This ARCHIVE features the first 10 years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe recapped and ranked leading up to "Avengers: Endgame."
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After Thanos destroyed half of the universe, the Avengers have been shattered. The riveting conclusion to over 10 years of universe-building will be unveiled on April 26, 2019 when Marvel Studios releases the 22nd installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Avengers: Endgame.” Where will you be when the journey ends?
“Higher, further, faster baby.” -Carol Danvers INTRODUCTION The MCU is close to its endgame and the audience will witness the finale of the first saga, a ten-year culmination. With “Captain Marvel,” we take a look back at where this entire journey started. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE` This is the 21st and most recent fil in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is also the first MCU film to star a female lead as the protagonist. PLOT Vers is a Kree warrior who doesn’t know she is actually from Earth. Her name is Carol Danvers and “Captain Marvel” tells the story of how a superhero finds out she is human rather than the other way around for a change. WHAT THIS MEANS FOR “ENDGAME” We don’t know much about Carol Danvers role in “Endgame” although we know she is incredibly powerful and that her relationship with Fury will be her biggest motivation. STAN LEE CAMEO On November 12, 2018, the world learned of Stan Lee’s passing. “Captain Marvel” is the first film in the MCU since his death and the movie opens up with a wonderful tribute that had most of the audience crying within the first minute. Stan’s cameo was also very fitting as we hear him say one of his most memorable catchphrases while reading the script for “Mallrats.” When Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel moves the script from his face, the two share a meaningful smile and nod as if to say, “we, the audience, acknowledge Stan’s passing and the film can wait for a moment of silence.” END CREDITS SCENE Another staple of Marvel films are the after credits scenes. This wasn’t a new thing for films, but it has been a revolutionary concept in that every movie now has scenes during and/or after the credits. There are two end credit scenes. The first is literally a scene out of “Endgame” where the remaining Avengers meet Captain Marvel for the first time. The second scene sees Goose the flurken cough up the tesseract back in the 90’s on Nick Fury’s desk. CONCLUSION I loved “Captain Marvel.” I do recognize that it was a bit mediocre, but that’s how a lot of origin films are since the audience and the creators don’t know what to expect. The character usually takes up a life outside of the film as well and Brie Larson is still figuring that out. (With no help from online haters.) I think “Endgame” will do a lot to solidify the characters place in the current timeline of the MCU now that over 20 years would have gone by canonically. (Also, I apologize that this week’s MCU rewatch is a little short but it’s the last one, the film is still in theatres and I’m just ready to see “Endgame” at this point. RANKING Every week I plan to rank the movies in order from favorite (#1) to least favorite (#22). “Captain Marvel” is a great film and makes my top 10 list. However, at this point, my top 10 ten should really just be my top 20.
HOW MANY DAYS TILL “ENDGAME” 10 days till Avengers: Endgame in theaters everywhere on April 25, 2019. [email protected] @GrahamWoodMedia After Thanos destroyed half of the universe, the Avengers have been shattered. The riveting conclusion to over 10 years of universe-building will be unveiled on April 26, 2019 when Marvel Studios releases the 22nd installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Avengers: Endgame.” Where will you be when the journey ends?
