The Avengers: The Motion Picture Discussion Thread- Open SPOILERS -enter at own risk!

[thenammagazine]

As long as Red Skull is out there somewhere, the black&white WWII morality will be there for him to tap into. I guess I'd like to see how much of his WWII self can remain authentic and relevant. It'll probably get skimmed over but if they can still manage to make it entertaining, I'm game. US Agent would be a great fit for the sequel!

Cap also might be cut some slack by Iron Man next time around. From what I'm hearing about IM3, Tony's gonna grab himself some

Spoiler

Extremis

and will, in all likelihood, gain new respect for Rogers. We'll see...

Tony's genius is his superpower.

 

[BuffyGirl]

Haven't been keeping up with this thread much. But I came across this photo and was reading up and it looks like you can see Hulk's reflection in off Banner. I don't know if this is a manip, or if it's real. I'll need to see the movie again to be sure.

 

[Viking Spawn]

Haven't been keeping up with this thread much. But I came across this photo and was reading up and it looks like you can see Hulk's reflection in off Banner. I don't know if this is a manip, or if it's real. I'll need to see the movie again to be sure.

Nope. Not a manip. It's legit. I remember it being discussed over at Superhero Hype which drew my attention to it when I watched it again!

 

[DarkMagic]

When it comes to the military conflicts we've got going today, I don't see any comic book movie doing it justice. We know that 9/11 can't exist in a world teeming with superheroes. Dealing with those realities is the opposite of wish-fullfillment and that is essentially what superheroes were made for.

Maybe not 9/11 exactly, but supervillians in these movies always bring lots of death and destruction with them. I agree that in a world with Avengers or Superman, or any super-powered hero, stopping such an attack by way of the hero's sheer power is what would happen. On the other hand, and this isn't a new observation by any means, I think TDK did a good job addressing how we react to terror.

Gothamites, fearful of the Joker, want the city to meet his demands and arrest him. Batman doubts himself and even considers giving in. Harvey is the one that realizes (before his fall anyway) that they mustn't react out of fear and negotiate/give-in to the terrorist demands.

Batman decides that he must capture the Joker "by any means necessary" even if it means violating the privacy of all of the citizens. The themes of this movie are ripped almost exactly from the issues we've had to wrestle with in a post-9/11 world.

Back to the Avengers, I think the first Iron Man movie did a really good job showing Stark's revelation that being part of the military-industrial complex isn't the best thing he could do with his wealth and genius. As for the military conflicts we've got going on today, you're absolutely right, it would be difficult to fit anything specific into a comic-book movie (or comicbook for that matter). So many of these heroes are American by origin (or adoption). If they could be used to the US military's advantage---a theme Iron Man 2--- why wouldn't they help? It seems like it would be the "patriotic duty" of an Iron Man, Superman, or ---especially--- a Captain America, to get personally involved in American wars.

 

[Frank]

Haven't been keeping up with this thread much. But I came across this photo and was reading up and it looks like you can see Hulk's reflection in off Banner. I don't know if this is a manip, or if it's real. I'll need to see the movie again to be sure.

Yet another reason for me to see this movie again. Like I needed it.

Maybe not 9/11 exactly, but supervillians in these movies always bring lots of death and destruction with them. I agree that in a world with Avengers or Superman, or any super-powered hero, stopping such an attack by way of the hero's sheer power is what would happen. On the other hand, and this isn't a new observation by any means, I think TDK did a good job addressing how we react to terror.

Gothamites, fearful of the Joker, want the city to meet his demands and arrest him. Batman doubts himself and even considers giving in. Harvey is the one that realizes (before his fall anyway) that they mustn't react out of fear and negotiate/give-in to the terrorist demands.

Batman decides that he must capture the Joker "by any means necessary" even if it means violating the privacy of all of the citizens. The themes of this movie are ripped almost exactly from the issues we've had to wrestle with in a post-9/11 world.

Batman might be one of the few characters who does delve a little deeper and darker, but the scale of damage has to be smaller. Sure every villain plans for the bigtime, but a superhero just ain't a superhero if he doesn't stop him for the most part. Batman can touch on those issues, but he can't get too wrapped up in larger issues of human suffering because all supers wind up looking very flat and irrelevant next to them.

The Watchmen was a great meditation on this, but all it does is knock the superhero idea out of the sky anyway.

Generally, DC and Marvel just can't go there.

Back to the Avengers, I think the first Iron Man movie did a really good job showing Stark's revelation that being part of the military-industrial complex isn't the best thing he could do with his wealth and genius. As for the military conflicts we've got going on today, you're absolutely right, it would be difficult to fit anything specific into a comic-book movie (or comicbook for that matter). So many of these heroes are American by origin (or adoption). If they could be used to the US military's advantage---a theme Iron Man 2--- why wouldn't they help? It seems like it would be the "patriotic duty" of an Iron Man, Superman, or ---especially--- a Captain America, to get personally involved in American wars.

