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northlandian · 5 years

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Final Thoughts

So this is it.

Endgame is 1000% complete. The premiere was last night, and in less than 48 hours, it will be released to the public. Well, at least for me, in about...

(Yes, I have a countdown on my phone that’s been set up since last year that goes until Thursday, April 25, 2019, at 6:00pm)

I wanted to make a post about my predictions. Something I could come back to, so I could see if I was right or wrong. I remember doing that last year with some of my favourite fan artists and laughing at their prospective situations that turned out to be true.

But you see, the truth is... I have absolutely no idea what to expect. And that's not just a cheap copout of me saying "It's a Marvel movie, therefore anything can happen". We know nothing. Literally nothing. The trailers are compilations of repetitive clips revealing nothing past the first 20 minutes of a 3-hour 2-minute movie. We don't even know the films true plot.

Is there a time jump? Do they time travel? Why are they splitting up into teams, seeing how well that proved to work last time? How is Scott saved? Tony and Nebula? And what is their plan?

I don't know. I really don't. All any of us can do is take shots in the dark. RDJ said it himself that it is near impossible to predict what's going to happen.

So that got me thinking about something I've considered pretty much since the debut of the first trailer...this movie is unpredictable...but there are some assumptions we've been making that we are assuming as a fact are going to happen.

But then there are also moments that I believe deserve to happen. Story arcs that need to be completed. Endings certain characters deserve.

So, drawn-out intros aside, here are my final thoughts on this movie.

Tony

Tony is an enigma. I've made a post in the past discussing why he might actually not die based on the chess motif and the necessity to save him as the "King", despite the fact that death is what we'd all expect. I'll be honest, when the first trailer came out, I thought to myself, "Wow. They're really trying to prep us for the heartbreak by shoving this foreshadowing down our throats.”

Obviously, this is based on the first half of the first trailer, with him adrift in space. I thought that maybe Captain Marvel would be the one to save him, or maybe Pepper in her rescue armour that was seen a couple months ago from a set photo. But how would they know where he was?

But after the second trailer debuted, I think I'm going to make the assumption that it is, in fact, Nebula, with her spare bodily robotic parts, who saves the two of them and brings them back to earth. I'm also going to assume that the scene from the trailers of Steve and the rest looking up at the night sky outside the compound (if that scene is even real) is them seeing Tony and Nebula arriving back to earth. Though I have considered the possibility of the space ship recording scene actually taking place at the end of the move...which would suck. But I'm also going to assume, based on the third trailer and clips that followed of Steve and Tony together, that they actually do reunite, in the present time.

Of course, this does not excuse him from the possibility of dying at all. And he very well could. But then, another thought crossed my mind. In Infinity War, the first time we see Tony on screen is with Pepper, discussing their wedding and possible children. See...why would they foreshadow that if they were to never make reference of it again? Sure, there's a possibility of a time jump with perhaps a wedding and maybe kid squeezed in there. After all, the whole vibe we're given from the second trailer is the question of where the world is supposed to go from the tragedy endured, and how some move on (then Steve of course says "but not us" but anyways). But that's only with the off chance that there is a time jump, and it seems kind of off in the first place. So assuming the foreshadowing wasn't for no reason, I'd like to think that there's a chance he lives long enough to retire and have a kid.

Tony and Pepper mentioning a kid isn't the only foreshadowing given for his survival, though. There was one line from Avengers that always stuck with me, and sort of got overshadowed by Tony's narcissistic but hilarious description of himself ("Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist."). It comes when Steve is criticizing Tony's character and motivation. He says:

"You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play. To lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you."

To which Tony immediately responds:

"I think I would just cut the wire."

Time and time again, Tony has proven Steve wrong, the first obviously being when he flew through the wormhole in the same movie. But what if this is his play in this one too? To be presented with a one-or-the-other choice for who can be saved, but manages to do both? Alternatively, this could also play out to the opposite of our favour; maybe Tony does finally just crawl over the wire for someone. For example, I've pictured a scenario where they do indeed go back in time to retrieve the stones before Thanos does. It's a plausible situation, considering we know nothing of their plan. But when it comes time to retrieve the soul stone, it's Tony who decides to make the sacrifice. Maybe he argues over it with Steve, who would want to finish what he started with Red Skull and complete the fate he was given 70 years ago, but ultimately Tony forces him to comply to what he wants, which is to finally make the ultimate sacrifice.

