ENTER THE MULTIVERSE | An MCU Complete Retrospective - 5

disclaimer this video contains spoilers for a whole bunch of stuff there are time codes in the description if you want to jump around all right we got no time to waste let's get to work [Music] the year is 2021 and the story of the MCU has been over for two years while far from perfect Avengers end game told a massive climactic story that brought the infinity Saga to a close in a satisfying enough way whilst also bidding farewell to some of the franchise's most iconic characters after 11 years of build up and 21 movies before it end games somehow managed to come through as a pretty entertaining finale to an unprecedented cinematic experiment and ever since fans of the franchise have been able to look back on the series with fond dies it had a beginning a middle and an end the only thing was that's not where it was actually going to end because when your movie makes nearly three billion dollars worldwide you don't just call it a day you got to keep that money trained rolling I mean come on and so immediately after Avengers end game Marvel Studios returned to theaters with Spider-Man far from home providing a solid enough epilogue whilst also turning Peter Parker's World completely on its head Spider-Man's name is Peter Parker then after a brief hiccup that may or may not have locked down the entire planet Marvel finally returned to the Zeitgeist with three streaming shows back to back one Division A Creative homage to various generations of sitcoms through the decades that managed to spark an insane amount of fan theories until the finale came out and it turned into a big laser battle in the sky Falcon in the Winter Soldier which had solid ideas and some good moments but ultimately failed to really justify why Sam Wilson would give up the shield in the first place and why he would take it back by the end but things changed with Loki which managed to be many fans favorite Disney plus outing exploring one of the most fun characters of the franchise whilst also breaking through into new territory introducing the first variant of Kang and of course opening the Multiverse Marvel was promising big things in the future they were going to go in a New Direction following the close of the infinity Saga and they even made a big return to movie theaters with black widow while the release was massively delayed it's still managed to bring MCU fans back to the big screen phase 4 had begun and after some apprehension early on fans were ready to jump into the future because the time had now come for the next phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe foreign [Music] the first half of 2021 was already a densely packed year for Marvel and they weren't planning on slowing down anytime soon the second half of 2021 would keep up the momentum to make up for lost time as marketing had already hit a stride for the next big screen Adventure Xiang Chi and the legend of the ten rings with two trailers online the movie already promised to have action the likes of which the MCU has never seen all the while introducing a whole new side to the universe and tying up the loose Mandarin thread that's been left open since all the way back in 2014 with the all hail the king one shot marketing had also kicked off for eternals a movie promising to introduce a whole swath of new characters the teaser trailer had already been released in May of 2021 but now the time had come for something a little bigger as Marvel continued to push this expansion into new territory with the second full trailer in August 2021 across nearly three minutes this trailer establishes that the sudden return of half the world's population as seen in Avengers endgame is go going to cause a cataclysmic event that only the eternals can stop introducing this all-new team of Heroes who must reassemble to face off against the deviants in this far more dramatic and big scale adventure and this trailer also seems to posit Richard Madden's Icarus as the main character essentially being the Superman of the group what with his flight his laser eyes his super strength I mean he's really got it all foreign [Music] it was big it was flashy it carried a new tone that's rarely seen in the universe it was also going to include the celestials in a relatively major capacity blasting the cosmic side of the MCU wide open to explore all news stories the trailer also had a rare event at least for the MCU in having the director's name in the trailer selling the movie as their Vision on top of selling it as the next chapter in the MCU but Xiang Chi and eternals were far from Marvel's biggest hitters in 2021 they were merely Stepping Stones to the one movie fans were really clamoring for ever since the Cliffhanger ending to far from home audiences have been chomping at the bit to see the next chapter of Peter Parker's story but even as exciting as that was excitement skyrocketed in December 2020 when word circulated that Andrew Garfield and Toby Maguire would make an appearance while not confirmed the mere possibility of a live-action spider-verse sent fans into a Fugue State they began losing their minds and as 2021 continued and the clock ticked ever so so slowly through the year fans became more and more antsy they were waiting for the trailer they were waiting for any scrap of news they could find sure they knew the title but they needed something more they needed some kind of a taste of what this movie was going to be they also needed to know for sure that it wouldn't be delayed you know while the film industry was stabilizing things could still be impacted down the line excitement was reaching a fever pitch to see any bit of footage from the Spider-Man 3 equal until eventually the clock finally turned to August 23rd 2021 where finally after months and months of waiting after two years since far from home hit theaters after a low quality version leaked online audiences were finally able to Glimpse what came next this time in crisp HD quality oh look at this this is a good one some suggest that Parker's powers include the male spider's ability to hypnotize females stop come on yes my spider Lord across nearly three minutes this trailer picks up right we're far from home left off Peter Parker's life is in shambles his identity has been revealed he's believed to have killed Mysterio it's just all bad news all the time and so in order to correct things back to the way they're supposed to be Peter Parker turns to none other than Dr Strange to set things straight to get people to forget that Peter Parker is Spider-Man of course the spell goes wrong which makes things just a whole hell of a lot worse and across a montage of non-descript action we see Spider-Man take on new challenges and new adventures until the familiar begins to peek through starting with the iconic pumpkin bombs before exploding with hello Peter now if that ain't a confirmation of the Multiverse I don't know what is Spider-Man villains from across his live-action appearances are going to come together in this massive Trilogy Capper while this trailer confirms Doc Ock and Green Goblin other hints suggest the appearance of several other Spider-Man live-action villains making their return the only thing this trailer does not confirm however is the appearance of Andrew Garfield and Toby Maguire which honestly is smart you don't want to give up the prized appearances too early or hell maybe not even at all before the movie comes out but the lack of their appearance did not hinder this trailer's performance because across its first 24 hours this trailer raked in an astounding 355 million views across all platforms people have been clamoring for this trailer for months and now that it's here all they can do is devour it whole multiple times there's so much here to chew on and yet it feels like it only scratches the surface easily making no way home the most anticipated Marvel entry in a while and definitely the most anticipated movie of 2021 the Clock Was now ticking fans were counting the days until December 17th but if you wanted a taste of the Multiverse a bit earlier you'd need look no further than Disney plus where following up on the ending of the Loki series Marvel began to release their very first animated series what if promising to explore a whole batch of alternate universe ideas building on both the comic book concept of what-if stories as well as making use of the fact that the Multiverse was in fact open now the possibilities for the show were endless the trailers promised to go hog wild with variations on established MCU Cannon and eventually starting in August of 2021 fans journeyed to the streaming service to Bear witness upon a show that would go crazier than anything Marvel had ever done before because it was now time to ponder the question [Music] what if foreign episode Anthology season what if tries to explore the endless possibilities of the MCU now that the Multiverse is in play Taking familiar events from Marvel's past and putting new spins on them to tell a wide variety of news stories you got the fun stories like Thor being an only child and thus being an absolute party animal featuring tons of cameos like frost giant Loki and Howard the Duck marrying Darcy Lewis it also features the MCU return of Natalie Portman as Jane Foster so that's neat then you have the darker episodes like Doctor Strange destroying the entire universe in an effort to undo an absolute point in time and then of course there's the Zombies episode which tries to fit into both categories but succeeds it neither because despite what if being a big exploration into the potential of the Multiverse it also shows more than most other MCU outings the limitations of Marvel's storytelling everyone's still gotta crack jokes everyone's still gotta have a sense of humor things can't get too dark or else it'll start to break the MCU mold a little too much but beyond all of that the biggest and most consistent flaw in the entire season is the fact that every episode is too short wait what yeah every episode is too short each episode could potentially fill the plot of an entire feature-length movie and yet they're all condensed into 30 minute Little Adventures which isn't necessarily A Bad Thing from the outset but it does take away from a lot of the emotional investment there's not enough time to get invested in these characters to get excited for their next appearance or to really feel the emotions of certain scenes nowhere is this more apparent than in the first episode following Captain Carter like all of the others it's a fun concept but since it's just a roll swapped version of the First Avenger it feels like it's retreading ground just not as good certain emotional moments from the First Avenger are almost beat for beat recreated here but because the whole episode is in a Mad Dash from start to finish you really feel the lack of investment at every turn especially when you can point towards the story that did these ideas so much better mystery stories like episode 3 where the entire Avengers roster gets killed aren't super fun to try and unravel especially on rewatch where just sitting there like yeah Hank Pym did it so but the show still has some high points that aforementioned Doctor Strange episode is one of the only in the show to tell its own complete story that fits within the medium and the time constraints then you have the episode where t'challa becomes Star-Lord which goes Hog Wild with the crazy alterations to the cosmic side of the MCU the ravagers went straight and Thanos became a good guy that's where this Anthology idea really hits the hardest my friend that's sounds an awful lot like genocide no no no because it's random and I might add efficient and it also serves as an emotional farewell to Chadwick Boseman as t'challa as this is his last performance as the character and it's a fun turn seeing a different side of the character that still sticks to the core of who t'challa is the animation is also pretty good the action scenes are often fun and creative I mean once you get into the last two episodes with Ultron things go absolutely crazy I mean Ultron eats an entire galaxy at one point and it all leads into a season finale that sees all of these disparate characters come together along with Gamora from Another Universe because that was supposed to be another episode that got cut for some reason the show is so rushed it skipped an entire episode that's nuts and together these characters form the Guardians of the Multiverse working together to take down the super Ultron once and for all overall what if is rough around the edges it's rushed It's Too Short The Emotional beats don't really land like they're clearly meant to but there are some interesting ideas and fun sequences that keep it staying afloat oh and also Phil Coulson is in a couple episodes so that's fun gotta love when Coulson shows up in anything he's great and then finally at the very end the show features a brief post-credits scene where Captain Carter finds the Hydra stomper which was once piloted by skinny Steve Rogers in the past all as a clear setup for new stories in season two hopefully those ones will have a bit more time to really hit as hard as they can but while the multi verse was being explored on Disney plus Marvel once again set their sights onto the big screen because for the first time since the pandemic a Marvel movie was going to release exclusively in theaters you know Black Widow did a day and date Disney plus release along with a theatrical release which also caused a little wee bit of illegal kerfuffle behind the scenes but now Marvel was heading exclusively to theaters for Xiang Chi and the legend of the ten Rings a character that they've been trying to work into this universe since the beginning Chung Chi was originally slated to appear as one of Marvel's phase one Heroes and while that ultimately didn't come to pass the time had now finally come for shung Chi's big screen debut and it was meant to be a watershed moment in pop culture and for the film industry as a whole in much the same way black panther was in 2018 and audiences were getting excited because all finally led to September 3rd 2021 where for the second time this year Marvel Studios was back with a feature-length adventure the second movie of phase 4 had arrived and audiences were strapped in for their introduction to the mcu's latest hero [Music] [Applause] within minutes of this movie opening it lets you know that the action this time around is going to be absolutely top tier it kicks off right at the prologue with the introduction of Wen Wu who holds the coveted 10 rings and Lee resulting in a sequence that is not just a fight scene but also a scene of two people falling in love through fighting couple it with creative camera work and good choreography and the movie is already off to a good start and it only gets better from there with action scenes ranging from the scaffolding on the side of a building fully utilizing the height and vertigo for lots of tension there's a big fighting ring that shows lots of good choreography even Juan gets the chance to do some cool stuff fighting off against the Abomination for the first time since 2008 the Abomination was back on screen ain't that a trip foreign but the clear standout is definitely the bus sequence I mean everything here is Top Notch we got slick fast and exciting choreography the camera is flying around the sequence there's tons of little pendulum swings and changes in the situation to make it continuously exciting and of course there's humor yo what up y'all it's your boy Cliff coming at you live on the bus I actually did take a little bit of martial arts as a youth so I'm gonna try and grade this fight as we're going now this movie follows none other than Shang Chi the son of Wen Wu and Lee but after his mother died and his father trained him to kill in every way known to man he fled to the United States to restart his life now he and his best friend Katie are living irresponsible lives as adults getting tips as valet drivers by day singing their hearts out at a karaoke bar by night that is until his father re-enters his life in search of a way to free Shang Chi's mother from imprisonment thus bringing Xiang Chi and Katie into action to try and uncover the secrets of a mystical land known as Tallow whilst also reuniting shangchi with his sister Zhu zhalling who after leaving when Wu herself has started her own Empire if my dad won't let me into his Empire I'm gonna build my own hell yeah and across a Brisk two hours they have a totally fun and exciting Adventure the characters are fun and enjoyable the action as stated is great at every turn and Tony leung's turn is when Wu is fantastic he plays both the menacing side and the more vulnerable side of this character flawlessly both in dialogue heavy scenes and in scenes where he's on his own left to sit with his own thoughts simu Liu is great fun as Chung Chi himself within moments he becomes yet another likable hero who you want to see overcome any threats that stand in his way and Katie is a lot of fun as well bringing a lot of Comedy to the movie especially when she tries her world-renowned deception trick where she you know sings Hotel California by the Eagles right Cool Wind in my hair eventually they're joined by none other than Trevor Slattery I guess if we're following up on the 10 rings and the plot threads left behind by the Iron Man movies it only makes sense to bring in the guy who once pretended to be the Mandarin and of course that isn't actually Wen Wu's name which creates a fun bit where he scoffs at the idea that the United States would be nearly toppled by an orange but with Trevor's help and his little friend Morris shung Chi and Company are able to reach the mystical land of Tallow filled with tons of crazy creatures and a whole new culture to the MCU I mean we've just broken into a whole new dimension it's crazy and it's here that we reveal that while when we believes he is trying to free his wife he is actually being tricked by some maniacal monster who was trapped eons ago because it sucked out people's Souls you know usual stuff which leads to the massive climactic final battle where each one of our established characters clash in this massive Showcase of visual effects while the bus sequence is more fun thanks to its tangibility this sequence is still pretty solid and it leads to a final confrontation between Shang Chi and his father their Dynamic is at the core of this entire story it's about the two of them from start to finish and boy is this an enthralling piece of action seeing the two battle each other as Shang Chi slowly but surely gets control of the ten Rings now you'd think that this fight between Father and Son would be the ultimate climax to the movie right like this is The Ultimate Showdown the grand finale to the movie well it isn't because when Wu succeeded in his goal which means a giant soul-sucking monster bust free which ultimately leads to the death of Wen Wu and a massive CGI monster battle to close the movie out with a bang the only downside is that because the entire story is about Xiang Chi and Wen Wu at its core interest immediately saps away once when we was dead and while the dragon fight looks cool and the visual effects are impressive on a storytelling level it isn't very engaging because there is no story the story he ended when Wen Wu died regardless each of our characters unite to face off against the soul sucker joined by their very own great protector resulting in shangchi using the ten rings to save talo once and for all great job guys you saved the universe and while the characters mourn the losses they felt along the way Xiang Chi and Katie returned to the U.S having gone through a transformative Journey until of course they're snagged Away by Wong to become part of the larger MCU and that's the whole movie it's pretty clean cut there's some fun humors some nice ties to the rest of the MCU and ultimately it introduces a handful of new and exciting characters to the fold it's a good time and it also includes two end credit scenes first up following up on the end of the movie Wong begins to investigate the particulars of the ten rings with none other than Bruce Banner in human form again and Captain Marvel and while a mystery is set up stating that the 10 rings are sending some kind of Beacon Xiang Chi Katie and Wang decide that that can wait another day because their gonna karaoke their hearts away singing Hotel California by the Eagles so that's fine then right at the very end we revisit Zhu Zha Ling who appears to be taking down her father's Empire until it's revealed that she's just taken it over for herself because of course she has and would you look at that the ten Rings will return I guess we gotta look out for that when Xiang Chi 2 inevitably comes out and there was sure to be a sequel because despite this releasing post-pandemic Xiang Chi proved that Marvel still had a massive impact on the box office kicking off with 75 million dollars in its opening weekend and going on to gross 224 million dollars domestically and a whopping 432 million dollars worldwide while on a large scale this was one of Marvel's lowest earners it's ultimately more than you could hope for in this completely altered theater environment and reviews coming out of the movie were also Stellar audiences and critics had a lot of fun with this movie from the action to the characters to the humor it all hit a home run the MCU was back on the big screen in a big way perhaps phase four was in for a good run after all guys stay safe welcome to the circus but Chung Chi was far from Marvel's last outing of 2021 the jam-packed year was Trucking along swiftly through the month of September and pretty much immediately marketing kicked off for Marvel's next foray onto Disney plus the Hawkeye series kicking off with a promotional image before exploding into an all-new trailer and across two minutes this trailer promises a breezy fun light-hearted Christmas Adventure where Clint Barton trying to spend some time with his family now that they're back from the blip is instead caught in a new misadventure where he meets Kate bishop and faces off bad guys in what looks to be just a fun Christmas time romp it's got humor it's got action it's got Clint Barton catching a Molotov before throwing it back at bad guys well certainly not the most groundbreaking trailer it does look like a nice