MARVEL'S: LOKI

[chrisstbh]

I myself am on the edge of my seat for some more Dreamworks Clown Kang!

Kidding aside the leaks about this sound dreadfully boring. And this was the only D+ show I really enjoyed. We should've just gotten Doctor Who: Asgardardian Edition with multiple seasons. And a better actor for Kang that'd appear in multiple incarnations throughout them, but alas...

That would have been a much better idea for this show; and I feel it’s what a lot of people were expecting.

 

[Victοr]

That would have been a much better idea for this show; and I feel it’s what a lot of people were expecting.

That was what it originally was. There's even concept art:

Imagine how fun such a show would be. Doctor Who, but with the actually good Cosmic Marvel lore. I watched DW for decades, I've got 1K+ into dolls, and I still don't like a single thing beyond the Doctor and the TARDIS. I don't know anything about the lore, I don't care for the Sontarans or whatever else. Daleks and Cybermen are the extent of my DW "knowledge". So "Marvel Doctor Who" is something that I feel would've been pretty great (yeah I know there are actual Marvel DW from the Marvel UK days but you get my point). Loki trekking through the Nine Realms, getting visits from obscure characters like Death's Hard and Orgo, time travelling in major events and eras. He could pick up companions like the Doctor, have some mini-arcs, and generally be a "side-show" of sorts, coming out every 2 years or so, with a tight, fun new season. It could be a chance to explore all the D-Z List properties that would never get adapted. The old Marvel Monsters, one-off alien civilizations like The Stark (yeah, they're named after that Stark), with some fun background dressing featuring the Novas and whatever else. All of those inside a primarily fun time travelling show.

And of course we'd have the over-arching Kang plot, with multiple people playing various incarnations of Kang, under aliases and pseudonyms so that you'd never know who was who, appearing in each season until the big finale, which would lead into the MCU's ending, a proper Secret Wars adaptation 10-12 years from now. Charles Dance or Peter Capaldi as Immortus, being the mysterious guide. Mark Strong as the main Kang, plotting behind the scenes, with his first appearance being a Pharaoh in the inevitable Ancient Egypt episode/arc. A blonde woman who'd later be revealed as a Variant Sue Storm like the Ultimate line. A young up-and-commer as Iron Lad, maybe given a Stark surname to throw people off the hook (I always thought that since it's debated that he's a descendant of Richards and/or Doom, they should've thrown Stark into the mix too, especially with Arno around), until he's revealed as just the younger version of Mark Strong's Kang. They could even do an adaptation of Hickman's SHIELD down the line, after the X-Men and FF had been introduced, with characters such as Newton and Da Vinci being seeded in previous seasons, until we got the reveal of the Brotherhood, with Howard Stark and Nathaniel Richards joining the cast. A tie-in with Moon Knight and Apocalypse. Rama-Tut and Immortus fighting at the end of time as Loki, Howard and Nathaniel alongside the Brotherhood try to stop Newton from tearing reality apart. All the endless possibilities!

Instead we got what we got. And while I enjoyed it the most out of all the MCU shows due to Hiddleston and Wilson, it still remains a missed opportunity for me. It's just that the rest were so, so bad. Moon Knight had great performances and some cool set-pieces, but the whole thing was such a letdown and entirely unlike the MK I knew, stuck in a fairly typical drama. I don't even consider it an MK show, honestly. I'll get a Mr. Knight dolly at some point and that'll be it. Then there's WandaVision that again had some good performances but I got tired of it early on. So "Loki", between the Loki/Mobius and Loki/Sylvie chemistry, the fun set pieces and the grander scales (I am a fan of Space Operas in general), is my favourite of the bunch, disappointments aside.

Oh, and we also almost got a more comic accurate Immortus, before we ended up with Dreamworks Clown Kang:

I'll never stop seething about this. I hate him with the force of a million exploding suns. It pisses me off more than any time I've been cheated, embarassed or generally lost. And I am absolutely not kidding. For the next 4 years I'll mention it constantly. In every post relating to the wider Multiverse Saga. With every tangiably related thing, I'll grab the opportunity and seethe about him. With some luck maybe Chaos Magick will work, Dreamworks Clown Kang will get a stroke, and I'll get an actually good version of the character. Yes, I am the kind of person that would wish ill upon somebody in order to get a dolly. And I am not ashamed of it!

