Avengers: Infinity War

[JasonPratt]

Sif would probably still be around, having been away from the slaughter of Thor3; but her actress has been busy with the (somewhat surprising) success of that mystery-adventure show about the woman with exotic tattoos all over her body.

(...okay, maybe not entirely surprising at its success. ;) )

Her character was popular enough that she'd not likely be recast. Her eventual husband in the comics, Baldur, is also probably still around (not having been introduced in the MCU yet).

She's quite a good actress, but that was not a good role for her. The Jane Foster character didn't really work in the movies. It was a smart move to ditch the character.

I thought it was clumsy in the way they ditched her character, but they made the best of it under the circumstances I guess (a lame joke).

Kat Benning should have been Jane Foster, with Darcy's quirky characterization, and with someone else more of a straight-man in the "Darcy" role. (Something they sort-of did in Thor 2 come to think of it, re giving her a more low-key foil.)

That said, I thought Portman and Hemsworth showed good chemistry in Thor1, and under the circumstances I thought they did about as well as they could for even having her character in the story.

[JasonPratt]

Re theatrical Hulk films, I think there have been four live-actions released theatrically. But the first two were opportunistic theatrical edits of the first two Bixby/Ferrigno TV movies. (Those preceded the launch of the series per se.)

[mirth]

Re theatrical Hulk films, I think there have been four live-actions released theatrically. But the first two were opportunistic theatrical edits of the first two Bixby/Ferrigno TV movies. (Those preceded the launch of the series per se.)

AFAIK, those were overseas theatrical releases. They were TV releases in the US.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Incredible_Hulk_(1978_TV_series)#Made-for-TV_movies

Regardless, they don't really have bearing on the modern success/failure of the character on the big screen.

[JasonPratt]

Nowadays they all seem to be overseas theatrical releases first. ;)


And actually -- I might disagree about the effect of the earlier live action series for the popularity of the character in modern film. For a long time, the Hulk was the most critically acclaimed and successful superhero show on television (even though he wasn't technically a superhero), at least among characters imported from another medium. Both of the prior films made (ultimately specious) efforts to try to bank on positive nostalgia for the series, the second one a little moreso than the first.

There's a general industry perception that the Hulk is, or was at one time, the prime breakout star remaining in Marvel's collection of characters over which they still had some control in making films: a perception based largely on reception for the TV show long ago.

I suspect a lot of this is simply appreciation for the simple genius of "The Lonely Man" theme (and its many variations), which insane people in charge of the films have refused to shell out money for using in the films (aside from a few bars briefly in the Norton film). But the MCU producers have proven tone deaf in creating and sustaining iconic thematic unity for their works, so I guess that's par for the course.  :P (The main exception being GotG's main theme. They've even fought hard against including portions of Alan Silvestri's decently iconic main themes for Cap and the Avengers in subsequent works, although I notice they're using his Avengers theme in the marketing for Av3. But based on past experience I don't trust them to properly use it in the film.)

Imagine the fangasms if the Hulk's big hero moment in Infinity War was accompanied by a majestic full reprise of the Lonely Man, tho...!  :dreamer: \m/

[mirth]

I doubt any current decision making at Marvel is being driven by the shows/movies from the 70s. They probably aren't making decisions about Spiderman based on the performance of the Nicholas Hammond TV show.

[bayonetbrant]

I doubt any current decision making at Marvel is being driven by the shows/movies from the 70s. They probably aren't making decisions about Spiderman based on the performance of the Nicholas Hammond TV show.

I thought you were going to invoke The Electric Company there for a minute...

[mirth]

[JasonPratt]

I doubt any current decision making at Marvel is being driven by the shows/movies from the 70s. They probably aren't making decisions about Spiderman based on the performance of the Nicholas Hammond TV show.

Is there major nostalgic fondness and appreciation for the Nicholas Hammond Spidershow? If not (and obviously not) then the comparison is invalid.

"Hollow"-wood executives are ABSOLUTELY guided by fan nostalgia for even obscure properties, which in turn they don't understand or really respect. (Which is how a legitimately inventive, dark, and nuanced children's show like Land of the Lost with high concept scripts, got turned into a godawful comedy reboot making fun of the property. But it had positive name recognition until the execs poisoned it!  )

[JasonPratt]

Here's no one making a metal remix of the Nicholas Hammond spider-show's theme. ;)

[mirth]

I doubt any current decision making at Marvel is being driven by the shows/movies from the 70s. They probably aren't making decisions about Spiderman based on the performance of the Nicholas Hammond TV show.

Is there major nostalgic fondness and appreciation for the Nicholas Hammond Spidershow? If not (and obviously not) then the comparison is invalid.

"Hollow"-wood executives are ABSOLUTELY guided by fan nostalgia for even obscure properties, which in turn they don't understand or really respect. (Which is how a legitimately inventive, dark, and nuanced children's show like Land of the Lost with high concept scripts, got turned into a godawful comedy reboot making fun of the property. But it had positive name recognition until the execs poisoned it!  )

Yeah, they're not making more standalone Hulk movies because when you count the Bill Bixby Hulk movies there have already been four Hulk theatrical releases. That's it, not the rights issue.   ::)

[JasonPratt]

Yeah, they made the original Hulk film and would like to make more thanks largely to the nostalgia factor -- but can't due to tangled rights issues.

Universal even keeps trying to set up a new Hulk TV show (as crazy as that would be in modern times) with no connection to the MCU, due to... ...... .................... guess.





(hint: Universal made a lot of money off a TV series long ago that people still remember fondly.)

(hint 2: it wasn't "The Fugitive", although Universal's hit show owed a lot to nostalgia for that show's popularity. But the Fugitive was a United Artist's show distributed eventually by Paramount.)

(hint 3: not Les Miserables either, although both Paramount's and Universal's later show were basically remaking that.)

[mirth]

Hmmm....Chris Evans will be in Avengers 4 in some fashion, even if it's just a flashback cameo.

https://news.avclub.com/dont-hold-your-breath-for-chris-evans-to-stay-in-the-mc-1823999898

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/22/theater/chris-evans-lobby-hero-captain-america.html

[JasonPratt]

Yeah, we've already seen some mysterious production stills with a blond-haired Stark and Cap in his Av1 suit. But he has confirmed he's out after Av4.

[OJsDad]

http://comicbook.com/marvel/amp/2018/04/01/avengers-infinity-war-opening-night-girlfriend-prom-funny/

[Sir Slash]

This COULD all be a plot to bring the entire Western World to a complete stop in order to for Little Kim to nuke us.  :o   I'm still going. This movie will probably be worth fallout in my popcorn.