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General => Movies and TV => Topic started by: The Letter M on August 11, 2021, 08:22:27 AM
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I figured I'd start the thread for the newest MCU show hitting Disney+! This animated series takes a look at the MCU through a different lens from the POV of The Watcher, voiced by Jeffrey Wright, who "ponders the question - What If...".
In this first episode, the basic concept is "What if Peggy Carter took the super-soldier serum instead of Steve Rogers?", and we see how she becomes Captain Carter, in place of Steve becoming Captain America.
One of the biggest draws for this show is that many of the MCU actors have come back to voice their roles in animated form. Pretty much everyone who played these characters in Captain America: The First Avenger returns for this episode of the series, with two notable exceptions - Steve Rogers and Red Skull, although Ross Marquand returns from Infinity War/Endgame to voice Red Skull, so Ross has now played Red Skull more than Hugo Weaving! Go figure.
There are a LOT of visual cues, references, and even recreations from TFA in this episode, so if you're familiar with the first Captain America film, you'll notice a lot of these fun moments and parallels! One of my favorites was a moment between Peggy and Bucky and what he says to her (you'll know it when you get to it).
This is a great first episode, and from what I've heard from the showrunners, Captain Carter will be returning across the series and the second season. As for the series itself, it was originally said that it would be 2 seasons of 10 episodes each, but last week, it was later reported by Collider that the series would be 2 seasons of 9 episodes each, with episodes of about 30 minutes each (some longer, some shorter).
-Marc.
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Beat you by one minute lol
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Beat you by one minute lol
I'm avoiding the initial post until I see the episode later since I assume it's filled with spoilers, but I wanted to say that your avatar is a perfect compliment to your post.
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Beat you by one minute lol
Dang, I was probably distracted for a bit while typing my post, Then again, I put a lot in the OP, so you probably posted yours AS I was typing mine.
Beat you by one minute lol
I'm avoiding the initial post until I see the episode later since I assume it's filled with spoilers, but I wanted to say that your avatar is a perfect compliment to your post.
:lol
And yeah, there are LIGHT spoilers in my post. I didn't want to post too much spoilery stuff quite yet until several more folks had gotten a chance to see it and/or post about the episode.
-Marc.
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I have really enjoyed the D+ Marvel shows so far. But I am finding it REALLY difficult to get even remotely excited about this. Part of it is the difficulty in viewing it as "canon." Part of it is the fact that it is a cartoon, and Marvel cartoons through the years have not been great. I dunno. I'll watch it--all of it. And I'll try to keep an open mind. And I'll likely enjoy it quite a bit. But I can't help going into it feeling like it is an inferior product right out of the gate.
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I have really enjoyed the D+ Marvel shows so far. But I am finding it REALLY difficult to get even remotely excited about this. Part of it is the difficulty in viewing it as "canon." Part of it is the fact that it is a cartoon, and Marvel cartoons through the years have not been great. I dunno. I'll watch it--all of it. And I'll try to keep an open mind. And I'll likely enjoy it quite a bit. But I can't help going into it feeling like it is an inferior product right out of the gate.
I think of it this way - if Star Wars can produce animated series that are considered canon, why can't Marvel? I'd even say that the art style of What If...? is closer to live action than the art style of things like Clone Wars and Bad Batch (neither of which I have ever watched, but I've seen clips and stills). The use of MCU actors reprising their roles also lends more credence to the show's canonicity (if that is a word). And I believe the showrunners have said that this series is as canon as anything else in the MCU (and, IMO, being a Marvel Studios production makes them more canon than Agents Of SHIELD and the Netflix shows), and since this series focuses on alternate realities in the multiverse, these stories might come into play in the future of the MCU, like in Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness.
-Marc.
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I have really enjoyed the D+ Marvel shows so far. But I am finding it REALLY difficult to get even remotely excited about this. Part of it is the difficulty in viewing it as "canon." Part of it is the fact that it is a cartoon, and Marvel cartoons through the years have not been great. I dunno. I'll watch it--all of it. And I'll try to keep an open mind. And I'll likely enjoy it quite a bit. But I can't help going into it feeling like it is an inferior product right out of the gate.
I think of it this way - if Star Wars can produce animated series that are considered canon, why can't Marvel? I'd even say that the art style of What If...? is closer to live action than the art style of things like Clone Wars and Bad Batch (neither of which I have ever watched, but I've seen clips and stills). The use of MCU actors reprising their roles also lends more credence to the show's canonicity (if that is a word). And I believe the showrunners have said that this series is as canon as anything else in the MCU (and, IMO, being a Marvel Studios production makes them more canon than Agents Of SHIELD and the Netflix shows), and since this series focuses on alternate realities in the multiverse, these stories might come into play in the future of the MCU, like in Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness.
-Marc.
Two things:
1. The various Star Wars animated series play right into that, actually. Despite them having some really good moments and good storytelling at times, they are a BIG step down from the films, IMO. And on top of that, I found myself many times having to suspend belief related to their canonicity in that, while they purport to augment what we know about characters and events from the film and never contradict the films, there are sometimes things that happen that make some things in the films pretty illogical and, as I said, require a bit of suspension of belief to make it all fit together as canon. And that's fine. Again, that doesn't mean the animated series should just be written off. But I have difficulty putting them on the same level.
2. Honestly, while what Marvel has done with the concept of a multiverse has been okay (and has actually been really cool as far as what they did in Loki), I'm not a fan of even going that direction in the first place.
Yet again I'll say that that doesn't mean I am writing this off. Just stating out loud what my mental hurdles are that I am having difficulty with going in.
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I have really enjoyed the D+ Marvel shows so far. But I am finding it REALLY difficult to get even remotely excited about this. Part of it is the difficulty in viewing it as "canon." Part of it is the fact that it is a cartoon, and Marvel cartoons through the years have not been great. I dunno. I'll watch it--all of it. And I'll try to keep an open mind. And I'll likely enjoy it quite a bit. But I can't help going into it feeling like it is an inferior product right out of the gate.
I think of it this way - if Star Wars can produce animated series that are considered canon, why can't Marvel? I'd even say that the art style of What If...? is closer to live action than the art style of things like Clone Wars and Bad Batch (neither of which I have ever watched, but I've seen clips and stills). The use of MCU actors reprising their roles also lends more credence to the show's canonicity (if that is a word). And I believe the showrunners have said that this series is as canon as anything else in the MCU (and, IMO, being a Marvel Studios production makes them more canon than Agents Of SHIELD and the Netflix shows), and since this series focuses on alternate realities in the multiverse, these stories might come into play in the future of the MCU, like in Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness.
-Marc.
Two things:
1. The various Star Wars animated series play right into that, actually. Despite them having some really good moments and good storytelling at times, they are a BIG step down from the films, IMO. And on top of that, I found myself many times having to suspend belief related to their canonicity in that, while they purport to augment what we know about characters and events from the film and never contradict the films, there are sometimes things that happen that make some things in the films pretty illogical and, as I said, require a bit of suspension of belief to make it all fit together as canon. And that's fine. Again, that doesn't mean the animated series should just be written off. But I have difficulty putting them on the same level.
2. Honestly, while what Marvel has done with the concept of a multiverse has been okay (and has actually been really cool as far as what they did in Loki), I'm not a fan of even going that direction in the first place.
Yet again I'll say that that doesn't mean I am writing this off. Just stating out loud what my mental hurdles are that I am having difficulty with going in.
Completely understandable, I'm sure being an animated series might turn some folks away, or have them question why it would be worth their time to watch. Coming out after Loki is definitely a big help for much of the MCU audience, I think, to get folks used to the idea of variations in the timeline, causing different realities.
I also think that a lot of the enjoyment of this series will come down to how each episode will treat the characters, because there are a lot of fans who are very passionate about certain MCU characters, so I think getting to see some of these characters again, even voiced by the original actors, will be a big draw for fans. Looking at the promo art and taking apart of the various teasers they have released, there are a LOT of interesting stories they've got lined up to tell, and I can't wait to see how they handle these characters in new ways.
Also, What If...? was always one of my favorite comics growing up, just being able to see how things played out in different ways than what was originally conceived in earlier comics.
-Marc.
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I was somewhat excited for the show cause I love the What If concept in the comics. The previews have thus far been less than exciting since they seem to mostly be "what if X became Y hero instead of X?" I'm sure there will be a LOT more to it than that but I haven't seen it yet. It coming after the finale of Loki and it being officially deemed canon also helps since I was originally imagining it just a fun side thing that didn't really connect. Some rumors are that this will connect in a more significant way.
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Just popping in to post that RJ's thread was officially first. But Marc's had a cooler title and more fans. ...or something. :biggrin:
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Just popping in to post that RJ's thread was officially first. But Marc's had a cooler title and more fans. ...or something. :biggrin:
In the spirit of the show, we'll just say that our threads were variants and his had to be pruned. :lol
I was somewhat excited for the show cause I love the What If concept in the comics. The previews have thus far been less than exciting since they seem to mostly be "what if X became Y hero instead of X?" I'm sure there will be a LOT more to it than that but I haven't seen it yet. It coming after the finale of Loki and it being officially deemed canon also helps since I was originally imagining it just a fun side thing that didn't really connect. Some rumors are that this will connect in a more significant way.
I've heard that might be the case as well, which makes me more excited for this show! They've stated that they've left open the possibility that some of these versions of these characters could make the leap to live action, either on the big screen or on future Disney+ shows.
-Marc.
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:lol
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Just popping in to post that RJ's thread was officially first. But Marc's had a cooler title and more fans. ...or something. :biggrin:
In the spirit of the show, we'll just say that our threads were variants and his had to be pruned. :lol
:lol :clap:
Also, What If...? was always one of my favorite comics growing up, just being able to see how things played out in different ways than what was originally conceived in earlier comics.
Yeah, interesting that you mention that. I think each of our individual perceptions of the very idea presented in the comics gives interesting insight into our present feelings going into the show. Back in the day, I felt similarly toward the comic how I feel about the show. It was a title I never read, and my reaction at the times was along the lines of: "Interesting idea, but not something I an inclined to buy and read. Maybe if I happen to pop into the comics shop in a week where none of my titles have released anything new and I am just Jonesing for something to read. But even then, there are other titles I haven't bought yet that are higher up the list, so I'll probably never bother." The key difference between the MCU content and comics content being: the comics presented such a vast universe (multiverse) of material that NOBODY had the time and money to read it all, and there were always parts of it that didn't usually (or ever) try to integrate into or even coordinate with the storylines of other titles. The MCU is very different in that regard in that the amount of content combined with the pace of release makes it much more manageable to take in everything, and for it all to try more to all fit together into a unified story.
In any case, I think you get where I am coming from. And even though I may not be looking forward to it nearly as much as other Marvel content, I am still looking forward to it.
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Watched the 1st episode and really liked it, even though I could tell where the story was headed. I thought the animation was really cool, some of the fight sequences were fantastic.
Curious what other characters they will include in the season.
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I'm just going to consider this thread it's own What If? on DTF - What if Marc had posted first?
Anyway... haven't read anything yet so as to make sure I avoid spoilers. I'll be back later tonight.
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Really enjoyed it, and did notice quite a few of the callbacks to previous Cap movies (not just TFA, but there were elements of Winter Soldier I saw tossed in there... especially Peggy's fighting style) Though, I'm not totally sure what line you were referring to between Peggy/Bucky that I missed ("you almost ripped my arm off" maybe?). Would've loved to hear him say "Im in this to the end with ya".
