Wasting The Mandarin in Ironman 3 would belike if in The Dark Knight The Joker was just a cosplayer and The Real Joker was actually Michael Jai White the whole time
Watch it in a different perspective. Iron Man 3 is one of my few favourites of the MCU because the antagonist is internal and it’s a character study for Tony more than an action hero vs villain story. Joker in TDK is a foil to the Batman idea and needs to be a physical entity. Iron Man didn’t have a glowing, prominent villain either in Obadiah Stane; it was more character focused. And these directors/writers did it better than the hacks who made Thanos. The only good villain was The Winter Soldier, but that film was the only good one the Russos did.
@@gimmeyourrights8292 I liked him for all he was. He wasn't the Mandarin out of Iron Man: Armoured Adventures. At least before his facade is dropped, the way he is portrayed is quite good for the MCU, making him seem threatening and creepy. Killian was the cliche villain though, and extremis was just a big waste.
@@skarloeythomas5172 nobody cares about these directors transformative ideas tho. They need to create their own characters for that. As an IM fan, I was excited for the 10 rings, not Shane Blacks reinterpretation of him.
The biggest problem with the villain's is that they are always easily defeated. The villain's are just a stopping point for one movie. They are all just a one movie problem. SO many of them can and should have been multi-movie threats that just don't want to go away.
I remember it was a criticism of Friendship Is Magic that the villains were 'defeated' too easily. Like, pretty much every villain was defeated easily with the ultimate magical power that they had. It didn't make the victories the characters had against the villains feel earned because all they did was convince them to be nice, or use "the ULTIMATE POWER," to defeat them. Essentially, if you need to use the ultimate magical weapon to defeat the villains, the villains don't seem threatening and neither do the heroes because you get the impression that if the villain somehow got the same power they'd win just as easily. "Stop putting villains in armor! If a villain needs 50 tons of armor and weapons to be a threat THEY aren't intimidating, their ARMOR and WEAPONS are!" I think that's the problem with the MCU. The heroes, especially in more recent entries, are just way too powerful compared to who they're fighting. Even if the power sets are equal, the heroes have the support of governments and the best technology known to mankind. You just can't take the villains seriously.
i think it's more than that, personally. It's not that their easily defeated, it's that they were never a threat in any way to the hero. You look at the early MCU villains, a lot of them weren't overly powerful, but they challenged their protagonist in other ways. In ironman, Stain wasn't much of a threat even in his giant suit, but throughout the movie he was there trying to push Tony back into his selfish ways, making it hard for Tony to actually reform both himself and his company. He forced Tony to be a better person Flash forward to basically any villain in phase 4.... they're irrelevant. Not only do they go down easily to the over-powered hero, they barely even get to talk back to them in the process. They're not a part of the hero's proverbial journey, usually the hero just needs to accept that yeah, they really are that great after all. Deal with it, internet haters. They keep trying to make a big deal out of how powerful Kang is.... but he has literally no connection to anyone in the MCU on a remotely personal level. He's just the villain of this arc, to be beaten and disposed of in due time. So why does the viewer actually give a shit? we know he loses in the end and nothing he'll do up until that point will matter in the long run.
@@fadex2101 sad thing is they actually need to take notes and still pretend like they're somehow professional writers. One of the oldest and truest facts about good story telling is that a Hero is only as good as his nemesis in the eyes of the audience. Weak villains breed weak heros, no matter how OP the writer makes them.
@@petriew2018 agreed. That is why Shang Chi was ALMOST great. The villain was good because he had a personal connection with the protagonist. Then they made it a "great" big CGI mess of a final fight that ended by bs luck.
It's so odd how we have so many bland villains in The MCU But in most films before The MCU they had mostly more memorable villains like The Sam Raimi Spider-Man Films and The X-Men Movies aswell as The Blade Films and most of them weren't world ending threats like Thanos
@@pn2294 but then wouldn’t that apply to ultron? I think he’s pretty well written dialogue wise, but he doesn’t really do anything himself for most of the movie. I would also argue that the mcu’s villains are boring because the universe usually disregards the comics to make its own spin of things, but with even less thought put into it.
The old MCU definitely has flaws, but the pros overweighted the cons. The newer movies have also damaged the older ones due to failing to follow up on promises.
the red skull returning in The Winter Soldier would fuel sooooo much of the “nobody’s ever really gone” but him coming back disguised as Alexander Pierce would be so fkn dope. In the movie Steve thought he died for the right cause and to destroy ultimate evil being Red Skull and Hydra as a whole. And so with the winter soldier reversing that and Hydra never having been truly defeated, the extra punch into Steve’s gut that he never even managed to truly defeat his former enemy would be crazy to me. the movie would have to be crazy rewritten tho haha.
I don't think it would be good for the movie purposes as it could be seen as lazy writing to bring back someone who was supposed to be gone into space yet somehow was back and controlling SHIELD. Also, since movies are a lot more constraint compared to comics/tv shows, having Steve fight Red Skull again in his second movie would have felt like cheapening all his other villains (the same way how a lot of us are tired of seeing Batman face the Joker in the movies).
@TheGlassesPro For me, stuff like that works best on shows than movies as shows have more time to flesh out how he survived for so long and how he infiltrated SHIELD while still showcasing different villains. For movies, if they do not do it perfectly, bringing back the same main villain from the first movie as the main villain of the second movie cheapens the other villains as they only focus on that one.
@@braedenalberti yeah and they could brought her in Thor the Dark world or even she should have been the villain of Thor 4 because Gorr just doesn’t seem right because he is a horror movie monster and he doesn’t really fit in that movie but just before Suicide Squad and that’s the reason why she won’t appear Also did you know that both Barons where supposed to be in the First Avenger Zemo and Wolfgang Von Strucker?
U didn't talk about the villain who was the most dissapointing for an Avengers level threat: ULTRON!! Ultron was teased as a menacing villain in trailers, who can take down Avengers on his own!! He should been a grear threat but instead what we got was a wise cracking joking Ultron who occasionally sarcastically threatens some of Avengers!
This is a criticism I don’t quite agree with. Just because Ultron was different from how he is usually betrayed doesn’t make him bad. The character was still quite entertaining and the circumstances for his creation were already quite different. He was fine for his role in the movie. Loki’s performance in the first movie was actually really stellar and him not being as creative with Magic honestly would be fine if they expanded upon it later. These characters don’t need to be one for one.
@@MagmaSpacer Holy cope. The negative reaction at the time the film came out speaks for itself. Everybody hated what they did to Ultron, except you apparently
@@broghad8241 The only people who hated what they did to Ultron are the comic book fanboys. It’s not coping to enjoy a different interpretation as long as it fits the story and is entertaining. I don’t see anything wrong with him. You may not enjoy his style and that’s fine, but I swear any comic fan thinks if it isn’t the comics it’s automatically bad.
@@MagmaSpacer You are so wrong, a lot of the people and reviewers who only watch movies hated him too based of what they saw in the trailers and the fact that he is an A.I which means he should be more powerful, Threating, serious etc and that the plans he used was stupid and dumb for an A.I, and I can even cite you some links for reviews and videos from movie only people who suppport these criticisms too. And no, one of the biggest aspects of a great villain is how threating he is and ultron was the farthest thing from threating even if you want to defend his unfunny unneeded jokes.
My least favorite thing about the villains is that they keep killing them off. (Or just forgetting about them??) In the comics they are recurring threats. They keep coming back over and over and that’s what makes them threatening. But in the movies, you get attached and then they die. :/
Can't wait for part 2! I've said it before but in a sea of youtubers making videos about the downfall of the MCU, you're my favorite because you know your comics and you don't sugarcoat anything.
It was new and simple and fun enough. Now they're for profit only and have not improved in quality because they don't need too. Their formula works enough to get people to cough up moneyyyyy
My theory is that Back then Comic Book Films were actual risk and were seen as jokes for nerds compared to other film franchises but when The MCU became big and started dominating the box office cosistently fans and critics alike began respecting them despite their faults Nowadays The MCU isn't special since they are so risk free and not unique since basically everyone does comic book films now
I find it ironic that Ben Kingsley's Mandarin was more Intriguing and memorable than the actual Mandarin. Also funny how you highlighted Mandarin and Modok at the same time and they were literally a duo in the Iron man animated show.
I mean the new Mandarin was powerful clearly in 10 rings but I still can't believe they made him dance on a video game dance mat in the flashback 😭 just took the menacing side out and made him a melancholy dad.
The bald guy from Iron Man 1 didn't vanish, he was killed by Obadiah's men. The scene doesn't show it but implies it with gunshots when Obadiah leaves after paralyzing him.
