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logicalstansadvice · 2 years

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Yeah…the person who mentioned that he sounded like he was giving Bucky up. He literally said once that “he was dead”….

He can’t talk about stuff that hasn’t been announced yet. Especially Marvel stuff. I still think he’s going to be in Captain America 4. We haven’t even met the White Wolf yet.

Anon #2: I'm pretty sure the WS will be in the Thunderbolts. Just because he was all heroic at the end of the Falcon and the Winter Soldier doesn't mean he truly feels like a hero. Plus it's now Captain America and the Winter Soldier... he never changed. Maybe he has an identity crisis and becomes an Anti-Hero? It would be a better arc then the half assed one they gave him in the series and could lead him to take on his White Wolf persona at the end of it all. It also explains why he's so quiet on the Bucky front, he always gets tight lipped when he knows something, he plays off like he's oblivious then we find out he's known stuff for months. For an actor, Seb can't lie for shit. I'm here for it, i hope it happens 😁

Anon #3: Bucky is back to being the Winter Soldier and working with other vilains?? What happened to his whole redemption arc in FATWS and him saying he is no longer the WS? // The Thunderbolts started as villains who pretended to be heroes but over time morphed into a team of antiheroes—people working for the govt in gray areas that “regular” heroes wouldn’t. They were started by Thunderbolt Ross (played by William Hurt in the MCU) but he’s no longer with us, plus they seem to have set up Val (Julia Louise Dreyfuss) to play that role anyway. She’s already recruited John Walker and Yelena. I can see Zemo in the Thunderbolts as well (and he led them for a time in the comics). I can’t see Bucky wanting to work for the govt, much less be on the same team as Walker and Zemo (!) but oh man, it would be sooooo entertaining. Imagine the banter!!! 😂

Anon #4: What happened to his whole redemption arc in FATWS and him saying he is no longer the WS? istg it’s like Marvel just doesn’t know what to do with this character // Except we don't know the plot yet? His redemption arc could very well continue in Thunderbolts. They're more like reformed villains than straight up villains, so I can totally see Bucky leading them as a guide towards redemption. Also, Kari Skogland said there was more to come in terms of the Winter Soldier name when asked why it didn't change by the end of TFATWS. Perhaps he will reclaim the Winter Soldier title by turning it into something good.

Anon #5: "I still think from the way Seb talks, like that last one with Aniston, Bucky’s days are over. Notice that he doesn’t seem to have more interest than he used to" Anon, he's not going to act all excited. Like Neve Campbell, Seb knows his worth now, and he's not going to turn down, for example, shooting a rom-com with JA or MR next summer so he can have another half-assed role as plot-point Bucky. If they give him an actual star turn as Bucky, pretty sure he'd be happy to do it.

Anon #6: Bucky doesn't make sense in the Thunderbolts because he's no longer a villain. He's a hero, it makes no sense. I don't think he's going to be in it. // there is a storyline where all the villains actually reform and do good deeds. Maybe they're gonna write the script based on that? In an article from Deadline apparently several actors already in the MCU have been contacted about the movie to keep their schedules clear for next summer.

Anon #7: And if he does know something by now (which I suppose he does), he won't give anything away until Marvel makes their official announcements. // Yep. Also, the Deadline article says that Marvel is already talking to some of the MCU actors to make sure they'll be free to shoot Thunderbolts next summer, so if Bucky is in it they certainly have already reached out to Seb, considering he must be getting a lot of offers right now because of all the attention he's been getting.

Anon 3...the banter would be A-1 😂!

One ask got swallowed up in the copy/paste, the one with Bucky grumbling about "the kids", sorry! But yes anon, that would extremely funny.

Remember the scene at lunch with Yori? "Wow, so young." 🤣

💄

#logical stans advice #logicalstansadvice #asks answered

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backonefish · 3 years

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not sure why the mcu is still so intent on painting bucky as someone who needs to “amend” and “serve” to right his wrongs. or that he should move on from the image that steve had of him - aka a victim and not a villian. theyve decided that the only way forward for bucky is to be forgiven by people who have suffered because of the winter soldier - as opposed to bucky forgiving himself.

first zemo acts like he forgives bucky, when... what did bucky even do to hurt zemo?? wasnt it the other way around???

even sam, who is a va therapist, is pushing the dialogue that the only way forward for bucky is to amend. the entire conversation felt so uncomfortable bc it very much felt like victim blaming and that bucky wasnt doing enough work, or the ‘right’ work to move past his trauma.

not once do they label bucky as a trauma victim who wasnt in control of his actions but a casualty of a system that used and abused him.

#theres that therapists twitter thread that explains this better #but it just felt so wrong to me #the entire conversation around bucky owning up to his actions #like yes i get it #its important that he does that and come to terms with his ws past #but the only way through is not to say sorry or give the victims closure #i also hate that all the sambucky posts have essentially glossed over this very important aspect #sam as a therapist and friend should never ever have told bucky that he wasnt working hard enough #at least not os early on in his therapy #mcu treats trauma so shitty #but yeah #protect bucky barns #hes a victim not a villian #they gave zemo a better redemption arc #bucky barnes #sam wilson #tfatws #tfatws spoilers #mine #trauma tw #thought i was done but then they're trying to act like the steves book where he wrote down ways ot fit in the future #WAS THE SAME AS BUCKY WRITING DOWN PEOPLE HE KILLED AS THE WS #like whatttt???#wheres my bucky barnes defense squad #leggo

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luna-rainbow · 3 years

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I honestly feel like Bucky's character has been destroyed in a way that is not recoverable at this point, especially since it looks like Spellman will have his hands on him for the foreseeable future. I should probably just take CACW and CAWS Bucky and dip at this point lol.

It still breaks my heart though, to see my favorite character treated so horribly. I wish I could take him away from them or that his story could be given to someone who actually cares about him, but at this point I've been burned by Marvel too many times to hope for that and at this point I don't really think that his character is salvageable from what Spellman has done to him.

But it still really, really hurts to have to watch them destroy him like this.

Thanks for the ask anon! Good to get it off your chest, isn’t it? 😂

This is why I took a lot of issue with fans who argued the show didn’t highlight the “he wasn’t complicit” and didn’t address Bucky’s significant suffering at the hands of Hydra because “people already know this!!!”

Well, you gotta lower your expectations, because people - unless they’re already a Bucky fan - categorically do not.

This is why the show angers me so much, because to me it feels like a concerted effort to rewrite Bucky into someone utterly incompetent, insensitive, and…yes, complicit in everything that happened. The “redemption” they gave him at the end was crumbs - he apologised to Yori (and we don’t see the aftermath), and he managed to open a van door. Then they pat themselves on the back during interviews and I just…

It’s so cute that your grandma watches MCU, though! It’s hard not to feel defensive but it’s also important to keep a movie buddy in the family 😉 I think seeing CATWS and CACW in quick succession gives a better understanding of where Bucky was at. I think a lot of people see the Winter Soldier be so damn efficient and think, there must be someone in there thinking through his actions, so whether Bucky remembered who he was or not didn’t matter because he’s “still in there” to kill people. They’re seeing as a pure memory loss issue, and think he was still present for the decision making.

