Tumgik
#Kevin Feige you have a chance to make things right
fionapplespiano · 4 months
Text
Manifesting that with Secret Wars being a soft reboot of the MCU, that there’ll be an opportunity for Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver to be recasted with actors who are actually Romani and that they’ll be Magneto’s mutant children
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
37 notes · View notes
starsopinions · 7 months
Text
Sylki should have been a sibling relationship
Tumblr media
Loki season 1 starts with Loki from The Avengers, Loki is at a very low point in his life, and he hates himself. I have seen people claiming that he falls in love with himself because he is just such a narcissist, but he doesn't even like himself let alone a different version of himself. He hasn’t had any of the character development of the later movies yet so why would the writers try and give him a romance plot when there is such a good opportunity to have Loki and Sylvie have a sibling relationship which neither of them had growing up. So here is why is think Sylki should have been a sibling relationship.
Sibling relationship
In Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Ragnarok we see Loki and Thor’s relationship building and slowly getting better but before that and up until The Avengers, they fight all the time and Loki is angry at Odin and Thor. Loki constantly feels left out and, in his own words, lives in Thor’s shadow. So when his life is suddenly uprooted by the TVA and he meets Sylvie, instead of being interested romantically he could instead take her under his wing and have a more sibling-like relationship. He could then see what it is like to have a good relationship with a sibling, in contrast to what his relationship with Thor was like. 
I think this could also work to set up a future reunion between Thor and Loki. Kevin Feige recently said: “But for that meeting to really be fulfilling, we have to get Loki to a certain place emotionally.” I think that this sibling relationship could get him there. He could see what went wrong between him and Thor and see that maybe Thor didn’t always do the right thing but he meant well. Loki would be the ‘older sibling’ in this situation which could help him gain more insight into Thor’s decisions and have a better understanding of them.
I think that, on the flip side, it also works well from Sylvie’s point of view. She barely remembers Asgard or Frigga and probably can’t recall ever having a (good) relationship with Thor. She has been on the run her entire life and has never known real friendship or family. So Loki could teach her what it means to have a family, or they could even discover it together seeing as Loki doesn’t have the best relationship with his family either. Loki could teach her what Frigga taught him and tell her stories about their home (imagine how cute that would be). Sylvie could learn to trust again and experience fun in her life. 
Sylki doesn’t work
Besides this, I also want to shine some light on why I think that Sylki, as a romantic relationship, does not work. As I said earlier, Loki is at a really low point in his life and it doesn’t make sense to give him a romantic interest because he has issues and he desperately needs some character development which is just blatantly ignored in favour of this romantic storyline. But even his romantic interest doesn’t seem to be ready for any romance in her life. Sylvie has barely had the chance to see what life is like and it seems such a weird choice to immediately jump into something romantic without her getting the chance to live. There is also the argument that these characters may not be ready for love but that sometimes it is just there, no matter if you are ready or not. But I don’t agree with that because these aren’t real people, there are writers who can 100% decide what happens. So I think they should get that character development that they need through their sibling relationship. 
I think something else that has been bothering me is that it is kind of, maybe, possibly incest. I know the lines of that are blurry because obviously, we have never seen something like this before in real life so it’s hard to judge, I do understand if anyone else doesn’t think it is weird, but it just doesn't sit right with me. I also think the show writers realised this and that’s why Sylvie isn’t named Loki and she doesn’t look like Loki at all and all that makes it even weirder.
Chemistry
Another issue I have with this couple is that, in my opinion, they just aren’t that cute together. They don’t have any romantic chemistry and all their bonding seems more sibling-like rather than anything else. Take for instance season 1, episode 3. They are on Lamentis and they are fighting over the TemPad (around 6:30 if you want to watch it back), their bickering and taunts seem so sibling-like. Another example is season 1, episode 4. They are both captured and are about to meet The Time-keepers (around 35:00). The way Sylvie checks in on Loki, I just don’t see them as a couple they act like siblings. Even the iconic blanket sharing moment (S1, ep 5 30:00), the awkwardness and the way Loki tries to take care of Sylvie. To me, it just seems like an older brother trying to take care of Sylvie. 
Lokius
And on top of all of that, I think there is one more point left to make. There is a much more suitable match for Loki right there, and it’s Mobius! But like I said, I think Loki needs some character development before he is truly ready for an actual relationship. Especially because this show is about Loki and a part of that is that he is bisexual and genderfluid which isn’t explored at all in the show so I think it would be cool to see him coming out as bisexual in season 1 and slowly growing comfortable around Mobius. I think it would fit the themes of the show well and a good slow burn is always welcome in my book. Also, did y’all see the way Loki searched for Mobius in season 2, episode 1? Because that’s the kind of chemistry I’m missing in Sylki!! 
I’m very excited to see where they will take us with Loki season 2. I think so far (2 episodes in) they are doing an amazing job with storytelling, comedy and cinematography and as always Tom, Sophia and the rest of the cast have been absolutely killing it!! Let me know if you agree with me and don’t forget to maybe reblog and like and all that fun Tumblr stuff :) 
Disclaimer: This is no hate at all to anyone who worked on the show! I am a huge fan but these are just my opinions! :D
99 notes · View notes
becky5203 · 1 year
Text
I hate seeing people go off about Emma Fuhrmann’s replacement saying that “nO oNe eVEn cArED aBOUt hER”. Like, guys. Guys. Be real right now. You can admit that that was a crappy thing Marvel did. Whether it was Kevin Feige or Peyton Reed or some other random executive that made the decision to recast her and not even tell her, you can admit that it was a messed up thing to do. If you had been there and been a fan of hers after Endgame came out you would’ve seen how happy and excited she was to be Cassie and it’s not just that she had it taken away, they didn’t even have the decency to give her a call. We still don’t even know why she was recast but I’m willing to bet it’s just because Kathryn has more star power; which is ridiculous because not only was Emma’s scene objectively one of the best in the movie* but the whole start of the franchise was when they were taking a chance on the unknowns in Hollywood. I’ve even seen people say that Emma looked too old to play Cassie, as if she isn’t the exact age Cassie is supposed to be and Kathryn isn’t in her mid twenties. Listen, I get it. If you’re a fan of Kathryn, or just excited to see the movie and don’t really care about the Endgame Cassie, then you’re probably inclined to say “Who cares? Move on.”, but Emma probably did. She probably cared when the biggest thing in her career so far was ripped away just because she had a smaller name. She probably cared when she was treated as easily disposable and replaceable. So no. We’re not gonna “move on”. We’re gonna be annoyed about it because it was an objectively bad thing to do. If they wanted Kathryn for the role they should have put her in Endgame. Didn’t want the official Cassie to be shown yet? Too bad, don’t write a scene explicitly showing Cassie and get the poor girl’s hopes up, only to toss her aside like stale bread. I want to make it clear, I’m not trying to bash Kathryn; I’m sure she’ll be great. I’m just, like a lot of other people, still mad at the decision and whoever made it; also the way it was handled. So it really rubs me the wrong way when I see people acting like this was not an insane thing to do, like it wasn’t a remarkably cruel thing to do to a girl who was only 18 or 19 at the time, like it wasn’t emblematic of everything wrong with Disney and Marvel Studios right now. They don’t see people, they just see a dollar sign. You don’t have to pretend it’s anything else.
*Because people may ask. Yes, Scott and Cassie reuniting is one of the best scenes in the movie. And yes, I know, art is subjective and people are free to feel however they want about it, but I think we can all admit that even if it’s not your favorite in the movie it’s just, objectively, an excellent scene. Think about some of the best moments of the movie. “On your left” + The Portal Scene. Cap Weilding Mjölnir. “I am Iron Man”. Great scenes, amazing scenes, memorable scenes. But those scenes are all ten years and countless movies worth of build up. They’re cool and they great to experience but for them to fully land you have to have been there taking notes for every Marvel release of the past decade. That’s not the case with Scott and Cassie reuniting. With that scene, you may not know who Scott is, you may not know who Cassie is (and given how a large part of the MCU fandom at the time didn’t care for the Ant-Man movies, not many really did know), but you do know how important Cassie is to Scott and you know exactly how much he’s lost, how much they both have. You feel the full emotional weight of that scene and it’s not because of ten years of buildup or some fan service pay off moment, it’s because of Paul and Emma.
150 notes · View notes
Text
Steve Rogers Rant
    This is going to be a rant and there will be spoilers for the post-credits scene of “She Hulk:  Attorney at Law.”  You have been warned.
    So, it’s been revealed by Bruce that Steve Rogers lost his virginity in 1943 on a USO tour.  This was after Jen bemoaned that “America’s Ass” should not have died a virgin.
    (Of course, Bruce wasn’t going to dispute Steve’s status as being dead.  The man served, let him rest.  Let people look at the legend.  If only they would leave the legend’s reputation alone.)
    Now, there are those who have declared that this is canon with a snigger and an LOL.  And it’s true that was from an official Marvel production, stated by no less than Kevin Feige himself.  But to paraphrase Nick Fury, “I recognize that Marvel decided this was canon.  But given that it’s a stupid decision, I’ve elected to ignore it.”
    This tidbit shows a remarkable lack of understanding of who Steve Rogers is.  It was done as a cute little “take that,” a joke, to satisfy peoples’ curiosity about a subject that isn’t relevant to the character.  Because obviously, he can’t be human if he ignores his natural urges, surrounded by beautiful women, right?  This makes him more relatable.
    Wrong.  Much like the saying, “this is why we can’t have nice things,” therefore we can’t have good heroes—at least, according to some people.  The shining ideal is unattainable, therefore, adding a figurative smudge or two or a handful of mud makes the character more palatable and “relatable.”
    (I’m reminded of a certain writer who shall remain nameless.  They have publicly said that they love writing a certain, heroic character.  However, whenever the story isn’t on that character, that writer goes out of their way to throw hints that perhaps the hero isn’t all that great.)
    This little “revelation” doesn’t make sense in the context of what we’ve seen in the movies.  He’s an honest, decent man with high morals instilled into him by his mother. Steve mentioned to Peggy in “The First Avenger” that he’s waiting for “the right partner.”  This implies that he’s looking for a meaningful relationship. In fact, he doesn’t form many attachments, but they do tend to be deep ones.  He’s humble and describes himself as “just a kid from Brooklyn.”
    Sorry, but does this sound like a guy who’s just cruising for a fling while on the USO tour?  I mean, if it were Joe Average who got the serum, maybe even Gilmore Hodges, that guy might be feelings his oats.  He might feel entitled, that this kind of attention was what he deserved.
    That’s not Steve Rogers.  If you think that’s who he is, you don’t understand the character.
    “But he’s only human!  He has urges!”  they exclaim. I don’t discount that.  But Steve knows what it’s like to be weak and unwanted. He also has a functioning brain which, I’m given to understand, he puts to good use.  He remembers how it felt when the girls saw the 5’4 asthmatic weakling and turned away.  And now that he has some muscles, now they’re after him?  No, they’re not looking at Steve Rogers.  They see the muscles, the uniform and the title—and the chance to exclaim that they were his first.  Those are shallow reasons, and for Steve, it might be something of a turn-off.  If such an encounter did happen, he might even feel used.
    Then there’s the matter of Peggy.  Given her security clearance and skillset, do you think that she wouldn’t find out about such an indiscretion if it had happened? And if said indiscretion was during the USO tour before she met up with him again, do you think she would have been nearly as cordial?  Wouldn’t this kind of slip-up prove to Peggy that Steve is just like any other man—and not in a good way?  I doubt that she would have fallen for him after that.
From a more objective standpoint, the theory doesn’t hold water.  The most reasonable explanation for this little bombshell is that it’s a lie.  Steve is a good actor, but he’s a terrible liar.  I imagine that after being razzed one too many times by Tony about the “90 year-old virgin,” Nat might have taken things into her own hands and concocted the whole story.  She might have said that the “encounter” was Senator Brandt’s way of keeping Steve under his thumb. And, she might have gone on to vaguely say that “things went bad” after Steve found out.  Of course, she saw no reason to inform anyone otherwise afterwards. Perhaps all Steve knew was that the subject was off the table, much to his relief.
    Doesn’t that make more sense than the idea that Steve had a moment of moral weakness?  Doesn’t that sound more like Steve Rogers instead of Joe Average? 
--Doc
69 notes · View notes
therealvinelle · 3 years
Note
What do you think the Cullens would do if some person they were talking to, out of nowhere just quite literally exploded in front of, and on them? Kinda like in that movie Spontaneous. Would they lose control and slurp up the mess on the ground, (and themselves) or would their bloodlust be curtailed by shock of wtf just happened?
I'd say something witty about how this is a strange anon to receive, but holy jesus you've sent me down a rabbithole.
Here's a trailer to the movie Spontaneous. It looks amazing. Kevin Feige wishes this had been his plot for Infinity War.
Here's a trailer for the movie Spontaneous Combustion, which I found by accident while searching for your fic. This looks amazing too. Can't believe Marvel didn't buy the rights to this guy.
I'm serious, people, you definitely want to watch these trailers. I just about died laughing.
So, on to your ask.
In the spirit of your ask, which implies a level of randomness, I thought the people blowing up should be random too. So, being in the mood to procrastinate through spending way too much time on tumblr things, I wrote a program that'll generate for me random Twilight characters.
Unsure whether the explosion should kill vampires or not, I generated an answer. The answer is yes, any generated vampire dies.
Without further ado:
Alice watches Vladimir blow up.
Alright, alright.
The first question to be answered here is why Alice is in Vladimir's presence in the first time. In canon they only meet once, at the end of Breaking Dawn.
For the sake of simplicity, we'll have Vladimir blow up then.
The Cullens and the witnesses are all celebrating being alive, when Vladimir suddenly explodes.
For the sake of the ask, Alice is sitting closest to him when this happens and making conversation.
Her first thought is utter shock. Not just that he blew up, but that she didn't see it coming (she wouldn't, because I randomly generated him. No decision was made). Her second thought is horror.
The Cullens just confronted the Volturi, now mere hours afterwards their allies are blowing up.
Holy fuck, Aro has a gifted ace up his sleeve, and he's using it to kill them remotely.
Panic ensues, not just for Alice, but among all the witnesses. Some of them refuse to leave, Bella has to shield those 24/7, though given the belief that her gift is psychic that doesn't make them feel very safe.
The others decide to go after the Volturi and beg for mercy, assuring them they never meant to challenge them.
Aro, of course, is very confused, but agrees. Why, yes, he does have a vampire who blows people up. Yes, yes he does.
Bella watches Aro blow up.
Oh I'm dying laughing at this one. And wishing I'd put this down for Carlisle, that would be even funnier, but alright.
Bella is walking about post-Breaking Dawn, minding her own business, when suddenly Aro appears in front of her. He looks around himself, utterly surprised by his sudden deplacement, and then blows up.
Bella has been living in terror of this man for years.
In Volterra he had his servant torture her and Edward and then made ominious threats, then a few months later the Eclipse disaster unfolded, finally we have Breaking Dawn where he showed up to murder her and everyone she loved.
Her shield may be powerful, but for as long as Aro was alive her family was never truly safe.
His untimely implosion changes all of that.
I imagine after a long moment of incredulity, Bella burns the rubble, just to be sure, then tells her family the joyous news.
Carlisle gives the guy a funeral. It's weird.
Carlisle watches Vassilii blow up.
Close call, due to my not switching out the names we almost had Angela. In which case Carlisle have stood there, covered in blood and in shock for several long seconds, before bringing out the bleach and gasoline for a crime scene clean.
