#including babysitting billionaire superheros

[yes-i-am-happyaspie]

For tonight's @sicktember fic, we get to see Ned Leeds taking center stage and, Man, I love it. I think this is my favorite one in the series! I hope you guys have as much fun reading it as I did writing it.

Ned Leeds: Jack of All Trades - happyaspie

No Archive Warnings Apply || Rated G || Word Count 3016 || Ned Leeds, Tony Stark, Peter Parker

Summary: Tony is sick, Pepper’s out of town and Peter has been left in charge. But when a half-man half-monster looking guy starts attacking the city Peter does the only rational thing he can think to do. He calls in the reserves, and asks Ned to take care of Tony while he ducks out to save the day.

Or:

Ned’s responsibilities as Spider-man’s ‘guy-in-the-chair’ continue to evolve.

Sicktember Prompts:

-Unlikely Caregiver -Bed Rest -Medicine/injection

[Excerpt Under the Cut]

Peter stood in the middle of his bedroom within the Stark’s penthouse anxiously tapping his foot as he waited with anticipation for Ned to answer his phone. He’d already been sent to voicemail once and wasn’t exactly sure how he would proceed if he couldn’t get a hold of his friend. He was just about to give up, hang up, and dial all over again when the two lines finally connected “Ned! Oh, thank God you answered,” he nearly shouted in a perfect combination of relief and undeniable stress. “I need your help.”

“With Spider-man stuff?” Ned eagerly replied.“Is this about the crazy monster-looking dude that’s downtown tearing stuff up?”

“Sort of,” Peter mumbled, turning towards the news report that had interrupted his afternoon sit-com binge. He was practically itching to get into the Spider-suit but before he could, he needed to make sure he had a few other obligations covered and that’s where Ned came in. “I, uh, I need you to come to the tower. Like, as soon as possible,” he said, going from jiggling his leg to rapidly pacing up and down the wall.

“If I hack the stoplights, I can take the bus and be there in twenty minutes!” Ned promised and Peter let out the breath he’d been holding.

“Awesome,” he tightly replied, adding a quick, “I’ll meet you in the lobby,” before hanging up.

--

“So, he has to take both of his medications at four, and you need to make sure he eats with them. He’s going to tell you that he doesn’t need to but he definitely does and if he has a temper tantrum over the soup that Pepper got him then there’s stuff for tuna fish sandwiches in the pantry. But if all else fails there are fruit bars in the freezer,” Peter hurriedly explained while throwing the Spider-suit on with equal haste. “Oh and he’s supposed to be on bed rest, so don’t let him leave the penthouse for any reason, no matter what he says, and do not, under any circumstances, let him turn on the news.”

Ned nodded nervously as he looked around the penthouse with wide-eyed wonder. “Peter, does Mr. Stark know I’m here?” he asked when he didn’t see the man anywhere in sight.

“He’s asleep,” Peter replied.

“Should we maybe wake him up and tell him?” Ned dubiously inquired.

“Definitely not,” Peter returned, holding his hands out and waving them defensively back and forth. He could understand Ned’s hesitancy, but he’d already thought this through and there was no way he was going to wake Tony up for anything. It would be a bad idea. On so many levels. “One, because if he’s asleep he’s not whining. And two, if we wake him up he’s going to insist on getting involved despite the fact that he has literal pneumonia. Which is also why we’re not letting him near the news. If he asks where I went, tell him that Aunt May called and needed me to run an errand for her or something.”

“What kind of errand?” Ned asked with a tilt of his head.

Peter blew out a breath and tossed a frustrated hand up in the air. “Does it matter? Just make something up,” he strained, forcing himself to smile when his friend looked as though he were about to ask more questions that he didn’t feel like he had time to answer. “Besides, I should be back in a couple of hours- and come on man, I thought you were my guy in the chair?”

