Only just found out that SHERLOCK is back on PBS (so out of the loop I am) so I have not yet seen the return/premiere. Just wanted to get some goofy theorizing out there before I watch the new eps…
*SPOILERS* from "The Reichenbach Fall" follow!
The end of this second series is so *obviously* an homage to the original second film—duh! I mean, Sherlock goes and sees the doctor (Molly) before confronting the threat to his human friends. In that meeting he engages the doctor in a mind meld (not shown, possibly a *sexy* mind meld). Then he faces off w Moriarty and finds himself in the no-win situation. He shares his last moments with (Captain) John and then dies, saving them all.
John will think that Molly's odd behavior—involving the manifestation of a second, familiar, personality, with an offputting selfish attitude, eager to share incisive observations that while accurate, come off as rude and thoughtless—is no more than just a strange brand of mourning. But when Mycroft comes to him, seeking Sherlock's Katra in Watson's mind, he will realize that Sherlock must have melded with Molly before his fall.
Then it will be up to John and Mycroft, w some help from Lestrade no doubt, to get Molly and Sherlock's rebuilt, resuscitated (thanks to Baskerville Genesis tech), comatose body back to Vulcan to return Holmes's Katra into a proper vessel, bringing him back to boring old life.
And of course, the Sherlock we saw at the end of "Fall" was *Ambassador* Sherlock from the original timeline.
=)
Keep on keepin on~
P.S. Take a look at the captains' final words over their friends…
Kirk: And yet it should be noted, in the midst of our sorrow, this death takes place in the shadow of new life, the sunrise of a new world; a world that our beloved comrade gave his life to protect and nourish. He did not feel this sacrifice a vain or empty one, and we will not debate his profound wisdom at these proceedings. Of my friend, I can only say this: of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most… human.
Watson: You... you told me once that you weren't a hero. Umm,there were times I didn't even think you were human. But let me tell you this, you were the best man, the most human... human being that I've ever known, and no-one will ever convince me that you told me a lie, so there. I was so alone, and I owe you so much.
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Friday, January 10, 2014
AGENTS OF SHIELD: WWNFD?
What would Nick Fury do?
Okay. You're in command of SHIELD, an intelligence agency dedicated to protecting humanity and the world. You've been made aware of threats by forces known, unknown, shadowy, and superhuman, intent on engaging in a "higher form of war." Thanks to a synchronicity of special individuals, events, and artifacts, you were able to help win the first spectacular engagement in such a war. Unfortunately, along the way, your secret, plan A, defense was revealed to be built on tech developed by or co-opted from the Bad Guys of earlier conflicts. When this is uncovered, the Good Guys (many of whom might individually be considered WMDs) take issue, apparently on moral grounds. So, the tech is destroyed, or at best, mothballed.
But how can you count on being AVENGERS-lucky in a consistent way when new, supernatural threats from unexpected quarters arise with greater and greater frequency? You can't.
We know that Fury wants Earth, humanity, but most especially, SHIELD to be ready, properly armed, to combat the powerful and dangerous forces involved when fighting a "higher form of war." But, he knows that the greatest advancements in tech and enhancement require taking steps that most men and women who believe themselves to be good, moral people, would not agree to. At least not in the light of day. So, how to take those steps without actually taking them?
Have the people who don't care about being seen taking those steps take them. The scientists and businessmen and despots and just plain villains who don't care about being branded "Bad Guys," or who consider themselves and their work beyond such a naive concept, they can develop and test the next generation of WMDs in the wild, unregulated, without oversight. SHIELD identifies and brands them as the enemy, a threat to security, the common good, even existence, then captures them and appropriates their advanced tech, weapons, and research.
Yes, such progress is made at the cost of others' well-being and safety, perhaps involving extortion, blackmail, mind control, and murder, but it's made. By the Bad Guys. Not SHIELD. But hey! Why throw away a perfectly functional Chitauri blaster, right? Why not reproduce and perfect the dimensional portal opener that accidentally trapped an unwitting guinea pig between dimensions? Why not use the super soldier serum knock-off since it's been perfected (after hundreds of mortal failures)? Some of these Bad Guys might be self-made, but others could be run from a disavowed, invisible arm of SHIELD, some branch granted its own initiative—kind of like a dark version of Coulson's team—branch that might produce something like Centipede.
So all this rambling means is that I like Centipede as a a straw man and incubator for SHIELD R&D. I would *LOVE* for it to have been masterminded by a SHIELD Agent from the future (who in our present might come to be called the Clairvoyant, no?). An Agent who survived a reality without Centipede and the stronger SHIELD that it enables, a SHIELD that is/would've been properly armed to deal with a catastrophic threat that destroys the world, or America, at least. =)
Maybe the future Agent is Nick himself, or a apocalypse-hardened Coulson, or… a Deathlok. Would *love* to see present and/or future Deathlok side-by-side w Cap in an episode or movie! =)
Hrm… Does "WWFD?" work better than "WWNFD?"
