I dont know if this is a hot take but i really Esposito as Sidewinder and i thought his scenes with Mackies Sam was more engaging than sams scenes with Sterns.
Commentaires
Patatouille132025-11-11 19:07
Esposito as Sidewinder was a waste imo, I wish there was more screen time for him. I actually thought he was good in BNW, one of the better parts of the movie
Mambo_Poa092025-11-11 19:37
Is it a waste? I don't know anything about Sidewinder, is there any more to him? Could he keep appearing? Does he have another identity?
GarrodRanX22025-11-11 19:57
It's a waste cos they had Gus fucking Fring and wasted him on an absolute nobody.
BerserkerRed2025-11-12 05:36
He could keep appearing but the Serpent Society in general are C list villains. They’re there to get beat up by any hero while they usually deal with some sort of existential crisis or other internal conflict.
No_Abroad_63062025-11-11 19:39
Almost as bad as using Mads as a throwaway villain in Dr. Strange. Give these guys characters with some longevity so we can enjoy their talents!
_IratePirate_2025-11-11 20:05
Felt like Christian Bale in Thor4
CrashingLamps2025-11-11 20:14
At least gorr as a character is actually complex, interesting and a massive threat in the source material even though he was adapted poorly in Love and Thunder. Sidewinder is not a complex or a big enough name for the caliber of Esposito. He is a member of a team that is not high up in importance at all. Sure they could change that and have Sidewinder play a bigger role but still strange choice.
FrostBricks2025-11-12 00:48
Worse.
Esposito, great as he was, was the most generic mercenary trope imaginable.
They went so out of their way to avoid anything that makes Sidewinder and the Serpent Society what they are, that it's surprising they even kept the names.
They really should have changed the name.
mvrander2025-11-11 19:10
I also really Esposito
brabs22025-11-11 19:17
I Esposito this comment
Elevator-Ancient2025-11-12 04:04
Esposito, Esposito, Taco, Taco.
Turbulent_Lobster_572025-11-11 19:56
That’s where you and I differ, I absolutely Esposito
OptimusWang2025-11-11 21:46
You are Esposito to Esposito, while I am Esposito to Esposito.
We are not the same.
Darth_Thor2025-11-11 20:06
I really Aladeen this comment
drinoaki2025-11-11 20:31
I can't Esposito enough
Margaritajoe4202025-11-11 20:41
Im espositoing right now
GameTheory272025-11-11 20:57
He's one of the actors of all time!
knightress_oxhide2025-11-11 21:26
It's Esposit'n time
MosquitoValentine_2025-11-11 19:10
They wasted a fantastic actor.
It's like Marvel hears fans clamoring for great actors to join the MCU and then does nothing with them just to stick it to us.
Mutale4262025-11-11 19:18
least he aint dead.
PCofSHIELD2025-11-11 23:09
You can't redeem that character.
AdmiralCharleston2025-11-11 19:33
I mean you say that like actors have no autonomy. Some actors don't enthralled to be contracted for 5 films a year for next 5 year's
MosquitoValentine_2025-11-11 19:37
Yeah I completely agree. We can throw out names like Keanu, Cranston, Gosling, etc but there's no way they are signing up for a decade worth of work.
stableykubrick6672025-11-11 19:41
I honestly can’t remember when people were clamoring for great actors in the MCU considering they have some of the best actors already in them and have had them from the beginning. But like, also, they’re not doing it to spite you - they’re doing because they suck ass sometimes and can’t get their shit together to make a character be worthwhile. It’s incompetence not malice.
Exzqairi2025-11-11 20:21
> some of the best actors already in them and have had them from the beginning
This is 100% revisionist history
stableykubrick6672025-11-11 21:23
Factually incorrect. Gwynweth Paltrow and Jeff Bridges are literally in the first Iron Man and both had Oscar’s. Ed Norton had two Oscar nominations before being the hulk, the second movie. Thor had Anthony Hopkins and Natalie Portman who both had two Oscar wins, although technically, Natalie’s Portman’s win was the same year.
chickenkebaap2025-11-11 23:24
I disagree
Ed Norton, Jeff Bridges , Gweyneth Paltrow , RDJ, Natalie Portman , Anthony Hopkins , Stanley Tucci , Scarlett Johansson , Hugo Weaving
RPS932025-11-11 19:56
I think it's more that Marvel does not have plans for some of these actors to fit into their long-term goals but still want to try and fit them into their movies.
Like what else is Esposito going to do? He's 67 years old, do we \*really\* want an actor this old playing a major character? Who could he realistically play that he wouldn't age out immediately for?
