#i stopped watching superhero movies after... black panther? infinity war?

[inkyquince]

Inky!! Miguel news!!

Apparently Miguel was going to be worst of an asshole but decided to tame it down 🤭

https://thedirect.com/article/spider-verse-2-oscar-isaac-spider-man-2099-changes

~doki

I ALSO READ THAT!! IT MAKES ME VERY HYPE FOR THE THIRD MOVIE NEXT YEAR!!

legitmately, i am excited cuz he doesnt seem liek he's going to be a stupid fuckin mcu villain whose about as 2d as they get. so far he's got a sexy ass backstory, and temperament SO IM EXCITED TO SEE HOW IT PANS OUT

[starkstruck27]

Little Harringrove ficlet set in like 2019, just before they get together

"You know, if we were superheroes, you'd be the Winter Soldier to my Captain America."

Steve had said it so casually, Billy almost hadn't paid it any mind. He was way too absorbed in cleaning up after their movie marathon, and so exhausted that he almost dreaded doing it again tomorrow night. He'd somehow thought that four to five movies a night would be no big deal, especially since Steve was letting him stay over at his house all week, but there was a lot to follow in these films, and entirely too many characters to keep track of. Still, Steve said they had to rewatch all of them before going to see the new one, Endgame or whatever, and Billy had finally let his best friend talk him into a movie marathon. He had a hard time saying no to him.

They'd started off with only four, watching Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk (which wasn't even part of the official lineup, but Steve insisted it was essential to establish the character), Iron Man 2, and Thor. The next night, they also did four, going from Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers, Iron Man 3, and Thor: The Dark World.

Then tonight, they watched Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Ant-Man. They would've watched Captain America: Civil War, too, but they were both tired and had to get up early the next day, so they said they could do it tomorrow.

And now, just after he'd said it, as Billy folded the blankets and Steve swept the popcorn off the couch cushions, Billy stopped and stared at him.

"So, I remind you of a homicidal maniac with a metal arm that killed and injured numerous people without a second thought?" He asked bitterly, remembering the long-haired assassin that beat Captain America to a bloody pulp and then left him for dead on the bank of a river. "Gee, thanks."

"Well, yeah, that's part of him, too, but that's not what I meant," Steve said, tossing a popcorn kernel at Billy.

"Well, what did you mean, then?" Billy asked.

"I'm not giving you any spoilers! You'll just have to keep watching and figure it out." Steve gave him his most innocent evil smirk, and Billy only sighed. He loved his best friend, but he could be a fucking menace when he wanted to be.

The next night, they watched five movies. Starting with Civil War, then going on to Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and Thor: Ragnarok. Billy liked them all, but he still didn't get what Steve meant when he said he was like Bucky. And Steve still wouldn't tell him outright what he meant, because he didn't want to risk spoiling the movies, even though Billy assured him 100 times he didn't care.

The night after that, they watched the last four movies, since the next day they had tickets to go and see Endgame. Starting with Black Panther, then going on to Avengers: Infinity War, Ant-Man and the Wasp, and finally, Captain Marvel.

Billy hated to admit it, but he was getting just as into these movies as Steve was, and he was almost as excited for the new movie tomorrow, too. Still, he couldn't figure out what Steve had meant the other day. But he didn't want to ask again, he couldn't let Steve know it was bothering him.

But as they cleaned up the snacks and the trash, the pillows and the blankets and put the living room back together, he didn't have to.

"So, have you figured it out yet?" Steve asked as he fluffed the ugly, uncomfortable and probably really expensive throw pillows.

"Not really. I mean, I guess I get it a little. We're best friends, your name is Steve and mine starts with a B, ends in a y, and has two syllables, and even though we fight sometimes, we still stay friends or whatever. I still don't understand why I have to be the tortured cyborg and you get to be the popular Golden Boy, but it's whatever," Billy replied, shrugging as he picked up the dishes to take them to the kitchen. He could feel his heart stutter when Steve laughed.

"Actually, most of the people who like Marvel actually like Bucky more than Steve, but that's besides the point. You got part of it, but there's more to what I said than that."

He stopped fussing with the pillows then, and instead walked over to Billy, taking the plates and cups from his hands and putting them back on the coffee table. He was so close that their toes touched, and Billy could smell the pizza, popcorn and sugar on his breath. Billy almost sqeaked in surprise at the sudden proximity, and he could feel his heart start to speed in his chest.

"Soooo... you wanna clue me in then?" He asked, not quite sure where to look or what to do with his hands. Steve was taller than him, and he wasn't sure what to do with someone when he couldn't look down at them. It made him feel a little out of place, and he didn't know how to get back to the way he always felt with Steve. Like he could mess with him, be near him, talk to him and do anything with him and be perfectly happy with it. He wanted to always feel like that, but right now it felt different, like there was something hanging in the air between them that neither of them wanted to address just yet.

"Well, another thing that fans do, besides just liking Bucky more, is they like to analyze their relationship. I do that, too, sometimes, and I realized their dynamic is a lot like ours. We were friends, then some shit happened and we weren't, you beat me up a little, finally told me about all the shit you'd been through, and finally we were able to heal and get you some help. Maybe you're not 100% perfect yet, but we know we have each other and we know that we're gonna be with each other til the end of the line. Or, at least, I hope we will," Steve said, and despite how nervous Billy felt, he was a little flattered, too. Steve was one of the only good things left in his life, and to hear him say that he wanted Billy by his side through the rest of his life felt pretty amazing. Billy could already imagine it, the two of them living through thick and thin and still going to see their silly little superhero movies together 50 years later, when Marvel would release Captain America 24.

"But that's not all," Steve continued, bringing Billy out of his thoughts. "A lot of fans, myself included, look at the two of them and think they'd make a cute couple, some of us even believing that they already are one, but Marvel is just giving Steve female love interests because they're owned by Disney and are too cowardly to have any of the characters identify as LGBTQ+. But like I said, a lot of fans already ship the two of them together."

Billy felt his mouth going dry, his eyes searching Steve's face for any kind of confirmation that he meant what he was saying, that he wasn't reading this wrong. He figured it was pretty blatant what he was saying, there wasn't a whole lot of room to mistake this, but he wanted to be absolutely sure before he made a fool of himself.

"So what are you... what are you trying to tell me?" Billy asked, holding his breath.

"I'm trying to tell you that if I were Steve Rogers, and if you were Bucky Barnes, and the two of us had fought together in World War 2, been inseparable on both schoolyard and battlefield, promised each other that we'd be together until the end of the line, and I'd fought an entire Civil War against 117 countries to protect you because I never gave up on you... somewhere in there, I might’ve developed a feeling a bit stronger than just friendship for you."

"And if we weren't superheroes... If we were just ordinary people watching the movies, if you were just Steve Harrington and I was just Billy Hargrove... what then?"

Steve flashed him a smile, and Billy practically melted right there as Steve took one baby step closer, his fingers gentle brushing over Billy's arms before gripping his hands tightly.

"Well, if that were the case, then I'd say I've definitely developed those feelings a long time ago, but I was just too scared to say anything about it until now. And I'd say that I definitely really want to kiss you right now."

And who was Billy to refuse a sweet request like that? He finally had an opportunity to kiss Steve like he'd always wanted to, and he wasn't going to pass that up. He didn't waste any time in crashing their lips together, holding Steve close to him with one hand in his stupid perfect hair and the other wrapped around his back, nearly crushing him into himself. Steve hummed with laughter as he placed one of his hands on Billy's shoulders, the other resting on his hip where Billy's hand came to rest, covering it. They both felt alive with an electric charge going between their bodies, and even though they'd both closed their eyes and couldn't see, they knew they were both smiling like idiots. Billy could feel his heart jack-rabbiting in his chest, as if trying to tire itself out, but it was useless. Steve had never felt more butterflies in his stomach than he did right now, no one else had made it fill up with that many cocoons that had hatched all at once.

When they pulled apart, they couldn't help but giggle a little bit. Their respective little siblings would be both proud and incredibly too smug if they knew what had just happened. Max would be glad that they'd finally quit it with the pining, and Dustin would absolutely never shut up about how they were nerds just as much as he was. But right now they didn't have to think about their siblings, all they could think about was each other.

"Y'know, I think that in all those movies, Black Widow was only wrong about one thing," Billy said, smiling stupidly as he continued to hold Steve close. "Not everyone needs practice when it comes to kissing."

Steve laughed at that, loud and carefree, and Billy wished he would never have to go without that laugh. If Steve had really meant what he said though, he wouldn't have to. After all, they were gonna be stuck with each other from now on.

They'd be with each other til the end of the line.

[bookwormcosplays]

Last half of Phase 3! The one I've been waiting for! Let's go!

Black Panther: I don't know if it comes from a place of bias where I'm just excited to see a black superhero movie in the marvel/avengers franchise, but I really enjoyed this movie. It definitely could've besn shorter though. We didn't need a movie over two hours. I liked the antagonist again because once again it doesn't come from nothing. It made sense. I understood both sides. I understand the actor who played T'Challa died, but I'm actually interested in the sequel. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't take inspiration from Lion King. Marvel movies still haven't made me cry, but that end fight made me a little sad.

Infinity War: Ahhhhhh, here it is! What I've been waiting for! This movie did nothing, but piss me off. But they did get a few teardrops out of me from the "I don't feel so good, Mr. Stark." But you can't tell me with how close everybody was to each other, no one didn't inhale a little human dust.

Captain Marvel: Apparently this isn't crucial to endgame so I'm going to watch this after

Endgame: 3 HOURS??? I hate time travel, inception, and heist type movies. But somehow they made it work where it wasn't absolutely hateable. I'll be honest I actually did cheer during the final battle sequence. And more than a few tears were taken out of me. This was a decent wrap up for the avengers.

I finished the avengers film series (for the most part shhhh) and... It wasn't the greatest thing I've watched. In fact, I have a lot of complaints. But I know the people reading this are going to be fans so let me just say some good parts. Visuals/CGI was incredible. They intertwined the universes very well. Their marketing was good to hype people up for the next movie.

However, I think they just stopped understanding the characters they wanted to portray. Like it won't be exactly like the comics, I understand. But it felt like the characters weren't solidly maintained. Some things felt out of character, personalities kept switching, and it started to get sloppy that the characters felt two dimensional by the end of the series. Once again, my opinion. My take on this. And another thing! Always know your audience. Despite what anyone thinks, every movie has a certain audience it's intended for. Of course other audiences might find interest in it, but you specifically focus on the audience that you wanted to watch. My guess for the intended audience at the beginning of this is white males probably 20-40 years old. Presumably straight. And then the intended audience started going everywhere. It definitely took a turn to kid audiences, but also trying to keep that original audience. And also sometimes it seemed for female audiences (presumably straight). It worked out for them, I guess. But like it really irritated me because if you intend for a certain audience, you need to try and maintain that. I lost interest when it seemed like they were trying to please everybody or switched intended audience. By the end, I genuinely can't tell who this series is for.

But it was a chill series for the most part. Probably won't watch any of the solo movies again. Maybe I could watch The Avengers, Winter Soldier (not technically solo to me, and Infinity War. But like I can't go through the other ones again. This is probably not the outcome you guys wanted from me, but from the start I said I'm not a fan of superhero movies. So... Probably wasn't going to change much with this. But I can definitely appreciate the franchise's costuming, design, and behind the scenes stuff! This is the end to my avengers binge watch! Thank you for being a part of the journey!

[lokitvsource]

'LOKI' STAR TOM HIDDLESTON SECRETLY WATCHES MARVEL MOVIES AS A FAN IN THEATERS

When "Avengers: Endgame" debuted in April 2019, Tom Hiddleston rushed to a local theater to catch the epic conclusion to the superhero saga — just like millions of other Marvel fans across the globe. According to the June 2021 issue of emmy magazine, which hits newsstands on June 4, he threw on a hoodie and ducked into a midnight showing on opening night in London.

Catching each installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in theaters became a bit of a tradition for the English actor after his on-screen alter ego was killed off for the second time — he was murdered by Thanos in 2018's "Avengers: Infinity War" after faking his own death in 2011's "Thor."

"I became an ordinary cinema-goer who would see the films on opening weekend," Tom tells emmy in Wonderwall.com's exclusive first-look at the June 2021 issue, adding that "with films like 'Doctor Strange' and 'Black Panther,' it felt like the Marvel Cinematic Universe had become more ambitious and profound, with deeper and richer characters."

The two-time Emmy nominee — who's brought Loki to the big screen six times so far — was fully prepared to bid adieu to playing the god of mischief after shooting his part in "Infinity War" in early 2017.

"The producers were on the set my last day, and we had some very sincere goodbyes," he recalls. "There were hugs and a 'Come see us anytime' and 'Thank you for your hard work.' I thanked them for the opportunity and certainly thought, 'Oh, this is it.'"

Fortunately for Loki stans, it wasn't.

Tom — who celebrated a milestone birthday earlier this year — is set to return to the role on the Disney+ series "Loki," which debuts on June 9.  

"I'm 40, and I was 28 when I was cast as Loki. When I say it like that, it blows my mind. I don't think any actor could have imagined playing a character as long as this," he tells emmy.

"Loki" will see the titular antihero answering for his crimes against the universe — specifically, as the actor puts it, his "crimes against the timeline." The six-episode limited series — which he describes as a "really positive series with a huge amount of action and spectacle" — picks up after Loki nabs the Space Stone in a scene from 2019's "Avengers: Endgame" that's set in 2012. By using the Space Stone to evade imprisonment when the Avengers go back in time to stop Thanos, Loki inadvertently creates a new timeline, which lands him in the custody of the Time Variance Authority.

"The TVA represents order to the chaos," Tom tells emmy. "Loki confronting this institution is a thrilling jumping-off point because he must take in an environment that he doesn't understand and can't control."

Adds the actor, "One of the themes of the show is about identity and raising a question whether Loki can run from who he is and is capable of change. It's only once we accept who we are that we can evolve and grow."

If Marvel decides to move forward with a second season of "Loki," Tom is, of course, fully on board: "I'm here for the ride," he says.

He then waxes poetic on why he relishes the role: "What I love about Loki is that he's playful and charming and witty and dangerous and mercurial. He's also fragmented and broken and solitary and isolated," he says. "As one character says in the show, no one good is ever truly good and no one bad is truly bad. That's a fascinating anchor."

According to emmy, the role is so important to Tom that before anyone shot a single frame of "Loki," he gave a formal presentation to the crew's department heads to ensure everyone was on the same page regarding the character's background and motivations.

It's incredible to think now — a decade after Tom first brought Loki to life in "Thor" — that he first auditioned to play the other brother after connecting with director Kenneth Branagh in London. After the Oscar-nominated actor-director suggested Tom could be perfect for the part of the god of thunder, he submitted a self-taped audition and participated in a now-iconic screen test.

He never even auditioned for the role of Loki.

