Comics and Movies

The answer is simple. The only studio putting out good superhero films at this point is Disney.

Disregard the Marvel name on Sony’s films, they’re not Disney produced. They just have the rights to Spider-Man and the related characters like Venom, Kraven, and Madame Web.

And outside of Spider-Man, their extended universe is dead after Kraven’s release and failing.

Even Disney had some bombs but it looks like they’ve course corrected. But let’s see what the new Captain America gives us.

I’ve heard there have been a ton of changes and reshoots done on that one as well.
Course corrected? The course has been nothing but bad except two sequels that they didn't interfere with in Deadpool/Wolverine and Guardians of the Galaxy 3. The disney plus show that setup "Captain America" was awful and they have had nothing but reshoots and even a renaming of the "Captain America" movie without Steve Rogers. (goodluck with that)
 
Eagerly awaiting @quickccc 's opinion of the teaser. I could not spot a glimpse of Julia Garner (Silver Surfer/Shalla-Bal).

I wonder which character is John Malkovich playing? Kinda mysterious how he just EMERGES out of shadow for a few seconds only.
 
Eagerly awaiting @quickccc 's opinion of the teaser. I could not spot a glimpse of Julia Garner (Silver Surfer/Shalla-Bal).

I wonder which character is John Malkovich playing? Kinda mysterious how he just EMERGES out of shadow for a few seconds only.
Is Sue Storm the woman who plays The Hangman, on Penguin ?
 
Is Sue Storm the woman who plays The Hangman, on Penguin ?
Oh, heck no. You are thinking of Cristin Milioti. Sue is being played by Vanessa Kirby.

Kirby has built up a respectable resume of much better work but I remember her mostly as Hattie in Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw.


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Oh, heck no. You are thinking of Cristin Milioti. Sue is being played by Vanessa Kirby.

Kirby has built up a respectable resume of much better work but I remember her mostly as Hattie in Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw.


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I wasn't sure. In just one scene, her eyes looked a lot like her.
 
Eagerly awaiting @quickccc 's opinion of the teaser. I could not spot a glimpse of Julia Garner (Silver Surfer/Shalla-Bal).

I wonder which character is John Malkovich playing? Kinda mysterious how he just EMERGES out of shadow for a few seconds only.
Would John Malkovich be in line to be the Puppet Master ?

i didnt see the female Silver Surfer (Shalla-Bal) in the trailer either, but i thought i saw a cross-fingers glimpse of the head of Galactus,.. so of course its' only a
a matter of time before we see eventually see near future trailers of the Surfer the close we get to the beginning of Summer.

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i'm still trying to get used to Pedro Pascal role (and his moustache ?) as Mr. Fantastic.
I'm so very hoping this isn't a Ben Afleck/Bruce Wayne-Batman miscast, but i'll really give it a try.
Ditto with a CGI imaging The Thing, ..

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Be interesting to see if non popular, relatively unknown marvel super hero team pans out.

I thought the far much more popular Alpha Flight, Hellfire Club or Inhuman (reboot) would have been much better served ..than this " Thunderbolts"
Disney/Marvel is likely taking the safer route of familiarity:
  • Alpha Flight - no prominent characters introduced in previous movies (MCU or otherwise) except for Weapon X, which movies audiences know and love as Wolverine a.k.a. Hugh 'Box Office Man' Jackman.
  • Hellfire Club - total redo is necessary in my opinion since their major screen time was set in the early 1960s in X-Men: First Class, which is high on my mutant film list but not necessarily for the general audience. The villains were mostly and subsequently killed off in X-Men: Days of Future Past--which I thought was yet another in a long line of 20th Century Fox movie brainfarts. A remake is doable but I doubt the studio would make that kind of investment.
  • Inhumans--another hypothetical redo that the studio would consider building upon the absolute bomb of a television series. I would give better odds for the other two groups making appearances. That said, Marvel Television's tweaking of Ms. Marvel and the Black Bolt appearance in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness does lend some credibility to them working some of the members or the entire group into their MCU storyline down the road. Perhaps in Secret Wars..?
All of the Thunderbolts characters are established in previous MCU films prior to their team debut. It is not the same thing (since none of them appeared in solo projects) but it is similar to the introductory formula used for the first Avengers movie.
 
The Thunderbolts movie wasn't on my radar and I didn't really care about it when they announced it but that trailer was really good. Interested in how they pull off the Sentry/Void dynamic.
I think we saw the Void at the 10-second mark. He’s both the darkness as well as the shadowy figure that was vaporizing terrorized civilians.

I’m worried that they’re going to compress the entire Sentry story into this one film and give us a picked-over, Cliff’s notes version of it. That would be a shame.
 
Disney/Marvel is likely taking the safer route of familiarity:
  • Alpha Flight - no prominent characters introduced in previous movies (MCU or otherwise) except for Weapon X, which movies audiences know and love as Wolverine a.k.a. Hugh 'Box Office Man' Jackman.
  • Hellfire Club - total redo is necessary in my opinion since their major screen time was set in the early 1960s in X-Men: First Class, which is high on my mutant film list but not necessarily for the general audience. The villains were mostly and subsequently killed off in X-Men: Days of Future Past--which I thought was yet another in a long line of 20th Century Fox movie brainfarts. A remake is doable but I doubt the studio would make that kind of investment.
  • Inhumans--another hypothetical redo that the studio would consider building upon the absolute bomb of a television series. I would give better odds for the other two groups making appearances. That said, Marvel Television's tweaking of Ms. Marvel and the Black Bolt appearance in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness does lend some credibility to them working some of the members or the entire group into their MCU storyline down the road. Perhaps in Secret Wars..?
All of the Thunderbolts characters are established in previous MCU films prior to their team debut. It is not the same thing (since none of them appeared in solo projects) but it is similar to the introductory formula used for the first Avengers movie.
- A new Hellire Club movie could always be a prequel origin, dating the making of the club.

