People Will Argue About This She-Hulk Review

The internet will argue over anything. How many times have I seen arguments on Facebook or Reddit about Star Wars, Fantastic Beasts, Rings of Power, or MCU movies? Don’t get me wrong, you can dislike the Star Wars sequels, Thor: Love and Thunder, or whatever you want. But when I see comments come up like “This show is trash” or “I’d never watch garbage like this” I want to scroll right past. Let’s have some articulate discussion, instead of toxic insults.

All of this came to mind repeatedly with the first season of She-Hulk, which recently concluded. Let’s be clear, She-Hulk isn’t for everyone. That’s fine. But I enjoyed it. If it isn’t for you, I respect that and I’d love to discuss what you think it lacks. In my opinion, She-Hulk’s nature as a legal comedy diverged from Marvel’s norm in a way that many fans didn’t like. And that’s okay. That’s the great thing about all the content Marvel is putting out! There’s something for everyone!

Now to get into actually talking about She-Hulk:

I mentioned before in my review of Love and Thunder that Marvel is trying out many different genres these days, horrors (like Multiverse of Madness and Werewolf at Night), romcom (like Love and Thunder), animated shorts (like I Am Groot), and teen drama (like Ms. Marvel) to name a few. She-Hulk is just the latest in their experiments. That’s great! Marvel has a long history at this point of making superhero action movies with comedic timing. That format (which was called out in the She-Hulk finale) served the MCU for a time. Now they have the ability and the money to take some risks and try new stuff. Again, this is great! Superhero action movies don’t strike everyone the same way. Now with a variety of mediums, Marvel Studios can attract a wider variety of fans. Put that in your algorithm, K.E.V.I.N.

Jen Walters has the wit, sass, and comedic timing to strike my funny bone almost every time. And her fourth-wall-breaking has given her the opportunity to say things fans have been saying for years. You know what that means? It means Marvel is listening to us! How wonderful is it to have a studio that cares about its fans!

With its tone, and with Jen’s job as a superhero lawyer, we were given the opportunity to glimpse heroes new and old. Despite what Jen said early in the season, it kind of was THAT kind of show that embraced a cameo-of-the-week gimmick. Returning we got to see Bruce/Hulk, Emil/Abomination, Wong, and the long-awaited Matt/Daredevil. After seeing Doctor Strange and Daredevil, it was refreshing to see Wong and Matt in less serious settings. And despite what some haters think, I loved seeing the chemistry between Jen with Matt; they’re a cute couple.

Now this wouldn’t be a very thorough review if I didn’t address some issues I had with the show. Let’s start with the end. What was up with that finale? I have no issue with She-Hulk smashing her way through Disney Plus and confronting K.E.V.I.N. Actually, I thought it was a creative way to progress the story. And it really did fit Jen’s character more than smashing through a superhero smackdown. However, I’ll take issue with how the story progressed after Jen visited Marvel Studios. I expected the show to “rewind” and start the lodge scene again with Jen’s changes. Instead, it just cut away and left the scenes disjointed. I felt like I'd missed a scene. I honestly wasn’t sure how to process the story with the sudden adjustments. That being said, I liked having Daredevil and Hulk back for a moment. (Also, Hulk has a kid?!?!?!)

My other complaint: the bad guys were vastly underutilized. Todd as the big bad? I get that he wanted to steal Jen’s powers, but it just seemed like a complete 180 from him being a She-Hulk superfan. And then there was Josh. Honestly, with how tricky and manipulative he ended up being, I think he would have fit better as the big bad. It would have even given Jen the chance for justice when she ended up suing Intelligencia in the finale. Finally, there was Titania. She was teased as if she were going to be the big bad, but obviously that was a red herring. That being said, I loved her rival-chemistry with Jen/She-Hulk. I just have one annoying question: what was she doing at Emil’s lodge in the finale? How did she end up in the mountains (where she should have had minimal cell coverage by the way) crashing into the lodge and then livestreaming the arrest of Todd and Intelligencia? Just more questions I have about the finale, I suppose.

Overall, I liked She-Hulk, but it’s okay if you didn’t. Invitation still stands, let’s have a discussion about the show so I can understand better why it disappointed you. And to those who just want to trash the show, She-Hulk already lawyered her way to calling you out in the finale.

She-Hulk Binge List

We’re in the final stretch waiting for She-Hulk to premiere. She might be a newcomer on the scene, but we already know her cousin: Bruce Banner. And with Bruce/Hulk set to return, alongside his foe Blonsky/Abomination, maybe it’s time to rewatch some of their adventures.

The Incredible Hulk (1 hour 52 min)

Before we had Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner, the Hulk’s alter-ego was played by Edward Norton. Despite the different actors, this movie is still MCU canon. And it’s better than its critics say. This is where we get our first glimpse at Bruce and his arch-enemy the Abomination. Also, this movie introduced General Ross and I wouldn’t be surprised if he appears in She-Hulk.

The Avengers (2 hours 23 min)

Enter Mark Ruffalo as our new Bruce Banner. This is his first adventure alongside SHIELD and the Avengers. He seems to have his anger under control (to some extent) as he and the others stop Loki and the Chitauri from taking over Planet Earth. It’s also when Bruce can finally stop running from the authorities it seems.

Iron Man 3 (2 hours 10 min)

This movie is all about Tony Stark and his issues after the Battle of New York. Honestly, we don’t even see Bruce Banner until the credits scene. All the same, this comical scene is often forgotten (even by me). Probably due to the fact that lots of fans dislike Iron Man 3. I still like it though, despite what haters say.

