Norse Myths and Legends

 

In school we always learned about Greek mythology, and I was never a fan. I think I would have liked it more if it were broken up into shorter, more digestible stories like the Norse mythologies presented in this book. Instead, we were presented with very old, large, and difficult to understand (for me, at least) stories like the Odyssey or Iliad. I always found these texts cumbersome to read and a bit confusing. After my scholarly assignments ended on the topic, I generally moved on from mythology and didn't pay much attention to it. It wasn't until I started watching the Marvel movies with Thor and playing the PS4-era God of War games that Norse mythology became visible on my radar. These movies and games are where the majority of my Norse mythology knowledge comes from, along with some side research and reading. Norse Myths and Legends is a collection of short stories about Odin, Thor, Loki, and other Norse gods. The stories are not all directly related, and can be read as individual tales if preferred. I won't summarize the individual stories here, but broadly the book can be summarized as seen below from ChatGTP:

The collection brings together stories from the Norse tradition, covering the creation of the world, the adventures of Odin, Thor, and Loki, the legendary dragon slayer Sigurd, and the final destruction of the gods at Ragnarok.

The stories fall into three broad categories:

• Tales of the Gods: The creation of the cosmos, the adventures of the Aesir, and their conflicts with giants and monsters.

• Sagas: Stories of legendary families, kings, warriors, feuds, and the consequences of honor and revenge.

• Heroes: Legendary figures such as Sigurd, whose victories and personal tragedies shape the heroic tradition.

Daredevil: Born Again (Season 1)

 

Charlie Cox's Daredevil character is my favorite Marvel Defenders character and show. The original Netflix series has been one of my favorite Marvel series or movies in the entire MCU, actually. With that being said, I was super excited when Daredevil: Born Again was announced, complete with the entire cast of main characters, including Cox's Matt Murdock, Foggy, Karen, and Kingpin. The show got good reviews, and I've been looking forward to watching it since it was released about 6 months ago.

The season starts with Matt's friend and co-working lawyer Foggy being shot and killed by season 3 villain Bullseye. Fast forward one year, and Karen has left New York for San Francisco and Matt, devastated that he couldn't protect his friends, has left Daredevil behind. Meanwhile, longtime Daredevil nemesis Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin, is elected mayor of NYC. Similar to how Matt has left Daredevil behind, Wilson is trying to leave Kingpin behind. Or at least he says he is trying. As predicted, things don't stay calm in NYC for long, as crime becomes rampant and Wilson vows to control the vigilantes. Wilson becomes increasingly unstable with his power as mayor, even introducing his own police force to deal with vigilantes, a force that doesn't necessarily have to play by the rules. Things boil over when Matt's client, who happens to be the masked vigilante the White Tiger, is killed by the police.

Overall, I enjoyed season 1 of Born Again. Anytime Charlie Cox or Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio) are on the screen, they demand your attention. They are both very good at playing their respective characters. I will admit, Fisk's rise to political power as a known criminal and his willingness to push the boundaries of his power and the police force hit a little too close to home for me in today's political climate. Fisk does become mayor in the comics, but I do not know if his actions are similar there, or if his character for the show was written to reflect the parlance of our times. Additionally, there were a few episodes in a row earlier in the season where Daredevil doesn't make an appearance at all. This was a bit of a disappointment, given that he is the main star of the show. All of this is done to set up a complex situation where Daredevil comes out of retirement to protect Hell's Kitchen and NYC again. I anticipate season 2 will be a bit more faster paced and avoid this issue. Muse is a villain that appears this season, but he and Fisk villain Adam are both under developed and not that interesting, honestly. This show is about Kingpin and Daredevil, and that is a good thing, given how good those characters and actors are. There were a couple of scenes featuring The Punisher as well, which I liked. When the season ended, the Punisher was locked in a cage but was in the process of escaping. The season overall was quite enjoyable, despite Daredevil missing in a couple of episodes. I anticipate season 2 will be even better, and thus am looking forward to it when it releases next spring. 

Echo (TV Series)

 

I've reached the point in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) where I am picking and choosing which shows/movies I watch. No longer am I consuming the content simply because it is a part of the MCU. With that being said, I almost skipped this show because I don't have any attachment to the Echo character. However, once I learned that Daredevil and Wilson Fisk were going to be in the series, I decided to watch. I really like Charlie Cox as Daredevil and Vincent D'Onofrio as Fisk. Sadly, Daredevil was only in one scene in the entire series. Fisk, on the other hand, played a big role as the main villain in the series.

