Marvel announcements, December 2020

[purlieu]

As an aside to the news, I'm about to start a massive MCU runthrough. Given certain multiverse elements that are going to be upcoming in phase 4, and the future inclusion of the X Men into the franchise, I'm going to include a number of things previously not part of the MCU but that will probably be worth viewing as part of the overall story going forward. I'm going to do the Netflix stuff after I've completed the films & directly related TV shows.
The fact that I'm doing this alongside watching the whole of Star Trek and reading all of the Doctor Who books should give you an idea of what an idiot I am[nb]My partner and I are also currently working through the entire Alan Partridge canon, a huge swathe of '80s & '90s kids TV and are planning to start Farscape soon. Once I finish the Doctor Who NAs I'm going to have a spinoff of the Bernice Summerfield NAs leading on to the entire Big Finish audio series, consisting of more than 1000+ plays. What can I say, I'm a sucker for interlinked series.[/nb]. I might attempt to rewatch Runaways, Cloak & Dagger and watch Helstrom if there's any hint of them being properly written into the larger story, but they always felt like a totally different thing[nb]James Marsters' character being amazed at the confirmation of alien life after the first Avengers film pretty much killed any tangible MCU links[/nb] with few redeeming qualities.

My current plan should work out something like this:

X-Men
X2
X-Men: The Last Stand
Spider-Man
Spider-Man 2
Spider-Man 3
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
X-Men: First Class
The Wolverine
The Amazing Spider-Man
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Deadpool
X-Men: Apocalypse
Logan
Deadpool 2
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Dark Phoenix
The New Mutants
Iron Man
The Incredible Hulk
Iron Man 2
Thor
Captain America
The Avengers
Iron Man 3
Agents of SHIELD S1 1-7
Thor: The Dark World
Agents of SHIELD S1 8-16
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Agents of SHIELD S1 17-22
Guardians of the Galaxy
Agents of SHIELD S2 1-19
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Agents of SHIELD S2 20-22
Ant-Man
Agent Carter
Agents of SHIELD S3 1-19
Captain America: Civil War
Agents of SHIELD S3 20-22
Agents of SHIELD S4
Inhumans
Doctor Strange
Agents of SHIELD S5
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2
Spider-Man: Homecoming
Agents of SHIELD S6
Thor: Ragnarok
Black Panther
Agents of SHIELD S7
Avengers: Infinity War
Ant-Man and the Wasp
Captain Marvel
Avengers: Endgame
Spider-Man: Far from Home
Venom
WandaVision
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
Loki
Black Widow
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Venom: Let There Be Carnage
Daredevil S1
Jessica Jones S1
Daredevil S2
Luke Cage S1
Iron Fist S1
The Defenders
The Punisher S1
Jessica Jones S2
Luke Cage S2
Iron Fist S2
Daredevil S3
The Punisher S2
Jessica Jones S3

Wish me luck?


New page mega-autism.

[VelourSpirit]

As an aside to the news, I'm about to start a massive MCU runthrough. Given certain multiverse elements that are going to be upcoming in phase 4, and the future inclusion of the X Men into the franchise, I'm going to include a number of things previously not part of the MCU but that will probably be worth viewing as part of the overall story going forward. I'm going to do the Netflix stuff after I've completed the films & directly related TV shows.

Yes the absolute best of luck to you! I've had similar thoughts about going through the X-Mens and Amazing Spider-Mens that I haven't seen for multiverse related reasons (similar thoughts about doing all of Big Finish but I very quickly lose motivation with those). I find it fascinating that some of these unrelated legacy films closed off in their own franchises could become required viewing again. It'd be a shame if they were just forgotten - some weird and just bizarre but charming in their own way and more interesting than the base level of competence of the MCU. I rewatched Fantastic Four ROTS and was surprised how much I was laughing with it, it's genuinely quite a funny film.

[mjwilson]

Wish me luck?

This makes me feel better about the way in which I'm using my time.

