CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR: Notes to self…

Okay! Screening the second, complete! Now for another brain dump! This is gonna be rambling on whatever comes to mind, to help me remember details of the film, maybe try and connect some dots and guess at some future connections, and express great great satisfaction with most every part of the film. =)

This won't be much of a REVIEW—there won’t be a lot of analysis of character and conflict or cinematography or style—but it will be very SPOILER-ful. So! If you haven't seen CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR yet, get thee to the theater and watch the heck out of it! And once you have, return and read and compare notes.

Here’s my earlier ramble, post-first-screening. I’m gonna try not to cover any of the same ground, but may refer to it.

Please note that my MCU-memory is a bit faded. I haven't watched WINTER SOLDIER or AGE OF ULTRON since they were in theaters (hope to change that soon-ish). I mention that because I'll try to connect events from CIVIL WAR to other MCU happenings, but may be a bit off in details.

YOUNG TONY…

Thought for a couple of minutes that young Tony, from the NARF sim at his MIT address, was played by a Culkin. Didn't see a credit for a Mr. Softee tee'd Stark at the end, tho, so I'm gonna assume that it's some (quite good) makeup + CG magic. And, bonus—always great to see John Slattery!

VIBRANIUM…

Is vibranium magnetic? Maybe? If so, seems like it would be an exploitable vulnerability that so far hasn't been, right? I'm gonna say NO, not magnetic.

However, is Cap's SHIELD magnetic? Some part of it is SOMETHING, that's for sure. In FIRST AVENGER we learn that the shield that Steve chooses, from the bottom of the pile of items Howard Stark offers him, is pure vibranium, and made of all the vibranium that's available at that time (outside of Wakanda, we have to assume).

STARK: Stronger than steel, and a third the weight… The rarest metal on earth, what you're holding there, that's all we've got.

In the CIVIL WAR opening fracas in Lagos, Crossbones uses some kind of attractive force to get his sticky bomb attached to his shield (a damn good move). An electromagnet seems like the most likely force, right?

So, maybe steel or some alloy that includes iron, nickel, or cobalt is used for the straps. And there's the added hardware that makes the shield retrievable from a distance. I can't remember when the modification was made, in an AVENGERS movie or WINTER SOLDIER, but the shield now clicks into place on Cap's back instead of being worn via straps, and he's "recalled" the shield to his arm/gauntlet, too, right? Why didn't we see that used in CIVIL WAR? Maybe in the cases where he could/should have used it the shield was legit too far?

One thing I was pleased to see in CIVIL WAR that I missed in WINTER SOLDIER was Cap using the shield to cushion his landing from a huge leap or fall. I kind of remember a missed opp in WINTER SOLDIER, when I fully expected Cap to thread his feet into the shield's straps and land on the ground standing up. In CIVIL WAR we saw him take the landing while holding the shield, but then rolling right into a run. Vibranium doing its thing!

MORE VIBRANIUM?

Bucky's mechanical arm reacts to Black Panther. I THINK we see the weirdness, something that looks like motor malfunction, both when the Panther confronts him in and out of costume. This makes me think that the reaction is between tech in T'challa's ring, not just his armor. Perhaps they are one in the same, tho.

The ring. did it change once T'Challa put it on his finger? It seemed a smooth square torus when he held it in his hand, presumably remove from his father's. But once on his finger, it seemed to hug his hand, and the design appeared different, similar somehow to the way Stark's tech unfolds itself. Did some of it embed itself in T'Challa's hand? Spread throughout his body?

I don't think we've had any official analysis of the tech/material in Buck's arm. It's stood up to Cap's shield, it's bulletproof, it's protected him from Panther's claws, it's had that weird reaction. I THINK it's safe to say that at least part of his arm is vibranium. And whose science is capable of working w/vibranium to create actual tech except Wakanda's and maybe Stark's (but only as far as creating a shield, right?). Remember, Wakanda is very protective of their vibranium and their tech (see AGE OF ULTRON). Maybe T'challa's got an ulterior motive for helping Steve out by keeping Bucky on ice in Wakanda. He's hoping to draw out whomever's responsible for creating Winter Soldier and stealing their tech and vibranium. It may involve someone or group still operating within Wakanda. Should be a good time.

But… Tony DOES managed to destroy Bucky's arm. It appears to be disintegrated by Iron Man's uni-beam, not just blown off, the hand and forearm lying somewhere on the concrete floor of the Siberian base. Blown off would make sense if it was vibranium allow, right? Disintegrated? I'm not sure. Maybe a high enough setting of repulsor + laser/heat would work. Vibranium IS smeltable at some temperature, right?

Maybe the Panther armor manipulates vibranium dust somehow, together with a forcefield (a la the comic book Iron Man once did, using EM/energy to turn flexible mail into bullet and energy proof armor) or nanites?

