#even though he characterizes their relationship as that he’s not trying to control the Hulk | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

cowboyhorsegirl · 2 years

Note

my eyes spy a character opinion ask game, so you know what im here to do.

i want the opinions™ on the emh!avengers 👀

(or just tony, and 2 other characters of your choice if the avengers is too many characters.)

thank you so muchhhhhh for the ask! :D

i started trying to answer this by narrowing down which 3 characters to put up on the bingo board and you can clearly see how well that went jfkdsljfdfk

Tony Stark

EMH!Tony characterization AND character design is so fucking *clenches fist* just!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know i've talked about EMH!Tony specifically at length before but unfortunately the words simply aren't coming to me right now to describe how much i like him (I like him so, so much). One thing I will say is that I miss the way his nose looked in the first episode before they finished yassifying his character design. He still looks great after they change it, but S1E1 "Iron Man Is Born!" Tony is my desi king and i adore him <3

Steve Rogers

I love EMH!Steve so much, I feel like of the multiversal Steve's, this Steve is much more self-assured, specifically in the period of time immediately after he is found in the ice by the Avengers. His character design took some getting used to, but honestly by the end of S1, he had fully won me over to the point where I no longer feared for the structural integrity of his top-heavy weight distribution and actually liked how Shaped he is.

This Steve is a bastard who's first name is Malicious and last name is Compliance, and we love him for it. I adored how you could see him actively loosening up around the other Avengers as he spent more and more time with them. The difference between Steve just out of the ice and Steve at the end of S1 is so palpable and it's incredibly satisfying to see him come into himself more as he adjusts to the future and to his team.

My only complaint is while i was enthralled by the [REDACTED] story arc, I'm still very salty about the fact that Steve is basically MIA for like. half a season :/ which considering the whole show only lasted two seasons is upsetting :(

Janet Van Dyne

I actually managed to pull together some coherent thoughts about Jan here, but the long and short of it is that I love her I'd marry her I'd die for her I'd kill for her she's a bestie she's my ride or die she's so high maintenance she's got terrible taste in men she's got incredible taste in women she keeps tissues in her purse but she never cries in public.

Her character design.... literally what is there to say? Perfection, perfection, perfection, *chef's kiss*, absolutely not a single note because she is flawless.

I also have a very soft spot for scenes in which her teammates protect her from huge explosions while she's Wasp-sized <3 <3 They all care about her so much and she's so fierce and competent but it's also so lovely to see her teammates having her back when she needs it :')

Bruce Banner

Honestly EMH!Bruce Banner is my favorite iteration of Bruce Banner/Hulk that I've seen yet. I really really really really appreciate how, even though Hulk has comedic moments, his character is not reduced to comic relief. And I loved how the show portrayed Hulk's and Bruce's relationship with each other, the way they're both distinct personalities who are both good people that ultimately want the same things (acceptance, the chance to do & be good in the world) while also being caught in this struggle to balance power and control between them that sometimes catches them at odds with each other. Extremely compelling stuff.

I love both of their character designs separately. I also love how both of them interact with other people, namely Clint. EMH S1 especially is rife with bruceclint fodder if you're interested in that ship!

Dr. Doom

Oh my god, what's NOT to love about EMH!VVD???? Truly, EMH is Victor Von Doom's world and we're all just living in it. He has such a commanding presence in the (sadly few) scenes that he's in, and I love how whatever the Avengers/Fantastic Four are doing is always incidental to what he's got planned. Like, yeah, he gets that they're trying to stop him but he truly could not care less about it and that's so hot of him.

My headcanon is that every single character in EMH has a daddy kink for Dr. Doom and NO i am not projecting and if i were what of it? Mind your business.

Hank Pym

Now Hank... Hank is a tough one. I don't think it's any secret that I despise him, and for all of S1 and most of S2 that was very true. The problem with Hank is that politically, I fuck with him the hardest, but unfortunately for him I do not watch animated children's TV shows from the early 2010s to get my politics validated. And unfortunately for ME, EMH made the character who has the best politics also the most annoying motherfucker in the series. *spits*

But the thing is, Hank makes a very intense about-turn in characterization somewhere in the middle of S2. Basically, what happens is that at the beginning of EMH, Hank is Ant-Man, some time in late S1/early S2 (I can't really remember whoops!), Hank stops being Ant-Man and it's all very angsty of him, and then the big characterization change happens when Hank is revealed to have created a new superhero persona by the name of Yellowjacket.

All of this mostly makes sense in canon, but even so it's kind of jarring, which is almost 100% due to the fact that the creators of the show knew they only had like 3/4ths of a season left to tie up all the loose plot threads as best they could. Because of this, the show ended before I could really see how New-And-Improved Hank deals with a lot of the personal, interpersonal, and professional conflicts that plagued him during S1, which would have been really fun to see and to judge if he really had changed as much as it seemed like he had. It's all very interesting. IDK how I feel about it.

I also want to say that, even though I (mostly) can't stand Hank and I desperately love Jan, Jan and Hank together is a terrible, terrible couple and it's not all Hank's fault either. Hank doesn't trust Jan's autonomy and capabilities in the field. Jan doesn't respect Hank's scientific endeavors and professional passions. Both of them fundamentally disagree on the roles and responsibilities of superheroes in society. It's a mess. I like to believe that if the show hadn't been cancelled, there would have been an arc of Tony and Jan dating each other in order to make both of their real romantic interests jealous, which would have at least made all this back and forth worth it, but alas. Alas...

#EMH #i fucking love EMH can you tell?#tony stark #steve rogers #janet van dyne #bruce banner #victor von doom #hank pym #signed sealed delivered #wellbepoppinbottles #no read more i'm forcibly subjecting you all to my opinions on superhero characters from the early 2010s animated children's tv show i'm #fully obsessed with #send me more bingo board asks <3 <3 <3 it might take me 432783748327 years to answer them but i'll love you for it!

14 notes · View notes

adekis · 4 years

Text

Just saw Birds of Prey [Spoilers]

Here’s my reactions 1. It was an absolute blast, it was so much fun and I love it. Everyone who hasn't should go see it right now. This movie knows exactly what it’s about and what it’s trying to be, and it is that thing the whole way through. It’s an amoral roller coaster ride of joyous violence and sociopathic humor and I am HERE for it. It’s everything I wanted Suicide Squad to be back in 2016, and that Suicide Squad utterly failed to deliver on. 2. There’s gonna be Dinah Lance and Cass Cain fans out there who will be VERY MAD that the movie didn’t have their faves in it in a recognizable way compared to the comics. This is justifiable anger, but for me this distinction in no way detracts from the movie as it is for me, just as Eric Bana thinking his name is Bruce Krenzler doesn’t keep Hulk (2003) from being an absolute masterpiece, which it doesn’t. Hulk is a masterpiece, and Birds of Prey, similarly, slaps. It slaps my entire bod. 3. Even though Cass bears almost no relation to her characterization from the comics (she’s really more of a gender-flipped Jason Todd) she is still amazing. Also, as I am a big Jason Todd fan, this is emphatically Not a Problem for me. 4. Canary’s tangential relationship to herself from the comics is more of a Problem for me, but I have hope that IF this movie does well enough to get a sequel, more Canary will be definitively more in the comics’ vein. 5. Huntress is amazing and hilarious. I found myself thinking “that’s Batman’s daughter alright,” although she literally is not. Montoya is pretty great too. 6. Black Mask is an interesting character. The root of his evil is clearly a kind of rampant materialism in which he treats people like possessions he can control, where he gets violent any time he something he dislikes happens. There’s a kind of homoerotic tension to his relationship with his right hand man Victor Zsasz, but they’re both clearly sexually interested in women as well? But neither of them respect women, and Zsasz is possibly the only character Black Mask does respect. 7. I didn't think the movie was particularly trying to sell any particular political or even feminist message beyond the basic assumed premise of "super-type women can kick some ungodly amounts of ass" which... yeah? And yet when I got home and searached for "Birds of Prey" on YouTube, it seems like the idiots are coming out of the woodwork with video titles like "Woke Didn't Work" and that kind of bullshit. This movie is absolutely not doing any kind of moral posturing, the main character is a bad person, the whole thing is gloriously amoral. It's not trying to be woke, and it isn't woke. And it succeeds at being what it's trying to be, which is fun and hilarious.

#Birds of Prey #birds of prey spoilers #spoilers #bop spoilers

13 notes · View notes

ifeveristoday · 4 years

Text

we have always sent children into war

Something I’ve appreciated about Jordie’s writing for the Boom!verse is how consistent she’s been with building on characters and themes - when I think she’s dropped a plot point, it asserts itself in the next issue. While there have definitely been threads that are a little too exposition happy, or heavy-handed attempts at Whedonesque dialogue, on the whole - she understands and sees the earnest heartbeat of the show and infuses her own spin on Sunnydale and its inhabitants. Buffy was a show about human fears and anxieties given form as monsters and curses and a hero’s journey paralleled with a coming of age story.

But it was also a story about a war - the Slayer versus the darkness. Over seven years, Buffy and her friends and family fought and tested their own boundaries and capabilities for darkness and the pursuit of power.

In the Boom!verse, the idea of legacy has been stated from issue one - Buffy has her obvious calling, and Giles has his life long training to be a Watcher, and then Buffy’s watcher. Neither of them is automatically good at it and they’re still figuring what their legacies will ultimately be.

In issue 11, legacy comes back in the form of a conversation between Rose, Kendra and Robin.

Rose is a military brat from a military family - her father and her grandfather both chose it as a career. She shrugs off Kendra’s admiration for her family history by saying that it’s all become second nature and there’s really nothing special about it.

Then she asks Kendra about her father - and Kendra dismisses him as a deadbeat that she doesn’t care about because he didn’t care about her. That she’s discovered there are more important things that concern her - namely her calling as a Slayer.

Robin’s sudden interjection that if there are more important things, why are Rose and Kendra chatting away like besties on a date than - getting to the bottom of the fuckery that’s beset Sunnydale?

Rude, Robin. Also sometimes people just want to live and not dwell on the horrors of life, okay?

It’s also clearly projection: Robin has a loving dad who cares deeply about him - but he also has an apparently long-festering resentment over 1) his mom dying because of her Calling and leaving him, 2) despite ‘Slayer blood running through his veins,’ none of his training matters because the Council didn’t choose him to be a Slayer (is that even possible? #releasethelorejordie) and instead he’s...settled into being a Watcher. His legacy isn’t to follow his mother’s path, and his second nature doesn’t make him ‘special’ enough to do so. So to listen to Rose and Kendra being so casual about their own legacies --- well, it triggers his insecurities, which I’m sure is not helped by the evil toxic masculinity Rage Sweats that have been infecting all the men lately.