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2 hours 21 min)

Hulk and Banner come back into the picture as they seemingly take down the last of Hydra (unless you still consider Agents of SHIELD canon--which I do). But in the course of it, the Maximoff twins mess them up emotionally. This movie also introduced the brief romance (if you can call it that) between Banner and Black Widow. Could have done without that, but whatever.

Thor: Ragnarok (2 hours 10 min)

When Banner/Hulk went missing on Earth, he was stranded on Sakaar for a few years. With the Hulk in charge almost the whole time. It wasn’t until Thor arrived that Bruce came back. This movie showed a more intelligent side to the Hulk. Instead of just growling and yelling “Smash” the titan was able to carry on conversations.

Avengers: Infinity War (2 hours 29 min)

Still traveling with the Asgardians, Bruce/Hulk was caught in the middle of Thanos’s massacre. Sent to Earth to warn everyone, Bruce was around when the mad titan’s forces began attacking. Unfortunately, and for reasons not really explained, the Hulk wouldn’t come out to fight, so Bruce was left to battle in the Hulkbuster suit instead.

Captain Marvel (2 hours 4 min)

Another movie where Bruce doesn’t appear until the credits. All the same, I think this movie is still worth watching. I honestly don’t know why people hate it so much. But after Carol’s story from 1996 is shown, we get a flashforward to the present day when the Avengers are assessing the post-Snap damage. This is where Bruce, Natasha, and the others finally meet Carol Danvers.

Avengers: Endgame (3 hours 2 min)

After a brief stop in the present day, the story fast-forwards five years and all of a sudden we have a Bruce/Hulk mashup, sometimes known as Professor Hulk or Smart Hulk. I still don’t know what I think of this version of Hulk, but that’s okay. After Bruce is able to snap Thanos’s victims back to life, the big battle ensues. It’s because of Tony’s sacrifice they’re able to win in the end… but it’s not happily ever after.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2 hours 12 min)

Bruce doesn’t appear until the credits (again) but the Abomination shows up in the fight club with Wong. Blonsky hadn’t even been mentioned since he was said to be in custody seven years prior in the SHIELD episode “T.R.A.C.K.S.” But here he’s free and fighting Wong for cash. Later on, during the credits, we see Bruce analyzing the Ten Rings. But he’s human again. No more Professor Hulk.

There’s a lot to unpack with She-Hulk. Why is Bruce human again? How did Blonsky get free? Maybe we’ll finally get word on where Betty Ross is after all these years. Regardless, I’m looking forward to another awesome MCU series!

Before They Were Heroes (MCU)

You won’t typically see us with any shortage of Marvel content. But while we wait for the premiere of Moon Knight, we’re in a bit of an MCU drought. With how far the Marvel Cinematic Universe has come since Iron Man started the show (or Spider-Man if you want to count 2003 as the beginning). I wanted to take a step back and look at where our heroes were before they became the Avengers.

Chris Evans (Captain America) - Fantastic Four

Before he was Steve Rogers, Chris Evans was already a superhero. Back in the day, he played Johnny Storm in Fox’s first iteration of Fantastic Four. As the Human Torch, we saw him “flame on” in 2005 against Julian McMahon (before he played Jonah in Runaways). At the time, Chris Evan was also known for playing one of the exes in Scott Pilgrim.

Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner) - 13 Going on 30

He wasn’t the MCU’s first Hulk, but he is the one we’ve come to love. Before he first hulked out, he was the best friend/love interest in this 2004 romcom. As grown up Matt Flamhaff, it was his influence that showed Jennifer Garner she shouldn’t have wished to grow up so fast. A must see movie for anyone who thinks they grew up too fast and I shamelessly watched it for my 30th birthday last year.

Scarlett Johnansson (Black Widow) - The Prestige

Before Natasha stepped onto the scene in Iron Man 2, she was the lovely stage assistant Olivia in The Prestige. I remember going to see this movie with my brothers and it was trippy! Weird to look back now and see Black Widow in a magic act. She also voiced Princess Mindy in the Spongebob Squarepants movie, if you’re a Spongebob fan.

Chris Hemsworth (Thor) - Star Trek

Before he became the God of Thunder, Chris Hemsworth was a Starfleet captain (albeit for 5 minutes) caught in the middle of a battle against enemies from the future. During his short time as captain of the ship, his wife (played by Jennifer Morrison, Emma Swan) gave birth to the famous Captain Kirk.

Paul Rudd (Ant-Man) - Friends

There are so many wonderful shows and movies I could reference in talking about Paul Rudd. Supporting roles in Perk of Being a Wallflower and Night at the Museum and a recurring role in Parks and Rec. But as it’s me, I’m going to reference his character from Friends: Mike Hannigan. He came out of nowhere towards the tail end of the series. Literally came out of nowhere. Joey basically called out a random name and Paul Rudd responded. He eventually became Phoebe’s soulmate and they were married by the end of the series. Also, does he ever age?

Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Strange) - The Hobbit

Depends on your social circle but I feel like our beloved Stephen Strange is best known as Sherlock, but Trekkies might remember that he played the rebooted Khan. But one of his biggest things before Doctor Strange was when he voiced the dragon Smaug in The Hobbit trilogy. You may have your opinions on how well the trilogy was done, but I think we can agree he was a great dragon.

Of course we could also address other heroes like Star-Lord or Gamora, but I figured we’d save their previous lives for another day. After writing this, now I just want to go watch the Star Trek movies again. And The Prestige.

D&D Class Breakdown: Barbarian

For new players, it can be hard to choose your first class. For veteran players, it can be hard to choose a class and not fall into stereotypes everyone's seen a thousand times. So now I'm going to deconstruct the 5E Player's Handbook classes (Sorry Artificer, you'll come later) and talk about what works, what doesn't, and some interesting ways to play the classes. 

