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thebibliomancer · 6 years

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Essential Avengers: Avengers #171: “... Where Angels Fear to Tread”

May, 1978

God.

What a cover!

I don’t even want to talk about it at all because of how great it is.

So lets move right along.

Last time: Ultron gave Hank Pym (Ant-Man, Giant Man, Goliath, and Yellowjacket) amnesia to trick him into turning his wife into a robot wife for Ultron because Ultron is a screeching manifestation of the Oedipus complex. He was foiled when the half-alive robot wife betrayed him by using ants to summon the Avengers.

For a while, the inert robot wife Jocasta was left in Hank Pym’s living room until the Wasp made him get rid of her because a robot with her face is creepy. While she was being transported to the lab at Avengers Mansion, Jocasta reactivated and started rampaging her way free, fending off all resistance with ludicrous ease.

Iron Man and Captain America, having resolved their differences by actually talking them out (wish they’d remember this solution more often) stop the other Avengers from attacking Jocasta, wishing to follow her back to Ultron.

And that’s where we are.

Them following her back to Ultron.

Except in the break between issues they’ve managed to lose her. Despite Iron Man tracking her signature.

Well done, Avengers.

In fairness, they run into some obstacles.

Like a horde of horny women lusting for blue fur.

The weird, inexplicable story arc of Beast soothing the pain of feeling useless and overlooked with lots of casual sex returns to bite him in the butt. Non-literally, probably.

Beast has to be rescued from the situation by a disapproving Thor who snags him out of the crowd and flies off with him.

Thor: “Thy wenching is ill-timed, Hank McCoy!”

Beast: “Alas, the price of fame and sex appeal!”

And Scarlet Witch is distracted by someone trying to hire her for modeling work since buxom is in these days. The distraction comes from trying to politely decline. And thankfully Vision rescues her from the awkwardness.

Meanwhile, Mrs Pike, the woman who was trying to get a superhero to become a supermodel, (which isn’t a terrible idea. They both have super in the title) realizes she left a customer waiting in the changing booth.

But when she’s fetching this Carol Danvers more clothes, there’s a sudden flash of light from the dressing room and when Mrs Pike looks, her customer has disappeared, leaving her clothes behind!

Although if she looked up, she’d see Ms Marvel flying out of the shop.

Meanwhile back at the Avengers, they discover that Jocasta OH YEAH’d through several brick walls with only a wino as witness.

Scarlet Witch: “Sir, did you see a... um... a woman robot pass by?”

Helpful citizen: “Huh? Oh... yeah! Da robot lady! Shure! She took off wit’ a penguin! Ha, ha! *Hic*”

The Avengers dismiss this as the ramblings of a drunkard but we, the audience, get to see that Jocasta was picked up by a nun named Sister Eucalypta who was sent by Ultron to pick her up.

When and how does Ultron have nuns on the payroll?

Questions for later.

Back at the Avengers again, Iron Man deduces that a car stopped and left in a hurry so maybe someone picked up Jocasta.

But here comes trouble, per Beast.

Ms. Marvel!

(But not the coolest one)

From her weird Marvel powers she sometimes gets precognitive flashes and she got one that told her that the Avengers are headed into danger and could use her help. Plus, she owes the Avengers a favor.

Beast warns Iron Man that she’s tricksy because he had an unfriendly meeting with her in Ms. Marvel #16, wherein Beast called her a Captain Marvel groupie and had a misunderstanding fight after she broke down their front door.

But Iron Man accepts the help. And honestly they could use it. They’re heading off to fight Ultron. No sense in turning down more muscle.

And then Wasp and Yellowjacket show up in a silly looking flying contraption that Tony Stark built out of spare parts on a whim.

But since they’re possibly trying to catch up with a car and not all of them can fly, it will come in handy.

Wasp and Ms Marvel even get to share an exchange.

Wasp: “It’s nice to have another girl in the group!”

Ms Marvel: “Hmm! I’m afraid I quit being a ‘girl’ quite a while back, but I appreciate the sentiment anyway!”

