An Antihero's Anecdote

Ant-Man

by 1 Comment


Be careful not to miss this post, because you may just miss the amazing Ant-Man. Whether when talking about the scientist Hank Pym, or the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s main mantle in reformed criminal Scott Lang, the molecular hero has grown in the hearts of the fans. Ant-Man, like Black Panther, has a standalone movie (although Ant-Man has a sequel with his significant other, the Wasp aka Hope Van Dyne Pym), supported by a guest role in Civil War, and then a major role in the concluding Avengers movies, in Ant-Mans case, Avengers: Endgame. I personally love both Ant-Man and Ant-Man and the Wasp and count them as some of the best Marvel movies ever created, and the casting of Paul Rudd as Scott Lang and Michael Douglas as Hank Pym only places an enormous cherry on the already genetically-enlarged cake. However, the films’ plots are lacking, in my opinion, compared to some of the other Marvel films, but with good reason. These films implement so many different characters that all grow into special characters of their own, establishing the stand-alone movies as an extraordinary roll call and introduction for characters, rather than create the tales to astonish.

The first Ant-Man sees Scott Lang is released from prison, as Lang had tried to get through life through burglary, and meets his friends Luis, Dave, and Kurt. He also sees his daughter, Cassie Lang who Scott tries to turn his life around for. He is told by his ex-wife, Maggie who is now married to the cop named Jim Paxton, who arrested Lang, that if he can pay child support, he can get visitation rights. This results in Lang’s attempt at a job at Baskin Robbins. He is fired after his past as a convict is discovered, and hired by a shady figure to break into the Pym household and to steal the Ant-Man suit and Pym particles. As it turns out, the shady figure was Pym, attempting to train a new Ant-Man to infiltrate and foil the plans made by Darren Cross, the protege of Hank Pym, and the new CEO of Pym technologies, following the expulsion of Pym. Pym’s daughter, Hope, is also a part of the plan as she is a double agent as Cross’ secretary. The movie is rather short in the story, but each character’s personal story is what makes the movie fantastic. Cross, for instance, always lived in the shadow of Hank Pym, the original Ant-Man. Pym had been one of the founding scientists in S.H.I.E.L.D. and the scientist behind the Pym particle, which could shrink or enlarge the object it comes in contact with. After Pym retired from S.H.I.E.L.D. and started his own company, he refused to sell the technology of the Pym particle, which upset Cross. Cross wanted to sell a brand new shrinking suit, filled with flight capabilities and weaponry known as the “Yellowjacket”. However, Cross wants to sell the suit to the highest bidder, which the two competing for that title are the Ten Rings, the terrorist organization hired to kill Tony Stark, or HYDRA, the double-crossing Nazi organization hidden within the ranks of S.H.I.E.L.D. Hope and Hank train Lang, who had been gifted the suit by Pym to infiltrate his old laboratory, and he completes his mission. Lang stops the sale and loses one of his best friends in the process, Ant-thony. Ant-thony was an ant that, through the Ant-Man suit, was able to understand LAngs commands, and served as the steed foe, Lang. Cross ultimately fires a shot at Ant-Man, killing Ant-thony in the process. Only Marvel can make you cry over an ant, that has no lines or differences from any other ant, besides a pun for a name. It is also worth noting that Ant-thony was in fact, a female ant. Lang then fights Yellowjacket across San Francisco’s rural areas, including his daughter’s bedroom, where Cross eventually holds Cassie hostage. Lang shrinks at an exponential rate entering the Quantum Realm, in order to be so small that he can destroy the Yellowjacket suit from inside. Lang was told the whole movie to not attempt this, but he attempted it and survived. Shocker. Scott is able to enter a romantic relationship with Hope, restore his peace with Maggie and Cassie, and his return from the Quantum Realm would slingshot the plot of the next stand-alone movie, with even more characters and personal stories to tell! Hurray! But first, Captain America needs help from Lang and is wanted in an abandoned airfield in Germany. I wonder how that story pans out.

Ant-Man plays a minimal role in Captain America: Civil War, but his existence in the film results in the predicaments in Ant-Man and the Wasp. Ant-Man is enlisted by Captain America to fight Iron Man and his allies while Bucky and Steve Rogers can escape. Ant-Man shrinks to fit in Iron Man’s suit and disable it, and also grows really big to cause a distraction for Cap and the Winter Soldier to escape. Lang is defeated using the snow speeder method around the At-Ats from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, from another beautiful Disney franchise, and arrested at a supermax prison in the middle of the sea. Captain America later comes back and breaks his team out, except Lang and Hawkeye who stay back and make a deal with the FBI to go under house arrest and see their families again. This house-arrest is where the next movie, Ant-Man and the Wasp, begins.

