Initial Endgame Thoughts
Apr. 27th, 2019 07:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
silversandbeaI'm actually seeing it again on Sunday - and having a chance to talk about it afterwards, as opposed to just furtively whispering about it outside the theater, getting a lyft and collapsing into bed. But for now, some disjointed thoughts:
I cannot stress this enough but it should have been Clint. Like, is he going to explain to his family that when they died, he became an international murder hobo of mystery? That seems awkward. Every single scene that involved Clint afterwards I was imagining it would have been better with Natasha in it.
Plus, then, it seems like the Soul Gem just wants you to give it the a Strong Female Character.
Or even, Clint makes the sacrifice, but it's not him that the soul gem takes. It's the possibility of his family ever coming back. I'm not super into fridging the wife and kids back home, but if you're going to have a 'fridging women' macguffin, make it count.
(I loved that Nat got to have a bunch of close platonic relationships with men, though. I have an old half-written fic from like 2012 that's just a Nat character study, maybe I'll revisit and post it somewhere)
Five years is a long time to live without someone, especially after a tragedy. People change, people grow. Imagine your toddler suddenly being a seven year-old. Imagine finally letting yourself move on, fall in love, get married, and then your previous family comes back. Imagine transitioning, or coming out in that period. I wonder if the MCU is ever really going to address that (here's hoping the fanfic at least takes a go at it).
I think their stance on the rules of time travel was that 'time travel makes no sense, it works exactly the way we decide it does and has no real internal rules or reasons', which in some ways is refreshing, but also means that I don't even think it's worth figuring out what the 'canon' version of what happens in the other timelines
I honestly felt like they pulled back from having too many Steve/Bucky interactions after Civil War because The Awkward Sharon Kiss did not work, so I didn't have too many expectations in that regard, but I was still a little peeved that Bucky didn't even get a goodbye scene (mentally telling myself that in this timeline, Steve stopped Hydra from infiltrating SHIELD and saved Bucky much earlier, but Bucky still doesn't age because reasons, or maybe there's an old Bucky out there somewhere, IDK.
(Because, can you imagine otherwise? Steve trying to enjoy his own personal happiness while knowing that Hydra is out there, knowing what Bucky is going through, and just choosing not to do anything? Choosing not to try? I can't.)
The scenes in the past worked really well - if you're going to be doing something that involves this much time and emotional investment, you can actually bank on them and use them. Though, the second they gave Tony a kid I thought he was going to die, and then when they let Tony interact with his dad, I thought he really was going to die.
I might have squeaked for like, three minutes after Cap picked up Mjolnir. The entire theater clapped at that point. I think this film really solidified that I am still a ridiculous Captain America fangirl.
It's not like the film really needed to be any longer, but I could have used more Carol Danvers (PUNCHING A MOTHERFUCKING SPACESHIP, AS IS HER RIGHT), and more Wakanda. I mean, they had one of the stones, too - it would have made sense to visit and even maybe talk to the previous king. That would have had more emotional weight for me than the Asgard scene.
The all the woman lining up for a second to help each other out would have worked a little better if this film had let any of the women interact with each other (with the exception of Nebula and Gamora). I mean, really now.
I cannot stress this enough but it should have been Clint. Like, is he going to explain to his family that when they died, he became an international murder hobo of mystery? That seems awkward. Every single scene that involved Clint afterwards I was imagining it would have been better with Natasha in it.
Plus, then, it seems like the Soul Gem just wants you to give it the a Strong Female Character.
Or even, Clint makes the sacrifice, but it's not him that the soul gem takes. It's the possibility of his family ever coming back. I'm not super into fridging the wife and kids back home, but if you're going to have a 'fridging women' macguffin, make it count.
(I loved that Nat got to have a bunch of close platonic relationships with men, though. I have an old half-written fic from like 2012 that's just a Nat character study, maybe I'll revisit and post it somewhere)
Five years is a long time to live without someone, especially after a tragedy. People change, people grow. Imagine your toddler suddenly being a seven year-old. Imagine finally letting yourself move on, fall in love, get married, and then your previous family comes back. Imagine transitioning, or coming out in that period. I wonder if the MCU is ever really going to address that (here's hoping the fanfic at least takes a go at it).
