#yes its with red guardian instead of hawkeye

[icedgarlic]

what if? s3 is the closest I'll get to I'll Keep You Safe Here With Me on ao3 to being canon 💔💔💔

[tnc-n3cl]

Find the word

Find the words from the list in your wips and post the paragraphs they belong to.

Thanks to @zeawesomebirdie for the tag.

1. Star

(From "Virli's Story", one of my LoZ "The Realm Walker" fics. Virli is a member of Revali's tribe of Rito so looks similar to him, but with orange-red feathers, no cheek tufts, and a shorter crest. She has blue eyes and a pair of white dots on her face near where Revali's red spots are. Also her "hair" is braided in a single braid that splits into four at the end.)

Virli’s flight group closes in on the Korikitan Market, and right off the bat their plan is in need of adjustment.  Below, a group of soldiers on horseback approach the monster horde, the black armor with red embossed patterns and horsehair decorated helmets are a clear sign that they’re from Yosikun’s Imperial Army. And if that wasn’t enough, many soldiers have banners attached to their backs, rectangular flags with a diagonal separation of colors, dark slate gray on the bottom and dark red on the top, with the bright red circular emblem of Diryen (De-rye-in), the Alliance’s counterpart to the Goddess Din.  There’s also a single gold four-point star at the top left of the banners, some kind of unit marking probably…

2. Eye

(From "The Long Nightmare", Revali's century long ordeal of being possessed by Ganon. He's just lost to Windblight...)

The creature hovers over Revali, making sickening gurgling noises.  Revali closes his eyes and waits for its cannon to burn through his flesh, “Dad, I guess I’ll see you soon…  Mom, please, stay strong…” Revali can still hear the gurgling, why hasn’t it finished him?!  He opens his eyes and glares at the beast, “Well, what are you waiting for?!  Go ahead!  Finish me already!” It just looks at him with that damned, pulsating Guardian eye.  “What, you want to gloat over me?  You want me to beg for my life or something?!  Fuck you!  You can’t defeat all of us!  Daruk or Urbosa or Mipha will send you back to whatever hell you crawled out of!”

3. Call

(From "The Ballad of Kass", where Kass and Rinili have sneaked into Gerudo village. They're wearing Rito lady clothes, but with the Gerudo veil, since Kass' crest is a male trait in my headcanon. Kass has a green hood and veil while Rinili's is red. Rinili is midnight blue with light blue legs (like Saki) and has four long ornamental tail feathers that he's cleverly tucked into a sash so they think they're part of an outfit instead of his body.)

Kass and Rinili make their way up the staircase and are blocked from entering when the guards cross their spears across the entranceway. The one on the left demands, “State your business vure.” Kass knows enough Gerudo to be insulted.  Yes, he IS a bird, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t rude to call a Rito that out of the blue.  Although, he’s diplomatic enough to let it slide, Kalia would likely have started an incident had she been sent!

4. Dark

(From "Ildia's Story" where Ildia, TP Link and Midna's daughter, first sees the sorry state of Hyrule Castle. She's wearing plate mail armor that's black with glowing blue lines. She has a bright orange ponytail and mismatched eyes, left is blue and right is red, while the whites of her eyes have a hint of yellow. She's standing on a rock near the quarry area in BotW.)

From the top of the rock Ildia can see the huge castle.  It’s like something out of a nightmare! The castle is surrounded by massive black stone pillars with purple lights emerging from the ground and the ruins of a town are in front of the castle, the entire scene surrounded by an ominous, dark aura.  She pulls out what looks like a bird mask, the Hawkeye tool her father once used.  She looks around the ruins: little more than piles of rubble where buildings once stood, more of those machines patrolling, pools of ominous purple and black slime, some of those pools have spike like structures sticking out of them. 

5. When

(From "The Azure Phoenix", where Revali's talking with Bedoli and Laissa after waking up from the coma he fell into after Link and Mipha freed him. He's sitting up on the floor of their roost, naked with a blanked wrapped around him. He's just learned that Link and Mipha are still in the village.)

Revali’s genuinely surprised, not so much by Mipha staying, it’s totally understandable that she would stay being the kind soul that she is.  But Link?  Why would he stay when he needs to rescue Daruk and Urbosa?!  It’s not like he and Link were friends, perhaps he didn’t want to leave Mipha alone here.  Then again, Link’s odds of succeeding in rescuing Daruk and Urbosa rise considerably if he has help from the greatest archer Hyrule has ever known... 

No pressure tags: @unmaskedcardinal, @autumnsakurajayy, and anyone else who wants to join!

Your words are: light, moon, sound, here, north

[jjarvelous]

black widow spoilers below cut

first off, that intro credit scene? with the red room footage? i LOVED that shit, i had chills all over for the entire duration of it. the cover of smells like teen spirit worked INCREDIBLY well to set the theme

Natasha living in Norway in her trailer and being domestic-y my beloved

BUDAPEST!! we finally found out what Clint and Nat did in Budapest and that ceiling vents Clint is technically now canon. when it’s on disney i want to try and read what they had wrote onto the walls in the vents

in her civilian clothes Nat had her arrow necklace and my heart!! ugh 🥰

when Nat and Yelena broke Alexei out of prisons and they’re all just constantly arguing with each other like guys? pls

AND when Alexei asked Yelena if it was her time of the month and she didn’t shy away from ANYTHING like yes please let’s normalise talking about the female reproductive system/menstruation (or lack there of in their case)

i’m living for the strange russian assassin family thing that Nat, Yelena, Melina and Alexei have going on

Alexei being called crimson dynamo instead of red guardian, does that mean the entire winter guard exists within the mcu?

the winter soldier knife flip that taskmaster did!

i was so surprised that Dreykov’s daughter was taskmaster though

literally all of the action scenes were *chefs kiss* incredible

“thank you for your cooperation” NATASHA I LOVE YOU

just everything that Yelena did I LOVE HER SM and when she teased Nat about her superhero pose !!

for a second there in the floating red room i thought they were going to do the face swap from Black Widow (2001) when they had Yelena strapped to the medical table

the red room?? floats?? it’s a ship? wha t

i would love to see what happens next with all the red room girls and Melina and Alexei

and finally i really didn't like the post credit scene

the mcu just seems to really really hate hawkeye, and as a Clint fan i gotta say i hate to see it (at least I still have the comics though)

i just feel like it's going to fuel the fire of hawkeye antis

its like everyone didn't see the scene in endgame where Clint and Nat literally FOUGHT each other to be the sacrifice, like?? he didn't kill her.

it WAS interesting to see that they used a photo of him as Ronin, not as himself though

i’m kind of dreading that they’re going to have Yelena kill off Clint and have Kate Bishop take the Hawkeye title that way

BUT

we got to see at least some closure for Nat's death, I wish they would of done a funeral scene though and it definitely sets up something for the future whether that be the hawkeye series or a future film, etc

AND!! the link to tfatws with val, I wonder if this took place before or after tfatws and why Yelena is working with val and how US agent will tie into all this

needless to say the post credit scene made me cry

overall i loved this movie, maybe its not the best mcu movie but it was still very good, i just feel like the credit scene ruined it a bit for me

[mymarvelbunch]

Be Your Own Hero - Steve Rogers x Reader (part 6)

Masterlist

Summary: You’ve lost all your family and most friends in The Decimation. Refusing to believe their deaths are permanent, you dedicate years to find a way to reverse it. Upon finding something that might help, you search for the Avengers’ help. It’s Steve Rogers x Reader, but in reality it’s mostly Badass!Reader. Also, Non-American!Reader.

Warnings: none!

Note: Y/Co = your country. Y/Ci = your city; Y/N/L = your native language.

Previously: “As I was saying... Tony and his new team managed to build that time machine.” You and Steve exchanged glances and smiled wide. From your side, you heard Danvers say, “Let’s get it started, then.”

Part Six

Two days later

Everything was surreal. You were surrounded by heroes: Iron Man, War Machine, the Hulk, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Captain America, Thor, Captain Marvel, Valkyrie, Nebula, Rocket, Ant-Man... And you were among them. Part of the team, with a Quantum Suit and everything. Almost an Avenger yourself.

You took a couple deep breaths and brought yourself back to reality. The team was discussing how they’d get the Stones.

“Okay”, Natasha began, paper and pencil in hand. “First Stone, Space. The Tesseract. Let’s list all occasions in which one of us came in contact with it.”

“1945″, Steve said. “It was in Red Skull’s possession. I don’t remember if it was in the plane when I crashed it, though.”

“1995″, Danvers added. “My... mentor had kind of stolen it, and a reactor with the Stone inside exploded. My powers come from the it actually. And then Goose - an alien cat, if anyone’s wondering - swallowed it.”

“Well, your cat must have puked the thing, because Loki was after it in 2012, and it was back in SHIELD’s possession″, Barton said, seemingly undisturbed by an alien cat eating an Infinity Stone. “Then Thor took it to Asgard.”

Thor nodded. He already looked a lot better than when they found him. “It remained in Odin’s vault until we fled Asgard. Loki took it for some reason and... died trying to protect it from Thanos.”

A couple ‘I’m sorry’s were heard. “I don’t know when or how dad found it in the ocean”, Stark said eventually, “but I’m 90% sure it was already in SHIELD’s hand in the 70s.”

Natasha nodded slowly. “So, 1945, the 70s, 1995, 2012 and any time period between 2013 and 2017. Anything else?” Silence. “Okay, next Stone, Time.”

“Easy”, Stark said. “Strange.”

“Not always”, you replied. “He only became its guardian in mid-2016. It belonged to a woman before then. She lived in the same New York Sanctum, though, I think.”

“So we have pre-2016 and post-2016, same place, different guardians”, Natasha said. “Reality Stone?”

Thor adjusted himself in his chair. “It possessed Jane Foster in 2013. We took her to Asgard, so if we pick a place it’s probably the safest. Lady Sif was the one responsible for getting the Stone away from Asgard after that, since the Tesseract was already in our hands. Sadly, she only told its location to Loki, and both are gone.” He glanced at Rocket.

“Thanos took from Knowhere, from the Collector, I think.”