Nothing was said for a couple of seconds while Ned’s brow wrinkled in thought. “Okay, so let me get this straight. You want me to babysit Tony Stark for you while you use your spider powers to fight some dude that looks like he’s, at least, half gorilla and swing around on webs that you invented during science class,” Ned said, sounding less concerned and more impressed the longer he spoke. “That’s what you're asking me to do?”

“Maybe don’t call it babysitting to his face,” Peter replied, with a vague nod of his head and a so-so gesture of his hand. Because, in reality, that did pretty much sum up his request. “But, yeah. That just about covers it.”

With a shake of his head, Ned held out a fist in anticipation. “Dude. What is your life?”

“It’s crazy, man,” Peter returned with a smile, going through the familiar handshake with ease and then pulling his mask down over his face. “I need to go. See you soon. Make sure he behaves until I get back or Pepper will murder us when she gets back from her conference!” he called over his shoulder as he climbed out his bedroom window.

[Continue Reading on AO3]

[storychecker-blog]

(Un)Happy Hogan - A Study in Dead-End Careers

Happy Hogan surely is not Lady Luck’s favorite child, seeing as that his appearances on screen are usually accompanied by a new job description. Since Iron Man, he has held four official titles, as well as an unofficial assistant role pending his sacking from SI. Career-wise, he has a terrible track record.

The Bodyguard

Happy Hogan is first introduced to us as Tony’s trusted bodyguard. Their chemistry in Iron Man is friendly, and both seem used to each other’s eccentrics. Happy is also shown to be Tony’s security detail in 1999. The New Year Eve Party in Bern has Happy jump straight onto Tony, trapping him on the bed when the plant explodes. Overall, the scene in Maya’s apartment shows a bumbling, unprofessional and insecure bodyguard, possibly quite new at his job. In the comics, he was a former boxer who fell on hard times. In the MCU, this backstory has not been verified, however, Happy is proficient at boxing and not quite that good at “dirty” fighting. He has no “real” experience of holding his ground, which does not speak for his qualification as a bodyguard. Even years later, in Iron Man, Happy gives in to Tony’s desire for a car race, which puts them in two different vehicles. As a bodyguard, he constantly allows people to get too close to his boss. Happy is certainly not the best at the job and he is not the only one Tony can afford: However, he is the only one that Tony wants. This has worked for them for almost ten years. It was a comfortable setting, and if Iron Man had not entered the picture, I am certain that Tony would have retained Happy’s services.

The Driver

Once Tony revealed himself to be Iron Man, Happy takes a backseat as his bodyguard. In Iron Man 2, he mostly assumes the role of a driver, taking Pepper and Tony to places. As a non-enhanced human, he is overwhelmed by the dangers Tony brought onto himself by revealing his secret identity. Although Happy is crucial to fending off Vanko, he is not up to the task. Tony had to protect Happy and Pepper on the racing track. For a bodyguard, being protected by one’s boss must be quite humiliating, especially when you know that this is not just a one off. There is also an argument to be made for Happy being a charity case. A man with a flying suit navigated by an AI has no real need for a driver. Or for a car, for that matter. To make matters worse for Happy, Tony also meets Elon Musk in Iron Man 2 which leads to him acquiring a self-driving car by the end of Age of Ultron. The car remains a staple of his garage, making a comeback in Civil War. There is no real need for Happy’s services, which must be all too painfully obvious  to the man himself.

Head of Security

In Iron Man 3, Happy switches from Tony’s personal employment to Stark Industries. Their friendship is not threatened by his change of careers, because Tony had no real need of him. Happy did not abandon Tony - he merely left to find a meaningful task.

Do you know what happened when I told everyone I was Iron Man's bodyguard? They would laugh in my face!

