#mcu nerds

[chiariuchiha]

@howlingthunder

[swiftkick404]

When people name Erik Selvig as a genius and not Jane Foster.

They can stfu.

Biggest failure of the first Avengers was not having Jane Foster. I get the off-screen meta reasons, but what a damn disgrace. Imagine Loki taking Jane from Thor just like he threatened/promised in Thor.

Jane inside Shield using the Tessaract to get her portal into space...ony to get Loki instead of Thor. Jane being mind controlled but still enthusiastic because SCIENCE.

Thor seeing Jane compromised, but she’s still doing shit (unlike in TDW where she is not allowed to do anything.)

Natasha saving Jane on Stark Tower.

DAMN. We could have had it all.

[swiftkick404]

Can the Russo brothers have Steve Rogers thank Natasha for what she did for him in Civil War? I know Infinity War was crowded enough but please have someone onscreen acknowledge how damn much Natasha does. She has burned her bridges twice. She blew all her covers in TWS, and in Civil War she goes against her own team’s agenda and all we see from Tony after is his hurt feelings and aggression. No attempt at understanding her motivations and then she disappears from the screen without another mention. UGH. Steve gives her a nod and then, magically, they are leading the Secret Avengers together in IW with NO ON SCREEN RESOLUTION.

Natasha seems to suffer so much, so quietly, without anyone in the narrative acknowledging it without some snooty comment about her being a spy first and everything else second so of course she suffers. (And that whole “monster” conversation that was incredibly poorly handled in AoU so I like to scrub it from my memory as much as possible. omgadd.) However, Natasha never puts her own self interest first, despite what people might want to believe and what she might want them to believe. (I would argue even her most OOC and inconsiderate moment in AoU, forcing out the Hulk which was super gross and against literally everything else she has ever done on-screen, is again for other people’s interest -being the fate of the world at large- and counter-productive to her own “romantic” pursuits)

It is time this unflinching character trait of hers is acknowledged. LOUDLY. Steve sees it very clearly in both the Winter Soldier and in Age of Ultron, to the point where the camera lingers - as his gaze - on her as she remarks casually about sacrifice. He sees it, silently and without support for her. And again here she is doing something to her own detriment because she ultimately realizes it is the call she needs to make. But when are we, as the audience, going to see her team mates respect her as more than the crafty, shifty ‘spy?’

I just. I need her to be loudly validated and not just taken advantage of. She opens up to her team mates several times, repeatedly makes the good and right sacrificial calls, only then to be discarded as the narrative moves on with the other characters. WHy? She is a damn hero, ok. And she needs that treatment in-verse and out-of-verse already.

That better be Clint and Steve telling Natasha she is a gaddamn blessing in the third Endgame trailer.

[swiftkick404]

MCU Natasha Romanoff is a Gryffindor.

Everything we see her do is the bravest goddamn thing.

If Hermione “Kept a Woman Prisoner in a Jar as a Beetle For Months and Assumed Traitors Would Sign the DA List and So Hexed It For Any Potential Rats” Granger is in Gryffindor, so is Natasha “Would Die For My Friends and Innocent Civilians At Literally Any Moment” Romanoff.

She wants to do something heroic more than she wants to protect her own self-advancing interests. Despite how she acts detached, and how Tony and Steve accuse her of being duplicitous, she is a dumb hero on a guilt-ridden death march from day one, she’s just not going to let Any Old Clown take her out.

Second choice is Ravenclaw.

I’m right. I am not open to “discussion.”

[swiftkick404]

Does anyone else think Bruce and Natasha in AOU actually only served to show how poor they are together? Like, the complete lack of understanding between them, how they are on completely different wave lengths and open up to the other at the wrong time so that neither gets what they need at the right time? Natasha opens up to Bruce about her history in the Red Room and he just stares blankly back at her with nothing supportive to say - nothing to say at all! Bruce opens up to Nat about wanting to leave the fight in Sokovia and run away and she manipulates him into the Hulk instead, because she’s actually not one to run away from the fight when shit goes down.

Their scenes together seem to only bring out the worst traits in each other. Natasha doesn’t manipulate Clint, Steve, or Tony when they are struggling, she only seeks to reassure them and their choices (especially so with Steve) or call them out on why she disagrees, but she doesn’t manipulate them to her own ends. Bruce is reduced to a bumbling, girl-shy fool in AOU, as opposed to his cockier suavity in Avengers (which, I don’t like per se, but he’s different between the two films and only in one does he get a gag with a woman’s chest in his face like some 90s comedy virgin high school student who’s never touched a woman before...). The Hulk is a brute who needs (eugh) a beauty to calm him away - as opposed to his relationship with Valkyrie or Thor in Ragnarok, where he’s allowed to have a worthwhile existence and friendships!

