The Marvel Cinematic Multiverse

[teddymeow]

Finally getting around to watching Black Widow tonight.

[prinnysquad]

I finished watching Hawkeye last night and I found myself unsatisfied. I loved the first few episodes of the show and think it had all the right ingredients for a great show right there. Hawkeye was great and fantastic that we get to explore a bit more of him. I loved Kate Bishop as a character and there was obviously lots of intrigue around her mother and her mother’s boyfriend, the sword guy. And the tracksuit mafia were decent enough. And then it just seemed to lose its way, first by tying it to the Black Widow movie, which seemed on the surface like a perfect move and yet didn’t really fit with the other story elements or even what they seemed to be exploring with the characters. And then right at the end by bringing in a whole other character pretty much out of nowhere and trying to make it all be about that character and I found it very hard to care at that point because I started to feel like maybe I was just watching a teaser for some other show. The parts just didn’t fit and I don’t feel like I really got to see the story that was set up in the first few episodes. Technically stuff was resolved but in a clumsy and unsatisfactory way, with just a fraction of the payoff being realised.

I enjoyed Hawkeye, but not as much as a lot of reviewers. The lightweight bits felt just a bit too lightweight. I didn’t have a problem with the Black Widow tie in - it makes sense to me. Wandavision dealt with the loss fo Vision, Falcon dealt with the loss of Cap, and this dealt with the loss of Black Widow in a way that the film couldn’t. My problem with the series was the lack of threat and stakes. It was like a buddy cop series, and watching it week on week really stilted the flow.

[Dogg Thang]

I didn’t have a problem with the Black Widow tie in - it makes sense to me. Wandavision dealt with the loss fo Vision, Falcon dealt with the loss of Cap, and this dealt with the loss of Black Widow in a way that the film couldn’t.

Yep, it made sense. Like I said, it felt like the perfect move but the difficulty is that the show was also dealing with the fallout of Hawkeye as Ronin and, in the context of the character and the show, those two things felt like two quite different stories. Throw in that final villain and I think I just felt that a series that was only 6 episodes needed more focus. It didn’t have a sense of what it was actually about. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it too. I just didn’t feel like it came together as well as it could have.

[teddymeow]

Thoroughly enjoyed Black Widow but, considering its the same certificate as all the others, I thought it was quite dark in places.

Maybe it's because I have two daughters now? I dunno.

[Dogg Thang]

Yeah, if your daughters have been drawing on your television that could affect the brightness.

[prinnysquad]

Genuinely enjoyed that Spidey flick.

->Open Spoiler<-

The cure storyline caught me off guard. I didn’t expect it at all, and to be frank, I wasn’t sure at first. However, once I settled my mind into the idea, it worked. I liked the arc for Holland’s character. At the end of the film, at last, he made the heroic choice. The selfless decision where he suffers at the expense of the safety of everyone else. That’s what Stark saw in him. That’s why Happy told Peter that Tony had no doubts about picking him. The reluctant, useless hero finally became what he was destined to do. I liked that.

The cast were just great. There was plenty of decent stuff for his mates to do, and by the end of the film, I felt that they’d been genuinely pleasant characters to get to know over the trilogy. Molina and Dafoe were effortlessly superb. The other three baddies were just part of the premise, really. Cumberbatch was solid, and it was great to see Daredevil reprise his role.

The main strength of the film, though, was the interplay between Holland, Maguire and Garfield. I had a punchable grin on my face throughout. They really did pull it out of the bag. Garfield in particular really nailed his turn. That moment when he saved MJ from the same fate as Gwen was rather lovely. All three actors seemed to be having such genuine fun, and I liked the way they were recognisably similar, yet with different quirks. It was nice to see how these characters had coped after their last films.

A triumph of an entry that will, I believe, gain strength on subsequent watches.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Genuinely enjoyed that Spidey flick.

->Open Spoiler<-

The cure storyline caught me off guard. I didn’t expect it at all, and to be frank, I wasn’t sure at first. However, once I settled my mind into the idea, it worked. I liked the arc for Holland’s character. At the end of the film, at last, he made the heroic choice. The selfless decision where he suffers at the expense of the safety of everyone else. That’s what Stark saw in him. That’s why Happy told Peter that Tony had no doubts about picking him. The reluctant, useless hero finally became what he was destined to do. I liked that.

