Comics and Movies

[Runwildboys]

There's definitely various different opinions, as I'd have to claim Falcon/Winter Soldier as easily hands down, my favorite among the Disney-Marvel series.
Like others, I had all kind of issues trying to get past the black-white " I Love Lucy " like sitcom style.

Plus Winter Soldier continued the story of the the Super-Soldiers (all assassinated in Civil War)

I liked Falcon and the Winter Soldier as well, more than it seemed a lot of people did...though it did get a little iffy toward the end.

 

[quickccc]

Excellent question but I would expand choices to encompass every Marvel Comics television series that premiered post-Iron Man (2008). I would rank the shows, best-to-worst, as:

• Daredevil (Netflix)
• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC)
• Jessica Jones (Netflix)
• Loki (Disney+)
• Luke Cage (Netflix)
• The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (Disney+)
• Agent Carter (ABC)
• The Punisher (Netflix)
• WandaVision (Disney+)
• What If...? (Disney+)
• The Defenders (Netflix)
• Hawkeye (Disney+)
• Runaways (Hulu)
• Iron Fist (Netflix)
• Moon Knight (Disney+)
• Cloak & Dagger (Hulu)
• Inhumans (ABC)

Note: I have not seen Hulu's Helstrom yet

1) Daredevil
2) The Defenders
3) Falcon/Winter Soldier
4) Luke Cage
5) The Punisher
6) Jessica Jones
7) Iron Fist
8) Wanda Vision
9) What If ..
10) Moon Knight ?

- I haven’t finished What if, and Moon Knight.
- Hated the Inhumans
- Never seen Runaways, Agent Carter or Cloak & Dagger
- Meh on Agents of Shield and Hawkeye and Loki
- The Gifted ? (FOX)

 

[Stash]

It got really good in the second half...good enough to make it well worth the first half...but I absolutely hated the whole sitcom part.

Me? I loved that. I’m a big fan of the 50’s and the sitcoms of that era. And I thought the way they transitioned through the various decades each week was genius. I’ve rewatched that series several times now and I appreciated it more each time.

 

[Stash]

There's definitely various different opinions, as I'd have to claim Falcon/Winter Soldier as easily hands down, my favorite among the Disney-Marvel series.
Like others, I had all kind of issues trying to get past the black-white " I Love Lucy " like sitcom style.

Plus Winter Soldier continued the story of the the Super-Soldiers (all assassinated in Civil War)

That one is much further down my list. I thought the villain(s) were by far the weakest and most annoying of any of the series.

 

[quickccc]

My grade for Doctor Strange 2 shows how much more I enjoyed it but it does not compare at all to Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Ironically Winter Soldier is easily among my top two all time superhero movies ever:
Here's how i would rank the All time best superhero films ever.

1 Avengers Infinity
2 Winter Soldier
3 Xmen United
4 The Dark Knight
5 Xmen First Class
6 Captain America- Civil War
7 Avengers
8 Spiderman
9 Xmen Days of Future Past
10 Xmen

Would my all time list be similar to anyone else here ?

 

[DallasEast]

Same here liked Hawkeye too. Overall I liked WandaVision better, once they got into the story, but they almost lost me with that sitcom bit too. They rode that sitcom bit way too long, especially for a short series, it was clever but became tiresome.

It got really good in the second half...good enough to make it well worth the first half...but I absolutely hated the whole sitcom part.

I am in the minority about the sitcom part of WandaVision. Perhaps it was partly because I could "see" why they would fashion a totally atypical atmosphere for Wanda. Before the series, we saw her:

• lose her brother, to whom she was very close
• fall in love with The Vision
• forced to kill The Vision then
• immediately forced to witness The Vision be brought BACK to life and watch him get killed all over again
• get dusted
• get brought back just in time to enact her revenge on Thanos and be deprived of even that satisfaction.

I mean, how would anyone, even someone with mystical powers, deal with such tremendous personal losses and mental anguish?

Well. How about getting thrown into a black-and-white I Love Lucy environment to start with? Seriously. That is a deep far left field twist straight out of the comics. Although it was dull for some of the audience and I understand why, it was still great imagination that was totally unexpected.

I loved how tiny hints quickly suggested it was not some alternate universe the couple had unknowingly fallen into. The transitioning through The Dick Van Dyke Show, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, etc., while Wanda seemed to simply take everything she experienced as normal. AND knowing The Vision should be dead! Every episode was interesting for me.