As it is, Carlisle is minding his own business when suddenly an immortal child dressed like a medieval Eastern European appears before him. It says something in a foreign language that might mean "hi", he doesn't know but he says "hi" to it back, then the child blows up.
Carlisle stares at the rubble for a very long time, wondering if he is perhaps losing his mind. If, perhaps, Aro was right about animal blood being a slow suicide, and Carlisle has finally hit the limit for how long a vampire can go on without human blood.
He burns the rubble and prays for the child's soul, as an immortal child is doomed anyway, and keeps his silence about what happened. In part because there's a solid chance this was all in his imagination.
If Aro ever touches his hand again, and sees the immortal child that he burned a thousand years earlier resurrect, travel through time, all in order to blow up in front of Carlisle, he... well there comes a point where you say "nothing to see here" and refuse eye contact with the universe glitching.
Edward watches Randall blow up.
Randall, for the ignorants, is one of Carlisle's friends that came to witness for the Cullens in Breaking Dawn.
Suddenly he appears in front of Edward, says hi and how do you do, and then he blows up.
Edward tells Carlisle, who is saddened by this, and they try to piece the guy together. They fail.
Edward sends a somber thought to this noble man who agreed with Edward that the Cullens are awesome enough to be worth dying for.
Emmett watches Mary blow up.
Emmett will never admit it, but it's the coolest, raddest thing he's ever seen.
Esme watches Eleazar blow up.
Oh boy.
The Cullens are visiting the Denali. Irina has not been dead for long, but given the crystal clear memory of vampires, and the loss they already suffered (Sasha's death traumatized them) it doesn't really matter how long it's been, the Denali are devastated anyway.
The whole coven is as fragile as it can possibly get.
Then, Eleazar goes to join Esme in the kitchen, and explodes all over her and the kitchen.
The remaining Denali and the Cullens are called to the kitchen by the sound of Esme's screaming, and find her in hysterics, surrounded by gray rubble.
The Denali are near catatonic with grief at this point, while cooking has been ruined for Esme. One moment you're making food, the next people are exploding all over your kitchen.
Yeah.
Esme is not okay.
Jasper watches Nahuel blow up.
It's a shameful moment in his life.
But, hybrids are edible.
And that blood was splattered all over him.
Jasper has the worst control fail of his life, worse even than when he failed with Bella because this fail means he can't be around Renesmée anymore.
It's miserable all around.
The one highlight here is that it didn't happen when they were headed to the Volturi trial together.
Rosalie watches Emmett blow up.
Jesus christ, random Twilight character generator, just when I thought you were just going to give me boring results.
Not only does Rosalie lose the love of her life, the guy who kept her together, the one good thing she had going for her who made her life worth living, but he did so right in front of her, blowing up out of nowhere.
There's no explanation to be had, no culprit to be found, no reason for it. She had no goodbye, just as she can have no revenge.
She will never have closure.
Renesmée watches Renée blow up.
We go out on a high note, my god. Well done, generator, I'm laughing.
Renesmée is curious enough about her grandmother to go to Florida. She was going to watch from afar, but finds herself talking to the woman who raised her mother.
It's all going well until Renée suddenly explodes all over Renesmée.
Renesmée's first thought is nothing, she's in shock.
Then...
Well, she was controlled as an infant, so I don't think an adult Renesmée would lose it unless under extreme circumstances, like if she encountered a singer.
More, though, Renesmée might have any reasons of her own not to drink human blood, but she has been raised with this being a big no-no.
So she shouldn't.
However...
Is she ever going to get a better chance?
Ethically, she could easily argue this is the right choice. No one will be negatively affected by this, at least not directly.
The human is right there, already dead, and there's no body so while Renesmée does have to clean up the gore. Hell, if she laps up the blood on her clothes and the ground she will be cleaning up. Why waste perfectly good blood?
If Renesmée Cullen is ever going to have human blood, this is it.
It will come down to how much she respects her grandfather, and how important she believes Renée was to Bella.
-
Bonus, because I'm having way too much fun with this:
Bree watches Atheonodora blow up.
Bree is minding her own business when suddenly a vampire unlike any she has ever seen before, one with hazy eyes and odd skin, appears before her. They stare at each other. Then the woman blows up.
Bree takes this to mean that exploding is apparently something vampires just do sometimes, runs off in a panic and, sobbing, tells Riley.
Riley, having no idea what to make of any of this, tells her it was those evil yellow-eyes with their witchcraft and sorcery.
160 notes · View notes
lokiondisneyplus · 3 years
Text
No character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has the staying power of Loki. Portrayed with just the right amount of smarm and charm by Tom Hiddleston, the impish trickster with the ability to shapeshift and cast illusions is a favorite among fans despite the fact he's betrayed friends and family multiple times since debuting opposite Chris Hemsworth in 2011's "Thor." The most predictable thing about him might be his unpredictability. And yet no one thought the character would return to the MCU after being killed by the all-mighty Thanos (Josh Brolin) in the opening scene of 2018's "Avengers: Infinity War." However, we're now on the cusp of the character leading his very own show.
Debuting Wednesday, June 9 on Disney+, the six-episode "Loki" follows a past version of the character, though it's not a prequel. This Loki is the man who successfully stole the Tesseract, aka the Space Stone, when the Avengers traveled to the past in 2019's "Avengers: Endgame." His actions that day ultimately created a branched reality — the very thing the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) warned the Avengers about when they attempted to gather the stones in the past. So when the show picks up, Loki will find himself being forced to work with the Time Variance Authority, an organization dedicated to protecting the proper flow of time, to help restore the main timeline he broke when he fled with the Tesseract in 2012.
It remains to be seen whether or not the series is one of the shows Marvel's Kevin Feige said was developed with additional seasons in mind. But with this particular setup — and assuming the show operates independently of the main overarching narrative of the MCU — this is the type of series that could easily run for multiple seasons should the people involved desire it. And given his comments over the years, Hiddleston definitely seems game to portray Loki until he's too old to do so.
But what is it about the character, a Frost Giant who was adopted by Odin (Anthony Hopkins) as a baby and raised as an Asgardian, that has allowed him to persevere – especially when Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) and even Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) have not? What gives Loki, a character who has been both villain and antihero, such longevity in the MCU? Is it Hiddleston himself? Is he nurturing goodwill with his enchanting performance? Is it the character's unpredictability keeping things fresh? Or is it the potential of a flawed man still searching for an identity and purpose?
Over the last decade, Hiddleston — whose name was once bandied about as a possible James Bond candidate after a stellar turn in "The Night Manager" — has won favor with Marvel and its fans thanks to his continued dedication to the role of Loki and his support of the extended universe. Some actors have been happy to say goodbye after fulfilling their contracts, but you'd be hard-pressed to find an actor who loves his job with Marvel more than Hiddleston. (Never forget the time he dressed up in character and took over Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con in 2013.) But in addition to his acting chops and commitment to the role of Loki, Hiddleston is also just an effortlessly charming individual, and some of that natural charisma bleeds into his performance, making the character a richer and more complex character as a result. And it's a good thing too because a character like Loki — someone ruled by his emotions, whose only allegiance is to himself, and who wouldn't think twice before double-crossing his own brother — runs the risk of becoming either very annoying or quite tired rather quickly. Luckily, Loki is neither.
After learning the truth of his origins in the first Thor film, Loki's anger toward his family and the betrayal he felt put him on a path to finding his purpose, which resulted in him becoming the mouthy and manipulative, power-hungry antagonist of the first Avengers movie. At the time, no one outside of Feige and other decision-making executives likely knew what was in store for the future of the MCU.
But now we can look back and see Hiddleston's captivating turn in "The Avengers," in which he attempts to take control of Earth using an army of Chitauri forces, was more than just the catalyst for the various heroes recruited by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) to finally team up. It was also the beginning of what might be the best character arc in the entire MCU. No one save perhaps Sebastian Stan's Bucky Barnes, aka the Winter Soldier, has had a more complicated or effective emotional personal journey throughout the entirety of the Infinity Saga (and beyond). Perhaps that is why when Loki was eventually killed several films later in the middle of his redemption arc during the opening scene of "Infinity War," the heartbreak seemed to extend beyond the edges of the frame and into the real world.
The exceptionally fun 2017 film "Thor: Ragnarok," which immediately preceded "Infinity War," saw Loki forced to confront his past and make a decision regarding his future. The death of his father and the return of Hela (Cate Blanchett), the Goddess of Death and the sister neither Loki nor Thor knew existed, ultimately meant the end of life as he knew it. But rather than fleeing at the first chance like everyone assumed he would, Loki accepted his place in his family and returned to his brother's side after the destruction of Asgard. Of course, he also pocketed the Tesseract before the planet was destroyed, a seemingly innocuous decision that would unfortunately lead Thanos right to him. But learning to care about something more than his own immediate wants was a redeeming moment for Loki, as was his attempt to save Thor from Thanos, so his death was both an effectively heartbreaking moment that resonated with fans while serving as a harbinger of what was to come.
It also felt like closure, so when a past version of Loki popped up in "Avengers: Endgame" when Tony, Cap, and Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) traveled to 2012, it was a pleasant surprise. That the new series "Loki" follows this branched-reality version of the character and won't erase the character's original narrative arc is what makes the show such an intriguing new chapter. When the show premieres, Loki hasn't gone through any sort of character evolution. He is still the angry man who tried to force all of humanity to kneel before him in a desperate attempt to find his place in the world. He has yet to go through the events of his mother's death or the destruction of Asgard. He's a man out of time, a man without a home. And it's the chaotic, still-in-progress nature of Loki and the inability to guess what he might do when an organization like the Time Variance Authority, which is dedicated to order, tries to force him to do what they say that makes this new chapter so exciting.
Each episode of the show, which also stars Owen Wilson as Mobius M. Mobius and Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Judge Ravonna Lexus Renslayer, will see the character travel through time and space on a mission to restore order to the timeline. But will this Loki follow the same path as the man we know and love? Or will this version make different choices without Thor by his side? More importantly, will he find what he's looking for?
Loki is a man driven by insecurity and an ongoing struggle with his identity, though he deftly covers up his deficiencies with a devious wit and charm. The constantly shifting logo in the show's trailer represents both the character's shapeshifting ability as much as the idea that he doesn't know where he belongs or who he is yet. And although the beats of such a character arc are hardly new territory for Hollywood — you could argue they've even been done to death at this point — the potential for greatness still exists as Loki remains pleasantly unpredictable. It means anything can happen, and with Hiddleston promising a show that is unlike anything Marvel has ever done, there's no reason to believe Loki the man and "Loki" the show won't continue to endure and evolve even beyond this first season. After all, he certainly has the staying power.
"Loki" premieres Wednesday, June 9 on Disney+.
69 notes · View notes
9worldstales · 3 years
Text
MCU “Thor”: Who’s to blame for Thor’s banishment?
So I’ve seen around people blaming Loki for Thor’s banishment and…
… I can’t help but wonder if they realize that, by saying so they aren’t just pinning the blame on the wrong person but they’re doing a HUGE, GIANT SIZE disservice to Thor.
But let's list sources used for this first.
SOURCES MENTIONED:
Movies: “Thor” (2011), “Thor – The Dark World” (2013)
Comics: None mentioned
Direct-to-video animated film: None mentioned
Motion comics: None mentioned
Books: None mentioned
Novels: “Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase One: Thor” by Alex Irvine (2015)
Webs: None mentioned
Others: “Thor” old movie script, Interview “Director Kenneth Branagh and Kevin Feige Interview THOR”, interview “EXCLUSIVE: Screenwriter Don Payne Talks Thor!”, Interview “SDCC 2010: Chris Hemsworth Interview THOR”, Video “Thor (2011) Chris Hemsworth Kill Count”
Although “Thor” is meant to be an origin story for both Thor and Loki…
Kevin Feige: The movie, very much, is an origin of Loki, almost as much as it is an origin of Thor. We had to ride that balance. There were drafts where Thor took over too much, and there were certainly drafts where Loki became too prominent, and I think we found a nice balance that is clearly the origin of both of those characters. [Director Kenneth Branagh and Kevin Feige Interview THOR]
…the focus was mostly on Thor and his journey to learn humility.
I mean, this is not MY interpretation of the story, it’s basically what everyone involved in the production says the story is about. Thor is unworthy, the banishment is just, from it he learns humility and becomes worthy again.
Don Payne: Whereas we’ve got an extra-dimensional being once worshipped as a god by the ancient Norse who’s banished to earth and stripped of his powers to learn humility, all set amidst the Shakespearean intrigue of a dysfunctional royal family. You just have to find the things that make Thor timeless and relatable as a character. It certainly helps that he’s charismatic and likeable, albeit flawed. He’s banished for good reason, but I think people will want to go on the journey with him and root for him to find redemption — particularly with Chris Hemsworth’s performance. [EXCLUSIVE: Screenwriter Don Payne Talks Thor!]
Kenneth Branagh: That story arc of the flawed hero who must earn the right to be king is in our piece, but what’s key is the stakes. There, it’s Europe and England, and here, it’s the universe. When that family has problems, everybody else is affected. If Thor throws a fit and is yelling at his father and is banished, suddenly the worlds are unstable. [Director Kenneth Branagh and Kevin Feige Interview THOR]
Chris Hemsworth: At the beginning of this film, he’s certainly a brash, cocky warrior who’s about to inherit the keys to the kingdom, and his father thinks that he’s not ready. It’s the journey of him learning some humility through the film. I think he’s one of those people who has his heart in the right place. He’s doing what he’s doing for his family and to protect the kingdom, and he thinks it’s the right way to do it. It just happens to be a very aggressive way of doing it, which probably isn’t the right way. It’s about tempering that raw emotion that he drives off most of the time, into the right direction. [SDCC 2010: Chris Hemsworth Interview THOR]
And in fact Thor makes a 180° turn from how he started.
The boy then man who insisted he wanted first to kill all the Jotun then give them a lesson is the one who sacrifices his chance to meet Jane again to save them.
Young Thor: When I’m king, I’ll hunt the monsters down and slay them all! Just as you did, Father.
and...
Thor: March into Jotunheim as you once did. Teach them a lesson. Break their spirits so they’ll never dare try to cross our borders again.
versus
Thor: You can’t kill an entire race!
The man who said his father was an old man and a fool, becomes the one who says there will never be a wiser king than Odin.
Thor: And you are an old man and a fool!
versus
Thor: There will never be a wiser king than you. Or a better father. I have much to learn. I know that now. Someday, perhaps, I shall make you proud.
The man who returning from Jotunheim was too busy to care for how Fandral got hurt so that it was Odin who had to say to get him to the healing room, is the one who, once back to Midgard, first worry about having his friends getting Heimdall on the healing room and then about what he’ll do with his brother.
Odin: You cannot even protect your friends! How can you hope to protect a kingdom? Get him to the healing room! Now!
versus
Thor: Get him to the healing room! Leave my brother to me.
The man who thought his father’s lessons were wrong, then admits his father was right.
Thor: While you wait and be patient, the Nine Realms laugh at us. The old ways are done. You’d stand giving speeches while Asgard falls.
versus
Thor: Neither did I. My father was trying to teach me something, but I was too stupid to see it.
The man who first was told by Loki going to Jotunheim was madness and did it anyway then tells Loki how destroying Jotunheim is madness.
Loki: Thor, it’s madness.
versus
Thor: Loki, this is madness.
The man who would start a fight just because he was called ‘princess’ versus the man who kept on refusing to start a fight with Loki even after the other hit him four times and only does so when Loki threatens Jane.