“When Cap asked me to go to Germany with him, if I had asked you, would you have gone?” – Ant-Man INTRODUCTION The MCU has suffered a major loss but we won’t get back to that until April 25, 2019. For now, the studio is filling in some of the gaps and that starts with where was Ant-Man for the last two years? Apparently, on house arrest. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE This is the 20th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the films have gotten to a point where they no longer need to be linear. This is the first time a female hero is part of a title. PLOT After the events of “Civil War” Scott Lang is suffering the consequences of teaming up with Cap. He is on a two-year house arrest when Hank and Hope come back to him hopeful that he can help them bring Janet back from the Quantum Realm. WHAT THIS MEANS FOR “ENDGAME” We know the Quantum Realm is going to play a big part in “Avengers: Endgame.” We know Scott comes back and that he returns to get Caps help. What happens next, well who knows. STAN LEE CAMEO Stan’s cameo comes late in this film. We see him trying to get into his parked car when it suddenly shrinks and appears to vanish. We see Stan deadpan and say, “Well, the ‘60’s were great but now I’m paying for it.” END CREDITS SCENE Another staple of Marvel films are the after credits scenes. This wasn’t a new thing for films, but it has been a revolutionary concept in that every movie now has scenes during and/or after the credits. There are two end credit scenes. The first scene is the most important as we see Ant-Man enter the quantum realm but when he calls over the communication device to come back, the camera shows that Hank, Janet and Hope have all been dusted from Thanos’ snap. Is Scott stuck? The second credit scene is just for fun and shows Antony the Ant playing the drums. CONCLUSION “Ant-Man and the Wasp” is like an after-dinner mint after a big meal like “Infinity War.” It’s not amazing but it’s not bad. It’s jut an average film. RANKING Every week I plan to rank the movies in order from favorite (#1) to least favorite (#22). “Ant-Man and the Wasp” took the 13th spot just above the original Avengers film. I don’t know if I will agree with this ranking tomorrow, but right now I think I enjoyed this film more.
HOW MANY DAYS TILL “ENDGAME” 13 days till Avengers: Endgame in theatres everywhere on April 26, 2019. [email protected] @GrahamWoodMedia After Thanos destroyed half of the universe, the Avengers have been shattered. The riveting conclusion to over 10 years of universe-building will be unveiled on April 26, 2019 when Marvel Studios releases the 22nd installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Avengers: Endgame.” Where will you be when the journey ends? “You should have gone for the head,” -Thanos INTRODUCTION This is what everything has been building up to. The first 10 years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe finally climaxes with “Avengers: Infinity War.” HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE This is the 19th film in the MCU and the third Avengers movie. There is a lot riding on this film that stems from both “Iron Man” (2008) and “Avengers” (2012). Like those films, this is another milestone for Marvel Studios. This is another “first” for them. The film became one of the biggest MCU installments of all time, just behind “Black Panther.” There is no fear that “Avengers: Endgame” won’t exceed the success of “Infinity War.” PLOT Six years after we see Thanos for the first time in the original Avengers film, we now get to see what is behind that evil smile. Sure, we saw him a little bit in “guardians of the Galaxy” and in that post-credit scene of “Age of Ultron” but this is even four years after those films and the anticipation has only grown. Now, Thanos is hunting down the Infinity Stones and it is his time to shine. By the time the movie starts, he has decimated Xandar and retrieved the Power Stone, he has killed most of the Asgardians, including Loki and Heimdall, he has retrieved the Space Stone and has sent his “children” after both the Time Stone and the Time Stone on Earth. Now the Avengers are ready to play. Hulk alerts Doctor Strange of the coming threat and he recruits Tony Stark. Slowly, the film builds until the final battles on Titan and Wakanda. By the time half the universe is decimated, there are still dozens of questions remaining. WHAT THIS MEANS FOR “ENDGAME” “Infinity War” has the best score of any MCU film. It helps set up the tension and the intrigue of the film and delivers some painful blows to the gut. Here I would like to go chronologically and address all the questions I still have about “Infinity War” and when we might get answers. This is just my stream of consciousness, so try to keep up. Where’s Valkyrie and Korg? When the film opens, we can assume