i feel like the only person on the planet who bloody hates sadie sink as jean grey. and it’s not just the actress (but seriously can we stop casting based on hair colour and who’s popular) but also the characterisation, the backstory and the abilities. it’s like they’ve taken scott’s backstory, slapped a random personality on it and called it jean grey. and i don’t think jean has ever body jumped like that ?? that was less mind control and more possession. it’s so stupid. i’m not excited for the mcu x-men at all. can we have one comic accurate adaptation?
it was still a good film and i’m sure i’ll get used to it and stop comparing it to the actual jean grey eventually but omg people defending it are somehow more annoying 😭😭 yes jean did absorb a star and killed billions of people under the influence of the DARK PHOENIX and she promptly KILLED HERSELF so that the dark phoenix couldn’t cause more destruction so the argument that the threatening to kill thousands of people isn’t ooc for jean is so unbelievably stupid when jean’s WHOLE THING is compassion and self-sacrifice. yes almost ALL of the x-men are morally grey and guilt-ridden and traumatised but jean is honestly the worst person to choose as the edgy murderous teen. AND I DONT EVEN LIKE HER AS A CHARACTER THAT MUCH LOL. just say you like this version of jean instead of tryna justify it
literally why are people so mad that this episode was about billy and not about agatha and rio. like who caaaaares !!! it was a good episode!!! if we never got a back story for billy non-comic readers would be so confused.
like, i am an agathario fan as much as the next lesbian, but romance isnt the be all and end all of story telling. i appreciated the building of the somewhat-familial relationship between billy and agatha, and the recontextualizing of said relationship.
that being said i definitely want them (agatha and rio) to have SOME kind of intimate scene bc i wanna see those hot women kiss
it won’t happen but i hope steve is back in a ‘when he went back to the past he actually saved bucky as soon as he could and lowkey fucked up the timeline but he doesn’t regret it’ way bc that is the clear and obvious conclusion to the mcu steve rogers arc. it’s always been about bucky and it’s always been about steve doing what is morally right, not what he’s ordered to do. he saw an opportunity to erase all the suffering bucky endured that steve blames himself for (plus tony’s, wanda’s etc etc’s sufferingh and he took it. even if i remove my gay goggles and i say sure hypothetically peggy isn’t a lesbian and steve isnt gay, that is still the obvious progression of his story because the entire steve rogers trilogy was about that
i think it was confirmed (question mark?) that captain hydra is going to be in doomsday. i don’t even know. i couldn’t even guess what they’re trying to do here. i just hope it reverses endgame’s damage to steve’s character AND doesn’t take away captain america from CAPTAIN AMERICA. sam is captain america and i don’t want them touching that
honestly i think a lot of that trailer is not going to be included in the actual film LOL so i hope that “hey pal” is coming from a steve in the 50s sat in his little kitchen with bucky by his side (this is not gonna happen but the time travel is obviously very possible basically guaranteed tbh)
this is a rlly fucking long post i just wanted to yap
hiiiiii i just got back from thunderbolts* and I wanted to share my thoughts.
Non-spoilers: Its so fucking good man. If you don't know anything about the comics or Bob in general, keep it that way, don't look anything up beforehand. (though I went in knowing pretty much everything about Bob and still had a blast). also you MUST stay for the post credits scene. its SO worth it.
Also note: I've heard people say its the best movie since endgame, but i didn't like endgame so that didn't really mean much to me. I will say that it is very close to, if not the same quality as CA:TWS. so yeah, its good.
Spoilers under the cut:
I WANT TO GET SOMETHING OUT OF THE WAY FIRST: people complaining that Bucky wasn't the 'leader' and was just another side character don't understand who he is. Bucky is not a leader, he is a follower and a soldier. In my opinion, it would not have made sense if they had made him the leader of the team as it would feel out of character for him.
NOW ON TO THE ACTUAL REVIEW: HOOOOOLY SHIT I LOVE WHAT THEY DID WITH THE SENTRY. As someone who has studied and grown up around people with psychological disorders, and someone with many myself, I fucking love that they didn't vilify him for being mentally ill. (I'm pretty sure he had borderline personality disorder but that's just me being an armchair psychologist) They showed who the actual villains are in the situation: people who exploit and manipulate the mentally ill when they are in a vulnerable state. Valentina was using her knowledge of his history of mental illness as a means to get him to do her bidding (specifically by playing in to his delusions of grandeur and self esteem problems). I feel like there are so many ways this could've gone wrong or been problematic, but in my opinion, they nailed it.
