"Marvel Rising: Playing With Fire" Animated Special Talkback (Spoilers)

[RoyalRubble]

Check out the newest entry in the Marvel Rising franchise! Marvel Rising: Playing With Fire, a brand-new animated Special, premieres today at 4pm PT/7pm ET on the Marvel HQ YouTube channel!

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Marvel Rising: Playing With Fire
Debut - December 18th, 2019
Written by - Danielle Wolff
Supervising Director - Alfred Gimeno
Executive Producers - Joe Quesada, Dan Buckley, Cort Lane, Eric Radomski
Co-Executive Producers - Sana Amanat, Marsha Griffin

Synopsis: Marvel Rising: Playing With Fire stars Tyler Posey as the brooding, hot-headed loner Inferno. In this special, Inferno's powers are stolen by a young and powerful villain, and it's up to the Secret Warriors to defeat their new foe and help their friend. But does Inferno even want his powers back? Meanwhile, America Chavez, voiced by Cierra Ramirez (Good Trouble), learns a lesson about friendship and family from teammate Ms. Marvel.

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Other relevant links:
"Marvel Rising" News & Discussion Thread, Part 2 (Spoilers)

"Marvel Rising: Operation Shuri" Animated Special Talkback (Spoilers)
"Marvel Rising: Battle of the Bands" Animated Special Talkback (Spoilers)
"Marvel Rising: Heart of Iron" Animated Special Talkback (Spoilers)
"Marvel Rising: Chasing Ghosts" Animated Special Talkback (Spoilers)
"Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors" Feature Talkback (Spoilers)
"Marvel Rising: Initiation" Animated Shorts Talkback (Spoilers)

The Marvel HQ YouTube channel

 

[SweetShop209]

Here is the special, which will come up later on.

We have a new song.

 

[Rick Jones]

I wasn't expecting this episode to be all about family dynamics. That situation really sucked for Dante, having to be ostracized from everything he knew for something that wasn't his fault at that young age. It's nice that at least his sister was reaching out. I wonder just what his parents are like in the first place.

America was right in a way about how the others might take some of what they have for granted but I'm glad that her unnecessary hostility was brought up. I felt for Zayla having that unfortunate life with the two super villain parents that don't seem to care whether she breathes or not and becoming molded into who she is. It's a shame that she must likely fell into the trap of turning out like them when she was so open to their newfound attention. It's hilarious how jealous Kamala gets.

Gwen and Dante was an interesting pairing that I never even thought about.

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[SweetShop209]

In regards to what a YouTube user said in the chat regarding Kamala and Dante: Just kiss already!

This was still good.

 

[Frontier]

This special was definitely centered a lot around families, whether it be Dante's continued isolation from his family, Zanya dealing with her family dynamic, America missing her family, or Kamala learning to better appreciate her family .

How convenient that they wrote off the two members of the team without powers in an episode where they would have been most useful .

I didn't know Dante went to Kamala's school. I'm kind of so used to protagonists in these kinds of series all going to the same school together that it takes a minute to realize that's not the case here. I actually thought Dante was college age (at least he is in the comics). Actually, how old is everybody? Vaguely 16-19-ish? Daisy seems like she might be in her 20's .

Kamala and Dante's relationship seems to be progressing nicely. It's so weird to see an overt romance in a Marvel cartoon after so long, with all the typical awkwardness and teen angst that comes with it. Kamala and Dante are pretty cute together .

How would anyone not realize Dante is Inferno? I guess his skin is...slightly more reddish? Same for America too, come to think of it. I guess Doreen has squirrel ears to throw people off .

The villains in the special were all original characters not from the comics, although I felt they were pretty effective and memorable in spite of that. We don't really often see a family of Supervillains portrayed this prominently, so that was fun, even if you kind of felt bad for Zayla after seeing how much her parents ignored or belittled her (when they weren't belittling themselves) .

Speaking of Zayla, it's not often we get a Supervillain who's a bespectacled, freckled, seemingly normal girl who turns out to have the makings of a dangerous Supervillain in the works. I thought the episode did a good job of both selling her emotional problems to the audience while also selling her as a dangerous and clever budding Supervillain that could give half the Secret Warriors trouble. Navia Robinson did a great job of capturing that mix of relatable everygirl with a genuine love of being bad and proving herself as a villain, and I wouldn't mind getting to see more from her .

Is this Gary Cole's first Marvel role? If so...nice .

Dante has finally gotten the handle on his powers, which made it the perfect opportunity to bring his family issues back at the forefront since that was the basis for why he hated his powers. It was nice to see Dante's sister show up and be so dedicated to bringing him back home to reunite with their family, and Dante making a slow but steady progress to reconciling with them. And Jeannie Tirado gets her first role in a Big Two Superhero cartoon .

I love how Kamala does a complete 180 on Gabrielle the moment she realizes she's not a rival romantic interest for Dante .

It was nice to see Kamala's family again, including Abbu and more mentions of Aamir .

I liked getting to see America come a little more out of her shell and deal with the loss of her family, feeling like the rest of the Secret Warriors are taking their families for granted when she can never see her moms again. But Kamala helped her realize she can be a part of both their families and be part of the family that they've made as a team .

