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crazy4orcas:
If you could write your own movie for Marvel -- who would make up your cast and what would be a general outline of the movie? Would you set it up for sequels, or maybe go the trilogy route?
AHAHAHAHAHA!
Dangerous, dangerous topic this one! But at the end of this, I want you to remember that YOU ASKED FOR IT.
Okay, I'd go trilogy route, because, hey, TRILOGY. (Plus, we really need more stories about women. Lots more stories.
The trilogy would focus on characters in and around S.H.I.E.L.D.
Specifically, it would focus on three female agents at various points in their career – Peggy Carter, Melinda May, and Maria Hill – the choices they make, and how they shape the world around them.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: The Director
The first one would be about Peggy Carter – start with her as the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the early 70s - a woman already in power, with responsibilities to be carried out.
It starts with a crisis in which Peggy has to take charge, dealing with men who second-guess her, not allowing her to second-guess herself. She has allies and advisors in the form of Chester Phillips and Howard Stark, and the remnants of the Howling Commandos, who are a key component of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Also, a British division, including Agent Eleanor Lorraine, who Peggy still doesn't like but who she's okay working with.
At some point, early on in the movie, someone congratulates her on her luck in rising to where she presently is:
Peggy: Luck has nothing to do with it.
Meanwhile, she's also keeping her eye on a number of young Agents in the ranks – specifically Nick Fury – the resourceful kind of people that the program needs.
The conflicts are a bunch of small, annoying attacks that S.H.I.E.L.D. has to deal with, all of them pulling Peggy out of her duties, until Peggy puts the pieces together (possibly during a 'mentor' moment with Fury) and realises that this has a pattern, and it's personal – someone is hitting her hotbuttons.
It turns out to be the Soviets – a number of women who served in the Soviet military during WWII who are embittered by their lack of career options and turned to 'alternative sources'. They're led by a female political officer who goes by the codename 'Red Sonja', and who took over HYDRA after WWII. During the confrontation between Peggy and Red Sonja, a mention of the '2R' program is made, and Peggy realises that Red Sonja has some very personal details about her – details that nobody outside Peggy's intimate circle should know.
With Red Sonja at her mercy, Peggy demands to know the other woman's source, but the Russian chooses self-termination over betrayal, leaving them with nothing but questions.
Peggy chooses to hand in her resignation as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the job goes to someone else. She's confronted by a young Nick Fury who asks where she's going, what she's going to do.
Peggy: Someone gave the Russians that information about me. There's only a handful of people who could, and most of them are within SHIELD.
Fury: And the ones that aren't?
Peggy: I never thought I'd say this, but I hope they're dead. Because if they're not...
Fury: They'd be a dangerous enemy. Good luck, ma'am.
Peggy, quietly, as she leaves: Luck has nothing to do with it, Agent Fury.
End of movie hook:
A dark-haired man with a biomechanical arm (the Winter Soldier) comes to stand by an older man standing at an observation window. In the room below, a young, red-haired woman is fighting off a half-dozen grown male soldiers – and kicking their asses.
Winter Soldier: She's good.
Older Man: One of the better ones – if she survives to the end. Did you get the information we needed?
Winter Soldier: Yes. So far as we can tell, they've taken the girl to America.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: The Cavalry
The second movie would be primarily about Melinda May as a field agent in the 80s and early 90s, working in China and Russia to uncover the source of what they believe is a super-soldier program that targeted orphaned children born and abandoned in the 60s.
I kind of have a kernel of an idea for a plot for this one, which basically revolves around the super-soldier program and the discovery/revelation of the Red Room and that more girls than just the Black Widows came out of it – and not all their results are equal or the same.
Basically, Melinda was one of the girls given the serum to improve her skills/agility, but was taken out of the program when she was ten (before she hit puberty) and smuggled over to America, where she was adopted by a childless Chinese American couple and was recruited into S.H.I.E.L.D quite by accident when she was twenty-two. The serum and her early training gave her an agility, strength, and endurance component, but most of her abilities are just trained development and within reasonable range of human ability.
The organisation trying to reclaim her is a an off-shoot of H.Y.D.R.A; they believed they had a means to turn her into a sleeper agent against S.H.I.E.L.D.
Monica Chang is introduced as a Chinese version of the Black Widow – one of the girls who remained in the program and got the full training: she's the dark mirror to Melinda, although she wants the same thing – to get back at the organisation that did this to them.
