The Gauntlet Has Been Thrown: The Future of Superhero Movies

[TerribleTira]

The reboot is out in August.

I heard something about a reboot recently.... but I've heard that at least three times in the past to no final proof. I'll believe it when I see the trailers.

[Mathim]

If you look at them more like action movies with a superhero leaning, then a great deal of them are very good on their own merit. That's what Marvel was trying to do initially, make a genre film with superheroes woven in, but lately it's not been possible to be that, after Ant-Man being a heist film none of the others really had a unique category they fell into, except Spider-Man: Homecoming being a coming-of-age film. It's not really so much about them being well-written story-wise; the characters are appealing and the action is staggering, with the humor being on-point almost all the time. Each studio that makes them has its own personality, between Fox, Sony and Marvel, and the DC lineup and any others in the game, some being more capable of mixing it together well and others not so much, or at least at a lesser rate. I'm not so concerned about them changing up the formula so much as seeing amazing feats, and characters I grew up with doing what they do best and making me laugh while they're at it. In the meantime things like Chronicle can be the edgy, outside the box type of thing that dips toes into the superhero genre.

[mia h]

So Wally West is moving from The Flash to Legends of Tomorrow. In makes sense, with LoT retiring Firestorm and Flash not having room for Wally, moving shows seems sensible.

[CaptainNexus616]

Out of curiosity, I'm slowly working my way through the first season of The Flash on Netflix at the moment, is the later seasons worth a watch? From what I have seen here and elsewhere. They rely a little much on Speedsters being the villains.

[mia h]

The Flash is now half way through season 4, but for the first three seasons the 'big bad' has always been a speedster. Without spoiling anything, the season long story arcs got a bit predictable and the show got a bit darker and less fun, but they've done a decent job course correcting that in season 4. That's not to say that seasons 2 & 3 aren't good, there's the Cisco & Harry double act to look forward to for starters.

[Mathim]

Out of curiosity, I'm slowly working my way through the first season of The Flash on Netflix at the moment, is the later seasons worth a watch? From what I have seen here and elsewhere. They rely a little much on Speedsters being the villains.

It's not like there's no variety to what the speedsters can do, it's actually pretty interesting how they make the villain in season 2 more interesting and deadly than you expect someone with those abilities to be. Season 2 definitely has more fun second-string villains, and fleshes out the supporting cast in a big way, so I definitely recommend it wholeheartedly. Season 3 is a bit of a mixed bag where you really, really need to be interested in the other shows (Arrow, Supergirl, LoT) to follow a handful of episodes, and the last few episodes plod along slower than any other season. So not the most glowing endorsement of season 3. But season 2? Absolutely, give it a go.

[mia h]

Had a thought about how\when Agents of Shield will end this season, all because one line in the last episode. The old guy who killed Deke's father mentioned something about it all starting with a light from the sky and it being something to do with aliens, now that could be a call back to Avengers Assemble or it could be something we haven't seen yet. So Infinity War is out 27th April and if AoS ran without a break it would wrap up on 21st April, so assuming there is going to be a break in AoS at some point then the season would wrap up a couple of weeks after Infinity War comes out, so the "light from the sky" could be Thanos. So they could have written the whole season around Infinity War, in some ways that'd be cool but nothing from AoS will fold back into the movies, so one way traffic again.

[wander]

So, what's everyone's opinions on Brie Larson in her Captain Marvel suit?

I think she looks really well-built in it, which I like. I think the suit could have been a bit more form-fitting (it looks baggy around her hips compared to Black Widow's costumes say), though methinks she may get a change of costume between her own film and Avengers 4.

[TheGlyphstone]

So, what's everyone's opinions on Brie Larson in her Captain Marvel suit?

I think she looks really well-built in it, which I like. I think the suit could have been a bit more form-fitting (it looks baggy around her hips compared to Black Widow's costumes say), though methinks she may get a change of costume between her own film and Avengers 4.

Eh, I'm perfectly fine with a little baggy costume. The detailing makes it look almost like armor, or at the very least a flightsuit (appropriate to her background) - openly prioritizing function over being skintight and sexy is a tiny circumstantial detail in favor of the character.

[greenknight]

Eh, I'm perfectly fine with a little baggy costume. The detailing makes it look almost like armor, or at the very least a flightsuit (appropriate to her background) - openly prioritizing function over being skintight and sexy is a tiny circumstantial detail in favor of the character.

I agree. Considering she's "super-Cap," linkages to his style of armored supersuit is very appropriate.

[Mathim]

Little disappointed about the color change (red -> green), but I'm more interested in where the suit comes from (whoever's responsible for giving her the powers, I assume, but since it doesn't look like it follows the comics, it's not known yet) since it looks a little hokey compared to just about anything else we've yet seen in the MCU. I get why Ant-Man's looks the way it does and that's about the closest I can come to something that seems like it would look odd for a good reason, but I can't figure out why Captain Marvel's looks the way it does. It's not as sleek as I would have expected, with fewer bells and whistles around the hips and thighs. When you see the comic version that I think is closest to what they were going for, the most prominent stuff would be the chest and around the shoulders, maybe with a smaller belt buckle at the side, but they make it have things going all the way over it like those weird thin Xmas-light-esque lines in the Green Lantern costume which were awful. I get they must want to set it apart from Black Widow's sleek black number, but there's just too much going on. I'd have been happy if they'd stopped just above the waistline, although I do like the boots. Hopefully that's going to be changed a little once the CGI and all have been rendered.

