Avengers: Age of Magneto?

Since the release of Avengers: Age of Ultron  I've had many friends and acquaintances want know what I thought about it. As you may know... Or I hop you do... I'm a bit of a comic nerd... Ok... Maybe obsessed... But I swear I'm not as bad as I once was!

Annnnyways..... Spoilers ahead! And I promise I'm not going to knit pick at this film about what it got "right/wrong" in terms of accuracy to comics. Believe it or not, I'm a comic purest that believes that film treatments only need to get the "soul" correct. Comics have an unfair advantage to film in that they get all the time in the world to set up plot points through meticulous and drawn out story arc's that typically create a continuous chain of events that all fall back to something else from years past... So with that said, last chance.

 ***Spoilers Below!***

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What if I told you that Avengers: Age of Ultron was really Marvel's way of producing an X-Men film without violating FOX's claim to the Mutant kingdom?

You may or may not be aware that the film rights to the X-Men franchise are owned by FOX Studios (much like Fantastic Four and Spider-man are owned by Sony), and as such, Disney/Marvel can't officially use mutants in their films. They can't even mention the word "mutant". There is a whole laundry list of things Marvel can't use in their films due to this legal choke hold. It really sucks. As much as I enjoyed the first 2 Bryan Singer X-Men films, it would be amazing to have a unified Marvel film universe... But that's an entirely separate blog to be written some other time... We're here to dissect the Avengers: Age of Magne...  I mean Ultron !

Ahh yes. Good Ole Ultron. I was really stoked when he was announced as the Avengers next Film Foe. His stories throughout the comics are quite rich with drama and despair. His abilities and ambitions are unique, and his threat level is astronomical. The sky was the limit... If you've seen the film you're either smiling or shaking your head at that adorable pun... Overall I was pleased with the execution of Ultron himself and the reach he had over the entire world, but what left me feeling empty was the unholy union of his story and that of another major Marvel baddie...

Magneto... Erik Magnus Lhensherr. The Master of Magnetism. The founder of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants - Proponent to evolution and the extermination of homo sapiens - but most importantly for my argument, the father of Pietro and Wanda Maximoff. Recognize those names?

The MCU & Avengers wonder twins make their cinematic debut in the new film. In the film they're  orphans out for revenge against Tony Stark for manufacturing the bombs that were dropped on their home and killing their normie (cinematic) parents. The twins are known to comic fans everywhere as Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch... Code names not mentioned in the film... Again, this is an issue that Marvel had to tip toe around... So lets break it down.

Pietro and Wanda make their comic debut in Uncanny X-Men #4 (1964).  Evil mutants following the orders of their father, Magneto. A year later in Avengers #16  they decide to break from Magneto's ranks are recruited to the Avengers thus beginning their tenure as heroes. They have been widely used in both the Avengers and X-Men titles, but are primarily thought of as Avengers. It's a fine creative line Marvel has to tow introducing the characters into the film.

In the film the twins are depicted as being volunteers to HYDRA for experiments and gain powers as the result of being exposed to the power of the Infinity Gem in Loki's staff. The nature of their powers were loosely explained, but also left open on purpose... Because who knows, maybe Marvel will have mutants one day?

So what does this have to do with Avengers 2 being an X-Men film? Ultron is a parallel for Magneto. A proxy if you will. 

To make it short and simple. He served as a brief  "father figure" to the twins. He gave them direction and lead them down a misguided path... And in the scene where they turn on him, he speaks openly about the evolution of the world. Evolve or die. Humans are the inferior species... The theme of Evolution is all over this film, and if you're a comic fan that should sound VERY familiar. The Master of Magnetism preaches a very similar sermon.

Ultron's powers could even be interpreted as to be a master manipulator of metal... He built android clones of himself and had and is obsessed with vibranium... And perhaps another parallel is when Sokovia is lifted into orbit it looked a lot like Asteroid M (Magento's Secret Base) to me. While none of this is a smoking gun to drive my point home, there is still a lot of symbolic pandering for people like me to cling to for such a notion to grip us.  

A tumultuous parent/child relationship is a classic plot mechanic and one that is used often in all forms of literature.I believe that Marvel used the two mutants they could and mapped out a story that echoed the presence of  their father Magneto. Call me crazy, but it's there. Joss Whedon is a master story teller and a true architect of subtle "Easter Eggs". If you ever watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer you'd know he's a maestro in the complexity of symbolism and story layering, so I'm clinging to this belief no matter how far fetched you might think it is!