The MCU really dropped the ball on the villains because they could have pushed the story forward after ENDgame. Can you imagine if the Redskull or The Mandarin were still operating in the MCU with half the population gone. They literally could have taken over most of the world. It could have been established a bit in the beginning of Endgame of the power they were able to obtain. And once they were able to reverse the snap. They could be the focus of the TV shows and maybe a movie to push the story forward.
All great points, the MCU has never been the absolute best but the heroes were compelling enough to keep coming back. The balls was always a fumble but now it’s completely dropped
the worst one to me is loki taking the throne at the end of dark world only for ragnorok to literally immediately take that back, the best example of setup being thrown out
The reveal being played as a huge joke is such a missed opportunity as well. Did anyone notice Odin was acting odd before Thor showed up? What did the people think of Loki's rule? Did Loki become attached to any of his subjects? Did he like ruling? Did he miss Thor? Even when he was sent to Sakaar it was played as a joke! Did he steal the passcodes to the spaceships only for fun, or was he planning an escape? Did he only fear Hella? Did he ever care about any of his people at all or when he said he's not sentimental did he really mean it? They had so much to work with and they botched it!
Abomination should've been the "Saiyan" of the MCU. A mercenary that shows up for a fight whether it's against good or evil as long as it's a challenge. Being remind of Loki's abilities in the comics made me realize how boring the MCU really is with it's source material.
Admittedly the original Mandarin design from the comics is a stereotype, and a visually racist characture. However he evolved past that beginning and became an interesting, powerful and intimidating character.
The Red Skull is the most underrated of the MCU villains in my opinion Hugo Weaving was what stopped him from being another generic MCU bad guy and he worked well as a dark mirrored version of what Steve Rogers could have been if he was morally corrupt
Just watched a whole bunch of your back catalog and I must say; out of all of the negative marvel commentators I definitely respect you the most. Insightful in-depth and disappointed with the wasted potential of these films instead of just a huge tirade. Feels more genuine and less performative than others. While still able to see the bits of good that are done at times.
you really nailed the Iron Man 3 segment. i will NEVER forget the “Trevor Slattery” reveal. ever. biggest disappointment in the MCU after some of the most compelling MCU advertising.
There are two diseases that have always been prevalent in comics, and it takes good writing and restraint to keep them in check. The first, and most well known, is power creep. Where protagonists get constant boosts or feats that make them seem completely unchallengeable over time. The other problem, the less well known, is power seep, where previously important villains get nerfed to the point where they are no longer considered a threat or a challenge to the protagonist. Often these villains are original and have great back stories and sources of power that make sense for them to be treated as a major threat, but the writers wish to pander to fanboys who always want their favorite protagonist to win, and easily, for a short lived catharsis. The result is that villain, with an established relationship with the reader, ends up being replaced with a generic "new guy" villain, who is only there to serve as a punching bag and shovel on more of the hero's power creep. Power Creep and Power Seep are the STDs of comics. They are all over the place, and initially catching one is fun, but the consequences later aren't fun at all. Unfortunately the MCU has contracted a pretty advanced case of power seep, and they need to get on anti-biotics because that seep is starting to burn and itch.
8:24 Basically, what happened is that the Chinese, who were bankrolling the movie, said 'Nah' because they didn't want a Chinese character being viewed as villainous and Hollyweird, who are still really trying to simp for the Chi-Coms even though it hasn't worked for them, said 'Sure. We round eyes so dumb.'
Tom Hiddelston is a talantented actor. The movie wanted Loki to be relatable to the audience who might hold a grunch towards their sibling or friends. It's not his fault. Tom gave all he had. I agree, in the first movie they focused on the family dynamic but they still could have introduced his megical powers. Later on they had and have to do that.
It's only sad they wasted the Mandarin because the "Osama-Bin Mandarin" take was actually very creative and could have really been something different and unique for the MCU.
if he thought the mandarin was a racial stereotype (which lets be real, the older comics were caricatures so i “get” it) but why wouldnt you just then make him a fully fleshed asian character with his motivation for being a villain tie in to how he is treated due to his culture or literally anything to balance that out instead of white washing him entirely. “instead of having an asian stereotype i’ll just have a white guy!” isnt that just admitting that YOU dont know how to write asian characters??
Obadiah Stane is actually one of my favorite MCU villains. You mentioned the grey CGI blob effect, but compared with most CGI slug fests on this list, the fight was pretty toned down and grounded, and it had a few clever moments like paralleling the scene when Tony boots up the Mk 1, and adding a callback to the time Tony tested the Mk 2's in high altitude. And as an antagonist, he works well as a foil for Tony, representing who Tony could have become if he hadn't had his eyes opened. But mostly I like Obadiah because of Jeff Bridges' performance. I think he works really well with RDJ, and there are a lot of great highlights and memeable moments. Obadiah is also a vastly different character compared to the rest of Bridge's roster (except maybe CLU, but I think Tron Legacy came out shortly after Iron Man).
I was extremely disappointed with the whole thing they did with the "Mandarin" in Iron-Man 3. I totally wanted a serious Ben Kingsly Mandarin with the 10 rings of power & everything. Then they instead glommed on the Mandarin name to Aldrich, a weak character who offed himself in the comics.
16:10 umm... no, that's wrong. Loki was killed by a corrupted Sentry, making a heroic sacrifice, with his last words being an apology to Thor, during the Siege comic arc, which was actually genuine, not fake. The next time he appeared, it was through reincarnation, meaning he did actually die during Siege. Loki redeeming himself was something that was around before the MCU (I think Siege was before Loki appeared in the MCU, but I'm not sure), though this didn't pick up until more recent comic arcs.
In the case of the Mandarin's depiction in Iron Man 3, it was the end result of Chinese censorship. Disney didn't care about the Storytellin' potential of the Mandarin. They didn't care that their changes to the character would damage the film. All they cared about was gettin' their thumb in the pie that was the Chinese market. As for his depiction in Shang-Chi, the Marvel didn't have the rights to Fu Manchu, so they took an Iron Man villain and turned him into a Fu Manchu expy so that the Shang-Chi film can have a villain.
Can you remember the villain from Thor the Dark World? Yes, I can! It was Malekith 😌 High five…who was the other villain? There was another villain?? 😶🤔
0:56: ! The video discusses the flaws in the villains of the MCU, focusing on Obadiah Stane from Iron Man. 3:32: 😐 The video discusses the characters and their performances in the movie Thor, stating that Loki's role was uninspired and the movie overall was dull. 6:14: 🎥 Loki's powers are creative and unpredictable, making him a dangerous and fascinating villain, while Thor becomes a more compelling hero as he needs to outsmart Loki rather than just fight him head-on. 9:18: 🎮 The Mandarin's role in the Marvel Universe and his portrayal in the Iron Man movies. 12:35: 🎬 The video discusses the portrayal of an Asian villain in Iron Man 3 and criticizes the decision to replace him with a white character. 15:41: 🎥 The video discusses the characters Living Armor, Malekith, and Loki in the film Thor: The Dark World. 18:42: 😕 The video discusses the disappointment with the portrayal of villains in Marvel movies. Recap by Tammy AI
The Mandarin wasn’t just wasted in Iron Man 3, he was disrespected as a character, thus insulting comic fans. The MCU died with Iron Man 3. How many millions need to be lost before Disney learns to follow the Source material.
My take on the Mandarin would be a Joker level villain in Iron Man 3. And would give Tony Stark both and external and internal threat to deal with. A former Stark Industries employee who was wronged by Howard Stark in the past who would formed the Ten Rings as a multi ethnic terrorist organization from the shadows and involved in the events of Iron Man 1 and 2. The Mandarin would inject himself with Extremis to take on Iron Man instead of Aldrich Killian. This would grounded and believable rather than mythicism
You know what a really sucks the mandarin could have easily been there doctor doom of the m c u. The villain who is connections to like almost every villain because he help them or it's finance them whether they know about it or not. Even helps out the heroes during fantas's attack and realizing he's a bigger threat and need some of the way like doctor doom.
From the first iron man I always had a problem with the villains dying by the end of the movie, now the multiverse is there they will probably try to re-usher in some rushed story lines but it probably wouldn’t be the same by that point
Gorr in the MCU is generic and watered down also compared to his comic book counterpart and Loki in the MCU is a antihero he flip flops between being a villain or a Allie so he’s not a straight up villain.
Really good video, can’t wait for part 2! I like how you’re finding flaws in every villain then explaining the flaws then explaining what they could have done. To add on it’s cool how you talk about the villains and storylines in comics and how they got a bad adaptation in MCU. I also enjoy the funny clips you insert in except for the shit joke in the beginning kinda not tasteful but The “he’s not the guy” joke gets a 10 outta 10.