In a completely unrelated bit of theory crazy talk…
I would love for the ultimate conflict w Thanos (most likely involving a certain set of reality-shaping stones) to be resolved in part by Captain America seizing the gauntlet/staff/raincoat/whatnot of Infinity and using it to reverse all of the terror, tragedies, and deaths caused by the machinations of the Mad Titan and the Elders of the Universe, but, with just a little something extra—a little reality tweak for Cap himself, an order to the stones to rewrite the universe so that he could be reunited with his best friend Bucky Barnes, thusly rewriting a timeline that we may never see into the one that we do see in WINTER SOLDIER. That would be crazy, tho, right?
Keep on keepin on~
Okay. You're in command of SHIELD, an intelligence agency dedicated to protecting humanity and the world. You've been made aware of threats by forces known, unknown, shadowy, and superhuman, intent on engaging in a "higher form of war." Thanks to a synchronicity of special individuals, events, and artifacts, you were able to help win the first spectacular engagement in such a war. Unfortunately, along the way, your secret, plan A, defense was revealed to be built on tech developed by or co-opted from the Bad Guys of earlier conflicts. When this is uncovered, the Good Guys (many of whom might individually be considered WMDs) take issue, apparently on moral grounds. So, the tech is destroyed, or at best, mothballed.
But how can you count on being AVENGERS-lucky in a consistent way when new, supernatural threats from unexpected quarters arise with greater and greater frequency? You can't.
We know that Fury wants Earth, humanity, but most especially, SHIELD to be ready, properly armed, to combat the powerful and dangerous forces involved when fighting a "higher form of war." But, he knows that the greatest advancements in tech and enhancement require taking steps that most men and women who believe themselves to be good, moral people, would not agree to. At least not in the light of day. So, how to take those steps without actually taking them?
Have the people who don't care about being seen taking those steps take them. The scientists and businessmen and despots and just plain villains who don't care about being branded "Bad Guys," or who consider themselves and their work beyond such a naive concept, they can develop and test the next generation of WMDs in the wild, unregulated, without oversight. SHIELD identifies and brands them as the enemy, a threat to security, the common good, even existence, then captures them and appropriates their advanced tech, weapons, and research.
Yes, such progress is made at the cost of others' well-being and safety, perhaps involving extortion, blackmail, mind control, and murder, but it's made. By the Bad Guys. Not SHIELD. But hey! Why throw away a perfectly functional Chitauri blaster, right? Why not reproduce and perfect the dimensional portal opener that accidentally trapped an unwitting guinea pig between dimensions? Why not use the super soldier serum knock-off since it's been perfected (after hundreds of mortal failures)? Some of these Bad Guys might be self-made, but others could be run from a disavowed, invisible arm of SHIELD, some branch granted its own initiative—kind of like a dark version of Coulson's team—branch that might produce something like Centipede.
So all this rambling means is that I like Centipede as a a straw man and incubator for SHIELD R&D. I would *LOVE* for it to have been masterminded by a SHIELD Agent from the future (who in our present might come to be called the Clairvoyant, no?). An Agent who survived a reality without Centipede and the stronger SHIELD that it enables, a SHIELD that is/would've been properly armed to deal with a catastrophic threat that destroys the world, or America, at least. =)
Maybe the future Agent is Nick himself, or a apocalypse-hardened Coulson, or… a Deathlok. Would *love* to see present and/or future Deathlok side-by-side w Cap in an episode or movie! =)
Hrm… Does "WWFD?" work better than "WWNFD?"
In a completely unrelated bit of theory crazy talk…
I would love for the ultimate conflict w Thanos (most likely involving a certain set of reality-shaping stones) to be resolved in part by Captain America seizing the gauntlet/staff/raincoat/whatnot of Infinity and using it to reverse all of the terror, tragedies, and deaths caused by the machinations of the Mad Titan and the Elders of the Universe, but, with just a little something extra—a little reality tweak for Cap himself, an order to the stones to rewrite the universe so that he could be reunited with his best friend Bucky Barnes, thusly rewriting a timeline that we may never see into the one that we do see in WINTER SOLDIER. That would be crazy, tho, right?
Keep on keepin on~
Tuesday, January 07, 2014
AGENTS OF SHIELD: "The Magical Place"
A *SPOILER*ful ramble on events and theories inspired by the events of this episode. If you have not watched, turn back now!
First off, a great episode and such a great performance by Gregg of Coulson in a wide spectrum of distress, anger, and determination, all the while maintaining his Coulsonity. Coulsonitude. Coulsonicity? Did I miss or forget Fitz's transformation into Dark Fitz/Ward, Jr.? An interesting development, tho, seeing Fitz imprinting on Ward and Skye upon May, wardrobe-wise, at least. Would've liked to have seen more from this "thing we've never done before" with the seven drones/dwarfs in the opening bit.
The series of surgeries IS a bit of a let-down, but the visual was so spectacularly creepy that I do NOT mind. I'm also hoping that the tech involved will lead to some dark places—Zola? Hydra? Skull/Soviet Winter Soldier techniques?
