Thunderbolts - May 3

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks. In part, it might be my doing – but I never denied it – so now let us talk about the new ‘Thunderbolts’ film instead.

First, it works. It works, because it mostly keeps away from politics, whether RL or MCU, and talks about the titular characters dealing, and defeating, their inner darkness, while managing the conflict with Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, or – ‘Don’t call me Val!’ Pause.

…Throughout SW, there was no mention of Val or the Thunderbolts, who are a bit of Marvel’s Suicide Squad, (run by DC instead). Moreover, the DCEU itself is being remade right now, so let us not talk about it, and get back to MCU and the ‘Thunderbolts’.

…Throughout SW, there was no mention of Val or the Thunderbolts, but now, in the post-SW MCU, there is no mention of the Skrulls, the She-Hulk, or the Marvels; MCU is pretending that all of the above haven’t existed, and the CA: BNA movie, the D: BA TV series, and now – the ‘Thunderbolts’ film confirm it; there’s a distinct feeling of ‘in with the new’ with all of them. Even the titular team is named not after the general ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross, aka the Red Hulk, but after some obscure piece of MCU in-verse trivia instead. Fun!

MCU’s Taskmaster/Taskmistress is dead – a pity – and there is no mention of Kate, even though she and Yelena had plenty of chemistry in ‘Hawkeye’. However, the market (and the political climate) directs, and with 4 years of a Republican president in charge of the U.S., Disney and its’ branches, including MCU, are changing. We have discussed it, when we talked about AAA, so let us not repeat ourselves. Anything else?

The special effects were impressive, another one of MCU characters that vanished was Rick Jones or whoever, who helped Natasha in her ‘Black Widow’ film; ah well. ScarJo is going to appear in the next JP reboot now, and it makes the ‘Black Widow’ film appear like a classical masterpiece. What else?

…Everett Ross, who appeared in both ‘Black Panther’ films, was also killed off in the SW; since he was ‘Don’t call me Val!’ ex-husband, this is somewhat important. Only not, since Val is flirting (sort of) with the Red Guardian (Alexei) already. Well, since the Thunderbolts (the characters) are forming some sort of a crazy family, (minus the dead Antonia), this is to be expected. Whether or not this will amount to anything is another story; for all we know, in the next film there will be no mention of the Thunderbolts’ team… just as there was no mention of Sam in the ‘Thunderbolts’ movie, not really, making Bucky’s appearance in CA: BNW kind of strange and unbalanced…

So, in conclusion: the ‘Thunderbolts’ work. They work as a movie, and in particular – as a standalone movie. However, Disney/MCU is a live action Marvel Comics Universe, which means that it all will be interconnected – in theory. In practice, as depicted by the now forgotten AoS, this might not be so. In AoS, the first 3 seasons were sufficiently tied, with ties to the greater MCU. From S4 onwards, however, this was not the case at all, and after the final, 6^th, or 7^th, season, no one is remembering AoS anymore; they didn’t even appear on the ‘What If?’ series, (aside from Coulson, who doesn’t quite count there). Put otherwise, quite regularly, MCU discards characters, plot lines, and more – there is no guarantee that the ‘Thunderbolts’ will be different.

This is it for now. See you all soon!

Captain America: Brave New World and '...NSM' - Feb 14

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks. That said, Happy Valentine’s Day, everybody! This out of the way, let us talk ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ now.

…Whereas ‘YFNSM’ cartoon series just exist in a vacuum, the occasional cameo by Dr. Strange, Daredevil, or even the Iron Man regardless, (they don’t influence there anything, you know?), CA:BNW is a part of MCU, and unlike AAA, it cannot be ignored, as it sets the stage for everything new.

See the evidence: when Sam Wilson only MCU’s (original) Falcon, he and Bucky the Winter Soldier had their own mini-series, named after them, remember? In it, we were introduced to the post-Thanos MCU, and we met both Val, (ok, do not call her that), and Sharon Carter, an ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. agent turned weapons’ deal and villain, who was being set up as someone important. Roll even more forward, and Sharon vanishes without a trace, while Ms. Sonya replaced Val in ‘Secret Wars’. SW was one of MCU’s most insipid entries, and so Sonya and friends are gone now instead, and Val is coming back in the upcoming ‘Thunderbolts’ film.

This brings us to Bucky, and – Sarah Wilson, aka Sam’s sister. In the abovementioned mini-series, she was Bucky’s new love interest, (sort of). Previously, he had something going on with Shuri, but then came the ‘Black Panther 2’ movie, and any connections of Wakanda with the Avengers vanished in favor of a Shuri-Namor romance, (tentatively speaking), and Bucky was moved over to Sarah in a favor of another interracial romance. AOS has set MCU’s bar for interracial romances pretty darn low, and CA:BNW + ‘Thunderbolts’ have appeared to cleared it by a mile: Sarah Wilson and her children vanished from MCU, and Bucky seems to be bonding with Natasha’s sister and father in the ‘Thunderbolts’ trailer – no interracial relationships, no color mixing here. USA! USA! The Donald must be so proud!

…Back with Sam Wilson proper, and speaking of colors, we got the Hulk. Ok, we also got MCU’s Red Hulk now – ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross, (in the comics, the Thunderbolts were often his team), but what about the original Hulk himself?

Pause, rewind to MCU’s ‘She-Hulk’, one of the unlucky contenders to challenge SW for the insipidness. For 9 parts out of 10, (or perhaps 11), SH was a typical Mary-Sue story, with the titular character being that woman; watching SH is just pointless, the most important parts there are the Hulk’s story: he went into space and brought home a son. Everything else can be swept under the rug safely… the Hulk and his son not so much, but by ignoring them, CA:BNW does a gamely attempt at doing just that; anything else?

Yes. It is a brand new world where everything from the previous phases matters about as much as the ‘YFNSM’ cartoon – nothing at all. Sam Wilson defeated the Red Hulk who has imprisoned in the Raft alongside Sam ‘the Leader’ Stearns. In addition, we were introduced to MCU’s version of Sabra – Israel’s superhero in the Marvel comics, (who is more closely associated with the mutants, BTW), and the mercenary group the SERPENTS, who will probably be the default villains of MCU for a while, until they all die or whatnot. Given how Disney is lying low while RL USA is changing… just changing, let us leave it at that, they just might be replaced instead, and no one will care. At least, since SW was worse than the ‘Sam & Bucky show’, Val is replaced Sonya once more. Ah, the perfidy of chance!

This is it for now. See you all soon. Have a happy Valentine’s Day once more!