I found this show to be OK but generally not all that necessary. It was only 5 episodes long, which played a part in my decision to watch as well (i.e. it was a small time commitment). Echo's father is killed, a scene we previously saw in the Hawkeye series, and she learns that Fisk was behind his death. She shoots him in the face and flees New York to her homeland of Oklahoma, assuming he is dead but of course he survives the assault. Echo had been working for Fisk in New York, and her family is supporting Fisk through a shipping operation in Oklahoma. Echo seeks revenge, and gets it by planting a bomb on a train in Oklahoma that detonates once it arrives at a Fisk facility in NYC. Echo returning to Oklahoma brings all kinds of drama to her family in the small Oklahoma town because Fisk's goons are searching for her and her family doesn't want any trouble. This begs the question - Why return to Oklahoma to plant a bomb intended for a facility in NYC when you're already in NYC? It seems as if she goes way out of her way to achieve this revenge, while endangering her family. This is never fully explained and is somewhat bothersome, considering it is the main plot of the miniseries. 

Throughout the show, Echo experiences a series of flashbacks through the eyes of her ancestors. At the end of the mini-series, we learn that Echo's family is part of a mythical Native American tribe who can summon their ancestors to help them fight, possibly among other things. Summoning her ancestors allows them to collectively defeat Fisk and rid him from the Oklahoma town. This is the grand finale, but again, it isn't clear why they're there in the first place. Maybe this series is just a vehicle to explain Echo's powers which will be displayed in a later MCU project?

Echo communicates through sign language. I don't know anything about sign language, but I thought the communication with her family looked authentic. This was ruined, however, by Wilson Fisk's augmented reality sign language arms in the final episode. He communicated just fine with her earlier in the series using a translator. The addition of the augmented reality arms was just goofy. 

This is another MCU series that was just confusing to me. It wasn't bad, per se. The acting was good and I appreciated the exposure to sign language. A large portion of the plot seemed unnecessary and there was no character progression or development. I would've been fine with Fisk winning the battle as I still feel detached from Echo's character.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3

 

The Guardians of the Galaxy movies are some of my favorite films and characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Needless to say I have been looking forward to watching this movie since it came out on Disney+. While there seems to be a plethora of mediocre MCU movies recently, Guardians 3 received decent reviews. 

The movie focuses on Rocket's back story. Essentially he was the subject of a series of experiments to create the perfect race of people for a perfect civilization. He becomes injured, and in order to save him the Guardians must find his creator. This leads them on an adventure to a variety of mucous-filled weird worlds. They meet up with an alternate version of Gamora, who no longer remembers Peter or the rest of the Guardians due to the events of the Infiniti War. 

With Rocket being injured, he spends almost the entire movie on life support, unable to speak. This is a major negative, in my opinion, as Rocket is one of the more entertaining members of the Guardians. And with Gamora having no memory of the Guardians, that means two of the core members are essentially absent from the movie. There's still plenty of banter and comedy, however, especially between Dax and Mantis, and even Nebula has several scenes that were amusing. 

Rocket's back story is a sad one, and unfortunately involves animal cruelty and experimentation. This is also a bit of a downer. All of this is to say I kind of felt "meh" about this movie. I didn't dislike it, per se, but I also didn't love it. It's probably my least favorite movie of the 3 Guardians films, though a part of me thinks I need to watch it again to give it a fair chance. The typical banter between the members was my favorite part and at least made the movie somewhat of an enjoyable watch.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

 

Ant-Man is definitely a movie I watched just because it is a part of the MCU. It got mediocre reviews and Ant-Man isn't exactly Spider-Man. The first half of the movie isn't very good. The second half is decent, however. Since the end of the Infiniti War, we've heard about Kang the Conqueror and how he was going to be the next baddie in the MCU. The second half of the movie heavily features Kang in his true form, which was great. At the end of season 1 of Loki, we are introduced to He Who Remains (HWR). HWR sits at the end of time and controls variant timelines through the Time Variance Authority, an organization he created. HWR is a variant of Kang, and in season 2 of Loki HWR is featured prominently. The problem is that in season 2 he is an 1800s scientist variant form of HWR named Victor Timely, who in no way seems powerful or scary. The second half of Ant-Man changes this. We get to see how powerful Kang really is, and it is scary. Not only is he personally strong, but he is capable of returning if killed, as he has an army of Kang variants. For the first time, we see how strong Kang the Conqueror really is.

The real question moving forward, however, is was this all for nothing? HWR dies in season 2 of Loki while trying to fix the Time Loom. The actor who played HWR and Kang got into legal trouble and was recently dropped by Marvel and Disney, so the character's future is up in the air. Some speculate that HWR's death in season 2 of Loki was Marvel's way of writing him off, even though Victor was just a variant of HWR, so theoretically more of him exist. More to come on the future of Kang in the MCU, I suppose, but seeing him in true form against Ant-Man was the highlight of the movie for me.

