dvaderstark

[dvaderstark]

Tony and Ultron. Wanda and Bruce.

Tony obviously deserves crap for Ultron's creation but I just want to point something out. Also Tony was in the middle of trying to create Ultron before Wanda's messed with his head it was just the scepter's involvement in this that Wanda allowed. It would be accurate to say that Wanda sped up Ultron's creation but she wasn't the sole responsible obviously. This is not meant to be anti-Wanda. But the thing to point out is that it was the Mind Stone that created Ultron and made Ultron the way he was. By all accounts Vision is what Ultron was meant to be even if Tony clearly envisioned a global system and not just one guy. I would make the argument that while Tony certainly deserves backlash from the others for doing this and not telling them Ultron turning out like that isn't solely on him. He's created other A.I. in the past that never had this issue and it would be impossible to predict that the Mind Stone would do that but it also was still something he should have asked the others about.

Now we have a contrasting case of this another case of this with Wanda mind controlling Bruce leading to him Hulking out and rampaging in Johannesburg. Now I do actually believe that Wanda just wanted to put the whammy on Bruce in a matter that would bring the Hulk out after all she does say I want the big one right before it but didn't want what happened afterward to happen and instead have him be just frozen and catatonic like with Steve, Thor and Natasha were. In that way she and Tony are similar in this case. I could argue that it's dumb of Wanda to think that doing this to the Hulk wouldn't backfire but hey if every prior person she did this to reacted the same way including Thor In could buy her thinking that too. Second Johannesburg is apparently so far away from where they were it would be unreasonable for Wanda to think the Hulk could get there. I can also buy this as well. But we see in prior entries that the Hulk is pretty fast and has the same amazing jumping capabilities that his comics counterpart has. Plus Whedon and the writers probably didn't care about the distance and just picked one of the nearest big cities.

Just one thing to defend Tony on here. I have heard people argue that Johannesburg is more on him since he was reckless in fighting the Hulk there. I have to disagree here because while yes it takes a bit for Tony to say that he is taking trying to remove Bruce from the city what immediately follows basically tells the audience that if he had tried that from the start it wouldn't have worked anyway. Also one point of Tony doing his best to avoid casualties is when he takes out that under construction building which there were no people in is that he fires missiles at the base in such a way that when it will fall it will do the least amount of mage to city and the people in it.

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Everyone misinterpreted Mike's speech

I don't love Mike's speech to El in the finale even if I don't hate it either. But I just want to mention two things to the Byler fans angry by this. First Mike said that the day he met El his life began. That doesn't mean best day of my life and he is technically right since I imagine that for everyone involved in the Upside Down business that the day they got involved with El and the Upside Down their lives really did begin.

Second even if Mike did mean best day of his life he is not saying Will's disappearance was a part of that best day since they weren't the same day. Will disappeared the night November 6, 1983, the gang met El the next night those are different days.

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Season 1 Steve vs Jason

I have heard a lot of people compare Jason to Season 1 Steve and say that Jason would have turned out like Steve if only he knew about the Upside Down. Now while Jason is a very well written character and the best human antagonist in the whole show I say no to this.

Also just to address something while I think he's morally better than Billy I don't find that to be an impressive accomplishment either.

There is one thing to point to that shows that even when Steve was your typical 80s douche boyfriend he was still decent is that Steve has absolutely no idea and hasn't experienced anything supernatural until he gets to the Byers household whereas Jason does experience crazy stuff prior to finding Lucas in the Creek House like Patrick's death.

Steve went to the Byers house for the purpose of apologizing to Jonathan for what he said and we see his surprise when he sees that Nancy is there. Steve only went there since he recognized that what he said was over the line. Jason never has a single moment in Season 4 where even when confronted with reasonably solid proof like once again, Eddie wasn't doing anything that seemed demon like when Patrick died he still continues to go down that road.

