Category: movies

“It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.”

To open, let me just say that I am including Harry Potter in my blog series since it was a big part of my childhood and growing up.  This is all nostalgia for me.  But, taking into account the controversy surrounding J.K. Rowling at the moment, please enjoy second-hand copies or borrowed copies if you have not read the books or watched the movies yet.

A bit of background; I think most people are aware of how J.K. Rowling came up with the story and how many publishers declined at first.  Then, it became a global phenomenon.  Personally, I didn’t get into Harry Potter until I received the first three books in hardback for my birthday from family members.  So I figured I should give them a try since they were a gift and hardback.  I got into the first chapter of the first book and fell in love.  I was the right age for the series; I was probably 11 when I received my gift and the books start with the main characters at 11.  By the time the fourth book came out in 2000, I was part of the group that would pre-order the book.  I read that one in a day and a half and I was good for nothing else.  I went to the movies with friends in high school and even into college.  I got in trouble for reading the fifth book while on vacation with a friend.  I re-read the first four books so often I broke the spine on the hardbacks and I’ve had to replace them (and specifically, when I replaced Sorcerer’s Stone, I found the anniversary edition, though I don’t think it really throws page numbers off).  Hence, I literally grew up with these characters, and it will always hold a place in my heart.

Anyway, on with: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

(In Britain, the first book and movie are the Philosopher’s Stone, but changed since American audiences would not be as familiar with Philosopher’s stone)

The bulk of the cast includes:

Daniel Radcliffe as the titular Harry Potter (he’s gone on to do some comedic roles, along with stage roles).

Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley

Emma Watson as Hermoine Granger (we saw her in the live action Beauty and the Beast and she was Meg March in 2019’s Little Women)

Richard Harris in Albus Dumbledore in the first two films, then he passed away in 2002 and was replaced by Michael Gambon (who very recently passed away).  Richard was King Arthur in the 1967 movie Camelot, then played Marcus Aurelius in Gladiator [though, I did fall asleep during that movie], and he had a brief appearance in Patriot Games.

The indomitable Maggie Smith is Professor Minerva McGonagall.  She’s now equally well known for her quips in Downton Abbey, but I also knew her as Mother Superior in Sister Act.  She was Lady Gresham in Becoming Jane.

The very talented and dearly missed Alan Rickman (he passed away in 2016 from pancreatic cancer) brings us Professor Severus Snape.  He was Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd, part of Galaxy Quest and Alice in Wonderland, shined as the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, wooed us in Sense and Sensibility and was even alongside Liam Neeson in Michael Collins.  He was handpicked by J.K. Rowling and was the only one informed on some of Snape’s background.

Robbie Coltrane is Rubeus Hagrid (he also passed away in 2022) and occasionally helped Pierce Brosnan’s James Bond out in The World is Not Enough and GoldenEye.  He was also the voice of Lord Dingwall in Brave (how did I miss that?)

Fiona Shaw is Aunt Petunia Dursley (she was Miss Harrison in the first Enola Holmes movie)

Richard Griffiths was Uncle Vernon Dursley (he also passed away in 2013).  He appeared as the Duke of Burgundy in BBC’s Hollow Crown productions and King George in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

Harry Melling plays their son, Dudley Dursley.  He portrays Cadet Edgar Allan Poe (alongside Christian Bale) in The Pale Blue Eye [which was filmed about an hour down the road from me].  He also appeared in an episode of BBC’s The Musketeers and Merlin.

Warwick Davis portrays several of the goblins (mainly Griphook) and Professor Flitwick.  We should recognize him from Willow, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, Wicket in the Star Wars universe (and other roles in that galaxy).  He’s been in Doctor Who, Merlin, and Prince Caspian.

John Hurt is Ollivander (he passed away in 2017) and is also the voice of Kilgarrah in Merlin, the War Doctor in Doctor Who, voices part of The Hollow Crown, Professor Oxley in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and appeared in Rob Roy.

Julie Walters is Mrs. Molly Weasley; we’ll see her later in both Mamma Mia movies; she also briefly appears in Mary Poppins Returns and BBC’s Hollow Crown.  She voices the witch in Brave (missed that one as well), but she’s the mother in Becoming Jane.

We’re introduced to Bonnie Wright as Ginny Weasley

As well as actual twins James and Oliver Phelps as Fred and George Weasley

Chris Rankin portrays older brother Percy (he’s worked as production coordinator on Discovery of Witches and Downton Abbey and is Mycroft Holmes in the Hillywood Sherlock Parody)

Tom Felton is Draco Malfoy.

Can’t forget John Cleese as the ghostly Nearly Headless Nick.  He’s part of the Monty Python group, has become a narrator for Winnie the Pooh, and was Q in several James Bond films (most of Pierce Brosnan’s).

Alfred Enoch, who plays Dean Thomas, is in an episode of Sherlock

David Bradley, who plays Argus Filch, pops up as Walder Frey in Game of Thrones and is briefly seen in Captain America: The First Avenger.

Filming took place at Christ Church, Oxford, Durham Cathedral, Gloucester Cathedral, and Alnwick Castle (that’s the main one we see)

The first and second films were directed by Chris Columbus.  And the brilliant John Williams scores the first three films, though his main theme, titled Hedwig’s Theme is used in the rest of the films and is iconically linked to the Harry Potter universe (and those whimsical chimes that start the piece are played on a celesta).

We open the film a little later than the book; where we’ve already been introduced to Vernon and Petunia Dursely; very normal people, and the “last people you’d expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn’t hold with such nonsense (pg.1).”  But their greatest secret was the Potters.  Which lands on their doorstep one evening, delivered by an old man in a robe and a lady who was at one point a cat reading the sign to Privet Drive.  These are Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall we find out, and they are delivering infant Harry to his only living relatives.  Something has occurred that his parents are dead and he now bears a lightning-shaped scar.

Harry is delivered by a large man, Rubeus Hagrid, on a flying motorcycle, lent to him by a young Sirius Black.  Harry dreams of this incident when he wakes to his cousin Dudley’s eleventh birthday, a very selfish boy who argues about how many presents he gets, regardless of size.  Harry goes to the zoo with his cousin, aunt, and uncle, though Vernon makes sure to warn Harry off of any funny business.  When they come to the reptile house, Dudley gets bored by a snake, and Harry strikes up a conversation with the snake and to his surprise, the snake responds.  Glass disappears and Dudley falls into the enclosure.  Harry can’t explain how it happened, but he gets punished for it anyway.

More strange things begin to happen, such as mail coming for Harry, addressed to the cupboard under the stairs, his bedroom.  Vernon won’t let Harry have his letter, nor the multitude that begin to arrive each day.  Even when they move bedrooms.  Harry knows that his aunt and uncle know something; he can hear Vernon telling Petunia “I’m not having one in the house, Petunia!  Didn’t we swear when we took him in we’d stamp out that dangerous nonsense (pg. 36)?”  Vernon is very pleased when Sunday comes, for “no post on Sunday.”  Then their house is flooded with letters, shooting out of the chimney.  Vernon forces them to leave, to a hut on a rock in the middle of nowhere.

But not far enough away that Hagrid can’t return and knock down the door right after Harry turns eleven on July 31st.  He informs the young lad, “yer a wizard, Harry.”  Harry is disbelieving, but Petunia finally speaks up and recounts that her sister, Lily was indeed a witch.  Well, Petunia calls her a freak, but it doesn’t negate the truth that Harry is a wizard.  And he was lied to about how his parents died.  Hagrid gives Dudley a pig’s tail and he and Harry leave.

Hagrid takes Harry to London to buy his school supplies for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  If one knows where to look, one can find the Leaky Cauldron, which leads to Diagon Alley, full of magical shops and Gringotts, the wizarding bank.  There, Harry finds a fortune left to him by his parents.  They also stop at vault 713 to retrieve an object for Dumbledore [magical symbolism runs rampant in the series, for both the numbers 7 and 13 have magical influence, some of which we discover later; and there are books devoted to pointing out all the magical influence Rowling wove in].  In the book, Harry meets a young blond boy also attending Hogwarts, but they don’t get on.  In the movie, they meet later at school.  Hagrid buys Harry an owl for school, snowy white, that he later names Hedwig.  Harry also purchases his own wand from Ollivander who spouts “the wand chooses the wizard.”  And it’s very curious that Harry’s wand, holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, the phoenix who gave his feather gave only one other.  And that feather was the core in the wand that gave Harry his scar.  For “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things, terrible, but great,” and they should expect great things from Harry as well.

Harry bemoans to Hagrid, “Everyone thinks I’m special…. How can they expect great things?  I’m famous and I can’t even remember what I’m famous for (pg. 86).”

Hagrid explains as best he can what happened to Lily and James and to Harry as a baby.  No one had been able to stand against Voldemort once he wanted them dead.  True, some fought him, including Harry’s parents, but he went after them and killed them anyway.  Until he reached Harry.  Something about the baby stumped him and when he went to kill the infant, the spell rebounded and possibly killed the man.  Hagrid reasons there wasn’t enough human left in the man to actually kill him, and he’s still lurking out there.  That’s why Harry’s famous; he’s the Boy Who Lived.

At King’s Cross Station, Harry has to catch the Hogwarts Express from Platform 9 ¾.  Except, Hagrid didn’t tell him how to access the platform.  Luckily, a family of red-heads arrive, talking about Muggles (non-magic folk) and Harry works up the courage to ask the mother, who explains to run at the barrier between platforms nine and ten.  One of the boys is Harry’s age and they ride the train together, and we’re introduced to Ron Weasley, his younger sister Ginny briefly, and his older brothers Fred, George, and Percy.  The boys share sweets Harry buys, then get introduced to Hermoine Granger, who is helping a boy named Neville find his toad.  In the book, Draco Malfoy returns to introduce himself and try to become friends with Harry.  But Harry sticks up for his new friend, and tells the other boy, “I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks (pg. 109).”

When the train reaches the station, the first years are led to boats by Hagrid and ride up to the castle (and can we ever forget the first time we saw the castle, lit up against a dark sky?)  McGonagall greets them and informs them about the Houses (Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, and Slytherin) and Sorting.  A hat is placed upon their head, which then shouts which House they will join (in the book, the hat sings a song).  When it comes to Harry’s turn, the hat ponders for several moments; there is plenty of courage in the young boy, not a bad mind, talent, but also “a thirst to prove yourself.”  Harry pleads, “not Slytherin.”  Really, the hat questions.  Slytherin can help Harry on the way to greatness.  Harry asks “anything by Slytherin.”  Very well, Gryffindor!  Ron, Hermione, and Neville join Harry in Gryffindor.  Draco is placed in Slytherin.

Harry spies an odd teacher up at the Head Table, speaking to Professor Quirrell, whom Harry already ran into in the Leaky Cauldron.  There’s a sharp pain in Harry’s scar when he spots the dark-haired man, Professor Severus Snape, who teaches Potions.  As Percy informs him, Snape is more interested in Quirrell’s job as Defense Against the Dark Arts.  Harry also finds out about Filch and his cat, Mrs. Norris.  Then it’s off to their dormitories (after another song in the book).  And soon classes begin, and Harry meets Snape again.  As Alan Rickman expertly delivers in the film:

There will be no foolish wand waving, nor silly incantations in this calls. As such, I don’t expect many of you to appreciate the subtle science and exact art that is potion-making. However, for those select few, who possess the predisposition…I can teach you how to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses. I can tell you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper in death.

He spots Harry and announces him “our new celebrity,” then proceeds to ask questions.  Harry doesn’t know the answer, but Hemione has memorized the textbooks, hoping to give herself a leg up, but Snape won’t call on her.  “Clearly, fame isn’t everything.”  [And it’s a little bittersweet to hear that voice and that dialogue after several years; I don’t think I have read the books or watched the movies since Alan Rickman passed away.  The eighth movie came out and I watched it, and then, got busy with other fandoms and ideas.]

Yes, Snape has a great dislike for Harry and Harry’s not too keen on Snape either.  He’s happier about flying lessons, even if it is with the Slytherins and Draco.  Neville gets into a mishap and Madam Hooch has to take him to the Hospital Wing.  She’s warned the students not to fly, but Draco finds Neville’s Rememberall and taunts Harry that he’ll put it on the roof.  Harry discovers he’s a natural flyer, “a rush of fierce joy he realized he’d found something he could do without being taught – this was easy, this was wonderful (pg. 148),” and goes off after Draco, successfully catching the small ball feet in the air.  And in front of McGonagall.  However, instead of getting expelled, he’s introduced to Oliver Wood, the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.  “I’ve found you a Seeker.”  He’s compared to Charlie Weasley (another of Ron’s older brothers) and McGonagall even comments that Harry’s father would be proud, he was an excellent Quidditch player.  This makes Harry the youngest House player in a century. 

In the book, Malfoy challenges Ron and Harry to a wizard’s duel, but it was just an effort to get them caught by sending Filch after them.  It’s at this point that Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville find the out-of-bounds third floor corridor and a humungous three-headed dog guarding something.  In the film, it’s a case of the stairs moving when the trio was not expecting and depositing them on that floor; but we do learn Alhoamora.  When the three return to Gryffindor tower, Hermione remarks “I’m going to bed before either one of you gets another clever idea to get us killed, or worse, expelled” [another iconic line from the film that I remember my friends and I trying to imitate].

Classes continue; the students learn the levitation spell in Charms class, Wingardium Leviosa, where Hermione excels and Ron struggles.  He makes a crack that she doesn’t have many friends, which sends her to the girls’ bathroom to cry (she’s eleven and he hurt her feelings).  The Halloween feast is interrupted by Quirrell running in, exclaiming there is a troll in the dungeon and passing out for good measure.  The teachers are to follow Dumbledore to the dungeons, prefects are to take the students to their dormitories.  Ron and Harry realize that Hermione is still in the bathroom and doesn’t know about the troll.  She knows soon enough when the troll lumbers into the bathroom.  Ron and Harry run to rescue her, Harry leaping on to the troll as distraction (as described in the book as “something both very brave and very stupid (pg. 176)”…and honestly, that is Harry’s style) and Ron getting the levitation spell correct in order to knock the troll out with its own club.  McGonagall, Snape, and Quirrell find the trio and McGonagall takes five points from Hermione, who lied and said she went looking for the troll, then awards ten points to Ron and Harry “for sheer dumb luck.”  The three become friends after the adventure. 