light adventure to kick back and relax with every week when it debuts in November but let's be honest quite a few people are not kicking back and relaxing when it comes to Marvel's future especially actually with Spider-Man no way home despite the release of the trailer fans are still clamoring for more information and confirmation of all of the rumored Cameo appearances all of this excitement was only exacerbated when this image dropped online yeah that's Andrew Garfield and His Amazing Spider-Man 2 costume appearing in a scene that does not match anything seen in Amazing Spider-Man 2. if there was anything fans needed to confirm Andrew Garfield and Toby Maguire's involvement in no way home it was this a tiny three second clip of Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man but even then the Press surrounding this movie still did its best to sow seeds of Doubt among the audience starting with Andrew Garfield appearing on Jimmy Fallon saying I heard about it and I did see it and it's a Photoshop then following that someone came out and said that they faked the entire thing showing exactly how they managed to digitally create the video but then Corridor Digital came out and proved that faking a video like that with such detail would be really really difficult if not downright impossible it's crazy how much speculation and insanity this one clip was able to cause but despite it seemingly confirming that the other two live-action Spider-Man would make an appearance there was just the tiniest bit of Doubt to keep audiences on their toes but the other versions of Spider-Man aren't the only characters that might have a role in no way home because seemingly out of nowhere a bombshell dropped in an otherwise unrelated movie Venom Let There Be Carnage while that movie is mostly another Venom Adventure Fighting various Spider-Man villains that Sony has the rights to the post-credits Stinger would expand things quite a bit because it's here that Venom and Eddie Brock are suddenly transported across the Multiverse into the prime MCU timeline watching as Peter Parker is revealed on TV so I guess that means Tom Hardy's Venom is going to make an appearance and no way home with all this multiversal craziness going on I wouldn't blame you if you became a little lost once no way home hit theaters there's gonna be a lot to juggle on this one meanwhile developments continued on other corners of the MCU rumors began to spread that Agatha Harkness the villain of Wanda Vision was getting her own Disney Plus show and Guardians of the Galaxy vol 3 brought a big piece of news with the casting of Adam Warlock first teased in Thor the Dark World and then of course at the end of volume 2 the fan favorite character had now found its actor none other than Will Poulter from roles in Black Mirror bandersnatch to We're the Millers fans quickly embrace the casting as their anticipation began to build for what might be the final entry in Marvel's best Trilogy other parts of the franchise were going to be hit with a slight delay though because even though the effects of the pandemic were subsiding Marvel was still shuffling their inbound slate of movies Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness while initially set for March 2022 was pushed back to May 6 2022. Thor love and thunder was then pushed back to July 2022 black panther wakanda forever was pushed back to November of 2022 and the Marvels was pushed back to sometime in early 2023 which pushed Ant-Man 3 to July 2023. in fact the only movie that wasn't affected was Guardians 3. still set for May 5th 2023 while the delay was disappointing for some MCU fans the rest of 2021 was still jam-packed with stuff and Marvel was about to return to the big screen right away with the upcoming release of eternals for the first time since Guardians of the Galaxy Marvel was going to introduce an all-new band of Heroes to the MCU led into the universe by Visionary director Chloe Zhao but as the release Drew closer and early Critic reviews started to flow out at the end of October something rather peculiar happened you see while most would say Marvel's movies aren't perfect they've all been pretty good crowd Pleasers that give audiences what they're looking for and because of that they all have fairly solid reviews there's fluctuation here and there some are better than others but there's always been a floor there's always been a line that Marvel hasn't gone below at least in terms of General consensus that is until now because eternals slowly but surely became the worst reviewed Marvel movie in the weeks leading up to release review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes had the movie listed with a 47 approval rating meaning eternals was the first MCU movie to get a rotten rating based on critics reviews while there was praise for the ambition the scope and the fact that it did feel like a singular Vision was guiding it those paled in comparison to critics more aggressive critiques the early reviews were a bit of a stun to MCU fans you know reviews up to this point have been positive but here's a movie that seems to be dividing critics it wasn't necessarily getting panned but it wasn't striking quite the same chord that previous movies did all fans and audiences could do now was see the movie for themselves albeit with an all-new feeling of anxiety as there was now one important question on their minds is this Marvel's first flop the time had come to find out as finally all had led to November 5th 2021 where fans and audiences journeyed to theaters to witness the literal birth of the MCU it was now time to head into eternity but not like the actual Marvel eternity because that's that's another thing whatever just just start them over here we go thank you eternals introduces a grand total of 10 new Heroes to the MCU each with their own unique powers all designed to defeat the Monstrous deviants who have been threatening Humanity for 7 000 years you got the team leader ajak with the powers of healing you got Makari with super duper speed I'd say it was just super speed but it's so much faster than that you got druig who has the ability to hijack and control minds on mass fastos can create anything simply by using his mind Kingo is a super beefed up kameal nanjiani who has the power to shoot finger guns Gilgamesh can punch like nobody's business like you do not want to get on the business end of this guy's fists I mean Athena can create any weapon she desires all to perfectly suit the fight she's in Sprite can create Illusions both small and large on a whim Icarus is the Superman of the group he can fly shoot lasers and he has super strength then there's this movie's de facto main character Cersei who has the ability to turn one material into a completely different material which creates some fun moments she is our de facto protagonist because she has a very specific love for Humanity over the thousands of years the eternals have been on Earth she's the one who grew closest to them not to mention in the present day she's dating Dane Whitman a regular old dude who has about you know five minutes of screen time in this movie but there's a potential mystery about his lineage all of these eternals are sprung back into action once the deviants resurface in the present day well except Ajax because she got killed before the story actually started so you know there's that but they're coming together is also a mild crossover not for anything Marvel related no it's actually a crossover for Transformers all of these eternals are Under the ultimate command of the celestial erisham who's voiced by David K who also voiced several versions of Megatron and even Optimus Prime at one point Cersei is played by Gemma Chan who also played quintessa in the last night both in robot and in human form and now Brian Tyree Henry who plays fastos here is set to play Megatron in the upcoming animated movie add on to the fact that the eternals all turn out to be robots and Bob's your uncle but sorry this isn't the Transformers retrospective this is eternals and eternals is a pretty mixed bag with plenty of ambition and plenty of characters the movie ultimately winds up crumbling under its own weight there's so much to set up and so much to explore that despite this movie's sizable two and a half hour run time it doesn't quite utilize the time to really get to it all and get audiences to emotionally attach themselves to these characters except Kingo he's pretty good kameo nanjiani is giving a witty light-hearted performance here and his duo with karoon brings out a lot of laughs especially with the running joke of them filming a documentary about the events of the movie dishoom come on did you get that I did so it's also made better when Kingo decides to tap out of the movie before the big CGI Fest in the finale he's just like nah I'm out and he leaves for a bit that's just awesome honestly good for him but despite his fun presence most of this movie drags through its two and a half hour run time it's low energy it's slow it's trying to be meditative at times but it's more boring than entertaining but credit where it's due the movie looks great the visuals are given New Life by director Chloe Zhao and while the movie lacks the big colors and sweeping images seen in the eternals comics this ultimately isn't the typical Marvel gray it's a more specific Chloe Zao gray that and in a rare turn of events you can be assured that that sky is in fact actual sky isn't that crazy it's the real sun and everything it's nuts on top of that the movie is also trying to tackle some bigger ideas and create more meaningful conflict with the characters Sprite who's been a child her entire life is constantly yearning to grow old and fall in love and experience all of the things humans can meanwhile fastos who slowly helped evolve Humanity's technology winds up regretting it when it leads to the bombing of Hiroshima although he does find a family of his own that he cares about so I guess it's not all bad but then it is eventually revealed that the eternals were only sent to Earth to make sure that the population was able to grow and generate enough energy to awaken a new Celestial Earth is essentially an egg for another God that will continue to create worlds for who knows how many billions of years of course hatching the celestial will mean the complete and total annihilation of humanity so it creates a bit of a divide amongst the team some of them have grown an attachment to humanity like Cersei and others Still Believe In The Grand Design of erishim that and the question is raised is saving Humanity worth forfeiting the potential lives of so many other planets in the universe lying at the Center is Icarus who turns out to be a traitor because he was the one who left ajak to die he was the one who kept the eternals pitted against the deviants to delay their attempts to stop the emergence which also hits hard because that resulted in the death of Gilgamesh which hits Dina pretty hard ultimately it makes Icarus one of the more interesting parts of this story there's actual genuine conflict between him and the others and it creates a fairly interesting and satisfying final Clash where all of the other eternals except Kingo face him down resulting in some fun moments foreign the only downside is that once Icarus becomes the antagonist of the story The deviants kind of take a back seat their appearance and brief fight with Dina really just feel like attacked on element to the script like the writers forgot about the deviants and were like oh uh we gotta write him back in real quick uh and then the main deviant who's shown the ability to evolve just gets sliced apart at the end so I guess that's it for them but it all leads to the moment when the celestial Tiamat begins to rise from the ground is Golden Hand and golden head begin to emerge from beneath the surface which leaves it to Cersei to turn the celestial to Stone to stop its rise and while Icarus tries to stop her his love for her takes over and he secedes leading to the moment where all of the eternals link their powers in a uni mind and Cersei is finally able to stop the celestial's rise once and for all Boom the celestial is dead the Earth is saved although there's now a big guy just kind of sticking out of the ground pounds and in his guilt Icarus quite literally flies into the Sun a little on the nose but oh and also Cersei still with some connection left with the unimind winds up turning Sprite into a full-fledged human she's now able to age and grow up and fall in love it's a little sudden but it is a sound character beat on paper but the eternals succeeded in Saving the Earth they stopped the emergence they've saved their families and loved ones all as well until erisham suddenly turns up and steals Cersei fastos and Kingo from the earth and everyone can see that too so just a big red six-eyed God floating above the planet I'm sure that'll have some kind of an impact probably dude's got a cool exit though foreign and then that's the end of the movie what a wild way to close things out but like with all things Marvel it's not quite over yet because we got two end credit scenes first up Makari druig and thina are suddenly joined by new characters pip the troll voiced by Patton Oswalt and Star Fox AKA Eros played by Harry Styles the latter apparently being the brother of Thanos gotta admit I don't really see the resemblance but they're here to help these eternals find the three that got kidnapped by erisham I uh I kind of wish I knew what any of that really meant but alright next up Dane Whitman has seen opening a chest with his family crest on it and inside sits a magical sword but before he can grab it someone else speaks up from behind him and says sure you're ready for that Mr Whitman theories were abound as to who this mysterious voice could belong to but before long it was confirmed that it belonged to none other than mahershala Ali's blade I guess we're setting up Dane Whitman to appear in the blade movie who knows overall eternals was a mixed bag it had big ideas and big ambition and a lot of stuff that's fun to kind of think about and parse through but overall I just wish the movie was more entertaining when presenting those ideas but Marvel's hold over Pop Culture was still going strong as eternals made a splash at the box office hitting the ground running with 71 million dollars in its opening weekend but word of mouth and poor reviews wound up hurting the movie long term as after a 60 drop in its second weekend the movie ultimately raked together 164 million dollars across this domestic run and 402 million dollars worldwide while still considered a success in a post-pandemic world the mix to negative reviews wound up stalling this particular sub-franchise in midair and ever since news about an eternal sequel has been few and far between which is a shame because there's like a big rock guy sticking out of the planet I mean they got to acknowledge that at some point right right but even with the somewhat tepid reaction to eternals the Marvel machine was still rolling at full speed Guardians of the Galaxy vol 3 officially began production finally reuniting the Guardians with James Gunn for the first time since volume 2. Dr Strange 2 also entered a new bout of production starting six weeks of quote significant reshoots for the upcoming movie and around the same time Ant-Man and the WASP quantumania wrapped principal photography meanwhile on Disney plus day Marvel dropped some new footage for the upcoming Show's Moon Knight She-Hulk and Miss Marvel whilst also announcing a couple of new things for Disney plus like officially announcing the Agatha Harkness show an Echo Show spinning directly off of Hawkeye Marvel Zombies spinning off from what if and then giving even further confirmation for what if season two all the while excitement built and built for the most anticipated movie of the year Spider-Man no way home with continued rumors and leaks fans continue to be antsy above the upcoming multiversal Escapade until eventually more official news started to come through starting with the first official poster teasing doc Ox arms and even a tiny little Green Goblin in the background but that was merely a taste because Marvel and Sony exploded onto the internet a few days later to reveal an all-new theatrical trailer with another massive three-minute trailer it's almost amazing how this doesn't wind up spoiling the entire movie but it does reveal some all new information about the spider threquel with the gates of the Multiverse open Spider-Man has to face off against a Rogues gallery of previous Spider-Man villains from electro to Sandman lizard Green Goblin and of course Doc Ock but while the trailer does reveal what seems to be the entire cast of villains it also teases a very interesting aspect of the story this movie won't be about Spider-Man defeating these villains again instead he's going to try and prevent their deaths in their home universes Spider-Man is gonna try and save the now if that doesn't sound like a Spider-Man story I don't know what does couple it with exciting action big spectacle and you can be assured that this movie is going to tear up the box office when it releases in December the only thing it doesn't wind up showing however is Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield which is probably a good thing don't want to spoil the biggest selling point of the movie but there are definitely some signs of their involvement particularly in this shot of Spider-Man jumping towards three different villains mainly because two of them are not really going for Spider-Man also the Brazil edit of the trailer features just a fraction of a second more of the shot where lizard gets hit in the face by nothing didn't take long for fans to clock that this shot might contain the other two Spider-Man then of course there's the final moment of the trailer where Zendaya's MJ begins to fall to her death with Tom Holland Spider-Man jumping to try and save her didn't take long for predictions to swarm across the internet as people immediately theorize that Andrew Garfield Spider-Man would save her as Redemption for Gwen Stacy's death back in Amazing Spider-Man 2. the appearance of Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield was easily becoming the worst kept secret in Hollywood but without official confirmation of their appearance fans still gripped their seats and anxiety as the clock swiftly ticked down towards December 17th thankfully for MCU fans though there was something that would keep them occupied in the remaining weeks as Hawkeye was set to make his debut on Disney plus after being introduced all the way back in Thor with several Avengers appearances after the time had finally come for his solo-ish Adventure because the clock had turned to November 24 2021 for the two-part Premiere finally after a decade in the MCU the sixth and final Avenger was going to get his very own show oh the best way to describe this show is functional but clunky or clunky but functional if you're a glass half full kind of person all of the pieces to make a functional and effective story are here the characters are fairly well defined the motivations are there there's a decent amount of cause and effect it's just that the delivery on these things is often clunky like how in the opening scene a young Kate Bishop watches Hawkeye fight off against aliens during the Battle of New York and later says I need a bow and arrow it gets the job done we know how she went from A to B but it's also a little telegraphed that being said having the information there is better than having nothing so the show is able to scrape by for its six episode run by having that information in play this show tells the story of Clint Barton following the events of Avengers end game he has found caught back up in the messy made as Ronin during the blip and he winds up crossing paths with young Hawkeye superfan Kate Bishop together the two of them must unravel a plot surrounding the tracksuit Mafia Maya Lopez AKA Echo and the big guy who runs the whole thing from behind the scenes and it's alright this is a fairly middle of the road MCU show where the plot is mostly uninteresting and moves kind of slowly but the character stuff manages to shine through Clint Barton is hard of hearing in the show after years of explosions and firefights shown in a very fun little flashback [Music] which also leads to a nice moment where he can't hear his son on the phone and Kate Bishop has to relay the messages to him it's not only a heartfelt scene with good performances but it also brings Kate Bishop into Clint's World in a nice way then you have a scene like Kate saving Christmas allowing the two characters to bond for a little bit that's fun the show can also be funny at times especially with the whole musical number in episode one this cheesy Recreation of the Battle of New York on stage it's kind of crazy and there's some fun action the car chase in episode 3 is particularly solid Clint doesn't have his hearing aids so he can't hear Kate is playing a guessing game with the trick arrows which leads to some nice humor and some shoddy CGI and it all comes to a head with a clever combination of arrows to take out the bad guys [Music] and the tracksuit Mafia is a lot of fun they say bro all the time they're largely incompetent and there are enough moments to see them just hang out and have small talk every once in a while it's a good time Kate Bishop not keep it keep Bishop is Guy bro okay Bishop is not kind okay Bishop is going costume wow it's only a shame that the actual plot isn't all that interesting like the Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Loki before it this show is essentially a six hour movie Split over six episodes it doesn't really work like a TV show just 40 minute pieces of a larger movie which makes some of the plot developments unfold at a glacial Pace the least interesting aspect is definitely the red herring with Kate soon to be stepfather Jack I mean they lay it on thick that this dude's probably bad news and it gets to a certain point where it's either the worst kept secret of the show or it's a big red herring turns out it's a big red herring and it's actually Kate's Mom that's a bad guy it just takes five episodes to unravel all of that when it could be unraveled in one or two not to mention the episode 3 Cliffhanger where Jack holds a sword to Clint Barton's