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Jonathan and the pictures

I love Jonathan Byers but my one issue with him is of course the pictures. This is a really bad thing and while I can understand why Nancy chose to forgive him I also understand why fans haven't especially in thinking that it makes it unrealistic for the two of them to date. I also think it was warranted for Steve to break Jonathan's camera. I think Jonathan gets some help here since we the audience he didn't go out into the woods with the intention to stalk them and I do think he initially stayed there because he was fascinated by them hanging out and not having a care in the world compared to what he's doing.

Second as to why Nancy forgives him. I think this occurs for the following reasons in story, first Nancy did seem to think Steve went to far in breaking the camera. Second Nancy did seem to take pity on Jonathan for what happened to Will. Neither of these excuse what he did just what the show seems to portray. She also goes to him when she sees the Demogorgon in his picture and thought he could help and through that they realize the Demogorgon connection. Through this they realize that they have a common interest and don't have much else in the way of people helping them. Through this they work together and Nancy sees more of Jonathan he apologizes to her but even as a Jonathan fan it could have been a better apology but not a bad apology either. She sees more of how caring and protective he is of the people he loves and how nice he is the night after he helped save her and afterwards when she was so scared and recognized the real nice guy. Further he also helped her in fighting the Demogorgon afterwards. Also Nancy doesn't get together with him until a year later and in that time they probably spent more time together and bonded more.

But even then I still hate him taking the pictures especially of course the one right before the one he took of Barb since from a story perspective Jonathan was only there for Nancy to find the picture and see the Demogorgon in it. I have heard a great counterproposal to this, Jonathan doesn't take any pictures of Nancy up in the room and focuses on Barb after they leave. Why does he do this? Because he finds her sitting there all by her lonesome to be interesting and wonders why she is staying there and what he said about taking a picture reveals about a person really reflects. But a majority of Jonathan's pictures there before that still focus on Nancy and Steve notices that when Nicole shows him. Steve is still understandably still angry and everything unfolds after that the same.

[dvaderstark]

Mike and El and the prospect of them sleeping together in ST 5

Now personally if this happens I won't care. Mileven is my least favorite of the 4 canon ships but I also don't really like Byler either so I have zero dog in this fight. But I have heard on quite a few areas online that a very common fan prediction for next season is that Mike and El will sleep together. I don't buy it.

My primary reason is that it would happen after the timeskip most likely with both characters being around 16 or 17 but the situation they would be in in the apocalypse fighting Vecna when the two still have issues to sort out implies that if this were to happen it would at best be a scene after Vecna is defeated for good, this just wouldn't be the right time.

It's the same reason why I hope that the love triangle will be resolved as soon as possible this is such an important situation that it would make sense that the characters would try and resolve this stuff quickly since their working together. The other reason tied into that is that if we look at every prior time we've either seen sex start on this show or a couple afterwards it's in a situation where they have no idea the seriousness of the main plot and situation. Those cases are Steve and Nancy at the end of Season 1, episode 2 where their plot so far has basically been a teen drama, the supernatural stuff won't kick in until the next episode for them, Hopper and the librarian an episode later, Hopper won't discover the conspiracy until the episode after that, Jonathan and Nancy in Season 2, episode 6, when their entire plot has been cut off from Will's possession plot and they don't figure out what they missed until really the finale, and Jonathan and Nancy at the start of Season 3, when they have been through 8 months of relative calm and have no idea that the Mind Flayer is plotting again. So yeah that is why at best I could see this happening as like the two of them doing this after Vecna is defeated once and for all and that's it in the finale but during the season which is what was implied I am going to say no.

[dvaderstark]

Steddie is okay

Steddie or Steve/Eddie is the most popular ST ship. Now I get the popularity for the most part, they are both popular likable attractive characters, they have a good opposites attract thing going, Steve was a character who was popular to ship with mainly guys before this anyway, they fit together well in regards to their relationships with Dustin, and they do have some good moments, when Eddie compliments Steve over biting the demo-bat for example, and when Eddie mentions that Steve will be driving he does so in a flirty sounding tone or even in the scene where Eddie is telling Steve that Nancy loves him (Eddie is wrong on that) Eddie shows a lack of personal space.