IF ONLY…

Zemo offered to let that Russian Hydra colonel live if he gave up the December 1991 mission report. Instead, "Hail Hydra," drowned in a basement sink. That decision gives us the first half of the movie, right? The only reason he frames Bucky is to get him into the Joint Terrorism Task Force's custody so that he can recite the Winter Soldier trigger code and get the intel on the Siberian base. The bombing of the UN conference to sign the Sokovia Accords did not have to happen—its sole purpose was to flush Bucky out of hiding—but it definitely tips the Avengers into disassembling. Kinda nuts, but not part of Zemo's original plan.

VISION & SCARLET WITCH…

I rambled a bit about Wanda’s perplexing abilities in my earlier post. Is it TK? Is it chaos magic? Is it reality-warping? All that I can say given what we’ve seen of her powers at work is that it’s inconsistent w/TK unless she has some kind of preternatural sense of reality as well. This post, I’m gonna speculate on what Vision’s sympathetic words to Wanda could mean for their powers.

When Vision talks to Scarlet Witch, he tells her that he doesn't know what the gem in his forehead is. He knows it came from Loki's staff, he knows that it's responsible for his own creation, and the Witch's powers, but he doesn't UNDERSTAND it, but someday he will, someday he'll master it. This is to explain and express sympathy for Wanda's misgivings about herself, her own powers, and the threat they can pose to anyone around her.

I forget, which Infinity Stone do we think it is?

Is the Witch's power still connected to it? Or did it change her and her brother for good? Zola and Hydra siphoned power from the Tesseract and stored it. Is similar tech what transferred Vision's/Loki's gem energy into the Maximoffs?

If she does still have some kind of connection to the gem, that may help explain how she sends Vision underground. Wanda somehow "reaches into" the gem to manipulate and overpower Vision's density control.

What was up w/Wanda when imprisoned in the Raft? She seemed to be not just imprisoned, but sick, suffering, somehow. Is proximity to the gem important? She and Pietro were probably never too far from it when Hydra created and handled them, right?

What's happened to Extremis? We've seen it out in the wild in AOS. Couldn't, wouldn't, Stark revisit it to help Rhodey recover?

ZEMO IS A MASTERMIND, BUT…

His manipulations are remarkable, and make this unenhanced human being the most effective foe the Avengers have so far faced. However, on paper, he's a bit confusing. He was part of some Sokovian secret police, but easily acknowleding that Sokovia was already a failed state, in my mind kind of reveals himself to be an opportunistic soldier of fortune. The last voicemails from his wife, and the story about finding the body of his father, wife, and child after days of searching, are meant to paint him as somewhat sympathetic. Altogether, that should have been presented to us in a complex and, I'd hope, dynamic character package. What we got… Well, not so much. His abilities (and patience and experience): formidable. His presence: not so much.

Perhaps that's the point? A point?

Helmut Zemo, of Sokovia's Echo Scorpion program, really does his homework. Puts together some dates and locations and deduces that Winter Soldier is responsible for the Starks' deaths. He also gets that the target of that mission, Howard Stark's cargo, is some form of super-soldier serum (blue, like Erskine's original formula, also like Kree blood =). He also gets that this stolen serum was used to create Winter Super Soldiers from Hydra's most elite bastards. Were they ever deployed? Given their volatility, it seems unlikely, but perhaps their existence was whispered of, a ghost story in the covert intel community? And Zemo found enough clues in the Hydra data to connect real dots.

But hey—how the heck does Cap know that Bucky killed the Starks? Bucky remembers every assignment, true, but when would he have had a chance to share that with Cap? Or was this something that Fury kept to himself, and passed on to Steve, but not Tony, for y'know, reasons. I'll go with that for now.

At the end of the film, REALLY felt like the stage was set for Zemo getting a deal/offer of some kind from Martin Freeman's Ross (is he related to Thunderbolt?). I immediately thought/hoped that Freeman was Hydra, looking to recruit, but then thought that perhaps it might be a "legit" offer from the Joint Terrorism Task Force or whatever the entity is called. The way the gov recruits black hats to be white hats in hacker-dom. Zemo has proven himself able to take apart a team of enhanced so-called heroes. He could be valuable asset when it comes to checking supers in the future. Of course, one has to wonder what kind of motivation he would need to participate in such a program.

I covered this in my earlier ramble, but will say it again—I wish that the name Zemo had been reserved for a more comic book Zemo-like nemesis of Captain America. Perhaps, tho, that is what he will become…?

IRON MAN vs. CAPTAIN AMERICA.

Spidey tells Cap, "Tony told me to go for your legs." I wonder if Tony/Friday's got files on all of the Avengers, a la Bruce Wayne vs. the JL. Given his extended battle w/Cap and Bucky, tho, it seems like maybe not. Kind of a huge oversight on the part of the futurist who developed Hulkbuster armor, tho, donchathink?

When engaged vs. Cap in the Winter Soldier complex, FRIDAY tells Tony that you can't possibly beat him in hand-to-hand (comics fans have got to be loving that =). Tony then orders FRIDAY to analyze Cap's attacks and after a few seconds of taking hits, she loads up a countermeasure program that unshields Cap and gets him on the ground. Does FRIDAY take over the suit when he orders countermeasures?