I've heard a lot of people say that he would play a great Professor X - which yes, I'm sure would be true... but he'd be well into his 70s by the time that movie came out (or even started filming for all we know)
Patrick Stewart was arguably the best possible choice for Professor X, and he was 7 years \*younger\* than Esposito is now when the first X-Men movie came out.
We need younger actors to play these roles so that they can last - not actors who are already old trying to make something work when it just ain't there.
RavenCeV2025-11-11 20:30
When it emerged he was working with Marvel I remember lots of people hoped he'd be Magneto. Maybe in DD/SW, eh? 😄
Edboy7962025-11-12 05:50
Remember when he apparently showed interest in potentially playing Charles Xavier? If I recall, there's a video and the crowd cheered
santa99912025-11-11 19:14
His scenes are better than Sterns sure, but what exactly do you like?
They really didn’t build his character at all. He just seems to want to take out Sam, for ego?
Mutale4262025-11-11 19:18
im not saying he was fleshed out its just cause esposito played him with a sense of fun while nelson was very serious and boring.
Wars4w2025-11-11 19:17
I'm pretty sure they cut most of his scenes. The movie we ultimately saw in theaters was so different from the one written or shot.
Correct-Chemistry6182025-11-11 19:42
It's the opposite: he wasn't in the film and they forced him into it to connect some parts of the plot.
FerrusManlyManus2025-11-11 19:52
Yeah the character did not exist at all in the main filming. He was hired for the reshoots only
Wars4w2025-11-11 22:35
Thanks for the correction! Such a strange decision.
General_Boredom2025-11-11 19:20
I really like him as an actor but he totally phoned in that performance.
Dempressed_Kimg2025-11-11 19:20
Esposito was great as Sidewinder because he is Esposito. If he came up to me and said that he was my future version, I would have believed him and I ain't even black.
However this specific role was a disgrace to him. He should have played a character with more mettle. Also this role was a disgrace to the Serpent Society. MCU can go comic booky so why not go the colorful interesting comic booky route for Serpent Society. Instead they went for this unimaginative, boring, repetitive, militant group route.
WallyOShay2025-11-11 19:22
He should have been Norman Osborne
Webofshadows12025-11-11 19:25
I forgot he was in the movie.
Pure_Gonzo2025-11-11 19:25
Another fantastic actor entirely wasted.
Diortheking2025-11-11 19:25
They wasted this guy some noname villian in one of their biggest flops
Mutale4262025-11-11 19:40
i honestly dont mind him as sidewinder just wished he was the main villian. also BNW is one of their biggest flops.
PCofSHIELD2025-11-11 23:10
Yes it is
Wooden_Passage_26122025-11-11 19:29
Oh yes. Sidewinder could've been improved, but the dialogue moments that he and Sam had were really good and the their fight was pretty good.
These_Wish_51012025-11-11 19:30
Reshoot /exposition man was alright
tread522025-11-11 19:33
That’s one thing that I struggle with as Mackies Sam. I don’t think he has the same acting ability as Chris Evans with emotionally intense scenes as baptis Captain America and has a harder time engaging you in what’s supposed to be an emotionally intense scene. Just look at the end when he’s talking to his sidekick. Esposito is a fantastic actor and can engage you in any type of scene and Mackie isn’t at that level.
Mutale4262025-11-11 19:39
i was engaged with mackie, just wish he had stronger material. I also liked his dynamic with joaquin.
tread522025-11-11 19:51
I think he does a solid job, but it’s hard to ask him to take over a role that was done so well by Chris Evans that it’s hard to see someone else.
squishgallows2025-11-11 19:47
Mackie did fine as a sidekick. He cannot carry a film in my opinion. His acting feels pretty bland.
tread522025-11-11 19:49
I feel the same. He’s a great secondary actor in a film, but struggles to take over that lead role as Captain America bc of how well Chris Evans did.
Mutale4262025-11-12 10:21
Mackie is fine its the movie around him.
SymbiSpidey2025-11-11 20:32
IDK if I entirely blame Mackie. Sam Wilson as a character just comes across kinda bland outside of the typical MCU snark. What made Steve such an effective leader was how warm his personality was. He was extremely personable and could form genuine friendships with just about anyone. Even _Tony_ believed in Steve's genuineness and sincerity.
Sam hasn't really been written this way. He just comes across as a typical, no-nonsense guy who does the typical MCU snark and in doing so, we lose a lot of the "heart" of Captain America.