Speaking of which… I think this notion of secrets kept for our own safety/security, aka "Trust the system," is going to continue to develop/unravel and lead into the world and story of WINTER SOLDIER. What would the logical fallout of a "who watches the watchmen" storyline be in the Marvel Universe now? Hrm… An objective artificial intelligence set up as an overseer of all covert and superhuman ops, perhaps?
Regarding the series of surgeries revelation. On one level, I think it's a smart solution/response to all the fan guessing/theorizing Out There. Deliver an explanation that can go to completely new places—perhaps a doctor Octavius or Pym or Connors or Strange was involved with those surgeries. On another level, we're still dealing with cover stories and implanted memories. Who knows how many layers of those there may be? Perhaps Doc Book's own memories were edited to match what Coulson recalled via the machine, eh? This idea opens up the possibility of circling back to fan faves—LMD, Infinity Formula, TimeLord regeneration, or a Valhallan spirit returned to its resuscitated human body.
Had some more crazy flashes of insight regarding the Clairvoyant…
He sees DREAMS? If that's not just flowery prose from Raina, then we may be talking mystic. A mystic who doesn't like physical contact. Hrm… Would be interesting to bring Dr. Strange in as a consultant in AGENTS, but that's probably out of sync w some Marvel master plan, right?
Still, maybe it IS just flowery prose. I'd kind of prefer it, because I *really* want the Clairvoyant to be someone (preferably someone we've already met and know) who got zapped back to the past from a possible future. Either he was Level 8+ or he pocketed a SHIELD sports almanac and is taking advantage of every scrap of info to set up an anti-SHIELD force ("Trust the system"). Maybe he jumped back intentionally, to prevent some catastrophic event/mission gone wrong. Or maybe he fell back sometime during the events of DARK WORLD, sucked into a convergence portal.
I'm still waiting to see some significant follow-thru on DARK WORLD portal jumping and weird physics. Who's curbing that Jotunheim pooch?
He knows personal things about our man Coulson, but can't see into his mind/read his fate like he apparently can other people. Perhaps he's a Coulson from the future.
The revealed insistence by Nick Fury that Coulson be saved, even against his own spoken "Let me die!" wishes, got me thinking that Fury brought Coulson back out of more than sentimentality and friendship (altho those are bonus factors, no doubt), but because he either knows that Coulson lives to see some event or events in the future, or knows that the scientifically resurrected Coulson will prove the perfect soldier against this Clairvoyant. In either case, how would Fury know? Because HE is responsible for the Clairvoyant. And MAYbe, the Clairvoyant is a future Fury, zapped back in time via manipulation of Asgardian superscience (portal fun).
How much do we know about Coul (as in Coulson's dad)? Was he in intel? Military? And his mother? I was really hoping that he'd be revealed to be Skye's father (or mother, Agent Philomena? =). Now I'm worried and kind of dreading the possibility that Raina is her mother. She talked about using the machine and I know it's her M.O., but seemed to be very sympathetic to Coulson's situation, as if she could actually relate. Having had secrets kept from her by someone. Perhaps she was a SHIELD agent, had her daughter, but for some reason or other couldn't be allowed to keep/raise her, so she was retconned. The Clairvoyant at some point helped her regain that memory, which of course would easily turn her against all things SHIELD.
Who's this Van Chat guy? How many other guys are in his line of work?
First off, a great episode and such a great performance by Gregg of Coulson in a wide spectrum of distress, anger, and determination, all the while maintaining his Coulsonity. Coulsonitude. Coulsonicity? Did I miss or forget Fitz's transformation into Dark Fitz/Ward, Jr.? An interesting development, tho, seeing Fitz imprinting on Ward and Skye upon May, wardrobe-wise, at least. Would've liked to have seen more from this "thing we've never done before" with the seven drones/dwarfs in the opening bit.
The series of surgeries IS a bit of a let-down, but the visual was so spectacularly creepy that I do NOT mind. I'm also hoping that the tech involved will lead to some dark places—Zola? Hydra? Skull/Soviet Winter Soldier techniques?
Speaking of which… I think this notion of secrets kept for our own safety/security, aka "Trust the system," is going to continue to develop/unravel and lead into the world and story of WINTER SOLDIER. What would the logical fallout of a "who watches the watchmen" storyline be in the Marvel Universe now? Hrm… An objective artificial intelligence set up as an overseer of all covert and superhuman ops, perhaps?
Regarding the series of surgeries revelation. On one level, I think it's a smart solution/response to all the fan guessing/theorizing Out There. Deliver an explanation that can go to completely new places—perhaps a doctor Octavius or Pym or Connors or Strange was involved with those surgeries. On another level, we're still dealing with cover stories and implanted memories. Who knows how many layers of those there may be? Perhaps Doc Book's own memories were edited to match what Coulson recalled via the machine, eh? This idea opens up the possibility of circling back to fan faves—LMD, Infinity Formula, TimeLord regeneration, or a Valhallan spirit returned to its resuscitated human body.