I'll never understand how these writers have the perfect blue print right infront of them, hell several blue prints to pick from, cuz alotta comic book characters have countless variations of their story Yet they STILL fuck it up
A lot of comics are terrible or silly, what perfect blueprints? a lot of characters needed multiple issues or reboots to be considered good characters and not just cool characters (or forgetable ones in some cases)
@@FranciscoRamirez-nb4uu SOME comics are terrible or silly, but pretending there's not a LOT of amazing storys to pick from that the movie directors can recreate/mix together is just laughable
@@fobo3361I Don't read the comics but I like the mandarin as both felt fun to me and to be honest I don't get the appeal for Red Skull being this looming threat personally Iike the idea of his grandkid being the head of hydra.
7:32 *_That's what I refer to as the "Independence Day Cheat" and the reason I didn't bother watching 'Avengers: Age of Ultron'. It was an early sign of things to come (see how they used time-travel to get themselves out their painted-in corner?)._* 🤨
Maybe my color palate is off but abomination looks more greenish grey than full on grey, I thought both him and the hulk looked dope in that movie. Was never a fan of the hulk recast
It still gets me that Thunderbolt Ross was sidelined. Having Hurt play him was great and bringing him back once the MCU started was aswesome. And then pretty much nothing. As a major fan of the Hulk back in the 60s and 70s I always saw him as jade-jaw's real arch enemy. And the best kind because he wasnt an evil guy he was actually sure that he was the hero and savior of the country and that Hulk was the ultimate danger. I was sure the MCU was going to circle back and have Ross' obsession to stop Hulk lead to Ross clashing with the Avengers (maybe with full sanction, maybe abusing his authority and stepping over tne line). But now Hurts gone and we never even saw him and Ruffalo together. Ford's sure to be a good Ross, but it's still a missed opportunity at one of the best lead ups in cinema.
@@cosmicspacething3474 Maybe, but I'm starting to get sick of seeing hulk continue like that. To be fair to marvel, the blame goes to universal being so strict on the hulk.
Loki's powers should have been like mysterio in spider man. Except even better, with no need for projectors, centuries of experience, some powers that go beyond just audiovisual illusion. And heck hes an Asguardian so he can still fold a regular human in half with his bare hands.
Marvel really missed a trick, if they hadn’t killed off all of their villains, then we could have seen an epic team up against Thanos! Just imagine, everyone putting their differences to one side for the greater good
this could’ve been what happened with Thor with stuff like Ragnarok, Infinity War, and Endgame. maybe not villains like Lauffey and Malekith but regarding Lauffey and the Frost giants I think if they spent Thors first two movies focused on Asgard and their rule over the Nine Realms, the conflicts that would be reminiscent and similar to our problems on earth on things such as war and idk socialism (jk), then we could’ve had moments where even though Loki killed their king lol, when they hear Thanos has returned, already knowing that he killed Loki, they come to help Earth in the fight against thanos, and their thoughts being “yeah he killed our king but that’s just classic father-son banter. Anyway he’s still one of us and we feel bad about Asgard so we’re here to fight.” and show up maybe alongside the remaining asgardians in the portals. there was barely any exploration of the nine realms or even Asgard during the first two films as they spent time dicking around planet to planet in the middle of boring visits to Earth that I can’t even name another realm or civilization that Odin and Asgard ruled over. It’s funny to now think about tho. where was the nine realms during those three films I listed, or at the very least in endgame now that New Asgard would have to deal with possibly(?) losing control of all of the nine realms when Asgard was destroyed. and I’m pretty sure we still don’t know what happened to The Nine Realms with love and thunder.
@@hosaepalvin9795 the nine realms lost their protection when Odin died, Thor decided to hand rule to Valkyrie and no more was mentioned. Nine realms that could have joined the fight, and…… nothing. So many stories could have been told and we were left with Jane bloody Foster
*1:01** DON'T GET ME WRONG, I UNDERSTAND YOUR POINT & I AGREE BUT YOU CHOOSE THE WORST EXAMPLES* Because ALL of them were Big Gray Blobs in the source Material Too, since Megatron to Doomsday, here are better(or in this case, worst) examples of colorful Characters turned into Big Gray Blobs on Live Action: -The Maximals In ROTB(still can't believe they took off the animal colors) -Zilla 1998 -The Brutes in Halo 2022 -The Elites in Halo 2022 -Silver Samurai in Wolverine 2003 -Steppen Wolf in Josstice League
@@shardsoftime0952 to be fair, Live Action Transformers turned MORE Good Guys than Decepticons Grey, For example: -Jazz -Sideswipe -The Dinbots -The Maximals -Hound -Mirage
If Malekith's personality was similar to Loki's then they shouls have embraced that, let Loki see a mirror of himself in some way. Or at least just use a different villain if they can't make it work.
At least Blonsky's semi blood hungry attitude was teased earlier in the movie. He WANTED Hulk poweer. he WANTEd to go a few rounds with the hulk. Though that doesnt really make him all TOO interesting, but at least his transformation (as lame as it looked) made some sense.
The "angry bald man" as you put it, in Iron Man 1, didn't "vanish", he got killed by Obadiah's people when they killed the rest of the 10 Rings guys that were part of Tony's kidnapping.
@Singlespeedpunk an offscreen death means they could’ve done whatever they wanted with him. The ten rings was a pretty clear reference. And I never said it was a sure thing. I brought that guy up to bolster the point that these villains could have been built up over multiple films, but more often then not, they just get dropped. If i articulated that poorly, then my bad.
i would say arnim zola is done pretty well, his death might not have meant much but in his time on screen he managed to give a classic exposition with a plan and just because hit data banks were destroyed doesnt mean they were the only data banks (what if reference)
Well. You certainly have done a great job at pointing out missed opportunities and how things could have been much better. You have kind of bummed me out, to be honest. But, thank you anyways for your good work. I am going to watch part 2 now.
I think what they need to do is let villains stick around for a little longer to develop with the characters They don't always need to die at the end of their movie, like in the cartoons and comics, They definitely shouldn't stick around forever and not die though
8:00 Your point on Iron Man 3 genuinely surprised me. I had no idea that teh terrorist leader in Iron Man 1 was being hinted as the Mandarin! Why didn't they go with that?! It would have an awesome call-back to Tony's first movie and the villain would have had a personal stake and a be a genuine threat! Also, they wouldn't have had any issues with the pissy Chinese government since the actor is not Chinese! This would have been brilliant!
I think The First Avenger is my favorite MCU movie overall. Cap is a pure force of good against a pure force of evil, it's not too long, and the villain is actually consistent through the whole with no weird twists. Although I did enjoy the Mandarin twist as a non-Iron Man comic fan the only time I saw the movie (not the Killian change over though).
Watching this made me realize I don't think I've ever rewatched a single MCU movie :s Until the last few years they weren't bad, just nothing special or memorable. Now I don't even care a single but about the new movies or shows..
I know it may sound silly, but I've been feeling nostalgic for the 2000s and early 2010s Marvel movies. Yeah they weren't the best, their villains, as we saw on this video, weren't much different from what came after, but my god they were way more interesting. They all had different tones and personalities, and they hinted at a way bigger universe past what we saw on the main storyline. They gave off this feeling of opportunities, the prospect of the world beyond was so, so, so alluring. Even the post-credit scenes served a different purpose. They weren't just trailers or announcements for future movies / tv shows, like they are today. Quite on the contrary, they hinted at a character, or an event that may appear in the future. And most of the time, you wouldn't get them if you weren't a comics fan, they were clever nods, not advertisments. Every detail of every scene was thought out, every character name was a nod to something, the world overall felt richer. I think this changed around the time of the OG Guardians of the Galaxy's release. That movie, in my opinion, was one of the last ones to give off this vibe. Maybe it's because Marvel movies got into the "mainstream", but after that it all felt... The same. Yeah, Infinity War, Endgame, and Guardians 2 were great, but they did feel different. They all had the same kind of humour, the same feel, and worse of all, the worlds didn't feel rich, they started to feel bloated. These movies started to introduce a lot of things from the comics, but they were just used for 25 second gags or deus ex machina, not to expand the universe per se. And after they served their purpose they were promptly discarded. For a clear example, look at Xandar. Guardians 1 introduced the whole planet as a serious beacon of law & order in the galaxy, opposed to Ronan's ruthless and brutal inquisition. The nova core were the literal definition of a Lawful Neutral force. They hunted down the Guardians until they redeemed themselves. They seemed like something that was here to stay, a new force in the universe that everyone should be aware of. But we literally never see them again. I think that in infinity war someone goes "thanos destroyed xandar lol" and they move on to something else. I seriously think that we couldn't see this essential change back in the day because we were all invested in the Infinity saga. But after they could no longer ride off thanos' coattails, it all fell apart. And here we are today. Phase 4 was complete shite, and phase 5 is not looking to be anything different. I dare you, go back to those old movies and compare them to more recent outings, you'll see what I mean.
