#Omg Marvel Gave Us All These Badass Women!!!

[musclesandhammering]

The #GirlBoss movement in the MCU is extremely pseudo-feminist.

I could be totally off-base with this, but has anybody else noticed that here lately the mcu has had a slight pattern of making a few female characters ridiculously overpowered as well as turbo-hyped by the narrative and marketing…

This specifically includes Wanda, Carol Danvers, and Sylvie.

I’m in particular talking about how all 3 of them had far less time for character exploration and strength build-up than the majority of the other more powerful heroes, had fairly bland and uncreative personalities compared to the other more powerful heroes (Wanda was coddled by the narrative and not allowed to have any ownership in her wrongdoings which would’ve made her more complex, Carol was a victim of the “having the same arrogant attitude as the douchebro male characters is all it takes to make a Strong Female Character(TM)” writers’ mentality, and Sylvie with mary sue-ed to hell), and were generally made more about the cool powers and ‘oooh such a badass’ moments and the aesthetic than the actual depth.

My point is… they’re all so shallow and performative. It’s like the (mostly male) writers looked at the female character and scoffed and said “ok there’s no way this lady’s gonna become a fan fave on her own- we have to help her. We have to give her a boost. I have zero faith in women being able to gain popularity by their own merit (because who’d be interested in a woman, ammiright?), so we can’t just give her a compelling backstory and let that be it. We have to make sure she has the most tragic backstory of anyone on screen at any given time, and we have to make sure the audience knows it! We can’t just give her a specific set of powers and depict them in an interesting and unique way. We have to make her stronger than any other character she’s going to share screen time with and we have to have her flaunt her powers every ten minutes to remind the audience how strong she is! We can’t just make her intelligent in her own way and give her witty banter with the male characters. We have to make sure she makes them look like idiots and condescends them as frequently as possible so the audience knows it! We can’t just flesh out her morals and let her get things wrong sometimes. We have to make it so she’s always in the right and the audience should always be on her side! And even when she does something wrong, we have to make sure the audience knows that it wasn’t really her fault and she still has the moral high ground! That’s the only way we’ll ever get people to like her as much as the main male characters!!”

It’s just…. This is just rank with a lack of confidence in women. They approach the idea of having women front and center with equal parts skepticism and greed. They’re so out of touch with what women want in superhero films and just what women want in general. They fall into the trap of thinking feminists want everyone to know that girls are actually superior to guys, when in reality we just want to be treated with the respect and humanity and agency guys have always been treated with.

And by creating these female characters the way they do (making sure they’re not equal but decidedly better than the male ones, making sure they’re nearly infallible strength-wise, making sure they’re never allowed to be held accountable for mistakes) they literally defeat that whole point. They’re being extremely counterproductive to what feminists are actually trying to do, because they aren’t actually interested giving women genuinely good representation- they’re just interested in pandering to Twitter stans and casual female fans who form their opinions based on a first glance and girls who are so starved for rep that they’ll praise movie-makers for serving up rank crumbs.

They give us female representation but not really, just like they give us queer representation but not really, and like they give us poc representation but oftentimes not really…. Because (surprise surprise) the multi-billion dollar corporation does not actually give a shit about minority issues.

#this should not come as a shock to anyone #but unfortunately #I know a good many people who would be shocked to chagrin #young women and young lgbt folks and young poc stop idolising anything that gives you a crumb challenge #Omg Marvel Gave Us All These Badass Women!!! #babe most of those women are cardboard cutouts #Omg Marvel Gave Us A Confirmed Queer Character!!! #babe that was one vague sentence and then they did their best to retcon it by putting him in a heteronormative relationship with himself #Omg Marvel Gave Us These Cool POC Characters #babe most of them are side characters who get 3 lines tops 2 of which are used to build up the white characters #I’m just…. so tired #people are so shallow #negativity #marvel negativity #fake feminism #pseudo feminism #anti wanda maximoff #anti Captain marvel #anti sylvie #anti marvel #marvel meta #marvel discourse #argue with a wall #might do a longer post on this later idk

[mayraki]

Bestie I saw Black Widow yesterday IT WAS AMAZING!! First thing first;

SWEET FOLLOWERS OF MAYRAKI IF YOU HAVEN’T WATCH BLACK WIDOW YET PLS KEEP SCROLLING SPOILER ALERTTT THANK YOU 🥰🥰🥰🥰

I AM OFFICIALLY IN LOVE WITH YELENA BELOVA THAT GIRL IS MA QUEEN NOW

She’s funny, cool, relatable she is THE ULTIMATE comfort character are you kidding me I wanna see her more 💥💳💥💥💥💳 the way she talked about her vest I mean are you kidding SHE IS THE CUTEST

I was probably the only one crying from audience in the scenes where Natasha find out about other widows -all those girls made into a puppet by a coward stupid man- gurl I cried so much 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 knowing yelena will set all of them free, gonna give them their freedom, god I love ✨women✨

I’m really curious how she end up working with valeria, I gasped when I saw her in the after credit scene; and she wanna kill Barton?? Why?? What’s goin on marvel explain give me more yelena💥💥💳💥💳💳

Natasha watching movies when she is running away from government I- are you kidding me I’m in love with this woman but this was the last time we saw her 😭😭😭 I feel so angry, she had soooo much potential, she could’ve two or three movies already, I mean I don’t understand why marvel didn’t give that opportunity to her 😡

Alexei was annoyingly funny - the speech he try to give to nat lmaoooo

I don’t understand how some people find it boring; I laughed, cried, felt so much emotional every fucking time I see nat on screen - that movie was everything 🥺 I don’t wanna think she’s dead 😭😭😭

The back and forth whistling thing DONT TOUCH ME 😫😫😫

Also the childhood part was amazing too! I straight fell for baby nat and yelena they were so cute ❤️❤️

God it was so good watching a marvel movie at a theater , how was your experience? Can’t wait to their bestie xx

