Why MCU Writing Sucks Now | Scene Comparison

The MCU really has dropped off in quality. Let's compare the Hulk introduction in Avengers to the Iron Heart introduction in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
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[@rickygarcia1990]

One thing that bothers me about the current MCU is that they tell don't show. You can see this with characters who are supposed to be intelligent. Tony Stark is constantly shown doing technical things. Riri is just claiming to be smart. It's annoying.

[@gregowen2022]

Exactly, or they use stand-ins with other characters exclaiming how smart they are. It makes the dialog sound so terrible

[@xipheonj]

Worse than that, they tell then show the opposite. Their supposedly smart characters are utter morons, their strong characters are bumbling idiots. They fail so utterly at writing the characters that they HAVE to tell you how they're supposed to be or you'd never be able to guess that from their actions.

[@chickginger]

Yes! This is exactly what I said in my comment too. I'm an aspiring writer and according to pretty much all [good] writers, the number one rule of good writing is 'show, don't tell.' It's the main thing I aim for in my storytelling: showing the audience who my characters are through their actions and beliefs and dialogue, not through summary.

[@svetlanaandrasova6086]

All. The. Time. Jen Walters is supposed to be told by other men what to do? Its never shown. We are told she is great at controlling her anger? Then she gets angry very easily. Sylvie is superior Loki? Writers told us but never showed us why. Etc etc

[@abraham2172]

Except they literally SHOWED a working Iron man suit she built just a few minutes after this scene.

[@Michael_CDK]

Bruce Banner's character was at its peak in The Avengers. The way he handled Natasha Romanoff on first meeting her, and building the beginning of a friendship with Tony Stark, was just a joy to watch.

[@gregowen2022]

It really was great. They really captured the man vs himself Jeckel/Hyde character that is the Hulk and Ruffalo played it well

[@wwpjd28]

He was solid enough in second Avengers too. But this was his peak in his first movie. Down hill from there. Didn’t know how to write or use a character that is that powerful. Unless it’s a girl boss, and then she just does everything flawlessly and only gets beat if she wants to get beat (like Scarlet Witch).

[@Natta44]

They destroyed his character in Ragnorok. I mean Bruce's character as the human. He had no good lines, just a bumbling idiot the whole time. I guess to make Thor look good. Not like that hasn't happened before...as Thor was such a boring character before Rag.

[@MrBongo24]

@@wwpjd28 in AoU he was great as well but much less than A1 because of this awkward out of nowhere romance thing with Nat.

[@MarvNARK]

Wrong it was peak in 2008

[@MirandaSinistra]

Riri is the perfect example of a stupid writers understanding of what a smart person would be like.

[@AlejandroRamirez-rx1py]

Its completely accurate to her origin story in the comics. Also race baiting her teacher on top of it.

[@mendlez2306]

​@@AlejandroRamirez-rx1pyso they made the active choice of doing something that was already hated?

[@paulman34340]

​@@AlejandroRamirez-rx1pyExactly which makes it funny! They actually got her character right. And that is to their disadvantage. Because she's despised in the comics for this shit. (Unlike Miles, Riri did NOT get anything to redeem her character cause it looked like they WERE going the Tony route of letting her get high to plummet to the bottom hard like his story. But coward out in fear of going against "the message" (pretty much making clear only white people with "their privilage" are the only ones who have to prove themselves! Funny when you know ALOT of white writers are the ones making or as Editors ALLOWING this to become a thing. One who suspect it's a mix of tone deaf stupidity and an agenda to secretly indulge in racism...or with a few IGNORANTLY INDULGE in it with realizing out of dumb arrogance) And now they made certain she's despised in the movies as well (Happy her movie got canceled, they had ONE SHOT like with Miles in Into the Spiderverse to change my mind on the character, and unlike Miles and the writers for that movie. They blew it! Hell with Miles any dislike to him to Peter comes down to Peter already being established and him having to EARN the people respect and trust as they're getting use to him. Riri on the other hand is ALREADY being celebrated as "better then Tony Stark" before she even did anything to prove it. And the writers are shocked people dislike her. But after how they ruined Carol for good most likely. They doubled down, refuse to learn (having INHERITED their positions instead of earning it or trying to grandstand like morons) and so they will fail till someone takes the Pen away from them

[@Will_Parker]

Oh wow she's doing diff equ in college, she must be so smart! Well, I did it in high school but there is no way in Hel that I could make a machine that can detect a metal that is so rare it's impossible to calibrate the machine for and neither can anyone else I know who took that class. Differential Equations was hard yeah but people who haven't even taken calculus just think it's some quantum math that only geniuses take because they don't know what differential means lol

[@MirandaSinistra]

@@Will_Parker I still can't get over that she supposedly managed to make a machine to detect a metal without having said metal to test with.

[@46sn29]

I love how Riri literally killed a couple of cops during her escape from the warehouse and faces absolutely no repercussions for it. Brilliant writing.

[@felipemontero1087]

Not only that she kills more than a docen cops in her “escape”, is that the cops are called cause there is a kidnapping situation of a US citizen by a foreign and hostile international agents, infiltrating a school furthermore. They enter the building, and one exclames “shit, is an IronMan suit”, that is established as a weapon of max destruction, that is not expected to be find on a school. And Riri just shoots the cop with its beam, the one that is established to kill instantly, and then the cops just take cover and not return fire. Then she proceeds to drop a drone over 4 police cars, killing all cops involved, and is treated as a celebration, even Riri celebrates that she murdered in cold blood 10 people that were there to protect her.

[@maxmustermann2197]

It makes perfect sense though if you have an ACAB defund the police mindset like the writers obviously have, it's blacktivism you know

[@fromthecheapseats7126]

Don’t you know cops aren’t people? Defund the police!

[@rileyowen7245]

WTF who wrote this shit 💀 ​@@felipemontero1087

[@irrevenant3]

@@felipemontero1087 The suit seemed to be equipped with repulsors - that non-lethal weapon that Tony developed because he no longer wanted to be a merchant of death. I do agree though that hopefully we'll see some repercussions of her actions on the bridge when her own series drops.

[@Ironica82]

Riri's comic origin was actually much worse than it is shown here. Her teacher was encouraging her that she could be anything that she wanted. However, Riri is a professional victim and demanded that her teacher tells her that she can't do something so it would motivate her to prove the teacher wrong. The teacher then just randomly says that she can't be Ironman and thus, Riri made her own Ironman suit. Edit for correction: Someone below pointed out that the teacher actually just said she couldn't be Tony Stark, not Ironman. Also, she didn't build her own armor, she stole it (she did make her own arc reactor). That just makes it worse. Think about it, out of all the things Tony has done, Riri focuses purely on a suit of armor with tons of deadly weapons. That's like saying if you want to be like Steve Rogers, you must have the SS serum and the shield to be like him, instead of focusing on how he stands up for the little guy, how he is unshakable in his morals, and how he lays down his life to help other.

[@r.c.8268]

The look she gave the teacher in that panel is the look of a potential serious murderer, which she is because heroes today only fight and comment in battle but never save lives.

[@bassplayer2011ify]

I could have sworn she stole the suit. Because she comes from the era where characters don't have to prove anything the just are gifted their powers for some contrived reason or they steal it.

[@satisfied656]

This character is almost the worst in the Marvel-cinematic-universe....only beaten by the awful atrocity called #SheHulk what was made from pure brain-diarrhea! No wonder every output from Marvel bombs since 2019 at the box-office and they totally deserve their downfall!

[@benten1975]

It's honestly sad, it's such a perfect supervillain origin story...

[@symbiote1982pk]

She didn't make the suit, she stole it. She's a villain.

[@jimberjamber8540]

Friendly reminder that in the comics, Riri Williams basically gaslit her teacher into saying that she'll never succeed, even though the teacher was already supportive of her endeavors. At least they skipped that part in the movie.

[@PotatoWithALaptop]

She did what? Why are we supposed to like this character again?! Please I need to know?!

[@Yurikon3]

To be fair even outside of Super Hero stuff, it seems to be that when there is a life-story about someone who made it big or some self-improvement stuff, there seems to always have to be some sort of antagonistic force even if most of the people who "belittled" someone were just indifferent at worst. It is like one cannot just succeed or go by big mile just cause they wanted to but rather that there had to be some spiteful individual or society which "tied them down" to fight against.

[@staticshook2138]

@@Yurikon3Yeah but they could’ve just done that it was stupid for them to make it so that she bullies the teacher into telling her some dumbshit

[@jessicaheller3076]

​@@Yurikon3 they use that trope because it makes the success feel more impressive.

[@followeroftheprince]

​@@PotatoWithALaptopFrom what I've read in other comments, it seems she wanted an antagonistic force to drive her, so she pestered a teacher who was supporting her to tell her something she can't be. Seems she was told she couldn't become Tony Stark, so she eventually stole some robot suit thing from MIT and then, comics

[@mchammer5592]

Apologists will say “you’re not meant to over analyze these scenes” but not only does this awesome breakdown show just the total lack of writing capacity, but I would be totally fine if this was a 30 min CW episode. Much less time, much less money, writers will do what they have to. But this is a hundreds of millions of dollar production! How the hell did they manage to fill a room with writers who so fundamentally don’t understand writing basics?