I disagree with making the Winter Soldier feature Red Skull being s good thing. The worst thing about that film is that it sets up Steve in contrast to the Military/Intelligence Service but replaced that conflict with "Oh it's Hydra again." It turns a story that should have been about Steve recognizing the evils of the US War Machine into just him vs the Nazis again so that the reads dont have to feel bad about the military being the bad guy. If anything they should have dropped Hydra and made it a full on Steve vs SHIELD story
But it wasn't genuine,My dear 1. They made EXTREMELY Dishonest & Baiting Publicity, Trailers, Posters, etc. 2. The movie really didn't got a good budget in WW, Most of the money came from chine because they applied the Same strategy of Uwe Boll, they allied with the Chinese Goverment to almost make an obligation to the people to watch that movie
I would have had the Chitauri continue to fight to the last, with Fury going out of his way to capture as many as he could for research and interrogation.
YOU KNOW HOW MENACING IS THE MANDARIN WHEN IRON MAN NEED TO JOIN TO HIS VILLAINS(Blizzard, Parks, Zeke Stane & Whirlwind) & YET THEY 5 WERE OUTNUMBERED BY HIM
I know this sounds like an odd thing to talk about but can you talk about the lineup for the First Avengers movie? In the comics, the founding members are Ant-Man, The Wasp, Hulk, Thor and Iron Man (Captain America is also technically a founder since after the Hulk left the team they gave his founding member status to Steve but that's besides the point). In the movies however, the founders are Cap, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Hawkeye and Black Widow. I don't get why they didn't just make an Ant-Man movie and have Hank and Jan replace Clint and Natasha, I get that people loved Black Widow after Iron Man 2 but there is no way she should've been a founding member of the team imo. It doesn't help that they basically wasted Hank and Jan in every movie they appeared in, so not only did they lose their Founding Member status but they also just generally became much worse characters. To this day, EMH has the best portrayal of Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne I've ever seen, why they couldn't go the route the show did with the movies is beyond me.
Pretty hipocrit that they did that while also Hiring a Mexican Lolcow to play a R*cist Mexican caricature When the Namor from the comics has NOTHING TO DO with Mexico
Now that I think of it. Loki and Malekith could be different. Loki at his core is a coward and petty man, who uses ilussions and manipulates people to get what he wants. Servkng as a foil to Thor's noble strenght and his honest heart. Malekith could have the brains AND the muscle. Something that Loki lacks. And make some fun out of it! You could make Malekith an sadic and Megalomaniac bastard, who looks everybody as mere insects whom are beneath him. Make him enjoy how he breacks their will and bodies before finishing them off, and make him allways come to the point of what he wants. Contrary to Loki in that aspect, who has a theatrical demeanor on him using an elegant vocabulary to distinct himself frol the power hungry conqueror that is Malekith. Just because you have two villains who are charismstic and arrogante doesn't mean you can't mske them unique in their own ways.
1:04 I felt this pain. Last knight megatron was the best official live action design. The best live action megatron is the 3rd party monocrat megatank.
The garbage library disney has accumulated post endgame, which has made everyone revisit the earlier phases of Marvel. And honestly, it had a negative effect on the more successful library. The past stuff is nowhere near as good as we thought it was, and it's not aging well. Maybe 4 movies are elite 8 plus out of 10s and the only 4 worth watching again.
They should take more risks. Have the villain win once in a while, or at least cause so much damage that the victory for the hero is a pyrrhical on. Infinity war. Dark knight. The reason why people love those movies is because the villains are not only menacing, but actually competent. Hell, flip the script and put us in the seat of the villain. Try something instead of this formulaic BS.
I'm surprised you haven't talked about how awful MCU's version of Justin Hammer was compared to the comics. In the comics Hammer is an old British guy and a heartless scumbag who ruined Stark's life by framing Iron Man for a murder of an innocent and set him on the path of self-destruction and would often expose Iron Man's sense of morality to escape from consequences of his actions. He also doesn't do things publicly; he hides in the shadows. He's the worst kind of a rich guy; the one who is a total sociopath to whom people are expendable material. If it wasn't for the Mandarin, Hammer would be Stark's arch nemesis. In the MCU they made him a cheap knock off of Stark who tries to be as cool as Stark, but fails, and neither Stark or anyone else takes hims seriously. Hammer shouldn't be a goofy knockoff of Stark. He should be his absolute opposite. Sator in Tenet has more in common with Justin Hammer of the comics than the actual Justin Hammer in the MCU.
Armored Adventures shown us a GREATER example on how to modernize & reivent thr character of Hammer, The dude pretends to be a rich careless boy but is actually a Terrific Psycho who was no issue with stepping in the way of everyone to fullfil his agenda
Imagine how cool it would be if Justin Hammer came back as Detriot Steel that would be so cool and would be better than Iron Monger and Whiplash in my opinion
No sir the BIGGEST issue is that the villains are either killed off immediately or sidelined for extremely long times abomination being a good example I think it was over 10 years before he returned same with the leader and so they do NOT utilize the villains very well no room to grow and because they are beaten so quickly there is no actual threat
I think that Itachi from Naruto is the Loki that we needed in MCU. You never know, what is true or false, and you are at constant danger when you battle Itachi, which seems like a perfect match
Wasting The Mandarin in Ironman 3 would belike if in The Dark Knight The Joker was just a cosplayer and The Real Joker was actually Michael Jai White the whole time
Watch it in a different perspective. Iron Man 3 is one of my few favourites of the MCU because the antagonist is internal and it’s a character study for Tony more than an action hero vs villain story. Joker in TDK is a foil to the Batman idea and needs to be a physical entity. Iron Man didn’t have a glowing, prominent villain either in Obadiah Stane; it was more character focused. And these directors/writers did it better than the hacks who made Thanos. The only good villain was The Winter Soldier, but that film was the only good one the Russos did.
@@skarloeythomas5172 Those the Mandarin was still shit tho.
@@gimmeyourrights8292 I liked him for all he was. He wasn't the Mandarin out of Iron Man: Armoured Adventures. At least before his facade is dropped, the way he is portrayed is quite good for the MCU, making him seem threatening and creepy. Killian was the cliche villain though, and extremis was just a big waste.
@@skarloeythomas5172 nobody cares about these directors transformative ideas tho. They need to create their own characters for that. As an IM fan, I was excited for the 10 rings, not Shane Blacks reinterpretation of him.
@@Moshuun He should have made a better villain then. Iron Man’s introspective battle still stands though, and it’s enough for me to really enjoy it.
The biggest problem with the villain's is that they are always easily defeated. The villain's are just a stopping point for one movie. They are all just a one movie problem. SO many of them can and should have been multi-movie threats that just don't want to go away.
I remember it was a criticism of Friendship Is Magic that the villains were 'defeated' too easily.
Like, pretty much every villain was defeated easily with the ultimate magical power that they had. It didn't make the victories the characters had against the villains feel earned because all they did was convince them to be nice, or use "the ULTIMATE POWER," to defeat them.
Essentially, if you need to use the ultimate magical weapon to defeat the villains, the villains don't seem threatening and neither do the heroes because you get the impression that if the villain somehow got the same power they'd win just as easily.
"Stop putting villains in armor! If a villain needs 50 tons of armor and weapons to be a threat THEY aren't intimidating, their ARMOR and WEAPONS are!"
I think that's the problem with the MCU. The heroes, especially in more recent entries, are just way too powerful compared to who they're fighting. Even if the power sets are equal, the heroes have the support of governments and the best technology known to mankind. You just can't take the villains seriously.
i think it's more than that, personally. It's not that their easily defeated, it's that they were never a threat in any way to the hero. You look at the early MCU villains, a lot of them weren't overly powerful, but they challenged their protagonist in other ways.
In ironman, Stain wasn't much of a threat even in his giant suit, but throughout the movie he was there trying to push Tony back into his selfish ways, making it hard for Tony to actually reform both himself and his company. He forced Tony to be a better person
Flash forward to basically any villain in phase 4.... they're irrelevant. Not only do they go down easily to the over-powered hero, they barely even get to talk back to them in the process. They're not a part of the hero's proverbial journey, usually the hero just needs to accept that yeah, they really are that great after all. Deal with it, internet haters.
They keep trying to make a big deal out of how powerful Kang is.... but he has literally no connection to anyone in the MCU on a remotely personal level. He's just the villain of this arc, to be beaten and disposed of in due time. So why does the viewer actually give a shit? we know he loses in the end and nothing he'll do up until that point will matter in the long run.