Also, I did make fun of Iron Man for losing Jocasta when he’s supposedly tracking her but it turns out he’s still tracking her. Its mostly directional so its not helpful for local searching but now that Jocasta got carred away, they can just follow the signal.

But while they fly, Ms Marvel contemplates some things. Mostly that she really should be working on the women’s magazine she runs for J Jonah Jameson and is probably going to get fired but can’t ignore the precognition about the danger the Avengers are headed into.

And specifically, Scarlet Witch is headed towards some nightmare horror that Ms Marvel dares not tell her about. Because Ms Marvel? Oh Carol.

There’s more misgivings from other people though. Because transit in Avengers means and should always means people talking about their feelings and doubts.

Wasp worries that if Ultron is nearly unbeatable acting on his own, they’re well and truly fucked if he’s fighting alongside Jocasta.

Hank just hopes that he can bring himself to hurt a thing that looks like Wasp. Which. Goddamn future events.

And Wonder Man is still riding the insecurity and fear of death train so decides to ask how Ms Marvel can throw herself into a fight that isn’t even hers with such gusto. Does she like danger?

Wonder Man: “I -- I mean -- I know what we’re in for --”

Ms Marvel: “So do I, Wonder Man -- and I’m scared to death! I suppose I simply figure out what I’d do if I had no fear -- and then try to do it anyway! I presume every warrior does the same!”

Its like they say, real courage is acting despite fear. Or something.

Iron Man cuts off further character beats. Because it seems like they’ve arrived where Jocasta has been spirited away to.

Which is... a convent?

Weird. While we, the audience, know that Ultron has nuns on the payroll for some reason the Avengers are just confused.

But might as well look so they ring the doorbell and its answered by Sister Eucalypta.

Beast explains the situation in Latin, I guess to show off, and Sister Eucalypta agrees to let them inside although she’s certain they won’t find any fugitives here.

This is also their last lead because the signal Iron Man was tracking suddenly stopped.

Oh and Thor feels uncomfortable in a convent. Its like being in a competitor’s house if the competitor went around loudly shouting you don’t exist.

Scarlet Witch: “You seem a bit uncomfortable, Thor!”

Thor: “Aye, Wanda, verily! This house of Christian worship hath no regard for the Asgardian god of thunder!”

Scarlet Witch: “Should it?”

Thor: “Nay, milday! E’en my father, mighty Odin, who is called all-powerful, doth lay no claim to supreme divinity... and yet, t’would seem that many mark my very existence as an affront to this edifice!”

We don’t often get indications how an actual factual god like Thor would fit into the world as we know it. And apparently a lot of people resent his existence. So that’s a thing.

Also a thing is that the All-Father Odin doesn’t lay claim to supreme divinity. But why would he? Even the Aesir have gods above them.

While I’m sure that Wanda is very interested in this conversation that she started and is actively listening, her scarlet sense is also tingling. It feels like they’re being watched.

But her suspicions prickled too late because there’s a flash of light and then both Sister Eucalypta and Scarlet Witch are missing!

Iron Man laments that Ultron seemed to have led them into a trap by planning on them tracking Jocasta.

Captain America is still in his super-supportive super-soldier mode so tells him that he played the hand he was dealt and not to sweat it.

This wouldn’t be out of character if Cap hadn’t been so angry at Iron Man just an issue ago. So it still comes off as somewhat forced. Not that he doesn’t believe it but more that he’s intentionally trying to not be negative.

But they hear Ultron noises behind door number 1 and when they check its Ultron.

And... this room is not really ideal for a big robot brawl. Its too small. The Avengers are all crowded in the entrance.

Wonder Man decides that since he’s trying to be more courageous that he should be up at the front but he’s shoved into the corner and Cap won’t move out of the way for him.

Yellowjacket asks Ultron what he’s up to and what happened to Scarlet Witch and the nun.

Ultron tells him he wants the same things he always wants. Since he is Oedipal robot he wants to kill Hank Pym and he wants his wife. And after that he wants to take over the world. That’s the robot part of the Oedipal robot.

