#avengers endgame trailer 2

[juiles]

All to well

Plot: idk. have fun!

Type: angst and fluff

Warnings: i am in no way saying that this is how all autistic people are!! This fic is based off my PERSONAL experience with autism and sensory overload. Please remember this as you read!!

Masterlist here!

Request here!

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Being autistic has drawbacks for a normal person, but for an actress in Marvel movies, it was tough. I’m proud of who I am but I didn’t want the pitying looks, the comments or being stuck as only getting the “autistic” role so for my own sake, I’m not super open about it.

My parents are ashamed of it so they never told anyone and I was forced to mask anytime I was around anyone. Not even Scar knew, and she was my best friend, almost a mother figure to me. I didn’t want her to think any different of me. She’s known me since i was 7 and played her on screen adopted daughter in Iron Man 2.

We’re filming Endgame right now. I’m on my way to set with Scarlett. Today has been a rough day for me so far as my parents woke me up by screaming at me which then caused me to struggle in keeping my mask up. Scar picked me up and I’m already exhausted, I’ve caught myself stimming a few times and quickly stopped it.

When we pulled into the parking lot, i grabbed my bag and walked with her through set to our trailers where we left our stuff and we’re immediately shuffled to makeup and costumes.

“Oh shit…” I mutter staring at the costume in Erica’s hand. “I didn’t realize it was a fight scene today…”

“Babe.” Erica, my assistant and on set guardian says. She’s known about me since the first day which was when i was 7. “You’ve known about this for a week. Are you okay?”

“I’m super over stimulated right now…” I murmur tapping my leg in sets of 7, a common stim for me.

“Let’s do hair and makeup first okay? Keep you out of the costume until the last second okay?” I nod and the two of us move to hair and makeup where Scarlett is getting her hair done.

“Hey, where’s your costume kid?” She asks looking over at me.

“I uh-“ I glance at Erica who steps in for me quickly.

“It had a small tear in it so it’s getting fixed quickly.” Scarlet merely hums in response and I sit. Getting my wig on and makeup done is awful, having everyone touching me and all their voices so close to me ears. I feel a soft hand on my cheek and peek my eyes open to see Scar staring at me in concern.

“Stop grinding your jaw babe…” I release my jaw, not even realizing i had been doing it. “You okay love? You disappeared for a bit there.” I respond with a hum, my voice disappearing from within. “Let’s get your costume on and to set okay?”

I look around quickly and don’t see Erica, Scarlet must see the panic as she quickly says. “She got called away in an emergency. I’m going to be your guardian today.” I nod, feeling the panic bubble up in my chest, but give her a soft smile.

The two of us make our way to my trailer and she helps me quickly slip into the suit. I immediately want to rip it off as it’s skin tight and an uncomfortable material. It feels like it’s digging into my skin and pulling it away as if it’s velcro and my skin is the other side. I take a deep breath and come out to see Scar in costume waiting. “Ready?” I nod and we head to set where I realize it’s a busy day, all original 6 avengers, Lizzie, both Paul’s, Gwen and Cobie are all there. I internally groan as immediately, the girls are coming over to me and Scar talking a mile a minute. I stand next to Scarlett silently until Lizzie turns to me. “Hey kiddo. Ready to fight? We have to fly today.” My eyes widen for a moment before i force a smile and nod at the fake red head in front of me.

“What? Cat got your tongue?” This makes everyone around us laugh but it makes me feel awful. I have no voice, it comes and goes, when it’s gone, my parents ridicule me, I get hit. I look down as i feel my tears well up in my eyes and blink rapidly trying to will them away. I thank god silently when Joe calls us to places which means i get away from the now very suddenly concerned looking Scarlett, Lizzie and Cobie. I’m stuck with Renner as I get rigged up, the feeling of being sick suddenly appearing as more people touch me.

I feel the lump in my throat tighten and the feeling of the harness wrapped around me suddenly makes me feel like it’s constricting my breathing and everyone around me disappeared as my hands flung to the harness, in my panic my hands struggled with the buckle which just made me more infuriated and grunts started coming out as my tears blurred my vision.

I feel a set of hands on mine holding them down, i scream and rip mine away and start scratching at my throat trying to rip it open to get a breath. My eyes started blacking out and the last thing i see is Scarlett’s panicked face as she tries to grab at my hands before it all goes black.

Scarlett’s POV

I know something is off with y/n. Not off but just that she was different. I have had a feeling it was autism for a while now, today proved that to me.

She was silent the whole car ride to set, normally she’d be singing along the radio but she wouldn’t even let me turn it on today. As soon as we got to set she locked herself in her trailer without a word, the next time i saw her, she looked panicked and while she was getting her hair and makeup done she disappeared fully before i brought her back. She has days where she goes mute, she just calls them her bad days, they usually happen on days she has arguments with her parents but normally she can still communicate to me in different ways but today she was completely gone. It got worse as soon as she realized Erica was gone. Walking on to set, she tended up and i saw her tapping her thigh every once in a while. The comment that Lizzie made would normally make her laugh, her reaction today was off.

I watched her from the corner of my eye but had to look away for a second before i heard Renner.

“Y/N!! What are you doing?! You’re going to hurt yourself!” I whip my head around and my heart sinks as i see y/n struggling with her harness, her hands are shaking violently, tears streaming down her face, her eyes are glazed over. I bolt over and grab her hands gently.

“Y/n baby, stop. You’ve got to stop my love.” She rips her hands out of mine and starts clawing at her throat which is when i notice she’s not breathing properly. She’s barely able to get a small breath. Instincts kick in for me and i turn to the cast and crew crowding her. “Give her space. Now. I need someone to set up a dark room with minimal sound and her clothes she was wearing this morning as well as the blanket from my trailer. A cold cloth and her wig taken off.” I turn around as she starts to collapse, i grab her arm and quickly wrap an arm around her waist. “Now!”

It’s a bit of a blur after that honestly, the next thing i know, im alone with her in the green room after everything is unplugged and blankets are draped over the windows. Her wig is already off and someone hands me my blanket and her clothes before silently leaving. I help her unconscious body out of the suit and into her clothes before draping my weighted blanket over her body. I sit back and stare at her, not touching her at all but close enough if she needs me.

It felt like hours but looking at my watch, it shows it’s only been 20 minutes when she finally wakes up.

My heart is beating what feels like a million mile a minute with panic as i watch her blue eyes flutter open before she looks around the room for a moment. Her hand comes out of the blanket and she starts tapping her thigh again, her head nodding along to each tap. She squeezes her eyes shut and i can hear her voice mumbling. “I’m safe. I’m here. I’m y/n.” Over and over again, i quietly cough to get her attention and she quickly sits up and her head whips up to look at me with wide eyes, both hands start scratching at the other wrist. “Oh my god…”

“Baby, you are safe. It’s just me.”

“No… no… no no no no no no no no.” She started tugging her hair and rocking slightly. “They’re going to kill me… you aren’t supposed to know…”

I quickly scoot over and grab her hands before pulling her into my chest, she tenses for a moment before melting into my arms. “I can’t hide it anymore Scar…”

“I know baby… I know.” I mutter into her hair swaying us back and forth slightly.

“I’m autistic…”

“Oh baby i know…” She freezes and looks at me with wide eyes. I can ready the fear in her blue eyes. “You hide it really really well but I’m basically your mom my love. I had suspicions but didn’t want to push you into telling me. Today was too much.” She nods burying herself back into me. “I need you to know that I will always listen to you. That if you ever feel like that again, you can tell me and i’ll get you out of it. Baby seeing you pass out was terrifying. I need you to know that if you’re that overwhelmed, that you do not have to do all that.”

“But… my parents don’t want everyone knowing… they’re all gonna know now…” She mumbles into me, my heart cracks.