Had some more crazy flashes of insight regarding the Clairvoyant…
He sees DREAMS? If that's not just flowery prose from Raina, then we may be talking mystic. A mystic who doesn't like physical contact. Hrm… Would be interesting to bring Dr. Strange in as a consultant in AGENTS, but that's probably out of sync w some Marvel master plan, right?
Still, maybe it IS just flowery prose. I'd kind of prefer it, because I *really* want the Clairvoyant to be someone (preferably someone we've already met and know) who got zapped back to the past from a possible future. Either he was Level 8+ or he pocketed a SHIELD sports almanac and is taking advantage of every scrap of info to set up an anti-SHIELD force ("Trust the system"). Maybe he jumped back intentionally, to prevent some catastrophic event/mission gone wrong. Or maybe he fell back sometime during the events of DARK WORLD, sucked into a convergence portal.
I'm still waiting to see some significant follow-thru on DARK WORLD portal jumping and weird physics. Who's curbing that Jotunheim pooch?
He knows personal things about our man Coulson, but can't see into his mind/read his fate like he apparently can other people. Perhaps he's a Coulson from the future.
The revealed insistence by Nick Fury that Coulson be saved, even against his own spoken "Let me die!" wishes, got me thinking that Fury brought Coulson back out of more than sentimentality and friendship (altho those are bonus factors, no doubt), but because he either knows that Coulson lives to see some event or events in the future, or knows that the scientifically resurrected Coulson will prove the perfect soldier against this Clairvoyant. In either case, how would Fury know? Because HE is responsible for the Clairvoyant. And MAYbe, the Clairvoyant is a future Fury, zapped back in time via manipulation of Asgardian superscience (portal fun).
How much do we know about Coul (as in Coulson's dad)? Was he in intel? Military? And his mother? I was really hoping that he'd be revealed to be Skye's father (or mother, Agent Philomena? =). Now I'm worried and kind of dreading the possibility that Raina is her mother. She talked about using the machine and I know it's her M.O., but seemed to be very sympathetic to Coulson's situation, as if she could actually relate. Having had secrets kept from her by someone. Perhaps she was a SHIELD agent, had her daughter, but for some reason or other couldn't be allowed to keep/raise her, so she was retconned. The Clairvoyant at some point helped her regain that memory, which of course would easily turn her against all things SHIELD.
Who's this Van Chat guy? How many other guys are in his line of work?
Those raids on Centipede facilities/stations cannot be surprise to the Clairvoyant. They are at least acceptable losses or disposable. At best, they are part of a plan, perhaps to get Centipede agents held as prisoners in SHIELD facilities.
Does anyone think that Raina actually minds being taken to "SHIELD headquarters" (Hand's words, I believe)?
Allright, I could go on and on, and probably will, but not just now. =)
Keep on keepin on~
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Happy Frickin Holidaze =)
(Jump to the postscript for basic instructions and skip w the pleasantries. =)
Oh!—You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, I'm telling you why:
It's just not a very good look for you. So, stop it already.
=)
Season's Greetings, Programs!
Let's see…
I'm already getting annoyed with having to walk all careful-like on icy sidewalks…
My Tivo tells me there's a DOCTOR WHO special on BBC America next week…
And IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE is playing at the Brattle!
You lucky people—that must mean it's time for a computerized Santamaclaustic funtimeparty in a browser window! Mixed and baked by the weird quiet guy who doesn't write analog cards and has two thumbs!
Umm, you couldn't see it, but right then, I just sorta puffed out my chest, cheezily beamed at the monitor, and pointed at myself, thumbs-ily.
So, please point your look-at-the-internets-on-your-computer* here to collect your major award for failing to commit my email to your spam folder! That or for being my bestest friend in the whole wide world web. Whichever.
And in the spirit of that enigmatic uncertainty, I hope all is well-to-brilliant with you and yours and wish you a Happy Frickin Frackin Holidaze!
Keep on keepin on~
* The Claus-ness is Flash-y, so I'm afraid your iStuff and some mobile-oids won't play it properly. You will need a web browser with the Flash plug-in. Apologies from 2008.
P.S. Just the facts to get started w the 2013 Holidaze Santacular…
1. Point your webs browser here. Note that these Santa bits feature a music-ish-al component, so you'll want your speakers or 'phones ready to bleep. Also, this x-mas-perience is Flash driven, sorry iFolks.
2. CLICK to advance from the splash screen to the intro and instructions. Read the yadda yadda if you like.
3. CLICK TO START playing MAD SANTA.
4. At the top of the screen, Santa will drop explosive gifts from the rooftop. At the bottom of the screen, you have to catch the gifts in your stockings or suffer a gift-splosion. Position the stockings using your mouse (the stockings will follow your lead).
5. To win, you must complete four (4) rounds of Santa's gift droppings. Heh. Droppings. To play again, you have to refresh the page.