(And for the record, if either of those situations plays out, I'm suing Marvel for emotional distress)

But there's one other option, and it's based on a line spoken by Tony in the trailer that really stuck out to me. It was when he was leaving his message to Pepper in the second trailer, and it's where he says:

"I know I said no more surprises, but I was really hoping to pull off one last one."

At first thought, I thought it may be like a "Surprise, honey! I'm not dead, and I've returned to earth to help defeat that giant grape!" sort of thing. And maybe it is. But I've also considered the possibility of Tony tricking someone or something. Perhaps tricking those into thinking he was dead. He did do it in Iron Man 3. But then again...who knows.

Sidenote: That's the end of my first thought and everything on Tony, and I have, like, *at least* twelve more to go. I was not expecting this to be this huge. Whoops.

Steve

It is so hard to get a read on what the hell is happening with this damn character. On one hand, Chris Evans has been talking for the longest time as if we all already know that his characters dead, with the way he speaks about his wrap-up with Marvel in general. But then there are people like the Russo's who say they have things in store that we don't know about yet. Like what?? Who do we believe? Are they just trying to cover up his obviousness? Or are we, again, making predictions that we shouldn't because this movie is actually so unpredictable??

Obviously, I don't know what's going to happen. What I will say is, I know what the fanbase expects, and that's for him to die. But again, just like in Tony's case, if that's one of the top expected outcomes, isn't it less likely going to happen?

Personally, I'm in favour of one specific theory many fans have contemplated and considered. The theory is that Steve, whether it be a result of the plot or by choice, goes back in time to the '40s, and that's where he lives out the rest of his life. He has his dance with Peggy, something foreshadowed so many times, including in the trailers, and they end up living together happily, and he endures the life he always wanted before going in the ice - that is how he phrased it at the end of Age of Ultron. So yes, he would most likely be "dead" in the present day from old age, as would Peggy (since she had already died in Civil War), but he would live out the life he always wanted.

OR - and I just thought of this now, literally as I'm writing - get this. He goes back to live in the '40s. But in present day, he's still alive, just very old. The Avengers (or whoever's left) go to see him by the end of the movie, maybe even during the after credits. And...it's Stan Lee. He is Steve Rogers. His final cameo.

(This seems highly unlikely, but the thought amused me. I also can't remember if the super soldier serum allows you to age properly in normal circumstances, but I don't wanna look it up at the risk of running into spoilers. Oh well, unresearched theory is unresearched.)

Thor

Don't get me wrong, I am still very much in the mindset of:

But if I'm being completely honest, yes, Thor, just like every other O6, the God of Thunder known by humans for his immortality, has a chance of not making it. With talks of a Thor 4 with dir. Taika Waititi, it seems unlikely, but the chance is still there. And it did get me thinking...

Loki telling him before his death, "The sun will shine on us again"...did he mean in Valhalla? I have had the thought of Thor possibly biting it, but then a scene where we see him there, reuniting with Loki, Heimdall, Frigga...even Odin. His loved ones. The ones he thought he could not go on without, finally being together again, him being happy in the afterlife.

It's a sucky thought, but a possible one.

Loki

Soooo...here we are. I'm not going over my whole freaking theory again, but I stand by what I wrote. Including the portion with the disclaimer where I established that I could be totally wrong.

But a possibility I also totally support is one where he is brought back with time travel. Why would he have a poster if he doesn't make a reappearance? What that reappearance is, I have no idea. Maybe, just like the comics, he does purposely bring the Avengers together in New York. Or maybe it's something heartfelt at the end, where time has rolled back, and it's immediately following Ragnarok. Thor is aware of the reverse, and everything that's happened, and Loki saunters into the dressing room again and makes the comment on Thor's eyepatch, but Thor is just so happy to see him, that he just hugs him, as it was foreshadowed in Ragnarok, and all is well, and they live happily ever after in Norway on Earth ruling Asgard together...

Idk. Just a thought.

A Cinematic Parallel

So this was just something I noticed when comparing the Infinity War and Endgame trailers.

So remember in the Infinity War trailer, where we see Tony just sitting with his hands folded over and we were like "huh wonder why they're covered in dirt", and then it turned out it was cause Peter just died, and it was his dust, and we all had a good laugh/cry when looking back on it.