They’re so young here!

However, Harry notices that Snape’s leg is bloody and theorizes that he went to the three-headed dog instead of the dungeon.  Now a proper mystery is underway; he knows that there was an attempted robbery at Gringotts, but nothing was taken since the vault had been emptied the same day, the day he and Hagrid were there.  So, the massive dog is guarding whatever Hagrid grabbed for Dumbledore; Hagrid had even mentioned that Hogwarts is safer than Gringotts.

But Harry soon has his first Quidditch match to contend with.  He already received a new broomstick, courtesy of McGonagall.  The first match is against Slytherin and at first, all goes well.  But Harry’s broom begins to buck him off.  Hermione spots Snape eyeing the broom and muttering, and figures he is jinxing the broom.  In her haste to light his robes on fire, she bumps Quirrell and Harry manages to get back on the broom and even catch the Snitch…well, swallow it, but it still counts.

While spending time with Hagrid, the large man slips to the kids that Dumbledore’s friend Nicholas Flamel has something to do with what the dog (named Fluffy) is guarding.  So the kids begin researching and Ron and Harry promise to research while Hermione goes home for Christmas break.  Harry is very pleasantly surprised Christmas morning to receive presents, including a sweater from Mrs. Weasley to match her sons’, and a gift handed down from his father from a mysterious sender: an Invisibility Cloak, with the note “use it well.”  He decides to try the Restricted Section for information on Flamel, but a screaming book sends him off [and made me jump in my seat the first few times I watched the film].  While running from Filch and Snape, he discovers a room with a strange mirror in it.  When Harry stands in front of the mirror, he can see his parents.

He later returns with Ron to show him, but Ron sees himself as Head Boy and Quidditch Captain.  On his third visit, Harry discovers Dumbledore, who explains the secret of the Mirror of Erised; it will show someone’s desire.  But not truth, nor knowledge, and Dumbledore warns Harry against looking for the mirror again.

The kids eventually discover that Flamel was the one who made the Philosopher’s/Sorcerer’s Stone, which can turn any metal into gold and produce the Elixir of Life, which grants immortality.  They eagerly pass along their findings to Hagrid and their theories that Snape is after it.  Nonsense, Snape helped protect the stone, he wouldn’t steal it, Hagrid argues.  And revealing that there is more guarding the stone.  “I should not have said that, I shouldn’t have said that.” 

In the book, they also have to contend with the dragon egg Hagrid won, which hatched into a Norwegian Ridgeback Hagrid names Norbert.  Harry comes up with the plan to send the dragon to Charlie Weasley, except he and Hermione are caught by McGonagall, along with Malfoy and Neville, who was trying to warn them (Ron had been bitten by Norbert, and so was in the hospital wing).  In the movie, Ron hasn’t been bitten, so he gets in trouble as well when they are discovered returning to the castle well after dark.  They lose a whole mess of points and have to serve detention, with Hagrid, in the Forbidden Forest.  He has them searching for an injured unicorn, which Harry and Malfoy come across, along with a cloaked figure.  Harry’s scar begins to pain him, but before the cloaked figure can come after the boy, a centaur rescues him.  In the book, they’re more concerned with what the stars are foretelling, but Firenze is helpful.  He explains that only those truly desperate will kill and unicorn and drink its blood; it will save one from death, but it will be a half life, a cursed life.  Until they can retrieve something in the castle that will grant immorality. 

Harry figures Voldemort has returned and is after the stone.  And he jumps to the conclusion that Snape is helping Voldemort and they both want to kill Harry.  But he’s not as concerned about that; he’s determined to protect the stone.  Ron and Hermione willingly join him.  Neville tries to stop them from leaving and getting in more trouble when they go to sneak out, but Hermione full-body binds him with apologies.

And three eleven-year-olds manage to get past Fluffy, falling into a Devil’s Snare.  Hermione pays attention in Herbology and remembers it hates sunlight and uses a spell.  Next, they get the correct flying key and unlock the door to a chess match.  Ron shows off his strategist brain and helps them play across, and then sacrifices his piece so Harry can checkmate the king.  Harry then tells Hermione he has to go on alone; she should take Ron and go get help.  Hermione remarks that Harry is a great wizard.  “Not as good as you,” he replies.  “Books, cleverness, there are more important things.  Friendship and bravery.”  In the book, there is another task that Hermione helps Harry with; the enchantment Snape set with Potions.  She figures out his riddle and sends Harry forward and herself back to Ron.  This is left out in the film.

Then Harry faces not Snape, but Quirrell, in front of the Mirror of Erised.  He is trying to get the stone out of the mirror.  When Harry is forced in front of it, he sees himself with the stone in his pocket and it appears there.  He tries to lie his way out, but a high voice catches him and orders Quirrell to reveal him.  Voldemort has been inhabiting Quirrell’s body and now appears on the back of his head (now we know why he wore a turban).  He tries to get Harry to join him, promising they can bring his parents back.  “There is no good nor evil, only power, and those too weak to seek it.”  But Harry resists.  Quirrell attempts to grab the boy, but his hands burn when he touches Harry.  Harry uses this to his advantage and grabs Quirrell.  He blacks out when helps arrive.

And awakens days later in the hospital to see Dumbledore.  He informs Harry that his efforts to hold off Quirrell almost killed him.  And the events are a secret, so naturally, the whole school knows, and sent their well-wishes.  He’s spoken to Flamel, and the stone will be destroyed.  Though after six hundred years, “death is but the next great adventure” [this is a similar sentiment we will come upon in Lord of the Rings from Gandalf].  Harry attempts to ask why Voldemort wants him dead, but Dumbledore is not ready to reveal that answer yet; when Harry is older.  He does explain that Quirrell couldn’t touch him because of his mother’s sacrifice, due to her love.  In the books, Ron brings up whether Dumbledore meant for the events to happen as they did, particularly by sending Harry the cloak.  Hermione pipes up that that is a terrible notion, but Harry sticks up for his mentor, that Dumbledore was giving them an opportunity and as kids, we want the chance to get into things and figure things out for ourselves.  [As adults, we realize this is terrible.]

At the end of year feast, Dumbledore passes out a few last-minute points to Ron, Hermoine, Harry, and then Neville, for having the courage to stand up to his friends, which causes Gryffindor to win the House Cup over Slytherin.  The students pack up and head to the station to return home.  Hagrid gives Harry another gift; a photo album with pictures of his parents.  He remarks to his friends “I’m not going home, not really.”  Throughout the series, Harry will constantly refer to Hogwarts as his real home, not the house on Privet Drive with his abusive relatives.

The first two movies stay fairly close to the books.  I will commend Rowling for her writing; hints are placed throughout the book that build to the end, and throughout the series.  For instance, she has McGonagall comment to Dumbledore on page 11 that “Everyone knows you’re the only one Voldemort was frightened of.”  “Voldemort has powers I will never have.”  “Only because you’re too noble to use them.”  This will get expounded upon later in the series.  But first chapter of the first book, and the groundwork is laid.  This is why I admired Rowling for years.  (Not so much now, due to things that have come out recently), but I will give credit where it is due, and state some differing opinions when they come up.  No, I do not think that Dumbledore is the paragon of wizards; that will come up later in the series.

Overall, it’s a good children’s book and a good movie for kids.  We’re introduced to a young boy who is a bit of an outsider, like many of us feel, and he finds out he is someone special.  He goes away to find out more about himself and makes friends and has adventures.  It’s everything I wanted in a book when I was that age.  We might delve more into how this is an excellent example of the typical hero’s path in a later blog, but comments have been made on that fact.

Also, let me gush about the music for a minute.  Again, I haven’t really listened to this music in close to a decade I’d say, but it brings back so much nostalgia.  Each track is a theme that gets used over and over again in later scenes and movies.

Up Next: Chamber of Secrets

And finally, an apology for how long this took to be posted; life has a habit of getting in the way (I also briefly worked on another fun writing project)

Marvel Fandom Round-up

A bit of a wrap up on an extensive fandom that we have barely scratched the surface.  Reminder; I only know Marvel from these movies, and then from reading fanfiction afterward.  Considering my Pinterest board has over 1300 images (below are examples), suffice to say it strikes a chord with me.  And I have thoughts:

Chris Evans sent out a text to Avengers co-stars: “Assemble”…totally cool.  (And then for Steve to say it in Endgame, that makes it even better)

It’s also hilarious sometimes to compare the height of the Avengers’ actors…for instance, just based on that, who looks like a Frost Giant?

Totally agree that after the first Avengers movie we wanted the Avengers sitcom; not everyone fighting and hating each other.  We just want a big happy family…and shenanigans.  We still want this.

Peggy Carter as Tony’s godmother.

Papa Clint Barton; looking after the younger Avengers (as showcased by Wanda at times)

MCU is filled with characters who were not the lead, but stole the show: Loki, Bucky, Shuri.

We build up to Loki and Thor still love each other; they’re typical siblings (well, maybe minus the stabbing).  As someone points out, they continuously call each brother.  Also, we muse how Thor found out about Civil War and gets mad at everyone.  Someone pointed out the erosion of Loki’s threat level from “time to conquer the earth” to “persistent nuisance” is a source of eternal delight.  With every film he grows closer to his true manifestation of: ineffectual annoying little brother.  And the gem that “we all thought Loki was the odd one, but it turns out Thor is actually the friendly jock middle child in a family of drama club goths.”  And the best bit of parenting Thor got was from Loki.  Note that Thor’s vambraces have Loki’s helmet embossed in Avengers, and later, he has a strand of dark hair braided into his in Age of Ultron.

It becomes more apparent through later movies that Loki was tortured by Thanos and his cronies between the ending of the first Thor and the beginning of the first Avengers.  Note that he had blue eyes at certain points.  We love our tragic Loki. 

Loki to Tony: “So I hear you like adopting people with tragic backstory, minimal friends, horrible parents, and self-esteem issue.”  “Get off the dirty floor or you’re grounded.”

Tom Hiddleston points out: “What Marvel is so clever at is that they make their heroes flawed and their villains heroic.”

It’s pointed out that in Guardians of the Galaxy, a bunch of professional thieves and murders save a planet from a genocidal maniac; the government of that planet sees them as heroes and rewards them with freedom.  However, in Avengers, a bunch of known heroes, who have repeatedly saved many lives and maintained peace while saving the world from more than one genocidal maniac; that government sees them as a threat and wants to take away their freedom.

Steve and Bucky’s friendship.  And Steve totally being a daredevil.  Bucky and Steve pointing out to the Avengers that they were in the Army; Steve is not wholly sweet and innocent.  This is fandom; we will create whole sagas out of the smallest sliver of intel.

The Avengers accepting Bucky; all is takes to get Steve to do something is for Bucky to tell him not to do the thing.  Bucky and Natasha bonding over speaking Russian.

The idea that Steve sacrifices his Captain America persona in Endgame so no one dies.

The deleted scene of everyone kneeling for Tony in Endgame.

The concept of all the heroes joining hands to spread the effect of the gauntlet (this would be a call back to the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie)

Adopting Peter Parker as their universal child…Irondad is a hashtag.  (Bucky comments to Sam that Peter is another tiny Steve: small, wants to fight things 8 times his size, just less angry.)  And the notion that Loki will totally protect this spider-kid…the scene from Lilo and Stitch comes into play about badness level.  Peter can totally hold Mjölnir.

Peter and Shuri meeting (and Tony).  There’s an idea out there that Shuri made functioning lightsabers and now T’Challa and Tony chase after them in the compound, making sure there is no disaster, but also slightly impressed with Shuri.  After Endgame, Peter gains a whole team of aunts and mothers.

There’s a sweet idea that JARVIS was the first to find out Coulson was alive and then told Tony and Tony quietly telling everyone else. 

We were totally robbed of someone saying “No s***, Sherlock,” in one of the movies and both Tony and Stephen turn.

Little nugget of a Doctor Who crossover with Jack Harkness and Steve and Bucky, both in 1940s and 21st century.

“Shout out to the MCU for constantly rejecting toxic masculinity and showing that even our biggest male superheroes can show emotions.”  On the flip side, “no one wants to see characters who were struggling their whole lives die when happiness was finally within their reach.  That’s not entertainment.” (i.e. Loki, Tony, Natasha)

Tom Hiddleston would point out to Loki that his brother is not so bad, his father actually kept him alive, and his mother cares about him very much.  There are lots of people who would like him to be part of things.  Loki isn’t alone or hated or unwelcome, he just thinks he is.  He is the one who misunderstands the others.  (Tom also stole Cap’s shield and Thor’s hammer props)

Body positivity.

Just fandoms supporting fans.

Fanfics:

The Intersecting Lines series by Nefhiriel trace Sam and Steve’s journey to bring Bucky back.  A good mix of hurt and comfort.

Princessfbi has some excellent Spider-Man stories

Zelos has a series, Administrivia, that tells follows up to Spider-Man: Homecoming from the perspective of Principal Morita.

Clint and Tony bond in This Tiny Bird by battybatzgirl

Grilledcheesing has several 5+1 stories involving Peter Parker and Tony Stark

AgentNerd also has several stories about the father/son relationship between Peter and Tony and some Happy thrown in there.

Friday’s Child by Dimity Blue (Arnie) is one of the stories that makes Tony Peter’s biological father.

Srae13 has a series from different perspectives on fights that Spider-Man gets into.

And totally check out Aevianya’s works that take off after the end of the first season of Loki.

Ranking

1.  Avengers

2.  Thor

3.  Iron Man

4.  Spider-Man: Homecoming

5.  Captain America: First Avenger

6. Black Panther

7. Captain Marvel

8. Thor: Ragnarök

9. Thor: Dark World

10. Spider-Man: Far From Home

11. Captain America: The Winter Solider

12. Iron Man 2

13. Endgame

14. Infinity War

15. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

16. Civil War

17. Guardians of the Galaxy

18. Iron Man 3

19. Age of Ultron

20. Ant-Man and Wasp

21. Ant-Man

22. Doctor Strange

23. The Incredible Hulk

And let me know what you guys think!  What are some of your fan theories?  Story recommendations?

