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It was a really, really good movie.
That doesn't make it any less of an insult to a Maria Hill fan: that this was an opportunity for other people to see and admire and appreciate Maria as the Everywoman trying to hold the world together, and it got put aside for more White Hero Guys.
And no, Maria isn't in the movie at all. Not even the end credits. (They used the end credits to push Spiderman. Third movie series in, what? 15 years? And they didn't even have the decency to make him Miles Morales, either.)
There's a lot to talk about in it - they really did pack a whole heap in.
The Steve/Sharon is some light flirting and a kiss when she brings him the gear. Which can be worked around, or even into a 'break' between Steve and Maria. Who is clearly off with Pepper.
SPEAKING OF WHICH.
TONY/PEPPER WHAT NOOOOO. I guess that's one way to write Pepper out of any future movies. 'a break' my ass. FRIGGING BLOODY ARGH.
They kind of made up for it (sort of) by emphasising the Tony&Rhodey friendship. I mean, those two? Bros. It was good to see Tony and Rhodey bros, all the way to the end of the movie. And, honestly, I was this close to screeching at the movie in a crowded cinema when Rhodey went down. NO YOU CAN'T DO THAT TO RHODEY! NOT RHODEY!
Admittedly, Tony & Rhodey was mostly used for juxtaposition with Steve & Bucky. Which was well done, but also pretty obvious once things got moving that Bucky was always going to be Steve's achilles heel so why the hell didn't anyone take him out of the picture from the get-go? (I know, I know, Movie Logic.)
So, Steve & Bucky - callbacks galore. The Stucky slashers will be happy as pigs in mud with this movie, but I just don't feel the kink that people do for Steve/Bucky - even their friendship. It's meaningful, yes, and it's a great connection, but it doesn't hit me in the feels. I guess I don't have the white man bromance gene; I think I was born this way. Steve and Bucky, and Steve and Tony are fine, sure. But *throws up hands* it doesn't hold the attraction that it does for most of fandom.
And I suddenly feel like the only bisexual in a room full of hetero and homosexuals-who-think-bi-is-cheating. Well, that explains a lot.
Anyway, Tony and Rhodey's friendship got me harder than Steve&Bucky. Hell, Steve and Sam do adorable, all the way back to the fight in Nigeria (or wherever it was - the sound was weird at the start of the movie). Steve and T'Challa doing their Noble Princes Of Nobility hit me harder. I don't know why. I love Bucky. I love Steve. But if their friendship is significant - a keystone, I feel no need to further explore it. It should be a constant, and left alone - rather like a romance in a long-running series. Let the couple be a couple and just get on with the storytelling, don't amp the angst just for drama factor.
Interesting Bourne Supremacy/Bourne Ultimatum moment there - where the end of Supremacy is actually a scene from the middle of Ultimatum. I never saw that scene from the end of Ant-Man, but they slotted it into the middle of Civil War pretty well.
Natasha fans will be happy - in fact, all the Avengers Team fans will be happy. But Natasha fans should be happy that she still has the most meaningful interactions with Steve out of all the women - Sharon included.
I'm not convinced about Sharon. Yes, I'm biased, but honestly, it really did feel like she was convenient to the romantic plot as well as being the 'insider' on the government side. There's cute awkward flirting, and really, that's about it for the connection between them. And she keeps staring at him in the bits where she's giving speeches. I'm kind of pissed off about that; the coy telegraphing annoys me.
--
Plot
So, I loved the themes of revenge and vengeance - Tony and his parents, Bucky and his memories, T'Challa and his father, and Zemo and his family. It was really well-done, really well tied together. The juxtapositions were brilliant, and I'm really gleeful that out of Tony, Zemo, and T'Challa, it was T'Challa who made the conscious choice not to be consumed by vengeance.
Speaking of Zemo: that was a pretty big Xanatos Scheme to get everything to fall into place. "An empire falls, it rises again. An empire that crumbles from within..."