6. If you miss a gift-bomb, you lose a stocking and start the round over again. If you lose all your stockings, you lose, you loser. Click to try again. Loser.
7. Please direct any grievances or accolades to this address. Thank you, Merry Crystal Skulls, and Happy Twenty for Teens!
=)
Oh!—You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, I'm telling you why:
It's just not a very good look for you. So, stop it already.
=)
Season's Greetings, Programs!
Let's see…
I'm already getting annoyed with having to walk all careful-like on icy sidewalks…
My Tivo tells me there's a DOCTOR WHO special on BBC America next week…
And IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE is playing at the Brattle!
You lucky people—that must mean it's time for a computerized Santamaclaustic funtimeparty in a browser window! Mixed and baked by the weird quiet guy who doesn't write analog cards and has two thumbs!
Umm, you couldn't see it, but right then, I just sorta puffed out my chest, cheezily beamed at the monitor, and pointed at myself, thumbs-ily.
So, please point your look-at-the-internets-on-your-computer* here to collect your major award for failing to commit my email to your spam folder! That or for being my bestest friend in the whole wide world web. Whichever.
And in the spirit of that enigmatic uncertainty, I hope all is well-to-brilliant with you and yours and wish you a Happy Frickin Frackin Holidaze!
Keep on keepin on~
* The Claus-ness is Flash-y, so I'm afraid your iStuff and some mobile-oids won't play it properly. You will need a web browser with the Flash plug-in. Apologies from 2008.
P.S. Just the facts to get started w the 2013 Holidaze Santacular…
1. Point your webs browser here. Note that these Santa bits feature a music-ish-al component, so you'll want your speakers or 'phones ready to bleep. Also, this x-mas-perience is Flash driven, sorry iFolks.
2. CLICK to advance from the splash screen to the intro and instructions. Read the yadda yadda if you like.
3. CLICK TO START playing MAD SANTA.
4. At the top of the screen, Santa will drop explosive gifts from the rooftop. At the bottom of the screen, you have to catch the gifts in your stockings or suffer a gift-splosion. Position the stockings using your mouse (the stockings will follow your lead).
5. To win, you must complete four (4) rounds of Santa's gift droppings. Heh. Droppings. To play again, you have to refresh the page.
6. If you miss a gift-bomb, you lose a stocking and start the round over again. If you lose all your stockings, you lose, you loser. Click to try again. Loser.
7. Please direct any grievances or accolades to this address. Thank you, Merry Crystal Skulls, and Happy Twenty for Teens!
=)
Monday, November 11, 2013
Update: The Marvel Universe after THOR: THE DARK WORLD…
Saw it again tonight. =)
I've got some SPOILER additional comments and corrections to my previous post… If you haven't seen THOR 2 yet, turn back now, for here there be SPOILERS!~
When Odin fills Thor and Jane in on the Aether, he mentions that there are relics that survived from before the creation of this universe, and the Aether is one of them. He mentions that the other relics all took the form of stone, but the Aether is fluid. He's flipping thru the Asgardian storybook while explaining, and the imagery might actually describe the stones. There is a rainbow of columns on one left-hand page, with items or runes maybe at the top of them. I'm sure someone must've gotten a screenshot out of a screening by now, but I'm guessing that they don't give anything significant up, or the Asgardians would already know it. Maybe a puzzle of some kind that reveals the locations of the stones? MAYbe? But I didn't notice anything that would obviously be that.
Would've been sweet to see a gilded animated GIF of the gauntlet on one of those Asgardian webpages. =)
Yeah, so I was wrong about the first epilogue. Maybe I was too distracted by the notion of The Collector that I didn't properly hear/listen to Volstagg's dialogue. He definitely says that Odin thinks it's too dangerous to keep TWO of the INFINITY STONES so close to each other and when he says that, he is referring to the Aether and the Tesseract. Cool, but also, Blerg.
This seems to mean that the gauntlet that we saw in the first THOR does not have anything to do with the Infinity Stones/Gems (seems like the movie universe may be calling them stones). Which is not to say that it isn't immensely powerful, cuz it *is* kept in Odin's weapons vault after all, but it probably doesn't give its wearer complete control over the existence the way the Infinity Gauntlet does.
Altho, I suppose at some point predating Bor's rule of Asgard, and the rebellion of the Dark Elves, someone might have possessed the Aether, the Tesseract, and the four other pre-existence relics/stones and fashioned the gauntlet to channel and combine their powers. Some great ancient powers must have defeated him and separated the actual relics from the gauntlet and gems (the gauntlet in the first THOR movies has gems embedded in it).
It really *shouldn't* be the Infinity Gauntlet in the vault. It *is* too dangerous to have two gems in close proximity, much less all six together in the gauntlet, so really, that thing we saw in the vault can't be the Infinity Gauntlet as we know it, because that would be just too plain irresponsible, right? But… Maybe the gems can't be removed from the Gauntlet?
