And in the news segment, we have a lot of rumors to talk about. What’s happening with New World Order, what can we expect from Deadpool 3, and Kang Dynasty rumors. There are a lot to talk about and what they might mean for the MCU.

Thanks for Listening to 10 Minute Marvel

I hope that you are enjoying the podcast. If you are, there are a few ways that I always talk about that you can support 10 Minute Marvel. Firstly, please consider sharing it with your friends. Word of mouth really is a great way to help more people find the podcast and personal recommendations are always great. As well as then subscribing or leaving a rating and review. Both of those make the podcast easier to find on the podcast services. You can find the podcast on iTunes, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify.

We also run a Patreon and that is another way you can help support. The Patreon, found here, goes to help improve the quality of the 10 Minute Marvel Podcast, pay for advertising and more. It also helps improve the Malts and Meeples YouTube Channel and Nerdologists.com website. Thank you for considering supporting us financially.

Comments or Questions: Secret Invasion?

Who else do you think the series might reveal as a Skrull? And with the one reveal thus far, how long have they been a Skrull? Where do you think they were swapped out in the MCU?

You can let us know all of those things down in the comment section below. Or tweet them to me @TheScando or by using #10MinMarvel. And there is now the 10 Minute Marvel Facebook page as well where you can join in the conversation, here.

Thank you again for listening, and We’ll see you next time.

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And then this weeks #10MinMarvel is all about the TV shows. There were eight, not counting specials in Phase 4. How do we rank all of them, which ones stood out to us, and which ones were maybe missing a little bit of what we hoped we’d see from them.

And just a quick reminder, no episode next week. We record our episodes on Sunday night and next Sunday is Christmas Day, so we want to leave that time open for spending with family.

Thanks for Listening to 10 Minute Marvel

I hope that you are enjoying the podcast. If you are, there are a few ways that I always talk about that you can support 10 Minute Marvel. Firstly, please consider sharing it with your friends. Word of mouth really is a great way to help more people find the podcast and personal recommendations are always great. As well as then subscribing or leaving a rating and review. Both of those make the podcast easier to find on the podcast services. You can find the podcast on iTunes, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify.

We also run a Patreon and that is another way you can help support. The Patreon, found here, goes to help improve the quality of the 10 Minute Marvel Podcast, pay for advertising and more. It also helps improve the Malts and Meeples YouTube Channel and Nerdologists.com website. Thank you for considering supporting us financially.

Comments or Questions

Last week is was how you ranked the movies, this week it’s how do you rank the shows on Disney+? Which of the Phase 4 shows stood out to you? And which one is maybe a bit more of a miss than you were hoping it would be?

You can let us know all of those things down in the comment section below. Or tweet them to me @TheScando or by using #10MinMarvel.

Thank you again for listening, and I’ll see you next time.

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This week, as part of that, we both go through our Top 5 MCU Projects. Whether they be Disney+ shows or movies, what are the Top 5 for each of us. Plus there is news about a potential Reed Richards or Doctor Doom. And Mephisto finally coming to the MCU? All of that and a bit more to talk about on 10 Minute Marvel.

Thanks for Listening to 10 Minute Marvel

I hope that you are enjoying the podcast. If you are, there are a few ways that I always talk about that you can support 10 Minute Marvel. Firstly, please consider sharing it with your friends. Word of mouth really is a great way to help more people find the podcast and personal recommendations are always great. As well as then subscribing or leaving a rating and review. Both of those make the podcast easier to find on the podcast services. You can find the podcast on iTunes, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify.

We also run a Patreon and that is another way you can help support. The Patreon, found here, goes to help improve the quality of the 10 Minute Marvel Podcast, pay for advertising and more. It also helps improve the Malts and Meeples YouTube Channel and Nerdologists.com website. Thank you for considering supporting us financially.

Comments or Questions

Let us know what works on this new format, what additional topics you might like covered, things like that? And how does your Top 5 stack up against either of our Top 5? Do you have any that you’d add to the list you prefer? Or which one would be most likely to drop off y our list?

You can let me know all of those things down in the comment section below. Or tweet them to me @TheScando or by using #10MinMarvel.

Thank you again for listening, and I’ll see you next time.

Send an Email
Message me on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here
Support us on Patreon here

Thanks For Listening

I hope that you are enjoying the podcast. If you are, there are a few ways that I always talk about that you can support 10 Minute Marvel. Firstly, please consider sharing it with your friends. Word of mouth really is a great way to help more people find the podcast and personal recommendations are always great. As well as then subscribing or leaving a rating and review. Both of those make the podcast easier to find on the podcast services. You can find the podcast on iTunes, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify.

