Marvel's Phase 4

[Hero-of-Time]

Just finished the 5th episode and things are far more to my liking now. 

I'm so happy that Wanda is becoming more like she is in the comics. The movies done her dirty in terms of her power level (apart from when she meets Thanos on the battlefield) and here it's finally showing what she's really capable of.

[Ronnie]

2 hours ago, Ashley said:

The first few episodes were a fun pastiche of early television. I may however be the only person that went in wanting that from this show.

You would think your first sentence would have been obvious and judgements around them based on that fact. Anyway you're definitely not the only one wanting something weird and different like that. The series started really strongly for me, loved the first 3 or 4 episodes, then it steadily got more dull and generic MCU we've seen a thousand times before. Not watched the most recent episode though, will do at some point I guess.

[Hero-of-Time]

On February 26, 2021 at 12:11 PM, Happenstance said:

  WandaVision Episode 8 (Hide contents)

Fuck yes!

 

All caught up now and so I can now read these spoilers. Yup, I agree with your reaction.  

[Ike]

Bit confused about some stuff in episode 8.

Spoiler

Didn't they say Wanda stole Vision's body? The flashbacks shows she didn't and created an entirely new Vision. S.W.O.R.D were also apparently tracking Vision in the dome, but how were they able to if Vision isn't made of Vibramium?

Seems a bit weird that Vision also seems to have his own will if Wanda created him.

 

[Ashley]

2 minutes ago, Ike said:

Bit confused about some stuff in episode 8.

  Wandavision (Hide contents)

Didn't they say Wanda stole Vision's body? The flashbacks shows she didn't and created an entirely new Vision. S.W.O.R.D were also apparently tracking Vision in the dome, but how were they able to if Vision isn't made of Vibramium?

Seems a bit weird that Vision also seems to have his own will if Wanda created him.

 

From what I've seen...

Spoiler

The footage that was shown before by that Sword director guy was manipulated to make it look like she stole his body so he could convince everyone else to go after her. 

I think she made him out of grief rather than intent so yes she made him, but not with a particular plan in mind and that's why she's not controlling him. 

 

[Happenstance]

Spoiler

Wanda’s powers came from the mind stone which was the same one that created Vision in the first place so they’ve always been connected (and why she was the one that could destroy it in Infinity War). You can see the colour of her magic change from her red to the yellow of the mind stone when it starts to create Vision.

 

[Happenstance]

Spoiler

Maybe a bit anti-climactic and obviously a lot of set up for future Marvel projects but I still really enjoyed it. Wanda looked incredible in her proper Scarlet Witch gear.

Just so everyone keeps watching, there is a mid credits scene and an after credits scene in the finale.

[Ronnie]

I'm shocked there's a mid credits scene AND an after credits scene, shocked I tell you. 

Really wish they'd stop with this nonsense, it happens so frequently it's lost all meaning, but I get that people love them and I'm in the minority.

Watched episode 8 last night, enjoyed it!

Edited March 5, 2021 by Ronnie

[MindFreak]

Started and finished WandaVision this weekend. 

Spoiler

It was a brave choice to have the first two episodes like that but it was intriguing as it just added to the mystery of what was going on. Was thinking that it was some sort of Truman Show where someone had locked Wanda inside some sort of twisted reality. Had a good laugh when the outside world started tuning in. The commercials were hilarious, same with the intros. Really digged that.

Then things were a bit chill for a few episodes until Agatha turned up. Loved her theme song! As a villain, she was alright, albeit a bit boring. I think it was a bit over the top how Wanda suddenly learned to cast runes (I naively thought that the runes had some more magic inside them rather than just being symbols but it was apparently enough to just mimmick the shape).

Also, what happened to the new Vision? It seemed that Wanda-Vision transferred his feelings into New-Vision but it was only Wanda-Vision that returned. 

Before watching it, I was told that it would be really important to Phase 4. I imagine that the post-post-credit-scene was it? I can see Scarlet Witch being the main villain in Phase 4 and 5, being so powerful and the harbinger of chaos. That would be nice.

Also finally watched Spider-man: Far from Home yesterday.

Spoiler

THat was a nice movie but I think I enjoyed the first one a bit more. Mysterio was really cool and very well cast, though his background story was a bit weak. It fell quite well in line with Vulture's motivation which I think was the important part. Overall, it was necessary in order for Peter to grow as a hero and the post-post-credit scene was quite crazy - now everyone knows who Spider-man is, something that was really important for Peter to hide in the comics. I wonder how that will turn out in No Way Home.

