MCU Rewatch: Phase 1

I am rewatching (almost) the entire MCU catalog in anticipation of Avengers: Age of Ultron. I am following /r/marvelstudios' viewing order, adding Agents of SHIELD to the list. Not Agent Carter, though, since I doubt it would have any impact on AoU, and I've very recently watched it. Still unsure about Guardians of the Galaxy, with similar reasons to Agent Carter. According to my calculation, assuming 42 minutes per episode for Agents of SHIELD and 50 minutes per episode for Netflix's upcoming Daredevil, this totals to 3,615 minutes of content, or 60 and a quarter hours.

I think I enjoy Captain America: The First Avenger more now than I previously did. Much helped by how much I love The Winter Soldier, no doubt. Also by Agent Carter because I now love Peggy Carter very much. I really enjoy Dominic Cooper's Howard Stark, so I'm hoping for more Agent Carter with a bigger role for him. The issue I have is still the same; I don't care much for the action sequences, so I barely watched the last fight.

Iron Man never fails to entertain me. Robert Downey Jr. is perfect. The part I love most about this first installment is how much time he spent in his garage, building and tinkering with his suit. Trying it on, "flying before walking," and just...having fun. Again, I don't really care about the big fight, between Iron Man and the Iron Monger. Things were more interesting when it was Tony Stark vs. Obadiah Stane.

This is where I cheated. I skipped The Incredible Hulk. I do like the movie in general, and I think Edward Norton was great, but I just...wasn't in the mood... I did watch the after credit scene though, with Tony Stark, which I probably shouldn't because it didn't make sense for the following events.

Iron Man 2, while not fantastic, was enjoyable at the very least because of Sam Rockwell. I still think that they should make Justin Hammer a much more competent rival to Tony Stark, instead of the joke that he was. Not a big fan of Whiplash, so I think it would have benefited from more Hammer and less Vanko; although, depending on if they get to flesh out Anton Vanko's story, it might be satisfying.

Thor is the surprising one. It was definitely my least favorite movie in Phase 1, previously. But, as a few others have mentioned, it actually holds up better than most others. I might be biased because I now love Tom Hiddleston, but it might also just be because I accept the fantastical aspect of it more than I did when I first watched it. I previously thought that Loki would have made a better king than Thor, who's more suited to be a warrior, but the short time when Loki was king of Asgard, he was kind of a dick. I guess Odin was right after all...

And we've arrived to the main course: The Avengers. It was still great fun. One of the best parts about watching this right after Thor is you see how different Loki is in both movies. And, I have to say, I still haven't figured out how he really feels about all this. I can't tell when he's being genuine or when he's trying to manipulate people. There were also so many one liners that were just so much fun. I think it's just because I haven't watched any Joss Whedon stuff in a while though, so I really missed his writing.

Marvel's Agent Carter

The first 2 episodes were a lot of fun. I saw a comment on Reddit that puts Agent Carter as James Bond meets Alias meets Mad Men. James Bond with the secret agent with gadgets, Alias with the kick-ass female spy, and Mad Men with the period (even though Agent Carter is technically set two decades earlier than Mad Men). I happen to like all three of these things, and I am definitely liking Agent Carter very much so far.

The show is set right after Captain America: The First Avenger, and I believe it will end at the "Agent Carter" Marvel One-Shot. It's 1946; World War II has just ended and Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) is still grieving over the loss of Steve Rogers. Peggy, seemingly the only female agent at the SSR, was getting tired of being pushed towards administrative work instead of being allowed more prominent duties. In comes old pal Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper), who was being suspected as a traitor. He enlisted Peggy's help to clear his name, running secret missions from within the SSR. Howard loaned Peggy his personal, faithful butler in Edwin Jarvis (James D'Arcy) to help her.

Of course, with a Marvel Cinematic Universe show, they must throw references around. I mean, the first episode started with clips from The First Avenger, and it never stops. My favorite is definitely Dominic Cooper's Howard Stark, and how Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony is pretty much the same as Howard, whether he likes it or not. I guess, in reality, it's Cooper who based his performance on RDJ's, but it's still amazing to see two very different, but very similar performances. The scene of Howard joking around in front of the Congress made me want to rewatch Iron Man. Love the snarky Starks.

Jarvis, who's the inspiration behind Tony's AI that powers everything J.A.R.V.I.S., is also full of snark. I really would love to see Jarvis meet J.A.R.V.I.S. and see how they would react to each other. At the end of the first episode, Jarvis was on the phone with Howard, and it was revealed that they were keeping a secret from Peggy. The one theory I like, and it seems very plausible, is that it wasn't anything bad like the scene made it seem like. Instead, they were just talking about the possibility of appointing Peggy as the first Director of SHIELD. As I've mentioned earlier, the season is set up to the One-Shot, which is when Howard invited Peggy to run SHIELD. Hopefully, this means that season 2 will feature more of Howard Stark! And lots and lots of Peggy-Jarvis action, because I love their relationship.

