I like Annette Bening as an actress but using her in place of comic-accurate depictions of both Mar-Vell and The Supreme Intelligence in Captain Marvel was a huge missed opportunity for me. If they had to gender bend Mar-Vell, they could have still at least given us a scene of a de-aged Bening depicting the original Captain Marvel in action in her prime. And I get the idea that everyone sees The Supreme Intelligence in their own way, but couldn't one person have seen it as a a big giant green floating head with tentacles? Maybe future installments of the franchise can remedy these fan favorite oversights.
5 minutes of young Benning could have been easy. There wasn't enough to buy into the character. As for the Supreme Intelligence, I felt like I did at the end of Watchmen
ReplyDeleteI'd have preferred a Monica Rambeau Captain Marvel in the movie.
ReplyDeleteIt was just Marvel Films kissing "Me, Too" butt (as far as I'm permanently concerned).
ReplyDeleteNow, now, Anon. Infinite diversity in infinite combinations, remember?
ReplyDeleteNo. If you want to do adaption stick to material and if you feel need to have a different type which is "missing" and a character not change an existing one.
ReplyDeleteIn Lord of the Rings they did not change the sex of characters but they enhanced role of minor characters and added new ones.
But they changed Jimmy Olsen's height, skin color and personality type to leading man type, Atom's love life, Oliver Queen got parents and a sister, Flash's dad "killed" his mom, Clark's dad told him to stay undercover, Wonder Woman got a DAD, Perry White had a change of skin color, Supergirl got a new sister, Adam Strange was screwed over, Iris West and family had a hue redo, And so on and so on.
ReplyDeleteFor some it's to include where types of people weren't included before. For some in charge, THEY want to do a redo in their own way based on their ego. Superboy without a costume. Batgirl as Alfred's niece.
A character's "Facts of History" have the least value to anyone who is not a creator or real fan. Just ask Sherlock Holmes and all his variations.
When I learned that Wild, Wild West was going to star Will Smith as James West, I was resistant. When I saw the movie, well, his performance was one of the few good things about it.
ReplyDeleteWhen my best friend mentioned to me that she'd heard about an African-American take on Annie, I thought about it and figured that it could probably work great. I saw the movie (with Jamie Foxx as Daddy Warbucks), and while it isn't great, it isn't an embarrassment either.
Annette Bening as Mar-Vell worked quite well, though I do agree with you, Ross, that having a scene showing her de-aged and in action would've been awesome. Ditto seeing the Great Intelligence as a giant green head. Hopefully we'll get at least a little of that in the next film, or somewhere else in the future. (My theory is that the giant green head is the Great Intelligence's true physical form.)
Opposing change for its own sake is just as bad as making change for its own sake. Sometimes the changes are there just because they make more sense (like Oliver Queen's above-mentioned family), sometimes they're to accommodate or allow for hiring a particular actor (like Laurence Fishburne or Jesse L. Martin), and sometimes it's for reasons beyond the control of any one force (like the changes to Ray Palmer's character when DC told Mark Berlanti that he couldn't use Ted Kord after all). Sometimes they're to alleviate specific problems with the character (casting Tilda Swinton as The Ancient One is seen by many as whitewashing, but as he was he was a mildly offensive stereotype). Sometimes they're basically for their own sake (Supergirl's James Olsen is Jimmy, Superman's Pal in name only -- not a bad character per se, but just not Jimmy to me).
Heck, in my fan-script for The Fantastic Four, Reed Richards has Asperger's Syndrome. To me, it just makes sense, and my writing of that much (at least) is a good sight better than the throwaway line Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa put into Fantastic Four: Season One. Plus, it would add to the MCU's diversity, and in fact the diversity of superheroes in general (I've mentioned elsewhere that the only other honestly-portrayed superhero on the autistic spectrum is Billy Cranston, the Blue Ranger, in the 2017 Power Rangers movie). Is it an offensive an annoying change to do that with one of the lead characters? I'd love to introduce an original superhero on the spectrum (and I have one or two in my rather large stable of characters), but where would I do that? Not in this movie.
I think one of the Power Rangers in the recent movie was depicted as being on the spectrum.
ReplyDeleteWith ALL that's been said, unfortunately, an opposite is also true. I speak of Disney's My Favorite Martian. No such cast changes per se but one of the worst adaptations of a show, equalled only by the animated My Favorite Martians. It was a kid show they yelled, while the original was much more than just that, especially its first season.
ReplyDelete@Bob: But, fixing something when it isn't even broken is far worse than being a gratuitous proponent/opponent of change,
ReplyDelete*Koff--George Lucas--Koff!*
Ross - Yes, that's the one I mentioned (about middle of my last paragraph; it being so buried is probably why it slipped past you). But he's the only one, anywhere, that I'm aware of.
ReplyDeleteI hate to admit it. But, I have to agree with Anon1235.
ReplyDeleteHan Solo shot Greedo first.
@ Bob--I fully expected, at the time, that Will Smith was going to play Artemus Gordon in TWWW. I mean, can you imagine a _modern_ white guy with that for a first name? Lol!
ReplyDelete@Anonymous: there were plenty of white guys during the 20th century who were first named Artemus. For example: Artemus Gates, Asst. Sec-Nav for naval aviation during World War II. And baseball legend Artemus Ward Allen (named for a famous 19th century artist)!
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