But I think what’s important is the Zemo code word scene. You can see how desperately Bucky is trying to get away from it, and then you see Bucky just vanish in a space of seconds. It’s not Bucky in there, it’s something mindless that only follows the mission he’s been given, and I think that’s where most of us Bucky fans are coming from - he shouldn’t be held responsible for doing something he wasn’t consciously there for.

And I do feel for people who identified with his trauma history, to see his character changed into self-centered and petulant and then have that redemption arc to slyly suggest it wouldn’t have been so bad if it wasn’t because of his personal failings and…it just breaks my heart a little.

#bucky barnes #tfatws critical #asks #long post

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winterinhimring · 3 years

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Reverse unpopular opinion about The Falcon And The Winter Soldier, please?

Ooh, that's a challenging one! I have mixed opinions on this show, but I'll do my best to focus on what I liked, and there was a lot of that. (Also, there be spoilers ahead, so read on at your peril!)

Hands down my favourite thing about this series was Bucky's character arc. Watching him deal, day by day, with what he did as the Winter Soldier, is a level of emotional payoff that's rather rare in movies these days, and it was so very well done. The scene where he finally musters up the guts to tell his old friend what really happened to his son was both painful and freeing in the best way.

I also think the writers nailed his...friendship? Partnership of snark? Weird off-kilter Steve's-best-friends-without-Steve dynamic? with Sam. They don't quite fit together right at the start of the series; you can see that they used to be two sides of a triangle and now the third is missing and they don't work the same way anymore, either as individuals or as soldiers on a mission. For Bucky, I think Steve was his compass in the modern day. He's never really had a chance to just live in the world and get used to it now that he's out of the ice, and now he's missing the person who gave him direction and was his anchor to the past. Meanwhile, to Sam, Bucky is probably still a little bit of the dangerous assassin whose arm they had to stick in a massive vise to keep him from killing them when they broke him out of prison in Berlin. That makes for an uneasy dynamic at the start, to say the least, even leaving out the fact that they're both grieving Steve in their own ways. But over the course of the show they start to be friends in their own right, and work together as a better team, and I love that.

Then there's Zemo. I came in expecting him to be the mysterious, icy, Machiavellian revenge-seeker that we saw in Civil War, and then he shocked me by being honest about his own agenda and intentions at just about every turn, and even coming back to the rescue of our heroes when he didn't have to. He's also visibly a man grieving for his country and his family, mostly without the revenge overtones this time. Watching him interact with kids was especially touching. Long story short, I was a lot more sympathetic to him at the end of this show than I was at the beginning, but without condoning any of his actions in Civil War. This is a sympathetic villain done right. (I also have to say, I find it utterly hilarious how he briefly took on the role of the Tony Stark of the team, being the snarky rich one who can always pull a private plane from somewhere when our heroes need to get from point A to point B.)

Finally, there's John Walker, the perfect soldier. He's very deliberately set up as a foil to Steve Rogers, his predecessor, the good man. And we see Erskine's words of warning beautifully played out in his character arc. Steve was never corrupted by the strength offered by the serum -- as multiple characters point out -- because he was once the weak one, the bullied one, the one who knew pain. Steve knows compassion. Walker has only ever known strength, and that is his downfall, even though he's not, initially, a bad man. In fact, he may not ever be a bad man, but he is a strong man who is given more strength, and then has the kind of emotional breakdown that's very, very dangerous when you're that strong. The kind of thing Steve would have instinctively shied away from because he had been on the receiving end of very similar things once, and seen where they ended. Then Walker gets a kind of, maybe redemption at the very end, and I'm very curious as to where his character goes next.

#tfatws spoilers #tfatws #asked and answered #winter says things #marvel #bucky barnes #sam wilson #steve rogers #john walker #the winter soldier #the falcon #captain america #kanerallels #ask game #meta

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camelely · 3 years

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TFATWS Spoilers under the cut

Literally the following is my thoughts and opinions, and there are probably some unpopular opinions lol. It's kinda really long lol.

Starting with some positives.

I loved how the two leads had storylines that mirrored each other. Sam needed to become Captain America and gain a title and Bucky needed to move on from The Winter Solider and loose a title.

Sam. Just Sam I loved him before but now I love him more.

Sam becoming Cap.

I loved Isaiah and his story.

I loved Sam's family, how they welcomed Bucky and the struggles Sarah had.

I really liked how they spent time with both Sam and Bucky and didn't forget the show was supposed to be about both of them. Often times shows tend to lean into the more popular or fan favorite lead and this show didn't do that. When Sam took center it felt natural and when Bucky took center it felt natural.

The Wakandans were great. I love Ayo and her friendship with Bucky.

Zemo was fine and fun enough.

John Walker was incredibly done. Wyatt Russell did an amazing job and the scene with the blood on the shield will forever be in my memory. Hands down one of the most impactful MCU moments.

I like the genderbend on Karl/Karli and the direction they took her character. People that go from sympathetic ideas to unforgivable means, make good villains. I think her more boring elements come from the lack of development she got.

Now on to the negatives.

This show could have been like two hours shorter and still told the same story with the same impact. Also earlier episodes, (maybe later episodes too I might have just gotten used to it and stopped noticing lol), had some weird ADR moments. IDK what happened behind the scenes but it was noticeable.

I would have loved it if one of the episodes was a flashback episode. The Sharon twist was obvious from the first episode she appeared in but like they thought it was good enough to save confirmation for the mid/end of the finale? Both her and Karli would have been benefited from a flashback episode.

Karli should have fought Bucky while Sam was focused on Walker. Sam could have had a moment where he tells him he will never be forgiven and Walker would responded with something similar to "I do what is right. I don't need forgiveness." Then when he becomes USAgent it lands more like the next progression in an arc rather than the redemption arc this could be interpreted as. I personally think this is a stepping stone and not a redemption but the MCU (and Disney) doesnt have a great track record when it comes to handling anything with nuance and the fans have an even worse track record when handling things that arent black and white. I guess my point is they could have handled the John Walker set up better.

Speaking of set up, this entire show was set up. This is my main and only real problem with this show. Nothing felt like it was resolved at the end. Karli even says she was part of a bigger movement. Killing her didn't change the fact a lot of people felt the un blip ruined their lives. People always shit on Tony for wanting to bring people back five years later instead of going back in time but like it had been five years, while some like Steve and Natasha hadn't moved on, others had. Some had better lives. Assuming everyone wanted to back to the way things used to be would also be a mistake. This has consequences too, as we see in these shows. But ruining the lives of the people who had bettered themselves would have been shitty too. And yea some people who had been bettered were worsened once again when the un blip happened but my point is going back and erasing the five years would have been shitty too. There is not really a right answer here as the right answer would have been to either stop the snap before it happened or to come to terms with the fact that the snap can never be undone. Leaving everyone as dead might have hurt, but it was the best thing for a community that had five years of mourning and moving on and counseling ETC. Ooof that was a tangent lol and I could probably write an essay so going back to my original point about set up. The flag smashers, or at least people who think the way they did still exist, Sharon Carter is the powerbroker but Sam and Bucky dont know and now shes back as agent 13, John Walker went from war hero to committing war crimes and his journey as USAgent is just starting, Sam has taken the Cap mantle and is ready to begin acting as Cap, and Bucky is both coming to terms with and moving on from his past. Nothing is actually resolved in this mini series. I know it's supposed to make you excited for the next movie/show/season whatever but have six episodes of little to no payoff IMO made for a flat show.

