Is Kang actually a beloved villain? Has my Marvel reading just somehow missed this guy? I know of Kang, and I've read a few Kang stories, but he never made much of an impression.
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To Infinity and Beyond: The Marvel Cinematic Universe
- Thread starter Vaeran
- Start date
Every character is someone’s favourite, of course.
I’ve always been a big fan of him, myself. Everything about him is just so dedicated to making him the most confusing damn supervillain ever, and that’s by design rather than narrative incompetence, and I can’t help but respect that.
It clearly isn’t something that just occurred naturally either, it’s baked in as far back as the Stan and Jack days when his first appearance was actually his second appearance, and they’ve been building on that ever since.
I’ve always been a big fan of him, myself. Everything about him is just so dedicated to making him the most confusing damn supervillain ever, and that’s by design rather than narrative incompetence, and I can’t help but respect that.
It clearly isn’t something that just occurred naturally either, it’s baked in as far back as the Stan and Jack days when his first appearance was actually his second appearance, and they’ve been building on that ever since.
Well I don't know what the critics' fucking problem is, because as Talking Time's number one Marvel shill I am here to tell you that Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantum of Solants is a great time at the movies.
The usual contingent is going to whine that this is "just an ad for future movies!!!" but, listen: we are fifteen years and thirty-one movies deep into this franchise, and if you're still getting mad about that then I don't know what to tell you. Yes, Marvel plants seeds of plotlines and characters and pays them off down the line. That's how this goes. Not every MCU entry is going to be Infinity War or Endgame, and those movies were only possible because they built on what had come before, and right now we're building.
With that out of the way... The thing that's being "advertised," of course, is Kang, and I am all in on him. Jonathan Majors plays him as thoughtful, seductive and menacing, but with an impatient rage boiling just beneath the surface that had me hanging on his every word. If this version of him really is dead then that's a shame, but then again I thought that about He Who Remains, too. I'm sure the next variant will be just as interesting.
As for the other new characters, the warrior lady didn't really do much for me BUT I WANTED MORE TELEPATHIC CHIDI ANAGONYE. (I didn't catch anyone's names.)
The visual design in this movie is absolutely buck fucking wild. Every frame has half a dozen batshit bananas things popping off and it's going to take ten viewings to take it all in. Does it have a consistent visual style beyond "weird"? Not really, but the Quantum Realm civilization is apparently a hodgepodge of many extremely disparate cultures so I think that was sort of the point.
(I feel like the MCU has inadequately explained what the Quantum Realm even is, and I'd appreciate a little clarification from people who are familiar with the comics. Is it just that everything in it is impossibly turbo small? Like is the idea that it all exists within the same space as our regular universe, just that there are entire quantum cities built between electrons or whatever? But then Janet tosses off a line about "The Void" and "Subatomica" and it sounds like maybe you just have to be that small to pass through the... interdimensional membranes or whatever and enter the QR. Does every universe/timeline have its own Quantum Realm, or is there only one? Would the denizens of the QR have been affected by the Snap?)
You know I'm always agitating for more male nudity in these movies, but I don't know that MODOK's bare ass and gross baby legs are going to warrant a page on the MCU Cheesecake Calendar. Well, it's fine. Liked him a lot in general, and while I'm sure some will be unhappy that his origins are different from the comics I thought this was a clever way to work him in.
Kind of a missed opportunity that when Scott split into thousands of "possible" Scotts, they're all identical except for one who works at Baskin Robbins. How about a battle-scarred Scott? An evil Scott? A Scott in the Yellowjacket suit?a Scott who killed Thanos by jumping up his butt
Speaking of missed potential I think it's kind of a shame that Scott and Hope didn't get trapped in the Quantum Realm at the end. How fucking cool would it be if in Secret Wars we're reunited with an Ant-Man and Wasp who have been king and queen of the Quantum Realm for years?