Loki (Season 2)

 

We have reached the point in the Marvel Cinematic Universe where I pick and chose which shows and movies I watch. Gone are the days where everything Marvel puts out is great. The stories intertwined so well during the Infiniti War saga, but once the Infiniti War ended, it has become a little harder to make sense of what is going on (and I'm not sure I care). With that being said, I always liked Tom Hiddleston's Loki character. I enjoyed the first season of Loki, and thus looked forward to watching season 2.

Despite what was mentioned in the above paragraph, Loki season 2 is quite good. I'm going to try my best to summarize what happens. The plot is a bit confusing. Essentially, after He Who Remains is killed, the TVA's Temporal Loom struggles to handle all of the emerging timelines. Loki, Mobius (played by Owen Wilson), and others at the TVA race to fix the Loom so that one true timeline can exist. This involves going back into time to get variants of He Who Remains that exist on other timelines, as he is the only one who can fix the Loom. In the end, Loki is able to hold the timelines together, but doing so requires him to sit on the Temporal Loom throne for eternity in order to prevent the timelines from going into chaos.

A couple of aspects of this show really stood out for me. First was the visuals. The show looks fantastic, and is on par with high budget movies in terms of its CGI visuals. One episode has them traveling to the world's fair in Chicago in 1893. I particularly liked that episode. Seeing what Chicago likely looked like in 1893 and knowing what it looks like today was particularly interesting, and the episode looked great. 

The second aspect of the show that stood out to me was the acting. I have always liked Owen Wilson, but his portrayal of Mobius made me like him even more. He was really good in the series, and seeing one of his variants rock out on a Jet Ski was epic. Ke Huy Quan playing O.B. was a great addition to the second season as well. Of course Tom Hiddleston's portrayal of Loki was great as well, though I wish there was a bit more mischief from him.

Even though I enjoyed the show, there is a part of me that wonders how this ties in to the greater MCU. I assume the events of the show have meaning to other Marvel characters and stories, but I'm not sure how. Maybe I'm supposed to enjoy the show for what it is? It just seems a bit pointless if it doesn't tie into a bigger story. This is where I struggle with the current MCU. Mobius on a Jet Ski, however, is awesome.

Secret Invasion

 

In the 2019 movie Captain Marvel, which takes place in the 1990s, Nick Fury promises a group of refugee Skrulls to find them a home. Fast forward to present day, and the Skrulls are still homeless and are unhappy about it. While temporarily living on earth, their numbers have exponentially increased and they have been able to infiltrate high ranking government positions with their shape-shifting abilities. They're immune to the effects of nuclear radiation, so a group of extremist Skrulls have moved to an abandoned nuclear power plant site. Their plan is to create a nuclear war, killing off humans and allowing the Skrulls to take earth as their home planet. 

As many of the reviews say, the show falls a bit flat. The main villain and leader of the Skrull extremists, Gravik, is shown bombing places and performing terrorist acts, to emphasize that he is a bad guy. But on the other hand, he does kind of have a point that Fury screwed him and his people by not fulfilling his promise from Captain Marvel, so you kind of want him to succeed, even though he is going about it the wrong way.

The show promises to have an espionage spy feel, but pretty quickly you can figure out who is a real person and who is a Skrull, so that aspect of the show is a bit shallow. Fury himself seems tired and old. I feel like a show with him as the main character would have worked better at the height of the Avengers movies versus 2023. Emilia Clarke's character G'iah has a fantastic Marvelesque CGI fight with Gravik, which also falls flat because we never really get to know G'iah's character, so who cares if she dies?

Don't get me wrong, this show isn't bad, per se. It's just OK. I think the story itself has promise, and it will be interesting to see what comes of Gravik's super-Skrull creation in subsequent projects. Beyond that, however, I think this show is pretty forgettable. It falls into that bucket of now many other Marvel (and Star Wars) shows that seemed promising but underwhelmed in the end. WandaVision, a really good Marvel show, feels like it occurred a lifetime ago.

God Of War (2018)

 

Before I begin discussing 2018's God of War game, I want to spend some time to discuss my experience with the entire God of War game series. There isn't actually much to discuss, which makes my positive impression of this game so interesting. The God of War series first appeared on the Playstation 2, and has been a popular game series on every Playstation console since. Because of its popularity, the games have been on my radar, but I've never been too interested in them, to be honest. The first reason is the title. When the game first came out on Playstation 2, I actually thought it was about Christianity's God. I finally learned that it was about Gods from Greek mythology, but I've never been too interested in Greek mythology, and so I was turned off from the series partially because of the title. The other reason why I was never too interested in this series was because of the hack and slash nature of the gameplay and its gory depiction of violence. I was aware of the game series from the beginning, but never payed too much attention to the games because of these reasons.