On to Yelena! Yelena, to me, doesn't seem like she's the leader of the thunderbolts. In fact, I don't think there is a leader at all (though if there is it definitely isn't john walker), she was just the lead of the film, thus got the most screen time. Before going in to this movie, I liked Yelena enough. She wasn't one of my faves but I've read a couple of her comics and enjoyed her previous mcu appearances. Now, however? She may have been bumped up to my top 10. I truly believe that she was only doing shadow ops for Valentina because it's the only thing she knew how to do, and I like that her conversation with Alexei at the beginning of the movie make her start to think about how life would be if she was a beloved public figure, like her sister was. Speaking of Nat, it truly felt like she was haunting the narrative in this, even if only lightly. You could feel how her death was still effecting Yelena, and even Alexei, to this day. It never felt like she was given the respect she deserved post-endgame, but now I think she has.
Alexei's conversation with Yelena just before the Void appeared genuinely made me start tearing up. I feel so heartbroken for Yelena: All she wanted, her whole life, was a family. She briefly got the family reunion she wanted in the black widow movie (which, timeline wise, would've been about 2017 I think, so 5 years ago for Yelena), only for it to fizzle out into seemingly very sporadic, seemingly once a year, conversations. Alexei genuinely sounded like he felt bad for what he did to Yelena, and for distancing himself from her. His reasoning made sense, but it doesn't excuse the fact that he still pushed her away after they reunited, and I think he understands that.
The supporting cast of this film was also brilliant. I quite like John Walker as a character (in that he's a government-defending, patriotic douche bag), and I think they utilised him well! I'm glad they didn't try and make him a pleasant person, because he's not. hes a dick. They built upon Ghost/Ava Starr really well as well. She didn't have the most interesting characterisation in Ant-man and the Wasp, which is fair, because she was in a very different place at that time, but I love seeing her as her more confident self, who also happens to do shadow ops. She was super fun, and I'm glad she's gonna be in doomsday because I need to see her interacting with Scott again. I think Bucky was used quite well in this film as well; I know he didn't get as much screen time as people were hoping, but I truly do not care. Out of all of the characters in this film, he's the one who has appeared in the most media. People are very familiar with his backstory and what he's like, so he didn't really need extra characterisation in this film, unlike the other supporting cast, who hasn't been given the opportunity to shine as much in their previous appearances. I do like what they did do with him, however. To me, it seems like he was only really a congressman because someone (probably Sam, lets be honest here) told him to give it a shot. He never felt like he actually wanted to be there, and that it was just something to pass the time because why not.
Additionally, Valentina was a fucking BRILLIANT villain, and I love that, yeah, the thunderbolts/'New Avengers' do kind of own her now. It feels like a reversal of the role Nick Fury played with the OG Avengers. I NEEEEED to see her interact with Wilson Fisk at some point as well because hes my favourite villain of all time (though I am kind of disappointed we didn't get a Fisk cameo in the film). Her assistant was also fun, she definitely gave off the vibes of 'College student in way over their head', and I definitely expect to see her in future titles as well. I think Valentina ended up in a very interesting place at the end of this film, which I'm excited to see what they do with going forward, because I was fucking terrified they were gonna kill her off in this movie (thank GOODNESS they didn't).
LASTLY THE FUCKING POST CREDIT SCENE!!!!!!!! IT WAS SO GOOOOOOOD!!! my theater literally let out a little cheer when the fantastic four logo was revealed (which is a LOT for New Zealand, where cinemas are usually dead silent the entire time). I myself knew it was going to be the life raft or something similar as soon as Yelena said there was an extra terrestrial or whatever ship, but was STILL hyped to see it. I also love that the team is still an actual team, and seemingly live in the tower together. They already seem like more of an actual found family than the Avengers ever did (who felt more like coworkers). I am so ready for Avengers Tower Fics Round 2: Thunderbolts Edition. They have excellent chemistry, though I also doubt they've really had too much to do since the events of Thunderbolts*. The end also kind of makes it seem like Yelena and Bucky are co-leaders, with Yelena being the strategist and Bucky having had the most experience working in super-powered teams/with super powered people. I definitely wouldn't be mad if that were the case.
Oh my god and I can't wait to see what team Sam puts together. I feel like they will definitely overtake the title of the Avengers from the Thunderbolts, and they will just go back to the Thunderbolts name. My prediction is that it will include: Shang-Chi, Black Panther, Namor, Thor, and Ant-Man.