"Most of the world knows that the right guy was cast as Thor," Tom jokes to emmy.

And clearly the right guy was cast as Loki, as well!

Read more about Tom's next chapter as Loki when the June 2021 issue of emmy magazine debuts on June 4, and catch "Loki" on Disney+ on June 9.

[canonicallysoulmates]

Since I want to watch Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Loki, I finally caught up on the MCU movies! So I wanted to do a quick post summarizing my opinions on the ones that I hadn’t seen which is why you’re not gonna see any of the Phase 1 movies mentioned. I stopped watching the MCU after CAWS but I had skipped TDW which is why the list starts with TDW and skips CAWS. 

Thor: The Dark World: Not only do I actually really like this movie, I like it more than the first Thor. Look when it comes to the Thor movies I’m a simple bitch to please, give me Loki and some Thor-Loki scenes and I’m happy.  And for me, this movie delivers on both counts. Is the premise interesting? Not really. But it gave me good content so I can move past it. 

Guardians of the Galaxy: I did not like this movie. Everyone who said that the only good parts of this were the music, Groot, Rocket, and the parts involving the Power stone were correct. 

Avengers Age of Ultron: This piece of shit! This is like an hour too long. Marvel does not have enough money to pay me to watch this again. If you tell me you like this film, I will judge you but not hold it against you. If you tell me this is your favorite Avengers film, I will judge you and you have bad taste. If you tell me this is your favorite superhero movie, you are either a liar or this is the only superhero movie you have ever watched. Garbage absolute garbage.

Ant-Man:...it was okay. 

Captain America Civil War: 

Doctor Strange: This movie makes me uncomfortable. Maybe it’s because I still distinctly remember the whitewashing controversy that surrounded this film but every time Tilda Swinton came on my screen my whole body coiled back. I did not like it, except for the cape and I mean as a character.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: It’s not often that a sequel is better but this is infinitely better than the first one. I liked it a lot. 

Spiderman Homecoming: It has enough content that I like for me to enjoy it. Also, I love irondad ❤

Thor Ragnarok: This is the point where my feeling towards these movies start to get complicated. At surface level, I like this film, I found it fun and entertaining, it's got some concepts I really enjoyed, and like I already said I’m a simple bitch to please and this movie delivers on what I like however there were things that I did not like and if I think about those too much in relation to the movie I notice how much undeveloped potential is in this film, this could have been next level badassery. And as a Loki fan, I can totally understand the reasons given by some fellow fans for hating this film. Also we were totally robbed a Thor-Loki hug at the end and that is simply unforgivable. 

Black Panther: This is the best MCU movie don't @ me. I'll also probably never watch it again because it's too sad, I kept randomly bursting into tears, rest in peace King 😭😭😭

Avengers Infinity War: On the one hand this movie feels big, it has excellent action scenes, some of the characters get some epic moments and I love all of that; on the other hand, Loki dies at the beginning and I’m angry about it! And that’s not the only thing that makes me angry, Thanos makes me angry too because at first I thought he was an okay villain but now I’ve come to find out that in the comics he does things cause he’s in love with Death and I’m like MARVEL WTF HOW DID YOU DROP THE BALL WHEN IT’S RIGHT THERE???!!!!

Ant-Man and the Wasp: This is something that exists. 

Captain Marvel: Nick Fury is a grump, who has no time for other people’s bullshit and loves cats, we would be friends. I wanna hang out with the characters in this movie. 

Avengers Endgame: Oof. This movie. Much like Infinity Wars it feels big, it feels like the end of something massive, I like some of the content we got, we got some cool fight scenes, I’m a nostalgic bitch so I liked the little pieces of previous movies, but it did some of the characters so unforgivably dirty and the worst part is that it wasn’t just any characters it was the original team that the writers did dirty. Like, I get that the MCU is ready to move into a new era but that don’t mean they gotta do some of the original characters this way, you can move into a new era and still have respect for what came before it. Also, the plot is kinda not it. It’s like with Ragnarok, if I take this movie at face value I love it and consider it the best Avengers movie but if I actually stop and think about it I notice the issues it has, dislike it, realize it’s kind off overhyped and that we never actually got a good Avengers movie.  

Spiderman Far From Home: I was not expecting to enjoy this move as much as I did but I really liked it, imo it’s better than the first film. My favorite scene was when Peter was designing his new suit and looking like a young Tony, my irondad loving heart wanted to cry. 

[always-winter-baby]

feel free to add anything i missed, endgame haters.

This is a Wordpress post that I never posted about a Facebook post that I made last fall (2019) about how godawful Endgame was.

-------- I know I've been gone for a while and when I was here, I was writing about films I had watched. (Maybe I should start that.)

However, I am a HUGE fan of Marvel and their cinematic universe. I have the movies, the comics, the clothing, and far too much memorabilia to be considered a "casual" fan at this point. I've been reading comics for about twelve years and I started dedicating myself to the MCU around the end of Phase One.

That being said, it means everyone comes to me with their Marvel questions and everyone comes to me to see what I thought of each new film. And I don't give simple, "It was good. I really liked it," answers. I make complete strangers regret their own questions sometimes because I dive into the deep end immediately describing how they really pulled off the Mysterio "mind-bending" stuff fantastically, but how the story hinged really hard on Tony Stark when Peter in the comics stands on his own and Peter in the MCU should be able to as well.

I can give you speeches on the reason why Natasha's backstory would have been better established in The Winter Soldier than Age of Ultron or and how killing off Pietro in his first film did a disservice to Wanda's character, etc, etc. In the words of a person I passed by at work the other day, "I can talk the ears off a snake."

That's not the point of this post. That was just establishing that I am very dedicated and I Care deeply about these characters and this world.

That being said, when someone on Facebook not too long ago asked me to share my opinions on Avengers: Endgame, I asked him if he was really prepared for the novel I was going to spill on why I think that Endgame was a poorly written and directed film. He said his was. But his lack of any response to my novel was proof that he clearly was not.

However, for anyone else wondering, I copied that little book of a response and I'm posting it here. It's a little scrambled up (it was a facebook post so these things happen, okay?). I think it will still get the point across as to why I tell people that if I pulled the good parts of Endgame, I could make a really great thirty minute Avengers movie.

The post went as follows:

-Thor’s characterization was a three hour long fat joke. Thor had the most character growth out of anyone in Infinity War. His part was fantastic. Then they turned around and made everything about it completely idiotic. Thor has lived over a thousand years. He’s lost battles and lost countless, countless people before. Infinity War wasn’t the first time he made a mistake in battle that cost someone their life. He lost his entire family and almost all of friends and none of that turned him into lazy, sloppy, unshowered, fat Thor. I refuse to believe this time would magically break him. Character annihilation.

Banner has hated the Hulk for the entirety of Hulk’s existence. He’s talked about how exposed and vulnerable it makes him feel. He’s always been a quiet, shy, reclusive, and work-focused kind of guy. Now magically, he’s happy being Hulk 24/7, dabs, and takes selfies with kids? He’s hanging out in public as Hulk and drawing attention to himself? Sorry. Refuse to believe it. I know Professor Hulk is from the comics. It seems stupid and forced there too. I’m not of the opinion that just because something is found in comics that it’s necessarily a good thing. I’ve read plenty of bad comics as I’m sure any decent comic reader has.

-Tony isn’t awful. I actually think he’s done pretty well. No complaints.

-However, Pepper is awful. And it makes sense now that they’ve released the info that Gwyneth Paltrow just made up a lot of her own lines. She doesn’t know the character despite having played her for a decade. Pepper is always super cautious and she is constantly on Tony’s case about his heroic ventures, etc. Therefore, I find it incredibly hard to believe that she let him go without a fight after he “solved time travel.” I also find it absolutely impossible that she sits beside him as he’s dying and is peaceful enough to just tell Tony that he’s okay and he should rest. Per her character for the last decade, she should have been frantic. Of course it wouldn’t have been as sad and poetic an ending, but it would have been much more believable for the character.

-Clint. Meh. I can live with Clint, I think. I don’t love it or hate it. I am glad they reestablished his closeness with Natasha after AoU tried to erase it.

-Natasha. I actually like Natasha’s character in this one. Same as Tony, I think they wrote her without compromising her. Good for them. Even though I hate that they killed her off, I think that the final scene where she fights Clint is SO WELL DONE. (Except her father wasn’t named Ivan. Not even in the MCU. But whatever. Maybe Markus and McFeely know absolutely nothing about Russian names despite giving Natasha’s full name in CA:TWS. I’ll chalk it up to ignorance. Whatever.) HOWEVER, despite liking Natasha’s character and death scene, the death should not have happened. I don’t know if you’re a comic reader, but if you are, you know that the trip happens where you see the bad guy or a random person or whatever do a Bad Thing. Then later in the comic, when the Bad Thing comes into play again and there seems like absolutely no hope, the hero pulls out One Last Magic Trick. The hero manages to do what the previous person could not. And they Save the Day because they are the hero. And the hero is the one designed to give readers hope that we can overcome all odds, etc. It is literally the entire point of superhero stories to tell the stories that “realistic” books never could. We’ll come back to my complaint with Natasha’s death in a moment.

-Scott, Rhodey, Rocket, Carol were all fine. No complaints. But Okoye.

They made it out in promo that Okoye was going to have a much more significant part. She was barely in the thing. And I think it was a very missed opportunity. We saw T’Challa turn to dust. And we were told Shuri did (although, I would have paid much bigger money to see her alive and operating as The Black Panther. She’s assumed that mantle in the comics before so definitely not out of the realm of possibility.) I wanted them to show us what Wakanda would look like with half its population dusted and its ruler gone. Does M’Baku rule? What do Okoye and the Dora Milaje look like now without their King and who do they protect/defend? They had a great opportunity to show us how the world was faring after five years post-Snap, especially a place like Wakanda that rarely suffers any devastations due to their tech. Now without that protection, how are they handling the aftermath? Enormous missed opportunity.

-Steve. On my god. Where do I even start? Going into Endgame, Steve Rogers had the BEST story arc of anyone in the MCU. But here is where Marvel really shot themselves in the foot. They let the opinions of fans after Civil War severely alter their original plans for this film. (That’s a fact that’s been admitted by former Marvel employees. I didn’t make that up.). After Civil War came out, there were two strong opinions being voiced. 1) Fans who didn’t know the comics didn’t understand Sharon being there and didn’t like her quickly becoming Steve’s love interest. 2) Fans saw the always-present and ever-growing bond between Steve and Bucky and got bolder about their campaign that Steve and Bucky were a couple. Doesn’t matter if you’re for that or not. The fact of the matter is that the idea of them as a couple has A BIG FOLLOWING. I don’t think people were really pushing to see it become a real thing on screen or anything, but the execs at Marvel suddenly did this thing where they all quickly shouted “NO HOMO” really loudly and promptly dropped Bucky from as many scenes as possible. They admitted to creating distance between Steve and Bucky for this reason. And because Steve and Sharon didn’t get the reaction they wanted, they had Steve go back and get back with Peggy.

But let’s recap here and see if any of that makes sense for Steve Rogers.

—He and Bucky were “inseparable on both playground and battlefield.”

—He literally broke the law and went behind enemy lines against orders just in case he had even the slightest chance of finding and saving Bucky from a Hydra base. He didn’t even know if Bucky was still alive.

—He added Bucky to his elite team and they fought side by side until Bucky’s “death.” When Bucky “died,” Steve went from saying, “I don’t want to kill anyone. I don’t like bullies” to saying, “I’m not going to stop until all of Hydra is dead or captured.”

—Years later, when he realized Bucky was still alive, he literally stopped mid-fight and dropped all defenses. Later in the same film (on the helicarrier), he refuses to even fight Bucky. He drops his shield and was going to very willingly let Bucky kill him rather than fight him.

— When the Accords become a thing, Steve defied his own friends and 117 countries to get Bucky to safety. And then continues defying them with Bucky at his side because he is determined that Bucky deserves due process and a lawyer and help, not imprisonment.

— He helps Bucky get somewhere safe to hide and recover and visits him there. (Russos said they even discussed showing that Steve and Bucky were in regular contact between CW and IW.)

—He fights the Battle of Wakanda with Bucky and then gets to see him disintegrate right in front of him. It’s built up to be a very big moment. Bucky collapses into nothingness and Steve sits there touching Bucky’s dust remnants and with tears in his eyes. “Oh, God.”

—Then, magically comes Endgame and Steve is in a support group for people lost in the Snap and he’s grieving over PEGGY??? HE NEVER EVEN WENT ON A DATE WITH PEGGY. NOT ONE DATE. He kissed her ONE TIME very briefly 75+ years ago! HOW CAN HE BE SO SURE THEY WERE SOULMATES?! This is just awful writing.

— Then when everyone is brought back through the portals, Steve doesn’t even look for Bucky to make sure he’s there. They fight far away from one another. They never acknowledge the other one. These men have literally looked at each other before thinking that would be the last face they ever saw and then at the Battle to End All Things, they don’t even glance around to see if the other is present.

— Steve literally barely says goodbye to Bucky. He fought and was willing to die for the man, but now he is in such a rush to get back to that one girl he kissed that one time that he forsakes the people he should care about. (Sebastian Stan says he questioned this to the Russos and was actually told to just imagine Steve and Bucky must have talked it over offscreen and Sebastian tried to fight it, but was shot down.)

— Steve jumps in a time machine and goes back to live with his supposed soulmate thus creating an alternate timeline.

I have a real problem with this. A man who has been selfless his entire life chose to go and be selfish for 75+ years instead of helping anyone. This man lives to fight injustices and we are supposed to forget that? In order to believe that he went back to a woman he didn’t know that well and who already had a husband/children. CA:TWS showed that she had lived a happy life. She told him she only regretted that he didn’t get to live his. She didn’t regret them not getting to spend theirs together. And he didn’t seem to either. He was actively moving forward with his life. Thus the reason for Sharon.

Anyway, his entire story arc which is based around him being partners with Bucky and him being selfless got absolutely destroyed when he went back in the time machine and just ran away from everything he had built.

Which seems more likely? That everything in the three Cap films and IW was wrong about his character? Or that Endgame just slapped a big “No Homo” sticker on the script and did whatever they could possibly do to make sure fans could not say that Steve and Bucky were a thing?

Furthermore, I have no problem with Sam becoming the next Cap. I have a big problem with them doing it if the reason was to further the sever the ties between Steve and Bucky.

-And the Russos said that Bucky couldn’t be Cap because his mind had been compromised and that he couldn’t be trusted with a weapon. Which means that Bucky’s whole recovery story was what? A lie? They established that Bucky was really a great guy and not a terrible terrorist. And they said Shuri fixed his mind. And we still can’t trust the guy with the shield?

So either Shuri failed dramatically even though we saw her talent and progress with him in Black Panther and IW, Bucky is now magically “too broken,” or the writers and directors are stupid.  Your call, I guess.