I WANT TO MARRY YELENA BEHFJWJDJD

she immediately became my favorite character on the movie, the fight with nat???? when she says something like “drop it. before i make you” LIKE BESTIE OMFGGGGG so cooool. i want a movie of just her setting those women free now marvel 💳💥💥💳💥💥💥 HAHA that’s me every day, going ✨women✨

i friend of mine told me that valeria works for hydra (i don’t remember if he actually said that, or something like hydra. the point is that she’s bad lol) and i think because she wants the avengers all dead she lies to yelena and says that clint killed nat (which is not true he would never) if that makes sense?? that’s a reason i could think of. and maybe valeria contacted yelena, that woman always appears out of nowhere

black widow should’ve had her own movies like iron man captain america and all of them did, her story is one of the most interesting ones and i’m so disappointed 🥺🙄

ALEXEI BWJXJSJWJS those are the best words to describe him lol “annoyingly funny”

people find it boring??? i didn’t get bored not even for a second, the acting was excellent, the dynamic between all of them was cute and funny, we got introduced to so many badass characters, the plot line was amazing and the fight scenes????? chefs kiss. sometimes people find it boring or even not good when there’s a woman in the lead. the same thing happened with captain marvel omfg 🤦🏻‍♀️

when yelena whistled at the cemetery i was like noooooo 🥺😭 those kids were so good actors and forgot for a second they were acting lol. and the montage with the song at the beginning? literal chills. it was amazing.

i loved every single second of it, honestly. apart from loving going back to the theatre and the excitement of watching a marvel movie on there again, i loved the movie. it was so entertaining and i wish i could go back. OMG THANK U TO THE PEOPLE THAT GAVE US THIS MOVIE 🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️

#anon #black widow #black widow spoilers #spoilers

[withallthingslove]

avengers endgame spoiler-filled review

below the cut bc spoilers obviously

even after two viewings this movie is super overwhelming so I’m just gonna jump right in

- clint’s family disappearing was so haunting and traumatic omg

- i didn’t like the music choice over the marvel opening crawl

- nebula was so adorably intense when tony playing footbal with her

- carol is such a bad bitch she just carried an entire fucking ship through space

- steve running up to tony and holding on to him... that was content I didn’t know I needed

- the pepperony hug ughhh I’m not a huge gwenyth paltrow fan but she was so good as pepper in this

- honestly I get tony has been through a lot but he was such a dick back at the avengers compound. I’ve always preferred steve to tony and that scene really displayed why. Yes tony was right something bigger was coming, but his way of going about preventing it was proven wrong both times. I don’t consider ultron to be super canon because joss whedon sucks but tony’s first idea to try and solve it failed, and then the accords also failed and even rhodey regretted it. Infinity war was basically “hey yeah the accords was dumb af and steve was right and now the avengers are scattered.” Both tony and steve were selfish and made mistakes in civil war but the fact that it had been over three years and tony was still soooo angry with steve and holding a grudge just rubbed me the wrong way.

- I really felt for thor when they went to get thanos. Chris hemsworth’s acting in that scene was so good when he realized they had failed

- again who on earth put steve in charge of a support group. And while yes its nice to have some lgbtq representation marvel is way behind on that so to me it did not feel like enough

- paul rudd did so well in this movie and scott is such a good dad ugh

- 10/10 would die for morgan stark. She is soooo cute and it was hilarious when she was like “mom told me to come rescue you”

- i know a lot of people are mad at tony dying bc he could have “retired” but that scene with his daughter before steve, nat, and scott show up shows he could not. He still had a garage where he built iron man suits and suits for pepper. That’s not what someone does when they are out of a fight. That’s why he fell back into it so fast because he never left it. He was still tinkering and preparing and even when he retired he was still fully ready to go back

- i like professor hulk but at the same time i miss bruce

- tony and steve love each other so much it made me so happy when tony showed up at the compound. they’ve had their differences but there is real love there

- speaking of real love I will still never forgive joss whedon for taking clintasha away from us like yes their platonic friendship is great but UGH. They love each other SOOOOOOO much 

- tom hiddleston as loki always steals the show and i miss him so much. I was convinced he wasnt dead so I’m sad that he was still dead in the current timeline. But maybe since there is now an alternate dimension with loki and the tesseract he will show up again

- him impersonating steve, his side eye, just... *chefs kiss*

- the america’s ass comment... amazing, iconic, beautiful. And then steve’s “yeah I know” comment to his 2012 self. I’m so glad the russos let steve be funny

- I love how much winter soldier played into this one especially since it was the russo’s first mcu movie. The elevator scene... steve outsmarting the hydra agents. Secretary pierce showing up... and then steve fighting his past self was just *chefs kiss* again. The fact that he knows his own weakness is bucky and uses it against himself 

- not excited to see tilda swinton’s character because its just a reminder of marvel’s whitewashing but I appreciated it trying to explain the timeline/dimension stuff

- i also loved that at the army compound tony was able to get closure with his dad, something he deserved for a long time. I think that was another hint he was going to die because his arc was completing while steve’s.... the look on steve’s face when he saw peggy just broke me. absolutely broke me. Steggy was my first ship in the mcu and so steve and peggy hold a special place in my heart. The fact she still keeps the picture of tiny steve after all these years (a reference to agent carter)... they both moved on enough to enjoy life but never truly moved on enough to leave the other behind. And so while tony was getting closure, steve was being reminded of what he wanted most and couldn’t have. I also loved the tie in with agent carter and showing Jarvis this movie was truly a fan service to us all

- okay so rhodey/nebula: so ive never been a huge nebula person but i really liked her in this movie. I loved rhodey’s line about “you work with what you got” as far as their disabilities. I felt so bad for new nebula because old nebula SUCKKSSS and I hate she had to face her. I loved that in this movie thanos was wearing his armor because 2014 thanos was not as strong or secure with himself. His energy was SO different compared to the thanos we saw in infinity war so props to josh brolin

- natasha/clint: Well go ahead and rip my heart out. The audience knows only one of them is coming back but they have no idea. And they love each other SO FUCKING MUCH they both tried to sacrifice themselves to save the other person. That is true love. Jeremy renner is such an underrated actor and his reaction to natasha dying just killed me. But so did scarlett johansson’s acting as much as I hate to admit it because I’ve really stopped liking her as much due to her recent acting choices but she played that scene so well. And I will miss natasha romanoff forever. She deserved so much more and paved the way for all the other female superheroes in the mcu

- everyone crying over nat and especially steve broke me. They had such a special friendship, almost as strong as her and clint and I feel so many people forget that because of how natural they were together. And her last words to him were that she would see him in a minute and then she didn’t come back..

