#cannot wait to see villain!wanda in a marvel movie

[sophieakatz]

Thursday Thoughts: Marvel What If’s Fridging Problem

This blog post contains spoilers for the first seven episodes of Marvel What If and also some key plot points from the Ant-Man movies.

Time… Space… Reality… It’s more than a linear path. It’s a prism of endless possibility…

…but women leading happy, healthy lives, without a man’s feelings being the most important thing in her world? Nah, that’s too impossible!

I mentioned last week in my post about the animated Marvel series What If…? that this show has a fridging problem. If you’ve been following me for a while, you may remember that I’ve talked about the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the “fridged woman” trope before, in my Thursday Thoughts about Ant-Man and the Wasp, but let me summarize:

“Fridging” is a story trope in which a (male) hero’s (female) loved one is killed in order to motivate the hero to take action. This trope is common to superhero comics and films. The problem with this trope is that the fridged woman is more plot device than character. She exists to die; the male character’s emotions are more important than her life.

Now, Ant-Man and the Wasp provides a fascinating commentary on its trope. In the previous Ant-Man movie, Janet Van Dyne was a fridged woman – her only purpose in the film was to die so that Hank Pym would be motivated by his grief to choose Scott to be Ant-Man instead of his daughter, Hope. But Wasp gives Janet the chance to unfridge herself. She’s not only alive, but she plays an active role in her own rescue, and she is also essential to solving all the other conflicts in the movie.

If you’ve seen episodes three and five of What If, then you probably know what I’m going to say next.

THEY RE-FRIDGED JANET VAN DYNE!!! TWICE!!! AND HER DAUGHTER, TOO!!!

*takes a deep breath*

*lets it out again*

In Episode Three, “What If… the World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?” we follow Nick Fury on the worst week of his life. Apparently, sometime before this episode began, Hope Van Dyne became a SHIELD agent and died on one of their missions. We don’t get to see this; we only learn that this happened when Hank Pym and Loki-disguised-as-Fury argue over Hope’s gravestone. Hope’s death drove Hank over the edge of despair, since he already blamed SHIELD for the death of his wife, and so he decided to ruin Nick Fury’s life by murdering the candidates for the Avengers Initiative.

We never learn why Hope decided to join SHIELD or what the mission she went on meant to her. What Hope felt or wanted does not matter to this story. Hank’s feelings matter instead.

Also, as if it wasn’t enough to fridge the Van Dyne women, there’s arguably one other fridged woman in this story. Remember how I said that this is the worst week of Nick Fury’s life? Everyone who dies in this episode dies because it will hurt Fury; they are plot devices in his story instead of the heroes of their own story. This includes Natasha Romanoff. In-universe, Hank Pym fridges her in hopes of hurting Nick Fury.

I was pretty mad about this. But at the time, I didn’t think it would get any worse.

*

Episode Five pits the Avengers against a zombie apocalypse. Now, would anyone like to guess the origin of this apocalypse? Who is the first victim of the zombie plague?

JANET. VAN. DYNE.

Because the writers of this show can’t help but shove her back in the fridge. And they can’t help but kill off all the women in this episode, too.

Now, I know what you’re going to say. “Everyone’s death is free game in this episode! That’s the point of the whole zombie apocalypse thing!” And, sure, you’re right. Pretty much everyone dies, and if you view this episode in isolation, there’s nothing wrong with that.

But I’m not talking about viewing this episode as an isolated incident. I’m looking at it as a part of a trend, and in this trend, superhero writers fridge their female characters. In this episode, the axed women include Sharon Carter, Okoye, and, once again, HOPE VAN DYNE.

I admit that Hope gets a great speech about her emotions and motivations before she sacrifices herself. She steps up and demands the right to be the hero of her own story. However, her death is ultimately framed as an emotional motivator for Peter – her final words are to tell Peter to “keep smiling.” Later, we get a second round of Hope’s death being about a man’s feelings, when Scott-in-the-jar sees and reacts to her giant zombie form, and Peter comforts him.

(Tell me, What If, why is it possible for Scott Lang to survive as a head in a jar, but not possible for any woman to survive this episode?)

I don’t want to spend too much time on this episode, but we could also talk about Wanda Maximoff. We don’t know what she wants or how she feels, since she’s, you know, a zombie. But her zombification provides Vision’s motivation for all the villainous decisions he makes in this episode. The show also makes a point of saying that zombie-Wanda is just too darn powerful, and so there’s no way for Vision to cure her like he cured Scott-in-a-jar. I guess fridged women just can’t get a miraculous cure.

*

Actually, wait – let’s talk a little more about this show’s claim that there’s no miraculous way to save a fridged woman.

Episode Four, “What If… Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?” is basically “Fridged Woman: The Episode.” It is stated in dialogue that Dr. Christine Palmer must die because her death motivates Strange to become a sorcerer. The whole point of the episode is that Strange cannot save her and that he is wrong to try. If Christine doesn’t die, then the universe ends.

This tells me that the writers of this show know what they’re doing. They know what fridging is. They can use the trope and even provide meta-commentary on it. But they don’t seem to have any interest in moving beyond it, even though they could.

Because here’s the thing – I know how Strange could have saved Christine. The Ancient One says that Christine’s death is the only reason why Strange seeks out the mystic arts… but that’s not true. We all know that’s not true. Even the title of this episode knows that that’s not true. Strange would be motivated to seek out the mystic arts if he lost his hands.

What if the Doctor Strange of this reality went back in time, ruined his relationship with Christine so she wouldn’t want to go with him that night, and got himself horrifically injured in the car crash? He’d be prioritizing her life over his own, making sure that she got to live her own life, and he would preserve the timeline by creating the events of the canon movie.

It could have happened. This show is supposed to be a prism of endless possibility. It could be a show about moving beyond tired tropes and exploring new options. But instead, What If doubles down on the idea that the woman must die.

*

At this point, you might say, “Okay, Sophie, but not every episode of What If fridges its women! Did you forget that the very first episode of this show is all about Peggy Carter?”

Here’s the thing: even when the women live, their feelings matter less to the plot than the men’s.

If you want to hear about that, come back next week. This Thursday Thoughts is way too long, and I need a break.

Be good to yourself, be kind to each other, and you’ll hear from me again soon!

#thursday thoughts #marvel #mcu #marvel what if #what if #marvel cinematic universe #fridging #fridged women #tropes #fridging trope #stuffed in the fridge #ant man #ant man and the wasp #janet van dyne #hope van dyne #doctor strange #nick fury #natasha romanoff #wanda maximoff #vision #zombies #zombie apocalypse #spoilers #media analysis #reviews

[bardicious]

Loki S1E4 Spoilers

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This is my most negative review so far, so if you really liked this episode, please dont read for your own benefit. No seriously, I drag this show in every possible way. Give no receipts, all bitching.

If you dont want to see your fav show dragged, please look away.

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LMAO. It's official, this is one of the stupidest shows I've ever seen. Jfc.

Things I didn't appreciate about this episode:

1. Sylvie being a Variant because she was born a woman? Are you literally fucking kidding me? Jfc. I HATE this, for so many reasons. One because her being born a girl suggests that Loki cannot change his sex at will. This has always been a headcanon of mind, and you know what, since Loki does it in the comics, I feel its a valid one. Fucking hate this.

2. Loki's whole bullshit sequence with Sif. Not funny, annoying, and cruel. Much like Sif herself.

3. Mobius and Loki being friends??? Listen, I am a bit fond of the Lokius ship, sure. But they were never ever on those terms, what a fucking joke.

4. Sylvie and Loki's romantic relationship??? Really??? Really?? Just wow.

5. Loki and Mobius dying? Really, now just go fuck yourselves writers. Well, we know Loki is alive, we dont know what happened to Mobius. I'm wondering what those death sticks really do then. Still didn't appreciate the disrespect on both characters.

6. The Time Keepers being robots, all the ridiculous theatrics of it? It's so lame. Who the fuck decided Loki was going to be a comedy again? Yeah, thanks for nothing.

And these are just the points that made me angriest.

The series continues to be poorly written. Mostly in dialogue, reactions, and reasoning on the TVA's part. I dont get the impression that the TVA has ever been a threat and I'm surprised they lasted this long. Excuse me, but if little Sylvie could escape so easy, what the fuck was Loki doing?

On the discourse of this whole show, because I see it everywhere. Yeah, sorry, but Loki is hella ooc. And thats the tea on that. What I will say is, there's no way the show writers are doing it on purpose. They aren't actively trying to make Loki look this stupid. I'm pretty sure Loki has just been labeled as the "hero" at this point. So Loki doesn't get interesting characterization. No, I believe he's getting the Thor treatment of the first few movies.

They are banking on all their decent writing on Sylvie because she's the anti-villain? Because obviously they do not want an anti-villain as their main focus. Yeah, it's pure coincidence. That said, I dont know what this means for Sylvie at the end of the series. It's possible she'll just become a fan favorite. I already like her (and as far as I'm concerned, I'm sticking with my headcanon)

That said, I thought Sylvie's capture was so sad. Poor child. That did give brownie points for her being a Loki, but not enough where I'd change my headcanon, because this show has way too many things I dislike.

Loki continues to be useless. He literally just has stuff happen to him and doesn't move the plot forward much at all. I guess the writers didn't have a chance to learn that your protagonist is supposed to be proactive for them to be interesting? Weird, for something as high budget as Marvel, you would think they would care about their writers having some proper experience.

The Lokis are freaking ugly. What the fuck is up with this low budget ass show? This isn't the first time I've hated the costuming in a Marvel show, see: Falcon. The only decent one so far was Wanda's.

I thought this whole episode was a joke and I was waiting for the punch line the entire time.

Lastly, because I dont want to be unfair. These are all the points I liked:

1. Hunter B-15. So happy she's on the Lokis side. I love her. I've finally come around to loving her completely. She was one of the good points of this episode.

2. It was nice to see Asgard again, and little Sylvie was adorable. She was so happy. I'm glad to get another glimpse at Loki's life. And this makes sense of why she's so vague about everything. She doesn't have a life in Asgard.

3. Loki's hair in one scene was particularly gorgeous. I'll be going back in to screenshot it. 👀

4. Loki and Sylvie fighting, both of them fighting equally just as well.

5. I still like the idea of all the Lokis.

....and yeah, that's it. Most of these are just little details, like, visually speaking most of the production is nice (Except for the Time Keepers, the Loki's costumes)

This wasn't a great one, folks. And I imagine the rest of the series will be the same. Because this is a comedy after all. And once again, I feel thats where we go wrong. Because Loki was never supposed to be a comedy, nor was Thor. Yet recently they've made comedies of both of them.

That said, wow, I am okay now, yeah, this series is just bad, hard to even extrapolate anything, but now I realize they're not doing this maliciously. imo, they just have very bad takes. I maintain that if Tom was completely in charge, Loki would be as we remembered him, but frankly, I think it has more to do with this series being a comedy than anything. Let's hope Doctor Strange isn't a comedy, shall we?

PS. This show is really making me come to terms with throwing away canon, every single episode. So that's definitely a plus.

