SDCC MCU presentation - SPOILERS

[kore]

(hope this is okay to post so soon after the con!)


SO

HOW ABOUT TAIKA KNEELING AND HANDING MJOLNIR TO JANE!THOR

https://mtv.mtvnimages.com/uri/mgid:ao:image:mtv.com:678497?quality=0.8&format=jpg&width=1440&height=810&.jpg

https://images.firstpost.com/wp-content/uploads/large_file_plugin/2019/07/1563692961_natalietaikasocial.jpg

TESSA THOMPSON SAYING VAL IS A KING LOOKING FOR HER QUEEN

https://66.media.tumblr.com/b96da0df1c35bc5af92880ae3c316eba/tumblr_puz1gm8jtX1xszkz9o2_540.png


I admit I'm kinda a little terrified because while I have the Jane!Thor run in gorgeous hardback, it was SO divisive in male-dominated fandom spaces....but all props to Feige for doing it. I hope we don't actually get Fury telling Thor he's unworthy or the cancer storyline, because those were fucking bummers, but -- I can't even say I was WAITING for Jane to pick up that hammer, I thought it would never ever happen in MCU. I just hope it is well done!

ETA More cute photos of Nat and Taika: https://www.cbr.com/thor-4-natalie-portman-hammer-comic-con/


And I know nothing Jon Snow about Eternals, but what a cast!

Comments

[chelseagirl]

So apparently it was less that Natalie Portman didn't want to be in any comic book movie and more that Jane was a thankless character to play as things were set up.

Interesting.

Good for her.

[kore]

Yeah, I don't know all the details, but from what I remember Portman really really wanted Patty Jenkins to direct after they'd been flailing around for a while, and she said after Wonder Woman

“I pitched them that I wanted to do Romeo and Juliet. I wanted Jane to be stuck on Earth and Thor to be stuck where he is. And Thor to be forbidden to come and save Jane because Earth doesn’t matter. And then by coming to save her … they end up discovering that Malekith is hiding the dark energy inside of Earth because he knows that Odin doesn’t care about Earth, and so he’s using Odin’s disinterest in Earth to trick him. And so it was like, I wanted it to be a grand [movie] based on Romeo and Juliet … a war between the gods and the earthlings, and Thor saves the day and ends up saving Earth.”

https://www.buzzfeed.com/susancheng/patty-jenkins-thor-2

And then it turned into a total mess, and they did a lot of reshoots with Loki and then they brought in Whedon to rewrite scenes during the reshoots and Portman just felt like her character got lost in the mess, apparently. I haven't rewatched TDW in forever but I think Jane just fades out about halfway through?

[chelseagirl]

Very interesting. I'm not sure I've rewatched it since I saw it in the theater -- maybe once? I mostly remember feeling sorry for Christopher Eccleston.

[kore]

Apparently he hated TDW more than Dr Who which is REALLY saying something.

[rmc28]

Joss Whedon ruining MCU *again*

(never ever gonna forgive him for the character arc destruction in AoU)

[kore]

I am hoping and praying they just totally forget all that graduation ceremony bullshit for the BW movie. I mean IIRC she's infertile in the comics but it's a side effect of the retcon serum? and it's not a giant plot point much less a MORAL FATAL WOUND. -- Altho then the comics did this even weirder more offensive retcon where she defected because they gave Nick Fury special pheromones and yyyyeah.

[snickfic]

(Yes, spoilers always welcome behind a cut!)

Speaking of the Eternals and the cast, here's a tweet with all our characters. :D For the record, I spent like half an hour last night bumping around the Marvel comics wiki, and I still have no idea what this movie is going to be about. Is it going to be set in space? On Earth? WHO KNOWS. Posting this photo though, I have to ask: can we handle Salma Hayek and Angelina Jolie in the same movie??? I hope LOTS of femslash results.

[kore]

THAT IS A HAWT CAST

Also YES to the femslash. Feige also seemed to tease to a reporter after the Hall H presentation that not only would Val be queer, but so would "some of the characters we saw already," and it could maybe be an Eternals character? Like Gilgamesh?? (I have no idea.) BUT MAYBE IT COULD BE ANGELINA OR SALMA. And Chloé Zhao is the first WoC director in the MCU! Nice.