Kidding aside (or am I ?!), we'll never get either of these things, so the MCU continues being a thing that could be pretty great in theory, but is wholly disappointing in practise...

One day I'll become God Emperor, buy Marvel, grab the DC stuff I like, create my own comic book universe, and make the funnybook adaptations I've always dreamed of.

 

[goatchumby]

That was what it originally was. There's even concept art:

Both time traveling Loki and that Kang reveal could have been incredible premises. Your hopes and aspirations for the MCU Kang hit a little close to home as well. It can be a real bummer when "your" character gets lost in translation (e.g. Ultron, IW Hulk, etc.).


for Hercules.

 

[Victοr]

Both time traveling Loki and that Kang reveal could have been incredible premises. Your hopes and aspirations for the MCU Kang hit a little close to home as well. It can be a real bummer when "your" character gets lost in translation (e.g. Ultron, IW Hulk, etc.).

These things are always better in our heads, with unlimited budget and no suits telling us what to add for PR and marketing reasons, but when something turns out this bad and disappointing, I can't help but really anguish over it. Kang has been so goddamn miscasted that I think they did on purpose. That new Ant-Man trailer had some more of his lines, and the man can't emote to save his life. He's literally a High School level actor but he's being mysteriously pushed all over, so I'll always hate this turn of events and the actor. I don't care if it's petty, I can't stand one of my favourite capecharacters being wasted like this. All the incredible things they could've done with him, all the slow build up and fun storylines, all of them wasted. And beyond that they're just butchering the Hickman stories, which was my favourite line-wide arc in recent capecomics. It's as if it exists solely to piss me off. The moment I see the guy dressed up in Pharaoh bling as Rama-Tut, straight out of some parody, I'll probably go set up my candles for a ritual...

I feel you about Ultron too. Him being an AI and all, I'm still holding out hope that he'll return in some Annihilation Conquest type of adaptation. Now that the FF are getting nearer, I feel that they'll surely do an Annihilation adaptation in the future, so the Conquest part could follow in a GotG 4 or something. I don't think they'll retire the brand. Rather they'll introduce Nova in a Special, and bring in the new GotG, Nova, FF and the Surfer, in an Annihilation movie, then do a mix of Conquest and maybe War Of Kings as a GotG 4.

for Hercules.

I don't know, Taika didn't set up the Greek Gods all that well, and the actor's too short for the role. MCU Thor basically stole Marvel Herc's personality too, so it's a sticky situation. It could be fixed though, with a few fixes here and there, some roids and camera angles for Goldstein, and a proper director and story. I'm feeling Thor's going to have a last hurrah in Avengers 5 & 6, so Herc could replace him as the new funny god, even if he starts off more antagonistic. We'll see. He's not in as bad a place as Kang, or even Namor who got everything about him beyond two or three traits absolutely altered. But the MCU really needs some course correcting. I really hope the recent rumours that they're scaling down on the D+ shows are true.

 

[goatchumby]

And beyond that they're just butchering the Hickman stories, which was my favourite line-wide arc in recent capecomics. It's as if it exists solely to piss me off.

Hickman knows how to do time travel right. I'm not even watching the Quantumania trailers. Just going to take it in when it hits all at once (whatever it ends up being).

I feel you about Ultron too. Him being an AI and all, I'm still holding out hope that he'll return in some Annihilation Conquest type of adaptation.

Agreed about Ultron. What If?'s Diet Ultron can't slake the thirst that folks had for a proper Ultron. I was hoping for a post-A2 twist that Ultron had prevailed vs Vision in their off-camera face-off only to reveal himself later, but oh well.

MCU Thor basically stole Marvel Herc's personality too, so it's a sticky situation. It could be fixed though, with a few fixes here and there, some roids and camera angles for Goldstein, and a proper director and story.