 

[DallasEast]

2) The Defenders

wow. I did not see that high ranking coming. Then again, I may eventually re-think my opinion of the show looking back at the inclusion of Sigourney Weaver, Elodie Yung and a little of Rosario Dawson thrown in too.

The Gifted ? (FOX)

Dang it! How did I forget that one? Still pissed off at its cancellation EXACTLY when Blink finally gained FULL control of her teleportation power. Thanks for reminding me. Here's my revised list:

• Daredevil (Netflix)
• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC)
• Jessica Jones (Netflix)
• Loki (Disney+)
• Luke Cage (Netflix)
• The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (Disney+)
• Agent Carter (ABC)
• The Punisher (Netflix)
• WandaVision (Disney+)
• What If...? (Disney+)
• The Defenders (Netflix)
• The Gifted (FOX)
• Hawkeye (Disney+)
• Runaways (Hulu)
• Iron Fist (Netflix)
• Moon Knight (Disney+)
• Cloak & Dagger (Hulu)
• Inhumans (ABC)

 

[DallasEast]

Which major and minor characters were dusted during The Snap?

• Nick Fury (BUT NOT HIS BEEPER LOL!)
• Clint Barton's family (but not Ronin)
• Hank Pym's family
• Peter Parker
• Aunt May
• Michelle Jones
• Ned
• Sam Wilson
• Bucky Barnes
• Mantis
• Drax
• Groot
• Peter Quill
• Doctor Strange
• T'Challa
• Wanda Maximoff

There were definitely more folks...

 

[Runwildboys]

Me? I loved that. I’m a big fan of the 50’s and the sitcoms of that era. And I thought the way they transitioned through the various decades each week was genius. I’ve rewatched that series several times now and I appreciated it more each time.

I did appreciate the way they advanced a decade each week, but most old sitcoms at least had a few moments of actually funny stuff, mixed with corn. Everything in the Wandavision scenes was just corny and (forgive me for using the current vernacular) cringe. The only thing that kept me watching was my faith in Marvel. If Moon Knight had come out first, I probably wouldn't have had that faith, and would have quit after two episodes.

 

[Runwildboys]

I am in the minority about the sitcom part of WandaVision. Perhaps it was partly because I could "see" why they would fashion a totally atypical atmosphere for Wanda. Before the series, we saw her:

• lose her brother, to whom she was very close
• fall in love with The Vision
• forced to kill The Vision then
• immediately forced to witness The Vision be brought BACK to life and watch him get killed all over again
• get dusted
• get brought back just in time to enact her revenge on Thanos and be deprived of even that satisfaction.

I mean, how would anyone, even someone with mystical powers, deal with such tremendous personal losses and mental anguish?

Well. How about getting thrown into a black-and-white I Love Lucy environment to start with? Seriously. That is a deep far left field twist straight out of the comics. Although it was dull for some of the audience and I understand why, it was still great imagination that was totally unexpected.

I loved how tiny hints quickly suggested it was not some alternate universe the couple had unknowingly fallen into. The transitioning through The Dick Van Dyke Show, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, etc., while Wanda seemed to simply take everything she experienced as normal. AND knowing The Vision should be dead! Every episode was interesting for me.

I got it, and appreciated what they were doing. I just felt that they could have at least made it somewhat funny, and I felt they dragged in on much longer than necessary. I think they could've done all the sitcom stuff in the first episode...maybe partly into the second.

 

[Stash]

I did appreciate the way they advanced a decade each week, but most old sitcoms at least had a few moments of actually funny stuff, mixed with corn. Everything in the Wandavision scenes was just corny and (forgive me for using the current vernacular) cringe. The only thing that kept me watching was my faith in Marvel. If Moon Knight had come out first, I probably wouldn't have had that faith, and would have quit after two episodes.

Not the curiosity to find out just what the heck was going on?

 

[Runwildboys]

Not the curiosity to find out just what the heck was going on?

Well, yes, I was curious, which is another reason I hated that they were dragging it out.

A little about me: We have now, and have had in the past a few guys at work with foreign accents. A few Jamaicans, a French Canadian, a Portuguese...and if I had to say, "What?" more than twice I'd just say, "Never mind.", and walk away. When I get annoyed, I have very little patience. The sitcom parts of Wandavision were annoying to me.

 

[Stash]

Well, yes, I was curious, which is another reason I hated that they were dragging it out.

