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ursafootprints · 9 months

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E, I, M, V, Y

Aaaaaa you spoil me!!!

E: What character do you identify with most? Is there a certain fic of yours that captures these qualities particularly well?

HMMM I don't think there's a "most" necessarily! Neither Tony nor Peter is a character I super identify with just on the face of things, but there are individual traits that they have that I resonate with-- Tony's "gotta fix it (alone)" attitude, Peter's dorkiness and "gotta prove myself" drive, but those traits are expressed very differently in those characters than for me, haha.

The things that I identify most with for them in my fics are things that I put there through my various Situations rather than stuff they reflect in canon, lmao. I identify more with Peter in YNYD and with Tony in the Starkercest saga!

I: How many fandoms have you written in? Do you have a favorite?

Oh I counted this up one time! Assuming I'm not missing any from the actual fics/accounts being long lost to time, I've written for 14~16 fandoms:

Digimon

Inuyasha

Detective Conan

Fullmetal Alchemist

Gundam Wing

The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)

Cardcaptor Sakura

xxxHolic

X/1999 (unposted)

Yu-Gi-Oh!

di[e]ce

07-GHOST

Eyeshield 21

Chihayafuru

Ookiku Furikabutte (unposted)

MCU

Everything on that list that isn't MCU or The Outsiders is an anime/manga of widely varying levels of obscurity, haha. My favorite original work on the list is Cardcaptor Sakura, but my favorite fandom experience has been y'all here in Starker fandom! :P

M: What’s the weirdest AU scenario you’ve ever come up with? Did it turn into a story?

The weirdest AU I've ever come up with/written was the Tokyo Babylon-Starker fusion that @shivanessa and I are collaborating on! Because they drew some Peters and Tonys in the style of early CLAMP and I was immediately possessed by CLAMP Starker brainworms.

TB is a manga from the 90s written by CLAMP about a teenage medium tackling supernatural cases in Tokyo while being romanced by a kind and flirtatious much-older man… who secretly has very dark intentions for him. I might be the only person in the world that it appeals to but I am excited for it to be posting-ready!

V: Are there certain comments you’ve received on your stories that have stuck with you?

Any time a reader has told me that my portrayal of trauma felt resonant/especially realistic/cathartic based on their own experiences-- it's one of those things where obviously I'm sad for anyone to have to have that in common with me, but I also know how important and special it can feel when you read something that really resonates with your own experiences, too, so I'm always very touched by those comments.

(Also, any time I end up writing a paragraph or straight-up essay of meta in response to a comment it means that they said something that I grabbed and ogled and rotated in my mind in delight, so those ones, too!)

Y: What are your thoughts on your personal satisfaction with something you’ve written vs. the popularity of your stories? Do you tend to be most satisfied with your most popular stories?

It varies by fandom! I'm pretty much equally satisfied with everything I've written for Starker-- there's always stuff that I feel like I did really well, and stuff that I feel I could've executed better-- so it's a moot point there. But for Eyeshield 21, there for a while my most popular fic on that account by far was something I wrote when I was 13 and had only posted for archival reasons/a fun little stroll down memory lane, and until my multichap for the same ship overtook it I was a little jealous of my 13-year-old self!

Thank youuuu for all the questions! 😭💖💖💖😭

#ask games #ursa asks

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mdccanon · 2 years

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Thoughts on this vid?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=S5Ak5uEcDUQ

I have been thinking about this in terms of fiction as part of something that I want to write about the dissatisfaction with fantasy without revolution.

To put it simply, even when we reach for entertainment, we have become unhappy unless the point of the story is to address the inherent flaws of the society of the story. We are unhappy, even when we fantasize.

But, besides me always interpreting everything through fiction writing, I completely agree and I have two levels that I have to address of this in myself. That I address with two main tenants that I try to follow, that you see me use in my conversations with people here on Tumblr.

Be angry about things you can change. Be ambivalent / humorous about everything else. AKA sleep deprivation is real. Don't stay woke.

As upset as a woke person may feel towards me for saying that, I say that with the full expectation of working to change something. I completely agree that everyone should spend their life addressing some great change. There are a lot of problems in the world. Shit needs to get done. But absolutely everyone is a "single issue voter" with only a handful of things they have an educated opinion and commitment about. To fake an educated opinion causes the stress this young woman is talking about, because you're ruminating on variables you don't fully understand and can't change, and you're doing it out a fear of other woke people calling you insensitive, which is just a double layer of peer pressure stress. Changing the world is already stressful. There is no mental benefit to daily stress that the world is not changed.

2) Unless you plan to pay people, what good are you giving people for converting them to your cause? AKA Unionize Wokeness.

For being affiliated with the labor movement, wokeness is one of the most exploitative causes that I've ever seen.

Let's use this young lady's example of going into the world feeling every opportunity is secretly diminished or against her. Staying woke does not lead to Black folks using Black-owned media and elevating the standards of journalism; it just leads to them being hypersensitive to how CNN reports. Staying woke doesn't lead to Black folks fostering new relationships and championing worldwide hip hop; it just leads to them hyper fixating on the mistakes of hip Hop of the last 30 years with no real understanding of how anyone else's using it. Let's sprinkle a little bit of dangerously manic manifest destiny on these minds. I try as hard as I can to be sympathetic and say "I recognize that you were in pain. But what would you like to do to get better?" And the woke mentality says that the best thing that you can do is to continue to mourn the pain. How?

So, look at every example common on my blog:

People upset about MCU castings (something neither I nor they have control over) want me to change my opinion on the casting (seeking my validation, as if I matter) but aren't willing to put in ANY work to introduce me to the alternative actors and actresses they suggest because their priority is to feel "heard" by a random stranger on the Internet than to express a single iota of agency. Also, they have no real suggestions about Wanda's storylines or opinions about her position in the story, either the Infinity Saga or Multiverse Saga, because this issue matters to them because it's a chance to Be Woke about something and not because of any interest in fantasy writing, movie making, or comic books.

These people never knew anything about Romani filmmaking or actors and I would think that that would be more insulting to pretend you know them for clout then to just be unaware. And these people never wanted to learn anything because that would be within their control. They don't want agency, they want to feel Woke by not having control.

During the Johnny Depp v Amber Heard case, Amber Heard supporters would try to diminish my critical questions about the testimonies during the trial because they 1) don't actually watch the trial of the defendant they are supporting, 2) don't actually know the full outline of her allegations against her ex-husband, 3) don't care about how the legal system works, and 4) are willing to ignore things Amber Heard said and did if it interfered with their narrative. And tried to make a court case about defamation of character in journalism about Tweets from fans. Because the issue matter to them because they wanted to stay Woke about women who accuse men of domestic abuse and not because of any actual interest in that particular woman and that particular accusation. Have any conversation with any Amber Heard supporter who kept asking me "Where did you hear that from?" when I quoted the literal trial.

It is more insulting to the issue of domestic abuse to support a person who is obviously faking their accusations, and whenever I would talk to these people about real volunteering in domestic abuse, that's not something they wanted to do because that would be within their control. They don't want agency. They want to feel Woke by having no control.

As a person who suffers from anxiety, I know that it is very tempting to feel that the silver lining of it is that you are always ready for problems. But being anxious, ruminating over problems, is not the same thing as being ready for them. If it was, anxiety would not be a mental disorder. Order to Stay Woke you must approach it from a perspective of assuming you have no control. The average person is not a community organizer working shoulder to shoulder with a national icon on a large civil rights issue. For THAT person, Staying Woke may be a healthy layer of vigilance as they work tirelessly (and dodge death threats and assassination attempts). You are not James Baldwin. If you want James Baldwin's mentality, live his life.

But I've actually stopped and asked why James Baldwin gets away with saying "I don't have a dream job; I never dreamt of labor." when his life was sustained doing fulfilling work that he enjoyed and helped others... And no one has yet to have an answer to that. He just sounded so damn Woke sayin' it.

#Woke culture #sjw logic

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nerdby · 6 months

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Loki Season 2, Episodes 2&3

Theories & Breakdowns

Okay, I just finished watched episode three of the second season of the Loki series and I know that there is A LOT to keep track of in the Marvelverse and that it can be confusing. Trust me, peeps, I started getting into Marvel in a hardcore way all the back in 2004 back when google was practically useless cause it was bogged down by ads and every other link led to a porn website. The only advice I got when I asked for help on getting into the comics was, "Just pick one."

It was very unhelpful advice because X-Men was my jam back then and this was before House Of M had been written to clean up the Marvelverse. So there were literally a dozen different X-Men stories going at once and ALL of them were set in alternate universes in alternate timelines with various tie-ins to the Avengers, Spiderman, Fantastic Four, ect. Forums and the Marvel online encyclopedia was a gift from the Gods.

So I wanted to talk about some theories and tie-ins to the comics and other aspects of the MCU. That way people aren't confused and there will be less bitching.

Narnia Time

One thing that I noticed a lot of people were confused by is Loki referencing the events of Avengers (2012) like it happened a long time ago even though it had really only been a few weeks. If you go back and watch the first two episodes, though, you will notice that Brad has much longer hair in the second episode. This means that he probably has been in that particular universe or time branch for a while and remember

Time passes differently in the TVA.

In C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles Of Narnia -- specifically The Lion, The Witch, & The Wardrobe -- the Pevensie children disappear through the magical wardrobe into the land of Narnia where they reside for YEARS after defeating the White Witch and becoming the new monarchs of Narnia. But at the end of the book, the Pevensies wander out of the wardrobe and back into their own world where it turns where only a few MINUTES have passed. Cause time passes differently.

youtube

Brad's new do and the fact that time passes differently in the TVA has me wondering if the TVA doesn't also operate on Narnia time. It wouldn't be all that surprising because the Loki series would not be the first piece of media to borrow this particular element of the Narnia saga. It was also a very important plot point in the 1999 anime Digimon Adventure01 (AKA Digimon: Digital Monsters) which was based off of the Japanese handheld toy and PlayStation 1 video game.

Both of which predate the Pokemon manga and anime, by the way.

It would be incredibly, laughably ironic though because the TVA is a pretty obvious metaphor for Christofascism and Narnia was written by C.S. Lewis to indoctrinate children into Christianity. Seriously, one of the books in the series called The Horse & His Boy is an Islamophobic shitrag about a boy from Narnia that rescues a girl from a very obviously Middle Eastern-inspired desert nation and brings her back to Narnia. Which at the end of the series we find out is some sort of metaphor for purgatory and Aslan is Jesus, I think.

It's been a long time since I read the books.

I just think that's hilarious and also 100% logical given that the Loki series seems to be a crossover of Agent Of Asgard and the Kang Dynasty that's building up to Avengers Forever. I'll talk about that more in a bit.

Amnesia?