Anyhow. I hate that these two are still presented as some sort of admirable relationship. They barely have a relationship at all! Most of its development happened off screen and we needed other characters to tell us directly that it was ‘actually for real a thing totally.’ And before anyone chimes in that they had development in Avengers -- they had scenes together, but she had scenes with other characters that illustrate much healthier dynamics. Bruce was pretty rude to Nat the whole damn film, while she was just doing her damn job. Steve and Clint respected her for her job and Bruce was very much like Tony in IMii and just mocked her for being a good spy.

I’m so glad the Russo brothers and Markus and McFeely have not given this “relationship” the time of day. It’s so terrible all around. Just. Awful. And I’m saying this as someone who likes ships that are not necessarily “healthy” and “un-problematic” - but I think a ship needs to have mutual respect and understanding for something between the characters (even if the relationship is unhealthy in other ways) - and Bruce and Natasha never seem to have that! Never at the same time or in a way that the other appreciates.

If J*ss Whed*n intended to write a relationship that was shallowly developed, forcefully excused, and poorly executed, then he succeeded - otherwise??? Man. These two really don’t do any favors of character elevation for each other. Only derailment.

Compare Natasha’s relationship with Steve, which is unflinchingly devoted and understanding and soft between them - man! No competition. Her relationship with Clint? Same. And Steve and Clint at least understand her - and we even get to see Steve learn about Natasha: he unquestioningly respects her in Avengers, but in CATWS he really works to understand her, and we see how they as a pair come to care for each other. So good! Now that is a relationship and romance I can get behind. It’s nice that they have been together ever since :) even in AOU! Twice! Once when Natasha expects to die next to Steve, and then when they welcome their new team together. Man. If that doesn’t tell us something....

[swiftkick404]

Quick Captain Marvel non-spoilers review:

Carol’s attitude is pretty much what I’ve been looking for from a female super hero: confident, unapologetic, focused, humorous. Competence from characters all around, though.

Some emotional beats could have hit harder, they weren’t given enough pause to let the gravity of the situation truly sink in more fully.

The relationships between different characters had great chemistry and a natural dynamism. There was a lot of breathing room for major and minor or background characters, which just makes viewing the story much more immersive. Some characters could have stood more on their own - and Black Panther would be a great model for this.

There is one scene between Maria and Carol that just warmed my damn heart, because very rarely is this type of conversation shown - ah! It was a small thing but HUGE to me as a viewer. (Basically, they ask the man with them to clear the room so they can talk business and it’s so good....haha)

Humor throughout the film is very much to my liking, so I was happy.

Plot was solid. Story was engaging, even with an unfamiliar MC. I liked Carol right away and found her journey easily worth following. The film-makers did a nice job of answering questions from other films as well - even ones that were not particularly pressing, but it’s still nice to have an, ‘oooh that’s why’ moment for certain things.

The original score is pretty great in some scenes, and I was thinking ‘I’ll need to download this track,’ but the 90s throwback soundtrack is not as carefully curated or as well utilized as, say, the Guardians of the Galaxy films, which I think they were trying to replicate for certain. I did like some of the song choices - but really, not to the same level of GotG, which had me pretty pumped/emotional and itching to listen to the playlist as soon as possible.

Cinematography, production design, costuming is not as inspired as other films - comparable MCU movies being Captain America TFA, maybe Ant-Man and the Wasp - while the standouts being, again, Black Panther, Thor trilogy (they’re all beautiful), and Doctor Strange.  It doesn’t quite hit GotG levels.

Lots of references to other films! The Godfather shout out was nicely done.

Overall -it is a film that scratches an old itch for me and I am happy I saw it in theater. Will be watching again.

[swiftkick404]

Steve and Natasha have the healthiest, most developed relationship in the MCU, built on mutual effort to understand and support one another. It could be romantic and not be detrimental to either party involved! Both characters are well established as their own person, and now they should have a chance to find a romantic partnership that has depth and satisfaction!

After surviving Infinity War, of course...

At this point, I think there is plenty of on-screen groundwork for this pairing to be canon, and that would be SUPER nice, but I will stubbornly cling to these two together no matter.

Romanogers has me.

[swiftkick404]

It’s pretty clear than Steve and Natasha have found in one another a reliable, trust worthy partner. They are canonically very much a team and leaders together, finding their way back to one another very quickly ultimately. (Nice)

I’m just waiting for the moment they acknowledge - if they ever *could* step away from the fight- that they could find family and belonging with one another, too.

Like, I don’t want either of them to actually “retire” or anything like that in the MCU because I like that they each have such strong dedication to The Greater Good and my preference is they stay that way to the very end, but I want them to look at each other and it be obvious - if they were to step away, it would be together and they would be wholly satisfied as the two of them. But then they get back to the battle because that’s who they are. They do that together, too.

I just. I don’t see either of them finding a satisfying resolution without the other. Even though I realize they’ve both encouraged each other to do just that - they prefer to come back to each other in the end. As much love and dedication as they have to other important people in their lives - and Clint, Sam, Bucky are important relationships - they have become, you know, the standard, default pair.

(and they work so well! in synch! as equals! and it’s so! powerful! and beautiful!)