Author: Katie Faust

Eternals Reactions

Eternals

Let the fight begin!

For the first time, I would say ever, the fans of Marvel and the movie critics can’t seem to agree on what they thought of Eternals. The initial critics’ reviews gave Eternals one of the lowest ratings in MCU history, worrying many fans. As the opening weekend has now come and gone, fans have a very different story on what they think of Eternals. So what did we think?

For our full thoughts, make sure to listen to the entire podcast below!

So let’s start with the most simple and broad rating. Eternals was good, great even. It had moments that were a little slow, which hurt some of the other great scenes, but the characters were amazing, the visuals beautiful, and the plot finally shook some things up. The only other thing Eternals suffered from? The slight issue of too many villains, a problem that Marvel has had several times before.

Having too many villains isn’t new for a Marvel movie. I mean, the best example (and while this is not necessarily MCU but still in the wheelhouse) is Spider-Man 3. But Iron Man 2 suffered from this issue, and so did Iron Man 3 a little. While they both had main villains, they were all over the place due to adding an additional villain layer that wasn’t totally needed. Now Eternals falls slightly into this as well. The idea set up in the trailer and throughout most of the movie is that the Deviants were the bad guys and the Eternals needed to fight them to save the people of Earth from being attacked and killed. When the twist comes with Ikaris (which we will get to more in-depth), it would have made sense if the Deviants became less of an issue. Yet, the Deviants, primarily the most powerful one who took both Ajak’s and Gilgamesh’s powers, is still a prominent player and is in the final fight. It is also strange, as Ikaris talks about how powerful the Deviant is, even before he kills Gilgamesh, yet he is able to be taken down one-on-one with Thena. Now, this is not anything against Thena, but it seems strange that such a powerful creature takes the back burner in the last third of the movie and does little to fight against the Eternals. You would think striking them all while they are already preoccupied with fighting one of their own would have been a golden opportunity.

However, let’s talk about that twist because I would give it one of the most jaw-dropping and best surprises that the MCU has brought forward, and I’m a Bucky Barnes fan. Icaris being the final battle bad guy was something I have to say I never saw coming, and a part of that goes out to the marketing team who made sure the trailer had us thinking one specific way. Something Taylor points out in the podcast was the slight disappointment that Icaris will no longer be in future films, as he killed himself after he could not stop the woman he loved from her mission and fought all of his family. While disappointing, I think the ending was poetic and was fitting to his character. It sure as all heck surprised me that they chose to do that, breaking from some of the usual Marvel molds. Don’t get me wrong I love Marvel, but sometimes the usual molds can be tiring.

It wouldn’t be right of me not to talk about Thena and Angelina Jolie’s performance. I was wary of Angelina Jolie coming into the MCU, not because I don’t like her, but because of how big of a name she is. But I will say she blew me away, all while giving me a new comfort character to add to my already growing favorite damaged characters list. Thena is seen as such a powerful warrior but is haunted by the fact she has too many memories in her head. The relationship between her and Gilgamesh was inspiring and a true show of friendship. I thought that Thena was perfectly done and I look forward to seeing her in future work.

Of course, my fave Druig must be mentioned, as he stole my heart as he and Makkari interacted. I loved the two of them, much more than Icaris and Sersi, and look forward to more of them as well.

While on this topic slightly, the representation in this movie was moving. With such a diverse cast, to begin with, seeing them come and add life to these characters in ways we never have seen in Marvel was truly powerful. This was the type of movie Marvel needed to make, and this group of individuals was the right way to do it. I don’t think one cast member fell short of their performance, including Sprite who was so annoying (which was literally part of the character, and therefore the performance was *chef’s kiss*).

And lastly, while I gush about this movie, I need to gush about the fact Harry Styles has entered the MCU. Chloé Zhao has made it clear she has kept tabs on Styles since his time in Dunkirk and sees him as the perfect fit for Thanos’ brother. While an end credit scene is far too short to be able to truly make that deduction, I think it will be interesting where his character and interaction with these other Eternals take us.

So where are we going to see the Eternals next? In a sequel at least, but will we see them interact with other superheroes? The Eternals are highly powerful beings, so seeing them next to someone like Sam or even Spider-Man could be a stretch. But, if we are going to get a cosmic war, there’s no telling what heroes might end up involved. We are starting over, creating new stories that will eventually find their way intertwined with some of our others (or maybe not. There’s no telling where these next few phases are going to go).

Eternals was everything (and some more) than we could have asked for, and it really excites me to see the new heroes being introduced to us. With Hawkeye and Spider-Man coming out to round up this year, make sure you are keeping up with all this new content, as Marvel just blew your mind, so let’s talk about it.