During a conversation with Monica, Melinda learns that the Russians had a program too – but they kept their agents in line by brainwashing them regularly. They had no history to work off because they had no history. The pair of them team up against the Russian program, and using Monica's skills and Melinda's S.H.I.E.L.D. tech, they get inside – and are captured. They brainwash Monica and try to kill Melinda since she's an 'inferior' - too old to be properly trained and not skilled enough to be useful.
She's still skilled enough to take out the facility – super-soldier or no, and most of the women escape before S.H.I.E.L.D. can get there – alerted by Peggy Carter, who's been working on this, too, with Monica Chang, and pointed Melinda out as a possible connection.
Phil: And I had the cavalry all lined up, too.
Melinda: I don't know why you think I'd need cavalry, Coulson. I am the cavalry.
Phil: ...You realise you're going to regret saying that?
Melinda: I'm regretting it already.
Major Enemy: I haven't quite worked out who's behind this – I kind of like the idea of Kayla Silverfox being involved somehow – the whole 'enhanced-human' thing, you know?
Allies: Monica Chang, Peggy Carter, Phil Coulson, Nick Fury (Deputy Director)
End of movie hook:
A red-haired woman walks into a bar in Eastern Europe:
Natasha: I hear you know someone who's looking for fighters for hire.
Barman: Got a card?
Natasha hands him a card with a scarlet hourglass on it and the simple typeface: Black Widow.
Barman: How do you feel about Madripoor?
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: The Steel Fist
The third movie in the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. trilogy would be primarily about Maria Hill in the early 00s, and her part in the Madripoor reconfiguration.
Maria's not even a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent at this point – she's a marine who's been denied the chance to join the Navy SEALS, although her physical capabilities are within the parameters for entry. Her commanders told her to take a load off, and she let herself be dragged out on a 'recreational weekend to Madripoor' with a bunch of other marines.
While in Madripoor, she starts noticing that there are people everywhere who don't belong and they can't all be tourists. Something is about to go down – and when she goes to the rescue of an elderly woman (Miss M) who's been attacked by thugs, she ends up directly involved.
Maria: Did they take anything?
Miss M: Mostly my dignity.
Maria: I don't think chasing them down and beating them up will get that back for you, ma'am.
'Miss M' is actually Peggy Carter, who's been keeping an eye on the situation in Madripoor – not quite how she imagined retiring, but the new Director, Nick Fury, asked a favour of her – they need a nice, harmless old lady to be a local contact for six months, and what Peggy doesn't know about S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't worth knowing.
Peggy recruits Maria to help her – the humidity has been wrecking her joints, and she needs someone young, able, and intelligent to help her. And then Madripoor turns to martial law overnight and the city is in lockdown under the hand of a woman only known as 'Madame Hydra'.
Peggy: 'Madame Hydra.' Do you ever have the feeling that the past deliberately tries to follow you?
Maria: All the time, ma'am.
They discover that Madame Hydra has been funding several major terrorist attacks throughout the civilised world, unseating major powers, destabilising major alliances. Setting up Madripoor under her control will give her political power and a tax base to work off, as well as a home base that's easily controlled and managed.
With the assistance of several interested parties – among them Jessan Hoan, the assassin Yukio, and the legendary Black Widow – Natasha Romanoff – Maria has to take back the city before Madame Hydra manages to entrench herself as the power in the city.
Maria: Power should be used in service of the powerless – or else it's just bullying by another name.
Peggy: I knew someone who'd've agreed with you on that point.
Maria ends up defeating Madame Hydra in combat – Madame Hydra turns out to be another graduate of the R2 program – but Maria's already gone up against Natasha Romanoff (in a previous scene) and learned from her mistakes there.
After taking control of the city, and getting the units to stand down, Maria uses Peggy's S.H.I.E.L.D. codes to notify headquarters that Madripoor is no longer under terrorist control. She hands control of the city over to Jessan Hoan – Tyger Tiger – who's a local whose family lost control of one of the major financial institutions and opened the door for Madame Hydra to get in.
Peggy and Nick Fury aren't happy to lose control of Madripoor, but Maria meets their anger coolly. They don't want Madripoor. Tyger Tiger is known to the locals, and if her businesses aren't entirely legal, then she's going to keep the balance – and now she owes Maria and S.H.I.E.L.D. a favour.
Maria: Besides, sir, are you going to tell me that S.H.I.E.L.D's never done anything questionable in their fifty year history?
Nick: Yes.
Maria: And I'm Captain America, sir.
