#emil blonsky imagine

[once-upon-a-fanfic]

What if...

Emil Blonsky officiated Jen and Matt’s wedding?

[strawberrywindow]

me beating flourishing jen x emil headcanons back with a broom: YOU HAVEN'T EVEN SEEN HOW THEY INTERACT YET, STOP IT! 😤

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Is It Really That Bad?

Phase 4, the first post-Endgame phase of the MCU, has been a bit of a mixed bag for a lot of people, but I don’t honestly think that’s totally on the quality of the films and shows themselves. While there are some real mid films there are some genuinely great entries, ones like Shang Chi, Werewolf by Night, Wakanda Forever, and No Way Home. And even the more lackluster entries still have some genuinely good things to offer; I’m no fan of Eternals or Black Widow, but they definitely have some great aspects that justify them existing. The real issue, I feel, is how quickly Phase 4 was churned out; in nearly two years the amount of MCU entries has almost doubled, and with that much flooding us all at once cracks begin to show and people who were once more charitable towards flaws will become exhausted and stop overlooking them.

That left She-Hulk: Attorney at Law in an incredibly unenviable position, and one that only worsened as it continued to air. I mean, releasing a trailer that has effects that look unfinished at best is bad enough. But to then have to release while reports of VFX artist abuse start pouring out? This show soon became the butt of various jokes, the subject of obnoxious clickbait videos about how the MCU is woke trash, and gave people fuel to contribute to the fire that is the myth of “superhero fatigue.”

The discourse surrounding the show definitely killed my interest for a long while, but in hindsight I shouldn’t have let it do that; as we’ll get into later, the backlash to this has undertones as scummy as the ones that helped tank a certain Joel Schumacher superhero movie. With all that in mind, it’s easy to assume it’s not really that bad… so this time the question is more, “Is this show any good?”

THE GOOD

Unsurprisingly, Tatiana Maslany carries this show on her back. Jen is such a charming, awkward, likable character in her hands, and she sells her every single moment of the show. It would have been really easy to fuck this up considering the distracting CGI sometimes muffles her performance a bit, but Maslany manages to shine through even in the weaker moments.

The expansion of the Hulk mythos is welcome, especially after the characters spent the past three phases on the backburner. The big winner here thanks to this spotlight isn't even Bruce, though; no, it's Emil Blonsky, AKA Abomination, who makes a glorious return as a major character asking Jen to help him get parole. He's just a really hilarious and cheerful guy, long past his villain days, and when he gets out he seems to genuinely be a changed man. Dude even becomes a self-help guru leading a class of other villains in redeeming themselves. It also helps that when he turns into his monster form, the effect is one of the better ones in the show.

The guest star characters are all a lot of fun. Bruce's appearance is a bit of a mess (which I'll get into below), but I don't think seeing Mark Ruffalo is a bad thing even at his worst. Wong is, of course, absolutely fantastic, and even Jen lampshades how much everyone loves the guy. But best of all is when Matt Murdock shows up in the penultimate episode, and gets to crack a few jokes, kick a few asses, and bang Jen like the true Chad that he is. How they managed to make such a cute, believable romance that you can't help but root for in a single episode is absolutely astounding, and considering the shit Jen and Matt go through on a regular basis it’s just so refreshing to see.

While she sadly ends up a bit underutilized, Jameela Jamil's take on She-Hulk archnemesis Titania is a lot of fun. Here, she's imagined as an over-the-top evil influencer (redundant, I know) who just goes out of her way to be a petty bitch to Jen for no good reason. The fact we never learn any backstory about her and the fact she remains as an unrepentant asshole throughout all her appearances makes her a hell of a lot of fun as a bad guy. I wouldn't call her one of the greats like Killmonger or High Evolutionary, but she's still a very enjoyable foe for the type of show this is.

I love how this show isn’t afraid to dig deep into the well of Marvel characters to throw in some obscure faces to spice things up. I think that’s one thing the shows have done consistently well, elevating lesser-known characters into the limelight, so it’s nice to see an entire episode revolve around Leap-Frog of all characters and for the Wrecking Crew to show up and get their shit wrecked. Blonsky’s little villain therapy session is a wealth of D-listers; how many people were aware Man-Bull and Porcupine were a thing before this, let alone that Saracen is a combination of two villains with the same name (one of whom is actually a vampire)? The average person isn’t like me, trolling through wiki articles looking for obscure supervillains to obsess over, so it’s nice to see them get utilized even in a minor way. The only one I can see people bristling at a bit is Mr. Immortal, who is quite the opposite of his comic counterpart, but in my opinion he’s the Great Lake Avenger I’m least bothered that they changed; if it was Flatman, Big Bertha, or (God forbid) Squirrel Girl I’d probably be angrier. At any rate, this show is clearly not afraid to give wacky minor villains a role, so I’m half expecting season 2 to include Jen’s enemy Dr. Bob Doom, the more famous Doom’s distant relative who’s an envious evil dentist who wants to conquer the tri-state area.

The very best thing about this show, beyond cameos and weird characters and whatever else, is just the fact that it’s a very down-to-earth story about a woman who just wants a little bit of control and happiness in her life. Jen’s goals are relatable—she wants to do the job she loves, hang with her friends, and maybe find a nice guy who likes her for who she is—and a lot of the issues she faces as she tries to accomplish these are the sort of things women have to deal with on a regular basis. Obviously these things end up being filtered through a Hulk-green lens, but I’m sure a lot of women can relate to some of Jen’s struggles. Hell, the big bads of the show are incels who make revenge porn of Jen because they don’t think she’s worthy of her skills, and goad her into losing her cool so that she’ll be the one vilified and have her life ruined… It’s pretty obvious but effective, and it makes the moment where she forces the narrative to right itself to give her control in her own story a really great bit of wish-fulfillment.

THE BAD

The first episode is ROUGH. It’s a showcase of the poor special effects that made this show infamous, particularly the “She-Hulk clap” scene, though honestly her entire fight with Bruce is pretty bad. The way she gets her powers is ridiculously contrived and goofy, especially compared to her more lowkey origin in the comics (they really couldn’t have just done a blood transfusion here?). The worst moment of it all, though, is when Jen mansplains controlling your anger to Bruce. You know, the fucking Hulk?

This does end up highlighting a big issue with the Hulk, though it’s not really the show’s fault: Hulk is the major hero the MCU has dropped the ball on the most. A lot of this has to do with the issue with the film rights, as Marvel can’t use him in solo films, but the fact that after Joss Whedon’s movies all of Bruce’s character development happened offscreen between films and all his tragedy and complexity was dropped in favor of making him “big green wacky science guy” is unbelievably lame. It leads to a lot of the moments in this first episode falling flat, especially the ones where Bruce reminisces about Tony. And then there’s Bruce being surprised Jen doesn’t have a different personality as a Hulk, implying to me that Bruce’s tragic backstory and DID are written out (if he had DID he’d know Jen probably wouldn’t get it from a car accident). It’s a shame because Ruffalo is great as the character when he gets the chance to be, but it’s to the point now where I wasn’t sad that he was barely in the show. At least there’s hope for the future given the ending and upcoming movies set to feature Hulk and his supporting cast, so maybe we’ll finally be able to say someone who isn’t a massive creep really gets the Not-So-Jolly Green Giant.

Anyway... I really don't want to harp on the effects too much, but they are pretty subpar. Still, it was around the time these episodes were dropping that the stories of employee abuse and crunch time and all that were coming out, so it's not easy for me to be overly harsh considering the working conditions the VFX artists had to endure. I will say this: The jokes about how expensive the effects were in the final episode feel a little more tasteless in light of that.

Speaking of the final episode, while it's a funny use of a deus ex machina to resolve a ludicrous plotline and while I find it hilarious they lampoon how formulaic Marvel can get, She-Hulk smashing the fourth wall comes a bit out of left field because of how little they really build up her fourth wall-breaking abilities. Like yeah, she addresses the audience at the start and end of her episodes, but because of how episodes are paced it doesn't feel quite as fleshed-out as when Deadpool makes those same sorts of jokes in his movies. I wish they'd spent more time building up to that finale throughout the series, maybe have her do little things here and there beyond just talking to the viewers. It's not the biggest complaint in the world, and it wasn't a dealbreaker, but I didn't find the ending quite as satisfying as it could've been.

Ultimately though, the biggest flaw I think this show has is just that by its very nature it's not going to appeal to everyone. It's a goofy slice of life comedy, and in a franchise known for over-the-top action and adventures the story is very grounded and most of the action that shows up here sucks. It's not something that appeals to the average MCU fan, is what I'm saying, and while that doesn't make it inherently bad (we could use more variety in these films, after all) it does make this a bit of a hard sell.

THE UGLY

It is embarrassing I even have to address this, but unfortunately this was the biggest controversy the show had. You see, there is a post-credit scene where She-Hulk twerks with Megan Thee Stallion. This scene, which is maybe thirty seconds long (with only maybe ten of those being twerking) became the thing people would point at to call the show stupid and awful.

Let me be clear here: This joke is meant to be dumb and cringey. There is literally a shot of Jen’s boss walking away in embarrassment upon seeing this. And beyond that, Jen is a cringey person. That’s why she’s so likable in the first place! So it’s not even like this is out of character.

But ignoring all that, this is literally a post-credit scene, and getting mad at those is lamer than a twerking joke could ever hope to be. And if nothing else it’s still better than that shitty mid-credit scene in Multiverse of Madness.

IS IT REALLY THAT BAD?

I have no fucking clue what everyone’s problem with this show is.

Like, okay, I can’t deny this show isn’t for everyone. It has a rocky start, its special effects aren’t the best, and it is different from the rest of the MCU in that it’s just low-stakes slice of life comedy (at the insistence of the main character). The villains are mostly down-to-earth threats that happen to have powers, and the main focus is on comedy arising from the weird situations Jen gets into by being a lawyer who is also a Hulk. But with the amount of sheer vitriol this show’s existence managed to generate, you’d think this show killed someone’s grandma.

I genuinely think this has to be motivated by misogyny. Like this show is perfectly harmless, completely fine, average at worst, and yet it has the single worst score of anything in the MCU. You cannot look me in the eye and tell me this is worse than Thor 2 and 4, Iron Man 2,  or even Age of Ultron—and that’s just if we’re looking at the weaker MCU films and not the superhero genre as a whole. The fact that most (but not all) of the criticisms for this show are just really unfounded and show a lack of even the most cursory knowledge about the source material it draws from combined with the fact the final challenge of the show is overcoming a cabal of incel nerds furious at the mere existence of a female superhero (the sort of parody of real life toxicity in comic fandoms these so-called fans constantly bristle at) really just highlights how nerds won’t be beating the misogyny accusations any time soon. I guess women are only okay in Marvel properties when they’re supporting male leads or are viciously murdering scores of innocents so she can sacrifice a teenager to bring her Sims to life.

I’m not usually one to shout “Bigotry!” when something has a low score (the only time I can think of where I linked bigotry to poor reception was with Batman & Robin), but I just really can’t see any other way to comprehend this score being what it is. There is nothing this show does so poorly that it warrants a score anywhere in the 5s, and I’ve gotta believe the score is simply the result of review bombing. Then again, this superhero media dared to show things that women go through in real life via a superhero lens instead of shoehorning in Jesus imagery and having the conflict be resolved by Jen and Titania’s mommies having the same name, so I guess it can’t be that good.

But again, let me stress that disliking this show doesn’t inherently make someone misogynistic. This show has its issues, and even I feel like a lot of the story elements and effects could have been handled a lot better, so it’s not like I’m trying to convince you all this is some unsung masterpiece. If you don’t like this show for a reason that isn’t “I hate women superheroes,” that’s fine! What I’m trying to point out here is that this initial score reeks of malicious intent, and I honestly don’t feel people really gave this show a chance because of the initial low audience scores.

Realistically this show deserves something around 6.6 - 6.9. It’s a solid enough show, but there’s no denying that even in its genre it is an extremely niche entry that’s not going to have the same widespread appeal as some of the other shows. If you can get on board with the concept and can stomach a rough pilot and some weak visual effects, there’s a sweet, amusing story about a woman just trying to live her life here that’s honestly refreshing in a sea of “save the world” plots.

Of course, it could definitely improve with a second season. And the best way to do that? Make Spragg the Living Hill the big bad.

[godabandonedthistimeline]

I think there has been a misunderstanding between the writers of Phase 4 and the source material.

The characters can MAKE jokes, the characters can't BE jokes.

Marvel's serious shows, specifically Daredevil has better jokes than Phase 4. It's been like 7 years and I still laugh when hearing the line "Avocados at law" or the exchange:

Karen Page: So how long have you been practicing law?

Matt Murdock: What time is it?

Foggy Nelson: It’s 12:22 a.m.