Image: “Eternals”, Colin Cheney, Fatherly

Eternals Predictions

Eternals

I hope you guys are ready, because I have a feeling Eternals is going to be HUGE. This movie marks a whole new direction for Marvel, as never before have we seen beings created by Celestials. And on top of that, we have only ever seen two Celestials in the MCU at this point, so this is really big. I think the burning question at this point is: How are the Eternals going to fit into our MCU? To hear more of our thoughts on this, make sure to listen to the podcast linked below!

Some thoughts to ponder on about the Eternals impact in the MCU is their possible tie to the Guardians. Ego is a Celestial and so far, the Guardians are one of the only group of characters that we see travel throughout space and come into contact with Celestials. This connection may be a way to tie the Eternals in more with the greater MCU. Another possibility could be that the Eternals are clearly on Earth, and so are 85% of the other heroes that we know. At any point, Strange or just about anyone else could show up on the Eternals doorstep and bring them into the thick of all of it. Something I mention in the podcast is that the Eternals are clearly powerful beings. This being said, they hold a similar idea that many had for Captain Marvel, which is that many wonder what challenges can be posed to them when they are that powerful. Obviously the MCU is moving into a more cosmic direction, but with characters such as Sam’s Captain America and Yelena, it comes into question how these boots on the ground fighters are going to be involved in such big battles. It is unlikely that Marvel will avoid ever doing a major team up again like we saw in Endgame, so there is quite a bit to consider here.

Going off of this, one thing that is very interesting is that the Eternals are very aware of what happened with Thanos and that ‘the people of Earth’ were able to undo all of this on their own. Along with this, it is explained to us that the Eternals are mainly responsible for fighting the Deviants. This partially explains where the Eternals have been and why they never intervened. But this now brings a whole new question to the table: Why were the Eternals and Deviants created? What more is their purpose? The trailer makes it clear that the Eternals are not always in this endless battle against the Deviants and have moments in which they live their lives. So what awakens the Deviants?

Something Taylor and I highlight in this podcast episode is that origin stories are hard to make predictions and theories for. No one truly knows how Marvel is going to showcase the Eternals to us and we have absolutely no clue what we are getting ourselves into. Obviously, this doesn’t mean we aren’t very hyped about the movie, it just makes our job a little more difficult. Regardless, we try our best throughout the podcast to touch on some of these big themes and some more, and you can be sure we will be covering the movie and our reactions once the movie drops in a little less than two weeks. Make sure you’re getting your tickets (if you haven’t already) and give Eternals a great opening weekend. And don’t forget to be keeping up with all the content that the end of the year is going to bring us, as Marvel just blew your mind, so let’s talk about it.

Image: “Eternals”, Reddit

What If? Reactions

What If?

Another two months and another show has concluded, believe it or not.

What If? season 1 has been a great success, and it is now time to look into each and every episode to see our thoughts and feelings about each of them. Overall, Taylor and I have to say we really loved What If? and the premise of it. The ability to see all of the different ways one thing can change everything we know is amazing. It is especially cool when we now have the multiverse in our MCU, because we now have no clue if we are going to see some of the stories in What If? played out on the big screen. For the full extent of all our thoughts, make sure to listen to this week’s podcast episode:

https://anchor.fm/ltmft/embed/episodes/Episode-14-What-If–Reactions-e18gnrc

Episode 1: For the first episode, Taylor and I both agree it was only okay. As I make it very clear, I am not a Peggy Carter fan, so that already had the episode falling a little flat for me. However, the episode was slightly boring, as it was one of the only episodes that followed an MCU line very closely. One choice should change much more, yet a good bit of The First Avenger was followed in this first episode. I have seen The First Avenger about 20 times, so to see it redone with Peggy Carter as the head was meh. Then as the last episode shows, somehow Peggy’s arc as Captain Carter led her exactly where Steve’s arc did in The Winter Soldier. First off, SHIELD was partially formed because of Peggy, so if she went in the ice, how would this have affected SHIELD being created? Second, Steve stayed in SHIELD because of Peggy and her helping to create it, so why did Peggy stay? I just personally think there needed to be more changes in the long run if Peggy took the serum. And I haven’t even brought up the Steve and Bucky friendship issues that this episode posed, but I won’t try to get into that now because that’s pain.