And here’s a fun fact: he thought his plan to steal Jan was foiled when Iron Man stopped him from transferring her soul into Jocasta. But apparently the incomplete transfer still left a residual imprint of Jan’s ‘living essence’ in Jocasta’s circuitry, hence why Ultron was able to activate her from afar.

So he already has Yellowjacket’s wife. So now Jan is superfluous and can be killed along with the rest. But its cool. Some part of her will live on. In the form of a robot wife programmed into loving and worshiping Ultron.

But the first to die will be.... YELLOWJACKET

ENCEPHALO-BEEEEEEEEEEAM!

And it does not work!

Bio-physicist Hank Pym finally did some bio-physics and used bio-chemistry to create an immunization to the Encephalo-beam! One of Ultron’s win buttons is off the table!

Holy crap, the Avengers prepared for a fight in advance! Things are looking up!

But since Ms Marvel hasn’t been immunized, she offers to go find where Scarlet Witch disappeared to. She might very well be the key to victory.

So while she goes off, the Avengers charge forward in the tiny room to attack Ultron.

Ultron has completely changed his tune though, now claiming that he wanted to kill the Avengers in lopsided combat instead of just Encephalo-beaming them. Clearly. I mean, his adamantium body is beyond their ability to damage so he’ll just take his time murdering them with his in-built weaponry.

But when he blasts away most of the charging Avengers, Wonder Man sneaks over and starts punching Ultron in the face.

This is conquering his fear and is a victory even though punching Ultron in the face doesn’t really accomplish anything in either the long run or all but the shortest of short runs.

I can’t believe that the Avengers didn’t have any anti-Ultron contingencies planned. Oh my god. Did they really put all of their eggs in the Scarlet Witch basket?

Devices that temporarily short him out, goo based restraint, anything that attacks him without attacking his invincible exterior! Please, try to think of anything! 90% of Ultron fights are just the Avengers punching a wall that shoots back at them!

Anyway, lets catch up with Scarlet Witch.

And hey! The cover was not entirely or even mostly symbolic!

It actually represented Ultron’s ultimate anti-Scarlet Witch plan.

He tossed her into a mirror room that was constantly shifting around and full of illusionary furniture. Because if she can’t get her bearings, she can’t use her powers.

And when she tries to walk around the room to explore by touch, she falls through an illusion of floor which drops her into a whirlpool that spins her around and eventually spits her into a mirror chamber.

“After long moments the Scarlet Witch painfully stirs to find herself in another prismic prison... or perhaps, somehow, the same one. She dares not move. She knows now that she can trust nothing here. Perception is a mockery of reality... and treachery lurks behind every gleaming plane.”

I’m in awe. At how stupid and amazing this is.

A mirror maze as an anti-Scarlet Witch contingency. And it works!

So anyway, back at the fight. Apparently punching Ultron in the face repeatedly isn’t useless because Wonder Man has been keeping him distracted doing just that.

Perhaps because after every punch, Ultron takes the time to promise swift and terrible vengeance instead of doing anything.

And Wonder Man is managing his crippling fear of death by just not thinking about what he’s doing and just doing it.

The Avengers attempt to dogpile him after Wonder Man punched him into a wall and all hit him together, much like the end of Age of Ultron.

Unlike Age of Ultron, Ultron has equipped himself with another bullshit win button. This is clearly a much more satisfying outcome than the heroes pulling together and beating him.

And his win button was that at anytime he wanted, he could just capture all of the Avengers in a force field.

Yeah.

Meanwhile, guest star Ms Marvel!

Remember how she had a premonition of what was going to happen to Scarlet Witch? Well, she had seventh-sense images of her being driven to the brink of madness in a maze of unreality.

So she just has to find one of those.

And then a nun tries to snipe her.

Rude.

So Ms Marvel punches her head off.

Hopefully she was certain beforehand that Sister Eucalypta was a robot. Because Sister Eucalypta was a robot. Ultron built a robot nun. Ultron built a robot nun!

