#he and the avengers failed and half the universe died as a result why would people like him after that? | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

sjjdkdkwo · 4 years ago

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Stephen probably ends up with a longer lifespan from his experiences, and probably ends up having to endure watching the few people he’s kept close die, and succumb further into the lonely lifestyle he’s subjected himself to. At least that’s what he thinks. The first time Thor knocks on his door, it’s after Tony Stark’s funeral.

Stephen had caught him stealing quick glances his way but thought nothing of it. Now though, standing awkwardly at his door fidgeting in place, Stephen doesn’t know what to make of him. So he lets him in. Thor accepts but tells him he won’t stay for long, he’d only wanted to speak to Stephen briefly before he left. Stephen notices that Thor regards him with an odd somewhat torn look, almost like he wants to ask a question but doesn’t know how to go about it. Stephen doesn’t push though, and eventually Thor asks him if he’s all right. Stephen frowns, because he’s not use to being asked that question these days by anyone except Wong on occasion. He reassures Thor that he’s fine, only for a doubtful look to pass Thor’s face. Before he can say anything though Thor goes on, talking about Tony briefly and everything that’s happened. Stephen answers where he can, not providing much but enough not to let Thor think he doesn’t care. He does, but he’s just so tired. He thinks Thor must noticed because suddenly he’s cuts himself off and asks something Stephen should’ve expected but didn’t in his weariness. He can’t help but soften as he listens to Thor’s voice quiver as he turns to look downward and lets the words tumble out of his mouth. He wants to know if there’s anything Stephen can do for Loki, because of course he does. Stephen doesn’t bother mollifying his answer and tells Thor a simple no.

Thor only nods quiet and still for a moment before looking back up with his usual smile. His eyes don’t match it though but Stephen doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t think anything he has to offer could ease the pain behind Thor’s eyes in that moment. He thinks that’s it and that Thor will leave then but he doesn’t. Instead he says something that further perplexes him. He invites him to go on his journey to the stars with the rest of the guardians. Stephen almost laughs at the absurdity of it before he realizes Thor is serious. When he asks why Thor merely says he thinks Stephen wouldn’t be bad company to keep. Stephen only gives him an awkward pat on the shoulder and tells him as tempting as the offer is; his life is here, performing his duties under the Sanctum. Thor accepts and tells him he’ll see him again, and this time with a bright smile. After he leaves Stephen only allows himself a brief moment to ponder the oddness of the encounter before arrives to inform of more work needed to be done. Stephen pushes the thought away completely and doesn’t think on it again. He has other things to worry about.

The second time Thor knocks on his door, Stephen doesn’t expect him either, and so soon too. But there he stands, still as scruffy and shambolic as when he’d last seen him with the same bright smile. Stephen lets him in again, more out of curiosity this time than out of courtesy. When Stephen asks why he’s stopped by Thor tells him Steve Rogers has died. Right, Stephen knew, he’d heard it from the grapevine. He hadn’t gone to the funeral this time, and he was certain he wouldn’t have been welcome if he had. Many of the heroes still aren’t ready to forgive him for what happened, for what he did. Stephen doesn’t bother trying to change any of their minds. In all the futures he saw, it never ended well when he did. Still it doesn’t answer Stephen’s question as to why Thor is here and he tells him so. Thor only shrugs and invites him to go on the journey to the stars with him again. Like the first time, Stephen is at loss for words. He wants to ask so many questions then, and so many thoughts flutter through his mind. But Stephen doesn’t have time to entertain any of them, and instead politely declines just like the first time. Thor doesn’t falter, still smiling and telling him he should go then, promising to see him again. This time Stephen does think on the matter later, when he’s alone in bed, and wonders if Thor really will return.

It’s a long while before Thor knocks again, Stephen is Sorcerer Supreme now and his duties have doubled tenfold. Stephen starts to wonder if somehow Thor knows when he’s home, or if he’s just lucky enough to catch him when he is. Thor looks different too, neater and better kept than he had, but the look on his face tells another story. This time Thor tells him Bruce Banner has died, Stephen already knew. The way he says it leads Stephen to believe they held a deeper relationship than Thor did with the previous departed, so he doesn’t say anything and instead nods. Stephen can’t help but reach up to place a comforting hand on his shoulder, like the first time and Thor offers a small smile of thanks. Stephen can see his eye are watery and turns away to let him catch his bearings before regarding Thor again. And like before Thor invites him on the same journey to the stars. Stephen offers him a smile this time when he says no, and Thor nods like he knew what his answer was going to be and turns to leave, promising to see him again. Stephen finds himself hoping that he will, just the tiniest bit.

The years go by and it dawns on Stephen that he hasn’t aged, whereas now he’ll blink and suddenly the person in front of him has gone completely grey and has a face full of wrinkles. Even Wong is looking older; Stephen tries not to let that bother him. Stephen continues on with his duties, working in the shadows and offering his assistances when needed. More heroe’s pass away, some not from old age, and by the time he realizes all the original avengers have died. And each time without fail Thor comes knocking on his door with the same offer. At one point Stephen sees he’s just as surprised as he is that he remains untouched (physically at least) by time too. Sometimes he stays to a little longer for admittedly pleasant conversation, and through his visits Stephen learns that even some of the guardians had reached their expiration, and the remaining few had disbanded not long after more than half had passed on. Thor was travelling alone now, only occasionally stopping by earth to reassure himself the rest of the Asgardians were well and cared for, and apparently to come see Stephen. Still Stephen comes to regard Thor’s visits with something in between sadness and happiness, the first because his visits always mean someone has died, and the second because Thor is one of the few familiar things left in Stephen’s life. He doesn’t age like everyone else, the same as ever. Just like Stephen. He doesn’t stop saying no to Thor’s invitations though; Stephen has other matters to attend to. So Thor becomes an afterthought, only resurfacing when he hears news that someone has died.

When Wong dies, it’s the first and only time Stephen refused to answer the door when Thor knocks. Distantly wonders how Thor even knows his friend has passed, but he’s too consumed in his own grief and despair to really think on it. Thor stops knocking after an hour anyway. When he later opens the door to make sure, he finds flowers on the doorstep, lilies to be exact. He takes them in and settles them on what used to be Wong’s favorite table and tries not to break under the grief, instead pushing down all his sorrow and returning to his duties like always. He wonders if Thor will stop coming by. He doesn’t. The years go by and Stephen keeps saying goodbye, and in turn Thor, without fail, always shows up at his doorstep with the same offer. And Stephen always answers the same.

Saying goodbye to the cloak is one of the hardest things he does in his life, something he never thought could be possible. But when his last loyal companion is torn to shreds Stephen is torn with it, because now Stephen is truly and utterly alone. Somehow Thor finds out, because he’s knocking on his door again. Stephen is quick to say no this time, and Thor accepts it but not without embracing Stephen before he goes, with the same promise to return. And Stephen wonders what else he can lose. It’s only later that he realizes Thor had appeared because he deemed the cloak important too. Stephen thinks about that for a long time after, but like always pushes it away eventually to focus on his duties.

When he loses the title of sorcerer supreme Stephen mourns again, for the loss of something that was integral to his identity for a long time, for failures that led to it, and for the people who suffered through them. He won’t stop fighting, and he won’t turn his back on the universe, he knows he won’t, but now more than ever though he feels out of place amongst the vastness around him. When Thor knocks this time, Stephen the first thing he asks is who died this time. Thor gives him a sad look before replying, “Your spirit did, Stephen.”

When Thor asks him to come along this time, Stephen says yes. He has nothing left after all.

Being on Thor’s ship is…an experience. There’s nothing wrong with said ship, it’s fine as far as ships go (not that Stephen has much experience in the matter but well). But it should’ve come to no surprise really that their first month on the ship would be uncomfortable. Neither of them actually knows each other, not in a way where they can comfortably navigate around the other without worrying about stepping over certain boundaries. And if Stephen is being honest with himself Thor is, not what he expected. Through a few of the other heroes he’d created an image of Thor in his own head, loud, boisterous, humorous in nature. Overall what Stephen would categorize as “a fun guy to be around”. Yet the man he sets off into space is none of those things, he doesn’t lack in kindness or manners—the result of growing up a royal and a prince Stephen thinks—but he’s quiet instead of loud, and doesn’t jabber on like so many had told Stephen, and if he jokes then Stephen’s certainly never noticed. No, Thor is…muted, reserved and more often that not Stephen can catch him looking off in the distance for hours on end. It’s not unnerving just, unexpected and Stephen begins to wonder how long Thor has been alone. How long he went without a single person to talk to.

Still, Stephen doesn’t mind because Stephen doesn’t talk much either, unused to company now after so many years immersed in his own solitude. And somehow that works in their favor, eventually allowing them to at least work around each other well enough that they don’t argue. It’s not long before Thor takes them to their first destination; Stephen expects it to be a pit stop to gather supplies. Thor never actually told him what his plan was with bringing out Stephen to journey with him, he starts to suspect he doesn’t even have one. He’s confused however when he finds that the first planet they make it to is somewhere not only practically off the map, but also barren of people or anything signifying any form of intelligent life. When he asks Thor why they’re there he only tells him he’d figured Stephen would enjoy the scenery. He’s not wrong, the planet is close enough in resemblance to earth that Stephen can enjoy a sense of familiarity but different enough that he can bask in the wonder of something new. Thor leads him through a dense thicket before they find themselves in small clearing. He joins Thor when he moves to sit and figures now is as good a time as any to ask why Thor had invited him to join him in the first place.

Thor only shrugs; waiting a beat before he tells Stephen he’d felt something resembling a connection of sorts between them, so many years ago after they’d defeated Thanos, saw something in Stephen that he understood, and found unfair. Because after all was said and done, Thor was grateful to Stephen and he found he couldn’t hate him too. Something about Stephen told him, there was a person who could use a little kindness. When Thor looks his way Stephen thinks he knows what he means to say: You say the future and somehow still ended up losing too, and I didn’t want you to think it was all your fault. Stephen says nothing, instead looking off into the distance as Thor shuffles around him for a minute before getting up to wander the clearing. Stephen doesn’t follow this time. He returns after while and plops down next to Stephen again, and starts digging into the dirt next to him. Stephen looks on, curious to see what he’s doing and watches him carefully tuck in a small seed into the dirt before covering it back again and pressing firmly over it. Stephen gives him a questioning look and Thor merely smiles softly before looking at him and tells him maybe if they’re lucky, something will grow from this.

Their journey goes on; slowly they grow even more accustomed to each other, enough to survive living on ship together. Stephen learns that Thor rarely sleeps and instead keeps to the main controls on the ship most of the time. Even when he looks like he’s going to pass out from exhaustion. Stephen finds himself worrying on occasion when Thor stumbles out of his seat and offers Thor help sleeping. Thor always refuses. Stephen also begins to notice certain changes around the ship; Thor makes little changes here and there to accommodate Stephen’s hands. Interestingly enough though, Stephen never catches Thor looking at them, though he knows they shake more now after years of abuse and strain on them. He appreciates the sentiment in private though, grateful to Thor for not saying anything on the matter. It’s not any easy topic, even now after so many years. And Stephen begins to find Thor’s company is comfortable, and Stephen makes do.

He keeps noticing new things about Thor in their time together, like how often when he speaks to Stephen it feels like he’s not really there, like he’s speaking to someone else. It unnerves Stephen when he first realizes it, and he keeps a closer eye on him. Conversations with Thor aren’t common enough for him to have to constantly think on the matter really. Still, as more time passes his perception of Thor changes completely, in the future he’d seen he never lingered much on Thor and in the ones he did he and Thor never became close enough for him to learn what had actually happened to the other man. So when Thor enters a sudden panic when something hits their ship, Stephen is lost. He watches Thor’s breathing pick up as his eyes widen. Watches him look franticly as he shakes before he starts mumbling something beneath his breath. Watches him lose control as he starts calling out names, Stephen doesn’t know any of them at first until he hears Thanos’ name, and then Loki’s and he can connect the dots. The statesman. Thor thinks he’s on the statesman again and is being attacked. And Stephen’s heart aches, because it’s who Stephen is, and he sets about helping Thor. He knows better than to make sudden movements, and knows especially not to touch Thor as he cries out. Instead he calls out to him, gently but loud enough to get through, telling Thor it’s not real, they’re not on the statesman and Thanos is dead. He doesn’t mention Loki. He helps him breath through it, before having him describe their surroundings once he starts to come back to. When he’s sure Thor is done with the initial panic he settles down, he’s already decided he’s not going to leave Thor’s side for anything in that moment. Thor says nothing, huddling into himself and staring off into the distance. Stephen doesn’t push him though, he understands.

Later Thor apologizes, for the incident and for not telling Stephen. Stephen doesn’t want him to, but he knows better than to dismiss him. He’d often done the same thing in the past too. So he lets Thor speak, and listens as he explains that since the statesman, ships and he don’t mix well. Before he can question what they’re doing on one Thor tells him how New Asgard hadn’t been any better. It’s one thing to panic alone on a ship where no one can hear you; it’s another to do so in front of the people who expect you to watch over them. He also tells Stephen that the guilt had been to much, it didn’t matter that they’d won, he’d never gotten over the feeling of failure from losing so many of his people, his friends, his brother. And after some time being in New Asgard he’d also come to the realization that he just couldn’t be around people anymore, at least not like before. Large groups sent him into a panic, and so hiding away with korg and miek in his small home had been easier than walking amongst others. He’d only pushed away his anxieties when Bruce and Rocket had come because he’d refused to fail a second time, and Thor had learned he’d been a surpassingly better actor than he’d thought he’d be. He tells Stephen he’d thought going with the guardians would be ok, they weren’t a big group and Quill’s ship had been no statesman. But he’d parted ways with them after the first episode he’d experienced. He hadn’t been able to go back though, didn’t feel right amongst the others, and in some odd way he felt almost comfortable to allow himself to go mad by himself in space. Like Loki had. And understanding passes through Stephen, this is Thor’s penance for failing everyone he cared for.

Stephen doesn’t tell Thor he doesn’t deserve his own self-inflicted punishment, because Stephen is no better in this regard. He knows well what it’s like to find pain a better alternative to guilt. He thinks Thor knows this too, and starts to believe perhaps Thor was right, they had more in common than he’d thought. Still he refuses to let Thor suffer alone after, and instead sets about placing wards all around the ship. When Thor questions him he merely says this way they can both get some sleep. From Thor’s smile he thinks he knows what he means to say is “you’re not alone anymore and I’m going to help you”. He starts taking his own shifts at main controls much to Thor’s protests, but Stephen shoots him a look and he accepts. Thor still doesn’t sleep as much as Stephen thinks he should, but he’ll get manage that somehow too.

After that, something shifts between them. At least on Thor’s part, he speaks more than he used to and while the dazed look in his eyes never leaves, Stephen begins to see less of it. They spend more time together and travel to more places, Stephen always taking into consideration the new information Thor’s shared with him and carefully watching his reaction whenever they have to interact with other species, and watching over the ship constantly to make sure they don’t hit anything that can send Thor into a panic again. They start sharing personal stories, and though there’s hurt in his eyes Stephen finds that Thor enjoys speaking about Loki and their past together. Stephen in turn shares stories of Donna and Victor, letting Thor know he’s also been faced with the final moments of a sibling and not been able to do anything about it. Thor appreciates the sentiment. Everything is all right for a while, until it isn’t again. And one day, Thor learns what fourteen million six hundred and five futures can do to a person.

Thor had known something was there, hidden behind the mask of indifference and calm collect. Like him, Stephen often got a faraway away look in his eyes when he thought Thor wouldn’t notice. But Thor was more astute than people often gave him credit for. And even years ago during Tony’s funeral could see something was wrong with Stephen, only to watch him fall apart further and further through everyone of his visits. Thor wasn’t used to talking, after so much time alone. And it seemed Stephen hadn’t even noticed that the only time Thor did was when Thor caught him slip off into something akin to despair, if only to offer a distraction. But unlike Thor, Stephen had dealt with more people in the years since Thanos, and he soon realized Stephen had more experience knowing how to conceal his own troubles. But unlike then, Stephen’s privacy is rather limited on Thor’s ship, and for a long while he gets away with it. Until at one point he can’t. Thor starts to notice something is off when he mentions their coordinates and what solar system their entering. Stephen suddenly becomes stiff and he swallows before excusing himself to his room. Within the next days he takes to meditating more than usual, and Thor tries not to worry. He offers conversation here and there, but unlike before Stephen’s replies are short and far in between, and Thor tries not to push. Stephen goes to sleep one night and Thor is glad to see him get some rest, settling back into keeping watch like usual.

Thor doesn’t think anything of it when Stephen stumbles out of his room, turning to greet him until he notices the alarm in his eyes. He makes his way over to ask what’s wrong when suddenly Stephen is trying to attack him. He barely manages to avoid being hit when Stephen starts attacking again. Thor doesn’t move to attack back, but defends himself nonetheless, trying to speak to Stephen in between each hit he receives. He realizes what’s wrong when Stephen mentions Thanos, and Thor changes tactics. Much like Stephen had during Thor’s panic he follows the same steps, waiting until Stephen can come to, trying to remind him where they are and that Thanos is dead. When Stephen returns, unlike Thor his face only scrunches up in confusion before he realizes what he’s done. He’s quick to stumble through and apology before overlooking Thor for injuries and Thor wonders what’s just happened. Stephen seems perfectly fine now, and when he asks Stephen just looks away abashed. Thor learns that use of the time stone had given Stephen lasting damage, and that on occasion he’d forget what time line he was in. Usually not common problem on earth, in space it’s a different story. More often than not Stephen never came back to earth, and he’d undergone his worst timelines when he’d been off world. Thor feels guilt settle and offers to return Stephen back to earth, worried that his time with Thor will hurt him more than anything. Stephen agrees, he doesn’t want to burden Thor or risk hurting him, he’d been in a lot places after all and that means its bound to happen again. Thor is quick to squander Stephen’s assumption that he’s any sort of burden though, reminding him that he’s also broken and instead asks Stephen if he wants to go.

Stephen hates himself for saying it, because he hates the thought of causing anyone trouble, but the answer is no. Because he’s come to enjoy Thor’s company, his gentle demeanor and their long conversations into what he assumes is night. He likes it here with Thor, finding new places even if it means crossing old painful ones. More than anything he finds himself admitting it in his own mind that he likes Thor. And when he looks at Thor he sees him beaming over him with a large genuine smile and he wonders if maybe Thor has started to like him too. And like that things start changing even more. Thor starts brining up facts and events that have transpired in between the days that go by, so Stephen can always remember what timeline he’s in. He starts making Stephen tell him if a certain planet of solar system brings back any unsettling thoughts and memories, starts taking care of Stephen too.

