Marvel Cinematic Universe on Netflix

[AnalBumCover]

Rather than creating new threads on the various individual titles of the MCU on Netflix, why not bring them all together into one main thread. After all, that's what will eventually happen when they finally team up as The Defenders, no?

Let's start with: Luke Cage. Now on Netflix.

[Honolulu_Blue]

My thoughts:

I loved the first season of Daredevil.

I liked some, but not all, of the second season. The Punisher was great. Almost everything with him was fantastic. I didn't care too much about The Hand and while I really liked the actress playing Elektra, that plot line wasn't that interesting to me. Also, Matt Murdock became a bit of a dick, which is often a problem with these shows it seems. (See, also, Arrow.)

I loved Jessica Jones. Killgrave is probably one of the greatest villains ever. Just fantastic.

I'm interested to see how they pull off Luke Cage. While the actor looks the part, I found him a bit bland and dull in Jessica Jones. Also, there is just something that's inherently difficult in making a super strong invulnerable guy all that interesting when it comes to conflict. Unless you have a way of making him vulnerable (Superman's kryptonite, which gets old quick), or have some sort of mental powers (kinda already done in Jessica Jones), his conflicts aren't terribly interesting. Invulnerable guy vs. a bunch of a thugs with guns... Where's the tension?

Still, I remain hopeful that they do good things with this show. Given Netflix's track record so far, they have definitely earned the benefit of the doubt with me.

[CrescentMoonie]

I'll echo loving the first season of Daredevil. I think that it's partly because it was such a home run after that horrible movie a few years back.

I can't stand Krysten Ritter, she's all the bad parts of Zoey Deschanel with none of the good, but the show itself was pretty good.

I liked season two of Daredevil as well.

Luke Cage is one of my favorite Marvel characters and I really like how he was done in JJ, so I'm hopeful that this will be good when I get the time to watch it.

Netflix is an absolute gold mine, and the MCU is almost always good, so I simply give everything a shot because both entities have proven themselves.

[RainMaker]

Do you have to see Jessica Jones to watch Luke Cage? I just didn't really like the first few episodes and tapped out.

[CrescentMoonie]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Do you have to see Jessica Jones to watch Luke Cage? I just didn't really like the first few episodes and tapped out.

Not sure if it's necessary, but they are working towards a season of The Defenders with Daredevil, JJ, Cage, and Iron Fist all together. Also, the Jeri Hogarth and Claire Temple characters are apparently going to appear across most of the shows, so there is some continuity building going on.

[tarcone]

It still amazes me how Marvel is just kicking DCs ass all over the place. Whats up with DC? I love that universe.

[Abe Sargent]

I think Colter's Cage is better in this one in teh first two epidoes thus far.

[Abe Sargent]

Oh and I love to see a Hellcat Patsy Walker series after JJs. NEVER thought I'd say that, but she was one fo teh most interesting characters in that series.

[CrescentMoonie]

Originally Posted by Abe Sargent

Oh and I love to see a Hellcat Patsy Walker series after JJs. NEVER thought I'd say that, but she was one fo teh most interesting characters in that series.

She was fantastic. I'd be all for seeing if they could put together a full 12-13 episode arc around her with JJ and others sprinkled in as support.

[Abe Sargent]

Just finished Cage and it did not disappoint

[Ned Doolittle]

Skipping Cage, don't like the acting "ability" of the actor. The girl who played Jessica Jones also seemed to play a one trick pony. That show was lucky Killgrave did such a great acting job.

[Neon_Chaos]

Finished Cage. Sweet Christmas. I loved it. These were probably the most interesting villains on TV in quite a long time. The show is actually more about the villains than Cage.

[Critch]

Originally Posted by Ned Doolittle

Skipping Cage, don't like the acting "ability" of the actor. The girl who played Jessica Jones also seemed to play a one trick pony. That show was lucky Killgrave did such a great acting job.

He cant possibly be worse than the guy who played the lawyer sidekick on Daredevil, can he? God, he was awful.

Is watching Jessica Jones necessary before heading onto Cage? Any big set up I'll miss, or spoilers I'll see?

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Critch

He cant possibly be worse than the guy who played the lawyer sidekick on Daredevil, can he? God, he was awful.