This movie may be one of my favorite in the MCU, and for good reason. The history and the character’s personal motives throughout the film impress me alongside a much better plot than the first film. The movie introduces a more in-depth look at the original Wasp, Hank Pym’s wife Janet, and the connection to the Quantum Realm. During a mission, the Wasp had attempted the same method as Ant-Man used to break into Yellowjacket’s suit, to destroy a nuclear missile. She sacrificed her life (or so we thought) and was sent into the Quantum Realm, the smallest possible state that something could be in. Ant-Man and Janet van Dyne were entwined due to their common presence in the Quantum Realm, which presented an opportunity for Hank and Hope to find their lost relative. However, due to Ant-Mans actions in Germany alongside Captain America, Pym and his daughter were fugitives, and used an abandoned lab, worked on by massive ants, and constructed with shrunken and enlarged objects such as massive lego blocks, or the entire lab being easily shrunken and transported like a suitcase. Ant-Man is undergoing a house arrest while his friends begin work at their new job X-Con Security Consultants, where the former criminals teach organizations how to be safe due to their prior knowledge as a thief. The Wasp, now Hope van Dyne, searches for technology to build a quantum tunnel, so that she can rescue her mother, but is confronted by the main antagonist, Ghost. Ghost, or Ava Starr, was the victim of a quantum accident that claimed the lives of both her parents and gained powers that rendered her molecularly intangible and was enlisted by S.H.I.E.L.D. as a special forces operative. She was taken under the wing of Bill Foster, the original Goliath (Very big man, opposite of Ant-Man) after S.H.I.E.L.D. fell from HYDRA. Ghost and Foster planned to steal the quantum tunnel, as it had the ability to cure Ghost of her disease, which were misrepresented as superpowers. X-Con, meanwhile, was under fire from Sonny Burch, another person who wanted the quantum tunnel, but instead to make a profit off of the research inside. Due to truth serum, which was not really truth serum, but it was, (To be honest, the movie never explains whether truth serum exists or not), but nonetheless, X-con defeated Burch, and gained recognition for it, skyrocketing their startup business. Meanwhile, Hank travels to the quantum realm to save his wife, which he finds and narrowly escapes with, before being attacked by microscopic creatures, which obviously were much bigger in this realm. They escape, and Ghost breaks down in emotion after seeing the tunnel destroyed, and her opportunity wasted. However, Janet’s touch temporarily cured Ghost, as she had been infused with the Quantum Realm’s power for a multitude of years. The movie ends with a happy and sad ending. Ant-Man goes back into the Quantum Realm to retrieve more quantum particles for their new friend, Ghost. While in the Quantum Realm, Thanos snapped in Wakanda, making Hope, Janet, and Hank all vanish into dust, unable to retrieve Scott and leaving him there for five years into Avengers: Endgame, where a mysterious rat set off a chain of events that would ultimately save the universe.

The final decision on the universe’s fate is based on a rat. Inadvertently. While the van that was harboring the Quantum Tunnel and entrapping Scott for the past five years was in storage, a rat opened the portal back up, bringing Lang back to normal size. Lang discovered that the five years on Earth that saw the havoc of Thanos, was only a few hours in his mindset. He saw his eleven-year-old daughter as a grown teenager and the tragedy that had struck his community, only to discover that his name was counted as one of those lost by the snap. He contacts the Avengers, and introduces the idea of time travel, or a time heist, and use the Pym particles and the Quantum Tunnel to travel back in time, retrieve the stones from past timelines (as Thanos had destroyed the current ones) and revert the snap and bring back the lives lost. Ant-Man joins Captain America and Iron Man retrieve Loki’s staff and the Tesseract at the Battle of New York in the original Avengers. The Pym particles are at low quantities, and when the Tesseract is lost to Loki, the two heads of the Avengers go back to an old Army base where Peggy Carter and Howard Stark had been working. The original Ant-Man, or Hank Pym, is seen with the original suit which is exactly like the one in the comics. The Pym particles from old Hank are stolen, along with the Tesseract apprehended by S.H.I.E.L.D., and are used to return home, restore the lives lost, and battle Thanos. Ultimately, Scott Lang’s idea of time travel, Tony Stark’s development of the technology to do so, Hulk’s experimentation, or Pym’s Pym Particles can be attributed with gifting the opportunity of rebirth and avenging in Avengers: Endgame, but I think we can all agree, the unnamed rat that freed Scott Lang is the true hero of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The Ant-Man franchise is one of the best in my opinion, and the characters of the Pym-Van Dyne family (Hank, Hope, Janet), Ghost, Bill Foster, and the Langs (Scott and Cassie) make the movies so tender for the audience’s heartstrings, and the humor, action, and compassion shared between the characters exemplifies how fantastic these movies are. The comics are vastly different, often focusing on Hank Pym, who is Tony Stark’s age, and his tenure as Ant-Man. Scott Lang is also mentioned frequently in comic books but is not necessarily the main helm of Ant-Man as we see in the movies. One of the coolest fun facts about the comic version of Ant-Man is that Hank Pym, not Banner and Stark, created the sociopathic murder bot known as Ultron. Ant-Man is confirmed to have a third movie, and I will Venmo all of the commenters 5$ if the title ends up being “Ant-Man and The Wasp and Ghost”. The villain is rumored to be Kang the Conqueror, a time-traveling dictator who travels throughout time and space and conquers various planets, civilizations, and even universes. This will be an exciting battle, and an even better movie than the other two, if all that I think will happen happens. No matter how strong Kang is, no villain is too big (literally) for the adventures and shenanigans of Ant-Man and company.

 

“Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?” -Ant-Man to Yellowjacket before their final battle

 

 

 

Black Panther

by 3 Comments

Before breaking down and reviewing Black Panther, I would like to take the time to recognize and celebrate the triumphs and glory that was Chadwick Boseman. The Black Panther actor, who also played Jackie Robinson in 42 as well as many other roles, was a symbol not only to Marvel or the black community but the world as a whole. His passing was something that fans of his saw coming for a while after rumors spread of his drastic weight loss, lack of exercise and nutrition, and other signs of sickness. Boseman had battled through colon cancer and even continued to film some of the spectacular Black Panther scenes whilst undergoing treatment. This blog post is long overdue, but I wanted to take the time to really study Black Panther for Chadwick and his performance. Rest in peace to a legend and a role model of mine, you will always be our king.