They literally foreshadowed Bucky!Cap in all three Cap films. Bucky handles the shield in ALL THREE FILMS. But now he can’t be trusted with a weapon? Now he’s dangerous? He literally fought the battle of Wakanda with knives and an assault rifle. The shield is a DEFENSE weapon. So this excuse is the flimsiest argument ever and says horrible things about putting trust/faith in people after they’ve been victims and recovered from trauma. Gross.

-At least they FINALLY got Scarlet Witch right. I’ve been waiting to see my favorite Avenger done right for years. No complaints here except it took them long enough.

-Let’s not even discuss how their time travel ideas and theories are a MESS. Plot holes everywhere. (Steve would have created a new time line by going back. Did he just magically put the aether back in Jane? Did he have to kick Red Skull’s ass again on Vormir because I can’t imagine he would just stand by idly. This stuff would take me too long to even add onto here.)

-But back to Natasha. If it’s a “soul for a soul,” then when Steve returned the soul stone, he should have gotten Natasha back. Apparently a lot of fans saw this plot hole because they asked the Russos about it and the response they seriously got was something to the idea of, “No, you can’t do that. It doesn’t work that way.” Which WHY NOT? (Apparently because of poor writing.)

-Also not bitter (yeah right) that Tony got this big deal send off and everyone forgot about Natasha half an hour after she died. Shouldn’t the big send off at the end have been for both of them?!?! Would that have been SO hard?!

-Should I even discuss the fact that for some stupid reason Steve goes back in time and the serum stops working? Why does he age? Thor establishes in AoU that he doesn’t think Steve is mortal. And Peggy says in CA:TFA that Steve’s cells regenerate at four times the rate of average human cells. So he should still be fairly young even if he went back to the 40s. He shouldn’t start to age like a regular human just because he time traveled. He didn’t travel back to before he got the serum. I literally said, “No,” angrily the second they showed the back of Steve when he was sitting on that bench at the end. The other people in the theater turned to look at me and I was already pissed as hell and the movie wasn’t even over yet.

-Nebula having to kill her last self just seemed sloppy and cliche. I wasn’t impressed. That character had been through hell.  She is the one who really turns the tides in in the Infinity Saga comics so for her to get such poor treatment in the film?  SHE should have been the one to kill Thanos.  I know what Thor said, but Nebula literally has a lifetime of torture to make up for and she would have gotten some small consolation in avenging the death of her sister. GUH.  THIS MAKES ME SO ANGRY.  SHE DESERVED THIS.

-So we really just backtracked and retconned Gamora’s whole story like that, huh?  I’m sure James Gunn is thrilled. (I’m joking. I’d be annoyed to high heavens if I were him.) Gunn had literally written this character’s story arc and progression and the Russos and Markus/McFeely took over and then literally wrote the story equivalent of “and then they all died” with Gamora’s story.  Such a jerk move and I sincerely hope Gunn finds a way to make GotG Vol 3 work out really well despite this.

I’m sure there’s more I’m unhappy with, but you get my point. I had high hopes for this film and they did not deliver.

It’s been months and I am still so immensely disappointed in Endgame. I expected the people who had written such great films in the past to deliver with another great film and they did not.

It wasn’t a completely awful film though. I thought they did a really good job with Doctor Strange and Wanda (finally!). And I loved Steve lifting Mjölnir! Carol’s short hair made me hot and bothered.  So the film had a few perks. 

I have friends who liked the film until I started pointing out its flaws. Sorry, not sorry. I'm glad Marvel broke box office records, but I'm not going to lie to anyone and say it was with a great film.

They are ----- And look, I never posted it on my blog because the rant ends there mid sentence and was never completed, but I think it’s safe to say I’m not happy.  That great cinematic masterpiece is a mockery of good character arcs. Anyone is welcome to try, but I’m unlikely to change my mind.

ETA: Since writing this, I have found multiple things about Tony’s character that upset me too.

[langernameohnebedeutung]

Marvel ruined MCU with that pisspoor of a movie called Endgame. No quicksilver. At least Ronin was okay could have been better. But all of it was so lame and expected throughout the film.

(warning for those who want to avoid that: this rant includes a lot of negativity and you might want to skip it if that’s not how you want to start your day! Love y’all!)

I didn’t expect them to bring back Quicksilver because I’m pretty sure that he was only in AoU to be sacrificed on the altar of their copyright stand-off with Fox - so maybe they bring him back in the future or maybe introduce Speed, but Endgame is a mess, imo. 

Basically, I think it’s the lack of a complex plot that’s also choking the life out of the characters.

(Bear with me for a moment) The thing is, I come from a family that loves crime shows. My parents basically watch nothing else, maybe the occasional French comedy, but they wouldn’t be caught dead watching a superhero film. As a result, I’ve grown pretty weary of crime-shows at some point in my teenage years (because once you watched Monk, Castle, Mentalist, Lie to Me and all the others, you’ve pretty much seen every plot, every solution etc. at least twice.)

But lately, I’ve gotten back into it. I watched for example some Adler-Olsen films and went to see Knives Out with a friend, and that’s when I realised something about films like Endgame and why they don’t work:

A good police procedural is always plot-driven. You have a crime, you need to have witnesses who are connected by the plot, you have characters who solve it in a way that makes sense and that you can follow. In a good story, a plot-twist is actually that - a plot-twist. It has to be a moment where you say: "Ooooh yeaaah fuck that makes sense! God I love/hate it!” it’s not just someone dying or someone betraying someone out of nowhere. It needs a whole lot of fucking plot to make a good plot-twist. 

There are logical cornerstones in these stories and if any of them are missing, you end up with something season 4 of Sherlock. Now, a good crime show also has interesting characters that you can get invested in and whose motives affect the plot. A strong plot doesn’t mean you have no space for good characters. In fact, one thing I realised I enjoy about these stories is that because a lot of time is invested into the actual crime-story, you need more time to find out things about the characters and find answers to your questions.

And that’s basically the opposite of what films like Endgame did. Now, I don’t expect some Noir-film about the Avengers finding out who made half the universe disappear and interrogating witnesses who saw Thanos in the ballroom with the glove. My point is, that the challenge of making a film with such high stakes and so many characters is that it needs to have a plot at its core (one that can fill three fucking hours, no less), not jokes and probably an exact number of minutes of screen time every actor gets to say their line. This film is basically the cast holding their faces into the camera in a specific order.

Of course, the superhero genre has conventions on screen, but that doesn’t mean there can’t be a plot. The MCU-Netflix all implement many elements from crime-shows and that’s exactly why we get to know the characters so well. Because we can follow them and see them react to many unique situations. There are also MCU films who did pretty good jobs focusing on their plots: Winter Soldier is basically a spy thriller and we still learnt a lot about the way Steve lives - and it’s incorporated into the plot. We find out what’s going on, how it happend and why and the characters solve the problem. Another example is Black Panther, which is in many ways really set up like a crime or spy thriller: We have a flashback to the crime that caused it all first, we get to know our characters, the main-characters (and the audience) learn why and how Killmonger does it and we understand how he’s stopped. That’s the core of the story and anything else happens around it and is attached to the plot. T’Challa opening his country based on what he learnt in this film is a direct reaction to what he learnt about his his father and uncle and cousin. Captain America going back to live with Peggy after Infinity War/Endgame...does not. We knew he loves Peggy since the first Captain America and if he has the same goal, the same motivation and the same solution to his problem after all these years...that actually shows that you either don’t understand the characters (my explanation) or that you didn’t do anything with him. Except the two films since DID things with the character which Endgame ignored.

It’s something that I noticed happens a lot with sequels, in my opinion (Pirates of the Carribean comes to mind or, again, Sherlock season 4), and I can imagine people arguing: “We watch it for the characters, no one watches it for the plot.” And that’s fair and that can work but that brings me back to my dramatic opening statement: A smaller, contained plot actually says more about the characters. If your plot becomes nothing but a generic string of dramatic moments, your characters’ reactions become generic too. 

Your loved one dies: SCREAAAAMING! (or quiet sadness :/ ). 

Some big heroic moment? - everyone else stares open-mouthed :o  . 

The villain does a big bad thing: >:( 

DRAMAAATIC SPEECH!

Someone sacrifices themselves :(

- It’s boring. 

And the motivations also become boring. If the entire fucking universe is at stake, any differences or problems the characters have with each other begin to fade into the background (or become forced and awkward, like you know, humans arguing about climate-change). So either, you embrace the characters being comically chill about everything (like Thor: Ragnarök did and Guardians of the Galaxy, by making their characters hilariously relaxed about the end of the world) or all you end up doing is stringing bland dramatic moments together. You also have no space for interesting plot-twists anymore, because you can’t build up to them.

Either it’s: something very horrible happens (everyone is shocked) or someone betrays someone (everyone is shocked). My point is, the lack of a complex plot leads to a lack of interesting characters in plot-driven fiction and that’s what Endgame ran into like it’s the end of a marathon.

There is this one really cringe-worthy scene (that they had the sense to cut) where everyone (no matter if it makes sense for the character’s story or backstory or is in keeping with their personality) kneels for Tony’s dead body. Now, this isn’t also awkward, but it also waters down any meaning it has for the characters for whom it makes sense to kneel in that moment. It really goes to show how empty this bitch of a film is.

And that really drives the point home for me (but they kept it up by giving him a huge funeral and adding just a few lines about Natascha’s death). Now, this is not to say that Tony doesn’t deserve having his sacrifice or his actions appreciated on-screen or anything, but it shows that this film is basically a zoo where you get to gawk at the characters, not a story in which they appear. The kneeling-scene is not about Tony’s sacrifice or about who he was. It’s about The DRama! of these scenes. It says nothing about the characters. It says nothing about Tony. It says nothing about Thanos’ crimes. It says nothing about the plot. It’s lazy, but they couldn’t do much else because they didn’t build up to anything more meaningful than kneeling or a funeral to showcase the other character’s sadness and admiration. They can’t focus on any meaningful elements from the plot, on developments in personal relationships - because they didn’t do any of that and ignore any that happened. Everyone is just a sad backstory and 3 jokes in a trench-coat and there is no room for them to grow or develop or form or change opinions in a meaningful capacity. Because a plot won’t allow it.

And here’s the thing: I would have preferred to wait two or three more years for this resolution and get a good answer to the open questions. But it’s all about money, contracts and copyright and not storytelling and that makes it bland.

end of rant :)))

[dukereviewsmovies]

Duke Reviews: Avengers: Age Of Ultron

Hello, I'm Andrew Leduc And Welcome To Duke Reviews Where We Are Continuing Our Look At The Marvel Cinematic Universe...

By Talking About The First Sequel To The Massive Blockbuster Known As The Avengers, Avengers: Age Of Ultron...

This Film Sees Earth's Mightiest Heroes Reuniting To Battle A Threat Created By Tony Stark And Bruce Banner Called Ultron, Who Is Out To Create What He Believes To Be The Peace Of Our Time When Really He's Causing Massive Human Extinction....

Will The Avengers Be Able To Prevent The Age Of Ultron With The Help Of Enemies Quicksilver And Scarlet Witch And A New Ally Who Calls Himself The Vision?

Let's Find Out As We Watch Avengers: Age Of Ultron...

The Film Starts In Sokovia With The Avengers Launching An Attack On Baron Von Strucker's Fortress And Forces...

(End At 4:30)

(End At 4:25)

Searching Strucker's Secret Room, Tony Finds One Of The Chitauri's Leviathans Before He Finds Loki's Scepter But Before He Can Grab It He's Blasted By The Other Olsen Twin Who Gives Him A Vision Of The Avengers Failing To Save Earth Because He Failed...

And It's This Vision That Changes Tony Completely And Makes Tony Believe Every Decision He Makes From Here On Out Is The Right One Even Though To Others It May Seem Like The Wrong Choice...

As Kick Ass Zooms In We Get A Title Card As Tony Grabs The Scepter...

Returning To The Newly Dubbed Avengers Tower, Hill (Who Now Works For Tony After The Downfall Of S.H.I.E.L.D.) Tells Cap About Scarlet Witch And Quicksilver While Hawkeye Gets Healed And Tony's Iron Legion Returns From Sokovia...

But As All That Goes On Tony (With Help From J.A.R.V.I.S.) Analyze Loki's Staff And Discover That While The Scepter Is Alien, The Jewel Is Housing Something Inside That's Like A Computer As J.A.R.V.I.S. Discovers Code...

Telling Banner This By Showing Him The Data Of The Jewel, Tony Thinks That It Is Perfect For His Ultron Program That Tony Is Making For His Iron Legion And Asks For Bruce's Help With It.

Despite Being Against It At First And Wanting To Tell The Rest Of The Team, Bruce Eventually Caves And Decides To Help Tony While They Have The Staff For The Alotted 3 Days That Thor Is Allowing Them To Have...

As Tony And Banner Get Ready For A Party Tony Is Throwing In Honor Of The Avengers Defeat Of Strucker, The Ultron Integration To The Iron Legion Is Complete. But As Ultron Awakens, He Questions His Programming Which Leads To Ultron Malfunctioning And Using Advanced A.I. Abilities To Kill J.A.R.V.I.S. As He Creates A Body Out Of One Of The Iron Legion Armors

Meanwhile, At Tony's Party Everyone Seems To Be Having A Good Time Even The Avengers Themselves, Rhodey (Who's Back As War Machine From Now On)

Guess Iron Patriot Didn't Well With Focus Groups After All...

Sam (Who's Been Helping Cap Track Down Bucky Since The End Of Winter Solider) And Stan Lee Who's Cameo Is Here...

Stan Lee Cameo!

Anyway After Everyone Is Gone The Avengers Along With Rhodey And Maria Hill They Hold A Contest Of Who Could Lift Thor's Hammer With Cap Being The Closest Only To Be Interrupted By Ultron, Who Reveals He Is On A Mission To Destroy The Avengers With The Help Of Stark's Iron Legion...

Escaping Through The Internet, Ultron Goes To Strucker's Castle Where He Can Build Himself A New Body...

With Everything Gone From Their Computers And Loki's Staff Gone As Well, They Discover The Computerized Remains Of J.A.R.V.I.S. As The Team Worries About Ultron Hacking Into Nuke Codes....

Knowing That They Have To Not Only Get The Scepter Back But Stop Ultron, They Ask Tony Why Ultron Is Trying To Kill Them And Of Course It All Goes Back To The Battle With The Chitauri And Tony's Vision That Scarlet Witch Gave Him...

Speaking Of Scarlet Witch And Quicksilver, In Sokovia, Ultron In A New Body Recruits Them To Help With His Plans To Save The World By Getting Rid Of The Avengers As We Discover Why Scarlet Witch Let Tony Have The Scepter Which Is Because She Saw Tony's Fear And That It Would Control Him And Make Him Self Destruct...