But I just have one issue with this ship and it's a big one they do not interact enough for me. It takes until I think the last 3 episodes for any substantial interactions to take place that just feels a bit too late and the ones I named were the only ones I could really think of. Compare this with Ronance, who first started having major interactions in Episode 3 or 4 or even Jargyle in spite of Jonathan's underuse whose major scenes start in the first 2 and in those pairs they are each other's main relationship for the season whereas Steve and Eddie both feel more tied to Dustin than too each other. I don't dislike this ship, I'm neutral on it.

[dvaderstark]

Brief defense of Wesley in "Billy"

I think that Wesley gets too much hate in this episode. First I happen to look at the idea of Billy awakening an ancient primordial misogyny that exists in every man to be ridiculous. I do subscribe to the idea that it's basically mind control and the reason why Angel was not affected by it is because he's a fellow demon. The points that some fans seem to get on Wesley for are that he falls victim to the control too early and that Fred shouldn't have to comfort him at the end it should be the other way around.

Regarding the first point by all accounts, it took a very long time for Wesley to be consumed by the same outward violence towards women that every other guy taken by Billy's control does. Since they had to walk to the drive to the area of the crime and he touched the sample there, I would say he and Fred probably walked back in say 15-20 minutes. Then it takes more time for them to use their microscopes and such to discover the elements of Billy's blood and while at that point Wesley begins acting more odd the violent streak doesn't come through for a while. By all accounts it took more than a half hour for Wesley to be fully taken over. For contrast Gunn who I am not bashing at all here seemed to fall faster in quicker time and it was only Fred explaining to him what happened and realizing it would have happened to him too that lead to him asking her to knock him out and the misogyny was showing there too much more outwardly violent than Wesley as well. I mentioned that not to bash but to show that Wesley had more resistance than even Gunn who is a very strong person. Meanwhile with Wesley by the time Fred realizes what has happened he's too far gone for it to make a difference. So I don't think Wesley deserves any real flack for this.

Regarding the point of Fred comforting Wesley near the end. I do get why that feels odd to people but Wesley himself shows the appropriate amount of guilt and sorrow for what he was forced to do and Fred understands it wasn't really him. I wouldn't be shocked that the real reason why Fred seemed so unaffected is that 5 years in Pylea leaves her somewhat desensitized to this stuff.

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Just a brief thing that bothers me about AoS Season 1

Something that annoys me about something that I saw a few people post on this site was that Ward raped May in this season. Their reasoning seems to be that since May wouldn't have consented if she knew that Ward was HYDRA and he didn't disclose that, she was raped. It might be something different, but that is what I have read on at least 2 posts on this site who call Ward a rapist. I just do not understand at all how that reasoning comes to light. Yes, Ward is an awful monster but I wouldn't call what he did in this case a rapist, unless once again there's another example that I'm forgetting. Rape to me is when sex is carried out without consent and May consented. Yes she regrets it now obviously but regretting it to me doesn't mean it was rape. If anything the only rape that occurs in Season 1 is when Lorelei mind controls Ward and has sex with him when he couldn't consent.

[dvaderstark]

