She-Hulk, Retreat - Sep 29

 

Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, and you can always count on your family to make it worse – especially for you. I am almost done with everything and everyone, and that thought is scary as fuck – I do not want to go, but I do not want to stay either…

On a more cheery note – the latest ‘She-Hulk’ episode, ‘The Retreat’, is out, and… how is this more cheery, exactly? Let us elaborate.

If last week our titular character tangled with Titania, this week the Abomination is back, and he is getting therapy? Therapy for super-villains (and others?) is a thing now? Then where it was in AoS – both Grant and Daisy could have used it, (even if for different reasons…

Why am I returning to AoS this time? ‘Cause ‘She-Hulk’ is showing us the Abomination going through his redemption, apparently… In the Marvel comics, the Abomination is a monstrous, twisted mirror of the Hulk, while the rest of the characters that’d appeared at the titular location are nowhere near as powerful, but here, in MCU, he’s one of the gang, and-

-And the show is about J.W., because she is the titular character instead – in this episode, she learns to let go and deal with rejection thanks to one therapy session. Of course she does. Did the showrunners and co. think that that would make their titular character slightly less Mary-Suish, maybe? If so, then congrats – they went down the other way and made her the ‘pathetic forerunner to a Mary-Sue’ cliché: J.W. genuinely does not do anything on the episode, she just is! This has rather happened already, in the episode 1x05, but there we had Molly Book and co. to carry the day, (metaphorically), here – not even that.

In addition, we got MCU’s Wrecker, from MCU’s Wrecking Crew, in the same place, also going for therapy. Does it mean that MCU’s Wrecking Crew is done and gone? In Marvel Comics, the Wrecking Crew was competent and powerful enough to fight the Avengers regularly enough; here, it is a joke, just as everything and everyone that becomes associated with MCU’s ‘She-Hulk’. El Aquila can’t be taken seriously because he is a swashbuckler? So’s the Swordsman, technically, but MCU’s ‘Hawkeye’ (the series) has given him some respect at least.

Actually, maybe ‘Hawkeye’ warrants some more mention here. The first MCU property that went into outright comedy territory had been… WV, actually, but that show quickly began to evolve past that in its’ fourth episode. ‘Hawkeye’, on the other hand, never took itself too seriously… almost. Once Yelena popped-up, then things began to sombre up, but the new Black Widow did only come and go… Pause.

Yeah, that ‘Secret Wars’ trailer – it starred Nick Fury and Maria Hill… and only them, really. You would think that some of the AoS characters, good or bad, would appear, but apparently not – clearly, Disney is done with that show.

…Yeah, I remember that ‘Hawkeye’ was also the show that brought back S.H.I.E.L.D. as Ms. Barton’s watch – but after the initial fandom’s excitement – clearly, they aren’t done with AoS, it all died down very fast, meaning that Disney/MCU have no intention of pulling SW – to wit, the latest installments in the SW franchise deal in the period set in the original trilogy, and not going into ‘the future’ anymore; they’re flat-out pretending that the sequel trilogy doesn’t exist, and also wait for the fandom to forget all about it, before going into the future once more. Barton’s watch might have been their attempt at doing the same thing with AoS, only it failed, so no more S.H.I.E.L.D in the MCU for real.

…Actually, the same might be said about S.W.O.R.D. as well – it’d been set-up in WV, true, but earlier in 2022 we had ‘Ms. Marvel’ and there was no sign of it either; instead, we had Damage Control, who did the same thing that S.H.I.E.L.D. and S.W.O.R.D. did, and there were no Skrulls either; given how the ‘Captain Marvel’ film was almost all about the Skrulls, this is just weird – but how does that connect to ‘She-Hulk’?

It does not, not really. There were some post-credit pics of J.W. working with folders that have the S.H.I.E.L.D. eagle logo on it, but nothing else. That is good, because everything and everyone associated with ‘She-Hulk’ becomes downgraded.

…Therefore, for now, let us wrap it up. MCU is having problems, and it had them for a while, probably because of RL issues. Did I mention that real life sucks and blows? Then I am repeating this, and I will see you all soon instead!

She-Hulk, Jen - Sep 22

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, so let us talk about the latest ‘She-Hulk’ episode instead. Only… it is not doing so hot either – this week’s episode’s highlight, apparently, was when the titular character, wearing a sparkling pink dress, punched Titania – who was back for round three – in the mouth. Titania was wearing an equally sparkling pink power suit, BTW. So what?

