Please excuse me, fandom hath eaten my brain.
Oh Marvel. The whole series of pre-Avengers movies and The Avengers itself has swallowed me whole. I've always had sort of a thing for superhero stories, even if I was never hardcore into comics themselves-- mostly because awesome women can be slim pickins when it comes to the comics I grew up with, and partially because I am one of those people who, when entering a fandom, needs to know every last detail about the world's mythology and history. My obsessive need to know things can be exhausting at times. It's the Virgo in me.
As a tot, I was all about Rainbow Brite and She-Ra, then after I passed through my All Star Wars All The Time phase (trivia: I first dyed my hair red because I loved Tenel Ka so much I wanted to be her), I found Buffy, which may have actually saved my life in a slightly melodramatic, yet entirely truthful way.
Angelus: No weapons. No friends. No hope. Take all that away and what's left?
Buffy: Me.
At that point, my heart became Joss Whedon's forevermore. I remember very vividly sitting on the floor of my bedroom, crying my throat raw due to unending familial fuckery. That night, the WB just happened to be playing both parts of 'Becoming' back to back, and though I had never seen an episode of BTVS before, I stopped to watch. And when she caught that damn sword between her palms, I felt something just snap inside of me. Watching Buffy stand back up, watching her fight back, watching her stumble and fall and sacrifice and become the woman she wanted to be? It taught me about the things I wanted to see in myself. It taught me the kind of person I wanted to be.
Okay, gotta stop. Getting misty.
At any rate, I wasn't really one for comics-inspired superhero movies. A lot of the ones that came out while I was in college (and finally had disposable income of my own) were lackluster. I remember seeing Fantastic Four and thinking it was the actual worst. Unimaginitive, unspired, utterly predictable. Ditto the Superman reboot. And as much as I didn't mind the world of the Batman reboot, I need to go on record to say I find Christopher Nolan completely and totally overrated, and the women in his movies are only ever just prop pieces to motivate the hero. He has a freaky hard-on for dead wives and girlfriends. No thanks. I was bored by The Hulk starring Eric Bana, and I think I fell asleep during Edward Norton's turn at bat. Spiderman was meh-- decent, but I think miscast (Emma Stone would have made a much better MJ than Gwen Stacy, forex, and Tobey McGuire, while serviceable, didn't really bring anything new to the table, if you ask me). A couple of the X Men movies were fun, a couple of them were total stinkers. Daredevil and Elektra? AHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA. Stop. Overall, the genre just left me cold.
But then came Iron Man. It had a complete character in it. He was engaging and funny and so terribly imperfect, and he figured out the kind of man he wanted to be without it ever feeling stale or predictable. It didn't hurt that he looked like Robert Downey Jr. And there was also Pepper Potts-- calm, collected, competent Real Adult Pepper Potts-- who stood by him but didn't fall in love with him while he was acting like a self-absorbed jackass. She wasn't just the prize he got at the end of the movie for doing the right thing. He actually had to change. Nor was she the love interest who dies solely to motivate the hero. DOUBLE WIN.
That's when I said "hmm, maybe this Marvel thing could work out."
Next was Captain America.
Wait, Chris Evans was in this movie?
Captain America wasn't really my bag. Chris Evans is charming as all get out, but bulky, muscle-bound dudes like Cap aren't really the type that make my panties drop. THAT SAID, it hit all the right tones about doing what was right without being too cheesy, and gave us a superhero whose actor is unequivocally 100% pro GLBT rights and willing to speak up about it. I mean, fucking Captain America says everyone should be able to marry, so what's the hold up? To tell you the truth, the only other thing I remember about the movie is the BAMF-ness of Hayley Atwell's Peggy Carter, who looks like she can actually throw a good punch. (And Richard Armitage's teeny tiny little role and hilarious attempt at a non-British accent.) So while Captain America didn't necessarily inflame my love for the Marvel movie-verse, it did cement my respect that they were willing and able to feature competent female characters and superheroes with nuance.