I won't be going into game mechanics as much as I'll be going into roleplay. 

Let's start with barbarians!

What is a Barbarian? 

Traditionally, barbarians are anybody that belongs to a society that's outside of the norm (We'll get to why that's a problem later). Usually used to describe more "primitive" cultures in ancient times, the idea that unless you were living in the same way everyone else was and believed what everyone else believed you were somehow less than. 

The traditional Dungeons and Dragons barbarian has its roots in Viking culture with the berserker, a warrior believed to gain power from going into a blind frenzy in combat. Rather than formal military training these warriors went at the battlefield like a toddler does to their first birthday cake and with roughly the same amount of mess. 

In modern culture we can see this same type of fighter demonstrated in people who have taken a startling amount of drugs and are raging against an innocent victim. Or a tree. Or a car. The idea behind this is that when a person's inhibition's are lowered they put more force into their swings and ignore the pain from incoming attacks, hence why some of the intoxicated can shrug off taser blasts and sometimes even gunfire before they finally drop. 

Barbarians in the Game

In-game, barbarians usually hale from the edges of society, where the populace has to fight every day against animals and monsters to survive. They also commonly come from "savage" races, such as orcs and goliaths, where the strength bonus is more beneficial and where living away from society makes more sense since they're considered uncivilized races. Because they live outside of the bounds of Mrs. Hammarsham School For Culture, barbarians are generally seen as less than intelligent brutes who make social faux paus and have no problem killing for the sake of killing. 

Quick note: Here is the problem with the wildling barbarian trope: It hails back to the idea that anyone not firmly part of western civilization (Vikings, Guals, Native Americans, Africans ect) are dangerous rage monsters who will charge uncontrollably into battle. They also indicate that because a group of people isn't part of a dominant society that they are ignorant. While a player who rolls a half-orc barbarian from the Spine of the World probably isn't trying to be racist, it's good to remember where the trope's roots are planted. 

Barbarians in the party are usually the tank and are relied upon to do anything that requires heavy lifting or destroying something beyond recognition. In 3.5 the barbarian class also had to put special skill points to be able to read any language they knew (more racism). They usually see magic as either bad luck and only belonging to religious leaders and see anything more technologically sophisticated than a wheel to be an act of witchcraft. 

Despite their usual violent tendencies, barbarians often become the tender heart of the group. Their ignorance is played as charming and they take likings and obsessions to more mundane things that to them are extraordinary. Barbarians can sometimes become like a de facto guard dog for the group, protective of them (or a specific member) and will go through anything to keep them safe. 

Breaking the Trope

As much fun as the dumb barbarian trope is, this character can get old fast if the player wants to make any contribution to the game besides hit the stuff and make it fall down. 

Smart Barbarian

Yes, we want the barbarian to be strong and to take a hit, but that doesn't mean that intelligence and wisdom need to be completely tossed. Picture something like a Beast type from the X-Men who can completely devastate a group of grunts but will quote Chaucer while doing it. The barbarian may see violence as a necessity and find it fun to turn off his higher thinking for a second to go into a rage. Or he could have been educated at a formal school before having to learn to survive in the wilds, creating a Tarzan-like character. 

Rage Issues

The rage thing is a good gameplay mechanic, but why not make it into a roleplay mechanic too? Maybe the person flies into these rages and hates it because it's pushed everyone away from him. Maybe his rage is less of a supernatural ability and more of a mental disorder he's trying to overcome but is conflicted because if he truly leaves his rage behind he can't be the amazing warrior he is. The rage can become a fascinating thing to roleplay if done right. 

Non-Privative

Fun fact about the peoples who were originally called barbarians-they weren't. If the DM is cool with it, and you really want an outsider barbarian, try to make their tribe or culture more fleshed out than cave men and raiders. Maybe the barbarian is part of an elite honor guard who can tap into their rage for battle. Maybe the civilization has only been seen in part to protect its people Wakanda style. Or maybe people just assumed they were primitive because of how they looked or where they lived and nobodies ever bothered exploring deeper. 

Famous Barbarians

Grog Strongjaw (Critical Role) Okay so I know there's a barbarian in the second season, but I haven't listened to it yet because they're like three hours an episode and I got a job. Anyway, Grog is the quintessential barbarian. Small clan of violent raiders: Check. Dumb as a stump: Check. De facto heart of the group: Check. He's even the tank of the group. 

Drizzt Do'Urden (Icewind Dale series and others) I know he's considered a ranger, but in the Dark Elf Trilogy he spends about a decade in the wilds of the Underdark away from any other sentient being. There he develops what he calls the Hunter, a seemingly alternate personality focused purely on survival and suppresses his higher thought processes. He has trouble not entering this state while in danger for a long while after he returns to civilization, which is treated as a form of PTSD. While it's not his main class, he's definitely got a class of barbarian somewhere in his build. 

Bobby the Barbarian (Dungeons and Dragons the TV series) The youngest of the children to get lost in the Dungeons and Dragons universe, Bobby doesn't rage so much as he just charges into battle, usually needing to be rescued at some point during the episode. His Thunder Club can cause small earthquakes and cause rocks to dislodge. While he's not the most interesting or powerful barbarian on the list, he's certainly the cutest. 

Hulk (Marvel) The rage monster Hulk gets stronger the angrier he gets, though when not angry at all he is almost exclusively a non-combatant (Unless he borrows an Iron Man suit from Tony). Hulk can only rage as long as he's angry, but that's usually long enough to solve any problem with the solution "Destroy everything in eyeline". In some versions Hulk even dresses like the classic barbarian, further adding to the comparison. 