“Asgard in 2013 and Knowhere after that, then”, Natasha said. “Next, Mind Stone.”

“Loki’s scepter from 2012 to 2015, when it was put in Vision’s head”, Stark summarized.

“That scepter was in HYDRA’s hands for quite some time, though”, Steve added. “It was how Wanda and Pietro got their powers.”

Natasha nodded. “Power Stone.”

“Morag, 2014″, Rocket said. “That’s when Quill stole it. Then we left it in Xandar for safety. Didn’t end up so well, but the Stone can be found there until... well, I wouldn’t risk 2018, so 2017.”

“Anything else? Nebula? Carol?” Both women shook their heads. “Okay. Soul Stone.”

“Vormir”, Nebula said. “It was supposedly a mystery, but Gamora somehow found out and told Thanos so he’d stop torturing me.” Her robotic face let her guilt clear.

“Thanos killed Gamora, though”, Stark added. “Didn’t he? Isn’t that why Quill punched him back in Titan?”

Nebula nodded. “Yes. Thanos took Gamora to Vormir. Came back with the Stone, without her. The Stone had been there until then.”

Natasha nodded. “Guys, I think we have a plan. There are three Stones in New York in 2012: Time, Space and Mind. Three Stones in other planets in 2014: Power in Morag, Reality in Knowhere, Soul in Vormir. Alternatively, we can travel to 2013 to get Reality instead. What do you think, guys?”

Everyone began to nod, much to your surprise. There was a fatal flaw in that plan. “Guys? Aren’t we forgetting something here? Thanos killed his daughter in Vormir and came back with the Soul Stone. Doesn’t that ring any bells?”

Rocket snorted. “Thanos didn’t care for any lives aside his own. He probably killed Gamora so she’d never tell anyone else about Vormir.”

Nebula shook her head. “Y/N has a point. Gamora was Thanos’ favorite. He never killed me, who he always despised and saw as inferior. He wouldn’t kill my sister if he didn’t deem it absolutely necessary.”

“He did say he was forced to kill her in Titan”, Stark added.

“See?”, you said. “Besides, the Stone’s named Soul. What if you need a soul to get it? That would explain all the secrecy behind its location.” You stood up. “No, there must be another way to get that one. A way that doesn’t risk lives. That’s what you said, right, Stark? We won’t risk lives.”

Stark nodded and stood up too. “Yes. I agree with Y/N. However, the only other times any of us has seen the Soul Stone are after Thanos gets it. Nebula and I saw it in Titan... that’s it!”

Everyone turned to Stark, who turned to Nebula. “Nebula, remember when we almost took the Gauntlet off Thanos’ arm?” She nodded. “If we manage to go to that specific point, we can at least get our hands on the Soul Stone, if not on the whole Gauntlet. And Strange was still in possession of the Time Stone, meaning we could just ask him. That way we don’t have to find out if getting the Soul Stone in Vormir requires sacrifice or not.”

Smiles could be seen all over the room. Banner was the first to speak after it: “Well, we shouldn’t send Stark and Nebula there, though. It might be confusing, and we can’t afford wasting time with that.”

“That’s an easy choice, honestly’, you said. “Send Danvers, Thor, Valkyrie and you there. You four have more than enough power to help the guys.”

“Lady Y/N is right”, Thor said, standing up. “I may not be in my best condition, but with Stormbreaker I can help stopping Thanos. I know exactly what to do this time.”

Valkyrie and Danvers agreed. Banner asked to stay away from the fight, and everyone conceded. The trio suited up. Stark and Nebula set the timer and described the scene they’d find. “Remember”, Stark said, “you have to get at least the Soul Stone. All the others can be safely found in other timelines, though it would save us a lot of work if you managed to get more. If possible, try to ask Strange for the Time Stone. He surely knows what we want to do with it.”

“Be safe”, you added.

“Look out for one another”, Steve added as well. You two exchanged glances.

They nodded, and Banner activated the time machine. “3... 2... 1...”, and they disappeared. After a minute, they came back, puffing. It was Danvers who spoke up first, excitedly. “We got two of them! Soul and and Reality!”

Valkyrie spoke second, huffing. “There was no way to ask the wizard for the Time Stone. Everything was a mess.”

Along with Thor, they told how they didn’t reach Quill in time to stop him punching Thanos, so it was a tough fight to get close to him. It was Danvers who got hold of the Soul Stone, while Thor grabbed the Reality Stone. Valkyrie managed to knock Thanos unconscious, allowing them to adjust their timers to get back. Strange was busy using the Time Stone to fight, so they weren’t able to get it from him.

“Well, we avoided the most complicated ones”, Natasha said. “No potential sacrifice to get the Soul Stone and no attacking Jane Foster to get the Reality Stone.”

“Damn, that one would have been awkward”, Rhodes commented. “Okay, now we need to get Space, Mind, Time and Power Stones. Do we stick to the original plan?”, he asked, looking at you.

“I don’t see why not”, you replied. “Like Natasha said, the worst part is over. By the way, Thor, Valkyrie, Danvers, you can rest. It should be easy from now on.”

Oh, how naïve you were.

.

Since they planned on getting the Space and Mind Stones mid-Battle of New York, it would be best to send the original Avengers, who knew where and when to be. Banner was voted out, thanks to his new looks, and Thor was left to rest. Natasha, Steve and Clint would go, along with Scott, whose powers could be useful. Stark and Rhodes would head to 2017 to negotiate the Time Stone with Strange, since no one knew how the previous guardian would react to them. You and Nebula would head to 2014 Morag to retrieve the Power Stone.

“I mean, when else will you be able to go to space?”, Steve said, making you smile wide. You were so excited Nebula asked for a delay for you to calm down.

Banner and Rocket would stay behind to coordinate everything. Rocket didn’t want to travel in time again, after being the one to test the machine. After a minute, you managed to get yourself back together. The eight of you gathered around the platform. Steve was responsible for the pep talk:

“Three years ago, we lost. All of us. We lost friends. We lost family. We lost a part of ourselves. Today, we have a chance to take it all back. You know your teams, you know your missions. Get the stones, get them back. One round trip each. No mistakes. No do-overs. Most of us are going somewhere we know, that doesn't mean we should know what to expect. Be careful. Look out for each other. This is the fight of our lives. And we're going to win. Whatever it takes. Good luck.”

You and Natasha smiled at him. Scott praised him, and Barton laughed for the first time since you’ve met him. “See you all in a minute”, Natasha said, excitement clear in her voice and body language.

You felt dizzy as you spiraled inside the Quantum Realm, but, before you could blink, you were already out. You found yourself in a purple desert planet, with no sign of life except for a temple-like building. It was a disappointing sight, so you simply turned to Nebula and asked, “Is the Power Stone inside that place?”

She nodded and you followed her. She pulled you to hide behind some sort of ruin. Confused, you followed her gaze to find a masked human-like being singing and dancing around with a gun.

“Do you know who he is?”, you asked. The song sounded familiar.

“Peter Quill”, she answered in a whisper. “Half-human, half-something I can’t remember. He’s the one Tony said to have punched Thanos when we heard he killed Gamora.”

“Oh”, you said. “Okay.” You kept watching. “He needs to take some dancing classes.”

“He’s an idiot”, she deadpanned.

“Oh c’mon, he’s not that bad. And his taste in music is good.”

Nebula rolled her eyes at you and stood up. “We can’t wait on him forever.” That said, she shot him in the head. “He’s going to be unconscious for an hour. Let’s go.”

Relieved that the poor guy wasn’t dead, you followed her inside the building. The Power Stone was in the center, covered by an orb-thing, on some sort of alter, with no protection whatsoever. “Are you sure we’re not walking into a trap?”

“Quill took the Stone effortlessly. All he had to face was some Krees.” As she said that, Nebula walked straight to the altar and extended her hand to grab the orb. Her cibenetic arm burned, but she managed to grab the orb before it fell apart. You two looked at each other in the eye. “I wasn’t always like this”, she offered, as if the sight of her arm was something to fear.

“We live with what we’ve got, I guess”, you replied, smiling. “I hope you didn’t feel pain, at least.”

“Pain distracts you from battle”, she said. “Thanos only allowed me to feel pain if he was the one inflicting it, so... no, I didn’t feel pain.”

“Sounds like a comfort to me.”

She didn’t answer, but you could see a ghost of a smile in her lips. She placed the orb in her pocket and you two suited up again. “Okay”, you said, “3... 2-”

You interrupted yourself as Nebula fell on ground, looking like she was convulsing. You heard the Pym Particle bottle from her suit break. “Nebula!”, you shouted as you reached her, kneeling before your teammate. “Are you okay?”

As if answering your question, her cibernetic eye projected something. It was Nebula herself, standing by Thanos’ side, with another female-like alien. “Gamora”, you heard your Nebula say.

The conversation between the three was clear: they knew Future Nebula was there and had time traveled. Also that she wasn’t on Thanos side anymore. They wanted to get her.

“This is not a live projection”, Nebula said, standing up. You stood up as well. “They must be already on their way here.”

“Then switch your timer with mine”, you replied. Nebula turned to you with wide eyes. “You can’t be taken, Nebula. What if they send past you to fool our friends? If anyone is kidnapped, it’s got to be me.”

“I can’t let you fall into his hands. You will die.”

“So will you!”, you shouted. “My mission is done, Nebula. I did everything I could to bring my family back. But yours isn’t. Go back with the Stone and make our wish.” A huge noise was heard. “They’re here, aren’t they?” Nebula nodded. You took your timer off and gave it to her. “Go!”

Reluctantly, she took it and gave her broken timer to you. “I’ll come back for you, Y/N. We don’t risk lives.”

“Bring everyone back first”, you screamed, trying to be heard in the midst of the noise. Someone was entering the temple. “Only then you come back for me. Now go!”

With no hesitation this time, Nebula left. Still suited up, you grabbed a knife Natasha gave you and stabbed your new timer. It was the last thing you did before everything went black.

Next

----------------------------------------------

Cliffhanger! You thought everything would be easy? hahahahahaha

I had thought of this part long before I started writing this imagine, and it was the one I was looking forward too the most, due to the major changes made.

