Avengers Week: Throwback Edition
We’re in the endgame now! With just two days left until the release of the biggest superhero movie since ‘The Notebook,’ we here at UNPLUGG’D will be covering all the Avengers news, all week. This time around, we’ll be taking a trip down memory lane.
Warning: Spoilers ahead for past MCU films. But if you haven’t seen Thor: The Dark World yet, I don’t know what rock you’ve been living under.
Twenty-one films deep into the MCU, and you probably didn’t even realize how much of your life you’ve spent dedicated to the world of superheroes. I was ELEVEN when Iron Man came out. I wouldn’t become a Jewish man for another two years (remarkably, exactly two years to the day).
As the mature Jewish man that stands before you today, I do think serious reflection can be a valuable exercise for the restless soul. And after watching Marvel’s nostalgia-filled “To The End” teaser, I began to reminisce in the good ol’ days of the MCU. Before Thor cut his hair. Before the Snappening. Before Zayn left One D.
Today, we here at UNPLUGG’D will be traveling down memory lane to revisit our favorite MCU films, moments, easter eggs and characters. So sit back in your rocking chair, relax and pour yourself some sweet tea. Enjoy the ride.
What is the best MCU film to date?
Jake: Easy money, it’s The Winter Soldier. This movie changed the MCU game. Before 2014, Cap was a kind of annoying, Superman-lite character. Then the Russo Bros turned him into a renegade soldier fighting for a simpler time against a Nazi death cult embedded in the U.S. government. What’s not to love?
This movie had gritty action, twists and turns, and Robert Redford as a Nazi! He even says “Hail Hydra!” as he dies. Pure cinematic gold.
I also simply adore chase movies (see Catch Me If You Can or The Fugitive), and Winter Soldier has some of those classic avoid-the-bad-guy moments that have you white-knuckling and then marveling at the ingenuity of the characters all at the same time. Five stars.
Nate: Yeah, I love Winter Soldier, too. I’ll choose to differ here, though.
Alright, though, let’s run it back:
- I have a soft spot in my heart for Ragnarok because of its overzealous, in-your-face, dripping-and-oozing-with-style approach. But I thought the plot (and villain) fell through and keeps it from taking the one spot. Still love you though, Taika.
- Wakanda forever! Black Panther is amazing, and the characters / world it sets up… it’s really all just phenomenal stuff. To me, though, BP will always be about the cultural movement it spawned first and foremost, which makes it easy to gloss over a lackadaisical second half (in terms of plot) and a yawn-inducing final battle scene. Still, Killmonger and those last lines are everything.
- Civil War is dope. Same with The Avengers. Don’t forget about the O.G. GOTG, either — we couldn’t get enough of that thing when it first dropped. One could make an argument for all three of these, and I’d be on board.
- Finally, I’ve laced enough compliments onto Infinity War that I’m sure you all know where I stand. It was a cinematic experience like no other. It shouldn’t have worked, yet it did. I’ll defer from it, though, because my favorite has always been and will always be…
Iron Man. I explained my logic for it in full-fledged detail last year. Here’s a snippet:
“… the opening, in which Jon Favreau crafts a near-perfect, non-linear sequence of storytelling — well, that alone is enough to make Iron Man a must-watch and a classic.”
RDJ is life, fam.
Tej: You guys are nuts. Hands down, Guardians of the Galaxy is the best MCU film. Let’s not forget just how much this movie changed the game. GOTG was the first MCU film that was true to its roots: it was absurd, over the top and plain ol’ fun.
As awesome as Iron Man was, if you’re gonna tell me you had fun watching the first half, you need therapy. GOTG was amazing because it wasn’t afraid to be dumb. It had nothing to prove, it didn’t need to be self-important. It has Vin Diesel as a talking tree, for god’s sake.