Bane (DC) Though his powers aren't natural, he does go into a berserker like rage whenever Bane takes his favorite performance enhancer Venom. He's been seen taking damage that would kill a normal man and destroy objects and people who get in his way. Bane is a dangerous barbarian because unlike the rest of this list he's generally on the bad guy's side. 

So if you want to roll up a barbarian, take a look at how you're going to make them. Are you going to fall back into old racist tropes that reflect the fear of the other? Does he have to be dumb? Does she have to be rude? 

-JOE

Check out the other D&D Classes as well: Bard, Cleric, Druid, Fighter

Unpopular Opinions: MCU

I started off this week with a countdown on Facebook to Black Widow and the launch of MCU Phase 4. I feel it's only appropriate to pair that countdown with a reflection of sorts to the history of the MCU. Phases 1-3 had movies, shorts, Netflix, Hulu, and network shows. Now we're moving into an area consolidated to movies and Disney+. So as part of my reflections, here are a few of some unpopular opinions about the MCU thus far.

Iron Man 2 and The Incredible Hulk weren’t so bad
They are two of the lesser loved MCU movies. They’re not fantastic blockbusters, but they aren’t as bad as people make them out to be. The big problem with Iron Man 2 is that they bit off more than they could chew (Black Widow’s introduction, Whiplash, Justin Hammer, etc.) but it didn’t make the movie bad. On the other hand, I think the big problem with The Incredible Hulk is how it kind of came out of nowhere and became irrelevant afterwards. It assumed you knew the backstory of The Hulk and it kind of just threw us in there. Also, especially since they re-cast Bruce Banner, the movie kind of became inconsequential. We’ve seen Ross since then, but the Abomination and Betty just disappeared (although the Abomination was mentioned in Agents of SHIELD).

Iron Fist was good
I think the biggest issue people have with Iron Fist is how it’s so different from the comic book character. So to be fair, I’ve never read the comics. Maybe that’s why I enjoyed Iron Fist. Danny Rand was a refreshingly chill character compared to Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage being so angsty. Also, as far as Season 2 is concerned, it was one of the shorter seasons of any Netflix MCU show, so I think that helped keep the pacing up. The 13-episode Netflix seasons made them feel like 13-hour long Marvel movies. And that got kind of exhausting. So even shaving off three hours made it more manageable.

Daredevil Season 1 wasn't so great
Before I watched Daredevil, I heard how great it was. But I was disappointed. Matt Murdock was cool and I liked Daredevil as a character and a concept. However, as the season went on, it felt drawn out. Like I said with Iron Fist, the 13-episode seasons often felt like a super long movie. I much preferred the shows where each episode felt like a self-contained story with an over-arching plot. In my opinion, Jessica Jones, Runaways, and even Cloak & Dagger did a better job at that.

Agents of SHIELD Season 1 was good

I've heard a lot of complaints over the years about Agents of SHIELD's bumpy start. As the series started in the post-Avengers/MCU Phase 2 era, they took some time figuring out their footing. Until the Winter Soldier tie-in episodes, the series didn't have an over-arching story per se. It kind of just seemed like an MCU cop show, where each episode was its own story. Maybe it's just because I had lower expectations that I liked it? I don't know. But it's still my favorite MCU TV show thus far, ever since I started binging seasons 1-2 during grave shifts.

Captain Marvel is good
I don't know what it was about Captain Marvel that got people up in arms last year, but I liked it. Granted, the 90s nostalgia helped, but it added a story into an era of the MCU that we'd never seen before. Also we got some backstory with Nick Fury and Phil Coulson (though I'm still kind of bitter that we didn't get as much Coulson as I wanted). Maybe the details of Fury's eye injury wasn't important, but it was a fun addition. In addition, the plot twist was unprecedented. Everything I'd read had the Skrulls as bad guys, so we were set up for the Kree to be the good guys. But we'd also only seen the Kree as the bad guys (in Guardians, in SHIELD, etc.) so I didn't know what to expect. All that made the experience more fun for me. Honestly, my biggest disappointment with Captain Marvel is that she didn't have a bigger role to play in Endgame, after all that buildup.

Black Widow isn't necessary
Don't get me wrong; I'm looking forward to seeing Black Widow. However, I'm skeptical about it. My worry is that the whole movie will be pure fan-service for the people who've wanted a female-led Avengers movie. Representation matters (as Joe explained this week), but it has to be done right. If Black Widow is done right, it'll be great. My fear is that it's just a cash-grab and it won't matter after it's done. We've had lots of standalone MCU movies over the years (Ant-Man, Doctor Strange, etc.), but none of them have been filler; they've all been relevant to the universe. But since Natasha is dead... how is her standalone movie going to relate to the future of the MCU? I'm skeptically optimistic, but mostly skeptical.

Sorting the Avengers into Hogwarts Houses

As if Harry Potter isn't everywhere already, I had the thought recently to (as many geeks have done before me) sort some of my favorite characters from other fandoms into Hogwarts house. Please tell me what you think. First up, The Avengers!

Tony Stark/Iron Man - Slytherin
This is maybe a controversial one to start out with. Between his genius and his ambition, it's hard to place him between Ravenclaw and Slytherin. However, in the end it's his overwhelming ambition and pride that do it for me. It seems like every Avengers movie he's overwhelmed by ambition (manifesting as pride): he made himself the leader in "The Avengers", he created Ultron in "Age of Ultron", and he tried to take control on Titan in "Infinity War". As a result, I'm classifying him as Slytherin. A good-guy Slytherin, of course.

Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow - Ravenclaw
I debated between Slytherin and Ravenclaw here, as she's very intelligent but she also used to be an enemy spy. Even though she's ambitious and cunning, I think intellect and analytical mind trumps that. She speaks multiple languages, she's a strategist, and a super intelligent overall. Even as I write this I'm tossing between Ravenclaw and Slytherin. I'm going to go with Ravenclaw, because as a reformed spy she isn't as focused on ambition as she is what's right.

Bruce Banner/The Hulk - Ravenclaw
The Hulk is a tricky one to place, specifically on the Hulk-side. Banner is easy. He's all about the textbooks and the analytical. Sure, his physical strength comes from the Hulk (I'd probably classify him as Gryffindor Slytherin... it's hard to tell since he doesn't have much personality in most of his movies), but the man behind the Hulk is a hardcore Ravenclaw, valuing knowledge before all else.

Thor Odinson - Gryffindor
This one should be pretty self-explanatory. Before his arrival on Earth, I might say Slytherin, because he was all about honor and power, but as an Avenger he tends to do the courageous thing, even if it's stupid. During "Ragnarok", he was willing to risk everything in order to save Asgard from Hela, even if it meant fighting off the whole of the Grandmaster's Sakaar. This bravery in risking himself for others is why I put in him Gryffindor.

Clint Barton/Hawkeye - Hufflepuff
There had to be a Hufflepuff on here. Especially since I started owning my own Puff-ness, I had to include someone. And who better than Hawkeye. In many ways he's the stereotypical Hufflepuff, quiet and loyal. But inaddition to his loyalty to the Avengers, and to making amends after breaking Loki's mind control, his fierceness and preciseness also match Hufflepuffs I've seen in my life. But in the end the biggest thing I've put him here for is his loyalty to his team and his family.

Steve Rogers/Captain America - Gryffindor
It's the easy answer, but it also makes sense. Cap is known for standing up to bullies and showing courage, whether as a scrawny kid in "The First Avenger", against corrupt SHIELD agents in "The Winter Soldier", or against his friends in "Civil War". My second choice was Hufflepuff, due to his loyalty to Bucky and Peggy, but his bravery in regards to ALL the odds leaves me with Gryffindor.

Which sorting do you disagree with? Would you put Tony as a Ravenclaw? Or Black Widow as a Slytherin? Is Cap the real Hufflepuff? Let me know your thoughts.

Check out our other Hogwarts sortings: Friends, Power Rangers (2017), Once Upon a Time, Arrow

Marvel Cinematic Universe: Part 3

Welcome back! I had a little hiatus with working so much overtime, but now I’m here today. I’ve got a chunk of the Marvel Cinematic Universe to cover and this part is really great because it’s when the universe starts expanding outside just the movies and the four Avengers solo movies we’ve seen so far.

Avengers Assemble!

The Avengers

We start out with Nick Fury arriving at a SHIELD base to find out that the Tesseract (remember that mystery cube from Captain America and the post-credit scene from Thor?) is misbehaving. It ends up opening a portal letting Loki through and he proceeds to brainwash Dr. Erik Selvig and Clint Barton/Hawkeye with his staff. Fury and Agent Hill manage to escape and they finally decide that it’s time to reactivate the Avengers Initiative. It starts as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow escapes from a hostage situation (which she had completely under control) to recruit Bruce Banner/Hulk. Meanwhile, Agent Coulsen is recruiting Tony Stark/Iron Man to the cause and Fury is getting Steve Rogers/Captain America to help.

Once Cap and Banner are on the Helicarrier, Banner is able to track the gamma radiation from the Tesseract to Germany, where Captain America and Black Widow take on Loki and captures him with the help of Iron Man. While still in transit, Thor drops out of the sky, causing a raucous before they can convince him to help them get the Tesseract before hauling his brother back to Asgard. However, as SHIELD’s secret plans for the Tesseract start to come out (thank you, Tony Stark) the Helicarrier gets attacked, which leaves Iron Man and Cap busy trying to repair damages to the ship. Meanwhile, Banner has turned into the Hulk and starts fighting Thor and Black Widow.  Hulk ends up falling to the earth below while Black Widow is able to knock some sense into Hawkeye (literally). After Loki gets out of his cell, Coulsen attempts to stop him from escaping, only to have the Chitauri scepter stabbed through his heart.

By the end of the fight, the only ones left on the Helicarrier are Cap, Iron Man, Hawkeye, and Black Widow. They realize that Loki is opening a portal for the Chitauri warriors to come through in NYC. These four rendezvous with Thor and Banner (who willing turns into the Hulk) and take on the invasion. Easily the team is overwhelmed (though they do an amazing job) and it’s about this time that Iron Man gets a bit distracted, having to intercept a nuclear missile, which he throws into the wormhole as Black Widow destroys the portal. With everyone alive, though worn out and ready for some shawarma, the Avengers apprehend Loki and he’s taken back to Asgard. They part ways, but we know they’ll be back together again soon.

Random Trivia/Connections:

• Coulsen mentions the Destroyer in New Mexico, having witnesses Thor’s battle with it in the movie “Thor”.
• Loki mentions all the dark energy that Odin would have had to use to send Thor to Earth, since the bifrost was destroyed.

Thoughts:

Black Widow’s interrogation scene is one of my favorites. Just how easily she takes everyone down and how nonchalantly she handles getting a call while everyone else is just so confused. Funniest thing! I swear! Right up there with Darcy, Jane Foster’s quirky intern. I think it’s just how seriously she DOESN’T take her captors. She knows she has the upper hand and she ends up proving it.

Apart from Black Widow, there are plenty of other great moments. It’s hard to beat the team shot with all of the Avengers in New York City. Before I’d seen it, some people had made it sound like this movie was just a bunch of hitting stuff and things blowing up, but in reality there is great character building and the development of the Avengers team feels so natural. It’s the perfect culmination of the Marvel movies to this point and it set the precedent for lots of other great things that we would see in the future (including Avengers 2, Civil War, etc.).