He sure went all in on this convent trap.

Anyway, Ms Marvel figures that if Sister Eucalypta was guarding this area then it must be for a reason. And she sees water leaking from under a door...

Meanwhile, back at the Avengers. After activating the win button, Ultron decides that he can kill the Avengers later. He’s really ping-ponging all over the place with his desire to kill them.

But now its time for him to wake up his bride so she can see him for the first time.

So, hey. Remember how I said that the cover copy from last issue “The Return of the Bride of Ultron” sounded Hammer Horror-y?

Because yeah. A bride of a monster wakes up and sees him for the first time and reacts in disgust?

Yeah. That fits right in.

Jocasta was programmed to love Ultron. And she does. But...

Jocasta: “It is wrong, my love! Though I desire with all my being to be one with you... I would first slay us both! I love you... and yet, I know what you are! I must end your evil despite my desires!”

Ultron is peeved. How could jamming the soul of a woman who hates him into a robot body go so poorly? Unless... Jan’s human emotions have infected Jocasta, says Ultron, a robot that neverrrrrr feels any human emotions like hate, fear, or envy.

Or maybe that’s why he’s so angry at Hank Pym. He hates that he has these emotions? I’m not sure how to read it.

Also, this is clearly Hank Pym’s fault specifically. Because Ultron is at least consistent.

Oh but the time for that brewing tantrum is over and done.

Because Ms Marvel has returned with Scarlet Witch. And the thing about sticking Scarlet Witch into a mirror hell is that it just makes her angrier if she ever gets out.

So she uses her probability altering powers to affect Ultron’s molecular rearranger, make it malfunction and starts tearing him apart from the inside.

A rift forms in his invincible carapace from which his vital energies start leaking.

Perhaps ironically, Ultron calls out for his mother to save him. Presumably said Wasp mother is flicking him off with both hands off-panel.

Although its less that the energies are leaking and more being vacuumed out. The force field that held the Avengers collapsed when Scarlet Witch started attacking Ultron and Thor is using Mjolnir to hoover out Ultron’s energies.

And with the entirety of the lifeforce of that pissbaby robot absorbed into Mjolnir, Thor shoots it into space where it explodes.

Good teamwork, Thor!

This is really just a good accomplishment for everyone!

Ms Marvel repaid her debt to the Avengers. Wonder Man is starting to feel like a real Avenger. And a foolishly optimistic Hank Pym declares that “at last... the biggest, darkest blot on my career has been eradicated! Forever!”

Except this.

While everyone is celebrating their respective character beats, Jocasta vanished into thin air right before Beast’s eyes. And so did Cap...??

Thor: “‘Tis ended, Wanda! All is well now!”

-Jocasta and Cap vanishing happens-

Scarlet Witch: “You were wrong, Thor, it never ends... and each trial is harder than the last!”

Why can’t we have nice thiiiiiiings!

Two-Gun Kid vanished too. So is it something targeting Avengers? But Jocasta wasn’t one, not really. Is this the mysterious Korvac’s mysterious plan? Someone else? I mean, obviously I know but lets build mystery anyway.

So as an Ultron story?

I think its good. It nicely builds on the two-parter that introduced Jocasta. Jocasta herself continues on from someone that perhaps subconsciously summoned the Avengers to aid Jan to someone that consciously rejects Ultron as too evil to live even as she’s programmed to love him.

Both sides learned from the previous story. Hank Pym by immunizing the Avengers against the Encephalo-Beam, Ultron by getting Scarlet Witch out of the way.

Scarlet Witch got to finish the job defeating Ultron that got interrupted by Cap last time. With an assist by Thor. But the important thing is that she totally saved their bacon. She became one of the Avengers’ big guns during Englehart’s run and its nice that it keeps being a thing that is true.

And Wonder Man got to take a step forward in his own arc about insecurity and fear of death. And he got to go a full battle without losing his new outfit. Win!

We also possibly get some insight into why Ultron is so angry. He is possibly angry about how angry he always is. Which sure is something.