- i just realized i havent talked about thor and thats honestly because my brain blocked it out. I like that they explored his depression but dont like that he was made the joke of the avengers and I don’t think it was handled well. I did enjoy his conversation with frigga and by that I mean it made me cry. (also loki deserves a conversation like that too don’t @ me)

- STEVE WIELDS MJOLNIR!!! IT WAS SO BADASS AND MY DREAM COME TRUE I HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE EXCITED IN A MOVIE. To me that was the absolute highlight of the movie

- And then sam says “on your left” and all the characters come and the music... poetic cinema

- thanos is a weak little bitch and as soon as wanda was beating him he was fine with his own troops dying just so he could get away

- TONY AND PETER REUNITING CURED MY DEPRESSION AND THEN GAVE IT RIGHT BACK

- CAROL IS SO POWERFUL MY LESBIAN QUEEN

- sebastian stan has no business looking this good my god

- I forgot how much I missed peter parker

- I didn’t notice mbaku until my second viewing and honestly the wakandan characters were shafted like poor shuri we didn’t even know she was dusted until a few weeks before the movie

- I know everyone loves the scene of all the women characters carrying the gauntlet but honestly marvel has a long way to go before they reach equality and it honestly wasn’t enough for me

- side note pepper fighting back to back with tony was awesome

- ugh tony’s face when he realizes what he has to do and he looks at strange for confirmation... give rdj an oscar like my god. He knows that the past few years have led up to this moment and he is absolutely terrified and determined and I am tearing up while writing this because I am remembering it so vividly

- peter parkers goodbye had me crying why is tom holland such a good actor

- pepper’s goodbye BROKE ME... “you can rest now” I think that is the epitome of tony’s arc. For his entire storyline he has been trying to right his wrongs and save his friends and the world and that is so much for one man to carry on his shoulders and everyone knew it would be the death of him. I know tony stans are pissed off that he died, but I don’t see him just being able to retire. Obviously I didn’t want him to die, but his whole storyline has been leading up to this. He truly got a hero’s sendoff and was solidified as THE hero of the mcu. This era started with him and it ended with him. It was a beautiful sendoff for the character that started it all. And I don’t think rdj would go along with it if he didn’t approve

- Steve’s ending.... so I knew from spoilers what would happen and while it was something I wanted in theory I was pissed when I first found out. But it somehow worked. If you look at steve’s arc, he has always been a man out of time. For everyone getting mad he was hung up on a girl he kissed once, it’s pretty much confirmed in agent carter that he and peggy were on the DL for 3 years. she wasnt just a crush he knew for a few months. They loved each other and fought side by side for three years and time took him too soon. In age of ultron the only part I liked was steve’s vision where he gets a dance with peggy. As much as he moved on in the present, the possibility he missed with her always haunted him. You can tell in peggy’s video in the winter solider that even though she married and had kids, the thought of steve still gets her choked up. When she sees him as an old woman she immediately crumbles. They both have referred to each other as the loves of their lives. 

- So with that said, I don’t think it’s weird or out of the blue that he would suddenly decide to try and go back to peggy. They won, bucky is back and safe, sam is back and safe, he can finally rest, and he has the tools to go back in time. The way I interpreted it, Bucky 100% knew what he was going to do. The look on his face, the tone of his voice. He knew Steve was not coming back, and he also knew he deserved to have that happy ending. So while sam and bruce thought it would only be 5 seconds, bucky turned away from the machine, knowing steve wouldn’t show up there. I ship stucky too because I just want steve happy so while at first I was like “how could he leave bucky??” watching it on screen it made sense. Bucky approved of his choice, and while he was saddened by it, he understood it. 

- In my interpretation, I don’t think steve stayed in the main timeline. I think him going back created an alternate timeline where he married peggy, dissolved hydra earlier, and freed bucky earlier. At some point, those two timelines merged, and he wandered over to where he knew they would be. OR after peggy died, he used the technology to travel back to that timeline when he was old. Or my friend suggested he could have met tony stark in his alternate timeline and asked for his help. Who knows. He literally came back with a shield, meaning he was at one point captain america again in that timeline. I don’t think there is anyway he could just stay quiet for 70 years about bucky being tortured and peggy running shield that was secretly hydra. I refuse to believe that. If the russos come out and say that’s what he did, then I’ll backtrack and say I don’t approve of steve’s ending. But as of right now I’m okay with it. 

#avengers endgame spoilers #avengers endgame #avengers 4 #steve rogers #tony stark #natasha romanoff #clint barton #bruce banner #scott lang #pepper potts #peggy carter #steggy #bucky barnes #stucky #pepperony #carol danvers #thor #marvel #mcu #mcutext #marvel text post #mine

[itsclydebitches]

Endgame Thoughts (Spoilers Below!)

I just came out of Avengers: Endgame (yeah, late to the party as usual) and though I definitely don’t have the energy for a full-blown post, I feel compelled to at least throw out a few cursory thoughts. The franchise deserves that much, though it’s perhaps because we’ve had a nearly decade long, 22 film extravaganza that I’m feeling pretty burned out on the Marvel front now. 

