🐱 Marvel Woke A Disaster: 'Eternals' Delayed With 'Shang-Chi' Box Office Bomb

https://cosmicbook.news/marvel-woke-disaster-eternals-delayed-shang-chi

Kevin Feige's woke Phase 4 approach is turning out to be a disaster of epic proportions as now it is reported that if Shang-Chi bombs at the box office, which it is expected to do, that Disney will delay the release of Eternals.

The info comes from Vulture's report about how Sony is going to further delay the release of Venom 2, where the site reached out to additional studios sources to see if there would be similar delays, where it's noted that Marvel could delay the release of Eternals if Shang-Chiunderperforms, which follows Black Widow being a colossal catastrophe:

Among studio sources reached by Vulture, the short-term outlook is that autumn’s big films (such as Dune and Top Gun: Maverick) will most likely stay on their scheduled release dates — although Marvel Studio’s Eternalscould be delayed if the 24th MCU entry Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Ringsunderperforms at the box office upon its September 3 release.

Recent estimates have the Shang-Chi opening box office as the lowest debut of any MCU movie, including lower than Ant-Man's $57 million and The Incredible Hulk's $55 million, with a range of $35-55 million.

Disney losing faith in Marvel​

Similar to Black Widow, Disney seems to have lost faith in the Marvel brand, as following Disney releasing Black Widow at the same time in theaters and on Disney Plus, which has spawned a lawsuit from Scarlett Johansson, Disney announced that following a 45-day exclusive release, Shang-Chi will be made available digitally--something that has sparked controversy in regards to comments made by Disney CEO Bob Chapek and Shang-Chi star Simu Liu.

"We are not an experiment," said Liu in regards to Chapek's comments about how Shang-Chi getting an experimental release. "We are the underdog; the underestimated. We are the ceiling-breakers. We are the celebration of culture and joy that will persevere after an embattled year. We are the surprise. I’m fired the f**k up to make history on September 3rd; JOIN US."

It should be noted that, obviously, Disney was aware Black Widow was going to bomb big time which is why they released it right away on Disney Plus, as Disney makes a lot more money from Disney Plus purchases than movie theater tickets.

It also seems obvious that Disney thinks Shang-Chi will be a bomb which is why its 45-day theatrical release is considered an "experiment," and Disney apparently thinks the upcoming November release of Eternals will fail as well, hence the release date change.

When the movie stars are suing or feuding with the studio or siding with one another against the studio (Elizabeth Olsen recently came out in support of Scarlett Johansson) that shows just how bad things are.

Feige's woke MCU approach is a bust​

Feige's woke approach doesn't look to be getting any better as upcoming releases include a slate of woke content, which is where characters are changed for the sake of political correctness and/or the liberal agenda is promoted at the expense of quality story:

Shang-Chi - Simu Liu recently said the film "will change the world" and will finally give the audience an "aspirational" Asian character (though that doesn't necessarily mean the movie will be woke).

Eternals - gender-bent, race-swapped characters; regarding the story, the trailer revealed that although the entire universe was threatened by Thanos, they decided to stay out of it (makes sense, right?).

Hawkeye - Jeremy Renner replaced by Hailee Steinfeld's Kate Bishop.

Ms. Marvel - politically oppressed Muslim character (that replaced Carol Danvers in the comics).

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness - with Marvel Comics killing Doctor Strange, a new woke MCU Doctor Strange is speculated; it's also known Feige wouldn't allow Benedict Cumberbatch in WandaVision because he's a male character (ditto for Robert Downey Jr. and The Avengers in Black Widow).

Thor: Love and Thunder - Natalie Portman becomes the Female Thor; Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie is looking for her "queen" of New Asgard.

Black Panther 2: Wakanda Forever - rumors offer Shuri will become the Black Panther and that Ironheart will be introduced in the movie who replaces Robert Downey Jr's Tony Stark in MCU. In the comics, Ironheart is a teenage girl who steals Iron Man tech and is allowed to keep the Iron Man suit, though she is a child and has no superpowers (see how the story gets sacrificed for wokeness?).

Captain Marvel 2: The Marvels - just watch the first movie, and The Marvels will feature Brie Larson ('nuff said?), Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau and Iman Vellani as Ms. Marvel; the director recently said the movie is about "pain and trauma."

