Agreed. I think Deadpool is a step in the right direction. Apocalypse might be a step back in the wrong direction again though.
People tend to overlook how bad some of the xmen/spidey movies are because the characters are so beloved. Truth be told I don't think any of the spiderman movies are all that great, and while some of the xmen movies are certainly fun, they aren't on the same level as the really good marvel ones. As for FF, I really don't know why Fox keeps trying. The FF might have been marvels first family, but that was decades ago. Today they are all interesting to great supporting characters, but that is about it. I'm not even sure that marvel with all their might could churn out an interesting FF movie. I would hope that Fox would allow FF to go home and let marvel have a crack at it, but who knows if they are smart enough to do that.
Actually I think the first two Spider-Man movies by Sam Raimi are fantastic. They're really well thought out and well executed. Acting might not have been their strong suit, but the plot and character arcs are great. The first X-Men was pretty solid and well done. The second one wasn't on the same level, but a little more grandiose. The third movie in both franchises were just... awful. Terrible. FOX would do well to sell the rights back to Marvel in exchange for some more mutant/X-Men material that Marvel won't use. They've screwed around with the franchise for going on 20 years now. Why bother? The budget alone was 120+ million dollars and the total cost of the movie was probably 200 million when you factor in advertising, re-shoots, and some opportunity costs. The movie has grossed just over 106 million world wide. FF might cost FOX 100 MILLION DOLLARS! Now that's a flop if I've ever seen one... Get rid of the property for something you can actually use; namely the rights to the X-Men live-action television series you're developing.
They went the wrong direction with the FF movie IMO. They should have tried to bill it as the characters being more tongue in cheek and mock the ridiculousness of it all. They tried to make it too serious for the characters in the trailer at least and it doesn't work as well as it could
I wouldn't say the first 2 spiderman movies are necessarially bad, they certainly don't hold up and in my mind they are more cheese than anything else. I think for me the problem is some movies get Peter Parker right, others get spiderman right, but none of them capture what spidey is all about at its core, the contrast of akward nerdy timid introverted Peter Park vs the clever brave witty Spiderman. That dynamic and the characters struggle to figure it all out lies at the core of who spiderman is. No movie has got that right, and while they have been fun they haven't been moving or great, at least to me. Same with Xmen, one and two weren't bad at all the last couple have been much improved and all the wolverines suck. Again I think this is because they, like spidey and sony, just don't get the characters. Wolverine in the movies is completely different in personality than the comics. Cyclops isn't the brave and respected leader, he is a whiny backstreet boy fan. Cheap jokes and a lack of character development... With Xmen in particular there is no reason that we haven't received an epic film trilogy like marvel has created. Some many premade great characters and stories, and instead of finding people who get the characters and love the stories they mess it all up and drowned in mediocrity.
Well I agree with what you're saying definitely. Raimi's first two Spidey movies are very good movies, they're just not 100% representative of the character in the comics. No we haven't seen a legitimate representation of Peter AND Spidey yet, but the first two Spidey movies are just very good movies. It's like most book --> movie translations, a lot gets lost but the movies were at least good. Now X-Men is a completely different thing. FOX has made almost NO effort to make their product like Marvel's product. They've purposely left a lot of the comic adaptation OFF the table because they feel like it'll help sell Marvel products so why do it? Why put Wolverine in a legitimate costume when they aren't getting paid for that? Doesn't help them. The first two X-Men movies were pretty good, but they're even further from canon than Raimi's Spider-Man movies were. First Class upon re-watch is heavily dependent on Fassbender and McAvoy. If it weren't for those two, the movie is AWFUL. Future Past was good though. Deadpool looks great. I think with FOX it's mostly been a lost cause to hope for comic-accurate appearances/stories. They didn't want that. This Apocalypse movie looks a lot better in that regard so I'm hoping there's some bridges there being built with Marvel. With Spidey back (mostly) in the Marvel fold, I think we'll see the best representation of the character yet. Young, brash, and emboldened when he puts on the suit. When he's out of the suit he's sometimes painfully awkward. Most of all though he's driven by self-created demons and a moral compass that he stands by through thick and thin. I'm hoping for big things from this Holland kid.