Uh, Self Destruct On Him? How About Self Destruct On You Or Do The Words Civil War Not Mean Anything To You, Wanda?

And Why They Are Who They Are And That's Because They Believe Tony Stark Killed Their Parents As One Of His Companies Missiles Killed Their Folks And Nearly Killed Them As They Were Buried Under Rubble...

Discovering Reports Of A Metal Man Or Men, Someone Making People See Old Fears And Memories And Someone Too Fast To See Breaking Into Robotics Labs, Weapons Facilities And Jet Propulsion Labs All Over The Globe, The Avengers Continue Their Search For Ultron...

But When Strucker Is Found Dead In His Cell With The Word Peace Written In Blood, They Start Going Through Hard Copy Files When Everything They Had On Strucker Is Gone From Their Computers...

Eventually Tony Discovers That Someone He Once Knew Named Ulysses Klaw With Connections To The Home Of A Certain Black Panther And The Vibranium That Not Only Powers His Suit But Captain America's Shield...

Traveling To Africa, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch And Ultron Do Buisness With Ulysses Klaw (Played By Supreme Leader Snoke) To Get Vibranium Only For Ultron To Cut Of Klaw's Hand When Ultron Says Something That Tony Stark Once Said To Him...

Ooh, Foreshadowing....

(Start At 1:10)

Blasted By Scarlet Witch, Black Widow, Cap And Thor Have Visions We Start Black Widow Who Sees Visions Of Her Time In The Red Room (Which Is The Black Widow Training Ground) Then Move On To Cap Who Is At A 1930s Dance Hall Where He Dances With Peggy Only To Have A Symbolic Moment, I Guess Which Has Him Realizing That Everyone He Cared For Back Then Is Gone...

And Finally Thor Who Sees That Asgard Has Turned Into Christian Grey's Playground Only To Be Confronted By Heimdall Who Sees That Thor Will Lead Them Into Hell And He Will Destroy Them (Which Obviously Isn't True)...

Anyway Aside From Those Moments Of Either Foreshadowing Or Just Scenes That Have No Reason To Be In This Movie, Tony Eventually Destroys The Version Of Ultron That's There Only To Now Deal With A Rampaging Hulk That Scarlet Witch Has Turned Loose On The City Which Forces Tony To Activate The Hulkbuster Suit To Take Him Down...

(Start At 0:30, End At 4:50)

With Banner Calmed Down, The Avengers Decide To Lay Low As Hill Deals With The Press And The Police On The Attack In Africa But The Question Now Is Where Do They Go?, Luckily, Hawkeye May Have The Answer They're Looking For...

Taking Them To A Rustic Farm (That Looks Like It May Already Be Occupied By The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, April O'Neil And Casey Jones) Hawkeye Introduces The Team To His Family...

Wow, I Didn't Know Velma Dinkley Was Married To A Superhero....

While Ultron, Scarlet Witch And Quicksilver Visit The Team Doctor, Helen Cho In Seoul So She Can Create A Living Body Into A Reanimation Cradle That Her And Tony Have Been Developing For Ultron To Download His Consciousness Into, Refusing, Ultron Decides To Convince Helen To Help Him Using Loki's Scepter...

Back On The Farm, The Team Has Some Moments On The Farm Which Eventually Lead To Tony Talking With Nick Fury In The Barn, Who Aside From Telling Tony To Cut It Out With The Maximoff Vision Crap, Is There To Help The Team...

Telling The Team That Ultron Isn't Having Any Luck Getting Nuke Launch Codes As They're Changed Frequently By Unknown Sources And That His Contacts Believe That Ultron Is Actually Building Something Which Leads Banner To Realize That Ultron Is Trying To Evolve Above Humans As He Believes Humans Are Significantly Insufficient Hence Helen Cho...

And Speaking Of Dr. Cho, She Is Just About Done With Ultron's New Body Only Thing That Needs To Be Added Is The Stone From Loki's Scepter Which Is Revealed To Be The Mind Stone...

With Steve Taking Natasha And Clint With Him, Tony Heads To Oslo To Do Reconnaissance From There While Fury Takes Banner Back To Avengers Tower So He Can Pick Up Hill Who Will Help Him With Something Dramatic...

But You're Probably Wondering Where Thor Is...

Well, Unable To Get Scarlet Witch's Vision From His Mind Thor Decides To Take Off To Get Erik Selvig To Take Him To The Spa Of Sight That Will Allow Him To Re-Enter His Dream To Find Out What He Missed...

Uh, Unless You're Into Weird Fetishes, Thor I Highly Doubt You Missed Anything...

But Miss Something He Did, As It Shows All The Infinity Stones Except For The Time Stone And I Guess Ultron's Plan...

And Speaking Of Ultron's Plan, Wanda Looks Into The Mind Of The Body That Is Inside Of The Reanimation Cradle And Sees Ultron's Ultimate Plan To Destroy The World...

Believing That Ultron Lied To Them, Wanda Snaps Dr. Cho Out Of Her Mind Stone Hypnosis And She Stops The Download Which Forces Ultron To Kill Her And Her Team As The Maximoffs Escape...

As Cap, Hawkeye And Widow Arrive With Enough Time To Save Dr. Cho, Ultron And His Metal Minions Take The Reanimation Cradle Onto A Truck Only For Hawkeye To Spot It From Above So Cap Can Jump On It And Fight Ultron...

With The Help Of The Maximoff Twins, Cap Was Able To Stop Ultron And Save A Runaway Train While Widow Gets The Reanimation Cradle On The Quinjet With Hawkeye Only For Widow To Get Captured By Ultron's Minions

Talking With The Maximoffs Afterward, They Ask Where The Reanimation Cradle Is Only For Cap To Tell Them That It's On It's Way To Tony, Which Leads Wanda To Believe That He Will Only Make Matters Worse By Using It To Fix Things

And Right She Is, As Tony To Convince Banner To Help Him Place The Person Who Has Been Beating Ultron All Along Into The Reanimation Cradle, J.A.R.V.I.S

Turns Ultron Didn't Attack J.A.R.V.I.S. Because He Was Scared But Attacked Him Because He Was Afraid Of What He Could Do, So He Went Underground And Scattered His Memory Throughout The Net To Try To Stop Ultron...

Believing That After All That's Happened It's A Bad Idea, Banner Decides To Do It Anyway. Luckily, Cap And The Maximoff Twins Arrive To Stop Them Which Leads To A Heated Argument Of Right And Wrong Between The Team Until Thor Arrives To Get Everyone To Shut Up And Bring The Body In The Reanimation Cradle To Life...

Forming Clothes And A Cape Out Of It's Skin, Thor Tells The Others About His Vision And That Tony Is Right The Avengers Cannot Beat Ultron Not Alone...

Telling Cap And The Others That Unlike Ultron He Is On The Side Of Life Where Ultron Isn't And That He Doesn't Want To Kill Him But The Pain He Is Creating Will Roll Over The Earth If He Isn't Destroyed Which Kind Of Gets Them To Trust Them...

But None Of That Matters Now As Barton Has Located Ultron With Nat In Sokovia And Need To Go Now...

With Tony Downloading A New A.I. Named F.R.I.D.A.Y. To His Suit And Ultron Knowing That They're Coming The Odds Are Stacked Against Them So, The Priority Will Be The Evacuation Of The City While Discovering What Ultron Has Been Building At Strucker's Fortress And Saving Black Widow At The Same Time Which Banner Does Only So They Could Run Afterward...

But Knowing That She'll Be Unable To Live With Herself If That Happens, Widow Pushes Banner Down A Hole So He Can Become The Hulk...

(Imitating Baby Plucky) Hulk Go Down The Hole!

On Board The Quinjet, The Hulk Gets A Call From Black Widow Asking Him To Turn Back But Instead He Decides To Go Off On His Own To Take A Nice Vacation In Sakkar As Vision Destroys The Last Ultron Minion, Destroying Ultron Once And For All...

And With Everything Done, Hawkeye Decides To Retire From The Avengers To Spend Time With His Family While Tony Builds A New Training Facility/Alternate HQ For The Avengers Where They Can Train...

But Unfortunately It's Going To Have To Be Without Thor (Who Is Going Off To Solve The Mystery Of Who Is Making The Infinity Stones Appear Out Of Nowhere) And Tony (Who Is Going Spend More Time With Pepper And Build Her A Log Cabin) But Just Because The Team Is Down A Few Members It Doesn't Mean That They'll Be Short On Team Members....

Nope, Not On Your Life As Scarlet Witch, The Vision, Falcon And War Machine Join The Team As New Avengers...

Sadly, There's No End Credit Scene But There Is A Mid Credits Scene Which Sees Thanos Grabbing The Infinity Gauntlet And Deciding To Take Matters Into His Own Hands...

And That's Avengers: Age Of Ultron And...It's Okay...

While The Action Scenes Are Great, The Villain Is Good And There Is Loads Of Character Development Throughout The Movie, The Color In Some Of Those Fight Scenes Are Not Good Especially The Ones In Africa, Having Both Scarlet Witch And Quicksilver As Bad Guys Was Completely Pointless (Yes, I Know In Their Comic Book History They Were Bad Guys Before They Became Good Guys But Without Magneto And The Brotherhood That Part In Their History Is Pointless)...

There Are More Reasons Why I Don't Like This Movie But I Feel Like I've Been Writing This Review Forever And I Just Want To End It Also I Can't Think Of Any Other Reasons Right Now So, For This One I Would Say Skip It But I Honestly Don't Know If It's That Bad To Skip So I'll Leave This One Up To You Guys....

Till Next Time, This Is Duke, Signing Off...

[enchanted--roses]

So, i kind of did a Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki mini biography for Abigail and summarized what she done from the first Captain America Movie to Avengers Endgame;

Sergeant Abigail Lydia "Abby" Barnes is a World War II veteran, a founding member of the Avengers and Earth's second superhero. She never thought that she will be part of the war effort at all, but when she left Barnard College; Howard Stark will recruited her at first for his company but then he asked her to part of the Strategic Scientific Reserve. She is the second person to have the super soldier formula developed by Abraham Erskine injected in her system and feel the changes. All of this in the biggest secret, they didn’t want anyone to know that the test had been done on another human. She continues to work for the SSR and must stay away from Steve Rogers her best friend for a while. She helps Rogers release prisoners of war who included her brother, helping the young man to finally join the military.

From 1943 to 1945, Barnes attacked several HYDRA bases alongside the Howling Commandos, despite the fact that her brother and Steve were against the idea. These missions only strengthened the bond that united Barnes and Steve who were beginning to be more open to the possibility of a relationship, much to the delight of her brother. Despite the fact that her brother apparently died during their last mission together, she continued to help the Allies win the war wanting revenge, a few days later Steve disappeared in the Arctic during a mission, she decides then to take over from the young man as the second incarnation of Captain America. For a few days with Howard’s help she creates a new costume for her and he finds vibranium to make her a new shield, where she will engrave the names of Steve and Bucky.

From April 5, 1945 to May 7, 1946, she was sent on mission by the SSR to capture those who escaped justice, sometimes sending her to help Peggy Carter resolve her investigations. On May 8, 1946, she was sent in secret to Europe for a new mission. There was a rumor going around about the alleged return of HYDRA, what they did not know was that HYDRA had never stopped existing. During her mission, she was taken by surprise and left for dead. She was saved by the Ancient One who took her to Kamar-Taj and cared for her. The former will also decide to teach her the mystical arts, she had seen what the future would be for Abigail. During her stay, she felt a presence calling her and taking her towards the time stone, while it is protected by spells, she managed to approach it and touch it. The Ancient One who followed her will watch the powers of the stone merge into the young woman who did not notice what was happening, making her more powerful than she was.

In December 1946 on the 24th to be more precise, Barnes returned home a changed woman and more dangerous than before. She could have become the master of the New York Sanctum, but she refused wanting to return to her former life From December 1946 to February 5, 1947 she went on a few missions, before she was transported in 2010, where she will be trained by Natasha Romanov and Clint Barton, the latter becoming of one her best friend. October 2011, she finds herself in front of a Steve Rogers surprised to see her and who agrees to leave with her to recover and understand the world. After Loki stole the Tesseract from S.H.I.E.L.D. and declaring war on humanity, Nick Fury asks Barnes and Rogers to recover what they had once called the HYDRA weapon and to thwart Loki's plans. Joining the Avengers, Barnes played one of the key roles in the Battle of New York: she successfully ended the Chitauri invasion, captured Loki, and brought back the Tesseract.

She joined S.H.I.E.L.D. to continue what she had undertaken by taking over from Steve to maintain peace and justice. She joined forces with Captain America and Black Widow in the conflict with the Winter Soldier, who had apparently murdered Fury. When Steve is blamed by Alexander Pierce, they discovered that HYDRA secretly existed as a parasite within S.H.I.E.L.D. and that they were considering using Project Insight as a way to create a new world order, while learning that the Winter Soldier was actually her big brother, Bucky, playing the role of brainwashed murderer. Along with Rogers, Romanoff, Maria Hill and Falcon, Barnes ended the HYDRA insurgency. As the immediate threat of HYDRA was overcome, Abby and Steve embarked on a quest to locate Bucky and bring him back.

During the search for Bucky, the Avengers come together to eliminate the remains of HYDRA, which leads Abby and Steve to abandon their own quest and join all their former teammates to seize the Staff and Baron Wolfgang von Strucker. After securing their victory, Abby was immediately thrown into another crisis when Ultron, the new peacekeeping artificial intelligent program designed by Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, began a plot to eliminate humanity. Following a prolonged and brutal conflict in which Vision's creation gave them an advantage, Ultron was defeated during the Battle of Sokovia: However, the cost of their battle meant many of the Avengers disbanded, while Rogers and Romanoff stayed to lead the second incarnation of the Avengers.

While the Avengers conducted worldwide missions, they soon began tracking down Crossbones, only for Scarlet Witch to be blamed for innocent deaths when she failed to fully contain an explosion that Crossbones caused. Thaddeus Ross used the disaster to write the Sokovia Accords, but Barnes and Rogers refused to sign because of moral disagreements. Their problems increased more as Barnes resurfaced having seemingly caused a recent terrorist bombing. The couple chose to protect Bucky, which then led Ross to send Stark to apprehend the three of them. Upon learning Helmut Zemo was to blame, they fought against their former allies to find Zemo, only for Zemo's schemes to finally be completed as he revealed Barnes killed Stark's parents, resulting in Barnes and Rogers going on the run and the Avengers falling apart due to Rogers and Stark's conflict.