neck oh no what's gonna happen well when the next episode starts it's immediately wrapped up as a misunderstanding and it's all hunky-dory so but despite the less than interesting plot there is one particular aspect of the show towards the end that stands out as being really good and that's Helena that's right Natasha romanov's sister from the Black Widow movie makes an appearance in this show and she's great here not only do we see an all-new perspective on the blip seeing someone vanish and then immediately come back but there's also this really great conversation between her and Kate Bishop kids Bishop hi it brings humor lots of great lines it brings great performances by both Haley Steinfeld and Florence Pugh and also at a certain point it brings on the tension as things suddenly get serious the scene plays out in an interesting heart-pounding and emotional way as Yelena is here to kill Clint Barton now this was set up by the Black Widow post credit scene but it's given more clarity here because jelena's Revenge Quest is not fueled by exactly why Natasha died it's more that Natasha should have lived while Clint Barton died it sets up a solid conflict and It All Leads to the sixth and final episode of the Season which starts with the haphazard reveal of none other than Kingpin who is revealed with a text message at the end of episode 5. there's no cool camera angle no stepping into the light Kingpin is just in a photo in a text message alright but it does Mark the first time that the Netflix Marvel Universe has crossed over with the main MCU there are lots of fans of Netflix looks as Marvel shows and now finally starting with Vincent d'onofrio's Kingpin they were going to start making it into the larger MCU but overall this finale is well it's quite similar to the other MCU Disney plus finales after doing some character work and setting the stage the finale is essentially just a big old final battle and that final battle brings some fun moments I mean you get to see Kate and Clint work together firing trick arrows left and right there's more use of pimtech which is fun [Music] what happens to them now I don't know I don't feel scared about that one the larpers that have been an important part of the Season get some time to shine as well which is fun but there are other areas where the finale kind of drops the ball despite how interesting the conversation between Jelena and Kate was in the fifth episode the conclusion to Elena's story kind of Falls a little flat here they had a great setup and a very personal conflict with this character but when it came time to resolve it it kind of gets wrapped up haphazardly with Clint kinda sorta explaining what really happened but not really but where the finale Falls the hardest is with Kingpin Vincent D'Onofrio is giving a great performance here and the dude's massive I mean he looks like a walking brick you totally get the size of him but after a brief fight with Kate Bishop he winds up being cornered by Maya Lopez you know Echo and then she shoots him in the face [Music] there's no way this is the end of Kingpin I mean to bring him back in one episode just to kill him that'd be super lame but even with this being an obvious fake out that's still kind of lame but ultimately the conflict is resolved the characters go their separate ways Kate's mother is arrested for working with the Kingpin the larpers may or may not Recruit Jack to their Guild and Clinton Kate head on over to the Barton household just in time to celebrate Christmas it's a holiday miracle and with the burning of the Ronin suit Clint Barton and Kate Bishop wind up closing this very integral chapter in both of their lives whilst also starting a new chapter going forward overall it's all right there's not much that's really remarkable about the show but there's also not much that's noteworthy for being bad it's a straight middle of the road functional MCU show that doesn't have to keep you entertained the first time but probably not enough to get you to revisit it a second time but Hawkeye's Christmas spirit did make one thing very clear to MCU fans it was now just December which means the time had come Spider-Man no way home had finally arrived excitement reached a fever pitch in the first weeks of December ticket pre-sales were the best they had been for any post-pandemic movie even rivaling some 2019 movies like Avengers endgame or Star Wars the rise of Skywalker after years of rumors and leaks after so much misinformation or disinformation after two trailers made people aware that the Spider-Man Multiverse would be in play at least on the villain side of things it was time to finally pull back the curtain and see the whole thing in its full Glory there was only one question will Andrew Garfield and Toby Maguire make an appearance as their respective Spider-Man despite all of the evidence and reports having come out over the past year there was no official confirmation of their appearance while fans were 99 sure they were going to show up there was just one percent of doubt that turned a feeling of excitement into a feeling of anxiety what if the rumors were just rumors what if it's just the villains that are gonna show up while it was unlikely that the villains would be the only multiversal characters that one percent of Doubt still creeped into many people's minds but the time had finally come to find out for real because the clock had finally turned to December 17 2021 after two and a half years since his last stint on the big screen it was now time to re-enter the world of Peter Parker Spider-Man's name is Peter Parker what the and we are off to the races this movie picks up right where far from home left off and boy does it reveal how chaotic everything becomes immediately Peter Parker's world has just been turned upside down his identity has been revealed and the collective eye of the entire world has now been turned towards him and not in a positive way with Mysterio's message having been seen across the world Peter Parker is now implicated in his murder resulting in an investigation an interrogation all that kind of stuff to find the truth and in all of this Peter Parker needs a lawyer which is where none other than Matt Murdock comes into play that's right Charlie Cox is back as Matt Murdock and while he doesn't have that much of a role his appearance here generated a lot of excitement there was no beating around the bush the Netflix side of Marvel had now folded in these characters were here and they were here to stay and for those that didn't keep up with all of the Netflix shows this scene gives you just enough to be interested in this guy going forward how did you just do that I'm a really good lawyer and Matt Murdock confirms that Peter Parker's legal troubles are over so you know there's that but Peter's life has still been turned upside down he and his friends can't even get into college because of everything that's going on so Peter Parker does the only thing he can think of he goes to Dr Strange to erase everyone's memory of him being Spider-Man I mean he could have just asked the school to reconsider you know make his case to the admissions board are you telling me that you didn't even think to please your case with him first before you asked me to brainwash the entire world I mean when you put it like that then but all of that is just the setup we all know what we're really here for because Peter's just a kid Strange's spell winds up going catastrophically wrong which leads to the arrival of some multiversal villains [Music] now this is the money right here Doc Ock arrives on the freeway with a big fight against Spider-Man Green Goblin even turns up right after then the lizard is revealed and Doctor Strange's dungeon Sandman is found out in the wilderness not far from the city and then of course there's Electro who comes in tow with his dubstep theme [Music] as much as people made fun of that theme when Amazing Spider-Man 2 came out I kind of wish it was used more here you just get that one moment and that's it I don't know it could add some more musical variety and really separate these characters regardless all of these villains are here in the MCU and it is fun to see them they're interacting they're reminiscing a little bit you also get some more eye rolly lines like you know I'm something of a scientist myself which is a call back to the same line spoken back in the first Spider-Man movie you know I'm something of a scientist myself but as fun as it is to see these characters the first half of this movie is kinda missing something and no it's not missing the other Spider-Man it's missing a little bit of cause and effect you know something happens which causes another thing to happen Peter and his friends can't get into college so we enlist the help of Doctor Strange you know that kind of stuff but while that is a good example of cause and effect some other parts of this first half kind of fall short in this area the whole Peter is framed for murdering Mysterio thing is pretty much completely dropped five minutes into the movie and then it transitions into college admissions once Peter and strange learn about their multiversal visitors strange just sends Peter out to find them somehow actually the exact line he uses is Scooby-Doo this for as much fun as it is to see previous Spider-Man villains it kind of feels like things are just sort of happening in this first half it takes a while for this movie to really start to find its feet but let me tell you it definitely Finds Its feet which all finally kicks off when Norman Osborne starts to come into the picture and Aunt May discusses with Peter about how he can help the villains somehow you know don't just send him back home and forget about him help him a bit be a hero and while Peter doesn't go with this immediately once it's revealed to him that some of these villains were bound to die before they arrived in the MCU he decides that helping them is the right thing to do which leads to this greatly fun sequence where Spider-Man faces off against Doctor Strange I mean you got astral projection the mirror Dimension you can even see the spider sense around Peter's head there's so much good stuff [Music] la la and then with strange off the board Peter is left to help the villains as best as he can which essentially boils down to curing them which you know I'm not in love with the terminology nor the tech bro kind of solution this presents but the idea works well enough you know he's got to help him out and he does he even cures Doc Ock repairing the inhibitor chip allowing him to control the legs those voices inside my head I'd almost forgot and man it is good to see Alfred Molina as doc in this it's good to see everyone actually I mean it's nice that Jamie Foxx got another shot at Electro considering how not good the last take was although the lizard and Sandman kind of get the short end of the stick here seeming as this was filmed during the pandemic Thomas Hayden Church and Rhys ifans weren't able to film their scenes with everyone else so instead they're purely CGI which kind of makes them a bit ugly to look at I mean Sandman is a walking pile of mud and the lizard looks somehow not as good as he did back in 2012. I mean design aside the CGI is just not quite there but Alfred Molina Jamie Foxx Willem Dafoe their presence is greatly beneficial especially seeing Norman kind of grow close to Peter even in this brief amount of time it's fun but eventually Everything Changes immediately the tension kicks in as Peter's Spider Sense goes off to an insane degree we don't know what's causing it and neither does he at least until [Music] had some natric that sense of yours Norman Norman's on sabbatical honey and just like that the tone shifts immediately as does Willem defoe's performance one second he's a nice old dad the next he's a conniving super villain and with this turn all hell immediately breaks loose the villains Escape Doc Ock is thrown out of the building and Spider-Man and Green Goblin have a fight where they crash through several floors couple it with solid choreography Great Moments tons of good lines and you got yourself a top-tier Spider-Man action scene strong enough to have it all I mean there are just so many good moments in here but it all builds to a crucial moment for Spider-Man with all of the villains escaped and the Goblin with the upper hand It All Leads to the moment where goblins glider hits ant May in the back I kinda wish that shot was a little better the emphasis on the impact is really not there but that's beside the point because once Green Goblin flees the scene Peter realizes the true impact of this moment there had to be casualties at some point a movie like this you just know that someone's gonna bite it and here it's Aunt May that gets the Uncle Ben treatment she even says the iconic line and with great power there must also come great responsibility and it's the death that will impact Peter the most Aunt May has kind of been his rock across all three of these movies sure he has a good relationship with Ned MJ and even happy but Aunt May is the one he's closest to and her death is what hits the hardest which leads us to our crisis point the villains are scattered our heroes are scattered and Spider-Man is left to mourn alone as the world once again blames him for the attack but hey at least Ned can use magic now how cool is that Ned has Dr Strange Powers he even opens a portal to Spider-Man our heroes are gonna reunite to face the villains off once and for all and hi hi no no no no no no it's okay it's okay it's okay I'm a nice guy foreign there he is after an hour and 20 minutes another Spider-Man has joined The Fray finally after an entire year of rumors and speculation it was real Andrew Garfield was in the movie and he's not the only one because soon after he's joined by man those cheers are really loud aren't they like I know how exciting this is believe me I'm over the moon for this as well but the cheers are a little much come on let's watch it without the cheers oh this is so awkward without the cheers with it did they edit the movie with cheers in mind that's so weird dude that is so weird but here they are Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield are in the building they Unite with Tom Holland's Peter Parker and together they team up to cure the villains once and for all and for the next hour this movie is nothing but ice cream cinematic ice cream I mean we have character interactions we have jokes there's an entire scene that has no plot development it's just these three Spider-Man talking you like make your own web fluid in your body I'd rather not talk about this no I don't mean to are you teasing me no no no no he's not teasing you it's just a we can't do that so naturally we're curious as to how your web situation works you know it's one thing to have these characters show up for a bit that's fun on its own but this is the money the interactions the jokes the callbacks yes it's all Nostalgia pandering but it's Nostalgia pandering to my generation specifically and I'm not above being pandered to you want to Pander to me I'll take it I'll eat that up like ice cream sure it's not healthy or fulfilling in the long run but damn does it taste good I grew up with these movies I grew up on Toby Maguire Spider-Man Spider-Man 2 was the movie when I was a kid it was the biggest thing and while I don't really care for the two Amazing Spider-Man movies I do like Andrew Garfield and Spider-Man and it kind of feels like this is the first time where he really gets to show off how good he can be as this character while his two movies had their moments this is where it all comes together the ice cream doesn't stop there though because eventually the action begins at the Statue of Liberty is all of the villains finally converge and it'd be one thing if the spideys just fought them for a bit and that was the end of it but this finale also gives a very simple and effective A to B story of how at first the three of them cannot work together at all they're all used to Flying Solo they're crashing into their own webs they're not communicating but then after a quick pow-wow with some fun moments and good dialogue all three of them finally swing into action as one unified group the moment is entirely earned within this movie and it's one of the many reasons this movie received 15 consecutive cheering moments on opening weekend this is the kind of stuff that utilizes the premise so well it's kind of bizarre that it's happening at all like all three live-action Spider-Man are currently on screen kicking ass and it's just surreal like this is a real movie it's crazy and eventually thanks to their Newfound Unity each of the villains are cured of their specific ailments Sandman is returned to archival footage from Spider-Man 3 the lizard is returned to archival footage from Amazing Spider-Man 1 and Electro is drained of all of his electricity well he still has enough to give a not so subtle nod to Miles Morales which is fun I just thought she was going to be black oh man I'm sorry I don't apologize It's gotta be a black Spider-Man somewhere out there but that doesn't stop things from going wrong as after Doctor Strange returns to help set the Spell straight once and for all Green Goblin arrives nearly destroying the place which also results in MJ falling from the scaffolding Tom Holland's Peter tries to save her but he's intercepted leaving none other than Andrew Garfield's Peter to jump to the rescue to save her hey hey no stop don't stop cheering you've done enough cheering all right just let the scene play out are you okay yeah okay are you okay of all of the flaws with the two Amazing Spider-Man movies Gwen Stacy's death was one of the better done scenes it hits the right emotional Beat It carries a strong performance it's shot pretty well the music sells it while the movies surrounding that scene kinda sucks that scene works and now seven years later in a different franchise technically that Peter Parker finally gets to redeem himself by Saving MJ from a very similar fate it's a moment that doesn't make a lick of sense if you aren't in the know about Spider-Man on the big screen but since so many people are in the know it plays like gangbusters he did it Peter Parker saved the day but then it all builds to the final confrontation between Tom Hall and Spider-Man and Willem dafoe's Green Goblin poor Peter too weak to send me home to die no I just want to kill you myself atta boy Willem Dafoe is so great in this I mean he's bringing his a game just being this complete SOB of a villain the MCU kinda needs more of this honestly and I guess all it took to bring it to the MCU was grabbing a villain from another movie and it also brings out everything in Peter himself as he wails on Goblin punching him left and right he nearly uses the glider to kill him until oh God and then with the help of Andrew Garfield Spider-Man Peter is finally able to cure the Green Goblin and just like that all villains are cured all ailments have been quenched I mean Toby Maguire got stabbed at one point but he's fine he's all good you know who's not good though Tom Holland's Peter because of the massive battle the scenes of the Multiverse are beginning to break and Doctor Strange can't keep them closed so Peter suggests to erase any memory of him from across the world essentially erasing Peter Parker from existence or at least everyone's Collective Consciousness it's a big sacrifice for Peter the whole reason he got into this mess was because he wanted to control who knew about him being Spider-Man but now the only solution is that everyone has to forget he ever existed which leads to a series of emotional goodbyes on one hand we have Tom Holland saying farewell to Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield bringing together a totally earned payoff to the three characters Union I mean you got I love this stuff thank you thank you thank you thank you and then Peter has to say goodbye to Ned and MJ the music comes in full force the scene is shot slightly better than some MCU scenes the emotions are running high as shortly but surely Doctor Strange closes the breaches in the Multiverse sends every multiversal visitor back to their home universe and erases Peter Parker from everyone's mind but that is only part of Peter's sacrifice because despite promising that he would remind Ned and MJ of their past Adventures once he ran into them again he ultimately decides to not do that at least not yet they're happy they've gotten into college MJ even has a brief line about how the injury on her head doesn't hurt as much anymore while it's likely inevitable that these characters are going to come back in the future it's good that for this movie the memory eraser is not undone immediately but now Peter Parker is alone with no support system no Stark Industries no friends and a small little New York apartment all to himself but he does have have a spiffy and shiny new Spider-Man suit which he Dawns right at the end to swing around New York City once again people might not know who he is anymore but you can be rest assured there will always be a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man and that right there is the end of the movie a movie called wait what was it called again what is it that's a magic number what a ride while it was Rocky at first it soon found its footing about an hour in and kept going strong until the Finish Line with solid action set pieces tons of fun scenes and so much great stuff with the three Spider-Man anxiety swiftly turned to excitement and then total catharsis Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield were in the movie they had significant roles taking on much of the burden in the last hour and it was just a blast seeing them all interact from the conversations to the swinging around I mean the movie delivered on what it didn't officially promise but what fans were hoping for it all ultimately came together for a satisfying and fun celebration of 20 years of Spider-Man on the big screen while not perfect it works way better than it has any right to but we do have some post-credit scenes first up we have Tom Hardy's Venom in a bar that's right he did show up at the end of his second movie and now he's trying to read up on the entire history of the MCU until he's suddenly sent back to his universe so I guess that crossover kind of amounted to nothing but he did leave