Part 7 won’t be told from the reader’s POV, but from Steve’s (and probably Nebula’s). We go back to reader’s POV on part 8!

Edit: I fixed a small detail on parts 6 and 7. Originally I had the Mind Stone being collected in Titan, but it was the last Stone Thanos got, on Earth. I made minor corrections so it would fit movie canon in this aspect.

Taglist (open!): @autobotgirl15-blog​ @starstrucknature @cheeseburgersstuff​ @aamzter2013

[kitkatfandomgirl]

Part of The Team 1/?

Request:

“Peter quill x sister request? After his dad died he was supposed to loose his power but what if he didn’t? He finds out he had a younger sister more powerful than him and finds out she’s also human like him. He visits earth to find her and finds she’s in foster care cause she’s underage so he takes her with him? I think it would make a cute one shot or more.”

There will be some strong language. Nothing too extreme though.

Key: all the usual stuff, but (I/S) means insert US state, either the one you live in, one you know of, or one you want to live in! Also, (F/N) in this case is full name, for example, if you go by Ella, but your full name is Elanor, you’d fill that space with Elanor. If you don’t shorten your name, that can just be a normal (Y/N) spot! 

 SO. This is going to be a series and the parts will be linked here as I post them!!.

Part 1 Part 2

[tagging: @purplekitten30 ]

“Groot! For your own sake, get off that tablet and do something!” Gamora yelled as she took down another Chitauri. 

“I am grooooot.” The teen said as he waved her off and turned up his headphones. 

“Hey! Don’t talk to Gamora like that! Plus, that was a month ago!! What have you done since then?!” Peter grunted as he pulled together all the materials Rocket needed for a new gun that would (hopefully) blast the Chitauri into another system. 

“I am Groot!” He shrieks in anger as a Chitauri busts a hole through his tablet with a blaster. The Chitauri stopped dead in its tracks and freezes in fear. Groot takes the alien in his hands and curtly throws the offender off the ship and onto a passing asteroid, destroying the rock in the process.

 “Teenagers. What’re ya gonna do about em?” Rocket shrugs as he carries on building the heavy artillery, “Now Quill, this thing is gonna be a one-time use! We need as many of them within a fifty-yard radius as possible!” 

 “Gotcha Rocket!” Peter shouts as he takes off. Groot had finally joined the team in the fight and the whole process was going smoothly. It seemed that the entirety of the small Chitauri army was within ten feet of the whole team and Rocket was finally ready to set off his mystery weapon. In a near-blinding flash of light, the hostile species was blasted away and out of sight.

 Abandoned spacecraft floated about aimlessly and occasionally clashed into each other. A subtle beeping attracted the attention of the whole team. “That scooter better not blow up and kill us,” Peter said as he slowly backed away from the craft.

 "Awh noooo… that’s not an exploding beep, I know my boom beeps from my beep beeps,“ Rocket said as he waved off Peter’s cautionary actions and got closer to the small ship to look at the screen.

 A silence fell among the group. 

 "BOOM!” Drax yelled, startling everyone except for Groot, whom had replaced his broken headphones with new ones and returned to his device, “HAHAHAHAHAAHA! You should have seen your faces! They were riddled with surprise because you thought Rocket blew up!“ 

 "Yes! We did! And quite frankly, I am sick of both you and Groot’s childish behavior!” A tense silence lasted for seconds before Peter nudged the two away. 

“I suggest you both get back to the ship,” he then leaned in to whisper, “ Before Gamora decides to leave you here…”

The duo made their way back to the ship silently and Peter returned to a stressed Gamora.

“I swear, Peter… Those idiots are going to be the death of me…”

“Just give them time-”

“Quill! Gamora! I got past the main firewall, but the rest is gibberish! Anyone know this language?”

Gamora stepped forward, pushing Rocket away from the screen and reading the ancient language. A few seconds later, an impatient Peter spoke up,

“What, what is it?”

“Peter, the Chitauri were not looking to destroy earth. They were looking for a weapon- wait- someone that can be used as a weapon…”

“Okay, that’s not great… But is’s better than world destruction!”

“It says here that she’s more powerful than both you and your father, but she doesn’t even know of her powers…”

“Again, that’s great! That means she won’t be able to kill us eith-”

“Peter, that’s not the only thing, the document says she’s your sister.”

You sighed in annoyance as you tossed the three duffel bags that held all of your belongings onto the third new bed in the third new room you’ve had in the span of four years.You decided not to bother with unpacking today.You were too upset and frustrated to even begin the tedious job.

Your previous foster family had you in custody for two years, and those two years were great! It was just four people, your foster parents, your foster brother, and you. They had fooled you into thinking that they were going to adopt you! What a bunch of baloney that was because a month after your birthday they sent you back into the system, apparently things “weren’t going to work out the way they wanted” which was foster code for either we’re pregnant, or we’re tired of you from your experience.

 Which led you here, in the same old (I/S), starting over… yet again. Luckily, it was summer, so you wouldn’t have any worries about school for the time being, and instead, you could focus on your actual interests, such as art! More specifically, drawing, your sketchbook was your number one outlet for all of your emotions, and you were luckily able to keep it over the span of three moves.

You decided to open the blinds in your dark room to let some light in, plug in your earbuds, listen to your favorite playlist from your phone, and flip through your sketchbook aimlessly because you didn’t have much to do at this point. Time had pretty much escaped you at this point, but your concentration was broken sometime later by the whirring of helicopter blades. 

“Wai- a helicopter… in this neighborhood?” You said to yourself as you jumped off the bed and removed your earbuds to look out the window that faced this family’s large backyard. You were shocked to see a black helicopter with the logo from that secret agency from a couple years ago, it was SHIELD.

You put your phone in your pocket and rushed downstairs along with your foster parents. They seemed more on cautious than curious of the helicopter. You, on the other hand, were out the door to the backyard in the blink of an eye. 

The large, whirring propellers slowed to a stop and three figures exited the helicopter and began to approach the back porch, one was a large and, quite frankly, intimidating man with an eye patch and a scar that ran under it. Then there was a woman with red hair and a look on her face that said she was on guard and ready to strike, you recognized her as Natasha Romanov from the televised hearing that was held the same year you learned about SHIELD. Finally, there was a blonde guy with a face just as serious as Natasha’s, but with a bow and quiver on his back… you didn’t know what that was about. It was safe to assume he was one of the Avengers, Hawkeye.

You glanced back to your foster parents, only to notice that they were long gone. The slamming of car doors and screeching of tires as they left your driveway only confirmed the assumption.

Your attention was turned back to the strangers from the helicopter as they approached once more. You couldn’t help but scoff at the irony of your legal guardians scrambling to leave at the slightest hint of trouble. Once the group reached you, the blonde man offered you a slight smile and opened his mouth to say something before he was interrupted by Mr. Eyepatch.

“Are you, (F/N) (L/N)?”

You were surprised the man knew your name, but couldn’t stop the smirk that rose to your face, as you said, “Yes, this is she, it is such an honor to meet you, Jedi Master Windu,” The blonde lost his composure and snorted, casting a glance at the redhead and signing something to her, to which she nodded and smirked. 

There was a continued silence as you looked at all three figures and furrowed your brow, “so, what exactly do you want from me?”

 Eyepatch cast a glance to the agents over his shoulder before looking back to you, “How much do you know about the Guardians of the Galaxy?” 

You furrowed your brow even further, “Guardians of the what?” 

The archer laughed, approaching you and clapping a hand on your shoulder, “Pack your bags, kid. You’re in for a wild ride, and we’ve got a lot to tell you.”

[happinessinthedarkest-times]

Infinity war spoilers

my reaction

fuckkkkkk holy shit i cant with this movie ..  the reason i love these films is because of the characters so imma try to break this down by characters (in no particular order.. just my thought stream)

1. steve fucking rogers survived (but that just means that he’ll prolly die in the next one..... but omg steve his precious little heart every time he was on screen i just wanted to cry .. i went in firmly accepting that he would die in this movie so im overall pleased. but ughhhhhhh BEARDED CHRIS EVANS/BEARDED STEVE ROGERS just fucked me up with his gorgeousness.. his “I am steve rogers” to groot omg precious.

2. im sad that a lot of my favorite characters didn’t get a lot of screen time aka bucky .. i mean yes understandable because of the story and bc of the size of the cast but ugh i just wanted more bucky

3. TOM HIDDLESTON FUCKED ME UP. i cant with loki omg if he’s really gone, which i am assuming because i dont think they would have him fake his death three times, like you leave thor all alone ughhhhhh of all the stupid things he had to just go up and try to slyly kill thanos with all these other bad guys around... not a great plan... and i was dying and crying when he said “we have a hulk” omg call back to avengers i just wanted loki to be happy and alive and now hes not... omg and when he was announcing himself to thanos as Odinson!!! ahhhh poor baby. and also when he gave up the tesseract for thors life. ughhhhh im also very sad since these events take place like right after thor ragnorok but then all these people they just saved are dead and WTF happened to valkyrie??? ugh they just did not luck out that day.. 

