#mcu!thanos

[lokiinmediasideblog]

Because I'm Bored:

Where do I rank in terms of MCU Loki Apologism?

Things I think Loki was justified in doing:

1. Killing Laufey-For all he knows, this was the man that abandoned him to die from exposure. This is revenge in its purest form and ALSO a way to show his loyalty to Asgard and Odin. And based on the original script, Loki was illegitimate and an unwanted runt abandoned to die (I also think he is not fully Jotun, and I think this played into WHY he was abandoned).

2.Lying to Thor about Odin’s death and his banishment-Loki just discovered he is a Frost Giant, like the ones Thor swore to kill, has been shown to have killed at the slightest provocation, and Asgard thinks of as monsters. Making sure Thor does not return is self-preservation. As a closeted person, I find the idea that Loki should have told Thor or known he would understand, ridiculous.Have you all not heard of living situations with bigoted relatives with a history of violence?

3. Nearly killing Thor with the Destroyer-Notice his previous attempt to keep Thor away did not involve violence and would have sufficed if Thor’s friends had not interfered… Say you have a brother that hates people like you, with a history of violent behavior towards people like you, and with the ability to fry the fuck out of you or smash you into puree with his magic hammer. Would you like to have that brother around?

4. Impersonating Odin and sending Odin to a retirement home-It’s self-preservation. Frigga’s no longer there to plead for his life. And I find it hilarious he was the only one to give Odin a taste of his own medicine. GOOD FOR HER! And how the fuck would he have known about Hela? Odin had been able to break through Loki’s magic, but he just decided to chill on Earth for some reason, and dump Hela’s existence on them.

By the way, I saw an interesting theory that Odin remained on Earth to strand Hela on Midgard so that she’d lay waste to Midgard instead of Asgard, but Loki calling the Bifrost changed that, ironically saving Earth and dooming Asgard. Technically, that would mean Loki unknowingly doomed Asgard, but I am not mad. How much like Odin to shuck his problems away for others to deal with.

5.Escaping from the TVA the first chance he gets. Self-preservation.

6. Being the Villain. Technically, that’s the TVA’s fault. They’ve pruned Lokis whenever they veer away from their ordained path. LOL I feel like Villain PR saying this and I am laughing my ass off. And although it’s for shits and giggles, it’s technically true in the MCU?

Loki’s not justified in:

1. Letting the Jotuns in for shits and giggles. I have seen way to many people claim it’s because he cared for Asgard, and that’s bullshit. He was jealous of Thor and he has no qualms sacrificing others (like the handful of dead guards and Jotuns) to fulfill his plans.

2.Attempted genocide of Jotunheim. Self-explanatory. He was only wronged by one Jotun, not the entire realm, and even if the entire realm had wronged him, genocide is NEVER a warranted option.

3. Cutting Sif’s hair. That’s just unnecessarily cruel. I headcannon he likes to sabotage relationships.

4. The attempted betrayal at Sakaar. Not sure what was going on through his head at that point. I think he got angry because Thor compared him to Sakaar, which he actually hates, and seemed to have given up on him. Or does he think keeping Thor and himself on Sakaar will keep them safer because they won’t confront Hela? I will go with a bit of both. I could DEFINITELY go into Villain PR mode and argue he was justified in trying to keep Thor “safe” in Sakaar because the Revengers didn’t really have a plan other than “go back to Asgard and try to fight Hela and die trying”. But I still don’t personally think it was “justified.”

5. Stabbing Thor. I just included it because it’s not justified based on context, since it came out of nowhere. But I would not use it to condemn how “Evil” Loki has ALWAYS BEEN in those posts complaining about Loki’s woobification. I would need more context on how grave an injury that would be for Asgardians. Is it some typical childhood game/fights wound? Asgardians survive being Hulk smashed, the void, impaled, and a freaking Neutron star. A stab seems like a slap in comparison. It has the same level of justification as slapping your sibling in the face when you were a kid. Unjustified, but not a big deal.

Things I am on the fence about:

1. Whatever the fuck happened for him to end up with Thanos. It’s unclear how much was him and how much was the mind stone, coercion, or some other kind of mindfuckery (there are altered memories (being yeeted by Thor into the Void rather than letting go) and that scene with the Other implying threats, past torture, psychic pain, or future torture). I think he wasn’t exactly innocent nor entirely willing. I think he saw Earth as his brother’s ant farm that he will fuck around with out of revenge, he approached Thanos willingly, but then the Black Order gained too much leverage and control on him, and the situation snowballed out of his control into an avalanche.