The other thing that people seemed confused by when Loki referenced Avengers (2012) is that he seemed to be taking full responsibility for the ordeal. I mentioned in another post that in the first Avengers movie Thanos more than likely told Loki about the Infinity Stones, but very conveniently left out the fact that the Mind Stone which was encased in his staff would make him act like a giant, tantrum throwing douchenozzle and very easy to manipulate. I think that Loki taking responsibility for the Chitauri invasion supports that theory somewhat and also suggests that

Loki still hasn't figured out that the Mind Stone had any effect on him and therefore blames himself for the events that took place in the first Avengers movie.

Because it is canon that he was being controlled by the Mind Stone and manipulated by Thanos. This was confirmed by Marvel back in 2019.

If this is confusing then go back and do a very thorough rewatch of Avengers (2012) and Avengers: Age Of Ultron. It is in AoU that we find out that the Mind Stone is encased in the staff that was given to Loki by Thanos in the first Avengers film.

Who Built Miss Minutes?

In episode three, Miss Minutes said that Kang built her as an AI program to play chess with, but history has proven that Miss Minutes doesn't exactly have a great a track record and might not actually be trustworthy. Not only that but there is a theory trending that the Loki series building up to the Avengers Forever story arc from the comics. In the Avengers Forever story, Avengers from across the multiverse are brought together to take down a team of evil super villains by the Avenger Prime who is none other than Loki himself. And the guy leading the villains is Viktor von Doom -- AKA Doctor Doom who is the Big Bad in the Fantastic Four, but also a prevalent villain in other characters' arcs. Like everyone has gone head-to-head with Doom and his Doom Bots.

So is it possible that in an alternate timeline Kang and Doctor Doom knew each other, and Doom built or helped build Miss Minutes's AI program and Kang took credit for Doom's work? Or could a Doom variant using Miss Minutes to communicate with Kang and manipulate him?

Also there is a Fantastic Four movie in the works at Marvel, but it is still in pre-production. It would make sense that there would be some sort of a tie-in with all the multiverse shenanigans. Kingo from the Eternals was even briefly referenced in an easter egg in episode two of the Loki series.

Fascism

This is something I don't particularly like to talk about on this blog because it gets into my own personal religious beliefs. Which I have been mocked and discriminated against because of by asshole atheists on this app.

If you're an atheist with a bone to pick with religious people because you refuse to get therapy for your PTSD this is your opportunity to kindly fuck off👌🏻

But since Loki is based off of the Norse God it's kind of unavoidable. Especially with the giant looming statues of Thor, Odin, and Baldr in episode three. I know people are gonna have questions.

Those statues were a nod to modern day Norse Paganism and Loki sneering at them, I think, is Tom Hiddleston's and Marvel's way of saying they don't exactly approve of how things are going in the community.

That is because there is a very serious problem with Nazis and fascism in the Norse Pagan and Pagan community in general.

What the Loki series was referencing in episode three is called Folkish/Volkish Heathenry -- Heathenry is a synonym for Norse Paganism. Folkish Heathenry is basically Christofascist Norse Paganism. It is Norse Paganism that was inspired by Adolf Hitler's Nazi occultism blended with misappropriated Wicca, Norse Paganism, and Christianity. Folkish Heathens -- also called Odinists which are NOT the same thing as Odin devotees -- adhere to The Nine Noble Virtues which were written in the 1970s by members of the British fascist party before they became extremely popular in N. America.

The Nine Noble Virtues teach that good Norse Pagans must be white, cishet, and able to pull their own weight in society. That is eugenics -- racism, queerphobia, ableism, and there's no shortage of misogyny or toxic masculinity, either. Its white supremacy.

If that also sounds a lot like rightwing evangelicalism that's because it is. See, Folkish Heathens have blended Christofascism with their own completely bullshit version of Norse Paganism to make the actual Norse God Loki into a Satan-esque character. They have done this by placing heavy emphasis on the story of Ragnarok where Loki instigates war against the Aesir -- Odin and his allies -- after Odin punished Loki for the death of Baldr by forcing Loki's toddler son Vali to murder his twin brother Narfi by turning Vali into a rabid wolf.

I'm not gonna lie. That is an oversimplification because there is a HUGE list of bullshit that Odin put Loki through in The Eddas, including ruining his marriage and banishing three of his children essentially orphaning them. There is also a lot of political metaphors that play into the story because The Eddas were put to paper for the first time in the 11th century right in the middle of the Roman conversion to Christianity, and there were a lot of practicing Pagans back then that did not want to convert. Norway started a motherfucking war, so they could keep practicing Paganism and some historians believe that Loki is a metaphor for the Pagans who did not want to convert. Many of whom may have also been part of the Sami who are the indigenous people of Scandinavia. Cause, yeah, Scandinavia was colonized.

But the oversimplification is kind of the point because Folkish Heathens rely on the naivete of new converts and ex-Christians looking to get into Paganism to lure them into their cults. And, yes, I do mean actual cults that exist both in N. America and in Europe. They use the story of Ragnarok to turn Loki into this evil Satan-esque character while painting Odin, Thor, and Baldr as Yahweh and Jesus.

That is because the Norse God Loki spits in the face of heteronormative Christian values. He is a bisexual, polyamorous, nonbinary genderfluid shapeshifter that is capable of getting pregnant, giving birth, and getting other people pregnant. Folkish Heathens do not recognize Loki as a God worth worshipping because they hate queer, trans (nonbinary people are trans -- look it up), intersex, and poly people as well as disabled and BIPOC people. And the Norse God Loki Laufeyjarson -- AKA the God of outcasts, stories, playtime, the hearthfire, home, and the family -- represents all of those things.

That is why in tonight's episode of Loki there was no Loki statue up there with Thor and Odin.

I know these things because I am a Norse Pagan that worships Loki. I used to run a blog dedicated to exploring the subject of Loki's transness and kinda preventing the erasure of transgender history. I have watched the Nazi problem in the Pagan community get steadily worse since 2018, starting with the Lokean community. For three years, I got hate mail and death threats from Nazis and TERFs and ignorant puriteen mini fascists.

If you've ever wondered why I take the politics of the Marvel comics and fandom so seriously now you know.

I've been suicidal since I was twelve years old. The X-Men: Evolution cartoon series started to air on KidsWB around that time, and that was the first piece of media that taught me that it was okay to be different from everyone else. And that I did not deserve to be dead or ostracized because of my differences. X-Men is a Marvel property, so I am not exaggerating when I say that Marvel kept me from killing myself as a child.

That's why I'm so happy and so proud that Loki scoffed at Folkish Heathenry. It also confirms a suspicion that I and many other Heathens have had that Tom Hiddleston knows about Lokean Norse Paganism. Because there are also a ton of references to Norse Paganism in the first season and in post-2008 Marvel books.

I'm going to post a link to the Southern Poverty Law Center's information on Folkish Heathenry and the Asatru Folk Assembly -- AKA the AFA. The AFA is the largest white supremacist Norse Pagan cult in the US with four all white churches or hofs. The second largest cult is The Odinic Rite, and the largest European Folkish cult that I know of is called Norsk and it is based in Norway.

I'm doing this because I know a lot of people reading this will think I'm insane or exaggerating and not take the issue seriously.

Peeps, that's exactly what they want.

Please, read this article about the 2019 Christchurch mosque shooting in New Zealand. It goes into detail about how Nazis use "off-color" jokes and memes to normalize white supremacy. Those jokes and memes are the reason why you're rolling your eyes right now, and they are also the reason for the book bans here in the US, the Don't Say Gay Bill in Florida, and why JK Rowling has any fandom left at all. Even though she said she supports Nazis.

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bearpillowmonster · 9 months

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Guardians Vol. 3 is...bad?

Had so many thoughts about Guardians Vol.3 that I felt it proper to post here too.

It's James Gunn's furry version of Katawa Shoujo with the addition of Sid from Toy Story.

When someone said that the Guardians would continue to appear in future MCU titles, I thought that James Gunn responded "not all of them" meaning that not all of them were going to make it out alive, not that I was pining for it but I set up certain expectations for its characters in order to build up each one enough to make you think "oh this one is going to die" to the point where you thought that about all of them and were kept guessing until the end. Well that didn't happen, instead what we got was Rocket out of commission to show his flashbacks for most of the movie. Nobody died. But somehow, Rocket's story was the most compelling story in here and it's not hard to see why.

His story was good but it felt unnatural which brings me to the editing. The action is brimming in the first two movies but this one has a lack of such, having the "potential" to be cool but never really hitting the mark until the final battle. This is in part due to the constant need to cut away, there's a cool fight scene with Peter and Groot? Let's cut away to Gamora. Then hey, how about we cut back to Kraglin and Cosmo arguing over who's a good or bad dog for the eleventh time? And then finally we get a cool final battle and even that's ruined, because guess what? The music selection just wasn't as good this time around and- I'm getting really sick and tired of No Sleep Til Brooklyn being in every movie, to the point that there should be a rule that you buy the film rights to music, you keep them for a specified amount of time so that nobody else can for at least over a year because what was it? March, when Mario came out? Some of the tracks are good but that just left a bad taste in my mouth. There are other Beastie Boys songs, you know!

But those characters that I expected to be built up, weren't, Rocket was the only one. I mean, what is this mess? It's a waste of practically everything it adds. The hyped up Adam Warlock that was integral to the Infinity Saga in the comics skipped the MCU's version of the Infinity Saga for this movie, so what better is he doing? Cracking jokes and petting alien dogs, that's about it. Drax was shadowed, I see the arc they put in there and it's nice but I would've liked the comics one better, this one is more like they're making an excuse for being too jokey. Mantis...what exactly is her arc? Gamora, same deal. Nebula...can keep being Queen, she can save her arc, I wouldn't mind.

Peter. Peter. Peter. WHERE'S HIS HELMET?! WHERE'S HIS ROCKET BOOTS?! STAR-LORD WHO?! "They're in his desk drawer and those boots are no more, those rocket packs are superior-" I DON'T CARE! He doesn't even USE the frickin' rocket pack and you're telling me he was in such a rush that he forgot his mask and rocket pack but not his guns? He knew there would be action, why would he not have a spare on the ship, why- Nevermind, lame excuses. Sonic Adventure is where I thought it was a little too much to have Tails and Amy have the same arc to become independent from Sonic but this movie takes that and cranks it to where most of the cast have the arc that they need to be independent from the rest (namely Star-Lord).

That's the other thing about it. When I saw the Holiday Special, I just assumed it was lower quality because it was a short little one-off but this movie just gives off a similar vibe of production value, like it's too grey or something. The CGI is fine, luckily breaking that trend that the MCU has been having lately but that's the other thing about the Holiday Special, it was really only progressive to the overall story to officiate that Peter and Mantis are siblings and solidify Mantis and Drax's friendship but it was the siblings part that I so desperately desired. And let me tell you- when I saw GOTG2, I emailed Marvel about a potential third sequel, BEGGING that they give Star-Lord a sister, I won't disclose what I said in my letter but I was shocked to see it happen. I'm not saying it was me or even that they read my fan letter but I'm just showing how happy that made me to see it actually come to fruition. With that said, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot done with it...

