MCU meme

[michelel72]

Taken from sholio, who credits muccamukk.

Bold = Watched Entirety
Italic = Watched Part
* Watched more than once.
† Watched in the first few weeks of release (at least initially, for TV shows).
^ Not seen, but vague plans to watch at some point (my addition).
% Own on DVD or bluRay (my addition).

Phase One:
*% Iron Man (2008)
% The Incredible Hulk (2008)
% Iron Man 2 (2010)
% Thor (2011)
% Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
†*% The Avengers (2012)

Phase Two:
†*% Iron Man 3 (2013)
† Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV 2013–2020)
Thor: The Dark World (2013)
*% Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
†% Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
Ant-Man (2015)
Daredevil (TV 2015–2018)
† Agent Carter (TV 2015–2016)
Jessica Jones (TV 2015–2019)

Phase Three:
†* Captain America: Civil War (2016)
Luke Cage (TV 2016–2018)
† Doctor Strange (2016)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
Iron Fist (TV 2017–2018)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
The Defenders (TV 2017)
The Punisher (TV 2017–2019)
Inhumans (TV 2017)
Runaways (TV 2017–2019)
†* Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
†*% Black Panther (2018)
Cloak & Dagger (TV 2018–2019)
† Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
† Captain Marvel (2019)
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)

Phase Four:
Black Widow (2021)
WandaVision (TV 2021)
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (TV 2021)
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)
Eternals (2021)
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Loki (TV 2021-2023)
Hawkeye (TV 2021)
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)
Moon Knight (TV 2022)
^ Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)
^ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)
Ms. Marvel (TV 2022)
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (TV 2022)

Phase Five:
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)
Secret Invasion (TV 2023)
^ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)
The Marvels (2023)
Echo (TV 2024)
^ Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)
^ Agatha All Along (TV 2024)
Daredevil: Born Again (TV 2025-2026)
Captain America: Brave New World (2025)
Thunderbolts (2025)
Ironheart (TV 2025)

Phase Six:
The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025)
Wonder Man (TV 2025)
Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026)
Vision Quest (TV 2026)
Avengers: Doomsday (2026)
Avengers: Secret Wars (2027)


To my entire lack of surprise, Endgame killed my interest in MCU.

I'm a little surprised that Miles Morales doesn't count (I've seen the first one and vaguely plan to see the second); and it is curious to me that the third Deadpool movie counts (I've seen the first two and plan to see the third).

"The Avengers" was an event, a cultural milestone. The draw for me was probably -- because I didn't know better at the time -- Joss Whedon, and I ended up back-watching the prior movies. I bought most because it was about as cost-effective at that point as renting, and some I knew I'd want to watch again, even if only for fic purposes. (I should probably cull Hulk, IM2, and Ultron, though, because ugh.) I don't like to be held at the whims of streaming services.

I wasn't thrilled when they started the spin-off shows, because there's only so much I can keep track of at once, and it's possible I didn't have access to the right channels. I tried AoS, but I intensely disliked the characters; when several of them were gigglesnorting their way through practical jokes over the radio to an undercover agent and then their van got rammed with something, I turned it off and pretended that was their "rocks fall, everyone dies" moment.

And then JARVIS is killed in Ultron, and that's given about as much weight as the coffee shop having run out of their best muffins. After IM3. How very dare. In Homecoming, Tony is written as waving Peter off with repeated "let the adults handle it" dismissals despite having once been a smart teenager who would have needed an actual reason to let something go. As engaging as CW is, the final break between Tony and Steve feels far too manufactured and inauthentic.

It's possible I only looped back to check out the Guardians movies because of sholio 's posts; I did enjoy the first two. (The third sounds like it might be somewhat less relevant to my interests.)

And then Endgame. Ugh. I paid to see that in an actual theater, and I'm still mad about it. I've found fanfiction that fixes the worst of the plot and ethics problems, at least, but that was the key point when I was turned off from the main property.

And every time I turn around, I'm promised things are getting even grimmer! Bad guys get away without consequences and even end up in charge! Institutions become corrupt parodies of themselves! People who have to work together squabble and snipe and fight over copyright! Doesn't that sound like fun? Isn't that so great????

No thanks. I've got plenty of real life for that.

I currently have Disney+ (cheap Hulu Black Friday deals ftw), so I've now seen WandaVision (after being fully spoiled for it); it was well done. Friends have loved Agatha. I may yet watch the ones I've marked with ^, if I find myself in any kind of movie-or-series-watching mood (which I haven't been for months).

I sometimes read fic in MCU to this day; just this week I read a Captain America AU, and last month I was absorbed in some epic (movie-verse) Loki fics. I'm not an anti-fan, by any means. But the main property and I have diverged, and at this point I don't especially expect to be pulled back in.

Comments

[schneefink]

Yeah, agreed, I definitely don't want to watch media about how things are getting grimmer and grimmer these days. The news is bad enough.
I've only watched one movie after Phase Three, Shang-Chi, and that was fun, but pretty stand-alone.

I haven't read any MCU fic in a while, but I do enjoy them occasionally, so I wouldn't mind a link to those Captain America and Loki fics :)

[sholio]

I'm a little surprised that Miles Morales doesn't count (I've seen the first one and vaguely plan to see the second); and it is curious to me that the third Deadpool movie counts (I've seen the first two and plan to see the third).

That one is down to which studio is making the movies. The Spiderverse movies and the first two Deadpool movies aren't officially part of the MCU, and then there was an acquisition and Deadpool got rolled into the MCU with the third movie. I think Spiderverse is still separate.

Anyway - I think everyone I've seen doing this meme fell away at the end of Phase 3 FOR OBVIOUS REASONS. I think the powers that be clearly failed to get the memo that people go to superhero movies to be distracted, entertained, and uplifted, not depressed. ..... Also, quite frankly? They don't do grim and gritty well at all! I actually like dark, noirish or horror-adjacent entertainment when it's well done, but all of Marvel Studios' attempts to do it have ended up feeling like an absolute tonal mismatch and also a complete mess. And then there's the problem that almost everything requires seeing 12 other series/movies or else feels like a complete retread of what's come before. (I'll probably watch both Thunderbolts and Fantastic Four eventually, but I fully expect Thunderbolts to feel like every other "bickering outsiders become a team" movie in the franchise and Fantastic Four to similarly be hopefully-fun Extruded Origin Story Product.) After a truly horrifying list of movies - I mean, seeing them all together like that is ... something - there just is very little truly new that they can do with it.

[lyr]

I feel like a central, cohesive vision started to get lost somewhere in Phase 3, and it's been hit-or-miss since. Some of the movies/shows have been very good, some mid, some awful. But in any case, they don't really fit together especially well anymore, particularly with the vast differences in tone between them. I still enjoy the good ones, but I really wish the tapestry hung together better.

[michelel72]

You've probably already read you had your soul with you and Chaos Reign, but if not, here you go!

[michelel72]

That (kinda) makes sense for Spiderverse and Deadpool.

And yeah, I just don't understand who (they think) their audience is anymore.

[michelel72]

Yeah, it's all very "we have all these characters, make money off each one somehow".

[schneefink]

Thanks! Have not read the time travel one yet, looking forward to it.