And then there are the comparisons that got lost because some scenes got cut. For start an even better comparison, in which another man calls Thor "Princess" and Thor this time refuses to fight.
Jotun: Run back home, little princess. [Thor stops in his tracks. Loki goes white. He knows what's coming.] Loki: Damn. [In one quick move, Thor pulls Mjolnir, swings it, and KNOCKS the Jotun clear across the plaza. The Asgardians reluctantly draw their weapons, gather into a circle around Thor. Volstagg looks around at the angry Jotuns approaching them.]
versus
Drunk townie: You were in the diner with that hot girl. [Thor doesn't like where this is going.] Drunk townie: I wouldn't mind her doing a little research on me. [He laughs. Thor is annoyed.] Thor: I have no quarrel with you. But she's a lady. You should be more respectful. Drunk townie: And you should shut the hell up, princess. [Selvig looks to Thor, concerned that he's going to lose it. But, to his surprise, Thor remains unaffected by the Townie's baiting.] Thor: I will not fight him. Drunk townie: Then it'll be easy to kick your ass.
Or like the deleted one in which Frigga said that Thor believed to be ready… when in the end Thor will realize he’s not.
Odin: Do you think he’s ready? Frigga: He thinks he is. He has his father’s confidence.
versus
Thor: There will never be a wiser king than you. Or a better father. I have much to learn. I know that now. Someday, perhaps, I shall make you proud.
You might remember Thor smashing a cup because he wanted another drink… well there’s a deleted scene in which, just before the Warriors Three and Sif reach Midgard, he brings a cup to Izzy in payback for the one he broke.
Thor: This drink, I like it. Darcy: I know. It’s great, right? [Thor hurls the empty mug at the ground, SHATTERING it.] Thor: (CALLS OUT) Another! [ISABELA ALVAREZ (60), the diner’s proprietor, glares at Thor from behind the counter.] Jane: Sorry, Izzy. Little accident. What was that? [He doesn’t understand. The other patrons stare at him.] Thor: It was delicious. I want another. Jane: Well, you could have just said so. Thor: I just did. Jane: No, I mean, ask nicely. Thor: I meant no disrespect. Jane: All right. Well, no more smashing. Deal? Thor: You have my word. Jane: Good.
Versus
As the group finishes breakfast, Thor looks at the mug in his hand, gets an idea. Thor: [About a cup] May I have this? Darcy: Sure. Thor: Thank you. Please, excuse me. [Thor leaves. In front of her diner, Isabela prepares to open for the day. Isabela sweeps the front porch. She looks up to see Thor approaching. She eyes him suspiciously. He offers her a MUG.] Excuse me, Isabela. Isabela: Oh my gosh. Thor: To replace the one I broke. Please, forgive me for my behavior. Isabela: Okay, thank you. Thor: if I may, I’d like to come back here for more of yours splendid "coffee". Isabela: Any time.
And then you might remember how Fandral was hurt in Jotunheim and it was Loki and Volstagg who helped him, while in a deleted scene we’ve Selvig being hurt and Thor helping him.
And so on and on and on.
Thor started one way, this caused his banishment and the banishment changed him.
If we go and say Thor didn’t deserve to be banished, that it was all Loki’s ploy, we ignore how Thor before was an unworthy person and after he became a worthy person. We turn Thor into a person who’s ALWAYS worthy, regardless of him acting one way or its exact opposite but for some reason was misjudged and punished unfairly and never really had to change because he was perfect as he was.
We turn Odin into a fool who punished a worthy son for crimes he didn’t do and then took the punishment back not because Thor changed, but because he realized he made a mess.
The idea Thor’s banishment is Loki’s fault is against the authors’ intentions, damages Thor by stripping him of his growth and, ultimately, it’s totally false, so trying to pin the blame on Loki so as to make him look bad is simply wrong.
Although Loki did some things that triggered Thor’s reactions, Thor wasn’t completely and utterly brainwashed. It was Thor’s decisions who ended up bringing those consequences and Loki had no idea Odin would go as far as banishing Thor.
In a deleted bit Loki says Odin normally ALWAYS forgive Thor.
Fandral: Well, if he doesn’t show up soon, he shouldn’t bother. Odin looks like he’s ready to feed him to his ravens. Loki: I wouldn’t worry. Father will forgive him. He always does.
From Thor’s reaction to his banishment it’s clear it’s the first time he got such a punishment and that he assumed all he had to do to be forgiven is to retrieve Mjolnir.
The novelization is not shy to say that:
Odin had always favoured Thor because Thor was a warrior, just like him… [“Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase One: Thor”]
The Warriors Three and Lady Sif clearly follow Thor because they don’t think it’ll end up in Thor being banished for disobeying Odin’s orders even though they know he shouldn’t have done it.
This proves it was the first time Odin reacted as such to Thor’s disobedience.
But let’s dig more into the story.
Loki yes, caused the coronation to be delayed by having three Frost Giants sneak into the vault and attempt to steal the Casket.
His purpose was:
Loki: That was just a bit of fun, really. To ruin my brother’s big day. And to protect the realm from his idiotic rule for a while longer.
Loki has no reasons to lie to Laufey about this. The ‘a while longer’ clearly imply he didn’t expect it was permanent. If he had said ‘to have him banished forever’, it would have affected Laufey just the same, he wouldn’t have judged him worse.
Thor’s reaction to the invasion is entirely Thor’s.
Thor: The Jotuns must pay for what they’ve done! Odin: They have paid, with their lives. The Destroyer did its work, the Casket is safe, and all is well. Thor: All is Well? They broke into the weapons vault! If the Frost Giants had stolen even one of these relics... Odin: They didn’t. Thor: Well, I want to know why! Odin: I have a truce with Laufey, King of the Jotuns. Thor: He just broke your truce! They know you are vulnerable! Odin: What action would you take? Thor: March into Jotunheim as you once did. Teach them a lesson. Break their spirits so they’ll never dare try to cross our borders again. Odin: You’re thinking only as a warrior. Thor: This was an act of war! Odin: It was the act of but a few, doomed to fail. Thor: Look how far they got! Odin: We will find the breach in our defenses and it will be sealed. Thor: As King of Asgard.... Odin: But you’re not king! Not yet.
Loki doesn’t even talk here. Thor, despite Odin thinking the opposite, insists they should just attack Jotunheim until Odin reminds him he’s no king.
This is relevant because if the coronation has concluded and the Jotuns had found on their own the way to get into the Vault, Thor would have waged war against them. This is what he wants to do and discussing things with Odin doesn’t change his mind, Odin merely forces him to shut up with his ‘I’m the king’ card.
Originally he would leave slamming the door behind himself, a sign he was still upset. We don’t see this, but we see him he’s still upset enough he turns a table upside down.
Then he has a discussion with Loki.
Thor: It’s unwise to be in my company right now, Brother. This was to be my day of triumph. Loki: It’ll come. In time. Thor: What’s this? Loki: If it’s any consolation, I think you’re right. About the Frost Giants, about Laufey, about everything. If they found a way to penetrate Asgard’s defenses once, who’s to say they won’t try again? Next time with an army. Thor: Exactly. Loki: There’s nothing you can do without defying Father. No, no, no. I know that look. Thor: That’s the only way to ensure the safety of our borders. Loki: Thor, it’s madness.
It’s true, if Loki had revealed he had been who orchestrated the break of the Frost Giants instead than telling him he also thought they were a threat, Thor might have calmed down. But this is not excuse enough for how Thor disobeyed Odin’s order, and only proves Thor wasn’t fit to be king right there because he insisted on going to Jotunheim even though Loki also reminded him this means defying Odin.
This is a serious matter but the key of it is that Thor wanted doing it before and still wants to do it now. He just can’t control his own wish to fight the Jotuns even if his father told him no. He’s not thinking. He’s not a common warrior, he’s the man who’s meant to be king.
If it takes him so little to wage war, then he’s unworthy of being king.
And does Loki really want for him to go to Jotunheim?
Not in the slightest, he knows it’s madness, in fact, believing Thor can’t be stopped, he tries to have him tattled out to his father.
Fandral: Well, at least he’s only banished, not dead. Which is what we’d all be if that guard hadn’t told Odin where we’d gone. Volstagg: How did the guard even know? Loki: I told him. Fandral: What? Loki: I told him to go to Odin after we’d left. He should be flogged for taking so long. We should never have reached Jotunheim. Volstagg: You told the guard? Loki: I saved our lives. And Thor’s. I had no idea Father would banish him for what he did.
In a deleted scene we see that as the group is about to ride toward the Bifrost Loki leaves them for a moment to talk with a guard. He’s not lying when he says he warned the guard.
The novelization digs a lot in how Loki didn’t want them to reach Jotunheim and in how Odin KNEW Thor would just do something, so it’s entirely possible Thor would have acted even if Loki had disagreed with him or had told him nothing.
“Why did he always seem to get into trouble because of his older brother? Wasn’t he supposed to be the wiser one? Odin has expressly forbidden that they enter Jotunheim. Yet it wasn’t the first time Thor had done something reckless. And it wouldn’t be the first time Loki was powerless to stop him.” [“Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase One: Thor”]
Loki had made a decision. True, he could not dictate his brother’s actions, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t continue to make plans of his own. As the others checked and double-checked that they had everything they would need for the journey to Jotunheim, Loki slipped away. When Loki rejoined the others, they were on their way to the Observatory. Hogun gave him a curious glance, but he ignored it. What he had done was none of their business. [“Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase One: Thor”]
They were on their way to Jotunheim. And what would happen once they got there was not in the hands of fate, but in the hands of his impulsive brother and his warrior friends. Loki would not be able to manipulate events there. He had to trust that the arrangements he had made would be enough for them all to survive. [“Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase One: Thor”]
Odin spent an uneasy night and felt no better in the morning. He had not seen Thor since their argument in the Vault. There had been shouting in the banquet hall as Thor told his friends what had happened, but Odin had heard nothing since. Frigga had tried to reassure him that Thor’s temper would ease and this would blow over, but Odin knew better. His son felt himself to be king already, whether the ceremony had been completed or not. He would take action. It was his nature. Odin hoped only that the action would not cause more problems than it solved. Just then, a guard rushed to him, and Odin’s misgivings were proved correct. Thor had taken his friends and journeyed into Jotunheim. Odin felt a deep well of fury rise up within him. Thor has deliberately disobeyed his orders. So, too, had Heimdall, who should not have let anyone pass on the Bisfrost – especially not a war party going to Jotunheim. “Tell the barn master to have Sleipnir and my battle gear to be readied immediately,” he ordered the guard. [“Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase One: Thor”]
Once in Jotunheim Laufey notices Thor wants to be there to wage war. He even warns him that if he keeps this up he would unleash something terrible… and it’s not Thor but Loki who accepts Laufey’s offer for them to leave, Thor doesn’t accept it even if they’re outnumbered and risk being all killed because, as Laufey said, he craved for battle.
Laufey: Your father is a murderer and a thief! And why have you come here? To make peace? You long for battle. You crave it. You’re nothing but a boy trying to prove himself a man. Thor: Well, this "boy" has grown tired of your mockery. Loki: Thor, stop and think. Look around you, we’re outnumbered. Thor: Know your place, Brother. Laufey: You know not what your actions would unleash. I do. Go now, while I still allow it. Loki: We will accept your most gracious offer. Come on, Brother.
Ultimately, even if Laufey and Loki had almost persuaded Thor to leave, all it takes is a small provocation and Thor starts attacking Frost Giants.
Jotun: Run back home, little princess. [Thor stops in his tracks. Loki goes white. He knows what’s coming.] Loki: Damn. [In one quick move, Thor pulls Mjolnir, swings it, and KNOCKS the Jotun clear across the plaza. The Asgardians reluctantly draw their weapons, gather into a circle around Thor.]
Loki is clearly not happy with his brother’s actions, he didn’t want this. It’s Thor who decided to do this anyway and, during the battle, we see that Thor is in a great spirit as he destroys a Frost Giant after another for a total of 145 Frost Giants (you can see the dead count in the Youtube video “Thor (2011) Chris Hemsworth Kill Count”).
Through the battle first Sif and then Loki TWICE will urge Thor to leave, they’re outnumbered they’ll end up getting killed if they remain there and it gets no better when Fandral gets wounded.
When Odin shows up Thor is all for continuing the battle.
Thor: Father! We’ll finish them together!
This is not Loki dictating his moves. This is all Thor and ultimately it’s Thor who argues with his father once they’re back, which is the last straw for Odin.
If Thor had kept quiet or had acted sorry Odin might have still forgiven him. He does not.
Thor: Why did you bring us back? Odin: Do you realize what you’ve done? What you’ve started? Thor: I was protecting my home. Odin: You cannot even protect your friends! How can you hope to protect a kingdom? Get him to the healing room! Now! Thor: There won’t be a kingdom to protect if you’re afraid to act. The Jotuns must learn to fear me, just as they once feared you. Odin: That’s pride and vanity talking, not leadership. You’ve forgotten everything I taught you about a warrior’s patience. Thor: While you wait and be patient, the Nine Realms laugh at us. The old ways are done. You’d stand giving speeches while Asgard falls. Odin: You are a vain, greedy, cruel boy! Thor: And you are an old man and a fool! Odin: Yes. I was a fool to think you were ready.
This is no Loki needling Thor, this is all Thor, this discussing matching the one he had in the Vault with Odin previously.
And, credits when it’s due, at this point Loki tried to interject.
Loki: FATHER-- [Odin turns with a growl and gives Loki a look which stops him in his tracks.]
Only at this point Thor will be banished and while yes, the way Loki chose to interrupt the coronation clearly had upset Thor and his words didn’t manage to calm him down, it’s also clear that not only Loki didn’t want for them to go to Jotunheim and almost get killed but that it’s Thor’s reaction to the situation that causes his banishment and that situation could have happened regardless of Loki having a hand in it or not.
Invasions happens.
The difference between “Thor” and “Thor: The Dark World” in which another invasion takes place, is that although Thor is always trying to disobey to his father in both movies, in the first he did it because he wanted to go at war with the Jotuns, in the second he did it because he hoped to spare Asgard from a war.
In the deleted scene for “Thor: The Dark World” even Odin acknowledges Thor was right.
Odin: I thought you’d been blinded by passion but in truth you were the only one who could see and you... did what needed to be done
His motive for disobeying his father in “Thor: The Dark World” is the exact opposite than it was in “Thor”, but if he’d been the old Thor he would have had no qualms to drag all Asgard into a war.
So yes, Loki set up the situation, but if Thor ended up being banished it was solely for his own reaction to the situation, a situation that could have happened in other circumstances.
Would Loki coming clear with Odin lift Thor’s banishment?
No, of course not, because none of Loki’s actions are what moves Odin to decide for Thor’s banishment. What pushes him to decide for such a punishment are Thor’s reactions to the situation. If Loki had confessed the most this could cause was for him too to also be banished.
And, to Thor’s credits, he grew in his banishment and became a better person. This is important, it doesn’t deserve to be underscored.
Also, as said before, Loki couldn’t predict the punishment would have been banishment and he didn’t control Odin either.
Not only Loki actually tried to stop Odin, but even Frigga in a deleted scene begged Odin to reconsider and he refused.
So yes, Thor’s banishment ultimately turned out to be convenient for Loki, but he didn’t deliberately orchestrated it, he didn’t plan that far.
