[Movie] Black Widow

[Egomaniac]

It's pretty hard for stunt coordinators to get ahold of female stunt workers of any dimension. It's not uncommon at all for male stunt workers to do stunt work for actresses because of the shortage. Also, the Taskmaster 'armor' is pretty comparable to hockey pads.

There's no shortage of stuntwomen. There's a shortage of people hiring stuntwomen

[tyrlaan]

One of the great complaints against the comics for most (not all) of their existence was that nothing was ever final with a villain. They never died or stayed in prison, or got old or became truly disabled or just flat out retired. The reason of course was that the comics people simply couldn't afford to waste a 'good' baddy on a single arc or episode. That simply does not apply to the movies.

The vast majority of the movie audience has no allegiance or love for most of these villains and would prefer something new, all other things being equal. The other thing to consider is that Disney-MCU is NOT doing street level movies. Street level villains as result are much more likely to get short shrift in the films and unless they change their trajectory, in Disney+ as well.

Bingo!

Since when?
"We" loved Dr Doom. We certainly loved to hate the Red Skull. And Thanos had a complexity that gave him a depth that we wanted to see more of. The bad guys were always more interesting. In the "Annihilation" we had Ronan and the Super Skrull both enemies, (both battle-hardened veterans) team up...and written well enough that we understood why.
Ronan in the MCU was just a flaccid copy of the comics.

You literally just cherry picked a couple of the few great villains in the comics and are tossing them out as counterpoints.

Are you thrilled that Vulture keeps coming back? The Owl? Is Magneto a good guy today or a bad guy? Maybe he forgot who he is? Or is he wearing a stupid metal helmet and calling himself Xorn?

The comics have a MASSIVE problem with nothing ever being permanent. Hell, they've even put a lampshade on it a few times in Spider-Man stories.

Unless you love the VAST majority of marvel villains, I suspect your contrarianism is more rooted in your rage over the MCU in general more than anything else.

There aren't enough female stunt doubles to go around in Hollywood, especially not one Olga Kurylenko's height. Also, with armor on like that, nobody should be able to tell. You can't tell if I'm a girl when I'm in hockey pads.

Definitely agree. I didn't realize it was a male stunt double until the snarky poster (can't remember the name) mentioned it. Maybe it was obvious to some people, but I definitely didn't notice it.

[Shadowferal]

You literally just cherry picked a couple of the few great villains in the comics and are tossing them out as counterpoints.

Because I don't have to cherry pick the MCU apart. It's silly shitty treatment speaks for itself.

Unless you love the VAST majority of marvel villains, I suspect your contrarianism is more rooted in your rage over the MCU in general more than anything else.

And what's your excuse for all that Disney love you have? Are you such a child in that they can't do anything wrong in your eyes no matter how ridiculous or stupid?

[Egomaniac]

Because I don't have to cherry pick the MCU apart. It's silly shitty treatment speaks for itself. And what's your excuse for all that Disney love you have? Are you such a child in that they can't do anything wrong in your eyes no matter how ridiculous or stupid?

You don't need an excuse to like something.

You also don't need an excuse to hate it...but why spend so much effort yucking on someone else's yum?

[Polyxo]

There's no shortage of stuntwomen. There's a shortage of people hiring stuntwomen

There really is a shortage of stuntwomen. It's at the point where, back when I was still competing at a high level, I was at a training camp out in NM, and like, our gym got calls soliciting any experienced pro fighter to do stunt work for some feature length film. With no experience. Also, it wasn't even like we were going to be doing things related to fighting either, they wanted someone to ride on the back of a motorcycle, and then fall off as it skids out or something.

[Egomaniac]

There really is a shortage of stuntwomen. It's at the point where, back when I was still competing at a high level, I was at a training camp out in NM, and like, our gym got calls soliciting any experienced pro fighter to do stunt work for some feature length film. With no experience. Also, it wasn't even like we were going to be doing things related to fighting either, they wanted someone to ride on the back of a motorcycle, and then fall off as it skids out or something.

