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Edited by Mrph1 on Jul 29th 2024 at 3:09:00 PM
He made time for Pepper to put in an appearance and Thor to check up on Jane's whereabouts. If we were meant to believe Betty was still around, there would have been at least a throwaway line.
He was on the run in a foreign country when S.H.I.E.L.D. collected him. At no point does he go, "So, this other person is on the run with me and needs to be taken care of while I'm doing this. Can you take care of that?"
edited 27th Aug '15 8:15:17 AM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.OK, some silly internet commenters with agendas are now wondering if the sides seem too small.
I'm sorry, weren't we worried about the opposite problem?
Visit my Tumblr! I may say things. The Bureau ProjectYeah, but even if he didn't, she probably still would have been mentioned. See: the scene in which Jane is brought up.
Face is, the last we saw of Betty and Bruce's relationship is when the Hulk fled over the horizon at the end of Incredible Hulk, leaving her in the custody of her father. The next time we see him, meditating at the end of that movie, there is no sign that she's with him. In his next appearance, there continues to be no sign that she's found him and is living with them and now they're a happy couple.
Age of Ultron didn't sink Betty/Bruce. Their relationship was over at the start of Incredible Hulk, and the events of that film gave them a short-lived reignition fling before going their separate ways again.
edited 27th Aug '15 8:18:25 AM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Even if Pepper weren't in the movie she probably would have gotten a Written-In Absence nod just like she did in AOU.
I'm hoping Ross at least mentions her when he next appears. I suppose we would've heard by now if she was actually coming back.
Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.I think it's about time they start fleshing out Thanos as a character. His onscreen appearances at this point have kind of been a waste. Just making fans geek out isn't enough anymore. Give us motives, values, something that gives him dimension. He dropped maybe one hint in Guardians about his feelings for his "daughter" and a pet peeve. But he barely goes beyond, "I'm the ultimate badguy who's pulling all the strings. Don't fuck with me."
Okay, so Betty was never brought up in the first place. Good. This doesn't really change or defeat my point, though that's on me for wording it in a way that unintentionally started this conversation. Thankfully it looks like we came to an understanding. By never bringing her up again, it would be easier to give Hulk a new love interest in a future film. I misspoke when I worded my response to imply he planned to do this as far back as the first Avangers film, and for that I apologize.
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Agreed. Comic Thanos has a lot of character to him from his romantic obsession with Death to his cunningness which allows him to rise to power.
Hope they are not continuing the Ultimate Evil route that his DC counterpart is unfortunately a victim to (Darkseid).
edited 27th Aug '15 8:25:18 AM by BigK1337
Thanos has yet to be the focus of a plot, which is why he's gotten minimal development. Right now, his involvement in events is as the shadowy and mysterious Big Bad orchestrating everything.
Avengers wasn't his movie, it was about Loki.
Guardians wasn't his movie, it was about Ronan.
Age of Ultron wasn't his movie, it was about Ultron.
Taking time to flesh him out ahead of time would have detracted from the central story of each of those films and made the plot unfocused. I agree that Thanos needs to be fleshed out, but there is a time and a place for it, and that's Infinity War - where he'll actually be the villain of the piece and not The Man Behind the Man setting the villain in motion.
tl;dr: We didn't meet the Emperor until Jedi Strikes Back for a reason. First movie's about Tarkin, second's about Vader, and it's only the third where the Emperor steps up and goes, "Alright guys, this is MY movie now, mother*ckers!"
edited 27th Aug '15 8:29:21 AM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.In all fairness to Darkseid, he is quite literally a God of Evil according to DC lore and canon. So it comes with the territory. Thanos, however, doesn't have that excuse.
edited 27th Aug '15 8:31:18 AM by nervmeister
I assumed that the relationship of Bruce and Betty was over at the end of The Incredible Hulk because she can't be with him when she could potentially cause him to Hulk out. That she wasn't mentioned after that makes sense. Jane would need protection from Loki, Betty had supposedly no contact whatsoever with Bruce since he send her back her necklace.
In any case, my main point is that I had a problem with the Natasha/Bruce relationship for two reasons: One I think it was badly written, had cliché dialogue and hit nearly every romantic trope I dislike. And two, after they established that Bruce can't be with Betty, I truly didn't get why he should be able to be with anyone else.
The unfortunate implications and the underlying sexism in the idea that the one female of the team would be the one who is able to calm the Hulk are just the icing on the sh...cake.
Thanos doesn't need to get fleshed out, but I think they should have changed the last scene of Got G from Howard the Duck to Thanos stealing the powerstone from the vault in Xandar. Unless they want to add that to Got G 2. But it is really time to show him having success in his quest. That he now has less stones than he started with is a little bit ridiculous.