We also run a Patreon and that is another way you can help support. The Patreon, found here, goes to help improve the quality of the 10 Minute Marvel Podcast, pay for advertising and more. It also helps improve the Malts and Meeples YouTube Channel and Nerdologists.com website. Thank you for considering supporting us financially.

Comments or Questions

What did you think of Thor: Love and Thunder? Was it as fun as the last Thor film? Did you like how they used Gorr the God Butcher in it?

And what do you want to happen in Ms Marvel? Do you think the end will be more of a launching point into The Marvels and Secret Invasion which come out next year?

You can let me know all of those things down in the comment section below. Or tweet them to me @TheScando or by using #10MinMarvel.

Thank you again for listening, and I’ll see you next time.

Send an Email
Message me on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here
Support us on Patreon here

Thanks For Listening

I hope that you’re enjoying the podcast. If you are there are a few ways that you can help support it. Share it with your friends. Or subscribe or leave a rating and review. You can do that on iTunes, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. All of those things help more people find the podcast and join into the 10 Minute Marvel community.

We also have a Patreon. All the money goes into helping support and improve the podcast as well as the Malts and Meeples YouTube channel and Nerdologists.com website. Thank you for considering supporting the podcast and more with your money.

Comments/Questions

Let me know your order for the official MCU shows and movies? That can include now Shang Chi which wasn’t out when I started the list. Do you agree with my list, what movies do you have a lot higher or a lot lower?

You can let me know that over on Twitter. Tweet your thoughts to me @TheScando or with #10MinMarvel. You can also leave a comment below with your rankings as well.

Also, what do you want to have covered next week? We’re getting down to it with What If, is there a villain, hero, or comic run that you think I should cover?

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.

10 – Avengers: Age of Ultron

This movie is very underrated, I think, when it comes to the MCU films. I think that James Spader does an amazing job as Ultron. Just his cadence and delivery as Ultron works so well. I also like that we get to see Tony Starks biggest flaw really played upon and something that pays off so well in Avengers: Endgame. He’s trying to save everything and everyone and in the end, that doesn’t really work for him in this movie. Plus, we get the best version of Quicksilver to show up in a movie, much better than the X-Men one, and we get the introduction of Wanda and Pietro. This film just builds well and I think while there are some jokes that don’t land, it also has some of the most meaningful interactions between characters. I know some people have an issue with some of that, but I think that it’s great and it plays really well throughout the movie and in the context. A few jokes land a bit flat though.

9 – Spider-Man: Homecoming

Watching this movie again it dropped a little bit on my list because I think that some of the jokes don’t hold together as well as I remember. But with that said, it is still really good. The scenes with Peter and The Vulture both knowing who each other are is a really great scene. It plays off of the awkwardness that you’d have with meeting the parents for the first time, and so to everyone else in the scene that’s what is going on. But for both Peter Parker and The Vulture it’s way more than that. Tom Holland also just does such a great job of being awkward in the films and though he isn’t a high school aged actor, he fits into that way more than any of the previous Spider-Man actors.

8 – Spider-Man: Far From Home

Back to back Spider-Man films, I give the second one a little bit of a nod. While I really like the performance of the Vulture, I think that Mysterio is a better villain in my opinion. I think how he gets close to Peter because Peter was close to Tony is interesting and works well. I know that’s an issue for some people because they want it to be more Spider-Man focused and less about Tony Stark, I think that it’s a good balance of both. I also like it for how it uses or doesn’t use Nick Fury in the film. In terms of Spider-Man himself, I think that we get to see him a bit more in action and as a bit more important to the story versus kind of getting in the way as he was in the first film, or kind of being that B-level player, now he’s an A-level Avenger having gone through and helped in Infinity War and Endgame.

7 – Guardians of the Galaxy

It’s easy to like this one, it has a good blend of humor and action, and while it might be lighter on character development than the second Guardians of the Galaxy film, it still has one. I think in terms of the Marvel movies that really use humor a lot, this one is very good and doesn’t have the jokes fall flat or not stand out as much on multiple viewings. I also like that this is a team-up film but not an Avengers team-up, and in terms of the non-Avengers titles, so Captain America films and Thor: Ragnarok, this does the team-up one of the best of those. I think what really makes this work is how well they cast the main characters in the film. Chris Pratt as Star Lord just works and Bradley Cooper as Rocket is hilarious. While I think you get to dig more into their characters later, you start to see the depth of them and how interesting they are in this film.