Guardians of the Galaxy 3 - unknown how woke James Gunn will go, but he may feature a woke version of Quasar, and the comics have gone completely woke; interestingly enough, Gunn is leaving Marvel to go back to DC, so maybe Guardians 3 won't be all that woke and is the reason why Gunn is heading back to DC.

Blade - unknown, though look for something about Blade's daughter.

Deadpool 3 - Ryan Reynolds sold out his writers for two female newbs (as demanded by Feige and Marvel).

Fantastic Four - rumors offer Feige is going with a diverse version of the characters.

Captain America 4 - Chris Evans replaced by Anthony Mackie's Falcon, a character with no super powers.

Moon Knight - TBD.

She-Hulk - unknown, but likely woke as it will feature the goofy version of Mark Ruffalo's Hulk (men are bad, etc).

Armor Wars - the original comic featured Tony Stark as Iron Man getting his tech back from various villains in what is one of the best Iron Man stories, IMO; obviously, James Rhodes replaces Tony, and it is said Ironheart will be in the series, again who replaces Robert Downey Jr's Tony Stark.

Ironheart - woke like the comics (see above).

Secret Invasion - unknown.

 

[melcarba99]

Shang-Chi - Simu Liu recently said the film "will change the world" and will finally give the audience an "aspirational" Asian character (though that doesn't necessarily mean the movie will be woke).

What about Bruce Lee? He trascended cultural barriers and became a world wide icon. Its like these people want us to believe that cinema began with Iron Man.

 

[Raisin Boy]

Yeah, I probably wouldn't watch an anime about Americans made by some westaboo who's never set foot in the country either. No shock here.

 

[UnsufficentBoobage]

Why was anyone expecting "Shang-Chi" to do well in the first place? I'm seriously asking, why were they? Isn't he one of those bottom-of-the-barrel '70s "whatever-sploitation" characters? Everyone knows who Captain America and Incredible Hulk are, no one's heard of Shang-Chi.

People only remember him in context of "Remember when Marvel had a hero be son of Fu Manchu"? Which probably IS why this tanks, as there was online outrage from chinese who know nothing about Marvel lore assuming they merely renamed ole Fu Man.
Which is hillarious.

 

[TowinKarz]

Its like these people want us to believe that cinema began with Iron Man.

There's a reason why The Party in 1984 claims to have invented airplanes..... there can be nothing good outside the cult.

 

[Troonos]

"We are not an experiment," said Liu in regards to Chapek's comments about how Shang-Chi getting an experimental release. "We are the underdog; the underestimated. We are the ceiling-breakers. We are the celebration of culture and joy that will persevere after an embattled year. We are the surprise. I’m fired the f**k up to make history on September 3rd; JOIN US."

Oh my God, why is everyone so fucking gay lately?

 

[Slimy Time]

lol

I should be the target market here, but one look at the promotional content turned me right off. There's HK movies from the 80s that looked more authentic and better produced than this. Why would the Chinese watch an inferior version of wuxia films that's probably being filtered through both western sensibilities and wokeism?

Isn't it a recurring problem that western film companies try to capture the Chinese market by making an all Chinese cast, only for it to bomb because they fail to understand aspects of Chinese lore/myth/culture and present it in a completely woke western perception?

This was the issue with live action Mulan. They removed everything that people remembered from the animated film and made Mulan a special chi user who has to hide her gender because only men can use it or something like that. Only it turns out the Mainland Chinese hated that, because to them chi is in everything and is something cultivated through hard work/training, not something gifted from birth as "uwu you are special", which is a chiefly western idea.

Fucking Kung Fu Panda understood Chinese kung fu ideas better than the people who did Mulan and Shang Chi.

 

[Kane Lives]

Isn't it a recurring problem that western film companies try to capture the Chinese market by making an all Chinese cast, only for it to bomb because they fail to understand aspects of Chinese lore/myth/culture and present it in a completely woke western perception?

This was the issue with live action Mulan. They removed everything that people remembered from the animated film and made Mulan a special chi user who has to hide her gender because only men can use it or something like that. Only it turns out the Mainland Chinese hated that, because to them chi is in everything and is something cultivated through hard work/training, not something gifted from birth as "uwu you are special", which is a chiefly western idea.

