The Sword and Laser discussion
TV, Movies and Games
>
Black Widow (MCU)
date
newest »
newest »
This isn't a prequel, though, is it? It's set, IIRC, before infinity war?
Yes, it's set before Endgame. To my mind that makes it a prequel. Or if you like, the movie should have been released five years ago. I'm glad to have it now. Looks a lot more interesting than any movie with "Star" and "Wars" in its name.Edited to add: Trailer was so nice I had to watch it twice! Love the idea of the Avengers as found family.
It takes place between Civil War and Infinity War.
Louie wrote: "It takes place between Civil War and Infinity War."The de-aging on William Hurt looks pretty extreme. But then he’s wearing a suit rather than a uniform, so it’s hard to say. If he left the military right after The Incredible Hulk, that means this could take place between 2008 and 2018. He’s standing in front of a third gen Chevy Tahoe, which was made between 2007 and 2014. However, that blue BMW is a 2018-2020 X5, so... yeah.
Maybe it skips around in time.
Reading more, this takes place right after Civil War, the idea being that Natasha is on the run from pretty much everyone after helping Cap. What it's BEFORE, I'm not sure but the impression I get is that this is pretty much directly after the events Civil War - perhaps not the next day or week but in the subsequent few months vs years later.
That works.Also, is the arrow guy Hawkeye or Taskmaster?
Trike. Comics timelines. They don't connect with the real world. Consider if Reed Richards was 35 when the Fantastic Four started in 1961, he would now be at an average age of dead instead of the 40 or so he appears to be in the comics.
John (Taloni) wrote: "Trike. Comics timelines. They don't connect with the real world. Consider if Reed Richards was 35 when the Fantastic Four started in 1961, he would now be at an average age of dead instead of the 40 or so he appears to be in the comics."That is explained by Marvel Comics' sliding timescale. Explained here.
John (Taloni) wrote: "Trike. Comics timelines. They don't connect with the real world. Consider if Reed Richards was 35 when the Fantastic Four started in 1961, he would now be at an average age of dead instead of the 4..."The MCU is different, though, in that it mostly adheres to an actual timeline due to the actors being real people who age. There have been a couple continuity missteps along the way, such as Spider-Man: Homecoming, but for the most part the movies have been consistent.
For instance, we’ve known Tony Stark’s birthday (4-7-1970) since Iron Man, and that was the day he and Cap returned to in Avengers: Endgame. Tony’s birth year in the comics changes constantly, but the MCU date is immutable.
The archer in the trailer is Taskmaster.Regarding the Timeline: the "present day" of the film is right after Captain America: Civil War.
Inverse.com article
Louie wrote: "John (Taloni) wrote: "That is explained by Marvel Comics' sliding timescale. Explained here. "I remember reading an interview back in the 80s when they first started encountering this problem and came up with the sliding scale to adjust it. They were all in a meeting and someone said that Reed Richards would get his butt kicked due to his advancing years, and Stan Lee said, “I don’t know, I think I could still take a couple guys.” They didn’t realize that Reed was Stan’s alter-ego and were inadvertently saying, “Jeez, Stan, you’re really old!” Stan created the FF when he was 39, so Reed was 39. By the mid-80s both Stan and Reed were in their mid 60s. Oops.
Recently Mark Waid has gone even further and has decoupled the characters from specific events. For instance, most of the characters who are war veterans have now fought in the decades-long “Sin-Cong Conflict”, aka the “Siancong War.” It’s vaguely analogous to the Korean War and Vietnam War, but it is constantly about 15-20 years before “present day.” So in 2019 the war ended in 2004. In 2069 the war ended in 2054.
DC does the same thing. Superman is officially forever 29, while Batman is perpetually 34.
Trike wrote: "The de-aging on William Hurt looks pretty extreme. But then he’s wearing a suit rather than a uniform, so it’s hard to say. If he left the military right after The Incredible Hulk, that means this could take place between 2008 and 2018. He’s standing in front of a third gen Chevy Tahoe, which was made between 2007 and 2014. However, that blue BMW is a 2018-2020 X5, so... yeah. Maybe it skips around in time. "
Yeah, I bet we'll be getting flashbacks to events from prior years when Natasha was still on the other side of things.
Looks like Black Widow will be a premium buy on Disney+, the same as Mulan was.Which makes sense, given the FUBAR vaccine roll-out in the US due to the incompetence of the Trump administration. Few of us will be fully vaccinated by early May to see it in theatres.
My wife and I got our emails from the CDC on the same day, but mine went to my spam folder. By the time I figured it out, 3 days had passed. She signed up and got her initial COVID vaccination on January 28th; the earliest I could get it is March 18th (after much hunting around at various locations). The second shot is supposed to come within 30-49 days, but the earliest she could get it is March 27th, 60 days later.
The Biden administration has announced an overhaul of the rollout, including 200 million more doses, so they’re opening a website Tuesday morning (February 2nd) at 8am Eastern specifically for second doses. Despite the fact adults are now in charge, I don’t hold out high hopes it will be a flawless operation. Fully expect the site to crash.