Is it a super heavy-handed metaphor for how performative/peer pressured ideals of masculinity is damaging to everyone? and to have the Hellmouth emit evil pheromones causing this a gloss over for real societal problems?

Probably.

But also TVBuffy fought a literal penis headed monster and Xander ate part of his school mascot while under the influence of a wild hyena spirit and also split into two selves trying to figure out which one was the real him and whatever the fuck the episode Billy was, so I’m going to give Jordie a pass here.

When Kendra calls him out on his overreaction, yet still calling him Mr. Wood (acknowledging her more traditional character and respect for the Council), he loses it completely when she tells him to not go off on his own - it’s dark and also it’s Sunnydale where people die in inexplicable evil-adjacent ways.

He retorts that he doesn’t need a mother and that he doesn’t need you -

hello, Parental issues. It wouldn’t be a Whedonverse adjacent property without someone’s parental issues. Robin is wrong of course - he does need Kendra because he’s her Watcher, and he’s (understandably) mad about his mother.

Rose and Kendra puzzle over Robin’s sudden hulk rage, but go back to figuring out what’s rotten in Sunnydale and how much Buffy’s absence is felt - even though they’re auxiliary Scoobies at this point, Buffy is what brought them together. Kendra brings up the general loneliness of a Slayer - she has to keep her identity secret, she doesn’t generally ask for help re: Life things, and the regimented nature of Slayerhood really makes me think about the similarities to a soldier’s life.

And Rose being a soldier’s child would be the perfect person to empathize with. I don’t have personal experience, but I do have friends who have served in different branches - and when I was living overseas, the country I lived in had mandatory army service for the men.

I’m not going to get in too deep about the whole troubling military complex that America has and how the business of war built this country or how it preys disproportionately on POC and lower-income people, or how when veterans come back, the services in place for them are lacking and how in general soldiers are good people who believed in the ideals of peace and protection while the realities don’t often match up with the propaganda...but you know.

Slayers are child soldiers who are sworn to protect a world at large that doesn’t know they exist or what they really do. But it also goes along with the real-world tradition of sending children into war - in the US [currently], you can legally join at 18 without a parent’s permission or 17 with a parent’s permission.

Think about back in history, before 18 was considered a legal adult.

So we have always sent children into war - but Jordie really emphasizes that the Scoobies are children fighting something they don’t really understand, and there are no adults around (hello, Show also did this but also because Adults are not actually people in the 90s) to guide them, which adds to the anxiety.

Giles is all Rage Sweated out, Jenny is probably taking well deserved time for grading papers and chilling with her cat (h/t @jenny-calendar) and it’s up to Xander and Willow, as the OG Scoobies to figure out what to do, now that Buffy’s disappeared.

And oh, her disappearance has taken an emotional and physical toll - Xander’s been patrolling every night, with some assistance from Willow - it doesn’t seem like she’s been doing it nightly though. He’s tired and upset, and Willow’s upset she didn’t get to say goodbye to Buffy and they’re both hurting in their own ways and also not talking about what’s really bothering them, which is only tangentially connected to Buffy’s disappearance.

Willow and Xander’s bond has always been a key element to their characterizations and relationships with others - they’ve been ride or die from childhood, and now that they’re sharing a soul has made this closeness even more significant.

Which means when they fight, it’s to the bone. Xander’s previous issues of feeling lonely and ignored by others - and not being listened to manifests itself against Willow’s need to share and vent, but not actually listen - it gets ugly really fast.

Xander accuses Willow of being selfish and the reason she broke up with Rose is that she couldn’t handle the mundane realities of working hard at a relationship when she had the more exciting side-gig of fighting at Buffy’s side - which Willow angrily denies. Xander then rips into Willow’s need to be praised and liked, and suddenly brings up the possibility that she’s doing this to impress Buffy, which is stupid because she’s not here and also, she won’t ever make the gay love with you -

and Willow calls him out on his need for love and validation, that he falls for any girl who’ll give him ‘the least amount of attention.’

And Xander vamps out - if this is what Willow really thinks, that she’s always seen him something pathetic

which snaps both of them out of their fight.

Xander admits he only goes vampface when he’s really angry and he can’t always control it, but when he is - he feels better. Which is really concerning.

Xander goes on to say when he’s human, the anger has been harder to ignore, that there’s something dark calling to him and it makes him want to hurt Willow - and she confesses that she’s been feeling weird all the time as well.

Is their soul tie working against them?

And the fact that Xander in vampface feels more comfortable than when he’s being human and more prone to Rage Sweats -- that’s gotta be significant.

Kendra interrupts their heart to heart and tackles Xander to the ground, which leads to a few bits of hilarious misunderstandings, but also the bombshell that Buffy is dead.

According to Robin, a new Slayer is only called when the previous one dies - which means Buffy must have died.

There goes my whole ‘they are a slayer theory’ but I was expecting it to go that way. In an earlier post - or possibly just a conversation with @jenny-calendar, I was thinking out loud that because Buffy has passed into the Hellmouth, she is no longer of the living plane, so she’s considered ‘dead’ aboveground. Obviously, she is not dead no matter what the misleading summaries future comics say, but she is not among the living.

Semantics aside, everyone is fucked up from hearing this - Willow and Xander turn on Robin, insisting he’s wrong and that it’s a sick joke, which causes Robin’s final form: teary-eyed Rage Hulk Hellmouth McGuffin. He says he didn’t ask for any of this, that he’s already lost so much - his mother, Buffy (which seems rather strange considering he was blanking her the whole time after he infiltrated her friend group and there didn’t seem to be any more flirting/sparkage in the lead up to Hellmouth) and more importantly - his chance to be a Slayer.

He’s railing against the fact he’s stuck with a Slayer that doesn’t know what a real vampire is, that there’s nothing special about her - and it’s obvious that even though his words are coming from a dark ugly place, there’s the feeling that Robin feels entitled to his rage and disappointment.

Kendra’s aware something’s gravely wrong with Robin and tells him calmly that she doesn’t want to hurt him but like every villain at the peak of missed-redemption moment, he says he feels perfect. And the last bits of rationality exit his body and he calls on the Evil Bro Squad to surround the Scoobies.

And triggers Xander’s kill switch - apparently the darkness that Xander’s human side was feeling? That’s because his demon soul is tied to the soul that infected all the men of Sunnydale and turned them into misogynistic meat puppets.

Dunn dun dun -- it’s the Hellmother.

Xander pushes back, but he’s disturbed by how strong it feels and what’s keeping him from going completely evil Frat boy?

Kendra tells them they have to fight and they’ll figure out the details later - and they’re doing their last stand in some stunning colored horror-inspired panels and it doesn’t look good for our heroes when....

WHACK.

Anya brains Robin with a croquet mallet like some white-suited queen of hearts and snarks, “Great. Now I have to fight teenagers to save the world again.”

A surprise boss appears - is Anya going to be the final Adult and help the Scoobies out of the mess they’re in?

Did she even really leave? Was that rabbit that was skulking in the grass from earlier issues really her?

Once more, Jordie leaves us on a cliffhanger.

#thoughts and reactions #buffy comics #boom! studios #i have more #but this has already gotten ridiculously long #my meta #boom! verse

6 notes · View notes

lovedsammy · 5 years

Text

All right, ya’ll, I saw Endgame! Major spoilers will be under the cut so if you’re on mobile and it doesn’t work, SCROLL, SCROLL, SCROLL. Also, blacklist ‘a4 spoilers’ and ‘endgame spoilers’!

Overall? I loved it. There are a few things that REALLY bothered me/disappointed me, which I’ll talk about. As a star rating, I’d say 9/10.

First for the things that bothered me so I can get that out of the way...

Complaints:

- Thor & Loki: It’s no surprise to some of you that Loki is my favorite character (with Tony in 2nd place), and I adore the Thor & Loki bond. So I wasn’t happy at ALL that Loki remained dead, nor the fact that the Loki and Thor bond was completely erased/forgotten. Thor didn’t mention him ONCE, and instead focused only on the bond with his mother, which was, admittedly, beautiful. But the fact that he didn’t think of his deceased brother at all really felt like a disservice. I think it was supposed to be inferred that that what’s Thor’s so depressed about during the film, but it wasn’t TALKED about and instead was played for laughs. Thor’s PAIN was made to be humorous because he let himself go and had a beer belly. And yeah, I can see how at first that can be slightly funny, but it’s really not, if you think about it. Thor was so consumed by depression that all he did was drink himself almost to death. He was a wreck during the whole film and was made to look like a drunken idiot, except for the ending. Making him gain weight just to make him ‘funny’ also rubbed me the wrong way. Being ‘fat’ is nothing to be ashamed of, or funny. Thor’s characterization this movie was a big minus for me, which was disappointing. Him leaving at the end with the GotG made some sense, though, and I’m hoping this will lead him on a path to maybe trying to find Loki, in the past or otherwise. Quill trying to find past!Gamora... maybe it was a hint.

- Going back to Loki, he showed up in flashbacks from Avengers 2012 which really made my heart swell. Him rolling his eyes at the Avengers, waving ‘bye bye’ to the Hulk sarcastically when he had to take the stairs, taking the opportunity to snatch the Tesseract, not once but twice, and disappearing to God knows where? LOVED IT. It was so nice to see him again, no matter in what capacity. Though I still wish he’d come back for real, ESPECIALLY in that battle at the end. It wouldn’t have taken much more screen time, honestly. They could’ve just shown him arriving with the others at the return, have him fight side by side with Thor, and address Thanos. Maybe hint at some possible control, imprisonment, torture from Thanos? It could’ve paved way for the Loki series. Although, I guess this 2012!Loki disappearing with the Tesseract can achieve that, too, but it would erase all of the development Loki has achieved, and I loved the development. I loved his path to redemption. If they do this, I want a redeemed!Loki, who has a place among the Avengers, not a villain again.

- Gamora not coming back. I mean, I loved seeing her as her past self, but again... she died by being killed by her abusive father. It leaves a bad taste.

All right, on to everything else!

Things that I loved:

- Nebula and Tony’s friendship! I loved their dynamic a lot. Nebula taking care of Tony, and sitting him upright? My heart. <333

- Tony’s reunion with Steve. Omg their dynamic was FANTASTIC this movie. No leftover resentment from Civil War. It really made me love their friendship that much more.

