mcu_cosmic | MCU in Spaaaaaaaaace!

Hello, and welcome to your weekly Sunday discussion post! This week's topic:

MCU in Space vs. Other Space-Faring Franchises

Star Wars has the epic battle of good vs. evil, freedom vs. oppression, the rag-tag group of underdogs vs. the Evil Empire. Battlestar Galactica (2004 edition) has near-annihilation, shady politics, and complex characters arcs. The MCU has... a little less of those things, but we love it just as much, if not more. Why do we love it?

For me, there are two reasons why I'd rather watch an MCU film that I've already seen 3 times vs. a Star Wars film that I've only seen once.

The big one is the characters. I love Rey, but I love Valkyrie more - probably because she's a mess, and I like messy characters (see: BSG). I find Kylo Ren amusing, but I love Loki like burning. Star Wars has the legendary Carrie Fischer as General Leia Organa, and BSG has the fabulous Mary McDonnell as President Laura Roslin. But the MCU has the equally fabulous Brie Larsen as Captain Marvel. And of course there's Thor, who really has no equivalent among the other franchises. Nobody else has that face combined with those arms.

The second thing I love about the MCU in Space is the humour. I know, I know... it can be juvenile, silly or down-right dumb. But a lot of it works! Who didn't laugh when Valkyrie fell down drunk during her big entrance moment? When Thor called Rocket "Sweet Rabbit"? When Goose coughed up the Tesseract? The MCU is built on superheros, and superheros really don't work for me unless they have a sense of humour about themselves. Plus, I just like to laugh. As much as I love Star Wars and BSG, they don't make me laugh very often.

What about you? Why do you love the MCU in space? How does it compare to other space-faring franchises?

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Overall I agree that cosmic MCU's sense of humour stands in a pretty big contrast to the ones I do know. That kind of goofiness does help superheroes in general go down easier, and it also makes emotional moments more poignant to me. I love going from laughing to sudden sadness or shock, and so on.

I also like the license cosmic MCU gives me to make weird stuff up. As soon as Knowhere showed up onscreen I was unleashed. It's a gorgeous, strange, silly kind of spectacle that doesn't have to make sense, because comic book movie. And that makes worldbuilding a lot of fun. It makes me think of Homestuck, which has similar room for going wild with making up dubiously sensible, but fun stuff about the setting. And it stands in contrast to something like Star Trek and Star Wars for me - there's so much canon and para-canon to those I don't remember/have access to/have interest in that it gets intimidating to participate in fandom. The MCU is enough of a distinct thing from the comics, and comics so famously contradictory that it thd background I'm missing doesn't feel like a sticking point.

I love going from laughing to sudden sadness or shock, and so on.

Me too. That's what first pulled me into fandom with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was hilarious, but it also had some of the angstiest, most unexpected moments I'd every seen on a TV series.

And it stands in contrast to something like Star Trek and Star Wars for me - there's so much canon and para-canon to those I don't remember/have access to/have interest in that it gets intimidating to participate in fandom.

And some of those fans can get SO NIT-PICKY if your story isn't canon-compliant. It reminds me of that exchange with Comic Book Guy on The Simpsons: "Excuse me, that was a dream sequence, it never really happened." / "None of this stuff ever REALLY happened." / "Get out of my store."

Edited 2019-06-03 02:49 (UTC)

The humor actually reminds me of the Stargate franchise in a way, especially the Atlantis corner of it. It also didn't take itself seriously, had a lot of pop culture references, and so on. And was a big fandom for me for several years.

I gotta say, the big thing about the MCU space universe ... so, it's not that it saved my life or anything. But GotG2 came out in May 2017, which was a few months after the, well, the US election thing. I had been in an utterly miserable headspace ever since the election and one reason why I fell so hard into the GotG franchise and the cosmic MCU in general at that point in my life was because of the sheer joy of it. Things might be dark and unhappy on Earth, but just the idea, fictional or not, of this big bright universe full of aliens and people and other planets, with all of that happening out there beyond our skies, happened to come along at a time in my life when I really needed it.

And the sheer joy and delight and candy-colored brightness of it was a big part of that. While I love Star Wars and the like, that kind of thing didn't really do it for me (in fact, I remember bouncing off a couple of more serious sci-fi books during that time), because so much of what I wanted to get away from was there, too. With the Marvel universe, it was bright and playful and fun enough to be a much-needed escape. But it also had enough of a dark underside that you could engage with the serious side, consider the political ramifications of the 'verse, and write serious stories of lifeshaking importance if you wanted to; you just didn't have to.

It's changed now, of course. But it was there for me when I needed it, and it wouldn't have been as affirming for me if it hadn't been as bright and fun as it was.

one reason why I fell so hard into the GotG franchise and the cosmic MCU in general at that point in my life was because of the sheer joy of it. Things might be dark and unhappy on Earth, but just the idea, fictional or not, of this big bright universe full of aliens and people and other planets, with all of that happening out there beyond our skies, happened to come along at a time in my life when I really needed it.

I can understand that, completely. When real life gets so grim, it's a joy to discover something that makes you happy.

so much of what I wanted to get away from was there

I feel that way about The Handmaid's Tale. Yes, it's amazing and relevant and necessary, but I can't watch it because REAL LIFE IS WORSE. It just reminds me of how much I want to burn the world down and how helpless I feel because I don't have the power to do it.

YES. I think it really speaks to why we need different kinds of stories, because sometimes we need something dark and angry that's like pulling your emotions out through a sieve, and sometimes we need a candy-colored heist movie in space, and they're both valid!

Candy coloured heist movies are definitely a thing I need right now. I watched Aquaman tonight and found it ridiculous, but there was a CRACKEN and there was SO MUCH PRETTY. I feel like it needs a strong joint to be truly appreciated. :D

Edited 2019-06-03 02:51 (UTC)

One of the things I really love about the cosmic side of the MCU is the aesthetic! It stood out to me from the first time I saw GOTG-- I felt like they were doing a lot of things that were fun and interesting and that I hadn’t seen before! I remember that the way the Nova Corps ships interlocked with each other to form a shield in the battle over Xandar was one thing that really stood out that way-- it was a neat idea that I hadn’t seen done!

I can’t say that I love the MCU more than other space properties, especially because Star Wars is one of my main fandoms, but it has a different feel to it than the other space canons and I really enjoy playing with it.

it has a different feel to it than the other space canons

I think the fact that the MCU is based on comic book characters lets them be more bright and colourful and playful than original works like Star Wars, or even Star Trek. I've seen the same with older comic book movies. Tim Burton's Batman (1989) was a gothic fantasy in rubber and plastic, and Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy had the brightest costumes I've ever seen, all done in primary colours. The MCU has definitely picked up some of those influences - especially James Gunn with the GotG franchise.

One of the things I like about MCU Cosmic is that, so far, every place they go is different vs. Star Wars that has had a weird same-y look (ftr, I love the movies). The humor is good as well. In some instances, such as CM and T:R, there are greater ideas at play that are presented in an incredibly accessible way.

I can't quite compare MCU Cosmic to BSG because they are at opposite ends tonally speaking (also because BSG went off the deep end in the last season and half. But I digress...)

Even though there have been a million IP's set in space, there's so much to explore for the MCU that I'm just rarin' to see what's next.

There's a certain playfulness MCU Cosmic that goes along with the larger stories really well.

There's a certain playfulness MCU Cosmic that goes along with the larger stories really well.

I agree, and I love this about the 'verse.

MCU in Spaaaaaaaaace!

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