#film: avengers infinite war

[wynnerichport]

So... You Wanna Hyperfixate on the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

As a neurodivergent person, I know what it's like to come across a piece of media and start to obsess over it. To the point where it consumes all of your thoughts and waking hours. One of my personal favorites is the M.C.U., or the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

However, there is a lot of incomplete information out there on this franchise, so I've got you covered.

What is the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

The Marvel Cinematic Universe, or M.C.U., is a multi-media franchise adapting characters and storylines from Marvel Comics, and is comprised of films, television series, short films, web series and even, appropriately enough, tie-in comics. Beginning in 2008 with the film "Iron Man", it has continued to flourish and produce new entries until the present day. For the purposes of this post, we will be covering only live-action and animated entries in the franchise, totaling 70 entries as of June 2024.

What is the Marvel Cinematic Universe About?

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is divided into two Sagas, both of which are further divided into Phases. Phases are a grouping of projects, while Sagas are a grouping of Phases.

The two Sagas of the MCU are the Infinity Saga, comprising of Phases 1, 2 and 3, and the Multiverse Saga, comprising of Phases 4, 5, and 6.

The Infinity Saga revolves around the six building blocks of reality, known as the Infinity Stones, and how they impact the lives of the groups of superheroes known as The Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy, as well as the quest of the power-hungry alien Thanos to obtain the six Infinity Stones. The Infinity Saga is comprised entirely of movies, specifically the first 23 movies in the franchise, with the 23rd, Spider-Man: Far From Home, serving as an epilogue to the entire Saga.

The Multiverse Saga, currently ongoing and roughly at its midpoint, revolves around the Multiverse, a collection of infinite alternative realities where events unfolded just slightly differently, resulting in vastly different outcomes. The villain of this saga is slated to be the time-traveling, reality-hopping Kang the Conqueror, as well as his Variants, or alternate reality counterparts. The Multiverse Saga is comprised of the 24th film (Black Widow) onwards, as well as the 13th television series (WandaVision) onwards. (See below for full film and series listings.)

There is also an unofficial Saga formally known as The Defenders Saga, comprised of Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist and The Punisher, culminating in The Defenders. The series Echo has retroactively been added to The Defenders Saga.

What is included in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

As mentioned above, we will be tackling everything except the tie-in comics, which results in 70 entries across the following formats; films, television series, short films, web series, animated series and telefilms.

MCU Films (aka Marvel Studios)

Iron Man (2008)

The Incredible Hulk (2008)

Iron Man 2 (2010)

Thor (2011)

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

The Avengers (2012)

Iron Man 3 (2013)

Thor: The Dark World (2013)

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

Guardians Of The Galaxy (2014)

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

Ant-Man (2015)

Captain America: Civil War (2016)

Doctor Strange (2016)

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Black Panther (2018)

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Ant-Man And The Wasp (2018)

Captain Marvel (2019)

Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)

Black Widow (2021)

Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings (2021)

Eternals (2021)

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness (2022)

Thor: Love And Thunder (2022)

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania (2023)

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)

The Marvels (2023)

MCU Short Films (aka Marvel One-Shots)

The Consultant (2011)

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Thor's Hammer (2011)

Item 47 (2012)

Agent Carter (2013)

All Hail The King (2014)

Team Thor: Part 1 (2016)

Team Thor: Part 2 (2017)

Team Darryl (2018)

Peter's To-Do List (2019)

MCU Television Series (aka Marvel Television and Marvel Spotlight)

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013-2020)

Agent Carter (2015-2016)

Daredevil (2015-2018)

Jessica Jones (2015-2019)

Luke Cage (2016-2018)

Iron Fist (2017-2018)

The Defenders (2017)

Inhumans (2017)

The Punisher (2017-2019)

Runaways (2017-2019)

Cloak & Dagger (2018-2019)

Helstrom (2020) - [1]

WandaVision (2021)

The Falcon And The Winter Soldier (2021)

Loki (2021-2023)

Hawkeye (2021)

Moon Knight (2022)

Ms. Marvel (2022)

She-Hulk: Attorney At Law (2022)

Secret Invasion (2023)

Echo (2024)

MCU Web Series

WHiH Newsfront (2015-2016)

Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Slingshot (2016)

The Daily Bugle (2019-2022) - [2]

I Am Groot (2022-2023)

MCU Animated Series (aka Marvel Animation)

What If...? (2021-2023)

MCU Telefilms (aka Special Presentations)

Werewolf By Night (2022)

The Guardians Of The Galaxy Holiday Special (2022)

[1] While Helstrom was originally meant to tie in with a Ghost Rider tv series, itself a spin-off of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Ghost Rider was scrapped and later statements from the show runner and some actors put its connectivity into question. However, the show itself slots in perfectly into the tapestry of the MCU and can be treated as equally as any other part of the franchise.

[2] The Daily Bugle is divided into three "seasons"; one marketing Spider-Man: Far From Home in 2019 on YouTube, one marketing Spider-Man: No Way Home in 2021 and 2022 on TikTok, and one marketing the movie Morbius (which is NOT in the MCU), also in 2022 and also on TikTok. This third "season" is non-canonical to the MCU and can be disregarded.

What Are Some Storylines To Look Forward To?

Anti-Superhuman Sentiment: A huge undercurrent throughout the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, both films and television series, is an aversion to superhumans, which could eventually evolve into the anti-mutant hysteria of the comics when the X-Men arrive to the MCU.

Gods and Mythology: From the Asgardian pantheon with Thor to the Egyptian pantheon with Bast, Osiris and Khonshu, to the Vodou pantheon such as Papa Legba and Baron Samedi and the Greek pantheon with Zeus and Hercules, gods and mythology and alternate dimensions are present in several series of the MCU.

Demons and Witchcraft: I tried to avoid naming direct entries in this section in order to maximize surprises, but these themes are ones that truly ingrain Helstrom into the rest of franchise, tying into Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter, Runaways, Cloak & Dagger, WandaVision and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Where Can The Marvel Cinematic Universe Be Watched?

Disney+ has the vast majority of the MCU entries, at 62 of the 70 entries.

Hulu has two of the entries, the television series Cloak & Dagger and Helstrom.

Additionally, if you get a premium subscription to Hulu, you can also watch Spider-Man: No Way Home, which is otherwise unavailable to stream.

The CW App has one of the entries, the television series Runaways, due to being removed from Disney+ in May of 2023 as a result of cost-cutting measures. It can be streamed for free.

YouTube has all three of the web series; Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Slingshot, WHiH Newsfront and The Daily Bugle. Compilations of all individual episodes are searchable. Though 3 of the 10 WHiH Newsfront episodes are on Disney+ as special features for Ant-Man.

The final entry, the short film Peter's To-Do List, is only available physically on Blu-Ray copies of the Spider-Man: Far From Home film.

If you would like to request the missing entries to show up on Disney+, you can click on this link. Scroll down to the bottom of the page, look for the box labeled "Give Feedback" on the right hand side of the page, click on "Submit Feedback" in blue. A window labeled "Share Your Feedback" will appear with a drop down menu captioned "Select a feedback type". Click on "Request a movie or show" and you will be prompted to type in 3 titles. Be sure to use the official names for the missing entries, which will be listed below. Once you've entered your 3 selections, click "Submit Feedback", and you will receive a quick message that your feedback has been submitted.

WHiH Newsfront

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Slingshot

Marvel's Runaways

Marvel's Cloak & Dagger

Peter's To-Do List

The Daily Bugle

Helstrom

Spider-Man: No Way Home

Welcome to the MCU. Hope you survive the experience.

[insanityclause]

Zoe Saldana stars in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3"SOURCE: MARVEL

That’s not to say Marvel — along with all studios and streamers — doesn’t face some hurdles going forward. But the nature of those obstacles for Marvel are frankly pretty obvious; it’s mostly things Marvel has overcome before; and regardless of those issues and the need to address them, Marvel is still actually doing pretty good right now even amid the problems they’ve had.

So let’s just unpack what’s really going wrong, and what it means for Marvel Studios.

The situation with actor Jonathan Majors — the star of several Marvel films and streaming shows, as the MCU’s time-traveling villain Kang the Conqueror — is that he faces multiple accusations of abuse, and is scheduled to stand trial for one recent case. After that case was initially reported, other accusations surfaced, as did previous public statements from years ago by performers who asserted accusations of abuse were already circulating about Majors.

So yes, Marvel will almost certainly recast Kang. Lucky for Marvel, the character literally exists across a near-infinite number of alternate realities where he takes different forms and changes appearance. Likewise, Marvel has had to recast characters in the past, just like lots of other franchise or TV/streaming series. This isn’t brain surgery, and the framing of this issue as something that could sink Marvel’s whole future plans is frankly nonsense.

Just one great example, Marvel could offer the role to John Boyega (who I’d argue should’ve been the top candidate for the role in the first place). Or maybe Denzel Washington as an iteration of Kang who sat out the in-fighting and collective efforts of the rest of the Kangs and grew older and wiser as he made his plans to take over. Or maybe Ray Fisher could be offered the role, if Marvel wants to poke DC and WBD while scoring a great casting option.

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Or perhaps Marvel could offer the role to Leslie Odom Jr., Lakeith Stanfield, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Daveed Diggs, Stephan James, or any number of other fantastic casting choices to take over the role of Kang in the MCU.

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The point is, the worst part of the situation with John Majors is if the allegations are true and women suffered this abuse while Hollywood ignored it. The casting “problem” is small potatoes by comparison, and is easy to solve.