“Baby being autistic is not a bad thing. It makes you even more amazing. It’s not something to be ashamed of at all. You are allowed to be who you are. To stim when your emotions are too high. To have bad days. I am here to show you that.” I say looking her directly into her eyes. “I’m here to support you.”

Tears welled up in her eyes as she nodded quickly. She sat up and started tapping her thigh as she stared at me. “This is my favourite stim, it’s really subtle but it calms me down… i count the most important people in my life.” She then looks down at her hand as she taps each finger. “Scarlett.” Tap. “Lizzie.” Tap. “Renner.” Tap. “Gwen.” Tap. “Cobie.” Tap. “Rob.” Tap. “Rosie.” Tap. “It reminds me that you guys would love me, no matter how broken or weird i am because i know how much you care.” She looked up at me through her eyelashes. “Another one is tapping here.” She taps her chest right above her heart twice. “Right here.” She does the tap to each word. “This is where you sit in my body. I usually only do this one when I’m not wearing my necklace. Playing with that is the stim i can do out in public.” I pulled her into my arms again as I cried.

“Oh baby…”

“You’ve always been my safe space Scar…”

“And i will be your safe space for the rest of eternity.”

We sit in silence for a few minutes before she pulls away with a smile. “Thank you. For learning how to help me.”

“You are more than welcome my love. Let’s go home and have a calm day okay?” She nods before standing up, pulling my weighted blanket over herself. I stand and wrapping my arms around her waist, the two of us make our way out of the room to find Lizzie standing not too far away, crying into Gwyneths arms. Y/n instantly runs over to her and wraps her arms around the crying woman. Lizzie jumps before she turns and sees who it is and wraps the girl into her arms.

“I’m so sorry bug. I shouldn’t have made that comment. I know how bad your parents are.” Y/n shakes her head pulling back and squeezes Lizzie’s hands. “Liz that wasn’t what caused that.” She takes a glance back at me before taking a deep breath and looks back at Lizzie. “I’m autistic and I was overstimulated and everything was just too much. I won’t lie, the comment did hurt a little but i know you didn’t say it in a mean way. You didn’t hurt me, memories of my parents saying stuff hurt me. But not you.” Lizzie’s eyes widen and she glances at me before she nods breathing to calm herself down. “If you ever need to talk or are struggling you can talk to me bug.”

Y/n nods with a small smile. “I know Liz.”

“Hey. Me too.” We all turn our head to see Gwyneth with a pout on her face. “You scared the shit out of me kiddo. Never do that again. Understand?” She pulls y/n’s laughing form into her arms.

“I understand mother Paltrow.” She says making us all chuckle.

Y/n pulls away and biting her cheek looks at me. “I- i uh- I’m not ready to face everyone else yet…”

“They already left bug. It’s just us four left.” Lizzie said smoothing the crazy hair down on y/n’s head. “I couldn’t leave worried i hurt you and Gwyn couldn’t leave me alone but everyone else left to give you privacy. Scarlett went full mama bear mode and screamed at some people for trying to push her into anything. It was great.” Y/n chuckled, which brings a grin to my face.

“Of course you did. But i wouldn’t trade you for the world.”

“I love you too baby.” I say kissing her head softly.

#marvel imagine #avengers imagine #mcu imagine #elizabeth olsen #scarlett johansson imagine #scarlett johansson fluff #scarlett johansson #scarlett johansson x daughter!reader #scarlett johansson x teen!reader #scarlett johansson x child!reader #scarlett johansson x kid!reader #elizabeth olsen imagine #elizabeth olsen x platonic!reader #elizabeth olsen x teen!reader #avengers cast x teen!reader #avengers cast x reader #cobie smulders #cobie smulders x teen!reader #cobie smulders imagine #gwyneth paltrow

[charcubed]

Disneyland's Rogers: The Musical, propaganda that turns Steve Rogers into more myth than man, and revisionist history (possibly) to a purpose

Any of my thoughts in this post could just be me reading too far into things. I'm very aware of that, and please know that this post exists just because this sort of thing is fun for me! This is a thought exercise where we propose "What if we live in a world where the MCU is actually doing a cool and interesting thing as a longcon?" If you have anger at Marvel, that's valid and relatable, but please don't get angry at me or imply I'm an MCU stan who doesn't think critically about the mouse. Thanks!

Breaking news: I'm back on my bullshit!

A quick personal recap: I infamously hated Avengers: Endgame for a long list of reasons (and I even rewrote the movie). One of those reasons is that I've always taken issue with Steve's ending. But in the years since then, and as the MCU's phase 4 has evolved, my frustration at Steve's "ending" has turned into an ongoing and legitimate theory that the MCU could be slowly leading into a loosely adapted Secret Empire plot line. I know we've all been joking about Steve being trapped or about an imposter Steve since 2019, but uhhh, it's kind of not a joke to me anymore? It feels weirdly plausible at this point and so I enjoy discussing the potential.

You can find a full elaboration on that here, where I wrote out my "Steve was snatched by HYDRA" theory in 2021.

In that post, one of the things I mentioned at the time was Rogers: The Musical being in the Hawkeye trailer.

[The musical's] very existence is an example of how in-universe the stories of the lives of the heroes are being commodified, especially (in terms of how they’re framing it) for Steve’s. The heroes are no longer seen as people, if they ever were. They are, as Kate Bishop says to Clint in a recently released clip, more about “branding.” Sam Wilson will be redefining the shield moving forward in a Cap context, but simultaneously, the world is still enamored by Steve Rogers as a symbol in his own right. And that is ripe for manipulation as a Trojan horse to control public opinion… whether in the context of things like this by themselves (is the musical portraying Steve accurately, or is it painting an inaccurate picture of him the world accepts as fact?) or in future (is this propaganda that makes the public see Steve a certain way and continue to love him, to set up a fake or brainwashed Steve coming on the scene later?).

Now a form of the musical exists in full, at Disneyland and all over Youtube. Considering some of its baffling content – which I will break down below – this perspective seems even more strongly worth considering.

I have two main reasons for why I'm defending examining this musical so closely:

1. It is (arguably) an in-universe piece of media that has bearing on the MCU canon. It isn't like any other typical Disneyland attraction; its very existence is meta and it was in canon first. Obviously it's seen in Hawkeye, but there are also posters for it in several different phase 4 properties. It's lurking in the background indefinitely. So what can this musical tell us about what the wider public within the MCU is being told about the life story of Steve Rogers?

2. This Secret Empire graphic – which is animated in the center of the stage of a prolonged period of time – feels like a literal sign to pay attention.

Granted, this is obviously still ancillary material. 99% of the MCU audience will never see this musical, whether in person or on YouTube. But just because it isn't a vital piece doesn't mean it's automatically an entirely irrelevant piece.

They've given me an inch with that sign and I'm taking a mile.

So if you're interested, please join me on this journey :)

For the record, let me just say that I salute the creative team behind this show. It's pretty fun and the songs are catchy, the sets and costuming are cool, and the cast is overall very talented.

It's also fucking maddening. LMAO.

Why? Firstly, because of the seemingly deliberate ahistorical inaccuracies. We all know Ant-Man is wrongly shown in the Battle of New York, which originally "came from [the Hawkeye showrunner] and Marvel, as something to further aggravate Hawkeye as he watched the show, and also as a comment on how movies and articles and people always get something wrong." It seems like they expanded those meta nods, but most inaccuracies are now in service of glorifying Steve and Peggy's "love story." Yes, romance objectively makes for good theater; but again, I feel that this is worth examining considering the full context.

And secondly, Steve's ending is framed as an offer presented to him, convincing him it's the happy ending he deserves because he's tired. In my mind, these two big elements go together, and I'll walk you through the details of what happens in the musical before I tie the thought threads back around into some theorizing.