[chveik]

good luck, this genuinely look like my cultural idea of hell

[mothman]

A release-chronological rewatch? Wow. I was thinking alphabetical. Or even - the holy grail - autobiographical.

[bakabaka]

As long as you start with Howard the Duck. He's coming back (in a What If... at least).

[purlieu]

This makes me feel better about the way in which I'm using my time.

If it helps, I'm also recording an album, writing a blog that covers every track my favourite band have ever released, regularly checking the local area for rare migratory birds, using my exercise bike a couple of hours a day, and trying to get in the odd wank when there's time. Life's too short not to have seventeen different projects on the go at once.

As long as you start with Howard the Duck. He's coming back (in a What If... at least).

I have a subs bench list, in case I have the mad desire to extend this beyond its already ridiculous limits / in case these things come up in What If / Multiverse stuff.
Howard the Duck
Blade
Blade II
Blade: Trinity
Hulk
The Punisher
Punisher: War Zone
Elektra
Fantastic Four (2005)
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Ghost Rider
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
Fantastic Four (2015)

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

There are also three series of Legion.

[purlieu]

And two series of Gifted. They're on the under-21s team, ready to be brought up in true emergencies.

I'm just glad I didn't actually go down the rabbit hole properly when I watched the Arrowverse, because the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover meant I would technically have had to watch all of Birds of Prey, Smallville, Wonder Woman and numerous other things as they're all seen in the multiverse, albeit briefly. The whole thing would have involved close to 2,000 episodes of TV and thus I decided not to bother. At least the Marvel TV and film history is comparatively small next to DC's.

edit: someone's actually tracked out the history of DC's live action TV and film and made a chronological viewing order. The completeness appeals, but there's absolutely no way I would even consider something this daft.

[beanheadmcginty]

Do you watch/listen to things slightly sped up? Otherwise I don't understand how this can be at all possible.

[Goldentony]

there's 70s Hulk, Spiderman and then Japanese Spiderman too, then Dolph Lundgren Punisher, 3 Dev Adam with Turkish Captain America and Evil Spiderman, Captain America with JD Salinger's son, have to watch those

[Mister Six]

As long as you start with Howard the Duck. He's coming back (in a What If... at least).

He's already back - appears in both of the Guardians of the Galaxy films and has a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo in the portal battle at the end of Endgame.

Anyway, good luck Purlieu, you completely mad bastard. I wouldn't inflict Like Cage, Iron Fist or The Defenders on my worst enemies.

[Mister Six]

Still can't believe how badly wrong they've gotten Taskmaster's costume. It's like something out of a Brian Singer X-Men movie.

Really disappointed that they're playing him straight when his current run has him as a goofball and is absolutely loads of fun.

[purlieu]

Do you watch/listen to things slightly sped up? Otherwise I don't understand how this can be at all possible.

There are currently 221 films / episodes in my first list. Something like Agents of SHIELD I can watch two or three episodes in a row. Should only take maybe three months. Really not that difficult. The Netflix stuff I'll probably casually peruse every now and then in the future.

there's 70s Hulk, Spiderman and then Japanese Spiderman too, then Dolph Lundgren Punisher, 3 Dev Adam with Turkish Captain America and Evil Spiderman, Captain America with JD Salinger's son, have to watch those

They're still playing down the park, jumpers for goalposts. Not sure they'll ever go pro, but we'll see.

Anyway, good luck Purlieu, you completely mad bastard. I wouldn't inflict Like Cage, Iron Fist or The Defenders on my worst enemies.

Ta. Yes, I did give up on Luke Cage first time around, but we'll see how desperate I get this time. I'm mostly just including them because there's been talk of Daredevil reappearing in the proper MCU in the future.

[druss]

First half of Luke Cage season 1 was alright. Went downhill after a certain thing happens.