“You’re the head of security and your password is ‘password?'” “I don’t feel good about it either.”

Spider-Man: Far From Home

The main newcomer to the cast is Jake Gyllenhaal (he was Dastan in Prince of Persia: Sands of Time) as Quentin Beck.  After a brief stop in Mexico first to find out about a cyclone with a face on it, where we first see a man with a helmet and cape, the film picks up at Peter’s school, explaining how half the student population had blipped out due to Thanos, then returned five years later, but no older, throwing the school year into chaos.  There’s a cheesy memorial video to Captain America, Black Widow, Vision, and Iron Man (including I will Always Love You by Whitney Houston).  The blip was eight months ago and it is now the last day of school.  Peter and some of his classmates are preparing for a history of science trip to Europe.  But first, Spider-Man needs to make an appearance at a charity event for those displaced by the blip, including May Parker.  He cheerfully does so, though he gets a bit freaked out by questions on if he will be the next Iron Man and is he going to fight aliens if they show up again.  And no, he does not want to talk to Nick Fury and he’s not sure how to feel about Happy apparently dating his aunt.  As Peter puts it, he really needs this vacation.

Peter also has a plan on this vacation to woo MJ and ultimately tell her how he feels, complete with purchasing a glass necklace of her favorite flower and an evening atop the Eiffel Tower.  But it doesn’t quite go according to his wishes and MJ ends up next to newcomer (since he aged while everyone was away), Brad.  Ned also manages to hook up with classmate Betty while on the long flight to Italy.

Peter does get the necklace for MJ, but then a threat bursts forth from the water.  Peter doesn’t have his suit on him, but he gets civilians to safety, then finds a mask to put on before he offers his help to the man in the helmet who is flying around.  He attempts to save a clock tower and the crowd cheers for the new hero, who Peter’s classmates coin as “Mysterio.”  At the hotel afterwards, Nick Fury finds Peter, and knocks out Ned so the two can speak (though they keep getting interrupted by other trip members).  Fury ultimately brings Peter to an underground mission command, where Peter meets “Mysterio,” who goes by Quentin Beck and claims to be from another Earth [this ties in to comic lines, which I have not read] and Peter is very excited to talk about the possibility of a multiverse [which is the direction Marvel goes in next].  Beck claims that the threats are Elementals, who already destroyed his Earth and SHIELD has evidence to support the other sightings they’ve had.  They figure the next stop for the Fire Elemental is Prague.  Peter really doesn’t want to get involved; he just wants his vacation, and the world could figure out his identity if he appears as Spider-Man in Europe.   He suggests several other Avengers, including Captain Marvel, which Fury barks not to mention her.  Fury then snarks back “you’ve been to space.”  But very well, Peter can go back to his group, with the glasses that Stark left him.

Turns out, Fury “upgrades” Peter’s class trip, so they end up going to Prague.  But Peter still has teenage problems to deal with and accidentally uses the new glasses from Stark to set a drone on the guy who is also interested in MJ.  EDITH is augmented reality and connects to a worldwide security network.  When Peter is forced to see Fury again, the man barks that Peter is not ready, but he still has a job to do.  Beck soothes Peter’s nerves, encouraging that the teen is not a jerk for wanting a normal life, and Peter reflects that it is nice to have somebody to talk about superhero stuff (meaning that he’s not close and hasn’t kept up with the other Avengers, and that’s a bid sad).  But it’s soon time to swing into action, with a new black suit so he’s not “Spider-Man.”  Unfortunately, MJ has followed him, along with Ned and Betty, who get put in danger by the Fire Elemental.  (And he gets coined with the term “Night Monkey,” to further throw off suspicion.)  While Peter is fighting the Elemental, something briefly blocks the Ferris wheel his friends are stuck on.  Beck flies into the Fire Elemental and it evaporates, but for a moment, Peter fears he’s lost another mentor so soon after his last one.

Fury pushes his point that the world still needs the Avengers, and maybe Stark was wrong to trust Peter so much.  Beck takes Peter out for a drink (lemonade, since Peter is sixteen here and not old enough to drink).  And Beck asks what Peter wants.  Peter talks himself into transferring EDITH to Beck, because yes, the world still needs Iron Man, but that doesn’t mean it has to be Peter.  Stark trusted Peter to find the right person and he feels it is Beck.  Peter leaves happy, ready to pursue the rest of his plan with MJ.

Except, Beck is not entirely who said he is.  He’s not from another Earth, he’s a former employee of Stark’s, who got fired for how he wished to use his invention.  He is an expert in holographic and illusion technology (which Tony used and renamed “BARF,” which Tony admitted needed a new name), but Stark’s staff saw instability and the man was fired.  He’s joined forces with other disgruntled Stark employees (like the man Stane yelled at in the first movie) to create this “Mysterio.”  The drones they use are weaponized, so the damage is real, but one could fly right through the Elementals.  And with Mysterio, Beck plans to become the next great superhero.  The team is not impressed that Stark handed over the EDITH tech to a teenager.

Peter manages to go out with MJ that evening and she admits she figured out he’s Spider-Man.  Which Peter tries to deny, until MJ pulls out part of a drone she discovered that the scene of the fight.  Peter works out that the threats are fake and has to own up to yes, he’s Spider-Man, and he needs to go take care of this.

Beck discovers that Peter found out the truth while he’s running a rehearsal and decides he needs to kill the teen.  He intercepts Peter on his way to Fury and uses illusions to mess with Peter.  And in typical villain fashion, tells out hero “you’re making me do this.”  Because if Peter had just gone on with his normal life and not gotten involved, Beck wouldn’t have to hurt him.  “I control the truth,” Beck boasts.  And twists the knife in Peter, mocking “if you were good enough Tony would still be alive.”  Peter thinks he’s out of the illusion when Fury shoots Beck, but that is just another hologram, only broken when Peter gets hit by a train.

The teen lives, managing to collapse into a seat on the train, then passes out.  He wakes up in a jail cell in the Netherlands with several kind men, who even covered him in one of their shits because he looked cold.  Peter breaks the lock on the cell so he can leave (and the other men just close the door back up and stay put; Peter’s also lost the black suit to his guard, who is on the phone with his wife).  He then finds another kind man who lends him his phone so he can call Happy.  But Peter is so freaked out by the time Happy arrives, that he demands Happy tell him something only he could know.  Peter initiates a hug with the man, who then patches Peter up.  Peter blames himself for what is going on, then immediately apologizes for yelling at Happy.  He admits he misses Tony; “everywhere I go, I see his face, and the whole world is asking who’s going to be the next Iron Man and I don’t know if that’s me.”  Happy agrees that Peter is not the next Iron Man; no one can live up to Iron Man, not even Tony himself.  He was a mess and second-guessed everything, except for Peter.  “I don’t think Tony would have done what he did if he didn’t know that you were going to be here after he was gone.”  [This is my favorite scene of the film; and don’t you just want to pull Peter into a hug?] 

Then Happy asks Peter what is he going to do.  Peter’s going to kick his ass.  Well, first he has to find his friends, using Happy’s phone because Beck is tracking his (we know he’s on his way to London), and thanks to Flash, so does Peter.  Happy’s jet is well-equipped and there’s a section in the back that is a mini-Stark lab and Peter can rebuild his suit.  Happy (and us) notices that Peter is very reminiscent of his mentor right now.  Happy even turns on the music: AC/DC Back in Black (a call-back to the very first Iron Man movie), to which Peter replies, “I love Led Zepplin!”  [Peter, darling, that is not Led Zepplin.]

MJ shuts down Brad when he tries to bring up how weird Peter has been acting and everyone sides with her.  Beck continues his illusion to Fury, but Happy also manages to get a message to the man about “appearances are not everything,” so the paranoid man is more on his guard.  He drops Peter off in a new suit and goes after Peter’s friend.  Beck begins his assault on London and blows up Happy’s plane, so they have to take cover in the Tower of London.  Peter heads into the drone swarm and starts webbing them so he can shoot electricity through them and disable them.  Hill even gets a shot off at one, protecting Fury.  Beck then sends the drones after Peter (reminder, this teen is already wounded), but Spider-Man makes his way up to Beck (and kind of reminds you of Cap, with a shield and swinging something like a hammer) and punches him, which temporarily shuts down the drones.  His “spidey-sense” warns him that Beck is not down like he thought, but he stops the gun shot.  He takes the glasses off Beck (unfortunately, he’s taken his mask off at this point) and shuts down the drones.  Beck collapses and Peter asks EDITH if the illusion is over.  Yes (but we’re not actually sure if Beck is truly dead).  Peter reunites with MJ on the ground and the couple gets their first kiss.

The field trip returns home (there is a deleted scene where MJ and Peter sleep against each other and it is very heartwarming), Betty and Ned have amicably broken up, and there is another deleted scene where May tells Peter he’ll grow into Tony’s glasses.  Peter takes MJ on a swing through New York City (not something she wants to do again).  But Beck’s team gets the final word, having leaked a video to the Daily Bugle (a controversial news website) spinning that Spider-Man is the bad guy and revealing his identity as Peter Parker.  At the very end of the credits, it is revealed that Fury has been Talos this whole trip; the real Fury is in space.

The twist at the end does explain why Fury has been hard on Peter the whole movie, since it’s actually Talos and he doesn’t quite know how to mentor this teen superhero.  Because otherwise, Fury comes off as a jerk.  Beck is certainly a jerk; all Peter wanted was to trust someone, have someone continue to help him on the hero path.  And Beck just manipulates him.  I adore Peter in this film again.  He’s following the path of a lot of other superheroes; having to balance a personal life separate from the superhero gig.  We root for Peter to have normal teenage experiences, getting together with MJ, annoyed with Brad moving in, but cheering where MJ does not show interest in him.  Does Peter do some embarrassing things?  Yes, but that kind of comes with the teen territory.  And I adore Happy stepping into the role as mentor; he points out that Tony was his best friend, so who else to help guide his protégé?  Though, we do have to ask why the other Avengers left Peter alone.  Everyone separated after Tony’s death (we see what some of them get up to in later series and movies), but seriously, as Peter points out, why is no one else responding to these devastating natural disasters, just this new guy?

Behind the scene irony is that as a Brit, Tom Holland was very close to home when they filmed in England.  And Tom Holland and Zendaya are a real-life couple now.  I have not yet watched No Way Home, but it is on my list, once it is on Disney +.

Up Next: A wrap-up to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, then on to some of my other favorite series, starting with Harry Potter (I’ll put up another post about this soon, but I will say that you are under no obligation to read any of the films I review if you personally dislike them)

“Arm wrestle for the Tesseract?”

Captain Marvel

Captain Marvel is the first female-led solo film in the MCU (and it took them until 2019, after we clamored for a Black Widow story after the first Avengers film in 2012…that they didn’t accomplish until 2021 [and that was confusing enough that I haven’t finished watching it]).  We do have Brie Larson lead as Carol Danvers.  Annette Bening (opposite Michael Douglas [who is Hank Pym in AntMan] in The American President) is the Supreme Intelligence [and Dr. Wendy Lawson].  Jude Law (the younger Albus Dumbledore in the Fantastic Beasts films, Dr. Watson in Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes movies; he voices Pitch in Rise of the Guardians, and woos us in The Holiday) is Yon-Rogg, with Djimon Hounsou (voice of Drago in How to Train Your Dragon 2) as Korath and Lee Pace (Thranduil in the Hobbit trilogy) briefly returns as Ronan.  Samuel L. Jackson is back as Nick Fury and we also see Clark Gregg back as Agent Coulson.

The film opens in an advanced civilization, on Hala, the capitol of the Kree civilization.  Carol (who goes by Veers at the moment), goes to Yon-Rogg, her commander, for sparring, instead of sleeping.  Because if she sleeps, she’ll dream, and her dreams don’t make sense.  Yon-Rogg urges Carol to let go of her past (which she can’t remember), which is causing her doubt and doubt makes her vulnerable.  He advises that nothing is more dangerous to a warrior than emotion; only when she controls her emotions will she be able to control the power in her hands.  Carol uses the power in her hands to shoot Yon-Rogg back and thus, she has to visit the Supreme Intelligence, the AI leader of the Kree, who will take the image of whom you admire most.  In Carol’s case, it is an older woman, who speaks of the Skrull invasion of the galaxy, that the Kree fight against.  Skrulls are shape-changers and can mimic anyone.  The Supreme Intelligence reminds Carol that her powers were given to her to aid this fight, and they can be taken away as well.  And they are somehow connected to the chip on her neck [and is anyone getting 1984 vibes from some of this?]

Carol goes on a mission with Yon-Rogg and a team to rescue a spy.  Turns out, it’s a trap, and they walk into a Skrull ambush.  Carol is captured and the Skrull start going through her memories.  They find her childhood; boys telling her she’s not fast enough, no strong enough.  But there’s a best friend, and a woman who looks like the Supreme Intelligence.  And something to do with a high-speed engine, and Pegasus.  Carol is able to break free, and even still bound in casings on her hands, she kicks Skrull butt, though she damages the ship in the process.  She again escapes, but crashes to Earth (the Blockbuster gives it away, and setting it in the 1990s), and she is followed by a few Skrull.

Carol manages to contact her team, and Yon-Rogg vows to find her.  In the meantime, Carol meets Agents Coulson and Fury, sent by SHIELD to investigate her crash landing.  Carol manages to save Fury from a Skrull, which proves that she is from outer space, then she pursues one.  Fury drives after her, with Coulson.  Until the real Coulson calls, saying he was left behind, so Fury grapples with the one in his car.  After ditching the train, Carol gets ahold of new clothes and a bike and starts hunting down parts of her memories, like the bar she was at with her best friend.  Fury meets her there, where she’s trying to discover what Pegasus is.  She and Fury team up and find the base where Pegasus is [and again, who is getting Stargate vibes?  Space and the Air Force, underground base, and come on, the bit about a paperclip?]  Fury and Carol get out of custody and search the records, though Fury secretly calls for backup.  Oh, and we find out that badass Nick Fury is a total cat person!

