John Harris

I'm eager to see if/how Holland's Parker ends up working for this JJJ. Flipping around the dial, I watched the end of Amazing Spidey 2 yesterday for some reason, featuring the death of Gwen. I don't think I want to see Holland's Spidey suffer a similar loss anytime soon. The tone of these movies has been pretty light; MCU Spidey doesn't need to go down that path, IMO. He's already lost Uncle Ben (off-screen) and his beloved mentor (Stark); I just don't need to see MJ (or any PP love interest) murdered by one of Spidey's enemies in this universe. Maybe as things get a little heavier when we get into the college years... but no time soon. And I've noticed I'm not missing the Osborns in this iteration of Spidey. At all. Give me Kraven, Scorpion, heck, even Hardy's Venom to take on Spidey in future films. I like his supporting cast just fine as is. Harry would feel shoe-horned in at this point. And I haven't read all 17 pages of this thread: Has anyone commented on the license plates throughout FFH? I saw a Marvel Team-Up ("MTU") plate, but the "ASM 28965" was an eyebrow-raiser. Amazing Spidey #289 featured the big reveal that Ned Leeds is the Hobgoblin. While that's a cool Easter egg, I see no way that MCU Ned becomes a super-villain. He's a completely different character here; the only things he has in common with comics Ned is his name and the fact that he hooked up with Betty Brant. The ASM 28965 reference is more likely to Amazing Spidey #28, first appearance of the Molten Man from Sept 1965, who kind of appears in FFH as the fire elemental. But the Hobgoblin possibility is a cool bonus!

I believe they'll either use a Skrull or the tech used in Winter Soldier (by Natasha to disguise herself as Jenny Agutter) to convince the world that Mysterio was lying about Spidey's secret ID. A Skrull shows up on a talk show as Peter, the real Spidey swings in, proves he's the real deal in front of Skrull/Parker and a bunch of cameras/the world, boom, secret ID is secret again. I mean, it shouldn't be that hard to refute the unconfirmed claims of a dead man, right? Even if Peter Billingsley's character reveals the footage of Beck and Parker talking sans masks, it should be pretty simple to convince the world that "duh, it's MYSTERIO! Of course he doctored this footage!" The bonus will be that JJJ is again left fuming, looking like an irrational, Spidey-hating clown.

Interesting (and almost certainly coincidental) parallels for comic nerds like me: Peter first kissed MJ in the comics at an airport just as he was leaving for Paris... (in Amazing Spidey #143) and he had just defeated Mysterio (in #142) before departing! In Far From Home, Peter first kisses MJ on a (scheduled) trip to Paris (unfortunately, they never actually make it to the City of Lights!) right after defeating Mysterio! OK, maybe "interesting" is an overstatement...!

One scene in FFH struck me as questionable, watching it the second time, when I was trying to closely observe whether Beck's illusions could've been convincingly carried out based on the rules we learn later: When Beck floats up to the rooftop to have a heart-to-heart with Spidey after Peter decides to opt out of the mission, I couldn't figure out exactly how Beck would've pulled that off. Spidey is sitting right there - Beck doesn't use any smoke to cover the transfer from Hologram Mysterio to Live Mysterio. So is he all Hologram in that scene... even though he's sitting literally inches from Peter on the ledge? (And I think Beck actually touches Peter's shoulder at one point, although I'm not positive.) Or does Beck use some kind of jet pack that we don't really see elsewhere in the film? Or maybe he's using wires... but surely Spider-Man would notice any such cabling, and probably a jet pack, also. I'll go with "audience just has to suspend disbelief for a minute." It's an important scene and I love the dynamic between the two characters there ("They do have sarcasm on this Earth, right?"), but I don't think it holds up logically...?

If they don't undo the no-longer-secret identity, what reason would Parker have for ever wearing the Spidey mask?

Heh, I was thinking they could just use one of those masks that Natasha wore in Winter Soldier (to impersonate Jenny Agutter’s character) and have “Peter Parker” appear very publicly with Spidey, but having a Skrull do it is even easier. Clearly, they can’t just have Peter’s ID be known to all; otherwise he loses any reason to wear the iconic Spidey mask! (Which of course he already takes off way too often as it is!)

Uh oh. Is this a hint that EG’s Friday number is going to disappoint? ☹️

I can't imagine wanting to see that mid-credits scene without seeing the rest of the film first for context. Hold out if you can, bud! You'll be glad you did.

That's a great idea. Peter used something similar in AMAZING #105, if memory serves, when he used a "Peter Parker mask" to convince a bunch of villainous voyeurs (led by Spencer Smythe) who'd watched him unmask that what they were seeing wasn't what they thought they were seeing. He also had Hobie Brown wear a Spidey suit in front of Peter and his friends after he revealed his ID to them in a flu-induced delusive state (in AMAZING #87), to alleviate their suspicions. But this was broadcast to the world, so the task is going to be a little trickier! As I said, I like your idea. But they could go the opposite route (The Hobie Brown Plan) and have one of Peter's super-pals portray Spidey in a convincing manner, with Peter interacting with him in a very public place. Maybe T'Challa could help him out, as he seems to be the most Spidey-like in his movements/abilities! Hopefully no one would notice the four-inch height difference! Or they could just deal with Spidey not having a secret ID. They're pretty rare in the MCU, which makes sense. With cameras almost-literally everywhere, it would be nearly impossible to maintain such a secret in 2019. The bigger challenge, in some ways, is how to deal with Mysterio's somewhat credible accusations about Spidey being responsible for all of Beck's crimes. It's one thing for Peter to try to maintain some semblance of a normal life as a part-time publically-known superhero - it's another thing entirely if the public thinks he's a super-villain... as they did in the comics for much of his first few decades of adventures, thanks to, just like in the movie, the efforts of JJJ! So much to digest from one two-minute mid-credit scene!!!