Building off the set up problem. This show had too much going on. Sam and Bucky each had their own personal journey (The A and B plot depending on the episode), Sam and Bucky being friends and their shared journey (C), John Walker and the Flag Smashers (the D and E plot depending on the episode), Zemo and the Wakandans (F), The PowerBroker/Sharon (G), The boat and Sarah which could be considered part of Sam's plot but since if you cut it out the only thing that actually effected Sam's journey would be the bank in the first episode and yet it still went on till basically the end I'm calling it it's own plot (H), Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, which might be part of John Walker's story but since it's all set up for her to take a bigger role in the future and his set up could be completed without her I'm counts her separately (I), then you have the big meeting at the end, the senators and policy makers making choices the vote that they keep mentioning and once again more set up... (J). 10 ideas by my count, all needed their own set up, follow through, and payoff. And yes some stuff like Valentina the pay off will come later but still... It's all too many plots! And thats not mentioning side characters that were new to the show that they wanted to spend time with but couldn't.

Even though I think the shows aren't comparable/two different genres WandaVision had two more episodes (and yes some were shorter but I already mentioned I think FATWS could have benefited from that), completed all the main plots and had Wanda's journey (A), Vision's journey (B), Agatha, Pietro/Ralph, and the citizens of the hex (C), Outside the hex Monica (D), Outside the hex everyone else and sure you can separate Darcy, Jimmy and Heyward but none of them were setting up future stories or had their own distinctive plot outside the hex thing like Monica so she is the only one I am separating (E), the kids who could be counted as an extension of the Wanda and Vision plots since they didnt really have their own arc or story (F). 6 total. And some of those could be combined. Like I think we should separate Wanda Vision and the kids but technically they are just an extension of Wanda. And same with Monica, her story was mostly intertwined with Darcy, Jimmy and the outside the hex stuff. I separated her since I think she had enough moments to herself and she set up secret invasion or whatever, but like Valentina being a part of John's story it is arguable. Of these plots only the missing witness Jimmy thing, Wanda's post credits moment a moment seperate from everything else, Monica's mid credits i think? moment another one separate from everything else, and white vision were unresolved. They gave Agatha an opening ending but it was still an ending. And yes Darcy Heyward etc will probably come back but the plot they had here was finished. So arguably they had 2/6 unfinished plots. And if you don't count Jimmy's witness as a plot and just count it as an unanswered question then 1/6. And technically white vision is just half a vision and the other vision got a complete plot so really it's 0.5/6 At best they completed 92(ish)% of the plots and left 8 (ish) % for future stuff.

In contrast FATWS only finished Sam's journey into becoming Cap, Zemo and the Wakandans, and arguably Sam and Bucky's friendship. You might be able to argue that Bucky had a full circle moment with the guy whose son he killed, but that is one guy and Bucky has been carrying around a list of people like that guy. It's not the end of a story it is the start of a journey. And maybe it is possible to say the boat thing had an ending kinda. 2/10 completed. maybe 3/10 if you wanna push it 5/10. IMO at best they completed 50% of plot set up.

Clearly FATWS is meant to be this way and thats why it bothered me. They want you to watch Cap 4 or whatever they decide to call the theatrical movie that will come after this. I guess I was just expecting it to stand on it's own, and other than Sam's journey into becoming Captain America, which was amazing and deserved in every way, nothing this show did felt like it could have stood on its own. I know it's arguable that was the main story and only story that deserved to end. But I've already pointed out all the other running plots this show had, and I think at least two or three of them should have had follow through in the show.

Someone who plans to never seen an MCU movie after these shows could have watched WandaVision and enjoyed it. That is not the case for FATWS. If you don't plan on watching any MCU stuff in the future you won't know how over half the plots of this show will end. THis isn't even how the movies work. They each tell their own story while also setting up other things, so it is clear they know how to do this.

I can see why Disney decided to submit it as a series and not a mini series. Not only do they not want to compete with themselves (nominating WV as a miniseries) but also this isn't a miniseries.

I guess to conclude I'll say I did really enjoy watching this show. It was fun and there were some great moments. It featured amazing character and amazing actors, but I wish it had bothered to finish more of what it started.

Thank you so much for reading till the end of a post that has surely become unintelligible gloop by now. If you disagree I'd love to hear why!

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smokeybrandreviews · 3 years

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Captain America and The Winter Soldier

Last episode on deck! Let’s get into it!

Hey, Falcon Cap! Sam finally getting his due. Costume is still mad wonky but seems to translate better to the big screen than i thought. Admittedly, i never thought much of it. It always looked wonky to me, even in when it was in the books.

That face mask callback was dope. Also, anti-Sharon in the house! Super curious if she is really going to be the Power Broker. It makes sense but is quite the character assassination if it’s true.

That Dam/Leaper fight was pretty okay. I watched this immediately after the new Mortal Kombat and it was legit refreshing to see good stunt choreography. And this show ain’t even a punch-out!

Karli going full villain is... uninspired? Look, i wanted to give Erin Kellyman all of the opportunity to shoe me something but she showed me nothing. Not a thing. I can’t say ma is bad at her job because I've only seen her in two things but she ain’t batting 1.00, that’s for sure. It’s frustrating because i though what they did with the Flag Smashers was brilliant. Unfortunate bit of casting here i think.

Bucky going full hero was fun to see. It’s about time dude stopped being so goddamn emo. I get the conflict, i get that’s been his entice character, his entire MCU run. I appreciate the growth.

John Walker is still a dick. I’m glad he got beat the f*ck up by a girl.

Apparently, Sam is the new Tony? TONS of little tech in his new Wakanda wings. I like how T’Challa just keeps giving away billions of dollars worth of Vibranium and proprietary tech. This sh*t has got to piss the US guv’ment the f*ck off. I mean, even if they are allies, Wakanda is a foreign country supplying unlicensed vigilante with tech that can only be matched by a dead-man? Fun!

Oh, no, she IS the Power Broker. Unfortunate... Nice play, though.

They gave Walker a redemption arc? Really? I mean, i guess, but scumbag Walker was kind of f*cking awesome.

That ending was anticlimactic. Besides, don’t Super-Soldiers heal? Buck lived. Cap lived. Bruce is on record as to being damn near immortal. is Karli really croaked or is this just, you know, for dramatic effect. Because, f*ck, was it dramatic.

Got a little preachy toward the end. As it should. That last monologue was legit the point of this show. Came across a little heavy-handed. but this is Sam at his best. This is who Sam as Cap is going to be. Honestly, he might be a little better at them speeches than Steve.

F*ck, that costume looks wonky!

Whoo, boy, that last talk with Isaiah? That’s the heat right there. Sh*t is going to ruffle some feathers. for sure!