There really isn't. The problem is that stunt work is a boys club and women gets excluded.

[Triceron]

I really wished they gave Red Guardian at least one *moment* in the film. I get he's played for laughs, but he's a genuinely fun character who should have had at least one good moment so you could at least say he did *something*.

[JDL49]

Since when?

Since 1939 and sort of (well, at least partially) ending whenever it was (mid 90's ?) that they started reboots and universe variants.

[lokithor]

I really wished they gave Red Guardian at least one *moment* in the film. I get he's played for laughs, but he's a genuinely fun character who should have had at least one good moment so you could at least say he did *something*.

Theres rumors going around that him and Rachel Weisz signed on for more movies, so Changes are RG will get his moment to shine.

[Adamas102]

Shows how little thought is given to the script, and absolutely no thought given to future endeavors.
When they kill off all the villains, what then? Create new characters? That would be a rather novel approach.

They have PLENTY of characters to draw from. I don't think they'll be running out any time soon.

I actually find it preferable for the MCU (and comic book movies in general) to have MOST of their villains permanently defeated within a single movie. I think long recurring villains only really work in a serialized format. It's just one of those things that works in comic and TV series, but not so much in a traditional movie format.

[Jotaux]

There really is a shortage of stuntwomen. It's at the point where, back when I was still competing at a high level, I was at a training camp out in NM, and like, our gym got calls soliciting any experienced pro fighter to do stunt work for some feature length film. With no experience. Also, it wasn't even like we were going to be doing things related to fighting either, they wanted someone to ride on the back of a motorcycle, and then fall off as it skids out or something.

Did you end up doing any stunt work?

[Clone]

We all get it, you liked this below than average movie. And that is fine. I also really like terrible movies like pearl harbor.
But don't try to make it seem as it is any good. The movie as I mentioned is average at best especially since its mostly an action movie and Natasha is a human but it seems like she has superpowers, surviving most of the hits she takes which is ridiculous, especially with movies like mission impossible or John wick out there.

On the subject. Very horrible how they keep genderbending or just mutilating characters for the sake of the woke bible. They did Taskmaster horrible, they might just invent a new character instead of butchering others, they basically deadpooled taskmaster, and its the Wolvering version of deadpool (ugh)

Relax dude. Characters diet from each continuity.

[tyrlaan]

Because I don't have to cherry pick the MCU apart. It's silly shitty treatment speaks for itself. And what's your excuse for all that Disney love you have? Are you such a child in that they can't do anything wrong in your eyes no matter how ridiculous or stupid?

I happily criticize stuff Disney/Marvel produces that deserves the criticism. Weird for you to make a sweeping claim that I don't. Do you need a list from me as evidence or can we agree that you're just writing from behind your weird MCU rage?

Maybe just calm down and stop watching MCU stuff if you hate it so much. Why do that to yourself?

[Egomaniac]

On the subject. Very horrible how they keep genderbending or just mutilating characters for the sake of the woke bible. They did Taskmaster horrible, they might just invent a new character instead of butchering others, they basically deadpooled taskmaster, and its the Wolvering version of deadpool (ugh)

Genderswapping Taskmaster was not the issue. Taskmaster could have been fine as a woman. The issue was turning her into a mindless drone. So yeah, giving the Wolverine Origins Deadpool treatment to Taskmaster was a huge problem...but that has nothing to do with being "woke"

[tyrlaan]

Genderswapping Taskmaster was not the issue. Taskmaster could have been fine as a woman. The issue was turning her into a mindless drone. So yeah, giving the Wolverine Origins Deadpool treatment to Taskmaster was a huge problem...but that has nothing to do with being "woke"

I liked what they did with Taskmaster, but I like it less now that you point this out. She could've been WAAAY better with some actual dialog other than the one final line. I think silent while fighting may make for a cool effect by making Taskmaster feel more dangerous/frightening, but imagine if she came after Natasha in that first fight scene and made it verbally clear she was chock full of rage towards BW?

