Marvel's Secret Invasion

[PolymerSkywalker]

I am a little surprised how poorly this show has done with viewership and how poorly it is being received. Maybe this Marvel fatigue thing is real after all?

I thought Sam Jackson alone would be enough to make this thing a hit.

 

[BrianL]

I am a little surprised how poorly this show has done with viewership and how poorly it is being received. Maybe this Marvel fatigue thing is real after all?

I thought Sam Jackson alone would be enough to make this thing a hit.

Well, it doesn't help that it just wasn't taht good. A lot of peopel wait until all the episodes are out so they can binge-watch, but after the reception of that last episode, I don't know that they will be motivated to do that.

 

[PolymerSkywalker]

Well, it doesn't help that it just wasn't taht good. A lot of peopel wait until all the episodes are out so they can binge-watch, but after the reception of that last episode, I don't know that they will be motivated to do that.

Yep, that's fair. I guess I have been just shocked at how quickly the Marvel brightness has faded. Probably going to need a reset of some sort to get this thing back going, and even then it likely may never reach its previous levels.

 

[BrianL]

Yep, that's fair. I guess I have been just shocked at how quickly the Marvel brightness has faded. Probably going to need a reset of some sort to get this thing back going, and even then I likely may never reach its previous levels.

I think they will do okay, but just okay. If you look at the pre-Endgame run, the movies with the big heroes did really well, but the side heroes did significantly less well (though still pretty good). I think they can count on the movies doing as well as the lower-tier characters - $300 to $400 M tops, as opposed to the $800M+ of the bigger films. The problem is that none of the big characters are available anymore, so it's all B-List, and while good, they will need to rethink their overall strategy. There is one sure-fire way to save it though, and it would be the biggest coup in the history of cinema....

 

[PolymerSkywalker]

I think they will do okay, but just okay. If you look at the pre-Endgame run, the movies with the big heroes did really well, but the side heroes did significantly less well (though still pretty good). I think they can count on the movies doing as well as the lower-tier characters - $300 to $400 M tops, as opposed to the $800M+ of the bigger films. The problem is that none of the big characters are available anymore, so it's all B-List, and while good, they will need to rethink their overall strategy. There is one sure-fire way to save it though, and it would be the biggest coup in the history of cinema....

Do tell, how can they save it?

Also, I think the Captain Marvel movie made a ton of money, so do you consider her B-list as well? I didn't much like the movie, but there is no denying how well it did in the box office. Spider Man is certainly A-list, but he is Sony Owned......so not really completely available for Disney.

 

[BrianL]

Do tell, how can they save it?

Also, I think the Captain Marvel movie made a ton of money, so do you consider her B-list as well? I didn't much like the movie, but there is no denying how well it did in the box office. Spider Man is certainly A-list, but he is Sony Owned......so not really completely available for Disney.

Oh, I guess I thought it was obvious - just get RDJ & Evans to return and re-assemble the original Avengers. Granted, I don't think that's likely, but just imagine.

Morgan Stark receives a mysterious message: "I Love You 3000."

 

[PolymerSkywalker]

Isn't that kind of admitting that what they are currently doing and the characters they are featuring isn't really working? Not something you often see creatives do in modern society.

 

[PolymerSkywalker]

I mean Captain America has always been a headlining character, but RDJ made Iron Man way more popular than he ever was in the comics (in my opinion). Well, RDJ and John Favreau that is.

Mando 3 may suggest Favreau is losing his touch a little though, as that season was pretty bad (in my opinion).

 

[BrianL]

Isn't that kind of admitting that what they are currently doing and the characters they are featuring isn't really working? Not something you often see creatives do in modern society.

Well, kinda. I mean, tehy are working - about as well as they always did. The Ant-Man's and Dr. Strange's always did lower box-office than the Iron Man's and Avengers' movies. If that's acceptible, then okay. They have still generally all been moderately successful, even when not received all that well. That's just what it's gonna be without Iron Man and Cap.