So let’s look at the financials now, since a central claim to the “Marvel is in trouble” narrative is that the studio is struggling at the box office while streaming is an unpopular mess.

At the box office, it’s true Marvel hit a high point with their back to back releases of the two-part Avengers conclusion to the Infinity Saga. The $2.79 billion from Endgame and $2 billion from Infinity War elevated the final global gross for all 22 films in that saga to more than $20 billion, for a per-film average of around $935 million.

In 2018 and 2019, the MCU put up the following numbers: Black Panther hit $1.34 billion, then Infinity War topped $2 billion, then Captain Marvel scored $1.1 billion, and then Endgame took $2.79 billion. Ant-Man and the Wasp at $622 is the only MCU film in those 24 months that failed to top $1 billion.

Since the Infinity Saga ended, Marvel’s releases have taken north of $8.1 billion across 10 movies so far, with a Multiverse Saga per film average of about $815 million. The difference between $815 million and $935 million is not insignificant, but nor is it disastrous, and it’s certainly not hard to understand why it’s happening.

The 2018 and 2019 slates for the Infinity Saga benefited from a decade of build-up, and it was those last four (out of five total) blockbusters topping $1-2 billion each that provided the final heft and resulted in an even higher per film average. We are only in the first half of the Multiverse Saga to date, and so far we haven’t had a single Avengers movie in this new saga, while as noted the Infinity Saga ended with a one-two Avengers punch good for more than $2 million per film.

And then the fact of the Covid pandemic alone accounts for most of the rest of the downturn in Marvel Studios’ average box office performance. Even during the Covid pandemic, when films were flopping or going straight to streaming/PVOD, Marvel’s three releases that performed “badly” due to the global health crisis still managed to finish between $379.7 million on the lowest end and $432 million. That’s better than the DCEU can perform even after theaters reopened and box office started its climb back toward something resembling “normal” — at least for the right films, since 2023 has been a roller coaster ride for theatrical.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania underperformed earlier this year and wound up the weakest performer of that franchise at $476 million, but Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 scored blockbuster results with $845.5 million.

Indeed, Vol. 3 is currently the fourth-highest grossing movie of 2023, both domestically and worldwide. And for the record, as disappointing as its box office was, 2023 has been so cruel to theatrical releases that Quantumania is still a top-10 box office performer.

We’ve seen one would-be blockbuster tentpole after another face-plant or otherwise disappoint, and often when a tentpole has managed a healthy box office performance it’s at a more moderate level than expected or typically enjoyed by the given franchise and/or its prior financial trajectory.

Other than Barbie, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Oppenheimer, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, nothing else truly put up top-tier results this year. Fast X topped $700 million, but is fourth film in a row from the series to suffer a decline from its predecessor’s box office gross, and the lowest box office for the franchise since 2011’s Fast Five, so it’s a mixed bag there.

Besides that, 2023 saw three films in the $500-600 millions range, four in $400 millions territory, and a couple of $300 millions.

The makeup of the top 10 this year looks like this: Barbie, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Oppenheimer, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Fast X, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, The Little Mermaid, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, Elemental, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

Notice, there are three Marvel superhero movies in the top 10. Yes, one of them underperformed, but the point is that it seems silly to talk as if audience are in any widespread or large scale way turning away from superhero cinema, or that Marvel is somehow reeling from a downfall and have lost control.

The Marvels is currently tracking toward a shockingly low debut this weekend, with most projections pointing to a $130-$150 million global opening. Without at least average holds, the film could struggle to get past $300-400 million. On the other hand, I think tracking has proven pretty unreliable these days, and I believe a significant part of these disappointing numbers is the fact a lot of people are confusing this film with being another new Disney+ Marvel show, or think it is coming to Disney+ as a film soon. There’s also the general 2023 ongoing curse to consider.

But regardless, The Marvels should’ve been a home run sequel. While we can point to the unethical shenanigans and toxic behavior of fans and of certain organized hateful online voices obsessed with attacking women-driven movies or shows, if this film flops or underperforms rather than merely suffering a downward adjustment consistent with the genre overall (which would mean a box office for The Marvels in the $700 million range, I’d say), then it’s entirely fair to call it a big stumble for the studio.

The large-scale tainting of superhero cinema by the DCEU’s overarching failure the past several years (eight films in a row across five years, all failing to reach $400 million and averaging in the roughly $250 million range) coinciding with the Covid pandemic and theatrical downturn, coupled with a leveling off — not uncontrolled free-fall or any other hyperbolic situation — of Marvel’s must-see “event” status in the aftermath of their 11-year Infinity Saga’s conclusion (and lack of any Avengers team-ups for four years and counting) has no doubt reduced the dominance of the superhero genre and audience’s previous high-level anticipation.

But that sort of heightened “event” status is impossible for any franchise or genre to maintain, and no serious person expected the genre or any one studio’s piece of it to be some perpetual ever-increasing profit machine

Neither Marvel nor the genre in general need to treat the usual ebb and flow of primacy in entertainment as if it’s some major crisis threatening the existence and profitability of the studio or genre. That’s just the natural clickbait mentality driving entertainment journalism. We should be able to report on and assess such situations without resort to exaggerated portrayals for melodramatic purposes, nor parrot claims from those with obvious incentives and ulterior motives behind any of that sort of hyperbolic claims. We know better, but that doesn’t mean the profession behaves better, and so we get clickbait and studio drama delivered up like silly reality TV, and everyone pretends not to recognize it as the nonsense it usually is.

Marvel has to recast a major lead actor, something we’ve seen plenty of times by studios and projects, including literally by Marvel themselves on more than one occasion. Marvel’s first two films of 2023 grossed a combined $1.3 billion in box office. Even if The Marvels only does about half the box office of Captain Marvel — a vastly bigger drop than the Ant-Man franchise experienced, but let’s just use a 50% dramatic decrease to make the larger point — the MCU will have grossed a total of about $2.45 billion for 2023, an average of $815 million per film.

If that figure sounds familiar, it’s because I mentioned it earlier since it’s the per-film average for the MCU ever since the end of the Infinity Saga. Marvel settled back a bit from the high per-film average of $935 million, and for four years we’ve consistently seen this same new average level of performance for their films. Again, not insignificant as a drop, but in context it’s easier to understand and recognize as not a sudden emergency situation, and I suspect most studios would be happy if they could average north of $800 million per film on average every year.

And let’s face it, once the latest Avengers movies hit the radar, we’ll see the average per film gross go up during those years, just like always, and in the long run if the two scheduled Avengers movies play at the $2 billion level, that will actually result in an increase in the final average per-film gross for the Multiverse Saga, just as those huge Avengers box office grosses at the end of Infinity Saga seriously raised the saga’s per-film average.

This is all fairly predictable, within an obvious margin of error but not frankly too far of deviation. Which doesn’t negate the fact of the downturn in average performances, but rather puts it into less histrionic perspective as solvable problems for a still overwhelmingly successful studio that’s seeing per film averages still far superior to what any other studio can claim.

On streaming, where audience trends and preferences have likewise evolved during the Covid era, Marvel

First we got the ABC broadcast series: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter, and Inhumans. Want to take a moment to recall how did those all fair with audiences and critics?

Then came Netflix's slate, with Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Defenders, and The Punisher — half of those got mostly good or great reviews, a couple got mixed to negative reviews, and along the way different seasons of a given show had their ups and downs. Many fans and reviewers bemoaned the general lack of tie-in to the cinematic releases, a point that's amusing in light of how the same reviewers and fans completely reversed course a few years later to bemoan the fact the newer MCU shows often try to tie in to the MCU.

So next up are The Runaways and Cloak and Dagger, shows with younger casts and less direct connection to the rest of the MCU, but both were short lived and appeared on two different streaming services.

Which brings us to the MCU shows on Disney+, overseen by Marvel Studios itself and consisting of WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, What If...?, Hawkeye, Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and Secret Invasion.

While The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and What If...? received mixed reactions, WandaVision and Loki got generally good to great reviews, as did Hawkeye and Moon Knight.

Ms. Marvel likewise received strong positive reviews, aside from resentful fans mostly motivated by racism or sexism who bashed the show (the same way angry bigoted fans harassed Brie Larson and tried to manipulate online reviews for Captain Marvel, and to this day engage in bizarre conspiracy theories pretending movies with women leads are secretly propped up by studios buying up tickets), and the same mob of boys and men perpetually upset that everything isn’t just a mirror reflecting themselves were incensed that She-Hulk dared make fun of them for being immature, bigoted, and all-around goofy.

Granted, She-Hulk did often have what looked like rushed and unfinished CGI, but it was also still miles ahead of most TV CGI and it didn’t detract from the entertainment value of the show and was generally fine. (Yes, plenty of folks just didn’t enjoy these shows, and I’m sure it’s entirely a coincidence that for many of them it always happens to be women-led shows that bother them or are declared “meh”).

Secret Wars is the most recent new MCU show (besides a new season of Loki), and it got mixed reviews that lean mostly positive but still point to trouble in the decision-making to develop the series, questions about

The point of all of this is, Marvel’s had a lot of superhero shows for a long time during the reign of the MCU, and the shows have tended to mostly get good or great reviews, while often suffering complaints of inconsistency in tie-ins vs stand-alone abilities, or iffy VFX, or questions about who is in charge and why certain decisions were made. Sound familiar? It should, because it’s a broken record of reality at this point, the sort that gets mentioned as if it’s a new development any time someone is pushing the latest version of the “sky is falling” narrative.

