And they needed to capitalize on him because the Thor movies, and I realize there are some that feel differently, were just not at the top of the list. Hulk was more of a draw, for me, than Thor for that reason. They reset Thor also for a reason.
I usually don’t follow posters and casting news and avoid trailers, so it’s relatively easy to surprise me. But even I knew about the Hulk being in this movie because their marketing reached out to me in places where I’d see it.
Yeah, definitely not just you on that one. The first one really wasn’t bad (especially in the space of how early it was in the MCU) and was far away better than Ed Norton’s Hulk movie. Thor 2 had its moments, but overall was pretty forgettable. (The Cap cameo was wonderful!)
Heck, I’ve never been big on Iron Man 2 or 3, either. I mean, I saw them in theaters and enjoyed them well enough, but they just didn’t play in the same league as Avengers and Cap, to me.
But there’s a big difference between anticipation and confirmation. A very small percentage of the viewing audience would be familiar with Planet Hulk (or the comics in general). And when you actually show Hulk in the trailers, and emblazoned across the posters, you kind of give it away.
Since you brought up Winter Soldier, it would be like Marvel saying, “You know, I bet people would be really excited to see that Bucky comes back in this one…” For people who knew the comics, they knew who the Winter Soldier was right away. But for the general audience, they got the surprise reveal.
Bucky doesn’t sell tickets. Hulk does. Marvel revealing Bucky wouldn’t get them anything in exchange for the loss of the reveal. Hulk is a different story.
Yeah, I totally get that, and I understand why they did it. I just don’t feel like every trailer needs to be targeted at maximizing day-one ticket sales.
With the Endgame trailers, the Russos made sure they didn’t show anything past the first 20 minutes of the movie, so that the big reveals would be a surprise. There are lots of big events later in the movie that would have put butts in the seats, but those didn’t get put into the trailers until much later. Part of the fun is being surprised. Plus I think that 2017 Marvel has earned more trust than 2011 or 2013 Marvel.
Part of it was Thor wasn’t as big an inherent draw. The first two Thor films were… ok. I thought the first was kinda boring actually.
But Hemsworth has a natural charm and comic timing that they really learned how to use. The too serious Shakspearean Branaugh version just isn’t as engaging. Leaning into the fundamental absurdity of the premise and having fun with it was much better, and makes Ragnarok one of my top 5 marvel movies.
The audience for End Game wasn’t really in question. I mean it wasn’t if people were going to go see a the end result of a 10 year effort whereas most people could probably skip the first two movies and not miss much, many did. I mean even Loki is explained well enough just in Avengers and Ragnarok recaps their relationship and past scenes too so you could STILL miss Thor 1 and 2 and not really miss much. Hell End Game itself recaps umm 2 I think it was.
I would agree with this. While I thought Thor 1 was okay, Thor 2 was watchable but nothing special. I felt the same way about the Iron Man movies. Whereas each Captain America movie got better.
I don’t think there is any doubt they went in a different direction with Ragnarok and that it paid off big for them. From the opening with the Led Zep music Ragnarok had much more energy and humor.
Interestingly, the Captain Americas, with the exception of the first one, are really mini-Avengers movies (heck, Civil War isn’t even mini). So I suspect it comes down to the degree of MCU in the movie that makes it standout for you. How did you feel about other more stand-alone ones like Guardians, Strange, or Marvel?
I am just a Captain America fanboy. Tony Stark is just not a likable character to me, Thor gets better with each movie as he grows.
I sure liked Downey’s version of him. That first movie cemented my interest in the entire run.
I think Chris Evans and the MCU writers did a great job of making Captain America as interesting as he can be, but the character is arguably very boring and one-dimensional. I appreciated that Tony Stark had much more going on.
I didn’t like Tony Stark either until Iron Man 3. His interactions with the kid made me warm up to him.
I suppose that’s pretty fair, but I REALLY liked the first Cap as well (certainly better than Iron Man 2 or 3, DEFINITELY more than Thor 2 or Hulk.) I really REALLY liked Guardians, Strange, as Captain Marvel as well.
Certainly, the more “Avengery” they are, the more they can play with the team dynamic, and there’s a lot to that.
I don’t know if Iron Man 2 and 3 just didn’t…do enough, to me, to further the character? Two they started to address his drinking, but didn’t really go anywhere with it. Thor 2 was just…not a very good movie.
Guardians already has a team dynamic built in, so that definitely helps it. But I really enjoyed Doctor Strange and Captain Marvel, so I really don’t think that’s specifically what I was missing in the movies I didn’t enjoy as well.
For the Winter Soldier specifically, the writers have said that Captain America’s character arc is that he doesn’t change, so the story is about how he reacts when the world changes around him. I appreciate that purity of character.
Well, that only works because they have done an exceptional job accommodating that. A static character can be a hindrance if you don’t REALLY know what you’re doing.
That said, I do feel like they’ve grown him some.
He started off as a boring boy scout who played by the rules and deferred to authority. Starting in Avengers he kind of shifted away from that so by Civil War it wasn’t entirely unbelievable that he took the side he did. Tony’s change felt less believable to me, but it was mostly based on Thanos dreams and fear of what was to come alongside some arrogance.
Man I love these characters, and I am so happy we get more of hopefully funny Thor with has always been funny Guardians.
I would watch the the Hela out of an Asgardians of the Galaxy movie!
I realized while watching a Venture Brothers bit about how it was important to match the power of heroes and their villain adversaries that all the really good Marvel movies combine heroes and villains that are reasonably evenly matched. This is true for my three favorites: Ragnarok (indestructible dude and a literal god running around on a gladiator planet and fighting another god), Black Panther, and Winter Soldier (the latter two basically the inverse of Ragnarok with heroes and villains just a step or two above regular people). Most of the Avengers movies don’t work as well for me for this reason (send Hawkeye home already, he has a family!). This gives me high hopes for both the next Thor and the Dr. Strange / Scarlet Witch movies.
One of the most frustrating things about Marvel movies in hindsight is that it took them almost a decade to figure out that Hemsworth is funny. I remember seeing him in Ghostbusters and groaning thinking he’d come sulk everything up having only seen him as Thor, but he turned out being the funniest thing about the movie (which I liked just fine thank you very much) and so I ended up wondering why he was such a wet blanket in the MCU. Now Thor’s my favorite Marvel character. Funny how things change.