 

[PolymerSkywalker]

You think The Marvels will hit big like Captain Marvel did?

 

[BrianL]

You think The Marvels will hit big like Captain Marvel did?

I think it will do well enough, but probably not as big as the first one.

 

[maverik85]

I was very disappointed in this show. I wanted to like it, I really did. It was so poorly written and executed.

Same here. Even when watching it, while not blown away I thought it was alright but a bit of a letdown from what it could have been. But the more I think on the show the worse it seems to me. I will say I thought it was one of the better paced MCU shows and had a good finale fight, but after the first episode it just kind of fell flat overall. The biggest issue I feel was, for a mystery series there really didn't seem to be that much mystery to it. Gravik announced his plans and reasonings from the start and even to a degree how he planned to achieve it. And anyone that was secretly a Skrull was revealed to us almost immediately. There was never any tension or unsuredness about who might be a Skrull or not. The closest it got was revealing Rhodes but even he got revealed in his first couple appearances. Was hoping for something more on par with Winter Soldier but it just didn't get there. And by the end of the series it didn't really feel like much changed. They stopped Gravik's plans, but there is still no advancement on finding a place for the Skrulls, governments have called for action against them (and other aliens) making them targets even if friendly, this action is also causing people to attack regular humans. A US President's bill causing the death of the UK Prime Minister could have big ramifications. So after being underwhelming it also had an unfulfilling ending.

 

[leiaorgana]

Did they forget about the Asgardians and New Asgard with that whole going after other aliens bit? Imagine the Government trying to take on Valkyrie/Thor & co?

I think the problem for me was that I was possibly expecting too much since I love CA: TWS so much and thought it was going to be more like that and that’s where I got let down even though this show was actually one of the ones I was really looking forward to when it first got announced. I’ve never read the Secret Invasion comic run so can’t comment on that but I guess I was expecting more paranoia of not knowing who’s really who and more mystery and it being more of a thriller and thus in turn I built it up too much in my head. I figured we’d get a few more important reveals (wishful thinking huh?) and the ones that we did just fell flat.

Samuel L. Jackson really does have his time to shine in some parts of this show so I’ll give it that and I’m also a hugeeee fan of Emilia Clarke so I was excited for her casting when it was originally announced but as a pp said, even she couldn’t save this show for me. The final fight was so laughably bad though and I just don’t understand the logic of having some random Skrull now being the most powerful being in the MCU and just letting her walk around with no real repercussions so far. When I saw the last episode was only 38 minutes I knew that was a bad sign from the get go and everything was going to be rushed to wrap it up as quickly as possible and that’s how it felt to me.

I really didn’t like the fridging of Maria Hill (but maybe Cobie wanted out idk?) or the implication of Rhodey having been a Skrull since Civil War given that Gravik’s plan didn’t come about until after Endgame and that now ruining the emotional impact of that film between him and Tony & co. But yeah, I wanted to like it and I went into it with an open mind but it just wasn’t for me. I actually turned it off halfway through the first episode when I was catching up on it after getting back from my holiday because I just found the pace to be too much of a slow burn but then I decided to give it another chance and binged the other 3 episodes in one night.

I really hope The Marvels does well though because I love Brie and all three of our Marvels and I’m looking forward to it because it looks like a fun movie and I want to see it be a success (for some petty reasons too) but I can’t deny that I’m concerned. I saw an article earlier that said The Marvels won’t be getting any IMAX screens because Dune: Part II have got them all booked out already for the first 6 weeks of its run so that’s not a great sign when it comes to the current state of Marvel and the MCU as well that they couldn’t get any IMAX screenings for it.

 

[PolymerSkywalker]

Barbie is proving a female centric / led movie can indeed dominate in the box office in 2023, like really really dominate it! So, maybe there is hope that Captain Marvel 2 (aka The Marvels) can do well also.

 

[PolymerSkywalker]

So, is Marvel / Super Hero content fatigue real? It is starting to seem like it really is.

