And sorry, but I’m not yet done making posts in the Casting the Continuation Novels thread. Could someone post something there so I can continue. Much appreciated. Thanks. 
Exactly that
Charm is the key word, which is a shame in spite of the charming cast.
SNW has charm in bucketloads. Incidentally, Babs Onsulmokun was stuck in London during the actors strike and I had the pleasure of training alongside him for a couple of months. Brilliant Jiu Jitsu practicioner and a lovely man. Talked nothing of Star Trek but he is a big Samuel Beckett fan. Which we spoke about frequently in-between sparring.
4 Likes
Hahahahha brilliant!
So… Deadpool 3 will make money.
The rest? Don’t think so.
The end of Marvel as a major player.
6 Likes
Yeah, not really seeing anything interesting there.
1 Like
Maybe Blade, but then I have fond memories of the first Blade movie.
“We’ll also see some classic Spidey villains, including Unicorn, Chameleon, Scorpion, Speed Demon, Tarantula, Rhino, Butane and Doc Ock.”
Of these I only know Rhino and Doc Ock - telling me I’m probably not the target audience for this vehicle…
2 Likes
But that’s the problem right there: Marvel not delivering four quadrant movies anymore, only niche projects…
4 Likes
It’s just a case of the general public finally coming around to the fact that the Marvel films, by and large, were always crap.
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a film franchise less worthy of the praise it receives than the Deadpool films. They’re only popular because they’re R-rated “superhero” movies. This one’s only going to be popular because Hugh Jackman is coming in to toss it a life preserver by returning as Wolverine.
But who is supposed to watch all this stuff? Care for all the characters? If you have to watch it all - and best have a solid comic book education of 30+ years of slavish lecture - it’s bound to crash.
I first came to Marvel via Fantastic Four, back in the 70s when there were only Spider-Man, Avengers, FF and a couple of minor other titles. I read a lot, but nowhere near all of them. Few people did back then. Probably nobody.
Disney is trying to cram everything and the kitchen sink into one huge monstrosity of a ‘universe’. They cannot seriously expect all this stuff to work. It didn’t even back in the day, when Marvel produced many short lived subseries and obscure characters.
It’s madness.
1 Like
I guess it seemed like a slam dunk for Disney: buy Marvel, buy Lucasfilm - and then milk everything with interconnected multiverses, force audiences to watch everything just so they can keep up.
And at first, with the prominent ones, they did have product that audiences wanted to see.
But these have been done.
Just like the Star Wars stories. A concluding trilogy? Sure, that’s what audiences had expected. But spin-offs? Character prequels? Nah, been there, done that.
The Mandalorian started out well - but succumbed to the same old, same old. Andor was a more serious approach - but, for my taste, it also reheated what already had been offered many times (yes, the rebels, yes, the empire - in the end, it´s always laser fights).
Some fans are still clinging to the idea that in the Star Wars universe there is so much left to tell. I don’t see what can be told without just repeating the established story beats.
The same goes for Marvel. Origins of super heroes. Endless fights. Shocking deaths which then get reversed not at all shockingly. And the end credit stinger introducing other heroes or villains so audiences are drilled to show up again. And rinse and repeat.
Was Marvel always overrated? I kind of agree. I liked some films more, was lukewarm about or even disinterested in the rest. It was all handsomely mounted, capably told - but it was a kind of a visual McDonalds: you always got the same and knew how it tasted.
But wait, is James Bond any better?
I think so. And not just because we’re on a Bond fansite.
Bond is better because while always following the same formula every film shows us how the world at that particular point in time has developed. A Bond film is a prism through which we look at one story. It is always told differently, according to the zeitgeist. That’s what makes it interesting.
Marvel or Star Wars, in contrast, always stay the same because that’s what the brand promises.
6 Likes
Bond also feels bespoke; a very specific product made with care by what is essentially a family business. I’m grateful for the Marvel machine, it gave me some of my favorite movie going experiences in the last decade plus, but the quality has fallen off a cliff.
4 Likes
Also, Marvel (and to some extent Star Wars) is at its core aimed at kids and picks up their particular problems in a different setting:
Fantastic Four was the ultimate dysfunctional family, parents absent, some strange guy getting chummy with the annoying big sister and a bizarrely disfigured ‘uncle’ borderlining between big brother and choleric monster.
Peter Parker the epitome of pubertal misery of practically every boy between 10 and 16, being ‘different’ without being able to talk about it with his aunt (read: mother), feeling responsible for the absence of his uncle (read: father), constantly unlucky at love and at friendship, bullied, misunderstood and even having to put up with his enemy moving in with his aunt (shades of abuse kids suffered in all these traits).
X-Men all a band of ‘different’ characters facing social persecution, having to hide and deal with being hopelessly in love with ones who are hopelessly in love with others. Avengers more of the same on a slightly older/larger level. Thor, Tony Stark, Matt Murdock, most of them started out living the conflicts of kids of the 60s and 70s. That’s why they were so popular with us, because at some level we felt we understood them - and they would understand us.
For comic books that’s fine and I have no doubt these publications helped many kids over the decades feeling less lonely. But if we want to attract an adult audience there must be a little more than simply appealing to nostalgia.
2 Likes
“We’ll also see some classic Jimmy villains, including Elvis, Gustav Graves, Baron Samedi, Largo, Mr Kil, Sanchez, Blofeld and Doc No.”
Should I ever encounter an announcement like this for a next Bond movie, I’m going to arrange a Bond Demolition Night at Comiskey Park in Chicago.
5 Likes
An origin story for Mr.Kil - preferably as a many seasons lasting tv series, culminating in a big movie…
3 Likes
If there is one thing that I can give Disney Star Wars, it’s that they knew to take a break. It’s a shame that they have announced many projects (most of which excite me), but at least they knew to slow down a bit on the movie front. MCU needs to take a break, and it seems with Deadpool 3 being their only movie this year, maybe they can rethink some of their future plans as well.
Doctor Octopus needs no explanation. Along with the Green Goblin, he’s one of Spider-Man’s two greatest enemies.
Chameleon was Spider-Man’s first ever villain and is Kraven The Hunter’s half-brother. He’s a top 15 Spider-Man villain who is a master of disguise.
Scorpion is also a major Spider-Man villain orchestrated by J. Jonah Jameson to best Spider-Man only he decides to do his own thing. He’s strong, can climb walls too, and he’s got a dangerous cybernetic tail.
Rhino is on the same villain level as Chameleon and Scorpion. He’s super strong and not very smart.
The Tartantula is more a B or C list villain. He’s pretty good–an assassin-type with spiked shoes–but a lesser villain than those above.
Speed Demon is really fast but rarely takes on Spider-Man on his own. He’s usually seen as part of a team called the Sinister Syndicate, which was originally comprised of the Beetle, Boomerang, Rhino, and Hydro-Man. The Shocker has also been a part of this group.
As for the others, I don’t know why they are included.
Unicorn is an Iron Man villain and I’ve never heard of Butane.
2 Likes
Leaning on nostalgia, such as bringing back Michael Keaton, is a last gasp ploy to jumpstart a failing film genre. Superhero movies should be special events that excite, but they’ve become boring in their abundance and quality. All of these villain movies like Venom and Kraven particularly represent an inability for studios to stop. None of them should be made.
5 Likes