Another head-cannon I have is that Loki actually died in the void, but was brought back from Hel. He was willing to do anything to avoid returning there, and it’s why he made sure to try to die in battle in TDW and IW. The need to avoid Hel cultivated a fucked up sense of gratefulness and vulnerability that was exploited by the Black Order (maybe I will write it sometime). I think this because him and Thanos talk too much about resurrections and dying multiple times. Either of my Head cannons imply threats and therefore coercion, even if the Word-Of-God mind stone influence is not involved. But we also don’t know the how and why Loki ended up with Thanos.

2. I don’t think I can blame him for Frigga’s death. I know he blames himself, and he definitely had some malicious intent when giving directions (not towards Frigga). Giving someone the directions to the stairs shouldn’t exactly change much? It’s not like he plotted with the Dark Elves and disabled Asgard’s defenses. The elves were tracking the Aether and would have found it eventually, and Frigga was protecting Jane and willing to sacrifice herself for Jane. Frigga’s death is more on Jane for being reckless and fucking around with unknown phenomena without a scrap of PPE or caution, becoming a mcguffin for the film’s entirety. Jane has the common sense of white people from horror movies. Woman has no braincells. There, I fucking said it.

3. I don’t know how to feel about the opening scene in IW and I hate it. I just think it was a terrible plan and a waste of character development. And we don’t even know if it had any significant positive effects. It was both self-sacrificial and selfish nonetheless. Did it keep Thanos from killing more Asgardians? Did it only save Thor, and was that the only thing Loki cared about? If so, Loki sacrificed the entire universe for his brother. Very in-character, but it was a waste of sacred timeline Loki.

Things other people were justified in:

1. Heimdall being suspicious of Loki and attempting to behead Loki as the king regent. Heimdall was suspicious of the blind spots in his vision. Who can hide from him? Loki. And then he caught Loki quite red-handed.

2. I don’t know why Thor gets so much shit for not knowing what’s up with Loki in Avengers, and I doubt he could help him or that Loki thinks he would or could help him in the first place.

3. The Hulk giving him the ragdoll treatment. It’s hilarious and the best part of the movie. And I mean, he did wreak havoc in NYC.

4. Thor electrocuting Loki in Ragnarok. Loki was about to betray Thor. And again, they are pretty hardy. Loki survived the Hulk, the void, and impalement. Enough said. Could this have ended horribly for Loki? Of course and there are wonderful DEAD DOVE fics about it.

5. Sylvie being angry after he broke the Tempad and got drunk. Self-explanatory. How the fuck does this ever get called “abusive”? They both could have died because of Loki's tomfoolery.

6. Sylvie killing HWR and sending Loki away. It was not “abusive”, she’s barely known Loki for IDK how long. Compare that to having a goal for millenia. And she sent him away because she didn’t want to kill him.

7. Sif kicking him ONCE like it happened in the original timeline because he cut her hair. Self explanatory, and kinda eye for an eye. But what the TVA did was just cruel and unnecessary (and basically torture).

LET ME KNOW IF I MISSED ANY MISDEEDS

[spongebobssquarepants]

[violetheart77]

If she’s your girl in the comics, then why’s she part of the Gayest MCU Project Yet™ with me?

[skittlebits]

Shortly after Thanos snapped (probably)

Thanos: I killed half the universe as a gift for you, my love.

Rio: Um, you snapped them out of existence. There’s nothing for me to reap.

Thanos: I-

Rio: -didn’t think it through? Yeah, figured. Maybe try smaller scale next time. For example, Agatha sunk the Titanic and torched a zeppelin for me a while back. Lots of bodies. It was really sweet.

Thanos: *mutters* Fucking Agatha Harkness.

Rio: Well, obviously.

[lokiinmediasideblog]

I need to find that recent-ish comic with Thanos that shows his motives are fucking dumb ever since the Russos got ahold of his character and made him obsessed with "being right". Dude basically wiped half the living organisms in the universe to win an internet argument.

Out of topic: My poor blorbo was so pretty here ONLY TO DIE IN SUCH A GRAPHIC WAY!!!! D': FUCK YOU RUSSOS!!!

Avengers: Infinity War (2018) dir. Anthony and Joe Russo

[questions-about-blorbos]

This request was sent to us and we made a poll in response to it. Send any Blorbo-related question you want to our inbox and we’ll make a poll on which people can vote with their own Blorbos in minds

[fla-t-line]

[sersi]

In the end, all roads lead to me.

