Here’s some scenes and moments that stuck out to me after a second viewing.
What are you waiting for?
You've probably seen at least some of the other Marvel films leading up to it.
It made eighty gazillion dollars already, someone is going to spoil it for you.
The beauty of taking the
time to build up the universe is tiny moments have great meaning. In the Guardians of the Galaxy reveal to the appropriately catchy “Rubber Band Man” Gamora is signing along.
It's a couple second clip that illustrates character growth and
evolution that is only possibly when we’ve had multiple films to get to know
the players beforehand. Its not just the stars that benefit from this. Wanda and Vision’s entire relationship has grown in
side scenes of other characters’ stories.
Meanwhile, the main characters’ connections were either slightly hinted
at (Bruce and Nat’s connection) or ignored due to different locations (Cap
and Tony’s friendship). My guess is the
original six will be the focus of “Avengers 4.”
In fact, for reasons I’ll get into later, they have to be.
Black Panther showed the Dora
Milaje and M’Baku’s Monkey Men were elite fighting units over and above any
real world Special Forces. The shot of
Steve and T’challa easily outpacing the entire army and then laying into the
enemy hordes while leading from the front was an epic demonstration of their physical and command abilities as a super soldier and magically enhanced king. It also worked as a bit of an expanded and
amplified call back to the scene with the first super soldier seen in the MCU,
Emil Blonsky in the second outing of the franchiseThe Incredible Hulk. The
technology has come quite a distance in showing what “peak human potential”
looks like. It’s not just that Cap is as
good as an individual Olympic athlete, it’s that he performs at peak POTENTIAL
human levels, in ALL areas.
They threw in a fair
amount of subtle but still very cool “show don’t tell” super powers. It took my second viewing to catch that
whenever Thanos used the gauntlet, the proper Infinity Stones for whatever
power he was using lit up. From the comics,
Mantis’s cosmic awareness, Peter’s spider sense, and Doctor Strange casting the
Crimson Bands of Cyttorak spring to mind. Having Wanda’s powers be
simultaneously super strong, yet poorly defined also matches her years of comic
book history. Strange was a much more
varied Master of the Mystic Arts in this outing, going further than simply
creating magical melee weapons and mixing anti grav parkour with hand to hand.
And while I’m mentioning Ditko drawn Marvel characters, seeing Spidey’s strength
up where it should be was also very welcome. The guy can press nearly ten tons, and
they showed why it coupled with his beyond human agility and spider-sense makes
him one of the most formidable combatants in Marvel. However, the storytelling skills the franchise has mastered, and Tom Holland's acting ability (He goes through a half dozen emotions in seconds when Tony "knights" him into the Avengers.) anchors the reason we’re drawn
to the character to that he’s just a good hearted boy trying to do what’s right dragged
into insane situations. This also made the
“don’t want to go” demonstration that he really is just a kid much more devastating.
This film was a heavy
one. There’s no getting around the dark
ending of a Thanos victory that eliminates half the universe. Especially as my daughter put it, "More than half the people we actually care about." Yet the story was filled with humor along the
way. This is why the timing is perfect
for having the Guardians of the Galaxy join the mix with the Avengers. The cosmic adventures of those characters have
included many of the goofiest, laugh filled moments in the MCU. However, they’ve also had some of the
saddest, heart wrenching tragedies as well. Those films work on opposites.
Though they have the most cosmic setting and super power levels, they’re really
about family. The dichotomy continues in
Infinity War. Mantis’s hilarious “mean face” came seconds
before the destruction and death toll of the Asgardians appeared on
screen. I can’t believe they made me cry
over the death of a talking tree twice now.
The mix of comedy and tragedy presented how Super Heroes follow
mythological arcs and functions in our modern society.
Thor: Ragnarok highlighted
the comic book style Hulk in ways we haven’t seen on film before. YAY! Infinity War was much more of a Bruce
Banner film. He’s frequently referred to
Hulk as “the other guy” and seeing him stuck in the reverse of his usual
situation was interesting. All the years
of living in fear of his transformation got turned on its head. Watching him pilot the Hulkbuster armor had
two nifty parts to it. The first is its sort of a shout out to the times the
Fantastic Four’s Ben Grimm reverted to human and went into battle wearing a Thing
suit. The second, and more important for a character arc, is seeing Bruce revel
in the power and strength of piloting “Veronica.” It may lead to the revelation that those who
know Doctor Banner best in the comics bring up semi regularly: That the “other guy” is
just an aspect of the same guy, and once Bruce embraces the “angry little boy”
within him, they’ll make an unstoppable combination. Tony did point this out in the original Avengers and he has been shown to have the closest friendship ties to Bruce.