I legitimately enjoyed the film. Three hours flew by like that and I’m honestly amazed that Marvel crafted a story where I never once snuck a glance at my phone, wondering how much more I had to power through. That being said, I found myself feeling tired over the course of those three hours. Not what you’re looking for during the action-packed, epic conclusion to a franchise. I got tired because within the first 20mins I realized that Captain Marvel was not going to be the badass savior that Fury’s page implied she would be. I was weary when Nat tried---and succeeded---to kill herself in Clint’s place because, as it’s heavily implied, she doesn’t have a family to go home to (bringing back the horrific trope of forced sterilization and women’s supposed inadequacy when they can’t bear children). Nat supposedly doesn’t have a life, something she admits to Steve earlier in the film, and instead of letting her discover one at the end of the series the story takes her “You first” and makes it real. Steve lives the life he always wanted; Nat is left broken at the bottom of a cliff. By the time we reached the ham-handed, token, narratively ridiculous ‘Girl Power’ moment of the final battle I was downright exhausted. The silver lining there is all the little girls in the audience who aren’t going to pick up on how clunky that was. I’m glad they’re cheering. Or anyone else for that matter. I think the “FUCK YEAH!” and “Omg they’re not really...” responses can exist simultaneously. 

Don’t get me wrong, Endgame has a lot of good going for it. Nebula was an unexpected bright spot of well-rounded complexity. Frigga gets to give Thor the pep-talk he always needed (nicely contrasting the one Odin gave him). Carol does take down Thanos’ ship. Marvel’s treatment of women is improving---props there!---but for the epic finale there’s a distinct sense of “Too little, too late.” Especially when we compare these token moments with Marvel’s everyday normality. When nearly all the MCU’s women heroes come together in a show of undeserved solidarity (most don’t even know each other. We understand in this moment that the support is solely because “Yeah women!” and, sorry, but that will always feel like pandering) it’s enough to make you cringe. Or at least heave out a heavy sigh. In contrast, when a large group of men have each other’s backs... that’s literally just the rest of the film. When Nat dies to save trillions she gets a short grieving scene by a lake. When Tony dies to save trillions mourners across the multiverse show up en masse to pay their respects and the film makes it clear that this is what’s meant to gut us. If you’re going to cry, do it now.  

And for those thinking, “Well of course his death scene is bigger and better. He’s the heart of the MCU while Nat is just a side character,” that’s entirely my point. The men are the center of this universe and though at the very (very) tail end of things Marvel tried to slap on some fixes to that, those fixes can only take us so far. 

Endgame is a film that perfectly ties up this era of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and that’s great! But as a woman watching---and who has been watching faithfully since 2008---it was also a stark reminder that this franchise was never really made for me. 

I’m hoping the next wave continues to do better. 

#endgame spoilers #endgame #avengers endgame #avengers engame spoilers #marvel #mymetas

[cleastrnge]

My endgame reactions:

- Tony and nebula being friends and bonding at the beginning, when tony tells her that she won and her surprised face 😭

- CAROL SAVING TONY! THANK YOU! GOD IS A WOMAN!

- steve immediately going to help tony and grieving together, shot me in the leg, it will hurt less

- tony was so thin... marvel i hate you

- tony losing it at the compound and lashing out at steve gave me so many feelings, he was so hurt and HE. WAS. RIGHT. GODDAMMIT

- Carol and the rest of the avengers going after thanos and thor finally going for the head 😭 this man is traumatized

- carol's new haircut. Iconic. Be my wife miss danvers

- scott coming back because of a rat lmao, and his reunion with cassie 😭 it's because of this man that they all took action after almost giving up 👏👏👏

- IRON DAD 😭 morgan is the sweetest person in the world. Must be protected at all costs. Also marvel, screw you, you ruined them, we could've had it all (🖕🖕🖕)

- hulk/bruce is hilarious, kind, and so chill, wholesome, i want ten more

- chubby thor is the best thor and you can't fight me on that

- KORG AND MIEK YEEEES

- but honestly, thor's survivor's guilt is so good, we've never seen him like this and it was a natural response to everything that happened to him, thank you marvel, for showing us that side of heroes

- the time travels. THE TIME TRAVELS

- tony you whore, watching steve's ass, america's ass, instead of focusing on the mission, you too scott, you dirty old men i love you

- i loved the parallel of the elevator scene from tws, and the avengers not letting hulk in the elevator, steve vs steve, steve's "yeah, that's america's ass", so iconic

- ANCIENT ONE!!!!! I LOVE YOU AND I MISSED YOU SO MUCH, YOU BADASS WOMAN

- the whole new york (2012) was so good

- LOKI LIVES!!!!!

- tony and howard's reunion, my heart aches, at least tony knew his father loved him (it doesn't justify the bullsh*it he made tony go through tho)

- NATASHA NOOOOOOO!

- how they didn't see that coming? Nebula literally warned them, i hate everything 😭 natasha you were a true hero and i'll miss you, you deserved better (i'm so bitter and sad)

- thor and his mother 😭 and him realizing that he's still worthy 😭👏

- WHEN HULK/BANNER SNAPPED AND IT WORKED! HE 👏 DID 👏 THAT 👏

- f*ck you th*nos you bitch, you always ruin everything

- HOLY SHIT, THE TRINITY FIGHTING TOGETHER AND THOR WIELDING THE MJOLNIR AND STORMBREAKER?! KING

- STEVE WIELDING MJOLNIR, I DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING AND IT WAS AWESOME

- HOLY FUCK THAT SCENE. THAT SCENE

- when i saw the sparks my soul returned to my body after a year

- LITERALLY EVERYONE SHOWED UP, ICONIC

- AVENGERS ASSEMBLE

- HE FINALLY FUCKING SAID IT! OH I'M IN THE CLOUDS

- YES MARVEL! END ME! THEY ALL ARE SO BADASS!

- WANDA MAXIMOFF IS THE GOAT AND THE STRONGEST! I'M SO GLAD THEY FINALLY SHOWED US HER POTENTIAL! IT'S WHAT SHE AND US DESERVE! 👏👏👏

- IRON DAD AND SPIDER SON REUNION! I CRIED MY EYES OUT

- CAROL FUCKING DANVERS YOU ARE THE STRONGEST AVENGER AND NOW EVERYONE KNOWS IT! BIG DICK ENERGY RIGHT THERE!

