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avengerscompound · 3 years

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Small Gods: Lost Objects - 5

Lost Objects: A Thor Fanfic

Lost Objects Masterlist | More Small Gods PREVIOUS //

Buy me a ☕ Character Pairing: Thor x F!Reader

Rating: E

Word Count: 1722

Warnings: Mentions of sex, oh umm... hey there’s a little bit of talk about things in the trailers for the loki series some people who don’t know anything about the comics might not have picked up. Should have warned on the series for that. I wouldn’t personally call them spoilers, because ... i haven’t seen the series to spoil it, but if you’re the kind of person who doesn’t like to know anything...

Synopsis: Thor has lost a lot in a very short period of time and he’s worried about losing himself too. He goes to the one person who understands loss.

Chapter 5

Barnaby the fat ginger cat sat down and began grooming himself as the black one seemed to stare at you and Thor. In what really was only a few seconds, Thor seemed to have a whole thought journey. It started with how close the green of that cat’s eyes was to Loki’s and ended with the conclusion that the cat must be Loki. The journey took him through a lot of stops, including Loki’s ability to shapeshift, the fact he had faked his death twice in the past, and the fact you could draw lost things to you, but once he landed on it, his eyes went wide.

The cat mimicked Thor’s expression as the man jumped to his feet. “Loki!” Thor shouted, sending the black cat running. Barnaby seemed to watch him go with a look of contempt like he was above such things. “Loki!” Thor shouted again, chasing after him.

“Thor?” You asked, following on, though with much less urgency than Thor. “It won’t be Loki.”

“It has to be,” Thor said, looking around. The cat had vanished, but two rows over there was a bang and the smell of sulfur followed by a cat yowling. Thor charged in the direction of the sound and when he came around the corner and came to a screeching halt as he reached his brother who was lying up against a partially knocked over shelf, his legs in the air, rubbing his head as various pieces of cutlery, jewelry and stuffed animals clattered down around him.

He looked up at Thor with an expression of resignation. “Hello, brother.”

“Loki!” Thor roared, pulling his brother to his feet and drawing him into a tight embrace. “I knew you must not be dead. You are always the trickster.”

Loki did not hug back but did not resist the affection either. Just allowing it to happen. “What are you talking about?” He asked, dryly.

You appeared behind both the men and looked between them blinking. “What? How? How are you here?”

“That is a very good question,” Loki said, pulling back from Thor. “As is, why I can’t seem to leave.”

“Come,” you said, gesturing to both men. “I think this is a tea conversation.”

“Yes,” Thor said, clapping Loki on the shoulder. He hadn’t felt so light and genuinely happy for years. He had resigned himself to be the last of Odin’s lineage and yet here was his brother, returned to him again. “Come. Let us celebrate!”

Loki allowed himself to be dragged down to your kitchen, where you began to potter around. You brewed tea and coffee and tried to find some kind of sweet to be served with it. Eventually finding a packet of slightly stale cookies behind a teapot with a mismatched lid.

“Tell us, how did you escape Thanos? And how is it you are here?” Thor asked as you moved around the kitchen.

Loki picked up one of the cookies and sniffed it before taking a hesitant bite. When he appeared to deem it satisfactory he shoved the whole thing into his mouth and grabbed a handful of others. It was very un-Loki-like and reminded Thor more of his old friend Volstagg than his much more dignified brother. “How do you even know of Thanos?” Loki said through a mouthful of cookies. “Besides, I don’t know what he has to do with anything. After I escaped from Midgard with the tesseract, I used it to travel around. I worked out a way to move through time, which was fun…”

“Wait? What?” Thor asked. “When you were on Midgard with the tesseract? The last I saw you we were in space. And how did you get the tesseract after Thanos destroyed it?”

“You are speaking nonsense,” Loki snarked. “Thanos never obtained the tesseract, and he certainly didn’t break it. The Time Variance Authority confiscated it.”

You put a sandwich down in front of Loki, and Thor wasn’t sure if you’d made it or just found it like that. It was on a large crusty roll, filled with various meats and salad, and wrapped in thin white paper. Loki picked it up and sniffed it before taking a large bite.

“Why don’t you tell us when you last saw Thor and what has happened to you since,” you said, taking a seat at the table.

Loki rolled his eyes. “After the battle that I brought to Midgard, you shackled me and were going to let the Midgardians lock me up. There was some kerfuffle in Stark’s building and the tesseract fell from its case. I took it and used it to leave. I went to some friends who removed the restraints you put on me and I was traveling around, entertaining myself. Then the TVA took offense and locked me up, confiscating the Tesseract. I was just breaking out to go get it when suddenly I was here and you and this lesser god were fornicating.”

Loki spat the words lesser god the same way he used the word mortal or Midgardian. Like even the words themselves were beneath him. Thor considered addressing it, but he was more distracted by the tale Loki had just spun. It didn’t make sense and he was having trouble getting his head around it. “You were taken back to Asgard and locked up. Mother was killed when there was a prison breakout,” he said.

Loki started at Thor mid-bite and slowly lowered the sandwich to the table. “Mother was killed?”

“You know this!” Thor roared, slamming his hands on the table. “You were there! Why are you saying these things?”

“I know not of what you speak, brother,” Loki said. “When I last saw mother she was alive and well. Certainly, I have not returned home since I fell from the Rainbow Bridge, but if she passed…”

Thor looked at you like you might have some answers to what was happening right now. You took a sip of your tea and seemed to think. “The time variance authority exists outside of time, correct? I don’t know much about them, but it is generally accepted that they are not of this universe exactly?”

“That’s what they say,” Loki said in a bored voice.

“And when you were escaping, had they realized you were gone? Were they looking for you?” You asked.

“Yes,” Loki said. “Which was why I was in the form of a cat. I was moving through the vents.”

You nodded and looked at Thor. “This is just a hypothesis, because… this isn’t how my powers work, Thor, but-” you glanced at Loki and shook your head. “I don’t think this is your Loki. At least… not the one you knew more recently. After the battle there was a divergence, this Loki got away and yours did not. And just now - I think there is power in you worshipping me, Thor. What I am… Loki said it himself, I’m small-time. People don’t actually worship me, they pray and they beg the universe for the return of their missing keys or cell phones. It’s never to me directly, and it’s never very hard. Yet here you are, one of the Norse gods, and you were on your knees for me.”

Loki scoffed and took a long drink of his tea. Thor ignored him. “You think you brought him here?”

“Yes,” you said. “I can’t be sure. I’ve never brought a person here before. Small pets are the limit of the living creatures with free will. But maybe if Loki was in cat form, and maybe if they were wishing for him back, while we were… doing what we were doing… it was enough to bring him here.”

“Well, I’d like to go, if it is all the same to you,” Loki said, sounding bored.

“Brother, I haven’t seen you for a long time. I saw the life choked from you. Surely you can stay for a little while. We have much to catch up on,” Thor said.

“The last time I saw you, you had planned to lock me up for eternity,” Loki said. “What has changed?”

Thor frowned and shook his head. This was not the Loki he had worked with to save Jane and stop the dark elves, nor the Loki who had helped him escape Sakaar and stop Ragnarok. This was the angry Loki who had attacked a city at the behest of a titan and whose pain of finding his father had lied to him about his past for over a millennium was fresh and raw. “You are my brother.”

“And what else?” Loki asked.

“And I have lost everyone,” Thor said. “Mother and father are dead. Jane left me. Fandral, Volstagg, Hogun, Heimdall, even Stark and Rogers. They are all gone. Loki, Asgard is gone.”

“And that is why I find you hiding with this lesser god?” Loki scoffed. “Why would I want to stay in such a world anyway brother? Where I am from, everyone is alive and well - as far as I know.”

Thor lowered his eyes. “Why must you be so cruel?”

Loki started laughing and patted Thor’s shoulder. “Oh brother, I’m sorry. You are in a bad way, aren’t you?”

“It might be a moot point,” you said with a shrug. “You’re mine now Loki. I can return you to the ones looking for you, and perhaps you could leave with Thor because he was also looking for you, but otherwise, you are stuck with me. That’s why you didn’t go anywhere when you tried to teleport out. Would you like me to return you to the people of the TVA?”

“I obviously do not,” Loki deadpanned.

“Then you might as well make yourself comfortable,” you said, pouring him more tea. “You clearly haven’t eaten properly for a long time. Why not rest and recharge and we can work out what to do?”

“Fabulous,” Loki snarked. “Just what I’ve always wanted - to be stuck with some hoarder deity.”

“Cheer up brother, it isn’t so bad here,” Thor said, grinning and clapping Loki on his back. He had his brother back, even if it wasn’t quite the Loki he knew, it was still one he was familiar with. Soon he’d have Mjolnir too. Coming to see you had been the best decision he’d made in a long time.

// NEXT

#thor #thor odinson #thor x reader #reader insert #thor fanfic #fanfic #fanfiction #small gods #lost objects

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equestrianwritingsstuff · 3 years

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Drowning Part 7

I felt like writing today, so you guys have two Drowning parts today. Enjoy, but beware that I did not edit this.

Masterlist

@shydragonrider @asrasmysoulmate

Warnings: possessiveness, medical whump, odd medical practices, anesthesia, major descriptions of vomit, striped of clothing (not sexual), restraints, IVs, needles, knives, surgery (intense descriptions)

Hero blinked her eyes open, taking in the scene around her. She wasn't in the chair anymore, she could move her arms and legs and there wasn't the consistent beep of the monitors hooked up to Supervillain's skin.

Her hands must've have recovered some of their strength for she dug them into the object she was laid upon. It sunk down, but rebounded when she released pressure.

A bed.

Her head was also set gingerly upon a soft pillow- caressing to give her optimum comfort.

Light streamed in through a window, landing on her torso. Hero stiffened, noticing a shadow pass through her abdomen where it stopped.

"Look at me."

Hero hesitantly brought her head up to meet Villain's blue eyes. Memories of their encounter streamed through her head, blocking any other thought process.

"There we go now dear," Villain sat on the foot of the bed, tracing some form of shape into the ruffled covers with a smug smile on his tanned face.

"What do you want?" Hero asked, though she halfway knew the answer.

"You, of course, my dear," Villain said with such confidence that it almost sounded arrogant, cocky...

Possessive.

"Well, now you have me," Hero stated, her tongue feeling bitterly dry. "Where's Supervillain?"

"You still care about him? I thought the doctor- oh sorry, your friends- did a pretty good job of taking those feelings away," Villain tutted. "What breakfast? I made a smoothie bowl." Then he added with a twinkle to his gaze, "Your favorite."

"Hmm no thanks," Hero smiled, still glaring at Villain as if that would remove him from her sight. His whole fit body was a vulgar sight.

Villain sighed dramatically. "Can't I do anything right for you?" He asked, voice in a bitter snarl. "Nope," he answered himself. "No because Hero is too righteous to take anything from a villain..."

"Quit with the guilt tripping. It is not working," Hero informed him, rolling her eyes. "I don't want anything because I don't need anything."

"You can't walk."

"Can to," Hero retorted, crossing her arms, relieved that those at least had some strength in them.

"Try it," Villain dared, leaning against the bed with his palms dug deeply into a mattress, a twinkle in his eyes. Hero vaguely noticed the decrease in swelling, the near fading scar on his right temple- a reminder of how long she had been caged up.

Hero swung her legs to the other side, dangling them down before putting all her weight on the shaky muscles. Gripping the sides of the bed, she pushed herself off and...

She fell, only to be caught by strong arms.

"There now. Proved you wrong dearie, now how does breakfast sound?" Villain asked, smiling down at his little captive.

Hero snarled, tucking her chin to her chest, before nodding subtley. Villain grinned even wider and carried her to the kitchen where she was sat down at the table.

"What are they doing to Supervillain when I'm not there?" Hero asked, looking down at her hands.

"Probably healing him up," Villain replied as he dished flax meal and chia seeds on the berry smoothie bowl. "And then do who knows what."

"We should rescue him," Hero said, nearly a whisper. Villain cocked an eyebrow. "Oh?" He asked nonchalantly. Hero nodded and took the cold metal spoon and began to eat the more than delicious breakfast.

"That is, hmm, not happening," Villain scoffed, crossing his arms.

"Why not?" Hero asked, pausing her eating.

Villain didn't answer. He just left and began to wash the dishes.

"Hello?" Hero called, but received no answer in return.

Within the next fews days of movement, Hero built up enough strength in her legs to carry herself across the house without as much as breaking a sweat.

"I want to watch a movie tonight," Villain said once when Hero was helping clean up after dinner.

"What movie?" Hero asked, never giving him an joy-filled statement once in her stay.

"Thor," Villain replied. "The first one."

"Why don't we watch Iron Man? The first one. Or whichever one Tony gets drunk at the party and fights Rhodey."

"Because Stark sucks, Loki is the best."

"Uh, nooo. Loki is the definition of bad acting," Hero rolled her eyes as she set a dirty plate into the sink.

"Stark is the definition of a crappy character," Villain retorted as he handwashed a knife. Hero studied him, watching as the soapy water drenched his long sleeve shirt. His soft blonde hair trickled into his icy blue eyes as his pink lips were pulled tight into a concentrated purse.

"Or maybe we watch the Kissing Booth," Hero murmured and joined Villain to rinse off the plates and utensils to put them in the dishwasher.

Villain smiled, but it wasn't his usual broad, creepy smile that made shivers run down Hero's spine. It was a smile one, a contented embarrassed one. Tied with his blushing cheeks, Hero would've even called it cute.

That was if he never betrayed her, or never kidnapped her.

If he never kept her from rescuing Supervillain in that wretched place.

Yes, Hero noticed that doors that could only be unlocked by Villain's fingerprints. The sealed windows that refused to budge.

And the fact that the one story trailer house was different from Villain's previous home that consisted of three stories with a gym room and a gaming room.

He was moved, or moved himself, specifically to keep Hero locked in.

Not even his charisma could change that foreboding fact.

《~~》

"Welcome Supervillain to the lab."

Supervillain blinked slowly as LED lights brushed past tender eyelids. The rolling floor memorized him slightly as he watched the equally placed lines fall under the gurney's wheels.

The gurney took a turn, causing a nauseating lurch of vertigo to pass through his stomach. He held back the urge to gag and instead burped repeatedly until he tasted the beginnings of vomit.

Tossing his head over to the side, Supervillain opened his mouth a threw up. He wanted to lurch, but the restraints around all points of movement other than his head and neck forbid that. He was left to allow the puke to streaming down his front, landing on his bound hands.

"Look at you!" One of the heroes chastised, slapping Supervillain hard across the face with a backhanded slap. The world around Supervillain whirled and he nearly threw up again if it wasn't for the gag- no, metal bit- shoved into his mouth, hitting his teeth and sending yet another gag reflex through his esophagus. But this time, he was forced to keep the vomit within and threw up inside his own mouth. Groaning and eyes rolling up slightly, Supervillain laid his head back against the thin pillow that protected his head against any form of head injury. Eyes fluttering closed, he tried to draw more sleep in.

Only for a sudden release in pressure to wake him up from his momentary slumber. The bit was removed and his body was held under a faucet for his mouth to be washed out. Someone came behind him and dumped a bunch of listerine into his unsuspecting mouth. Sputtering from the numbing taste of strong original mouthwash, Supervillain allowed his head to dangle- black hair wetted by the flowing hot water.

Next, his soiled clothing was removed- even his pants- and replaced by a faded pair of shorts. His torso was left bare.

The next movement was of him being laid across a metal table, his limbs once again being held in place by the four-point restraint system- padded metal contraptions barricading any form of movement or escape from the inevitable pain that was to come.

"Patient is restrained, begin procedure."

Nurses bustled around, two on each side of him, one by his feet, and one by his head.

"We are going to force the water out of his lungs," another voice, one that was not owned by any of the nurses surrounding him. Out of the corner of Supervillain's eye, he saw the doctor. The doctor, pacing around not even once looking at the stretched out patient before him.

"This will be painful, but we need the patient entirely conscious for this to work," the doctor instructed. "We are going to insert a tube directly into his lungs- on both sides-, piercing them, and using a sort of plunger instrument to force the liquid through his trachea. To ensure he does not choke, Medic and Nurse, once the plungers are released, you ladies need to unrestrain him and roll him over to his side. We go slow and the second all the fluid is expelled, we need to anesthetize the patient to due emergency surgery to stitch the lungs back together. Estimated recovery time is a couple days with the rapid-healing drug we will administer. Any questions? Prep the IV, Nurse2 be ready there."