Thoughts on Steve in Stranger Things Season 1

Now similar to practically everyone who watches Stranger Things post Season 1, I think Steve Harrington is a great character that has gone through a fantastic arc and in particular his relationships with Robin and Dustin are two of the best friendships in the show. In fact he and Dustin are the second best sibling type relationship on the show after Jonathan and Will. I do have some issues with basically any of his romance as the popularity of him with Billy and Eddie confuse me beyond he’s Steve and he’s popular. But what I wanted to post about was his portrayal in the show’s first season because I feel that a lot of Steve’s fans from the later seasons have gone back to the first season and have whitewashed some of his actions. Now not to say that Steve is that bad in Season 1 but I think the idea that he was always a good guy is wrong. Now most of Steve’s early stuff is regular stereotypical douchebag stuff that I don’t have too much of an issue with even if I don’t think he’s much aside from a douche at first. Like for example, him being a little too pushy with Nancy when he helps her study and we see he has other things on his mind. Like I will call some of this douchey behavior but not too bad behavior since he does back off. Similarly when he shows more concern about being caught underage drinking than Barb missing. I don’t have too much of an issue here either since Steve doesn’t know what we the audience know but if I was in Nancy’s shoes I would still be annoyed by this too, and he still has skewed priorities. Next, we have breaking the camera. Even for someone who loves Jonathan and has Jancy as their ST OTP, I don’t have any real issue with breaking the camera and the confrontation over the pictures. What Jonathan did was wrong and he deserved some punishment for it. While I wouldn’t call it stalking since Jonathan didn’t intentionally seek Nancy or anyone else at the party out to do what he did it was still wrong and Steve did buy a new camera. The real issues I have with Steve both come in the alley scene. The first thing is the public slut shaming that Nancy undergoes since Steve got the wrong idea. The kind that would have probably stuck on Nancy’s reputation a lot more if this wasn’t a show. What annoys me so much about the way that Steve’s fans response to this is the argument “His friends were the ones who sprayed it and Steve helped take it down afterward”. I hate this argument for the main reason that even if Steve didn’t spray paint the words themselves, he is there when they are doing the second message about Jonathan. He was definitely there when it happened and condoned it. Not saying this is unforgivable after all he’s young and angry and people do dumb stuff when they have that combination but also it is no excuse either and him offering to clean it up while the start of his redemption doesn’t really excuse it either. Letting a friend do something bad and feeling bad afterwards is still a sign that you did something bad. Also what he says to Jonathan that sparks their fight, I will give Steve a point here in that he makes Tommy back off so that the fight will be fair and that is where it ends. What he says to Jonathan is really cruel, cruel insults about his family, cruel insults comparing Jonathan to his awful father, cruel comparisons about Jonathan’s loving mom and of course cruelly insulting Jonathan’s little brother, who while still alive to Steve died only a week ago. I don’t think it’s okay to say stuff like that even if you think the guy you’re saying it to is sleeping with your girlfriend. Once again obviously not unforgivable but still wrong no matter the reason for it and Steve recognized it but a lot of his fans seem to forget that Steve realized it was wrong. Well that got away from me, to summarize, Steve Harrington is a great character but it sometimes annoys me how some of his fans basically try to say he wasn’t a jerk in Season 1 since he was a jerk and him being a jerk is what helps with his arc.

[dvaderstark]

About Danny, Luke, Cole and the Defenders

I just did a rewatch of the Defenders and I was interested by the initial thing that causes the conflict between Danny and Luke. Namely I found Danny to be almost embarrassingly in the right and also I seemed to have liked MCU Danny a lot more than most so I find it odd that Danny and Luke seem to be held as equally morally right in this conflict. I will admit that Luke is correct that Danny similar to most rich superheroes could use his resources better in his fight against his enemies but doesn't but that is where Luke being right ends. Luke is a massive hypocrite for most of the scene as well. First what Cole was doing that lead to Danny doing what he did erases basically any sympathy I have for him and makes me not care at all about Luke getting on Danny's case about it later. This isn't a case of Cole stole some bread for his poor family, he was assisting in covering up the Hand's murders and was spraying acid on dead bodies. At least to me I don't care about someone's financial status if they are assisting in covering up murders. Also I think if Cole wasn't related to Candace Luke wouldn't care nearly as much about what Danny was doing as well. Another point is that Luke says that Danny was going to kill Cole when Danny wasn't doing anything excessively violent and also gets on Danny hard for going after "lower rung" members of the Hand when Luke went after henchmen of the villains in his show as well people who were almost certainly not as well off as Cottonmouth or Mariah was. Now with that being said, I like Luke Cage in the MCU but this was a moment that I did not like from him.

