#also bucky cameo in the most random comic!!!

[burninblood]

Mystique doing the gods 'work and shape-shifting into Remy and then Bucky, so we have them together in the same page!!!

MYSTIQUE #1 (2024)

[wenellyb]

To the Sam Wilson fandom. I have a serious question to ask.

How are y'all excited for a film that you are planning to boycott ? It just seems fake to me.

And to the random ppl who is telling everyone to boycott this film, Marvel and Disney are the biggest supporters of Israel and shouldn't you guys be boycotting EVERYTHING from these companies ? But let's boycott the film with the Black leading man.

DareDevil has an Zionist on their cast and no one is saying boycott that show.

Ppl are hyped for Deadpool and Wolverine, Thunderbolts, Agatha All Along and anything Disney related BUT, LET'S BOYCOTT THE FILM WITH A BLACK LEADING MAN.

Let's be real for a second. Marvel has shown a lack of respect and enthusiasm for this film since day one. If this film does not do well in the box office then the media will blame Mackie/Sam instead of calling out Marvel and Disney. If the film does poorly then I can see Marvel no longer using Sam!Cap and he will not be in any Avengers movies.

Marvel went on for three years showing they could care less about Sam. No name drops or cameos in nothing after TFATWS is just wild and now they are trying to play catch-up and try to promote him in media and possibly other projects.

And can we stop with the Mackie vs Stan/ Cap 4 vs Thunderbolts mess. Its beyond frustrating.

There are a handfull of blogs on here that seem genuine when it comes to boycotting the film. It's just everyone else being fake as hell.

Cap 4 is not the issue. The real issue is Kevin approving this mess and adding that character in the film knowing the backlash and secretly turning Sam's movie into a damn Hulk movie.

Nobody would be boycotting this film if Steve was still Cap and Bucky was in it. Ppl need to be honest for once.

Sorry about the long ass rant. Just had so much to get out.

Hi Anon!!!

Rants are always welcome on my blog, don't worry.

I don't read the comics but I've seen enough posts about Sabra's character to know that it's a character that shouldn't be in an MCU movie.

This is all Marvel/ Disney's fault, because they had the chance to listen and remove Sabra's character. The callouts started even before the movie started filming and even after that, there were reshoots so they could have done something.

Why did they listen about the title, but not about the character change? It's because they don't want to or they don't care.

If you ask me, they did it on purpose so they can have an excuse not to have Black leads anymore.

They did it with Phastos' character too, I feel. Set up a movie for failure so they don't have to try anymore... so they can say diversity doesn't work. Unpopular opinion, I also think they tried to do it with both Black Panther movies but it didn't work, people were just too excited.

But it's understandable why people boycotting the movie... This is 100% all on that company. Be sure that most people boycotting the Cap 4 movie are also boycotting anything Disney/MCU related.

As you said, there are some people who were waiting for an excuse not to watch the movie, but they were never seeing it in the 1st place. Some of the call for beoycott had very weird undertones and were hypocritical at best, and really racist at worst. But not the majority.

P.S: I went through the tags and saw that they changed her background and that the character was now Russian? Is that true or are those rumors?

[billykaplan-666]

Billy and Teddy’s Friday of Obscurity!

This week I wanted a break up from the back to back obscure comics so I wanted to look at incredibly random cameos! These are all going to solely be Billy and Teddy just because including characters like Kate would make this a very long post.

Avengers : No Road Home #10 -

Starting off strong with a Billy cameo, interestingly alongside Mrs. Marvel and Bucky!

Marvel Heroes -

Billy is included in the now defunct Marvel Heroes game that ran for a few years from 2013-2017. The site for this game, like most I talked about, was shut down after Disney decided to shut down servers (shocker). Billy basically served as an enhanced skin for Wanda in the game and introduced a little dialogue, blue magic, and some new movesets.

It’s Jeff! : Infinity Comic #4 -

A little cute winter snowboarding action in the It’s Jeff infinity series! It’s really awesome to see them drawn by Gurihuru, again interesting to see them branded as being with the younger heroes.

Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 -

In the Doctor Strange ending scene Billy is sitting at a table with Wanda and a whole horde of other mystical beings.

Avengers : The Initiative #1-2 -

This one’s a weird one but during the Civil War run when heroes had to register themselves Billy and Teddy’s Earth-721 selves appeared. The whole Alpha counterparts storyline seems very complicated but characters in the 721 universe (also known as Alpha counterparts) can travel to the 616 universe and take on their hero counterparts powers and costumes. These versions of Billy and Teddy served under their names for a little before being sent back to their own universe. Again, very convoluted storyline.

Hulk #7 (2014) -

Teddy meets the Hulk and oddly Hulk is very flattered to be apart of Teddy’s hero name.

Spider-Woman (2015) #1 -

A fun game of spot Billy & Teddy in this panel! Obviously another blink and you’ll miss it cameo but interestingly Teddy and Pietro seem to be chatting! Possibly talking about the one of the times he helped Wanda.

Please let me know if you know of any other cameos, it was a blast trying to find these ones. I’d love some more obscure BillyTeddy background cameo action!

[the-littlefangirl]

TFATWS episode 1 rewatch commentary

The first scene was so beautiful. I loved that we didn't start directly with the fight sequence. It feels way closer to the quiet beginning of CATWS and I love it so much.

The title is also SO NEAT, music's on point too but hey it’s Henry Jackman the one thing I’m sure it’s going to be great overall is the score.

The choreography is AMAZING, really well shot. Sam shielding himself with only one wing was MA-JES-TIC.

“WHAT'S UP” EXACTLY SAM EXACTLY

I did feel so uncomfortable in regards to the military aspect of it. Not that I was expecting anything else, but both here and in Captain Marvel the military we're good guys < 3 propaganda is so blatant and ugh:/ At least there wasn’t a literal recruitment spot like with CM. 

The yellow filter in the Tunisia scene BYE please stop with the yellow filters 2k21

"I've been working with the Air Force for six months now" So, did Sam even catch a break at all after Endgame? Or did he just throw himself to work like SOMEONE did after being iced for 70 years. Hmmm? Sam????

"Essentially, these people, they want a world that's unified without borders" OH NO! HOW AWFUL, how evil of these bad guys smh

Joaquin: SO about Steve

Sam: :)))))) nope

"Moon stuff" SAAAM

#1 cry with Sam's speech, full on chills.. Fuck. Me. His voice about to break before saying thank you bYE.

