Xealot posted:

TBF she's 37 and Kate Bishop is supposed to be in her early 20's.

Aubrey Plaza playing an essentially Satanic figure in Legion fit so goddamn well, though. Like, cast her as Mephisto. Give her something fun to do.

Oasx posted:

The criticism doesn't make sense. I understand if people prefer a different kind of story, but superheroes are almost exclusively action based in the comics, the tv shows and movies are by default expected to be the same.

Wandavision I can sort of understand as they were telling a unique story, but nobody was forced into doing "cape poo poo.
Loki didn't have a ton of "cape poo poo" really, in fact I think one of the problems of the show was that nothing really happened. But I think a certain segment of the fanbase just came to see Tom Hiddleston, so they could ship Loki with a whole new range of characters.
Eternals was as much "cape poo poo" as any other Mavel, and I never got the impression that it was marketed as something other than that.

Xealot posted:

TBF she's 37 and Kate Bishop is supposed to be in her early 20's.

Aubrey Plaza playing an essentially Satanic figure in Legion fit so goddamn well, though. Like, cast her as Mephisto. Give her something fun to do.

Animal-Mother posted:

Oscar Isaac is the best actor alive.

Rarity posted:

Aubrey Plaza

RatHat posted:

Has there been any hints that MK takes place in the MCU or is it standalone?

sticklefifer posted:

I know the asylum was probably cliche specifically because it's a mental construct, but I'm really sick of TV and movies always falling back on the stereotype of the stark white mental hospital where everyone's drawing with crayons or solving a Rubik's Cube, and every patient is either catatonic, a simpleton child, or a raving lunatic. I feel like Disney can do better. Just like, put normal people there. It's not that hard.

The Saddest Rhino posted:

They should do the asylum from the second season of American horror story

The Saddest Rhino posted:

They should do the asylum from the second season of American horror story

GokuGoesSSJ3 posted:

Nah it's your TV. Everything was perfectly clear for me in this episode. I have no idea what you're talking about in bad batch. I sort of remember people complaining about that Game of Thrones episode you're talking about and that was clear for me too. I might've fiddled a little with the settings when I first got it or maybe someone did before me since I'm the third person to have it but my TV is probably on the older end compared to most people's and I've never had a problem with things being to dark.

BrianWilly posted:

I remain surprised that so many people think Sharon is anything other than a Skrull.

BrianWilly posted:

I remain surprised that so many people think Sharon is anything other than a Skrull.

gyrobot posted:

It's almost one year since Falcon and Winter Soldier series finished and I though I am going to put a bit of a personal rant/thoughts on the series:

My first encounter with Sam Wilson was through the Nick Spencer's Secret Empire run where under the influence of an anthropomorphic version of the cosmic cube, Captain America became a Hydra agent and later leader of the organization. Among the struggle was Sam Wilson and being given the mantle of Captain America as he was given the shield to wield against a politically divided nation as both Cap and Sam were fighting people such a broken man with no aspirations and dreams and joining the serpent society, students inspired by Bombshell (No, not Hawkeye's Bombshell) to attempt to assassinate an anti immigrant speaker at a campus or more infamously the Americops, a political projection of Spencer's previous stance on tough on crime politics. Combined with Na Tahesi Coates writing, such works were my primer for Falcon and Winter Soldier before it premiered and I had high hopes for it, unfortunately because of the fact Coates is a firebrand in politics, they had to adapt out some of his more consumer unfriendly politics about the story, diluting the racial conflict with the issue of Veterans from America's military conflicts

The story of how we treat our veterans, the displaced and the future of a divided world

