TMW #40: Avengers: Doomsday, video-game adaptations and a Jack Black quiz
Tackling the hot-button topics of the day...
Hello cinemaniacs,
…and welcome to your Tuesday dose of Wingman. Today we’re posing lots of IMAX-sized questions. In light of last week’s Avengers: Doomsday casting mega-announcement we ask, has the MCU properly reassembled itself? Or are we heading into the endgame? We bring you Thor/Against arguments below. Further down, it’s time to ponder whether we’re - at last - living in the golden age of video-game adaptations, and will the joy stick? (Sorry.)
And for the last round of our big-question special, we have some traditional fingers-on-buzzer activity (please note, buzzer not included) with a quiz about Jack Black’s many gaming-themed movies. Yep, lots of games this week, and a whole ton of fun.
If you want to unlock all levels, including the Comments section, why not sign up for a monthly subscription? You’ll get bonus writings every Tuesday and Friday plus a lifetime of gratitude from three dedicated independent film journos.
We’d also be grateful for any likes, shares and restacks you can share. Let us know what you think about Marvel, game adaptations, heck, anything screen-centric. We’ll be back on Friday with reviews of the week’s big releases, including Death of a Unicorn and (fingers crossed) A Minecraft Movie. Happy reading!
Matthew (Matt and Jordan)
’Day of Reckoning
Last week’s epic YouTube casting announcement for Avengers: Doomsday left MCU watchers with infinite questions, not least: is it actually going to be any good? Please be seated as we weigh up the pros and cons of the big news (and its method of delivery)...
THE CASE FOR
As Rocky Horror fans know, there’s nothing like a bit of antici… pation. Although it did threaten to derail teatime - keeping one eye on YouTube and another on the fish fingers proved a critical test of my ability to multitask - Marvel Studios’ chair-based extravaganza was the best piece of announcement theatre since RDJ unmasked at last year’s Comic-Con.
For one thing, rather than have everyone cram onto one stage and give the Hall H fire marshals heart failure, it made a refreshing change to roll out the names on YouTube. And by ‘roll out’ I of course mean drag out (the full video clocks in at five hours 27 mins and 51 seconds). But if you’re going to milk something, why not do it till the udders fall off? I increasingly enjoyed the 15-minute eternities between cast reveals, feverishly casting bets on who might be next with my 11-year-old Spider-stan son (his most agonising moment came when the camera alighted on ‘Tom H… iddleston’; Loki is only his second-favourite Marvel character). The bottomless torrent of user comments was an ongoing source of amusement too; among the more printable remarks, I loved the suggestion that Doomsday will unveil a new MCU location: Jurassic Park.
Perhaps all the hype and excitement and silliness distracted slightly from the names themselves - which didn’t, after all, include anyone we didn’t already know about, or who hasn’t played a Marvel character before. But I’m intrigued and/or delighted by the comebacks - surely it can’t just be the dosh that’s coaxed some of the veterans into spandex for the umpteenth time? - and by the team-up/dust-up potential. The Avengers finally meeting the X-Men, only six decades after it first happened in the comics! First the Asgardians of the Galaxy, now the mighty Thor-nderbolts*! (*I’m hoping.) And two super-blokes called Scott (Ant-Man, Cyclops) - in an Anchorman 2 reunion no less!
True, the Russos’ recent form has left something to be desired, but let’s not forget they previously made four Marvel all-timers in the space of only five years. They clearly thrive under pressure and have a love for Marvel that rivals 13-year-old me; I’m willing to believe that The Electric State was a blip and that they’re currently emerging fully revived from Catherine-wheel portals on a Pinewood soundstage.
And then there’s our MVP: RDJ. His (re)casting as Doctor Doom not only raises the multiversal stakes (which have thus far been a bit woolly), it also opens up the possibility that some of the other familiar faces could be playing unfamiliar roles (I can see Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen having some role-swapping larks). Will audiences accept seeing Iron Man in much darker armour? That remains to be seen, but you can guarantee Downey Jr.’s performance won’t be dull, given his track record…
…OK, there’s an elephant in the room, and that elephant is having unfunny banter with Doctor Dolittle. I’m reading it that RDJ signing up for a similarly named character is him implicitly paying penance for his 2020 mishap, and that both Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars are going to be masterpieces. Make mine Marvel! (Matthew Leyland)
THE CASE AGAINST
Whichever side of the fence you’re on when it comes to the current state of the MCU, there’s no denying that the news delivery system for the Doomsday cast announcement was a massive misjudgement. The reveal of 27 names over five-and-a-half hours, via a painfully slow pan across names on the back of chairs would’ve tested the patience of even the most committed Marvel fan. Is it an omen of things to come?
Presumably planned to start generating early buzz for the first of two upcoming Avengers crossover events, as well as convincing audiences that Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four: First Steps are key cogs in the overarching story (rather than simply treading water like much of Phase Four and Five films and shows so far), this kind of announcement should’ve felt triumphant. But for such a protracted reveal, there was a distinct lack of actual surprises. Robert Downey Jr. was the only person to actually appear in the video, which is understandable, as his return as Doctor Doom is the MCU’s trump card/Hail Mary (delete as applicable). But we already knew that from a Comic-Con reveal that was actually internet-breakingly exciting, and we’re clearly in a waiting pattern for news on how the recast RDJ will fit in. Best case scenario, Fantastic Four will provide a first glimpse or hint, but I fear it’ll take longer than that to get any concrete details on this new iteration.
Outside of RDJ, Chris Hemsworth is the only original line-up Avenger confirmed back in action. None of the new school have felt like true leaders of the line-up (except for maybe Tom Holland, who isn’t back in Doomsday). Put bluntly, it’s hard to picture which hero will get pride of place on the poster. It’s going to be Doctor Doom, isn’t it? But the superteam should feel like the main draw in an Avengers movie.
The return of the Fox X-Men cast (Stewart, McKellen, Kelsey Grammer) - after seemingly getting a dewy eyed send-off in Deadpool & Wolverine - is sort of interesting, but it feels like a missed opportunity to bring in a new line-up of X-Men tailored to fit the MCU. It was a chance to introduce some fresh casting who could’ve carried the franchise on its shoulders going forward, as there’s only so many times you can hark back to the glory days before the returns diminish exponentially. How long is the goodbye to the Fox-verse going to drag on? This feels like a way to cash in on the goodwill of last year’s megahit Deadpool & Wolverine, only without including, um, Deadpool and Wolverine.
Channing Tatum returning as Gambit has promise, but it further highlights that we should be getting new and unseen takes on these characters, rather than just putting on another victory lap for the established faces (who, to be fair, have had enough victory laps already). In box-office terms, the X-Men movies never drew crowds as large as the MCU biggest-hitters, so drafting them in smacks of desperation.
This being Marvel, there will no doubt be further appearances and cameos when the film rolls around. They also have to be mindful of keeping at least some of their powder dry for Avengers: Secret Wars, which will need something fresh to entice fans back. The Russo brothers’ post-Endgame work hasn’t had the impact of their best-in-class MCU efforts (films like Cherry, The Gray Man and The Electric State and streaming series Citadel have lacked the action thrills, storytelling nous and astute character-juggling of their Cap and Avengers films), so there’s a sense that they need Marvel as much as Marvel needs them at this point. Will that pressure create an implosion, or another MCU diamond? (Matt Maytum)
Levelling Up
With A Minecraft Movie creeping into cinemas this week, and The Last of Us season two about to put mushroom zombies back on prestige TV agenda, Jordan asks: are we officially in the golden age of video-game adaptations?
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Movie Wingman to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.