Saw GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 tonight for the first time—woo-hoo!
I'm not gonna go into much in the way of criticism of the film here except to say that it's a rockin' good time that goes deeper on character and a little shorter on plotting than the Volume 1. What I *am* gonna do is some half-baked comic book fanboy rambling and appreciation.
Gotta say, I was kind of WTF? when I realized that Sylvester Stallone's character, Grand Poobah of the Ravagers, was going by Stakar, who in the Marvel Universe is also known as Starhawk, aka "The One Who Knows." It seemed like a weird direction to take that namesake. Of course, it's still pretty much in line with Yondu's translation from page to screen, right?
I didn't think that while watching the movie, tho. What "fixed" Stakar for me was one of the end credits scenes, where we see Stakar saying how pleased he is to be able to reassemble old friends-slash-teammates, including Martinex (Stakar's crystalline right hand, Plutonian in the comics), Charlie-27 (superstrong Jovian in the comics, played by Ving Rhames), and Aleta (comics Starhawk's wife, played by Michelle Yeoh). This is Starhawk assembling a roster of the OGs, from the 30th century team of Marvel comics!
But—it's not to do any guardian-ing, but instead so they can go rob the heck out of the galaxy. Hrm…Some pretty heavy hitters—Sly, Ving, Michelle. How do they fit into upcoming MCU shenanigans? GOTG allies? GOTG imposters? Maybe their story-slash-heist unfolds in end credits scenes over a few movies? Right now they don't click in place for me.
Still, very fun to see the MCU's version of the 30th century OGs.
Tazerface! The reaction to that name in the film is so perfect! I wonder which Marvel writer created him and what s/he thinks about what's become of him? From what I remember of the comics, he was some kind of enhanced Badoon who had a personal beef w/the 30th century Guardians.
Nice to see Yondu upgrade his arrow fin tech to more closely match Marvel comics' Yondu's natural fin. Legitimately sad to see him go already, even if he did get a proper Ravager funereal sendoff. He got a pretty decent arc, and even though you could see the biodad vs. real dad conflict-slash-realization from 40 clicks away, the actual unfolding of it was pretty rewarding and okay, even a bit emotional. Nicely done, Rooker and Gunn!
Kurt Russell as Peter's dad. Kinda perfect. Ego as Peter's dad? Weird, but a good and creative answer to the question of MCU Peter Quill's paternity. I don't think comics Ego ever walked as a man, but I also don't think he was ever just a floating space brain, either. *Immediately* flashed to FUTURAMA. =)
I think I first met Ego in the pages of FANTASTIC FOUR. Or maybe it was ROM? In any case, I thought he was part of the FF's universe, so was surprised to find him playing a part in the MCU. But then I remembered that when he met the FF, he'd already encountered Thor, so he's fair game as an Avengers connection. We did get one shot of Ego the Living Planet as he looks in the comics, a giant face defined by the landscape and funky organelles of the planet. I was hoping for more, tho, and maybe some of the funky macro-microbiological stuff from the comics, too, like humanoid antibodies and freaky scaled-up cells and organs, y'know? Instead, we get some gooey energy tendrils and Ego's Kurt Russell—and David Hasselhoff!—looking host body in various states of disrepair. Not bad, but y'know, a comic fanboy's heart wants what it wants—giant antibodies! =)
It's nice to see Mantis on the GOTG roster, but her introduction seemed a bit crowbarred in. Ego keeps her as a pet and sleep aide. Her unique empathic powers enable her to help Ego sleep, because apparently he has trouble sleeping? Would've been nice to get a better explanation for her presence. Maybe she helps tame Ego's growing insanity/instability?
Huh. Ego calls himself a Celestial, and Peter immediately asks him if he means that he's a god. So, MCU spacefarers are familiar with the term? Until Ego called himself one, I thought that Celestial referred exclusively to the giant space gods, one of whom's head has become the world-station known as Knowhere.
I think in the comics, Ego is a legitimate Elder of the Universe, like the Collector and Gamemaster. Celestial as a title for him doesn't seem quite right to me, but o well…
It *does* perhaps help with the logic of Mantis attaining a title of Celestial Madonna, tho.