They get better at living together, at being together. Through their shared traumas they learn what to avoid what helps, and eventually they learn how to talk about something other than Thanos, than the other heroes and everything that’s hurt them. They learn how to enjoy things together. Thor starts to smile more, and Stephen starts to see bits and traces of the person people once told him about, except he’s not exactly the same no, but Stephen likes him all the same. Thor learns that for all his snark and quick wit Stephen is actually quite funny when he wants to be, and finds himself laughing at his subtle jokes. And before they know it, they’re not just making it work anymore.

They visit many places; more often than not they fall into trouble. Because even now at the end of the day they’re still heroes and their need to do what’s right often has them facing off evil tyrants, or space pirates, or whatever it may be that’s causing terror amongst the starts that day. Sometimes they argue; it’s only natural that they would eventually. Sometimes it’s Stephen’s fault, sometimes it’s Thor, and really he hadn’t meant to forget Sakaar or the grand master, it wasn’t his fault he hadn’t been blessed with eidetic memory. Together they manage to overcome everything that comes their way though, growing fonder and fonder of each other as the years keep passing by. Sometimes they make contact with earth, because for all his guilt and self-loathing Thor still thinks about his people everyday and often calls the Valkyrie to make sure they’re ok. In the same manner Stephen is always communicating with the other sorcerers and magic users around him, he may no longer be sorcerer supreme, but there’s not one person who practices magic who doesn’t know the name Stephen Strange. But there are new heroes now, and it seems that earth simply has no need for them anymore. It’s ok though, they have each other and that feels like enough.

At Thor’s suggestion they go visit their first planet together again, and to Thor’s delight the little seed he planted has grown. Stephen smiles too, because seeing Thor content and jovial makes him joyous too. And he learns to appreciate these quieter, simpler moments among the ones that have them battling out in full force and fury, they’re combined power a fierce force to be reckoned with. Because there are still sinister things beyond them, and Thor and Stephen refuse to turn a blind eye when they can help. Unfortunately it also means Stephen has something new to worry about, because Thor has no concept of self preservation and given he’s a “god” he’s usually the one standing in front of Stephen to take a hit. The first time it happens Stephen yells at him for an hour while he tends to his injuries. Thor only laughs because he’ll keep doing it again if it means keeping Stephen safe.

Thor is upset to learn Stephen is the same if not worse. He knew from other’s that Stephen had undergone less than ideal routes of magic in the past to save someone. Seeing it first hand and the damage it does to Stephen’s body is different though. And the first time Stephen performs dark magic in front of him he nearly passes out. Stephen thinks when he’s stalking up to him; face turned down in a frown it’s to deride him for his methods like so many others had done in the past. He readies himself for fury that he expects will follow, and for Thor to tell him he no longer wants him in his company. But before he knows it Thor is throwing his arms around him and demanding he never put himself through something so awful again. Stephen is glad Thor can’t see his face, because he’s pretty sure his eyes are watering. Thor refuses to let him out of his sight for at least a week.

Eventually they do return to earth, things happen and evil forces are active once again. And Stephen almost doesn’t recognize his old home. Things have advanced far more than the last time he’d been there, and he wonders how long it’s been. At hearing it’s been two hundred years since his departure he nearly panics, because he can swear he’d just been there not a year or two before. Thor is there to offer his reassurance, telling him he’s bound to be in for a few surprises now that he won’t age like before. Stephen can only nod in disbelief as he tries to navigate through earth now. By now nearly all the people they once new are long gone, and the ones that are still around had never been close enough to either of them. Still Stephen takes pleasure in visiting the sanctum once more along with Kamar-Taj; he’s welcomed with open arms and Thor convinces him to stay a little longer after they’d dealt with their evil foe. At Stephen’s suggestion Thor also visits New Asgard, surprised now how much it’d blossomed and grown and when he sees the Valkyrie he hugs her tight, thanking her for all she’s done. When Thor isn’t near, she thanks Stephen too, because now Thor is no longer alone.

They eventually leave earth and return on their voyage. Apparently they’ve become quite famous up in space, much to their grimace and surprise. Even so, while Thor’s initial anxieties of being on a ship never ebb away, he finds himself learning to enjoy their time on the ship if only because it’s just the two of them there. Stephen finds himself feeling the same way, and even though there have been and are times he tries to push Thor away—if only because his self hatred never leaves him—but Thor never lets the words get to him. Because he understands Stephen, and most importantly, Stephen is his friend.

When Thor asks him to teach him magic Stephen makes a face. Because technically Thor already has magic, not in the way Stephen does, but it’s magic none the less. Thor waves him off though, he wants to learn magic like Stephens…like Loki’s he says much quieter. They weren’t tied by blood, and Thor didn’t have much to remember him by, and this feels like a good enough way to have a part of him with him. There’s something else there, between the words that Thor refuses to say and Stephen’s eyes him suspiciously before he agrees and makes sure their next stop is somewhere more attuned with the mystic arts. Thor turns out to be a devoted student, studying every chance he gets, cheering softly to himself when he performs even the simplest form of magic. It makes Stephen smile. With time his magic develops into something steadier, more powerful but never seems to use it during battle, and the fact never fails to mystify Stephen. When he finally does use it, Stephen wishes he’d never taken the time to teach him. Stephen like usual, is not one to follow rules, so performing dark magic again is not out of the question. The fact that he hadn’t been prepared enough for the onslaught of energy or the strain it puts on his power however is unfortunate and he collapses. Before he can accept death though, he finds himself awake and, somewhat well? He’s certainly not on the brink of death anymore at least, and that can’t be right. But then he turns over and finds an equally half drained Thor next to him, trying to keep awake. When he looks down at the Thor’s hands and the markings there it makes sense. Magic energy transfer.

Thor had wanted to learn proper magic so he could help Stephen. The thought is as heartwarming as it is infuriating and Stephen doesn’t know whether to hold or yell at Thor and settles on both. Thor pays him no mind though, cradling him back with all the care in the world and reassuring himself that Stephen is alive and will live on another day. Stephen stops yelling eventually, but it’s a long time before he can let go.

They keep going then, letting the year’s bleed through and growing closer and closer. The first time they have to part ways is torture, but Stephen is needed amongst the sorcerers again, and Thor finds he can’t leave the planet under attack alone without help. Through the magic Thor now has though, they can connect better, and they worry a little less about whether or not the other is alive. When they reunite, the first Thor they do is run toward each other and embraces. Thor scoops him up and holds him close and Stephen lets him because he’d missed him too. They try not to make a habit of separating often after. Over the years they keep visiting the tree Thor had planted, it’s grown large and tall and when Stephen looks up at it then at Thor he thinks he was right, something did end up growing.

One day Stephen is surprised to learn Thor has a new favorite magic trick when he walks into the main control room, and instead of Thor finds a little red snake curled up in his seat. He knows Loki had a preference for the form, and when he asks Thor tells him he thinks he knows why now. It’s much easier being small when the world seems so big. And from then on when they have to travel through crowded places Stephen can be seen with a little red snake curled around his neck, little head tucked carefully under his chin, murmuring soft words of comfort to it as they pass by. The comforting weight reminds him of an old friend, and Stephen finds himself enjoying when Thor takes on the form too.

It’s been a few thousand years when they pass through the spot. Thor freezes up and tries to breath though he familiar fear that enters him as they do. It doesn’t take long for Stephen to know why. This is where the statesmen had been attacked, where the Asgardians died. Where Loki died. Stephen is about to tell him that they can turn back when he feels it, the familiar sensation of magic. It should come as no surprise; sometimes traces of magic could linger in one spot long after someone died, the energy and emotions settling in one spot. So Stephen grabs Thor’s hand, giving it a tender squeeze before reaching out to pull in the bit of magic and let it flow through him, and right into Thor. And Thor can feel it, can feel Loki. His final emotions, from the fear he’d felt when facing Thanos again, to the agony he’d felt when he saw Thor get hurt, the pain, and suffering and finally, the love. The love for Thor that even through out everything that had occurred, has remained steadfast and strong. And before Stephen knows it Thor is sobbing for his brother, for his family, for his people and everything in between. And thanks Stephen, for gifting him the relief of knowing that even with everything that had transpired between them, his brother had loved him too. Stephen takes it back then, he’s glad he’d taught Thor proper magic after all.

Stephen doesn’t know when it happened, but after some time he comes to staggering realization. He loves Thor. Not in the traditional sense, not any way he’s loved anyone else. But in a way that transcends any human comprehension of love. Somehow Thor had managed to worm his way into Stephen’s world and someone precious to him, and the thought scares Stephen because he wonders if Thor feels the same way. When Thor holds him tight after a battle though, close and unyielding like he never wants to let Stephen go though he thinks he knows. Thor loves him too.

So when he finds that Thor’s hair and beard have started going grey he panics. Because Thor is not a god, he is born, he lives, and he still dies just as humans do. Just as Stephen doesn’t know if he can anymore. When he points this out to Thor though, he only laughs, and asks Stephen if he’s looked in a mirror lately. When he does, to Stephen’s delight and happy surprise, he sees he’s aged too. His hair is completely white, and there are wrinkles that he thought he’d never see. He thinks it must be odd to be happy to grow old, but more than anything he’s happy this means he won’t have to live an eternity without anyone else, without Thor.

Thor keeps aging, but so does Stephen so he’s not as afraid anymore. They find that less people need their help anymore; there are newer and newer people to save the day as time goes on. It’s almost like the universe is given them permission to go, to rest now. And suddenly it dawns on them just how tired they both are. And they find themselves settling back on their first planet, making a home for themselves there. Alone, just the two of them for it seems in all their years together no one but them have stopped by here. Their days are quiet, and more often than not they merely talk or sit simply enjoying each other’s company. It’s enough, and they don’t need much else. They haven’t for thousands upon thousands of years.

Stephen thinks it’s unfair that Thor should die first. During his final moments though he doesn’t dare cry, not as Thor says goodbye. Because he wants Thor to know how much he’s enjoyed his friendship and love more than he wants him to know how much he’ll miss it. So he smiles and bears through it, smiling with Thor until his last moments. And then Thor tells him he loves him, and promises to see him again just like he had in the beginning and closes his eyes forever. Stephen hates that he hadn’t gotten to say it back almost as much as he hates that Thor is gone. And Stephen cries, for the first time in a very long time, over Thor’s body. Because he loved Thor, and Thor had loved him back. And Stephen is alone again.

Stephen buries him next to their tree. He thinks it’s only fitting. And everyday without fail he sits underneath it speaks to Thor. He knows it’s pointless, Thor has passed on, but a part of him still hopes that somehow Thor can hear him as he tells him about his day; about the flowers he’d taken to growing his tree, about how much he misses him.

He’s lying beneath the tree when he falls asleep, the gentle breeze around him lulling him to sleep. Only to be awoken by a knock. Stephen grumbles first, because he’d been sleeping damn it, before he realizes two things. One, he was completely alone. And two, Stephen was outside. So he opens his eyes in alarm and panic only to realize he’s not beneath the tree, and he’s not on their planet. He’s…in the sanctum. But that shouldn’t be possible, the last time Stephen had been there had been about three hundred years ago. He takes in surrounding, feeling odd and reasonably worried when he hears the knock again. And that’s another thing, even if he was in the sanctum no one knocked on Stephen Strange’s door. No one except…oh.

Stephen is running before he knows it, almost trips over himself as he rushes down the stairs and flings open the door. And it’s him. Thor. He looks younger, his face free of wrinkles and his hair no longer white, but his smile is warm and bright as he looks at Stephen and Stephen flings his arms around him and clings to his friend with all his strength, sobbing into his shirt as he tells Thor he loves him too. And Thor holds him back. And Stephen is so happy he barely registers that this must mean he’s dead too, because he has Thor again. Thor who’d come knocking on his door so many years ago, Thor who’d never stopped knocking even when Stephen turned him away, Thor who’d taken him away from his own misery and gifted him with new purpose and a second chance, Thor who’d never let Stephen pushed him away, Thor who loved him, wholly and completely.

Later he’ll find everyone else. Will twirl Donna in his arms and embrace Victor and tell him he’s sorry. He’s find Wong, and hold him as he thanked him for staying by his side for so long. He’ll see his old teacher again and tell her thank you and this time he’ll take the time to learn more about her. He’ll find Tony Stark and he’ll apologize only to have him brush him off, he’ll find Christine and his parents and everyone who’s ever given Stephen Strange purpose.

But right now he’ll cling to Thor. His last friend in life, and the first friend to greet him in death. Because when Stephen had nothing left, Thor gave him everything.

And Thor will stay by his side, like always.

#stephen strange #doctor strange #Thor #thor odinson #this is really long and pointless but like #I've been thinking about these two for days now #I think they have a lot more in common than they probably think??#Thor is ooc I guess?? by the movies standards probably #but to be fair I didn't love how they handled his trauma :')#not really a drabble #just a really long thought about them #this probably isn't coherent aha #but I'm tired so #Space buddies au #Lost of spelling and grammar mistakes in this one tbh

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andrewmoocow · 4 years ago

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Steven Universe: The Fantastic Mutants chapter 5: Never Again (originally posted on November 16, 2020)

AN: Good to see you all again my dear readers! How have things been? Am I being too intrusive? Well, doesn't matter! It's good to be back in business after a few weeks, so let's just cut to the chase, shall we?

"So how much of this show is actual camping?" HYDRA Bob asked Peridot as they, along with Deadpool & Lapis, watched Camp Pining Hearts together at the X-Mansion while surrounded by massive amounts of snack foods and garbage. "A fair bit, but pretty much everyone comes for the romance," Peridot answered. "Yeah," Wade stated. "like your crippling yaoi addiction."

"What is yah-oy?" Lapis asked while mispronouncing this new word just as Pearl came in with a broom. "You really should learn how to pick up after yourselves as guests." The Gem grumbled while sweeping up crumbs off the carpet. "Hey, wise up Pearl, I'm basically an honorary member!" Deadpool remarked. "Hey, Flat-Top, gimme a refill on my coke here!"

"And you should also treat the people housing you like friends, not your servants." Colossus reminded them, just as disgruntled as Pearl, while he gave the Merc with a Mouth another bottle of pop when suddenly, Xavier came in. "Ah, Professor! Would you be so kind as to help us teach Wade here some manners?"

"It's alright, Piotr." Xavier calmed the metal mutant down. "Although Mr. Wilson here can be a bit of a nuisance, we do need all the help we can get to rescue Steven and Kitty."

"Thanks for the save Cap'n." Wade grinned at the aged mutant when someone knocked at the window. "Hey, anyone in there?!" the voice of Spider-Man called from outside, latching upside down onto the glass. "Peter!" Pearl exclaimed. "Long time no see. How are the other Avengers doing?"

"The big six are off in space right now, and the reserves are holding down the fort for now." The web-slinger answered as he opened the window and leaped through it. "When your message reached us, I was the first to take it and brought along a few pals who might be useful."

As Peter finished talking, a silver and blue blur burst through the front doors, stopping to reveal itself as Quicksilver. "Pietro, good to see you!" Colossus exclaimed. "Must mean Wanda isn't too far behind, da?"

"You are correct." Scarlet Witch answered as she followed her brother. "Hello again Crystal Gems." She greeted the Gems. "Hello to you and Pietro too, Wanda," Garnet replied as she stepped into the room. "It certainly has been a while since Thanos. I hope you both are well."

"Oh, never better Garney!" Quicksilver responded as he sat down between Peridot & Lapis to watch Camp Pining Hearts with them. "Ooh, I love this show! I always felt Pierre & Percy have really good chemistry."

"Thank you for agreeing with me good sir." Peridot added pridefully. "Oh, quit with the shit already!" Wade interjected crossly. "No one ever talks about Pierre and Paulette!"

"You take that back, you crimson clod." Peridot snarled threateningly at the mercenary and soon, an intense shipping debate between the two began. "Oh, this could take a long while." Pearl sighed in exhaustion.

"I just watch for all the crazy shenanigans these campers get up to." Spider-Man gave his opinion while snatching some snicker-doodles from the ottoman.

"Come on, work!" Kitty groaned in frustration as she continuously tried and failed to break her and Steven from their imprisonment without using her mutant powers. "If only I could find a way to break this collar, then we'd get outta here easier."

"Why don't I give it a shot?" Steven suggested, deciding to use his shield to cut the bars apart. However, that failed as well. "It's hopeless. If I didn't come, then maybe we wouldn't be stuck here."

"Hey, don't beat yourself up like that Steven." Kitty comforted her fellow mutant. "I'm sure the Gems are already on their way to save us, so try and keep your chin up until then." She implored Steven, but he remained downtrodden. "Let's face it; we're here because of my mom."

"Oh, mother issues?" Kitty realized. "I get it. That's perfectly normal. But you can't always let the sins of the parent bring you down." She assured him. "Yeah, sins like taking part in universal genocide before realizing that wasn't good and instead doing things far worse than that." Steven grumbled, much to her surprise. "Whoa okay, didn't see that coming!" Kitty exclaimed. "Far worse how? Did she actually murder someone?"

"She deliberately left tons of Gems and other races to die for her just because she was bored of being Pink Diamond, let two of my friends to be imprisoned for thousands of years, forced Gems who cared for her to suffer from her faked death and who knows what else!" Steven complained. "And then there was that whole thing with Magneto."

As if on cue, the aforementioned leader of the Brotherhood of Mutants stepped into the brig to interrogate them. "I see you've been making yourselves at home while you could." He declared before grabbing Steven by the shirt collar through the cell bars. "Tell me boy, why do you have her gemstone? Was it passed down to you?"

"As a matter of fact, yes." Steven answered. "When I was born, my mom died to give birth to me, and I got her gemstone and all her powers as a result. She also left me with all her baggage from ages ago, including when she was once a member of the Great Diamond Authority."

"Great Diamond Authority?" Magneto wondered, and Kitty seemed just as confused. "Yeah, I have to agree. There are more Diamonds out there?"

"That's not important right now," Steven said before Magneto set him down. "Still, why go after me in particular? We're both mutants. We should be on the same side!"

"You already know about how Rose abandoned me at Auschwitz, but the Gems only told you half the story," Erik revealed, turning away from Steven & Kitty in the process. "My part of this tale is far more complex than you realize. Like many a Jew during the war, I was prosecuted by the Nazis for my religion and sentenced to death. But I was a special case."

Heavy rain poured upon Poland in 1944 as a large group of imprisoned Jews marched sorrowfully through Auschwitz, their world nothing but drab colors aside from the bright yellow Star of David on their clothes signifying their religion. All around them, more of their people were forced to perform possibly lethal jobs for their superiors and be treated horribly should they fail to work or try to resist.

One young man in particular named Erik Lehnsherr watched just as miserably as his fellow Jews and began to notice that many of the other prisoners had brands on their arms. As soldiers began coldly leading their prisoners away from the group, Erik's parents Edie & Jacob were forcefully separated like the rest from their son, with Edie being particularly hysterical about having to leave her child.