Fast forward to 2022, when God of War: Ragnarok was released. As discussed on this blog, around the start of the pandemic I started watching the movies that made up the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Thor: Ragnarok is one of my favorite MCU movies, so of course the God of War game about Ragnarok caught my attention. The Thor MCU movie introduced me to Norse mythology. Despite never finding Greek mythology too interesting, I found Norse mythology appealing due to its depiction in the MCU.  With Playstation Plus, 2018's God of War was available for me to play as part of my subscription. I decided to give the game a chance, anticipating that I would play Ragnarok if I liked the 2018 game available on Playstation Plus. The game did not disappoint.

Where to begin with this game? I guess I'll start with the negatives (for me). It features mostly hack and slash gameplay action which I'm not a huge fan of. The violence didn't bother me too much, because my enemies were either already dead or made up Norse myths, and their blood was orange, so I was OK with what occurred on screen. The "finish him" scenes where Kratos violently ripped an enemy's skull in half with his ax were a bit much. However, the flip side to this was it was so, so satisfying to defeat an enemy by throwing Kratos' ax at them, and even more so when the ax hit them on its return to Kratos. This is the only thing I kind of disliked about this game. Everything else was just awesome.

The storytelling in this game is fantastic and is the best part of the game. I came into the game knowing nothing about Kratos or his past. It is reveled early that he has a questionable past. Your tasked with spreading your wife's ashes off the tallest peak in the realms, and your son Atreus goes with you on the journey. This is the first game in the series that takes place in a Norse mythology setting. The previous games all take place in Greek mythology. Seeing the World Serpent in Midgard, or the mist surrounding the mountains of Midgard, or the bifrost, or any of the other realms is just jaw dropping in their appearance. On your journey, you meet a witch in the woods, who turns out to be Freya. Early on you are attacked by the stranger, who turns out to be Baldur, son of Freya (or possibly Frigg, and Odin). Baldur was "blessed" by Freya to be invincible, but is mad at his mother for making him unable to feel anything. 

Once Kratos and Atreus reach the tallest peak in Midgard, they meet Mimir. Mimir is known for his wisdom, but has been tied to a tree by Odin and cannot escape. Mimir informs Kratos that the tallest peak in the realms is actually in Jotunheim, land of the giants. Kratos and Atreus head for Jotunheim, but first decapitate Mimir in order to take his head with them for his wisdom. 

Kratos and Atreus eventually reach the peak in Jotunheim, where they are able to spread Kratos' wife's ashes. Along the way, Atreus learns that Kratos is a Greek God and that his mom is actually a giant from Jotunheim. She and the other giants referred to Atreus as "Loki". Oh, and Kratos and Atreus also kill Magni and Modi, Thor's sons. After spreading her ashes, Midgard experiences an unusual winter, and Thor shows up to Kratos' house to begin Ragnarok.

The entire world of realms where this story takes place, the characters and their over the top abilities, the enemies from the Ogres to the Giants, is just absolutely amazing. Anything goes with this type of story telling. An enemy or character cannot be too big, or too powerful, or too over the top. But it all ties together in a way where the setting, gameplay, and story are just fantastic. I was thinking back to my favorite games since 2017's Breath of the Wild (which is one of my all time favorite games), which includes both Playstation 4 and 5 games, as well as Switch games. The 2018 God of War game is my favorite game since Breath of the Wild. Close seconds (tie) are Jedi: Fallen Order, Red Dead Redemption II, and Horizon Zero Dawn. I'm assuming Ragnarok starts right where God of War stopped, with the unusual winter in Midgard and the beginning of Ragnarok. I cannot wait to play it.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

 

The nation of Wakanda is mourning the loss of the Black Panther one year later. Meanwhile, the United States is searching for vibranium in the ocean, using a machine developed by a 19 year old Cambridge University student. This alarms a mysterious and previous unknown race of underwater people, led by Namor, who rely on vibranium to power their city. They are scared that the United States will find their civilization with their vibranium location device, and go on a series of attacks against the military operations looking for vibranium. The United States blames Wakanda for the attacks, setting up a conflict between the 3 nations. Wakanda and Namor's people go head-to-head fighting for their secrecy and vibranium, leaving the US scrambling to figure out who is responsible. 