The hairs on Supervillain's arms stood up and goosebumps picked his skin. The order from the doctor made him struggle against the restraints, pulling aggressively against them.

"Oh please don't do this," he blubbered, tears spilling from his ducts. "Don't do this. I can't do this. Oh please, please, please, please." He started sobbing, terrifed, as a nurse stuck his elbow with a needle.

"Prepare insertion."

Two sharp metal pieces found their home right below Supervillain's rib.

"Ultrasound."

A cool gel was squirted between the two sharp pricks before a rectangular object was placed upon it.

"Ultrasound ready."

"Begin incision."

A buzzing sound, right before a knife cut in his skin. No, not once, that was a lie, but two.

Two sharp, agonizing knives.

Supervillain screamed, wailed pitifully, as his body thrashed around.

"Stop, stop!" He begged, picking his head up only for hands to shove it back down. His fingers stretched out, clenched, anything for the torture to end.

"Left, move yours towards the ribcage a bit so you don't cut the liver."

Supervillain tensed, clouded thoughts coming to the surface. Cut my liver..., he thought before attempting to evade the knives cutting into his body.

"Don't, don't, don't!" he screeched. "Please."

"Prepare to pierce the lung."

Supervillain shoved himself downwards, but it did nothing with the unrelenting cuffs keeping him close to rock still.

The pure agony that he felt when the knife pierced the lung, then the way the knife evolved into a plunger, was indescribable.

Supervillain screamed. Screamed so loud that even the practiced nurses flinched. The doctor though stayed still, watching the procedure with his authoritive gaze.

"Release the patient."

His wrists and ankles were quickly let free by the wave of a card. He tried to curl in on himself to avoid the operation, but professional hands kept him stretched out.

"Start pumping at Level One to begin."

The horrendous feeling of the machine inside of Supervillain changed into a coveted one when the same machine started to pump. A plunger hit the liquid, sending it up and into his trachea.

Supervillain coughed, rolled over to his side. At first, he imagined that the left plunger would quit working as if it was kinked, but found out that it must've been electrically powered.

Mucus, blood, and water shot up through his trachea. Pain forgotten, Supervillain gagged and coughed the abhorrent liquid out until blackness began to crawl at the edges of his vision. It clouded his thoughts, but he body still involuntarily gagged, coughed, and spat all of his lung's content out.

"Stay awake," a rough voice sounded as his body was shook. Supervillain complied and returned to his coughing fit, agony once again returning to his veins and muscles.

Then, as soon as it started, the pressure ceased as soon as it started.

"Administer the anesthesia promptly."

A dial clicked, though Supervillain hardly registered it. Even before the sedative started pumping through his veins, he was losing consciousness.

A mask was placed above his mouth just as the world descended into blackness.

#supervillain whumpee #hero whumpee #villain whumper #villain caretaker #?#medical whump #pneumonia #anesthesia #drugged whumpee #heros and villains #not me making two characters argue over my two favorite characters from the marvel series #lab whump #surgery

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delyth88 · 3 years

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Loki episode 5 rewatch

It’s been a busy week so it wasn’t until yesterday that I had a chance to watch Episode 5 again. And I was a little worried I might not like it as much as I did on first watch, but thankfully I did still find a lot to like about this episode.

Spoilers below...

Firstly, I think it’s taken this long, but I’ve finally gotten used to this new variant of our Loki. To this overly emotive, sweetly stupid at times, often bewildered version of the character. Let me be clear, he is absolutely not being presented in the same was at the first three films, Infinity War, or even Ragnarok. But I’m finding him easier to watch now that I have no hopes or expectations that he will be the Loki I was hoping we’d get to see again. Sure, I’m sad they didn’t give us a continuation of the Loki we’re grown to love, but this guy seems to be starting to find his feet, and I’m curious to see what his potential is now.

I was again struck by the increased sense of purpose (no pun intended) of this episode. It seems to be going places more so than previous episodes were. And again I loved the opening sequence and the music as we travel through the TVA and then out into the Void. It did make me wonder whether the destroyed city was actually a version of the timeline where Loki/Thanos win the Battle of New York, and that’s as far as the significance of that set goes. My hunch is that we won’t see that long shot of Loki from the trailers in post-apocalyptic New York. They opted for the mirror of the Avengers scene instead as the way Loki finds himself in this place.

I laughed at Loki’s little rant this time too. Particularly the line “plus an alligator, that I’m heartbroken to report I didn’t even find all that strange!”. In fact there were a few moment when I felt we were getting a little bit of Loki’s old humour. Such as, his “Delightful.” In response to kid Loki talking about cannibalistic pirates, “This is a nightmare.” and “Don’t die isn’t a plan, it’s a general demand of living”.

I do wonder though if this is just about comparison with the other Lokis? Like they’re all so very much more on the extreme end of comical that it makes our Loki seem the straight guy in comparison? *shrug*

After several days I am still taken by Old Loki and his story. And on watching it again I was able to appreciate the little moments leading up to his fighting Alioth. He gives the impression of being just so Over It and his crazy comics outfit also directs the audience away from how much he actually cares. For example he is really quite upset at Lokis in general and presumably also himself after the betrayal by Boastful Loki. He says “We cannot change. We’re broken. Every version of us. Forever.”

And he seems quite affected by Mobius’ offhand comment that “it’s never too late to change”.

And then that look back towards Loki and Sylvie as Alioth approaches.

Gah! This is the kind of thing I wanted for our Loki. I don’t have the right words to describe it, but it’s partly the back story, partly the change of heart, partly the stakes, the emotional depth. I’m really quite sad that we won’t see more of him. :(

@scintillatingshortgirl19 you asked me what I thought of Loki’s response when Sylvie asks, “How do I know that in the final moments you won’t betray me?”

“Listen Sylvie, I…” Loki pauses and takes a deep breath “I betrayed everyone who ever loved me. My father, my brother, my home. I know what I did, and I know why I did it. And that’s not who I am anymore. Okay? I won’t let you down.”

To be honest on my first watch I think I just let it slide over me as yet another one of those lines where they keep telling us what we’re supposed to think of Loki (whether it’s true or not). I think Episode 4 might have broken me – I didn’t even blink an eyelid. I think I’ve just heard so many people saying things that I think are absolutely wrong about Loki that I’m just… used to it now? I dunno. Maybe it was just my mood, or the fact that there were enough other things I enjoyed in the episode that I could ignore it.

But since you pointed it out I’ve been thinking about it and after my rewatch I kinda think Loki has been a little bit influenced by recent events and conversations. He’s just watched with embarrassment several different versions of himself strike bargains and then betray each other, in such an extreme example of this behaviour that it seemed absurdly comic. Boastful Loki even says “I betrayed you, and now I’m king.” And as they leave the Loki fight behind Old Loki says “We lie and we cheat! We cut the throats of every person who trusts us! And for what! Power!” So I can kinda see why betrayal is on his mind.

And perhaps this is something he’s been thinking about for a while now. Since he tried to strike a bargain with Sylvie before he even really knew her. Old Loki ask if Loki trusts Sylvie and he says” “She’s the only one [of the Loki variants] I do trust! “

But I guess the way I interpreted it is not just literal betrayal like he just watched with the other Loki variants, but also letting people down. Letting himself down. In this context betraying his father would be the events of Thor 1 where he betrays his father’s trust by letting the frost giants into the weapons vault (I think he’s talking about Odin here, not Laufey), and then by not being able to be a good king in the eyes of his father or even his own standards while Odin was in the Odinsleep. I don’t think he would be thinking of the moment where he lets Laufey into Odin’s chamber because he always intended to betray Laufey and save Odin. Although maybe he feels guilt for that too, in terms of lying to his father. In regards to his brother, I’d consider any of the times Loki is acting against his brother’s interests, in a serious way such as the times that he was evading and fighting against Thor in Avengers, or when he sent the Destroyer in Thor 1 as betrayals of a sort, and the frost giants at the coronation again. And in regards to his ‘home’ I assume from his perspective this is again about the coronation and the events that led to the destruction of the Bifrost and as far as he’s aware war with Jotunhiem. Perhaps he’s thinking of the moment when Odin says to Thor “... you are unworthy of the loved ones you have betrayed!” Potentially he’s also thinking of Ragnarok and his actions in causing it after what he read in his file in the TVA. Personally I think he knows it was necessary but still feels a ton of guilt about being the one to actually do it. In this case it’s a betrayal in action but not in heart.

So I think he’s kinda focusing on the guilt he feels. And I think this is why he feels it could extend to Frigga, although he doesn’t mention it I think we as the audience are meant to assume it. But again, this is in terms of the guilt he feels at a future version of himself inadvertently causing Frigga’s death – as he’s heard this story second-hand from Mobius. You know how if you start feeling bad about something it’s very easy to expand that to a whole bunch of other things you’ve done? These are the times he feels guilty for his actions in hindsight.

I also think he’s kinda lumping a bunch of things together under the umbrella of the wording of the question that Sylvie has asked. I think if she’d used a different word he would have echoed that back to her too.

I also think he starts of with “Listen Sylvie, I..” because he was about to defend himself, refuse to acknowledge that he would do such a thing and minimise it, by saying some version of “I would never do that”. But he catches himself and takes the opposite approach of laying all his faults out plain. Admitting in a slightly exaggerated way that he has betrayed people in the past and he knows it, which he considers is more likely to be believed, and that he won’t betray Sylvie because he’s changed since then.

So I don’t know if I really have a conclusion to draw from this, but I think Loki is exaggerating out of guilt.

But this is also one of those lines that where the character is telling us not showing us. Which seems to have started in Ragnarok and is being continued in this series. It’s frustrating, I don’t like it, but it seems this is what they do now. :/

***

So, it’s taken me a whole ‘nother day to get to finish writing this, and I’ve realised that this is the first episode in a while that has been on my mind since I watched it. I’m actually invested again! Which I was very much not after Episode 4.

This episode had another piece of Loki’s story, in the form of Old Loki, and that was wonderful, and tragic. And we’re starting to get somewhere with the plot now.

And unlike in previous episodes where it looked like they’d left hints of things to come but that turned out not to be the case, I actually feel like we might get payoff for all those comments about Loki’s magic. Probably not in a way I’d prefer, but at this point I’ll take any sort of change that gives Loki a bit more control over his life.

I’m also feeling again like this story matters. With episodes 3 and 4 I wasn’t really feeling it. I hope I’m not too disappointed. lol

I still don’t like the romance, but having resigned myself to the fact this is what they’re doing last week I was better able to watch this. The fact that Sylvie is as utterly incompetent at personal relationships as our Loki does make it more tolerable to me, and if I take it as some weird AU (which lets be fair is exactly what this is) it is kinda cute. In a way I like that they’re both late 30s/early 40s in appearance, not teens or twenty-somethings. It adds this extra layer to their awkwardness and I think brings home how weird tit is that these thousand year old beings don’t know how to be friends if you can do the mental jumps required to believe this in the first place. I still want it to be platonic or at least not taken any further. I will gag if they kiss in the finale.

#loki #loki series #loki episode 5 #spoilers #my review #loki series negativity #loki series positivity #a bit of both

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max-vandenburg-is-life · 3 years

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Long Loki rant incoming

Ok first things first I've always liked Loki a lot as a character but I don't consider myself a really really big fan mainly because I haven't read the comics. So all this rant is gonna be only about mcu loki and loki in the mcu has been written differently depending on the movie so yeah. And on that note let's go!!!!

So today I'm gonna talk about what I liked and what I didn't like about the Loki show. This is obviously just my opinion, you can disagree with me! I'd love to hear your opinions!

First I wanna talk about is the writing of Loki's character. So previously it has been established in the mcu that Loki doesn't do bad things just because he's a bad guy or because he wants power above everything else, but because after all the manipulation and lying he went through as a child, the abuse, always been seen as less than those around him and being taught to hate himself for who he was (a Jotun). He wants validation and being treated the same as the others, he doesn't really care about ruling or being king. His actions are a result of his trauma. So the show painting him as "He's a bad guy!! He's evil he can't help it it's in his nature!! He just wants to be king!!!" felt off to me since it completely goes against all the previous canon. Apart from that, I feel the show also erased other aspects of him that had always been essential to his character, such as him being very smart and always having a plan, and his powers (he BARELY used his powers throughout the season and he's supposed to be the best sorcerer in the nine realms. Please). So yeah there's that. I didn't absolutely despise his character in the show or anything like that, he generally seemed more happy and chill and that was good, I just felt some aspects of the character seemed inconsistent.

Apart from Loki, something I loved about the show were all the new characters that we were introduced to. Sylvie was absolutely fantastic, she had a well written tragic backstory, she had a goal and she had layers. She was a really well written character. Also she was just really cool overall, she had a cool personality and seeing her use her powers was very fun. (Sylvie your hand in marriage) (I guess I can talk about the "betrayal" now. So yeah not gonna lie I don't think it was that bad. She had a goal she had been pursuing her whole life and she obviously prioritized that before a guy who she met a few days ago. She did hurt him of course but still it's easy to understand her decision.) Mobius was also really cool, in the first episode I didn't like him much but I started liking him a lot later on. He's just a good guy, he wants to help people. (HE ONLY WANTED A JETSKI MARVEL). And I liked his story a lot, he was forced into working for the tva because his memories were erased and he was told what he was doing the right thing when killing all those people, but once he finds out all of it was false he immediately starts going against it and trying to help as many people as he can. Ravonna was also a good character (I keep saying all of them are good characters lol they're well written ok). Like okay she was a little bit evil but I liked her. I really liked her ambition and her confidence. I would have loved to know more about her life at the tva, because it seemed like because of her position she knew some things that most didn't. Hunter B15 was also really good, loved her character development. Casey only appeared in the first two eps but for some reason I liked him a lot idk why. Casey my beloved. Kang was mind-blowing good, he absolutely carried the episode. He was so fun to watch and a very interesting character. This is how you do villains Marvel. And then all the Loki variants were amazing. Classic Loki was great, he was more mature and wiser than the Loki we're used to watching and I felt really sad about his whole situation (aka trying and failing to find his brother because he missed him, getting pruned and then dying). Kid loki was a BLAST, I really liked the little funky dude and I would love to know more about his life. Boastful Loki didn't appear for long but I liked him a lot, he looked like a really funny guy I wish he had had more screen time. And then there was the Lokigator which was also great. President Loki was also cool (meaning he had the coolest outfit), but we didn't see much of him. I think that's a big problem with the show, because they made it seem like it was gonna be more about the other Loki variants and their timelines (that's what it seemed to me from the trailers) but then we barely got that. Sad shit.

Now let's talk about the writing of the show in general. The writers definitely went off with the philosophical conversations, I enjoyed them greatly (Loki's and Mobius' talk in the second ep and Loki's and Sylvie's talk in the third ep were amazing). Something I didn't like at all about the show (this is probably my biggest complaint) is that the writing of the show throughout the episodes didn't seem consistent, like each episode seemed to be a different genre, and that made the whole story feel weird. What I'm trying to say is: the first episode was about Loki learning more about his life and reflecting on why he does the things he does. There was more to the episode but it was mainly that. It was a very emotional episode. The second episode looked like a cop show, they investigated a crime scene in the beginning, they did some detectiving, they had a great breakthrough and found out were the villain was hiding in the end. The third episode was an action episode. It gave me the vibes of mid season episode that isn't too relevant to the plot in which the characters go on some short mission. The fourth episode I can't exactly categorize it I think it was kinda like episode 1 but with some more action. The fifth episode was also a mix, they had a lot of reflecting on Loki's character like in the first episode and then also some action. And the last episode was mostly just exposition and a tiny bit of action at the end, very philosophical and stuff. It also felt like in the first two episodes they were indicating that the show was gonna be about free will and good and evil but that kind of disappeared for a big part of the show. I'm trying so hard to explain myself well, I hope what I say makes sense. Now my opinion on the episodes, my favourites were definitely ep 1, 3 and 5 (haha odd numbers go brrrr). The pilot was absolutely amazing, and I loved the direction the show seemed to be taking (YES MARVEL explore his trauma mmmm that's some good shit right there). It was really emotional but like in a good way. The third episode was great. I think it balanced really well the action and the dialogue, seeing Loki and Sylvie going on their shenanigans, using their powers and fighting was really fun, and then the train talk scene was absolutely amazing (bi loki yay! Gonna talk about this later). The fifth episode was great mostly because seeing all the other Loki variants and how they contrasted between each other was fantastic and I loved it. I really hope we see more of the variants in the next season. The other eps, the second and fourth were okay, the one I think was the worst one was the last one. Damn that episode. It was a very slow episode. Thank god the guy who plays Kang was really good because otherwise the episode would have been impossible to watch. There was so much exposure but it felt like we already knew most of it? They talked about how multiple timelines existing was bad because chaos and stuff, and they talked about the war in which the different timelines battled each other. Ok we already knew this. I feel like the only important thing to take from that whole talk was that Kang's variants are very powerful and dangerous and they were introducing the villain to the mcu. The whole episode felt like instead of giving closure to the characters or ending some storylines, the main thing it was doing was introducing the concept of the multiverse for the next marvel movies.

