Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania 2023
The roughly $475M international take that read as a floodgates moment for the brand. Fennessey admits he liked it more than most.
The Big Picture · Discussion
Can ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ Salvage Marvel’s No Good, Very Bad Year?
May 5, 2023/ 78 min/ Sean Fennessey · Joanna Robinson
Sean Fennessey and Marvel historian Joanna Robinson on a studio in a wobble (the box-office slide, the Victoria Alonso exit, the Jonathan Majors problem) and why James Gunn's swan song, on his way to DC, is the best thing Marvel has put out in years.
18 films across 2 segments.
AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.
The Marvel wobblethe state of the brand
Iron Man 2008
The launch. Van Lathan's argument, cited here: Tony Stark's voice set the quippy house style every later hero inherited.
Avengers: Infinity War 2018
Gunn wrote the Guardians' dialogue in it, over Marcus and McFeely's script, an exception Marvel makes only for him.
Avengers: Endgame 2019
The peak. So many contractual character deaths that Robinson reads Vol. 3's refusal to kill anyone as a reaction to it.
Spider-Man: Far From Home 2019
The last MCU film before a roughly two-year gap. Robinson brackets the Sony co-productions as something other than the MCU proper.
Black Widow 2021
Smaller box office coming out of the theater-closure period; the Scarlett Johansson lawsuit that dented the friendly-corporation image.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings 2021
Named among directors hired without much prior interest in this kind of storytelling, and the seams that shows.
Eternals 2021
Robinson's pick for one of the worst of the post-pandemic era; the kitchen-table problem when the cast has never spoken to each other before.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness 2022
Fennessey is fonder of it than most, for the Sam Raimi touches.
Thor: Love and Thunder 2022
Shot in the volume; held up as a cautionary tale of the cosmic-era VFX crunch.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever 2022
A good movie weighed down by franchise homework: Ironheart, an untitled Wakanda series, Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
Black Panther 2018
Coogler cast as another inspired choice, a mainstream thinker who loved comics, before the franchising load arrived.
Captain Marvel 2019
A movie Fennessey likes, minus the 'No Doubt' needle drop he calls one of the most offensive in cinema: 90s grave-robbing.
The Marvels 2023
Delayed and in reshoots, opening in November, the same week Robinson's Marvel book drops.
Magazine Dreams 2023
Jonathan Majors's acclaimed Sundance performance, once floated as an Oscar contender; its December release now in doubt after his arrest.
‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’Gunn's swan song
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 2023
Both hosts' favorite post-Endgame Marvel movie by a distance. Real sets over the volume, Rocket's origin as the heart, the MCU's first F-bomb, and a hard PG-13 with body horror Fennessey wouldn't show a seven-year-old. Also its most purposeful business decision: a post-credits card announcing Star-Lord will return.
Guardians of the Galaxy 2014
The creative risk that proved Marvel could sell something weird. Per Robinson, most Marvel staff name it, not Iron Man, the studio's most important film.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 2017
Robinson rewatched it before taping; it introduced Mantis, whose emotional load grows in Vol. 3.
Also mentioned raised along the way
James Gunn, off the Marvel clock The Suicide SquadSuicide SquadSlitherSuperSuperman
Action, by comparison John Wick: Chapter 4Fast X
Best trilogy capper (a Trial by Content poll) The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the KingReturn of the JediIndiana Jones and the Last CrusadeLogan
In passing Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among ThievesBladeDeadpool & WolverineThe Fabelmans
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV / streaming series LokiSecret InvasionShe-Hulk: Attorney at LawThe MandalorianRick and MortyIronheartDaredevil: Born AgainParks and RecreationThe Terminal ListYellowjacketsSuccessionCSI
Disney+ specials The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special
Podcasts The RewatchablesThe RingerverseTrial by Content
Ads TremfyaPeyronie's disease (talkaboutpd.com)Netflix FIFA World CupNOS EnergyWhole Foods60 Songs That Explain the 90s