Other East Eggs in the film that I noticed:

1. The Hulk leaves the team in the second movie... Much like he did after issue 2 of the Avengers.

2. Pietro dies. Maybe not an Easter Egg, but a necessary sacrifice to set up a few things... 1. Wanda being emotionally triggered and unleashing her raw power (House of M anyone?). 2. Validation for Wanda staying with the team. 3. Also he was a pretty disposable character, so his death seasoned the story for added dramatic effect.

3. The Vision saves Wanda and they briefly share that look. Their marriage in the comics was the basis for a lot of drama in the comics. It's a really juicy pressure point to squeeze one day. 

4.  Ulysses Klaue, also known as The Klaw, is a minor Avengers villain who will undoubtedly be making an appearance in the Black Panther movie... Which leads to..

5. Wakanda! The home of Black Panther, who will be in Captain America 3 and be joining the Avengers as well as having his own film.

6. Veronica is the name for the Hulkbuster armor... Betty Ross is Bruce Banners long time love. I'll let you decipher that cheeky little morsel.

7. The "New" Avengers. The team roster is constantly in a state of flux in the comics. People come, go, die, return. It gets confusing. But ending the film with the a new team lineup was pretty much a typical Avengers moment.

8. Thanos approaches... Time for part two of my little witch hunt !

Thanos is being paraded to much. It's very hard to argue that anyone else could be the mastermind and the "big bad" for the epic showdown that's on the horizon, but... I think could just be the blunt instrument.

Joss Whedon, as mentioned, is a master craftsmen. He loves surprises. He loves to drop subtle hints and red herrings. He's rarely the kind of guy to just show it all. Thanos has the gauntlet, and he'll certainly get the gems.

But how? Why? .... Loki! Yep, that evil little minx. His whole assault on Earth in the fist Avengers  made no sense (to me). He wants Asgard. I think he failed to conquer Earth on purpose. I think he's working with Thanos, and even trying to play him. At the end of Avengers: Age of Magne... Ultron, Thanos retrieves the Gauntlet, that's suppose to be secured away in Asgard, which is currently under rule of Loki, who is posing as Oden... Interesting right?

And how about Loki just leaving the staff with the Infinity Gem on Earth this whole time? Because it keeps Thor away. Loki losing in the first Avengers film ultimately gave both he and Thanos what they wanted. There was also that sweet little line Thor said at the end about a "puppet master" in regards to the Infinity Gems showing up. Loki is the ultimate puppet master. That's just a fact. 

                                                   (Gauntlet in Asgard, in the Thor movie)

As for conclusions, I think Avengers: Age of Ultron was a good film. It was action packed, gave each character a showcasing scene to show their value, and the story was fairly well developed. The action was great and actually progressed the main story. The creation of the Vision wasn't as campy as I feared it might and ultimately it worked for the film. A lot of great plot points for future films were created, and it contained its own story well. I'm a massive DC fan boy through and through, but Marvel sure is doing it right...

I mean Disney and Marvel could have let this happen... But then I might be charged with murder.

1989, The Eagle Has Landed

In 1989 I was seven years old. I lived in a small city in the South and my biggest concern was running out of Hi-C juice boxes and riding my bike up hill to get home in the afternoons. I had a wild imagination and a curious mind that my parents could barely handle. I was always browsing our Encyclopedias and asking questions. I needed a hobby and soon enough I had fallen in love with Major League Baseball through the hype of the "Bash Brothers", and once I discovered the game's rich history I was hooked. It was a good start, but even at such an young age I always knew something was missing from my simple little life.

I have long been a believer that we all have "two births and two deaths". We have our actual birth & death, and we have the birth (or awakening) of who we are/who we are going to be, and the death of our illusions and innocence. Not trying to get too philosophical, but I think most people experience an event that changes them forever. An event that saturates their psyche and feeds them an outlet to channel their passion.