I wish there was maybe one or two more scenes-slash-steps to Nebula and Gamora's hatchet burying, but the arc does work quite well. Also very touching and smart to have Peter's eulogy for Yondu—the part about searching for something for so long only to realize it was next to you all the time (would getting Survivor's "The Search is Over" have been too nail on the head?)—apply both to the sisters' bond as well as "this unspoken thing"/CHEERS-Sam-and-Dianne between Peter and Gamora.
The make-your-own-family theme is pretty irresistible. For a 40-something story consumer like myself, on paper that notion can seem trite and tired, but with these characters, and this writing, it still works on me. Several crescendos really helped, I think. Peter's reaction to Ego's admission of giving his mother that tumor (that was a smart stroke, no sympathy for Ego after that). Nebula's description of the duels Thanos forced on Gamora and herself, and the price she paid for her losses. Yondu and Rocket's breakthrough therapy session.
Heh. Nice to see Stan Lee as a distinct space-suited character in conversation with the Watchers on the surface of some planet or moon in one of the stargate jumps, and then in one of the end credits scenes. The Watchers actually walk away from him as he explains that he's still got more stories for them. Very nice. =)
In retrospect, I want to say that I should've seen the Adam Warlock cocoon coming when we were introduced to the golden-skinned Sovereign, but no, there was too much fun stuff going on with them to make me think of that while watching the movie. LOVE their ENDER'S GAME-y remote control space navy action.
But, yeah—Adam Frickin' Warlock! =)
Love the sweet laser balls weapons system on Yondu's heist ship, perfect for general offense and defense, reconfigurable for drilling into the core of a living planet, as well as a Death Blossom! =)
When Howard the Duck showed up again in a space bar where the Ravagers were hanging out, the audience reaction was loud enough that I couldn't catch any of his dialogue. Nuts.
Hrm…I think that's all I've got right now. I'm a bit frazzled when it comes to processing cinema right now as I'm coming off of eight days and 21 films of festivalizing. If I come up with more thoughts before my next GOTG2 screening, I may add/edit to this, and if a next screening fires up the tired synapses with more ideas, observations, and/or crazy talk, I'll ramble out a new post.
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?
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. =)
Here it mostly is — a brain dump of crazy talk notions inspired by a couple of random words here and there in the pilot of AGENT CARTER last week! *not* a summary or critique of the episode but yes, full of *** spoilers *** ! Enjoy the madness!
Leet Brannis?
What kind of name is that?! Pretty frickin conspicuous, no? Well, anagrammatically, I like SILENT BRANE, and SILBERTANNE certainly has its dark connection to the era, but a google will reveal that it's a deep callback to Marvel Comics of the 1940s. Fraindeer Games's character is named for the leader of a gang of jewel thieves who went up against the Whizzer in an issue of ALL-WINNERS. I wonder who on the CARTER staff had that awesome bit of Marvel minutiae in his/her pocket. So, okay, an impressive callback.
But who's to say that's all it is or does? I mean, look at that frickin name! My first thought was to try to parse it as leetspeak/hax0r, but after a few minutes of trying character substitutions, I couldn't come up w anything sensible. Maybe there's a date or coordinates in "BRANNIS" but it seems unlikely. Character substitutions got me more slashes than numbers. Seems like a dead end. Still, I'd love to be wrong, tho, and have this choice of name/codename be a sign of knowledge, contact, or an origin in the future (our present, in which leetspeak exists).
My next thought was that it's an anagram. But at the level that military intelligence, secret agents, and industrial spies play, it doesn't seem like a credible hidden clue or message (except maybe for us, the audience). So, it got me to SILENT BRANE and SILBERTANNE, but I dismissed it in favor of a funner possibility…
Attempting to imagine Leet Brannis is Le'et Bran'nis, of the Shi'Ar, or Lee-T Bran-Nis of the Kree, or perhaps (pretty pretty please) Leet Brannis of Atlantis! =)
Agents of Leviathan.
Okay, SBD (Silent But Deadly, aka the guy in the green suit, the assassin on Leet's trail) works for Leviathan. Leet *used to* work for Leviathan. Both exhibit the scarring of an apparent laryngotomy. In the course of a fight w Agent Carter, SBD survived a fall out a building window onto a city street or alley from several stories up. So, maybe he's more than your average voice-box-less Earthican? Still, he's not invincible, as we see later that his left arm is broken.
