Superhero Cinematic Civil War - Part 57

[Kev4000]

I knew that this would be an experiment. Everyone should have known this, who watched Nomadland - a movie with no real strict plot. I am just shocked that even the critics dont bite to this.

 

[Bayne]

In a long line of adaptations at this point that have rather large differences between long standing aspects of charcters and stories from the comics and how they are done on film...

Isn't this pretty much par for the course with the MCU at this point? Sure... Lots of stuff vibes with the original versions but plenty is almost whole clothe remade from the ground up and not always for the better.

Like it or not the mass audience will get their first taste of Kamala in this manner.

Shame to my eyes but Marvel has been given a pass for numerous changes to characters while at the same time being lauded for "repecting the source" over any other kind of adaptation for over a decade now so I don't get where the rending of clothes and gnashing of teeth is coming from.

Well, as someone who's always been open to reasonable levels of change (it is an adaptation, after all) and never once considered Marvel Studios to be deeply 'faithful' to the comics, I have to fundamentally disagree that this change is just par for the course for them.

Giving Kamala Khan Gl-esque light powers which only look like stretching is like giving Captain America telekinesis which only looks like he's really strong.

It's a type of change that is utterly ridiculous both in how wildly unnecessary it is (because they're still apparently trying to make it 'look' similar, anyway) and in how far away it is from what the character is supposed to be.

To the best of my recollection, the only times MS ever made a change this massive to a character it was in the process of, essentially, completely rewriting characters that would never have worked in live action in the first place (Vulture, Taskmaster, and the Mandarin). Who were also, incidentally, all villains and therefore not the stars. I suppose one could argue Scarlet Witch, but then, her less than faithful introduction has actually been slowly brought more in the direction of the comics over time and her powerset is so ridiculously confusing to explain that it would always have to be dumbed down one way or another, anyway.

On the topic of adapting and making changes to a character, all these movies take liberties and that's fine. It means very little to the quality of the film even if it hinders my personal enjoyment. The only changes that tend to bother me are ones that are wasting potential.

Not all changes are equal, and what's being changed does tend to give insight on filmmakers understanding of the material. I mean how many times have we all sat here and criticized Singer and Snyder for their lack of understanding character? I think we all kind of understand why the change has been made to Kamala. They want there to be an actual connection between all the Marvels in their powers. I don't think that's a bad thing, despite looking kinda lame. From the little I know about Kamala, her powers are pretty important to her character thematically as a teenager struggling with the changes her body are making. You can do that with the light stuff, but it kinda rings hollow to me. On top of that, if you're going to misunderstand that, what else will you misunderstand? There's plenty of things in the MCU I have more attachment to that I level this criticism at.

Again, of course, it may all mean f-all and Ms. Marvel could be the best thing the MCU puts out. While I'm not a fan of either film, Singer did make X2 and Days of Future Past. Last I check the general consensus around here was those were good/great. Time will tell.

How it deals with her underlying themes is a major problem.

But there are also other major problems it brings, as well. If Kamala's powers are hard light and not shape-shifting, then they fundamentally don't work the same way. Which means there are scenes and stories from the comics that they fundamentally can't do with this new idea of her powers.

Also, the fact that they choose hard-light makes it pretty clear they want to tie her powers thematically to Carol and Monica because she's 'part of the Marvels family'. Only - she isn't 'part of the Marvels family' at all. I can't recall her ever even meeting Monica Rambeau in the comics off the top of my head. And the whole point of her relationship with Carol, as mentee/mentor, the whole thing that makes that special *is* that the two of them have nothing in common beyond being superheroines. The whole point is that Kamala chooses to call herself Ms. Marvel because she admires Carol as a person. Because she's always admired her, long before she ever thought she'd be a hero herself. Changing it so that her powers are similar to theirs makes it feel like she just fell into that relationship because she's part of the same legacy of powers they are, like X-23 becoming Wolverine because, well, what other legacy name would she ever possibly carry when she's literally designed to be Wolverine 2.0?

I'm really hoping they'll find ways around these issues because Kamala is one of my favorite characters and I've always liked the MCU so I really want to like this show. But I do not feel optimistic about it at the moment.