The pair find the file on Dr. Wendy Lawson, mentioned in Carol’s memories, and the person the Skrull are looking for.  There’s a journal full of Kree glyphs, the news that she died in a test flight with another pilot, and a photograph in her file.  The photo shows Wendy, Maria Rambeau, and Carol.  Carol now desperately wants to discover the truth.  Carol calls Yon-Rogg again while Nick goes to meet his backup.  But his boss calls him Nicholas (everyone calls him Fury) and messes up a test Nick gives him [we already know he’s a Skrull after his interaction with his fallen compatriot in the morgue earlier].  The two save each other and Carol flies out of the base with a larger plane; and Goose hitched a ride.

Carol’s plan is to find Maria.  This accident that killed Wendy Lawson occurred six years ago.  Carol arrived on Hala six years ago, near dead, with no memories.  There must be a connection, and Maria will know.  Maria and her daughter, Monica, are surprised to see Carol after all this time, and Monica eagerly goes to find Carol’s things.  Carol asks Maria about the mission.  But they’re interrupted by the Skrull; no, it’s not the neighbor, one snuck into the house and another is keeping Monica busy.  And they’re not too keen on Goose, calling him a Flerken.  The lead Skrull, Talos, asks for Carol’s help decoding coordinates; he has the black box recording.  Listening to it triggers Carol’s memory: she volunteered to fly Wendy’s plane with her, with her new engine.  They’re then attacked by a space craft, and Wendy starts talking about her work and her lab.  Carol manages to get their plane on the ground, and Wendy demands they destroy the engine; it has the power to end wars bigger than Carol knows.  But Wendy is shot before she can follow through, by Yon-Rogg.  Carol follows through and shoots the engine.  That power flows into Carol.  Talos summarizes that Lawson, who went by Mar Vel, found out she was on the wrong side of an unjust war, hence why the Kree were so desperate to stop her.  The Skrull are refugees, who resisted Kree rule.  The Kree then destroyed their planet and began hunting down their people.  The engine that Wendy was creating was to carry the Skrull to a new world, where they could be safe.  That is why they need the coordinates of her lab, to continue her work.

Maria and Carol easily figure out the coordinates, and Talos’s assistant can modify their ship to go into space.  Carol asks Maria to come as a co-pilot and Maria initially refuses, but is persuaded by Monica to go.  Carol also asks Monica to design new colors for her suit; hence why it is the blue, red, and gold.  Yon-Rogg thinks he is meeting with Carol, but discovers a Skrull instead, and realizes that Carol now knows the truth.  So he contacts Ronan to begin an assault on Earth.

Our heroes find the lab and discover that the Tesseract is the core of Wendy’s lightspeed research.  They also discover that there are Skrull refugees on the station, including Talos’s family.  That is when Yon-Rogg arrives.  He and his team capture the Skrull, and force Carol to meet the Supreme Intelligence again.  But Carol fights.  She may only be human, but she recalls every moment in her past when she fell, when someone told her she wasn’t good enough, and she got back up.  She also manages to burn out the chip that controlled her powers.  She resists the blast the Supreme Intelligence throws at her, and breaks from of the control.  Cuffs and bars disappear on her friends, and they all begin working to escape.  Carol meets up with them, gives them the Tesseract; well, Goose swallows it.  Turns out, he really is a Flerken.  She’ll provide a distraction to Yon-Rogg and her old team, allowing time for Maria, Fury, Talos, and company to escape.

With her fully realized powers, Carol kicks butt, though Yon-Rogg and Minn-Erva manage to survive and Minn-Erva goes after the other heroes.  Maria manages some fancy flying and blows Minn-Erva out of the sky.  And that’s when Ronan shows up to begin his assault.  Carol flies up and manages to crash the missiles into each other and then tears through one of Ronan’s ships.  He’s taken aback and orders a retreat; Earth is defended, but he will return for the weapon.  Not the Tesseract, but Carol.

Back on the ground, Yon-Rogg starts yapping, trying to get Carol to fight him without powers.  She’s not playing by his rules anymore, and just blasts him.  “I have nothing to prove to you.”  She drags him back to his ship and sends him back to Hala with a message; Carol will be back to end the war, the lies, all of it.

We find out how Fury’s eye is injured; Fury is playing with Goose, who scratches him; at least he didn’t eat him.  Carol also tells Talos that she will pick up where Wendy ended and help the Skrull find a home.  In the meantime, she gives the Tesseract to Fury for hiding (still inside Goose), and an upgraded pager, so he can contact her in dire emergencies (which is what he was doing at the end of Infinity War).  When Fury returns to SHIELD, Coulson questions him on how he lost his eye, and Fury will neither confirm nor deny the story that has come out.  He also starts outlining the Protector Initiative, but when he looks at the photo of Carol again, he picks up on her call sign and renames it the “Avenger” Initiative.  He will find other heroes out there.

Carol’s line of “Where’s Fury?” ties in with Infinity War and leads right into Endgame (and was filmed in front of a green screen and Brie Larson couldn’t know anything that was going on for fear of spoilers…which is a bad habit Marvel got into as their massive storyline grew).  Cool tidbit; scenes were shot on location at Edwards Air Force base.

It’s a bit jarring, after Infinity War, for this film to jump back about twenty years in the MCU chronology.  And now we have more questions about the Tesseract!  And how exactly does Wendy Lawson fit into everything?  Parts of the story are not well fleshed out, such as do Yon-Rogg genuinely care that Carol becomes her best possible self, or was this all just a long con for him?  It was interesting to bring Ronan into the story, as background to where we see him in Guardians of the Galaxy.  And Goose is hilarious.  The last scene in the credits is him hacking up the Tesseract.

What I like about the film is how Carol kicks butt.  Even before her fully realized powers, she takes on a gang of Skrull with her hands bound.  And even as a human with no powers in her past, she defied any man who told her she couldn’t do something (and sounds like her own father, according to Monica).  She went through training with the Air Force and became a top-notch pilot when few women got the chance.  And I love her line to Yon-Rogg: “I have nothing to prove to you.”  (Can we all give that a cheer).  And I like her banter with Fury, the quips throughout the movie.  Carol is confident in herself, even when she doesn’t have all her memories.

Stan Lee had passed away while this film was being edited, so Marvel Studios put together the special opening logo in honor of him.  His actual last cameo is in Endgame.

Next Time: We are almost at the finish with Avengers: Endgame.  (Far From Home completes the Infinity Sage of the MCU and where we will wrap up this section)

P.S. The MCU also ties-in some elements introduced in this film in WandaVision (SPOILER, in case: Monica is mentioned in the show and we see what happened to her mother)

“Guns…so primitive!” Says the woman with a spear

Black Panther

We’ve already been introduced to some of the characters in Civil War, but now we see T’Challa’s home of Wakanda.  Chadwick Boseman is back as T’Challa, joined by Michael B. Jordan (like Chris Evans, he played Johnny Storm in a Fantastic Four film, then came to Marvel and made a bigger hit) as Erik Killmonger, Lupita Nyong’o (she voices Maz in the squeal Star Wars trilogy) as Nakia, Danai Gurira as Okoye, Daniel Kaluuya as W’Kabi, Winston Duke as M’Baku, Sterling K. Brown (he’s appeared in JAG, NCIS and Castle, but he’s also Gordon Walker from early seasons of Supernatural) as N’Jobu, Letitia Wright as Shuri, Angela Bassett as Ramonda, Forest Whitaker (his resume goes back to the 80’s; where he was part of the North and South miniseries [based on the books by John Jakes]; and recently, he’s Saw Guerra in the newer Star Wars universe) as Zuri.  Some other familiar faces are Andy Serkis (Smeagol/Gollum from Hobbit and Lord of the Rings) as Ulysses Klaue, Martin Freeman (Bilbo Baggins in Hobbit, Watson in BBC’s Sherlock) as Everett Ross, David Lee (Krstic in Get Smart, he makes an appearance in several episodes of NCIS: LA, an episode of Castle, and is Moriarty in The Librarians) as Limbani,

The film starts with the “story of home,” a father telling his son how a meteorite of vibranium landed in Africa; the region was later settled by five tribes and called “Wakanda.”  But the tribes fought until the Panther Goddess Bast gave one noble warrior an herb which heightened his strength and he became the Black Panther.  Four tribes agreed to live in peace; the fifth, the Jabari, went to live in the mountains.  The Black Panther is the protector of Wakanda.  The country isolates itself from the world in order to keep the vibranium and its resulting technology safe.

Then we go to Oakland, California in 1992.  A younger King T’Chaka visits two young men, one of whom is his younger brother, N’Jobu.  His tidings are not glad; T’Chaka has discovered that N’Jobu is responsible for helping Kalue steal vibranium.  The man that N’Jobu thought as James is actually Zuri and was sent to keep an eye on N’Jobu and informed the king of his brother’s treachery.  T’Chaka demands that N’Jobu returns home to face the council.

Now, we’re in present day, only a week after the events of Civil War, the news anchor reporting on the death of King T’Chaka and regards Wakanda as a third world country, incredibly poor and a country that does not engage in international trade or accept help.  But T’Challa is working on a mission in Nigeria, rescuing kidnapped women, including Nakia.  Okoye is there to help when he freezes in front of Nakia…turns out, they have a history as a couple.  Nakia wants to continue with her undercover mission, but T’Challa requests her presence at his coronation.  The three return home to Wakanda, panning over the scenery and the jungle actually camouflages a high-tech capital.  The country is a mix of technology and traditional culture, we discover.  T’Challa is greeted by his mother, Ramonda, and sister, Shuri.  (The two joke as traditional siblings and I love it).

Quick diversion to a museum in London, where Erik speaks to a curator and points out a Wakandan artifact.  He’s also poisoned her and Ulysses and Limbani are the medics who respond and shoot the guards so they can make off with the hidden vibranium.

The coronation ceremony is stunning, with a waterfall stopped so the people, arrayed in bright colors, can watch.  Ritual combat is a factor, where tribes are allowed to challenge the heir apparent to the throne.  The four typical tribes will not challenge, but the Jabari arrive and their leader, M’Baku challenges T’Challa, after calling out Shuri as a child in charge of the technology who scoffs at tradition.  (Well, she did just complain about the corset).  He gets a wound landed on T’Challa, but T’Challa is encouraged by his mother “show him who you are!” and pins M’Baku at the edge of the waterfall and gets him to yield.  His opponent has fought with honor and his people still need him.  T’Challa is declared king; “Wakanda forever!” 

Since the powers of the Black Panther were stripped for the contest, he goes through another ceremony to bring the power back.  He also visits the Ancestral Plane, where T’Challa gets to speak to his father again.  T’Chaka hugs his son and assures him he is ready both to rule, and to continue on without his father.  T’Challa asks his father for advice on how best to protect Wakanda and be a great king like T’Chaka.  His father’s response is for him to surround himself with people he trusts.  T’Challa is a good man with a good heart, and it is hard for a good man to be king.

We see T’Challa’s first steps as king.  He wants Nakia to stay, but she likes her missions.  She also encourages T’Challa that Wakanda should be sharing what it has with the rest of the world and helping others, more than they do.  But T’Challa worries that they will lose their way of life.  Next, T’Challa speaks to his friend with the Border Tribe, W’Kabi [who is married to Okoye, general of the Dora Milaje guards].  W’Kabi is willing to go out into the world with his men and clean it up, but inviting refugees into Wakanda just turns Wakanda into the rest of the world.  T’Challa declares that waging war on others has never been their way.  But his first business as king is to bring Klaue to justice.  T’Challa will go with Nakia and Okoye and bring Klaue back for justice.

The interlude in the lab with Shuri is hilarious.  She is easily as brilliant as Tony Stark, but not above recording her brother getting through across the room by her tech.  T’Challa’s mission tangles into a CIA mission with Everett Ross, and the Wakandan warriors are excellent in a fight, but they end up having to chase Klaue in cars.  Still spectacular, but T’Challa can’t kill him in front of everyone.  Ross goes to question Klaue [and it’s a revisit of the scene between Gollum and Bilbo in the cave; Andy’s laugh is back], though he comes out questioning the Wakandans.  Until Klaue’s team comes back to rescue him.  Erik then kills the two spare and goes after Klaue, telling him his next stop is Wakanda.  He’ll make it through because he has the lip tattoo.

In the commotion, Ross took a bullet meant for Nakia, hitting him in the spine.  T’Challa declares they will take him with them, back to Wakanda.  He can’t let him die, knowing they have the ability to save him.  Shuri remarks to her brother, “another broken white boy for us to fix,” but she is able to save him.  Ross is impressed with their tech once he’s awake, but he’s also thrown into the events that follow Erik showing up in Wakanda.  Ross also knows Erik from his work with US black ops.

T’Challa has gone to Zuri with questions; he recognizes the ring that Erik wore while recusing Klaue.  T’Challa remembers his uncle, but never knew what happened; he makes Zuri tell him the truth.  Zuri admits that N’Jobu had helped steal the vibranium so that weapons would be placed in the hands of people to throw off their oppressors.  When N’Jobu drew a weapon on Zuri, T’Chaka killed his brother.  They left; leaving N’Jobu’s son.  T’Challa is horrified, and goes to speak with Nakia.  He’s questioning his father now, and fears he created a worse monster.  Nakia advises “only you get to decide what kinds of king you are going to be.”  They are called to the throne room, where Erik has arrived, having brought a dead Klaue to the border.  W’Kabi is now more upset, since his friend was not able to deliver his promise, but this outsider who bears a Wakanda tattoo, was able to deliver the murderer.

Erik wants the throne so that Wakanda can help liberate his people.  T’Challa once again urges that they are not the ones to wage war on the world.  Erik challenges T’Challa, and as his cousin, he has that right.  T’Challa accepts, though he would rather they find another way to settle Erik’s dispute.  Erik is just hungry to kill T’Challa, blaming him for Erik’s lot in life.  Zuri even steps into the duel, taking the blame for N’Jobu’s death (and breaking tradition) in order to save T’Challa.  Erik just kills him as well.  T’Challa blindly attacks and Erik is able to throw him over the waterfall, to everyone’s horror.  Nakia pulls Ramonda and Shuri away.  Later, she tries to persuade Okoye to leave, but Okoye will remain loyal to the throne, whoever sits on it, even if she doesn’t like it.  Nakia is able to steal one of the purple herbs after Erik orders them all burned so there can be no other Black Panther.  He further declares to the council that by arming the oppressed people, “the sun will never set on the Wakandan empire.”  And W’Kabi agrees; the time has come to either be the conquerors or the conquered.