That's very true that Tony Stark was in a great position to make a comment on war profiteering. It's a topic most us can agree on. What I believe Captain America needs is a decent period of peace for us to get some distance and perspective on recent conflicts. When you're in the fog of war, it becomes tricky to see through the propaganda. After all, looking back on his beginnings in comics, he kind of was the propaganda! He's not independant like Stark is and he has almost no choice but to go with the official "flow". He's best used as a character to celebrate our country's past. We wouldn't respect him if he got conspiracy theory on us, but no one likes a tool either. It's a tough call if you ask me.

 

[thenammagazine]

I think terrorism can easily exist in Marvel's world. They opened the door to it with Iron Man's intro in his first flick as well as Stark's dialogue to Loki in Avengers about not necessarily being able to prevent it, but being damn sure they'll "avenge" it. One of the things I dislike about Superman is his ability to be everywhere at once in his movies, and when he's not he can fly around the world, defying physics and undo the wrong. Marvel's world seems more about being realistic where they can't be everywhere at once but they can take on the challenges that brings. Nolan also did this with Batman which was a refreshing change.

 

[Frank]

I think terrorism can easily exist in Marvel's world. They opened the door to it with Iron Man's intro in his first flick as well as Stark's dialogue to Loki in Avengers about not necessarily being able to prevent it, but being damn sure they'll "avenge" it. One of the things I dislike about Superman is his ability to be everywhere at once in his movies, and when he's not he can fly around the world, defying physics and undo the wrong. Marvel's world seems more about being realistic where they can't be everywhere at once but they can take on the challenges that brings. Nolan also did this with Batman which was a refreshing change.

Oh, yeah I agree that terrorism is kind of a go to subject for superheroes. But 9/11 was something that can't be replicated in comic book cinema. It was a total loss that can never truly be avenged. Superheroes have it relatively easy. Their targets are literal personifications of what's wrong within that world. At least it's a solid target. Supervillains are mere caricatures of the reality, but so are the superheroes. They all live off mythology, it's just that myth-making takes time.

Let me see how Cap deals with Vietnam, then I'll have a better idea of how he might handle today's affairs. He, more than any other character has to face it because it's precisely what he represents. The opportunity is there, but they better bring their "A" game for the sequel.

 

[thenammagazine]

So long as they don't dumb him down, or overthink it, it'll be fine. I just really hope they don't ignore the potential subplot from Avengers. I want to see him confront Fury about making/duplicating Hydra's weapons from the Tesseract.

 

[Viking Spawn]

Another estimated 7 million this weekend at the North American box office for an estimated domestic total of 598 million. TA should become only the 3rd film in history to cross the 600 million milestone by mid-week. Congrats to Disney, Marvel, and its fans!

 

[The Ween]

I want to see this again before it out of the theaters here. It's not right that I've only seen this once.

 

[jye4ever]

I want to see this again before it out of the theaters here. It's not right that I've only seen this once.

 

[The Ween]

I know! How bad is that? I have to see it again to hold me over till The Bourne Legacy on Aug. 10th.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Imagine how many more times kids would see this if they didn't know the DVD was coming out in a couple months.

 

[Khev]

Another estimated 7 million this weekend at the North American box office for an estimated domestic total of 598 million. TA should become only the 3rd film in history to cross the 600 million milestone by mid-week. Congrats to Disney, Marvel, and its fans!

And it would be topping Titanic in a few days if it weren't for the damn re-release this year.

 

[Voorhees27]

I know! How bad is that? I have to see it again to hold me over till The Bourne Legacy on Aug. 10th.

I'm in the same boat. Shame on me.

 

[Viking Spawn]

And it would be topping Titanic in a few days if it weren't for the damn re-release this year.

Agreed. I think about $610-$615 million is a strong likely hood. It'll definitely top Titanic's initial total.

Maybe the Avengers will get a re-release prior to the DVD. Not necessarily a new director's cut as rumored, but simply a boost in theaters near summer's end.

 

[jye4ever]

I'm in the same boat. Shame on me.

 

[The Ween]

I'm in the same boat. Shame on me.

It's people like us that's keeping it from toppling Avatar.

For shame, for shame, for shame.

 

[jye4ever]

It's people like us that's keeping it from toppling Avatar.

For shame, for shame, for shame.

 

[isculpt]

Man can't wait for the blu-ray, gonna watch it for three days straight lol.