[dvaderstark]

One thing that I want to say about Tony in Civil War

I love Tony Stark in the MCU and I love him in Civil War, I feel his actions are understandable based on previous movies, I think he is correct that oversight is needed even if the Accords aren't the answer. I also think that his actions regarding Steve's team are understandable considering that Steve doesn't really let him in on most of what he's doing in this movie and what Tony does know doesn't a paint a great picture which is why when Peter says that he's been told Captain America has gone crazy near Homecoming's beginning I don't really read that as Tony lying, I mean we don't actually know what Tony said about Steve he could have just said that Steve rampaged through an urban area and escaped from law enforcement with an extremely dangerous criminal whether or not he chooses to be dangerous.

One other point to mention is the airport battle. I think that while a lot of members of each team go a bit too far here. I want to briefly mention Tony's thing. Tony fires some missiles at Clint and Wanda who of course don't have armor. I will defend though on the fact that it is highly implied that Tony was doing the same thing Vision did when Steve's team was completed firing a shot ahead of where they are running to get them to stop. After all he has a targeting system. If he wanted to and he definitely doesn't he could have at least tried. The characters that should get the most flack for the airport right are Vision for hitting Sam, Scott for seemingly forgetting that he wasn't playing a video game after he went giant and wrecking that plane, Rhodey for hitting Wanda with the sonic cannon though Vision taking out the tower was fine since Steve and Bucky could have been crushed, and Wanda for throwing Natasha into that crate in such a way that could have really hurt her and then admonishing Clint for pulling his punches against his best friend and the least dangerous of Tony's team by far. Tony and T'Challa also are up there Tony more bringing Peter into this even if he probably didn't foresee it getting that serious and T'Challa trying to kill here if kind of the point of the movie.

Though I will say that the scene where Tony recruits Peter is a tough watch and the second worst thing he does in the movie even if I get where he is coming from in picking Peter. As for the ending of the movie, the final fight is great and RDJ brings it in every line. I sympathize with Tony here while also knowing that what he did was wrong. That the correct response to seeing that awful tape and learning Steve's confession would have been to punch Steve a few times, capture Zemo and make him pay and get Bucky help to remove the triggers so that the triggers that make Bucky the soldier that killed his parents would be gone. But Tony snapped. I hesitate to wonder what I would do in his shoes, but I could understand snapping under the weight of everything he went through throughout the movie and wanting to get revenge.

What Tony did was wrong he was not justified but I do understand why he did that and that is why I love this movie. Neither Steve nor Tony is the hero. Also people who are Tony stans do piss me off about one thing in this scene, the ones who say Tony wasn't trying to kill Bucky that he was just lashing out and wanting to hurt him but not kill, Tony actually aimed a missile point blank at Bucky's face, what more evidence do you need? Granted the Steve stans who say that Tony tried to kill Steve are also really annoying since Tony clearly tried to keep Steve out of the fight and was focused on Bucky. This evolved beyond one thing and was just my basic thoughts on Tony in Civil War a broken man trying to do what he can to keep his only family he has left while trying to get oversight because of his actions. It's a tragic very well told story and he's great in it.

[dvaderstark]