I make a lot of noise about how all Ultron fights tend to be the same pointless punching of a metal dude. And yeah, I really wish the Avengers would try to think up some Ultron contingencies even if they didn’t all work.

But if an Ultron story has a different conclusion then at least that’s something. Ultron is a puzzle boss. You can’t beat him by punching him so how do you beat him? By uploading a logical paradox into his brain, by threatening his robot wife, by having Scarlet Witch use probability altering to crack him open from inside out.

And you have to admit, a convent with a robot nun and a mind-destroying maze of unreality is unique. It stands out from the usual industrial settings and hidden bases where Ultron likes to lurk and scheme.

So a good Ultron story. And not just because Scarlet Witch got to Do A Thing.

I haven’t advertised in a while but maybe follow @essential-avengers? I also accept questions and feedback.

#Avengers #Ultron #Scarlet Witch #Ms Marvel #Carol Danvers #Jocasta #a good day for the superheroines #Thor #Captain America #Iron Man #the Vision #Beast #the Wasp #Yellowjacket #Wonder Man #Essential Avengers #Essential marvel liveblogging #korvac saga

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cupidsbower · 7 years

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in re

Supernatural 12x11, “Regarding Dean.”

Most of the good things about this episode are thanks to the actors, especially Jensen Ackles and Ruth Connell, who were both delightful. The writing was competent but not meaty, like last week’s episode. I came away from “Regarding Dean” not really feeling I knew all that much more about Dean than I had before, which was a shame given the premise. But perhaps the point was actually to shine more light on Sam and Rowena, who both reacted to Dean in interesting ways.

Let’s start with the title, which is a reference to a Harrison Ford movie, Regarding Henry, written by J. J. Abrams.

Here’s the trailer:

youtube

It’s about an ethically-dubious but successful lawyer, played by Ford, who is shot in the head by a robber, and loses his memory. As a result, he turns over a new leaf, becoming more innocent and idealistic, and forges closer relationships with his quasi-estranged wife and daughter. Ironically, it is a film that is mostly appealing due to the actors, as the plot is rather by-the-numbers. If there’s any lesson to be learned here, it’s that pre-shooting-Henry is unlikable, both to himself and others, and hates his job but loves his family, who he had been neglecting.

In contrast, post-amnesia-Dean discovers that he likes himself and his life, but quite possibly both Sam and Rowena are unhappy with their lives and their current relationships -- more on that below.

While I don’t think Abram’s script for Regarding Henry is very nuanced, I find the reference to the film interesting for another reason than the obvious similarities of plot between it and “Regarding Dean”. I have always assumed that Regarding Henry was itself a reference to A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Follow that rabbit all the way down its hole, and you end up at the Daedalus myth, which is the story of a man making himself wings in order to escape imprisonment, and whose son who escapes with him, Icarus, falling to his death as a result of flying too close to the sun.

Why do I draw a connection between Regarding Henry and Portrait? It’s about that use of words with multiple meanings in the titles, and specifically about how we interpret and understand people and the ways we represent them.

Regarding:

in respect of, on the subject of

looking at

admiring

Portrait:

a visual likeness (something people look at)

a description of a person’s character (a story)

As I said above, while Ackles is very good in this episode, what we see just confirms what we already know (and/or admire) about Dean -- he has a childish delight in things that he often masks as self-defence, his responsibilities and perceived failures weigh heavy on him, he genuinely loves hunting things and saving people, he loves the people in his life and does the emotional labour of keeping them in his life.

The freshest aspect of the episode is not actually the portrait of Dean, but the reactions of Sam and Rowena to Dean, and in reaction to his memory loss -- how they regard him, in other words.

Sam is devastated by the loss of Dean, in a way that tells us a lot about what he’s living for. This love for Dean is not a happy thing, though, as it highlights Sam’s social isolation and depression. He comes across as ambivalent about the hunting lifestyle, and with the people currently in his life. With the “I’ll text everyone” scene, we yet again have the implication that Sam relies on Dean to keep in touch with people, unless there’s some particular need. I think that’s about the third time this season.