[phoenixyfriend]

Somewhere out there is an essay about superhero movies where villains co-opt, misuse, or even just misunderstand the language of the left to push methods and goals that are incompatible with the actual theory of the left, but that sound Right And Good to viewers who aren't thinking it through entirely. And the essay is not just about how they compare to each other, but how they are a litmus test for viewers to know how susceptible they are to propaganda.

Co-opt: Most obvious example and the inspiration for this post is the Riddler in Batman (2020, the one with RPatt). The Riddler recites leftist rhetoric about corruption, wealth hoarding, and redistribution, but his actual actions and goals are unrelated. He's an accelerationist who's more interested in tearing down a system that didn't benefit HIM than in actually rectifying the problems, and who cares if a few kids get traumatized or even killed along the way?

Misuse: Easy mode, this one's Thanos. He talks about ensuring there's enough for everyone to eat, but like. Bro.

Misunderstand: Erik Killmonger, who has the benefit of both some incredibly legitimate grievances and a pretty face, but also kind of fails at the idea of intersectionality, proportionality, or Start With Words Before You Escalate. He's the easiest to sympathize with, because he has some really good points and ultimately does appear to be legitimately pursuing those goals... but he's also a misogynist, jumped to international terrorism before "call up my cousin who doesn't know I exist," and there's something in there about the role played by his time in the US military, which gave him emotional trauma, head trauma, and a sincere belief in the validity of US-style insurgency operations based on hostile takeovers of inconvenient countries. He's charming and pretty and sincere... he's just also, in many ways, wrong. And the parts where he's right makes it easy to try to ignore the bits where he's wrong if you're predisposed to like him and prefer some absolutism.

Anyway, yeah, there are definitely other examples, but the ones that were suggested to me didn't quite vibe with the base idea (Mysterio and Vulture both had disgruntled union moments in the MCU, but they left those roots so quickly that I don't think the concept of using leftist rhetoric as cover/justification for the crimes really applies since, they very quickly shift gears into revenge and greed respectively).

Someone's probably done this better orz.

[lokiinmediasideblog]

NICE! That's wonderfully fucked up ^_^

Just imagine Loki staring down at a baby that had been abandoned, just like him, and wondering "how could anyone abandon this" as he tears up. Not even abandoned, just a baby would make him tear up because the only explanation would be that he's a monster, something not even a mother could love, because he's a frost giant runt. So no matter which side he picks, he'll always be an outsider. abandoned.

[mioakem]

no shade to the ogs but the scene where the thunderbolts retreated made me realize that the og avengers would’ve fucking died against sentry

[waywardsou2]

GIVE ME BOB AND TORRES BONDING THROUGH THE "DIVORCE" PLEASE

I NEED THEM BONDING AND THEN JUST TELLING THEIR DADS TO KISS AND MAKE UP

PLEASEEEEE

[mycroftrh]

2012!Avengers where Loki keeps leaving dead bad guys in front of Avengers Tower like a cat giving their human dead mice

The Avengers think it’s some sort of weird threat and Thor’s like no no this is how he shows his affection! He once caused an interplanar incident by assassinating someone he shouldn’t have for my birthday

Tony’s like oh, so that’s what was going on when he killed his bio-dad and tried to blow up his home planet in that supremely fucked up lil Shakespearean tragedy you told us? It was a gift for you and/or Odin? And Thor’s like no that was - oh. Ah. Some things are now coming together

[gunsandspaceships]

MCU Timeline. Avengers: Infinity War

At the dawn of the universe - nothing.

The Big Bang - formation of the six Infinity Stones.

~500 or 964/965 AD - Thor is born.

Now we have this contradiction: the first Thor movie and all the MCU books tell us he was born in 964 or 965 AD, and this is the only time he says he's 1,500 years old. He could have rounded it up, or it could have been a mistake (like his mispronunciation of "Nidavellir") - pick your favorite explanation.

Early 1945 - during a fight with Steve Rogers, the Red Skull touches the Tesseract, and the Space Stone within it finds him unworthy and sends him to Vormir to serve as a guide for those seeking the Soul Stone.

Early 1990s - Gamora is born on the planet Zen-Whoberi.

~1999 - Thanos kills half of the population of Zen-Whoberi and kidnaps little Gamora, whose parents his army had just executed.

Between the fall of 2014 and May 2018:

Nebula sneaks onto Thanos's ship and attempts to kill him. She almost succeeds, but Thanos captures her.

He takes her to a cell, accesses her memory files, where Gamora mentions that she knows where the Soul Stone is, and then proceeds to torture her.

Between November 2013 and May 2018 - Thanos arrives on Nidavellir and orders Eitri to make him the Infinity Gauntlet. Once it is made, he shuts down the forge and kills all of Nidavellir's dwarves except Eitri, whom he deprives of his hands.