 

[Shuri]

Some might use Venom as evidence to that, dude starred in the second... errm... third highest grossing superhero origin movie, and his movie is not good.

Still better than any of the Transformers films, from Michael Bay.

Venom was marketed as a fun trashy movie so nobody held it to high standards, but Feige and Marvel have been hyping up Eternals as the best marvel movie ever and that raised a lot of people's expectations, we really don't know how the fans and General Audience will respond to it. It's definitely going to have a huge opening weekend (both fans and non-fans would want to see what all the fuss is about) but the legs might be affected if the audience ends up hating it.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

After seeing totally average movies like Dr Strange and Ant Man 2 get RT scores in the high 80's and 90's, Eternals being in the 70's really doesn't concern me.

 

[Pennywise]

 

[OutOfBoose]

Last few years were really unimpressive when it comes to CBMs. Joker tried to break the mold a bit, but only ended up making crapton of money.

WW84, BW - sucked. New SS was OKish. Venom 2, Shang Chi and Eternals don't look interesting. Flash teaser looked lame. Love and Thunder is Taika Waititi, so it's for those who love his humor. SMNWH looks fresh, so it's probably the only one that has something going for it that isn't Batman.

 

[Fosterson]

After seeing totally average movies like Dr Strange and Ant Man 2 get RT scores in the high 80's and 90's, Eternals being in the 70's really doesn't concern me.

On the other hand, Thor TDW got 65%, which is perilously close to where Eternals is...

 

[Spider-Fan]

On the other hand, Thor TDW got 65%, which is perilously close to where Eternals is...

It went up from 71% to 73% so far today, so trending in right direction

 

[Iceman]

Oh..I hope Eternals turns out well. I was looking forward to that a lot and thought it might offer something different to what we're used to with the MCU.

 

[Iceman]

Last few years were really unimpressive when it comes to CBMs. Joker tried to break the mold a bit, but only ended up making crapton of money.

WW84, BW - sucked. New SS was OKish. Venom 2, Shang Chi and Eternals don't look interesting. Flash teaser looked lame. Love and Thunder is Taika Waititi, so it's for those who love his humor. SMNWH looks fresh, so it's probably the only one that has something going for it that isn't Batman.

Most of these are lower profile and I've enjoyed them for what they are aside from WW84 which I was seriously disappointed with. (WW is one of my favourite DC characters). Not surprised the MCU is taking a bit of a breather after Endgame.

 

[Fosterson]

It went up from 71% to 73% so far today, so trending in right direction

Judging by the more critical reviews, it seems like they tried to force a Marvel formula into a Chloe Zhao movie and that's the problem. People expected a film that had her touch but its looking like they're just watching a Marvel formula film again unfortunately.

 

[Blade Hoarder]

“Critics aren’t smart enough to understand the complexity of the movie”

good to see some marvel fanboys transform into Snyderites and Nolanites.

 

[Fosterson]

“Critics aren’t smart enough to understand the complexity of the movie”

good to see some marvel fanboys transform into Snyderites and Nolanites.

It was inevitable...

 

[Spider-Fan]

I haven't seen anyone saying that

 

[Detective Conan]

 

[Boy Scout]

Would not have made that prediction in a million years. Good for him, though.

 

[mclay18]

We know who you're talking about, Tom.

It's Tobey Maguire.

 

[MbJ]

My man.

 

[Drizzle]

I wish it was a bigger part in a higher profile DC or Marvel film but honestly it's just good to see the guy get some decent work again.

Brendan's back, baby!

 

[Spider-Aziz]

 

[Drizzle]

 

[CB Fan]

I’m really excited to see Eternals. This is obviously not the usual marvel movie at least according to some reviews I’ve heard. They spend a long time getting the gang back together (no recruitment montage), there isn’t much action, nice cinematography, and lots of world building. Hell almost sounds like Dune but I hear Eternals actually has a proper climax.

 

[Blade Hoarder]

lol at the insecure snipe at Dune.

 

[Pennywise]

 

[CB Fan]

lol at the insecure snipe at Dune.

Not insecure at all. I just left my feelings on Dune on it’s thread. Ending with “by the end I was fully invested”. Dune just ends like it’s episode four of a first season hbo show, didn’t like that.