Marvel Cinematic Universe spoiler-heavy speculation thread

Not without justification, though. He was treated badly and deprived of his birthright, so he had good reason to feel he was entitled to reclaim what he was owed. A character doesn't have to be good to be empathetic. They just have to have motives we can understand and relate to.

 

Iron Man to be added to the national film registry

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nation...-man-the-little-mermaid-when-harry-met-sally/

 

Their compliance is born out of underlying fear-laced loyalty; as in the Black Liberation Army example, within certain cells there were individuals who were not on board with the plan to assassinate police officers, but in the end, fell in line with the leaders due to fear and a sense that to resist was hurting the movement from within. That's the place the other Flag Smashers found themselves in when Karli issued her "all or nothing" plot to kill the hostages (and sacrifice themselves, if necessary).

Ah, but notice when she met Sam only moments after the funeral, her extremist leaning raced to the surface when debating with Sam; instead of any sort of neutral approach, she rejected his position outright, revealing her to be the worst of her lot, so her actions were not dropped out of nowhere in the series finale.

That's the point of a portrait of extremist movements as seen in the series: it is not uncommon for young people who join such movements to end up chaining themselves to dangerous ideologies / actions without the psychological maturity to be able to discern the inherent, disastrous nature of said movements. In other words, once they're in, they're in, historically until they are imprisoned or killed. Karli's age was referred to a number of times in the series, as she was a representation of lost youth electing themselves to fight, then caught up in situations they never had the psychological tools to understand or navigate.

I think the core problem of the Blip is the MCU's utter failure to believably address the weight of its effect on the average population (yes, that includes Wandavision), not just selected, random people. In its wake, its just been FX-laden spectacle (and teases for more of the same) than anything else. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was the only Marvel production to seriously acknowledge and address the social, medical and financial morass that would result from the Blip while building on its grounded legacy from the Cap end of the MCU. No Marvel production since TFATWS has adequately picked up where this series left off in any serious manner (the only hope rests with the forthcoming Captain America 4). Its just another "event" and now its skipping off to see Kang, et al.

Overall, TFATWS was--at present--the last, mature MCU production, with themes (Bradley, Sam's struggle to embody what the Stars and Stripes means, but is seen--even by certain comic/media review channels on YouTube--as "belonging" only to a White male) or levels rarely covered in the endless Marvel film and TV offerings.

 

My question is . . . why does Hollywood (especially Disney Studios) have this tendency to portray radicals or progressives as "too extreme", not very bright or villainous a lot?

 

Because we’re implicitly taught by culture that we live in a fair and just society, and such a framing places those who want to change society as in the wrong.

(See, relatedly, the trope of the evil “mirror universe,” which supposes that our own universe must be the good one.)

 

Do they? I'm sure there are examples, but few are coming to mind.

 

You're so close.

 

That is essentially what I said in an earlier post.

 

I finally understand. And I still hate it.

 

Because if they aren't, then it means that the status quo that we ourselves live in much be a rather bad status quo and that's not a thing most people want to see. Especially the people in power.

 

It depends on your definition of what radicalism (more than the idea of progressiveness in the political sense) is. If one looks at modern Western history, sociopolitical radicalism had taken on violent ideology / campaigns over and over again seen with--but not limited to--the terrorist groups that grew out of the late 1960s in America, and such groups defined radicalism going forward. Moreover, in any story, you need contrasts of behavior and belief about a subject or goal, hence Sam saying he could understand the the Flag Smashers concerns, but could not support their violent methods.

For a story about forced government disenfranchisement, gentrification (the racial implications behind it all) on a global scale after some unimaginably catastrophic event such as a billion people suddenly coming into existence, the kind of reactions to government "solutions" would be extreme in some cases. That's the conflict of the narrative, which would not exist (or sell) if the Flag Smashers were treated as middle-ground, reasonable advocates for the people.

 

My sister and I finally viewed "The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special". We both came to the conclusion that it was some of the worst shit we have ever seen from the MCU. This is the third production solely written and directed by James Gunn we have seen. I have more or less lost complete faith in this guy. I can't believe I had been a fan of his eight years ago.

 

Doctor Strange 2 storyboards, shows an earlier version of the Illuminati
https://sorenbendt.com/project/7383/

 

Looks like...Iron Monger and Loki were going to be Illuminati members?

 

And I think we have to assume that there are numerous groups around the world doing the tough work of legally challenging government policies and helping people resolve everyday issues of returning after five years, and dealing with supply chain, power, and other issues. I remember working with a woman from East Germany who was a young teenager in the early nineties. She told me about how much reintegration hurt her family in the short term and how much her parents struggled in the new economy, but how people of her generation had largely overcome that-- big political changes always have negative consequences for some in the short term.

 

I think that's supposed to be Balder, not Loki. I'm pretty sure there was already news at one point that they had intended to have Balder there originally.

And the suit looks like the Iron Man suit Steve was wearing in the What If? episode that introduced Captain Carter, so maybe they were hoping to convince Chris Evans to do another cameo.

There's another panel a bit farther up of Wanda and Wong with some Cthulhu looking thing.... Is that a early design for the rock guardians of the temple, or were they planning to actually show (possibly a statue of) Chthon?

 

Peyton Reed teases Bill Murray's role, among other things in this interview with Entertainment Weekly:

"Bill Murray plays a character from Janet van Dyne's past. It's a crucial role. A big theme in this movie is the things that parents and kids don't say to each other, the secrets that they keep in families. In the last movie, when Hank and Hope rescue Janet, Evangeline Lilly's character had this idea of: Oh, I'm going to be reunited with my mom, this is going to be great, we're going to talk about everything. But what happens if the other person, in this case Janet, puts up a wall and maybe is not comfortable talking about certain things and doesn't reveal certain things about her past? As we know from great stories, you can put the past behind you, but the past will always find a way to show up again. Bill's character represents that in this movie."​

 

The Direct has supposedly found a full synopsis for The Marvels:

Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel has reclaimed her identity from the tyrannical Kree and taken revenge on the Supreme Intelligence. But unintended consequences see Carol shouldering the burden of a destabilized universe. When her duties send her to an anomalous wormhole linked to a Kree revolutionary, her powers become entangled with that of Jersey City super-fan, Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel, and Carol’s estranged niece Captain Monica Rambeau. Together, this unlikely trio must team-up and learn to work in concert to save the universe as 'The Marvels.'​

 

Okay... I think that pretty much locks down who Bill's playing...

 

Murray is only eight years older than Michelle Pfeiffer. It'd be odd for him to play her father. Although I guess if Kang's in the movie, there could be some time travel involved.

My first thought, based just on Reed's description rather than knowledge of comics history, was more along the lines of him being Hope's real father, either Janet's first husband or someone she had an affair with. That could be the thing Janet doesn't want to reveal to Hope.