Shady politician: "It was the right decision" (FUCKKKKK YOUUU)

Rhodey: *press any key to doubt *

I need someone to analyze the different curation of the two exhibits pretty please

NOT THE PHOTO POST-AZZANO JFC. That photo is my weakness, Bucky sweetie (also I find hilarious that usually when there are articles about Stucky and/or #givecaptainamericaaboyfriend they aaaalways use that photo LMAO)

In case someone wants to read the transcription of the texts about Bucky: "In 1944, while on a mission to thwart a Hydra weapon transport in the Alps, Barnes was thrown from a train and believed to have been killed in action. It wasn't until 2014, over seventy years later, that it was revealed that Barnes was alive, having been found by Hydra operatives. Captain America himself (i can't read) the effort to bring Barnes in only to later aid in a escape from custody having been convinced of his innocence. Steve's loyalty to his old friend, coupled with his refusal to sign the Sokovia Accords, led to the dissolution of the Avengers and drove the Captain into hiding with other like-minded Avengers including Natasha Romanoff, Wanda Maximoff, and Sam Wilson. The current whereabouts of Barnes remains unknown, habing been labeled a fugitive following his escape from custody."

"current wherabout unknown" but not the government, interesting. Also, pretty good summary of CACW from the public's perspective, although one of the things I always wanted to see explored was the public's reaction of the fallout of them going into hiding after Civil War (which I'm hoping we'll get to see a little bit of in Black Widow).

Interesting point about the 70 years without having Captain America. Clearly the sacrifice play wasn't enough this time to fuel the nationalism so they went with a squeaky clean John Walker instead.

Sam saying the shield belongs to Steve I'm going to cry now excuse me. Sam. Sam sweetie.

The No. 1 Captain America comic in the display ugH fuck yes

See this is how you do a cameo that has actual meaning. Thank god for Malcolm Spellman being a competent writer. That scene was so well written.

HAVE YOU PRAISED ANTHONY MACKIE'S PERFORMANCE TODAY?? Holy shit that last shot fucked me up.

I'm loving the use of the wide shots, especially in the flashback. The camera movements are in synch with The Soldier's state of mind and mission focus, so good.

EVERYONE STAND UP FOR THE NATIONAL ANTHEM aka The Winter Soldier theme composed by Henry Jackman.

Without a doubt the most brutal TWS fight scene there has been, People involved in Punisher and John Wick are involved in this and it SHOWS. 

For the record, still stands that the only time we've seen him chocking someone with his right hand instead of the metal arm remains the Maria Stark assasination. I know it's probably because of blocking and the way the shot was composed but the implications are still bone chilling. God.

Uhhmmmm I'm very ambivalent about the "Hail Hydra". On one hand, it was 100% fanservice and the internet is probably going to go insane over it, and the dead way Sebastian Stan delivered the line. Good shit. Buuut what I love about CATWS is the way Bucky never, ever ever, mouths Hydra rethoric, and even when Pierce tries to gaslight him with it, it's just an empty effort. The Winter Soldier isn't doing anything because of ideological loyalty to Hydra, even if it's product of brainwashing, it's just sheer dehumanization. They don’t need him to say the words because he’s just An Asset. There are people who have put it more eloquently but yeah, I rather go with the fanon interpretation of that aspect.

The music growing louder with the shot of the keys. GOD.

I'm fine this is fine.

#2 cry with the therapy scene of fucking course.

The government monitoring Bucky is noooot going to end well lmao.

"We need to know that you're not gonna * slowmo stabbing motions *

Bucky: * nodding along slowly * 

I laughed out loud.

"It's passive agressive" I love him.

The way this scene just sucker punched me in the face, made me weep and then had me cracking up. Amazing.

Therapist: You can't do anything illegal

Bucky: yup yup check checkity check. What IS considered illegal tho?

*aggresive tablet finger pressing *

"Then why isn't it rule number one?" Bucky your Steve is showing.

I love the close up shot. I'll keep saying it. It's so good.

"I'm James Bucky Barnes" yeah you are🥺

That smile is nightmare fuel LMFAO I love it.

Uhm the way I'm kinning Bucky it's not funny anymore damn

That whole “are you lashing out at me” rambling is really reminiscent of the bar scene in CATFA and how he lashed out at Steve after Peggy left. Uhm yeah fuck.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT?" "Peace"

"That is UTTER BULLSHIT" "You're a terrible shrink"

yeah ugly crying to ugly laughing speedrun for me

"You're free" "To do what?" jesus. That entire scene. #3 and #4 and #5 cries for moi.

Ugh that Brooklyn shot. Someone needs to do a gifset compairing it to the one in CATFA asap.

"It's like Monique but it's got a "U" in there for uniqueness" "That's absurd" LMAO

"You can't keep fighting with your neighbors" uHM * redacted redacted i'm shifting into 1940s mode abort abort *

"Nobody passed 90" "So young. Such a shame" FGADHGA

🥺🥺 yes flex those flirting skills good for you

"It's a dance to this things. You can't… you gotta warm up and I haven't danced since 1943. Feels like." #6 cry I completely broke down into tears with that.

This Yori storyline is going to punch me in the face with a metal fist. Great!

The TWS theme when he looks at Yori fuuuuuck.

GREAT LET'S GO TO LOUISIANA THAT WAS GETTING HEAVY.

Those shots of Sam in the car. Immaculate. Showstoping. Yes.

Marvel, what if instead of promoting the military industrial complex you put a lot of publicity about cars?

"Uncle Sam!" LMAO subtle.

Everyone trying to have the wings lmao same.

I've only had Sarah for a day but etc. Brooklyn 99 meme

Good mirroring about Steve and Sam family's legacy. Good shit. Goooood shit.

Sam is trying so hard ouch my heart. I can't imagine how painful the scene with them reuniting must have been. He 100% still feels a lot of guilt about being gone for those 5 years (and even longer before that).

"Maybe it is time for us to move on" uuuuuuuuuuh

"To the rescue" "Always" 🥺🥺 i love them so much already

That shot outside the restaurant is so beautiful. Can't wait to see the night scenes in Madripoor tbh.

"I tried the whole online dating thing. It's pretty crazy". Uhm well that is something that Bucky Barnes has now said. In canon. Damn.

"It's a lot" "You sound like my dad" LMAO

Every Bucky fanfic trope speedrun with this scene

"Wow you really can drink" OH you have no idea

Just realized we don't even know her name, well.

"You have any siblings?" "I have a sister" THE WAY I SCREECHED. We're definitely getting Becca

Well that escalated quickly. The important thing is to try?

I can't deal with this BUCKY SWEETIE #8 cry right there fuck

The wardrobe department is KILLING IT, there's such a difference between the outfits of the shows vs how ugly and generic it usually is.

"ThEre is NO such thiNg as on time. You're either EARLY or LATE . picK One" lmao the way he delivered that line

At first I thought the flag smashers had thrown two cars out of a window LMAO

"I don't know how jurisdiction works here, but I'mma have to place you under arrest" uhm yikes. The way they changed Joaquín Torres backstory to just random army nice guy #1 is not sitting well with me, what can I say.

Sam's wings motions I LOVE HIM YOUR HONOR

Fuuuuck this guy.

"Funny how thing's always thighten around us" "Look, I'm on your side. After all, he's a hero". This script is C R I S P as hell, great fucking job.

