Avengers 2 (Spoilers)

[Ted C]

And in comics it's suggested that subcontiously Thanos doesn't want to win, so he's sabotasing his own plans without realizing it.

I don't know if we can count on that subconscious feeling of unworthiness to apply in the MCU.

[SCRawl]

And in comics it's suggested that subcontiously Thanos doesn't want to win, so he's sabotasing his own plans without realizing it.

I don't know if we can count on that subconscious feeling of unworthiness to apply in the MCU.

If Thanos does get the Infinity Gauntlet -- and that's a good bet -- it's the only thing that can defeat him.

[The Romulan Republic]

I don't know about that. We've seen that an infinity stone doesn't make you invincible against even a relatively weak team (Ronan in Guardians of the Galaxy) and there's no way to know what Thanos's power is in the films because we've never seen him in action. Throw a top-notch superhero team/army at him and he might go down.

[Gandalf]

Even still, apparently people are just immune to things for no great reason, like in Avengers 1 when Loki's not a penis stick didn't work on Iron Man.

[Napoleon the Clown]

I would speculate that the Glowstick of Destiny was ineffective on Stark because the arc reactor is based off an infinity stone, with the Glowstick of Destiny itself being powered by one.


Ronan was dropped by the Guardians using the Infinity Gem Ronan had managed to get his grubby little mitts on, so the power that ended him was a gem. While he was in possession of it, he was basically invincible.

[Gandalf]

I would speculate that the Glowstick of Destiny was ineffective on Stark because the arc reactor is based off an infinity stone, with the Glowstick of Destiny itself being powered by one.

There's a million things we can speculate, but without something a bit more definitive it looks more like Whedon wanted a scene with the two characters, and needed a reason for Iron Man not to turn. It's like the last bit with Mal and the Operative in Serenity.

"By the way, I'm immune to your special power. Lucky eh?"

[SCRawl]

I don't know about that. We've seen that an infinity stone doesn't make you invincible against even a relatively weak team (Ronan in Guardians of the Galaxy) and there's no way to know what Thanos's power is in the films because we've never seen him in action. Throw a top-notch superhero team/army at him and he might go down.

Possession of the comic book version of the Gauntlet made reality your thing to command. Thanos literally could have wished his enemies out of existence had he chosen to do so. I'm thinking that the MCU version of it will be the same thing, although getting that notion (and the notion of an ultimately self-destructive, narcissistic yet insecure big bad) across to a general audience might take some tricky writing.

[The Romulan Republic]

So distract him, sucker punch him, and pull the gauntlet off. Risky but possible.

I'm thinking Scarlet Witch distracts him telepathically, Thor or Hulk pounds him (or Iron Man because he can do it from long range), and someone really fast grabs the gauntlet (pity Quicksilver died).

[Dass.Kapital]

Even still, apparently people are just immune to things for no great reason, like in Avengers 1 when Loki's not a penis stick didn't work on Iron Man.

Well.. there was that whole 'Tink' of metal on metal.

As in Loki didn't quite realize that Stark a frikkin' reactor in his chest. So.. instead of physically touching (Yeah, yeah, it some how works through clothes... GO figure) Tony.. the not-a-penis staff is touching a dumb piece of atomic engine. Nothing mental for the not-a-penis staff to interact with so no effect.

Tony didn't give Loki time to figure out what was going wrong (As in simply Loki physically smacking Tony up-side the head with the darn thing.) , just made the quip and annoyed him.

Much cheers to all.

[Ted C]

I would speculate that the Glowstick of Destiny was ineffective on Stark because the arc reactor is based off an infinity stone, with the Glowstick of Destiny itself being powered by one.

There's a million things we can speculate, but without something a bit more definitive it looks more like Whedon wanted a scene with the two characters, and needed a reason for Iron Man not to turn. It's like the last bit with Mal and the Operative in Serenity.

"By the way, I'm immune to your special power. Lucky eh?"

At least the presence of the arc reactor was well established, unlike the missing nerve cluster in "Serenity".

[EnterpriseSovereign]

It would seem that the power of the infinity stones is such that whenever one character gets hold of one they immediately wield it rather than trying to combine their effects. Their downfall is because they get everyone else gunning for them- which is why Thanos wasn't worried when Ronan took the purple stone and ran since he probably knew he'd get himself killed. We've seen it with every stone so far- though how Thanos plans to get the mind stone from Vision remains to be seen...

From what I've read it seems that both Vision and Iron Man are appearing in the next Captain America film, as is Ant-Man. Looking forward, it doesn't seem likely that Ant-Man's film will reveal another infinity stone. On the opposite side, there's Doctor Strange's film which given his abilities is almost certain to include one of the remaining infinity stones.