Matt Murdock: About seven hours.

And these jokes are completely in character for everyone in these scenes.

I can't think of a single joke in Thor: Love and Thunder and She-Hulk that made me laugh as much and they were supposed to be the funny projects.

And the worst thing is that nothing in Phase 4 seems natural or in character. Can you imagine Jane Foster, Emil Blonsky or Bruce Banner behaving like that in any of the previous Phases?

Marvel needs to fix the MCU otherwise they are going to have many problems moving forward.

[gammacousin]

Emil Blonsky: “They must go. Your father has been tearing around on his community golf cart endangering pedestrians.”

Natasha Romanoff: “Oh?”

Emil Blonsky: “When our security guards warn your father, he turns his cart and aims for them. If this were the only issue we might be able to work through it, but his overall demeanor is…sort of like a maniac. One night we caught him standing inside of the walk-in fridge eating an entire baloney. But as bad as your father is…”

Natasha Romanoff: “Oooooh, boy.”

Emil Blonsky: “Your mother has brought the morale of our community to an all time low. She has this way of appearing to give a compliment when actually she’s insulting you.”

Natasha Romanoff: “I…can’t imagine where this is coming from.”

Bruce Banner: “Now hold on. Hold on just a minute. We’re not about to sit here and listen to you run down these good people. Oh sure they might be opinionated but everything they do comes from love.”

Emil Blonsky: “I understand that you’re upset-.”

Bruce Banner: *begging* “Please don’t make us take them back!”

[ashifloof]

I posted 496 times in 2022

That's 494 more posts than 2021!

72 posts created (15%)

424 posts reblogged (85%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@u2frommars

@buygoldby

@ztan-31

@couldnt-come-up-with-a-username

@callsign-dragonbaron

I tagged 364 of my posts in 2022

Only 27% of my posts had no tags

#emil blonsky - 117 posts

#arthur harrow - 104 posts

#moon knight - 95 posts

#she hulk - 59 posts

#reblog - 58 posts

#arthur harrow x reader - 39 posts

#tim roth - 14 posts

#she hulk attorney at law - 12 posts

#abomination - 12 posts

#ask - 11 posts

Longest Tag: 105 characters

#wanted to reblog this because you have to expect a lot more talos posts/reblogs when secret invasion airs

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Next SHE-HULK episode let's gooo

79 notes - Posted September 8, 2022

#4

Neck kisses headcanons, please

Hi dear Anon!

I'm so sorry for the long wait,I was in a bad mental state due to my mom passing away,but now I feel ready to write some stuff again. I hope you like it :3

-Arthur loves kissing your neck, something about his lips on your soft skin and hearing those little sounds of enjoyment coming out of your mouth make him go crazy

-he likes to comfort you with neck kisses,any time you feel down he'll give you some soft kisses on the neck which never fails to make you smile

-he's usually more of a private guy but sometimes he can't help but sneak a kiss onto your neck while being with the community,for example at dinner

-sometimes he gives you so many kisses that it starts to tickle,hearing you laugh will not slow him down but rather make him kiss you even more

-he trys not to leave any marks while kissing your neck but sometimes there will be one, secretly he likes seeing you covered in them for the community to see

-but he also loves his neck to be kissed by you, it's comforting to him,it feels like home

-your neck is really his favorite place to kiss you

125 notes - Posted May 16, 2022

#3

I can't be the only one is absolutely obsessed with Arthur Harrow.

Like I totally get the hype around Steven/Marc, but my stupid-ass, morally destroyed heart focuses on Arthur.

I'm currently waiting for fanfic authors to write Reader insert ffs of him. There

must be other Arthur simps out there,right? I'm so close to write one myself...

137 notes - Posted April 8, 2022

#2

In honor of this amazing she hulk episode and Emil Blonsky I made these:

See the full post

239 notes - Posted September 29, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

So do you have any nsfw Harrow headcanons 🤠? Because I love your work and I’d love to know how you’d think he’d be in bed. No problem if you don’t want to share tho.

Hey my friend

You probably meant to send this to one of the great fanfic authors whose work I reblogged , because I haven't written anything yet. But now that this was here in my inbox, I'll answer it ;) Hope you like it

NSFW WARNING

-Oh, Arthur,when it comes to nasty times he really is unpredictable

-one day he's the softest man you can imagine

-soft kisses,praises,you want it you'll get it

-one other days tho he's the exact opposite meaning he's turning into a beast

-then he's rough as hell and won't stop for a good while

-he is a big fan of begging,hearing you beg for him makes him go insane,he could listen to you whining for release for hours

- definitely a big fan of body worship,both giving and receiving

-he will make you feel like you're special, he'll definitely make sure that you know how beautiful you are to him

-also loves when you show him how special you are to him,he loves feeling like he's the "chosen one" also when it comes to bedroom activities

-loves when you scream his name,hearing his name leave your mouth makes him feel powerful

-can get lost in the power tho and can go overboard at times,but he'll always listen to you and if you say it's enough it's enough

-all in all, you're in for a fun ride with this man

262 notes - Posted April 28, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[dnfinite123]

(What if) ZACK SNYDER'S THUNDERBOLTS

1-HAWKEYE

Snyderverse Hawkeye, with Jensen Ackles Clint Barton. So with this one I wanted to basically make the equivalent of Suicide Squad like how the Avengers is to Justice League. So what better than the Thunderbolts, also I plan on making two versions of the team, one would be the David Ayer Suicide Squad equivalent, while the other would be James Gunns The Suicide Squad equivalent. So with this one I imagine that Hawkeye in Rick Flags type role, is recruited by Thunderbolt Ross (in an Amanda Waller role) working for the Government, to lead a team of villains to do good. Basically this team would take influence from when Hawkeye lead em in the comics. I also believe that they dive into Snyderverse Hawkeyes backstory, how he use to be a former villain like in the comics, and how his upbringing such as abusive father, or life in the circus, and how effected him, leading to his reform as an agent of shield. How Hawkeye having a past of being against the law, tries to help out these criminals reform, giving them another chance. 

2-TECHNO

the equivalent of Suicide Squad in the DCEU. I've already done an edit of Snyderverse Hawkeye in a Rick Flags type role, so with Techno I imagine him in Deadshot role, and like many in this universe I imagine Techno is an already established character in said universe, formally going by the name of the fixer. Where he would be recruited by Thunderbolt Ross to join new team, the Thunderbolts lead by Hawkeye. Snyderverse Techno, with Pedro Pascal as Paul Norbert Ebersol.

3-ABOMINATION

So for the team I imagine that the Killer Croc equivalent would be Abomination, who prior would have had his beef with Hulk, and was now under Shield custody. Formally a KGB Agent who underwent heavy treatment in an experiment to replicate the Super Soilder serum, based on Banners own stolen research, which lead to him gaining power but mutating in the process. Where they would use him as a super weapon to rival not just Captian America, but the Hulk in power, after some run ins with the Hulk Shield captured him, and later on Thunderbolt Ross would get him out under his own means, and recruit him to join a new team, the Thunderbolts. So Snyderverse Abomination, with Gerard Butler as Emil Blonsky.

4-MACH ONE

So with Mach One I imagine like how with Captian Boomerang in Suicide Squad gave us a cameo from the Flash. I imagine the same for Abner Jenkins, where back in his days as the beetle, he's taken down by Spidey, and thrown in jail. Where later on he's given the opportunity by Thunderbolt Ross to join team, where he not only well be taken out of prison, but also be able to upgrade his gear and put to good use by reinventing himself into Mach One, so Snyderverse Mach-One, with Collin Farrell as Abner Jenkins.

5-SONGBIRD

so with Melissa Gold like the rest has already been established as a criminal prior to the events that unfolds. She went by the name Screaming Mimi, until she was caught after loosing her former partner/lover Angar the Screamer in a hiest. After being detained once she burned out her power, she was taken in by shield were years later she'd be released and given the chance by Thunderbolt Ross to join team, as it could be her second chance. Where they help her regain her power with a new code name. So Snyderverse Songbird, with Cara Delevingne as Melissa Gold.

6-ATLAS

So Atlas, like comics was a former Marine/Mercenary, that underwent special treatment that granted him his powers, in an attempt to replicate pym particles. At first he went by the name Power Man and was getting jobs as hired muscel for criminals and other villains. Until he was brought in by Shield and given the chance by Thunderbolt Ross to join team. Giving him the code name of Atlas along with new suit/gear. So Snyderverse Atlas, with Nathen Fillion as Erik Josten.

7-METEORITE

So with Metorite, Like the comics, was a Phychologyst, and an aide to Dr. Faustus, until she stole the power of the moonstone from the former Moonstone, Loyde Bloch. Taking his power, name as her Like gwn, and starting her own career as a supervillain. Though in time after being locked up in the vualt, strings would be pulled to free her by Thunderbolt Ross orders to have her join the team. Going by new name and gear of provided to her. So Snyderverse Metorite, with Charlize Theron as Karla Soften. 

8-BLACK WIDOW

so Snyderverse Black Widow. I imagine like with the comics she use to be a Russian spy until she met Hawkeye on a mission, where they became close. And after some run in's with Ironman, they were later captured/separated until they were both given second chance and became agents of shield. No with Thunderbolt Ross assembling his team and recruiting Hawkeye to lead the team, Clint request to have Natasha as his backup on the team. So if Hawkeye is the equivalent of Rick Flags, I imagine Black Widow would be the equivalent of Katana. So Snyderverse Black Widow, with Heather Doerksen as Natasha Romanoff. 

9-BATROC THE LEAPER

so Snyderverse Batroc the Leaper, same as his comic counterpart, as a mercenary. Was a criminal and then captured, later on being brought in as a recrite for Thunderbolts. I imagine he would be the equivalent of Slipknot and that he'd be the one to die, being used as an example of what coukd happene to the team if they fail the mission. So Snyderverse Batroc the Leaper, with Adrien Brody as Georges Bartroc.

A.U not done by me big shoutout to a deveantart username 2006slick

[aboash56]

General Ross and Blonsky’s reunion.

In 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, General Ross had Emil Blonsky as his subordinate officer to hunt down Bruce Banner. However, this eventually led to Blonsky transforming to the Abomination and wrecking Harlem.

Years later, Blonsky had escaped from his facility and reunites with Ross, who has become the Secretary of State. He interrupts Ross’s speech about the Sokovia Accords and does not believe the fact that Ross has become the Secretary of State. I also included a scene where Blonsky roasts Steve.

[booksinsteadofdrugs]

"The desire to become a superhuman cannot be separated from supremacist ideals. Anyone with that serum is inherently on that path."

Zemo was right about this.

They've been experimenting on people with that serum for decades.

First, the Red Skull injected the serum to himself and it resulted with the face of his skin burning off since the serum wasn't perfected yet. He didn't even mind it, and despite going against the orders of Hitler, he continued his work with the Tesseract until Steve took it with him when he buried his jet into water.

The second experiment was Steve. It was a shocking choice since the US wanted someone big and strong for the experiment, and not a sick, skinny guy like Steve. But as we all know, Erskine especially wanted Steve because he was a good man, not a perfect soldier. Since the serum enhances what is already within, Steve was able to come out of the experiment with no side effects. And he was the only one who didn't get corrupt.

The third one was Bucky. Now his case was a bit different than the others. He got injected without his permission. They had already started to use him as a test subject when he was captured by HYDRA before Steve rescued him from the facility in 1943. Later, when he fell from the train he was able to survive thanks to the serum. But there were side effects since his memories had been wiped out, and the serum increased his aggression as well. (for example, his brutality in fighting) Also, even with the serum, HYDRA couldn't save his arm.

The fourth was Isaiah Bradley. He got the serum, just like the rest of them, and was sent to Korea to take down the Winter Soldier. He failed his mission but was able to almost rip his whole arm off. Then, they imprisoned him for 30 years because he was a super soldier. He was experimented on both by the US Government and HYDRA at the same time. We don't know much about his side effects but I don't think he survived all of that with no damage. Later, the CIA got his blood samples and Nagel used them to make more serum with it.

Fifth experiment: In 1991 HYDRA assassinated Howard Stark in order to create more super soldiers and start the Winter Soldier Program (which I always wondered, where the hell did Howard get these from? CIA? Did I miss that part? Someone enlighten me, please.) Now, these subjects were stronger than Bucky because HYDRA didn't use Vita Radiation (Howard Stark used this to stimulate growth and also "stabilize" according to Peggy Carter) But these new serum made the soldiers even more aggressive and they weren't easy to control. So when one of them attacked a HYDRA agent, the others followed him but they were brainwashed and frozen in the end, just like Bucky. After Zemo found out about Siberia, he killed them all in their sleep.