Maybe it fell into this universe from a parallel one. Heh. The SPIDER-MAN, FF, and/or X-MEN movie universe! =)
Or, maybe it's a paradox and is never created or destroyed, but exists in a closed loop in time. Sometime in the future, someone—probably Thanos, perhaps Nebula? let's say Thanos—will don the gauntlet and it will draw the six relics (and/or their power) into its gems and make its wielder all-powerful. When he decides to remake the universe to his own liking, he goes back to the beginning, before the Big Bang, but is pursued by the universe's champions (or they are kept alive by him/his ego, to witness his righteous triumph and creation), and they defeat/outsmart him and remove the gauntlet. One of the champions (I'd say Cap, if we're looking for will and purity of heart) uses the power of the gauntlet to trigger the Big Bang as it was meant to occur, return the champions from whence they came, and then scatter the six relics across existence. depowering it in the process. And thusly do we learn that the Gauntlet (and Thanos) will be, and always will have been, instrumental in the creation of the universe in the first place! Done and done! =)
When Odin fills Thor and Jane in on the Aether, he mentions that there are relics that survived from before the creation of this universe, and the Aether is one of them. He mentions that the other relics all took the form of stone, but the Aether is fluid. He's flipping thru the Asgardian storybook while explaining, and the imagery might actually describe the stones. There is a rainbow of columns on one left-hand page, with items or runes maybe at the top of them. I'm sure someone must've gotten a screenshot out of a screening by now, but I'm guessing that they don't give anything significant up, or the Asgardians would already know it. Maybe a puzzle of some kind that reveals the locations of the stones? MAYbe? But I didn't notice anything that would obviously be that.
Would've been sweet to see a gilded animated GIF of the gauntlet on one of those Asgardian webpages. =)
Yeah, so I was wrong about the first epilogue. Maybe I was too distracted by the notion of The Collector that I didn't properly hear/listen to Volstagg's dialogue. He definitely says that Odin thinks it's too dangerous to keep TWO of the INFINITY STONES so close to each other and when he says that, he is referring to the Aether and the Tesseract. Cool, but also, Blerg.
This seems to mean that the gauntlet that we saw in the first THOR does not have anything to do with the Infinity Stones/Gems (seems like the movie universe may be calling them stones). Which is not to say that it isn't immensely powerful, cuz it *is* kept in Odin's weapons vault after all, but it probably doesn't give its wearer complete control over the existence the way the Infinity Gauntlet does.
Altho, I suppose at some point predating Bor's rule of Asgard, and the rebellion of the Dark Elves, someone might have possessed the Aether, the Tesseract, and the four other pre-existence relics/stones and fashioned the gauntlet to channel and combine their powers. Some great ancient powers must have defeated him and separated the actual relics from the gauntlet and gems (the gauntlet in the first THOR movies has gems embedded in it).
It really *shouldn't* be the Infinity Gauntlet in the vault. It *is* too dangerous to have two gems in close proximity, much less all six together in the gauntlet, so really, that thing we saw in the vault can't be the Infinity Gauntlet as we know it, because that would be just too plain irresponsible, right? But… Maybe the gems can't be removed from the Gauntlet?
Maybe it fell into this universe from a parallel one. Heh. The SPIDER-MAN, FF, and/or X-MEN movie universe! =)
Or, maybe it's a paradox and is never created or destroyed, but exists in a closed loop in time. Sometime in the future, someone—probably Thanos, perhaps Nebula? let's say Thanos—will don the gauntlet and it will draw the six relics (and/or their power) into its gems and make its wielder all-powerful. When he decides to remake the universe to his own liking, he goes back to the beginning, before the Big Bang, but is pursued by the universe's champions (or they are kept alive by him/his ego, to witness his righteous triumph and creation), and they defeat/outsmart him and remove the gauntlet. One of the champions (I'd say Cap, if we're looking for will and purity of heart) uses the power of the gauntlet to trigger the Big Bang as it was meant to occur, return the champions from whence they came, and then scatter the six relics across existence. depowering it in the process. And thusly do we learn that the Gauntlet (and Thanos) will be, and always will have been, instrumental in the creation of the universe in the first place! Done and done! =)
Keep on keepin on~
Sunday, November 10, 2013
The Marvel Universe after THOR: THE DARK WORLD…
Saw THOR: THE DARK WORLD yesterday and enjoyed it mucho. A good story, a new/original (as far as my Marvel comics memory can recall) threat, and some great interaction between Thor and Loki. A very cool-looking and interesting movie-realization of the dark elves, particularly Malekith (a clever way to re-create the comic's version's harlequin appearance) and Kurse/Algrim, whom I first met under Simonson's watch. Better, funner writing than the first movie, and some great fun with wormholes. =)
That's as much as I'm gonna jot right now in the way of a "review." What I really want to get to before I forget anything are the epilogues…
Beware. What follows is a SPOILER-ful rambling on the epilogues of the second THOR film…
I was *really* hoping to get a tease of Coulson sucking down some mead and exchanging headbutts with Viking heroes in Valhalla, or haunting the wastes of Niffelheim, perhaps trying to get a message to one of the Asgardian warriors. Alas, no. But then, any Asgardian time of Coulson's should've been spent in the past compared to the timeline of this movie anyway. O well.