[TOSDOC]

I can see Thanos coming to a twisted plan that using one Infinity Stone to obtain another in A1 might just work; it might amuse him to play the odds like that, seeing as how he doesn't seem at all concerned when a lackey of his is running around with this or that stone, and his and The Other's thinking was that Earth just wasn't up to resisting an army with Loki wielding the scepter at its head.

But then I had another thought--I know it's slim, but what are the odds that Thanos doesn't know the scepter contained the Mind Stone? Could it be that he just had this thing in his arsenal, picked up from another sojourn to some ancient temple millennia ago, and just thought it was another race's piece of some ancient tech mind control device without knowing what he had? It seems really odd that Thanos would just hand it to Loki otherwise if he already had it in his possession.

I find myself concerned with what will happen to Vision when his stone is removed and added to the Gauntlet, although the comics story where Nebula undoes all of Thanos' damage in the end does leave a nice way to bring him (and Quicksilver) back again.

Just saw the movie yesterday, and I'm wishing I could find an article where Scarlet Johannsen herself has a comment on all of the bushwah the movie has created on the net. The story between her and Banner was well-done, and the end with Hulk flying off on his own.....I saw a lot of depth in the Hulk there. It is the Hulk which shuts off the comm, and sits down without changing back to Banner. The lullaby implies effort to switch Hulk to Banner, and the Hulk is sitting there in a small plane without rage, without tearing the craft apart feeling trapped or claustrophobic. I'm speculating, but I took from that scene that the Hulk didn't want Banner to run off with BW, because that would keep the Hulk pretty well contained without any conflict to let him out. What was creepy was that I could almost hear Banner screaming in frustration from within Hulk that he didn't get the girl or peace in the end, as much as I saw the Hulk's lonliness and frustration on his face.

I chalked up Paltrow's and Portman's absences to mere scheduling conflicts, but where was the Falcon in the final battle? He's a pararescue specialist, I thought that rescuing civvies and protecting the helicarrier would be right up his alley, kind of like a final exam from S.H.I.E.L.D. before they see him into the Avengers!

[Gaidin]

I chalked up Paltrow's and Portman's absences to mere scheduling conflicts, but where was the Falcon in the final battle? He's a pararescue specialist, I thought that rescuing civvies and protecting the helicarrier would be right up his alley, kind of like a final exam from S.H.I.E.L.D. before they see him into the Avengers!

It's more like they played it off as Don Cheadle's turn and saw utterly no reason to force Paltrow into the script, with most of the movie on the other side of the world from her. Especially with him flying around the helicarrier at the end. Portman's just never been around the Avengers. Ever. Except "here's her picture" and "here's what we did to move her to safety" in the first one. Why do more than dialogue here? If they're not going to break the script to force others in and, theoretically, couldn't force Cap/Falcon dialogue and together the way it was a lot easier to get Iron Man/War Machine to come together in that fight, why do so? Just out of curiousity.

[SCRawl]

I can see Thanos coming to a twisted plan that using one Infinity Stone to obtain another in A1 might just work; it might amuse him to play the odds like that, seeing as how he doesn't seem at all concerned when a lackey of his is running around with this or that stone, and his and The Other's thinking was that Earth just wasn't up to resisting an army with Loki wielding the scepter at its head.

But then I had another thought--I know it's slim, but what are the odds that Thanos doesn't know the scepter contained the Mind Stone? Could it be that he just had this thing in his arsenal, picked up from another sojourn to some ancient temple millennia ago, and just thought it was another race's piece of some ancient tech mind control device without knowing what he had? It seems really odd that Thanos would just hand it to Loki otherwise if he already had it in his possession.

Here's a scenario: Thanos had the gem for some time, but in and of itself the mind gem might not be particularly useful in getting him what he wants (i.e. all of the other ones). It's a fine tool, but better suited to the long game by handing it off to a lackey and getting it back once he has more. Access to Earth at the end of The Avengers gets him access to the Tesseract (obviously), as well as the Aether (from Thor 2, once that big conjunction happens), and who knows, maybe one or two more can be had there. For a backwater planet a lot seems to happen on our little rock.

What's more puzzling is why he wouldn't just fetch the gem from Guardians of the Galaxy on his own, considering its value, though perhaps he's just not fond of doing his own dirty work. I chalk it up to this: if villains always acted logically, we wouldn't have plots for very many movies.

[Gaidin]

What's more puzzling is why he wouldn't just fetch the gem from Guardians of the Galaxy on his own, considering its value, though perhaps he's just not fond of doing his own dirty work. I chalk it up to this: if villains always acted logically, we wouldn't have plots for very many movies.

