MCU rewatch

So, my holiday weekend camping plans fell through and I found myself home with nothing but time and no plans so I decided that this would be a good time to start my long planned complete MCU movie rewatch. Since Friday morning I have binged the first 13 movies and a smattering of other material and I need to take a break from viewing and wanted to express a few thoughts before moving on.

Note that I am watching things based not on release order, but rather my preferred viewing order based on continuity and story flow. YMMV.

Captain America: The First Avenger-- I have to say that I love this movie. I love the WW2 Captain America stories and felt that they captured the tone of the stories told in that era perfectly (And Phineas Horton's "Synthetic Man" always makes me wonder what happened at the Expo in the days that followed ). Chris Evans and Hayley Atwell have amazing chemistry and their farewell scene always makes me tear up. Hugo Weaving is perfect as the Red Skull and I wish that we could have seen more of Tommy Lee Jones as Chester Phillips. All in all, a very strong debut effort for the second most important character in the Infinity Saga.

Marvel One-Shot: Agent Carter-- A fun little short that led to Hayley Atwell getting her own show. While it may not technically be considered MCU canon any more (it's not 100% compatable with the TV show) it still tells a tale of how Peggy ascended to the top spot in the newly formed SHIELD. I wanted Peggy's rise to be a apart of my re-watch, but wasn't interested in re-visiting the show at this time.

I considered watching Captain Marvel here for continuity reasons, but decided to watch it as released for story flow reasons.

Iron Man-- The one that started it all. It still holds up as strong as both an introduction to Stark and the MCU. Robert Downey Jr and Jon Favreau set the tone for the MCU moving forward. From beginning to end, RDJ sucks you in as Stark and makes you root for him despite the fact that Stark starts out as a bit of a douche. Almost all of the characters begin journeys here that are unique to the character and compellingly told--even JARVIS! Tony's inability to rest when there is hero work to be done is established, as is Pepper's desire and inability to get Tony to stop risking his life. Particularly relevant to Tony's journey to me post-Endgame is Ho Yinsin's assertation that despite his wealth, his lack of a family and roots makes him a man with everything... and nothing.

Iron Man 2-- I watch this before Incredible Hulk because in TIH, Stark is already a SHIELD consultant, but he doesn't obtain that position until this movie. A little better than I remembered, but it absolutely has it's flaws. Even a strong performance from Mickey Rourke can't make his Anton Vanko an interesting villain and Sam Rockwell's Justin Hammer was more comic relief than threatening. Apparently, a lot of character work for Vanko wound up on the cutting room floor, which is a shame. Scarlett Johannson makes an impressive debut as Natasha Romaov and RDJ and Gwyneth Paltrow continue to work very well together. This movie doesn't come together as well as the first one. I think that a little too much effort was put into planting seeds for future stories rather than tell the story at hand. As much as I love the Phil Coulson character (and he gets the best line in the movie), his part in the movie is solely to point the audience in the direction of the Thor movie. This movies post-credit scene with Mjolnir is perhaps my favorite of them all. When Mjolnir appeared, there were genuine gasps from the comic nerds in the audience. For the first time, the thought of an Avengers movie seemed 100% real.

The Incredible Hulk-- Meh. The story is predictable, the performances of Ed Norton and Liv Tyler are nothing note-worthy and it doesn't really bring anything (other than Thaddeus Ross) to the larger MCU. Tim Roth was enjoyable enough as Blonsky but they really didn't give him much to work with. It is a shame that the Sam Sterns/Leader thread never got developed. Maybe on the She-Hulk show coming to Disney+...

Thor-- A solid introduction to the character and mythology of Thor that nicely introduces the more fantastical elements of the MCU. The chemistry between Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman seems legit enough, but not nearly as much as the Downey/Paltrow or Evans/Atwell pairings, but Portman's Jane Foster is a strong female lead that you can see standing beside Thor despite her mortal nature.Tom Hiddleston and Anthony Hopkins are both perfectly cast in their respective roles and both bring life to sometimes clunky dialogue. Asgard looked as if it jumped right off of Jack Kirby's drawing board. The seed planting in this movie (Coulson and Hawkeye) is less intrusive than in IM2. Overall, an entertaining, if not spectacular entry in the MCU.

Marvel One-Shot: The Consultant-- A very short (4:00) tale with Coulson and Jasper Sitwell utilizing footage from TIH to explain away discrepancies between Hulk's recruitment into the Avengers between TIH and the Avengers.