Black Panther was the hit we never saw coming. Although many were excited for the solo movie, following the spectacular performance of the character in Captain America: Civil War, the story, along with subtle comedy and tragedy, infused itself within lovable characters and pure African culture to make the Marvel Studio’s top-5 highest-grossing films and the highest non-Avengers movies in the category. The movie inspired (and featured) many implements of African and African American culture, featuring actual natives from African tribes as some of the citizens of Wakanda, hot songs from popular artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Future, The Weeknd, Travis Scott, and many more. Importantly, Black Panther used the past of T’Challa’s father, T’Chaka, and his cousin, Erik Killmonger, and his mentor, Yuri, to express the hardships of the slums and African Americans in big cities, such as Oakland, California. The movie educates and inspires many young Americans and Marvel fans to persevere the hardships present in the movie, while also presenting a great source of entertainment for the audience. Black Panther takes place following Captain America: Civil War and the character Black Panther does not appear in a movie until Avengers: Infinity War, and then again in Avengers: Endgame.

Prince T’Challa is introduced alongside his father King T’Chaka representing the nation of Wakanda at the United Nations meeting regarding the Sokovia Accords (or the laws set to jurisdiction superheroes following the tragedy of Sokovia in Avengers: Age of Ultron. For a more in-depth description, read our article on Iron Man). King T’Chaka is also the protector of Wakanda, known as the Black Panther. Here, the terrorist known as Helmut Zemo blows the UN building to pieces, killing many inside including King T’Chaka. Zemo had posed as the Winter Soldier, provoking the newly-kinged T’Challa to don the Black Panther mantle and hunt the Winter Soldier alongside Iron Man. As the movie progresses, T’Challa realizes his mistake, and while preventing Zemo from killing himself and face persecution, gives protection to Bucky Barnes in Wakanda as the White Wolf.

Following the events in Civil War, T’Challa returns to Wakanda to be crowned king. We see three important storylines immediately after that follow throughout the film, and that makes this movie as acclaimed as it is. The first is the history and culture of Wakanda and the Black Panther. The Black Panther is a mantle passed down by generation, to the king or queen of Wakanda. We learn that Wakanda began when a meteoroid of Vibranium crashed into an area of Wakanda. Five tribes settled on the meteoroid and clashed with each other. These five tribes still exist in modern Wakanda. These tribes are the River tribe, which T’Challa’s family is designated from, the Mining Tribe, the Merchant Tribe, the Border Tribe, and the Jabari. One of these is obviously not like the other, and for good reason as well. The Jabari do not worship the same god as the other four tribes. The Jabari worship Hanuman, an ape-like creature, whose faith is primordial, keeping the Jabari from using the technological advancements of vibranium, and based solely on tradition and brute strength. The Jabari are outcasts, living outside of Wakanda in the mountains, led by M’Baku, or the Man-Ape. The other four tribes worship Bast, the panther goddess. It is the legend that Bast led a shaman to a heart-shaped herb that granted him the powers and abilities of a panther, thus leading this shaman to become the first Black Panther. The four tribes that worship Bast agreed to be ruled under one united Wakanda, and all had equal rights and trial to insert a new king of Wakanda. The Jabari refused to be led by Bast, and thus seceded to the mountains. This establishes the culture and the tradition of the Wakandan civilization. The future of Wakanda rests in the hands of these tribes as Okoye, part of the Border tribe and the police force known as the Dora Milaje, clash with her boyfriend W’Kabi, also part of the border tribe, over the legality and rightfulness of Killmonger’s leadership. Okoye’s side wins, with an assist from T’Challa and the Jabari, and W’Kabi is arrested for his treachery towards Wakanda. The tribes, including the Jabari, conclude the film agreeing that T’Challa is the best fit for the mantle of Black Panther and king of Wakanda.

The next storyline is that of Erik Killmonger. Killmonger is the unknown cousin of T’Challa, birthed when T’Chaka’s brother, Prince N’Jobu, went to America, fell in love with a woman there, and radicalized due to the opportunity and hardships of American society. One of these opportunities is to sell out Wakanda, a hidden civilization, to Ulysses Klaue, who infiltrates, steals and takes lives from the Wakandans. When T’Chaka tries to arrest his brother, who had been being spied on by fellow Wakandan Zuri, N’Jobu tries to kill his undercover best friend. T’Chaka intervenes, killing his brother. Killmonger finds his father’s dead body with claw marks on his chest and grew up resenting the Wakandan society, specifically the bloodline of T’Chaka. Killmonger grows up as an MIT student and a Navy Operative, marking his body with every kill he makes, growing up to try and uncover the truth of Wakanda and his related past. He teams up with his father’s old partner, Klaue, and begins stealing vibranium around the world, although with different intentions. We eventually see Killmonger challenge T’Challa’s kingship, and ultimately defeating the Black Panther (temporarily), and assuming the role of King and Black Panther (although he dons the Golden Jaguar suit), and destroying the rest of the heart-shaped herb preventing any more Black Panther’s to exist again. Killmonger dies to T’Challa’s hand when battling in the climax of the movie, overlooking all of Wakanda. Killmonger’s soul was always in the right place, but hate and emotion ruled his life due to the oppression faced by his skin color and the qualities of life stolen from him when his father died.

The final storyline present within the film is that of T’Challa himself. T’Challa is unlike most character arcs, where he is not learning to be a good person, or how to do the right thing, but instead learn how to govern a country. His role as the Black Panther, as impressive as it may be, is not the key factor when discussing T’Challas character progression. He learns how to be a king, and how to make decisions that would benefit the country of Wakanda, and the world as well. The Black Panther already protected the entire continent of Africa from illegalities such as human trafficking and smuggling, but now as a political leader, T’Challa has to make important decisions on and off the battleground. This has never been seen before as the only character who balances between the lives of an influencer and political/economical leader and a superhero was Iron Man, but even before Stark’s death in Endgame, he had forfeited his role in the company to his future wife, Pepper Potts. The balance between the two proves that T’Challa is not only a great man but an excellent leader and hero, who puts the needs of his people before his own and succeeds every day of doing so. He makes mistakes, such as, you know, almost dying and being thrown over a waterfall by Killmonger, but he eventually makes up for it when he saves the country. T’Challa’s juggle of personalities is, at least for me, the most interesting plot in the film, especially as it is not the most apparent. By the time Avengers: Infinity War comes around. T’Challa had adapted well to his becoming as king and formed a strong bond between the tribes, proving to already be one of the strongest leaders and Black Panthers of Wakanda. T’Challa also finds hope, inspiration, and a self-restoration of honor whilst talking to his father and the past Black Panthers in the Astral Dimension, where he draws the strength and the courage to be the afore-mentioned best leaders of Wakanda.