One thing about Wanda in Age of Ultron

I like Wanda Maximoff in the MCU for the most part. I like her in Civil War, and Infinity War, her brief part in Endgame is awesome, I enjoyed WandaVision thoroughly though the ending did leave a lot to be desired for her character. Also while Elizabeth Olson is amazing in MoM Wanda's character is mishandled. On repeated viewings, I have come to enjoy her in AoU more than I did the first few times I watched the movie. I don't have any real issues with her actions towards Tony and Tony also happens to be my favorite character in the franchise and second to Darth Vader for favorite character ever but he is not above criticism both in-universe and out of-universe. What happened to her at such a young age I can see why she grew to hate him. I mean I do obviously think that Obadiah was the one who sold those weapons but that wouldn't matter to Wanda, and regarding Tony he still deserves crap for being negligent and letting Obadiah do what he did. I mean for fans of Tony who defend him on that a big part of Tony's arc especially early on is being held accountable for his mistakes, so he shouldn't be getting this treatment, I would say that Tony himself would disagree with it. Also, while Wanda shouldn't have done it and Ultron's creation is ultimately the fault of Tony and the Mind Stone, while she didn't create the Ultron project she did expedite both Ultron's creation and is major of to blame for Ultron getting as far as he did. But regardless I don't really have issues with her in that regard. Every issue I have with her is based on what she did to Bruce though what she did to the others was terrible too. I just heard some people say that what she did wasn't Mind Rape well this is what Tv Tropes says what that trope means: their mind and soul are assaulted with painful, horrifying visions, sensations, and/or memories, and their will and sanity broken until afterward they're powerless, hopeless and numb, but not dead, although they may wish they were. I would say that this is what Wanda did to every Avenger but Clint. I can't believe anyone saying that Wanda thought that doing what she did to the rest of the team to Bruce would result in anything but what happened, she even said "I want the big one" right before the scene cut away back to Tony fighting Ultron so she had to know that doing this would bring out the Hulk who would definitely react to the vision in a matter different from everyone els. Regarding the point that Johannesburg is so far away from where they were that she thought the Hulk couldn't get that far I also don't totally buy since the Hulk is a such a legendarily strong and fast and energetic fighter that he could easily get to a populated area. Lastly, this is big I just do not understand how anyone could think showing the worst fear vision to a being like the Hulk would do anything but that and Wanda is responsible for all the deaths caused in the rampage and when Tony fights the Hulk in the Hulkbuster. I do want to say that this is a character I generally like but its just one action they made that I hate.

[dvaderstark]

Just a brief thing that bothers me about AoS Season 1

Something that annoys me about something that I saw a few people post on this site was that Ward raped May in this season. Their reasoning seems to be that since May wouldn't have consented if she knew that Ward was HYDRA and he didn't disclose that, she was raped. It might be something different, but that is what I have read on at least 2 posts on this site who call Ward a rapist. I just do not understand at all how that reasoning comes to light. Yes, Ward is an awful monster but I wouldn't call what he did in this case a rapist, unless once again there's another example that I'm forgetting. Rape to me is when sex is carried out without consent and May consented. Yes she regrets it now obviously but regretting it to me doesn't mean it was rape. If anything the only rape that occurs in Season 1 is when Lorelei mind controls Ward and has sex with him when he couldn't consent.

[dvaderstark]

Two more reasons why Steve’s confession was bad.

Steve’s confession was cringy to start. While I am naturally opposed to it as I am a Jancy fan and because I feel that Steve and Nancy’s arc wrapped up 2 seasons ago there is another issue. It was an underratedly very crappy thing for Steve to do. While I generally love Steve, I won’t defend him when he does something bad like this. Here are 2 reasons why I think it was a bad thing to do.

1. First, Nancy has a boyfriend. You should not be making confessions like “I see having 6 children with you” to your ex-girlfriend who as far as Steve knows is in a happy relationship. It is just an off limits thing for me in those cases and even ships that I like in other shows that have a character do that, I generally dislike those moments. Plus, for anyone saying Nancy cheated on Steve in Season 2 and this is the same situation, no she didn’t. They broke up in the third episode. Billy and Tommy make fun of Steve in the next episode about it and he doesn’t deny that they broke up. 

2. Second for anyone saying that it's okay for Steve to say that to Nancy since they could die and he wants to get his feelings out, if anything that makes it worse. They could die, they’re about to fight a pure evil villain who can end the world and Nancy is already going through a lot, emotionally ,(Her family has no idea where she is, she was just forced to see Barb’s death and see Vecna threaten her family, and she very well could die without seeing Mike or her mom, or Jonathan ever again) and Steve drops this bomb on her, which considering her pretty unsure and unhappy face to hearing it just added to everything else.

