At loose ends and not too keen on writing over the Labor Day holiday weekend, I decided to start a week-long Marvel deep dive. I had re-watched Guardians of the Galaxy stuff for the third one, so I set those aside. And I had watched the Logan movies not too long ago, so I skipped X-Men stuff.

With those parameters, I re-watched (with a couple first watches):

Avengers: Infinity War
Avengers: Endgame
Iron Man 1
Captain America: The First Avenger
Iron Man 2
The Amazing Spider Man 2 (Andrew Garfield – first watch)
Thor 1
The Avengers
Thor 2: The Dark World
Iron Man 3
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
The Fantastic Four 1
Venom (first watch)
The Fantastic Four 2: Silver Surfer
Spider-Man 1 (Toby Maguire)
Spider-Man 2
Spider-Man 3

That’s a lot of Marvel And I really enjoyed the re-watch. Because I figure the world always needs more of my opinion, it’s time for another Ten Things I Think I Think – Marvel Edition.

So, I Think:

1) MARVEL MOVIES HOLD UP

I think the most basic thing I took away (aside from I had fun), is that these movies hold up. Yeah, seeing Willem Dafoe’s mouth moving inside his Green Goblin mask is kinda cheesy. But I didn’t feel like I was watching some ‘Pre-Era’ of superhero movies. Think about The Lord of the Rings, and then try watching The Sword and the Sorcerer, and even Krull. These earlier Marvel movies still work really well for me, even up to two decades later.

They didn’t feel dated, or like some dinosaurs compared to the more ‘evolved’ movies. Starting with that first Iron Man, they still felt relevant, and fresh enough.

 

2) INFINITY WAR & ENDGAME BACK-TO-BACK ARE TERRIFIC

I asked a friend what their favorite Marvel movie was, and they said Infinity War, but you have to watch it straight with Endgame. I had not done that.

So, I watched Infinity War Friday night, and was up early on Saturday (I wake up by 5 every day). I queued up Endgame, with a coffee. That’s pretty much straight back-to-back. And my friend was so right! Viewing these as one five and-a-half movie, is a great experience. They flow together, the story is easier to immerse in, and it’s a great mix of action and emotion. I still get choked up at Iron Man’s funeral (if that was a spoiler, you shouldn’t be reading this post in the first place).

If you are less than enamored with either movie on its own (that’s Ultron, for me. Meh), try a back-to-back viewing. It really pumps up both movies.

 

3) THE JESSICA ALBA FANTASTIC FOUR ISN’T BAD

I had a huge crush on Jessica Alba during her heyday. I laughed that they poured her into a tight superhero suit, and gave her the power of invisibility. I want to SEE her!

X-Men had kind of set a new bar for Marvel superhero efforts. X-2 followed in 2003. Of course, in 2008, the first Iron Man became the cornerstone for the Marvel-verse Mega-franchise that is still expanding. The Fantastic Four movie fell in between, in 2005.

A sequel, Rise of the Silver Surfer, followed in 2007 and did not do quite as well as the first film. 21^st Century Fox canceled a third film, and a 2015 reboot fared poorly. Marvel now owns the characters again and Johnny Storm (Captain America’s Chris Evans) appeared in Deadpool 3.

I never minded the original Fantastic Four. And re-watching it once again, it’s a solid movie. Good cast, and the special effects aren’t bad for early 2000s. It didn’t have the substance or visual sexiness of the first two X-Men. And Iron Man is simply a better movie in every way than Silver Surfer.

But I like this first one. The actors for the group are just right, and if you’ve seen Nip/Tuck, you know that Julian McMahon fit Dr. Doom. The story is okay, and by the end, I was glad I watched it again. And I don’t mind a 106 minutes run time for a superhero movie, either. I was fine with my re-watch of Rise of the Silver Surfer, but I definitely like the first movie better.

 

4) MARVEL HAS DONE SPIDER MAN RIGHT

Batman and Super Man were the dominant superhero movies for the seventies to nineties, for me. I was eleven when the first Christopher Reeves movie came out, and it was a whole new world. Think Lord of the Rings, for fantasy fans.