[@gregowen2022]

It’s true, most people don’t analyze the scenes, they just feel good or bad about it. That’s what I don’t get about those apologists. Who cares if the audience analyzed it or not, if you watch a scene and it just “feels” off, the audience knows it, even if they don’t know why they know it

[@6thgraderfriends]

I still watch regular TV sometimes and I've never seen writing like this in a show that they know must be 22 minutes or 43 minutes long. I could almost understand if bad dialogue happened somewhat regularly in that case, but it almost never does. Meanwhile in these MCU movies and tv shows it's consistent.

[@Yipper64]

Yeah, like of course youre not meant to over-analyze these scenes but that's not the point, the point is when we do over-analyze these scenes we can see the issues. Its a bit like dissecting a frog, you dont need to to appreciate the frog, but doing so you can understand how the frog works and how well designed it is.

[@613harbinger316]

"You're not meant to over analyze these scenes" is this Hollywood generation's non-ironic version of "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!" "This wasn't made for you" qualifies as well.

[@Bugga451]

I've said this before in other videos on this channel, but producers are also at fault here. Writers get a lot of (somewhat deserved) flak, but the producers who review, muck with, and have final say on a writers words have a big part to play too.

[@matityaloran9157]

6:39, when Sheldon in the Big Bang Theory calls MIT a “trade school” the show isn’t trying to emphasize Sheldon’s intelligence but his arrogance and contempt for others.

[@mikzpwnz_3199]

The fact that they compared MIT to a village school is also perplexing as having that level of infrastructure in a Wakandan village is both impractical if they want to keep up the secret of Wakanda's technological prowess, but it's also such a waste of resources as that level of specialisation is 99% useless for daily village life.

[@matityaloran9157]

@@mikzpwnz_3199 To be fair, the world-building of Wakanda never made that much sense

[@mikzpwnz_3199]

@@matityaloran9157 Afrofuturism wish fulfilment at it's finest. If Wakanda was a reality, it would be the most hated country on the continent and viewed worse than any European colonial power.

[@darrengordon-hill]

​@@matityaloran9157Switch brain off and marvel at dark skin.

[@matityaloran9157]

@@darrengordon-hill My point was that you really shouldn’t take the world-building all that seriously.

[@kevinodonnell4094]

My favorite introduction for an MCU character was Falcon. We got to know him as Steve did, and in the end he felt like our friend as much as he was Steve's. I wasnt even sure if he was going to don the wings at all, but that didn't matter, because he was not only a truly likeable, interesting guy, but also helped us understand Steve and Natasha more. Those character moments weren't there to broadcast why Sam was above average or sooooo interesting, they were there to serve the character and the story. They elevated a D-tier character I never cared too much about in the comics to one of my favorite characters in the MCU. On your left.

[@ProjectKhopesh]

Falcon was great in his intro. Stand up guy, doing the right thing. They really dropped the ball with him as time went on.

[@draketheduelist]

Falcon: "On your left." Ironically, when have these actors _ever shut up_ about being politically to your left?

[@simpleneeds2582]

You gotta do better senator

[@paulaunger3061]

Definitely! And becoming Captain America - and his journey getting there - feels authentic and rewarding. Neither Sam nor Steve (or Bucky) are geniuses - but they're not stupid by a long way and they have a set of virtues much more valuable than genius.

[@Subpar1O1]

Steve and Falcon actually looked like good friends and that's what made me like Falcon. The MCU made him look cool and actually endeared us to him back then, something they haven't been able to accomplish with any of their new characters post-Endgame.

[@InfinityZwei]

The best part of Bruce's introduction scene is how much it contrasts with Natasha's competence in her own introduction earlier in the film by putting her in a situation that she was not equipped for. We see her coerce people with power or advantage by presenting herself as vulnerable and letting them flaunt their ego. Bruce is very different from everything she's probably had to deal with up til this point, because unlike virtually every mark she's had that would call for a spy he demonstratively has no ego for her to stroke and none of the traditional vulnerabilities she would use for leverage. Instead, he's in perpetual survival mode: he is always studying his surroundings, he volunteers nothing more than what is necessary, and most importantly: he is never disarmed and always advantaged should a confrontation occur even when isolated. She is a fish out of water in this scene, which is an effective revelation after her introduction (and prior appearance in Iron Man 2) places her chief character trait as being in control or taking control of any situation she is directly involved in, and its only when Bruce de-escalates after scaring her that she visibly recognizes this. The actors did an incredible job selling their character traits with this scene better than any origin story ever could, and the scene achieves all of these things without diminishing the value of either character. Good scenes are built with a transformation in mind: a development that alters the state of something within the story.

[@Mereologist]

Agreed. I do love how completely confident she is even when tied up and supposedly imprisoned in the previous scene - and rightly so! - in contrast with that one moment with a look not just of raw terror, but knowing that her gun is completely useless against the Hulk but it's all she has. The look of a professional who knows she is about to die and there's nothing she can do about it. →chef's kiss←

[@DerrickMims]

This. I love it.

[@MVPMVE]

One of the biggest things that bothers me is why Riri has to exist at all in the MCU when Shuri is the exact same character as Resident Black Girl Engineer Genius. It would have made better sense to bring back Harley Keener from Iron Man 3. He was at Tony's funeral, implying that he had a relationship with Tony after said movie, and has already showed a love of engineering as well then too as he helped Tony with his ruined suit. Build on that! Have him mourn the loss of his mentor and grow into his legacy as Ironwill or Ironclad or some other cool persona.

[@ReinzTheKing]

Why Riri exist and not bring back Harley? Simple. It's woke agenda.

[@souvikbose8282]

Cause he is white and blonde...thats why

[@shawerful5209]

Its simple more black women is equal to more black women

[@darrengordon-hill]

Because Sherri is "privileged royalty" while Reeses "pulled herself up by bootstraps"

[@Subpar1O1]

I remember seeing the posts confirming Ironheart was going to be a thing and thinking that they were just going to make Shuri Ironheart for some reason. They literally served the exact same purpose as characters

[@Beastinvader]

4:30 There's also foreshadowing in Natasha and Banner, as later in the movie her fear of Bruce is justified when he transforms into the Hulk in front of her and tries to kill her. It retroactively makes you appreciate why she was scared at the start of the movie. Also, Banner's statement about not being a good idea to shoot him ties into his revelation later that he tried to kill himself. That's how he knows a bullet won't kill him.

[@laurocoman]

That's one of the things that's missing. Details dropped in dialogue used to be interwoven into the plot so the writing rewarded the audience if they were paying attention. Now you are that fat guy running a comic-book shop from the Simpsons if you point at any inconsistency or contradiction.

[@jollimaiahtacksworth]

​@@laurocomanI know you probably called him that because you couldn't remember his name, but it's literally "Comic Book Guy" lmao.

[@dragonskunkstudio7582]

With the Hulk scene, it completely doesn't work as she is not telling him what to do, not wearing something up to her neck to hide her sexuality, and he's not acting like a blundering fool constantly trying to be a stupid male character. Totally unrealistic.

[@gregowen2022]

Hahaha, very true. Not enough girl bossing

[@supermodestmouse]

You see, banner is #metoo-ing Natasha the whole time. He should have been written like a bumbling idiot that can't walk and chew gum. Meanwhile, widow knocks him out in 3 seconds establishing dominance and cementing why she's the best.

[@brandonscott5544]

MCU WRITING TERRIBLE TERRIBLE TERRIBLE TERRIBLE.

[@silver2therescue1]

@@gregowen2022 I know this is a joke but it does make me wonder what a well written version of the Ironheart scene would look like. A character is just a character and can be written however the writer wants. A bad character is entirely the fault of the writer. The right writer could actually write Ironheart to be a good character.

[@marcneef795]

Yeah, ancient movies like this did not understand how people function.

[@LittlePhizDorrit]

Also, can I just say how insane it is that they portrayed MIT as having a white dude-bro jock type who has to cheat to get through classes? In order to create a scene and use stereotypes to play strawman to their agument (white males are lazy/dumb and abuse black people's/women's work), they portrayed the top science and technology school in the U.S., possibly the world, as the kind of place where a lazy jock pays others to do his work. This might have flown if the scene was Ohio State, but MIT??? They clearly have NO IDEA what kind of people go to MIT. They are all STEM geeks to the nth degree. MIT famously has tragically high suicide/depression/drop out rates because the standards and competition are so high. These people go to incredibly difficult classes, all with lab work. MIT DOES NOT HAVE DUDE-BRO JOCKS!!!

[@CLDJ227]

Having a stereotypical jock type pay someone to do their work feels more like a high school thing than a college thing. Maybe Riri would be more interesting if she was some smart high school prodigy or something 🤔.

[@CLDJ227]

Also, "white maled are lazy/dumb and abuse black people's/women's work", is that really their argument 🤔?

[@DerrickMims]

I am pretty sure the comics version of Riri is something like 15 yrs old. I promise, she's not any more interesting. Worse, actually, from what little I have read. @@CLDJ227

[@SolarisKane]

@@GregJamesMusic "but a dumbass like Flash could still get in just because his dad paid a lot of money." That's actually real though. Some of these top tier universities have gone under fire for being caught doing exactly that.

