Tag: Nick Fury

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Marvel’s Key Avengers: Part Seven

Back on Earth…

Following Avengers: Age of Ultron  (2015), new solo heroes were introduced to the Marvel Cinematic Universe that have had a drastic effect on the universe at large. 

Ant-Man: Ant-Man (2015), which premiered only a couple months after Ultron, introduces us to Scott Lang/Ant-Man. Scott is in jail following a Robin Hood-esque stunt in which he electronically stole huge amounts of money and returned it to the people it was “legally” taken from. Upon his release he struggles to find work to pay child support and see his daughter. Hank Pym/the original Ant-Man manages to trick Scott into stealing the Ant-Man suit, which enables the wearer to become smaller/bigger. Hank had previously worked with SHIELD before founding Pym Technologies and now finds himself being ousted. Together with Hank’s daughter, Hope van Dyne (later, the Wasp), the three of them work together to steal Hank’s technology and stop Darren Cross/Yellowjacket.

Later, Scott fights for Captain America’s team in Captain America: Civil War (2016), playing an integral role in Steve Rogers/Captain America and Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier’s escape. To avoid jail time, he takes a deal that has him under house arrest for two years.

While Scott does not make an appearance in Avengers: Infinity War (2018), the events of his second solo outing appear to be incredibly relevant to the forthcoming Avengers: Endgame. In Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018), Scott is nearing the end of his sentence while Hank and Hope are working to build a tunnel to the Quantum Realm to rescue Hank’s wife and Hope’s mother, Janet van Dyne, the original Wasp. Their experimentation leads to the realization that Scott and Janet became quantumly entangled with Janet during the climax of Ant-Man. Hank and Hope then kidnap Scott, leaving a decoy behind for the FBI as Scott nears his release day.

Hank, Hope, and Scott find opposition to their plans in the forms of Sonny Burch, a black market dealer hoping to profit off Hank’s inventions, and Ava Starr/Ghost, who seeks the Quantum Tunnel to end her own suffering caused in part by Hank Pym. In the end, Sonny and his gang are arrested, Janet is recovered and helps heal Ava, and Scott is released.

What appears to be the key element for Endgame is the Quantum Realm itself, which has the potential to enable time travel. From what we’ve seen, both from Ant-Man and the Wasp and from the Endgame trailers is that Scott loses everyone important to him in Thanos’s snap, but will find his way to the Avengers to help fix what happened in Infinity War.


Doctor Strange: Although referenced by name in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Doctor Stephen Strange doesn’t make an appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe until his solo film in 2016. In the film, after losing the use of his hands, surgeon Stephen Strange turns to mysticism to get his hands back. Instead, he finds himself in an inter-dimensional battle for Earth, in which he uses the Time Stone to defeat his enemy. He becomes a Master of the Mystic Arts and the keeper of the New York Sanctum, which helps protect the world from forces outside their dimension.

Stephen makes his next appearance in Thor: Ragnarok (2017) in which he kidnaps Loki when he realizes he’s on Earth. As Earth’s primary protector from things outside the Avengers purview, he explains to Thor that he really just wants Loki off-planet as soon as possible before he can cause any new trouble. He does help the Odinson brothers find their father, however, whom he had helped previously.

Doctor Strange plays a huge role in the events of Infinity War. As the protector of the Time Stone, he is a direct adversary for Thanos. After arriving on Titan with Tony Stark/Iron Man and Peter Parker/Spider-Man, he looks into possible futures to realize that there’s only one in which they win. Before he disintegrates he tells Tony, “We’re in the endgame now,” implying that he knew what would come next and how it would be reversed.


Spider-Man: Following his introduction in Civil War, Peter Parker/Spider-Man becomes something of a son to Tony Star/Iron Man. In Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Peter establishes himself as a “friendly neighborhood Spider-Man”, realizing the he is not ready for the kind of responsibility that comes with being an Avenger (and an adult).

In Infinity War, Peter travels to Titan with Tony and Stephen. As in the comics, he (and the others) almost succeed in removing the Infinity Gauntlet from Thanos. His disintegration is heartbreaking for both Tony and the audience.