Erik raced after his parents in an effort to see them one last time, but the gates closed before he could get a chance, and another Nazi grabbed the boy to keep him under control. However, something miraculous happened. When Erik fruitlessly reached out towards the gate, it began bending towards him. Another Nazi aided his fellow soldier in detaining the boy, and two more raced towards him as the fence began twisting more and more.

Erik's mutant powers awakened that day as the gates were ripped open with a mere stretch of his hand, but he was quickly stopped with the butt of a gun to his head from a fifth soldier. "Bring ihn zu Dr. Schmidt." that soldier commanded his subordinates. The four Nazis nodded and dragged the unconscious boy away, to where his destiny would soon be realized.

"And that's where you first met his mom, right?" Kitty asked her captor. "Yeah, I don't think we need to hear how she ditched you again."

"As I stated, the story is much deeper than that," Magneto said. "Allow me to continue."

Soon, HYDRA had come to assist the Nazis in stopping the Howling Commandos and the Crystal Gems from instigating the Auschwitz breakout. As Rose began fighting off soldiers, she began counting off the fleeing Jews. "Let me see how many we got," Rose muttered while trying to do a headcount. "Agh, there's too many of them! I can barely keep count when I'm surrounded like this!"

"Less than a million!" Garnet counted for her leader with her future vision. "However, there are still a few that we were too late to save, namely the Lehnsherr family. Klaus Schmidt is holding their son Erik."

"Klaus?" Rose soon came to a realization. "That was the boy in the office! I have to go ba-" Before Rose could finish, a HYDRA enforcer took advantage of her letting her guard down and fired with an anti-Gem weapon, poofing her form.

"Rose!" Pearl exclaimed while rushing to the deactivated gem lying on the ground. While Captain America covered for them with his shield, the Gems made a hasty retreat. "But what about those other Jews?!" Amethyst exclaimed. "A few prisoners should take this from here." Garnet answered, just as the Sonderkommando charged at their captors with guns, knives, axes, and grenades.

Inside the building where Klaus Schmidt was stationed, the mutant Jew slithered around the hall to avoid being caught again. Nazis raced outside to combat without once taking notice of the boy making his escape. Taking a moment to peek outside the window, he noticed the Gems escaping the concentration camp and furrowed his brow angrily. "Sie haben mich verlassen."

As the warfare continued, Erik quietly made his getaway with his newly awakened mutant powers and used a wrecked chain fence to fly himself away from Auschwitz.

Many years later in 1963, Magneto was holding a demonstration in New York to make a speech about the superiority of mutants when she showed up again. Rose Quartz had decided to show her face to him again after leaving him to rot all those years ago in Auschwitz, and only now, she shows up with an excuse to try and make peace.

"You can try to rope yourself into my good graces all you want Gems," he growled, preparing to fight the Crystal Gems. "But nothing can ever change the past!"

Ripping a nearby water tower off its supports, Erik prepared to smash it on top of Rose, Garnet & Pearl, but then came a loud shriek coming from the Irish mutant Sean Cassidy, aka Banshee. "Top o' the mornin' to you ladies!" Banshee exclaimed and let out another scream that brought the master of magnetism to the ground. "Now Neal!"

"I got you!" the Indian pyrokinetic Neal Shaara, or Thunderbird to his teammates, boomed while turning his body into plasma and landing a few hits on Magneto, but the German fought back by expanding a force-field that pushed him back. "Longshot, Angel, Mimic, it's all you now!"

"You got it!" Longshot replied while standing on a rooftop with Mimic and Angel Salvadore and preparing to throw a large knife at Magneto. "Just got one shot at this." He muttered to himself just as Amethyst hopped up behind him. "Hey, what you guys doing?" she asked the three mutants, catching Longshot off-guard. "Do you mind squirt?!" Longshot barked, but then he noticed her gem. "Say, you wouldn't happen to know those three, right?"

"We can discuss it later!" Angel said while sprouting fly-like wings and flying off. "Hey, wait for me!" Mimic exclaimed, copying his teammate's power by growing insect wings of his own and soaring after her.

"You guys wouldn't happen to be like ol' Maggy over there?" Amethyst continued asking Longshot, who harshly shushed her while trying to keep his concentration. "Okay, sheesh!"

"Now Longshot!" Banshee exclaimed as he let out a loud shriek at Magneto to knock him off-balance, allowing Longshot to fling his knife at the evil mutant. But Erik stopped the blade before it could reach his face with his powers and threw it right at Pearl with a wicked grin.

"Pearl, no!" Rose cried out as she dove in front of her confidant, letting the knife stab her instead, causing her to ultimately poof and retreat into her gem.

"Rose!" the remaining Gems shouted, racing to protect their leader's inactive gemstone from Magneto. "Well, that should do nicely for now." He snidely muttered. "But know this Crystal Gems, we shall meet again someday soon. Even if we have to wait years to do so!"

With that, Magneto zoomed off into the sky and left the Crystal Gems & the X-Men below. "So, sorry about letting your boss end up like this." Longshot nervously apologized. "That was my knife he threw at her after all."

"It's alright. Rose will recover soon." Garnet assured the mutant. "By the way, I didn't get your name."

"Call me Longshot, leader of the X-Men!" Longshot proudly replied. "These are my teammates; Banshee, Mimic, Angel Salvadore, and Thunderbird. We're all mutants."

"It is a pleasure to meet you." Thunderbird greeted, extending a hand to Pearl. "Mutants? I think I remember meeting one, centuries ago." Pearl replied, shaking Neal's hand. "You wouldn't happen to know anyone named En Sabah Nur?"

This revelation caused the X-Men to gasp in shock. "Wait, you met Apocalypse?!" Mimic cried. "Let me guess, you guys know him as a real bad guy?" Amethyst quipped. "Yeah, he's about yay tall, superiority complex, total Darwinist." Angel replied. "Come along. We can tell you more about him."

"And maybe we'll introduce you to the professor too." Banshee added happily. "We'd be glad to meet your professor." Pearl agreed, and Garnet & Amethyst nodded as well.

"So that's how the Gems met Xavier!" Steven realized. "But how come you remember that last bit happening? You left after poofing Rose."

"Don't think about it." Magneto assured him. "And now that I have you in our clutches, watching Doctor Doom experiment on you will be so satisfying."

"But still, you can't just vent your vengeance on a kid!" Kitty exclaimed.

"Yeah, this isn't what Xavier would want!" Steven replied, forcing Magneto to drop his stoic façade. "He knows you can be better than this, barring the terrorism. You're both on the same wavelength when it comes to protecting mutants, but kidnapping one of your own for your own sake is just wrong!"

"Y'know, that does seem like something Charles would say. Though he would've said it better." Magneto relented, pressing a button on the cell to let Steven and Kitty out. "Fight them off while you still can children. I shall take the blame myself."

"Okay Steven, let's get outta here!" Kitty declared excitedly. "And no matter what happens, I got your back!"

"Actually Kit, I think I got yours." Steven replied, just as another door opened, and Mystique stepped into the brig. "Erik! Why have you let the prisoners out?" she asked Magneto. "It was the boy who convinced me." Erik revealed. "As it turns out, he's quite good at turning people to his side."

"Well, you're too late child." Mystique said to Steven. "We have finally landed in Latveria."

The Crystal Gems, X-Men, Fantastic Four, X-Force, Spider-Man, Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver all marched to the Blackbird, ready to go out to Latveria and save Steven & Kitty. Human Torch and Cyclops were in charge of piloting the plane while Xavier planted his wheelchair in the back.

"So tell us what we're in for Reed." Garnet asked Mister Fantastic, who gave a sharp sigh of regret. "You should know by now that Doctor Doom is our family's greatest adversary. Intelligence on par with my own, mastery of the mystic arts, psionic abilities, the works." Reed explained. "But what I'm sure you probably don't know yet was that we knew Doom long before he turned out like this."

"Victor, have you gone mad?!" a younger Reed yelled at his college classmate Victor, who was standing in front of a large machine generating an unstable portal. "This machine is highly unstable and could explode at any moment!"

"I do not care what it takes, Richards!" the man who would be king of Latveria cried as the machine was on the verge of self-destructing. "This is the only way I can see my mother again!"

"Hey Stretch, we got everyone outta here!" Ben Grimm, back then a normal human being instead of a large rock creature, called for his classmate while he, Johnny and Sue burst into the laboratory. "You gotta come with us!"

"No Reed, we can see our mothers again, together!" Doom tried convincing his rival. Reed hesitated for a moment, weighing his options between escaping with his friends or getting to see his late mother Evelyn again. But as he made his decision, he turned away from Victor. "I'm sorry Vic. But I've moved on."

"How dare you?!" Victor screeched, while his four contemporaries fled the scene. "Don't you dare run away! We could've been something more!" Just then, the portal machine has just about reached its boiling point, and caused the lab to explode with Doom inside. The last thing he said before the room collapsed on him was a scream of "RIIIIIIIIICHAAAAAAAARDS!"

"Never saw him again after that incident. Ol' Iron Mask got expelled, then he just vanished offa the face of the planet." Ben regaled in the present day. "That is until he re-emerged as some young upstart billionaire named Victor Domashev, who funded the space flight that made us into the Four we are today."

"Hey guys, less backstory, more blasting off!" Amethyst snapped her fingers. "Pretty sure Steven might be on his way to being dissected by now!"

"Yeah, and a certain author friend of ours wants to get this out as quickly as possible." Deadpool agreed, his medium-aware comment inciting odd stares from the others. "Can we move onto the next scene already?!"

As Mystique had declared, Steven was now in the European country of Latveria, famously ruled by the Fantastic Four's arch-nemesis Victor von Doom. He and Kitty were led through the aesthetically medieval capital city Doomstadt, where its citizens whispered in German, Hungarian and an unknown third language reminiscent of the latter dialect.

"Victor, we have brought the child. And an unwanted guest." Mystique announced in front of Doom's castle as they crossed the drawbridge. The castle was guarded by numerous robot soldiers that bore Doom's face, all of them giving Steven cold and unfeeling glares as he was finally brought before the man who's face the robots bore.

"Steven Universe." Doctor Doom boomed, resting on his throne while the boy was handcuffed in front of him. "I have heard much about you these past few months child. Erik, I must commend you for getting the job done, although I've heard of your possible betrayal and won't tolerate it." Then Doom turned to Mystique. "Thank you Ms. Darkholme for alerting me of this before you arrived.

"You are most kind Doctor." Mystique thanked him with a bow. "We hope you return your end of the bargain and grant us mutants sanctuary in Latveria."

"Raven, you must listen!" Magneto cried to his second in command. "This boy calls himself a mutant, just like us! We can't just let Victor experiment on him like this. What if he has something else planned?!"

"SILENCE!" the king of Latveria roared. "It seems this child has made you soft Mr. Lehnsherr. No matter." He rose from his throne and stepped towards Steven & Kitty to give them a good look. "He shall become useful to me soon. And as for the girl, take her away."

"Yes your Highness." Mystique complied, snapping her fingers to have Juggernaut take Kitty away.

"Hey, put me down!" Kitty hissed, struggling to break free from the massive mutant's hands, which was easier said than done since her powers were still restrained. "Don't worry Steven, I'll find a way to save you!"

"Ah shaddup!" Juggernaut groaned loudly, stuffing a big finger inside the smaller girl's mouth to keep her quiet when Mystique put a hand on his bicep. "And what do you want Bluey?"

"It's about Erik. We may resort to terrorism to fight for mutant rights, but I think allowing a child to be experimented on may be going a bit too far." Raven whispered to Cain while they moved farther away from Doom. "Besides, he is a mutant much like us."

"So I've heard." The Juggernaut muttered. "But shouldn't he count more as an alien because his momma was one?"

When the Brotherhood mutants left the throne room, Steven was left all alone with Magneto and Doom. "What do you want with me Doom?" Steven asked the king. "Was it really necessary to have the Brotherhood kidnap me when you could've had your robots do it?"

"Why I couldn't have just sent my Doombots doesn't matter." Doom declared. "But what does matter is what I want to do to you. You see, you're special Steven, as you probably know. A being who's a mixture of human and alien DNA, and that alien DNA might prove very important to me." He explained to Steven. "I wish to use those genes for my own ends. Perhaps make an army of similar beings, or perhaps become part-Gem myself to gain ultimate power! Which is why I chose you in particular."

"Doctor, an invading ship is approaching Doomstadt." A Doombot announced as it walked into the throne room. "Shall we send out the reinforcements you selected?"

"You may, #1961." Doom replied, pressing a few buttons on his arms that opened a door, and behind it were four supervillains.

Trapster, a man in goggles with a container of glue-like substance on his back, attached to a hose with a gun at the end.

Mole Man, a deformed midget in a green suit with a blue visor who was holding a staff in his hand.

The Puppet Master, a bald, dark-skinned man accompanied by a pair of human-sized marionettes in the shape of the Human Torch and the Thing, that he controlled with a special remote.

And the Wizard, a purple armor-wearing supergenius who floated in the air with special anti-gravity discs.

"Frightful Four, it seems we have some uninvited guests." Doom revealed to the four villains. "I insist you deal with them at once, while I make my little guest here at home."

"Yes Doctor." The Frightful Four said in unison, then the marched out of the throne room to battle. Once again Steven was alone in the throne room with Victor & Erik, and the former was all too eager to get things started.

"Now then, shall we begin testing?" Doom asked Steven maliciously, and Steven replied with a very nervous gulp.

After three months of work, it's finally done! We're getting close to the end of this guys, and I couldn't be more excited. But for now, I think I'm gonna take a little break to focus on college stuff for a bit, and I'll be back soon with not just a new chapter, but also a brand spankin' new Steven Universe tale I've had on the brain for a while. It's an AU rewrite of Steven Universe Future aptly named Steven Universe: Alternate Future. If you want to know more about this upcoming series, I've already got an entire episode list on my DeviantArt page along with drawings of some original characters created for it. Until we meet again, toodle-oo!

In Loving Memory of Sean Connery

1930-2020

& Alex Trebek

1940-2020

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calzonekestis · 6 years ago

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My Endgame thoughts in 3,160 words and 17,025 characters. Under a cut. Spoilers, obviously.

Really. Truly. The whole thing.

Well. I texted a friend as soon as I got out, and I told him “that was a very good movie peppered with lots of shit that I didn’t care for at all.”

I don’t know what I think about it. If it was good or bad. If I like it or not.

If you read spoilers but didn’t see it, and we’re mad, I get that. I was mad too. I wrote most of this last night, and I’ve had to go back and amend it.

Also, please check your Tony vs Steve bs at the door. I like them both to varying degrees. That said I take issue with Steve’s choices and characterization at the end. We’ll get to that.

The Tony fans at least can say their boy saved the universe. They’re going to be mad still, but at least he went out in the best way possible if he had to die. Which he didn’t, but... we’ll get to that too.

The people who will be mad the most? Cap fans. Sharon Carter fans. Black Widow fans. Thor fans. Iron Man fans, probably, won’t be mad so much as sad. Actually, no, mad, because they probably wanted a happy ending for him.

So yeah. Is it “bad” if it makes so many people mad? Or are they just choices they didn’t like? For me, there was a lot of that. There was also a bit of characterization I didn’t like.

I’ll say this though, because the Steve thing that has everyone mad? I’m mad too, but per their time travel rules?

Steve didn’t erase Peggy’s family. They still exist in our timeline. Steve created a new timeline for himself to go live in. We don’t know if he stopped HYDRA and saved Bucky in that one, but I mean, we can assume.

So everyone complaining that he let all that shit happen? No he didn’t. This is an alternate reality he’s living in now.

If we go by what they established about changing the past not affecting the present.

But then we have Joe Biden Steve at the end, so... unless that’s a Joe Biden Steve who went from his timeline back to ours once he grew old. Not a Steve that existed and lived in the past of our current timeline. Then it actually works without contradicting their own time travel rules.

IMO... they ignored/ruined his character arc... but due to their aforementioned time travel rules, Steve going to the past wouldn’t affect that the present that he’s leaving.

So he COULD stop HYDRA, find Bucky, prevent Howard’s death, warn Hank and Janet about the missile.

That would all be an alternate timeline though, and our Bucky would still be the Winter Soldier.

So yeah, they contradict themselves... and completely fuck over Sharon Carter in the process. You know Steve didn’t tell Sam who his wife was, because he didn’t want him to tell Sharon that after kissing her he went back to marry her Aunt thus creating an alternate timeline to live in.

That’s the present being affected by him going back in time. Your time travel rules suck, Marvel.

So the children and family Peggy had? They still exist in our timeline, but not the timeline Steve created. The reality Steve created.

Okay so they don’t explain it, so this is just me trying to make sense of it myself. They say changing the past doesn’t change the present you left from, so unless Bruce was wrong and they’re contradicting their own rules Old Steve can’t have been actually out there all this time.

So I guess even though he didn’t show up in the gear and with the time machine when we see him, he did earlier, and just went to wait by the lake with the shield to be all dramatic? He probably waited to return until his Peggy died, and then he returned at some random point maybe like a day before they planned to send him back. He knew they would be there, so he just waited in his old man clothes.

That’s all I can think of.

So retroactively?

They had Steve kiss his wife’s alternate reality niece. I like Sharon Carter in the comics, I like what little they did with her on film.

They did her so dirty in the MCU, in the comics Peggy is almost a footnote and just part of his backstory. Sharon is Steve’s true love. Whether you ship them or not, they made Peggy out to be a bigger deal than she is in the source material.

I’m not here for pitting women against each other, but... God, the only woman the MCU has done dirtier is Betty Ross. Who should have been there with her dad at the funeral. Acknowledge her existence, Marvel. Yes they’re estranged, but maybe say having her die made Ross stop being such a dickhead and realize what really mattered.

Calling Peggy the love of his life is bullshit. Yeah, he had a date. Had. He never made it, due to being frozen. I don’t agree that they loved each other, tbh. I saw someone say they each had an idealistic, at times unhealthy attachment... but not love. Frankly? That’s not wrong. They liked each other. It never developed into love. Not in the timeline/reality we followed for the past ten years.

If this was their plan all along, then why did they introduce Sharon as a potential love interest?

Peggy is his past, Sharon is his future. The Lana Lang and the Lois Lane, respectively.

They didn’t plan this. It’s clear by how sloppy it is. It’s just so haphazard and insulting to all the characters involved, and yet Evans seems to be on board with it which disappoints but doesn’t surprise me.

Sharon didn’t have much screentime in the MCU, but every moment she had was important to the plot. She was one of the only agents that questioned Pierce’s orders. She held Rumlow at gunpoint even though the odds were against her. She let Steve know where Bucky was. She gave he and Sam back their gear. A lot of her scenes in Civil War got cut, and she got screwed by making it an Avengers movie instead of a proper Cap film.