Episode 2: The worst part of this episode is the initial shock that hits when hearing Chadwick’s voice come through T’Challa. As his last time playing the character, I would say that showing how pure T’Challa is, even if he never became king and was raised fully in Wakanda, was an amazing way to remember T’Challa and Chadwick. It also shows, on the flip side, how sucky Peter Quill really is. We see what T’Challa is able to do as Starlord, all the way down to convincing freaking Thanos that snapping half the universe away isn’t the answer. I also like this episode even more for the whole reason that we see how much more is changed due to T’Challa being Starlord, and I really enjoyed that.

Episode 3: I have to say, this episode for me also fell flat. The premise itself was pretty interesting, because what would happen if the Avengers were taken out before ever even being formed? However, as Taylor and I both bring up, the who done it was disappointing and honestly, just made no sense. If the moment that changed everything was when the Avengers were taken out, then how was Hope already involved with SHIELD? And even if she was, then we needed more of an explanation as to how this even happened before having Hank commit serial murder of five super heroes. I also didn’t need the damage that having five of the six original Avengers die did to me after seeing almost half die in Endgame, so thanks Marvel.

Episode 4: Dr. Strange has grown as a character for me during Infinity War and Endgame. So this episode based around him I was intrigued to see what we would get. It took a much darker turn than I imagined it would. I think it is fair to say that Taylor and I were both indifferent towards this episode, not finding it the best one, but also not close to the worse, just kinda floating in the middle. What I really want to understand is what an absolute point in time is and if we will be seeing that play out in our MCU. I also am interested in the reasoning behind an absolute point if it doesn’t happen in our universe too? If Christine was also meant to die, then is she going to die in our MCU, or should we be forgetting everything we know from What If?

Episode 5: I was waiting for this episode to come around. 100% my favorite episode and also the one episode that needed a for sure follow up episode. I have always loved the zombie comics, so being able to see it played out was amazing. Something Taylor points out in the podcast is how cool this team-up was, as we saw a lot of different characters work together that we don’t typically see. I do have to say, as a Bucky stan, this was my episode. Obviously, this episode has some underlying out-of-character moments, but other than that, it was perfect. I just need to see more of the whole zombie Thanos thing.

Episode 6: Killmonger is one of the best villains that the MCU has ever had to date. So the idea of him rescuing Tony Stark was something I was looking forward to, as it was bound to create a totally different timeline than what we saw. However, this was one of the episodes that just didn’t do it for me. I wish Killmonger would have been somewhat redeemable, not be the same version of himself that we see in our timeline. Granted, there are various Killmonger’s in various timelines, but seeing this one once again act the way our Killmonger did made me feel a little sad about the character.

Episode 7: Out of all the episodes, this one was the most fun. I think having this episode focus on Thor’s separation from Loki gives a really interesting parallel to our own universe. Thor is inherently still a good guy, just a little off his rockers cause he never had his brother to get in his head (whether for a good reason or not). Loki, on the other hand, was thriving as a Frost Giant. So I think it really shows how interesting the two’s relationship really is as siblings. I loved that they were still friends and there were a few references to real life Tom and Chris interviews. This was an all around fun episode, and it really got me thinking about Captain Marvel vs Thor. Who actually would win? In this episode, Thor is not at Ragnorak potential, but if he was, who would be the most powerful in this battle? While I could never see this happening on the big screen, the little tease to it in What If? was cool to watch.

Episode 8: This episode was probably the most intense episode, with maybe the exception of the final one. It was also one of my favorite concepts, as I have a soft spot for Age of Ultron. It was the first Avengers film I saw in theaters, and I also just all around love Ultron as a villain. Seeing how catastrophic it would have been if he got the body he was supposed to (Visions) rather than it being stolen by the Avengers was amazing. He essentially was taking down the entire Multiverse, so it really capitalizes on just how powerful both Vision and Ultron are. However, one complaint I do have is that this episode, along with some of the others, really downplayed how powerful Thanos is. I thought it was hilarious that Ultron just thought to cut him half, however, it just made it too easy. Of course, for the sake of the plot, it made sense, but still. Regardless, it was interesting how this episode was predicted by the Thor episode and then wrapped up in the finale. I liked that we saw how all of these tied together and then saw them tie together even more in the finale.

Episode 9: Ah, the final episode. There was a love/hate relationship with this episode. For one, which is something brought up in the podcast, the Gamora episode was taken out, therefore her character just felt a little weird there. Granted, this had to deal with Covid, so there was not much that could be changed, but it still effected the show since I have no clue how she took down Thanos or why Tony was with her. I also, once again, was big sad over Killmonger taking the stones. That man never has a redeeming arc. As far as the final battle, I loved how it was essentially all Dr. Strange. I think it really showcased him as a character and the strength he had here. To be fair, a lot of this strength came from essentially selling his soul, but it was still cool to see. I also really liked Natasha’s role, as it felt like a nod to the character who sacrificed herself in our MCU. However, I would really like an explanation on how the Watcher just placed her in another timeline that no longer had a widow (aka episode 3). Essentially, I need clearer rules on what I should be following from What If? and applying to our MCU Multiverse, if anything at all. Either way, it was a great way to wrap up the first season, even if the end credit scene was a waste.