- WHEN THE WOMEN OF MARVEL ALL REUNITED TO PROTECT PETER! OMG I ALMOST DIED, MARVEL JUST GIVE US A-FORCE ALREADY, THAT SCENE CURED MY DEPRESSION

- no but really, i lost my breath, they were all amazing

- the whole battle was EPIC

- when stephen looked kinda like expecting something, and i knew, i just knew all hope was lost for tony 😭

- when he took the stones and used them to wipe thanos's army and thanos himself 😭😭😭😭

- and HE DIED! MARVEL FUCK YOU

- i'm really sad and pissed, i really wanted him to live and have a happy life with pepper and morgan and peter and all of his friends, after all he went through, HE DESERVED IT

- but i also understand that if he lived, he would have never leave that superhero life :c

- rhodey's reaction 😭 that's his best friend dying 😭 and Peter 😭😭😭💔 i was not ready for him losing his father figure, he has lost so much too and tony was like a father to him and they lived each other so much 😭💔 AND PEPPER 😭 when she told him that they were gonna be okay, that now he could rest 💔😭 marvel, just shoot me in the head already, it would hurt less

- i'm mourning and i can't stop crying, he was my favorite character and i loved him so much, it's not fair

- E V E R Y SUPERHERO AT HIS FUNERAL, I'M A CRYING MESS

- this man was the heart of the mcu and we all lost him, i just can't believe this

- steve living his best life with peggy at last, at least someone got a happy ending :(

- thank you marvel for giving us this epic conclusion of 22 films, i truly felt like it was the best closure for an epic franchise. I can't thank you enough for this and i'm so happy to be part of this universe

- and i'm happy to share it with all of you who read me <3

- i'm so emotional i can't deal with myself

#avengers endgame #avengers endgame spoilers #spoilers #endgame #endgame spoilers #avengers

[underthebluerain]

Watched Thor: Ragnarok yesterday. Some of it I liked, some of it I loved, most of it was a mess, some of it I hated. The things I loved made me really emotional and saved it from being a wholly bad experience. The things I hated are the reason I am really glad I didn’t spend money on it.

Fair warning, this "review” is as messy and disjointed as the film. Also long.

-The moment the movie started with Thor’s monologue it was clear it was 100% off tone with the Thor universe. Like what.

-The first woman we saw in Thor was Jane Foster doing scientific research. The first women we see in Ragnarok are two unnamed fanservice extras who are presumably skurge’s conquests and are there for the guy to show off to, with barely any lines, no important role and (I think) never seen again. Just a thought.

-I will admit, I did fid some moments funny and genuinely enjoyed them. Others were just ridiculous, a sign they completely ignored the kind of story and especially characters they were showing. And the moments that should’ve been dramatic but that were played in a funny way, even worse. Like Thor and Loki’s reunion. Thor thought he was dead, again. Honestly. Take away all the emotional depth why don’t you. (Yeah I still laughed but it was a Robbed Angst Moment).

-Not to be That Guy but... Loki’s in-universe The Dark World play has Lady Sif and the Warriors Three in a bigger role than they had in it (since they are present at Svartalfheim) and also has Jane in it so 1) it’s keeping both Sif and Jane UNLIKE THIS MOVIE and 2) how shitty is that the in-play acknowledges these characters and the film proper doesn’t. I am so tired of Marvel’s self-referential “haha let’s lampshade the fact that the women are missing but not actually do anything to remedy it!” also unashamedly used in AOU and Antman.

-The bit they showed us about the play I liked in general though, it had plenty of Bro Feels. And Odin!Loki mouthing “I didn’t do it for him” lol but also aww. Also interesting that Sif and the W3 were included (just like in his deleted TDW imagining. He really wants Thor’s friends to like him damn) worried about him and Sif was sent to get help...?? They are not helping me forget about sifki tbh

-Also I shouldn’t be surprised that something serious like Loki’s origins was mentioned only to be funny but like... what?? He seriously decided to let everyone know?? Really?? And is this play seriously how he decided to do it?? When was this?? Was everyone chill with it?? When did he become cool with it?? 

-Was Jotun!Loki called a blue icicle or did I hallucinate that

-Literally the only mention of Jane is of how she dumped Thor and him saying he dumped her instead. Besides Jane being missing, several reasons why this is shitty: 1) again, only one mention of her in the entire film 2) the only mention has her referred to only insofar as her relationship or lack thereof with Thor goes 3) Thor wouldn’t be trying to save face regarding the breakup, he’d just be sad about it 4) it isn’t a good enough reason to have her missing, fuck you.

-Thor to Strange: “Who are you and why should I care” lmao same

-Hela being Odin’s daughter is so out of left field. The backstory regarding her helping Odin win the realm even more so. What?? Just what??

-On the other hand, nice to see the fishiness about Odin and Asgard’s treatment of other realms acknowledged as shitty. But they still had Odin’s only scenes  being good to his sons...?

-I am conflicted about Hela’s design because on the one hand I am gay and find it sexy but on the other I kind of resent they gave her the Black Skintight Catsuit™ of Sexy Female Characters.

-The W3 didn’t deserve those sudden deaths and Thor didn’t deserve to not find out about them.

-I SO loved Thor and Loki’s interactions. I'VE MISSED THEM SO MUCH

-The mural with the family was nice. I didn’t like how frigga was depicted lower than her husband (and this even though she’s taller...) and looking at him/the ground while the men are looking forward, but it does make sense given Asgard’s sexism (as established in other movies, because apparently now they have an all-women army. Ok then why was Sif being the only female warrior a big deal?? Answer: this movie doesn’t give a shit about continuity)

-So... Odin was ashamed of how he got the realm... but he still made a hugeass mural about it??

-I do like hearing Odin get called out. also Odin manipulated history, who else isn’t surprised?

-Again with the humour being used to reference a tragic past event: Loki’s apparently telling the Sakaar gang (whom he barely knows) about how he let go of the Bifrost. As if it’s a funny anecdote. They all laugh. What.

