[wushuliu]

Have to get this off my chest. I am not a comic book person so I don't have any preconceived notions about the Marvel films. I just have been very impressed with their focus on good writing, directing, and acting (overall I'm saying - I know people have their likes and dislikes). They've done a great job of appealing to non-comic book folks like myself.

But I think they've gone too far. The new Marvel film is abandoning earth and headed for outer space action which okay I can handle that, I mean hell Star Wars is right around the corner again. This time though there's a different type of superhero in the mix: a talking raccoon. Yeah. Talking. Raccoon. Superhero. Voiced no less by Bradley Cooper. So kind of smarmy, wisecracking talking raccoon.

I can understand if Guardians of the Galaxy was strictly a kids film or just straight CGI animation. But I'm supposed to make sense of Robert Downey as Tony Stark next to a talking raccoon?

I can't do it. I don't care if it's the most realistic talking raccoon ever with a monologue and backstory that would make Brando in Last Tango in Paris crawl into a fetal position (ba dum bum), I think this is where Marvel will lose some people. They've been great about straddling the 'realistic' style with comics but this is too much.

Yes there are far more important things in life to be concerned about but... a talking RACCOON?

[Folsom]

The racoon looks just fine after trying to watch Marvel's tv show about SHIELD. It's utter shit. It's like they bought a big bag of sitcom shit and then threw in all non-hero specific attachments into a special shit mixing bag with some sorta TV equivlant MSG.

[mcgsxr]

The movies to date have been fun.  I liked Iron Man 1 a lot.  The next 2 were weaker for sure.  Thor was ok.  The Avengers I also like a lot.

This talking raccoon thing will certainly be a stretch, but I am sure I will end up seeng it at some point. 

The SHIELD show on TV is very weak.  Star power matters, and they fail. 

[BobRex]

Rocket Racoon is a legit Marvel character, created in 1976 and then used in the Guardians of the Galaxy relaunch in 2008.  So, as long as they keep this somewhat tounge-in-cheek, I don't have a problem with it.

As far a SHIELD goes, I see a few touches of the old series (Stan, Jack, and Steranko), so they are at least paying homage to what came before.  I loved the vette, guess they couldn't find a Porsche Speedster.  I can't wait till they finally explain Coulson's revival - Odin?, the Infinity formula?

[Folsom]

You guys are to easy to please!

I want Marvel to up their game like Batman The Dark Knight.

[wushuliu]

Rocket Racoon is a legit Marvel character.

Talking.

Raccoon.

[JRace]

Talking.

Raccoon.

If you took a closer look into the Marvel Universe you would see that Rocket is far from the worst!
http://marvel.wikia.com/Bird-Brain_(Earth-616)

[wushuliu]

If you took a closer look into the Marvel Universe you would see that Rocket is far from the worst!
http://marvel.wikia.com/Bird-Brain_(Earth-616)

Mmmm. That's a problem.

[Rob Babcock]

I never read Guardians of the Galaxy, and I'm undecided on whether I'd see the movie.  But I am a Marvel fan.

[Folsom]

The Racoon's best friend is a tree like creature name Groot, who can only say "groot" like every other tree thing from its planet; but the racoon can inturpret "groot"s into complex ideas as only he seems to understand groot.

[wushuliu]

The Racoon's best friend is a tree like creature name Groot, who can only say "groot" like every other tree thing from its planet; but the racoon can inturpret "groot"s into complex ideas as only he seems to understand groot.

That happened to me in college. Those were the daze.

[emac]

Depending on how Guardians is put together, it could be one of the best movies of the year or it could be one of the worst.  Fortunately, James Gunn is at the helm, so he could pull it off.  The movie doesn't appear to take itself too seriously, which is about the only way to do a movie w/ characters like Rocket Raccoon and Groot.

As for Agents of SHIELD, so far it hasn't lived up to the hype.  But it's only been 3 episodes, so we'll have to see how it develops.  Sleepy Hallow, on the other hand, has been great from the first episode.

[cujobob]

Everyone has their own take on this sort of stuff...it's tough because many of us got into the characters at a young age and want them portrayed in one way while we also struggle with wanting some sense of realism. I love Marvel stuff and the movies...I mean, really..you have to be impressed so far. Comic book movies were flat out awful for a long time but two really good Spiderman movies, Iron Man 1, 2/3 of Captain America, and probably some others...were really really well done. There are also some big misses but plenty of action movies have been big misses and the story-lines are often hard to get into as adults.

I think Guardians of the Galaxy is going to be really tough to pull off, but I'll keep an open mind for now. As for the Agents of Shield TV show, I've watched it and..it's alright. The female lead is attractive, the male lead can't act, but I enjoy Coulson's character. There seems to be some confusion over whether it's supposed to be dramatic, a comedy, or action...it's a little of each without a real comedian or someone you care to see blow sh*t up.

As for the Dark Knight stuff mentioned..it's basically taken a long-running character and answered the question 'how do we make this real?' Unfortunately, it wasn't Batman. If someone had never heard of Batman, those movies could stand alone probably as a fun watch. The first Ironman, to me, was something I wanted more of but haven't yet seen. I want more movies like that, personally.