I was fully prepared to make fun of Namor as a villain. His outfit, consisting of booty shorts and tiny little ankle wings was a bit ridiculous, and reminded me of Kid Icarus. However, upon doing some research, I learned the character was developed back in 1939 and was one of the top comic characters of the day, as well as possibly the first comic antihero. I will give the movie some credit for  utilizing such a historic character.

It's understandable that the nation of Wakanda is mourning the death of the Black Panther, but this leaves a Black Panther movie without - you guessed it - a Black Panther. Not until the very end of the movie was T'Challa's sister Shuri named the new Black Panther. She was the obvious choice, but unfortunately we didn't get to see her in action as the Panther until the final climactic scene. Presumably her character will factor into future MCU storylines. At the end of the movie, we learned T'Challa has a son who is the prince of Wakanda, making him heir to the kingdom. It will be interesting to see where his story goes as well.

Thor: Love and Thunder

 

Ragnarok is one of my favorite movies in the MCU and Thor one of my favorite characters. Thus, I had high expectations for this movie. When I read it received somewhat mediocre reviews, I lowered my expectations a bit. This movie has all the big characters, including a pretty good villain in Gorr the God Butcher, and Natalie Portman as The Mighty Thor. Can't forget Korg. There was even a guest appearance from the Guardians of the Galaxy at the beginning of the movie. The '80s rock theme was fun and unique. There were a handful of laugh out loud moments, but generally the movie felt a bit shallow and wasn't all that memorable. Roy Kent from Ted Lasso was shown as Hercules in the credits scene so it will be interesting to see his character in upcoming MCU projects. Additionally, Jane succumbs to her illness so we likely won't be seeing her in future movies, unless it is in the form of flashbacks.

Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness

 

It's a bit difficult for me to wrap my mind around this film to explain it properly. Essentially, Wanda is still fixated on her perfect family life from WandaVision, and is attempting to traverse the multiverse in order to join the version of Earth where she has a family. In order to do this, she needs to harness the power of a young girl named America Chavez, who has the ability to travel throughout the multiverse. Dr. Strange becomes aware of the situation (it basically lands in his lap), and protects America and the multiverse from the Scarlet Witch. 

The movie is a visual trip. The effects are really cool. Dr. Strange and Wanda are two of my favorite Marvel characters, so I enjoyed the fact that they were the two main stars in the film. Wanda was the antagonist, and she apparently sacrificed herself at the end of the film to destroy the book of evil witchcraft, so it will be interesting to see if she is in subsequent films. I hope she is. The film has strong elements of a horror film, which is unique to the MCU as they are typically light hearted. Portions of the movie were actually kind of scary.

The most interesting part of the movie to me was the revelation of the Illuminati. I specifically found it interesting that Captain Marvel was Maria Rambeau and Reed Richards was played by John Krasinski. I'm interested to see where they go with this group of characters and the Fantastic 4.

Moon Knight

 

Being unfamiliar with the character, and since he hasn't been mentioned in previous MCU films/shows, I almost passed on this show. However, after I read some headlines staying how the show was pretty good, I decided to give it a watch. It was an intriguing show, keeping me guessing until the last episode.

Marc Spector serves as an avatar for the Egyptian lunar god Khonshu, acting as his human representative, punishing people for evil deeds. There's an entire back story on how Marc becomes Khonshu's avatar that is explained in the show, but the interesting part of the story is Marc's personalities. He flips between himself and the much milder Steven. I spent the entire series trying to figure out if Steven was a real person, until it was revealed at the end of the series.

Oscar Isaac is fantastic in this series. He does a great job switching between Marc and the idiot Steven. Since they are two completely different people, it really showcases his ability to act. Ethan Hawke also does a great job portraying Arthur Harrow, avatar of Ammit, as the main antagonist. 

This show is darker than other Disney+ Marvel shows, even scary at times. I'm OK with this, however, as there are enough light-hearted moments included that even out the darker parts. Sarah's favorite part is when Khonsu calls Steven "the idiot", which admittedly is pretty funny coming from such a scary character. Khonshu is voiced by F. Murray Abraham. I spent the first couple of episodes wondering why his voice sounded familiar, until I figured out that it was C.W. Longbottom from Mythic Quest. 

I hope to see Moon Knight in future MCU shows or movies. He is a cool and complex character. When reading about the comic character, his personality changes with the lunar phases, a concept that wasn't explored in the show. At the end of the last episode, Khonshu meets with another one of Marc's personalities named Jake, so I expect to see more of Moon Knight at some point in the future.