She also got screwed by fandom. People acted like known like fucking toddlers, all because she was getting in the way of popular ships. Emily Van Camp was terribly harassed online, people calling her Steve’s beard or that it was icky and gross. Evans even said it was icky, which wasn’t that supportive of him... and then...

I liked Peggy in The First Avenger, but Hayley Atwell’s lowkey/high key narcissism is known within fandom circles, how she turned on Emily Van Camp and Sharon as a whole and threw shade at cons and on twitter and such. That left a bad taste in my mouth where I no longer care for the character at this point.

And they complete ignore/regress Cap’s arc of moving on. The fact he’s not the same man who went into the ice which is something even Whedon realized and addressed when he had him snap himself out of his Scarlet Witch!Vision.

The line from TWS they sampled for the trailer about the world changing and none of them can go back?

That was a lie. What’s ridiculous is that is the same exact directors, same exact screenwriters?

“Some people move on, but not us?” Well in that regard he had, so fuck that.

Speaking of regression, Thor’s?

I’m of two minds. He had depression and PTSD, but in my opinion, that’s end result wasn’t what Thor’s end result would be. He probably felt like he failed his people, but Jesus Christ, turning him into the Big Lebowski... fat jokes...

He becomes king, half his people are slaughtered and then and then he just... abandons the rest? To drink and watch his friends play video games? That’s sad. I think Thor would have felt like he failed and be hurting, but still try to do his best for the people who were left and still needed him? Instead of letting Valkyrie do it and the at the end to officially giving her the burden of ruling and fucking off into space?

And then at the end, he *officially* throws the burden of ruling in Valkyrie’s hands. Not that she isn’t capable, but it isn’t and shouldn’t be her responsibility.

“He’s being who he is, not who he’s supposed to be.”

That would be nice if it didn’t invalidate his arc. He didn’t want to be king at the end of Thor: The Dark World either, but at the end of Ragnarok he accepted it and was at peace with it.

Also, he didn’t need the hammer. Ragnarok made that clear. I’m glad Steve took it back with the stones, and I know it was more Thor needing to know if he was still worthy after becoming Big Lebowski... but it wasn’t needed. They just wanted Cap to wield it, and for them to have something else blunt to hit Thanos with.

This is the easiest money Natalie Portman made in her life. I feel bad for my friend who is a big Jane fan, as it’s literally maybe 15 seconds.

Nice to see Pierce, Sitwell, and Rumlow/Crossbones back, even if it’s only for a flashback and they’re all still dead in our reality. Or it would be, if it didn’t make the latter two out to be dumb. I mean, Rumlow isn’t a genius but he’s not just a dumb meathead. He wouldn’t just hand over the tesseract, he’d bring Cap to his superiors to ask “yeah hey what the fuck?”

Also, having Cap say Hail HYDRA is just... gross.

...Alternate timeline/reality Loki has the tesseract. I guess he’s the one the Disney+ series is going to follow. He’s wiped of all his development, though.

Vision is still dead. I guess maybe Shuri will rebuild him? Or it will take place between Civil War and Infinity War

So Guardians 3 is going to be about finding the alternate timeline Gamora who is now stuck in this one, huh? And I guess Thor is now a Guardian, or he’ll leave them between movies?

The alternate Nebula, I’m torn on. I think they could have gotten through to her, and she would be willing to team up with him. and would be willing to team up with them to kill Thanos. She never told him where the Soul Stone was. I mean, that’s why she aligned herself with Ronan. To kill Thanos. She hates Thanos.

Her wanting to make him proud and earn his favor despite what he did to her is heartbreaking on one hand, but the loyalty, when it’s been shown she’ll be disloyal and desert him if someone promises to kill him... idk. Btw.

Nebula should have gotten to kill Thanos. I don’t care that Iron Man started and is their poster boy. I’m sorry Tony fans. She deserved it more than he did.

Something else I’m curious about... was Peter Parker’s entire class killed? Not just Ned, the whole class. MJ, Flash, etc.? Because his entire supporting cast doesn’t seem to have aged at all in the Far From Home previews.

Also you’re telling me that in those five years, May never confronted Tony? Or if she did, we never saw it? Boo.

Oh, another dumb thing. Banner. Hulk. Professor Hulk. We don’t see how Banner made peace with the Hulk and became Professor Hulk, that all happens offscreen which is so cheap. He’s also just annoying throughout the whole film, and treated as comic relief? Also, the uncanny valley was deep this time around.

I’d honestly rather Cap had died as well, rather than the ending he got. Rather, if old man Steve didn’t show up, and there was just a cliffhanger of him being lost in time? Which has precedent in the comics? That would have been great. Instead of the bad characterization.

I’m indifferent to Tony’s death, honestly. He could have retired and raised his daughter. He could have died. I guess it’s cheaper to just kill him off and not worry about paying Downey for cameos they wouldn’t be able to resist.

Okay, the other death. Nat’s. I don’t care for it, but it worked. When I say it worked, I mean her motivations and the fact she at least had some autonomy. It was still fridging. It’s gross. It sucks.. but at least it wasn’t exactly like Gamora’s where she was a victim. I mean, she is a victim. A victim of gross writing, but... I like the character, you’re killing the only female OG Avenger for angst and drama... I would have preferred it was Renner, but her reasons worked even if I didn’t like it. I do think it would have been even just as heartbreaking/tragic though, it Clint had to give up his life for the hope of getting his family back. A devil’s bargain, they’ll be alive, but you won’t be and won’t see them again.

I question the hell is the point of a Black Widow movie now. Why should we care? Don’t get me wrong I like Nat. I have nothing against self contained, one-off adventures... but... it will be a prequel that doesn’t develop the character at all or see her grow and it’ll be inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. It may be enjoyable, but do we need to see it? It’s the Solo situation.

Do we need to see how the character became the character? What purpose does telling her backstory now serve, aside from just making people sad? Do we see how she started so we can appreciate how far she came, though? I can already appreciate that. You don’t need to twist the knife by making her origin her swan song. They can’t bring back our Nat, but who knows. Maybe the next villain will be Kang, and we aren’t done with time travel. Maybe we can have an alternate timeline Nat come into our universe like we did with Gamora.

A timeline where Clint was the one to die. I can deal with that, if they give ScarJo the money. I guess.

SCOTT LANG SAVED THE UNIVERSE. Well, actually. Also, a rat. A rat is responsible for saving the universe. I mean I laughed, but we couldn’t see Scott get himself out? He’s still my boy.

He’s probably my favorite character in the film. Seeing him and Hope reunite in the end battle was nice and made me happy, the way they didn’t miss a beat and got to working together. Him trying to keep it together when he talked about losing her. The end scene with them and Cassie. The fact she called Cap “Cap” and they shared a glance. Sucks for Scott to have missed five years of his daughter’s life, through.

Also, it kinda sucks that along with the people brought back, they couldn’t bring them the likes of Frigga and Quicksilver. Yes, they died, but you can still revive them in the present. You don’t have to make it so they never died. Maybe Quicksilver will Maybe in the WandaVision show, especially now that they won’t have to worry about a competing Fox version. Introduce her ability to warp reality. He was rumored to have been on set, and so I was expecting to see him in a flashback at least. Alas.

SPEAKING OF REVIVING DEAD CHARACTERS THOUGH. Why couldn’t like, Carol, use the gauntlet to revive Tony before they sent the stones back? She could take it. He didn’t need to stay dead, except for the fact... you know... Downey is expensive.

Something I find hilarious?

The kid from Iron Man 3 is at the funeral.

That kid knew nothing about the film whatsoever, except for the biggest spoiler? Cause if they invite HIM back to be at a funeral scene... whose funeral would it be, that he would attend, aside from Tony’s?

Oh, and SamCap. People, calm down.

I like Sam, Sam is worthy of the shield, Bucky’s not quite in a place where he’s ready for it anyway. In the comics Bucky becomes Cap, and then Sam becomes Cap after him. They can reverse the order. Bucky can still become Cap after him. Sebastian still has four movies left in his nine movie deal.

I’m curious about the Disney+ show now though. If it will be retitled, if they announced a fake title ala Serpent Society for Civil War. Although. I have a fear.

I don’t trust Marvel and I can see them killing Sam by the end of the Falcon & Winter Soldier series.

And then Bucky will take up the shield. Mackie’s 40. Idk how much longer he’ll want to be doing this, and he’s said in interviews he had no interest in bringing Cap and would like to see Sebastian take a crack at it, that he likes Falcon being Falcon.

Maybe age isn’t a factor. Bettany’s in his 40’s. Cheadle’s in his fifties. Paul Rudd is an ageless immortal who claims to be fifty. None of those are physically demanding roles though, not to the scale of Cap. The closest would be Chadwick Boseman, who is a year older at 41.

Age aside, I can see them doing it. That’s kinda the shit Marvel would do.

“Yay! We’re so progressive! We’re making Sam Captain America to placate his fans before we kill him! We won’t do that *just* yet in Endgame, we’ll wait to kill the black guy until he’s done helping out this other white guy figure out his place in the world!”

Now I’m gonna be anxious about that for the next year or two.

But so I think the shows are for characters on the shelf movie wise. Idk if when the show is over, we’ll see Mackie as Captain America in Avengers 5. It would be cool, but idk.

I don’t know if they’re even thinking of Avengers 5 at this point, or plotting out things like Guardians and Black Panther and Captain Marvel. And Eternals. And all their new Fox characters.

I guess the new Avengers line up will be Captain Marvel, Black Panther, Ant-Man, Wasp, SamCap, and Spider-Man? Maybe Doctor Strange?

Wanda retires to TV. As does Clint maybe, to train Kate Bishop and/or his daughter. Rhodey and Banner are just around.

Also. Banner and Thunderbolt Ross, at the end. Ross and the Hulk. Both in the same scene. Neither acknowledging each other or having any interaction whatsoever. Odd.

I keep hearing rumors about a Thunderbolts movie tho, from someone who was accurate with all of their Endgame leaks. I wonder if they want Ross to be the Fury of that which is why they’ve kept him around.

Bucky recently led the Thunderbolts but also Zemo is so ingrained in their history and I don’t see them working together at all.

I guess you could bring in Bernthal’s Punisher by that point if you want. Elektra. They won’t do it but they could.

Ghost would be a good fit, tho I don’t wanna see her be forced to kill people again. I can see them forcing her to work of a sentence. If she’s still alive, cause God if she was snapped and went 5 years without the Quantum energy... but yeah.

Bring back The Leader as a villain finally. Crap, I’m plotting a fanfiction.

https://twitter.com/rogerwardell/status/1070465411387404289?s=21

Idk. I just. Am disappointed but not surprised tbh.

Everyone knows I don’t like MCU Clint, but the callback interaction between he and T’Challa with the latter remembering his name was nice I guess. The final battle as a whole was nice I guess.

OH. And the exchange between Dr. Strange and Wong about if he brought everyone, and if he anted more? Probably not the intent, but to me it just seemed like a big “shut up” to everyone wanting the Netflix and Agents of SHIELD characters to cross over.

Also, a final critique?

The whole fake scripts, not giving actors a script thing. I hate it. I know like Mark Ruffalo and Tom Holland are notorious for letting spoilers slip, but I legit believe that a reason why A LOT of the actors got fake scripts was not to prevent spoilers but to prevent any of them going full Ed Norton and throwing a fit about the quality of said script.

Not letting the actors know the context of the scene they are performing is not only disrespectful but it’s broken and what can you expect but performances where they’re legitimately incapable of giving it their all?

That’s all I got for now. I guess.

I know it’s a joke, “I loved everything except for the stuff I didn’t” but seriously? I enjoyed everything except for the stuff I hated. Does that stuff ruin the movie? Do I not like it because I’m petty, or because it’s bad? You can not like something, it doesn’t mean it’s bad... but I think certain choices... were bad. Were very bad.

Was it shit sandwiched with awesome, or awesome sandwiched with shit? Do they balance each other out? Your mileage may vary. I haven’t decided yet.

EDITED: I replied to this in another post, a point by @chujo-hime, but I’ll copy/paste it on here since more people are likely to see this than our conversation.

“There’s no point in doing BuckyCap now that they’ve fridged Natasha”

I can’t fault you for feeling that way, and I don’t entirely disagree. have a theory on how Natasha could return despite them saying it couldn’t be undone.

Do what they did with Gamora. Take a version from an alternate universe/timeline. Maybe one where everything is the same, except that Clint died instead of her.

Whether or not they do this? Doubtful. Unless with the money they’re saving by letting another actor go (ahem) they give it to ScarJo to lure her back.

I mean, they have Kang back now. Next to Ultron, he’s one of The Avengers’ biggest villains. He’s also a time traveler, so there are ways… idk.

I’ve still not fully processed it. Whether Marvel is smart enough or cares to take advantage of their out, they have it. If nothing else, fans can exploit it in Fix-It fics.

ANOTHER EDIT:

Oh, what was the point of Ronin? I don’t mean sad Clint, I mean Ronin, aside from selling more action figures? He wasn’t even Ronin, they made him into The Punisher Lite. Ronin wasn’t Ronin, but I mean Clint hasn’t been Clint imo so...

#endgame spoilers #avengers: endgame spoilers #spoilers #Avengers: Endgame

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wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 6 years ago

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Michael In the Mainstream - Avengers: Endgame

Endgame is a film that is really more than a film. This is a cultural milestone. This is the culmination of a decade’s worth of stories told by all sorts of different creative minds, a set of stories that all managed to have consistent character growth and development, a grand finale to ten years with all sorts of beloved and iconic characters. This film is the twilight of the age of Steve Rogers and Tony Stark, and the dawn of a new era of fresh heroes, heroes whose stories we’ve only begun to experience. This is something that has never been done before, a massive storyline told throughout twenty plus films coming together in a big shared universe to deliver an awesome, climactic final confrontation between characters we know and love and a villain we love to hate. There’s never really been a film of this magnitude before.

I have loved the MCU since it began when I was a teenager. I had just started high school when Iron Man first came out, and it just amazed me how good it was. Unlike the year’s other superhero film, which was based on one of the Big Three of Marvel’s Distinguished Competition, I didn’t really have any sort of huge expectations for Iron Man. Like sure, I was aware of who he was, I knew he was a classic Marvel comic character, but he wasn’t Spider-Man or the X-Men, the characters I grew up watching in cartoons and who I was intimately familiar with. Hell, I even knew the Hulk better than Iron Man. But boy, did that change fast; Robert Downey Jr.’s incredible performance, the fun writing, the gripping character study, and the solid action all got me interested in this washed up B-list hero who had spent the most recent arc of his comics becoming the superhero version of Hitler.

And that was a running theme for the MCU. I ever cared too much about characters like Captain America, Thor, Ant-Man, or Black Panther when I was younger, and I didn’t even know characters like the Guardians of the Galaxy were a thing. All of this was just beyond my knowledge. And yet, these films made me care about these characters, got me invested in them. It’s something that with a few rare exceptions the X-Men films completely failed to do. I honestly can say after all is said and done I love Iron Man, Captain America, and the Guardians way more than I do Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Storm, which is not something I would have ever guessed I’d say a decade ago. And growing up with all these characters and seeing them go through these films, going into this one I knew there had to be some big dramatic payoff, some sense of finality. You can pull of stuff like massive retcons and everyone coming back from the dead in comics, but in movies? That’s how you lose viewers. I knew they’d really have to blow our minds with this, especially after the brutal gut punch that was Infinity War.

And for the most part, they truly delivered.

Endgame is a satisfying conclusion to the epic first decade of the MCU, closing the doors on some stories but opening up a world of possibilities on others. And while there are some problems here and there, the overall product is just so good that it’s easy to forgive the flaws, though it is easy to see why some would be a bit less forgiving. Still, even more critical folk than me admit that regardless of problems this is still a good movie.

This movie has three acts, and I will be going over each individually. There are going to be SPOILERS here, because there is just so much to unpack with this film, so consider this your warning. Again, SPOILERS BELOW.

The first act picks up where the Avengers were left at the end of Infinity War: broken, defeated, and desperate. Despite Carol saving Tony and Nebula from deep space, things seem pretty hopeless, until an energy signature is picked up revealing the whereabouts of Thanos. The Avengers rush to confront him, eager to steal back the Stones and right what went wrong… but upon arriving, they find Thanos broken, scarred, and worst of all, utterly without the Stones. He destroyed them all so his work could not be undone. He has completely, irreversibly won. And so when Thor brings Stormbreaker down and cuts off his head only a short while into the film, it does not feel triumphant or thrilling. It feel sad, miserable, and bitter.

I think this is probably one of the better twists in the first act. The pace at the beginning is rather slow until they confront Thanos, and it ultimately works in the movie’s favor as it makes the horrific revelation hurt all the more, and then following it up with a time skip of five years later is just rubbing salt in the wound. It also helps cement the original Thanos as a truly unique villain. He not only won, but he died knowing he won. He was victorious in death for five years, and there was nothing any of the heroes could do about it. It seems a bit anti-climactic when you first think about it, but really this end to the original Thanos is a rather fitting conclusion of his character arc from Infinity War. He won, he watched the sun rise on the universe… what more could this Thanos really do?

The time skip shows what all the heroes have been up to in the interim: Steve is running support groups for survivors, Tony has married Pepper and has a daughter, Natasha has been in contact with the remaining heroes, Clint has been out brutally murdering criminals as Ronin, Banner has managed to keep his intellect as Hulk and become a relatively famous figure, and Thor has basically become an obese drunkard wallowing in his failure. Our heroes are at their absolute lowest point… until one little rat walks over a control panel on a van in a storage unit and frees Scott “Ant-Man” Lang from the Quantum Realm.

I will say that a lot of the latter half of the first act, the part that sets up the “Time Heist” of the second act, drags on a bit, and this is really the portion of the film that will make or break it for you. You need to really be invested in these characters, you need to be ready to handle the ways they’ve dealt with the knowledge that they have lost. Thor’s fate especially has been contentious, with people crying foul that throughout the movie the Russos did nothing but “undo” all the development Taika Waititi gave him, which is quite frankly such a stupid argument it’s not worth addressing. What IS worth addressing is how Thor’s trauma, unlike most of the other Avengers, is played for laughs. For some, seeing Thor as a fat, slovenly drunkard is going to be a bit upsetting and tasteless; for others, the black comedy will cross the line twice and make it rather funny. That aspect is definitely going to help or hinder your enjoyment of this segment.

Even that aside, it does really feel like it takes a while to get to the real fun part of the movie, though it’s not as if anything in the first act is truly bad, per se; it’s just very character-driven as opposed to exciting and thrilling. If you’re into character-driven drama, then you’ll really dig this, since all of the performances here are excellent, with Paul Rudd in particular really showing off some impressive range and Scarlett Johansson actually managing to impress me with her emotional performance. Seeing Hawkeye become a complete and total badass who slaughters his way through thugs is also a refreshing change from the absolute joke he has been in previous films, and his winning streak in act one is happily carried throughout the film, completely redeeming Hawkeye. There’s also a lot of good comedy here as it builds up into the time heist, particularly Rhodey’s suggestion of what to do with baby Thanos or the ill-fated test run of the time machine.