Avengers-- Ah, Avengers. While I can objectively say that it's not the best movie in the MCU, I can say with confidence that it is my favorite. The super-hero team-up movie was something that I wanted to see my entire life but it always seemed like a pipe dream. Not only did Joss Whedon pull it off, he pulled it off masterfully. The various characters with differing tones and feels meshed together in a way that many people, myself included, had doubts about. It brought all of the characters together from their various franchises for an adventure, and then sent them all back into their various sequels. IMHO, simply the best super-hero movie ever made. YMMV.

Iron Man 3-- This movie gets a bad rap due to the Mandarin twist but once one gets past their nerd-rage, one can realize how clever the misdirect was and appreciate Trevor as the brilliant character that he is. The scenes with Harley inform the character moving forward in a way that I never realized pre-Endgame. Also established is the post-Chitauri PTSD that motivates him for the rest of his arc. Better than IM2 and well worth re-visting.

Marvel One-Shot: All Hail the King-- A fun epilogue to IM3 that brings back Trevor and establishes that there is a real Mandarin out there lurking in the shadows. Included for it's relevance moving forward beyond Endgame. Am I the only one who wants to see Trevor show up in "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings"?

Agents of SHIELD: Pilot-- I wanted my rewatch to acknowledge Coulson's resurrection so I popped in the pilot. Those characters have come so far in their six seasons on television and it was fun to go back and see how it all started. This is my last non-cinematic diversion. I thought about watching "The End of the Beginning", "Turn, Turn, Turn" and "The Beginning of the End" (1.16, 1.17 and 1.22) along with Winter Soldier, but decided that a dedicated AoS rewatch would be more fun.

I am further long than this, but need to take a break. More later.

 

I may force myself to see Shang-Chi, out of a sense of semi-morbid curiosity about the 'real Mandarin', and also because of more Trevor. The Trevorverse continues!

 

Love this idea... but holy cow, 13 movies in 3 days? I sometimes can't sit still long enough for 1. *g*

Yes, exactly this quote (and the "don't waste it" when Tony thanks Yinsen for saving his life) resonates strongly with me as it somehow pulls away all the diversions and masks that Tony shows to the world. On the other hand, the fact that he got his family and put down roots in those 5 years in Endgame makes his arc feel complete, yes, bittersweet that he didn't get to live his life to its natural end but still it's okay for me.

And let's not forget the press conference where Tony's hung up about having become part of a system "that's comfortable with zero accountability", and his trust issues (the scene where he's rendered helpless to defend himself against Stane's taking the arc reactor makes me very uncomfortable).

Just watched Agent Carter... and especially the first season ties in really well with TFA. And all timetravel/parallel universes-issues aside, I like the idea that they get their dance in at least one of them (and in another Peggy and Sousa get to live happily ever after ).

 

I feel like I'm the only person who still loves The Incredible Hulk for what it is. Yeah, in retrospect, I wish Mark Ruffalo was in the film, but at the time, I was crushed when Norton had his falling out with Marvel because I loved Norton's performance and how it invoked Bill Bixby's own performance. Further, I loved how well the film blended elements of the Bixby series with the traditional Marvel lore, while introducing the MCU. It might not have aged as well as Iron Man and there have been a lot of truly great films that have since surpassed it, but I still rank it higher than the first two Thors and the first Captain America, and on the same level as the second Iron Man (which I think is also underrated).

 

While I don't rank it nearly as highly as you do (I love the first Captain America movie a lot more), I do honestly enjoy TIH. It has its problems, and honestly Ruffalo is a much, much better Bruce Banner, but overall its an enjoyable film, and I never really understood why it gets a bad reputation. its not spectacular, but its solid (and its a thousand times better then that horrible "Hulk" movie from Ang Lee).

 

Oh, the Incredible Hulk is not without merit. The script, to me, seems like just another by the the numbers superheroes script by Zak Penn, who for whatever reason was Hollywood's go-to guy for by the numbers superhero scripts at the time. I like that Norton's Bruce Banner seemed a little more physically capable than Mark Ruffalo's, who comes off as kind of a doof at times. The nods to The Incredible Hulk TV show were all very much appreciated. The seed planting that bogs down Iron Man 2 worked perfectly here by connecting Banner's accident to the super soldier program.