Not that there aren’t issues needing solutions. The budgets are too high, and Marvel — like many streamers — is discovering it’s simply not sustainable to spend $20 million or more per episode with rushed production schedules and increasingly unreasonable demands on VFX workers.

But the shows themselves are so far working and working pretty well, if you aren’t focused entirely on social media debates and media exaggerations. Most every MCU show on Disney+ has enjoyed positive reception from critics and viewers, enjoying good (and sometimes record-setting) viewership. Fixing the problems for the Marvel streaming plans is not really any more difficult than fixing the theatrical issues, because it’s easy to identify the problems, easy to see where the problems arose, and easy to see what is necessary to end those problems.

Nobody foresaw the Covid pandemic (or at least the extent of it) or the utterly shameful, failed public health response it elicited from governments and organizations that are paid and entrusted to prevent or deal with such crises. Marvel was caught off guard like every studio, Marvel suffered the same box office downturn as every studio, Marvel leaned into streaming like every studio, and Marvel is now having to make adjustments to adapt to the still-evolving environment theatrically and in streaming.

So media and fans and others in Hollywood pretending this is some shocking, Marvel-specific situation are making disingenuous claims, and they should know better. Most probably do, but the truth is more boring than doomsaying — and with everything else in the world falling apart, clickbait and hyperbole are the best way to get attention for entertainment news during a drought (caused by few new films/shows releasing, and the likelihood of strikes dragging into next year because studios put money toward bonuses, yachts, and private jets rather than pay artists, writers, and performers living wages from a fair share of the revenue they generate).

Marvel will recast Kang, they’ll reduce the number of shows and films in production at a given time, they’ll get budgets under control and allow more time for VFX work, and they’ll refocus on the approaches and measures that worked so well in the past to determine which projects to greenlight and how to return to the sense of a big shared world the Avengers have to team up to save.

Luckily, with the X-Men and Fantastic Four reboots around the corner, Marvel has a couple of big teams with lots of potential for precisely the sort of storytelling Marvel does best at the blockbuster level. They could even simply move toward a post-Secret Wars setup that lets Fantastic Four, X-Men, and a handful of other existing popular franchises carry the Marvel brand forward for a while.

We will also probably see the temporary return of Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and Scarlett Johansson reprise their popular MCU roles for Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and/or Avengers: Secret Wars.

And looking at the upcoming slate, it’s not hard to see there’s plenty of reason to feel confident Marvel will continue to enjoy success, even if it’s at a slightly moderated level due to the myriad factors we’ve discussed, including the idea that superhero genre films are settling into a more consistent long-term level of popularity and performance from now on.

The next four years brings Deadpool 3, Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts, Blade, Fantastic Four, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, and Avengers: Secret Wars, and at some point thereafter Armor Wars and the X-Men. Of these films, the two Avengers movies are likely to be blockbuster hits, as is Deadpool 3. Captain America: Brave New World is an established franchise, lacking the original series lead but with a continuing cast and brand that I think are enough to avoid any significant downturn in box office, even if we see some drop from the peak levels of the Infinity Saga.

Blade and Thunderbolts are the riskier properties here, but the former is a previously successful cinematic brand and the latter is a team-up movie including some recognizable characters and stars. Still, this is where we might see more underperformances. Fantastic Four could likewise either perform at a blockbuster levels, or might wind up in the $700 million range, but as a key property getting lots of attention and must-work oversight, I think it’ll avoid being a problem.

Armor Wars as an extension of the Iron Man movies — and possibly/probably coming after we see Robert Downey Jr. again in some Avengers action — should perform well, and X-Men is a known successful brand getting an MCU reboot and polish as a big team franchise including younger cast members, so I think it’ll at least be capable of playing at the Guardians of the Galaxy level, if done right.

This isn’t a debacle, it’s not doomsday, and Marvel isn’t in disarray. The internal difficulties they’ve faced are frankly typical and easy to identify and solve, as much as everything else we’ve discussed here. The bottom line is this: we’ve seen Marvel Studios kick off with a big hit in Iron Man and an outright flop with The Incredible Hulk, after which Captain America: The First Avenger and Thor performed at okay levels but didn’t set the box office on fire by any stretch.

We got the original Avengers movie off the strength of Iron Man and Iron Man 2, and to really help put this into perspective I’ll point out the average per film box office of Phase One was $634 million. Phase Two’s per film average was $876 million.

Marvel worked hard to build what they created, and it’s a tremendous historic success full of ups and downs that so far have ultimately maintained an impressive level of successful across a large slate of films and series. To look at this history, this math, and think Marvel Studios is in deep trouble, struggling, or never really was very good to begin with, is unreasonable and contrary to the data and any serious considerations.

[cranes-menagerie]

This is gonna get sappy, so just beware.

I miss getting excited for Marvel movies.

The first Marvel movie I ever watched in theaters was ALLLLL the way back in 2012 with Avengers 1

And brother I was ENAMORED

Put a 5 year old kid in front of a movie with 6 superheroes and it's like narcotics.

It was a form of escapism with my turbulent childhood. I started getting REAL invested in phase 3 with stuff like civil war, homecoming, Infinity war and endgame.

Then, in about 2021-2023, I started viewing these movies as comfort media. Spider-Man was a character I started to relate to immensely. It's for the same reason that I love Superman, It's someone who balanced his powers with humility, I loved that.

I love Bucky and Matt Murdock since I was going through things that made me relate to them, and I still relate to characters that fit a similar role, such as Logan and especially Moon Knight(oh my fucking God I love Moon Knight)

Nowadays it's just.....meh

Quantumania was fine in the moment, and several things with Marvel nowadays are just kinda there. Deadpool made fun of several things I've been saying

"Can we just stop with the Multiverse"

" Gratuitous use of cameos"

And all the movies that I think look good have things that make me reluctant to watch it

Brave New World looks FANTASTIC it gives me Falcon and the winter soldier vibes, and I LOVE IT.

....butttttt they have a character in the movie who in the source material was a zionist, apparently they made her an ex black widow agent, which is admittedly better but still.

Thunderbolts looks so.fucking.good. I loved Black Widow, and it makes me so happy that Alexei and Yelena get to interact with people like Bucky and John.

But why do Ghost and Taskmaster look like this

Fantastic 4...immaculate, the vibes,the cast,the music, all great.

.....

Moving on

Don't even get me started on Blade

I want Marvel to go back to being a studio that makes comic book movies and not try to make a blockbuster every time.

Have people read the damn comics you're adapting

Give your workers time to do their jobs

Essentially tldr: do what James gunn is doing with dc.

I am INFINITELY more excited to watch Creature Commandos, SUPERMAN, Penguin, Booster Gold, Batman: Brave and the Bold. Than anything coming out in the mcu and it sucks because I love these characters and no one does anything with them. This film franchise I grew up with isn't for me anymore. does it suck? yeah but its whatever

I do remain excited for things such as Marvel Zombies,Born Again and X-men 97

[awakenedmaiden]

@ancientforged replied to your post “Went and saw the new Ant-Man movie. Personally, I...”:

MCU movies often work best in a vacuum, where they aren't too reliable on continuity or setting up stuff i think, i guess that is mostly my problem with things post-endgame, altho each to their own i say

​I don't quite agree but I can understand that point. For me I like the broad continuity stuff, it reminds me of being a little Lis reading comic collections of things like the Infinite Crisis or the original Civil War. So to me specifically the movie arcs feel kinda nice.

But I super get that to a lot of people it's a lot to deal with. Like you can't just watch, I dunno, Spider-man No Way Home, because not only did you have to watch the first two Spider-man movies but also you gotta know who Doctor Strange is from his movie. And you gotta understand what the "Blip" was from Endgame. Then you gotta know Sony's Spider-Man 1-3 and The Amazing Spider-Man 1 & 2. Which, if you wanna just sit down and watch a movie, is way too much. Particularly since they're being more and more like this.

Or, like, with this Ant-Man movie. The plot references Ant-Man's actions in Endgame a lot. Also the television show Loki (which I never saw) did a fair bit of set up for this (that was also a problem with Doctor Strange 2 as I have never seen Wandavision and that was apparently quite important to the film). And this movie was used to set up the main villain of the later coming Avengers movie. So then you'll probably need to see it to understand things in 2 years.

So I totes get how that can be folks problems with the more recent stuff.

For me though, my problem is more a matter of tonality. I'm not saying that the old Marvel movies weren't funny, like there's totally jokes in Captain America, Thor, etc. BUT.

Guardians of the Galaxy came out. And it was good. GotG 2 is personally my favorite film in the MCU. The GotG were a specific kind of humor. Where they were constantly quipping. Serious moments were almost (and the almost is genuinely very important) undercut by some sort of gag. And it was basically funny all the time. Which worked fine with Guardians of the Galaxy. That is the tone of that particular set of films and it is a tone that fits those set of five characters.

But ever since it came out. It honestly feels, to me, like every single Marvel movie was wanted to be Guardians of the Galaxy. It took some time and was a bit slow but nowadays every time I watch a Marvel movie it just feels like GotG but without the Guardians. Every Marvel character has become, like, a wisecracking constantly joking sarcastic dude that's vaguely an asshole. Which just makes them all feel samey to me.

Like I still watch the Marvel movies but most of them, even though I enjoy them, I don't find myself with an interest in going back and watching again. I'm down to rewatch, say, Captain America: The First Avenger because it feels distinct. But I don't think I'll be rewatching most of the stuff that's come out since, oh, I'd say after Thor 3 because it feels the same as watching any other. TBH even Thor 3 does but Thor 3 manages to be really funny with it so I am down to rewatch it every couple of years.