"I don't care, I'm not gonna quit" "What are you trying to prove? And who you trying to prove it to" SHIT HSIT SHIT!!! UGH amazing. Look it's not necessary to say the show's questions out loud but how they flow between the conversations is still very satisfactory without feeling in your face about it. Inner conflicts have been set up fucking perfectly everyone * claps *

Ugh here we fucking go.  I knew this was how the episode was going to end but my stomach still dropped like a rollercoster. God.

The score is on point. Damn. Damn.

God, Sam.🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

The captain america franchise's visuals in the credits are always so amazing.

Also, does anybody know why Mackie isn't first in the billing?  Uhm what's that about?

ANYWAY CONCLUSION THAT EPISODE WAS SO FUCKING GOOD LIKE HOLY SHIT. I love them so much. The balance between the personal conflicts and the political aspect (although the military aspect is still very much yikes) was on point and it was overall a joy to watch.

[ashasdramadrawer]

Ouch, what if

Start out with a huge plot hole.

Here’s the thing- the big divergence is meant to happen because Carter doesn’t go up to the room with the rest of the people observing.

Ok. Carter says in the lab.

Why did the rest of the observers? Why would they want to stay when they could sit down and be safe? None of that makes sense? The point was to kill Erskine to deny the use of the serum to the allies after figuring out if it worked?

Yeah. Makes no sense to me.

1. Hydra needed to know if the serum worked, which is why the spy guy didn’t blow things up earlier. He wouldn’t want to be caught up in the blast.

2. He was meant to steal it and kill Erskine. This explosion? Too early, and he could have killed himself while doing it.

3. No blood where Steve is shot. And ignoring Steve’s canonical chronic illnesses.

They’re doing their best to give Carter and Rogers time alone to bond. Which they did not canonically have. Nice.

They fuck up the timeline because Red Skull got the tesseract well before Operation Rebirth by the scale of a few years- it was the entire reason that Hydra’s tech was lightyears ahead of the Allies/what Stark understood. That tech was being used by the spy to escape the sabotage on Project Rebirth. So. Weird.

They’re showing Carter as being far stronger than MCU Steve Rogers with the serum. More on par with Ultimates Cap, maybe?

And... ok. So, the BIG difference in the story is Red Skull finding the tesseract late. This also makes no sense for her to have gotten it so early because it was hidden in the Alps, WITH Zola, well before Steve got to the European theater. How did she even get to Europe anyways?

... so the entire story of TFA is subverted (because it was ABOUT the tesseract itself and what Red Skull was doing with it) by them getting it early. I. I know What If stories tend to be full of holes because they don’t follow logically from, like, anything, but really? THIS is how you decide to turn Steve into Bucky to follow Carter into the fight? And how they keep Bucky from being experimented on by Zola?

And! Notably missing is Jim Morita, and in a non-speaking role is Falsworth and Gabe Jones (Who was Peggy Carter’s OG husband in the comics!) And all the Howlies are in costume when they’re freed!

And, annoyingly, the only woman we see IS Peggy Carter. Literally. Just Peggy.

Only person who is not white is the blink-and-you-miss-it cameo of Gabe Jones.

Ah, the infamous Thirteen Letters quote. Yeah. It really doesn’t fit here unless they were really, REALLY trying to steal from stucky.

There is an argument to be made that the earlier scenes, before the train, were NOT meant to parallel all of the stucky scenes from TFA. Until you get to this one. And it is blatantly a ripoff that moment, which is one of the most tragic and romantic scenes in the movie.

... nice. Peggy just tortured a prisoner of war. Never saw Steve do that.

HEY! There’s the back of Morita’s head! AND a brief glance at his face! Cool!

Still no women other than Peggy. Still no speaking roles to characters who aren’t white.

I just realized where the second half plot comes from- this is a remix of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes introduction to Cap story “Meet Captain America”. The big climactic fight was in a castle where Baron Zemo was opening a portal to somewhere.

Peggy, you suck at plans.

Okay, honest question: Why is Steve still alive? They had him for days, and they really didn’t need him. Why was he just laying on the floor and doing nothing? He should have been, if he was alive, restrained somehow.

And now they’re charging up his suit with... random electricity. Ok then.

Ok- I know you can show stuff in a cartoon that you can’t do with IRL stuff easily, but Carter is WAY OP.

I’ve never seen a version of someone with the Super Soldier Serum doing what she’s doing. Even the other versions of Cap didn’t do that.

*shrugs* Is it amusing? Yeah, especially if you’re a Peggy fan. Does it crib really, REALLY heavily on taking all of the stucky tropes and putting them on steggy to make the ship viable? And is the timeline a goddamn mess?

Yup.

Our one POC speaker was a Nick Fury cameo at the end. No women other than Peggy spoke at all. Yeah.

That’s. Irksome.

Listen, at least Wonder Woman had the entire amazon nation, and a handful of female characters in the background and crowd. I literally saw NO OTHER FEMALE CHARACTERS than Carter, save for the nurses taking her blood. And I don’t want to even think about what that could mean.

It is a conspiracy theory to feel like this entire episode was meant as a way to kill stevebucky. But.

I can’t say its wrong?

The entire story doesn’t revolve around Peggy’s choice. That’s the premise, but it’s a false one. It revolves around a group of men deciding to not go sit upstairs, where they had every reason to be. They had no reason to follow Peggy’s lead there. In fact, most of them had been on their way there, if not in the room, in tFA. There was no reason for the bombing to have gone differently if she was staying in the main room. The other big difference was a timeline fuckup, which was not affected by what Peggy decided to do- when Red Skull got the tesseract. He got it sometime after Erskine was rescued, but it was well before Project Rebirth started. That is the big difference here. Not something Peggy did.

So yeah. I think this whole thing was meant as a way to kill stevebucky as a ship.

But there’s no reason to think that Steve and Bucky didn’t get to grow old together, either. So maybe a win?

[anneapocalypse]

Anne watches MCU: Civil War

Civil War is the logical culmination of the Avengers series thus far and effectively presents the Avengers Initiative as a catastrophic failure.

I like this movie. I like it a lot. I think it does a surprisingly good job with continuity, both logistical and emotional.

I also think that what I took from it is perhaps not what the filmmakers intended, that in fact I probably like it for reasons that were accidental, and that were I deeply invested in these characters and their relationships, I would probably hate it.

I think at this point it works best to look at the Captain America series as a subseries of the Avengers. Both Winter Soldier and Civil War are unavoidably Avengers films as well as Captain America films; they balance an ensemble cast with Steve as the emotional core of the story.

I can see why Thor and Hulk were written out for this film, because the cast is already bursting at the seams and the movie is really long. I do miss Bruce getting to weigh in on the Accords, but Thor didn’t need to be here. Thor is not a citizen of Earth, and this really isn’t his story.

Finally, Bucky Barnes gets some character development. I have wanted to like Bucky up until now but there just hasn’t been much to hold onto; The Winter Soldier is Steve’s story, not Bucky’s, and we get precious little of Steve’s old friend coming through in the present day.