-Just let Hulk stay there and rot Thor

-Hulk is an asshole, I didn’t need more reasons to hate him but they gave them to me

-They didn’t just made an AOU reference they actually had the gall to show me ooc!nat and fucking brutasha AGAIN EW EW EW WHY FUCK aaand I officially hate Taika Waititi. I am SO glad I didn’t go see this movie in a theatre can you imagine giving more money to be traumatised with the same shit again omg

-Lmao they literally threw in a line in just to give Banner more degrees than Jane, Phd’s actually, so his are more important right? The male ego truly is astounding

-I thought we’d see more of Valkyrie’s backstory and her grudge against Hela, but at least we got something. Also her name wasn’t revealed?? Was it in the credits? She is cool though. I liked that her introduction was not at all dignified (falling off the ship bc she’s drunk? lol. Wasn’t expecting it tbh) but she got her dignity back. I’ve seen it mentioned that her story of “badass warrior leaves after traumatic battle and becomes jaded drunk who pretends not to care about anything but eventually finds it in herself to come back and fight for what’s right” is a story usually reserved for men and it’s great that she got it.

-I feel so defeated that Asgard had to be destroyed.

-The rock alien was quite funny.

-Thor has literally lost his home, his girlfriend, his mother, his father, several of his friends (not that anyone told him) and his fucking eye give this boy a fucking break

-Thank god Thor didn’t end up believing Loki was dead again bc I would’ve gone there and killed him myself tbh

-I think one of my main problems with the film is that I actually enjoyed the adventure, some of the humour and few emotional moments, but it ignored and/or glossed over so much that was important that it’s not as gut-wrenching as its predecessors. To sum up: this movie was a good fic, but not a good enough Thor movie, you get me? Especially given how this is probably the very last Thor movie.

-Even without watching the Infinity Wars trailer it’s obvious Loki’s taken the Tesseract you little shit. I hope Thor knows and is like “take it out let’s see what we do with it hmm?”

-Fuck, I really enjoyed Loki and Thor’s relationship in this movie. On the one hand, the movie robbed them of several emotional moments (Thor finding out Loki’s alive, their reunion, a longer confrontation), but on the other the humour gave them several great scenes of sibling banter and backstory that I loved so much (even if some of it didn’t make sense like the snake anecdote: cute, funny but nonsensical). And despite the movie’s light tone not fitting with the other films’, I... feel like it did kinda fit their relationship here? The film made it work. I still wish we’d gotten more emotional scenes and arguing and angst, but I did like to see that it’s been quite some time since their grievances and that has sort of caused them to cool over a bit, so things are calmer, lighter. And that allows Loki to act less like a “I’m gonna betray you” (which is still there, but he doesn’t play it up so much), and above all allows Thor to say, “look, this has been fucked up for a few years, I don’t think trying to stay together will work”. Which I think is both sincere and reverse psychology. Sincere because Thor has been through a lot of pain and he knows Loki has too, so he doesn’t think he can handle having Loki there but not being able to trust him, and if Loki wants out he’s not gonna force him to stay. And reverse psychology because he’s hoping so bad that he’ll want to stay, that he’ll choose to. Freely. And he knows that the only way he will make a free choice is if he thinks Thor has made his and that it’s to stop pursuing him. I AM EMOTIONAL

-AND LOKI DID COME BACK TO HELP AND THOR FUCKING BELIEVED HE WOULD OKAY

- “IF YOU WERE REALLY HERE I MIGHT HUG YOU” “I’M HERE” GFHXKCJDLKLXKS

-WHAT THE FUCK WHERE IS MY HUG

-AND THEY DID END THE MOVIE TOGETHER SIDE BY SIDE WITH THOR AS KING AND LOKI AS ADVISOR AND GOING TO EARTH AND FACING WHATEVER DANGER IS COMING TOGETHER AND I AM VERY EMOTIONAL OKAY

#thor: ragnarok #thor 3 #thor 3 spoilers #ragnarok negativity #i mean there is positivity too but yeah #about me #and my fangirling life #my post

[shirtlesssammy]

Abandon All Hope...: 5x10 Recap

Then:

Jo and Ellen! Whaaaa.

Now:

We open to Generic City, USA, where a fancy man in a fancy suit exits a fancy car under a highway, and buries a small box in the gravel. “Mr. Pendleton, I presume.” Ah, the first words uttered by our previously only mentioned friend, Crowley. The man is surprised Crowley isn’t a woman, since this deal will be sealed with a kiss. Get over your homophobia dude. (Ha, Boris is typing this up as she watches and loves that Crowley calls him out on this as well. Oh Crowley, how we’ll miss you.) Crowley starts counting and the dude agrees, and our favorite King of the Cross Roads swoops in to seal the deal. (Boris is just going to pause right here and admit she doesn’t rewatch this episode. It’s too painful, so I didn't remember how long this kiss lasted. I know this isn’t romantic and my thoughts are way off topic, blah, blah, blah, but uh, yeah, I’m not going to settle for anything less than a kiss when Destiel does eventually exist.) Anyway, the crossroads deal is witnessed by our favorite flying badass in a trenchcoat. Castiel has tracked down Crowley.

Cas is on the phone with Dean, filling him in with the deal. Ah! This is the episode where Dean calls Cas Huggy Bear (ok, my half of the recap will just be be reminiscing on quotes, etc. that I didn’t realize happened in this episode.#sorrynotsorry) Crowley tells the man to enjoy his new wealth and that he’ll see him in 10 years. (crying noise, crying noise) Crowley takes off, with Cas in hot pursuit. Cas tracks him to a place that’s warded with Enochian magic, which means Cas can’t enter. Sam and Dean are on the case!

Later that night we’re introduced to Crowley’s domicile, and one of my very favorite musical quasi-introductions of a character ever on this show. Crowley’s making cocktails, watching Hitler videos, listening to the Main Ingredient’s “Everybody Plays the Fool”. (Fun fact: Cuba Gooding Sr. is the lead singer of this band.)