Norton wasn't bad as Banner, but, like I said, he never really impressed me at any point. Pairing him up with Liv Tyler, whom which I didn't feel he shared any real chemistry with, really didn't help the case. And I have also imagined what the MCU would have been like going forward if they had maintained Norton's take on the character.

Bringing William Hurt back into the MCU as General Ross was inspired and should have happened sooner. When he came into Civil War, I was hoping he was going to be a recurring presence throughout phase 3.

One of the things that hurt it in my opinion is that I don't think that the CGI technology was quite there yet. Almost. I got uncanny valley vibes on Norton's Hulk more than once, but by the time Avengers rolled around I was fully convinced.

 

I think most people agree that film was crap. I only ever liked Sam Elliot and Jennifer Connelly and wished they had been in The Incredible Hulk instead of WIlliam Hurt and Liv Tyler.

I agree the pairing with Tyler was terrible but then I generally think she is a terrible actress despite being in some of my favorite films (this, Lord of the Rings) and shows (The Leftovers). I simply don't get why people like her.

As much as I didn't like Hurt in the film at the time (like I said above, I sure wish it was Elliot instead), I do agree bringing him back as a civilian antagonist was a smart choice. I don't see where there's room for this to happen, but I am curious to see him become Red Hulk at some point.

 

My wife and I have been working our way through the just the MCU films as well. After seeing Endgame, she realized there was much she either hadn’t seen or had forgotten about so we started trying to do one a week (if we can) since early summer. We’re watching in release order and just finished Age of Ultron today.

 

I love The Incredible Hulk as an awesome chase/romantic drama flick, and I'll do you one better, and wish that Norton was in The Avengers. I mean, Ruffalo is awesome, and brings a more different flavor to the team than Norton would have, but I've never seen any darkness in his Banner, nor do I have any idea where his breezy attitude comes from. The fact that the MCU completely forgot about Betty (Veronica reference in Ultron aside) doesn't exactly help illuminate Ruffalo-Banner, either.

When Banner says "I'm always angry" and transforms, I just plain don't believe him, and I would have believed Norton. So, all in all, I do kinda wish he'd stuck around for The Avengers. The rest of the movies... I'm more neutral on. Ruffalo has certainly won me over in terms of charisma and sticking around, but I have a hard time picturing him in TIH - I'm not sure that would have worked at all.

She's great at playing herself, and herself seems like a great presence to be in the company of. I'll... just leave it at that.

 

@Gaith We saw a hint of darkness in Ruffalo's Banner in the "the other guy spit it out" scene in Avengers. Of course, the mind stone was messing with everyone's head in that scene.

While I did enjoy Banner's arc throughout the Avengers movies and Ragnarok, I do believe that his story suffered from not getting any further solo movies where he could be the main focus of the narrative, rather than a supporting player. That would have been the place to explore the dark corners of Bruce Banner's mind.

 

Thor: The Dark World-- I haven't watched this for a while, but have wanted to revisit it ever since Endgame was released. This was one of my least favorites in the MCU and time hasn't changed my opinion. Malekith is a prime example of why the MCU gained a reputation for weak villains (which in all honesty is mostly just a phase 2 thing). He wants to destroy everything... why, again? His motivations always seemed vague and unconvincing to me. Thor's Earth-bound supporting cast just took up space to remind us that they existed in the time that Thor and Jane were off-world. Loki's survival was so telegraphed that the twist at the end fell flat. The final battle with Malekith was uninspiring. Not an impressive effort. The ties to the larger MCU are minimal and unobtrusive with the Aether being established as an Infinity Stone and a post credit scene that leads into...

Guardians of the Galaxy-- Funny and engaging, this movie was just the change of pace that the MCU needed. This tale of a bunch of losers thrown together to save the galaxy and forming a family never ceases to be entertaining. Bringing in more cosmic elements was a bit of a "level up" moment for the MCU and some of the things established have shown up in other cosmic MCU movies such as Captain Marvel and Endgame. By this point, Marvel seemed to have figured out how to plant story seeds without it being a distraction to the story. Thanos and the Infinity Stones were a natural fit in the story and their inclusion didn't feel like they were trying to point us to another movie. One of the best of the MCU bunch.

 

I have to admit to being on a bit of a mission last weekend. I wanted to take full advantage of having the house to myself with unfettered access to the television and Blu-ray player. I knew if I could get through Civil War, which was movie 13, I would be good. I have redeemed digital codes for the remainder of the movies so I can watch them on my computer anytime anyplace.