behind a tiny little bit of symbiote meaning the MCU might get its very own Venom sometime in the not too distant future I guess we'll have to wait to find out but the real Blockbuster comes at the end of the credits as the movie featuring Toby Maguire Spider-Man ends with a trailer for a Sam Raimi movie that's right we get a full two-minute trailer for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness one might have hoped for some kind of scene instead of a trailer but we got a trailer showing off crazy alternate worlds in different locations this trailer shows Doctor Strange teaming up with Wanda maximoff to take on some kind of multiversal threat but as revealed by mordo the multiversal threat might just be doctor strange himself Scott out Fair oh boy now that looks like a big old tie-in to what if could it be the same doctor strange that appeared there I don't know but there are too many similarities to rule it out just yet overall the movie looks big it looks exciting and the trailer eventually made its way online shortly after no way home's release allowing fans to comb through every inch for any hints towards the larger story after no way home gave such a fun multiversal story fans were ready for Marvel to strike again with Doctor Strange too until then fans were able to reel in the immense success of no way home the movie kicked off with not just the biggest opening weekend of the pandemic but one of the biggest opening weekends of all time raking in an astonishing 260 million dollars in its first three days but it didn't stop there because across its run no way home took in a whopping 804 million dollars domestically and 1.9 billion dollars worldwide no other movie since the start of the pandemic even came close the power of three Spider-Man hitting the big screen managed to light up movie theaters for weeks on end people weren't just watching it once they were re-watching it to see all of the multiversal craziness to see the three Spider-Man interact it was huge the excitement for most had paid off no way home was a success but now came the very awkward period of time I mean after spending so much time obsessing over this movie what are fans gonna do now that it's out I mean I kind of didn't expect to get this far or at least I didn't think about what to do once I got this far but Time Marches forward regardless so let's March forward with it shall we [Music] 2022 got off to a slow start at least relative to Marvel standards I mean the last year had seen five Disney Plus shows and four movies it was by far the most densely packed year for the MCU yet and thankfully 2022 wasn't going to be quite as jam-packed despite that it was still going to be a big year because while there would be a bit of time to breathe after no way home there wouldn't be much as eyes inevitably began to turn to the next show to hit Disney plus Moon Knight it all kicked off on January 17th with the first trailer showing off Oscar Isaac as the very British Stephen Grant who's apparently been having some trouble sleeping as it turns out there's more than one person occupying this body which entangles Stephen into a big old superhero web that will take him on a big six episode Adventure because not only are there multiple people in his head but the end of the trailer reveals that there's even more to him than he initially thought something a bit more Supernatural natural foreign it looks surreal it looks slightly different it has a pretty impressive cast of actors and overall it got fans interested to see the introduction of a new hero to the MCU but things really began to heat up when the clock turned to the Super Bowl because Marvel made their presence known by building excitement for their first big screen adventure of 2022 Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Not only was there a brief 30-second spot that aired during the game but Marvel also released an all-new two-minute trailer online for fans to chew on and boy is it a big trailer across two minutes this trailer pulls out all the stops it has a bit of a darker tone it sees some crazy action some more creative camera work thanks to this movie's director Sam Raimi but it also expands quite a bit on the story and perhaps most significantly it shows off just how crazy the Multiverse is gonna be I mean we have alternate versions of Doctor Strange there's some kind of zombie strange here at the end maybe tying in to the what if show Wanda even sees another version of herself but the most significant multiversal occurrence comes in the middle of the trailer where strange being led by some kind of Ultron drones meets up with a group of non-descript Heroes while we don't get a good look at any of them we do hear one of them we should tell him the truth and boy that sounds a whole hell of a lot like Patrick Stewart does this mean what I think it means Professor X that Professor X is making an appearance in this movie who else is gonna show up rumors have already circulated about John Krasinski showing up as Reed Richards but things might go even crazier than that could Chris Evans come back as Johnny Storm could any other member of the X-Men are Fantastic Four make a return will this be the introduction of the X-Men and Fantastic Four into the MCU the new poster also carried some interesting little details specifically right over here it looks like the shield for none other than Captain Carter could she make a live-action appearance after her debut and what if the 30-second spot also brought along some new hints like another version of doctor strange and potentially a zombified Wanda maximoff and then separate from the trailers outside rumors began to spill in like could Tom Cruise show up as a variant of Iron Man that would be absolutely nuts if it happened I mean what this trailer showed above all else was that the potential of the Multiverse could be unlimited and fans soon marked their calendars for when they'd finally be able to see that potential utilized when Doctor Strange's Second Adventure hit the big screen but that wasn't all Marvel brought for the Super Bowl because Moon Knight also got a 30 second showcase showing off more action and more surreal mind-bending trickery regarding Steven and Mark's control of the same body overall it was a big day for the MCU showcasing both old and new and exciting ways giving fans a lot to chew on in the following weeks and the trailer fever only continued from here because because once the clock turned to March Marvel continued to build excitement for their 2022 slate with the first trailer for Miss Marvel across nearly two minutes this trailer showed off a far more light-hearted and easy going tone for this next six episode series introducing audiences to Kamala Khan in fact it seems to kind of introduce us to her world through her eyes because the start of this trailer sees a bit more stylization some more creative camera moves along with little drawings all over the screen speech bubbles devil horns the Marvel logo appears in a thought bubble that kind of stuff is fun but the reception to this trailer was not Flawless mainly because this trailer confirmed what many fans had feared the MCU was going to change kamala's powers in the comics and even the Marvel's Avengers video game Kamala Khan has stretchy and expanding Powers you know a bit of Reed Richards crossed with making her hands look really big all of which stemmed from the fact that Kamala isn't in human yeah the same in humans that had that much maligned iMac show back in 2017 but here the origins seem explicitly tied to kamala's Family Heritage completely ignoring the inhuman side of things and the powers looked a lot more crystalline and less stretch arms strongly maybe it was a change to make the show better or maybe it was an unnecessary change considering that Marvel has been more faithful to other characters in the past or maybe they're just scared to re-dig up the inhuman stuff either way the Miss Marvel trailer was out it got some attention online both positive and negative and set its release for June 8 2022 but before she could make her live-action debut MCU fans would soon turn to the next project on the horizon Moon Knight because the clock had now turned to March 30th 2022. it was now time to pop open Disney plus and witness the introduction of the mcu's latest new hero Stephen Grant is a mild-mannered gift shop employee he's exceedingly British he has a one-finned goldfish and he loves the history and mythology of Egypt at least that's the life he thinks he has because as it turns out his body is being inhabited by another person Mark Spector a mercenary who has also become the fist for the Egyptian moon God konshu now with this realization Stephen Grant and Mark Spector must learn to work together and utilize their god-given powers to become Moon Knight and the journey to do so is just kind of okay despite the fact that this is the first Disney Plus show to tackle a new Title Character it more or less falls into the same pros and cons of all of the other MCU Disney Plus shows you have some really good performances some cool moments but the whole thing is also too long and the pacing is pretty slow and sometimes a bit tedious especially if you're watching it in one big go like most of the MCU Disney Plus shows before this is a six hour movie that would likely be better if it was a two hour movie doesn't even have to be a theatrical movie but cutting it down would make it snappier more brisk it would cut down on some of the Superfluous aspects and overall just make the whole thing better but in the world we live in Moon Knight is a six episode limited series one that even with those cons it still has a fair amount of Pros most specifically Oscar Isaac is great in this he plays both of his characters really really well you're able to understand the differences between them even Beyond Steven's British accent you know the two of them carry themselves differently they interact with things differently they engage with other characters specifically Layla Mark's wife very differently Mark is Elusive and often secretive while Stephen can't help but be honest and will say virtually anything if it's a true statement and then you have the moments where they switch while a lot of those moments follow only one perspective as you see them blip In and Out Of Consciousness there are other moments where you see the change right before your eyes and it's all performance it's great all right go ahead you're in cheers thanks a lot all right konshu is also pretty solid in this you get a sense of how manipulative he is you get a sense of how otherworldly he is The Voice by F Murray Abraham is also great and the slow introduction to him over the first two episodes provides lots of good little moments Ethan Hawke is also pretty solid in this he's also introduced by putting shattered glass into his shoes and putting his bare feet into them so you know there's that the downside to all of this though is that there isn't a whole heck of a lot of moon night the moments were markers Stephen suit up as the title hero are few and far between I mean I understand the impulse to go with this more character-focused story and seeing the dynamic between Mark and Stephen but the action could also be part of that because when Moon Knight does come out those moments are pretty cool especially the big fight at the end of episode two that's quite a bit of fun but what the show doesn't have in action it makes up for with absurdity [Applause] hi the fourth and fifth episode throw the entire playbook out the window for a far more surreal series of events not only does it allow the two characters to really be fleshed out but it also plays with your brain like was the whole show real or has Mark been in a psych ward this entire time and all of it is in his head I mean the talking hippo kind of makes Mark sound a bit crazy so not to mention this stretch gets to the very core of these characters not only does it reveal that Mark created Stephen as a way of getting away from his own trauma but it also reveals how konshu found Mark and bestowed him the powers of Moon Knight while putting these reveals so late in the show was always an odd Choice it works in the confines of this episode and it allows Oscar Isaac to act the hell out of these scenes it's only a shame that the finale just completely drops the ball okay there are some good aspects to the finale it finally brings out some action where both Mark Spector and Stephen Grant get to utilize their powers and transfer control and fun ways Layla also becomes a superhero herself which is a bit of fun and while both of those things are positives and definitely what the show needed more of getting it really feels like a monkey's paw situation because there's a catch with all of this action taking over the finale all of the characters stuff falls to the Wayside there isn't really a satisfying conclusion to any one character Journey it's all punching all the time and any payoff there is is completely overshadowed by the to put it blunt bad editing this finale is somehow the shortest episode of the bunch and it feels like it's in a hurry scenes cut out super quickly emotional beats aren't able to land because the thing just feels like it's speed running to the Finish Line after all of the setup and Slow Burn pacing in the first five episodes episode 6 just ties it all up in what seems like the blink of an eye and that metaphor actually becomes literal once the final battle comes around here let me show you yep that's it we blink and the whole thing is over I mean I get the idea but the execution just takes the air out of the entire finale but the show ends in success the villains have been defeated Mark and Stephen are freed from konchu and they are now able to live out their lives actually not really because once it cuts to the post-credits scene it's revealed that Mark and Steven are not the only ones inhabiting this body in fact konshu lied to them both turns out konshu's most valuable asset is the third personality Jake lockley setting the stage for Moon Knight to return either in season 2 or a crossover movie down the line and there you have it that's Moon Knight while it had interesting ideas and a really good performance at its Center the story doesn't quite Come Together by the end and reviews largely followed the same sentiment there were some positive reviews some more negative making this overall a fairly middle of the road MCU Venture but perhaps most damning of all is the sinking feeling I got from watching it because the longer it went on I slowly began to realize something I didn't watch this show because I wanted to I watched it because I had to this wasn't a fun event that I was waiting to be part of this was an obligation an appointment I made to keep up with the larger MCU and while some parts of the journey were solid I can't say the whole Venture was entirely worth it I think more than anything I'm a little tired at the very least the big screen side of the MCU was looking pretty solid because during the month of April developments continued regarding the mcu's massive year ahead specifically things started heating up regarding the second MCU movie of 2022 Thor love and thunder having been announced all the way back at Comic-Con 2019 anticipation for this one was already Sky High not to mention it was the rare fourth entry into an MCU franchise I mean most everything else is capped out at three movies or just hasn't gotten to three yet but Thor Thor's getting four and fans were growing increasingly antsy over the early months of 2022 because there was no trailer for the new movie despite being set for release in July only three months away there was no trailer The Press tour had started with Chris Hemsworth Tessa Thompson and taika waititi confirmed to be doing interviews but still no trailer that was until April 18 2022 where finally just before the release of Doctor Strange 2 Marvel Studios finally released Thor Four's official trailer it's a Brisk trailer sitting at 90 seconds but it packs in quite a bit showing Thor trying to figure out who he is following the events of Avengers end game including going to Crazy new places potentially visiting new Asgard currently run by Valkyrie and perhaps most exciting of all spending a bit of time with the Guardians of the Galaxy your loss look into the eyes of the people that you love [Music] me what just listening but then the trailer brings out one final reveal after making the promise of her appearance back in 2019 this trailer brings the first official look at Natalie Portman as the Mighty Thor she's even wielding a reforged mjolnir how cool is that excitement for love and thunder skyrocketed with this trailer it didn't show any plot hints just cool images and some fun humor if Thor Ragnarok was anything to go by this movie was going to bring about yet another solid Thor Adventure meanwhile the future of phase four got a bit of a shake up as two of 2023's MCU films swapped release dates originally Captain Marvel 2 or the Marvels was set for February 2023 and Ant-Man and the WASP quantumania was set for July 2023 but seeing as Ant-Man had already wrapped and the Marvels was still in the middle of production the two release dates wound up being swapped Ant-Man 3 was set for February 2023 and the Marvels was set for July 2023 at the very least Guardians 3 set for May 2023 hadn't moved a bit which is a good thing that movie's been delayed far too long but before any of that can happen Marvel was set to begin its 2022 slate of movies because it was now time for the release of doctor strange and the Multiverse of Madness after the multiversal craziness that was in no way home fans excitement was reaching a fever pitch for a movie that promised to dive head first into multiversal possibilities with so many rumors fan theories and supposed leaked images it was no secret that fans were expecting a deep dive into alternate universes hell I even saw a rumor that the multiversal shenanigans would get so crazy that Optimus Prime would make an appearance which admittedly would make the movie an instant 10 out of 10 but perhaps the expectation that this movie would be that crazy was misplaced because just before the release of the movie Kevin feige would later admit that too much was shown own in the trailers meaning the trailers might have already revealed some of the biggest twists like the potential appearance of Professor X you know maybe that was it couple that with the fact that the movie was only going to be two hours long the message was being sent out that this movie might not be as crazy as some people were suspecting despite that excitement for Doctor Strange 2 was going Sky High after only five months since no way home dominated the box office Marvel was hoping to strike twice because the clock had now turned to May 6 2022 where after six years since his first solo Adventure Doctor Strange was back on the big screen to go absolutely mad in the Multiverse oh this is a Sam Raimi movie from top to bottom this is a Sam Raimi movie and that's a good thing unlike most MCU movies this one has a distinct style a distinct visual look from the very first shot the camera is flying around the landscape there's tons of crazy visuals there's tons of great little visual moments Sam raimi's Hallmarks are all over this movie from moments that hearken back to Evil Dead foreign to moments like the fight with a big tentacle monster that ends with a Street Lamp and paling it right in the eyeball [Music] there's even a Bruce Campbell Cameo as Pizza Papa which results in Doctor Strange causing him to punch himself in the face so that's fun couple it with a Danny Elfman score some solid performances from all of the main casts some brisk editing and you have yourself a very fast very energetic superhero movie it's just a shame that the script Falls a bit short in a few areas this movie sees Doctor Strange United with America Chavez who has the ability to open portals to different universes only she can't control it but that doesn't stop her power from being sought after by this movie's main villain Scarlet Witch that's right Wanda maximoff is the big bad this time around which is rather sudden on one hand it's respectable that the movie doesn't play Coy with whose side she's on for very long like it reveals in her first scene that she's after America Chavez and it reveals why you know she wants to see her kids again but on the other hand this turned to ability was not properly set up and I think a lot of that might actually fall on the onus of One Division in that show she was already doing some pretty villainous things like brainwashing an entire town the problem is the show never really followed through on any of those ideas Wanda felt bad about it ultimately and one of the people under her spell Monica Rambo decided to forgive her because they'll never know what you sacrificed for them had one division committed to the villainous side of this character and seen her devolve over the course of those Nine episodes her turn to villainy here wouldn't be as sudden or as jarring but that's not the world we live in maybe I can dream about it though because as this movie reveals dreams are just us peering into alternate versions of ourselves from across the Multiverse now ain't that a concept I guess with the infinite possibilities of the Multiverse it would be possible for our dreams to be real in some other place and that's what this movie runs with but we didn't show up to this movie to see characters dream about the Multiverse we showed up to this movie to see them run around in Crazy alternate universes and meet a bunch of crazy characters and finally after some big action and commitage which concludes with Doctor Strange and America Chavez rushing through tons of alternate universes they finally arrive in another alternate universe and it's here they meet the Illuminati the illumawati the Illuminati have you never heard of the Illuminati not even like the comic book concept I mean like the triangle with the eye in it you've never heard of that huh weird the illumawati the Illuminati here are essentially this universe's Avengers and boy do they have some crazy characters you have Maria Rambo as Captain Marvel you have what ifs Captain Carter which is fun John Krasinski shows up as Reed Richards now that's crazy after all of the insane fan theories about his appearance during wand division he had finally