In the movies we have no direct reference, but the lore I read says the average Asgardian is 6x a human in most aspects, aging, strength etc. The royal family is then buffed again along with the other primary Asgardians.

In universe I would guess they are a bit better, but not amazingly so.

 

In regards to Moon Knight's content feeling non-MCU, they did drop a nice little tidbit in this latest episode with the Hippo goddess that ties all the spiritual lore together nicely. She references Black Panther's ancestral plane as a "realm of untethered thought", separate from the Egyptian afterlife. This creates a lot of space for all the various comics legendariums to exist within the same universe if each set of gods is just basically keeping to their own separate dimensions / spiritual planes.

 

We see an average Asgardian in Agents of Shield, he was one of many soliders that fought on earth, he eventually deserted the Army and stayed on Earth, apparently even being responsible for the spread of North Mythology. And he has shown quite a few superhuman feaths like easily breaking handcuffs or bending a knife and in general seemed qutie above the level of someone like Captain America.
He even had a decent healing factor and was fine minutes after being stabbed in the heart(the wound was treated I think).

It's not exactly canon anymore, but I dont think that kind of thing really changed.

 

And in the mainline MCU canon, in Thor Ragnarok, Korg notes that Asgardians are hard to kill in general.

 

Well, I'm waiting for Disney+ in Poland in June, but YT has some scenes from each Moon Knight's episode and Oscar Isaac rules in them.

I agree that this Phase has problem with fitting all these new elements together and doesn't even try to do that. They probably prefer to plan their characters, but they really could use worldbuilding how maybe real Egyptian gods fit with Nordic alien gods with sort of Eternal gods with space Celestial gods and that's not even bringing up the Multiverse.

 

So one thing of note that was in the news is that Feige is taking a retreat to "plan phase 5 of the MCU."

Which says something to me. The past few movies/tv shows since Endgame have not been as coherent in seamlessly working towards an overarching narrative. They are definitely interconnected, but there hasn't been a huge plan yet.

While slightly concerning, it also explains why some of the quality has felt a bit off in places.

 

I've been watching it, and I have been enjoying it. The performances are pretty good, the plot and concept are nice and tight, and it seems to be asking some interesting questions. A lot of my final opinion on the show rests on how they pull it together at the end. Let's just say that I will be very disappointed if they give us another non-conclusion.

I have been really enjoying the Egyptian thing purely because of the visuals. Outside of Black Panther, Shang Chi, and, maybe, Eternals, the MCU's visual language has been very European in a way that has become kinda boring. The Egyptian mythology stuff at the moment might be quite thinly applied, but it's still a nice change.

All in all, at this point I think I'm enjoying it a lot more than Hawkeye and Wandavision, and it seems much better put together than Loki from a storytelling perspective. Maybe it's not as... 'rompy' or fun, but it feels like a more complete product.

I'm not so worried about how it ties into the rest of the MCU because at this point, honestly, the MCU as a coherent, singular setting is kinda dead in my mind. So they have to handwave some reason for the Egyptian Gods not to get involved in Infinity War, or Eternals? Whatever. Give me a series that tells its own story in a coherent, consistent, and enjoyable way and I'll be on board.

I do wish Harrow was a little less obviously the bad guy. His pitch of saving the world from evil by defeating it before it can do damage could be made more sympathetic. It could have been made to sound like a more attractive idea. It is, after all, pretty much the same idea as is regularly and unironically used in fanfiction to support the idea of killing 'child death eaters'. On the other hand, given the way people seem blind to the horror of such precognitive justice, maybe it's safer for everyone involved if they make Harrow's position obviously terrible from the get-go.

My main question going into the finale, is will they paint Khonsu beating Ammit (if indeed this is what happens) as a victory? Or will they present the blind, retributive justice of Khonsu as an evil of its own that an enlightened civilisation should probably be trying to move past? Given what I've seen to this point of Marc's experience with Khonsu, I'm pretty hopeful on this front. As for the rest, well I'm just interested to see how they tie it up (and, indeed, what they choose to tie up, and what is left to hang loose for season 2).

 

Well, so Moon Knight is over and I feel really underwhelmed by it.

It almost feels like the show forgot it had a six episode run and took its time with the story, only to realize that episode six was the last one.

Nothing resolved in the finale felt satisfying nor cathartic.

Jake was introduced in a post credit scene. Which BTW, was absolutely ridiculous and completely undermines the entire season of the show.

It genuinely feels like the MCU is beginning to become too stuffed with superheroes now.

I understand the need to shoehorn an Egyptian superhero. But they did it incredibly clumsily.

I loved the conflict between the two gods. But it was completely undermined by Khonshu absolutely refusing to engage the crocodile god in a dialogue.

It genuinely seemed like he could have convinced her or she could have convinced him

But alas, punches had to be the only solution.