I skipped Thor. See previous statement about muscle-bound dudes.
When I heard that Joss wrote and directed The Avengers, I was duty-bound to go. I'm not the kind of Joss fan that thinks everything he does is completely without flaw (see: my rants on Dollhouse), but I do think he generally gets it right and has a vested interest in portraying characters that go so much deeper than stereotypes. Plus, ensemble casts are what he does best.
...
I was not prepared.
I basically vibrated in my seat for close to three hours. The script was finely balanced, the jokes all landed, the acting was superb, there was a TON of fine-ass eye candy (my one exception to the muscle-bound thing? Cap's booty booty booty was ROCKIN' EVERYWHERE), and we got the Joss Whedon Special: a glorious one-shot in the final battle that made the whole thing just TRANSCENDENT.
EPIC. FANGIRL MELTDOWN.
It also gave us my new fangirl love: Natasha Romanoff, The Black Widow.
It will never cease to amaze me how many (male) movie reviewers relegated Scarlett Johansson's performance in this film to mere T & A.
For one - you wanna talk T & A? Trust me, there were far more gratuitous, lingering shots on Cap's booty and Thor's arms than there were of any of Tasha's luscious assets.
You're welcome.
For two - she was everything I wanted her to be and more. Not only is she amazing and competent and trusted (the only sexist insult leveled at her was thrown out by the villain), but she uses the fact that men consistently underestimate her to beat them. EVERY. TIME. She's subversive and I love her so so so much.
I also loved that she didn't have superpowers. That every bit of skill she has-- skills of wit and agility that put her on the same team with a demigod and a supersoldier and a rock-em-sock-em robot and a Hulk-- she got herself, through training and hard work. Not just an accident of luck or science gone wrong. And because she's human and NOT, you know, immortal and un-killable, she shows fear from time to time... but that never stops her from answering the call. Or doing that thing she does in the final battle that was SO EFFING AMAZING OMG.
In a movie about things that are larger-than-life, she felt real.
ALL THE HEARTS FOR JOSS & SCARLETT. FOREVER. (Plus, ScarJo has been giving AMAZING interviews on the topic of ladies in superhero movies ever since the movie came out, and I want to lick her brains in an entirely consensual and non-creepy way.)
Other things I loved: how the characters mixed in unexpected but entirely believable ways. I was prepared for Cap/Tony, as, let's face it, even the comics' writers are all Cap/Tony. I didn't expect an epic scientific bromance, and it was beautiful.
And, as I proceeded to go to Tumblr & ONTD to bask in the golden light of fannish glee, I discovered Tom Hiddleston. Having not seen Thor, I did not get what the fuss was about Loki, and expected his fandom to be, well, junior SnapeWives, frankly. (Ed note: this has proven to be at least 63% true. That poor man.)
Flat out: Loki in The Avengers is not a nice guy. He shows moments of vulnerability-- brilliantly subtle, clearly a callback to Thor-- but he is still solidly a Bad Guy with spiky hair that's full of secrets who has killed hundreds of people to make himself feel important. He may yet be redeemed (because boy howdy, Joss loves to redeem his villains, and Loki is the CLASSIC Jossian comic-villain, capable of winning a laugh or terrifying you by turns), but he's not a guy to be woobified by lovesick fangirls, howevermuch fun he makes evil-doing look.
Anywho, like I was saying. Tom Hiddleston. I did not get the big to-do over Tom Hiddleston. When Thor came out, I had a vague notion that he was a British actor with hair like a Q-Tip. Okay, fine. Benedict Cumberbatch has proven that you can look like a slightly constipated otter from some far-off alien world and still have a legion of dedicated fangirls. Cool. Whatever. Well... as it turns out, sometime in between Thor and now, some blessed stylist must have taught Tom Hiddleston to tame the Chia Pet on his head, because now he is one bona-fide GQ motherfucker.