I think it's interesting - the worker for the State department who lost her son. Did she want vengeance? Almost certainly she did when she handed that photo to Tony. Could she take it? No. Not the way Tony could or T'Challa could. All she could do was grieve and mourn - a little person crushed by the circumstances and the situation.
So the division between desiring vengeance and being able to carry it out - a line of power. Power that Tony and T'Challa have with their money and resources and position, which a mere working mother doesn't.
Speaking of which: T'Challa/Natasha anyone? Yes, even after she repeatedly tasered him. Those two together would be badass. And maybe they couldn't have badass bio-babies, but I bet they'd adopt orphans from around the world like crazy and have badass kids who think it's totally normal for mom and dad to fight like they could kill each other (although they totally wouldn't).
Someone stop me before I write babyfic. Seriously.
Wanda and Vision - they did a pretty good job of showing their connection before it tore apart, although the age difference between Paul Bettany and Elizabeth Olsen makes my skin crawl more than a little. Hollywood romance, people!
I'm glad they revisited the friendship/mentorship between Clint and Wanda - although I find it interesting that the thing that they 'fear' in Wanda isn't her mental ability but her telekinesis. Way to skip the really juicy stuff, storytellers! (Or, it could have complicated things. But this is me: I like complicated.)
My current headcanon is that the reason Maria isn't there is because she and Pepper are bunking down in Madripoor. After she settled the Avengers in, Maria heard from the grapevine where the Accords were going, and claimed rights in the city from the Hoans, who still owe her for handing it back to them all those years ago. She and Pepper are setting up their own Secret Avengers project with SI money.
And, sure, Natasha totally joins them after taking shelter at the farm and letting Laura know what happened with Clint.
Okay, so that wasn't so much about the plot. But then the plot doesn't really bother me all that much except in terms of history that needs to be included if I'm going to be canon compliant. It's the relationship dynamics, the interconnections between people and how they shift that are interesting.
That doesn't make it any less of an insult to a Maria Hill fan: that this was an opportunity for other people to see and admire and appreciate Maria as the Everywoman trying to hold the world together, and it got put aside for more White Hero Guys.
And no, Maria isn't in the movie at all. Not even the end credits. (They used the end credits to push Spiderman. Third movie series in, what? 15 years? And they didn't even have the decency to make him Miles Morales, either.)
There's a lot to talk about in it - they really did pack a whole heap in.
The Steve/Sharon is some light flirting and a kiss when she brings him the gear. Which can be worked around, or even into a 'break' between Steve and Maria. Who is clearly off with Pepper.
SPEAKING OF WHICH.
TONY/PEPPER WHAT NOOOOO. I guess that's one way to write Pepper out of any future movies. 'a break' my ass. FRIGGING BLOODY ARGH.
They kind of made up for it (sort of) by emphasising the Tony&Rhodey friendship. I mean, those two? Bros. It was good to see Tony and Rhodey bros, all the way to the end of the movie. And, honestly, I was this close to screeching at the movie in a crowded cinema when Rhodey went down. NO YOU CAN'T DO THAT TO RHODEY! NOT RHODEY!
Admittedly, Tony & Rhodey was mostly used for juxtaposition with Steve & Bucky. Which was well done, but also pretty obvious once things got moving that Bucky was always going to be Steve's achilles heel so why the hell didn't anyone take him out of the picture from the get-go? (I know, I know, Movie Logic.)
So, Steve & Bucky - callbacks galore. The Stucky slashers will be happy as pigs in mud with this movie, but I just don't feel the kink that people do for Steve/Bucky - even their friendship. It's meaningful, yes, and it's a great connection, but it doesn't hit me in the feels. I guess I don't have the white man bromance gene; I think I was born this way. Steve and Bucky, and Steve and Tony are fine, sure. But *throws up hands* it doesn't hold the attraction that it does for most of fandom.
And I suddenly feel like the only bisexual in a room full of hetero and homosexuals-who-think-bi-is-cheating. Well, that explains a lot.