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #609

Top Ten Important Moments in the MCU

Well this has turned out to be an opportune week to write a pre-planned list al about the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The stars have aligned, I guess. I’m not slagging anything off though. I like everything, even the crap bits.

One of the things I do really love about the MCU is the interconnectedness of it all. I don’t really mean Falcon cropping up in Ant-Man or anything like that; I just generally like the fact that these stories all take place in the same universe. And part of the thrill of that universe is thinking about how actions within one story might have ramifications in another. Because at the end of the day, unlike how most films would deal with stuff in the past, we’re always going to have to see how the chips fall once a film is done. The aliens are destroyed in Independence Day, but we don’t get to see humanity rebuild the world; there’s a dinosaur in San Diego in The Lost World but then the film ends without us even seeing the next day’s headlines. The MCU – for the most part – has actually done a very good job of showing the way these superheroic events have rippled through the world.

And so this list – timed to celebrate both the release of The Marvels and also the finale of Loki season 2 this Friday – is going to highlight what I think are the most important moments of the MCU. Except I’m specifically looking at how important they are within the MCU; the biggest ripples, if you will. Now right away this has opened up a can of worms for me, because some events I think are probably hugely significant, but don’t really impact Earth immediately; others are tied up in time and space shenanigans that mean pinning down one moment is a bit tricky. So let’s say, for the sake of argument, that I’ve ranked these by how important they’d feel to a GP in Hull.

And that’s all there is to it! Ten seismic, Earth-shattering moments from within the MCU. Now let’s all go book our tickets for The Marvels.

The Snap (Avengers: Infinity War, 2018): when literally half of all life disappears in the click of a finger and a small shower of dust, that’s gonna be a big deal. To Marvel’s credit, the frankly huge ramifications of this were shown in the Endgame time-jump, and the ramifications of bringing everybody back has also been shown. This was a seismic, epochal event, and it continues to ripple, changing people’s relationships and having a lasting effect on the world of the MCU. Plus you could argue it lead to the death of Tony Stark and all that jazz.

The Battle of New York (The Avengers, 2012): this is a biggie not just because it resulted in the formation of the Avengers themselves, but also because it would have been, for most of planet Earth, the first proof of life elsewhere in the universe. An actual alien invasion would have blown everyone’s minds, and whilst most people seem to have acclimatised to the situation pretty swiftly, there’ll always be a “before New York” and “after New York”.

The Multiverse (Loki, 2021): this is a tricky one for a number of reasons, but let’s get the easy part out of the way: Sylvie killing He Who Remains essentially creates the MCU Multiverse, spawning a possibly infinite number of alternate realities stretching back and forth through time. That’s quite a big deal! But for a start, you could argue that the multiverse had always existed, as once she’s done the deed, it always has existed. Plus, once it exists/has existed, does that effect the people of Earth particularly? Do they even know? Obviously there’s a whole Saga going on about this – and Loki season 2 hasn’t quite finished – so what the ultimate ramifications will be we still don’t quite know. But it feels like a pretty big deal.

The Sokovia Accords (Captain America: Civil War, 2016): another moment that had a series of wide-ranging outcomes. On the one hand, the very notion of “registered superheroes” is quite a big deal, and instantly makes unlicensed vigilantism a more dangerous profession. However, it’s the impact it had on the Avengers themselves – and the rift between Tony and Steve – that was arguably the biggest deal. You could argue that they lead to the death of T’Chaka and therefore T’Challa’s rise to King of Wakanda. The fallout from all of this saw Tony recruiting Spider-Man. And, of course, Steve being on the run meant he wasn’t there when Bruce Banner came crashing to Earth in Infinity War; perhaps if the Accords had not happened then a united Avengers could have somehow stopped Thanos before the Snap even took place?

Hail Hydra (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, 2014): before all of that, there’s the time when we found out that all along evil WWII Nazi super-baddies Hydra were secretly pulling the world’s strings. This was a shocking enough revelation, but in defeating them it also meant the destruction of planet-protecting SHIELD, up till that point the spine of the MCU; in their absence, the Avengers themselves rose to fill the void, arguably setting in place the events that lead to the Sokovia Accords and, well, everything else. Ripples!

Wakanda Revealed (Black Panther, 2018): one of the, perhaps unexpected, results of all the Sokovia business and what followed was King T’Challa revealing the secrets of Wakanda to the world. A seemingly third-world nation suddenly emerging as the most technologically advanced and powerful country was a mind-bender; but this in turn resulted in most of the other nations seeking access to its store of Vibranium, which arguably lead to the war with Talokan in Wakanda Forever. And who knows what else?

Ragnarok (Thor: Ragnarok, 2017): in what I still think is one of the ballsiest moves of the MCU, Thor: Ragnarok literally sees Asgard completely destroyed and its citizens – once thought of as galactic protectors – thrust into the role of refugees. Infinity War suggested the lack of Asgard’s protection lead to Thanos forcing the Dwarves of Nidavellir to craft the Infinity Gauntlet, and possibly allowed him to ransack an undefended Xandar and seize the Power Stone. And, of course, the Asgardians eventually make a home on Earth; which would feel like quite a strange turn of events considering most people didn’t even know aliens existed a few years earlier.

“I am Iron Man” (Iron Man, 2008): whilst superheroes of some kind or another existed before Iron Man (both Caps, for instance!), he was arguably the first true “modern” hero. We, as audiences, are accustomed to such heroes having secret identities; but Tony Stark, of course, blew that out the water. By becoming, essentially, a celebrity superhero, it set the stage for all of his future inventions and interventions: “privatising world peace”, the Stark Expo, Stark Tower, “a suit of armour around the world”, etc. But it was also a catalyst for the creation of the Avengers themselves; as Fury said, he wasn’t the only superhero in the world. The film Iron Man, and Downey’s performance in it, helped set the tone for the rest of the movies in the MCU; but Tony’s decision to admit to, and own, his status as a superhero also set the tone for what transpired in-universe, too.

Captain America Returns (Captain America: The First Avenger, 2011): this one feels so obvious that I don’t feel I need to go into too much detail. Yeah, Fury was already trying to create the Avengers, ever since he met Captain Marvel; and Tony in his suit and Banner with his rage were already out there in the world. But the discover of Steve Rogers frozen in ice, and his subsequent employment with SHIELD, and then his leadership of the Avengers, was absolutely instrumental in everything that happened afterwards. Tony might have been the engine that drove the MCU, but Steve was its heart and soul. And its ass.

“A Mutation” (Ms. Marvel, 2022): this one might be a bit of a cheat because – thus far – I don’t really know how significant it is in-universe; I doubt there are too many people who even know about it. But that moment in Ms. Marvel, when Bruno tells Kamala that she possesses a “mutation” (cue the music!) is a watershed for the MCU; out there, in the world, are other people with mutations (we’ve met at least one in Wakanda Forever). The existence of, and revelation of, capital-M Mutants is going to be one of the most significant and impactful events in the world, if previous adaptations of X-Men are anything to go by. So this might just feel like a cool nod to fans right now, but I think it’s the tip of a very big iceberg; one that might just go “bamf” or “snikt” at any moment.

[caatws]

I know it's not the most important thing ever but I feel more hurt about ships and responses to the film than I have in the past. Infinity War was like walking through a fire trying to deal with the anger I felt about her death and some fans trying to uplift Thanos instead. It felt like dodging snowballs when comments started flying about Thanos did nothing wrong and she's not a victim because Thanos really loved her. Endgame felt like a flood of people already primed to say she shouldn't get to be part of vol 3 and just replace her. That it was wrong they brought her back because it would hurt Thanos having a good arc. The negative speculation around her role was enough to make my head spin. Then there were the delays and pushbacks.

The film's out and seeing the way she's being treated and dismissed. People pretending she was never important. I'm ready to be like Tony Stark and say "Earth is closed today". Pack it up and move on to the two, three, twelve or whatever dozen films/tv shows/books that are filled to the brim with certain types of characters that fandom is always priorizing while ignoring pretty much every character who doesn't fit the type.

you're so valid anon :( i'm right there with you and sending infinite hugs. i never expected that getting invested in gamora and the gotg franchise would be such a tumultuous journey, like actually 💀 the avengers franchise had its challenging moments for me as a nat stan as well, but being a gamora stan is truly just another level of bullshittery and wtfness when it comes to canon that i literally never would've expected

like going into iw/eg i fully expected the russos to just cast the gotg to the side and completely decenter gamora and nebula from thanos' narrative, and i'm almost starting to think that could've been less painful even tho it would've still been so frustrating 😭 but at least original gamora could maybe still be here with us...

earth is fr closed today. kevin feige and russos and markus and mcfeely go do us a favor and move to the moon and eat a shoe

[msclaritea]

Doctor Strange 2 writer on Secret Wars | SYFY WIRE

"What is the MCU's next big crossover event? It's a pretty valid question. For better or worse, the epic nature of Avengers: Endgame spoiled audiences rotten. Despite the fact that Phase 4 has only just gotten underway, fans have already started to feverishly speculate on where the comic book mythos is headed next.

The answer to that lingering mystery may have already been hinted at by the events of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which carried forth the potential for infinite storytelling possibilities espoused by the Loki television series on Disney+. As Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige teased last summer: "The multiverse is coming up in a big way." How big are we talking exactly? Judging by where things currently stand, we'd say Secret Wars-level big.

The new Doctor Strange film goes out of its way to introduce the concept of Incursions and the dangers they pose. As explained by John Krasinski's Reed Richards of Earth-838, Incursions are multiversal doomsday scenarios in which two universes collide until one (or both) are destroyed entirely.

