Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Also much harder to have a shared universe between the Mario, Zelda & Metroid games. Mario & Donkey Kong, sure, but I doubt there'd be any real kind of connected universe/story between all.

How much of this thread is actually discussing GOTG3?

There is a lot to be said for locking in the character like Bond/007 , ensures movies can be made well into the future. the Characters of Tony Stark or Steve Rogers could run along independently? as it is I dont think the casual film going public want to be locked in to having to see 5 movies and 3 TV shows just to follow the next film.

On your last part ,The MCU can be affected by competition in general wherever it comes from, there are only going to be so many big films a year and the energy will go where the energy goes. I get the sense that the next few movies arent must see, Maybe Deadpool 3 next year?

Went to see this on Wednesday. It was exactly what I expected, proper popcorn fare that does a really good job of closing the circle on the guardians arc. Great soundtrack as per usual but some really gut wrenching moments too, a tear or 3 may even have crept from my cynical eye.

Guardians was a good fillum.

Finally saw this yesterday. Pretty good. Rocket's backstory was quite heartbreaking. A good bit more serious and angrier than the others (To be expected, given the storyline). I do think some younger children might have a bit of a hard time so just be aware.

I didn't mind the treatment of Adam Warlock. I have never read the comics and my only knowledge of him was from the recent game. However I know he is quite an important character and I defer to people more knowledgeable about his character to judge if he has been mistreated. All I will say is that, knowing nothing, I thought he was a fun character..... But yes, I will agree that he did seem to be an add-on and was really only there to introduce another character/franachise. It was definitely a good end to the trilogy while still more avenues to explore.

With the latest Phase stumbling and unfocused, this really did feel to me like the final wind down of the first few phases:Infinity War, No Way Home (I know not MCU but you know), this, Thor fizzeling out. Last Ant-Man did nothing for me and I thought Dr Strange was OK but forgettable. And the series only mildly interesting. Loki was pretty good, as was Falcoln & The Winter Soldier. Hawkeye was fun but never got into Ms Marvel (Must give it another go) and the last episode of She-Hulk had SUCH an awkward shoe-horning in of a Hulk movie/spinoff/whatever that I thought initially it was some meta joke (Although I loved the chemistry between She-Hulk and Daredevil)

Si I kind of take this as almost a "Yeah, it's been a fun 10+ years folks. Now everything is wrapped up nicely and I have no real interest in the Next Generation (With the possible exception of the next Captain America). I'll catch the rest on D+

From what I remember, the Russo's ran Gamora being killed off by Gunn way in advance and he was fine with it, the only thing Gunn requested was that they include a scene where Peter and Gamora kiss, because they hadn't kissed in either of Gunn's films and now wouldn't be kissing in GOTG3. The original plan was actually for Gamora to die in GOTG2 but Gunn ended up changing it. So when they wanted her to die in Infinity War anyway he was fine with it, and then found a way to use the new version of her in GOTG3 to tell a different story with her.

I think the only thing Gunn really disagreed with was Peter hitting Thanos which allowed Thanos to beat them all on Titan, so there was definitely a bit of a jab from Gunn when referencing that.

I wonder if Gunn wasn't leaving and the Guardians wasn't effectively ending, would Warlock have been very different. I can't imagine they introduced him in 2 with this being the plan. You could easily take him out of the movie and it would have been fine without much rework needed, imo. Feel like he was only in the movie because he was introduced in 2, and it would have been odder if he hadn't been a part of this.

Yeah, those claiming Disney forced Gamora to be killed off against the wishes of Gunn is just wrong and is a created narrative to beat up Disney/Marvel. The exact opposite is true, Gunn wanted to kill Gamora in GotG2, where Yondu ended up sacrificing himself, but it was Feige and Marvel who talked him out of it. Now whether Gunn wanted her coming back to life is another thing altogether...

Gunn actually did the best job of showing rather than telling us the impact to the characters of the blip and where Endgame left off - where the rest of the story isn't purely based off it, like Wandavision. The close relationship between Rocket and Nebula can be seen several times which wouldn't make much sense if you jumped straight from GotG2 to 3 but does when considering the two of them spent 5 years and dealt with the trauma of the others being gone during the Blip. We also see how close Gamora is with the Ravagers and it is safe to presume that is how she got off earth and who she has been with since.

My point wasn't at you, it was broader that many are incredibly quick to jump on anything, real or manufactured, that fits into a narrative that they believe that Disney/Marvel either don't get on with directors/ are hard for directors to work with / force decisions on directors that they dont agree with / are the cause of most/all the issues with their movies.

It isn't surprising that you or most people didn't see the Gunn quotes regarding Gamora's death as news that puts Marvel/Disney in a good light doesn't get the clicks

I totally get that. I only learned of the whole thing at the release of GOTG3 where Gunn was doing a bunch of interviews and mentioned it (and Gunn tends to call out as much falsely-reported info that gets thrown about as he can). But your point is still valid concerning a different issue; Quill's helmet and rocket boots. People were pointing out that Quill nearly died in space at the end, and questioned why didn't he use his helmet and boots to escape/survive, but Gunn pointed out they were destroyed in GOTG2. However, we see him have them (and use them repeatedly) in Infinity War and Endgame, because the Russo's didn't consider that Quill losing them was supposed to be symbolic and a permanent change, and he wasn't supposed to get them back.

Have to admit, I never saw Quill losing them in GOTG2 as being a big deal and it made total sense to me that he would have just had Rocket make him a new set inbetween GOTG2 and IW. So there were definitely things lost in translation when characters move back and forth between directors/writers with different aims/goals. The Gamora case was one where it actually worked out for the best, where the Russo's killing her but bringing back in a different version of her helped Gunn tell a different story with those characters and allowed them to move on. Whereas Quill's helmets and boots led to a bit of confusion.

This is spot on.

The vast vast majority of films based on video games have been god awful.