Excesssive rambling ahead, but I actually liked Cap before it was cool. ;p
Saw Captain America: Winter Soldier last week!
IT WAS AMAZING TOTALLY AWESOME. SO MUCH BETTER THAN EXPECTED.
I want to thank the internet for becoming so crazily obsessed with Sebastian Stan that I was completely surprised when he wasn't the ENTIRE PLOT. To all those people who feel there was not enough Winter Soldier in the Winter Soldier movie, WELCOME TO MY EXPERIENCE READING THE COMIC BOOKS. I did expect the movie to get farther in Bucky's storyline but to be fair it took a looooong time in the comics for their real bro-conciliation. (I also expected the return of the tesseract.)
If you haven't seen it, I do recommend it. Much better sequel than Thor II. Attention to detail was astonishing. Cast was diverse and interesting (for a superhero movie, at least).
Although having read the comics I'm now expecting Bucky and Cap to never get a real reconciliation and Steve to be killed (or "killed") in either the next Avengers movie or the next Captain America movie and then we will see Bucky assume the mantle. Also because Stan signed on for a nine-film deal and Chris only signed up for six, I feel like the hand-off of gthe mantle is eventually inevitable.
I clapped when Ed Brubaker's name showed up twice in the credits. HE PLAYED SCIENTIST #2!
GUYS. SO GOOD. *FLAIL* I mean, I was totally surprised by parts of it, and part of me was actually rooting for Fury's death to be real (L. and I agree that he was channeling a lot of "DUMBLEDORE IS NOT PERFECT" vibes for a while there.)
Natasha was just amazing. I'm super-hopeful that her going off on her own adventures leads to her having her own film soon. Possibly with some sidekick Clint, but I would settle for Pepper, Maria or Agent 13 as well. Or maybe some other Marvel laydeez. (DARCY. NAT AND DARCY TAKE MANHATTAN.) Special shout-out to Peggy. I would watch a show starring her through hell and high water.
I was also impressed by how much the cast kept expanding and I was able to keep everyone straight (I'm normally not great at doing that with background bad guys.) I would love some more details on Bucky's journey to the movie, but I agree that he has very good Angsty Eyes (™) and I look forward to see more of him.
Chris Evans remains pretty much spot-on. Captain America is one of my favorite Marvel characters in the comics, because I came in the Brubaker run and because I'm a big fan of aspirational heroes instead of "dark 'n gritty." I was extremely excited when the first movie came out and I actually might like this one better. Despite my continued argument that the Iron Man movie was the perfect superhero movie, and the fact that the first Thor movie was pure delight, Captain America is winning the Superhero Movie Arc contest in my brain.
Now…I have one complaint: (Well, two. SAM WILSON LET'S GET YOU INNA COSTUME)
HOW IN THE WORLD COULD THEY HAVE PIETRO AND WANDA AT THE END? They're mutants, and that thar is X-Men territory, right? Right?
I'm actually super-against bringing in Spiderman or the X-men into the Marvel Movie 'Verse. For lots of reasons, but the biggest is that it's just going to make it frustratingly complicated. I like having the simple superhero 'verse of Sipderman, the more complex and political 'verse of X-Men and the crazy complicated masterpiece of the Marvel Movies as three different franchises. And what should theoretically be a family business story in Fantastic Four.
I like that the Marvel movies are (through a fluke in copyright) offer both old-school closed universe stories and giant universe-spanning crossover craziness. It gives me choices while invoking amore of the bizarre range of the actual comic book industry. (Someone needs to capitalize on that already.)
Also, specific to Wanda and Pietro in Avengers, I kinda like that there are no mutants in the Marvel 'verse so far. Everyone has origins of varying levels of complexity, and it makes the world more realistic in a way? Because powers have to come from somewhere, you can't be born with them on Earth. The issue of mutants as analogies for discrimination an civil rights deserves a lot more attention than it might get in a universe that is more focused on god-aliens and science bros.
Anyway, that may have been the main thing I rambled about as we walked out of the theater. But in all fairness, I could have done with less fighting, more character stuff. And more background women and POC. Come on, Marvel.
(This entry is also posted on Dreamwidth.org. Feel free to comment on either site. Although my dreamwidth background has space! Spaaaace!)