I don't think the MCU addresses Sam Wilson's former role as a Veteran Support group leader enough because it creates easy opportunities for us to understand him more on a grounded level. I also think the "working-class underdog" angle is something they could have done for Sam as well. It seems like they _tried_ to do it in FATWS but it didn't really go anywhere. He should have been the Cap going around dealing with systemic issues.
squishgallows2025-11-11 20:33
I've never enjoyed Mackie's acting one bit, so I guess I'm biased.
Mutale4262025-11-11 22:50
Sam is also genuine and sincere he just has a sense of humor and he believes in the best in people.
Mutale4262025-11-11 22:49
disagree he was solid and charismatic.
squishgallows2025-11-11 22:52
Does he have any range? He seems to be playing the same character in everything I've seen him in.
Mutale4262025-11-12 10:18
Im sure he does but whats does that have to do with being a lead character.
PCofSHIELD2025-11-11 23:19
The problem isn't Mackie the problem is Sam, he's not a lead character and can't escape being TEMU Captain America
Mutale4262025-11-12 10:15
Sam is a great lead character he just need to be in better projects.
PCofSHIELD2025-11-12 12:43
Sam is not a great lead character he had potential when he was The Falcon but now as Captain America he is forever trapped behind a shadow he can’t escape from even if he is in better projects
Earthwick2025-11-11 19:41
Best part of the movie was Esposito. I was digging the movie up until he was out of it. I still like the film solid 3/5 which is the same score I gave thunderbolts and just a half point below F4. A full 1.5 points below Superman.
Mutale4262025-11-11 19:44
thunderbolts is way better than BNW and i think its better than superman(a movie i do like).
calbearlupe2025-11-11 20:36
Thunderbolts was way better than Superman.
Ok-Average-64662025-11-11 19:43
They need a more comic book accurate serpent society. Wasted Esposito.
Chirpy692025-11-11 19:49
Oh no not this movie again
FerrusManlyManus2025-11-11 19:51
The problem with the Sterns scenes is they filmed they all again in the reshoots. It looks like in several scenes they *only* refilmed Stern’s side and used the old footage of Cap. Bizarre.
Esposito is great in everything and was great as Sidewinder. Just a shame he probably won’t have too much else to do in the MCU.
zackdaniels932025-11-11 19:56
Not Esposito's fault, but his scenes were all horrible. Could tell almost all of them were additions outside of the main story,and filmed afterwards, as his character's writing, motives, and entire basis in the film was about as shallow as a puddle lol
Probably the most egregious film Marvel had made in terms of obvious rewrites/ reshoots, and Sidewinder's scenes were the most obvious by far
GarrodRanX22025-11-11 19:59
Why does a guy with a gun warrant Captain America?
AdditionalBanana95852025-11-11 20:12
He's always a great casting choice. It's just the material he was working with that was a letdown. But at least Sidewinder didn't die so they could bring him back later with better writing.
AlleRacing2025-11-11 20:12
A Mateba Unica 6!
AwarenessOk77482025-11-11 20:16
I don't know why there's anything to love about his character here, when he's completely bland and unnecessary to the plot. It's a shame that such a fine actor's considerable talent is wasted on roles like these...
Standard-Contest-9492025-11-11 20:18
Confused the hell out of me to be honest. He was a bad guy and next scene he’s just walking around talking with him giving him advice? I didn’t buy him as sidewinder at all.
Good_old_Marshmallow2025-11-11 20:18
IMO the problem was they made Serpent Society too generic. Like what made them different than hydra or any faceless generic bad guys in black clothes. IMO make them botched super solider attempts by the master and give them their comic snake powers. Then you could actually build on a theme of Sam being a normal humans going up against supers constantly with Red Hulk as kinda the ultimate boss of a normal human facing off against those with powers 10x to 100x his ability.
Mizerous2025-11-12 03:13
They cut that during reshoots
spidervenom6192025-11-12 09:37
They should have made the Serpent Society into what the Sons of Serpent was in the comics. If we have too hired a white guy (Seth Rollins is right there lol) and turn them into the biggest Racist A-Holes in MCU history and treated them as the Big Bad instead of Sterns.
havewelost63882025-11-11 20:22
I think cutting Seth Rollins and Rosa Salazar's characters was a mistake, and it weakened Giancarlo's character. You cant have a *society* with just one guy.
calbearlupe2025-11-11 20:33
Really? I don’t remember anything Sidewinder did in that movie. I thought his character was a complete waste of time.
EEDDDWWWAARRRD2025-11-11 20:52
Esposito is always amazing, but man I hope BNW is the last time we see comic book characters turned into generic gun wielding mercs who are the character in name only.