Well...you know that moment in the Endgame trailer when Steve is covered in what looks to be sweat and dirt and he tightens his shield around his arm or something, and looks to be in extreme anguish over...something?

Well... I think that's our one glimpse at the end, just as Tony's was in the Infinity War trailer. I think someone just died in that moment.

That's literally it for that.

Death

We don't know who's going to die. We don't. And we don't know how. But that fact that the Russo's, Paul Rudd, and Chris Evans have been openly joking about character deaths is a definite indicator that whoever and however they go is not going to be mainstream. Like, I don't think it's going to be a Loki-type death, or the Tony-almost-death, where the character is just too overpowered by Thanos, or whoever else, and they die as a result. It's going to be complex. Or a decision the character makes that is self-sacrificing. Or something similar to the Steve time travel theory. But whatever it is, it is likely incredibly hard to guess.

Time Travel

The theories of time travel that have been circulating since the debut of Ant-Man and the Wasp are still just that - theories. I'll be honest, I'm still not 100% sure how the quantum realm can possibly assist them, other than getting them stuck in a time vortex. And even still, the operators of said quantum realm machine are dusted. That's all we have to go off of; that, obvious hair and suit changes throughout the trailers and set photos, and, of course, the fact that there are limited options as to how they can actually succeed at this point.

The Suits

Honestly, I just included this section to make fun of their new suits some more. They are so freaking ugly, it's hilarious. I remember when the photos of them were first leaked, everyone laughed and said it was too ugly to be real, yet HERE WE ARE.

So you can imagine how hard I laughed when I saw the second trailer for the first time, and how conflicted I was over how cool their "walk" was, but how gross the suits were.

Some actual memes I saved before the official release of the suits:

Bonus: Something I saved literally last November. And we're about to find out in less than two days...God, I'm not ready.

Prospective Scenes

There were a couple of scenes other than those I've already listed that would be incredibly satisfying to see.

Firstly, Tony and Pepper's wedding.

I always pictured it as the after credits scene. A final symbol of rest, retirement, and relaxation for Tony. And everyone's there, too. The rest of the O6, but also Peter and May, Happy, Rhodey, Sam, Wanda, the Guardians, T'Challa, Shuri, and their friends, Bucky, Dr. Strange (both reluctantly), Wong (of course), and the rest of their friends and (remaining) family. Everyone's watching as the shot is on them. And standing behind them, telling Tony he may kiss the bride, is the minister - Stan Lee. His final cameo.

(Or at least the one I originally had in mind).

The perfect ending for the perfect character arc. And oh, how unlikely it is to happen.

I'm also curious to know, now that it's confirmed, how the story will reintroduce Valkyrie, who happens to be one of my favourite characters, and also who may have escaped with her (hopefully with one of my other favourite characters...).

But there is a scene which we know for a fact is going to happen, and may have gotten a glimpse of during the final trailer, with the shot of Rocket and Nebula sitting somberly and holding hands. It's Rocket finding out that the other Guardian's didn't survive. Since separating from the other Guardians in Infinity War, Rocket did not know of their outcome, and there was no one to relay the message. That...is going to be heartbreaking to watch. Especially after seeing Rocket's character development in GOTG 2.

Prospective Dialogue

Just like certain scenes, there are lines that would be amazing to hear from specific characters.

The first, and probably most popular and obvious, is, of course:

"Avengers Assemble"

If Cap doesn't finally deliver this line with so much passion in this goddamned movie...

But then there was also a line of my personal preference that I really wanted to be heard in the movie, especially if it was said by either Tony, or Steve, or both of them to Thanos. And it's...:

"Because if we can't protect the Earth, you can be damn well sure we'll avenge it."

Which is why I was SO HYPED BUT ANNOYED when I heard it in the trailer because so much of that content isn't going to make it into the movie.

I guess we'll see.

The Stones

So a common...what would you call it...theme, I guess? I've noticed is the correlation between the Avengers and the infinity stones. There are, of course, the six original Avengers left, and six stones. Each Avenger happens to almost perfectly fit into the representation of each stone.

Thor is the Space Stone - Probably most obvious. The Tesseract came from his family, and he has done space travel all his life.

Steve is the Time Stone - As he is "the man out of time".

Banner is the Mind Stone - A scientific genius, yet can't control his own mind.

Barton is the Reality Stone - He conceals his reality - his family - from the rest of his life and his world.