LOVE the callback to FIRST AVENGER when Tony gets the upper hand and gives Steve an ultimatum, and Steve rises to the occasion…

TONY: Stay down. Final warning.
STEVE: I can do this all day.

In FIRST AVENGER…

BULLY: You just don't know when to give up, do you?
STEVE: I can do this all day.

If you really take that as an echo, that puts Tony in the position of the bully. A simplistic reduction of his character and motivation… Is it fair?

It's hard to defend Tony's petulance in the writing of this film. It's not inconsistent (it’s maybe all too consistent), but it seems unfair, doesn’t it? We almost only get to see him at his weakest and worst. Can you imagine a counterpart film, IRON MAN: CIVIL WAR, that covers most of these same events, but from Tony's POV? Could it be written and made in such a way that we're sympathetic to Tony and less so to Steve? Are we missing more of what's at stake on Tony's side?

DOES ANYONE IN THE AUDIENCE CHOOSE TEAM IRON MAN?

Something I would have loved to have had spelled out in the film—Cap has the luxury of always doing the right thing because Stark and Fury and SHIELD exist.

I'd love to see the acrobatics needed to get us to see Cap as in the wrong. What is the straw that could break his camel's back? WW2? Peggy? The future loss of Sharon? The future loss of millions in some disaster he failed to prevent? If I could shape it, I think the best place would be in INFINITY WAR, when the gauntlet is full assembled and powered and anyone who touches or wears it has a glimpse of how they could reshape reality. Maybe everyone actually agrees it should be up to Cap to fix whatever damage Thanos has done, and Cap is tempted to save/restore losses that are personal, perhaps wipe out evils done and evil doers, but it takes Tony to stay his gauntleted hand, because those people had and made their choices, killed, cared, sacrificed, suffered, and in the end, led to the present/future that they're protecting to begin with. Changing/rewriting that undoes the good as well as the bad. Or something… Something left in the hands of better writers. =)

How much of Tony's stated resentment of Steve is real? He loves to mention how Howard never shut up about knowing/meeting Steve when he was growing up, but honestly, we've never seen that in AGENT CARTER. But then, we've never really seen Howard interacting w/young Tony except in the NARF. Still, I like to think that it's a snarky cover story, fabricated static to jokily cover his real I-can't-believe-you're-such-a-boy-scout disbelief at Steve's purity of heart. An impossible bar to set, an impossible standard to try and live up to, and impossible ideal to stand beside.

CAPTAIN AMERICA + ?

In my second screening, someone in the audience actually voiced a, "Whhhaaaa?" when Steve kissed Sharon. Heh. I'm totally okay w/Steven putting the moves on his friend's niece, but chemistry-wise and time-wise, it all seemed a bit fast. All that we know of their close interaction that hints at real attraction happens in the events we see in this film. The broproval from Falcon and Bucky made it worth buying into, tho. And Sharon certainly proves herself "worthy" if I might be so judgy, in martial skills, tactics, duty, and loyalty.

I kinda felt at least as much, if not more, real chemistry between Steve and Wanda. Thing is, Steve thinks of her as a "teenager" while I in the audience think of her as an adult and legit peer of the rest of the team. And, of course, the chemistry between Vizh and Wanda is dialed up quite a bit higher, and, I'm into pursuing that.

It's interesting that in the MCU they are somehow energetically/origin-ally connected, via the an Infinity Gem. What if that's manipulating them into feeling an attraction? Parts of a whole seeking reunification? Having an intelligence and personality connected to a gem will certainly be an interesting facet of Gauntlet control. Will Vizh (or Vizh and Wanda in a FIFTH ELEMENTal combo) sub for Adam Warlock and the Soul Gem?

Perhaps the Steve-Wanda appeal is something for the long game. If the MCU goes long enough, Cap and the Witch may yet be a thing. Or maybe we'll get a glimpse of a reality in which that's so.

SPIDER-MAN's (aka UNDEROO’s) NOT-A-ONESIE!

Spidey's eyes! One aspect of his abilities involves heightened senses in general (which I'd wager add up to his net "Spider-sense"), so having eyepieces that iris up and down to reflect his expression and focus—in a suit augmented w/Stark-tech—makes complete sense and is pretty much a stroke of cinematic storytelling genius, trumping even comic book and animated storytelling, which of course takes artistic license when reflecting Pete's expression/emotions in the features of his mask, but doesn't have an in-universe justification for it. Genius. =)

The Spidey-signal was a bit of a let-down for me. True the Peter-May dialogue was fun (getting punched by Steve, getting a few shots in, getting taken down by a big big guy), and signing off w/Spidey was a good way to tease/push Spider-Man's return, but that little projection as a post-credits reveal? Hohum. Maybe I missed a detail? If it was obviously an Avengers app-communicator, or maybe an "Avengers Assemble" call, or an alert that he's needed somewhere, or a message from Tony (or Cap?), well, that would've been something.

