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on Avengers, redux
Just saw it again - if anything it's better a second time! (also we just went out for shawarma for dinner and it was delicious, so thank you for the rec, Tony Stark!)
Everyone's parts are just so well balanced, I think if any of them are your favorites that you'd be satisfied - the less-heavy hitters like Natasha and Clint get other things to do just as crucial to saving the day as laying the smackdown (Hawkeye maybe a little less than the others, especially in the final fight he *cough* gets the shaft - but still he's pretty crucial.)(And awesome.)(Wait everyone is awesome.)
Natasha is so amazing, love how she's the only one to really get one over on Loki (not that Loki actually gets one over on anyone else who's not Thor, he is such a pathetic excuse for a trickster, poor thing...) And in the final battle, that she's the one who goes, 'uh, yeah, fighting the aliens is important and all but you know, guys, we really need to shut that portal - eh, never mind, I'll do it myself.' And I love how she spends so much time looking like she's thinking oh god, Natasha, why are you doing this, have you gone nuts? - but she goes ahead and does it anyway, because who else is going to? OH but I want her movie...and OH but I hope they don't screw it up (and that it has Hawkeye in it *fingers crossed*)(also, at the end when Loki is gagged, Natasha leans over and whispers something to Clint that makes him smile, ahhh want to know what she said!)
I also really love Bruce Banner, this viewing even moreso. I'd seen the last Hulk movie but Ed Norton, while I'm partial to him, doesn't haven't the right feel at all - he can do unassuming but he's not sweet, not the way Mark Ruffalo is. Not that he wouldn't hurt a fly because he doesn't dare to, but that he really doesn't want to hurt a poor fly - that contrast is crucial for the Hulk to work. (And his deadpan, "Oh, that's much worse" when the SHIELD airship takes off, ahahahahah.)
Also Nick Fury is made of so much awesome and win that I might explode from it - "But given that it's a stupid-ass decision..."
--And I love Tony and Thor too, so so so much - and Steve too even though I'd think I wouldn't, but he is just such true-blue hero type.
So yeah - I am just going to stick with Loki as my favorite because that way I DO NOT HAVE TO CHOOSE between Avengers.
Speaking of Loki - TOP SECRET for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tomomichi's eyes only, everyone else can move along, nothing to see here...
(for anyone who does read on, for the record I think Loki's a spiteful little shit withamazing bad hair who gets what's coming to him; this does not in the slightest stop me from loving him. (and it's a great credit to the movie that I can love the villain without it reflecting at all badly on the heroes - if only, Smallville...) The following is not trying to absolve him but rather a simple exercise in reading counter to canon. Also I want these fics SO BADLY.)
1) Okay, following up on this fascinating theory (eta: another essay I just found covers pretty much everything I said here), Thanos gives Loki the scepter in the first scene, and then Loki turns up and steals the tesseract from SHIELD and as pointed out, he looks like he's completely strung out for unclear reasons, and "burdened with glorious purpose" (plus by his expressions this is the first time he's really cut loose with the scepter, and he's enjoying the power high, but it seems like it's taxing; less so the more he uses it). Later he's asking Selvig and Clint, "What did the tesseract show you?" - there's more a feeling of camaraderie than domination - like a cultist asking a fellow member when did they see the light. And for all his talk of ruling, Loki is not the one giving orders to Clint; rather it's Hawkeye who tells Loki to make the distraction and get the eye to steal the iridium.
Thor asks Loki on the cliff, "Who showed you this power?" - does Thor have an idea what the tesseract can do, brainwashing-wise? Thor thinks Loki is being controlled, and maybe it's just that he is way too naive about his brother; but maybe he's onto something?
Maybe it's an act on Loki's part - comics!Loki would play that game, would be playing Thanos to get hold of his power and use it for his own ends. But movie!Loki doesn't seem that devious. In his grab for power he might have bitten off more than he could chew, and ended up getting caught in Thanos's trap, under his control - possibly without even being aware of it, arrogantly assuming his godhood would protect him from the scepter's influence? (Loki's eyes don't go creepy-blue like the others - though neither do anyone's on the airship when the scepter is pulling off its One-Ring-esque dissent-sowing trick...) Judging by the way it controls Selvig and Clint, the scepter doesn't completely overwrite your personality, but rather realigns your goals to be in its (Thanos's) interests, and amps up the parts of your personality that best serve those goals - Loki's jealousy and malice and chaotic impulses toward destruction.
Then, when the Hulk smashes him (and yes that scene is still amazing and yes I want this as a poster)(also lol dumb~) - "cognitive recalibration", Natasha called it with Clint; and something happens to Loki, because he's left on his own for a while and yeah, he got the wind knocked out of him but still, that he doesn't set up any escape, no teleporting, no illusions - and his "I'll take that drink now" is totally different from any line before. Graceful in defeat? That doesn't seem Loki's style (though I do love how classic old-skool supervillain it is; the heroes win and the villain goes quietly, ~until next time!~) Maybe Loki's just relieved - better off in the Avengers/Thor's hands than in Thanos's, since he failed to deliver the tesseract? Or back in his own mind for the first time in a while...?
(Also when he and Thor teleport back to Asgard in the end, Loki is cuffed and gagged, but he still grabs onto the tesseract without any obvious threat; either he's cowed or willing to go.)
