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The Lounge => Media and Inspiration => Topic started by: Shrieking Banshee on November 07, 2021, 06:00:14 PM

Title: Marvel Films are the Crabsticks of Marvel Comics
Post by: Shrieking Banshee on November 07, 2021, 06:00:14 PM
As a wee lad in my homeland, I could actually get comics at corner kiosks (and I did). The comics sold there where Marvel comics, and so I had a deep apreciation for the characters. Spiderman (whos iconic form was that of a married man, to me) was my favorite, but I also liked the Fantastic 4.

It wasn't all great, and I fell out of it once I felt the characters became repetative, but I liked the universe as a whole.

Then came the Marvel films, and they felt impressive at first. To me the entire idea of what could be done with it culminated in the Avengers. After that, I became increasingly bored with them. The limits of the format, the general repitition, and near identical everything between every film made each one feel like a Malibu Stacey. Identical sans a different hat.

With time I began to forget what I even liked about the Marvel Universe since it was so boring. My childhood liking of the setting faded away and was replaced by an endless procession of special effects farmed out to the same people in South korea or india. Similar art design, similar toned down villians, samey plots....So boring. I attributed me liking it as a kid to having low expectations.

But one day I watched the Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes animated show (because I like animated things)....And it was like a jolt of energy. 'Oh yeah, THATS what the MU is about!'. AEMH is a brilliant adaptation all on its own, doing in two seasons nearly what the DAU did in multiple series with a strong focus on continuity and a great backstory that meant you got to experience the story in media rez instead of focusing on a villian of the week.

Which made me realize how shitty the MCU is outside of its base elements of being a mildly crossovery series. How much creative or fun stuff had to be given the axe in order to cram this animal into a standardized generic box. The Scrull, an awesome species of shapeshifting paranoia inducing alien invaders are a fuckin footnote.

Im not blind to the old Marvel comics faults. Lots of flabs and bad writing. But I realized that the MCU is cripplingly limited. It turns all plots and characters into a mush, dyes it up in the same cinematographic food coloring, and then sells it. Thats why the MCU is a crabstick.
Title: Re: Marvel Films are the Crabsticks of Marvel Comics
Post by: hedgehobbit on November 08, 2021, 12:08:34 PM
The limits of the format, the general repitition, and near identical everything between every film made each one feel like a Malibu Stacey. Identical sans a different hat.

I've said before that we've hit the limit of what can be done with CGI, greenscreens, and wire work. And it isn't just Marvel as DC is the exact same. So similar that you could have taken any of the characters from Eternals and stuck them into Justice League and no one would have noticed they came from different universes. YouTuber Nerstalgic made a video called "The One Word Ruining Superhero Fight Scenes" about how flying in live action movies just doesn't work. Stretching is also a super power that doesn't work well in live action, so much so that they replaced Ms Marvel's powers for her appearance (as if anyone know what her old powers were anyway).

This problem is exacerbated by the fact that both Marvel and DC now seem insistent on hiring regular actors to portray superheroes and just put them into a sculpted rubber suits to hide the fact that they are schlubs or post-wall soccer moms.

But your point about animation is very important as that medium allows a variety of styles to keep the characters fresh. Just compare the Batman the Animated Series with Earth's Mightiest Heroes with One Punch Man. Three clearly distinct takes on the genre.
Title: Re: Marvel Films are the Crabsticks of Marvel Comics
Post by: Shrieking Banshee on November 08, 2021, 12:39:09 PM
But your point about animation is very important as that medium allows a variety of styles to keep the characters fresh. Just compare the Batman the Animated Series with Earth's Mightiest Heroes with One Punch Man. Three clearly distinct takes on the genre.

People as a whole don’t respect animation.

To them the work of 1000000 passionate and skilled animators is less valuable then Robert Downey junior pissing in a cup.

Worse even, just a fraction of his face, surrounded by cgi is “live action”, and is a “real movie”.

Im an animation student. ;(
Title: Re: Marvel Films are the Crabsticks of Marvel Comics
Post by: Omega on November 10, 2021, 07:09:40 AM
As a wee lad in my homeland, I could actually get comics at corner kiosks (and I did). The comics sold there where Marvel comics, and so I had a deep apreciation for the characters. Spiderman (whos iconic form was that of a married man, to me) was my favorite, but I also liked the Fantastic 4.