4. thor. yes. this man. everything about him. he again continues to prove himself and i love it. when he was reflecting on how he had nothing left to lose ugh my heart.. his whole interaction with the guardians at the beginning with chris #3 was just great and we are all the guardians when looking at chris hemsworth’s body. his side story seemed a bit long and kind of took away from the main storyline but i think it was good because we got to see him interact with other characters and see how he was willing to sacrifice himself. and when he comes to wakanda DAMN one of the best moments... why can’t these people just let thor be happy??? you kill his father and sister wand then IMMEDIATELY take loki away fuck you guys just let this guy have his family

5. tony. im also so happy he didn’t die. when thanos stabbed him i was crying .. his tech has gotten so much more advanced, which also hurts because you just know he came up with all of these because thats the kind of tech he would have wanted during civil war.. i hate the fact that tony didn’t actually call steve and that they have no interactions ... please just get them in a room together like please. ugh . and tonys now all stuck up there alone with nebula. tony is just amazing at fighting and really does have amazing ideas which just show his intelligence.i like the fact that he knew exactly what peter quill was gonna do the second that he found out that gamora was dead because thats exactly how tony reacted in civil war. tony could see it because hes been there. him and peter parker wow dad and son i love it sm

6. peter parker tom holland you killed me, you blew me away. tom your performance there was so heartbreakingly good i cant i just wanted to give you the biggest hug and fuck thanos up bc no one should make you cry like that. spidey is such a great character though hes just so entertaining and youthful.. his movie references and his heart to try to save all the people flying around.. i just.. you shouldnt have been one to blow away

7.doctor strange i have to admit i really liked doctor strange in this movie. his movie sucked so much that i guess i had really low expectations for him but his character growth in the short amount of time that he had was really great and the mindbendy shit was well done too.. i think his movie just didnt do him justice... and i think that even though he could have let tony die and not given up the time stone, other/more of that gang would have died with thanos trying to get the stone so im fine with it 

8. gamora. i cant believe they killed her. one of the best characters in the guardians crew and one of few women in the mcu... ugh her story and her arc throughout the movie was just amazing. brilliant acting by zoe. when she thought she killed thanos on KNowhere and she was just in so much agony about killing him and then it turned out to be not real and quill had to shoot her and she had to say goodbye. omg fuck. amazing acting and great writing. im so sad about her

9. thanos.. while talking about gamora i have to talk about thanos ... easily among the best villains in the mcu. he lived up to the hype. i like how much backstory they gave him (take note star wars) and how we could see the complex relationship with gamora .. the directors were here and were saying how all the best villains have emotional connections with the protagonists and this really made him a better character.. i hate him for hurting all the people i love but you are a formidible enemy

10. peter quill wow chris pratt has range when he had to shoot gamora i cant amazing acting and i just want to hug him too. his character really helped with the comic relief in such a heavy movie and i like a lot about his interactions with the earth avengers and with thor

11. scarlet witch and vision.. i admit im not the biggest fan of their relationship ... like i dont not like it but i also dont really care about it. but this movie really makes you care about them and again wanda had to choose between her love and the stone and that whole scene with the music swelling and her getting the stone out and destroying it. fuck. and then she has to go through all that trauma only to have vision die anyway and thanos get the stone. why are these people bent on traumatizing wanda?? just let her be happy stop killing people she loves

12. bruce was entertaining and i liked his character a lot in this film.. interesting choice to not have the hulk come out but it just shows that bruce is just as helpful too

t’challa, okoye, shuri, m’baku, natasha, falcon, rhodey, bucky all did not get the screen time they deserve (especially tchalla!) 

but omg “She’s not alone” and black widow and okoye kicking ass together to save/protect scarlet witch was one of the best moments of the movie

steve and tchalla running at the alien things is my aesthetic (but they should run to me instead of posisbly to their deaths)

bucky and rocket’s whole interaction was great and everything i expected and wanted out of the two of them meeting

fucking groot out here growing up before our eyes

ALSO sooo shook by the red skull being on that one planet. i was the definition of shooketh 

when all the characters started fading away .... it was really hard but also frustrating because i didnt feel like the audience or the other characters (other than peter and tony) got the chance to process and react to the loss of all these huge characters and loved ones. 

sad but also glad that they didnt have hawkeye and antman in this because i just want to keep them safe and out of harms way. at the end credit scene i had a thought that fury was calling hawkeye and the next movie would just be one guys with a bow against thanos lmao that would be great but also captain marvel yes. 

im curious to know when antman and the wasp is suposed to be and i actually will probably see it now 

also the main theme in this movie was characters choosing love/a person or the stone and it really really hurts because all these characters are so good and dont deserve any of this

overall i really enjoyed this movie i thought it was well written and paced well. the directing was brilliant and the acting blew me away. i will consistently be amazed by how great these actors are at their job. it probably isnt going to be in my top 5 marvel films (because i do really like the individual films that really are focused on one character and their growth aka catws) and its definitely still beneath avengers 1 in ranking avengers movies but mostly because the film didn’t really focus on the characters i really love and didnt really develop them that much.. but overall i really really liked it i think it lived up to my expectations. i laughed and cried and i was surprised and i think they did a really great job

(also my friend didn’t now that this was part 1of infinity war and thought that this was just the end of the mcu completely and i died of laughed)

[stormsbourne]

uhhhh with spoilers tho why was infinity war bad?

spoils + long post under cut

so I think the single scene that caps off how bad infinity war is is that thanos has captured gamora and forced her to tell him where the last infinity stone is. thanos, if you’ve forgotten, took gamora from her home – there’s an earlier scene that shows him grooming her as he kills half her planet – and spent her entire life pitting her and nebula against each other for his amusement and to “make them strong” in pretty much textbook abusive ways. but for some goddamn reason, the movie then shows thanos being a fucking whiny baby about gamora’s hatred of him.

gamora: [referring to thanos’ throne] I always hated this chairthanos: yes, I’ve heard that beforegamora: and I hated this roomthanos: you have said as muchgamora: and I hated youthanos: *sad baby face* :’(

anyway thanos and gamora are going after this stone. it’s about halfway through the movie at this point

double hitler red skull shows up as the guardian of the stone and also a weird dementor and tells thanos that in order to get the stone he has to sacrifice something that he loves more than anything. gamora starts laughing. she tells him that this is his just deserts, that the universe has put up a wall here to thwart him because he is incapable of loving anyone or anything so the stone will never be his. he turns around to face her and he’s crying. “tears, really?” she demands. “they’re not for him” doublenazi red skull says

there’s a very long sequence of thanos grabbing gamora by the wrist in a deliberate parallel to the earlier scene where he took baby gamora by the hand. he yanks her over to this cliff edge and throws her off, crying the whole time. poor sad abuse man. has to kill his victim. it must be hard. we see her fall. then we get a loving fucking 30 second money shot of her dead body at the bottom of this chasm just to really drive home how tragic it is. 

(baby gamora is later used at the end of the movie once thanos wins to reassure him it was worth it)

I knew this movie was gonna be a problem before then but this was The Scene where I knew it was the second worst movie marvel had made. 

in addition to all of this here are some other points

Thanos’ “sympathetic motivation” is stupid. if you haven’t been spoiled on this yet his motivation is that he wants everything to be “in balance” and he’s motivated by overpopulation, which is a racist + classist myth perpetuated by those in power to promote xenophobia. thanos’ goal is to eliminate half of every sentient species in the universe to ensure nobody is ever poor or suffering again, somehow, and also to ensure that the universe doesn’t run out of resources 

oh but it’s ok! the genocide is random! no racial or class overtones here we just flip a coin for everybody! random genocides are the best genocides!

I don’t want to sound like one of those people who soapboxes about how narratives have to tell us the badguy is bad but I honestly don’t think the movie does enough to communicate that thanos is wrong and also fucking crazy. there’s a few people like “oh thanos how can you be sure” and “thanos we make these choices and that’s what matters” but almost no one ever hears his plan and tells him “you are crazy and that is the stupidest thing I’ve ever fucking heard, you delusional fucking weirdo” 

he wins btw which wouldn’t be bad taken on its own but like, why does he not use his magical glove macguffin to make resources infinite and the universe an actual utopia instead of killing half of everybody

two significant, named characters die in the first 10 minutes before the opening screen even shows up, without any sort of buildup 

the soul gem plot even without all the ooh sad abuser shit is such a fucking nothing burger, you have all these weird and intricate things that involved entire plots of movies and weird shit that’s only barely a gem at all like the aether from thor 2 and then you have Fantasy Trope 101 oh you gotta kill somebody to get the rock! you gotta do it! but it’s sad and this strange dementor not-hitler is here to make sure it’s sad!

the black panther cast is in it for approximately 20 minutes total out of the like, 3 hour runtime. (aside: I actually saw BP and IF on the same day and holy balls was that a high to low sliding scale)

the movie ends with roughly 2/3 of the main cast being turned to dust by thanos winning but because we know none of it is going to stick because they have sequel movies and this is comics-based, it just feels pointless. it feels like a waste of time. it feels like they dragged out into 2.5 hours what could have been done in 20 minutes 

speaking of thanos winning it is exhausting to watch. it feels like the movie is kicking you over and over and every time it starts to let you get up a bigger dude comes in and kicks you instead. nobody likes to watch a movie where the villain wins over and over and over without so much as a setback. thanos starts OUT too powerful for anybody to stop so the entire movie just becomes him stomping all over everybody over and over and over again. we start out the movie with him doing it. we end the movie with him literally undoing an emotional climax moment in order to make sure he wins. oh you destroyed the mind gem? no big deal I’ll just rewind time zoooooop ok we good! I win! *little kid voice* you can’t kill me I rewound time and actually I won 10 minutes ago!

ok this one is kind of petty but someone pointed out valkyrie isn’t even in this movie and now it’s consuming me, you give ant-man and hawkeye one-off lines about why they’re not here but you can’t even be like “oh yeah valkyrie took some of our people and escaped” (we’re gonna come back to this in like 2 seconds keep it iin mind)

random annoyance: peter quill peacocking over gamora because thor is hot and he feels threatened, I hate peter quill

other random annoyance: thor your ship got fucking blown up, how did thanos only kill half your people, are the other half on his ship now?

I honestly just like, cannot fucking stress how bad the thanos and gamora shit is, how fucking horrifying it is, how we’re expected to feel sympathy for this man who literally fucking disassembled nebula to torture her to get gamora to do what he wants. oh it’s ok though. he loves gamora in his way you see. it’s fine. it’s fine! it’s fine. it’s fine. i t s f i n e : )

does the rest of the world just not realize how horrifying that is?!?!?!?!?!?!?

the vision/scarlet witch ship is like an emotional crux of the whole movie and it just. it just doesn’t work. it just doesn’t.

the plot thread with the hulk is probably going to be resolved in avengers 2019 since iirc bruce survived but as it is it feels unfinished and dangling

speaking of survivors we gotta have that man angst, we’ll turn a 17 year old boy to dust but tony’s gotta look sad about it

like fam I love tony angst but he has had ENOUGH jesus CHRIST rdj only barely wants to be involved with this franchise anymore anyway let him be free. maybe he’ll actually die in avengers 2019

it feels like it undoes a bunch of things from the previous movies which on one hand who cares! it’s all gonna be rewound anyway! but on the other hand FUCK you. the asgardian refugees are all fucking dead now. black panther’s cast exists for like 20 minutes and its setting is there pretty much just so the aliens can fuck up someplace that isn’t new york for once. rocket’s epiphany at the end of gotg2? who cares we’ve got snark to dispense! can’t have him act like he learned anything, that’d take away from his ability to be a dick to peter! 

uh I think I’m out of steam for now but that’s my list of why I hated the movie. it had some good moments and a lot of the character interactions were great, especially literally every scene involving spiderman, but you could have fucking jewels and if you bury them in shit they are still going to stink

[themeatlife]

The List - the Meat Life Reviews the Avengers: Infinity Saga

It’s back!  the Meat Life’s The List returns to rank all of the MCU Infinity Saga movies from Iron Man all the way to Spider-Man: Far From Home.