 

 

In Avengers: Infinity War, Black Panther plays minor roles but has much importance. Serving as the site where the Avengers plan to remove the Mind Stone from Vision’s forehead, as well as the battleground full of Chitauri aliens, the Black Order and Thanos, facing the Wakandans and the Avengers while T’Challa’s sister Zuri proceeds Vision’s operation. T’Challa is also seen presenting Bucky Barnes with a new arm made of vibranium, the substance Captain America’s shield is made from and the number one resource in Wakanda. Although the protagonists fight a valiant battle, Thanos retrieves the Mind Stone and performs the inevitable snap. Black Panther is one of the confirmed deceased as he tries to rescue his friend Okoye from the ground. Okoye remains vital to operations in the Avengers following the snap, leading Wakanda in the absence of their king. Boseman makes his final live-action appearance in the MCU as the Black Panther during the Portals scene of Avengers: Endgame where he joins the fight, along with all the Wakandan warriors, against Thanos and his army. King T’Challa, alongside his family, also attend Tony Stark’s funeral during the movie’s conclusion.

Chadwick Boseman and T’Challa are not done yet for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The new series on Disney+ called What If? features an episode that stars Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa as the leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy, Star-Lord. However, as the series is not out yet, there is very little information regarding the episode, or even the series itself. It is unknown as well what Marvel Studios plans to do with the Black Panther franchise, and the mantle itself, but they do intend to keep Boseman in mind when making the decision. Whatever Marvel decides to do, we will always remember the legacy outlined in only four movies, by Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa. I still can not believe it is true, but rest in peace Chadwick, and Wakanda Forever!

 

 

“I never yielded! And as you can see: I am not dead!” -King T’Challa, challenging Erik Killmonger for his kingship

 

 

 

Cosmic Ghost Rider

by 2 Comments

“Frank Castle was a decorated Marine and an upstanding citizen when his family was killed in a mob hit. From that day, he was a force of retribution… until he died.”

These are the first words written in one of my favorite comic book series of all time. I believe this is the perfect way to start the comics segment, by introducing an oddball character who most of you have never heard of. This is about Punisher (or Frank Castle), on a whole new level. The next few lines sum it up, slightly:

“and then returned as the Ghost Rider, Spirit of Vengeance. And then became Galactus’ Herald. And then came to be the black right hand of Thanos. And then he died for real.

It’s important to know your past, and as in Cosmic Ghost Rider (2018), the issues we will be using, the facts are not as revealed as others. However, a glimpse in the past is given at the beginning of issue 1, which I will summarize so you may read on with as little confusion as possible. The following words are presented in order: Soldier (Castle was a US Marine), Dead Family (Castle’s whole family was murdered in a mob hit intended for him), War on Terror (Castle fights crime as the Punisher), Death (whilst fighting Thanos, Hulk is slammed into a building and Castle dies under the debris), Hell (He goes to hell. Not much more here), Spirit of Vengeance (Castle makes a deal with the Devil to become Ghost Rider, a mythical being sent to punish criminals and evil people on Earth), Madness (Castle is resurrected on a barren Earth following Thano’s desolation. Castle has no one to love or even talk to), Devourer (Castle meets Galactus, and offers him the Earth’s energy for a price…), Cosmic Power (That’s the price, along with partnership looking to defeat Thanos), Thanos (After Galactus is beaded, Castle becomes Thano’s right hand man and servant), Death (Castle helps Thanos appease the character Death, who Thanos is madly in love with), Death (Castle is killed by The Fallen One, a corrupted Silver Surfer and former partner of Galactus, with Mjolnir). Following these events, our story begins.

Issue One begins with Frank Castle in Valhalla, brawling with a minor Norse god who is boasting about his war victories, which most were over children and orphans. Castle is distasteful at the puny god, as well as the fact that he is brought back to Valhalla. Castle has an altercation with Odin, the god of the gods, explaining how Castle had been waiting for punishment and penance, but he yet again is given another chance at a good life, something his family was never given. Odin unveils a secret to Frank, showing him a plethora of weapons, and the Ghost Rider’s motorcycle, as well as the ability to travel to any time and planet in the known universe. Castle decides to go to Titan so that he may kill the youth Thanos before he evolves into a monster. He then is attacked by the young Thanos, who is counter-attacked by the Rider’s penance stare, where the victim sees all the pain and hurt he or she has inflicted amongst the world. As Thanos was only a child, he had committed no evil acts and was spared death for a moment. The Rider weighed his options between killing the child or leaving him be but then decided on an alternative. He steals Baby Thanos and escapes into the cosmos, leading into the second issue.

Issue Two introduces the plot, as the Rider takes Baby Thanos to a bar in a distant and doomed planet, where Galactus arrives about to do what he does best. Devour the planet. Galactus tries to kill Rider, as he does not recognize his future ally (time travel does things to people, even world-sized devourers of planets), but after Galactus witnessed Castle survive cosmic power, he dug into Castle’s mind and read him every memory. Galactus and Rider discuss their alliance while flying sharks appear to form the planet, trying to stop Galactus. The sharks are, obviously, disintegrated, which follows a heated discussion between the two allies about killing or rehabilitating Thanos. The Watcher, a primordial being that sees all of everything, comes down to witness what he calls “one of the greatest mistakes in history”, in which Frank Castle raises Thanos, the Mad Titan. Castle uses a variety of expletives as he walks away from the two cosmic entities, and is blasted out of the sky by a group hunting down Thanos, led by the time-traveler Cable, and who call themselves the Guardians of the Galaxy.