[@IsThisThePrizeIveWaitedFor]

It’s very clear these writers aren’t very smart

[@samzilla567]

Riri's origins in the comics came from her pure narcissism of wanting to prove she can do anything. Her teacher flat out told her she can do anything if she can set her mind to it, but Riri insisted that her teacher needs to talk down to her and deny her big "Dream" to inflate her ego. She has no character arc, no growth, no challenges, she's just perfect from the get-go. I don't understand why Disney really thought this character would be a great addition to the MCU.

[@crisstrider8857]

Literally just to be an Iron Man replacement.

[@richardlewis7172]

Diversity

[@starzz7221]

So they can pander to iron man fans and woke critics/fans because if she had anything negative with her you would get the one leg black lesbians on twitter with flags in their bio condemning then. They are trying so hard to please everyone they are pleasing nobody that isnt a twitter extremist

[@KennyPalurintano]

@@crisstrider8857 They had to take Iron Man, and turn it into a girl and make her lame.

[@irrevenant3]

Why is it 'confidence' when Tony (or any other hero), wants to prove he can do anything and 'narcissism' when Riri wants to prove she can do anything?

[@AkaSora96]

I also want to point out that 2012 Avengers doesn't even have the best dialogue compared to other MCU movies yet it is still miles ahead from what we are getting nowadays

[@vernonhampton5863]

About the "Young gifted and Black" line... I have mentioned, more than once how the MCU's American Civil Rights timeline and society has been altered from phase 1 and 2 (in particular Captain America 1 and Agent Carter. They had an integrated US Army in WWII and there was a papered black physics proffesor in 1950. Bucky and Steve, sons of Irish imigrants born around 1910, have no issues or discomfort around black people, at all. Yet, now, it's become "current day America"... how?

[@EnriqueMaxx]

Idk Bucky seems pretty uncomfortable around Sam 😂 - JK your right of course but what did you want them to do? You can't have a racist Captain America even if that would be more realistic

[@vernonhampton5863]

@@EnriqueMaxx blatantly racist, no. But having social awkwardness for a little while can show character growth. Note, there is a big difference between racism and cultutre clash.

[@EnriqueMaxx]

@@vernonhampton5863 oh I totally agree with you. It actually probably would've made the relationship between Cap and Sam mean SO much more if it came with him having to overcome the past and acknowledge how far society has come since his childhood

[@vernonhampton5863]

@@EnriqueMaxx well, that is why I think the MCU had better past race relations than our world. And it also showed that Steve Rogers is just a good person. That's it, that simple and clean. I still love those films.

[@krnatsu]

I love what you said about how "being overpowered doesn’t immediately make a character a Mary Sue". There are plenty of characters who are immensely powerful in their respective universes, Ben 10, Satoru Gojo in Jujutsu Kaisen, Superman and Ichigo Kurosaki from Bleach just to name a few. But the difference between these characters and someone like Riri, Captain Marvel and others, is that their is an internal struggle each character must overcome. A Mary Sue/Gary Stue, lacks an internal struggle, because the writers believe they don't need them, that the characters they have created are so amazing, loveable and perfect, that the audience doesn’t need to see them struggle. You see how Ben needs to become the leader Max knew he could become, when the latter supposedly sacrificed himself. You see how Gojo's burden of being the strongest Sourcerer has on his mentality. You see how much Clark must limit himself to inspire others and you see how much Ichigo burdens himself with protecting as many people as he can, even before he had any powers. Riri and Carol's struggles are simply making others recognise just how great they already think they are, Riri is a brat who has trates that are normally seen as negative, she's a bully, self-centred and cocky, but these are meant to he good things because she's a black girl doing them instead of a bully trope character from a late 80s highschool movie. And just as an example of a female character who, whilst powerful is not a Mary Sue, in case someone thinks I'm being sexist for only discussing male characters. Raven from the Teen Titans animated series is the most powerful member of her team, but she's also the most introverted. Raven secludes herself in her books, spells and meditation, she's afraid to get close to others, her internal struggle is learning that its ok to be different, because her friends love her regardless and know that despite her heritage, she is more than Trigon's daughter. A characters lack of struggles and universal ass bending love for them is what makes them a Mary Sue, not just that they are incredibly poweful, by the standards of their respective universe

[@gregowen2022]

100% agree. Those examples would all fit for a video explaining what a Mary Sue is and is not. ……and now I’m scripting

[@krnatsu]

@@gregowen2022 ah perfect timing haha. Glad I could help provide some examples, and I do mean some, because I'm sure you and everyone else can think of many other characters who are immensely powerful, and aren't Mary Sues

[@docpox3900]

I mean… Hulk is ridiculously overpowered and he’s not a Mary Sue either obviously.

[@krnatsu]

@@docpox3900 oh don't get me wrong, to us it's obvious that a character like Hulk isn't a Mary Sue, but to people who either A. Misuse the term, B. Don't know the term or C. Misunderstand the term, they may make the blind assumption that we dislike Rey, Captain Marvel, Riri, She-Hulk and so on, purely because they're overpowered, and not because of the lack of meaning such power has for them. Hulk may also not be as obvious as most people who aren't die hard comic fans, may not be aware that Hulk is at least a planetary level threat, mainly because they just think he's "the physically strong one". Again whilst you and I recognise that Hulk despite his immense power is not a Mary Sue, it may not be obvious to those who don't know what makes a Mary Sue

[@MirandaSinistra]

Another great example of an OP character done well is Saitama in One Punch Man. The whole point of the story is that Saitama is struggling with being apathetic to the good vs. evil struggle in the world because no one can challenge him in a fight. Him being OP feels like a curse.

[@wafflingmean4477]

Notice how these days Disney introduces a protagonist as a arrogant prick but presents it as a positive quality, meanwhile the character that literally launched and to a major degree carried the MCU through its entire glory days, Tony Stark, was introduced as an arrogant prick, but it was presented as a character flaw he needed to overcome? Tony's general charisma and likeability combined with the suffering we see him go through in captivity make us route for him, hoping he won't just save the day and survive, but become a better person, in large part by overcoming his arrogance.

[@gregowen2022]

Exactly. They wasted no time in showing us that he was a full narcissist and it was a FLAW. How am I supposed to root for Iron Heart? I didn’t even see her trouble with the teacher, she just said it, so it must be true I guess.

[@DerrickMims]

Compare RiRi to Kate Bishop from the Hawkeye series. Kate is skilled, intelligent, brave, and enthusiastic. But she’s also overconfident, reckless, and ignorant of so much about being a spy/hero. She has a lot to learn, and she grows throughout the story. And even when she’s feeling like she’s progressing, Florence Pugh shows up to show her just how much she still needs to learn. Kate’s a terrific character - written based on good comics source material and portrayed by a likable and super competent actress. RiRi is none those things.

[@Beastinvader]

Kate got a lot of hate in the Hawkeye show. Yet she's the only good post Endgame character so far. Strong but not perfect

[@DerrickMims]

Exactly. IMO, after Guardians 3, Hawkeye is the best thing they've done post Endgame. Barton gets a lot of well-deserved character focus, and Kate is terrific (as I said). The humor works, and the serious moments hit (I love the scene where Clint admits to Kate that he was Ronin). I did not care about Echo and her story, and Kingpin could have been better used in the final ep. But Barton/Kate had strong chemistry, as did Steinfeld and Pugh. @@Beastinvader ETA: I admit that I have not seen Moon Knight. Some people see that as an underrated series, so I might get around to it. I love the character, but it's messy to adapt.

[@Beastinvader]

@@DerrickMims I agree with your review of Hawkeye 100%. You'll like Moon Knight, but it has similar flaws. A messy ending with too much given to less interesting side characters

[@DerrickMims]

Good to know, thanks! @@Beastinvader

[@galaxycookie731]

​@@DerrickMims Loki was pretty good 👍

[@BingBong67489]

God I miss early MCU Banner/Hulk, back before they turned him into a gag character.

[@eringrunke5319]

I feel like watching these later movies is making my own writing suffer. I gotta watch some good ones again to remind myself how it should be done.

[@Pumpkin7269]

Watch the old classics and what made them great, after all back them they tried to entertain with great story instead of Pander first, story last

[@gregowen2022]

Definitely consume the good stuff, or at least learn from the bad

[@eringrunke5319]

@@gregowen2022 I definitely learn from the bad, but lately, they seem to do ALL the same things wrong 😑 Too much of the same lol.

[@binkyboy448]

Try "Shadow of the Vampire". Watching it made me love movies again despite leaning hard into the madness of it all.

[@georgekatkus5162]

Rewatch the LotR Trilogy. That always helps me write again.

[@cestmoi5687]

I'm a black woman who got a STEM PhD almost 20 years ago. My professors and advisors saw I did good work and treated me accordingly. I think there are jerks out there who prejudge people based on things like race or sex, but it's not the 50s anymore. So I find those kind of beat you over the head with the racist professor scenes off putting.