I was sitting in a screening with a family with young kids in front of me and when that scene played out, I thought, "wow, they're going to have some serious nightmares over this for a while!" There aren't many horror-movie type scares in MCU films, but this was a genuinely frightening moment. Not only is it creepy seeing Spidey attached by the undead, crawling out of its grave, but it's freakin' Iron Man, the most beloved character in moviedom these days! It was one of my favorite scenes in the film. I also loved the brief homage to Amazing Spider-Man #66-67, where Mysterio convinced Spidey that he'd permanently shrunk him down to six inches tall. There's a quick flash in Far From Home (just before the "Iron Man Crawls From The Grave" scene, IIRC) where Spidey is attacked by a giant Mysterio hand, much like issue #67's classic cover!

Saw "Yesterday" last night, enjoyed it quite a bit. As a Beatles fan, I loved the barrage of re-done tunes by the Fab Four. Not sure how general audiences will react, though. It's a little quirky but the romance is a bit too by-the-numbers. Patel is an engaging and sympathetic lead. Lily James is adorable. Ed Sheeran has a bigger role than I expected, and didn't annoy me nearly as much as he normally does. I love Kate McKinnon on SNL but she walks a fine line between laugh-out-loud funny and annoyingly grating here. It's a perfectly pleasant rom/com musical/fantasy for a hot summer day/night at the movies. The music puts it a notch above the average such film for me.

I'm coming to that realization myself. I loved the original Toho Godzilla flicks as a kid. But there's only so much you can do with a giant monster, other than have him fight other giant monsters. We got that in spades in G:KOTM, and it's still struggling at the BO. I figure Godzilla vs. Kong will be the absolute ceiling for this series: Once the two most popular Giant Monsters of all time go at it, what's left? GvK 2?

Pretty much the nail in the coffin as far as its race to catch Avatar, at least during EG's initial run. Oh, well, only us BO geeks were all that interested in it overtaking Avatar, I guess. And it seems ridiculous to feel even remotely disappointed in the BO performance of a film that's grossed over $800-mil DOM and $2.7 billion WW!

As a Ravens season ticket holder, though, I saw the value of my tickets nearly double after they won the Super Bowl (in 2001 and 2013). It became much easier to sell tickets to games I couldn’t attend. Similarly, as a comic collector, I’ve seen the value of certain books in my collection increase as the MCU has gained in popularity- there’s surely a causation there. Still, I don’t root for the Ravens and Marvel movies solely because their success might help me financially - it’s more of a nice bonus!

His two FF films grossed nearly $300 mil domestic. Evans may not have been a household name pre-Cap, but I’d say most comic-book fans knew who he was by then. I liked X3, mostly because of Grammer’s Beast. He was excellent in the role. Too bad he wasn’t cast for the first two X-films. Would’ve been even better had the superhero takeover at the cinema happened about ten years sooner - late Cheers-era Grammer would’ve been a perfect Hank McCoy!

Bummed at G:KOTM underperforming. It’s not a great film but it does a much better job giving us Godzilla fans what we want than the 2014 film did. Will WB cut the budget for Godzilla v Kong now? 🙁

Eh, you didn't miss much. I was really hoping something showing a run-up to Kong, but the big ape isn't even mentioned. Tywin Lannister buys a Ghidorah head for who-knows (or cares) why. Otherwise, I quite enjoyed this monsterfest. Much more so than the 2014 version. But I've been Godzilla fan since the 1970s, and grew up watching the early Toho films over and over on late-night TV. Seeing such amazingly realistic-looking versions of Ghidorah, Rodan, and Mothra was a dream come true for 10-year-old me. The fights are cool, and I was glad Mothra was a good guy. The nods to some of those classic Toho films (the Mothra girls, the Oxygen Destroyer, the original Godzilla theme) were welcome to this long-time fan. The humans were about as annoying as many of those shown in the original films - the bad guys' motivation was nonsense, but hey, it served to get the monsters where we wanted them, so I tolerated the holes in the plot. Looking forward to Kong v Godzilla!

As a linguist, I was about to type almost the same thing! Well stated.

I was around during those BOM forum days and I viewed "Loonie" as a derogatory term. The summer of 2002 featured the epic battle between Spider-Man fans vs. Star Wars "Loonies." I remember BoMoJohn (or something like that) kept insisting Attack of the Clones would eventually win that B.O. battle ("it'll make $100 mil in IMAX theaters alone!"), and he took its defeat at the hands of Sam Raimi and friends pretty hard! I think Baumer was around for that...? I took "loonie" to mean someone who unreasonably defended their favorite film/franchise from any/all criticism. Theirs is the best; all others are inferior! Loonie is short for "lunatic," after all. (Yes, I know fan is short for fanatic, but "fan" has been around as a more casual term for a long time, unlike "loonie," which in most circles is derogatory - "send ya to the Looney Bin," etc.)

Still a great number but that 3.6 was looking special!

EG down from 3.6 to 3.2? That's disappointing.

So on what date does everyone think it will pass Avatar WW?

I wonder if the awful rainy/cold weather here on the East Coast will lead to a stronger than expected Sunday box office.

So is Black Panther’s third weekend MCU record going to stand?

Agreed. The three best things about attending early screenings of films is 1) Seeing the movie early. (obviously!) 2) It's free! (obviously!) 3) They rarely if ever show any trailers at those early free screenings! With the rise of the Internet, the thrill of seeing trailers before the movie starts is long gone. I wish they'd drop them completely, or at least limit them to 1-3 per screening.