- Tony’s reunion with Pepper!

- “I lost the kid. I lost the kid.” The first part I got choked up, of many.

- omg Scott coming home to see 5 years have passed and his daughter is a teen? omg I couldn’t even handle that. I loved older Cassie, though!

- THOR GETTING TO KILL THANOS FOR REAL. OMG I CHEERED. It didn’t help his vendetta, though, and once the revenge was complete, he had nothing left, which makes sense. His hate for Thanos was what drove him in Infinity War. He fell into a huge depression once that was taken from him. And why I wish, again, that this hadn’t been used for laughs!

- TONY AND HIS DAUGHTER!!! omg dad!tony was the CUTEST AND SO WAS MORGAN. Tony’s my 2nd fave character in the mcu, so seeing him happy, living life with his wife and daughter? perfection. The “shit” scene was both hilarious and sweet. “Go to bed or I’ll sell or all your toys” and Morgan laughing because she knows he won’t. <3333333333

- “I love you 3000″

- Clint and his family!

- Natasha saying that her family is the Avengers.

- the time travel was well utilized, even if it makes my head spin a little. XD

- LOKI LOKI LOKI

- “that is america’s ass” lmao

- steve saying ‘hail hydra’ and it WORKING

- tony and steve just KNOWING how each other thinks and using that to formulate the same plan, of going back to grab the tesseract? genius!

- There was so much foreshadowing in this movie at the beginning and middle of how this was going to end. Tony was unwilling to help at first because he didn’t want to lose what he had gained, and Steve kept saying he was over Peggy but by looking at her in the past, it was clear that he wasn’t, and that was where he wanted to go. I’ll touch on both those things more later.

- Tony getting to talk to his father, and finally come to terms with that relationship, and understanding/loving him... ow my heart. That hug was amazing.

- Thor getting to talk with his mother, getting that closure as well. This movie centered a lot on family.

- Clint willing to die to get the soul stone, but Natasha also willing to, and fighting over it, who had the strongest will to sacrifice themselves for everyone else. Their dynamic is also one of my favorites, and even though Clint is happily married with a family, part of me still ships them, and I loved those final moments together.

-”Let me go. It’s okay.” Natasha’s death was one of the first scenes that got me outright bawling. I adored her, and her death hit me hard because I was NOT expecting it. And for her to die as she did, willingly, with no restraint.... she wiped the red out of her ledger for sure. :( R.I.P Natasha. I’m so sad that they couldn’t even get her body to give her a proper burial. And everyone’s reactions after... devastating.

- I didn’t think Bruce using the Gauntlet was going to work at first. But once Clint’s phone started ringing, I breathed a sigh of relief and just waited. Then past!Nebula had to ruin everything by getting Thanos to blow up the Avengers HQ.

- Touching on this, btw: Thanos really is the Avengers strongest opponent. He was too clever using the two Nebulas (UGH) as he did, and he almost won again without even breaking a sweat.

- The. entire. fight. Literally, all of it. Thor using both of his weapons, Tony and Steve giving it their all... omg.

- The second Steve used Mjolnir, my entire theater screamed, and same, tbh. Thor’s “I KNEW IT!!” was everyone. It was nice continuity with AoU when Thor’s expression hinted that Cap was worthy. YES.

- It took me a minute to realize that Sam was back, and when it did, I sat there going “IS IT REALLY IS IT REALLY IST THIS HAPPENING OH SHIT”

- AND IT DID!

- Everyone coming out of that portal, focusing on each of them. Omg the theater erupted.

- “AVENGERS.... assemble.” cHILLS

- WANDA GETTING BACK AT THANOS’S CRAZY ASS, HELL YES! “I don’t even know who you are.” “You will.” YES, QUEEN.

- THE WOMEN TEAMING UP!

- Tony and Peter. The hug! The shock from Tony that this boy that he looks at as his own son, the relief that he’s alive, okay.. hi i’m crying again.

- The second Stephen raised that single finger, and Tony knew what it meant. And we all knew what it meant...

- “I am inevitable.” “I am... Iron... man.”

- Tony’s death hit me like a ton of bricks, and I was sobbing before he’d even collapsed to the floor. Watching the color drain from his face, and his body become so badly damaged.... I knew it was over for him.

- “We won, Mr. Stark. Come on, you did it, sir, you did. I’m sorry, Tony.” I CANT EVEN HANDLE THIS. PETER DIED IN FRONT OF TONY, AND NOW TONY DIES IN FRONT OF HIM. This surrogate father/son duo hurts me and I feel so much.

- PEPPER AND TONY. THEY DESERVED BETTER, DAMN IT. THEY DESERVED TO BE HAPPY AND TONY DESERVED TO WATCH HIS DAUGHTER GROW UP. ;A; “We’re going to be okay. You can rest now.” Rip out my heart. Just rip it out.

- As painful as Tony’s death was, it also felt.... perfect, in ways. He gave up his chance to keep things as they were to save everyone else. He did tHAT. He gave everyone else their families back. He died a hero, a true hero. I feel more at ease with Tony’s death, despite how unfair it was, because unlike Loki, Tony had achieved everything he meant to. He had a little girl who he loved so much and was an amazing father to. He had a son, who he taught to be a hero, too. He had a wife who will go on to keep Stark Enterprises alive. They’re Tony’s legacy.

- The funeral was SO heartbreaking, I was a crying mess. Happy and Morgan... :( </3

- ok so I’m 50/50 on Steve’s ending. He goes to return the stones to their proper time, and then stays behind to have a life with Peggy. Which, I mean... I’m not opposed to, and I think Steve deserves his happy ending too, but... it also hurt because not only was he leaving Bucky behind, he also left his friends behind. Friends that were already hurting from losing Natasha and Tony. And then to leave them like he did.... it felt... I don’t know, not wrong, but insensitive, considering what had just happened. Everyone had lost enough, and then they had to lose Steve, too. Although, I see his frame of mind. He’d lost so much as well. He wanted to have something for once, something happy, and he took it. I can’t blame him for that. I just wish his timing had been better.

-Bucky just knew that Steve wasn’t coming back as himself. He knows him so well. And his nod at Sam to let him take up the mantle... I knew it was going to happen, but I thought it’d be different. I’m fine with this, though. Steve’s retired. He can rest now.

- Tony’s voice over at the end was beautiful and perfect. That is all.

I loved this movie a lot, and can’t wait to see it again eventually! I had complaints and things I wish they’d done/fixed, but overall, the good outweighed the bad.

#marvel #avengers: endgame #endgame spoilers #a4 spoilers #avengers endgame

10 notes · View notes

buffysummcrs · 5 years

Note

/post/184221536620/i-hate-the-russo-brothers-i-hate-the-russo why do u hate the russo bros ??

i posted that after seeing the endgame spoilers that came out after the world premiere last week, and while i regret and am apologizing for saying bad things about the movie before seeing it, i stand by this post because i really have not liked them post catws. the short answer to this question is that it really seems like they don’t care about what happened with their characters in the movies preceding theirs and ruin a lot of the really good characterization other directors had. plus they have very much contributed to the poor treatment of female characters but that’s kind of an mcu staple. it really seems like for every one good thing the russos do, they do about ten more bad things.

the long answer to this question is going under the cut because i am 100% going to rant and i am sorry but this is really gonna get into my unpopular marvel opinions and it will include endgame spoilers (they will be marked though). read at your own risk, i will try to warn if there is any “anti” characters or something.

examples of how they ruin the characterizations other directors set in place:

wanda. look i’m just gonna say it now i don’t care for mcu wanda (even without discussing her whitewashing) so if you don’t want to read something written by someone who doesn’t like her, skip this bullet point … in age of ultron, wanda WAS WILLINGLY WORKING FOR A NAZI ORGANIZATION AND UNLEASHED THE HULK ON AN INNOCENT CITY AND PUT THINGS IN TONY’S HEAD THAT LED HIM TO CREATE ULTRON. in age of ultron though, it was fairly clear that the avengers didn’t fully trust wanda and pietro when they “switched sides” but immediately in civil war, the russos wrote it as if none of that happened. i would like mcu wanda so much more if she was given a real redemption arc, like loki in ragnarok, letting her answer for the things she previously did and proving that she is trustworthy and a true ally. the avengers immediately pardoned her, so much that it wasn’t even talked about clint is exempt because pietro saved his life and a child’s life and thus felt responsible for wanda because the russos just really want to get the brownie points for including a female hero that isn’t black widow

tony in civil war. they made it pretty obvious that tony was supposed to be an antagonist or at least someone you should root against. whether you were team cap or team iron man or you didn’t care because it was so stupid the movie was written pretty clearly to favor team cap and make tony look awful … even though he had a perfectly valid and reasonable argument for signing the sokovia accords … i mean they really do need to be held accountable for all of the destruction they cause. and yeah i agreed with cap too because they shouldn’t relinquish all control to the government, but the russos wrote it so that tony looked like the bad guy, when he really reallyyyyyy wasn’t

thor. poor, poor, beautiful thor. in ragnarok, thor went through a major character arc that allowed him to see that he is more than just the person who can wield mjolnir because he has had the power and strength to be a hero within him all along, then BAM russos say screw that in infinity war and make him go off on this whole mission that really was a waste of time to get a weapon that he doesn’t need to defeat thanos. yeah i’ll admit storm breaker is cool and i love that he got to build a relationship with rocket and kind of groot but it is just so unnecessary when they could have done something different to build that relationship, but it literally says fuck taika’s storyline for thor.

loki. in the first five minutes of infinity war they kill him off in the most un-loki-like way possible. taika did so much for the characters in ragnarok, giving loki a true redemption arc and adding valkyrie to the mcu as a strong and important character, but do the russos care about any of that? NOOOOOOOO.