Iron Man 3

After "the Mandarin" attacked Tony's house,
Pepper was left to believe he was dead.

Sometime after the events of “The Avengers”, Tony is having some post-traumatic stress after falling out of the wormhole. The stress keeps him from sleeping, so he’s now made dozens of Iron Man suits. Meanwhile, a terrorist called “the Mandarin” is causing bombings all over the country, one of which injures Tony’s bodyguard, Happy Hogan. Tony makes the impulsive decision to call out the Mandarin and basically invites him to bomb his house. Thankfully, Pepper makes it out and, while he seems to perish, Tony escapes as well thanks to the Iron Man suit and JARVIS.

After crash landing in Tennessee, Tony starts to track down some missing pieces of the Mandarin case with the help of Harley. Tony discovers that Extremis is unstable. So after fighting off a couple of Mandarin agents, he rushes off to Florida to confront the Mandarin, only to find out that he’s an actor. Turns out the real terrorist is Killian, a rival of Stark Industry, who has kidnapped Pepper and he’s injected her with Extremis to turn her against him.

So after Tony escapes captivity, he rescues Rhodey and the two of them work together to save President Ellis from an attack… but he gets kidnapped anyway. They go after Killian, securing the President, and rescuing Pepper using all of the Iron Man suits that Tony has made since the Battle of New York. Plot twist: Pepper is the one who ends up killing Kilian with his own Extremis formula. In the aftermath of the fight, Pepper is cured of Extremis and Tony finally gets that shrapnel out of his chest. At the very end, we find out that Tony was telling this whole story to Bruce Banner, who fell asleep at the very beginning.

Random Trivia/Connections:

• The Extremis chemical is later used as part of Project CENTIPEDE in Agents of SHIELD.
• We see many flashbacks of Tony’s fight during the Battle of New York, from the Avengers. As well, the movie gets referenced many times.
• Thor is referenced when Killian talks about when the “bigguy fell out of the sky.”
• There is evidence that there is another "Mandarin" who is not pleased that Killian's actor-for-hire used his name. That story is told in "All Hail the King".

Thoughts:

This was my favorite Iron Man movie. Maybe it’s just because of the difficult things that I’ve been through (some my fault and some not) that have caused me grief (for some reason I feel like trauma is too strong a word here), but for once I feel like I can relate to Tony. Usually with his arrogance and rudeness, I can’t relate, even though I enjoy his funny moments. However, in this movie, he seems to go through some intense development (not sure where that development went in later movies, but whatever). It was also very nice to see him fight someone who wasn’t in a metal suit. Just refreshing compared to Whiplash and Iron Monger.

In "Pilot", before offering her a job, Coulsen interrogates
Skye, who they have captured after she hacked in.

Agents of SHIELD: Season 1 (Episodes 1-7)

Agents of SHIELD brings together a group of misfit SHIELD agents (as well as a hacker who should be their enemy) to track down and handle supernatural and potentially alien phenomenon across the globe. The team is led by Agent Phil Coulsen, who we saw die in “The Avengers”, but was somehow revived (we’ll get to that in the second chunk of SHIELD episodes). This series incorporates the action of the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including the action of “Thor: The Dark World” (which I’ll highlight in the next MCU post) and “Captain America: Winter Soldier” (which we’ll look at another time). For now, here’s a little summary of each episode in this segment.

1. Pilot: A synthetically super-powered man, Mike Peterson, is approached by a freedom-fighter hacker known as Skye. Before she knows it, Skye is enlisted as a consultant for a specialized SHIELD team, put together by Agent Hill and Agent Coulsen. The team consists of Agent Melinda May (kick-butt fighter and expert pilot), Agent Grant Ward (tactical specialist without many people skills), Agent Leo Fitz (SHIELD engineer), and Agent Jemma Simmons (medical specialist). Skye helps the team track down Mike Peterson, who has been a subject for Project Centipede, and they’re able to sedate him before he causes too much damage.
2. 0-8-4: The SHIELD team and Skye fly to Peru to investigate an 0-8-4 (an object of unknown origin). They track the 0-8-4 to a pre-Incan temple. However, after they get the 0-8-4 into the air and out of Peru, their supposed allies turn on them and they nearly blast themselves out of the sky to keep the dangerous device safe.
3. The Asset: Dr. Hall, a SHIELD scientist, gets captured and Coulsen’s team is sent to Malta to track down Ian Quinn, who is the prime suspect in the capture. So Skye sneaks into his home during a party to help Ward and Coulsen to get in to rescue Hall, who unfortunately has been persuaded otherwise by Quinn. By the end of it, Hall has been sucked in by his own experiment and Quinn has escaped.
4. Eye-Spy: In Stockholm, Akela Amador, a former SHIELD agent, steals diamonds from some masked men. The SHIELD team comes after her. After Akela trades the diamonds, the team discovers a video feed coming straight from Akela's eye, making them realize that she's doing someone else's work. May and Coulsen capture Akela and the team manages to take over the signal in her eye, in order to keep her handler from killing her. Ward (with the hijacked signal) goes to Akela's destination, while Fitz and Simmons remove the mechanical eye. With Akela safe and in SHIELD's hands, the team moves on.
5. Girl in the Flower Dress: A pyrokinetic named Chan Ho Yin is approached by a mysterious woman called Raina. As Chan was on the Index, the SHIELD team gets involved and they suspect that Skye leaked his location. Skye tries to win their trust back by tracking down who really leaked the information, leading to Miles, an old flame. Turns out that Miles leaked the information for some money that Raina promised him, leading them to Project Centipede. Raina manipulates Chan into helping them stabilize the Extremis in the Centipede Serum, by making him think he's becoming a super hero. SHIELD breaks into Centipede to rescue Chan, but he rejects their help and ends up burning the place.
6. FZZT: The team is brought to the site of a scout leader’s floating dead body. During the investigation, another dead body ends up floating, after an electro-magnetic disturbance. Skye discovers that both men helped after the Chitauri attack on New York. Finding a potential third victim, the team discovers that they are dealing with an alien sickness, spread by a souvenir Chitauri helmet, but not before Simmons is infected while on the Bus. Having been unable to develop a cure, Simmons jumps out of the plane to save the rest of the team, just as Fitz finds a cure. So Ward jumps after her and saves her.
7. The Hub: After an exciting mission, the team goes to The Hub for a briefing on a new mission that Ward and Fitz have been assigned to by Victoria Hand. While Fitz and Ward are gone, Simmons and Skye get panicky about their friends, leading them to hack in and find out that there’s no extraction plan, meaning their friends are set to die. While Fitz and Ward continue their mission, Coulsen leads his own rogue extraction team to get their team members, just as Hand had predicted.