I really thought with the train sequence, that they were going to lead down a path where Steve becomes the Winter Soldier.
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Watched it last night. Loved it.
The storytelling was great, and I loved the animation style. The fact that most of the characters were voiced by the original actors who brought them to life on film (or TV) was fantastic.
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It was.....fine?
The animation was top notch. I'm glad they didn't do the video game style that they for Star Wars, which just totally takes me out of it.
The story was SUPER rushed but it didn't really hinder it since we've seen the movies and can easily fill in all the blanks without even thinking about it.
Some of the actors.....shouldn't be doing much voice acting though. The leads were good, but Bucky was very awkward.
Overall, I'm looking forward to the others.
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Expectations met, and perhaps slightly exceeded. I can't put in nearly on the same footing as the live action shows, but I enjoyed it. And it succeeded at making me look forward to the next episode.
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Question, the next episode is also about Capitan Carter? Or every episode is about a different character?
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Question, the next episode is also about Capitan Carter? Or every episode is about a different character?
She will apparently reappear another time or two in the course of other stories, but each episode will largely be centered on different characters.
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My only minor complaint with the first episode is that with the short episode length the story felt kinda rushed. But, that was often the case with the comics, as well.
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My only minor complaint with the first episode is that with the short episode length the story felt kinda rushed. But, that was often the case with the comics, as well.
Yeah, I think that's to be expected.
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My only minor complaint with the first episode is that with the short episode length the story felt kinda rushed. But, that was often the case with the comics, as well.
Yeah, I think that's to be expected.
Exactly. And it's not a problem for most of us since we've seen the movies and can fill it all in. I imagine this would be odd for a newcomer.
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It was.....fine?
The animation was top notch. I'm glad they didn't do the video game style that they for Star Wars, which just totally takes me out of it.
The story was SUPER rushed but it didn't really hinder it since we've seen the movies and can easily fill in all the blanks without even thinking about it.
Some of the actors.....shouldn't be doing much voice acting though. The leads were good, but Bucky was very awkward.
Overall, I'm looking forward to the others.
I’m pretty sure Sebastian did Bucky’s voice. Whoops!
It was ok but there was some pretty lame stuff too.
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Yea. I meant Sebastian. He’s a fantastic actor but his voice acting leaves a bit to be desired.
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When Steve went in the machine, his chest grew to massive proportions.
I was waiting for Peggy’s to do the same. :hat
I mean…equality! Right? :justjen
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I wonder if Capitan Carter is looking for Steve´s nephew
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Yea. I meant Sebastian. He’s a fantastic actor but his voice acting leaves a bit to be desired.
We saw Sebastian Stan in the credits, but we were all commenting during the show that Bucky didn’t sound anything like him.
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I wonder if Capitan Carter is looking for Steve´s nephew
Actually, I think that would be kind of cute. :lol
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When Steve went in the machine, his chest grew to massive proportions.
I was waiting for Peggy’s to do the same. :hat
I mean…equality! Right? :justjen
Her chest muscles did grow. But, extra-large boobs is not an advantage for a soldier. It's not called the Super Pornstar Serum, after all.
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Plus, as far as I'm concerned she was already a super soldier in that department.
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When Steve went in the machine, his chest grew to massive proportions.
I was waiting for Peggy’s to do the same. :hat
I mean…equality! Right? :justjen
Her chest muscles did grow. But, extra-large boobs is not an advantage for a soldier. It's not called the Super Pornstar Serum, after all.
I was just being facetious. :angel:
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Plus, as far as I'm concerned she was already a super soldier in that department.
:tup
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Plus, as far as I'm concerned she was already a super soldier in that department.
I'm sure she brought many purple helmet warriors to full attention.
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Plus, as far as I'm concerned she was already a super soldier in that department.
:lol
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I love the animation style.
But isn't she Captain UK now? What was the point of changing that part when it's still a US-funded-and-developed project?
What If... she was Canadian and jumped into the machine? Would she now be "Captain Canuck"? Would she be Captain America with a white/red suit/shield?
If someone can explain why she's Captain America but with the UK flag I'd really appreciate it.
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I love the animation style.
But isn't she Captain UK now? What was the point of changing that part when it's still a US-funded-and-developed project?
What If... she was Canadian and jumped into the machine? Would she now be "Captain Canuck"? Would she be Captain America with a white/red suit/shield?
If someone can explain why she's Captain America but with the UK flag I'd really appreciate it.
Well, since she was rejected by Flynn, and the US Govt by association, she was let go of the program but Howard Stark personally funded her with a new costume and a shield, so she wasn't really associated with the US Govt, but because Britain and the US were allies during WWII, she presumably worked with them when she started doing missions, initially to save Bucky and their troop from Hydra (just like Steve did in The First Avenger).
I guess technically she should be Captain Britain, who is an established character in the comics, and there's even a Captain Britain Corps, a group of interdimensional, alternate versions of Captain Britain who team up together, which could be a possibility in future Marvel Studios What If...? stories.
-Marc.
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Just watched the new episode (before heading off to work). Gotta say, I really liked this one too! There were a lot of returning characters we know (and love) from the MCU but in VERY different circumstances, which I like to see. This is quite a contrast to last week's episode in that it sees these characters further past the diverging point premise of the episode, so we have to draw conclusions and inferences from context and conversation about why they've ended up where they have. Granted, it's a bit more exposition-y than usual because we have to fill in some blanks, but seeing where things have ended up in this alternate 2008 timeline is totally worth it.
Fans of Black Panther/T'Challa, the Guardians films, and Infinity War will really like this episode!
-Marc.
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Really fun episode, loved the Thanos bit. Also nice usage of Howard.
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I wasn't going to watch this series (got a lot of stuff going on right now), but if it's considered canon, then I guess I will. Also, the reviews and discussion here make it sound like it will be okay and not a waste of time.
Also, kudos to DTF for 22 correct uses of the word "canon" (23 now!) and no one mentioning "cannon". That always bugs me.
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I can't get into this show. It's cute for what it is, but I find myself bored after 5 minutes of each episode.
I think the only thing that makes it canon is that they're playing around in the multiverse and telling alternate stories (and that they have so many of the original film's cast members in voice roles).
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That second episode was a blast. I particularly enjoyed Thanos being one of the Ravagers and generally a good guy. :lol
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That second episode was a blast. I particularly enjoyed Thanos being one of the Ravagers and generally a good guy. :lol
Seeing Thanos at ALL was honestly one of my favorite parts of the whole episode, especially when trying to convince others that his original quest was still viable. :lol ("That still sounds like genocide...")
-Marc.
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That second episode was a blast. I particularly enjoyed Thanos being one of the Ravagers and generally a good guy. :lol
Seeing Thanos at ALL was honestly one of my favorite parts of the whole episode, especially when trying to convince others that his original quest was still viable. :lol ("That still sounds like genocide...")
-Marc.
"Yeah, but it's efficient!" :rollin :rollin I really wanted him to look up at Proxima and Obsidian as he was getting his ass kicked and say "all that for a drop of blood".
Lots of fun with that episode, but man, the voice acting is so inconsistent. No way you could've convinced me that was Karen Gillian. And Del Torro did a terrible job at re-creating his essence of The Collector. Didn't recognize his voice or delivery at all - though I did like what they did with The Collector in general.
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Lots of fun with that episode, but man, the voice acting is so inconsistent. No way you could've convinced me that was Karen Gillian. And Del Torro did a terrible job at re-creating his essence of The Collector. Didn't recognize his voice or delivery at all - though I did like what they did with The Collector in general.
I think because I knew going in that it was Karen Gillan that I was able to pick up on her voice right away. She's definitely doing a different take on her character but given this version of her was never fully abused (if at all) by Thanos, she's lived a very different life and isn't so angry and embittered with revenge and rage. Likewise, because The Collector became a different version of himself, I could dismiss the different take on Benicio del Toro's character. He became a more power-hungry, underworld collector, almost a mob boss with a specific weapons trophy case. I mean, he somehow found a way to get both Cap's shield (which should have technically still be under ice in 2008? but maybe it was an alternate version of him?...) AND Mjolnir, not to mention somehow getting Hela's crown/helmet thing. His reach and power is a lot greater in this timeline, so he's got a bit of a different demeanor than his more subtle-yet-flamboyant version as seen in the main MCU.
-Marc.
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Unfortunately, this episode was more in line with my original thoughts on the series of "is this something we really need?" It did have a few moments that made me smile. But otherwise, didn't really care for it, and feel like this is just diluting the MCU quality.
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I enjoyed it. It was fun and really sweet and captured the essence of being a hero that Marvel comics does so well.
Was it necessary? Doubtful. Will it play a big role in anything phase 4? Doubtful. But it was fun and I enjoyed it.
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I don’t think there will be a lot of What If...? content playing a large role in the MCU movies. Maybe a minor scene here Nd there, but nothing terribly significant.
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We’ll, I really enjoyed it.
I think the only role these episodes will play in phase 4, 5 and others is to show us that ANYTHING is possible from now on due to the multiverse.
How many episodes are left?
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Jumped the shark for me with Thanos being a bro and what not. Eye-rolling stuff.
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Second episode was interesting for various reasons, but it didn't work for me quite as well as the first one did.
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There certainly was a heady amount of cheese to both episodes, of which I thought was predictable given the overall theme and how the show is being delivered. Fortunately I like cheese, and thought the Thanos shit was hilarious.
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We’ll, I really enjoyed it.
I think the only role these episodes will play in phase 4, 5 and others is to show us that ANYTHING is possible from now on due to the multiverse.
How many episodes are left?
Supposedly, both seasons 1 and 2 are 9 episodes each, so 7 more for this first season. The release date for season two is TBD.
-Marc.
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I watched the first two and they're about what I expected. Literally taking the question "What if...?" and filling in the blank and then coming up with a story. Mostly fun and/or interesting alternate takes on known characters. Not perfect, but sometimes pretty good storytelling and not a waste of half an hour, either.
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Hoo boy, episode three is something else! I love that they're tackling something like Fury's Big Week, which I'm sure the more casual MCU fans might have not even known was a thing, let alone that Iron Man 2, Thor, and The Incredible Hulk all took place within a week's time. I honestly was surprised at the twist at the end, the culprit behind it all!
Definitely a very fun episode, and it's a bit weird to see/hear Mark Ruffalo's Banner/Hulk played out during the Incredible Hulk era, but it was cool to revisit some of those moments/characters!
Fans of MCU Phase 1 will probably really enjoy this one, I know I did!
-Marc.
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Totally agree Marc, that was one fun episode for sure. Didn't even make the connection that it was Ruffalo doing Norton era Banner, we've just gotten so used to him in general.
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I loved it, probably my favorite episode so far.
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I'm loving all of these. It's a bummer when you've got 75% of the original voices, then you have to hear someone try to impersonate Ross (for instance). I joked with jingle.son that even if they'd had ScarJo for BW, they probably would've re-dubbed over her voice given the events of the past month. :lol
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Yea. These are fun stories. It's my least favorite show so far though. Even most of the returning cast are not very good voice actors. The stories also just feel so rushed. Like it's hard to really engage (for me) with much of it cause it's over so soon and everything happens so damn fast.
The story lines are actually cool and fun. I just wish they didn't rush through them and that the voice talent had a better handle on how to be voice talent.
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Def the best ep so far, Great laughs.
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Yea. These are fun stories. It's my least favorite show so far though. Even most of the returning cast are not very good voice actors. The stories also just feel so rushed. Like it's hard to really engage (for me) with much of it cause it's over so soon and everything happens so damn fast.
