MovieChat Forums > Thor: Ragnarok (2017) Discussion > MCU Continues its Downward Spiral with R...

MCU Continues its Downward Spiral with Ragnarok


I think the movie looks very disappointing. It continues the trend of the MCU being obsessed with team-ups and crossovers. That only hampers the development of the main character and ESPECIALLY of their supporting casts. The greatest and most likable superheroes, Superman and Spider-Man, have very strong supporting casts, mostly of non-super civilians.

Marvel Team-Up was the old comic book that teamed up Spidey with a different hero in every issue. It was cancelled after 150 issues even while Spidey's two solo titles continued running for years. Eventually he even added on MORE solo titles. Real comic book fans were not attracted to the shallow stories offered in the team-up books. The MCU is now telling us that after each hero gets a solo origin movie, they are unable to conceive of anything but team-up movies. They're getting lazy and it's getting boring. It's very easy to slap two superheroes together and have them trade one-liners with each other. It's harder to create a story centered around developing one character in a relatable and human way.

On top of that, this "going for the comedy" angle only works when your movies are actually funny. Even their Ant-Man movie, the most comedically conceived one of them all, had very few actual laughs in it. Comedy in action-adventure movies works best when it is used sparingly and comes as a surprise in a movie that otherwise feels tense and dramatic. That's why they call it "breaking the tension." Pitching the whole movie at a light, humorous level makes the whole thing seem like a cheap sitcom. It drastically undermines the sense of tension and involvement in the story.

I will say that Marvel is casting its villains much better this year. They're going to the A-list. That's the only thing they're improving on lately.

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Pitching the whole movie at a light, humorous level makes the whole thing seem like a cheap sitcom. It drastically undermines the sense of tension and involvement in the story.

And yet, taking a true "dark seriousness" with fantasy superheroes often results in laughable schlock, a loss of fun, and negating the concept of escapism.

There are plenty of realistic war movies with zero comedy, for those who want them.

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A couple of points:

1) The Hulk appearance isn't necessarily a team-up, it could be more of a cameo or guest appearance. I hope it is, the Thor movies are all about the byplay between Thor and Loki, they don't need s 3rd wheel.

2) Look, I'm all for humor, even in movies that are dark overall, but the Thor films really need comic touches. The Thor movies are impossible to take completely seriously, Thor is a big meathead and he does need some unintentional humor to work as a screen character. Try to make him completely serious and all you've got is a big dope hitting things with a hammer.

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well put.

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The tone of the marketing and trailers, plus the crazy short run time, makes it clear this movie is just going to be a romp focusing on comedy and action and wasting no time whatsoever on story. This film is what it is: A placeholder till the real movie, Infinity Wars gets here. The real hurdle is if what they put on screen actually is awesome, the fact that it's basically a long trailer for a movie that never got made may actually put people off. So really, it wants to aim for the high side of mediocre.

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Even their Ant-Man movie, the most comedically conceived one of them all


Are we forgetting about the Guardians of the Galaxy movies?

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Sadly true

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I have heard the entire MCU will be rebooted soon because Thor failed so bad.

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You misspelled "MCU" instead of "DCU", and also misspelled "Thor" instead of "Justice League". It happens, auto correct gets us all sometimes.

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ha oops not pwned

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You misspelled "MCU" instead of "DCU", and also misspelled "Thor" instead of "Justice League". It happens, auto correct gets us all sometimes.
That was pretty clever.

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They are rare,but I have my moments.

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Now that T:R has finally been released in the USA it looks like there needs to be a recalibration as to the MCU's downward slide. :-) Still you had a very interesting pre-release evaluation of the movie.

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That's a very Very kind way of saying it. . .

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No decline at all. Progressing nicely.

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The entire concept of Shared Universe is to show as many characters as possible. Team ups is the natural [and desirable] way to go. No one is complaining about a thing they do extremely well, while DCEU has trouble showing just 2 characters together without making them related because... Martha.

"Pitching the whole movie at a light, humorous level makes the whole thing seem like a cheap sitcom. It drastically undermines the sense of tension and involvement in the story."

- And yet we are about to get a DC movie full of it. I'm wondering if you are going to complain then.

"That's the only thing they're improving on lately. "

- The box office pretty much disagrees with you.


"Downward Spiral"

Is it? Where exactly? I so want to know.

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