Readers of the comics will recognize the fictional phenomenon from the major role it played in the critically-acclaimed 2015 Secret Wars arc (not to be confused with Secret Invasion, which is getting adapted for television at Disney+) written by Jonathan Hickman and drawn by Esad Ribić. In this storyline, the entire multiverse is destroyed by Incursions, prompting the trio of Doctor Strange, Doctor Doom, and Molecule Man to weave the remnants of several realities together to form the realm known as Battleworld.

Speaking to SYFY WIRE recently, Multiverse of Madness screenwriter Michael Waldron told us — straight up — that his decision to invite the threat of Incursions to the Marvel Cinematic Universe party was no coincidence. "I’m a fan of Jonathan Hickman and read his Illuminati comics and I’m a fan of all of that stuff in Secret Wars," he explained. "And so, everything’s in there for a reason."

Waldron refused to go any further than that, but his terse answer still gives us plenty to chew on for the time being. His strong hint at Incursions factoring into the wider storytelling quilt moving forward seems to imply the existence of a Secret Wars project, or — at the very least — a big screen adventure with similarly gargantuan stakes. Thanks to the arrival of Charlize Theron's Clea in the film's mid-credits sequence, we know that Strange's decision to dream-walk in an effort to defeat Scarlet Witch was not without its consequences. Yes, the good doctor saved the day, but he also caused an Incursion, which requires fixing pronto.

Something tells us these are going to become more and more frequent, eventually resulting in a multiversal disaster that can't be repaired by traditional means. When that happens, when all else fails, Joe and Anthony Russo will be there, ready to deliver another history-making box office smash."

[noorasaertre]

justice will come soon enough. tell that to the dead.

[wagner-metalkof]

[musclesandhammering]

Every Single Issue I Have With S*lki (It’s Not Just The Selfcest)

Here goes. I threatened to post this a few days ago and never did, but I just saw a s*lki stan Twitter account claim that Loki caring about Sylvie more than the whole multiverse was a Good And Romantic thing and it pushed me over the fucking edge, so now you all have to read this. I’ve divided it into categories cause there’s just THAT much.

OOC Bullshit

• First and foremost, no amount of mental gymnastics you do will ever make me believe that this specific Loki- the one that just invaded New York, that just came off a year of Thanos Torture, that just got done being influenced by the sceptre, that was literally in the middle of a crisis already, and then on top of that went through all the trauma of Ep 1- would even be worried about a romantic relationship. That would be the furthest thing from his mind. Go back and watch how he acted in Avengers- you think that guy would abandon his previous mission to become a snivelling simp for a girl he’d just met 3 days prior? Yeah, there’s no universe in which that makes sense.

• “It’s very in character for Loki to fall in love with himself lololol-“ NO, it’s literally not. Out of all the characters in the mcu, I don’t think I can think of anyone that genuinely hates themselves more than Loki. He even referred to all his other male variants as “monsters” and said meeting them was “a nightmare” in this series. He’s got so much self-loathing, plus the fact that he genuinely thinks himself to be an evil backstabbing scourge- so there’s no evidence at all suggesting that he would ever develop a fondness for, or even be inclined to trust, another version of himself, after only knowing them for 3 days.

• Building on that, the whole concept of Loki falling in love with a version of himself just feeds into the annoying ass misconception that he’s a narcissist. No matter which way you stack it, he’s not. If you’re referring to NPD, he doesn’t fit the criteria, and if you’re saying “narcissist” just as a slang term meaning “selfish and arrogant”, that still doesn’t accurately describe him. But when creators like Waldron and Herron do things like having him fall in love with himself, it makes it so much easier for casual viewers to think that he is.

Shitty LGBT Rep

• It’s kinda sus that Loki’s are allegedly genderfluid and yet the only female-presenting variant we see (and apparently the only female-presenting variant there is, cause the male Loki’s all seemed unfamiliar with the concept) is treated as some kind of mind-bogglingly special paradox. Also very sus that, out of all the Loki variants, the one our Loki falls in love with just so happens to be the only female one. What a coincidence.

• The fact that the creators of the show went around bragging about Loki’s bisexuality and Marvel purposefully (lbr) allowed stories about Loki possibly having a male love interest to circulate, specifically enticing queer viewers to watch the show (you know, the definition of queerbaiting), and then instead of having a male love interest (Loki was the first queer main character, so it was the perfect opportunity) they gave us *gestures to this dumpster fire* this… it’s just a middle finger to LGBT fans. The fact that they would rather have this relationship with all its myriad of problems than have a gay relationship is just……. Very telling.

• While him being with a woman obviously doesn’t refute his bisexuality, the fact that they showed/talked about him being interested in 3 different women (flight attendant, Sylvie, Sif) and never even hinted at him being attracted to a man, definitely makes it seem like they were trying to cover up his bisexuality to smooth things over with the more homophobic viewers. You know? It’s like “I know you’re pissed that we sorta confirmed Loki as bi, so we promise we’ll never mention it again! Or even hint at it! As a matter of fact, we’ll give him lots of female lovies and make him seem as straight as possible! That’ll take your mind off of that horrible crumb of queer rep, right? Please please please keep giving us your money!!!”

• Aside from all the other issues, at its core, the biggest reason why I think I’m so irritated with s*lki is that it took one of the most interesting, complex, and diverse characters in cinema atm and squished him into a tired ass unnecessary heteronormative subplot…. Like literally every. single. other. protagonist. ever. Loki is such a unique character, and it’s so so so incredibly disappointing that they stuck him into that same boring cookie cutter romance that happens to every other character in every other movie I’ve ever seen. It’s a disservice, and it’s honestly just not compelling or entertaining at all.

Thematic Issues Galore

• His arc didn’t need a romance. With anyone. It was unnecessary and it didn’t make sense plot-wise. In fact, one of the reasons he was my fav prior to this was because he was the only big-name mcu character whose story wasn’t muddied-up by a romance that didn’t need to be there. So much for that.

• He wasn’t emotionally ready for a romantic relationship with anyone. Hell, just a genuine friendship would’ve been pushing it for him at this point. He was in such a bad state that any relationship he got into would’ve been toxic and unhealthy for both him and the other person, and it doesn’t make sense why the writers would want to put him in one when there were so many cons and essentially no pros (other than “Uwu aren’t they cute together”).

• Sylvie’s character in general was unnecessary and Loki’s character was robbed just by her being there. The whole show became about her post-Ep 2. They spent most of the time giving her backstory, building her up, telling us how awesome she is, trying to convince us to like her, etc when what they really needed to be doing was building Loki up- cause I gotta say, if I had to describe TVA!Loki in a few words, they would be Flat, Boring, and Weak.

• The romance overtakes the plot. They spend time portraying their supposed connection that could’ve been spent adding depth and complexity to literally any of the characters. They make the big Nexus Event them giving each other googly eyes on Lamentis when it could’ve been so many other way more profound things that speak to the fundamental nature of Loki’s. They have the climax of the finale be “oh no she betrayed him to kill He Who Remains” when it could’ve been something way more compelling (Loki having a moral crisis over whether or not to kill HWR, Loki contemplating the state of the multiverse and weighing the pros and cons of freedom vs order, Loki looking into some What If situations and getting emotional about what could’ve been regarding his family, Loki realising the gravity of HWR’s offer and finally coming to terms with how important he is to the universal cycle, etc etc). The entire plot suffered in favour of a romance that half of us didn’t even want.

• It essentially reduced all of Loki’s potential character growth down to “He did it for his crush.” He seemed to at least have some motivations of his own in Ep 1-2 (feeble as they were) but after Sylvie showed up in Ep 3, literally every action he took was just him being a simp for her. Why did he lie in the interrogation? To try to protect Sylvie. Why did he fight the minutemen and Timekeepers? To survive kinda, but mostly cause it was important to Sylvie. Why did he get pruned? Cause he got distracted trying to confess his crush to Sylvie. Why did he try to get out of The Void? Cause he thought Sylvie needed him. Why did he stay in The Void? Cause Sylvie was staying. Why did he try to enchant Alioth? Cause Sylvie told him to. Why did the multiverse get cracked open, leading to an infinite number of Kangs waging war on all of existence? Cause Loki didn’t wanna hurt Sylvie in their fight at the Citadel and then get distracted by her kissing him. It’s uninteresting and honestly pretty embarrassing.

• Throughout their “relationship arc” the writers do their absolute damndest to convince us that we should like Sylvie more than Loki. And you know what? It’s the most hypocritical shit I’ve ever seen. They preach and preach about how Sylvie’s life has been so difficult/we should feel bad for her/she had it so bad/poor poor sylvie/she had it SO much worse than pampered prince Loki…. But then they never even touch on any of Loki’s trauma of hardships (the ones that have been ignored for literally 3 movies now). They frame Sylvie as a good person and a Freedom Fighter after she spent literal decades/centuries mass-murdering brainwashed TVA agents and showing exactly zero remorse for it….. but then they make it their mission to constantly remind us that Loki is a terrible person and constantly put him in situations where he’s forced to acknowledge his wrongdoings/show remorse/admit to how “evil” he is for being a mass murderer for like 2 years. They show him on-screen having a wider range of powers than her, and perpetuate his whole shtick of being a “master manipulator” or whatever….. But then they make Sylvie “the brawn” more competent, intelligent, and physically capable than him. Tell me how it’s a good thing for a ship to be so narratively biased toward one character.