After saving his friends from the Raft, Abby and Steve sent Bucky to gain help from the Black Panther in Wakanda, while they and all of their allies became vigilantes. However, when Thanos and his black order attacked Earth in search of the last Infinity Stones, Abby came out of her hiding place and went to help Strange at the Sanctum in New York, while Steve was taking Vision to Wakanda. When Tony left after Strange, she went to join her family and friends at Wakanda, thus resisting the assault of the Outriders sent by Thanos. Despite their success with destroying Thanos' forces, when Thanos himself arrived on the planet, having taken the time stone from Strange's hands, he effortlessly overpowered Steve and all the other heroes before stopping in front of Abby and tell her that she had powers from an Infinity Stone, but that despite everything he would succeed in beating her. He then overpowered her and took the Mind Stone, killing Vision in the process. hanos completed his goal and wiped out half of the population of the universe, leaving Abby to witness the death of her older brother again and her countless friends.

Five years after the Snap, Mystice and the rest of the Avengers found a method to traverse through time safely and traveled to various points in the past to collect the six Infinity Stones, unfortunately they lost Romanoff who sacrificed herself for the Soul Stone. After successfully in the resurrection of the lives taken by the snap, Mystice took part in the Battle of Earth and figured out how to use her power coming from the time stone to their full potential, returning attacks to her attackers, seeing the attacks before it happens. After Iron Man sacrificed his life to kill Thanos and his army, Abby attended her friend's funeral before letting Steve go back in time to restore Mjølnir and the Infinity Stones to their original time. When the time to come back arrive a problem arose. Abby decided to use her powers to go back in time in 1950 shortly after the creation of S.H.I.E.L.D. she found Steve trying to get back into the present with Howard’s help. Abby standing in front of her mentor decided to stay for a while before going back into the present with Steve. They return a few months before their departure, they wanted to have a moment of calm without people asking to help them. At the time of their departure in the past, they visited Wilson in 2023 where Steve will give him his shield. Abby will take the opportunity to speak with her brother announcing that she is pregnant, making him smile and take her in his arms.

[jimintomystery]

So You Decided to Get Into Avengers after Endgame Came Out: A Guide

First of all, I feel your pain.  You had better things to do besides watching a gazillion Marvel movies, but now Avengers: Endgame is in the only thing in theaters and everybody’s going nuts about it.  But this movie is super-duper not accessible.  More than any other Marvel movie, this one assumes you know what’s going on and it can point to the box office history to back up that assumption.  (I’m not a fan of that choice tbqh.)  So now you can’t watch this 3-hour movie without everyone telling you to watch 20 other 3-hour movies.

Well, you’d be justified to say “screw it,” but if you still want to take the plunge, I’m here for you.  I was here when the first Avengers came out, and all the kids who saw the movie were like “I want to read the comics now but it’s hard.”  Yeah, it’s hard.  So comics fans like me helped them out, and now those baby fans know more about the Avengers than I do.  That’s how it goes around here--we work together, to follow the continuity no single superfan could withstand.

This is not a comprehensive guide to the “Marvel Cinematic Universe.”  This isn’t even a guide to the best movies.  This is the quickest way to get you up to speed so you can enjoy Avengers: Endgame.  Don’t let this stuff scare you.  You can do it.

Hashtag whatever it takes.

(The following contains very very light extra mild spoilers for stuff BEFORE Endgame, for people who managed to not care about those spoilers for 11 years.)

The short-short version

There are four main Avengers movies

Avengers 1 (2012)

Avengers 2: Age of Ultron (2015)

Avengers 3: Infinity War (2018)

Avengers 4: Endgame (2019)

Obviously the fourth movie kind of assumes you saw the first three.  More importantly, 3 and 4 are a two-part story (like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I & II), so those two are really really inseparable.

Avengers 1 is the most succinct introduction of the main characters: Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, the Hulk, the Black Widow, and Hawkeye.  You could watch the movies that came before Avengers 1 for more detailed introductions, but you don’t need to unless you’re super confused.  (If you just cannot handle the idea of literal Norse gods running around, I guess watching Thor 1 might help, but superhero stories work better if you’re more like “that’s weird but okay.”)

Avengers 2...didn’t go over real well with fans, and it struggled with telling its own story while trying to set up stuff for future movies.  However, since the future movies in question were Avengers 3 and Avengers 4, that’s the stuff you’re interested in.  Also Avengers 2 debuts key secondary characters (the Vision and the Scarlet Witch) and is a convenient way to be introduced to others (War Machine and the Falcon).

Captain America 3: Civil War (2016) came out between Avengers 2 and Avengers 3, and it basically ends up being Avengers 2½.  This is arguably the hardest one to skip, since it fundamentally changes the relationship between Captain America and Iron Man, and sets up where the characters are at leading into Avengers 3.  You also get to meet Black Panther, the Winter Soldier, Ant-Man, and Spider-Man without devoting a ton of time to more movies.  To be fair, Avengers 3 does attempt to explain what has happened since Avengers 2, but it’s kinda hard since so much is going on in Avengers 3.  I happen to like this movie a lot, so I think it’s worth the slight detour.

Avengers 3 is where Thanos comes looking for the Infinity Stones, to put on his Infinity Gauntlet.  It may seem like all the movies are about Thanos and Infinity Stones, but don’t believe the hype.  Prior to this, some of the movies had plot devices that turned out to be Infinity Stones, and some of the movies featured Thanos cameos.  But the actual story starts here--all the teases and hints were just to establish that our heroes have a clue about what’s going on.  Many characters from other movies meet the Avengers for the first time, but if you haven’t watches those movies you’ll be no more or less confused than the Avengers are.

Avengers 4 picks up right where Avengers 3 left off.  I won’t say much about it, except that is trying to pay homage to all the movies before it while also trying to serve as an ending, which is challenging.  To accomplish that I think they sacrificed accessibility, so there are many scenes that depend on you recognizing references to earlier movies.  BUT, I think you can get by just from seeing Avengers 1-3 and Cap 3: Civil War.

Extra credit homework

Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier (2014) shows how Cap, a World War II hero, is adjusting to life after waking up in the 2010s and joining the Avengers.  If you’re confused about SHIELD, Hydra, or the Winter Soldier, this will help.  This is one of my favorites.

Guardians of the Galaxy 1 (2014) introduces a rag-tag band of misfits in deep space, led by a half-human/half-alien mercenary.  Aside from being fun, it delves into Marvel’s approach to aliens and cosmic powers.  If you’re wondering why all the aliens speak English and don’t wear real spacesuits and use glowy rocks to do everything...well, this doesn’t explain it, but it teaches you to chill out about it.

Thor 3: Ragnarok (2017) has very little do to with the first two Thor movies, except that it dramatically tears down the status quo.  The aftereffects of this are felt in Thor’s appearances in Avengers 3 and Avengers 4.  If you would be confused by questions like “why would Norse gods be refugees on a spaceship?” or “why would Norse gods have weird alien friends?” or “is Thor...like, okay?” then this movie will help.

Captain Marvel (2019) introduces Captain Marvel.  A teaser in Avengers 3 made it seem like she’d be a big deal, but her role in Avengers 4 kinda fails to properly introduce her.  I guess they figured everyone would watch this movie.  You certainly can watch this movie, but I don’t know that it’s essential, beyond understanding that “Captain Marvel is hella tough and she’s so cool.”  And I could just tell you that.  So I will.  Captain Marvel is hella tough and she’s so cool.

Wait, what are you leaving out?

If you are concerned that skipping over all the other movies will cause you to miss a key plot point related to the main Avengers series, allow me to briefly summarize what you need to know from them.  That way you can decide whether to sink time into actually watching these movies, or just reading my quick notes.

Iron Man 1 (2008) - Tony Stark becomes Iron Man and meets SHIELD; he’s like “I want cheeseburgers” and his chauffeur is like “sure, whatever”

The Incredible Hulk (2008) - The Hulk exists, pretty much

Iron Man 2 (2010) - Iron Man’s friend James Rhodes becomes War Machine

Thor 1 (2011) - The world finds out Thor and Loki are real

Captain America 1: The First Avenger (2011) - Steve Rogers becomes a super-soldier in 1943, fights the Red Skull with his friend Bucky, and he never got to dance with Peggy Carter, his best girl :(

Iron Man 3 (2013) - Iron Man has anxiety attacks about the events of Avengers 1.  Then he makes friends with a little boy.

Thor 2: The Dark World (2013) - Thor brings his human girlfriend to Asgard to meet his parents!

Ant-Man (2015) - Hank Pym invented shrinky-juice called Pym particles and gave it to Scott Lang.  I skipped this one, tbh

Doctor Strange (2016) - Doc takes over the Ancient One’s job protecting Earth from weird magical dimensions

Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2 (2017) - Mantis joins the team and Nebula stops trying to kill them so they can be friends.

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) - Peter kisses a girl, maybe?  I skipped this one too lol

Black Panther (2018) - Black Panther has a genius little sister named Shuri and a cool general named Okoye and omg everybody loves this movie because it’s great

Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) - Hank Pym’s daughter becomes the Wasp and they rescue her mom.  I skipped this too (uh-oh I’m a bad Marvel fan)

Now, if you want to marathon all these movies, you go right ahead.   They’re generally very good!  But don’t let nobody tell you that you’ve got to watch them all.  It’s not that complicated.

In conclusion all you really really need is Avengers 1, Avengers 2, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers 3, Avengers 4.  And if you need a hand, you’ve got a zillion people waiting to help.

[takaraphoenix]

🔥 ........ marvel?

I absolutely hate the viewer-baiting MCU-tie in shows. Like, they haven’t even started airing but I am already so very sure that they’re not going to be good? They literally only exist so people will subscribe to the Disney streaming service and they’re so... shallow.

Loki? Purely for popularity’s sake. And it’s such a stupid concept. Like. There are things you could explore with Loki especially post-Endgame, but instead... it’s a... prequel... about when Loki was still the bratty, whiny, entitled princeling? Yikes. I was rather pleased with how he had been growing to be more than “odIn Is So MeAn So I hAtE tHoR!!!!” but... they’re basically setting Loki back to that mode exactly by making it a prequel and hng.

A rom com with Vision and Wanda? Personal feelings on Wanda aside, that ship died the quickest death for me when Wanda crashed Vision through the floor because she was on house-arrest. That’s... even if your boyfriend can go through walls... Really Not Good. And that short scene of them playing house in Infinity War did nothing to wash that taste away??

Sam and Bucky? WHEN DOES THIS TAKE PLAAACEEE? Because seriously, it’s not like Sam and Bucky actually know each other?? They worked together in Civil War, but then Bucky got put on ice until Infinity War. They fought two whole battles with each other. At what point exactly are they retconning a show in there, considering that post Endgame, Sam is literally Captain America and I’d rather see him carry a damn Captain America movie than be sidelined into a TV show.

Clint Barton TV show? Uhm... The MCU has done absolutely everything in their powers to ruin this character literally from the get-go and Endgame didn’t exactly make him a more lovable character by turning him into a serial killer?? And... introducing Kate Bishop? After Clint literally called his daughter Hawkeye in the Endgame movie?? How much, on a scale from 1 to 10, do you want to confuse movie-goers who are then meeting an entirely new Hawkeye? Not to mention that Kate Bishop would deserve to have a movie. Just because you made one (1) female-led superhero movie doesn’t mean you have to stop there. You’re allowed to have more than one??

These are all additional tag-ons after things are wrapped. Like, I’m in a place in my mind right now where I am genuinely done with the MCU because it was really well-wrapped. It ended. That they continue to shoehorn, very specifically, into the Infinity Saga is making my eye twitch.

Especially since this is already twenty-two movies long. And now, if you want the full, actual content of it all, you’d also have to watch TV shows? Since these actually tie into the MCU, unlike their other ““tie-in”“ TV shows like Agents of SHIELD that mattered so little, they didn’t even bring Coulson into Endgame because they know no one watches that show and it’ll only confuse the people who only watch the shows.

These aren’t projects that feel like excitement. I used to feel excitement about MCU content, but now with their three movies a year schedule, it’s become more of a chore. Yes, I was very excited for Captain Marvel because it was something entirely fresh and new. Same goes for Black Panther, but aside from them, it’s become a little much with just how many they pump out and those TV shows? They feel more like homework assignments you have to do for the movies than like something that’d actually get me hyped.

Personally, I would 100% rather have them pour that money into actual cartoon shows. Give every OG Avenger their own cartoon show, with Arrowverse-style crossover events once a season where they get to “Avengers Assemble!”. Give Black Panther his own cartoon show. Now that you got the rights back, give X-Men a new cartoon show - and reanimate that dead project of a Deadpool cartoon.

Do something new and exciting with the properties instead of dragging the Infinity Saga on and on and on until you gotta bingewatch an entire month without break to make sense of shit anymore.

That’s the beauty of comics and multiverses; you could have parallel-running adaptations of things. Not everything has to be MCU, you could do new, exciting things with those characters!

[agentem]

Captain Marvel spoiler review

Ok. I give up on figuring out the spoiler cut on mobile. If you haven’t seen, please skip this!

Spoilers!

You have probably seen that I have been pretty defensive about Captain Marvel on tumblr. That is because I think she should get the same chance as a male MCU hero, not because i think she is perfect or anything.

One thing I was actively worried about with this film was the origin story. Carol’s origin is weird and complicated. There was an alien named Mar-Vell and he had powers and fought this bad guy. There was a machine called a psyche-magnetron that exploded and gave her powers. At least that is how it goes in the comics. But it is SO dated for her to literally get her powers from a man, especially if Marvel wants her to be their standout female character.

And it’s not easily summed up. To further complicate things, she is of two worlds. She is from Earth but had Kree DNA.

Watching the film, I thought about Thor. The first Thor movie also had two worlds and I liked the parts on Earth best, but the Asgardian world had a distinct look to it. I think Boden/Fleck were a bit hamstrung by the fact that the Kree were somewhat established in Guardians of the Galaxy. You see Hala and think “alien planet” but not like “wow, that is beautiful and different” if that makes sense.

It’s always interesting to see these films with my sister, because she doesn’t read comics or get all obsessed on tumblr like I do. When we got home she was looking at how the MCU films were ranked (not on RottenTomatoes but another similar site) and she was like, “this is wrong. It was better than some of these.”

We agreed immediately that it wasn’t as good as Black Panther. And I think it would be tough to be the first origin story to follow that one, because usually they are a bit wobbly and crammed with backstory. Certainly think it’s on par with other origin stories, like the aforementioned Thor.

I was also worried about Maria and Monica. For those that don’t know, Monica Rambeau is a superhero who was also Captain Marvel and she was before Carol was. She has since changed her name to Spectrum (and Photon, which was Maria’s Air Force call signal) which is confusing.

I wanted Monica in the movie—it felt right since she was Captain Marvel too—but I did not want her to feel like a sidekick, because Carol and Monica don’t have that relationship. I was iffy on “Maria” who is really just a name in the comics, and then Lashana Lynch came into the project late after the first actress dropped out and I was like, “oh no, what happened?” Is the script changing? What is this part?