For your reference, here's a list of the main songs and story beats:

• "U-S-Opening Night" - the Starkettes (who are basically a Greek chorus) frame the show's story, and then it turns into an ensemble that loosely takes place at the Stark Expo. • "I Want You" – Steve's "I want" song about trying to enlist in the army. • "Star-Spangled Man With A Plan" – Steve performing on the USO tour obviously, and then there's a reprise with an added voiceover that (very briefly) covers the Howling Commandos' rescue + the war via comic book imagery. • "What You Missed" – Fury and the Starkettes tell Steve some pop culture things he missed while he was frozen, + they tell him about the Avengers. Then Fury goes down a list of other hero characters, including the Guardians? Doctor Strange? Wanda?? It plays loose and fast with time, because many non-2012 characters are bafflingly mentioned in this nonlinear Avengers list – including the Winter Soldier (???). • "Save the City" – this is the song seen in Hawkeye, with the civilians + the Avengers all involved, but it's slightly different here and expanded to also reference other battles. • "End of the Line" – Old Steve presents main Steve with the time stone as an opportunity for his happy ending, and they reflect on things together. (Yes, this is insane.) • "Just One Dance" – Steve and Peggy reunite and sing about their love. • And then there's basically a reprise of "Save the City," with the Starkettes and the whole cast closing the finale out.

Right out of the gate, let's address this: the main reason you're going to see some fans pissed about this musical is not only that Steve and Peggy's ~epic romance~ is made a pillar of the story... but also that Bucky's importance/involvement in Steve's life is minimized as much as possible.

And they took Bucky-related elements from canon and made them center more around Peggy instead.

• For some weird reason, Peggy is in the Stark Expo scene. When a soldier is hitting on the Starkettes ("hey sweetheart, I wanna dance!"), Steve tells the soldier to show the ladies some respect. The soldier grabs Steve and throws him down, and then Peggy swoops in to yell "Pick on someone your own size!" and punches the guy before walking away. So she's given Bucky's TFA line verbatim, and she is given the role he had of saving Steve from bullies. There is blatantly no reason they couldn't have had Bucky still serve that function and be truer to "history," because he briefly enters this scene in uniform less than a minute later to announce he's shipping out to the 107th – and then he spins off with a date on his arm. (We don't see Bucky on stage again until the full cast comes out for the finale!)

• After the Star-Spangled Man show, Peggy rushes in to talk to Steve. Steve is excited about his USO performance (???) but she urgently tells him to listen as she says that the 107th has been captured. Peggy apparently knows it's Bucky's division, and she knows Steve is going to go, so she tells him that she's already arranged transport for him. This is a subtle twist from the truth of how it went down in TFA, in which Steve recognized 107 as the number of Bucky's division, and his dogged determination inspired Peggy to relent and help his rescue mission. Here, Peggy is given a stronger role in the Cap origin story. And before Steve rushes off, Peggy sings a short untitled ballad hoping for their dance, so Steve pauses before he leaves to ask her to go on a date with her when he returns. • The most egregious Bucky-to-Peggy change of all is the song "End of the Line," in which the infamous Steve and Bucky line/promise (that broke Bucky's brainwashing...) is re-contextualized to be about ???? Peggy waiting for Steve in the past??? Old Man Steve and regular Steve sing it together. But we'll go back to that in a minute.

Again, I get it, yeah? It's for theater. Whatever. But in reality, the obvious logical truth is that Peggy is centered (to the point of taking elements from Bucky's story, and in turn Bucky is downplayed) because they needed to convince the audience that Steve going back in time to be with her makes sense. Steve's time travel ending had to be justified, so the Peggy and Steve "love story" had to be a pillar in this with everything else being given lesser weight.

And the inherent selfishness of him doing something as big as going back in time also had to be justified... which is why they do their best to convince you Steve fought so much he deserved it.

Let me elaborate on that by describing the lead-up to the "End of the Line" song.

So, right before "End of the Line" is "Save the City" – which includes Steve belting "I can do this all day!" repeatedly, of course. It's the 2012 Battle of New York as the Avengers come together to win.

As they begin to disperse, the song then transitions to a voiceover alert mentioning Sokovia being under attack by artificial intelligence (a.k.a. Age of Ultron). The Avengers group rushes back to center stage to say "Save the city! Help us win!" together for battle again.

And then things get fucking weird.

Because the next voiceover threat is "Washington DC. Attack: the Winter Soldier." This is not accurate to the order of events! The Winter Soldier events were before Age of Ultron; the public of the MCU would also know this.

And suddenly on stage Steve is now in the center while everyone else gestures to him. Instead of singing with him, they're telling him "Save the city! Help us win!"

Then, another voiceover: "Wakanda, under attack" (Infinity War) and again, Steve is centered while everyone else points to him. The ensemble says, "Save the city, help us win! Save us all from the state we're in! Got to hear you, got to hear you, got to hear you say..." as Steve is buckling to his knees under their pointing. And as the lights go down to one spotlight on him and everyone else leaves, he says "I can do this all day" one last time, but now it's subdued.

The implication is that Steve has been fighting and fighting, people leave him or he loses them, and he's tired.

And then fucking Old Man Steve arrives.

He says "On your left," because yes, they gave him Sam Wilson's line. BATSHIT.

So now there's two Steves on stage! There has been no mention of Thanos or infinity stones or anything up to this point! (I can only assume that's because in the MCU universe no one would want to be reminded of the trauma of "the Blip" – though it's pretty wild that they're allowed to know about magical time travel?)

Steve is baffled by Old Man Steve's arrival. I, too, was baffled by Old Man Steve's arrival.

As Steve questions how this is possible, Old Man Steve shows him the time stone from his pocket – and only the time stone – which Steve recognizes.

OLD MAN: "You've got to remember where you've been to know where you're going." STEVE: "Where am I going?" OLD MAN: "A date with destiny." STEVE: “Destiny. So we’re the hero till the end?” OLD MAN: “That’s the thing about endings, Steven. They can be rewritten.”

Lmao???????

Steve starts singing about how he hopes this means they "win" and calls himself a "tired hero."

STEVE: "But sometimes I wonder, who will save the savior? Can we really do this all day? So here I am, now and also then. Just a man, looking back at where he's been." OLD MAN: "The road is rough but wounds are healed by a thing called time. You can't forget what's waiting at the end of the line."

Me, watching this: the fact that he says this out of the blue makes absolutely no sense.

There's a bit more singing, including "end of the line" repetition, and then Old Man Steve pulls out the time stone to essentially show visions of... I don't fucking know. Past, present, and future?

That's pre-serum Steve, Steve with Mjolnir, and Sam Wilson as the new Cap. This is the only reference to Sam in the whole thing.

More singing, and then: Peggy's silhouette.

OLD MAN: "Can't forget who's waiting..." STEVE: "I can't forget who's waiting..." BOTH: "Don't forget who's waiting..." STEVE: "At the end of the line."

At this point I'm like, what in the hell?

Did Old Man Steve just brainwash normal Steve into thinking "end of the line" is now about Peggy? Because uhhhh, sorry, that's what it feels like!

Then Steve uses the stone to go back in time, reunites with Peggy, etc. etc. finale.

It's truly some crazy shit.

[drags hands down face]

Look... there's a lot to unpack here, and there's a lot that gets me about it. I know this is dramatized for the stage! I KNOW! But the fact that Old Man Steve shows up to convince Steve he should go back in time makes me want to gnaw on furniture.

Another person essentially uses the lure of a life with Peggy to tempt Steve into doing this, dramatized or not. That is how it's framed.

It's a hell of a way to frame it, and it makes Steve's ending stand in even starker contrast to so many other things in phase 4. Desperately trying to go backwards when you shouldn't or to bring back a lost lover is an evil temptation, and it results in a trap or negative cosmic consequences for basically all of the other characters in the MCU.