I honestly wasn't sure whether Doreen learned to speak squirrel or if it was part of her powers, but I guess that answers that question .

I think we finally have confirmation that Gwen has organic webbing, since Zayla had webs after absorbing her power .

I don't think I've ever seen parents be so proud of their daughter for getting arrested and thrown in jail like a true Supervillain, but I guess that's what it's like living in a Supervillain family .

Anyone think we might eventually see a young adult Masters of Evil to contend with the Secret Warriors? Maybe made up of Exile, Sheath, Screaming Mimi, and Zayla ?

 

[Rick Jones]

Anyone think we might eventually see a young adult Masters of Evil to contend with the Secret Warriors? Maybe made up of Exile, Sheath, Screaming Mimi, and Zayla ?

A team of villains to counter the Secret Warriors could be cool. I think Sheath and Exile are on another level of evil compared to Mimi and Zayla though but I guess that's how it is with lots of villain teams.



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[Dudley]

Wow, this was actually a lot better than the past ones. I felt for the problems the characters dealt with. And Doreen wasn’t too annoying this time!


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[Fone Bone]

Marvel Rising "Playing With Fire"

This is probably Marvel's most underrated cartoon. I mean nobody really talks smack about it, but nobody ever properly compliments it either. It does everything right.

I especially like that because it's aimed at girls, they can explore ships, even if they aren't explicit about it. The context is just as dramatic understated, and adds a lot of subtext. I mean, you understand WHY Kamala is overjoyed to learn Gabby is Dante's sister, without ever outright saying it. And Gwen adds a nice side to a triangle too.

The sneezing stuff however was gross. I don't understand why they so heavily so focused on it. Snot is not a funny bodily fliud the way poop and urine are. It's just disgusting, and the only thing it does when you see it on screen is make you lose your lunch. It's never funny. Even puke, which is just as disgusting, can be funny under the right circumstances. Snot never is.

Zayla's parents are the worst. That moment at the end was not personal growth. It was fudged up.

Why doesn't Dante wear a mask anyways?

My favorite moment in the special is the reason I love the show. It explores real problems in a way Spider-Man never does. But I punched the air when America laid into Kamala for never appreciating how great her parents are, and complaining about them while America is an orphan. It's properly explored pathos. It's also something the characters can work through, and it isn't irreparable, and blowing up the franchise the way Spider-Man and the Avengers routinely do. That is the proper way to land and explore drama. It amazes me Marvel thinks I want to see Spider-Man routinely framed for robbing a bank, or the Avengers mind-controlled into hurting people they care about. That's not actually real drama. This is not only stuff that happens in real life, but the characters are allowed to process it, and grow from it, and don't have to hide it to protect their identities. I see a LOT of value in this show absent from the rest of the animated Marvel stuff, and the live-action TV stuff. I think the Marvel Studios movies also handle drama and pathos well without going overboard. But that's the other other Marvel thing I find that true for. Granted, it's a HUGE thing, but it's also the only other thing.

I love this show and as glad as I am to get rid of Jeph Loeb, this show being gone (as well as Cloak & Dagger) is one of the rare regrettable things about Marvel Television folding. It's pretty dang great.. ****1/2.

 

[Frontier]

I especially like that because it's aimed at girls, they can explore ships, even if they aren't explicit about it. The context is just as dramatic understated, and adds a lot of subtext. I mean, you understand WHY Kamala is overjoyed to learn Gabby is Dante's sister, without ever outright saying it. And Gwen adds a nice side to a triangle too.

I never really thought about it before, but I do wonder if this being aimed at more of a female audience is why they go more in-depth with the relationships then the normal Marvel cartoons .

Zayla's parents are the worst. That moment at the end was not personal growth. It was fudged up.

Well, they're Supervillains, so I guess it's not supposed to be a completely positive moment .

Why doesn't Dante wear a mask anyways?

Probably more comfortable with his powers to not wear one.

My favorite moment in the special is the reason I love the show. It explores real problems in a way Spider-Man never does. But I punched the air when America laid into Kamala for never appreciating how great her parents are, and complaining about them while America is an orphan. It's properly explored pathos. It's also something the characters can work through, and it isn't irreparable, and blowing up the franchise the way Spider-Man and the Avengers routinely do. That is the proper way to land and explore drama. It amazes me Marvel thinks I want to see Spider-Man routinely framed for robbing a bank, or the Avengers mind-controlled into hurting people they care about. That's not actually real drama. This is not only stuff that happens in real life, but the characters are allowed to process it, and grow from it, and don't have to hide it to protect their identities. I see a LOT of value in this show absent from the rest of the animated Marvel stuff, and the live-action TV stuff. I think the Marvel Studios movies also handle drama and pathos well without going overboard. But that's the other other Marvel thing I find that true for. Granted, it's a HUGE thing, but it's also the only other thing.

I think the best Marvel cartoons have real, genuine, character drama outside the Superhero stuff (even if they can blend into each other), like in Spectacular or Earth's Mightiest Heroes compared to their current incarnations.