So really, let’s just Thor have his moment of personal growth in which he becomes a better person in his own movie, let Odin have his own agency in deciding if to punish his sons or not and just accept the whole trip to Jotunheim wasn’t something Loki wanted nor Thor’s banishment something he could predict.
In short simply accept the story as its authors wanted it to be.
I get not everyone might be aware of interviews and deleted scenes but really, I would say the movie made the whole thing obvious enough to be understood just by watching it.
93 notes · View notes
traincat · 3 years
Note
I know that everyone is pretty sure that the FF movie will mean that Johnny will now never be officialy let out of the closet but personally I feel like since the FF are so unpopular and ppl have been bugging Marvel and Disney for an actual canon & 'important' gay character that they may just? Use him? I'm absolutely losing it and its not going to happen (and if it does, good god, its going to be handled so badly) but imagine. Tho as long as they dont bring lyja in im ill count the movie as Ok
So I am going to go Full Conspiracy Theorist out here for a minute because when I and a couple others I personally know have been kind of saying “Johnny’s never coming out now” it refers to a very specific recent incident that we were kind of side eyeing for Possible Movie Interference even before this announcement. Saying up front that I don’t know that this is true, and even if Someone Did Change The Script it’s just as likely to be comic editorial pulling the plug than Kevin Feige coming down from on high to stuff Johnny back in the closet like he’s the Plant Man and it’s the ‘60s:
Tumblr media
And then they never let him out of there again. (Strange Tales #121)
So here’s the deal: we know that there are several creators involved with Marvel who hold the belief that Johnny Storm is not the bastion of heterosexuality he’s very often been pushed as. Marjorie Liu (and most likely Daniel Way but we only have Marjorie Liu’s word on this last time I checked) intentionally wrote the relationship between him and Daken in Dark Wolverine as sexual. When I reviewed Marvels Snapshot: Fantastic Four for Women Write About Comics I received some very nice commentary from the creators and a retweet from Kurt Busiek, who is in charge of the Snapshot collection -- and I spend the majority of that review pretty openly talking about the subtext of Johnny’s sexuality and the history that has. So like, this is out there, it goes beyond fandom circles. People know, and you can tell, because a lot of the time multiple creators don’t spend decades making jokes about a character being gay if they don’t kind of think that character is gay. (I am looking at you, John Byrne.) But anyway, fast forward. It’s 2018 and the Fantastic Four are back on the shelves after their Film Rights Mandated Banishment (that Jonathan Hickman leaked as being a Real Thing and not another conspiracy theory). And while I have some significant problems with the 2018 run so far, I have to say, that first issue starts off strong, not in the least because it also featured the return of Wyatt Wingfoot, Johnny’s best friend and former roommate. Turned current roommate again, since apparently they were living together. They were also touching a lot.
Tumblr media
Like a lot lot. Love a boyfriend leash. (Fantastic Four v6 #1) And like, look, longtime Johnny readers can tell you all about his long relationship with Wyatt Wingfoot and the subtext you can read into it, but a lot of casual readers noticed this too. People were talking about it. It was noticed. It was pretty obviously paralleled against Ben and Alicia, who were getting engaged at the same time.
Fast forward a couple of issues, all of which Wyatt sticks around for -- he was pretty obviously living with the Fantastic Four after their return for a couple of issues there -- to Ben’s bachelor party, where he and Johnny have this particular conversation:
Tumblr media
“When you know -- and you’ll know -- take that leap. Don’t wait fer stronger shielding. Be brave, Johnny Storm.” (FF v6 #5) There’s a lot to unpack here in general, but the “be brave, Johnny Storm” sentiment continually sticks out to me, along with how ungendered this speech is -- not when you meet the right woman, blah blah blah. It’s not a big jump to imagine this as leading out to a coming out narrative, and that’s before we factor in this solicit for Fantastic Four #7:
Tumblr media
“Plus a strange new development in the life of the Human Torch.” If you’ve read the issue, however, you know literally nothing of note happens to Johnny in it, let alone anything you could consider a new development, strange or not. It seems pretty clear, if you pull the clues, that there was originally some kind of plot involving Johnny -- and likely his romantic future -- in the original plans but then at some point that plot got pulled and likely replaced by the current Sky soulmate plot that has literally left Johnny shackled by heterosexuality. So it’s clear that at some point in early 2019 something shifted and this Johnny plot got pulled, for whatever reason. And I have no proof beyond all this circumstantial evidence that they were lining up anything that was actually going to concretely within the actual Fantastic Four book address his sexuality, but I think given the circumstantial evidence it is a valid theory. I don’t know if I specifically believe that the reasoning behind whatever this plot getting pulled was MCU interference, but it’s likely that the Fantastic Four project was seriously in development by that point to be able to announce it now, and if, by whatever chance, my “Johnny was going to come out” theory was true, we also know that the MCU has a serious problem with actually handling queer representation within their universe -- see Tessa Thompson’s bisexual Valkyrie scene getting cut, the entire Gay Joe Russo incident. They’re, what, 20+ movies in now and there are no actual queer main characters, right? I know Eternals is apparently changing that, but Eternals is not out yet, and also has significantly less name recognition than Fantastic Four. It’s not a great record, and while I would like to think that maybe that could change either with the Fantastic Four or by the time a Fantastic Four movie rolls out, I just don’t have that kind of faith. But if I’m wrong I’ll totally donate double the cost of the ticket and large popcorn to a charity that actually deserves it.
Tumblr media
So there’s my conspiracy theory! Some people do this with celebrities, I do it with Johnny Storm. It’s probably equally unrewarding either way.
140 notes · View notes
stevetonygames · 4 years
Text
Spotlight Post: Canon Soulmate Bonds
Yooo, this is a blog takeover, Mizzy here, ready to champion one of my favourite fictional causes: canonical soulbonds in the Marvel universe.
We all love a good soulbond fic. Words on your body, names on your wrist, red string of fate...so many glorious versions, and all of them *completely awesome*. The problem sometimes with starting a soulbond fic, though, can be all the worldbuilding required to make it work. But what if I was to tell you that no worldbuilding was necessary? That you could technically write a soulbond fic without having to set it in an Alternate Universe? What if you could set your soulbond fic *directly in main canon?*
Marvel 616 delivers you a canonical soulbond mechanic… not once… but at least *twice*. There could be more. There’s a lot of comics to go through and I’m only smol. But here’s the two I know about and I’m here to introduce you to today. :)
The was a ripple of mild confusion around fandom when Kevin Feige announced that the Eternals were getting a title movie in the next phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Created by Jack Kirby in the 1970s, in a wild combination of mythological fascination and spite at DC comics for not letting him finish his New Gods saga, the Eternals were an offshoot of humanity, created by the Celestials for humanity’s protection; this reason for their existence would lead them into their ongoing conflict against the deadly Deviants. There have been a few Eternals runs (notably one run by Neil Gaiman, which did not serve to bring the Eternals the commercial success Marvel was searching for with the title, that nevertheless remains the most fun and accessible Eternals volume), but they’ve not yet really reached wide-reaching traction among even the most die-hard comic fans. The MCU might change that, and here’s hoping, because I love these nearly-immortal idiots, and I’m hoping not to be alone in that for much longer. :D
But even my Eternals-happy soul has to admit, Eternals canon for the most part is dense and can be convoluted, and the spellings—both of their character names and one of the main fun parts of their existence, the Mahd W’yry—are enough to give one a headache. The idea of the Eternals is that they’re long-lived and have interacted with human history over the years in various impactful ways. You might think at first glance that you’ve never heard of the Eternals Sersi, Ikaris, Makkari, but I think you wouldn’t find Circe, Icarus, or Mercury unfamiliar names.
The Mahd W’yry is a symptom of the Eternals being so long-living. In order to stop them going insane, the Eternals have to bond into something known as the Uni-Mind, which basically squishes all their consciousnesses together into one, where they can share memories and blend temporarily into one mind. Regularly bonding into the Uni-Mind allows them to stave off the Mahd W’yry. (Yep, that’s just a headache-inducing spelling of ‘mad worry’, we know.)
Anyway, did you need to know all this? Eh, maybe, a little bit of canned backstory is always handy for you to briefly glance over and promptly forget. Because along with some dense mythological adventures, some glorious angsting across beautiful landscapes, and that ability to turn into a big massive floating brain, the Eternals also gave us a beautiful gift:
The Gann Josin.
In Avengers #361, Ikaris comes down to Earth and decides that Sersi needs to be bonded to Dane Whitman, an Avenger who canonically didn’t have any powers, he was just a *really good guy*, destined for tragedy. Honestly. That’s his bio. Really good guy. Destined for tragedy. The character creation in the 90s was peak talent. Dane, sadly, was in love with another woman, but did this matter to Ikaris? No. Apparently the Eternals don’t know about the dangers of letting himbos like Ikaris have life-changing powers, like the ability to create the Uni-Mind. 
Because the power to control the Uni-Mind also gives an Eternal the power to form a Gann Josin bond. And that’s what Ikaris does in Avengers #361—he forces a Gann Josin bond on Eternal Sersi and tragic human Avenger Dane Whitman.
Tumblr media
Gann Josin (sometimes Gan-Josin because what is spelling continuity in Marvel comics) is both the name of the bond, and the title given to an Eternal and their chosen life-mate. It has a bunch of cool side effects. Both Gann Josins get glowing full-red eyes. It’s a really intimate tiny form of the Uni-Mind (without the part where you become a big floating brain), and creates a small scale mental union. The Gann Josin bond makes the Eternal and their partner lifelong soulmates. As the bond progresses, it creates a telepathic/empathic bond that strengthens in time. According to the Eternal Sprite, humans are rarely chosen by Eternals for the Gann Josin.
Now, Dane Whitman does manage to break the Gann Josin several issues later. But… it’s not easy. It’s rare. When Dane manages it, it is called an “astounding act.” It’s pretty dang hard, in other words. There’s every chance your chosen Gann Josins won’t have the mental fortitude of Dane Whitman to break it. (Although, we’re talking about Steve and Tony, and are there any bigger stubborn idiots in the universe? Probably not.)
But Mizzy, I hear you saying. I don’t want to write about Ikaris, even if he is a party king and that sounds pretty nifty. I don’t know anything about the Eternals and I don’t want to go down that gnarly rabbit hole.
That’s totes fine, my friend. I am here to save you. Because in very recent canon, during Jason Aaron’s turn at the helm, the Eternals are all dead. Very dead. That whole Mahd W’yry thing got ‘em, it got ‘em good. But before Ikaris died, he granted his Uni-Mind power to someone we all know and love.
Tumblr media
Yep. Tony Stark. Tony Stark currently has the power of the Uni-Mind.
Which means that Tony Stark can now Gann Josin people.
In Avengers #361, Ikaris performs the Gann Josin by basically just pointing his hands at Sersi and Dane and some light goes WHEEEEEEE!! in their direction, and bam, this rare and special bond is done. And Tony Stark can do that now. To anyone! Unfortunately Ikaris is dead and didn’t leave Tony with an instruction manual. But the point is, he *can*. You can make up all sorts of fun things with this canonical fact (or write your own version because lbr Canon Is Dead; Long Live Canon.)
There are so many possibilities. Does Tony deliberately learn how to use it so he can bond himself to Steve? Does Tony *need* to be able to hear Steve’s thoughts (to thwart some bad guys) and thus end up soulbonded forever to Steve in result? Is Tony’s power activating at random because he can’t control it, and he ends up soulbonding everyone around him? Does he just subconsciously bond himself to Steve without consciously meaning to? Do Tony or Steve want to try it for science?
Gosh, I love comics.
But WAIT. There’s MORE.
It’s not just 1990s comics going ham on the soulbond idea. No, we got some *this year*. Canonical soulbonding? TWICE? In one universe? Two different kinds??
And this time, it’s not in a D-list Marvel title. We’re up the ranks to the big leagues this time, folx, with a brief trek to the world of the Fantastic Four.
In Fantastic Four (Vol. 6) #15, we’re introduced to a Spyre citizen called Sky, a winged team member of the Unparalleled (more cosmic-powered superheroes), who work under The Overseer. (The Overseer, in a burst of beautiful retcon in the way Marvel comics keeps doing to us, is apparently the entity who is responsible for giving the F4 their powers. Huh. The more you know.)
Tumblr media
On the planet Spyre, all children are brought before something called The Great Eye. This measures them against the radiation signature of everyone on the planet, divining who their perfect match is. 
Sky looked into The Great Eye, only to find out her match was Johnny Storm, who was 44 light-years away at the time. Long-distance relationships can be tough. Anyway, plot happens, the F4 get stuck on Spyre, get told they can’t leave, and Sky tells Johnny Storm that she is his soulmate. Oh, and she attached a soul binding onto him while he slept. Neat, huh, all the bodily autonomy people get in this universe before being force soulbond to people? So neat, much consent, wow.
Johnny feels a connection to Sky, which is supposed to let us know this lack of choice is a good thing I guess. The Overseer wants Sky to renounce Johnny and crush the F4 which obv doesn’t happen, so of course she leaves The Unparalleled and skips off to Earth to be with Johnny. 
Who knows how this relationship is gonna last. I mean, you can look at the rest of Johnny’s relationship history and have a good guess. Who knows. Anyway, Reed and Sue are each other's soulmate, and also share a “Soul Binding”, so there’s some canonical proof right there that maybe this system has some validity going for it.
The soulbond for this form takes the form of a golden bracelet worn on the upper arm, that Sky explains her people call a “Soul Binding”; it represents them as being soul-mates. This bracelet can only be removed by your soulmate. This soulbond doesn’t seem to come with any extra powers, it’s just to show that The Great Eye has measured their radiation signature and declared them a match that is supposed to mean they’re perfectly compatible in every way: spiritually, mentally, and physically.
Tumblr media
I don’t know about you, but I have a pretty good feeling that Steve and Tony might just have matching radiation signatures… Or what if Steve and Tony have perfect matching signatures….with other people? (Someone else on Spyre believes Sky is *their* perfect match, after all!) What if Steve has feelings for Iron Man, but he’s a perfect match with Tony Stark? I feel faint already just thinking about it.
So here you go. Two canonical types of soulbonds for your fannish consideration. Feel free to ask me questions! You can find me on tumblr (@mizzy2k) or on discord (addy#0908).
109 notes · View notes
anerdquemoraaolado · 3 years
Text
Beyond a Chance
Chapter 5: In the same place
Through the plane window, Tom could see a clear blue sky, an almost tropical climate, that was more or less what the Los Angeles sky reminded him of. Despite being tired, it had been a relatively short trip, so he hadn't even slept, apart from the anxiety he'd been feeling, she'd certainly been a factor in warding off sleep for good.
He couldn't wait to unravel what Kevin Feige would tell him about Loki. Well, it could well be the news of the final ending, that he wouldn't return to the role and the character's story was finished, but on second thought, they wouldn't bother to make him leave the house just to tell in person that he was fired. Surely he would play Loki again, it remained to be seen in what context.
As Tom finished arriving in Los Angeles, one of its inhabitants finished her lunch. Despite her persistent loneliness, Yasmim couldn't be happier, she would have a meeting with Kevin Feige and finally be able to talk to him in person, thank him for his lineup, and talk a lot about Sigyn.
In the afternoon, the two went to the same place, not knowing this or that they would meet, it seemed that Kevin was triggering a meeting between the future Marvel couple, not exactly the couple, but the actors who would play Loki and Sigyn.
Tom had arrived first, greeting the producer he now considered a friend.
“I must confess that I'm anxious to know what you want to talk to me “ the actor admitted.