1989 was my second birth. It was a year full of events and happenings that opened doors for me and many of the influences that would shape my life. It was the year the Berlin Wall came down and tens of thousands of students protested democracy in China. I remember watching both events with my parents very clearly, in our den on our cabinet TV that sat on the floor, and those images inspired me to explore History and world culture... But 2 monumental films were released that year that truly sparked my imagination and burst the flood gates wide open on what would influence my life forever.  "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade", and most importantly Tim Burton's "Batman".

I'm willing to wager if my father had a time machine he'd go back to June of 1989 and not take me to see Batman on the big screen. He had no idea what that movie was going to do to my young impressionable mind. I have very few memories from my childhood as vivid as that movie going experience. Anyone who really knows me knows my love and passion for comic books and history are only rivaled by the love for my family.

 I remember that creepy opening sequence like it was the worst nightmare I've ever had. The epic score begins over the "WB" logo and transitions to a spooky background before the camera pans down and begins a first person view  through a creepy, dark "maze" full of sharp turns. The credits roll and the camera just barrels through the "maze" like a train picking up steam before finally panning out to reveal a giant, carved out Batman symbol. I was glued to my chair. I remember being glad that my dad was with me. It was the first time just the two of us had ever stepped out to a movie together, and I honestly don't think I could have hand picked a better movie to see with him. But I was terrified. I had no idea what to expect, but I knew I had my dad beside me.

I love my dad. He really took time as I grew up to come down to "our level" and try to experience things with me and my brother as we grew up. I love my mother to obviously, and I probably take after her more then my father, but this is one memory I have so strongly attached to him that it just glows vibrantly in my mind when I think of it.

Tim Burton had no idea what he was starting. The Batman film truly revolutionized a genre and birth the modern "hero" block buster. Previously, Batman as a character had been horrifically trivialized in commercial pop culture with the campy 60's TV show, his Scooby-Doo appearances, and semi-lack luster comic writing in the 60's and early 70's. His roots were darker, and more in-depth as he faced off against truly terrible villains who weren't bent on a "master plan" so much as petty, reckless crime that all to often ended in the death of innocent lives. Tim Burton brought back that side of Batman and showed the mainstream that the "funny books" weren't really so funny. For decades now comic books in general have taken a darker, dramatic,more adult theme with complex character and plot development. They truly are literature. I'll contend till I die that some of the best fiction of the last 30 years lies between those glossy pages of colored ink.

You're probably wondering where I'm going with all of this... Well its quite simple. In my opinion 1989 shaped the next 26 years into what I know and love. It birthed so many historical events and monumental pop culture influences that I can't ignore its importance. Bands that would set the tone for the new decade (Nirvana, Offspring, Nine Inch Nails) and my formative years in middle/high school released their debut albums. I'm sure other people could write similar articles about other years, but 1989 was my year.

I would go on to earn a history degree and teach high school for a few years because of such events like watching the Berlin Wall come down and seeing Indiana Jones endure the trials of the Last Crusade. I became a comic book addict by the age of 10 and have read well over 30,000 comics in the last 26 years because Tim Burton had this wild idea to make Mr. Mom into a legend.  I got so heavily involved in my love for music in the 90's that sometime I catch myself flipping through old dusty CD cases like they're photo albums and remembering where I was, who I was with, and what memories are attached to each disc.

We all have a year, even if we don't realize it so strongly as I do. We all have a year that defines us so strongly that it just simply is the thread that binds the cloth we were cut from. Our mold. Our template. Our fuse that burned out and blasted us with countless personality traits and seeded countless of ideas and ideologies within ourselves that we will explore till we die. My year was 1989.

This realization was important to me and can be correlated back to who I am and my personal culture... Its all glued to one magical blip in history that was so brief and unassuming at the time that it passed right by me at first leaving a trail of crumbs to follow. And boy did I follow. 

I wrote this blog as an exercise to sharpen my own self awareness and to try and influence others to do the same. I'm naturally very empathic, so I tend to explore my feelings and instincts more than most. I want others to see what's really ticking inside themselves and the culture they've crafted. We all live in our own unique "day to day" world that's mostly influenced by who and what we decided to surround ourselves with, and that's something that I think none of us should ever become complacent with. I like knowing the origins of my passions, the lessons those passions have taught me, and how I've used those lessons to build my life.

Annnnnnnyways.... I hope my ramblings didn't confuse anyone, and as always, I thank you for reading! I hope my craziness was entertaining at the very least!