- I'm not sure previous Marvel movies such as the Eternals or Shang Chi had previous MCU introductions ?

- As with all Marvel films, and always, the laugh and success of a " true" legit successful Inhumans live action film will depend upon the studio and it's director - live or die the sorry ABC series version
seem one that made an Inhuman film just for the sad sake of making one. Marvel fanbase knew how crummy that effort was by Disney/ABC.

HellFire Club

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Alpha Flight
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Inhumans
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- I'm not sure previous Marvel movies such as the Eternals or Shang Chi had previous MCU introductions ?
That is an excellent observation and question, which I have my own opinions as possible explanations. Both Eternals and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings were post-Phase 3/The Infinity Saga productions.

I think Eternals was intended as a 'cosmic' bridge from TIS to the Multiverse Saga. It would be hard to top Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlets, which was a cosmic level plot line. Celestials are cosmic level entities, who are ingrained within the Eternals' comic book story. That is my guess for why the Eternal's superhero team was selected as a standalone movie.

Methinks Shang-Chi's introduction was brought about for two reasons. First, to continue expanding superhero variety. Despite the inclusion of his Ten Rings, Shang-Chi main skill attribute (as a normal human) is his solo mastery of hand-to-hand combat. The MCU has been graced with other hand-to-hand fighters also but most or all have been augmented in some way, like:
  • Captain America (super solder serum)
  • Black Panther (Wakanda vibranium technology)
  • Wolverine (mutant healing factor/guy can keep slicing and dicing forever which getting destroyed in a fight)
The closest MCU solo character (thus far) similar to Shang-Chi has been Black Widow. Normal human. Superior hand-to-hand combatant first. Gadgets (like her Widow Bite bracelets) second.

If characters like Alpha Flight and The Hellfire Club have a chance at being birthed or re-birthed into the MCU, my guess is that television might be their best route getting there. That said, I do not have much confidence in characters like The Inhumans receiving a first or second opportunity. Its television series barely lasted three months and hardly any fanfare. Just do not see Disney taking another swing at the Kree's creations as an ensemble.
 
https://variety.com/2025/film/box-o...on-presidents-day-holiday-weekend-1236309865/

https://comicbookmovie.com/captain-...ictions-with-194-million-global-debut-a216243

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/16/business/captain-america-marvel-box-office.html

Marvel’s New ‘Captain America’ Is No. 1, Despite a Backlash and Poor Reviews​

“ Captain America: Brave New World” was expected to take in $100 million from Thursday through Monday in North America. "

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https://variety.com/2025/film/box-o...on-presidents-day-holiday-weekend-1236309865/

Box Office: ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ Flies to Heroic $100 Million Over Presidents Day Holiday Weekend​


45d7fceb5dccf86aac0d7fcf02f76391.jpg
 
https://variety.com/2025/film/box-o...on-presidents-day-holiday-weekend-1236309865/



https://variety.com/2025/film/box-o...on-presidents-day-holiday-weekend-1236309865/

Box Office: ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ Flies to Heroic $100 Million Over Presidents Day Holiday Weekend​


45d7fceb5dccf86aac0d7fcf02f76391.jpg
The first week/$100 million mark is totally expected, by me at least. The MCU title and Captain America sequel/lineage practically guaranteed it.

The real challenge begins after the second week of box office and beyond. My guess is CA: BNW's first week will fall in the $100 - $125 million range. If it does, it will join the MCU's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Iron Man, Thor: Ragnarok and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania in that first release week range. Those films had second week box office drops of:

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 (-48%)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (-62%)
Iron Man (-50%)
Thor: Ragnarok (-53%)
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (-70%)

Still too early to predict the movie's long-term take at the box office. All of the aforementioned movies had ended with worldwide box office above $460 million. Can CA: BNW do as well or better?
 
The first week/$100 million mark is totally expected, by me at least. The MCU title and Captain America sequel/lineage practically guaranteed it.

The real challenge begins after the second week of box office and beyond. My guess is CA: BNW's first week will fall in the $100 - $125 million range. If it does, it will join the MCU's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Iron Man, Thor: Ragnarok and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania in that first release week range. Those films had second week box office drops of:

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 (-48%)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (-62%)
Iron Man (-50%)
Thor: Ragnarok (-53%)
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (-70%)

Still too early to predict the movie's long-term take at the box office. All of the aforementioned movies had ended with worldwide box office above $460 million. Can CA: BNW do as well or better?
Yes, I expect the drop offs after the opening and first weekends , I don't see Falcon/Capt America combo near as sensational and draw appealing as black panther or iron man solo film , I'm still odds as should there have been consideration for a new re-cast for Steve rogers/Capt America..instead of combo falc/CA. but the studio has long introduced this into MCU per Disney Falc/winter soldier series (and a very successful series at that) ..so what's done is done.

I'm just glad that per initial box office opening , it seems viewers audience was definitely most interest and anxious to see this film that put marvel back on the map,..vs the lethal comic book disasters that have been spawned to repel audiences away from the theaters..ala Kraven, Madame Web, Morbius, the Eternals, Blue Beetle ,etc, etc,...

This film and Deadpool wolverine success has helped ease the comic book fatigue epidemic ..for now.
 
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