 

Rider and Thanos running from the Guardians of the Galaxy, consisting of some oddball characters (we will talk about that later), while the Watcher of everything watches this all unfold as the hellfire and cosmic infused time jumper steals a baby mass murderer and plans to raise it. This is why I, and why you should love comic books. These Guardians consist of JuggerDuck, which is Howard the Duck and Juggernaut mixed, which quite frankly, is the crossover I never wanted, but never knew how bad I needed, Kamala Khan, but instead of Miss Marvel, she is Captain America with Steve Roger’s former shield, Jubilee (a well-known X-Man with pyrotechnic abilities) and (my personal favorite) Iron Rocket, a suit built and worn by Rocket Raccoon, based off of Iron Man, but the suit is made from Groot. These guardians are from the future that Castle creates when he raises baby Thanos. Galactus comes raining down on the Guardians and disintegrates them all. Goodbye Juggerduck and Iron Rocket. Galactus prevents harm from Rider while still intending to kill Thanos. Cable is somehow alive, time travels, and works with Hank Pym (Ant-Man) for twenty years, where he then shrinks down Galactus, uses him as ammunition, and fires his gun at the cosmos. Again, I say. You should all read comic books. Cable time travels AGAIN with a whole new group of Guardians, such as Gambit, The Thing, and numerous others, and they continue to chase the Rider. Castle tosses Thanos to the Watcher as a temporary “sitter”. curses a few times, and kills all of the Guardians of the Galaxy. In case this was unclear, Cable time travels multiple times, getting new members every time, making the Guardians ranks over hundreds in total, and Castle fends off each one single-handedly. Some of the most prevalent and powerful heroes in Marvel history are destroyed by a newly-adoptive father, as baby Thanos watches the carnage. She-Hulk stands as one of three Guardians left, along with Cable, and knocks out the Rider. Castle wakes up to baby Thanos finishing the job, beating a dead Cable with his own cybernetic arm. Rider, being the good father he is, chastises his new son for murdering, and then listens to Cable’s warning of the next Thanos being much worse. A time-traveling fully-grown Thanos in a Punisher outfit then appears, blasting the head off of cable, referring to the Rider as a dad. I know this issue was longer than the others, but it was so much worth the read and enjoyment, and to believe we’re only halfway there!

Older Thanos, known in this series now as The Punisher, brings his younger self and the Rider back to the timeline where The Punisher and Ghost Rider reigned. They created a happy life, at first, for those in their realm, by keeping everyone safe and deterred from crime. However the Rider sees smoke billowing over a cliff, and seeing past the utopia, he sees the crippled city, full of blimps watching with the Punisher logo equipped, watching for survivors of the destruction. Rider screams at The Punisher, chastising him for dishonoring his memory. In this timeline, Castle had perished after finally ridding his body of cosmic power and the Ghost Rider, and lived out a happy life with his family, who Thanos saved when the mob hit arrived. Castle refuses to believe this, and upsets his adopted son, and starts screaming that he is trapped in a loop of servitude to his son. He picks up Baby Thanos and attempts to kill him, but The Punisher shoots him with eye laser beams (no I do not know how they got their either) and beats his father over the grave of his father. The Punisher offers a deal, instead of killing Castle for not wanting to rule the world together, then Thanos will be king and Castle will be his herald. Now I am interested as baby Thanos is seeing how screwed up his future self is, and it has me wondering if maybe the child will change his own fate to prevent being a homicidal maniac.

Looking at his past and all the terrible (and few good things that Frank gives himself credit for) things he has done, Castle begins to examine his conscience. Even stating he has sold every bit of his soul and committed every sin, Castle looks around seeing the destruction and pain he has caused, mostly to himself. He tells himself it’s ok to make mistakes, as long as you make them once. BOOM! Sorry. Anyways, Castle uses his cosmic powers, and instead of taking The Punisher’s hand, blasts him into the destroyed city below them, as baby Thanos falls laughing next to Frank. Thinking it is a ride and enjoying himself, baby Thanos wants to be blasted by cosmic energy yet again, and honestly, I can understand the excitement. Rider asks his newly adopted son (Baby Thanos in this case), to not watch as Rider finishes off Thanos. The Punisher lands in front of his sentries (guards roaming the city looking for criminals) while he faces off the Rider. Thanos remembers the last time his father and him fought, and it was about the city being built and Thanos enslaving Castle. In that fight, Rider loses and dies. Rider emits a huge blast of cosmic energy, which destroys the city, but instead of killing Thanos, leaves him bare naked, which in my opinion is scarier than when he was clothed. The Rider takes The Punisher, and emits more energy, melting his skin and flesh, and then removing his s skull from his body, before crushing it in his hand. Castle subsequently frees the city, meeting Hope, a teammate, and tinkerer of Cable’s. She hands him a box to give to Cable (not knowing his head was blown off), as Frank Castle and his wife from the past find baby Thanos. Baby Thanos pees his pants and announces it for everyone to hear. The Rider takes Baby Thanos back telling his past self to “never beg” and the returns to the past using what was in the box, one of Cable’s time jumpers. The easy ending, Rider goes to put baby Thanos back so that the future he saw may never happen, but of course, nothing could be that simple. Death (the character) confronts Castle outside Thanos’ room, thanking Castle for teaching the boy how to kill. Death states that Thanos is her instrument of Death in the mortal world, and nothing would be able to change that, and thus ends the Cosmic Ghost Rider series. For Now. Cosmic Ghost Rider continues his path in a new comic series, known as the Guardians of the Galaxy, which is funny because that was my next stop too.