Black Panther: T’Challa/Black Panther’s first movie came out only months before Infinity War, but actually only takes place a few weeks after Civil War. In Black Panther (2018), T’Challa becomes king of Wakanda and battles his long-lost cousin, N’Jadaka/Erik “Killmonger” Stevens for the title. His actions during the film unite all of Wakanda’s tribes and opens up Wakanda and her technology to the outside world.

T’Challa and the Wakandan people play a large role in protecting the Earth from Thanos. While T’Challa’s endlessly brilliant sister, Shuri, works to remove the Mind Stone from Vision so it can be destroyed, the rest of Wakanda battles Thanos’s forces. As the most technologically advanced country on the planet, they are the best equipped for such a task, however, many lose their lives during Thanos’s snap, including T’Challa himself. 

Okoye, the leader of the Dora Milaje, Wakanda’s elite female warriors is featured in one of the Endgame posters, which establish who did and didn’t survive the snap. While she hasn’t been an obvious part of the trailers, it’s fair to assume that she will play a big part. There is also talk that she may play a role in the potential/rumored A-Force movie, which will have an all-female Avengers team. 


Nick Fury: Although he was the director of SHIELD for years, in 1995, Nick Fury was still someone else’s subordinate and new to the amount of weird in the world. It’s also when he meets Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel. It’s after meeting her that he gets the idea for the Avengers Initiative and he is the one to initially bring them together. In the present, Fury hasn’t been seen since he came to the rescue in Ultron, providing lifeboats for the Sokovians. At the end of Infinity War, however, he manages to use his modified pager (a gift from Carol at the end of Captain Marvel (2019)), to send a message before disintegrating. We don’t know what Carol has been up to since we saw her leave Earth, but it’s clear that she will play a role in Endgame, thanks to Fury’s quick thinking.

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Marvel’s Key Avengers: Part Three

Black Widow

In Iron Man 2 (2010), the Marvel Cinematic Universe introduced their first female superhero: Natasha Romanoff, also known as the Black Widow. Since then, she has joined the Avengers as well as played a supporting role with Captain America. However, despite appearing in multiple movies since early in Phase One, she has yet to have her own solo film, though it has long been discussed. As we head into Avengers: Endgame, we know that in addition to surviving ‘the snap’, she will finally be getting her own solo film next year and there is currently talk of an all-female Avengers (A-Force) movie. As a character both within the comics and the MCU, Natasha has evolved since her first appearances at the Russian Femme Fatale to something more complex.

The Black Widow is meant to be one of, if not the best, spies in the business. Overtime, however the MCU’s Black Widow has become softer, which is emphasized by her romance with Bruce Banner/Hulk. In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Nick Fury comments that Natasha is comfortable with just about anything as long as it gets the job done, but she has since proven that this may no longer be the case.

In Iron Man 2, Natasha is undercover as Natalie Rushman, Pepper Potts’s new assistant. She is later revealed to be an undercover agent for SHIELD, whose mission involves keeping an eye on Tony Stark/Iron Man. She is unapologetic for her actions and ruthless as a fighter; her body is a weapon both for violence and temptation. Beyond her loyalty to Fury, we don’t get much more than that.

Marvel’s The Avengers (2012) serves as her second outing, after which she becomes a feature of the Captain America franchise, although, interestingly, never her love interest, something not hinted in the comics, but in other media. Avengers gives greater emotional depth to her character, establishing a bond between Natasha and Clint Barton/Hawkeye (a romantic partner in the comics). She further demonstrates her effectiveness and capability, able to keep up or even outsmart the men who underestimate her. She demonstrates this particularly in her interrogation techniques, which specifically play on the male assumption that females are overemotional and weak.

Her next appearance is in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), where she becomes Steve Rogers/Captain America’s close ally. In something I believe heavily influenced by the longtime friendship between Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson, the relationship between Steve and Natasha is close friends, almost like brother and sister. Throughout the film we see her risking herself to help and protect Steve, and even demonstrating her frustration when she lets him down, such as on the Lemurian Star when he learns she was secretly acting under Fury’s orders. The point is, Natasha makes herself vulnerable for the audience and her friendship with Steve.

