Fondly and Not So Fondly Reminiscing About the MCU
In case you haven't heard by this point, and I don't even see how that's possible, Infinity War will be coming out this week. In the spirit of anticipation, we here at The Twisted Cape have decided to look back at some of our favorite, and not so favorite, moments of the MCU so far.
Sam:
Best Moments:
1. Spider-Man swings into Civil War: I can't even begin to describe how incredibly happy it made me to see my favorite hero of all time swing in to the MCU. It not only was huge for him to be there in that movie, but what it meant being able to bring an "untouchable property" into the MCU in general. Oh the possibilities.
2. The covert ops boat scene in Winter Soldier: Quite possibly the most badass sequence in all of the MCU. It wasn't until the Russo Bros. took over that you really saw the brutal nature of being a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent (or however time was left for S.H.I.E.L.D.) and how Captain America fit right in.
3. Tony Stark barely making it back through the wormhole in Avengers: Talk about suspense. With RDJ's contract in flux we really didn't know if that was the end for Iron Man. It wasn't over-the-top dramatic, but had key moments that made it extremely impactful. Big credit goes to the acting of RDJ.
4. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 jail breakout scene: The hilarity and action combined made this one of my favorite sequences so far in the MCU. It was some real organized chaos and I loved it.
5. Spider-Man lifting rubble in Homecoming: The only reason this isn't at the top of my list is because this wasn't an original MCU scene (it was taken from the comics). Nevertheless, this is one of the most powerful character building moments in the MCU.
Worst Moments:
1. Ultron: Nooooooope. Talk about an annoying child that's mad at daddy and won't stop whining. God damnit it was hard to watch.
2. Mickey Rourke scream: Iron Man 2. One of my guilty pleasure go to's. But Mickey Rourke's scream in the beginning of that movie had me cringing all the way to Russia.
3. Crossbones: Oh, I think they used him...for 5 minutes. I was really looking forward to having this guy around for a while, but they killed him off and that's that. Marvel why you do dis?
4. Zemo: If you haven't noticed by now, I really think Marvel screwed the pooch with their villains. Zemo served his purpose, yes, but they could have do so much more with him.
5. Killmonger: "I'm just" not "feelin' it." Yeah, his backstory is one of the most flushed out (in regards to MCU villains), and to tell you the truth, I think his intentions and motivations made the most sense out of all the MCU villains aside from Vulture. But at no point in the movie did I ever think he was gonna do any real damage.
Mike:
Best Moments:
1. I am Iron Man - When this line is uttered, it sets everything in motion in the long term. We know that there will be no secret identity and that Tony will be front and center. This helped get the MCU off the ground and that cannot be overlooked.
2. Cap realizing he’s not in the '40s anymore - Nick Fury tries to pull one over on Steve Rogers to ease him into the news that he’s no longer in the 1940’s. He uses authentic era costumes and settings. Steve is disoriented, but he realizes something was off because the radio broadcast is a game he was at. Stellar awareness by Captain America. Then he runs into the street and we get to see him go through a bit of culture shock and confusion, conveyed by the look in Chris Evans’ eyes.
3. Language! Age of Ultron was not a great film, but was a decent one. It contained a few superb jokes, especially the ‘Language’ moment early on. Cap even says himself, “that’s not going away any time soon,” and he was right on the money. It keeps cropping up and was the most fun recurring joke.
4. Dr. Strange Visuals - I have never been so immersed in crazy visuals like this. I watched Inception. I loved Inception. This was something completely different. Not only were the visuals incredible, they played into the action of the story, which was spectacular.
5. First real uniting of the Avengers, specifically the Big 3 - When this one happened, it was almost emotional for me. It all starts with a bit of a fight between Thor and Iron Man (who surprisingly clash a LOT in the comics). They get broken up by Cap and they all stand in the ruin of the forest that has been ravaged by battle. Seeing the Big 3 together made the Avengers feel truly realized.
6. “I’m always angry” - At the start of Avengers, we had seen 3 different people portray the Hulk on the silver screen, but this time seemed different. We were all exposed to Bruce Banner as a scientist in a setting with several other superheroes. He loses control and gets separated from the team. When he rejoins them, Cap tells him that now would be a good time to get angry, to summon the Hulk against a horde of aliens of course. Then we get one of my favorite lines in the entire MCU. “That’s my secret, Captain. I’m always angry.” I’m pretty sure when I saw this movie, one of my friends and I almost hopped out of our seats in pure joy.