#The Adventures of Loki and the Other Ones

[moki-dokie]

new marvel teaser has me very :\

black widow? meh. i’ll watch it just cause i like her and marvel did her all sorts of dirty but nothing about the previews excite me at all. her getting an origin movie after shes been killed just rubs me wrong.

shang-chi i initially gave no shits about but it actually looks fairly interesting, plus it might bring back some things we’ve forgotten from the iron man movies

the eternals could not be any less appealing. doooooon’t care at all

spiderman i will watch bc spiderman is good and funny no matter what

doctor strange of COURSE i will watch this but i stg if wanda isn’t a villain in some capacity i’m gonna be pissed. please i’m begging marvel let strange kick her ass into next week and show her what a terrible fucking person she’s been, then maybe get her on the path to redemption. i want to see a showdown between them so bad.

thor 4 featuring more thor is something i’m not particularly excited about as i didn’t care for the format of ragnarok (it was fun but i’m in the small % of people who really liked the thor movies before it). that said, i fucking adore jane foster and i AM very excited to see her front and center where she deserves FINALLY.

black panther is going to be one hell of an emotional rollercoaster i’m not fully prepared for. definitely not going to be the same without chadwick, but exploring more of wakanda and more of the characters is going to be really cool.

the marvels i hate to say it but i’m just very meh about carol anymore. her character is rad but shes another that marvel didn’t do justice with. girl should have been able to stand up to thanos damn near better than anyone else but nah. they just kinda made her to be the token girl power character and it makes me sigh. plus like, ya can’t tell me that maria slowly died of cancer and apparently carol just?? wasn’t there??? i simply cannot believe that monica wouldn’t have contacted her and that carol wouldn’t have been by monica’s side until the snap aldkjga;lsdg cause otherwise that meant maria died ALONE and fuck that. i very much like the skrulls tho. i’ll probably watch this one after its done in theatres.

antman and the wasp i’ll probably watch when it’s done in theatres. those are fun movies but theres very little about them that reeeeaaalllyyy draws me in. interested the direction they’ll push cassie though.

gotg vol 3 i’m undecided on. i enjoy the gotg movies quite a bit in general. the first one i watched in theatres more than any other marvel movie lol but i’ll wait for previews/more of the plot details. with the team shaken up a bit idk if it’ll still be as fun

dear god please no more fantastic 4 movies just bring the characters in through other movies u g h

#marvel #thanks endgame for tanking my excitement for anything marvel related #i wish i could unsee endgame #or at least the second half of it

[kinnoth]

AVENGERS INFINITY WAR MEGATHREAD

-really doubt i'm gonna be able to finish this movie so we'll just see where i get to

- we already know how i feel about loki and thor, we don't need to revisit this

- ok but if i were going to revisit this, i mean come on, who wants to talk about "hela draws her power from asgard, same as you" cos i wanna talk about that

like what if that's the reason thor, god of thunder, king to a civilisation of warriors, was unable to fend off like, 4 dudes and a big purple dinosaur? the royal family of asgard draws its power from asgard, and without it, they are weak, they are mortal. maybe that's why heimdall is unable to just, you know, bifrost everybody off the fucking ship the minute it comes under attack. maybe that's why loki can't fucking conjure up a swarm of fucking microscopic knives to fillet the invaders from the inside out. MAYBE THAT'S WHY LOKI TRIES TO KILL THANOS WITH A FUCKING DAGGER. BECAUSE TAKE AWAY HIS POWER, TAKE AWAY HIS GODHOOD, WHAT DOES HE HAVE LEFT OTHER THAN HIS WILE, HIS TRICKS AND HIS BROTHER

WHAT IF IN SAVING THE UNIVERSE AND DESTROYING ASGARD, THEY'VE LOST EVERYTHING INCLUDING WHAT MAKES THEM GODS

somebody talk about this

- etc etc what if the reason loki is unable to attack the purple dinosaur with magic is because when he tackled thor earlier, he used whatever magic he had left to spare in order to heal him

checks out cos thor goes from flat on his face to swinging his fists in the space of like 30 seconds and the only thing to happen to him in between is said bit about loki tackling him

- why does heimdall save hulk? i mean, i could understand it if he were trying to aim the bifrost at thor and somebody somehow knocked off his aim and he accidentally saves hulk, but like, we've established that heimdall's loyalty is to the royal seat of asgard upon whom sits thor's mighty ass. thor who, in this scene, has just been incapacitated by a metal eggshell(?) and is at the mercy of their assailants. given heimdall's priorities, it is baffling to the point of inconceivability that he would preferentially save fucking HULK over his own king.

- if this next scene isn't the guardians of the galaxy coming across thor clutching loki's dead fucking body floating through space then i don't know why any of us are even here

- "he sent loki! the attack on new york was thanos!" makes no sense? like, if loki's scepter had the mind stone in it, which we established it did in the last movie when we broke it open to retrieve vision, then.....why didn't thanos just....take the mind stone in the first place? cos rock collecting is and has always been his goal?

what, do you think that just because you assert a thing makes us forget all the shit that happened before?

- i.....am actually with tony stark. why don't they just destroy the stones they have so that thanos can't get to them? oh, you made a promise? well promises change and circumstances change! you tell him tony! you tell that stupid fucker --

oh my god i'm gonna be ill

- i think the only person whose ego can match tony stark's is probably a neurosurgeon so 👍 i guess

-i love how we immediately went back to the "so dark can't see shit" aesthetic after ragnorak because ensuring that one's audience can SEE what is HAPPENING IN YOUR MOVIE is apparently for radical directors like taika waititi

- cannot believe that tony stark staring at captain america's phone number is being played with the same emotional intensity as thor losing his soulmate entire people

- honestly how many times is the mcu gonna invoke 9/11 imagery til someone calls them out for being terrorists

- lmao i know i said this before but peter's spidey senses tingling AFTER the giant alien anus has already started sucking up new york and it is right outside his window is fucking hilarious. that's just called using your eyeballs peter

- "friday notify first responders about the giant alien anus sucking up new york" lol like the first thing somebody did when the alien anus showed up wasn't to fucking call 911 GREAT IDEA TONY

- still can't believe that they let failed neurosurgeon dr strange do more magic than god of tricks and sorcery loki lol

- i know i rag on dr strange a lot about the fact that he's a neurosurgeon it's just that he sucks.

as a neurosurgeon eyy.

- i hate that peter parker has to be here!!!!! leave him alone!!!!!

- tony stark should not be allowed within 100 feet of children or minorities

- it is very weird to me that steve "brooklyn" rogers has an area code from georgia

- since when was hela a half-sister? ODIN'S DAUGHTER AND THOR'S BLOODED SIBLINGS OR BUST YOU FUCKING COWARDS

- i am very disappointed that thor is going to go get another weapon after we spent the whole last movie talking about how he is not the god of hammers

- i just need thor to have much more PTSD than he has right now. fucking hulk has ptsd. maybe they're saving the ptsd for later. one can only hope.

- i am glad that they are letting him be cleverer though

- THEY ARE LETTING VISION DATE A TEENAGER WHY

GOD. FUCKING GROSS.

- wait when did vision turn into a white man again? did i miss that movie?

- i am disappointed that vision the computer techno robot apparently has a penis. like what a stupid limitation to give your computer techno robot, gender. 🙄

- i think that the mass destruction of infrastructure and architecture in the MCU is because of the pg13 no blood limitation that disney has set? like there's no way to show destruction to the body, so one may only show the exponential destruction to one's surroundings. like imagine how much more dramatic intensity you could wring out of a regular fight scene would be if people were allowed to bleed?

- cannot believe that a computer techno robot and a witch are having a punch up with the bad guys. of all people to fight with something not their fists, it's these two

- wanda has no enhanced strength or durability? she's a regular teenager who's a bit witchy. the first time she got thrown through a glass door should have shattered her vertebrae. again i don't understand why we insist that everybody must have the same powers and capabilities when it's clear they don't. think about how much more interesting it would be if some avengers were more fragile than others and had to be given accommodations as such

- IT IS INCONCEIVABLE TO ME THAT FUCKING BLACK WIDOW (regular human), CAPTAIN AMERICA (enhanced human), AND FALCON (regular human with wings) CAN DEFEAT THE CHILDREN OF THANOS WHEN THOR COULDN'T UNLESS THOR (god of fucking thunder carved of steel and stone) WAS NERFED

- still don't understand how we'll lend aliens afro features but not afro hair, like, seriously? you're gonna dream up green aliens with gills who look like black people but imagining them with black hair is a step too far?

- the gap of commentary in this liveblog is simply because i do not care at all for the galaxy defenders

- "earth just lost her best defender" who? who does captain america consider earth's best defender? it's not thor; he doesn't know thor's presumed dead. it's not tony; he doesn't know tony's on an alien anus. who else has died so far?

- love how exhausted bucky looks. have always loved how exhausted bucky looks. love bucky.

- i forgot that tony was with peter parker. god i hate that.

- "i'm peter btw"

"dr strange"

"oh you're using the made up names then. i'm spider man"

ok that was cute, but peter's cute, we knew that already

- i want to fling both strange and stark into space and i'm having a hard time deciding which one to push first

- "you went to bed hungry, scraping for scraps" oohhhh thanos is just anti-poor people, he would literally rather poor people be dead than struggle, i get it nowww

this is on brand for mcu

- oh my god thanos gets 2/6 stones by torturing siblings in front of other siblings, seriously? you couldn't come up with 6 different ways to find his stupid rocks you had to reuse one twice?

- which one of thor's friends was stabbed through the heart....? fandral??

- "if i don't get my vengeance what more could i lose" more like what else is there eh? what else is there for a king of no people but their vengeance?

- CANNOT BELIEVE THEY GAVE HIM BACK AN EYEBALL JESUS CHRIST IF YOU DIDN'T LIKE THOR RAGNORAK JUST SAY SO YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO FUCKING

VEHICLE FOR AUTHORITARIANISM, NOTHING IS ALLOWED TO CHANGE, FUCK YOUR CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT I GOT MINE

FUCK

- i do enjoy that thor is now science fiction rather than fantasy, i don't think anybody knew what to do with fantasy cos fantasy is again, ultimately about conservatism and the status quo. so i do like that we're embracing the new and boundless for whatever that's worth.

- marvel is a cesspool of toxic masculinity. at no point are characters allowed to actually feel anything because weakness is uncool i guess and therefore unmanful. like thor lost ALL OF HIS PEOPLE. fucking ALL of them. he watched his brother die in order to save him. he is not allowed a single fucking response of mourning. i don't care if he's pushing it back because revenge or whatever, this is the sort of grief that rules you, which will bring all your load bearing structures down to heel, and they let him do nothing; he does not even rage. perfect control. smooth witticisms. why. why aren't we allowed to see his sadness?

- yo i can't believe red skull is a scifi villain now lol space nazis for real

- OH MY GOD THEY WASHED BUCKY'S WIG AND IT LOOKS SO BAD

- michael b jordan was right btw wakanda is complicit in africa's exploitation

- i do LIKE black panther i guess in the way you technically like that cousin you met once when you were like 9 and never saw again?

i like how we have here in wakanda the sears tower (chicago), the batman building (nashville), and the gherkin (london)

- ok but like, presumably not a death cult super technologically advanced wakandans who are deffo made of human flesh and human blood still arm their people with spears

i mean unless wakanda is also a death cult

why is this chicks entire fucking face cgi'd she looks like a fucking cut scene video game character

- oh ok they have LASER spears, ok

so then why did they give bucky a fucking gun

- what is bucky supposed to be able to contribute here exactly, like fucking, again, he's spycraft isn't he? he's a one man, dead of night, operation go loud and then immediately silent kinda operation. why do they have him on the front lines of a fucking lock-step formation battle??