That said, the actual procedure for getting the vaccine was quite smooth. You arrive a few minutes before your scheduled appointment at the location — in her case the Nashua, New Hampshire, high school — where the Army has set up checkpoints and tents. Show your ID to three different people, get asked various questions about allergies and such, then turn on your flashers and wait for the nurse. Once the shot is administered, you turn off your flashers so they know you’re done, then you wait for 30 minutes to make sure no ill effects happen. If no allergic reaction, free to go. Easy peasy, went like clockwork.
But even best-case scenario is going to see this dragging out to the mid-summer before we get a significant amount of the population vaccinated. Bad for movie theatres. So it makes sense that Disney will start debuting its Marvel movies on streaming, because the TV series and films are supposed to work together now, and COVID has thrown that all out of whack.
Trike wrote: "...it makes sense that Disney will start debuting its Marvel movies on streaming..."I think this should be the new model going forward anyway, virus or not. This was the promise of the great internet revolution of the late 1990s but it has yet come to fruition. Some people don't want to go to theaters and have to deal with sticky floors, other viewers who talk through the movie, expensive refreshments, and uncomfortable seats. I like to catch a big budget film on IMAX as much as anyone, but I also don't mind watching them on my 60 inch flat screen at home.
Now that I have a 4K TV, I don’t mind missing movies in the theater as much. It still is one of my favorite outings & I was very sad not to do it for an entire year (for now). Since I’m not going to theaters, I’m very glad Black Widow & other movies are releasing on streaming right away.
I'll be glad to see it, but I'm sad it'll have to be a home viewing.A big part of going to the cinema is being able to sink into the movie and remove all outside distractions. Watching at home it's much too easy to pause the film to do other things and lose the flow of the story/action.
Fredrik wrote: "I'll be glad to see it, but I'm sad it'll have to be a home viewing.A big part of going to the cinema is being able to sink into the movie and remove all outside distractions. Watching at home it'..."
Preach brother.
Mod
"Wonder Woman 1984" has made US $18.5 million here so far and Black Widow would do similar numbers.
I don't think they would get anywhere near that number if they released it as Disney+ only.
https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Won...
Black Widow is a movie I'd go to a cinema to watch if I was near a city while it's on. (No covid in my state and we have been community free of it for 9 months)
Tassie Dave wrote: "I think this is still getting a cinema release in Australia. I'm not sure if they will also do the Disney+ Premium thing."Wonder Woman 1984" has made US $18.5 million here so far and Black Widow ..."
WW84 benefited in Australia as not many new movies had been released so it managed good numbers despite being a hot mess. Looking forward to seeing BW..
Mod
It did help that it was released during the school summer holidays. I'd guess a lot of those numbers were from families with kids.
I watched this last night and thought it was merely OK. The stakes didn’t seem high because we know the rest of her story and because we know the rest of the story everything felt kind of inconsequential. There were some cool action scenes though and David Harbour as s***ty Captain America was pretty good.
I enjoyed it but it probably isn't one of my favorite MCU movies. It seemed on a par with a good James Bond movie.
I enjoyed it. It was cool to see it in the theater with an audience (not a large one). I thought the acting was good, the action scenes worked well, and there was the trademark Marvel humor. It may not be a top tier Marvel movie, but it is certainly worth seeing.
Phil mentioned Bond. I agree and thought it was even more like a Mission Impossible movie. But I enjoyed it a lot. I’d watch another movie with those 4, but, of course, we can’t have that…And, Chris, I was surprised that my theater was only half filled as well.
I mean, it’s not that surprising. We are still in a pandemic.
I liked it.My wife is a huge MCU BW fan. We saw it three times in the theater opening weekend, and bought it for D+. She liked it a lot and was satisfied after waiting for it for so long.
I loved Ylena's sense of humor. I loved Red Guardian's doofiness. I loved the quirks of their little family, and hope we get to see more of all of them in the MCU going forward. I know we'll see Ylena again, but I'd love to see more of all of the other characters that survived.
I was hoping for a more grounded movie, not another "massive Airbase that explodes and everybody is fine" - because they started the movie with the very fitting comparison between Black Widow and the other Avengers.'I bet the space god does not need Ibuprofen after a fight". Well, judging by the rest of the movie, neiter does Natasha. And that really took away from the super dark subject matter.
On top, the topic of mind control and its consequences was 100% better adressed in Jessica Jones, so it felt really shallow.
There were some fun parts, but as they repeated again and again - the difference between the Avengers and the Widows (plus Red Guardian) is that the latter have been professional killers for most of their lives - they really should have a different tone in their solo interactions than the rest of the happy fun MCU.
MY son and I went to the theater and watched it. We really enjoyed it.
We saw it this afternoon. I liked it! It was exactly what I was expecting from the trailers.Photo evidence I was there:
For the first time in nearly 2 years, back at the movies. 😎 #BlackWidow pic.twitter.com/DSid71y4pq
— Trike (@Trike) July 16, 2021
So, based on the stinger (heh), looks like (view spoiler) will next appear in (view spoiler). So we can probably guess what that will be about.