I think it is important to note that unlike most films that deal with the subject, the movie actually gives clear, definitive rules on time travel: you can’t go back to the past and alter your present, any changes you make only succeed in creating a split timeline resulting in an alternate universe. This does not allow them to go back and kill Thanos before the Snap, but it DOES allow them to go back to times when they could reasonably steal the Infinity Stones and use them to undo the damage done. This is actually a pretty solid take on time travel and an easy take to grasp at that, though as I will mention later, this simple and clearly explained version of time travel has somehow left people confused. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Act two is where the movie really picks up steam, as the remaining heroes split into groups and head back to points in time where they get to experience moments from beloved Marvel films (and Thor: The Dark World) as they retrieve the Stones. Cap, Tony, and Ant-Man go after Loki’s scepter and the Tesserect following the battle of New York as seen in The Avengers, which leads to a lot of hilarity including Cap fighting his past self and an elevator scene that not only calls back to the one from The Winter Soldier but also features the redemption of one of the most awful moments in modern comics with one of the single funniest lines in the entire film; Hulk wanders over to the Sanctum Sanctorum and argues with the Ancient One for the Stone in the Eye of Agamotto; Rocket and Thor go back to the period of time where Jane Foster was at Asgard to steal the Reality Stone from inside her, which leads to Thor getting a touching reunion with his mother as well as an opportunity to snag Mjolnir; Nebula and Rhodey get to go to the opening of Guardians of the Galaxy and witness Peter Quill dancing and singing to himself like a moron before knocking him out and stealing the Stone; and Black Widow and Hawkeye go to Vormir to confront the Red Skull for the Soul Stone. I’m sure you can imagine how that one goes.

This part of the movie is a lot more fun with how varied it gets. There’s plenty of comedy, action, and character moments, and it just feels a lot more fun than the first act. Seeing how characters that rarely interacted or even never interacted in the past bounce off each other is really delightful, particularly Rhodey and Nebula. Of course, there is also great moments of development, such as when Steve and Tony botch their initial Stone theft and have to go back even further in time, which leads to Tony getting a heartwarming moment with his father while Steve is reminded of Peggy. And then, of course, there is Black Widow and her character arc coming to a close, as she heroically mirrors Gamora’s tragic fate.

There has, of course, been a lot of argument over Black Widow’s fate here. Here’s my take on it: Black Widow’s character arc throughtout the films has always been a desire to scrub the red from her ledger and find some meaning to her life. Age of Ultron, for all its flaws, shows she thinks of herself as a monster, and truly just wants to make a connection, find a group she has something in common with. With the Avengers, she found just that, she found the family she never had, she found something worth living for, fighting for, and ultimately dying for. Her sacrifice wasn’t some sad attempt at shock, it wasn’t her being stuffed in the fridge to further the character arcs of her male costars, it was her character arc becoming fully realized, it was her understanding that to save those she loved she had to make a choice, and it is the most utterly selfless and heroic act in the entire movie, and maybe even the entire franchise. Everyone would have lost if not for Natasha. She is probably the most heroic character in the movie… well, with one exception, but we’ll get to him shortly. The point is, her sacrifice carried more dramatic and thematic weight than if Clint had sacrificed himself; Clint is very much an underrealized and underutilized character, and while this movie improved him, it was still not enough to make his sacrifice as painful as Black Widow’s.

Act two comes to a close with heroes grieving Black Widow and preparing the Stones for a Snap to bring everyone back… unfortunately, they don’t realize there is a traitor in their midst: Nebula. Not out Nebula, but Nebula from 2014, prior to her character development. You see, Thanos could still access the future Nebula’s video recording eye since her software is still on the same server even in the future (it’s a bit weird but it still makes a bit of sense). 2014 Thanos finds out about his future self’s victory and becomes furious that any would try and undo his “mercy.” And so he enacts a plan to get him to this future and kill the Avengers once and for all. The evil Nebula bringing her father and his fleet to the future right after the second snap kicks off the third act, as Thanos obliterates the Avenger’s mansion with his ship.

The third act, the entire third act, is just peak MCU. The entire act from start to finish is the absolute best the franchise has to offer. It all begins with the heroes struggling to regroup and find each other in the wreckage, with Hawkeye having to run from aliens in a dark basement, Hulk having to hold up rubble to help save Rhodey and Rocket, Nebula helping sway 2014 Gamora to her side and then in the ultimate act of “God I really hate how I used to be” shooting her past self to death, Ant-Man rushing to save his friends after escaping the blast, and Cap, Thor, and Iron Man going to fight Thanos. This is the beginning of the end.

It is interesting to note that here, Thanos is a lot closer to the megalomaniac tyrant he was in the comics while still staying in line with his movie version from the previous film. It does go to show how fragile his ego is and how his talk of his work being merciful and good is just a delusion he has bought into; he freely admits here that he should not have been so kind, he blames everyone else for his failure, and he promises to remake the universe in his image, perfectly balanced and unaware of all they lost. Despite being almost an entire reversal of his previous characterization, it actually functions quite while as a weird way of continuing his arc while at the same time addressing the criticisms many leveled at the anti-villainous Thanos of Infinity War. It definitely looks like the Russos were well aware of how Thanos would be perceived, and did a really great job at having the best of both worlds in regards to his characterization. And even here, where he is fully embracing his villainy and saying how he will enjoy crushing his foes, one still gets the sense that he still sees himself as the hero in his mind and is absolutely furious that anyone would wish to undo what he considers a kindness.

Of course, the battle with these three fighting Thanos is quite enjoyable, and showcases even without his Gauntlet Thanos is a force to be reckoned with, as he trounces the three Avengers, though not without great effort… especially after Steve Rogers does something we’ve all been waiting a long time to see him do: pick up Mjolnir and wield it in battle. I think it’s safe to say that Thor’s jubilant shout of “I KNEW IT!” is one that was echoed in the minds of every single viewer of the scene. And just when you think the movie couldn’t get even more epic, just when it seems that Thanos will win as a bruised and bettered Steve stands alone against Thanos and his entire army… Steve gets a call.

“On your left.”

Hundreds of magic portals open, and the resurrected heroes all come through, along with any sort of crew they could bring. For the record, this is: Black Panther, Shuri, Okoye, M’Baku, the armies of Wakanda, Doctor Strange, Wong, all of the wizards, Spider-Man, Star-Lord, Drax, Mantis, Groot, Falcon, Bucky, Scarlet Witch, Valkyrie, Korg, Miek, the remaining Asgardians, Wasp, Pepper Potts in her Rescue armor, Kraglin, his Ravager crew, and even Howard the Duck. And if that’s not enough for you, the Avengers who were still alive before the attack all come in for the battle. And they said Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was the most ambitious crossover of all time. Was Howard the Duck in Smash? I think not.

And as the heroes gather for the inevitable charge, do you know what Steve says? He says two little words that fans have been waiting for such a long time to hear him say, something a less talented writer and director teased us with several films ago:

“AVENGERS… ASSEMBLE!”

Hurry quick and wipe those tears from your eyes so you don’t miss the awesome final battle, which is just filled to the brim with moments where every single hero gets to shine. Highlights include Spidey and Tony reuniting, Spidey activating the “Instant Kill” function of his suit, Gamora kicking Star-Lord in the balls, Tony and Pepper fighting back to back, Scarlet Witch confronting Thanos, and the awesomely cheesy “GIRL POWER” moment that is far more empowering than the entirety of Captain Marvel. Everything about this battle is fantastic, everything about it is peak MCU, everything is the epitome of why people love superhero movies… and it all culminates with the conclusion of Tony Stark’s decade-long character arc, as he steals the Stones from Thanos and snaps his fingers, erasing Thanos and his army at the cost of his life.

This moment is depressing on two fronts. On one, there is Tony. He is the hero we have spent the most time with, the one we know the best. And after all these films, he finally proved Steve Rogers wrong: he was able to lay his life on the line for the greater good, sacrificing himself fully for his wife, his daughter, his friends, and the entire universe. Tony went from a self-absorbed egomaniac arms dealer to a truly great, heroic figure who did what he had to do to protect everyone he cared about.

But on the other is Thanos. Most villains, upon seeing their plans come to ruin and their armies laid to waste, would break down, rant, offer some sort of last taunt… but not Thanos. Thanos accepts his death, however much it pains him to. The look of exhaustion, anguish, and utter hopelessness on his face as he sits down in a dark mirror of the ending of Infinity War truly cements him as a great and worthy foe. For all his faults, for all his insanity, Thanos was still a man utterly deluded by his pain and past tragedies into believing his cause was noble and just, and here he sits in his final moments perhaps wondering as his future self did if it was really all worth it. His crumbling to dust as he so cruelly did to so many others I well-deserved and a fitting end for one such as him, but there’s no denying that there is an element of tragedy to it too. It’s the exact sort of emotional ending I would have hoped for from Marvel’s greatest villain.

The finale wraps things up with Tony’s funeral, as well as Cap going back in time to return the Stones and Mjolnir to the moments they were stolen so that the alternate timelines can handle themselves. But Steve decides to create his own alternate timeline before coming home, and lives out an entire lifetime with an alternate Peggy Carter before returning to his own time and passing his shield and title on to Falcon. Many were confused as to if this meant Steve changed the canon of the MCU, but… they explain what happens in the movie. Quite a few times in fact. If you paid attention at all, you would know it is not possible for him to alter the canon. He created an alternate timeline where he presumably lived a full, happy life and ensured things would go well for everyone. No Hydra infiltration of SHIELD, no Winter Soldier, no Stark assassination, none of that. Just a long, happy life with the woman he loved, his best friend, and a well-deserved retirement from the fields of battle in the end. While the conclusion to Cap’s arc is not quite as good as Tony’s, it’s still heartfelt and touching, and it’s hard to say he didn’t deserve a happy life after everything he went through.

And so ends the Infinity Saga, and the first ten years of the MCU. This movie changed a hell of a lot, to the point where even though only two main heroes died over the course of the film, things still will never be the same going forward, and I like that a lot. Unlike every other cinematic universe that has sprung up in the wake of the MCU, I fully feel like any stories told after this one will continue to build off the foundations that this film and its predecessors laid out. There won’t be the need for soft rebooting like with the DCEU, or with actual rebooting like Dark Universe, or just constant messy and confusing timelines like with the X-Men Series. The MCU has managed to remain remarkably consistent throughout, and there’s no reason to doubt they’d continue that into the future. There’s no stinger here, but the moments after the final battle with the Guardians and Thor certainly set up interesting possibilities, as does the now teenaged Cassie Lang, who may well take up the superhero role she has in the comics. It’s hard to predict where the future of the MCU will be going right now, but all things considered it certainly looks bright.

Ultimately, this movie is a love letter. It’s a slow build that starts by examining the characters we know and love at their lowest, builds into a nostalgic and hilarious trip down memory lane, and culminates in the most beautiful sort of fanservice imaginable that then brings a touching conclusion to two of the greatest heroes in all of cinema. Of course, as I’ve mentioned, that first act is going to be what makes or breaks this for some people, and the part does drag a bit, but ultimately this movie is more what it ends up as than what it starts out as. That finale is the single greatest work of art the MCU has produced thus far, and I’m not sure that even with another ten years they’ll ever be able to top it.

The amazing thing is, this movie is pretty accessible even if you aren’t a hardcore fan, though it’s definitely only going to have full emotional impact if you’ve been watching these characters for years. This is a movie for the fans first and foremost, and that’s really not a bad thing; why wouldn’t you make an epic finale to so many arcs that appeals to the people who invested so much time in it? As someone who grew up with the MCU, who has watched it grow and blossom into everything I ever dreamed of seeing as a kid, I only have this to say to all of the directors, writers, actors, stunt people, just everyone who made this and all the other films possible, and to the dearly departed Stan Lee who created so many of these people I’ve spent the past decade watching come to life on screen:

I love you three thousand.

Here’s to another ten years of cinematic superhero excellence.

#Michael in the Mainstream #MitM #Review #Movie review #Avengers: Endgame #Endgame #Avengers #Marvel #MCU #Marvel Cinematic Universe #Infinity Saga #Iron Man #Captain America #Thanos #Superhero #superhero movie #spoilers #Endgame spoilers

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donataszyk · 5 years ago

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My thoughts about Marvel movies Loki – not so favorable

Loki is our favorite villain – he’s complex, cunning, even charming. He has a literal army of fans. Even I agree that he’s the perfect villain, but unlike some people, I don’t find him likable or admirable. Here’s why.

I understand that Loki’s upbringing had an impact on his personality and actions. I get it that he was told that – in Odin’s somewhat ambiguous words - ‘he was born to be a king’. Loki, understandably, thought Odin meant the throne of Asgard, while in realty Odin meant for Loki to rule Jotunheim. So when the truth came out, Loki was pretty devastated, yet he still tried to do what he thought best for Asgard. He kept Thor in banishment, because he thought him unfit to be king. He tried to destroy Jotunheim, hoping that would please Odin. And when Odin chided him for that, he pretty much decided to commit suicide by falling off the Bifrost bridge.

Someone wrote online that Loki let go because he feared that Odin wouldn’t be able to hold both him and Thor, and to save his brother. Loki sacrificed himself. I didn’t see that. To me it looked like Loki was hurt and disappointed and decided to fall to his death. It was about him and his feelings, not saving others.

And then, somehow, Loki stumbled upon Thanos, and with resources from him, launched an invasion on Earth, which resulted in plenty of destruction and deaths. Again, it was said that Loki was mind controlled, perhaps even tortured by Thanos, so he is not to blame. It was pointed out, how haggard and tired he looked upon arriving on Earth through the portal. Surely, it was due to the tortures? I think not. Why would Thanos torture Loki, when Loki was already filled with anger and disappointment, believing himself the rightful king, cast out – why, he even spoke to Thor as if believing that Thor threw him off that bridge himself. The mind stone was probably fueling Loki’s rage, but where’s the proof of torture? Loki looked pretty bad when he came out of the portal, but I always thought that it was the journey that did that to him, tiring and possibly dangerous, sapping him of energy. Let’s not forget that the fall must have done some damage too, as we can see in the post credits scene from ‘Thor’. So I don’t believe that Loki was forced or coerced into wreaking havoc on Earth, more likely he volunteered for that, and Thanos jumped at the opportunity, because all that he had to do was to give Loki the Chitauri and then just sit and wait till Loki gives him the Tesseract. As somebody pointed out, this way Thanos wouldn’t have to be involved directly into stealing the Tesseract himself and risk his plan to collect all the Infinity Stones being discovered. So yet again, Loki was acting in his self interest, because he desired a throne. If he couldn’t get one in Asgard, he wanted to rule on Earth instead. And he was about to bring Thanos a step closer to wiping half of the population of the universe.

After Loki failed, he was brought before Odin, spewing anger, and then imprisoned. Yes, Loki was lied to about his parentage, and that was a mistake of Odin. He should have told Loki from the beginning what he was. But that was I think, Odin’s only mistake. He did save Loki’s life and raised him in the comfort of his palace, as his son. Not bad for an abandoned child. So when Loki was in his cell, he was all too happy to give directions to the escaped prisoner, being the god of mischief, indeed, but not considering that someone he loved might get hurt (cough,Frigga, cough). And when Thor came to Loki, seeking his help to escape Asgard, Loki was not acting out of the kindness of his heart or selfless love for his adopted brother. He simply wanted to avenge Frigga’s death. And he used this opportunity to fake his death and take the throne of Asgard. Instead, he could have – for once - not pretend to have died and help Thor defeat Malekith, who after all, had killed Frigga. So much for revenge. When it came to it – Loki went straight for the throne. He stranded Odin on Earth and pretty much helped Hela arrive that much sooner, prompting the destruction of Asgard. So much for his short time as king, which by the way, he wasn’t so good at in the first place. He was more concerned with raising statues and theater plays than with the actual ruling over the Nine Realms. And remember how in ‘Thor’ Loki had the audacity to claim that his brother wouldn’t make a good king?

So basically, because of Loki, Asgard was destroyed and half of Asgardians slain by Thanos. Why? Because Loki just had to steal the Tesseract again, before jumping on the ship that took the people of Asgard to safety. What safety? – Thanos got wind of the Tesseract’s location and attacked the ship. Or was it just pure accident and Thanos happened to miraculously stumble upon one of the Infinity Stones that he desired so much? Again, because of Loki’s selfishness, people suffered and died.

One of the only redeeming qualities of Loki, was that he couldn’t bear to see Thor tortured and killed, so he gave up the Tesseract and then he even tried to kill Thanos, though it was very poorly done. Either the scene was poorly written, or Loki acted deliberately and used some trick to appear to die again. Perhaps it was just poor writing.

Consider it, if only Loki, for once, abandoned his desire for power, then the Tesseract would probably never have fallen into Thanos’ hands and Thanos wouldn’t be able to perform the snap (!), for heavens’ sake. It was kind of Loki’s fault that half of the universe was killed off! Prove me wrong.

So how is it that Loki is so much loved?

#loki #loki (marvel)#loki of asgard #thoughtsonloki thor villain wtfmoment wtf

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dexi-green · 7 years ago

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Infinity War questions answered.

Okay some of these are actual factual answers, some are just my interpretation, and some we definitely aren’t gonna know until the next movie so bear that in mind. and obviously SPOILERS for the MCU (Infinity War, GOTG, etc). If you have any questions that I didn’t answer here, I can try my best. Or if I got anything wrong, or there is something I should add, let me know. Occasionally edited/updated for more clarity/answers.

Why did Dr.Strange give up the time stone?

Dr.Strange uses the time stone earlier in the film to see into the future. He says he saw 14 million outcomes of this war and only one that they won. It makes sense to believe that its possible that in that one outcome, he saw either, Thanos being in possession of all infinity stones, Tony being alive, half the universe being gone, or all of the above. The action of giving Thanos the time stone was instrumental in saving the universe. His final words are “There was no other way.” It wasn't OOC because he didn't start feeling for Tony, but he saw that Tony was important to the fate of the universe. His goal is still protecting the universe.

Why would Peter Quill do that? Its all his fault!