“Well, I'm expecting a few more people for our initial conversation, Tom, but I want to advance the subject” said Feige, continuing with the conversation “you certainly remember the segment in ''Endgame'' where Loki steals the Tesseract
“Yeah, you bet I did “ Tom still had no idea what Kevin meant.
“From there, we will create a series to explain what happened” he continued explaining “it will be something short, a mini series of 6 episodes, we really want you to accept to come back.”
“Yes, for sure, it will be great “ Tom showed his joy to see that he had correctly deduced Loki's return.
In the following hours, series creator Michael Waldrum arrived at the meeting and explained the whole concept and his ideas, which left Tom excited, wanting to participate in the project even more.
“It would be an honor for me to be able to have greater creative control, I understand what you want to do with the character, but if I can suggest a few things, his approach to everything he does within the script, I would be very grateful“ Tom showed his interest and enthusiasm.
“Of course, of course, Tom, that's our wish, we want you as executive producer” Kevin agreed “Loki wouldn't be who he is without you, so it's your right, totally.”
"Thank you very, very much," Tom thanked, adding more ideas following that.
Then, after much conversation, Yasmim arrived, finding it strange to enter the already full office. She looked at the men standing there vaguely, not immediately recognizing them, her eyes were on the biggest prize, Kevin Feige.
"I hope I haven't been too late," Yasmim apologized, feeling embarrassed.
“No, you're not, please come closer, Ms. Gomes” Kevin played host “I was just dividing time for different tasks, let me introduce you, these are Michael Waldrum and Tom Hiddleston, the creator of the series you're going to work on and your supporting actor.”
“Ms. Gomes, it's a surprise for me that we also meet today” Tom managed to use politeness, despite the shyness he felt at the surprise of meeting her.
“Call me Yasmim, please “ she asked, realizing now who exactly he was.
“Hi, Yasmim, I assume you're our Sigyn” Michael tried to break the ice.
“Yes, I am, I was cast for her, I had no idea it was a series “ she vocalized her own astonishment.
"It's one of the things about joining Marvel," Tom played with her too, hoping she would feel less self”conscious.
"Yeah, I think so," she replied, still a little stunned to see Tom Hiddleston in front of her.
Finally that trance state was gone when Michael and Kevin told him about the series and everything about it. As she listened and offered her own opinions, she reconciled the fact that she would be Sigyn, Loki's wife, meaning she would star opposite Tom Hiddleston, who was a huge phenomenon among the fans. It was surreal that they were now in the same room.
After everything was told to her, Yasmin was able to comment.
“This opportunity is everything I've been waiting for in the last 13 years, I promise to do my best, bring the essence of the character and stick to the proposal and the essence of her” promised the prominent actress.
“That's very good to hear “ Tom praised, slightly curious to know more about the trajectory of his new co-worker, some details of Yasmim's sentence seemed extremely familiar to him.
“Yeah, even though the fans are very demanding, I love this job too and I couldn't be happier” she replied, and that also made Tom interested in her career, who Yasmim was as an actress and what she had done so far.
“Before we finish, I have just one more suggestion” said the protagonist of the series “we can arrange a meeting between us, Yasmim, to talk about our characters and how to interpret them in this new context now.”
"It's a great idea, for sure, as we're going to be married on the show," she replied, with a giggle at the end like a flourish.
“Great, I'll stay a few more days here in Los Angeles, if you don't mind staying here too, if you can” he suggested.
“Don't worry, staying in LA is no problem at all, I live here” she explained willingly.
"Even better then," he replied with a satisfied smile.
Then they exchanged their phone numbers, to arrange the next meeting, also saying goodbye to Michael and Kevin. Yasmin, as he was returning home, could hardly believe her luck, her first big role was for the biggest franchise today, everything was wonderfully promising.
2 notes · View notes
Text
My Reaction to “Avengers Endgame”
Yes- I still haven’t seen this movie.  Yes I know exactly what happens in this movie.  I mainly avoided it for a while due to overhype but with some convincing from my brother, Imma sit my butt down and try to watch this.
Pressing... play!
Right off the bat, I feel like I should warn you guys and say that I have... my opinions... about stuff.  Plus I’m a dumbass about Marvel so just bear with me.
I like that Disney Plus has to warn us about product placement
Clint!
Are we gonna see little Nathaniel running around- THERE he is!
We are gonna see Clint’s entire family get freaking obliterated
Is all the rumbling from the sky or are those airplanes freaking crashing to Earth in the distance?
What if they pulled a reverse WandaVision and showed the people getting snapped out of existence in a future film or show?  That would be freaking terrifying.
They’re [Tony and Nebula] playing paper football...
I wanna see more of THEIR interactions aboard the Milano.  The shots of them just repairing the ship are great too.
“I’m fine.  Totally fine.”  Everyone ever.
I also like you see the visual difference between Tony and Nebula.  While he’s growing gaunt and haggard from loss of oxygen, you can still see that Nebula looks absolutely fine because she’s like 75% android
So between 1995 and now, what the heck has Carol been up to?
“Thanos wiped out... 50% of all living creatures.”  So like entire ecosystems are just demolished.
*anthropology major part of my brain scrambling for answers*
“We lost.  And you [Steve] weren’t there.”  HE WAS IN WAKANDA!
Wait so the arc reactor ISN’T in Tony’s chest anymore?
“Where the hell have you [Carol] been all this time?”  Good question!
*silently bops to opening theme*
For some reason, I just really want the ship radio to randomly turn on so you just see everyone sitting awkwardly as “Piano Man” plays over the speakers
*Thanos slowly cooks his food*  Faster, all together now!  COOKING CAN BE FUN!
“I [Thanos] used the stones to destroy the stones.”  ...what?
“I am...[Thanos] inevitable.”  *starts humming “Inevitable” from TGWDLM*
“I [Thor] went for the head.”  YES YOU DID
[FIVE YEARS LATER] All righty so we’re doing this
*gasps*  Is... Steve running the therapy sit downs like Sam did in “The Winter Soldier”?  That’s awesome.  I really like this tidbit.
I’m also really liking Alan Silvestri’s score for this so far
I’m really trying not to nitpick but I feel like it would take more than 5 years for greenery to just completely overtake a suburban neighborhood
Also wow pre COVID life looks great you guys
“There’s a part of me that doesn’t even wanna find him.”  Are they talking about... Clint?  Is Clint just going the full vigilante route?
DOES HE KILL PEOPLE?!?
I really like Steve and Natasha’s friendship in these movies but for some reason I don’t feel like we get enough of Natasha for me to get behind her on an emotional standpoint
Are they gonna use the quantum realm to jumpstart the multiverse for Phase 4?
Also speaking of multiverse, I honestly really don’t want Spiderman:  No Way Home or Wandavision to get too cluttered by that
I like Tony’s lake house.  And he got a whole vegetable garden going too.  Kudos!
The little kid who plays Morgan Stark is adorable
“Not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel.”  Which we obviously won’t.
“We’re gonna need a really big brain.”  So where the [expletive] is Banner?
“Stranger danger.”  *snorts*
“Dab!”  *rolls eyes*
So is the whole Professor Hulk thing permanent?  I know he’s gonna be in the She-Hulk show but I’m wondering how they’re gonna tackle that.  And they’re gonna have Tim Roth too!
*smiles when Tony takes Morgan to bed*
Steve Rogers here [when they do the first time travel tests] is a Look ™
Maybe don’t let the GIANT GREEN MAN keep pressing a bunch of tiny tiny important buttons on a dashboard
*laughs at Steve shaking his head in disbelief when they finally bring Scott back*
*Tony’s car races toward the Avengers base*  NYOOOMMMM
*Tony rolls down his window*  It’s Britney, bitch
“And maybe not die trying.”  And you definitely will.
This whole bit where Scott keeps losing his dorito only to get another one from Bruce feels like a Doritos commercial.
*jams out to "Supersonic Rocket Ship by The Kinks*
Did they just keep reducing the green pigment for Hulk or what?
*sighs when they reveal Fat!Thor*
MIEK’S ALIVE!
Please tell me Noobmaster69 is Kid Loki, whom we meet in the Loki series
“Don’t... say that name.”  “Yeah we actually don’t say that name here.”  I like this.  I like that Thor has so much resentment for killing Thanos at the wrong time and that he felt that could have done better cause he’s A GOD.  So the fact that THANOS was on equal level and BEAT HIM-
Hawkeye’s killing people
This sword fight’s great [between the Yakuza person and Clint]
WHY DIDN’T THEY BUILD ON THIS [Clint and Natasha’s connection] ???
*laughs when Rhodey suggests killing baby Thanos*
These shots of Clint going through the Quantum Realm looks like something straight out of Andy Park’s concept art and that’s awesome
“Well I [Scott] haven’t [encountered an Infinity Stone] but I don’t even know what the hell you’re all talking about.”  *snorts*
“The Aether, firstly, is not a stone.”  Thank you!
The little glance Nebula gives after Thor mentions the Dark Elves just make me think that somewhere down the road, she has either A) encountered them or B) has encountered other Asgardians besides Thor
“Guys if you pick the right year, there are three stones in New York.”  “Shut the front door.”  *laughs*
Also underrated trio:  Steve, Natasha, and Bruce.  Gimme more.
Wait a minute, in 2012, Doctor Strange wasn’t active yet.  So are they gonna go see- OOOOOOOHHHHHH
[NEW YORK 2012] Oh here we go
*cracks up when Bruce very half-assedly smashes stuff on the street*
“I’m looking for Doctor Strange.”  “You’re about five years too early.”  Wait a minute.
HOW DOES SHE [the Ancient One] KNOW?!?
*giggles at Thor and Rocket sneaking in the background with a bored Loki in focus*
“That’s my [Thor’s] mother.  She dies today.”  I love this scene already.
Also WHY IS THOR- or the Thor films in general- have like the most well written characters in the whole canon?
It’s those movies, Guardians 2, The Winter Soldier, Civil War, aaand.... I can’t think of any more of them. 
Oh yeah and WANDAVISION cause THAT HIT ME LIKE A TRUCK-
Rocket just said he thinks of the Guardians as his family I’m gonna die...
What about their [Natasha and Rhodey’s] friendship?!?  I want more of that!
“Ronan’s obsession... clouds his judgment.”  ...HUH
*Thanos uses his sword to lift up Nebula’s chin*  Aw heck no
“As far as I’m concerned, that’s America’s ass.”  *has to take a second before nodding in agreement*
Wait is that Jasper Stillwell?
“Flick me.”  That bit alone could be taken out of context
“We’re in route to Doctor List.”  Who’s Doctor List?  Is that a code name?
“Hail Hydra.”  THE BASTARDS WENT AND DID IT
Please tell me this hand off scene is gonna be the opening for the Loki show.  Please tell me this is gonna happen.
*Loki takes the Tesseract again*  AND HE’S GOOONNNEE!!
LET’S GET TO FREAKING JUNE ALREADY!
*ends up quoting “Yeah, I know, I know” along with Steve*
I’m really glad Tilda Swinton actually came back for this cameo
*keeps slapping my laptop screen when people keep saying Doctor Strange made a mistake when it was an explicit point in Infinity War where he encountered 14 million other AUs to find the best result*
Are you telling me that this whole plan could derail because Nebula accidentally hacked into her own WiFI network?  Are you seriously doing this?
*Thanos and Ebony Maw scan Nebula’s duplicate memory bank and track her down*  Are you freaking kidding me?
...I have 96 minutes left?!?
“The future hasn’t been kind to you [Thor], has it?”  Frigga is underrated
So for these shots with Jane, are they just reusing different shots from Thor 2 or just footage from deleted scenes?
Can we talk about how Frigga is absolutely the best parent Thor has?  Meanwhile her husband ODIN is like “oh yeah by the way you have a secret sister totes magotes i’ll die now byeeee”
*sings along with “Come and Get Your Love” by Redbone*
*laughs when we cut to Quill just very badly singing along to his iPod in the distance*
I want a bonus short with just Rhodey and Nebula doing their thing
*Nebula gets her memory taken over by 2014 Thanos*  Nooooooo...
Are the glasses that Tony wears here part of EDITH from “Far From Home” or are they like a prototype?
Also I haven’t seen “Far From Home” yet because Sony hates me
Doctor Zola?!?
*jams out to the music playing when we see Hank Pym’s lab*
“A little girl would be nice.  Less of a chance that she’ll end up exactly like me [Howard Stark].”  *gasps softly*
Oh my God, he’s [Steve] in Peggy’s office
Alan Silvestri is really killing it with this score
JARVIS!!
Wait and that’s the guy from “Agent Carter”!
Ohhh that shot’s [of Thanos’s ship coming out of the clouds] awesome...
*2014 Nebula hands Thanos the Pym particles*  Oh are you kidding me...
The CGI for Red Skull is also awesome
*gasps when Natasha reveals that she never knew her dad’s name when Red Skull told it to her*
*is super bummed out when Natasha sacrifices herself*
Kevin Feige really went and said “so Phases 3 and 4 are gonna make everybody cry” and the writers went “YES”
Wait doesn’t Cap go and return the stones at the end of the movie?  How’s he gonna handle meeting Red Skull on Vormir then?
“It’s like... I [Bruce] was made for this.”  Please someone get Mark Ruffalo his own Hulk movie before he combusts from giving out more spoilers
So Thanos used the Pym particles to time travel then.  Honestly that’s kinda genius
I just noticed that Scott shrank himself right as the explosion hit the windows
I really want someone to just drop one F-bomb somewhere in the MCU and I really hope it’s Clint because he would 100% say it
*starts singing “Hollaback Girl” when Thanos arrives*
Here’s my question;  how did Thanos acquire Nebula then?  With Gamora, it was with the genocide of her people.
“We [Gamora to Nebula] can stop him.”  LET’S GO!
[Thor uses his storm powers to summon both Stormbreaker and Mjolnir] *softly* Ohhhhh that’s badass...
Now I’m just imagining the cast just in the green screen room just hitting Josh Brolin with a bunch of foam weapons and making all the sound effects while poor Josh is just struggling under the weight of the Thanos reference head on his mocap suit
Who does the voice for FRIDAY?
AN:  Irish actress named Kerry Condon
*Steve deems himself worth to wield Mjolnir*  OKKAAYY OKAAYY
Love how Thanos is like “yes, I’m gonna stab you with an AXE”
“In all my years of conquest...”  Steve you suuuucckkk...
Are we getting the Chitauri again?
“On your left.”  *laughs incredulously*  O-ohhh my God...
*Everyone starts coming out of the portals*  Oh my God I’m getting chills
I would have lost my mind in the theater
I HAVE ACTUAL GOOSEBUMPS RUNNING ALL OVER ME.  This is how good this is
WAIT ARE THOSE THE RAVAGER SHIPS ABOVE THEM?!?
“Avengers... assemble.”  Oh my God this is amazing!
M’BAKU!
Also “Endgame” really just said “We are KILLING FOOLS TODAY”
How are they gonna tackle Peter and Gamora’s relationship in Guardians 3?
[Horn plays La Cucaracha] LET’S GO
God I’m gonna turn feral
*has to pause to scream in excitement when Wanda touches down in front of Thanos to fight him*
*puts hands on head*  OHH MY GOOOOODDDDD
They’re literally just playing Keep Away with a teenage boy.  Marvel, everybody.
*Captain Marvel destroys Thanos’s ship*  WELL IT TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH
OK I got mixed feelings about that [the girl power team up scene]
*Thanos unsuccessfully headbutts Carol*  Oh shit!