Pictured: GQ Motherfucker.
The guy also has the kind of smile that makes you compulsively smile back when you see it. It's a problem.
Also, one of my favorite things in people, especially people of the dude-ish persuasion? Nice hands.
...
...
...
Um, what was I saying again?
Right. So, Tom Hiddleston. Professional charm-machine, compulsive giggler, haver of nice hands.
It seems to me that all of his male co-workers kinda want to hump him, which makes fandom infinitely more enjoyable. Plus he looks kind of like a muppet, and I mean that in a good way.
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So, to complete my initiation into Marvel fandom, I went ahead and saw Thor.
Teija, girl, this one's for you.
Little did I know that of all of the pre-Avengers movies, I would love it the best. There are two main reasons for this, the first of which is that it is so damn Shakespearean. It made my forever English major heart go pitter pat. Going into it, I had no idea that it was directed by Kenneth motherfucking Branagh (WHAT?), so in retrospect, it makes total sense.
So you've got these big kingly god-like dudes in their superawesome heaven realm, all lounging about wearing ridiculously cumbersome armor and floor-sweeping capes, and saying things like BROTHER IT WOULD NOT BE WISE TO BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH. There are brother issues and daddy issues and changing loyalties and a sort of switched-at-birth thing going on. OF COURSE they would sound like they should be speaking in iambic pentameter, right? (MEMO TO BRANAGH: I WOULD TOTALLY RE-WRITE THOR IN IAMBIC PENTAMETER IF YOU ASKED ME TO.)
And now it makes perfect sense why an actor who probably makes out with his bedroom poster of the Bard was cast as Loki, because the movie isn't just Thor's origin, it's his as well. And if you're playing the Trickster, you'd best be smooth.
And dude, he is goddamn smooth. The facial expressions alone are worth the price of admission.
Though, to be fair, this is my face for about 90% of the day. Every day.
Okay, so that's the least spoilerific gif I could use, but in this hulking ridiculousness of an action flick, there is, my hand to my various Gods, A+ acting going on, and most of it is being brought by this guy right here. Loki may be a dick who just needs a hug, but for most of his origin movie, he's not entirely wrong. No, wrong is reserved for what comes after. In the time before Loki goes full bag-of-cats evil and stops washing his hair, he's just a slightly-anemic Disney prince who doesn't belong in his own kingdom, and is increasingly maddened by his own cognitive dissonance.
It was revelatory to watch Loki shift between hurt and longing and rage all in the space of a thunderbolt, and yet you believe each and every micro-expression. You understand he's not a super-villain yet, but one more slight- real or imagined- and he damn well will be.
ETA: Thank you, Tumblr, for illustrating my point.
You understand why he's so drastically changed when he re-appears in The Avengers, because he's finally lost all hope of belonging anywhere, and has instead begun desperately grasping at what passes for power just so he can convince himself that he goddamn matters.
You can actually see this shift when he bursts into the music hall in Germany-- the exact moment he looks around and sees the chaos he's caused and thinks, "this may well work after all," and he smirks.
This over the top, batshit crazy smirk is for show, to be sure-- what sane non-superpowered person wouldn't look at that expression and run screaming the other way? But that smirk--it's also for himself. Buried in there is the briefest of flash of a quite unexpected emotion-- relief. It's right around the time he swallows in the first .gif-- micro-expressions, they're kind of my thing. In the second .gif, the second part of that smirk, is him starting to believe the smirk for himself. The bravado is becoming real.
You see, Loki may play the jester if it suits him, but his game is in deadly earnest-- he has to prove his lack of sentiment to more than just the Chitauri and the Earth's useless mortals-- he has to prove it to Loki, which is altogether much more difficult. All lost children are that way.
And he's still not your fucking woobie, you simpering fools.
Well fucking played, Hiddleston.