The story lines are actually cool and fun. I just wish they didn't rush through them and that the voice talent had a better handle on how to be voice talent.
Because I enjoy a lot of anime and follow a lot of English dubbing voice actors on social media (especially ones that I have met in person), it always tickles me when folks try to belittle them in ways like saying "voice acting isn't hard", but it really is. It's more than just acting, and there's quite a different skill-set involved than on-screen or stage acting, even though many voice actors have done both, but you can't say that many stage or on-screen actors have done voice acting, and if they have, it probably wasn't as good as a voice actor doing non-VO roles.
You can definitely tell who in the MCU has done some voice over before and who is just trying to ham it up, but that also may be the fault of the script. A lot of voice over tends to get punched up a bit to help sell punchlines or exaggerate (this goes for Western animation with the voices done pre-vis and also for dubbing), so maybe the directors of the voice talent tried to compensate by going harder on the punched up dialog. Either way, this show is a good example of showing someone how difficult really good voice acting can be, and it makes me appreciate the dubbing voice industry even more given how the quality of some dubbed anime has risen over the years!
-Marc.
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I liked this episode a lot. Much better than last week's IMO.
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I'll return to what I said above about the comics. "What if...?" was something that, when I saw it on the shelf, I would think something along the lines of, "Eh, maybe someday if I'm just bored, want some Marvel, and there isn't something else to read." Similar feeling here that gets more entrenched as the series goes on. If my kids weren't into it, I wouldn't bother. First episode was fun enough. The second and third have had a few moments here and there, but otherwise aren't really doing it for me.
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I guess I'm in the "meh, it's okay" category as well. As I've said, I don't have a problem asking the question "What if...?" but the answer has to lead to a story I give a damn about, and in this case it just wasn't grabbing me. Yep, some serious shit went on, but nothing about the resolution of any of it blew me away, and I have trouble getting invested in it because -- canon or not -- part of my brain says it's not "really" happening; it's literally just someone asking a question and then showing us how they think the answer would play out.
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That's a good way of putting it.
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No need to overthink things. It's just 30 minutes of entertainment.
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No need to overthink things. It's just 30 minutes of entertainment.
Wrong room for that logic bro.
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I've enjoyed all three episodes so far as fun, throwaway bits of entertainment. I don't feel that need to see each episode ASAP the first morning like I did with Wandavision and Loki, but the quality is certainly there.
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How can a Hawkeye’s arrow kill Thor?
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How can a Hawkeye’s arrow kill Thor?
How could being hit by an RV put Thor in the hospital?
Simple- he was stripped of his power and weakened when he was first banished to Earth. He was weak and unworthy, and Hawkeye aims to kill.
-Marc.
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How can a Hawkeye’s arrow kill Thor?
At that particular time, he was a mortal after being banished by Odin.
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How can a Hawkeye’s arrow kill Thor?
At that particular time, he was a mortal after being banished by Odin.
Yes, I forgot. It’s been ages since I saw the movie.
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There was a lot of good Coulson stuff in episode 3. He's so adorkable.
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Wow... this may be my favorite episode so far. If you've found yourself a bit underwhelmed by the first three episodes for retreading familiar ground, this episode will certainly fix that for you by taking Doctor Strange into new territory, both literally and figuratively. The journey he takes in this episode is wild, and a bit heart-wrenching, especially the ending, which did NOT go the way I expected it to.
The main cast of Doctor Strange all returns, including Tilda Swinton, Benedict Wong, Rachel McAdams, and of course, Benedict Cumberbatch, who did a wonderful job at portraying a very different Stephen Strange than the one we saw in the main MCU timeline. This might be the most emotional episode yet, at least for me, especially if you enjoy Doctor Strange.
And even though this episode reunites the MCU cast, the story itself is very much like a comic book, even down to the sorcerer battle at the end. This one, of any of the four episodes, is a must watch, in my opinion. None of the episodes thus far have been connected in any way, so if you haven't seen any of them yet, definitely at least check out episode four!
-Marc.
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That was bloody brilliant. I was pretty emotionally drained by the end even though it was only half an hour.
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That episode was fucking amazing. Talk about delivering, the rest of What If can be ordinary as fuck for all I care
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Agree with everything said already. That was dark, and completely original and innovative. The Cap episode, and Fury's Bad Week episode felt a little bland and/or predictable, and/or formulaic. This was anything but.
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Agree with everything said already. That was dark, and completely original and innovative. The Cap episode, and Fury's Bad Week episode felt a little bland and/or predictable, and/or formulaic. This was anything but.
Yup...this pushed the edge of what this show is capable of. I dearly hope we get a lot more of this, and a lot less of the puff pieces.
One minor issue I had...they made a very big deal in Endgame of saying that time travel didn't work a-la Back to the Future, yet this episode was centered around that exact thinking, that changing her death would create a paradox that would destroy the universe, instead of just creating another branch in the timeline. Please correct me if I'm off in my thinking.
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One minor issue I had...they made a very big deal in Endgame of saying that time travel didn't work a-la Back to the Future, yet this episode was centered around that exact thinking, that changing her death would create a paradox that would destroy the universe, instead of just creating another branch in the timeline. Please correct me if I'm off in my thinking.
I think we're going to learn that there are different rules for different types of time travel. The Endgame rules may only apply to the scientific quantum realm version of time travel, but may not hold for mystical time travel via the Time Stone, for example.
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Agree with everything said already. That was dark, and completely original and innovative. The Cap episode, and Fury's Bad Week episode felt a little bland and/or predictable, and/or formulaic. This was anything but.
One minor issue I had...they made a very big deal in Endgame of saying that time travel didn't work a-la Back to the Future, yet this episode was centered around that exact thinking, that changing her death would create a paradox that would destroy the universe, instead of just creating another branch in the timeline. Please correct me if I'm off in my thinking.
I think in *these* series' of universes/realities, Christine's death was this 'absolute' event such that it would always happen, and therefore preventing it would cause a cascading series of events so catastrophic any resulting universe/reality would implode on itself. I think it's just another way of introducing a new concept - "absolutes"... though I don't think too much of any events in What If... ? will be repurposed in the theatrical releases.
Or what Zircon said.
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Wow, that was some dark shit.
Loved it. My favorite episode thus far. Interesting to see the Watcher do some actual communicating.
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Based on the reactions I am seeing in the thread to this episode, I guess I just have to resign myself to the fact that I am not the audience for this show. First episode was "good." All other episodes, including this week's installment, just all felt tedious and unnecessary.
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Wow... this may be my favorite episode so far. If you've found yourself a bit underwhelmed by the first three episodes for retreading familiar ground, this episode will certainly fix that for you by taking Doctor Strange into new territory, both literally and figuratively. The journey he takes in this episode is wild, and a bit heart-wrenching, especially the ending, which did NOT go the way I expected it to.
The main cast of Doctor Strange all returns, including Tilda Swinton, Benedict Wong, Rachel McAdams, and of course, Benedict Cumberbatch, who did a wonderful job at portraying a very different Stephen Strange than the one we saw in the main MCU timeline. This might be the most emotional episode yet, at least for me, especially if you enjoy Doctor Strange.
And even though this episode reunites the MCU cast, the story itself is very much like a comic book, even down to the sorcerer battle at the end. This one, of any of the four episodes, is a must watch, in my opinion. None of the episodes thus far have been connected in any way, so if you haven't seen any of them yet, definitely at least check out episode four!
-Marc.
I'm all over this.
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Agree with everything said already. That was dark, and completely original and innovative. The Cap episode, and Fury's Bad Week episode felt a little bland and/or predictable, and/or formulaic. This was anything but.
One minor issue I had...they made a very big deal in Endgame of saying that time travel didn't work a-la Back to the Future, yet this episode was centered around that exact thinking, that changing her death would create a paradox that would destroy the universe, instead of just creating another branch in the timeline. Please correct me if I'm off in my thinking.
I think in *these* series' of universes/realities, Christine's death was this 'absolute' event such that it would always happen, and therefore preventing it would cause a cascading series of events so catastrophic any resulting universe/reality would implode on itself. I think it's just another way of introducing a new concept - "absolutes"... though I don't think too much of any events in What If... ? will be repurposed in the theatrical releases.
Or what Zircon said.
I'm not expecting any concepts to be mainstream MCU fodder either...it just irked me a bit. I mean, they made a REALLY big deal of it in Endgame, made it very plain that the BTTF concept of time travel was "bullshit"
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Agree with everything said already. That was dark, and completely original and innovative. The Cap episode, and Fury's Bad Week episode felt a little bland and/or predictable, and/or formulaic. This was anything but.
One minor issue I had...they made a very big deal in Endgame of saying that time travel didn't work a-la Back to the Future, yet this episode was centered around that exact thinking, that changing her death would create a paradox that would destroy the universe, instead of just creating another branch in the timeline. Please correct me if I'm off in my thinking.
I think in *these* series' of universes/realities, Christine's death was this 'absolute' event such that it would always happen, and therefore preventing it would cause a cascading series of events so catastrophic any resulting universe/reality would implode on itself. I think it's just another way of introducing a new concept - "absolutes"... though I don't think too much of any events in What If... ? will be repurposed in the theatrical releases.
Or what Zircon said.
I'm not expecting any concepts to be mainstream MCU fodder either...it just irked me a bit. I mean, they made a REALLY big deal of it in Endgame, made it very plain that the BTTF concept of time travel was "bullshit"
I just had a thought... maybe because Endgame's was "invented" time travel, as opposed to Dr. Strange using the Time Stone?? Just musing...
Or maybe Banner didn't know what the fuck he was talking about, and it was just a scene for giggles.
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The sorcerer Supreme stated pretty much the same thing in Endgame though.
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This episode breakdown does a good job of explaining the different time travel methods, this channel is great at really diving into the MCU to explain plot holes or complicated concepts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buki9lJOAyM
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I've come to very much love the Screen Crush vids.
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I remember thinking that everything we know about Stephen Strange's personality and attitude says that he'd never do this.
He wouldn't even tell Tony what the one way they beat Thanos and save the universe so there's no way he'd do what he was doing to save one person if it meant risking his entire reality. Like when he tells Tony that he's "protecting your reality... douchebag" (awesome line).
I'm just glad they explained it with what Sorcerer Supreme did when we all thought she kaboomed his ass wasn't what actually happened.
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That was a really great episode. Really great. Was pretty meh on the others, but this one was what the show needs to be.
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One thing I’m not sure I understand. He was looking for any reality in which she lives. But doesn’t she live in the primary universe that ends with endgame?
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One thing I’m not sure I understand. He was looking for any reality in which she lives. But doesn’t she live in the primary universe that ends with endgame?
Strange wasn't jumping between realities or timelines, he was sliding back and forth within his own timeline, trying to course correct the death of Palmer, but because her death is an Absolute Point in his timeline, she couldn't be allowed to live. In his timeline, her death is what sends him on his quest to become Doctor Strange, the Sorcerer, whereas in the main MCU timeline, it was his crash and losing the use of his hands that sent him on that path to Kamar Taj/becoming a sorcerer.
In all of episode four, we only saw one timeline, even after the Ancient One split Strange in two, the darker one went back in time to the library of Cagliostro and spent centuries learning and absorbing new powers while the other one went on about his business as usual and learned to let go of Palmer, but both Stranges existed within the same timeline, just two halves of the whole Strange, which is why Strange Supreme needed to re-absorb him at the end.
-Marc.