With the home release of Avengers: Endgame, I thought it would be a great time to revisit the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Two summers ago, after I had watched Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 and about a month before I got to watch Spider-Man: Homecoming, I ranked the MCU movies.  You can find that ranking here.  Now that I have watched what Kevin Feige describes as the final installment in Marvel’s Infinity Saga, I go through the movies again and rank all 23 installments including the last two --- Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home. For the ones I ranked in the first one, I have included their old ranking in parentheses. And since Tumblr now limits pictures in entries to ten, I will include pictures of the new reviews.

#23 (15) - The Incredible Hulk (2008)

This is the second film in the first phase of the MCU.  The movie is mostly forgotten in the MCU, including by me.  It wasn’t a bad movie (certainly a marked improvement from 2003′s Hulk), but it felt like something was missing from it.  Of course, there is only so much you can do with a character in its own movie.  We find Bruce Banner (played by Edward Norton in this movie) being chased by General Ross, the man who spearheaded the project to create super soldiers that created the Hulk. Ross will become an important figure 8 years later in Civil War. And of course at the end of the movie we have a Tony Stark-building a team cameo and this was the intro of OG Avenger Bruce Banner/Hulk. Was the worse MCU movie in my initial ranking, and it remains there.

#22 (14) - Iron Man 2 (2010)

The weakest of the Iron Man movies.  They replace Terrence Howard’s Rhodey with Don Cheadle, who in the long run has better chemistry with Robert Downey Jr, but in this movie is just weird to see instead of Howard.  The villains are also probably the weakest of the MCU, with Ivan Vanko looking to exact revenge against the Stark family and Justin Hammer as the head of rival weapons manufacturer looking to take down Tony Stark. Totally didn’t notice the Elon Musk cameo until about the fourth time I watched it, a big inspiration for the Tony Stark movie character. The biggest contribution to the MCU/Infinity Saga is the introduction of OG Avenger Black Widow.

#21 (10) - Thor: The Dark World (2013)

Loki is one of the better villains of the MCU, and in The Dark World he is on full display. Is he good? Is he bad? In this installment, Thor must work with Loki to defeat the Dark Elves who are going after Jane Foster because she has the Ether within her. The cliff-hanger style ending makes it almost unfulfilling. The plot isn’t really as important as the introduction of the Ether, later known as the Reality Stone and the movie’s use in Avengers: Endgame.

#20 (9) - Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

Although Age of Ultron was seen as a step back from the first Avengers, it is still a very solid film especially after knowing the full picture of the Infinity Saga. This is very much a set up movie, though.  We see Tony Stark accidentally create Ultron out of feeling the need to further protect the world (and also created Vision to counter). We see Hawkeye with a family and a Romanov-Banner romance.  We see the introduction of the Maximov kids, with Quicksilver’s death toward the end and Scarlet Witch joining the Avengers. And whilst on the run we also see some of the seeds of tension between Stark and Rogers as well as the leveling of the Sokovia that are important later in Captain America: Civil War. I also didn’t notice that much when I first watched but they introduced Wakanda as the source of vibranium and the vibranium poacher Ulysses Klaue.

#19 (13) - Thor (2011)

I did enjoy the movie, although I will say that this is one of the weaker entries in the MCU.  As the heir to the throne of Asgard, the arrogant Thor loses his hammer and must prove his worthiness before getting it back.  He bumps into scientist Jane Foster played by Natalie Portman (yes!).  He humbles himself and eventually earns back his hammer and has to fight the forces of his brother Loki. We see the first appearance of Hawkeye who will become one of the OG Avengers.

#18 (11) - Doctor Strange (2016)

Arrogant doctor Stephen Strange travels to Nepal in search of a treatment for his hands that were devastated from a car accident.  He gets trained by the Ancient One to reveal powers in how to access different dimensions and wield mystical weapons.  He has to harness these powers to fight Kaecilius, who has stolen pages of an ancient handbook to access the Dark Dimension.  Some of the mystical stuff might not be for everyone and I only stuck with it because I like Benedict Cumberbatch and I’m glad I did. I’ve heard Doctor Strange described as Iron Man but with magic, and that’s not wrong.

#17 - Captain Marvel (2019)

We see Carol Danvers, who has lost her memory of her origin and has an unrealized power, think she’s Kree, a sort of police warrior race. She eventually goes against them when she figures out they exiled Krulls and lied to her about her human origin. Along the way she goes to Earth in the 1990’s and does sort of a buddy cop detective case with the SHIELD agent Nick Fury to figure out who she is. It was cool to see how Fury loses his eye and seeing the old Tesseract/Space Stone. While Captain Marvel is not a bad movie, in my opinion this would have been a much stronger movie if they leaned more into her backstory of being held down and knocked down a lot more. Unintentionally, but in my mind this will always be measured against Wonder Woman, about the only thing in the MCU era that DC did better than Marvel.

#16 (6) - Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) 

I had this ranked higher in my initial ranking but I must say after a while I liked some of the other titles better than this one. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 picks up where the last left off, mixing the right amount of humor and action and pulling on just enough heartstrings for you to be pulled right in.  The Guardians have to face against someone they never expected: Peter Quill’s dad.  We see the introduction of Mantis and her addition to the Guardians.

#15 (8) - Ant-Man (2015)

Ant-Man grew on me.  Marvel may well have a formula now with the mix of humor and superhero action, but it’s a formula that works.  Here we follow unlikely hero Scott Lang played by Paul Rudd, a former engineer turned petty criminal, training to break into Pym Technologies using Hank Pym’s old shrinking suit to take down the corrupted Pym protege Darren Cross.  Rudd’s humor, chemistry with Evangeline Lilly’s Hope van Dyne, along with humorous sidekicks played by Michael Pena and T.I. are the glue to this movie.

#14 (7) - Iron Man 3 (2013)

I think most don’t give the final installment of the Iron Man trilogy much credit.  We are reminded of why we love the Tony Stark character.  In spite of his arrogance there is a tremendous heart, and we see both on full display here.  Set after the events of the first Avengers, Stark is going through PTSD.  He tries to navigate through that while being attacked by new threats. And it was good after the large scale of the first Avengers movie to get something more down to Earth.

#13 - Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

We pick up after the events of Captain America: Civil War, where Scott Lang is serving the back end of a two-year house arrest for breaking the Sokovia Accords. Hank Pym and Hope van Dyne are underground and developed a quantum accelerator in the hopes of getting Hank’s wife Janet van Dyne out of the quantum realm. Arms dealer Sonny Burch and unstable phasing Ghost are after the accelerator. After the heaviness of Avengers: Infinity War, it was nice to have a little relief on a smaller scale. And Paul Rudd doing Paul Rudd things is always pleasant.

#12 - Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

Picking up after the events of Captain America: Civil War (and apparently “eight years” after the first Avengers movie), we see Peter Parker filling his time being the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man under the distant watchful eye of Happy Hogan and Tony Stark. That is, until he finds The Vulture’s henchmen Shocker one and two selling weapons infused with alien tech from the Invasion of New York. We get a great sequence where Peter learns the night of homecoming that his love interest Liz is actually the Vulture’s daughter and all the tension that follows. With all due respect to Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, Tom Holland fits the Spider-Man/Peter Parker role the very best. And at the end, we get something that rarely happens with Marvel villains...the Vulture lives and goes to jail.

#11 (12) - Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

This movie has aged very well over time. Steve Rogers, a scrawny kid from New York, wanted to serve his country in the middle of World War II.  He was selected for experimental super soldier program and became the face of the US military, spending time raising money for the USO.  Then he starts hunting down Nazi science division Hydra and its leader Red Skull.  It ends with Rogers downing a Hydra bomber and crashing it in ice, preserving him until modern time. It also heartbreakingly separates Rogers from love interest Peggy Carter, SSR Agent who helped him through his WWII missions and promised a dance. This pays off later.

#10 (5) -  Iron Man (2008)

The film that kick started the entire MCU.  Here we follow Tony Stark and the origin of Iron Man, birthed from Stark being captured by a mercenary terror group and called to action after seeing his company’s weapons in the wrong hands.  This was a role ready-made for Robert Downey Jr, a great mix of arrogance, empathy, and quick wit.  And there’s plenty of action. And with that first movie we get the first post-credit scene, a now trademark Marvel touch, introducing Nick Fury the Director of SHIELD recruiting Stark into a “bigger universe.”

#9 (4) - Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

I’ll admit, when Marvel announced Guardians of the Galaxy, I had planned on skipping out.  I knew nothing of the comic and it looked cheesy.  So yes, I had my doubts about a group that included a talking raccoon and a fighting tree.  But I gave it a chance and Guardians ended up being one of the stronger movies of the MCU.  We see the origin of Peter Quill, a.k.a. Star-Lord and how the Guardians came together.  This has that right mix of humor, action, chemistry, and 80s mix tape. And we see the introduction of the Orb containing the Power Stone.