6 – Avengers

It’s hard to go wrong with the original Avengers film, not the earliest of the films to grace my Top 10, but definitely worth talking about. We get introduced to Black Widow and Hawkeye, we get a well done Battle of New York where each of them has a chance to shine, and we get some solid humor and solid character interactions. I think that’s the piece that works so well is that it’s very believable that those characters would butt heads repeatedly, especially when meeting. It isn’t a team that comes together because they all immediately mesh, it’s because they need to come together to save the world. And I think that makes the most sense for how you create a team like that, they need the pressure cooker to pull them apart but also bring them back together. It is also nice because this is the first time we get a good Hulk on screen.

5 – Doctor Strange

Probably the shocker of the list, though Age of Ultron might have shocked some as well, but I really like Doctor Strange. A little bit of a spoiler for the list, but I like it for a lot of the same reasons that I like the next movie on the list, Iron Man. Both of these films have a villain who isn’t really the villain. Sure, Dormammu is a bad guy and Kaecilius is a bad guy, but the movie is about Stephen Strange coming to terms with himself not being who he thought he was and not being able to be as selfish. I think one way that this differs from Iron Man is that Strange is technically doing something that is good already, he is saving lives, but he’s doing it for his own selfish reasons. He has to find a way to let go of that before he can truly understand his real calling. I also like Wong in the film and even Baron Mordo and The Ancient One. I think they all play off of each other well, and especially Mordo and Strange have some good interactions.

4 – Iron Man

As I teased, Iron Man is up next. For being the original MCU film, this really hold up well. I like that it teases something that we’re eventually going to get a payoff for with the Ten Rings in Shang-Chi, probably not intentional at that point. But I like how it’s a pretty straight forward story of Iron Man and about how he has to overcome some obstacles but one of them is coming to terms with that he and what his company have done and the fact that they are profiting off of war and death. The opening with the capture and building of the armor just works so well, as well, and while Obediah Stane is underwhelming as a villain, it’s again less about him as a villain and more about Tony Stark having to overcome his own past and overcome what is happening to him. Shows a bit of the age of the film in some of the effects and things like that, but they did a good job and holds up well for overall.

3 – Thor: Ragnarok

I’ve talked about team-ups and humor, and in terms of a non-Avengers team-up, this film does it best, and in terms of humor, this film is again probably the best. I think that the jokes just land well and the team-up works. All of that for this over the top techno colored film, it still manages to have heart to it. I think that Skurge who is currently traveling with the Asguardians of the Galaxy in the comics, has a nice arc in terms of character and Heimdall is given more to do and work with in this film, which is great because Idris Elba is great. There’s just so much that works because we have the Hulk start to realize that there are things that can hurt him, we have Banner hiding away or more so Hulk taking control and just the changing and growing dynamic of the relationship between Thor and Loki. Plus we get Valkyrie who is awesome.

2 – Avengers: Endgame

I don’t think there will be much surprise for the two that top this list, maybe just some question about the order, but for me Endgame is #2. The reason for that is that the ending doesn’t really stick with you the way that it does in Infinity War. It pulls a little bit of a Return of the King in terms of how many endings it kind of has, but it feels right still to send off all of those characters the way that they did. It also does a really good job of bringing the heroes back together again. I like how they use time travel, I like how they use Ant-Man, and I think the whole thing just makes an odd amount of sense. But really, this film is about closure and passing of the torch for Captain America, and for Iron Man, finally being able to know that he saved everyone and that he did the right thing which is what he’s been trying to do, for better or worse – it’s worse – throughout all of the films, he’s always trying to redeem himself for what started in Iron Man with him finding out that his company sold weapons to the enemy.

1 – Avengers: Infinity War

Finally, we have Infinity War as my #1 film. I think so much of this works because we get to see into Thanos brain, and we get to see how he thinks he’s doing the right thing. Now, there are massive issues with his plan, though less absurd then trying to impress Death like in the comics, but he believes in it, and he believes that what he’s doing is the right thing and a good thing. And we get to see the start of the Avengers coming back together. I like that it isn’t them fully back together in mindset, that doesn’t come until much later in Endgame, but we get to see all the main players come together to do battle again, and this film has some epic battles, which I think Endgame is lacking in some ways, as it’s more of a very entertaining heist film. Finally, I like it that they don’t win, sure, they might win in the end, but here, they don’t win and they don’t just barely lose, they lose so much and, again, we get to see the fallout from everything that was lost in this film in Endgame.