I hope everyone enjoyed What If? and got something out of it, whether it be a plot or just a favorite character appearance. Season 2 is to come in the future and will be featuring new characters, along with many of the characters being voiced by their actual actors. It should be exciting, so look forward to it, even though we likely won’t be getting it for a little while. Either way, make sure you are keeping up with all the content, as Eternals is right around the corner and so is Hawkeye! With all this material coming, stay up to date, as Marvel just blew your mind, so let’s talk about it.

Image: “What If”, Josh Ryan, Mickey Blog

Let’s Talk: Venom, Welcome to the MCU

Let's Talk

Now, if you are a regular around here and have been keeping up, you are well aware of the fact we had no plans of covering Venom: Let there be Carnage. In fact, we still aren’t technically going to be covering the movie itself, but we do need to discuss that end-credit scene.

So up until literally the last 3 minute clip of the movie, there were just rumors of Tom Hardy pushing to have his Venom on the same screen as Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. Of course, every fan’s dream is to see it, but we have learned, especially with the Spider-verse, to watch with bated breath. However, it looks like Tom might be getting his wish, so let’s delve into it a little bit.

The movie itself is not apparently confirmed to have taken place prior to the Snap, which means both films are almost time jumps back from where the current MCU is. As we see in the end credit scene, the Snap and Blip both take place, although they choose to do it in an interesting way that avoids showing the dusting. This could be just how Sony thought to do it to avoid confusion, or it may have to deal with Venom being the parasite that keeps Eddie healthy and unbroken. He clearly sees the time jump, but it is almost that he never actually lived the five years away and almost existed in his own little bubble. Either way, this alone was enough to get fans screaming in the cinema.

However, the real kicker of course is when we see J. Jonah Jameson’s broadcast playing on the TV. Of course, this is the broadcast we see going into the end of Spider-Man: Far from Home. And then poof, there is our beautiful Spider-Man and we see Venom come out and ominously lick the screen (if you watched one of the Spider-Man cartoons from the 90s, this is a really amazing reference to the opening song and credits when Venom at one point comes and licks the TV). So what does this all mean?

Of course, there is no need to worry about the first movie’s implications, but what about this one? The detective is now on his way to possibly becoming Toxin, so that would be an interesting symbiote to see Eddie and Peter fight together. However, the licking of the screen definitely doesn’t feel that Venom likes Peter, which could be due to the fact that Peter gets so much positive attention from being Spider-Man, while Venom is forced to hide himself, a big plot of this movie. I wouldn’t be surprised if the film starts off as Venom coming after Peter, but they then need to work together to fight off Toxin. This is also probable, as this is the storyline that usually happens with Carnage, however, we have already seen the defeat of Carnage in this film (spoiler oops).

The biggest implication at this point is that it confirms we are going to get another Spider-Man movie after No Way Home and also confirms we are bringing in even more of Spidey’s original villains. Obviously, Doc Oc and Green Goblin are his villains, just not exactly Tom Holland’s version. So it will be really cool to see Venom come in, especially because he isn’t multiversal and is a part of our known universe. Either way, start paying more attention to Venom and I hope every single one of you enjoyed the film. There will be no full coverage episode of Venom, once again, due to the fact that it was never anticipated to be MCU related until literally the last three minutes. However, now that it is, make sure to keep up with it and all of the other projects, since Marvel just blew your mind, so let’s talk about it.

Image: “Venom: Let there be Carnage”, Sam Hargrave, The Direct

Marvel Replay Episode 1: Captain America: The First Avenger & Captain Marvel

Marvel Replay

The time has come for our first ever episode of Marvel Replay, and it is a good one (although, aren’t they all a good one?). To kick us off, we are discussing Captain America: The First Avenger (CATFA) and Captain Marvel.