Natasha is the Power Stone - Often viewed as the weak link, even by allies (ie. Scott in Civil War), yet probably one of the strongest and most powerful team members, both physically, and mentally.

And finally - Tony is the Soul Stone - The godfather and soul of the team.

I don't know what this means for Endgame, if it means anything at all. It was just something I noticed.

Fate

There is one last theme I've come to notice throughout the original six, and it's the fact that each of them had their fate severely altered, almost unnaturally, to end up where they are in Endgame.

Tony, of course, almost died in a cave after being kidnapped by terrorists. He only built the Mark 1 suit to escape, and nearly died in the process of that. If he did not go to Afghanistan for the weapons presentation, not only would he not be Iron Man, but he would not be with Pepper, and he would still be manufacturing weapons - or worse, Obidiah would've had him killed another way.

Steve, of course, was selected to be the test subject of the super soldier serum, but that's not what altered his fate. He was destined for that for his grit and determination alone. His fate was altered when he survived something he shouldn't have - When he came out of the ice alive. None - and I mean none - of the events within the Avengers, SHIELD, or anything could have happened if he had died as he was supposed to.

With Bruce, you'd think I would refer to his gamma experiment in general, but that's not it either. That was also destined, similar to Steve's experiment. His is mentioned more briefly in Avengers, and it's the fact that he tried to kill himself. His attempt backfired, as he says he immediately transformed into the Hulk and thus, survived. But his intent was there, and if not for the quick reflexes and will to live of the Hulk (something that was NOT demonstrated in Infinity War, mind you), he would be gone.

Clint's and Natasha's basically go hand-in-hand. In Avengers, we find out that Clint was sent to kill Natasha, as she was part of the KGB. Natasha, in return, would have to try and kill Clint, not that it would have been different from any other enemy of theirs at the time. But because Clint made the call to try and reason with her and get her to turn, they both came out alive rather than the false dichotomy of a situation that would have left at least one of them dead.

And finally, there's Thor. His is a bit trickier to pinpoint because although he's been in death-defying situations, it's unclear if he's ever come close to death like a mortal would. But it's Thor who actually describes this fate that got me thinking about this theme in the first place, as he tells Rocket in Infinity War:

"You know, I'm 1500 years old. I've killed twice as many enemies as that, and every one of them would have rather killed me, but none succeeded. I'm only alive because fate wants me alive."

Fate wants him alive. And apparently it wants the other five alive as well. Otherwise, three of them would be dust, based on probability of the snap. But all six of them remain.

Again, I have no idea what this means for Endgame. I'm just pointing out what I believe to be significant.

Wow, so those are a lot more thoughts than I thought I'd have...this took about 3 hours to write, lol. So I think I'm going to leave it at that, and find out what happens on Thursday. I am in no way ready for it to all be over. And I've never been so terrified to watch a movie. And I've never had to consider that this might be the final 48 hours of a characters life.

This is going to be big. And I can't wait. But goddamn I am so scared.

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riddlefromthemiddle · 7 years

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1. Every time I see a map I still think of the West Wing episode with cartographers telling C.J. that the globe is wrong. That relative size and even the location of certain countries is inaccurately represented on the world map we currently use.

2. My favorite part is when they demonstrate the need to flip northern and southern hemispheres. C.J.: “But you can’t do that.” Cartograher: “Why?” C.J.: “Because it’s freaking me out!” (Seriously. Watch the clip here and tell me your mind isn’t blown. You’ll never look at a globe the same way again. Plus you’ll giggle. Win/win.)

3. Apparently our kids have an eye for design. T-man’s rearranged his game room to make it a “home theater” so he can host friends for movie night or video marathons. Bear won’t quit changing stuff around even though we’ve begged her to stop moving heavy furniture. They’re driven by feng shui, I suppose.

4. I’ve got my mornings back now that BrightSide drops both kids off at school on his way to work.

5. I’ve decided my mornings should start with coffee, breakfast, and dog snuggles. Plenty of dog snuggles. And it is good.

6. Someone once told me there is no “try.” You can’t “try” to sit in a chair – you’ll either sit or you won’t. The message stuck.

7. The kids look at me like I’m speaking Portuguese when I use this on them.

8. Speaking of foreign languages, I’m teaching myself Spanish with a free app my niece (shout out, E!) told me about called Duolingo. It has an accompanying flash card app called Tinycards.

8a. This is by far the most productive use of my car rider line time.