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Ah… :tup
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Episode 5 has arrived, and with it, a zombie virus outbreak that has overtaken the Earth, as well as its Mightiest Heroes. I was quite surprised at the high number of returning actors in this episode. I think Spider-Man/Peter Parker was the only main character with speaking lines* to not be voiced by their MCU actor.
*Cap is credited by Josh Keaton again, but he had one line near the beginning,, and then just some zombie growls.
While last week's episode focused its grim and depressing storyline on to one character (Doctor Strange), this one pours all of that darkness onto the whole world, and if you're at all familiar with zombie apocalypse stories, this is just about the same, but with the MCU heroes we all know and love, with Peter Parker as a bit of the central hero here, which kind of makes me sad that they couldn't get Tom Holland to voice him, but his voice actor here is a fairly good voice match IMO.
There were some great bits of action and fun match-ups throughout the episode, some funny, some sad, and some that will probably never happen in the MCU proper (my favorite being the ones at the Camp Lehigh). And WOW that ending!!! I really hope they revisit this universe in the second season because I need to know what happens next!
I'd say this is tied with my favorite of the season so far, episode four, both have been very interesting and unique divergences from the main MCU. While episode 1 was just CATFA almost beat-for-beat in parts, and episode 2 was a fairly small and self-contained story about T'Challa, episode 3 at least branched out to other moments within the MCU that didn't all happen in one film. But the whole concept of What If...? definitely was explored much further with these past two episodes. I'm really glad the series is getting better with each episode, and now I am more hyped for this series as we reach the back-half of season one.
Based on promotional material, there's a "Party Thor" episode, something with Gamora in Thanos' armor, an episode where Killmonger saves Tony Stark from being captured by The Ten Rings, and a version of Vision in Ultron-armor with the Infinity Stones in his chest, so I think we've got the remaining four episodes right there, and some sort of Guardians Of The Multiverse team-up as well (probably the finale), which I hope has a good set-up and is a bit longer than 30-ish minutes.
-Marc.
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Definitely an interesting episode.
Would've preferred it to be closer to an hour? The ending felt super rushed.
Tone wise I actually really liked it, but when my main man Paul Rudd came in, that was the biggest example of comedy not fitting the tone that I've seen. The jokes were legit funny, but just felt SO out of place given what was happening. Hoping this one gets revisited.
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To me, this episode was such an odd blend of dark and silly that it somehow managed to work really nicely. Could be the best one so far, or #2 behind episode 1. Those two are at the top in "okay, that was actually kind of fun" territory. The other three are pretty far behind in the "okay, I saw it...what's next on the schedule?" zone.
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Wow, what a dark episode!
I liked it, and the child loved it. My wife HATED it lol
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Wow, what a dark episode!
I liked it, and the child loved it. My wife HATED it lol
I do appreciate not having to end everything on a resolved happy ending note. The site of zombie Thanos with the infinity gauntlet was pretty insane and I did not expect it.
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Totally. But why did Thanos even go to Wakanda?
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Totally. But why did Thanos even go to Wakanda?
That's like the *only* "plot hole" that bothers me, but I guess we could say that he found the safest place on the planet to land, or the place with the highest level of tech, to try and assert his dominance there. Maybe he surmised that if the Mind Stone was still on Earth, it would find its way to Wakanda because of its technological superiority.
What's more, how did he get the Time Stone? Did he stop off in NYC before going to Wakanda? Maybe after getting the Time Stone, he found the hanging-homebase of the survivors and saw that there were communications with Wakanda (because of Okoye), and decided to go there. Who knows!
-Marc.
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Totally. But why did Thanos even go to Wakanda?
For the healthcare.
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Not knowing the answer to something does not make it a plot hole.
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Not knowing the answer to something does not make it a plot hole.
If no one knows the answer, then in my mind, yes... it does (especially for the audience)
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Not knowing the answer to something does not make it a plot hole.
If no one knows the answer, then in my mind, yes... it does (especially for the audience)
Only if it actually matters to the plot.
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Not knowing the answer to something does not make it a plot hole.
If no one knows the answer, then in my mind, yes... it does (especially for the audience)
Whatever is going on subjectively in your mind has zero to do with it. A plot hole is "an inconsistency in the narrative or character development of a book, film, television show, etc." Something being unanswered, or the audience's failure to divine the correct answer, do not fit that definition.
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Different strokes (or definitions) for different folks. Wiki calls it "a gap or inconsistency in a storyline that goes against the flow of logic established by the story's plot". To me, there is no logic in him going to Wakanda.
Either way, the episode didn't establish a logical reason for him to be there.
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Different strokes (or definitions) for different folks. Wiki calls it "a gap or inconsistency in a storyline that goes against the flow of logic established by the story's plot". To me, there is no logic in him going to Wakanda.
Either way, the episode didn't establish a logical reason for him to be there.
At least not an obvious logical reason, but as I stated in my previous post, he may have deduced that survivors may have sheltered in the most technologically advanced part of the planet left, and as far as Okoye knew, Wakanda was still zombie-free, so maybe after getting the Time Stone in New York from Zombie Strange, he ventured to Wakanda for safety, only to find it was already overrun. Who knows - if they do a follow-up episode, hopefully we get even just a line of dialogue that reveals why he went there.
OR... he just shows up at the end as a shock-and-awe cliffhanger/twist.
-Marc.
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Different strokes (or definitions) for different folks. Wiki calls it "a gap or inconsistency in a storyline that goes against the flow of logic established by the story's plot". To me, there is no logic in him going to Wakanda.
Either way, the episode didn't establish a logical reason for him to be there.
But, to use your own definition, it doesn't go "against the flow of logic". You can argue there isn't a stated logical reason for it, but unless there's a logical reason against it (e.g. it should have been somewhere else) then it doesn't meet your definition.
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Hey Rich ... Stadler hacked your account. ;) :D
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Hey Rich ... Stadler hacked your account. ;) :D
:rollin :rollin :rollin
I just watched it. Meh.
That was the least enjoyable episode so far. Some of the jokes made me laugh, and the dig on zombie tropes was mildly amusing, it just didn’t have any emotional impact at all whereas the first 4 at least had something I could sink my teeth into.
Maybe I just hate the zombie cliche.
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Hey Rich ... Stadler hacked your account. ;) :D
I'm taking that as a compliment. :biggrin:
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Hey Rich ... Stadler hacked your account. ;) :D
I'm taking that as a compliment. :biggrin:
Stadler would!
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A new Mid-Season trailer has dropped, showing off some new tidbits!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dOx38iLreg
Of particular interest is a shot of Tony Stark doing the final Infinity snap from Endgame, Ego zapping power from his chest into Peter Quill (which indicates they'll revisit the timeline from episode 2), a horde of Ultron drones, Korg dancing with a pacifier in his mouth surrounded by what appear to be Asgardian troops, a Skrull, and Mantis, and the Grandmaster being a DJ.
Based on some Lego sets, there might be an episode based on Tony Stark being on Sakaar (where his armor transforms into a race car), so that might involve the Grandmaster.
This week's episode looks to involve Killmonger, and based on the pre-season trailer, it should be the one where he rescues Tony from being injured and captured from the beginning of Iron Man 1, so that'll be interesting to see how it plays out!
-Marc.
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Another really good episode today! I'm not sure if it's my favorite of the six so far, but it definitely takes things into very new directions, by going back to the start of the MCU during the events of Iron Man 1, and crossing over many elements of that film and Black Panther. I feel like Michael B. Jordan did a great job as Killmonger here, and it was interesting to see him achieve so much in such a short time. I really loved the bit about him liking anime as the reason for the bold design choice for his Project Liberator drone, which also confirms that Tony knows what Gundam is (because why wouldn't he).
Also very cool to get more Chadwick Boseman, John Kani, Danai Gurira, and Angela Bassett! I think over-all, the voice acting in this episode was delivered pretty well, and Mick Wingert's Tony Stark was a great match, especially since the Tony we see here is still a bit cocky and prideful and less humble since he never went through the trauma of being captured and having to escape the Ten Rings after Yensin was killed.
I think we will also see a return to this timeline in a future episode since I'm pretty sure the mid-season trailer showed a bit of Pepper Potts with the Dora Milaje, so I'n beginning to think the last episode will wrap back around to some of the earlier episodes' cliffhangers (Captain Carter appearing in 2012, Ego meeting Peter Quill, Zombie Thanos), especially since other trailer shave shown that Strange Supreme will meet up with Captain Carter at some point.
-Marc.
-Marc.
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Episode was ok. Probably my least favorite so far. I just didn't buy into Killmonger's plans or motivations (why build a Vibranium drone army only to destroy it?). He's a bad mofo though, taking out 3 Avengers.
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Solid episode,I'll put it in the middle of the pack. Curious to see how it plays out.
Episode was ok. Probably my least favorite so far. I just didn't buy into Killmonger's plans or motivations (why build a Vibranium drone army only to destroy it?).
I doubt he would've gotten to take the herb without getting the total respect of the king. By being the hero he was, he got it. It was a solid ruse for sure, though a bit far fetched like the rest of these episodes :lol
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I doubt he would've gotten to take the herb without getting the total respect of the king. By being the hero he was, he got it. It was a solid ruse for sure, though a bit far fetched like the rest of these episodes :lol
Fair point.
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Not bad. Not my favorite, not my least favorite.
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Not bad. Not my favorite, not my least favorite.
About right.
Still think these episodes are way too rushed. It’s fun but it keeps me from being very invested in much of it.
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This episode was actually good. My favorite so far.
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Finally watched the new episode last night. I really enjoyed it. But there was one hiccup in all of this. My wife pointed out that T’Challa did not become the black panther until after his father died. Isn’t that right? Or am I forgetting something?
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Finally watched the new episode last night. I really enjoyed it. But there was one hiccup in all of this. My wife pointed out that T’Challa did not become the black panther until after his father died. Isn’t that right? Or am I forgetting something?
It did not specify that. He didn’t become king til his dad died. But I think he became black panther when his dad was no longer physically able.
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Finally watched the new episode last night. I really enjoyed it. But there was one hiccup in all of this. My wife pointed out that T’Challa did not become the black panther until after his father died. Isn’t that right? Or am I forgetting something?
No, I think he likely had the power prior to that. Remember, we saw him put on the suit and have the power immediately after his father's death, but it is unlikely that they had the ceremony and gave him the herb in that other country in between his father dying and him chasing down Cap and Bucky. I think the implication is that he had it before then. I don't think the king and Black Panther are necessarily the same person. It makes sense that dad was too old, so T'Challa took on the Black Panther mantle while his dad was still alive.
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This week's episode is definitely a riot, and the most cartoony episode of the series so far, but I don't mind that given the subject matter of the episode. There were also a LOT of easter eggs and references throughout, so I can't wait for some of those YouTube breakdowns that catch all the split-second references.
And of course, there was the requisite cliffhanger ending, and we finally get to see one more piece of the promotional art make an appearance, but I was hoping it would be more substantial than the last 10 seconds of the episode. Since it seems like we will be revisiting some or all of the previous episodes in the finale, I'm hoping this gets a big return!
Also, I think this episode features the biggest amount of returning MCU cast members to voice their characters in an episode! What a star-studded line-up, even if some of them only got a line or two.
-Marc.
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Something I just realized about the episode where Hank kills all the Avengers.
I was struggling with.....why?.....seems so out of character. Then I realized he was wearing the Yellow Jacket suit, and had established prior that it has major negative impacts on a person's brain. Not sure if that was actually what they intended, but it helped it feel a bit less weird to me.
