Comic Book Films & TV

[TKz]

I'd argue that Loki is the only one to really take off, but he's far from the only one that was good. Obidiah Stane, Justin Hammer, Abomination, Red Skull and Winter Soldier were all pretty great. They were all pretty well developed villains that had clear motivations that were interesting. I don't even remember what Malekith's end game was supposed to be, let alone why he wanted to do it.

[Gabriel]

I'd argue that Loki is the only one to really take off, but he's far from the only one that was good. Obidiah Stane, Justin Hammer, Abomination, Red Skull and Winter Soldier were all pretty great. They were all pretty well developed villains that had clear motivations that were interesting. I don't even remember what Malekith's end game was supposed to be, let alone why he wanted to do it.

Malekith's deal was very similar to DC's Blackest Night story.

In the beginning, there was only darkness. From that darkness, a light came, bringing with it all kinds of new life. Malekith and the Dark Elves (the Black Lanterns) wanted to put an end to what they feel is an abomination and bring existence back to where it started.

So it's basically a story about a man, leading his people to combat change and evolution... failing in the end, because although the universe was born of darkness, it must constantly be evolving. Malekith and the Dark Elves wanted no part in a changing universe, but underestimated the willpower and strength of the heroes that would fight for a brighter tomorrow.

In a nutshell, it's a villain who wants to destroy everything to take things back to a simpler time, going up against a hero that believes in forward movement, and that believes in good, even though we live in a world where it's becoming increasingly hard to see the light.

The plot itself for The Dark World is great, simple and could have been very tense... but the end result saw an under-developed Malekith in favor of more light-hearted moments and shoe-horning Loki and Jane Foster into larger roles than necessary.

I quite enjoyed the movie, but they did a horrible job at making people care about The Dark Elves. They felt more like a red-herring type Big Bad in a tv series than a legitimate threat with real and deep motivation.

I really feel like the movie should have focused more on Malekith planting seeds of doubt in the mind of Thor, about whether or not the universe as we know it is worth saving. I hate drawing comparisons to The Dark Knight, but Malekith should have been to Thor what The Joker was to Batman... destroying the things he loved and forcing him into an internal struggle about whether or not what he does is worth it. The world is full of terrible things. A scene where Malekith tries to, or temporarily succeeds in, convincing Thor that the universe isn't worth saving, by showing him all of the atrocities that are committed could have been really strong. Eccleston is a strong actor, and he felt wasted in the role, despite giving it some very subtle positives.

[Benjamin]

Seriously, what did Malekith do? The biggest mark he left on the MCU was that he killed Odin's wife, but considering she was introduced like only ten minutes before, it made it very hard to actually care about that. If they had kept Loki dead, or at least didn't reveal it in The Dark World itself, it might have made his presence more meaningful. Every other character (with the possible exception of Hammer and Ivan Vanko) at least made a mark, if not on the MCU, then at least their foe. Malekith was basically a procedural's bad guy for an episode.

I mean, I didn't even remember his name, if you guys hadn't mention his name here, I would just be referring to him as "the baddie in Dark World".

Also, please don't remind me of the abomination of The Blackest Night.

[Gabriel]

It's a bit short-sighted to say that Frigga was only around 10 minutes before she was killed. She played a role in the first film as well, so she was a character with some investment.

That said, The Dark World felt like a bit of a throwaway movie. But to say it had no impact is a bit off. Malekith and the Dark Elves weren't built up enough to be taken seriously as a threat, but in disposing of them, Thor hands the Aether to The Collector, and we find out that it's one of the Infinity Stones, which will play a large role in the movies going forward.

I wish that Malekith and the Dark Elves were handled better and that The Dark World felt more involved and less like a stop-gap between films, but I did enjoy it.

[zero]

I LOVED The Dark World... I'd put it right up there with Iron Man. But Winter Soldier is better than everything minus Avengers and only barely.

[NM!]

I actually enjoyed Winter Soldier the most out of ALL of the Marvel movies to date. Granted, it may be due to the fact that I'm still on the high of seeing it today, but man was it great. I'm stoked at the mention of

Dr. Strange

. The ending scene has got me pumped for Age of Ultron.

[Benjamin]

Yeah, I think Winter Soldier is better than The Avengers too. Brilliant movie.

[Johnny Latino Heat]

I'm actually thinking of going to watch The Winter Soldier again, if I can find company.

[GoGo Yubari]

When my biggest complaint about Winter Soldier is that they used Batroc the way I feared they'd use him, yeah. Really good. Not as good as The Avengers for me but very possibly better than Iron Man.

Sitwell nooooooooo HOW COULD YOU

[Maxx]

Best since The Avengers, that was fucking awesome. And that's that post credit scene was every bit as cool as Thanos.

[Berober]

The Dark World was fine, but it's definitely the worst of the phase 2 movies so far. And probably for sure, since Guardians of the Galaxy is going to be the best no matter what!

[EWB's Best Poster.]

Maybe they would have villians as flushed out as Loki if they gave them 3 movies too. And not killed them at the end of each one.

[TKz]

Yeah, though it's really the Iron Man films that're bad for that. Justin Hammer was the only one that actually got away. Otherwise, the only other surviving villains are Abomination and we can assume Red Skull.

Not a big loss, really. I think they did as much as they could with Iron Monger and Whiplash. Killian and Malekith don't really feel worth building up any further, not at the expense of potential better villains.

The biggest crime of the MCU thus far is the lack of Volstagg. Give that god a solo feature.

[Gabriel]

I imagine that Abomination would be brought back as part of a villain team, as the answer to The Hulk, if we ever get a Masters of Evil type group against the Avengers.

Red Skull will be back. He's too important of a villain to just be a one and done. Whether or not it's Weaving is anyone's guess... but I would be surprised if the character wasn't revisited in Cap 3 or even Age of Ultron in a smaller role.

Aldrich Killian could come back if they want to follow up on the Hail to the King short. I know he "died", but it's a comic book movie. If they feel like he's necessary to the plot, he can be brought back. Especially since he was Mr. Extremis.

I think that Sif and the Warriors Three should be given their own film. Make a lower budget movie about their exploits in Asgard. Hell, just throw it on Netflix. The background characters need to be utilized more, and the deal with Netflix and the short films they make are great opportunities to do that... but also, there's nothing wrong with giving these characters direct to video or limited theatrical releases at lower budgets.

[EWB's Best Poster.]

What's odd is that hulk made two villians in it, but the other has gotten zero mention as of yet.

[TKz]

Well the MCU is more grounded than the comics, so whilst in the comics Samuel Stern became The Leader, in the MCU, he probably just died of radiation poisoning.

I'm pretty okay with The Leader never being in the films. As far as villains for a Hulk film go, he's not that interesting. Wouldn't hurt to have him show up in SHIELD, though.

[zero]

They were definitely setting up for The Leader, but between Incredible Hulk underwhelming/Norton being difficult, another standalone Hulk movie is probably unlikely... at least until Phase 4, if that's even going to be a thing.

[TKz]

I'm pretty okay with that. I liked Incredible Hulk and thought Ruffalo was amazing in Avengers, but there's so many other characters I'd sooner see get the film treatment than Hulk.

[Maxx]

For now, Hulk works better sprinkled into the Avengers movies. But I know they've discussed doing the Planet Hulk/World War Hulk storyline, which is a pretty ambitious idea.

[Avenged Probably]

Yeah that'd be great way to bring back Hulk solo. Especially since Guardians will be introducing cosmic stuff, the idea of Hulk being blasted onto an Alien world doesnt seem so crazy.