[wander]

Rumour is she's gonna have different costumes in her film and Avengers 4. The one shown is from the Avengers 4 cameo/part she'll play there. Despite her film coming out first, they planned to film her bit in Avengers 4 beforehand.

[greenknight]

On the green, it may not be green. Red's her signature accent color but color tests may have shown it doesn't film well so it will be CGI'd to red in post. Green is the common placeholder color marker for planned effects.

[wander]

True, except it doesn't look like greenscreening CG toning, nor is there motion capture tech on the suit.

Also, there's this, which was Mar-Vell's first costume from the original Captain Marvel series;



If she does have her red and blue costume she's famous for now, it'll probably appear in her solo movie as it's figured she may have a different costume in each film.

[Mathim]

I'm all for them putting a compilation of suit features from the pantheon of those who've had the mantle Captain Marvel, but there's such a thing as too much, and starting out too big. I'd rather see a much simpler suit initially that evolves over time. Plus it's not like the suit actually does anything for her, it's her own internal power that gives her the abilities.

I saw this after I did a google search to try to find more images, anyone know if this is going to make an appearance at any point?

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

Granted, it looks a lot more similar to Captain America's suit in a lot of ways but hey, tint it black rather than blue and I think we're good.

[wander]

That at best is concept art, though to me looks like fan art.

[CaptainNexus616]

Look what just came out today  ;D

https://youtu.be/8_rTIAOohas

[wander]

Gotta be honest, film looks super fun, I laughed out loud at a few points, though dear lordy the CG looks bloody awful at points, like it's not rendered. Could be early and they're still doing post to sort that, though ehhh...

[mia h]

This weeks episode of Black Lightning made me smile with the Easter eggs. Grace pulling out the copy of the Outsiders, what with Black Lightning being a founder member and both Grace and Thunder\Anissa making their debuts in the pages of that series.
Although does raise some interesting questions for the series to answer or play around with. Does Black Lightning's DC Comics have a licencing deal with it's Earth's  superheroes? Sort of in the same way that Booster Gold had his own comic in his comic. Does Earth-BL have it's own Looker and Supergirl?

And runner up for self-aware moment of the week was Flash with Iris asking "Why do all of our villians sound like they have names straight out of comic books?"

[TheGlyphstone]

Look what just came out today  ;D

https://youtu.be/8_rTIAOohas

That looks so silly, and so awesome. Glad to see they're really exploring the whole combat-shrinking tech to more advantage than just dodging projectiles.

[Mathim]

LMAO, using Thomas the Tank Engine in the first movie, and now Hello Kitty? Way to cross-pollinate your properties, Disney, mad props. Or do they own one or both of those properties? I honestly wouldn't be surprised.

But that looks fucking amazing, I can't wait. Glad to see it's not merely a 'ooh bad villain needs a spanking', there's also an element of being fugitives with practically the world against them to deal with so that's a nice way to branch out a bit. I was thinking initially it might be something like a jailbreak to complement the last film's heist theme but then, if they're going back to the Quantum Realm, which one brief shot seemed to indicate, maybe their version of the jailbreak is rescuing Janet Van Dyne from there.

[TheGlyphstone]

not just Hello Kitty, but a Hello Kitty PEZ dispenser. Thats two product placement references in one.

[Mathim]

Pez is its own property? One would think the undesirability of the product would negate the continued existence of the dispensers.

But since it's basically flat, hollow plastic, wouldn't it not be that impactful if it hit the guy on the motorcycle, even if made bigger? Oh, wait, I remember the whole thing being inconsistent. Like how Scott dented the roof of a guy's car just by falling on it, but then is light enough to ride the flying ants. I guess that's just going to have to continue to be ignored to enjoy it fully, which I don't mind doing.

[wander]

I think the theme of the film is going to be about 'dads and daughters' as Ghost is confirmed female in this film and with Laurence Fishbourne playing Bill Foster, there's been some guesswork Ghost will be his daughter in this film, matching well with Scott and Cassie Lang, plus Henry and Hope.

[CaptainNexus616]

Sounds right, that was the undertone of the first film.

With this coming up after Infinity Wars it really makes me wonder where this movie will be in the timeline. GoTG and GoTG Vol. 2 both took place in 2014. (Which means they were up to stuff for four years before Thanos showing up on Earth). So either its going to be before Infinity War (Post Civil War) Or we will be seeing some after effects of Thanos.

I may wager the latter, for all we know right now Thanos could be forced off Earth or his destruction is limited to where the Infinity Stones are. (New York as the Vision and Doctor Strange each have one and live there. Plus Wakanda, cause lets face it. One movie left before Infinity Wars with one stone remaining and the big battle scene with the Wakandians and Avengers in the trailer...its got to be there somewhere.)