I still hate mind control plots, because you can make a character do absolutely anything and while the character might hold themselves responsible for it, the audience won’t, which makes it great woobie fuel: you get to have the character wrestling with all the guilt and horror of having technically committed terrible acts, but it’s not really their fault, so the audience can feel sorry for them and indulge in all the angst without any of the uncomfortable culpability. Nevertheless, I am happy that Civil War established some parameters around Bucky’s brainwashing and allowed his real self to come through. He’s certainly a more interesting character to me now than he was in Winter Soldier. Had I seen Bucky re-frozen at the end of Winter Soldier, I wouldn’t have felt much about it. Now, I actually kind of care.

But Wanda’s situation, by contrast, is much more grounded and compelling to me than Bucky’s: she actually did do something terrible while trying to do good. Wanda saves Steve, accidentally kills a bunch of civilians in the process… and reacts to that like a normal human being. There is a direct contrast to the way Tony Stark behaves in the first Iron Man movie, and the complete disregard for civilian casualties not just in the character but in the films themselves. This is Marvel’s meta-commentary on its own cinematic history as much as it is establishing continuity for the characters. Wanda reacts with immediate horror and regret, and she doesn’t have to say a word to convey that to us. That is good writing, good acting, and good direction. Now Wanda has to live with what she’s done, and decide who she’s going to be in the world after that, when she can’t change the past or the public’s opinion of her.

Tony and Pepper’s relationship is on the rocks, giving real consequences to the tension we’ve seen in their relationship in the Iron Man trilogy. Whether or not those consequences will stick beyond this movie remains to be seen (assuming I watch further), but it is nonetheless a breath of fresh air to me.

We already know from Iron Man 3 that Tony suffers from PTSD, and in this movie we see him confronted face to face with his responsibility for the events of Ultron. What makes Tony sympathetic in this movie is his very real remorse, and his desire to make amends, expressed in his supporting the Sokovia Accords.

And there are moments when I sympathize with Tony’s perspective, when I don’t find Steve to be in the right. When Steve says that Wanda is “just a kid”—yes, that may technically be true, but you can’t have her fighting in the streets, using her tremendous powers in real battle, and then turn around and say she’s just a kid. You can’t have it both ways. Of course Steve wants to defend Wanda; what happened in Nigeria was an accident. But calling her a kid doesn’t cut it.

Steve is still sympathetic, of course, even when I don’t fully agree with him. This is a Captain America movie and Steve is its emotional core. That he is preoccupied by even the mention of his old friend shows his humanity, as does Peggy Carter’s funeral, which gives an external voice to his convictions—even if it is a bit on the nose.

Who supports the Accords and who refuses makes sense for the most part, though I think this story would be better served by a clearer definition of what constitutes an “enhanced individual.” Steve, Wanda, Bruce, for sure, are enhanced individuals. There’s no question that they possess abilities impossible for most humans. But what about Tony? His powers come from the Iron Man suit—without it, he’s just a guy. Genius billionaire playboy philanthropist—but not superpowered. Then there’s someone like T’Challa, who can be enhanced when he has the powers of the Black Panther, but can also have those powers removed. Clint is just a guy who’s a really good shot—is he an “enhanced individual?” What about Natasha? She’s a highly skilled spy and assassin, sure, but she doesn’t have superpowers. Do the Accords include people with highly specialized training? Do they include anyone who might qualify as a vigilante, powers or no powers?

These questions are never clearly answered in the film. But if we read between the lines, it kind of makes sense that Tony and Rhodey and Natasha would feel less personally threatened by the Accords than Wanda or Steve.

Tony especially feels the least put upon by the Accords, for a few reasons. First, Tony is already a public figure by nature of being a billionaire. He is accustomed to living a very public life, and doesn’t view the Accords as a breach of his privacy. Most importantly, Tony’s wealth has always served as a kind of “do whatever the fuck I want and get away with it badge” (to borrow a line from Transformers). Even with the Accords in place, we still see Tony calling the shots, and when Cap goes rogue, Tony sees it as a “PR nightmare,” an inconvenience, but still a problem he can make go away.

A lot of character beats in this movie really work for me. I love Natasha’s assessment that “We played this wrong,” not necessarily changing her position but admitting to a tactical and interpersonal failure. I love her calling Tony out for putting his ego before everything—and the fact that it actually gets through to him for a bit is gratifying. I even enjoyed T’Challa trying to avenge his father, though I think I appreciated that a lot more for having seen Black Panther first.

There are a couple of character decisions that don’t track for me. I don’t think the film does a good enough job (or like… a job) of establishing why Clint would side against Natasha when she is his closest friend in the Avengers. I also think it’s strange that Natasha thinks Bruce would side against them if he were there. Bruce hates himself. He thinks of himself as a dangerous monster; that’s the whole reason he ran. He would absolutely be on the side of the Accords.

I have no opinions on the way Vision sides because Vision doesn’t feel like a character to me or like he really serves any purpose in these movies beyond being a walking plot device. I know he’s got an Infinity stone powering his brain and that’s going to matter in the next movie, but as a character everything about him smacks of “He’s here because he’s in the comics.”

The scene in which Spider-man is introduced was so out of the blue that I literally checked my phone to make sure I hadn’t accidentally started casting a different movie. I guess he’s mostly here to provide Tony some perspective on being an actually enhanced human: “When you can do the things I do, and you don’t, and the bad things happen, it’s your fault.” Peter Parker is the most innocent vigilante! And now both sides have a teenager. He does have some great dialogue with Tony and I can’t really be unhappy he’s here because he’s just too damn likable.

But nothing tops the Steve/Sharon kiss for being out of the blue. Came from nowhere and went back there fast. I have no idea why that was here, except that Steve is the hero and The Formula demands that he kiss a girl at some point. Peggy’s dead so her niece will do I guess. Anyway, it was bad, but brief enough to ignore.

And nothing drives home that this movie is not in any way a standalone like the appearance of Ant-Man. I actually laughed out loud when he appeared because I was imagining what this random cameo would look like if I hadn’t just watched his origin story and it was hilarious.

The big full-team battle was clearly the scene that was supposed to be the most fun to watch—which in itself is a bit strange. Clint and Natasha, in particular, seem not even to take the fight seriously. And in a story all about the fallout caused by superhero vigilantes, one would think those superheroes fighting each other in a huge group would cause even more damage. But it doesn’t, because they just super conveniently have their big battle on an empty airport tarmac, which was so funny. I assume we’re meant to think the place was evacuated but a part of me just really wants to say there were people in that air traffic control tower they knocked over.

Avengers 2.75: The Avengers vs. Delta Airlines.

The most truly stupid part was the ending. I had to go ask red where the fuck Steve knowing about Tony’s parents was set up, and apparently it was a blink-and-you’ll miss it moment in Winter Soldier. I sure didn’t remember it, so that came way out of left field for me and seemed purely contrived to make sure Tony’s change of heart would be short-lived.

But goofiness aside, there was a lot about this movie that worked for me. The focus on relationships surprised me, frankly. I was expecting a stupid, contrived battle of egos between Tony and Steve, and what i got was actually a fairly nuanced (for Marvel) story that gives real consequences to the actions of the Avengers thus far, brings to a head the tension that has been building between Tony and Steve from the minute go, and very effectively conveys the Avengers Initiative as a failed experiment.