Just to make it MORE confusing, IIRC Feige said he might like to try for an Inhumans film again, ignoring the terrible ABC series. And the Inhumans are like mutants? (LOL my fake geek girl cred.)

[snickfic]

Well, one of the Eternals characters they specifically did a casting call for a gay Asian actor to play a gay Asian character, right? I wasn't following closely, but looking at the cast, that'd have to be Gilgamesh.

I don't know the Inhumans that well, but from what I've seen of them they're not very much like mutants except for having random powers. They're a monarchic society, possibly very long-lived (iirc?), and their semi-secret kingdom is currently located on the dark side of the moon. Their powers are generally genetic, I believe, as opposed to mutants, where anyone might turn out to be a mutant regardless of parentage. So I believe they end up playing a fairly different narrative role. (Edit: although recently there was this whole plotline for a while where they triggered a lot of latent Inhuman powers in apparently normal people, and that did feel very much like a mutant storyline.)

Their king Black Bolt (short for, I kid you, not Blackagar Boltagon) communicates only via telepathy, their queen Medusa has hair greater than her body mass and can use it like a bunch of extra hands, and they have a giant dog with a tuning fork on his head. #comics

If you want a very quick and dirty intro to the Inhumans, I strongly recommend FF, the Matt Fraction/Mike Allred book about the "replacement" Fantastic Four (including Medusa) that has to step in when the actual Fantastic Four disappears for a year. It's DELIGHTFUL. The first few issues are in this book, and then it gets its own trade volumes after that.

[kore]

Well, one of the Eternals characters they specifically did a casting call for a gay Asian actor to play a gay Asian character, right? I wasn't following closely, but looking at the cast, that'd have to be Gilgamesh.

I think so! I know there were rumours Herakles might have been in this movie, but it doesn't look like it.

I don't know the Inhumans that well, but from what I've seen of them they're not very much like mutants except for having random powers. They're a monarchic society, possibly very long-lived (iirc?), and their semi-secret kingdom is currently located on the dark side of the moon

I read the Ewing Inhumans and Royals books, because Al Ewing, and the Black Bolt book had gorgeous art. Those didn't seem to depend so much on previous plots tho. Oh yeah, and the Inhumans were part of Civil War II (bleh) because Ulysses was a newly minted Inhuman and IIRC Ms Marvel is also one....and then I get confused. And I know they were a big part of AoS, but it looks like after it ends that series won't be MCU canon any more than the other ones previous to Disney+.

Their king Black Bolt (short for, I kid you, not Blackagar Boltagon) communicates only via telepathy, their queen Medusa has hair greater than her body mass and can use it like a bunch of extra hands, and they have a giant dog with a tuning fork on his head. #comics

COMICS *jazz hands*

I strongly recommend FF, the Matt Fraction/Mike Allred book about the "replacement" Fantastic Four (including Medusa) that has to step in when the actual Fantastic Four disappears for a year. It's DELIGHTFUL

I did not know about that at all! I do wish MCU would do primers to go along with some of the movies.

[snickfic]

LOL then I think you know way more about the Inhumans than me! And yes, Kamala Khan got her latent Inhuman powers triggered during an event, as did a bunch of other people.

But yes, read the Fraction/Allred book! It's SO FUN.

[kore]

Ahahha, I was totally motivated by "I will read anything Al Ewing writes* and "Black Bolt art is....so....SO....pretty". I am a giant sucker for gorgeous art.


*Then they had him do the Immortal Hulk as a horror comic and I noped out. SIGH.

[snickfic]

Al Ewing is the unsung hero of Marvel comics. I read Mighty Avengers, his very first book (AFAIK) for them, because it was an all-POC team book and I wanted to support that, and it was such a fun read EVEN WITH GREG LAND ON ART. Now that's a true sign of good writing, lol.

I gave up on Marvel during the big Secret Wars event a couple of years ago, but I should order a bunch of his books through the library, because even without knowing anything else that's going on, I know they'll be worth my time.