Meanwhile, Nakia, Shuri, Ramonda, and Ross make their way to the Jabari, with the plan to offer the herb to M’Baku in order to fight Erik.  [This part is sadder in hindsight, since Chadwick passed away in 2020.]  But M’Baku reveals that T’Challa is not fully dead and they have him.  Ramonda administers the herb and T’Challa visits his father again.  But he’s now upset that T’Chaka left behind Erik as a child.  And he rebukes his ancestors: “You were wrong – all of you were wrong – to turn you backs on the rest of the world!  We let the fear of discovery stop us from doing what is right.  No more!”  When he wakes, Ramonda and Shuri refuse to leave, though he gets M’Baku to agree that his mother would be safe with the Jabari.  He also tries to get M’Baku to lend his army, but M’Baku doesn’t quite trust that he and T’Challa are on the same side all of a sudden.

T’Challa shows up in the Black Panther suit as Erik starts to send the weapons out.  The Border tribe attacks (their blankets act as shields) and W’Kabi calls upon their giant rhinos.  The Dora Milaje begin to attack Erik and help T’Challa against the Border tribe.  Shuri and Nakia join the fight and take on Erik.  Shuri has Ross pilot her remote system to take out the ships before they leave Wakanda.  T’Challa is almost pinned by the Border tribe, but then sees Erik go after Shuri, and breaks free.  Now he takes on Erik on Shuri’s train, where the stabilizers will neutralize the vibranium in their suits.  When the Dora Milaje are almost pinned, the Jabari enter the fray.  W’Kabi and Okoye face off, Okoye willing to kill W’Kabi if it will protect Wakanda.

The duel between T’Challa and Erik ends when T’Challa stabs Erik.  Erik finally witnesses the beauty that his father spoke of with Wakanda and T’Challa helps him see a sunset.  T’Challa offers to heal Erik, but Erik won’t live as a prisoner.

There is some happiness with the end of the movie; Nakia and T’Challa share a kiss when T’Challa offers Nakia a way to both stay in Wakanda and continue her mission.  He takes Shuri to California and shows her where he will start an Outreach Center, starting in the apartment where their father killed their uncle.  Shuri will oversee the science exchange and Nakia will oversee the social aspect.  Then T’Challa appears before the UN, pledging to share knowledge and resources.  The final stinger shows that Bucky has been recovering in Wakanda, working with Shuri (and now known as the White Wolf).

Not that I am really in a position to weigh in on some of the cultural aspects brought up in this film as I am not a member of that culture; but I will agree with T’Challa’s statement to Erik towards the end that he was becoming that which he hated.  Erik’s phrase from the throne room, about the “sun never setting on the empire,” that is typically attributed to the British empire between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries; the height of colonialism.  (Heck, even Shuri joked and called Everett Ross a colonizer.)  The Brits took over a lot of land and became overlords to a lot of different people; notably India and swaths of Africa.  It was a phrase that meant the empire was so vast that somewhere, it was always daylight.  And for Erik to now want Wakanda in that position?  As much as Erik may have argued against the notion; he learned well from his training and has more American notions that T’Challa, who was raised in Wakanda.  But he is the one to bring Wakanda into the future and balance between tradition and progress.

That is why we should follow his advice in his speech to the United Nations: “We will work to be an example of how we, as brothers and sisters on this earth, should treat each other.  Now, more than ever, the illusions of division threaten our very existence.  We all know the truth: more connects us than separates us.  But in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers.  We must find a way to look after one another, as if we were one single tribe.”  (We still need to do this, five years later.)

Overall, I like this movie.  T’Challa is a well-rounded character; he does not automatically assume that he is right, and will make changes if he discovers something is wrong.  He was more interested in helping Erik than outright stopping him, until he proved too dangerous.  He was angrier with his father for abandoning a child than his uncle’s treachery.  He wanted to bring Klaue back to Wakanda for justice, but also recognizes the give-and-take of diplomacy.  Shuri great and I love the sibling banter.  Nakia and Okoye are strong, independent women who kick butt.  And come on, the fact that the guards to the monarch of Wakanda are all female, elite warriors…we need more of that.  If you ever get a chance, watch the director’s introduction to the film.  Also, the language spoken in the film, Xhosa, is an actual South Africa dialect.

Up Next: Avengers: Infinity War

I’ve put my little note at the end, hoping that you were able to just jump back into the summary.  Work has settled down a little, though I appreciated the chance to do some research for my fantasy series, an ever-continuing process.  I certainly intend to complete the Marvel movies through the end of “Phase 3;” essentially the results of Endgame.  I still have other topics to blog about afterwards, getting into some of my favorite fandoms.  I also want to spend a little more time delving into what I truly love about those fandoms; books, movies, etcetera.  So it may take a little longer between posts and I’m even considering when I finish to go back and delve deeper into topics I’ve already covered.  Alas, it will also depend on my work/life balance, as ever.  But thank you for your continue reading and I hope you continue to enjoy!  Let me know if you ever have insights into the movies I’ve posted.

“You’re late.” “And you’re missing an eye.”

Thor: Ragnarök

The third solo Thor film; the title is part of actual Norse mythology, though Marvel has it occur a bit different than what tradition has passed down.  There is a new villain in Hela (played by Cate Blanchett; Galadriel in Lord of the Rings and Hobbit, as well as the voice of Valka in the latter two How to Train Your Dragon movies.  She’s the stepmother in Kenneth Branagh’s Cinderella, involved in Ocean’s Eight, played Elizabeth I twice, and Marion in Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood).  Jeff Goldblum is another antagonist in the Grandmaster, and Karl Urban is Skurge (Éomer in Lord of the Rings, Dr. McCoy in the alternate universe Star Trek movies, and apparently a stormtrooper in Rise of Skywalker.)  [We’ll cover more on the fact that Marvel has chosen a lot of Middle Earth actors to be in their universe in the wrap-up post.] 

This film starts a little differently, with Thor voicing over a summary, saying he’s saved Earth a couple times and is now a hero.  And he’s been searching the cosmos for the Infinity Stones.  And that is how he ended up in a cage, from which he drops and dangles and spins in front of Surtur, who is destined to destroy Asgard in Ragnarök.  Thor has been concerned about Ragnarök, with the nature of his dreams lately; so if he takes the crown off Surtur’s head, it can never be put in the Eternal Flame and thus Ragnarök will be averted.  But Surtur warns Thor that Ragnarök has already begun and Odin is not on Asgard.  There is nothing Thor can do to stop it.  He still holds his hand out for Mjölnir and smashes through the demons (cue Immigrant Song).  He calls for Heimdall after he takes the crown off Surtur, but he doesn’t get a response, so he has to dodge a dragon (of some sort [could be a reference to the Midgard serpent of Norse legend]).  Turns out, Heimdall is not at the Bifrost, there’s a new guy, Skurge, who is too busy showing off to ladies to hear Thor.  He does eventually answer, after Thor slays the dragon.  Heimdall is a fugitive, after being declared a traitor to the crown.  Thor flies off to confront “Odin,” and Skurge runs behind him. 

There’s a new statue of Loki and Thor discovers a play being performed about Loki’s sacrifice (with Luke Hemsworth [Chris’s older brother; a cousin of theirs is a college girl in the film] portraying Thor, Matt Damon portraying Loki, and Sam Neill portraying Odin).  When Thor addresses “Odin,” he remarks “Oh shit,” then babbles that the Asgardians wanted to honor Loki.  Thor then holds on to Odin, swinging Mjölnir, then threatens that nothing with stop the hammer from returning to his hand, “not even your face, brother.”  “Odin” shouts he yields and transforms into Loki [we already knew Odin was Loki from the last scene of Dark World].  Skurge finally shows up, but Loki’s already annoyed; his new lackey had one job, and didn’t do it well.

Thor now demands to know where Odin is.  Loki knows.  He’s on Earth.  At the Shady Acre Senior Home…that is currently being demolished when the brothers visit.  Loki doesn’t know where Odin currently is, making a crack that he’s not a witch.  Then Loki disappears and Thor finds a card, directing him to Bleeker St; where Thor meets Dr. Stephen Strange; “Earth has wizards now?”  Strange keeps an eye on threats to Earth, including Loki, but all Thor and Loki want is to find Odin.  Strange can help with that (and also show off his magic to Thor [there’s an interesting post on the different ways Loki and Strange utilize magic, being pro-Loki]), and opens a portal for Thor.  He needs his “umbrella” first, which crashes into several things on its way to Thor, and Loki.  Who has been “falling for thirty minutes!”  Strange sends the brothers to Norway.

Odin is sitting calmly, waiting for his sons.  It admittedly took time for his to shake off Loki’s magic, but now, Odin misses his wife.  He knows his time draws near, and he has to warn Thor and Loki that they have a sister, whom he exiled for her violent appetite.  She is the goddess of death, and Odin’s first born.  She draws her power from Asgard and if she resides there, it will be limitless.  He also counsels his sons to remember this place they all saw each other.  Then he turns to gold dust and floats away.

A storm begins brewing and Thor and Loki are ready to fight again, until Hela emerges.  Their clothes transform when they approach her.  She first tells them to kneel.  To which Loki demands, “I beg your pardon?”  [How dare she steal his line.]  Thor throws Mjölnir, which Hela crushes.  The brothers try to make it to Asgard, but Hela attacks them while in transit and throws them out.  When Hela arrives at the Bifrost, she instantly stabs Volstagg and Fandral for moving against her.  Skurge just wants to survive, so she takes him with her.

Thor lands on Sakaar, in a rubbish heap.  A crew try to take him prisoner, but another woman comes along and claims him instead, with a little shocking device (she’s also a little drunk).  Thor meets the Grandmaster and hears about his contest of champions.  If Thor wants his freedom, he has to defeat the Grandmaster’s contender.  Loki is also in the background and the brothers bicker a little; Loki was thrown out first and landed before Thor, but managed to befriend the Grandmaster instead of be trapped.  Loki later visits his brother in the prison, while Thor holds a quiet, private memorial for Odin, which Loki joins.   Though it’s just an illusion; Thor can easily throw rocks through Loki lied to both of them.  Yet, when Thor argues he wants to return to Asgard, Loki insists that Hela is stronger.  They could wait a while, and make their own way off Sakaar and go anywhere.  Thor finally reviews Loki’s actions; he faked his death, stripped Odin of his powers and stole the throne, left Odin on Earth, to die, which released the goddess of death.  And that is only the past two days.  Loki warns his brother that anyone who faces the Grandmaster’s contender perishes; and he’s bet heavily against Thor. 

[Let’s stop and consider a few things for a moment, since Loki is one of my favorite characters: He joined in the memorial for Odin; he still considers Odin to be his father, as much as he sneeringly denies it at times.  He is genuinely concerned for his brother going against Hela.  He claims Hela as “our sister.”  His voice rises when he tells Thor he doesn’t stand a chance.  So, as much as Loki argues to the contrary; he’s still Thor’s brother, he’s still Odin’s son.  And, as Hela pointed out, Loki picked up some of Odin’s mannerism, offering to come to a deal.  And supposedly, the Asgardians didn’t notice a difference in Loki ruling as Odin.]

Meanwhile, in Asgard, Hela greets the guards and claims her right to rule as Odin’s firstborn.  The guards attack and she has fun slaying them all; Hogun being the last one standing.  While Hela and Skurge are busy outside the palace, Heimdall steals his sword from Bifrost (preventing Hela from rampaging the cosmos).  Inside the palace, Hela reveals that Odin covered up the history he had with Hela; how they won the Nine Realms by spilling buckets of blood.  But when Hela grew too ambitious, Odin locked her away.  Below the palace, the dead guards are buried and she uses the Eternal Flame to revive them, along with the gigantic wolf, Fenris [who does play a part in the traditional Ragnarök myth].

Thor is sent to face the Grandmaster’s contender and Korg, his rock buddy in prison, points out that the woman who caught Thor is an Asgardian.  Thor recognizes her as a Valkyrie, due to a tattoo, and tries to ask for her help.  She dismisses him.  Thor then has to face a haircut from Stan Lee, and enters the ring.  Turns out, the champion is Hulk.  Thor is ecstatic; “he’s a friend from work.”  Loki is decidedly not.  But Thor cannot reason with the Banner portion, he cannot use tricks to calm him down.  So they pummel each other, Hulk even smashing Thor like he did Loki in New York, which Loki gleefully shouts “that’s how it feels!” [and the funniest part of the movie].  This triggers lightning to come out of Thor and the ante is upped.  And just when Thor is ready to finish Hulk, the Grandmaster shocks Thor and he passes out.

But he wakes up in Hulk’s chambers (briefly shirtless, I think that’s a rule) and tries to pick up their friendship.  He realizes that Hulk came to Sakaar in the Quinjet and that is a way off.  But Hulk wants to stay.  Thor manages to contact Heimdall and check on the situation in Asgard.  The people hide from Hela.  Heimdall suggests Thor go through the big doorway to get off the planet.  Hulk is friends with Valkyrie and Thor attempts to recruit her, but Valkyrie wants nothing to do with Hela.  She’s happy to drink and forget.  Thor manages to get out and to the Quinjet, but the Hulk destroys it when he wants Thor to stay.  Triggering a video from Black Widow brings Banner back, who is concerned he stayed as the Hulk for two years.  If that happens again, Banner may not come back.

The Grandmaster sends Loki and Valkyrie to find Thor and Hulk, though after a brief fight, in which Loki also discovers who Valkyrie is, they team up with Thor and Banner to get off Sakaar, through the largest portal.  Loki can help them get a ship.  Thor and Loki fight together, and Loki suggests he goes separate ways from Thor.  And Thor agrees; at one point, he thought the world of Loki, but Loki keeps betraying him, and their paths diverged long ago.  He still suggests they do “get help.”  Loki does not want to do “get help.”  They do “get help” and Thor throws Loki at the guards.  Loki attempts to betray Thor, but Thor is a step ahead this time, and slaps a shocker on Loki.  Korg and his revolution eventually free Loki, who takes a larger transport to follow Thor.  Thor steals one of the Grandmaster’s ships and Valkyrie helps clear their path off planet.