Peter finally found someone he loved and who loved him. An actual family in Gamora (and the rest of the Guardians). Gamora made him agree to kill her if things went sideways, which he agreed to because he loves her and knew how important it was to her that Thanos not be the one, and not get the information she had. Then when faced with that, had to look her in the eyes, and kill her. Only for her to be taken anyway. He failed her. However its okay, because maybe they can save her. He knows shes not dead. But then Thanos shows up on Titan, and Peter finds out that she is dead. Thanos got the information he needed, got what he wanted, and killed her. Peter knew that Gamora suffered and died, in what was probably the worst way in Gamora's eyes. Also only about a couple years or so after having his father figure die by sacrificing himself for Quill, learning that his real father is responsible for his abduction from Earth, and killing his mother, and having to kill his own father to save the universe. Needless to say, Peter Quill is probably a bit stressed out, not thinking straight. Standing right in front of the person who killed the love of his life. He's not thinking about the universe, hes thinking about Gamora.

Why did (Blank) turn to dust in the wind but not (blank)?

From the filmmakers POV, To leave the OG 6. Aside from a few exceptions the main people left are Tony, Cap, Nat, Bruce, Thor and Clint (presumably). The Avengers. To bring the story full circle. Then after this phase is done, we will focus on Dr. Strange, Spider-Man, Captain Marvel, Black Panther, Ant-Man, etc. As the NEW avengers until they get their Infinity War level film and then a new group will emerge, and on and on. Until Disney decides they are done with the MCU, or isn’t as serious about it anymore. For the story explanation however, it’s random.

Why kill Loki? Why so early?

I think that was definitely to set the tone of the film. Yeah it has its funny moments and romantic moments, but it is much darker than previous Avenger’s films. It’s about death, and sacrifice, and the choices we make. It is 100% not a movie you are going to come out of happy and excited and cheering. The good guys aren’t going to win this battle.

Loki has come a long way since he first was introduced in the first Thor film, and his redemption was only a split second it seems, maybe not even entirely completed yet. However for Loki this was the moment he finally accepted who he was, Odinson, king of Jotunheim, Thor’s brother, and picked a side to fight for (yes he pretended like he was loyal to Thanos but he’s Loki! Of course he is going to go out with a trick like that.) His story of uncertainty, and trying to find where he fits in, who he truly is, is at an end because he’s found it with Thor. He’s accepted himself, all sides of himself. He was redeemed in Thor’s eyes, evident by the end of Ragnarok, and how Thor mourned Loki again before being thrown into space. It is extremely unlikely that he will be redeemed and accepted, to everyone, especially after New York, but Thor, and Bruce, Heimdall, Valkyrie, The people of Asgard, etc. They know he fought the good fight in the end.

Not to mention that this isn’t the end of the story. There is still another part, Avengers 4. Despite Thanos’ words, there is still a possibility for Loki to come back. I think the biggest clues to this is Loki’s final words “You will never be a god.” (because Loki is a god. Thus more powerful than Thanos) and “The sun will shine on us again, brother.” (implying that Thor and Loki will be together again, and prosperous, whether this be in waking life or not is unconfirmed) and the fact that Loki didn’t turn back to his blue Jotun form. His white skin/human like appearance is an illusion and would naturally fade away upon his death.

What happened to the gauntlet?

After Thanos snapped, and we next see him with Thor, the gauntlet seemed crushed and/or burnt, damaged in some way. However he is still able to use the space stone to get himself out of there. When we see Thanos at the end, he still has the gauntlet on his arm, and all the infinity stones seem to be there. You can look at his arm with the gauntlet, on his left side, and it seems like his arm is affected as well. The gauntlet itself isn’t nearly as powerful as all the stones, so it very well could've collapsed under the pressure of using all 6 stones at once. With the damage done to his arm as well as the gauntlet, it is possible that the gauntlet has been seared onto his skin, and he could be unable to take it off. The gauntlet is damaged and Thanos may have to try and repair it. or maybe he has no real use of it now, he did what he planned.

Well what happened in the comics?

Someone (nebula/adam warlock) gets a hold of the Infinity Gauntlet from Thanos and turns back the clock to undo everything and defeat him. So this could be why Dr.Strange gave over the time stone, and possibly why Nebula was one of the people left alive.

How is the Ant-Man movie going to be affected by this?

The upcoming Ant-Man and The Wasp movie is actually supposedly set before Infinity War and after Civil War. So this movie doesn't affect that movie at all. We will probably see what Scott is up to during the events of Infinity War either near the end or in a post Credit scene.

What was that post credit scene?

I think it was to show the destruction the world is going through at the moment. Normal everyday people are also turning to ash, and lots of damage is going to be done because of that.

Also Nick Fury was calling Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers, so expect her to show up soon and hopefully join the fight in Avengers 4. Kevin Feige noted that she is “one of the most, if not the most, powerful heroes in the MCU.” so she will be playing an important role in taking down Thanos. And her movie will come out a month or two before Avengers 4, so everyone can get familiar with the character, and they don’t have to force in a backstory.

What was going on with Hulk?

It’s been confirmed by one of the Russo Brothers that the reason behind Hulk’s actions, or lackthereof, in Infinity War is because he is tired of saving Banner. Bruce is normally in control, and usually only allows Hulk to take over when Banner himself or others are in danger. Bruce said in Ragnarok that if he turned back into the Hulk there would be a chance he wouldn’t turn back into Bruce again. But he did, and turned back into Bruce, but now can’t turn back into Hulk again. I think this is building on the relationship between Bruce and Hulk that we saw in Ragnarok. That they are in fact two different people fighting for control over one body. Hulk isn’t an alter ego, he is another being entirely. With his own wants and needs and feelings. It seems like he is tired and wants out of his own marvel version of the sunken place. After his fight with Thanos at the very beginning of Infinity War, Hulk could be scared, or tired, or pissed, or all of the above. Bruce wanted Hulk to take over, but Hulk didn’t want to. Sometimes they can force their ways into the driver’s seat, but a lot of times it’s communication between them, agreeing who is going to be in control at what times (usually Bruce). Like Bruce said “it was like we both had a hand on the wheel.” but Hulk just doesn’t want to it seems. It’s not that he can’t, Bruce was obviously able to talk with him about it, but Hulk refused. Hulk literally just says no. Like Bruce says, “Hulk, we got a lot to figure out, pal.”

What was Red Skull doing?

It was long speculated that Red Skull didn’t actual die during The First Avenger. A lot of people believed he was just transported somewhere. He was transported to Vormir, and became a wraith, and The Stonekeeper. He was to advise/warn those who sought out the Soul Stone. He was forbidden to take the stone for himself. It was all a sort of punishment for his crimes and ego, to lead others to the thing he wants but cannot have. During those seven decades of isolation, he eventually accepted his fate. (also he wasn’t played by Hugo Weaving in IW, but by Ross Marquand, so if you are like me and thought something more was off, that might be it.)

How could Thanos possibly love Gamora? He’s absuive and manipulative and a murderer!

That’s in your eyes (and Gamora’s, and literally everyone elses). He doesn’t really see himself that way. The number one most common thing for villains is that they don’t see themselves as a villain. Thanos explained that what he was doing was for the good of the universe. He was sacrificing one half to save the other. He’s done this with other planets and civilizations and claims to have seen positive results from his methods.

In his eyes, he wasn’t abusive to Gamora. Maybe more like tough love. He wanted her to be better, to be great, the “fiercest woman in the galaxy.” He added cybernetic enhancements to her so she could reach her full potential. He was doing all of this so that not only himself, but Gamora, and the universe, would be able to prosper. When he and the Chitauri are slaughtering her people on Zen-Whoberi, he turns her head away so she doesn't have to witness that. He only saw great things in her. He never thought that what he might be doing was actually hurting her. He did love her. Gamora says with her last words “this isn’t love.” but to him he has a very different idea of love, and that is subjective. Love means something different to everyone. He has a bit of a twisted way of love. And when he Snaps, and has that vision of young Gamora their exchange is,

“Did you do it?”

“Yes.”

“What did it cost?”

“Everything.”

He is looking at her, and he is sad (and possibly regretful) of what he has done. Gamora was his everything. He calls her “My Gamora” during the battle on Titan. Along with that, when Mantis is using her powers on him she says, “He is in anguish...he mourns.”

What was the point of Thor getting Stormbreaker after all the story development surrounding losing Mjolnir in Ragnarok?

It is sooo much more powerful than Mjolnir. Unlike Mjolnir, it has the power to open the Bifrost. An ability that can come in handy, especially considering Heimdall is dead and cannot do that for Thor now. Quick transportation across the Nine Realms seems like something to have. Also when Thor puts himself right in front of the blast of a STAR, and gets knocked out, he needed Stormbreaker in his hand to be revived. And like Mjolnir, it focuses and enhances Thor’s power. The story of Ragnarok wasn’t to say that Thor is better without the hammer, but that he doesn’t have to rely on it. Steve is strong without a Shield, but a Shield helps. Not to mention that it is one of the only things shown to actually wound Thanos. Most everyone can hardly make a dent, but Thor is able to rip into him with Stormbreaker. It is a formidable weapon.

Giving an explanation/origin story for the Gauntlet. Because they have to go to Nivadellir, we get to learn that the Dwarves made the Gauntlet for Thanos. We learn how it was made, what it was made of and why it was made. It doesn’t just store the stones, but makes them easier to use (remember what happens to most people when they try to just hold a stone in their hand and use its power?) and channel/focus their energies/powers (like Mjolnir/Stormbreaker does for Thor). We also get to see more of Thanos’ destruction, and his moral compass. He spared Eitri, because he complied with Thanos’ will, but also smelted his hands, because he knew Eitri didn’t actually agree. Dude’s got trust issues, and rightfully so. But like when Dr.Strange bargains for Tony’s life, Thanos is someone who keeps his word.

It is quite possible that while he knows that the power is inside of him, he uses a weapon as a crutch. Especially after he’s just lost everything. I’ve seen a ton of people mention Thor’s suicidal tendencies in this film, which is understandable. So maybe a weapon is just a familiar thing to hold on to.

Thor, Rocket and Groot needed something to do. It is a moment for Groot and Rocket to shine. Throughout this film Groot is suppose to be a stereotypical teenager who is doing their own thing, and not listening to anyone. But when he see Thor basically dying, and that he can do something to help, he steps up. Using his own arm as the handle for Stormbreaker. From then on, he is engaged in what is going on, and a part of the Battle in Wakanda. Also during this journey, Rocket gets the chance to be the ‘captain’ and shows what he thinks that means. before he talks to Thor about Thor’s family and why he is doing all this Rocket says “Time to be the captain.” To him, being the captain is being the one to listen to the others on your team, to take on some of their weight. Showing how Rocket has grown since the first Guardian’s film.

What happened to Valkyrie/Korg/Shuri/Wong/etc. ?

Thor says that HALF of Asgard got destroyed when Thanos came. It’s very likely that Valkyrie was able to round up some people and escape, and will return in Avengers 4.

However, after the Snap of the Century, who honestly knows? Some people like Pepper, Shuri, Wong, Ned, etc. who didn’t show up at the end, their fates are up in the air right now. This is something that you can theorize about, but we really won’t know until A4. Some people’s status have been confirmed or hinted at by the Russo Brothers and James Gunn (director of the Guardian’s movies) These are:

Howard The Duck is Alive Jane Foster is “Potential Spoiler” Betty Ross is Gone Korg and Miek is “Potential Spoiler” Shuri is “Potential Spoiler” Nakia is “On missions” (so alive I am guessing?) Ned is “Potential Spoiler” Aunt May is Alive Lady Sif is Gone Galaga Guy (from the first Avengers) is Gone. RIP in peace. Kraglin is Alive Asgardian Actor that played Loki (Matt Damon) is Gone.

Those are the only ones we know of right now (that aren’t confirmed or denied by leaked set photos, and are said outright by the directors). Obviously some are spoilers so we can still theorize.

What was everyone doing before this?

Scott and Clint got a deal to be on house arrest so they could be with their families. Cap, Nat, and Sam kept on fighting, continuing to take down terrorists with alien tech, vigilante style. Vision and Wanda were living together in Europe, both reporting back to Tony and Cap respectfully. Bucky was just chillin’ in Wakanda. Spider-man was doing the same thing that you see in Homecoming, same with Tony. Tony got engaged to Pepper, and seemed to be staying pretty lowkey. Rhodey with him, recovering. T’Challa was doing what was happening in the Black Panther movie, and just ruling over Wakanda, and meeting with the UN, along with creating the outreach centers in the US. Bruce and Thor were involved in Ragnarok. The Guardians were still rolling around space taking jobs and helping people out. There is a prelude comic to Infinity War that you can read that goes over some of this.

Who is the smartest MCU character?

Shuri. (tis a joke)

Added Questions:

Why did Wanda (Scarlet Witch) leave Vision during the Battle of Wakanda?

During the Battle of Wakanda, Wanda is with Vision while Shuri is trying to extract the Mind Stone from him. She is watching out the window and sees Thanos’ forces summon this huge weapon. I don’t know what it is exactly, but it looks like a bunch of huge saws or gears. It is absolutely massive and Sam and Rhodey together can barely damage it. She hops down onto the field and is able to use her powers to stop it before it kills Okoye and Black Widow and redirects it at some Outriders (Mindless alien species that work for Thanos). I think she knew upon seeing that that she would be the only one who could stop it from killing those on their side. Her and Vision are probably the only ones who could’ve done something against that (without extra help). There were also guards with Shuri and Vision. She probably thought that they would be well protected, at least until she could get back up there. Unfortunately as soon as Proxima Midnight see’s her on the Field, she tells Corvus Glaive who then goes and tries to retrieve the Mind Stone from Vision, which then forces Vision to fight back and get thrown out onto the field. It is unknown whether The Black Order knew she would come to help, but thats usually a thing. The bad guys use the heroes need to save everyone against them.

#infinity war #avengers #spoilers #infinity war spoilers #avengers spoilers #questions #marvel #IW #mcu #captain marvel #captain america #doctor strange #tony stark #loki #thor #stormbreaker

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valkyrie-echo · 7 years ago

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Project Echo, Part 1: Chapter 14 (The Underground Crew)

Part 1 Summary: A long-buried Hydra disaster, a monster in the shadows, a missing child. Eight months after the events of “The Winter Soldier”, Bucky turns himself in to the Avengers on one condition: They must help him find a girl snatched off the streets by Hydra seven years ago. In their quest, the Avengers accidentally unleash a horrifying creature of darkness and shadow, intent on making their quarry its prey.

Chapter 14: The Underground Crew

Thor, Banner, and Bucky: Wonju-Gangwondo, South Korea

There was absolutely no cover between them and the access point. The three huddled in the trees and struggled to even make out the small island a mile away through the morning drizzle. Hydra soldiers were crawling all over the main base entrance, hidden in the forest a few miles back. Their entrance would be through the emergency exit. Bucky had no reason to blow the shaft when he came through, so it was the easiest point of entry. No doubt Hydra would have figured that out too.

Between their current position and the island was a university (evacuated because of a "suspected natural gas leak resulting in an underground explosion"), the rancid, muddy base of a man-made lake, and perhaps three trees before they'd be on top of the shaft. It was barely large enough to count as an island.

"If it dries up like this every year, how have students never stumbled into the base?" Sam was hiding just in the cloud layer, circling.

"They do," Bucky's voice was flat- his mind was on the girl, "the door is hidden, but one slips in every few years and Hydra gets a new plaything."

Sam shivered, "Same with swimmers when the lake's full?"

"The chemical run off from the cryo chambers renders the water toxic. Students who try to swim rarely make it out alive. Most learned to avoid the water entirely."

"Thank god we didn't decide to do this during monsoon season."

"That is why I waited until last month to attack."

"Well, nothing I've got will get you over there unseen, and if Hydra figures out we're here Steve and Nat don't have a snowball's chance. How you going to get over there?"

"You both should land for a moment, Sam Wilson and Clint Barton," Thor began to swing his hammer slowly. The drizzle began to tilt pretty sharply towards a downpour. Now even they could hardly see through the sheets of rain.

Bucky and Thor took point with Banner bringing up the rear, miserable. He couldn't Hulk-out until they got into the tunnel, so he ran barefoot and shirtless, holding up massively over-sized sweatpants. Bucky had his black leather tactical vest and jacket with his brand new metal arm (painted with the Avengers symbol in place of the red star) exposed. Thor was full god mode- cape, armor, plated sleeves, the works. Banner, in comparison, looked like a pitiful hobo-stalker, chasing them across the squelching grass and thick, grasping mud. By the time they reached the island his feet were frozen, scraped, and cut by jagged stones- he struggled to keep the Hulk back.

The island had seventeen Hydra agents guarding it. The sudden downpour had forced them back into the tree line where they remained under the thicker patches of foliage- until the Avengers arrived. Thor only managed to get a couple- Bucky was like a tornado of knives. It seemed like he would barely turn towards a soldier and the man would fall, grasping at the gash in his throat. Thor wasn't sure they even knew they were fighting before they fell.

Banner looked for someone who appeared to have some authority over the group and rooted around their corpse for the earbud transmitter- if they were to get a signal to their men on the inside there had to be an external boost somewhere. When he found it he clipped on Tony's interface- JARVIS would scan all comms on the same frequency and synthesize replies from the voices of soldiers that they picked up. Hopefully Hydra wouldn't catch on until it was too late.

"Steve, Natasha, we've got a truck leaving the facility headed for the southwest road, do you copy?" Clint was "grounded" up a pine tree. He'd decided pretty much as soon as he saw the wings that Stark wasn't going to be getting them back any time soon. He had already confided in Natasha that he intended to be buried in them. He hoped Thor's rain stopped soon- a taste of flying and he was addicted.

"Copy, good luck everyone," Steve ran for Natasha's position.

"See you later, but wish us luck instead. If I end up cold and wet and the girl isn't even here-"

"Hulk smash?" Tony snickered.

Banner nodded to himself, "Hulk smash."

Bucky, meanwhile, was looking closely at a large Buddha statue in the center of the small island. The entrance was hidden under this shrine. He found the faint etching of Hydra's logo and pressed it, then located symbols on the Buddha to act as a sort of password. The cement ring in the center of the clearing lowered, then swung inward to reveal a hatch barely wide enough for Thor to fit through. Banner felt validated- Hulk wouldn't have been able to fit a foot through there. His suffering was not in vain.

The floor of the tunnel was twenty feet down or so- Thor and Bucky jumped. Banner lowered himself far enough to see just how wide the tunnel was going forward. As he judged, a group of Hydra soldiers came around the corner to investigate why the hatch was open. Banner quickened his breathing and before they had time to radio for help he dropped and took on his Hulk form. His mind simplified, his rage increased, and only Banner was able to keep him from roaring. He dove at the soldiers and crushed them against a wall, then turned to look at Thor and Bucky. He growled and jerked his head. Hulk didn't know the fucking way, why weren't they doing their part?! Useless!

In places along the tunnel the walls had been blasted in and debris blocked their way. Hulk swept through these areas, clearing a path for Bucky and Thor. Bucky led where he could, knives at the ready, but they hardly came across any agents. The main focus wasn't some half-destroyed supply tunnel, it was the vaults. The bodies didn't really begin to pile up until they came to the first ruined door.