Pretty much. If there's one thing that's consistent about Hollywood in recent years, it's their arrogance in presuming that everyone on this planet adheres to their western, liberal sensibilities.

Mulan was celeberated not because she was a "uwu special girl". She's celebrated because she went above and beyond to serve her country, to fulfill her familial duties and became a hero in the process. And not so long ago, I daresay both East and West had that in common. Not so much anymore. It's honestly telling that a cartoon made 20 years prior respected Chinese culture far more than the "woke" remake. And that cartoon had a talking, intelligent dragon voiced by Eddie Murphy of all people.

 

[Return of the Freaker]

Can we talk about how much of a colossal faggot the Shang Chi actor is here?

We are not an experiment," said Liu in regards to Chapek's comments about how Shang-Chi getting an experimental release. "We are the underdog; the underestimated. We are the ceiling-breakers. We are the celebration of culture and joy that will persevere after an embattled year. We are the surprise. I’m fired the f**k up to make history on September 3rd; JOIN US.

JOIN US as we BREAK CEILINGS and OWN RETHUGLICANS with our watered down Wuxia flavored capehit! We, Hollywood, are the biggest underdogs in history with our trillions of dollars from playing dress up and raping children! Especially with all the black white supremacists assaulting asians because they hate the glorious, enlightened CCP!

 

[Scarlett Johansson]

The ironic thing about Shang Chi? Chinese and Taiwanese viewers are reacting very negatively to the film.

 

[Harvey Danger]

I knew about some of these changes, but putting them all together like this, it looks horrendous.

Spoiler: Character history and comics sperging

The MCU was successful of the back of established characters with decades of classic storylines, characterization, and development. The ones they're introducing are inventions of the last 9 years that were terrible failures already.

Ironheart, Kate Bishop, Ms Marvel, Jane Foster/Female Thor, Tomasi-era She-Hulk, post-2012 Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel, Shuri, all were terribly written, terribly characterized, and flopped hard. Most of them had their series cancelled and rebooted multiple times over a span of 5 years. (Female Thor was the only one that didn't immediately crash, because she was early in the cycle. But sales declined steadily after the first 12 issues.)

On top of the immediate failures, you have the "no one cares" characters. Shang-Chi, the Eternals, Valkyrie, Monica Rambeau, the Fantastic 4 (in recent memory), and Moon Knight (I like him but most people only know him from cameos in other stories). That doesn't mean they'll fail in the MCU; remember that no one cared about Iron Man until the first movie. But that took Robert Downey Jr and Jon Favereau to make people care. Phase 4 doesn't have that kind of talent on tap.

Finally, you have the popular characters/franchises still limping along. Guardians would be a "no one cares", but the MCU made them popular, and depends entirely on Gunn's talents. Black Panther's actor died, and Shuri is no substitute. Falcon is not Captain America; the Disney+ show already flopped. Blade and Deadpool could be good, but they're outside the MCU, and haven't released a movie compatible with Phase4 wokeness. Dr Strange has the most potential, if they actually go full Lovecraftian horror. But after Endgame, I doubt anyone in the MCU has the ability to write cosmic scale magic correctly.

(Armor Wars and Secret Invasion are wildcards. Secret Invasion would be a terrible tie-together event to portray in a movie, it requires much different pacing than Civil War or Infinity War did. It would be difficult even if wokeness wasn't a factor. AW is weird; it was a great Iron Man story, but Tony Stark is dead. A post-Endgame TV series with Ironheart crammed in sounds absolutely terrible. I would have loved to get a War Machine stand-alone movie, Don Cheadle got robbed as bad as Scarlett Johansson/Scarlet Widow did with the timing.)

In short, there's no basis for success built in to this lineup. There's no high-caliber talent who can craft something amazing from the mediocre or obscure material they are given. There isn't even bankable nostalgia any more; that's been mined already, tapped out.

There's just money, and political agenda. That's all they have left.

 

[Slimy Time]

Pretty much. If there's one thing that's consistent about Hollywood in recent years, it's their arrogance in presuming that everyone on this planet adheres to their western, liberal sensibilities.

