#rangarok spoilers

[taylovelinus]

GoW: Ragnarok thoughts, written as I was playing the game [spoilers ahead]:

1. The beginning felt rushed. The recap helped recount the story, but I felt like there wasn’t enough time to re-introduce the world and the characters before immediately jumping into the action. I know it’s a direct sequel, so most of the players have played the first game, but still, it was a bit jarring.

2. the story as a whole (up until about the first journey into Vanaheim) just moved a bit too quickly, didn’t feel like it was progressing naturally

3. script feels kind of weak, but the performance from Thor’s actor is amazing. and Tyr’s. and Freya’s.

4. By the time you reach goddess falls and retrieve Freya’s sword, the story finally felt like it was moving at a much better pace.

5. Dialogue is often awkward, unnatural, or just generally unfunny. Sometimes sounds straight out of a Marvel movie (derogatory)

6. As far as the story itself, it’s at least on par with GoW 2018. Interesting concept and as a player it has been entertaining to play along and wonder if they really are fated to walk into Ragnarok or if there is any choice.

7. I did however feel that the portion of the game with Atreus and Angrboda lasted longer than it needed to

8. the alcoholic thor subplot is weird ngl. I think it’s interesting that the gods in the GoW universe (both Greek and Norse) are presented not as all-powerful beings, but more so as powerful humans who still have their flaws, which is accurate to how they were seen in Greece and among Norse people. However, the alcoholism storyline just feels strange because no other god is really portrayed like that — that their pain is so deep that they turn to substance use, or that that’s something baby god would want or need to do. There’s certainly a point to be made about how this reinforces their portrayal as simply powerful humans, but something about it just feels odd and kind of ham-handed.

9. some of the character development felt kind of rushed. Atreus’ last interaction with Sif involved her basically telling Thor that all of this was Atreus’ fault, and then suddenly during Ragnarok, Sif has come to respect Atreus? Thrud and Atreus never really resolved their issues, but suddenly it’s all okay during Rangarok? I understand the idea that facing such a catastrophic event could cause those involved to get past their petty issues and work together, but I really would have liked to see some resolution and development of the characters occur before Ragnarok, not during it. Doing it in the middle of the battle just kind of felt lazy.

10. I cannot take Ratatoskr seriously as a character and it just completely pulls me out of the story lmfao

11. Thoughts on the ending and future of the series were detailed in this post.

[sootspurs]

ragnarök was so good wow a few thoughts and a lot of spoilers below

the visuals were incredibly beautiful and the whole movie had a strong aesthetic. at first i was not so thrilled about the obvious leap from the regal, neutral, serious colours of tdw to this crazy eighties neon vibe, but they balanced out surprisingly well. i’m glad they kept asgard as golden and warm-toned as always and that they also included scenes in the bleak, calm, norwegian landscape and in the gray, familiar scenery of new york, as well as kept the organic, rich colours and materials of the asgardians’ clothes the same. without these i feel like the movie would have taken on a much too artificial feel, even though all the special effects and the environment concepts were all just incredible.

the actors’ performances were incredible, and for the first time i felt like i saw the characters like i’ve imagined them based on the comics and the actual myths. loki and his connection with thor was especially well brought about and i really liked his role as a snarky wild card instead of the antagonist in this movie.

the writing was delightfully smart and funny. the dialogue played well off the well-developed character dynamics and the one liners were all well executed and timed.

i really loved ragnarök’s contrast to the previous thor films and the obvious taika waititi vibe it had. it’s really a fresh piece in marvel’s collection, whose second phase especially felt really monotone, and is, unlike i initially expected, just the perfect mix of gotg-esque insanity and the more serious image the thor franchise has previously had.

the film was very rich in detail, which i loved. the little nods and tie-ins to other mcu events (the quinjet, loki’s fear of the hulk) were subtle enough to not seem forced and the references to actual norse myths (fenris, the endless beer pint) were a welcome addition to the film that could have easily drifted very far from the original source material. the character designs were incredibly good and the costumes were intricate and very well done and i loved the unique look and silhouette each character had. i was a little underwhelmed by hela’s design but cate blanchett’s performance made up to it a hundred times.

while ragnarök works very well as a fast-paced action film, i really loved the few deeper themes it brought up as well. the exploration and introduction of the source and extent of thor’s powers was immensely interesting and satisfying to me and i can’t wait to see more of him in action now that he has tapped into his true power that probably has earlier been downplayed for the sake of budget and fairness to other characters. also, i love what the film did about a concern of mine that had been there from the get-go. i didn’t think they would do justice to a title such as ragnarök, “the end of everything”. but they did, and with the implication that “asgard is not a place, it’s a people” it made for a very powerful theme. the film was a symbolic rebirth for the thor franchise, and wherever they decide to take it from here, it’ll be on a strong foundation.