@@petriew2018 super well thought out. All we need is for the writers of the MCU to see this and take notes
@@fadex2101 sad thing is they actually need to take notes and still pretend like they're somehow professional writers. One of the oldest and truest facts about good story telling is that a Hero is only as good as his nemesis in the eyes of the audience. Weak villains breed weak heros, no matter how OP the writer makes them.
@@petriew2018 agreed. That is why Shang Chi was ALMOST great. The villain was good because he had a personal connection with the protagonist. Then they made it a "great" big CGI mess of a final fight that ended by bs luck.
It's so odd how we have so many bland villains in The MCU
But in most films before The MCU they had mostly more memorable villains like The Sam Raimi Spider-Man Films and The X-Men Movies aswell as The Blade Films and most of them weren't world ending threats like Thanos
The Big Grey Villian Cinematic Universe.
Did they? The other villains are mostly remembered for their actors.
@@pn2294 doesn’t that mean the actor was good enough to leave a mark on the audience? Most times can’t even get that with studio meddling
@@rkeazazel2163 that means nothing because that completely separate from the writing
@@pn2294 but then wouldn’t that apply to ultron? I think he’s pretty well written dialogue wise, but he doesn’t really do anything himself for most of the movie. I would also argue that the mcu’s villains are boring because the universe usually disregards the comics to make its own spin of things, but with even less thought put into it.
You never see people critic the old mcu. So thank you.
Even though I liked it...I always said they were over rated. Theme park rides was a very apt description
@@Another-li2qn Scorsese was right lmao yet people trashed him
The old MCU definitely has flaws, but the pros overweighted the cons. The newer movies have also damaged the older ones due to failing to follow up on promises.
*critique
@@cosmicspacething3474 Yes. Agreed.
the red skull returning in The Winter Soldier would fuel sooooo much of the “nobody’s ever really gone” but him coming back disguised as Alexander Pierce would be so fkn dope. In the movie Steve thought he died for the right cause and to destroy ultimate evil being Red Skull and Hydra as a whole. And so with the winter soldier reversing that and Hydra never having been truly defeated, the extra punch into Steve’s gut that he never even managed to truly defeat his former enemy would be crazy to me. the movie would have to be crazy rewritten tho haha.
Semi chub off this idea
Eh I think it's a lame idea that feels both pointless and going to quickly too soon.
I don't think it would be good for the movie purposes as it could be seen as lazy writing to bring back someone who was supposed to be gone into space yet somehow was back and controlling SHIELD. Also, since movies are a lot more constraint compared to comics/tv shows, having Steve fight Red Skull again in his second movie would have felt like cheapening all his other villains (the same way how a lot of us are tired of seeing Batman face the Joker in the movies).
@TheGlassesPro For me, stuff like that works best on shows than movies as shows have more time to flesh out how he survived for so long and how he infiltrated SHIELD while still showcasing different villains. For movies, if they do not do it perfectly, bringing back the same main villain from the first movie as the main villain of the second movie cheapens the other villains as they only focus on that one.
Wow Phase 2 or 3 could've really been used to set up the Masters of Evil. Such a missed Opportunity.
Yes because they have done that back then
The fact that they never even introduced the enchantress still blows my mind
@@braedenalberti,
On a Side note, do You think Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes did it Better?
@@braedenalberti yeah and they could brought her in Thor the Dark world or even she should have been the villain of Thor 4 because Gorr just doesn’t seem right because he is a horror movie monster and he doesn’t really fit in that movie but just before Suicide Squad and that’s the reason why she won’t appear
Also did you know that both Barons where supposed to be in the First Avenger Zemo and Wolfgang Von Strucker?
U didn't talk about the villain who was the most dissapointing for an Avengers level threat: ULTRON!!
Ultron was teased as a menacing villain in trailers, who can take down Avengers on his own!! He should been a grear threat but instead what we got was a wise cracking joking Ultron who occasionally sarcastically threatens some of Avengers!
Bro, he wrote part 1 in video tittle!
This is a criticism I don’t quite agree with. Just because Ultron was different from how he is usually betrayed doesn’t make him bad. The character was still quite entertaining and the circumstances for his creation were already quite different. He was fine for his role in the movie. Loki’s performance in the first movie was actually really stellar and him not being as creative with Magic honestly would be fine if they expanded upon it later. These characters don’t need to be one for one.
@@MagmaSpacer Holy cope. The negative reaction at the time the film came out speaks for itself. Everybody hated what they did to Ultron, except you apparently
@@broghad8241 The only people who hated what they did to Ultron are the comic book fanboys. It’s not coping to enjoy a different interpretation as long as it fits the story and is entertaining. I don’t see anything wrong with him. You may not enjoy his style and that’s fine, but I swear any comic fan thinks if it isn’t the comics it’s automatically bad.
@@MagmaSpacer
You are so wrong, a lot of the people and reviewers who only watch movies hated him too based of what they saw in the trailers and the fact that he is an A.I which means he should be more powerful, Threating, serious etc and that the plans he used was stupid and dumb for an A.I, and I can even cite you some links for reviews and videos from movie only people who suppport these criticisms too. And no, one of the biggest aspects of a great villain is how threating he is and ultron was the farthest thing from threating even if you want to defend his unfunny unneeded jokes.
My least favorite thing about the villains is that they keep killing them off. (Or just forgetting about them??) In the comics they are recurring threats. They keep coming back over and over and that’s what makes them threatening. But in the movies, you get attached and then they die. :/
At least they didn’t kill off or forget about Agatha. She’s one of the few recent MCU villains to stay alive and relevant.
@@tsuumee4545 Nope, Wanda Killed her & Replaced with a Clone😂
@@ArcTrooper269 Coven of Chaos says otherwise!
Can't wait for part 2!
I've said it before but in a sea of youtubers making videos about the downfall of the MCU, you're my favorite because you know your comics and you don't sugarcoat anything.
Finally people are starting to see how bland and safe the mcu is. Not sure how they had the facade going for so long
It was new and simple and fun enough. Now they're for profit only and have not improved in quality because they don't need too. Their formula works enough to get people to cough up moneyyyyy
My theory is that
Back then Comic Book Films were actual risk and were seen as jokes for nerds compared to other film franchises but when The MCU became big and started dominating the box office cosistently fans and critics alike began respecting them despite their faults
Nowadays The MCU isn't special since they are so risk free and not unique since basically everyone does comic book films now
@@anthos332 the only thing 'new' about it at the time was them all being connected, that's it
@@idiot_city5444 yeah and how big and expansive it got as a cinematic superhero universe
It used to be fun.
Like eating at mc donalds, you know it's bad, but it feels good.
Well it did, until endgame
I find it ironic that Ben Kingsley's Mandarin was more Intriguing and memorable than the actual Mandarin. Also funny how you highlighted Mandarin and Modok at the same time and they were literally a duo in the Iron man animated show.
Ben Kingsley’s actually a good actor, that’s why. I genuinely laughed when he casually fell asleep while being interrogated by Tony
I mean the new Mandarin was powerful clearly in 10 rings but I still can't believe they made him dance on a video game dance mat in the flashback 😭 just took the menacing side out and made him a melancholy dad.
The bald guy from Iron Man 1 didn't vanish, he was killed by Obadiah's men. The scene doesn't show it but implies it with gunshots when Obadiah leaves after paralyzing him.
The MCU really dropped the ball on the villains because they could have pushed the story forward after ENDgame. Can you imagine if the Redskull or The Mandarin were still operating in the MCU with half the population gone. They literally could have taken over most of the world. It could have been established a bit in the beginning of Endgame of the power they were able to obtain. And once they were able to reverse the snap. They could be the focus of the TV shows and maybe a movie to push the story forward.
All great points, the MCU has never been the absolute best but the heroes were compelling enough to keep coming back. The balls was always a fumble but now it’s completely dropped
The bummer to me about the Mandarin is that he was actually very well set up and intimidating AT FIRST
the worst one to me is loki taking the throne at the end of dark world only for ragnorok to literally immediately take that back, the best example of setup being thrown out
The reveal being played as a huge joke is such a missed opportunity as well. Did anyone notice Odin was acting odd before Thor showed up? What did the people think of Loki's rule? Did Loki become attached to any of his subjects? Did he like ruling? Did he miss Thor?
Even when he was sent to Sakaar it was played as a joke! Did he steal the passcodes to the spaceships only for fun, or was he planning an escape? Did he only fear Hella? Did he ever care about any of his people at all or when he said he's not sentimental did he really mean it?
They had so much to work with and they botched it!