The moral of Civil War, intentional or not, is superheroes can’t work together.

Because the Avengers are not a team. Not really. They're a bunch of lone superheroes trying to work together, succeeding for brief moments, but overall failing to build a team dynamic and Civil War is where it all falls apart.

It really put into perspective a lot of what was bugging me about Age of Ultron, which I couldn’t really put my finger on until I ran across this post and it all fell into place for me. I never bought that they were all friends or had built any deep bonds. Tony going rogue wasn't a betrayal of trust so much as it was just the clearest indicator that there wasn't any to begin with.

This movie raises questions about loyalty... and when it comes to Steve Rogers, the answers are pretty unambiguous. Steve Rogers is a powerfully loyal person who sticks by his people no matter what, and never was it more clear that the Avengers are not his people. Bucky is his people. Sam is his people. Peggy is his people. These are Steve’s friends. Steve Rogers is the first Avenger. He is also the first to jump ship when the Avengers fail to align with his principles. That’s who Steve is, and this movie also serves as a very effective character study. Despite its proximity to Ultron, there’s a reason this is a Captain America movie first.

If we’re supposed to see Civil War as a family torn apart, it fails, because this series never sold us on that family dynamic in the first place. From the start, every Avengers film has been about driving conflict between the characters, especially Steve and Tony. You cannot destroy what was never there, and if Civil War is meant to be that kind of tragedy, it does not succeed.

If I was a real fan of the Marvel cinematic universe, one deeply invested in these characters and in the idea of the Avengers becoming a found family, Civil War would’ve been a massive letdown and I’d probably hate it.

But coming in as a casual tourist in this franchise, a story about the tragic inability of superheroes to work as a team is fascinating to me.

And intentionally or not, that’s what Civil War is.

[marvelvsmarvel]

RANDOM MARVEL PHASE 4 PREDICTION:

So this splash page at the top that dropped at SDCC this year had been predicted that the color groupings would indicate who is with who chasing down or protecting which colored Infinity Stone. Bucky with Black Panther makes sense with the Civil War ending in Wakanda and then the Comic Con IW teaser revealed that Thor would meet up with the Guardians. At least at the beginning since the trailer released this morning now shows everyone meeting up at some point.

My prediction is for after Avengers 4 and is based on the groupings in these 1, 2, 3, 4, Vanity Fair covers based on suggestive character similarities. Pretty much where characters will go beyond Infinity Wars:

4. Spider-Man, Pepper Potts, Star-Lord, Dr. Strange What do they all have in common? Confirmed sequels following A4 or the end of Phase 3 mostly stated by their given directors (Scott Derrickson/James Gunn) if not Kevin Feige himself. Spidey 2 will be the first film starting Phase 4 which mean no minor will be killed in the making of this film. This of course seemingly suggests that each of these characters will survive the War however Peter Quill is only one member of the Guardians of the Galaxy and Gunn did say Vol 2 may be the last iteration with that roster, so Rocket, Drax, Groot, Gamora, and Mantis may not all make it to Vol 3. While Pepper Potts may not represent Iron Man 4 or even a Pepper Potts solo adventure, she did however do a cameo in Homecoming and she could effectively get an expanded role in the MCU going forward alongside Robert Downey Jr popping in here and there. Gwyneth Paltrow back in the bunch for Infinity Wars even went as far as to say she doesn't recall why she wanted to stop making these films in the first place. While it is safe to assume every solo hero movie will have a trilogy, minor confirmations such as with Dr Strange possibly facing darker more weirder and supernatural foes later on, are always great to hear. These individuals may be referred to as The Sequels.

1. Falcon, Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow Three out of the four of these individuals are OGs from the very beginning. RDJ is rumored to continue as Tony Iron Man Stark in the MCU in cameo formats. Hemsworth may have revitalized Thor and his franchise with Ragnarok and may be set for another trilogy. Black Widow (widowers?) fans have been holding out for a BW solo film, while Scar Jo may still be in for the long haul as she’s reiterated in many interviews that Natasha Romanoff is her favorite character she’s ever played. And then there’s Mackie who as the Falcon has been favored as a mere sidekick and comic relief and one who many fans feel might bite the dust come May next year. So why group him with the likes of these studs? My prediction carries with all the Chris Evans uncertainty, that while it is unlikely for Steve Rogers to be killed off in front of the whole world are you crazy?!, the mantle of Cap may still be passed on and I believe Sam Wilson may become the next Captain America as he is in the comics today! Love that outfit. Consider this the Avengers A-Team going forward.

2. Vision, Captain America, Hawkeye, War Machine, Wasp Starting with the big guns here, if Mackie is to be Cap and Steve Rogers isn’t to be killed, where does that leave his character? Evans has always shared his love for the character, but like Downey, the stress of upholding a franchise may prove enough and he might only be up for cameos going forward. Retirement is where it’s at for this 70 year old veteran, already going to be working from the shadows come IW, he may just continue his work from there and leave the spotlight hero work for some “New” Avengers. Vision and Wanda are rumored to still have some errgh romantic plans for the future, but Thanos may have a say in that as the trailer shows some real pain for the Stone in his forehead. Chances are Thanos will get it, marking Vision as the next person not making it to Vol 3. Jeremy Renner got a haircut specifically for this film meaning Cap might not be the only one retiring one name for another, this of course speculating to another persona that Clint Barton went under in the comics and no it isn't Trickster. Don Cheadle is another actor up there in age but who’s character hasn’t had that much of an arc being Tony’s best friend and textbook soldier. If Civil War revealed anything in him it is that his best value in wartime might be behind him making him another likely candidate to fall or not make Vol 3 you get it. Evangeline Lily is wearing the suit but the Wasp has yet to make an MCU debut and is sure to do more work going forward alongside more and more female heroes. To put her in perspective with the group, I think she may take over a more prominent lead from another size manipulator going forward that I’ll explain more on later. Consider this Avengers B-Team or The Transitions.