And then we have the kids, yes, the kids. In Thor: Love and Thunder, it felt very much like Disney execs wanted them to push it in a direction where it's about the children. Fine, it fits with the theme of the movie, made for a cheesy ending though. But then they did it again for this movie and I'm just kind of...weirded out by it, like is this supposed to be a Disney ride? Is this meant to pander to kids? Then why do they curse and- Ok, I'll let it go, just a weird choice.

With No Way Home, I liked it more as time went on but with Guardians, I've liked it less, I seen and read what others have to say after I watched it but it doesn't change how I feel. I picked up on the stuff, I just didn't like it or felt it delivered. And some people feel the need to bring up that "James Gunn had no control over what happened with Gamora in Infinity War and Endgame, she missed out on so much development." And like??? She was in Infinity War and we got all this development so that leaves Endgame, Thor, and the Holiday Special which NONE of those three were anything crazy that she missed out on in comparison to the other Guardians. Also, James Gunn KNEW about this and he was FINE with it AND he admitted that he gets more slack than anybody else so I don't know why they're putting him in this victim position, he wanted to kill Gamora in 2 and Marvel talked him out of it then Marvel turned right back around and asked to kill her in Infinity War to which Gunn agreed that it was a good choice and he'd work with that. But Gamora was never the problem for me, it just was for other people and they came up with figmented excuses. Now, it did feel like Marvel might've asked Gunn to keep the characters alive so they can milk them as much as they can (which will probably inevitably happen to Iron Man and whoever else) but apparently this was Gunn's version so I don't know. The MCU is just falling into the same pit traps that the comics have had, part of the appeal of the movies was that they didn't have that baggage, it could seem concrete and have impact and stakes but whatever.

I didn't watch any trailers or material for this movie because I've given up on that, seeing as most stuff gets spoiled anyway. But the one thing I did see was Warlock's first appearance meme and the end credits card (Legendary Star-Lord) but that end credits scene was the least hype worthy thing I could've witnessed and really put the cherry on the bottom for my already bad opinion of this movie. It didn't feel like the grand epic finale to the trilogy, it just felt like another adventure. If you want a more satisfying ending, look no further than the Telltale game, it actually has a lot of similar beats executed a little bit better in my opinion, I just wish this movie would've taken more inspiration from it because it had the potential to be even better. (though it'd be at the loss of Linda Cardellini and I'm not mentally prepared for that) It wasn't even a bad movie, it was just a bad Guardians movie and an average Marvel movie so the expectation of a preexisting franchise made me give it a slightly lower score.

#gotg3 #guardians of the galaxy #guardians of the galaxy 3 #gotg vol 3 #gotg v3 #review #rant #i didn't like it #i actually liked love and thunder more #wow #guardians of the galaxy vol. 3 #marvel #mcu #movie review

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rookie-critic · 1 year

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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023, dir. James Gunn) - review by Rookie-Critic

The Guardians, to me, have always been the MCU's dark horse. James Gunn was odd choice for a Marvel movie back when he was announced for the original film in 2014. His style didn't really fit the mold and these characters were ones that absolutely nobody outside of hardcore comics fans really cared anything about. It was one of the MCU's first uncertainties; nobody was really sure how it would play or if it would be successful, but lo and behold, it took the world by storm. Not only the lovable characters, but also the film's soundtrack, which revitalized the popularity of almost every single song on it. The characters became so synonymous with Gunn that, even in team-up films not directed by him like Infinity War and Endgame, he was on set to direct specifically them. They're a phenomenon that no one saw coming and now, 9 years after their debut on the big screen, Gunn has brought their story to a close, and man was it glorious.

I haven't fully given up on the MCU, they've shown they're still capable of producing quality superhero films a few times post-Endgame (Wakanda Forever, Shang-Chi, and No Way Home spring to mind), but Guardians Vol. 3 is the first time I've felt, for lack of a better term, the magic of what the Infinity Saga films brought since Endgame. You can tell that Gunn was fully aware of the weight of what this movie meant to not only the fans, but to himself and the cast and crew of the previous Guardians films. He pulls from his entire bag of tricks, even bringing things stylistically from his catalogue that we haven't necessarily seen in his comic-book movie work. There were moments were I had completely forgotten I was watching a Marvel movie and just felt like I was watching a really good James Gunn film. Which I think worked in the film's favor, but also gave everything a much more serious tone than the previous two films. Even with that, though, it doesn't ever feel like you're not watching a Guardians film. The characters are still the ones you love, they've just been through a lot and are naturally changed by the things they've seen and survived. That and the story of this installment requires a bit more seriousness in tone than the first two did. I don't consider this a bad thing, again I believe it's actually one of the film's greatest qualities, and it shows to the masses that Gunn is capable of writing more than just quippy, humorous characters.

I've heard complaints that it is overlong and messy, but I really didn't get that from it. I never once felt like it was overstaying its welcome, especially compared to a couple of the other post-Endgame Marvel films, and the plot seemed like it moved a very even pace and everything made sense. The one complaint I can understand, and this is mainly coming from fans of the source material, is how Adam Warlock is handled. Adam Warlock is one of the most important figures in large scale Marvel Comics conflict. He was possibly the second most important figure in the Thanos conflict other than Thanos himself, and the decision to leave him out of the storyline in the films has always baffled me, and now that he is here I am definitely confused as to why this was his introduction. He's not a super important character and he is a far cry from anything the comics have ever portrayed him as. Now, there is an avenue for him to become the character the fans were expecting, and a reason is given as to why he is the way he is in the film, but it definitely felt like an odd choice to include him the way they did. However, ultimately, this isn't his story, it's the Guardians', and more specifically, it's Rocket's.

Bradley Cooper (and Sean Gunn, who has done the mo-cap and on-set acting for the character in all three films) act their asses off as Rocket in this, and the movie gives the spotlight to a character that was long overdue for it. The villain, the High Evolutionary, played by Chukwudi Iwuji (who I think is a massively underrated actor after seeing him in both this and Gunn's Peacemaker show on HBO Max), isn't going to win any awards for "Greatest MCU antagonist" or anything, but he's a far cry from the cookie-cutter, boring villains the MCU has begun to just copy and paste throughout their chronology. His motivations are vague and never really explored, but that almost brings a weight of severity and stakes to his character and his plans that make him feel like more of a threat. As always, I'm specifically talking around anything actually related to the plot, but I don't think it's any secret that we see Rocket's origin story in this, and the entire A-plot of the film puts him as the central focus.

As always, with my glowing reviews, I feel like I haven't really reviewed the film so much as just gushed about it for a few paragraphs, but for me it just succeeded. James Gunn succeeded in putting a beautiful endstamp on his trilogy, the cast succeeded in giving these characters wonderful life (even two of the cast members I've never been that impressed with, Karen Gillan as Nebula and Pom Klementieff as Mantis, gave terrific performances), and the film succeeded in making me believe that their is still some gas left in the 'ole MCU tank. It wasn't perfect, but it was really damn close. It's an amazing final act for the Guardians, an amazing entry into both the MCU and James Gunn filmographies, and it's an amazing story about moving forward and finding the beauty in all of our imperfections. I might be biased, but I absolutely loved it.

Score: 9/10 (but a 10/10 in my heart)

Only in theaters. "We'll all fly away together into the forever and beautiful sky." "I love you guys."

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thejacksmit · 1 year

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First Take: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 - James Gunn finishes the story on his terms

Spoiler free as usual. Because ‘swole Groot’ would tear me apart if it wasn’t.

SYNOPSIS: Still reeling from the loss of Gamora, Peter Quill rallies his team to defend the universe and one of their own - a mission that could mean the end of the Guardians if not successful.

For the last 8 years a group of outlaws known as the Guardians of the freakin' Galaxy (only he didn't say freakin') have captivated cinemagoers since their unlikely debut and surprise success- but like all good comics, the story has to end at some point. What James Gunn has done with this entire trilogy is nothing short of extraordinary, and with this final chapter, emotions are turned up to 11 in his final project for Marvel Studios before taking up his new role as DC’s Kevin Feige figure.

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Gunn is once again writer/director (mostly thanks to fan and cast demand after he was initially fired) in this concluding part of the Guardians saga, picking up roughly where the Holiday Special on Disney+ left off to create a 2 and a half hour culmination of every possible storyline you could think of across the franchise - every character gets their rightful emotional payoff, with some interesting seeds planted for the rest of Phase 5 and beyond. While this runtime might be a little excessive, considering what this film has to do it is understandable why it has to be this long- and it flies by. Henry Braham does a brilliant job as DOP, and replacing Tyler Bates on the score is long-term Gunn collaborator John Murphy, who takes a while to adapt his signature sound to fit the already established style that Bates set on 1 and 2. I also have to mention Marvel's long time music supervisor Dave Jordan, as he ultimately has a major role securing one of the most important bits of these films: Awesome Mixtape Vol. 3. And there are some stunning choices on there, that are more than suitable for the highs and lows of this plot.

At its core, this cast knew this would be a powerful film. Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Pom Klementieff, Sean Gunn, Karen Gillan and Zoe Saldana once again deliver the goods, with Pratt truly getting into the groove as Star-Lord as this film plays out, but this is supplemented by Sean Gunn, Maria Bakalova, Elizabeth Debicki, and of course Vin Diesel as Groot and Bradley Cooper's voice work as Rocket, which is some of his best in the franchise. This film *is* Rocket's film, simple as that. Joining the MCU is Will Poulter and Chukwudi Iwuji, who are great additions if a little shoehorned in to certain sequences. One thing to mention before the verdict - cinemas have been sent both conventional and variable aspect ratio versions of the film regardless of whether they have an IMAX screen or not (IMAX will get the film in the usual manner by the way). So if you get the variable aspect ratio version, you're gonna get 45 minutes of the film shown in flat widescreen, and the rest letterboxed. Bare this in mind when booking the bigger screens.

THE VERDICT

The third film always ends up being the darkest film for a lot of these franchises - and a very creatively free James Gunn gave these characters (and his career working with Marvel) the ending they deserved. By no means is it perfect, especially with some brutal scenes that warrant me saying leave the kids at home for this one, but that's what we needed from Marvel.