Something that surprised me a lot about the show is how important it is for the mcu storyline. Like in the first episode they talked about how the tva (and of course Kang) was much more powerful than the Infinity Stones, when basically all previous marvel movies were about them and about their power. And then Kang was revealed to have created a sacred timeline, he controls absolutely everything that happens. All of this is so important and for some reason I didn't think the show was gonna be like this. Not that I'm complaining, this is great. And I feel like a lot of people are not realising how big it is? Like I don't see much talking about how this is literally the greatest power in the universe.

Damn this is getting long sorry.

I suppose I'll have to talk about it because it has been this big thing. I'm talking about the loki x sylvie pairing. I didn't like it too much, it felt a lot like the writers went "he's a guy she's a girl so they have to fall in love", like I felt they had a very different dynamic and when they said that I was mostly surprised and confused. Because they were variants of each other their romance felt weird to me, and the fact that they made a character genderfluid and then made a woman and a man version fall in love also rubbed me the wrong way (I'll talk about the genderfluidity later). I did like the mobius x loki pairing more, but still I don't think they should have got any romance this season, I feel like there has to be a lot more progress in that relationship before any romance. I generally feel like Loki should first start getting some friends and then later on we can start with romance. But yeah this is just my opinion. And all the drama and discourse there has been over this???? Some of you guys look ridiculous not gonna lie.

Ok now let's talk about representation. I'm not poc myself so I don't feel like I'm in the position to say if something was good or bad, so I'm not gonna talk about poc rep. The show did a good job with female characters, many of the main characters were women and they were very well-written, not sexualized and cast appropriately for their age (I can't believe I'm praising this, this should be the bare minimum. Why is media in general so bad. Like please just.) About the bi rep now. I'm sure that the writers or directors of the show had to fight really hard with marvel so that they could make loki canon bi, so yeah cheers to that guys good job. Obviously it's not enough, and I really hope his bisexuality is explored more later. But yeah we finally have a queer character in the mcu this is big. Now about the genderfluid rep. OOF. I have a lot to say about this. It was bad. Really bad. I don't know if they just don't know what genderfluid means but that's what it looks like after watching the show. Not only were all of the variants cis, but they also went on to say that Loki as a woman was a weird and uncommon thing. Oh my god. And what angers me the most is the fact that Marvel used the so called genderfluid confirmation to their benefit. They exploited so much that little piece of paper that said his sex (not even gender) was fluid. I saw SO MANY articles praising marvel for making him canon genderfluid, and then it was absolutely shit. Absolutely shit. Out of everything in the show this is definitely what I hate the most.

Gotta calm down now. The soundtrack of the show was amazing, the actual songs they used were perfect and then the music they composed for the show was just *chef's kiss* (i have no idea how they're called but the song that plays during the title sequence WHAT A BANGER and the one that plays when loki and mobius are looking at the whole tva from the balcony in the first ep WHAT A BANGER). The aesthetic of the show was also great, the colours were really pretty (Lamentis bi colours my beloved) and I think it had some really cool shots. The acting was great, I'm gonna highlight Kang because I thought he was amazing. The costumes and that stuff were also really cool, I really liked seeing all the different versions of outfits they gave to the Loki variants (if anyone is interested I made another post reviewing all the variants' outfits) and Kang's funky costume was great too. The design of the places and that stuff (I have no idea how to call these lol I'm trying so hard but I don't know any of the technical words) was great: Lamentis was really beautiful, the void was also very cool and the tva was really well designed.

Ok y'all I think this is it. I'm so sorry this is much longer than I expected and if anyone actually reads all of it i love you and PLEASE tell me your thoughts (if anyone wanna chat about the show with me privately send me a message!!! I love talking with y'all). A little final note, English is not my first language, nor my second, so yeah sorry if I can't explain myself well. Bye!!!!

#i feel like this is super long and boring so if anyone actually reads all of it thanks #these are basically all my thoughts i really had to let them out #overall I'll say it was a pretty good show if we forget Loki's weird characterisation and the terrible genderfluid rep #i realized a few days ago that i can actually say whatever i want #like i can say my opinion i can say what i think and then people can disagree with me! and it's no big deal #I'm allowed to have opinions on things as well as everyone else #I'm working on some stuff #anyways that's all #please tell me what y'all think #I'd love to talk about the show!#loki spoilers #loki show #loki series #sylvie #mobius #kang the conqueror #he who remains #classic loki #kid loki #lokigator #gator loki #boastful loki #bisexual representation #genderfluid representation #ravonna renslayer #hunter b 15 #marvel #marvel show #loki #an original post no way

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stardust-walker · 3 years

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Undying Fidelity

(Loki X Sigyn!OC)

Summary: Sigyn is feeling v stressy and depressy after Loki dies. She volunteers to return to 2012 New York with Tony, Steve, Scott, and Bruce. Her reasons weren’t selfish, she promises. Chaos ensues. Big dorks.

My first time writing for any fandom besides TWD but this idea has been in my head since the Loki trailer came out and I couldn’t shake it so here it is lmao.

Sigyn had felt like the world moved in slow motion from the moment the life had left Loki’s body. The snap had only made things worse. It had been 5 years since she had seen pretty much anyone other than Thor and sometimes the residents of New Asgard. She kept to herself more often than not.

It was almost ironic how Loki had spoken of undying fidelity shortly before his life had been snuffed out. Meanwhile her own undying fidelity had seemed to leave her cursed with never-ending grief.

The talk of time travel had gained her interest almost as soon as the idea was pitched to the team. Asgard was an option but she knew that wouldn’t be the best option for her. Odds were that in the time they would send them back to, the residents would still think that she was dead.

Her heart had done a funny sort of flip-flop as they talked about heading back to New York. Her stomach sank even lower as an image of Loki was pulled up on the screen.

“So Sigyn will come to Asgard with myself and the rabbit,” Thor began to announce.

Her brown eyes drifted over to where Rocket had, once again, slapped himself on the forehead in frustration. “As much as I would love to go back to Asgard, I believe my skills are needed in New York.”

“You sure that’s such a good idea there, Frosty?” Tony quirked an eyebrow.

“Are you sure it’s such a good idea to have two Hulks in one place? No offense, Bruce.”

“She’s right.” Steve spoke up, “I know what you’re thinking, Tony, and it won’t happen.”

Sigyn locked eyes with Tony for a moment before the older man relented. “Fine. But any funny business and I’m leaving your ass back in 2012.”

She hated travel. Whether it was through space or time, it all sucked to her. All the hair on her arms seemed to stand up inside of the suit as she shared one last worried look with Thor before they were off. Something was different about hurtling through space when you were a lot smaller.

“We all have our assignments,” Steve began as Sigyn stood up straighter and began to glance around. She knew he was around but more importantly she could feel him again.

A loud roar jolted her from her thoughts as she took a step closer to the men she had traveled with. There was the Hulk. Or the old Hulk. However time travel worked, there was the previous Hulk from that time smashing up a car like his life depended on it.

A small smirk crept onto her face as she caught the embarrassed look that Banner had on his face. That was the champion she had seen back on Sakaar. A total wild animal.

This Bruce, however, didn’t seem to have any of that in him anymore. Sigyn’s head tilted slightly as the rest of them watched the green man try to get back into how he was before. “Well, he’s a little confused..” She muttered.

“But he’s sure got the spirit.” Tony joked. “Let’s roll.”

Sigyn didn’t even have to ask where they were going. Sure, they had talked about it in the plans but she felt like she was almost in a trance as she scurried after Tony and Scott as Steve split off from them with a flash of a reassuring smile.

After not using her magic for what was probably years, she was surprised that she didn’t stumble as she landed inside the Stark tower right after Tony. As she slipped behind the stone wall to hide from their old selves, she couldn’t help but sneak a peek. Did her hair really look like that from behind? Ew.

“If it’s all the same to you,” her heart leapt into her throat, “I’ll have that drink now.” Tony gripped her arm a little too hard. Her eyes narrowed as she shot him a look.

The 2012 version of her let out a quiet snort of laughter. She remembered the look that Natasha had shot her. “What?” She heard herself say.

“All right, get him on his feet.” The younger Tony Stark ordered. “Uh-uh. Not you, princess. Come on, Point Break. Get him up. We can all stand around posing up a storm later. By the way, feel free to clean up.”

“Wow I almost forgot how much of an ass you were, Stark,” Sigyn hissed through gritted teeth.

“At least I had style. Speaking of! Mr. Rogers, I almost forgot. That suit did nothing for your ass.” Tony shook his head in mock sympathy.

Steve practically sounded like he was rolling his eyes. “No one asked you to look, Tony.”

Sigyn raised an eyebrow and shrugged in agreement as she caught sight of Captain America. That suit really was terrible.

“I think you look great, Cap. As far as I’m concerned, that’s America’s ass,” Scott called out over the line.

“C’mon.” Sigyn whispered, “No one likes a...kiss ass.” She smirked as Tony shot her an appreciative look.

“Who gets the magic wand?” Nat asked.

Thank god that Tony knew his way around Stark tower more than anyone even after years of not living there. Sigyn’s eyes narrowed as she watched the Hydra agents in disguise begin to file into the apartment from their new hiding place.

A laugh nearly slipped out as she watched Loki transform into Steve from across the room. “I mean honestly,” he joked as he turned back into himself, “how do you keep your food down?”

“Shut up,” Thor snapped as he placed a lock over Loki’s mouth.

“I wish I could tell you dearest,” she heard herself say as she watched the scene unfolding in front of her. In spite of Loki being in chains. A prisoner. She watched herself grab him gently by the arm to lead him into the elevator with Thor almost like when they used to walk through the gardens together. “But then I would have to kill you.”

Tony’s grasp on her shoulder pulled her out of the moment as he pulled her back towards the window. The plan flooded back into her mind as she began to plummet backwards towards the ground. She let out a grunt as she was finally able to regain her own balance to drift back towards the ground without Stark’s help.

“What’s-a matter, Frosty? No knight in shining metal armor today,” Stark joked.

“You burn my hair with those flaming feet of yours and you won’t make it back to the future,” she hissed through gritted teeth as the small green embers flickered from her own fingers as she continued on a quick course back to the ground.

“Looking fresh, Stark,” Sigyn mumbled as she walked up beside Tony in her own security outfit. The only difference was her long blonde hair hung out from under the helmet. “Almost didn’t recognize you without the extra few inches of metal.”

“That really hurts me, you know. I would think for someone so old you would want to be a little nicer to the younger gen-ow!” Tony rubbed his arm as he received a hard pinch.

“Shut up. Here we come,” she swallowed hard as she spotted herself again out of the corner of her eye. She walked side by side with Loki with her head held high. It was amazing how she could walk like that when she remembered how she’d felt. She had known that Loki had pretty much signed his own death sentence and yet still she walked beside him with pride. He was her husband and she was loyal to him. It was her gift and her biggest curse.

“Thumbelina, do you copy? I’ve got eyes on the prize,” Tony chirped into the ear piece.

“I’m going inside you,” Scott whispered back after a moment. Sigyn’s eyebrows shot up as she shot an amused glance at Tony.

Sigyn flashed him a delicate smile. “I didn’t realize I would learn so much about your personal life today, Mr. Stark.”

“Quiet down, Glinda. We don’t want Elphaba to hear you.”

“May I ask you where you’re going?” Pierce’s voice made her skin crawl as she watched him approach the group.

“A bit of lunch and then Asgard,” Thor answered cheerfully.

“Perhaps a stop for gas. I hear mileage on the Bifrost is killer these days,” past Sigyn cooed as she shot a look back at Loki over her shoulder.

Pierce stood up a little straighter. “I’m going to have to ask you to turn the prisoner over to me.”

Sigyn could almost feel her throat close up all over again as she watched herself take a defensive step back towards Loki. Her hand came to rest a mere inch away from the handle of her knife.

Tony whispered beside her, “Easy, Sig. We know how this goes, right?” He paused. “I see what you mean by the whole fidelity thing though but the victory thing?”

“Hush!” She hissed back as she watched Loki turn slightly with an annoyed look in his eye. The woman turned to face the other way quickly as chaos seemed to be breaking out behind them again. Pierce had always been an asshole that much was sure. She wished she could’ve said she were surprised when she found out he was Hydra all along. Her stomach churned as more thoughts raced through her head of what they would have done to her husband if they’d gotten a hold of him in the first place.

Sigyn squeezed her eyes shut tight as she heard the crackle through the ear piece and a different sort of chaos broke out. “Oh my gods! Stark,” she heard her own panicked voice and the two of them turned to see herself abandon Loki and reach a hand out to steady Tony.

“Aw, you do care.”

Sigyn resisted the urge to punch Tony in the chest for good measure. Her heart leapt as the suitcase with the tesseract spun towards them. Her pulse quickened as Tony leaned down to pick up the case and her gaze wandered for just a moment. Loki had noticed.

“Good job, meet me in the alley,” Tony mumbled as he began to quickly exit the building. She was just about to take a few steps to follow when another explosion happened. Except it wasn’t so much of an explosion as it was a rampaging green monster busting down a door.

“Oh shit,” she hissed through her teeth as she skittered back. Stark landed at her feet with a groan but a softer noise drew her attention. A soft tinkling noise and her gaze flickered to the case. The tesseract.

Time seemed to stand still again as Loki glanced over his shoulder and locked eyes with her. A confused look crossed the upper portion of his face for a moment before he glanced back towards the chaos ensuing over past Tony. He had noticed.

With one last look back at her, he knelt down to pick up the tesseract. She thought she heard Tony grunt something but her feet carried her quicker than she could ever remember running before.

Just as Loki stood again, Sigyn came within one step of him. The sudden noise behind him made him turn once more. She gritted her teeth into a grimace as she placed both her hands on the tesseract. Sigyn fully intended to yank the damned thing right out of his fingers but before she could, she felt a strange sensation. A wall of blue and black smoke engulfed the pair of them.

She hated space travel.

Loki landed in the sand with a loud grunt despite the muzzle still over his mouth. The tesseract was still in his grasp. Had he even really seen what he thought he had?

A loud scream echoed through the air around him. His eyebrows raised as another portal seemed to open in the sky right above him. A figure all in black fell through it; arms flailed and legs kicked as the ground seemed to raise to meet them.

Another loud grunt left Loki, this time a more pained one as the smaller figure landed right on top of him.

Quickly, the woman rolled to the other side and let out a quiet groan as she pulled the helmet from her head. With a fluid movement, the black object was tossed aside into the sand before she flopped back onto the sand. A grunt beside her alerted her to the presence of the man. Without even a glance to the side, she reached over and pressed a hand to his mouth to deactivate the muzzle.

“Lovely of you to drop in, Sigyn,” Loki coughed as he took a deep breath.

Sigyn let out an annoyed grunt. “A pleasure, as always.”

Loki caught her gaze out of the corner of his eye as he rose to a sitting position. “You should have just let me take it,” he hissed through his teeth.

Sigyn let out a heavy sigh as she sat up and shrugged off the heavy black bulletproof vest and jacket she wore. “And let you cause more chaos and destroy more cities?”

Loki glanced over at her. A nearly imperceptible look of nervousness crossed his face before he smirked at her. “Who says that’s what I was going to do with it.”