A woman buzzes the main gate. In distress, she asks for help with her car that’s broken down. The woman turns to the camera, and it’s Jo! The demon guards are condescending and gross, but Jo’s a professional hunter and plays with them long enough for Sam to stick a demon blade in each of them. Along with Dean, the trio head inside to find Crowley.

Once inside, Sam and Dean confront Crowley. They’re smart, but he’s Crowley, so their hidden devil’s trap idea doesn’t work. Instead, they’re captured by Crowley’s minions. He knows exactly why they’re visiting him: The Colt. He promptly shoots both his demons with the gun. Plot Twist!

Crowley leads the brothers deeper into his inner sanctum, informing them that without his rumors about the Colt, they wouldn’t have had the gun at all. He had it well hidden. Sam wonders why he would share it with them at all. “I want you to take this thing to Lucifer, and empty it into his face.” Crowley’s loathing for that particular fallen angel dates way back. Crowley understands that if Lucifer succeeds in destroying humankind, demons are next. “So what do you say if I give you this thing, and you go kill the devil?” IT’S A PLAN! What can possibly go wrong?! NOTHING. WE WIN. YAY! Crowley even tells them that Lucifer’s got an appointment in Carthage, MO.

Omg, Sam gets the Colt and then tries to shoot Crowley with it? Lol. Barely batting an eye, Crowley gets them some more ammunition. And tells them that they better not fuck this up, MORONS!

*Classic Drinking Alert*

Back at Bobby’s, Ellen and Jo are trying to upstage Cas with their drinking prowess. And fail. 

After 5 shots, Cas admits, “I think I’m starting to feel something.”

Sam and Dean discuss the probability that this is all a trap. It is a trap, but the devil is in Missouri. Dean tells Sam that he can’t come --there’s no way they’re just going to hand his vessel over to the devil. Sam insists they’re doing this as a team. Dean relents.

Dean, resigned to his probable death in the morning, decides to give Jo his best “last night on Earth” line (you know, the one he gave Anna --AND CAS), but is shut down. Dude, you shouldn’t have sister-zoned her in season 2. Bobby calls everybody over for a group photo. (crying noise, crying noise)

The group enters Carthage, and Sam’s internal wi-fi is faulty.

I also really enjoy the set design’s juxtapositions sometimes:

The boys head off to check out a different part of town, while Jo, Ellen, and Cas (Boris asks: Why was he with them? Answer revealed two seconds later.) scope out the downtown. It looks empty, but Cas reveals that it’s full of reapers. 

Cas informs them that reapers only gather like this in times of great catastrophe (and then mentions the Chicago fire. *Puts on Wisconsin Nerd Glasses* The Peshtigo fire, which happened on the same exact night, was actually a far more devastating fire.) Cas wanders off to find out why the reapers are there (man, I miss these creepy ass reapers. I mean, if April was anything like these weirdos, human!Cas would have avoided her at all costs, love of PB&J or not.)

Cas follows one reaper into a building, and is trapped by Lucifer (ok, fine, maybe he wouldn’t have avoided April).

Dean, Sam, Jo, and Ellen meet back up. Cas is missing.

Cas is currently trapped in a fire ring of holy oil. Ok, guys, things are about to get heavy, so take a quick breather:

Lucifer questions Cas’s loyalty to the Winchesters, and marvels at what a peculiar thing he is. You idiot, he’s just like you, only he rebelled against Heaven because he loves humanity too much. Cas notices Lucifer's vessel is failing. He tells Lucifer that he will not take Sam Winchester as his vessel; Cas won’t let him. Lucifer then points out how similar they are, but Cas will not serve Lucifer. He’ll die first. (crying noise, crying noise)

Meanwhile, back with Team Anti-Lucifer, Dean’s missing the angel. As they walk down the street, they’re greeted by Meg, and her faithful hell hounds. We still hate Meg at this point. Dean is particularly stressed about the invisible hell hounds. He shoots one, and they all take off running. Dean goes down and Jo goes back to protect him, but is attacked herself. SON OF A BITCH. This does not get easier on a rewatch. Dean scoops her up and they all run into a store. Sam and Dean secure the perimeter, while Ellen assesses her daughter’s wounds. GODDAMMIT, WHERE'S THE ANGEL!?! It’s bad, folks, and they all know it.

“It's gonna be alright,” Ellen murmurs over her mortally wounded daughter. Sam approaches Dean in despair but Dean bolsters him as he toils over an old radio. Meg has confirmed that Lucifer is in town. They can't give up now.

Back at Bobby's, his CB radio turns on. It's Dean. “Is everyone alright?” Bobby asks.

“No,” Dean tells him, shaking. “It's Jo. It's pretty bad.”

*Wraps Dean in a blanket*

Bobby can tell that Dean is breaking apart and he calmly prompts him for the next step. Dean tries to reign in his despair to refocus on the mission. “Tell me what you got,” Bobby asks.

They tell Bobby that Cas saw over a dozen reapers at least before he went missing.

Bobby: I don't like the sound of that.

Dean: Nobody likes the sound of that, Bobby. But what does that sound like?

Bobby thinks that Lucifer is in town to raise a new horseman. He's going to raise Death, the “pale horseman in the flesh.” (Me: takes some time out of HARD CORE MOURNING to chuckle at the use of “in the flesh” to describe an oft-skeletal being.) The last time Death walked the world was the great floods of Noah's time. While the team has been out on their mission, Bobby's been researching the town. He discovered an old battle ground on a farm dubbed the “Devil's Hell Hole” where hundreds of soldiers died. Hmm, sounds haunty.

Meanwhile, Lucifer's still smirking at Cas when Meg arrives with a report. The Winchesters are pinned down by their hell hound guards. Lucifer tells her to leave them for now and counsels her to have patience when she wishes for bloodier orders. Lucifer offers Cas the gift of time in his little fire circle. He can sit in his corner and think about Lucifer's offer to join his side.

