To many in the region, it was more than just a tree. It was where they proposed, it was where they went to find calm during a tough period, it was where they said their final goodbyes to a loved one etc. To say the tree was iconic would be an understatement. It was a constant in a time of change and a place of undeniable beauty in a world of increasing shit. The kinda place you make a special trip out to once your kids are old enough and show them a part of their local identity, untouched by the passing of time.
At the end of the day, yes it is just a tree. But it is also a many missed memories being made and just one more destruction of something just a little special. It’s no surprise people were speculating that some landowner or farmer was refused planning permission after it first happened. Because that is what we’re used to, someone selfish taking away something that was just there because it was beautiful.
I’m actually excited to see this one. Kamala is a fun character and Iman Vellani captured her essence really well. They have not done a good job of making Captain Marvel or Monica Rambeau as characters we care about, but through the Kamala lens we might during the movie. But a lot of folks skipped on Ms. Marvel thinking she was for kids.
However, I wouldn’t even call this dip in presales Marvel fatigue. I’m a Marvel fanboy. I watched She Hulk and enjoyed it. Yet, Marvel have done nothing to actually invest me into the current phase. It’s not a Marvel fatigue but more a multiverse/plot fatigue. I haven’t watched Secret Invasion or Loki 2 because… Why?
I find Kang to be such a damp squib of a character. They ruined most of his mystique at the end of Quantumania to the extent he is no longer a real threat. Thanos worked because he was a difficult but not impossible threat. You felt like even the Guardians had a chance against him as slim a chance as that might be.
Kang is an impossible threat. A multi-versal threat that has no limits. He’s boring because he can’t be overcome.
I’ve said it before when we were all on Reddit, this Phase would be made significantly more interesting if you use this as the opportunity to introduce Doctor Doom. Have him crush Kang as a threat setting up a more complex, potentially beatable, villain and establishing a power order in one sweep.
Once he’s established, bring in the X-Men and FF fighting off incursions, lead up to X-Men Vs MCU as your Summer Blockbuster, have a handful of arthouse y Last Days Of style movies. Go into Battleworld, have some really fun remixes of our established characters, reset the multiverse to a single world with more mundane threats and recast any character who wants out of the franchise.
Instead, this movie becomes a ‘eh. I’ll see it on Disney+ eventually’.