my further opinions, let me show them to you

[kate_nepveu]

The more I think about Marvel's announced slate of forthcoming superhero movies, the more unhappy faces I make. (My prior thoughts, on the announced sequels. Well, on two of them, as I continue to not care about Thor.)

Anyway. No Hulk, no Black Widow, no Nick Fury—all of which would seem logical and welcome post-Avengers. No Black Panther (as rumored); no Luke Cage or Captain Marvel (to tie into later ensemble Avengers movies).

Instead, another white dude (was anyone actually longing after an Ant Man movie?) and . . . a raccoon. As part of a five-individual team that, again, has just one female. About which team even io9 doesn't expect its readership to know anything about (see: Who the heck are the Guardians of the Galaxy, the stars of Marvel’s strangest new movie?). I mean. Seriously?

I didn't actually like any of Marvel's current run of superhero movies before Captain America, so maybe I shouldn't be surprised. But I did like Captain America and The Avengers, which show that they are capable of putting out reasonably coherent, character-focused movies about non-jerks. I don't think it's unreasonable to want more like that, only less claustrophobically focused on white dudes. I just can't decide if this new slate is such a clear statement that I'm not going to get it that I should simply root for them being, as the AV Club put it, "the comic-book breaking point where the world realizes it's now watching a talking raccoon and a giant tree battle aliens, and staggers out of the theater in search of the nearest bleak arthouse drama," and hope the fallout makes room for better things to come.

In conclusion: (1) Natasha fic recs soon, honest; (2) ugh.

Comments

[mariness]

I was actively campaigning against an Ant-Man movie in an admittedly very small way.

The raccoon, though, seems tailor made for snark, so, yay! Go raccoon!

[kate_nepveu]

Heh.

I just. It is going to be so difficult to do these in ways that are not laughable, and you have such awesome characters waiting to have more stories told about them _right_ _there_ . . .

[avram]

I'd assume the Any-Man movie is intended to be laughable, with a comedy director (Edgar Wright) at the helm.

[kate_nepveu]

Oh, you know what I mean, in the bad "at not with" way.

[sasha_feather]

I had heard there was going to be a Black Widow movie, so I'm confused and disappointed. Oh well.

[kore]

Wait, me too! No Black Widow movie? Argh.

[kate_nepveu]

See below!

[kate_nepveu]

There was one outlet saying there was, but the actual facts in the article were that Johansson had said she was really interested in doing one and had been talking to Marvel about it.

No-one's said that it's _not_ going to happen, but it's not in the lineup for the next two years and hasn't been announced as under development.

[kore]

AUGH

[kate_nepveu]

Update!

http://screenrant.com/black-widow-movie-cameos-avengers-rob-168435/

Marvel's President in an interview: "We have already planned her next appearances and where to take that character because we believe in it and we believe in her in a big, big way. When will there be a standalone? Both is what we’re heading toward. A lot of it is that we’re only going to make two movies a year, maybe sometimes it’ll be one movie a year like this year, maybe someday it’ll be three movies a year just depending on what comes together."

. . . that said, you know, I'll only believe it when I see it.

[kore]

.....//cries


We get a fucking talking raccoon before a woman. Oh man.

[kate_nepveu]

I know. Or a non-white guy. (Rumor is that the Falcon will be in the next Cap movie, which is good, but!)

[martin_wisse]

NO dissing the Raccoon, though I do understand your disappointment. The Guardians of the Galaxy was one of the better comics series Marvel has put out in the past five years or so and if the movie is anything like it, it will actually be much better than yet another straight boring superhero movie. It shouldn't be camp, but it would have humour.

[kate_nepveu]

Okay. It just seems like such a difficult thing to do and, as a result, a particular fuck-you to people who want to see some non-white-male human leads.

[kore]

Jeez, she can diss the raccoon idea in her own blog if she feels like it, no? Not all of us are comics fans and know that this is in fact a great story, if it is, and in fact it might get greatly changed for the screen.

[kate_nepveu]

I took it in good humor; I have characters I'd be protective about in that way too.

[kore]

Aww. I'm just touchy about OMG NO BLACK WIDOW MOVIE, I really thought there would be one! Apologies....

[kate_nepveu]

Not a big deal, but thanks.

[oracne]

Did you know Joss Whedon did an uncredited rewrite on "Captain America"? I do not worship him as so many do, but I think he had something to do with why it worked so well.

[kate_nepveu]

I think I'd heard that, yes.

Now I have to hope that there is more than one person out there who can do this. It's apparently going to be directed by the executive producers of _Community_, which I know a lot of people like but I've never watched.

[rosefox]

If those are the people who fired Dan Harmon from Community then I am skeptical. As I understand it, he was basically what made that show a work of genius, despite being legendarily difficult to work with.

[kate_nepveu]

I have no idea? Two minutes of Googling suggests they are not actually with the show any more, though Wikipedia doesn't reflect that and IMDB is not helpful.

[abigail_n.livejournal.com]

Harmon was fired by Sony producers, not anyone affiliated with the show. Anthony and Joe Russo, who will direct Captain America 2, were executive producers on Community but also directors. Between them, they directed the pilot, the second season paintball two-parter, and the third season Ken Burns documentary parody, among others, so I'm pretty excited about their association with the film.

[kate_nepveu]

Thanks!

Like I said, I've never seen _Community_ though I know it's well-regarded; I pulled an episode up on our cable's in-demand system when I was on maternity leave and stopped it after about two minutes, because it was clear to me that the visual conventions of sitcoms had changed a *lot* since whenever I'd last regularly watched them (so long I'm not even sure when, possibly high school? I don't watch much TV to begin with and I have a massive, massive humiliation squick) and I needed to shake my cane at those kids on my lawn for a bit. =>

[kore]

as the AV Club put it, "the comic-book breaking point where the world realizes it's now watching a talking raccoon and a giant tree battle aliens, and staggers out of the theater in search of the nearest bleak arthouse drama,"

Haaaaaaaah. Lars von Triers (sp) tickets, now selling half off!

[kate_nepveu]

I do love the AV Club's writeups of news bits.

[yhlee]

No Black Widow or Nick Fury? Oh man.

[kate_nepveu]

See above: http://kate-nepveu.dreamwidth.org/492663.html?thread=6011255#cmt6011255

[desdenova.livejournal.com]

I really hate to be That Person, but I'm certain that hoping for the intersection of the film industry and the comic-book industry to generate entertainments that are not centered around straight, white, male characters is a recipe for inevitable disappointment.

Probably one of the reasons I was never able to muster much interest in the Marvel Movies until _The Avengers_.

[kate_nepveu]

I know you do and I know you're probably right, at least in the short term, and I say again: ugh.

[(Anonymous)]

I agree 100% re: ugh.

[desdenova.livejournal.com]

that was me