[@gregowen2022]

It really is silly. We've been doing a great job of identifying and shunning racism and sexism as the garbage that they are. Unfortunately, in that pursuit, we seem to have forgotten that sometimes people are just assholes and they don't even need a special reason or label.

[@cestmoi5687]

@@gregowen2022 I got a reply from Greg! Love your commentary, and you are spot on as usual.

[@robotx4242]

They do this with sexism as well. In Barbie a man walks up and slaps Barbie in public on her rear end. In She Hulk a man casually refers to a woman as "it". These over the top stereotypes are extremely unrealistic and do more harm than good.

[@MarvNARK]

​@@cestmoi5687why is there always a more unlike you who are talking about the 50s as a bad time

[@I_have_Claws]

I think Riri said it because it was a Chadwick Bozeman said.

[@AlejandroRamirez-rx1py]

If the Riri scene drives you up the wall then you actually need to read her origin story in Marvel comics. Its completely accurate and will make you add more grey hair to your head.

[@doppeldipper7111]

I feel like the Tony Stark & Peter Parker scene in Civil War did a better job at presenting someone who is brilliant but still needs a mentor.

[@iiiivvvv9986]

Another set of examples that I'm pretty sure are from the same movie can be said about Spider-man Homecoming. From what I remember, one of the early scenes was of Peter either coming late to or losing focus in a chemistry class because of his secons life as Spider-man. Because of this, the teacher calls on him to answer a complex equation on the board that students who were paying attention will still struggle with. He initially panics, but still manages to give the correct answer. Here, you see that Peter is smart and quick on his feet, good at chemistry, but clearly struggling to maintain his double life. And then you have the inevitable inventing/making web fluid scene that is always excused by fanboys as the "only" way to show how much of a genius he is and the main reason why he cannot have organic webbing

[@keithmichael112]

5:01 it's a nice setup of Natasha's fear of the Hulk that's paid off later when she is attacked by him on the helicarrier. an actual strong female character who isn't lame as hell

[@Minetic]

I'm telling you after Infinity war, the writers/directors stopped trying except for James Gunn. And even then there were some issues that they neglected to address in Infinity War. I don't like how when the Hulk was humbled by Thanos, decided to hide for the rest of the movie and then in Endgame we get Professor Hulk with little development or story.

[@abdulazimnaushad]

The development happened off-screen which was stupid.

[@iamthestormthatisapproachi916]

And Professor Hulk really didn't looked like the "best of two worlds".

[@createdforthemoment6740]

I think thats unfair. Most of Wanda Vision is very creative and mostly well written (riiiiight til the end where they had a brain fart). I stand by Moonknight being really good and creative. Loki too. I reckon its down to producers and too much money in all the wrong places.

[@Ezullof]

@@createdforthemoment6740 Yeah and some of the movies were pretty good too. The issue is with the introduction of new characters that were supposed to replace the original Avengers, and with the lack of consistency. It's not a coincidence if most of Wanda Vision, Moonknight and Loki all had their very specific narrative and creative styles: the main Marvel style had reached its limits with Infinity War and needed to move on.

[@SimonMoon5]

To be fair, Differential Equations isn't just a topic that is briefly mentioned in Calculus II. It actually is its own class, a class that usually has a prerequisite of Calculus II (though the occasional Calculus III topic might be useful to know). So, saying Riri was late for Calculus would (a) be less specific (which calculus course?) and (b) be a less advanced course than Differential Equations. Presumably, she was taking a course in Ordinary Differential Equations (which, yeah, isn't that special for a 19 year old) rather than Partial Differential Equations, which would show a bit more promise. But also, any decent engineer (which she is supposed to be) should probably already have had a course in Differential Equations, so it seems a bit weird that she's just NOW taking it.

[@reedr7142]

We just called it diff-E-Q

[@fireemblemaddict128]

My eyes rolled into orbit at that part. KZbin essayist having no idea what they're talking about.

[@mikzpwnz_3199]

Wait, isn't that on most maths courses that are a pre-requisite to Stem degrees? I know the first year of a degree has a lot of courses that the purpose is to get people up to speed before moving on but MIT would probably have this as a week 1 or 2 subject at most.

[@irrevenant3]

Watching this video I had a belated thought: Is it possible Riri is worried about missing Differential Equations class because that's something that's been particularly applicable to developing her prototype exosuit?

[@mikzpwnz_3199]

@@irrevenant3 such as a method of providing an alternative method of feedback to the suit as continuous live functional testing such as iron man 1 is out of the picture?. Also at this point in the MCU if they followed continuity, wouldn't iron man suits be rolling out as some counties were a decade behind Stark industries? So wouldn't making a prototype suit redundant.

[@douglasanderson7260]

I agree with the commentary. Showing subtle character traits have always made for good story telling. Han shooting Greedo in the Cantina for instance. Tells us all we need to know about Han Solo and what motivates him. Though realistically, both writers on Black Panther had 7 writing credits each before this movie, Where Joss Whedon had like 25 writing credits, including 2 tv series that went on for 145 and 111 episodes. So maybe we can chalk this up to experience matters? Though there have been great movies written by novice screenwriters, there have been many more bad movies written by people who needed a little more time to master their craft.

[@wwpjd28]

And Firefly that is arguably some of the best character writing of all time.

[@gregowen2022]

Experience definitely matters and I think the blame gets split between the new writers, but also the studios who quite frankly don’t seem to care about writing quality. It’s all CGI and product placement and make sure we can make a cinematic universe out of this. Disney has gotten really bad at favoring quantity over quality

[@lforlight]

Han shot second

[@Mereologist]

Yes, but no. Remember that the MCU is trying to show us their new replacement for Iron Man. This isn't just some random secondary character, this is supposed to be the new person who will carry the torch of the series for a decade. This SHOULD have been rully, rully important to them and to us. They SHOULD have wanted the best humanly possible, especially in light of the trend of failure they should have already noticed had begun. I do think this once again shows us how overlooked writers are, even in Hollywood. All the spectacle in the world without good writing is just a kaleidoscope.

[@rayl6901]

I disagree. I can't chalk it up to writers not having enough experience; I chalk it up to writers having an agenda. Edit: when you say writers on Black Panther, I assume you mean writers on Wakanda Forever, which is the film being discussed. Just to be sure, so there is no misunderstanding. Peace

[@tabithachen2912]

I WASN'T READY FOR THE CUP NOODLE/GLADIO CLIP. One of the most blatant product placements I have ever seen I love the Banner/Widow scene. To this day it's one of my favorite scenes in the whole MCU because of all the nuanced back and forth

[@gregowen2022]

I was stunned when I got that game and eating cup noodles gave you an XP boost and you could get a giant cup to wear on your head. What is happening over at Square?!

[@tabithachen2912]

@@gregowen2022 no clue. They also collabed for... I think it was Dissidia? Don't know if there was anything in game but you could buy Cup Noodle and they had reward codes I think. Also for XV they partnered with Niisan I believe and actually made the Regalia. And let me tell you that car was PRETTY...

[@n.s.3609]

@@gregowen2022 I remember reading that devs were buying many cup noodles when working on FFXV so they decided to include it in the game.

[@alessandrobaggi6129]

Kojima did this in MGS3 years ago...

[@Arsio12]

​@gregowen2022 FFvXIII and FFXV was a major money sink due to its development issues. Developers were eating a lot of cup noodles and reached out for a collab. It's played up as a joke and not to be taken seriously.

[@deeesher]

I've always said that scene with Bruce and Natasha is one of my favorites and very underrated. And yeah, nearly all of Black Panther 2 is cringe, particularly this scene. Riri aside, it always bothered me the way they pushed Shuri into the main character role. She made a fantastic scientist and secondary character. But seeing her as lead just doesn't work. Ideally, if they made the Queen the new Black Panther, that would have been awesome and absolutely believable. She even had the build for it.

[@gregowen2022]

It’s such a standout scene in a standout movie. I had actually forgotten about it and I was getting clips for some other video where I was talking about Hulk and came across that scene and was just blown away with how the writing and acting used to be.

[@hugoboss6715]

Nah the queen got too much cake to fit in the black panther suit lol

[@deeesher]

​@@hugoboss6715have you seen Angela Bassett's arms?? I can almost guarantee she could kick your ass. A bit of training and she could have pulled off a Black Panther better than the 110 pound Shuri

[@hugoboss6715]

@deeesher have you seen her booty? 😳 😏Marvel would've struggled to get her in the suit. And she would've been cool as BP but I honestly think they should've recasted BP

[@irrevenant3]

I'm happy to see Shuri as Black Panther. Yeah, she'll presumably be a different Black Panther to her predecessors - more science and tech focussed. Build is less important when you've got superhuman strength and toughness (no-one's wanting to go toe-to-toe with Supergirl, after all) but I imagine she *will* be less of a brawler than previous Black Panthers and play things smarter. That's interesting to me.

[@mr_0n10n5]

Shuri: This school is so backward Also Shuri: Goes to said school to find a talent that so happens to be the only person who can make a vibranium scanner You'd think Wakanda would have someone who can

[@jessicaheller3076]

The whole Wakandan superiority complex feels so forced that its becoming annoying.

