FH: Medjai - July 22

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks; sometimes it sucks so badly, that you cannot sleep at night, but just lie there and wonder – just what are you doing, and where are you going, and where, and when, are you going to stop and get out of the groove – and go on from there to where?.. On a more lighter side, the ‘For Honour’ (FH) game has introduced the new character – the Medjai.

…Oh yes, undoubtedly, the Medjai – or rather, the Medjay, were a real-life organization, actually: first, they were a tribal group from Nubia, (a region located alongside the Nile river), and later on – something of a police organization during the existence of Ancient Egypt – something that the second incarnation of the ‘Mummy’ franchise used quite a bit. Yay?

Well, maybe – the Anubis-based armor used by FH’s Medjai clearly comes from that franchise, (as opposed to the aborted Tom Cruise one, eh?), as does this warrior’s double-axe, (double battle-axe, maybe)? There’s nothing original about the new guy, put otherwise, and what’s more, whereas its’ predecessors were taken – at least – from the now-defunct ‘Deadliest Warrior’ (DW) franchise, the Medjai doesn’t even have that – this is fiction at its’ purest. Ouch!

Finally, we return to MM for one last time – somehow we forgot to comment that MCU’s version KK is a mutant instead. Fancy that! In the original comics, MM was an InHuman instead, so now we got a flat-out switcharoo! Yay! Just kidding, but this is also one of the factors as to why the MM finale was about as bad as AoS’ had been – it is just flat-out incompatible with the rest of the show, just as AoS’ had been. However, AoS’ problems aside, in MM, the finale has rubbed-out the rest of the season – pause.

Let me start again. Throughout the first season of her show, KK was introduced and developed not as a mutant, or an InHuman, or some other Gifted, but as her own person, an independent and competent young woman, who has her own thing, and who does her own thing too. Great! She was also shown to have both her own allies and enemies, which is also wonderful – and then came the final scene, and all of this was flat-out removed, as not only Kamala was revealed to be ‘something else’ instead – i.e. a mutant, regardless whether a regular or an irregular one – but she has also found herself in an entirely different, non-connected situation from what she’d experienced so far…

…Something similar has happened to the Scarlet Witch too, in fact. Throughout WV, she has grown and changed as a character, and at the series’ finale, she actually began to return to her superhero roots – and then came the ‘Dr. Strange 2’ film, and all of that got thrown out of the window, with Wanda being reduced to someone not unlike the Wicked Queen from Disney’s original ‘Snow White’ animated movie. There is a reason as to why people are accusing Disney/MCU of mistreating their female characters, and this is a part of it. I do not know what will happen to Kamala next, has she just switched places with Carol Danvers, or if the two of them have switched their minds instead, but I really hope that she will get a better hand than the one that Wanda has received…

Well, this is it for now. See you all soon!

Avengers comics - July 20

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, and MCU has taken a breather for 5 weeks – thanks God. Why?

Because MM, in particular, had been an uninspiring mess! MCU’s Phase 4 is about transitions and introductions…but it has stopped working in ‘Thor 4’, ‘cause Disney/MCU want to retain TW in their roster, and the latter didn’t want to work with the ‘Thor’ franchise unless CH remains Thor – so it was NP who got removed out of MCU for good instead. Well, not her, but her character – Dr. Jane ‘the mighty Thor’ Foster. Fun! However, never was it said that Disney/MCU would not step over their principles if they can achieve greater financial success! What next?

…So, in the absence of MCU, I tried to read some Marvel comics – especially the Avengers’ storyline, and it is the same old song, albeit done in different tune: initially, the Avengers had their own plotline, as they teamed-up with several other heroes to protect Earth from various beings, (who were being puppet-mastered by Mephisto). Eventually, that degraded into collections of one-shots, and cameos, and filler arcs, all of which clearly showed that Marvel themselves do not really know what to do with this version of the Avengers anymore, or why should it keep them.