In the end, Maria is offered a job at S.H.I.E.L.D as a junior agent.
Peggy: She's got potential.
Nick: Reminds me of someone. Can't think whom.
Major Enemy: Madame Hydra, politically controlling the crime in Madripoor, setting it up as a a power base from which to unbalance the world – war makes money – just ask the Starks.
Allies: Peggy Carter, Natasha Romanoff, Jessan Hoan (Tyger Tiger), Yukio
End of movie hook:
The other side of the view mirror during Maria's interrogation scene – Phil Coulson and Clint Barton.
Phil: That's a new allegiance for Romanoff.
Clint: Can it be trusted to hold, though?
Phil: That's the million dollar question, isn't it?
...and I reiterate: you did ask!
...but why not 'Budapest'?
The reason I focused on the stories of women-who-aren't-Natasha-Romanoff rather than detail out the plot of Budapest is largely because of the 'one good female character' mentality of fandom and the world.
Namely, you can't have more than one major female character in a superhero movie who's good. If there's a second female character, she needs to be evil or at least morally ambiguous. (Yes, I realise that The Wolverine bucked the trend, but that's one superhero movie out of the three that have been created for him.)
Fuck that, I say.
I like the idea of movies where all the major players and characters just happen to be women, in the way that, in current movies, all the major players and characters just happen to be men.
And, so far, I have seen very few trailers/ideas for 'Budapest' where Natasha's key relationships are with women. Which is not entirely surprising, given the state of the world, fandom, and Natasha's interactions in movie canon so far.
It's true that I could have promoted an idea for a movie where Natasha's primary relationships are with women, but I suspect most Natasha fans probably would have booed it for not being about Clint/Natasha. And while I like the pairing, I'm not devoted to it.
So my movies would be about Peggy, Melinda, and Maria – a female power triumvirate in S.H.I.E.L.D.
--
Whew! I spent most of the day putting this together, reading up character bios in the films and working out which characters could do what...
ETA: ...and I just saw the news about the Peggy Carter TV series. Almost certainly would go a very different direction.
DW | LJ
crazy4orcas:If you could write your own movie for Marvel -- who would make up your cast and what would be a general outline of the movie? Would you set it up for sequels, or maybe go the trilogy route?
AHAHAHAHAHA!
Dangerous, dangerous topic this one! But at the end of this, I want you to remember that YOU ASKED FOR IT.
Okay, I'd go trilogy route, because, hey, TRILOGY. (Plus, we really need more stories about women. Lots more stories.
The trilogy would focus on characters in and around S.H.I.E.L.D.
Specifically, it would focus on three female agents at various points in their career – Peggy Carter, Melinda May, and Maria Hill – the choices they make, and how they shape the world around them.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: The Director
The first one would be about Peggy Carter – start with her as the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the early 70s - a woman already in power, with responsibilities to be carried out.
It starts with a crisis in which Peggy has to take charge, dealing with men who second-guess her, not allowing her to second-guess herself. She has allies and advisors in the form of Chester Phillips and Howard Stark, and the remnants of the Howling Commandos, who are a key component of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Also, a British division, including Agent Eleanor Lorraine, who Peggy still doesn't like but who she's okay working with.
At some point, early on in the movie, someone congratulates her on her luck in rising to where she presently is:
Peggy: Luck has nothing to do with it.
Meanwhile, she's also keeping her eye on a number of young Agents in the ranks – specifically Nick Fury – the resourceful kind of people that the program needs.
The conflicts are a bunch of small, annoying attacks that S.H.I.E.L.D. has to deal with, all of them pulling Peggy out of her duties, until Peggy puts the pieces together (possibly during a 'mentor' moment with Fury) and realises that this has a pattern, and it's personal – someone is hitting her hotbuttons.
It turns out to be the Soviets – a number of women who served in the Soviet military during WWII who are embittered by their lack of career options and turned to 'alternative sources'. They're led by a female political officer who goes by the codename 'Red Sonja', and who took over HYDRA after WWII. During the confrontation between Peggy and Red Sonja, a mention of the '2R' program is made, and Peggy realises that Red Sonja has some very personal details about her – details that nobody outside Peggy's intimate circle should know.
With Red Sonja at her mercy, Peggy demands to know the other woman's source, but the Russian chooses self-termination over betrayal, leaving them with nothing but questions.
Peggy chooses to hand in her resignation as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the job goes to someone else. She's confronted by a young Nick Fury who asks where she's going, what she's going to do.