3. Hulk, Black Panther, Scarlet Witch, Ant-Man This grouping is a little more tricky. Ragnarok could be considered Planet Hulk but the heads of Marvel said he still has a lot of story to be told over the rest of Phase 3. Black Panther is not only King of Wakanda and an Avenger, but also part of the Illuminati which has been partially building within the MCU and is a big part of the War Bound Hulk storyline. However, T’Challa has a lot more to offer on his own that while not confirmed Chadwick Boseman should be locked into his own trilogy or ‘standard Marvel contract’. Scarlet Witch has just as much world destroying power as the Hulk if not more but as stated above, she and Vision still have some errgh romance to experience. But, if Vision is to die where would that put her after all those she loved have died including her family. Last time she lost her family she warped all of reality without needing the specific Stone. If I had to guess I see her taking up a very large plot twist role. Elizabeth Olsen has portrayed a very young, broken Wanda Maximoff with the most potential in power. It would be unlikely that they build it up for minor throwdowns and moving objects, but to instead unleash her whole ability. Lastly is Ant-Man who has no relative similarity to the Hulk except that he too can grow much larger than his normal human state. Hulk comparisons aside his story moves from a solo act to a team up in Ant-Man and The Wasp, not that that wasn’t already the case in the first film. We love Paul Rudd but if this isn’t evidence that he isn’t a marquee actor to carry a franchise alone then I don’t know what is. Could the third outing in the franchise seamlessly transition to just being titled The Wasp. Scott Lang is great but Hanky Pym is greater and that whole generation with he and Janet Van Dyne was bypassed which leads me to believe that while I don’t see them killing him off, I see potential that Hope Van Dyne as aforementioned, will become more of the front runner hero alongside other female heroes, which does ultimately suggest, dare I say that Scott may not see Vol 3 as well. This group represents more of the push of change in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as far as the look of it, talking people of color and women heroes, not substitutes but expanding and new. Even when it comes to the Hulk, Ragnarok hinted that the character may go to full CGI in future films meaning no more Bruce Banner, but the big green guy will still be around to smash. Then who knows, a New Avengers roster, or even a Young Avengers team including Cassie Lang after the loss of her dad might be waiting in the wings for Phase 4 and beyond.

[erynmorragin]

Everything wrong with Endgame (Spoilers)

Ok I’m not here to argue, and I’m not saying that I didn’t like parts of the movie. Or that I don't understand why some things were done the way they were. But that also doesn’t mean that I can’t also see ways it could have been done better for a very similar result. For the most part the things I liked about the movie come down to humor and the cinematic experience. So the videography, music, and visual experience like fights. Which given that it's a Marvel film was to be expected. They are very good at balancing humor and darkness and the filmography tends to be wonderful. However I had tons of issues with a lot of the rest of the film. And looking back over the films done by the Russo brothers I have in general not loved them as much as the rest of the MCU.

My thoughts will be divided into different sections based mainly on the main 6 and their arcs/ characters and relationships to those around them. Again this contains spoilers for the movie. I am not trying to argue about the film or why it was done the way it was done. Just needed a place to rant my thoughts and emotions about the film. (For all I know I may never post this anywhere.) But basically it’s an “I recognize the council has made a decision but given that its a stupid ass decision I’ve elected to ignore it.” Except sub Russo’s for Council. Also while I am trying to organize this logically it won’t be chronological because I can’t do that and have it be fixed by characters.

Bruce/ The Hulk:

Ok Starting off small with Bruce and the Hulk. In general its character issues for them. I hate what was done to Bruce. Not only is it creepy I don’t feel it was fair to the Hulk. While I do get wanting him to reconcile with the Hulk and understand that Hulk isn’t evil and they need to work together. But it felt more like Bruce figured out a way so he could be in control while having the Hulk’s body and strength and that just doesn’t seem fair or ok. Not to mention just it was kinda creepy to watch. I feel like if they had wanted to go this way it would have been more fair for like 50/50% control or having a timeshare thing. After all it has been shown- in Thor Ragnarok, the comics, and cartoons- that Hulk is more than just rage. He’s more like instincts given form. He can even talk and wants to protect those he cares about. So I just don’t think what was done was the best for the character or for the relationship between the two sides. Also like I feel like it was unfair for the Bruce/ Natasha relationship. Which while I am not a fan of was introduced earlier on and I think needed to be handled better.

Thor:

Thor just pissed me off. I felt like it was so out of character that it was ridiculous. What they did to him doesn’t fit his character or situation at all. Becoming a recluse, frat boy, alcoholic and using his weight for tons of fat jokes felt in poor taste and completely OOC. Added to that having him turn to Valkyrie and go “you’re king now.” Was also unprecedented and just random. It felt like it was just a “let's tie this up fast and get it out of the way.” We had no previous evidence of Valkyrie having done anything leader like. When they showed up in New Asgard it looked like she could just be a fisherman or craftsperson. Not that she was a leader for the town. I feel like Thor would have been more the type to be out in the galaxy helping Captain Marvel than secluding himself in a house and becoming a drunkard. Or even leading his people, he had shown growth of that in Ragnarok and the characterization between that and Endgame was so different it was ridiculous.

Clint:

For the most part I agreed with how Clint was handled. Except for a couple main things, I think Natasha would have been out looking for him and found him faster. And I think he should have had a redemption arc. I understand they wanted him to reunite with his family but I feel like Clint needed the redemption more and would have been a better fit for sacrificing himself to get the Soul stone. I also still hate how much of Clint’s character was erased for the films and wish his disability was acknowledged. He was deaf and far sighted (I see better from afar) and I wish his character had been done more justice in general.

Natasha:

We now get into the “I’m really pissed off about this” section. Natasha. Oh where to start. First off I feel like the MCU in general has been extremely unfair to Natasha. I feel like she has been underused andher character has been pretty ignored. But she is very important to the dynamic in the original 6. She’s pretty much everyone’s best friend. And she was just basically brushed aside. And then in this film they go and have her sacrifice herself and then that's only acknowledged once when they return to the present. It was also kinda selfish because Clint had lost the rest of his family and then she goes and jumps and makes him lose the only person who is basically his sister. So he has to watch his last family member die and be unable to bring her back. Which is another issue I have. She deserved her own series of movies and now we will only ever get prequels. Also like in the comics you could bring people back out of the soul stone. Which it was confirmed that's where the souls sacrificed went into. They became controllers of the stone and could basically do a lot from inside and have come back before. And while this does introduce the idea of time travel it still felt like this was the end and that wouldn’t be used again.

Steve:

Mostly I just hate Steve’s ending. It felt very OOC and like brought up a bunch of inconsistencies in the universe.  It also kinda felt like the Russos didn’t watch AOU. In the end Steve says “Family, stability... The guy who wanted all that went in the ice 75 years ago. I think someone else came out." So the fact that they had him go back in time and end up married to Peggy was like ??? Not only did it ignore a lot, if not all, of Agent Carter. It then made no sense as to how he ended up back in our time in our timeline. If he marries Peggy in the past we wouldn’t have probably found him the same way/ time. And just it would create an alternate timeline. Plus he ended up kissing his own niece. Which, ew? Then he came back and was old- which isn’t how his aging worked in the comics at all. And he gave the shield to Sam. I think it would have made more sense for his character to give the shield to Bucky and Bucky to tell him no. Then leaving him to give it to Sam. I Also think it would have made more sense for him to just want to be a teacher at the compound or been incapacitated rather than become old.

Tony:

In general I kinda understand Tony’s ending the most. But I also really disagree with it. First he wouldn’t have done what he did in the last scene because as he said earlier in the film- “I have a family now. I can’t just give that all up.” And like that was the whole reason they decided to go with the plan they were going with. So that they would still have had the past 5 years progress. Then I just think they shouldn’t have killed him. There were tons of other ways for this to be an “ending” like they wanted without killing him. I think he should have become unable to leave a wheelchair or just unable to use the suit due to strain and, like Steve, passed it on. I think he should have dedicated his time to making better and better tech so that none of their protegees would die. I think he should have tutored them. But mostly I think he should have gotten to be a father to Harley, Peter, and Morgan. I think he should have gotten the happiness he deserved.