EPILOGUE 1.
We see Volstagg and Sif meet The Collector, played by Benicio Del Toro (! =), to deliver to him one of the Infinity Gems. Apparently Odin has decided that it is too dangerous to keep the gems of the Infinity Gauntlet in the same vault as the Tesseract. On the surface, good thinking, as Asgard and Odin's weapons vault have been compromised or nearly so twice within two years.
The Collector is an Elder of the Universe, one of the I-can't-remember-how-many longest lived beings in the cosmos, each of whom in their old age has become unofficial patron alien of some aspect of existence or another. The Collector collects. He prizes endangered and one-of-a-kind items or beings of the cosmos. In the comic book universe he maintains a world of various artificial environments that are homes to samples or the last of thousands of species. In the comic book universe, the Elders for a time were the keepers of the Infinity Gems and the Collector possessed the yellow Reality gem.
In the THOR epilogue, the case that contains the gem glows red from the inside. The red stone was identified in the comics as the Power gem. The Collector accepts the gem and remarks on the wise decision to separate the gems, from each other and the Tesseract, apparently. Once his guests have gone, the Collector says to himself, "One down… Five to go."
The container for the gem is a little confusing to me. If I didn't know about the Infinity Gems and Gauntlet, the case for the gem would appear to be a miniature version of the containment device that once held the Aether (two black stones/boxes, with the red glowing Aether permitted to radiate from a tight space between them). In the movie universe, is the an Infinity Gem meant to be made of Aether? Since we've already seen the Gauntlet in the vault in the first THOR movie, that really doesn't work for me. I'm pretty certain that Sif or Volstagg called it an "Infinity Gem" ("Infinity Stone?"), too, and referred to there being more than one. So, I think the visual, for the un-Marvel-initiated, might be confusing.
It *would* be kind of interesting to have the gems created or materialize over the course of several Marvel movies, tho, but that would require making them separate and distinct from the Infinity Gauntlet that cameo'd in the first THOR. Why bother, right?
And… The Collector knows there are five more. So yeah. Screw the Aether-as-gem notion. Just a not-very-well-thought-out (or maybe too-overthought on my part) visual design coincidence, right?
Kind of a reach, tacking this on to the end of this movie. I mean, there's no real plot connection between what happens in the film and the events of this epilogue. That's kinda disappointing, but maybe I guess it's just practical, and good use of a now-established channel for tipping fans off about activities that happen behind the scenes, y'know?
Bringing the Collector in sets off my GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY alarm. And for me, it also puts some more movie-time/distance between the present and an ultimate confrontation with Thanos and that is a Good Thing as far as I'm concerned. Thanos is one of The Biggest Bads, and throwing the Avengers and Guardians at him will be awesome, but best done after they've gone a few rounds with other bads (Ultron and the Elders).
EPILOGUE 2.
Thor beams in from Asgard to Jane Foster's apartment in London and they immediately smooch it up. Sorry, Sif.
Then, a cut to the abandoned shipping warehouse where the first Nine-Worlds-Conjunction wormholes appeared, shipping containers now stacked normally. A small flock of pigeons zips across the scene, followed by a bounding Asgardian beastie (I thought it came from Loki's homeland, the realm of the frost giants, Jotunheim, but not certain) chasing after them and trying to snap a few up in its jaw.
I suspect that the AGENTS OF SHIELD will end up being assigned clean-up on this little fella. Might be an opportunity to get more of the Coulson backstory if it is in fact entangled with an afterlife stay in Asgard.
Hrm… Another way to get the AGENTS more tightly woven to movie events would be to have them stumble upon one of the other Gems. Ohhh… The Soul Gem! That might be a final piece to a Coulson puzzle… OR a VISION puzzle! Wack!
How would they end up working a Gem case? An Asgardian delegation to one of the other Elders/Gem trustee might be intercepted or randomly attacked by enemies of Asgard, or perhaps the Centipede guys, or AIM or HYDRA. If they're capable of hacking SHIELD they might get some up-to-date intel that with some ESPer and Extremis help could give them the advantage of surprise in an attack on a couple of Asgardians in Midgard airspace, right? Anyhow, the Asgardians would smite them, but perhaps not without losing their package.
But to whom on Earth would Odin entrust such an object of power?
How about Doctor Strange? =)
Keep on keepin on~
* November 10, 2013. After a second screening, I found that I missed or misunderstood some of the dialogue in the first epilogue. For updated crazy talk based on a better understanding check out this post. The main of the error is that Volstagg (and the Marvel movie universe) take both the Aether and the Tesseract to be Infinity Stones. Note that it does not undo a lot of my more fun speculation here. =)
That's as much as I'm gonna jot right now in the way of a "review." What I really want to get to before I forget anything are the epilogues…
Beware. What follows is a SPOILER-ful rambling on the epilogues of the second THOR film…
I was *really* hoping to get a tease of Coulson sucking down some mead and exchanging headbutts with Viking heroes in Valhalla, or haunting the wastes of Niffelheim, perhaps trying to get a message to one of the Asgardian warriors. Alas, no. But then, any Asgardian time of Coulson's should've been spent in the past compared to the timeline of this movie anyway. O well.