To give a quick background, I want to give a gentle reminder that we are doing the Marvel Replay in Timeline order. If you are new here, I recommend being careful with timeline order now that doing it like that may cause spoilers. If you are a veteran fan, which I assume many are, you have nothing to worry about and can go on right ahead to listening to our thoughts on both of these films. Another thing I want to note is that these episodes cover our thoughts and feelings on the films, which means we may point out some things we don’t love or may discuss how it effects later films. These episodes do not consist fully of rundown episodes like our usual episodes do and we are doing these to cover some of the older material for fun. Keep this in mind! We love all of these movies, but a good fan can criticize something they love. So without further ado, listen to the entire podcast episode to hear our take on CATFA and Captain Marvel!

https://anchor.fm/ltmft/embed/episodes/Episode-12-Marvel-Replay—Captain-America-The-First-Avenger–Captain-Marvel-e17fpum

Now, to start with CATFA, I have to say, is a doozy. I think a lot happens in this movie that establishes so much in the MCU. What I will say I like is that it was not the first film to come out (Iron Man was), so when watching in timeline order, some of the kinks have already begun to be worked out. I think my biggest issue, which Taylor can agree with, is that some of the CGI of the film itself has not exactly aged very well. But listen, if this is our biggest complaint then that means that this has to be a pretty good movie.

As an origin story goes, it does a great job in establishes the man of Steve Rogers and shows why he is the most worthy (see what I did there) of all to get the super soldier serum. I think when you know the character and where he goes, seeing his origin and knowing that in most of the films he does not stray from this is powerful. One of my personal favorite aspects of this film is that Captain America was fighting against something he didn’t understand fully, but fought because he knew what was right. I think this is something we see a lot in Steve Rogers, even all the way to Thanos. Obviously by the time of Thanos he is more aware of the weird world out there, but it still boils down to his righteousness.

Switching gears to Captain Marvel, I think I can easily say I see a lot of complaints about this film and character. My personal thoughts are that Captain Marvel isn’t a bad character necessarily, I just truly stand by the fact her timing in the MCU was way off. She entered right in between Infinity War and Endgame, the two biggest Avengers movies to date. Politely speaking, people weren’t looking for a new origin story, they were in waiting for Endgame to see what would become of all their faves that got dusted. Now during the rewatch, I will openly admit this was only my second time watching this movie. I watched it in theaters and that was it. I wasn’t sold by it. But I think that is for the very reason above: it simply was released at a bad time. When doing the rewatch, I was much more appreciative of the film itself.

However, and a big however, this film had a lot of problems. This is born out of the fact that, at the end of the day, it is second in timeline order but came out relatively late in the movie list. Some of it felt sloppy, like the fact that Fury lost his eye to a cat after they explicitly make a big deal how last time he trusted someone he lost an eye. Personally, this being how he lost his eye fell really flat for me. Fury has been on the ins and outs of Shield for many years, going through many lives, and the best they could do was a cat?

On the flip side of this, I liked seeing young Coulson and especially enjoyed seeing the Avengers Initiative being made from Fury’s interaction with Carol. But I can’t help but wonder how much more powerful that might have been had this movie come out earlier. Part of it felt as if there was too much backtracking, as at this point the MCU was just about coming out in timeline order. The crude back and forth we got at first was now turning into simple order. And then Captain Marvel came and messed that up again.

The only thing left for me to say is that the Tesseract and the entire storyline of it in Captain Marvel was also messy and feels out of place. We know the Tesseract was in the 70s thanks to Endgame, and we see theme experimenting with it in Avengers (2012). Yet it was in space in the 90s and no one at Shield felt put off at the fact that the Tesseract had been MIA? Understandably, they gave it to Mar-Vel to experiment with, but we have no clue how long she had it stashed up in the ship with the Skrulls. So you’re telling me Shield just lost the Tesseract for a few years and no one was worried about it? The inclusion of the Tesseract in Captain Marvel, personally, was unneeded, as a simple throw away line could have explained the Mar-Vel had experimented with it. Showing it, especially in space, just seemed a little rocky to what was already an established timeline for it.

All in all, as I said before, no one is perfect, even Marvel. And as Marvel fans, we love the movies no matter if they have flaws or not. There isn’t a misstep with Marvel, they are always on point with their films and definitely don’t take our criticism of certain scenes negatively. True fans are always able to establish that what they love will have things wrong with it. Now, I hope all of you have enjoyed our first episode of Marvel Replay and make sure to go listen to the podcast for an even more in-depth conversation. As always, keep up with the old and new with Marvel, cause Marvel just blew your mind, so let’s talk about it.

Image: “Captain America and Captain Marvel”, Brad Gullickson, FSR

Shang Chi Reactions

Shang Chi

Warning: this blog post contains spoilers for Shang Chi.