But the three Toby Maguire films, from 2002 to 2007, set a new bar for me. That first one was spell-binding. I just re-watched all three, and they hold up for me. The Marvel-verse was being mapped out (don’t forget 2008s Incredible Hulk was a misfire).

The Marvel-verse was put in place between 2008 (Iron Man) and 2012 (The Avengers). I liked that first Fantastic Four movie, but it wasn’t a hit, and didn’t create buzz. Maguire’s Spider Man movies set the table for Marvel’s rise to superhero dominance.

I totally missed Andrew Garfield. I didn’t see his 2012 film, until after he reprised his role in No Way Home (again – that shouldn’t have been a spoiler for you). There was originally to be a fourth Toby Maguire movie, but Sam Raimi and the studio ended up abandoning the project, and there was a reboot, with Garfield.

I liked The Amazing Spider-Man. He was good, and it was neat to see Gwen Stacy, instead of Mary Jane Watson, for a change. I saw that movie last year, and I tackled The Amazing Spider -Man 2, during this re-watch. My first viewing of it, I liked it as well. It feels different than the Maguire movies, but they’re both good. It wasn’t a bad reboot. As with Maguire, the next movie was canceled during development.

Tom Holland’s boyish charm has made him a definitive Spider Man for this ‘Marvel Generation.’ Sony has nearly perpetual rights to Spider Man movies, and Disney is using the character in the Marvel-verse through an agreement with them. Holland has made three hugely successful movies, and appeared in the Avengers franchise as well. I will probably do a re-watch when the most recent film is on Disney+, with the first two.

I was ten years old for the 1977 live-action TV series. And as I mentioned, Super Man and Batman were the movie superheroes of my (relatively) younger days. But Spider Man has been a hit in three iterations, as far as I’m concerned. Try watching DC mess up another potential franchise (as with Dungeons and Dragons, it should be a license to print money!), and you’ll appreciate the fine job Marvel has done with three Spider man series’.

 

5) THE AVENGERS I IS A DAMN GOOD MOVIE

We all have our favorites. Sometimes I want the unique blend of The Guardians of the Galaxy. Or I’m in a Thor mood. I think that the Iron Man movies appeal more than the others, a lot of the time. But man, that first Avengers movie, bringing the heroes together, and the Battle of New York: I think this is just a terrific movie, from start to finish.

This was the sixth movie (if you count the Edward Norton movie, which Marvel tries to disavow, but it was part of the plan), and it takes things to a whole other level. Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America had already had their own movies (Since we hadn’t seen Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk, I’ll discount Norton’s movie for the moment). Nick Fury, Hawkeye, and Black Widow moved front and center. It all came together.

I like the theatrical version of Justice League well enough. But that movie pales as a ‘bring together’ superhero movie, compared to The Avengers. That first Avengers movie delivered everything anybody could want – public, studio, whoever. Re-watching it, I liked it as much as ever.

 

6) I LOVE THE RED SKULL

Mention twenty Marvel actors names, and Hugo Wallace Weaving may go largely unrecognized. He was Agent Smith in The Matrix movies. And he’s Elrond in Peter Jackson’s Tolkien movies. And he’s Red Skull in the first Captain America movie. He may be my favorite villain in the Avengers universe.

Weaver said his pay for the next two movies in his contract were cut, and he couldn’t come to an agreement, so the part was recast for Infinity War. I would have loved to see him back as a villain in one of the earlier Avengers movies. They nailed so many parts, it’s too bad this one fell through the money cracks.

 

7) LOKI WAS A REAL S.O.B.

Tom Hiddleston has been terrific as Loki. Hard to imagine a better actor for the part.

Re-watching the first Thor, and The Avengers, movies: what a douche. They’ve rehabilitated Loki, and even made him a good guy in his own two-season (so far) streaming series. But he wasn’t even some lovable scamp in the beginning. He was the bad guy in The Battle of New York. He was a villain in the first Thor movie. He aided and abetted in the murder of his mother in the second.

His “I am a God and you will respect-” speech cut short by Hulk may be my single-favorite moment in the entire Marvel series. He got what he so richly deserved. Nice guy now or not, he was a thoroughgoing villain at the start.