This vulnerability is further explored in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015). (Part of me wonders if there would have been a Black Widow/Captain America romance had the pair had more chemistry in Winter Soldier, but instead she pursues a relationship with Bruce Banner/Hulk, whose previous love interest, Betty Ross, has not been referenced since her appearance in The Incredible Hulk (2008).) Ultron also contains one of her most controversial scenes where she tearfully admits she cannot have children. It’s not so much the content of the scene that is controversial as the fact that it exists at all.

Despite the vulnerability she began to show in Avengers, I found this out of character for MCU’s Natasha. I feel that it was included because Joss Whedon felt that this would be the easiest way to demonstrate her vulnerability. This lazy move is one the demonstrates a lack of understanding and implies that all women are defined by the ability to bear children and that all women want children. The result is a beautiful moment of true connection between Natasha and Bruce, but I still find it to be lazy and insulting. Knowing their complex personas, a lot more interesting things could have been done (ie. guilt over killing/hurting/destroying or duality of character). What Whedon does do, is something that is called back to in Thor: Ragnarok. She attempts to coax the Hulk into making the Quinjet detectable so that he can land following the attack on Sokovia.

She has just betrayed Bruce by calling out the Hulk when he tries to get her to run away with him, and this vulnerable moment is used to show how that betrayal affects them both. Later, it is used to remind Hulk/Bruce of the connections he has on Earth. It’s a softness and vulnerability that is very much in line with her characterization in prior films.

Heading into Captain America: Civil War (2016), Natasha is focusing on her job as an Avenger and training their newer members. She is still a powerful, especially as a senior member, and still dangerous, but her humanity is clearer. She shows her vulnerability in how she is torn between Tony and Steve, the Sokovia Accords and the Winter Soldier. Interestingly, after he has been activated by Zemo, she says to the Winter Soldier, “the least you could do is recognize me.” While this could refer to the events of Winter Soldier, the comics depict a romantic relationship between the two (especially with their shared Soviet background), something that may come into play in the Black Widow solo film next year.

Avengers: Infinity War (2018) depicts Natasha Romanoff as Steve Rogers’s second in command. As a fugitive and after years away from Bruce, she has become colder and that vulnerability isn’t really touched upon. From what we’ve seen in Avengers: Endgame trailers, this could continue or we could once again see her stretch her humanity. In the midcredits scene of Captain Marvel (2019), we see her walls down some as she is clearly shaken by the events of Infinity War and the loss of Nick Fury. This could indicated that these aspects of her personality have synthesized into someone who draws on their emotions to add to their strength (a fairly common trope).

Her own solo movie, which is expected to begin filming sometime this year for a 2020 release has its own speculation surrounding it, particularly after Marvel’s first female solo film was released March 8th. I heard a rumor not too long ago that the Black Widow movie may be rated R. Since acquiring Marvel, Disney’s influence has been apparent in the MCU. This is concerning and it’s difficult to imagine Disney allowing an R-rated film, something that has proved effective for Fox’s Deadpool (2016, 2018) and Logan (2017).

On March 20th, Disney officially acquired a number of Fox assets, including 21st Century Fox, which is responsible for the Fantastic Four and X-Men properties. This is huge as it means that Marvel Studios now has access to its full arsenal of characters and storylines (as long as the deal with Sony regarding Spider-Man holds up). The merger has been concerning for fans, who fear how Disney will affect future Fox films, but it has since been suggested that Fox will remain a separate entity, something I have felt to be the best course of action since first hearing of the acquisition.

Disney has limited itself in its branding, but having a separate brand geared towards more mature audiences is a fantastic way to tell a wider range of stories and also snare more moviegoers (profits). I think it is under this banner that the Black Widow movie should be released. The MCU has already established that the Black Widow backstory is a dark one, with Natasha having been raised to be an assassin and sterilized as a young adult to keep her focused, but some of the comics go darker. An R rating is the best way to tell her story.

It’s would also been quite the boon for female heroes. In Captain Marvel (2019), we finally had a female superhero who was powerful all on her own and not outwardly bogged down by romance, as is typical. For female superheroes to be taken more seriously, I believe an R-rated movie is the next step. Making Deadpool R-rated changed how it– and other superhero films– was perceived and I believe the same would be true for Black Widow.