Mulan was celeberated not because she was a "uwu special girl". She's celebrated because she went above and beyond to serve her country, to fulfill her familial duties and became a hero in the process. And not so long ago, I daresay both East and West had that in common. Not so much anymore.

Again, compare to Kung Fu Panda. Here is this fat useless panda who happens to be "chosen" because he was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Gets put through the wringer and trains hard supposedly so that he could learn this super secret technique from this ancient scroll. Shit goes down with the bad guy and the master decides to give him the scroll so he can learn the secret technique and beat the bad guy. Open the scroll... and the scroll is blank, only with a reflective surface. Only later on does the panda realise that there is no secret technique/power to be gifted to him, all the hard work and eventual inner calm he cultivated was all that was needed, it's him that makes him the "chosen one", not some special power/technique. Something the villain could never do because of arrogance.

Just...classic Kung Fu movie type of moral which fit well with Chinese culture, and it showed in box office numbers (having cute animals and humour didn't hurt either). Apparently the series was so well received in China that they had people wondering how it is that the West nailed classic Chinese culture in a film even better than the Chinese did themselves.

"Even an advisory body to China's parliament debated why China hadn't been first with such a big hit using Chinese themes. "The film's protagonist is China's national treasure and all the elements are Chinese, but why didn't we make such a film?" the president of the National Peking Opera Company, Wu Jiang, told the official New China News Agency last Saturday."

Fucking none of them are asking this regarding Mulan or Shang Chi. Rather the opposite. Oh he's the son of the Mandarin and can do kung fu...just because he's Chinese I guess. Just a fuckup every time, and they please no one with it.

 

[ShortBusDriver]

So much of the MCU success goes back to Robert Downy Jr and just brilliant casting.

Iron Man was just a one off film with a teaser for The Avengers tacked on at the end but it set the whole thing in motion.

Iron Man to End Game is the story of the redemption of Tony Stark which in turn really mirrors Robert Downy Jr's own life. The guy was a train wreck with drugs and problems with the law and 20 years ago I doubt anyone would have expected this sort of success from him again.

His story has been told, his arc is done, but at the same time MCU without these characters feels like The X Files without Fox Mulder.

Iron Man as a comic character may have been a second string compared to Wolverine or Captian America but if you played video games in the 90s you almost certainly knew Iron Man from being the dominate character in the Marvel vs Capcom franchises.

 

[Product Placement]

Why Shang-Chi will bomb
Covid has crippled the box office, no movie is making what they would have in 2019, and with cases in many areas across the world on the rise, will limit it even more.

As of now, it's not coming out in China, and if it does, will likely bomb there going off the reactions to the trailers.

No secondary income, Black Widow and Jungle Cruise were both helped with the Disney+ Premium, this doesn't have that.

It will hit Disney+ 45 days after it hits the cinema if they stick to the current plan. With a movie like Shang-Chi, I'm pretty sure many people would be happy to wait that 45 days.

Trying to make it an event and a groundbreaking movie, as they did with Black Panther failed, and was totally the wrong marketing push. But I don't think this alone would have killed it in better times, just wouldn't have got to $1 billion+ as BP did. Maybe something closer to the first Doctor Strange.

 

[That Chris Guy]

Falcon is not Captain America; the Disney+ show already flopped.

Even though Falcon and Winter Soldier have always been boring planks of wood amidst recognisable icons, it didn't have to be that way. I'd hate to say it, but Anthony Mackie could have salvaged the property from being as messy as it has been - Don Cheadle even moreso.

The problem is that Disney decided that, "you gotta do better Senator" shit was the way to go with their direction. Had Falcon held onto the shield with any ounce of respect or reverence for Rogers instead of giving it up and getting assmad when someone else wanted to use it, it would have already been a better show. There was an opportunity for the other Captain America guy to start out as a justice archetype (aka Peacekeeper from Suicide Squad), but slowly gain experience and understanding through his conflict with Falcon America. Instead he's made out to be Badman without any nuance, in a universe that's already full of villains that aren't remotely compelling.

They could have even had War Machine come back into the mix and it could have been a full War of the Sidekicks as they all determine their new place in the MCU now that the original stars' departure left a power vacuum. But no - had to make it about modern shit and have it run by a teenage girl with supersoldier shit. That's not retarded at all!