Eternals (2021)

 

This movie got mixed reviews and thus I almost skipped it. I decided to watch it since it is a part of the MCU, incase these characters make future appearances in Marvel movies. This movie suffers from a lack of character development. Since this was likely most people's introduction to the Eternals, it was difficult to have much emotional attachment to any of them when you are unfamiliar with their character. With that being said, the movie looked great visually, and sounded great as well. Movies like this make me glad that I put the effort (and money) into expanding my sound to surround sound. It's well acted as well, with an all-star list of actors starring in the film. I forgot Jon Snow was in the movie (you know nothing!).

While lacking character development, the film did do a good job of introducing the Eternals and their story. I wouldn't be surprised to see their characters in future MCU films, or at least discussed, so having some background knowledge of who the Eternals are will be beneficial for upcoming films.

Daredevil: Season 1

 

At times I feel like I'm the only person in America who doesn't have access (paid or unpaid) to Netflix. I was excited when it was announced the Marvel shows from Netflix were going to be moved to Disney+. However, there are a lot of them and I wasn't sure how many would involve the MCU, so wasn't sure how many of them I would watch. Once I learned that Matt Murdock's character appeared in Spider-Man: No Way Home, and hear rumors of a new Daredevil series in development, I decided to watch the Netflix show. It didn't hurt that the show got good ratings as well. From reading about other Marvel characters, I knew Daredevil was a major character in the Marvel universe. Much beyond that, however, I knew very little about the character since he hasn't appeared in the MCU. Luckily, the show does a good job of mingling the main plot with Matt's background, explaining why he is blind and how he got his heightened senses and fighting skills. It was a great introduction not only to the Daredevil character, but also to Wilson Fisk. Fisk is also a major Marvel character. His appearance in Hawkeye was my introduction to the character, and that appearance was another reason why I wanted to watch this show, to get better background on him as he is likely to appear again in the MCU.

This was my first non-Disney Marvel show, and it is dark. Most of the MCU shows to date on Disney+ have been light-hearted. This one is the complete opposite: violent and dark. In fact, it is often times so dark you can barely even see what is on screen. There were times when I literally asked myself why they didn't just turn on the lights. The violence can be over the top, which sometimes is a bit of a turn off for me. However, generally speaking this show was quite good. Its genre on Disney+ is listed as film noir, and is almost more of a gangster show than a superhero show. Both Charlie Cox as Murdock, and Vincent D'Onofrio as Fisk, were fantastic in their roles. While most of the superhero villains are fun, they can be a bit over the top at times. It was refreshing to see an antagonist like Fisk, who has exceptional strength but otherwise is just a normal person. It made the entire story feel more real and gritty.

Season 1 was well written, well acted, and the plot was good. It was a great introduction to some major Marvel characters, and now that they are appearing in the MCU, there is incentive to continue to watch. I'm going to take a detour to watch Moon Knight, but I'll be back for season 2.

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

 

As you all know from the rave reviews and headlines about how much money this movie made, Spider-Man: No Way Home is fantastic. There are a lot of enjoyable moments in this film. This movie is like an All-Star game for Spider-Man, with all of the previous Spider-Man actors and villains appearing. At the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home, Mysterio reveals Spider-Man's identity. In an attempt to hide his identity, Peter consults Dr. Strange to see if he can cast a spell to reverse Mysterio's actions. While doing this, he inadvertently opens the multiverse, allowing previous villains and versions of Peter Parker to appear on the same timeline. Below are some of my favorite aspects and thoughts about the movie.

• Matt Murdock's appearance. I'm in the process of watching Daredevil, and really enjoy Charlie Cox's portrayal of the character, so the timing of this cameo was spot-on for me. Had I not seen Daredevil, his appearance would've went right over my head.
• As previously discussed, Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin character is spectacular. Any opportunity to have him on screen should be taken advantage of.
• Same goes for Dr. Strange. His character is great, and I'm really looking forward to the Multiverse of Madness.
• Glad to see Zendaya have a bit more of a prominent role in this movie. I feel like in the other films she doesn't get to say much.
• I can't see Peter's friend Ned without thinking of Sandra from Superstore.
• Obviously the appearance of Tobey Maguire's and Andrew Garfield's versions of Spider-Man was great, but I particularly enjoyed the banter between the three Peter Parkers. My favorite scene was when they were questioning Tobey's ability to shoot web straight from his wrist and not rely on an external device.

A Marvel Crossroad

 

After finishing Shang-Chi last week, I am caught up with the MCU with the exception of two movies: Spider-Man: No Way Home and The Eternals. No Way Home just became available on digital, so I will plan on watching it soon. The Eternals got pretty poor reviews, and I still haven't decided if I'm going to watch it or just read a synopsis. The pace of new movies available to watch is going to slow way down. I still have some Wolverine movies to watch, and the Deadpool movies, but that is it for the movie agenda. I have to decide what I am going to do with the extra content in the form of TV shows, and that question just got a lot more complicated.

