That is Wesley Snipes. It's a trailer for the original 1998 Blade movie getting re-released in 4K this December.

@Green_vs_Red:

And unfortunately redundant in light of the video game already taking things back to 94.

Damn, you're right lol. Well, it helps enforce why Spider-Man PS4 is arguably the best (pseudo) live action Spider-Man movie.

@Daz:

I definetely see where you're coming from, but while MCU Spidey certainly can be a bumbling, well, kid, I do think he sells a certain kind of wish fulfilllment; P

Oh my God. Everything makes so much sense now. MCU Spider-Man isn't Spider-Man. He's… he's...

MCU Spider-Man is Harry Potter. transphobic creator withstanding for now… I can't stop laughing at how accurate this is for me now.

Being serious though, the wish fulfillment angle only hammers my point home about how Into the Spider-Verse did everything the MCU movies tried to do but only needed one film and without compromising the relatable working class underdog core of the character.

In other news though…

Looks like Doctor Strange will also be appearing in MCU Spider-Man 3.

Welp, so much for Spider-Man 3 being a solo Spidey movie where Peter has moved on from appealing to mentor figures.

Everybody is interpreting this news to speculate if MCU Spider-Man 3 will be a live-action adaptation of Spider-Verse and/or One More Day.

For now, I can't fathom how you could make either of those stories work for a compelling emotional arc with a lighthearted high school Peter Parker that Into the Spider-Verse didn't already do in spades unless you use the One More Day elements to erase everyone's memory of Peter's identity being exposed. Which would be another slap on the wrist for MCU Peter's supposed consequences.

Unless maybe you have Aunt May get killed as a result of Peter's identity getting exposed, and the movie actually sticks with that to the end unlike the comic. Damn, that would be pretty dark and compelling. But I don't trust the MCU to take risks like that (heroic sacrifices at the end of the actor's contract don't count, I'm talking a cold blooded assassination attempt and hospitalization here). And they would need to develop May as a character so I actually care about her since she's only been a joke 95% of the time.

@Daz:

If I could narrow it down, the vibe I get from the MCU movies is "Spider Man is cool! Its cool being Spider Man!"; and while I've certainly always found Spider Man cool, that coolness was built on the fact that being Spider Man was really, REALLY hard, and that Spidey kept going despite the toll it took- something I feel Spiderverse tapped into very succesfully.

I agree with everything you said, but on this point I argue it's the exact opposite. The MCU movies, to me, love making fun of Spider-Man. Mocking how small-time and young he is compared to the Avengers. And emphasizing how cool it would be for Peter to take on "Avengers-level" threats and play with the type of tech that Iron Man makes.

Which is emblematic of modern Disney movies as a whole, especially the live-action remakes. You know, how they love to do the whole intertextual nudge nudge, wink wink "ain't this trope you remember SOOOO dated or unrealistic", but then they do the tropes anyways as if they're afraid of being themselves. So it only makes the movie feel unnecessary and watered down.

That's why Spider-Verse makes such a positive impression. Because it's all about celebrating why Spider-Man is awesome and inspiring, right down to having Spider-Man merchandise be an in-world diegetic element for plot devices, humor, and overall aesthetic. Which Lord and Miller carried over from their work on self-reverent referential media franchises like the LEGO Movies and LEGO Batman.

@Demon:

As for his love of Iron Man:

1: His first ever issue of his self-titled solo comic was him trying to join the Fantastic Four. There's precedent for him wanting to belong to the superhero community in the MU.

Comic book Peter tried to join the Fantastic Four solely because he thought he could get paid and improve his reputation, but refused when they said they were a nonprofit and accused him of being a criminal. He was a working class hero, dealing with working class struggles, protecting working class loved ones.

And when he does eventually join the FF and Avengers, he doesn't serve any purpose besides being bros with Human Torch and an extra bit player that cracks jokes.

MCU Peter wants to impress Tony Stark because he wants to be seen as an A-lister and become an Avenger. Add in the stakes for both MCU Spidey movies being supervillains stealing Iron Man's tech, and Peter never once acknowledges Tony did reckless stuff with said tech that's just as bad, if not worse than both Vulture and Mysterio's plans. He was practically a superhero fanboy stanning billionaires. And without Uncle Ben being directly mentioned, that's the only thing motivating him aside from a vaguely implied past failure and a conventional moral compass.

The latter isn't inherently a bad premise for a superhero movie. It would line up very well for adaptations of Ms. Marvel or Sam Alexander Nova. But for Spider-Man, that change only rubs me the wrong way more and more as current real world events keep proceeding.

2: They introduced him via Civil War where he did indeed have a very close relationship with Iron Man. Pete was basically his intern following him around everywhere. Later, after they had a falling out, Peter said he was "Like a father" to him.

And that's exactly what's missing from Peter and Tony's MCU relationship. The falling out moment. And I don't mean Tony becoming disappointed in Peter so he takes away the fancy suit. But Peter being disappointed in Tony by realizing how flawed and self-centered he can be.