 

[Happenstance]

5 minutes ago, MindFreak said:

Started and finished WandaVision this weekend. 

  Thoughts (Reveal hidden contents)

It was a brave choice to have the first two episodes like that but it was intriguing as it just added to the mystery of what was going on. Was thinking that it was some sort of Truman Show where someone had locked Wanda inside some sort of twisted reality. Had a good laugh when the outside world started tuning in. The commercials were hilarious, same with the intros. Really digged that.

Then things were a bit chill for a few episodes until Agatha turned up. Loved her theme song! As a villain, she was alright, albeit a bit boring. I think it was a bit over the top how Wanda suddenly learned to cast runes (I naively thought that the runes had some more magic inside them rather than just being symbols but it was apparently enough to just mimmick the shape).

Also, what happened to the new Vision? It seemed that Wanda-Vision transferred his feelings into New-Vision but it was only Wanda-Vision that returned. 

Before watching it, I was told that it would be really important to Phase 4. I imagine that the post-post-credit-scene was it? I can see Scarlet Witch being the main villain in Phase 4 and 5, being so powerful and the harbinger of chaos. That would be nice.

Also finally watched Spider-man: Far from Home yesterday.

  Spider-man (Reveal hidden contents)

THat was a nice movie but I think I enjoyed the first one a bit more. Mysterio was really cool and very well cast, though his background story was a bit weak. It fell quite well in line with Vulture's motivation which I think was the important part. Overall, it was necessary in order for Peter to grow as a hero and the post-post-credit scene was quite crazy - now everyone knows who Spider-man is, something that was really important for Peter to hide in the comics. I wonder how that will turn out in No Way Home.

 

Spoiler

No Wanda Vision didn’t transfer anything, he unlocked original Vision’s memories that were being blocked by his new programming. It’s likely that he now has access to the data but not the emotion that went with anything. Best I’ve seen it explained is that he regained his memories but not his soul. That’ll most likely be his story going forward, trying to reconcile what he is now with what he was.

 

[Ashley]

I'll post longer thoughts later but on the point being discussed

Spoiler

Nice of (Pokémon) Sword to make it so easy to do that by putting a button on his head.

Although maybe that's always been used for something I don't know, not familiar with vision as a character.

 

[Happenstance]

12 minutes ago, Ashley said:

I'll post longer thoughts later but on the point being discussed

  Finale (Hide contents)

Nice of (Pokémon) Sword to make it so easy to do that by putting a button on his head.

Although maybe that's always been used for something I don't know, not familiar with vision as a character.

 

Spoiler

I kind of saw it more as exposed circuits where Wanda’s Vision could access his data.

 

[Ashley]

I'll be honest. I was cooking and cleaning while watching the finale so I may have missed some finer points  

[Ronnie]

Spoiler

Enjoyed it for the most part, but it was all a bit muddled and anticlimactic, I guess I was expecting something a bit more interesting or clever.

The rune thing was fucking stupid. If Star Wars or GOT season 8 had done something like that the ridicule would have broke the internet. 'Here's this arbitrary rule the bad guy will explain to the lead character for no reason whatsoever. That same nonsense rule will end up saving the day later.'

The editing was a bit shoddy at times too, Woo is fantastic but what was that thing about his phone buzzing (and no one noticing obv), was he recording paper thin Hayward incriminate himself? Monica seemed a bit pointless overall, but I guess she's getting her own show? 

I don't really get the Quicksilver thing? Why was he introduced and then basically discarded? Is he the same guy from X-Men or not? I remember there being a lot of excitement about his introduction bridging the two universes together, but that's now not what happened at all and he was just a red herring? Seems a bit lame.

Enjoyed Vision v Vision though. Agatha was good too. As usual with MCU stuff the characters are the strong point for me.

I was hoping the show would be more of a mystery thriller after the first few episodes, but it all became pretty conventional pretty quick which is a shame IMO. Glad I watched it overall though. The Wanda/Vision storyline was the best part, just a shame everything else was a bit meh by the end.

 

Edited March 9, 2021 by Ronnie

[Happenstance]

[Hero-of-Time]

Final trailer

It’s insane how good it looks. Feels like a fully fledged MCU movie rather than a series.