Hela and Skurge are threatening the people, who are trying to make it to the Bifrost with Heimdall, but an army is behind them and Fenris is in front of them.  Thor sits on the throne to draw Hela to him.  He even tries to bond with Hela, that Odin’s solutions to problem was to either cover it up, or cast it out.  But Thor is wise enough to know he cannot trust Hela; he’d love for someone else to take the thrown, but she’s just the worst.  In the ensuing fight, Hela slices out one of Thor’s eyes, so now he looks like Odin.

Meanwhile, Valkyrie starts to clear a path for the Asgardians.  Bruce turns into the Hulk and takes on Fenris (after smooshing into the rainbow bridge as Bruce first).  A transport ship arrives for the people, Loki proudly declaring “your savior is here!”  Heimdall knew Loki would show up, and Loki joins him against the army.

Thor is losing the fight against Hela and she taunts him, “what were you the god of again?”  Thor has a vision of Odin, who counsels him that Mjölnir was only a way for Thor to focus and control his power.  And Asgard is the people, not a place.  Thor fears he is not as strong as Odin; not, Odin tells him, Thor is stronger.  This triggers lightning from Thor again and he blasts his sister (notice the pride on Loki’s face), and a repeat of the Immigrant Song.  And a totally epic image of Thor smashing through the ranks with lightning.  The heroes still struggle and Hela tries to stop the transport ship.  Skurge jumps out from where he was hiding to take on the army, but Hela spears him.

Thor realizes the only way they can defeat Hela is to destroy Asgard; she’ll lose her power.  They have to trigger Ragnarök.  He sends Loki (whom he knew would show up) to the vault to put Surtur’s crown in the Eternal Flame.  The devil-like creature is happy to smash, though Hulk tries to take him on and Thor has to call him back.  Hela rallies for a moment, but Surtur still smashes her.  Sadly, the planet is destroyed, but the people survive.  And Loki is there to stand beside his brother (and we hope they did hug).  Loki is not sure about returning to Earth, but Thor feels everything will work out fine.  There is an ominously huge ship that appears in front of them.

I find this film funnier than several of the other Marvel movies. It’s an appropriate amount of humor; Love and Thunder just tried too hard.   Thor is more off the cuff and even Loki is more relaxed.  We continue to see more of a sibling relationship between Thor and Loki, like throwing things at each other, anticipating each other’s moves.  And playing Led Zepplin’s Immigrant Song makes it badass; and the lyrics match well, as my father pointed out: “We come from the land of ice and snow/From the midnight sun where the hot springs flow/The hammer of the god/Will drive our ships to new lands/To fight the horde, sing and cry/Valhalla, I am coming.”

We also witness two kickass female characters…with absolutely no love interests!  Hela reveals in being the goddess of death [Cate Blanchett is plain awesome].  Valkyrie doesn’t take crap from anyone.

I’ve recently started my research on Norse mythology, with a course from Wondrium, that covered the basics of their legends and clearly stated that Marvel got the legend wrong.  It was fairly interesting, though I intend to follow up with some books I already own (including the tome by Neil Gaiman).

At the time of writing this blog, sadly Ray Stevenson, the actor who portrays Volstagg [among other roles, such as Porthos in the 2011 Three Musketeers] passed away on May 21st.

I am incredibly busy for the next month, so Black Panther will be a while coming (but it will come).  In the meantime, who are your favorite MCU characters?

“Yeah, a kid who can stop a bus with my bare hands.”

Spider-Man: Homecoming

Still a part of Sony Pictures, but they collaborated to bring Spider-Man into the MCU.  Tom Holland [approved by Stan Lee] is the newest actor to take on the lead role.  Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan makes an appearance, as does Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark.  Zendaya (Greatest Showman) is Michelle, or more commonly called, MJ.  Michael Keaton (Batman in the 1989 film [and it looks like he is reprising that role in the upcoming Flash film]) is Adrian Toomes, AKA the Vulture.  Donald Glover (who we saw as a young Lando Calrissian in the Solo movie), makes an appearance as Aaron Davis.  And if the principal looks familiar, that is Kenneth Choi, who played Jim Morita, one of the Howling Commandos in First Avenger; now he’s Principal Morita, a descendant of Jim.  (Fun side note, Jennifer Connelly voices the Karen A.I in the spider-suit; she is married to Paul Bettany, whom we know in the MCU as JARVIS, in the first few Iron Man suits.  It is also noted that “Homecoming” has many connotations as a title; obviously it is the dance that occurs in the film, then there’s coming home from Berlin, and finally, a homecoming for the Spider-Man character to the MCU.)

We throwback a little to the end of the first Avengers film and a crew is cleaning up the aftermath of the invasion.  They are interrupted by a government agency, the Department of Damage Control, in conjunction with Tony Stark, so Toomes looses the contract and is thus out a fair bit of money.  He and his crew decide to keep the last load of exotic materials they forgot to turn over.  They create gadgets out of them and prepare to change their worlds.  This continues for eight years to bring us to the present day; Toomes now flies around picking up scrap from the Damage Control as the Vulture, with a flying suit.

In Spider-Man’s case, we start with his appearance in Civil War; he makes a behind the scenes video for himself and receives a new suit from Tony.  Then Tony is dropping Peter back off at home, counting this as an internship as an alibi, and tells Peter to keep the suit.  No, there are no missions planned for Peter anytime soon, but keep doing the little stuff and keep in contact with Happy, Tony tells him.  And in a very Tony Stark fashion, also tells the teen “Just don’t do anything I would do.  And definitely don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”  And so, Peter blows up Happy’s phone, checking in for two months, asking about any new missions and reporting on stopping bike thieves and little old ladies.

We also meet Peter Parker’s friends; Ned, who he builds Lego Death Stars with; there’s MJ, who watches them; Peter also has a crush on Liz.  Sadly, Flash is a bully and doesn’t believe that Peter actually has an internship with Tony Stark.  Peter is also part of the academic decathlon at Midtown Science and Technology school (which showcases Howard Stark, Abraham Erskine, and Bruce Banner in the background), but he’s trying to drop out of nationals since he feels he needs availability in case Tony calls.  MJ points out he’s dropped out of band and robotics club already (she’s just observant, she swears).

Then, Peter comes upon bank robbers with high-tech gear.  He’s got the banter down, but one of the ray guns slices through the bank and across the street, to the bodega that Peter visits during the day.  He rushes over to save the owner and his cat, but now Spider-Man is going to be on the lookout for those weapons.  Peter sneaks home, still in his suit because the garbage bin his bookbag was webbed to was taken away.  He crawls up the wall and through the window, and only discovers Ned when he turns around.  He makes his friend swear not to tell anyone; he doesn’t want to worry his Aunt May.  So now Ned wants to help Peter as Spider-Man, be his “guy in the chair.”

When the boys find out that Liz has a crush on Spider-Man (in gym class, where they show Captain America videos mandated by the state), Ned blurts out that Peter knows Spider-Man through the Stark Internship.  This gains them an invitation to Liz’s party (and we find out she’s a senior, compared to their sophomore status), with Flash cracking that Peter should bring Spider-Man.  Peter’s not comfortable using Spider-Man like that and when he suits up, he discovers lights coming from a weapons deal.  He breaks it up, then tries to follow the bad guys…and we discover that Spider-Man is not meant for the suburbs; there aren’t a lot of tall buildings for his webs to latch on to and for him to swing around.  So he gets dragged around by the van, until the Vulture swoops down and grabs him.  Then he drops him in a lake.  Luckily, the suit has a parachute, but Peter still struggles in the water.  Another suit dives in and pulls him out; it’s Iron Man.  Well, his suit; Tony’s somewhere more exotic.  He does lecture Peter (while showing off there’s a heater in Spider’s suit) and breaks out the classic “because I said so!” line.  Peter should leave the weapons and guys in suits alone; there are other people to handle that (but not the Avengers).  Peter should stay closer to the ground, help the little guy, and be the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.  Peter points out that Tony thought he was ready for the big leagues by taking him up against Captain America.  To which Tony retorts, that if Cap had wanted to really hurt Peter, he would have [so Tony was counting on Steve not wanting to hurt his friends; at that point, Steve wouldn’t go for the kill…Tony still gets called out for his decision in the fandom].  His parting words to Peter are, if Peter comes across these weapons again, call Happy (who is also busy packing up the Avengers tower and moving everything to the new facility upstate).

On his way home, Peter finds part of the weapon that was shot at him and takes it with him.  Then beats on it with a hammer during shop class, trying to get the power source out.  Ned happily helps with that part.  Meanwhile, Toomes intended for his merchandise to be moved under the radar and not draw the attention of the cops or the Avengers, but now they’re being shot out in the open by an idiot.  Who accidently ends up dead.  There’s talk of a big job, but Toomes wants to hold off yet.  He sends some guys out to track down the missing weapon piece, so Peter spots them at the school.  He puts a tracker on them and finds them heading to Maryland.  It just so happens that Nationals for the academic decathlon are held in Washington D.C.  He gets back on the trip and in his hotel room, has Ned help him pull the tracker out of his suit so Happy and Tony don’t know what he’s doing.  He also has Ned turn off the “Training Wheel Protocol,” giving him more access to the suit.  Including its own A.I. voice, whom he names Karen.  Ned doesn’t think this is all a good idea, but Peter convinces him, then sneaks out to follow the crooks (there’s a deleted scene that shows the school bus passing the Triskelion mess that is still being cleaned up, and MJ comments on the situation; the Avengers are creating a lot of messes that Damage Control is cleaning up and so the crooks have a steady supply of parts they can steal).

Peter does interrupt the Vulture grabbing a load, but gets stuck in the truck, which is then parked in a secure warehouse.  It does allow him time to run a refresher course on his new web capabilities, but he gets bored soon and works on breaking out of the warehouse; especially when he finds out the core of the weapon he found, that he passed along to Ned for safekeeping, is explosive.  Peter misses the decathlon, yet Midtown wins thanks to MJ.  The team heads to the Washington Monument to celebrate and the scanners activate the core, which goes off in the elevator.  Spider-Man races to the scene and scales the building, having to crash through a window near the top, then web the elevator.  It still falls, but he manages to stop it.  He has to grab Liz at the last second, but once she’s safe, he drops.

Meanwhile, the Vulture and his crew are not happy with Spider-Man appearing and breaking up their business.  So, Toomes plans to kill Spider-Man (though he has to be grateful that Spider-Man saved his daughter in DC).

In typical teenage fashion, Peter is riding the high from his rescue and plans to skip out on school so he can continue to be Spider-Man and join the Avengers, but he’s caught by the principal and is in trouble for missing Nationals.  They show another cheesy Captain America video during detention, but Peter leaves when Steve poses “what would Captain America do?”  He gathers web fluid from under the lockers and works on hunting down the crooks.  He tries interrogating the guy he saved from the deal, who turns out to be helpful, but also comments that Peter has to get better at that part of the job; he sounds young and not intimidating.  Peter heads to the Staten Island Ferry to break up the next deal and hangs up on Tony when Stark calls to acknowledge a job well down in DC.  Then the FBI shows up to break up the operation, but Peter still goes after the Vulture.  Webbing one of the guns ends up cutting the ferry in two.  (Vulture has a point when he says Spider-Man is messing with things he doesn’t understand.)  Peter tries to web it back together, even holding the two pieces himself.  Luckily, Iron Man shows up and pushes it together and seals it back up.  It is actually Tony in the suit and he is furious.  When Peter protests that the adults need to listen to him, Tony points out he did; that’s why the FBI was there.  Peter just wanted to be like Tony; and Tony wanted him to be better.  Tony doesn’t want anything to happen to Peter and for that to be on his conscience; so he takes the suit.  Peter protests he’s nothing without the suit.  Then he shouldn’t have it, Tony tells him.

When Peter returns home, May is worried sick.  She knows he’s been cutting class and school and the decathlon.  She knows he’s sneaking out and begs him to talk to her.  She then comforts him when he quietly tells her he lost the Stark Internship.  At school, the principal gives him another chance; Peter’s a good kid.  And he’s on his best behavior now.  He hangs out with Ned and they complete the Lego Death Star.  He apologizes to Liz about decathlon and manages to ask her to homecoming.  May eagerly helps him prepare.

When Peter arrives to pick Liz up for the dance, he sees Toomes and recognizes him.  He’s distracted as they drive to the dance, and the chatting leads Toomes to realizing that Peter is Spider-Man.  He has a conversation with the boy (with a gun in his hand) in front of the school.  In return for Spider-Man saving Liz, Toomes is offering Peter the chance to walk away from taking down Vulture and his crew.  But if Peter persists, Toomes will go after Peter’s family.  Peter makes his decision as he walks into the dance.  He apologizes to Liz, then dashes down the hall.  He pulls out his old suit from under the lockers, but is met by one of the crew outside.  Ned comes along and helpfully subdues the guy, saving Spider-Man.  Peter has Ned call Happy, who is busy with the last steps of moving stuff out of the Avengers Tower (including Cap’s new shield and a magic belt for Thor).  Happy hangs up on Ned.  Peter steals Flash’s car to follow Toomes to a warehouse (he stashed his phone in the car for Ned to track; Ned is thrilled to be Peter’s “guy in the chair”…until he gets caught, then claims he was watching porn).  Toomes attempts talking to Peter again, claiming that guys like Tony Stark don’t understand what it’s like for guys like Toomes and Peter.  In reality, it’s a distraction, waiting for his wings to arrive.  They cut through support columns, which brings the warehouse crashing down onto Peter.