MisterSpicy2025-11-11 22:13
He was fine just wasn’t the main. Make him the lead villain
lfr22025-11-11 22:54
You're referring to the junk yard scene? Or the chase through the subdivision neighborhood? Thrilling. Really Esposito.
basiamille2025-11-11 22:55
You accidentally the verb.
Kyloren19232025-11-11 23:56
This whole movie was boring as hell. The fight scenes were slow and uninspired. How many more situations with Sam are we gonna get where he solves the problem by talking to the bad guy?
Funmachine2025-11-11 23:56
Nah he was terrible, and even that image of him with that giant pistol is hilariously bad.
Random-J2025-11-12 01:44
It’s a shame he was such a flash in the pan type of character with zero development. But I really liked the dynamic between Sidewinder and Sam. And I like the idea of him popping up randomly in a future Cap story to try and foil Sam — like Majima in the Yakuza games. It’s a shame that a trilogy of films wasn’t planned / already released with Sam as cap, where we could have gotten Sidewinder in each of them.
Igradarsaurus2025-11-12 02:05
He was wasted as ‘guy with gun’.
jddev_2025-11-12 02:51
Yeah well I'll do you one better.
Why is Esposito?
Crimkam2025-11-12 03:40
It Would have definitely been better if Esposito was just a regular guy smart enough to manipulate President Ross into hulking out in front of the world on his own. He would have been a much better foil to Sam’s Everyman take on Cap than the gamma brained Leader.
TrinityCodex2025-11-12 07:36
it really was a movie with his scenes being my
Realistic_Sound9132025-11-12 09:22
Well, of course. One is a fight scene, and the other is just a talk. Honestly, he has potential, but they took him out of the fight too early. Should have kept him as a prominent threat until the end.
spidervenom6192025-11-12 09:34
Sidewinder and Thunderbolt Ross was never the issue in this film, it was Stern and she who Shall not be name that was lol.
sultan33g2025-11-12 13:11
I’m also a fan of Mackies Sam
marvelstudios-ModTeam2025-11-12 13:17
... your post lacked enough effort to promote new or productive discussion to the subreddit. If you're attempting to start a discussion with a low effort screenshot or video, try making a text post where you analyse the topic of the discussion and offer your own opinion.
If you're asking an open-ended question, try to add your own personal answer and the reasoning.
Commentaires
Esposito, great as he was, was the most generic mercenary trope imaginable.
They went so out of their way to avoid anything that makes Sidewinder and the Serpent Society what they are, that it's surprising they even kept the names.
They really should have changed the name.
We are not the same.
It's like Marvel hears fans clamoring for great actors to join the MCU and then does nothing with them just to stick it to us.
This is 100% revisionist history
Ed Norton, Jeff Bridges , Gweyneth Paltrow , RDJ, Natalie Portman , Anthony Hopkins , Stanley Tucci , Scarlett Johansson , Hugo Weaving
Like what else is Esposito going to do? He's 67 years old, do we \*really\* want an actor this old playing a major character? Who could he realistically play that he wouldn't age out immediately for?
I've heard a lot of people say that he would play a great Professor X - which yes, I'm sure would be true... but he'd be well into his 70s by the time that movie came out (or even started filming for all we know)
Patrick Stewart was arguably the best possible choice for Professor X, and he was 7 years \*younger\* than Esposito is now when the first X-Men movie came out.
We need younger actors to play these roles so that they can last - not actors who are already old trying to make something work when it just ain't there.
They really didn’t build his character at all. He just seems to want to take out Sam, for ego?
However this specific role was a disgrace to him. He should have played a character with more mettle. Also this role was a disgrace to the Serpent Society. MCU can go comic booky so why not go the colorful interesting comic booky route for Serpent Society. Instead they went for this unimaginative, boring, repetitive, militant group route.
Sam hasn't really been written this way. He just comes across as a typical, no-nonsense guy who does the typical MCU snark and in doing so, we lose a lot of the "heart" of Captain America.
I don't think the MCU addresses Sam Wilson's former role as a Veteran Support group leader enough because it creates easy opportunities for us to understand him more on a grounded level. I also think the "working-class underdog" angle is something they could have done for Sam as well. It seems like they _tried_ to do it in FATWS but it didn't really go anywhere. He should have been the Cap going around dealing with systemic issues.
Esposito is great in everything and was great as Sidewinder. Just a shame he probably won’t have too much else to do in the MCU.
Probably the most egregious film Marvel had made in terms of obvious rewrites/ reshoots, and Sidewinder's scenes were the most obvious by far
Why is Esposito?
If you're asking an open-ended question, try to add your own personal answer and the reasoning.