Totally agree thecapn. I also found this to be a glorified "filler" movie in the grand scope of the MCU (though I'm sure some would consider its autonomy a positive) so no real need to watch it prior to IW. In fact I almost wish I could unsee it so as to go back to my mindset where T'Challa was still the badass as he appeared in CW, lol.
Great point about treating Killmonger as his "Ledger Joker" and saving him for BP 2. They *really* should have done that. As it stands now he comes across as another Iron Monger or Abomination, just a meaner version of the main hero who's basically tacked on towards the end.
June 2017 - Comicbook.com caught up with Marvel Studios President, Kevin Feige, and spoke to him about the upcoming film, when we might expect a trailer and how the remaining films contribute to it.
https://www.geekgirlauthority.com/black-panther-thor-ragnarok-and-spider-man-to-heavily-influence-avengers-infinity-war/
Those films are Spider-Man: Homecoming, Thor: Ragnarok and Black Panther and, as the site says, Feige says all three of those films will influence Avengers: Infinity War, “…very heavily, as Iron Man and Captain America influenced the first Avengers. More so than the movies leading into Age of Ultron, even. They really build up to that.”
Er, guess I have a real difference of opinion than Feige as to what it means, actually, for one movie to "heavily influence" another
. For me introducing a character in a film doesn't necessarily "influence" another film, just because a character happens to show up. To me that means something has happened in one film - an event - that will have a continuation in another film.
There were a lot of articles like this, around a year ago. My focus was IW, so I wanted lots of interconnectedness at that point. For me it's kind of ironic, in the end, that Homecoming actually feels more like a direct lead-in to IW than either Thor or BP. Homecoming picks up from the end of CW, has mention of the Avengers throughout, and ends with Peter being set up in a certain trajectory to lead to IW (and if I am lucky, even Vulture will be back, somehow...)
Ragnarok to me was pretty stand-alone but at least tied in the MCU and the "missing" Hulk and Thor, and there was the ending...
Then there's BP, which far as I can tell can be skipped entirely re IW, and seems like I'd be better off reading the comics to really understand the heart-shaped herb and who gets to be king and/or a Black Panther or THE Black Panther. Sounds as tho the only real effect BP would have on IW is that in theory T'challa has opened the borders or the vibranium flow which will be useful if the Earth is attacked. I'd be more excited except, based on early IW concept art, Tony was already building another Iron Legion. So I assume that his fear of an alien attack - the end game - is still there. Tony Stark hasn't been sitting around drinking cocktails the whole time. There's a genius already at work re an imminent threat and one who HASN'T been safe and secure all this time and ISN'T a 16 year old (that strains my credulity even for a comic...and is perilously close to Mary Sue-land...)
For me the flaws and drivers of these characters are more interesting as they overcome them; e.g. right now I feel a lot more interested in what the anxiety-ridden Tony or traumatized Steve Rogers has been up to, than getting the history of this land-bound Atlantis BECAUSE of Wakanda's isolation.
E.g. after comments a year ago I was expecting less filler on the road to IW. Finally, I agree w. a post someone made about T'challa's "mystery" being kind of ruined. I can see that. In CW, I had this impression of a man who was fierce, inscrutable, unpredictable, powerful. Had little use for these Westerners
. It made his interactions with Zemo and later offering sanctuary to Cap and Bucky amazing in CW.
I kinda wish that with IW, the wonder of Wakanda had been opened a bit at a time, maybe with T'challa opening the borders under imminent threat. Then later on a movie like BP that really details Wakanda. I kinda feel cheated at what might have been. But Feige didn't call and ask my opinion
and wrong or right it's hard to argue re a movie making nearly a billion dollars. True BO doesn't equal quality but that's a lot of money.
Guess I can go cry in a corner or go get my copy of Ragnarok tomorrow