- "it will be the noblest ending in history" WHAT, FIRST COUNTRY TO EVER BE OVERUN BY ALIEN JACKALS??

- stormbreaker is just leviathan axe, somebody's said this already right

- omfg i'm so glad they're finally acknowledging that thor is OP as fuck and does not belong amongst the fucking squabbles of earth

-"titan was like most planets, too many mouths to feed not enough to go around, so i proposed a plan, dispassionate to rich and poor alike" JUST SAY YOU HATE POOR PEOPLE MCU. YOU CANNOT HAVE RICH AND POOR, YOU CANNOT HAVE DISPARITY, YOU CANNOT HAVE SOME WITH TOO MUCH AND OTHERS WITH NOT ENOUGH AND CALL IT EXTINCTION. THAT IS NOT A QUESTION OF OVERTAXED RESOURCES THAT IS A QUESTION OF RESOURCE FUCKING MANAGEMENT. IT IS AN ARTIFICIAL CRISIS IF THERE EXISTS ENOUGH TO GO AROUND BUT SOME PEOPLE ARE JUST HOARDING IT THAT'S WHEN YOU KILL THOSE PEOPLE AND TAKE THEIR SHARE. KILLING HALF THE PEOPLE IS THE KIND OF FUCKING SOLUTION TO INEQUALITY THAT RICH PEOPLE COME UP WITH

GOD. ITS LIKE NONE OF YOU EVER READ

-you've got the big fucking boss in an ambush AND YOU ATTACK HIM WITH A MAGIC SWORD STEVEN STRANGE?????

THIS FRANCHISE HAS NO IDEA HOW TO UTILISE MAGIC USERS FUCKING HELL

- when will somebody please utilise ironman like the one man artillery he fucking is WHY IS HE FIGHTING WITH HIS STUPID FISTS HE IS LITERALLY ONE CONTINUOUS CARPET BOMB JUST USE HIM THAT WAY

cut of his arm CUT OFF HIS ARM YOU BLOODLESS SPINELESS USELESS FUCKING CUNTS . this is a manufactured crisis, KIND OF LIKE THE ONES THANOS LIKES I GUESS LOL

- dr strange could have very easily prevented or stopped quill from punching thanos but he didn't cos i guess even the movie forgets steven strange exists sometimes

- i like that the shield around wakanda has the same weakness as a poorly constructed chicken coop -- you always build into the ground a couple feet to stop the diggers man, come on, what is this, your first energy shield?

- oh disgusting, a girl boss moment. whatever you're all fascists.

- nobody adores martial might like fascists do fucking change my mind

- " avengers: not one person in this fucking cast is able to stomach ANY AMOUNT of personal sacrifice" more like

- "why did you give away the time stone?" "we are in the endgame" THAT'S NOT AN ANSWER THAT'S A FUCKING MOVIE TEASER FUCK YOU

- why didn't strange just trap thanos in a timeloop again? we've already established that is a perfectly acceptable way to deal with planetary annihilation. IS IT POSSIBLY BECAUSE NOBODY ON THIS WRITING STAFF KNOWS HOW TO DEAL WITH MAGIC

- THOR OP BLIZZARD PLS NERF

-CAPTAIN MARVEL SERIOUSLY THAT'S WHO YOU'RE GONNA SEND YOUR LAST PAGE TO JESUS FUCKING DISGUSTING

#the asshole liveblogs #avengers infinity war #internal thor tag

[denimbex1986]

“Congratulations on the first episode man, I really, really enjoyed it. One of the highlights of that episode for me was the conversation between Rhodey and Sam - it was just two black, non-Wakandans having a conversation in the MCU, which was great. Can you talk about how it felt writing that scene and also if we can maybe expect Rhodey to show up again later on in the series?”

Malcolm: “I cannot talk about Rhodey showing up, but man, the - we was thrilled, like you know, because again, we knew there are just certain moments that you know the people are gonna respond to - and you know what I mean like, you know black folk in particular going to be like, it’s just going to be a shorthand with the fans there. And the, and we, that was one of the things we - we all asked for, you know writer’s room, um, was mostly black, um, was to have that moment because we imagine Sam and Rhodey are the ones dealing with getting pulled over; Sam and Rhodey are the ones dealing with security following them when they’re going shopping, right? We, we assume that in-between all these movies, them dudes probably caught each other all the time, you know what I’m saying? And the way they played it, you could feel it, you know what I’m saying? Like, it just surpassed what we imagined; they way they was able to convey what you’re vibing off of - the actors just took it times a thousand and just made all that stuff, even if they ain’t saying it, you felt it.”

“I went back and, uh, re-read some of the Sam Wilson as Captain America comics, and I really, really enjoyed that. Um, I imagine that’s something you did as you were preparing - ” 

Malcolm: “Yeah.”

“ - to write this, Is there any particular comic that you took great inspiration from or returned to..?”

Malcolm: “The truth, the truth series was most, you know I’m saying, uh, uh, uh, uh, what we referenced the most, but you know what happens there is - it, it always starts to shift like once everyone starts chiming in or whatever, it becomes its own thing, but yeah, that you could feel, you could feel the DNA in there.”

“Exactly, yeah. I was gonna ask about that truth series because in the com - in the credits of the first episode we saw what looked like - it was hinting to Isaiah Bradley, and there were some rumours that Carl Lumbly had been cast, so, um, you know, I, I’m guessing part of what you’re doing there is looking back at the past to see how it informs the present and the future. How much of that storyline...”

Malcolm: (shaking head) “I - ”

“You can’t - you can’t say.” (laughs)

Malcolm: “Hit me - hit me on Instagram after episode two, you know what I’m saying? (interviewer laughs)  You’re gonna love it.”

“Okay, okay. Interesting. I wanted to ask about this because there has been some chatter in the MCU for the past few years about whether Bucky is bisexual or queer. And he had that line in the first episode about tiger pictures which are primarily, I think, found on men’s profiles. So, is that question going to be definitively answered? What - what was the purpose of that line?”

Malcolm: “Cannot get like - you just gotta, uh, I’m not, I’m not diving down rabbit holes but uh, just keep watching.”

“Okay, okay. Well I got one more question for you, um, in, in regards to that, in terms of Joaquin Torres. Um, that’s the character from the comics - how much of a focus is he gonna be in the series?”

Malcolm: “You just want all the spoilers, huh? (interviewer laughs) I gotta admit the actor crushed it, and, and that was one of those things where it’s like, oh, you’re gonna be just here - wait you’re amazing, you know what I’m saying? And so, you’ll be seeing him again. I - maybe - I might get - I maybe shouldn’t have said that but shit, episode two’s coming so -” (both laugh)

“Okay, looking forward to it. Will we be, um, revisiting the blip as it happened from other perspectives on this show, because that was one of the things I liked, I liked about WandaVision in terms of you actually got to see it in real time. I know the blip is, you know, driving this show in so many ways, are we actually gonna see it in real time at any point?”

Malcolm: “It’s well, you know its, it’s, it’s gonna exist mostly through the characters, but it is absolute - like you said - it is the driving force like, the various villains in this series are responding to the blip; the people you see what just happened with Sam, you know what I’m saying? Like, it is everyone in this planet is even more directly dealing with that, and we felt like, you know, it’s very relatable with, you know, with, uh, Corona happening right now and everything. Like, a global problem is something that makes these human, these k - I mean heroes, feel like humans.”

“Have you had any discussions about season two yet?”

“It’s - I - I am not qualified or endowed to speak on that, but what I tell people is I don’t think Marvel has ever introduced major characters and just left ‘em alone. So, something gonna happen you know, you already know that, you know? What, what Kevin said - one thing I think that is important to relay is the new phase of Marvel, characters are gonna live like Wanda and Scarlet, Moon Knight and Sam and Bucky, will also be interchangeable with the movies.”

“Awesome. Uh, well Malcolm thank you so much for your time - sorry if I was - ” (laughs)

Malcolm: “All good. You went for it, it’s all good.”

#falcon and the winter soldier #malcolm spellman

[katiekat1321]

Something Worth Losing

A/N: So this was written for @littledarlinhavefaithinme‘s marvelous writing challenge. I had prompt #18 “How dangerous,” she thought, “to finally have someone worth losing”. I hope everyone enjoys it, I’ve never written for Peter before so this was different for me. I usually write for the Misunderstood Boys (Loki and Bucky), but I have a few other one-shot ideas for Peter X Reader stories in the future!

Peter Parker x Stark!Reader

1523 words

You were a Stark, Tony Stark’s only daughter, to be more specific. And yes, that came with all the glamour, fun, and stress anyone could imagine. But it also meant that you got a front row seat to all of your father’s struggles he never let the public know about, like his anxiety attacks and PTSD. You could see the pain he tried to hide away, you could see it in the other Avengers too. You could see Bruce struggling with his self-worth, thinking he wasn’t as useful as the Hulk was to the team. Steve struggled with fitting into the century he now found himself living in and sometimes you caught him crying softly, in the dead of night, about the simplicity and the life he missed out on. Once you had even had a long and very deep conversation with Thor about his struggles with understanding Loki’s behavior and how his brother was not the monster that the Battle of New York made him seem appear be; he was often wrestling with his thoughts to connect the brother he grew up and loved so dearly with all the chaos Loki had caused in the last couple years.

To any normal person, you would see all that pain and hardship and want to steer clear of such a path. Tony especially didn’t want you involved in Avengers business. He dreamed of you working with Pepper and one day taking over Stark Industries, leading it down a better path than he ever did. But you were a Stark, which meant you were strong-willed and hard to deter once you’ve made up your mind. So when you showed up to a mission in a suit of your own design that you built by hacking your father’s computers for schematics and had F.R.I.D.A.Y. help you to create, he knew there was no stopping you. “I want to help you. You don’t have to carry the weight of the world alone, Dad,” you told him before your mask snapped shut and you blasted an enemy. He was incredibly proud, but was already seeing upgrades he would want to make to your armour.

That mission was hard, they thought they lost Clint there for a minute, so having another set of eyes there was actually a big help. But that night your dad sat you down for a talk. “You’ve got to upgrade that armor,” he started jokingly. It was his style to start light and joking before getting to his real point. “Why on Earth would you think a bulletproof onesie with blasters and a face mask was a good design? You look like a knock-off Mega Man out there, it leaves you too open and vulnerable.”

You snorted at the comparison, but rolled your eyes. “It gives me more mobility. The hand cannons can retract up my arm so I can have my hands free. I tried a suit in your style. I thought it was too clunky for me.”