[@GuiltlessGear]

Riri Williams and America Chavez are some of the most unlikable, venomous characters in comic history, and the fact that the minute the infinity saga wrapped, the MCU tripped over itself to shotgun them and their fellow tokens onto the big screen as fast as possible, ignoring the decades of iconic material yet to be adapted, is the most telling thing of all.

[@gregowen2022]

It’s mean, but I’m glad it’s all falling apart. When a company ditches their existing customer base for a younger sexier twitter base, they deserve to be financially punished.

[@GuiltlessGear]

@@gregowen2022 you'll get no pushback from me. I've seen this happen so many times in the past in video games it's not funny. it's nice to see it backfire for once.

[@markmcgowan3692]

Yep, all of the “Marvel Now” characters sucked, but the MCU decided to feature all of them.

[@draketheduelist]

​@@gregowen2022 What a lot of people miss is that "get woke, go broke" isn't a truism, a warning, or even a fact. It's a _mission statement._ It's not about what _is,_ but what _should_ be, and a new installment of a popular franchise _should_ no longer be considered a safe financial investment.

[@abraham2172]

How exactly is America Shavez unlikable? If you said she had too little personality or character development, sure, but this point of critique makes me doubt you even saw the movie.

[@theanimeunderworld8338]

I think the mutants can work for the mcu since earth was exposed to like 3 ground zero snaps for cosmic radiation so those who survived could have developed powers This would have done a lot of interesting things. 1) a new prejudice conflict that isn't race-based, its the powerless vs the powered 2) those with power could create a new form of... anti-alien interest. Those with powers could now help defend Earth against all forms of alien attacks and make Earth strong 3) those with power could wish to remold earth for their needs, a new (literal) world order

[@BungieStudios]

No mutants in MCU. Only enhanced individuals.

[@SeanWheeler100]

@@BungieStudios Namor and Kamala are mutants in the MCU.

[@symbiote1982pk]

Mutants aren't caused by cosmic radiation though, that''s the FF, Mutants are born with the X-Factor gene, the only chance they had to convincingly insert that would have been when the infinity gauntlet was assembled and capable of re-writing reality, now though? they'll be ham fisted in during secret wars if you're lucky. They're just gonna ruin them too anyway, that's all their good at now, taking long established characters and turning them into crappy jokes.

[@Tyler_W]

A good setup for mutants, but it has one important missing factor. The mutants don't really work without a sense of historicity to them. So many characters wouldn't work if they didn't have some mileage on them or if others didn't have family histories with mutantcy. The way I think you can make that origin work is if the gauntlet snaps didn't create the first mutants so much as they sped up the rate of mutation. That way you can say that a select few mutants like Magneto, Wolverine, Apocalypse, Mr. Sinister, and Prof. X have always existed to one extent or another behind the scenes. Mutants were just so rare that they actually could stay hidden for so long or that they could otherwise be covered up. Then they start coming out of the woodwork as the snaps accelerated the rate of people's mutant genes being activated.

[@gokux75]

I just fear Disney is going to make the mutants in the MCU gay stand ins like they have with the recent X-Men comics and every non mutant X-Men villain is going to basically be a Trump supporter saying "damn mutties."

[@iceprism367]

Seeing that Hulk introduction scene again felt so refreshing. I wanna watch the old MCU again. 😢

[@theanimeunderworld8338]

Sadly there is a decline in quality. There's a lot of potential but it seems there's a certain thing on people's minds when writing and it doesn't lead to great work And it doesn't blend well at all when you look at it straight in the face with landing lights

[@gregowen2022]

Yep. It’s like explaining a joke, it’s not funny anymore. When you have some ideology that you want to make sure gets explained in every scene, it loses all meaning

[@sandracorbitt75]

I'll add that good vs. bad writing is a staple for re-watchability. I can rewatch Avengers many times and still get enjoyment out of it. I know which scenes/lines are coming and am chuckling ahead of time. Whereas the new stuff just makes me cringe and roll my eyes when I know what is coming that I genuinely don't want to watch anymore - it's a one and done.

[@aoihitori]

The thing is most of their "writers" doesn't even had good background or had any background in writing. That is the big redflag that nobody talk about. Telling a Good and Compelling story is different from Re-educating Viewers.

[@todderickson2435]

This is delightful sarcasm at a platinum level. Brilliant and spot on. Thank you.

[@guardianangeloflight1466]

you used IEW with your kids too? that makes me so happy. I did as well, and still reference it for my college essays today!

[@nataliedepriest9113]

Love the scene comparisons…this is good stuff. Looking forward to the next one.

[@gregowen2022]

Thank you! These are very fun to make

[@wwpjd28]

I’ll always take more Greg videos. Notifications always on.

[@bozimmerman]

Hey Greg -- in the Software business, we use the term 'algorithm' to refer to a process apart from its implementation (which you'd call 'the code' or by the language name). It's not just a buzz-word. We haven't used flow-charts in the SW biz since like the mid 1970s, when processing time was so expensive that measure-twice-cut-once was economical.

[@bestdjaf7499]

I used the flow charts all the time. You have to document the logic somehow. Especially when you are dealing with the client facing applications. It's business logic & has to be reviewed/approved by the clients. Of course, you can write a wall of text, which is extremely confusing & hard to read/follow, or you can use the flowcharts. I can forward it to the clients or testers... Actually, all the development tools have the flowcharts option. You can visualy create the domains & objects & logic ... and the software generates the code down to the "if" statements.

[@mydavegabicycle]

Absolutely loved this video and you have a new subscriber. My actual favorite part was how you broke down the Hulk intro and all of Natasha's tactics. Speaking of, I know it may not be a big source of comedy as your content is awesome at, and there may not be much to compare it to that's recent, but would love a breakdown on Natasha interrogating Loki in The Avengers. It's used to show how brilliant she is that she can trick him into giving up information, but it always seemed utterly random to me. Just getting some insight into her thought process and testing different angles and all. Anyways, thanks for the awesome content. I still haven't watched Wakanda Forever, and the way the internet keeps telling me, I really don't need to hah.

[@umbrellacorp.]

You didn't mention how Iron Heart can buy all that technology with no one asking questions and were she's getting the money to make the tech. Marvel forgot to put that in.

[@DarkAnims]

This reminds me of where there are kids in cartoons who can make some advanced technology while nobody questions where they got the materials and money.

[@mouhiazeck]

I love scene comparison videos because it's just so revealing and *shocking* when you put them side by side like this. I really want to rewatch the original Avengers movies now. Also I just can't get over DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS CLASS ???? Did the writers not spare a single second for research?? As someone who's actually in AP calc rn it's hilarious to me and even if there was a Differential Equations class, real people would probably just call it Diff or something lmao

[@LordSluggo]

If you're in BC Calc (Calc II in college), they touch on some topics but you're not getting the full class. At some schools it's called Differential Equations (Diff EQs for short), at others they call it Calc IV

[@ebony07]

As an IB student (taking HL Math Analysis and Approaches) who has also taken a number of mathematics AP exams, the idea of a class dedicated to purely differential equations is kinda laughable. That being said, I suppose it is understandable if the student in question is specializing in a field such as machine learning or some other types of engineering due to the sheer amount of mathematical knowledge needed to truly understand the concepts. My main issue with Riri taking that class is that if she is, apparently, smart enough to build an Iron Man suit, why is she taking a Differential Equations class?? MIT has an option to 'test through' some classes as it makes it more affordable for an attendee. Also, if she's at the stage in her college career where she is being given engineering assignments for which a vibranium detector seemed like a suitable submission, then isn't she past the differential equations stage?????

[@LordSluggo]

@@ebony07 As someone who just finished a five credit hour DiffEQ class, I can assure you the concept isn't laughable

[@ebony07]

@@LordSluggo No I get that its a class that's offered, I just think that someone who's as inhumanly smart as they make Ironheart out to be should have tested through it.

[@shyguygaming5397]

I’m so glad that they had Riri point out that she’s black because I never would’ve noticed that had they not said it.

[@Taraku43]

Another important factor is, for the Hulk scene, they don't try and be funny. Natasha tries to ease the mood a little to keep Bruce down, but even that only helps to empathise the fact how scared she was. Bruce meanwhile, while shown to be in control of the situation, also was shown to be scared of what could happen to not just himself but the people around, including the Military and the City. As for the Ironheart scene, they don't try and hide anything. All the subtle elements of the Hulk scene got thrown out the window like the little girl did, and instead just keep pointing out everything. "Look she has a good phone. But our technology is better" "The best school in America. Our schools are better tho", all these things could have been shown when Riri would have visited Wakanda, and not only would it have helped show Wakanda's science, but it also would have not made the main characters of the movie look like Superiority seeking meatheads. Marvel forgot to be subtle, and this scene shows

[@Yipper64]

3:12 I definitely love the idea of having a character who tries to use her feminine charm but is put into a situation where that doesnt work. Unfortunately we cant really have that type of thing anymore because a woman acting feminine and using traditional gender roles to her advantage isnt very politically correct. But anyways I like how it shows Bruce as more of a thinking guy rather than feeling guy, its going to take more than a pretty face to convince him to do something.

[@realistic_delinquent]

‘Member subtlety? *sighs* I ‘member.