RATING: 4.5/5

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newshirtonlines-blog · 2 years

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Now Lonesome Transcendence Shenhe Genshin Impact shirt . what Agatha is referring to is Wanda having unleashed what appears to be the full power of the Scarlet Witch, something that was explored in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Assuming Wanda did survive the climax of that blockbuster, perhaps she will require Agatha's expertise to clear her Darkhold corruption as she learns to properly understand her Chaos Magic. The WandaVision spin-off is even sub-titled Coven of Chaos; while Wanda herself famously uses Chaos Magic, Agatha utilizes Dark Magic. As of now, the Sokovian native is the only known Chaos Magic user to be introduced in the MCU, which already creates a close connection between Wanda and the upcoming series.Lonesome Transcendence Shenhe Genshin Impact shirt, hoodie, sweater, longsleeve and ladies t-shirt

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Classic Men's Elizabeth Olsen's Wanda Maximoff has proven to be among the most popular heroes in Phase 4, just as she already was in the Infinity Saga Lonesome Transcendence Shenhe Genshin Impact shirt . With that in mind, Multiverse of Madness probably wasn't the end of her story altogether, but rather the end of her Darkhold-induced villainous arc. As far as Doctor Strange was aware, Wanda had perished in the destruction of Mount Wundagore as she sacrificed her life to destroy all the copies of the Darkhold across the Multiverse. So, while Scarlet Witch leading a movie or series down the road is likely, that will probably be pre-dated by a shocking comeback in another project. With Coven of Chaos being a spin-off to WandaVision and hints already being in place to set up their magical reunion, Agatha may deliver Wanda's comeback. But if it doesn't, she will almost certainly be back before the end of the Multiverse Saga to assist in the fight against Kang in The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars, especially given her newfound alternate reality experience. Either way, Elizabeth Olsen's Wanda Maximoff is poised to return to the MCU next year in animated form as the popular witch appears in What If...? Season 2. An undead Wanda has also been confirmed to appear in Marvel Zombies, alongside 17 other characters, but there's no word yet whether Olsen will offer any vocals. You Can See More Product: https://newshirtonline.com/product-category/trending/ Read the full article

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aion-rsa · 2 years

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Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: The Comics That Inspired the Movie

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This article contains Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness spoilers.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is the latest MCU entry and a lot of people have been checking it out, starting its first weekend off with $450 million internationally. While much of it feels inspired from Sam Raimi’s other work, it is a comic book movie featuring a lot of different elements. When you leave the theater, you or one of your friends might be interested in checking out the comics that inspired this movie.

Even when a Marvel Cinematic Universe project is based on an existing story, it’s only loosely so. Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Hawkeye are probably the most faithful to the source material (Civil War, Infinity Gauntlet, and Matt Fraction’s Hawkeye run respectively), but they only connect in the broadest of strokes.

Doctor Strange’s newest adventure has a lot of moving parts that are taken from the comics: the Scarlet Witch’s mental imbalance, the wrath of the Darkhold, the follies of the Illuminati, the journey of America Chavez, and so on. It’s a comic book cocktail.

So here are some comics you can look at to keep riding that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness wave. And that’s without even factoring in the strong influence of the most famous X-Men story of all, The Dark Phoenix Saga, in to the equation, which definitely has echoes of Wanda’s fall from grace in this film.

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Rise of the Darkhold

Like Moon Knight, the Darkhold was introduced in a story about Werewolf by Night. While a powerful maguffin, the Darkhold has rarely been interesting enough to carry its own story. Instead, it has been instrumental in various minor Marvel stories involving the likes of Strange, the Avengers, and Thor.

Instead of getting the Infinity Gauntlet treatment where there’s a huge event surrounding its threat, the Darkhold instead has a single volume that collects various classic stories that tie into its existence. From the wizard Mordred using it to corrupt the Scarlet Witch to Doctor Strange fighting Dracula, these tales go all over the place.

Darker Than Scarlet

While not the first time Wanda let the darker elements of her personality take hold, this West Coast Avengers story is perhaps the most infamous. As we’ve seen elsewhere, this was the first instance where Wanda was faced with the reality that her children weren’t real, and thus proceeded to make life a living hell for everyone around her. This is a particularly icky version of the story, though, so feel free to skip this one.

Avengers Disassembled

The 2004 story Avengers Disassembled by Brian Michael Bendis and David Finch kicked off the lengthy string of major events overtaking the Marvel Universe when Bendis was writing various Avengers comics as the backbone of the company. This story told the tale of how the classic iteration of the Avengers came to an end, due to a shattered team and wounded reputation.

What threat is the team up against? I’m not even sure where to start! Over the course of hours, the Avengers appear to be hounded from unexplained, overwhelming, and even random situations. Sudden Kree invasions, Ultron attacks, She-Hulk losing her mind and going on a violent rampage, Tony Stark going on a drunken rant at the United Nations despite years of sobriety, and so on.

Who could be behind such a thing? Doctor Strange shows up to tell everyone and considering the basis of the article, it should not be hard to figure out who the big villain is. It’s not the most climactic Marvel event, but it definitely feels like the story that fits in with Multiverse of Madness’ narrative the best.

House of M

While she has her moments of lucidity, the Scarlet Witch is gradually losing control of her mind. Doctor Strange and Charles Xavier do their best, but it looks to be a fool’s errand. Wanda’s brother Pietro becomes afraid that one of the Avengers or X-Men will come to kill her for the sake of protecting the fabric of reality. He convinces her to transform the world completely.

In this new reality, mutants rule over humans and Magneto’s House of M is supreme. Wanda is happy, not because of being royalty, but because she can be with her sons. All the superheroes are placed in their dream situations to keep them complacent and prevent them from interfering. The problem is that Wolverine’s dream is to have all of his memories, meaning that from the beginning, he knows that everything is wrong.

New Avengers: The Illuminati

Although it was introduced in the pages of Bendis’ New Avengers, the Illuminati eventually got their own miniseries, showing the history of the secret hero team and the shockwaves created from them trying to change the world for the better. Doctor Strange, Charles Xavier, Iron Man, Namor, Reed Richards, and Black Bolt meet up throughout the years to assess threats to the planet and try to network their way towards peace.

There’s also a pair of cameos by Scarlet Witch and Clea that are…very eye-opening when it comes to Strange. I’ll leave it at that.

While it’s not part of the Illuminati trade, it’s worth tracking down the issue Road to Civil War – New Avengers: The Illuminati. This one-shot shows the origins of the team, including how and why Black Panther refused to be a part of it all. It also shows the team falling to pieces between the decision to send Hulk into space and the coming of the Civil War.

Young Avengers

The run of Young Avengers by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie is the perfect place to go if you’re jonesing for some America Chavez. Sure, she has her own comics, but this one fits with the movie’s plot while giving us an idea of what some of the younger MCU characters might be up to in the near future. America Chavez is on the run from a multiversal parasitic demon known as Mother. It’s a bit on the nose, isn’t it?

Among the Young Avengers, America gets to work alongside twin brothers Wiccan and Speed. So as an added bonus, you get to see Billy and Tommy in action instead of just singing weird songs about ice cream.

No, seriously, what the hell was that?

New Avengers

Jonathan Hickman wrote one hell of a string of epic comic runs in the mid-2010s. Starting with Fantastic Four and FF, he then did Avengers and New Avengers, which led straight into Secret Wars. As Avengers deals with a bloated version of the team fighting some major threats, New Avengers is more about what the Illuminati is up to. This time, the line-up is made up of Doctor Strange, Reed Richards, Iron Man, Black Bolt, Black Panther, Namor, Smart Hulk, and Beast.

“Everything dies,” Reed warns, as the multiverse is beginning to collapse upon itself. Every few days, “Incursions” are beginning to happen, where two alternate Earths are set to collide. Either one destroys the other or both are destroyed. The Illuminati must to do everything they can to survive and hopefully find a solution. Perhaps, even at the cost of causing genocide.

For Strange, his path includes damnation. He fully gives himself to the dark path of sorcery for the sake of saving his world. This gives us the telltale forehead eyeball that we see in the movie. While he does throw his soul away, Strange at least becomes important in saving all of reality when he meets the mysterious, worshiped being known as Rabum Alal.

Darkhold

Sometimes Marvel tries to write new stories that sort of tie into what’s going on in their movies. For instance, when Spider-Man 3 was in theaters, they made sure to release a flashback story about Spider-Man in his black costume fighting Sandman. Just before Black Widow finally came out, there was a Taskmaster miniseries where Black Widow was hunting him down. When Avengers: Infinity War came out, Marvel did a storyline called Infinity Wars, where Gamora wielded the Infinity Gauntlet and reduced the universe’s population by half in her own unique way.

For Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the big tie-in comic is Darkhold by Steve Orlando and Cian Tormey. It’s a big team-up of random Marvel characters, but it mostly focuses on Scarlet Witch as she takes on Chthon, the demon who created the Darkhold to begin with. It also has a lot of Doctor Doom, which is always welcome.

Even though Scarlet Witch is meant to be a hero in current comics, the new status quo from the ending does leave her future a little open-ended and allows Marvel some easy creative freedom.

The Unbelievable Gwenpool #3

Doctor Strange and America Chavez aren’t really close in the comics, but if you want to see some multiversal hijinks between Strange and a teenage girl superhero, you can do worse than the third issue of Gwenpool’s comic. Gwen Poole is a girl from our world who ended up in the comic universe. Due to her understanding of comic book tropes, she knows that being a main character will keep her safer than being just a random bystander.

She comes across Strange in one issue, who helps her adapt to the world and at least gets her some paperwork and a working social security number. A true highlight is Strange peering into Gwen’s world, where he notices that the events of the Marvel Universe are echoed and recorded in the form of comics, cartoons, and films. Strange then notes, while looking at a movie theater, “Benedict Cumberbatch, eh? Sure, I could see that.”

The post Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: The Comics That Inspired the Movie appeared first on Den of Geek.

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lokiondisneyplus · 3 years

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'Loki' takes over: Tom Hiddleston on his new TV series and a decade in the MCU

Ten years after Hiddleston first chose chaos in Thor, Marvel’s fan favorite God of Mischief is going even bigger with his time-bending Disney+ show.

Tom Hiddleston is Loki, and he is burdened with glorious purpose: After playing Thor's puckish brother for over a decade in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, no one understands the mercurial Asgardian God of Mischief as well as the actor. He can teach an entire seminar on Loki if given the opportunity — which he actually did during pre-production on his forthcoming Disney+ show. In conversation, Hiddleston quotes lines from his MCU debut, 2011's Thor, almost verbatim, and will playfully correct you if you mistakenly refer to Asgard's Rainbow Bridge as the Bifrost, which is the portal that connects Loki and Thor's homeworld to the Nine Realms, including Midgard, a.k.a. Earth. "Well, the Bifrost technically is the energy that runs through the bridge," he says with a smile. "But nine points to Gryffindor!" And when he shows up to the photo shoot for this very digital cover, he hops on a call with our photo editor to pitch ways the concept could be even more Loki, like incorporating the flourish the trickster does whenever magically conjuring something. The lasting impression is that playing Loki isn't just a paycheck.

"Rather than ownership, it's a sense of responsibility I feel to give my best every time and do the best I can because I feel so grateful to be a part of what Marvel Studios has created," the 40-year-old Brit tells EW over Zoom a few days after the shoot and a week out from Thor's 10th anniversary. "I just want to make sure I've honored that responsibility with the best that I can give and the most care and thought and energy."