ENGAME SPOILERS START HERE.

so they ruined steve. i am not accepting his ending. it really just is not him, because as we have seen from the past six movies, he will pretty much do anything for bucky. ANYTHING. and i know he loves peggy, peggy was the love of his life except bucky but marvel is full of cowards but he moved on from her, and she moved on from him. i mean agent carter was about peggy proving herself as more than just captain america’s girlfriend, and steve going back in time to be with peggy erases all of the character development peggy went through as well. honestly, i think the russo brothers did that because they knew people would likely be more upset with steve dying than tony dying (maybe i’m wrong, but just of all the marvel fans i know irl, they like steve more than tony. for the record, i would have been equally sad with either of their deaths because i love them both) and the russo brothers are fully aware of how big the stucky ship is, and this was their way of saying “hey, guess what? we didn’t kill steve and he is hetero, and there was Nothing There with bucky”. they made steve just reinsert himself into peggy’s life, when he KNEW she was happy without him and peggy had no choice in it.

and as if they didnt do enough to thor in infinity war, they screwed him over EVEN MORE in endgame by making his only purpose to supply lazy fat jokes. there were so many other ways they could have depicted his depression, SO MANY WAYS, but they chose the lazy route of putting hemsworth in a fat suit and making fun of fat people the entire movie.

i can admit that they wrote carol well … but only when she was actually in the movie. i mean what she was there for maybe eight minutes?

and of course the lgbtq character was fucking joe russo as a glorified extra. queerbaiting that it was carol, thanks russos

ENDGAME SPOILERS END.

i really feel like i do need to clarify that i do love marvel and the mcu, and most of these characters just mean so much to me, but the way they are written and done dirty by the russo brothers when they were given such great developments before just ruin so much of it. and the russos actually do some great things, like as i said the rocket/groot/thor team up was awesome in infinity war, just what they were doing with said team up was undoing taika’s beautiful movie. the best way i can describe the russos is that they do one good thing for every ten bad things, and that’s that on that.

#im sorry if you dont like this #but asking me why i hate the russos is a LOADED question #anon #answered #endgame spoilers

10 notes · View notes

originaljediinjeans · 5 years

Text

MCU Rewatch: The Avengers (2012)

I cut out a lot from the individual character metas but it’s still pretty long and IDK how to summarize, maybe just read the bolded text for some of the juicier points

LOKI: Unpopular opinion, I do not believe that Loki was directly mind-controlled by Thanos. I don’t care if it’s “canon.” However, there is no denying that Thanos hurt and tortured Loki. Whatever he went through, it was bad enough that Loki agreed to cooperate. But Loki thinks he 100% deserves a planet to rule of his own after being kicked out of Asgard when he was the “rightful ruler”. (Who thinks that when they’re being mind controlled, really?) He must have done some real persuasion to convince Thanos that he could bring him the Tesseract and that he would not fail. But even then the Other is really hard on him. Loki is doing someone else’s bidding and he knows it. And he tugs at the leash. But he’s “come too far”--been tortured too much--to fail.

Loki as the villain of this film is perfection. And the scene with Natasha blows me away every time. The montage during his speech just syncs with it perfectly. Poetic cinema, as they say, but in the most literal and professional sense of the phrase.

My headcanon ever since the first time I saw this movie is that Loki can read the minds of Midgardians. Even if Barton told him everything (which I might not sure is even possible), Loki being slightly psychic is still cooler. Loki in this movie is freaking SCARY. (but that’s why he’s great, give Tom Hiddleston an Oscar already, Hollywood what is wrong with you?)

Who is the Other? He kind of reminds me of the Mouth of Sauron in LOTR. Is he another sick, twisted sycophant who believes in Thanos’ cause? Of course. He is proud to represent Thanos, and what’s more, acting creepy and giving people poetic threats is his way of doing his job: intimidating people into cooperation. Well, not like it matters much. I laugh every time I watch GOTG and Ronan kills him.

Coulson’s murder made Loki a murderer

I love Loki but I still want to punch him for what he did to Barton and Selvig and not to mention Coulson and just doing lots of bad things for bad reasons and I hope when I do punch him that it hurts, I don’t care if he’s a fictional character I’m going to punch him

THOR: Asgard must have some kind of dope intelligence system. They knew about the Chitauri–they didn’t know where they were from or who they were working for, but they knew enough and Thor knew enough to figure that he’d better get Loki before it got out of control. Also, the rest of the universe knows that one paramilitary organization on a small planet was experimenting with an Infinity Stone a really powerful energy source to use as a weapon. So Thor going to Midgard isn’t just about getting Loki: it’s making sure that a world under Asgard’s “protection” isn’t overrun by an invading army. And don’t forget, Thor has officially designated himself the Earth’s protector–he’s willing to share that responsibility with the Avengers, after these events. Willing enough to go search the universe for answers about the Infinity Stones. Maybe after Infinity War he regrets that.

Thor admits to Coulson for being embarrassed for himself and his people because of all the destruction and chaos Loki has caused

The moment when they’re in New York and Thor and Steve are taking a break–that’s when they bond. Other people see Steve Rogers as a mere wooden soldier but Thor recognizes a kindred warrior spirit. Thor and Steve’s friendship is criminally underrated and has a heinous lack of screentime.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: I have to admit, on this viewing Steve’s characterization seemed a little wooden to me. But it makes sense if you keep in mind that Steve is under stress about being in a new place and time.

I’ve always liked Steve’s uniform in this one, even though it’s not very popular or not as “cool” or practical as some of the others. What I dislike, though, is the helmet. The more it’s off, the better.

Steve actually doesn’t deal with stress that gracefully

I hate to say this, but Steve walks away from this movie with a deep-seated mistrust of Tony Stark and it’s only going to get bigger and get worse

I can’t help thinking of this famous saying: “It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, rather than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.”

All of the above considered, Steve Rogers went through a lot of crap during the War. And it wasn’t all just fighting Hydra. He must have led the Commandoes on other not closely related missions, too. But he’s been in a lot of different situations. He knows how much bad there is in the world. He knows what kind of people want to take over the world. That’s why he isn’t taking crap from anyone.

And even if Steve isn’t psychic he sees right through Loki. Steve and Loki don’t get much screen time together but Loki knows how Cap feels about him and it bugs him. And that’s why Steve is so pushy about wanting Tony and Bruce to stay on task because he knows Loki and Loki’s accomplices are up to no good and they need to stop it

Cap actually has been on some pretty bumpy plane rides.

I agree with the fandom that it is unfair that someone as young as Steve (only like 25 years not counting the ice) is pushed into a lot of leadership positions. But he gets called on to lead because he has that wartime experience. He knows how to lead a team, he knows how to fight battles of all sizes. And being a leader, Steve knows when and when not to trust the people in charge. I think Tony takes a cue from him when he deals with Loki.

IRON MAN: Between Iron Man 2 and when Avengers opens, Tony is actually Living his Best Life(TM) with Pepper and the fact that the events of this film ends it forever kills me.

When he sees the portal open and the Chitauri coming out, the response “Right–army” sounds cute but he’s genuinely terrified. He’s already bruised from his brief encounter with Loki when he literally flies into the Mark 7.The longer the battle goes, the worse it gets.

The Nuke: Tony made his fortune building/designing weapons and then he stopped when he saw that they were being used to kill innocent people. The government ordering a nuclear strike on Manhattan is horrifying to him. He figures out a good way to get rid of it and stop the Chitauri. He doesn’t let go until he’s absolutely sure that it’s over, regardless of the cost to himself.

Summary: Tony goes from being in a good place to a bad one. There are some things even shawarma cannot cure.

Tony already knows Bruce Banner’s history and has studied his scientific work. Tony already knows about all the crap that Banner has been through. Tony relates to what Bruce has been through. He validates both the Hulk and Banner. The science bros are actually a really big deal and they mean a lot to me.

I am so glad Pepper was in this movie and I am so glad that Pepperony exists so help me if the Russos kill off Tony in Endgame–

Steve and Tony really almost got into an actual fight in that lab scene. They really did.

I never got the line “We are not soldiers” until this time around. He’s referring to those airmen in Afghanistan who died in vain to protect him from the terrorists that kidnapped him. He doesn’t want to think that of himself, or anyone else of the Avengers, or even Coulson. I wonder if maybe to an extent he can’t deal with the guilt or the mentality of going to war. Golly, figuring that out is a gut punch.

THE HULK: I don’t really feel like there’s much to say about Bruce this time around. Except that I’m so proud of him for actually going to Calcutta and helping people who needed help. I’m glad that SHIELD wanted him for his expertise and not just the Hulk. He is happy to be used for his knowledge. And meeting Tony Stark was probably the best thing to ever happen to him.

Even the Hulk cares about Tony–the Hulk likes Tony Stark/Iron Man better than he likes Bruce Banner.

BLACK WIDOW: Natasha has a legitimate fear of the Hulk and it’s actually kind of incredible that she did get past that. If there was something in this film about Natasha’s fear versus the Hulk that was supposed to be continued in Age of Ultron, bad writing killed it. Either that or there wasn’t enough exposition.

There’s an implication, with how Natasha is the first of the big 6 shown, how she’s asked to go find Banner, that Fury and Coulson kind of looked to her as a leader or co-leader for the Avengers. Would her responsibilities include bringing and keeping them together? Yes.

Natasha still thinks about the big picture during the battle. She knows that her teammates have limits. She knows what they’re up against.

I think she does get kind of scared when she’s riding the Chitauri chariot thing and she’s trying to control it. It’s not an easy task and there’s also speed and the risk of falling.

Clint and Natasha’s relationship is amazing. It’s one of the best things about this movie and it’s a travesty we don’t really see this again in the MCU (holding out hope for Endgame). They talk and fight and work together like they’ve known each other for years. She looks up to him because he helped her change her life. And now he looks to her because she saved his.

HAWKEYE: I just…need more Clint Barton in my life. Seriously he is so cool. Like he really needed a stand-alone movie in Phase 2. He just deserved better period and by that I mean more screen time. Maybe it wouldn’t have worked for him to have been in Cap 2 but he needed something.

COULSON: Agent Phil Coulson is the heart and soul of this movie.

The Stark Tower visit: Pepper calls him “Phil,” she notices that he looks shaken (even though it’s hard for even me to tell). She asks Phil about the Cellist and Tony offers to even fly him out to Portland to see his SO–do you know how much plane tickets cost that is huge. It is more than safe to assume that Phil has kept in touch with Tony and Pepper and even come over to hang out. Like enough that Pepper can read his moods. Good grief Pepper must have been destroyed when she found out.

Despite the initial bureaucratic unfairness, what if Coulson has kept in touch with Jane and Darcy? Maybe been a liaison to SHIELD for them. Did he suggest to SHIELD that they recruit Selvig?

Coulson is naturally a friendly person, and Thor is comfortable enough with him to talk about his concerns about Loki. Like they are friends. Like THOR WATCHES HIS BROTHER STAB AND KILL THE SON OF COUL, CHAMPION OF MIDGARD, AND HE WILL LIVE WITH THAT FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE.