Happy is eager to prove his worth, which leads to his overcompensating fixation on details, such as the badge-wearing. He wants to be anything but a charity case. To Happy, Iron Man must have been a confusing experience, because Tony outgrew him while he was not looking. Without intending to do so, Tony left Happy behind. It is anything but surprising that Happy rejects Tony in Iron Man 3, after years of loyal service. From his perspective, there is no space next to Tony for his set of skills. Tony has no need of either a bodyguard or a driver. Yet, Happy does not really move on: When he meets Killian and his goon, he attempts to play on Tony’s level and check out the shady business associates. As a consequence of that, he ends up in hospital, severely hurt and comatose. Happy once again finds himself to be lacking in the skill department to be useful to his boss. His performance as head of security also annoyed Pepper enough to fire him, because she is much more business-oriented than Tony. His sacking is anything but surprising: Happy had abandoned his workplace during official hours to follow some weirdos in order to impress a third party, that is Tony Stark. Even if Pepper had not been dissatisfied with his performance as head of security, his wilful disobedience leaves her no choice but to sack him.

“Assistant”

During Civil War, Happy is shown to work, once again, under Tony. He is the assigned driver and babysitter for Peter Parker, essentially assisting his boss in whatever requires another pair of hands and eyes. It is not an official position, because during the shared car scene, Tony points out that:

“Happy is hoping to get bumped up to asset management. He was forehead of security, before that he was a driver.”

Tony explicitly uses the past tense, Happy is no longer head of security or his driver. Yet, Tony says that Happy hopes to be promoted to the Avengers Compound’s asset management. That means he now retains a position in the Compound’s hierarchy. He is not with Stark Industries, because Pepper fired him. Instead, Tony created some position for him that equals to Happy being Tony’s personal assistant. Again, it is a job that smells of charity, which probably accounts for his poor mood in Berlin. Happy’s career is stuck: On one hand, he desires to be recognized for his talents, on the other hand he likes working for Tony.  Yet, there is no actual work for him near his boss. Tony now outsources him by putting him on babysitting duties for a superhero wannabe. It is evident that his poor track record at retaining jobs, let alone at advancing his career, is getting to Happy:

That was a private conversation. I don’t like joking about this. It was hard to talk about that.

Both men had an honest conversation about Happy’s lack of job prospects. Tony also acknowledges that Happy is going through a difficult time, which is why he asks of Peter:

"Do me a favor, though... Don't stress him out."

As part of assisting Tony, Happy becomes Peter’s unwilling liaison. From the get-go, Happy is resentful of the task, possibly because he is afraid of being abandoned. In Homecoming, Tony rejects Peter as a potential Avenger, and he is scheduling his move to the Compound after selling the Tower. If Happy does not make the cut to asset management, Tony will leave him behind in New York to babysit. It’s as if his secret fear is finally coming true. He was mostly useless to Tony, but the billionaire did not “notice.” Once they are physically apart, Tony may notice that he has no need for Happy. Peter’s future is strongly tied to Happy’s fate: If Peter moves to the Avengers Compound, Happy may be allowed to move, too. If Peter is rejected from the Avengers, Happy might be left behind. And Tony seems anything but interested in bringing Peter into the fold in Homecoming. Happy’s snappish mood in Homecoming is the result of his own anxiety. He becomes much more at ease once he is certain to be included in the move to the Compound.

The Asset Manager

During Homecoming, Happy is preparing himself and the Tower for moving day as part of his first probationary duty as Asset Manager. It is a tense situation for him, because his career is up in the air. He does not know whether the Compound truly will have space for him. Peter’s childish worries go past him, because he is preoccupied with his own bleak prospects. At that moment, he has no official title, he has no task besides liaising between Tony and Peter, which essentially amounts to reiterating Peter’s texts to Tony. He even told him about the Churros to make a point about Pete not needing a liaison. The more Peter causes trouble, the grumpier Happy gets. If Peter causes trouble, it means that he will have further need of a babysitter.

Once Moving Day passes, Happy is much more at ease, despite almost having lost important Stark technology due to negligence which is not exactly a sign of being good at managing assets. When Happy meets Peter in the toilet, he opens up to the teenager:

I don’t know what I would do without this job.”