I honestly don't think Fox even cares about the actual Fantastic Four. I think they want to keep Dr. Doom, Galactus and Silver Surfer out of Marvel's hands. Marvel needs a big bad after Thanos and Doom and Galactus could serve as such. As for X-Men and Spiderman. Didn't like either of the Garfield ones all that much. Spidey 1 was OK, but REALLY dated now. Spidey 2 I thoroughly enjoyed. Spidey 3 was a dumpster fire. As for X-Men, I enjoyed DoFP and X-Men 2 (mainly because of Nightcrawler). Every other X-Men movie to me has been watchable, but forgettable.
Then the ONLY thing FOX is doing I'd hurting Marvel? That's a bad business decision. If the only reason to keep the property is to keep Marvel from certain characters, sell the rights back. At this point I'd be surprised if a deal wasn't struck. The property is useless to them and a waste of time and resources.
While the only roles I can imagine the fantastic four exceeding in inside the MCU are supporting characters, Doom, silver surfer and galactus would be epic!
Galactus as the next threat for a new MCU "Phase" (after Infinity War) seems like the next logical thing to do. And I mean the real Galactus... not that stupid giant smoke monster in the second Jessica Alba FF4. And it's Disney! They'll force the creative team to keep making MCU movies.
As long as Marvel movies are making money, Disney will keep pumping them out. I expect the stories to continue, but I also expect them to reboot soon after Phase 3 with younger actors and actresses. At that point the products will wain, the actors will mostly want to move on, and it'll make sense to soft reboot the franchises keeping only those guys that really want to stay on. I think Galactus would make a great long-term baddie for the MCU. Doom is the character I really want though. He's by far the best, most intriguing villain/anti-hero in the Marvel rogue gallery. I'd love that.
I honestly dont think they will reboot anytime before 2030ish. Per reports Fiege has a timeline plotted until at least 2028 and with all the resources, story lines, and the ability to make people care about 2nd/3rd tier characters why stop? For example how many people even knew the name star lord? I would love to seen F4, Galactus, and surfer done right, but even I they cant get them back, there are still all sorts of villains out there to face a mix of new and old heros. Or even some villains that I would love to see again aka ultron, the real manderin(who is alive and well in the MCI)
I just mean they'll recast and then start a new plot line. By 2030 RDJ will be like 70 something years old!
They won't because they're about $, but when RDJ gets too old or uninterested in $50m-$100m paydays, I want them to kill off Tony Stark. I'd rather see a 70 year old RDJ in the role than someone like Zac Efron replace him. I think I've gone on this rant before but certain actors are forever linked with certain characters and their presence and charisma can't be replaced or duplicated. Ford as Han and Indy is the biggest one (which is why I'm skeptical of the Han spinoff), but RDJ as Tony Stark is waaaay up there as well.
Blade and daughter in the next installment of the franchise? http://www.slashfilm.com/rumor-female-blade-movie/#more-311410
I read some time ago that Marvel was looking into putting Blade into the mix with the other Netflix MCU properties. I also read seperately that they had been in contact with Snipes but that it was for smaller role, and not the lead. Now this? My money is on Follon Grey popping up in maybe Iron Fist, and Snipes returning as Poppa Blade if her comic book takes off like Spiderqwen has. Imagine Blade, Punisher, the defenders, all running around Netflix? And if those characters work, moon knight and gritty characters are surely waiting in the wings...
Blade would make a perfect Netflix addition. The new Blade being his daughter? I'm fine with that. The only issue is turning Blade into a more Marvel friendly property. As far as they went with DD, the R rated Blade movies are a very hard R.
I think blade works in the DD universe. I think the violence would be a bit more, but the big difference will continue to be a lack of language and nudity.