Back at the shop, the boys go over their to-do list. They've got to sneak past several hell hounds, take Jo and Ellen to safety, and then make it out to the farm before Lucifer raises Death. Noooo problem. Sam heads off to find a stretcher for Jo when she stops them and begs them to be realistic. She can't move her legs, her guts are an ace bandage away from spilling to the floor... She's toast. Ellen begs her not to give up but Jo rattles off her own to-do list. They've got everything in the store they need to build a bomb. “Those are hell hounds out there. They've got all of our scents. Those bitches will never stop coming after you.” She tells them to head to the roof and she'll take them out when they storm the store.

Ellen begs her not to do this, not to give up. But Jo doesn't see it as giving up. She's a fighter and, “This might literally be your last chance to treat me like an adult. Might wanna take it?” Fucking KNIFE twist, Jo.

Ellen wrestles her tears under control. “You heard her,” she tells the boys. “Get to work.”

Enter a bomb making montage:

Dean lays the final wires and brings the trigger to Jo. “See you on the other side,” he says. “Probably sooner than later.”

“Make it later,” Jo smiles at him.

Dean presses one final kiss to Jo's forehead, then to her lips. It holds all the weight of what might have been, all the weight of her young life cut short. Ellen crouches as though to deliver her final goodbye. The two women exchange looks, their expressions alone writing volumes, and realization comes over Jo. Ellen doesn't plan on leaving her daughter. “Somebody's gotta let them in.” Ellen tells the boys to get moving. “Dean, kick it in the ass. Don't miss.”

FUCK.

The boys head out and Jo and Ellen listen to the hell hounds snarling outside. Ellen wipes the salt from the door, removes the chains, and turns the gas on in the bomb. She cradles Jo in her arms. “I will always love you,” she tells Jo.

Okay, listen. I often joke about needing to take a break from recapping for a bout of crying but I seriously needed to take a crying break. This scene gets me every damn time. The delicate way their relationship is portrayed in this episode, the beautiful potential they both held, followed by their horrific loss hurts so badly. This episode is so well written but fucking OUCH.

As the hell hounds approach the door, Jo dies in Ellen's arms. Tears fall and she just manages to reign in her sobs because there's work to do. The hell hounds burst in and stalk through the store. Ellen waits until one exhales into her face. “You can go straight back to Hell, you ugly bitch!”

The store blows and Dean and Sam run.

We cut to the farm where the townspeople have gathered. “Last words?” Sam asks.

“I think I'm good,” Dean says. Time to go out in a blaze of glory, just like Ellen and Jo.

Sam shouts at the Devil, interrupting his digging. Lucifer smirks at Sam. It's just the distraction they need because in the next moment, Dean has the Colt up against Lucifer's temple. He fires it and sends a bullet straight through his head.

Hooray! They did it! Hoor-- Oh wait, nope. Lucifer's eyes pop open. “Ow,” he seethes before jumping up again. He knocks Dean clear across the field and into the woods and turns to confront Sam, now alone. “There's only five things in all of creation that that gun can't kill, and I just happen to be one of them.”

Lucifer swiftly finishes his work, checks in to see if Sam's ready to say 'yes' yet, and tells him it'll happen in Detroit.

“I'm gonna rip your heart out,” Sam shouts.

“All that pent up rage?” Lucifer grins. “I'm gonna need it.”

Sam asks what Lucifer is up to. Well, you know. It's the basic plan. He ordered demons to possess every man in town, who then killed every woman and child. Lucifer tries to bond with Sam. “I was a son. A brother, like you, a younger brother, and I had an older brother who I loved. Idolized, in fact. And one day I went to him and I begged him to stand with me, and Michael—Michael turned on me. Called me a freak. A monster. And then he beat me down. All because I was different. Because I had a mind of my own. Tell me something, Sam. Any of this sound familiar?” Sam responds with the eyebrows of despair.

Lucifer performs the spell and as he does so the demon possessed townspeople fall dead. Dean and Sam look appalled. “What? They're just demons.”

Back in the fire circle, Castiel scowls at Meg. She's awfully happy and it's disconcerting. She thinks all the demons are headed to Heaven under the shelter of Lucifer's wing. Cas smiles at her. “Strange, because I heard a different theory from a demon named Crowley.” Cas uses the classic trick of exposition to distract Meg while he unscrews a girder telekinetically. The girder smacks into Meg and tosses her through the flaming circle and into Castiel's arms. He tries to smite her but she chuckles at him. Without Heaven's support he doesn't have enough mojo. Cas, being the out of the box thinker that he is, chucks her to the ground and uses her back as a bridge to cross the fire. Cas...you fucking BADASS.

Back at the farm, the ground shakes as Lucifer raises Death. Cas rescues Dean and Sam, flapping them to safety. “Well, hello Death,” Lucifer says with a smile.

In the wreckage of Bobby's kitchen which is still littered with empty shot glasses, Bobby watches the grim news coming out of Carthage. Dean and Sam look on as Bobby burns the photo they'd taken together.

Boris: I realize the symbolism and all, but why would you burn that photo!? Garrrr.

Tl:dr: I wasn’t around when this first aired, but I’m so curious what people thought of this episode. Like, in hindsight, it sucks that Jo and Ellen died. The show was supposed to end at the end of this season, but it didn’t. Their deaths were noble and heart wrenching, and would have meant so much more if there wasn’t 8+ more years of show to watch. Will we see AU Ellen and Jo in season 13?!

Quotes:

So, the Hardy Boys finally found me.

Rumors, innuendo, sent out on the grapevine.

I'm in sales, damn it!

Sam Winchester, having trust issues with a demon. Well, better late than never.

Tomorrow we hunt the devil. This is our last night on earth.

What a peculiar thing you are.

Hasn't Death been tromping all over the place? Hell, I've died several times myself.

Even as we speak, it’s….going….down.

You’re functioning..morons.

#spn recap #spn rewatch #spn 5x10 #abandon all hope #dean winchester #sam winchester #Ellen Harvell #Jo Harvell #bobby singer #castiel #cas #lucifer #meg masters #crowley