Marvel Media (Spoiler Thread)

I enjoyed the first episode of Loki. I really dig the 70s sci-fi aesthetic of the TVA and the theremin intro theme.

Weirdly, this seems like the least "Owen Wilsony" performance I've seen from Owen Wilson. I kept forgetting it was him.

Spoiler:

Also, Loki as D.B. Cooper got a chuckle out of me

All thumbs up from my lot. Great chemistry between Hids and Owen, great cast (always happy to see Pillboi), great music. No idea where it's going.

Someone really liked the second season of The Umbrella Academy besides me.

Also, this gives me a strong urge to watch that Spanish series about time cops on Netflix, while waiting for new Loki.

I thought Loki was very good. I hope it plays out well. I felt WandVision started strong and then kind of turned into a by the numbers show by the end - not much mystery. And Falcon was always mostly an action movie turned into a TV show.

Loki could be something if they can keep the story going.

I liked it for the set up. It was mostly a combo of recap and world building, but that's fine. Owen Wilson was as good as I expected him to be.

Excited to see where it goes.

Mixolyde wrote:

Someone really liked the second season of The Umbrella Academy besides me.

Also, this gives me a strong urge to watch that Spanish series about time cops on Netflix, while waiting for new Loki.

Looks like Netflix stopped carrying The Ministry of Time. Boo!

Overall I liked it, but I'll wait a few weeks to watch a few at once rather than week to week. There's a lot of setup, but I like what they're laying out so far.

The drawer full of Infinity Stones was incredible.

Eugene Cordero always makes me happy. "What's a fish?" Holy crap!

Sorbicol wrote:

I really wasn’t sure that Tom Hiddleston’s heart is in it. His performance was more perfunctory rather than gleeful,

Watching with this is mind I see what makes you say this, but I think it's a choice.

He came across as very off balance and out of his depth. Loki wasn't in a position to be gleeful, he was outmatched in a way he'd never been. A few hours before Hulk had been smashing him on the floor and that was less shocking to him than being in the TVA and completely powerless. Even when he got the upper hand the joy turned to ash for him.

The Loki the TVA caught was pre-redemption Loki, so they needed to give him a very fast arc and I think they did a solid job.

I enjoyed it. Good performances all around!

I enjoyed the Loki premiere. I loved F&WS's political thriller aesthetic and willingness to tackle racial themes in an ambitious way despite the muddled plot and the big "do better" message ultimately being a little simplistic. Now I'm ready to get back to more stylized period-piece Wandavision weirdness.

Buying my IMAX tickets for Black Widow. Excited.

MannishBoy wrote:

Buying my IMAX tickets for Black Widow. Excited.

That's out soon, isn't it? -> To Google! -> sh*t, that's out NOW?! -> What asshole put June and July so close together on the calendar?

hbi2k wrote:
MannishBoy wrote:

Buying my IMAX tickets for Black Widow. Excited.

That's out soon, isn't it? -> To Google! -> sh*t, that's out NOW?! -> What asshole put June and July so close together on the calendar?

The Romans?

Well, after all the exposition and scene setting of the first episode, the second episode of Loki decided to bring its A game.

As good as WandaVision? I think it might be better.

Yeah Loki is turning out to be highly entertaining. Can't wait to see where the story heads next week.

I wonder how many times that Marriott Marquis from Atlanta has been used in Marvel and other movies/TV shows? Now it's the inside of the TVA.

(I've stayed there probably hundreds of nights when I used to go to Atlanta for work all the time.)

EDIT: Looks like this is the first time Marvel has used it if Wikipedia is to be believed. But it was in all the Hunger Games movies and Manhunter.

IMAGE(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/Atlanta_Marriott_Marquis_interior_atrium.jpg)

Sorbicol wrote:
Spoiler:

I also didn’t really get why all the variant timelines had to be on Earth. There’s an entire universe out there Marvel, if Agents of SHIELD can do it, so can this show!

Spoiler:

Thinking about this a bit more, the TVA is obviously very large based on what Loki saw out the window, so I'm guessing that the small section he's been in only deals with Earth based variants, and other sections deal with variants in other parts of the universe. The time door control is probably calibrated to Earth only, and that's why the bad Loki has only been ambushing agents on Earth: she only has gear from the teams she's killed so she can't use it to set ambushes or hide in apocalypse events on other planets.

MannishBoy wrote:

I wonder how many times that Marriott Marquis from Atlanta has been used in Marvel and other movies/TV shows? Now it's the inside of the TVA.

(I've stayed there probably hundreds of nights when I used to go to Atlanta for work all the time.)

EDIT: Looks like this is the first time Marvel has used it if Wikipedia is to be believed. But it was in all the Hunger Games movies and Manhunter.