 

For anyone willing or wanting to read Cosmic Ghost Rider (2018) and a plethora of other comics, I use comicpunch.net to read for no price at all. Fair warning, some of the banner advertisements on the website are quite vulgar but are easily avoidable, and sometimes are not present. Leave a comment with any suggestions or any help if needed!

 

 

Iron Man

by 3 Comments

You already know who he is. Genius. Billionaire. Philanthropist. Playboy. The forefather of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel Studios would have gone bankrupt had it not been for the success of Iron Man. The one who made the ultimate sacrifice so save the entire universe from an unstoppable cosmic being. But, before he took on the mantle of Iron Man and a major Avenger, Tony Stark was a witty billionaire MIT graduate who took the helm of his father’s weapons manufacturing business, Stark Industries. After a trip to the Middle East forced Tony to fight for survival against the terrorist organization of The Ten Rings, Iron Man became a reality. The real questions about Iron Man aren’t about whether or not he was a hero or a leader, but instead should be focused on what made Tony the legend that he will be immortalized for being. Iron Man’s influence in certain films built up his mantle as a hero, whilst also growing with his family and teammates.

It started in that cave in Iron Man. Tony had just been bombarded by the Ten Rings, a terrorist organization hired by Obadiah Stane (Tony’s partner at Stark Industries who acted as CEO before Tony was old enough to claim his entitlement) to kill Tony. Instead, the Ten Rings imprisoned Stark, forcing him to recreate one of his most destructive weapons, the Jericho missile. Tony had nearly died, though, with shrapnel nearing his heart about to kill him at any moment, and an electromagnet connected to a battery was keeping the metal just far away enough from Stark’s heart. The cave is where Tony met Yinsen, a scientist whose family was murdered by the Ten Rings, and forced to help Tony. Instead, they built a miniature arc reactor to power the magnet indefinitely, keeping Tony Stark alive and without worry. This arc reactor would also serve as a power source for the Mark 1, the makeshift suit built by Yinsen and Tony so that Tony could fight out of the cave, whilst Yinsen could die and finally reunite with his family. They did just that, and Yinsen’s death was the first factor for Tony, as he saw the destruction caused by his weapons. Tony halted weapons production at Stark Industries and began to build the next suit to establish world peace. Tony’s mission as Iron Man was successful until Obadiah built a massive suit based on the design of the Mark 1 remnants, and caused Tony and Obadiah to fight it out over the massive arc reactor at Stark Industries. Stane in the Iron Monger suit falls through the roof and is shocked to death by the arc reactor, and talks of Iron Man spread throughout the news. S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement Logistics Division) gave Tony a fake alibi and tell the news he knew nothing of who Iron Man truly was. Tony said four words that completely changed the world, and started the cinematic universe: “I am Iron Man”.

Iron Man 2 is a much shorter tale to tell for Tony’s character arc. Importantly, Tony is dying due to palladium (the substance used to power/build the arc reactor in his chest) poisoning. He again sees the effects of his weaponry in bad hands, this time in Anton Vanko, a scientist who worked alongside Howard Stark with the arc reactor, and his son Ivan Vanko who built an electric whip suit, and called himself Whiplash. Whiplash almost kills Tony and destroys a drag race in South America, before Tony wears the Mark V suit, which acted as a suitcase for easy transport. We also saw the debut of Black Widow, who posed as secretary to spy on Tony for S.H.I.E.L.D. Tony faces Congress who tries to apprehend the Iron Man suit whilst Tony’s rival Justin Hammer is introduced, and would later format the stoled Mark 2 suit into War Machine. War Machine is apprehended by Colonel Jame Rhodes while Tony is in the middle of multiple drunken misdemeanors inside the Iron Man suit. Rhodes takes the suit back to the Air Force base, and we meet two new people. Director Nick Fury and Agent Phil Coulson, both of S.H.I.E.L.D. They put Tony on house arrest and some videos of Howard Stark’s failed takes for the Stark Expo. Tony in turn uses this motivation to create a new element, which was suitable to power and sustain the arc reactor. Pepper Potts,  Tony’s former assistant and now new CEO of Stark Industries, and Happy Hogan are at the Stark Expo, where Justin Hammer introduces a fleet of military robots to replace the lives in the armed forces. They go rogue, due to Whiplash hacking them, and Iron Man and War Machine team up to take them down. They then defeat Whiplash who is in a large metal suit, and one with a martyrdom bomb inside of it. Rhodey and Tony evacuate the expo, and Tony snatches up Pepper, brings her to a roof, and confesses his love to her. Tony learns who his friends are, who his allies are, and learns that he is stronger then he thinks.