Sigyn rolled her eyes as her gaze flickered forward to a small group of people that were moving slowly towards them. “I would like to think I know you better than you know yourself. Whatever you do, we’re in this together now.” She wasn’t about to lose him again. Not so soon.

“I’m positively touched,” he cooed.

“Til death do us part, darling.” And even after.

#loki x reader #loki x sigyn #loki x oc #loki fanfiction #loki laufeyson #loki odinson #loki friggason #loki fanfic #loki fic #sigyn #loki fanDOM HERE I COME #listen im fully aware this might suck but the idea wouldn't leave my ass alone #chaotic space babies #i know the loki series probably wont start with him falling into the desert #but that scene in the trailer with him just waking up in the sand made me cackle #so here this is lmao

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doomonfilm · 3 years

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Ranking : Marvel Cinematic Universe - The Infinity Saga (2008 - 2019)

Outside of the Star Wars or James Bond franchises (or maybe even the longstanding BBC series Dr. Who), I am hard pressed to think of a bigger, more intricately connected set of films than those created by Kevin Feige for his Marvel Cinematic Universe (better known as the MCU to most people). With the help of numerous established and upcoming stars, a vast range of directors, and a rich history of characters and events the studio could play fast and loose with, Marvel Studios spent roughly a decade transforming “comic book” films from gimmicks into legitimized artistic storytelling, forcing many studios to attempt and emulate the success of a connected “cinematic universe” without laying the groundwork needed to do so.

With WandaVision in motion on Disney+, and the release future of Black Widow still up in the air, the trajectory in which the MCU will move forward is still a mystery, but these properties firmly close the door on the initial three phases of Marvel Studios releases, collectively known as The Infinity Saga due to their connection to Thanos and the six Infinity Stones. Individually, many of these pieces had impact, but as a whole, the overarching story that they tell is an epic feat yet to be matched.

But enough preamble, I know what everybody came here for. So, based solely on my opinion and nothing else, here is The Infinity Saga, as presented by Marvel Studios, ranked from least to most favorite...

23. The Incredible Hulk (2008) It’s a shame that my favorite Marvel character seems to be a conundrum when it comes to giving him a solo movie. With a decent slice of these characters, it’s about casting the “normal” version of the character, and in the case of this film, as great of an actor as Edward Norton is, I am not sure if he can play enough self-sabotaging behaviors to believably provide us with a Bruce Banner that audiences can connect with. As a result, The Incredible Hulk left us with an isolated protagonist (literally and figuratively) forced to carry audiences between long stretches absent of Hulk in his green glory.

22. Thor (2011) For a time, it seemed as if Thor was going to be the realm of the MCU where gravitas resided. The Shakespearean approach to mythic heroes adapted by Marvel was fresh at the time, as Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Black Widow and S.H.I.E.L.D. were around, but certainly more relatable. Bringing Thor, Odin, Loki and a host of other legendary Asgardians into the fold broadened the world, but with the entire picture of this stretch now laid out in front of us, it is clear that Chris Hemsworth had not yet found his voice as Thor. We knew he would have to earn his worthiness and his title as King of Asgard, but I doubt anyone anticipated Thor would become one of the consistently funniest aspects of the MCU... sadly, that was not yet developed in his first film, and as a result, his introduction falls to the lower realms of the list.

21. Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

20. Ant-Man (2015) It was not my intention to lump the Ant-Man movies together, but in all honestly, they do work best in that capacity. The events of both movies, for the most part, seem to satellite around the bigger nucleus narrative, and up until Avengers : Endgame, and appearance made by Ant-Man in the other films was cursory or meant to “balance the scales” (as in the case of Captain America : Civil War). Don’t get me wrong... Paul Rudd is a fabulous addition to the MCU family, and listening to Michael Peña tell stories never gets old, but when it comes down to the big picture, Ant-Man and his two films are not the largest puzzle pieces on the table.

19. Captain Marvel (2019) The possibilities for an epic film were all there... Krees and Skrulls would finally get a chance at the spotlight, we were being teased going back in time without realizing how it would play into the resolution of our Infinity Saga storyline, and the final moments of the film made us question everything we’d been presented with up until that point. Sadly, however, Carol Danvers turned out to be an extremely overpowered and dangerously self-unaware character, resulting in a lack of stakes or emotional connection ever really being established. While Captain Marvel does have fun elements to it, much of the work that managed to stick was undone by her forced and underwhelming appearance in Avengers : Endgame. Of all the properties in the MCU, this one seems to have the most whispers and rumors surrounding it in regards to its production and future within the MCU moving forward, but I will be curious to see how time treats this film.

18. Iron Man 3 (2013) Up through Phase Two of The Infinity Saga, Tony Stark was always positioned as the loner of the group. With that in mind, it does seem a bit strange to me that his final solo film, and the first solo film after Marvel’s The Avengers, would find Tony back in isolation mode so vigorously. In all fairness, War Machine is there (during his brief stint as The Patriot), and Pepper Potts is given the most room to play out of all three films, but as interesting as the antagonist structure for the film is, the convoluted nature of having at least three tiers of villainy almost begs the inclusion of at least one more Avenger. Ultimately, the film does move Tony closer to the rest of the camp, but it’s odd that more Avengers weren’t involved in the actual film.

17. Captain America : The First Avenger (2011) Of all the characters fans were presented with in the MCU, it’s hard to argue against the fact that Captain America received the most rewarding arc of any character in The Infinity Saga. Every journey needs a starting point, and simply because it was the origin story, Captain America : The First Avenger was never destined to be the best of the MCU. Visually, the MCU was still figuring a few things out, so some of the scrawny Cap scenes look awkward, but by the time this film is all said and done, all of the honor, character and heart needed to propel Cap forward was present and accounted for.

16. Thor : The Dark World (2013)

15. Iron Man 2 (2010) Maybe it’s a recencey bias thing, but I really enjoyed Thor : The Dark World and Iron Man 2. Up until deciding to make this list, I’d not seen either of these films, and it was largely due to the negative reactions I’d heard from most fans and critics. Thor : The Dark World gave us brief glimpses of where the Thor character was headed, it was a great look for Jane Foster (who is seemingly on her way back into the mix), it opened up some mystic doors that we will likely be exploring moving forward in the MCU, and due to these mystic elements, we may have seen the beginnings of S.W.O.R.D., who is already making its presence felt in Phase Four. As for Iron Man 2, we are given the polar opposite Tony Stark from his introductory movie, and due to his seemingly unstoppable mission to erase himself, War Machine is given autonomy, and the beginnings of the Iron Legion are built. Perhaps its a bit of a revisionist lens as well, hence these two being grouped together, but time seems to have been very kind to these two films, despite their flaws.

14. Spider-Man : Far From Home (2019) Avengers : Endgame would have been a perfect place to close the door on The Infinity Saga, but that monumental task was appointed to Spider-Man : Far From Home. Perhaps it was that implied burden that made the film feel a bit buried under the weight of expectations. There are certainly calls to a post-Tony Stark snap present throughout the film, but Mysterio’s plan runs seemingly independent of any previous events shown. The mid and post-credit scenes certainly tease big things for the future, but even before COVID-19 flipped the script on the industry, it was uncertain where things where headed as the new phase unrolled. This film was enjoyable, but almost feels like a stand-alone trapped on a bridge between two worlds of narrative.

13. Iron Man (2008) The one that started it all. I’ve never been the biggest Iron Man fan, but I can certainly respect the large risk that Kevin Feige took by kickstarting his empire with a character seemingly caught between fame and obscurity. Tony Stark has enough Bruce Wayne in him to make him an intriguing character, but Iron Man and Batman could not be more different from one another, which immediately gave the MCU a fresh feel in light of them using a Silver Age character. The pool of household name talent was limited, as Sony was sitting on Spider-Man, the X-men and the Fantastic Four in 2008, but ultimately, Iron Man was a roll of the dice that paid off in a major way.

12. Spider-Man : Homecoming (2017) Spider-Man is such an iconic character that it is sometimes hard to believe that he was not always involved in The Infinity Saga. Tobey Maguire was the definitive Spider-Man to many fans, and Andrew Garfield was starting to build a cult following, but after a bit of legal ping-pong, Captain America : Civil War went from being an anticipated mess to possibly a shadow of its comic book counterpart when Spider-Man appeared in the trailer. Tom Holland brought a pitch-perfect voice and sensibility to the character, and Spider-Man : Homecoming drove those feelings home (no pun intended). It wasn’t like Spider-Man needed a boost in tandem with his entry into the MCU, but his introductory movie did most everything right (including assuming we were WELL AWARE of his often repeated origin story).

11. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) Out of everyone that the MCU has introduced to the masses, it is safe to say that I knew the least about the Guardians of the Galaxy... in fact, my closest tie to knowledge of their existence came in the form of Howard the Duck, who shares that section of the Marvel comic universe with them. Marvel Studios had already made me enjoy films about Thor and Iron Man, two characters I did not consider myself a fan of prior to their films, so I went out on a limb in hopes that Marvel could sell me on characters I had zero connection to. Guardians of the Galaxy did provide another set of colors in the Marvel spectrum, and it helped open the door to Marvel’s space-centered stories, but it wasn’t until the sequel that I went back and really found an appreciation for Guardians of the Galaxy, which I will expound later. That being said, Guardians of the Galaxy is another Marvel film that has been benefited by time and revisitation.

10. Marvel's The Avengers (2012) The main pieces had found their way to the board by the time Captain America : The First Avenger was released, and it only seemed like a matter of time before the big players would cross paths. Rather than build to a mass collaboration via smaller duos and groupings, Marvel went all in to close Phase One by locking in The Avengers as the collective stars of The Infinity Saga. Loki found new agency as their protagonist, but he was really just a smokescreen for the big bad of the entire saga, Thanos. The entire run of 23 movies can be summed up or represented by the iconic shot that rotates around our heroes when they stand shoulder to shoulder for the first time, staring up at their enemy emerging from the sky. There was no turning back at this point, and this is largely due to the wonderful execution of one of the MCU’s key films.

9. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) I’m really not sure why Guardians of the Galaxy didn’t connect for me initially, but after watching Vol. 2, I felt a deeper understanding of Peter Quill, the relationship between Gamora and Nebula, and I came to love Groot and Drax even more (who didn’t immediately love Rocket Racoon?). Kurt Russell was the evolved mirror to Chris Pratt that I didn’t know I needed, and the soundtrack contained more songs that spoke directly to me than the first film. Some of the set pieces were downright beautiful in this film, I lowkey became a big fan of Mantis, and Yondu’s story culmination may have been the first time the MCU brought a tear to my eye. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 may deceptively be the most emotionally powerful of all the MCU films, short of Avengers : Infinity War, and for that, it must be respected, considering it all came from a little known band of upstarts.

8. Captain America : Civil War (2016) While Marvel’s The Avengers may be the first true “event” film in the MCU, the first major “event” attempted in terms of historic Marvel stories was the infamous Civil War run. A weird mix of anticipation and fear existed in the time preceding the film’s release, as a number of key players from the comic book storyline were either not available to the MCU or had not yet been introduced into the MCU. Speculation between who would be emerging, omitted and adjusted flew back and forth, but in the end, we were not only presented with a riveting triangle of emotion between Tony Stark, Steve Rogers and Bucky, but Spider-Man and Black Panther stepped into the spotlight (with a little dose of Ant-Man thrown in for good measure). Had the MCU waited for a different phase, there’s no telling how many heroes and villains could have ultimately been involved, but considering what they had at the time, the MCU definitely exceeded expectations and created their own iconic version of a Marvel narrative hallmark.

7. Black Panther (2018) Outside of the final two Avenger’s, there wasn’t a more anticipated or well-received release (to my knowledge) than Black Panther. After bursting onto the scene in Captain America : Civil War, it seemed everyone was ready for more of King T'Challa, Black Panther and Wakanda. Chadwick Boseman became even more of a fan favorite than he already was, and Black Panther became the first MCU film to be nominated for Best Picture at the 2019 Academy Awards. Marvel presented Wakanda, and Africa in turn, with the utmost cultural, historical and social respect, and short of a slightly underwhelming finale in terms of visual effects, it was hard to hang a complaint on Black Panther. If the MCU had to pick a single film that they were most proud of, I would not be surprised if this was the one that was chosen.

6. Doctor Strange (2016) As a fan of science fiction, mysticism and overall weirdness, I was incredibly hype for the announcement and release of Doctor Strange. Of all the active characters in the MCU at the time, Doctor Strange was the most obscure that I was already familiar with, and his introductory film did not disappoint. The visual representation of the mystic arts was brilliant, casting Tilda Swinton as The Ancient One was a stroke of genius (despite many that voiced reservation to the choice), and the introduction of different dimensions and realms to the MCU hinted at the future that was to come. With Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness coming in sooner than later, it is almost certain that I will be revisiting this film, and I hope that as time goes by, it finds a bigger audience with a deeper appreciation for it.

5. Thor : Ragnarok (2017) If I think about it hard enough, I can probably find a character that will contradict this statement, but I’m hard pressed to think of a character than took a bigger personality jump between individual films than Thor did between The Dark World and Ragnarok. We got shades of a new Thor in The Dark World, and he was really starting to come out of his shell in Avengers : Age of Ultron, but I’m not sure if anyone expected for Taika Waititi to not only turn Thor into possibly the most loveable Avenger, but make his third film a psychedelic masterpiece of fun. Thor and Loki have never had better chemistry, Cate Blanchett was surprisingly well cast as Hela, and most everyone’s favorite MCU iteration of the Hulk came to life (not to mention a brief nod to Beta Ray Bill being present for keen viewers). It may not be the best film in the MCU, but Thor : Ragnarok is almost certainly the one viewers gravitate towards if they make a quick selection.

4. Avengers : Endgame (2019) How do you end a story arc that spans more than 20 films? Well, for starters, you bring every character to the table, collect every expectation that fans have for them, and then kick all of those expectations to the side and forge a completely wild, new and unexpected path. For a large portion of Endgame’s runtime, it is tonally and stylistically different than any other Avengers film, but near the end, when the rubber hits the road, Thanos and his legions of followers take part in one of the most epically satisfying stands against our heroes already present, only for the world of the MCU to open up and rain the most enjoyable and acceptable fan service ever to be captured to film, including the most iconic Captain America moment of all time.

3. Avengers : Age of Ultron (2015) For a long while, this film stood as my clear-cut favorite in the MCU. I didn’t even know I was a Vision fan until he emerged from his chamber, and the introduction of Scarlet Witch has brought me nothing but joy. David Spader brought some of the best antagonist personality in his powerful portrayal of Ultron, and the party scene provided one of my favorite non-action sequences in all of the MCU. The interactions between the Avengers had the best balance of all their collaborative films during Age of Ultron, and Scarlet Witch took each of our heroes to the darkest corners of their mind. Perhaps people had other ideas in mind when they learned that Tony and Bruce’s murderbot was due for a screen appearance, but for my money’s worth, Age of Ultron was the first Avengers film that blew my mind, and still stands as my personal favorite of the Avengers movies.

2. Avengers : Infinity War (2018) Easily the most epic of all the MCU films, Infinity War set the stage for a truly iconic struggle between the Earth’s mightiest heroes and the seemingly unstoppable Thanos that had been promised over many, many films, and in the opening rounds, Infinity War delivered. For all of the combinations of characters we’d been provided, we’d yet to see Tony interact with Doctor Strange or Star-Lord, and each of those meetings yielded hilarious results. The stakes had never been higher prior to Infinity War, and the costs had not been greater up to this point. I personally remember people in theaters being nearly moved to tears when their favorite heroes (especially Spider-Man) began turning into dust, like they were watching Schindler’s List. If the MCU collectively raised the bar for comic book movies, then Infinity War raised the bar for the MCU.

1. Captain America : The Winter Soldier (2014) The MCU has more than a handful of classic films under their belt, but Captain America : The Winter Soldier is probably the sole film of the MCU that feels like a proper action/adventure suspense-thriller, like it was penned by John Grisham. The connection between Bucky and Cap is kinetic in its swings between impending hope and tragedy, and the level of combat and action in the film is second to none. This was the film where the Cap that the masses know and love stepped into his own as a hero and a leader. Of all the directors that Marvel Studios has tapped, the Russo Brothers seem to have the secrets unlocked to make a great MCU film, and Captain America : The Winter Soldier is the pound for pound best they’ve offered yet.