“Oh, so you’re out here for one day and I’m already the old model?” Tony asks. You nod, but give him a look that tells him that the joking is over and to say what he needs to. “Okay, okay. Enough beating around the bush… I know I can’t stop you from being an Avenger. You’re almost an adult. You’re a genius, you’re welcome for that by the way. That is all thanks to my genes! Plus you already have your own suit so you’ll be out there fighting for the people regardless of what I say. But Honey, I have one piece of advice. D-don’t, don’t fall in love, don’t have a family.” You froze, this was not where you expected this to go. “I know that sounds awful coming from your old man, but with this line of work it just adds more worry and anxiety. Everyday I wake up and check on you and Pepper in the middle of the night, just to make sure you’re still safe. Because of my choice to become Iron Man, I put you two in harm's way. Any day a villain or lunatic could kidnap you or kill you to get to me or just send a message.”

“You mean like what happened with Pepper a few years ago with the Mandarin?” You asked.

“Exactly, and I’ll never forgive myself for letting that happen. Every mission could be my last and I won’t get to say goodbye. I’ll just be leaving you two forever. I do not regret you or Pepper, not even a little, but I imagine it would just be easier to not get attached at all…”

For a long time those words haunted you. It became a rule you lived by. You never got into relationships, for other people’s safety. That was until the “Civil War”, as the media jokingly referred to it, settled. You didn’t see eye to eye with your father. You thought the accords were a mistake brought on by your dad’s fear and guilt. You left the complex with Steve and the others, but you also refused to fight your father and teammates. So you stayed hidden away in Berlin while the chaos ensued at the airport and later stayed in Wakanda to keep watch over Bucky while Steve, Wanda, Natasha, and Sam went on missions. It wasn’t until both sides came to an armistice agreement of sorts a few months later that you met Peter Parker.

You and Peter became fast friends since you about the same age, give or take some months. And you were both working in the same area of the lab on upgrades for everyone’s gear, because as you learned from Shuri, just because something works, doesn’t mean it cannot be improved. That is about when you noticed you were catching feelings for him, and it kind of scared the shit out of you. After all this time, following your father’s advice, seeing the practicality of it, you were crushing on Peter Parker.

You tried your best to push those feelings aside, you buried them deep inside of your heart. All the thoughts of how handsome he looked when he was focusing on an equation and how perfect he was when he would show up for the team movie night with your favorite candy were locked away into the back of your mind. And you thought that it was working just fine until one night, when you and Peter were out on patrol in Queens, you were knocked out of the sky by some asshole with a Chitauri blaster. You were knocked unconscious and started free falling towards the ground. You would have probably been seriously injured, or worse, if Peter hadn’t caught you. Within a couple minutes you jolted awake.

You tried to look around to figure out what exactly happened and reorient yourself, but Peter was holding you too tightly to his chest. He looked like he was on the verge of tears, so even though you almost died, you started sooth him. “I thought I was going to lose you…” He said, “Y/n, I have to tell you something.”

Please don’t say it,  you thought to yourself, don’t make this harder for both of us…

“I like you so much, more than a friend,” Peter admitted. “I don’t care what Mr. Stark thinks, I don’t care what anyone thinks. I love you so much Y/n and I don’t know what I would have done if I lost you. I just needed you to know that, even if you don’t feel that way. I don’t know what I would have done if something happened and you didn’t know because I was too nervous to say anything.”

For a moment you couldn’t reply. This wasn’t the most well-timed or romantic confession, sure. And yeah, Peter kind of rambled and looked so nervous he could puke. But it was Peter, and he loved you, and whatever walls you had built up had been broken down by this adorably handsome dork you knew you loved so much.

“Oh Peter… Let’s talk more about this when we get back to the compound okay? We don’t know where the guy that shot me out of the sky went and I’d rather he not find us, okay?” You knew you both had to get the hell out of there. That area wasn’t safe, it was only logical that you leave now, but the way Peter’s face fell made your heart break. “But um… I feel the same way Peter,” You added. “This is just the wrong time to stop and talk. We need to move, quick.”

Peter’s frown quickly turned into a relieved smile as he pulled his mask back over his face and yours snapped shut over your head again. You took off and hovered a few feet off the ground to watch Peter swing away, just for a moment, before shooting off back towards the pick up point where Happy would be waiting for both of you. How dangerous, you thought to yourself, to finally have something worth losing...

#stark!reader #peter parker x reader #peter parker x stark!reader #marvel imagine #avengers x reader #LDMWC #peter parker #spiderman

[apriki]

SAW INFINITY WAR and as you must know, there is much to be said... under the cut!

I WAS MORE UPSET ABOUT HEIMDALL THAN LOKI TBH

and with the time stone in play I take nothing as solid until part 2 is over. Though I hope they stick to their guns and actually have the deaths in acts 1 and 2 be permanent

pray to God valkyrie survived she didn't even get a look in 

I love how they didn't make any of thanos' other children's character designs memorable in the slightest. I've already forgotten them. why were they all that strange blue-grey colour? mediocrity is greige 

I also love that at the end of the first avengers or whenever thanos was like 'fine... I'll do it myself' and he... DID NOT DO THAT and sent his kids instead lmfaaooooo

I am like.... The furthest thing from a tony stark stan and I don't like him most of the time (and he was really trying it in this movie!!! his relationship with Spiderman always misses the mark with me and I hate that the films obviously love it) but Thanos being the terrifying PTSD Goliath of his nightmares is a Good storyline 

I've said before that nebula and Gamora should have been the emotional heart of this movie and they weren't because thanos was with a side of Tony and it's like..... I guess.......

how much better would this whole thing be if thanos was a woman? That's a thought that just occured to me and now it's going to haunt me 

i would very much like to run away to scotland with Paul Bettany and have him kiss my hand and tell me to read his mind 

cap usually does nothing for me at all but seeing him with that Fugitive Beard.... for the first time, I felt things. Things were felt he should always have facial hair

THEY LITERALLY DIDNT EVEN SHOW ANTMAN ABD HAWKEYE BECAUSE NO ONE CARES DJDJJDKSKSK

though a shrink machine... would have been helpful? 

i was about an hour into this film and still not connecting with thanos until, like a eureka, it hit me that HE IS AGAMEMNON 

THANOS IS AGAMEMNON

THE SOUL STONE SCENE WAS IPHIGENIA AT AULIS AND NOW, UNFORTUNATELY, I MUST CARE

i literally was sitting there in my seat BELLIGERENTLY DELIGHTED it's a goddamn GREEK TRAGEDY 

THE HOUSE OF ATREUS IN SPACE

SPACE ATREUS

GAMORA WAS TOO GOOD FOR THE GUARDIANS we deserved a solo movie with her and nebula

who is now the CLYTEMNESTRA I CANNOT BELLLLIIEEEVEEE

Thanos as an environmentalist is... so funny the EPA as a villain? okay trump administration

was that the bad guy from Captain America the first avenger? Like.... The Nazi????? Why on earth did they bring him back lmao 

SHURI IS THE SMARTEST PERSON ON EARTH, WE KNEW THIS 

it is so fucking funny that marvel realised, belatedly, that they have more than one female hero now and so gave them a fight scene together

19 films in. 10 years later 

okay look i know that giving up the time stone is The One Timeline that ends in them beating thanos and that it had to be done but like

I AM SO FUCKING PISSED THAT HALF THE /////UNIVERSE///// DIED... TO SAVE TONY STARK LMFAO

LIKE I KNOW THATS NOT THE REASON BUT NARRATIVELY IT WAS THE REASON and it's.... some bullshit 

case in point: MISS WANDA WHO DID WHAT FUCKING NEEDED TO BE DONE 

they really made her kill her boyfriend... her gentle boyfriend who is Paul Bettany.... theyre really trying to make me care about Wanda and vision

why did the wakanda battle feel like that fight between the gungans and the droids in phantom menace?????? Jajsjdhhdhdjjdjfj

having people fight hand to hand on the ground against a massive alien army invasion was ridiculous 

wakanda forever though M'BAKU IS TOO BEAUTIFUL

HE CALLED TCHALLA HIS BROTHER!

OKOYES SIDE EYE AT BUCKY DJDJDJDJDJEJ  

the guardians humor felt mad out of place this whole movie lmao

is it wrong I didn't care if Drax was dead dead when thanos turned him into rubber or whatever? 

I'm cool with thanos' culling if it kills off all the annoying dudes. Marvel is too full of them  

if thanos is agamemnon - and he is - that makes Steve hector and again, I for the first time in my whole life, Felt Things for him in that last scene. you really did it Kevin Feige

AND THANOS SMILED, FOR THERE WERE NO MORE WORLDS TO CONQUER 

AND I LOOKED DOWN UPON MY NEW DOMINION AS MASTER OF ALL; AND I THOUGHT IT GOOD.

okay my brother is of a different opinion on this but:

THAT ENDING WAS CHEAP AND STUPID AND I LOATHED IT

you kill off half the characters including ones with films we already know are yet to come out so we KNOW their deaths will never stick

it was cheap ploy and bad storytelling

You know that bit in breaking dawn 2 where they kill everyone in a huge fight but it turns out it's just a premonition Alice shows aro? THAT IS THE END OF INFINITY WAR

it would've made much more sense to kill of the original avengers imo - that way there was at least a chance their deaths would stick

but my brother thinks they've done this specifically so the og avengers will turn around and sacrifice themselves instead in part 2

which... I guess....

so my criticisms on that are partially on hold but I dont Like It

can't wait to see ten thousand metas about Steve watching Bucky disintegrate and then brushing his hand through the ashes 

thor's new Phallic Imagery hammer is ridiculous and his whole side mission felt wasteful

there were so many logical fallacies in this movie I know I know, it's a superhero movie! Suspend disbelief! but you're telling me Thanos has the power to disintegrate a moon and he wouldn't just aim.the gauntlet at tony or the guardians and disintegrate THEM? and how can Wanda's power which is only a small offshoot of a stone destroy another stone? MAKES NO SENSE FAM

what is the soul stone's power even

the thanos fight scenes all had that brutal winter soldier intensity but the wakanda battle was wayyyyy too bloated

the captain marvel post credits scene was dumbbb lol 

I kind of wanted it to be just Hawkeye and antman eating their breakfast

and then they turn to ash 

I'm like 90% sure you wouldn't understand this film if you haven't seen like at least 10 other marvel ones before it lmao

#avengers: infinity war #infinity war spoilers #spoilers #SPACE ATREUS

[superkitty21]

Infinity War killed me. I was murdered. (A nonsensical review)

This movie somehow met my expectations, blew me out of the water and surprised me at times. I loved how our emotional centers in this movie were Thor and The Guardians with a smattering of Tony. While I love Steve with all my heart seeing other characters take lead roles in Avengers movies was quite refreshing

The score was beautiful. I felt the bombastic and universe breaking event Infinity War was set up to be through the score. And it integrated the Avengers Theme very well into the movie

I feel the merging of different characters in this film was done excellently. I was very nervous to see how they would manage all these character while still having a cohesive tone and not letting a few characters take the spotlight. Very well done

Everything that had to do with Thanos in this film was excellent. I feel he was a well written villain. I know where he’s coming from I despise him for all the shit he’s done. He works on a character level which few MCU villains ever really did. I always felt that a lot of MCU villains were villains and nothing more while Thanos was written as a fully realised character. Which was fucking fantastic

This movie isn't perfect. My one big draw back in this movie is Vision and Scarlet Witch’s relationship. They wanted it to be big and sweeping and for the audience to be /so/ emotionally invested in it but I just wasn’t. While I found them adorable I don’t think the writers established them enough in the previous films to have it feel as significant as they wanted it to.