I bring up that scene every time someone tells me that Tony was acting out of character in Civil War.

Anyway, if I had thought about starting this thread when I popped in the first movie, my thoughts would have been more detailed. Therefore I might just randomly bring up things that I wish I'd included in my original thoughts.

For instance, one of my favorite bits of inter movie continuity in phase 1 is all sub text and background details. In Iron Man 2, while Tony is going through his father's notebooks, he spies a diagram that Howard made of what we will later know to be the Tesseract. Of course, this didn't mean anything at the time of the original viewing, but gains relevance when we see Howard experimenting with Tesseract energy and later retrieving the Tesseract at the bottom of the ocean in Captain America the First Avenger. Then, in Avengers, after Coulson gives Tony the mission notes, he spies a hologram of the Tesseract and he reacts with a look of recognition. He knew exactly what this was because he'd seen it in his father's notes in Iron Man 2. It is apparently Kevin Feige's favorite phase 1 Easter egg as well. Continuity between three movies without a single line of dialogue pointing it out. Awesome.

 

Oh, wow. I can't believe I never made that connection!

The Dark World's greatest sin is casting a brilliant actor like Christopher Eccleston and then buried him under mountains of make-up and a gibberish language. Such a godsdamn waste. I gave the film one chance of a rewatch and it still sucked, but even if it didn't, I wouldn't be able to get past that terrible sin.

Yeah, I loved that a lot as well. I really enjoy when the films go into quiet details like that and don't point a giant arrow at them to make sure we got them.

 

I think Banner/Hulk was at his best in the first two Avengers, aside from the love story in AoU. Whedon was the only one who seemed to be able to make the prospect of Banner turning into the Hulk at any time actually feel scary, and Ruffalo did a great job of conveying that scarily thin margin.

After that, though, he turned into too much of a comedy character IMO.

 

@The Nth Doctor -- Agreed 100% about Eccelston. What a waste.

 

I'm good with this.

 

Captain America the Winter Soldier-- with the Avengers I said that it may not be the best movie, but it was my favorite. The Winter Soldier on the other hand, just might be the best. The Russo Brothers make their MCU directorial debut in a thrilling and gripping political thriller with superhero trappings. The relationship between Sam and Steve is dead on perfect right from the moment they meet. Game-changing for the MCU in that it removed SHIELD from the equation, at least on the cinematic level, and placed the protection of the world solely on the shoulders of The Avengers.

Scarlett Johansson's Natasha Romanoff gets her best development so far here. The scene where Steve turns her words, "I think you might be in the wrong business" against her is a pivotal one in her arc. The scenes with the aging Peggy Carter were heartbreaking and underscored just how alone Steve feels in the world. Peggy's line that sometimes the best you can do is to start over is one that will resonate in Steve's arc moving forward.

There is a slight continuity issue in that the Winter Soldier depicts Arnim Zola administering care to Bucky seemingly in the immediate aftermath of his fall from the train, however Zola actually was on that train, so that doesn't really track. As @Alidar Jarok said, The crossover with Agents of SHIELD is the greatest cross media crossover of all time. This movie was another level up moment for the MCU capped with the end credit sequence that brought the characters of Wanda and Pietro Maximoff and Baron Wolfgang von Strucker into the continuity. This end credit sequence leads directly into...

Avengers: Age of Ultron-- a bit of a let down after the first Avengers movie. I think a combination of interference from the Marvel creative committee and Joss Whedon trying to juggle too many balls at once resulted in a movie that just never really coalesced. As with Iron Man 2, some of the signposting and seed planting, particularly with Thor, was distracting and didn't really serve the story. I really didn't care for the pairing of Natasha and Bruce. I do admit that I prefer the "love is for children" Natasha of the first Avengers movie, but acknowledge that at the end of The Winter Soldier she set out to develop some new covers, which I took to mean discover who she really was, so that much can be forgiven. What can't be forgiven is the fact that the pairing just didn't work for me. It felt tacked on for the sole purpose of giving the movie some sort of romantic center. I thought it was ridiculous that she she could find a way to contact Hawkeye halfway across the world from her cell but couldn't pick the lock. I think that part of the movie would have worked better if, when Bruce came to release Natasha from her cell, she casually walked out having picked the lock hours earlier and said, "what kept you?"

I love James Spader as Ultron as well as Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff and Paul Bettany as the Vision. Like I said in my Iron Man comments, even JARVIS gets to go on an extraordinary journey. The sacrifice of Quicksilver was disappointing, but perhaps dramatically necessary to establish the stakes involved with being a superhero.