So, that’s my list, I’m sure for a lot of people films like Winter Soldier or Civil War would make the list, and probably some like Age of Ultron and Doctor Strange would be off the list. It’s okay to have your flawed opinion, but I am curious to know how other people would put their top 10, any major surprises that would make your list from how the films are generally seen?

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

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So let’s talk about this list. Starting at the top and going down.

1. Avengers: Endgame – It’s hard to say that this movie isn’t the best one. it wraps everything up nicely and it’s just amazing action throughout. Clearly I’ve been thinking about it and l am going to see it again. Rarely does a movie feel like it hits all the right notes like Endgame does.
2. Avengers: Infinity War – I like this movie for it’s shock value, I like it for Thanos as a villain, I like it for everything that it does. It also hits it out of the park, and we get to see the first of the team-up of Thor and the Guardians of the Galaxy which should be fun, hopefully, in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol III.
3. Thor: Ragnorak – I can watch this movie whenever. It has a blend of humor and action and is the only Thor movie to use Immigrant Song from Led Zepplin. Chris Hemsworth just plays comedy so well.
4. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol I – I think this one is so high because it showed that Marvel could do something that was primarily comedy. Yes, there is action in Guardians of the Galaxy, but really it’s more about the humor. They also were able to get heart into this one.
5. Spider-Man: Homecoming – Peter Parker is one of my favorite, if not my favorite superhero. I grew up watching the early 90’s Spider-Man cartoon, so there’s nostalgia, and the original Spider-Man movies I liked, even kind of liked the mess that the third one was. But this is by far the best Spider-Man movie, and they really nail the feeling of Peter Parker in the MCU.
6. The Avengers – Hard not to put the original team-up movie up high. The battle of New York is just great, and Loki makes such a good villain. We also get to see the good Hulk really show off in this movie. We also get to meet so many characters that are important as well, like Maria Hill, Hawkeye, and really get to know Black Widow for the first time.
7. Iron Man – The original MCU movie. This movie just hit perfectly with Robert Downey Jr. playing a great Tony Stark. It was an origin story that started Marvel’s trend of creating really human and relatable characters as you see Tony from the start, at his weakest. The main villain might be underwhelming, but Robert Downey Jr. makes that not matter.
8. Thor – Way higher than most people will have it, but I love Thor. I think that it actually does a good job being a Thor movie that feels like the comics as well. You get some team-up of Asgardians, and you get to see Thor out of place. Plus Loki is always a good thing. I don’t think Hemsworth had hit his stride with the character yet though.
9. Ant-Man – Probably a lot higher than a lot of people have it. Again, I thought the villain was underwhelming, but the family comedy feel for this movie just works. Scott Lang, played by Paul Rudd, is just great, and you get good sight gags, and action that is done in an interesting way.
10. Doctor Strange – This one is an interesting story, probably where we see the first drop off of movies that I really like to just like quite well. Benedict Cumberbatch does a good job as Strange and you get some interesting action throughout. It also didn’t have a big fight at the end against the final boss which was fun and interesting.
11. Avengers: Age of Ultron – James Spader as Ultron works great. Getting to see Vision, Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver is amazing, I love adding them in. This also really doubles down on the infinity stones. I also like it, because this movie is key to Tony Stark’s character arc and sets up Thor: Ragnorak by giving us some great Hulk and Black Widow scenes.
12. Ant-Man and the Wasp – I really like Ghost, but I thought that overall this movie wasn’t quite as fun as the first Ant-Man. Michael Pena is amazing in this movie, as well as the first Ant-Man movie. I suspect I’ll like this movie more on a second viewing, only watched it once thus far.
13. Iron Man 3 – Do they do the Mandarin wrong? Yes, in some ways. Mainly I say yes, because it could have been some other random bad guy, not someone as big as Mandarin, in terms of the comics. However, I think it works for the movie, and the end fight is great and exciting.
14. Captain America: Winter Soldier – First Captain America movie on the list, and definitely the best one in my opinion. I really like the twist the SHIELD is Hydra, and I think it would be fun to see some sort of Secret War angle for Nick Fury to lead a covert SHIELD and be battle Hydra still behind the scenes. Also, we get to see Cap conflicted about Bucky and deal with that.
15. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol II. – Probably another one that I need to see again, but it feel a bit flat for me. The biggest thing was Ego that part of the story just felt weird and off to me. I don’t know how they’d have been able to pull it off differently, but it felt like there should have been a better way.
16. Black Panther – Probably a lot higher for a lot of people, but I have a major issue with this film. The writing for Black Panther, himself, was bad. It wasn’t acted very well and it just didn’t work. Then you have Michael B. Jordan stealing the show. The look and tone were great for a Black Panther movie, but when the main character and his love interest are both the most boring characters in the movie, it’s going to fall very flat.
17. Captain America: The First Avengers – I’m not a huge fan of this movie. I think out of all of the origin story movies, it feels most like an origin story. However, Red Skull is a villain that I like, and I like that they’ve been able to kind of bring him back. Captain America just doesn’t have much character development as compared to say Iron Man.
18. Captain Marvel – Probably another one that surprised a lot of people. I got one issue, and I talked about it in my spoiler review of Endgame, but Captain Marvel is too powerful for the MCU. She isn’t a character that you can use often because you have to have an Infinity Stone to slow her down I guess? Maybe they can save her character by nerfing her powers now that the infinity stones are destroyed and it would make sense? Also, Brie Larson, I like you as an actress, but you didn’t feel like a super hero in this movie.
19. Captain America: Civil War – Aka. Captain America and Iron Man fight over Bucky. Sokovia Accords, what are those? This is about Bucky, with a side of Bucky, and a little bit more Bucky after that. That is why this movie falls so flat for me, while others like it. Sure there is a bit about the Accords in there, but when you really get down to it, Captain America spends more of his time fighting Iron Man because of Bucky than the Accords.
20. Iron Man 2 – I don’t think this is a horrible movie, but it just falls flat. Whiplash as a villain isn’t all that compelling, but like the rest of the Iron Man movies, it is often more about Tony fighting himself than it is about Iron Man fighting a bad guy. Just wish the bad guy had been a bit more compelling.
21. Thor: The Dark World – Chris Hemsworth did fine in this movie that really didn’t know where it wanted to go. However, Natalie Portman who had been okay in the first movie clearly is phoning it in on this one. I also don’t think they did a great job with the Dark Elves. Loki was entertaining, but not in it enough.
22. The Incredible Hulk – Haven’t seen it. That will change this summer, but sorry Edward Norton, you don’t interest me as the Hulk. There are only two hulks, Lou Ferrigno and Mark Ruffalo.