This movie is a lot of actions scenes. Like a lot of them. By the third act I just wanted them to be done so I could spend time with my favorite characters but no  almost all of the time spent on earth is long drawn out action scenes which is fine for some random action movie but for a superhero movie who’s heart is its characters they matter way more to me than a giant cg battle

Spoilery Moments That Made Me Feel Things

When Loki said “We have a Hulk”

Loki’s quiver in his voice when he said “Son of Odin”

Loki’s death. Why would you kill him after all the character growth

The murder of ALL of the Asgardians (except for Sif because who knows where the fuck she is) Like all our Ragnarok faves are now dead

Nebula. Everything about this fantastic android. Cyborg? She deserves the world.

Thor being full on ‘down to die™’ after he loses EVERYTHING to Thanos. Honestly he’s ready to take the heat of a dying star. I could not.

The way Thor was trying to stay positive when he was on the ship with Groot and Rocket but couldn’t because he just lost EVERYTHING 

When Peter was all like “I don’t want to go Mr. Stark”. Like they had already broken my heart why did they have to pulverise it into soup

When Peter Dinklage was all like “You were supposed to protect us, Asgard was supposed to protect us”

The way Strange chose to save Tony’s life even though he was all like “if I had to choose between the Time Stone and you I’d chose the Time Stone”

Literally All the Thanos Stuff. But especially that scene where he was crying before killing Gamora. It made Thanos the best MCU villain (okay, behind loki)

That Thanos fight scene between Iron Man, Spidey, Strange and the rest of the Guardians was very clever. I liked that they used their skills to defeat a bigger enemy creatively 

Thor and Gamora bonding over their shitty families and Peter trying to remain the Alpha male

The way Steve clutched that handful Bucky’s remains

That resigned face Bucky had as he turned into ash

I screamed when Bucky vanished. No joke

Steve and Bucky looking at each other with such soft eyes when they met on Wakanda

Gamora and Peter’s relationship was so well done in this one. The scene where Peter had to kill Gamora was powerful and much better dome than the Vision Wanda stuff

When Groot chopped off his arm for Thor’s axe 

When Thanos stabbed Tony and there was bloody spilling from his mouth and I genuinely thought he was about to die

When the Avengers theme played after Tony made Peter an Avenger

The way Gamora sang along to Peter’s 70′s music on the Milano 

When Red Skull showed up out of nowhere. I am quite impressed that they managed to tie that in

These people had the balls not to have a mid credits scene after murdering HALF of the people in the movie. Everyone in the theater gasped when there wasn’t a mid credits scene

As amember of the Carol Corps appreciated that end credits scene

The fact that Clint got one line, ONE LINE of dalogue explaining away his disapeance

In the end I loved Avengers: Infinity War so much I feel it is a great pay off to everything Marvel Studios has been building for the last 10 years and I cannot wait for the next one 

#Infinity War Spoiler #Infinity War Spoilers #MCU #Avengers: Infinity War #spoilers #please see this film

[koryuoftheriverflow]

Infinity War Opinion Time

So... I watched the movie yesterday.  I don’t really know what to think of it. I’ll write down my impressions to try and sort through my contrasting feelings. I had tried to lower my expectations, because I didn’t want to be disappointed. I certainly didn’t want a repeat of AOU, thank you very much. On the other hand, I love the Russos, and I love the writing team, seeing as they’re the ones behind all 3 Cap movies.  Still, I knew the risks were high, partly because of the huge amount of charaters involved and the possible lack of screentime for them all, and partly due to the scale of the fight and the power of this particular villain. I liked the movie per se. It’s not like I didn’t enjoy watching it in the theatre. However, based on my personal tastes, I would rather have had more dialogue, more interactions between characters (and yes, a specific set of them), and less action.  I feel like I can’t really state my opinion, though, because this really is only Part 1 of a very looong movie, whose second half we’ll only watch in a year. It lacks any sort of closure, basically. It does end, in what looks like a pretty permanent way, except the cliffhanger is there, because obviously, it cannot be curtain call on the whole story. But it is pars destruens, in a very literal sense, I’d say. Avengers 4 will be the pars construens, but I find it difficult to envision how that could pan out. We’ll just have to wait and see. Under the cut I’ll write a couple of things I liked/didn’t like, so if you haven’t seen the movie yet, tread very carefully, because there’s gonna be MAJOR SPOILERS.

Alright, so... I’ll start with: THE BAD - Like I said, I feel a lack of screentime on a few characters’ part has affected my appreciation. While I liked the parts with Thor and the Guardians, and even Tony and Peter had enough scenes, I felt kind of robbed of moments with the team stranded on Earth. I would have loved to see more #TeamCap, basically. Especially in light of Steve’s possible permanent death next year and the shield handover either to Bucky or Falcon.  *Little aside as a slightly bitter Stucky shipper: yes, I did get the hug before the pat of the back, but, in the words of one David Posner, “it was too fucking brief.”* - While I laughed for most of the movie, I felt like the tone should have been  more somber, or rather, that the juxtaposition of serious moments and cheerful ones was at times a little inappropriate: it downplayed important characters/plot development that should have been given more focused attention.  In general, I would say that this movie lacked a bit of heart, especially with regards to the scenes and characters on Earth. Thor, the Guardians, Tony and Peter, on the other hand, had deeper, more meaningful interactions. THE GOOD - I’ve been pleasantly surprised by moments glimpsed at in the trailers that I did not expect to happen in the way they ultimately did. I sure as hell didn’t think Thanos would obtain all 6 Infinity Stones by the end of this first movie. Other things too took me by surprise. See, for instance, the scene of Loki handing over the Tesseract, which I was for some reason convinced would be at the end of the movie, and was at the very beginning instead. And speaking of Loki, he was one of the people I thought was going to die. The question now is: did he really? Thor himself gives voice to what we all know: his brother’s come back before. There have been not so subtle hints at his Jotun heritage in the last couple of films, at his acceptance of it and the power he can draw from it. Will it play a role in his possible resurrection? Will we finally see Jotun!Loki? 

- The longed for kiss between Peter and Gamora, if not for the fact that their happiness (and mine) lasts literally 5 minutes. She then tries to kill Thanos, there is an agonizing scene where Peter uselessly keeps his promise to her, and she is captured by her father, only to find Nebula being horribly tortured for the location of the Soul Stone, and be sacrificed for it on Vormir. I think my favourite thing about the scenes between Gamora and Thanos were her tears after she supposedly kills him.  - The killings made in the name of the loved ones. Peter and Gamora were clearly the broken mirror of Vision and Wanda. And then again, Thanos himself succeds in killing the one he allegedly loves, where Peter could not. - Tony. Tony left standing alone on Titan, with the ashes of his teammates all around him and no hope at all, knowing he’s the only survivor. Wanda’s vision in AOU turned to ugly reality. He’s not desperate because everyone’s dead, but because he didn’t die with them. Tony’s desire for fatherhood, voiced to Pepper at the beginning of the movie, quite literally crumbles to dust when Peter dies in his arms, showing all the vulnerability of a boy faced with his inevitable death. Is it a scene meant to create pathos, longer than it should have been for the sole purpuse of making us tear up? Yes. Did I cry anyway? You bet your ass I did. I’m here for the pain.  - Other deaths were impactul, thanks to other characters reactions. Vision’s, of course. T’Challa’s. *Little aside as a slightly emotionally compromised Stucky shipper: Bucky calling Steve’s name, before vanishing in front of his eyes, and Steve kneeling on the ground where Bucky’s ashes remain, staring at nothing (just like he did in ca:tws after the “Who the hell is Bucky?” scene), kind of broke me.*  Still good but on a lighter note: -  Thor mourning all he has lost and still finding the force within himself to fight. The absolute epicness of his arrival on Earth with Stormbreaker. The theatre started clapping like mad for him. ICONIC.

- Okoye/Natasha/Wanda fight scene. YES pls.

- Shuri and M’baku. No more words needed here.

- The Bucky/Rocket team up. My two favourite raccoons.  - The Captain Marvel logo in the post-credit scene. THE WTF

The bloody dementor on Vormir who turns out to be Red Skull. TL;DR: there were things that I wish were done differently, mostly I would have liked more character development and less action sequences. On the other hand, I can’t say that I disliked the movie, despite my confusion as to the one way in which they can defeat Thanos in Avengers 4. To conclude, did I like the movie? Honestly...? [x]

#avengers: infinity war #infinity war #iw spoilers #marvel spoilers #marvel #don't mind me while i rant #how will i survive another year? #my stuff #sfw

[enixamyram]

Avengers Infinity Wars Review

THE BEST MOVIE EVER! IN ALL EXISTENCE!

I cannot say enough good things about this film. I am a big fan of building up to one serious unstoppable villain and then having a massive war like fight and this is everything I ever wanted in a film like that. The fight scenes, the pacing, the acting, the everything was so amazing I can barely put into words! Marvel has a wonderful talent for having so many characters, but not feeling like they have so many characters and it is just astounding and I am so freaking happy! I cried, I squealed, I freaked out, I laughed. I was just so damn perfect I just love it so much.

Okay so, spoilers bellow.

So at the end my friend asked me my favourite scene and I generally couldn’t name anything besides the entire of the film. Like, that film was my favourite scene.

The fighting in Wakanda when they ran to face the creatures head on, actually gave me chills, like I was legitimately freaking out and squealing because that is how a group fight scene should go. The cuts were fast but not fast enough to confuse and it showed everyone in their element doing what they did best. I loved the cutting back and forth between difference places, like a proper war but without being too dizzing. Like we saw enough of each place. None of it felt too rushed or too long. Every time they cut away I was like “aw I wanna see more of them” but then I got excited for the next part and so when they cut back to the first group I was still like “aw I wanna see more of them!”

When Tony was stabbed by Thanos, omg, I nearly screamed. I really thought he was going to die and I was panicking and crying and wow, I needed to breath. I was so relieved when he survived but then EVERYONE DISAPPEARED! And now he’s alone with just Nebula - which by the way, I cannot wait to see in the sequel. Again, taking back to having so many characters, Marvel also knows what to do with them. He pairs them up in expected ways but it’s so interesting to see these characters working with others and I am wicked excited to see what Nebula and Tony are going to do.

Speaking of disappearing, when BUCKY WENT FIRST?! I Squealed just because I couldn’t scream. I freaked and I nearly cried and I curled up into a ball because NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! And then Wanda went right after losing vision! And Sam while Rhodey is looking for him?!

Speaking of which, gonna cut away again to say how refreshing this movie was that both Quinn and Wanda did what they had to. Like, I know it’s meant to be love that makes them hold back in order to save them because they believe they can save them or whatever, but I really liked how Quinn and Wanda knew they HAD to sacrifice their loved ones. I mean, we saw how much it hurt and it really was a hard decision (I was crying right beside you, Wanda!) but when it came down to it, neither of them wimped out. They did it because the other option is EVERYONE DIES!