IMAGE(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/Atlanta_Marriott_Marquis_interior_atrium.jpg)

OMG I commented at the time that it looks like a hotel. Hahahahahah

Loki is amazingly entertaining. Love it.

I'd hate to have a fear of heights and a room on one of the upper floors.

Spoiler:

Why would the other Loki variants that Mobius showed in the little holo projector be different sizes, shapes, etc.? If they are variants of the one true timeline, then they should all be the same base Loki, not a variety of multiverse Lokis.

Rat Boy wrote:

I'd hate to have a fear of heights and a room on one of the upper floors.

I had my profile set to default to high floors. Less noise from the lobby area bars and early morning garbage trucks.

EDIT: BTW, this is also one of the hotels used by Dragon Con that you might hear mentioned on the podcast over the years.

Mixolyde wrote:
Spoiler:

Why would the other Loki variants that Mobius showed in the little holo projector be different sizes, shapes, etc.? If they are variants of the one true timeline, then they should all be the same base Loki, not a variety of multiverse Lokis.

Spoiler:

my theory is because the one true timeline is a lie

Stealthpizza wrote:
Mixolyde wrote:
Spoiler:

Why would the other Loki variants that Mobius showed in the little holo projector be different sizes, shapes, etc.? If they are variants of the one true timeline, then they should all be the same base Loki, not a variety of multiverse Lokis.

Spoiler:

my theory is because the one true timeline is a lie

Spoiler:

That's the only thing that makes sense to me. OTOH the MCU has always required a certain amount of "it doesn't really make sense but it's fun so just go with it" so I'm open to the possibility that there won't be a satisfying explanation and it's just an excuse to have a Lady Loki.

hbi2k wrote:
Stealthpizza wrote:
Mixolyde wrote:
Spoiler:

Why would the other Loki variants that Mobius showed in the little holo projector be different sizes, shapes, etc.? If they are variants of the one true timeline, then they should all be the same base Loki, not a variety of multiverse Lokis.

Spoiler:

my theory is because the one true timeline is a lie

Spoiler:

That's the only thing that makes sense to me. OTOH the MCU has always required a certain amount of "it doesn't really make sense but it's fun so just go with it" so I'm open to the possibility that there won't be a satisfying explanation and it's just an excuse to have a Lady Loki.

Spoiler:

I like this idea. My other hypothesis is that maybe the TVA guards the one true timeline of the entire multiverse, and so those Lokis are from other universes, not just ours, which is why it seems so huge.

I haven't watched this week's episode so I'm not unhappy about it but I will point out that this is a spoiler thread and everyone is hiding all the spoilers

farley3k wrote:

I haven't watched this week's episode so I'm not unhappy about it but I will point out that this is a spoiler thread and everyone is hiding all the spoilers

Exactly!

The above is a good theory on variants. I'll also point out that they said that it takes a bit of change BEFORE a branch occurs so maybe those bumps are enough to change normal things into the more odd looking variants?

They also noted a couple times that the Timekeepers are still working on the timeline, so it’s possible that the current path of the timeline isn’t the same path it’s always taken. Since the TVA and the Timekeepers exist outside of time they should be able to make changes to any part of it to guide it in whatever direction they see fit.
Assuming the Timekeepers aren’t another red herring.

I think it's pretty likely the TVA isn't what it seems or what Mobius thinks it is. And the vagueness of the Timekeepers is a part of that.

So SHIELD 2.0.

Loki changes his appearance all the dang time. Seems weird to get hung up on different looking variants of a guy who posed as his own dad for a while.

Spoiler:

I don't understand the whole female Loki. For that variant to exist either Loki was born a woman in that timeline and grew up - but wasn't a variant until she grew up because they didn't prune that branch when she was born. Or Loki had a sex change at some point - which is fine but why?

The first one would imply that the "sacred timeline" can have two opposite sex versions of the same person. Which kind of seems like "the timeline" can involve things that can't both exist in the same reality. IE Loki couldn't be born as both a male and female in one reality. So the timeline might be sacred but reality isn't...?

And the second one is fine. Loki had all that money he stole from the plane but why would he? Or is he just using a female appearance the way he used looking like Odin? Which again brings up - why? He pretended to be Odin to rule Asgard. Why is he pretending to be a woman in this varaiant?

Part of me just thinks they are being "edgy" and "cool" to match the world we live in which is fine I guess but it just feels forced. At least when they wanted to make Captain America more diverse they just passed the shield on rather than make some Steve Rogers variant that was still Steve but black. Or when they make Thor a woman in the next Thor movie it won't be changing Thor but giving the powers of Thor to a woman.

The situation in Loki appears less comprehensible. Maybe they will really nail the story and make me go - wow that is clever and makes sense (like the first time I saw Memento) but to be honest the marvel folks haven't done a great job with that.