Here, though, is an especial shout-out to the ghost rider, (the Robbie Reyes version). In the beginning, he became a ‘proper’ Avenger, (as opposed to a more vigilante type of crime fighter), with a burgeoning relationship with Captain Carol ‘Marvel’ Danvers. Why? Because he was about to get his own series in MCU, at that time. This did not happen, so by the time that the Moon Knight Story arc came along, Robbie got sidelined completely, and Carol teamed/coupled-up with Tony ‘Iron Man’ Stark instead, (complete with a fostered baby, who is more of a political statement, but that is another story).

Why the Moon Knight? Because he did get his own series at MCU, so his character did get some redesigning in the Marvel comics. Fun! However, this story arc had nothing to do with him anymore; rather it was all about the Phoenix.

…When the current Avenger incarnation began, Wolverine was the Phoenix, (do not ask, I do not know – or care about – the details). Then, abruptly, Wolverine was not the Phoenix anymore, and began to lead his own, ‘Savage’ Avengers, against a wizard named Kulan Gath (or something along those lines). Now there is no mention either of the Savage Avengers or of the wizard in question…and the Phoenix force resides in Maya ‘Echo’ Lopez instead.

Yes, that Maya, who starred in the ‘Hawkeye’ TV series, and who is about to get her own series, apparently. Therefore, now she is the new Phoenix in the comics, and Robbie is flirting with her, while Carol is with Stark, (see above). Frankly, the current Avengers should have their own soap opera by now, with Mephisto playing the main villain, which would be more appropriate for them… Where were we?

Ah yes, with the epiphany that while Disney/MCU have some idea of where they should go now that the Infinity Saga is over, but they are quite willing to diverge from it because of money, then Marvel comics don’t even have that, and just follow – vaguely – Disney/MCU’s lead. Yay for them, really. Sometimes, I authentically hate not only the real life, but everything else as well.

However, for the moment, this is it. See you all soon, instead!

 

 

Ms. Marvel, S1 finale

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, so let us talk about the ‘Ms. Marvel’ finale. Unfortunately, it is not an improvement over reality either; I am honestly confused if this is a season finale or a series finale, and I am admitting aloud: for the first time since involving myself with MCU, I do not care!

Can I elaborate? It is tricky to say: on its’ own, ‘Ms. Marvel’ wasn’t bad; it was just lackluster – more like the ‘InHumans’ than the AoS, if we used comparisons.

What was specifically out of what in ‘Ms. Marvel’? I would say that it tried too hard to be a superhero origin story, and a coming of age tale at the same time; the fact that it also tried to give itself an ‘ethnic’ flavor didn’t help either, as Disney/MCU is notoriously politically correct – and not always in a good way.

Where had it gone wrong in the opinion of most critics? Precisely there – in the original ‘Ms. Marvel’ comics, KK has to struggle with at least some racism, as she is a POC in the US. In the Disney+ series, this aspect was seriously downplayed, leaving quite a few viewers and fans wondering – then what is the point of making MM a POC? For Disney/MCU to put another (metaphorical) notch into their feel-good belt? FOX’s last X-Men films tried something along those lines, and it really backfired upon them; Disney/MCU seems to be going in a similar direction…

True, Disney/MCU doesn’t have to do this sort of a story – i.e. one where a POC defeats WASP opposition, but for the modern Western culture this is one of its’ basics, and when it isn’t followed, then the modern Western culture wonders as to what that POC is doing on screen and shouldn’t we be watching something else instead? It can also be argued that just as with women-based movies, (such as the ‘355’ or the ‘365’ – does anyone even remember it?), the Western audiences are no longer satisfied with watching POCs ‘merely’ succeed over their WASP opposition, but in that case people may no longer be satisfied with what Disney/MCU is offering them to begin with… yes, it can get real ugly for Disney+ and its’ universes very quickly – but we got carried away.