Peggy: Someone gave the Russians that information about me. There's only a handful of people who could, and most of them are within SHIELD.
Fury: And the ones that aren't?
Peggy: I never thought I'd say this, but I hope they're dead. Because if they're not...
Fury: They'd be a dangerous enemy. Good luck, ma'am.
Peggy, quietly, as she leaves: Luck has nothing to do with it, Agent Fury.
End of movie hook:
A dark-haired man with a biomechanical arm (the Winter Soldier) comes to stand by an older man standing at an observation window. In the room below, a young, red-haired woman is fighting off a half-dozen grown male soldiers – and kicking their asses.
Winter Soldier: She's good.
Older Man: One of the better ones – if she survives to the end. Did you get the information we needed?
Winter Soldier: Yes. So far as we can tell, they've taken the girl to America.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: The Cavalry
The second movie would be primarily about Melinda May as a field agent in the 80s and early 90s, working in China and Russia to uncover the source of what they believe is a super-soldier program that targeted orphaned children born and abandoned in the 60s.
I kind of have a kernel of an idea for a plot for this one, which basically revolves around the super-soldier program and the discovery/revelation of the Red Room and that more girls than just the Black Widows came out of it – and not all their results are equal or the same.
Basically, Melinda was one of the girls given the serum to improve her skills/agility, but was taken out of the program when she was ten (before she hit puberty) and smuggled over to America, where she was adopted by a childless Chinese American couple and was recruited into S.H.I.E.L.D quite by accident when she was twenty-two. The serum and her early training gave her an agility, strength, and endurance component, but most of her abilities are just trained development and within reasonable range of human ability.
The organisation trying to reclaim her is a an off-shoot of H.Y.D.R.A; they believed they had a means to turn her into a sleeper agent against S.H.I.E.L.D.
Monica Chang is introduced as a Chinese version of the Black Widow – one of the girls who remained in the program and got the full training: she's the dark mirror to Melinda, although she wants the same thing – to get back at the organisation that did this to them.
During a conversation with Monica, Melinda learns that the Russians had a program too – but they kept their agents in line by brainwashing them regularly. They had no history to work off because they had no history. The pair of them team up against the Russian program, and using Monica's skills and Melinda's S.H.I.E.L.D. tech, they get inside – and are captured. They brainwash Monica and try to kill Melinda since she's an 'inferior' - too old to be properly trained and not skilled enough to be useful.
She's still skilled enough to take out the facility – super-soldier or no, and most of the women escape before S.H.I.E.L.D. can get there – alerted by Peggy Carter, who's been working on this, too, with Monica Chang, and pointed Melinda out as a possible connection.
Phil: And I had the cavalry all lined up, too.
Melinda: I don't know why you think I'd need cavalry, Coulson. I am the cavalry.
Phil: ...You realise you're going to regret saying that?
Melinda: I'm regretting it already.
Major Enemy: I haven't quite worked out who's behind this – I kind of like the idea of Kayla Silverfox being involved somehow – the whole 'enhanced-human' thing, you know?
Allies: Monica Chang, Peggy Carter, Phil Coulson, Nick Fury (Deputy Director)
End of movie hook:
A red-haired woman walks into a bar in Eastern Europe:
Natasha: I hear you know someone who's looking for fighters for hire.
Barman: Got a card?
Natasha hands him a card with a scarlet hourglass on it and the simple typeface: Black Widow.
Barman: How do you feel about Madripoor?
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: The Steel Fist
The third movie in the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. trilogy would be primarily about Maria Hill in the early 00s, and her part in the Madripoor reconfiguration.
Maria's not even a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent at this point – she's a marine who's been denied the chance to join the Navy SEALS, although her physical capabilities are within the parameters for entry. Her commanders told her to take a load off, and she let herself be dragged out on a 'recreational weekend to Madripoor' with a bunch of other marines.
While in Madripoor, she starts noticing that there are people everywhere who don't belong and they can't all be tourists. Something is about to go down – and when she goes to the rescue of an elderly woman (Miss M) who's been attacked by thugs, she ends up directly involved.
Maria: Did they take anything?
Miss M: Mostly my dignity.
Maria: I don't think chasing them down and beating them up will get that back for you, ma'am.
'Miss M' is actually Peggy Carter, who's been keeping an eye on the situation in Madripoor – not quite how she imagined retiring, but the new Director, Nick Fury, asked a favour of her – they need a nice, harmless old lady to be a local contact for six months, and what Peggy doesn't know about S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't worth knowing.