8b. The app tells me I’m 9% proficient in Spanish already. I think it may be overestimating my powers of retention, but I appreciate the positive reinforcement.

8c. Buenos días. Bebo agua.

9. I find myself literally unable to process giant blocks of text. When faced with a huge section of words the letters all start to run together and my brain blanks out. For real, y’all, you’ve got to hit enter once in a while. Split that sh*t up into paragraphs. Please.

10. I’m fully aware my amount of white space probably makes some of you as batty as no white space makes me.

11. It started pouring during school pickup and the temperature dropped fifteen degrees in an hour. I think that’s pretty weird.

12. There’s probably some science-y explanation, but I prefer to imagine little penguins waddling around up there, blowing icy breath into the clouds.

13. This is why I usually keep my “fun science” theories to myself. They tend to make it sound like I’m dropping acid.

14. At the risk of seeming insensitive, it should be amusing watching middle school girls dismiss through shockingly cold rain.

15. Although, to be fair, I may have emitted a small squeal as I ran to my car.

16. Dude. No judgment. That rain is C.O.L.D.

17. There’s this boy at another middle school who’s using a walker right now. My friend said he fell in the hall last week which, let’s face it, marks a low for any middle schooler. Before he knew what was happening, though, two huge football players scooped him up and another was helping him back into his backpack. I get teary just thinking about it. Y’all. The kids are gonna be alright.

18. It’s been quite the dog week at our house.

19. On Monday we came home from school to find a stray outside. Naturally, the kids ran over to meet her and check for ID – no collar, no tags, no nothing. Plus she was looking pretty rough. Skinny, visible spine, several growths, a severe limp…definitely not a dog I could tell the kids would find its way home on its own.

20. So Bear and I took her to the vet. I was praying there’d be a chip and I wouldn’t have to figure out what to do but the universe was not on board with that plan. So we got her checked out, gave her a couple of vaccines, and brought her home for the night. Gracie and Phoebe were, well, surprised. Oh, and did I mention she was, like, really really old?

21. Our buddy spent most of the night struggling to breathe so at 5:00am she and I went into another room. At 7:30am I dropped Gracie and Phoebe off for a day at the vet’s (yay, dental cleanings!). This gave me Tuesday with the stray we’d named Pepper (for her salt and pepper muzzle), trying to find her a home while carrying her outside to pee every 90 minutes since she can’t do stairs. That afternoon I posted pics on our neighborhood’s Facebook page and got a quick response – Pepper’s owner had texted a Lost Dog notice on another network, and the photo was a spitting image of the dog on our couch.

22. The world turned inside out when I saw her name listed as Peanut. That’s because eight years ago a sweet black stray showed up on our street – no collar, no tag – and stayed with us for three days until her owners posted flyers around the neighborhood. This was our Peanut. Well, not our Peanut, but our Peanut from eight years ago. Except now she’s sixteen and clearly struggling.

23. Back then my kids stood sobbing in the driveway as Peanut’s owners came to take her home. T-man and Bear had already grown to love her in the few days she’d been with us.

24. This time I watched as a little boy ran to our porch, peeked through the window, and started shouting, “Peanut! Peanut! Peanut!” when he spotted his dog. The smile on his face was priceless as he barreled through the front door to hug her, and the family had a bounce in their step as they headed back to their car.

25. Wednesday’s sun rose on two dogs exhausted from dental work and a mama emotionally tapped out.

26. Wednesday morning also brought doughnut holes. ‘Cuz doughnut holes.

27. And three cups of coffee. ‘Cuz coffee.

27a. Starbucks makes vanilla coffee pods for the Keurig. Vanilla coffee plus french vanilla creamer is hea-ven-ly. Mmmm.

28. I’ve now hooked both my kids up with Duolingo and signed them in for Spanish. This family is all in, baby. The fact that T-man and Bear might have the chance to earn credit in an 8th grade class is icing on the cake.

29. I’m finding the flash cards to be somewhat addictive myself. That would be why there’s still two loads of clean laundry left unfolded on a family room chair. Buenas noches. Bebo el vino.

30. I desperately need three solid days off the grid. Short of checking into witness protection, any ideas on how to get that?

A week in the life...#oddsandends #random #life #RFTM 1. Every time I see a map I still think of the West Wing episode with cartographers telling C.J.

#dogs #kids #odds&ends #pets

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