But I liked Maria a lot. She does feel like “the black friend,” which we have already seen from Iron Man and Captain America: Winter Soldier. But Sam and Rhodey are faves of mine so I am not mad at it exactly. I just want more for characters of color. I was very glad that we got to see Monica do some flying and even take out a Kree of her own (though I was sad about which one it was) because she could have been in Carol’s place that day. Then she would have the crazy powers. Carol just got there first. I thought Lynch did a really good job and is someone to watch.

Plus, I feel there is a bud of hope that young Monica is a future star, not a supporting player. Though I am still worried she comes off a bit more like Kamala Khan than Monica Rambeau (again, neither of these characters are bad they are just different). But Kamala is a star too. Perhaps in the intervening years, Monica will grow into someone more like the character we know. Hopefully. (She would be in her mid-30s during the events of Infinity War.)

I continue to think they were smart to bring Sam Jackson back. You know I have missed him. I talk about it all the time. But here what is so evident is how he grounds a film so well. Like think about all the crazy shit Nick Fury has to make seem real. It’s astounding. I don’t necessarily think that Phil Coulson needed to be there. (In the theater, people cheered when he came on screen and the little boy next to me said, “who is that?” Which reminded me that The Avengers was actually a long time ago and that we are old.)

I read a review that said they wished Carol could retroactively show up in Avengers and, indeed, that does seem to be what the film builds toward. So seeing Carol pop up in the mid-credit sequence was the biggest cheer moment in the film, which maybe doesn’t speak that well of the actual film? I am not sure where I am going with this thought. Except to say it succeeds in that it convinces us there was a hole in the Avengers team this entire time and we didn’t know about it. Which is both cool and a bummer.

As for the cast, they did trick me with Annette Bening. I thought she would be Helen Cobb, Carol’s mentor from the Kelly Sue DeConnick (cameo in the train station! I saw her red hair!) run. Bening just looks like her. And I didn’t see the twist that she was Mar-Vell coming. Though perhaps it was obvious to some.

My sister said she thought Bening was miscast. And that got me wondering if they intentionally cast someone who looked like Helen. Sister said she wished Glenn Close had gotten this role instead of the throwaway in Guardians of the Galaxy. I am always in favor of more Glenn Close and do hope she might be in a “Nova” film because she was sorely wasted.

I think Jude Law is kind of perfect for the possible leading man but is really a dick turn. You almost believe him when he says, “I’m so proud of you.” Between this and Spy, I am starting to wonder if I missed the boat on Jude Law.

My real fave of the Kree was Min-Erva (Gemma Chan) and I really thought she would come back and be the main villain of the sequel so I was kind of devastated when she died. I loved how blunt she was with “I just didn’t like you.” I would love to see a head-to-head with her. Just two very different women.

Everyone loved Goose. I am still sad they didn’t call her Chewie. The biggest cliffhanger is WHAT HAPPENED TO GOOSE. Did she did? Do Flerken age like cats do? Has she just been in Nick Fury’s office all this time? No, she can’t be. She wasn’t in Winter Soldier.

Maybe she bailed after coughing up the Tesseract (which I did not know was going to be in this film at all. I thought Howard Stark found it and that was how it got to SHIELD. I think that makes Howard even lamer?) and she went to find Monica? I would love it if Carol comes back and Monica is like “bitch, where have you been? Your cat peed on my laundry.” (And somehow led Monica on adventures that gave her her own superpowers? A girl can dream.)

We need to cast someone awesome as adult Monica. I have been looking through IMDb. It’s a sickness. I like Spectrum. I like all lady heroes. We still need MORE.

Do you hear me, dumb fanboys? We were not done with female superheroes after Wonder Woman. We were not done after Jessica Jones. We are not done after Captain Marvel. And guess what, we will not be done after Black Widow either, so stop acting like babies and just get the fuck out of the way.

Because if you try to pull the shit that you pulled about this movie with Monica or Kamala or Storm? We will have to kill you. Full stop.

FINAL THOUGHT: Goose can hold the Tesseract. Red Skull died holding the Tesseract. Red Skull founded Hydra. Hydra was part of the Nazi Party. Goose is stronger than Nazis.

This is science.

[nleeowens]

Marvel's Endgame Made Me Feel Miserable; And So Has Other Movies

Since Marvel is rereleasing Endgame with new scenes, I decided to post my personal essay on how I felt about the fatphobia and abelism directed to Thor because I have no where else to post it lol

April 26, 2019 was a historical day. And it wasn’t because it was the eve of my birthday, though in my humble opinion it would’ve been a pretty special day on that alone. No, it was historical because it marked the theatrical release of Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame. The finale to the culmination of nearly ten years of twenty-two superhero blockbusters. At the time of writing this,  it is less than 75 million dollars away from toppling Avatar as the highest grossing movie of all time. (Avatar you know the movie with the blue people that everyone watched but no one remembers.)

    I basically grew up with these movies. Celebrated the end of my middle school years with the first Iron Man, the end of high school with Marvel’s Avengers, and the true start of adulthood after my college graduation with Black Panther. So you can imagine that I was pretty excited for this movie, right? Wrong. By the time it's preceding movie, Avengers: Infinity War, came out last year I was already experiencing franchise fatigue.

For those who do not know, franchise fatigue is the phenomenon where there are too many movies being released that ties itself to an already established franchise so the audience stops caring. Think of how the Transformers movie series began to decline following the conclusion of the main trilogy. I wouldn’t be surprised if Marvel starts to face similar issues now that Endgame has come and gone.

By the summer of 2018, I’ve already made peace with the fact that Black Panther would be the last Marvel series I’d feel any sort of attachment to. I didn’t even bother to watch Infinity War, and I never will. I wasn’t planning on watching Endgame either. Then my mom called me saying that she is coming down with my step dad and baby brother to visit my sister and I to celebrate me and my sibling’s birthday. (Yes, we are all born in April, my mom is apparently really good at planning.)

Building up to that weekend, I read up on the events of Infinity War so I won’t be entirely lose and tried my best (and ultimately failed) to not be too bitter about Marvel therefore ruining the experience for everyone else. That Saturday I walked into the movie theater expecting little. But when I walked out to the usual mid-afternoon Florida rain, I felt more than the disappointment and annoyance that I was expecting. I felt miserable.

This is not an essay about how, despite being three hours long Endgame felt like a lazy, rushed cash grab. Or about how they fridged Natasha for the pain of her male teammates, and then tried to pull a “Yay! Girl Power!” in a throwaway two minute scene. I will not go on about how it’s first LGBT+ representation in MCU was a nameless random character played by one of the directors, yet still managed to push how the only path to happiness is by living a traditional heteronmorative lifestyle. Or even how Endgame made it blatantly obvious how white, straight, and male the MCU was in the past and still mostly is. No, I am writing this essay to talk about the Asgardian god of thunder, Thor.

There is a five year timeskip, we see how the remaining Avengers are coping with the aftermath of the snap. Then Ant-Man reappears with a plan so they go about reforming the Avengers. Professor Hulk, now an uncanny combination of Hulk and Bruce Banner, and Rocket Racoon go to New Asgard, a small fishing town where the surviving Asgardians live, to recruit Thor who has … changed drastically.

In the span of his movie trilogy and Infinity War, has lost just about everything. His mom in Thor: The Dark World. His father, home, friends, an eye, Mijolnr, and a large majority of his people in Thor: Ragnarok. Then in Infinity War, another lifelong friend, Heimdall, and his last family member, Loki. (Though it looks like 2012 Loki managed to worm his way out of trouble.) I would argue that Thor is one of the characters that has lost the most, so him decapitating Thanos isn’t that surprising in retrospect. Even though it would've been more satisfying for Nebula to deliver the final blow.

It also shouldn’t be surprising that these events hit Thor hard. Thor has secluded himself in a bachelor pad with his alien friends, and grown out his hair and beard. In the past five years, he has seemingly done nothing but drink beer, eat junk food, and play Fortnite. Bluntly put, Thor’s fat. At the mention of Thanos, Thor becomes irritable and upset, and was reluctant to get back to avenging. Decreased energy, weight gain, loss of interest, irritability, and feelings of guilt are all clear signs of depression and anxiety.

But instead of showing any sort of empathy for what Thor has been through the movie treats his weight and mental health like a joke. When Thor first shows up after the time skip, the camera seems to focus on Thor’s stomach, abs now long gone. All of the other characters are shocked, even seeming a bit turned off, by Thor’s weight gain. Snarky characters like Tony Stark and Rocket Racoon were quick to make jokes at Thor’s expense. Even the emotional scene, where Thor has one final moment with his mother and realizes that even after everything he is still worthy, was ruined at the last moment by his mom telling him to eat more salads.

It wasn’t just the writers that are laughing at Thor’s weight, it was also the audience. There was a loud collective “eww...” from the audience whenever the camera focused on Thor’s gut. When Thor donned his classic armor before the big three faced 2012 Thanos, my mom shouted to the screen, “Is he going to lose some weight?”

Throughout all of those scenes I wanted to slide down the tattered theater seats to the perpetually sticky floor, because it might as well have been my shirtless body on the screen. My stomach rolls the audience was laughing at. My own weight my mom was criticizing. My mental health that was treated like a joke.

My weight has been something I’ve been self-conscious of for as long as I can remember. When I was in K-12, I hated shopping for school clothes with my mom because I knew nothing would fit me. I hate going to see friends and family I haven’t seen in a while because I’m worried they would make some sly comment about my weight. Going out in public is even miserable because I’m so paranoid people are judging me.

Simply making the efforts to lose weight will not get rid of these feelings, because mental health is a factor. And my history of depression and anxiety goes as far back as my issues with my weight. The first time I felt so incredibly hopeless to the point where I was having regular suicidal thoughts I was only about ten years old. There have been weeks where I’ve barely had enough energy to get out of my bed. I easily lose my appetite and go days without and go days barely eating anything, and when I do manage to eat I usually puke it out immediately. During those times I lose way too much weight way too quickly and when I finally get my appetite back I can do nothing but eat, gaining all that weight back plus some.

So seeing Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame where a character who is now fat and struggling with their mental health being ridiculed made me feel singled out and miserable. It would be unfair to pick on just Endgame when many movies have done the same thing. Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse is one of my favorite movies from 2018 (and rightfully won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature). The animation was innovative and spectacular. The message of overcoming fear and that anyone can be a hero was inspiring. But it also took some comedic shoots at an older Peter Parker’s weight that he gained after a failing marriage and losing his aunt.

Why is it, in nearly all movies, that just because a character is not the “ideal” weight it grants the writers and the audience the OK to mock them? Why is it that it’s fine to portray the trauma that a character has gone through as a joke? Because it’s not funny. These are serious issues that I deal with it, as do many other movie goers. And I don’t want to sit through a movie where I feel as if my experience is being laughed at. Yes, these characters are fat, yes, they are depressed and there should be no shame in that. But don’t these characters still deserve respect and compassion over cheap jokes? Don’t we all deserve that?

[seriouslycromulent]

MCU’s Captain Marvel - Thoughts, review & more

I’m off to see DC’s latest superhero reincarnation Shazam later today, but I wanted to make sure I captured my thoughts on the MCU’s last superhero outing, Captain Marvel, so I don’t get my feedback crossed. 

I know I’ve said in the past that I’ve been a bit burned out when it comes to comic book movie (CBM) adaptations, but there are a few here and there that still catch my eye, and essentially I’ve boiled it down to: “Does this genuinely pique my interest?” 

Now, I wasn’t too interested in Captain Marvel based on the trailers and didn’t plan to see it, but I struck a deal with my Mom. (Backstory: She and my stepfather go to see all the superhero movies because, hello!, they’re the nerds that nurtured this Big Nerd. Seriously, I started reading comic books because of them, and my geekery just grew and grew. I rely on them often to fact check the fandom details most comic book nerds on Tumblr claim to be authorities on. And yes, their 40+ years of comic book knowledge and expertise puts most of you to shame.)

With that said, she wasn’t very interested in Shazam. She said it looks like they’re aiming for a kids-only audience, and that made it kind of m’eh to her. But I said I would go see it because I’m a Zachary Levi fan. Billy Batson’s OK, but for me, it’s the casting of Zach that piqued my interest. So the deal was that she would see Captain Marvel and tell me if she thought I’d like it. And I’d see Shazam and do the same for her. Based on her commentary, I went to see CM, and now I’m returning the favor.

That was the intro. 

Now, here’s the set-up.

If you’ve read anything related to the CBM-world here on my Tumblr, you know that I am a supporter of the DCEU, X-Men and the MCU, but I go hardest for the DC universe. You’ll also know if you stop by often that my point-of-view rarely matches up with the popular perspective within the fandom world, in general, or in the fandom communities, specifically.

But unlike some (dare I say, many), I never want to harsh anyone’s squee! If you loved something that I didn’t. Bless you. Live in that love, and pay me no mind. I have no desire to rain on anyone’s parade simply because I don’t land on the same conclusion regarding comic book characters or their feature film adaptations. I don’t think less of you, hate you, or even care if you don’t agree with me. If you do, that’s cool. If not, that’s cool too. 

But before I jump into my mini-review of Captain Marvel, allow me to prepare you for how I roll. Here are some examples of where I landed after watching many, but not all, of the films from the MCU, DCEU, X-Men, Deadpool, and Spiderman franchises. I repeat, I rarely share the popular perspective or take on a CBM as the masses. You have been warned.

I enjoyed Ant Man and the sequel. If they made a third film, I’d see it.

Logan is a brilliant masterpiece, and I would change absolutely nothing about it.

Although I’ve never been a big fan of origin stories because they’re typically written like the audience is simple and can’t appreciate anything beyond the most cookie-cutter of plots and a paint-by-numbers of good and evil characters, I enjoyed Sam Raimi’s first film of the Spiderman franchise the most when it comes to comic book adaptation origin stories. So far, he’s still the person to beat in this category.

I enjoy most of the X-Men films, but often find the changes they make to the characters unnecessary and poorly executed. I also want Bryan Singer to leave the Summers boys alone. 

I found the Wonder Woman film completely underwhelming. Why? See my #3 regarding origin stories.

I enjoyed Black Panther, but was not really wowed by it.

I enjoyed both Deadpool films, but I still think his character is highly overrated by male fans. I like the movies for what they are. They don’t really say anything. You’re just meant to “Ooh!” and “Aah!” and LOL! Then go home. I can respect that.

I thought Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was brilliant, and easily one of the best comic book-based films of the last 20 years. That film is a work of art, and I’m saddened that Zach Snyder’s vision wasn’t appreciated and respected by the studio. Even if the mainstream public thinks that comic book movies should be light and fluffy with virtually no connection to any messages of substance or strong characterization, the studio should have respected his vision and let him complete it with Justice League.

I liked The Avengers and I thought Age of Ultron was pretty decent, but I felt that Civil War was a mess of poor characterization, weak execution, absurd conclusions, unresolved tension, and a dispensable villain unworthy of the audience’s time. Literally everything the mainstream public and MCU fanboys (and fangirls) complained about Batman v Superman applies to Civil War, not to BvS. Civil War was the film that was rushed, and it shows.