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undertheinfluencerd · 3 years

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Phase 4 is now in full swing and Marvel Studios is showing no signs of slowing down – in fact, there are a whopping 13 upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movies releasing after Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Originally, the MCU’s Phase 4 would’ve gotten underway in 2020 with Black Widow, Shang-Chi, and Eternals coming out in the summer and fall, ultimately leading into a bigger 2021 filled with sequels and TV shows. Of course, things changed because of the pandemic, but overall, the slate has remained mostly the same.

The 2021 movies have been kept in their same release order, though the Marvel TV shows that have been airing on Disney+ shifted around a bit. WandaVision ended up being the first Phase 4 release instead of Black Widow, which led into The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Loki, of which the former would’ve ideally come out after Scarlett Johansson’s film. Still, it all worked out in the end and by and large, the fundamental story for the MCU hasn’t been altered a whole lot.

Related: Why Shang-Chi Is The Real Beginning Of Phase 4 Movies (Not Black Widow)

For Marvel fans, all of these changes and moves just means there will be more MCU content to consume in a shorter period of time. Practically every week there will be something MCU related either in theaters or on TV – sometimes both. At the time of Shang-Chi‘s release, What If…? is still in the first half of season 1. But despite that, Marvel has established a thought process of always looking ahead to the next release, and to see how what’s airing right now will connect to what releases in one month, two months, and even two years later. That’s why the studio has already announced more than a dozen upcoming MCU movies.

Eternals is one of the most intriguing movies coming from Marvel Studios. Not only does it introduce several new superpowered beings into the MCU but it also revamps what audiences know about the world and the history of superheroes. As a race of immortals created by the Celestials, the Eternals arrived on Earth thousands of years ago and remained in the shadows until the events of Avengers: Endgame, and the return of the blipped people, force them out of hiding. Now they will have to battle the other race the Celestials created: the Deviants.

The interesting thing about the Eternals isn’t their immortality but their power levels; practically each of them can take on the Avengers alone (and even Thanos) and come out victorious. It’s why bringing this story to life required a stacked cast of A-list stars, such as Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, and more. Furthermore, those involved with the film have hyped up the movie’s quality, owing its unique feel to director and Academy Award winner Chloe Zhao. Of course, specific details regarding the plot of the film have remained under wraps, with some characters like Kit Harington’s Black Knight even being hidden from most of the marketing. There’s potential for Eternals to reshape the entire MCU, so it makes sense that Marvel producers are keeping things close to the chest.

It’s fair to say the most anticipated Marvel movie at the moment is Spider-Man: No Way Home, which broke Avengers: Endgame‘s all-time trailer views in just 24 hours. And it makes why, considering No Way Home is the third installment in an immensely popular superhero trilogy; it features Doctor Strange, one of the MCU’s most popular characters; and brings back characters from past Spider-Man franchises, such as Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus. Combining all that with a story exploring the newly-formed Multiverse, there’s potential for No Way Home to become one of the biggest superhero movies of all time.

Related: Why Spider-Man: No Way Home’s Trailer Beat Endgame’s Huge Record

Tom Holland is back as Peter Parker aka Spider-Man in the film, along with Zendaya as MJ and Jacob Batalon as Ned Leeds from the previous two installments, not to mention Benedict Wong as Wong and Jamie Foxx as Electro as well. Jon Watts is also back to direct the film, which will mark his final Spider-Man movie before he moves on to helm Fantastic Four for Marvel Studios. Based on the Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer, the Multiverse and Sinister Six villains like Doc Ock and Green Goblin will be prominent throughout the plot, but how it all comes together and leads into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will be what draws in many MCU fans.

Coming almost six years after the first Doctor Strange movie hit theaters, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will be Phase 4’s big team-up movie in lieu of The Avengers 5. Doctor Strange was integral to saving the universe from Thanos in Avengers: Endgame, and he can no longer remain on the sidelines following Tony Stark’s death and Steve Rogers’ retirement. The world needs a hero like Doctor Strange, and unfortunately for him and the Masters of the Mystic Arts, the universe will need his help. Loki‘s season 1 finale officially created the MCU Multiverse, something that resulted in What If…? and will impact Spider-Man: No Way Home. All of it will culminate in the story of Doctor Strange 2.

Doctor Strange will have his job cut out for him when he attempts to secure the Multiverse in his upcoming sequel, which also sees Elizabeth Olsen return as Scarlet Witch, Tom Hiddleston back as Loki, and depending on what happens in No Way Home, possibly Tom Holland as Spider-Man. They will all be joined by Xochitl Gomez, who’s making her MCU debut as America Chavez, with Benedict Wong, Rachel McAdams, and Chiwetel Ejiofor all reprising their roles from the first movie. Not only will Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness bring together various corners of the MCU, but there’s a high chance it can drastically impact the rest of Phase 4 and beyond. It could become a culminating film in the same way Captain America: Civil War was.

Taika Waititi revamped Thor with Thor: Ragnarok and turned the Asgardian hero into one of the franchise’s most popular characters. Now, he’s back with a sequel that sees Chris Hemsworth back as Thor – currently the only Phase 1 character to receive a fourth installment thus far – as well as Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, but this time wielding Mjolnir as the MCU’s version of Mighty Thor. And building off the success of Thor’s friendship with the Guardians of the Galaxy in the last two Avengers films, the core Guardians team will also appear in the film.

Related: Everything About Thor: Love And Thunder Is More Exciting Than Thor Himself

Thor: Love & Thunder is an exciting step for Thor’s narrative but also for the franchise as a whole, because it’s the first truly cosmic story of Phase 4, not to mention it’s a massive movie with lots of characters. In addition to people like Tessa Thompson and Jeff Goldblum reprising their roles from Ragnarok, Thor: Love & Thunder will see Lady Sif return to the big screen, along with Christian Bale appearing as the villain Gorr the God Butcher; furthermore, the Olympian gods will finally make their debut, thanks to Russell Crowe playing Zeus. By incorporating the Greek pantheon, Thor: Love & Thunder will open the door to a new corner of the MCU, one that could eventually see someone like Hercules have a prominent role with the Avengers.

It goes without saying that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will be one of the biggest and most emotional movies ever to release in the MCU. Chadwick Boseman’s untimely death means fans will never get to see T’Challa again in a new role (other than Boseman’s brief stint voicing T’Challa’s Star-Lord in What If…?), but that doesn’t mean the weight of his absence won’t be felt. The Black Panther sequel will undoubtedly address T’Challa’s whereabouts (presumably his death), and coming to terms with it all will propel the story forward. Beyond tidbits of what the script is like, as well as the core cast from the first film returning for Wakanda Forever, not much has been revealed about the story. Reports suggest Atlantis and the character Namor will be involved, but that has yet to be confirmed, despite all the evidence suggesting the rumors are true.

Interestingly, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will introduce Dominique Thorne’s Riri Williams, who will return in her own TV series Ironheart in the future. Riri ends up becoming her own version of Iron Man in the comics and will surely follow the same path on-screen. And although much of the sequel will be overshadowed by T’Challa not being there, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will have the opportunity to set up the future of Wakanda in the MCU, given there’s room for additional sequels as well as new TV shows in the works.

The Marvels perfectly encapsulates the MCU’s new approach to sequels; it’s a sequel, but not one that’s singularly about one character, nor is it a direct follow-up to the previous film. Instead, The Marvels follows Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel as she unites with Teyonah Parris’ Monica Rambeau and Iman Vellani’s Kamala Khan, both of whom will make their transitions from Disney+ to the big screen. The Marvels is a team-up movie that combines Marvel Studios’ two fronts – TV and film – and it works to harmonize the expanded universe the studio is creating.

Related: Who’d Be On Captain Marvel’s Replacement Avengers (& How Powerful They’d Be)

Unfortunately, aside from the main trio involved in the film, not much is known about where the story will go. Of course, part of the sequel will need to explore Monica’s powers, which she unlocked during the events of WandaVision, as well as where Kamala’s story goes in this franchise following her debut in the Ms. Marvel TV series. Regardless, the possibilities are huge for The Marvels, which is being directed by Nia DaCosta; it can finally reveal what’s been happening across the galaxy following Thanos and Hulk’s snaps.

If it weren’t for Ant-Man, the universe might not have been saved in Endgame. And now that he’s officially become an Avenger and taken on Thanos, Marvel Studios is giving Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne aka the Wasp a bigger threat to deal with in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Loki’s season 1 finale introduced the character He Who Remains, who’s a variant of the iconic Marvel Comics villain Kang the Conqueror. Jonathan Majors will appear next in the upcoming sequel film as Kang, and he’ll likely dive further into the concept of the Multiverse as well as what the Quantum Realm has to do with it all. It allowed the Avengers to time travel in Endgame, after all, so it must play a part in exploring the Multiverse.

In addition to Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly returning in the title roles, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will also see Michael Douglas and Michelle Pfeiffer reprise their roles as the original Ant-Man and Wasp. However, Kathryn Newton will be taking over the role as an adult Cassie Lang from Emma Fuhrmann, who starred in Endgame. It remains to be seen specifically how the threequel will connect with the other MCU movies, other than Kang potentially becoming a multiversal villain for the franchise, but it should have some implications for Loki season 2.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was originally supposed to launch Phase 4 alongside Black Widow, but things quickly changed when Disney fired James Gunn, only to later rehire him – but by that point, he was already working on The Suicide Squad for WB. Now that The Suicide Squad has released and Gunn has wrapped filming on Peacemaker season 1, he can refocus on Marvel and get going on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 as well as The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, which will release in advance of the sequel on Disney+. Both releases will take place after the events of Thor: Love & Thunder.

Related: James Gunn Should Return To Horror After Guardians Of The Galaxy 3

Although the movie has been on the backburner for quite some time, the story hasn’t changed. Gunn’s script and much of its elements have been retained. Of course, Gunn may approach the film a little differently after his experience working on The Suicide Squad, particularly the realism factor, as he’s previously mentioned. So far, nothing has been revealed about the core story, other than when it takes place in relation to other films. However, cast members of the core Guardians team (all of whom will presumably return in the sequel) have expressed excitement about the script, with some calling it incredible. No matter what happens, though, it will be Gunn’s final Guardians of the Galaxy movie and likely his last Marvel film as well.

Ever since it was announced Disney was looking to acquire 21st Century Fox, MCU fans have been clamoring for Marvel’s take on X-Men and the Fantastic Four, but before the studio gets to the mutants, they will be adapting the First Family. This marks the second Fantastic Four reboot after 20th Century Fox’s two previous attempts, the last of which was in 2015. So far, the only thing confirmed about the Fantastic Four film is that Jon Watts is directing. Watts found great success in helming Sony and Marvel’s Spider-Man trilogy, so there’s already an established working relationship there, not to mention he’s proven that he can turn around a film in two years. Each Spider-Man movie released two years apart, and as long as Watts retains that schedule, there’s no reason to assume Fantastic Four won’t release by the end of 2023 or early 2024. But before things get underway, Fantastic Four will need to cast its titular heroes.

Rebooting the Fantastic Four and diving into the Multiverse all made sense for Marvel Studios, but the surprising thing is the studio also plans to reboot Blade. Up until now, vampires have only been mentioned in passing, but they will become a focus in either Phase 4 or 5. Mahershala Ali apparently contacted Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige with the hopes of portraying Blade, and Feige was quick to jump on board. This will mark Ali’s second Marvel character on-screen, seeing as he originally portrayed the villain Cottonmouth in Netflix’s Luke Cage. Currently, there aren’t any details about which characters will appear in the movie or what the story will be about. However, Stacy Osei-Kuffour is writing the script, Bassam Tariq is directing, and filming is expected to begin in July 2022, thus suggesting that the movie could release in theaters as early as late 2023. It would be a prime candidate for Halloween 2023, given the vampiric and horror vibe.

Currently, the only character to be retained from the Disney-Fox deal is Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool. Since he’s the most popular character from Fox’s X-Men series, aside from Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, it makes sense that Marvel Studios will want to keep Reynolds on board for future installments. Plus, it’s easy to manage story-wise, knowing that Deadpool has the ability to break the fourth wall, and perhaps even crossover between universes. Marvel would be remiss to not plainly acknowledge the situation in the next film.

Related: How Deadpool 3 Can Setup The MCU’s X-Men

Two years after the acquisition was first announced, Reynolds revealed Deadpool 3 was in development. It was later confirmed that the sequel would be rated R (making it the first R-rated movie from Marvel Studios) and set in the main MCU continuity. A director hasn’t been hired yet, but the script is being worked on by Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Logelin, with filming expected to begin sometime in 2022. If everything goes according to plan, Deadpool 3 could release by the end of 2023 or in early 2024 – perhaps as a Valentine’s Day release like the first film.

Coinciding with The Falcon and the Winter Soldier‘s finale, Captain America 4 was revealed to be in development with the story and script coming from the Disney+ series’ head writer and staff writer, respectively, Malcolm Spellman and Dalan Musson. The fourth Captain America movie will, of course, follow Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson who officially became the new Captain America at the end of his TV series, donning his own Captain America costume and saving the day as the country’s latest hero.

Mackie later signed on to star in the movie, thus suggesting that Marvel is looking to fast-track the project to release either in 2023 or 2024, so long as the studio lands a director by the end of 2021 or early 2022. It’s unclear if Sebastian Stan will return as Bucky Barnes in the sequel, but since he’s been in every previous Captain America film and co-starred in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, it only makes sense for him to return, not to mention for Emily VanCamp’s Sharon Carter to return as well, since she was revealed to be the Power Broker.

At the end of Marvel Studios’ panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2019, studio head Kevin Feige teased plans to introduce the X-Men into the MCU. Disney had only recently closed their acquisition of 21st Century Fox at the time, and so, Marvel couldn’t have had anything concrete in the works given the rules and regulations around mergers and acquisitions in the United States. However, it’s been two years and there must be something on the board. When X-Men will release is unclear, but the fact that it’s been mentioned is great for fans. It means the team isn’t being completely shunned in favor of developing the Fantastic Four reboot, which will happen first.

Next: Complete Movie & TV Guide to The Marvel Cinematic Universe – Phase 1 to Phase 4

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imjustthemechanic · 6 years

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The French Mistake

Part 1/? - A Visitor Part 2/? - The Kulturhistorisk Museum Heist Part 3/? - Cutscene

Natasha and Steve come in for a very rough landing, and then try to figure out exactly where it is they’ve wound up.

For the first split second it felt as if Steve was thrown. Then instead, he was sharply pulled back by something tied around his waist. He flew through the air to slam into a wall, and then dropped bonelessly to a slanted and semi-soft floor, where he lay panting for a moment.

Before he even opened his eyes, Steve could tell that something was wrong. He’d had far worse impacts than this before. He’d jumped from moving trains and fallen ten stories to land on the marble floor of the Triskelion lobby – and in each case, he’d been able to hop to his feet almost immediately and continue fighting. Now, after what couldn’t have been more than twenty or thirty feet, his head was spinning and he had to catch his breath. It felt as if all the life had been drained out of him. What had Loki done?

When his ears stopped ringing, he realized people were applauding.

Steve was lying face-down on the floor, which was covered with white padding decorated with rows of black x’s and triangles. Behind him it curved up into the wall he’d hit, as if the whole thing were part of a single big cylinder, but instead of going all the way around it stopped about twelve feet up, and overhead was a warehouse ceiling, all girders and banks of brilliant lights. On Steve’s left was a man he did not know – he was about thirty, with dark skin and short dreadlocks, and wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt with the NASA logo on it. A cord of some sort extended from the back of his shirt to a hole in the padded wall, and this was reeling and unreeling as he got to his feet.

On Steve’s right was Natasha, wearing a turquoise blue jumpsuit with a number of embroidered patches on each side of the front zipper. She was still on her hands and knees, but all her muscles were coiled to react immediately if necessary, and her eyes were darting back and forth as she looked around.

In front of them, the padded curve ended five or six feet away, and beyond that were two large film cameras aimed at them, more dazzlingly bright lights and silky white photographic reflectors, and a whole row of strangers in street clothes. All of these were grinning and most of them still clapping, and one of the camera operators was pumping his arm in the air.

The man on Steve’s left grabbed his arm to help him up. “You okay?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Steve admitted.