*Doctor Strange holds up one finger*  Oh my God this is it
Someone definitely tore off when Thanos pushed Tony off
It was in that moment he [Thanos] knew- he effed up
*All of Thanos’s army dissipates*  Byeee...
Is it bad that I’m not crying at Tony’s death?
*gasps when Peter reunites with Ned at school*
Wait the whole time heist takes place within ONE DAY?
“I love you 3000.”  I really hope we see Morgan again somewhere in one of the movies or shows.  Actually a cool way to reincorporate her would be in the Ironheart series whenever they make it
Even Drax is wearing black!
It’s the “We should be getting therapy but we got a TV show instead” trio [Wanda, Bucky, and Sam]
Wait is that guy- was that guy- the little kid from Iron Man 3?
AN:  Yes
So right after this funeral, Wanda’s gonna storm SWORD right?
AN:  This was finished up on 2/26 so probably YES
*Thor crowns Valkyrie the new leader of New Asgard*  I now cannot wait for “Thor Love and Thunder”
Wait Peter’s looking for Gamora!
Still cannot believe that the time travel suits are completely CGI
I know they had a body double for Chris Evans here but I do think it would have been cool if they used the body double’s voice for Old Steve instead of Chris trying to sound old
He [Steve] put the shield in an art portfolio bag...
*says “No, no I don’t think I will” along with Steve*
*silently jams out to “It’s Been a Long, Long Time” playing during the credits*
Wait and that was the song Fury was playing in “Winter Soldier”
Oh they even got the actual signatures!  That’s awesome!
10 notes · View notes
denimbex1986 · 3 years
Video
youtube
“Sam has actually been reaching out to Bucky...what do Sam’s texts to Bucky look like?”
Anthony: “’Hey, did you kill anybody today?’”
Sebastian: “That might actually be - be the text that he would get. (laughter). ‘Couple of people getting together this Sunday for a fishing trip; just sayin’, if you’re up for anything.’” 
Anthony: “’If you’re up for it, I’ll buy the shrimp.’” (Sebastian laughs)
“When you guys first found out that his series was happening, what was it about Sam and, and Bucky that you just really wanted to emphasize in your performance, and did you also have any specific requests for what you wanted the story to be?”
Sebastian: “I don’t know if we got a lot of those special - special requests that - that were asked, but I think - I don’t know - speaking for me, I was just grateful that we get the continuation of what the story is and hey, quite frankly, I - I think this is what we discovered with the show is the most interesting storyline to be honest, which is, you know, why I feel like Kevin always knows what’s best, you know, and, and we just follow the ride, you know, we’re in for the ride. And - but I think we just wanted to focus on that dynamic and make sure we finally gave it the proper chance, you know?”
“...now that Steve isn’t in the picture, has the tension between your characters evolved - is it different?”
Anthony: “Nah, it’s more so - our relationship grew out of our appreciation for Steve and that’s kind of where it started and ended. You know, Bucky and Sam they have a mutual understanding and respect for each other; there’s no appreciation. So, you know, that’s  - that’s the evolution of the two men, in their role, in the MCU.”
“...how long after Avengers: Endgame is this story set?”
Malcolm: “It’s close enough that the blip, or snap, whatever you wanna call it, defines ever single thing that happens in the series. Basically, maybe three and a half billion people have been gone for five years; they have suddenly reappeared. That has created a global crisis, which sounds, I’m sure, familiar, I keep - that’s my go-to line - and all the villains are born from that, and all the heroes are responding to that. So it - it’s, it’s - it’s close enough that you know it’s still very real.”
“...can you tell me what the official line is? Like, what are the Avengers saying happened to Captain America?”
Kari: “We don’t know.”
“We don’t know...”
Kari: Well, I don’ t know that there’s an official line, but I certainly don’t know.”
Malcolm: “I don’t know. I don’t know if there is, you know we; when we watch the series, maybe we get a little more; maybe we don’t - who knows?”
“You start the episode off with just an absolutely incredible sequence - and you mentioned like the movies earlier, but you are making a television show, so I was curious just how you kind of work in the big blockbuster action sequences within the structure of an episodic television -”
Malcolm: “How dare you Eric use the word television show (Eric laughs). Kevin Feige is gonna send a lightning bolt at me right now because you said it. The mandate when I came in was this cannot look like television - “
“Oh it does not...”
Malcolm “Yes, and it cannot feel like television. And when Kevin said that, he didn’t just mean the action, he meant also in the storytelling. So we tried to find a way to do a hybrid form of storytelling, that has the immediacy and urgency of a movie for each episode, but is exploiting the real estate that six episodes give us, which is a completely different rhythm and cadence of storytelling to go deep into these characters, and I gotta say, you know, as you know from seeing this first episode, the people who made this movie, are the people from Marvel movies, and the you know, they don’t know nothing about anything except for being the biggest and the best. And when that fist set piece came in dude, I couldn’t believe I got to be involved with that; I was like ;Oh my God’.”
“...the wing suits into the helicopter...that was just unreal, man.”
Malcolm: “They are - they are the best.”
Kari. “Unreal. That was real.”
“...how? I mean, how did that come together..?”
Kari: “Well we found a team, you know, I saw - I got; I got the inspiration by seeing it online. I, I watched a lot of videos that, you know lot of different teams have done and, whether they be parachuting or squirrel suits, or even there’s a - there’s people with, with wing - you know, a version of wings, and so I, I really combed actual footage to be inspired by what can be done. Also, the coverage, because if people are getting used to watching a video, that really, that somebody really did, jump out of a plane, and so, how, you know, where were the cameras on that? So we duplicated - we were inspired by all those and, and tried to, you know, sort of take the best of the best and duplicate what we felt was, you know, really extraordinary.”
“...from your experience of working with them, I’m wondering what you can just tease the audience about, uh, Wyatt Russell and Erin Kellyman’s characters?”
Sebastian: “Oh man. There’s a lot more -”
Anthony: “They’re the exact op  - they work so well because they’re the exact opposite of us. Everything that makes us fly, swaglicious, cool, sexy - they are the Canadian version of that. The are the exact - the exact opposite of us.”
Sebastian: “Basically upstanding. dependable people. (Anthony laughs) I mean, this is what he’s saying.”
Kari: “They’re terrific. (laughs) That’s all.”
“That’s all? Okay.”
Malcolm: “I will give you this - every single person in this series, including the villains, think they’re heroes, and - and, and operate as such. And the heroes definitely understand where the villains are coming from in this series.”
“I wanted to ask about the use of the flagsmasher...in the comics it’s a cool character, but I like how you’ve adapted it as a bigger philosophy...I’m hoping you can just talk about making that move.”
Malcolm: “Well, we wanted this series to be extremely relevant and extremely rooted in the times, and we wanted villains who believe they were heroes and could actually mount an argument that the audience would be like ‘Oh, they’re not crazy’, so that the heroes could be like ‘Ah, I don’t know if they’re crazy’, so, there are more than one antagonists, uh, in this series, and all of them are of, of - basically if Thanos created an MCU that is almost nearing where we’re at today, then these villains are very much of our times, you know what I’m saying, just like the heroes are.”
“...the time jump in Endgame, works to the advantage of Marvel, kind of just catching up reality with the timeline...”
Malcolm: “Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly, I hadn’t thought of - you’re really doing the math. You know how maddening that is, when you’re adjusting, the, the actual date in the Marvel universe, plus time jumps - you’re like ’Oh my God!” (laughs)
“Did you have specific references that you looked to as far as developing both the plot and the dynamics between the characters?”
Malcolm: “Yeah, oddly even though you have to be steeped in the books, the reference points were actually movies that had nothing to do with the MCU, which was buddy two-handers, um, from ‘48 Hrs’ to sort of ‘Lethal Weapon’ one in tone, and ‘Bad Boys’, because those kinds of movies are obviously able to first of all, give Anthony and Sebastian the kind of real estate they need to play, but also those movies are very, very - they’re, they’re built to take on topics of the times, and deliver them in a way that’s not alienating. So that was - that was really where - where we all pulled from a lot.”
.”..Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie have an amazing back and forth, but you are dealing with like, I mean, honestly, crisises, that crisis that veterans deal with every single day in our country, so like, how do you create the balance between the drama and the laughs?”
Malcolm: “It starts with being honest. First of all, bless that genre, the buddy two-hander, because if you think going - if the, if the most dramatic one is defiant ones, people’s recollection of ‘48 Hrs’ is that it’s much lighter than it really is. So, there is such a - there’s basically an international kind of language with those kinds of - with that kind of tone, that lets the audience know they’re gonna be taking care of, and let’s the audience know they’re gonna be getting substance. And, as far as like, finding that tone and balancing it, we wanted us to be human -we didn’t - we wanted to be honest, we wanted the characters to deal with the stuff the audience knows they gotta deal with. Everyone can see Sam is a black man, and if he’s looking at those starts and stripes, that decision’s not going to be easy. Everyone knows what Bucky’s been through, and so they - I think the audience is going to expect the tone that we, that we have because they know there’s no escaping who those characters are, and what they’re gonna have to deal through - deal with - to emerge as the new fuller, fully-formed versions of themselves.”
6 notes · View notes
aion-rsa · 3 years
Text
How Thor Changed the Marvel Cinematic Universe
https://ift.tt/33NlKGy
Marvel’s Thor, the first theatrical live-action film to feature the comic book giant’s version of the Norse God of Thunder, opened in theaters a decade ago, on May 6, 2011.
Directed by Kenneth Branagh and starring a then little-known Chris Hemsworth in the title role, Thor was the fourth film in the still-nascent Marvel Cinematic Universe. It was also — as we look back at it now — a pivotal one in the development of the MCU.
“I’m very proud of my part of it,” Branagh told us a couple of years ago about his handling of Thor. “Which was providing a sort of backbone that they could comically riff off, but at least it originally contained some of the high stakes Nine Realms import that that larger mythology has to have as well.”
Thor took the franchise off the Earth for the first time and into the cosmic side of the Marvel mythology, introducing audiences to the Nine Realms, the kingdom of Asgard and other mind-bending concepts that comic fans had adored for years but which were a major risk to put in front of mainstream moviegoers.
Even the character of Thor — with his helmet and his hammer and his arch way of speaking — often seemed to skate perilously close to laughable in the pages of the comics themselves. But he was also a mainstay of the Marvel line and a charter member of the Avengers, the superhero team that Marvel based its entire initial run of films upon.
Marvel
Thor didn’t take the Rainbow Bridge to the screen
A Thor movie based on the Marvel Comics version of the character had, surprisingly, been bandied around for years even before there was a Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The God of Thunder debuted on the page in Journey into Mystery #83 (August 1962), created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, and Jack Kirby. A founding member of the Avengers, he joined Iron Man, the Hulk, Ant-Man, and the Wasp in the pages of The Avengers #1 (September 1963). In the ensuing decades, he has starred in multiple iterations of the Avengers comics, plus many ongoing and limited series of his own.
An animated version of the character debuted in 1966’s Marvel Super-Friends show, while the first live-action incarnation of Thor (played by Eric Kramer) showed up in the 1988 TV movie The Incredible Hulk Returns, a follow-up to the late 1970s series The Incredible Hulk.
While Thor continued to turn up in various animated Marvel properties, it was in 1991 that the first full-length, live-action Thor movie was proposed — by no less than Sam Raimi.
The director, who later went on to make the first three Spider-Man movies and who is now working in the MCU on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, revealed to the The Hollywood Reporter in the wake of Stan Lee’s passing that he pitched a Thor movie to the Marvel Universe co-creator over lunch.
“We worked together writing treatments and took it to Fox and pitched it,” Raimi recalled. “And they said, ‘Absolutely no. Comic books don’t make good movies.’ This was in 1991.”
The rights to Thor bounced around Hollywood for a few more years (at one point it was set up at Sony with David S. Goyer writing and possibly directing) until landing back at Marvel Studios, which had reinvented itself as an independently financed production company in 2005 with distribution through Paramount Pictures. The studio, run at the time by David Maisel with Kevin Feige as president of production, hired Mark Protosevich (I Am Legend and the unfilmed Batman Unchained) to write a script for Thor, with Matthew Vaughn (X-Men: First Class) coming aboard to direct in August 2007.
Marvel
Enter Tom Hiddleston as Loki…
No sooner did Matthew Vaughn sign up to direct Thor than he seemingly left just as quickly, although it was officially announced in May 2008 that he was departing. Creative and budget issues seemed to have sealed his exit. “Marvel loves the script,” he wrote in The Guardian in late 2007. “The only problem is that it has been costed at $300m and they ask how I am going to reduce it by $150m.”
Even though Thor had already been scheduled for a June 4, 2010 release date, Marvel still had to find a director. Talks were held with Guillermo del Toro, but he decided to direct The Hobbit instead (which he ended up leaving as well). At the end of its search, Marvel finally chose Kenneth Branagh, the Irish actor and director best known for his epic adaptations of Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Henry V — which kind of provided an idea of the tone Marvel was looking for.
Branagh was finally signed in December 2008, telling MTV News, “It’s a chance to tell a big story on a big scale…It’s a human story right in the center of a big epic scenario.”
Once Branagh was signed, the movie’s release date was pushed back from June/July 2010 to May 6, 2011, providing plenty of time for the film’s extensive visual effects to be designed and created and for Branagh to find his cast — starting with the God of Thunder himself.
Read more
Movies
Upcoming Marvel Movies Release Dates: MCU Phase 4 Schedule, Cast, and Story Details
By Mike Cecchini and 1 other
Movies
How Black Widow Could Build The MCU’s Future
By Kayti Burt
The first person allegedly approached was Daniel Craig, who had just starred in his second James Bond film, Quantum of Solace. It was because of his commitments to the already massive 007 franchise that Craig turned down the hammer-wielding Asgardian, although it’s somehow hard to imagine the tough-as-nails Craig as the egotistical (at least at first), young Odinson.
A long list of young, relatively unknown actors tested for the part, including Chris Hemsworth (who was just making his brief but scene-stealing appearance as James Kirk’s father in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek), his brother Liam, the equally obscure Tom Hiddleston, Kevin McKidd from Grey’s Anatomy, Alexander Skarsgard (Godzilla vs. Kong), Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy), Joel Kinnaman (The Suicide Squad), and others. But Chris Hemsworth ultimately won the day, with Hiddleston landing the consolation gift that would keep on giving, the role of Thor’s villainous adopted brother Loki.
“That was my starting point, was that you have a character with a predisposition toward mischief,” Hiddleston said about playing the trickster god, during a 2010 set visit attended by this reporter in Manhattan Beach, California. “An inclination toward chaos and a delight in imbalance, and you couple that with the fierce intelligence that he has, and a chess master’s ability to manipulate events three or four steps ahead of the game.”
Adding even more gravitas to the production was the signing of the legendary Anthony Hopkins to play Thor’s father, Odin, along with Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, Rene Russo as Thor’s mom Frigga, Colm Feore as Laufey, the king of the Frost Giants, Idris Elba as Heimdall, and others. Also signed: Samuel L. Jackson for his third appearance as Nick Fury (in an end credits bonus scene) and Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton/Hawkeye, marking the live-action debut of the bow-and-arrow-wielding Avenger.
Filming on Thor began in mid-January 2010 and wound down in early May, with shooting taking place at Raleigh Studios in Manhattan Beach, California (Marvel’s studio home in the MCU’s early years), Santa Fe, and other parts of New Mexico, and locations in northern California.