So earlier this week I watched the latest HoD episode – you know, the one where Daemon T. kills his wife with little more than a big rock. Killer Croc from the DC-verse would have been so proud!.. But we are not Killer Croc, and I, for one, find it kind distasteful that team HBO and co. have needlessly vilified Daemon T. just for extra drama.

Again, in the book, Daemon is not a good man, but his wife dies pointedly from natural causes and he has nothing to do with it, Targaryen family powers or not. By making Daemon actually do the deed, team HBO and co. have made him something of a misogynist and have diminished him as a person and as a character. The fact that HoD’s main protagonist – you know, the ‘new and improved’ Dany – wants to elope with him does not help anyone either… but wait!

In this universe, actually being an evil asshole gets you ahead! Daemon and co. are doing the right thing by their standards! Well, yes, and don’t forget – the upcoming Dance of the Dragons thingy will be the start of the end for the Targaryen dynasty; odds are good that GM was going to revive their reign at the end of ASOIAF, but now that ASOIAF faded away, and GoT ended up with a Stark on the throne instead… yeah, this makes it hard to root for anyone on the show and I’m actually hoping that all of the Targaryens featured on the show so far will die – but there was one unexpected side-effect: I remembered MCU’s AoS.

…yes, I’ve been talking about it on and off for ever, but this time the death of Ms. Daemon reminded me of Fennec Shand from the SW-verse instead. Why?

In SW, Fennec is shot down, left to die, but with Boba’s help she recovers and becomes his assistant.

In MCU, Kara is shot down – not unlike Fennec – and is just killed-off by the show.

Put otherwise, Fennec is SW’s Kara, and the issue isn’t that that Ming-Na Wen, plays Fennec on SW, and played both the Cavalry and agent 33 on MCU, (in a manner of speaking, but still), and it isn’t that Disney properties recycle each other’s ideas, but how AoS has treated Kara. Agent 33 was an interesting character, and the showrunners could have pulled a Fennec and kept her alive, but they did not. Indeed, Kara did not have to be a regular character on the show at all – they just could have sent her off to her mother, (with or without her memories intact), or done something similar, (as they did to the characters of Lance and Bobbi in S5), and that would have been the end. Instead, they flat-out treated her as crap, and that is the final line.

…Not that HBO is treating its’ powerful women characters any better – Ms. Daemon was verbally abused by her asshole husband at first and then killed-off by him, while the surrogate Dany is coming off as Daemon’s female counterpart instead. Oh, and one of her (potential) minions just killed-off her new husband’s same-sex partner. Take that, modern socio-political values!

…In the ‘She-Hulk’ we do not go so far, but it is the same direction still. In the comics – and the cartoons – the character in question was, and is, one of the Hulk’s most powerful relatives and allies, and Titania is her adversary and arch-nemesis. On the show, the two appear to be little more than just two semi-toxic bitches that just cannot get along because that would be the reasonable and sensible thing, am I right, fellows? Oh, and the ‘Mr. Immortal’ subplot, cannot forget that – a Marvel character has faked his death 8 times, effectively becoming a bigamist! Ha-ha-ha! ‘Futurama’ actually did that plotline first, save that its’ bigamist did not fake his death, he just shapeshifted and packed-on more wives. Have to admire his stamina, if nothing else – but he still were taken down by all of his wives, just less legally and more violently than Mr. Immortal has been.

…There is also MCU’s Abomination, who was last seen on the show having a cult with multiple girlfriends – and he got set free. Aside from the moral issues, there’s the fact that he got diminished from being a monstrous reflection of the Hulk into a mere jerk too – but that is what ‘She-Hulk’ the show does, apparently – it diminishes all the Marvel characters that it touches, no wonder the original Hulk fled to Sakaar in the episode 1x02 before it was too late – or maybe it was, we’ll just have to wait and see.

...That said, my original point is this is what the American nation have come down to, after ‘MeToo’ and all of that? Between HoD’s handling of Ms. Daemon on one hand, and ‘She-Hulk’ making its’ titular character a mockery of the ‘powerful female character’ concept, I am really sore at real life. Did I mention that it sucks?

…Well, this is it for now, people – I will see you all soon.

She-Hulk, Jeans - Sep 15

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, so let us talk about ‘She-Hulk: the Legal Eagle’ instead.

…Oh, this isn’t how the show is actually called? My bad, and you are right – the show is barely legal either. Pause.