Same for Harrow and Marc. They are both murderers trying to atone for the sins they committed under their god. But it just ends in punching and Harrow being unceremoniously killed in a POST.CREDITS.SCENE.

What a waste of time.

Fuck, I really have lost hope for this marvel tv shows.

Also, why didn't the egyptian gods manifest when the other 2 gods manifested?

Where was Wong? These beings full 1000% under the jurisdiction of the Sorcerer Supreme.

Hell, where were other witches like Agatha or Wanda?

I mean, these gods can cause the same level of magic as Wanda in Westeview. eg. Turning back the fucking night sky to hundreds of years ago.

I don't know, the introduction of these gods, really makes characters like Strange or Wanda, less?

Do these Egyptian gods know about Asgardians?

 

I disagree with just about everything above.

It was a great show. The characters completed their arc and the story being told about Ammit was finished. Jake contending for time would have diminished the character growth we got to see. I like that we focused on Marc and Steven coming to terms with their situation and coming out of it as a more complete person(s?)

 

I agree with @Rehio, I really enjoyed the show. It's too bad that it was only a Limited Miniseries, because it was a lot more interesting than a ton of the crap Marvel TV Studios put out over the last several years (like Agents of Shield that just wouldn't fucking stop).

Perhaps they will do a movie?

 

Just saw Multiverse of Madness. For me, 6/10. But I suspect the people who are big into the comics (rather than the MCU) will enjoy it.

Vaguely spoilerish thoughts without going into any specific plot points:

Spoiler

It feels like the film wants to be 3 different films.

Firstly, it wants to be a surreal horror film, with Lovecraftian imagery, dark corridors, creepy music, suspense and jump scares.

Secondly, it wants to be a tongue-in-cheek, quippy and fun superhero movie with a heartwarming ending.

Thirdly, it wants to be a serious, dark and gritty superhero movie with a bittersweet ending.

By trying to do all at once, it fails at all three. The avenue which had the most potential for originality and interest was the horror take, but the horror elements are ultimately those which are most overwhelmed. The lighter elements completely undermine the horror elements and all you're left with really are a few jump scares.

The dialogue is also really, really poor. Like, Predator level dialogue. Cheesy one-liners in action sequences. Clichés in some of the most important scenes. Just general cringe which lets you know that this is a Sam Raimi film and no, he hasn't changed since the early 2000s Spider-man movies.

There are some fun scenes but overall the plot structure feels somewhat a mess - too much jumping around and introducing new McGuffins at convenient moments without any prior build up.

And yeah, Wandavision is absolutely required reading for this. It's basically Wandavision Season 2. Which is my final criticism - Doctor Strange feels almost like a guest in his own movie. He has one moment to shine, really, in the whole movie, and even that comes with so little build-up or context that it feels random and there's no emotional investment in it.

Oh, and I spent the whole movie waiting for the Strange from "What If?" to show up. Wasted opportunity there. But I guess they are saving him? Or they didn't want to have "What If?" as required reading as well as Wandavision.

Mega-spoilers:

Spoiler

Fucking Professor X and Reed Richards. The Marvel meganerds are gonna cream their pants at this movie.

Also, re: Moon Knight, I agree it felt rushed/incomplete. To the point that I had to be told today that there wasn't an episode 7. I just assumed we were going to have a further episode to wrap up the asylum/personality/which-reality-is-real stuff and deal with this 3rd personality alluded to in the climax.

Also completely missed the credits scenes because I didn't realise it was the end lol. Just switched the TV off when the credits rolled.

 

My thoughts on Moon Knight are that Oscar Isaac is really good at his job. If it had something directly to do with the Steven/Marc relationship and their general arc, then it was great. Partly because they actually wrote that arc well, but also just because Oscar Isaac is really good at his job and elevated all the scenes he was in. Everything else was forgettable or undercooked.

 

Also, Moon Knight has officially introduced coming back from the dead into the MCU.

So..yeah, that is something I am not excited about.

 

So, I haven’t touched marvel since the avengers thanos movies.

I am interested in watching the new Dr. Strange and want to catch up in general. What are the movies in between that I should watch? I heard good things about spider man.

Is there any particular TV I should watch as well?

 

Wandavision is absolutely required before seeing Multiverse of Madness.

You could watch Spider-man No Way Home for additional context, but honestly everything makes perfect sense without it. But nothing will make any sense without Wandavision.

 

Agree 100 percent.

I'm still not entirely sure if there were actually two pyramide-sized gods punching each other right outside Cairo or if it was some kind of visualization of what was happening in a different dimension (Like how those monsters from the first two episodes were invisible).

I only 'liked' two episodes, the first and the fifth, incidentally the only ones focusing on the dynamic of the protagonist(s), without that invincible wanna-be Lara Croft or the stupid movie-conveniences all the time.