Is watching Jessica Jones necessary before heading onto Cage? Any big set up I'll miss, or spoilers I'll see?

Foggy? Foggy is fantastic! You crazy.

I'll admit, the actor playing Luke Cage looks great, but he didn't really blow me away on Jessica Jones. He didn't seem too terribly interesting, but I'm still going to give it a shot.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by Critch

Is watching Jessica Jones necessary before heading onto Cage? Any big set up I'll miss, or spoilers I'll see?

I'm only a couple episodes in and don't recall JJ phenomenally well, but I don't think so. I can't even tell if this is supposed to be set before or after JJ.

[CrescentMoonie]

Originally Posted by Critch

He cant possibly be worse than the guy who played the lawyer sidekick on Daredevil, can he? God, he was awful.

Is watching Jessica Jones necessary before heading onto Cage? Any big set up I'll miss, or spoilers I'll see?

Foggy is excellent. His evolution during the second season is one of the best aspects of the series, and possibly the thing I'm most anticipating for season 3.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

I'm only a couple episodes in and don't recall JJ phenomenally well, but I don't think so. I can't even tell if this is supposed to be set before or after JJ.

Before, I think. This is his origin story.

Remember, in JJ, he ran a small bar.

First episode of this series, he's working multiple jobs for cash under the table.

My guess is 'before.'

[CrescentMoonie]

Apparently it's a few months after.

Mike Colter:

"I can tell you what they’ve allowed me to, which is basically Luke Cage will take place a few months after Jessica Jones. So in real time, if you watch Jessica Jones, you’ll find [at the end] Luke Cage uptown in Harlem, working, trying to make ends meet."


The real fun is that Claire Temple's timeline seems to suggest that Daredevil season 2 and Luke Cage partially overlap.

[Neon_Chaos]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

Before, I think. This is his origin story.

Remember, in JJ, he ran a small bar.

First episode of this series, he's working multiple jobs for cash under the table.

My guess is 'before.'

It's after.

Pops references to JJ as his rebound chick, the shotgun blast to his head, and the purple man.

[whomario]

Anything i might need to know/look up before starting Luke Cage ? Literally the first time i heard/read that name anywhere but after liking Agents of Shield and finding the premise interesting, i will give this a whirl.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Neon_Chaos

Finished Cage. Sweet Christmas. I loved it. These were probably the most interesting villains on TV in quite a long time. The show is actually more about the villains than Cage.

I sort of felt the same was with DD. Nothing wrong with the good guys but Vincent D'Onofrio made that show.

[Critch]

Originally Posted by whomario

Anything i might need to know/look up before starting Luke Cage ? Literally the first time i heard/read that name anywhere but after liking Agents of Shield and finding the premise interesting, i will give this a whirl.

Nope. I didnt know anything before watching and I've got through 5 episodes without feeling lost.

[Neon_Chaos]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

I sort of felt the same was with DD. Nothing wrong with the good guys but Vincent D'Onofrio made that show.

I think Netflix MCU has this down-pat. These are B-league superheroes, they all fight the good fight, and telling their particular story is going to be monotonous. The money is with the villains. They have done a good job of making the villains across all their series as the ones who hold the story together. Kingpin, The Purple Man, the Harlem mafia... such a great cast of villains.

[Neon_Chaos]

Originally Posted by whomario

Anything i might need to know/look up before starting Luke Cage ? Literally the first time i heard/read that name anywhere but after liking Agents of Shield and finding the premise interesting, i will give this a whirl.

The events occur after Jessica Jones and Daredevil Season 2. Referrences are dropped, and some charaters overlap. It would be great if you watch those first, to get an idea of the events and characters being referenced, but the series can be watched stand-alone. And Luke Cage's character made several appearances was introduced in jessica Jones.

With Punisher and Iron Fist coming along, it will all come together with The defenders mini series.

[whomario]

Originally Posted by Critch

Nope. I didnt know anything before watching and I've got through 5 episodes without feeling lost.

Originally Posted by Neon_Chaos

The events occur after Jessica Jones and Daredevil Season 2. Referrences are dropped, and some charaters overlap. It would be great if you watch those first, to get an idea of the events and characters being referenced, but the series can be watched stand-alone. And Luke Cage's character made several appearances was introduced in jessica Jones.