Let us try again. In this week’s episode, we learn that Titania has acquired the rights for the ‘She-Hulk’ brand, and is suing JW for the supposed copyright infringement. JW fights back on the court of law, and with the help of Ms. Book, she wins her right to remain the She-Hulk. That is fair enough, but…

However, the more I watch the ‘She-Hulk’ show, the more I feel that the characters are diminished because of this. In the comics and such cartoon shows as the ‘Agents of S.M.A.S.H.’ (now ended), She-Hulk was a lawyer, (or at least a legal councillor), but she was also a hero who smashed things, and, actually, in the comics? She still does that, while being an Avenger at the same time. Conversely, the show seems to be focusing on her being more of a lawyer, and that is ok, only… She-Hulk the titular character is not really a lawyer, she is a rom-com lawyer, and that makes her show not so much legal drama, but more of a parody of one.

By contrast, something like ‘The Good Place’ has its’ humorous moments, true, but it has serious moments too, and the show feels – even in re-watches – much more well-balanced than ‘She-Hulk’ does. I would like to say that there is drama and stuff in ‘She-Hulk’, but I cannot. Somehow, the way that the show presents itself discredits any possibility of there being actual drama in ‘She-Hulk’, and as for Titania and her character…

In her past incarnations, Titania went from being an outright villain to more of an anti-hero, and from She-Hulk’s enemy to more of a frenemy slash eternal rival. Basically, the two ladies had the better chance of beating each other if and when they went toe to toe, than anyone else would. Here, on ‘She-Hulk’, Titania is not anything but an annoyance; JW does not learn anything, or get anything from their confrontations, and neither does Titania; you could have replaced Titania in this episode with some random character off the top of your head, and the story would’ve remained the same, with JW becoming more confident in being the She-Hulk in the end. Put otherwise, the titular character is not the only one being diminished on the show; everyone else is as well. Sad – and in case of Madisynn, (seriously, that is her name), outright annoying. True, ‘She-Hulk’ is rounding-out the story of Wong and Kamar-Taj in new, unexpected ways, but, again – somehow Wong is being transformed here from a formidable and serious magician into some sort of an irresponsible asshole – while the Abomination, (I’m quite certain that we haven’t seen the last of him yet), has transformed from a monstrous, distorted image of the original Hulk into some sort of a heterosexual cult leader and nothing more. That is… disappointing, if nothing else, but, again, that is what Marvel going for intentionally, so more power for them, I guess. Anything else?

…The funeral of Her Majesty Elizabeth II is proceeding apiece this week, but I frankly have no intent of discussing it, out of the respect for Her Majesty, if nothing else. An epoch did end with her passing and I really do not want to muck around in themes of such epic levels…

Therefore, for now, this is it. See vou all soon!

 

She-Hulk, Magic - Sep 8

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks – Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain has passed today, on Sep 8, 2022, at 96 years of age. May she rest in peace! The rest of the world will be in a worse place now that she’s gone, as her immediate heirs – her son Charles, and his sons, William and Harry, don’t get along, (and there are plenty of lesser scandals and fights in the family too), so it’s anyone’s guess as to what will happen in the British politics next. Given that the modern world is already a rocky place, this is not good. Shall we try to lose ourselves in the world of fiction instead?

…Yeah, that is tricky too – we got a partially live-action remake of ‘Pinocchio’ coming out today, (i.e. Sep 8, 2022), but, frankly, I am not the biggest fan or connoisseur of this franchise, so I politely pass over this. ‘She-Hulk’ is onto the 4^th episode (‘is this not real magic?’) of its’ franchise so far, and it seems to be finding its’ legs by now, and… it’s somewhat decent, as we get to meet some new and original characters, and get to see the titular character actually do something more aside from some rom-com lawyering – she isn’t Ally McBeal, after all!

…The problem with ‘She-Hulk’ is that by now it is unintentionally diminishing the Marvel characters that are featured in it – the Abomination, Wong, Titania, the Wrecking Crew, and even the titular character. Instead of being, well, characters, heroes and villains, as the characters of the Phase 1 through 3 were, the characters of ‘She-Hulk’ seem to be as relatable, realistic and sympathetic as the characters of any rom-com – say, ‘Friends’, had been. People just do not care about the adventures of J.W. and her Gal Friday, Nikki, (the duo are trying just a touch too hard to come across as straight), as they seem to meander from case to case, from episode to episode, (while looking sexy, because reasons). Oh, and Bruce/the original Hulk is gone from the show, having left for the vastness of space once more. Planet Hulk, here we come!