While I’m on the subject! (Yes, gonna do this a lot - just imagine this entire review is me babbling like a nonsensical fangirl) the scene with Gamora and Thanos was brilliant. Everything from the flashbacks to when he took her. I mean when he threw her over the edge and cried for her, it was... God I can’t even think of words to describe the heart break and intensity of that moment! And the way it was shot! Like the sound cutting out and the slow motion was an amazing editing choice that really made it twice as more emotional.

(Quick note that the Skull reveal was also DAMN FREAKING AMAZING!)

And while we’re on the subject of villains. All villains can now retire because THANOS WAS THE BEST VILLAIN EVER! Like, he was a villain, he was a deranged lunatic but he has a genuine goal in mind and he actually believed it and, in a psychotic way you could almost understand why he did. His actions are bad but you can see how he got there and even how he doesn’t see himself as the bad guy because, technically, his actions do work. BUT HE STILL IS THE BAD GUY. Like there’s no blurred lines about it, it’s just a case of understanding his mindset.

Okay, one last thing because I really could go on about this movie all day it was amazing. There’s just one problem I had with it. And that can be saved in the sequel.

My problem is I felt Dr Strange’s change (saving Tony over the stone) was very sudden. They had not built enough time for him to do it out of genuine compassion or anything so it felt iffy. However, like I said, it could be saved if mine or my friends theory turns out to be correct. It’s the same theory essentially but with different ways about.

Basically Dr Strange saw thousands of outcomes and only one had them winning against Thanos. My friends theory is, in this outcome, half of them had to die/cease to exist first before they could do it. But my theory is a little shorter and simpler, in that, I think Tony has to be alive. Whatever happens Tony plays a key role in beating Thanos and so if Thanos killed Tony then, there goes their one chance. So that was why Strange gave up the stone. Because he knows they need Tony. Also the way he said “I had to” like, he legitimately HAD TO in order to save everyone and not just Tony.

*Breaths* okay, I’m done. I cannot stress how magically perfect this film was. Apart from the (possible) Strange thing, it had no flaws. IT WAS PERFECT! BEST FILM I HAVE EVER SEEN FULL STOP!

So yeah... High praise... Anyone wanna come see it with me again? :D

#Avengers #Avengers Infinity War #Best Film Ever #Infinity War

[a-mellowtea]

This is a little bit delayed, ‘cause I’ve been having some issues with internet. It’s back for now, so... lemme talk some Avengers: Infinity War. 

First off, as a non-spoilery general recap of my thoughts: it was enjoyable. It had its problems, some rather large, but I loved it for what it was. I went in with no expectations beyond trailer hype and was thoroughly shaken and surprised.

From here, I’m getting into some detail so there will be spoilers below the cut. You have been warned.

I’m going to start off with what I didn’t like, because while I’m seeing it again on Sunday, these are initial thoughts and I’d best get the bad out of the way before I forget the specifics.

THOR: RAGNAROK

If there’s one aspect of the movie I can say that I outright - or damn near - hated, it’s the unraveling of Thor: Ragnarok. In a way, I can see what the Russos were going for - it showcases Thanos’ warped idea of mercy by mercilessly slaughtering a people with nowhere to run, who had just lost their home, all for the sake of getting the Space stone. 

However, and as the end credits of the aforementioned Thor movie demonstrated, this is directly after Thor: Ragnarok - I’m talking minutes. Realistic in its unfairness as it may be, all it feels like is a cheap shot. Thor: Ragnarok ended with hope; with Thor on the throne, his people bruised but having survived, and Loki choosing to stay. Infinity War begins with Valkyrie dead in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it shot (I’m not... too angry at that, but I understand why some are and it’s rightly so), Thor beaten, and Heimdall and Loki’s deaths.

Was it a good punch to start the movie off with? Certainly. The scenes were great. Heimdall’s final act giving Earth a warning. Thanos beating Hulk. Loki not being able to bear seeing Thor in agony, him calling himself ‘Odinson’, using his classic trickery to try and kill Thanos. It was very well done.

Was it worth undoing almost the entire previous movie? No.

On top of that, we see Thor regain his eye (in a way) and a new, more powerful weapon. In the end, it simply felt as though Ragnarok was rendered a little... pointless.

KICKING CHARACTERS WHILE THEY’RE DOWN

This is an odd, sort of bottom-of-the-barrel downside for me, as I went into the movie having read the comics and fully aware that this was meant to be the low point for the characters of the Marvel Universe. That being said, there’s a certain point where it just starts to feel like a bit... too much?

The character I want to mention most here is Wanda (though the ‘they were so close!’ fight on Titan is an instance of it as well). I was surprised that the Russos went in for her romance with Vision, then ultimately had her actually kill him. The scene was beautiful in its tragedy at that, at least for me - I know some people adamantly dislike their relationship, and that’s perfectly fine.

For a second, while the ultimate outcome is hilariously predictable, the movie gets hopeful again. One of the Infinity Stones is destroyed. The good guys have a chance. But then Thanos gets it anyways, effectively letting Wanda know that she failed, making her watch Vision die again, and actually leading to her ‘death’.

There’s a fine line in writing. Your audience should, under most circumstances and to my knowledge, never feel like things are completely hopeless. That leads to a loss of investment. For me, the Russos just stumbled over that line, and it was irritating.

This also ties into another point about how the movie treats its female characters, which I’ve decided not to get into because I chose to avoid the topic most of the time. All I’ll say is that, while characters like Natasha, Gamora, Wanda, Shuri and Okoye get the limelight and are as badass as ever (whew, man, they were stellar), their treatment from a writing standpoint is somewhat disappointing.

PACING

Another rather minor, very subjective issue I had with the movie was its pacing. Some scenes felt like they lingered just long enough, while other plot threads felt like they weren’t given nearly enough time.

However, I fully understand that there’s only so much the film could do with its 2h 40min runtime and that it’s insanely difficult to balance everything you need to fit in there. Thankfully, I will say that there’s not much if anything I feel could’ve been taken out of the film to lessen this problem.

Upon initial viewing, that is all I can honestly say I disliked. Onto what I did, because there was some incredible stuff in this movie. That basically encapsulates everything I didn’t mention above, but there are a few things I loved that I feel are worth specifically mentioning.

PERFORMANCES

Everyone's acting was stellar. From Chris Evans to Tom Holland and everyone in between, the entire cast brought their A-game and it was a joy to watch.

THE DEATHS

Oh-ho man. It wouldn't be Infinity War without some genuinely heart-wrenching moments, and the film was not short on them. Thor losing legitimately everything made me want to curl into the fetal position. Gamora realizing she’s the one thing Thanos loves and her subsequent forced sacrifice broke my heart. Our baby Peter Parker dissolving into ash took about 5 years off my life. It was good.

I know some people - rightly - feel that almost every death was a cheap shot, and the entire movie itself crumbled at the supports because we know there are sequels coming for many of the ‘killed’ characters, and many others who they’d have to be out of their minds to get rid of. For me, while knowing that takes away from it after the fact, it didn’t so much in the moment.

THE MUSIC

Alan Silvestri was brought back, and I honestly have yet to be disappointed by this man’s work. I cannot tell you how loud the cheers were in my showing when the original Avengers theme first began to blare, nor can I put into words the stunned silence as the soft piano rendition of the aforementioned theme brought the film to a close. It was phenomenal.

THANOS

I love to hate him and hate to love him. He’s not a perfect villain, and perhaps not Marvel’s best - they’ve always had trouble in that field - but for what he was, he was fantastic. He wasn’t sympathetic, but understandable. While his ideas of mercy and universal balance could (and probably should) be easily described as psychotic, you could honestly tell that he genuinely thought what he was doing was right. That doesn’t mean it was, but it’s a step in the right direction for Marvel’s baddies going forward.

Other small, honorable mention/moment-to-moment things I loved were Steve 'I am EXTRA’ Rogers’ entrance; “You’re embarrassing me in front of the wizards”; Red Skull; Eitri and Nidavellir; my girl, STEM super-star Shuri effortlessly schooling Banner; Peter Parker’s continuing saga of pop culture references; Thanos being the definition of amazingly petty and actually doing the snap and; cutting Samuel L. Jackson off mid-”motherfucker” (and just getting to see Hill and Fury again).

All in all and despite some glaring flaws, I can honestly say that I enjoyed Infinity War. I was definitely a sobbing mess at the end (Peter’s death is what pushed me over that particular edge) and I cannot wait for Part II/Avengers 4.

Carol! Please come unfuck this!

#avengers infinity war spoilers #a:iw spoilers #spoilers #infinity war spoilers #avengers: infinity war spoilers #avengers spoilers

[geekzncoffee]

I’ve watched ‘The Avengers: Infinity War’

And... by Odin’s beard, it was purely amazing! There are so many details I want to talk about right now that I don’t even know what should I start with. Let’s just say that it worth every single year of waiting. Finally, all of these eighteen (if I have counted well) movies were put together and created a fully developed image of what the MCU really means. The image is both sad and funny, nostalgic and overwhelming, dark and optimistic. Without doubt, this movie should be called the most spectacular cinematic creation offered by Marvel. 

Our dearest superheroes have to deal with this big guy, Thanos. You might have heard of him from the comic books as being quite... unstoppable. Like, at a certain point he’ll be able to destroy an entire planet by simply snapping his fingers. And since the first The Avengers came out, ladies and gentlemen, he has been being interested in the Earth. With that being said, damn, the protagonists have now met someone who can beat the shit out of them. This is exactly what the first (the second one is going to be released in 2019) part tries to tell us. The Avengers can be mighty or whatever, but not invincible.

Moreover, the MCU was known as being gently with its superheroes. In other words, ‘don’t worry, kid. It’s Marvel, it’s impossible for them to die. No important character will die in this one’. Well, honey, this movie demonstrates the contrary since the beginning. You’ll find yourself surprised, angry and heartbroken. 

I’m going to give you one hint of how the movie starts: did you watch Thor: Ragnarok? Yeah? Perfect! Did you see its post credits scene? Wonderful! Well, now you know which is the part Infinity War begins with. In case you didn’t, what are you waiting for? Go and watch the other Marvel movies and then join the discussion about this one. 

Okay, so Thanos has made his entrance. What does he want? Of course, being such a developed character (maybe the most well-made villains of all), he doesn’t come out with a phrase like ‘Bwahaha, I’m evil and Imma going to make you all my slaves’. He actually believes that his actions will save the galaxy. And him talking about his reasons really makes you think twice before spitting on the screen during his moments.

(He still hurt ma’ babes, so he’s an asshole).

Furthermore, his and Gamora’s (who happens to be Thanos’ adoptive daughter) story is perfectly introduced in the plot. 

To succeed in conquering the galaxy, Thanos needs to collect all of the Infinity stones, featuring: the space stone (the Tesseract), the mind stone (the Chitauri scepter), the reality stone (the Aether), the power stone (the Orb), the time stone (the Eye of Agamotto) and the soul stone. Most of these stones are, however, in the superheroes’ custody. 

I really loved how every main character was given a place, a purpose and a chance of getting to know other significant character or group from the MCU. The worlds that have been created from 2008 now are blended into a single one. Thor teams up with Groot and Rocket; Iron man and Spiderman do it with Doctor Strange (then with Starlord, Drax and Mantis). Meanwhile, Cap’s team fights by Black Panther’s side, in Wakanda. From this point of view, Infinity War is an absolute source of fangasms. 