As the credits were rolling it occurred to me that the Ant-Man movies make for a really lopsided trilogy. The first two have basically no stakes beyond the personal, and this one concerns the fate of the multiverse. That's comic books, baby!
With that out of the way... The thing that's being "advertised," of course, is Kang, and I am all in on him. Jonathan Majors plays him as thoughtful, seductive and menacing, but with an impatient rage boiling just beneath the surface that had me hanging on his every word. If this version of him really is dead then that's a shame, but then again I thought that about He Who Remains, too. I'm sure the next variant will be just as interesting.
As for the other new characters, the warrior lady didn't really do much for me BUT I WANTED MORE TELEPATHIC CHIDI ANAGONYE. (I didn't catch anyone's names.)
The visual design in this movie is absolutely buck fucking wild. Every frame has half a dozen batshit bananas things popping off and it's going to take ten viewings to take it all in. Does it have a consistent visual style beyond "weird"? Not really, but the Quantum Realm civilization is apparently a hodgepodge of many extremely disparate cultures so I think that was sort of the point.
(I feel like the MCU has inadequately explained what the Quantum Realm even is, and I'd appreciate a little clarification from people who are familiar with the comics. Is it just that everything in it is impossibly turbo small? Like is the idea that it all exists within the same space as our regular universe, just that there are entire quantum cities built between electrons or whatever? But then Janet tosses off a line about "The Void" and "Subatomica" and it sounds like maybe you just have to be that small to pass through the... interdimensional membranes or whatever and enter the QR. Does every universe/timeline have its own Quantum Realm, or is there only one? Would the denizens of the QR have been affected by the Snap?)
You know I'm always agitating for more male nudity in these movies, but I don't know that MODOK's bare ass and gross baby legs are going to warrant a page on the MCU Cheesecake Calendar. Well, it's fine. Liked him a lot in general, and while I'm sure some will be unhappy that his origins are different from the comics I thought this was a clever way to work him in.
Kind of a missed opportunity that when Scott split into thousands of "possible" Scotts, they're all identical except for one who works at Baskin Robbins. How about a battle-scarred Scott? An evil Scott? A Scott in the Yellowjacket suit?
Speaking of missed potential I think it's kind of a shame that Scott and Hope didn't get trapped in the Quantum Realm at the end. How fucking cool would it be if in Secret Wars we're reunited with an Ant-Man and Wasp who have been king and queen of the Quantum Realm for years?
As the credits were rolling it occurred to me that the Ant-Man movies make for a really lopsided trilogy. The first two have basically no stakes beyond the personal, and this one concerns the fate of the multiverse. That's comic books, baby!
There are mid- and post-credits scenes.
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My impression is he matters deeply only to people obsessed with the MCU who have been told he matters deeply, but don't read comics.
For The record, I don't read comics either.
Kang is a fun villain. Not top 10 Marvel villains for me, but they have a deep bench.
Definitely. I'm a pretty casual Avengers reader, but he features prominently in a some of the most beloved Avengers runs. If you've missed Busiek's Avengers (both the main run and Avengers Forever) or Young Avengers (the original run), give those a shot, for example.
That being said, as Octo mentions, a lot of the fun of Kang has to do with the particular nature of creating a shared continuity over multiple decades. He's a character who constantly draws attention to continuity paradoxes and errors and retcons. One challenge of the character in the MCU is that because it streamlines everything, it doesn't really have this kind of a history to mine. Busiek's Kang has both sides of the character in a really effective way, getting into the silly continuity weeds in the Avengers Forever maxi-series and ending his Avengers run with the more serious and high stakes Kang Dynasty story that the upcoming Avengers movie is taking its title from.
I finally got around to watching Wakanda Forever, kept my interest throughout the entire three bloody hours which is high praise from me these days. Wife and I burst out laughing every time they showed Namor’s stupid ankle wings, I hope whoever approved that design got a promotion and a corner office.
karzac
(he/him)
I watched Wakanda Forever the other day as well. It was fine. Would have enjoyed it more on a big screen.