Now, what do you think of this list? I’m sure that there are some, mainly Civil War that people will have much higher on there lists, but you’re wrong. Wait, this is a list of what I like, so you can put them where ever you want in your list and enjoy them. Let me know what your rankings are in the comments below.

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter at @NerdologistCast
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.

I’m now going to write some text so that we don’t get a spoiler in the blurb.

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Nailed it.

So Avengers: Endgame, let’s do a bit of a recap of what happens in this movie. After Infinity War, half of all living creatures in the universe are gone. In space with have Tony Stark and Nebula who aren’t going to make it back to Earth and are floating around in the Benatar. They are conveniently rescued by Captain Marvel who had been sent after them by the Avengers who were still on Earth. Well after Tony. They get back to Earth, find the planet that Thanos is on, and go find him, only to find that he’s destroyed the Infinity Stones with the Infinity Stones. Thor then destroys Thanos.

They go back to Earth and a lot of time passes, five years later. During that time Steve Rogers (Captain America), has started a support group for people and Black Widow is running things from the Avengers base trying to keep the world in some place of stability and find Hawkeye who has gone rogue, because his family died. Scott Lang (Ant-Man) get’s out of the quantum realm and comes up with a vague idea for time travel. Cap, Scott, and Black Widow go to Tony to get his help, but he turns them down, but they don’t realize he’s been working on time travel himself. Instead they get Professor Hulk to help them, and they get some time travel working, but Tony figures it out even more so, and he returns to the Avengers base, so they go back in time to get the time stones. A lot of problems happen in this time, the biggest two being Black Widow sacrifices herself for the Soul Stone, and Nebula is captured by Thanos and the old Nebula goes back with them.

They are able to get the Infinity Stones to work and bring back everyone, but at the same time Nebula brings through Thanos who ship from the past, and a large battle takes place. Thanos isn’t too worried, forgetting that if everyone is back, that means Doctor Strange can bring everyone from Wakanda and around the Universe in. A large battle ensues and Thanos gets the stones back and is about ready to wipe out the universe. But Stark steals the stones, and snap, and Thanos army is gone and Thanos is gone, just like he did to half the creatures, however, that is too much for Tony’s body and he dies as well.

Alright, that’s a very detailed recap, but it hits on a number of things, and some of them that I want to talk about.

First, I love the fact that they gave Nebula a big role to play. Karen Gillan is awesome from Doctor Who, Jumanji, and this, and to see her have a bigger role is great. I also like it because in the comics Nebula is the one who undoes everything that Thanos has done. In that case it’s that she kills her old self who is trying to get the stones for Thanos.