Up to this point, I have watched the Disney+ Marvel shows because they focused on MCU characters. I particularly enjoyed WandaVision and Loki. Later this month they are coming out with a show about Moon Knight, a character I've never heard of and is not involved in the MCU. Marvel has 100s of characters I've never heard of before, and thus there are 100s of possible shows that could get developed. While the previews look intriguing, I'm going to have to decide how much time to devote in these shows.

Complicating this decision is the fact that Marvel's Netflix shows have just come to Disney+, and there are several. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only person in America who doesn't have Netflix, and thus I've never had access to these shows in the past. I saw reviews on them, and some of them got really good reviews, and others not so much.

Based on what I've read, I will likely watch at least the Daredevil show. It got really good reviews, and I've heard that Daredevil makes an appearance in No Way Home, tying him into the MCU. As for Moon Knight, my viewing may depend on the ratings of the show and if the character gets pulled into the MCU. 

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

 

I didn't know what to expect from this movie as I am unfamiliar with the character. However, it got pretty good reviews and ties into the MCU so thought it made sense to check it out. It tells a compelling story about the Legend of the Ten Rings. Whoever possesses the rings becomes immortal and has endless power. Shang-Chi is trying to live a normal life in San Francisco, when his dad's army tracks him down to join him. His dad has the ten rings and is convinced his wife is still alive. However, in order to free her, he has to open a portal that will endanger the world. Shang-Chi disagrees with all of this, and vows to take the ten rings from his father to protect the earth. 

The storytelling was competent, and even though I'm not a huge fan of frequent hand-to-hand combat, the action scenes were good. Of course, at the end Dr. Strange's assistant Wong summons Sang-Chi through a portal for discussion, so I am sure we will be seeing more of Shang-Chi (in addition to the sequel) as the MCU moves forward. Overall it was an enjoyable movie.

Hawkeye

 

Clint Barton takes center stage in Hawkeye. He is one of the less flashy Avengers because he doesn't have super powers per se, so his character typically is in the background and doesn't get as much attention as the other Avengers. However, he clearly had a close relationship with Natasha Romanoff, and with the recent release of Black Widow, it makes sense to make Clint's Hawkeye character the main protagonist in this story.

Clint's actions as Ronin in Avengers: End Game catch up to him in this series. He murdered the father of mafia member Maya/Echo, and she is out for revenge. We're introduced to Kate Bishop, a college archery student and fanboy of Clint. Kate's mother is in debt to mafia ruler Kingpin. Her fiance (Jack) is a sword collector, and Kate stumbles upon a black market auction where Jack buys Ronin's sword. The auction is interrupted by members of the Tracksuit mafia, who is run by Kingpin, looking for an Avengers Rolex watch. Ronin's costume is also up for auction, and Kate puts it on as a disguise to escape the auction and the Tracksuit mafia. The mafia, however, discover her identity and think Kate is Ronin. Clint becomes aware of the situation after seeing a Ronin story on the news, and joins Kate to protect her and calm the situation with Kingpin and the Tracksuit mafia. To complicate matters, Natasha's sister Yelena shows up (as foretold in the credits scene of Black Widow), trying to kill Clint because she believes Clint killed Natasha. All of this occurs in a brisk, 6 episode series that takes place over a week in New York City during Christmas time. 

Hailee Steinfeld plays Kate Bishop. She is a person I've heard of before, but prior to Hawkeye I've never seen her in anything or heard her music. I initially found Kate's character a bit annoying, but as the series evolved, so did her character, and as she transformed from fanboy to an actual superhero, I found her less annoying and liked her more. As the series ends, Kate is searching for a superhero nickname for herself, and Clint hints that she could use Hawkeye as her alias. When you read about Kate's character, she is referred to as Hawkeye in the comics, so I get the feeling that we will be seeing more of Kate Bishop as the MCU progresses. Additionally, I hope they put Natasha's sister Yelena in every MCU project moving forward. Florence Pugh nearly stole the show from Scarlett Johansson in Black Widow, and she was fantastic in Hawkeye.

The biggest mystery remaining surrounds the Avenger's Rolex. Apparently it belonged to Clint's wife Laura. But the number on the watch was associated with a different person from Agent Carter, so maybe more to come on this topic and Laura's standing as a SHIELD agent.

Black Widow

 

Black Widow is the first Marvel movie in two years, and I've always liked Scarlett, so I was excited to watch this movie. I figured I'd have to rent it but I waited patiently and was able to watch it on Disney+ without additional fees, which was excellent. 