• In Shang-Chi, Wenwu is tempted by the Soul Eaters beyond the Dark Gate. They use the voice of his deceased wife to convince him to set them free. • In "What If" episode 4, Doctor Strange becomes evil in a desperate bid to save Christine and he destroys his universe. Along the way, he tries to tempt/trap the good Strange who's fighting him by using visions of Christine, but good Strange knows she isn't real. • Wanda's grief and desire to bring back Vision leads to – well, you know. • In No Way Home, Peter trying to undo things is what causes the multiverse problems.

And the fact that they frame it as Steve being tired, so basically the argument is he deserves that time travel ending (just like MCU fans who defend Endgame say in real life)... Well.

There's no way to make it hold up, especially because in "What If" they explicitly subverted that and had Captain Carter not go back in time despite how she felt she'd "earned" it.

Lastly, in this musical as Steve decides to pursue time travel as his course of action, he basically has the meaning or memory of "end of the line" rewritten for him. I refuse to not think that is some nefarious shit. Yes, it's not out of the realm of possibility that it's just some general Disney erasing Steve and Bucky nonsense.

But... this is on another level to me. I do think that it's a blatant choice that they had to be aware even general MCU fans would call bullshit on. Everyone knows it's inaccurate. "End of the line" is embedded in pop culture consciousness as being connected to Bucky. It just is! Surely that means it's not a stretch to theorize it could be deliberate meta commentary.

How, in the MCU world, would the in-universe playwrights even know the phrase "end of the line"? How the fuck would it be accidentally applied to Steve and Peggy? Not to sound like a crazy person, but who the fuck was rooting around in Steve and/or Bucky's personal business or their brains in order to obtain that knowledge and then remix it, and why? Neither of them would flippantly mention it in the public eye or interviews ever. So where did its inclusion come from?

And in the finale ensemble, this is Bucky's line when he comes out on stage and salutes + points to Steve: "Don't forget who's waiting..." And Old Man Steve completes it with "...at the end of the line."

What on God's green earth am I meant to do with THAT?

Smh.

The vibes are fucked, folks.

The MCU public wouldn't know enough to say the vibes are fucked. The MCU public wouldn't know the origin of "end of the line" as a phrase. But us? The ones who know the "true story" via the movies? We can call bullshit.

Whether the creative team behind this musical did every aspect of this consciously or not, in my opinion the fact that they had to tweak canon "history" to A) make Peggy's involvement in Steve's life more central and B) emphasize Steve as a tired hero all works as commentary on and almost a condemnation of Endgame's frustrating ending. In a way, it's also what Endgame did with the compass and 1973 moment with Peggy as well.

Steve's ending had to be convincing.

It's theater.

And so, maybe the same is true for the in-narrative perspective of this musical in the context of the MCU world. What purpose would it serve to tell the MCU public a feel-good narrative about how all Steve Rogers wanted was to no longer be a tragic man out of time and get to make a life with his best girl? To frame it as being about how he fought so hard for years and so he earned a happy ending? To minimize and nearly erase Bucky's importance in his life?

Who would want to do that sort of propaganda, and why?

The MCU civilians are given this happy explanation and maybe don't widely question it. Who cares about the details or logistics if it makes a good story, I guess. It's a stretch, but maybe they mostly applaud it. Maybe they're happy for "America's favorite son" (not unlike people who uncritically liked Endgame). In a way, it's even a rehabilitation of his image (after the Accords) like putting the shield on the Statue of Liberty. And maybe they'd even be ready and waiting to applaud if Steve ever made a dramatically selfless and de-aged return to the spotlight or a position of authority.

But mostly, the public is being conditioned to not know or to forget that anyone else like Bucky Barnes or Sam Wilson would possibly know Steve Rogers the person well enough in the modern day to call bullshit on any of this – or on his hypothetical miraculous future return.

So. Sure, it's probably nothing.

But what if it's not?

-------

UPDATE: @faeriecap added to this post with some incredible information and further behind-the-scenes context about the MCU/Marvel stuff at Disney parks! Check it out here :)

#rogers the musical #rogers: the musical #steve rogers #captain america #captain america meta #marvel meta #imposter steve #anti-endgame #peggy carter #stevebucky #mcu #marvel #stucky #anti-endgame steve #char writes things #me: is anyone else going to write about this being propaganda? no? fine I'll do it myself #I should not be posting it after midnight but I don't want to be tempted to fucking look at it again tomorrow. be gone you monster

[777cherry-blossom777]

SPOILERS FOR STRANGER THINGS VOLUME 2

Ok here’s a list of why everyone is saying volume 2 was so much worse than every other part (part 6).

Im putting all the groups in seperate posts so its not too long. Here’s just the overall reasons it sucked.

GENERAL

1. The fucking two day time skip. Oh please. First of all, that was the most pathetic excuse to not show everyone trying to get out of the upside down and/or grieving Eddie. It was like the duffers could see all the loose ends they left and just decided to make that time skip so if ever anyone asked they can say “oh yeah that was addressed in the two days afterwards”. Second, you’re telling me that I’m only two days, everyone made a miraculous recovery except Max and Dustin??? Where did his limp even come from? Duffers you can’t just give him a limp to show that he’s been in a fight he has to have actually INJURED HIS LEG. No scars or bruises on the teens faces, only Lucas’s black eye, Dustin’s limp, and Max’s everything. Ok so they got Max. But literally everyone else? And they’re not even upset about Max or Eddie??? What???

2. They went on and on about time this and time that and there was literally nothing to do with time. The clock was just to say that four people had to die before times up (great pun but wtf). With all the actors saying this season would be carnage, I was expecting an Avengers Endgame type thing, where El somehow reversed time. But, much like pretty much every other plot point from volume 1, it was completely ignored.

3. Angela? She was just gone? Mike and El never discussed it again? Yet another point from volume 1 they forgot about.

4. Will’s birthday. I still can’t believe they forgot that.

5. How did no one in Hawkins notice the giant glowing red x in the ground from all the murder sites in the earthquake zone??? What?

6. The whole team just let Eddie be called a murderer??? And they just left his body in the upside down and were all fine except Dustin??? Once again, what???

7. Max’s mum not being in the hospital room and her trailer probably being destroyed seeing as it was right next to Eddie’s. Obviously she’s most likely dead, and yet they never addressed that?

8. The relationship between the mind flayer and Vecna was never addressed?

9. The fact that the upside down was frozen in time was never addressed???

10. All the queerbaiting. And using their only queer characters to further straight relationships.

Honestly this whole volume felt like it was made by completely different people with no idea what they’re doing.

#stranger things #stranger things 4 #duffer brothers hate squad #why volume 2 sucked #byler #will byers #robin x vickie #ronance #robin buckley #mike wheeler #eddie munson #steddie #nancy wheeler #vickie stranger things

[percheduphere]

This image bothers me so much.

I wrote 2 long posts on speculation of a time loop occurring, where I think Mobius and Sylvie are in the narrative, and what may happen next if Loki, Mobius, and Sylvie are indeed the 3 original timekeepers.

Theory Post 1: read here

Theory Post 2: read here

I haven't discussed where Loki's positioned on the narrative in-depth. We know that his growth, very much influenced by his relationship with Mobius, has led him to:

1. Trust others

2. Believe in others

3. Care for others

4. Self-Reflect

5. Compassion for self

6. Compassion for others

7. Rely on others

NOTE: I don't think Loki ever lacked these capabilities. They were just pummeled by trauma. Mobius knew this, which is why he emotionally invested in him.

There are three plot points Loki needs to meet:

1. Convince Sylvie to join his side by passing on how he's transformed from Mobius's compassion to her.

2. Communicate, in no uncertain terms, how much Mobius means to him.

3. Discover the timeloop and break it to free the timestream they're all in.

Point #7, under his growth, is what makes me dislike the above screen capture. It suggests a self-sacrificial move to either fix or remove the Loom on his own. The implication would be that he's grown to the point of sacrificing himself for others, but we've already seen him do this in Avengers: Endgame. And honestly, he's died and suffered enough times that this feels exhaustingly rote.

