EDITORAL: How Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Has Exposed Marvel's Weakness

EDITORAL: How Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Has Exposed Marvel's Weakness

Marvel's Agents of Shield has aired its 3rd episode, but already it has exposed Marvel's biggest weak side as of yet... bad writing, clownesque characters and hilariously awful dialog.

Editorial Opinion
By sameer1805 - Oct 09, 2013 09:10 AM EST
Filed Under: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Marvel is a company that takes risks. They are bold and have justifiably been paid for it... bigtime. They continue to put out critic-proof (except Iron-man 2) blockbusters and audiences love them. But their decision to start a TV show based on a group of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents has now exposed Marvel's weakness. Here's why:

Marvel's blockbusters usually have a thin story and goofy flawed characters at the center of the story. Apart from The Incredible Hulk they don't have a strong memorable script. Captain America and Iron Man 1 had a semi-solid script but other than that it was all clownish. But like many fantasy/scifi blockbusters CGI made up for it, and like many blockbusters most people don't pay much attention to the finer points.

But with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. being a tv show there isn't much room for CGI. I mean, you can't have a 20 million budget per episode can you?

The script seems to be written by 5 year olds, dialog like "It's an origin story" and "Are we there yet" makes my stomach cringe. Can it get more awful then this? Well almost every movie Marvel Studios has made would compete for that position. Here's why:

1) Iron Man 3: Ok a guy called The Mandarin is out making threats against American citizens and Tony Stark doesn't care until his bodyguard is hurt. Really that's you definition of a superhero. All Iron Man films start this way , playing up the same thing over and over again.

Maya's intentions are so confusing, I think the actress playing the character is also confused about her character.

The REAL Mandarin becomes a supervillan because he got stood up by Tony on a rooftop. REALLY?

The director said the helicopters that attacked Stark Mansion were posing as journalist copters, really ? I didn't know apache copters can pose as news copters, I mean you can literally see the guns and missiles.

2) The Avengers: Loki is attacking earth with an army called Chitauri, so we'll bring a pair of psychopaths and you know, fight back. What an awesome and original plot.

3) THOR: Cheesy dialog, forced romance, rigorous plot holes, laughable excuses.

4) Captain America: Actually had a half-decent script, but their portrayal of a true american hero was simply not good enough at the end. Their disappointing box office total of 367 million dollars with a 150 million production budget and at least 100 million marketing spend says it all.

5) Iron Man 2: Has been proven bad over and over again. Not gonna add anything more to the god-awfulness that was Iron Man 2. Again Tony not stepping up until someone he cares about gets in harm's way.

6) The Incredible Hulk: That a very solid script that deal with the whole man and monster concept very honestly. But depriving the film of the 20-40 more minutes it so desperately craved for hurt it like hell at the end.

7) Iron Man: Not a bad script. It was a decent blockbuster, but story was flawed like usual.

But all those flawed films had big money CGI to cover their asses. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't, so Marvel's weakest side is out in the open left to rot. This is something that should harm Marvel's reputation even if just a little bit.

Honestly with Ender's Game and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire threatening to take away some of Thor: The Dark World's box office potential and Captain America: The Winter Soldier opening at a very difficult slot (April 4th 2014), this is the last thing Marvel wants . They should just abandon this show.

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HOTSHOT
HOTSHOT - 10/9/2013, 11:37 AM
Basically you just gave out the basic plots;"Loki plans to attack earth with an Alien army and psychopaths have to fight them" without considering how the plot was executed. The dialogue was witty, the acting was spectacular and the visuals were outstanding. So I doubt it's the awesome CGI that makes people love these movies. I mean, why do critics hate Bayformers and love Avengers? Exactly, a great script that was awesomely executed.

At least give a detailed explanation on WHY you thouht the script sucked.
Moohika
Moohika - 10/9/2013, 11:49 AM
love that scene^
McNyagano
McNyagano - 10/9/2013, 12:01 PM
THIS ARTICLE...




You sir have made my day lol xD Funniest thing I've read all day hahahaha
CharlesLord
CharlesLord - 10/9/2013, 12:17 PM
image

image

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McNyagano
McNyagano - 10/9/2013, 12:31 PM
The Avengers was very much like Avatar



But all those flawed films had big money CGI to cover their asses .

Are you not talking about the Michael Bay's Transformers franchise?
btmcclure
btmcclure - 10/9/2013, 1:14 PM
Heavily disagree with you about the movies except for Hulk (he deserves the love man!) All the movies have been great because the characters are really well written. I like them all some less then others. But I agree with the show. I like how fun it is and that it's not taking itself to seriously but I don't know for how long. The characters, except for Coulson, are really paper thin but I can see them becoming better. Jed, Marrissa and Joss are known for their great characters but this show does not have that. Even though I like the show I agree with all the criticism. I'm just hoping it gets better by the last half of the season.
StrangeBlackPantherDoctor
StrangeBlackPantherDoctor - 10/9/2013, 2:17 PM
Boooo!
GinjaNinja
GinjaNinja - 10/9/2013, 2:46 PM
uhwhat?
marvel72
marvel72 - 10/9/2013, 2:58 PM
i'm enjoying shield more than arrow but saying that shield does need to improve slightly.
Futers11
Futers11 - 10/9/2013, 3:06 PM
The show isn't that bad, It was never going to be like super serious tv show as it appeals to all ages, I like it on the most part, got alot of potential. Not to keen on the comedy science duo, but all the other characters have potential to grow get more interesting and there's 101 different story lines they can go down. I think people just love to hate things that are popular.
SageMode
SageMode - 10/9/2013, 8:06 PM
"Critics were generally positive towards Transformers 1 , but when they did the same plot with a new location they hated it . The same thing happened with Iron Man 2 ."