Missed Opportunities

• If they absolutely had to have a romance subplot, then they could’ve paired Loki with one of the characters that have already been established OR one of the characters that were a big part of the whole TVA storyline anyway. It would’ve been so interesting if they’d revealed that Loki had a history with some of the players from previous films (Sif and Fandral both come to mind). It also would’ve been really interesting if they’d given Loki a love interest that actually had some allegiance to the TVA as a whole (Mobius maybe, but not necessarily. It also could’ve been Renslayer or B-15). Hell, imo it would’ve been cool if they’d followed through with that “See you again someday” line that he said to the flight attendant in Ep 1. ALL of these characters have way more chemistry with him than Sylvie, and they were also already relevant to the plot without wasting half the show to give background info on them.

• If they absolutely had to have a hetero-presenting love story involving an enchantress-type figure, then there’s a whole Enchantress (Amora) that was actually Loki’s love interest in the comics. Plus, fans have been screaming for Amora to appear in the mcu for years. Plus, Tom literally pitched an Amora/Loki storyline way back in 2012-13. Also, Lorelei (another enchantress) is also one of Loki’s love interests in the comics, and she already exists in the mcu (she was on Agents of SHIELD). There were several different established characters for them to choose from. Creating a whole knew amalgamation of a character and going with the “she’s a Loki variant” storyline was just completely unnecessary and made no sense.

• They completely robbed us of a Chaos Twins dynamic. Had they handled Sylvie better and not forced her and Loki to smooch, the two of them could’ve had a really really complex and interesting sibling relationship. Loki could’ve stepped into Thor’s shoes and sort of used that new role to gain some self importance, and Sylvie could’ve finally had somebody to look out for her/teach her magic/be there for her. It would’ve been very aesthetically pleasing, the vibes would’ve been out of this world, it would’ve been way more profound than this bs, and frankly it would’ve been much more entertaining to watch.

• Loki’s relationship (read: obsession) with Sylvie completely overshadows all Loki’s other relationships in the show. Loki and Mobius were literally the focal point of the series in Ep 1-2, but after Sylvie showed up in Ep 3, they barely had any interactions with each other, and Mobius pretty much faded to the background entirely. Loki had the beginnings of a pretty interesting antagonistic relationship with Renslayer (with her wanting him pruned, then arguing with Mobius that he couldn’t be trusted), but after Sylvie showed up the dynamic shifted to focus on the history between her and Ravonna. Loki and B-15 started off very badly and openly disliked each other throughout Ep 1-2, and then in the end of Ep 2, Loki showed a little bit of concern for her when she was possessed, hinting that they might be inching toward a reconciliation- especially considering how obvious it was that Loki was gonna uncover the TVA’s sins eventually. There was so much potential for him to be the one to give her her memories back and convince her to change sides, but no, of course that honor went to Sylvie. In fact, after Sylvie showed up, Loki and B-15 never even spoke to each other again.

Various S*lki Fails

• If they were trying to convince us that this affection was mutual, they completely failed. There’s nothing I’ve seen that even hints at Sylvie feeling the same way about Loki that he does about her. At most, I’d say she has a slight endearment to him. She finds him likeable and she’s grudgingly fond of him, but she definitely isn’t in love with the guy. Maybe she thinks he’s cute and hopes that he gets out of this mess alright, but her mission obviously comes before him- whereas, it’s been confirmed multiple times that Loki cares about her above anything else. She doesn’t trust him, she looks at him like he’s an incompetent fool half the time, she shows little to no reaction during most of his confession moments, and she kissed him as a means to distract him so that she could get him out of her way. Look, all I’m saying is, when you get into a relationship where one of you is way more invested than the other, it never ends well.

• This goes without saying for a lot of us, but the selfcest is just straight up odd and cringey. If you’re cool with that sort of thing, fine! People can ship what they want! But don’t pretend it’s not at least a little bit uncomfortable. Yes, I know they’re not technically siblings so it’s not technically incest, and they’re also not technically the exact same person, but they’re similar enough that it makes things weird. And yes I know selfcest can’t happen in real life, so there’s no way to judge it morally, but neither can most of the other stuff that happens in these shows/movies (the Snap, Loki destroying jotunheim, superhero with powers being held accountable, mind control) and yet we still find ways to judge their morality, because they all mirror real-world events. (The snap= genocide; Loki destroying Jotunheim= bombing other countries; superhero accountability= weapons accountability; mind control= grooming and coercion). And lbr the closest real-world mirror to two versions of the same person (who may or may not share DNA, family, backgrounds, physical and emotion characteristics) being romantically involved with one another is incest. And you can be ok with that if you want- that’s your prerogative- but don’t get pissy just cause a lot of us are squicked out by it.

• The whole mirror metaphor (learning self love via each other) thing just fell completely flat. First of all, having Loki learn to love himself by looking at someone who mirrors him did not, in any way shape or form, require them to be romantically involved. But they were. Of course. Secondly, the creators have contradicted themselves so many times on whether Loki and Sylvie are the same or not, that it doesn’t even really register to the viewer that the mirroring thing was what they were going for. Finally, Loki and Sylvie are shown to have so little in common- and to have only the most bare minimum of similarities personality-wise- that it doesn’t even make sense that Loki would “learn to love himself through loving her”. Like? They’re nothing alike. So how would he make the connection that he himself is actually pretty cool, based on her alone? There’s virtually nothing in her that reflects him.

• I know the objective of the entire show was to convince us of how awesome and unique Sylvie is, but honestly her relationship with Loki just did the opposite. A hallmark of a Mary Sue is having her constantly upstage the male lead, and then having him instantly fall madly in love with her anyway. And that’s.. exactly what happened here. Everything they’re doing to try to force her character to be more stan-able is really just forcing her to look more like their self-insert OC. Which is exactly what she is. It would’ve been so much more satisfying if she didn’t have to try so hard to look cool, if they didn’t have to try so hard to make her backstory tear-inducing, if they didn’t have to turn our protagonist into a snivelling simp just to prove how incredible she supposedly is. Very much #GirlBoss energy and we all know how performative and cheap that is.

• The entire thing was too rushed, there was too little build-up, and it was nowhere near believable. As stated above, it’s ridiculously unlikely that Loki would canonically even be interested in Sylvie, and this show did nothing to explain why he was. He just suddenly was. There was nothing they showed us as viewers that would justify a guy as closed-off and preoccupied as Loki falling head-over-heels for a girl he just met. Their was no explanation, no big revelation, no reasoning, it just… kinda happened. And I’m also severely skeptical of any love story that has the characters go in this deep after only 3 45-minute episodes of exposition.

I’m sure there’s other stuff, so if anyone thinks of anything, let me know and I’ll be more than happy to add it. Tagging @janetsnakehole02 @raifenlf @natures-marvel and @brightredsunset800 for expressing interest. This is all your faults.

[dailygotg]

✰ This guide is in chronological order, from her first appearance to her most recent & will be updated as soon as she has another major appearance. Cameos & the like have not been included in this guide

✰ All must read issues are in italics

✰ All must read titles are in bold

✰ All of these issues go by their digital numbering

✰ If you have any questions, the inbox is open

ORIGINS, EARLY DAYS & DEATH

Marvel Holiday Special (1993)

Strange Tales #180-181

Warlock (1972) #10-11, 15

Avengers Annual #7

Marvel Two-In-One Annual #2

THE INFINITY WATCH & ONWARD

Silver Surfer (1987) #46-48

Infinity Gauntlet

Warlock & the Infinity Watch

Infinity War

Silver Surfer/Warlock: Resurrection

Infinity Crusade

Cosmic Powers Unlimited (1995) #1

Warlock (1998)

Infinity Abyss

She-Hulk (2004) #7-8

ANNIHILATION

Annihilation: Ronan

Annihilation

Annihilation Conquest: Nova

Nova (2007) #4-12

Nova (2007) Annual #1

Annihilation Conquest #6

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

Guardians of the Galaxy (2008)

Guardians of the Galaxy (2008) #3

The Thanos Imperative

Avengers Assemble (2012) #4-8

Guardians of the Galaxy: Infinite Comic #3

Guardians of the Galaxy (2013)

Original Sin

Guardians of the Galaxy (2013) #18-20

POST-SECRET WARS

Guardians of the Galaxy (2015)

Guardians of Infinity (2016) #6

Thanos: The Infinity Relativity

All-New Guardians of the Galaxy

All-New Guardians of the Galaxy #3

Guardians of the Galaxy (2018)

INFINITY WARS

Infinity Countdown Prime #1

Infinity Countdown

Infinity Wars Prime

Infinity Wars

PRESENT

Thanos (2019)

Guardians of the Galaxy (2019)

Guardians of the Galaxy (2020)

COLLECTIONS

Gamora: Guardian of the Galaxy

Guardians of the Galaxy: Road to Annihilation

Gamora: Memento Mori

OUT OF CONTINUITY

Guardians of Knowhere

Contest of Champions (2015)

Gamora (2016)

IN OTHER MEDIA (FILM)

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. Two (2017)

Avengers: Infinity War

Avengers: Endgame

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. Three (2023)

IN OTHER MEDIA (TV)

Silver Surfer S1E5, 8, 10

Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers S1E24-25

Guardians of the Galaxy (2015)

IN OTHER MEDIA (GAMES)

Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy (2021)

[insanityclause]

According to Deadline, Michael Waldron—who served as head writer for season 1 of the Disney Plus series Loki and wrote the script for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness—has been tapped to write Avengers 6: Secret Wars, which will premiere on November 8, 2025 and conclude Marvel’s Multiverse Saga. What does this new development mean for Secret Wars—and the rest of the Multiverse Saga? Here are some theories!

