MimicJar

That damn chandelier!

"Correct!", it's a little run together but that's what it says.

Agreement.

Honestly that was a great joke to commit to. Brainiac's origin being a generic sitcom but robots.

I also, as you've pointed out, appreciate this shows commitment to generally correctly pull from existing stories. They could have just made it all up, but instead they just take one of the various origin stories and tweak it a bit with a bit of comedy.

This is my favorite episode, it's called

(But I also thought this was the Catch Me If You Can episode at first.)

Yes, "somehow Palpatine returned" was a terrible plot line. The rest of the Star Wars canon is adding things to try and fix it.

If a character just reappears with no context or consequences, that's terrible.

That just isn't what's been happening. People make up stories saying "Oh it could happen" without looking at the reality of the actual media where it didn't happen and isn't happening. If a character returns it matters. It has context. It has consequences.

So I've never bought the multiverse has no consequences argument because you can bring a anyone back. It's just people saying that they COULD be lazy, but it hadn't actually happened because they HAVEN'T been lazy.

To date the MCU has done this twice, the first being Gamora who died in Infinity War and was resurrected via time travel in Endgame. Then we get a huge character arc for Gamora in Guardians 3 where Peter learns to let her go and Gamora lives on as a radically different character. That is a major consequence. That isn't just a drop in replacement. That highlights why it isn't so easy to just drop someone in.

The second is in What If...? when a version of Natasha from a timeline where EVERYONE is dead, is placed in a timeline where things are mostly normal. But of course we don't follow that Natasha or that timeline, so it's really not a problem.

Additionally let's take a look at the Sony Spider-Man films. (Spoilers for those films in this paragraph.) In the third act of Across the Spider-verse we learn that the death of Miles's Dad is a canon event that must happen to keep the multiverse stable. Miles fights off a multiverse of Spider-Men to rush and save his father. When we watch this we don't care if he saves his dad because he can just grab another one. Oh wait, no we do care. It's an amazing third act. We want Miles to save his dad.

Now if you have issues with the stories being told during the multiverse saga, that's fine, but the issue isn't the multiverse. Hell despite the name it's barely even the multiverse saga. Multiverse of Madness, sure, Spider-Man No Way Home, absolutely, Deadpool & Wolverine, tons of multiverse, but that's it.

Black Widow? Nope. Shang-Chi? Not really. Eternals? Nope. Thor 4? Nope. Black Panther 2? Nope. Guardians 3? Not really. The Marvels? Just a quick post credits moment. The upcoming Brave New World? I doubt it. The upcoming Thunderbolts? Unlikely.

So that's 3 multiverse films, vs 9 non-multiverse films.

Now I did ignore Ant-Man. That's quantum realm, that did introduce and seemingly kill Kang. That film was a disappointment, but I'll add it as a multiverse films.

So less than 1/3rd of the films set during the multiverse saga have anything to do with the multiverse. We can count the TV shows as well, but it isn't going to change the point.

Now all this ties back to your first point, you just want good writing. Same. My point with bringing Wanda back is that it isn't a desperate grab. When Wanda returns it's going to be earned.

WandaVision was excellent. Agatha All Along was excellent. Multiverse of Madness did a poor job explaining Wanda's character downfall. If we accept that the Darkhold corrupted her, that we're missing that story, but it did happen, then we've still got a solid story.

WandaVision teased Wanda as the Scarlett Witch, a character of prophecy. We've only barely touched the mystical world of the MCU. Doctor Strange got into it in his own films, in fact that's probably why Wanda was featured in the second, they share a similar area of lore. But we've got more to explore. Stories that I want to see.

As an aside I'd be OK with Bucky becoming Captain America. In fact there are, once again, comics to pull from for that story. (Not that it's a requirement to pull from existing comics.) However after Falcon and the Winter Soldier I think they did a good job sorting out the frustrations that both Sam/Bucky had. Obviously the film coming out later this month will be the ultimate judge of that.

The fact that General Ross has been around since the beginning is the exact reason he should stick around. He's seen everything. His opinion has weight. He has generally fought the heroes throughout the entire series. He should continue to do so. When the government makes one decision, but the heroes make another, what should happen? We saw this play out a little bit with the Sokovia Accords, but it shouldn't end there.

As for Wanda, it the MCU follows the comics then Wanda will return. It's not a desperate attempt to be relevant, it's a comic accurate story.

Additionally it's clear that's the route we're going, but it's not like she's just going to pop back into existence. Her story, coupled with her family, is being told slowly over several years. Infinity War/Endgame is the start, then we dive into Wanda specifically with WandaVision, then Multiverse of Madness, most recently Agatha All Along, next is likely VisionQuest, then I would expect something else, eventually Young Avengers.

Circle gets the square! Correct!

all his tentpole characters are being killed off unceremoniously, and he's giddy about it.

That's the one thing that concerns me about Ford playing the Red Hulk, and really most MCU villains in general, is that we just get them for one film.

It's probably easier to get folks in for one film, but I wish so many of them lived on longer. Loki was our original "big bad" and he got to have an amazing story after his defeat. Thanos got a slow build up with a huge two part payoff. Wanda has been the minor villain, then a hero, then manifested grief, then the villain and I suspect will someday return as a hero again.

Ultron should be always lurking around. Justin Hammer should always be trying to one up Tony Stark or whomever has the most gadgets. Walton Goggins was clearly working for someone, let's explore it.

I really hope Red Hulk survives this film, ideally with Harrison Fold, but they can cast whomever it it means the character lives on.

That was my thought too, this is the first I've heard of it flopping. It's no Indy 1-3, but it's better than Indy 4.

I have plenty to complain about the film, but overall I'd say I enjoyed watching it.