Leviathan sent Brannis to rob Howard Stark's vault, presumably to deliver its contents to them. However, Leet has double-crossed them. Or at least has opted to make a bit more on the side for himself, choosing to put at least one bad baby (Molecular Nitramene/implosion grenade tech) up for sale. Can't remember exactly when, but at one point Leet humbly describes himself as a simple businessman just trying to make his mark, also mentioning that he's not a killer, but does business with them. He's afraid of Leviathan, but not so afraid that he won't challenge them. Apparently, he believes that Agent Carter and the SSR are capable of protecting him from Leviathan, as he asks her for just that. Unfortunately, Carter and the SSR don't get the chance, as SBD catches up to them and forces events that lead to Leet's death. The last thing Brannis tells Carter is in the form of a drawing he scratches in the dirt—what appears to be a heart, intersected horizontally by a wavy line. I *swear* this is familiar to me, but I canNOT remember how/why. His artificial voice box smashed, Leet can't explain what it means before he dies, but we're meant to believe that this is connected to what he left unspoken earlier: the one thing that Leviathan is interested in.
More than a laryngotomy?
Okay, so our Leviathan agents have lost their voices. They have access to some unusual tech, including the Fringe typewriter adapter, and likely whatever machinery it took to reach Howard Stark's vault. Maybe they're a little more resilient than the average human, too.
What if that scar was the physical sign of a much more involved procedure? Something that together with the vocoder device GAVE Leet and SBD voices they never had before? What if they'd been altered more significantly, to help them draw oxygen from the air, when most of their lives they'd been drawing it from ocean water? Throw in a full body skin bleaching treatment and I'm talking about modifying Atlanteans to pass for and survive (and communicate) as surface world humans!
Think about it. Code name: Leviathan—a giant sea beasty! With the industrial age and war production of the surface world, the oceans would be significantly affected by artificial pollution for the first time in history. World War 2 sea battles could have been responsible for untold undersea collateral damage. And the two atomic bombs that ended the war in the Pacific? An undersea civilization with advanced (or even comparable/parallel) technology is not going to miss those.
Yeah, it may be crazy talk, but I love the possibilities in it. We don't have to bring Namor in. Maybe Attuma. Start Atlantis with a true warlord in charge. Maybe bring Namor in as a moderate, ready to talk or negotiate? Although… When does atomic bomb testing in the Pacific begin? Perhaps that is the cover for a crippling attack on an Atlantean civilization that had negotiated a peace, but the surface world found too threatening. Secret history!
Oh oh oh! Maybe it wasn't a legit surface world government or coalition, but Hydra! Working thru its many heads, or is it legs? No, heads. Whichever. you know what I mean.
Something Leet said… Fight the Future?
"You're not going to like the future, such as it is…" Interesting choice of words. Cryptic… Big Picture-y… One reading is that he believes that Leviathan's "coming" specifically will bring some kind of ominous doom, if not for everyone, then at least for Agent Carter and her side/kind (America? the SSR? the Good Guys?). Another reading is that Leet actually knows what the future is/will be like, and that Agent Carter won't like it.
Of course my comic book brain wants to read everything possible into THAT. =)
Perhaps Leet is from the future, and Leviathan is based there, sending agents back in time to ensure that certain events in the past lead to a Leviathan-favorable future. But Leet turns out to be a non-believer and opportunist, and once he finds himself in 1940s America, he realizes that he could set himself up very comfortably for the rest of his life in this past. His profiteering ends up derailing Leviathan's apparent plan to exclusively control Stark's bad babies and discredit the man, and perhaps destroy his legacy, in the process.
Such a plot, originating in the future, would point to present-day enemies of Tony Stark, no? And, by identity and association, Iron Man, the Avengers, and perhaps SHIELD. That is a pretty tantalizing idea, especially given that AGENT CARTER is currently airing in AGENTS OF SHIELD's time slot until they return to finish season 2. *I* think that it would be great if the wrap-up to CARTER in the 40s leaves/connects to a legacy that the present day agents of SHIELD are dealing with.
Some reminders to myself… To the best of my AOS recollection, at the time of AGENT CARTER…
Whitehall is locked away.