The cast were just great. There was plenty of decent stuff for his mates to do, and by the end of the film, I felt that they’d been genuinely pleasant characters to get to know over the trilogy. Molina and Dafoe were effortlessly superb. The other three baddies were just part of the premise, really. Cumberbatch was solid, and it was great to see Daredevil reprise his role.

The main strength of the film, though, was the interplay between Holland, Maguire and Garfield. I had a punchable grin on my face throughout. They really did pull it out of the bag. Garfield in particular really nailed his turn. That moment when he saved MJ from the same fate as Gwen was rather lovely. All three actors seemed to be having such genuine fun, and I liked the way they were recognisably similar, yet with different quirks. It was nice to see how these characters had coped after their last films.

A triumph of an entry that will, I believe, gain strength on subsequent watches.

You've pretty much nailed it.

I just got home from watching it at the cinema. Really enjoyable from start to end.

->Open Spoiler<-

It was great to see Maguire and Garfield reprise their Spidey roles, as well all the classic Spidey film villians gone by, bar Paul Giamatti as Rhino from Amazing Spider-Man 2. All of it executed really well.

I'd love Sony to do a Sinister Six spinoff but it looks unlikely to happen. That said, the post-credits (mid-credits?) scene with Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock at least implies that Venom and Spidey will meet at some point in the future (which explains why we didn't get Topher Grace as Venom from Raimi Spider-Man 3 but no great loss!).

Roll on Across The Spider-Verse Part One!

[Paddy]

Roll on Across The Spider-Verse Part One!

Is the next Spiderverse film going to be a two-parter? They must have some ambitious plans with the next couple of films.

The earlier comments cover what worked well in No Way Home. Is it the best Spiderman film of the recent era? It is. Do I want to see Holland appear again as the lead character in another Spiderman film? After this one I do (as some have mentioned, the recent film sees Parker stop being spider boy and finally become Spiderman so it'll be interesting to see what's next for the beloved webslinger).

[Nu-Eclipse]

Is the next Spiderverse film going to be a two-parter? They must have some ambitious plans with the next couple of films.

The title would suggest a two-parter but I haven't actually checked for sure.

Given that fact that the Spider-Verse films are high-quality animation, the sky is theoretically the limit as to what they could do with it, but even if this only hits the heights of Into The Spider-Verse then it'll still be a damn good movie IMO.

[Dogg Thang]

Quick Hawkeye question. It’s from the first episode so it’s hardly a spoiler but I’ll put it in spoiler tags in case an answer ventures into spoiler territory as it involves Endgame. It’s about the musical, Rogers…

->Open Spoiler<-

So the musical included Ant-Man and Hawkeye spots that as a mistake because Ant-Man wasn’t there in NY during the events of the first Avengers movie. It’s just dismissed as an error, seemingly to make a story point that people didn’t really know what actually happened. But they could have picked any other hero and yet the writers chose Ant-Man, the one hero who was actually there during a version of these events in Endgame. So am I reading too much into it or is this supposed to suggest that this is now in the timeline where, actually, Ant-Man was there because he had gone back in time? Which would mean it’s not the original timeline. Yes? No? Maybe? Or is it simply just supposed to be a mistake as presented?

[Neon Ignition]

->Open Spoiler<-

I took it as post Endgame all the Avengers are celebs and the Rogers show had just cynically crammed Ant Man into the NY events in the show because he's recognisable now and that was one of the elements Clint found cringey about it

[Dogg Thang]

Yeah, that’s exactly as it was presented so it was my reading too. It’s just something that stayed with me afterwards. Mainly just because…

->Open Spoiler<-

like I say, they could have chosen any one of the later heroes but the creators chose the one hero who actually was there in one timeline, so that puts some ambiguity into it. And I have to wonder if that was a considered choice.

But yeah, it was presented exactly as you describe it.

[prinnysquad]

I like that you thought that much about it!

Just reflecting on No Way Home a day later.

->Open Spoiler<-

Garfield really was excellent. I always felt that he was very good in his two films, just sold short by the scripts. I would welcome an Amazing Spider-Man 3, set after the events on NWH, in his own universe.

[teddymeow]

I like that you thought that much about it!

.......

Spoilers!!!

[prinnysquad]

Spoilers!!!