Peter's driven to mess w/his new webshooter (presumably part of the Stark 100-point upgrade) because it's suddenly itchy/irritating. So it would make sense that the tech is signalling him to check it (but of course, he didn't read the manual). An alert or message would've been a strong follow-thru.

But y'know, if THAT's what I'm complaining about, goes to show how frickin great the rest of the movie is, right? And Spider-Man is definitely one of the best realized elements of the film.

BLACK WIDOW / WINTER SOLDIER HISTORY?

Did anyone catch what Natasha gasps when re-activated Winter Soldier has her by the throat? It's something like, "Recognize me!" Or "Why don't you recognize me?" How much face time did they ever share in WINTER SOLDIER? I haven't seen it since it was out, but don't remember any, honestly. So, my mind goes to her as-yet-unrevealed origin—some incarnation of the Red Room, which is where the counter-agents of AGENT CARTER were trained and indoctrinated, ostensibly for the Russian government, but actually/also, for Hydra. Some advanced form of this technique/program was no doubt used to bring Bucky under control as the Winter Soldier. I think that Black Widow must have worked on a mission with him, maybe even trained with him, to learn strategies for facing a powered opponent. Maybe this history/mystery could be the basis of a Widow-Soldier team-up film?

But, if they DO have some history together, why DOESN'T Bucky acknowledge it? Perhaps his mental "files" have been updated to consider her an enemy of the state/Hydra? Hrm… Could Bucky have been in contact w/Natasha while in hiding? Between the events of WINTER SOLDIER and CIVIL WAR? Or maybe Natasha encountered the Soldier as an enemy or (friendly?) competitor on a mission for her Russian superiors?

Frack. I've gotta watch WINTER SOLDIER again. I vaguely remember Natasha recognizing the code name "Winter Soldier" somewhere in the course of the film, and so, having some intel/knowledge of the program. But whatever she volunteers about it must not have been specific to personal experience with him, or knowing that it was Bucky Barnes, right?

FUN BITS AND PIECES…

The Wanda-Cap fastball special! Very nice! Also, Wanda containing and funneling the poison gas used by Crossbones's goons out of the disease control labs? Wanda's got some crazy control of her abilities. Impressive. What kind of person could train her or train with her?
Love the rival Cap partners. Too bad we don't have a Rick Jones in the MCU to add to the mix. In the low profile getaway car…

BUCKY: Can you move your seat up?
SAM: No.

On the floor in the airport concourse after Redwing takes Spidey for a ride…

BUCKY: You couldn't have done that sooner?
SAM: I hate you.

So many great voices added to the mixx… T'Challa, Peter Parker, Scott Lang… He's just happy to be there, y'know? =)
On seeing Wanda in the airport garage…

SCOTT: I know you. You're great! Captain America! I'm shaking your hand for too long!

On returning to normal size after Giant-Manning it up…

SCOTT: Does anyone have any…orange slices?

Taking a jab at Tony in his cell on the Raft…

SCOTT: Hank Pym always said, never trust a Stark.
TONY: Who are you?
SCOTT: Aw, c'mon, man.

Stan Lee—Fed Excelsior! Lee’s CIVIL WAR cameo is a great little Tony Stark sting and a winning spirits-lifter for Rhodey =)

RHODEY: Table for one… Tony Stank!

Also, THE RAFT. The frickin RAFT, man! That is gotta be the basis for AVENGERS 5 or 6 or so, right? I was soooo hoping that we'd see more cells, more prisoners. Are these Avengers the only inmates so far? Who is managing the Raft? Doesn't seem like SHIELD. Secretary of State Ross has access and authority, so, American? Or part of the UN Joint whatzit?

Thaddeus Thunderbolt Ross as Secretary of State. Nice detail, moving familiar characters/supporting cast around in the background of our heroes' adventures.

THINGS THAT MAKE ME GO HMMM…

GREAT POWER (tm?)

Does Sony own the use of "With great power comes great responsibility" in movies? Slightly painful watching Peter NOT say that. Although what he DOES say is just what Tony wants, maybe needs to hear when recruiting a new Avenger. When recruiting someone who might be helping to fill a void left by the absence of Captain America, the heart of the Avengers.

WHO'S CHARLIE SPENCER?

Who is Charlie Spencer? In CIVIL WAR, he's the son of the state department worker who confronts Tony about the aftermath of Sokovia. The face that gets put to the remorse that Tony feels for what happened in the wake of Ultron's creation. Wondering if the name has significance in the Marvel Comics universe, or perhaps in the real world.

A SIGNIFICANT DATE?

12/7/86
1/27/86
Is there a Marvel Comics or MCU in-universe significance to either of these dates? 12786 is the passcode to the Winter Soldier complex in Siberia.

WHAT ABOUT THAT BIOWEAPON?