Speaking of Jarvis, I find it interesting that James D'Arcy stars in the only two shows that I'm currently following weekly: Agent Carter and Broadchurch.

I'm actually watching new shows!

I've just watched the first episode of Orange Is the New Black, and I'm definitely in. I'm currently wondering if I could survive even a day in prison. Anyways, I'm still waiting for the next episodes to be...ready.

In the mean time, I'm giving Arrow a second shot. I have faith, seeing how highly rated it now is, but I'd have to be patient and go through the early episodes. Hopefully I can keep myself interested enough to then watch The Flash, maybe Gotham as well. Constantine is also getting decent ratings so I'm adding it to my future-watch list.

Speaking of comic book shows, I am insanely excited for tomorrow's/tonight's (timezone confusion) Agent Carter! Reviews have been very good and my expectations are high, but I'm confident they will deliver. I just wish for lots and lots of Dominic Cooper/Howard Stark.

Other than Agent Carter, the other show I'm following weekly will be Broadchurch season 2. I'm currently watching the first episode and it's as good as season 1. I have yet to watch the American adaptation, Gracepoint, mostly because the mixed reviews. And I don't know if I'm ready for David Tennant in an American accent.

Hopefully, all of these new, shiny things will keep me from going back to rewatching old shows!

Dominic Cooper confirmed to return as Howard Stark?

Agent Carter herself, Hayley Atwell, seems to imply so during an interview with Telegraph:

Now, the wacky actress is hoping to continue with the larks when Dominic Cooper joins her on the set of her forthcoming television series, Agent Carter. “He’s incredibly naughty,” she tells me at the Glamour Women of the Year awards with Next in Berkeley Square. “So I’m going to start the pranks as early as I can. He will come up with some very good ones, too.”

It seems that she's sure that Cooper will be joining her; but what I want to know is how big a role will Howard Stark have in the show? I'm hoping for a co-lead or at least a supporting instead of a guest starring role ala Nick Fury in Agents of SHIELD. I want more Dominic Cooper in my life.

Marvel.com's synopsis for Agent Carter

"Marvel's Agent Carter," starring Captain America's Hayley Atwell follows the story of Peggy Carter. It's 1946, and peace has dealt Peggy Carter a serious blow as she finds herself marginalized when the men return home from fighting abroad. Working for the covert SSR (Strategic Scientific Reserve), Peggy must balance doing administrative work and going on secret missions for Howard Stark all while trying to navigate life as a single woman in America, in the wake of losing the love of her life--Steve Rogers. Inspired by the feature films "Captain America: The First Avenger" and "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," along with the short "Marvel One-Shot: Agent Carter."

Starring Hayley Atwell as Agent Peggy Carter, "Marvel's Agent Carter" is executive produced by Christopher Markus, Steve McFeely, Tara Butters, Michele Fazekas, Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito, Jeph Loeb.

Source

The best part of this announcement is that she's running missions for Howard Stark. Hopefully this means we'll see him around quite a bit. I love Dominic Cooper's performance as Howard. Also, interesting to note that Kevin Feige is an EP for this show (he's not listed as such on Agents of SHIELD), while both have Jeph Loeb.

I'm hoping that the first season either leads up to the badass one-shot of hers, or starts off from it towards her and Howard founding SHIELD. From the one shot, it seems that "SHIELD" is already there, but Carter was also one of the founders so I'm a little confused about that. I'm also keeping my fingers crossed that Bradley Whitford makes an appearance (or even becomes a regular) as Agent Flynn, now that his current show has been cancelled.

AoS season 2 & Agent Carter

ABC has announced that they have renewed Agents of SHIELD for a season 2 and picked up new Marvel show Agent Carter. I expected this news but I'm still happy that it's finally confirmed. The Marvel Cinematic Universe keeps expanding and I'm loving it.

The current rumor is that Agent Carter, which was picked up for a short order season, would be aired midseason, to fill in the break of Agents of SHIELD. That's good news because it means that we wouldn't have the weird breaks like we did this season. And I can't wait how they would keep the two shows connected when one is set in present day and the other is set in the 40s-50s. Since we had a few AoS episodes this season that happen concurrently with Captain America: The Winter Soldier, I'm hoping that they somehow can do the same with Agent Carter. Maybe explore events in the past that's referenced in the movies. 

AoS season finale is this upcoming Tuesday, and I'm sure it's gonna be a big one. I'm really excited for it, and then I'll have these long few months before Guardians of the Galaxy comes out. Luckily, we'll have these two shows to look forward to between GotG and Avengers: Age of Ultron.