With Punisher and Iron Fist coming along, it will all come together with The defenders mini series.

Thanks to you both. Ended up watching it first anyway had no problems following but definitely got the feel that it will be good to catch up on the others as well, which isn´t necessarily bad

As for Luke Cage, after watching the first 6 Episodes i think it is very well executed and is very honest about what it is doing. No "faux realism" but making a gritty comic series in every sense. I must admit that i found it pretty difficult to get over that "well, he´s invincible and now what ?" part of things, especially when the series seemed to double down on this every 20 Minutes in the first 6 Episodes. Still have some trouble seeing the point of all it, though i do realize what point the show tries to make (if that makes any sense).

Still i definitely enjoyed what seemed like the first act (given how Episode 6 ends), looking forward to finishing the season over the weekend Got a major "The Wire" vibe from a few of the characters and that´s not restricted to the ones who played a role in The Wire (Cottonmouth for example or the snitch in the early episodes)

[AnalBumCover]

Bumping this to remind y'all that Iron Fist is premiering tomorrow 3/17.

Early reviewers are giving this series (well, the first 6 episodes, at least) a big thumbs down.

[Abe Sargent]

I'm heading into episode 5 and I don't see why the negative ratings are here thus far. Sure, it's no JJ or Cage, but's not that bad.

[RainMaker]

Yeah I was going into this expecting it to be complete garbage based on the reviews. It's really not that bad. Not Daredevil quality but not far off from Luke Cage or JJ. I think the biggest issue with it is Iron Fist just isn't a great character in my opinion.

Will add that I do thing some of the reviews seem politically motivated so maybe that's why there is such a gap between viewers and reviewers.

[General Mike]

I watched the whole Iron Fist season on Friday and Saturday. It wasn't as good as Daredevil S1, but I liked it better then JJ, LC or DD S2.

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Marvel's 'Defenders' assemble in a perfect viral video teaser

[Honolulu_Blue]

I still haven't watched Luke Cage or Iron Fist.

[SackAttack]

Enjoying Iron Fist so far. I remember similar "this is awful" comments about Mike Colter's ability to play Luke Cage, and I enjoyed that show, as well.

I'm 4 eps in on Iron Fist, and so far, I'm enjoying it.

[CrescentMoonie]

I'll echo the "I don't get the hate" for Iron Fist. Through 5 episodes and really enjoying it. Currently I have it like this:

DD 1
LC
IF
DD 2
herpes
chlamydia
Dane Cook
Friends
Michael Bay
JJ

[Abe Sargent]

Originally Posted by CrescentMoonie

I'll echo the "I don't get the hate" for Iron Fist. Through 5 episodes and really enjoying it. Currently I have it like this:

DD 1
LC
IF
DD 2
herpes
chlamydia
Dane Cook
Friends
Michael Bay
JJ

For me:

Cage
JJ
DD S2
IF
DD S1

I felt DD S1 had a lack of scale and pacing that made it harder to watch than the 2nd season, and IF felt a little slow at times too, but the others were just much better.

Now for me, I love, love, Cage. It's so much better.

Anyways, add in other Marvel shows?

Cage
Agent Carter
JJ
DD S2
Agents of SHIELD
IF
DD S1


I'm pretty excited for Cloak and Dagger. Previews looked freaking awesome. We'll see with Punisher and Defenders where Netflix heads next.

[AnalBumCover]

Marvel’s The Defenders | Official Trailer [HD] | Netflix - YouTube

[SackAttack]

Can't wait.

[BishopMVP]

2/3 way through Iron Fist. I'll blame the writers or character when I think it's warranted, and maybe Iron Fist didn't have a great backstory, but I think the main problem is poor acting by the star. The Meachum's & Colleen Wing seem to be much more interesting. Heck, Loras Tyrell has been so bad at portraying

Spoiler

betrayal by Wing/realizing she & Bakuda were in the Hand, that I'm close to rooting for Madame Gao. (fwiw, I'm also disliking Bakuda so far.)

[thesloppy]

Agreed. Danny Rand (character & actor) is definitely the worst thing about Iron Fist. He's like a dipshit savant 30 yr old Richie Rich who just got his first Bob Marley poster.

