Gatsby77

I hope there's more to the plot here than the basic hook - "It's the Rock, and he's a bad guy (/anti-hero)" (since...what? when he first played The Scorpion King?) Also hope it's at least as entertaining as Hancock - "What if our superhero was a nihilistic drunk?" For all its 3rd-act flaws, I really liked Hancock and the Charlize Theron twist -- plus, it's easy to forget that it out-grossed Iron Man in total global box office that year.

Variety: ‘Black Adam’ Draws Negative Reviews: Dwayne Johnson’s DC Film Is ‘Repetitive’ and ‘Anti-Entertaining What concerns me most in the round-up of review snippets Variety includes is the recurring theme that it's a mediocre film whose biggest selling point is the promise that bigger antagonists we actually care about (i.e., Shazam, Superman) will come in the sequel. Films should be able to stand on their own - and if multiple critics (even the positive ones) are stating the best part is the tease of what a sequel may bring...well, that's a huge miss.

Likewise - be interesting if they include Nuke in this storyline. I thought his arc was really well-done in Jessica Jones.

? You're aware that Lady Gaga was in arguably the best movie musical of the last decade, right? A Star Is Born was a g---d---n masterpiece, which was incredible, given that it was the *5th* version of the story to hit the screen.

Day-um! https://deadline.com/2022/10/warner-bros-tv-layoffs-studio-cuts-26-of-workforce-1235141732/ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/warner-bros-writers-directors-pipeline-programs-shut-down-1235239387/ We *still* think they're not a takeover target?

LOL. There's a reason Berkshire Hathaway's bet on streaming was a heavy investment in Paramount rather than WBD. And WBD stock is now down to $11.45 (and falling). Don't get me wrong - I bought more WBD stock this week, but I have no illusions it will pay off before 2024. You know...after that sweet sweet Flash movie money hits

Nah - paging @Jaydogrules - 'cuz haven't you heard? Post-theatrical digital sales are just "ancillaries" But in all seriousness - theatrical staying power matters a lot. It's indicative of word-of-mouth (positive or negative) and the reality is Captain Marvel had incredible legs - because people liked what they saw, and went to see it multiple times. In fact, its legs were at least comparable to - if not better - than those of The Dark Knight Rises. Dark Knight Rises Opening Weekend: $160.9 million Weekend 2: $62.1 million (-61.4%) Weekend 3: $35.7 million (-42.5%) Weekend 4: $19.0 million (-46.9%) Weekend 5: $11.0 million (-42%) Total after 5 weekends: $409.8 million Captain Marvel Opening Weekend: $153.4 million Weekend 2: $68.0 million (-55.7%) Weekend 3: $34.3 million (-49.6%) Weekend 4: $20.7 million (-39.7%) Weekend 5: $12.4 million (-39.8%) Total after 5 weekends: $373.9 million Captain Marvel then went on to close this gap in domestic totals vs. The Dark Knight Rises from $35.9 million at the end of 5 weeks to just $21.3 million by the end of its run ($426.8 million vs. $448.1 million). In other words, people liked it - and went back to see it with repeat viewings that would not have occurred if with either bad word-of-mouth or simply obligatory watches as an Endgame lead-in.

But...like...water's not actually wet, tho.

I don't. And, in fact, one of the sets I'm trying to build is the McFarlane Hulk run, CGC 9.8 / Todd McFarlane signature series. It's not much of an exaggeration to say it's harder to find 9.8 McFarlane signed books *without* Lee's signature as well than it is to find purely McFarlane-only signed books.

I still think the only way this works (and the expected twist) is if he's not the true (original) Kraven - but we then discover his father (Russell Crowe) is. He may be the next generation, and following in his father's footsteps but... This is largely my bias because my intro to the character was Kraven's Last Hunt, when he's *at least* in his 60s - But it's also suspicious that IMDB doesn't list character names yet for either Russell Crowe or Alessandro Nivola. Occam's Razor? One of them is the original / "true" Kraven - and presumptive father of Aaron Taylor Johnson's character.

Ahh...got it. And I wholeheartedly agree with the bulk of your post. It's hard to get people excited in - and non-comic book fans invested in - the C- and D-level characters. I also think don't think they necessarily *need* to connect to the broader MCU. Example: Jessica Jones Season 1 was brilliant - but I don't think she belongs in an Avengers film. She-Hulk has, as you've said, is a C-level character who has only sporadically supported her own title. Do we really need to elevate her to cosmic-level film shenanigans when we've already got Banner for that? I have little interest in the Thunderbolts precisely because it's a bunch of D-list characters. Yes - some interesting actors, but literally zero heroes I personally care about seeing more of on-screen. What I would like to see? An MCU off-shoot for the street-level heroes: Let's see Moon Knight interact with the Punisher, She-Hulk, Jessica Jones - and maybe even Spidey, etc. But please keep them away from the cosmic save-the-universe storylines. I guess Netflix tried that with Defenders, but my god was that show weak.