Okay, so back to Thor, since the movie is called Thor and all. Hemsworth was surprisingly comedic, and his shit-eating grin is the best. I don't want to spoil any of his jokes, but there are a few punchlines he plays SO subtly that you miss them until about five seconds later, and then you laugh like a hyena and maybe snort a few times.
...Just me then? Oops.
There is also Idris Elba. And Ray Stevenson (THIRTEEEEEEEEEEN!). And also the actor who plays Prince Charming on Once Upon A Time, and dude, for a guy named Charming, does he not have the douchiest character on that show? I digress.
ANYWAY! The second reason why I loved this film? JANE FOSTER. I mean, I wasn't super in love with Natalie Portman's portrayal of her, but that's more lingering bitterness about the Star Wars prequels rubbing off on anyone involved than a real criticism of her acting. It's just that the IDEA of Jane Foster made me want to cheer. This wonderful article really says it all, but to sum up: she is a scientist. She is serious about her work. Her burgeoning relationship with Thor never dissuades her from her work. She has a female friend, Darcy (Kat Dennings!), who is awesome and believable in different ways, and both of them dress reasonably for working in the desert of New Mexico (aside: I MISS NEW MEXICO AND WANT TO MOVE BACK). The movie doesn't treat her as 'the chick'-- in fact, the ladies are treated with a refreshingly non-stilted egalitarianism, right down to Sif's completely functional armor and competent self-confidence.
I loved this movie so much I bought it on Blu-Ray, on the principle that if you love something, throw money at it, and perchance they'll make more.
YOU GUYS. TEARS OF JOY, YOU GUYS.
In conclusion, I just wrote 2,300 words about why Marvel is eating my brain right now, and illustrated it with gifs from one single post on ONTD. I really should get to bed, as I need to be functional in the morning, and I'll edit this behemoth then. I just have so many FEELINGS.
I don't know how involved I'll be in the fandom-- it is INTENSE, yo. I mean, some of the people there can't tell the difference between actor and character (or indeed, the actor, who is an actual person, and their own personal fantasies) and it is making me side-eye in the fiercest of ways. I will probably fangirl from afar, where I can keep my dignity mostly intact.
But! I will leave you with one final gift. This lady does character analysis via wardrobe, and her thoughts are well worth reading. TA.
As a tot, I was all about Rainbow Brite and She-Ra, then after I passed through my All Star Wars All The Time phase (trivia: I first dyed my hair red because I loved Tenel Ka so much I wanted to be her), I found Buffy, which may have actually saved my life in a slightly melodramatic, yet entirely truthful way.
Angelus: No weapons. No friends. No hope. Take all that away and what's left?
Buffy: Me.
At that point, my heart became Joss Whedon's forevermore. I remember very vividly sitting on the floor of my bedroom, crying my throat raw due to unending familial fuckery. That night, the WB just happened to be playing both parts of 'Becoming' back to back, and though I had never seen an episode of BTVS before, I stopped to watch. And when she caught that damn sword between her palms, I felt something just snap inside of me. Watching Buffy stand back up, watching her fight back, watching her stumble and fall and sacrifice and become the woman she wanted to be? It taught me about the things I wanted to see in myself. It taught me the kind of person I wanted to be.
Okay, gotta stop. Getting misty.
At any rate, I wasn't really one for comics-inspired superhero movies. A lot of the ones that came out while I was in college (and finally had disposable income of my own) were lackluster. I remember seeing Fantastic Four and thinking it was the actual worst. Unimaginitive, unspired, utterly predictable. Ditto the Superman reboot. And as much as I didn't mind the world of the Batman reboot, I need to go on record to say I find Christopher Nolan completely and totally overrated, and the women in his movies are only ever just prop pieces to motivate the hero. He has a freaky hard-on for dead wives and girlfriends. No thanks. I was bored by The Hulk starring Eric Bana, and I think I fell asleep during Edward Norton's turn at bat. Spiderman was meh-- decent, but I think miscast (Emma Stone would have made a much better MJ than Gwen Stacy, forex, and Tobey McGuire, while serviceable, didn't really bring anything new to the table, if you ask me). A couple of the X Men movies were fun, a couple of them were total stinkers. Daredevil and Elektra? AHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA. Stop. Overall, the genre just left me cold.