What was the "bioweapon" that Crossbones stole? Who was the buyer?

Allright, I’m calling it. End ramble.

THIS one, at least. =)

So—Until the Watcher joins Hair Club for Men…

Make mine Marvel!

Keep on keepin’ on~

CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR: Excelsior!

AWESOME BRILLIANT SO VERY SATISFYING! Nuff' said!

The rest of this rambling post is gonna be making notes for myself if no one else. So, if you haven't seen CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR yet, turn back now, for here there be *SPOILERS*!

THE GOOD/GREAT…

The wild kingdom of superheroes!

SPIDER-MAN! This incarnation is very much in line w/Bendis's Ultimate, which is really the logical play given the existing MCU. Superheroes are new, so Spider-Man should be, too. And he's still in high school, which will give us THAT whole scene to enjoy again. I enjoy high school/teeny drama if decently executed, or flipped, and I think I can trust the MCU to not waste our time. I had a smile on my face for most of the movie, but maybe slightly smilier when Tony meets Peter and when Spider-Man meets everyone. They're writing him really great, immediately likeable and thoughtful and pure of heart, y'know? I hope his solo stories get to be as powerful as ones in the first two Sam Raimi films. He's probably my ideal fave Marvel character.

BLACK PANTHER! Boseman sells the martial abilities, the nobility, and the wisdom. Granted, I'm coming at this with that already attributed to the character, but he is just so ready to wear all that, and well. Powerful, commanding, thoughtful (if still vengeful), and damn relentless. He wasn't quite set up as a match vs. Captain America—maybe more of Bucky's opponent?—but I think he is, in skills, power, and nobility.

FALCON! Love the intro of Redwing. And have to give him a lot of credit for playing Vizh against War Machine the way he did.

ANT-MAN! Loved seeing the application of Wacko (i.e. West Coast Avengers) Hank Pym's literal bag of tricks in this movie. Only wish that they'd used it more than once! And Giant-man! SO well realized on the big screen! I would've liked some sidebar exposition about his mass and strength and durability at that scale (will the "science" ever be consistent? =), cuz he took and dealt some serious punishment that he wouldn't have been able to stand at human scale.

Spidey has a nice choice remark on Cap's shield not obeying the laws of physics. I'll just take that as being applied to everything.

VISION! Learns that he can be distracted! By a telekinetic redhead. =)

What are Vizh's origins again? All JARVIS? Any Ultron? Any human engrams involved?

THE DRAMA!

When Cap and Bucky arrive at the Siberian Winter Soldier outpost and are then joined by Iron Man, I got confused. This looked like the setting that we see in the trailers where Cap and Bucky take on Tony, but here they are, truced up and ready to take on the five Soviet Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Any one of them could take down a country and disappear. Heh, that line landed with a bit of a thud for me. But dammit if this movie didn't do a damn good job of keeping me happy and in the moment like 90 percent of the time. I didn't put together the clues until right when Tony says, "I know this road…" And then it all clicked. So weird how the drama of it vibes for me with classic comic book lore, as if it's a comic booky thing, and not just a dramatic, narrative turn. I guess it's just where I come from, all of the comics reading and plotting I've absorbed over the years.

It does remind me of SOMEthing, tho… A little bit of Batman/Bruce Wayne, but something else. Something Greek? Maybe structurally Oedipal? Shakespearean? Dammit, I can't put my finger on it…

Still, a great turn and even if I do/did feel the writing is unfair to Tony Stark, it is consistently so. That piece of info, that secret revealed, is just the thing to get us from point A—Cap and Bucky and Tony ready to save the world—to point B—Tony needing to avenge his parents and Cap needing to defend his best friend.

THE CONFLICTED/CONFLICTING…

Turning Baron Zemo into this Zemo. I like this character's origin/back story, but it seems almost a waste/mismatch to make him a Zemo. I guess there's kind of a correlation with the Zemo of THUNDERBOLTS, who at least for a time seems driven by righteous or right-seeking motives. I'm afraid I didn't follow that plot thread consistently or to an end. Yeah, I think I might've been happier if this had been a completely new name, unconnected to familiar Marvel Comics baddies. A Zemo with no history vs. Cap, no ties to Hydra or Nazi Germany, just doesn't seem like a Zemo. I mean, he should be engaged in some kind of bet w/Zola, trying to one-up each other in ruining Cap's life.

He does finish strong, tho. Taunting the UN joint task force head, John Watson, with the notion that his machinations did NOT fail. He broke the Avengers. Now, we've got Tony's legit, daylight (still UN-sanctioned?) Avengers team, and Cap's shadow, off the radar, independent, secret Avengers team, that has a friend in Wakanda. It's interesting that cinematic CIVIL WAR ends with the adjusted status quo that the comic book CIVIL WAR series maintained for most of its year-long run.

Crossbones. Although he went out with meta-purpose, it seems a shame to cut down such a capable Hydra field leader already. In the comics, he's a thorn in Cap's side for a good long time, brutal and smart and a lieutenant of the Red Skull.