Sixth experiment: There was a new experiment in 2001 under Ross's command. They basically added Gamma Radiation along with the serum (hey Bruce Banner!). After that failed attempt, they injected Emil Blonsky a variant serum with Banner's blood in it. Long story short, the side effects were huge and not pretty. He turned into the Abomination.

Seventh, you'd think they would learn their lesson but no. HYDRA created a new serum in 2013. This time it was mixed with Extremist, Gamma Radiation, and the Chitauri technology. As if they worked perfectly before. They called it the Centipede Project. (Agents of Shield fans would know more about it.)

Eighth was the Flag Smashers. They injected the serum themselves. There are 8 injected Flag Smashers in total. Karli in this case doesn't care about who she kills as long as it serves her ideology. She's blinded by her ambition and she's not afraid to get her hands bloody because she knows she is doing the right thing. Her followers believe that she's leading them to freedom. To a world that has no boundaries, a free world where there are no countries to separate people from each other. No governments. No patriotism. One world. One people.

The Ninth, we've seen it coming. John Walker managed to take one of the serums before Baron Zemo crushed them all, and he used it to inject himself. We'll see the rest of the side effects in the upcoming episodes but I think we all know he's definitely not the next Steve Rogers.

Now, why did I list all of these? Back in 2016, I could never imagine myself agreeing with Baron Zemo but he is right folks. There hasn't been another Steve Rogers. He was the only successful experiment. The others were either corrupted by the nature of the serum, or they were blinded by the power that comes with it. Or they were just not the right choice.

Walker is a great example of this. He was given the title of Captain America because he was a brilliant soldier. Not because he had a good heart. He was the exact kind of guy that the government would want to have on their side. He was the captain of the football team in high school, then became the first person in American history to receive Three Medals of Honor and he had an incredible military career. This guy was a born leader.

And yet, since the beginning of the show, he's been struggling to fit the perfect image that the people want. The perfect Captain America the US Government wants him to be. He knows he can't be the next Steve Rogers and that has been eating him up ever since. He didn't have the serum which made him vulnerable since he was basically a normal soldier. He wanted to have Bucky and Sam on his side as his wingmen. His enemies weren't scared of him. His ego was crushed from the beginning. He wanted to be in control. He didn't just want to be respected, he wanted to be afraid. He was desperate for more power and it blinded him. He is one of the supremacists Zemo was talking about.

Lemar was the last straw. And he finally gave in. He took all of his anger from Nico. He didn't care that he was killing him, it probably wasn't the first time he got his hands bloody as he mentioned about the ways that they used back in his day of service, earlier in the episode.

When he was standing in that square holding the shield which was covered in blood, it made me think of all the other experiments that the United States is responsible for. Honestly, they started this nightmare, and just because they got lucky with Steve Rogers (thanks to Dr. Erskine) they kept pushing to get another perfect super soldier.

And I can't wait to see how they'll clean all this shit since the people all around the world are going to see how imperfect their new Captain America really is.

[paragonrobits]

Bruce Banner sits down. His legs are tired, and they ache deeply. The muscles hurt, and even though he hasn’t walked that much lately, he knows that sooner or later he’ll start walking again.

It’s part of the pattern. He’s not a man who gets to be stable. Not in life, and not in the place he’s at. Sooner or later, something will happen. His mind comes unmoored and something tears itself apart, or something bad hits where he is, and he’ll stop it the only way he can, and walk away from a place in ruins.

Just like his mind, just like his life. A lonely man, wandering a world that to have so many people full of life and worth helping... and living in a world so dark and bleak that its hard not to want to tear it all down.

He thinks a lot about monsters, and what kind of world makes them necessary. He thinks that maybe, even though the Hulk isn’t as bad as people think he is, maybe they deserve the Hulk that really was as bad as they think. He thinks about men like his father, and Emil Blonsky, and Sterns, and everyone else that keeps trying to make the world worse.

In these dark moments, he thinks the world wouldn’t get the Hulk if it didn’t deserve it.

Now, he looks at his hands.

They don’t look very strong.

He flexes his hands just once. The fingers one after another, in a rolling motion that makes him feel a little queasy. It’s too easy to imagine them wrapping around someone’s neck.

A part of him remembers a ghost sensation. The way it felt when his father died.

Even to this day, he doesn’t know if he killed him on purpose or not. That’s fair, he supposes; he doesn’t know if his father meant to really kill him, all those years ago. The first time Bruce Banner died and got back up again.

He thinks about those hands. He cared so much about people, or he thought he did. Those hands still built the biggest bomb that would ever have existed, and they still warped into something worse than any bomb.

Atomic destruction, or the hands of a singular monstrosity. Destruction either way.

He wonders if being the Worldbreaker is something that he would be with the Hulk, or without him.

[topherfoxtrot]

Resilience

Here's the third part of my thunderbolts au. Emil Blonsky scaped his long imprisonment but he didn't went after the Hulk. Where did he go? The answer is bellow the cut. There's an original character here too. I'm not kin of OCs but I didn't find any character who would fit the role I wanted. Said oc will only be a part of this episode so consider it a special guest appearance. I've realized I've been writing more and more with each installment. Sorry about that, I'm getting more comfortable with the whole precess and I like to challenge myself. Continuing the trend, this chapter has a widely different vibe from the previous ones. As usual if you enjoyed please like, share or comment something.

Episode one

Episode two

Emil woke up from a nightmare. It was a fight. From as long as he could remember all Emil did was fight. Now even when he's not awake he's still fighting. He sat on the bed breathing heavily. Wait, where am I? He thought.

"You must be confused." A female voice was heard nearby.

Emil looked around looking for it. The cabin was small. The bedroom, the living room and the kitchen were all occupying the same space. There were two doors, one of them was probably for the bathroom. The woman was sitting at the kitchen table. She dressed a knitted sweater and rabbit slippers.

"My name is Charlie Reznik." She pointed at the soup, "Are you hungry?"

"Where am I?"

"Alaska. Three hours driving from Barrow."

Emil sat on the bed. He was naked. He covered himself with the blankets not for modesty but because they were warm.

"You weren't using any clothes when I found you and you don't seem like the kind of person who would wear my clothes. I hope the blankets kept you warm."

"Found me?"

"Yeah. You were screaming a lot. And throwing trees around." Charlie chuckled, "Eventually you got tired and just fell asleep right where you were. I was thinking about calling the police or something but when you started to shrink I decided to bring you here."

Suddenly Emil looked at himself realizing he did indeed shrink. He didn't look like that anymore. Still, the bones in his hands and abdomen were more prominent than they should be. He took his hands to his back to feel his spine was also prominent. That made him think of the super soldier serum, of the Hulk and of the prison he just scaped.

"I need to contact someone." Emil got up only to fall on the ground.

"Are you okay?" Charlie approached him with caution.

"I think I'll have the soap first actually." Emil muttered realizing how weak his body was.

***

The soup made with vegetables reminded Emil of his childhood in Russia. He had almost no recollection of those few years before he moved to England. He mostly remembered the cold and his mother's soap.

"I need to ask you but.. it's gonna sound weird." Emil was at the table tangled with the blankets, "What year is this?"

Charlie looked him in the eyes to decide if he was being serious or not. Emil didn't flinch so nor did Charlie, "It's 2023."

Emil pressed his lips and started to breath heavily. He was sleeping this whole time. They kept him asleep without ever giving him a chance to explain himself. No consent and no agency.

"No one has heard anything about you since 2008 Mr Blonsky and now you show up in the middle of the forest not knowing the year?" Charlie seemed genuinely curious.

"You know me?"

"I didn't recognize you at first. There isn't much footage from big you. But the sketch from witnesses matched pretty well. They call you the Abomination."

"Abomination?" Emil suddenly smashed the wooden table with enough strength to crack it. Charlie quickly moved her left hard to somewhere under the table. They locked eyes. For the first time Charlie didn't seem warm and inviting but rather fierce and absolutely ready to react. Emil closed his eyes a bit before recomposing himself.

"I'm sorry."

"I also think the name is impolite." Charlie brought her hand back, "But no one knew anything about you except you were military assigned to find Bruce Banner. I had to make some phone calls and turns out my guess was right! You are indeed in the accords database. Quite high level threat.

"What accords?"

"Alright." Charlie put her hair behind her ears, "I need you to be honest with me Mr Blonsky. What's the last thing you remember?"

So he said. He fought the hulk on Harlem, fell unconscious and woke up in Alaska. Charlie brought a computer from a big bag under the bed and put it on the table in a way that both of them could see it.

"The world changed a lot since 2008 Mr Blonsky. Put on your seatbelts."

Charlie then gave him a contemporary history class the best way she could while showing videos and pictures whenever she felt necessary. She talked about the avengers assembling in 2012 to stop an alien invasion caused by a norse god. She talked about the genocidal robot destroying a whole country in 2015. She talked about Wanda Maximoff killing those people back in 2016. She talked about the Sokovia accords and how that made the avengers disassemble. She talked about Wakanda opening up to the rest of the world. She talked about the avengers coming together again to fight yet another alien invasion. She talked about the snap and the chaotic years that followed. She talked about the blip and the even more chaotic year that followed it. Emil listened to everything in silence. It was a lot but he was smart.

"They put me to sleep for fifteen years." He whispered.

"I'm so sorry about that. It's unfair."

Emil had finished his soup but he stayed exactly where he was. Thinking about everything.

"I became strong. I became as strong as I could and still... they defeated me with bed time."

"You're being unfair."

"How come?"

"I don't think strength is really what you think it is."

"How would you know?"

Emil looked at Charlie's small stature with unconscious disdain. She picked on that and wore her fierce eyes again.

"With all due the respect Mr Blonsky..." It was possibly to hear the rage under her words, "You have no idea how strong I am. Thanos snapped my whole family! I wasn't even at home when it happened. Do you have any idea how much strength I needed to gather to simply get up every morning? I may not have big muscles like you -in fact no one does Mr Blonsky - but guess what? You could not have went through what I did. I'm sure of it!"

Emil got up aggressively and so did Charlie.

"You're really pulling the trauma card?"

"Wanna compete?"

"I think I do." He showed his teeth.

Charlie walked across the cabin stepping heavely. She sat on the bed. "Enlighten me."

The challenge got Emil off guard. He hesitated.

"I don't need to tell you anything."

"Of course you don't. If you tell me how traumatized you are, I'll tell you how traumatized I am. Then you will have to admit that none of it gives you permission to do the shitty things you did!"

The cabin merged in silence. Outside there was nothing but the cold wind running through the trees.

"I know your type." Charlie continued, a little calmer now, "Though childhood huh? No perspective of a future so you joined the military. Felt good to explode some heads didn't it? It felt powerful."

Emil remained in silence. He still looked mad, but remained in silence. Charlie went to the kitchen and grabbed a photograph from one of the drawers. She gave it to Emil.

"You're military." Emil studied the photo of Charlie and other soldiers smiling inside a tent.

"Used to be. Came back in 2019. The welcoming party wasn't exactly a party as you can imagine. My house was empty. As I said both my parents and my little brother got snapped. That's when I found this cabin."

"It's not yours?"

"Nah. I don't know who it belongs to actually. It was a cold night and I was just driving aimless. I don't know why exactly. Everything just seemed so meaningless back then. I felt weak."

Emil put the photograph on the table and they both locked eyes again. Not with anger this time though.

"It's cold but it's isolated enough. I could cry and scream as much as I wanted without anyone knowing. And did I need to scream! Scream at Thanos, scream at my parents, scream at myself. A part of me wish it could've been me, y'know? Trust me I would give my life for theirs in the blink of an eye! Yet, here I was."

Charlie sat at the table again. The temperature of the cabin went from 20°C to 40°C and then to 20°C again. Emil felt sorry about the table but most importantly he felt sorry for making Charlie mad.

"There's no much to say." He started, "Though childhood. No perspective. Joined the military. After everything I've seen, being strong is honestly the only option. It's survival."

"I get it. I really do. But strength is not on your muscles."

"Don't come with this heartfelt bullshit."

"It's not." Charlie chuckled, "Trust me I won't fall for that bullshit either. It's something else."

She got up and grabbed an old book from the shelf near the bed.

"All those things were already here when I got here for the first time. There was water, gas, energy, the bed, the blankets. It's like whoever lived here had just left. I've known this place for couple more than three years now. No one is ever here except me, yet the feeling never goes away."

The old book was covered with leather.

"Self help book?" Emil asked.

"In a way." Charlie tilted her head, "This book is about the universe. But not like a scientific encyclopedia. This book is about the whole universe, about the energy that comes from different parts of the multiverse and how to harvest and manipulate them. Essencially, magic!"

"Alright it's a self help book. Magic is not real."

"I was honestly hoping you would say that." Charlie smiled, "Check this out!"