But then came Iron Man. It had a complete character in it. He was engaging and funny and so terribly imperfect, and he figured out the kind of man he wanted to be without it ever feeling stale or predictable. It didn't hurt that he looked like Robert Downey Jr. And there was also Pepper Potts-- calm, collected, competent Real Adult Pepper Potts-- who stood by him but didn't fall in love with him while he was acting like a self-absorbed jackass. She wasn't just the prize he got at the end of the movie for doing the right thing. He actually had to change. Nor was she the love interest who dies solely to motivate the hero. DOUBLE WIN.
That's when I said "hmm, maybe this Marvel thing could work out."
Next was Captain America.
Wait, Chris Evans was in this movie?
Captain America wasn't really my bag. Chris Evans is charming as all get out, but bulky, muscle-bound dudes like Cap aren't really the type that make my panties drop. THAT SAID, it hit all the right tones about doing what was right without being too cheesy, and gave us a superhero whose actor is unequivocally 100% pro GLBT rights and willing to speak up about it. I mean, fucking Captain America says everyone should be able to marry, so what's the hold up? To tell you the truth, the only other thing I remember about the movie is the BAMF-ness of Hayley Atwell's Peggy Carter, who looks like she can actually throw a good punch. (And Richard Armitage's teeny tiny little role and hilarious attempt at a non-British accent.) So while Captain America didn't necessarily inflame my love for the Marvel movie-verse, it did cement my respect that they were willing and able to feature competent female characters and superheroes with nuance.
I skipped Thor. See previous statement about muscle-bound dudes.
When I heard that Joss wrote and directed The Avengers, I was duty-bound to go. I'm not the kind of Joss fan that thinks everything he does is completely without flaw (see: my rants on Dollhouse), but I do think he generally gets it right and has a vested interest in portraying characters that go so much deeper than stereotypes. Plus, ensemble casts are what he does best.
...
I was not prepared.
I basically vibrated in my seat for close to three hours. The script was finely balanced, the jokes all landed, the acting was superb, there was a TON of fine-ass eye candy (my one exception to the muscle-bound thing? Cap's booty booty booty was ROCKIN' EVERYWHERE), and we got the Joss Whedon Special: a glorious one-shot in the final battle that made the whole thing just TRANSCENDENT.
EPIC. FANGIRL MELTDOWN.
It also gave us my new fangirl love: Natasha Romanoff, The Black Widow.
It will never cease to amaze me how many (male) movie reviewers relegated Scarlett Johansson's performance in this film to mere T & A.
For one - you wanna talk T & A? Trust me, there were far more gratuitous, lingering shots on Cap's booty and Thor's arms than there were of any of Tasha's luscious assets.
You're welcome.
For two - she was everything I wanted her to be and more. Not only is she amazing and competent and trusted (the only sexist insult leveled at her was thrown out by the villain), but she uses the fact that men consistently underestimate her to beat them. EVERY. TIME. She's subversive and I love her so so so much.
I also loved that she didn't have superpowers. That every bit of skill she has-- skills of wit and agility that put her on the same team with a demigod and a supersoldier and a rock-em-sock-em robot and a Hulk-- she got herself, through training and hard work. Not just an accident of luck or science gone wrong. And because she's human and NOT, you know, immortal and un-killable, she shows fear from time to time... but that never stops her from answering the call. Or doing that thing she does in the final battle that was SO EFFING AMAZING OMG.
In a movie about things that are larger-than-life, she felt real.
ALL THE HEARTS FOR JOSS & SCARLETT. FOREVER. (Plus, ScarJo has been giving AMAZING interviews on the topic of ladies in superhero movies ever since the movie came out, and I want to lick her brains in an entirely consensual and non-creepy way.)