#8 - Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)

Eight months following the events of Avengers: Endgame, we get to see some of the aftermath of the world after “The Blip,” including a hilarious school news tribute video of our fallen heroes set to Whitney Houston’s rendition of “I Will Always Love You.” We see Nick Fury commandeer Peter’s summer class trip to Europe to initially help Mysterio battle what looks to be Elementals from another dimension set to destroy Earth. Little do we know that it’s all an illusion that Mysterio and a crew of technicians in an effort to destroy Tony Stark’s legacy and become the biggest savior of the world. That’s about as in depth I’ll go since this movie is still in theaters so I won’t spoil the fun. But I will say that this is probably the best version of a Spider-Man movie with all the awkward teen moments, his heavy weight of responsibility of being in line to be the next Tony Stark, and the sweet interplay between Parker and Zendaya’s MJ as well as bestie Jacob Batalon’s Ned. The MCU is in good hands post-Infinity Saga with Spider-Man on board. And there is a great surprise in the end credit scene.

#7 - Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

This Thor. Marvel finally figured out how to use Thor and Chris Hemsworth’s comedic timing. Right from the opening monologue you get that this is a different movie from the other two Thor’s. After Odin’s death, Thor’s half-sister Hela takes over Asgard as Thor and Loki disappear to the planet Sakaar. Thor is imprisoned as a gladiator-style fighter where he bumps into his “friend from work” Hulk. They all link up with Valkyrie, a former Asgardian warrior to escape Sakaar and save the Asgardian people from destruction. We see great comedy and chemistry between all the main characters, Idris Elba’s Heimdall get a lot of screen time protecting and hiding the Asgardian people from Hela, and hilarious performances from Karl Urban’s Skurge and Jeff Goldblum’s Grandmaster. In the end credit scene we see Thanos’ ship coming in for the events directly preceding Avengers: Infinity War.

#6 (3) - The Avengers (2012)

Director Joss Whedon pulled off what people once thought impossible...a superhero team-up movie. We see Nick Fury pull together Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow and later Hawkeye for the first time to figure out and stop Loki’s plan to use the Chitauri warriors to take over Earth. The Avengers definitely is an action movie with some dramatic elements but the thing that sticks out about this is even with New York City in peril, the ride is great!  The chemistry of the entire ensemble is on full display.  Before Thanos, Loki makes for probably the strongest villain in the series.  When this came out, it was hard to see Marvel top this. And we see a glimpse of Thanos for the first time in a post-credits scene.

#5 - Black Panther (2018)

Marvel never stops amazing world building, a vibrant look at the fictional nation of Wakanda included. Black Panther picks up after the events of Captain America: Civil War, but to open we get a flashback of Oakland, California in 1992 that will impact the entire plot that follows. We then see Prince T’Challa get crowned king upon his return to Wakanda, following the death of his father T’Chaka in Civil War. Mysterious American Killmonger works with vibranium poacher Ulysses Klaue at first seemingly to steal more vibranium. As the movie progresses it is revealed that Killmonger is actually Wakandan whose father was killed in the opening scene in Oakland and is after the throne. Upon several viewings, there are multiple layers as there are in Ryan Coogler directed movies. This movie is part James Bond (with T’Challa’s sister Shuri playing the Q role), part family drama, part political thriller, and of course part Marvel movie. Black Panther tries to tackle political issues like inclusion, globalization, and immigration while also addressing how a family’s mistakes from the past can haunt and impact a family’s future. Michael B Jordan’s Killmonger is a top three MCU villain and there are wonderful performances from Lupita Nyong’o’s Nakia, Danai Gurira’s Okoye, Martin Freeman’s Everett Ross, and Andy Serkis’ Klaue. The end credit scene shows a relaxed Bucky talking to Shuri about his recovery.

#4 (2) - Captain America: Civil War (2016)

In this installment, the Avengers find themselves under hot water after an accident on a mission.  The UN votes to approve the Sokovia Accords that limits the Avengers decision making, splitting the team between those who support it who stand with Iron Man and those who oppose it who stand with Captain America. During the signing, we see an attack that initially looked like it was done by the Winter Soldier but is really carried out by a former Sokovian special forces soldier who is seeking to destroy the Avengers for indirectly killing his family. Civil War has probably the coolest fight scene of the series at a German airport.  The newbies Black Panther and Spider-Man are a sight to see.  And there is a twist ending that’s really heart wrenching that splits our two main Avengers in Iron Man and Captain America. 

#3 - Avengers: Endgame (2019)

I reviewed this a few months ago, so I’ll provide the link to my review here. What I will discuss here is how great this movie is. I almost put this at number 1. The storytelling and the conclusion to many of the main characters is so satisfying as a fan. It just felt so good to watch. I may rank this higher if I ever revisit the Infinity Saga, but for now I think top three at the very least is very very good. And it is the most satisfying ending to a movie series since The Dark Knight Rises. But I placed the other two above it for the reasons I will outline.

#2 (1) - Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

Wow. For so long this has been my favorite MCU movie and probably still is. We see Cap and Black Widow running from SHIELD, out to hunt down the Winter Soldier for the assassination of Nick Fury. Out of all the MCU, this movie had a modern real world feel with its questions about how to determine whether or not someone is a threat. It kind of revisits a concept dealt with in Minority Report, whether someone’s free will determines their criminality or their preconceived conditions. It had great action sequences. And it defined the direction of the MCU with its revelation that Hydra was secretly controlling SHIELD for all those years. In this installment in the MCU, we see the possibility of how these movies can be dealt. There can be genre movies within the comic book genre. This was the political spy thriller of the MCU, in the same vein as some of those political thrillers of the 1970s. And as it pertains to the bigger Infinity Saga story, we find out Steve Roger’s old buddy Bucky is the infamous assassin The Winter Soldier. And we get the introduction of Sam Wilson, the Falcon.

#1 - Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

I never got to review this when it initially came out. This is basically a Thanos movie disguised and named as an Avengers movie. The best MCU villains have the most fleshed out backstories, and in Infinity War we get Thanos’ background, how his world collapsed and how he came about his reasoning behind wanting to eliminate half of the universe’s inhabitants. You see his rational, and even though he goes about things the wrong way (I mean, he is a villain), you get to see his reasoning and motivation behind his quest. For this alone, I felt compelled to rank it number one just because of how different the approach was and how effective the execution turned out.

Then, inter-spliced with Thanos’ story is the present day struggle. The beginning of the movie we see the destroyed Asgardian ship with Thanos and his disciples taking out most of the leadership, but not before Heimdall uses the Bifrost to get Hulk back to Earth. We see Heimdall and Loki die and Thor left for dead before Thanos moves on with the Space Stone and already in possession of the Power Stone.

The story builds toward two separate teams. The space team with Iron Man, Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, Nebula, and the Guardians minus Rocket and Groot defend the Time Stone with the ultimate face off with Thanos on the collapsed planet Titan. Before that, Thanos had a skirmish with the Guardians on Knowhere before ultimately obtaining the Reality Stone from the Collector, kidnapping Gamora in the process. Thanos killed Gamora on the planet Vormir to obtain the Soul Stone. Before the fight on Titan, Dr. Strange looks into the future and sees 14 million possible outcomes and only one where they win. The Earth team with Captain America, Falcon, Black Widow, War Machine, Bruce Banner, Scarlett Witch, Vision, Black Panther, and the Wakandan military protect Vision while Shuri tries to unlink the Mind Stone to destroy without harming Vision while battling the Chitauri and some of Thanos’ disciples in Wakanda with Thor, Rocket, and Groot dropping in toward the end.

The space team almost grabs the gauntlet from Thanos but ultimately fail (partly due to Peter Quill’s temper after finding out Gamora was killed by Thanos). Thanos then descends to Earth into Wakanda and some of the Earth team, in particular Captain America holds him off long enough for Scarlett Witch to destroy the Mind Stone, killing her love Vision. But Thanos uses the Time Stone to turn Vision back long enough to restore the Mind Stone and obtain the last stone he was searching for. Right before he is able to snap his gauntlet fingers, Thor drops down with his new ax Stormbreaker, thrusting the ax into Thanos’ chest. But Thanos is still able to snap his fingers, dusting half the population of the universe including some of our heroes: in particular Black Panther, most of the Guardians, Dr. Strange, and, in probably the most emotional scene outside of Endgame, Spider-Man.

If you were a moviegoer in a previous era and didn’t know they were already shooting Spider-Man: Far From Home, the impact of The Snap would have resonated so much more. Even in this era, though, the ending of the film was sharp, jarring, and effective.

—————

That’s my list! I may revisit years down the line, and some of these movies may age better than others. But I feel pretty comfortable about where these movies ended up. Let me know what you think! And enjoy the home release of Avengers: Endgame!

[gywair]

I finally watched Endgame. I’d put it off a week since its release. It felt like planning to attend a funeral. This series has been part of my life for a decade. Going to see the cumulation of over twenty films felt too heavy to see. Putting it off only made the tension build though. Finally, bite the Infinity Stone and ordered tickets.

First, I watched it in “4DX”. This is similar to the theme park rides that started popping up that are a mixed medium experience. So the seats move, air blasts at you, there are water effects, lights flash, and even smells get pumped into the room. In theory, this seems really interesting but usually, I go to movies I don’t care about to try out new gimmicks. My first 3D film was My Bloody Valentine. It was silly and fun. It also helped me adjust to what a 3D movie would be.

My first 4DX-like experience was the Empire State Building ride as narrated by Kevin Bacon. A sentence that makes me feel like I suffered a stroke while writing but is a real thing that exists that I have experienced. It’s been a few years since that and I think it lasted less than 20 minutes (probably less). Sitting for an entire movie seemed like a whole different worm can.

For me, I didn’t really like it. The water, lights, and smells were cool. The smoke was nice too. The seat, however, is made for someone slightly smaller. So when Iron Man gets kicked in his kidneys, oh spoilers BTW, the seat hits you too like a demented message chair. I think normally it would softly strike you in the back on your rib cage. For me, it went straight to my soft organs. This made the fights are to concentrate on (a problem for a movie about fighting). Likewise, little jets of compressed air go off just above your head. For me, they were pointed directly into my ears. So each time they fired off, I couldn’t hear and had the painful sensation of a ghost giving me a wet willy (I’m also blessed with ear problems so your experience may vary).

Anyway, big thoughts:

The Good:

The job of wrapping up 20+ movies was a big task. This film does that. It has a large cast of characters and several errant storylines to wrap up in a short timeframe. Cause even with 3-hours, this felt like there was still more to say. Which isn’t bad cause that means there can still be more films but for a chapter closer it was ambitious.