Now, what the movie will contain is a mystery, especially as we await Endgame. I’d personally like to see her past come back to haunt her, intermingling flashbacks with the present day, depicting how her old life effects her new one. Although on principle I’d prefer not to see a romance, I think that Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier could make a good second in command/sidekick, not unlike the role played by Sam Wilson/Falcon in Winter Soldier.

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Captain Marvel

Captain Marvel is the MCU’s highly anticipated first female solo film. Lately, female-led and minority-led films have become more desirable in light of the successes of Wonder Woman (2017) and Black Panther (2018). And, with a huge number of women on staff, the film avoids a lot of trappings that female-led films tend to fall into.

That being said, Disney obviously wasn’t too concerned with that. All of the previews before the movie either had a female or minority lead/storyline, save for Shazam! which opens April 5th. This is a terrible choice as it establishes that the movie is meant for women/minorities rather than “mainstream”. These previews were not what you’ll see before Avengers: Endgame, which opens April 26.

Already there have been concerns with Captain Marvel opening so close to Avengers: Endgame. Last year, Black Panther premiered in February, but Captain Marvel is almost a full month later (Infinity War opened April 27). She’s being hyped as bringing a new level of strength and power to the MCU, but there are concerns she will be overwhelmed by Endgame, even if she is set to play a large part in it. (Not that we’ve seen her in any of the trailers.)

That she brings a new level of strength is not an exaggeration. The movie is different from previous MCU and other superhero origin films, which although refreshing, felt a little slow to me and left me chomping at the bit for baby Fury (who does lose his eye in this movie). Directors/Writers Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (with additional writers Geneva Robertson-Dworet, Nicole Perlman, and Meg LeFauve) do some creative storytelling both in writing and visually. The use of CGI is appropriate and well done, especially the de-aging of Clark Gregg and Samuel L. Jackson (with the 1995 setting, I definitely felt some Pulp Fiction (1994) moments).

This movie had me very excited going in and I’m still very excited. Captain Marvel depicts a strong woman as something to be expected, not an exception, and continuously shows her to be more than a match for her male counterparts. Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers has some definite Buffy (1997-2003) moments, approaching almost every fight with a smirk and a witty comment, though she does not have a male romantic lead to distract her. The humor is what you’d expect for MCU, but no less funny, with a soundtrack to rival Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). It’s primarily female artists chosen with a very clear nod to the early 90s.

Without giving too much away, Captain Marvel had some surprising twists and authentically sincere moments. What’s really fun is seeing how/why things are the way they are in the MCU. There are some creative changes to the character’s original backstory, but it works, although there are also some moments and inconsistencies that make you wonder if the original script/cut was different than what’s presented. In addition to seeing 90s Shield (though no appearance from founder Peggy Carter) and getting a closer look at the Kree Empire, Captain Marvel also introduces the alien race, the Skrulls, who are shapeshifters, and slips in a young Monica Rambeau, who also takes up the Captain Marvel mantle in the comics.

Basically, this is a movie you need to see! For many reasons! First, because it was something fun and refreshing. Second, because of the female lead. Third, because of the number of women attached creatively to the project. While DCEU hasn’t been afraid to bring in female directors (and capitalize on female leads), Marvel/Disney still seems wary. While I doubt Captain Marvel will be nominated for Best Picture like Black Panther was (although I could see it in some of the other categories), I think it has the potential to be just as powerful for the industry.

The last thing I want to mention is how important it is to stay for the mid and end credit scenes. Both are relevant to the Infinity War/Endgame plot line and definite must-sees. Also, be prepared for a heartwarming tribute to Stan Lee, who filmed his cameo before his death in November.

This review is written the morning after I saw a “midnight” showing (7 pm on Thursday, thank you– some of us have to be up at 6 am), so I’ve only watched it once, but am eager to see it again. I typically try to watch a creative property multiple times before writing a review, so this is perhaps not as in depth as I might go on specific aspects. Regardless, Captain Marvel does bring something new and different to a well-established universe, both in terms of content and in terms of film as an art.

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