Tony has been the focal
point for much of the storytelling as he started the MCU. As super powers have
expanded, so have his. His armor has
followed the same evolution it did in the comics. Early on, it kept him alive and was
constantly running out of power, endangering him more than his foes. Later, it was his own faults and addictions
that created drama in the story, while the armor was basically magic, with a
handy helping of upcoming technology buzz words thrown in. Honestly, in the
early Sixties, explaining the minor by today’s standards abilities of the suit with
“transistors” was pretty close to magic as well. The Nanotech armor does pretty much whatever
he needs, but having an arc reactor reinstalled on his person, shows his
continued addiction to the idea that being a superhero is "fantastic." Then again,
wearing a suit that let him survive having a moon thrown at him (THAT WAS SO COOL!)
is worthwhile in his line of work.
Speaking about power
levels, how about everyone’s favorite thunder god? Thor withstood the blast of a star to create
his new weapon, and then appeared in the cinematic version of many of his tide
turning comic book appearances. Bruce’s
“You guys are screwed now!” yell carried the same weight as famous printed Thor
reveal moments such as, “Ultron, we would have words with thee.” It was
great to see his strength and powers where they should be, after him starting off his
first film being knocked over by slow moving vans and hand Tasers. While he did completely turn the tide of
battle and almost single handedly insure the armies were routed and
demolished, he did not bring about total victory. This is due to the nature of the team and Marvel
in general.
The
reason behind the heroes' loss is connected to another member of the Avengers “big
three,” Captain America. Steve was
playing a role similar to his comic book time as “Nomad, Man without a Country” or
when he was simply, “The Captain.” In
both cases he was disillusioned with the American government and separated from
it to continue to promote the American ideal.
With the close ties of the Avengers to SHIELD and the government in the
movies, he’s disconnected from the team. As goes Captain America, so go the
Avengers. Even when he isn’t the chairman,
there’s something about his presence that gels the team, and he takes the
role of field commander during others chairship. The West Coast Avengers comic showed this even
though he wasn’t a member of that group at all. Hawkeye took point and was
constantly comparing himself to Cap, forming a quality team by trying to live
up to Steve’s example. Captain America
never compromises his beliefs as shown in his solo films. Chris Evans plays the
part with Christopher Reeve levels of hope, optimism and inspiration. (Praise I do not give lightly.) Thor’s films showcased the nature of the Marvel
Cosmos which is why he interacts the best with the Guardians, Iron Man’s showcased
… well…mostly Tony...because he's Tony, but Cap’s showcased the state of the Avengers. I’m sure him
finding the way back to return to full “Captain America,” will be what leads to
everything working out. (With some help from the Time Stone’s stint as a star, of
course.) One thing the Marvel films have always contained, even in the darkest
hours, is insurance that there’s a glimmer of hope.
There is a reason the
Avengers team must gel for success, and that Thor’s appearance didn't lead to a
Superman arrival like complete victory that happens in Justice League stories.
It goes back, again, to Kurt Busiek’s excellent analogy of the two teams. The
Justice League is the All-Star Team- the absolute best of the best DC has to
offer, a pantheon like group of individuals that are each the top in their area.
The Avengers are a championship team, and it's the way they practice, work and
interact with each other that makes them Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. After Civil War the Avengers are not Assembled. Note that this film lacked the slow motion, theme song swelling moment of all of them together that the first two had. That more than any action on the
part of Thanos, his gauntlet and his armies, is what led to their defeat.
Speaking of the DC
characters. This was basically a reverse Batman movie. In all the films starring the caped crusader,
the villains are the most fun characters, who get all the best lines. However,
since its Batman’s film, we follow his story and he is triumphant. Advantages of having a well-developed,
interconnected, and progressing fictional universe, is you can give the villain
his own movie allowing him to be a fully developed, and while not sympathetic,
a more understandable character. This
was the story of Thanos, the explanation of his goal and how he achieved it. However,
before that series of particularly devastating moments of achievement, it
was the super heroes who were the most entertaining.
And I’m sure they’ll do
some heavy caliber Avenging next May once they truly Assemble.
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