Hydra is playing dead (Zola is working for deep dark SSR).
The Obelisk and blue boy are in storage w the Ark of the Covenant.
Some more reminders to myself… To the best of my AOS recollection, as of the mid-season finale of AGENTS, the following hot items are in play…
A hidden subterranean city below Puerto Rico.
Kree tech and genetics.
Inhumanity (terrigenesis triggered by the Obelisk in the hidden city chamber).
And, a wonderful wild card that I'm kind of happy and amazed has been kept in play in AGENT CARTER…
Vita-radiation! As far as I can recall, we have no stories as to its origin/discovery. What if its origin is extraterrestrial? Perhaps that fact is unknown even to its discoverer (was it Erskine)? Maybe a patron who knew of its ET origin gifted a scientist or several scientists w the opportunity to work with it? In any case, I'm glad this wild card is in play. It gives me some comic booky hope that we'll see something superpowered in Carter's case files. If not fully realized in that era, then maybe later in the MCU.
The Internette tells me that Leet Brannis is a name pulled from ALL-WINNERS in the 40s, the leader of a gang of thieves who faced the Whizzer back in the day. Okay, that's all fine and good as a callback, but in the world of AGENT OF CARTER, what else/more could Fraindeer Games's* Leet Brannis be about?
Well, me being me, of course I've got a couple of poppy Marvel Comics-y crazy talk ideas about Leet Brannis, but I haven't got those turds properly polished just yet. However, along the way, I ended up internet-anagram-solving my way to this one frickin dark, but apparently contemporary connection that I'm gonna share right now…
Anagrammatically," Leet Brannis" equals "Silbertanne," which translates to "Silver Fir" in German. Operation Silbertanne was the codename for a series of executions during the German occupation of the Netherlands, Nazi reprisals for attacks made on Dutch collaborators. Triggermen posed as resistance members, clothed as civilians and using British weapons.
Could Leet have been part of the operation and wished to (somehow, perhaps impossibly) make amends? Or known of it but was powerless to stop it? Or perhaps he chose this name/codename as a morbid reminder of a vicious enterprise whose victims (his own family?) he felt he would be avenging?
Pretty frickin dark, right? Would certainly offer some heavy backstory very quickly.
My escapist fantasy mind has still got my fingers crossed for a connection that's more otherworldly and science fictional. We shall see…
Keep on keepin on~
P.S. Who thinks that Sousa pulled the one photo that caught Carter's face at Spider's club? Nice to see another Doll cross over into the MCU.
P.P.S. Some other anagrams of "Leet Brannis":
Lesbian Rent
Blaster Nine
Al Bernstein
Silent Brane
I really like Silent Brane, which to me unscientifically implies a soundless dimension or 'verse, but haven't let myself drop down that rabbit hole… yet. =)
Please let me know if you dig up any fun connections in those directions, tho—thx!
* My first lasting impression of James Frain was made on screening the wonderful ridiculous action caper REINDEER GAMES. =)
Some rambling on the paternity of Star-Lord. Specifically a rundown/comparison of two other Marvel Star-men: Starhawk vs. Starfox.
STARHAWK
In the Marvel Universe, Starhawk is a member of the original Guardians of the Galaxy, based in the 31st century, and so, a teammate of the MU's Yondu. He was born in the 21st century and thanks to a unique genealogy (father: human Protector of the Universe, Quasar / mother: artificial life form and sister to Adam Warlock, Kismet) and the gifts of an Arcturian cosmic Hawk God is gifted with extremely long life, enhanced senses, strength, flight, and energy manipulation abilities. He also possesses a form of precognition which is said to be a result of his living his life over and over again, with variations. This ability is the reason for his alias, "The One Who Knows," which he gives himself and uses ad nauseam. Sound like anyone we know in GOTG? =)
Anyhow, Starhawk's appearance, associations, and abilities all match the paternity data we're given in GOTG.
Mama Quill compares Peter to his father—an angel, composed of pure light (paraphrased). Which works poetically and/or literally.
Yondu and Starhawk are known associates.
It's easy to imagine space biker gang president Yondu thinking of a nerdy precog Starhawk as "a jackass."