All about the Multiverse Saga

Marvel’s Multiverse Saga comprises Phases 4, 5, and 6 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The multiverse itself was born in the season finale of Loki Season 1, in which Loki variant Sylvie (Sophia di Martino) kills He Who Remains, the leader of the Time Variance Authority, and allows the Sacred Timeline to branch into infinite parallel realities. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness explores the multiverse further by introducing the concept of multiversal travel and the universe-destroying collisions called incursions.

Even before Secret Wars was officially announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2022, fans suspected that it was in the works. In the original Secret Wars comics (both in 1984 and the 2015 remake), universes collide to form a patchwork planet called Battleworld, and with both the multiverse and incursions having been established in the MCU, it seemed like only a matter of time before Secret Wars made its big-screen debut.

Secret Wars will be preceded by Avengers 5: The Kang Dynasty, written by Jeff Loveness and directed by Destin Daniel Cretton. Kang (Jonathan Majors) made his first appearance in Loki as He Who Remains, and he’ll appear again in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, coming out February 17, 2023.

Theory 1: Secret Wars will be weirder, and maybe even funnier, than Infinity War and Endgame

Marvel movies vary a lot in tone, with some of them more serious than others, but Waldron’s mark on the MCU has been decidedly funnier than many other projects. From the Kafka-esque antics at the TVA to Multiverse of Madness’s campy tone (admittedly aided by director Sam Raimi), Waldron’s writing style is offbeat and often absurdist. The fact that Marvel has tapped him to write Secret Wars could mean that’s the style they’re seeking for the Multiverse Saga’s conclusion.

Infinity War and Endgame dealt with the genocide of half the universe, so the tone of those two films was suitably dark. One would think The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars would be even darker, with entire universes being obliterated, but it looks like Marvel may be looking to keep its sagas from getting too repetitive by giving Secret Wars a weirder—and maybe even funnier—tone than its previous team-up films. After all, Marvel has already hired comedic writing duo Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer to write the script for Fantastic Four.

That change in tone isn’t as weird a choice as it might seem on the surface. After all, the first Secret Wars story arc in the ’80s was a thinly-veiled gimmick to sell action figures. Here’s hoping Waldron can leverage the weirdness of the multiverse while keeping the high stakes that made Infinity War and Endgame so engrossing.

Theory 2: Loki, Doctor Strange, and Scott Lang will feature prominently in Secret Wars

It’s no coincidence that Marvel has hired one of the writers most familiar with how the multiverse works—and the characters who are embroiled in it—to write the climax of its story.

Thanks to his time at the TVA, Loki knows the mechanics of how the multiverse works and what triggers the formation of a new reality. He also knows how Kang’s multiversal war is likely to play out, thanks to He Who Remains’s monologue in the season finale. The Loki season 2 trailer, which was shown to attendees at Disney’s 2022 D23 Expo, hints that Loki will be working to stop that war from occurring. Meanwhile, Doctor Strange has seen the multiverse for himself and learned about the danger of incursions. That puts Loki and Strange in prime positions to be the MCU’s resident multiverse experts, and giving Waldron the reins makes it very likely that they’ll serve that very purpose in Secret Wars.

And what about Scott Lang, who will have to fight one of Kang’s malevolent variants in Quantumania? Quantumania’s script was penned by Jeff Loveness, who’s also writing The Kang Dynasty, so we’re likely to see a throughline there, too. With The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars coming out only 6 months apart, their stories will most likely be tightly connected.

Theory 3: Waldron can make up for Wanda Maximoff’s rushed character arc in Multiverse of Madness

This is admittedly a controversial take, but many fans were angry at Wanda Maximoff’s abrupt turn toward villainy in Multiverse of Madness, along with what looked like her death at the end of the movie. Even Elizabeth Olsen was surprised at the radical new direction for Wanda, which didn’t feel earned after her nuanced character development in WandaVision. If Wanda comes back in Secret Wars, then Waldron, who is certainly aware of how fans feel about what happened, has a chance to make things right—but we’ll have to wait until 2025 to find out.

[valkyrieandstrangeridingaragorn]

I actually like the idea of secret wars rebooting the MCU. Goodbye stupid love and thunder

I was reading about Secret Wars this morning and it gave me a headache: variants galore, an infinite number of universes, lots of powers here and there that are going to end up as CGI battles for the most part of the movie.... and I'm so uninterested in the whole thing.

Sorry for talking about myself here but the first MCU movie I ever watched was Thor, and it was years after release, I believe around 2014. I didn't even know it was a superhero movie so I didn't like it very much (funny, considering now I love it lol) but I fell in love with Loki immediately. A while later I watched The Avengers hoping Loki would be there (he was, yay!) and I liked it so much I went to the theatre for AoU (hoping he'd show up.. he did not but I loved it anyway).

At that point the only thing I cared about: Loki, Thor and Steve. I didn't even know about the MCU and all the other films and the grand story they were all leading to, I just wanted to see those 3 and their shenanigans. Once I was caught up I followed the whole thing and sure, it had its faults but it was pretty good (except for EG).

Nowadays not even the love for my favourite characters can salvage this nonsense.

If you make me go to the theatre to see a bunch of characters making fun of Stephen or belittling him the only thing you're gonna get from me is to never go see that movie again (I used to go to the theatres several times for MCU movies, not anymore). If you make me pay for a subscription so that I can see someone abusing and mistreating and beating Loki the only thing you're gonna get is me talking shit about it online and never paying for the subscription again.

Feige has completely forgotten what made the MCU good in the first place. A lot of us who had never read comics didn't know a damn thing about any of this, I knew Spidey and a bunch of DC heroes, I had no idea who Captain America was! The only reason I stayed is that I loved the characters. What's the incentive now? The next film. The next series. Keep on coming back, pay the ticket, pay the subscription, there's more, there's always more and the only way is to consume the hell out of everything, it's a damn chore at this point!

Steve is gone and they won't tell us what happened to him, Loki is a caricature of who he used to be and his only use is to introduce other characters and story points, Thor has been completely destroyed and all the Asgardians turned into comedic relief, magic is not taken seriously and is ridiculed time and time again, Stephen's own story is utterly disregarded in favour of other characters and the overall grand story of the multiverse, Sam has been Cap for a year and ever since TFATWS Marvel doesn't give a damn about him and we haven't seen him since, Bucky is blamed for stuff he didn't do and made to atone for crimes that were never his responsibility..... tell me, why would I want to watch that?

It's not entertaining anymore, at least not to me. I'm watching Black Panther and GoTG3 because I trust Coogler and Gunn but after those two... I don't know. Maybe there's another Moon Knight in the future and I might change my mind but the new phase has to be completely different to Phase Four or I'm out.

Sorry for dumping all my frustration on your ask, dear anon 🤦‍♀️🙊😂

[jazzythursday]

I’m about to go into another very long Marvel rant/dissertation here— mostly for myself— that I started writing soon after the Loki Series finale so please feel free to just scroll past this, because honestly I think I kinda overdid this one. It’s jaded and overly dramatic even for me. You have been warned:

The last 4 Marvel movies/shows I’ve watched left me feeling so completely depressed and unsatisfied and hopeless about the future of popular entertainment and story telling in general, and I know I’m not the only one. The fact that fans are going into these experiences hoping for a good story and character arcs that make sense with prior characterization, and leaving feeling… empty is a very clear sign that their approach leaves a lot to be desired.

Infinite War had some valid reasons to end the way it did, because by having our heroes fall so much harder than ever before, it built up the tension and high stakes for the next film. But what does that do when Endgame leaves us feeling even worse? I wanted them to triumph and finally come together to be better. I expected there would be losses of course but not enough to negate the wins. Instead the characters were subjugated for plot, characterization was watered down, and we lost all the original Avengers besides Thor and Bruce (who was no longer even Bruce). Peter loses Tony, Thor’s previous loses are permanent, and so many other things that, in spite of loving a lot of the movie, mean I haven’t been able to stop being sad about it for literal years. And the amount of thoughtless destruction that seems to be at an all time high when it comes to character’s lives and disregard for properly exploring emotions just doesn’t leave much to be expected at this point. Far From Home was good. It was. I liked it a lot. The acting was wonderful and there were some really interesting themes they grappled with but I still walked out of the theater feeling like there was still so much detachment surrounding a lot of the decisions, a little too much thoughtlessness (that, and the gaping hole of Tony). I’m not going to talk about WandaVistion but I’ll say that I was invested until the start of episode 8, and finished episode 9 feeling drained and tired and sad.

Then we get to Loki, a show which has plagued far too many of my thoughts since I started watching it, and has crushed my hopes for ever truly being happy with a Marvel project ever again. Loki is a character who’s ostensibly felt alienated and unseen for most of his life, and that’s before finding out about his parentage. His first movie ends with his suicide attempt and subsequent fall into the void. His second takes place a year into working under Thanos and ends with him being taken away in chains (yes I know he’s the villain he’s done bad things etc. etc. but for the purposes of this I’m only focusing on his pov). Then his third involves his solitary imprisonment, his mother’s death, and his near-death (considering the likelihood that he was actually stabbed), although it does end on a lighter note with his acquisition of the throne. Then we get his redemption and reconciliation with Thor in Ragnarok, immediately followed by the utter tragedy that is the first 10 minutes of Infinite War, which I don’t think I need to explain.