In "FZZT", this is about where I
started shipping Fitzsimmons

Random Trivia/Connections:

• Multiple characters from Marvel movies appear in the series. In this portion of the series we see Phil Coulsen, Maria Hill, Nick Fury, and Agent Sitwell.
• The events of “The Avengers” is referenced multiple times, including references to Coulsen’s death, the Chitauri invasion, and the Battle of New York.
• Centipede uses Extremis, last seen in Iron Man 3.
• Thor’s hammer is referred to as a previous 0-8-4.
• It is established that SHIELD has a list of enhanced individuals, called the Index.
• We are told that Coulsen, after his miraculous recovery, spent time in Tahiti.

Thoughts:

Agents of SHIELD had a slow start. These first few episodes definitely built characters, more than plot. Multiple episodes, including “0-8-4” and “The Hub”, show the team growing closer together and learning to work together. As a mismatched group of people, this really proves important later on in the season, especially after Captain America: Winter Soldier. If you want to watch these episodes (which I definitely recommend), just binge them. I was “fortunate” to watch the first two seasons of Agents of SHIELD over two grave shifts, so I got through them fast enough to appreciate them, but I can see how they’d drag on if you watched them one at a time. As we draw closer to Winter Soldier, it starts to get a bit more exciting, but I’ll save that for next time.

What were your favorite Agents of SHIELD moments? Who’s your favorite agent? I’ll definitely admit that I’ve got a crush on Skye, so she’s my favorite (though not technically an agent at this point). I liked Ward for a while, until stuff happened (spoilers). Come back for another post next week. I’m thinking either Classic Doctor Who or something random.

Marvel Cinematic Universe: Part 2

Aloha! Happy Finals Week, BYU.... Thankfully my finals are over now and only one class took until I'm officially done my bachelors degree (even though I'm walking this week). To celebrate I've got a post for you about the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This week is about three big movies for SHIELD: The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, and Thor.

The Incredible Hulk

Hulk/Banner saves New York from the Abomination

This Hulk movie (starring Edward Norton instead of Mark Ruffalo) starts with Bruce Banner already having become the Hulk and on the run from the military. While he's hiding out in Brazil, the military, led by General Ross and helped by Emil Blonsky, finds him. So he goes on the run again, all while trying to get help from Mr. Blue to take care of his little green problem. Once Bruce gets back to the United States, he reunites with his ex-girlfriend, Betty Ross, who is General Ross's daughter.

During a fight at Culver University, Bruce turns into the Hulk and ends up having to protect Betty, who had ended up in the line of fire of her father's men. Bruce and Betty go on the run, making their way to NYC to meet Mr. Blue who tries to get rid of Bruce's Hulk problem. Seemingly cured, Bruce and Betty end up in custody and Blonsky persuades Mr. Blue to use Bruce's blood to give him more power. Bad move, Mr. Blue. Blonsky, now the "Abomination", is rampaging in NYC, which persuades General Ross to let Bruce fight him. With some help, Bruce wins and then goes on the run. Finally in isolation, he tries to learn to control the Hulk experience. Meanwhile, Tony Stark comes to talk to General Ross about a "team" that's being put together.

Random Trivia/Connections:

•   The serum that Bruce was originally trying to replicate was the same Super Soldier Serum that turned Steve Rogers into Captain America in "The First Avenger".

•   General Ross, Bruce's initial nemesis in this movie, will reappear in "Captain America: Civil War", coming out next month.

•   In the post-credits scene, Tony alludes to the Avengers team, which concept was introduced to him during the events of "Iron Man 2", which occur concurrently with this movie.

•   In "The Avengers", Black Widow mentions that SHIELD has been keeping the army away from Bruce since the events of this movie.

Thoughts:

While definitely different from the Mark Ruffalo Hulk, I actually enjoyed this movie, despite hearing that it wasn't very good. One critique I have, which is actually more of a critique of "Age of Ultron" is that we haven't seen Betty Ross since this movie. Why is Bruce even considering anything with Black Widow when Betty is out there? Did something happen with her to push them apart or has it just been the passage of time since 2008 when this movie happened? Seven years is a long time, but I just wish they would address it. Maybe they will in "Civil War" when General Ross appears? I doubt it, but who knows. When it all comes down to it, this movie is worth watching. Even though the actor for Bruce Banner changes between this one and "The Avengers" it still fits as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (it's not like he's the only one who's been recast; just look at War Machine).

Fury gives Stark a good talking to.