Comic Book Civil War Tony is indeed way too cartoonishly corrupt, but the MCU had plenty of ripe ground by Homecoming and especially Far from Home for a more nuanced take. Where Peter sees how Tony's actions created Ultron and Vulture, attempted to kill someone for crimes they committed while brainwashed, and knowingly drafting a naive kid into a superhero war. We literally two villains in a row that were originally sabotaged by Tony somehow, and Peter either shrugged it off (Vulture) or never heard about it (Mysterio).

At the very least, have Peter at the end of Homecoming start calling him Tony instead of Mr. Stark. That way you get to have your cake and eat it too by showing that Peter still has respect for Stark without putting him on a pedestal.

Plus, FFH was pretty decisively about him moving on from Iron Man. Future movies featuring him SHOULD have basically no IM stuff save a passing mention.

Was it really though? If anything, Happy's vague whole "Tony made mistakes too" monologue without going into specifics and Peter making a new suit with AC/DC playing implies otherwise.

And people said the exact same thing about Peter moving on from wanting to be like Iron Man after Homecoming. And Mysterio exposing Spider-Man's identity only furthers that connection, especially since everyone close to Peter (besides Flash, who's purely a punchline) already knows who he is so there's no interpersonal drama there. Come to think of it, I remember there being an interview after Far from Home released where Jon Watts or one of the actors said the post-credits scene was supposed to parallel Tony announcing he's Iron Man in Iron Man 1 as an epilogue to the Infinity Stones saga.

So I don't care for leaning on that line of blind faith logic until we get a whole trailers and a whole movie of having Spider-Man unapologetically be Spider-Man.

Far from Home would have had a much stronger message if the script had Peter realize that Mysterio, in trying to usurp Tony's tech because he sees himself as a true hero above everyone else, is unknowingly emulating all of Tony's worst traits. To the point you can't even really call Quentin Beck an "evil Iron Man" so much as an even more unhinged and egocentric Tony Stark 2.0. The drone strikes are even a redux of all the Iron Man robots Tony made in Age of Ultron that Ultron stole control over.

So Peter therefore realizes that Beck (the new hero he thought was better than him), and by extension Tony Stark, is the last kind of person he wants to be pressured into becoming. And that Spider-Man's humble origins/abilities and restraint are the meaningful divide separates them. Then tie that development in with Peter honing his Spider-Sense, one of the few abilities exclusive to only him, to overcome Beck's illusions instead of just building a better suit like Tony would. The movie even recognizes that Iron Man is similar to Mysterio when Flash remarks that Mysterio looks like a fusion of Iron Man and Thor, but it never considers further comparing the two tech fiends.

Like, I know opinions are opinions and if you still don't like it fine, I'm not trying to change minds but I don't like the "He doesn't make mistakes!" or "He suffers no consequences for being Spider-Man!" thing when he very clearly obviously does.

That's actually my exact problem. To me… MCU Peter almost exclusively makes mistakes. Up until the third act of both movies where he just gets better at being a hero all of a sudden without actually changing up his strategy. Unless you count the "Peter Tingle" but that's less character growth and more a sudden power-up conveniently kicking in when you need it most.

But the movies want us to think he had an arc. And the plot either has most of his constant mistakes have consequences washed away or be played for laughs, even though plenty of those mistakes end up almost accidentally killing people and wrecking their property. That works for a irreverent, edgy superhero parody/satire like Kick-Ass or Deadpool, not for a legitimate superhero drama.

This cycle happens to the point MCU Peter hardly has any redeemable qualities for me. And so even when he's acting relatably awkward and depressed, or ditching his friends to try (emphasis on try) being a responsible Spider-Man, he only annoys me at best. Because I don't care about seeing him improve. If anything, he deserves to feel bad about himself. I want him to quit and retire early lol.

I've said this before, but watching MCU Spider-Man movies makes me feel like J. Jonah Jameson. Because MCU Peter is written as a superhero parody or a shonen manga gag character that we're suddenly supposed to take seriously.

Everyone can feel free to rag on Tobey and Andrew's Spider-Men, neither of them are perfect takes on Peter with plenty of accurate criticism their way. But at least they were competent at being superheroes for most of their screentime. With their failures or corruption being few and far apart amidst their effectiveness at rescuing people and fighting baddies, and thus having more impact and investment when they do fall short because I believe in their ability to pick themselves back up and be better.

Actually, Spider-Verse Miles has an extremely similar flawed hero-in-training arc as MCU Peter. Right down to having a mentor he's struggling to live up to. But it's framed in a much more endearing way that doesn't actively endanger others as often, and we see how he gradually earns becoming Spider-Man by building up his self-confidence and embracing his unique style with supportive feedback to finally master his powers linked to his emotional stability.

@Green_vs_Red:

Single can't hold down a job working class Spider-Man you mean.

