To Infinity War and Beyond: the MCU Thread with Spoilers

[Hugh Akston]

But in the final fight sequence, weren't a sizable fraction of the people at SHIELD headquarters working for Hydra? It wasn't like everyone went after the few bad apples, it was more like the whole place broke out into fighting, and a nontrivial fraction of them were fighting for Hydra.

Sent from my XT1635-01 using Tapatalk

Cap specifically says that the Strike Team and Insight crews are Hydra, and he doesn't know how many more, then people start shooting at each other, indicating that #notallshieldagents are in on it.

[thoreau]

I didn't mean to say that everyone in SHIELD was Hydra, but every unit and level in the org seemed to have a nontrivial number of Hydra agents, and I just never bought that. A Hydra cell? Sure. Hydra at every level so that like half the people in the room are shooting at the other half? Seemed dumb.

Sent from my XT1635-01 using Tapatalk

[Eric the .5b]

I didn't mean to say that everyone in SHIELD was Hydra, but every unit and level in the org seemed to have a nontrivial number of Hydra agents, and I just never bought that. A Hydra cell? Sure. Hydra at every level so that like half the people in the room are shooting at the other half? Seemed dumb.

I don't think there were any scenes where randos were shooting at each other. You had the tactical crew trying to intimidate guys in the control center, a gaggle of them going down to run the carriers, etc. It was basically the Hydra segments acting on the plan and everyone else on SHIELD going variations on "WTF, is this real?" and "Fuck no, this is not happening on my watch!" after Rogers' speech.

Really, the part that naggles me is not the degree of infiltration since WW2, the time frame of generations. It's only that SHIELD is implied to have been NSA-levels of not being an acknowledged thing that even gives Hydra not being caught (modulo a few silencing murders) a 70s wood veneer of plausibility. And then you remember that people who want Real Absolute Power aren't actually willing to work on a multi-generational timeframe, because they want Real Absolute Power.

(But the rest of the movie more than lets me deal with those logical problems. It has been the one CMU movie that all but said, "Made for Eric the .5b".)

[Dangerman]

Can anyone tell me if Frank Castle actually does any punishing in Season 2? Season 1 was glaringly punishment-free.

[Ellie]

Can anyone tell me if Frank Castle actually does any punishing in Season 2? Season 1 was glaringly punishment-free.

Very little. He mostly runs around with an annoying teenage girl who is very annoying and annoys everyone a lot.

[Dangerman]

I'm so disappointed, because Punisher was the one comic my mom didn't like me to read, because it was non-stop violence and military pr0n, with a few explanatory panels to tell you what type of ammunition just blew off those dudes' faces. Which is why I read it.

[Aresen]

Can anyone tell me if Frank Castle actually does any punishing in Season 2? Season 1 was glaringly punishment-free.

Very little. He mostly runs around with an annoying teenage girl who is very annoying and annoys everyone a lot.

Is that her superpower?

[Pham Nuwen]

So Sabrina followed him around?

[Jasper]

So Sabrina followed him around?

Nice.

[Warren]

Sabrina?

[D.A. Ridgely]

I thought Captain Marvel was a snooze. Picked up a bit in the last third or so, but it's an eminently forgettable MCU flick.

[Ellie]

Speaking of forgettable, I know I've seen Winter Soldier but I honestly don't remember it at all. Is that the one with the fight in the elevator?

[thoreau]

I'm agnostic about the elevator incident.

[lunchstealer]

So Sabrina followed him around?

She's not nearly annoying enough. Wait Keirnan Shipka or Melisa Joan Hart?

Either way I keep having to remind myself to male gaze Miranda Otto because Shipka is three years younger than snackstealer.

I'm agnostic about the elevator incident.

ISWYDT

[Hugh Akston]

[Ellie]

Clint, we need to talk ... ABOUT YOUR HAIR

[Hugh Akston]

He obviously lost his family in the Snap. That sort of trauma is the only possible excuse for the shaved sides fauxhawk.

[thoreau]

Thanos was unable to kill Hawkeye, but he did turn some of his hairs to dust. Now Hawkeye must fight the mad Titan with the only weapon that makes sense when fighting a super-powerful alien armed with infinity stones: A bow and arrow.

[D.A. Ridgely]

Mohawkeye for the win!

[Pham Nuwen]

The coolest guy in my cohort has that haircut. I will defend its honor.

[Aresen]

Thanos was unable to kill Hawkeye, but he did turn some of his hairs to dust. Now Hawkeye must fight the mad Titan with the only weapon that makes sense when fighting a super-powerful alien armed with infinity stones: A bow and arrow.

In any superheroverse, that makes total sense.

[Hugh Akston]

So Marvel has officially suspended production of GotG3, which tells me that they have already gone down the list of replacement directors, all of whom mysteriously declined to work with the company whose official policy is to fire people based on the bad faith fauxtrage of alt-right Twitter trolls.

So what are the odds at this point that they a) hire Gunn back, b) find a green director hungry enough to do it, or c) drag this cash cow behind the barn and shoot it?

A - is the most likely, I think.

Especially since the cast seems to be backing Gunn, and even Disney isn't brazen enough to think they can recast Drax, Starlord and Gamora.

It was A

[Aresen]

So Marvel has officially suspended production of GotG3, which tells me that they have already gone down the list of replacement directors, all of whom mysteriously declined to work with the company whose official policy is to fire people based on the bad faith fauxtrage of alt-right Twitter trolls.

So what are the odds at this point that they a) hire Gunn back, b) find a green director hungry enough to do it, or c) drag this cash cow behind the barn and shoot it?

A - is the most likely, I think.

Especially since the cast seems to be backing Gunn, and even Disney isn't brazen enough to think they can recast Drax, Starlord and Gamora.

It was A

In general, most series would benefit from C. By the third installment, the jokes are tired, it's been done to death and even the audience is bored. Unfortunately, there is generally enough cash left to be milked that studios won't do the humane thing.

[Hugh Akston]

Endgame posters
I chuckled at Happy and Pepper living through the Snap. Kinda miffed that there's no Hank and Janet poster but whatevs.

[Aresen]

Just saw Captain Marvel. Utterly predictable plotline. (The Kree Empire is so clearly fascist that they should have had big signs saying "Villain's Headquarters" when she went to meet the 'AI'. I admit I giggled because the first thing that came to mind when I heard 'AI' was 'artificial insemination'.)

Decent action and special effects. ★★★★★

The space kitty was telegraphed a little too much, but I admit I was surprised when it went into action.