The movie was absolutely fantastic! Personally, we agree that Shang Chi is the perfect example of the new direction Marvel is taking in Phase 4. As the first new super hero of Phase 4, the movie allowed for Shang Chi to be looked at as a powerful force entering our established Marvel universe. Now before I begin some in-depth commentary, as usual, make sure to listen to the podcast for our full initial reactions!

https://anchor.fm/ltmft/embed/episodes/Episode-11-Shang-Chi-and-the-Legend-of-the-Ten-Rings-Reactions-e16utqt

The first thing that needs to be addressed is that in the time since our predictions episode, there was a massive Shang Chi push by Marvel. As we mentioned in the predictions episode, Marvel had seemed to be doing very little as far as promotions for the film. As this changed in the two weeks prior to the movie, we want to say that Marvel did an amazing job at marketing and hyping up the film, which is what definitely helped it to be so successful. We are insanely happy to see Marvel doing such a push!

Moving on from that and into the actual movie, something many wondered going into it was where, and more specifically how, the movie would fit into some of the upcoming works. Since the Multiverse is going to single-handedly carry the next few films (minus Eternals maybe), and Shang Chi has such an intense mystical aspect, this was critical to understand. And I think we can positively say we got so much more than we expected. The end credit scene allowed us to understand that Dr. Strange and Wong were both aware of Shang Chi, which specifically happened through the Ten Rings. But more than this, we were left with a cliffhanger that may be introducing one of the big factors of the next three phases. With the Rings emitting a beacon, and with Bruce and Carol both making it fairly clear that it is nothing like what they’ve seen, we can (and have to) assume it is from far far away. How far? Multiversal far, possibly. The breadcrumbs to the next big battle have started!

Another important aspect to the whole universe and strange things are that Ta-Loh was described as being in a different universe. Personally, I immediately thought of Harry Potter when I saw the moving forest and the different animals. All of it supposedly on Earth, but none of it really existing there. I great assumption has to be that Ta-Loh is not the only one of its’ kind, and may not be the only one across the universe as a whole. Obviously, it existed prior to the Multiverse, so there is likely not an aspect of that to pay attention to. But it could be a connecting point across different universes. Either way, Ta-Loh’s story will not be the only we see of its’ kind.

As usual, the entire reactions are going to be in the podcast, which makes it super important to listen to it and hear all of our thoughts. But something we talk about that is critical to highlight is the end credit scene with Xialing. It gives off Black Widow vibes and the continuation of the Ten Rings Organization is going to be important in the future. As many of the other Marvel Phase 4 works have shown, the magical and cosmic are important and critical. But Black Widow and TFATWS have shown we still have the boots on the ground superheroes. This is more specifically where I think we would see Xialing’s soldiers coming in. The question truly is whether they will be on the right side or not. And a part of me thinks that they won’t be and may instead have a run in with the Black Widow’s that Natasha freed.

We really hope that everyone enjoyed this movie as much as we did and showed support by watching it in theaters (safely of course!). The direction Phase 4 is taking is absolutely amazing and while it is bittersweet to see some of our original Avengers leaving, the new heroes are showing their power and how ready they are to take on their roles. Don’t forget to keep up with What If? and get prepared for Eternals! Somewhere in there, we are still expecting to see Ms. Marvel, but at this point, let’s not hold out breath. But keep watching all this great material, since Marvel just blew your mind, so let’s talk about it.

Image: “Shang Chi”, Maya Phillips, The New York Times

Shang Chi Predictions

Shang Chi

We are one week away from the Shang Chi premiere, which of course means that it is time for predictions!

To hear all of our in-depth thoughts, take a listen to our podcast.

https://anchor.fm/ltmft/embed/episodes/Episode-10-Shang-Chi-and-the-Legend-of-the-Ten-Rings-Predictions-e167qpc

As we mention in the podcast a few times, Shang Chi has been kept relatively close to Marvel from the beginning. While we obviously understand the general premise, many of the trailers have not included new images and have been the same shots in a different order. This is not the first time Marvel has done this, nor the first time they have given us trailers where we think we understand things, and the actual product is completely different *cough, cough* Loki and WandaVision. However, one thing that Marvel has made clear: we need to see Shang Chi and his Ten Rings on the same level we see Tony and the suit, Cap and his shield, and Thor and Mew Mew. This comparison to us only means one thing, and it is that we are being introduced to someone who is going to help carry us through the next three phases. A big three contender, if you will.

A big question that will be interesting to see answered will be related to the fate of the Ten Rings organization. As we know it, it is a terrorist group with cells located across the world. This additional information given by Shang Chi, that it is based out around the Ten Rings wielded by Shang Chi’s father, means that the organization has been around longer than previously thought. It also means that it likely has had a hand in much more than we are aware. So since we know Shang Chi is going to take on his father, it becomes interesting to theorize what will happen with the organization if Shang Chi wins (which I think we mostly all are assuming he will). Not to be forgotten is Shang Chi’s sister as well, whose side appears to be leaning towards their father. While it is very likely this relationship will play a key role in this film, we have to keep in mind that she may stay loyal to her father and find a way to continue the organization.