SageMode
SageMode - 10/9/2013, 8:17 PM
Like me give you some accolades if you will

1. MCU:
A. The 3rd highest grossing film franchise of all time.
B. Each movie in the MCU is critically praised

2. THE AVENGERS:
A. Received next to universal critical praise.
B. Is the highest grossing superhero/comic book movie ever.
C. Is the 3rd highest grossing film ever.
D. Is arguably the best CBM of all time.
E. Broke 25 box office records.
F. Received an Oscar nomination.
G. Is the only CBM that has a CinemaScore rating of A+.

3. IRON MAN 3
A. Is the highest grossing CBM/Superhero film based on a solo character.
B. Received critical praise.
gamecreatorjj
gamecreatorjj - 10/9/2013, 9:56 PM
Geez, you people, I mean these movies are this bad, but people on this site tend to forget that these are still just dumb action movies. Its when that dumb action movie is played smart that we get Ironman, first Class, Avengers, etc. But these aren't godly films. They are good for their genre, but thats where the spectacle ends, in the end, these movies are about enjoyment not ingenuity. probably the best Marvel movie is HULK, and most people are so damned confused by it, it's disregarded as shit. Because it doesn't bring a lot of joy. But it took me 3 times viewing HULK, to get over how wrong my first impression was. I walk out of Ironman having a lot of fun, with a smile on my face, but watching it again will garner nothing new in the realm of thought.
Mars3times
Mars3times - 10/9/2013, 11:55 PM
I dont even really like Thor and I know he'll make a lot of money regardless of competition. Ironman 1 & 2 made about 600 million each and after the Avengers Ironman 3 did about 1.3 billion. Thor 1 made about 500 Million; Very close to Ironman 1 & 2 so, Im betting Thor will do well over 500 million thanks to the Avengers.
Minato
Minato - 10/10/2013, 12:03 AM
Another article from someone without talent or intelligence enough to articulate a valid point criticizing some of the most talented and successful people in their field.
WYLEEJAY
WYLEEJAY - 10/10/2013, 1:05 AM
I have to ask, was this intended as satire?

Cause if it was, its not good.

If its serious, your really butthurt about something. I wonder what that could be? Hmmm......

You didn't explain a single thing. You prove nothing. An editorial can express an opinion, yet yours is incomplete. Article FAIL!
PeterDarker121
PeterDarker121 - 10/10/2013, 1:22 AM
I tried...I really, REALLY tried to find a point to this article, and

relentless1
relentless1 - 10/10/2013, 3:51 AM
this guy hit the nail on the head, all of marvels properties have such cheesy dialogue mixed with good stuff and now that this show doesnt have any spectacle to back up the ham its been exposed, all you butt hurt marvelites are the ones that are laughable, look at you attack this guys for speaking the truth smh
GuardianDevil
GuardianDevil - 10/10/2013, 8:19 AM
Agents of SHIELD, Thor, Captain America: First Avenger and Iron Man 2 all bad to average. (Thor and AOS are really bad) Cap and IM2 are merely watchable I suppose.

The rest of the MCU is good tho.
Minato
Minato - 10/10/2013, 10:59 AM
I think a lot of people are confusing Bad with not what they wanted or expected. Just because you wanted something different doesn’t make the final product bad. I can say now that TDKR was not what I wanted but its far from bad. Its not Nolans best work but its a good movie.

The think with the MCU is that they fully embrace the fact that they are COMICBOOK MOVIES not cinematic masterpieces. They are good movies. Catwoman, Electra, Jonah Hex, Green Lantern, Batman and Robin, Steel, Barb Wire, Tank Girl are examples of bad comic book movies.
JohnnyRoss
JohnnyRoss - 10/10/2013, 2:30 PM
@2challa

Yes, I agree with you on all that.
superbatspiderman
superbatspiderman - 10/10/2013, 6:35 PM
I don't understand all of the hate for this show. I generally enjoy it. yeah it is not perfect and doesn't have the best acting but it has decent plot and Coulson and Melinda May are awesome. Also them introducing Graviton is awesome. I am wondering though how they are going to be able to take down Graviton when in Eath's Mightiest Heroes he took on the Avengers.


Like this.
EpitomeofAwesome
EpitomeofAwesome - 10/14/2013, 5:58 PM
This article has FACEPALM written all over it
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