It's also easy to see how Mama Quill would choose "Star-Lord" as a pet name for Peter given Starhawk's appearance and pedigree.
Of course, the details of an MCU Starhawk won't match the MU's. MCU's Yondu is certainly a gritty departure. Yondu was hired to bring Peter to Starhawk, but on an impulse (apparently) decides to initiate him into his gang and raise him as a Ravager. Presumably, this is not all that uncommon a Ravager practice. Now, we know the Ravager code is what it is, but if Peter's father could contact and contract Yondu, he could certainly find him again to follow up, right? So, what kind of B.S. explanation does Yondu give? Bailed on the job cuz Terra's too far? Accidentally airlocked him on the way back? Threw him back cuz he was too small? I don't think it matters, cuz either Yondu is in cahootz w Starhawk and following his instructions, motivated by a "Boy Named Sue" kinda impulse ("Yondu, I want you to pick up my son and raise him among your Ravagers. Try not to get him killed."), or Starhawk knew that Yondu would shanghai Peter and his life as a Ravager is part of a long-game plan. If he hadn't been a Ravager, on the trail of the Orb, Bad Things would have happened, right?
The trickiest/most interesting thing will be how he ends up siring Peter in the first place. The MU's origin of Peter Quill has his Spartoi father actually falling in love with Meredith Quill while he's stranded on Earth, right? So, perhaps Starhawk does the same, having crash-landed, stopped to regenerate, or perhaps looking to hide out on a backwater planet from enemies or authorities. Or, perhaps he gets himself there because he has a precog flash that it's where he's supposed to be, and, he falls for the Earthwoman who becomes Peter's mom.
But why does he leave? It *seems* like he doesn't run out on Mama Quill, because she tells Peter that his grandpa will take care of him until his father returns for him, as if there's a plan. Or maybe Mama's decided to give Peter a Story about his father, something to hope for and look forward to until he realizes that he doesn't need him anyway, because he's a no-good absentee deadbeat dad of a space Casanova.
Which brings me to another fun possibility…
STARFOX
I dismissed him pretty quickly when I first considered him, basically on his, well, lame-ness. What does Starfox (as we know him in the MU) bring to the table? On his own, he's more adventurer than hero, a good time is more appealing to him than a good cause, y'know? That'll happen when you're Eros, an Eternal of Titan and brother of Thanos. I always thought that sibling-wise, he was a really poor counterbalance to Thanos in powerset, if not philosophy, but maybe that's the point. And if you want to think of Starfox as *part* of a check on Thanos, the gap between them is filled by so many other characters—Captain Marvel, Drax, Adam Warlock, Moondragon, and so on—it's actually more fun and interesting this way.
I haven't kept close tabs on Starfox in the MU, but I seem to recall a reference to his power of persuasion (aka pelvic sorcery) finally landed him in some hot water with authorities on some planet or another. He's got the suite of Eternal power boosts, strength, durability, flight, and spaceworthiness, but he also gets to mess with other sentients' pleasure centers, and he doesn't have any trouble taking advantage of that ability. So, last I sorta-knew, he was keeping a lot profile somewhere in space. With all his dalliances, I don't recall reading of anyone stepping up to claim him as their father. Maybe he's shooting space-blanks? I think part of the recent Infinity storyline was about Thanos tracking down all his bastard children and eliminating them, right? Geez, Thanos has got more kids than Eros? Wack.
Anyhow, Starfox, an Eternal of Titan gifted with this power of persuasion, could definitely be described as an angel and full of light by anyone who was under his spell. If it *is* Starfox, I would kind of like him to be an opportunistic jackass, and as awful as it is, I think having him be a whirlwind affair for Mama Quill would make sense. Under his spell, she would only think the best of him, and believe everything he says and promises. So, perhaps he parties with her for a week or a month, on and off Earth, and when he learns or detects that Earth is on its way to being marked as ready for a higher form of war—maybe he runs afoul of SHIELD in the 70s?—he skedaddles to avoid the notice of his brother, who perhaps has killed every other Titanic Eternal long ago. Cuz, y'know… Thanos. That could partly explain why he might be such a jerk of a Casanova.