On top of that, this movie brought us not one, but five, insanely awesome, meme-worthy characters, and managed to give them all an arc and room to breathe. An amazing feat of storytelling by any standard. The villain was by-the-numbers, but almost laughably so. Like… really? There’s literally nothing to him except the fact that he wants to destroy the world. He’s like a walking cliche, and it’s amazing!
Favorite MCU villain?
Jake: Recently, Marvel has been hitting home runs with its villains. Vulture, Thanos and Erik Stevens all do pretty great.
But could it be anyone other than Killmonger? Only Michael B. Jordan’s tragic character gives you a motive for his evil-doings that makes you sympathize with him. Heck, I still think he was right. So did T’Challa, who transforms Wakanda from an isolationist nation into a globalist society by the end of Black Panther. That’s what good villains are supposed to do — force the hero to change their worldview.
He’s complex, he’s buff, he’s intelligent. And that one scene gets me every time. You know the one. Nate, can you pass the tissues?
Nate: Sorry, dawg, I’m reserving those tissues for my pick, Thanos. Did you see him when he sacrificed Gamora to retrieve the Soul Stone? My Gamora…
Okay, yes, the Infinity War antagonist is a purple dude with balls(?) for a chin. And while I loved Killmonger as much as the next guy (also, shout-out to Tom Hiddleston’s Loki), how could I pick anyone other than the MCU’s ultimate big bad?
From the get-go, Josh Brolin pulls up in all of his motion capture glory and balls tf out. That first scene in which he kills Loki and toys with the Hulk shows us everything we need to know: this dude is not someone you want to mess with. When it turns out that his epic quest to finish the Infinity Gauntlet has a legitimate moral argument to it, you’re left with one of the best villains in any movie ever, period.
Yeah, I said it.
Tej: How have neither of y’all mentioned Hela? Wanna talk about tragedy? This girl was nearly killed and cast aside by her father, hidden from the rest of her family and removed from history! Damn! Already number one for most tragic villain.
Hela was insane, a literal goddess of death who smashed the most powerful item in the MCU and didn’t break a sweat. She had a clear motivation, a clear backstory and an unforced connection to not just Thor, but also Loki AND Valkyrie.
Plus, any villain that’s so evil that she turns LOKI, of all people, into a good guy gets a win in my book.
What is your favorite MCU moment?
Jake: I have a soft spot for the more lighthearted entries in the MCU, so I’m going to cheat and go with two.
First, the Adrian Toomes reveal. The moment Michael Keaton opened the door (Peter was rolling up to what was already a very stressful situation), my jaw dropped. The guy in front of me uttered a very hilarious expletive. What a twist on the high school genre and the whole awkward meeting the parents ordeal. The perfect nightmare for a teenage superhero.
Second, the scene in GoTG2 where Yondu, Rocket and Groot absolutely murder (yes, MURDER) the Ravagers to the tune of “Come A Little Bit Closer.” My parents laugh at the GoTG films for reviving what they describe as some of the worst music of their generation. Imagine in fifty years some movie un-ironically featuring “Old Town Road.” Somehow, James Gunn makes the scene fit to the song, and what follows is probably the most violent Marvel moment put to film.
Nate: Nothing defines the MCU more than this shot.
To quote Thanos: “This does put a smile on my face.”
Tej: Gotta love every meme-worthy moment in Thor: Ragnarok, but Banner falling onto the bridge without turning into the Hulk takes the cake.
Oh. My. God. That was hilarious. One of the nerdiest characters in the MCU finally gets a badass moments, and… oh no, wait, of course he doesn’t. We’re in the middle of an epic battle between gods and giant wolves, and out of nowhere, this puny human just ragdolls onto the bridge? I was actually crying the first time I saw that.
It’s even better because it’s a deliberate callback to the worst movie in the MCU, The Incredible Hulk. Yeah, the same thing happens in that movie.
Who is your favorite non-major MCU character?
Jake: Ned. Duh.
Nate: So it may be cheating because he is the only person to appear in all 20 movies in the MCU, but I have to go with Stan Lee here.