Did anybody else notice that the aspect ratio was different in the climactic boat battle scene? It would keep switching between letterboxed and not as it cut between Namor/Shuri and the rest of the fight. I found it very jarring and it felt like the two scenes were taking place in different movies. And now I'm second guessing myself - was that happening in the rest of the movie? Is that common in movies? Was it unique to the Disney+ version?
Did anybody else notice that the aspect ratio was different in the climactic boat battle scene? It would keep switching between letterboxed and not as it cut between Namor/Shuri and the rest of the fight. I found it very jarring and it felt like the two scenes were taking place in different movies. And now I'm second guessing myself - was that happening in the rest of the movie? Is that common in movies? Was it unique to the Disney+ version?
I don’t recall that specifically but I found the whole movie kind of a mess, visually. There’s a handful of scenes where you can’t really see what is going on because it is too busy or too dark.
I was joking with my wife that they probably colored the Atlanteans blue in post so you could tell who the bad guys were in the climatic fight, since they never mention why they are only blue above water.
I was joking with my wife that they probably colored the Atlanteans blue in post so you could tell who the bad guys were in the climatic fight, since they never mention why they are only blue above water.
I believe it was Sir Arthur Miller who once said “When life gives you Ants, you make Lemonants”. Perhaps in no film is this a more true statement than with Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. A film which does the impossible and made me love Hank Pym (a man about ants) every bit as much as I do Paul Rudd (a man who embraces ants). And yet, despite the title, there is a surprising lack of ants (also not that much Wasp).
this was a friggin’ Luc Besson movie slapped into the MCU.
While Ragnarok is never going to be dethroned as the Most Octo MCU movie, this was easily in second place.
Thanks, Ants.
Thants.
this was a friggin’ Luc Besson movie slapped into the MCU.
While Ragnarok is never going to be dethroned as the Most Octo MCU movie, this was easily in second place.
Thanks, Ants.
Thants.
Okay, so the thing with the Quantum Realm/Microverse in the comics is that the name is kind of a misnomer. you travel to it by going Itty Bitty, but that universe is the size and dimension as our own.
When you get small enough that the laws of physics just can’t with you, you get shunted into the next universe over, where the laws of physics are different. SubAtomica and the Void are to levels of the Microverse, but there’s a whole bunch of other ones, depending on how tiny you get.
I don't remember this happening very much, but I was also pretty inebriated while watching. What you're describing though, sounds like what a lot of movies do that are partially filmed in imax. Because it's expensive to film in imax, but people like doing it, so you get a number of films where some key scenes are filmed in imax for the wow factor, and then talky indoor scenes where there isn't as much room for the massive cameras and you're not trying to visually clap the cheeks of the audience gets filmed in regular 40mm or whatever. Go rewatch The Dark Knight one of these days (or a lot of Nolan movies tbh) and you'll see this idea in full effect.
Usually however, the directors of these kinds of movies have the smarts and organizational skills to film an entire scene with the cameras, so you aren't constantly shifting the aspect ratio between every cut. If WF is doing this, sounds about right considering that film's troubled history and the other parts of the movie that are generally a mess. I will say though, that in theaters where the whole movie screen is taking up your entire field of view, those aspect ratio shifts between regular anamorphic widescreen, and imax, isn't as noticeable.
karzac
(he/him)
That makes sense. To be clear, the changes that I noticed were in the climactic battle, where the scene with the Dora Milaje versus Talkoan on the boat was full screen, but the fight between Namor and Shuri was letterboxed. I believe the rest of the movie was lettorboxed too, but I don't actually remember
I FEEL SO SEEN!!
Honestly though, I didn't think Quantomania was a big offender in this regard. Kang felt like the villain of the movie I was watching, not the villan of some future movie, there weren't any big moments where someone popped up and said "HELLO BE SURE TO CHECK OUT MY STREAMING SERIES COMING EXCLUSIVELY TO DISNEY+" ect ect. Compared to Wakanda forever, it showed admirable restraint!
