The Marvel Cinematic Universe TV Thread

[Josh]

This show is fucking great.

Also, I don’t recall ever seeing a film or TV scene inside a mosque before - at least one portraying the simple everyday goings on, anyhow. I thought that was great.

[Lint]

[Chris2K]

Frustratingly Ms Marvel's Disney+ viewership figures are pretty bad, the first episode had just over half the number of viewers of the second lowest MCU series (Hawkeye) - 775,000 to 1,500,000.

[tristy]

That figure is from Samba TV, who only counts viewership for streaming services from a handful of smart TVs. It's likely higher than that.

Also:

Quote

While less than other MCU series, it was a hit with Gen Z. Viewers age 20-24 watched at the highest rate of any MCU show, and it drew a more diverse audience with Black, Hispanic and Asian households watching at a higher rate.

 

Edited June 18, 2022 by tristy

[Tigerstyle]

The show is the fucking bees knees, people not watching it or not liking it are out of their minds.

It's hit the ground running with a character that I really can't remember from my time reading comics and I love her, Imani is great, her supporting cast is great, this show is great.

It's our first like, origin origin (as in no powers when the first scene comes up) since what feels like Ant Man maybe? and she runs lots of parallels to Ant Man, I also love that Scott Lang has a podcast.

Oh Dr Strange came out after Ant Man right? Who cares, forget about him. I want a Kamala Ant Man team up.

[DFF]

Ms Marvel continues to be great, though I have one small niggle about today's ep:

Spoiler

In the space of 47 mins we are introduced to the djinn characters and whilst initially seemingly friendly, they do a 180 by the end of the episode out of sheer impatience. Just a bit odd/felt rushed. 

 

[tristy]

28 minutes ago, DFF said:

Ms Marvel continues to be great, though I have one small niggle about today's ep:

  Hide contents

In the space of 47 mins we are introduced to the djinn characters and whilst initially seemingly friendly, they do a 180 by the end of the episode out of sheer impatience. Just a bit odd/felt rushed. 

 

Spoiler

If you had been on this planet for a century or more, and finally have a way home within your grasp... would you want to wait for a 15 year old girl to decide to help you?

I have more of a problem with Kamran/Red Dagger being a good guy, but there's still time left for him to turn on Kamala.

Oh yeah: that was a Kree at the beginning of the episode, and there was also a Ten Rings symbol on the floor of that temple. Hmmmmmmm. What did the Kree create in the comics that relates to Ms. Marvel....

 

[Chris2K]

20 hours ago, DFF said:

Ms Marvel continues to be great, though I have one small niggle about today's ep:

  Reveal hidden contents

In the space of 47 mins we are introduced to the djinn characters and whilst initially seemingly friendly, they do a 180 by the end of the episode out of sheer impatience. Just a bit odd/felt rushed. 

 

This sums up my feelings about the episode perfectly.

Spoiler

To the extent that I really didn't like it. The wedding part was great, but I can't remember a quicker "introduction to characters who are friendly to turning villainous" in a TV show for some time. 

I would have perhaps understood the big twist heel turn coming at the end of the episode, but halfway through felt rushed beyond belief.

 

[Daniel Bryan]

On 22/06/2022 at 13:19, tristy said:

  Hide contents

If you had been on this planet for a century or more, and finally have a way home within your grasp... would you want to wait for a 15 year old girl to decide to help you?

 

Spoiler

If I'd been on the planet over a century, I think I could stand to wait 24 hours more. Or, if I was that impatient, I wouldn't have let her walk out of my house in the first place. And even if, I'd probably try to capture or restrain her or something instead of just going full-tilt violence and potentially killing her.

Also, bravo to the kitchen staff (ignoring the fire alarm I guess) who saw a group of adults beating the shit out of a sixteen-year-old girl and just decided it wasn't their business.

 

[Chris2K]

I'm really starting to struggle with Ms. Marvel now...

Spoiler

The story is losing me at a fast rate, and the Clandestine villains at this point have to be the worst in MCU history. At the very least, Malekith has some competition. They have no background, no defining characteristics, and if anyone can explain to me how they got from an American super-max prison to Karachi in seemingly 10 minutes then I'm all ears. Everything is so rushed and it's such a shame.

It's really putting me off the show, which is making them even worse because I really want to like it.

 

[Josh]

Hell, I’m still liking it.

[Jimmy]

21 hours ago, Chris2K said:

I'm really starting to struggle with Ms. Marvel now...

  Hide contents

The story is losing me at a fast rate, and the Clandestine villains at this point have to be the worst in MCU history. At the very least, Malekith has some competition. They have no background, no defining characteristics, and if anyone can explain to me how they got from an American super-max prison to Karachi in seemingly 10 minutes then I'm all ears. Everything is so rushed and it's such a shame.

It's really putting me off the show, which is making them even worse because I really want to like it.

 

I would agree with this, but still enjoying because of style, distinctiveness and the charm of the cast. It's still one of the better Marvel TV shows and they have a lot of scope for where it can go, which I find exciting and is very much keeping me in. 

[Lint]

On 29/06/2022 at 17:35, Chris2K said:

I'm really starting to struggle with Ms. Marvel now...