I have virtually no interest at all in the main storyline of the MCU anymore. I don’t care about Thanos. I didn’t see Infinity War, and I don’t really plan to see Endgame. Yes, I’m aware of certain events happening regarding specific characters. Still don’t care. The run-up to this final showdown with Thanos was so poorly done and underwhelming that I have no emotional investment in this fight anymore. 

Now, if you’re still reading, I want to say thank you for sticking around and ... welcome to my brain. Since this post is already long, let’s dive into Captain Marvel.

I saw the film twice. So that right there should tell you I enjoyed it. Yet, the weekend it came out, apparently, a bunch of fanboys and a handful of critics took to their keyboards and YouTube channels to review it and cry disappointment. Ultimately, I didn’t care too much because, again, it didn’t really pique my interest. 

Then my Mom told me what she thought about the film and how it was the antithesis of what the fanboys and reviewers were claiming, and this ... is what actually piqued my interest. I love a good mystery, and I felt as if I needed to see the film for myself to not only see what the hubbub was about, but to also determine who was wrong/right. 

So I saw it the following Tuesday after its opening weekend. And I walked out feeling as if the MCU had finally grown up.

What I liked

The 1990s nostalgia without the 1990s “nostalgia.” That is, the language, the clothes, the tech, the venues, etc. were all great throwbacks to this oddly romanticized decade without any of the romanticizing. As someone who was a teen throughout the ‘90s, and remembers it somewhat differently than others, I appreciate that. Respect.

Maria Rambeau. She is a best friend who gets to shine and enjoy the spotlight in her own way. She also has dark skin and short hair. (Yes, it matters.) But more importantly, Maria Rambeau isn’t a sidekick. Instead, she is the best friend everyone dreams of. Not only is she smart, fearless, and a badass behind the controls of a space-worthy fighter jet, but she’s also not judgmental. I don’t know many people who wouldn’t have some residual anger over being made to believe their ace boon was dead for 6 years, then one day just knocks on your door and say “What’s up? I’m not sure who I am.”

The villain-turned-not-so-bad-after-all Talos, played to perfection by Ben Mendelssohn, has the best one-liners and reaction shots in the film. Also, we get aliens with a variety of accents, character depth, and families. 

Despite the fact that the passengers on the light rail/subway car saw the “old lady” could handle herself in a fight, the surrounding passengers did get involved to try and pull Danvers off of the old lady because, from a common sense perspective, this young woman should not have been trying to beat the hell out of an old woman. Kudos to them for trying to do the right thing.

I’m scared of Ms. Monica and her guilting her Mom to fly with Danvers, Fury and Talos on a life-endangering mission. When she said, “Just think about what kind of example you are setting for your daughter if you don’t go?” I was like, “No, she did not!”

The perfect subversion of the “prove to me you can beat me without weapons” gag at the end. Not only because it means that Yon-Rogg (Jude Law’s character) might show up in later films, but because that trope is sooooooo annoying. Plus, we all know she’s stronger, so why bother?

There’s some subtle commentary about the treatment of refugees as terrorists or enemies of the people by the same people who made them refugees in the first place. I would like to think that commentary is intentional, but that may be asking for too much.

What I didn’t care for

The CGI on Phil Coulson’s face. Um, yeah. That was not good. It would seem they spent more time on getting Samuel L. Jackson’s face just right so he could look believably younger, but then they ran out of time to do the same for Clark Gregg.

The CGI they used on Annette Bening’s face is ... not great in some scenes. Not all. Just some.

Why does Danvers sitting down with Fury in the bar for a Q&A about their past provide proof that they’re not Skrull? If the Skrull can’t adsorb distant memories, then this Q&A would only fill you with confidence to trust the other person if you actually know the other person. Danvers didn’t know Fury before that day, and he didn’t know her. Sitting there and answering questions only lays the groundwork to determine if they’re not Skrull later, but it shouldn’t provide proof that they can trust that the other isn’t a Skrull at that very moment. Also, how does Fury know that the Skrull can’t shoot blasts from their hands? He’s just going to take her word for it? Although given he was told by his “boss” to stay close to her and find out what she knows, I could see this as him simply playing along for the sake of his mission.

I’m not really buying this imaginary world where a black woman in the military is taking the time to keep her hair straightened while flying jets and working on special aircraft missions. However, I will suspend disbelief this time due to the fact that Rambeau was working on a top secret project and therefore was not necessarily hindered by the typical schedule of the average fighter pilot. ... This time.

I wished we could have seen more of Gemma Chan. Yeah, Minn-Erva’s a bad guy, but ... it’s Gemma Chan. I already had fanfiction theories playing in my head about her relationship with Yon-Rogg before I left the theater.

What I loved

We go on a journey with this character. We learn about her as she learns about herself, which is what keeps us invested beyond the “she’s going to be Captain Marvel by the end of the movie, obvs.” idea. This is an origin story done in a far more interesting and captivating way than anything presented in the Marvel cinematic universe since Iron Man. We get flashbacks to the most unassuming events of her life that later turn out to be the most important ones. Where others complained about this approach to an origin story, I wholeheartedly applaud it. Nothing in CA: The First Avenger, Thor or Ant Man was as clever or interesting as this angle when it comes to introducing a superhero’s origin.

I don’t want a flurkin. But at the same time, I want a flurkin.

Having a villain who turns out not to be a villain, and a mentor who turns out to be our actual villain, was to me another sign that the MCU has finally realized that complexity isn’t a bad thing and not every story must have a one-note single-purpose villain. Yes, we get a little bit of that in Ronan (Lee Pace’s character), but to lead the audience down this road where not all the information you receive can be immediately trusted suits me just fine. It’s realistic and engaging. Danvers’ confusion mimics our confusion, but not so much that we can’t enjoy the story. We don’t have it all figured out and determined who has the moral high-ground until she does. I love that. And as a writer myself, I respect that. 

I love, love, loved the 1990s songs in this movie. Not only because the songs reminded me of my adolescence and you can never go wrong with Garbage’s “Only Happy When It Rains,” but because No Doubt’s “I’m Just A Girl” is THE perfect song for the big showdown between Danvers and her former Kree brethren. I almost jumped out of my seat in excitement when I heard that music intro. Kudos to whomever made this soundtrack! 

There is no love story. Unless you count the love between 2 best friends/family being reunited, there’s no love story. Thank you.

When I first started watching the film, I had to scratch my head. I thought, “Since when are the Kree good guys?” After watching every season of Agents of Shield and knowing how it’s the Kree who leave mankind dangling on by a thread, manipulating them, torturing them, and turning them into their own little ant farm, my brain had to pause and question this version of the Marvel universe where Danvers is a Kree. But as the story continues, of course, we’re led on this journey where we learn 1) I was right not to trust the Kree as good guys, 2) there are some Kree who are good and Dr. Mar-vell is one of them, and 3) the MCU is capable of writing stories where character development isn’t sacrificed just for laughs and boss fights. See what I mean about growing up?

I think that’s it for now. This review is already long enough, and I’m sure I could discuss more details about the film if I had more time. Yes, I am aware of the mainstream critic and fandom backlash against the film. I’ve heard some of the complaints, and frankly, I struggle to find the justification for them anywhere in the film.

I read one critic complained saying that because the audience doesn’t know who Danvers is from the beginning, she’s hard to root for or identify with. I disagree. The audience learns as Danvers learns. And by the end of the film, it’s clear that what matters most about her is not her name or where she’s from, but what she does with her power. Personally, that’s a great message to everyone when you think about it. 

I’m also aware that a lot of the fandom backlash has been ... how do you say ... male-driven. I think that’s unfortunate given that Captain Marvel is the MCU’s first female-led superhero movie and it’s long overdue. I don’t know if CM is flawless (I doubt it), but I know I enjoyed it as much as (and in a lot cases, more than) the other superhero origin MCU films. The message was great and the character relatable. 

No, I’m not saying everyone can relate to a human-turned-all-powerful-superhero by a blast that should have killed her, but we can all relate to understanding that it doesn’t matter how many times we are knocked down, what matters is how many times we stand back up. 

I’m not usually one for the hokey, after-school special messaging that a lot of MCU films (and DCtv shows) push, but that message about what makes her a hero (the standing up after getting knocked down) seems just as powerful as the message behind what makes Steve Rogers a hero (it’s not the special serum, but the fact he was willing to die for his countrymen in battle). I’m not sure how Danvers’ story is less worthwhile than Rogers’ story.

As for fanboys saying the studio should have just made a film about Natasha/Black Widow, it’s statements like that that make others wonder if your dissatisfaction with Captain Marvel isn’t rooted in misogyny. You would rather watch an origin film about a female team member on an already predominantly-male team where she plays a role, but is in no way as strong or as powerful enough to go toe-to-toe with most of the team members. Hmmm? 

Hear how that sounds? There’s nothing wrong with liking Natasha. She’s the bomb. But again, making a film about Black Widow instead of Danvers, leaves the Avengers with one less female character, and one less character who can kick ass and take names with the big boys. The fanboys -- whether intentional or not -- have painted themselves as afraid of Captain Marvel’s strength and the power she has to be actually considered an equal to the other members of the team.

Perhaps if they said the MCU should’ve made a standalone or origin film about the Scarlet Witch, the misogyny wouldn’t be as glaring.

I don’t know. I’ll leave that argument for others for now. I’m heading out to movies now. Shazam here I come!

[guyveranimefan87-blog]

"Captain Marvel" review -  Not terrible, but not marvelous either.

As we all know, the latest MCU movie "Captain Marvel" had finally reached our cinemas, and thus after months of drama surrounding it, with one group hailing it as the best thing Marvel ever did, and other claiming it would be a movie that would destroy the whole franchise... before anyone had a chance to see it... we can finally see how is it.

And well...

In my opinion it's a solid Marvel movie, not bad or anything, but nothing special either, something around the level of "Captain America - The First Avenger", or first "Thor".

It has it's moments, but compared to previous MCU movies like "Doctor Strange" or "Black Panther" it lacks something that would make it special and unique.

I mean, with "Doctor Strange" we had our first introduction to magical side of MCU, plus trippy visuals connected with the Mirror World, and "Black Panther" had introduced us to the whole new culture and unique visual style of Wakanda, so they had something going for them even in their weaker moments.

And I don't think "Captain Marvel" has something like that.

I mean, 90's references are cool and I got a few chuckles out of them, but if I wanted to remind myself of those dumb and glorious times, when I was younger, slimmer and less cynical I could go on Tumblr...

Oh, yeah I am already here.

And people who don't remember those times would probably be as baffled by seeing pager and dial-up modems, as they were be seeing alien cities and spaceships...

But let's start at the beginning, that is with the plot.

Our heroine is Vers, a member of an elite military unit known as Starforce serving the interstellar Kree Empire, but despite her unquestionable power and fighting skills, her commander and mentor Yon-Rogg (Jude Law) has doubts about her performance, since she has a tendency to let her emotions guide her, something that Kree warrior shouldn't do.

Yeah, this cyborg guy from “Guardians of The Galaxy” is there too...

Vers emotional problems are connected with the fact that she lacks memories from before she joined the unit, and is tormented by recurring nightmares where she sees chaotic and fragmented pieces of her past.

Still, as I mentioned before, she is still a powerful and confident warrior, so despite Yon-Rogg's doubts, she takes part in a mission to extract a deep-cover Kree agent from one of the border planets controlled by an ancient enemy of her people, a shapeshifting race of Skrulls.

Mission ends badly, as it turns out that the agent was already compromised by Skrulls and Vers is captured during a resulting ambush by a Skrull commander, Talos (Ben Mendelsohn), who used some kind of memory probe to access her buried memories... that turn out to be about her previous life, but not on one of Kree planets, but rather on a primitive, backwater planet C-53, also known as Earth.

Apparently Skrulls are looking for a scientist known as doctor Wendy Lawson (Annette Bening), that Vers somehow used to know, and who according to her memories developed some kind of new faster-than-light engine.

Vers manages to escape captivity using her ability to generate energy blasts from her hands, as well as her hand-to-hand skills, but the escape pod she steals from Skrulls gets damaged, causing her to crash-land on Earth, to be precise in one of Los Angeles Blockbuster Video stores.

Does anyone remember Blockbuster Video anymore? Sorry, getting back on the topic...

Her less-than-stealthy arrival alerts the local authorities, including a pair of S.H.I.E.L.D agents, Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Mothafu#kin Jackson), who are a bit skeptical when a woman "dressed like for Lazer Tag" tells them she is an alien soldier who hunts other aliens, who are shapeshifters, but they are attacked by one of Talos's troops, confirming that her story is true.

And thus Vers and Fury would have to join forces to stop Skrulls and find the truth about our heroine, from her fragmented memories...

Before the movie I was curious and to be honest rather worried about how screenwriters would tackle the backstory of Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel, since in the comics it was rebooted so many times, that I doubt that even people writing her remember about everything, with numerous costume, identity and power changes, not to even mention new personality traits with each new writer...

But they did managed to jump this hurdle, by creating a completely new origin story from the ground up, that while using certain elements from her comic book counterparts, gives us something relatively simple, and accessible to causal moviegoers and hardcore nerds alike.

And let's be honest, since Carol is not exactly the most popular character ever, despite numerous attempts at making her relevant in the last few years, so I don't think there would be any purist fans outraged by the changes made for the movie.

I mean, whole cast of "Guardians of The Galaxy" had undergone massive changes, and everybody was OK with that, heck some of those changes were even retconned into comics, so probably here it would also work that way.

As for the plot itself, it really did reminded me of first "Thor".

I mean, we have a superhero from an advanced race, that is dumped on Earth without having any idea of how the place works, but finds a hypercompetent human sidekick, and together they stand against Big Bad only for The Hero to unlock their True Power in the third act.

Yeah... Seems kinda familiar, eh?

It's not necessarily bad or anything, but it's really a shame that some things hadn't been expanded upon a bit, like Kree culture, relationship between Carol a.k.a Vers and Yon-Rogg, etc.

I mean "Black Panther" managed to fit whole three act formula into the plot, while also show the viewers quite a lot about Wakanda, so why not here?

Movie also drags a bit in the middle, as save for two action scenes, most of the story-arc is comprised of our heroine and Fury driving from place to place looking for answers, talking a bit and so on, which is not really adrenaline-filled superhero cinema...

It hadn't reached the point when I got really bored, mainly due to good chemistry Larson and Jackson have together, but I did though that MCU movies managed to overcome their pacing problems after Phase One, so it wasn't a pleasant surprise seeing that they had taken two steps back here.

Another controversy about the movie way before it's release was our lead, Brie Larson, not only because of doubts about her acting prowess, but also quite a few ill-thought things she said be it in interviews, or through Twitter, but the latter is not really important here, so let's focus on the former.