* Having Peter's dad be an Eternal of (some) Titan and brother to Thanos is disappointing to me because it punches a big hole in my personal favorite MCU Thanos origin theory, but, to be fair, the theory *is* a bit Earthican-egotistic, and would probably end up putting Earth in a lot of cosmic crosshairs if it all came out.
More later if I can find the time and fanboy gray matter…
The following is a ramble in which I sort of "walk-and-talk thru" the Starfox option. Maybe some detail-spoilers from the movie, but mostly just nerdy Marvel Universe (comics) talk. Not quite final or buttoned up, but hopefully I'll revisit before the second movie hits theaters. =)
Still, let me play Starfox out a bit more… If Eros is the brother of Thanos in the MCU I think his power set and levels would have to be pumped up. I always thought he was shortchanged in the MU as Thanos's brother. Sure, I get the Thanos/Eros dichotomy, but man, one becomes the champion and consort of Death, the other plays space-adventuring Casanova?
Eros should be pumped up as a champion of Life, someone/thing akin to Mar-Vell or Adam Warlock, y'know? Of course, Adam's cocoon in the Collector's Collection would indicate that the MCU doesn't need another Adam Warlock-type. but let's assume that cocoon doesn't hatch anytime soon. Or maybe that it houses The Magus, who is actually a non-Thanos opposite to Eros, not Adam.
Okay, so Eros's space philandering leads him to spend time on Earth in the 70s. He falls hard for Mama Quill and they make a home together until he learns that his brother has destroyed his homeworld (called Titan, but not Saturn's moon, somewhere farther aspace) and killed most if not all of their family. He knows Mama Quill is pregnant, but to protect her, their unborn child, and the Earth he has to leave and go into hiding. He promises to return when it's safe and do whatever he can to care for their child when he can.
So, thanks to his cosmic senses, champion of life Eros would know when Mama Quill is ill and passes on, and so contracts Yondu to pick the boy up.
I can imagine Captain Marvel or Adam Warlock type working with Yondu in many situations while keeping a low astro-profile, and could easily see space biker gang leader Yondu thinking of a stick-up-his-bum champion of life like Peter's dad as a "jackass." Yondu may have legitimately believed that he was saving young Peter from a boring life as a straight-laced do-gooder when he decided to keep him for the Ravagers instead of delivering him as contracted.
I wonder what Yondu's story was to Peter's dad about that. Maybe he just never showed up for a scheduled rendezvous/hand-off, leaving his client to believe that he'd failed to find Peter or just wasn't interested in the job. Of course, Eros, champion of life, knows that Yondu kept him, just as he'd planned. With Thanos still at large, Eros is still on the run or in hiding, so Peter would be safer with the Ravagers than by his side and with Yondu as his mentor and guardian would learn to become a capable cosmic scoundrel and survivor.
If Eros is Peter's father, does that explain the scan that describes his heritage as "something ancient, that we've never seen before?" Perhaps. If we place Titan in a remote part of MCU space, and their population as small, or intentionally hidden/isolationist. Sure, why not?
Or… We could place Thanos's Titanic genocide much deeper in the past, with Eros as an only or one of the few survivors, and already in hiding when he arrives on Earth and falls for Mama Quill.
In any case, Eros's bloodline could read as "something ancient" and unknown to Xandar.
Eros could certainly appear as an angel, composed of pure light. That could easily be literal for an extraterrestrial champion of life (imagine Mar-Vell or Adam as Eros), and metaphorical, for an Eternal of love, right?
So, sure, an adapted and upgraded Starfox/Eros in the MCU could definitely be Peter's dad. Does it mean anything significant to future plotlines and conflict? Well, they could try to play up the relationship to Thanos, but why bother? I don't see a lot of fun coming out of snippy dialogue between the two around family. They don't have enough common experience. The one strategic play I do see is that Peter's rare Eternal blood (and blood-relation to Thanos) could allow him to endure or use a device or plot concocted by Thanos to destroy his enemies because it would be keyed to his physiology. Peter's a demi-Titan, so he'd probably die, but hey, a hero is up for that, right?
They really can't call him "Starfox" tho, can they? "Eros" sort of works next to Thanos, but even that is kind of a tough sell. Maybe I should find/replace "Starfox" and "Eros" with "Captain Marvel" or "Starhawk" everywhere in this write-up instead?