Colm Feore told The Deadbolt that the Shakespearean training which he, Branagh, and Hopkins all shared enabled them to quickly communicate with each other while shaping the characters and finding the right tone: “One of the things that was enormously helpful on Thor was that during the breaks, Tony, myself, and Ken would be talking in Shakespearean shorthand about what the characters were doing, what we thought they may be like, and how we could focus our attention more intelligently.”
During that same set visit to the Manhattan Beach set of Thor, Marvel president of production Kevin Feige told this reporter and others that the movie was going to feature more extensive post-production work than other Marvel films. “When you walk around Captain America or Iron Man, you can get it,” he explained. “With Thor, what you’re seeing is only 30% of what the movie will be. This is the big question mark and to me that makes it the most exciting. I like it when people don’t exactly know what we’re going to do.”
Reshoots were completed in late 2010, while The Avengers director Joss Whedon shot the end credits scene in which Nick Fury reveals the Infinity Stone known as the Tesseract to Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard).
Marvel
Marvel takes a big swing with Thor’s hammer
Introducing Thor and the Asgardians — who were essentially aliens, with technology so far ahead of our own that they seemed like gods to the ancient, more primitive people of Norway more than a millennium ago — was a major gamble for the MCU and its then-president of production (and now Chief Creative Officer) Kevin Feige.
Out of Marvel’s first three films, Iron Man and Iron Man 2 were massive, out-of-the-box hits, while The Incredible Hulk was a middling success at best. Yet all three films were Earthbound and dealt with plausible (as far as it went) science and technology. The science of Thor was — to borrow a phrase from the late science fiction titan Arthur C. Clarke — indistinguishable from magic.
“Asgardians are kind of ‘been there, done that’ when it comes to that kind of stuff,” said co-producer Craig Kyle to this reporter and others on the set visit. “For them to send you across the universe, it’s as easy as turning a key … Their technology is only as sophisticated as it needs to be to do extraordinary things.”
Making Thor, Odin and the other inhabitants of Asgard, Jotunheim and the rest of the Nine Realms into extra-terrestrial beings mistaken for gods by ancient humans took Thor away from sword-and-sorcery and fantasy and more overtly into the science fiction genre. But it also provided the film with a back story and mythology that was perhaps easier for modern movie fans to swallow — more Star Wars than the Völuspá.
“We just kept trying to humanize it all, and keep it very real,” Chris Hemsworth told Superhero Hype at the time about his approach to the title character. “Look into all the research about the comic books that we could, but also bring it back to ‘Who is this guy as a person, and what’s his relationship with people in the individual scenes?’ And working with someone like Kenneth Branagh, who has all those bases covered and has so many ideas, it was a hell of a time!”
In addition to taking the big creative risk of bringing Asgard and Thor to the screen, the movie took several other chances as well. Starting a tradition that Marvel would return to with films like Captain Marvel and Guardians of the Galaxy, Thor did not function as a traditional origin story. We meet Thor, Loki, Odin, and enter Asgard with only a brief introduction detailing the history of ill will and war between the Asgardians and the Frost Giants.
Thor’s journey in the film is not that of an ordinary character being bestowed with great powers and learning how to use them, the typical arc of a superhero film. He is fully formed here, if flawed, and as the film progresses he learns to be a better version of the immensely powerful being that he already is — with the help of the human beings that he meets during his fall to Earth.
When Thor — the likely successor to his father’s throne — reignites hostilities with the Frost Giants partially due to his own immaturity, Odin decrees him unworthy of wielding Mjolnir and banishes him, powerless, to Earth. That leaves the door open for the crafty Loki — who has discovered that he is not Asgardian after all, but the child of Frost Giants — to manipulate and scheme his way into power himself.
Marvel’s other big gamble was making Loki a much more fully developed antagonist than had been previously seen in many comic book movies. Skillfully portrayed by Hiddleston in a performance that made him an instant star, Loki is an empathetic, nuanced character whose longing for the love and attention of his adopted father — who lavishes more of both on Thor — leads him down a dark path and into a character arc that would take several years and movies to play out.
“I think Loki intuitively feels that he doesn’t belong there, he doesn’t belong with the family in Asgard and doesn’t belong in the pantheon of gods,” said Hiddleston at the time. “He’s confused about his place in the universe … We all reach a point in our lives where we think, ‘What the hell are we supposed to do with our life?’ Thor reaches that point in this film and Loki does as well, so yes, maybe if Odin had made him feel valued and respected and essential to Asgard, then it would have been okay.”
Marvel
Thor smashes all preconceptions
Thor had its world premiere in Sydney, Australia on April 17, 2011 and opened in that country — Hemsworth’s native land — four days later. It premiered in 56 more markets before finally opening in North America on May 6, 2011.
The film earned a 77% fresh rating and mixed reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics praising the performances by Hemsworth and Hiddleston, as well as the grandiose family drama on Asgard, but less impressed by Thor’s journey to Earth and the climactic battle there against the massive golem-like Destroyer sent by Loki to kill Thor.
More importantly for Marvel, the film connected with audiences despite the perception that Thor was largely unfamiliar or dated. Thor earned $181 million at the North American box office and a further $268 million abroad for a worldwide total of $449 million.
While that ranks it near the bottom of the 23 MCU movies released to date (along with Ant-Man and Captain America: The First Avenger), it was a far from shabby showing for the early MCU and proved Marvel’s calculation that it could expand Marvel’s footprint on film beyond already established characters like Spider-Man, the X-Men and the Hulk.
“I liked it when people said, ‘Iron Man’s the B-Team. You’re calling out the B-Team!’ We knew it wasn’t,” said Feige on set about using what were perceived as lower-tier Marvel heroes. “We knew it was going to be great. And that holds true for Thor … here’s another one that will redefine us and at least raise the bar of what a comic book movie is, for both people who’ve read comics and those who haven’t.”
Thor expanded the boundaries of the MCU into the realms of space, alternate dimensions and cosmic conflicts, while putting another key part in place for the impending arrival of the Avengers. And while 2013’s follow-up, Thor: The Dark World, was a misstep and considered one of Marvel’s few outright failures, the studio brilliantly reinvented the character in 2017 with Taika Waititi’s Thor: Ragnarok, moving him away from the initial Shakespearean grandiosity and into a more humorous space.
cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });
That in turn allowed Thor and Hemsworth to have one of the most profound character arcs across the entire span of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. His story in those films, the box office clout of Ragnarok, and Hemsworth’s enthusiasm for the role led Marvel to commission 2022’s Thor: Love and Thunder — marking the first time an MCU hero is venturing into a fourth solo movie.
Ten years later, while not a perfect film by any means, Thor is still an enjoyable, consciously weird Marvel epic that proved the God of Thunder could bring the lightning even to modern audiences. And while Thor has seemingly abandoned the throne of Asgard for now, his first film’s place in the MCU pantheon is secure.
The post How Thor Changed the Marvel Cinematic Universe appeared first on Den of Geek.
from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2RWjeeA
3 notes · View notes
Text
Czarna Wdowa 2021 Cały Film Online
Tumblr media
Welcome back everyone this is going to be my new  marvel black widow movie video there's a bunch  of announcements about what disney is going to be  doing disney and marvel with the actual release of  the movie people been asking about them putting it  on disney plus apparently there's some news about  that now so i'll explain what's going on and a lot  of it has to do with what warner brothers is doing  with their movies in 2021 and what's happening  right now 
 The world just in general with movie  theaters so if you're new to the channel be sure  to subscribe to get all the videos we're obviously  in the middle of Wandavision i'm doing episode  videos for all that we're going to have falcon  and winter soldiers starting in march so there's  a lot of really really cool marvel stuff coming up  we're doing that disney plus memberships giveaway  all you have to do to enter is be a subscriber and  just leave all your predictions about the black  widow movie on the video so if you didn't see the  news in the past week there's a new report from  variety's insights team which is a very insidery  business report that they publish about the movie  and tv financials studio politics them releasing  movies and tv shows and in it they talk about how  disney is making some changes to their plans for  the black widow movie release date because of  what's been happening the last couple of months  and now at the beginning of 2021 in january you  may have seen that a lot of studios just delayed  all their big movies pretty much up through april  and last week kevin feige was doing a bunch of  interviews to hype up the wand division episodes  during those he talked about everything from  deadpool 3 to the fantastic four movie to their  new rebooted x-men movies they're doing in the mcu  but he also talked about what's happening with  the Czarna wdowa film online because now everybody's  wondering if they're going to have to delay  it again you probably saw when all the movie  delays were happening people were making jokes 
 In their timelines like just wait for it disney's  going to announce they're going to delay that  black widow movie one more time it's already been  delayed almost as many times as the new mutants  movie last year when a lot of things got delayed  they figured that by this time and by march april  2021 things would be better theaters would be open  but so far that has not been the case the uk is  currently under a big lockdown the u.s has been  under a big lockdown there's still a lot of other  places around the world where theaters are not  open and won't be open for a while that's  why warner brothers came up with their  real grand plan to release all their 2021 movies  on hbo max last year like we need subscriptions  and it doesn't look like things are going to get  better so why don't we just put all of our movies  on hbo max and in some theaters on the same day  for all of 2021 but in terms of the Czarna Wdowa film  right now just nothing beyond april has  been delayed again so there's still a chance  that they could hit that may release date 
Tumblr media
But the  big problem that marvel has that a lot of other  studios don't have with their movies is that if  they delay black widow again they have to delay  every other marvel movie into like 2023 like  pretty much every future marvel movie one of  marvel's biggest strengths the connected nature  of its movies also becomes a big problem too like  we're at the beginning of marvel phase 4 right  now all the movies happen in a certain order for  a reason because each one tells a little of the  overarching infinity saga style story that helps  connect everything building up to avengers 5 it's  like you're watching a tv show that's serialized  and each of the episodes cost 200 million dollars  so they delay black widow again it means they'd  have to delay the shang chi movie which is coming  this summer the eternals movie then spider-man 3  doctor strange 2 thor 4 love and thunder and so  on the dominoes keep following well into 2023  most of you who are still in school right now  if they kept delaying movies you would probably  be married with children by the time avengers 5  rolls around but back last year in 2020 when the  lockdowns first started happening after the first  few movie delays everyone just started asking why  don't you just put black widow on disney plus why  not put the movies on disney plus disney pretty  much has infinite money and they can just take  it on the chin a little bit for a couple movieswhat do we have here there's also that extra  thirty dollars that they charge for some of their  disney premier movies like the mulan movie where  you get it on disney plus but you have to pay an  extra thirty dollars to get it early they're also  doing that again with another movie raya in the  last dragon in march so i'll talk about that in  a second too that's another quote-unquote hybrid
Tumblr media
  Release movie that they're doing and apparently  the reason why marvel did not do that with the  black widow movie last year because originally  they were going to release it in november didn't  have anything to do with them being worried about  losing money because yeah they'd lose a little bit  of money according to the rumor it had more to do  with the specific clauses in scarlett johansson's  contract that prevented disney and marvel from  releasing it on disney plus like apparently  scarlett johansson's contract for the czarna wdowa  movie has some special terms in it about how  they're allowed to release the movie and how she  earns a ton more money from a theatrical release  from the box office earnings than from streaming  earnings so apparently disney and marvel were  legally obligated under the terms of her contract 
 To have to release the movie in theaters in some  way they couldn't just put it on disney plus even  if they wanted to what's changed recently though  why there's all this renewed talk about a hybrid  release for black widow then putting it on disney  plus and in theaters on the same day has more to  do with what happened with the wonder woman 1984  movie that was the first real big comic book movie  this past year to do the hybrid release this last  christmas releasing the movie on streaming on hbo  max the same day that they release it in theaters  where theaters are open around the world because  there are some places where theaters are open  so warner brothers is doing this hybrid release  strategy for all of its movies in 2021 the big  difference between what warner brothers is doing  and what disney is doing is that warner brothers  isn't charging the extra 30 dollars premier access  money that disney is charging for some of its  films but per this variety insights report disney  and marvel are starting to feel like delaying the  black widow movie straight up will just cause more  problems than it will solve so they're thinking  about a hybrid release strategy to fix everything  they get to release the movie with no more delays  meaning we get to see shang qi this summer and  eternals in november no more delays for marvel  movies because right now just based on the rate of  how fast the virus situation is resolving itself  most summer movies seem like they're going to be  fine like theaters will mostly be open by later  this summer and per this hybrid release strategy  because they'd be releasing black widow in some  theaters 
Tumblr media
Even if it's not a ton it would be enough  to keep scarlett johansson from suing disney  for the tens of millions of dollars she would  potentially lose out on also on the side they'll  probably pass her some extra change like here  please take a couple extra million dollars don't  sue us warner brothers kind of had to do that with  gal gadot and patty jenkins when they released  wonder woman 1984 on hbo max they gave him a bunch  of extra money up front because they weren't going  to be earning a lot of extra money on the back end  you probably saw patty jenkins making a huge stink  about all this christopher nolan got really pissed  off about this too when they announced their big  2021 movies plan in fun fact 2 all the newer  marvel phase 
Tumblr media
5 movies that they've announced  like the fantastic four reboot movie the deadpool  3 movies ryan reynolds marvel is apparently also  altering all their standard movie contracts with  everyone to allow for streaming releases if things  like this happen in the future so actors directors  producers can't sue them if a big problem comes up  or another big pandemic and they have to release  movies on streaming so if you're wondering why you  didn't see a lot of disney movies on disney plus  last year it's not so much about them losing money  it's more about lawsuits from people in studio  contracts the next big disney plus test that  they're running is for the raya in the last dragon  movie is basically disney's version of avatar the  last airbender they just released a new trailer  for that this morning as i'm posting this video  that's going to be released the first week in  march so we won't have to wait too long to see  what happens with that but they're charging the  extra 30 dollars for the disney premier access  just like they did with the mulan movie so if  they're doing that for a pixar movie then you  can bet that they're going to charge an extra  30 for the black widow movie this may if they  also go with the hybrid release strategy like  variety is saying they will what will probably  happen you'll see in the next couple of months 
Tumblr media
 Is marvel will wait till the last possible second  that they have to before committing to an actual  release strategy like they'll just wait till  april to see if things get better and they don't  have to worry about it and they can just release  it normally in theaters like they originally  wanted to right now everyone's assuming that  things will mostly be back to normal by the summer  so may is just sort of that in-between period like  kevin feige himself is hopeful that things will  be fine but he also said that he's trying not to  make too many assumptions before we actually get  to may so let me know in the comments if you think  that marvel is going to pull the rip cord and do  a hybrid release strategy for black widow in may  or if you think the theaters will be fine by then    thank you so much for wriging everyone stay  safe and i'll see you in the next post!
You can see this video here:
https://myfilmyonline.pl/caly-film/czarna-wdowa-2021-film-online/
1 note · View note
robertdowneyjjr · 5 years
Text
RDJ on Off Camera #200: Highlights
excerpts from the interview under the read more
Tumblr media
(you can buy the digital magazine with the full transcript here)
On his start as an actor, and getting to a point where he has more confidence in what he does:
[...] what’s important right now is that you know I am mirroring your physicality [points to Sam’s posture in chair], which by the way, I don’t know if I did it consciously or not. Son of a bitch...now I lost my rhythm. A lot of life for me is monkey see monkey do. Whether it’s development, or if you’re in a situation that’s very stressful. Like right now, I think if you took either of our biometrics, we would be in a really sweet zone because we have a love for each other. We’ve also created an ease by doing creative stuff together. We always like the result, but more so, we like the process. Whenever you engage with a new group of people in a process, it’s like you’re going to a new school.