After watching trailers and promo clips quite a few people were doubting Larson's ability to carry the movie, and accusing her acting of being "stiff" and "emotionless" and they were partially right, though I am not sure all the blame can be put on actress herself.

Vers/Carol does seem rather stiff and emotionless through most of the movie, but it looks more like a conscious decision of director's part, as I mentioned Kree pride themselves on controlling their emotions, which is fine, but severely limited Larson in the role, as it's hard to say anything about her character's personality.

I mean, there are a few scenes when she does show that she can act, usually during her scenes with Nick Fury, cause as I mentioned before, they have a nice chemistry together, flashbacks from before she was trained as a Kree warrior, but still comes out a bit bland through most of the runtime.

It becomes even more jarring during the scene when Vars meets her old friend Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch), who is rather shocked to see her, torn between happiness and confusion, giving a strong, emotional performance... while Larson keeps the same facial expression through most of it.

As I mentioned before, it's not the actress's fault, but it does harm the movie on some level.

Samuel L. Jackson however absolutely nails it as younger, less cynical Fury.

Now, we got used to gruff, no-nonsense and properly paranoid commander of S.H.I.E.L.D but here we get Nick who sees a being with superpowers for the first time in his life, and is appropriately shocked / awed by the fact that aliens exist, which gives Mr. Jackson an opportunity to have a bit of a fun with the character.

I mean, I had never expected to see Fury going "oh so cute" about a cat, or freaking out about seeing an alien, but it's lot of fun watching him do it, and judging from his actor, a lot fun to play it, which is rather infectious.  

Also, this cat is awesome.

Sadly, yet again movie’s villain remains one of it’s weak points.

I mean, damn, I really though that after "Black Panther" and "Infinity War" we got over the so-called "Marvel Curse" and villains who are not Loki wouldn't suck anymore. And yet, here we are, back to square one...

Now, don't get me wrong, Ben Mendelsohn does what he can to sell Skrulls leader, and even managed to have some fun with his portrayal.

For example being rather laid-back and even funny in his true form, and a bit stern and stiff in his preferred human form, as well as giving each of them a different accent, but as they say, You cannot get water out of a stone.

He got very little to work with in terms of motivations, background or even personality of his character, making Talos quite flat, despite the actor's best efforts.

If I had to compare it to other Marvel villains, he would be right there with Malekith the Accursed from "Thor - The Dark World", as both movies had absolutely wasted a great actor due to not giving him anything he can use, nor any freedom to flesh the character out, which is a damned shame.

I mean, they tried with a bit of a twist near the end, but You can see it coming from miles away, so it's not really a surprise, and nor does it help our villain in the slightest.

What else...

... Oh yeah, I had evaded this particular elephant in the room for long enough.

Before the movie premiered many people, myself included, were afraid that it would delve too much into politics, since both the cast and Marvel PR people were putting a lot of emphasis on the feminist message of "Captain Marvel", throwing the phrase "First Female Marvel Hero" etc.

Thus I had expected a sexist, and politics heavy crap like "Ghostbusters 2016", but really for all the bluster of Marvel execs, and journalists focusing of this, the whole "feminist" part of the movie turned out to be nearly nonexistent.

I mean, sure we get a scene with male soldiers telling Carol she is "too weak" to be a pilot, or a guy who obnoxiously tries to pick her up, but it's not like the movie spends extended periods of time on it, or goes to extreme length to show all men as idiots, manbabies and chauvinists, as "Ghostbusters" did, so really there was no point to the whole sh#tstorm about it in the first place.

And really, "Wonder Woman" was really a lot more about "Girl Power" than this movie, so I don't think that people who expected it to be about "powerful femininity" and stuff would be totally satisfied with it...

Other than that, we get good special effects (Especially the ones used to de-age Jackson and Gregg), few nice fight scenes, especially in the third act, overall good acting despite problem mentioned above, and a few obligatory callbacks to other MCU movies...

And that's basically it.

It's a competently done movie that nevertheless lacks the bang it supposed to have, and I think that in a few weeks most people would forget about it, like they probably did with "Doctor Strange" and "Ant-Man & The Wasp", because they would be busy talking about "Endgame".

It would still make a ton of money, as all MCU movies do, even if it clearly show that their formula got a bit stale at this point, and even without making a lasting impression it was a well-made popcorn flick.

Still, it shows that Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel does have a potential as a movie character, despite all weird stuff Marvel did with her comic book counterpart, but it wasn't the time when this potential had the chance to be fully utilized. So, better luck next time, Carol?

[langxue]

Avengers Endgame Initial Thoughts

Okay. I have some Thoughts about Endgame, most of them fairly critical. Also highly subjective. So here goes. Spoilers abound, for Endgame and other MCU content.

1. OMFG they completely wasted Captain Marvel.* In her own movie, Carol is a fairly laid back, adaptable, competent, and Silly person. She has a wonderfully casual charm and sarcasm that’s really fun to watch. She’s also a powerhouse, and by the end she definitely knows it. (Like seriously, she destroyed multiple of Ronan’s ships in under a minute. In GotG, it took a whole fleet just to slow one of them down, plus a team on the inside to blow it up. And then Carol’s just like “nah, you’re done now.”) And then you hit Endgame. And we have a stoic, closed off Captain Marvel, who shows up, talks a lot about how awesome she is, and then spends fucking 80% of the movie on a shelf on the justification that she’s helping other worlds that are also in trouble. Which is a fine justification to keep her away for some of the setup. But the heroes’ main plan is time travel. Which means it’s not time sensitive, and they keep making a big deal about only having one shot. Why, in that case, wouldn’t you wait until you could get Carol on your team?? Thor is a psychological mess. Keep him on the bench and bring in Carol. OR have her on hand to use the gauntlet after all the stones are collected. But no, they just went with “eh, we’re not sure how to contact her, so we’ll just skip over that option entirely.” So they wasted her character as a character with minimal interactions with the others, and zero of those interactions actually being in character (except maaaybe with Peter at the end, but that very much felt like two actors trying very hard with very little to work with), and then also wasted her as far as plot impact, opting for a heroic re-entrance most of the way through the movie.

2. The time travel felt extremely poorly explained, which is really bad when your plot completely hinges on it, and is especially bad if you’re gonna rag on other movies with time travel. Back to the Future is paradoxical nonsense, but it’s self-consistent paradoxical nonsense. Endgame was some kind of multiverse with zero clear understanding of how different timelines/realities could and could not interact with each other. I’m still trying to wrap my head around all of the possibilities and whether there actually is an internal logic, but at the very least, while watching the movie, it entirely felt like they were doing whatever they wanted to suit the plot. Which is a bad sign when dealing with time travel. (My general approach to time travel is that you either have to completely handwave it or completely explain it. And that explanation doesn’t have to be an info dump! It can just be apparent in the story itself, such as with Time-Turners. Though I personally don’t mind time travel info dump tbh.)

3. Relatedly, the secret to time travel is to model an inverted Möbius strip and get the eigenvector of that one particle there. I don’t think I’ve been that annoyed but technobabble in a long time. That’s math word salad, as far as I can tell (though I’m admittedly not a mathematician. If any mathematicians can clarify how this makes any sense, I’d appreciate it, but in the mean time, I’m going to assume it’s garbled nonsense.)

4. Still on time travel but I’m having one hell of a time figuring out Steve’s ending. Like, how can he do that within the confines of the time travel mechanics? Why wouldn’t he come back and spend that time with Bucky?? Since, you know, they’ve like barely spoken being reunited?? For Pete’s sake, don’t set up their bond like that, spend two full movies on the turmoil cause by Bucky’s return, and then just fucking drop the plot line on the floor because you wanted to stick Steve back with Peggy. What in the fuck.

5. IM. SO. MAD. ABOUT. GAMORA. (And also Natasha, though that’s a slightly different anger.) GAMORA’S DEATH WAS THE MOST BS THING IN INFINITY WAR AND WAS ALSO THE DEATH I WAS MOST CONCERNED THEY WOULDN’T CORRECT. AND GUESS WHAT. THEY DIDN’T. SHE’S STILL DEAD.** The soulstone mechanic can get Fucked, because Thanos should never have been able to get it like that (and relatedly, should Hawkeye have gotten it, since Natasha threw herself, rather than being sacrificed? I’m undecided, but mad either way).

6. Is Loki still dead? Was he ever dead? We just don’t know. If he is dead, that was an amazingly dumb end and I object. If he’s not dead, that is a dumb cliffhanger and I object.

7. I don’t love Thor + Guardians’ dynamic? It feels very off, and I can’t tell if that’s just because it’s Avengers and therefore all the characters have gotten slightly flattened or if it’s just an unappealing dynamic to me. But we already had Quill vs Rocket leadership tension. I don’t was more of that but with Thor. That’s dumb. I’m hoping that it gets more nuance/resolution going forward, but I’m not holding my breath.

8. Relatedly, why would you put Valkyrie in charge of Anything but a battle plan? Nothing I’ve seen of her makes me think she’s well suited to general leadership, and I think she’d chafe under it just as much as Thor does. She’s not the Responsible One to take things over so Thor can go have another finding himself adventure. Ffs.

9. Probably no one’s fault because actor contracts are complicated, but I’m still salty about Lady Sif being 100% absent and unacknowledged for this whole thing. Largely because I haven’t gotten to see her interact with Valkyrie OR Carol and I feel cheated.

10. Some quick minor things before I go on a big rant. It bothered me that Thor’s depression and poor coping was just a joke, basically just “Oh look he’s fat and scared now, isn’t that funny?” I’m so tired of Tony vs. Steve, and I hate that they waited until the last fucking movie to sort of kind of resolve it. You don’t get to pull on found family heartstrings and tropes when you’ve done such a bullshit job of actually showing us a family. You’ve had 20-odd movies to do so. Do better.

11. Okay. I like battle scenes. They’re fun! They’re dramatic! If done correctly, they can give a very tangible sense of odds and stakes. But. Not every movie with high stakes needs a big final battle.

Okay, to clarify a bit, I’m specifically referring to army vs. army battle scenes here. Big punch outs between titans, or scrambling to minimize damage from a disaster are different, and have their own applications and pitfalls. All clear? Great.

Battles, with two armies facing off against each other in fronts, look cool, but fundamentally make no sense in the context of Endgame. Battle lines exist so that you have not very many people actively fighting at once, and so that you can protect the people next to them. When the frontline gets tired, they rotate back and others take over. Battles are not the same thing as skirmishes and they are not mass melees. If a battle turns into a mass melee, something has gone very wrong and you should in all likelihood pull back immediately to regroup.

All of this breaks down when you have an opponent who can break up or ignore your battle lines. Historically, this was artillery and guns—things that forced battles into a cover-based issue. In superhero movies, it’s... pretty much every character of note.

Thor’s lightning —> broken battle line

Black Panther’s suit discharge —> broken battle line

Falcon attacking from above —> pointless battle line

Wanda or Carol doing... anything —> pointless battle line

All of Thanos’ many flying troops —> pointless battle line

Thanos’ warship overhead —> what are you doing pls stop this

All of which is to say that traditional battle tactics don’t apply to this conflict. But the battle we’re shown doesn’t reflect that, and it feels very... weird as a result. Where who’s winning is entirely arbitrary, rather than any kind of steady build.

This tends to lead to a very episodic battle, where you show off individual characters or small groups of characters fighting. Which is fine, though contributes to battle progress being unclear. But there’s a temptation then to give everyone equal levels of badassery in their vignettes, and I think that’s a mistake. The avengers et all are a complementary group. They have members suited to a battle field and members that aren’t. That isn’t to say that Hawkeye and Black Widow can’t hold their own, but their skill sets aren’t specialized for something like this, and so any attempt to make them seem equal in this way is going to either fall flat or cheapen the battle suited heroes’ specialty.

And this tendency to level the field of badassery can also lead to situations where Okoye is backing up Carol for a charge, and I just.... gah. I love Okoye. So much. Carol does not need her help to rush a group of enemies. Carol doesn’t need help from any of the women who showed up behind her except for maybe Scarlet Witch. I get what they were going for. I get that it was supposed to be a Girl PowerTM moment. It wasn’t. It was dumb. It was so very much the wrong time for that moment, because this was not a context where Carol needed help. She just flew through a spaceship. She can fly through some enemies no problem. And it’s probably easier if she’s not worried about her allies getting caught in the blast. And then they had to make the backup team useful, so they made Carol struggle in a moment where she just shouldn’t have. You don’t get points for Girl PowerTM if you have to de-power one of your women just to make it make sense. Give me more scenes with Gamora and Nebula helping each other through Thanos’ abuse. Give me scenes with Carol and Okoye bonding over putting up with impractical people. Don’t give me this battle scene bullshit, I don’t want it.

11. I remain pissed off that there are no actually articulated arguments against Thanos’ fucking stupid plan. What the actual fuck, this is not that hard. 

Okay. Now that I’ve gotten that out of my system, some things I actually really liked.

1. Steve wielding Mjolnir was fucking amazing and I’m so pleased.

2. Any time Scott was on screen.

3. Peter Parker is a precious child and he needs to be protected.

4. I actually really like the set up for the time travel nonsense, and I liked that they seemed to be doing something other than a mass melee battle. That the group was divided into manageable teams, and sent on different kinds of missions that required them to be clever and play to their different strengths and help each other through. And then they shoved in a giant battle anyway, because fuck you that’s why.

5. I can appreciate what they were trying to do in giving all of the non-returning Avengers decent send-offs, even if I didn’t like some of those conclusions.

6. There were some genuinely funny moments, but I’m struggling to recall them right now.

7. Oh wait! “It’s an earthquake in the middle of the ocean. We handle it by not handling it.” That one was great.

Okay, that’s all for now. I might have more later, once I’ve picked apart the time travel a bit more and dined some processing.

I think it’s also worth noting that like... ensemble movies with a cast this big are *hard.* character are going to end up feeling confined, and there’s less time to grow because there’s just less time per character. But I think we could’ve had better, and I think if they focused more on group growth in the group movies instead of just drama, then they would’ve been in a better place and had a better story.

It’s probably also worth noting that I really liked Thor: Ragnarok, really like Captain Marvel and really didn’t like Infinity War. So I sort of went into Endgame feeling like it had to make up for Infinity War and live up to the higher at from the recent solo movies. And I really wanted to like it. I really wanted them to pull it off. But those are high and fairly specific standards, and so they fell quite short.

*This should be taken with a grain of salt, because I’d been dreading Endgame as an obligation to watch, and the Captain Marvel movie was the only thing that sparked my interest again. And then Endgame massively dropped the ball as far as I’m concerned.

** there was some stuff at the very end that makes me wonder if there’re plans to still bring her back in a later movie. But it doesn’t change me call bullshit on everything that Infinity War/Endgame has done to her.