On top of this, Loki may additionally be challenged to reverse his stance on TVA recruitment and/or allow Mobius (John?), B-15, and Casey (and OB?) to return to their lives with no memory of him. In other words, out of love for these people, he will sacrifice his friendships with them and choose to be alone (with the potential exception of Sylvie). Doing all of these things may break the timeloop, and it would certainly not be something HWR would expect (as he believes Loki is selfish).

Regardless, I hate this possibility. HATE IT. Yes, the self-sacrifice would show how far Loki's come, but I don't think heroism must always have such high costs. I would much rather have Mobius and Sylvie accompany Loki to the Loom, so that he will not have to make the sacrifice alone (proving that Loki ISN'T alone, but Mobius is not a god and wouldn't last 2 seconds at that level of temporal radiation.

My hope is the above screenshot was purposely used in the trailer as a mislead and that the true solution is something else.

My ideal outcome is for Loki to return everyone to their timelines with their memories intact. Everyone keeps in touch, stays friends, and can be called upon to reactivate the TVA as an emergency response team when needed. I would also love to see Mobius open his home to Loki (and Sylvie) if they need a place to stay and insist upon staying friends with regular visits (if not outright letting them live with him; besides he could use the childcare assistance). If the final shot is the entire team (B-15, Casey, OB, D-90...) sitting around Mobius's dinner table, sharing pie together, I will be so happy.

#loki #mobius #sylvie #lokius #sylki #loki season 2 #loki meta #mcu #my theories #my meta #loki speculation

[cleabellanov]

💙 hi and welcome to my ted talk about the latest episodes of what if, please read through (3) 💙

First of all. Why is season 2 so...happy?

I'm not complaining. Marvel has enough sad stories for a lifetime, but I found that, instead of exploring demises, we're now seeing victories. Old villains find their insight and become heroes (Hela, Nebula, Gamora) and lives are influenced for the better, earlier on (Peter Quill, Bucky, Hope).

It might be nothing.

But I think it's something.

You know what season 2 of what if comes right after? Season 2 of Loki. And, as you'll see at the end of this post, their colors are making themselves known.

Could it be that, from his throne, Loki got sick of watching sad stories and seeing worlds die? There is a chance, I don't know how plausible, but there is, that he's influencing all that we saw this season. A little hope here, a little time there, and, using their free will, everyone gets a second chance.

That, or Uatu felt bad for us and wanted to gift us in honor of New Year being in 1-2 days. Do tell me if you have additions on that.

If I had to bet on something, it would be the overall fan reaction to the opening scene. I screamed, yes. Did they expect us to see Loki's name there in the subtitles and be totally chill about it?

"To be or not to be, that is the question"

I can totally see Tom having this idea for the opening scene: just Loki reciting Hamlet, and altough to his brother's bordedom, acting from Shakespeare. And it was the best idea he could have.

It's a missable detail, but Thor mentions Mjölnir! And you know how? As a gift...for Loki!

He responds to that with "I...have misplaced it" which is, yeah, typical, but how do you just lose Mjölnir, Loki? The idea, however, is that he'd be able to lift it, which I would have loooved to see on screen. But this was fun to have too.

And the response to Captain Carter's "You're a bigger drama queen than your brother" (talking to Thor)?? 😭

"Blessed"

Can we also point out how insane it is that after just being stripped from her home in an unknown world, Peggy still wanted to help?

She not only has a hero's soul, she is that brave as to turn down The Watcher's warnings and offers to take her back safe. And remember, not everyone can hear Uatu as he narrates. But she can, sometimes.

"What if, what if, what if. I have to try."

"Not on my watch"

This ambition of hers, is, of course, given by her humanity too. But that's not only a bad thing. The Watcher's all knowing, his experience of seeing worlds die everyday, has made him unsensible (from our point of view). That's not the case for Peggy.

Amidst all her adventures, however, perhaps she's also searching to avenge the love she lost, searching for her happy ending. In the movie Endgame, I have to admit she felt optional, like Steve wasn't meant to be there with her. But not now.

I wish The Watcher told her she has a happy ending somewhere.

I don't know about you, but this episode...is my favourite ever from the series. It used to be the Strange Supreme one, but that's on the second place of the podium now.

We got to see queen Hela, drama prince/ actor Loki, king Thor. Bucky, NOT the Winter Soldier, and Steve, finally on the same page! Scarlet Witch!! Using her powers for good, not corrupted. All of them in cool costumes too. If things like these were on live action, I'd lose my f- mind, if I haven't already. :))

And now the green. The "rifts" that are tearing this world apart are very familiar in color.

And this is not the only thing that's turning green, when it used to be multi-colored. The prism, too, the one from which The Watcher watches and narrates. And I'm not talking about the Time Stone. I'm talking about the tree of life, and how it might actually have a serious impact over everything. I mean, does Uatu know anything? And what was that decorated Yggradsil in the trailer, before the holidays?

Nevertheless, I think it's related in some way, and if it's not, don't blame me. I really like green.

That being said, thanks for reading <3

#what if spoilers #marvel #loki #lokius #mcu #tom hiddleston #nebula #gamora #nova corps #peter quill #scott lang #ant man #hope van dyne #bucky barnes #winter soldier #hulk #bruce banner #kahhori #the ten rings #tesseract #dr strange #strange supreme #wanda maximoff #the scarlet witch #captain carter #captain america #i hope this makes sense #and that i didn't miss anyone lol #good night

[lokitvsource]

‘Loki’ star Tom Hiddleston: ‘I was very engaged with the idea of breaking Loki open’

Tom Hiddleston first appeared as Loki in 2011’s “Thor,” but the God of Mischief made a bigger splash, burdened with glorious purpose and all, in 2012’s “The Avengers,” which marks its 10th anniversary on May 4 and has the “Loki” star feeling “very old, basically.”

“I can’t believe 10 years has gone by so fast,” Hiddleston tells Gold Derby (watch the exclusive video interview above). “Amazed, surprised, delighted that I’m still playing the character. I have loved playing this character in every iteration. Loki seems to contain so much breadth and depth, so many surprises for me, for the audience. It’s an honor to have played him for the length of time that I had. Loki’s an ancient character, been around a long time, will be around a lot longer than me. It feels great.”

There have been multiple times when it seemed like the actor was done playing Loki. The fan favorite was supposed to die in “Thor: The Dark World” (2013) until test audiences refused to believe Loki was dead, and he did die in the opening minutes of “Avengers: Infinity War” (2018) at the hands of Thanos (Josh Brolin), completing an arc from big bad to antihero. But the time heist in “Avengers: Endgame” (2019) presented another chance to bring Loki back to life after he makes off with the Tesseract during the Battle of New York, creating a branched timeline off the Sacred Timeline. The Loki of “Loki,” of course, is not the same one who sacrificed himself for Thor (Chris Hemsworth) in “Infinity War” — having made peace with himself and his anger toward his adoptive family — but the 2012 version, a charmingly narcissistic “puny god” who craved power above all else.

Revisiting the unredeemed Loki and approaching him in a new way excited the Emmy nominee. “I was very engaged with the idea of breaking Loki open,” Hiddleston says. “Any questions around identity I’ve always found interesting — how we define ourselves to ourselves, the context of the stories we tell about ourselves to other people in order to find meaning in the world. And in so many ways the series was about integrating the disparate fragments of the many selves that Loki is. I think that’s a really universal experience. I think all human beings have to constantly integrate the fragments of who we are to a whole and make sense of that. So the idea of doing that with Loki just seemed a thrilling prospect. He’s the archetypal trickster, the transgressive, the boundary-crosser, the shapeshifter, somebody so expert at changing shape. And so the question we had in our minds was, who is he really? Who is Loki? What makes Loki Loki?”