After appearing in three Thor movies and three Avengers, Hiddleston is bringing that passion to his first solo Marvel project, Loki, the House of Ideas' third Disney+ series following the sitcom pastiche WandaVision and the topical The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Led by head writer Michael Waldron (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Heels), the six-episode drama sees Hiddleston's shapeshifting agent of chaos step out from behind his brother's shadow and into the spotlight for a timey-wimey, sci-fi adventure that aims to get to the bottom of who Loki really is. "I wanted to explore slightly more complex character questions," says Waldron. "It's not just good versus bad. Is anybody all good? Is anybody all bad? What makes a hero, a hero? A villain, a villain?"

Even though Loki — who loves sowing mayhem with his illusion magic and shapeshifting, all with a major chip on his shoulder — has never been one for introspection, the idea of building an entire show around him was a no-brainer for Marvel. When asked why Loki was one of the studio's first Disney+ shows, Marvel president Kevin Feige replies matter-of-factly, "More Hiddleston, more Loki." First introduced as Thor's (Chris Hemsworth) envious brother in Kenneth Branagh's Thor, Loki went full Big Bad in 2012's The Avengers. That film cemented the impish rogue as one of the shared universe's fan favorites, thanks to Hiddleston's ability to make him deliciously villainous yet charismatic and, most importantly, empathetic. The character's popularity is one of the reasons he's managed to avoid death many times.

"He's been around for thousands of years. He had all sorts of adventures," says Feige. "Wanting to fill in the blanks and see much more of Loki's story [was] the initial desire [for the series]."

The Loki we meet on the show is not the one who fought the Avengers in 2012 and evolved into an antihero in Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Ragnarok before meeting his demise at the hands of the mad titan Thanos (Josh Brolin) in 2018's Avengers: Infinity War. Instead, we'll be following a Loki from a branched timeline (a variant, if you will) after he stole the Tesseract following his thwarted New York invasion and escaped S.H.I.E.L.D. custody during the time heist featured in Avengers: Endgame. In other words, this Loki hasn't gone through any sort of redemption arc. He's still the charming yet petulant god who firmly believes he's destined to rule and has never gotten his due.

Premiering June 9, Loki begins with the Time Variance Authority — a bureaucratic organization tasked with safeguarding the proper flow of time — arresting the Loki Variant seen in Endgame because they want his help fixing all of the timeline problems he caused while on the run with the Tesseract. So there will be time travel, and a lot more of it than in Endgame. As Loki makes his way through his own procedural, he'll match wits with new characters including Owen Wilson's Agent Mobius, a brilliant TVA analyst, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw's Judge Renslayer. The question in early episodes is whether Loki will help them or take over.

"One of the things Kevin Feige led on was, 'I think we should find a way of exploring the parts of Loki that are independent of his relationship with Thor,' or see him in a duality or in relationship with others, which I thought was very exciting," says Hiddleston, who also serves as an executive producer on the show. "So the Odinson saga, that trilogy of films, still has its integrity, and we don't have to reopen it and retell it."

Yet, in order to understand where Loki is going, it's important to see where he came from.

Hiddleston can't believe how long he and Loki have been connected. "I've been playing this character for 11 years," he says. "Which is the first time I have said that sentence, I realize, and it [blows] my mind. I don't know what percentage that is exactly of my 40 years of being alive, but it's substantial."

His time as Loki actually goes a bit further back, to 2009 — a year after Robert Downey Jr. big banged the MCU into existence with Iron Man — when he auditioned for Thor. It's no secret that Hiddleston initially went in for the role of the titular God of Thunder, but Feige and director Kenneth Branagh thought his natural charm and flexibility as an actor made him better suited for the movie's damaged antagonist. "Tom gave you an impression that he could be ready for anything, performance-wise," says Branagh, who had previously worked with him on a West End revival of Checkov's Ivanov and the BBC series Wallander. "Tom has a wild imagination, so does Loki. He's got a mischievous sense of humor and he was ready to play. It felt like he had a star personality, but he was a team player."

Hiddleston fully immersed himself in the character. Outside of studying Loki's history in the Marvel Comics, he also researched how Loki and the Trickster God archetype appeared across mythology and different cultures. "He understood that he was already in something special [and] it was a special character in a special part of that early moment in the life of the Marvel universe where [he] also needed to step up in other ways," says Branagh, who was impressed by the emotional depth Hiddleston brought to the part, especially when it came to how isolated Loki felt in the Asgardian royal family.

There was a lot riding on that first Thor feature. For one, no one knew if audiences would immediately latch onto a Shakespearean superhero movie partially set on an alien planet populated by the Norse Gods of legend. Second, it was integral to Feige's plans for the shared universe. Loki was supposed to be the main villain in The Avengers, which would not only mirror how Earth's mightiest heroes joined forces in 1963's Avengers #1 but also give Thor a believable reason for teaming up with Iron Man, Captain America (Chris Evans), and the rest of the capes. Feige first clued Hiddleston into those larger plans when the actor was in L.A. before Thor started shooting.

"I was like, 'Excuse me?' Because he was already three, four steps ahead," says Hiddleston. "That took me a few minutes to process, because I didn't quite realize how it just suddenly had a scope. And being cast as Loki, I realized, was a very significant moment for me in my life, and was going to remain. The creative journey was going to be so exciting."

Hiddleston relished the opportunity to go full villain in Avengers, like in the scene where Loki ordered a crowd to kneel before him outside a German opera house: "It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation," says the Machiavellian god. "The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel."

"I just knew that in the structure of that film, I had to lean into his role as a pure antagonist," Hiddleston recalls. "What I always found curious and complex about the way Loki is written in Avengers, is that his status as an antagonist comes from the same well of not belonging and being marginalized and isolated in the first Thor film. Loki now knows he has no place in Asgard."

Loki did find a place within the audience's hearts, though. Feige was "all in" on Hiddleston as his Loki from the beginning, but even he couldn't predict how much fans would love him. Feige recalls the reaction at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con: "Did we know that after he was the villain in two movies, he would be bringing thousands of people to their feet in Hall H, in costume, chanting his name? No, that was above and beyond the plan that we were hoping for and dreaming of." It was a dream Feige first got an inkling of a year earlier during the Avengers press tour when a Russian fan slipped past security, snuck into Mark Ruffalo's car, and asked the Hulk actor to give Hiddleston a piece of fan art she created. "That was one of the early signs there was much more happening with this quote-unquote villain."

Despite that popularity, the plan was to kill Loki off in 2013's Thor: The Dark World, but the studio reversed course after test audiences refused to believe he actually died fighting the Dark Elves. Alas, he couldn't out-illusion death forever. After returning in Taika Waititi's colorful and idiosyncratic Thor: Ragnarok, Hiddleston's character perished for real in the opening moments of Infinity War. In typical Loki fashion, before Thanos crushed his windpipe, he delivered a defiant speech that indicated he'd finally made peace with the anger he felt toward his family.

"It felt very, very final, and I thought, 'Okay, that's it. This is Loki's final bow and a conclusive end to the Odinson saga,'" says Hiddleston, who shot that well-earned death scene in 2017.

But, though he didn't know it yet, the actor's MCU story was far from over.

Credit: Charlie Gray for EW

When Hiddleston returned to film two scenes in Avengers: Endgame in 2017, he had no idea where Loki portaled off to after snatching the Tesseract. "Where'd he go? When does he go? How does he get there? These are all questions I remember asking on the day, and then not being given any answers," Hiddleston recalls. To be fair, it's likely the Powers That Be didn't necessarily have answers then. While Feige can't exactly recall when the writers' room for Endgame first devised Loki's escape sequence, he does know that setting up a future show wasn't the primary goal — because a Loki series wasn't on the horizon just yet.

"[That scene] was really more of a wrinkle so that one of the missions that the Avengers went on in Endgame could get screwed up and not go well, which is what required Cap and Tony to go further back in time to the '70s," says Feige. Soon after that, though, former Disney CEO Bob Iger approached Feige about producing content for the studio's forthcoming streaming service. "I think the notion that we had left this hanging loose end with Loki gave us the in for what a Loki series could be. So by the time [Endgame] came out, we did know where it was going."

As for Hiddleston, he didn't find out about the plans for a Loki show until spring 2018, a few weeks before Infinity War hit theaters. "I probably should not have been surprised, but I was," says the actor. "But only because Infinity War had felt so final."

Nevertheless, Hiddleston was excited about returning for his show. He was eager to explore Loki's powers, especially the shapeshifting, and what it meant that this disruptive figure still managed to find a seat beside the gods in mythology. "I love this idea [of] Loki's chaotic energy somehow being something we need. Even though, for all sorts of reasons, you don't know whether you can trust him. You don't know whether he's going to betray you. You don't why he's doing what he's doing," says Hiddleston. "If he's shapeshifting so often, does he even know who he is? And is he even interested in understanding who he is? Underneath all those masks, underneath the charm and the wit, which is kind of a defense anyway, does Loki have an authentic self? Is he introspective enough or brave enough to find out? I think all of those ideas are all in the series — ideas about identity, ideas about self-knowledge, self-acceptance, and the difficulty of it."

“The series will explore Loki's powers in a way they have not yet been explored, which is very, very exciting.”

The thing that truly sold Hiddleston on the show was Marvel's decision to include the Time Variance Authority, a move he describes as "the best idea that anybody had pertaining to the series." Feige and Loki executive producer Stephen Broussard had hoped to find a place for the TVA — an organization that debuted in 1986's Thor #372 and has appeared in She-Hulk and Fantastic Four stories — in the MCU for years, but the right opportunity never presented itself until Loki came along. "Putting Loki into his own procedural series became the eureka moment for the show," says Feige.

The TVA's perspective on time and reality also tied into the themes that Waldron, Loki's head writer, was hoping to explore. "Loki is a character that's always reckoning with his own identity, and the TVA, by virtue of what they do, is uniquely suited to hold up a mirror to Loki and make him really confront who he is and who he was supposed to be," says Waldron. Hiddleston adds: "[That] was very exciting because in the other films, there was always something about Loki that was very controlled. He seemed to know exactly what the cards in his hand were and how he was going to play them…. And Loki versus the TVA is Loki out of control immediately, and in an environment in which he's completely behind the pace, out of his comfort zone, destabilized, and acting out."

To truly dig into who Loki is, the creative team had to learn from the man who knows him best: Hiddleston. "I got him to do a thing called Loki School when we first started," says director Kate Herron. "I asked him to basically talk through his 10 years of the MCU — from costumes to stunts, to emotionally how he felt in each movie. It was fantastic."

Hiddleston got something out of the Loki school, too. Owen Wilson both attended the class and interviewed Hiddleston afterward so that he could better understand Loki, as his character Mobius is supposed to be an expert on him. During their conversation, Wilson pointedly asked Hiddleston what he loved about playing the character.