shown up and then there's Black Bolt wait a second they brought back Anson Mount as Black Bolt from the Inhumans TV show now that rules that's actually awesome despite how maligned that show is they brought him back even in a small capacity to portray Black Bolt once more that's great and last but not least there's Professor Rex played once again by Sir Patrick Stewart not only has he introduced via the 1997 X-Men cartoon theme but he also does a call back to X-Men Days of Future Past with this line just because someone stole it doesn't mean they're lost forever just because someone stumbles and loses their way doesn't mean they're lost forever but while Professor X is a pretty solid dude everyone else on this Council kinda sucks I mean they're pretty pompous they're pretty full of themselves which makes it all the more satisfying when Wanda shows up and kills literally all of them foreign yep every single one of them dies and it might just be the most fun sequence of the movie I mean we have an alternate universe's Avengers essentially we get to see variations on characters we know some characters from other franchises and Sam raymie gets to have a blast murdering every single one of them but it's not long after this scene wraps up that you start to realize that that's it as in that's the extent of this movie's multiversal craziness Kevin feige wasn't kidding when he said the trailers might have revealed too much because they revealed the one scene that was gonna happen you know this is the only scene of its kind in the movie while a movie like this drowning in cameos is probably not a good outcome and would likely become a big auroboros you know a snake eating its own tail I gotta admit I think I wanted more cameos I mean after no way home had lots of fun with its multiversal ideas it's not a stretch to hope that the movie called Multiverse of Madness will do something similar and it's also due to the fact that this is probably the most fun part of the movie and I I think I just want so much more of that but this movie doesn't have any more of that which is a little underwhelming it does have a music battle though where Doctor Strange fights Doctor Strange with music notes and that's quite a bit of fun not only that but the whole movie centers around the dark cold which in the finale allows Dr Strange to dreamwalk into the corpse of his alternate self in order to stop Wanda [Applause] I mean that's just a crazy concept he fights demons a bit too Rachel McAdams gets to have a bit of fun with some action and there are some insane lines I mean there's nothing like seeing a doctor strange corpse giving a motivational speech to America Chavez to get you to realize this is definitely a Sam Raimie movie ultimately the climax of the movie sees America Chavez finally gained control of her powers she shows Wanda how far she has truly fallen and then to help prevent further suffering Wanda crushes herself within the mountain that contains the original dark old spells so I guess that's the end of the Scarlet Witch nah definitely nuts you'll come back at some point but overall Doctor Strange is able to return to his home Universe America Chavez begins to be trained in the Mystic Arts and all is well with the universe well except for this [Music] yeah using the dark hole the dream walks into a corpse seems to have had some long-term consequences Dr Strange has just opened his third eye and is ready to head on out into the future whatever that may bring the first post-credit scene alludes to that as Doctor Strange is suddenly stopped by Charlize Theron who opens a portal and says that there's an incursion that's happened so now the two of them have to team up to do something honestly having watched this scene a couple times I have no idea what any of this means sure I could Google it but this is honestly the most confused I've ever been for a Marvel post-credits scene the second scene is more fun though as we revisit Pizza Papa as he finally stops punching himself in the face it's over Ah that's good stuff overall Multiverse of madness has some really good stuff and some really not good stuff it's sometimes inconsistent with itself and especially with some other projects in the MCU but it also carries its own unique Sam Raimi style critical reception followed the same kind of lines there were positives with Sam raimi's style but criticisms for how it is bogged down both in being a sequel to so many previous MCU properties and a trailer for so many future MCU properties but the more interesting part of the reception came from audiences or at least the vocal part of the fandom because this movie kind of became the first love it or hated MCU movie some people loved it for its positives but others hated it for the DraStic and Sudden Change in Wanda's characterization some of the more goofy set pieces and yes for the lack of cameos in fact it was in these criticisms that fans began to uncover some details on how exactly the movie came to be what it is they might not have gleaned a complete picture but they uncovered some of the big pieces for one thing this movie was originally supposed to be released before no way home this movie would introduce audiences to the Multiverse in America Chavez both of which would have a major impact in no way a home but then the pandemic shifted the release schedule and no way home came first which might have resulted in the less than Stellar first half of that movie but that also could have led this movie to be the setup that came after the payoff no way home was the big explosion and this movie wasn't so over the course of production things changed quite a bit there was a heavily publicized period of reshooting towards the end of 2021 which many said was rather significant even for a Marvel movie and with other reports saying these reshoots were meant to bring in more multiversal craziness it isn't a stretch to assume that the reshoots added the Illuminati it's the one big section of the movie that goes into Cameo territory and none of these characters are mentioned before or after this scene it's also a bit more apparent on rewatch that this scene feels just a bit different than everything else the rest of this movie is Sam Ramey's but this part this part is an MCU movie all of these factors combined led to the movie we ultimately got a movie that was greatly disappointing to a whole host of fans and that was reflected in the box office the movie started huge opening with a whopping 187 million dollars in its first three days no doubt thanks to the immense amount of excitement and Goodwill coming from no way home but the second weekend told a different story as the movie swiftly dropped a whopping 67 percent in its second weekend and following that the movie went on to rake in a grand total of 411 million dollars domestically and 955 million dollars worldwide while those numbers are definitely nothing to sneeze at the 67 percent drop for the second weekend was pretty startling so much attention had been given to the movie prior to its release but once people saw it they didn't stick around as much as they did for some other MCU entries it was far from a failure but it was a in the armor and with so much excitement having gone in some fans couldn't help but be disappointed coming out but the MCU would continue to truck forward regardless because with the summer movie season having begun press surrounding the mcu's future came through thick and fast on one end you have some press regarding Thor love and Thunder with exclusive images and interviews with director taika waititi and on the other end you had Guardians of the Galaxy vol 3 rapping production with plenty of the cast and director James Gunn sharing how Bittersweet this whole process was then on the Disney plus side of things promotion finally hit a swing with the upcoming She-Hulk series kicking off on May 17th with the first official trailer across nearly two minutes this trailer introduces us to Jennifer Walters cousin of Bruce Banner and like her cousin she has also become a Hulk a big green giantess who can punch and kick like the best of them and also do lawyer stuff promising to show off a new corner of the MCU reveal some new characters tell a comedy story this trailer was pretty well received by fans wait what it wasn't well received by fans oh no it was not while there were definitely some people who thought this looked like it could be fun there were also plenty of very loud people who thought this could be the worst MCU project yet some of those criticisms were entirely based on the fact that this was She-Hulk you know a woman so you know the people saying that you can ignore but some of the more Justified criticisms were directed towards the clearly unfinished CGI making a fully CGI giant green person is no easy fee despite that Marvel's done a pretty good job making the big green guy look pretty good but here this CGI is clearly unfinished if not railroaded by the fact that this is a Disney Plus show and not a big Blockbuster movie regard regardless of the reason it drew a lot of criticism and the She-Hulk trailer quickly garnered a massive amount of dislikes on YouTube way more than most previous MCU trailers some of it was genuine and some of it was not genuine regardless those who were positive about the trailer soon marked their calendars for August 2022 not just to see the introduction of this new character but also the return of Tim Roth as Emile Blonsky and potentially Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock I guess we'll find out She-Hulk wasn't the only thing to get a trailer though as only a few days later Thor returned to the spotlight with the second trailer for love and thunder narrated by Korg this trailer reveals a whole bunch more of the story this fourth entry is gonna tell starting with the unexpected arrival of Jane Foster as the Mighty Thor Jane then building into the full reveal of Christian Bale's villain Gore the god butcher who's taken on a vow to kill every single God and now Thor's the next one on his list so the heroes must spring into action journeying to colorful and vibrant locations meaning a whole bunch of new characters and getting naked in the process oh you flicked too hard damn it should we help them and eventually grape it definitely had a different vibe than Ragnarok but if this trailer was any indication audiences were in for another fun ride with the God of Thunder the only downside is that not a lot of this trailer featured the Guardians of the Galaxy couple that with a shot of the guardianship leaving Thor behind from the first trailer and one can easily guess that the Guardians might only be in the movie for the first 20 or so minutes which is a shame but Thor looks like he's going on a fun adventure regardless before any of that can happen though Marvel had fans turn their attention back to Disney plus as their next series had now arrived none other than Miss Marvel after plenty of marketing and press surrounding the show The Clock had now turned to June 8 2022. now after only eight years since her comic book debut audiences and fans popped open the streaming service to see Miss Marvel arrive for her live action debut [Music] this is the first time I felt the MCU has properly utilized the television format on Disney plus pretty much all of the other six episode Disney Plus shows could be condensed into two-hour movies and they'd likely be better for it but Miss Marvel is actually able to justify its extended run time and format by actually utilizing that time to flesh out the characters deep in relationships and tell its story it's still not Flawless it's probably a bit too long the pacing takes a hit in some places and the larger plot ideas like the clandestines aren't the most interesting but it's a better outcome than a lot of the six episode shows thus far Miss Marvel centers on Kamala Khan an american-born Pakistani living in Jersey City her life is like a lot of teenagers lives she has her group of friends she's not necessarily the most popular kid in school and she's a huge fan of superheroes but things flip on their head once a family heirloom comes into her possession ultimately giving her super powers and yes those powers are quite different from the powers in the comics and while that is probably a bummer for fans of the Miss Marvel character the idea of tying it to her family heritage actually works pretty well for this show it allows the show to Center on its heart which is the idea of family more than any other MCU project family is at the center of this show and that's part of what makes this one as good as it is this one's a pretty fun rock it has solid characters it has some fun humor and it especially hits a stride with its representation for a long time Muslims pakistanis any South Asian character really a lot of them have been portrayed as villains or terrorists even within the MCU but here this show does nothing but present positive affirmations about this culture you get to see everyone enjoy their lives enjoy who they are this is especially prevalent in the wedding sequence in episode 3 where the show just stops the plot progression to instead show you all of these people living their best lives there's a reverence for the culture for the people and it's that kind of positive representation that speaks to so many audience members who perhaps haven't been able to really see themselves in the MCU just yet not to mention the show has so much more visual life than a lot of other MCU projects right from the get-go the camera is flying around they're doing tons of creative stuff with text on the screen camera moves to keep up some energy it allows you to get inside kamala's head you're not just watching her show you're experiencing the show through her eyes there's a lot of good to this show and in fact the only things that really stand out is not passing the bar are the technical things the visual effects here are not great you can definitely see the seams of Miss Marvel's powers or any CGI double and green screens are obvious at plenty of points the sound design is also not the best here now sound design has never been the mcu's strong suit at least not since phase one but here it really starts to feel lacking especially in the action scenes I don't know if it's a lack of time or money or or both but when these sequences start up it feels like the sound has only been halfway put together the most obvious point is during the car chase in episode 4 where when things are smashing into each other and debris is collapsing over the street you'd think the kinetic and exciting imagery would be bolstered by kinetic and exciting sound but it's kinda not but where it falters in the technical aspects it more than makes up for with its heart and with its characters especially in the show's fifth episode which sees Kamala actually travel back in time to find out the truth of her Heritage and uncover the mysteries of her great-grandmother some of the more plotty stuff kind of falls short here but when the show speaks to the connection of this family and these kinds of moments especially when you see the generations that came before Kamala that kind of stuff is pretty solid which all builds to the sixth and final episode of the season and in an MCU first the finale doesn't drop the ball how crazy is that for one thing the finale finally sees Kamala get her iconic superhero costume while it might be a little lame that it took this long it's still a satisfying enough moment beyond that the finale brings closure with both kamala's biological family and especially her found family of friends as they all unite to defend a high school from a band of federal agents it's a fun sequence it involves plenty of the main characters and sees Kamala become a leader of this tight-knit group there are some more mcu-like things like Kamala facing off against someone who has their same power set but then there's also stuff like her finally getting to use her catchphrase in biggin and gains stretchy hands and arms it might not look exactly like it does in the comics but the idea is still there in spirit and it's a solid moment when it's unveiled couple that with the Muslim community's excitement for their very own superhero and you have a fun-filled finale that wraps up the show in a pretty satisfying way and in one of the final scenes kamala's father finally gives her her superhero name by explaining exactly where the name Kamala came from you sure are and always have been our own little Miss Marvel it's not a Flawless show some of the plot ideas aren't super interesting but when it comes to the characters and the larger themes that it plays with it comes together in a pretty solid way and ultimately makes this probably the best MCU Disney Plus show yet and it's only the beginning for Kamala Khan as the post-credits scene Caesar suddenly vanish Into Thin Air replaced by Carol Danvers it's fun it's light it sends a positive message it comes together to tell a relatively satisfying story about the mcu's newest hero and it does it all with pretty positive reviews critics enjoyed this show quite a bit even more than they had the previous MCU shows with plenty of praise for the characters the culture the tone but drawbacks for the plot side of things but overall Miss Marvel was a success with fans and critics and with her show having torn It Up on Disney plus the time had now come once again for MCU fans to Journey to the big screen because Marvel was back in theaters for their second movie of the year Thor love and thunder Thor has been through quite the journey hasn't he having been in the MCU for 11 years the character has been explored in several different ways both on his own and as part of a team and now he's the first character to get a fourth Solo movie a solo movie that finally arrived on July 8th 2022 after four and a half years since taika waititi and Chris Hemsworth tore down Thor and rebuilt him from the ground up they were now back to do it all over again it was now time for audiences to get seated and witness Thor's latest crazy adventure remember that one bit in Ragnarok when Asgard got exploded and it was this big dramatic moment and then Korg made a bit of a joke right after kind of taking the dramatic air out of the scene yeah well that's this entire movie from start to finish this movie is in a constant conflict between trying to be the funniest movie it can be and trying to go far more dramatic than Ragnarok ever did Jane Foster is one major example of this because it's revealed that she's battling stage four cancer and is having a hard time adjusting to that reality reasonably so but then also anyway it's not that serious Jane it's stage four I have like how many stages for that we know about at another Point Korg is blasted by a lightning bolt and shatters into hundreds of Little Rock pieces oh no cork is dead no he's fine he's just a face and by the end of the movie he's fully reformed all good turns out the only part of a Cronin that's alive is his mouth there's a lack of choice as well and I know that sounds weird but let me explain there are two key scenes early in this movie that do a real disservice to a character's major Choice one is right off the bat with the villain Gore who comes across his God and realizes that he's not that great of a dude this is the moment Gore becomes the god butcher where he suddenly wields the necro sword and kills his first God the setup for this moment in particular is pretty solid the movie plays Gore's tragedy completely straight he's trying to protect his daughter but despite his best efforts she still succumbs to hunger and thirst but the movie doesn't present the moment of him killing his first God as a choice the the options aren't laid out in front of Gore nor are the consequences of taking the sword the sword just floats into his hand and he makes his kill it kind of takes the air out of the whole thing the second moment comes with Jane Foster becoming the Mighty Thor we see her arrive in new Asgard and find the broken shards of mjolnir then the shards begin to vibrate as storm approaches and the scene Cuts away then Flash Forward about 20 or so minutes and boom there she is the Mighty Thor given that the trailers reveal this aspect and that it's pretty obvious even in this scene what's gonna happen why hide the outcome for 20 minutes just show her picking up the hammer and get that big moment then later you can do the reveal for Thor I don't know man I think I'm just grumpy that the Guardians left the movie 20 minutes in back just as I suspected from the trailers the Guardians leave the movie before the story for Thor actually kicks off but even when the Guardians are in the movie they're not really acting like themselves given the limited amount of time they have here they just feel like they're acting like exaggerated caricatures of themselves which isn't as fun it's a shame given that the promise of Thor and the Guardians teaming up was one of the most fun hooks from the end of endgame but in this movie it kind of feels like the Guardians were a burden on the filmmakers and so they just ditched that whole idea before it could even take off it's like man why am I even watching these of exciting setups just wind up materializing into lackluster payoffs anyway the story this time sees Thor team up with Jane Foster Valkyrie and Korg to take down Gore the god butcher before he reaches eternity and makes a wish to kill all of the Gods in one Fell Swoop together they go to Crazy new locations like omnipotent city which has tons of Gods like the Cronin God who sits on a throne of scissors and of course there's Zeus who the characters quickly realize kinda sucks which leads to a big ol fight scene after that they Journey to the shadow realm which is a really interesting location visually I mean for one thing the planet's tiny foreign but also all color is drained from the atmosphere which gives it an eerie kind of feel to it the only time color appears is when one of the heroes ignites their weapon and that's a fun little detail but even with fun locations and some exciting set pieces the story itself just doesn't come together not just because of the lack of choice or the flagrant abandoning of the Guardians but also due to the lack of setup can you see me uh floating head alert yes exactly part way through this movie a kid's head appears in midair not only do the visual effects look bad but also he reveals that he can do