and levitation in its victims. Now imagine what if she was injected with a form of the GH.325 drug, either made by her or Raina. The regenerative drug might not only heal her body, but cause the alien antibodies and any remnants of the virus to multiple and spread throughout her body. She could mutate, and a Chitauri-human hybrid might not be too hard to render on a tv budget.

Likewise of the main cast, she seems like the only one not eager to enter a relationship, despite her attraction to some characters she doesn't seem particularly concerned with dating. I would like to see some build up on that, it offers a difference to some of the characters.

In terms of character development Simmons definitely is growing. For instance since Episode 14 she has been very focused on harnessing the GH.325 to help people, which I think is where her growing defiance of Coulson began. In recent episodes she is directly defying SHIELD protocol, working behind Coulson's back on the drug, working on a secret line to the bus, contrast this with how scared she was of breaking the rules in episode 9. She was panicked the whole time, and required a lot of convincing by Skye. Now she is breaking rules of her own desire, and seems a little more controlled about it. She still is a bad liar, but she is putting herself in situations where she has to improve, and Skye at least never had a clue why Simmons was stealing her blood. And she isn't breaking rules for fun, she has a goal, to perfect the drug and aid people. She is shifting from "lawful good" to 'neutral good," and this shift has been happening before SHIELD fell.

Just my thoughts.

[Mr Man]

Buffy had a lot more going on within 1 season. And even though they didn't use Angel much in that season it's an example of using something much much more effectively.

Incoherently so, not having much commonality or story arcs meant that the characters were a bit all over the place, at least the AoS characters are consistent in characterisation.

[BrickG]

Well I can't reason with someone who defends AoS when comparing it to the infinitely superior Buffy. The two aren't comparable and consistency doesn't matter when it's nothing but "meh". Just look at the general thoughts on the show in the populace. "Meh"s all around.

[Mr Man]

Well I can't reason with someone who defends AoS when comparing it to the infinitely superior Buffy. The two aren't comparable and consistency doesn't matter when it's nothing but "meh". Just look at the general thoughts on the show in the populace. "Meh"s all around.

I only mean you cant compare 2 shows that lasted 8 years with a show that hasn't run one series yet. I'm saying they both had a bad first series with flat characters, If I hadn't have started Buffy from series 3, I might have given up during series 1.

[Tanma]

My opinions on BtVS below, don't look if you don't want to learn them.

I personally can't get into BtVS because there are a lot of problematic issues with it. For instance it eagerly follows the trope of "Bury your gays" with Tara and then follows it up with the offensive trope "Psycho lesbians." And then there is the whole mess of Willow, given how biphobic it came of as. Do we just ignore her other relationships, are they not real? How are we supposed to take it? Bisexuality is a thing, but is completely absent in name. (probably because lesbians appeal more than bisexuals) And then there is the racial diversity that makes AoS look great. (at least in early seasons of BtVS) Not to mention Whedon's "Fondness" (surely not fetish) for young women who are snarky and/or kick butt. I mean he based Buffy's personality after Kitty Pryde, who he had admitted he had a crush on growing up. (No offense to Kitty, a lot of people "like" her) Not that AoS is innocent of that, we all know what role Skye is, and why I had no doubt she would ultimately live after episode 13. Not to mention Victoria Hand's death, given her sexuality in the comics.

But to stay on topic, I agree that AoS is still in its first season, and a lot could change if it had time to continue. And like I already said, there definitely is character development among the cast, though given how it is the first season it hasn't had time to fully mature.

Edited April 26, 2014 by Tanma

[BrickG]

At this point I'm hanging on to the hope that season 2 will be more than an average show. Plenty of other shows get better later. Star Trek TNG kind of had a weak first seasons until the Borg came. Stargate Universe was slow and pretty terrible until the last several episodes and by then it was too late.

These characters need an injection of personality. A few would probably be easier to just be replaced. The story arcs and plots need to go faster but I bet that's pretty difficult since they tie into movies which are really spread apart.

Also they need to be better with the super powers. The super powers on the show so far have been lame and obviously purposely designed around a small budget. Electricity absorbing on/off d00d has had his powers in like every show that has ever had super powers because it's cheap as heck to produce, but sadly it feels it too. Also the only part with special effects that I liked was when they showed Deathlocke's cybernetics... I wish they were on the OUTSIDE... He looked bad otherwise as well as basically all the special effects involving super powers.

I think they can take notes from the TV show HEROES which did super powers VERY well for a show with such a budget. They had fun and interesting powers that didn't require crazy special effects and WEREN'T cliched to death like Mr. Controls Electricity. I mean like Hiro was awesome and didn't need any special effects most of the time (not saying AoS should get into Time Travel).

[SandMirror38]

Finished ASM 2.

Liked it a lot :)

Sad that the credits scene was just a clip from DoFP :(

[Tanma]

Finished ASM 2.

Liked it a lot :)

Sad that the credits scene was just a clip from DoFP :(

That's frustrating. Just curious, but given how ASM2 has three major villains in it (that I know of) has does it handle that many antagonists? I know they have a Sinister Six movie planned, and there is always the fear of not being able to juggle multiple main characters. I know it can be done, such as in the first Avengers, but I know a lot of people were worried Sony would not be able to pull it off. So to the people who have seen ASM2, did they balance the enemies well?

[Mr Man]

That's frustrating. Just curious, but given how ASM2 has three major villains in it (that I know of) has does it handle that many antagonists? I know they have a Sinister Six movie planned, and there is always the fear of not being able to juggle multiple main characters. I know it can be done, such as in the first Avengers, but I know a lot of people were worried Sony would not be able to pull it off. So to the people who have seen ASM2, did they balance the enemies well?

It doesn't, I don't think this is a spoiler but one of them is only in it at the very end as a set up (hint- it's not Electro ) for the next film. It's really not a problem unlike in SM-3 before.