Let’s also get out of the way the one thing that I didn’t like about the film. That was Captain Marvel. Captain Marvel is unfortunately over powered for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She blows up Thanos ship without a scratch. She takes on Thanos while he has all Infinity Stones no problem. She literally has to be sent out to space to get her out of the movie because otherwise she’d be able to do everything too simply. I was hoping that they’d be able to improve upon her from the Captain Marvel movie, but instead they just sent her away instead of trying to undo the DC Movie influence that had been placed upon her character. It sucks because she could have been a cool character, and you can have her still be really powerful, but when she flies through and blows up a ship, have her come out of it looking rough. Have Thanos be able to do some damage to her, he was able to do damage to Hulk, but her able to hold her own. Those are simple ways to keep her power in balance than making her impervious to anything.

But let’s get back to plot stuff that I found interesting.

I’ll also say, I’m going to do an article tomorrow on the original Avengers and how I think they handled their characters from MCU phases one through three, and did we get a good ending for the ones who had their stories wrap up.

Then on Thursday I’m going to go through my Marvel movie rankings and explain why I like the ones I do as much as I do, and why I don’t like the some of them all that well.

Finally, on Friday, it’ll be speculation as to where we go from here.

Anyways, back to the plot. I thought that time travel while unsurprising was an interesting way to go. I also think that that they had the Ancient One explain it differently than Professor Hulk did. When her time stone was taken, that created a diverging timeline that she was going to go on. Hulk says that you can’t change the future, but aren’t a diverging timeline and changing the future basically the same thing? It’s time travel, I shouldn’t think about it so hard, that’s the issue with time travel. It is important to talk about though, because we have multiple diverging points from their actions in the past. Yes, they returned all the Infinity Stones, but Captain America stays in the past with Peggy. That should cause a branching timeline. Loki escapes after the battle in New York after the first Avengers, that is going to create a branching timeline. Really, this opens up the door for Captain America, even though he’s old at the end of the movie to make a cameo as needed and the same with Tony Stark. It also means that Loki can get his Disney+ streaming show.

Let’s also talk about Thanos. Thanos is such a good villain. We got to see them double down on it in this movie by having him try to take a more extreme approach since the first time it didn’t stick. However, with that you see his patience in planning. Thanos just works so well, because you believe that he knows what he is doing is wrong, but he believes it’s the only way. It’s interesting to have a bad guy who is knows they are the bad guy, but thinks what they are doing is right in the long run. My favorite moment for him was after his bombed the Avengers headquarters, him just sitting there and waiting for Nebula to get him the Infinity Stones. He could have rushed in there and smashed everything and taken down people at their weakest while they were disoriented, but that isn’t who Thanos is. He’s calculating, he believes in what he is doing, and he is patient, because as he puts it, “I’m inevitable.”

I also want to give myself a little bit of a pat on the back. In Infinity War, Doctor Strange makes a deal for Tony Stark’s life. That is because Thanos would have killed everyone on Titan who was fighting him, out of spite, had Doctor Strange not done that. Without Tony being around, they wouldn’t have been able to nail down time travel like they did. Them talking about whether or not it was the one early on in the large battle was great as well. Doctor Strange saying that he couldn’t tell Tony because if he knew it would change what he did is great, also tips off that it is the one, but not completely. I feel like Strange would have said that either way, so that Tony still would have had hope. But the moment where Strange raises one finger to Tony and Tony goes for it later in the battle, just letting Tony Stark know at the right time is great. Got chills thinking about it.

I was so surprised that it was Tony who died. Robert Downey Jr. seemed to be having fun with the character, so that I thought that there was a solid chance they’d keep him around for cameos later on. But with how they had Tony Stark die, and Pepper Pott’s line that he could finally rest, that was just beautiful. We got to have the Peter Parker moment with Tony, but then Pott’s really giving Tony the sendoff that he deserved. He’s been trying so hard to save everyone, and he finally did it. I had thought it would be Captain America, another character who had been given somewhat of an arc, but didn’t seem to have much more for him to do. Also, Cap is just such a candidate for a heroic death from how they created his personality. I think his actual end, spending away his days with Peggy was fitting. Oh, and if you are wondering, when we see old Cap, he’s probably 110 or so, and looking like he’s 80, so yes, he ages slower which makes sense for his super soldierness.

