MCU Phase 4 is Over: The Support Group 1 1

[Bosco685]

On 11/18/2022 at 6:07 AM, Ken Aldred said:

For me, lost interest in the films when there was one negative consensus after another, Black Widow to the second Dr Strange, with only Spider-Man being the one I’m really interested in catching up with eventually.

I’ve no interest in subscribing to D+, so I feel a bit overwhelmed with the sheer volume of TV material that’s being produced, of questionable quality, and that I once again won’t catch up with.

There’s also the appearance of crossover between the storylines of some series, which leads to the same confusion or frustration experienced in comics.

Volume of material + crossover complications + churning out quantity while not maintaining quality, very reminiscent of Marvel comics in the early 90s. Not a good thing.

Too much to keep up with, and, overwhelmed, killed my interest in the process.

Quantity over quantity became the challenge.

[drotto]

On 11/18/2022 at 8:54 AM, Bosco685 said:

Quantity over quantity became the challenge.

Phase 4 the largest as far as quantity, yet it feels like nothing substantial has happened. How can that much be made, and it feels like the overall story of the universe has barley inched forward? What was the central theme?

 

In phases 1 to 3 we knew what each phase was about.  We knew who the villain was.  We had an idea what it was building too.  Phase 4, there is a spoon ton of stuff, with no focus, but love it all because it is the best thing since the last thing.

Edited November 18, 2022 by drotto

[sd2416]

On 11/18/2022 at 7:54 AM, Bosco685 said:

Quantity over quantity became the challenge.

Perhaps they thought the challenge was quantity over quality?

[sd2416]

Phase four introduced Shang Chi, Eternals, Moon Knight, Kamala Kahn, She Hulk, Werewolf by night, expanded on Wanda's story, gave Thor a child and his hammer back, killed off T'challa, Jane Foster, introduced Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, US Agent, made Falcon Captain America, redeemed Bucky some, introduced Kang, and introduced the multiverse. 

But it does feel like nothing much has really changed in this phase.  What is 5's focus?

[D84]

On 11/18/2022 at 9:42 AM, sd2416 said:

Phase four introduced Shang Chi, Eternals, Moon Knight, Kamala Kahn, She Hulk, Werewolf by night, expanded on Wanda's story, gave Thor a child and his hammer back, killed off T'challa, Jane Foster, introduced Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, US Agent, made Falcon Captain America, redeemed Bucky some, introduced Kang, and introduced the multiverse. 

But it does feel like nothing much has really changed in this phase.  What is 5's focus?

Getting customers back?

[D84]

From here on out, I dub Phase IV as "The Downward Spiral."

[drotto]

On 11/18/2022 at 10:42 AM, sd2416 said:

Phase four introduced Shang Chi, Eternals, Moon Knight, Kamala Kahn, She Hulk, Werewolf by night, expanded on Wanda's story, gave Thor a child and his hammer back, killed off T'challa, Jane Foster, introduced Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, US Agent, made Falcon Captain America, redeemed Bucky some, introduced Kang, and introduced the multiverse. 

But it does feel like nothing much has really changed in this phase.  What is 5's focus?

The changes feel like change for the sake of change, rather than anything that drives the narrative. They are repeating all the mistakes of Marvel circa 2015-2016 when the comics basically wholesale replaced, retired, or redefined about 90% of the characters.  Total out with the old in with the new, and fans hated it.  For the most part it was a complete failure, and much has since been reversed. But floppy comics are still struggling, since many fans never came back.

 

I am completely puzzled why the MCU is going down the same road.

[Axelrod]

It's definitely a re-set/re-boot attempt with the retiring of most of the "original" Avengers.  Seems like this Phase has primarily been about introducing a bunch of new characters, presumably in the hope that some of them would really catch on.

They are going to start bringing them together.  Phase 5 doesn't look to be introducing very many new characters at all.  The Thunderbolts movie is pulling from like 4 different series, and then, Kang, Skrulls Invasion, culminating in some kind of Secret Wars mash-up? But unfortunately they've really lost a lot of the momentum they had. 

I would say the quality of the stories has been slightly down from previous Phases, but frankly not all that much.  I think they're suffering more from comic book movie over-exposure and audience exhaustion.  

[Larryw7]

The whole comic book movie and TV market has become completely over saturated. I'm really losing interest in everything.

[Cat]

On 11/19/2022 at 2:24 AM, D84 said:

From here on out, I dub Phase IV as "The Downward Spiral."

Classic album. 

[Ken Aldred]

On 11/19/2022 at 1:31 AM, Cat said:

Classic album. 

Indeed.

But, will the MCU remain Broken, or be Fixed?