this because he's heimdall's son now that would have been solid information to know before this happened doesn't even have to be much just establish that Heimdall has a son and that he's learning to see like his dad boom this scene is suddenly less jarring than at the end of the movie Thor bestows his powers to a legion of kids to help them fight off against Shadow monsters this is admittedly a fun scene the kids are swinging their weapons around one kid is using their stuffed bunny to shoot lightning lasers it's neat but also this ability from Thor to bestow his abilities to others comes out of nowhere all you need is a quick line sometime earlier in the movie to establish that this is a thing that is possible and boom suddenly the reaction to this moment becomes yeah let's go kids let's fight some Shadow monsters but as it stands the reaction to this mode moment is wait Thor can do that all right it's kind of crazy that this movie turned out like this despite Ragnarok succeeding at these exact same things in Spades but I think there are two major possible ways the movie turned out like it did one the script wasn't finished before shooting so the actors were left to improvised to fill in the planks and create the story as they went or two the script was finished and had all these ideas but the Reliance on improv buried these setups in an endless field of jokes about screaming goats I don't know which one's true I'm inclined to think the former because a lot of the dialogue scenes kind of feel like they're being made up on the Fly and the following big sequences have to accommodate it's just kind of a mess the movie is trying some bigger things it has some fun sequences and some cool visuals but it doesn't come together and the humor is just not as fun as it was last time ultimately however Gore and the two Thor's reach eternity Jane Foster winds up succumbing to her cancer resulting in a fairly well done death sequence where Thor says goodbye and then Gore decides not to wish for the gods to die instead he wishes for the return of his daughter but given his use of the necro sword he is going to die as well and so parenting Duties are taken up by Thor and the two of them rush off to become the movie subtitle love and thunder it's a solid note to end on while not as satisfying as maybe it could be given the rocky road to get there seeing Thor get closure with Jane then become an adoptive father is a solid place to take his character but that's it that's Thor love and thunder and it wasn't the best but it does have two end credit scenes one of them sees Jane Foster arrive at Valhalla meeting up with Heimdall who welcomes her to the realm of the Gods so that's neat the other though see Zeus reeling after his defeat earlier and using his anger to call upon his son Hercules to instill fear in mankind once again and I don't care I'm so sorry I just um the MCU has had a pretty lousy Trend lately of disregarding previous post-credit scenes or teases the Scorpion hasn't appeared in a movie since being teased at the end of homecoming though I'm not super heartbroken about that mordo was set up to be a villain at the end of doctor strange but that version of mordo didn't even appear in Doctor Strange too and apparently a deleted scene saw him get killed off by Wanda at the start of the movie so and now we have the Guardians leaving this movie after being set up to join Thor at the end of end game so forgive me if I don't really want to get invested in this movie's post-credits scene because I just feel like it'll amount to an opening scene in the next movie or a scene that might even get cut so reviews for love and thunder were naturally a little all over the board there were some positive reviews praising the tone and visuals and other more negative reviews stating that the movie's Reliance on jokes wound up suffocating everything else audience reception also came back rather mixed which was also reflected in the box office like most MCU movies this one scored a massive opening weekend kicking off with a 144 million dollars in its first three days but following in the footsteps of Multiverse of Madness the movie dropped a whopping 67 percent in its second weekend and ultimately tapped out with a grand total of 343 million dollars domestically and 760 million dollars worldwide which is actually less than Thor Ragnarok back in 2017. still those are huge numbers but one thing was starting to become a bit more apparent with the mcu's big screen presence Marvel was still successfully getting people to show up to theaters but they were getting increasingly worse at getting people to stay but among all of the criticisms and negative reactions to the movie there was one thing that stood out Above All Else the visual effects visual effects were all over the movie and while some of it was pretty good there were other moments that looked flat or had body composition or in the most criticized of circumstances they were an image of a kid's floating head which looks pretty bad both in good quality and bad quality but it wasn't just this movie that started to receive criticism for its visual effects Marvel Studios as a whole started to receive this criticism it all sparked from a Vanity Fair video where taika waititi and Tessa Thompson broke down a scene from the movie and during the video This Moment happens okay does that look real in that particular shot no actually it might not seem like that much on the surface but this clip featuring the director of the movie wound up sparking several visual effects artists to come forward albeit anonymously to reveal how stressful and difficult the working conditions were for Marvel in short Marvel Studios doesn't treat visual effects houses all that well it hires a whole bunch of them to create a whole schwack ton of visual effects on a relatively condensed timeline than because Marvel is famous for doing extensive reshoots on pretty much all of their movies entire visual effects sequences can be thrown out and replaced with new ones that have to be made on an even more condensed timeline there are even some cases where they'll make multiple different versions of a given sequence so that they can have options later on all because no one in charge actually knows what they want until they're ridiculously close to the delivery date VFX artists are forced to work six or seven day weeks with crazy hours just to get the shots done on time for release and if a visual effects house can't complete the work on time they will never work for Marvel at again the abuse and flagrant disregard for visual effects artists has become an industry-wide problem and Marvel being the biggest film franchise in the world and utilizing so many visual effects houses is at the very center of that problem and it's part of why their visual effects over the years have gotten worse compare any shot of Iron Man from the first couple movies to any shot in love and thunder and you'll see the difference there's more visual effects there's more movies and there's way more crunch to get these shots done on wildly condensed timelines it's no wonder that the She-Hulk trailer looked the way it did if visual effects houses are barely making it to the release of a movie or show they're definitely not making it for the trailer that comes out two or three months earlier all of this is to say I wish all visual effects artists a very good unionization so they can create better visual effects and work less crazy hours so they can spend time with their families if that means less MCU movies and shows that is perfectly fine with me but even though Marvel was facing some negative press following the release of love and thunder their summer was still going strong and they continued to excite their fans by making a massive appearance at Comic-Con for the first time since 2019 Marvel was back at Comic-Con it kicked off the day before their panel with a 60-second trailer for I am Groot a series of short films about the little tree guy I kind of forgot this was happening but there's a trailer now so this was also joined with some other Disney plus news with what if season 2 slated to release in 2023 followed by Spider-Man freshman year and Animated Series in 2024 then some further news regarding Marvel zombies and the upcoming X-Men 97 follow-up series but that's small beans that was merely a Prelude to Marvel Studios full panel at Hall h because once the clock turned to July 23rd Marvel unveiled a metric ton of news to kick things off it was announced that we are currently in the middle of the Multiverse Saga the road from Iron Man to end game was the infinity Saga and now with movies like no way home and Multiverse of Madness we are in the Multiverse Saga this also came with the announcement that mcu's phase 4 will come to a close with November's black panther wakanda forever meaning Phase 5 will kick off with February's Ant-Man and the WASP quantumania but that's not all as Kevin feige unveiled the entire Phase 5 slate for 2023 and 2024. after quantumania Marvel will continue Phase 5 with the show's secret Invasion the movie Guardians of the Galaxy vol 3 the echo series the Marvel's Loki season 2 the blade movie The Iron Heart series is dated for the fall of 2023 Agatha coven of chaos is set for the winter of 2023-24 followed by Captain America New World Order in May of 2024 and in an exciting development for Netflix Marvel fans Daredevil was set to return with his very own sequel series Daredevil born again in the spring of 2024 and then right at the end of Phase 5 revealed for the very first time Thunderbolts being the culmination of all of Julia Louis dreyfus's appearances and the MCU thus far bringing together a team of anti-heroes and villains in their very own movie but that was merely the beginning of Marvel's panel as they spent the rest of their time doing deep dives into their upcoming projects starting with She-Hulk which not only featured appearances from some of the cast and creators but they also brought with them an all-new trailer teasing some more of the fun and humor as well as some of the crazy characters She-Hulk is going to encounter as a lawyer for the Superhuman law Division and it also shows off She-Hulk breaking the fourth wall if you want to go back to life as a lawyer I I respect that he doesn't mean that but perhaps most exciting of all is that the trailer ends with a very brief tease of Daredevil confirming that he would in fact be part of the show to some extent at least following that Kobe Smulders was brought on stage to tease the next Disney Plus show after that secret Invasion teasing the new and returning cast as well as showing the very first piece of footage which was exclusive to Comic-Con Ant-Man and the WASP quantumania took the stage after that featuring some of the new and returning cast as well as their very own trailer which was also exclusive to Comic-Con but the footage managed to get audiences excited and it introduced them to the mcu's next big villain Kang the Conqueror and right on cue Jonathan Majors stepped onto the stage to tease his involvement in this next movie the movie news didn't stop there as James Gunn rushed on stage to tease Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3. it also featured its own trailer which was also exclusive to Comic-Con does that even surprise you anymore they're all exclusive to Comic-Con but it managed to bring the emotion as the cast that came on stage could barely contain themselves as it was the first time they'd seen the footage as well this also featured a massive appearance from none other than Chuck Woody iwuji who previously worked with James Gunn on The Peacemaker show and whose character in this was the subject of much speculation but here his identity was confirmed to be the high evolutionary the new main villain for the guardian's third Adventure I can't wait to dissect all of you and see what I can learn but phase five announcements weren't all that Marvel had up their sleeve as Kevin feige took a brief moment to tease phase six yeah they're going so many years ahead revealing a whole bunch of planned release dates for unknown properties only a few were revealed but they were doozies kicking off phase six was the much anticipated Fantastic Four movie and ending phase six was another two-part Grand Finale Avengers the Kang Dynasty and Avengers Secret Wars which would bring the mcu's Multiverse Saga to a close the first of these two movies even got a confirmed director none other than Destin Daniel who had previously directed Chung chi in the legend of the ten rings and finally the panel came to a close with a massive showcase for black panther wakanda forever which kicked off with a musical performance featuring some of the themes from the first movie and then the cast new and returning went on stage with director Ryan coogler expressing their love for this world and how this movie would not only be another exciting Adventure but would also pay respect to the late Chadwick Boseman which led to the reveal of the first official trailer was it exclusive to Comic-Con this time no it was not it was also released online allowing fans worldwide to get their first Glimpse at the massive sequel featuring plenty of hints to the new characters as well as the emotional toll on the returning characters as this trailer confirms that the character of t'challa has also died and it's left to everyone else to pick up the pieces featuring the first official reveal of the movie's main antagonist name or the Submariner as well as a brief glimpse of an all-new black panther overall it looks like an emotional and big scaled Adventure one that like actually looks like a real movie I mean after the rather static and flat composition from movies like love and thunder and no way home this movie looks far more Dynamic and visually interesting which is cool but that was it that was Marvel's massive one hour Comic-Con panel featuring plenty of things for fans to get excited about and tons of things for the more jaded audience to feel exhausted about like we're doing two more Avengers movies in a couple years huh man this thing is never gonna end is it but at least there are some projects in the near future that are exciting particularly black panther 2 promising to be an emotional farewell and of course Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3. the Guardians movies have always been A Cut Above the Rest of the MCU they've been emotional they've been heartfelt they've introduced plenty of the universe's best characters and this third entry was going to bring everything to a close and it also brought the promise of focusing on rocket in ways that none of the other movies have before now if only I could see that Comic-Con exclusive footage for myself before either of those were set to release however MCU fans would now turn back to Disney plus starting on August 10th with the release of the five I am Groot shorts which is fun and following that fans would tune in on August 18th for the debut of She-Hulk attorney at law despite several criticisms being levied at the visual effects plenty of fans were looking forward to the lighthearted tone and especially the appearance of Daredevil and so they all tuned into the streaming service to witness the introduction of yet another new MCU hero [Music] the best way to describe this show is mundane craziness She-Hulk Attorney-at-Law takes an average person gives them superpowers and then watches as they try and live as normal a life as they can Jennifer Walters is not trying to be the next Hulk she's not trying to be the next big thing which is what makes this show refreshing in a lot of ways it takes an average person and throws them into this larger World while still showing the more mundane side of their life there's really not much more to say about this show than that it's a fairly fun entertaining enough 30-minute comedy series there aren't many laugh out loud moments but it's Charming the whole way through Jennifer Walters is a fun character she's joined by a fun Ensemble around her I mean you have her fellow lawyers like the infinitely great pug he's honestly one of my favorite parts of this whole thing every line delivery of his is so great I managed to sound very calm considering I was calling the freaking Hulk himself and of course you have a wide variety of crazy obscure superhuman characters I mean we got Mr Immortal who can kill himself and come back in a moment's notice you got LeapFrog who can't seem to get past his own idiocy then you have some of the heavier hitters like Emil Blonsky the Abomination himself who has completely changed since his appearance in The Incredible Hulk by the way the dude something of a wannabe Shaman in this show trying to help other people with mostly useless platitudes but he does have his own retreat with a bunch of other obscure characters Wong even shows up for a little bit and becomes unlikely friends with Madison who also manages to spoil The Sopranos for him don't worry I won't spoil The Sopranos here you're all good couple it with some fun lines like the doctor strange have to trademark his name did Thor you chose two examples of people who use their real names and you got yourself a relatively easy going little comedy show it's not groundbreaking it's not revolutionary it's not really all that impactful to the larger MCU at least for the most part but it's a fun little show that was enjoyable to visit every week as it went on the only places it kind of falls short on are the visual effects for one thing I mean there are moments where the visual effects really shine where they look pretty solid and then other moments where you can see the seams some lip syncing is a bit off some of the interaction with Real World objects is a bit off as are some of the physics it's not a deal breaker but it is distracting in a fair amount of areas and then the other drawback is the actual legal stuff while there are fun Concepts and ideas within the legal plot lines the courtroom scenes are not as thrilling as they maybe could be I mean we've all seen at least one courtroom drama we've seen how these scenes can be thrilling and tense and sometimes funny but this show doesn't really hit that save for the eighth episode which has to be all around the best episode of the show because this is where Jen Walters encounters Matt Murdock and every scene with the two of them is a lot of fun both characters are playing off each other in plenty of great ways and in plenty of scenarios they're going at it in the courtroom they're interacting as colleagues at a bar they're fighting each other as superheroes they're interacting as Heroes and then of course they bang at the end and also Daredevil gets a hallway to fight in it's the most complete and fulfilling episode of the Season it speaks to both characters in a fun way and allows Jen to come into her own whilst also finding someone who appreciates her for her which is nice and it also features this moment recording it's only a shame some of the longer form stories aren't as exciting I mean maybe it's because it's unfolding at a glacial pace and the episodic stuff is way more fun but a lot of this is just not as enjoyable but it all reaches ahead in the season finale which kicks off with a recreation of the Bill Bixby Incredible Hulk series intro which is fun don't make me angry you wouldn't like me when I'm angry beyond that this finale is where it all comes together and I mean this is where it all comes together every disparate plot line comes to one single location for the big finale but a Sinking Feeling starts to emerge when more and more characters appear like oh no is this another lame MCU Disney plus finale well following on from the series pension for fourth wall breaks Jen Walters thinks the exact same thing this is a mess none of these storylines make any sense for you wait hold up did I accidentally leave the show oh wait no I didn't She-Hulk stopped the show herself and now she's busted out of her own show and has entered Marvel's assembled in a super fun twist that pays so much homage to the comic book character She-Hulk hijacks her own show to speak with the creators to get her a better ending I mean for a character like this there was honestly no other way this could end and in a super fun reveal Jen finds herself face to face with Kevin not quite the Kevin feige we all know but a robotic AI algorithm with a baseball cap that controls the storyline for the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe for 10 minutes this show becomes so much fun this whole conversation is filled with fourth wall jokes and Easter eggs and the fact that Marvel is able to poke so much fun at themselves is just a great time I possess the most advanced entertainment algorithm in the world and it produces near perfect Products near perfect some are better than others but I leave that debate up to the Internet there are only two real drawbacks to this one is that it pokes a bit of fun at visual effects for being expensive and that the artists have already moved on to Black Panther 2. while it is a funny fourth wall break it is a tad bit poorly time considering all of the reports of abuse of visual effects artists the other thing is that once Jen Alters the ending of her show to better fit her show we don't really see that ending we just cut back and everything's been resolved it kind of takes the air out of the potential catharsis a little bit but other than that this is such a fun Twist on the finale and something that is totally in line with She-Hulk as a character it's genuinely some of the most fun the MCU has had in a long time and overall it brings this series to a close it was all right there's some solid stuff nothing outside of the visual effects really stand out as being bad while the overarching stuff isn't the best it's all thrown away for a much more clever finale that and the outrage that this show generated online managed to give this random four-part MCU retrospective of boost and Views which has since allowed the creator of said videos Prime of grammar to start making money on the videos he makes so that's cool see you on the big screen really no oh whatever Kevin meanwhile during the fall months as She-Hulk was smashing things up on the small screen Marvel continued to make big waves with their future all of which culminated on September 10th where Marvel Studios held an hour-long panel at d23 to promote and announce their future