Charlie put her hands in front of her and took a deep breath in order to focus. She moved her hands vertically and a orange string appeared from thin air. Charlie's hands drew a circle in the air and the string curved itself in a circumference. Charlie closed her hands as if grabbing something and with another gesture polygonal forms started to draw themselves in the magic circle. Charlie snapped her fingers with both hands and the whole thing started to spin like a magical ferris wheel.

"You discovered magic!" Emil whispered.

"Of course I didn't! People have been studying that for a long time. I just happened to find a weird book." The magical strings disappeared as Charlie stopped focusing so much on them, "You know when you are depressed so you set a simple goal just to give yourself a little achievement?"

"No, actually. But that's seems like solid advice."

"It is!" Charlie chuckled, "Anyways I read this whole book in like two days and I didn't understand shit. But I was super interested and started to dig the internet and beyond for anything related to all the weird concepts I found. I read the book more two of three times after that. Each time I learned something different and gained a new perspective over myself and the universe around me."

"So it is a self help book!" Emil laughed.

"As I said, it is but in a weird way. I mean look around. There's aliens and gods and the multiverse. When you think of all of it don't your problems seem way smaller?"

"I'm not sure."

"Here's how it's gonna be. I go to Barrow buy you some clothes and you think about everything I just said." She grabbed a jacket and wore boots, "But you have to pay me back alright? Otherwise I'm gonna hunt you and I'll find you. Remember: I know magic!"

"Okay, that's fair!"

Charlie grabbed a ring with slot for two fingers in a kitchen drawer. "That was one of the things I found here. Magic becomes weirdly intuitive once you learn some basics."

She made that focused face again and started to draw circles in the air with her right hand. The air in the middle of the cabin heated up and started to sparkle. An orange circle (much like the one she conjured with the hand gestures) appeared but in the middle of it was possible to see an alley.

"What is this?" Emil was shocked.

"Fast travel!" Charlie winked before passing through. The portal was gone as soon as she was gone and Emil found himself alone in the cabin.

***

There was a small mirror in the bathroom. Alone, he could check his own body for the first time. His face looked pretty much the same, he hadn't aged one day in the past fifteen years. Besides his hands and shoulders and spine, his elbows were also abnormally prominent. Was he the Abomination after all?

The power felt good, he remembered. Felt god-like. But the cost was too high. Emil became too dangerous and lost control over his own life for more than a decade. He wanted to blame Ross and Banner but would it be even fair? Emil was the one who accepted to take the serum in the first place. He actually pointed a gun at that scientist. He begged to become as strong as the Hulk is.

Emil left the house still covered in blankets. The cold snow made his feet burn but no enough to bother him. He was strong after all. Or maybe he enjoyed the pain in a sick way of reinforcing his own superiority belief. An orange portal opened nearby after a while.

"Aren't you feeling cold?" Charlie asked coming with a bag of clothes.

"A little."

"Come. See if any of those fit you. They're from the local thrift shop by the way."

"I've wore worse."

Charlie bought a simple jeans, two shirts, a flannel and boots. Really simple stuff just to protect Emil from the cold. It fit well.

"Thank you." He said.

"You're in debt, Mr Blonsky. Don't you forget that."

"You know magic." He chuckled, "I can't allow myself to have you as an enemy Ms Reznik."

They both laughed. Charlie sat at the table and started to type something on the computer.

"The feds are all over town." Charlie commented, "They're looking for you."

"Listen," he said, "I need to ask you a favor but first can I go for a walk?

***

Emil took a deep breath before jumping as high as he could. He could not see above the tall trees so he jumped again but grabbed one of the trees this time. Even with his bare hards, the wood bowed to his will. He kept climbing until he got to the highest part of the tree. From up there he could see the whole forest, including the trees he threw around the day before.

He jumped to the ground again. The snow splattered around him. His hands and knees started to bleed but he didn't care because he would break soon enough. He felt powerful and smiled without realizing it. Not a happy smile, bur rather a challenging one. Hey jumped a little before running in the direction of the destruction he caused. He started slow (more like jogging actually) but quickly escalated to marathon running and super human running. The cold wind cut his face like knifes but he didn't care. He just kept going faster.

When he finally reached the glade he jumped again. Even higher this time. When he landed his feet felt bigger. Breathing heavily he looked at his own hands and realized they were indeed getting bigger and muscled. Without wasting any breath he took off all his clothes and started running again. The cold started to bother him less and less as his body grew in size.

He started to scream so he could liberate his anger. He jumped high and landed with his fists causing the ground to crack bellow him. Emil grabbed a fallen tree and threw it to the air. He picked big boulders and threw them around at will. In the middle of the chaos he also started laughing. He was strong. He could destroy anything he wanted. He was as strong as he could be.

When Emil finally felt satisfied with his own display of power, he grabbed the trees and rearranged them back into the ground as best as he could. He picked the boulders and put them back where they were. So when the glade resembled the glade it once was, Emil sat on the ground next to his new clothes.

He started to think about everything Charlie said. Yes, he was big and could destroy everything is his way. But there were gods and aliens and robots and uncontable planets and entities across the universe. He was big and strong but he was also small and weak.

His strength though wasn't on his muscles but on his ability to survive. He survived his childhood, he survived the military and he survived the Hulk. Just like Charlie survived the snap and the aftermath. Like Charlie found new meaning in magic so could Emil find new paths to follow.

"I'm big and I'm small. I'm strong and I'm weak. I'm still here." Emil whispered to himself.

His body started to shrink calmly. Once he achieved regular size he wore his clothes and walked towards the cabin. Charlie smiled when he entered.

"Had fun?" She heard the screams obviously.

"Yeah actually. Thanks for everything."

"No problem. Remember, you're still in debt! So what favor do you need?"

"I need a portal but I also need an address. I believe you can find the person I'm looking for in the Sokovia accords database."

"Hm alright. What's the name?"

"Ava Starr."

[once-upon-a-fanfic]

What if...

You joined Jen at Emil Blonsky’s retreat?

[strawberrywindow]

the jen and emil train is still going strong in my mind, strong enough that i pumped out a fic woohoo. no idea if this will be in any way canon compliant or in character by the time we see the show but it was a fun thing to write regardless.

jen and emil have a chat the day before the trial is to start. thanks for reading if you do and i hope you enjoy!

----

When she steps through the heavily armored doors into the holding room he’s already standing, waiting for her in his containment cell with a smirk plastered on his face as usual. She sighs quietly as she continues towards him without pause; she’s figured out by now that any hesitation gives him an in. A sign that it’s apparently an appropriate time to belittle and mock her. Resolution has the opposite effect. Or close enough to it that he becomes slightly less obnoxious than usual. After all, he’s standing to greet her now, isn’t he? A far cry from several weeks prior when every time after her initial visit she had entered to find him slouched in the chair in the middle of his cell, pretending not to notice her until she was right in front of the glass. If he was in a particularly pleasant mood he might even pretend not to hear her the first two or three times she said his name, only to finally look up at her with an expression just a bit too smug to be as neutral as he intends and murmur out an “Oh, sorry, darlin,’ didn’t see you there.”

The standing is definitely an improvement. The constant smirking and incessant need to call her by names anything other than what she’s asked, that being Ms. Walters or Jen, if he must, would also be nice changes to see but she isn’t in the habit of asking for miracles and she doesn’t plan on starting just because Emil Blonsky has an incredible talent for getting under her skin. She comes to a stop in front of him, reinforced glass and lasers between them. She offers him a wry smile before greeting him.

“Good morning, Emil.”

“Mornin’.”

“Did you have a good evening?”

“What do you think?”

“I assume it was much the same as most of your evenings.”

“Got it in one. Now, I see why they’re payin’ you so well.”

“Oh, is that why? And here I thought they might just be compensating me for putting up with you.”

He barks out a laugh at that and shakes his head, turning away and starting to pace around his cell. She tries to hold back an amused smile but it’s rather difficult. Something else she has learned is that Emil appreciates a person who isn’t afraid to toss jibes right back at him, at least when he’s in a good mood, and he tosses them out quite frequently. She hadn’t really known what to expect when first meeting him, but somehow a man with a penchant for striking with words as skillfully as he did fists had not been anywhere on the list. She follows him around the outside of the cell, keeping pace with his meandering.

“So what do I owe the pleasure of your company, hm?”

“Oh, a pleasure, is it?”

“Always.”

“Mmhmm. I’m sure.”

He snickers at that and she shakes her head. He’s recently started up this little custom of his in the past few weeks they’ve been working together. He knows very well what she is here for, today more than any, just as he knew yesterday and the day before. But he insists on drawing out her stays and leading her down pointless little side conversations before they arrive at the true topic. She thinks he may be lonely; although she knows he would never admit that to anyone. But she can’t imagine that he isn’t. Wong and herself. The various guards and scientists tasked with keeping an eye on him, which don’t really count. So two people to see semi-regularly and have relatively personable chats with. Not much of a social life. It makes her feel a bit bad that she can’t stay very long today. There’s a lot to prepare for. She clears her throat and he looks up at her.

“The trial starts tomorrow.”

His smirk falls at her change of subject and he stares at her intently. She stares back for a moment before continuing.

“I need to go over a few things with you. Just to make sure you feel as ready as possible.”

He’s crossed his arms now and rolls his eyes, scowling and clicking his tongue as he continues pacing, agitated. She sighs and resists the urge to roll her own eyes. Evidently, the idea of skipping their usual banter today is not a popular one but a tantrum is very unnecessary.

“Emil. Can we talk about what we need to do?”

He ignores her.

She bites her tongue and swallows back her irritation. At this point, he’s most definitely trying to get a rise out of her and she refuses to take the bait. She keeps a few steps behind him now as she follows him around the cell, letting him sulk. Moments like this make her pray for the trial to be finished already. Regardless of outcome, she won’t be needing to see him anymore once they’re done and she is incredibly thankful for that. Most of the time. Other times she regrets to say that she almost thinks she’ll miss him a little. Like the other day when he had remembered she’d mentioned she and Nikki would be going to an event that past weekend and he’d asked how it was with genuine interest. Or the time she’d walked in to find him working on a puzzle. When she asked what the picture would turn out to be he’d muttered that it was of a beach that he’d gone to as a child. Wong had apparently brought it in for him. Times like that. Although, she always wound up reasoning, basic politeness or nostalgia for one’s childhood were not necessarily signs of any deeper moral shiftings in her client. He was merely as human as anyone else and prone to the same occasional sensitivities. She’d do well to remember that. Of all people to develop a soft spot for, the Abomination of Harlem should be beneath the last consideration.

She sighs again and picks up her pace to fall in step with him again. He continues to ignore her. She ‘hms’, and considers. As much as she hates giving in to his moods, if she’s going to make any progress today she’s going to be forced to yield somewhat. She looks over at him where he resolutely keeps his gaze fixed on his feet as they continue walking.

“Do you want to talk about something else?”

“Not with you.”

Liar.

“Then what’s the problem?”

“There isn’t one.”

“Ok, then can we talk about the case?”

“Sure. Why not?”

“Well, you don’t really seem to want to do that.”

“You don’t know what I want.” He growls out and glares at her, finally pausing his circling.

“No, I guess I don’t.” She answers back cooly and looks away again. Not quickly enough to miss the barest flicker of regret on his face. She probably imagined it, and not allowing herself to dwell on that a second longer she dives into the briefing she’d planned on how they needed to go forward with tomorrow. Emil resumes his walking and listens without speaking, without affirming, without acknowledging that he’s hearing her at all. When she finishes, she waits patiently for a moment to see if he’ll bother responding. He gives her nothing. What is wrong with him today?

“Do you have any questions, Emil?” She asks, trying to maintain professionalism through her irritation.

“Did I ask you any, luv?” He snarks back nastily.

“No, but you’ve been feigning deafness half the time I’ve been here today so I thought I’d better make sure just in case your stubbornness somehow actually succeeded in making your ears not work.” She snaps right back.

Emil takes a half step towards her, hands clenched into fists at his sides. He’s breathing heavily but his expression is still surprisingly reserved. She hasn’t pushed him too far then. He lifts a hand, finger pointing at her. He’s shaking, she realizes. He hasn’t acted like this since their first meeting. When the idiot had smashed his head into the ceiling of his cage after he’d attempted to transform and intimidate her. It had worked up until he’d grunted in pain and stumbled, rubbing his head confusedly and glaring at the metal roof. Moments like that are others that she thinks she may miss if only for how absurd they are, and she shakes her head, giving the furious man in front of her a small smile.

“Emil…”

He glares at her a moment longer, teeth clenched, but he lowers his hand and steps back. She implores him to calm down, still trying to offer that gentle smile. He doesn’t return it but he does avert his eyes and return once more to his pacing. He puts his hands behind his back and clasps them. She thinks he’s still shaking. Tentatively, she falls in step with him again.

