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Edited by Mrph1 on Jul 29th 2024 at 3:09:00 PM
Hammer was an entertaining sub-villain, though my award for best "mundane criminal secondary antagonist in a superpowered world" goes to Sonny Burch.
His smarmy lightheartedness made for a perfect foil to Ghost's brand of antagonism, and without him and his squad of disposable goons and vehicles the finale wouldn't have been an exciting three-way battle amidst a car chase.
Seriously, AM&tW's whole final action sequence is up there as one of my favorites, and I could write whole paragraphs on how Burch and Starr play to each other's strengths and weaknesses to make them stronger than the sum of their parts.
Edited by Anomalocaris20 on May 5th 2019 at 3:26:15 PM
You cannot firmly grasp the true form of Squidward's technique!Oh man, Erik's trip to the Ancestral Plane (Ancestral Apartment?) is goddamn beautiful. Not a good dude, but you really get a sense of how much he got fucked over. This is another huge aspect about him that leaves an impression on T'Challa, what with that great scene of him grilling his dad for leaving him orphaned.
Self-serious autistic trans gal who loves rock/metal and animation with all her heart. (she/her)That scene was thought-provoking. Something I didn't notice the first time was when Kaecillus claimed that those who died for his plan were nothing more than "tiny, momentary specks within an indifferent universe" - a phrase Doctor Strange used on the Ancient One when he didn't believe in her magic.
Kaecilius was in many ways extremely similar to Ivan Vanko for me. As in, he had a tragic backstory, a (somewhat) understandable motive and was portrayed by a great actor.
Perfect potential for a great villain - if only they had developed him a bit more.
Certified: 48.0% West Asian, 6.5% South Asian, 15.8% North/West European, 15.7% English, 7.4% Balkan, 6.6% ScandinavianKillmonger himself comes across as fairly disposable, but what makes him a great villain is that he has the moral high ground, at least partly. He succeeds in changing the hero's mind, which is a rarity in the MCU, never mind action films in general. Frankly, Klaue is my favorite villain of Black Panther if for no other reason than Andy Serkis's acting. (To borrow from Honest Trailers, "...a joyous performance of a man who doesn't have to wear a mocap suit.")
Edited by Fighteer on May 5th 2019 at 9:20:14 AM
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"With Antman I think the problem I had was entirely my fault. For not knowing anything about the character.
See, I thought I had figured out a twist the movie was going to pull, and was dissapointed when they DIDN'T do it.
Throughout the film, the whole point was that Scott was learning how to use the Antman suit, right? He was learning how to fight, how to grow and shrink at the right times. It was a BIG part of the film.
Yellow Jacket... he just kinda knew how to fight and use the suit instantly, even though Cross' Pym Particles had only just started working a few hours before the final confrontation. So, when I realized that the film hadn't set up Cross as a fighter AT ALL, I thought they were going to swerve us and have Pym's daughter turn evil. And SHE would become Yellow J Acket. Like, she would align with Cross, and we'd find out that the "Sexual tension" animosity between her and Scott was actually just genuine animosity. She was established as a fighter, established as someone who knew how the Pym particles worked, and had something of a rivalry with Scott.
I did not know that Wasp was a thing.
Edited by GNinja on May 5th 2019 at 2:45:58 PM
Kaze ni Nare!It raises the question of how everyone can hear her when she spends so much time so small
Forever liveblogging the AvengersYellow Jacket... he just kinda knew how to fight and use the suit instantly, even though Cross' Pym Particles had only just started working a few hours before the final confrontation. So, when I realized that the film hadn't set up Cross as a fighter AT ALL, I thought they were going to swerve us and have Pym's daughter turn evil. And SHE would become Yellow Jacket. Like, she would align with Cross, and we'd find out that the "Sexual tension" animosity between her and Scott was actually just genuine animosity. She was established as a fighter, established as someone who knew how the Pym particles worked, and had something of a rivalry with Scott.
... Thanks God they didn't go for that. Hope actually is a villain in the comic, so that wouldn't have been out of left field.
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It still leaves me with my annoyance over them dedicating a large part of the film to a character training and then having the villain just suddenly be an expert for no reason.
And again, I don't know the comics, so what we got in the film was ALSO cliche as hell.
Edited by GNinja on May 5th 2019 at 3:33:24 PM
Kaze ni Nare!Yellowjacket’s suit was more advanced which probably accounts for part of it
Edited by Bocaj on May 5th 2019 at 11:35:27 AM
Forever liveblogging the AvengersIt's one of those marvellous scenes video which points out an interesting pattern in the MCU: Heroes winning by being ready to lose. Like, Thor going and being ready to let The Destroyer/Loki to take his revenge on him, Cap letting Bucky to hit him to pulp, Doctor Strange allowing Dormamu to get killed again and again and again….it never occurred to me, but the movies in which the solution is some big fight in which the hero simply overpowers the villain are actually pretty rarer than one might think.
Well, Cross and Stane are basically the same character, minus Jeff Bridges' strong delivery and Stane's personal connection to the protagonist.
Cross does have a connection to Hank and Hope, but neither of them really give a shit about him and it doesn't really go anywhere.
Edited by KnownUnknown on May 5th 2019 at 11:09:07 AM

You know what? I would like to see Justin Hammer again. He wasn't a good villain, but such an entertaining one...