[@spinlok3943]

Pepperidge Farm remembers...

[@gregowen2022]

Sadly, I do ‘member

[@benjaminowiadolor8379]

I could say the Thor "I like this one" scene worked clearly only because of all the back story of thor and the emotional exchange with rocket in infinity war and his complete loss regardless of he's effort in that movie. Rocket then reminds us in the first fifteen minitues of endgame when tony asked, that thor thinks he failed, which of course he did but there's alot of that going around, carol did nothing but careless about what thanos was made of, she only basically just kept pushing the idea that this fight wasn't over yet that he could still be beat, the opposite of what thor felt and what we needed that as veiwers at the time. sure we don't like her Carol attitude but it worked in endgame because it was the only senerio when that behavour from such a person +(powerful) could pass and we would take it, her "bad" behaviour played an optimistic role in that case and got thor back on his feet, he was like... You know what... I think "i like this one", Even Chris couldn't mind his language after getting all that giddy carol hopes up. (I dont like captain marvel honestly)

[@thehale_]

That amazing introduction for the Hulk just to completely ruin his character a few years later. Such a shame.

[@jcmeadows1]

Excellent video. I appreciate how you use story telling decisions with precise dialog references to advance your arguments. I recommend easing up on the sarcasm. It doesn't always land and it conveys unnecessary arrogance.

[@actualnotanewbie]

8:55 I never thought that Riri's introduction was little more than a boring footnote of the story, but it has recently occurred to me that there's no reasonable explanation as to how she successfully built the machine. Even if she could build it, she would need to test it, and where would she get the vibranium from? The vibranium store?

[@catkook543]

This was really well made. Would probably be nice to have just 1 last showing of the chart at the end of it for a final review of the results though, but other then that really well made!

[@TheEverSoTalented]

100% your right that a 'normal' Disney writers stereotypical idea of how to convey to the audience (in as fewer words as possible!) a super smart young (black,female,and of course strong) prodigy.. so right there is a BIG reason why today's movies can feel FORCED!

[@francisoffilth7953]

This man’s amazing grade A sarcasm definitely earned my sub. Great video brotha

[@nestsvvs]

They definitely could have added depth to her character by showing us her struggles to enter MIT, build the vibranium detector or even how her lecturers remarks affected her rather than just telling us.That's the problem I have with the MCU, these characters are so unrelatable and I hate that Marvel believes that a characters Race or Sexuality makes them relatable

[@irrevenant3]

Yeah they could. But this isn't Riri's film. She gets something like 20 mins of the entire runtime. The film is about Shuri with Riri as comparatively minor supporting cast. IMO the original video was absolutely correct to compare her introduction here to the Hulk introduction scene in Avengers rather than to a main protagonist in their own film.

[@Allie-w1l]

My first visit to your channel. I love your straight-faced sarcasm. ☺

[@wolveric0]

i still don't understand how Wakanda Forever made 850+ million, that is an insane number for that level of quality, is not just the writing but the VFX as well were poorly made.

[@jessicaheller3076]

It really wasnt that bad dude.

[@lazzyreviews4535]

because they used chadwids death for promotion which made them millions and we don't know if his family got compensated for. 850 million is thanks to Disney using someone's death for promo. what a trash company. next shuri black panther movie is making less than 200 million trust me. that's why they will bring back CGI chadwid from a different time line. Disney is that greedy.

[@benjaminowiadolor8379]

Just to permanently correct you on okoye composure, Okoye saying "i like her" is a very natural african thing to say, esspecially the way she said it. African parents and elders would naturally use reverse physcology and body and face language to communitate bad behaviour. She also proceeds to say "small small" girl, that repitition also verifies that african parental behavour, (remember the person playing the role is actually african). In Cinemas across Nigeria and maybe even all of africa, we seriously ate that scene act up and chuckled, we completely related to it and even felt she left out some character so as to not tick foreign veiwers off. There's more to say and even a scene to relate or even two...

[@joao17771]

"Remember the person playing the role is actually African" Danai Gurira is from Iowa. Also, believe it or not, some things that people do in real life are terrible for Cinema, like a character saying "I like her", for instance

[@benjaminowiadolor8379]

@@joao17771 "Danai Gurira is from Iowa" she was born & lived in the US until Zimbabwe gained independence, and moved to the southern African nation as a child before again crossing the Atlantic to study higher education. Also, you basically said Acting African in an African role by an African is cinematically wrong. You're saying this to African in africa who watches more African cinema content that anybody outside this continent. And should know who African roles should be played especially by an African.

[@benjaminowiadolor8379]

@@joao17771let me tell you, we Africans very much crave accurate representation or at least "african cinematic quality" in foreign produced films based on us, we see very sensitively the poor role play and appreciate the little improvement yall make in portraying our character like we do ourselves in our own movies. This is one of those moments where Hollywood hits the spot... that's the truth we love to see & we saw it and liked it. We are very disappointed at most of Hollywood's depictions of Africans, (honestly maybe all) but we understand the difference in culture and difficulty in communicating information when the roles are played the way it would be if it it were an African made movie. (naturally, Africans like may others are more accommodating to understanding foreign & "Hollywood movies" that western are to the rest of the world so we know your "African themed" movies should look more like what you should understand than what we as Africans know it should look like. So again she did the right thing, y'all just don't get it "can't relate"

[@joao17771]

@@benjaminowiadolor8379 I'm not reading all that

[@Riley_Kayote]

@@benjaminowiadolor8379 crazy how you say Africa or “Africans” as if you speak for all of us. No one I know related to these characters or their terrible accent. So you should probably speak for yourself

[@alexnejako777]

At the best the MCU was going to be an OK adaptation of the comics. It was better at the beginning because it took more inspiration from the Ultimate Comics line, which was intended from the beginning to be more realistic than 616. Now most Marvel comics (including most of the individual comics) and the MCU are bad in different ways and both will remain that way until new creative directions are found or plans are cancelled The world doesn't need movie adaptations of more comics.

[@gregowen2022]

I think things were better in the beginning when the problems were smaller, as well. Once we moved away from earth, the franchise showed signs of stress cracks. Now it’s crumbling under the weight of the entire universe and multi-verses

[@Mereologist]

I do think it points to a deep problem. Any comics fan knows there was DECADES of fantastic material just sitting there for producers to adapt. But it was in the same pile with absolute garbage that everyone hated. And when Disney looked in that pile and chose the material they wanted, they chose the worst instead of the best. Time and again. It was not an accident... it was a matter of abominable taste and indifference to the paying audience.

[@isuapig6705]

Your sarcasm is amazing

[@frostdemon4113]

Ironheart's character feels like an interesting concept, not for a character you're supposed to like tho, I feel like they're more of a pawn in someone else's game. They're highly respected, feared, whatever and they have this out look that some people don't believe they're live up to their hype (I don't really know how to part this in words) so they get introduced to someone they highly respect and the person acts as a mantor and offers them an opportunity to work with them, all the while adding fuel to the fire of their outlook and ego. After accepting the offer they're praised and built up more by their mantor, but every project they work on from this point on just seems to always fall apart, fail, never do as intended and everyone slowly loses the respect they had for the character, all except the mantor who still believes in the character, this could motivate the character to prove themselves to the mantor, they focus all their time and energy on building what the mantor wanted help with and when it's done, it works as intended, no flaws what so ever, this might fill her with pride as she proved herself to the only person who still believed in them, only for their mantor to stab them in the back, the character has done what they were wanted for, they no longer have use to the mantor figure so they're disposed of. I could have written this better but this is how see this kind of character being used i guess

[@mikzpwnz_3199]

Like A remnant of Ultron that implanted itself into Riri's mind and is controlling when she first developed the tech due to a piece of vibranium originating from his body, pushing her to pitch the idea of the vibranium detector by using her arrogance against her professors to his own ends to find enough vibranium to get his own body back. The fact Ultron now has an in to Wakanda makes him push her to play nice as it means he can accelerate his plans and use the nanotech suit to stealthily steal tiny fragments of vibranium without anyon noticing and possibly take over the suit when he has enough to redevelop his consciousness back to before he got beaten by the Avengers. He then "rewards" Riri by letting her live through anything by trapping her in the suit.

[@irrevenant3]

This is an early introduction to the character. I'm personally not convinced they're *supposed* to be very likeable at this point. She's like early Stephen Strange - an arrogant jerk who's good and knows it. I'm hopeful that this is the basis for character growth she'll undergo in her own series.

[@mikzpwnz_3199]

@@irrevenant3 maybe so, but the arrogant characters such as Tony stark, Thor and Dr strange had a humbling moment (getting hit with his own company's weapons by people he never sold them to and being injured to the point his heart is constantly on the brink of dying. Getting thrown out of Asgard, Loosing his hands) to burst that bubble and to create a starting point for that growth. if we have to wait until her dedicated series for that instead of writing it in her introduction (and ask the question to why did they give her the nanotech suit before the story beats would indicate that she "earned it"), that part would be easily lost in the writer's room and they forget that we are supposed to have something to care about the character.

