Comic Book and Superhero movie & TV discussion.

[Chris B]

8 hours ago, Chest Rockwell said:

Sounds interesting. Can you recommend a book or article where i could read more about this?

It was fascinating at the time - started with them dropping merchandising for anything Fox-related, and then cancelling the Fantastic 4 series. They also tried, repeatedly, to separate the X-Men from the main universe and silo it off - to be replaced by The Inhumans.

They were also constantly hedging their bets, and leaving outs to bring characters back later.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davegonzales/2015/05/31/marvel-is-killing-x-men-and-fantastic-four-merchandising/

Right in the middle of it all, though, Disney bought Fox and it all changed again.

 

[chokeout]

10 hours ago, Chest Rockwell said:

Sounds interesting. Can you recommend a book or article where i could read more about this?

Marvel Comics: The Untold Story by Sean Howe is probably the best one, really gets into the sheer scope of how many bad decisions they've made as a company, the crackpot (and cutthroat mind) of Stan Lee and is built around interviews with the people who were there. 

They were so desperate for money that they were selling off the rights to their characters to anyone that showed any interest which led to, at one point, David Bowies ex wife, Angela owning the TV rights to Daredevil, which gave us this haunting image. 

 

[Hannibal Scorch]

Marvel went bankrupt a few times in the 90’s. As @chokeout said they were selling everything they could before eventually selling out to Toybiz who had the action figure rights. One of their worst deals was with Universal Studios in Orlando. They had just lost the DC licence for their Superhero section of the park, Marvel desperately wanted (needed) a deal so gave them exclusive rights for the characters to be used in their park east of the Mississippi FOR LIFE. Obviously after Disney bought Marvel they tried to get the rights to make attractions in their parks, Universal said NOPE, so Disney could only make attractions of characters Universal didn’t use in the parks (and when I say use, I mean even just a picture of a character meant Disney couldn’t use them). So Disneyland has a whole Avengers area with multiple attractions of different superheroes as they are west coast. Disney World has a Guardians of the Galaxy coaster and appearances from the Wakandan Royal Guards as they are East coast. 

[Retro Red]

It’s a weird snapshot in time too, they have likeness rights to the late 90s comic so nothing from the movies makes any appearance in Universal. Odd distinction too that Disney also can’t use the word Marvel in any park in the US, regardless of whether it’s west of the Mississippi or not. 

[BrodyGraham]

It's not been mentioned here, but X-Men 97 has been excellent. I've just watched this week's episode and it's one of the best examples of the form in years. It's tropey as fuck but Jesus they've mined every bit of drama they can and it's a proper gut punch.

Miles ahead of the original series.

[SuperBacon]

37 minutes ago, BrodyGraham said:

It's not been mentioned here, but X-Men 97 has been excellent. I've just watched this week's episode and it's one of the best examples of the form in years. It's tropey as fuck but Jesus they've mined every bit of drama they can and it's a proper gut punch.

Miles ahead of the original series.

I watched one episode as I loved the original and it was really fun. I'm not sure if I'll watch the entire series, not because its bad, far from it, its just I'm not really that interested anymore.

Also, maybe this is just me and because I only know maybe 3 X-Men storyline, but I am sure I've seen this specific story told a million times over. Not necessarily a complaint as someone might be watching for the first time, so I get it.

Gambit was always the best. Glad to see he still is.

 

[BrodyGraham]

20 minutes ago, SuperBacon said:

I watched one episode as I loved the original and it was really fun. I'm not sure if I'll watch the entire series, not because its bad, far from it, its just I'm not really that interested anymore.

Also, maybe this is just me and because I only know maybe 3 X-Men storyline, but I am sure I've seen this specific story told a million times over. Not necessarily a complaint as someone might be watching for the first time, so I get it.

Gambit was always the best. Glad to see he still is.

 

They're telling a lot of story, with threads coming from all over, but yeah X-Men is X-Men so certain things are gonna recur. Even the comics which are just finishing a 5 year arc that started wildly experimentally have reset in much the same way as this episode.

If your kids are the right age, I'd say use them as an excuse to give the series a go. If nothing else it'll be a pretty quick watch. Mine's hooked now.

[SuperBacon]

2 minutes ago, BrodyGraham said:

If your kids are the right age, I'd say use them as an excuse to give the series a go. If nothing else it'll be a pretty quick watch. Mine's hooked now

11 and 14. Absolutely not arsed at all. If it was on YouTube they probably would though ffs

[DavidB6937]

Not sure it's much of a "shocker" but seems like it'd be a wise move to try and get everything back on track. I don't think they'll ever reach the heights they did before but there's still some potential with X Men etc.

 

 

[Merzbow]

Jesus Christ that was a hell of an ending to the season of The Boys, there were some cracks in the season and it could sometimes feel like they've done everything they could already but that's 100% left me wanting more. We'll likely get another season of Gen V first but I'm good with that, the first season was ace and freshened up the world of The Boys but it'll be sad to see it without Chance.

[Mr_Danger]

Not watched the finale yet but they’ve really leant in to the meta Trump stuff this season. So much so that even the whacky right have realised they’re getting sent up and turned on the show even though they’ve always been the butt of the joke.

Edited July 18, 2024 by Mr_Danger

[Chest Rockwell]

Do i need to watch the first season of gen v before jumping in to the latest series of the boys?

[Merzbow]

Just now, Chest Rockwell said:

Do i need to watch the first season of gen v before jumping in to the latest series of the boys?

I'd say so, there's not much crossover in the season but more than enough important bits in there to watch that first.

[Vamp]

On 7/17/2024 at 8:33 PM, DavidB6937 said:

Not sure it's much of a "shocker" but seems like it'd be a wise move to try and get everything back on track. I don't think they'll ever reach the heights they did before but there's still some potential with X Men etc.

 

 

I expect most people would disagree with me on this (and they're probably right) but I think the worst thing that could have happened to the genre was the Fox properties going to Disney. 

I can see how Fantastic Four and X-Men might freshen up the MCU at first but I don't think that novelty will last long and I think they'll soon feel like every other movie. Even with the upcoming Deadpool, it looks like it'll still feel like Deadpool but they've admitted that it's a very different film to the original plan for Deadpool 3.

Fox produced a lot of dud movies with X-Men and Fantastic Four but they tried interesting ideas even if sometimes they were misguided and shit. 

[Jazzy G]

Just came out of a lunchtime showing of Deadpool & Wolverine. I probably can't say much of anything without some pretty chunky spoilers, but it's a heck of a ride, there are some spectacular cameos, nice easter eggs, and everybody looks like they're having a great time. If you like the Deadpool and MCU stuff this is heaps of fun. 

Edited July 25, 2024 by Jazzy G