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Post By
HH

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Visionary

Subj: Re: My own thoughts on these two having now seen it as well [spoilers in general, although I'll try not to give too much away.]
Posted: Fri May 08, 2015 at 03:35:05 pm EDT
Reply Subj: Re: My own thoughts on these two having now seen it as well [spoilers in general, although I'll try not to give too much away.]
Posted: Fri May 08, 2015 at 11:24:28 am EDT



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      Whedon certainly seems "Avengered out" at the moment, but if any of the Marvel movies requires additional runtime to correct the bleeding cuts for timing purposes it is this one.



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    I agree. I remember an interview from Anthony Mackie where he said people called him after the Avengers 2 movie poster came out and that's how he learned he was in the film. A bunch of people online thought that story was bull, as how could he not know he was in it? Considering the amount cut (including Loki) I'd say he was telling the truth... nobody knew if their cameos would make it to the final film.


There's a whole "Making Of..." story that will probably never be fully told. I'd actually pay to read Whedon's full script, though.


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    Apparently Marvel at one point suggested cutting all of the Scarlet Witch-induced dream sequences and the entire farm visit. That would have been a major change, and while I could see the dream sequences going (except maybe Stark's, as it displayed his motivations, and of course Thor's involvement would need to alter), losing the farm sequence would have been a huge mistake.


It sounds as though this movie faced an awful lot of conflicting input. I'm glad that Whedon was able to retain the more human elements, which include the dream sequences. I'm heartily sick of movies edited by focus groups.


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      Marvel's releases have now reached the magnitude that makes spoiler control very difficult.



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    I've seen that substantial spoilers for "Civil War" have been making the rounds based on the unverified word of someone who claims to be "in the know", but that a great number of people seem to believe are accurate.


Given Evans' reluctance to extend his contractual appearances beyond one more Cap movie and one more Avengers movie, some of the rumours seem to be extrapolations of the most pragmatic way to handle that in-story.


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    Buy yes, with as much coordination between different parties as major releases need, it's inevitable that leaks are going to happen... intentionally or by complete accident.


Apparently the toy industry is one of the worst offenders, since production lines for action figures etc. need to be set up months in advance.


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      Yes... Thor's little side quest seemed cut down to the bare minimum. I can understand, as it really is a bit too tangential to the story here.



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      It still felt like we had missed an important development there. We didn't get a real sense of any danger that Thor mentioned to Selvig, or even proper context for why Thor was taking a bath. It was a strange unbalanced cutaway from Cap and Stark chopping logs and Widow and Banner discussing bathroom arrangements.



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    That's one of the bits where I have to wonder how well general audiences followed it all. Even I wasn't really clear on what Thor was supposed to be seeing... It seemed more like he walked in on a party where Heimdal was already drunk.


The infinity stone graphics there told an interesting story, though, I thought.


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      I really wanted an Ultron that could take the combined beating from the team and keep coming... That molten scene suggested such a thing, but never really happened. Ah well.



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      I wanted Ultron Unlimited, but I was content with them borrowing Graviton's plot.



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    It really was a Graviton thing, wasn't it? Speaking of which, I wonder if he'll reappear on Agents of SHIELD sometime. On the subject of that show, I guess we now know why they introduced a different love interest for Mockingbird...


I'm quite enjoying Agents of SHIELD at the moment, though I was disappointed that their big Age of Ultron tie-in was effectively a pre-credits sequence only. I really felt that a proper crossover episode was needed this time, even if it was only to deal with the whole offscreen Struker death thing.


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    On a tangent, I really like that they used "Agent Carter" to substantially set up the Red Room stuff prior to Age of Ultron. It put a lot more context into the rather disjointed scenes we had of the Black Widow's early training.


I'd have liked to see a clearer line drawn between 1940s Jarvis, AI Jarvis, and Vision. Maybe now that Agent Carter has a second season?


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    The Mjolnir scene is one of those things that Whedon does so well... not just in the the dialog and fun of the scene itself, but the way it's used in the call back for both a joke and to answer the question of trust in shorthand manner. What seems like filler, character-stuff serves an important purpose.


Likewise some of the dialogue, such as Cap's quippy "If you get killed... walk it off", which takes a different significance given how Quicksilver goes out.


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      We also had an immediate movie answer to the knotty comics debate as to whether Vision has to be intangible to fly.



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    Yes, I noticed that right away. I don't much mind... I'm still more concerned about the fact that they didn't demonstrate that he could turn intangible at all. That just seems like a very simple thing to establish.


Much more work required on the character. It's a shame Feige has announced there are no current plans for more One Shot shorts.


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    I note that an article came out a while back discussing a set visit where the reporters witnessed a fight scene between the Vision and Thor immediately following his birth. I wonder if there was more to the scene in the movie before the Vision calmed down, or if reporters just interpreted what they saw as a "fight". I would have enjoyed a scene reminiscent of the Vision's 2nd issue, where Cap goads the team into fighting Vizh to demonstrate his powers.