“No questions, then?” She asks dryly.

He snorts and ignores her again. She’s about to call it quits and tell him to have a great rest of his day but he surprises her when he breaks the silence first.

“Do you like movies?”

“...Huh?”

“Mo-vies. You usually watch them on a telly? Maybe at a cinema if you’re feelin’ extra fancy.”

“I know what a movie is, Emil.”

“So do you like them, then?”

“I guess so. Who doesn’t?”

“Borin’ people. Your louse of a cousin probably hates them.”

She ignores his comment and also ignores the cheeky grin he shoots her way. She wouldn’t be able to not tell him off for bad mouthing Bruce if she didn’t and that would be a guarantee to set him off far worse than he’d just been. She doesn’t let his grin fool her. The quickness of his change in subject and the barely concealed venom in his voice every time he mentions her cousin is all she needs to see that the anger from a moment before is merely simmering under the surface. He’s building up to something, although what, she doesn’t know. Mercurial bastard.

He waits to see if she’ll give him any reaction and when she doesn’t he continues.

“You ever see that one - uh, ‘Silence of the Lambs?”

“Of course. It’s a classic.”

“Well?”

“Well, what?”

He clicks his tongue at her again and turns to face her, stepping backwards as he does, arms spread wide.

“You don’t see the similarities?”

She looks at him standing there, ugly orange-blue jumpsuit hanging off his lanky form. Arms open, eyes wide and looking at her eagerly. He grins at her, all teeth.

“...Are you comparing yourself to Hannibal Lecter?”

His grin widens and he leans forward, placing one arm behind his back and waving with the other, wiggling his fingers at her.

“Helloooo, Jennifeeer,” he croons, leering at her.

She scoffs and now it’s her turn to cross her arms.

“That was terrible.”

“Oof, tough critic.”

“So, I’m Clarisse?”

“You didn’t get that from the quote?”

“I don’t get the comparison.”

“Come oooon, this cell’s pretty spot on to the second one he had, no?”

“Maybe? You don’t really have much in common with Dr. Lecter though. Unless this is your way of telling me we need to write up a defense for you attempting cannibalism?”

“No. And come on - you don’t see it at all?” He urges her, head cocked to the side. He watches her as she thinks up a response. His eyes are wide and urging her to answer yet for all their expressiveness they hold all the warmth of a shark circling an unsuspecting swimmer. His still prominent grin adds much to the analogy. She meets his cold, expectant gaze and shrugs to hide a mild shiver.

“Maybe a little.”

He seems satisfied with that answer and hums softly. He points to her and resumes his pacing. He’s not usually this restless and she wonders if he’s not more nervous for tomorrow than he’s letting on.

“See. You, though. The similarities are much more apparent with you.”

“With me and Hannibal?”

“No, you’re Clarisse!”

“Oh, right.” She sighs out. So much for leaving early today. Blonsky’s going to make sure he gets to talk to her until he’s satisfied. “She also gets paid to put up with a dangerous, high-profile criminal?”

“She gets paid to betray him.”

Jen is careful not to let her mask of non-reaction slip at this seeming accusation. That’s what he wants and she’s not going to give it to him. He watches her expression, eyes flicking around looking for even the most minute sign that he’s gotten to her. Finding nothing, he straightens up, and walks toward her. He’s grinning still, nearly baring his teeth at her, all sharp angles and tense muscles.

“She was just doing her job.” She responds slowly.

“Well, we’re all just doin' our jobs, no? That doesn’t stop us from fuckin’ up.” He continues stalking towards her. “I was just doin’ my job. And look where it got me!”

He stops in front of her, bending forward, face an inch or less from the glass. The red glow of the laser to his left plays on his features. The light makes the gray in his hair stick out more as it absorbs the vibrant color. She thinks he would really hate it if she told him that.

“Your cousin was just doin’ his job. And look where it got him.” He spits out the words this time, the bitter resentment that often enters his voice when he speaks of Banner, as he’s often wont to refer to him as, not even attempting to be hid by humor this time. “Worked out so well for him too, no?”

Yes, actually, she thinks, it did. In the end. 

Emil has an awful habit of assuming everyone around him is secretly just as miserable as he is and it is getting very tiring. This affected posturing is ridiculous and she has no idea what he’s getting at with this stupid comparison. She meets his gaze steadily, arms still folded, letting him know she’s not at all impressed by whatever this is. He ignores her.

“And you’re just doin’ your job. So, tell me, how’s that goin’ to work out for you? Pretty well no matter the outcome, right? This is a career makin’ case for you, isn’t it? No one would fault you if you failed. You have an impossible defense to create. They’ll applaud your efforts regardless!”

Oh. Oh. He is nervous, she realizes with some surprise and she almost laughs. Of course he would find the most discomforting and roundabout way to ask her if she thinks they actually have a shot at getting him off. She keeps her face neutral and puts her hands on her hips as she steps up to him and answers smoothly, aiming to comfort.

“I’d like to think I’m better at making the right choices when it comes to my job than maybe some people have.”

He stands straight and glares at her but he’s struggling to hide the look of hopeful unease he gets whenever she attempts to speak to him with no pretense but kindness. If he ever knew how to speak tenderly or accept when someone spoke to him as such, the knowledge has long since left him and it leaves him in a state that he has no idea how to handle. Vulnerability is weakness and worse than that is the sickening desire to give in to that vulnerability. At least that’s how she thinks he feels. For as much as he attempts to hide his true feelings around her, the intensity of his emotions makes it a rather ‘impossible defense’ of his own design.

“Do you, now?”

“Of course. And besides, we’re shooting for a bit more freedom than just a transfer to a VA hospital, aren’t we? I’m trying to get you better than a gilded cell with a view. And I’m planning on delivering on what I tell you. No tricks. You can give me that over Agent Starling, can’t you?” She gives him a grin of her own as she uses his metaphor against him, attempting to ease the tension still present in his stance, the wariness in his eyes. If he doesn’t even believe himself that he has a shot, no amount of careful case prep-work or sleepless nights creating air-tight arguments will help him. He frowns and looks away from her for a moment before locking eyes with her again.

“You really think takin’ my case was the ‘right’ choice to make?”

His tone is cold and overly harsh. He’s playing up the anger now. It helps to cover those weaker emotions he’s so disdainful of. If he knew how well she was able to pick up on all of his little mannerisms now, she thinks he’d never want to speak with her again. The realization that she could see through the cracks in his protective shield would horrify him. But just because he doesn’t know she knows doesn’t mean she can’t use that knowledge to get him to react how she needs. She maintains perfect eye contact with him and gives the warmest and most encouraging smile she can.

“I do.”

His expression falters and he almost takes a step backwards before he attempts to steel himself once more. His eyes are flicking about her face again, anxiously this time, almost desperate to find the confirmation he wants that she is lying to him in some way. That’s much easier to accept than the alternative. She keeps her expression friendly as she raises a questioning eyebrow at him. He stops at that, catching himself and settling back into the comfort of his own superiority. He huffs out a breath and puts his hands on his own hips, smirk fixing itself firmly back in place.

“Well, then I guess we’d better hope that you're better at makin’ those kinds of career choices than I was.”

Believe me, she thinks with an internal grimace, I’m doing more than hope.

[aion-rsa]

The Incredible Hulk’s Diminished Legacy in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

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Love it or hate it, one of the things that makes the Marvel Cinematic Universe work is the long term synergy. With Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, over a decade of movies came together to pull off one of the most entertaining spectacles of our time. It’s a universe that, for the most part, feels consistent and it builds on itself as each movie feels like an essential cog in a larger machine.

Some cogs are bigger than the others, though, and when it comes to “the others,” one can’t help but notice that 2008’s Incredible Hulk is something of a black sheep in the Marvel movie roster. These days, they’re just starting to dust it off as a property with the return of Tim Roth’s Abomination in She-Hulk and William Hurt’s General Ross’ gradually increasing role in the universe itself (he’ll appear in Black Widow and possibly other projects soon enough).

Now, there are plenty of reasons why Incredible Hulk is the green-skinned stepchild of the MCU. It made the least amount of money (about $42 million less than Captain America: The First Avenger, which was the second worst showing), the lead actor was recast afterwards, and its status as a Universal co-production meant that it would be the only movie in the first three Marvel phases that would not get its own sequel, no matter how popular Hulk was in the Avengers movies and Thor: Ragnarok.

It’s not like the MCU acted like Incredible Hulk never happened, but the creators definitely had a tendency to shove it into the corner and be somewhat vague about its existence. It became easier as the MCU became rich with more and more properties, but early on, it was very much the rage-filled elephant in the room.

The Hulk Design

There were a couple of ads for Avengers: Endgame that included shots from all the previous MCU movies in chronological order. For one, when it came to Incredible Hulk, all it had to show for it was Hulk’s fist bursting through the wall. In another, they just used shots from later movies and hoped nobody would notice. That’s because CGI or not, Ed Norton’s Hulk and Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk were two very different beasts. Not only did they roughly resemble their actors, but Norton’s Hulk was more of a giant, angry bodybuilder with green skin while Ruffalo’s came off as more Cro-Magnon, like a shaved gorilla.

It means that while they could talk about Hulk’s exploits, they could never really show any flashbacks, as it would just look awkward. Similarly, Incredible Hulk filmed a cut opening where Banner tried to shoot himself, but the Hulk wouldn’t allow it. While it was a bit too extreme to show, Banner at least got to talk about it happening in Avengers.

The Effect on the World of the MCU

When you look at the events of Incredible Hulk, it keeps things focused on the characters and not the world at large. Sure, it would have been bigger news if the Abomination defeated the Hulk and went on an even bigger rampage, but that problem was nipped in the bud. If you’re a citizen of Marvel Earth, all there is to know is that some soda has been recalled and there was a monster fight in Harlem.

In the movies themselves, the only time the Harlem fight is brought up is in the background of Iron Man 2, where Nick Fury’s map signals it as a place of interest.

With the exception of the Hulk straight-up existing, the most lip service his movie got early on was the scene in Captain America: The First Avenger where Steve gave blood for further study. They needed something to give Emil Blonsky down the line and turn him into an angry Ninja Turtle.

Speaking of…

Whatever Happened to the Abomination?

Of Marvel’s Phase 1 villains, one died, a couple vanished confusingly into space only to come back later, and three were taken into custody. Ending up in custody means you’ll be back soon enough because prisons usually can’t hold the type of enemies who can throw down with the Avengers. Usually.

In other words, it’s pretty damn impressive that the Abomination has been kept off the grid since the Hulk choked him out in Harlem. She-Hulk will be his first real appearance since then, but his name has been on the tongue of Phil Coulson on Agents of SHIELD a few times.

The scene of Tony Stark appearing at the end of Incredible Hulk to confront General Ross is something that came off as a big deal at the time, but afterwards didn’t make too much sense. Piggybacking off the Iron Man post-credits scene, Stark was seemingly trying to recruit the Hulk into the Avengers. That didn’t exactly jibe with what they were going for afterwards, so they released a short film to make sense out of everything.

The Consultant featured Agent Coulson and Agent Sitwell discussing the unfortunate decision by the World Security Council to demand the Abomination join the team. After all, Blonsky is a decorated veteran and the Harlem incident could easily be blamed on Banner. Fury wasn’t in a position to refuse the Council, so the only hope was that General Ross – the guy in charge of Blonsky’s captivity – turned them down. And so, they sent Tony Stark. That final scene in Incredible Hulk was reframed as Tony Stark obnoxiously asking for the keys to Abomination for the Avengers and Ross being so annoyed by his antics that he straight-up refused.

Afterwards, Abomination was namedropped a couple of times in Agents of SHIELD, which is par for the course considering early Agents of SHIELD was about reminding us about stuff that happened in the movies and saying, “We’re part of all that!” According to the show, Abomination was kept in a special prison in Alaska that only a select few know about. There was an episode where SHIELD’s main prison lost power and one of the writers realized that they probably needed to note that Abomination wasn’t going to be an issue in this situation.

But hey, at least he finished his story. The Leader on the other hand…

Samuel Sterns and the Fate of the Leader

At the time, it was the right play. Tim Blake Nelson played the kind of surprise villain you’d find in your average CGI animated Disney movie. As Mr. Blue, he existed as Bruce Banner’s potential salvation, only to be revealed to be kind of over-the-line and sinister in terms of his gamma experiments. After turning Blonsky into the Abomination, Sterns was knocked to the floor and a sample of Banner’s irradiated blood dripped into the open wound on his head. Sterns seemed especially jazzed with a crazed expression as his head started throbbing and increasing in size.

And then…nothing! Not even a mention in a different movie or Agents of SHIELD. That’s what happens when you set up a villain for a sequel and then have legal reasons keeping you from making that sequel. That said, there is a follow-up to what the hell happened with Sterns.