Let’s now talk a little bit about fat Thor. This was somewhat controversial to have Thor fat on several online sources claiming it was fatphobia/fat shaming. I don’t have an issue with it for several reasons that I’ll lay out here. First, and most importantly, Thor isn’t weaker because he’s fat. Thor is able to fight just as well as when he was strong when he is fat. Endgame is telling you, even if you are larger, you are still a strong person who can do important things. Next, Thor has gone through so much. Yes, Chris Hemsworth can pull off that comedy of being The Big Lebowski, but consider everything Thor has gone through. He lost so many Asgardians in Thor Ragnorak. It wasn’t just the snap, there were thousands who died in Ragnorak. There were many more who died in Thanos attack on the ship to get the Infinity Stone, then there is the snap that takes out even more, and more people who he knows. Thor has lost more than anyone else, and he’s the God of Thunder and believes he should have been able to stop Thanos. My only issue with it is that I had a very obnoxious movie goer behind me whom every time Thor was going to show up on the screen, wondered out loud if Thor was still going to be fat and then laughed when he was, thinking that the fatness was a joke. So it isn’t how Marvel handled it that was an issue, it was an issue, however, for that fan themselves. Marvel handled it tastefully, and how a person handles it, we can’t control that.

There are a lot more things to talk about, but I am going to leave them some for the future articles. This movie was such a home run for me, and clearly I have even more to say on it. Feel free to post spoilers in comments, questions, issues, what you loved, this is the spoiler post.

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Avengers: Endgame, what to say about it. It’s the movie event that I’ve been working towards since Iron Man came out in 2008. It’s what I’ve been on the edge of my seat for since Avengers: Infinity War came out last year. I had massive, massive expectations for this film.

So did it live up to the hype?

I personally believe that this movie lived up to the hype and destroyed my expectations. Avengers: Endgame is a great culmination of what really is the first three phases of the MCU. It is huge, it is well written, and it is heartfelt. There is so much that I want to talk about, but that’s for tomorrow. We do get a true end to Avengers: Infinity War and we get to see how all the characters remaining are dealing with the world after Thanos has snapped his fingers.

Let’s quickly talk about the plot as much as we can, or what led up to this point as a refresher.

In Avengers: Infinity War, we had the battle for the Infinity Stones between Thanos, The Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, and more. Thanos ends up winning and with a snap of his fingers, he wipes out half of all creatures in the universe, then he goes off to retire. The remaining Avengers, Guardians, and others are now left in a world, in a universe, where only half remain and they need to figure out a way to undo it or a way to move forward. We pick up at this point as they try and figure out how to undo what was done and how to move on from what has happened.

Those who were alive, Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Rocket Raccoon, Nebula, War Machine, and Ant-Man. That’s a pretty thin team, though there may be more floating out there that we don’t know about for sure.

Are they able to make everything right?

That’s the million dollar question, how is the world at the end of Avengers: Endgame? Is it back to normal, what has changed? And that’s all stuff that I can’t talk about here, you almost got me.

But let’s get back to the review.

This movie is just over three hours long, and it doesn’t feel like it. The time flies by as there is action throughout, there are heartfelt moments, there are twists and turns. It just works so well. Beyond that, they give you the resolution of so many things that had been started in previous movies. You get those payoffs, and you recognize them, and it’s just really worth it. Even the things you didn’t realize you wanted you get in this film. With all of that, time just flies by and I know after one viewing that there are going to be things I missed for multiple reasons.

Time for an interjected PSA –
If you are going to go to the movie, no one wants your running commentary. If you can’t shut up throughout a movie, don’t go opening weekend, because you are making it worse for the people who care about it and you clearly don’t care that much or have no self control. This is the case for any movie, but something as big as Avengers: Endgame, where it has been a decade leading to it, shut up.
– End PSA

Now, clearly I loved it. But how would I grade it? Is this a film for everyone?

Overall, I think this film kills it and not in the way that Avengers: Infinity War did. They hit the beats perfectly, and with the exception of only one character in the film, they handle them really well, and I don’t think that was the Russo’s fault. Again, that’s spoiler review stuff so wait for it. If you were to just pick this movie and watch it without having seen at least Avengers: Infinity War, it won’t be worth it, but if you’ve been keeping up with Marvel at all, it should be a fun time. There’s so much more than just impressions, that said, that’ll be tomorrow.

Overall Grade: A+
Critical Grade: A
Fan Grade: A+

So besides the cute title, what am I getting at in an article about spoilers?

Part of me wants to try and define a set of rules for when something is still a spoiler or not. When has it been around long enough that it’s fair game and when should you talk in hushed tones about something.