Plot points and inconsistencies

1. It's been 5 years and they suddenly bring back everyone who died in the snap. Which, like? No acknowledging all the issues with that? People who moved on from loved ones. The growth that would have happened in those 5 years. The mass PTSD caused by all this in the end. What happens if someone was snapped back into the same spot as another person? Or the other issues with half of the world's population suddenly coming back from nowhere.

2. Thanos dying by being snapped, while it made sense as a kind of justice for him having to experience the same as what everyone else did, was just anticlimactic.

3. Present! Nebula killing Past! Nebula

4. Past! Gamora suddenly disappearing in our time.

5. Nebula should have gotten to kill Thanos. She deserved it more than anyone else in the world.

6. Thanos still having the chautari army. Like even if he came from the past that would have been after Avengers 1 which would mean his army would have been, you know, dead?

7. For all the hype for Captain Marvel she kinda didn’t feel used enough? Like all the “Fury didn’t contact her until something MAJOR happened cus she's so OP and would be who we need to fix this” she was just kinda… there?

8. Strange effectively keeping Tony alive only for him to die.

In general I felt like Endgame was a poor attempt at “ending” the first arc of the Marvel movies. I also kinda didn’t feel like an ending was needed? Like yeah the actors want to do other things. But I’d have liked to see them appear in the rest of the films as the kinda Stan Lee cameo. Tony sipping coffee as something destructive happens outside his tower. Steve at the park sketching as Spider-man swings by fighting someone. Clint appearing at the end and being sassy to someone. Just the main 6 taking over Stan Lee’s cameos and continuing it. It wasn’t well done, and frankly didn’t make sense for the characters. Plus it left so many things unanswered and making no sense that it was just hella confusing.

In general it felt super rushed and disconnected from the original films. And looking back over most of the Russo’s films I’ve had issues with almost everything they have done. And while at points it seems they understand the characters it also just feels like they don’t. Plus I still have the huge issue with every singe Avengers movie being the Avengers just fighting and arguing until they work together. Like it was ok for the 1st one but can’t we have more scenes like the one in AOU in the tower at the party? Where they are friends and family and just joking around? Because that's what they are. And the largest number of fanfics is about that. I’ve read fanfics that understand these characters better than a lot of the directors. Its sad, and I don’t think I’ll ever get over it. This is the one Marvel movie I don’t think I’ll go see in theaters a second time. Because no, I didn’t enjoy it.

[martens-movie-reviews]

Released: April 4, 2014 Running Time: 2 hours 16 minutes

“After the cataclysmic events in New York with his fellow Avengers, Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, lives in the nation’s capital as he tries to adjust to modern times. An attack on a S.H.I.E.L.D. colleague throws Rogers into a web of intrigue that places the whole world at risk. Joining forces with the Black Widow and a new ally, the Falcon, Rogers struggles to expose an ever-widening conspiracy, but he and his team soon come up against an unexpected enemy.”

Marvel Cinematic Universe – Source – Marvel

You can find all of the reviews for the Marvel Cinematic Universe at the link here. At that link, you can also find the dates that the other reviews for the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be posted. My plan is to release one every single day, and because I’ve already reviewed Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 here, and Spider – Man: Homecoming here, they will not be included in the two weeks leading up to Thor Ragnarok.

As such, I will now move onto the actual review of the film, and I hope you enjoy!

Captain America: The Winter Soldier Trailer – Source: Marvel Studios

  Cast and Crew

This film was directed by Anthony Russo & Joe Russo, whose most notable works prior to this film was televison shows ‘Arrested Development’ and ‘Community’. Since this movie is widely viewed as one of the best in the MCU from both the audiences the critics, the Russo brothers have been given the keys to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, having followed up this film with ‘Captain America: Civil War’, and the next two Avenger Films, one in 2018, and the other in 2019.

Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow & Chris Evans as Steve Rogers / Captain America – Source: Marvel Studios

The writing duo of Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely have gone on to be the wonder boys of the MCU for their screenplays, even after the mess that was Thor: The Dark World, they followed that up with this film whose story was extremely well put together. They wrote the ‘Agent Carter’ television series, that unfortunately only lasted 2 seasons, as they never touched on the founding of S.H.I.E.L.D. They have also written the scripts for ‘Captain America: Civil War’ as well as the upcoming two Avengers films, which I’ve previously mentioned in the ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’ review.

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The cast featured Chris Evans, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Robert Redford, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Cobie Smulders, Frank Grillo, Maximiliano Hernández, Emily VanCamp, Hayley Atwell, Toby Jones, Callan Mulvey, Georges St-Pierre, Garry Shandling, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Thomas Kretschmann and Stan Lee.

Review

Robert Redford as Alexander Pierce – Marvel Studios

As all my other MCU movie reviews in the past week, I’ve talked about how the music in these films really exude the tone and style of the character and aids in enhancing the overall experience. Most of the score of Captain America: The Winter Soldier was quick paced, and brutal in it’s punctuation. The composer, Henry Jackman, did a good job at mixing the spy genre music style with the grandiose and heroic nature of superhero films. The score featured less inspiring songs, and more dramatic songs, and it fit the movie, as Cap is learning the new truths of the world, that not everything is black and white, and is now mostly grey.

One of Marvel’s themes throughout their films is the comedic aspect of them, and while this film is hardly a funny one, there are several funny moments that work really well, such as the opening sequence with Cap literally running laps around Wilson, and Romanoff asking Rogers if the kiss they shared was his first one in 70 years (and Rogers said no, it wasn’t, now I’m curious to find out who he’s kissed since getting out of the ice).

Sebastian Stan as James Buchanan Barnes (Bucky) / The Winter Soldier

The fight choreographer for this film was Chris Carnel, and he did an amazing job. The first sequence on the Numerian Star against the French pirates as well as against Batroc the Leaper showed that Rogers had learned a few things since the Avengers, and his fighting style was more brutal than we’ve seen before, and displayed some pretty amazing sequences, as well as Romanoff’s action portions against random pirates.

The multiple fight scenes between Rogers and Barnes was fast, efficient and brutal. It was really tough watching them fight, knowing who the Winter Soldier was, before even watching the movie. One of the nitpicks that I have with the film, is that they decided to a lot of quick cuts for some of the action sequences, and I feel like it would have served the fight choreographer and the film a lot better if they had filmed it in less shots.

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I was happy that they introduced Agent 13 in this film, however I feel like they could have added a short cameo in the Avengers film, but I understand that making her the neighbour to watch over Rogers is a better ‘spy move’. When I saw this movie, I was really hoping that we would eventually get more of her, as she was really only a prolonged cameo in this film, and I’m happy that we got what we got in ‘Civil War’, if only for the reaction that Barnes and Wilson give him.