Beginning of June 2016 - with the help of Rogers and Romanoff, Maximoff and Wilson escape from the Raft. Scott Lang and Clint Barton make a deal with the US and German governments to remain under house arrest instead of going into hiding.

~June 2016 - Wanda and Vision start dating.

Okay, here’s the thing about the main event date: it depends on the city. Literally. If we’re in New York, it looks like mid-May, if we’re in Atlanta or Edinburgh, I’d say March. They don’t really go together, so we’ll have to pick one. Considering other movies like Ant-Man and the Wasp and Thor: Ragnarok, our pick should be mid-May 2018.

Can we narrow this down to days? Let's try:

If the calendar here is the same as ours, which is not always the case. But let's assume that it is.

There is also a contradiction in the film regarding the day of the week (Wednesday vs. Tuesday) for the first day. Now there is no hint as to which one we should choose. But as with the month, I assume that what happens in New York is closer to the truth, so I will choose Wednesday.

In mid-May we also have two options: the second week (May 9) and the third (May 16).

So, in What If? S1E5, there's a direct mention that it's been two weeks since Hank went into the Quantum Realm in Ant-Man and the Wasp (May 2), so it must be May 16. What If often makes mistakes, and later in the same episode, it makes an obvious one, but if it works in this case, let's go with that option.

~May 2, 2018 - Vision promises Tony that he will return, turns off his transponder, and leaves with Wanda for Scotland for a two-week vacation.

~May 9, 2018 - Thanos decimates Xandar and takes the Power Stone.

May 15 (Tuesday), 2018. Night - Tony dreams that he and Pepper are having a baby, Morgan.

May 16 (Wednesday), 2018

~11 am - 12 pm in NY:

Thanos attacks the Asgardian refugee ship Statesman and seizes the Space Stone.

Hulk fights Thanos but is easily defeated. Heimdall teleports him to Earth.

The death of half of Asgard's refugees, Heimdall and Loki.

Thanos sends his Black Order to search for the two Infinity Stones on Earth.

Thor is left unconscious in outer space among dead bodies.

Hulk crashes through the roof and stairs of the Sanctum Sanctorum and transforms back into Bruce. He informs Strange and Wong of the impending threat.

Tony and Pepper are running in New York's Central Park. Tony tells Pepper about his dream and asks her for a baby.

They are interrupted by the arrival of Strange and Banner, who take Tony away to save the world.

~1 pm in NY:

Wong gives Tony a lecture about the Infinity Stones. Strange reveals the Time Stone in his necklace. Bruce informs Tony of the situation and that behind the attack on New York in 2012 was also Thanos.

1:20 pm - Bruce tells Tony to call Steve Rogers. Tony tells Bruce that the Avengers have broken up.

Before he can make the call, a Black Order Q-ship arrives above them.

Peter Parker jumps off a school bus headed to MoMA and rushes to the ship's location.

Tony, Strange, Wong and Peter fight Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian. Hulk refuses to come out.

Wong saves Tony by sending Cull Obsidian onto a glacier. He also cuts off his hand. Tony invites him to Pepperony's wedding.

Maw captures Strange and takes him to the Q-Ship.

Peter follows outside. Tony saves him by putting the Iron Spider suit on him. He sends him home, but Peter manages to cling to the ship and get inside.

Tony gets on the ship and tells Pepper that he won't be back for a while.

Wong returns to Sanctum.

1:42 pm - Bruce calls Steve on the phone Tony dropped.

Having received a distress signal from the Statesman, the Guardians of the Galaxy pick up Thor.

~2 pm in NY:

Gamora tells him about Thanos' plan. Thor takes some of their food, Quill's backpack, a pod and goes to Nidavellir with Rocket and Groot.

The rest of the team heads to Knowhere, where the Collector keeps the Reality Stone.

~Unspecified time, afternoon in NY:

Strange wakes up on the Q-Ship, and Maw begins torturing him with needles to obtain the Time Stone.

A rescue team (Tony, Peter and Levi) gathers above them. Peter comes up with a plan from Aliens.

Minutes later - Tony kills Maw by blowing a hole in the ship.

Tony and Steven argue over a course of action and agree to bring the fight with Thanos to Titan.

Tony makes Peter an Avenger.

~6 pm in NY:

~6:30 pm (NY)/11:30 pm (Scotland) - Wanda and Vision are walking through the streets of Edinburgh when they are attacked by Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight of the Black Order. Vision is injured and his powers are suppressed.