  Reveal hidden contents

The story is losing me at a fast rate, and the Clandestine villains at this point have to be the worst in MCU history. At the very least, Malekith has some competition. They have no background, no defining characteristics, and if anyone can explain to me how they got from an American super-max prison to Karachi in seemingly 10 minutes then I'm all ears. Everything is so rushed and it's such a shame.

It's really putting me off the show, which is making them even worse because I really want to like it.

 

Is it weird I'm actually liking the family stuff more then the superhero stuff?

Spoiler

Like the scene with Kamala and the Red Daggers around the campfire, or the scene with Kamala's mother and grandmother, or the brief scene with Kamala and her mother with the toffees. 

I find myself more engaged with those scenes then I do when Kamala is doing hero stuff

[DFF]

Yeah, I'm digging the family stuff more tbh. Still enjoying the whole thing though. 

[Jimmy]

That's the part I'd rather they get right anyway. It feels like the show has a proper emotional core and inner conflict. I can take some fumbling of the super hero stuff, because this is setting the foundations for a (hopefully) even better, more accomplished second season / Kamala's future in the MCU. 

[gunnar hendershow]

Spoiler

It's a big messy in telling the MCU part of the story. All the stuff outside of the superhero business is good, but as soon as we go into all the hallmarks of MCU TV it gets disjointed. 

The Clandestines Petyr Baelish-ing to Karachi was just silly. Unless they have some unbeknownst until now super power of teleportation.

Fortunately I know this is setting the stage for more, likely a season 2 plus Ms. Marvel being in The Marvels. But it's still messy.

 

[tristy]

We simp for Aisha in this house.

[Josh]

I was really happy with that episode.

[tristy]

I loved it too, but everything after the Partition stuff felt really rushed.

New character MCU television shows really need more than 6 episodes. I know WandaVision got more because they were like sub-30 minute episodes, but why these shows can't get an actual full run is beyond me. Or the shows that they want to have a S2 of at least. I understand having 6 episodes for a limited series like Falcon & Winter Soldier.

Spoiler

Najma dying, and the Veil opening and closing all within like 2 minutes, after four episodes (more or less) of building up Najma as the threat and the Veil as being a world ender, is way way WAY too fast. Also that CGI for the two Veil deaths were reallyyyy bad looking network/cable looking stuff. And this is probably me reaching, wanting them to do Inhumans justice, but the rock type shell that came before them dying is awfully close to a Terrigen Cocoon. And when Najma transfers powers to Kamran, it kind of looks like a mist.

Not thrilled that Kamran's powers are just another form of Kamala's powers apparently (continuing the tradition of most MCU heroes getting a doppelganger villain), but to be fair: that's his original powers from the comics.

Kamran & Kamala will team up to fight the Department of Damage Control in the finale, but after all these episodes, them being the final villains/fight of the series is real wonky stuff. No doubt Kamran is going to be the S2 overarching villain, just like the comics. He'll probably turn bad towards the end of the finale, blaming Kamala for his mom dying. You see it in the scene with Bruno, not accepting that she abandoned him and making excuses for her.

But everything before all that I just mentioned was fan-fuckin'-tastic. I loved it.

Mehwish Hayat/Aisha is stunningly beautiful, and Fawad Khan is really fucking handsome. Kamala's nani had some good genes, goddamn.

[tristy]

Ms. Marvel is definitely the tale of two shows, one where everyone pretty much loves Kamala, her friends, her family, that entire world. And then there was the two or so episodes with the Clandestines chasing her and nobody really cared (but Red Dagger is cool). Luckily, the bad parts were only for two episodes, and even those episodes weren't entirely bad. It's just that the villains sucked, but it was ultimately to get us to the place we needed to be.

More detailed thoughts in spoiler tags. But man, I loved every episode pretty much. I'd honestly rank this finale among the best they've done for the D+ shows. Only one that immediately comes to mind as being as enjoyable was Hawkeye. But I'm so, so, so bias because I just love Kamala Khan so much.

Spoiler

Let's just get this right out of the way: Kamala Khan is the first mutant in the MCU. I'm sure that'll be changed retroactively as time goes on, though. They played the X-Men '97 theme and everything. Do I wish they would embrace the Inhuman side? Yeah. But this is okay too. Inhumans were basically a stand-in for the mutants and X-Men when they were first introduced, anyway.

Carol Danvers appears in a mid-credits scene. At first I thought they were actually going with her shapeshifting ability from the comic, but the way Carol reacted to all the posters on the wall tells me that's actually Captain Marvel. The popular theory right now seems to be that she might have found the other bangle and it made Carol & Kamala swap places (so Carol is in Jersey, and Kamala is in... space, I guess?). I like this as a way to include Kamala in The Marvels. And since Kamala's mom, dad and brother are in The Marvels, I'm going to assume the movie picks up where this ended: with Carol in the Khan house.

"This is what happens when the wrong people get powers". A government organization storming a Mosque. Shooting at kids in a high school. Assaulting a teenager (Bruno). I kind of laughed when the local cops took the side of Kamala, because you know that wouldn't happen, but then they immediately stepped aside when the DODC guy told them to move. So that's realistic!

I'm going to close with two things that made me very happy: SHE FUCKIN' EMBIGGENED! And G. Willow Wilson finally showed up, in that closing montage of people on TikTok.

Announce a second season at ComicCon, you fucking cowards. I need more.