i wish that marvel would learn how to make memorable soundtracks (immigrant song worked great and was very suitable for this movie but they didn’t make it, did they?) the soundtrack is alright but it was only background noise for me. i don’t feel the music played as big of a role in creating atmosphere as, say, in tdw, gotg or doctor strange, whose soundtracks all have an unique touch to them.

i’m the most mad about the warriors three. they deserved a better end. i’m so upset they just brushed volstagg and fandral’s deaths off with one quick camera pan. i understand that with the expansion of the mcu some characters must be dropped but there were so many other ways they could have done it. the warriors three could have died fighting hela’s skeleton army as the asgardians evacuate or gone to the vaults instead of loki and awakened surtur, then dying in the flames (although then loki wouldn’t have gotten the tesseract). anyways, the warriors three have felt like an afterthought in the entire thor franchise so i really think they really deserved more. 

and while i really enjoyed the themes of the film, i wish they had given the movie just a tad more emotional depth or at least brought it more to the foreground. the demise of asgard, the deaths of the warriors three, and all of the family drama would have made for great, captivating, emotional scenes but we didn’t get many of those (that wouldn’t have been interrupted by a witty one-liner anyways). thor losing an eye was a powerful and bold move but i feel like it was, too, brushed off and not really addressed or explained until the very end. that kind of confusion when it came to big, significant events in the story cut the sharpest edge off most of them. the fast pacing worked great for the action scenes or scenes with a lot of dialogue but i just feel like they jumped from one important thing to another too fast, leaving the audience no time to really connect with the scenes.

as a whole, i think that ragnarök is the freshest movie marvel has made in a while. i really enjoyed it, and in the end, isn’t that what movies ultimately are for?

[ravennazane]

So I can’t find Hiddles anywhere on the Endgame IMDb cast list but google still has him. There’s also a gif floating around that seems to clearly show Loki

It’s like they’re still trying to fake us out on whether or not he’ll return as if we’re not going to riot if they leave him dead

[poison-ives]

If Loki just gives thanos the tesseract, I'm suing for emotional distress

[lukestarkillerisgay]

odin: your sister, Hella, god of death

cate blanchett: *shows up with some weird ass emo outfit and deep voice*

me: wow.....dope

[liveshaunteda]

Could really see the Kiwi influence in the movie. Especially with Korg

[helloworlddemo1122-yahoopar-blog]

Our 11 Biggest Questions After 'Avengers: Infinity War'

Massive spoilers for "Avengers: Infinity War" below.

The entirety of Avengers: Infinity War is chockablock with exclamation point moments: Steve Rogers meeting Groot! Peter Parker pulling an Aliens! Black Widow, Okoye and Scarlet Witch teaming up to take down Proxima Midnight! The unexpected return of Red Skull! A distress call to Captain Marvel! And an ending that blew my mind, leaving me feeling like Vision after Thanos ripped an Infinity Stone out of his head! After the lights came on in the theater, though, I had a few lingering questions to be answered.

How does Ant-Man and the Wasp possibly follow Infinity War?

Not in how high the bar has been raised -- though, also that -- but Infinity War ended with half of life on Earth turning to ash. Does Ant-Man and the Wasp take place in a world where half the population just...disappeared? That seems like it'd be sort of a big deal. In the same vein as Ragnarok taking place around the same time as Civil War, does this Ant-Man take place during the timeline of Infinity War? And the end-credits scene will be Ant-Man or Wasp disappearing?

Which other superheroes were raptured?

We get eyes on most of the heroes from this movie that disappeared with a snap of Thanos' fingers: Black Panther, Doctor Strange, Groot, Scarlet Witch, Star-Lord and Spider-Man, among others. But what about Shuri? And Wong? Are they still around? And what about the superheroes who weren't in the movie? Could Ant-Man, Hawkeye, Nakia or Vakyrie turn up, unraptured, to help out in Avengers 4?

Who survived the Asgardian massacre?

Is Valkyrie even still alive? At the beginning of the movie, Thanos attacks the Asgardian's ship, it seems, purging half the Asgardians aboard before claiming the Space Stone. Yet we see neither see hide nor hair of Thor: Rangarok's breakout star: Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie. Not to mention, Korg and Miek. Did they escape with the surviving Asgardians and are somewhere in the cosmos? There's no way they were killed off off-screen, right?