In fact, we’ve had subtext for many seasons now that Sam would leave hunting for the “apple-pie life” if only he could find a way to do so, but that he feels tied (chained?) to Dean, and this episode adds more weight to that reading. Sam is a mirror of Regarding Henry in a different way than Dean is. Where Henry is given a chance at a new and more satisfying life because of his memory loss, and Dean is confirmed as already loving his life via the memory loss, Sam, it is strongly implied, would love to ditch his current life -- he wants to be the lawyer, with the wife and kid, and to forget hunting, but doesn’t know how to achieve that, and instead is trapped and unhappy.

Ouch.

I mean, this is great for the deconstruction of the co-dependency, if only Sam can actually get to the point of honestly articulating that, and Dean can hear it without feeling rejected. But still, ouch.

Then there’s Rowena.

I really like that Rowena and Crowley are being shown to have character traits in common. In particular, it took a while, but Rowena has now figured out that the Winchesters are an unstoppable force, just like Crowley has, and as so many (now dead) villains never did. She had her own agenda in this episode to do with the other witches, and I love that her plot is getting closer and closer to intersecting as enemies with the Men of Letters -- I have wanted that for a loooong time. But in addition to that, now that she recognises the Winchesters either deadly or a form of supernatural social capital, I have some hopes she will live a good long while. *fingers crossed*

The other interesting Rowena thing picks up on a thread from last season, when Rowena told Crowley she had to hate him or else she’d love him. In this episode, we find out that Rowena is a lot like Dean. She projects a hard-as-nails outside to protect her squishy insides from the many people who have hurt her. And she yearns for connection, as demonstrated by her falling for Dean’s (at this point quite possibly supernatural ability to) charm, responding to his defenselessness with a lowering of her own guard instead of cruelty.

Well, except for this, which isn’t directed at Dean.

(I don’t have a source for this image.)

That voodoo doll and its multiple pins in the heart. It’s played for humour, but actually, it calls back to a visual motif we’ve been getting throughout the season:

The Immaculate Heart of Mary (x), representing Mary’s grief at the death of her son.

Interesting, yes? I mean, also kind of horrifying given the foreshadowing. Apart from the subtextual implication that Dean is Jesus Christ, stabbing his mother in the heart with his death(s), it does make me wonder about the nephilim. Are we going to get actual Jesus reborn in the superntural ‘verse? As the child of Lucifer? Because the symbolism certainly seems to be going there!

Hi, Satan, who is an angel and therefore not gendered as humans are. Ready to have your heart broke yet?

Anyway, for an episode that in itself was competent but not great, it adds some interesting elements to this season’s myth arc.

Final things:

I think it’s pretty strongly implied at the end of the episode that Dean does remember some of what happened, but isn’t admitting to it. I wonder how that will play out in terms of his relationship with Rowena.

I really appreciated that the waitress apologised once she believed Dean had been roofied while they were flirting. Good.

Tree magic. Hmmm. Angel grace can live in trees, and now this. I am intrigued, and not just because I wrote fic that used a premise jumping off from this. I kinda hope we get more on tree magic.

Previously:

The Ministry of Information vs Wayward Sons Carrying On (12x01)

My, my, how can I resist you? (12x02) and follow-up about Bohemian Raphsody

So what am I so afraid of? (I think I love you) (12x03)

I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy Down in my heart (Where?) (12x04) and a follow-up about the codependency and about Dean’s self-flagellation and issues with space

There can be only one! (12x05), and a follow-up conversation with elizabethrobertajones on Freud vs Schwartz.

They shall fall by the sword: they shall be a portion for foxes (12x06)

Presenting the Immaculate Heart Reunion Tour (12x07)

I’m still living the life where you get home and open the fridge and there’s half a pot of yogurt and a half a can of flat Coca-Cola. ~Alan Rickman (12x08, 12x09)

When the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men (12x10)

#supernatural #season 12 #spoilers #meta #spn meta #dean winchester #rowena #sam winchester #themes #lucifer #mary

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