Back in 2012, a prequel comic was released to coincide with the first Avengers movie. The Avengers Prelude: Fury’s Big Week showed that the events of Iron Man 2, Thor, and Incredible Hulk all happened over the course of a few days. We got to see those storylines from the perspective of SHIELD, especially a very overwhelmed and fatigued Nick Fury. That makes sense for the stuff with Tony Stark in Iron Man 2 as well as Mjolnir and the Destroyer in Thor, but what of Incredible Hulk?

As shown in this story, Black Widow was in the background of its events, keeping an eye on everything and realizing that she was way in over her head. She played clean-up on the Sterns situation by coming across his giant, mutated head in the aftermath. Sterns was quick to figure out her homeland from traces of her accent and thought to bribe her in some way, but she stonewalled him with a couple of bullets to the legs.

A year later, Sterns was shown floating in a tank, unconscious, as various SHIELD scientists studied him.

Will we ever see the Leader pop up in the MCU? I can’t imagine Tim Blake Nelson is too busy to appear on She-Hulk at some point.

Betty Ross

Bruce Banner’s old flame is now nothing but a footnote. Considering Banner moved on to another relationship and then another planet, there was never a reason to reintroduce Betty. The only nods to her were Tony Stark naming his Hulkbuster armor “Veronica” (get it?) and the Russo Brothers saying in an interview that Betty was one of those turned to dust by Thanos.

Maybe one day we’ll see Red She-Hulk. Don’t hold your breath, though.

Thunderbolt Ross

General Thaddeus Ross does the heavy lifting for keeping Incredible Hulk relevant. The guy came back for Captain America: Civil War, a movie that didn’t even have the Hulk in it! But it did give him the Henry Gyrich role in a time when Gyrich was probably off-limits since he was considered part of the X-Men corner of Marvel (he already had a very minor role in the first X-Men movie). A familiar face, Ross got to be the government liaison type who spoke with logic, but came off as an antagonistic killjoy.

Right or wrong, Ross’ insistence that the Avengers sign with the Sokovia Accords ruined the team in the face of Thanos’ rampage against the cosmos. He still got to show his respects as Tony Stark’s funeral at the end of Endgame.

Yet, that’s not the last we’ll see of him. In Black Widow, Ross is shown in the trailers. We don’t know his role quite yet, but there’s a lot of fan speculation that Ross might tie into the next roster of the Avengers. Maybe a team that’s government sanctioned and controlled. Maybe a team that’s an awful lot like the Thunderbolts.

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It does seem that as the MCU reaches further and further outward, it looks back more and more on the events of Incredible Hulk. Then again, I doubt we’ll be seeing Ty Burrell’s Leonard Samson turn into a gamma-irradiated psychiatrist with long, luxurious hair any time soon.

The post The Incredible Hulk’s Diminished Legacy in the Marvel Cinematic Universe appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[taaroko]

Post-IW MCU Rewatch: The Incredible Hulk

Okay, time for The Incredible Hulk. This is only my second time watching it. The first time was during my pre-Ultron marathon. I remember basically nothing.

I really like the way the origin story is covered in the intro montage. Universal figured out what Sony did not: if we’ve already had the origin story within the last decade or so, we don’t need it again. Plus the montage is just good visual storytelling, and I’m always on board for that.

He’s watching Sesame Street to improve his Portuguese!

Holy crap that dude can do really unsettling things with his stomach.

Part of me feels like I’m watching the story of what Oz was doing after he left Sunnydale to learn how to deal with his wolf side. This is great.

The intensity with which Bruce tries to make sure none of his blood gets anywhere is really interesting. This is all continuing to be very visual, which is awesome.

Hey, there, Mr. Blue. (I have no idea who Mr. Blue is.)

Loving all this science.

Aww, it was the Stan Lee cameo who got Bruce’s blood-spiked soda?

Oh hey, Tim Roth. Forgot he was in this.

Man, a city with this kind of layout really is perfect for parkour.

Ooh, nice use of shadows to conceal the full Hulk reveal as long as possible.

Is it...cold in this rainforest?

Hahaha, he’s deliberately finding the stretchiest possible pants.

Tim Roth’s character is scary.

Bruce is such a Ravenclaw, guys. None of the other houses are this quiet for this long.

Nice trick with the pizzas.

“Dr. Elizabeth Ross” is her username? That’s not a username. That’s a name.

Whoops! Betty saw you! Sucks to be her current boyfriend. That is some intense emotion.

ARGH THEY DID THE RUN AND HUG THING!

What the heck is this serum? Is it anything like the one that made Steve Captain America?

The shots of them in their separate beds reminds me of this.

Wow I am not okay with those bone marrow sample sound effects.

Bruce has such soulful eyes.

Holy crap Tim Roth definitely got an upgrade.

Hahaha, nice place to store the data. Gross, though. And...wouldn’t his stomach acid ruin that drive?

Ooh, father/daughter confrontation, Tiananmen Square style.

Nooo, don’t break this school! It’s too pretty!

I definitely prefer the way the Hulk looks from Avengers onward.

After all the effort Bruce went through to acquire stretchy pants, these sure look like jeans.

Wow, Tim Roth is insane. (Yeah I’m probably never going to remember the character’s name.)

Ooh, sonic cannons?

Aww, Hulk’s gonna fight through it for his girl.

Blonsky. Emil Blonsky. Okay. And dang that was brutal.

HE ATTAC HE PROTEC

Hahaha, even the bland new boyfriend won’t help Betty’s dad.

*lightning strikes Hulk* Hey leave him alone, Thor. He’s had a bad day. You’re being a really bad friend.

I guess it’s a good thing that USB drive didn’t make it farther than his stomach.

I really like all these quiet soft moments between Bruce and Betty. Stupid heart rate.

Okay, Blonsky healed creepily fast, but at least now I don’t have to listen to the sound of his burned, broken fingers clenching.

Dang, SHIELD has creepy effective servers.

My least favorite thing about both Arwen and Betty Ross is Liv Tyler’s tendency towards being overly breathy when she talks. So it’s super refreshing when she shrieks at that horrific cabbie.

Tim Roth’s supersoldier body is really creepy and weird. Was that a mo-cap suit and CGI? I feel like they went for the wrong physique. His head’s too big compared to his torso. They should’ve gone more barrel-chested, I think. Also EW HIS SPINE.

ARGH THIS IS SO PAINFUL TO WATCH. I do not like this movie’s sound designers. They are far too good at their jobs and my ears are not enjoying it.

Kinda bitter that General Ross is the only one who got to be in another movie. He’s the worst.

I have some...anatomy questions about Abomination. I mean, I know steroids can make certain things shrink, but this stuff took it a step further and turned Blonsky into a sexless golem. They really should’ve just given him improbably stretchy pants too so I wouldn’t have to think about it.

Poor Harlem.

Oookay, they should not have let him talk. That makes it so much dumber.

Man that would’ve been a really horrible death for Bruce.

OWWWW. Sharp elbows!

Whoa! That was a cool way to douse the flames!

Wait since when does Hulk actually call himself that? I thought it was just those college guys who came up with the name. I feel like that needed to have been established better before he started using it as his own name.

Seriously, Betty? You’re telling him to stop? This would definitely be a case of justifiable homicide, and he’s the only one capable of doing it. What the heck are they going to do with a live Abomination?

Wow, is that a real location in British Colombia? It’s beautiful!

Okay, I like that ending. It helps tie in with “That’s my secret. I’m always angry.” He’s learning how to access the Hulk at will now, not just suppress him forever. But that doesn’t mean there won’t still be involuntary episodes.

“That supersoldier program was put on ice for a reason.” Rude, Tony.

I tend to dismiss The Incredible Hulk purely out of a bias in Mark Ruffalo’s favor (I saw Avengers first, so he’s Bruce for me). I’m not sure his Bruce is quite the same character as Norton’s. I can’t even imagine Norton’s Bruce chumming it up with Thor in Ragnarok, for instance, and I’m not sure I can imagine him being Science Bros with Tony either. But this is actually a pretty good movie, and I do like this Bruce. My only real issues are with Abomination being able to talk and Betty stopping Hulk from finishing him off. I like Bruce being carefully on the run, I like Betty helping him, I like the conflict between science and military. Science cannot surge forward unfettered because there are people who would use that to wage war. It’s almost like Bruce is both a nuclear bomb and the guy who first created them. He has to live with the consequences of his research trapped inside his skin, and he’s only barely beginning to come to terms with that.

I’m pretty okay with this being the only MCU Hulk movie. And not just because I have no interest in seeing where things might go with that scientist dude whose brain gets bigger because Bruce’s blood landed on him. That’s a step too far towards comic book silliness for me. The main reason I’m okay with it is that Bruce has managed to have a good character arc just being in ensemble films, and his personality type lends itself well to making the most progress in these group settings. He can’t just hole up on his own; that’s how he ended up stagnating for five years while he was in hiding. It’s a shame Betty Ross got benched, though. I do think Bruce/Natasha is cute, but he and Betty were really intense and sweet, and I prefer Bucky/Nat for her.

Anyway, I liked this enough that I might cave and actually buy the DVD to complete my set. It’s the only one I don’t currently own.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Marvel Cinematic Universe review

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is one of the biggest and most ambitious franchises ever made. While not the first franchise ever to attempt a shared universe, it is definitely the one that codified how to pull them off in the modern day, and it has proven to be an incredible, unbelievable success. I mean, as good as Iron Man was, no one ever truly expected the little Nick Fury cameo at the end to ever be anything more than a neat little mythology gag. And yet, here we are, nearly a decade later, with it being the highest grossing franchise in cinematic history and with it containing some of the very best superhero films ever made.

Of course, there being fifteen movies so far, and with more on the way, it would be an enormous task to review them all individually… so, to celebrate the impending release of Spider-Man: Homecoming, I will be doing a similar thing as I did to the View Askiewniverse and touching upon each of the Marvel films thus far released. However, for the Guardians of the Galaxy films, Civil War, and Doctor Strange, I will keep things brief, as my reviews of them are still new enough to accurately reflect my opinions (Age of Ultron is not so lucky here).

There is no better place to start than the start, so let’s lok at the film that began it all: Iron Man. It is the tale of egotistical millionaire Tony Stark and how, after a brush with death that had him kidnapped by terrorists and crippled, he decided to change for the better and don a robot suit so he could protect the world from devastation. One of his big goals is to clean up the mess his company has made in the world, which not everyone likes, particularly Obadiah Stane.

This movie is probably most well known for resurrecting the career of Robert Downey, Jr. after he struggled for years with addiction and had a downward spiral. This is a truly triumphant return, and his negative experiences definitely helped him out with this role of a self-destructive playboy who realizes he should dedicate himself to a better cause. RDJ truly captures what his character is and what he should be, and thanks to his performance, he not only saved his career, he saved the character as well, who had not exactly been popular due to the recent Civil War event in the comics and his unnecessarily extreme actions therein. It’s a twofold saving, and boy is it a blast!

One part of the film that is not often talked about is the villain, Obadiah Stane, who is played by Jeff “The Dude” Bridges. As the very first Marvel supervillain, he does leave a bit of an impression with his  exclamation of how Tony built his first Iron Man suit IN A CAVE! WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS! He eventually suits up in a gigantic mech suit, and becomes the typical “Evil version of the hero” that we’ve all come to know and love… but, to be fair to him, he was the first one. As far as “Evil version of the hero”-type villains go, Obadiah Stane is enjoyable and memorable. He was originally planned to have a “never found the body” situation going on at the end of the film, hinting he could eventually return, but as it’s not in the final cut, we kinda have to assume that this was part of the annoying “kill the cool villain” trend the movies would follow for years.

This movie has a reputation as being one of the greatest superhero movies ever made, and it really isn’t undeserved. This film has kickass action, great characters, intriguing foreshadowing that actually payed off, and yet it still works easily as a standalone. This right here is how superhero films should be made, but the fact that so many later superhero films, including later MCU films and the DCEU films prior to Wonder Woman, decided to focus on cramming in so much crap that requires you to watch previous and later films to understand them, it seems not many got the memo. Franchise building isn’t always bad guys, but take notes; work on being good on your own first.

The Incredible Hulk is next up on the list, and this is one of the most obscure films in the MCU. NOBODY talks about this movie. I’d understand if people thought Mark Ruffalo was the first Hulk in the MCU; this movie is hardly ever referenced even in later films, all its plot threads seem to have been dropped, and it took until Civil War for one of its characters to reappear. For the life of me, I’ll never understand why; this movie is a fantastic example of worldbuilding while still remaining a solid standalone film. The plot is relatively simple: Bruce Banner wants to be left alone so he can cure himself, but after accidentally poisoning a man with his blood after it got into some soda (you read that right), General Ross and Emil Blonsky are on his trail; for those not in the know, Blonsky becomes one of Hulk’s most famous foes, Abomination.