It was metal, reinforced, yet it hung at an angle and scorch marks radiated out from it. Bucky pried the doors apart only a hair and peeked through. Vault 1. Hydra swarmed the large warehouse-style room, inspecting dozens of large cryo chambers. Bucky had spent 30 years inside one of those, and the design hadn't changed much. There was a small window at roughly eye-level, but the rest of it was devoted to numbers and monitors. Doctors walked down the line, hooking tablets into those chambers that still emanated a glow. Bucky targeted the main power supplies and exits when he struck- anyone trapped inside one of those once the back up batteries died would have died a slow, miserable death from starvation and thirst. Nearly every window was clouded with bloody scratch marks. As the doctors looked in the windows the glass would shake as the trapped man or woman pounded. Their screams echoed dully.

One in every ten or so seemed to be a "chosen one". The doctor would compare the number on their pod with a sheet of paper and, if it checked out, they'd signal a soldier with a cart to attach a fresh battery on the bottom and the cryo unit re-initialized, freezing the poor bastard once again. The doctor closest to them shook his head and hit a red button on the side of the pod. The insides filled with fire and the screaming got louder for a brief moment, then died out entirely. Incineration.

Thor watched intently through the slit in the door, "James," he whispered, "those papers may reveal if the child is indeed here, or if Hydra has kept her alive. We should plan a way to lure one of the physicians to us and-"

A shadow detached from the banks of wires suspended on the ceiling (those not fried and frayed) directly over the scientist. It was smaller than Thor had imagined- perhaps Steve had been wrong in his analysis. It was distinctly humanoid too. Thor's mind raced with the possibilities. Someone from 'Project: Helius' must have been changed in the explosion! One of the scientists? A guard from outside the doors? The shadow was no mere summoned creature, it had purpose, it had form, it had a plan, it had- it had a metal arm. Thor whipped around, Hulk pointed up, and he saw the open ventilation shaft above his head. He looked through the door in time to see Bucky, hanging by his knees, slowly lower himself over the doctor, then grab his head, yank him into the ceiling, and break his neck all in one motion.

A few seconds later he dropped silently from the shaft with the paper in his hand, "Very impressive," Thor clapped him on the back and stood beside him so he could also read the llist. Several Project names were listed next to a "Kill" or "Preserve" order and a cryo tube number. There were also special instructions listed next to many of them- points of delivery, bases to transfer the prisoners to, who should be thawed before transfer, or who should be kept frozen. Bucky traced through it until he found what he was looking for: PROJECT: ECHO - PRESERVE - V174 - DELIVER TO COMMANDER DENNISSON, AUKLAND FACILITY, FOR TERMINATION. So, that scumbag Dennisson had been promoted, and he wanted to kill Echo himself.

Bucky swore and dropped the paper on the ground. He turned back the direction they had come and took off at a dead run- Thor and Hulk on his heels. He needed the elevator shaft. Echo had been transferred on his orders, Dennisson wanted the opportunity to kill the girl himself. He was a sadist, and probably the only supervisory agent in the science division to enjoy a failed experiment, it gave him a new toy, and he had been gunning for Echo even five years ago. The fact that she was a kid didn't bother him- a toy was a toy.

"You know, you don't scare me," Bucky remembered her weak voice as she'd stood over him with Dennisson. She was pale from months in the base, and it hurt his eyes to look at her in the illuminated room. She was bruised, her wrists bled, and even though he couldn't see it, he knew she would be standing on one foot. He'd broken her heel with a pole. Black bags sagged under her eyes. She was staring at a spot on the floor, not making eye contact with anyone. Bucky was muzzled, but he struggled to break free of the restraints that bound him to the chair. Dennisson had a hand on the back of her neck, forcing her to watch.

"I don't want to scare you," his voice made Bucky sick. The girl shivered, "I want to give you the chance to take real control here."

"Just because I'm 14 doesn't mean I'm stupid, I don't have any control," she flinched, a reflex. The Winter Soldier usually beat her for speaking back to him- hence the heel.

Dennisson just moved his hand to her shoulder and handed her a remote, "You have control. You can make him suffer now. That's control."

In the base, Bucky used his momentum to run at a wall, push off, and change direction so he was now headed south towards the service elevator. He heard something, shouting from Thor, but he didn't stop. He tried to push back the memory but it was impossible.

He remembered one of the times he tried to break her out of Astana. She was twitching, shaking, trying desperately not to look around- even that much had taken him a long time to achieve. Particularly because every few weeks he would try to set her free. When they caught Bucky and Echo- and Hydra always did before the two escaped the confines of the base- they would make her watch as they reprogrammed him, just to be sure she knew there was no hope. After a while they made it a scheduled thing, just to preempt anymore attempts at heroics. Dennisson decided it would help her break faster.

He knew how this day ended. She refused to activate the machine, refused to hurt anyone on behalf of Hydra- even her torturer. The shocks would come, one way or another, and he would forget who he was. The first thing Dennisson would order him to do was punish her for her insolence. After this one he had broken three ribs, tied her arms above her head, and left her standing on only the tips of her toes for two days.

Bucky tripped over debris on the ground and went flying forward towards the elevator shaft- which was open but missing the elevator. Hulk caught him in mid-air and held him tight to prevent another pathetic outburst. Stupid puny humans. Bucky's vision was blurred, he couldn't force her face down in his memory, couldn't catch his breath as he remembered how she'd struggled to breathe through the pain.

Thor waved for Hulk to set him down and put his hands firmly on Bucky's shoulders, "James!" he shook him, then struck Bucky across the face. His eyes finally found Thor. Tears dripped down his cheeks. "We will find her. We will make this right."

Bucky nodded and rubbed the sweat and tears from his eyes, embarrassed. He'd totally lost control. He pointed to the shaft, shaking, "H-her pod number started with "V". That- that's level 5. We have to go down to level 5. Row 17, tube 4."

"Alright," Thor helped Bucky to steady himself and inspected the shaft. The walls were perfectly smooth, the only way down would be to grab hold of a chain and lower themselves. Thor reached out to the nearest and pulled. Now, he was no Midgardian, but he had endeavored to learn some of their mechanics over the years. He was fairly certain if these chains attached to their level-climbing devices they should not simply swing loose. Bucky could ID the issue by sight- the elevator had been damaged significantly and was probably in pieces at the bottom of the shaft.

"We can climb down at least."

Thor took his line in a more firm grip, set Mjolnir down on the ledge and stepped out into nothing. He hung from the chain for a few moments before nodding to Bucky. Bucky jumped to the farthest chain, leaving two in the middle for Hulk. The duo went down slowly, carefully. Once there was enough distance, Hulk stepped out. He wasn't meant for delicate climbing. He should have smashed his way down to the floor. Stupid humans. Making Hulk look like a fool. He would kill them later for this.

The addition of Hulk turned out to be a supremely bad idea. The anchor above them that held the chains groaned, dislodged from the anchors, and before any of them could process what was happening they were falling past the fifth floor all the way down to the eighth. Hulk reached out and grabbed Thor and Bucky just in time to flip onto his back and protect them from the brunt of the fall. He'd taken worse, but the little ones were fragile. They had no business being on this mission and getting in his way!

Hulk's impact flattened whatever was left of the elevator and blew the metal doors inward to Level 8. Thor and Bucky untangled from him and entered the space while Hulk righted himself and came in behind them. They were in another cryo room, this one a lot more damaged. Bucky had put a bomb in the elevator, apparently it was down here when it went off.

They walked through the quasi-darkness wearily, ready for trouble. Bucky remembered a stairwell on the far side, they could use that to backtrack. It would be full of Hydra agents, but he was more determined than ever. He could cut through an army.

"James, look," Thor pointed to one of the damaged tubes. It had been knocked from its base and was lying on the floor. The glass was shattered- but he could see pieces of it in the chamber, not outside of it, "Something broke in, not out." Around the jagged edges of the glass there was blood, skin, and chunks of hair.

Bucky's head whipped around and he inspected the other chambers. Some were lit- but most had been smashed open. There was plenty of glass on the floor- not everyone's departure had been involuntary. Bucky closed his eyes and listened as hard as he could. He detected rustles of fabric, the soft padding sound of bare feet on the floor. They weren't alone, not by a long shot. From the shadows and behind tubes Hydra's worst appeared. Their eyes were dull, glassy, and crazed. Some chewed strips of bloody meat and gore- Bucky had no questions about where they'd gotten their food from: the ones who didn't break out.

As they were surrounded, a fractured, indistinguishable voice sounded in Bucky's ear. He couldn't make out what it said. After a moment it seemed to repeat. There was a sound of feedback- a screech, then Steve's voice came through, frustrated, "-can't you just boost the signal without being such an ass? You're working no harder than the rest of us on this, stop acting like a martyr."

"Steve Rogers," Thor spoke softly, slowly, "we can hear you now."

"Bucky," Steve spoke quickly, he was breathless, "can you read me?"

"Yes."

"We found her Bucky. We've got Echo. She's alive."

He let out the breath he was holding and turned his full attention to the people in front of him. Thor summoned Mjolnir and began arcing his lightning through it. Bucky smiled then, bent his knees, and dove straight into the mob.

Chapter 15: The Captain and the Widow

#my writing #marvel #avengers

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metalgearkong · 7 years ago

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Justice League - Review

11/30/17

Directed by Zack Snyder & Joss Whedon

Justice League is the long awaited team up of DC super heroes much like Marvel’s Avengers. You would think with these larger than life characters, who hold so much value, and who are so treasured in today’s culture, would be treated with the utmost care. Unfortunately, Warner Bros and the director have been trying to shove this version of DC super heroes down our throats, and it hasn’t been working since inception. Justice League does not change this, and sadly, continues the trend of limp, tonally confusing, structurally failing qualities of the DC Extended Universe.

After the death of Superman at the end of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, Batman (Ben Affleck) tries to pull a team together due to his ominous vision of an apocalyptic invasion. Having already shaken hands with Diana Price (Gal Gadot), Bruce Wayne sets out to recruit other “meta humans” towards his cause. The movie consists of several rushed events introducing such large characters as Aquaman (Jason Mamoa), The Flash (Ezra Miller), and Cyborg (Ray Fisher), all in the first act. Cyborg’s story is easily the most tragic, and we sadly get very little development time with him. The Flash is going to be a lot of people’s favorites, even if Warner Bros aren’t using the same Flash as from the very popular TV show. Aquaman is probably the most epic person to introduce and he gets shockingly little background as well.

Warner Bros infamously mandated that Justice League be within 2 hours of running time, so its easy to see why the film feels like there’s a lot missing. This is one of the worst types of films to limit, as it has so much going on and so many characters. Warner Bros thought this would be a smart move because the feedback they got from Batman V Superman was that it is too long; but of course, the big company was wrong, and Justice League movie suffers for it. The villain Steppenwolf (Ciara Hinds) is one of the most forgettable and badly defined villains in all of comic book film history. Not only is he just a big guy with horns who wants to destroy the world 3 magic macguffins, he’s made entirely in dated CGI. Nothing is unique or memorable about him, and when your opposing force in a comic book movie is this bland, the action and the narrative suffer greatly.

I still believe Batfleck is one of the better parts about these movies. I’m all for a darker, more violent, tenured Batman, as this character changes with the times, and has no one set personality or belief systems (in spite of what many people might say). I am more than ready for the Matt Reeves “The Batman” film in a few years. Gal Godot as Wonder Woman is also one of the best aspects about this movie, as we all already expected. She’s still not quite a top tier hero in the entire pantheon of film, but she certainly is the easiest to root for and care about. The only problem with her is how her powers and limitations are slightly undefined, as sometimes she’s as fast as the Flash or as strong as Superman, whenever convenient for any given scene.

Something that is a surprise to absolutely no one is that Superman (Henry Cavill) returns. This potentially epic and emotional plot point is lead up to with very little gravitas. We all knew Superman wouldn’t stay dead for long when he “died” at the end of Batman V Superman, so this entire song and dance has been completely pointless and a waste of time. The very way they brought him back was rushed, confusing, lazy, and made no logical sense. But, DC was hearing fan criticism, and gave Superman a slightly more friendly personality, and the color on his suit (and other character’s suits) is obviously toned up for a more vibrant visual experience. Once he was alive, he’s more warm than he has been thus far.

There are rare moments which invested me in this movie. Although Superman’s return was limp and lame, when he started laying some punches on the invincible Steppenwolf I did get a tiny inner moment of glee. We got to see the bright red and blues of Superman punching down a big spiky supervillain The Flash had a few funny moments, but the humor was overplayed a bit too much. Aquaman sadly is a non-element in this film, further proof that each and every one of these super heroes needed their own solo film before this big team-up movie. Not only is the concept rushed, the CGI in most instances looks unfinished, unpolished, and is used way too often as a crutch. The result is a movie that very blatantly was mostly shot on a green screen, and shows a lack of care and craft behind the scenes. Cyborg in particular has a physically uninspired design and the CGI on him is deep within the uncanny valley.

The only other small thing I liked about this movie is how Danny Elfman provided the musical score of the film, and there are small hints at the classic 1989 Batman theme, and John William’s theme for the original Superman movie. I want more of this. I want more iconic music to support the characters and emotion. I can only pray these musical themes are used more in the future films. Ironically, a small section of the Superman theme is when Superman has just been resurrected and is confused and is briefly “evil.” I liked this part because it showed how compelling he could be as a villain. It was the only subversive moment in the film and my imagination couldn’t help but wonder how cool it would be for the team to have to work together to defeat Superman, return him to normal, and then team up with him against the greater threat.

As Wonder Woman says to Batman “I think all this time I’ve been reacting, not leading.” This, to me, is a line written by Joss Whedon and is meant to be self-aware as it comes to the rivalry between the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DC Extended Universe. This is the most positive and professional spin I can imagine someone with respect for the franchise admitting to DC’s struggle to be of relevance compared to Marvel’s films. Justice League is a premature, half-baked, desperate attempt for DC to capture the magic from the Avengers, and unfortunately it doesn't have the guts to rise above mediocrity. A few small good details don’t save this movie.

5/10

#justiceleague #dceu #warnerbros #josswhedon #zacksnyder #dc #theflash #batman #wonderwoman #galgadot #jasonmamoa #aquaman #brucewayne #batfleck #benaffleck

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katelynrushe26 · 4 years ago

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A Tale of Two Lokis

With the premiere of Marvel's "Loki" series less than a week away, I think it's time for me to finally dust off my book of speculations on the God of Mischief. I'm not familiar enough with the comics to weigh in on anything involving the Time Variance Authority, Mobius M. Mobius, or anything else from the source material that will appear in the series, but I have seen Avengers: Infinity War more times than I can count, and I still have a lot of unanswered questions about Loki's role in that film. As a writer myself, I see the "Loki" series as a prime opportunity for Marvel to finally answer those questions.

To recap, Infinity War begins with the villain Thanos slaughtering half of Thor and Loki's people in an attempt to steal the Space Stone for his Infinity Gauntlet. He almost gets Loki to hand over the Tesseract containing the stone when the Hulk intervenes, and Loki tackles his brother Thor out of the way to make room for the ensuing fight. We don't see Loki onscreen again until well after Thanos wins that fight, then the God of Mischief attempts to "join" Thanos and kill him while his foe's guard is supposedly down. This sadly fails, resulting in what appears to be Loki's death.

I've discussed this scene numerous times on my blog, and I've only grown more suspicious of it over the years. The lack of cutaway shots to Loki throughout the Hulk's fight with Thanos, the way Loki seems to emerge out of nowhere with a totally different demeanor after the fight, his extremely telegraphed and underwhelming attempt to kill Thanos -- it all adds up to a scene that simply doesn't add up at face value. I used to think that Loki faked his death, and that he'd spent his few minutes offscreen during the fight putting together some elaborate scheme that the filmmakers deliberately weren't showing us. Now that I've seen Avengers: Endgame and the trailers for the "Loki" series, I have a new theory:

The Loki who tackles Thor out of the Hulk's way and the Loki who tries to kill Thanos are not the same Loki. The Loki who tries to kill Thanos is actually the alternate timeline Loki who will star in the "Loki" series.

Another quick recap: The Loki we see in Endgame is technically not the original Loki. He's an alternate version of Loki that the Avengers encounter while traveling back in time to the events of the first movie. Thanks to a snafu, that Loki manages to steal the Tesseract from our time-hopping heroes and teleport away, effectively creating a new parallel timeline to the one we saw in the movies.

This new timeline will be the focus of the "Loki" series. What's more, the previews for the series suggest that this "New Loki" is going to do a lot of his own time-hopping on behalf of a possibly shady organization called the Time Variance Authority, or TVA. I say "possibly shady" because the purpose of Loki's time travel mission seems to be to alter key historical events that will drastically change the present. Knowing Loki though, it could instead turn out that the TVA means well and the God of Mischief just decides to deviate from his mission and change history for his own personal gain. That is why we love him, after all.

Bottom line, my theory is that New Loki will eventually realize that his meddling has caused some catastrophic ripple effect across multiple worlds, maybe even across the whole universe, and his conscience will finally get the better of him. His efforts to undo the damage he's caused could even be what the entire second half of the series focuses on. After several attempts to make things right again, New Loki will realize that the ripple effect has grown beyond his ability to repair it, and he'll then realize a solution: to convince the original Loki, who perhaps has more knowledge and wisdom due to his different life experiences, to take over the mission while New Loki ends his own alternate timeline.

In my opinion, Loki's scene in Infinity War will make so much more sense with this context. We don't see Loki during the Hulk's fight with Thanos because New Loki appeared and pulled him aside to brief him on another cosmic crisis, and the reason the Loki we see afterwards fails to kill Thanos is because he intends to fail. Because that Loki is New Loki who knows he needs to die in order to restore balance to the space-time continuum and cover the tracks of the original Loki who's leaving to resume the mission. This way, the fans who thought Loki died in Infinity War and the fans who didn't will both be right.

The series could even do something really heartfelt with this twist, having Loki reflect on his whole character arc by having a heart-to-heart with another version of himself. New Loki (who hasn't seen Thor since their fight in the first Avengers film) could see from the original Loki that he always had the capacity to make peace with his brother and his enemies on Earth, and the original Loki could see from New Loki that he's right to keep moving away from his old selfish ambitions and that he has the power to make a difference in the universe. There could even be a clever little payoff where New Loki tells the original Loki about some sort of MacGuffin from earlier in the series that will benefit the original Loki in some way. There's apparently going to be a scene in the series where we learn that the famous missing criminal D.B. Cooper was actually New Loki in disguise; perhaps telling his original self the location of a certain bag full of money would be a nice way to thank him for taking over the mission?

