Why Benedict Cumberbatch can’t save Doctor Strange 2
Marvel has fallen into the classic flaw of the supervillain. Just when you’re triumphant, you over-reach and destroy yourself with your own arrogance.
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Oh Marvel, have you never read one of your own comic books? It looks like it to me, because the movie-making powerhouse has fallen into the classic trap of the supervillain.
You know the thing — just as they are poised for world domination they get over-confident, take it a step too far and everything falls into a steaming heap.
First there’s the whole “you have to watch our TV shows on Disney+ or else” business and now they are accused of wrecking the upcoming Black Widow movie to suck up to China. Oh dear. When Avengers Endgame became the highest-grossing film of all time it seemed Marvel could do no wrong.
Then chief creative officer Kevin Feige uttered this line, which could have been straight from the villain playbook: “A post-Endgame (Marvel Universe) will be extremely focused on Disney+ tying into our future movies”.
In other words, watch our TV shows or you won’t understand our movies.
That seems particularly relevant in terms of Doctor Strange 2, where you will apparently need to have watched the TV shows WandaVision and Loki to get what is happening.
No, thank you.
I love Benedict Cumberbatch. Not in a strip-him-naked-and-cover-him-with-whipped-cream kind of way but I have enjoyed every role I’ve seen him in. But I’m not watching two whole TV series for homework before going to see Doctor Strange 2.
I’ve said it before and I fear I’ll say it again, for all its movie brilliance, Marvel has been bad at making TV shows. Iron Fist was so horrendous it was painful to watch. Even David Wenham as a baddie couldn’t save it. I was cheering for him to kill Iron Fist and save us.
So I don’t have the greatest confidence that these shows will be worth watching anyway. If they can’t let the movies stand alone, I’m going to walk away.
Meanwhile the trailer for the new Black Widow movie has just dropped and it looks sensational.
Well, except for the villain of the piece. His name is Taskmaster and he’s a mercenary without morals but with some amazing fighting abilities.
Traditionally, he also comes with a mask that looks like a skull. But not in Black Widow. It’s quite a different look for him. As the online complaints suggested, he’s not the terrifying nemesis we expect. Actually he looks like Bob from Accounting who’s on his way to the annual corporate paintball bonding session.
One interesting theory online is that this was done to ensure the movie didn’t cause offence in China (and diminish the potential for massive profits).
Things that promote superstition, such as living skeletons, are frowned upon in China, although there is no blanket ban on this sort of thing. In fact, it seems that movies and games are more afraid of potentially antagonising China, than China is of skeletons, masks and supernatural depictions.
Luckily I have the perfect solution. They should send both seasons of Iron Fist to the Chinese censors to view. They’ll be happy to rubber stamp anything after watching that, just to make the nightmare stop.
Originally published as Why Benedict Cumberbatch can’t save Doctor Strange 2