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Something I just realized about the episode where Hank kills all the Avengers.
I was struggling with.....why?.....seems so out of character. Then I realized he was wearing the Yellow Jacket suit, and had established prior that it has major negative impacts on a person's brain. Not sure if that was actually what they intended, but it helped it feel a bit less weird to me.
In Ant-Man (the film), I believe Hank said he had to quit using the (Ant-Man) suit because prolonged exposure to Pym Particles was taking a toll on him, probably mentally and physically. Maybe after Hope died (presumably at the hands of the Winter Soldier on that mission to Odessa), he went off the rails and donned the suit again, trying to sabotage SHIELD, and once he learned of the Avengers Initiative, planned to take down their biggest players, which included the son of Howard Stark, whom Hank wasn't very fond of to begin with.
But yeah, I think all that coupled with the slightly inferior Yellow Jacket suit (which I think Hank said had a helmet that didn't protect from the Pym Particles' effects as well as his old Ant-Man helmet) drove Hank to go insane.
-Marc.
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Fun episode today for sure. Very campy, but fun anyway. I hope the Ultron thing gets developed more.
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Something I just realized about the episode where Hank kills all the Avengers.
I was struggling with.....why?.....seems so out of character. Then I realized he was wearing the Yellow Jacket suit, and had established prior that it has major negative impacts on a person's brain. Not sure if that was actually what they intended, but it helped it feel a bit less weird to me.
The part I struggled with is how he was everywhere at the right time.
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Something I just realized about the episode where Hank kills all the Avengers.
I was struggling with.....why?.....seems so out of character. Then I realized he was wearing the Yellow Jacket suit, and had established prior that it has major negative impacts on a person's brain. Not sure if that was actually what they intended, but it helped it feel a bit less weird to me.
The part I struggled with is how he was everywhere at the right time.
He did crack into SHILED’s systems, so he knew what they knew.
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Fun episode. Very Looney Tunes-ish during the big fight. Nothing to write home about, but I enjoyed it.
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Fun episode. Very Looney Tunes-ish during the big fight. Nothing to write home about, but I enjoyed it.
Yeah, it was some needed levity after 3 brutal days at work. I think a dark episode like the Strange one would've fucked me up. :lol
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Definitely the most "cartoonish" of the episodes thus far, but I was OK with it, given how fucking dark most of the season has been.
Predictably, my wife HATED it (second only to the zombie episode lol).
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Interesting article discussing how there actually is someone of an intended story arc for the What If...? series, and how we might be headed toward a point where The Watcher is actually conflicted about whether to keep his oath as purely an observer, or will decide to intervene. https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/marvels-team-reveals-season-1-150000302.html
Also, this quote at the end kind of cracked me up:
I noticed on Twitter we're getting a lot of crap for killing Tony a lot. He has become the Kenny of the What If…? universe by accident.
:lol
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Interesting article discussing how there actually is someone of an intended story arc for the What If...? series, and how we might be headed toward a point where The Watcher is actually conflicted about whether to keep his oath as purely an observer, or will decide to intervene. https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/marvels-team-reveals-season-1-150000302.html
Also, this quote at the end kind of cracked me up:
I noticed on Twitter we're getting a lot of crap for killing Tony a lot. He has become the Kenny of the What If…? universe by accident.
:lol
Thanks for sharing that! I did find this part most intriguing:
Season 1 was originally meant to be 10 episodes, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic one of those episodes had to be pushed to season 2, and Bradley says the delayed episode helped balance the other, darker stories. "Our 10th episode was a more light, upbeat Tony Stark episode," she says.
Based on a Lego toy that came out a couple months ago, I wonder if this is the "What If... Tony Stark was stranded on Sakaar?" episode. The Lego set featured a Hulkbuster-sized armor that could convert into a dragster race car, but it was multicolored and had a bit of Sakaarian junkyard feel to it. I wonder if that story somehow connects to the Ultron one we are getting tomorrow?
-Marc.
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I finally caught up to all the episodes, I was five episodes behind. The zombie one was fantastic and could easily be a spinoff on its own. The Thor one was hilarious and I loved every minute of it. The latest episode (ep 8) was amazing too, I can see how it may play a role in the coming phase 4 and that looks super interesting.
Oddly enough these last few episodes of What If? have re-ignited my Marvel fandom and now may need to rewatch all movies again. Maybe even the new shows.
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Today's episode was easily one of the best of the series so far. Ross Marquand does an exceptional job of capturing Ultron's vibe, and seeing him succeed and finally give the MCU its proper AGE of Ultron is satisfying. The parallels to specific MCU moments are pretty fun, even the heartbreaking one between Nat and Clint, who has some fun film references in this episode
The fight between the Watcher and Ultron is also an episode highlight and I also wish it was just a bit longer but I'm happy with what we got. It was humbling to see Uatu finally admit he needed help, and of course this builds up to the teased Guardians Of The Multiverse with Captain Carter, T'Challa Starlord, Party Thor and others. I hope next week's episode is the longest of the season!
-Marc.
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Won't be able to watch till later tonight, just popped in to share this...
(https://scontent-sjc3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/243283192_3107966246195060_1185121366335668174_n.jpg?_nc_cat=103&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_ohc=EpGFRiTJHg4AX8hOikb&_nc_ht=scontent-sjc3-1.xx&oh=3154dea5ffa382425b14d2156dcf3c76&oe=617940AA)
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:rollin
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Today's episode was easily one of the best of the series so far. Ross Marquand does an exceptional job of capturing Ultron's vibe, and seeing him succeed and finally give the MCU its proper AGE of Ultron is satisfying. The parallels to specific MCU moments are pretty fun, even the heartbreaking one between Nat and Clint, who has some fun film references in this episode
The fight between the Watcher and Ultron is also an episode highlight and I also wish it was just a bit longer but I'm happy with what we got. It was humbling to see Uatu finally admit he needed help, and of course this builds up to the teased Guardians Of The Multiverse with Captain Carter, T'Challa Starlord, Party Thor and others. I hope next week's episode is the longest of the season!
-Marc.
Agreed with all this, that episode was fantastic and it's now pretty clear that this season is a little like a mini MCU phase, building up to a major threat and a team-up.
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That was a really cool and fun episode.
Also I think the least amount of movie actors in it, right? Just Jeremy and the dude who plays Zola.
A lot of this feels really similar to an Exiles story line, which I would love Marvel to do live action. Someone (I think possibly even the Watcher in one of them, but I may be wrong) gathers various heroes from various universes and makes them a multiversal team. It's a fantastic series if anyone wants to read it.
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It had Benedict at the end too.
Great episode, great lead into season 2.
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It had Benedict at the end too.
Great episode, great lead into season 2.
True! Honestly didn't expect evil Strange at the end.
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Best episode of the series so far, imo. Everything clicked. Though, I'm wondering why Ultron distroyed so many other worlds completely, but left Earth intact? I can't fathom that Nate/Clint would be the last 2 humans on the planet. It was very cool indeed to see The Watcher do more than watch. I wasn't quite sold on the omnipotence of Ultron (over the power of a Watcher), but understand why they needed to do it that way. Curious to see how this plays out next week - if The Watcher alone can't stop Ultron, how does this smashup version of 'Guardians' pull it off.
Tune in next week! Same Watcher-time; same Watcher-channel.
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Best episode of the series so far, imo. Everything clicked. Though, I'm wondering why Ultron distroyed so many other worlds completely, but left Earth intact? I can't fathom that Nate/Clint would be the last 2 humans on the planet. It was very cool indeed to see The Watcher do more than watch. I wasn't quite sold on the omnipotence of Ultron (over the power of a Watcher), but understand why they needed to do it that way. Curious to see how this plays out next week - if The Watcher alone can't stop Ultron, how does this smashup version of 'Guardians' pull it off.
Tune in next week! Same Watcher-time; same Watcher-channel.
It's a good point. If he easily takes out Captain Marvel, I can't imagine T'Challah Star Lord doing much good.
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Best episode of the series so far, imo. Everything clicked. Though, I'm wondering why Ultron distroyed so many other worlds completely, but left Earth intact? I can't fathom that Nate/Clint would be the last 2 humans on the planet. It was very cool indeed to see The Watcher do more than watch. I wasn't quite sold on the omnipotence of Ultron (over the power of a Watcher), but understand why they needed to do it that way. Curious to see how this plays out next week - if The Watcher alone can't stop Ultron, how does this smashup version of 'Guardians' pull it off.
Tune in next week! Same Watcher-time; same Watcher-channel.
It's a good point. If he easily takes out Captain Marvel, I can't imagine T'Challah Star Lord doing much good.
And Thanos with 5 stones.
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Best episode of the series so far, imo. Everything clicked. Though, I'm wondering why Ultron distroyed so many other worlds completely, but left Earth intact? I can't fathom that Nate/Clint would be the last 2 humans on the planet. It was very cool indeed to see The Watcher do more than watch. I wasn't quite sold on the omnipotence of Ultron (over the power of a Watcher), but understand why they needed to do it that way. Curious to see how this plays out next week - if The Watcher alone can't stop Ultron, how does this smashup version of 'Guardians' pull it off.
Tune in next week! Same Watcher-time; same Watcher-channel.
It's a good point. If he easily takes out Captain Marvel, I can't imagine T'Challah Star Lord doing much good.
And Thanos with 5 stones.
Yea, that was a little problematic. Cause Vision lost to 5 stone Thanos, while Visulton (who was no more powerful than Vision) cut him in half in a second.
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Best episode of the series so far, imo. Everything clicked. Though, I'm wondering why Ultron distroyed so many other worlds completely, but left Earth intact? I can't fathom that Nate/Clint would be the last 2 humans on the planet. It was very cool indeed to see The Watcher do more than watch. I wasn't quite sold on the omnipotence of Ultron (over the power of a Watcher), but understand why they needed to do it that way. Curious to see how this plays out next week - if The Watcher alone can't stop Ultron, how does this smashup version of 'Guardians' pull it off.
Tune in next week! Same Watcher-time; same Watcher-channel.
It's a good point. If he easily takes out Captain Marvel, I can't imagine T'Challah Star Lord doing much good.
And Thanos with 5 stones.
Yea, that was a little problematic. Cause Vision lost to 5 stone Thanos, while Visulton (who was no more powerful than Vision) cut him in half in a second.
Wasn't Vision wounded and partially depowered in Infinity War?
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You're right he was wounded, but I don't think he was depowered at all. But I forgot he got wounded, good call.
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Tune in next week! Same Watcher-time; same Watcher-channel.
Oh, is it a ten episode season? Thought it was eight. Very cool.
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This was actually a really good episode. MUCH better than party Thor.
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Tune in next week! Same Watcher-time; same Watcher-channel.
Oh, is it a ten episode season? Thought it was eight. Very cool.
Pretty sure it was disclosed to be 10 episodes, but the Iron Man/Sakaar episode got pushed to S2. Therefore, finale is next week. Though, I'm seeing some articles suggest yesterday's episode was the finale.
I'm as confused as a baby in a topless bar.
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On IMDB:
https://www.imdb.com/news/ni63432044
28 September 2021
What If...? Season Finale Will Reveal The 'Bigger Plan' Behind The Series
There are just two episodes left in the first season of Marvel's "What If...?" animated series.
So, I'm thinking there's an episode 9 next week to wrap things up.
"The penultimate episode of Marvel's "What If...?" this week tells its own story, but it sounds likely to have a major cliffhanger of a tag. Bradley teased, "You can watch 8 as a standalone, but 9 is — for once we actually answer the end tag." The question is whether this big conclusion will be worth the wait."