This comes up with Avengers: Endgame coming out in a week basically and people, for good reason, not wanting to be spoiled on what happens. It also comes up right now because there have been massive spoilers posted on Twitter, including leaked footage at this point time, and it’s still just over a week away.

I’ve defined a little bit of what a spoiler is, but let’s nail down a definition.

A spoiler is an element of a disseminated summary or description of any piece of fiction that reveals any plot elements which threaten to give away important details. Typically, the details of the conclusion of the plot, including the climax and ending, are especially regarded as spoiler material. It can also be used to refer to any piece of information regarding any part of a given media that a potential consumer was not intended to know beforehand. Because enjoyment of fiction depends a great deal upon the suspense of revealing plot details through standard narrative progression, the prior revelation of how things will turn out can “spoil” the enjoyment that some consumers of the narrative would otherwise have experienced.

Wikipedia

That’s a pretty long definition from Wikipedia there, but I think it covers it really well. To cut that down, it is spoiling anything related to the plot that is shared with the consumer of the plot by an outside point prior to the consumer getting to that point of the plot. Generally, I think that does spoil the anticipation for something knowing information about it head of time.

By that definition, technically any time someone is consuming that plot for the first time, no matter when the plot was created, you can spoil it for the person. However, in order for people to be able to converse and discuss the book, movie, show, audio drama, whatever it might be, you can’t worry indefinitely about spoiling the plot for people. I think that is where the tricky point in setting up rules around spoilers is, because, the joke of Bruce Willis seeing dead people in The Sixth Sense is actually a spoiler for me, but I don’t care, and probably a spoiler for some others, but because of how long ago that movie came out, that has to be fair game at some point in time to discuss.

Let’s talk about two upcoming/ongoing things and what sort of time frame they have on spoilers. The two things are Avengers: Endgame and then Game of Thrones. Both of these have a massive focus in the public eye, and because of that there will be spoilers but more so, there will be a ton of people wanting to talk about them. So how do you handle talking about things like that?

Firstly, I would always ask if everyone is caught up on Game of Thrones (or any sort of show) or has seen the movie before diving into the discussion. And this is talking about the immediate time frame. Especially close to when the episode or movie has come out, because some people aren’t able to see it immediately, even if they do really care about the story. And then respect that if people haven’t seen it or read it yet.

Next, I would set aside space and time when you can talk about it. You won’t be able to talk about it with everyone, but create a time, with people who have seen it at a mainly private location to talk about it. There’s always the temptation to go out after watching a movie and grab drinks and talk about it, you will spoil something for someone one. It is important to discuss and talk about pieces of media, but be considerate of where you do that, even if everyone in your group is up for talking about it, those around you might not be, and in that short time frame, it’s very possible that you will spoil something for someone else.

This one is especially true in movie theaters. I haven’t had it happen, but I have heard of it happening. Someone coming in for the next showing has the end of the movie spoiled by someone leaving. Wait until you are in your car before talking about it. If you can’t contain your excitement with the movie, talk about it generally. “That was amazing.” or “That was underwhelming” are fine, but saying that Captain America kissed Wonder Woman as they flew the Millennium Falcon into at the Reaver ship and just escaped the explosion by hopping into the TARDIS and going to Vulcan, just a bit too detailed. However, if I heard someone saying that when leaving Avengers: Endgame, that would be hilarious.

Finally, do give it some time before talking about it freely. Something like Game of Thrones and Avengers: Endgame, I would say when the DVD/Blu-Ray’s come out for each of them respectively, then they are fair game to talk about. At that point in time, someone who couldn’t make it to the theater, for whatever reason, is going to have more options to watch it and less excuses for having not watched it. Even then, I would still be respectful and keep an eye out for people who might not have seen it yet, because there are plenty of reasons why someone might not have seen a movie yet.

What I didn’t talk about in here was social media and online. How do you deal with spoilers then? For social media, I’d say it’s simple, don’t post spoilers publicly for the movie/show until it’s after the DVD/Blu-Ray is out. There isn’t a good way to really tag them as spoilers so that people can avoid them. On forums, I know one that I’m on will have two threads. One for general thoughts on the movie, and another for spoiler filled thoughts. I even, in my review of Avengers: Infinity War, did a non-spoiler and spoiler review, and I’ll be doing the same for Avengers: Endgame. And one important thing will be for me to remember to put enough header section at the top so that in article blurbs, spoilers aren’t shown.

So how do you deal with spoilers? Do you have any additional rules that I haven’t talked about? Do you think you should always ask before spoiling something no matter how long ago it was?

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