Scarlet Witch's powers. She describes her abilities as "moving things with her mind," so, telekinetic. But what does she do to Vision? It seems to me that she manipulates his own density-control abilities against his will. Does she have Phoenix-level control over matter? Does she "see" more than just matter? Is she manipulating the flow of electrons in Vision to manipulate his systems? Or is she manipulating probability? Hrm… Is it similar to the comic book Scarlet Witch's powers in that it's been described as one thing for a long time, but is then revealed to be something completely different? In the comics, it was described as chaos-magic, but Strange at some point says, nope, and with other concludes that it is reality warping, and not magic. Perhaps it's magic and she's instinctively limited it to telekinesis and every once in a while reaches in a different way and accomplishes not-quite-telekinetic feats. I always liked the idea of probability-altering, shifting the odds so that something very unlikely actually happens.

AM I MISREMEMBERING…?

Wasn't Cap outfitted w/some kind of energy tether that connects one (both) of his gauntlets to his shield (and back)? I forget if it was WINTER SOLIDER or AGE OF ULTRON, but when activated, it behaved like magnetic attraction. But y'know, that wouldn't be all that accurate or smart. Is vibranium magnetic? Maybe there's some iron/steel in the alloy of Cap's shield (is that what it is—an alloy?), but even so, you'd get that powerful an electromagnet attracting silverware through the walls, right? I think it's gotta be something different. Would be a neat trick if it affected ANY vibranium.

Wait, so…

Cap left his shield with Iron Man. Did we see where it ends up? Somewhere at the Avengers compound? Can the Black Panther hook him up w/a new one? Perhaps Coulson will reach out somehow and offer him a version of Fitz's shield? Altho that doesn't help in the distance weapon department.

That's all I've got just now. Gonna see it again, so probably more gushing soon-ish. =)

Keep on keepin' on~

Setting up for the next AVENGERS...

Holy crap! Okay, can we say that Coulson died heroically?

Can we say that he died at Loki's hands?

Where do heroes go when they die, in Asgardian lore?

Valhalla!

It seems a stretch given that we don't see a lot of development in the relationship between Thor and Coulson, but there's definitely camaraderie and respect, right? Perhaps even something of a debt, as Coulson pulled strings to keep Jane Foster out of harm's way during AVENGERS...

It really seems that it's Iron Man/Stark who has the strongest relationship with Coulson, but maybe it's at his behest that Thor journeys in search of Coulson in the Asgardian afterlife. His death, while heroic, was brought about by his half-brother's machinations and meddling in Midgardian affairs. A Wrongful death. In order to right that, he would recover Coulson...

This could be part of the next IRON MAN and maybe all of the next THOR, in whichever order. Would be nice to have Stark get to tinker with some Asgardian magic/tech at the source, no? Or maybe get a look at Odin's vault, maybe be there when they discover that Loki has scarpered away with the Gauntlet, leaving behind some cheeky note... "Avenge this, pretty boys!"

Actually, I've got to rework this a bit. Maybe it's double wrong because instead of Valhalla, Coulson has been consigned to Hel. Why this would have happened...? Loki's magicks? The corruption of the spear? Bleah. I don't know, but I really want this to be the case because we need to have Hela introduced as a Big Bad in the solo movie/s before we reveal that SHE is the manipulating Death that Thanos courts!

=)

Keep on keepin on~

post-AVENGERS crazy talk

I'm just gonna unload about what I loved, was thinking, think now, about the movie (which I wish would never end) and generally scat and ramble about whatever comes to mind in the process, so *SPOILER ALERT!!!*

I *love* Coulson's fate. Everything about it. Not that it *should* be all he's known for, but it *is* Joss, so everyone's game, right? But, it's Marvel, so everyone's gotta make it to the next sequel or cross-over. But, it's Joss, so...

I *knew* that something like that, a horrible/wonderful death, a sacrifice, would happen, but I just didn't see it being Coulson. The math is perfect, of course, but I got swept up in all the awesome and was totally disarmed (which is really not a bad thing - I sometimes wish I could shut off my anticipating movie mind and watch like a 7 year-old (which is the age at which I first saw ALIEN - yeah, my mom's awesome =)) And done so well! Loki, doing his trickster thing and striking in his weaselly way, just when Coulson is at his most courageous and as-always-steadfast-and-subdued. And then, "So, *that's* what it does..."

Brought a tear to my eye.

I *like* the way Fury plays the Captain America trading cards. A hint of the Fury you see in Ultimate Marvel.

I *love* that Stark threw "Life Model Decoy" out there.

I *love* the banter. Each superguy sizing up the other. Setting them up one-against-all, and then in dyads, and in a melee, having the snarky remarks and put downs layer one on top of the other in different combinations... It was kind of musical.