After getting captured by the Time Variance Authority, Loki is forced to confront his past, future (and future death), other Loki variants (Alligator Loki FTW), and someone who might know him better than he knows himself, Agent Mobius (Owen Wilson). “The great conceit of the TVA is that putting Loki inside this institution strips him of everything that’s familiar — Thor, Odin, Asgard, his magical power, his clothing. And by taking everything away, Loki is challenged to reveal something about what remains — or we were challenged to find what remains of Loki and what the new journey is,” Hiddleston continues, adding that director Kate Herron had “the most wonderful take” on Loki’s Season 1 arc. “When I met her for the first time, within five minutes, I think I asked her what do you think the series is about and she said, ‘I think it’s about acceptance, permission and love.’ And I thought, ‘She gets it!'”

By the end of the first season, Loki is a lot different from the entitled agent of chaos he was at the start — and is also in a different timeline after Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) killed He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors) and opened the multiverse. While we have to wait and see what Season 2 brings, another Asgardian adventure is coming first. “Thor: Love and Thunder,” the trailer for which dropped last week, opens July 8 and will be the first “Thor” film in which Hiddleston — as far as everyone knows right now — does not appear as Loki. Or does he?

“At this point, I’ve learned to live with the question,” Hiddleston teases. “Loki might pop up. Loki has range. Loki can be Matt Damon, he can be Richard E. Grant, he can be Alligator Loki. I’m not placing any bets, I’ll say that, but it does look fantastic.”

#tom hiddleston #loki tv #loki series #loki #video #interview #article

[imposterogers]

you know, the new thor trailer had me thinking about how he was treated in endgame and I can't get this theory out of my mind:

thor was made into a depressed gamer as an (weak) excuse for him to not be the one to snap thanos in the end. even though, between the og avengers, he was the best choice to do it.

1) Thor's the only avenger who isn't human at all. so he could do the snap and survive and no one would question it.

2) infinity war literally opens with thor: witnessing most of his people and brother be slaughtered and ends with him trying (and failing) to kill thanos. thor being the one to snap him away would have brought it all full circle.

3) despite his depression in EG being played for laughs, it just gives his character more reason to do it. he should be most willing to use the gauntlet bc in his mind, he has nothing to lose from it (since he'd most likely survive and even if he dies, the people he lost wouldn't be brought back anyways)

sure, he did kill thanos at the beggining of endgame but that thanos had already won and didn't even put up a fight. doing the snap would be way more satisfying.

i'm no saying he was the best choice overall to do it, but they clearly wanted that movie to focus on the OG avengers. so between them, it should've been thor.

no bc ur right. thor (or any of the other non-human aka less fragile superheroes) should have been the one to do the snap, considering he would have almost definitely survived it, just like nebula should have been the one to kill thanos herself. but of course no rational plot decisions were made when it came to endgame :/

#anti endgame #the avengers #thor

[d-criss-news]

'Justice League: Warworld' Gets Brutal Blood-Thirsty Rating

The live-action DC universe has been in a transition period as fans wait for The Flash and James Gunn’s grand vision for the DCU to come to fruition. However, over the last decade, what has united many comic book readers has been DC’s animated universe of films. Now the latest film in the line, Justice League: Warworld, has been given an R-rating.

The edgy rating is pretty straightforward with the only reason given being “some bloody violence.” The animated DCU has loved getting its hands dirty for a while now as Warworld is the 13th R-rated animated film for the brand. This includes Batman: The Killing Joke, Batman: Gotham by Gaslight, Batman: Soul of the Dragon, Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay, Justice League Dark, and Justice League Dark: Apokolips War. This is also the second R-rated film in the “Tomorrowverse” continuity that was started with 2020’s Superman: Man of Tomorrow — with Batman: The Long Halloween - Part 2 being the other film. While it’s hard to expect Warworld to get any bloodier than Apokolips War which was DC’s own messed-up Avengers: Endgame-style story, the source material definitely has the potential to warrant such a rating.

What’s Justice League: Warworld About?

The story of Warworld will see the Justice League in a classic comic scenario of being kidnapped and transported to the brutal title planet that's known for its gladiatorial combat. Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman must unite to form a resistance and lead the entire planet to freedom. This was something that was teased in the post-credit scene in the last film Legion of Super-Heroes. While this film’s not based on any specific DC storyline, Warworld, and the dreaded Mongal are major cornerstones in the universe. Outside the comics, the planet has appeared in many TV shows, movies, and games including the iconic Justice League animated series. Also, given that this is centered around Warworld, DC fans should expect our favorite heroes to be forced to fight each other at some point in the film.

When Will Justice League: Warworld Be Released?

There’s no confirmed release date for Justice League: Warworld yet, but the film is expected to debut sometime this summer. It’s safe to assume the movie will arrive around San Diego Comic-Con which takes place at the end of July. Warworld will star Jensen Ackles, Stana Katic, Darren Criss, Ike Amadi, Troy Baker, Matt Bomer, and Frank Grillo. You can read about the full cast listing here. The film was directed by Legion of Super-Heroes’ Jeff Wamester from a screenplay by Supernatural’s Jeremy Adams. While DC fans wait for more information about Warworld’s bloody antics, you can view the trailer for Legion of Super-Heroes down below.

#darren criss #collider #justice league: warworld #tomorrowverse #press #may 2023 #sorry forgot to post this

[funnypages]

Review of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Spoiler Free Part Here:

Overall, I really liked it, solid B+ movie. There are a few minor things I would pick at here or there but overall liked it more than Dr. Strange 2 or Thor 4.

The overall feel of the movie is Wizard of Oz meets the OG Star Wars trilogy. I guess technically the movie is less jokey than the first 2 Ant-Man movies, but I think it's more of a change in the style of humor. The first two are more quibby, this one is more Scott and his family just reacting to the weird world they have been dropped into. There is one line near the end that sums up the humor pretty well. After a lull, in the final fight, Scott just looks at the group and says "This has been a weird day" and you realize, yeah this whole movie takes place over about a day and a half.

Kang is great in the movie, as is Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet (honestly I think she's more the main female lead than Hope in the movie). Kathryn Newton as Cassie was also great, hope to see more of her.

There is a mid and end-credit scene. The mid-credit scene I would stay for the, but you can maybe skip the end-credit one. It's a 20-second clip from Loki S2 that I guarantee will be mostly or entirely in a trailer in a month or so

Spoiler thoughts below

I was a little nervous going into this that the Cassie/Scott relationship was going to be "I hate you dad" angsty rebellious daughter. I was really glad that it isn't. There are some issues from him being gone for a chunk of her life, but they love each other and listen to each other. I do which they had thrown in a few more father-daughter bonding scenes and built more on the "I lost time with her" aspect.

I love the whole Lang-Pym family dynamic, it gave me serious vibes of the Flash family with the Hank-Scott-Cassie relationship being like the Jay-Barry-Wally one. And I love Cassie calls Hank "Grandpa Hank"

I think MODOK was handled in a good way. They managed to balance the fact that he is a legitimate threat, with the fact that he is also an inherently silly-looking villain. Bringing back Corey Stoll and making MODOK a more Cassie-focused villain was also a great idea. Redeams him as a villain a bit

William Jackson Harper is in this and I'm a bit annoyed. Not because I dislike him, I love him, he was just my dark horse pick for Reed Richards

The inclusion of the Baskin Robbins! Scott as a potential Scott was a bit odd. When they had him show up, I thought we were going to get other Variant Scotts. Criminal!Scott, Yellowjacket!Scott, MODOK!Scott. I would have done that or cut him out.

So for about half of this, I thought Hank or Janet was going to sacrifice themselves; then when we got to near the end I thought we were going to have a variation of Scott's death in the comics; have him being stuck in the quantum realm for a few movies only for him to come back in say, Kang Dynasty. It does feel like they were leading to that but the more I think of it I think I understand why they didn't go through with it.