If Steve Rogers thought he’d escaped the Captain America fans boy was he wrong

But more importantly, Captain America is Coulson’s hero and Steve knows it. When Coulson dies, Steve knows that it was because he was trying to stop Loki and that Coulson was a good man.

Do you see why I want to/am/should be writing fanfiction about Coulson?

Coulson also knows Nick Fury very well. I would go so far as to say that on a certain level they are like brothers, even. Gosh they better get quality screentime in Captain Marvel!

Of course Coulson has known Clint and Natasha for years, maybe even as long as they’ve been at SHIELD. You hear the concern in Coulson’s voice when he tells Nat that Barton’s been compromised. It’s redundant to say this but it’s audible. He knows what Clint means to Natasha. He’s probably one of the 5 people who know about Clint’s family, maybe Phil is friends with Laura. And it’s implied that he has a personal relationship with Clint.

TL;DR Phil Coulson genuinely cares about the Avengers individually and as a group. He probably knows about Steve, Tony, and Banner more than they know each other by the end of the film. He knows that they’re the only real line of defense. He knows that the guys and Nat are capable of doing great good. He believes in heroes .Nick Fury tells them as much in his pep talk and for dramatic effect he uses the cards. Subtext: Coulson cared about you guys. He believed in you. And he wanted you to go kick Loki’s butt. Phil Coulson just really cares about people no matter how well he knows them. And I love him for it.

NICK FURY: Knowing what we know now--because Coulson and Fury will be in Captain Marvel which takes place 15-ish years earlier--Coulson and Fury in this movie already know that there are bad ETs and they play rough. Even after the Chitauri are finished, Fury knows that this is just the beginning. He may have even suspected that Loki didn’t get that army on his own. That explains why Nick Fury asked the World Security Council to approve Insight. And the Dark Elves in Thor TDW may have made it more urgent.

You have to keep in mind, though, that Nick is under pressure from the Pinheads on the World Security Council and Hydra sleepers working under him

Nick is no stranger to pressure, however. He knows what he’s doing.

“I was playing something even riskier.” Riskier than weapons because people with superpowers can’t always be controlled or at least do what you want or even ask. Riskier because he suspects (rightly) that they won’t always get along. And that if they do disagree they may turn on each other. Riskier because people with superpowers cause destruction, sometimes more than they can fix. But always less than they prevent if they can do their job.

The events of Civil War may not have been that surprising to him as he watched from a distance wherever. He may have been quietly rooting for Cap. Or even worked with the Secret Avengers...where was I?

(Not that he doesn’t love Tony)

I actually appreciated Nick more on this viewing

Nick Fury is, in fact, the Main Character of The Avengers. We just didn’t realize it until now.

SHIELD AND MISCELLANY: I may need to watch this movie again soon because the peanut gallery that is My Family made it kind of hard to watch

But one of my brothers suggested why not have Cap hook up with Maria Hill? I admit it’s intriguing but they don’t actually have that much interaction in this film or in CATWS. Ships have sailed on more shallow waters but I don’t think this one floats for me.

The soundtrack is perfect, a great blend of dramatic epic themes with spy movie beats, with some chilling backdrop music to set a sinister tone for Loki. Alan Silvestri’s best work.

THE AVENGERS THEME MUSIC IS MAGNIFICENT, IT DESERVVES AS MUCH ATTENTION AS THE STAR WARS THEME

Infinity Stones do what they want.

Infinity Stones are also connected and that might be important in Endgame.

This is still one of the greatest superhero movies ever made. Still one of the best movies ever made period. Granted, you have to have seen the other movies for it to make any emotional sense but The Avengers is a masterpiece. Every character interaction has weight. Every detail is connected. The storytelling here is matchless. That’s my opinion and I’m sticking to it as fact.

Age of Ultron was just so “bad” that the rest of y’all forgot how good The Avengers is.

I would love to see this movie on a big screen again one day. Maybe a summer drive-through. It might be the only MCU movie besides GOTG that would be appropriate for that.

Jane Foster isn’t stupid y’all. She would have figured out something was up when SHIELD shipped her to consult at a remote observatory. The moment she saw Thor on the news her suspicions would be confirmed, when she heard about Coulson and Loki she would be even more hurt and confused about why Thor didn’t even at least look her up to say hello

The Original 6 Avengers are bonded in a way but they’re not really a family.

Actually they are but they aren’t at the same time, it’s hard to describe. Even when they spend more time later and build a working relationship they aren’t quite the family some of them think they are. Some of them are part of each other’s families but they’re not really a solid unit. Age of Ultron and Civil War split them along the subgroup lines that are already there.

Eric Selvig looks like a mess when he comes out from the mind spell. Is he ever okay again?

The guy who found Banner in the abandoned hangar may have seen aliens before.

While Thor opened up the MCU to “other worlds” it was really The Avengers that established that there was an entire UNIVERSE beyond where the Avengers were from--beyond even Asgard and its conquests--full of worlds that had lots of alien races--and plenty of them could pick a fight with a puny blue planet of people with relatively primitive technology if they wanted to. I think GOTG establishes that most don’t. But some still do.

I really don’t think there’s anything to compare with being on a movie set where Robert Downey Jr has been turned loose.

I still think Loki should have had that drink and I hope he did

Coulson might one day forgive Nick Fury for doing what he had to do--but those trading cards were in near-mint condition. Sheesh.

Well, that’s down to ten pages from around what could have been sixteen.

#SUPER LONG POST #meta #the avengers #aka the dysfunctionals that avenge stuff #avengers assemble #long post #mcu rewatch

11 notes · View notes

melodramaticfanatic-blog · 6 years

Text

Window to your soul(mate) - Ch. 3

Pairing: Sebastian Stan x reader

A/N: A bit short but fun. Sorry, I haven’t been able to give this my full attention but there is more good stuff coming I promise!

Warnings: smut…eventually. Fluff and slow burn. It’s safe to assume that all my stories are going to have at least a little NSFW, 18+ and language. Just how I write.

Summary: 3 months after moving to New York City, Y/N feels like she has finally found her footing. She has a great apartment, is making friends and has a steady enough job to pay the rent. She’s even gotten used to the empty apartment across from hers…but all that changes when a handsome film star returns home after months of being away.

Master list

Ch. 1 Ch. 2

Gif not mine, credit to owner

“It was a hard day’s night, and I was working like a dog. It was a hard day’s night, I wish I’d slept more like a log.”

Y/N sang the altered lyrics under her breath to herself as she finished mixing up a cocktail. She wasn’t much of a drinker but after the busy shift last night, she had come home and been unable to fall asleep. Exhausted and sore, Y/N had laid in bed for hours, willing her brain to shut off and just let her get some rest. Unfortunately, it had been nearly 8 AM when she finally drifted off into an uneasy slumber. Worse still, it was a mere three hours later that she woke up and found herself unable to close her eyes again.

Giving up on the idea of more sleep, Y/N had decided to mix herself a drink and sit out on her balcony with a book. If there couldn’t be sleep, let there be sun!

“But when I get home to you, I find the things that you do will make me feel alright!” She finished the line by taking a sip of her drink and giving a satisfied moan before collecting her book off the counter and walking to the balcony.

Being outside always made Y/N feel better and today was no different. She placed her glass on an end table, watching as the slight condensation beaded up and trickled small rivers downwards, then slouched down into the chair, propping her feet up on the balcony railing and pushing her sunglasses up slightly on the bridge of her nose to better shield her eyes. For several minutes, Y/N simply sat in that position, reclining in the sun and feeling relaxation wash over her for the first time since Sebastian had left the bar last night. Shifting in her chair to find a more comfortable position, Y/N picked up her book and began to read, losing herself in the fantasy world spun by the author’s well chosen words. It was a good book, full of mystery and complex characters so it wasn’t long before Y/N was fully enveloped in the plot and mostly oblivious to the world around her. If the book had been less enthralling she may have noticed the man coming out of his apartment to stand on the balcony across from her.

“Uh-ahem, uh, excuse me?”

Y/N was brought out of her book to the sound of a throat being cleared nearby.

“Uh...Y/N? Um. Hi. Hello again.”

She glanced around quickly but didn’t see anyone. Then she sat up slightly to peer over the railing. It was as she moved her feet so that they lay against the rail instead of standing perpendicular to it that she was able to see the man on the balcony across from her. The man who had seen her naked in the window. The man who had written her a note apologizing. With the weight of a freight train, Y/N recognized him. It was Sebastian.

“What. The. Actual. Unholy. Fuck.” Y/N spoke slowly making every word it’s own phrase.

“Yeah...” Sebastian looked highly embarrassed and his gaze was bouncing continuously between Y/N’s face and the ground as he rubbed the back of his neck in discomfort. “I did say that I’d see you around. Maybe I should been a little bit more specific though?”

“You think?!” Y/N burst out angrily. “It seems to me like something you mention. ‘Thanks for the beer. Oh, by the way, nice tits. Thanks for putting them on display in the window Neighbor!’ What, that fact just slipped your mind?!”

“No, it’s just...” Sebastian trailed off, his face beginning to flush as he became even more embarrassed due to her reaction. “Well, think about what you just said! I couldn’t really think of a way to slip it into the conversation.”

“How about the fact that you’re famous?” she hissed back venomously. “Couldn’t find an opening for that little tidbit either?”

Y/N knew that she was overreacting but she didn’t seem to have any control over her own mouth. It was like an out of body experience; she didn’t intend to treat Sebastian with such vitriol but she just stood by, watching it happen. The truth was pretty simple: she was embarrassed. She hadn’t recognized him last night and probably still wouldn’t have made the connection that the cute Sebastian she was chatting with was the famous, sexy Winter Soldier Sebastian Stan if Maggie hadn’t squealed that information excitedly into her ear after he had made his exit. She felt a fool for flirting with him. The lack of sleep probably wasn’t helping matters either.

“It didn’t seem relevant to our conversation. I must have forgotten my manners,” Sebastian’s voice was becoming more heated as he spoke and his hand had dropped to his side as he stared back stonily at Y/N. “See, I normally start every conversation by explaining how famous I am, what my net worth is and providing the address of my current residence.”

“Don’t do that,” she spat back exasperatedly. “Don’t pretend like I’m the bad guy.”

“What makes me the bad guy?!”

“I didn’t say you were the bad guy!”

“Well, who’s the bad guy then?! What the hell are we fighting about?!” Sebastian threw his hands into the air in disgust.

“We’re not fighting!” Y/N practically screamed the words across the small distance between their balconies.

Sebastian’s face turned to one of comical outrage and he screamed back, “What the hell do you call this then?”