I was satisfied by the investment I’ve made into the franchise. This was a fitting close to this chapter. Each film contributed in ways that made the complete journey feel fluid and necessary.

It makes several subversions of expectations. Not just for characters but for narrative design. It kept me guessing the entire time. Even with seeing a handful of tiny spoilers, I was never sure what was going to happen.

Avengers served up heaping mounds of gratuitous fan service in the best ways possible. Sometimes this can be very bad like in animes when the whole episode is about boys spying on girls in a hot tub. Here, it’s Captain America fighting a copy of himself or Professor Hulk half-assing some smashing. One of the best parts of the film is about time travel. Here they show off fan-favorite Loki popping up at different points in history.

One important aspect to me for a story of any kind is how much foreknowledge a viewer needs before starting the work. If you watch Pirates of the Carribean 3 or Return of the Jedi, you will be pretty confused. However, you can pick up just about any Marvel movie anywhere in the series and have a fair idea of what is going on. This continues in this installment. Some context is lost or hidden but anything you need to know is shown/told/explained to you. This, for me, is what makes a story stand on its own legs.

See?! This scene just makes sense all on its own.

The Bad:

With so many cooks in the kitchen, there are still weird dangling problems in the continuity. Things still feel left open to interpretation. Even the filmmakers didn’t agree on how elements in the film worked which is something that should have been determined before the first Avengers movie was written. It feels haphazard with how certain things were written off or ignored.  This plays well into feeling like a comic book where different creators retrofit things to fit their narrative but it still felt jarring.

For example, in Captain Marvel, the cat has a stone. Well… so does Thanos… but also now Loki… There is a lot going on and even a whole (if well delivered) exposition still didn’t completely cover all their bases. It feels like they slapped it together at random at times. I get that they can play with the timeline literally but I feel like there were still a lot of open questions that should have been answered that weren’t.

I could rewatch all the movies (read as: will eventually) to get the full context. This makes the act of enjoying these films more academic though than just for pleasure viewing. It’s not that I don’t want to do this but for casual viewers, there was a lot of backstories to keep up with to get each nod.

The Ugly:

After years of hearing that fans want more women characters, the film tried to give them the limelight for an action sequence. The rest of the film is mostly about a boys’ club rushing around doing action hero stuff. Yes, Nebula and Black Widow make important contributions to the plot but they feel sidelined or overshadowed by the boys. The problem here is that the women are treated more like set dressing than people important to the plot to move ahead. If Spiderman had finished running the Infinity Glove to the van it would have served the same device. Instead, they made a big show of having the girls team up for a few seconds.

Supposedly this movie was gonna have a “Big Gay Film Moment” TM that would make people happen. Instead, it just suggested that gay people do actually exist. IDK man, like that, is a pretty cold take. If Warmachine and Bucky had started making out after the big fight I would have been cheering my head off. I’m not upset by any means. This is more of a missed opportunity for the filmmakers to do something and instead, they took the safest path.

  Hope you weren’t invested in Starlord and Gamora cause that entire trio of films is pretty much null now so far as character development for Gammy. She had an awesome arc. Then they killed her off. Then she comes back but now she doesn’t know Quill. Okay, well this means that other dead people come back… right? Oh, no? Vision and Black Widow are still gone? Weird… I heard this is cause they were killed pre-Snap BUT so was Gamora and they got her back. I think they were just running out of time. I hope Scarlet Witch gets to go back to her robo-boyfriend.

Was that all just a wild middle finger to Gunn? That’d be drama.

The funeral… why isn’t anyone crying? Everyone seems so calm. Is this like when you have already been to like six superhero funerals that week and five are already back on their feet?

I told myself I wasn’t gonna cry.

Characters:

Alright, so this film had way too many characters to really cover perfectly as a group. I have some stray thoughts on several, however.

Hulk is my new boyfriend and I will fight you for him. Banner has made peace with himself and created a half-way point between Hulk and himself. Now he is permanently strong and smart. This is wonderful for character development as he finally finds the peace and belonging that he has wanted since Edward Norton tore up downtown as the rage-y green giant. His new hipster persona felt satisfying and fresh for the film universe. Something of a reversal of the Ragnarok Hulk.

Captain America finally bangs and accepts his position as “America’s Ass”. I’m so proud of my boy. He’s all grown up.

It took Iron Man a decade but Tony Stark finally discovered how to care about something other than himself. His character arc is the film universe’s arc to this point. He was the foundation for everything that came after. This film serves as much an Iron Man movie as it is an Avengers’.

Black Widow kind of gets the shaft here. She began as a coldhearted assassin and ends up as the corporate mom leading the heroes’ home base. There is so much to still unpack for her. Her character has so much potential just under the surface but no one seems to be interested digging into it. I mean Scarlett Johansson “kills” in the role but this movie doesn’t really give her anything to do except talk to Hawkeye…

Hawkeye tried to be the Marvel Aquaman comeback kid and he just comes off as edgy but not in a good way. More like a midlife crisis day buys a motorcycle than the Crow. Like, he tries to make it sound like his entire career of being an assassin was more good than being an assassin now. He does get a brutal back story but I feel like he falls short of reaching his character potential here. He does get some cool scenes and then just gets shoved to the back of the movie.

Thor is bae. He has a brutal journey to this movie but he gets a lot of character work here. His beer belly hermit hijinks provide a much needed comedic break. I also cried like a baby over him.

Rocket has finally gotten some growth as a person. In this movie, he gets to interact with the core team more. This was a lot of fun because of his sass with characters like Iron Man. Also, he finally dons his iconic blue flight suit and red scarf–not important but it was a fun Easter egg.

It only took two Guardians and an Avengers but they finally let Karen Gillan really make Nebula rule. Gillan is a fabulous actor so it was always painful that Nebula just ran around screaming. In Endgame, she finally gets to have some real personal moments that don’t feel weird. Paper football was the best scene honestly for the emotion and narrative. I mean, her whole career as a sour rage junky comes to a boiling point and then she FINALLY gets to open up the tiniest bit with Tony. I really hope there is something… anything in the future where she gets to be this new fun Nebula. It’s like your weird aunt went on vacation and actually had some personal growth and brings you back some neat shells and a guy named Desmond for herself.

Ant-Man got some funny moments in but nothing to really write home about. He was our Joe McEverydude here and it worked fine. I’m baffled at the taco scene but it was worth it for Hipster Hulk to share with him. Like, I know Scott Lang as a character isn’t super bright. That’s his whole thing. But, I just can’t understand what would drive him to go outside the fancy building to eat tacos on a bench facing the jet landing pad.

Warmachine got some interesting developments here. I’m sad now that he didn’t get to build a romance with Nebula (that is just barely suggested here). He felt like a full member of the team rather than just a sidekick from movies past.

The Falcon & Bucky were there. I really wish there had been some kind of closure or growth moment for them. In Winter Soldier, they were at each other’s neck. Now they seem cool. A friendly word or a high five could have sold me on their growth but they kind of get forgotten instead. I was never gonna see my Falcon-Bucky slash make it to the silver screen but would it have killed the Russos to have one heated kiss between these two obviously boyfriend material lads.

**EDIT** —–> THERE IS A SPIN OF THESE DORKS. OMG.

Alright. I’m psyched for this.

Captain Marvel comes in at the end of this list just like she did in the movie. That’s right, she shows up as a Deus ex Machina and looks cool but really got burned here. She deserved better. She just drops in for a minute to help and then jets. Still cool but she gets no development here. Her movie rules though so I’m gonna forgive it. Mostly. That said, it was wild to see basically an Amy Dangerous on screen and that was special for me.

Closing Thoughts:

It was a really fun movie. I may never watch it again. Just like the other Avengers, it’s a good time but it feels more like a spectacle than a great film. That’s not bad but when I watch a film, I wanna see characters grown in new unexpected ways. I want to see hard choices and emotions. Those moments were there but as little islands between big budget action scenes. I really enjoyed it but for the same amount of time, I might just watch Ragnorok again or Detective Pikachu. Finishing this movie felt like the end of a long (20 movie) hike. It was a great adventure. The fun of it was the friends we made along the way. I don’t regret a minute of it.

But it feels good to be at the end.

For now.

Endgame Thoughts I finally watched Endgame. I'd put it off a week since its release. It felt like planning to attend a funeral.

[gokinjeespot]

off the rack #1251

Monday, February 25, 2019

 It was so windy last night that it blew over our amaryllis flower that was inside the house. That was the crash I heard overnight. Actually, this amaryllis bulb produced a mutant flower stem that was the tallest I've ever seen. We got two stalks, each almost 2 feet tall, topped by three huge red blooms each. I had rotated the pot regularly so that they wouldn't grow at an angle but there was enough of one to make them topple. I should have supported them sooner.

 Black Widow #2 - Jen & Sylvia Soska (writers) Flaviano (art) Veronica Gandini (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). I like this new Natalia who doesn't have to hold back like she has a license to kill now. Her mission to shut down a torture porn site based in Madripoor is a good story but a couple of things bothered me about this issue. Clayton Crain's cover is very nice but you couldn't tell that one of the women was the Black Widow in disguise compared to what's shown inside. I thought the veil Nat wears was dumb and the next issue teaser spoiled the last panel. A better match on the hair colour would have fixed the cover problem and a different image for issue #3 in the next issue ad page would have been nice.

 Catwoman #8 - Joelle Jones (writer) Elena Casagrande & Fernando Blanco (art) John Kalisz (colours) Josh Reed (letters). Something Smells Fishy part 2. We find out what the Penguin wants Selina to do and she goes and does it. This story isn't too complicated and I expected better. I didn't like the facial expressions that the artists used when Selina was puling off the heist. I thought that it was an amateur imposter trying to steal the artefact. Catwoman should never look like she's afraid. I hope the next issue is better.

 The Unstoppable Wasp #5 - Jeremy Whitley (writer) Gurihiru (art) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). This is a wonderful issue dealing with mental health. Nadia needs help but will she reach out before it's too late? Read this great issue to find out.