Will Gamora's death stick?

There are deaths in Infinity War and there are "deaths." The characters that ashed in the end will be brought back, somewhere, somehow. A number of characters met their maker before that, however. I can believe that Heimdall, Loki and Vision are gone for good, but it's harder to buy Gamora death, sacrificed by Thanos in his quest for the Soul Stone. (Would they really kill off Gamora with Guardians Vol. 3 on the horizon?) As it happens, this is the exact type of situation where the Soul Stone comes in handy...

That's not the last we've seen of the Soul Stone, is it?

One of the biggest and best-kept secrets of the film came during Gamora and Thanos' sojourn to Vormir, where it's revealed that the Stonekeeper safeguarding the Soul Stone is none other than...Red Skull, the Stone-obsessed villain of Captain America: The First Avenger. (In that film, Red Skull was played by Hugo Weaving, but here it is nano-impressionist Ross Marquand.) Assuming the Stones are still functional post-snap, I've got a feeling the Soul Stone -- and the true extent of its powers -- will come into play in Avengers 4, But is this the last we've seen of Red Skull? Will we return to Vormir? (And after all the theories about where the Soul Stone was located, why Vormir, a relatively non-important location from the comics?)

When will Peter Quill finally return to Earth?

The legendary outlaw known as Star-Lord has not set foot on Earth since Yondu beamed him up more than 30 years ago. With the Guardians finally teaming up with Earth's mightiest heroes, I assumed this would be a crucial moment in Infinity War -- but the closest Quill got to his home world was Titan. (He did encounter earthlings in Tony Stark, Stephen Strange and Peter Parker.) Groot and Rocket, meanwhile, have now visited Wakanda, so Quill's pilgrimage to Earth can't be too far behind.

When will Tony Stark and Steve Rogers mend fences?

One major yarn connecting Civil War to Infinity War was the schism between Iron Man and Captain America -- at the beginning of the movie, Tony refuses to call Steve, even as NYC is being invaded by alien henchmen, and the film ends without the two ever interacting. Now, when it is absolutely imperative they put their differences aside and work together, Tony is seemingly stuck who knows how many miles away on Titan, while Steve is in Wakanda.

Is Hulk afraid of Thanos?

Infinity War isn't completely devoid of the big guy. In the first minutes, he's called on to clobber Thanos...but winds up getting the green beat out of him. After Hulk is Bifrosted to Earth, Banner calls on him a number of times to no avail. (The money shot from the trailer, of Hulk slo-mo running alongside the rest of the Avengers, is not in the movie.) Is the Hulk refusing to show himself because he's terrified of the Mad Titan? Or is something else at play?

What did Doctor Strange mean by "We're in the endgame now"?

Ahead of their showdown with Thanos, Doctor Strange looked into the future -- cool new power! -- and saw a million predictions of how the scenario would play out, but only one in which the Avengers and Guardians emerge victorious. And though you would assume maintaining possession of the Time Stone would be imperative to clinching that victory, he is pretty casual about handing it over to Thanos. (Admittedly, in exchange for Tony's life). What does Strange know about the endgame that the others don't? And why didn't he clue them in to it?

Where did everybody go? How will they come back? And does any of it involve the Kree-Skrull War?

Infinity War leaves us in a place few Marvel movies have: With genuinely no idea of what will happen next. Are the raptured heroes dead? Or were they transported somewhere else? (An alternate dimension or timeline, perhaps?) We know they have to come back somehow -- the Guardians, Black Panther and Spider-Man all have future movies in the works -- but...how? And how do the Kree and Skrull connect to any of this? (The Kree-Skrull War is a significant arc plucked from the comics about warring alien races that will play out in Captain Marvel, the movie preceding Avengers 4.)

What is the title of Avengers 4?

Avengers: Endgame, maybe? Something more specifically spoiler-y?

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[ferretbuzz]

Kevin Feige Talks ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ Surprises & The Future Of The MCU

Kevin Feige Talks ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ Surprises & The Future Of The MCU

[ad_1] Warning: Spoilers follow for Thor: Ragnarok. With Thor: Rangarok finally upon us, Marvel is well and truly setting the stage for next year’s climactic Avengers: Infinity War, which will see just about every MCU hero uniting to take on the might of Thanos. Ragnarok drops a few hints as to how the inhabitants of the Marvel Cinematic Universe may be drawn together for Infinity War‘s epic…