Other things I loved: how the characters mixed in unexpected but entirely believable ways. I was prepared for Cap/Tony, as, let's face it, even the comics' writers are all Cap/Tony. I didn't expect an epic scientific bromance, and it was beautiful.
And, as I proceeded to go to Tumblr & ONTD to bask in the golden light of fannish glee, I discovered Tom Hiddleston. Having not seen Thor, I did not get what the fuss was about Loki, and expected his fandom to be, well, junior SnapeWives, frankly. (Ed note: this has proven to be at least 63% true. That poor man.)
Flat out: Loki in The Avengers is not a nice guy. He shows moments of vulnerability-- brilliantly subtle, clearly a callback to Thor-- but he is still solidly a Bad Guy with spiky hair that's full of secrets who has killed hundreds of people to make himself feel important. He may yet be redeemed (because boy howdy, Joss loves to redeem his villains, and Loki is the CLASSIC Jossian comic-villain, capable of winning a laugh or terrifying you by turns), but he's not a guy to be woobified by lovesick fangirls, howevermuch fun he makes evil-doing look.
Anywho, like I was saying. Tom Hiddleston. I did not get the big to-do over Tom Hiddleston. When Thor came out, I had a vague notion that he was a British actor with hair like a Q-Tip. Okay, fine. Benedict Cumberbatch has proven that you can look like a slightly constipated otter from some far-off alien world and still have a legion of dedicated fangirls. Cool. Whatever. Well... as it turns out, sometime in between Thor and now, some blessed stylist must have taught Tom Hiddleston to tame the Chia Pet on his head, because now he is one bona-fide GQ motherfucker.
Pictured: GQ Motherfucker.
The guy also has the kind of smile that makes you compulsively smile back when you see it. It's a problem.
Also, one of my favorite things in people, especially people of the dude-ish persuasion? Nice hands.
...
...
...
Um, what was I saying again?
Right. So, Tom Hiddleston. Professional charm-machine, compulsive giggler, haver of nice hands.
It seems to me that all of his male co-workers kinda want to hump him, which makes fandom infinitely more enjoyable. Plus he looks kind of like a muppet, and I mean that in a good way.
Click to viewSo, to complete my initiation into Marvel fandom, I went ahead and saw Thor.
Teija, girl, this one's for you.
Little did I know that of all of the pre-Avengers movies, I would love it the best. There are two main reasons for this, the first of which is that it is so damn Shakespearean. It made my forever English major heart go pitter pat. Going into it, I had no idea that it was directed by Kenneth motherfucking Branagh (WHAT?), so in retrospect, it makes total sense.
So you've got these big kingly god-like dudes in their superawesome heaven realm, all lounging about wearing ridiculously cumbersome armor and floor-sweeping capes, and saying things like BROTHER IT WOULD NOT BE WISE TO BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH. There are brother issues and daddy issues and changing loyalties and a sort of switched-at-birth thing going on. OF COURSE they would sound like they should be speaking in iambic pentameter, right? (MEMO TO BRANAGH: I WOULD TOTALLY RE-WRITE THOR IN IAMBIC PENTAMETER IF YOU ASKED ME TO.)
And now it makes perfect sense why an actor who probably makes out with his bedroom poster of the Bard was cast as Loki, because the movie isn't just Thor's origin, it's his as well. And if you're playing the Trickster, you'd best be smooth.
And dude, he is goddamn smooth. The facial expressions alone are worth the price of admission.
Though, to be fair, this is my face for about 90% of the day. Every day.
Okay, so that's the least spoilerific gif I could use, but in this hulking ridiculousness of an action flick, there is, my hand to my various Gods, A+ acting going on, and most of it is being brought by this guy right here. Loki may be a dick who just needs a hug, but for most of his origin movie, he's not entirely wrong. No, wrong is reserved for what comes after. In the time before Loki goes full bag-of-cats evil and stops washing his hair, he's just a slightly-anemic Disney prince who doesn't belong in his own kingdom, and is increasingly maddened by his own cognitive dissonance.
