Why do we need fourth wall breaks? Is this a fad that can please go away now?

Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame were the peak. It's been all downhill ever since. Although I've been entertained by what came after, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (by and large) is not really all that good anymore (look...I liked the Hellraiser movie on Hulu, and it was not good...like seriously...so I have a low bar). The multiverse introduction, all the different Spidermen, and the fourth-wall breaking that we always get in every She-Hulk episode is (I think) not all that exciting. I also do understand that breaking the fourth wall is something that happens a lot in She-Hulk comics. I don't read She-Hulk, so maybe I'm lacking that experience on seeing how cool it is. But I actually do like suspension of disbelief, and it's kinda impossible to hit that amazing escapism you can get from a movie if your character goes into the writer's room, which is what happened in She-Hulk's finale.

Like, in the episode, Jen argues to Marvel that She-Hulk is at first a lawyer comedy and a Marvel series second. And then she gets to make changes to her own narrative. I mean...she used the Disney+ menu to enter another show. Like, really? She argues with the very writers of her show, who are actually writing this scene anyways, from the first scene of the show to the last scene. For what it's worth, I don't like the "it was all a dream" trope that writers sometimes use either. I think it's just a matter of taste, and my taste leans that way.

And to be clear, I'm all for watching something fun and goofy. Not everything has to fit neatly into the MCU puzzle. I'm also not clear on what Emil's whole purpose was in this show. Is he just doing self-help seminars now? I do get that he's part of the Thunderbolts, but the whole way of getting him there seems a bit sloppy with his character arc in She-Hulk.

It's got to be hard to follow up a huge story arc that ended with Thanos, a snap that removed half the life in the universe, and time travel that was necessary to reverse all of that wherein we still lost two great heroes. So, I appreciate that they are throwing so much at the wall to see what sticks. I really liked the show as a whole, but this ending fell flat for me. I guess maybe my expectations were out of wonk. Or something. I feel like I should be saying to Marvel, "It's not you, it's me." And leave it at that. Honestly...why do we need fourth wall breaks? Is this a fad that can please go away now?

I suppose that the next thing I need to watch is Werewolf by Night. I hope that ends up being more satisfying.

She-Hulk on Disney Plus didn't waste any time drawing bigger connections to the MCU.

In today's post, I want to discuss the first two episodes of the new She-Hulk series. So this is your spoiler warning.

She-Hulk on Disney Plus didn't waste any time drawing bigger connections to the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe). Most of these Marvel series are not shy on this aspect. But right from the get-go we had a Sakaaran spaceship that resulted in Banner's niece getting infected with his gamma irradiated blood. And then from there, she's off to represent Emil Blonsky, whom we briefly saw in Shang-Chi and who had a larger part in an Edward Norton led Incredible Hulk movie that I believe I've only watched once, and it was well over ten years ago. That show was the one that had the Abomination in it. Honestly, I thought it would be a better movie. But it wasn't bad. I just remember that my interest waned in it once Edward Norton jumped ship for whatever ship he's sailing on these days. I used to like Edward Norton a lot (his performance in American History X is incredible). But I've come to understand that he may be a bit difficult to work with. I've worked with "difficult" folks, so I get it. My sympathies go to anyone that is forced to work with difficult, snobby, demanding people.

I am wondering who Blonsky's "seven penpals" are at this point. He mentioned it more than once when meeting with his lawyer (She-Hulk), and I'm thinking that the line felt "bludgeoning" enough for me to think that they are laying the ground for something. But my knowledge of Marvel is not good enough for me to predict what this "something" is going to be. I also wonder if Matt Murdock will make an appearance at some point seeing as he's a lawyer too. That would be an interesting turn of events and draw a nice connection to the Daredevil series, since we know that She-Hulk is now going to take the place of Mark Ruffalo in the Avengers movies.

Another of the things I find interesting about the character of Blonsky is that we learn (by the end of the second episode) that his participation in the underground fighting ring that was featured in the movie, Shang Chi was in fact an illegal appearance. Honestly, this is a no-brainer. So, I should have realized this. But I didn't. There were too many things I was trying to process plot-wise that this appearance by the Abomination seemed like just another interesting and humorous cameo. However, now that I've had time to process what we saw in She-Hulk I think there are more realistic real world implications.

For one, She-Hulk herself admits out loud that people need to earn a living. Money doesn't just drop from the sky, and she wonders if being an Avenger even comes with a paycheck. When I turned this tidbit over in my mind, I realized that even though Wong is now the Sorcerer Supreme, he might also need a paycheck. So I assumed that Wong is the one that is selling his magical talents to break random super people out of their prisons so that he can earn money in the fighting ring. Afterall, being the Sorcerer Supreme probably doesn't pay a living wage, and those tuna melts from the corner deli don't come cheap.

We don't need this explanation for Stephen Strange. He obviously has a good windfall fund somewhere since he was a rich doctor once, and the Sanctum Sanctorum has to be paid off in full (minus yearly property taxes). The idea that the Sorcerer Supreme has all these regulations and rules about using magical powers and artifacts and whatnot for fear of being magically corrupted, but these same rules do not include using your powers to make money for personal gain (in illegal fight clubs) makes me laugh.