The Avengers is next, leading to Tony’s trust issues, friendships, and important arcs throughout the movie. Tony and his new team, the Avengers are sent to apprehend Loki, the Nordic god of mischief and brother of Thor. After Loki is caught, his brother Thor tries to capture him to try him is Asgard for his crimes. Instead, Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America clash in their first meeting. These two individuals will become Tony’s brothers, standing by him until his untimely death. Tony and the rest of the Avengers clash at the helm of the Helicarrier, Nick Fury’s flying headquarters, while Loki’s minions break him out. Loki then opens a portal for the Chitauri, an alien race with an otherworldly overlord, over Stark Tower. The Avengers valiantly battle them off, with Captain America and Iron Man calling the shots. Iron Man then finds Loki in his upper-level 0f the tower, and they exchange words while Tony tries to get Loki to stand down. The Chitauri are broken down, but a nuke from the world council is flown in to destroy New York and the invaders along with it. Tony picks up the nuke mid-flight and flies it into the portal, redirecting it towards the Chitauri mothership, destroying it and disabling all the aliens left on Earth. Tony barely falls through the portal as it closes, and freefalls towards New York. Tony refuses to wake up until Hulk roars, restarting Tony’s body and taking in a gasp of air. Tony suggests the team tries shawarma after all deals are dealt with, and Loki is arrested and transported to Asgard, while the Avengers immediately gain fame and recognition for their acts of heroism

Heroism and more fame aside, PTSD and anxiety get the better of Tony in Iron Man 3, the wrap-up of the Iron Man stand-alone movies. Iron Man stands up against the leader of the Ten Rings, the Mandarin. In turn, Iron Man’s home in Malibu is bombed, and while Pepper is able to make it out alive, Tony falls through the base, barely being able to equip his suit, and emergency transported to Tennessee. He finds a barn to stock up in and recuperates, happening to be the home of Harley. Harley teams up with Iron Man to discover the weird remnants of Extremis, a regenerative drug that Tony discovered was causing internal combustion. Harley in turn reminds Tony that he is Iron Man, not the suit and that Tony could tinker with some items and in turn bring down the Mandarin. Iron Man breaks into the Mandarin’s complex to discover Trevor, an actor hired to portray the Mandarin. Tony’s past comes to haunt him as Aldrich Killian, a prospector to Tony at a young age who was ignored and bullied while Tony partied, turned out to be the true Mandarin.  Killian had used the Extremis serum to become stronger and tried to kill the president to make a statement of power. Tony remotely activates all of his suits to fight the Extremis soldiers, and an Extremis-injected Pepper Potts helps Tony destroy Killian, while Rhodey saves the president from the Iron Patriot (repainted War Machine) suit. Tony realizes he built over fifty suits out of pure anxiety of what is unprepared. He chooses to love Pepper, not to stress over the unexplainable. He destroys all of his suits, gets surgery to remove the arc reactor and the shrapnel, and moves on to his life with Pepper, quoting once again that he could lose all of his suits, but Tony Stark is still Iron Man.

Tony Stark starts his reign of wanting to extinguish the Avengers by ensuring the protection of the world, in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Tony’s Iron Legion robots would be controlled by a supreme artificial intelligence known as Ultron. The Avengers party following the defeat of a Hydra base, after Dr. Bruce Banner and Tony successfully build Ultron. Ultron assumes the bodies of the Iron Legion and attacks the Avengers. Tony’s shield of armor around the world is now trying to kill him. Ultron escapes through the internet to find a factory in Sokovia to manufacture and build bodies to be in. Ultron tries to build a living body for himself, using Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, two twins infused with powers due to the mind stone inside of Loki’s staff. Ultron uses the mind stone and vibranium to build the body he plans to live eternally in. Wanda Maximoff, known as Scarlet Witch, uses her powers to bring out everyone’s greatest fears. Tony sees the Avengers dead, everything destroyed with only him alive. Captain America comes alive for a second to blame Tony for their destruction. The Avengers later track down Ultron to Sokovia, after the AI had lost his alliance with the Maximoff twins. Ultron uses rockets to propel Sokovia into the air, planning to drop it and make Earth extinct. The Avengers are able to create a lifeform, stealing the body and the stone from Ultron, known as Vision due to Thor’s vision of this hero. Iron Man’s artificial intelligence JARVIS is infused into the body, to give it a personality and an artificial soul. Vision and the Avengers hunt down every robot linked to Ultron and prevent an extinction-level event, but still, tens of thousands of lives are lost. The Avengers, and specifically  Tony Stark, are deemed dangerous and unregulated, thus leading directly into Captain America: Civil War.

Captain America: Civil War shows the fracture of the Avengers. After the proposed Sokovia Accords is given to the Avengers, Captain America and Iron Man quickly disagree about the legality and efficiency of it. The others quickly formulate into their groups about their opinions of the Accords. The United Nations is bombed by a man named Zemo, posing as Captain America’s best friend, the Winter Soldier. Iron Man confronts Team Captain America, and War Machine apprehends Cap, The Winter Soldier, and the Black Panther who is revealed to be King T’Challa of Wakanda. The Winter Soldier is mind-controlled by Zemo to break out and attack the Avengers. Tony plans to talk with Cap at an airport in Germany, but first, he enlists Spider-Man. In Spiderman’s stand-alone movie Spider-Man: Homecoming, Iron Man serves as a mentor to the young superhero and shows him the ropes (along with a brand new suit) of the lifestyle Peter Parker is now in. It is in this film that Tony also proposes to Pepper Potts, instead of revealing Spider-Man as an Avenger. Anyways, back to Civil War, the Avengers battle in Germany where Cap’s team is arrested except for himself, falcon, the winter soldier, and Tony’s turncoat, Black Widow, who the prior all escaped via quinjet. War Machine is paralyzed due to a mishit by Vision, and Tony becomes infuriated. Tony tracks down Cap, and they team up after agreeing that Bucky Barnes, or the Winter Soldier, had been framed. It is here that Tony learns that whilst being brainwashed, Bucky killed Tony’s parents, who were founding members of S.H.I.E.L.D. Iron Man continues to battle the two of them as Black Panther apprehends Zemo. The Winter Soldier’s prosthetic arm is blown off and Cap destroys Tony’s arc reactor leaving him immobile and leaving the shield that Tony’s father made for him. Cap leaves Tony a message, stating that he will always be there when Tony needs him, despite everything. This loyalty is tested as the Infinity Saga of the Marvel Cinematic Universe comes to its close.