Peter freaks out [and all you want to do is wrap him in a hug] and calls out for help.  He sees his reflection mixed with the mask and recalls Tony’s words, that if he’s nothing without the suit, then he doesn’t deserve the suit.  His resolve strengthens and he lifts the rubble off him [one of my favorite parts].  He gets out in time to catch a ride with the Vulture, who has decided to do the big job, involving a high-altitude seal.  He attaches to the plane, which is autopiloted, and opens a doorway.  Toomes is thrilled with the hull, but Spider-Man breaks the seal.  And Vulture goes after Spider-Man.  The plane looses two engines in their fight, and then Peter has to steer the plane from crashing into a tower.  They crash onto a beach and Vulture goes after Spider-Man again.  Until he spots arc reactors and tries to take off with them.  Peter notices that his wings are sparking and tries to warn Toomes.  When a fire erupts, Peter gets up and drags Toomes out [another favorite part].  He webs Toomes to the gear and leaves another note for Happy, who saw the explosion.

Peter apologizes to Liz again, as she’s leaving school; she just hopes he works out what’s going on.  Happy picks Peter up from decathlon and takes him upstate to meet with Tony.  Tony commends Peter again for his actions and offers him an official place with the Avengers.  Peter considers it for a minute, then turns it down; he’d rather stay a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man for now.  Tony’s impressed, but then Pepper comes out, wanting to know what their announcement is going to be.  Happy has been carrying around a diamond ring since 2008 and throws it to Tony.  Pepper’s not too mad.  At home, Tony left the suit for Peter again and he eagerly puts it back on.  Except May is standing in the background now.  In the credits, we see Toomes approached by another criminal, who wants to know Spider-Man’s identity.  Toomes claims that if he knew who was under the mask, they’d be dead already.  [Yet we shouldn’t commend Toomes too much because he did knowingly attempt to kill a fifteen-year-old, who also happens to be a classmate of his daughter’s.]  And at the very end, is another Captain America video on patience, that sometimes we wait so long for something that ends up being disappointing…no, there is not clue as to the next video and Cap just wants to know how many more PSA’s he has to make.

To be fair, several characters can take part of the blame for actions in the film.  Tony recruited Peter to help fight against several superheroes, but didn’t lay ground rules for Peter after.  Peter himself tries to handle big problems on his own in an effort to prove himself to Tony.  Happy is dismissive of Peter’s calls, but then, Peter did send him a lot of messages, but adults didn’t listen to the teenager when he really had something important to say.  At the end of the day, we still root for Peter because he has honest, good intentions; he desperately wants to help.  He’s just fifteen.  He does show maturity throughout the film; he’s willing to apologize when he can, he’s not keen on being Spider-Man at a party, remarking to Ned that Spider-Man is not there for party tricks.

This movie got me interested in the MCU again, because after the last couple, my interest was waning.  But Tom Holland and thus Spider-Man is adorable, in that way that you want to hug someone and protect them [admittedly, I am not very familiar with the other Spider-Man movies, though I’ve watched the Tobey Maguire ones once; but they seem more serious, while Tom’s is that dorky kid that I relate to.]  I also appreciate Tom’s background in dance (he was Billy Elliot on the West End) and the fact that he can do all those flips on his own; he did most of the stuntwork where possible as well.

This is a well-developed story, showing consequences for actions and gives the villain a motive; though again, he did try to kill a fifteen-year-old, well aware of who he was.  Property was damaged, but only one person died and they were a bad guy and Spider-Man was not the one to kill him.  A low-level criminal even respects Spider-Man for blindly offering to get shot instead of him.  Teenagers are played by teenagers and act like teenager, with appropriate embarrassment.

And at the end, we just want to watch Tony mentor Peter and Peter eventually join the Avengers and become part of a family.  There are several fanfiction stories I found after watching this movie, but I am saving my recommendations for a big Marvel round-up post after the last movie.

Up Next: Some more fun with Thor: Ragnarök

“So, we’re saving the galaxy again?” “I guess”

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

The Guardians are back, adding Kurt Russell (he was Colonel Jack O’Neil in the first Stargate movie [before Richard Dean Anderson took over in the series], and opposite Goldie Hawn in Overboard) as Ego, with an appearance by Sylvester Stallone as Stakar.

The film opens in Missouri, 1980, where we meet Peter’s mother, as well as his father, though we should note that there is something alien in the field.  Meredith is so pleased to find a spaceman.  Quick jump to thirty-four years later, and Peter is on a job with the other Guardians, with their usual antics.  Dancing baby Groot distracts us from the fight going on behind him.  They technically complete the job, but Rocket steals something from their client, which sends a fleet of ships after the Guardians, who still bicker and now have Nebula with them as a prisoner.  Rocket and Peter argue over who is the better pilot and they are only saved by the intervention of a new ship.  They crash land onto Berhert, where the other ship lands as well and their savior introduces himself as Ego, Peter’s father.  He invites Peter to his home planet to explain everything.  Gamora and Drax go with Peter, while Rocket and Groot remain with Nebula to fix the ship.

Meanwhile, Yandu and his Ravengers are partying (well, Yandu isn’t partying as much), then he meets another Ravanger, Stakar, who calls Yandu out for some of his prior jobs, including kidnapping young Peter.  He’s exiled, but manages to pick up another job, which is to find the Guardians of the Galaxy for their botched job.  He finds Rocket, who handles the crew pretty well with a myriad of traps, but Nebula manages to get free and sides with the crew that mutinies against Yandu for going soft (he’s just smart enough to not kill the Guardians of the Galaxy).  Nebula makes a deal with the new crew so she can hunt Gamora and kill her, then track down Thanos and kill him.  Yandu, Rocket, and Groot manage to escape, aided by Kraglin and go after Peter.

Ego shows off his planet to Peter, Gamora, and Drax, and they meet his…companion Mantis, who uses her empathy to help Ego sleep.  Peter already doesn’t trust Ego, but as Gamora puts it, “if he ends up being evil, we’ll just kill him.”  But Ego’s planet is beautiful and full of life.  Ego reveals he’s a Celestial; in essence, a god, small “g.”  He doesn’t quite know where he came from, but he’s been around millions of years.  He can control the molecules around him and in the planet and eventually formed himself into a human.  He didn’t want to be alone in the universe and eventually met Meredith Quinn on Earth.  When he discovered she had a son, he searched the galaxy for him, then heard of a human who could hold an Infinity Stone without dying and knew Peter must be part Celestial.  He swears to Peter that he wanted to be a father; Peter is not a mistake.  And he wants to teach Peter about the light.  But Peter is still mad that Ego left and never came back.  They partially make up when Peter is able to make a ball out of light and they play quintessential catch for a few minutes.

Peter is happy and even persuades Gamora to dance with him for a few minutes, then she ends up insisting that there is nothing between them.  And Mantis is hiding something from the heroes.  Nebula tracks down Gamora and they start fighting each other, then Nebula’s ship crashes and Gamora ends up saving Nebula.  Nebula finally shouts at Gamora that all she wanted was a sister; it was Gamora who was focused on being better and the victor.  During their argument, they find skeletons and have to make it back to the surface.

That’s where Ego is sharing his plan with Peter.  Peter is immortal as long as the light lives in the planet.  And Ego wants to spread throughout the galaxy.  In this Expansion, he planted thousands of extensions of himself (that weird alien planet from the beginning) on thousands of planets, with the intention that they will cover all that exists.  But one Celestial does not have enough power on their own.  So he needs Peter.  Mantis explains to our heroes that the bones the sisters found are Ego’s previous children, none of whom shared the Celestial gene; only Peter.  And Peter’s initially taken by Ego and on board with the plan until Ego admits he was the one who put the tumor in Meredith.  Peter is furious.  He tries shooting Ego, but Ego just reforms and spears Peter in order to use him as a battery.  One Earth, that plant bursts into a giant black wave that begins engulfing the town.

Yandu and the rest of the Guardians crash in.  Yandu admits he couldn’t hand Peter over as a child after he heard about what happened to the others.  Peter grudgingly forgives him and they focus on destroying Ego, meaning they have to strike at the center of the planet in order to kill him.  Mantis helps the Guardians by putting Ego to sleep, which works for a few minutes.  When he wakes up, he tries to crush Peter’s friends, continuing to insist that this is Peter’s purpose in life.  But Peter fights back, remembering the good times he’s had with his friends (even a brief clip of Yandu teaching a young Peter something), and his friends are released.  He continues to hold back Ego, growling that he shouldn’t have killed his mom.  Groot sets a bomb, but it still looks hopeless for the Guardians, with the planet falling apart around them.  Rocket gets everyone on the ship and takes off, without Yandu and Peter, saving his friends.  They all demand to know about Peter.  Peter is fine not being a god and watches Ego disintegrate.  Yandu is there to save him, using the jetpack himself, but putting the protective bubble on Peter when they hit space.  Yandu freezes, but Peter lives.    

They hold a Ravanger funeral for Yandu, whom Peter finally admits was his dad.  The life he was always looking for was right there.  Gamora asks Nebula to stay and they even hug, admitting they will always be sisters.  But Nebula wants to hunt down Thanos and leaves.  The other Ravangers come for Yandu’s funeral and everyone is fairly content.

This movie is about family; yes, Peter finally solves the problem of who his biological father is, but he also accepts other people in his life as family.  And the Guardians feel the same way, considering they demand to know where Peter is before they leave.  And I like that Peter is a little more serious in this film.  There are plenty of jokes cracked to keep the humor we know from this crew, but Peter doesn’t pass everything off as a joke.  He honestly wants to know this man who calls himself Peter’s father, but is also smart enough to not immediately trust him.  And he truly cares for Gamora and Gamora eventually returns his feelings.  Everyone experiences character growth (which is what you want in a sequel).

I’m looking forward to Next Time, we have Spider-Man: Homecoming

They put the warnings after the spells

Doctor Strange

Again, Marvel continues to expand their universe.  Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock, Smaug and the Necromancer in the Hobbit trilogy, Khan in Into the Darkness, Richard III in Hollow Crown, as well as appearing in War Horse and Amazing Grace) leads the big name cast as the titular Dr. Stephen Strange.  Rachel McAdams (famous for The Notebook, Mean Girls [how did those two come out in the same year?], and Irene Adler in Guy Ritche’s Sherlock Holmes [which gave birth to a meme that’s only expanded]) is Dr. Christine Palmer, Chiwetel Ejiofor (the Operative from the Firefly movie, Serenity) is Mordo, while Mads Mikkelsen (he’s Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts, and Galen Erso in Rogue One.  He’s also Rochefort in 2011’s Three Musketeers and Le Chiffre in Casino Royale; needless to say, he’s experienced playing villains) is Kaecilius.  Tilda Swinton (a bit of a different role from portraying the White Witch in the Chronicles of Narnia films) is the Ancient One [and if you’re like me, and wondering why Pangborn is familiar looking, he’s Eric Matthews in Miss Congeniality.]

The film opens with Kaecilius beheading the librarian in order to rip pages from a book in order to do a dangerous ritual.  Change of scenery to a city and Kaecilius is confronted by someone in yellow robes with their hood up.  He shouts hypocrite while the world gets topsy-turvy.  The woman in yellow showcases her skill and Kaecilius and his followers run away. 

Another change in scenery and we meet a doctor as he preps for the operating room.  He’s a bit of a show off, but does help another doctor in a second operation when she asks.  We find out that Christine Palmer used to date Stephen Strange, but they chose different paths; her in the ER and he wants to advance new techniques.  Or show off and get credit; “everything is about you,” Christine remarks.  Stephen invites her to a ceremony, which is an award for him, but she declines.  We see that Stephen has done well for himself with the selection of watches and the fast car he has.  But as he’s checking out a new case (and turning down Rhodey’s spinal case we find out), his car crashes, glass shatters into his hands.  Christine is one of the doctors who rushes alongside him back into the hospital.  She’s the one to inform Stephen of the bad news; due to how long it took to get him into a hospital (most likely because it took time to discover he was missing and find him), there is severe nerve damage in his hands.  She encourages him to allows his body to heal, but he bites back “you’ve ruined me.”  So begins Stephen’s journey to get his hands back.  He asks different doctors for help, suggests experimental treatments.  But nothing brings them back to the way they were.  Christine tries to help him, but he pushes her away, being very rude to her one evening, saying that they hadn’t even made a good couple and tells her to leave.  So she does.

He eventually finds another patient who had had a supposedly hopeless case, but ended up walking again.  When he tracks down this Pangborn, he’s sent to Karma-Taj, which apparently resides in Nepal, because Stephen travels to Kathmandu.  He’s rescued from some thugs by Mordo, then taken before the Ancient One [and I do appreciate that the Ancient One is portrayed as a woman simply from the aspect that a woman is the head of this…religion I believe one could classify].  She is aware of who Stephen Strange is and explains that they are able to convince the body to put itself back together, by reorienting the spirit to heal the body (I don’t quite get the mix of medical and philosophical).  Stephen is disbelieving, so the Ancient One demonstrates by sending Stephen’s soul through different dimensions (and it gets a bit weird here).  He asks to be taught.  Mordo tosses him out.  But Stephen persists; sitting at the door, until the Ancient One lets him in based on his stubbornness, arrogance, and ambition, though she fears leading another gifted student who may ultimately betray her (like Kaecilius).

The Ancient One teaches Stephen that the language of the mystic arts is as old as civilization; they called it spells, but they actually harness energy from the multiverse [setting up the storylines after Endgame that we are not getting into because they are too confusing and I just didn’t have the energy after Endgame to continue with the crazy storylines.]  This energy they use to create shields and weapons.  It requires study and practice, which Stephen should be used to.  Stephen discovers the library and the new librarian, Wong.  He is told that no knowledge is forbidden, only certain practices.  Eventually, Stephen begins to study time, which is not something that is really allowed, but he also gets good at astral projecting and being in two places at one, and even allows his astral form to read while he sleeps.  He has his struggles, often blaming his hands, until the Ancient One leaves him on Mount Everest and he has to make his way back.  He succeeds and continues.  She also shows him the Mirror Dimension when his education progresses and he needs a safe place to practice; what occurs in the Mirror Dimension cannot influence the physical world.  Stephen’s study in time leads him to the book of time and the Eye of Agamotto.  He uses his new knowledge to bring the pages torn out of the book back and starts to read about the Dark Dimension.  He’s caught and stopped and warned not to tamper with natural law.  While the Avengers defend the world against physical dangers, sorcerers defend it against mystical dangers.  Stephen finds out about the three Sanctums; Hong Kong, London, and New York.  The Dark Dimension holds Dormamu, who is the cosmic conqueror and destroyer of worlds.