On a less ‘deep’ level, MM suffers from the fact that it is shallow – the lead actress may be carrying the show, but there’s little to carry as the show’s villains, the Clan Destine and the Damage Control, appear to be substitutes for the InHumans and S.H.I.E.L.D., but lacking their histories within MCU for the audiences. People just don’t perceive them as threats or care about them, and so MM falls flat once KK goes to confront them: she kicks their ass? So what?!

…And as for her love life – do not go there. Can you imagine a male lead with three female love interests? Wouldn’t go down too well, (unless the lead was James Bond, but still, it is squeaky), so why should the gender-flipped situation work? Oh, right, because these days the fanworks are full of Mary Sues, especially of the female variety, and, yes, this version of KK is a Mary Sue.

No, really, there is some justification for my proclamation: KK is a female lead, she gets the lion’s shares of the romance, and the rest of the female characters are much more peripheral. Since MM was written by professional writers rather than amateurs, MM is able to get away with it, (the brevity of the show helped too), but still there are strong elements of Mary Sue in KK too. What is left?

Ah, yes, the finale, where KK and Captain Danvers switch places in the universe: KK is elsewhere, and Captain Danvers is in KK’s bedroom. I have not cringed so hard, and not just because this situation is reminiscent of Disney’s humor at its’ worst, but because this situation was flat-out shoehorned into the show. Throughout MM, Captain Danvers was referenced quite a bit, because of the obvious reasons, but nothing else; KK was built into a superhero/vigilante who stood on her own two feet and did her own thing, getting free of Captain Danvers’ shadow – and then along comes the final scene, and everything is up-ended once more; seriously, what does Disney/MCU want with KK? She is a first Muslim superhero – fine, but there has to be more than that to her, right?

…And then there is the fact that that scene was also reminiscent of the AoS’ series finale – one that had nothing in common with the rest of the series’ S7. Rather, it was more reminiscent of where the show’s characters were at the end of S3 – the beginning of S4, save that now the cast seemed to include Kora, (whose story arc made no sense), agent Piper, (a character that seemed to have no real purpose, and was just a plug), and the LMD of agent Davis, (an act of dubious morality even by MCU’s standards for reasons that were discussed else when). Here, again, the brevity of MM works in its’ favor, as its’ disastrous epilogue is much more restrained and contained than AoS’ had been. Yay? – I do not know and I honestly do not care. Anything else?

 Sadly, no. ‘Ms. Marvel’ had been one of the most lackluster Marvel shows that I have ever seen, which is something of an anti-record. Ah well, real life sucks, remember? In any case – see you all soon!

Thor 4 - July 12

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, and ‘Ms. Marvel’ is barely better; the 1x05 episode has tried to rectify the show’s lackluster situation, but only some, and if you care about this, you should go and read Salman Rushdie’s novels, such as ‘Midnight’s Children’ (1981) and ‘Shame’ (1983), since they deal with the India-Pakistan partition in fiction to a much more professional degree than MM does – therefore, let’s talk about the ‘Thor 4’ movie instead.

No, seriously, what is the deal behind MM? Is it supposed to be undercut in favor of ‘Obi-Wan’ TV series and ‘Thor 4’ movie? The answer is simple: it got messed-up.

Let us start with the biggest issue of the film, (in my opinion, admittedly): lady Sif. She appeared in the first one - or two – ‘Thor’ movies, as well as in a couple of AoS’ episodes, (the first two seasons), and after which, she vanished… until she reappeared – in a manner of speaking – in ‘Loki’ S1. This isn’t too surprising, as Jaimie Alexander, who played her, with busy in ‘Blindspot’ until that show ended in 2020, so now the crew of MCU are carefully trying to reintroduce her MCU character after years of absence – with lackluster results, and this brings us to ‘Thor 4’.

At the end of the ‘Endgame’ film, Thor the character left with the surviving GotG characters – and ‘Thor 4’ sees them part way: remake number 1. Then Thor the character meets – well, re-meets, lady Sif, who warns him the Gorr the God-Butcher is coming thus setting-off the rest of the film.