Falcon and the Winter Soldier had expectations it was going to be a political work. After all it's a story about the aftermath of the Blip once the celebration was over. The world never stopped turning after the Snap, wars happened, social revolutions and uprisings happened as Rhodey tried to get Sam to become Captain America to help serve as a symbol. But Sam wasn't Steve not just for a lack of a super soldier serum, but he has family and trying to live the American Dream of having his own family business and the failure of financing it through legal channels and not relying on his situation as a Blipped as we later learn about the GRC was trying to ensure the Blipped population the resources required to regain what they have lost. Part of Sam's scenario was his duty to serve as a symbol of America and his expectations and having to see the injustice personally on all fronts especially when it comes his field of dealing with Veteran PTSD as part of his counselling. For me, Sam's struggle was on both fronts as a Veteran counselor who has to deal with several such examples along with his status as a black

Speaking of Veteran PTSD, the series covers heavily into this subject as much as the idea of who should wield the shield. American society does not have a great track record with dealing with war veterans and Falcon and the Winter Soldier explore this with the supersoldiers, Bucky, Isaiah and Walker. Bucky's situation was dealing with subject of making amends for his role as Hydra's unwilling agent as he tries to reconnect with the community rather than doing what Steve did and buried it behind working for Shield as he did was what he was only allowed to do as a discharged veteran with a conditional Pardon, bound by his wish to honor Steve's legacy but also to live a life he never had. It was here we learn Bucky wasn't your typical roaring 20's jarhead, he bought books straight from Britain (Also an inside joke about the fact many of Hydra's villains are LOTR alumni) and went to the Stark Expo for a date instead of some cabaret in NYC's red light district. He wants to get back to that life but struggles to, unable to move on from his life as the Winter Soldier. Then we have Isiah Bradley, the Korean War veteran was who put in a black ops facility, made a widow as his wife died after he was released and his bitter resentment at how he wasn't able to represent America as Captain America. The American dream denied to him and countless other African Americans and his golden opportunity of being a symbol of the civil rights moment as his voice will give any man who he supports a huge PR boost. And finally we have Walker/US Agent, the symbol of modern American policy of taking people as symbols of sacrifice to make the politicians look good supporting or condemning them. When I was first introduced to walker I expected him to be a symbol of racism but instead got a tragic figure of the failed War on Terror in Afghanistan and Iraq where Walker likely saw the evacuation of US forces in Afghanistan as the remnants of the Ten rings and Taliban took over the country in the worst day of his life and being given multiple medals of Honor for this "sacrifice" he made to the country even though he could have done more. We see the War on Terror brand of American Policy during his raid on a safehouse belonging to a Flag Smasher sympathizer where he attempts to intimidate the owner before arresting him and others for supporting the Flag Smashers. And for me the Flag Smashers represent a bleak reality that we live in today as a group of failed revolutionaries against the invulnerable bulwark of entrenched nobility and capitalism.

Aristocrats, Millennial rebellions and Genderswapped Antagonists

Modern MCU is a symbol of Hollywood progressive media and Phase 4 was an attempt to push for more progressive content. One common thing they did was genderswapping antagonists lIke Ghost in AntMan and the Wasp and Taskmaster in Black Widow. Here we see Flag Smashers led by a young millennial woman who combines Greta Thurnberg and Ulrike Madoff into one united identity of an overly idealistic rebellion against the GRC as she fights to stop the displaced refugees from being sent back to their home countries where they will face retribution from the government for abandoning their country during the Blip. We need to look at the modern world politics to think of who would support the Flag Smashers, we need to think of the student in Hong Kong who saw their city's democratic values get destroyed and they are marked for arrest, we need to think of the Ukrainian and Russian who fled their country in the wake of the war or fearing getting arrested for protesting against it, we need to think of the Hungarian suffering under the Enabling Act as the Pandemic is used by some governments to exploit the population. These people would have been persuaded by Karli to support the Flag Smasher Cause. For Karli, the reason why the Blip was a positive event was seeing people come together in either solidarity or rebelling against despotic governments who would use the premise of half of the world disappearing to oppress the population. Yet because of the political sensibilities of executives this would be omitted like the aborted pandemic plot. The Flag Smashers were made to be this dangerous threat yet in the end they were nothing more than naive millennials like me who failed to fight for a better future. It was for the better they Genderswapped her as if the leader was a male, they would have made the Flag Smashers less sympathetic on the virtue it is easier to make a rebellious young male leader Tyler Durden in all but name or in the Marvel Universe's case Robbie Tamlin in Secret Empire who story arc serves as tragedy about a man who cannot adapt to society and ultimately took his own life as a terrorist.