More like a single Peter having any kind of job whatsoever. There hasn't been a movie or show with a working Peter Parker since the 2000s.

Spider-Man adaptations nowadays don't like having Peter be a photographer for some reason. The comics and PS4 game have him be a scientist, but it'll practically be a decade before MCU Spider-Man can reach that point.

Or better yet. Give us a single working class Spider-Man that isn't hanging out with billionaires and government agents.

Jamie Foxx is apparently returning as Electro in MCU Spider-Man 3. No word on if it's a new interpretation or the same version as in The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/spider-man-3-jolt-jamie-foxx-returning-as-electro-exclusive

Wow… Even as one of the few Amazing Spider-Man 2 defenders out there, I never would have saw this coming.

Not against it though. The villains are the best part of MCU Spider-Man films, Jamie Foxx is a great actor, and the The Amazing Spider-Man's flaws mainly have to do with the plot/narrative focus and pacing. Jamie Foxx's Electro most certainly isn't perfect, but on paper he probably had the most interesting supervillain motivation out of all the Spidey movie antagonists by being a Spidey fan who grows to hate his idol because he doesn't live up to his standards. Which is something you can only convincingly do with a hero like Spider-Man who interacts with regular civilians often.

Interestingly though, in Kevin Feige's Sony leak advice on Amazing Spider-Man 2, he did like The Amazing Spider-Man 2's Electro. Biggest critique he had for him was cutting out scenes that made him look too crazy pre-transformation so he feels more relatable.

@Daz:

Some recommendations:

Film Crit Hulk

I had seen Film Crit Hulk's videos recommended to me recently on YouTube a couple times but refused the call to try them because of how long their runtime tends to be. I usually need to already be familiar with a YouTuber's content before being willing to donate that much of my time to their content. Especially since I tend to be wary of critical analyses videos an hour or more long that always end up being obnoxious nitpick vitriol sessions with little depth, research, consistency, or context awareness put in. Although their toxicity and ignorance is easy to spot because they'll have a crude title labeling a piece of media as the worst thing ever.

But seeing you of all people recommend their channel convinced me to try out his Spider-Verse writing breakdown video and later the ABCS of Cinematics breakdown video on my own. And hot diggity damn, those videos are the bee's knees. Totally worth the length to watch through because he has that many insightful thoughts and eloquence to deliver.

So thank you, Daz.

As mentioned in the Naruto thread, Super Eyepatch Wolf has some neat manga retrospectives (and an extensive rant on Shenmue III)

Speaking of Super Eyepatch Wolf, he released a video today that is a sequel to his previous video four years ago analyzing how Bleach fell apart. He apologizes and corrects himself for the faulty statistical analyses he used back then while diving deeper into both what he likes and dislikes about the series. I totally recommend the video to anyone who at least has a casual interest in Bleach even if they haven't read/watched it.

hWolf

You don't need to watch the original Fall of Bleach video to understand this one. But if anyone is curious about watching both videos anyways, the first one is delisted but can still be found through a link in the description of the 4 Years Later video.

And Jenny Nicholson, who is hilarious yet very insightful as to storytelling in general, and I will recommend at every opportunity

The more exposure for Jenny, the better.

I love how she makes fun of Sith Lord training like it's a ridiculously stupid high school clique pyramid scheme promising power but being literally all about stealing power from everyone else, including your apprentices. And how she also dug deeper into Ratatouille's "not everyone is a great artist" line in the context of applying auteur theory to Brad Bird's films to realize how it could have messed up eugenics implications and a practical misunderstanding of how artists become successful or not.

I would prefer Static operating solo. DC is chock full of teenage sidekicks without any of them acting independently unless they're the Teen Titans or a sanctioned junior Justice League. And would help contrast with MCU Spider-Man being so closely affiliated with the Avengers and SHIELD.

Granted, none of the DC films have incorporated sidekicks for the past couple decades. But it'd feel really weird to have Static be the first one of all people.

I'm not into the domino mask design with tiara cat ears. It looks more like one of those cheap Party City sexy black cat Halloween costume than a suit. It's not bad, but not great to me either because it can't take it seriously since it looks so generically Halloween-y. It's like the villain equivalent of Miles wearing the Halloween Spider-Man costume for most of Spider-Verse, but unironic.

Matt Reeves talks a lot in this video about how the film focuses on a Year 2 Batman. It skips the origin story and focuses on a young Bruce refining his flaws from vengeful vigilante to symbol of hope, and realizing the true depth of Gotham's corruption. A bunch of other characters like Catwoman and Penguin are also going to evolve into something resembling their original incarnations too.

He convinced me to have a lot more faith in the movie.

It would be pretty neat if they take a page from Telltale Batman and reveal to Bruce that the Waynes were corrupt. It would very timely and fit with the character arc of not letting himself be defined by the grief of his tragedy. I can imagine a scene where he makes a new Bat symbol because the one he currently has is probably made from the gun that killed his parents.