Spoilers Marvel Cinematic Universe spoiler-heavy speculation thread

[Jayson1]

Even people who didn't like the movie I think always liked his character? Granted I never really got the impression that movie was disliked for being ant-male that much. The closest most complaints in that area was the gender switch of Taskmasker and how the mom was let off the hook for her criminal acts. I feel like the biggest issue was the movie was just kind of ordinary. People were wanting a Black Widow movie for awhile and when we got one it was kind of just okay. Also some letdown because the movie wasn't about her and Hawkeye doing the Budapest mission.

 

[cooleddie74]

We're all a little Red Guardian deep down inside, and I don't mean trained in the former Soviet Union to defend a dying authoritarian society built on terror and intimidation and to wear tight costumes.

 

[Set Harth]

 

[Nerys Myk]

Granted I never really got the impression that movie was disliked for being ant-male that much.

Did I miss a Paul Rudd cameo?

The closest most complaints in that area was the gender switch of Taskmasker and how the mom was let off the hook for her criminal acts. I

The leads are two assassins with ledgers dripping in blood, neither of whom have "paid for their crimes". Yeah Nat is trying to make up for killing a ton of people ( by killing for the other side) and feels bad about it. But no actual "payment". But "mom" being let off the hook is where the problems lies.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

People were wanting a Black Widow movie for awhile and when we got one it was kind of just okay.

That was the biggest problem--just okay in a few parts, disappointing in others, and the feeling that it was more of a Yelena pilot than dedicated BW film.

 

[Jayson1]

My biggest problem with Taskmasker being a women was the women they choose. I felt it watered down the fact that Black WIdow once killed a kid. A character like her should have a backstory filled with lots of innocent dead people, which is one of the reasons she so much wanted to become a better person. Should have used a different person in the role.

 

[JD]

Do you mean that it should have been a different character in the suit, or that they should have cast someone other than Olga Kurylenko?

 

[Nerys Myk]

My biggest problem with Taskmasker being a women was the women they choose. I felt it watered down the fact that Black WIdow once killed a kid. A character like her should have a backstory filled with lots of innocent dead people, which is one of the reasons she so much wanted to become a better person. Should have used a different person in the role.

Marvel rule #1: Make it personal. Taskmaster being the girl Nat thought she killed does this. Nat is the reason Antonia is a disfigured assassin controlled by Dreykov.

 

[JD]

It's not just a Marvel, DC has done the same thing in their movies, they made Joker the guy who killed Batman's parents in the '89 movie, and Ras al'Ghul the guy who trained him in Batman Begins.

 

[Nerys Myk]

It's not just a Marvel, DC has done the same thing in their movies, they made Joker the guy who killed Batman's parents in the '89 movie, and Ras al'Ghul the guy who trained him in Batman Begins.

In the comics, Lex was retconned into being Clark's boyhood friend. Then he wasn't. Then he was again. Smallville also did the boyhood chum thing. Not sure if any other live actions have gone that route.

 

[Anwar]

That was the biggest problem--just okay in a few parts, disappointing in others, and the feeling that it was more of a Yelena pilot than dedicated BW film.

Makes sense...Natasha was dead by then, so they might as well use that time to focus on the character who'd be sticking around (and is better written to boot) than the one who was already dead and her arc finished.

 

[Christopher]

Smallville also did the boyhood chum thing. Not sure if any other live actions have gone that route.

Per Wikipedia, Titans mentioned Lex and Clark formerly being good friends, but I'm not sure at what age. Otherwise, no, it hasn't been done in any other live-action version. The only other live-action version of Lex depicted as knowing Clark in his youth was the one in season 1 of the 1988 Superboy, but he was anything but friendly to Clark.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

In the comics, Lex was retconned into being Clark's boyhood friend. Then he wasn't. Then he was again. Smallville also did the boyhood chum thing. Not sure if any other live actions have gone that route.

One of my long since discarded issues of 'The New Adventures of Superboy' from the 1970s had a cover and story about a teenaged Lex Luthor somehow acquiring some Kryptonite which he used to try and defeat Superboy.

I think one of the dumbest reasons I can remember Lex Luthor hating Superboy, is that back when Lex was a teenager he had a full head of red hair. He lived in Smallville and was friends with Clark/Superboy. Then one day while working in the school laboratory, there was a chemical spill and fire. Superboy arrived and used his super breath to blow out the flames, not knowing that Lex was lying unconscious on the lab floor. When Superboy blew out the flames, his breath caused the chemicals in the smoke to interact with Luthor's hair and it fell out. Earning Superboy his eternal hatred.​

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

I think one of the dumbest reasons I can remember Lex Luthor hating Superboy, is that back when Lex was a teenager he had a full head of red hair. He lived in Smallville and was friends with Clark/Superboy. Then one day while working in the school laboratory, there was a chemical spill and fire. Superboy arrived and used his super breath to blow out the flames, not knowing that Lex was lying unconscious on the lab floor. When Superboy blew out the flames, his breath caused the chemicals in the smoke to interact with Luthor's hair and it fell out. Earning Superboy his eternal hatred.

That ridiculous story first appeared in a Silver Age issue of Adventure Comics (#271 from April of 1960), which was a nonsensical motive for Luthor's appearance and hatred even for the period of its publication.

 

[Nerys Myk]

There's more to the story than Superboy made me bald. Luthor blames Superboy for ruining an experiment he'd won't be able to duplicate. A motivation not to dissimilar to Doom's blaming Richards for screwing up his experiment. The bald thing is secondary.

 

[Nerys Myk]

 

[Nerys Myk]

 

[The Lensman]

He was smart enough to create a fantastic protplasmic lifeform....but not smart enough to cure baldness.

Was never a fan of the "they knew each other as kids" bit. Small universe syndrome and all that.

 

[Nerys Myk]

He was smart enough to create a fantastic protplasmic lifeform....but not smart enough to cure baldness.

Was never a fan of the "they knew each other as kids" bit. Small universe syndrome and all that.

And Doom can't fix his face.

 

[Jayson1]

Do you mean that it should have been a different character in the suit, or that they should have cast someone other than Olga Kurylenko?

I am fine with the same actor being used. Just have her play a different character. Just let the kid stay dead.