[Egomaniac]

I liked what they did with Taskmaster, but I like it less now that you point this out. She could've been WAAAY better with some actual dialog other than the one final line. I think silent while fighting may make for a cool effect by making Taskmaster feel more dangerous/frightening, but imagine if she came after Natasha in that first fight scene and made it verbally clear she was chock full of rage towards BW?

The problem is that she just came across like a watered-down Winter Soldier. Like, we've done the silent and unstoppable killing machine bit already. Taskmaster is like Deadpool and Spider-Man...constantly chattering away during a fight. Bragging, mocking, etc.

Rage wouldn't be the thing I would want from Taskmaster. I would want mocking contempt. Effortlessly blocking/avoiding everything Nat can throw at her while boasting about how much better she is than BW. Pulling out moves that we've seen from BP, Cap, Hawkeye, Spider-Man, etc. It's too bad we won't see Black Knight until the Eternals comes out...because mixing some of that kind of swordplay in with the shield moves she got from watching Cap would have been awesome. That's the Taskmaster I wanted to see.

[tyrlaan]

The problem is that she just came across like a watered-down Winter Soldier. Like, we've done the silent and unstoppable killing machine bit already. Taskmaster is like Deadpool and Spider-Man...constantly chattering away during a fight. Bragging, mocking, etc.

Rage wouldn't be the thing I would want from Taskmaster. I would want mocking contempt. Effortlessly blocking/avoiding everything Nat can throw at her while boasting about how much better she is than BW. Pulling out moves that we've seen from BP, Cap, Hawkeye, Spider-Man, etc. It's too bad we won't see Black Knight until the Eternals comes out...because mixing some of that kind of swordplay in with the shield moves she got from watching Cap would have been awesome. That's the Taskmaster I wanted to see.

Well, I went with rage to be consistent with the incarnation of Taskmaster they went with for this movie, which personality-wise is very much not the comic version of Taskmaster.

I get wanting a more comic faithful version though.

[Egomaniac]

Well, I went with rage to be consistent with the incarnation of Taskmaster they went with for this movie, which personality-wise is very much not the comic version of Taskmaster.

I get wanting a more comic faithful version though.

There's just better characters that fit with the concept they had for this movie. That's my issue. They promised Taskmaster and they delivered something else. It was just the wrong fir for this movie. Probably would have been better to save Taskmaster for the Hawkeye series....considering Clint is more of a weapons master than Natasha is. They could have had some cool duels.

But those are my issues. Doesn't mean other people can't have their own thoughts and feelings about it

[Polyxo]

Did you end up doing any stunt work?

No. I wasn't in the southwest for long. That was the only call that came in for the short time I was there and that sounded like a good way to get road rash and have a really bad time training.

[Fabinas]

Definitely agree. I didn't realize it was a male stunt double until the snarky poster (can't remember the name) mentioned it. Maybe it was obvious to some people, but I definitely didn't notice it.

What? You actually figured out that Taskmaster was female before the actual reveal of her identity?

Because till that point, the character looked like a man, moved like a man, fought like a man. It was obviously intended, in order to have a huge impact on BW when the revelation happened.

And don't tell me they hired Kurylenko for her actual acting skills, since we just got one scene with her face on screen. They definitely casted her because of her height (and status, they wouldn't hire a tall nobody), so that when the revelation happened, we could accept that "so, it was a woman after all, and a tall one at that".

I'm not advocating for the silly "trans" poster, but unless you already knew who was playing the role, you couldn't discern that the character on screen was a woman. Even a tall one.

- - - Updated - - -

I liked what they did with Taskmaster, but I like it less now that you point this out. She could've been WAAAY better with some actual dialog other than the one final line. I think silent while fighting may make for a cool effect by making Taskmaster feel more dangerous/frightening, but imagine if she came after Natasha in that first fight scene and made it verbally clear she was chock full of rage towards BW?

Wouldn't happen. The character was after the vials, not Natasha.