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Tune in next week! Same Watcher-time; same Watcher-channel.
Oh, is it a ten episode season? Thought it was eight. Very cool.
It's actually nine. This week's episode was eight, so we've got one more. Season One was originally ten episodes, but they shuffled an episode out of the season (presumably one revolving around Tony Stark, who probably would have lived through that episode).
Best episode of the series so far, imo. Everything clicked. Though, I'm wondering why Ultron distroyed so many other worlds completely, but left Earth intact? I can't fathom that Nate/Clint would be the last 2 humans on the planet. It was very cool indeed to see The Watcher do more than watch. I wasn't quite sold on the omnipotence of Ultron (over the power of a Watcher), but understand why they needed to do it that way. Curious to see how this plays out next week - if The Watcher alone can't stop Ultron, how does this smashup version of 'Guardians' pull it off.
Tune in next week! Same Watcher-time; same Watcher-channel.
It's a good point. If he easily takes out Captain Marvel, I can't imagine T'Challah Star Lord doing much good.
And Thanos with 5 stones.
Yea, that was a little problematic. Cause Vision lost to 5 stone Thanos, while Visulton (who was no more powerful than Vision) cut him in half in a second.
Wasn't Vision wounded and partially depowered in Infinity War?
You're right he was wounded, but I don't think he was depowered at all. But I forgot he got wounded, good call.
Yeah, and if you think about it. Vision had to deal with having his beloved kill him to save the universe, while also being weakened. Vision evolved to become more human and compassionate, and even if he had been at 100% strength and didn't fall in love with Wanda, I'm not sure he would have thought to slice Thanos in half as soon as he appeared. Ultron was/is cold and calculating. As soon as he noticed the other Infinity Stones, he knew he wanted/needed them. He probably knew what the Mind Stone was and how it worked way more than Vision did, which if you recall by the beginning of Infinity War (three years after Vision had been made), he still didn't quite understand what the Mind Stone was. Ultron, in this episode, has had it less than a year (presumably), and he's already mastered it, and once he killed Thanos, mastered the other five Stones as well.
It had Benedict at the end too.
Great episode, great lead into season 2.
True! Honestly didn't expect evil Strange at the end.
That was a pleasant surprise, and it makes for a great "cliffhanger" into the finale, though if you've been paying attention to promotional artwork or trailers, you already know what's going to happen in the finale. I do really like that this season is basically a Multiversal Phase One, with each hero getting their own origin story, and now we get a team-up, with The Watcher filling in the role for Nick Fury/SHIELD. And speaking of that team...
Best episode of the series so far, imo. Everything clicked. Though, I'm wondering why Ultron distroyed so many other worlds completely, but left Earth intact? I can't fathom that Nate/Clint would be the last 2 humans on the planet. It was very cool indeed to see The Watcher do more than watch. I wasn't quite sold on the omnipotence of Ultron (over the power of a Watcher), but understand why they needed to do it that way. Curious to see how this plays out next week - if The Watcher alone can't stop Ultron, how does this smashup version of 'Guardians' pull it off.
Tune in next week! Same Watcher-time; same Watcher-channel.
It's a good point. If he easily takes out Captain Marvel, I can't imagine T'Challah Star Lord doing much good.
I'm willing to bet that T'Challa is able to talk some reason into Ultron. How amazing would it be to see him do to Ultron what he did to Thanos in his timeline, and reason with him? If anything, I hope he at least lives. I don't know if I could handle seeing another version of T'Challa die on screen, even if it's animated. Seeing that in Episode 6 was enough for me!
-Marc.
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I also read something else earlier in the week before this episode aired about how if Ultron got his hands on the stones, he would be more dangerous than Thanos was. Thanos was mortal/biological, and so using the gauntlet caused him harm, as it did to Hulk and Tony, meaning a limit on how much he could use it. Not so for Ultron who if his body is destroyed can just transfer his consciousness/programming to another machine. Also, Thanos was clearly mad but at least only wanted to wipe out half of humanity, Ultron wants to eliminate it.
Can't wait for the finale.
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Finally caught the most recent episode last night.
Wow! One of the best episodes of the season! Can't wait for the finale this week!
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Fantastic finale. I'm glad it all together in the end. That was very entertaining and I think had the best payoff among all the Marvel Disney+ shows so far.
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Just finished the finale before heading out for an 11-hour shift at work today. HOLY COW what a finale! I love how everything came together with the various Guardians of the Multiverse, and the fight scenes were spectacular. I kind of wish there was more interaction between T'Challa and Killmonger, but I do like they at least acknowledged each other. I think Chris Hemsworth had the most fun recording his lines.
There were moments I wish were just a *bit* longer (as I've said with pretty much every episode), but I'm happy with what they had time for. I do like every episode's world was revisited by the end of the episode! I really hope we get the Stark/Gamora on Sakaar episode at some point (just so we can finally get an episode where Stark doesn't die).
Given how short the episodes are, I have a feeling I will rewatch this series again sometime soon, or at very least, this finale!
-Marc.
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Same here, I wished the episodes were longer and some of these episodes can go on several episodes on their own.
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Well shit, it seems like I might have to finish this series after all. I bailed after the "all the Avengers die lol" episode and the next one was all zombies, which I'm sick to death of. The series seemed to have no continuity or actual point. Now it turns out it does?
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Right, they start off as each individual self contained episode that just show alternative timelines to the main movie counterpart, the last two episodes of the show tie those loose episodes together and make for a neat conclusion with what I thought were very intriguing story beats.
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I only watched the last 2 episodes, but they were pretty good. I may watch the other ones. Is there a voice Ross Marquand can't do? Also, who did Chuck Billy voice?
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Well shit, it seems like I might have to finish this series after all. I bailed after the "all the Avengers die lol" episode and the next one was all zombies, which I'm sick to death of. The series seemed to have no continuity or actual point. Now it turns out it does?
The pre-season trailers teased a moment between Strange Supreme and Captain Carter, so there was always speculation that the protagonists of the individual episodes would come together to fight a greater threat. Then later trailers showed off more heroes in the Avengers-style circle-pan shot, so it seemed inevitable that the finale would feature the Guardians Of The Multiverse.
Considering how short the episodes are, you could binge all the episodes in just over four hours if you skip the intro and credits.
-Marc.
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Well, I watched the first four originally. I misremembered the order. I remember being very unimpressed by the "all the Avengers die lol" episode, but forgot that I'd stuck around and watched the Dr. Strange episode. It was okay. Since it's basically impossible to avoid spoilers about anything these days, I heard about "Zombies!" and just checked out. I've never understood the fascination with zombies. I figured I could live without "everyone turns into a zombie lol" and whatever comes after that.
Anyway, I've seen four of the nine, so yeah, a couple hours and I'm caught up. As with WandaVision, I think there's a real problem with the series taking far too long to start making any kind of sense, which leads to people bailing out before the "big payoff". Even knowing that there's a "big payoff" coming only makes me slightly more interested in watching five more episodes.
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Well, I watched the first four originally. I misremembered the order. I remember being very unimpressed by the "all the Avengers die lol" episode, but forgot that I'd stuck around and watched the Dr. Strange episode. It was okay. Since it's basically impossible to avoid spoilers about anything these days, I heard about "Zombies!" and just checked out. I've never understood the fascination with zombies. I figured I could live without "everyone turns into a zombie lol" and whatever comes after that.
Anyway, I've seen four of the nine, so yeah, a couple hours and I'm caught up. As with WandaVision, I think there's a real problem with the series taking far too long to start making any kind of sense, which leads to people bailing out before the "big payoff". Even knowing that there's a "big payoff" coming only makes me slightly more interested in watching five more episodes.
I think the difference with What If...? and WandaVision was that, the latter was a single story, albeit with a unique way of telling that story (especially with the first three episodes), where as What If...? is more like MCU Phase 1, with a lot of individual origin stories, but later culminating in a team-up, so there's less of a reason to keep watching if you aren't interested in the idea of multiverses or the basic premise of each episode, since for the most part, they're all pretty different in terms of who they focus on, and what the difference is from the main MCU timeline. Rather than being invested in a core cast like with Wanda, Vision, Darcy, Woo, Monica, etc., What If...? is a bit more challenging in that it asks the viewer to know enough about the MCU proper to distinguish the differences enough to keep the episode entertaining.
As far as checking out from the Zombies episode, it's definitely a love-letter to fans of the Marvel Zombies comic, with some cheeky easter eggs thrown in from that storyline, but the reason behind the zombies being there is interesting enough in the first place (if a bit hand-waved). I think that one episode is probably the most throw-away one, especially with regards to the finale (that and the "All The Avengers Die" episode), so it doesn't surprise me if you weren't too invested in those episodes. Honestly, one could probably watch the other 6 episodes and watch the finale and mostly understand it.
-Marc.
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Interesting parallel there. I think the Phase 1 movies were individually pretty good, both as origin stories and stories in general, with the added bonus that they clearly were building up to something. I was never a big comic-book guy, but one of my best friends growing up was a huge Iron Man fan, and once we saw the first Iron Man movie, we were hooked. Our entire household has seen every MCU movie.
The What If...? stories don't really have that allure. True, they're basically unrelated stories which apparently will come together in some way, but they suffer IMO from the basic premise. What if Peggy Carter got the serum instead of Steve Rogers? Well, I know she didn't, so this is all hypothetical. What if T'Challa was Star Lord instead of Peter Quill. Well, again, he wasn't, so it kinda doesn't matter. What if all the Avengers were killed? Okay, now this is just stupid. What if Spider-Man and Tony Stark were secret lovers? What if The Incredible Hulk was allergic to cheese? What if Captain Marvel was a redhead? Why should I care about any of this?
If the stories themselves were at least moderately interesting, maybe I would've watched more. I do remember being somewhat intrigued when Dr. Strange actually interacted with The Watcher, which seemed to promise something more interesting to come, but next was Zombies! so fuck that.
Yeah yeah yeah, I'm bitching, and repeating myself, and I'm sure I'll eventually watch them all anyway.
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The What If...? stories don't really have that allure. True, they're basically unrelated stories which apparently will come together in some way, but they suffer IMO from the basic premise. What if Peggy Carter got the serum instead of Steve Rogers? Well, I know she didn't, so this is all hypothetical. What if T'Challa was Star Lord instead of Peter Quill. Well, again, he wasn't, so it kinda doesn't matter. What if all the Avengers were killed? Okay, now this is just stupid. What if Spider-Man and Tony Stark were secret lovers? What if The Incredible Hulk was allergic to cheese? What if Captain Marvel was a redhead? Why should I care about any of this?
Except that those things did happen, just in different universes, and given the MCU is introducing the multiverse now, all of this does actually become relevant to the wider MCU.
However I completely understand not finding some of the episodes/stories that interesting in and of themselves. I mostly enjoyed them a lot but a couple were merely ok and all them were a little on the rushed side.
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Marc nailed it in that All Avengers Die and Zombies aren't quite essential. Even though there are (brief) callbacks to those episodes in the finale, they aren't integral to the story. The other 6 are pretty necessary to understand the background of how/why the Watcher assembled the Guardians.
Loved the final, and echo pretty much everything Marc said. I am very much looking forward to the Sakaar episode next season - not sure why they didn't release it for S1... I'm unclear of the need/decision to shorten it to 9 episodes?
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From what I read the Sakaar episode with Tony Stark/Iron Man had a much different vibe and tone than the rest of the episodes especially the last two.
