guys do we need to have the "sam wilson is not [insert romantic interest]'s therapist" talk again 😕? Because I'm seeing many fics about sam comforting bucky but almost none the other way around. Especially with karli literally dying in his arms yall the opportunities are there you just don't want to take them atp 😠(btw if anyone could reccomend some authors that write sam being taken care of that would be much appreciated)
Just watched the new Spider-Man movie and I have two things to say (spoilers ahead):
1: YEEEESSSSS VENOMMMMMM. WILL HE GET A MOVIE???? IS HE GONNA BE CANON IN THE MCU???
2: Why TF was Peter able to control his body when his like…soul essence thing was disconnected from his body??? Are we just gonna gloss over that shit??
3. MATT MURDOCK IS CANON IN THE MCU AHAHHAHAHDIDNDJDBIDJFFIFBFJFDJDBJFHDJDJ
i would love if the reasoning behind darcy not being in love and thunder is jane going “she said she’s ‘done with all the bullsh*t behind the avengers and is going to take a nap because she has a life now’. thats it.
Holy shit. Just saw Shang-Chi and it is IT. Before getting into the Chinese cultural parts of it, I'd like to note that it had a solid plot and wonderfully developed characters. The worldbuilding and CGI and the relationship building was absolutely phenomenal and I was absolutely hooked. The fight choreography was THE best choreography I've ever seen in the entirety of the MCU and the cinematography is amazing.
Now, onto the Chinese cultural references.
My god. I've never felt so seen. As a Chinese woman living in a western diaspora I've genuinely never seen something that so genuinely felt right and that truly felt like it connected to me personally. There were so many little details that I could connect to that made me feel emotional because I've never had any media that connected to me this way. It was so well done and it was so obviously done by people who lived through it.
Some little details that stood out to me included:
The food! All the food shown on screen was Chinese food - be it homemade food or dim sum platters - and those were exactly the types of plates that I grew up eating.
When Shang-Chi took off his shoes to go into Katy's house and she was wearing slippers inside the house
When he was walking through the little Chinatown area and there were the fruit cardboard boxes outside the Chinese groceries and the white sketchy dim sum sign with English on top of the Chinese
Katy struggling with her Chinese as a diaspora kid because she's only a heritage speaker and her first language is english
When Katy was struggling to pronounce Shang-Chi's Chinese name asldhhdjskala I felt that
Katy sticking to her English name despite also having a Chinese name bc she's a diaspora kid and is used to using the English name
Every single one of the magical creatures inside Ta Lo were inspired by Chinese mythology.
THE DRAGON IS A PROPER CHINESE DRAGON
Katy's parents comparing her to others and asking her to "get a better job" with her H. B. from Berkeley (I felt that)
The whole thing about familial expectations and relationships in Chinese families?? Bro. I felt that. Holy shit.
So. Much. Mandarin. I can't explain how happy I am to hear that language. Many western movies have a tendency to mainly use English with an accent but this movie used a LOT of (accurate!) mando and it makes me so happy
The architecture?? The art?? Phenomenal. Amazing. So accurate.
The shrine to the mother and the other deceased looks EXACTLY like every single Chinese cemetery I've been to, down to the photos and the incense and the fruits and all the people paying tribute to it.
The martial arts?? Oh my god. So good. I recognize it. Having trained in it and having watched multiple family members practice varying Chinese martial arts over the years I can't express how fucking happy I was to see arts such as Tai Chi and Wing Chun and Wushu on screen. I could recognize it. The forms, the movements - I can't explain how, but it felt right. It felt familiar. It felt so wonderfully connected to me.
There's probably more but it's late at night so more to come later, maybe. I'm going to just bask in the fact that this was a fantastic movie for chinese representation and I felt so seen. I went to see it with several other Chinese friends and. We came away so happy. We felt seen. We felt heard. I can't express how much this meant to us.
Representation matters.
For anyone who hasn't seen Endgame,turn back now because I'm going to spoil a lot of stuff concerning characters and where I think they'll go from here.
Captain America: so as to why Cap decided to go back in time and marry Peggy. One, travelling back to 1970 and seeing her again. Two, the final fight with all the avengers made him realize that even if he were ever killed, they'll still be heroes so that's why he decided to go back because unlike before, he's not needed.
Now as to why Cap chose Sam over Bucky. To the outside world, a lot of people still view Bucky as this cold blooded killer instead of thr victim he really is. While unfortunate, the ugly truth is that a lot of people simply wouldn't trust Cap Bucky. Though I think it's best that Steve didn't give the mantle to Bucky. Remember, Bucky has been a slave to Hydra for decades now and only recently is he a free man. He's still trying to figure out who he is so Cap forcing the mantle down on him when his feet aren't on the ground wouldn't be fair to him. Finally, Bucky is a soldier not a leader. He's always in the fight but he's never the one to lead it.
As for Falcon, him helping Cap take down Hydra has probably earned him a few respect points along with having a military background as well. Additionally, his lighter and more social personality compared to Bucky is more suited for the role of the role of Captain America. I'd argue that the symbol of captain America is just as important if not more so than captain America himself.
Now I do think cap and Bucky probably discussed it with each other and Bucky does agree and respect Steve's choice.
Thor: man, seeing Thor like that was really damn depressing though it makes sense when you stop to think about it. He lost his mom, his brother (twice), his dad, his home, a large chunk of his people and blames himself for the snap. He locks himself away because in his eyes he views himself just as responsible for all those deaths as Thanos is. Thanos is so triggering to him because it reminds him of his greatest failure. No wonder Cap let himself go.
As for Thor post endgame well it's gonna be interesting seeing him in Asgardiand of the Galaxy especially when he's more powerful than all of them combined. While I was kind of hoping Thor would stay King it makes sense as to why he joined the guardians instead because he's more of a hero/adventurer than a king.