It was revelatory to watch Loki shift between hurt and longing and rage all in the space of a thunderbolt, and yet you believe each and every micro-expression. You understand he's not a super-villain yet, but one more slight- real or imagined- and he damn well will be.
ETA: Thank you, Tumblr, for illustrating my point.
You understand why he's so drastically changed when he re-appears in The Avengers, because he's finally lost all hope of belonging anywhere, and has instead begun desperately grasping at what passes for power just so he can convince himself that he goddamn matters.
You can actually see this shift when he bursts into the music hall in Germany-- the exact moment he looks around and sees the chaos he's caused and thinks, "this may well work after all," and he smirks.
This over the top, batshit crazy smirk is for show, to be sure-- what sane non-superpowered person wouldn't look at that expression and run screaming the other way? But that smirk--it's also for himself. Buried in there is the briefest of flash of a quite unexpected emotion-- relief. It's right around the time he swallows in the first .gif-- micro-expressions, they're kind of my thing. In the second .gif, the second part of that smirk, is him starting to believe the smirk for himself. The bravado is becoming real.
You see, Loki may play the jester if it suits him, but his game is in deadly earnest-- he has to prove his lack of sentiment to more than just the Chitauri and the Earth's useless mortals-- he has to prove it to Loki, which is altogether much more difficult. All lost children are that way.
And he's still not your fucking woobie, you simpering fools.
Well fucking played, Hiddleston.
Okay, so back to Thor, since the movie is called Thor and all. Hemsworth was surprisingly comedic, and his shit-eating grin is the best. I don't want to spoil any of his jokes, but there are a few punchlines he plays SO subtly that you miss them until about five seconds later, and then you laugh like a hyena and maybe snort a few times.
...Just me then? Oops.
There is also Idris Elba. And Ray Stevenson (THIRTEEEEEEEEEEN!). And also the actor who plays Prince Charming on Once Upon A Time, and dude, for a guy named Charming, does he not have the douchiest character on that show? I digress.
ANYWAY! The second reason why I loved this film? JANE FOSTER. I mean, I wasn't super in love with Natalie Portman's portrayal of her, but that's more lingering bitterness about the Star Wars prequels rubbing off on anyone involved than a real criticism of her acting. It's just that the IDEA of Jane Foster made me want to cheer. This wonderful article really says it all, but to sum up: she is a scientist. She is serious about her work. Her burgeoning relationship with Thor never dissuades her from her work. She has a female friend, Darcy (Kat Dennings!), who is awesome and believable in different ways, and both of them dress reasonably for working in the desert of New Mexico (aside: I MISS NEW MEXICO AND WANT TO MOVE BACK). The movie doesn't treat her as 'the chick'-- in fact, the ladies are treated with a refreshingly non-stilted egalitarianism, right down to Sif's completely functional armor and competent self-confidence.
I loved this movie so much I bought it on Blu-Ray, on the principle that if you love something, throw money at it, and perchance they'll make more.
YOU GUYS. TEARS OF JOY, YOU GUYS.
In conclusion, I just wrote 2,300 words about why Marvel is eating my brain right now, and illustrated it with gifs from one single post on ONTD. I really should get to bed, as I need to be functional in the morning, and I'll edit this behemoth then. I just have so many FEELINGS.
I don't know how involved I'll be in the fandom-- it is INTENSE, yo. I mean, some of the people there can't tell the difference between actor and character (or indeed, the actor, who is an actual person, and their own personal fantasies) and it is making me side-eye in the fiercest of ways. I will probably fangirl from afar, where I can keep my dignity mostly intact.
But! I will leave you with one final gift. This lady does character analysis via wardrobe, and her thoughts are well worth reading. TA.