? Kamala Khan's been around for nearly a decade, had a few solo series, and been part of both the Avengers and the Champions. Or...were you referring to She Hulk or Moon Knight - who have each been around for more than 40 years?

? I'm confused. Are you saying that Cinemascore - which polls movie-watchers on their thoughts right after they've seen a film, is somehow corrupt? I'm also perplexed that you think this list might represent some sort of "gotcha" - because the bulk of the films listed were really good. And - I know quality =/= box office success (Fast & the Furious, Transformers, yada yada) BUT There seems to be a solid corollary between the grades shown - and their box office success. (Again - because people tend to see films they like more than once in the theater) First, I'm pretty sure only one of those films (Incredible Hulk) flat-out bombed. Second, count the $1 billion-grossers - 6/11 - more than half that list...without even including Captain Marvel or Black Panther. Third, Iron Man didn't make much money comparatively, but it came out in 2008 and was the # 2 domestic grosser of the year - and arguably set the MCU in motion. So I'd argue audiences didn't hate it, either.

Nah - I'm just offering a counter-weight to the repeated assertions by a small but vocal minority here that the film sucked - and, more specifically, that Brie Larsen's acting in it was sub-par. Neither is true. More importantly, the film doesn't need defending by me, Silvermane or anyone else Its results - an A Cinemascore ranking by moviegoers and $1.1+ billion box office - speak for themselves.

You can keep trying, but math - and reality - doesn't lie. As Musicmeta pointed out...Captain Marvel doesn't get to $426 million domestic -- outdoing: Wonder Woman Deadpool Star Wars: Episode 9 Spider-Man: Far From Home Joker BvS Captain America: Civil War unless *many* people who saw it then liked it enough to watch it in the theater more than once.

For those unaware, that's just 3 books out of 31 in less than CGC 9.6 - and a full 1/3 of the run in CGC 9.8. Museum pieces all.

You're not wrong. I'm mad proud of my CGC 9.6 copy of Doctor Solar # 3. But I'm prouder of this - Doctor Solar # 3, page 1:

You're right. It's nowhere close to an accurate comparison - because Captain Marvel did 80% more revenue in domestic box office alone than Justice League. But it's not a false equivalence: DC absolutely expected Justice League Part 1 to do $1+ billion worldwide - even after BvS fell short of $900 million. But it's revisionist history - asserted well after the fact - to say Captain Marvel was *expected* to do $1 billion from the jump. It was no more expected pre-release than the idea that folks legit expected Black Panther to do $1+ billion.

No. You could say the same about Justice League Part 1 - that "it was going to make $1 billion no matter what." And yet it didn't come close - because audiences f-----g hated it. Clearly, not so with Captain Marvel.

Nah. Domestically, it hit $426+ million. A full $35+ million more than Spider-Man: Far From Home. No way it does those numbers unless folks liked it enough to see it multiple times. And that argument falls apart when Ant-Man & the Wasp did less than $625 million worldwide - and yet had as much of a tie-in to Endgame as Captain Marvel.

Thank you, sir! Your board sale still haunts me. IIRC, I picked up your # 5 - and later won your # 4 when it went to auction. But I regret missing your # 2 for $1,000 and - I think it was your 9.8 # 26 - that went here ridiculously cheaply.

As far as I know, there isn't one. Highest-graded is the Pacific Coast CGC 9.6, which has belonged to boardie Rosland since at least 2008. I believe he bought the entire Pacific Coast run of the title when it came to market - and steadily upgraded from there. Likewise, there's just a single CGC 9.6 copy of Magnus # 1.

If you can't see why and how Iron Man 3 was far superior to the likes of: Iron Man 2 GOTG 2 Thor 2 etc. - I can't help you. Oh - and did you get this butt-hurt when in Batman Begins Ra's al Ghul turned out to be an Irish dude?

So...did you also dislike The First Blood because by the time we meet him, John Rambo is already a skilled survivalist and assassin? Ditto Dutch in Predator - is he a Gary Sue because he's functionally invincible from the moment we meet him leaving the helicopter smoking a stogie? You're faulting the story for picking up in a non-traditional place - when the hero is already well-versed in her powers - both as a human fighter pilot and intergalactic warrior. Just because it's not the traditional superhero origin story (mere mortal is gifted with extraordinary powers and must come to terms with them to come into their own) doesn't make it any less compelling. Captain Marvel also underscores how bad Green Lantern was - in that Reynolds played Hal Jordan largely for laughs - with literal wide-eyed wonder as he discovered the extent of his powers. Absolutely not - the Hal Jordan I grew up in the comics was an arrogant - and (largely) deservedly so. Imagine how much better the Green Lantern movie would have been if it had been say...Tom Cruise playing Jordan as he played Maverick - or even (per the 12 years ago fan-casting) Nathan Fillion playing him straight as the arrogant, self-assured cocky test pilot he always was.