For films such as this one, it can be difficult to make predictions. This is due primarily to the fact that it is an origin story that is coming right before some very prominent movies. It is a similar issue that faced Captain Marvel, where it came between two very critical films. It leaves us to question whether Shang Chi will play a part in some of the Multiversal drama that we are facing in upcoming works. Having Wong included in this film certainly paves a possibility of tying it in with Strange, and therefore some upcoming work. Past that, Shang Chi’s outcome may not be fully felt until we see the next team up in Avengers 5, which is still quite a bit away and definitely past some of the more prominent Multiverse movies.

Overall, I think I speak for both Taylor and me when I say this movie is going to be amazing. I am personally really looking forward to the martial arts aspect and how the Ten Rings are going to be used in a fight. As I know I reference in the podcast, I have added a little chart to show what each of the Ten Rings is, just for some reference in case anyone is interested. But either way, I hope that everyone is pumped for this film and have long since gotten their tickets! Not far after Shang Chi is Eternals and in between all of that we have What If? and possibly Ms. Marvel. Marvel is spoiling us, so make sure to keep up with all the great content, since Marvel just blew your mind, so let’s talk about it.

Wondering what the Ten Rings all control? Study up before seeing the film on September 3rd!

Ten Rings Image: “The Ten Rings”, Hoary Host of Hoggoth!, Marvel Database

Shang Chi : Where Have They Been?

Shang Chi

When the initial Shang Chi trailer dropped, many were surprised to see some Marvel characters make cameos that we didn’t expect to see. Of the most prominent was of course the Abomination, which we haven’t seen since the Incredible Hulk in 2008. While it makes a lot of sense to bring his character back since they are going to be exploring more with the Hulk family, it began to raise questions about where this slimy lizard was hiding all of this time. For our full predictions, you can check out the podcast episode below.

https://anchor.fm/ltmft/embed/episodes/Episode-9-Shang-Chi—Where-Have-They-Been-e15hbfq

Now to address Abomination a little more, we have to first look at the fact that he has been gone for about 15 years. In that time, the Hulk of course went on to become an Avenger and save the world from Thanos. And speaking of Thanos, we have to bring up the possibility that Abomination may have also been snapped for the past five years as well. But he is big, and gross looking, so he definitely hasn’t just been living his best life in the world of people. As mentioned in the podcast, his comic book story has him taken and not even on Earth for a long period of time. This means it is completely possible that they may make this his story as well in the MCU. At the end of the day, I wouldn’t be surprised if we get a quick one liner to try and explain his whereabouts and that’s it, as he isn’t the most important character in the movie.

However, another interesting character we see cameo while fighting Abomination is Wong. What the heck is Wong doing? We do know he isn’t snapped, so it is intriguing to see him in a battle using his magic. It is possible he is out on an assignment, maybe to stop Abomination or the Ten Rings organization. They have a magical element to them, so it wouldn’t surprise me that they have popped up on Dr. Strange’s radar. I don’t exactly know how they did and Wanda didn’t, but I don’t write the MCU shows or movies. I highly doubt that Wong has gone haywire and is now just using his powers to fight in a fighting ring. He was clearly still loyal to Dr. Strange when the Blip took place, which means I can’t think he has jumped ship randomly.

Lastly, the Ten Rings organization is something that a majority of the first and third Iron Man, and a little bit of the second, focused itself around. Of course we’ve seen it before, but where has it been this whole time? As we did mention in the podcast, the Avengers began to take on the bigger level threats, so a terrorist organization may not have been on their radar. They have popped up in some discreet locations throughout films, but are really only noticed by those with eagle eyes. This being said, what have they have been up to all this time is also a great question to ask. Their leader clearly has mystical power, so they have an advantage compared to regular terrorist groups. If Shang Chi doesn’t take down the group, I have a feeling it may play a bigger role in the next phase than just this movie. It already has played a pretty large role before, essentially being the reason Iron Man was created and therefore the entire Marvel universe that we know. It also makes me think that maybe this will mean Shang Chi will be a bigger part to our new group of heroes than previously believed as well.

If you want a little more of an in depth conversation about these characters/groups that have been slightly MIA, make sure to listen to the podcast! And don’t forget, Shang Chi will be hitting theaters early September so tickets should be going on sale soon for that as well. One final thing to remind everyone is that the premiere of What If? is this week and it looks very exciting. As always, keep up with all the Marvel content, because Marvel just blew your mind, so let’s talk about it.