"And I said, 'I think it's because he has so much range,'" says Hiddleston. "I remember saying this to him: 'On the 88 keys on the piano, he can play the twinkly light keys at the top. He can keep it witty and light, and he's the God of Mischief, but he can also go down to the other side and play the heavy keys. And he can play some really profound chords down there, which are about grief and betrayal and loss and heartbreak and jealousy and pride.'" Hiddleston recalls Wilson being moved by the description: "He said, 'I think I might say that in the show.' And it was such a brilliant insight for me into how open Owen is as an artist and a performer.'"

Owen Wilson as Mobius and Tom Hiddleston as Loki in 'Loki.'| Credit: Chuck Zlotnick/Marvel Studios

Everyone involved is particularly excited for audiences to see Hiddleston and Wilson's on-screen chemistry. "Mobius is not unlike Owen Wilson in that he's sort of nonplussed by the MCU," says Feige. "[Loki] is used to getting a reaction out of people, whether it's his brother or his father, or the other Avengers. He likes to be very flamboyant and theatrical. Mobius doesn't give him the reaction he's looking for. That leads to a very unique relationship that Loki's not used to."

As for the rest of the series, we know that Loki will be jumping around time and reality, but the creative team isn't keen on revealing when and where. "Every episode, we tried to take inspiration from different things," says Waldron, citing Blade Runner's noir aesthetic as one example.

"Part of the fun of the multiverse and playing with time is seeing other versions of characters, and other versions of the titular character in particular," says Feige, who also declined to confirm if Loki ties into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and/or other upcoming projects.

Making Loki was especially meaningful to Hiddleston because they shot most of it during the pandemic, in late 2020. "It will remain one of the absolute most intense, most rewarding experiences of my life," he says. "It's a series about time, and the value of time, and what time is worth, and I suppose what the experience of being alive is worth. And I don't quite know yet, and maybe I don't have perspective on it, if all the thinking and the reflecting that we did during the lockdown ended up in the series. But in some way, it must have because everything we make is a snapshot of where we were in our lives at that time."

While it remains to be seen what the future holds for Loki beyond this initial season, Hiddleston isn't preparing to put the character to bed yet. "I'm open to everything," he says. "I have said goodbye to the character. I've said hello to the character. I said goodbye to the character [again]. I've learned not to make assumptions, I suppose. I'm just grateful that I'm still here, and there are still new roads to explore."

#Tom Hiddleston #Loki #Disney+#interview

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bedlamsbard · 2 years

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So @raccoononcaffeine asked me about Mistilteinn in On Yonder Hill and why I said it’s linked to Loki’s specific background there, rather than being something I want to reuse in other non-Yonderverse stories.

99% of the time I will use the same backstory and worldbuilding throughout multiple stories (thus Loki’s missing year backstory is the same in both Yonder and Morning, as is all the stuff about Mimameid and Asgardian inheritance law, etc.). Mistilteinn’s creation in Yonder dates from before the first Thor film -- Odin had Mistilteinn made as a gift for Loki to give him after Thor’s coronation, but the circumstances of the film meant that Loki never got it and Mistilteinn stayed on Nidavellir until Loki turned up there after the Statesman massacre, at which point Eitri gave it to him. By my usual practice, that means that any Loki who didn’t go through the events of Thor -- in this case, specifically Morning altverse Loki -- would have gotten Mistilteinn as per Odin’s original plan. I ultimately didn’t want to do this -- partially because altverse Loki having Laevateinn during the Stuttgart incident in Morning 6 predated Yonder by about a month (it’s not named in that chapter, but is later in Morning), partially because I don’t want to share everything between stories and I wanted Mistilteinn to be a strictly Yonder thing, and partially because Mistilteinn’s significance to Yonder!Loki is completely different than it would be for altverse Loki (who is sword Loki and has his own weapons with their own emotional baggage and thematic meaning, but that’s not come up in Morning yet).

In Yonder, Loki gets Mistilteinn offscreen -- since all of Yonder is from Natasha’s POV and set in the present day we don’t see the actual circumstances where he gets it, but he tells 2012 Thor and 2014 Thanos that he got it from Eitri on Nidavellir, as Odin’s last gift. I’ve talked before about how I like to do mirroring/rhyming in my AUs -- Loki getting Mistilteinn on Nidavellir is Yonder’s version of Thor getting Stormbreaker there in IW. While in IW Thor goes to Nidavellir in order to get a weapon that can defeat Thanos, Loki goes there in order to walk between the worlds from Nidavellir to Earth. There’s no reason for him to restart the Nidavellir forge star in order to get a new weapon (you’ll note that in Yonder there are a couple of mentions of the forge star still being completely extinguished). But I still wanted him to have a weapons glow-up, and I specifically wanted it to be a polearm in order to have that mirror to both Gungnir in Thor and the scepter in The Avengers. (And this is also because altverse Loki already had a sword, and I wanted to distinguish the two Lokis from each other -- sword Loki and polearm Loki.)

(Mistilteinn’s name, btw, comes from the sagas, though it’s not intended to be the same weapon. The Loki-mistletoe-Baldur mythological connection was nice, but because this Mistilteinn is brand new and also Baldur doesn’t exist in the MCU it’s just a hat-tip to the myth.)

So Yonder!Loki has Mistilteinn -- he’s got a polearm because that links him with two earlier versions of himself, only in Thor Gungnir was the symbol of the Asgardian monarchy and given to him while he’s standing in Odin’s place and in The Avengers the scepter is granted to him by Thanos and also has all those nasty mind-control problems. Mistilteinn is his and is alone; it was made for him specifically and was never used by anyone else. (It’s essentially been in a closet since Thor; when Loki is on Nidavellir Eitri is like “oh, hey, you might want this” and gives it to him, obviously in more dignified words than that.) It’s like his kingship -- an inheritance he didn’t know ever existed and never expected to get. It’s a piece of Asgard he’s gotten back when he didn’t know that there was anything left of Asgard, it’s something from Odin that was for him -- yes, belated, yes, past the time when he should have gotten it, but it’s like...it’s like a gift that has been saved for him until just now, when what he really needs to hear is “yes you are Loki of Asgard, yes, your father loved you, even back then, yes, in some part of you, you are still the person you were when this was made, no matter what has happened to you and what you’ve done.”

Plus on aesthetic + practical levels, it’s a polearm, it’s visually significant because the King of Asgard traditionally has a spear, it becomes a more dignified weapon because it’s aesthetically pleasing. It is a weapon of war. It is not something that can be easily hidden or tucked away, like his daggers. It’s something that drastically changes his silhouette (like his long hair!). It’s something that he can use to go head to head with Thanos with. It completely changes his fighting style -- unlike Gungnir or the scepter Mistilteinn doesn’t shoot energy; it’s not a ranged weapon. It’s indicative of his kingship, of Loki stepping up and taking responsibility and not being able to walk away or hide from it.

Now very little of that is explicitly on the page; it’s implied rather than outright stated, but I know all of that, so it makes Mistilteinn something that doesn’t transfer very well to other Lokis. (Altverse Loki specifically, his whole thing is Odin going “okay, you’re now my only hope! here is all the weight of my expectation on you, no pressure,” which is the exact opposite of Yonder!Loki’s problem.)

#on yonder hill #yonder behind the scenes #roleswap endgame au concept

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androgynousblackbox · 2 years

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Re having One Big Fandom: the thing that's hard for me is that a lot of fandoms have a relatively high barrier to entry.

You want me to get into a shonen anime? There's probably 100s of episodes that I'll have to first find space to download (we don't have good streaming options around here) and then find time to watch. Video game fandom? I don't own any consoles and I'm also not very good at games so that's a big time investment as well. Things like Star Wars and MCU have more than 10 different movies not to mention all the other stuff. Even book fandoms can get expensive (going to the library isn't really an option around here) considering that some series run to dozens of volumes or more, not to mention the investment of reading time.

As a working adult I don't really have time to spend getting into new canons all the time so mostly I stick to what I already know I like. It's simply not feasible for me to spend all that time on a new fandom only to have to give it all up every couple years.

Whoops that one big fandom ask was meant for someone else please ignore Anon, I know you said to ignore it but I hope you don't mind I answer anyway because I have some thoughts about this: 1. First, do you even care about those fandoms? I don't mean it in a bad way, I mean, like, do you really feel attracted to any of the stories that have Big Fandoms or just want to get into those stories because, well, the fandoms are so active and you want to participate on the action? If you do not care about Star Wars, MCU, that particular anime, that other show, then there's absolutely nothing wrong staying on the fandoms of the properties you already know and enjoy. They might not be the biggest fandoms ever, but who cares? As long there is a community for it and you are enjoying your free time in the way that makes you the happiest, then that is all that matters. 2. But if you do feel like there is something interesting about those stories and want to participate on fandom, then you don't need to watch however many episodes/movies to get on it. I barely ever play videogames, but I am still on videogame based fandoms because I watched gameplays, I follow blogs talking about it and/or read articles about them from other fans. You don't need to play anything to just know about the characters, the world or the universe. If you know who is who then that is more than enough to have your own ship, look for fanart, etc. 3. Likewise, you don't need to watch however many movies because, especially for something so mainstream like Star Wars or MCU, there is already plenty of fan made summaries for anyone to be up to date with whatever the fuck is happening right now. Same for anime! The reason shounen anime specifically can last so fucking much is because of filler episodes that do nothing for the overall plot (although they can be fun). The manga is always straight to the point, but if that is also way too fucking long, again, fan made summaries are your friends! Even if you got the minor details wrong when writing fanfiction or making a comic, who cares?? You either keep it in mind for the next, correct it if possible or forget about it entirely and declare it your very own AU. Nobody will mind. And if they do? Well, fuck them because you are just doing this shit for fun. Who cares about canon anyway! 4. Book fandoms? You can either pirate them directly online and then only invest on a small basic e-reader to have an entire library like that (that is what I do because book ARE way too expensive here) or find audiobooks for you to listen while doing something else. You might also find articles speaking on broad strucks about the plot. Read reviews, the more indeepth the better. If those books have movie adaptations there might be already videos comparing the two source material. If it's an entire saga that has been popular for a long time then no doubt someone already talked in lenght about it. I never read After, the Harry Styles fanfiction turned to movie, and yet I am way too knowledgeable about it because of listening other people talk about it. 5. If you don't have time to do any of that either then, again, it's just fine to keep doing what you can and keep with what is good for you. Try to get into a fandom only to get more stressed about it is literally defeating the purpose of a hobby so don't worry about it.

