Board 8 > MCU General 4: What If I Had Absolutely Nothing For a Topic Title?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Boy, pushing back the Gamora episode really hurt this one kinda. The "Hey, I just happen to have a device that's capable of destroying Infinity Stones" is such a terrible plot point without having an episode to set it up. Also, that one looks like that was the episode where Tony had a big role. Whoops.

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I actually liked it a lot that they did it that way. Pulling from a universe that hasn't appeared in the show makes it feel so much "bigger" to me.
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Congrats Tony on finally surviving an episode

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https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/wandavision-spinoff-kathryn-hahn-1235082445/

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Final What If episode was fun. I wish that Ultron didn't feel so nerfed for the episode though, I get that Strange Supreme is really powerful but it just felt like Ultron went from a multiversal threat in one episode to just a chump in this one.

Overall the series was fun though. The first episode was a bit weak but the rest had some cool ideas. Pacing could've been a bit better, extending the episodes out another 10 - 15 minutes would give it a bit more time to breathe.

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This is my favorite Disney+ series by a large margin. Almost all of the episodes were super fun, and they threw in some great action at the end there too. It's nice to finally get something on the level of Daredevil and Jessica Jones.
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MoogleKupo141 posted...

also, place your bets now: will there be a live-action post-credits scene

im half way expecting to see either real Cumberbatch or real Hayley Atwell to tease Multiverse of Madness

I really wanted this.

But still, great series.

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what if is good but wildly uneven. it's crazy how much better the dr. strange episode was than the captain carter one.

haven't seen the last couple of episodes yet, though.

next up is hawkeye, right? looking forward to seeing how that one is going to turn out!

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Finally got around to viewing the last what if episode.

As something of a connoisseur in high powered characters fighting, this battle was lacking. Competently choreographed for sure, but the multiversal threat just wasnt there. "I can destroy galaxies with a thought" followed by a pummeling by fancy action gymnasts. Come on. I get that they were turbo shielded, but I bet they'd have had a harder time doing anything if the multiversal threat capable of ending all of the everything...blew up the planet/the sun.

Not that I'm going to hold that against the episode...there's only so much you can realistically expect to be accomplished in the allotted time, and Marvel displayed some fantastic efficiency getting this much done. That said, I liked it, and will enjoy seeing where the next half goes.

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SovietOmega posted...

Finally got around to viewing the last what if episode.

As something of a connoisseur in high powered characters fighting, this battle was lacking. Competently choreographed for sure, but the multiversal threat just wasnt there. "I can destroy galaxies with a thought" followed by a pummeling by fancy action gymnasts. Come on. I get that they were turbo shielded, but I bet they'd have had a harder time doing anything if the multiversal threat capable of ending all of the everything...blew up the planet/the sun.

Not that I'm going to hold that against the episode...there's only so much you can realistically expect to be accomplished in the allotted time, and Marvel displayed some fantastic efficiency getting this much done. That said, I liked it, and will enjoy seeing where the next half goes.

My only gripe is that the Gamora episode was cut for next season.

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... honestly it felt like you could cut Gamora from the finale and nothing would really change.

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Didn't Ultron try blowing up the planet? Then Strange rewound time and ate the explosion.

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TotallyNotMI posted...

Didn't Ultron try blowing up the planet? Then Strange rewound time and ate the explosion.

Yes, I'm pretty sure that happened. And then Ultron was like "da fuck?"

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UltimaterializerX posted...

Good episode but not great. Ultron trying to solo them all without conjuring anything was just dumb. I also expected consequences for Uatu breaking his oath, but there werent any. Im also getting really annoyed with these writers constantly undermining Iron Mans legacy; one joke or two is one thing, but at this point its like theyre trying to erase his impact entirely.

Well, no, that's the entire point. In every universe where Iron Man doesn't have an impact, they're completely fucked. If anything, it just highlights how incredibly important he is.


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I kinda liked that the Gamora episode got pushed. It made everything seem "bigger" since the Watcher pulled someone from a universe we haven't seen yet.

I agree that the fight was a little lackluster. As far as power levels go, Strange was definitely pulling all the weight on that team. Ultron didn't "feel" as strong as he was supposed to be, I think. And I have to wonder what made someone like Party Thor "perfect" for fighting Ultron... you'd think there would be another Thor in the multiverse who has more fully perfected his powers, you know what I mean?

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I guess Party Thor's one job was just to get Ultron's attention

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yeah that was my idea that his role was as a distraction, with the hammers Strange could play with & Thor's spontaneous hurls of thunderbolts ignoring any sort of planning

if Watcher wanted a competent powerhouse, Captain Marvel was right there, but yeah outside of Strange/Nat/Carter who were more broadly engaged, everyone else seemed to have a very specific role to play

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I just watched Black Widow. It wasn't very good...

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Is that free on disney+ yet?

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oh right, yeah a few days ago it went free couple.... *checks* 3 days ago

though I'm not a fan of it either so yeah "slipped my mind"

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i haven't seen black widow yet but i think the only MCU movie rated lower than it on IMDb is the incredible hulk. doesn't exactly get my hopes up.

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Black Widow has a couple of fun characters, but it doesn't add that much to the overall narrative.

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It really is a case of just too late to the party. It really should have happened much much sooner than it did.

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But then we wouldn't have gotten Florence Pugh as Yelena!

I saw the CinemaWins of the film.

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What is the reasoning behind that?