Image: “Abomination vs Wong”, Matt Singer, Screen Crush

Marvel Memes : Issue #1

Marvel Memes

As we all patiently (or not so patiently), wait for What If? and Shang Chi to arrive, I wanted to grace everyone in our off weeks with something everyone loves : memes. Now, I do try to keep them roughly up to date to some of the things happening in the MCU, but some memes dealing with older material are just so tempting. But sit back and enjoy our first issue of Marvel memes.

It wouldn’t be right to me to not provide you all links (down below) to the lovely people who either created, or at least shared, some of these memes that have brought pure joy to my life the past week. Make sure to check out their accounts and posts! Before wrapping up, I want to just remind everyone that there is a podcast episode airing this Friday, talking about the “Where have they been” for some of the characters featured in Shang Chi. There of course will be a blog post related to it and linking the podcast, but make sure to go give it a listen! What If? will air next Wednesday, so make sure to keep up with all this content, as Marvel just blew your mind, so let’s talk about it.

Let’s Talk: What’s Next for Marvel TV?

Let's Talk

As the high of Black Widow and the Loki season finale begin to dwindle, questions are beginning to be thrown around about what is coming next to our Disney+ accounts. Obviously, rumors fly around like never before, but essentially the shows we are confirmed to still get this year are What If?, Hawkeye, and supposedly Ms. Marvel. Taylor and I crack into our thoughts on what these shows are going to hold in this week’s podcast episode, which you can listen to right here.

https://anchor.fm/ltmft/embed/episodes/Episode-8-Whats-Next-in-MCU-TV-e14tdu9

The most important message I have to tell you that has come out since our podcast aired is that rumors are flying about Kingpin making his full MCU debut in Hawkeye. This will then tie it into the new Spider-Man. It has also been talked about that because of this relationship, Hawkeye will likely air close to the end of the year, aka Spider-Man: No Way Home season. In one comic book thread, Kingpin does in fact own the team known as the Thunderbolts, which is one of the rumored teams that Valentina might be putting together. Now Kingpin’s team looks fairly different than the version we are seeing, but it of course is not unlike Marvel to pick and choose comic book lines and mash them together to fit the MCU. With Yelena working for Val and already guaranteeing a role in the show, it may be possible this is the connection fans have been waiting for. Everyone was wondering who Val was really working for, and seeing Kingpin in Hawkeye might be exactly what we needed. Of course, the bigger picture of this tying into the new Spider-Man is no secret, as Kingpin is one of Spider-Man’s most well-known villains. But since that movie is so hush-hush, it is hard to really speculate on what we are fully going to get out of it (other than three Spider-Mans whoop).

Now, as mentioned in the podcast, Ms. Marvel is going to be coming in 2021 (as of right now). She will be feeding into both the Young Avengers and the Marvels. This show has been fairly secretive as well, so we also have to wait for a trailer to know more. If this is to come out still this year, it likely will come before Hawkeye, so around October seems to be a good area for it. But we shall see if it will even still come in 2021 or if it will be pushed back. Since this show isn’t supposed to lead into anything MoM (we think), getting pushed back would not necessarily mess with the timeline of some of the big things we seeing happen in the next year.

Essentially, the three shows and Spider-Man: No Way Home have been in a silent battle of how long can they wait to drop an official trailer. While we may seem greedy after having almost 6 straight months of weekly content, I have to remind everyone that these shows have only 5 months left of this year. It means we are likely going to see a movie and show overlap like we did with Loki and Black Widow, which personally I find a little unfortunate. This is only because it is moments like these, where we have no content, that a movie would have been great.

Either way, the new update on Hawkeye seems promising and personally, I take it as meaning we might see a trailer for it soon. However, as I said before about the show bleeding into the new Spider-Man, it is likely why we haven’t seen one yet. Marvel refuses to give us any confirmation on the various fan theories that are floating around for such a big movie. And I get it, but it doesn’t mean I like it.

As content slows for the next little bit, a quick reminder that podcast episodes will begin to air every other week. Make sure to check out the calendar here on the blog site to stay up to date with movies and TV shows, but also podcast episodes. Blog posts will continue to be weekly, but for those in-between podcasts, they will be 100% meme-related so be prepared for that. A final reminder that we will not be doing episodes to cover each episode of What If?, but we will do a series final wrap-up podcast to share our thoughts and favorite moments. What If? aires August 11th, so make sure to watch it because Marvel just blew your mind, so let’s talk about it.

Image: “Marvel Phase 4”, Reddit