Guy flies with the villain randomly through the city and crashes into the streets, where obviously some goons are perfectly stationed to create a 'dramatic' scene.

"Are you an Egyptian hero?"

The villain drives out of the desert right into a military roadblock just so he can show off his new powers.

Marvel is almost unwatchable when you notice how they are actively trying to tick as many boxes as possible.

brightly lit - check
brightly colored - check
clean and pretty - check
action girl - check (what the hell was that fight with that creature in the tomb?)
convenience/randomness to set something up - check
desperate to do something big/world ending disregarding the wider setting - check
etc.

If that was Disney's attempt at something 'gritty', then I don't want them to touch Daredevil or Punisher.

 

Dr Strange: tl;dr, there was a lot to enjoy, but it's built around a plot point that I didn't really care for, which kinda soured the movie for me.

Spoiler

The way I remember Wandavision, Wanda loses control of her powers, takes a while to realise what's going on, and then takes a while to accept how badly she's hurting people and that she needs to fix it, partly because of her trauma and partly because of Agatha working behind the scenes. By the end, she's put things right but acknowledges that she did fuck up badly, and the stinger definitely leaves it open for her to continue down a darker path.

Then Dr Strange 2 comes along, and within twenty minutes we find out that she's fully crazy evil now, and has been for a while. Leaving aside the unfortunate implications of baby crazy women as a plot point, it felt like we'd missed some major development. I know there's a lot of talk about the dangers of the darkhold, but there's only so much plot one phrase can carry.

This is exacerbated by the amount we hear about Strange being the real threat. If that angle had been explored more and Wanda's fall developed over the course of the movie, or left hanging for a future installment, I'd have less of an issue.

Other than that, my main issue is America Chavez, who feels very thinly written looking back. I'm sure they'll do more with her in future, but all we know about her for the moment is her name, her power set, and that she has the traditional (missing, presumed) dead parents.

On the positive side, I enjoyed the various set pieces, decent enough performances, and as shameless as it was, I loved the fanservice.

 

Just saw MoM.

6.5/10. Sits in the top half of Marcel movies, but only just.

 

We were a bit late watching the finale of Moon Knight, and while I don't think it was great, I do think that as a whole the series was passable.

Going into the finale, I was expecting to see:

• Khonshu - Ammit showdown.
• Marc/Steven - Harrow showdown.
• Hinted third personality payoff.
• Marc/Steven - Khonshu resolution.

I kinda got these things, but they kinda got lost a bit amid:

Spoiler: Things

• Sudden Layla-becoming-the-avatar-of-Taweret. Came mostly out of nowhere. Confused by Taweret's addition in general. Is this a comic thing? I'd have thought Hathor, who was the god/avatar that directed them towards the medjay map, would have been the obvious choice. Once again, they did the annoying thing of 'main character takes a while to get used to the powers, side character does it instantly'.
• Jake being a post-credit sting isn't really a payoff. Seriously, though. What's with this guy? Marc's no slouch on the fighting thing, but Jake seems comically overpowered in comparison. Also, his whole existence kinda breaks most of episode 5 and the whole balancing the scales thing. How did they balance when Jake was never even there? Also also, underwhelming. The guy who seems to be able to get out of impossible situations, killing everyone nearby in the process... just seems to be another guy. Oh, but he speaks Spanish. How badass.
• The insane asylum thing makes even less sense than it did. I kinda had it pegged as a mix-and-match subconscious/realm of pure thought thing which was meant to give us an insight into Marc's self-perception as he died. But then they went back there after Khonshu 'freed' them. Wut?
• Harrow has a stupid number of followers. Really stretching my willing suspension of disbelief there. Also, if the people who survive are 'good' people, shouldn't they be, I dunno, a bit vexed about millions of others having their souls stolen? Is 'good' in Ammit's view simply 'is okay with everyone else getting killed so long as they survive'? Cos it clearly isn't 'will never kill/injure others'.

All in all, it's better constructed than Loki or Hawkeye, for example, but the ending still felt a bit scattershot. I read somewhere that in earlier drafts of the script, Jake was more present, but that he was cut so that they could focus more on Marc and Steven. This would at least go some way to explaining why the land of the dead stuff makes no sense. It was probably originally planned to include all three of them.

The random military checkpoint in the middle of nowhere thing was bleh, whatever. The fight was executed okay, not great, not terrible, but it was pretty bleh too. The avatars of the other gods being irreverently murked by Harrow was bleh x3, further reinforced by the fact that Osiris' chap didn't die until a more convenient moment. Somehow. Maybe he was ginger. At this point, I feel like those, along with all points of dramatic tension being kneecapped by quippy 'funny' dialogue, are the price of admission for Marvel shows/movies.

 

Soooo I was not expecting She-Hulk to be flat comedy but I'm on board for that.