Seeing as I had certain thing spoiled about WandaVision, I don’t want a repeat of that and instead will opt to watch this as they release, rather than waiting and watching them all in one go. Shame, as I much prefer to do the latter but it’s so hard to avoid spoilers. For WandaVision, I didn’t even watch anything related to it on YouTube and yet a video popped up with thumbnail that was a big spoiler.  

[Happenstance]

Watched the first episode of Falcon & Winter Soldier earlier. Slow start but a solid one. I look forward to seeing where it goes.

[Hero-of-Time]

23 hours ago, Happenstance said:

Watched the first episode of Falcon & Winter Soldier earlier. Slow start but a solid one. I look forward to seeing where it goes.

Just watched it myself. The opening sequence was like an action movie. Loved it.

Spoiler

I also loved that it slowed down after that and showed both Sam and Bucky trying to adjust and lead normal lives. Bucky dealing with the lives that he affected is an interesting tale to be told. I’m hoping that this part of the narrative doesn’t disappear once everything kicks into high gear.

 

[EEVILMURRAY]

Binged the WandaVision, went alright but I think they failed with baddie motivation, if Scarlet Witch is meant to be so bad, have some Thanos type character who you can semi-empathise with. 

[Happenstance]

 

[bob]

Watched episode 2 of Winter Falcon and Captain Soldier

 

Spoiler

It's ok. It muddles along nicely. The dialogue between the two main characters is quite good, with some good lines, but nothing very exciting has happened so far. The fight on top of the lorries was a bit contrived - how did all the bad guys get up there? Suddenly there's like 8 people on the roof.

 

Not convinced by the bad guys yet either - they all seem a bit lame and their reasons for turning to crime are a bit shit. Hopefully that'll be explored a bit more, although it seems like they won't be the main bad guy anyway, since they're setting them up to be too sympathetic. 

 

I'm liking the John Walker character too, interesting to see where they go with it.

 

[Ashley]

On 07/03/2021 at 10:29 AM, Ashley said:

I'll post longer thoughts later but on the point being discussed

  Finale (Reveal hidden contents)

Nice of (Pokémon) Sword to make it so easy to do that by putting a button on his head.

Although maybe that's always been used for something I don't know, not familiar with vision as a character.

 

Finally getting round to posting longer thoughts about...

Spoiler

I'm not surprised by it but I did find the finale going full on Marvel bang-bang-boom-swish reaffirmed that this whole studio thing is not for me. They were doing interesting things with the characters (even if I didn't get the backstory) and then it just resulted in two aerial fights. 

At the time I did see a piece about how the show was supposed to be a homage to comedies throughout the eras but missed out on what makes comedies; the ensemble. Other than Agatha (and don't get me wrong, Katherine Hahn is great and I'm glad to see her getting recognition) everyone else was dumped as soon as they were introduced. Even characters that recurred did little but either provide audience commentary on what was happening (Randall Park, the woman that kept entering and leaving the town) or just "here's a joke line" kind of characters (that person from 2 Broke Girls).

I guess it comes down to that unease relationship between comedy and action/drama that the franchise tries to balance and I feel misses mostly.

 

[Ronnie]

Payoffs/endings are often a bit of a let down, it seems a lot easier to set a world or storyline up than to conclude it, we've seen that a lot recently.

The MCU is lauded as top quality, and so having only seen maybe 7 or 8 of the films I went in expecting a top quality production and excellent story-telling, so it surprised me by just how poor some of it was.

Spoiler

The rag tag band taking out armed SHIELD agents with a few punches, D'arcy running into the comically paper-thin bad guy with a "have fun in prison" line. Jimmy Woo's 'let me pick up my vibrating phone that no one else noticed, and let me call in help in some dark corner where no one is watching me'.....

Woo and D'arcy are great characters though tbf, just under-utilised. The Quicksilver fake out just for a dick joke was lame af and Monica Rambeau started to grate eventually too, her acting reminds me so much of Sonequa Martin Green on Star Trek Discovery. Mercifully she's a decent step up from SMG at least.

I liked the show overall, it jus seems like a ton of wasted potential. Good on them for the bold premise though.

[Cube]

19 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

 

  Hide contents

her acting reminds me so much of Sonequa Martin Green on Star Trek Discovery. 

 

That's a pretty big compliment!

[Ronnie]