slate all of which started with a full live performance of save our city from the Hawkeye show all because Kevin feige was a bit jealous that other Disney panels had their own musical number and so now Marvel has one too on the movie side of things Marvel contained panels for black panther wakanda forever featuring all new footage exclusive for d23 Ant-Man and the WASP quantumania also showed off some d23 exclusive footage the upcoming Fantastic Four movie found itself a new director with none other than Matt shackman who in fact directed all nine episodes of One Division Captain America New World Order had a sizable presence revealing some of the cast and even confirming that Tim Blake Nelson would return as the leader remember that tease from the end of The Incredible Hulk where he got gamma blood in his brain and you know how that has since been left completely unresolved well in Captain America 4 Marvel was finally going to pick up on that thread about a decade and a half later but they're still doing it the Marvel's got a bit of a showcase as well where Iman villani Tiana Paris and Brie Larson took to the stage with director Nia DeCosta to tease the upcoming movie and reveal a tiny bit of d23 exclusive footage by far the biggest movie revealed though came from Thunderbolts because it was here that Marvel revealed the entire lineup for this off-kilter team of anti-heroes and villains featuring Julia Louis dreyfus's Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine David Harbor's Red Guardian Hannah John Common's ghost Wyatt Russell's U.S agent Olga kurolenko's Taskmaster Florence pews Elena bolova and finally Sebastian Stan's Winter Soldier while not quite the same lineup from the comics Marvel was determined to bring together this team that they had been and setting up at the same time on the Disney plus side there was a brief panel for ironheart secret Invasion got a big Spotlight which even came with its debut trailer a trailer that was also released online which across two minutes showed off a slightly darker tone featuring Nick Fury and Talos teaming up to fend off a secret skrull invasion you know just like the title also revealing a bunch of new and returning characters from across the MCU and Marvel's next six episode Disney plus series and following that there was also a brief panel for armor Wars starring Don Cheadle which was said to pick up in some ways off of the events in secret Invasion Loki season 2 had a big showcase debuting a bit of d23 exclusive footage as well as showing off some of the cast both new and returning who are going to pick up the story right where season one left off the echo series got a bit of a showcase promising to pick up where both Maya Lopez and Kingpin left off after Hawkeye Vincent D'Onofrio was even part of the panel and he was eventually joined by Charlie Cox to further build hype for the upcoming Daredevil sequel series but there was one part of the Disney plus slate that took audiences a bit by surprise as Marvel Studios officially revealed their very first special presentation werewolf By Night a Halloween Horror special directed by Michael jokino yeah the guy who has composed so many great scores for so many movies including a whole bunch of MCU movies he was going to make his directorial debut with a 1930s horror special about some of the more obscure corners of the Marvel Universe and this announcement came with a 90-second trailer that displayed this tone and Sensibility perfectly along with a black and white aesthetic it looked far more creative than a lot of Marvel's projects honestly and quickly got fans attention as its release was only a few short weeks away set to debut on October 7th it was another massive showcase for Marvel and it followed the previous massive showcase only two months earlier so long as these movies keep me making money they're gonna keep making them and this panel proved that they were planning on continuing for quite some time and that promotion continued strong as the clock turned to October 2022 starting with a major shake-up to the armor Wars series a shake-up so big that it wasn't gonna be a series anymore while the same writer would still be involved and it would ultimately tell the same kind of story armor War suddenly became a feature film now this is what I've been saying man they really are listening to me nah that's not true I couldn't even get through that sentence without breaking oh my God not long after this excitement once again reached Peak levels for Black Panther 2 as on October 3rd Marvel released the second full trailer featuring a deeper dive into the emotional weight that this movie will have as well as a grander introduction for the movie's main antagonist Namor the Submariner the first Black Panther movie introduced the entire world of wakanda and while this movie will go even deeper there it will also also expand into a whole other world with Namor and his people the action looks cool the story feels big and impactful there's some brief glimpses of iron heart and the trailer ends with a full Glimpse at the New Black Panther all of which sent fans into a tizzy as the clock ticked closer and closer to the November 11th debut before any of that however MCU fans would once again journey to Disney plus not for a series this time but for Marvel Studios first special presentation werewolf by night after being rumored for some time until being fully unveiled only a month before this promised to be something unlike anything the MCU had done before and so when the clock turned to October 7th 2022 audiences and fans alike strapped in for this trip into Supernatural comic book horror [Music] a group of Monster Hunters have been assembled Ulysses Bloodstone has died and his precious Bloodstone is up for the taking now another monster man thing is being held in a maze-like Arena and whichever one of these Hunters including Ulysses daughter Elsa Bloodstone can kill the monster they will get the Bloodstone but a wrinkle is thrown into the works when it's revealed that one of the hunters Jack Russell is actually friends with the Beast and he even knows the monster's real name it's Ted by the way the guy's name is Ted but that's not all because Jack himself is also a monster one of the most iconic of all he is a werewolf leading to a greatly fun creative and sometimes spooky hour-long Adventure featuring a batch of all new characters some fun and often dark humor I'll be [Music] voting for you and you have yourself a worthy little Halloween special that can easily become something you can watch every year it has virtually no connection to the larger MCU it stands entirely on its own the direction is great the black and white visuals are also great harkening back to 1930s era monster movies it's spooky it's scary it's funny sometimes gory it's really all you could ask for and Ted is great Ted's just a great guy all around we like Ted Ted's cool there's really nothing more to say about it than that it's a solid Halloween special that can become an instant yearly tradition that you can have a hell of a good time with overall for Marvel Studios first special presentation they locked onto something good and it's a very good directorial debut from Michael jokino who of course also did the music which is great as always and critical reception felt the same way with positive reviews almost across the board praising the visuals the tone the characters everything about this seemed completely antithetical to the rest to the MCU and that's perhaps part of what makes it as good as it is and also what made critics and audiences say give us more please and honestly if Marvel were to go more in this direction less interconnected stories and more of the small one-off adventures with a clear style and goal that might honestly work out for the better I guess we'll have to wait and see if this is a one-off which would be fine or a viable option for the future but regardless of if these special presentations with a long-term future for the MCU there was another one coming up right down the line something that was going to be completely different in tone yet have its own holiday to celebrate none other than the Guardians of the Galaxy holiday special and right on cue the very first trailer arrived right at the end of October it's a brief trailer but it gives you all you need to know after the death of Gamora Peter Quill's been having a rough go of it and so with Christmas Around the Corner Drax and mantis team up to go to Earth to get Peter the most special Christmas gift they can possibly think of and what do they decide to get him none other than Kevin Bacon you're coming with us as a Christmas present that's right the Guardians holiday special will see Drax and mantis try to kidnap Kevin Bacon as a Christmas gift for Peter Quill and boy that premise just sounds like so much fun after all of the mentions of Kevin Bacon from previous Guardians movies having him actually be a part of this one sounds like a fantastic premise for a Christmas Adventure add on to that the fact that James Gunn has been teasing that the holiday special will introduce one of the greatest MCU characters and now you realize that that character is Kevin Bacon I mean that's just great suddenly fans mark their calendars for November 25th to see a whole bunch of Guardians Christmas cheer that wasn't the only trailer released at the end of October though as to capitalize on the immense hype for black panther 2 Marvel began to tease the beginning of phase five with the first trailer for Ant-Man and the wasp quantumania and this trailer is much bigger than the two Ant-Man movies that came before it after a Quantum experiment goes wrong the entire ant family is sucked down into the quantum Realm where they encounter tons of weird and crazy characters including this big robot guy Bill Murray and of course Marvel's next big bad Kang the Conqueror promising to push the MCU firmly into its new saga this trailer showed off tons of stuff one has to worry though that it'll lose the tone that made the first two movies as fun as they are but those who were excited for the mcu's next Saga saw this as the big entry point into the future Kang was on his way the next Thanos was on his way and this movie was going to introduce him in a big way well introduce a new version of him because it was already in Loki but that's beside the point but before the MCU will dive fully into phase five phase four has to come to a close with black panther wakanda forever expectations and anticipation for this movie were unlike anything seen in the MCU before I mean not only is it the sequel to one of the biggest and most culturally impacting movies of all time but it is also dealing tragic loss of Chadwick Boseman for both of those reasons wakanda forever was becoming yet another cultural Waypoint where tons and tons of people would come together in Collective celebration and Collective mourning for what promised to be an exciting and emotional rollercoaster because finally the clock turned to November 11 2022 after four years since the first movie tore up the box office and introduced the entire world to the nation of wakanda the sequel had finally arrived as fan anticipation reached a fever pitch the time had finally come to re-enter wakanda once again [Music] we need light we need love you'd be forgiven for wondering before this movie came out if it was even a good idea to make another Black Panther movie considering the circumstances it's no secret that this movie had a rough road to get made you have the pandemic you have some onset injuries and of course you have the loss of the first movie's lead actor even the filmmakers and director Ryan coogler wondered if making another Black Panther movie was a good idea but ultimately the movie that came out fully justifies its existence by meeting that loss head on in the very first scene of the movie t'challa dies off screen and that loss permeates through the entire story this is appropriately not a fun aspect of the movie it's an aspect that is dealing with grief as the characters are mourning throughout the entire run time it's not just that there is loss but loss is the entire point it's the entire Crux of the movie how it can close someone off from the rest of the world how it can make them angry and bitter and how ultimately at the end of the day they can find acceptance they don't move on because moving on is impossible but this movie shows how one can ultimately learn to say goodbye which is why its existence is completely Justified this is a movie that had to be made to say goodbye to the character and the actor that was lost because of that this is a deeply emotional ride that has a lot on its mind as it tells this all-new story about wakanda this time around after the United States has found vibranium buried in the oceans wakanda is put face to face with the underwater nation of telecon led by Neymar and Neymar of course hates the surface World his nation has moved time and time again because of threats of exposure and destruction from the people above and he wants wakanda's help specifically shuri's help to destroy the surface and claim the world for themselves all of which Sparks a big quite long and expansive Adventure that reunites plenty of the familiar characters from the first movie and joins them with new faces like aneka the latest member of the Dora melange Riri Williams also makes an appearance even suiting up a couple times as Iron Heart her very own interpretation of Iron Man technology and she's a lot of fun she brings a lot of humor to this movie The Black Panther is gone so y'all stop having black panthers when I get kidnapped and the performances all around are Stellar here everyone is bringing their a game a particular highlight this time around is Angela Bassett as Queen ramonda she's sometimes reserved sure-footed and completely confident when she needs to be but on other occasions she is able to let out all of the rage and anguish that she has been feeling due to the events proceeding and during this movie Queen of the most powerful nation in the world and my entire family is gone have I not given everything at the same time like the first movie the production design and World building is Worlds beyond what most MCU movies have to offer wakanda is still fantastic with some expansions and new corners that weren't in the first movie but the real Triumph comes from telecon it's vibrant it's cool there isn't a huge sense of what some people do you know in their free time but there are plenty of cool locations and interesting ideas here the only places this movie really kind of falls short on are some of the visual effects are a little shaky there's not enough embaku I mean he does have a fair amount to do but it'd be nice if he had like 500 times more and the whole us side of things is a little unimportant that and it features another appearance by Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine who I can't say I'm super interested in at this point it is funny that she was once married to Martin Freeman's ever at Ross though that's fun I like that the action here is also pretty solid there's a fun chase scene through Boston early on featuring some cool moments with ironheart but things really take a turn once the deal between shuri and Neymar falls apart Namor wanted wakanda to help them fight against the surface world but once shuri escapes with Nakia and Riri Williams Namor uses his anger and attacks wakanda giving them a show of force after seeing how impenetrable wakanda has been across all of these movies this sequence shows how vulnerable it can be against another nation that is equal to or greater than them in power the talocons had these cool water bombs that flood the streets of wakanda every major player has to help out to get people to safety and it ends with a big emotional climactic moment oh my God in a show of force Neymar winds up killing Queen ramonda which is absolutely devastating to shuri who has already lost a ton up to this point and it's this death that Springs wakanda back into action because shuri hunkers down and recreates the heart-shaped herb the same plant that gifted its user the powers of the Black Panther the same plant that allows you to travel to the ancestral plain which means after she drinks some herself she not only gains immense power but she has a brief and thrilling conversation with none other than killmonger this scene is fantastic not only does it bring back some of killmonger's own convictions that hit hard in the first movie but it also speaks directly to shuri's own anger and lust for vengeance in this movie and ultimately with these new powers and shuri's mind dead set on getting revenge on Namor she becomes the next wakandan to Don the armor of the Black Panther [Music] which all leads to the climactic final battle which feels less exciting and more harrowing as shuri faces off against Neymar it's a final battle that puts both wakanda and talocon into their worst places as they both tear into each other without remorse you can't help but feel that there could be a peaceful resolution to all of this that there could be a way to end this without everyone dying which is entirely the point you're not supposed to really be rooting for shuri to kill Neymar you want the Revenge to Stop The Killing to stop which ultimately leads to the moment where shuri has name or by the throat she's ready to kill him until she sees one final glimpse of her mother from The ancestral plane and ultimately decides to offer a truce with Neymar and Namor accepts finally stopping the conflict allowing the two warring Nations to cease their fighting it might not be as cathartic or as impactful as killmonger's final moments in the first movie but it brings this movie's themes to a solid conclusion and sees wakanda and talocon come to something of a tepid Alliance which leaves us with our resolution shuri has become the Black Panther but has left the Throne of wakanda open which imbaku takes advantage of pretty much immediately Everett Ross is outed for revealing government secrets so he's put in custody until Okoye winds up breaking him out and sure he visits Nakia to perform a ritualistic ceremony to bring her morning period to a close which is where the movie really brings the emotion with a montage of Chadwick Boseman as t'challa the movie largely avoided using this kind of imagery during most of the movie I mean there was the Marvel logo at the beginning but other than that t'challa is nowhere to be seen and that feels entirely by Design so as not to be exploitative on one hand and also so that once the movie opens those floodgates the emotions hit as hard as possible and those emotions are bolstered by the mid-credit scene which reveal that Nakia and t'challa had a son after the events of the first movie a son who took on his father's name my name is Prince stitchella son of King ultimately everything comes together to tell an entirely necessary story with these characters and with this world a story that is filled with grief grief that feels real because it is real and that's what hits so hard reviews for this movie were largely positive while not quite as glowing as the reviews were for the first movie that was completely understandable the movie had a lot to balance and it's more somber tone separated it in a lot of ways from the first one but the emotional weight of the story managed to carry both critics and audiences to the Finish Line as once again black panther dominated the box office raking in a massive 181 million dollars in its opening weekend all before climbing to a total of 453 million dollars domestically and a whopping 859 million dollars worldwide it wasn't quite as successful as the first but some of that can be laid to the feet of the pandemic and that this wasn't the groundbreaking installment that the first one was it also did have a rather significant second and weekend drop with 63 percent which while not as significant as Doctor Strange 2 or Thor 4 was still a rather steep Cliff but like those two movies this one still managed to rake in a whole bunch of money and proved the cultural longevity of this world and these characters were as strong as ever meanwhile as emotions ran high on the big screen Marvel built towards a far more light-hearted Adventure on Disney plus because after a long wait the Guardians of the Galaxy were back in an all-new solo project the holiday special while the Guardians had appeared in various MCU things like Infinity war and game and love and thunder this was the first time since Volume 2 released in 2017 that a project was going to focus entirely on the Guardians themselves and fans couldn't be more excited for the zany and out of the box Christmas special and while some dreaded that it might wind up like the Star Wars holiday special others might have thought that that would be awesome I mean who doesn't want two hours of noises with no subtitles regardless James Gunn was back with the Guardians for the first time since 2017 and when the clock turned to November 25th fans put on their ugly Christmas sweaters to experience this all-new holiday Adventure [Music] for Christmas Time Is Here like the trailer promise this special does in fact see Drax and mantis travel to earth to capture Kevin Bacon as a Christmas gift to help cheer up Peter Quill and just like the trailer it is just as fun if not more fun in its full Glory this is such a Charming 40-minute little Adventure that brings the humor the heart everything you could really want from a holiday special like this I mean the thing book ends with animated sequences with yondu that show how Peter Quill gave him the Christmas spirit not only did Peter Quill spark yondu's love for having little guys on his console but yondu also gifted quill his trademarked blasters then you couple that with a couple original songs at the start and end the first one being an actual Banger I mean it's both funny and catchy it's crazy Drax and mantis have so much fun on Earth as well there's so much fish out of water humor they even encounter Psy Kill from GoBots which immediately Sparks Drax into a ridge I wonder what Drax would think of Megatron their first encounter with Kevin Bacon is absurd and zany in the best ways and mantis does this but where the special hits the hardest is with its heart and it all comes in the last 10 minutes where not only do all of the Guardians give each other gifts like little