EPILOGUE 1.
We see Volstagg and Sif meet The Collector, played by Benicio Del Toro (! =), to deliver to him one of the Infinity Gems. Apparently Odin has decided that it is too dangerous to keep the gems of the Infinity Gauntlet in the same vault as the Tesseract. On the surface, good thinking, as Asgard and Odin's weapons vault have been compromised or nearly so twice within two years.
The Collector is an Elder of the Universe, one of the I-can't-remember-how-many longest lived beings in the cosmos, each of whom in their old age has become unofficial patron alien of some aspect of existence or another. The Collector collects. He prizes endangered and one-of-a-kind items or beings of the cosmos. In the comic book universe he maintains a world of various artificial environments that are homes to samples or the last of thousands of species. In the comic book universe, the Elders for a time were the keepers of the Infinity Gems and the Collector possessed the yellow Reality gem.
In the THOR epilogue, the case that contains the gem glows red from the inside. The red stone was identified in the comics as the Power gem. The Collector accepts the gem and remarks on the wise decision to separate the gems, from each other and the Tesseract, apparently. Once his guests have gone, the Collector says to himself, "One down… Five to go."
The container for the gem is a little confusing to me. If I didn't know about the Infinity Gems and Gauntlet, the case for the gem would appear to be a miniature version of the containment device that once held the Aether (two black stones/boxes, with the red glowing Aether permitted to radiate from a tight space between them). In the movie universe, is the an Infinity Gem meant to be made of Aether? Since we've already seen the Gauntlet in the vault in the first THOR movie, that really doesn't work for me. I'm pretty certain that Sif or Volstagg called it an "Infinity Gem" ("Infinity Stone?"), too, and referred to there being more than one. So, I think the visual, for the un-Marvel-initiated, might be confusing.
It *would* be kind of interesting to have the gems created or materialize over the course of several Marvel movies, tho, but that would require making them separate and distinct from the Infinity Gauntlet that cameo'd in the first THOR. Why bother, right?
And… The Collector knows there are five more. So yeah. Screw the Aether-as-gem notion. Just a not-very-well-thought-out (or maybe too-overthought on my part) visual design coincidence, right?
Kind of a reach, tacking this on to the end of this movie. I mean, there's no real plot connection between what happens in the film and the events of this epilogue. That's kinda disappointing, but maybe I guess it's just practical, and good use of a now-established channel for tipping fans off about activities that happen behind the scenes, y'know?
Bringing the Collector in sets off my GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY alarm. And for me, it also puts some more movie-time/distance between the present and an ultimate confrontation with Thanos and that is a Good Thing as far as I'm concerned. Thanos is one of The Biggest Bads, and throwing the Avengers and Guardians at him will be awesome, but best done after they've gone a few rounds with other bads (Ultron and the Elders).
EPILOGUE 2.
Thor beams in from Asgard to Jane Foster's apartment in London and they immediately smooch it up. Sorry, Sif.
Then, a cut to the abandoned shipping warehouse where the first Nine-Worlds-Conjunction wormholes appeared, shipping containers now stacked normally. A small flock of pigeons zips across the scene, followed by a bounding Asgardian beastie (I thought it came from Loki's homeland, the realm of the frost giants, Jotunheim, but not certain) chasing after them and trying to snap a few up in its jaw.
I suspect that the AGENTS OF SHIELD will end up being assigned clean-up on this little fella. Might be an opportunity to get more of the Coulson backstory if it is in fact entangled with an afterlife stay in Asgard.
Hrm… Another way to get the AGENTS more tightly woven to movie events would be to have them stumble upon one of the other Gems. Ohhh… The Soul Gem! That might be a final piece to a Coulson puzzle… OR a VISION puzzle! Wack!
How would they end up working a Gem case? An Asgardian delegation to one of the other Elders/Gem trustee might be intercepted or randomly attacked by enemies of Asgard, or perhaps the Centipede guys, or AIM or HYDRA. If they're capable of hacking SHIELD they might get some up-to-date intel that with some ESPer and Extremis help could give them the advantage of surprise in an attack on a couple of Asgardians in Midgard airspace, right? Anyhow, the Asgardians would smite them, but perhaps not without losing their package.
But to whom on Earth would Odin entrust such an object of power?
How about Doctor Strange? =)
Keep on keepin on~
* November 10, 2013. After a second screening, I found that I missed or misunderstood some of the dialogue in the first epilogue. For updated crazy talk based on a better understanding check out this post. The main of the error is that Volstagg (and the Marvel movie universe) take both the Aether and the Tesseract to be Infinity Stones. Note that it does not undo a lot of my more fun speculation here. =)
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