Marvel Bloat

I started TheNerdd back in 2016, and at that time, we had just finished Captain America: Civil War and were about to get Doctor Strange. The Marvel Cinematic Universe was really starting to grow, it was to the point that my parents knew a few of the characters, even though they never had any interest in superheroes before. Everything seemed so new and fresh, we still had four new characters that needed introductory movies before we could get to Endgame. People wanted to know who these characters were. So we were writing about them, using a mix of the film stories and the comic books. Jon Lauer was a great guest writer at that time who really helped me out.

Now, we’ve already had six movies and seven TV shows in the past less than two years. Everyone knows how Iron Man died, they know that the guy from Loki is going to be the next big villain, they even know Jimmy Woo, a sidekick character that was in half of the episodes of a tv show spinoff WandaVision. In the next 12 months we are going to get 4 more movies (Wakanda Forever, Quantumania, Guardians 3, The Marvels) and 9 more seasons of various shows (She-Hulk, Halloween Special, Guardians Holiday Special, What If…?, Secret Invasion, Echo, Loki, Ironheart, Agatha).

If TheNerdd’s goal is to take a “Deeper Dive Into Fandoms” that’s getting really hard with the MCU. What can I say about these movies and shows that you can’t hear from much larger and well staffed publications/websites/programs? Even though we are on getting the new She-Hulk tomorrow, a character that hasn’t been on screen yet and wasn’t known before her commercials, my mom already gets the concept (my mom is a great litmus test for the general public that have a passing interest in superheroes or sci-fi).

Frankly, I’ve actually gotten a little bored of the MCU lately. When I saw Hawkeye, I loved the characters, but I could not care about any of their goals, like the Jumpsuit Mafia. When I saw Moon Knight I loved the focus on mental health and the interesting limited Point-of-View storytelling, I disliked both Steven Grant and Marc Spector as protagonists. I haven’t gotten around to seeing Ms. Marvel, even though I love the idea of a Pakistani teenage girl lead, I’m just waiting until the commercials come out for The Marvels so when I actually have to care. I already don’t love Ragnarok, so I still haven’t seen Love and Thunder, and will see it when it drops on Disney+ (next week maybe).

I also love to talk about DC Comics, but that has been more than difficult lately. There was only one movie last year, and now it seems that the whole studio is pivoting to a Black Adam/Shazam universe, seeing as that was the only announcements they made at San Diego Comic Con this year. Even the shows are down to just The Flash and Superman & Lois. The entire Arrowverse has dwindled. Granted, it lasted a decade, but DC is at a pivot point, and they clearly aren’t sure what they want to do with it, especially since The Flash movie keeps being kicked down the road while Ezra Miller gets their chaos figured out.

So lately, I’ve been writing a lot more about Dungeons & Dragons because there is a lot to talk about there, it has a decent sized audience, and hasn’t been talked to death on larger platforms, except maybe ScreenRant (who posts at least once a day about D&D).

I do want to mention, that we have been getting some really unique blockbusters lately, specifically Everything Everywhere All At Once, Nope, and Bullet Train. These three movies this summer blew me away, and none of them are part of a franchise or previous IP (except Bullet Train, which was a Japanese novel that wasn’t very popular in the US). If we can keep getting really interesting blockbusters that aren’t part of a franchise, I think it would do a lot for movies, and movie theaters, as they are still bouncing back in a post-2020 world.

All of this to say that I don’t really have a lot to talk about lately on this site. I hope that between the Game of Thrones: House of the Dragon and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, we can get some solid conversation around fantasy again. Also, I still don’t personally feel comfortable going back to conventions yet, especially with the amount of “Yeah, I tested positive for Covid, but I spent so much money already, I’m still going to go to GenCon” I saw on Twitter recently.

If you’re reading this, what conversation do you want to have? What do you think I should talk about? Is there a movie or show that is interesting? Is there an idea you have with your D&D game that you’d like to explore? Again, if you’d see it at Comic Con, I’m probably interested in it.

What should I write about next? Let me know in the comments below!