This is a silent apology for his atrocious behavior. Now that Tony intends to move Peter upstate as well, Happy is rather relaxed: Whether he will be given a permanent position as asset manager in the new compound or remain as Peter’s liaison, it means he will not be abandoned and left behind in New York.

And Now?

Then there’s Infinity War. Happy has been cut from the final version, but from the extra footage it becomes clear that Happy probably was not promoted to Asset Manager. He met up with Pepper and Tony on their run, indicating that he is not working at the Compound. Again, he seems to be heavily involved in Tony’s affairs, pointing towards another go at “assistant.”

In truth, all Happy ever wanted was to remain at Tony’s side, and to feel equal to the man. Tony does recognize Happy as a friend, as an equal. It is Happy that feels inadequate next to Iron Man and the other superheroes. Nothing would make him happier than being approached by Tony Stark in Avengers 4 and being told “I need you.”

[sandalaris]

Another reason I want Pepper and Tony to have a baby in the MCU: I want to see Peter Parker acting like a big brother to Baby Stark, and for the kid to look up to Spider-Man just like Peter grew up looking up to Tony and Iron Man.

That would be amazing! Big brother Peter, Uncle Rodney, and of course extended family in the Avengers. And Peter would take to being a big brother so well... after a brief adjustment period. Peter would worry at first, that he was losing his mentor to his mentor's "real" child. And Tony wouldn't pick up on it because he's so freaked out about BABY and FATHERHOOD and PEPPER, I CAN'T DO THIS! HAVE YOU SEEN ME? I'D MAKE A HORRIBLE ROLE MODEL!Rodney assures him he's not alone and Pepper gives him the firm "you'll be fine" he needs (but she's pregnant and Tony doesn't feel right constantly brining his anxiety to her and omg she's PREGNANT! There's a child in there and it's his!) and that helps but he he keeps going to Peter and talking to him about his worries and Peter is thrown by this new peer role he seems to have in their relationship because Tony Stark is coming to him for advice!He's still Tony's superhero protégé, still getting the same dad treatment that neither of them acknowledge is a father-son relationship. But Peter will take this as he's new role now, as a kind of peer, and when the hell did that happen? But it did so, Peter takes to it and tells Tony he'll be a great father, after all he got to practice on Peter and Peter turned out pretty good. And they'll both freeze because that isn't something they talk about, but it helps! And then baby Stark gets there and Peter thinks "this is it," and tries to step back and he's surprisingly at peace with his new role as Friend of Tony Stark instead of Protégé of Tony Stark but Tony isn't having it and keeps fathering the shit out of him and bringing him around to small, private, family events and using him for free babysitting when he and Pepper need a night away/night catching up on their work. And the first time baby Stark gives him a hard time it's Pepper of all people who picks the baby up with a "let's give your brother a break" and Tony asks about his homework and Peter feels warm and full and little lightheaded but he's beaming and Tony is chastising him for that 60% he got in history because "it may be the lamest subject, but you've been averaging an 80. May and I discussed it and"Peter's family has never been traditional, and Tony had to make his family, but this works, and Peter has the little sibling he always wanted but never thought he'd have and it's hard sometimes, but he's got superpowers and his family includes his eccentric aunt, a billionaire genius with anxiety issues, a CEO of the largest, most profitable whatever-Stark-Industries-does-now-in-the-MCU, and the best baby in the world (he may be biased on the last point.) so it fits his normal and he wouldn't change a thing!

[canvaswolfdoll]

CanvasWatches: Avengers: Endgame

Well, I have to admit: the new trailer finally sold me on Detective Pikachu! Yes, the first trailer showed off uncanny valley designs with a suspicious genwunner undercurrent, but the trailer played before Avengers: Endgame showcased more designs that were from later generations and more aesthetically pleasing, and hinted at clever writing from a sincere love of Pokemon. It did the job trailers are meant to do: sold me on seeing it.

Sonic the Hedgehog will be a fun mess. Just need to decide if it’s worth a theater ticket, or just a rent.