Nobody knows Thanos is moving even through lackeys yet, at least so far as I can tell from what I see on screen. It's pretty logical I think. Now...when he starts moving himself, given who he is...people of certain stature will know. Those people will get very nervous. Those people will react as they're able.

[Lost Soal]

I chalked up Paltrow's and Portman's absences to mere scheduling conflicts, but where was the Falcon in the final battle? He's a pararescue specialist, I thought that rescuing civvies and protecting the helicarrier would be right up his alley, kind of like a final exam from S.H.I.E.L.D. before they see him into the Avengers!

It's more like they played it off as Don Cheadle's turn and saw utterly no reason to force Paltrow into the script, with most of the movie on the other side of the world from her. Especially with him flying around the helicarrier at the end. Portman's just never been around the Avengers. Ever. Except "here's her picture" and "here's what we did to move her to safety" in the first one. Why do more than dialogue here? If they're not going to break the script to force others in and, theoretically, couldn't force Cap/Falcon dialogue and together the way it was a lot easier to get Iron Man/War Machine to come together in that fight, why do so? Just out of curiousity.

Anyone know how many films are left in their contracts? Why waste a film for appearances which serve no purpose whatsoever? They aren't Downey level but they are still pretty big stars and negotiating a new contract will cost them more money

[Gaidin]

Anyone know how many films are left in their contracts? Why waste a film for appearances which serve no purpose whatsoever? They aren't Downey level but they are still pretty big stars and negotiating a new contract will cost them more money

That's a...kinda moot point honestly I believe. Marvel's been pretty up front from the beginning with Iron Man about giving what they see as the appropriate size role for the character to the movie whether it's one line or supporting or damn well starring. That'd be harder to pin down with a role like Iron Man in the next Captain America movie honestly, but that's one we'd have to see what the story is and then see how things fall honestly.

[The Romulan Republic]

I've seen the film twice now. On the whole, I preferred the first Avengers film. Age of Ultron isn't terrible, but it gets dull, repetitive (it doesn't help that Whedon has a tendency to reuse ideas). It seems less fun than the first film. And their are some points where the plot seems to have gaps/is a bit lacking in clarity. That said, their were some cool scenes.

A few specific things I noticed:

Though it often bothers me, I didn't really mind the use of slow-motion. Sometimes I find it really unrealistic and melodramatic, but here it was sometimes used less for emotional effect/drama and more to slow things down and let the audience appreciate a really cool action shot. In a way, it reflects the look of the comics- larger than life characters frozen in action.

During the party, Falcon mentions to Captain America that he's been investigating leads on a missing person case. Now, what missing person case would Falcon and Captain America likely be working on together? Ten bucks says they're looking for the Winter Soldier. I thought that was a nice subtle acknowledgement of recent events in Cap's. life.

Marvel seems to be listening to complaints about lack of diversity in its films (unless this was their plan all along). With Thor, Iron Man, the Hulk, and possibly Hawkeye (I'm not sure about him) gone at least temporarily, the new Avengers team is predominantly composed of black and female super heroes. Their is only one white man on the team. Admittedly, that one is apparently the team's leader, but it makes sense for Cap. to be in charge given he's the most experienced one their with the possible exception of Black Widow and that he's the only one who's actually been an officer in the military.

[AniThyng]

Both falcon and war machine are officers too though? Or was falcon a nco only..

[The Romulan Republic]

Oh yeah. How the hell did I forget their military background? Feel dumb now.

Cap. I remember because he has "Captain" in his name to remind you.

In that case, Cap's, not the only one with officer credentials. And I'm not sure if he has more combat experience (though he probably does). He does have more experience as an Avenger, but Widow's been their pretty much from the beginning too.

Still, the point stands that the new team is a lot more diverse.

[Gandalf]

Is Captain America actually a trained officer? I just assumed he got the rank because PR thought it sounded good.

[The Romulan Republic]

Well he did command men, at any rate. And I seem to recall seeing somewhere that his official rank was Captain.

[Imperial Overlord]

Is Captain America actually a trained officer? I just assumed he got the rank because PR thought it sounded good.

No official officer training, but military training plus WW2 leadership in the field experience on top of modern day superheroing.

[Mr Bean]

Is Captain America actually a trained officer? I just assumed he got the rank because PR thought it sounded good.

It would make sense to give him a commission as a staff officer not a line officer while he's just a PR guy. His job prior to being Captain American when he was just a bond flak would have qualified him for a commission depending on how nice the generals were feeling.

*Edit so I say Captain America is a Staff officer with the rank of Captain.
We commission our Dentists why not our mascot?

[Coop D'etat]

If you want to get technical about it, Lt. Colonel James Rhodes would out rank Cap. Roger's command would be justified on seniority as an Avenger and the whole "living legend" thing rather than rank.