Avengers: Infinity War is the turning point of Tony Stark’s character arc. Iron Man finally thought life was getting easier when the Black Order arrived on earth, and Doctor Stephen Strange warned that he needed help from Tony Stark to prevent Thanos from retrieving the infinity stones. These stones could manipulate the entire universe, and Thanos planned to wipe out half the universe to prevent total extinction. Tony, Spider-Man, and Doctor Strange travel through space, killing Ebony Maw, and meeting the Guardians of the Galaxy. This group meets on Titan, Thano’s home planet, where they try to defeat Thanos by using their combined powers to restrain him, put him to sleep, and steal the infinity gauntlet. After issues from Star-Lord, Thanos frees himself, defeating the Avengers and Guardians, stabbing Iron Man through the stomach, leaving him there to die. Tony heals himself with nanites as Thanos uses the gauntlet to teleport to Earth. Stranded alone on Titan, Tony has to think about Thanos telling him that he will die and that he hopes the rest of humanity remembers him for who he is. On Earth, Thanos snaps and wipes out half the universe. Everyone on Titan dies except for Tony and Nebula who now have to find their way home. Iron Man realizes he is not invincible. Tony realizes that he lost.

In Tony’s final appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe chronologically (he is expected to appear in the prequel Black Widow coming later this year), Avengers: Endgame shows Tony show the character he has become. Tony accepts death after his loss, as he and Nebula enter the spaceship left on Titan, and try tio ake it home. Thankfully to Captain Marvel, they make it home but with some negative effects. Tony is not healthy and he lashes out at Captain America for not being there when Tony needed him. Tony exclaims that they lost, and there is nothing left to do. Tony abandons his heroism, and he shows his growth as a person. Tony is no playboy trying to make money and have fun anymore, he has a daughter, Morgan and his wife Pepper. Tony refuses to help the Avengers in their endeavor to reverse the snap. Ant-Man comes into play and introduces the idea of time travel, and the genius to crack it? You guessed it. Tony Stark played with the idea of time travel after the Avengers again asked for his help, and figured out how to accomplish such a feature. Tony travels into his past literally and metaphorically to retrieve the stones and reverse Thano’s snap. Tony goes back to the Battle of New York to retrieve the tesseract, which contained the space stone. After his original plan fails, him and Cap go back to Fort Meade to retrieve more Pym particles to time travel, as well as the tesseract kept inside S.H.I.E.L.D. storage. Tony faced in New York, the source of his greatest anxiety, and at Fort Meade he encountered his disapproving father, Howard, who reveaed to him that Tony’s mother was pregnant, and that even though the kid is yet t be born, there is nothing he would not do for him. Tony overcomes these two triumphs, one due to swllpower and the other due to true happiness and realizing he was loved by his father. Tony takes the stone back to modern times where his own gauntlet accepts the stones, and Hulk reverses the snap. Thanos back from 2011 (take into account modern times for this film is set in 2023) follows the trail of the Avengers and invades the Avengers campus in upstate New York, bombarding the facility. The Avengers band together trying to find the stones while a much different Thor and Captain America join Iron Man in his final suit, the fully nanite accessible Mark 81, battle Thanos. Many callbacks are introduced, as Thor powers Iron Man’s suit with lightning, Cap weilds mjolnir and his shield breaks too. The gauntlet is thrown around the battlefield until Captain Marvel gets her hands on it, and she struggles with Thanos, who in turn rips out the power stone to punch her away. In a last effort chance, Iron Man grapples onto Thanos to steal the gauntlet but is thrown away into a stone. Thanos boasts stating that he is inevitable, only to snap and figure out the stones are missing. The nanites on Iron Man’s suit absorbed the stones from the gauntlet, and into his backhand of the Mark 81. This is Iron Man’s last moment, Tony’s swan song. After building the Avengers and proving himself to not be this filthy rich dirtbag, and instead a true hero. Iron Man looks at his greatest enemy, and instead of fear or anxiety in his veins, he feels victory (as well as the power of the strongest cosmic forces the universe has ever seen). “I am… Iron Man”. He snaps and Thanos and his forces are disintegrated. The Avengers win but Tony’s mortal body could not withstand the cosmic power. His mind collapses, and Tony passes away. In the uncut version of the film, every single hero on the battlefield (which was a lot) knelt for the mortal that saved the universe. Tony said his final goodbyes in a hologram presentation he recorded the day before the time heist, knowing he was not going to survive. He said goodbye to his daughter Morgan and stated how he loved her 3000. His funeral had appearances of some of the most prevalent Marvel heroes, even Harley from iron Man 3 all grown up. We say goodbye to a hero and an influence for the past decade or so. Tony’s character arc is one of the most beautiful and prevalent throughout all of movie history, and he will always be remembered as one of the greatest.

Tony Stark leaves a legacy throughout Marvel, even being a protagonist in Spider-Man: Far From Home in which he is already deceased before the movie begins. Tony Stark had audiences clinging on to their seats, laughing so hard that shawarma came out their nose, and in thevery end had entire tissue boxes empty. It feels weird how Tony Stark was able to show audiences a character that many already knew and still intrigue them enough to feel as though we knew him in real life. We all learn lessons, just as Tony did that made him the perfect example of a hero. Tony was a man of many words but he will always be remembered by his wit, his genius, and his simple statement that still makes sense even after his passing. I am Iron Man.

Nittany Lions. Assemble!

by 1 Comment

Welcome to “An Antihero’s Anecdote”, a blog dedicated completely and entirely to Marvel Studios! Comics, movies, TV shows, and even video games regarding Marvel are reviewed, broken down and posted here. Anyone is welcome to comment and discuss on my posts. Enjoy and have a marvelous day! (Press play for full Marvel immersion)

Skip to toolbar