Anyways that was my review! I tried not to sound too much like a marvel shill in this review but I genuinely fucking loved this movie so much and couldn't think of anything bad about it. blease feel free to add your own thoughts on the film in the reblogs and replies, just tag for spoilers if that's the case :3
i LOVE the amount of screentime Fisk is getting this series. He was one of, if not my favourite character from the original show and i think the show only benifits from having him as a secondary main character. He's such an interesting character in that you understand why hes doing what hes doing, and why he is the way that he is, without making you feel bad for him, which is a pretty hard thing to do.
Also, it 100% seems like theyre setting up Daniel to fulfil the role of a protege to Fisk (as I know he has a son around Daniels age in the comics) and can't wait to see where they go with his arc. oh and dont even get me STARTED on BB Urich. I love her (just like i loved her uncle in the og show) and her dynamic with Daniel. Shes very good with her words and i feel she is a great representation of modern/gen z journalists (not that i know much about that topic). She's clearly using Daniel to get to Fisk, and vice versa with Fisk using her as a direct line to the public. Politics is one massive powerplay and i think BB is doing brilliantly for someone so young.
And I love buck so far, he seems like Wesley 2.0 and im here for it, would love to learn more about him.
Lastly, I love the presence of Sheila in this show. She is clearly someone who understand politics and has been in the game for a long time, and provides a great counterbalance for Fisk who is completely out of his depth and has no idea what hes doing.
MY DDBA THOUGHTS !!! spoilers ofc, though its mostly about fan reactions + a bit of meta commentary.
i apologise if its a lil incoherent it is 3am and i should be asleep
bro people are being so negative about ddba for no reason its actually annoying. like yeah of course they were gonna kill foggy??? we all knew that ???? dgmw i love him so much and hope its a fakeout but also. we werent going to get foggy or karen at ALL in the og version, so im thankful we got what we got.
it was reworked when they had already filmed like 6 episodes with the original premise etc, which didnt have foggy or karen, so they needed a reason for them not to be in the majority of the season after the rework.
additionally, in the comic run the title is from, karen gets assassinated by bullseye. so either way someone was dying. and, in my opinion, foggy being/appearing to be dead adds a bit more weight to matt as a character, as he has been known to bottle up his emotions, and since hes also not been fighting/daredeviling (which was his emotional outlet), i feel like when he *does* don the suit once more, it/he will feel vastly different.
(ngl i kinda feel like a lot of the outrage is coming from people who just wanna see stuff out of a fanfic/have had their perspective of the characters skewed a lot from reading lots of fanfic. which. kinda fair cos it has been 7 years. but still. do some critical thinking my guy)(not me dunking on fanfic btw i love fanfic it is the backbone of a fandom i love you fanfic writers)
also as a side tangent, i saw someone (i think it was Coy Jandreau) refer to ddba as being like a new comic run. like, yes, its the same characters, in the same timeline, etc, but now theres a new writer who wants to tell their own story. not wanting to jump in at the deep end with new characters and forgetting old ones, they provide a reason characters that may have been common in the previous run do not appear for *their* run. and as always, with new writers will also come a different storytelling method! genuinely, thinking about it in this way is making me feel more okay/comfortable with the writing differences between the og series and this new one.
ANYWAYS i am really enjoying the show and am VERY excited to see where they go with the stuff about cops misappropriating the punisher logo, the registration act, and to see the best father in the whole mcu again (yusuf khan) (i love that man)
edit: ALSO I FORGOT TO MENTION i love bullseye so muuch i want to kill him with my bare hands.
also my sheila (kingpin) 🫶 no one could ever make me hate you
im gonna post my vision quest/whatever that show will be called theories now cos i need to get them out
1: Tommy and Vision will meet at the DODC
Im pretty sure that tommy shepherd was in either juvie or one of those american camps for delinquent teens, which leads in to my theory. Since Tommy is already in juvie or whatever, and he appears to suddenly gain superpowers, Damage Control will be contacted, and he will be taken in to their custody. Im pretty sure thats where white vision is, so it would make sense that they meet in there.
2: One of the main themes/throughlines of the show will be about the Ship of Theseus
This one is harder to explain. Basically, continuing the debate between og vis and white vis from the end of wandavision, but recontextualised with Billy and Tommy aswell. i.e; While Billy and Tommy have the souls of the original maximoff versions of themselves, they do not have the memories, nor the original bodies, thus are they even Billy and Tommy Maximoff anymore? Are they Billy Kaplan and Tommy Shepherd anymore? Are they both? Are they a whole new person?