Then we have Zemo, in Falcon and the Winter Soldier, we see the reason why he is called Baron Zemo as when we are reunited with the first villain to emerge victorious in the MCU he was considerably more relaxed than in Civil War where he was a vengeful man out to destroy the Avengers even after the Blip. The Blip for Zemo was not a tragic event, but an example of his privilege of being part of the entrenched nobility and aristocrats that Karli would oppose. A writ he wrote the first draft of that would be passed to serve as judgment on a world that believed in superheroes and super humans as a form of retribution. No power is more intoxicating than to order billions to their deaths for a man like Zemo who served in death squads and family had held positions of authority where they condemn people to death. He once again must take up his mantle as an aristocrat and put an end to a popular uprising that is the Flag Smashers under the guise of ridding the world of supersoldiers as we see Bucky was spared from the coming retribution of killing the surviving Flag Smashers because his desire to reintegrate to society means he won't help the Flag Smashers out and can be controlled with promise of normalcy, normalcy that is represented by our unfair capitalist and classism system. This is what Zemo represents, the thousand years of reign of terror carried about the wealth elite who still to this day is untouchable but his antics in the shows overshadowed the implications of his politics at hand.

Sharon's return to the MCU was also a commentary on the intelligence agency and it's effect on their agents as Sharon went from the idealistic upholder of justice to being a ruthless CIA type black ops agent working in Madripoor as the Power Broker and serving as the major antagonist for Karli to serve as a ticking time bomb as the Patch Act is being rushed to pass by the GRC and she works with Sam and Bucky to track down Karli so she can kill her for her betrayal in stealing the serum. This was no different from CIA propping up fake uprising for disgruntled people to rally around only for the CIA assisted government forces to crush them as these rebellions are nothing more than release valves. Sharon's actions also serve as a contrast to her aunt Peggy, where as Peggy was an intelligence agent who was open with Steve about her information, Sharon hid her true nature from Sam as she manipulated him and none of them realize what Sharon done and was indirectly responsible for Karli's actions and ultimately her downfall.

The GRC can also count as antagonists, being your bog standard greedy civilized powers that banded together to help the Blip get back what is there yet from the first episode we know this isn't the case as Sam was denied his loan and the GRC did nothing to help Sam, showing the priorities of the GRC was to make sure their closest friends got their share first then the rest can what they have. The Senator was also a wholly unsympathetic figure, taking on the likes of many minor human antagonists during the arc where Sam become Captain America. He had the political status of Senator Hauser, the anti displaced population agenda of Ariella Connor and how her appearance led to an attack by the Bombshells (and the ungratefulness of being rescued by Sam and doubling down on his agenda) and the ulterior motives of Keane as the success of the Patch Act will mean he can run for president under an anti immigration Plattform and even if he dies, other politicians will follow in his footsteps, arguing that the Flag Smashers have gone too far in murdering a politician and not realize how the world works. To me, the GRC represented the worst aspects of government bureaucracy that does little to help the poor but yet ensure the rich got what they wanted after five years since their disappearance