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zoufantastical · 3 years

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What do you think of how much more bad ass they have made Sylvie over Loki in terms of action? (I'm not complaining big fan of it) Do you feel as if the show runner herself is giving Sylvie as much screen time and moments that often eclipse Loki bc she may be a character who's main purpose was to uplift and expand Loki's character, and that was her only original purpose? As if maybe she wasn't intended to last in the Marvel universe, at least in this incarnation? Seeing how most of this show is ran by the point of view of some women, that what we have with Sylvie is what we get bc of this reason? Do u feel it would have been different had it been otherwise? Or do you feel differently then my observation? Would love any point of view.

Why First Impressions Matter

Let me just say I was ecstatic over this ask. Finally something different (not that I don’t enjoy the previous asks) that forces me to talk about something that has been lingering in the back of my mind since the show started.

If you guys could be patient with me, I would appreciate it. I’m going to deviate a lil bit and talk about a point that relates to this ask and basically explains this user’s concern.

So, my mother says that she gives a show around ten minutes or so to grab her interest. At first I thought it was a bit ridiculous, since that means she’s missing out on a lot of great potentials because of this rule. I respected her opinion of course. Now, ever since the Loki show started though, I understand why she believes in it.

Marvel is very lucky they have loyal fans like us who will eat up whatever they spoon fed us. Even amongst heavy criticism. Despite people hating on the character Loki in his show by calling him “Larry” , the writers “clowns” or calling him OOC and a sidekick on his own show (please if you have the time, read the short post I linked), I finally understand their sentiment, which in a way is misplaced because of what I’m going to mention:

The first ten minutes of the first episode of Loki could should have been better.

What do I mean by this? Two things actually.

Imagine that you are a new MCU fan and you want to catch up on the movies or someone wanting to binge watch the entire saga again. You finish the first avengers movie but you decide to deviate and watch Loki, which is based on 2012 Avengers Loki. What’s one thing that’s going to throw them off immediately? Guess.

If you did congrats.

It’s the hair.

As a loyal fan, this will ALWAYS confuse me. There’s also the fact that they shot new scenes with the overly long spiky ends wig. So…why the sudden change in appearance? I started headcanoning that traveling through space and dimensions fucks up your evil blowout just for my sanity.

Already we are on the wrong path.

Now you may think this is minor and shouldn’t matter but appearances DO matter and sometimes we don’t pick up on inconsistencies right away, however, they do stay in our minds and form this domino effect later on which is what is happening with a lot of displeased fans.

The second is this joke of a scene.

If there was any time that Loki needed to display some of his abilities we were introduced at the end of episode two and throughout episode three, this would have been the perfect moment. Loki may be cocky, petty and boastful, but he is not stupid.

He just barely escaped with the tesseract. He would not approach ignorantly and all cocky mighty, a group of people who seem to look very dangerous. This is 2012 Loki. You know the dangerous god that a group of talented individuals joined forces to stop because it would have been the end of their world as they know it? A Loki who will be on high alert because not only will SHIELD and the Avengers be looking for him but eventually the Other and Thanos as well.

What I would have done to rewrite the strength and seriousness of the TVA without outright humiliating Loki in the process, this scene instead should have been a fight scene. Loki would have been full of adrenaline, displaying all his feats only to be caught off guard by B-15 and THEN you could make this infamous scene.

We already know that the TVA agents are trash fighters and easily beaten grunts based on later scenes. A scene like what I recommended would have prepared us for that. Otherwise now we are calling the rest of the fight scenes in this show also inconsistent with what we were presented in their first appearance.

Another rewrite I would have done is NOT start off the show using the Endgame Loki escaping scene. A great majority of people watching the show are because they already KNOW this Loki escaped with the space stone. Starting off with a recap, a recap all the way to the elevator scene no less, is not only way too long but unnecessary.

To peek the audiences’ interest, one should have started with a short scene of TVA hunting The hooded mysterious Variant and the latter killing them. It could be anywhere in time. Not only would that peek ones interest and wonder who this figure is, they’ll assume they are trouble and that they might cause an issue with Loki if they were to cross each other’s path etc basically you’ll have the audience’s mind scrambled and excited. THEN after the marvel logo you can put the recap scene.

[If you made it this far, congrats, because I’m finally going to start answering this user’s question]

What do you think of how much more bad ass they made Sylvie over Loki in terms of action?

And this is why I made a big deal of explaining what I’ve said above. Is not that Sylvie is more badass. In fact, Sylvie should have more scenes than the ones we are given. It’s the fact that the Loki actions scenes started off misplaced and were not started strong enough to make an impactful expression. It’s why they are calling him all sorts of things like weak, clown, OOC, stupid, inconsistent etc even though later on he is shown to be intelligent and strong.

Unfortunately (but not surprisingly) Sylvie’s character has been bound by her male counterpart’s. The majority of her scenes are with Loki, whether they were fighting or developing her character. This…is not the best writing choice but given this is only 6 episodes and time is short, they are pitting these two together as early as episode two in order to establish their partnership/relationship.

This choice sacrifices character screen time so the plot can move forward. Sylvie so far has only three meaningful scenes ever since being introduced (without Loki) and personally I feel that’s not enough.

Being paired with Loki 95% of the time is why you and many believe that she is taking Loki’s shine. We hadn’t had time, as a viewer, to fully appreciate Sylvie despite her not wanting to be called or relate to the name Loki. We haven’t had time to BREATHE and actually enjoy this new character especially since the majority of her scenes she is bounded by the hip to Loki! You are also right to believe that her character seem to have been created to “uplift and expand” Loki’s character-because SHE IS! And the latest episode basically confirms that!

I wouldn’t be surprised if Sylvie is a character exclusively used for the Loki show. So far there are no plans of using her beyond the series. Which is unfortunate because it means that even with female writers behind the script, decisions were made and accepted to have the Sylvie character move and react to the plot along side a male character. It’s fine for that to happen but when it’s the majority of their screen time, then it’s an issue. So your observation is correct.

Don’t get me wrong, I have been enjoying the show so far. Not loving it but it’s been entertaining despite some of it’s…creative choices. One thing that has been in common so far in MCU series is that they aim too high with a big budget only for them to not put the same time and care on a story they want to tell.

It really is unfortunate because there are moments in the show that has been done great! But again many choices has to do with the fact that Marvel and Disney are obsessed with keeping up this schedule and milking a show as much as they can. Because that’s their brand.

I can’t tell you additionally what I would have done differently. I guess we would have to wait till the Finale for me to properly answer that question.

#Loki #Loki show #Loki series #mcu loki #mcu #loki laufeyson #loki odinson #loki friggason #Sylvie #Sylvie laufeydottir #marvel #disney plus #loki negativity #loki discourse #asks

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that-shamrock-vibe · 2 years

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Superhero Spotlight: Why Hawkeye Is The Best Avenger

Disclaimer: Much like my dissection of the WandaVision relationship, this post will be looking at the character of Clint Barton aka Hawkeye mainly through his appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe which will further be explored in the upcoming Hawkeye Disney+ series, but also taking information from the comics as well as his appearances across various other media.

While this post is focussed on Clint Barton, I will also be touching upon Kate Bishop not only because she is the main other character to take up the mantle of Hawkeye but from the looks of the upcoming series she seems to actually be becoming Clint's sidekick as well as protege.

Introduction:

Hawkeye, for many Marvel fans, is not the first Avenger you may think of when asking who is your favourite or the best. But for me, since his debut in the MCU, he has been my favourite and, with the information I know of him from the comics that looks like it may be included in the upcoming Hawkeye series, the best in terms of representation within the original 6 Avengers of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

For me, a lot of that is down to Jeremy Renner's performance. He makes the character stand out amongst the other agents in S.H.I.E.L.D, as well as the other Avengers who are considerably more powerful and unfairly more prolific in merchandise. But because Renner has the natural charisma that Clint Barton requires, he manages to stand out...at least for me.

Also, considering to date Hawkeye is the only member of the original six not to have his own movie and instead continuously be a supporting player majorly in Avengers movies, it is also largely thanks to Renner that the character has managed to stay in the conversation and somewhere in the spotlight throughout the Infinity Saga of the Marvel Cinematic Universe which probably led to Feige rewarding his patience with his own Disney+ series.

I will also say that while I knew a lot about Scarlet Witch and Vision's history outside of the MCU leading into WandaVision, I did not know too much about Hawkeye outside of the MCU...so I actually finally treated myself to the Hawkeye graphic novel by Matt Fraction as homework in preparation for Wednesday...yes I am doing homework on a TV series, I want to be fully immersed.

But with all the odds against Hawkeye throughout the past ten years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, how did he go from Green Arrow wannabee to leading his own Disney+ series?

Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D:

Clint Barton was, unfortunately, effectively a cameo introduction in the first Thor movie in 2011. where he was seen as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and a subordinate to then fan-favourite Agent Phil Coulson as part of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Crater Site in New Mexico to examine Mjølnir when it fell from the sky.

I did enjoy in the recent What If episode depicting a grieving Hank Pym murdering all the potential Avengers recruits, how they kept to this story introduction of Hawkeye being in his crows nest targeting Thor with his bow, but with Pym's interference this time around Hawkeye unintentionally kills Thor and is subsequently murdered himself by Pym while detained.

But Hawkeye isn't seen again until two movies later where, again, his character development is minimal but it does show his trajectory from S.H.I.E.L.D. agent to Avenger with a bout of mind control in between at the hands of Loki and the then unnamed Mind Stone.

From these first two appearances, there is not a lot laid out to be too invested in the character unless, like me, you were already invested in the character going in.

i love an archer in any franchise. Green Arrow, Legolas, Katniss Everdeen, if I was in a team in the fantasy or superhero genre I would hope to be an archer, so naturally I am always going to gravitate towards the archer of any team.

However, unlike 4 of the other Avengers at the time, I had never seen Hawkeye in an animated series or the comics prior to Jeremy Renner's portrayal in the MCU. So I had nothing to compare his performance to. Whereas Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and Hulk I had seen in the 90s animated shows and other media so I knew about them.

Archer Avenger:

When the Avengers officially formed in the third act of Avengers Assemble (2012), I really enjoyed the fact that Hawkeye proved why having an archer in the team is equivalent to having a teleporter in the team, archers can be positioned anywhere as long as they have a good visual and teleporters get you into places.

Now yes, the comparisons between Hawkeye and Green Arrow are probably more notable than other Marvel/DC comparisons because both Oliver Queen and Clint Barton are human mortal men with a bow and trick arrows and the only real difference is the colour scheme. However, Hawkeye is a lot more light-hearted rather than brooding as is the comparison between Marvel and DC Comics in general, but also...Hawkeye cares about his teammates whereas from what I have seen of Green Arrow he either positions them like soldiers or does his own thing.

The fact he was concerned about Natasha in both Avengers Assemble and Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), while simultaneously focusing on the mission just shows the heart that Hawkeye brings to the team.