I think they're saving him stealing all the stones for Infinity War.
Having the stinger of GOTG be him undoing what the whole point of the movie was is a bit soon to invalidate all the heroes' hard work.
Forever liveblogging the AvengersFor what it's worth, neither did he. Most of the Bruce/Nat "romance" is her making passes at him and him going, "Um, no, uh...no, this, um...this is a bad idea for, like, all the reasons." He takes a lot of convincing to even consider the idea.
I never got the impression that we were supposed to believe Bruce/Nat was a good idea, just that it was one Nat was interested in pursuing.
This plays into the classic idea of the three-act structure. Act 1 is where the heroes strike a small victory that allows them to be awesome and show their stuff. Act 2 is where shit falls apart. The Empire Strikes Back, Han is captured, Luke's hand gets cut off. Act 3 is where they pull it all together and come back for the win.
Bruce and Nat get together in the second act, the part dedicated to shit going bad, and their relationship is built on a mutual desire to abandon their responsibilities as Avengers and just run away where nobody will find them. Both characters are at their lowest point; Nat just had her traumatic past shoved in her face while Bruce had the Hulk ignited into rampage against his will. It's a romance built on despair and misery.
Then comes the third act, where Widow metaphorically shoves their relationship off a cliff by literally shoving Bruce off a cliff. This moment demonstrates how she's risen above the despair and misery, has her head back in the game, and is choosing her responsibilities as an Avenger over her romance with Bruce. This absolute betrayal of their previous agreement to run away together is depicted as a triumphant and heroic moment.
There's no doubt in my mind that we were never meant to actually support Bruce and Nat's relationship, given that they only get together at their lowest moment, then both have a scene in which they take a knife to that bond in the climax.
edited 27th Aug '15 9:14:43 AM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
Yeah, but why should Natasha be interested in this if she presumably knows the in and outs of his condition and why wouldn't Bruce immediately warn her off? There is a big difference between "I can't have a normal life" and "I'll hulk out if you arouse me too much". Plus, I don't even see why Natasha should be unable to have a normal life if she wants it. Just because she can't squeeze out babies? She can always adopt.
It was presented in the movie that Natasha was interested in Bruce because he was unlike the soldiers and spies she usually spent time around.
Agree with it or not, its not completely illogical.
Forever liveblogging the AvengersBecause Nat hates herself too much to have a normal life. She outright refers to herself as a monster because of the way she was molded into a killer - that is not a sign of a healthy level of self-esteem. She covets what Hawkeye has but doesn't think she can have it because she's convinced that the only people who could ever love her are monsters like her.
She embraced the spy lifestyle with open arms because it allows her to be anyone but herself. She likes playing roles. It's her comfort zone. Be the soldier, be the spy, follow the orders. She's playing for the right team which means she's the right person and not the person she's desperately trying to escape from.
The first Avengers film established that Nat is The Atoner; she wrestles with a monster locked inside herself too, or at least that's how her self-image perceives her lifestyle. Winter Soldier built on that by shattering that self-image. "I guess I just traded the KGB for Hydra."
As Bocaj noted, right off the bat she outright explains that she's interested in Bruce because he's not like the soldiers and spies. Bruce keeps his monster locked within and tries to be better, and for someone like Nat, that's kind of inspiring.
But it's wrong, and that's why their relationship could only be built on despair and self-pity. Because the Black Widow is not a gamma-irradiated rage monster that lurks deep within Nat's soul waiting for an opportunity to ruin her life. What Nat needs is to make peace with herself, to embrace the Black Widow on her own terms and to not let anyone else define her. She can't have a normal life because she will never be ready for one until she learns to love Natasha Romanova.
edited 27th Aug '15 9:26:21 AM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.The gist of it is Bucky is never mentioned or acknowledged by name in AOU
He may not mention him by name, but Cap does acknowledge him: he mentions a "cold case" that he and Sam on working on.
And Heteronormative Crusader? They do realize that Joss was one of the first to include a gay couple in a mainstream television show, right?
What's so complicated about Loki sticking his "midgard serpent" into a giantess?
That's not Hela's origin in the Marvel Universe. She is the grown up version of Leah of Hel, but the Leah who was recreated by Loki using the shadow of the Twilight sword to write in a book, because the real Leah was actually just the manifestation of Hela's left hand. And then this recreated Leah was put in the beginning of time by Loki to protect her and it's implied then that she grew up to become Hela.
RDJ demanded Pepper get a spot, and he has the most pull on the cast of the MCU.
Whedon was going to include her anyway. You can tell from the commentary track that he really enjoyed writing that scene.
Also
thank you, that is an awesome commentary about Widow's role in the movie.

edited 27th Aug '15 8:12:14 AM by Wackd
Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.