Anyway, Tony and Rhodey's friendship got me harder than Steve&Bucky. Hell, Steve and Sam do adorable, all the way back to the fight in Nigeria (or wherever it was - the sound was weird at the start of the movie). Steve and T'Challa doing their Noble Princes Of Nobility hit me harder. I don't know why. I love Bucky. I love Steve. But if their friendship is significant - a keystone, I feel no need to further explore it. It should be a constant, and left alone - rather like a romance in a long-running series. Let the couple be a couple and just get on with the storytelling, don't amp the angst just for drama factor.
Interesting Bourne Supremacy/Bourne Ultimatum moment there - where the end of Supremacy is actually a scene from the middle of Ultimatum. I never saw that scene from the end of Ant-Man, but they slotted it into the middle of Civil War pretty well.
Natasha fans will be happy - in fact, all the Avengers Team fans will be happy. But Natasha fans should be happy that she still has the most meaningful interactions with Steve out of all the women - Sharon included.
I'm not convinced about Sharon. Yes, I'm biased, but honestly, it really did feel like she was convenient to the romantic plot as well as being the 'insider' on the government side. There's cute awkward flirting, and really, that's about it for the connection between them. And she keeps staring at him in the bits where she's giving speeches. I'm kind of pissed off about that; the coy telegraphing annoys me.
--
Plot
So, I loved the themes of revenge and vengeance - Tony and his parents, Bucky and his memories, T'Challa and his father, and Zemo and his family. It was really well-done, really well tied together. The juxtapositions were brilliant, and I'm really gleeful that out of Tony, Zemo, and T'Challa, it was T'Challa who made the conscious choice not to be consumed by vengeance.
Speaking of Zemo: that was a pretty big Xanatos Scheme to get everything to fall into place. "An empire falls, it rises again. An empire that crumbles from within..."
I think it's interesting - the worker for the State department who lost her son. Did she want vengeance? Almost certainly she did when she handed that photo to Tony. Could she take it? No. Not the way Tony could or T'Challa could. All she could do was grieve and mourn - a little person crushed by the circumstances and the situation.
So the division between desiring vengeance and being able to carry it out - a line of power. Power that Tony and T'Challa have with their money and resources and position, which a mere working mother doesn't.
Speaking of which: T'Challa/Natasha anyone? Yes, even after she repeatedly tasered him. Those two together would be badass. And maybe they couldn't have badass bio-babies, but I bet they'd adopt orphans from around the world like crazy and have badass kids who think it's totally normal for mom and dad to fight like they could kill each other (although they totally wouldn't).
Someone stop me before I write babyfic. Seriously.
Wanda and Vision - they did a pretty good job of showing their connection before it tore apart, although the age difference between Paul Bettany and Elizabeth Olsen makes my skin crawl more than a little. Hollywood romance, people!
I'm glad they revisited the friendship/mentorship between Clint and Wanda - although I find it interesting that the thing that they 'fear' in Wanda isn't her mental ability but her telekinesis. Way to skip the really juicy stuff, storytellers! (Or, it could have complicated things. But this is me: I like complicated.)
My current headcanon is that the reason Maria isn't there is because she and Pepper are bunking down in Madripoor. After she settled the Avengers in, Maria heard from the grapevine where the Accords were going, and claimed rights in the city from the Hoans, who still owe her for handing it back to them all those years ago. She and Pepper are setting up their own Secret Avengers project with SI money.
And, sure, Natasha totally joins them after taking shelter at the farm and letting Laura know what happened with Clint.
Okay, so that wasn't so much about the plot. But then the plot doesn't really bother me all that much except in terms of history that needs to be included if I'm going to be canon compliant. It's the relationship dynamics, the interconnections between people and how they shift that are interesting.
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Also, re: Pepper. The out of universe answer is that Ms. Paltrow's Marvel contract has expired and she wants a LOT of money to come back (or so rumor has it). They probably want to save that for the next Iron Man movie instead of paying for a cameo in a movie that was already stuffed with actor salaries (I'm looking at you RDJ).
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