[@irrevenant3]

​​@@mikzpwnz_3199The nanotech suit was made with borrowed Wakandan tech and she had to give it back. I would hope that professional writers familiarise themselves with a character's current status and history before continuing her story. If they can't figure out that they need to develop their main character then we have larger problems. Note that Iron Man and Dr Strange were introduced in their own films. Riri's introduction is more comparable to Black Widow's. And she went through roughly as much humbling and character growth as Nat did in her first appearance - none, because someone else's movie wasn't the place for that.

[@SugarRushTimes2030-gs3qp]

Spot on analysis, you need to join the consultant group at Marvel Studios to overlook poorly written scripts to help with corrections long before filming begins bc if they keep finding out how bad writing is until test screenings, it’s too late

[@bluelanternguardianangel8038]

Bruce Banner- a man who undoubtedly wants to do the right thing but one mistake due to his hubris created the ultimate weapon and now has to live with it for the rest of his life Riri: strahng wahman #234 who is a literal plot device Yeah its no surprise that Marvel has fallen since its heyday

[@inkheart151]

I actually appreciate analysis like this because I love writing, and I’d like to craft enjoyable content that isn’t heavy handed and that actually gives you likable characters. I appreciate the insight.

[@michaeleverett9091]

This kind of thing was what I first noticed in the first The Marvels trailer: spymaster Nick Fury is immediately recognized by a teenage girl, who starts fangirling out. The best part about these movies used to be the way that characters interacted with each other from different films, and the way that every new entry showed you something new about them. Now characters know everything they are suppose to know to start, or at least the female ones do.

[@DerrickMims]

Kamala Khan is canonically an Avengers fangirl, going back to her first issue. But I don't think this MCU version should know who Nick Fury is. No one should until he chooses to meet them. That's kind of the point of him.

[@michaeleverett9091]

@@DerrickMims Putting a wall between the world of the comics and the MCU I'm perfectly alright with the Captain Marvel obsession that Khan has in the MCU proper, and actually glad to see it. Some of the smaller pieces of character work that have come lately is treating these super heroes as icons in their own worlds, and that's great. But Kamala knowing the person she sees when looking through the window of a space station and shouting 'is this a test'? That's female empowerment gone haywire.

[@jessicaheller3076]

​​​​​​@@michaeleverett9091 i dont get a female empowerment vibe from that scene. That scene was just a poor attempt at humor while sacrificing the drama and tension in typical marvel fashion. the thing that annoyed me was that i really dont think suddenly being teleported to space on the OUTSIDE of a spacestation is an appropriate or believable time to be fangirling. You can fangirl AFTER you're SAFE and sound. fangirling when you are in the middle of a dangerous situation just takes me out of the story. When i first saw the trailer, i thought it would be a funny scene but once she started fangirling over Nick Fury, i rolled my eyes in contempt. That is what we call Hokey writing. I would have gotten way more enjoyment from her panicking in terror the whole time while everyone else is confused wondering what is happening and trying to figure out how to get her back in. The idea of that happening for real is hilarious to me but the fangirling completely ruined that scene and made me feel like the director has no sense of verisimilitude in filmmaking.

[@michaeleverett9091]

@@jessicaheller3076 There were a few reasons why I defined it as empowerment gone haywire. One part is because a common problem with the 'strong female character' concept of late is that female characters are hyper competent in nearly everything without ever expending time or energy. A teenage girl goes from sitting in her room and daydreaming to floating in outer space. She screams a few times, but then manages to get her fear completely under control because she recognizes someone she has no possible way of knowing. She isn't weightless, or trying to determine how to get inside the station, or wondering if she has enough oxygen, or terrified because she's wearing a space suit and a diaper. No, she's about to become an Avenger (despite the fact that Fury hasn't been connected to the Avengers properly since way before the snap, but who's counting?) It isn't just bad writing - it's lazy writing. It is the kind of nonsense you get when you hire people because of their gender, race and/or sexuality and not because of their skillset. It reminds me immediately of the She-Hulk writers who admitted they had no idea how to write compelling legal drama so they simply didn't bother.

[@hrothgarnogar]

Holy crap I hadn't caught that before about the writers of Black Panther 2 totally contradicting themselves. First, they establish that Riri is the ONLY person in the ENTIRE WORLD who can build a machine to locate Vibranium. Which means NO ONE in the ENTIRE world has been able to do it. But then, when Riri tells her professor she wants to do it and he says he doubts she can, it's now because she's young and black in America???? DEFINITELY NOT because she's a college student saying she wants to build something that, until then (and even afterwards apparently), was impossible. That's like if I went to my College engineering teacher and said, "I'm going to build a working nuclear fusion reactor!" and then he was like, "yeah right! I doubt it!" and then I said he doubted me because I was young or because of the color of my skin lmao.

[@cora2658]

Modern films seem to forget the importance of “show don’t tell.” Showing your audience someone is smart is a lot harder to do than telling the audience that someone is smart. But doing more showing demonstrates that the writer trusts the audience, respects them, and won’t rely on shortcuts to tell them the story. Telling fails to trust the audience, treats them like idiots that need help to understand the story, and comes off as afraid to let the audience draw their own conclusions. Telling is lazy shorthand. Film media has a strong visual aspect to it. The dialogue needs to tryst that the actors will do their part to tell the story and show us through acting what is happening.

[@brooklynwayne8363]

Great video Bravo. Also I appreciate all the Subtle setups that you've done to keep me and the rest of your audience engaged throughout your video. I acknowledge you 👏

[@stoopidpursun8140]

A better comparison would be comparing the recruitment of Ironheart vs. Iron Man's recruitment of Spider-Man.

[@tarloe]

BRAVO! Brilliant analysis, my friend.

[@darkdudironaji]

The writers think differential equations is super advanced because you calculus isn't the required course for any of the departments they received a degree from. They probably think that's as far as math goes.

[@AYVYN]

It is one of the precursors to quantum physics, but I do understand your criticism.

[@darkdudironaji]

@@AYVYN Being a precursor do quantum physics doesn't make it advanced. Just necessary knowledge.

[@omgwtfrofltomato]

a youtuber whose an actual writer AND has a personality for the camera? so rare! subbed so fast!

[@TeaRiker]

0:33 i haven't followed the MCU for a long time. Is this scene real?

[@Noble_OverDramaticShoeBOO1]

Sadly it is

[@TeaRiker]

@@Noble_OverDramaticShoeBOO1 dear god

[@Jaikenz37]

Love the breakdown comparison of these good stuff! 👏

[@alexandredesouza3692]

Marvel had a method up until Endgame. They did not plan anything after that point, they told the story they wanted to tell and are letting Disney handle the rest, by milking the rest for all it's worth. Marvel's new Method is the Star Wars method. Quantity over Quality and no one has any idea what anyone else is doing.

[@emblemblade9245]

Finally someone says the right answer

[@self-parternerd8661]

"To be young, gifted and black... right?" She tells this to a girl who has lived all her life in a 100% black, exclusionary country, who is the daughter and sister of a King and she was the chief researcher in Wakanda at age 19 (entrusted to handle billions worth of vibranium)... what exactly does she know about that? That wouldn't be a problem if she knew nothing about her but the writers thought about that and kept the inconsistency by making her lead with a "ARE YOU SYURI???", ensuring that Riri knows her, so she could look dumb later!

[@jskrabac]

Man, seeing Bruce's intro scene broken down like this makes me sad all over again over what they did to his character. Ruffalo plays an SNL version of Banner from Ragnarok on.

[@hodldawg]

It's like the writers were never taught "show, don't tell."

[@johnhilton4245]

What happened is a bunch of activists that could care less about the comics, films, and anything else we care about got hired as the writers and decided they were going to do whatever with it

[@akira8393]

And I'm like a nutjob otaku in marvel and they never hired me. But hired the activist.😮‍💨

[@stupidshiba]

@@akira8393you might be the only person capable of making a worse story than phase 4 marvel writers

[@atharvanmangalapalli459]

10:28 No internal conflict to build an Arc... So that's why she didn't build her own Arc Reactor. She stole someone else's...

[@Jose04537]

I hate how "strong" is equated as been an assh*le.

[@theanimeunderworld8338]

The sad part is that now, because it's been overused , "strong, female leads" will now be a sterotype

[@gregowen2022]

I don’t get how we are in an era where we call aggressive men toxic, but laud aggressive female characters. Rude is rude, no matter what’s in your pants

[@Nyet-Zdyes]

@@gregowen2022 It's one of the new modern double standards... Only whites can be racist... Only men can be sexist... And only men can be "toxic". For the first two... they really are trying to change the actual definitions.

[@daveleevicks8749]

@@gregowen2022 They're kinda stuck, bc they have to replace the male, and if she replaces him she has to act/be strong like a male which equals assh*le in modern era. By the way the "young, gifted and black" is a reference to the Nina Simone song...like James Brown's I'm black and I'm Proud. Still was a little weird and wasn't needed, but I'm guessing it was meant to be a little gratuitous pandering for the black community.