Iron Man 2

Right on the heels of "Iron Man", Tony has announced that he's Iron Man. Meanwhile, Anton Vanko is plotting against Tony Stark. Six months after outing himself, Tony has helped establish peace in some powerful countries and he's opened the Stark Expo. However, he also has the government after him, questioning if the Iron Man suit is safe in the hands of Stark. They want him to hand it over, but of course that's not Tony's style. He ends up leaving the trial humiliating his rival, Justin Hammer.

However.... Tony also is dying. His arc reactor is slowly poisoning his blood. Accepting his impending death, he appoints Pepper Potts to succeed him as CEO and a Natalie Rushman replaces Pepper. Later, while Tony has a mid-life crisis (or end-of life crisis?) on a race track, Vanko attacks him. Long story short, Iron Man beats Vanko, Tony learns that Vanko's father works for his father, and Hammer hires Vanko to create suits for him. As the mid-life crisis continues, Rhodey shuts down Tony's birthday party, resulting in a drunken super suit battle (drunken on Tony's end). Humbled for once, Tony is able to save himself, with the help of Nick Fury.

Meanwhile at the Stark Expo, Hammer unveils Rhodey as War Machine, which turns out is controlled by Hammer. So while Tony rushes off to save Rhodey, his body guard Happy Hogan and Natalie Rushman (who is actually Agent Romanoff aka Black Widow of SHIELD) rush off to help stop Hammer. War Machine and Iron Man fight off Vanko and Tony rushes off to save Pepper from an explosion. And finally two share a kiss. Yay! As the movie ends, Fury says that they want Iron Man as a consultant for the Avengers Initiative. Finally, in the post-credit scene, Agent Coulsen arrives in New Mexico and finds a strange hammer that leads us into the next movie...

Random Trivia/Connections:

•   When Tony and Fury talk near the end of the movie, there's a news report about an incident at Culver University, the same incident involving the Hulk in the previous movie.

•   A prototype of Captain America's shield is seen in Tony's lab.

•   When Fury talks about Coulsen's absence, he mentions an incident in the southwestern part of the country, which we find out in e next movie is a small town in New Mexico.

•   Wakanda, Black Panther's home country, is seen on a map.

Thoughts:

I've heard lots of critiques on this movie (most of which come from my friend Justin). Honestly, it was a decent movie. Not my favorite, but I just think they were doing too much. We had the action with Vanko, Tony's blood poisoning, the Stark Expo, the stuff with SHIELD, and all the stuff between Tony and the US government. Just felt like there was a lot going on. In total though, a few important key points still affect other movies: Black Widow was introduced, War Machine was created, and the Avengers Initiative is introduced.

Thor

All those muscles put to waste.

Flashback to the 10th century AD, we see the beginnings of Norse mythology and we see Odin and his Asgardians defeat Laufey and his Frost Giants. In the present, Odin's son Thor is getting ready to become king. However, the Frost Giants attack. In anger, Thor goes to the home of the Frost Giants with his brother Loki and four friends, but instead of fixing things he makes things worse and he basically gets grounded... To earth... In New Mexico. Where he gets hit by a car. So around the same time that  Jane, Darcy, and Erik (who hit him with the car) get him conscious again, Agent Coulsen finds Thor's hammer. He proceeds to take all of Jane's research on wormholes. It's about at this point that Thor sneaks into the facility that SHIELD built up around the hammer, beating every SHIELD agent until he gets to the hammer, only to find that he can't lift it. He's permitted to leave the premise with the help of Dr Erik Selvig, but manages to nab one of Jane's notebooks on his way out.

Meanwhile on Asgard, Loki discovers that he's really a Frost Giant (kind of a runt of a giant) so when Odin basically goes comatose he takes the reins of the kingdom. He strikes a deal with Laufey and the Frost Giants in order to secure his reign. Meanwhile, Thor's friends travel to Earth to try to get him out of exile, only to have the Destroyer attack. Being willing to sacrifice himself for Jane's safety, Thor's power is restored and he's able to defeat the Destroyer before returning to Asgard to take care of Loki. Loki ends up double crossing and killing Laufey to try to prove himself to Odin. A fight ensues between the brothers with Loki trying to destroy the Frost Giants with the power of the bifrost, but Thor destroys it. With both brothers hanging over the abyss, Odin wakes up and saves them in the nick of time, except that Loki decides to drop to his apparent death. Meanwhile, not knowing that the bifrost was destroyed, Jane is left waiting for Thor to return, so she continues with her research. Some time later, Selvig gets taken to a SHIELD facility where he is shown a mysterious blue cube that he is to study. Unbeknownst to Fury, Selvig is being manipulated by Loki.

Random Trivia/Connections:

•   The prologue takes place in Tonsberg, Norway, so it's likely that this is when the Tesseract ended up on Earth, since that's where Red Skull found it.

•   Though a minor character in this movie, Clint Barton/Hawkeye makes his first appearance here at the SHIELD facility that was built around Thor's hammer.

•   Coulsen's activities in this movie occur just after his departure from Iron Man 2, explaining where he went.

Thoughts:

Not one of my favorites but I do have some highlights. Darcy, Jane's intern, is my favorite. "You hit him with your car." "You tased him." "Yeah, I did." She's just so funny and quirky. Highlight of the movie (and its sequel). Although the development of Thor from prideful jerk to humble hero was a bit fast, I did enjoy it. It sets the tone for all of Thor's heroic, selfless acts in the movies that follow. I'm also a fan of Thor's Asgardian companions. Nice round group of people and they kick major butt.

Alright, that's all for now. Next week I'm planning something Disney related. Something nice to celebrate graduating (even though I still have that one class).