This is all just speculation of course. For all we know, the "Loki" series could kill this theory in the first five minutes and then conclude with Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson ad-libbing in a diner like the end of Pineapple Express. As always though, theories like this are a good way to practice plot and character development when you're involved in the creative field. My guess of where the "Loki" series will go could be way off, but when the time comes to start writing my next novel or fanfiction, I might be just a little better at managing the mischief I've created in my own new universe.

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briantalksmovies-blog · 7 years ago

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Infinity War Opinion

I am not going to give this thing a rating of one or two thumbs up, or a scale of 1-5 stars. cause those are stupid and pointless. Its whether or not the movie was enjoyable or not and then talking about the things that bothered or excited me about the project. I am not an expert and these are my opinions, treat them as such. I will gladly have a discussion about these opinions, but I won't take part in silly yelling matches behind a keyboard. That is boring and a waste of time. So on to Infinity War!

First things first, Thanos is the real MVP of Infinity War. That is the only way to score this movie. Yes, Thor was the best Avenger, and I will argue for days about that fact.

For starters Thor loses his brother, sure they weren't always on good terms but its family, then he loses his entire people(?), I'm really not sure if Thanos let half of them live somewhere or not, but he did blow up their ship. Thor survives the ship blowing up, floating in space for an unidentified amount of time then rescued by the guardians of the galaxy. Calls Rocket a "rabbit" and convinces this ship of people he doesn't know to give him a ship and a crew and just leaves. He then gets a new eye (not sure the importance their, but I kinda liked one eyed Thor.) Then he goes to a star forge. He restarts the forge by again, going into space with no need of breathing apparatus, and just pulls the forge until it restarts the star. A fucking star! Then he helps really tall dwarf Peter Dinklage forge a new hammer. FYI this requires Thor to hold open the forge which exposes him to the heat and power of a star. Again, a fucking star! He gets his hammer, and he can now ride the bifrost and he returns to Earth to kick some ass and take some names. Almost killing Thanos. Show me any other character that went through more in this movie that was part of the good guys. Cause I'll give you a hint no one even comes close. My major bore of this movie was the lack of character development. Yes we had 10 years and 18 movies to get to know everyone, but I could still use a little character struggle from the good guys. The only struggle these people had to go through was to kill one of their own to save half the universe. While that is kind of a heavy thing for Vision and Gamora, That only puts development on Star Lord and Scarlet Witch. They are the ones asked to do the deed, and its funny cause both end up deciding to save the universe, and both fail because of the infinity stones. It reveals that those heros are willing to kill a good person to save a shit ton of other people, and it breaks them. I really wish Thanos' "children" were a little more developed, they were just ugly people doing mean (sometimes awesome) things to try and get the stones. The main "child" was awesome and I thought he really got shafted with a stupid Aliens reference. Side note, I know Peter Parker is a super genius teenager, but why is his main joke making movie references that don't apply to his generation. (We had Star Wars in Civil war, and if he was trying to be a movie nerd, he would have known that they are called At-At's. So lets stop with those jokes. Which they sort of did, but I'll get to that later. The bad guys were really not that great. Thanos was amazing, but every other villainous role, was so fucking dull and boring that I wanted more. It was just a bunch of stir crazed alien dogs on a hunt. We don't know where they were from, if they were there by choice, if they cared that they were slaves of Thanos, anything. They were worse then soldiers, they were just weird looking dogs. So point against Marvel for lack of originality when it came to Thanos' minion's. That being said Thanos still won and it was awesome.

Now I don't want to do much speculation on the next movie, because speculation ruins movies, but that is for another rant (see my friends podcast Problematic Pod at problematicpod.com where I really go to town on the subject but I digress). But we must address the large emotional elephant in the room. The 50% of people that died at the end. Including our main man Peter Parker, Black Panther, Star Lord, and even Dr. Strange. I'm pretty sure they are going to be making more movies with these people as the main protagonist, and while I would love to brag to my grandchildren about the amount of actors I witnessed wear the spidey suit before I was 30 I'd be happy if it stays with its current host, and there are a large contingency of fans that I think agree. So this puts Marvel in a very tricky situation. My biggest worry is if they bring most or all of these characters back to life in the next movie will they have cheapened the first movies biggest gut punch? Now I could speculate on how they bring them back, the time stone, or soul stone or what have you, but I think the biggest thing for the next movie is if they do plan on bringing these characters back (very very likely) then how do they do it while making this first movie still land that punch upon re-watching. I think its important that in order to bring them back it better cost a lot cause if it is just someone turning back time like superman flying in reverse around the earth ruined this movie. It makes the emotion of the moment mean nothing if it could so easily be reversed. Which worked really well when Scarlet Witch killed Vision and the stone only to have him brought back and then killed again. That was a good use the whole turn back time thing. So I think as it stands now all those deaths were amazing because it was showing how bad ass Thanos and the gauntlet were. Now don't ruin it by fixing it too easily. Now lets talk about the most interesting story line of the next film, and no its not going to be the quest to bring back half the universe. This line in question is the fight between the hulk and Bruce Banner. Before Thanos beat the shit out of Hulk that dude hadn't lost a single fight and one single loss has got him scared to come out again. Its a new emotional level from a giant, supposedly fueled by rage, monster. I find it a bit silly Bruce is so eager for the big guy to come back, because now he has a lot of personality, and because he was the hulk for so many years Bruce was afraid that he might never be Bruce again if he went back to the big guy. But now he is ordering the big guy out. So I'm getting mixed signals here.

*Also side rant, I am pissed with the beginning of this film. Lets clarify a few things at the end of Thor Ragnarok they are on the ship and Thanos is picking them up. On this ship we have some key players that show up in Infinity war: Thor, Loki, Hulk, and Heimdall. At the end of the movie (Ragnarok) there were a few other characters that stole most scenes they were in, Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie and director Taika Waititi's Korg. I mean am I supposed to believe the best bit character of the MCU gets an unceremonious death off screen without a single line of dialogue! I was pissed the moment that ship blew up and I had no idea where those people went. (It was close to the moment in The Last Jedi where Admiral Akbar gets the short end of the stick). If they are smart they will bring Korg on in the knew one, cause all the comic relief died with Star Lord, Spider-Man, Drax, and even Groot. He would be a good addition to this new adventure, and Thor can just fly anywhere now with that awesome war hammer. But back to the Banner question. I am wondering what will make him come out and play. I hope its cool and worth while, not some stupid scene where everyone gets in line and shakes him and slaps him in the face a-la Airplane.

But overall I think it was a very entertaining movie. The best part was at moments I was actually really excited for Thanos. There was a part of me that wanted him to get all the stones, because I knew it would be the best possible version of a near indestructible bad guy, and he did not disappoint. That dude pulled down an entire moon from orbit to come crashing down on Iron Man and company. My favorite part may have been the end where he meet Gamora in the amazingly orange temple arch and she asks him what did it take, and his response of "everything" was awesome. It was a story in which the man wanting it more succeeded. If Star Lord wanted it more he wouldn't have slapped Thanos in the face, and lost control of his emotions. Thanos was stronger then all of them mentally and physically.

Now I have one more tiny problem with this film, and its more of a stupid movie thing that made me groan out loud (gol?). It was when Dr. Strange was all like, "I was just looking at millions upon trillions of potential futures to this outcome. And there is only 1 where we succeed." And this one in which they succeed requires Star Lord getting all love sick knowing Thanos killed his girl, and he ruins it for everyone and then that results in Tony getting stabbed, Dr. Strange giving up the time stone and then half the universe needing to die? Was that part of the 1 in which Thanos loses...bullshit. I could see a percentage. like 1% cause that at least gives a few possibilities of success. where as this one single time line that leads to success means I am going to judge really hard any movie magic that happens in the next Avengers next summer cause I know its was the only course of action that would lead to victory. The ONLY one! Come one! I give it... 3 swims.

#comics #MCU Marvel #infinity war #thanos #movie review #movie

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shinyobjectreviews · 7 years ago

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I didn’t like Infinity War

Infinity War was much more flawed than I expected it to be. I definitely see how people could have fallen in love with it, there were some bold choices made and some strong performances, but I had so much trouble staying engaged in it that I didn't enjoy the film. I'll leave the spoilers for after the break, but let's just say I have a lot to say. I based my format roughly off of Moviebob’s “Really that Bad” because I like the way he admits some things are minor and some are not.

Stuff I liked

Everything looked nice. I really liked the design of most of the aliens, especially horn lady and squidward. They were well designed and well animated. I liked most of the planets and spaceships, even if they were a little derivative sometimes. This doesn’t mean much when the richest company in the world is funding the biggest movie in the world based on a series with years of design behind it.

The infinity stones did stuff. I was happy that the infinity stones kept their specific abilities, mostly. It wasn’t just “collect all the mcguffins,” they each retained their abilities, mostly. The set up from the previous movies actually payed off in this respect. I’ll give them a pass for ignoring the soul stone, which would be a little tough to pull off, and the mind stone, which was just what the last one.

Thanos was amazing. I loved Thanos as a character. He’s one of the best villains in movies I have ever seen. He had a clear goal (kill half the universe) with a clear and personal motive (finite resources on his planet) and a clear pathway to that goal (the stones). Every decision he made and every word he spoke came from that very clear background, which made all of it carry weight. He had a very clear goal that the heroes had to get in the way of, so the tension coming from him was real. The audience knew what would happen if he succeeded, so they were engaged, and they knew what he needed to do that, so they were interested in the decisions. There’s a reason he’s the main character of this film, to the point of being the protagonist.

Random ending stuff. I liked seeing Thanos get home, sit down, and smile. I like hoe they clearly show the gauntlet was cracked, meaning he spent his one shot. I liked the choice for silent credits, and the title turning to ash. I liked them saying Thanos will return to emphasize both that while his mission is over his story isn’t, and that he was in fact the main character.

Minor Stuff that bugged me

Tony got nanites. This was something that bugged me in Black Panther, too. Nanites are a sci-fi writers crutch to explain why someone can do ridiculous things that look cool but easy. The trouble is that it makes it very hard to understand exactly what Tony can do and know whether or not he is in danger. At one point, he turns his arm into a scary laser cannon, and later he turns it into a knife. Was there a reason he chose a knife instead of a gun? Is it just a knife or was it something else? The Iron Man franchise had previously put a lot of effort into showing exactly what his suits are capable of, and putting enough limitations on him that you can be worried about his safety. But when his suit can turn into anything with telepathic influence it’s hard to be concerned.

The tone was inconsistent. A lot of people bug Marvel about this, especially in Guardians 2 and Ragnorok, their tendency to have a nice moment then immidiatley cut it with a joke. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. This film had some of that, but this time I noticed it within characters. Thor was simultaneously the saddened, desperate survivor and the boisterous, comical warrior. A lot of people liked the quiet moment he had with rocket, but to me it just felt so incredibly awkward. He lists off the people he lost, then chuckles, then rocket makes a sarcastic remark. It made me cringe.

Thanos tortured someone to get information from someone else... three times. First, he threatens Thor until Loki relents and gives him the cube. Then, later, he threatens Nebula until Gamora give him the location of the soul stone. Then again he threatens Tony until Strange gives him the time stone. It plays out exactly the same way each time. Each person swears they won’t give anything up, lets him interrogate twice, then gives up. It is repetitive and lazy writing. The very first time he did it I didn’t like it: it’s a super old cliche and an especially heinous one when you’re preventing the death of half the universe by letting your brother/sister/friend die.

Thor missed. Thor hit Thanos really hard with a weapon they had set up the whole movie as being able to kill Thanos, and he misses simply because he didn’t aim for a kill shot or lopping off an arm. I get that it’s just supposed to up the tragedy, making it even sadder that they lost when they were so close, but it wasn’t from not trying hard enough, or being unlucky, or being outsmarted, it was just because Thor was an idiot. A similar thing happened with Star-lord, but that was a little more forgivable since it was well set up and played well with the characters.

They break an infinity stone. Why can an ancient stone of limitless power from the big bang even be shattered, much less by someone who literally got their powers from the stone itself, and why does breaking this stone not result in anything other than a big yellow puff?

Thanos’s character is different from his previous appearances. His actions in the previous avengers films and in Guardains seems odd in retrospect. He literally gives away one of his infinity stones, despite in this movie being, in this movie, completely dedicated to finding them. He argues with Ronan in Guardians, but in this movie he’s calm with everyone. Granted, I like the new Thanos, but to everyone who says “they’ve been setting up Thanos for 10 years,” well, they’ve been setting up a different character. This one just has the same name, same daughter, and about half the attitude.

Bigger Issues

The characters were interchangeable. Marvel is wise enough to know only some of their characters will end up being popular. Spider-man shows up because he’s popular, but does’t do anything that any other hero couldn’t have done there. Tony goes to space, but if he had been ant-man or falcon instead, nothing would have been different. Thor had a Thor-specific plot (with Rocket for some reason), Gamora and Nebula had things only they can do, and arguably Scarlet witch and Vision, but everyone else was just generic fighter. Even Steve Rogers was nothing more than “a guy who knows another guy.” Wakanda served the exact same function as Sokovia in Avengers 2, it was just that Wakanda was popular. Tony never acted like an engineer, Hulk never acted like someone scared of their emotions, falcon was never loyal, spider-man unlearned his lesson from the first movie, the Guardians... well, they’re whole bit is that they’re weirdos in their own movies, so they didn’t seem that out of place. Still, it lessons the fun of throwing everyone into a movie together if they aren’t really doing anything that they need to be themselves to do. Everyone was there, but no one really needed to be.

Nobody does anything. I don’t mean this in the broader sense. I know that “the villain wins” sometimes makes it feel like the heroes didn’t get anything done, but usually you can have them get minor wins along the way, or build character, or get most of the way but fail in the end. Thor is the only one who gets a story like this: he must find or create a weapon that can kill Thanos. This involves going to a specific place, doing a specific thing, almost dying, but still coming out on top. Everyone else in the movie, though, has very unclear goals. They know they have to defeat Thanos, but that’s it. Tony and crew just follow a guy into space and end up on a planet where they plan to... do something? Fight Thanos, I guess? They don’t really have a plan, and the fight they do end up having is just a bunch of random punches and kicks. The whole fight at Wakanda is just a fight to save literally one guy but they act like its this huge war. The only character who makes meaningful choices or has actual growth is the main villain.

I stopped caring about death. The first character to die in the film is Heimdall, one of my favorites, but it’s sort of brushed away so I don’t really feel it. The next character to die is Loki, possibly the single most popular character in the Marvel universe. He dies graphically on-screen. It’s sad, but something about it lacks weight. This was not like agent Coulson dying in Avengers, or even like Quicksilver or Freya. This was like Captain Antilles dying at the beginning of Star Wars. It was a death to set up the villain and motivate the hero, which admittedly it did. But when the most popular character in your universe not to have a movie named after them dies in the first ten minutes, all the sudden death means nothing. People were so excited over the concept that anyone could die in this movie, but since none of the deaths were given time to grieve or even contemplate, they fell flat. I found myself detached from the characters. Since, as I pointed out above, all of the characters were interchangeable, I knew that anyone could die at any moment and not affect the overall story. In a film were major characters turn into minor characters, killing off a character always feels like killing off a minor character. I knew all these characters, cared about them in their movies, but in this movie none of them are doing anything so I don’t care. They all finished their arcs from their individual movies, they were complete characters, so killing them off just meant no more sequels. When the finger-snap happened, all I could think was “oh, there’s someone who’s contract ran out.”

Thanos was ridiculously overpowered. Thanos being a powerful and nigh-unstoppable force goes without saying. It’s a superhero team-up, of course you need someone powerful enough to require them teaming up. The issue is the word “nigh.” At the start of the film, he has the power stone. This is a good way to show how he’s strong enough to single-handedly take on the hulk and the asgardians. The power stone is also the vaguest of the infinity stones, so it’s a good one for him to start out with, because we can gauge its power level based on Thanos’s. Then, he gains the space stone, and gains the ability to teleport, which is actually a pretty clever way of allowing the villain to interact with multiple story arcs across space. Then, though, he gets the reality stone, and everything goes out the window. In a movie where the main plot is to kill the bad guy, it’s hard to think the heroes are going to be successful when he literally dies in front of us and comes back to life. The reality stone, as its name implies, alters reality. When Thanos comes back after dying, I at first assume this is some sort of illusion, and Gamora killed a fake Thanos. But then, Thanos turns Drax and Mantis into cubes and paper, meaning that it does have an effect on the real world. But maybe that, too, is an illusion, I think, in one of those “if you think you’re dead you’ll act dead sort of ways. But then he turns bullets into bubbles, and I lose all hope that Thanos can be defeated. From that point on, any times Thanos is losing, it feels forced and arbitrary, and anytime he’s winning it feels obvious and unpreventable. This would be fine if it happened at the end of the movie. The times stone is treated like this in the film: the moment that all hopes is lost. But instead, it happens less than halfway into the movie.

The action was poorly done. Constant shaky cam, the rabid aliens were poorly animated, characters doing their one thing they do then leaving, it was awful. The fight in Scotland is alright thanks to its minimal members and unique power sets. the fights with squidward were fine because his powers were clear and his limits were realistic. All the rest, though were a slog. The fight on Titan where everyone just kind of jumped around and somehow knew exactly how Strange would teleport them was boring to watch, especially when the color palette was “orange and brown planet, villain wearing gold, two heroes wearing red and gold, one hero wearing maroon and gold, and Mantis.” and somehow every punch and shot made him flinch an equal amount no matter who was doing it or how. It then transitions into them trying to get the gauntlet off, which makes sense but was hard to realize during the action and there was no reason they couldn’t have mentioned that at some point as a way to conceivably defeat Thanos. The fight in Wakanda was a mess, with the rabid aliens moving so much you had no idea what they were doing, and the directors apparently not even caring, since all they want to do is show off everyone using their powers. They even lampshade it and point out that the creatures were literally sent in just to die, and even kill themselves.

That’s probably everything.

I don’t know, I just wanted to get this in writing. I tried to stay professional but this is about 50/50 personal opinion and professional opinion. If you disagree with any of this, that would make sense. It was a lot harder to get some of this in writing than I thought. I’ll end it with a little list of stuff that I feel like poeple would bring up, but that I didn’t feel the need to.

Stuff I didn’t like or dislike. I thought the finger-snap ending was a cool way to write people out of the universe but I didn’t think it was as adventurous as people make it out to be. There weren’t any specific deaths that I was particualrly happy or sad about, even spider-man’s. As I was watching the film I was really upset about how they treated Gamora from a feminist perspetive, but it was a little helped byt the fact that they did the exact same thing to vision. I thought the performances were fine. I thought the score was fine. The fact that Thanos probably could have used the gauntlet to double the amount of resources rather than halve the amount of people didn’t really bother me much because the movie was written well around that fact.

Thank you for reading my rant. Have a good one.

#iw spoilers

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