[@emblemblade9245]

Double standards are a very very stubborn thing. It results in people viewing things in the same gender roles even when the roles are flipped or criticized. People saw the “strong mean male” as the winner and “weak polite female” as the loser, and desired to see females in a better position. All well and good to wish for such a thing. But the problem is that the prevalence of the gender roles led to them retaining the idea that the “strong and mean” are the winners and “weak and polite” are the losers. Rather than come up with a different kind of winning side for females, they just tried to insert them into the existing winning side. And because they didn’t like the existing gender roles, they made the current residents of the winning side out to be a problem. So, they correctly identified a disparity in gender roles that left women with a less desirable image to most, and that there was a winning and losing side. But they got too caught up in the idea of being on the winning side, rather than properly criticizing what the winning side should look like. So they let themselves be convinced that in order to be on the winning side, they have to act like the men on that side. In the end the gender roles didn’t shift, and the rude aggression of men is still seen as the ideal side, only now it’s a side that women should now have the opportunity to occupy. Only by changing the mindset people have about the roles themselves can this flawed dynamic be overcome. I think it’s no surprise people got stuck in this step for now, especially when aggressive and rude behavior still gets rewarded in many places. It was only natural that it would be mistaken as the right path to take. It’s just a step towards real lasting progress. My only worry is that it’ll erode trust between others before that progress is made. That’s why I don’t like to focus too much on ideas like agendas, it’s too suspicious

[@actiontoons]

Dude, just discovered your videos. Well done 👍

[@gregowen2022]

Thank you!

[@chickginger]

Wow I loved your analysis of the Bruce Banner Hulk scene, especially cause when you watch it you just get all that! As an aspiring writer myself (books, not movies), this is the kind of writing I strive for: communicating things to the audience without explicitly stating them. 'Show don't tell,' it's like writing rule #1, but screenwriters are terrible at it now. Audiences are not neaely as stupid as they think we are.

[@tylerhatch3161]

Lots of agreement overall, but a small note. It is common for engineering majors to have additional differential equations classes outside calculus, for example, I took Calc 3 as a freshman, Modern Differential Equations as a sophomore, and Partial Differential Equations as a masters student. It's not unexpected for Riri to be late for a class that is specifically differential equations

[@draketheduelist]

In pretty much every scene in Avengers 1, Bruce Banner _is_ Bruce Banner. He bounces off all the other heroes, not just Black Widow, precisely the way you'd imagine he would, and they react to him in kind. Cap appears to understand that the Hulk is in a roundabout way _his_ fault. By going into the ice, Steve woke to realize he'd set a genetic arms race into motion, of which Bruce was an unfortunate casualty. ("He thought gamma radiation might be the key to unlocking Erskine's formula." "Didn't really work out for him.") Meanwhile, Tony is off _encouraging_ Banner to master his powers instead of just putting up with them. ("You're tiptoeing, Big Man. You need to strut.") Thor knows that Banner is not a threat at heart and tries to talk Hulk down in a way that none of his squishier peers could. ("We are not your enemies, Banner!") Even _Fury_ is incredibly accommodating, almost flaunting in the degree to which he can track down Loki and the Tesseract. ("How many spectrometers do you have access to?" "How many _are_ there?") Fury is demonstrating that there are bigger, scarier things in the world than the Hulk out there, and that Fury would honestly _prefer_ Banner / Hulk as an ally than a foe given the circumstances, which is doubtlessly more respect than Bruce is used to. All this despite that Fury having a countermeasure against the Hulk in his back pocket, just in case. Even _nice_ Fury is still Fury. Pretty much everybody but Hawkeye did amazing at this, and Hawkeye only missed out because he spent most of the movie under mind control. You could make a diagram of all the different ways each different character or faction regards another and probably fill it up. Multiple times. "Of the three people in this room, who is (A) in a spangly outfit and (B) not of use?" "These guys come from legend. They're basically gods." "When he's not that thing, he's like Stephen Hawking." "An ant has no quarrel with a boot." "He's _the_ spy. His _secrets_ have secrets." "You miss the point of ruling, Brother. The throne would suit you ill." "I'm a big fan of how you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster." "That guy's crazier than a bag of cats." "No, you brought the monster." "Let me know if 'real power' wants a magazine." "You may not be a threat, but you'd better stop pretending to be a hero." "No hard feeling, Point Break. You've got a mean swing." "What he's got is an ACME dynamite kit that's gonna' blow up in his face." Whenever a character talks about another character, you should learn something about _two_ characters.

[@paakdisayaniyom]

If I can go back in time and tell myself in 2019 that "these are what will happens to MCU within next 4 years" me in 2019 will *absolutely* not gonna believe it...

[@t.k.1319]

I mostly agree with what you’re saying, but I want to add context to the “young, gifted and Black” quote. Yes, she is saying this about herself, but Riri was referencing a Maya Angelou quote. This is a quote that gets referenced in actual conversation, specifically conversations related to accomplishments. Usually this is said in the context of one person praising another, so Riri saying it about herself makes it feel like it was shoehorned in to this scene for fan service. They know their audience for BP2, and want to deliver another “hey, she said the thing!” moment. Also, it makes no sense that an MIT student would pay another MIT student to finish a project for them. It has a notoriously high suicide/depression/drop out rate, because everyone is a genius and they are competing against each other. That type of person doesn’t get in to MIT. This would’ve made sense, if they made him a nepo-baby at Stanford. If you’re going to make a Mary Sue, at least make it make sense.

[@celestialnubian]

Black Panther II definitely suffered due to Kevin forcing Ryan to include the Riri storyline. There is no way he would've done that of his own volition.

[@letfreedomring7330]

Sorry, differential equations is a separate class, and it's taken after Calculus I-IV have been completed. I took it in my junior year. It's not an easy class, but it's not exactly quantum physics. I found fluid mechanics to be far more difficult. (My major was biological engineering, if you're curious.)

[@MVPMVE]

Just so. I did Ordinary and Partial Differential Equations as a sophomore as a Mech E student (Cal I in hs, Cal II and III uni freshman year). It's not easy, but hardly genius. It's required for every engineer student, so in a way it's one of the minimum standards of the degree lol.

[@hawhite2000]

Yeah I don't think it was meant to indicate that she was super advanced. Only that she needed to make it to class. When you take a lot of math classes you tend to not just say math because you're probably taking multiple math classes at the same time.

[@letfreedomring7330]

​@@hawhite2000They were trying to make her seem smart. Most of the time people just say they have to "get to class."

[@hawhite2000]

@@letfreedomring7330 You're in college your whole day is class. Engineering majors tend to be more precise.

[@letfreedomring7330]

​@@hawhite2000She's talking to strangers; they don't need to know which class she's going to. Precision in this case is unnecessary.

[@THE_INFECTED]

Sounds like my writing on the first draft and I don’t feel like writing anymore 😂

[@doki1146]

Imagine siding with another country that is more powerful than yours (in the MCU) and doesn't trust your own country's intelligence agency (CIA) As an Indian, I can tell you that if someone uses this concept in a Bollywood movie, people will screw them over (literally)

[@bable6314]

Considering that Bollywood only seems to make musicals and love stories, I don't think you'll have that problem.

[@doki1146]

@@bable6314 I am not talking about Bollywood. I am talking about as a society peoples won't accept that kind of nonsense

[@noahearl-jackson5588]

Woah I didn’t know you can time stamp the light button to light up when you mention it. I’m liking the video just for that

[@jamesgatz4490]

The young, gifted and black line was a reference to a famous song that shares thematic elements with the films plot. Those three things are also the only three things the two characters have in common during this first meeting. You said "Marvel trusted its audience to pick up on some context", that's exactly what they were relying on you to do here.

[@Excelsior1937]

The Banner scene he was talking about didn’t require you to know about a song you may or may not have ever heard before. The context he was referring to is all about something happening in the scene that you don’t need any exposure to any specific work of art to understand

[@fishjones4618]

It’s scene analyses like this that makes me love good movies. There’s a great video breaking down Pirates of The Caribbean Dead Man’s Chest’s liar’s dice game scene between Will, Bootstrap Bill, and Davey Jones which picks apart the psychology of the three characters while they play the game and up the stakes. It compelled me to go out and buy a liar’s dice game.

[@angryferb1079]

Honestly every video I've seen today seems to be saying this. There is definitely a reason other than what the companies are saying.

[@gregowen2022]

Hopefully Disney sees all the discontentment and changes course and we’ll get to see the improvement in….. 6 years or so. Yaaaay

[@angryferb1079]

@gregowen2022 After this last Loki episode I decided to cancel my subscription. It wasn't as entertaining, and I think they're on course for more to follow.

[@happybirthdaypaulie8584]

Cut to modern Marvel where Hulk now refers to himself as “Smart Hulk.”

[@ChuckJansenII]

I'd love to see a comparison on Captain America's first few minutes to Captain Marvel's back story for her origin story. The part where she meets Maria Rambeau in the middle of the film. Would love to see if you saw what I saw as the superior intro to Captain America and the inferior origin story of Carol Danvers. Downfall of the MCU starts with Captain Marvy. Also, look at the first few minutes of Iron Man and see that so much of Tony's character is setup. And they didn't even have a finished script! These new Marvel female super heroes value self-actualization over personal growth. That's it in a shell with nuts.

[@rogermwilcox]

Hey now, one of my calculus courses at UCLA was *exclusively* devoted to Differential Equations. It was even TITLED "Differential Equations."