I think their stance on the rules of time travel was that 'time travel makes no sense, it works exactly the way we decide it does and has no real internal rules or reasons', which in some ways is refreshing, but also means that I don't even think it's worth figuring out what the 'canon' version of what happens in the other timelines
I honestly felt like they pulled back from having too many Steve/Bucky interactions after Civil War because The Awkward Sharon Kiss did not work, so I didn't have too many expectations in that regard, but I was still a little peeved that Bucky didn't even get a goodbye scene (mentally telling myself that in this timeline, Steve stopped Hydra from infiltrating SHIELD and saved Bucky much earlier, but Bucky still doesn't age because reasons, or maybe there's an old Bucky out there somewhere, IDK.
(Because, can you imagine otherwise? Steve trying to enjoy his own personal happiness while knowing that Hydra is out there, knowing what Bucky is going through, and just choosing not to do anything? Choosing not to try? I can't.)
The scenes in the past worked really well - if you're going to be doing something that involves this much time and emotional investment, you can actually bank on them and use them. Though, the second they gave Tony a kid I thought he was going to die, and then when they let Tony interact with his dad, I thought he really was going to die.
I might have squeaked for like, three minutes after Cap picked up Mjolnir. The entire theater clapped at that point. I think this film really solidified that I am still a ridiculous Captain America fangirl.
It's not like the film really needed to be any longer, but I could have used more Carol Danvers (PUNCHING A MOTHERFUCKING SPACESHIP, AS IS HER RIGHT), and more Wakanda. I mean, they had one of the stones, too - it would have made sense to visit and even maybe talk to the previous king. That would have had more emotional weight for me than the Asgard scene.
The all the woman lining up for a second to help each other out would have worked a little better if this film had let any of the women interact with each other (with the exception of Nebula and Gamora). I mean, really now.
Re: here from mcu_cosmic!
Date: 2019-04-29 04:17 pm (UTC)I hadn't seen it before and yeah . . . that's not how relationships work? It's not like Tony's funeral was open to the public with a lot of people mourning his loss (which would be a choice, I guess), it was the Avengers, and a few Avenger-adjacent people. And Nat didn't seem like she was an unknown or even that emotionally distant with the people she interacts with - she seems closer to most of the other avengers than Tony is (and considering Tony to be emotionally available is, uh, questionable).
Re: here from mcu_cosmic!
Date: 2019-04-29 04:35 pm (UTC)McFEELY Chris and I wrote a master document while we were shooting “Civil War,” and one of the things we were interested in exploring is, remember the What If comics? Well, this is our what if. If you lost, Thor becomes fat. Natasha becomes a shut-in. Steve becomes depressed. Tony gets on with his life. Hulk is a superhero.
MARKUS Clint becomes a murdering maniac. When we were spitballing for “Endgame,” we started with, Thor’s on a mission of vengeance. And then we were like, he was on a mission of vengeance in the last movie. This is all this guy ever does! And fails, all the time. Let’s drive him into a wall and see what happens.
McFEELY He just got drunk and fat.
LIKE HOOOOOOOOOOLY FUCK, FUCK YOU ASSHOLES.
And like other people are already saying, HOW IS NAT A FUCKING SHUT-IN. She is apparently holding what remains of the Avengers together at HQ, while all the men fuck off! Like allofthefeelings said on Tumblr "most of the men of the Avengers ignoring their responsibilities to wallow while Val took care of Asgard, Okoye took care of Wakanda, Carol took care of space, and Natasha took care of making sure the universe was working together."
Re: here from mcu_cosmic!
Date: 2019-04-30 01:28 pm (UTC)Though, wow. Even without that, the ha, Thor got fat in an interview seems even worse than seeing it on screen.