The folks at Marvel didn’t exactly break the wheel by inserting one of the property’s creators into their movies through cameos. Nevertheless, the creativity in which they’ve consistently worked him into the plot — almost always to hilarious effect — is something to be admired.
Plus, the fact that they allude to Lee as some sort of interdimensional being when he shows up in Guardians 2? I’ve never so much as picked up a Marvel comic book, yet even I shed a tear when I heard of Lee’s passing.
Tej: Luis, for me. I just wanna grab a beer with this guy and have him narrate my entire life story. Michael Pena is one of the most underrated comic actors out there today.
For real, if Endgame doesn’t start with Luis recapping the entire MCU, all 21 movies, I will be sorely disappointed.
What is the best post-credits scene?
Jake: The first one! When I first saw Iron Man, I didn’t know who the Avengers were. After all, they had always been the second-rate superhero team in pop culture. Even DC did some things right back in the day.
So yes, the first time I watched the film, I had to google the “Avengers Initiative” to figure out what was going on. But upon figuring out the grand plans this budding superhero universe had in store for us, I was hyped. Re-watching this scene gives me those nostalgia tingles remembering all the unbridled potential I saw in Kevin Feige’s master plan. And what has since followed surely hasn’t disappointed.
Nate: Oh, Howard the Duck takes the cake fersherrrrrrr.
In all seriousness, yes, the Iron Man post-credits scene in which Fury teases the Avengers is the easy answer here. Therefore, I’ll take it a step further and shout out the last shot of the film in which the team finally comes together: 2012’s The Avengers. Even if the character would switch actors (and looks, like, three more times), don’t you remember that grin from Marvel’s baddest baddie?
In my book, the fact that Thanos lived up to the hype and then some makes this shot even more legendary. Plus, it showed that the MCU had more stories to tell past Phase One. I would even say that the movies only got better from there on out.
Tej: Kind of an underrated one, but I love Tony and Bruce’s therapy session at the end of Iron Man 3. The best kind of post-credit scenes are the ones that actually add something to the rest of the movie.
And the realization that Tony’s stuttery narration all throughout Iron Man 3 was just him blathering to an uninterested Bruce Banner the entire time is so great to me.
Plus, Tony and Bruce’s nerd bromance is one of the best parts of the MCU, and I’ll take any excuse to get more of that.
Which MCU easter egg is the most memorable?
Jake: Already mentioned by Nate, but the late head of Marvel Comics gave us a mind-boggling appearance as a Watcher in GoTG2. It both pays tribute to a relatively obscure reference for the average moviegoer while also serving as an explanation for Lee’s dimension-hopping abilities. You never fail to disappoint, Stan.
Nate: Shout out to Jeff Siniard pointing this one out when we asked this same question last year:
“I’d be remiss in not mentioning that The Winter Soldier has my favorite Easter Egg in the MCU — and that’s the headstone for Nick Fury, with the inscription Ezekiel 25:17. I was the only person in the theater who laughed at the joke.”
Ezekiel 25:17 is, of course, a reference to Samuel L. Jackson’s legendary lines from Pulp Fiction. Which, hilariously enough, isn’t even a real passage from the Bible. But that’s a whole ‘nother story.
Tej: Here’s one that almost nobody caught, but I love the amount of foreshadowing it has. When Tony meets Nick Fury in Iron Man 2 to talk about other superheroes, he’s got a map of the world up investigating locations for potential other superheroes.
Guess where one point of interest is? Right in the middle of Africa. Seems like Tony might be intrigued by Wakanda…
It’s probably not true, but it adds a lot to Tony’s paranoia and intelligence if he was suspicious of Wakanda, even way back in the Phase 1 days. Mind = blown.
Which MCU film is your favorite? Are you mad no one picked Thor: The Dark World? Why did Natalie Portman get no love? Let us know what you think in the comments below, and be sure to check out the Crystal Ball edition of Avengers Week for all of the best predictions of how the endgame goes down.