7. Hail Hydra - One of my favorite movies contains perhaps the most game changing revelations in the MCU to date. If you went into that movie not knowing who Hydra was, this didn’t hold much importance to you, but to those of us who did, it blew our minds. This meant that there were bad people planted at the very least in our government and biggest agency dedicated to stopping threats. The fact that we first hear it from Agent Sitwell who has been in several movies and Agents of SHIELD was a turn that no one was expecting. This upended Agents of SHIELD, and also shook Cap’s world to the core. Bravo on this one.
Worst Moments:
1. Spidey swearing - Knowing and loving the character the way I do, Spidey is averse to bad language. He avoids it as much as he can. Admittedly, I know that a dude going from normal size to a giant would make me behave out of the ordinary as well, but I was just not a fan of this decision.
2. Hawkeye not being really in the Avengers - Hawkeye is a fan favorite Avenger, and not just from the movies. While it wasn’t our first introduction to the Avenging Archer, it was our first chance to really get to know this version of Clint and fans had questions. Would he be the purple clad Avenger we loved or would he be the Ultimates version of the character? Sadly we wouldn’t really get to know him until almost ¾ of the way through the movie on the side of the good guys. Mind control sucks.
3. Whiplash was weird. Too weird. To me, it was like they director, Jon Favreau, told Mickey Rourke to be as weird as possible, but a little Russian, handed him no script and filmed. His motivations were not good, which is not cool. That character has rich history and it was basically ignored. There are a few really good Iron Man/Whiplash storylines, so as a fan, I kind of feel robbed.
4. Almost overreliance on Loki - Yes, he’s an amazing actor and a good looking guy. His take on the God of Mischief is one of the best things to come out of the MCU. That said, it feels like every Thor movie, and at least 1 Avengers movie has relied on Loki almost exclusively to be the foil. There are other villains that deserve the spotlight from the Asgardian corner of the universe and sadly, we never get exposed to them.
5. No. Freaking. Mandarin. For me, this will go down as one of the absolute worst moments in the history of the MCU. I was so excited for Iron Man 3. Knowing that we were getting an adaptation of the Extremis storyline, one of my personal favorites, was already huge for me. But then, finding out we were getting one of Iron Man’s biggest foes, The Mandarin, as well pumped me up even more. I was sent into overdrive when I found out that they had cast none other than Sir Ben Kingsley to be him. Now, let’s be honest. The comic book version of this character may be racially insensitive at the least, so I knew that they had to walk a very fine line. However, to pull the rug out from under us is one of the most infuriating decisions I’ve ever seen. Having him be an actor named Trevor was awful. I think the studio knew this and attempted to fix it by using a short, but that didn’t do it for me. Failing grade on this on Marvel Studios.
Jesse:
Best Moments:
1. The South Korea car chase scene in Black Panther. Beautifully choreographed and insane stunts. It literally had me on the edge of my seat the entire time.
2. The airport fight scene from Civil War. It was the quintessential comic book type of brawl I've been waiting to see.
3. The skydiving rescue scene from Iron Man 3. This makes it on my list for two reasons: A) it was very well done and action-packed and B) the scene was not filmed in a studio; stunt people literally jumped out of a plane to film it which is just fucking awesome.
4. The highway fight scene between Cap and Bucky from Winter Soldier. Again, just a very well done fight scene.
5. The chase sequence between Black Panther, Bucky, and Cap from Civil War. It was the first time we saw just how fast and powerful Panther really was.
6. Yondu taking control of the ship after being imprisoned in Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol 2. Just seeing his red arrow whizzing around the dark was amazing.
Worst Moments:
1. Black Widow and Hulk's love....thing from Age of Ultron. It just didn't make sense to me and seemed really shoehorned in.
2. The Mandarin plot twist from Iron Man 3. Just stupid and disappointing all around.
3. Thor 2 in general. I think we can all agree it was a pretty bad movie.
4. Clint's family in Age of Ultron. What was the point? That whole scene was fairly unnecessary.
5. The pacing throughout the movie of Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol 2. They had the potential to tell a really good story but it just dragged on and on at times.
So there you have it. Do you agree with our best and worst moments of the MCU so far? What are your's that we may have left out? Let us know! And don't forget to check out our other Infinity War content such as our ranking of the MCU movies to date and our Infinity War-centric Twistcast!