The CGI is brilliant and the soundtrack is able to bring nostalgia in every Marvel fan’s soul. The action is trilling and it doesn’t let anyone to get bored. Literally. The movie starts with the end of a fight. The Avengers have no time to get ready for Thanos, who will do anything it takes to win. 

I cannot say that I enjoyed every aspect of the Infinity War. Captain America’s character development was pretty weak, to be honest. He doesn’t appear in too many scenes and hasn’t such a great importance in the movie. Also, Scarlet Witch’s power is not presented at all as it is in the comic books. If Wanda had teamed up with Thor and Doctor Strange (now these two were more than badass on the big screen), Thanos could have been beaten without being required a second part of the movie. 

The Avengers: Infinity War is the proof you need to sit down in amazement (if not chronic depression) and say ‘yeah, this is the Marvel Universe. It showed me once again that the producers know what they are doing and that everything in there is made with passion. Yeah, this is the Marvel Universe and it won’t disappoint me very soon. It has been ten years and these movies are still praiseworthy’.

Have you, indeed, come to this conclusion? Have you watched ‘Infinity War’ as well? If so, what is your opinion about it? Don’t be afraid to share it by commenting bellow! 

//’What, you kids never seen a spaceship before?’//

#review #the avengers #infinity war #MCU #geeksncoffee #geeking out #Iron Man #thanos #comic books #nerdlife #civil war #Doctor Strange #guardians of the galaxy #i am groot

[maybebi47]

Hello, me re: the mandalorian again. Like it’s good? I’m not a Star Wars fan (I basically went in blind) but season 1 was fun and easy to follow! I really liked it! Space dad and green baby shenanigans, it was great. But then season 2 said “sorry, this story isn’t for newbs :)” and threw a ton of pre-existing characters and lore at me and uhh. It really held season 2 back imo. So. I mean, yes you should watch it? I guess I would recommend it? But the recommendations comes with a big “BUT”

Anyway, sorry for bogging you down with mandalorian asks lmao. What’d you think of the wandavision finale??

heyy sorry for the late reply friend this stupid app didn't give me a notif so i didnt see it :( <3

about the mandalorian, im not familiar with the star wars franchise as a whole BUT i did watch like 2 movies so i think imma give it a shot, thanks for the recc :D

wandavision.....look i loved it ALOT, it's probably the best marvel show I've ever watched, the first 6 episodes were a masterpiece, you don't even need to be a marvel fan to watch it, it just drags you in instantly!!! amazing writing amazing characters, weird and confusing in a good way. and i liked the ending too!! but personally i feel like the conclusion could have been better (wandavision spoilers incoming) three main things, 1) i still feel like agatha came out of nowhere idk i think hayward should have been more of a ~main villain~ than her 2) evan peters was just there for no reason? i mean it would have been great if they re-introduced him into the mcu as another person with pietro's powers/soul but they didnt? he was just fake💔 and 3) this point isnt valid im just complaining but i love wanda alot. like...aLOT and the way things ended shattered my heart completely...like...again? she lost everything again? her whole family AGAIN for the THIRD TIME ITS SO SAD I CANT BEAR IT💔💔💔💔💔 that scene where we see her in an empty spot that was once supposed to be her forever home...and she walks away from it hood on and gaze lowered...broke me as a person. but other than that it was overall very well done, especially the fight scenes, and ofc the last goodbye scene<3

i think they pulled me back into my marvel phase ughhh🙄 but in all seriousness i cannot WAIT to see what story they will tell next. i hope my girlie gets justice somewhere along the way.

#anon #ask

[thechildoflightanddarkness]

Disney VS 20th Century Fox

Dear Great Dark Lord--Disney dearest,listen,

I know you own the Avengers,and basically every Marvel character.Ok,you own Marvel.

I know you own Star Wars

I know you own EVERYTHING

I know you are power-thirsty and probably own my birth certificate too,but listen

I heard you are talking with 20th Century Fox because you want to buy them too...and that's not ok (maybe buy a therapist too).Marvel wants the X-Men (and Fantastic Who?? Four) back and whining babies are so annoying,you just spoil them and get what they want right?

Ok ok I get it.Marvel Universe reunited,no more:'Telepathy?Such a thing DOES NOT EXIST!Are you crazy?!??!?!What about telekinesis?NOT EVER!!FUCKING MAGIC'.In the Marvel cinematic universe no one is allowed to say the M word (moustache Mutant) right now,and that's due to copyright,but how cool would it be if suddendly we had like Avengers and X-Men fighting against main villains in one big movie?Cool right?

Yup...coooool...but what will happen to the 20th Century Fox movies?OH NO,DON'T

Don't do the Spider-Man thing again

We mutants and pround do not like the Spider-man thing you know

I mean,on Spider-Man it could have made sense but on the X-Men just DON'T FUCKING TRY TO RUIN MY BABIES

Bad movies,yeah,we have them.The Wolverines HAPPENED.But we've learnt from our mistakes,as the Phoenix we rised from the ashes and just look at what came next!

I loved the first X-Men movies,they introduced me to the comics because I was a little girl who felt so connected to those mutants,superheroes but still social outcasts.Great actors,really well casted and I can not see any other actors play old Xavier and old Magneto,Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian Mckellen ARE JUST PERFECTION.

Then the 'Dark Ages',but still hoping for something better...and then one day the light.

I'm not going to tell the story of me and the new X-Men movies,it would be a novel,but let just say that I appreciated a lot the new movies,the ones to come,the Deadpool movie and also the tv series The Gifted (Lot of love for Lorna).Plus Jean Grey/The Phoenix is my favourite character ever,I'm deeply sensible to how she and her story is portayed,so I'm happy that after the great job Famke Janssen has done,Sophie Turner could take her place (even if I'd like to see old Jean again)

This is my opinion but I'm not the only one who appreciated and still likes the X-Men movies,am I? (Please don't leave me alone)

Well,I think 20th Century Fox and Marv--Disney can come to an agreement (or kill each other) and movies can only get better with Mickey Mouse's dirty money and knowledge,but please,don't re-make X-Men movies with a new cast just to have 'Disney's watermark' on it,it would be awful.We have the movies,they are great,cannot change them now,we have a story and characters and maybe Avengers and X-Men will never collide but hey,that's ok too.

Who wants shitty AvX?I don't

(Just a way to glorify the Avengers because Marvel had all the rights for the movies and 'Avengers' just came out)

In a world that has never heard of mutants,how can we introduce them now?

And in a world that has never heard of the Avengers?Same problem.

And what about Wanda an Pietro?

'OMG you are alive brother!And different!Wait,I'm a..what?'

'You are a mutant!Hey,I left a younger version of you at home...oh by the way,here's our daddy,say hi!He's a mutant too'

'???'

WAY TOO MANY PROBLEMS

So please Disney,Great Lord of Evil who owns everything,from space to me,listen to my words and if you want to buy the Fox,ok,go on.But don't ruin the X-Men,please!Let the directors do their job,they know what to do (most of the time) they'll use your money and create a movie or a tv series with a lot of superheroes and that means lot of gadgets,figures and statues too!Money money money!!!

This way everyone get what they want:you have you shining gold,I have my great movies with a good story,awesome characters,terrific cast,and eventually gadgets (that would be a lot if Disney owned the X-Men too,I agree),t-shirts,merch and statues too (I have a thing for Sideshow statues which I cannot buy).

What do you think great master?

Yours,

One of the birth certificates sheets of paper you own and use as paper planes just for fun

#disney #20th century #20th century fox #century fox #long post #very long post #post #my post #disney fox #disney owns everything #disney owns me #fox #x-men #x-men movies #x men #xmen #x men movies #xmen movies #fox xmen #fox x-men #disney vs fox #marvel #marvel don't #disney vs 20th century fox #jean grey #phoenix

[tuess]

Infinity War - Story Issues

So I ran across this post on Pinterest the other day claiming the story writing of Infinity War was bad (I couldn’t find the original source on tumblr, so this is a second-order link, but credit for op goes to sneakyfeets). And...

I respectfully would like to disagree. 

Infinity War most definitely had issues, both plot, morality, and character-wise. But I don’t think it’s fair to call it structurally bad, and, while most of the concerns raised in the original post are valid, I don’t think all of them are necessarily problems with the story. 

Recall first of all that most Marvel movies are somewhere between “loveable hot mess” and “brilliantly chaotic wonder”. Partially that’s probably a genre thing - superhero movies are necessarily based on the comics, and in comics A LOT of weird stuff happens that doesn’t necessarily translate well to film. It is not surprising that most superhero movies are questionable on the details. So Loki walking up to Thanos with one dagger and three sass is idiotic, but not unforgivable in terms of story. Not more so than Steve’s habit of jumping off things without a parachute. Also, it does provide a somewhat reasonable continuation of his character arc, and is important for Thor’s. 

What I’m trying to get at is that, while Loki the character may be doing a stupid thing, it makes narrative sense. Characters can do idiotic stuff without undermining the overall story. Quite the opposite, in fact, as for many types of story characters doing stupid things is integral to the plot (I refer here to absolutely every Shakespeare comedy and like half of the tragedies). And I think Infinity War is one of these stories.

First of all, Infinity War is a tragedy, and that in itself is worth talking about. I know that some of the DC movies have experimented with the whole tragedy thing, but I’m not super familiar with that fandom. Also, to my (limited) knowledge they weren’t super successful. Marvel’s first tragedy-like film was Captain America: Civil War, not because it ended badly, but because a significant part of the reason as to why it ended badly was the character’s own flaws. We can have Team Cap/Team Iron Man debates ‘till kingdom come, but both sides were not acting reasonably.

The tragedy aspect is one of the reasons as to why I consider Infinity War quite good, story wise. One of the basic aspects of a (classical Greek) tragedy is that the hero have some sort of fatal flaw that ultimately causes his own downfall. Contrast this with your garden-variety superhero, who can have flaws, but none that can cause his downfall. Especially classical comics, and the early superhero movies, do not allow it [1]. Infinity War plays with the tragic hero element in a way that’s really quite nice.

The original post mentions the actions of Wanda and Peter Q. specifically, but it’s actually a wider theme in the movie that all the heroes do stupid shit because of love. Every time there’s a conflict over an infinity stone, the heroes are forced to choose between their loved ones and doing “what is right/what is sensible”. They always choose love. And, in the movie, it’s what frames them as heroes. Thanos throws away love (literally - I’ll return to this later) for power, while the heroes throw away power for love. 

This is different from the usual tragic flaw, where it is some kind of bad quality that makes the heroes lose (Macbeth - the power thing; Creon - not being able to let it go). In Infinity War, it is the heroic qualities of the heroes that cause the heroes to fail. And that is interesting, and fun to watch. I consider it good writing. So seeing our characters do stupid things? Seeing them make the wrong choices for all the wrong reasons? Seeing them lose control and be illogical and selfish? Good stuff. 