[Ken Aldred]

On 11/18/2022 at 11:06 PM, Larryw7 said:

The whole comic book movie and TV market has become completely over saturated. I'm really losing interest in everything.

A balancing act between exploiting FOMO at one extreme and risking viewers giving up on an overwhelming amount of product at the other.

Got to collect them all, or read them all, or watch them all.

While the going's good, until the equilibrium shifts, as it did in the mid 90s for physical comic books. We'll see if and when it happens here to that extent.

 

Edited November 19, 2022 by Ken Aldred

[drotto]

On 11/19/2022 at 7:36 AM, Ken Aldred said:

A balancing act between exploiting FOMO at one extreme and risking viewers giving up on an overwhelming amount of product at the other.

Got to collect them all, or read them all, or watch them all.

While the going's good, until the equilibrium shifts, as it did in the mid 90s for physical comic books. We'll see if and when it happens here to that extent.

 

Honestly, the MCU needs to take a little break, or at least slow down.  The shows look like financial losers at this point, and the movies while profitable are way down.  I am not sure how they can reset though based on the amount that has already been green lite, budgeted, and is in some phase of production. In a perfect world, the best thing would be wait until they can bring in the Fantastic Four and the X-Men formally into the MCU, and do a soft reboot at that point. Even if that means we get nothing for 1 or 2 years.

 

I do not see that happening.

[flynavy807]

On 11/13/2022 at 3:20 AM, Bosco685 said:

1) Spider-Man: No Way Home - So much fan cast gifting bringing back multi-franchise characters 

2) Hawkeye - I was surprised how much I enjoyed this series.

3) Loki - For the most part, it delivered some good use of the multiverse concept with differing variants.

4) Werewolf By Night - What a fun time! And the Man-Thing as an added logical gift to the story.

My exact list except I am swapping Loki and WBN. Man-Thing was excellent. 

[Hamlet]

On 11/18/2022 at 5:06 PM, Larryw7 said:

The whole comic book movie and TV market has become completely over saturated. I'm really losing interest in everything.

Yup.  I’m a comic book guy, and I’m tired of comic book movies.  I don’t think this is sustainable.  

Part of the problem is that nothing is ever going to match the buildup and payoff of all of the movies all leading into Endgame.  When looked at as a whole, those movies starting with Iron Man and ending with Endgame are one of the greatest achievements in cinematic history.  Nothing is ever going to match that again in the superhero genre.

I still watch some of the newer stuff, but none of it is must see, and for the most part it is all stuff I’ve seen before.  How many of these movies can be entertaining once you’ve seen 20+ movies just like it?
 

 

 

[MetalPSI]

On 11/18/2022 at 6:07 AM, Ken Aldred said:

For me, lost interest in the films when there was one negative consensus after another, Black Widow to the second Dr Strange, with only Spider-Man being the one I’m really interested in catching up with eventually.

I’ve no interest in subscribing to D+, so I feel a bit overwhelmed with the sheer volume of TV material that’s being produced, of questionable quality, and that I once again won’t catch up with.

There’s also the appearance of crossover between the storylines of some series, which leads to the same confusion or frustration experienced in comics.

Volume of material + crossover complications + churning out quantity while not maintaining quality, very reminiscent of Marvel comics in the early 90s. Not a good thing.

Too much to keep up with, and, overwhelmed, killed my interest in the process.

If you are able, give Loki a try

Bit dry to start, but the last two episodes are fantastic 

[MetalPSI]

Well, talk about underwhelming...

 

[godzilla43]

Those are all you like? 
I think I am some what critical of Disney/Marvel still there is lot I liked from Phase 1, 2 and 3. Only Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 3, Thor Dark World and Captain Marvel were movies that I did not like and I don't remember anything about Ant-Man 2. 

Edited November 21, 2022 by godzilla43

[MetalPSI]

On 11/21/2022 at 12:19 AM, godzilla43 said:

Those are all you like? 
I think I am some what critical of Disney/Marvel still there is lot I liked from Phase 1, 2 and 3. Only Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 3, Thor Dark World and Captain Marvel were movies that I did not like and I don't remember anything about Ant-Man 2. 

Yeah those are the only ones I watched more than once.

The first Spiderman was ok, but not good enough. Best thing about that show was Micheal Keaton 

[MetalPSI]

In fact, in phase 4 I've only watched 4 shows 

Cannot be bothered at all with the rest

Phase 1 to 3, I watched every movie, except these "one shots" and these movies, Captain Marvel, Black Panther and Winter Soldier

I didnt watch Winter Soldier because Captain America was terrible. Not even sure I finished it.

Though its probably better than Iron Man 3

Edited November 21, 2022 by MetalPSI