What is my main gripe about the ‘Thor 4’ movie, again? That Sif’s character is completely unnecessary for it – hear me out. The bulk of the film is about Thor and Dr. Jane Foster, (aka the Mighty Thor, but we will just call her Dr. Jane Foster to avoid repetition), and about their relationship. Put otherwise, just as the ‘What if?’ episode 1x04 was felt influencing the second ‘Dr. Strange’ film, so does the ‘What if?’ episode 1x07 influences the fourth ‘Thor’ movie.

What was the ‘What if?’ episode 1x07 about? It was a comic relief episode, with Thor the character going down to Midgard, and throwing down a party that got so badly out of hand, that Captain Marvel, (the Carol Danvers one), had to step in and end it; I’m oversimplifying it here, but still…

…No, ‘Thor 4’ isn’t as comically goofy as ‘What if?’ episode 1x07 was, but there’s still a distinctly college frat party fill to it, including the entire romance angle. Again, we got Thor and Jane here; we also got Korg and the Valkyrie, so why do we do need Sif?

…Yes, I am oversimplifying things here probably again, but again, we got Thor. We got Jane, who was his primary love interest in the previous ‘Thor’ movies. We got the Valkyrie, with whom Thor began to have some sort of a relationship in the ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ film. We also got Korg, who was seen in the trailers helping around the New Asgard or wherever. What for do we need Sif for? To help the Valkyrie in the New Asgard – asexually? Korg could have done this just as well! (And given how Sif did not appear in any of the teasers and trailers, I am guessing that the MCU crew felt the same way).

As for Jane’s fate… I do not know. There were one Thor too many in the MCU throughout the film, and since TW declared, that he’ll make a ‘Thor 5’ film only if CH would be in it, the heads of MCU said – ok, the old fan favorite it is, then, and killed Jane off instead, albeit in a most heroic way. That is the only explanation I can come up with, because otherwise? The original Thor’s survival goes against Phase 4’s zeitgeist – transference.

Remember? Phase 4 was, and is, all about ‘out with the old, in with the new’, with the survivors of ‘Endgame’ going out, and the new blood coming in. Wanda Maximoff’s death in ‘Dr. Strange 2’… is not too final, actually, because multiverse – now that TVA is out of commission at the end of ‘Loki’ S1, we can have an infinite number of Wanda variants coming into the mainline MCU-

…Wait. Wasn’t Wanda proclaimed of being a ‘nexus being’ in one of WV episodes? Yes, but WV meshes with ‘Dr. Strange 2’ only partially, so all bets are off.

Back to ‘Thor 4’… The same thing can be said about Jane/the Mighty Thor, actually – now that TVA is down, a variant of her can appear from the multiverse whenever it will be convenient for MCU – end of story. What next?

Aside from Sif’s completely unnecessary reappearance, Jane being killed-off for good now, and Thor moving on with a new companion, (in a manner that is too reminiscent of Dr. Strange and America Chavez to be truly successful), there’s also the issue of Valhalla: in MCU it seems to be some sort of an Asgardian afterlife, while in RL it was an actual part of Asgard; MCU is tweaking RL Norse mythology once again… but if you want a more accurate version of the Norse mythical world, go and read Mr. Riordan’s ‘Magnus Chase’ series: this work might’ve been truncated, when compared to his other pieces, but it still depicts the Norse mythology and its’ nine worlds more accurately than MCU does.

…And, of course, MCU has used Mr. Riordan’s works before – remember the MK S1? Yeah, MCU has used Mr. Riordan’s novels there a lot – but we have talked about that before. Anything else?

Actually – no, not particularly. ‘Thor 4’ is a fun movie to watch once or twice, but nothing more, and the character of Sif doesn’t add (or subtract, admittedly), from that fact; with these parting words we part way; see you all soon!