Okay, I’ll talk about the MCU now.[1] There have been a couple more films since I last discussed the franchise, so I’ll play catch up, then talk Endgame and update my ranking list.

I have been rewatching the films sporadically in pieces, because my current job is essentially babysitting teenagers at varying emotional stages, so they’re on the TV sometimes. Oddly, haven’t seen anything before The Rift mentioned in the last review. Might try to rectify that, but I also need to catch up on Pixar films.

So, the new MCU films!

(Spoilers for all the MCU films follows)

Ant-Man and the Wasp

It’s good! Ant-Man and his cast are the only Earthbound characters I continue to care about. (Which I’ll get into more later). They did a very tidy job of elevating Hope van Dyne to a title character and advancing her character without being obnoxious about it. I am super in favor of female leads, but not a big fan of neon signs saying “Girl Power!”

The films do a good job of playing with scale, adding a third “Giant Man” stage to the options, and I care about the Lang/Pym/vanDyne family and their struggles. The villain(s) are also fun, playing with a Tracer-esque time displacement element that allows phasing, and making the motives of the bad guys completely sympathetic.

And they didn’t kill anyone. Gold star. I like people not dying.

Comedy’s still strong, and the callbacks to Ant-man were tasteful. I want more.

Captain Marvel

Okay, I know I risks boos here, but…

Good world building, character revelations for Nick Fury, and moving in and out of the cosmic stage and the earth stage (which carry different aesthetics and tones) but…

I’m not big on Captain Marvel as a character. She’s a rash, confident, quippy hero person, which is fine, except we have so many rash, confident, quippy hero people already. She didn’t distinguish herself as a distinct person to me, and it doesn’t help I’m also unclear about what her power set is.

The twist with the Skrulls was nice. I’m familiar with the general Skrull concept, so the twist worked even on those who know about the bad guys already. The 90s were a fun time to see, and I enjoyed everything around Carol Danvers.

It’s just… Captain Marvel felt generic to me.

There’s a chance for development later, but for now… it’s a’ight.

Avengers: Endgame

This one had the actual war in it. They should’ve called this one Infinity Wars. Maybe call the last one Infinity Gauntlet or Thanos Rising or something.

So, Thanos won in the last movie. How to fix that? Find Thanos and take the gems and fix things? Well, Thanos destroyed the Infinity Stones a week ago. That’s lame. Thor beheads him and stomps off.

There’s also a good comic nod when they show his armor hung up as a scarecrow.

So, how long do we all mope?

Five years.

Five years.

And they don’t reverse this time jump, which is going to make the timeline of the films an even larger headache!

And, worse still, we lost Abby Ryder Fortson. Sure, Cassie Lang survives, but she also aged a decade in five years and there’s no comfortable way to tell a story with young Cassie anymore. Which is tragic, because that actress was super on point in both Ant-Man and Ant-Man and the Wasp. She nailed being an adorable little mirror of her father, and it was a great dynamic to give a superhero.

But, nah, Scott Lang was in the Quantum zone for five years, but perceived by him to be five hours, so there’s not even an opening to fit in a film within the five year jump and depict that father daughter dynamic.

I want to like the commitment. Making bold decisions and not reverting to the status quo is something I’m here for. But Ant-Man is owed one more film, and Cassie was important to me. And an older teenager just wouldn’t be able to play the dynamic the same way as a precocious preteen.

But I guess I shouldn’t dwell on the past.

Plot continues, some characters attempt to move on, Black Widow clings to hope, Tony Stark starts a family.

Then Scott comes in to say “Hey, how about time travel?”

And everyone else says “That’s dumb.”

And Tony Stark says “That’s dumb.” But it naggles him, and he figures out how to traverse the quantum realm.

So time travel is solved! Time to get the Infinity Stones from backwards in time.

So we get some nostalgic walks to the past films, including validating The Dark World. Because that was the only time the Reality stone was in play.

Also, they fridge Black Widow.