 Stronghold #1 - Phil Hester (writer) Ryan Kelly (art) Dee Cunniffe (colours) Simon Bowland (letters). Meet Michael, just a cog in the wheel of life. Or is he? The Stronghold is a sort of cult and their mission is to protect Michael from the Adversary. The mystery of what Michael really is and what happens if he is awakened is more than enough to make you want to keep reading. This is a good comic book about people with super powers without the spandex posturing.

 Auntie Agatha's Home for Wayward Rabbits #2 to #4 - Keith Giffen (writer) Benjamin Roman (art). I fell in love with the art and the quirky characters after reading the first issue and I want to thank my Jee-Riz partner Chris for lending me his copies to read so that I can finish this story. There aren't many funny animal comic books on the racks other than the Disney stuff so this one is a rare gem. It's a great David versus Goliath story.

 Hulkverines #1 - Greg Pak (writer) Ario Anindito (art) Morry Hollowell with Andrew Crossley (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). It's good to see Weapon H back on the racks and a classic Hulk villain being their evil self. This new book is blatantly targeted at die hard old Marvel Zombies like me but it's well written and well drawn. Read the title page to catch up with what's going on in Clay Cortez's life and then jump right in to watch as Hulkverine and the Hulk duke it out in a battle to the death. The last page surprise made me pine for the next issue.

Naomi #2 - Brian Michael Bendis & David F. Walker (writers) Jamal Campbell (art) Carlos M. Mangual (letters). I like how the mystery of Naomi's true self is progressing naturally. There aren't any leaps and cuts in the origin story that I find annoying. Please give this book about an adopted daughter looking for answers a try. You won't be disappointed.

 Sharkey #1 - Mark Millar (writer) Simone Bianchi (art & colours) Peter Doherty (letters). I can't pass up a comic book with those names in the credits. This sci-fi series is about an interstellar bounty hunter. The art is out of this world. Sharkey is going after a huge bounty but the competition is fierce. It's going to be fun to see who wins.

 Love Romances #1 - This $3.99 US anthology of "love stories that can only be told in a comic book" should have hit the racks February 13 in time for Valentine's Day but it's still worth reading. All stories were lettered by VC's Travis Lanham.

"The Widow and the Clockwork Heart" by Gail Simone (writer), Roge Antonio (art) & Jim Charalampidis (colours) takes place in a Steampunk future where robots mend broken hearts.

"Heartbroken from Beyond" by Margaux Motin & Pacco Dorwling-Carter (story & art) & Lee Loughridge (colours) is a haunting ghost story of love and loss.

"French Quartered" by Dennis "Hopeless" Hallum (writer), Annapaolo Martello (art) & Jim Charalampidis (colours) is about an overprotective father in old New Orleans.

"Gone Like the Wind" by Jon Adams (story & art) & Tamra Bonvillain (colours) is a love lost and found story.

Each story has a clever twist that makes them special. Give this to your sweetie as a belated gift.

 Guardians of the Galaxy #2 - Donny Cates (writer) Geoff Shaw (art) Marte Gracia (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). The Final Gauntlet part 2. Team books can be unwieldy but this isn't a real team book anymore. There are many factions trying to either stop or facilitate the resurrection of Thanos. This involves either killing or saving Gamora. There are many good guys and bad guys to keep track of but Donny and Geoff do a great job of keeping everybody straight. I'm happy to put this book back on my "must read" list.

 Batman #65 - Joshua Williamson (writer) Guillem March (art) Tomeu Morey (colours) Steve Wands (letters). The Price part 3 of 4. This story is all about Gotham Girl wanting to resurrect her dead brother. I didn't read part 2 in the Flash and didn't feel like I missed anything. I don't care what happens to Claire Clover/Gotham Girl so I'm not going to read part 4 either. I'm sure some of the buying public doesn't like being coerced into picking up a couple of extra comic books off the racks that they don't normally read to get the full story. DC should have spun this story off of the Heroes in Crisis books instead of interrupting the Tom King story. I can't wait to get back to that.

 Wolverine: Infinity Watch #1 - Gerry Duggan (writer) Andy MacDonald (art) Jordie Bellaire (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). These new Infinity Stone stories hurt my head. I read the first one where Thanos got them all with the Gauntlet and the Avengers stopped him from killing everything but after that, every time these gems showed up things got more confusing. Now the stones all have souls thanks to Adam Warlock and they are inside humans. The Time Stone is still on Earth and that's not good. A big bad alien named Warbringer has landed and wants the stone for himself. Cue Logan's involvement. He's supposed to protect the hapless human. The appearance of Loki and Phoenix Force Wolverine was fun and since Logan was dead during the Infinity Wars, this will be a way for him to get caught up with Marvel continuity. If you're a fan of Wolverine being the best at what he does then you'll want to get in on this 5-issue mini.

 Doctor Strange #11 - Mark Waid (writer) Jesus Saiz with Javier Pina (art) Jesus Saiz & Rachelle Rosenberg (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). The Dread Dormammu, what a doofus. Stephen defeats the demon again and all is well. The Doc had a little help from his friends with one friend returning as a big surprise. I'm looking forward to the bad guy on deck in the next issue. He's big, he's red and he's hungry.

 Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #3 - Tom Taylor (writer) Juann Cabal (art) Nolan Woodard (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). Mother of Exiles part 3. Wow, talk about an underground society. Welcome to Under York, miles below New York City. Spider-Man and the Rumor mount a rescue mission which is sort of successful. I can't wait to find out what happens next.

 Avengers #15/LGY #705 - Jason Aaron (writer) David Marquez (art) Erick Arciniega (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). The team is caught in the middle of a Vampire Civil War and one of their own has been forced to switch sides. Can the Ghost Rider break his evil bondage? I'm guessing yes. I loved the devil dog riding in the ghost car with its head out the window. It's artistic touches like that that adds enjoyment to reading a comic book.

 Miles Morales: Spider-Man #3 - Saladin Ahmed (writer) Javier Garron (art) David Curiel (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). The team-up with the Rhino and Captain America ends with fighting a new super villain. Snatcher is a lame super villain name but the good guys still have a tough time taking him down. There sure were a lot of expletives deleted in this issue.

 Avengers LGY #709: No Road Home #2 - Al Ewing, Jim Zub & Mark Waid (writers) Paco Medina (pencils) Juan Vlasco (inks) Jesus Aburtov (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). It's the big fight issue with Voyager and her team trying to beat Nyx, goddess of darkness. She just killed all the gods of Olympus so good luck with that. Fortunately for the good guys, Nyx reveals her plans, which saves the heroes from certain death. This issue has a running narration by Hawkeye and it takes a surprising turn in the last few pages. This twist makes me glad that the next issue hits the racks in a week.

[jjarvelous]

I posted 1,268 times in 2021

39 posts created (3%)

1229 posts reblogged (97%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 31.5 posts.

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#bucky barnes - 200 posts

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Longest Tag: 101 characters

#surname? no it’s at the point where it’s literally second nature to say it and then verbally spell it

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

bucky: i have a new hoodie

clint: WE have a new hoodie

235 notes • Posted 2021-04-30 16:16:28 GMT

#4

black widow spoilers below cut

first off, that intro credit scene? with the red room footage? i LOVED that shit, i had chills all over for the entire duration of it. the cover of smells like teen spirit worked INCREDIBLY well to set the theme

Natasha living in Norway in her trailer and being domestic-y my beloved

BUDAPEST!! we finally found out what Clint and Nat did in Budapest and that ceiling vents Clint is technically now canon. when it’s on disney i want to try and read what they had wrote onto the walls in the vents

in her civilian clothes Nat had her arrow necklace and my heart!! ugh 🥰

when Nat and Yelena broke Alexei out of prisons and they’re all just constantly arguing with each other like guys? pls

AND when Alexei asked Yelena if it was her time of the month and she didn’t shy away from ANYTHING like yes please let’s normalise talking about the female reproductive system/menstruation (or lack there of in their case)

i’m living for the strange russian assassin family thing that Nat, Yelena, Melina and Alexei have going on

Alexei being called crimson dynamo instead of red guardian, does that mean the entire winter guard exists within the mcu?

the winter soldier knife flip that taskmaster did!

i was so surprised that Dreykov’s daughter was taskmaster though

literally all of the action scenes were *chefs kiss* incredible

“thank you for your cooperation” NATASHA I LOVE YOU

just everything that Yelena did I LOVE HER SM and when she teased Nat about her superhero pose !!

for a second there in the floating red room i thought they were going to do the face swap from Black Widow (2001) when they had Yelena strapped to the medical table

the red room?? floats?? it’s a ship? wha t

i would love to see what happens next with all the red room girls and Melina and Alexei

and finally i really didn't like the post credit scene

the mcu just seems to really really hate hawkeye, and as a Clint fan i gotta say i hate to see it (at least I still have the comics though)

i just feel like it's going to fuel the fire of hawkeye antis

its like everyone didn't see the scene in endgame where Clint and Nat literally FOUGHT each other to be the sacrifice, like?? he didn't kill her.

it WAS interesting to see that they used a photo of him as Ronin, not as himself though

i’m kind of dreading that they’re going to have Yelena kill off Clint and have Kate Bishop take the Hawkeye title that way

BUT

we got to see at least some closure for Nat's death, I wish they would of done a funeral scene though and it definitely sets up something for the future whether that be the hawkeye series or a future film, etc

AND!! the link to tfatws with val, I wonder if this took place before or after tfatws and why Yelena is working with val and how US agent will tie into all this

needless to say the post credit scene made me cry

overall i loved this movie, maybe its not the best mcu movie but it was still very good, i just feel like the credit scene ruined it a bit for me

255 notes • Posted 2021-07-07 16:41:52 GMT

#3

Coulson: *answers phone* Hello?

Kidnapper: We have one of your agents.

Coulson: *Dad mode activated* Which one? Daisy? Fitz? Simmons?

Kidnapper: No she’s short and Asian.

Coulson: Oh you mean Agent May. Yeah, you don’t have her, she has you. Good luck. Or not, I guess.

299 notes • Posted 2021-04-13 00:32:56 GMT

#2

what we wanted:

vs what we got:

345 notes • Posted 2021-03-30 22:05:28 GMT

#1

680 notes • Posted 2021-03-06 17:45:56 GMT

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