models of the adventure including craglin holding a model of himself holding a model of himself holding it you get it nebula even gives rocket Bucky's arm [Music] and then in the real turn for the story mantis reveals that she is in fact Peter Quill's sister and upon realizing this Peter says that's the greatest Christmas gift I could ever get I mean it pulls at the heartstrings it speaks to The Souls of these characters and it will no doubt become an instant yearly tradition for many people I mean it has Kevin Bacon in it he got captured brainwashed then unbrainwashed then did a big musical number at the end I mean what more can you ask for wow I guess all actors aren't complete critical reception to this was similarly positive praising the heart the humor and the performances from both Dave Batista and palm clementiev who were able to take the spotlight here like never before but at the same time it also makes me realize that these are the only characters I care about anymore the other corners of the MCU can be fun but the guardian's entries are something else and soon enough those entries are going to come to an end and with the holiday special released on Disney plus it is time to start thinking about that end because only a short week later on December 1st Marvel Studios released the first official trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy vol 3. we were gone for quite a while but no matter what happens next the Galaxy still needs its Guardians across two minutes this trailer promises a significantly darker tone than the holiday special but that tone is totally warranted as this promises to be an emotional farewell for all of these characters featuring every major returning character as well as some new faces like Adam Warlock and promising a deep dive into the history of Rocket given that this promises to be the end the emotions run High even in this trailer as there are plenty of key moments namely this one shot of Peter Quill screaming that are sure to be emotionally tense I mean if groot's death in volume 1 and yondu's death in volume 2 are any indication volume 3 is gonna bring the emotional hurt and I for one am strapped in to see this through to the finish line oh [Music] [Applause] 2023 got off to a quick start with an all-new trailer for Ant-Man and the WASP quantumania expanding on the first trailer this one shows even more of the crazy scenarios that the ant family will come across including a brief appearance from Modoc a big-headed villain who looks oh oh that's not great this trailer also presents Scott Lang's motivations in this story after being essentially blipped for five years he's lost a lot of time and Kang uses that to his Advantage by offering to give back all of the time that Scott has missed you know if Scott can free Kang Kang will give him all of that time he lost with his daughter while this is interesting I gotta admit it's probably too much to throw into a trailer I mean honestly this whole trailer shows too much as it comes to a close with a massive clash between Kang and Ant-Man that results in ant-man's helmet breaking you thought you could win don't win we both foreign like whoa I don't want to see the end of the movie yet save that for the movie regardless excitement for quantumania started to Skyrocket after this as Marvel promised it would shake up the MCU in similar fashion to the Winter Soldier and Civil War a high bar to be sure I guess we'll see if Ant-Man is up to the task but before Ant-Man and the WASP could tear it up on the big screen Marvel made a splash at the Super Bowl specifically with Guardians of the Galaxy 3 not only revealing an all-new 30-second spot during the game but like Doctor Strange the year before Marvel released an all-new theatrical trailer across two and a half minutes this trailer brings the heat showing off more of the action the spectacle as well as promising even more heavy emotions as we gear up to see the last adventure with this team of Guardians it's big it looks cool the music is great once again and I gotta tell you there are moments in this movie that are gonna hurt especially when all put together these trailers really seem to hint that rocket is a goner this time I mean oh boy that's gonna sting but I I'm ready for it Guardians 3 bring it on we'll all fly away together into the forever [Music] a beautiful sky but before the adventure with the Guardians comes to a close Marvel was dead set to kick off a new beginning in fact as the posters and trailers promised audiences were about to see the dawn of a new Dynasty because the clock had now turned to February 17 2023 where after five years since their last solo Adventure Ant-Man and the WASP were back on the big screen not as a palette cleanser this time but as the biggest Marvel event to kick off phase five it was now time to get into some Ant-Man Mania some Quantum Mania do you guys just put the word Quantum in front of everything [Music] I uh I have to offer a formal apology to eternals while I still don't really like that movie this right here quantumania is the worst movie of the entire franchise now granted the Ant-Man movies have never been my favorites but they have some good stuff in them there's some fun humor there's some heart and the movies have a lot of fun with things shrinking and growing ant-man's in a bathtub he's inside of a vacuum the second one goes crazy with shrinking cars a growing Pez dispenser and a shrinking building and there's also lots of fun to be had with the three wombats Luis Kurt and Dave you have luis's stories you have their zany humor they were having a good time in those previous two movies but none of that is in here instead we are treated to an Adventure pretty much exclusively in the quantum realm where the whole movie is shot against a green screen and you can tell the visual effects are pretty rough everything looks like mud it's all just brown and dark and the action feels so so uninspired it's such a step down from the sequences in the first movie I mean just look at how creative some of this stuff was in the first one [Music] the entire plot of this movie is also predicated on Janet Van Dyne not telling anyone else well anything about her experience in the quantum realm worse yet this isn't treated as a major character flaw which just makes it feel even more like an excuse to have a plot happen but I think the big thing that sinks this movie is one simple fact it didn't need to exist ant-man's story ended in Ant-Man and the WASP those two movies are a relatively solid pairing the first one gets Scott into the suit it introduces some of the characters has a fun Heist plot and ultimately establishes the quantum realm and that Janet's been trapped there for a long time then piggybacking off of that the second one sees hope Van Dyne take on the WASP as the gang worked together to finally get Janet out and once they do they all get a nice happy ending sure there was a five-year hiccup in there and Ant-Man helped the Avengers with a time travel thing but once that was all wrapped up the characters were back in the same place they were which just makes this movie feel wholly unnecessary in fact the only thing it really has going for it is Kang because this isn't really a movie this is a two-hour trailer for the next two Avengers movies after about an hour of teasing this movie finally introduces us to the quintessential version of Kang we saw he who remains in Loki but now we have the real deal and he's relatively solid here he's menacing he has screen presence he greatly outmatches all of our heroes and he promises that something big is coming if he doesn't ultimately escape the quantum realm the only downside to Kang being a major Focus though is that the rest of the movie loses its sight on the characters none of the characters really have that much of an arc especially hope I mean she's got nothing to do in this movie which is a shame that and the whole story established by the trailer that Scott Lang wants to gain back the time he lost with Cassie isn't actually in the movie whether that was in an older version of the movie or just forged for the trail I don't know either way it's super lame that it's not actually in here and it gives Scott very little to actually do you know there's nothing going on internally with him there's a funny red guy though I like the little red guy and how he's sad that he doesn't have any holes but then at the end he does have holes I have oh there's also a fun enough sequence where Scott Lang gets duplicated an infinite amount of times and eventually all of these versions of him work together to accomplish something that's neat what's not neat is Modoc because boy does he look terrible I mean I'm sure the visual effects artists really tried but whether it was a time crunch or a last minute Edition it just does not come together and at the very end he gets a really quick Redemption Arc that wraps up within about five minutes so that's pretty lame I don't even care about the comics that's just lame on a dramatic level within this movie for the most part this movie is boring dull visually muddy and repetitive I mean there are two separate Cavalry arrival moments during the finale and two major standoffs against Kang the second one was almost entirely spoiled by the trailers except for the very end which sees Hope come to the rescue which ultimately results in Kang's death wait but I thought he was the big bad guy for the future are you telling me he's already dead but it does come to a rather interesting resolution as Scott and hope are trapped in the quantum realm an interesting fate to leave with them oh never mind a portal opened and they can go back all good and so the movie comes to a close everyone has left the quantum realm Kang's been defeated and each character is in pretty much the same place they were when the movie started so that's cool and of course it wouldn't be a Marvel movie if we didn't have some post-credit scenes one of them features a brief tease for Loki season 2 where Loki and Mobius are at some old-timey show when another variant of Kang appears setting the stage for his return but that's not the only Kang as the other post-credits scene features an entire Army of Kang's appearing there's like thousands of them from across the Multiverse all of them are assembling in the wake of Kang's demise and together their no doubt gonna join forces to wreak havoc on the Avengers for the Kang Dynasty [Applause] I think I'm done I think I'm out I have been following this series since the beginning in 2008 and after 15 years I have finally stopped caring this movie was supposed to establish Kang as the next ultimate Foe for the Avengers and I thought that meant this guy you know the guy we actually spend time with but no that guy dies and now I'm supposed to care about a hundred thousand more of him showing up and I don't I just don't and that feeling was felt by many audience members and critics coming out of this as this was one of the worst reviewed MCU movies in the franchise's history with some headlines even stating that this is a cry for help while there were some positive qualities and plenty of praise for Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror there were many more negative reviews coming complete with jokes about how plenty of people had finally begun to understand what Scorsese was saying back in 2019 and on the box office side of things news wasn't so good for this Marvel 3ql while it did come out of the gate Swinging with the big biggest opening weekend for any of the Ant-Man movies raking in a massive 106 million dollars over its first three days it quickly fell short after that dropping nearly 70 percent in its second weekend and ultimately grossing a total of about 214 million dollars domestically and 476 million dollars worldwide which is actually less money than either of the previous two Ant-Man movies which is kind of crazy but honestly I have to thank this movie the future of the MCU has looked less exciting and more intimidating as time has gone on and this is the movie that made me realize that this is the one that made me realize that I don't care anymore I had been having some of these thoughts for a while now and this movie managed to solidify them and now I can focus all of my MCU excitement into the one corner of the Universe I still care about the one group of characters who I am willing to follow to the end it just so happens that that end arrived on May 5th 2023 [Music] the first two Guardians movies are some of the best of the MCU if not the very best they blend the humor the heart the action everything you could ever want from a blockbuster and they do it so well the first movie had a huge mountain to climb it was about a relatively obscure group of characters directed by a filmmaker who wasn't that huge of a name at the time I mean he had credits to his name sure but he wasn't a big box office draw but once the movie arrived and audiences were introduced to this band of Misfits they fell in love with them the entire team and that love continued into Volume 2 it continued into Infinity war and end game it manifested in disappointment in love and thunder and now here we are six years to the day after the release of volume 2 James Gunn was back to complete his Trilogy and finally tell the last chapter of this team's story and boy is it an emotional rollercoaster featuring another excellent mixtape of some classic songs as well as some more recent entries and coupling it with cool practical effects good looking shots and a deeply personal story with the entire team but no one in this movie stands out more than rocket he is at the core of this entire movie and it also cements him as the core of this entire Trilogy when James Gunn first took on the first movie back in 2012 the thing that ultimately got him into it was rocket because he realized in trying to rationalize how a raccoon would make sense with the rest of this team that this raccoon is the saddest creature in the universe and this movie shows you how tragic and sad Rocket's life has been as we're introduced to the man that created him the high evolutionary as well as his fellow creations and it's not hard to predict where his fellow Creations are gonna end up considering they are not in any of the previous movies but this movie puts in the work to make you care about them anyway they're lovable they're fun they give themselves names in one of the most heartfelt moments in the movie you've got Lila the otter thiefs the walrus and Flor the bunny yes her name is floor all of this is here so that when the trigger is pulled and all of them eventually die it hurts so much more and it also makes the high evolutionary a truly despicable villain who you want to see taken down combined with a manic and completely welcome over the top performance by Chuck Woody iwuji this guy is the worst in a good way and it makes the ultimate Union of the Guardians to take him down all the more satisfying now this movie isn't perfect one of the drawbacks is Adam Warlock after being teased at the end of volume 2 it almost feels like he was attached to this movie with Scotch tape the rest of the story works pretty well and it could largely work without him until the end so it just kind of feels like he was a relatively last minute addition to help tee up the t's at the end of volume 2. and while the score by John Murphy is pretty solid here I did want to hear more of Tyler Bates guardian's theme from the first two movies it's in here a little little bit but there's hardly any big heroic version which I would have enjoyed but other than that this is a deeply thrilling and emotional conclusion that brings the story of the Guardians to a satisfying close and despite the hints from the trailer none of the main characters die in this instead they all decide to go their separate ways splitting off to find themselves or because they already have found themselves and the most emotional moment is with Peter Quill who finally returns to Earth to see his grandfather this is a satisfying conclusion on its own but it brings even more emotional weight when Grandpa quill just immediately recognizes Peter and it all comes to a close with a big dance sequence set to Dog Days Are Over by Florence and the Machines after the insanely rough road to get to this point what with James Gunn's firing and rehiring the pandemic and everything else that's happened since Volume 2 I'm so glad this story was able to come together flaws and all and with its conclusion and the story of the Guardians having and come to a close I am perfectly content here and now to say goodbye to the MCU because in recalling everything that's happened in the last two years I have come to one single conclusion the year is 2023 and the story of the MCU has been over for four years while far from perfect the infinity Saga managed to tell an unprecedented interconnected story about a group of Heroes who occasionally assembled to fight the forces of evil and it all came together in a massive two-parter that swept up audiences the world over but even that Journey was Rocky along the way certain developments took ages to come together and while the conclusion was big and satisfying in its own right the lengthy setup was just that it was lengthy and despite Marvel promising a new saga and a new massive two-parter to close out this next era of the MCU I just don't know if I want to do all of that again for one thing I'm older my attention span is different than it was for another thing there have been more interesting and exciting Blockbusters that have taken the World by storm vague practical effects movies like top gun Maverick and even massive visual Effects productions like Avatar the way of water both of which are still huge Blockbuster crowd Pleasers but they're more interesting than what Marvel is doing right now and despite some of the box office tumbles that some of the recent MCU movies have had especially quantumania I know that this franchise will have its fans for a long time and as long as there are fans who will see every movie the MCU is gonna continue so long as they make money they're gonna make more movies but since the future slate looks more and more intimidating by the day I have to do myself a favor and tap out because while I am a different person now than I was before the MCU is also a different Beast than it was before the movies have gotten less enjoyable with some exceptions phase four was kind of all over the place both in terms of quality as well as its ultimate aims promises made by previous movies are either swiftly abandoned or ignored characters are inconsistent between entries or within a single movie on its own and the whole thing feels largely unnecessary because of the fact that the story ended with endgame which is probably why my favorite entries Spider-Man Black Panther and Guardians 3 have stood apart from the crowd none of them are really about setting up the future I mean Spider-Man kinda is but all of them are conclusions in a way Spider-Man and Guardians are more obvious conclusions but the exercise of saying goodbye in Black Panther 2 is also a fitting end for that story if they didn't make another Spider-Man or Guardians movie I'd be fine with that sometimes things just gotta end but at the same time there is a singular problem at the heart of all of this a singular reason why the MCU has gotten so many to become tired or jaded or want to step away and that is Disney plus with the Advent of expanding to streaming shows the MCU has so much more stuff now than it did before while three movies a years sounded like a lot back in 2017 that's nothing compared to 2021 which featured four movies and five shows released within a 12-month period these aren't events anymore they're not the fun thing you tune into every few months the streaming shows have turned Marvel into a weekly affair because every week There's a new show a new movie a new something and because of that the whole thing gets bogged down in its own weight while shows like Loki or Hawkeye were only two years ago that feels like an eternity in hindsight because so much has happened since and yes Marvel did expand to television before with Agents of Shield and the Netflix shows but the difference is that none of those were essential to enjoying the movies they were optional shows that plenty of people enjoyed but you didn't need them to understand something like Age of Ultron but the Disney Plus shows now are essential you have to be keeping track every week because they will factor into the movies One Division impacted Doctor Strange 2 it will impact the Marvel's Miss Marvel will also impact the Marvels Disney plus characters are going to appear in future movies and if you haven't been keeping up you will get lost while this has been the business model since pretty much the beginning it's starting to feel so much more like homework because of how much there is watching the latest MCU series or movie is an obligation now not a treat not a fun weekend getaway to watch the latest comic book movie and all of this added together is why I gotta tap out the story for me ended four years ago and ever since the only stories I've really cared about are the conclusions to the smaller franchises and now that those are all wrapped up I can safely step away Marvel does have a big future this year is going to feature another movie and a couple more shows and right now at the time of releasing this secret invasion is streaming on Disney plus but I haven't been keeping up with it so I don't know I think I might skip this one it was a hell of a ride a hell of an experiment but all good things have to come to an net and if they don't they begin to expire and that is I think what's happening here so I bid the MCU a very fond farewell as I move on to bigger and better things like the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies don't worry I'm still working hard to get those videos back up but in the meantime I will be jumping across the proverbial aisle to tackle another Trilogy of movies for my next retrospective a Trilogy that one might describe as being a bit darker until then however this will be the end of this video and I will see you guys later [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Prime of Grammar

Views: 154,760

Keywords: Prime, of, Grammar

Id: pr-H_xQV2ZU

Length: 187min 4sec (11224 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 08 2023