A little about me: We have now, and have had in the past a few guys at work with foreign accents. A few Jamaicans, a French Canadian, a Portuguese...and if I had to say, "What?" more than twice I'd just say, "Never mind.", and walk away. When I get annoyed, I have very little patience. The sitcom parts of Wandavision were annoying to me.

Can I call you AL?

 

[Runwildboys]

Can I call you AL?

If I can call you Betty!

 

[Roadtrip635]

I got it, and appreciated what they were doing. I just felt that they could have at least made it somewhat funny, and I felt they dragged in on much longer than necessary. I think they could've done all the sitcom stuff in the first episode...maybe partly into the second.

I'm with you on that. I thought it was clever, too drawn out though, but like you had faith it was going somewhere and eventually pay off. I remember at one point thinking are they going to go through every sitcom, because if they end up at Seinfeld and we learn that this was a TV show about nothing, I'm gonna be PO'd.....

 

[Runwildboys]

I'm with you on that. I thought it was clever, too drawn out though, but like you had faith it was going somewhere and eventually pay off. I remember at one point thinking are they going to go through every sitcom, because if they end up at Seinfeld and we learn that this was a TV show about nothing, I'm gonna be PO'd.....

LMAO!

 

[nobody]

Excellent question but I would expand choices to encompass every Marvel Comics television series that premiered post-Iron Man (2008). I would rank the shows, best-to-worst, as:

• Daredevil (Netflix)
• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC)
• Jessica Jones (Netflix)
• Loki (Disney+)
• Luke Cage (Netflix)
• The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (Disney+)
• Agent Carter (ABC)
• The Punisher (Netflix)
• WandaVision (Disney+)
• What If...? (Disney+)
• The Defenders (Netflix)
• Hawkeye (Disney+)
• Runaways (Hulu)
• Iron Fist (Netflix)
• Moon Knight (Disney+)
• Cloak & Dagger (Hulu)
• Inhumans (ABC)

Note: I have not seen Hulu's Helstrom yet

I'm going to bet that you ranked Jessica Jones so high simply because of David Tennant's Villain, the Purple Man.

 

[DallasEast]

I got it, and appreciated what they were doing. I just felt that they could have at least made it somewhat funny, and I felt they dragged in on much longer than necessary. I think they could've done all the sitcom stuff in the first episode...maybe partly into the second.

Understood. Opinions usually tend to differ. For me, it was mostly satire mixed in with some humor, which makes sense (to me at least) since its situational comedy was based on previously seen situational comedic shows, lol! So, the hahas worked for me but I understand why it does not work for others.

I may have felt the same way about the number of the episodes devoted to underlying mystery of Wanda and Vision in a town from yesterday if those episodes were unchanging and static. Instead, the episodes progressed through sitcom to sitcom. How the couple faced each changing situation while "knowing" something was not quite right was very interesting for me.

 

[DallasEast]

I'm going to bet that you ranked Jessica Jones so high simply because of David Tennant's Villain, the Purple Man.

Tennant was great but no. I enjoyed all three seasons and was as equally unhappy with the series' cancellation as I felt about Daredevil, Luke Cage and The Punisher getting the axe.

It would be easy for me getting long-winded about all the characters but I simply adored Krysten Ritter's cynical bad-<expletive> portrayal. The drinking was a bit much but I was totally okay with it. The second season dealt with her origin and her mother. It had about two episodes I liked better than a couple from the first season. As far as the final season is concerned, I had a love/hate appreciation for the Trish character. So, watching her gain abilities and then allowing her ego get the best of her was a very satisfying watch.

Edit: Now that I think about it... I had a similar love/hate thing for Gabrielle on Xena. One minute, she is a cute sidekick. The next minute, she was being too sanctimonious and turned my stomach. Xena would not have been the same show without her but, at the same time, I would have not mind having an opportunity to watch the series without her in it.

 

[DallasEast]

10 Reasons Why The Mandarin Is The Best MCU Antagonist
BY TANYA VANPRASEUTH | CBR
May 18, 2022

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings introduced the popular villain, Xu Wenwu, also known as the Mandarin. Although the concept of "The Mandarin" was introduced in the Iron Man movies, his true identity wasn’t revealed until the Shang-Chi film.

Although many fans believed he’d be a classic warlord villain, using any means to gain power, the Mandarin’s true motives of uniting his family surprised audiences. His story is explored in Shang-Chi and fans get to see just how impressive he is. They also get to see a side of him that shows grief and love in a complicated way. With his incredible power, silent intimidation, and emotion-filled story, the Mandarin easily became a fan-favorite villain.

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