“I’m sorry! I didn’t sleep well so I’m being a bitch! This is the second time that I’ve made a fool of myself by behaving badly in front of you and I don’t like it!!”

For several seconds there was silence except for the sounds of the city as Sebastian took in what Y/N had just said. She stood on her balcony, breathing hard and trying to regain her composure, hoping she still had a shred of dignity left to cling to. Then he started to laugh.

It was a beautiful thing. Sebastian laughing was a full body experience. His head tipped back in an attitude of full release as his eyes and nose scrunched up and his mouth opened widely revealing his perfect white teeth. The laughter came from deep in his belly, rumbling through his chest and shaking his large frame outwards from the core. It rolled through the air like music and set Y/N at ease, drawing the first smile from her since she had recognized him across the gap. Still laughing, Sebastian moved his hand up to cover his eyes which were beginning to water from mirth.

“That may be my favorite apology of all time. In fact, I think this is my favorite fight I’ve ever had.”

“I’m sorry,” Y/N said more sincerely since she wasn’t screaming it this time. “And really, that wasn’t a fight...it was more just me being frustrated with myself and you being too close to me as I vented.”

“I’m collateral damage,” he replied wryly with a shrug and a chuckle.

“Something like that...I really am sorry. A friend of mine back home used to compare me to the Hulk. She called it a code green when I was upset.”

“I don’t think that’s strictly necessary.” Sebastian held out his arms, putting himself on display. “I’m still fully intact.”

“Yeah, well, I’m tired. Next time it’s a code green, I’ll try and be more efficient in my destruction of you.” Y/N gave a wink and a half smile.

“I’ll look forward to it. In the meantime, I actually interrupted your reading for a reason.”

“Oh, you mean you didn’t want to simply yell nonsense at each other for no reason? I thought we’d already accomplished what you set out to achieve.”

“Well that was just part one of the plan,” Sebastian retorted, falling easily back into a teasing tone of voice. “See, I wanted to apologize to you for getting off on the wrong foot.”

“Look,” Y/N said pointing her finger accusingly at him as he smirked across the gap at her, “just stop being so nice right now. I already feel foolish enough, you don’t have to keep making it worse.”

“Making you feel foolish is part two of the plan though. It’s how I start all my friendships. Part three is where I tell you that I’m hosting a dinner for some of my friends at my apartment tomorrow and I invite you to join us.” Sebastian stood on his balcony, his hands tucked into the pockets of his pants and stared across the void to Y/N. His voice was sincere and laced with just the smallest amount of trepidation beneath the teasing.

“You want me to come to dinner with your friends?” Y/N asked incredulously. “I’ve inadvertently flashed you, teased you while acting as your waitress and now screamed at you for no reason at all. Either you’re crazy or you’re really desperate for friends.” She was shaking her head in disbelief at the handsome actor as a small smile played across her face.

“Desperate for friends,” Sebastian retorted while nodding, his face furrowed into an expression of mock solemnity. “Yeah, I sold all my previous friends into slavery on the black market so I need a new inventory.”

“Oh, well in that case I’d love to come. I’ve always wondered how much I’d be worth on an open market.”

Sebastian was grinning widely again, reveling in the teasing banter that already characterized his relationship with Y/N. “Perfect. It’s just a low key, casual thing since I haven’t been in the city in a while. Come on over around 5 PM tomorrow?”

“I’ll be there...and this time I’ll behave myself!”

“No need for that,” Sebastian said as his eyes narrowed hungrily and his mouth twisted into a devious smirk. “I like it when you misbehave.”

WTYS tags: @ajosieface @lolabean1998 @shynara51 @secretoktober

#sebastian stan #sebastian stan x reader #x reader #fanfic #mdfwrites

103 notes · View notes

animatormon · 5 years

Text

My Problem with Hulk in Ragnarok

The Hulk in Thor: Ragnarok is not the same character from the previous MCU films. The Hulk (I think it’s important to stress that Bruce and Hulk are separate characters, and I will be focusing solely on the Hulk here) has had a consistent characterization from The Incredible Hulk to The Avengers: Age of Ultron. This is completely thrown away in Thor: Ragnarok, and I have a serious problem with that.

First, I’ll describe what the Hulk’s character actually was. When Bruce first turns into the Hulk in The Incredible Hulk (after the montage at the start), he speaks his first ever line of dialogue in the MCU; and it says a lot about him. “Leave me alone.” There are a few obvious things you can deduce from this line.

The Hulk does not want to fight. As the scene continues, Hulk beats the soldiers easily, so it isn’t that he’s scared or worried he’ll get hurt. This desire to avoid a fight might be because he doesn’t actually like violence, or it might be because he doesn’t deem them worthy of a fight. We’ll return to this later for clarification.

Hulk isn’t as stupid as one might assume. His first line of dialogue EVER is a complete sentence spoken in 1st person. He is clearly capable of clear, grammatical speech all the way back in 2008.

Hulk isn’t just a monster of blind rage. Sure he’s angry, but he’s got a clear enough head to give his opponents the opportunity of avoiding a fight altogether.

The main take away is that Hulk isn’t a mindless monster.

The Incredible Hulk makes it clear that Hulk isn’t stupid. It’s the opposite in fact. He’s quite smart; he just doesn’t understand how the world works, at least not fully. Basically, he’s high in INT and low in WIS.

Now, why do I claim Hulk is smart? Multiple times throughout the film he is able to come up with intelligent solutions to problems he’s presented with. When Hulk is being bombarded by the sound cannons, he’s clever enough to use one piece of scrap metal as a shield against the cannon, allowing him to aim and throw the other piece of scrap metal at said cannon to destroy it. When fighting Abomination, he’s clever enough to turn a car into makeshift brass knuckles. When the helicopter is about to burst into flames, Hulk is clever enough (and quick-thinking enough) to use a sonic clap to snuff out the fire. These aren’t the actions of an idiot.

Now, to be fair, Hulk doesn’t do anything all that clever in The Avengers and The Avengers: Age of Ultron. However, he’s never faced with an opponent too strong for a single punch to deal with (aside from Thor and Iron Man, but Hulk clearly isn’t in his right mind during either of those fights), so he doesn’t need to.

So what do I mean when I say that Hulk doesn’t understand how the world works? Well, in The Incredible Hulk, he believes that the thunder storm is an actual enemy that might hurt Betty. He doesn’t understand what a thunder storm is.

Let me return to something I briefly mentioned earlier. Hulk’s first line is “Leave me alone.” If you pay attention to Hulk’s actions in each film, it becomes clear that Hulk doesn’t actually like to fight. He only fights in self-defense or in the defense of others. The only exception being his first appearance in The Avengers and the fight in Africa in The Avengers: Age of Ultron, and like I said before, Hulk isn’t in his right mind for either fight. For the former, he’s being influenced by the scepter, and for the latter, he’s under the control of Scarlet Witch.

Speaking of the Scarlet Witch, once the effects of her spell wear off, Hulk is clearly not pleased to find that he’s hurt innocent people. At the end of the film, he leaves a potential relationship with Black Widow out of fear of hurting her. How do I conclude this? Well, Joss Whedon clearly states this in his commentary for the film. Besides that, it’s the simplest conclusion you can make when you look at the evidence. Hulk is upset to find that he’s lost control and hurt innocent people. Then, he purposefully disobeys Black Widow’s instructions on how to return to her, opting instead to fly far away from all the people he cares about. He leaves because he doesn’t want to hurt the people he cares about.

In The Avengers, Hulk smiles when Captain America instructs him to “smash.” One might try to argue that he’s happy because he likes violence, but I’d argue that evidence points to a different conclusion. Hulk is happy because not only does he get the chance to defend innocent people, he also (for the first time ever) gets to fight side-by-side with people that trust and respect him. He gets to fight against the bad guys, which we see again at the start of The Avengers: Age of Ultron.

To summarize: The Hulk from The Incredible Hulk to The Avengers: Age of Ultron is an intelligent character who tries to avoid fights, only engaging in them when he needs to defend himself, to defend someone he cares about, or to defend general innocents.

Is this the same character we see in Thor: Ragnarok?

No.

In Thor: Ragnarok, Hulk’s INT and WIS stats seem to have swapped. He more accurately understands how the world works, but he’s dumber. He understands what a QuinJet is, but he’s mentally a child. Sure he talks more, but since when does talking a lot indicate intelligence? Even though he showed signs of proper speech in The Incredible Hulk, he’s still stuck with broken grammar and 3rd person. His personality is drastically more childish and immature than the previous films. Hulk doesn’t display any ingenuity in fighting, other than PUNCH HARDER.

And now Hulk doesn’t seem to care about his friends. He worked side-by-side with Thor during The Avengers to protect the people of New York. Sure, he punches him after defeating a leviathan, but its clearly just a joke, and he doesn’t mean any real harm by it. In Thor: Ragnarok, he attempts to kill Thor in the arena even when Thor makes it clear that he doesn’t want to fight (and yes, I mean kill. As far as I can tell, these fights are supposed to be to the death, and Hulk’s final move was clearly meant to kill). Hulk also shows no sympathy to the potential extinction of Thor’s people and actually laughs at his suffering.

Also, I find it rather insulting when the film implies Hulk has had no problem murdering innocent people for two years. Remember that Hulk is battling against slaves forced to fight him. Doug, while just a silly joke on the surface, was a real person (a slave forced into the arena) that the Hulk killed.

Does this really seem like the same character who left Black Widow out of fear of hurting her?

Tangent: AND DON’T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON HOW NERFED HULK IS IN THE THOR FIGHT. Hulk should win that fight easily. Why? Hulk was shown to be capable of killing a leviathan with a single punch. Thor has never demonstrated an equivalent feat WITH HIS HAMMER. And you’re telling me that Thor can win a fight against the Hulk with no hammer? A HULK THAT HAS SPENT THE LAST 2 YEARS DOING NOTHING BUT FIGHTING. I call foul on that.

In conclusion: The Hulk in Thor: Ragnarok is not the same character from the previous Marvel films. He’s been completely rewritten for the purposes of the movie without any consideration of consistency. Hulk is written to be who the general public thinks he is, not who he actually is.

#Hulk #The Hulk #The Incredible Hulk #MCU #Avengers: Age of Ultron #Age of Ultron #Ultron #Thor #thor: ragnarok #Ragnarok #Rant #Character

2 notes · View notes

daydreamerdrew · 13 days

Text

Comics read this past week:

Marvel Comics:

Captain America (2018) #2

This issue was published in August 2018, according to the Marvel Wiki. It was written by Ta-Nehisi Coates, penciled by Leinil Francis Yu, inked by Gerry Alanguilan and Leinil Francis Yu, and colored by Sunny Gho.