That’s been a regular problem with the sole female presence of the original Avengers. She was there to support other characters. The buddy-buddy of Hawkeye, Hulk’s confusing love interest (because Betty Ross was… lost in a drawer somewhere between Incredible Hulk and The Avengers, and they’re too embarrassed to admit it), and assisting Cap in Winter Soldier. Besides angst about being an assassin and not being able to have children[2] she never had the space to be a character outside of what she was to others.

And she literally gave up her life for a man.

Maybe I missed something in the dull SHIELD-era stuff, but Black Widow never resonated with me.

So the stones are gathered, placed on an Iron Man gauntlet, and Hulk (now at peace with himself, he’s a half-step between Banner and Hulk) does the reversal snap.

But past Thanos comes in for one last fight.

We get a fun scene where Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor all try to fight him, which even gets to the point where Cap uses Mjolnir,[4] and it’s very good.

But Thanos gets sick of it, and calls down his army.

Which looks bad.

So Dr. Strange teleports in with those who were on Titan.

Then, other mages teleport in with everyone.[5]

And I believe I felt what most people felt during the first The Avengers. Because it was going to be an epic, all-hands fight, but this time there’s a good number of good guys I care about, the antagonistic force has context now, and there’s a clear goal: keep the Gauntlet away from Thanos.

A giant, crowded fight scene, and it was easy to follow the action.

Plus everyone gets a moment sign.

Though, that does bring me to a nitpick: Spider-man asks Captain Marvel, whose arrival destroyed a giant space war ship, who’s going to help her during her turn with the Infinity football. Dumb question, Peter.

But then all the named female characters show up to be like “We’re here to help! Girl Power!”

And it kind of undermined Captain Marvel? Like, she’s massively powerful, but the narrative implying all the women need to band together to help her when the last couple of football passes were men going solo seems demeaning.

But I’m a white guy writing about nerd movies, so whatever.

During this battle I realized something important: the costumes (except Thor and Spider-Man, who had plot reasons) were on point. Everyone looked like their iconic selves. Iron man had a good Red/Gold balance, and the suit was mechanical. Captain America looked like Captain America. Rocket had his jumpsuit and goggles. Captain Marvel had the right jumpsuit and short hair.

They all looked correct. It was great.

I have one last nitpick: Tony Stark did not deserve the Thanos kill.

Yes, they’ve been trying to play up his fear and paranoia of Thanos since the nuke scene from The Avengers.

But Thanos didn’t do anything directly to Stark. They barely knew each other. Stark got a family, an amount of stability. He’s a playboy, billionaire, philanthropist. Tony Stark was fine.

Nebula was maimed. Turned machine in both body and mind. She suffered a lot under Thanos and by Thanos. She had an arc through this movie. Nebula should’ve killed Thanos.[6]

I would’ve also accepted Gamora, if they wanted a big name character.

But, nah, got to give the big finish to the man who started the franchise off. Sure.

Tony dies, and it’s a good death because his death achieved a big victory. Which is what you should do when you kill a character: have their death be their moment of awesome and a good narrative closure to the degree of their importance. No-name backgrounds characters can be comfortably killed off with a backhand, but to kill off an Iron Man, who has been relevant since the start of the franchise and started an era, his death needs to be worth twenty plus movies of set up and close an Era. Which Endgame did.

Black Widow, meanwhile, had been around for almost as long, had been poorly served by the narrative, and her death brought her arc no closure. Her story just stopped, and it’s unsatisfying.

Which is the main point of Endgame: bringing closure. Iron Man dies, and has earned his rest. Captain America, given access to time travel, retires and (importantly) passes on the mantle.

Actually, that’s an interesting question: who’s taking over Cap’s battle commander role? Because Iron Man has his replacements in Spider-Man (for tech and science upstarty-ness) and the Pyms (for big concept sci-fi) and Pepper Potts can still provide funding and infrastructure backing. Captain America makes Sam Wilson the new Captain America, but Sam hasn’t taken a leading role yet, so making him the new Avengers Leader might be an awkward transition.