I think Marvel wants to have at least some of the OG Avengers or Endgame Avengers team around as mentors, and I'm just realizing now how few of them are left. Cap, Tony, and Natasha are dead or out, Thor's arc has mostly been completed and Hemsworth is taking a break from acting. God knows when or if Jeremy Renner is going to be able to be in projects. And Guardians 3 could be the last we see of Rocket, Nebula, and/or most of the Guardians. If they had written off Scott, that only leaves us with War Machine and Hulk as the mentors for the new heroes.

Overall as I said, I really liked this movie. The whole Ant-Man franchise has been one of the "funniest" and lowest stakes corners of the MCU; with them acknowledging here that this mission is a way heavier one than he usually deals with. This is a fun romp, again Star Wars meets Wizard of OZ

#ant man and the wasp: quantumania #reviews #Ant-Man #marvel #Wasp #cassie lang #kang the conqueror #m.o.d.o.k.

[1jemmagirl22]

Okay everyone *claps hands together* I want your season 2 theories. 

Give them to me, give me every last theory this trailer has sparked within your mind. 

Cause my gods I thought the poster was good but the trailer is the fucking best trailer I’ve seen since Avengers Endgame, and I’m not even sorry.

#shadow and bone #shadow and bone season 2 #kanej #helnik #wesper #nikolai lantsov #alina starkov #the darkling #kaz brekker #inej ghafa #nina zenik #mattias helvar #jesper fahey #wylan van eck #the crows #zoyalai #don't mind me loosing my mind for the next few days #i'll be financially posting about this for ages

[theuntitledblog]

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) - REVIEW

SYNOPSIS

When Rocket is seriously injured following an attack by Adam Warlock, the Guardians of the Galaxy recruit Gamora to hunt down Rocket's creator; the twist High Evolutionary to save their friend's life.

The rather disappointing Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania has led to some difficult questions being asked of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It would be foolish to say that this represents a genuine crisis, it is rather fair to say that this phase of the MCU has struggled with the overarching story and has left some questioning where is it all going. The Guardians of the Galaxy have always felt standalone in the way that James Gunn has approached their story and he does the same again here. While this doesn't answer any questions regarding the overarching narrative, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 gives the MCU a much needed boost with a crowd pleasing sequel that ticks off everything you'd expect to see on a Guardians checklist. A stylish soundtrack? Check. Colourful, crazy, imaginative and physics defying space locations? Check. Memorable characters and side splitting humour? Also check. Pushing the boundaries of just how dark the MCU has ever gone before? I didn't see this one coming and was definitely not on any checklist I would've had going into this. But it is this tonal shift and bold storytelling that helps set Vol. 3 apart from other entries.

While the trailers suggested a more darker aesthetic than what we had in Vol. 1 and 2, I seriously doubted whether any MCU film, particularly the Guardians of the Galaxy, would ever go to the sort of places that James Gunn takes us here. Let's be clear about it ... Rocket's backstory depicts the darkest, saddest and most horrifying concept yet seen in the MCU. So unsettling is some of the scenes that you would have to question whether it would be suitably for young children to come a long and see it. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a bleak film but the horrifying concepts being explored here is only heightened visually with a degree of gruesomeness I wasn't expecting either. Factoring into this also is perhaps the nastiest and cruellest villain yet seen in Chukwudi Iwuji's High Evolutionary who gives off some Kang vibes with his unstable and menacing performance. Rocket's origin steals the movie for me and helps elevate Vol. 3 to upper tier MCU levels but it's also to Gunn's credit that the rest of the film delivers.

The Guardians enjoyed great outings in Infinity War, Endgame and the recent Christmas Special and Gunn's writing builds upon these with Karen Gillan's Nebula and Pom Klemetieff's Mantis in particular getting much more to do this time around. But that doesn't mean that this is an imbalanced affair, in fact one of the things I admire most about Vol. 3 is that each Guardian is given something to do and moment(s) to shine. Yes this is a dark film at times but it is balanced with moments of levity and a strong emotional centre. Chris Pratt and Dave Bautista are as good as they've ever been in both their comedic moments and dramatic moments. Gunn is balancing a lot character threads; perhaps too much as he's balancing all the relationships between the Guardians, Rocket's backstory and Quill's unresolved issues with Zoe Saldana's alternate Gamora. Will Poulter's Adam Warlock doesn't get a lot of screen time and you do wish slightly more was done with him, Gunn gives him just enough to justify his presence in the film. Whilst it would've been tempting to provide a fan pleasing finale, Gunn is true to his word in the sense that this feels like a genuine finale for this set up of characters. Vol. 3 is a return to form for the MCU and it came at just the right time.

VERDICT

Vol. 3 is a fun, character driven thrill ride that also serves up dark and emotional themes that you might not have expected from a film called Guardians of the Galaxy. A complete triumph and perhaps the best film since Avengers: Endgame.

4/5

#marvel cinematic universe #marvel #marvel films #mcu #mcu phase 5 #fantasy #comic book movies #science fiction #marvel mcu #superhero #guardians of the galaxy #mcu gotg #gotg3 #guardians of the galaxy vol 3 #gotg vol 3 #james gunn #chris pratt #peter quill #star lord #bradley cooper #sean gunn #rocket raccoon #dave bautista #drax the destroyer #karen gillan #nebula #pom klementieff #mantis #vin diesel #marvel groot

[insanityclause]

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

All about the Multiverse Saga

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

#Loki #Doctor Strange #Ant-Man #Scarlet Witch #Scott Lang #Wanda Maximoff #Tom Hiddleston #Benedict Cumberbatch #Paul Rudd #Elizabeth Olsen #Michael Waldron

[scarfacemarston]

Just a big marvel discussion that bounces around. Think of it as a thought exercise. Basically a mess. Feel free to ignore! I don’t really have people to talk about this sort of thing with me so if you want to join in, I’d be happy to have you! :)  I’m glad Kevin Feige is finally saying to slow down on the Marvel content. I love Marvel, but it’s become such a homework assignment to understand everything. I am WELL AWARE the “No one is making you watch it” bit, but I can still say my thoughts.  If you haven’t seen like...5 different shows and movies, Ant-Man is going to be hard to understand - and I’m basing that off the trailer and non spoiler reviews. I LOVE Ant-Man, so I’m sad that it’s getting bad reviews, but it’s getting messy and complicated. I really felt the MCU should have ended at Endgame with maybe a mini series of what each major set of characters are up to. Meaning, like 5 or 6 episodes - one to the major groups. Just an idea. Spoilers for Falcon and the Winter Soldier below.

I mean, Kang the Conqueror, Skrulls, Galactucus, possibly Dr. Doom (This is a guess!!!) that’s so much. I am NOT saying they are bad story lines or bad characters, but it almost makes each “worst villain ever/biggest threat ever” mean a little less when they are all rather similar. However,, a lot of people’s contracts are ending soon so I think we’re basically going to be spending the a lot of movies and shows with our favorites being killed off. My predictions are literally most of the Guardians of the Galaxy.  Possibly Bucky in the future because Seb’s contract is ending soon so I’m thinking Thunderbolts? I hope not, but I’m not sure. His Winter Soldier character has been so wasted. I hate how his story line was literally summed up in a montage. No discussion with Yori that we see, we don’t get to see him work for forgiveness with A SINGLE person on his list. NOT ONE. But he gives it to his therapist and is like I'm done :) I LOVE Sam’s storyline. I cried a lot, but Bucky? Utterly trashed.  Anthony Mackie has several movies to do and I’m excited to see him. Don Cheadle talked a lot about how he’s basically ready to move on. Basically anyone that has been there 10+ years I think is in “danger”. The young avengers are safe, and I definitely think it’s going to be a show despite Marvel saying there won’t be because we know to expect the opposite. I’m not sure how long Tom Hiddleston will be around after Loki season 2. I feel like his time is ending and personally, I felt like his character had something off and I really don’t like Sylvie. I think that’s one of the problems, some of the characters aren’t exactly likeable that are going to take over. The Eternals is a good example of that. Shang- Chi is going to be a great character. Dr. Strange, IDK.  This is why I’m only accepting request for the Captain America, Black Widow and Hawkeye characters at the moment because while I LOVE a lot of other characters, I think it’s better to try something new with the characters I know well before branching out to others. I think the super-hero movies are starting to get oversaturated like westerns did 50 years ago. To keep up, we need quality. Not quantity. Those are just my opinions, no one has to agree with m, but I’m always happy to discuss.