A man stepped forward out of the crowd. He was in his late 60’s or early 70’s, with dusty-blond hair and a beard going gray, and a deep crease in between his eyebrows. He was clapping, too, and though it was slowly and with less enthusiasm than the rest, the smile on his face was genuine.

“Much better!” he said, in a British accent. “Much better!”

“I told you!” the man in the NASA shirt beamed and clapped Steve on the shoulder. “The secret is don’t tense up.”

The bearded man came up and shook Steve’s hand, then the black man’s, then Natasha’s. “Wonderful,” he said. “Now that we’ve got that, we can leave the rest for the stunt people. Let’s break for lunch. Maddy!” He looked over his shoulder at a woman with several tattoos decorating her shaved head. “Do you have those revisions?”

Maddy held up a manila folder.

“Good.” The bearded man nodded. “Let’s look over those, and I’d like to see everybody back in wardrobe by two o’clock. Now all of you, get out of here.”

The lights started going out, leaving Steve, who’d been looking right into them, seeing spots. Some of the strangers left the room immediately. Others began taking equipment apart, and a woman came up to unhook the lines attached to Steve’s, Natasha’s, and the other man’s clothing. Steve still didn’t feel right. He was all sweaty and weak. It was almost like being that asthmatic kid in Brooklyn again, only it wasn’t, because he was still tall, could still tell the difference between red and green, could still breathe deeply. What was wrong with him?

He looked at Nat. She looked back, not bothering to hide the fact that she was as confused as he was. That was even more worrying. Things were bad when even Natasha didn’t know what was going on.

The bearded man had walked away now, and multiple conversations had begun. Counting on those and the sound of moving cameras and lights to cover his words, Steve said, “Natasha?”

“Yeah?” Nat asked. Her jumpsuit, he noticed, had the name Залётина – Zalyotina – embroidered on the pocket. Several of the badges also had Russian text on them, around motifs of rockets and space stations.

“What happened?” asked Steve.

There was a brief pause in which Nat looked around again. “I don’t know,” she admitted.

“We’re definitely not in Kansas anymore,” Steve observed.

“We were never in Kansas to begin with,” she replied.

Steve blinked. “Have you really not seen The Wizard of Oz?” After she’d made him watch all those ridiculous sci-fi movies from the eighties?

“Of course I’ve seen The Wizard of Oz,” said Nat. “I’m being a jerk about it because you said that before I could think of something more obscure.”

The name Zalyotina had given Steve a moment of doubt whether this woman was indeed Natasha – that comment washed it away. “Okay,” he said. “So… we’re on a movie set.” That much he could tell. Steve had been on movie sets before.

“I know we’re on a movie set,” said Nat. “I’m surprised you haven’t started punching everyone and running away yet.”

“I can’t punch anybody right now,” said Steve, “and I definitely can’t run. I feel terrible. Like I haven’t slept in weeks.” How long had it been since he’d felt this bad? Certainly not since he’d awakened in SHIELD’s fake hotel room.

“Good,” said Nat. “Try to keep a lid on the punch everybody instinct. These people aren’t a threat to us.”

A hand grabbed Steve’s arm. A word was also spoken, but Steve didn’t hear what it was, because he drowned it out with his own holler of surprise. He spun around and dropped into a fighting stance – his reflexes were slower than normal, but it was good to know they still worked. Nat jumped, as well, but it was not an attacker. It was the black man in the NASA shirt, who seemed as startled by Steve’s reaction as Steve had been by his touch. He held up his hands and took a couple of steps back.

“Didn’t mean to scare you,” he said. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Steve straightened up again, cautiously. His heart felt like it was going to pound its way right through his ribs. He couldn’t remember the last time it had beat like that. The SHIELD medics had always said he had the lowest resting heart rate of any human being. “I’m fine,” he managed.

“Yeah.” Nat, too, was taking deep breaths. “Fine.”

“Great,” said the other man. “Come on, let’s eat, huh?”

“Eat.” Steve nodded. Maybe food would help him feel better. “Good idea.”

Most of the original group had left the room by now and new people were coming in, setting things up to replace the ones the previous occupants had taken down. Among them were three with the same haircuts and clothing as Steve, Nat, and their as-yet-unidentified co-star – a black man with short dreadlocks, wearing a NASA shirt – a woman with a blonde bob, in a blue jumpsuit – and a tall man with brown hair and beard stubble, in a UC Berkeley sweatshirt. They were waiting for their counterparts to leave the set.

“Sorry,” said Steve.

Nat took his arm. “Come on, guys,” she said brightly. “I’m starved.”

They headed down a short hallway and out a door into the blinding sunlight. Even Steve’s eyes were slow to adjust, but once he could stop squinting he found himself in a parking lot outside a big white building with an arched roof, which looked like it could be an aircraft hangar but instead had the words Studio 6 painted on the side in large red letters. A few palm trees were visible above the roof, growing on the other side of the lot. There were four metal steps down to the parking lot, where a row of huge RV trailers were parked, but rather than returning to those, the cast and crew had gathered around a food truck that was serving Vietnamese submarine sandwiches. People were unfolding lawn chairs and passing around sodas and bottled water. Beyond the parking lot was a highway, with a green sign directing people to a turnoff that led to the Los Angeles city centre.

The tattooed woman named Maddy was handing out packets of pages. She pulled a set out of her folder, and handed them to the man in the NASA shirt.

“Glover,” she said.

“Thank you.” He accepted it, and opened it for a look as he went to the food truck for his sandwich.

“Johansson.” Maddy gave some pages to Nat.

Nat accepted them without comment.

“Evans.” The third set was for Steve.

“Thanks,” said Steve. He looked down at the cover – it bore the title Breathless and a scene and revision number, and a line indicating that this copy belonged to somebody named either Chris Evans or Matt Rankin. When he opened it, he found Rankin’s lines highlighted. Other characters, including Zalyotina, appeared to be Russian and American astronauts.

“Oh, and Donny,” Maddy added, talking to the man in the NASA shirt, “your friend at real-life NASA called. Hyperspace geometry girl.”

Donny immediately lowered his script pages and pulled his phone out of his back pocket. “You mean Kevin?” he asked. “Thanks, I’ll call her back right away.”

Steve was starting to come up with a theory. They knew the tesseract was able to open wormholes, moving objects and people around in space at will. Whatever Loki had done, it had apparently cause Steve and Natasha to switch places with the actors making this movie – actors who looked creepily just like them, it seemed, since nobody had noticed the substitution. Thor and Loki were probably around here somewhere, too, just not in the immediate vicinity. What about the tesseract itself? Was it here, or still in the museum in Norway?

He looked at Natasha, who was pretending to read her script. She caught his eye, and nodded. They had to get out of here and get back to their mission, but they had to do it carefully. If they were on American soil, they could not afford to identify themselves – that would land them in prison.

“Okay,” Nat announced, “there’s been a big mistake here.”

People looked up at her. Steve frowned… what was she going to do? She couldn’t possibly just tell everybody who they really were, could she?

“What kind of mistake?” asked the bearded man, who Steve decided must be the director of the film.

“This.” Nat showed him the script. “This is not Russian.”

“It’s not?” He frowned. “We had a guy double-check it…”

“Well, was his name Google Translate?” Nat asked. “Because I guess yeah, it’s technically Russian, but nobody talks like this!”

The director looked over at Steve, who considered a couple of options and then just shrugged. Nat knew what she was doing – he would just let her handle it.

“Why didn’t you bring that up at the meeting yesterday?” the director asked her.

“It slipped my mind,” said Nat. “My shovel wasn’t big enough for all the bullshit.”

“Does it really matter?” he tried. “They’ll dub the movie before showing it in Russia, anyway.”

“What about Russian people living in the US?” Nat asked, arms folded across her chest. “I guess it’s okay if we sound like idiots to them.”

The director sighed heavily. “All right, I’ll find somebody else to look at it. In the mean time…” he turned to Maddy. “I guess we need to do something else this afternoon. See what the second unit’s up to. I’ve… I’ve gotta call the producer.” He started taking back the pages his assistant had handed out, pausing to look Steve over. “You got any Russian?” he asked.

Steve tried to remember what little he knew. “Pivo, pozhaluysta,” he offered. That was the first phrase Nat had taught him. It meant one beer, please.

It took a moment, but the director chuckled. “At least somebody around here has a sense of humour,” he observed, and glanced back at Nat with a sigh. “Mat Damon said she was easy to work with,” he muttered.

Steve didn’t know who Matt Damon was, although the name made him think of Asgard for some reason. “Well, that's just his opinion, isn't it?” asked Steve.

“Yeah.” The bearded man sighed. He motioned for Maddy to follow them, and they headed back up the steps into the studio.

Nat took two sandwiches from the food cart. She handed one to Steve, and then declared grandly, “I will be in my trailer.”

Donny frowned. “You don’t have a trailer. You live here,” he said.

Nat took Steve’s arm. “Then I’ll be in his trailer,” she decided, and stalked off, dragging him behind her.

#fanfic #steve rogers #natasha romanov

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thylionheart · 6 years

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[Emily writes a review of Avengers: Infinity War]

Okay, I should preface this with, that I knew Infinity War was going to be a hot mess bc it was trying to handle so many storylines and characters, so I may have gone in a little biased…

But the things is, the pacing and how the move did handle getting all the characters together was fairly well done.

It was a better movie than Age of Ultron, because I still think it contributed to the marvel universe and didn’t go widely out of character, but also… like Age of Ultron, I don’t think I’d ever want to see it again because of how mad it made me.

The theme of the movie was… in the ballpark of nihilism.

It felt like it took the theme of hope at the endings of the last two marvel movies (Ragnarok and Black Panther) and just slapped them in the face.

And the whole Thanos thing with the head touching felt vaguely… sexual. There is this reoccurring image of him pushing people’s heads down as they unwilling knelt at his feet… which paints a picture. At least for me, it was extremely uncomfortable. And that makes it worse because….

I hated that we were almost supposed to sympathize with Thanos and make him this complicated villain or an anti-hero. To set the stage: Thanos’ masterplan is to kill half the population of overcrowded planets with not enough resources, defending this genocide by calling himself a ‘savior.’ With a well written, complicated villain we are supposed to sympathize, at least partly, with their motives. Erik Killmonger was a well-written, complicated villain. This is just psychopathy.

((Also, are we supposed to have sympathy for Thanos for having to kill Gamora to get what he wants? because I SURE DONT!! WHAT A DICK!))

The Avengers and the Guardians lose in the end because, time and time again, they are not able to make the sacrifice of giving up one life for the sake of the whole universe. Ultimately, backing up the core of what Thanos believes.

Yes, Thanos finds out in the end that the price may have been too high after succeeding in “bringing prosperity to a grateful universe,” but his philosophy is never proven to be wrong. ((((Genocide is never a justifiable act, @ the writers))))

You can tell this movie was written by a full cast of men.

I hated that all of the deaths were ultimately for shock value. Although tbh, that was the main selling point of the movie, wasn’t it? Come see if your favorite character dies! Or the purpose of the deaths was to enforce the feeling of hopelessness and to prove how truly formidable Thanos was as a villain. Which… i guess is a fair trope (literary device?), but I didn’t enjoy watching any of that!! Which is why I hate nihilism. it’s a shit genre.

Some of the dialogue felt stale in the same way it did in Age of Ultron. There was a lot of one-liners that looked as if they were filmed for the sole purpose of trailer hype instead of the actual movie. ((I think it would have been great if they had brought on all the different directors from the previous movies to direct the different parts so we could still have maintained the tone of the Guardians of the Galaxy and Thor)) ppl who aren’t Taika trying to write Taika’s humor was just cringe worthy.

I think that this movie was ambitious and really could have been an amazing climax in the Marvel universe… just not yet. I definitely think they’re gonna have to do some time stone magic to clean up this mess and un-perma die everyone. Because otherwise, they can’t make anymore movies. And u and i both know the capitalistic machine doesn’t turn in that direction. There was so much more they could have done, plot wise and character development wise to build up to the climax of Infinity War. Like, they hinted at a story line for Adam and the soul gem at the end of the last guardians of the galaxy, and they didn’t run with that?? Didn’t even mention it?? The guardians needed at least one more movie to finish up their character evolution… finally defining Gamora and Quill’s relationship… or not (bc Adam may or may not could have been a love interest for Gamora like in the comics). Like Wanda and Vision’s relationship, Gamora and Quill’s romantic relationship just didn’t have enough weight yet for me to fully believe their ‘i love yous’ in the scene where Thanos takes Gamora.

I was not here for Wanda and Vision’s AI romance to begin with, but do i think if they had taken the time to build their relationship on screen and deal with the complications of falling in love with an AI, would I have appreciated what their relationship meant in Infinity War? Probably.

Also, Steve and Bucky deserved one more movie. Like, f yeah, Bucky’s back and finally reunited with Steve…. only to die again 1 battle later??? We deserved a whole Black Panther 2 with white wolf bucky in Wakanda.

Did Black Widow really have a reason to be in this movie? Why do the writers not care abt her?

And didn’t Knowhere blow up a couple movies ago? Or did I just dream that?

They killed the fifteen year old!??? where’s my bby Shuri, is she okay??

Also, who actually believes Loki wouldn’t have turned into a snake or some shit when he was being held by Thanos, or managed to mischief his way out of there? Loki would have played the long game with Thanos, not betray him immediately.

WAKANDA FOREVER, U DICKS

#haha über spoilers ahead #Marvel #Infinity War #00 #Let Taika Waititi direct the rest of the marvel movies u cowards #(Unrelated to the quality of the movie: I’m still weirdly attracted to Benedict Cumberbatch. God bless fifteen yr old me. pls dont judge me)

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wackygoofball · 6 years

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Afterthoughts after Ragnarok

So, I had the opportunity to watch both Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Ragnarok as a double-feature at an IMAX cinema yesterday, which was… fangirl heaven, in a nutshell. I can only highly recommend watching the second installment before Ragnarok because it is a nice reminder of the details, basically. And of course, it sets the mood. 😊

I just wanted to quickly type up some initial thoughts on Thor: Ragnarok because I am fangirling hard right now.

THEREFORE – BEWARE OF SPOILER ALERT.

To send this ahead: I went into the movie not having any expectations. I really tried my best to stay clear of great spoilers (other than the clips and scenes that were released as part of the promo). I hoped for a retro-adventure arc from the old days, but I wasn’t holding my breath for it. Though gladly, my hope was not at all disappointed. The bright color schemes, the music, the slapstick moments which are MUCH more prominent in this movie than any of the Thor films… it was what I was hoping for – and more.

Being a proud member of Loki’s Army and a general Hiddlestoner, I obviously have my biases when it comes to what scenes I enjoyed a lot, but overall… the movie did what I wanted it to do (again, I just talk here personal wishes and interests): It made me laugh and took me on a fun ride. That is what I wanted, and this is what I got.

To dig a bit further into the matter, there are some things that I wanna mention that I particularly enjoyed or that interested me:

Obviously, the destruction of Mjölnir alongside Thor unleashing his *true* potential as the God of Thunder is a big theme of this story arc (one that may not be that absolutely original, but that still resonated with the overall theme of what the movie was getting at; to me, it fed in nicely into the narrative and resonated with the Thor movies as a whole). I am actually rather fond of the idea that we see more of the God of Thunder than the God of Hammers (thanks, Odin, for that comment 😉). With this story arc, we reach a new level and a new skillset for Thor to fetch from *and to master,* so I am pretty excited to see what they are going to do with that in Infinity War, and as to where Thor is going to take his newly unleashed powers or where there may be hardships for him.

I do wonder whether Thor will seek *some* sort of replacement. Obviosuly, Mjölnir isn’t going to return in that fashion. It was a unicum and it has been rendered superfluous when it comes to Thor’s thunder powers. However, it *is* the weapon he has been using for… hundreds of years, so it may be that Thor will use *a* hammer alongside his now unleashed true thunder powers. Perhaps a bit of nostalgia or otherwise simply something to use in close combat, which is obviously also part of his fighting style. So, I am pretty hyped to see what may be done with that in the upcoming movies of the franchise.