And finally, these two episodes of She-Hulk make me wonder what the plans are for Banner. It seems obvious that they are removing him from The Avengers. But he is seen leaving Earth in a Sakaaran spaceship. So, I wonder if we are going to get a World War Hulk thing in the future? I'm thinking that the Sakaarians are taking Hulk back to the planet to meet his son and baby mama. Some band from Earth attacks (maybe the Illuminati) and Hulk's son and baby mama get killed. That makes Banner lose his shit, and then he comes back to Earth as an unstoppable angry man. Anyway, it's just thoughts at this point. But a lot of it was kicked off with these first two episodes of She-Hulk. They were pretty good. Anyone else wondering where they are going with this thing? Anyone else enjoy what they saw?

What will be the final consequences of all the political hatred directed at shows like She-Hulk?

I haven't watched She-Hulk yet, as I've been busy. I hear from a few trusted sources that it is good. But there is a thing going on with its reviews (especially those on IMDB) that have become newsworthy. I guess, people are bombing the show by the hundreds. And these happened even before the first episode was released. When an article pointed this out (which was open for comments) these were the kinds of comments that were left in response to the reporting:

"Just because you make a w0ke show and it gets bad ratings that doesn't its getting botted it might mean however inconceivable to lefties that the show is just really bad."

"No point in delaying the inevitable. No one wants to watch degenerate trash television and they want you to know it."

"When did giving your opinion that something isn't good become an epidemic instead of the truth? I watched it. It isn't good. Maybe it will get better? But so far, no good. How is that a problem? Women can fail too...."

"The show is a pile of current cultural nonsense and the reviews reflect that."

"Every time some GRRRL POWER MEN ARE TERRIBLE show is criticized this happens, anyone remember Captain Marvel and how awful that was?"

"Sounds like somebody can't handle the fact that their new woke show just isn't that popular. The woke media always wants to make everything they hold dear seem so much more popular than it really is. Yeah, Joe Biden is turning things around. The economy is doing great. Everybody wants a man pretending to be a woman reading books to their kids in school. Conservatives are more violent than leftists. There weren't any riots. What riots?"

The quote below is actually my favorite:

"It's called democracy. Anyone who claims online reviews are rigged is a review denier conspiracy theorist. She-Hulk had the freest and fairest review ratings in the history of review rating. Anyone who denies the She-Hulk reviews deserves to be raided by the F.B.I."

So what do we make of all this? Well...there's a lot of upset people out there who aren't upset about She-Hulk, who feel that bombing She-Hulk is a way to get back at the people that they hate. Don't you think that's weird?

We haven't quite gotten to the point where people take up arms against each other in a full out civil war and a hail of bullets. But we are close. What we do have on our hands is a very uncivil society, and the hate is everywhere. It's palpable. And you can feel it radiating outward from every terrible comment left on websites scattered throughout the internet.

Personally, I wonder why people can't find joy. One of the comments above clearly slurs someone who is transgender. However, the way I'd look at that situation is, "My child is getting a free education at a public school. That's fantastic. It's something I don't have to do."

But no one sees the good in things anymore. I would liken it to being made a delicious dinner, and then complaining about the appearance of the things it was cooked in and even being hateful toward those pots and pans. These online trolls are the worst kinds of bullies. I just wish they weren't half the people in this nation. I sometimes wonder if psychopathy is nature's way of controlling a population that has no other checks.

What will be the final consequences of all the politically-inspired hatred directed at shows like She-Hulk? I'm betting we'll have an answer to that within my lifetime.

Let's talk about two Marvel shows hitting Disney plus that got my head buzzing this week.

Let's talk Marvel for our Friday roundup this week. First up are developments with Daredevil. Then I want to talk a wee bit about She-Hulk. 

Daredevil

News broke yesterday that Matt Corman and Chris Ord are producing another Daredevil series for Disney+. This got me excited, because I liked the Netflix series, and Kevin Feige has said that Charlie Cox will reprise the role of Daredevil (which I thought he did very well). Additionally, I kinda wanted more stories with this character, especially after the incredible third season (if you haven't watched it, you should). I don't really want to see a return of the Kingpin, but it feels inevitable. We've had two seasons now where he was front and center. I'd hope they find another bad guy to do, or maybe hire Tom Holland to reprise his role as Spiderman and suit up for some team-up action. And before you say "Tom Holland is too big to do tv," he absolutely is not. He loves television and wants on Euphoria with Zendaya, and he's been in a Netflix show and an Apple TV show plus some BBC series. So he's totally down for television.

She-Hulk

Folks, we got a She-Hulk trailer earlier this week. I didn't think I'd be as excited as I was to see it, and the first look we got had some pretty rough CGI, which I hope gets cleaned up before we watch the show in August. However, it could be that Avatar sequels from real life juggernaut James Cameron is sucking up all the VFX talent right now, and so studios are having to go with people who don't have as much skill. I think effects work is like a force multiplier, i.e., they can take something strong and make it much, much better, or it can sap the strength of something important by introducing uncanny valley (and other things like that). Anyway, I loved seeing Mark Ruffalo, and it's fun to see "the hulks" smash things, so I think this is going to be a fun series with lots of super strength antics, even if the effects end up standing exactly as they are in the trailer. I suppose (in the end) I'm not the most discerning viewer out there. I just want things to be fun, hence my love for the now canceled Legends of Tomorrow.

Anyway, that's all I wanted to talk to you about. I'm taking a break from blogging next week and I won't post on Monday, because that's Memorial day. However, I'll be back for the IWSG on Wednesday, June 1st. Between then and now, I plan to binge watch Moon Knight, which I haven't gotten around to watching yet. I hear it's pretty good. I have no doubt that if it is, you'll hear about it on this blog.