Speaking of Natasha, I find it really annoying that both Clint and Natasha effectively were introduced at the same time with the same abilities and skillset, yet just because maybe Black Widow being the only female Avenger at the time, she was propelled into mainstream fan-favourtism yet Hawkeye was seen as the joke of the team. Both are effectively civilians and yes while Natasha was trained by the Red Room while she and Clint were also both trained by S.H.I.E.L.D, Hawkeye's skills are a lot more long-range whereas Black Widow's are more up close.

Even the joke that Natasha makes at the beginning of Age of Ultron of "Pretending to care about this guy really brings the team together", while a joke and a somewhat meta reference to the fact that at the time fans weren't sure about Hawkeye's worth to the team, was still not in great taste for me as a fan of the character.

I do also really enjoy the fact that every Hawkeye appearance has shown a display of Clint's spy skillset. Breaking into that vault to steal that ore by using that retina gadget for Loki, trying to track down Natasha using old S.H.I.E.L.D. tracking technology, setting up that defence trap for Vision when going to recruit Wanda for Team Cap. All these things aren't really displayed well even in actual spy movies let alone superhero movies but he does it so seamlessly.

I stand by the fact that Hawkeye is also the most competent Avenger, at least the original 6. Hulk is way too out of control to be competent, at least for his first few appearances, Iron Man and Thor rely to much on bravado and showboating, even Cap to a degree did that, whereas Black Widow, as pointed out hilariously by Yelena, spends a lot of time posing.

Hawkeye meanwhile, goes in, has his arrows, gets the job done. Even puts his life at risk with saving civilians...to the cost of his teammates sometimes granted but ultimately I do think he has the highest success rate, yes you could say that is Iron Man for wiping out Thanos or Thor for killing Thanos but Hawkeye got the gauntlet out of the wreckage to the surface fighting off hoards of horribles so technically it's a team victory.

Family Man:

Like I said, Hawkeye isn't just solely about the mission, his strength is his compassion for others and this is revealed in the second Avengers movie to centre on his family. Now granted, at this point Hawkeye did not have a solo movie to explore his character development so for the middle act of an Avengers movie to be partially centric on his development was honestly the best contribution Whedon made to that movie.

I really enjoy having civilian stakes to a superhero story and for Hawkeye every time he is out there, there is a risk he could easily die. He has no powers, no armor...as he says later in the movie when Sokovia is in the sky...he has a bow and arrow. Yet he still puts his life on the line not just for the team but also the world.

Yes this did come at the loss of Quicksilver after one movie because while Ultron was firing on Hawkeye, Pietro decided selflessly to be a human shield to the barrage to save both Hawkeye and the young Sokovian boy he went back to save.

I was both surprised but glad that Wanda never blamed Clint for Pietro's murder, obviously it was Ultron's fault but Pietro died saving Clint, instead the two have become firm friends since the end Avengers: Age of Ultron.

The fact Clint retired from avenging after the events of Age of Ultron to be with his family and raise his newborn son, I thought was the right decision for him, I am however glad that as soon as he is called up to assist he does it again despite the consequences. Clint knew that going against the Sokovia Accords and siding with Cap against Tony would possibly not end in the best light for him, yet he still did it because he believed it's what was right.

Though when Tony baited him after he and the rest of Team Cap were sent to the Raft, I again thought that was a poor show on Tony's behalf...even when Stark found out that the events of Civil War had been orchestrated by Zemo, he still kept his friends and former teammates imprisoned without any show to try to get them released.

Had Clint not been under house arrest during Infinity War, I do imagine he would have helped out in some way. I don't know if he would have gone on the run with Cap, Falcon and Natasha because it seemed that Tony and his team were not his favourite people. But the fact he stayed behind to be the family man just added to the power of Avengers: Endgame opening scene.

Ronin's Rage:

Honestly Endgame's opening scene where we see Clint's entire family dusted with Clint not knowing what is happening due to I'm guessing not knowing the galactic-scale battle that was happening while he was teaching his daughter archery.

By the time of Avengers: Endgame (2019) I already knew about Ronin and Clint Barton's time as the mercenary in the comics, so seeing it in live-action I was very much looking forward to it. I thought the concept art of Jeremy Renner in the suit looked very cool and aside from archers I love samurais so was interested to see what drove him to be Ronin and what he did as Ronin.

Now unfortunately most of what we know of Clint as Ronin in the MCU to date is hearsay as we only see one scene of him actually as Ronin.

Side-note: I really want the Ronin suit but seeing a version of it in kids size in my local Disney store was torture because had it been around when I was a kid it would have definitely been on my birthday list.

Some people are comparing this scene to "Batman-lite" but I think the difference between Hawkeye and Ronin is the same difference as Green Arrow and Dark Archer, both civilians at heart with no enhanced superpower, but while Hawkeye doesn't seem to kill only defend or maim, Ronin killed with a code and with nothing else to lose now that his family has been snapped.

Friend til the End:

So what made Clint come back to the Avengers? Natasha, In fact every time Hawkeye has appeared in a movie, he shares the most screen time either with Natasha or more recently Wanda.

This is because Clint and Natasha have a history that was, up until recently, begging to be explored either in its own movie or Disney+ Series...Budapest. We do now of course know what happened in Budapest thanks to Black Widow (2021). But we never actually saw a younger Natasha and Clint interact in Budapest, we only heard Clint's voice.

As many fans have stated, the Black Widow movie would have been a lot better if it had taken place solely in Budapest telling the story how Natasha went from Red Room assassin to S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. One scene and a whole lotta exposition does not a great story make.

It also I think robbed fans of the opportunity for a two-hander Black Widow/Hawkeye buddy movie. Yes Hawkeye is now getting his own series but considering the trajectory of their friendship explored over the past ten years, it would have been a full circle moment for Natasha's final shown outing to include her best friend.

The actual culmination to this friendship was in Avengers: Endgame. Not just Natasha pulling Clint back from his dark spiral as Ronin, but their final sacrifice on Vormir for the soul stone which, of course, required a sacrifice.

It could not be anyone else other than these two to do this. There is no other pairing in the remaining Avengers of that time who it would be as potent for. Cap and Iron Man are frenemies at this point, Thor and Hulk are buddies but not as close as Nat and Clint, no other pairing would be a worthy sacrifice than Nat sacrificing Clint or Clint sacrificing Nat...but unlike Thanos murdering his supposed beloved adoptive daughter Gamora, neither Clint or Nat sacrificed the other and in fact both were trying to save the other by sacrificing themselves.

I loved the fact these were two people with dripping red ledgers, they weren't perfect people but they have amended for their past mistakes ten fold over the course of the MCU, or in Clint's case just by taking part in this time heist.

The fact Clint wanted to sacrifice himself because he had nothing left just shows how selfless he is. In one snap he lost his world, whereas Natasha has made so many wrong choices in her past that she felt sacrificing herself to save the world would wipe her ledger.

Both are selfless acts, but Natasha also knew that if she sacrificed herself, Clint could get his world back.

I love how simple Hawkeye's life is in the MCU, not meaning to sound patronising but he only needs his family and that's his life, they go all at once and that's his world gone.

Even after Natasha dies, Clint I feel has survivors guilt and it will be interesting to see if this crops up in the upcoming Hawkeye series, he lived because his best friend sacrificed herself.

Passing On The Bow?:

Clint now has his family back and, from what we see in the trailers and tv spots for the upcoming Hawkeye series, his life is pretty good again. He's spending Christmas with his family, or at least his kids as we don't know where Laura is, but then naturally things go wrong.

I absolutely love the idea of sidekicks finally coming into the MCU, because Marvel Comics doesn't traditionally handle sidekicks, that's definitely more a DC trope. Marvel has the Young Avengers but despite their first comic series being called "Sidekicks" they are not actually sidekicks and more fanboys and girl who want to be like their idols.

However, with this version of Kate Bishop, it seems that she is either the protégé or sidekick to Clint in this series. The upcoming series definitely feels like a two-hander rather than just Kate being a supporting player, which I think is great because the series is called Hawkeye and the pair of them share that mantle in the comics, a bit like Black Widow with Natasha and Yelena.

I am also looking forward to exploring the quippier light-hearted side of Clint which we only see glimpses of. From what we see of the banter Clint has with Kate, it harkens back to Avengers: Age of Ultron with the earlier scenes of the team and Clint just being a goof.

You could argue that Clint and Kate are partners and Lucky the Pizza Dog is the sidekick, but we'll see exactly how this dynamic plays out over the six episodes.

But does this series mean the end of Clint Barton as Hawkeye in the MCU with Kate inheriting the mantle? We know that Clint has tried to retire now three times but like the old saying goes he keeps being pulled back in...so will having someone take his place allow him to formally retire and maybe come back in a mentorship role?

Hopes and Wishes:

If Hawkeye is the final time we see Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye then honestly I would be upset losing him but not because he hasn't lived up to expectations, the last ten years have ticked most of the boxes from what I wanted to see from the character and even surpassed them to some degree.

I would really like it if this series maybe explored the fact Clint maybe became deaf as a result of Endgame to tie-in with his comic-book counterpart of being deaf, if for no other reason but to add more real-world representation to the character making him possibly the most relatable character in the MCU.

Also, as has already been hinted at in the trailers, I am looking forward to seeing more trick arrows. I think Arrow has shown fans just how fun and imaginative trick arrows can be and so to have them in the context of the MCU I feel will be really entertaining.

I do also hope that this series does not end on a sombre or morbid note for Clint Barton. Even if he just retires completely going forward I still want the option of him returning one day. If Bruce Banner can come back why not Hawkeye?

So those are my thoughts on why, to me, Hawkeye is the best Avenger, what do you guys think? Post your comments, get ready for the upcoming Hawkeye series starting on Disney+ this coming Wednesday (24th November), and check out more Superhero Spotlights as well as other posts.

#hawkeye #mcu #marvel cinematic universe #marvel #clint barton #thor #avengers assemble #avengers age of ultron #captain america civil war #avengers: infinity war #avengers endgame #black widow #kate bishop #jeremy renner

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thesaltofcarthage · 3 years

Text

Loki takes over: Tom Hiddleston on his new TV series and a decade in the MCU

from Entertainment Weekly

Ten years after Hiddleston first chose chaos in Thor, Marvel’s fan favorite God of Mischief is going even bigger with his time-bending Disney+ show.

By Chancellor Agard May 20, 2021

"He's been around for thousands of years. He had all sorts of adventures," says Feige. "Wanting to fill in the blanks and see much more of Loki's story [was] the initial desire [for the series]."

Yet, in order to understand where Loki is going, it's important to see where he came from.

"It felt very, very final, and I thought, 'Okay, that's it. This is Loki's final bow and a conclusive end to the Odinson saga,'" says Hiddleston, who shot that well-earned death scene in 2017.

But, though he didn't know it yet, the actor's MCU story was far from over.

“The series will explore Loki's powers in a way they have not yet been explored, which is very, very exciting.”

Additional reporting by Jessica Derschowitz

#loki #loki series #tom hiddleston #entertainment weekly

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