So what I suppose I’m saying here (very very inadequately) is that after all of that, I can’t believe the proper story to tell in his first chance at being a main protagonist was one where he’s constantly degraded and beat up, convicted of things he didn’t actually do, given no focus on backstory or implied/established motivations, and labeled as a clown and a narcissist! His powers are weakened, he displays almost no recognizable mannerisms or competence, he’s held to a higher moral standard than every other character, shown no respect, and ultimately loses EVEN MORE. We’ve seen him lose and lose and lose and lose again. We’ve seen him die THREE TIMES, we’ve seen him redeemed TWICE. So who in their right mind thinks that the most compelling story to tell after all of that was to see him LOSE AGAIN?! And not only lose, but lose without any real triumph, dignity, or acknowledgment beforehand. Death to the author aside, reading the utter nonsense the team behind it have spread, it’s so clear that it wasn’t made in good faith. Whether in ignorance or true maliciousness, they just don’t care. They didn’t research. They didn’t try and see things from his point of view. They didn’t truly sympathize with him as a person while writing. They didn’t understand. And they truly, truly wanted him to fail.

I’m tired of feeling hopeless at the end of everything, of leaving the theater or turning off the TV wondering why I even bothered, why I even care when I’m just being strung along with as little consideration as an audience as my favorite characters. I wanted to actively see him strive to be better, not just be told he could be. I wanted to see him triumph over his demons, not forget them. I wanted to see him be the “master of magic” that every other damn movie has alluded to, and to use his powers effectively. I wanted him to be powerful. I wanted him to, if not win, then win on a personal level at least. I wanted to see him take agency in his life and PROVE EVERYONE WRONG! And, though it’s now bafflingly controversial to say, I wanted it to be told by an experienced and competent writing and directing team that knew and understood his character and were passionate about telling his story.

I would ascribe to the notion of “don’t like it, don’t watch” if I could but I care to much to not be affected by this obvious decline in quality and awareness. And I’m a relatively recent fan. I haven’t been waiting for Loki to get his moment in the sun for 10 years. I’M NEW HERE, and my heart breaks so much for fans of the original movies who have lost their love of Marvel or Loki because of the way it’s been handled. No one should fall further than they can climb up from, and I’m tired of watching loss after loss and never getting the release of gaining enough of it back. What’s the point of caring about these characters if the writers won’t? Of investing in a connecting cinematic universe if it lacks continuity? Of looking for clues and foreshadowing when there isn’t any and the only twists are random and pander to shock value? The way these pieces/characters are being created and interpreted is reductive and incompetent, and for once I’d like to watch something that feels crafted, inspiring, and gratifying to see to the end.

If some people like the Loki show we got, I have no argument against that, because my own opinion is just as subjective as theirs. Though, I’d like to think that if what I want is for the show to be better out of love for the same character, then what they enjoyed from the show can coexist in that. If anyone’s actually read up to this point, I have to admit I’ve forgotten mine. Mostly I just wanted to express my frustrations over how unfeeling and stale most entertainment, specifically from Marvel as of late, has been.

TL;DR: I care too much, waaay too much, Marvel cares too little, Disney doesn’t care at all, and I don’t know how to accept that.

[lenievi]

Do you have any Steve/Tony recs?

I haven't read that many fics yet but from those I've read I enjoyed (no real order, I just copied my bookmarks from the oldest to the newest :D):

Playing the part (remix) by nanasekei - fake/pretend dating~ post CACW

An Infinite Number Of Monkeys At Typewriters (Or, Steve and Tony Finally Get It Right) by JenTheSweetie - post CACW fix-it

The Song Without Words by Lelantus - soulmate AU (set in canon 'verse but not compliant with the films after the Avengers)

any other way of loving by brandnewfashion - fake dating, friends with benefits

Any Road by sheron - post-CACW and post IW, Steve loses his memory after defeating Thanos

Bright Things and Fair by sheron - Endgame canon divergence, what if they had to stay in 1970 longer than they did in the film

Unintended by sheron - After the war with Thanos is over, there's still this: Steve is in love with Tony, but Tony is getting married to Pepper. It's fine. (Until it isn't.)

Hating Steve Rogers by nanasekei - post AOU, post CACW

And Time Can Do So Much by JenTheSweetie - Endgame compliant, Steve goes back to the past and after a while, he starts seeing Tony.

(No) Do-overs by Kru - Endgame fix it. Or the one where Tony Stark pulls one more miracle and Steve needs to learn how to live a normal life.

parallel universe, be mine by softanticipation - branching time line. It's a series of three fics. First focused on Steve in the past (heavy on Steve/Tony), the second on AU Steve/Tony. The third on our Steve/Tony. Basically canon compliant.

---

Yes, I have a thing for CACW and Endgame fics :D None of these have any character bashing.

[dangerousstrawberryshark]

I'm His Boyfriend

Jeremy Renner x Boyfriend Male Reader

Requested from @nighthunter241

(I hope this is what you expected)

Warnings: Short story!

(Jeremy is currently 50 and I’m going to make you 45)

Background: you were going to the Avengers: Endgame set to ask your boyfriend, Jeremy Renner, the actor of Hawkeye, for some lunch during his break. The other cast members didn’t know you were Jeremy’s boyfriend.

M/n: Male name

L/n: Last name

F/s: Favorite song

Word Count: 1010

Disclaimer: I never saw any of the Avengers movies, and if I had I probably forgot about it. Hope you like it though! Sorry if it’s bad. And a bad title.

Avenger: Infinitely War and Endgame were primarily filmed in Atlanta, United States, and the United Kingdom. The scene that would be chosen from the movie is the Lake scene.

Big ANNOUNCEMENT at the end!

You currently live in the city of Atlanta, Georgia. You lived in a hotel with your boyfriend, the one and only, Jeremy Renner, the actor for Hawkeye. You guys moved around because of his acting career.

He didn’t want you to be alone while he was away, so decided to take you with. You’ve been to many places while traveling with him, you even went to Scotland for one of the scenes in Endgame.

You guys kept your relationship a secret, so nobody knew you were dating him. Hollywood wasn’t a good place for LGBTQ couples or people. You that’s why you guys kept it a secret, so Jeremy could keep his career and you can stay with him.

(I’m not sure if Hollywood is like that but this is for plot reasons.)

You were driving to Bouckaert Farms, where it was currently being filmed. It was about 20 miles west of Atlanta. Trees passed by as you took Browns Lake Rd. some cars were passing by while you listened to your f/s.

(Again I’m sure if this is correct but this is what I got when I looked it up.)

You know that you arrived at your destination when you could see people walking around. There were cameras, those light things, and green screens. Further, then I could see. `Looks like they just started their break.'' this was perfect cause you didn’t know when he’ll be on break since it takes time to film one scene.

(there is no such thing as an average time it takes to film one scene. Time varies from 30 minutes to 3 days. Just wanna let you know)

Once you arrived you got out of your car and walked towards the set. But you got stopped by bodyguards with big muscles. ‘Okay M/n, you practice this many times.’ you knew you had to say the right thing.

You didn't want to tell them that you were Jeremy’s boyfriend, they wouldn’t believe you. “State your business here.” the one on the right said in a monotone. You were intimidated by them. Say anything wrong, they’ll kick you right out.

“Uhh…. I’m here to see….. Jeremy Renner?” you said, looking down not wanting to look at them. Fearing that you messed up. Then you heard the walkie-talkie sound. “Sir, we have someone here for you.” there was a pause before, “alright you can come in.” they both moved to the side allowing in.

You walked past them to see people walking around attending to whatever they were assigned to do. You remembered taking Theater Arts class in High school, so you know what types of things are used on movie sets.

You were walking trying to find Jeremy until you were stopped by someone. "Who are you?” “Why are you here?” “You’re not supposed to be here?” you froze as the other cast members started to question you now. You knew their voices, the first one belonged to RDJ, actor for Iron Man. The second one, Chris Hemsworth, actor for Thor. And the last one, Chris Evans, actor for Captain America.

In your opinion, Chris H and Chris E have gotta be the hottest males you have seen but you weren’t attracted to them like that, gotta stay faithful to Jeremy.

“I’m… h-here to s-see Jeremy?” you stutter a little bit, while also blushing. “Do you know where he is?” they looked at you before leading you to where they have a break.

There you see all of the cast members. They all stopped and looked at you. “M/n what are you doing here?” you recognized that voice from anywhere. “Jeremy!” you ran up to him and hugged him. Everyone was confused about what was going on.

“Who is this Jeremy?” you heard that familiar British, accent. Tom Holland, actor for Spiderman. “Oh well, this is my boyfriend, M/n.” Everyone was shocked by this. “Does that change how you see me?” Jeremy said worriedly, he didn’t want to lose you since you were his light.

“No, Jeremy. That doesn’t change what we see in you.” Chris E said, with everyone agreed. You both smiled at everyone. “Thank you! So, N/n what brings you here?”

“Ohh, well… I wanna know- since you’re on break… I was wondering if you wanna go for some lunch?” Jeremy nodded, “Sure- I’ll see you guys later!” then you both walked away.

“Who knew that old man had a boyfriend?” RDJ said while chuckling to himself. “That is not nice Robert.” Chris E smacked RDJ on his head. Robert was rubbing his head as everyone was laughing.

THE END

ANNOUNCEMENT.

Tumblr has a feature where I can see who my biggest fans are. So, thank you for liking my work, and here are some that were there.

@evansphnx12

@softboy5393

@spnfanboy777

@davidlikesboys02

@kiram21

@canary18

@twoychi

@burymx

@myybebe

Thank you guys/gals for your support on my work. Sorry if you didn’t get to see your name on the list. I didn’t want to go look through all of my work and find which name I see on all of my work. But still thank you so much!