IT WAS AMAZING TOTALLY AWESOME. SO MUCH BETTER THAN EXPECTED.
I want to thank the internet for becoming so crazily obsessed with Sebastian Stan that I was completely surprised when he wasn't the ENTIRE PLOT. To all those people who feel there was not enough Winter Soldier in the Winter Soldier movie, WELCOME TO MY EXPERIENCE READING THE COMIC BOOKS. I did expect the movie to get farther in Bucky's storyline but to be fair it took a looooong time in the comics for their real bro-conciliation. (I also expected the return of the tesseract.)
If you haven't seen it, I do recommend it. Much better sequel than Thor II. Attention to detail was astonishing. Cast was diverse and interesting (for a superhero movie, at least).
Although having read the comics I'm now expecting Bucky and Cap to never get a real reconciliation and Steve to be killed (or "killed") in either the next Avengers movie or the next Captain America movie and then we will see Bucky assume the mantle. Also because Stan signed on for a nine-film deal and Chris only signed up for six, I feel like the hand-off of gthe mantle is eventually inevitable.
I clapped when Ed Brubaker's name showed up twice in the credits. HE PLAYED SCIENTIST #2!
GUYS. SO GOOD. *FLAIL* I mean, I was totally surprised by parts of it, and part of me was actually rooting for Fury's death to be real (L. and I agree that he was channeling a lot of "DUMBLEDORE IS NOT PERFECT" vibes for a while there.)
Natasha was just amazing. I'm super-hopeful that her going off on her own adventures leads to her having her own film soon. Possibly with some sidekick Clint, but I would settle for Pepper, Maria or Agent 13 as well. Or maybe some other Marvel laydeez. (DARCY. NAT AND DARCY TAKE MANHATTAN.) Special shout-out to Peggy. I would watch a show starring her through hell and high water.
I was also impressed by how much the cast kept expanding and I was able to keep everyone straight (I'm normally not great at doing that with background bad guys.) I would love some more details on Bucky's journey to the movie, but I agree that he has very good Angsty Eyes (™) and I look forward to see more of him.
Chris Evans remains pretty much spot-on. Captain America is one of my favorite Marvel characters in the comics, because I came in the Brubaker run and because I'm a big fan of aspirational heroes instead of "dark 'n gritty." I was extremely excited when the first movie came out and I actually might like this one better. Despite my continued argument that the Iron Man movie was the perfect superhero movie, and the fact that the first Thor movie was pure delight, Captain America is winning the Superhero Movie Arc contest in my brain.
Now…I have one complaint: (Well, two. SAM WILSON LET'S GET YOU INNA COSTUME)
HOW IN THE WORLD COULD THEY HAVE PIETRO AND WANDA AT THE END? They're mutants, and that thar is X-Men territory, right? Right?
I'm actually super-against bringing in Spiderman or the X-men into the Marvel Movie 'Verse. For lots of reasons, but the biggest is that it's just going to make it frustratingly complicated. I like having the simple superhero 'verse of Sipderman, the more complex and political 'verse of X-Men and the crazy complicated masterpiece of the Marvel Movies as three different franchises. And what should theoretically be a family business story in Fantastic Four.
I like that the Marvel movies are (through a fluke in copyright) offer both old-school closed universe stories and giant universe-spanning crossover craziness. It gives me choices while invoking amore of the bizarre range of the actual comic book industry. (Someone needs to capitalize on that already.)
Also, specific to Wanda and Pietro in Avengers, I kinda like that there are no mutants in the Marvel 'verse so far. Everyone has origins of varying levels of complexity, and it makes the world more realistic in a way? Because powers have to come from somewhere, you can't be born with them on Earth. The issue of mutants as analogies for discrimination an civil rights deserves a lot more attention than it might get in a universe that is more focused on god-aliens and science bros.
Anyway, that may have been the main thing I rambled about as we walked out of the theater. But in all fairness, I could have done with less fighting, more character stuff. And more background women and POC. Come on, Marvel.
(This entry is also posted on Dreamwidth.org. Feel free to comment on either site. Although my dreamwidth background has space! Spaaaace!)