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I am very much looking forward to the Sakaar episode next season - not sure why they didn't release it for S1... I'm unclear of the need/decision to shorten it to 9 episodes?
They said it was delayed due to covid. I guess finishing that episode likely would have delayed release of the whole season, so they just pushed it back to S2.
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Very fun final episode. Didn’t make a TON of sense but I was pretty easily able to not care and just enjoy the fun. I think it being a cartoon that is slightly silly in general was helpful in the amount of suspension of disbelief that this show required.
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We caught it last night.
Fun conclusion to a fun season. Not every episode was a hit in our house, but overall it was very enjoyable.
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Interesting parallel there. I think the Phase 1 movies were individually pretty good, both as origin stories and stories in general, with the added bonus that they clearly were building up to something. I was never a big comic-book guy, but one of my best friends growing up was a huge Iron Man fan, and once we saw the first Iron Man movie, we were hooked. Our entire household has seen every MCU movie.
The What If...? stories don't really have that allure. True, they're basically unrelated stories which apparently will come together in some way, but they suffer IMO from the basic premise. What if Peggy Carter got the serum instead of Steve Rogers? Well, I know she didn't, so this is all hypothetical. What if T'Challa was Star Lord instead of Peter Quill. Well, again, he wasn't, so it kinda doesn't matter. What if all the Avengers were killed? Okay, now this is just stupid. What if Spider-Man and Tony Stark were secret lovers? What if The Incredible Hulk was allergic to cheese? What if Captain Marvel was a redhead? Why should I care about any of this?
If the stories themselves were at least moderately interesting, maybe I would've watched more. I do remember being somewhat intrigued when Dr. Strange actually interacted with The Watcher, which seemed to promise something more interesting to come, but next was Zombies! so fuck that.
Yeah yeah yeah, I'm bitching, and repeating myself, and I'm sure I'll eventually watch them all anyway.
Yeah, that isn't far off from how I feel about the series overall. And, yeah, I get the whole "but it did happen, just in a different universe" premise. But the concept of a multiverse is just where the storyline gets a hard eyeroll from me and I lose interest. It's just too far over the "suspension of belief" line for me to take it seriously and emotionally invest (says that guy that fully bought into time travel, different dimensions, etc., etc.--yeah, I know!). Combine that with the fact that some of the individual episode premises were so ridiculous, and the fact that there was just weak storytelling and presentation, and this amounts to just "Eh, OK, this was a fun past-time while waiting on something that has more meat" for me.
As for this episode specifically, it was "ok." I thought Captain Carter and the prior episode were the two best. This one is probably just behind those.
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Caught the finale last night, good stuff, but I'm gonna have to do a rewatch cause I was a bit sleepy and it was quite fast paced.
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The multiverse....all of reality as we could possibly know it.....is at risk of complete annihilation by a sentient robot with unlimited god like power. I need to assemble a team that will be able to stop him. How about....
...a Thor that has no sense of responsibility or seriousness at all
...a T'Challa who is a really nice and sweet guy
...a black panther that is happy to watch the world burn
...a very strong British woman.
...and one sorcerer supreme who actually might be able to help.
Yes...that is the perfect team. Definitely not a fleet of Captain Marvel's. Definitely not a Vision or Thanos from another reality. This is the right team.
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The multiverse....all of reality as we could possibly know it.....is at risk of complete annihilation by a sentient robot with unlimited god like power. I need to assemble a team that will be able to stop him. How about....
...a Thor that has no sense of responsibility or seriousness at all
...a T'Challa who is a really nice and sweet guy
...a black panther that is happy to watch the world burn
...a very strong British woman.
...and one sorcerer supreme who actually might be able to help.
Yes...that is the perfect team. Definitely not a fleet of Captain Marvel's. Definitely not a Vision or Thanos from another reality. This is the right team.
Oh come on. I get the slight flaws, but it was more fun this way. Don’t lose the ability to suspend disbelief and just have fun with it. This wasn’t “Princess Leia force flying my way through space” levels of ridiculous. I thought it was put together rather well.
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The multiverse....all of reality as we could possibly know it.....is at risk of complete annihilation by a sentient robot with unlimited god like power. I need to assemble a team that will be able to stop him. How about....
...a Thor that has no sense of responsibility or seriousness at all
...a T'Challa who is a really nice and sweet guy
...a black panther that is happy to watch the world burn
...a very strong British woman.
...and one sorcerer supreme who actually might be able to help.
Yes...that is the perfect team. Definitely not a fleet of Captain Marvel's. Definitely not a Vision or Thanos from another reality. This is the right team.
It wasn't so much about their strength or power but more about their experiences, such as Peggy knowing Natasha, or knowing there would be someone who would betray them to separate the stones from the Ultron body. And Thor's "Leeroy Jenkins!" into battle early was also probably foreseen by Uatu and part of his plan for this team. As Strange said at the end, Uatu saw everything and it turned out as he had seen.
-Marc.
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I’m mostly just poking fun.
I enjoyed it a lot, but I’m not going to pretend it was better written than I think it was.
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I finished the series. It did turn out better than I thought it would. I found myself actually caught up in it, surprised by a few things, stunned by a few turns, all the good stuff. So huzzah for them making me care.
I still maintain that you had to swallow a lot of WTF to get to the point where it came together. I like experimental stuff, media that tries something new and different, but the result still has to grab me on its own merits. It's not cool just because it's edgy, different, experimental. Those attributes will usually get me to stick around longer, but they alone won't win me over.
So somehow this is all canon, and there's already a second season coming. Okay, we shall see.
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I finished the series. It did turn out better than I thought it would. I found myself actually caught up in it, surprised by a few things, stunned by a few turns, all the good stuff. So huzzah for them making me care.
I still maintain that you had to swallow a lot of WTF to get to the point where it came together. I like experimental stuff, media that tries something new and different, but the result still has to grab me on its own merits. It's not cool just because it's edgy, different, experimental. Those attributes will usually get me to stick around longer, but they alone won't win me over.
So somehow this is all canon, and there's already a second season coming. Okay, we shall see.
I'm glad you ended up liking it (for the most part at least). And yeah, it's all technically canon, and I can see them revisiting these concepts/ideas in Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness next March, and possibly in Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania as well. I also wouldn't be surprised if they try to throw in some of these variants as cameos in DSITMOM or Loki Season 2. I'm sure Hayley Atwell would love to be a live action Captain Carter, and I bet Cumberbatch would enjoy a live action version of Strange Supreme.
-Marc.
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Alright, saw the first 5 episodes. Really enjoying it so far, not at all what I expected.
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Just watched the Making Of Documentary on Disney+ which dropped today. Very interesting insight into how they came about the idea with interviews with Kevin Feige, Jeffrey Wright, and the creative team behind the show.
There is also a bit of a tease about a plot point for season two (which makes sense given the post-credits scene from the finale of season one).
-Marc.
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https://youtu.be/TiEVqZ2Bc_c?si=Cmkey_1SVhS8loFq
Here's the trailer for s2, coming Dec 22nd and releasing daily!
-Marc.
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First EP of season 2 is out. Haven't watch yet
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Watched the first two episodes, pretty good so far.
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Ep 1 - Loved the very stylized take on this one. I like that we open the season with an off-Earth story and focus on characters that weren't in Phase 1. Lots of fun cameos too, but just a solid story over all, and very visually exciting.
Ep 2 - A fun one, with an interesting premise that feels very believable. Seeing stories like this one make me wish the episodes were twice as long so we could get more of these previously unseen character interactions, especially since they've got a lot of the actors who originally portrayed these characters on screen.
So far, I've greatly enjoyed both episodes so Season 2 is 2/2 for me. Looking at the episode titles for the rest of the season, there are some exciting possibilities here that I cannot wait to see!
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid02fhKo2xMBUjjHTPExLCanSFRkdV61LKQA2vpFrpYZmA8seiNkLEdasMuEmKkJr49Al&id=100044308275504&mibextid=Nif5oz
Facebook post from Marvel Studios showing the episode titles for season two.
-Marc.
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Oh cool, didn't know all the show titles had been released already. Yeah, some intriguing stuff for sure.
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Oh. Cool they're doing a 1602 episode.
Hopefully they even got Neil to help with it.
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We watched Episode 1 last night. That was really nice! I thought it was better than any of the episodes in season 1.
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Watched the first two episodes, pretty good so far.
Oh, so really different from season 1? Interesting.
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Episode 1 was good. Different. Which is welcome.
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I want a Howard the Duck movie MCU style.
This is not negotiable.
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I’ve liked all 3, DEFINITELY better than season 1. Also thrilled Wanda is appearing in the last 2 episodes, since I was under the impression Elizabeth was done with Marvel.
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Ep 1 - Loved the very stylized take on this one. I like that we open the season with an off-Earth story and focus on characters that weren't in Phase 1. Lots of fun cameos too, but just a solid story over all, and very visually exciting.
Ep 2 - A fun one, with an interesting premise that feels very believable. Seeing stories like this one make me wish the episodes were twice as long so we could get more of these previously unseen character interactions, especially since they've got a lot of the actors who originally portrayed these characters on screen.
So far, I've greatly enjoyed both episodes so Season 2 is 2/2 for me. Looking at the episode titles for the rest of the season, there are some exciting possibilities here that I cannot wait to see!
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid02fhKo2xMBUjjHTPExLCanSFRkdV61LKQA2vpFrpYZmA8seiNkLEdasMuEmKkJr49Al&id=100044308275504&mibextid=Nif5oz
Facebook post from Marvel Studios showing the episode titles for season two.
-Marc.
Continuing my mini-reviews...
Ep 3 - a very fun episode with a lot more 80s movie callbacks. I think this season is littered with them. I love it when these stories focus on side-characters like Happy and Darcy and less so on main Avengers, especially when their original actors come back to do the voices! Also really loved seeing Justin Hammer again! I really liked this one a lot, and it fills in a bit of the time gap between the first two Avengers that I've always wanted to see more of, even in an alternate timeline.
Ep 4 - The Season 1 leftover. I already knew what the basic premise was but the plot unfolded quite differently than I expected! Also, Korg fans will love this one, and it's funny to see Valkyrie end up in a similar position once more. There's also the implication that Gamora and Tony defeated Thanos with the Grandmaster's melt-stick and I kind of wish we had gotten to see that. lol
Ep 5 - And speaking of season one, here's a direct sequel to the Captain Carter story. I loved the opening where we see this timeline's take on the 2012 Battle of NY, and somehow there's a Wasp present? Very cool! Then we jump forward to 2014, circa CA:TWS time frame, and maybe it's because this is a sequel and we already know these characters and their specific histories, but I really really enjoyed this one, seeing it unfold and hearing what happened to Steve and Bucky after the war was neat too.
So far season two is shaping up to be better than season one, but I really liked season one as well. Tomorrow's episode will feature a brand new character so I'm curious to see how that goes!
-Marc.
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Still got the last 3 to watch, I'll probably do a mini marathon tomorrow.
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I finally watched Season 2 Episode 1. Amusing. Something in me still prevents me from regarding these as more than just interesting speculative stories. I know, that's the whole premise: "What If...?" So if they're reasonably interesting and/or fun, okay, I guess that's all I'm looking for. But the whole thing with these stories actually being canon because multiverse blah blah blah, no thanks. I'm not fanboy enough to go all the way with that. I'll just stick with stories that take place in Universe 616 or whatever the "real" one is.