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier went out strong. Of the two shows aired so far, this one is easily my favorite. Loki is definitely going to give it a run for it’s money because, i mean, Loki, but right now? This Black Falcon got the crown. I thought the plot was executed beautifully and actually dealt with the fall out of the Blip perfectly. More than anything, i wanted to see that world, the fallout from the most catastrophic event in universe history, outside of an individual character perspective or just a glib reference at the star of a Spider-Flick. This show delivered on that, for the most part. I wanted a bit more but what we got was enough to set the foundation going forward. Speaking of going forward, that Dark Thunderbolts Avengers movie is about to be stacked. We got our USAgent to lead the team, Baron Citizen Zemo waiting to get called up to Varsity, and a Power Broker mole waiting to be the Stark behind the scenes. With Black Widow on the horizon to add Black Widow II and Taskmaster, we have a solid squad that can give the new version of the proper Avengers a run for it’s money. This show did a lot to set up the next two Phases of the MCU and i can’t wait to see where we go from here. Now that the praise is out of the way, let’s get into the controversy and the big, fat, Black Falcon in the middle of the room.

I like The Falcon and the Winter Soldier because, aside from being an excellent addition to the Marvel juggernaut, in this sea of performative Wokeness, the MCU was able to genuinely capture the Black experience in America. With two characters, they showed the entirety of the Disney+ audience what it means to Us, here. Being young is idolizing Sam Wilson. Being an adult is identifying with Isaiah Bradley. One is the fiction, the propaganda taught to Us. The other the reality, the truth forced upon Us. That reality stings. Whether the less melanated want to acknowledge it or not, that sordid truth of Us, the sh*t you don't like being preached to about, is what gave you a country for which you can even have such an opinion. That is the truth of this America you love so much, even if you hate the stolen Black bodies that birthed it and, to this day, hold it up.

My Blackness, quite literally, historically verified, built this country. America would not be what it is today, if not for the slave labor my ancestors put forth. That's a truth. My Blackness, quite recently, saved this country. The fact that we came out in droves last November, historically numbers, across the nation, to vote out a would-be Fascist while a whole ass third of this country was okay with becoming the next Reich, is truth. We are the Super-Soldiers of this country, always have been, even if that makes you uncomfortable. Even if you don't want to acknowledge it. Even if you never recognize it. Everything you flag wave and tikki torch about, is a thing because of my Blackness. Because of my Black family. Because of my Black blood, sweat, and tears. We are the superheroes of this nation, which you do not deserve. But we are here, holding the line, since we were stolen from our homes some 400 years ago, defending this country that we built up from nothing.

We are Captain America.

#The Falcon and the Winter Soldier #Sam Wilson #Bucky Barnes #MCU #Marvel

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thesharondefenseleague · 3 years

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So i saw the one post talking about how Sharon carter represents white privilege and she does but I don't think its the same Walker does.

Walker everything he got in the series was at the expense or black people. He is supported by a black wife and a black best friend. He became Captain America because Sam gave up the shield. He became a super soldier because of the serum that came from experimenting on Isaiah. And then he uses that power and status and privilege he gets to act entitled in front of people use his authority to get his way and try to take back the shield he shouldn't have got in the first place from the man who it was actually presented to all while screaming how he is Captain America.

Sharon is not white privilege in the same way she does get a certain level of power abd privilege and status for being white that poc don't hence her getting a public applogy while Isaiah gets a secret plaque tucked away in the corner.

Bucky gets similar moments because he gets to be openly frustrated with the cops and nothing happens and Sam raises voice slightly and summons 2 cop cars.

But Sharon doesn't get to be the good guy. Because one person can't change all the bs the government does in regards to racism or otherwise.

Everyone has some level of power to help someone else and change their lives for the better sometimes in ways only they can or few others apart from them can. And when you have that power you should use it to help not because it helps you feel better but to help the person that needs it.

Bucky uses the power he has as a white guy to tell off the cop. He uses his connections with Ayo to give Sam a new suit. He picks up that shield from Walker and doesn't even consider doing anything other than giving it to Sam. He tells Yori that he killed his son. And applogizes to Sam for being so intense bout the shield.

All of these things he does because he has the power to improve someone elses life and it the right thing to do when he has the power to do it and few other than him can. In Yori"s case no one other than him can. He doesn't do it to enable himself but rather others.

Sam is in the same way as he constantly trying to reach out and connect with Karli. He uses his power to help Sharon get a pardon and Isaiah some recognition.

There are others who may not be in combat aa much but do similar things like Torres and Sam's neighbors.

And of course Steve was like this throughout his series.

But Sharon specifically Sharon in TFAWS there aren't things she does that you can definitively say she did to enable others not to help herself or doesn't end up enabling her in the end.

Her helping out Sam and Bucky gets her the pardon and keeps her more in the loop about Carli she comes back to help but they are after Carli who she is after. She kills Carli when she's about to kill Sam but thats a loose end for her now and Carli gave her the perfect excuse to do what she needed without looking suspicious. In a way she's very similar to Zemo who also just anything good he does is in his own self interest. The difference is Sam and Bucky never trust him and he's a literal Nazi.

Now its definitely understandable why she is like this given what happened to her. But Bucky and Sam get to be examples of how it not inevitable and maybe give her some hope for like a redemption arc down the line after she gets to be bad guy for a bit.

Oh I don’t like her being compared to Zemo. No one is comparable to Zemo in this show. And Sam and Bucky did put some trust in him. That was the plots to episodes 3 and 4. I agree with everything else but that part.

~Mod R

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mythical-fangirls · 6 years

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Finally finished season 3 of Avengers Assemble! Loved it, the story really felt more focused than in the previous two!

Some things I want to mention

it’s interesting how much focus the Hulk got this season, with the inhuman arc, tail end of the season with Truman, and Dehulked. I love how much character they gave the Hulk and Bruce Banner. Since the only medium I know of Marvel is the MCU. It’s so interesting for me to see so much development from the Hulk and Bruce. How the Hulk is different from Bruce yet not.

I liked the mini-arch with the Thunderbolts and their eventual redemption via Clint.

It was nicely planned for Dehulked to come before the Inhuman’s introduction to the series. Since a lot of the things Hulk says or does after and during the Inhuman’s introduction is important. How all parts of a person are important, not just the powers or abilities or history alone. But all of it. All parts of them.

Loved Kamala so much. She’s so important for representation as a person of color, as a female, and as a teenager. I love her because of her loveable personality. She’s a fangirl, she’s a dork, and she’s honestly someone I would 98% act like in the face of the Avengers. (Fangirling over your idols? Same)

I really like how Dante and Kamala act during The Kids Are Alright. It’s so relatable. Knowing a weird amount of information about the tower? tbh I would too. Having weirdly specific conversations about Tony Stark’s sleeping habits? Same. Wondering what the heck is in Avenger’s basement and speculating what’s down their? Mood. The two just acting like kids being excited around their heroes is how they should act. They’re just kids who get to explore the living quarters of their idols and heroes. Who wouldn’t freak out a bit? #SpiritAnimals

It’s quite interesting how important and deep the relationship (romantic or not (preferably not)) between the Hulk and Black Widow is. They understand what it’s like to not be given the choice (Red Room and Gamma Mutation) or to be seen as a monster (Highly trained murder assassin since childhood and rage monster). How they do their relationship in this series is so much better than what they did in Age Of Ultron (the movie), it's not out of nowhere and not built of off poorly made ground. It’s built on a mutual understanding of the other’s history and not judging them on it.