 

8) MARVEL MAKES DC LOOK SO MEDIOCRE

I’m not inherently biased against DC. I read both Marvel and DC comics as a kid. Batman movies were a staple there for a while. But DC doesn’t excite. I haven’t re-watched a single DC-verse movie yet. I liked Ryan Reynolds’ Green Lantern. It’s not bad – like that first Fantastic Four movie. I quite liked the first Aqua Man, and first Wonder Woman. Black Adam was good. But I’m likely to find I’m forcing myself to watch an entire DC movie. Usually takes a couple sittings.

There’s no excitement. I still haven’t bothered with the second Wonder Woman, or Aquaman. I quit Batman v. Superman – that was terrible. Haven’t bothered with The Flash.

Shouldn’t DC be easy to build a verse for? To make good movies from? (I keep asking the same thing about Dungeons and Dragons. The recent movie wasn’t bad. But apparently they’ve already abandoned any thoughts of a sequel). I’m watching every new Marvel streaming series’. Re-watching movies when I want to. But I don’t even consider DC a viable alternative. I re-watch TV shows, rather than put on a DC movie.

I thought that Amazon’s The Tick was better superhero stuff than the DC movies. It shouldn’t be that meh, should it? Hopefully the new ‘James (Don’t call me Peter) Gunn DCU reboot’ will yield some good movies. I’d like a good DC-Verse.

 

9) THE ETERNALS WAS BORING

Sometimes, I don’t mind Marvel wandering off the beaten path (though I like the traditional stuff). Dr. Strange grew on me, and Shang-Chi was a delight. I didn’t mind Black Bolt’s Inhumans (possibly because Anson Mount is my man-crush – Hell on Wheels is AMAZING). But The Eternals was a slog. I got through it, but it was my least-favorite Marvel movie until the recent dreck that was The Marvels (THAT was a festering pile of hot garbage, and I liked the first one).

The Eternals was over two and-half-hours, and a total drag. It seemed to go on forever. Visually it was up to par, and the casting was good. It just wasn’t that interesting. This is definitely not on the re-watch list.

 

10) AND…THE SERIES’ HAVE MADE THE MOVIES EVEN BETTER

The streaming series’ have been very hit and miss for me. On the down side, Wanda Vision was the worst streaming series I’ve tried to watch (I quit it), and Echo was way disappointing. Moon Knight was…weird. But they have really nailed it with some of the series, like Loki, Hawkeye, and the FAR too short-lived Agent Carter. That one absolutely deserved multiple seasons. I have been a bigger fan of the Star Wars streaming series’ overall, but the Marvel movies are still enhanced by the ‘supplemental’ series.

ONE EXTRA NOTE: Prime’s summer animated series, Batman: Caped Crusader, was terrific. My son and I binged-watched it, and we both loved it. I think it was well done in every way, and it showed Batman can be done Noir, without just overwhelmingly (and I would add, annoyingly) dark. Highly recommended.

Things I Think I Think
Five Things I Think I Think (January 2024)
Seven Things I Think I Think (December 2023)
Talking Tolkien: TenThings I Think I Think (August 2023)
A (Black) Gat in the Hand: Ten Things I Think I think (August 2023)
5 More Things I Think: March 2023
10 Things I Think I Think: March 2023

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Bob Byrne’s ‘A (Black) Gat in the Hand’ made its Black Gate debut in 2018 and has returned every summer since.

His ‘The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes’ column ran every Monday morning at Black Gate from March, 2014 through March, 2017. And he irregularly posts on Rex Stout’s gargantuan detective in ‘Nero Wolfe’s Brownstone.’ He is a member of the Praed Street Irregulars, founded www.SolarPons.com (the only website dedicated to the ‘Sherlock Holmes of Praed Street’).

He organized Black Gate’s award-nominated ‘Discovering Robert E. Howard’ series, as well as the award-winning ‘Hither Came Conan’ series. Which is now part of THE Definitive guide to Conan. He also organized 2023’s ‘Talking Tolkien.’

He has contributed stories to The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories – Parts III, IV, V, VI, XXI, and XXXIII.

He has written introductions for Steeger Books, and appeared in several magazines, including Black Mask, Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, The Strand Magazine, and Sherlock Magazine.