Spot on again. Thor has nabbed the guileless heroic vagabond image that 616 Herc brought to the table. Hopefully MCU Herc is allowed to become more than another one-dimension antagonist for our heroes.

 

[Victοr]

Hickman knows how to do time travel right. I'm not even watching the Quantumania trailers. Just going to take it in when it hits all at once (whatever it ends up being).

Hickman falters on characterization depending on the character, but he nails Space Opera worldbuilding. It's a shame his X-Men was so mid past HoX/PoX. I'm eagerly anticipating his new Marvel book though. They showed some sketches and it looks intriguing.

I haven't sat down to properly watch an MCU movie since... Endgame, I think? I watched Shang-Chi at 2x speed, mostly for Tony Leung. I caught a cam of MoM. I just don't really care anymore. All of my favourites are ruined. The flicks are quipfests. I just vent because I'm disappointed and try to keep up in a way, in case MCU Doom isn't a let down when he arrives. I don't know if I'll ever watch Quantumania and A5&6 because Dreamworks Clown Kang's face pisses me off so much. I'll just order the dolls and swap the heads.

Agreed about Ultron. What If?'s Diet Ultron can't slake the thirst that folks had for a proper Ultron. I was hoping for a post-A2 twist that Ultron had prevailed vs Vision in their off-camera face-off only to reveal himself later, but oh well.

I entertained the thought of getting the HT Infinity Ultron as a stand-in, but it just wasn't good enough. And while Infinity Ultron was enjoyable, he wasn't Ultron in the way I think of him. I'm holding out hope. Some rumors say he'll come back. We'll see.

Spot on again. Thor has nabbed the guileless heroic vagabond image that 616 Herc brought to the table. Hopefully MCU Herc is allowed to become more than another one-dimension antagonist for our heroes.

I don't trust them, but maybe they'll correct course and give us something good enough. At the very least they've got Crowe and Goldstein's a good enough actor, so it's not a Kang level disaster. Just keep Taika out of it.

 

[choombaz]

Season 2 premieres October 6

 

[chrisstbh]

Still disappointed this show wasn’t just Marvel Doctor Who.

 

[chrisstbh]

 

[davejames]

Looks awesome. When they changed showrunners I was worried they would change up the style or ditch some of the weirdness, but this looks very much in line with the first season.

 

[choombaz]

That trailer is Marvel’s highest watched tv show trailer. I know that doesn’t mean much other than people seem to be more interested in this show than the last few MCU shows.

Fingers crossed, there is some good talent involved and zero indication of substantial reshoots.

 

[Garlador]

That trailer is Marvel’s highest watched tv show trailer. I know that doesn’t mean much other than people seem to be more interested in this show than the last few MCU shows.

Fingers crossed, there is some good talent involved and zero indication of substantial reshoots.

People aren't tired of the MCU. They just want good content.

 

[a-dev]

People aren't tired of the MCU.

 

[choombaz]

People aren't tired of the MCU. They just want good content.

I know some people clearly don’t want good content because all they watch are bad reality tv shows. Then I know people who are so up themselves they would never dream of watching the MCU. Then there are people who loved the MCU but got super hero fatigue and didn’t even get to Infinity War. Then there are people who thought it nose dived after Endgame. Then there are people who thought it nose dived this year. Then there are people who don’t have access to tv’s and cinemas. And then there are people who think MCU stands for Major Cletus Ulysses.

 

[Dave_W]

No one bothered about Season 2 then?

 

[choombaz]

No one bothered about Season 2 then?

Nope. Just finished season 3 though. Great stuff. Kang raises Tony from the dead and they have a house party.

 

[chrisstbh]

No one bothered about Season 2 then?

This came out?

 

[choombaz]

Watched the first episode. Excellent, very clever and very funny. I was worried with both Waldron and Herron gone it would suffer but Benson and Moorhead do a great job of maintaining the style of season 1. Short Round, in particular, is a lot of fun.

 

[Johnny Utah]

Aside from a few pithy trailers and Hot Toys's tease yesterday not a lot of people know it's out.

Hope they make Mobius this time.

 

[ZE_501]

No one bothered about Season 2 then?

I didn't know there was one.