Peggy recruits Maria to help her – the humidity has been wrecking her joints, and she needs someone young, able, and intelligent to help her. And then Madripoor turns to martial law overnight and the city is in lockdown under the hand of a woman only known as 'Madame Hydra'.
Peggy: 'Madame Hydra.' Do you ever have the feeling that the past deliberately tries to follow you?
Maria: All the time, ma'am.
They discover that Madame Hydra has been funding several major terrorist attacks throughout the civilised world, unseating major powers, destabilising major alliances. Setting up Madripoor under her control will give her political power and a tax base to work off, as well as a home base that's easily controlled and managed.
With the assistance of several interested parties – among them Jessan Hoan, the assassin Yukio, and the legendary Black Widow – Natasha Romanoff – Maria has to take back the city before Madame Hydra manages to entrench herself as the power in the city.
Maria: Power should be used in service of the powerless – or else it's just bullying by another name.
Peggy: I knew someone who'd've agreed with you on that point.
Maria ends up defeating Madame Hydra in combat – Madame Hydra turns out to be another graduate of the R2 program – but Maria's already gone up against Natasha Romanoff (in a previous scene) and learned from her mistakes there.
After taking control of the city, and getting the units to stand down, Maria uses Peggy's S.H.I.E.L.D. codes to notify headquarters that Madripoor is no longer under terrorist control. She hands control of the city over to Jessan Hoan – Tyger Tiger – who's a local whose family lost control of one of the major financial institutions and opened the door for Madame Hydra to get in.
Peggy and Nick Fury aren't happy to lose control of Madripoor, but Maria meets their anger coolly. They don't want Madripoor. Tyger Tiger is known to the locals, and if her businesses aren't entirely legal, then she's going to keep the balance – and now she owes Maria and S.H.I.E.L.D. a favour.
Maria: Besides, sir, are you going to tell me that S.H.I.E.L.D's never done anything questionable in their fifty year history?
Nick: Yes.
Maria: And I'm Captain America, sir.
In the end, Maria is offered a job at S.H.I.E.L.D as a junior agent.
Peggy: She's got potential.
Nick: Reminds me of someone. Can't think whom.
Major Enemy: Madame Hydra, politically controlling the crime in Madripoor, setting it up as a a power base from which to unbalance the world – war makes money – just ask the Starks.
Allies: Peggy Carter, Natasha Romanoff, Jessan Hoan (Tyger Tiger), Yukio
End of movie hook:
The other side of the view mirror during Maria's interrogation scene – Phil Coulson and Clint Barton.
Phil: That's a new allegiance for Romanoff.
Clint: Can it be trusted to hold, though?
Phil: That's the million dollar question, isn't it?
...and I reiterate: you did ask!
...but why not 'Budapest'?
The reason I focused on the stories of women-who-aren't-Natasha-Romanoff rather than detail out the plot of Budapest is largely because of the 'one good female character' mentality of fandom and the world.
Namely, you can't have more than one major female character in a superhero movie who's good. If there's a second female character, she needs to be evil or at least morally ambiguous. (Yes, I realise that The Wolverine bucked the trend, but that's one superhero movie out of the three that have been created for him.)
Fuck that, I say.
I like the idea of movies where all the major players and characters just happen to be women, in the way that, in current movies, all the major players and characters just happen to be men.
And, so far, I have seen very few trailers/ideas for 'Budapest' where Natasha's key relationships are with women. Which is not entirely surprising, given the state of the world, fandom, and Natasha's interactions in movie canon so far.
It's true that I could have promoted an idea for a movie where Natasha's primary relationships are with women, but I suspect most Natasha fans probably would have booed it for not being about Clint/Natasha. And while I like the pairing, I'm not devoted to it.
So my movies would be about Peggy, Melinda, and Maria – a female power triumvirate in S.H.I.E.L.D.
--
Whew! I spent most of the day putting this together, reading up character bios in the films and working out which characters could do what...
ETA: ...and I just saw the news about the Peggy Carter TV series. Almost certainly would go a very different direction.
DW | LJ
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Have some imaginary-movies-inspired graphics! ;) (LOL, I just couldn't help myself...)
Click for full view. ;)
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I particularly like how you picked images of each actress that could fit reasonably into the time period of their movie. *glees like a gleeful thing*
Do you have a tumblr post from which I can reblog these, by any chance?
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Thank you!
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