I didn’t get around to getting further in this series this week, but issue #2 got me interested in the run in a way that issue #1 didn’t. I was interested in the approach to Steve’s characterization and the overall story direction, and I shockingly got a little more on board with Steve and Sharon’s relationship.

The Avengers (1963) #40-42

These issues were published across March 1967 to May 1967, according to the Marvel Wiki. All were written by Roy Thomas. Issue #40 was penciled by Don Heck, and issues #41-42 were penciled by John Buscema. All were inked by George Roussos.

In issue #40, after Pietro talks about he and his sister “had not but each other” growing up, Clint thinks, “It seems like a lifetime ago that I, too, had someone for whom I’d have defied the world! Oh, Natasha.. Natasha! Why did you betray both America.. and the man who loved you?” Then later, “No matter where Natasha’s gone.. or what she’s done.. someday, somehow, I’ll find her! And, when I do, nothing will ever part us again… Nothing!”

In a little reference to the wider Marvel universe, one panel depicts that the plane Natasha had to steal to go to China for her mission for S.H.I.E.L.D. came from General Ross’ military base, and he immediately assumes that she must be working with the Hulk.

Also in issue #40, the Avengers receive a call from Steve, which is initially broken up, and Clint says, “Tune ‘er in fast, Waspie! That’s my buddy, talkin’.. and, he might need help!” Then in issue #41 Clint jokes, while training, “Another bullseye- and from a trapeze, yet! If I get any better, we won’t even need ol’ Cap to come back!”

In issue #41 Wanda thinks, “Hawkeye’s temper starts to flare up again! Yet, I know it is because he still misses the Black Widow- who has become a traitor!” When Hercules recklessly destroys some of the Avengers’ machinery, Clint complains, “The control panel you busted cost Tony Stark plenty- what’s more, Cap an’ I spent a whole day installin’ it!” Clint ends up walking away from his argument with Hercules, saying, “Aw, the heck with it! Fightin’ won’t bring Natasha back- and, that’s all I really care about!”

I liked the bit of Hercules’ characterization in issue #42 where he says, of going off to rescue Janet from Dragon Man alone while everyone else confronts Diablo, “In sooth, I care little for the glory of closing in combat with the one yclept Dragon Man! Yet, my heart is stirred by pangs of pity- for the lovely Wasp! For, of all the Avengers, ‘tis she who hath most befriended me!”

In issue #42 Steve returns to the book. He jokes to Clint, “Like you always used to say, Hawkeye- Maybe I’m just getting old!” Clint responds, “Partner, if I ever say that again- just wash my mouth out with soap!”

At the end of issue #42 the Avengers find out that Natasha was working for S.H.I.E.L.D. and that she’s now been captured. Steve declares, “We must rescue her- somehow!” And Clint says, “NO! I’m the guy who loves her- who should’ve believed in her, no matter what! So now, I’m the Joe that’s gotta get her out of there- or die trying! And I’ve got to do it- my way!!”

Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandoes (1963) #22

This issue was published in July 1965, according to the Marvel Wiki. It was written by Stan Lee, penciled by Dick Ayers, and inked by Carl Hubbell.

I really liked the story of this issue. Sergeant McGiveney, who we’ve seen a few times before, has a rivalry with Nick. But when the two of them are separated from their respective squads, the Commandoes and the Maulers, in enemy territory- though they insult each other the entire time- neither of them stoop to jeopardizing the broader mission and work together.

Timely Publications:

Young Allies (1941) #1

This issue was published in July 1941, according to the issue cover date. The story took up the whole issue for a total of 57 pages.

Young Allies #1 contained Bucky and Toro's and then Cap and Jim Hammond’s first meetings. Toro saves Bucky and the regular Young Allies and then introduces himself, "I'm Toro. You're Bucky, Captain America's side-kick, aren't you?" Bucky says, "Yes, I'm the leader of the Sentinels of Liberty Club!" Toro brashly tries to insist that he should be the leader because he saved them and could take all of them in a fight (considering he actually has powers), but the other kids resist this because they like Bucky. Their respective superheroes are invoked with Toro saying, "I could lick your Captain America too!" And Bucky responding, "Yeah? You and how many Human Torches?" After this there isn't any more conflict between any of the kids, aside from accusations throughout the issue that one of them is a "sissy" for being hesitant to do something.

The kids all go on this whole long adventure, traveling to England on a ship and using an anti-aircraft gun to fight off a bombing raid once they get there, then walking to the coast and making a raft to get to France, then largely driving to Germany. In Germany they break into Gestapo Headquarters to find out where British spy Agent Zero is being held, are briefly in a concentration camp, escape, then head to the Red Skull's lair to free Agent Zero. Fleeing from the Red Skull's forces they all end up in Russia, get arrested there, and are on their way to the "Siberian-Mongolian" border when they escape and flee to China, end up in Hong Kong, then get another ride on a ship back to the United States. Only at the very end, when they're in trouble in the U.S., do the kids call Captain America and the Human Torch for help.

Cap and Jim arrive to save the kids at the same time. Jim says, "So you're Captain America, eh? I've heard of you!" And Steve says, "Greetings, Torch! Going my way?" as the two charge at the bad guys. After the battle is over, Bucky explains everything that happened to the adults with his arm around Toro.

I was really surprised and interested in by the portrayal of the woman character in this issue, Agent Zero. The first four parts of the story were written by Otto Binder and the last two were written by Stan Lee. It's clear that the reveal that Agent Zero is a woman wasn't intended by Otto Binder, nor by Stan Lee until the sixth part. In Otto Binder's sections Agent Zero is a valiant spy, though he needs the help of little children, and holds up well in a fight and doesn't reveal information while tortured. Agent Zero is written and drawn as a normal man in the fifth section, then Stan Lee has Agent Zero reveal that she's actually a woman in the sixth when she changes in order to more easily convince a ship captain in China to take her and the boys back to America, which I thought was an actually fairly realistic decision. The character is a pretty successful crossdresser, after this point she's not drawn with a drastically more feminine face until the big reveal to everyone, at which point she's suddenly wearing bright lipstick. The only characterization difference is that she's affectionate to the boys at the very end of the story, and that she gets close to breaking under torture despite holding up while in the Red Skull's captivity earlier. It's unfortunate to me that it doesn't look like this character was ever revisited in modern comics because I think there's a lot of potential there.

As part of the issue's final message, Agent Zero says, "You see, while men do the fighting on the battlefield, we women do our part, too! When my message is delivered to all the free capitals of the world, the combined forces of the democracies will smash the brutal dictatorships!" And in the Human Torch's part, he says, "While dictatorship enslaves men abroad, and crushes their freedom of speech and worship, you boys and girls must live up to and guard these precious rights over here!"

DC Comics:

Action Comics (2016) #1065

This issue was published this month, May 2024. The main story was written by Joshua Williamson, drawn by Rafa Sandoval and Miguel Mendonça, and colored by Alejandro Sánchez. There was also a 10-page back-up story written by Joshua Williamson, drawn by Mirko Colak, and colored by Mike Spicer. I hadn’t read anything drawn by Mirko Colak before and I particularly liked his work here.

The main story continued Kara and Kon’s escape attempt, Lex and Brainiac’s tense working relationship, and Lobo and Clark trying to get to Brainiac’s ship. This event hasn’t gone into any detail about Kara and Brainiac’s history, just repeatedly referred to it, and I am intrigued. Brainiac and Lex’s working relationship ends here as Kara forcibly takes Lex with her when she escapes so she can make him explain everything to her, and Brainiac says, “Luthor is no longer needed. Shoot to kill.”

The back-up story was about Brainiac’s disappointing son Vril Dox (II). This story made me realize how little I know about Brainiac; I haven’t known there were other characters he had a parent-child relationship with. I’ve been following this event because of my prior knowledge about and interest in Lena Luthor II. Vril explains, “You literally created me from your own DNA. And then you experimented on and tortured me for years.” Brainiac considers him “too emotional.” I wonder if reading up more on this character would shed some light on Lena’s time with Brainiac 13.

Lex and Lena’s relationship before this event wasn’t great, but his demeanor towards her was a lot better (and more normal) than it was in their Our Worlds at War-era history. Considering how Superman (2023) has portrayed Lex so far, I wonder if there will be anything done paralleling Lex and Brainiac’s desire to be a parent but inability to truly be one as it’s usually defined, with an inherent care for one’s child, which Lex is overcoming but Brainiac can’t.

Superman (2023) #14

This issue was published this month, May 2024. It was written by Joshua Williamson, drawn by Rafa Sandoval and Miguel Mendonça, and colored by Alejandro Sánchez.

The idea that Brainiac was creating a family for himself was raised by Supergirl, who doesn’t know about the flashback to Brainiac seeing a father trying to save his doomed children or heard Brainiac talk about trying to understand something he’s missing. She cites all of the alternate versions of himself that Brainiac collected and has working for him. Though that does seem to be what the event is leading up to Lex shuts her down, saying, “Don’t be so naive. He’s creating-”

This issue confirmed that Lena doesn’t remember her history with Brainiac. I liked the phrasing of her arguing to Brainiac that “you’ve got the wrong me,” as though she’s a distinctly different person from her younger self that was with Brainiac. He says of his grand plot that “this all started with you” and refers to the Brainiac Queen as “what we bring into the universe.”

Despite Lex’s comment, it doesn’t seem to me from the reveal of the Brainiac Queen that Brainiac isn’t creating a family for himself. Maybe the distinction is that he doesn’t want a big family, like Superman has, but one person he’s involved with. Brainiac says to Superman “I am beginning to see where else you draw your strength from,” then uses Superman’s friends and family members that he’s captured to literally power his creation. He also says, “I understand that this will also mean some sacrifices of my own,” perhaps meaning that he’s also using the doppelgängers of himself he amassed in the process.

Superboy (2011) #1-2

These issues were published across November 2010 to December 2010, according to the DC Wiki. Both were written by Jeff Lemire, drawn by Pier Gallo, and colored by Jamie Grant.

I gave this book a try because House of Brainiac got me in the mood to read up on Kon and Lex. I was curious about the depiction of the ‘clone of Superman and Lex Luthor’ retcon, which I’m really more familiar with in adapted media. Also, I haven’t finished reading the Reign of the Supermen storyline and I don’t think Superboy (1994) is accessible without it.