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Will Poulter confirmed to be playing Adam Warlock in GotG 3.

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:O

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lol, i didn't think they would ever get to warlock after completely cutting him from infinity war/endgame, even though they hinted at him in the GotG2 post-credits scene.

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Cool, unexpected choice but I like him

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I saw Black Widow. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be based on the Honest Trailer and MauLer but otherwise until the last act it felt like the most generic spy movie ever and even the best moments felt like a pale imitation of Metal Gear. Massive props to Pugh, Harbour, and Weisz though. Now I'm hoping Yelena and Carol will bond over similar backgrounds sometime.

6/10

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Not impressed with What If? episode 1 at all. Supposedly later ones are better though.

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LinkMarioSamus posted...

Not impressed with What If? episode 1 at all. Supposedly later ones are better though.

@LinkMarioSamus *no spoilers*

by far the worst ep, it gets better

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Thanks.

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Apparently at the Eternals press screening the credits were abruptly cut off.

Potentially big mid and/or post-credits scene hype!

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Okay so Spider-Man releases on Dec 17th and the Hawkeye finale airs on Dec 22nd. I have a strong feeling that Disney is going to do something big to rival the Mando season finale from last year.

I'm thinking either Netflix Daredevil or Netflix Kingpin make an appearance. Any ideas on what they could do in the finale to get people talking?

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There have been rumors that Fisk will be in Hawkeye so maybe that.

Murphiroth posted...

There have been rumors that Fisk will be in Hawkeye so maybe that.

Rumors of Daredevil in No Way Home as well

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Delays for a bunch of upcoming movies.

Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness
May 6, 2022
Thor: Love and Thunder
July 8, 2022
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
November 11, 2022
The Marvels
February 17, 2023
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
July 28, 2023

https://www.marvel.com/articles/movies/marvel-studios-theatrical-release-schedule-2022-2023

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What If episode 2 way better. RIP Chadwick. Cool how they got most of the original actors to return, including Benicio Del Toro, Josh Brolin, and Kurt Russell. And uh yeah I find Karen Gillan's voice arousing.

I'm not entirely sure why I liked this episode so much more. I was half-thinking it might be because Black Panther is one of my favorite MCU movies, but TFA is too (personally prefer it to all the Avengers films). Maybe this one just wasn't so similar to its source film?

That kind of reminds me of one of my main complaints with Black Widow - it felt weird with a capital W to be back in the aftermath of Civil War. Yeah that comes with the territory of a prequel, but even Captain Marvel didn't elicit the same reaction from me.

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episode 2 was just way better written than episode 1.

the guy in episode 1 going "women shouldn't be in combat! THEY MIGHT BREAK A NAIL MUAHAHAH" was such a trope, it was embarrassing >_>

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The stupid thing is that it feels to me like the title could also refer to what if former Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter didn't mandate that every MCU movie had to have a white male lead so far.

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As pointed out at the time, ep1 just takes the concept of "What If" and wastes it to change very little. It's Peggy as Captain America, then for the most part just continues on doing First Avenger with the identity swap. The rest of the show actually bothers to tell new stories, ep1 didn't.

Ep2 does "somebody else takes the role of this hero" as well, but it went a completely new direction from GoG1, and the effects of T'challa taking the mantle were shown to be massive for the universe -- literally arguing Thanos out of Infinity War

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LinkMarioSamus posted...

What If episode 2 way better. RIP Chadwick. Cool how they got most of the original actors to return, including Benicio Del Toro, Josh Brolin, and Kurt Russell. And uh yeah I find Karen Gillan's voice arousing.

I'm not entirely sure why I liked this episode so much more. I was half-thinking it might be because Black Panther is one of my favorite MCU movies, but TFA is too (personally prefer it to all the Avengers films). Maybe this one just wasn't so similar to its source film?

That kind of reminds me of one of my main complaints with Black Widow - it felt weird with a capital W to be back in the aftermath of Civil War. Yeah that comes with the territory of a prequel, but even Captain Marvel didn't elicit the same reaction from me.

Are you literally just incapable of not bringing up SW or the sequel trilogy?

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Waluigi1 posted...

Are you literally just incapable of not bringing up SW or the sequel trilogy?

All available evidence suggests this to be the case yes

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hey

whatever keeps him off Metroid

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By TFA I meant The First Avenger, sorry. Maybe I should have just said Captain America 1. I thought it would be obvious because that's what What If episode 1 was retelling but I guess not.

Also I apologize completely for the one stupid time I made a topic earlier asking why people were thinking Chadwick Boseman would be a shoo-in to win a posthumous Oscar over the legendary Anthony Hopkins. I still think that was a fool's errand but I meant no disrespect to Chadwick. I just barely remember Civil War since I wasn't really keeping track of the MCU at the time and I just saw it for the sake of an outing with friends. The dumb thing is that just two years later I caught The Avengers on TV and watched the whole thing, and then I was able to go straight to Thor: Ragnarok the next month without feeling lost. And likewise right from there to Infinity War. Hadn't even seen Iron Man, Captain America 1, or Thor before seeing Endgame.

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Ah ok, thanks for the clarification. Never seen anyone abbreviate it like that lol.

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i thought he meant the force awakens at first too but then i figured it out.

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LinkMarioSamus posted...

. I thought it would be obvious because that's what What If episode 1 was retelling but I guess not.

That was my impression based on the context of your post. Seems like they just jumped the gun for some reason.

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