#mcu #I know I probably have a lot of unpopular opinions

[scilessweetheart]

kay get ready to put on your expert commentator cap. SO. a new teen wolf movie trailer dropped. please share ur thoughts w the class

AH thank you for this. you know i have all the thoughts.

1. not a fan of the stiles bait. dylan has already publically said he is not involved (and gave good reason for it) so why do they have scott ushering someone in a flannel into the jeep. we know it’s not him.

2. i swear if this is some avengers endgame villain crossover, i’ll be so mad. the trailer hyped it up like it would be all the old villains returning for revenge and like… overplayed. the oni/nogitsune without stiles??? or even kira??? barely any impact. hopefully that’s not actually what it is.

3. ALLISON IS BACK. and it looks like as a villain which would be absolutely god tier. i’m truly a fan, but also lowkey concerned for how that’s going to go. i want to be optimistic, but i’ve been hurt too many times….

4. this might make no sense but. SO excited to see derek be a dad, not excited for derek to have a kid. i feel like they’ll place too much emphasis on him.

5. mason as a deputy. both pros and cons. him being a cop? in this political economy? unrealistic. plus, he never was the brave one headed into danger, and instead felt fully comfortable as backup. which isn’t a bad thing and made a lot of sense for his character. him suddenly wanting to be in law enforcement seems so out of character for him, and i am very curious to see if there’s an explanation for that. but love him getting a power role, so if he’s happy, i’m happy.

6. chris argent. dilf as ever.

7. please let sheriff stilinski retire. this is so far in the future and he does not get paid enough. let my man rest with his probably incredible retirement plan.

8. still don’t understand the plot?? there were a lot of scenes and commentary about them fighting and villains being around but like… what’s it about. where does it pick up. give us some more information please.

overall: this is going to be a disaster, but one i will be eagerly awaiting with my whole chest.

#teen wolf #teen wolf movie

[turboacek-blog]

Sonic the Hedgehog Movie 3 idea:

Saw Sonic 2 the other day and really enjoyed it as it was funny, fun, and wholesome and made my Sonic fanboy in me smile

And without spoiling it too much and as this can be noticed from the trailer it had a good amount of Sonic 2, Sonic 3&Knuckles and Sonic Adventure 1 and made a movie out of it

So I was thinking of some ideas for what the next movie could cover using the games and characters as references like they did in this last movie

Spoilers if you haven’t seen it

Ok so Shadow was in the end credits implying he’ll be in the next one

And with the existence of G.U.N. we can have part of the Sonic Adventure 2 plot in Sonic 3

But I don’t think the whole movie will be just Sonic vs Shadow as I think they will want to add new characters that haven’t appeared yet, and since Shadow is more an anti hero now in media we would have to have another antagonist to give Shadow a semi knuckles moment

Plus Eggman has to have a part in it similar to how he did with Knuckles in Sonic 2

So here’s my basic idea

Rogue the Bat comes to Earth similar to Knuckles being a bounty hunter but she’s here to get the chaos emeralds

Along the way she frees Shadow ala Sonic Heroes

And maybe they have a Eggman prototype robot there that can essentially be Omega or not could just be Eggman teaming up with them again

Therefore the conflict at first is essentially Team Sonic vs Team Dark

But Eggman becomes the true big bad with his newest creation after seeing Sonic true power in Sonic 2 and probably some influence from Shadow creates Metal Sonic which is the Sonic CD part

And instead of it being Sonic but worse like in the games, he makes Sonic but better kinda like Mecha Sonic, so the group now has to defeat Metal Sonic

Oh and maybe for comedic relief and/or love interest and/or have a damsel in distress Amy Rose comes to earth similar reasons to Tails

That’s the basis of my idea, it starts Sonic vs Shadow but ends up with Sonic vs Metal Sonic

And you add characters like Shadow, Rogue, and Amy and maybe Omega to round out the main Sonic cast

Now the more outlandish idea that builds upon the basic idea

Metal Sonic essentially wins and maybe even kills a character like Tails or Thomas and Metal Sonic got too strong that they can’t beat it

Yeah on some Avengers endgame type loss

Then we introduce the time travel elements of Sonic CD and… Sonic 06

Silver could make the way for time travel to allow them to fix their mistake essentially being Future Trunks and Flash

And then we can get the Super Sonic, Silver and Shadow moment from Sonic 06 and/or the Super Sonic and Shadow from Sonic Adventure 2

They beat Metal Sonic, saved the day, etc

Shadow and Sonic are on better terms but not full out a hero like Sonic is

I added the 06 stuff as like it or not Silver is a pretty famous Sonic character and is probably the most known once you get past the Adventure era characters

Also why I added both Amy and Rogue

Like Cream, Vector and Big are more supporting cast to the random stuff that happens and Silver has become more main cast even when it doesn’t make sense lol

And I thought the time travel connection from CD and 06 was interesting as I think before the Shadow reveal I figured the movies would have followed the original games with the next one being CD focused but since we’re getting Sonic Adventure 2 stuff why not add 06 like how the added adventure 1 to this Sonic 2 & 3&K movie

But yeah if Sonic 1 was essentially Sonic 1 with Sonic Adventure (humans)

Sonic 2 was Sonic 2, Sonic 3&Knuckles and Sonic Adventure (G.U.N.) with Sonic Heroes

Sonic 3 to me could be Sonic Heroes, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic CD, and Sonic 06, to round out the classic and adventure era of Sonic

#sonic the hedgehog #sonic wachowski #sonic movie 2 #sonic movie spoilers #miles tails prower #knuckles the enchilada #eggman #shadow the hedgehog #rogue the bat #sequel #movie idea #amy rose #silver the hedgehog #sonic 3 #sonic movie 3 #sonic movie theory

[icyboots]

Stranger Things S4 Vol.2 Prediction

I recently binged the entire Stranger Things series in preparation for the release of Vol. 2, and upon watching the final trailer, I have a prediction...

(I apologize in advance, I was all over the place with this one. Also, spoilers for Stranger Things season 4?)

Let’s start off with the cold, hard truth: Vecna will win. With only two episodes left, and with Eleven in an entirely different state than our Hawkins team, it’s become evidently clear that Vecna will most likely win. And by splitting up the main characters to tackle this threat from different sides, it will be easier to pick them off one by one, starting with the older kids in the upside down. Supposedly, the cast has basically confirmed a large death count for these final episodes, and with many of the characters stuck in the upside down, this group will probably make up most of this count. 

But there is hope. With the directors making this season their “Infinity War”, that makes season five their “Endgame,” right? 

Characters will be picked off in an Avengers: Infinity War fashion, with Vecna taking on the role of Stranger Things’ Thanos, coming out on top, either trapping or unaliving the characters in the upside down. But in an Endgame style comeback, Eleven and the remaining characters can save them. 

The upside down was confirmed to be several years behind the real world, trapped in that single moment in time when the first portal was opened. And with this dimension frozen in time, could it perhaps preserve the characters who supposedly die in Vol. 2? Whether through time travel or another form of rescue, these characters can be saved in season 5, giving us hope.  

#stranger things #stranger things season 4 #steve harrington #eddie munson #stranger things volume 2 #netflix #nancy wheeler #eleven #robin buckley #dustin henderson #the upside down