And it only gets better once they've sized each other up and we see the mutual respect. The meeting of the minds in the lab - Tony, Bruce, and Steve - and the follow-up - Tony and Bruce getting the gamma detector up, but also hacking into SHIELD's encrypted whatnot, and Steve busting into the secure storage area on his own - played out wonderfully. Of course, it helped that they had a mutual enemy/challenge - Nick and "Phase 2" development of the Tesseract.

OH! I *love love* Coulson's final words. Or rather, what's left, sadly, unspoken. "They need something to..."

Sadness at the moment. Joy at the storytelling. *sigh*

A flash now - what if Coulson was an LMD? All the time? Or maybe just when he challenges Loki? Nah. I wouldn't put it past Nick, but it detracts from the power of his facing up to Loki and his passing.

I *love* the helicarrier. I honestly just didn't think of it ever sitting in the ocean and then taking off. Just didn't cross my mind. I don't remember if I've seen that in a comic book or not, but seeing it on the big screen was just FUN! And I already knew it was coming of course. There's a lot of goofy fuzzy memories associated w that hunk of junk that just can't stop getting knocked out of the sky. I mean, sure, it's frickin cool, but is a helicarrier PRACTICAL? Eh. Guess you focus on the cool, right?

What goofy fuzzy memories? Well, goofy fuzzy comic book memories. You know what I thought of when that was happening on screen? Godzilla. Yeah, Gozilla, King Of All Monsters. The GODZILLA comic book was where I first encountered S.H.I.E.L.D. and the helicarrier. Might've been my introduction to many of the Marvel superheroes, actually. Thor vs. the big G with the Empire State Building between them! =)

When they cut to the interior of the bridge right after take-off, when we see the giant curved glass windowframe, I thought of Romita, Jr.'s helicarrier from X-MEN, when Rogue takes a silver dollar (or is it a quarter? a Susan B.?) and chucks it, ballistically, thru the carrier's sensors. That was an eye-opening little trick for me when I read it.

Oh, one other goofy fuzzy memory, a reminder of a reminder of one. Seeing the helicarrier in the sky gave me a momentary flash to DOCTOR WHO and U.N.I.T.'s Valiant, which, when I saw it caused me to flash to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s helicarrier. Heh. That's the first time I've noticed that the two acronymtastic organizations have similar tastes in airborne command platforms.

I *love* the first epilogue. I would *never* have guessed that the next Big Bad for the Avengers would be the big T! Perfectly written (if a bit forced) dialogue for it, too. The Chitauri guy is like, "To challenge the humans is to court death." "Court death." That was the gimme, all of three seconds before the actual reveal, heh. Cuz who do we know who looooooooves Death, right? But hey, so... I *sort of* guessed that, tho, right? By the transitive property? Cuz if you've got Captain Marvel, you're gonna have Thanos! Right? Right? =)

But MAN, that is boxing above your weight class, isn't it? I was kind of amazed that this first Avengers movie went with the Chitauri (aka Ultimate Skrulls). Maybe I'm too conservative and cautious in my story-brewing. I mean, we've already been given magic and gods, right? If the audiences buy into that, let's hit them w the aliens right away, right?

But damn. Thanos. That's more like... AVENGERS 4, maybe? I mean, even if they build up to it in bits in IRON MANs and THORs, it'll be a leap to make it happen in A2. MAYbe A3. The Tesseract would be a worthy prize for Thanos if it could be shown to be Cosmic Cubey and reality-altering. But I suppose as "just" a portal-creating tesseract (assuming that teleportation is otherwise highly risky and nigh-impossible), it WOULD be valuable to cross interstellar gulfs and sacrifice billions of souls at a time to Death, right?

But, hey, the Tesseract isn't the only toy in Odin's chest, remember? I do believe the Infinity Gauntlet/Gems were in an Asgardian safety deposit box adjacent to the Casket Of Ancient Winters, or whatever they called it in THOR. But, damn! That is a *LOT* to introduce... I hope they don't rush it. Maybe they could throw a time traveler at the Avengers in a second movie and wait til the third for the Mad Titan. What time traveler, you ask? How about the Maestro? Or maybe Iron Man 2020? Or maybe Kang, who is trying to prevent the Avengers from ever forming, but in a J.J.Abrams-style-STAR TREK story, they *always* form. They are *FATED* to in timeline after timeline...

I *love love love love* the second epilogue! Shwarma! Maybe more than any other scene in the film, this feels like a Joss signature scene. Something that doesn't only develop characters, but brings you closer to them in an unexpected way. A joyful follow-thru. I'm guessing this is the scene that Robert Downey, Jr. boasted they were going to shoot after a press conference or convention panel. I heard today that the second epilogue was not part of the UK cut/release, so wow - they shot it and edited it in for this cut. Sweet and soooo worth it! =)

I *love* the Avengers prime battle in the Black Forest or wherever it was in Germany. Iron Man takes on Thor and Loki watches, amused, from afar. Then Cap steps in and, thanks to the vibranium-adamantium allow that Tony's father developed, and his augmented strength to some degree, he takes a blow from Thor's hammer. The impact of the irresistible force meeting the immovable object creats a shockwave that levels the forest around them. I was sure, in a superhero/action movie cliche model way, that we would see that move again in a crucial moment later in the film. However, I was disappointed and gratified that we did not. Disappointed because I would've been really happy to see it, but gratified because Joss and the film chose to buck the cliche and -I hope!- save the maneuver for the next AVENGERS, or maybe a Cap or Thor flick. Needs a name, a la "Fastball Special," but alas, the only one that springs to mind is "The Gong." Not very cool, but maybe its thuddishness will have an appeal delivered by one of the superheroes in the midst of battle? Hrmm... "Liberty Bell?" Of course, Iron Man could deliver the line/name snarkily and sell it.