6:45 pm (NY)/11:45 pm (Scotland) - they are saved by the arriving Rogues: Rogers, Romanoff and Wilson. Proxima and the injured Glaive retreat. The Rogues take Wanda and Vision back to the Compound.

~Night in NY:

In space, Gamora asks Quill to kill her if Thanos captures her, so that the Titan will not learn the location of the Soul Stone. He vows to do so. They kiss.

By this time, the "invisible" Drax has been standing "motionless" for an hour and eating snacks.

Thanos attacks Knowhere and obtains the Reality Stone from the Collector. He then sets a trap for Gamora using the stone.

May 17 (Thursday), 2018

~Before 7 am in NY:

Rocket gives Thor a cybernetic eye.

GotG arrives on Knowhere. Using the Reality Stone, Thanos easily deals with them and captures Gamora.

GotG return to Benatar, where Quill spends the next five hours sitting and listening to New York Groove.

Aboard his mothership, Thanos shows Gamora her captive sister and tortures Nebula to reveal the location of the Soul Stone.

Thanos takes Gamora with him to Vormir.

While a Chitauri is putting Nebula back together, she kills him and escapes. She sends 23 secret coded messages to GotG asking them to meet her on Titan.

Five hours after Thanos captured Gamora - GotG finally receive Nebula's secret coded messages and travel from Knowhere to Titan.

~7 am in NY/1 pm in Wakanda:

Rogues arrive at the Compound. Rhodey talks to Secretary Ross, who orders him to arrest them. Rhodes waves him off.

The Avengers discuss the situation. Vision tells them that Wanda must destroy the stone in his head. Bruce gets the idea that simply taking it out might work. They head to Wakanda to do it and call T'Challa.

Okoye gathers Wakandan warriors.

T'Challa comes for Bucky Barnes and brings him a new vibranium arm.

Thor, Groot, and Rocket reach Nidavellir and meet with Eitri.

~8 am in NY:

Q-ship carrying Tony, Peter and Strange lands on Titan.

They are immediately attacked by GotG. After a short fight due to a misunderstanding, they form an alliance against Thanos.

Strange uses the Time Stone to see 14,000,605 alternate futures and finds only one winning.

Thanos and Gamora arrive on Vormir, where they are met by the Red Skull. Thanos throws his "daughter" off a cliff for the Soul Stone.

He wakes up with the Stone in his hand.

~9-10 am in NY/3-4 pm in Wakanda:

~9:30 am/3:30 pm - the Quinjet carrying the Rogues, Rhodes, Vision, and Banner arrives in Wakanda, where they are met by T'Challa, his warriors, and Barnes.

Note: The main functional feature of quinjets is that they fly exactly as long as the plot requires, and not as long as they would fly in reality. This is not the first Avengers movie where yesterday it flew to the States all night, and today it took the jet a couple of hours to cover about twice that distance.

~10 am/4 pm - Shuri begins working on Vision and the Mind Stone. Thanos' army enters the planet's atmosphere above Wakanda.

On Nidavellir, Thor, Rocket, Groot, and Eitri restart the forge to create a new weapon, Stormbreaker.

The Battle of Titan.

The Battle of Wakanda.

Creation of the Stormbreaker on Nidavellir.

Bruce in the Hulkbuster kills Cull Obsidian, Wanda kills Proxima Midnight, Vision kills Corvus Glaive.

~10:20 am/4:20 pm - during their duel, Thanos gravely wounds Tony and prepares to kill him, but Strange gives him the Time Stone in exchange for Tony's life.

With five Stones, Thanos teleports to Wakanda. Having not met any worthy resistance for himself, Thanos takes the last Stone from Vision.

10:24 am/4:24 pm - The Snap.

Thanos meets little Gamora in the Soul Stone and then teleports to his garden world to retire in peace.

10:25 am/4:25 pm - 50% of all living beings in the Universe disappear from reality.

Nick Fury manages to send an SOS signal to Captain Marvel's pager before turning to dust.

Note: Does Marvel want to explain why Edinburgh and Atlanta look more like it's winter, while in New York it's almost summer?

Tony and Nebula are left alone on Titan.

~Later that day:

At some point, they depart for Earth on the Benatar.

The remaining Avengers return to the Compound to monitor losses.

Over the next few days:

They visit Fury's last location and find his pager, which they bring to the Compound.

Days later - Carol Danvers arrives at the Compound and soon after heads back into space to search for Tony.

MCU Timeline: The Infinity Saga

[reallyunluckyrunaway]

[fla-t-line]

I love this quote sm