[kore]

YES
MIGHTY AVENGERS YES
AND THE 'YOU WERE AN AVENGER' BIT //cries
(or wait was that New Avengers? bzuh)

I gave up on Marvel during the big Secret Wars event a couple of years ago, but I should order a bunch of his books through the library, because even without knowing anything else that's going on, I know they'll be worth my time.

YES. I read Mighty Avengers and New Avengers and US Avengers, and even when he got chopped off by events and cancelled and sorta-renewed they were so good. Ultimates (space Ults) was great too -- that was Black Panther, Blue Marvel, Spectrum, Ms. America, and Captain Marvel. I even read the Ulysses Civil War II book! I think the ones I haven't read yet are like Rocket and You Are Deadpool (I can't stand Deadpool).

AND Immortal Hulk. sigh.

[snickfic]

I mean I am all here for horror, possibly even horror involving the Hulk, so I might like that one, lol. It'd be interesting to see Ewing try his hand at that genre.

[kore]

Lots of people really enjoy it! I think it's one of their top books right now. I do like some horror, but not the super graphic kind.

[snickfic]

Aw, if it's gore then I am less likely to be excited. Still, I will give it a shot!

[luthienberen]

THANK YOU SO MUCH for posting about Jane Foster + Thor + Jane being the next Thor. I need to find the comics of this storyline now!

Jane (and Jane/Thor) was my favourite character from the Thor films and I was so disappointed with the direction they went with her and J/T. Now I actually want to watch the next Thor film :-)

Also Val looking for her queen is perfection :D :D

[kore]

THEY ARE GORGEOUS AND BEAUTIFUL. The storyline is really great and the art is just amazing. I bought them in hardcover. Basically it goes

Thor Volume 1: Goddess of Thunder

Thor Volume 2: Who Holds the Hammer?

The Mighty Thor Volume 1: Thunder In Her Veins

The Mighty Thor Volume 2: Lords of Midgard

The Mighty Thor Volume 3: Asgard/Shi’ar War

The Mighty Thor Volume 4: The War Thor

The Mighty Thor Volume 5: The Death of the Mighty Thor

I thiiink that gives you most of the storyline -- Thor becomes unworthy in Original Sin and Jane appears there, but we don't know it's her. She is Thor in Secret Wars, but you could probably skip that (I did LOL). There was an Unworthy Thor series, but I skipped that too.

[luthienberen]

Oh thank you, now I know what to look for exactly =^_^=

[glitteryv]

I am, like, 200% MOAR EXCITED abt Phase 4 than I was Saturday, hahaha. From the having BIcon Tessa playing a Bi King!Val to how many more WOMEN AND POCs are getting lead roles as well as behind-the-cameras opportunities! I too am crossing ALL crossables in hopes we don't get the cancer storyline cuz that'd be the second or third time Marvel would do Natalie Portman dirty, IJS.

NGL, had it been anyone else other than Taika, I'd have been V. WORRIED abt Love and Thunder. Instead, I'm all SUNSHINE AND PUPPIES AND CAPSLOCKING BECAUSE T:L&T IS GONNA BE BONKERS AND GREAT!

The fact that we're having JANE AS THOR was a lot AND NOW WE'RE ALSO GETTING MAHARSHALA ALI AS BLADE. BLADE!!!!!!. #SwooningIntensifies

FWIW, I've just borrowed a copy of the 2006-2007 Eternals run by Neil Gaiman (!) from my local library in hopes to start making heads and tails of what the movie might be, LOL. SALMA HAYEK IS IN THE MCU AS A COSMIC ENTITY!?!?!?

And, like the entire Eternals cast is *chef's kiss* no matter how you look at it. I'm READY for SPACE SHENANIGANS and WEIRDNESS! How cool is it that MCU is getting WEIRD AF?

P.S.: As I remember it, Marvel was looking to cast the first openly gay actor for The Eternals. You might've gotten your wires crossed with the announcement that Marvel was also looking to cast an Asian actor for the Shang Shi movie (which will make Simu the 1st Asian actor in a lead role for an MCU movie).