Also it was a pretty fun movie! When I was done watching it I was like "THAT WAS PRETTY FUN!"
Ant-Man was, well, um, . . . you know, Paul Rudd is very charming. Honestly, I was impressed with most of the cast. Even Bill Murray, who may have actually seen Michelle Pfeiffer the day they got him in front of a green screen for this. How far can a movie get on glib charm and capable performers? Best case scenario; exactly as far as this movie gets.
If we're going to spend the entire movie in the quantum realm, I'd like to learn at least a little bit about it. Just enough maybe to know what the rules are, if there are any.
If we're going to spend the entire movie in the quantum realm, I'd like to learn at least a little bit about it. Just enough maybe to know what the rules are, if there are any.
I thought it was a pretty fun movie. Pretty low on the MCU totem pole but that's ok.
It is good that the MCU movies are getting less good, because that means soon Kevin Figgy will tap me to save the franchise, allowing me to finally make my dream project: a bank job esque hiest movie but there's a constant risk of getting FUCKING MURDERED by spiderman.
So as you may have heard, Jonathan Majors got arrested over the weekend for assaulting a woman. He's claimed that he did nothing wrong and that there supposedly is video of the incident that exonerates him. So far no video has surfaced to my knowledge, but today for some unfathomable reason he decided to release the text messages between himself and the victim.
They're... they're real bad!
Jonathan Majors Releases Texts From Woman in Alleged Assault: ‘This Was Not an Attack
This 1,000% reads like a victim trying to take the blame to defend her abuser. "I told them it was my fault for trying to grab your phone." He thought this made him look GOOD??? As far as I'm concerned this is case closed.
It's a shame because I really liked him as Kang, but I'm sure I'll like whoever replaces him, too. Maybe he can start his own cinematic universe with Ezra Miller.
They're... they're real bad!
Jonathan Majors Releases Texts From Woman in Alleged Assault: ‘This Was Not an Attack
This 1,000% reads like a victim trying to take the blame to defend her abuser. "I told them it was my fault for trying to grab your phone." He thought this made him look GOOD??? As far as I'm concerned this is case closed.
It's a shame because I really liked him as Kang, but I'm sure I'll like whoever replaces him, too. Maybe he can start his own cinematic universe with Ezra Miller.
Yikes. You're right that that's how it reads. But if she's not cooperating with the police and continues to defend him, then there's plausible deniability. The Mouse doesn't have to wait for law enforcement to do their thing either, but he could sue for wrongful termination of contract or something. This is a sticky situation for Disney and I would wish them good luck with sorting this out but fuck Disney lol. I just hope this woman keeps herself safe/won't get further abused. How tf does she just accidentally get strangled if he's just trying to get his phone back in the middle of an argument. It boggles the mind.
on the one hand, my initial reaction was that it's mind boggling that those "i'm sorry you were arrested for hospitalizing me, it was all my fault" messages were released on purpose in defense
on the other hand, unfortunately he is in fact somehow getting a lot of positive/credulous headlines out of this from stenography journalism, and it's clear there are definitely also a lot of people treating this as vindication ("she said it was her fault, case closed"), so clearly their PR strategy is working to some extent at the moment
depressing all around
on the other hand, unfortunately he is in fact somehow getting a lot of positive/credulous headlines out of this from stenography journalism, and it's clear there are definitely also a lot of people treating this as vindication ("she said it was her fault, case closed"), so clearly their PR strategy is working to some extent at the moment
depressing all around
Good thing he was playing a character who canonically is a different person every time he shows up.
I've gone my whole life without strangulating anyone, and I feel pretty comfortable condemning people who do.
Not Strangling People is very easy!
I can even do it in my sleep
I can even do it in my sleep