Edward Norton is Bruce Banner here, and you can tell he really is a fan of the comics, because he does an excellent job; he apparently did a lot of uncredited rewriting and even directed some of his own scenes. William Hurt as Ross is also perfect, which of course is helped by the fact that Hurt is a big fan of Hulk. Then of course there’s Liv Tyler as Betty Ross, and she’s actually one of the better love interests in the MCU, to the point where it’s honestly offensive she hasn’t reappeared and instead has been replaced with Black Widow of all people as Bruce’s love interest.

The movie has solid action and a solid final fight, with Abomination being a pretty good “Evil version of the hero” villain. He’s not spectacular or anything, but he’s definitely threatening and pretty cool. So how then did this become such an obscure film in one of the biggest franchises? I imagine part of the problem is being screwed over by Universal, who owns the distribution rights for Hulk solo films. This movie just couldn’t be followed up, and so Hulk is relegated to ensemble casts. This leaves a lot of the characters in limbo, which includes Abomination and Leader (who had his origin shown in the film). And this is a real shame, because like I said, there’s some great worldbuilding here; the super-soldier serum is mentioned, there’s Stark weaponry, and in an alternate opening with the Hulk running through the arctic we get a glimpse of the frozen Captain America. Honestly, I think aside from the issue with the film rights, the fact that this movie can mostly be described as “Solid” is the reason why it has faded from the public consciousness; it lacks the OOMPH so many of the later films and even Iron Man before it had, and nowadays aside from looking for all the foreshadowing it’s hard to watch and care about these characters who will never show up again. It’s a damn good movie in my eyes, but I can see why it is relegated to a footnote in the MCU.

Next up is Iron Man 2. Fuck this movie. I fucking hate this movie with every fiber of my being. It is an awful, bloated, unfocused, cluttered, and disrespectful mess of the film. This film is a fucking travesty in every single regard, except perhaps casting Don Cheadle as James Rhodes. The plot deals with the fallout of Tony outing himself in the last movie, with industrialist Justin Hammer breathing down his neck as congressional hearings try and force him to share his tech. There’s also a pissed off Russian named  Ivan Vanko who wants to get vengeance on him, oh yeah and Black Widow is also unceremoniously stuffed into the film alongside Nick Fury so this can basically act as a trailer for the upcoming movie about the Avengers. This was due to executive meddling, to the point where jon Favreau didn’t direct the third Iron Man. Marvel had bad problems with executive meddling in their early days.

This movie fucking offends me. First off, they waste Mickey Rourke as the villain Whiplash; Mickey Rourke was pissed with the execs making his character into a cartoonish villain when he was trying to play him as a human, an anti-villain… and so he proceeded to spew vitriol at everyone involved, meaning even if Whiplash survived it’s unlikely he’ll be back. So we wasted the one interesting villain, and who are we left with? Justin fucking Hammer, one of the most unfunny, annoying cunts in comic book movie history. He is easily one of the worst superhero movie villains ever made; he’s annoying, he’s cloying, and he sucks away screentime that could have been devoted to Whiplash. He’s an absolute waste of a villain.

Then we have Tony’s “Demon in a Bottle” arc, the arc where his rampant alcoholism threatens to ruin his life. This is a tragic part of the character, and the film was going to delve deeper into it. And hey, this would have been great! RDJ could add a lot to such an emotional arc due to his own experiences! Guess what they do instead?

They play Tony’s alcoholism for laughs. Have I mentioned I fucking hate this movie?

This movie sucks ass. It’s fucking awful and feels like a shitty trailer for better movies, which is exacerbated by how shoehorned in Black Widow and Fury are. The movie is a bloated, disgusting mess, crushed by bad decisions and executive meddling. It is easily the worst movie in the entire MCU, but believe me it has some competition… which I’ll get to soon enough.

After that travesty, we have Thor. Thor I can best describe as being a precursor to Wonder Woman in a lot of ways, which is reflected in the story to an extent: it’s about a god – er, or an ALIEN – who is banished by his father after being a disobedient shit. He gets sent on down to Earth, while his half-brother Loki plots and schemes back on Asgard. Okay, so it’s not entirely like Wonder Woman, but still, there are similarities.

The biggest similarity is probably Chris Hemsworth as Thor, who exudes a childlike, boyish charm as Thor when he is down on Earth among the mortals. It’s not the same charm Diana has in Wonder Woman, but it’s not wholly dissimilar. Their origins too, as mighty gods who go to live among mortals and fight alongside them, is likewise similar. Of course, there are big differences too: the biggest one is while Wonder Woman surrounds herself with a cool human supporting cast, Thor surrounds himself with one of the worst fucking supporting casts I’ve ever seen. Special mention must go to the cliically unfunny Kat Dennings, who sucks the joy out of every scene she’s in with her relentlessly awful attempts at humor. Natalie Portman is a bland, flat love interest who has almost no chemistry with Thor, a nd the old scientist guy is so generic I forgot his name. This is a damn shame, because his supporting cast on Asgard was fantastic, with Heimdall getting special mention for being an utter badass guardian played by Idris Elba. I’d much rather watch the cosmic adventures of Thor and his Asgardian buddies than him pal around with boring humans, but ah well.

Still, at least we have a cool villain this time around. Loki is pretty interesting, and Tom Hiddleston does an excellent job with him. He would only get better and more entertaining in later films, but this was solid groundwork to establish him. Hilariously, Roger Ebert hated this film and had this to say in his review: “The standards for comic book superhero movies have been established by Superman, The Dark Knight, Spider-Man 2 and Iron Man. In that company Thor is pitiful. Consider even the comparable villains (Lex Luthor, the Joker, Doc Ock and Obadiah Stane). Memories of all four come instantly to mind. Will you be thinking of Loki six minutes after this movie is over?" This is just one of the most hilariously ironic reviews I’ve ever seen, as Loki has come to be one of the best and most memorable Marvel villains (mostly due to the fact he doesn’t die).

Overall, I feel like this movie suffers from the same thing The Incredible Hulk did; it’s a darn good movie with a lot of value that also works as a standalone film, but it’s easy to see it as exceedingly average due to its faults. At least this movie got followed up… though… eh. We’ll get there soon enough. As it stands, Thor is a good if not great film that establishes Thor well enough.

Next up is one of my personal favorites, Captain America: The First Avenger. I love me some pulpy 1940s style two-fisted tales, and this delivers that fun in spades. Sometimes you just wanna see a handsome blonde man punch Nazis in the face, and boy does this film deliver. The story tells the tale of how wimpy but strong-hearted Steve Rogers goes from a scrawny little man into the gorgeous beefcake American hero that is Captain America, and how he fought against Red Skull and HYDRA.

This movie has a lot of silly Golden Age elements to it that would not work in any other context other than the most patriotic superhero’s first big movie. The biggest, of course, being Cap himself. He’s a character that is really hard to pull off… and yet, Chris Evans did it, and perfectly so. I’ll let this excerpt from TVTropes’s YMMV page for the movie speak for itself:

“It's always an issue to adapt Captain America to any medium, because a character who is actually living up to his own principles of righteousness can far too easily come off as straight-out Narm, and by all rights that's exactly what this film should be. But somehow it comes out as a genuine, heartwarming, awesome, tear-jerking, triumphal ode to true patriotism and human goodness instead, a feat that should have been impossible outside the Golden Age of Hollywood. The writers, director, and Chris Evans deserve a lot of credit for striking the right tone with Cap: The Herois a trope that's almost never played straight anymore, without veering into self-parody or coming off as self-righteous.”

I really could not have summed it up better myself.

Now, let us talk about the villain, Red Skull, who is played by a deliciously hammy Hugo Weaving. Hugo Weaving is an actor I love in nearly everything, because he always brings exactly what is needed, and boy does he do that here. He’s sick, depraved, truly evil, and just oh so delightfully hammy. The man is basically if M. Bison as played by Raul Julia was in a Marvel film, and that I think is the highest compliment you can give a hammy villain. The best part: While he is defeated in the end, his use of the Cosmic Cube seems to imply he could survive, leaving him open to return. The bad news: he hasn’t appeared since, and for years after, Hugo Weaving took a very negative attitude to the role, implying he only did it for money… until a 2016 interview showed he had softened considerably, and thought the role was awesome. Please Marvel. Bring this man back. We need more of his evil Nazi hamminess, especially since you fucking wasted Baron Strucker (we’ll get to that soon enough).

If I’m gonna criticize anything here, it’s gonna be the Howling Commandos. As a point of comparison, let us bring up Wonder Woman again; she too assembled a multi-national ragtag group of misfits, and all of them had plenty of character and development, and to top it off, it’s pretty obvious they were meant to be a substitute for the Commandos. But despite they, they’re actually BETTER, as the Howling Commandos barely have any presence at all in this film. I couldn’t tell you a single thing they did. They’re dull wastes of character space, and it’s a shame.

Still, overall, the movie is fantastic pulpy fun, and it ends on the biggest tearjerker of Phase 1. It’s a pretty simple film, and at times it can seem corny and silly, but like I said in Wonder Woman, it’s all part of the charm of these optimistic superhero films that harken back to the Golden Age. And hey, I find it hard to give a movie that subtly implies Indiana Jones is canon in the Marvel universe anything but two thumbs up.

Finally, after all the buildup, we come to the big conclusion of Phase 1: The Avengers. And after all the buildup, all the development, was it worth the wait? HELL FUCKING YES IT WAS WORTH THE WAIT! This movie kicks a whole lot of ass, and is one of the biggest, best, and flashiest superhero films ever made. This is the film where Thor, Cap, Iron Man, Hulk, Hawkeye, and Black Widow all unite to take down Loki and his alien army before they destroy the world; how much cooler does it get?

The movie’s greatest strength is just the sheer spectacle of it all; this kind of film was unheard of. Who would have thought a movie like this would exist when Iron Man first came out? Seeing all these huge actors as heroes onscreen together, fighting against Loki… it’s just amazing. The writing and humor here is actually really on point, which can be jarring after seeing the much denser and wackier dialogue of Age of Ultron; it makes one wonder if the execs forced Joss Whedon to add more humor to that film. All these pieces are in place, and it is just a joy to see them come together.

Even better, it’s not totally required to watch every movie before to understand all of the characters; the film does a pretty good job of establishing everyone. Sure, it HELPS, but you can get a feel for each one of the heroes just from this film. It especially helps with Bruce, since it’s Mark Ruffalo now in the role and no one really remembered Hulk’s one MCU solo outing anyway. Speaking of which, Mark Ruffalo is a highlight of the film; he’s the best Bruce Banner yet by far, and his Hulk is the best yet scene in film.

If there are any criticisms to go around, it’s that Cap doesn’t get to do as much, and a lot of the badass normal heroes kind of get shafted. Sure Cap, Widow, and Hawkeye do some cool shit, but it’s Hulk, Thor, and Iron Man who pull of the big, flashy, exciting moments in the big final fight. I get that you gotta make Hulk cool considering his lackluster past films, but do ya gotta steal Cap’s thunder to do it?

Overall though, The Avengers still holds up as a great, exciting superhero extravaganza and one of the best crossover films ever made, and it’s definitely one of the best MCU offerings. It has its flaws, but the sheer excitement and comic book joy of the film shine through, making it a must-see experience.

Phase 1 ended on such a high note… how do we kick off Phase 3? With another shitty Iron Man sequel, of course! To be totally fair, this movie is a hell of a lot better than Iron Man 2… but a lot of things are better than that, so it isn’t saying much. This time Tony Stark has the bright idea of antagonizing a terrorist organization known as the Ten Rings and their leader, the Mandarin. This backfires, and soon Tony is uncovering evil plots and shit.

This movie fucks up badly, especially in the villain department. Most of the enemy mooks are people injected with Extremis, a drug that gives them powers… the problem is, most of these mooks are disabled military vets who are now willingly and gleefully acting out terrorist attacks on their fellow Americans, up to and including a plot to assassinate the president. Look, I get sometimes it’s dumb to read into things in movies too much, but there’s really no way I can read this that isn’t pretty fucked.

As if that isn’t bad enough, we come to the issue with the Mandarin… and shockingly, it’s not about race or the “Yellow peril” origins of the character. For most of the movie, we are led to believe the Mandarin is played by Ben Kingsley, and he does an absolutely excellent job at making the Mandarin menacing, chilling, hammy, and intimidating all at once. He’s the perfect modern update of the villain… and sadly, he is not actually the Mandarin. He is an actor named Trevor Slattery. Slattery still manages to be one of the bright spots of the movie… something that does not extend to the true villain Killian, played by Guy Pearce. He’s an extremely boring, generic, and forgettable foe, and his claims that he is in fact the real Mandarin opened so many plotholes it’s no wonder they had in development a short where the real Mandarin sends out pissed off enforcers to call bullshit on his and Trevor’s schemes.

