kefrank

Thanks for the link, that was a cool interview. Seems like a very down to earth guy.

Rival11

Yeah, I'm remembering the scene in my head now. I actually talked to a friend earlier today and he said he caught it but barely noticed it was him as well - I'll take it a little easier on myself now.

johnnysd

Obviously you are a Captain America fan, but for me the less of him the better. I HATE the character and the 3 Captain America movies are my least favorite in the the entire universe.

Jason

I didn't catch that it was the Red Skull in the theater. Thought it might be Death to begin with, but then thought it was just some withered ancient guardian, not a character I should know.

fujishig

I was just joshing earlier about the sleeping during the movie comment, it's easy to just assume it's yet another marvel reference that goes over your head, my wife certainly didn't recognize him, and if not for the accent I probably wouldn't have either.

DJariya

Just curious why do you have such dislike for the character?

Aside from Tony Stark/Iron Man, he's probably the most popular MCU character.

Trevor

I’ve never much liked Captain America as a character, but his MCU films are among the best, with Winter Soldier still number one in my book.

johnnysd

I find him a jingoistic cardboard thin cliche, lacking any personality or interest, except for jamming his "goodness" down our throats, but instead coming off as smarmy, smug and judgemental, stereotypical "lawful good" prototype seething in arrogance in superiority. I hate his uniform and shield, I find the whole Bucky relationship uber dull, and think his "enhanced" human capabilities are so inconsistent that he seems as powerful as the Hulk at times which is completely inconsistent with a super hero based universe. He is a walking political statement masquerading as a super hero.

I am not a big fan of Iron Man either.

In my comic book days I was never really that big a Marvel guy. I liked the Fantastic Four and the Hulk as a kid, later the X-Men (mostly Byrne) but really preferred Batman, Wonder Woman (Perez), Superman, Green Arrow, and especially the Alan Moore comics like Miracleman, Swamp Thing, Watchmen, V for Vendetta, etc....

fumanstan

Same, I actually think Cap (and Bucky) have the most character development and interesting story arc throughout the solo movies.

johnnysd

Winter Soldier was a completely disposable movie for me. Other than the fact that Robert Redford was in it I am not sure I can remember a single scene in the entire film. Your opinion is widely held, so obviously I am missing something but I usually remember even bad movies and other than remember be completely bored and falling asleep during I think a car chase? I just remember nothing about it. And I am not a guy looking for more special effects and action pieces, I think there should be less. Like in Infinity War the entire huge battle just seems almost completely without stakes and superfluous.I think they could have spent $50 million less on special effects in IW and still had as good of a movie and been just as popular at the BO

SmackDaddy

I've liked pretty every Marvel film to date. But, I kind of agree with the lack of stakes, seeing as how we know that none of them are really dead. Same thing bugged me about Civil war, great concept but you knew everyone was going to make it. Now, I'm not just wishing that they would all die, but even the "human" heroes are pretty much invincible.

Now, with Infinity War they had a villain who had no issue destroying them, but since there is the ability to reverse time there's no real consequences for our heroes. I still take issue with Tony somehow not even passing out from a giant chuck of metal piercing his torso (even before his nano bots fixed him up).

Rival11

Lol, I knew you were joking.

tanman

I’m sorry but if that’s your opinion of Cap in the MCU you weren’t paying attention. His character has changed and grown the most of any in the MCU. From his very first film they already established that his intentions and core character wasn’t self righteous or judgmental or arrogance he wasn’t in it for glory or for power. They did an excellent job showing that they chose him for his unrelenting determination and for his strong moral compass and strength of character. He says he doesn’t want to kill Nazis he hates bullies. He’s never won a fight in his life yet he never ran away from a fight either. His strong moral compass and character never changed through the movies. He was a loyal patriot in his solo outing which evolved into the leader of the avengers in that movie. What did change is the situation and organizations that forced him to make difficult decisions from going against and taking out hydra and shield with it. Which led to sokovia and the conflict in Civil War where he felt he was justified in his actions by standing by a friend even if it meant standing against another. I don’t see how he can even be a walking political statement if his politics have changed throughout the movies. The cap in the First Avenger never would have went against the United Nations in Civil War.

Perkinsun Dzees

To me, this was the dumbest scene in the movie. I think it could have played out better like this:

Star-Lord is distraught when realizing that Gamora is dead. He looks like he's about to strike Thanos, but realizes the fate of the universe is at stake, so he holds back when the others tell him that they're about to get the gauntlet off of Thanos.

Thanos sees the anger on Star-Lord's face and realizes that this is the only chance for him to free himself. He goads Star-Lord, telling him, "She wanted to live. She begged me for her life."