 

[leiaorgana]

I know a lot of people in my family and social circle have given up on it now because there’s just way too much to keep on top of now in their eyes and they’ve just lost interest and don’t want to be forced into watching stuff they’re not really interested in just so that they can understand the main movies too.

And I guess I’m starting to feel that way a little bit too, which is something I’d never thought I’d say a few years back. The Guardians were always my favourite and now that this team’s films are over I’m only really sticking around for more Wanda, Moon Knight and Kate Bishop and the films I’m mainly looking forward to are The Marvels, Cap 4 and Thunderbolts. I hope they do a Midnight Sons series or film down the line but I’m not holding my breath.

 

[PolymerSkywalker]

I know a lot of people in my family and social circle have given up on it now because there’s just way too much to keep on top of now in their eyes and they’ve just lost interest and don’t want to be forced into watching stuff they’re not really interested in just so that they can understand the main movies too.

And I guess I’m starting to feel that way a little bit too, which is something I’d never thought I’d say a few years back. The Guardians were always my favourite and now that this team’s films are over I’m only really sticking around for more Wanda, Moon Knight and Kate Bishop and the films I’m mainly looking forward to are The Marvels, Cap 4 and Thunderbolts. I hope they do a Midnight Sons series or film down the line but I’m not holding my breath.

I saw something a while back that said using the name "Endgame" was a tad unfortunate. Many fans had so much time and passion invested that after Endgame, they just chose to not invest at that level emotionally in any more Mavel content. So, for many fans Endgame was kind of their "endgame" when it came to Marvel. I agree with Brian that it may take something pretty big to pull those fans back into the fray.

I watched WandaVision as appointment viewing, but since then my enthusiasm has gone downhill for Marvel Disney+ content. Didn't care for several I tried to watch, and I am not sure I have finished one series since WandaVision.

 

[BrianL]

I know a lot of people in my family and social circle have given up on it now because there’s just way too much to keep on top of now in their eyes and they’ve just lost interest and don’t want to be forced into watching stuff they’re not really interested in just so that they can understand the main movies too.

And I guess I’m starting to feel that way a little bit too, which is something I’d never thought I’d say a few years back. The Guardians were always my favourite and now that this team’s films are over I’m only really sticking around for more Wanda, Moon Knight and Kate Bishop and the films I’m mainly looking forward to are The Marvels, Cap 4 and Thunderbolts. I hope they do a Midnight Sons series or film down the line but I’m not holding my breath.

Well, that's kind of the deal with collecting comic books. Most peopel don't buuy everything, only the characters and concepts that they like. There are times when all come together for an event, but generally you don't follow it all. It's not a hobby for peopel with FOMO! When done well though you should never have to follow something else just to understand the story - it's not always done well though.

 

[leiaorgana]

WandaVision being appointment viewing at the time it was airing is something we finally agree on I don’t think any of the other MCU shows, even the few that I enjoyed, will ever come close to the hype I felt each week before and after watching each episode and surrounding it with all of the fan theories and buzz it generated each week. I know a lot of people feel that way about Loki as well and are looking forward to the second season of that but I just never really liked his character to begin with and didn’t really enjoy that show but I think Tom Hiddleston’s fandom had a lot to do with that for me.

 

[PolymerSkywalker]

WandaVision being appointment viewing at the time it was airing is something we finally agree on I don’t think any of the other MCU shows, even the few that I enjoyed, will ever come close to the hype I felt each week before and after watching each episode and surrounding it with all of the fan theories and buzz it generated each week. I know a lot of people feel that way about Loki as well and are looking forward to the second season of that but I just never really liked his character to begin with and didn’t really enjoy that show but I think Tom Hiddleston’s fandom had a lot to do with that for me.

I just like the Wanda character a lot. She is so powerful, but yet so troubled with tons of complexity. She scares the crap out of me if I am being honest. I did not care for how her character was treated in Dr Strange though, I just feel like they didn't really understand the character and had her do several things that were not "her" (in my opinion). Up until the last Dr Strange, I would say Wanda was an almost perfectly written character male or female.