Then Kaecilius attacks the London Sanctum, which throws Stephen into the New York Sanctum.  Kaecilius soon arrives and kills the guard, and Stephen fights back…with some help from a cape (and the funniest bit of the movie).  Stephen is stabbed and transports himself to the hospital where Christine is and gets her help.  He has to go to the astral plane to fight another bad guy, and he ultimately lives and proves to Christine he’s not crazy, though she’s still a bit scared.  He returns to New York and keeps the cape.  But he has also discovered the Ancient One’s secret; she draws on the Dark Dimension while warning others away…that is how she has lived so long.  Stephen gets in an argument with Mordo, then Kaecilius is back and they try to trap him in in Mirror Dimension, but he fights it.  The Ancient One arrives and fights Kaecilius again.  This time, she’s stabbed and exits the Mirror Dimension.  Stephen takes her to Christine, but she freezes time for a single moment to talk to Stephen, bestowing words of wisdom.  Then she allows herself to die.  Stephen knows he must save the Hong Kong Sanctum, dragging Mordo with him, who is angry with the Ancient One. 

When they initially arrive, they are too late, but Stephen uses the Eye to begin to rewind time.  Eventually, he freezes it and confronts Dormamu.  He’s come to bargain and he has infinite time to repeat the same moment over and over and over again, which makes Dormamu his prisoner.  His price, take the zealots and leave, let Earth live.  Dormamu agrees and Kaecilius is dragged into the Dark Dimension and Hong Kong is saved.  Mordo has to figure out his new path and leaves.  Stephen agrees to put the Eye back and Wong points out that it is an Infinity Stone.  We see that Mordo has chosen a bloody path and hunts down Pangborn because this world now has too many sorcerers.  And a little taste of Thor is given when we see in the credits Stephen meets with the god, mentioning Odin and Loki.

Let me say that this film has a great cast.  However, as much as I’m interested in magic, I just can’t get into this film.  To me, the film is very one note. Yet, it is how we get this meme (and there’s another Sherlock if you include superhero movies in general with Henry Cavill as Superman/Sherlock in Enola Holmes):

Up Next: Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2

“Are we still friends?” “Depends on how hard you hit me.”

Captain America: Civil War

A turning point in the MCU and it acts more like an Avengers movie since most of the other characters appear in this film.  While we don’t have Thor or Bruce Banner, Clint and Scott Lang show up.  And T’Challa (played by the late Chadwick Boseman) and Peter Parker (played in this universe by Tom Holland) are introduced.  Martin Freeman (Watson in BBC’s Sherlock and Bilbo Baggins in the Hobbit trilogy) appears as Everett Ross.

The prologue of the film takes place in 1991 Russia, with the Winter Solider program, revealing a red book with a black star that holds information on the program, including the coded phrase that…activates, I guess you’d say, the solider.  Poor Bucky is screaming at one point, then chillingly responds in Russian to the phrase, “ready to comply,” showing that he’s no longer in control.  He carries out a mission involving a car crash and stealing a case.

Now, we’re in present day Lagos, and Steve’s team is on a mission to hunt down Rumlow.  They’ve brought Wanda with them, working on her training.  Rumlow’s after a biological weapon (and Sam gets to show off his new drone bird “Red Wing,” and some other tech).  [By the way, the guy holding the vial looked a bit familiar; because he’s played by Damion Poitier (who was the Incapacitator villain in the Lab Rats, Mighty Med crossover episode.]  When Rumlow faces off against Steve, he mentions Bucky as a way to distract Steve.  But Wanda is there to help get a bomb away, but it doesn’t work the best and the bomb takes out a corner of a building.  It is revealed that many of the ones killed were Wakandans and the king is unhappy and is now speaking to the UN.  Both Wanda and Steve blame themselves (and Vision decides to walk through a wall instead of an open door).

Tony’s speaking at MIT, demonstrating a project that can help people clear traumatic memories, using it to say goodbye to his parents like he never did.  And this is just a precursor to funding all the students’ projects.  But when it’s time to bring the head of the foundation out, Pepper is not there.  A mother confronts Tony in a hallway; her son was brilliant, but won’t get the funding because he was killed in Sokovia; and she holds Tony responsible.

Tony meets up with the rest of the team, inviting along the new Secretary of State, Ross (that guy who hates the Hulk).  Ross admits that the world owes the Avengers an unpayable debt, but now people are disagreeing with the destruction the Avengers leave in their wake, and taking battles into other countries.  So, 117 countries of the United Nations have put together the Sokovia Accords, to restrict the Avengers’ powers and supervision.   A panel will decide when and where the Avengers deploy.  The team has three days to sign; if not, they will be forced to retire.  The team begins splitting.  Tony and Rhodey are all for signing; agreeing they need to be held accountable, while Steve feels that they are giving up their right to choose.  Vision points out there may be a causality going on; since Tony revealed himself as Iron Man, there has been an uptick in enhanced individuals coming on the scene and major disasters happening.  While Tony argues they need put in check, Steve argues that the safest hands for this situation are their own.

Meanwhile, in Cleveland, the old Winter Soldier handler is attacked, by Zemo, and asked about the December 1991 mission.  Zemo claims the red book.

The Avengers’ argument is interrupted by Steve getting notified that Peggy Carter has passed away.  He’s a casket bearer at the funeral in London, accompanied by Sam.  Even Nat comes to pay her respects and comfort Steve.  They also find out that his apartment neighbor, Kate, is actually Peggy’s niece, Sharon Carter.  Peggy was a huge role model to live up to, so Sharon never revealed her relation.  She also gives a pointed eulogy that Peggy cautioned “compromise where you can.  Where you can’t don’t.  Even if everyone is telling you that something wrong is right.  Even if the whole world is telling you to move, it is your duty to plant yourself like a tree, look them in the eye and say No, you move.”

Natasha informs Steve that Tony, Rhodey, and Vision have all signed the Accords.  Clint is retired, and Nat will sign to keep everyone together.  Steve tells her he can’t.  Natasha attends the meeting at the UN in Vienna, meeting King T’Chaka and Prince T’Challa of Wakanda.  There’s an explosion while T’Chaka is speaking and T’Challa tries to get to his father, but he is killed.  The news reports that James Barnes is a suspect.  T’Challa intends to find Bucky, but Steve wants to find him first.  Sharon Carter helps out and Sam follows Steve.  They find Bucky in Bucharest [Sebastian Stan spoke his native Romanian language in the market scene] and Steve helps out when the special forces invade Bucky’s apartment.  Bucky insists he’s not going to kill anyone; he doesn’t do that anymore.  The Black Panther shows up on the roof of his apartment, and they take the fight to the streets, chasing each other, eventually causing an explosion and getting caught by Rhodey and the police and arrested.

Bucky remains a prisoner, and Sam and Steve have to turn in their weapons and suits, but manage to stay out of a jail cell.  On their drive, T’Challa explained that the Black Panther is the guardian of Wakanda.  They’re introduced to Everett Ross.  Tony tries to convince Steve again to sign the Accords (after confirming that he and Pepper are taking a break; to Steve’s disappointment, he was hoping Tony was going to announce her pregnancy).  Tony insists they need Steve; he doesn’t want to see him gone.  And Tony feels that he is doing what has to be done in order to stave off worse.  Both men cannot stop being who they are.  Steve still won’t sign.

Zemo, masquerading at the psychologist, beings to ask Bucky questions.  When the lights go out (thanks to an EMP he planted elsewhere in the city), he rattles off the code words to activate Bucky.  Then he escapes and Bucky fights the Avengers, without their suits.  Even T’Challa goes after him (and they all show off how well they fight even without their suits.)  Bucky makes it to a helicopter, but Steve pulls it back down.  It falls and takes them both into the water.  This time, Steve pulls Bucky out.  Zemo heads to Moscow.  When Bucky wakes up, he remembers old Steve; then tells them that Zemo wanted to know about Siberia.  And bombshell, Bucky is not the only Winter Soldier.  Sam and Steve realize that with the split in the Avengers, they have less help than normal; they don’t think they can go to Tony, or even if we wanted to help if he could, with the Accords controlling his actions.  But, Sam knows a guy (remember the stinger to Ant-Man?)

Secretary Ross goes to Tony and Tony insists that he brings in Bucky and Steve.  Ross gives him 36 hours.  Nat and Tony both have ideas on who can help.  Nat’s idea is downstairs.  Tony’s in in Queens.  A teenage kid that Tony has figured out is Spider-Man.  He intends to upgrade Peter’s suit and convinces him to come to Germany with Tony, though they can’t tell Aunt May why.  Peter protests because he has homework, but Tony just rolls his eyes [and Robert’s comment in the scene, “I’m going to sit here, move your leg,” was because Tom forgot the blocking, but it worked well in the scene, so they kept it.]

Next, Clint enters the Avengers compound to retrieve Wanda, who has been instructed to remain inside by Tony, watched over by Vision.  Wanda and Vision have created a friendship, so they don’t want to hurt each other, but Clint has to hold him off in order to get Wanda out, making a crack about coming out of retirement for this.  Then Wanda stops Vision so she can leave and they can help Steve.  She’s decided that while she can’t control other people’s fear, she can control hers.  So the teams both head to an airport and lineups are revealed.  Scott Lang joins Clint, Wanda, Sam, and Bucky with Steve.  While Vision, Rhodey, Natasha, T’Challa, and Peter side with Tony.  Steve tries to explain, and Nat quips “do you really want to punch your way out?”  Tony accuses Steve of tearing the Avengers apart.  The fight starts (and yes, it is pretty cool, even though we wish they really weren’t fighting.)  Ultimately, Steve’s goal is to get him and Bucky out of there, and Clint agrees that the rest of them won’t get out.  Scott grows gargantuan at one point, grabbing Rhodey, to which Tony says “give me back my Rhodey.”  It is also hilarious that Peter’s idea is to treat him like an AT-AT from Hoth in Empire Strikes Back (and of course, the teenager calls this all old).  And hey, it works.  Peter also gets to face off against Steve and there’s a little New York rivalry going on.  Nat holds off T’Challa to let Steve and Bucky through, then Sam dodges a shot from Vision, which then hits Rhodey.  Rhodey crashes to the ground, Tony landing shortly after him, followed by Sam, who is concerned for the other man.  Steve and Bucky fly off.

Those who opposed Tony are locked up on a prison in the middle of the ocean, Clint and Scott very angry, and Sam still shows concern about Rhodey.  Tony has found out that Steve’s story of Bucky’s innocence holds some ground (they found the murdered phycologist’s body), and he wants to help.  So Sam gives him an idea where to go.  He finds Steve and Bucky in the bunker, and the dead soldiers.  But Zemo has loaded a video for Tony to watch.  That mission that Bucky took in December of 1991, that caused a car crash?  That was Howard and Maria Stark and the video shows Bucky killing them.  Which understandably gets Tony angry and Steve of course tries to defend his friend, but he also reveals that he had found out before Tony and never told him.  While Tony goes after Steve and Bucky, T’Challa stalks Zemo.  Zemo confirms that he wanted to destroy the Avengers and figured the best way was to pit them against each other.  T’Challa stops the other man from committing suicide; while T’Challa will not allow himself to be ruled by vengeance any longer, he will not let Zemo get away so easily: “the living are not done with you yet.”

There’s a pause in the fight between Steve, Tony, and Bucky, and Steve cautions Tony that this fight won’t change what happened.  Tony doesn’t care, Bucky killed his mom [note that he’s more upset over his mom’s death; but we know that Tony has a complicated relationship with Howard; he even admitted to Steve earlier that because of Howard’s obsession with Captain America, Tony grew up hating him.]  Tony attacks again.  When Bucky sees Steve in trouble, he picks up the shield and attacks Tony.  The two trade off on the shield until Bucky goes for Tony’s arc reactor.  Tony blasts off Bucky’s metal arm.  Steve’s furious now and trades blows with Tony.  He kneels in front of Bucky, telling Tony “he’s my friend.”  He won’t abandon him.  Well, Tony though he was Steve’s friend as well.  Tony tells Steve to stay down.  Of course, Steve’s not the person to stay down.  He gets back up, quipping “I can do this all day.”  Tony lines up a shot, but Bucky distracts him, which then allows Steve to grab Tony, then pummel him, grabbing his shield, smashing the arc reactor (at least instead of Tony’s unprotected head).  Tony yells for Steve to drop the shield.  Steve complies and helps Bucky out, leaving Tony behind.

Tony returns to the compound to help Rhodey with leg braces, and receives a package from Steve [delivered by Stan Lee, calling Tony “Stank”], containing a letter and phone in case Tony ever needs him.  The Avengers are more Tony’s family and Steve’s going to stick with Bucky.  Steve also retrieves his teammates from the Raft prison, then is allowed sanctuary in Wakanda (probably because T’Challa is making up for going after Bucky, who he knows is now innocent.)  Bucky also allows the Wakandans to put him back in cyro until they can get the Winter Soldier training out of his head.  The final stinger in the credits is May bringing Peter some ice due to the bruise from getting hit by Steve, a guy from Brooklyn, Peter admits.  And, he’s got some new tech.

I am not going to dissect the argument over the Accords between the two sides because I feel they should have found a third alternative.  They should have tried to figure out how to keep the team together.  If Steve and Tony were better at communicating with each other, they may have not gotten in a fight.  Of course Steve is going to protect Bucky; Bucky had his back all those years when Steve was a weaker man, he’s going to return the favor.  And yes, Steve should have told Tony about the attack on his parents; because keeping quiet on that stuff in order to “protect” someone never works out.  And all parties involved are lucky that the worst that happened during that big face off was Rhodey getting injured (most likely paralyzed to a degree); someone could have gotten killed.  Tony, Steve, and Bucky were certainly going for the jugular in their last fight.  Yes, they’re humans and have emotions and reactions, but they’re also grown-ups and heroes, and we just end up disappointed in them by the end of the film.

On a more positive note, I enjoyed the new characters who were introduced (who later get spectacular solo films).  Peter is adorable, chatting through his fight, because he’s supposed to be this nerdy teenager who’s just pumped to be around all these heroes.  And the airport fight sequence is admittedly cool.

Up Next: Doctor Strange