It wasn't all great, and I fell out of it once I felt the characters became repetative, but I liked the universe as a whole.

Then came the Marvel films, and they felt impressive at first. To me the entire idea of what could be done with it culminated in the Avengers. After that, I became increasingly bored with them. The limits of the format, the general repitition, and near identical everything between every film made each one feel like a Malibu Stacey. Identical sans a different hat.

The other problem is that very very quickly these characters stopped being the Marvel characters they were already only losely based on.

Then theres the huge problem that they keep trying to cram either a huge epic story into one movie. Or try to cram two or three different stories into one movie. Or all of the above.

This on top of the increasingly offensive woke agenda being pushed.

Everything Disney touches now is garbage and the other companies holding variant rights seem hellbent on outdoing them for botching it.

Same, except far far far worse for the modern DC movies. None of which I have liked at all.
Title: Re: Marvel Films are the Crabsticks of Marvel Comics
Post by: Aglondir on November 10, 2021, 09:59:18 PM
How to make a MCU movie:

Lots of quipping
Male character takes off shirt to reveal six pack
Skybeam and/or CGI army in third act
Heroes never wear masks so you can see the actors faces
Dumb post-credits scene that fans go crazy about 
"<The characters> will return" at very end



Title: Re: Marvel Films are the Crabsticks of Marvel Comics
Post by: Omega on November 11, 2021, 09:07:33 AM
How to make a MCU movie:

Heroes never wear masks so you can see the actors faces

This in particular really irks me to no end.

What is the point of making a superhero movie if they pop off the masks every 5 minutes. This goes all the way back to the Spiderman movies.
Some moron was even complaining about the Lone Ranger wearing a mask in the movies.
Title: Re: Marvel Films are the Crabsticks of Marvel Comics
Post by: Shrieking Banshee on November 11, 2021, 10:33:39 AM
What is the point of making a superhero movie if they pop off the masks every 5 minutes. This goes all the way back to the Spiderman movies.

Strong bad was on point more then a decade ago.
Title: Re: Marvel Films are the Crabsticks of Marvel Comics
Post by: jhkim on November 11, 2021, 03:46:27 PM
Heroes never wear masks so you can see the actors faces

This in particular really irks me to no end.

What is the point of making a superhero movie if they pop off the masks every 5 minutes. This goes all the way back to the Spiderman movies.

This one is rooted in the differences between mediums. The primary reason for masks and colorful costumes in comics is specifically because it's hard to draw a person's face consistently in panel after panel - even more so if the artist is changing from issue to issue. In addition, naturalistic faces in comics don't convey emotion very well. That's why comics and cartoons tend to use exaggerated faces and expressions. So successful comics rely more on costumes and masks to identify their characters.

Conversely, in film, close-ups on actors' faces conveys emotion really well, and successful movies tend to capitalize on that. This is one of the big differences between stage plays and films. Stage plays are less focused around emotional identification with a protagonist, because without close-ups the audience doesn't connect as closely with the main character. But often successful stage plays don't work as well in film because of this difference.

It can still be annoying, but one should at least understand there's a reason for it.
Title: Re: Marvel Films are the Crabsticks of Marvel Comics
Post by: Ratman_tf on November 11, 2021, 07:55:56 PM
Same, except far far far worse for the modern DC movies. None of which I have liked at all.

I really liked Shazam and the first Wonder Woman. (Excluding the CGI mess in WW) The rest were dissapointing.
Title: Re: Marvel Films are the Crabsticks of Marvel Comics
Post by: Omega on November 12, 2021, 06:35:59 AM
Same, except far far far worse for the modern DC movies. None of which I have liked at all.

I really liked Shazam and the first Wonder Woman. (Excluding the CGI mess in WW) The rest were dissapointing.

I particularly detested the Shazam movie. Its in name only and just tramples everything established.

Even the saturday morning Captain Marvel series and the old movie serial were more respectful of the characters than this junk.