Abomination should've been the "Saiyan" of the MCU. A mercenary that shows up for a fight whether it's against good or evil as long as it's a challenge.
Being remind of Loki's abilities in the comics made me realize how boring the MCU really is with it's source material.
To this day I can't believe this is happening to the MCU. 10 years ago this was unthinkable
"I am the Mandarin!" yells the white guy with dragon tattoos, is just so absolutely wrong.
Admittedly the original Mandarin design from the comics is a stereotype, and a visually racist characture.
However he evolved past that beginning and became an interesting, powerful and intimidating character.
Zola: But why are we writing them English? We are German.
Red Skull: Do not question my genius!
Referring to something in a Marvel movie as a “DISGUSTING, SICKENING WASTE” is very funny
The Red Skull is the most underrated of the MCU villains in my opinion Hugo Weaving was what stopped him from being another generic MCU bad guy and he worked well as a dark mirrored version of what Steve Rogers could have been if he was morally corrupt
Just watched a whole bunch of your back catalog and I must say; out of all of the negative marvel commentators I definitely respect you the most. Insightful in-depth and disappointed with the wasted potential of these films instead of just a huge tirade. Feels more genuine and less performative than others. While still able to see the bits of good that are done at times.
you really nailed the Iron Man 3 segment.
i will NEVER forget the “Trevor Slattery” reveal. ever. biggest disappointment in the MCU after some of the most compelling MCU advertising.
There are two diseases that have always been prevalent in comics, and it takes good writing and restraint to keep them in check. The first, and most well known, is power creep. Where protagonists get constant boosts or feats that make them seem completely unchallengeable over time. The other problem, the less well known, is power seep, where previously important villains get nerfed to the point where they are no longer considered a threat or a challenge to the protagonist. Often these villains are original and have great back stories and sources of power that make sense for them to be treated as a major threat, but the writers wish to pander to fanboys who always want their favorite protagonist to win, and easily, for a short lived catharsis. The result is that villain, with an established relationship with the reader, ends up being replaced with a generic "new guy" villain, who is only there to serve as a punching bag and shovel on more of the hero's power creep.
Power Creep and Power Seep are the STDs of comics. They are all over the place, and initially catching one is fun, but the consequences later aren't fun at all.
Unfortunately the MCU has contracted a pretty advanced case of power seep, and they need to get on anti-biotics because that seep is starting to burn and itch.
8:24
Basically, what happened is that the Chinese, who were bankrolling the movie, said 'Nah' because they didn't want a Chinese character being viewed as villainous and Hollyweird, who are still really trying to simp for the Chi-Coms even though it hasn't worked for them, said 'Sure. We round eyes so dumb.'
Tom Hiddelston is a talantented actor. The movie wanted Loki to be relatable to the audience who might hold a grunch towards their sibling or friends. It's not his fault. Tom gave all he had. I agree, in the first movie they focused on the family dynamic but they still could have introduced his megical powers. Later on they had and have to do that.
It's only sad they wasted the Mandarin because the "Osama-Bin Mandarin" take was actually very creative and could have really been something different and unique for the MCU.
if he thought the mandarin was a racial stereotype (which lets be real, the older comics were caricatures so i “get” it) but why wouldnt you just then make him a fully fleshed asian character with his motivation for being a villain tie in to how he is treated due to his culture or literally anything to balance that out instead of white washing him entirely. “instead of having an asian stereotype i’ll just have a white guy!” isnt that just admitting that YOU dont know how to write asian characters??
Obadiah Stane is actually one of my favorite MCU villains. You mentioned the grey CGI blob effect, but compared with most CGI slug fests on this list, the fight was pretty toned down and grounded, and it had a few clever moments like paralleling the scene when Tony boots up the Mk 1, and adding a callback to the time Tony tested the Mk 2's in high altitude.
And as an antagonist, he works well as a foil for Tony, representing who Tony could have become if he hadn't had his eyes opened.
But mostly I like Obadiah because of Jeff Bridges' performance. I think he works really well with RDJ, and there are a lot of great highlights and memeable moments. Obadiah is also a vastly different character compared to the rest of Bridge's roster (except maybe CLU, but I think Tron Legacy came out shortly after Iron Man).
Man, just read Dennis O’Neil Iron Man. Really wish they adapted it.
I was extremely disappointed with the whole thing they did with the "Mandarin" in Iron-Man
3. I totally wanted a serious Ben Kingsly
Mandarin with the 10 rings of power & everything. Then they instead glommed on the Mandarin name to Aldrich, a weak character who offed himself in the comics.
7:07 top middle. That chitauri just clipped through the floor
No way he did OG abomination like that😢
He really called the She-Hulk design better lol
He looks like a roided fish freak in that show
Not to mention his character is a complete joke in it
@@broghad8241meaning the one in the hulk was far worse....
He only mentioned it's close to the comic varient but not good... 😅
16:10 umm... no, that's wrong. Loki was killed by a corrupted Sentry, making a heroic sacrifice, with his last words being an apology to Thor, during the Siege comic arc, which was actually genuine, not fake. The next time he appeared, it was through reincarnation, meaning he did actually die during Siege. Loki redeeming himself was something that was around before the MCU (I think Siege was before Loki appeared in the MCU, but I'm not sure), though this didn't pick up until more recent comic arcs.
In the case of the Mandarin's depiction in Iron Man 3, it was the end result of Chinese censorship. Disney didn't care about the Storytellin' potential of the Mandarin. They didn't care that their changes to the character would damage the film. All they cared about was gettin' their thumb in the pie that was the Chinese market. As for his depiction in Shang-Chi, the Marvel didn't have the rights to Fu Manchu, so they took an Iron Man villain and turned him into a Fu Manchu expy so that the Shang-Chi film can have a villain.
Abomination vs hulk is such an underrated fight.
Mandarin. Doom. These guys are S-tier threats that always have an ace up their sleeve...
Can you remember the villain from Thor the Dark World?
Yes, I can! It was Malekith 😌
High five…who was the other villain?
There was another villain?? 😶🤔
The cursed
Ummm…YES, of course! The Cursed! I knew that! Such a classic Thor villain …right? 👀
0:56: ! The video discusses the flaws in the villains of the MCU, focusing on Obadiah Stane from Iron Man.
3:32: 😐 The video discusses the characters and their performances in the movie Thor, stating that Loki's role was uninspired and the movie overall was dull.
6:14: 🎥 Loki's powers are creative and unpredictable, making him a dangerous and fascinating villain, while Thor becomes a more compelling hero as he needs to outsmart Loki rather than just fight him head-on.
9:18: 🎮 The Mandarin's role in the Marvel Universe and his portrayal in the Iron Man movies.
12:35: 🎬 The video discusses the portrayal of an Asian villain in Iron Man 3 and criticizes the decision to replace him with a white character.
15:41: 🎥 The video discusses the characters Living Armor, Malekith, and Loki in the film Thor: The Dark World.
18:42: 😕 The video discusses the disappointment with the portrayal of villains in Marvel movies.
Recap by Tammy AI
The Mandarin wasn’t just wasted in Iron Man 3, he was disrespected as a character, thus insulting comic fans. The MCU died with Iron Man 3. How many millions need to be lost before Disney learns to follow the Source material.
My take on the Mandarin would be a Joker level villain in Iron Man 3. And would give Tony Stark both and external and internal threat to deal with. A former Stark Industries employee who was wronged by Howard Stark in the past who would formed the Ten Rings as a multi ethnic terrorist organization from the shadows and involved in the events of Iron Man 1 and 2. The Mandarin would inject himself with Extremis to take on Iron Man instead of Aldrich Killian. This would grounded and believable rather than mythicism
You know what a really sucks the mandarin could have easily been there doctor doom of the m c u.
The villain who is connections to like almost every villain because he help them or it's finance them whether they know about it or not.
Even helps out the heroes during fantas's attack and realizing he's a bigger threat and need some of the way like doctor doom.
From the first iron man I always had a problem with the villains dying by the end of the movie, now the multiverse is there they will probably try to re-usher in some rushed story lines but it probably wouldn’t be the same by that point
“Up next, Thor the dark world.” My response was “oh.”
Pretty much. Aside from Loki, Thanos, and Gorr, every MCU villian is either ungodly generic, or an absolute joke.
Gorr in the MCU is generic and watered down also compared to his comic book counterpart and Loki in the MCU is a antihero he flip flops between being a villain or a Allie so he’s not a straight up villain.
@@darkseid6089 yep
@@darkseid6089 I mean, yeah, but at least Gorr had potential compared to some of these DOA nobodies.
Vulture, Killmonger
@@ihearyoupierce Oh yeah, forgot about Killmonger. He was cool.
Thank you for this honest and faithful analysis. Much appreciated!