 

[MuuMuu Bunnylips]

Wait, it's about jews skrulls replacing half the heroes, right? I thought this is what Femptain Marvel was about.


Yeah, like F4ur wasn't diverse enough already.

Yeah, those movies were several types of shit.

Maybe something closer to the first Doctor Strange.

The thing I liked about Doctor Strange is they could go bugshit with the CGI and it made sense.

 

[Crex Crex]

Fuck capeshit, and fuck the people who make, fund, star in and consume it.

 

[Harvey Danger]

So much of the MCU success goes back to Robert Downy Jr and just brilliant casting.

Iron Man was just a one off film with a teaser for The Avengers tacked on at the end but it set the whole thing in motion.

This can't be emphasized enough. If Iron Man had been even slightly less awesome, the MCU wouldn't have got rolling.

Iron Man to End Game is the story of the redemption of Tony Stark which in turn really mirrors Robert Downy Jr's own life. The guy was a train wreck with drugs and problems with the law and 20 years ago I doubt anyone would have expected this sort of success from him again.

Ironheart's story is a black teenage girl who stole Iron Man's spare suit from MIT, modified it, and flew out to be the most perfectest bestest superhero ever. She "overcame" not having a dad (he got shot in a driveby) and an elementary teacher who told her she would "never be Tony Stark". In the comics, she acted like a literal villain, conquering and taking over Latveria, causing international incidents, and wrecking Stark's company alongside a woke-ized Pepper. But she was still called a hero because she was a black grrl who luved the SCIENCE!

You aren't going to get a franchise-supporting pillar out of Ironheart, no matter how many times you squeal "racism".

Can you imagine her introduction with Phase4 writing? She's going to get turned down applying to some college, then outsmart fat white security guards to steal an Iron Man suit, and her first time out she's going to be so amazing and so clever and just make Tony Stark look like a dope because of how well she did. There will be no actual humanity involved, just girl power and self-validation.

For contrast, here's the end of Iron Man's first mission, featuring an actual good black character who should've had his own movie by now.

Iron Man as a comic character may have been a second string compared to Wolverine or Captian America but if you played video games in the 90s you almost certainly knew Iron Man from being the dominate character in the Marvel vs Capcom franchises.

Before the MCU, Iron Man was good as an ensemble character, a key part of the Avengers. Modern Tony Stark was his own character, as he had alcohol problems similar to Downey Jr, and his technology focus became more relevant in the era of high tech; but he still worked best as a foil in a group. He was iconic in video games, but that medium has its own rules to play by.

The achievement of the Iron Man movies was making him individually interesting. That ability is completely missing in the Phase 4 lineup.

 

[Tanner Glass]

Isn't it a recurring problem that western film companies try to capture the Chinese market by making an all Chinese cast, only for it to bomb because they fail to understand aspects of Chinese lore/myth/culture and present it in a completely woke western perception?

This was the issue with live action Mulan. They removed everything that people remembered from the animated film and made Mulan a special chi user who has to hide her gender because only men can use it or something like that. Only it turns out the Mainland Chinese hated that, because to them chi is in everything and is something cultivated through hard work/training, not something gifted from birth as "uwu you are special", which is a chiefly western idea.

Fucking Kung Fu Panda understood Chinese kung fu ideas better than the people who did Mulan and Shang Chi.

Yes, it's a major reason Star Wars (another disney property) completely bombed over there.

Chinese people are a different market than the west and give exactly 0 fucks about the western mentality of "this movie sucks but it has Black/Trans/Chinese people in it".

 

[Captain Fitzbattleaxe]

Shang-Chi - Simu Liu recently said the film "will change the world" and will finally give the audience an "aspirational" Asian character (though that doesn't necessarily mean the movie will be woke).

What about Bruce Lee? He trascended cultural barriers and became a world wide icon. Its like these people want us to believe that cinema began with Iron Man.

Or what about all movies made in Asia? China makes a lot of movies each year that's way better than what marvel shits out nowadays. Just watch one of those if an aspirational asian character is so fucking important to you.

 

[Marissa Moira]

Oh my God, why is everyone so fucking gay lately?

I strongly suspect the water treatment process is to blame.