Tony's arc is furthered by the vision given to him by Wanda (Huh. Wanda gave Tony a vision and Tony gave Wanda the Vision), which foreshadows the remaining two Avengers movies.

In the end, a bit of a disappointment compared to the first movie, but absolutely essential for the narrative moving forward. And, honestly, it's not as bad as its detractors would have you believe. I may be a little harsh on some of the movies, but in the end they're all entertaining efforts.

 

I completely agree - the fun of the MCU is that (for the most part) you can watch a single movie and get a complete story - but watch it again after maybe 2 or 3 others and you realize the interconnectivity.

I agree - TWS really is a political thriller that absolutely measures up to that genre, it's not just a superhero movie but carries a message (especially in the post 9/11 days and the question between surveillance and security - at least it does until the moment Hydra's revealed as driving force, then the sides become clean and clear again)... as does Civil War up to a point... but I guess you'll revisit that pretty soon.

I have to disagree there - Sam doesn't come across as a real person to me but a plot device. Maybe if it had been established at the beginning of the movie (the jogging scene) that he and Steve already met before (during prior jogging sessions) and got talking about the veteran group etc... okay. But I just got the sense that oh, there's this guy that Steve just met who just follows along with Steve out of some kind of boredom and hero-worship, without actually thinking for himself ("I do what he does, just slower")... urgh... (and his role in Civil War where he actually talked Steve out of calling Tony after learning about the 5 possible super-soldiers - and therefore preventing Leipzig and the sojourn on the raft at least, if not Siberia itself since that was on Steve's not telling the truth about Tony's parents -... never quite understood that because how should he know better than Steve that Tony wouldn't listen? He barely met the guy...). Sorry, I'm digressing but you see - pretty strong feelings here. *g*

Another argument pointing to the fact that Steve's end in Endgame was planned from the beginning - maybe not quite the way it turned out (since by that time it wasn't clear Evans would want to leave the MCU), but still, the seeds were there.

Really have to get my hands on Agents of SHIELD... hm... oh... I see it's included in amazon prime... OMG, I see several bingeing sessions in my near future.

That's it exactly - it had some great moments... but some really questionable ones as well.

There was practically no chemistry between those 2, and all tragic Natasha background story aside, it felt forced and irrelevant to the main plot.

And Bruce... I think it's pretty strange that no one has a problem with the fact that he got brainwashed into hulking out and destroying parts of a city (and killing however many people). I think that fact (and of course Tony's "vision") got sidelined in all the coolness that Wanda supposedly represents.

About Wanda, let's be real: Wanda willingly joined Hydra and let them experiment on herself... why doesn't Steve ever think of Bucky in that situation (and given that Bucky's mentionned in the movie obliquely, that question isn't far-fetched)? What would Bucky think about a willing Hydra-supporter, who just skips sides because Ultron plans to kill her too, and Steve working side by side with her? I'd not be amused (and I'd have loved to see that come to light at some point between Civil War and Infinity War). So, I think welcoming her to the Avengers without a real discussion and without any apologies on her part is ridiculous - and Tony on the other hand can grovel all the time (and I'll grant you when he messes up he messes up big, but he's assaulted, yelled at, lied to - and she just has to bat her eyelashes and talk about Stark-bombs, and everything's forgiven)... Sorry, but that's one reason I don't think she's well portrayed or introduced. She's just "cool", nothing more. (And I realize that she's more background in the comics but since I don't know those, I can only go by what I've seen in the movies.)

Jarvis was great, the dry comments... I think he was a real loss that Vision (and Friday) couldn't fill... and that romance between Vision and Wanda gives me the creeps (the anguish at having to practically kill him in order to destroy the stone would have worked without the romantic angle).

Completely agree with the 2nd half of the first sentence... but not with the second one. To me Age of Ultron is one of the worst movies of the MCU - it's stuffed and none of the plotthreads are actually fleshed out... and that results in a movie that drags out in the middle (despite all the stuff in it)... one of those movies I can't sit still for.

 

From its awesome score to its upgraded Asgard environments (and excellent Frigga funeral) to its goofy-ass plot and hilarious, portal-filled final battle, The Dark World is a delicious, mulitple-topping fun sundae. When Thor jumped off a balcony and grabbed on to Mjolnir, I wanted to stand up and cheer.