There was nothing wrong with the art, but the writing in these two issues was certainly not impressive or compelling.

#comics read this past week #my posts

0 notes

super-hero-confessions · 7 years

Photo

As someone who’s been reading Hulk comics for years, I truly believe that “Age of Ultron” butchered Bruce Banner. Bruce’s dynamic with his teammates was stagnant throughout the entire film (even his relationship with Natasha didn’t progress; he remained hesitant the entire time). There was little introspection and overall development for him, aside from a retread of the “I need to be alone” tidbit from “The Incredible Hulk” near the end, rendering the film a wasted opportunity to dig into his character and make him progress. What did change for him between the first “Avengers” and this film; the little shift in dynamic with him and the Hulk, was not even explained well. Spoon-feeding the audience isn’t necessary, but you shouldn’t leave them aimless and trying to fill in all of the blanks. Bruce also lost his backbone and resolve, which was inappropriate. Bruce Banner isn’t a pushover, especially the MCU version. He sticks to his guns and won’t bend if it means doing the right thing, even if he suffers. It’s why he didn’t surrender to Ross even though he was in a terrible situation; he knew it would be a disaster if the military got their hands on the Hulk. So why the wishy-washy, lapdoggy characterization in AOU? One could argue that Bruce was friends with Tony, so he would have been more inclined to listen to him. But remember that Bruce loved Betty Ross, but he still left her because he knew what the consequences of sticking around could be. Essentially, Whedon neglected all of Bruce’s prior experiences that would make him think playing with fire, ie. creating Ultron, was a bad idea. Whedon ignored the fact that the last time Bruce tried to improve the world, he created the Hulk. He ignored the fact that in the first “Avengers”, Bruce was essentially surrounded by people on the helicarrier but still held his ground. He ignored the fact that at the end of “Avengers”, when Bruce arrived to fight with them, there was an inkling of confidence. Where did that Bruce go?

Then there’s the plot hole at the end, when Bruce was in Sokovia. When Natasha shoved him off the cliff, the Hulk should’ve attacked her. Bruce is never stable when he’s forced to turn, plus he was reluctant to go and fight. One could argue that the Hulk (if it was a separate entity from Bruce, which wasn’t even clear in the film) was in control and didn’t feel inclined to hurt Natasha, but remember what happened when he woke up in Johannesburg? He was upset by the damage he’d caused. Why would he willingly go back to Sokovia to fight, which would entail more damage? Let’s consider that for some reason, the Hulk did decide to go back and fight in spite of that. Yet when we see him in the playground at the end, he’s suddenly upset about being there, presumably because of the damage. So either the Hulk was stupid and went to fight without realizing it would involve damage, which he’d clearly wanted to avoid based on the playground scene, or - during the cliff scene - Whedon just decided to drop all the character’s reservations about fighting, simply so the Hulk would be in the battle (thus appeasing Hulk fans), then pick these reservations back up in the end and hope the audience didn’t realize it. It’s a huge insult to the audience’s intelligence.

Not only this, but there are so many other issues with the film that I firmly believe I’m not overreacting to these items. Ultron was a carbon copy of Loki with his grandiose, Shakespearean, “I see this world as a flawed product of humanity” scheming. The relationship between Bruce and Natasha wasn’t fleshed out enough to make it believable or convincing to many people (I’m saying this as someone who’s shipped them since the first “Avengers”). And the whole army of disposable battle entities at the end should not have been repeated from the first film; that screams laziness to me and the stakes did not feel high as a result. How did Marvel approve this script?

#The Hulk #Bruce Banner #Age of Ultron #confession

38 notes · View notes

socialpants · 6 years

Text

Infinity War is not a good movie

The action scenes are really good. Well done. Inventive. Good pace.

(gonna go into why the rest is not good under the cut and everything will be SPOILED)

The movie does zero to try and piece itself together as a narrative whole. It’s not meant as a standalone movie. It’s meant as the 1st half of a whole movie. And while the action scenes are good and the plot sort of starts to stick together coherently in the latter third of it, it still wont get there by the end credits.

Don’t get me wrong, by the time Thor was out there making his new hammer, I wasn’t spending as much time getting distracted by the internet but actually wanted to know how the movie was progressing, but the first 2/3 are completely wasted.

From the top:

- the opening scene is bad. Thanos intersects Thor and friends on their way to find a New Asgard and just off screen kills everyone. Everyone except Thor, Loki and Hulk. It feels like the script thought the Asgardians were inconvenient, so yeah, let’s just kill them all. Off screen. Then Loki acts badly, with poor dialogue and no one in their right mind for a moment believes anything he says or that the scene would have any canonical weight. Puff, he’s “dead” too. Heimdall is killed with a poke in the gut. Valkyrie is just killed off screen I guess. No one in the writing team cared about the previous Thor movie (or about anything much as I was about to find out).

- Banner is sent to Earth where he can’t hulk out anymore. Cue erectile dysfunction jokes. Because Hulk is his penis. Hulk is his sentient, completely separate entity penis. So that’s thing.

- Stark and Pepper are in the park arguing about wedding plans. They’re together now? Didn’t she leave him before? I don’t care. It’s Downey and Gwynnie. They’re having rich couple non-problems about getting married. Not for a moment are they anything relateable or other than Downey and Gwynnie. I’m flipping through the internet while they and Dr Strange get attacked. Spidey is there. Spidey is good. He gets well established through his dialogue within his 5 or so minutes on the screen.

- Wanda and Vision are doing couples things in Scotland (?). They’re the only couple that it’s created to be a real couple and who come off as Wanda and Vision. Good solid acting. you care for them as characters and believe them as people.

- Chris Pratt is in space. Dear god I hope the real Pratt is nothing like Starlord because Starlord is an insecure infantile douchebag. I guess he’s dating Gamora? they’re not a couple. Chris Pratt is annoying. I don’t care about their relationship or their bad dialogue. Mantis and Drax are relatable with solid communication. Everyone else suffers from Can’t Tell You Vital Shit Because It Would Ruin The Movie -itis.

- There’s loads of really clunky dialogue going on. Everyone speaks in very bad exposition and forced tension. When exposition isn’t happening, Benny Cucumberman is a good Dr Strange, Benedict Wong is good as Wong though completely underused. Because the script just wants to stuff everything and their cat into 2+ hours, it fails at giving most characters proper screen time. Instead it just focuses on fights.

- There’s fight fight fight. Vision is moved to Wakanda so we get Black Panther and Bucky involved. Fight fight fight. If you haven’t seen Black Panther, you will have zero investment on any of this as no characterization is given. Okoye is the only person given a personality with her body language. More fighting.

- The infinity stones exist, but what do they actually do? No one knows! Mostly they just go pew pew pew. Everything about them is very disappointing. To be a god, you really only need a bunch of different colored laser pointers.

- Thanos goes around being a cartoon villain just missing his fedora. By the third act, they’ve decided to give him a personality, but his motivation isn’t stuffed in until the last 20 minutes and even then it’s hugely at odds with what they want you to believe his personality to be; He just wants to save the universe from overpopulation by killing half the population very violently and causing massive amount of ecological damage everywhere he goes. Like... he also employs people who clearly just get their kicks from murder and torture, he totally wrecks the planets’ environment whenever he lands on one and aren’t the people he doesn’t kill just going to pretty quickly repopulate to the same level as before? THIS IS ALL VERY POORLY THOUGHT OUT!

- Oh hai Hugo Weaving! Why are you here? No reason. We just needed to get everyone who’s ever been in a Marvel movie to make an appearance. So Hugo Weaving is a ghost thingy that just kinda hangs around the Soul Stone. Why? There was a map to the place and once you get there there’s really only one place to go, with a single path to walk and it’s two gant stone pillars that you can probably seen from space so fairly hard to miss. So . uh.. I guess it’s a cosmic punishment to be the most pointless ghost ever?

- the Soul Stone demands you sacrifice what you most love to handle it. Which is dumb and pointless. Who made up this rule? The stone? The person who hid it? If you get a regular person wanting the stone, they’d never sacrifice a beloved person to fiddle with a stone, so you’ll only end up getting handled by murderous lunatics and the story ends up legitimizing their obsessive controlling needs as genuine love? That’s bad writing. Oh and of course Gamora is “the only thing Thanos loves” and she just happens to be there. What a coinkydink! thanos promptly throws her off the cliff. Sure didn’t see that coming! *groan* And by this point we don’t know enough about Thanos to care about any of this. We still don’t know his motivation. Or why he’d totally torture his other adopted daughter but man look at this little Gamora kid I took as a souvenir from one of those planets where I slaughtered everyone, I sure do love her more than anything! Because the plot says I do! (To Josh Brolin’s credit, I think he does a decent job with a piss poor script)

- Thor is off on his own little adventure trying to get a new hammer made. Only there’s just a single person left to operate the cosmic blacksmith’s shop where galactic weapons are made and their forge has gone out. It doesn’t matter. We still get the forge going. And it doesn’t seem to take that much effort. Even though “it’s suicidal to try to keep the thingymagic manually open” and Thor ”will definitely die if he tries”.Thor keeps it manually open for a wee bit and doesn’t die or even get maimed. Yay we got a new hammer! This sweltery is also the same place where Thanos’s little glitter glove was made. Which is funny that he managed to kill everyone there for no apparent reason but to be a dick, yet he left the very legendary and actual pre-existing mold of the weapon that can kill him totally alone. Thanos, wyd baby, no.

- Nebula escapes, which apparently was just a question of getting into a touching distance of a single guard. This also seems like really bad writing.

- Fight fight fight. Everyone acts kind of out of character, but it could just be that the dialogue is mostly very bad. Vision is killed, twice. Both times are very sad. Possibly the best moment in the movie. Good job actors. Then Thor hammers Thanos who dies and doesn’t and kills “half the population of the universe”, I guess? Wibbly wobbly timey wimey and he’s back to some sort of a farm house-meadow thing in the end credits. I dunno. Insert dust effects. There’s really no dramatic tension here aside from Peter and Wanda’s deaths. Everyone else just looks kinda like, welp, this sure was a movie we were in. Okoye is, again, the lone person reacting accordingly to their loved one turning to dust.

- End credits state that thanos will be back. Just so you know, in case you had invested even an ounce of emotion into these people “dying”, here’s how we make sure that you shouldn’t have to worry, because we’re basically only halfway through the movie. But you’ll have to wait at least a year to watch the second half. We just have to design new suits for everyone we bring back from “the dead”.

0 notes