Havent watched yet but i really love your work man, you are truly the best
Really good video, can’t wait for part 2! I like how you’re finding flaws in every villain then explaining the flaws then explaining what they could have done. To add on it’s cool how you talk about the villains and storylines in comics and how they got a bad adaptation in MCU. I also enjoy the funny clips you insert in except for the shit joke in the beginning kinda not tasteful but The “he’s not the guy” joke gets a 10 outta 10.
I'll never understand how these writers have the perfect blue print right infront of them, hell several blue prints to pick from, cuz alotta comic book characters have countless variations of their story
Yet they STILL fuck it up
A lot of comics are terrible or silly, what perfect blueprints? a lot of characters needed multiple issues or reboots to be considered good characters and not just cool characters (or forgetable ones in some cases)
@@FranciscoRamirez-nb4uu SOME comics are terrible or silly, but pretending there's not a LOT of amazing storys to pick from that the movie directors can recreate/mix together is just laughable
@@fobo3361I Don't read the comics but I like the mandarin as both felt fun to me and to be honest I don't get the appeal for Red Skull being this looming threat personally Iike the idea of his grandkid being the head of hydra.
The "grey cgi blob" issue in the final fight is done to save on costs and time of rendering.
7:32
*_That's what I refer to as the "Independence Day Cheat" and the reason I didn't bother watching 'Avengers: Age of Ultron'. It was an early sign of things to come (see how they used time-travel to get themselves out their painted-in corner?)._* 🤨
Maybe my color palate is off but abomination looks more greenish grey than full on grey, I thought both him and the hulk looked dope in that movie. Was never a fan of the hulk recast
You know it's bad when dreamworks makes better villains than marvel does.
I guess Disney never learned from their past mistakes
It still gets me that Thunderbolt Ross was sidelined. Having Hurt play him was great and bringing him back once the MCU started was aswesome. And then pretty much nothing. As a major fan of the Hulk back in the 60s and 70s I always saw him as jade-jaw's real arch enemy. And the best kind because he wasnt an evil guy he was actually sure that he was the hero and savior of the country and that Hulk was the ultimate danger. I was sure the MCU was going to circle back and have Ross' obsession to stop Hulk lead to Ross clashing with the Avengers (maybe with full sanction, maybe abusing his authority and stepping over tne line). But now Hurts gone and we never even saw him and Ruffalo together. Ford's sure to be a good Ross, but it's still a missed opportunity at one of the best lead ups in cinema.
you should be just as sad to see a villain go as you would be seeing a hero
Yea finally another video about the MCU!! Love those👍🏻❤️
I don't know if you point it out later, but I think the leader is coming back. The problem is that he'll be in Falcon's cap movie.
Which personally disgusts me as a Hulk fan.
Maybe Falcon will team up with the Hulk?
@@cosmicspacething3474 Maybe, but I'm starting to get sick of seeing hulk continue like that. To be fair to marvel, the blame goes to universal being so strict on the hulk.
@@QTRemnant Yeah it’s mainly copyright issues. The Hulk should at least be heavily involved in the movie with his own main antagonist
MCU's villain problem goes on two extremes one is too boring and the other is too "relatable". Rarely an in-between.
Loki's powers should have been like mysterio in spider man. Except even better, with no need for projectors, centuries of experience, some powers that go beyond just audiovisual illusion.
And heck hes an Asguardian so he can still fold a regular human in half with his bare hands.
Marvel really missed a trick, if they hadn’t killed off all of their villains, then we could have seen an epic team up against Thanos! Just imagine, everyone putting their differences to one side for the greater good
this could’ve been what happened with Thor with stuff like Ragnarok, Infinity War, and Endgame. maybe not villains like Lauffey and Malekith but regarding Lauffey and the Frost giants I think if they spent Thors first two movies focused on Asgard and their rule over the Nine Realms, the conflicts that would be reminiscent and similar to our problems on earth on things such as war and idk socialism (jk), then we could’ve had moments where even though Loki killed their king lol, when they hear Thanos has returned, already knowing that he killed Loki, they come to help Earth in the fight against thanos, and their thoughts being “yeah he killed our king but that’s just classic father-son banter. Anyway he’s still one of us and we feel bad about Asgard so we’re here to fight.” and show up maybe alongside the remaining asgardians in the portals.
there was barely any exploration of the nine realms or even Asgard during the first two films as they spent time dicking around planet to planet in the middle of boring visits to Earth that I can’t even name another realm or civilization that Odin and Asgard ruled over. It’s funny to now think about tho. where was the nine realms during those three films I listed, or at the very least in endgame now that New Asgard would have to deal with possibly(?) losing control of all of the nine realms when Asgard was destroyed. and I’m pretty sure we still don’t know what happened to The Nine Realms with love and thunder.
@@hosaepalvin9795 the nine realms lost their protection when Odin died, Thor decided to hand rule to Valkyrie and no more was mentioned. Nine realms that could have joined the fight, and…… nothing. So many stories could have been told and we were left with Jane bloody Foster
*1:01** DON'T GET ME WRONG, I UNDERSTAND YOUR POINT & I AGREE BUT YOU CHOOSE THE WORST EXAMPLES*
Because ALL of them were Big Gray Blobs in the source Material Too, since Megatron to Doomsday, here are better(or in this case, worst) examples of colorful Characters turned into Big Gray Blobs on Live Action:
-The Maximals In ROTB(still can't believe they took off the animal colors)
-Zilla 1998
-The Brutes in Halo 2022
-The Elites in Halo 2022
-Silver Samurai in Wolverine 2003
-Steppen Wolf in Josstice League
Starscream wasn't a grey blob tho
@@shardsoftime0952 I mean, he was grey in the Marvel comics, &you had to admit he looks so Cure as a giant Flying Dorito
@@ArcTrooper269 wasn't he blue in the comics?
@@shardsoftime0952 TF Marvel comics Didn't have a particular consistent coloring 🤣
@@shardsoftime0952 to be fair, Live Action Transformers turned MORE Good Guys than Decepticons Grey, For example:
-Jazz
-Sideswipe
-The Dinbots
-The Maximals
-Hound
-Mirage
If Malekith's personality was similar to Loki's then they shouls have embraced that, let Loki see a mirror of himself in some way.
Or at least just use a different villain if they can't make it work.
At least Blonsky's semi blood hungry attitude was teased earlier in the movie. He WANTED Hulk poweer. he WANTEd to go a few rounds with the hulk. Though that doesnt really make him all TOO interesting, but at least his transformation (as lame as it looked) made some sense.
The Mandarin is basically how id imagine Bin Laden, after seeing that video of him singing Poker Face it really clicked
The "angry bald man" as you put it, in Iron Man 1, didn't "vanish", he got killed by Obadiah's people when they killed the rest of the 10 Rings guys that were part of Tony's kidnapping.
@Singlespeedpunk an offscreen death means they could’ve done whatever they wanted with him. The ten rings was a pretty clear reference. And I never said it was a sure thing. I brought that guy up to bolster the point that these villains could have been built up over multiple films, but more often then not, they just get dropped. If i articulated that poorly, then my bad.
His point was they didn’t utilize him later just like so many other villains
@@braedenalberti did you know that Obadiah Stane has a son in the comics named Ezekiel?
@@srstriker6420 He's also Known as Technovore or Zeke
General Ross was around Bruce banner at Iron man's funeral in the ending scenes of the avengers. But yea they didn't interact.
i would say arnim zola is done pretty well, his death might not have meant much but in his time on screen he managed to give a classic exposition with a plan
and just because hit data banks were destroyed doesnt mean they were the only data banks (what if reference)
Well. You certainly have done a great job at pointing out missed opportunities and how things could have been much better. You have kind of bummed me out, to be honest. But, thank you anyways for your good work. I am going to watch part 2 now.
I think what they need to do is let villains stick around for a little longer to develop with the characters They don't always need to die at the end of their movie, like in the cartoons and comics, They definitely shouldn't stick around forever and not die though
8:00 Your point on Iron Man 3 genuinely surprised me. I had no idea that teh terrorist leader in Iron Man 1 was being hinted as the Mandarin! Why didn't they go with that?! It would have an awesome call-back to Tony's first movie and the villain would have had a personal stake and a be a genuine threat! Also, they wouldn't have had any issues with the pissy Chinese government since the actor is not Chinese! This would have been brilliant!
He even whore one of the "Trevor's" rings
Another great video. Keep up the good work
Malekiths greatest sin was making Christopher Eccleston boring.