There’s just not much to recommend here. The movie is just a dull slog with a few bright spots here and there, and even the ending is bullshit with Tony seeming like he’s giving up superheroics for good… and then by his next appearance he’s back to being a hero with a new set of armor even though all his suits were destroyed in this movie. This one just sucks, though not as bad as the second one; there’s at least a bit more to like here.

And now we go from bad to worse, for we land on Thor: The Dark World, which is an incredibly awful movie. The plot involves evil elves invading Asgard looking for a magic MacGuffin to do things and… look, the only reason anyone bothered with this fucking movie is because Loki is in it, and by god, the forty minutes he’s in it are just fantastic and funny. His interactions with Thor are nothing short of hilarious, and the fact he actually comes out on top in this movie is intriguing. Props to the film for that at least.

Too bad the film sucks in nearly every other conceivable way. The major focus on the human characters is the worst of all; Natalie Portman is given a disproportionately large amount of screentime and hogs the plot, and Kat Dennings is back and as relentlessly unfunny as ever. She is like a cancerous tumor on an already foul film. And as if the humans aren’t bad and obnoxious enough, we have the villain, Malekith the Accursed, a dark elf who has some of the most generic and boring motives ever despite looking absolutely cool. He is one of the worst comic book movie villains ever, hands down, and it’s such a shame because he’s played by the usually amazing Christopher Eccleston. To say that he was wasted here is a crass understatement.

There’s not much else to say here; this is an awful, shitty movie. The saving graces are Loki’s screentime and maybe the final battle, but even that is interjected with some unfunny humor, and the lack of a solid villain really drags the film down. This film is utter crap, but at least there’s a bit to recommend here, which is more than I can say for Iron Man 2.

Well we’ve got two strikes down, so this is Marvel’s last swing… can they save their asses? I mean, this is a sequel, to Captain America: The First Avenger of all things, this couldn’t possibly be that good, right?

WRONG.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is not only one of the very best films in the entire MCU, it is one of the greatest superhero movies ever made, and probably the greatest adaptation of Metal Gear Solid we’ll ever get. I’m not kidding, everything’s there: a genetically modified super soldier fighting against a shadowy conspiracy that wants to use a giant war machine to attack the world’s population, all the while fighting a crazy cyborg version of their best friend. Also there’s a fight in an elevator and an evil AI that has been manipulating the world from behind the scenes. If you can’t already tell, I fucking love this movie.

A big plus is that this is less straight-up superhero action for the most part, and more an action thriller. This lets Steve use his badass super soldier skills to their fullest extent against armies of armed mooks. Even more amazingly, this movie does a good job at making Black Widow likable and interesting, and she has very good chemistry with Steve. Best of all, though, is the introduction of Anthony Mackie as Falcon, Cap’s new best buddy and a badass hero in his own right who helps solve this big HYDRA conspiracy. And despite his limited screentime, Sebastian Stan makes an impression as the incredible, unstoppable, hardcore titular Winter Soldier, AKA Bucky Barnes, Cap’s long-lost friend.

This movie is the one all Marvel sequels would be judged by afterwards. Well, for a while at least; this movie’s own sequel managed to top it somehow. But yes, this movie is absolutely fucking fantastic, a modern classic of the superhero genre, and one of the best Marvel sequels ever made. Not bad, especially since unlike Iron Man or Thor the original movie is not the biggest or most critically acclaimed Marvel film (Though t still got a mostly positive reception). The fact it managed to produce a sequel superior to the first while Thor and Iron Man’s sequels ended up being shit is nothing short of impressive.

After this movie came Guardians of the Galaxy, which I reviewed recently on Michael After Midnight. Needless to say, it’s an amazing film, akin to a modern-day Star Wars, and I truly love it… though at this point, I fully admit its sequel is far superior. If you want a general idea of my thoughts on the film, just click the link there.

So how do you follow up two incredibly epic game-changing movies? With an Avengers sequel! Joss Whedon is back, the cast is all here, what could possibly go wrong?

A whole fucking lot.

This movie had tons of executive meddling, so much it drove Whedon nuts. But executive meddling can’t take all the blame for the shoddy script and the piss-poor mishandling of characters. One of my biggest regrets is saying this was one of the better MCU films in my review; it most definitely is not. But on the other hand, unlike the Iron Man sequels or Thor: The Dark World, there really is a lot of genuinely good stuff in this movie. Look at the plot: Tony, desperate to keep the world safe, creates an AI that ends up going rogue… that AI being Ultron. Now they gotta stop this AI before it wipes out humanity. There’s a lot of good potential in this story! But sadly, this potential is not fully realized.

Let me talk about the good stuff first. The big draw is the action setpieces, which are a bit more spectacular than before… or they would be the big draw, but since the story is so messy, it’s hard to care too much. At least there’s more action scenes. The REAL draw here is  this stretch of time where the Avengers are at Hawkeye’s cabin; this lets all of the characters interact with each other in a close space, and see how everyone plays off each other. It’s absolutely fantastic, and it’s a shame the whole movie isn’t as tightly written as these scenes. Hell, they manage to make Black Widow, who tends to be a dull and uninteresting character, more human with a bit of tragic backstory.

The new characters here are fascinating as well; Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Ulysses Klaue, Vision… all of these characters are pretty interesting and cool. In concept, at least. While Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver get a solid amount of screentime since they’re working for Ultron for most of the film before switching sides, by the film’s end Quicksilver is killed. Vision only appears immediately before the final fight, Klaue is just a cameo (albeit a really good one) to set up Black Panther… none of these characters really feel organically added, they feel crammed in to set up future films, leading to Age of Ultron feeling like a trailer for better movies to come.

Look at the original Avengers movie; you could jump into that from just about anywhere in your Marvel viewing experience and get it, and they don’t throw too much new at you. Here, they’re flinging all sorts of new shit at you that you pretty much NEED to watch the other movies to really get this one. Hell, and even that doesn’t help too much, since there are still things like Thor’s weird, nonsensical vision and Bruce and Natasha’s out of nowhere romance.

Of course, the absolute worst part of this film is the absolutely horrendous script. It’s not entirely bad, but there are lines like “She’s weird and he runs fast” (describing Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, respectively) and Black Widow going “Beep beep” while she rides through a crowd and Tony’s infamous “prima noctis” joke… the movie is just so dense with garbage writing like this that it’s impossible to take seriously and it deflates the tension when it constantly happens in battles. Now, there are still some good and genuinely funny moments, like when Vision lifts the hammer or Klaue’s entire scene, but there’s plenty of cringe inducing stuff that proves when it comes to Whedon’s writing, lightning DOES strike twice… do you want to know what happens when Whedon’s writing is hit by lightning? The same thing that happens to everything else.

Now, finally, let’s talk about the villains… oh, sorry, VILLAIN, they decide to anticlimactically kill Baron Strucker offscreen after the opening, so no point in discussing him! Ultron is the biggest saving grace of the film… as well as yet another example of Marvel getting rid of their most interesting villains. Ultron has solid motives, an interesting plan, and with more fleshing out could have served as an incredible reoccuring antagonist… so of course he is blown up by the end of the film, because his name isn’t Loki. HOWEVER, everything is ambiguous enough that he could realistically return; guy had to hide a backup somewhere, yeah? James Spader did such a good job at making Ultron both creepy and charismatic it would be a crime to not use his talents again, though since Marvel isn’t exactly begging Hugo Weaving to be Red Skull again at the moment, I won’t hold my breath. What makes this a bit more bitter is that, overall, Ultron was the best villain in all of Phase 2.

Age of Ultron is a film that can only be described as messy. Honestly? I’d say it’s a bit worse than Iron Man 3. That film may not be very good, but at least it was a bit more focused and the humor didn’t clog every single action scene and they didn’t try and cram fifty new characters to act as teasers for better movies into the plot. This film actually has a lot in common with Batman v Superman; the story is cluttered and unfocused and choked by the tone of the rest of the film, there are superfluous cameos and character insertions that are advertising better films to come, and obviously both are lukewarm superhero crossover films. Age of Ultron has a better villain, however, while Batman v Superman has much better fight scenes, and also Batman doesn’t make an awkward and forced rape joke so that’s good. In all honesty, I’d rather watch Batman v Superman over this; that movie may be dark and dour, but I can handle grim and gritty more than I can handle horribly painful and unfunny jokes ruining most every action scene. Age of Ultron is a seriously mediocre movie, and it’s just so depressing after how good the original Avengers film was… what a note to end Phase 2 on…

...Ha! Psyche! There’s still another movie, bitches! Here comes motherfucking Ant-Man to save the day! Whoever could have thought that Ant-Man of all characters would redeem Phase 2 by delivering a quirky, genuinely funny action-crime thriller? This story has Scott Lang, a former robber who is trying to go straight for the sake of his daughter, get roped in to becoming Ant-Man after breaking and entering into Hank Pym’s house. Ant-Man has to steal research from Pym’s former company before the new, corrupt owner Darren Cross abuses the research.

So this film has great setup, and it’s a refreshing change of pace for the most part. The film is mainly about the training to become Ant-Man and the heist itself, leading to a bit of a different tone from the usual superhero film. Yes, of course there’s a big fight with a supervillain at the end, but it’s so quirky and hilarious that it still fits the tone of the rest of the film. That’s another great quality this film has; it’s quirky and humorous while not being obnoxiously so like the last film. A great addition is one of Scott Lang’s sidekicks, Luis, an incredibly enthusiastic criminal with quite bit of hidden depths and an impressive skill for telling stories.

But even more impressive than the quirkiness and the interesting change of pace from other superhero films is just how this movie takes things and makes you like them, things no one would ever expect to like. Hank Pym for example; Pym has long been a subject of ridicule among comic fans, mostly due to an infamous moment where he hit his wife Janet. After this movie and Michael Douglas’s powerful and moving performance in scenes such as when he talks about how his wife died… well, those “Wifebeater Hank Pym” jokes can go the way of most of the MCU’s villains. Douglas did an excellent job at making Hank a character with flaws who is still sympathetic. And if that’s not enough at how this movie makes you love things you’d never expect to, well, this film just may make you cry over the death of an ant. No, I’m not kidding.

Now, if there’s one thing I can really criticize here, it’s the villain. Darren Cross/Yellowjacket is not bad by any means, but like a lot of MCU villains he falls into the trap of having the same superpowers as the hero, which is frankly an overplayed concept. Look at the great villains of the MCU like Loki, Ultron, or Ego; all of them had powers that gave them an edge or were noticeably different from the heroes they fought. Cross shrinks just like Ant-Man does, just like Obadiah Stane had a giant robot suit, Abomination was a big roaring monster, and Kaecilius was a powerful wizard. None of these villains are really bad per se, but still. At least that final fight is incredible, with the concept of two men with shrinking powers played for all it c an be played for and so many great comedic moments coming from it.

Ant-Man totally makes up for how lackluster and unfunny Age of Ultron was. It’s genuinely funny without clogging every scene with jokes, the action is utilized excellently, the protagonists are all likable and enjoyable, and the film feels a lot more fun and fresh than anyone would expect. This is definitely one of the most shocking success stories of the MCU, but that success is nothing less than well-deserved.

And now we enter into Phase 3, and as I have reviewed all the films, I will link to their reviews.

First up is Civil War, the third Captain America film, and the movie that Age of Ultron should have been. It still does bring in some new blood, but they feel far less forced and more organically woven into the plot. The jokes and the action are all great, and the villain is actually interesting. Click here to see what I thought of it, and also what I thought of Batman v Superman (I may have to re-review that movie as well…).

Next up is Doctor Strange, which holds the distinction of perhaps being the most visually impressive superhero film ever made. The trippy visuals really help to make the film, and Benedict Cumberbatch puts in an excellent performance, as does Mads Mikkelson, who redeems what would otherwise be a flat villain. Click here for the full review of the movie.

Then we have the most recent of the bunch, my favorite film of all time, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. I won’t say anything here, just click the link for the full review.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is constantly growing and expanding, creating new and fascinating stories that their characters can inhabit. These films are some of the only modern superhero films that truly embrace their comic book roots and play them for all they’re worth. Coming up soon are films such as Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, Ant-Man & The Wasp, Captain Marvel, and untitled Avengers, Doctor Strange, and Spider-Man sequels as well as volume three of the Guardians of the Galaxy story. We can only hope that, upon their release, I have wonderful things to say about them. But considering the high quality of most of the movies here, especially as time went on… I don’t think there’s any reason to be afraid. Marvel’s the king of superhero cinema right now, and I see no signs they’ll be giving up that crown any time soon.