[CrescentMoonie]

I find the complaints about the Danny Rand character ridiculous. The idea is that he hasn't been on Earth/around society for 15 years, and disappeared from it when he was 10, so of course he's not capable of acting like a normal person. It's a case of arrested development combined with being thrown immediately into full scale corporate America. To have him act differently than he did would be absurd.

[BishopMVP]

But if he's spent the last 15 years in a monastery learning how to focus his emotions & center his Qi maybe he should be able to listen to people talk without constantly interrupting them or having hot flashes and proceeding to break things out of spite.

[CrescentMoonie]

The actor didn't do a good job, but the character rings completely true. He's getting information throughout that suggests everything he thought was true is questionable and it's made pretty clear from the beginning that he left before his training was done.

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by CrescentMoonie

The actor didn't do a good job, but the character rings completely true. He's getting information throughout that suggests everything he thought was true is questionable and it's made pretty clear from the beginning that he left before his training was done.

Meh. As far as character goes I think they went a little too far trying to portray him as naive. This Danny Rand is the kind of dipshit who doesn't understand that he should cut his hair, shave, or at least change his clothes while the subject of a nationwide manhunt. At least 50% of the trouble he's in is because he can't listen to or complete a thought longer than half a sentence. While some of that might be true to the most basic parts of Iron Fist's character it's pretty easy to make a clear distinction between someone who's naive or unfamiliar, and being an idiot in a drug rug who just happens to repeatedly walk into the right room at just the right time.

[ColtCrazy]

Started watching Iron Fist tonight, and my son and I are enjoying it. Yeah, the star isn't the greatest actor in the world, but his portrayal isn't horrible. Action is good and story is interesting.

[Autumn]

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

But if he's spent the last 15 years in a monastery learning how to focus his emotions & center his Qi maybe he should be able to listen to people talk without constantly interrupting them or having hot flashes and proceeding to break things out of spite.

This was my big problem. Right from conceptualizing the show, if they are suggesting he has been training his whole life in martial arts and is essentially the best this other worldly monastery has to offer, he should be very much in control of himself. At least to start, maybe you could build a conflict where he slowly closes control. But they chose to depict him as a hothead and overly emotional from moment one. It just felt like a poor choice for a concept.

If they liked that angle, doing an origin story where he is hotheaded and then begins his training, sort of Dr. Strange like I suppose, would have been a better choice. I actually think Netflix is too scared of origin stories. I think Luke Cage would have been more interesting told in chronological order, and the same here.

[Autumn]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Yeah I was going into this expecting it to be complete garbage based on the reviews. It's really not that bad. Not Daredevil quality but not far off from Luke Cage or JJ. I think the biggest issue with it is Iron Fist just isn't a great character in my opinion.

Will add that I do thing some of the reviews seem politically motivated so maybe that's why there is such a gap between viewers and reviewers.

I'll also throw in that I was disappointed by the production and the choreography. That was a lot of what Daredevil did right, and having a chance to have amazing martial arts on the screen was I thought where they would focus with this series. But the fights were bland, and some of the sets were laughable. It didn't look like the highly produced stuff we got in the other shows.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by Autumn

I'll also throw in that I was disappointed by the production and the choreography. That was a lot of what Daredevil did right, and having a chance to have amazing martial arts on the screen was I thought where they would focus with this series. But the fights were bland, and some of the sets were laughable. It didn't look like the highly produced stuff we got in the other shows.

Fwiw I also gave Into The Badlands a 2nd chance when searching for a Netflix show... The plot & acting was pretty poor, but the sets & fight choreography was much better imo. Only have the 6 episode first season up, I know AMC is in the midst of a 10-episode 2nd season now, maybe the plot improves.

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

Fwiw I also gave Into The Badlands a 2nd chance when searching for a Netflix show... The plot & acting was pretty poor, but the sets & fight choreography was much better imo. Only have the 6 episode first season up, I know AMC is in the midst of a 10-episode 2nd season now, maybe the plot improves.

What a clusterfuck that show is. It does look absolutely wonderful, and I've only made it through the first season (not sure I want to give up the time to a second), but it operates almost entirely on the viewers benefit of doubt. I dunno if the plot is actually poor, so much as it is nonexistent....they dole out plot points like tiny crumbs, and went the whole of season 1 without even revealing the setting, for cripe's sake. 'Lost' seems like a clean, straight-forward story, by comparison.