In that same breath, I suppose it may be worth mentioning that we also saw something with God of Mischief Loki when it comes to new or otherwise not yet made explicit skillsets. Loki touching Valkyrie to dig up the memories she repressed for so long (and drowned it in lots of booze in the most wonderful of fashions ♥), to me, actually fed into the idea of not just introducing new characters and their skillsets or in case of Thor, showing their true potential, but also showing us what already known characters still have in store. While we already knew about Loki’s ability of manipulating and accessing people’s minds, I believe this is the first time we saw him *activate repressed memories* and *witness* them. Yet again, it had me wondering whether that skillset will prove useful in one of the following movies. A random thought I had last night (and please excuse, it was VERY late when I had that thought, hehe) was about whether Loki using that method may prove to be interesting in Bucky’s case and the memories that were deleted/locked away or what not, which may or may not be something of interest in the Infinity War story arc (WHERE ARE YOU, TRAILER???). if said memories were somehow vital to the plot.

Speaking of our favorite trickster, I found his arc a joy. Not only the jokes and the return of the horns, but particularly his trickster-self being back in full swing made me really happy. The previous Thor movie built heavily on Loki’s revenge for Frigga, in general the family problems… which there were… a lot of…, and of course his ongoing wish to lay claims to the throne, out of which he felt cheated once his origin was revealed to him in the first Thor film. The vibe I always had of particularly comic!Loki (though I am not too deeply invested in the comics, I will admit, but from what I have read, that was my general impression) was really this idea of causing, as his name has it, mischief, being the trickster, collaborating with whoever in order to somehow maneuver out of situations, only to be bound to clean up the mess he made (with the Revengers 😉 ). And I found that sort of spirit resonating with Loki in this story arc much more than in previous installments. While I very much enjoyed the idea of revenge and his ongoing battling with his family due to the differences that lie between them, I feared that they would just go on with that instead of giving it a new twist, but I felt like this actually was the twist that suited not just the overall mood of the film but also Loki.

So yeah, I am pretty happy to see Loki back in the role as God of Mischief as much as I enjoy Thor now being in full God of Thunder mode. The story arc had a nice conclusive theme of the two arriving at *who they actually are,* and thereby returning to their roots, which I thought had a nice touch to it.

Other things that have me wondering after having watched the movie: Is Sif to return? She wasn’t one of those who fell *on screen.* Because she may potentially be a bit of a wildcard in the upcoming movies, especially after… Jane and Thor are no more, it seems. But yeah, I don’t know if that was just a filming issue or whatever else. I do hope to see Lady Sif back in all of her glory. Especially since I want to see her interact with Valkyrie! They could bond so wonderfully over being awesome warrior ladies. :3

Speaking of Valkyrie, I really love her. ♥ I love her drinking speed (lol), and for that she is *as for this movie* a secondary character, she had a developed story arc (which of course… is now not the super deep-reaching stuff that you would get at if it were a movie just about her and her origin story in a much more serious setting than the Marvel franchise lays out), Loki’s backflash was gorgeously shot and it really took you into this *epic* moment of defeat when the Valkyries fell against Hela. Another thing I quite enjoyed about how her character was written is the easiness with which she interacts with other characters, she is witty, she is cute, and while hostile towards e.g. Thor and Loki (lol) in the beginning, I found it a joy to see her interact with the Hulk. Since she is so strong, she is unafraid of interacting with him in a friendly manner outside the battlefield, which I found had a nice touch. I hope to see more of her. A lot more.

Now, Hela. Cate Blanchet has the swagger of a Goddess of Death. Holy Shit. I loved the costume, I loved the attitude, and I have no clue how she gets the daggers out of everywhere but she does it majestically, and that is all that matters, lol. While more of a cartoon villain (but that is what fitted the mood best, let’s be real) in many regards, I found some touches of how they framed her return really interesting. While Norse mythology would have something to say about her being made firstborn daughter to Odin when she is actually one of Loki’s children… it was a rather intriguing commentary on how history is made, at least in my reading. Hela has been erased by her own father once she grew too power hungry for him. She was erased from public memory as she was cast into the realm of the dead.

Not only did that shed a rather interesting light on the idea of succession – because now we don't just have one son who was chosen by the father to have the throne as opposed to the son who wanted the throne, but didn’t get entitled to it, but also a female heir who had rights to the throne until she was considered unfit in Odin’s eyes. Actually, the repetition is what intrigued me, because it fed nicely into the idea of Ragnarok on what it is at its core, the Dawn of the Gods and the moment of a self-repeating world. Because Ragnarok is happening over and over, in different forms, and to me, that was the vibe I got from that succession question, too. Loki turned out rather similar to Hela in that way (though with a difference, to which I will return later, so hold on). Hela felt/was entitled to the throne until Odin deemed her unfit due to her violence that did not match his political agenda following the conquest era. Loki felt entitled to the same honor, but was seen as unfit for his ambitions/birth by Odin.

On that same note, I really liked this idea of history being rewritten by the winners (in this case Odin). Odin glossed over Hela’s involvement along with the conquest period (if Hela can be believed) to prevent her danger from reaching further after her banishment. At the same time, he portrayed and literally painted himself in a certain way (not just on the ceiling) that may not have been as reflective of the reality of the origin story of his rule as it could have been.

Similarly, I did find it an interesting way of handling Odin’s legacy after he’s passed away in the early stages of the movie. Odin dies after the conversation with Thor and Loki in which he seemingly tried to make peace with himself and them (and likely with the idea in mind that they arrive at a truce as well, so to have a chance against Hela together). So, the first impression we got was “oh, he leaves this world at peace with himself and everyone else, he is redeemed.” And at first I was a bit like… hm, I don’t expect great narrative arcs in this movie, not the gut-wrenching, complex moral dilemma that… other movies are made for, but that seems rather cheap. However, looking at Odin’s arc in this last movie as a whole, I did find it rather interesting (because yeah, I think he made a good couple of mistakes particularly with Loki that made him prime for some sort of redemption needing to be done). Because after the redeem-momentum, we get this reversal of history narrative via Hela, which gives way and depth to questioning his rule as a whole. And it is concluded when he tells Thor in a vision that he is stronger/better than him, not the other way around. Now of course, protagonist is getting the hype it takes to win over the enemy and unleash new potential and all, but I found *that* as a nice redemptive mode that yet again tied back to the very idea of Ragnarok. Thor, symbolized by having his eye removed like his Father (*cries*), is repeating Odin’s history – but with a difference. He steps up to that legacy, but does so differently from what Odin did. And Odin recognizing that and pinpointing it as the stronger/better way is something that I found hit the point home with the redemptive mode surrounding his death.

Now, this is getting far too long already (I am rambling and I am sorry), but one last thing I wanted to speak of – as a member of Loki’s Army: Loki’s (short but entertaining) reign.

Especially since I started out watching the previous Thor movie before Ragnarok, the question that remained as a sort of cliffhanger was just what kind of rule Loki would pursue. I mean, he was one of the big gun villains in the first Avengers movie, he was the big gun enemy in the first Thor movie, and obviously caused mischief wherever possible. While we knew of Hela taking over, thereby pointing to Loki’s rule not being very long, I personally did wonder what they would have Loki’s rule look like.

He may well have turned out to be the Hela type, kill all the infidels, and be a gigantic asshole with a lot of sass. However, his reign, however short-lived… it was basically one big party. And now of course, it was for comedy for many parts, but I did find it rather interesting and actually resonating with how they set up Loki all the while.

For all his talk and attitude of being the lone wolf and only ever being interested in himself, the God of Mischief has always been seeking the approval of his family, or at the very least, their attention (positive or negative, didn’t matter, so long it was some kind of attention). Ever since learning about his origins, I think the factor that was added to the whole idea of him wanting that throne no matter the costs was that he was seeing the approval of the Asgardians.

And in a way, I find that rather organic storytelling: Loki knew he wouldn’t get the approval of his family after what happened, after what was revealed about him. I mean, he gave that speech (which Hiddleston enacted beautifully, btw) to Odin about how he is now a monster that the children are told about to make them afraid of said monsters. And I think it is rather logical that he sought the approval of the people who are now supposedly afraid o him for his Jotünn roots. Being admired, being accepted by them as king would make him less of a monster, it would get him the approval he could no longer find with his family past a certain point, it would give him the approval he thought he couldn’t get by virtue of his birth. And across the movie narrative, at least that is my impression, that wish did not die down, but actually increased over time.

And now, having seen Ragnarok, I somehow tend to stick to that reading, because Loki relished the approval of himself. But it wasn’t *just* the statue (though it was a matter of heart to him, I am sure), it was that he (as Odin) was partying – with the people. He wasn't just sitting in the throne room feeling powerful. As Thor points out, he didn’t do much of anything with the power he had as King of Asgard for as long as it lasted, but instead… seems to have been partying the whole time. And again, obviously, the comedic moment is quite at the front, but the idea that Loki would spend his reign trying to be friendly with the people, having fun, was not just so very Loki-like (see that theater… damn, I laughed so hard at the play) but also resonated with this overall arc of seeking approval. While all the while claiming not to care what others think of him, Loki seeks it again and again, whether he likes it or not. And in the end, it is and will always be his one family whose approval he is seeking most (as he himself asserted at some point) – he wants Thor’s approval, he wants that guy’s attention, even if it’s just in a negative sense.

While I am most certain that he will turn on Thor again (he did have some fun time before gathering the Eternal Flame with the Tesseract and all), I remain positive that this will simply be status quo now. Thor’s not trusting him is actually, in a way, his trust in him. Thor knows Loki will pull shit, Loki knows that Thor knows… it’s going to be fun to see how they may continue to try to outsmart the other but rather in a friendly manner.

So, to now conclude this way too long rambling: If you want to have a fun Marvel ride, Thor: Ragnarok is your friend. The music, the mood, the story, it flows well and easily. You won’t grow tired or bored, neither are you overloaded with input. The slapstick, to me, was hilarious. And while Norse mythology was very much twisted around to fit into the narrative, I personally found some traces of the idea of Ragnarok not just in the metaphor of it being the people, but also in the way the characters were portrayed and moved through their story arc. It delivers funny, and to me, interesting secondary characters. It may be read as containing some interesting commentary on history making and the question of redemption and legacy alongside the self-repeating world in succession, where legacy ends and characters arriving at where they are meant to be begins.

And finally, I think the movie does something great for both Thor and Loki (and also for Valkyrie and Hulk if in different senses) in that it returns them to their roots. They are now the true God of Thunder and the true God of Mischief again.

And that, to me, is a great way of heading into Infinity War.

It is definitely worth the watch. 😊

#thor ragnarok #thor #marvel #spoilers #thor spoilers

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iamnmbr3 · 3 years

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New Loki 30 Second Clip Thoughts

it took me a while to get myself to watch this one just bc I felt pretty nervous after the last trailer but it was actually pretty good

The Good

This was hands down my favorite of any of the trailers BY FAR. None of it made me actively cringe. It was quite watchable and felt much better and more in character and actually exciting. Also I liked the music and the way the shots were intercut.

Loki felt much more Loki-like in terms of his affect. His expressions were for the most part controlled and subtle and seemed much more characteristic of him which was lovely to see. His movements were also smaller and he stood stiller in a way that's more normal for him; there weren’t many grand, exaggerated gestures. I felt like I could see Loki in this trailer rather than just Tom Hiddleston playing some other role.

We’ve seen the Asgard clip before but I’m still super excited by it.

The tone of this trailer felt like it leaned far more towards exciting and dramatic, rather than silly, which was definitely really nice to see and hopefully reflective of the series as a whole.

The trailer actually felt like it centered on Loki rather than on the TVA or the TVA characters which also was really nice.

Given that we see Mobius actively shushing Loki and not letting him get a word in edgewise I have marginally more hope that he might be intentionally being written as grating. If he’s supposed to be an antagonist then he’s a great character because he embodies all the people who treated Loki with a double standard and refused to listen to him.

Miss “tick tock it’s cringe’o’clock” Minutes had no speaking part in the trailer which immediately earns it lots of points. If the writers intuition for her to be a Jar-Jar on steroids intentionally cringy character they’re doing great bc every time I see her I wanna break her dumb clock face.

The Bad

I don’t trust Disney AT ALL. So while this trailer is better I still remember all the issues in the other trailers - like Loki using ooc dialogue like “crap” or being stripped and humiliated as a joke (I think everyone would be outraged about that if it happened to Nat in the Black Widow movie) and I find it hard to trust them that this new and better trailer is actually more reflective of the show than those first few trailers (tho I hope to be pleasantly surprised). I remember the Russos saying Steve an Bucky’s relationship (along with Steve and Tony and Wanda and Visions) would be a central aspect of IW/Endgame and that being complete lie. So yeah. The MCU does not have my confidence so even though this trailer is a positive sign I’m a lot more hesitant than I might otherwise be.

Loki seems just a bit too docile here. His affect is much more Loki-like in this trailer, but he’s seems a bit too “tame.” Look at how loki handles being powerless and threatened in TDW. He acts as though it doesn’t concern him and shields himself by affecting carelessness (except for a few times when his facade cracks) and mocking his captors. Or think about how he acted with Natasha when he was captured by the Avengers and expecting to be tortured. He uses cutting humor and a veneer of coolness and threat as a shield when he’s vulnerable. Loki should snap and snarl when cornered. Or affect an unconcerned confident cool aloof air.

This is extremely nitpicky but I’m gonna talk about Loki’s hair (AGAIN) for a second. On the positive side I’m glad they explained the length difference with that laser cutting scene in the previous trailer. However, as of this trailer it’s still weird to me that it’s so fluffy/curly. I think it’s because it’s Tom’s actual hair vs a wig. The problem is that Loki’s hair-type basically changed without an in-universe explanation bc in-universe his hair even when it’s short tends to be very straight and sleek.

The Ugly

Based on some of the publicity it seems the show is taking the position that Loki has never been powerless before and this is the first time he’s been out of his element. That seems to be why they’ve written him as a bit too docile here. It’s like the writers bought into Loki’s posturing and thought all those others times he was powerless and out of control he was actually in control and fine and unruffled rather than just ACTING like it. In actuality he’s almost never relaxed or in-control during his screen time in the MCU. The closest is probably the “never doubt that I love you” scene; after that everything in his life just keeps going wrong.

They mistook personality for circumstance and confused Loki ACTING in control with him BEING in control so when they thought they were changing his circumstances by making him no longer in control for the first time, what they actually did was change his personality by turning him into someone who no longer uses performative disdain, confidence and humor as a shield in vulnerable moments to put on a show of being in control, thus fundamentally altering his character and making him feel off and ooc.

In the trailer with the forced stripping scene Loki very openly shows alarm when he sees the TVA agent kill someone. Contrast that to the scene when he’s walking to his death at Thanos’s hands. He’s not in control, nor does he think he is. He’s also confronting the being who tortured and mind-controlled him but although he’s frightened he acts cool and collected and in control to the bitter end. Because that’s how Loki is, even when he’s afraid. ESPECIALLY when he’s afraid. And that’s what they missed with the characterization I think. Though definitely he was cooler and more collected here. So that’s a big step in the right direction. But he still feels just a bit too declawed. This trailer was definitely a step in the right direction and I certainly hope that the actual series will fix some of these apparent issues and be even better. Loki is such a fascinating and special character with so much potential and I really want this to be good.

#if the narrative tries to validate Mobius’s pov or present him as a good friend to loki I will hate it with a burning passion #loki tv series #MCU #Marvel #loki series #loki show #loki 2021 #Loki #random musings

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teh-repository · 6 years

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On Thor: Ragnarok - Initial Viewing

I expected to be wowed by the movie coming in since I saw the trailers and teasers but it was way better than I expected. It really tightened focus on characters - especially Thor - was fast paced yet wasn’t too jumpy and it was just an overall fun movie despite its eventual sober end.

!!!! WARNING: Possible SPOILERS Below !!!!

Also long post from my many feels .....

There are so many things I loved: the colorful palettes, the fast pace, the inherent humor between the interactions of characters... One of the best parts was that the artistic direction still made sense in-universe. Asgard still had its golden-hued and very high-contrast coloring but then you also have Sakar, which had this whole riot of colors, fast paced and chaotic - matching the loose, decadent civilization that popped up from the trash heap.