Even in Rise Of Cobra Eccleston was funny with his giant Metal Head
I think The First Avenger is my favorite MCU movie overall. Cap is a pure force of good against a pure force of evil, it's not too long, and the villain is actually consistent through the whole with no weird twists. Although I did enjoy the Mandarin twist as a non-Iron Man comic fan the only time I saw the movie (not the Killian change over though).
Watching this made me realize I don't think I've ever rewatched a single MCU movie :s
Until the last few years they weren't bad, just nothing special or memorable.
Now I don't even care a single but about the new movies or shows..
SAME
Marvel ultimate alliance was amazing I wish I could get the recent one on something over than switch…
The MCU definitely has more then a villain problem!!!
Yeah I will never forgive how they wasted the vocal talent of the Mandarin
I know it may sound silly, but I've been feeling nostalgic for the 2000s and early 2010s Marvel movies.
Yeah they weren't the best, their villains, as we saw on this video, weren't much different from what came after, but my god they were way more interesting.
They all had different tones and personalities, and they hinted at a way bigger universe past what we saw on the main storyline. They gave off this feeling of opportunities, the prospect of the world beyond was so, so, so alluring.
Even the post-credit scenes served a different purpose. They weren't just trailers or announcements for future movies / tv shows, like they are today. Quite on the contrary, they hinted at a character, or an event that may appear in the future. And most of the time, you wouldn't get them if you weren't a comics fan, they were clever nods, not advertisments.
Every detail of every scene was thought out, every character name was a nod to something, the world overall felt richer.
I think this changed around the time of the OG Guardians of the Galaxy's release. That movie, in my opinion, was one of the last ones to give off this vibe.
Maybe it's because Marvel movies got into the "mainstream", but after that it all felt... The same. Yeah, Infinity War, Endgame, and Guardians 2 were great, but they did feel different.
They all had the same kind of humour, the same feel, and worse of all, the worlds didn't feel rich, they started to feel bloated. These movies started to introduce a lot of things from the comics, but they were just used for 25 second gags or deus ex machina, not to expand the universe per se. And after they served their purpose they were promptly discarded.
For a clear example, look at Xandar. Guardians 1 introduced the whole planet as a serious beacon of law & order in the galaxy, opposed to Ronan's ruthless and brutal inquisition. The nova core were the literal definition of a Lawful Neutral force. They hunted down the Guardians until they redeemed themselves. They seemed like something that was here to stay, a new force in the universe that everyone should be aware of.
But we literally never see them again. I think that in infinity war someone goes "thanos destroyed xandar lol" and they move on to something else.
I seriously think that we couldn't see this essential change back in the day because we were all invested in the Infinity saga. But after they could no longer ride off thanos' coattails, it all fell apart.
And here we are today. Phase 4 was complete shite, and phase 5 is not looking to be anything different. I dare you, go back to those old movies and compare them to more recent outings, you'll see what I mean.
Wasting a god tier villain like ultron still makes my blood boil, kind of glad he isn’t in the mcu
I disagree with making the Winter Soldier feature Red Skull being s good thing. The worst thing about that film is that it sets up Steve in contrast to the Military/Intelligence Service but replaced that conflict with "Oh it's Hydra again." It turns a story that should have been about Steve recognizing the evils of the US War Machine into just him vs the Nazis again so that the reads dont have to feel bad about the military being the bad guy. If anything they should have dropped Hydra and made it a full on Steve vs SHIELD story
Iron man 3 crossed 1 billion really broke my heart......
I am seriously thinking iron man 3 was a real pivot point to the whole MCU....
But it wasn't genuine,My dear
1. They made EXTREMELY Dishonest & Baiting Publicity, Trailers, Posters, etc.
2. The movie really didn't got a good budget in WW, Most of the money came from chine because they applied the Same strategy of Uwe Boll, they allied with the Chinese Goverment to almost make an obligation to the people to watch that movie
I would have had the Chitauri continue to fight to the last, with Fury going out of his way to capture as many as he could for research and interrogation.
YOU KNOW HOW MENACING IS THE MANDARIN WHEN IRON MAN NEED TO JOIN TO HIS VILLAINS(Blizzard, Parks, Zeke Stane & Whirlwind) & YET THEY 5 WERE OUTNUMBERED BY HIM
I know this sounds like an odd thing to talk about but can you talk about the lineup for the First Avengers movie?
In the comics, the founding members are Ant-Man, The Wasp, Hulk, Thor and Iron Man (Captain America is also technically a founder since after the Hulk left the team they gave his founding member status to Steve but that's besides the point).
In the movies however, the founders are Cap, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Hawkeye and Black Widow.
I don't get why they didn't just make an Ant-Man movie and have Hank and Jan replace Clint and Natasha, I get that people loved Black Widow after Iron Man 2 but there is no way she should've been a founding member of the team imo.
It doesn't help that they basically wasted Hank and Jan in every movie they appeared in, so not only did they lose their Founding Member status but they also just generally became much worse characters.
To this day, EMH has the best portrayal of Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne I've ever seen, why they couldn't go the route the show did with the movies is beyond me.
Can't wait for part 2, i wanna know his thoughts of black panther
Seems like Iron man 3 was where the subversion at any cost thing started happening
Pretty hipocrit that they did that while also Hiring a Mexican Lolcow to play a R*cist Mexican caricature When the Namor from the comics has NOTHING TO DO with Mexico
Now that I think of it. Loki and Malekith could be different.
Loki at his core is a coward and petty man, who uses ilussions and manipulates people to get what he wants. Servkng as a foil to Thor's noble strenght and his honest heart. Malekith could have the brains AND the muscle. Something that Loki lacks. And make some fun out of it!
You could make Malekith an sadic and Megalomaniac bastard, who looks everybody as mere insects whom are beneath him. Make him enjoy how he breacks their will and bodies before finishing them off, and make him allways come to the point of what he wants. Contrary to Loki in that aspect, who has a theatrical demeanor on him using an elegant vocabulary to distinct himself frol the power hungry conqueror that is Malekith.
Just because you have two villains who are charismstic and arrogante doesn't mean you can't mske them unique in their own ways.
Incredible Hulk had one of the top climactic battles of all the stand alone mcu films
1:04 I felt this pain. Last knight megatron was the best official live action design. The best live action megatron is the 3rd party monocrat megatank.
The garbage library disney has accumulated post endgame, which has made everyone revisit the earlier phases of Marvel. And honestly, it had a negative effect on the more successful library. The past stuff is nowhere near as good as we thought it was, and it's not aging well. Maybe 4 movies are elite 8 plus out of 10s and the only 4 worth watching again.
They should take more risks. Have the villain win once in a while, or at least cause so much damage that the victory for the hero is a pyrrhical on. Infinity war. Dark knight. The reason why people love those movies is because the villains are not only menacing, but actually competent.
Hell, flip the script and put us in the seat of the villain. Try something instead of this formulaic BS.
That's why Arrow season 1 was so COOL, the 1° season of the show ends with the heroes loosing
I'm surprised you haven't talked about how awful MCU's version of Justin Hammer was compared to the comics. In the comics Hammer is an old British guy and a heartless scumbag who ruined Stark's life by framing Iron Man for a murder of an innocent and set him on the path of self-destruction and would often expose Iron Man's sense of morality to escape from consequences of his actions. He also doesn't do things publicly; he hides in the shadows. He's the worst kind of a rich guy; the one who is a total sociopath to whom people are expendable material. If it wasn't for the Mandarin, Hammer would be Stark's arch nemesis. In the MCU they made him a cheap knock off of Stark who tries to be as cool as Stark, but fails, and neither Stark or anyone else takes hims seriously. Hammer shouldn't be a goofy knockoff of Stark. He should be his absolute opposite. Sator in Tenet has more in common with Justin Hammer of the comics than the actual Justin Hammer in the MCU.
Armored Adventures shown us a GREATER example on how to modernize & reivent thr character of Hammer,
The dude pretends to be a rich careless boy but is actually a Terrific Psycho who was no issue with stepping in the way of everyone to fullfil his agenda
The Malekith of the MCU is nothing comparec to the original badass, sadistic, megalomaniac
Malekeith from the comics.
Imagine how cool it would be if Justin Hammer came back as Detriot Steel that would be so cool and would be better than Iron Monger and Whiplash in my opinion
No sir the BIGGEST issue is that the villains are either killed off immediately or sidelined for extremely long times abomination being a good example I think it was over 10 years before he returned same with the leader and so they do NOT utilize the villains very well no room to grow and because they are beaten so quickly there is no actual threat
Alot of people seem to forget that the mcu is heavily based on the ultimate marvel universe.
Dammnn I love this man's perspective 🙌
I think that Itachi from Naruto is the Loki that we needed in MCU. You never know, what is true or false, and you are at constant danger when you battle Itachi, which seems like a perfect match
Take a shower 🚿