Star-Lord is emotionally torn. He can't hold back much longer. Meanwhile, the gauntlet is just about to be removed from Thanos' hand.

Thanos: "But I killed her anyway. She died screaming."

That pushes Star-Lord over the edge. He punches Thanos, causing Mantis to lose her grip on his head and allowing him to wrangle free of the others.

At least this way, it would be Thanos and his ingenuity helping to engineer his escape, instead of just plain bad timing and stupidity on Star-Lord's part leading to half the universe disappearing.

Well, let's hope if they kill off Paltrow

Brack

Nice write-up as to how much Cap has changed and how he’s really a character that represents the little guy, even still today. Cap is a great character.

kefrank

The only problem with this is that it have cheapened the genuine, sorrowful conflict that Thanos felt about sacrificing Gamora who he also truly loved, which was one of the most effective things the movie did with Thanos. I agree though that the scene with Star-Lord was a little clumsy and there was probably a better way to do it.

Perkinsun Dzees

Except, if Thanos had truly loved Gamora, he wouldn't have sacrificed her against her will (which was in stark contrast to Star-Lord attempting to kill Gamora despite his love for her because she had made him promise to do so and was begging him to do it). It's clear that the Infinity Gauntlet meant everything to Thanos, above any relationship. He would certainly do whatever he had to do in order to make sure it wasn't taken from him.

Why So Blu?

^ You know, I would not be surprised if that's the new angle they will use for the next part. After Thano's victory, he settles down, but the torment he endures due to sacrificing Gamora gnaws at him that HE uses the Infinity Stones to bring her (only her) back somehow, while still fulfilling his mission. A redo of certain events while leaving others alone.

slop101

Yeah, agreed. That scenario would completely ruin Thanos, and turn him into a cheap, mustache twirling caricature. Better, would've been that instead of Starlord losing his shit - they do get the gauntlet off, but then it would automatically snap back onto Thanos' hand, like Thor's hammer.

kefrank

Well, the movie makes it very clear that if Thanos hadn't truly loved Gamora, sacrificing her would not have gained him the stone at all, so obviously he loved her. The whole thing is treated with a level of nuance that most comic-based movies don't bother with. While ultimately the Infinity Gauntlet was most important to him, he felt genuine and deep conflict about it because he deeply loved Gamora (in his own twisted way). What you suggested would have eliminated that nuance and, in my opinion, made him a more cliched villain to the detriment of the character and the movie.

fujishig

Agreed, if he didn't love her his sacrifice of her would have meant nothing. Besides, his whole thing was sacrificing half the universe (without their permission) without bias, so she presumably had a 50/50 chance of surviving anyway. In fact, when he first goes into that dream-like sequence after the snap, I thought he himself had died.

His humanity (titanity?) will certainly play some part in his defeat in the next movie, otherwise he's invincible.

Perkinsun Dzees

Well, we won't know until the sequel whether or not Thanos' actions come back to undermine him. Perhaps the stone will end up turning on him because he actually failed the test of "love." Maybe the Red Skull was lying to him about the requirement of gaining the stone. Maybe Gamora is still alive.

And I don't think it would have cheapened Thanos if he was essentially telling the truth to Star-Lord. Gamora did want to live, she did beg for her life, he did kill her anyway, and she did scream as she fell to her death. He's essentially confessing to what he did, but Star-Lord would think Thanos was bragging about it and it would push him over the edge.

Checkmate

In the 90's comics, wasn't the gauntlet itself extremely heavy? I thought it was mentioned that it was around 1000lbs so that mere mortals cannot lift/handle it physically. I got the Infinity hardcover box set recently but haven't had time to go through it again, so this is all coming from memory.

If my memory is correct, they could've gotten the gauntlet off of Thanos but it would require a lot of work to keep it away from him. Meanwhile Thanos would be free from wielding the heavy gauntlet and just destroy the heroes until he gets it back. Just thinking out loud.

Paul_SD

I wrote the same thing, using the exact same phrase- but started to go off tangent so I didn't post it.

I had no reference for the Thanos character prior to this film. The way they portrayed him as a sort of Galactus-like dispassionate agent of catastrophe, with the added layer of having his motivation be (in his fashion) egalitarian and altruistic (for lack of more precise phrases), was what vaulted this character to the head of the pack for me in terms of comic book movie villains.

This film would have been so much less worthy if he was engaging in a lot of "evil" posturing.

Perkinsun Dzees

I don't think Thanos is that powerful without the Gauntlet that he could just destroy the heroes easily. Wearing the stones increased his power massively, even when he didn't have all of them.