[Goldentony]

That list of all the daft ones I typed out has backfired because seeing them written together like that really makes me want to watch a few of them, only one I reckon i'd have a hard time with is Captain Salinger. I remember even as  kid not having the patience for that because it seemed like Cap spent hours out of costume and then the Red Skull ends up as the White Bloke

[Mister Six]

Just want to echo the recommendation for Legion, which I'm watching at the mo, although unless things change dramatically into season two, its link to the X-Men series is tenuous at best, much less the MCU.

Great fun though.

[mothman]

I'm tempted to start small, do a timeline-chronological X-Men rewatch. But given I only got about ten minutes into Apocalypse then gave up, it's probably not feasible. Might just jump straight to the MCU films...

[purlieu]

It remains to be seen how the X Men will even tie in with the MCU in the larger scheme of things, so I could be watching all these for as little payoff as, say, Wolverine being on screen for five seconds in a post-credits scene. The first Spider-Man trilogy and the two Amazing Spider-Man films look like they might be worth a recap on, though.

[mothman]

I just don't see how they can unify the existing XCU with the MCU. If they're going to have X-Men in the MCU, make it a complete reboot. They're going to have to bite the bullet eventually and get a new Wolverine, he's easily the most popular of the mutants, so an overall fresh start is the only viable option.

[purlieu]

Agreed, but I'd say with the size of the X-Men universe, it's the most likely thing to have some crossover within the whole multiverse thing which is being built up. They have a big historical backstory, so I still can't see them being introduced in any fashion other than coming from another timeline, whichever way they're introduced.

[mothman]

Perhaps some wibbly-wobbly side-effect of the Blip will be an outbreak of random mutations...

[The Culture Bunker]

Perhaps some wibbly-wobbly side-effect of the Blip will be an outbreak of random mutations...

Does sort of nix Xavier and Magneto's crucial backstory of decades struggling against mutant prejudice, though.

[Lord Mandrake]

They are rebranding X-Men as simply 'Mutants' and they will give it at least another few years, Ryan Reynolds as a version of Deadpool first.

[mothman]

Does sort of nix Xavier and Magneto's crucial backstory of decades struggling against mutant prejudice, though.

I'm sure somebody (John Finnemore!) could square all the circles. Perhaps there were already some mutants (them two, obviously) and they'd be ideally placed to mentor and guide all the new mutants (it's weird how all the other X-Men often seem to be younger, this would explain that).

[purlieu]

Actually, just remembered why I'm watching the X-Men films: Deadpool 3 is going to connected to the MCU. So there will be a link, somehow or other.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Deadpool 3 is going to connected to the MCU. So there will be a link, somehow or other.

If the previous two are anything to go by, not really.

[mothman]

Given there's a derelict helicarrier in D1, there's already a link, albeit not much of one. Tine will tell whether any link in D3 is any more consequential.

[olliebean]

TBH, all this talk of years worth of old stuff being "required viewing" before watching the new stuff just makes me question whether it's worth bothering with at all.

[I.D. Smith]

I actually really hope Deadpool doesn't become part of MCU. The Deadpool films on their own are fine enough,  but up till now I've liked the fact that the MCU is a reasonably kid-friendly series of films, bopping along with nothing too violent or upsetting in them. They've been like a reliable comfort-watch over the years: I can go in knowing what I'm going to get, and that it's not going to stray too far out of the boundaries of a PG-12A movie. But adding Deadpool will likely mean they will need to keep the R-Rated aspects of those films and take them into the MCU, and whilst it's hardly Irreversible levels of grimness, to me it still just feels a bit too violent and dark to mix with tone of the existing universe.

It's like if Frasier had a cop spin-off prequel show about Martin Crane's policeman days, and it was a comedy-drama with moments that included gory crime scene investigations and added effing and blinding to make it more realistic. Yeah, as it's own thing it could be good, but it just wouldn't fit (again, for me) with the tone of it's source material, Frasier.

I know it's not all about me though, and I can imagine real Marvel fans would probably argue that the comics and general source material has previously had years and years of darker, more violent stuff in them, so I guess I might be in the minority of wanting it to stay the way it is.