And whatever part of my personality was set, it was fractured enough to be useful in a creative medium, but there’s also a work ethic born out of desperation that I would not wish on an enemy. It was just something that I was outfitted with. No matter how you slice it, as I was learning, going along, making mistakes, and noticing how Michael Apted or John Hughes operate, I would go, “Oh, I like that. That looks like it would feel good to be able to do it like that.”
On making the first Iron Man:
[...] I remember for the screen test, I was playing it a little straighter. There weren’t a bunch of funny lines. I was probably like half out- of-my-body hoping I got the part. And then, in executing the film, we found this tone that was really somewhere between mine, Jon’s, and Kevin [Feige]’s sensibilities. Gwyneth Paltrow would come in and go, “Oh, testosterone fest! Can we talk about what’s true north? What the reality of these relationships are?” And Jon would be like, “That’s right. Everybody stop and listen to her.” There was this great sense of each of us being corralled by passing the talking stick and deferring to each other like any good community. The amalgamation of all those little moments of thoughtfulness and open-mindedness are suddenly what this character is remembered for. I look back on it, and I go, “I don’t know how I did that. I don’t think I was in a good mood that day. I think I was really tired. I think my hair looked ridiculous.” And yet, the great thing about cinema, is you forget all of that as the viewer.
On rebuilding, Chaplin, and mentors:
[...] Which makes me think about the coolest letter I ever got. I won’t say where I was...prison. But I got it from Jodie Foster. This was years after Chaplin had come out, and she wrote me a letter about how relevant Chaplin’s life was. The precision, the dedication, what he had to do to be who he was in the epoch that he was. He was such an innovator, a genius. You can’t not believe that Charlie Chaplin was a genius. Some people would even say that he created pathos in cinema. That’s kind of a big deal. But Jodie wrote me this letter basically reminding me that, like Chaplin, I had already gone through the motions of understanding what kind of personality would preserve in a hostile environment. It was a new version of red scares, the public turning against you, and personal proclivities becoming public and almost damning you.
[...] And by the way, I was looking at an old mugshot of mine recently, and there was a bit of sadness in my eyes. There’s nothing like getting sent up the river, but I was okay. You know, like Figueroa Slim would say, “They got me. They got me, because I was there to be got, and I wasn’t doing the right thing.” And this is life. This can happen in relationships. This can happen at a stop sign with a stranger in a car across from you. You never know.
[...] Some people do things that you think are abhorrent and very difficult to explain. Those outliers are the first people who won’t make it very far if they wind up in a correctional facility, and people find out what they did to get there. But in the larger sense of things, it’s just...that was my life. There was a genetic predisposition. A signal wire got tripped, and once you’ve burned neuropathways repeatedly, it’s no longer a behavior. But I also know this, which gives me great comfort—if you’re fucked up or come from a fucked up family, if you get through it, you’re going to have a better chance of pushing our society forward in some way. It’s just the way it is.
On Saturday Night Live and Anthony Michael Hall:
[...] I came through the Weird Science country academy because a bunch of us met up on that John Hughes film. I was like, “Oh wow, I had a part in that.” I was starting to get a little notice. And then, Michael Hall was doing bigger stuff and making creative decisions about what he wanted the next chapter of his career to be, and we became friends. In a way, he was my first Jon Favreau. He was someone who said to me, “I’m going to go do SNL. I’m going to get you an audition, and I bet you’re going to get yourself on the show too. They’ll be lucky to have us.”
[...] I learned so much in that year about what I wasn’t. I was not somebody who was going to come up with a catchphrase. I was not somebody who’s going to do impressions. I was somebody who was very ill-suited for rapid fire sketch comedy. I was not of that ilk of The Groundlings. I had never been part of an improv group. I was kind of like, “Wow, this seems really hard. A lot of work.” But to this day, I would still say that there’s not a more exciting 90 minutes you could have...whether you are any good or not. It’s just amazing.
[...] In the 90-minute moment, you get such validation not because you’re the standup guy, not because they’re not going to say later on that you were the worst cast member they ever had, which is another lie, but because it’s such a difficult thing to try to pull off. You get a lot of cred just for being able to participate in that real-time stress and excitement.
On life after Marvel:
[...] I had an incredible ten year run that was creatively satisfying. It was very hard work, and I dug very deep. At the same time, you always have to recognize that everything has a price and a downside. For me, it’s that I’ve had to up my game and my focus. Also, first and foremost, having a family. But I have not been forced to explore the new frontier of, “What is my creative and personal life after this?” For me, it’s always good to get ahead of where you’re about to be, because nothing really happens when it happens.
[...] it’s always in the transitions between one phase and the next where people fall apart. So, just as a matter of me wanting to be a fit father, husband, and citizen...you know, roughly in that order, you’ve got to put eyes down the road and say, “I’m being irresponsible if I don’t start figuring out what is after that.” So, part of it is that there’s a dependency.
[...] The first thing you learn in theater arts is aesthetic distance. I am not this play I’m doing. I’m not Will from Oklahoma. I’m not that cop in a detective story.  [...] So for me, it just translates to this: I’m not my work. I’m not what I did with that studio. I’m not that period of time that I spent playing this character.
[...] the good boy note is not that I want to do what’s expected of me, it’s that I listen to feedback, and while that’s not what guides my decision making process, I sometimes get a little daunted. People are like, “Well, now that he’s done with this Iron Man thing, we look forward to what he’s going to do next and see him get back to...” And I go, “Alright, wait a minute. Does the good boy revert back to something he was doing before that, because that’s what people...?” No, what do they really mean?
On Susan:
[...] You want to talk about validation, mentors, and people who have been with me at critical times. I mentioned some male directors. All of them together could not hold a candle to the power of partnership, when you find somebody and without meaning to you just get each other. And then, you cash in all your chips and say, “We’re going to do this difficult thing, which is called relationship building and being in the same industry.” All that stuff. But it’s the greatest mystery in life, you know. All creativity is about the right relationship.
[...] Between the two of us, there’s been this creative engine of dialogue and discussion. For me, just self-betterment, because she’s the only person in my entire life and career who I can nail it on a take, and I look over at the monitor, and she’s just like, “You had gum. Take your gum out,” or whatever. It’s not that she doesn’t give me validation. She doesn’t do what everyone else has done; she doesn’t think I need to be taken care of, validated, compensated for. I need to this and that.
[...] Here’s what I’ll say. This is it, dude. This is definitive. If anything, movies saved my life, because she saw me in Weird Science. And at the time, I had a space between my teeth, and she had a space between her teeth. We wound up both getting them filled in, because that’s what you did in the late ‘80s. Everybody had to get their gaps filled or nobody was going to like you. But she looked at me in Weird Science, and her first thought of me was, “Oh my god, he’s like me! He has a space between his teeth. It’s okay that I have a space between my teeth.”
321 notes · View notes
lokiondisneyplus · 3 years
Text
[This interview contains spoilers for Loki‘s season finale.]
When Kate Herron joined Loki as director, she knew she had an ace or two up her sleeve that would forever alter the Marvel Cinematic Universe as we know it. And in “For All Time. Always.” — the now season finale — Loki showed all its cards by revealing Jonathan Majors’ He Who Remains, a variant of Marvel supervillain Kang the Conqueror, who set the events in motion that would open up the multiverse. Since the character of Kang is a key player throughout phase four of the MCU, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige and his team, along with Herron, knew exactly what was at stake with this particular casting.
“Casting was a very surreal experience. When I joined the project, we always knew that Loki and Sylvie were going to go to He Who Remains, and the multiverse would be released,” Herron tells The Hollywood Reporter. “So I already knew when I got the job that it was going to be a massive undertaking to do that and a big responsibility for Marvel to get it right. And Jonathan Majors is an actor that we were all just blown away by; I think everyone who knows his work is blown away by him. And when I knew we had Jonathan, he and I were solely focused on He Who Remains and this version of the character, this variant.”
At last December’s Disney Investor Day, Feige confirmed earlier reports that Majors would play Kang the Conqueror in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. But since Majors ultimately appeared first in Loki, Herron further clarified the timing of his casting.
“[The Quantumania casting] happened at the same time,” Herron shares. “So basically, [Ant-Man director] Peyton [Reed] and I were in that discussion with Kevin Feige and the team at Marvel. We knew he was gonna be in [Quantumania], and we knew that a version of him was going to be in [Loki].”
As Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Sylvie’s (Sophia Di Martino) doomed love story culminated in a passionate kiss, the latter repositioned Loki so she could grab He Who Remains’ futuristic TemPad and send the God of Mischief back to the TVA. Despite Sylvie’s guile, Herron still considers her side of the kiss to be authentic.
“Sylvie is sort of where our Loki was in Thor. She’s driven by revenge, pain and anger, and that’s what he’s saying to her,” Herron explains. “He’s like, ‘I’ve been where you are, and I just want you to be OK. You’re not going to get what you want.’ But on her journey of self-healing, she’s not where he is. So she’s not going to see it that way. So there was a sense that she was turning to get the TemPad, but I don’t think it meant the kiss wasn’t genuine. In my head, it was always a horrible goodbye, really, but the feelings were real.”
In a recent conversation with THR, Herron also discusses her own shocking goodbye to Loki following the surprise season-two announcement. She then offers her take on the final scene and the subsequent questions she hopes are answered in season two.
Brava, Kate. Loki season one was top-tier MCU as far as I’m concerned.
Thank you so much. I love Marvel, and I was just so excited to have a chance to direct for them. It’s been so nice to see everyone enjoying it.
In a complete tonal shift, Friday morning’s news about you not returning for season two makes this victory lap rather bittersweet. After one of Marvel Studios’ best pieces of storytelling, you’d think that getting the band back together would be automatic. So what else can you say about this?
I would say that when I joined Loki, it was always going to be those six episodes. We were treating it like a movie, and we were running it like a movie. We weren’t doing it in the showrunner system. So it was a lot to direct these six episodes, and I gave it all of my energy and everything I had in my soul and in my heart. I threw everything I loved about Marvel at it. So I always intended just to do these six. And it was such a massive compliment and a delight that as we got much later into production, Marvel and Disney were like, “Ah, man. This is excellent, and we want to keep going.” So I just feel like my part is done, but I’m really excited to see where it’s going to go next. So I gave it all that I have, and it came from a place of love. I really enjoyed working on it, and I hope to work with Marvel again in the future. They changed my life, and I just love Marvel as I’m sure people can tell from the amount of Easter eggs and references I did throughout it. But I just feel like I’ve done my part with Loki, at least for now, and I’m excited to see where it goes next as a fan.
Jonathan Majors’ He Who Remains. How did this go down from casting to filming?
Ah, so casting was a very surreal experience. When I joined the project, we always knew that Loki and Sylvie were going to go to He Who Remains, and the multiverse would be released. So I already knew when I got the job that it was going to be a massive undertaking to do that and a big responsibility for Marvel to get it right. So when we were casting, it was basically me, Kevin R. Wright, my co-executive producer, Kevin [Feige], Lou [D’Esposito], Victoria [Alonso] and Peyton [Reed]. So we were all just talking about actors, and the amazing thing about Kevin Feige is that he’s so collaborative. He wants everyone at the table to have a voice, and he wants to see what they think and how that fits into his plans for the character. And Jonathan Majors is an actor that we were all just blown away by; I think everyone who knows his work is blown away by him. He’s an amazing actor, and the thing that I love about him is that he’s this chameleon. He’s so different in everything he does, and that’s exciting, obviously, when you’re asking an actor to play a character who’s going to have a lot of different versions of himself. So for us, that was a thrill. And when I knew we had Jonathan, he and I were solely focused on He Who Remains and this version of the character, this variant. It was just fun digging into him. We have this character who’s so lonely and isolated, and the only character he probably interacted with is Miss Minutes, which is what we imply. At the beginning, you see that he’s surrounded by all this noise in the universe, but he’s quiet and he’s alone. So how introverted or extraverted is a character like that? What makes that personality? So it was really fun digging into it with him.
So even though Jonathan’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania casting was announced first, your team technically cast him first, right?
[The Quantumania casting] happened at the same time. So basically, Peyton [Reed] and I were in that discussion with Kevin Feige and the team at Marvel. We knew he was gonna be in [Quantumania], and we knew that a version of him was going to be in [Loki].
So once a big movie or show is finally released, fans like to comb through trailers for any unused footage. So was that “King Loki” moment supposed to be a quick insert for when Loki is tempted with a throne by Miss Minutes (Tara Strong) and He Who Remains?
So that moment wasn’t actually King Loki. It was just meant to be a memory from our Loki’s past. It was basically going to be in episode one because we had a lot of memories in that episode. But it was honestly a tonal thing. The scene was actually quite a funny scene, and it was really beautifully written. But he was about to see his mother die, and it didn’t feel right to have something so comical next to a gut-wrenching moment like that. So it’s just the nature of making any film, really. Unfortunately, you sometimes have to kill your darlings. (Laughs.)
Did He Who Remains put a Time Twister on the edge of his desk, or a TemPad? Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) called it a TemPad even though it looked like a Time Twister.
(Laughs.) I love weaponry and technology so I’m just like, “The fun thing with this is…” So basically, it’s meant to be a futuristic version of the TVA tech. So that was the fun idea of it. When He Who Remains tells his story about his other variants meeting, you see bits of the TVA technology. So our idea was that it does both things. With the TVA technology, you see that the Time Twister hooks into the TemPad, but it’s these two separate, clunky things. But whereas with He Who Remains, he has more advanced technology than the TVA So it has both functions, basically, which we see him use. The difference is that he’s in control of the twist; it’s twisting him. Whereas when we see the TVA use the Time Twister, it’s with a Time Collar as they’re controlling a prisoner.
As Loki and Sylvie kissed, she repositioned him so she could grab the futuristic TemPad and eject him back to the TVA. So do you consider the kiss to be genuine on Sylvie’s part despite her calculation during it?
Honestly, the way I always read that kiss is that her feelings were genuine and that it was a goodbye. Sylvie is sort of where our Loki was in Thor. She’s driven by revenge, pain and anger, and that’s what he’s saying to her. He’s like, “I’ve been where you are, and I just want you to be OK. You’re not going to get what you want.” But she’s not there yet. On her journey of self-healing, she’s not where he is. So she’s not going to see it that way. So there was a sense that she was turning to get the TemPad, but I don’t think it meant the kiss wasn’t genuine. In my head, it was always a horrible goodbye, really, but the feelings were real.
Since the TVA resides outside of time, what can you say about the mechanics of the final scene?
So the way I see it in my head is that the TVA exists outside of space and time, but reality and everything as we understood it has completely changed in the last few minutes. With the multiverse branching, how do we know the TVA still exists in that way? We don’t know, and I suppose that’s a big question that will be answered as the show goes on. But in my head, the intention is that Sylvie thinks she’s sending him back to the TVA, but because of the way time and branches are crossing each other outside the window, Loki has unfortunately been sent back somewhere very different. So reality has shifted just by the nature of what He Who Remains said, and the idea is that he’s in this alternate TVA now.
We have to wrap, but is Eugene Cordero’s Casey OK? He went missing after episode two.
(Laughs.) Yes, Casey is fine! I love Casey, and I hope there will be more Casey to be enjoyed.
Well, congratulations once again, Kate. And if you do return to the MCU someday, please make a Miss Minutes slasher movie since she’s utterly terrifying.
(Laughs.) I would love to! That would actually be my dream.
51 notes · View notes