I *missed* the significance of the gamma-rad detector alarm going off just when Hawkeye and co. blow Engine Number Three. From Banner's reaction to the readout, he seems to see that there must be a gamma radiation source right on top of the helicarrier, right? Something like, "Oh sh---!" And then Hawkeye's boom arrow blows. I was thinking that maybe Hawkeye had a device that might emit gamma as a way to induce the Hulk transformation against Banner's will. That would fit right in with Loki's strategy to use the Hulk, right? Loki's amusement at seeing Banner in his lab was a perfect setup for that. Just seeing his smile as he's escorted down that corridor says it all, really.

Loki's spear *seemed* to be responsible for relaying or emitting some Psycho-Man style emotional screw wave, causing all of the Avengers to bump egos and butt heads in its proximity, but that was never spelled out. Is there a logic to that, tho? The spear seems to channel a portion of the Tesseract's power, typically in destructive blasts, and presumably some limited sympathetic teleportation energy, in sync w the Tesseract proper. How does something like that mess with human/demi-god behavior?

Hrmm... Loki does use the spear to "possess" his minions, a la Hawkeye and Solweig. Is the emotional tweaking an extension of that? Was the spear Loki's to begin with (gotta re-watch THOR I guess)? As God of Mischief I'd be willing to grant him the ability to mess with human thoughts and emotions, but we never see him use such an ability in a direct way when it would benefit him.

So, there's no great logic to the spear messing with the Avengers' minds, even tho it certainly looks like that's what's happening.

I kind of like my gamma emitter theory better. Would also help explain how Hulk's first appearance was all about unfocused rage, but his second, Banner-willful one, is more directed.

I *rolled with* the Hulk being able to reign in his chaotic nature to focus on an actual battle. It totally works with the momentum of the film, and offers so many rewards in its execution, but I would have liked more of a set-up for it. An admission from Bruce that when he *chooses* to transform, it makes a difference. Or that Tony's pep talk about how each of their burdens is actually something that saved or saves them, and for something more and greater. A *truly* great comparison in the context of the Marvel movie universe. It reminded me of how I dug ULTIMATE HUMAN (Ultimate Hulk + Ultimate Iron Man) because it demonstrated how Hulk and Iron Man are manifestations of the same or similar pursuits - improving human beings. I honestly can't remember the details of the story now, but I liked that idea.

I *filled in* some stuff on my own in regards to Black Widow, post-Hulk attack. I think in contrast to every other situation she finds herself in, she has the least control of the scenario when facing the Hulk. The wallop he gives her that bounces her off some helicarrier machinery is a true shock to her system. The Hulk is raging at that point, and ready to vaporize her with his next blow, when Thor hits him and sends them both into another sector of the ship. Several minutes later, Fury radios that Hawkeye is heading for some part of the carrier, looking for agents to respond and intercept. We see Widow still in the same place the Hulk left her, closer to catatonic than her usual hyper-aware self. For me, her apparent state tells me that she's dealing with this brutal, horribly mismatched, defeat in a very bad and personal way. I think a lot of it is about control (compare to her intro scene with the three Russian arms dealers) but some may about guilt and what punishment she might think she deserves (the red in her book). In any case, I feel like I had to do some of the lifting to make that work for me. Did anyone else? Or am I reading more than is meant to be there? To really sell it, a couple of cuts to Natasha after Thor tackles Hulk and before she responds to Fury's radio message would've been good.

I still would've liked to have seen some SHIELD dossiers on other potential Avengers recruits. A "Peter Parker," a "Logan," a "Henry Pym."

Did they retcon the creation of the Hulk to make it a failed attempt at recreating the super soldier serum? Is that what the first two movies suggested? Frack. Really can't remember. Blerg.

Didn't love Miss HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER as Maria Hill, but then again, didn't hate her. Made a decent enough foil for Fury. Before she was addressed as Hill, I thought she might've been an Agent 13, Sharon Carter, but that's probably too soon for Cap, right? Maybe she'll get written into that role as Maria Hill, tho. She did seem to take eyebrows-raised notice of Rogers on the bridge, eh?

Allright, enough (otherwise known as way too much) for now. I'm gonna see it again tomorrow. =)

Keep on keepin on~