Back on Earth, the titular heroine is about to get sued by Titania, (whose RL is Mary) about who is the real She-Hulk. Hold on to your horses, you cannot stand the excitement! …The poor bloke from Michigan, who got mauled by a grizzly bear and her three cubs, is causing more excitement on the Internet than the ‘She-Hulk’ does. And finally, there is the entire issue with Amazon’s latest series: ‘LotR: RoP’ – people hate it.

Now, Amazon, is actually denying it, which is just dumb – either those negative numbers and reviews are a lie, in which case Amazon should just ignore them, or they’re the truth, in which case calling them a lie is a mistake. Disney was already in such a place with their SW franchise – the SW movie sequel trilogy, to be more precise. They tried to do something about such criticism, and their actions resulted in the SW fandom to be still split into several factions, and Disney/SW itself is trying to rebuild itself…, which includes ignoring that the sequel trilogy had ever taken place. I do not know as to how Amazon will handle their misadventure, but that will actually be interesting to see. Anything else?

Aside from the fact, that team Amazon had no open indication that anything LotR-related is guaranteed to be an immediate hit? I am afraid not. Gorbachev is gone, Her Majesty is also gone, and we are left with the live action Pinocchio-2022, which even IGN openly calls ‘mediocre’, which means that it is that bad. Therefore, for now, this is it. I will see you all soon instead.

She-Hulk, The People - Sep 1

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, so let us continue talking about our jade-colored legal eagle instead.

Sadly, this week’s episode, ‘The People vs. Emil Blonsky’ is not exactly a break-mold episode that is needed by now; instead, we get an introductory episode.

However, whom does ‘The People’ (re)-introduce? First – Emil Blonsky/the Abomination, who seems to be one some path of redemption, (with Wong along for the ride, apparently). ‘The People’ show that he has also evolved, just as the original Hulk has, and is keeping his coherence whenever he digivolves, so no more mitigating circumstances; on the flip side, he is released, provided that he doesn’t go full supervillain once more. Pause. Yeah, looks as if the MCU Thunderbolts – still in the making – just got a new name onto their potential roster.

Second, we got the Wrecking Crew, and so far, they are quite underwhelming – just four mysterious people with Asgardian equipment, (cough). Given how Jen spent even less time with them than she did with Titania in the series’ premiere, I am not holding my breath out for them – Hell, Titania’s return would be more exciting after their debut.

Finally, we got the shape-shifting Light Elves, the better cousins of the Dark Elves (from the 2^nd Thor film), or at least the cousins with the better PR. Getting into the entire MTS situation down below, I am left wondering about the shape-shifting gig – isn’t it the Skrulls’ thing instead? Actually, we have not heard of the Skrulls since the WV ended – and the second ‘Dr. Strange’ film has seriously re-made that story, (and not necessarily for the better). I’ve heard rumors that team Disney is having some serious legal issues with the team Marvel comics, so I honestly wonder if this has any relations to this slight re-working that we’re getting in MCU lately?..

In addition, as for MTS herself… what kind of fee did she get for her appearances in the ‘Legal Eagle’ – I mean, ‘She-Hulk’? In addition, does this make her a legitimate part of MCU now, and Marvel comics can use her as a character, if she is paid? People want to know!

On a more serious topic, the entire celebrity cameo shtick had been used before in romantic comedies, (such as ‘The Nanny’), so does it mean that ‘She-Hulk’ is going full ‘Ally McBeal’ now? In that case, um, could we do a plot twist where this aspect of MCU is revealed a rebooted Westview with Wanda doing her old tricks in a new setting? Now that has potential, I have to say!

…Sadly, however, this is all I want to say about ‘She-Hulk’ at this point. See you all soon, instead!

She-Hulk, Law - August 25

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, so let us talk about ‘She-Hulk’ instead. In the show’s second episode, ‘Superhuman Law’, the titular character continues to evolve…along the expected lines of a Mary-Sue: her family sucks, they are a different aspect of the patriarchy, (and their indoctrinated female lackeys, of course), and they are keeping our plucky heroine down, until she embraces her different, outlier, destiny of being a lawyer for the outsiders, such as Emil Blonsky/the Abomination. Fair enough, and J.W. got her girl Friday Nikki to help her along, so yay! And who needs Titania anyhow? …Anything else?