[dvaderstark]

Another issue that I have with Stancy in Season 4

At least to me there is no single moment in the season where we see that Nancy still has feelings for Steve. The closest she comes to is when she admires the view when he takes his shirt off and that’s it. Any other moments are moments that could just as easily be read as platonic. For example, when she dives after Steve when he’s pulled through the gate. The person who reads that as a romantic gesture is Eddie who knows virtually nothing about Steve and Nancy and their situation. 

I have no doubt that Nancy would have done that if Robin got pulled through the gate as well. To me going through the gate was trying to save a friend. Another example that gets mentioned is her defending Steve when Jonathan makes that crack in the finale. To me while Jonathan seems to have read that line with jealousy which makes sense considering their issues, there is nothing that proves that line was there to show Nancy having deeper feelings. It read more like simply telling Jonathan that Steve has grown up since they last majorly interacted, but there was nothing romantic to me in how Nancy says it, just defending a friend from someone who doesn’t have all the information.

 Also Nancy’s reaction to Steve’s speech to me disproves any chance of her feelings. Contrast that with plenty of Jonathan and Nancy scenes in the first 2 seasons, where there wasn’t any way to read the scene but romantically, like the scene where they were on the car and Jonathan lied to her to give Steve another chance. Or the scene they had after Jonathan helped save her from the Upside Down back at her house. Which reminds me Steve and Nancy broke up after the scene where Steve confronted her about the “bullshit” line, so she didn’t cheat on him like some people say.

[dvaderstark]

My opinion on the Multiverse Saga so far.

So I know that Phase 4 was incredibly divisive and with Quantumania’s reception Phase 5 has already started the same trend. I don’t know if I am just easily pleasable but here are just quick thoughts on the Multiverse Saga.

WandaVision- Outside of having mild issues with the finale, great show. 9/10

Falcon and the Winter Soldier- Loved Walker. I mean I liked other things but by himself I loved this show. I thought the Flag Smashers were interesting but not too sympathetic in the grand deal. 8/10

Loki- Fantastic show. Enjoyed every character. HWR is fantastic in the finale. Favorite D+ show so far. 10/10

Black Widow- Fairly standard MCU movie. I liked Natasha and her family, Yelena especially. Also while I was not outraged, Taskmaster was boring. 6.5/10

What If?- Outside of some continuity issues, namely I am still confused as to how Thanos got 5 stones in 2015 in the Infinity Ultron episode and thinking that the Thor grows up as an only child episode could have gone in a more interesting way than he becomes a party fratbro douche, I really enjoyed this show. Hyped for the Tony and Gamora episode once Season 2 happens. 8/10

Shang-Chi- Just rewatched it last night. Fantastic, one of the best origin movies in the franchise. 9/10.

Eternals- It’ll have to take a rewatch, but I remember liking this movie in theaters. Maybe it was just because the sense of scale was impressive and made it an experience but I enjoyed it. Also some of the characters were great (Druig, Makkari, Thena, Gilgamesh) but it was kind of a mistake to have 10 new characters. 5.5/10

Hawkeye- Really liked this show. Great checking in on an underrated character, great seeing Yelena again and Kate is a great addition. 8/10

No Way Home- Loved this movie. Cemented Holland as my favorite live action-Spider-Man. Just an experience to watch it in theaters. 10/10

Moon Knight- I really hope Isaac comes back in some other project. He made this show. Other than that, nothing too special though the ending of the fourth episode is about as stunned as I have been watching anything ever. 8/10

Multiverse of Madness- Definitely requires a rewatch but I remember liking the movie for the most part but thinking that in spite of Olsen’s amazing performance, Wanda’s story was mishandled. Also the trailer did seem to imply the multiverse aspect would be played up more. 7.5/10