I did apprerciate how his sight of the city changed his reaction to his environment. Beautifully played by Bettany, heading right into his comment to Wanda, "Look again."


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      It's true, and they play off of each other surprisingly well. I think movie Thor was happy to have another non-human on the team.



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      It's a fairlly logical friendship given the SF version of Asgardians from the movieverse, but it was nice to see it laid out like that.



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    I always felt like Thor would find any question of whether the Vision was alive or not to be rather foolish. He talks, he's reasonable, and he can fight... what other measure matters?


Don't forget that one of his friends and allies is the Rigellian Recorder. He's also worked well with Beta Ray Bull's Scuttlebutt.


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    Certainly though, seeing as the Asgardians interacted with the Collector in the "Dark World" after-credits scene, they've seen and interacted with weirder things than the Vision.


Sif's Agents of SHIELD comments amplified this too.


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    I spotted the Jocasta program on my first viewing of the film. I took it as being a bit of fun rather than a major plot point since there's really no logical reason for such an AI being in STark's collection.



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    True, if they had any intention of following through on her classic origin. But if they're never going to get around to her (which would require bringing back Ultron anyway, which I don't see happening. I was kind of waiting for a child to find an Ultron head and kick it around though...) I'm kind of surprised they didn't just make her Stark's new A.I., considering that they went with a female one anyway.


I think they were wise to shy away from that baggage.


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      I was pleased to see the cooky quartet getting some time together, though a group shot of the four would have made me even happier.



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    A missed opportunity for a simple reference, at least... Going in, I wondered if they were going to end with those 4 as the new line-up. I did like the new one introduced, although I feel like we won't really get to explore it because of that Civil War thing coming which will break up the team anyway. Interesting that everyone besides Vizh and Wanda are former military types.


Some work need to be done to establish the team as something other than the B-vengers.


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      I still can't get that excited about the Civil War idea. The whole concept is tainted for me by its comics execution.



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    I figure they have to deviate substantially from it, not just because of character rights but because the whole idea in the comic just doesn't make much logical sense.


My main concern now is that it will follow the original by having a team of heroes screw up and cause a massive civilian death toll to trigger registration. If that team is the new Avengers under Cap it offers an entirely different and unhealthy dynamic. If its some left-field newbies then they are straw men. The whole idea seems sour to shoehorn in.

Even in comics, the reaction to the disaster rang hollow to me. In a continuity where the Leader can gamma bomb a city, where Ultron can wipe out a whole nation, where there can be Genoshan genocide, where the value of heroes working against conquering Kang even after government capitulation has recently been demonstrated, the politics and consequences after the New Warriors error all seemed terribly forced.



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    In any event, I was quite pleased to hear Kevin Feige come out and say in a recent interview that fans should stop expecting a film where the Marvel Universe takes a turn for the dark or overly tragic... It's simply not coming.


Good man.


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    I've heard speculation that the Vision might head to space to investigate the mind gem, which of couse makes people question whether he might pop up in Guardians of the Galaxy 2. Oddly enough, it seems like he'd be a good fit with that weirdness. Especially if they introduce Mantis to that cast...


There's something odd going on with Guardians 2, like James Gunn feels the need to compete with the Avengers franchise. First there's the Hulk in space rumour, and now the Vizh in space speculation. I'd really prefer a more standalone movie that builds on the core characters. They're not ready yet to shuffle aside for a properly-featured guest star.


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    I honestly feel like it's a shame that T'challa will be introduced in "Civil War", where he could be somewhat lost among the giant cast.


I'm assuming his appearance will end up being a bit like Hawkeye's in Thor 1, more of a cameo than a long sustained guest spot like Natasha's in Cap 2.


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    However, I can clearly see why Vibranium will now be a point of contention on the world stage. I could honestly see that being the central point of conflict instead... Not registration (which seems small and pointless in this version of the Marvel Universe), but whether the Avengers (or the US, or the World Security Council, or whatever) should take Wakanda's vibranium to ensure it doesn't ever again end up in the hands of a mad robot bent on extinction.



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    That's actually an issue where I could see different characters on different sides, since it wouldn't be "beat the other side into submission" so much as "seize the vibranium" vs. "stop them from seizing the vibranium".


It might fit the Stark control freak theme, but I think they'll stick with the "controlling people on the Index" stuff that SHIELD is putting in place.


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    Indeed. In the future, I will be sorely put out if they don't have the Vision shed a tear, and of course I'm expecting an "Ant-man shrinks and voyages into the Vision" scene at some point as well.



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    And to have Cap someday actually say "Avengers Assemble!", of course.


I think now that "Avengers Assemble" is going to have to wait for a triumphant Cap/Thor/Iron Man reunion in Infnity War 2.






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