2) It'd be possible to put together a totally cracked theory that Nick Fury is actually conspiring with Loki the whole time to get the Avengers to team up. I still think it's likely that Fury totally faked Coulson's death, but a lot of the other events could've been set up, too, especially with the help of a trickster illusionist...
Everyone's parts are just so well balanced, I think if any of them are your favorites that you'd be satisfied - the less-heavy hitters like Natasha and Clint get other things to do just as crucial to saving the day as laying the smackdown (Hawkeye maybe a little less than the others, especially in the final fight he *cough* gets the shaft - but still he's pretty crucial.)(And awesome.)(Wait everyone is awesome.)
Natasha is so amazing, love how she's the only one to really get one over on Loki (not that Loki actually gets one over on anyone else who's not Thor, he is such a pathetic excuse for a trickster, poor thing...) And in the final battle, that she's the one who goes, 'uh, yeah, fighting the aliens is important and all but you know, guys, we really need to shut that portal - eh, never mind, I'll do it myself.' And I love how she spends so much time looking like she's thinking oh god, Natasha, why are you doing this, have you gone nuts? - but she goes ahead and does it anyway, because who else is going to? OH but I want her movie...and OH but I hope they don't screw it up (and that it has Hawkeye in it *fingers crossed*)(also, at the end when Loki is gagged, Natasha leans over and whispers something to Clint that makes him smile, ahhh want to know what she said!)
I also really love Bruce Banner, this viewing even moreso. I'd seen the last Hulk movie but Ed Norton, while I'm partial to him, doesn't haven't the right feel at all - he can do unassuming but he's not sweet, not the way Mark Ruffalo is. Not that he wouldn't hurt a fly because he doesn't dare to, but that he really doesn't want to hurt a poor fly - that contrast is crucial for the Hulk to work. (And his deadpan, "Oh, that's much worse" when the SHIELD airship takes off, ahahahahah.)
Also Nick Fury is made of so much awesome and win that I might explode from it - "But given that it's a stupid-ass decision..."
--And I love Tony and Thor too, so so so much - and Steve too even though I'd think I wouldn't, but he is just such true-blue hero type.
So yeah - I am just going to stick with Loki as my favorite because that way I DO NOT HAVE TO CHOOSE between Avengers.
Speaking of Loki - TOP SECRET for
tomomichi's eyes only, everyone else can move along, nothing to see here...(for anyone who does read on, for the record I think Loki's a spiteful little shit with
1) Okay, following up on this fascinating theory (eta: another essay I just found covers pretty much everything I said here), Thanos gives Loki the scepter in the first scene, and then Loki turns up and steals the tesseract from SHIELD and as pointed out, he looks like he's completely strung out for unclear reasons, and "burdened with glorious purpose" (plus by his expressions this is the first time he's really cut loose with the scepter, and he's enjoying the power high, but it seems like it's taxing; less so the more he uses it). Later he's asking Selvig and Clint, "What did the tesseract show you?" - there's more a feeling of camaraderie than domination - like a cultist asking a fellow member when did they see the light. And for all his talk of ruling, Loki is not the one giving orders to Clint; rather it's Hawkeye who tells Loki to make the distraction and get the eye to steal the iridium.
Thor asks Loki on the cliff, "Who showed you this power?" - does Thor have an idea what the tesseract can do, brainwashing-wise? Thor thinks Loki is being controlled, and maybe it's just that he is way too naive about his brother; but maybe he's onto something?
Maybe it's an act on Loki's part - comics!Loki would play that game, would be playing Thanos to get hold of his power and use it for his own ends. But movie!Loki doesn't seem that devious. In his grab for power he might have bitten off more than he could chew, and ended up getting caught in Thanos's trap, under his control - possibly without even being aware of it, arrogantly assuming his godhood would protect him from the scepter's influence? (Loki's eyes don't go creepy-blue like the others - though neither do anyone's on the airship when the scepter is pulling off its One-Ring-esque dissent-sowing trick...) Judging by the way it controls Selvig and Clint, the scepter doesn't completely overwrite your personality, but rather realigns your goals to be in its (Thanos's) interests, and amps up the parts of your personality that best serve those goals - Loki's jealousy and malice and chaotic impulses toward destruction.
Then, when the Hulk smashes him (and yes that scene is still amazing and yes I want this as a poster)(also lol dumb~) - "cognitive recalibration", Natasha called it with Clint; and something happens to Loki, because he's left on his own for a while and yeah, he got the wind knocked out of him but still, that he doesn't set up any escape, no teleporting, no illusions - and his "I'll take that drink now" is totally different from any line before. Graceful in defeat? That doesn't seem Loki's style (though I do love how classic old-skool supervillain it is; the heroes win and the villain goes quietly, ~until next time!~) Maybe Loki's just relieved - better off in the Avengers/Thor's hands than in Thanos's, since he failed to deliver the tesseract? Or back in his own mind for the first time in a while...?
(Also when he and Thor teleport back to Asgard in the end, Loki is cuffed and gagged, but he still grabs onto the tesseract without any obvious threat; either he's cowed or willing to go.)
2) It'd be possible to put together a totally cracked theory that Nick Fury is actually conspiring with Loki the whole time to get the Avengers to team up. I still think it's likely that Fury totally faked Coulson's death, but a lot of the other events could've been set up, too, especially with the help of a trickster illusionist...
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