The introduction of Vision, Captain Marvel, and Black Panther have varying levels of entertaining for me. Vision’s intro was not really interesting for me, since Vision felt to have less personality to me than his MCU counterpart. While T’Challa wasn’t as explored as I would have hoped for. While Carol. Well

Captain Marvel left quite an impression, so to say. Since in the MCU fandom she seems to be this light of hope to fix Thanos’ Snap. So I expected her to be someone more calm and collected, a more of a stoic/calm leader type. But nope, she’s full of energy (literally) and character. How she’s more impulsive and less team oriented since she’s air force, she has her own plane and thus fights mostly alone. Compared to army Steve, who has to fight with a team at all times on the ground.

Now, Captain Marvel and Captain America. I low-key ship them for some reason. There’s just this level of tension between them in Carol’s introduction episode. Her sort of arrogant joking flare to Steve’s modest and calm nature. Kinda like Steve and Tony. Like those two, the Captains have their similarities both have worked for the arm and know their strategy, albeit in different forms due to their section of the military.

Cute how Carol calls Steve, “Army,” and how Steve calls her, “Air force”

The House Of Zemo is an interesting episode, that I have a lot fo say about

The team throwing Steve a birthday party

Clint getting Steve the missing photo of his dad (even though that creates the very paradox as to why Clint needed to give Steve the photo in the first place)

Pre-Serum Steve and his trusty trash can lid

Present day Zemo having a change of heart because #DaddyIssues

Steve knowing Tony is the main person he knows to fix the time machine and get the others back (shipshipship)

Steve’s Hulkbuster armor arriving first and having a larger gap between the other’s armor in World War Hulk

Now for my opinion on the Civil War 4 parter.

I did not expect Truman to be Ultron, like I was expecting him to be a part of Ultron’s plan when it became really obvious. But I couldn’t figure out how he would fit into it.

Inferno’s anger, loss of control, and reaction is quite understandable. He’s a kid who still recently just got these powers, and he feels responsible for the damage he did. But he’s just a kid.

The four part finale for this season is a doozy, it has so many characters and it connects so many of the plot lines from the whole season (except the Zemo one which technically connected to Songbird’s arc)

Okay, now part 2 to 4 will be very dense due to the amount of important character moments I loved

The sort of debate and the heat between both Captains of the opposing Avengers teams.

How concerned Carol was about Steve after he got hit.

How Tony did not care that they were getting captured, only caring that as long as Cap got medical attention it didn’t matter, even though they could’ve escaped with Nat and Cap would have still gotten the medical attention he needed.

Carol being the first (I think) to call Cap “Steve” (Bucky probably called him Steve and maybe Nat did at some point)

Steve and Carol called each other multiple names throughout this arc (Captain Danvers, Captain Rogers, Steve, Carol)

The fact that the two Captains only fought each other during the whole fight, and stayed in roughly the same location and not straying off. Like Thor fought Vision and Songbird. Tony fought T’Challa, Ant-Man, and Songbird. T’Challa fighting both Stark and Romanoff.

Everyone stopped fighting the moment Steve got injured, like a moment didn’t even pass till they were all at his side

The fact that the team’s main priority after getting out is Steve. Them protecting Steve when the guards come in to get them.

Steve letting Sam use his shield!!

Steve’s comment about how he always tells the truth

The fact that the Mighty Avengers quit because young Kamala was also forced to register despite already working for the government.

Love how Carol knew that Kamala was a tough girl and could take a hit, when even Red Hulk commented that Kamala’s just a kid.

Carol knowing that Kamala writes fanfiction

Carol knowing that Kamala writes Captain Marvel fanfiction

Kamala writes fanfiction!!

Almost all the episodes of this season having some sort of connection to this whole finale. Songbird’s intro, development, history and redemption. Red Hulk, Vision, and T’Challa’s history and previous plot points from their episodes coming into play. Captain Marvel’s introduction, and history with some characters and Captain America coming into play.

Teamwork

Steve and Tony.

Steve and Tony’s goodbye to each other. Being his best friend since ever. Being a better person because he’s your friend.

And did I mention? Tony 100% willing to comply with being arrested just so Steve could get medical attention

I had to remake this post a second time because my laptop is a lil brat

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Why Marvel’s Agatha Spinoff Series Should Avoid the Problems of Loki

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This article contains spoilers for WandaVision, Loki, Black Widow, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

Its been reported that Kathryn Hahn’s popular WandaVision villain, Agatha Harkness, is getting her own “dark comedy” spinoff series at Disney+, and like a lot of Marvel fans out there I’m hyped. Agatha is arguably the most deliciously fun villain the MCU has had to offer since Loki, and she even came equipped with her own catchy theme song. I can’t wait to see more Agatha, and I can’t wait to see Marvel have another stab at a villain-led MCU project, but I’m still a little apprehensive about what direction the show will take after watching Loki.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been peppered with villains getting their asses kicked to death since its inception back in 2008. Bad beings doing bad things who almost always got their just desserts thanks to Earth’s Mightiest Heroes (including Agatha). However, looking back on the many villains the MCU has had to offer, none of them have ended up being as iconic and enduring as Tom Hiddleston’s Loki.

Loki has been so spectacularly mischievous since Kenneth Branagh’s 2011 Thor franchise-starter that even Marvel Studios couldn’t stop his popularity rising, no matter how many times he tricked, betrayed and murdered his way around the galaxy – and they really did try! But eventually they caved to demand, and resurrected a ‘variant’ version of Loki for his own Disney+ series, which streamed to much acclaim earlier this year.

Loki saw the God of Mischief dragged into the headquarters of the Time Variance Authority – a bunch of temporal cops whose mission was to prune creatures who dared stray off the path of the Sacred MCU Timeline – and Loki was given a ten billionth chance to reflect on his terrible actions and do something good with it. After meeting several other twisted versions of himself with various problematic issues, and having seen the grim path that was once set out before him, Loki finally started taking steps to trust other people and actually make friends.

Loki became a good guy, or at least a better God, by the time the ambitious series came to a close. This version of him was indeed determined to set things right instead of throwing a spanner in the works of those with better intentions.

But in transforming Loki into a viable protagonist that the audience could root for without feeling at least a little dirty about doing so, Marvel traded a villain for another kind of hero, and had sanded the edges off their golden goose somewhat. Make no mistake, that thing is still gonna lay a shitload of golden eggs, but the series asked a lot of its writers in terms of the character ground they had to cover by transforming Loki so quickly, and many fans merely went along for the ride rather than fully buying into his redemption arc.

And why not? We shouldn’t feel compelled to treat every cheeky villain under the Disney umbrella with the seriousness of a stiff-lipped college Lit class discussing narrative themes, should we?! At the end of the day this is family entertainment, and Loki is popular with a range of age groups (I haven’t fact-checked this, but I’m pretty sure there are least five corporate focus groups who would concur). And, hey, almost everyone deserves a shot at redemption. Even Loki.