The point is, the original six Avengers got their closures (of varying quality). Brash adventurer Thor continues his adventures in space, Tony Stark died but left a positive legacy to override his war profiteer history, Captain America get his lost time back, Hulk found peace with himself (which happened off screen, but eh, he was fun). Hawkeye and Black Widow… well, they started out as “they’re here, too!” characters, and they ended as “and they’re done, too!” characters.

Now, it’s time for the next generation, and it’ll be fun to watch.

Ranking and Overview

Well, the big narrative is finished, and it got better as it went along. The first phase was marred by the trend of “Super heroes, but in our grim and gritty world” that the Nolan Batman Films inspired. Thor began to loosen the tone, and Captain America was hint towards more grandiose elements, but it wasn’t really until Guardians of the Galaxy that the creative team looked around and said “This is inherently silly, right? Can we just… have fun?”

And from there, every new franchise had fun, while the originals had to keep their serious faces on.

Anyways, I’m going to rank them now from worst to best:

The Incredible Hulk

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Thor: The Dark World

Iron Man 2

Iron Man 3

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

The Avengers

Iron Man 1

Thor

Captain America: Civil War

Doctor Strange

Captain Marvel

Black Panther

Captain America: the First Avenger

Thor: Ragnarok

Avengers: Endgame

Avengers: Infinity Wars

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Spider-Man Homecoming

Ant-Man

Ant-Man and the Wasp

Guardians of the Galaxy

Despite being two parts of a full story, I ultimately decided Infinity Wars and Endgame were different enough to split them for rankings.

And I enjoyed Infinity Wars a little more.

And I think this confirms my self-assessment from last time: I enjoy fun, strong characters, and bold choices over trying to be real or attempt drama. I like to escape with my escapism!

Now, where do I think the movies go from here?

Honestly, I feel they’ll be able to do three more phases (for six total). In that time frame, Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man will get third films, while Black Panther, Doctor Strange, and Captain Marvel each get two additional films. Complete trilogies before their cast become part of team-ups to bolster other films. There may be a few other franchises introduced, but besides Fantastic Four, I feel like Marvel is starting to need to dig too deep (especially since they burned the Defenders on Netflix shows. Daredevil could’ve been a film character).

The X-Men work better, narratively, away from the rest of the Marvel Universe, so hopefully they keep to their own, separate franchise.

So, complete trilogies, grind towards two or three more Phases,[7] then it’s time for reboots.

As for overarching plots, I feel like we’re not going to get another multiphase big bad. Doctor Doom would be a great next step, as he represents political hand wringing, technology, and magic in a single megalomaniac, and I feel like we’ve gotten to the tonal point where Doctor Doom can be properly hammy. But it’ll be a single phase. Then one or two more big bads, possibly ending with some sort of villain team-up and time travel shenanigans to bring everyone (everyone) back for one, finally grand finale.

Then Reboot.

Maybe start with Captain America next time. Or the Fantastic Four. We’ll have to wait and see.

For now… I’ve got a Digimon project I keep hyping, and I have been meaning to rewatch Star Wars.

Maybe check out my Patreon or Ko-Fi if you enjoyed this essay.

Kataal kataal.

[1] I will note I stepped out for the Star Wars trailer. I’m gonna see it, so I want as little spoiled as possible. But the title and JJ Abrams being back at the helm has me concerned. [2] Which I think gets an unfair rap. I always felt that detail was just a pin in the life Widow was built for. She submitted to invasive surgery and cut off options to be what she was. It’s a symbol, not just poor writing.[3] [3] Age of Ultron still sucks, though. [4] For the record, I believe he’s known he could use it since Ultron, but he was being polite to Thor. [5] Except Black Widow. [6] Plus, comic accuracy points! [7] Amazon has two box sets for the phases with art based around an infinity stone each, so completing the set with six total phases makes sense.