Nebula was badass, as always, which was cool. Korg, Yon-Rogg, even Yondu with original voice actors was cool, plus Howard. But I always liked Nova Prime (largely because I have a thing for Glenn Close) so I didn't really like what they did to her character, but at least it was a different voice actor so it wasn't "really" her, even though it wasn't really her in the first place.
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Today's episode with Kahhori was outstanding.
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We are through the first 3 episodes, and have enjoyed all 3 immensely. So far, IMO, season 2 is leaps and bounds better than season 1.
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We are through the first 3 episodes, and have enjoyed all 3 immensely. So far, IMO, season 2 is leaps and bounds better than season 1.
Haven't watched yet, but that's encouraging (even if it is an incredibly low bar to clear).
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Watched S2 E1 and I really loved the Blade Runner-esque imagery and general noir stylings.
It makes me hope they finally got an engaging way of exploiting alternate scenarios.
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Ep 6 - I knew this would be a divisive episode going in, knowing it would be the first MCU-original hero in this series and not one born from the comics. I liked the opening premise with Odin and Surtur, and showing how just that one change would affect the history of colonialism. Very good story and world building and I love how respectful it is to the Mohawk people. Of course I've read many complaints about people who can't read subtitles, so if you have an issue with an episode that is 95% subtitles, there is an English language version in the EXTRAS tab of the show. The ending cameo really has me intrigued though, as I wonder what fate has in store for Kahhori.
Ep 7 - This was absolutely fun in all the best ways. Once again Odin is reaping what he sowed, and Hela does a "Thor 1" mixed in with Wenwu and its amazing. I can't believe they got Cate and Idris on board as well! Really loved the animation in this one as well, especially the fight choreography.
Only two more episodes to go, which seems hard to believe, and it seems like they may continue on from previous episodes. I think if these next two stick the landing, I may like s2 way more than s1.
-Marc.
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Yeah that Ep 6 was a big ????? to me. Thinking, am I supposed to know these people? If it's from The Eternals than yeah I never watched that garbage, so . . . .
But then Ep 7 . . . . aaaahhh. Hits the spot.
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Never watched it, calls it garbage anyways :rollin
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Never watched it, calls it garbage anyways :rollin
Beat me to it.
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Never watched it, calls it garbage anyways :rollin
Beat me to it.
Same. :rollin :rollin
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My thoughts on the last two episodes:
Ep 8 - This is the kind of "way out there" stuff I love about the What If concept, and I really liked learning the "twist" of how that timeline came to be. Loved seeing all the alternate 1602 versions of the MCU characters, and I'm sure a lot of Loki and Wanda fans were excited to see them in this one.
Ep 9 - It's been over a day since I've seen it and I'm kind of mixed on the finale. It was a bit of a mess plot wise, and I'm not sure I really get Strange's sudden change here, or at least it felt sudden. I liked all of the blink-and-you'll-miss cameos in his Sanctum, and the action was fun, but it felt very MCU-Finale syndrome in not the best ways. It was completely awful but the finale to S1 was better IMO. Either way, it didn't ruin the season for me at least.
Over-all, season two was highly enjoyable and did a good job spotlighting some characters that haven't had a lot of focus in the previous season, or really in the main MCU films and shows.
And if no one saw, Marvel put out a teaser for s3 featuring Bucky and Red Guardian on a road trip through America.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=vaXXgq-e-yw&si=XB9iF0STRO0ZRdvY
-Marc.
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Nice try, but it has been widely panned as garbage so I’m not wasting my time.
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Nice try, but it has been widely panned as garbage so I’m not wasting my time.
They said that about Captain Marvel and that was a really good movie. I’ve enjoyed MANY things in the MCU that were called “garbage” by most. And the one movie I actually think is garbage (Thor L&T) was viewed as lukewarm by many.
As for The Eternals. I will concede that it is a lower tier film. But I would say more that it just didn’t stick the landing. The characters were all pretty good and the performances were really good as well. I think it was worth the introduction of the characters and establishing their relevance, but it could have been so much better.
And maybe that was the problem. My expectations were high. Because everyone raved on and on and on about what a dumpster fire The Inhumans TV show was. So I put it on D+ expecting to see the MCU version of “Plan 9 From Outer Space”, and I ended up really liking it. Heck, it was better that some non-MCU Marvel movies (the last F4 attempt for example)
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I got about 2 episodes into the Inhumans before tapping out.
I actually enjoyed a lot of what was in Eternals, it was just such a mess as a cohesive whole.
Ep6 of this season was outstanding, just love the new character and the animation's color schemes were so frikkin cool.
I'll finish the show tomorrow.
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Nice try, but it has been widely panned as garbage so I’m not wasting my time.
k
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I got about 2 episodes into the Inhumans before tapping out.
I actually enjoyed a lot of what was in Eternals, it was just such a mess as a cohesive whole.
Ep6 of this season was outstanding, just love the new character and the animation's color schemes were so frikkin cool.
I'll finish the show tomorrow.
Yea. Eternals has a lot of potential and great elements. Just a bad script. Much like a ton of modern marvel movies. At some point this becomes Feige’s fault if he’s letting so many awful scripts get by.
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Saw Ep. 5, and so far it's fine. I don't see the leap in quality from Season 1 that some have mentioned, but I enjoyed season 1 :corn
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Why, despite witnessing various instances of Thanos' defeat in multiple episodes of What If, did Doctor Strange originally foresee only one scenario out of 14 million?
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Why, despite witnessing various instances of Thanos' defeat in multiple episodes of What If, did Doctor Strange originally foresee only one scenario out of 14 million?
You have to begin with that one scenario, and then calculate the multitude of decisions made by the multitude of people from that point forward.
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Why, despite witnessing various instances of Thanos' defeat in multiple episodes of What If, did Doctor Strange originally foresee only one scenario out of 14 million?
My understanding was that there was one out of 14 million scenarios that Strange saw in that universe with that universe's version of all the characters. The defeats we see in What If are happening in other universes so wouldn't be part of what Strange saw in Infinity War.
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I got about 2 episodes into the Inhumans before tapping out.
I actually enjoyed a lot of what was in Eternals, it was just such a mess as a cohesive whole.
Ep6 of this season was outstanding, just love the new character and the animation's color schemes were so frikkin cool.
I'll finish the show tomorrow.
Yea. Eternals has a lot of potential and great elements. Just a bad script. Much like a ton of modern marvel movies. At some point this becomes Feige’s fault if he’s letting so many awful scripts get by.
Gemma Chan's performance is another big issue with that film.
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Why, despite witnessing various instances of Thanos' defeat in multiple episodes of What If, did Doctor Strange originally foresee only one scenario out of 14 million?
My understanding was that there was one out of 14 million scenarios that Strange saw in that universe with that universe's version of all the characters. The defeats we see in What If are happening in other universes so wouldn't be part of what Strange saw in Infinity War.
This makes sense. Thx
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I got about 2 episodes into the Inhumans before tapping out.
I actually enjoyed a lot of what was in Eternals, it was just such a mess as a cohesive whole.
Ep6 of this season was outstanding, just love the new character and the animation's color schemes were so frikkin cool.
I'll finish the show tomorrow.
Yea. Eternals has a lot of potential and great elements. Just a bad script. Much like a ton of modern marvel movies. At some point this becomes Feige’s fault if he’s letting so many awful scripts get by.
Gemma Chan's performance is another big issue with that film.
There's a good number of performance issues. Kumail is great doing his normal thing and Barry was good as well. Everyone else is mostly just playing cold and stoic. Which might work for one of them, but multiple cold and stoic people just becomes really boring after a while. Add the fact that there's no real villain to identify with, it's just bodies doing things.
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Also seen the first 6 episodes thus far.
The first one was fantastic. Loved the dark noir vibe and the originality of it.
I actually thought the 2nd one was a lot of fun. The old school avengers were cool and it had a good heart behind it.
The 3rd one with Happy saving Christmas was good, fun, silly, and a nice holiday novelty episode. Plus the more Sam Rockwell, the better.
4th one was fine. Not bad. Not great. Just typical Marvel fun but done well.
5th one was good too. Nice switch of the Winter Soldier story line. Not amazing, but good.
6th was fantastic. Loved the almost complete lack of English. The new approach. New characters. Very smart choices.
Will watch the last three this week. Excited for the 1602 episode, though I'm not sure how good it'll be without mutants or Spider-Man and Daredevil who had big roles in the comic.
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I got about 2 episodes into the Inhumans before tapping out.
I actually enjoyed a lot of what was in Eternals, it was just such a mess as a cohesive whole.
Ep6 of this season was outstanding, just love the new character and the animation's color schemes were so frikkin cool.
I'll finish the show tomorrow.
Yea. Eternals has a lot of potential and great elements. Just a bad script. Much like a ton of modern marvel movies. At some point this becomes Feige’s fault if he’s letting so many awful scripts get by.
Gemma Chan's performance is another big issue with that film.
There's a good number of performance issues. Kumail is great doing his normal thing and Barry was good as well. Everyone else is mostly just playing cold and stoic. Which might work for one of them, but multiple cold and stoic people just becomes really boring after a while. Add the fact that there's no real villain to identify with, it's just bodies doing things.
Yeah. I mean I hate to diss a female actress in this age where that seems the norm, but I really struggled with Chan purely for her performance - I think she's supposed to be the main character (by the end of the film anyway) but I just found her performance so wooden and bland a complete charisma vacuum - and I agree some of the other aren't great either, but I found her the worst. Along with Ray Winstone in Black Widow and Michael Douglas in Ant-Man 3 (he just looks completely confused) maybe for worst MCU performance?
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I dunno, I thought Chan was excellent in Humans. I think the performance issue you're talking about - considering it was spread across the cast - is more to do with the directing, which was more focused on the big ideas (which many didn't think landed well either) than the character relationships.
I like Eternals just fine but I can understand the feeling that some of the characters seemed wooden.
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Yeah, I think I enjoyed Eternals more than most. I remember my initial issue with the movie was the cinematography, it felt like they every shot lasted no more than 3 seconds before moving to a different angle.
Anyways, saw Ep. 6 yesterday, and that was pretty good.
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I enjoyed the Eternals and I found it a brilliant take on the material at hand. The only disappointment - for lack of a better word - is that, coming relatively late to the game, I feel it slightly fails to be the big foundational mythos to the MU it could have been.
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That's pretty much how I feel about Eternals. If we're involving Celestials and the very nature of the planet Earth and our place in the universe, it should have been a huge deal. Instead, it was more "Hmm, a giant being sortuv erupting or hatching from our planet like it's a giant egg. Huh. Oh well, I wonder what's for lunch."
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Finally finished this. It fell about as flat as season 1 did. Glad it's over.
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Finally finished up the season. Overall, I liked it a lot, much more than season 1.
Episode 6 was fantastic.
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Watched the 1602 episode.
It was fun. Sadly had almost nothing in common with the comic version but it was okay. Ending was a bit dumb but eh. Hopefully will finish it up tonight.
I think a few flaws of this show is not enough going into unexpected, different directions (cause when they do, it’s great) to follow the more traditional Marvel mold. And focusing too much on the same few characters or alts of them.
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https://www.facebook.com/officialwhatif/posts/pfbid0gRpqpRRhdNBUK1qXJMKv8jn12RVXp18whereSkqvua85dBnYqBPsR2BkR5fBcibal
Marvel Studios has shared some sneak peek stills from Season 3, including some hype-looking giant mecha, and a couple more shots of the Bucky/Red Guardian buddy-trip episode!
-Marc.