Valkyrie and Korg have fled. Recently we learned that Valkyrie will be in “avengers Endgame” so I assume this mystery will be solved there. Hulk is bested. During “Infinity War” Hulk seems to be too shy to come out. This will obviously have to be addressed in “Endgame.” Wong guarding sanctum? I am sure we will see more Wong in “Endgame.” "No more surprises" Tony promises pepper. He said he dreams he's having a child. These are obvious teases for what’s to come. Whether that means Pepper really is pregnant, maybe we will see the wedding finally. No matter what, this has to be resolved in “Endgame.” What happened on Xandar? I guess this never really has to be addressed. It’s scary enough knowing that Thanos decimated an entire civilization in the pursuit of the first stone. However, I would like to return to Xandar soon. If not in “Endgame” then maybe in “Captain Marvel 2,” “Guardians of the Galaxy 3,” or “The Eternals.” We see the Spider-Sense for the first time in the MCU. And we better see it again in “Spider-Man: Far From Home.” Ned? Aunt May? Were they dusted? If we don’t find out in “Endgame” then we better find out in the Spider-Man sequel. More info about the children of Thanos? I don’t see us getting any answers about this. Maybe they will show up again in “Endgame,” but I would love a film all about Thanos. Why don’t all the stones have protection spells? This may be nit-picky, but if the stones aren’t destroyed, we better see them all have protection spells going forward. Will we ever see full grown Groot again? Hopefully he is full grown by “Guardians 3.” When did Vision and Scarlet Witch become official? If we don’t see more of them in “Endgame” we will hopefully get more of their story in the standalone TV series on Disney+ next year. How did Gamora find the soul stone? We will probably never find out. Bruce and Nat's relationship!? This has to be in “Endgame.” Cap and Iron man reunion. This has to be in “Endgame.” Everett Ross and the Sakovia Accords? This has to be in “Endgame” or “Spider-Man.” More Red Skull? I don’t care where, but he needs to pop up again. Eitri at Nidavellir. Peter Dinklage probably won’t return but I want to see more of him. What happened on Titan? Maybe this will be foreshadowed in “Eternals” since he says, “I ignored my destiny once. I cannot do it again.” How does Wakanda handle the loss of its leader? What Asgardians are still alive? This has to be in “Endgame.” Will Star Lord get his redemption arc? If not in “Endgame” maybe in “Guardians 3.” Why does Thanos know Tony? Will goose appear? Doctor Strange knew that Tony is the key to defeating Thanos. All of this and more need to be answered in “Endgame.” Honestly, if “Avengers: Endgame” is anything like the last 20 minutes of “Infinity War,” I'm going to have a stroke. Anthony and Joe Russo have taken on a massive cinematic feat that is matched by nothing in history. STAN LEE CAMEO Stan Lee was a bus driver at the beginning of this film. He yells at the students, "what's the matter with you kids, you never seen a space ship before?" END CREDITS SCENE Another staple of Marvel films are the after credits scenes. This wasn’t a new thing for films, but it has been a revolutionary concept in that every movie now has scenes during and/or after the credits. Even the credits feel heavy with the weight of this ending. During the mid-credits we see the words "Avengers: Infinity War" on screen with the soft piano tune playing a sad rendition of the Avengers theme. The words are dusted away and when fans usually expect another scene...there’s nothing. It feels like we were stabbed once by that ending and then the knife got twisted again with no mid credits. No hope. End credits: Nick fury and Maria hill are traveling through New York when suddenly people start disappearing. Maria disappeared as a plane crashed into a building. Nick fury disappears too with a pager in his hand. He says "mother..." as the pager falls to the ground. We then see the logo of Captain Marvel. Thanos will return. CONCLUSION “Avengers: Infinity War” is too intense. I love the film and will watch it again, but there is too much happening to watch it repeatedly. It's like a Thanksgiving dinner while the other Avengers films are like desert and the solo films are like vegetables. We need a good mix. RANKING Every week I plan to rank the movies in order from favorite (#1) to least favorite (#22). “Infinity War” is the culmination of so many other movies’ successes. It wouldn’t be fair to put it that high up when so many other films did most of the work. I still wanted it in my top 10 though, so the number eight spot is where it landed.
HOW MANY DAYS TILL “ENDGAME” 20 days till Avengers: Endgame in theatres everywhere on April 26, 2019. [email protected] @GrahamWoodMedia |
Erick L. Graham Wood
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