They did a really good job at aging up Hayley Atwell, to play a much older Peggy Carter, who is sadly suffering from memory problems, and is the ‘last’ of Steve’s old friends from WWII. I thought that scene was touching and added a bit of heart to the film, and to the character of Steve Rogers. I only wish we would have gotten more from Atwell in the television show, but it wasn’t run properly.

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Making Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow come back and aid Rogers in a conflict that is extremely morally based was something that would have took some explaining to make work, as she’s a former KGB operative, turned S.H.I.E.L.D agent, and is one of the greatest spies in the world. The fact that Cap learned to trust her over the mutual grief that they shared over Fury’s ‘Death’ is quick, but understandable in the film and it works for some reason.

Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson / Falcon was another brilliant choice of casting for this film. He was Cap’s new sidekick, while being his own hero in his own way. Their shared history of both being from the military is something that gave them a strong bond right off the bat. The use of the flight suit was pretty awesome to see on the big screen, and the fact that they made it a military suit, rather than spandex (from the comics), was a smart idea. He proved his loyalty over and over again throughout the film, and I’m happy that they decided to include his character. His history in the military was briefly mentioned, and it didn’t need more than that for it to work.

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Maria Hill was awesome in this film. She managed to go infiltrate a van that was sent to pick up Rogers, Romanoff and Wilson, knock out the other guard in that were there, escape and bring them to the very much alive Nick Fury.

Nick Fury’s worldview is very than Cap’s, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing, just that it causes some friction at first between them in this movie. Samuel L. Jackson did a good job at adding a bit more depth to the character, showing that he is human, and can get hurt. He gives up his role as director of S.H.I.E.L.D. to go after the remnants of HYDRA.

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Seeing Georges St- Pierre in the film as Batroc the Leaper was really fun, and I’m not much of a mixed martial arts fan, sure, I’ll watch the highlights, but I don’t spend money to watch the fights the night of. I’m really happy that they didn’t kill him off in the film, leaving the door open to maybe having him pop up in a future MCU film down the road. I feel like they did a good job at having Brock Rumlow be a somewhat friend to Rogers before it’s revealed that HYDRA was inside of S.H.I.E.L.D all of this time. By having him survive, and having the crossbones on his chest was a hint that he would be in future films, and it didn’t take long, as he appears in Captain America: Civil War, but I’ll talk about that during that review on the November 1, 2017 review for that film.

Inserting Hydra into the the very foundations of S.H.I.E.L.D. was a stroke of genius, and helps in bringing the storyline together, as the comic book storyline of the Winter Soldier was very complex and includes characters that aren’t part of the MCU, or have been sent away. I feel it also helped the story as it gave it the spy thriller aspect, where you don’t know who you can trust, and it’s an internal conflict as well as bringing back Captain America’s original enemy.

Frank Grillo as Brock Rumlow / Crossbones – Source: Marvel Studios

Chris Evans gets to use a bit more of his acting talent as Steve Rogers / Captain America in this film than in prior films, as it’s more of a dramatic take on the character than the last two times we’ve seen him up to this point. I feel like his view on the world is something that people would aspire it to be, but unfortunately that is not what the world became after he sacrificed himself in WWII. It was disheartening to see him interact with Peggy Carter again, while she’s aged, and he hasn’t, and she’s dealing with memory problems.

Sebastian Stan did a magnificent job at showcasing the conflict in the eyes of the Winter Soldier. The scene when he’s about to get his memory wipe, and he’s trying to come to grips with what he knows, and what he thinks he knows was really well portrayed by him. He knows that man, yet he’s never seen him before, it must have been a harrowing experience in not knowing what is real and not, and I was really pleased with his portrayal of the Winter Soldier, and I was extremely happy that they didn’t kill him off, as there is so much that they could do with that character, and they’ve already done some of it, in the follow up to this film; Civil War.

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The Winter Soldier storyline from the comics in 2005 was the main inspiration for this film, and it’s a great story to pick from. I’ve included some pictures of the comics in this review to display that they did a really great job at adapting portions of that story. They included a lot of the same characters from the comics into the film, introducing Crossbones, Agent 13, Falcon in this film. I feel like I might have preferred having Agent 13 tag along with Rogers throughout the film instead of Black Widow, but because they didn’t introduce her until this film, I understand the reasoning behind that decision.

Bucky’s relationship with Steve is something that I’ve already talked about a bit in my review of their first film, ‘The First Avenger’. It’s different than any interpretation in the comics that I’ve read, and I’m really glad about that. Bucky knew Steve before he became Captain America, he knows that he’s a good person, and he went from being the hero of the duo, the sidekick, and he didn’t grumble or complain, he was happy to have his friend with him, and he saved his life. It’s something that I feel is something that the MCU has done a magnificent job at, and that they really show you that these two characters are brothers, probably even more so than Loki and Thor, because they chose each other, and to see them fight like they did in this movie, is supposed to be heartbreaking, because you don’t want either of them to be hurt, because once they find out / remember, that would destroy them.

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The final confrontation between the two in this film is a change up from the comics, where The Winter Soldier tries to finish Captain America off, but he dodges at the last second, whereas in the film, he hesitates, and a piece of the ship takes that problem away from him, dropping Cap back into the water. Their fight was brutal, and featured fantastic acting from both actors, and again, great fight choreography. It’s probably my favourite fight between two characters up from the MCU up until this movie.

There was two credit sequences at the end of the movie, with the first one hinting at introducing Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch into the MCU, and setting up the second Avengers film, ‘Age of Ultron’. The post credit scene shows The Winter Soldier going to the Smithsonian, and giving himself a little history lesson on who this Bucky character is, and if he can piece together his life, hinting that he will make a comeback as a fellow hero.

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In my opinion, Captain America: The Winter Soldier was the best stand alone movie of the Marvel Cinematic Universe since the first Iron Man, and from a critical standpoint, was a better overall film than The Avengers. The flaws in this film are very nitpicky, and I feel like it completely changed the way that Marvel started making their films. This was very much a spy drama film, hidden in a superhero movie. Adapting the Winter Soldier storyline was a stroke of genius, and it really hurt to watch Bucky and Steve fight each other, and knowing their history together, was brutal. The film had the best fight choreography that we have seen from the MCU until this point, and gave the characters adequate screen time, where their usefulness in this film was worth it.

At the end of the day, this movie is something that is hard to top from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and I really hope that Thor: Ragnarok will be able to reach this score, but it’s tough, and I plan on going in there with no expectations (yeah right), even with everyone saying it’s an amazing film. This movie, in my opinion, deserves the score of 9.5/10, no questions asked.

What did you think of the film? Are you excited for Thor Ragnarok? Let me know in the comments below!

Thanks for reading,

Alex Martens

Captain America: The Winter Soldier Review Released: April 4, 2014 Running Time: 2 hours 16 minutes "After the cataclysmic events in New York with his fellow Avengers, Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, lives in the nation's capital as he tries to adjust to modern times.