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.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier: Take Two

Watched the movie a second time last night, and I appreciated it as much as I did the first time around. The awesome part of this watch was that the projectionist just cut the credits after the mid-credit scene and just jumped to the post-credit scene, so we didn't have to wait through the credits.

Can't wait for what's next in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Warning: spoilers on Agents of SHIELD and Captain America: The Winter Soldier

For the past few weeks, I've been going through all the MCU movies to build up to The Winter Soldier. I had fun along the way, but I was mostly pumped by how good TWS ratings are. Even though I've managed to avoid its trailers, I read a few rumors of what The Winter Soldier's storyline might be. And it builds up from the last couple episodes of Agents of SHIELD.

ABC to air Marvel special with 'Avengers: Age of Ultron' sneak peek

From EW:

An early glimpse of Marvel’s eagerly anticipated Avengers sequel will be on ABC next month.

The network will air Marvel Studios: Assembling a Universe, a one-hour specials that goes behind the scenes of the comic-media empire.

The special promises a “sneak peek” of an undisclosed nature from next year’s The Avengers: Age of Ultron, plus new footage from other Marvel Studios future theatrical releases — including April’s Captain America: The Winter Solider and August’s Guardians of The Galaxy.

The show will also delve into ABC’s freshman drama Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., including new preview footage from upcoming episodes.

The docu-special promises to give viewers a “front row seat to the inception of Marvel Studios, the record-breaking films, the cultural phenomenon, and further expansion of the universe by Marvel Television.”

Marvel Studios: Assembling a Universe will premiere Tuesday, March 18 at 8 p.m.

This is exciting and all, especially with the sneak peek, but I'm a bit worried about the fact that this will take Agents of SHIELD's slot that week. Hopefully this doesn't mean that ABC is worried about their numbers. Plus, I actually quite like the show and hate how many breaks they've been getting. I would remain positive and believe that it's just for scheduling purposes, so the crossover episodes line up with the movies.