The most recent Marvel content includes Loki and WandaVision, two shows that were eccentric but I liked a lot. This movie was the exact opposite of those TV shows. Natasha is on the run as a fugitive for violating the Sokovia Accords. She comes into possession of the antidote to the mind controlling substance used in the Black Widow program, a Soviet-era female soldier training program. This reconnects her with her sister, who recently escaped the Black Widow program. They go on a hunt for the Red Room Academy in order to kill the program's leader and shut it down.

In this sense, the movie feels more like a James Bond spy film than a superhero film. We follow Natasha from Norway to Budapest, Morocco, and Russia. It's complete with motorcycle/car chases, snipers, and even a Q-like character who helps Natasha with supplies, including a helicopter and jet. The Red Room Academy feels like a villain's secret lair that you would see in early Bond films. The closest thing to a superhero we see in the film is the washed-up Red Guardian and an underdeveloped Taskmaster, played by previous Bond girl Olga Kurylenko. What a fantastic name, by the way - Taskmaster. It sounds like the name of a productivity App.

The movie begins with Natasha as a young girl in Ohio, surrounded by her "family" which includes her sister and two parents. Her parents are Russian spies undercover in the States. In order to find the Red Room Academy, Natasha and her sister track down her previous undercover family, which includes the Red Guardian as her dad and her mom who is a Black Widow herself. Obviously there are some hard feelings between everyone, as the adults were the only parents Natasha and her sister ever had, and they essentially dumped them once the undercover assignment ended. The movie has a decent enough plot for a superhero/spy film, and the action is great. The best part of the movie, however, were the scenes with the family together and the banter that occurs. In fact, Natasha's sister Yelena (played by Florence Pugh) nearly stole the show with her comedic relief and busting of Natasha's metaphorical balls. 

The post-credits scene shows Yelena visiting Natasha's grave (she died while retrieving the Soul Stone in Avengers: Endgame). Julia Louis-Dreyfus' character Valentina Allegra de Fontaine appears, offering Yelena an assignment to kill Clint Barton for allowing Natasha to die while retrieving the Infinity Stone. Here's hoping we see more Yelena in the upcoming Hawkeye TV series.

Loki

 

This TV show explains what happens to Loki after he steals the tesseract during the events of Avengers: End Game. Shortly after being transported to the Gobi desert, he is detained by the TVA (Time Variance Authority), a mysterious organization tasked with maintaining the "correct" flow of time. Anytime an event occurs that could skew history and change what was supposed to happen, the TVA arrives and resets the event, essentially rewinding time and preventing its occurrence. They even capture people to prevent reoccurrence and sometimes prune them, sending them to a sort of purgatory at the end of time to prevent them from repeating their actions. Apparently Loki was not supposed to end up with the tesseract, hence his capture by the TVA.

A nexus event is one that skews the main timeline, and the people involved in these events are called variants. Variants are who the TVA chase to capture, and Loki's stealing of the tesseract was a nexus event with Loki being the variant. There is one variant of Loki who has evaded the TVA for years, so once they capture the Avengers: End Game version of Loki they use him to help them find the Loki who has escaped capture.

The first half of the season focuses on who this other version of Loki is and how to capture them. The second half of the season, after the Loki variant is found, focuses on who is behind the TVA, pulling the strings. I feel like we only get a partial answer in the season finale. The two Lokis figure out that the timekeepers are actually robots, fake leaders of the TVA. They are able to get to the real puppet master, a man who is called He Who Remains. He explains that galactic chaos and war lead to the creation of the TVA, where events and time could be controlled to prevent annihilation. 

The show ends with that information. The Loki variant Sylvie kills He Who Remains, ending the TVA. This creates timeline chaos, with multiple branches developing from the main timeline. The Avengers Loki did not want this to happen, and ends up at the TVA headquarters in a different time line where no one knows who he is. Internet reviews say that He Who Remains is a version of Kang the Conqueror, a villain I am not familiar with but apparently is a powerful time-traveling foe to the Avengers and is slated to make his appearance in the next Doctor Strange film in 2022.

This show mostly acts as a plot catalyst, as the MCU enters its next phase in the post-Thanos era. It introduces the concept of timeline variations and the multiverse, as well as the character Kang. Having a storyline that involves multiple possible timelines sets up a scenario where endless plots can be plausible, albeit at the expense of adding confusion. It will be interesting to see how Marvel handles this scenario moving forward. Additionally, the show itself left a few hanging plots that will apparently pick up in season 2 of the series, which I'm happy to see is occurring. I also enjoyed the visuals of the TCA headquarters - obviously very futuristic in their abilities to manipulate time, but at the same time having a very 60s-70s vibe going on. Also lots of paperwork, with literal paper, which seemed interesting.