Having said that,

Yeah. The abuse thing. It’s hugely problematic, and one of the more glaring flaws in Infinity War as a whole. I don’t feel qualified to comment on the details of it, but I recognise that the entire Thanos’ Children and/or Gamora-Nebula plotline is fraught with issues, to say the least, and I do wish that they’d found a better way to deal with it in Infinity War. I think that Thanos is clearly cast as an abuser, and Gamora and Nebula as abuse survivors, but I agree that the framing of Gamora’s death was bad. I have to state here that I went into Infinity War not having seen either GOTG movie, so I wasn’t paying huge amounts of attention to the subplot at first, and I don’t really know how to deal with it in this essay either [2]. I don’t think it’s a narrative issue as much as a discursive issue, in that both Gamora and Thanos’ actions make sense in the story, but the framing of it can be seen to perpetuate an unhealthy discourse about abuse survivors and abusers. 

We can only hope that Nebula will get to kick Thanos’ ass in Endgame.

What remains now is the motivation behind Thanos’ actions, and the problems with it. As has been frequently remarked, they do not make sense. This is not a problem. Narrative-wise, Thanos cannot make sense. He is the villain of the movie. If he were to have a perfectly sensible plan [3], that would improve the lives of everyone on in the universe, and have no obvious drawbacks, he could no longer be a villain as the definition classically applies to the comics/action/epics genres. Infinity War would go from an action movie to one on moral philosophy. An excellent example of a movie with no clear villain, only people being assholes to various degree, would be something like Mean Girls. Infinity War, to adhere to its genre conventions and satisfy the expectations of the audience, needed a villain. Thanos is this villain, and his villainous plan needed to affect the entire universe in order for it to be threatening enough to bring three disparate sets of heroes together to fight him. From this point of view, Thanos’ plan and motivations make complete narrative sense, despite not making any actual sense. 

Thanos is, I’m pretty sure, modelled after the idea of an enlightened despot gone wrong. The idea of enlightened despotism is basically that you pick one guy to be in charge of a country, but, wait for it, you pick a smart guy who knows how to solve problems. This was popular especially in 18th/19th century Europe [4], when monarchies were falling like mayflies and people started thinking about what to do next. The advantages of an enlightened despot would be that there would be none of this silly democratic arguing and influence of, shudder, the working classes [5]. The disadvantages, I believe, are really fucking obvious, and the reason why nobody installed this as a form of government. Both Robespierre and Napoleon are examples of people who briefly tried, only for everyone to see why this is a really really fucking bad idea. So I can see how casting Thanos as a failed enlightened despot, with a shitty plan and some elements of genocide thrown in for good measure, would sound like a surefire way to make sure your audience really really hates your villain. 

I therefore really don’t know what to say about the goddamn neonazis and eugenicists, except good goddamn, please read any actual science ever. 

Ok, this essay got away from me. But the main points were that, narrative wise, Infinity War is quite good because it allows its characters to be idiots. The framing is problematic at times, especially in the Gamora-Nebula-Thanos relationship, and this detracts from the movie as a whole. It’s not, however, fair to call the entire story bad. Plenty of movies have framing issues that don’t automatically mean they’re terrible (see: Out of Africa, Pocahontas, etc). Thanos’ villainous motivations are narratively sensible, but perhaps not well-received in the current political climate. I don’t see an intrinsic issue with them, however, as they’re supposed to not make sense - that’s what makes him a villain, and not a hero.

Also, yeah, where did Valkyrie go? That’s just stupid and I can’t talk it away. 

[1]: More modern runs do allow heroes do have significant, palpable flaws, (Daredevil, and also Iron Man) but the original medium... not so much. 

[2]:... so if I said something hugely harmful or downright stupid without realising it, please please please call me out on it. Also, my first essay on Infinity War, which is linked somewhere in the body, did not at all acknowledge this problematic and actually applauded the scene without looking into some of the issues around it. My apologies. 

[3]: Like, for example using the infinity stones to generate resources, as has been pointed out multiple times. 

[4]: Arguably also the Roman Emperors. Correct me if any of this is wrong, I’m not actually a historian. 

[5]: This is meant ironically. 

#reply post #infinty war #narrative #storytelling #marvel #mcu #long reads #long post #spoilers #thanos

[kelleyschorn]

Kelley Reviews: Avengers Infinity War

Hello and welcome to my first official review! I will be doing both book and movie reviews on this blog as well as maybe an occasional website or album review. The style in which I will be reviewing is basically what I think worked, what didn’t work, and how I think they could have done better and/or theories about the sequel if said work is part of a series. With that being said, there will be SPOILERS in this review!!! If you haven’t seen the movie, see it, then come back. So without further ado, here is what I thought of Avengers: Infinity War.

Getting right into it, this movie was highly anticipated by the world and by me. My friends and I drove an hour away to see it on opening night because it was sold out in College Station and had been sold out for weeks (before it was even released!). So I will say that I am a bit biased because I love Marvel movies and have seen and loved every single one of them (with obvious exceptions like the 2008 Incredible Hulk, but, seeing as they don’t even use the same actor we can all take a blind eye to that mess). All this being said, let’s get in to the fun part of this review—what I liked about it.

WHAT WORKED

Character. Character, character, character. This has always been one of Marvel’s strengths and they did not disappoint. Building on every little detail from they’re previous works; they had an amazing cast of heroes lined up for this movie. I’ve got to admit that going in, my expectations were that this movie would be a complete mess due to how many characters they would have to juggle, but I was pleasantly surprised by how masterfully they handled their humungous cast. I liked that they did groupings, similar to how Stranger Things S2 strengthened its characters with groupings, and similar to what Marvel did in Civil War. They paired up characters we haven’t seen together before to give us a new view of them then we’ve seen previously. For instance, we finally get to see Dr. Strange interact with some of the main crew aside from his cameo in Ragnarok. Pairing his narcissistic personality with the equally hotheaded Tony Stark and then throwing Peter Parker into the mix to give Tony something to care about was a great move. Also I feel like Tony Stark as a character is the strongest person. So much has happened to him from the first iron man, so much pain and loss that I feel a bit stressed out every time something new is added onto that. Admittedly, the Thor and Rocket pairing could have been a bit better but it was still entertaining nonetheless.

I’ll also take a brief moment to recognize and appreciate Thanos. Marvel has been criticized in the past for having weak villains but the writers put extra care into giving us Thanos’ back story and motivation as to why he is the way he is. Again the genius of Marvel, because we already know all of the heroes and they need no big long-winded introduction, we get to spend that time on Thanos, which I think was the right move. Speaking of the right move, fun fact: the reason Thanos wanted to destroy half the universe in the comics was so that he could impress and get with a sexy skeletal persona of death. The storyline they made up for him in the movie was much less random and more believable so good job on that Marvel!

I also loved the way that they set everything up as being two years after Civil War and all that has happened to the team since then. The tension with Tony not wanting to call Steve and then seeing how the rest of the Avengers have all still been working together across the world despite everything that happened. I want to set aside a brief moment to appreciate the relationship we see between Wanda and Vision. I shipped them so hard in Civil War and I freaked out when I saw their scene together at the start of the movie. Good job Marvel, I appreciated that.

Another thing that really worked for me were their transitions and the plot. I know that plot is a pretty vague and all-encompassing term to use but I’ll explain. A quick word on the transitions, they were simple, words on the screen about which location we were entering. Short and sweet and it got the point across without interrupting the story—I’d say that’s a success. Now we’ll talk about the plot. When I say that the plot worked what I mean is that Marvel’s writers successfully balanced a huge cast of well-established characters, the introduction of a villain we’ve only seen glimpses of, and multiple new locations all without confusing the viewer and, in my opinion, every element was pulled off well. I’ll make this comparison. The Last Jedi, which came out last December, also had a large cast of characters and a lot was attempted with the plot: (Soft Spoilers ahead, skip this bit if you haven’t seen TLJ!) the Finn and Rose side adventure and love connection, the Kylo and Rey force connection, the Rey and Luke relationship, the growth arc for Poe, the final battle at the end. A lot happened and it felt rushed confusing and jumbled in a lot of the movie. In contrast, with just as many plot elements and more characters, Marvel managed to create a seamless story with great transitions.

WHAT DIDN’T WORK

Thor’s eye. If you saw Ragnarok (which I hope you did if you saw Infinity War), you obviously saw Thor’s eye get dramatically slashed out by Cate Blanchett aka Hela in the epic brother sister showdown at the end of the movie. At the start of Infinity War, we see Thor rocking his Odin-like eyepatch only to be quickly replaced with a new glass eye given to him by rocket. Why. Why would Marvel even go through the trouble of taking out his eye in the first place? I thought the new haircut and eye patch were a good look for him personally and the glass eye felt like a huge and useless copout. Speaking of Ragnarok, where was Tessa Thompson the Valkyrie? And Corg for that matter? They fly off with the rest of Asgard at the end and aren’t seen or heard from in Infinity war. Are we to assume that they died with the rest of the Asgardians in Thanos’ attack? After some digging, I found that Joe Russo, one of Infinity War’s co-directors, said that Valkyrie escaped with the other Asgardians on escape pods during the attack. It is likely that in the next Avengers movie, we will find out more about this.

Bruce Banner. Something weird was obviously up with the Hulk in this movie and to me that spells foreshadowing for the next movie. That I didn’t so much have a problem with, the thing that bothered me about Banner in this movie were some of his lines. Specifically the scene with him and Shuri. I get that she is supposed to look like this super genius with her advanced Wakandan knowledge but even in Black Panther it was hard to buy. Putting her up against Banner, who has been proven to be hella smart in previous movies and trying to make him seem dumb just fell flat came off as cringe-worthy and unbelievable.

Finally, the deaths. Suffice it to say—I’m not worried. It’s public knowledge that both Spiderman, the Black Panther, and the Guardians of the Galaxy have more movies lined up for the future. It is also known that Chris Evan’s has said that he is officially stepping down as Captain America after the next Avengers. So as far as who died, it might have been more effective to kill off some of the heroes who have been around a while. Make us sweat a little. For those reasons, the deaths were less effective for me emotionally because I didn’t believe them. Although I will say that when Peter Parker died, that shit was sad!

WHAT’S NEXT?

We already know that we are in for a Captain Marvel Introduction based on the end scene and I also predict that the Hulk is going to have an important role in the next movie given that he refused to come out of Banner in this one and we still don’t know why. Shuri, who we don’t really see what happened to her after she’s thrown from her lab, might become an interim Black Panther in her brother’s stead—this apparently happens pretty often in the comics. Black Widow also survived and I’m hoping that the writers will touch on her and Banner’s previous romance in the next movie. Honestly I think it will come down to Dr. Strange. Yes he disintegrated but remember he did say that there was only one way that everything would turn out alright—this has got to be the way. Maybe at the end of the next movie we will come back to when Strange was sitting on the rock with the time stone and this whole thing was his vision of how Thanos won but was ultimately defeated and then he opens his eyes and is like “alright, let’s do this.” Sort of like a Twilight Breaking Dawn part two kind of ending.

 Overall, I loved this movie. Marvel’s writers never cease to surprise and amaze me. It was epic throughout the entire movie and I cannot wait to see the next one. Thanks for checking out my blog. I’d love to hear your take on the movie and what you think will happen in the next Avengers! Leave a comment, email me, or hit me up on twitter to join the conversation and let me know what you thought of Avengers Infinity War!

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