The recent MCU movies have been so serious lately and I guess that makes sense in the story perspective - after all, the team has assembled, the stakes are rising and the last single character trilogy movie - Captain America: Civil War - ended with the team split apart. But having Thor: Ragnarok a riot of color and humor even with the serious events happening was a nice change. Its was also so character-centric and in-character throughout that even with the drastic change in color and style from the previous Thor movies - it definitely fits Thor and his hero journey.

What really pushed this over the top was the character development of Thor.

He grew so much but in a way that is still in-character. I think in a way, he seemed to be allowed to really grow into his inherent character - a loud boisterous and impulsive guy - but a more matured version.

The introduction in the beginning sets the mood for the whole movie - Thor narrates the story in his own voice - flippant and lighthearted even though the scene clearly shows him in some trouble. It seems like he was really spooked by his visions of the apocalypse in the beginning (and in the Age of Ultron) and in a reverse of what it was like in beginning - he is the more serious one - trying to stop the apocalypse, looking for his father while Loki is partying it up disguised as Odin. And then their father dies and Hela is released, destroys Mjolnir and Loki and Thor are thrown into Sakar. And Thor is still trying to be responsible for his people. His goal remains getting back to Asgard and trying to save everyone from Hela. He gains perspective on what it means to save Asgard and a better understanding on how to access and use his powers without Mjolnir. He even gets better at anticipating and dealing with Loki - he seems to have come to some sort of conclusion after years of trying to get Loki back which he explains from the elevator scene. (And I just love the way they were able to tell the audience this directly - but still have the conversation make sense within the story). Yet he still keeps his loud and cheerful and confident personality. He can still make things awkward when acknowledging women (it was even better it was revealed that he had wanted to be part of the Valkyries when he was younger) and he can be very stupid and too reliant on violence and brute strength when dealing with problems. The different aspects of his personality are better revealed in this movie. He has grown from his travels for the better and it shows. This whole movie seemed to center around all of this - showing and furthering this character development which is great because character-driven stories give a story a lot depth and relatability even though the actual plot itself is pretty repeated and predictable.

And then there is Thor’s relationship with Loki. Its handled so well here - there is still frustration there - a wish for his brother to fight by his side as they had before all these events or at least for his brother to stay and be physically present - but it's also shaped by acceptance and the acknowledgement of love. Thor at least realizes that he really can’t make Loki stay if he does not want to, that he loves mischief and making trouble and there are a lot of issues between them. Thor can not and should not try for control in their relationship - but he still definitely loves his brother - still loves working with him and would like to rely on him and it does not matter how much Loki hurt him or how frustrated at all the problems Loki had made, that love stays true. All that is left is how much Loki is willing to stick it out with him.

And that's just the obvious part - there was also the undertones of facing your past and trying to accept that it was done no matter how terrible shown both in the individual characters and in Asgard as a whole. Though definitely not true to the original myth, having Hela as Thor’s biological older sister really added another layer to the history of Asgard and with Odin. I feel like it's pretty much part of fanon that Odin could be a pretty crappy father especially in regards to Loki and has done some questionable deeds but Hela and the history she introduces definitely adds more layers to Asgard’s former king.

It did have some shortcomings --- this movie seriously cut down the number of named characters from the previous movies. Some are more predictable, like Odin. Some less so, or at least I really wished they had not been killed so easily. The Warriors Three are killed in like the first 30 minutes and it just seemed so sudden - Thor didn’t even had the time to mourn them (on screen) - or stop and think about that had happened to them. He was too busy surviving Sakar.

I also felt like I was missing something from previous movies, particularly the relationship between Thor and Jane. Normally I would not mind. I prefer to skip over romance especially when it overshadows the actual plot - but Jane/Thor was a large part of the first 2 movies. She was the one to find him and guide him in the first movie and she was instrumental in the fight against the Dark Elves in the second. I don’t mind that their relationship ended - honestly I wasn’t really behind the ship anyway - but I just wished that they didn’t skip over Jane entirely. And Darcy! I miss Darcy. She would have been hilarious in Sakar - however unlikely that would have been. Like the Warriors Three they were just cut out - and they even had larger previous roles. It just seemed like a waste. As much as I loved what Waititi did with Thor and the plot he went with - I did not like the way he just discarded those characters - especially Jane and Darcy. I would have loved to see more of their characters especially Jane’s without being Thor’s love interest.

I didn’t want that to overtake the movie as a whole but even an actual conversation about what had happened between Dark World and Ragnarok would have been nice. I would have liked to see whether he and Jane stay friends, or if Darcy still interacts with him. Maybe they might delve into that in future movies ....but probably not :(

That said, the end work mostly makes up for all of that. The loss of these characters, though I think could have been handled better, shows just how much Thor himself loses of his old home and life and highlights what he still has - his ability to draw people and inspire camaraderie to himself as shown in his new team, his strength both as a fighter and his powers with lightning and his brother Loki.

Conclusion: It was well worth the extra money for the Dolby version and I will probably waste more of my money seeing it again a couple more times. It might be the last part of Thor’s trilogy, but it's a great move in its own right. I feel like even if this was the first of the trilogy someone were to see, it would be great as a standalone - minimal background info needed. It was so fun without losing track of the story and I can’t wait to see how they connect it to Avengers: Infinity Wars.

#thor: ragnarok #marvel meta #long ass post #mymeta #Characterization #character analysis #spoilers #spoiler alert

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movietvtechgeeks · 7 years

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Latest story from https://movietvtechgeeks.com/tom-hiddleston-gets-outacted-gorilla-kong-review/

Tom Hiddleston gets outacted by a gorilla in 'Kong' review

Kong: Skull Island Review

Let’s face it. I’m not a fan of King Kong, but I do like a good monster movie. I’ve seen the 70’s version which was good, and later King Kong Lives, which was bad and the Peter Jackson remake which was great. I only saw these on TV and cable. Like I said, not much of a fan but with Kong: Skull Island, after seeing the trailer, being a Godzilla fan and knowing what Legendary Pictures is up to, I decided to see it, and all I can say is—It’s awesome! The Film This little review won’t give away too many spoilers, but I’m still inclined to give the obligatory spoiler alert because you deserve to see and enjoy this film. One good thing about this film is that there’s hardly a dull moment. At the start of the film, set in World War II where an American and Japanese pilot crash on the island, they are greeted by the titular character in his gigantic glory. Hey, you’ve seen him in the trailers anyway, why hide the big guy? It’s unlike Godzilla 2014 where we only see his dorsal fins during the opening sequence when the world superpowers were trying to kill him with ‘nuclear tests.' One major criticism for Godzilla was that the titular monster was mostly hidden from the audience. Audiences won’t be disappointed with this one. The characters’ back stories are quickly set up at the beginning which is good. Unlike other Kong films, this one was set in the 70s during the Vietnam War as can be seen by the helicopters used in the trailer. Watching this film, you could say that it’s a mix of Apocalypse Now and Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid. Again, the action won’t disappoint. Less than 30 minutes into the film, old Kong gives it to them, and the whole plot is set up where we join the cast on their journey off Skull Island. Also, unlike other Kong films, the great ape stays on the island. The film again is not much of a remake but a re-imagining and more of a set-up for what’s to come. And boy, there will be much to come. The Cast Since I wasn’t a big fan of Kong, I never did any research on who the cast was. The only thing I was aware of was Tom Hiddleston, much known for playing Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe would be leading the cast. Him and John Goodman who plays the role as William Randa, leader of the expedition. It was a surprise to see the names of Samuel L. Jackson, Hiddleston’s co-alum in the MCU and lastly, future MCU member Brie Larson, who will be playing Carol Danvers or Captain Marvel, in Marvel’s own female led superhero film. Tom Hiddleston plays James Conrad, the British mercenary who will be acting as their guide in the uncharted territory. We’ve mentioned what Goodman’s role is while Samuel L. Jackson plays Lieutenant Colonel Preston Packard, the leader of the expedition’s military escort and requisite human asshat who wants to capture or kill the great ape. The Vietnam War setting comes into play regarding Jackson’s role, and though most of the time he’s unreasonable, you’ll piece together where he’s coming from. Brie Larson plays Mason Weaver the mission’s photojournalist, to cover or chronicle to the mission and basically plays Kong’s girl. Her relationship with Kong in this film is one of the aspects where the film departs from its predecessors. Then there’s Chinese actress Jing Tin in the role of San Lin, the expedition’s biologist. God, is she pretty. Unfortunately, she’s as pretty as she is useless and more likely, a token Chinese character due to Legendary’s collaboration with Tencent Pictures. But boy, is she pretty, and since Kong is set in the 70s pretty much like a prequel to Godzilla, we may not see her again. Did I mention she’s pretty? Lastly, John C. Reilly plays the American pilot trapped on the island since 1944. The Japanese pilot who has since become his friend died years earlier. He’s the comic relief, the voice of reason and the voice of knowledge in the film. The Easter Eggs There are plenty of Easter eggs scattered in the film. Randa’s organization, Monarch was present in Godzilla 2014 quickly confirming the two films’ shared universe. Goodman even mentions the purpose of the nuclear testing in Bikini Atoll. The film also discusses the Hollow Earth Theory that is upheld by Monarch, where Earth’s monsters like Godzilla and the MUTOs originate. This is an homage to the theory of a large habitat within the Earth which goes way back to the original 1954 Godzilla film. It’s also kind of similar to the premise of Pacific Rim or Journey to the Center of the Earth. The best Easter egg of all within the film, if you are a Godzilla fan comes somewhere within the credits themselves and then later at the post-credit scene. The Monsters The premise where King Kong fights Godzilla is totally cheesy for this writer, but it happened way back in 1962. The thing about Godzilla is that there are many different versions, of varying heights and minor changes in appearance but one thing that’s always contested is the size ratio between the two monsters. Well, in the 1962 film, King Kong’s was upsized for battle, and that is the same thing they did here. They greatly upsized Kong to perhaps times four. But still, Godzilla 2014 still outsizes Kong. They did say in the film that Kong is still growing though it’s kind of hard to imagine given the size of the skulls of Kong’s parents. How far can Kong grow in 50 years in order to be a match for the giant lizard? Anyway, if you set those thoughts aside and see the film for what it is, you’ll be sure to enjoy yourselves. The island is home to plenty of oversized monsters such as the unfortunately unseen giant ants, harmless giant bisons, prehistoric-looking birds, a giant long-legged spider, a giant squid for an ape who likes sushi and the main antagonists aside from Jackson’s Packard, the gigantic Skullcrawlers. Kong protects the island’s human population against these exoskeletal reptilian monsters that come from underground vents which proves Randa’s theory of a hollow Earth. Like in previous Kong films, the humans have a giant wall, but unlike previous Kong films, the wall isn’t to keep Kong out but to keep the Skullcrawlers crawling in. Expect great human vs. monster and monster vs. monster battles in this film. And lastly, about that awesome Easter egg, I read something awesome like this as the credits rolled up. “Characters Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan and King Ghidorah are property of Toho Inc.” That was a WTF moment for this author. Were they really planning to use these monsters in future films? Are we to expect an appearance of Rodan or Mothra in future films? If I’m not mistaken, the giant spider in the film is a reference to the monster Kumonga. The awesome end-credits scene will tell it all. The screen will remain dark, and the first sentence will seem to mock you for staying. Keep to your seat. If you’re a Godzilla fan, you won’t regret it. Too bad everyone else in the theater left before I did. Yes, everyone missed out but this geek trained by Marvel to stay after credits. Guess everyone knows by now that this technique is to honor everyone involved in making the film so the audience can have a fleeting glance of a name or two and their respective roles in making the film. The Verdict Though some critics liken Kong to a B monster movie, it didn’t feel like it at all. Perhaps in the future if there are further cinematic improvements it might be. The film was action-packed and entertaining. It’s a definite departure from previous Kong films considering the film is actually an entertaining elaborate setup. I might get flamed for saying that the only sour note here is probably Tom Hiddleston’s performance. He got ripped in this film, that’s for sure. Better for him once he returns as Loki in Thor Ragnarok but I found his performance a bit lacking or perhaps his character just didn’t have much to do really. But he was awesome in his hack and slash scene in the middle of the film. John C. Reilly’s performance was a standout. Jackson, as always was great but sometimes felt mechanical. Jing Tian was pretty. And Kong himself? Even though he’s pretty much CGI, Kong was awesome. Kong is King!

Movie TV Tech Geeks News

#Featured #Kong #Movie Reviews #Tom Hiddleston

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delyth88 · 3 years

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Episode 4 thoughts

This post contains both positive and negative thoughts, but fair warning that the negative ones are more than usual. And of course, spoilers!

First, the positive.

I did like the moment from the trailers where Loki is being taken through the corridors by the guards after Mobius is zapped. You can almost hear him thinking about how he brings only pain and death to those he loves. This was my Loki needs a hug moment for the episode.

I liked that they kept referencing Asgard, both in Sylvie’s flashback and in Loki’s time prison. While we weren’t actually going to Asgard it was a good way to keep the characters’ roots.

The visuals on Lamentis 1 as the end crept closer were pretty awesome.

I like that Loki and Mobius sort of acknowledge they’d hurt each other, and I like that they acknowledged they were friends, but I also have a hard time buying that after so short a time together. But I’m going to choose to believe they spent a lot more time in each other’s company off screen between episodes 1 and 2. *shrug*

I did enjoy B-15 figuring things out. I hope she leads the TVA on a merry chase through apocalypses!

I assume Mobius isn’t actually dead either. Not sure what explanation they’re gonna give for that tho.

Seems we were right about the TVA rescuing them from Lamentis and the blueish smokey place being where the timekeepers were.

Loki now has that cut on his shirt, but not yet the sword. Does he get it from one of the other Lokis perhaps? I had thought it was Sylvie’s to begin with, but that seems unlikely now, and I think the shape was wrong.

I like that the timekeepers turned out not to be the real deal. Not sure where this is leading to though. I had wondered if Richard E Grant was going to play whoever was behind them, but the mid credits scene suggests not.

The corn cobb outfit! LMAO!

Now I’m curious if Ravonna thought they were real or not.

I was definitely surprised that they disintegrated Loki. Was not expecting that! And I bought it for a few moments because I am just so used to them killing Loki off in uncaring ways. (And a part of me sort of expects the end of this series to result in Tom Hiddleston bowing out of the role in favour of someone new.)

I *think* I kinda like the way they’re playing on the Loki can’t die thing – but only if they follow through with it. In the mid credits scene - are these all the Loki’s that couldn’t be killed? But that would be sad for Mobius. ☹

And now for the negative.

Loki seemed so passive. On Lamentis 1, with Sif, with the timekeepers.

He was a lot more forthcoming than I would have expected. In the time prison, and later with Mobius in the Time Theatre. So they’re really expecting us to believe the master manipulator was unable to hide the fact he cared for someone? Puhlease.

The One Fear I had about this series was that they would give Loki a romance. And here we are. ☹

So Loki falling for Loki is what causes the timeline to finally break, eh? :/

The time prison – another jolly opportunity to humiliate Loki. ☹

Still no mention of his dealings with Thanos.

Loki calling himself a narcissist. *sigh*

Again I felt Sylvie got the better part of the bargain. She had direction and competence even when things went against her. I found I enjoyed her character, Mobius’, and even Renslayer’s more than Loki’s this episode. It’s almost like it’s everyone else’s story, and Loki is just along for the ride. Loki just has no stakes in this. He has no history with any of the major players, he hasn’t double crossed them or had a deal go sour with them. They haven’t harmed him in the past, nor any of his family or anything like that. I know they’re trying to create stakes by his connections with Sylvie and Mobius, but I’m just not feeling it.

All in all, I just don’t think I’m the target audience for this series. I hope it’s well received by the wider audience.

It is a cute and fun story about a variant of Loki, but it isn’t in any way a continuation of the story of the Loki that was sent by Thanos to retrieve the tesseract from Earth.

Perhaps I’ll feel more kindly towards it later this week, as I seem to have with each of the previous episodes, but I don’t know. And maybe Loki might find some purpose with the new Loki variants in getting back to Sylvie (but if so what a meh motivation!). *shrugs*

I’ll be interested to see what next week brings.

#loki #loki series #my review #loki episode 4 #spoilers #loki spoilers #loki series spoilers #loki series negativity #negative #i appreciate a lot of people like a love story but it just makes me want to gag - but i know i'm not the average on this one #if they let them kiss on screen but couldn't even let Loki and Thor hug onscreen... :(

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