Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, (though lately it seems to be evening out, admittedly), so let us talk about Marvel’s Hit-Monkey series that had come out today, (Nov 17, 2021). What can be said about it?
It is actually a tough one to describe. On one hand,
the combined Marvel team seems to be more withdrawn about it than it did about
its’ M.O.D.O.K. cartoon, though it must be pointed out that the two cartoon
series are very different on practically every level; M.O.D.O.K. was all about
the universe, if not the multiverse, while Hit-Monkey is more restrained, with
strong overtones not just of Deadpool, but also of the Kill Bill franchise,
(which is owned neither by MCU nor by Disney, thank God). More precisely,
whereas M.O.D.O.K. tried to encompass everything but the kitchen sink, ignoring
the fact that most of it just unnecessarily cluttered the main story line – the
titular character’s attempts to balance out his job and his family life, cough –
Hit-Monkey doesn’t do that; it is actually about the titular character avenging
his monkey tribe, while meeting all sorts of new people – such as Fat Cobra and
Lady Bullseye – in the process of doing this. …Yes, it is an overly simplified synopsis,
but it still works; while MCU seems to be getting into the multiverse aspect of
itself, Hit-Monkey, well, does not – it got plenty of drama as it is. Of
course, WV and TFAAWS did as well, not to mention the ‘Black Widow’ movie, (and
I have my doubts about the upcoming ‘Hawkeye’ series too), but, again, this
might be a part of the MCU Phase 4 plan.
Let us elaborate. The first three phases were about ‘the
sacred timeline’, to use a quote from ‘Loki’, (the show, not its’ titular
character). That is good, but in the same show, we saw Sylvie killing off
He-Who-Remains, who was one of the Kangs, and so ‘the sacred timeline’ is now just
‘one face in the crowd’ instead. ‘Loki’ also had another Kang taking over the
TVA now that HWR is gone, (for the foreseeable future), and so the TVA aren’t
about to interfere once Spider-Man, (the Tom Holland version) and Dr. Strange
cast the spell that we saw in the trailers – one that was supposed to change
the reality…but because Peter Parker began to lose his nerve at the last
minute, everything has went wrong, and the latest trailer showed us, among
other things, the multiverse of madness beginning to manifest, and Dr. Strange
being caught in the middle of it as well. Now what?
Well, firstly, this movie is going to be about
Spider-Man, as he tries to save a lot of people at once, while Dr. Strange –
well, this version of Dr. Strange, as
opposed to the one that we’ve met in the episode 1x04 of ‘What If?’ – is trying
to actually repair the damage by returning everything to the status-quo, i.e.
how it was before the spell was cast; as the latest trailer shows, the good
doctor apparently fails. Back to Spider-Man?
Well, aside from MJ doing the swan done as done by
Gwen Stacy in the ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ movie series, (Earth-120703, if anyone
cares), there’s the fact that maybe not all of the villains will go after
Spider-Man at once; Dr. Octopus in particular seems to have a change of heart,
(while Electro appears to have been re-designed instead). It will be interesting
to see as to how Peter will deal with all of this, (to say nothing of MJ, you
know?).
This, in turn, brings us to the ‘Venom’ films as well
as the upcoming ‘Morbius’ movie – by now, the fans are wondering, just what is
going on with them? The trailer for ‘Morbius’ in particular seems to be incorporating
elements from all three Spider-Man franchises – and it does. Odds are that
after the dust of ‘No Way Home’ settles, the world of this Spider-Man and his
cohorts will be transferred from MCU to the ‘Sony Universe of Marvel Characters’,
which is an entirely different situation and a universe as well. There, Peter
Parker, (in whichever incarnation of his), and his friends, (the ones that will
survive, anyhow), will try to make their new lives, with no way of returning home,
(since the relationship between Sony and Disney/MCU isn’t all that friendly
still), while Dr. Strange will have his own hands full, (as depicted in his own
upcoming ‘multiverse of madness’ movie, remember?). Moreover, this sort of a situation
will fit well into the MCU’s Phase 4 theme of transitions; even the upcoming ‘Hawkeye’
series fit into this theme, as the titular…title will pass from Clint to Kate.
Is there anything else?
Ah yes, getting back to Hit-Monkey, this particular
Hulu series doesn’t fit MCU’s phase 4 at all, and we’re not talking about the
depiction styles either. Then again, ever since the Helstrom series, Hulu’s
Marvel shows and series tended not to
be part of MCU at all, so Hit-Monkey’s ‘nonconformism’ is not too surprising
either, to be honest. It is still fun to watch though, but that opinion is subjective…
Well, this is it for now. See you all soon.
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