But between WandaVision and Loki came The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which gave us a broken Bucky Barnes in therapy trying to make amends for his past misdeeds. Having once been a deadly assassin, Barnes would slowly put his support behind Marvel’s new Captain America, Sam Wilson. Along the way, he helped fix the Wilson family boat and spare the life of the charming but dastardly Baron Zemo. This new Winter Soldier is now a hero with a pardon from the US government who continues to help fight the bad guys instead of being one. I’m happy for him, even if it meant Marvel ultimately lost yet another of their coolest villains.

Meanwhile, on the movie side of things, we met Taskmaster and Wenwu in Black Widow and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings respectively. By the time those movies wrapped, we had two more terrific but sympathetic villains to add to the Marvel roster. We might not see Wenwu again for obvious reasons, but Taskmaster is sure to re-emerge at some point with at least a slightly less savage modus operandi.

With all this happening in the opening stages of Phase 4, therein lies the rub. See, I really don’t want to see Agatha Harkness on a redemption arc in her series like Loki or Bucky – at least not so soon. The despicable witch showed no signs of hidden sweetness during her tenure on WandaVision. In fact, the show deliberately offered up the possibility that she was just plain misunderstood during a flashback sequence toward the end of the series, and then snatched it away like “oh, you thought?” No. Agatha is naughty through and through, and I want to see that continue.

Maybe you don’t, and that’s ok! Let’s be real: Marvel is not DC. It’s not like they would ever sign off on a villain-led project like Joker that portrayed the character as pretty messed up to begin with and completely off the chain by the time the credits rolled, and depending on how you feel about Joker that could inspire a big sigh of relief anyway. It’s not like I’m suggesting Agatha should go on The Late Late Show With James Corden and demolish him right there on live TV. Although…?

Still, I think it’s possible for Agatha to stay bad as hell in her spinoff series, and it’s absolutely conceivable that this is very much the plan for it over at Marvel. We really don’t know anything about this show yet. If it’s a prequel, perhaps it could take us back to a time where Agatha had a change of heart and was less enamoured with dark magic. We could see that version of her close to redemption, only to get sucked back in.

That would probably be a decent watch, but I reckon it would be much more interesting to see returning WandaVision writer Jac Schaeffer approach the series in a way that would truly embrace everyone’s new favorite wicked witch utterly and completely: show us just how bad Agatha can be, and keep our new cackling, bunny-stroking villain on the MCU chessboard for as long as possible before her inevitable death or redemption.

Let Agatha be Agatha.

If you want to dig deeper into the MCU machine, please consider subscribing to Marvel Standom on the Den of Geek YouTube channel, where we dish out weekly episodes on all the new Marvel TV series, trailers and movie releases. Can’t stand our faces? That’s fair! You can listen to Marvel Standom on Spotify and Apple, too.

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smokeybrand · 3 years

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Captain America and The Winter Soldier

Last episode on deck! Let’s get into it!

That face mask callback was dope. Also, anti-Sharon in the house! Super curious if she is really going to be the Power Broker. It makes sense but is quite the character assassination if it’s true.

That Dam/Leaper fight was pretty okay. I watched this immediately after the new Mortal Kombat and it was legit refreshing to see good stunt choreography. And this show ain’t even a punch-out!

Bucky going full hero was fun to see. It’s about time dude stopped being so goddamn emo. I get the conflict, i get that’s been his entice character, his entire MCU run. I appreciate the growth.

John Walker is still a dick. I’m glad he got beat the f*ck up by a girl.

Oh, no, she IS the Power Broker. Unfortunate... Nice play, though.

They gave Walker a redemption arc? Really? I mean, i guess, but scumbag Walker was kind of f*cking awesome.

F*ck, that costume looks wonky!

Whoo, boy, that last talk with Isaiah? That’s the heat right there. Sh*t is going to ruffle some feathers. for sure!

We are Captain America.

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flicksnfilms · 6 years

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Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

As the Avengers and their allies have continued to protect the world from threats too large for any one hero to handle, a new danger has emerged from the cosmic shadows: Thanos. A despot of intergalactic infamy, his goal is to collect all six Infinity Stones, artifacts of unimaginable power, and use them to inflict his twisted will on all of reality. Everything the Avengers have fought for has led up to this moment - the fate of Earth and existence itself has never been more uncertain.

Director: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo Writer: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely (screenplay), Stan Lee, Jack Kirby (Marvel comics), Jim Starlin, George Pérez, Ron Lim (comic book story) Cast: fucking everybody IMDB | RottenTomatoes | Official Site

Watched: on 25 April, at the IMAX cinema, and 28 April, and 01 May

Reaction: ± Thanos demands my silence. I will say that i wasn’t half as prepared as i though i was. I'll edit this in like a week with my actual reaction since i assume by then it'll be far enough down any follower's (who hasn't watched - IN A WHOLE WEEK AFTER RELEASE!) dashboard to not be seen unless you're looking specifically at this blog.

Memorable aspect of the movie: + So many things. (Soon.)

Would I recommend it? > Fuck. Yes.

[EDIT:] So, reaction. After more than a month because i haven’t been on in a while, and under the cut because it’s hella long (like, super fucking long) and rambling in my geeky joy. :D It’s in 3 parts, from the three times i watched it.

[Take 1] ± It was an EXCELLENT, WELL BALANCED FILM. They have the Marvel Cinematic Universe formula down pat of comedy and drama, action and reaction. It’s so perfect and fun to watch. They were able to give the gigantic cast fairly equal screen time as well as balancing the personalities on screen. [See bonus content at the very end.]. That they split up the teams and threw them with other franchises was a great choice for both balance and dynamic. The visuals -- cinematography, CGI, costume, make up, set design --, as always, are a feast, with the coloration of the film striking a balance between all the different tones from each individual franchise.