Ms. Marvel- Loved Kamala, loved Bruno and thought the first 3 episodes and finale were great, but the villains sucked and the 4th and 5th episodes were fairly boring. 7.5/10

Love and Thunder- I do think this movie has some good parts. The ending was great, when he did have screentime Gorr was great, Thor and Jane’s romance felt real unlike in the Dark World. But I agree with the point of the movie was too jokey. Also Korg seemingly dying but being reduced to a face that still makes annoying jokes and stating the obvious annoyed me almost as much as 3PO seemingly dying in Rise of Skywalker and then there being a back up memory file. 6/10

She-Hulk- Liked this show. Didn’t think there was anything special about it good or bad. Thought the last 2 episodes were great. Liked the fourth wall breaking though disliked Matt and Jen having sex since I was a huge Matt/Karen shipper from Daredevil Netflix. Also while the CG wasn’t that good I never thought it was terrible. 6/10

Werewolf By Night-Just really liked this, hope they do this sort of special more often. 9/10

Wakanda Forever- Loved this movie. While Ironheart’s introduction was a little clumsy and Ross’s plot is also clearly all set up, everything else is great. Namor is a great villain, I thought Shuri was thankfully a way better character than she was in any prior movie and Ramonda was just sublime. 9/10

Guardians Holiday Special- Just loved this special. Gunn has done no wrong in the whole franchise. Can’t wait for Guardians 3. 9/10

Quantumania- Loved Kang though his introduction has been clumsy. Scott is great as always and so was Janet. Also parts of it were just so wonderfully bizzare. On the other hand, Hope was just so irrelevant, and Cassie’s character change was kind of too abrupt. 6/10

Guardians 3- Just I have basically no words. It's absolutely fantastic. Rocket and Star-Lord in particular are done so well but it is just such a great finale to Hunt's trilogy. 9/10

Secret Invasion- This show generally sucked. Good first episode and the individual performances are great and Sonya is fantastic and that's it. Hated Talos's death, hated the Rhodey reveal. Hated the surprisingly low amount of intrigue and surprise. Also insane that Fury couldn't find the Skrulls a planet considering that Thanos's planet with the garden is empty. 3/10

Loki Season 2. Fantastic. If this is Loki's finale then it was a great ending to one of the best MCU characters ever. OB is fantastic the expansions to every old character except for Sylvie is done really well. OB is fantastic. In spite of his real life issues Majors is awesome. 9/10

The Marvels- Loved Kamala, The primary dynamic between the three leads is great, the Young Avengers setup was cool. The sequence where the Flerkens eat the SABER people was actually really funny. Kamala's family are great. Fury is entertaining. On the other hand the movie is too short and Dar-Benn is not a terrible villain but could have been great. 7/10

[dvaderstark]

Why I support Jonathan and Nancy or at least prefer them to Steve and Nancy

Okay so I recently watched all of Stranger Things over the course of a few months. Regarding the last season, I generally really enjoyed it but I do not like how Steve and Nancy’s romance was revived to bring back the love triangle. I love Steve as a character so this is no anger towards him, but the thing that got me was simple. When Steve initially told Nancy his dream she said that the part about the kids sounded like a nightmare even if the traveling sounded nice. When Steve told Nancy he always envisioned her in his dream, her reaction does not come off as positive to me. I mean she doesn’t say anything but her face doesn’t read as happy. Wouldn't be shocked that if Robin didn't interrupt them that she would have turned him down.

Plus considering what Nancy wants out of life wouldn’t she not want to take part in Steve’s dream, so if she and Steve were to get together wouldn’t one of them have to sacrifice their dream? I mean I dislike how Jonathan lies to Nancy and didn’t tell her the truth in their last scene but at least he seems to know what Nancy wants. The scene he had with Argyle early on had him say he didn’t want to have Nancy move out to California when he initially wanted to stay behind to support Joyce and Will because he wouldn’t want to drag her down and sacrifice what he knows she wants, though he still should have been honest. That is just my two cents.