I watched this over the weekend with my daughter. It was ok but not great. I probably would have liked it better on the big screen. So far, Phase 4 hasn't rolled out anything that I'm excited about. Oh well, it was a good run.
RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "I watched this over the weekend with my daughter. It was ok but not great. I probably would have liked it better on the big screen. So far, Phase 4 hasn't rolled out anything that I'm excited about..."I rewatched it the other day and I agree it was better in the theatre.
I definitely think it would’ve made a ton more money had it been released after Civil War. Preferably in August of 2016, since there was a 6 month gap between Civil War and Dr. Strange.
Of course, that means giving up some of the minor retcon hooks that this film relies on, such as Natasha wearing her sister’s vest when she goes to retrieve the Soul Stone, or Alexei possibly fighting a time-traveling Captain America in the 1980s. Also, they likely wouldn’t have cast Florence Pugh, since she was only 18 then and just starting out.
Trike wrote: "...I definitely think it would’ve made a ton more money had it been released after Civil War. Preferably in August of 2016, since there was a 6 month gap between Civil War and Dr. Strange...."I agree with that. On the other hand the point of the film is to set up the "new" Black Widow and there would have been no need to do that in 2016.
RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "Trike wrote: "...I definitely think it would’ve made a ton more money had it been released after Civil War. Preferably in August of 2016, since there was a 6 month gap between Civil War and Dr. Str..."They could have ,made 2
Iain wrote: "They could have ,made 2"Is that a deliberate riff on the Bynar episode of TNG? Because it made me immediately flash on their reason for hijacking the Enterprise instead of asking: "You might have / said no." (Youtube is not helping me find a clip so I can't do aided recall here.)
We watched it at the theater and were entertained but fairly disappointed. There were parts we loved (family scenes, action and visual/special effects, etc) but I have two major complaints that took me out of the movie:1) I thought Ray Winstone’s performance of Dreykov really missed the mark big time. His accent sounded more like a Tony Soprano mafia boss from Jersey rather than a Russian criminal oligarch. It totally took me out of the movie.
2) Why the hell (view spoiler) Am I right??
Still, it was entertaining and I’ll watch anything with Scarlett Johansson, no matter how bad. :-)
Yeah, the(view spoiler)was completely unnecessary and idiotic. It comes back to this movie being unnecessarily high powered. The plot as presented was very interesting and would have benefitted from a lot less explosions and natural disasters. It was supposed to be a spy movie, right?
Nils wrote: "Yeah, the[spoilers removed]was completely unnecessary and idiotic. It comes back to this movie being unnecessarily high powered. The plot as presented was very interesting and would have benefitted..."I agree. I mean, it’s essentially Winter Soldier redux in its broad outline. There have been several decent Black Widow comics they could’ve adapted, but for me the best thing they could’ve done was a variation of the Velvet, Vol. 1: Before the Living End comics, which was more straightforward spy stuff. I mean, they were already riffing on the TV series The Americans with the whole “Soviet spies in Ohio” thing, except the timeline doesn’t work for the real world USSR.
I think the other side of that coin, though, is that people would complain that Marvel wasn’t spending as much money on the female-led films if they didn’t have that spectacle. The spy stuff is there — the best part of the film was (view spoiler) — but the spectacle overshadows the spying.
Semi-related, here’s a really dumb hot take about Marvel’s issues:Black Widow Deleted Scene Reveals A Major Problem With The MCU
https://screenrant.com/black-widow-de...
Here’s the gist:
Marvel is more concerned with its sprawling connected universe than it is with individual stories. For example, everything about the Black Widow scene showing Romanoff's escape from Ross is essential. Without it, there's no explanation for how Romanoff gets away. However, the studio cut the scene anyway. And Marvel doesn't care. Time and time again, Marvel sacrifices individual stories to fit into the larger puzzle.
These kids at Screen Rant are dunderheads, but this kind of thing takes the cake.
Here is the important 19 seconds of that deleted scene: https://youtu.be/Z7G3LF1ocFE
First of all, how is that scene essential? We know she gets away, because she’s in the other movies which take place afterward. HOW she gets away is irrelevant. Again referring to Winter Soldier, there’s the scene where Sam says the Falcon wings are locked in a vault inside a fort, and Natasha shrugs while Steve says, “Shouldn’t be a problem.” Next scene has Sam using the wings. It’s funny and screenwriters Marcus & McFeely absolutely understood that seeing that heist is irrelevant to the story.
Second, it’s the dumbest escape in the MCU, and that includes the scene in Winter Soldier where Maria Hill burns through a truck’s fuel line with a torch. Ross has an interesting comment about how she saves the world despite being hunted, but it’s not new information. Then he looks back to see she’s gone and the door is open. Stop the truck and back up! She didn’t fly away, she jumped out of a moving truck while grievously injured! She’s likely lying right there in the weeds, moaning in pain.
I think the movie is fine, but there are legitimate things to nitpick at. This, though, isn’t one of them. Scenes like this would’ve made the movie worse.
https://youtu.be/RxAtuMu_ph4