[Take 2] Memorable [aspect] moments of the movie: + D: “I am Loki, Prince of Asgard... Odinson.” + XD “I’ll get you a metaphysical ham on rye.” + Doctor Strange and Tony’s interactions. It was interesting repartee and good chemistry. + Stark-raving Hazelnut and Hunka-Hulk-a Burning Love. I need to try these flavours, and also i need to know the flavours for every other Avenger. + <3 Tony brings the stupid flip phone around with him! AND there’s a message!! + XD “Squidward” + XD “Dude, you’re embarrassing me in front of the wizards.” + XD Bruce trying to beat Hulk out. + “Wong, you’re invited to my wedding.” + XD The singing. Mean faces. “Language. ... Ever since you got a little sap.” OMG. You GOT a little sap. Oh, puberty. “ XD “He is not a dude. You are a dude. He is a man. A handsome, muscular man.” “It’s like a pirate made a baby with an angel.” “God man.” + XD Mantis’s attack form. + XD Quill’s jealousy and mimicking. + “All words are made up words.” Well, that’s actually a good point. + “Is there a 4 digit code? A birthday perhaps” Thor’s really gotten into Midgard culture eh? (Which is a good carry over from Thor: Ragnarok.) + XD Rabbit. Tree. Morons. Ah, Thor’s nicknames. It’s fun, cause he doesn’t mean them maliciously and he says them with such regal diction that they feel kind of acceptable as nicknames. + The intro sequences for the rogue Avengers. STEVE!!! <3 And Sam! And Nat!! The whole fight sequence too! + D: “Where to, Cap?” “Home.” !!! (ESPECIALLY IF YOU REWATCH AGE OF ULTRON AND SEE HOW STEVE REACTS TO SAM SAYING “Home is home,” AT THE PARTY. TT_TT ) + “The kid watches more movies.” Well, that’s a good enough strategy. + “WHAT ARE THOSE??” The two teenagers use the same (meme) phrasing. + “Doctor. Do you concur?” + <3 “I’m not looking for forgiveness. And I’m way past asking permission. Earth just lost its best defender, so we’re here to fight. If you want to stand in our way, we’ll fight you too.” ICONIC. STEVEN FUCKING ROGERS, EVERYONE. + <3 The reunion greetings with Rhodey.” + XD “This is awkward.” + XD “It was an elective.” I NEED TO KNOW WHAT OTHER ELECTIVES THEY OFFERED ON ASGARD, PLEASE. + “I am Groot?” Evidently translates to: Are we there yet? The question of all kids in travelling vehicles everywhere. + D: “What more do I have to lose?” + Giant Peter Dinklage. So weird. + D: Quill and Gamora. + Quill actually got Thanos’s approval. So like, thanks, dad? Hahaha. + “We don’t trade lives.” + Nebula. What a badass. + XD “Blanket of death” + XD “Where is Gamora?” “Who is Gamora?” “Why is Gamora?” + “You’re from Earth?” “I’m from Missouri.” “Missouri is on Earth, dumbass.” + XD “Kick names. Take ass.” + Tony’s face. He’s so done with everyone. + Rhodey & Bruce. Ahh, what are friends for. XD + Steve & Bucky. Both of you are “hundred year old, semi-stable soldier”s. + Shuri! Wakanda! Man, i love this place. It’s great. + D: Gamora!! + “Get out of the way, Sammy.” SAMMY! + Thor jumping onto and then sitting on the pod. What a cutie. + “It’ll kill you.” “Not if I don’t die.” “Yes, that’s what killing you means.” + XD “Magic! More magic! Magic with a kick!” + Bucky & Rocket + “New haircut?” “I see you’ve copied my beard.” This is SO MUCH better knowing they ad-libbed it. + “This is my friend, Tree.” “I am Groot.” “I am Steve Rogers.” Of fucking course. Such a polite cutie pie, this guy. + XD Okoye’s reactions, and the “Why was she up there all this time?” + “She’s not alone.” FUCK YEAH. LET’S GO LADIES!! + “Oh, screw you, you big green asshole. I’ll do it myself.” Banner is super funny, situationally in this film. + “Tony Stark.” “You know me?” Hell yeah, you deserve to be acknowledged all over the universe, Tony. + The power of Doctor Strange and the mystic arts. SO COOL. + Tony ran out of nanoparticles! O_o + D: Wanda & Vision + “Steve?” TT___TT D: Bucky! Sam! My King! “Steady, Quill.” “I don’t wanna go!” TT__TT FEELS.

[Take 3] ± The familial hits get me more than the romantic ones. My reactions per viewing gave me three different experiences; It was personal, then intellectual, them empathic, in that order, for me. There are some moments i paid particular attention to, for a few characters:

Loki gets to come full circle with the “We have a Hulk,” line along with his redemption arc continuing on in from Thor: Ragnarok. Thor is an odd amalgamation of Shakespearean proper and slangy modern. “A little bit.” “So cool.” “I bid thee farewell and good luck, morons.” “Bye.”

The interplay between Tony and Strange. Excellent. It’s a real battle of egos at the beginning which turns to a mutual respect. Tony is a true leader. He intuits other people’s emotional reactions and attempts to keep them in line long enough to complete the goal.

A lot of shots in the Avengers compound are just Steve’s reactions. What bearing will this have? How does he feel about the cost?? Are they showing how tired he is from paying for his decisions?

The kid’s all heart. The first thing Peter does, once their plan goes awry, is try to save everyone even if he can’t remember their names. Okoye is a warrior to the core. She refuses to attach even these fuckers from behind. Bruce is such a goof and it shows now that he can’t disappear mid-scene. “Oh, you guys are so screwed!” And all the talking-to he gives Hulk.

Thanos’s voice really goes soft for Gamora, as a child, and the “I’m sorry, daughter.” “Tony Stark. ... You have my respect. I will wipe out half of humanity. I hope they remember you.” That’s amazing. The cost, the deterioration, is up to his arm and his neck. That’s an interesting detail which kind of implies that the Infinity Gauntlet (in the MCU at least) can only be used for something of this scale a few, if not only one, times.

I love that Marvel is really invested in antagonists that aren’t villains purely for the sake of being evil, but are fleshed out beings with emotions and purpose and passion, even if their goals are morally misguided. They have complex backstories and three dimensional personalities. Their goals are logical and intelligent, if a little beyond what’s reasonable. Their thought processes within the realm of imagination but a step too far for civilians and heroes.

The ending of this film is superb. I’ve seen many a peer say they think it’s too short or unresolved but i think they fail to appreciate the story. That sometimes the “good guys” don’t or can’t win (for now). That there are outcomes we’d rather not fathom and costs we’d rather not pay. But they happen. And the MCU gets this. That things happen and there’s a balance to it. There’s collateral and there’s gains and losses. And not just for the protagonist. (But for every character.)

Thanos achieved his goal, but at great personal cost. He won but lost all at once. Likewise, Killmonger achieved some of his goals but failed at others, died but did it with dignity in his eyes; Hela brought was released from her bonds and gained power but didn’t wind up ruling Asgard as it was swallowed by Ragnarok; Zemo sowed discord and ripped the Avengers apart from the inside, but was prevented from shooting himself and joining his family.

[BONUS:] In some of my movie reviews i talk about the characters and their stories in relation to Joseph Campbell’s Heroic Monomyth. And, i dunno, i suppose it my complete emotional roller coaster watching this film along with all the geek out moments, i completely missed its inclusion in this, given that the beginning of the monomyth takes place before the beginning of this film. I was delighted to find it pointed out to me in this post by The Screen Junkies - The Dailies Facebook. It’s a really good breakdown of the way the writers (maybe intentionally) incorporated the Heroic Monomyth in Infinity War despite it featuring like 7000 characters and all of Hollywood. :)

#films i watched in 2018

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aion-rsa · 6 years

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Is The Marvel Villain Problem Solved by the Disney/Fox Deal?

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Bring on the bad guys! Villains like Dr. Doom and Magneto are just what the doctor ordered for the MCU.