…Yeah, in the B-story B.B. the original Hulk is back in space, probably to re-enact MCU’s version of the ‘Planet Hulk’ storyline. A different studio – Lionsgate or something similar – has already released an animated movie version of that story some time before, so MCU has to do something much more complex to avoid any copyright conflicts… but what is the point?

The point is that ‘She-Hulk’ is continuing the traditions, initiated the previous Phase 4+ installments, such as the Sam and Bucky show, or WV: the old heroes are leaving, new ones are arriving. Steve Rogers is out, Sam Wilson is in. Carol Danvers may be leaving, but Photon is entering, but…

…but I guess we’re re-saying once more: real life happened, and it sucks, and so the MM Disney+ series, instead of being feted as a breakthrough of the Pakistani-US relations, got downplayed to the max, and may even join AoS in being MCU’s apocrypha instead – but nothing like that is threatening the ‘She-Hulk’, no sir: there’re no contentious real-life racial issues or anything, just straightforward girl power, (with Wong and Blonsky being the titular character’s gay wingmen), and B.B. is heading back to the stars… What else?

I genuinely do not care anymore, in fact. MM was flat-out disappointing, with its’ substitute InHumans and S.H.I.E.L.D., (aka Clan Destine and DoDC, respectively), and ‘She-Hulk’ is just trite and predictable, in a genre sort of way. Oh, and this week’s episode had a hidden reference to Wolverine apparently too. This makes it all better, no doubt. MCU has mishandled the InHumans about as badly as it had S.H.I.E.L.D., so now they are introducing the mutants, (and also other beings, such as the Clan Destine), to do something about that. Well, good luck to them!

As for us… right now, this is it. See you all soon, instead!                                                                                                                       

She-Hulk, series premiere - August 18

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, the electronics in my life and my home are going berserk, so let us talk about the ‘She-Hulk’ series premiere – and… it is a Mary Sue!

No, seriously, she is – she is better than her cousin BB is, (and he used to be a cosmic gladiator, remember?), she is better than Titania is, she’s better than everyone else, and it’s the patriarchy that is keeping her down, nothing else.

Yes, I am quite aware that this version of ‘She-Hulk’ is a direct descendant of the early 2000s’ comic version, where Ms. Walters got fired by her old legal firm ‘cause of her skin color, (cough), and who became a freelancer instead, battling even Dr. Doom, (hint-hint towards MCU), matching wits with the Daredevil in the court of law, (and look who is back, even in the trailers)… over the old Captain Rogers; (it resulted in Cap being acquitted rather than condemned, and in him punching Dr. Faustus in the face – in MCU, this role belonged to Dr. Whitehall, who seems to be dead after all); and she’d confronted Titania, who’d been… actually in employ of some minor villain-hero, who was revealed not to be so minor after all… and who had altered the Marvel universe somehow…and the She-Hulk had to team-up with the Shocker to fix things… yes, Marvel comics can be really confusing sometimes. What next?

Well, MCU’s Titania resembles a reject from the World Wrestling Federation, and, apparently, fights like one, so pardon me for not being impressed as to how Attorney at Law: She-Hulk kicked her ass. Any true Mary-Sue requires having other female characters around to be the villains for her to easily defeat, or maybe even redeem, but they are still inferior to her, because she is perfect, (and otherwise? She will bugger-off into the sunset, leaving the authors with a gaping plot hole, ‘cause she’s that sort of an a-hole instead). What next?

Well, the 355 film, (remember it?), failed despite trying to show this sort of a female protagonist, (or several, actually), and the same can be said about the DCEU, such as the “Harley Quinn’ films, which have also vanished by now with nary a mark left. We will see how ‘She-Hulk’ will fair next, and there is also a statement about MM.

MM, by contrast, is less of a Mary-Sue, and more of a propaganda piece, aimed at showing just how well, and how domestically, Muslim immigrants are living in the U.S. Sadly, RL being what it is, this happened soon after the Taliban vanquished the U.S. army and the democratic regime in the Afghanistan, completely and utterly, so the American elite’s take on MM was underwhelming, but what could be done? Admit that MM is a propaganda piece with a message that not even its’ makers believe in? Yeah, that’s not how they do it in America; they adhere to their beliefs – in a half-ass manner that satisfies neither side; the result here is that MM got buried between ‘Obi-Wan’ and ‘Thor 4’, and the world moved on…

Therefore, let us move on as well; so far, MM offered little, and ‘She-Hulk’ offers less; as such, I’ll see you all soon instead!