The Social revolution that never came: my final thoughts on the series

Perhaps one thing I took away from this was how Falcon and Winter Soldier like many mainstream works, could not give the Flag Smashers the appropriate platform to be worthwhile antagonists as the greatest criticism of the series was how unconvincing the Flag Smashers were. For me the biggest problem they had was they were ultimately an ineffectual anti government group who was more of a threat to themselves than the people they hurt. Karli's bombing didn't send the intended message as the GRC twisted the deaths of the few casualties to their advantage and they were manipulated at every moment they tried to use force to get what they want. Even Nico's death at the hands of Walker could not give the Flag Smashers the chance to rally together the people about the true nature of the GRC's symbol as they just conveniently other than honorable discharged him and then went back to work on sending the displaced people back to their countries at gunpoint with the implication more John Walkers would be made from this. Likewise the final fight shows the weakness of the Flag Smasher as there was no protestors shielding Karli and the Flag Smashers from Sam, Bucky and Walker as they are forced to confront disenfranchised youth and people who would support Karli's cause because they know they would never receive the benefits of the GRC even if they got Blipped. Instead all Karli had for help was a mercenary planted by Sharon to bring her down

Still if there was one message that persuaded me was Falcon's message to Bucky about making amends vs avenging. Perhaps it was the elephant in the room no one ever talked about but Tony never really did got any real sense of closure from his 15 years of Avenging. From the day he left the cave to his final moment in wiping out Thanos army at the cost of his life. Tony never really made people "feel good". While he helped undo the damage he caused, repaid for the damage he cant undo. Falcon knew Tony was never going to make amends as an Avenger. All he can do is avenge others for the actions he had done and Bucky has a chance to make people actually feel good by giving people closure and becoming a part of the community Sam was in rather than trying to punish wrongdoers who benefited from his action. In a way it offers Bucky closure for a man who's parents he had killed and died before he can apologize is by making Tony feel good knowing that Steve and Sam made Bucky a better person than the one he fought to arrest to stand for his crimes.

If they ever make a second season, I hope that Coates' brand of politics will be in the focus as we are heading toward a more difficult time as war in Ukraine, the approaching storm of resource shortages from conflicts and the death of democracy looms around the corner at the same the the timeline of Endgame and Real Life will soon meet.

Everyone posted:

As you noted, the asylum is a mental construct. There are no normal people in that construct because the minds that made it are not all that normal.

Aside from that, figure Marc doesn't seem to be the kind of person to seek out therapy and certainly wouldn't willingly become a patient at a mental health facility. So figure the picture he'd have of such facilities would be informed by bullshit TV and movies instead of any kind of actual experience. The place looks like a cliche because Marc doesn't know how the real thing would look or function.

Rarity posted:

Yeah the fight in the finale where Clint and Kate non-lethally take down a bunch of mooks is the best action sequence the Disney+ shows have produced. There's some good stuff in F/WS too

Kaedric posted:

I thought that sequence was awful, because it was literally "have our heroes stand in a central location, and now just have waves and waves of mooks come at them"

How many mooks, sir?

ALL OF THEM

Rarity posted:

Yeah it ruled

Rarity posted:

Hey I have an idea to make the MCU better. Put Aubrey Plaza in every project. Thank you for listening.

Barreft posted:

e: good snipe

HootTheOwl posted:

Wife: "Wait, what's happening?"
Me, having already watched Legion: "They're about to fight through the power of dance."

Rarity posted:

If Oscar Isaac doesn't do a Bollywood number I want a refund

Rarity posted:

Megaman's Jockstrap posted:

I think that the show is not adequately getting across that Konshu is very mercurial and can be anything from a very petty violent punk to a benevolent protector and everything in-between. Konshu is not wise, not nice, and not all-knowing, he's got a relatively narrow area of power and an extremely short fuse and bad temper. He's the Egyptian God equivalent of the trenchcoat and fedora guy with a basement full of weapons and a chip on his shoulder, constantly muttering "the other Gods don't take me seriously...but I'll show them....I am true justice....buncha assholes."

chitoryu12 posted:

The show is getting it across very well and nothing is ambiguous or difficult, goons just tend to half pay attention to things and then jump in to say they didn't understand anything and everything sucks.

Infinitum posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_KEhBdS9sU

Infinitum posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_KEhBdS9sU