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Mike Cecchini

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Jul 29, 2018

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Avengers: Infinity War

Fantastic Four

After 20 movies, scratch that...20 wildly successful movies, Marvel Studios, for all of their crowd-pleasing accomplishments, has managed to deliver us exactly three truly memorable villains (Tom Hiddleston's Loki, Michael Keaton's Vulture, and Josh Brolin's Thanos, in case you had to ask). To use some Marvel-speak, we’re right on the cusp of “Phase Four,” and four is one higher than the number of genuinely worthwhile villains they’ve managed to put on the big screen in the last nine years (they've fared better on Netflix with Wilson Fisk, Kilgrave, Mariah Dillard, and Billy Russo, but we're talking about the movies here).

And while Marvel has struggled to deliver threatening villains since 2008, in that same period of time (and in far fewer movies) Warner Bros. gave us Heath Ledger's immortal Joker performance in The Dark Knight. Even a secondary baddie like Cillian Murphy's Scarecrow carried more weight than most of the punching bags Marvel has delivered. Tom Hardy's Bane not only broke Batman but crafted a nightmarish vision for a Gotham City that looked uncomfortably like New York. Hell, for all their struggles, the DCEU managed to give us Michael Shannon's brilliant General Zod in Man of Steel. So what's Marvel missing?

The Marvel formula is reasonably simple, and it's made even the less impressive films at least thoroughly entertaining. You make your hero, flawed though he or she may be, as enjoyable as possible to watch on screen, you keep the stakes big and loud if not demonstrably high, and you break the tension at every opportunity with some wit. It works. But audiences have caught on to this storytelling sleight-of-hand and realize that there has rarely been a moment where we really thought the villain would come out on top in a battle, let alone a war. The closest we've come is Thanos, with the godlike, reality-warping powers afforded him by the Infinity Stones, and the bonkers cliffhanger ending of Avengers: Infinity War.

There's little doubt that Tom Hiddleston's Loki was the most indispensable bad guy in the MCU. But Loki is very much a god of mischief, not a god of real evil, and with the exception of a few moments in The Avengers, it's far too easy to root for him while he's busy charming everyone in sight. On the other hand, no sane person really wanted to see the Joker, Bane, or Ra's al Ghul succeed in the Dark Knight trilogy.

The best that Iron Man had to offer, the Mandarin, had to be subverted (brilliantly or otherwise, depending on who you ask) in order to steer away from some of the more uncomfortably racist implications of the character for his appearance in Iron Man 3. Was Ben Kingsley's Mandarin memorable? Certainly. Is he a villain truly worthy of the third installment of a massive superhero movie franchise? Probably not.

But when the potential of an all-time great villain like the Red Skull (and a potentially perfect bit of casting in the case of Hugo Weaving) is squandered, something just ain’t right. Anyone remember much of what Johann Schmidt got up to in Captain America: The First Avenger other than get turned into a rainbow at the end? No? Me neither. On the other hand, outside of an exceedingly charming Robert Redford, Captain America: The Winter Soldier lacked one true villain for us to hang our hatred on, instead playing a long game with a redemption arc for the title villain. Nor was Heinrich Zemo ever sufficiently explored in Captain America: Civil War.

There’s an argument to be made that characters like Iron Man and Thor don’t have the most potent jerks in their closets to begin with, so it’s understandable that they’d have to face a parade of soldier villains in the course of their respective franchises. The problem is that, until recently, a sizable chunk of Marvel's best villains simply weren't available for use at Marvel Studios. That, of course, has changed with Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox, which finally opens up the doors for the rosters of the X-Men and Fantastic Four to join the ranks of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

And while the Fantastic Four are a perfect tonal match for the MCU, and the X-Men may present more of a challenge, there's already no shortage of bankable heroes already in play (even accounting for a number of key contracts expiring after Avengers 4). But the Fox deal brings two characters far more important than the collective sum of their parts, and these two characters alone could reinvigorate Marvel movies for the next decade.

I am, of course, talking about Doctor Doom and Magneto.

Doom is arguably the greatest villain in all of comics (with apologies to the Joker). A key inspiration for Darth Vader, and long acknowledged as the driving force of villainy in the Marvel Universe from back when Thanos was just a vision in Jim Starlin's psychedelic explorations, Doom is exactly what has been missing from the MCU. A shadowy dictator with boundless scientific knowledge, a literal nation of his own to command, and an axe to grind. Think of all the technological wonders we've seen Tony Stark unleash on screen. Now imagine all of that and more being wielded by an Eastern European dictator with none of Tony's conscience.

All of the Fantastic Four movies have been deeply flawed, but the sin they all have in common is how grievously they failed the character of Victor Von Doom. My only regret is that Benedict Cumberbatch is already tied to the role of Stephen Strange, because it's difficult to imagine anyone embodying this role to more imperious perfection. Well, maybe Michael Fassbender, which brings me to our next baddie.

When you make your comic book villain Mt. Rushmore, Magneto gets a prominent place, right next to Doctor Doom and the Joker. Marvel is going to have some explaining to do about where mutants have been this entire time. If they want to explain why the world hates and fears mutants, and perhaps why most mutants prefer to keep themselves secret, then it's crucial that Magneto be the first mutant we meet in the MCU. Not only is the master of magnetism one of the most powerful mutants alive, his motivations and sense of purpose would be wholly unique to the mostly one-dimensional baddies Marvel heroes have been gleefully steamrolling. Of course, unlike Doom, who has no cinematic baggage to speak of, Magneto has a legacy of brilliant actors who have defined him. Finding someone who can fill the purple cape of Ian McKellen or Michael Fassbender will be a challenge

Neither of these are one-and-done villains, but nor are they the kinds of video game final bosses we've come to expect in most superhero movies. These are villains who carry so much weight that it's no coincidence that Fox once considered a Magneto solo movie (which eventually morphed into X-Men: First Class) or that Legion showrunner Noah Hawley has been developing a Dr. Doom movie for the studio (the status of this in the wake of the Disney buyout is currently unknown). In fact, the smartest thing Marvel can do to not only help combat superhero movie fatigue but do their best villains right and show fans they're committed to upping the threat level in future movies, is give both Doom and Magneto their own movies, and let that set the tone for their respective heroes' inclusion in the MCU. Warner Bros. is already making noises about giving baddies like Joker, Deathstroke, and Black Adam solo movies, so Disney should get ahead of this trend while they can.

While both Magneto and Doctor Doom deserve the spotlight treatment as soon as humanly possible, and it would seem the Thanos drip-feed approach is dead after Infinity War, there's one other baddie who comes to the table with the Fox deal who will require a similar assemblage of heroes to combat him when the time comes.

A giant cosmic being who literally drains the life-essence from planets and who has created a handful of marketable cosmic herals for himself? Yes, we'll be happy to meet Galactus briefly in a future Guardians of the Galaxy movie before everyone has to unite to take him on in Marvel's Fantastic Four III or whatever. And this time, you can bet your comic book collection he won't be a purple cloud.

In any case, before we all start falling over ourselves to try and cast the next Wolverine or Professor X, or start salivating at the prospect of a Brad Bird helmed Fantastic Four movie, Marvel Studios should use these key players from their latest acquisition to shore up the one glaring hole the MCU has. But after Tom Hiddleston set the standard, they'd better find some top-drawer talent to embody Doom and Magneto, pronto.

Bring on the bad guys.

(main image art by John Byrne)

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