The Four Color Media Monitor

If what's told in these 2-3 news items - the first from the Fort Smith Times-Record - are correct, it appears Avengers: Endgame lifts some elements from the most truly awful comics and crossovers of recent years. First though, I must focus on the following paragraphs, which feature some disturbing liberal propaganda:

Back when the Living Legend of World War II was thawed out of his iceberg in 1964, he explained that he became a popsicle in 1945. However, Marvel Comics, who were then called Timely, continued to publish “Captain America Comics” until 1950. And as Atlas Comics, the publisher revived the character for three issues in 1954. If the Star-Spangled Avenger was snoozin’ in an ice cube since ’45, who were these other Captains America?

Turning lemons into lemonade, Marvel established that two other patriotic superheroes from the ’40s, The Patriot and the Spirit of ’76, were asked by the Army to appear as Cap in public after 1945 as a matter of morale. Since both were killed in battle, the government used an incomplete version of the Super-Soldier serum to create an entirely new Captain America in 1954. That Cap went bonkers, becoming a lunatic super-patriot who saw Commies under every bed. This retroactive history jibed perfectly with the jingoistic “Captain America” comics of the 1950s, which are pretty hard to read now.

More of that "jingo" propaganda? Ugh. This is just leftism at its most atrocious. Plus, if memory serves, the 50s stories were written by Stan Lee, and this proves the social justice movement is still after him long after he's gone. Now, here's what alarms me pertaining to the film, if this is accurate:

HAIL HYDRA: And, yes, there’s yet another Captain America callback worth mentioning. Maybe they were trying to squeeze them all in now that Steve Rogers is retired?

Anyway, in 2016 Kobik, a sentient cosmic cube, altered the timeline to establish Steve Rogers as a lifelong member and true believer of the fascist organization Hydra. Much angst and fisticuffs ensued when Cap said “Hail Hydra” and took over America. I don’t know how this was undone, as I never read the story — the idea of a fascist Captain America makes me nauseous.

I’m almost mollified by Cap’s use of “Hail Hydra” to defuse the elevator scene from “Captain America: Winter Soldier” and walk away with the Mind Stone without a fight. Clever. But I still won’t read that 2016 story.

Is that so, he didn't like Spencer's repellent tale? Well then how come the reporter was willing to read a nauseous story like Identity Crisis in 2004, and made excuses for James Gunn in the past year? If they used that shout-out seen in a word balloon from the Secret Empire crossover for the film, that was uncalled for, and only makes me shake my head that so many people would overlook it in the film, no matter how uninformed they were of what transpired back in the comics. Someday though, they'll put two and two together, and feel as incredulous about the inclusion of the lines as the readers who're more in-the-know could feel.

HAWKEYE GOES LONG: In the pages of “Secret Avengers” in 2013, the whole world was attacked by The Descendants, murderous androids with the powers of various Avengers. There was some sort of MacGuffin that could shut them all down and it fell into the hands of the Avenging Archer after all the big guns had been defeated. There was one whole issue of nothing but Hawkeye running through the streets of New York fending off androids like a halfback running for the goal line.

Yep, he got to do it again in “Endgame.” Only the MacGuffin was the Infinity Gauntlet and his pursuers were Thanos’ animalistic Outriders. Personally, I like this one better.

IMO, it makes little difference whether the movie avoids the political overtones quite a few of the crossovers had. It's still borrowing elements from repellent source material that should've been left in the past. The original story, oddly enough, makes me think of DC's Millenium crossover from 1988, where the adversaries were sentient androids called Manhunters, who may have originally appeared in a Justice League of America story in the late 70s, and in the late 80s crossover were turning up as sleeper agents around the world.

NEW ASGARD: “Endgame” establishes where the Asgardian refugees ended up after Hela and Surtur destroyed Asgard in “Thor: Ragnarok.” And, fittingly, it’s Norway. (One wonders what they’ll do with the excess population when bunches return from being dusted, but future movies may help with that.)

Can Asgard co-exist with humans on Midgard? Well, sure — because it’s already happened. Only it was in Oklahoma, not Norway.

In the mid-2000s, Odin was dead, Asgard was destroyed and the Asgardians were scattered. Sound familiar? In this scenario, Thor rebuilt Asgard above Broxton, Okla., and all the remaining gods took up residence. At the time the Superhuman Registration Act was in effect — see “Civil War” in the comics, or “Captain America: Civil War” in the movies — so Asgard was given a dispensation as a sort of embassy (since it was floating above ground and not on U.S. soil).

Eventually Odin returned, Asgard was rebuilt and everything god-related returned to status quo. But surely this was what “Endgame” makers had in mind when they established New Asgard.

I wouldn't be shocked. In that case, it's embarrassing, because the Civil War in the 2006 comics, which was a basis for one of the Captain America sequel films, was a terrible story with political overtones, brewed as an attack on the Patriot Act.

CAPTAIN FALCON: An aged Steve Rogers passing the shield to Sam “Falcon” Wilson may have surprised many “Endgame” viewers, but it was déjà vu for comics fans. It happened in 2014 in the comics, with Sam starring as Captain America in his own series for a couple of years.

And what an offensive, frustrating result it led to, with repellent politics, and Steve being denigrated before getting thrown out of his role as Cap.

“SHE’S NOT ALONE”: Yes, the scene of all the female characters posing for a group shot was a bit ham-handed and not at all convincing (since most of them didn’t do very much in “Endgame”). But the line “She’s not alone” was a nice callback to the “Infinity War” scene where Okoye, Black Widow and Scarlet Witch battled Proxima Midnight, which was done right.

It’s also a callback to various all-female Marvel titles like “A-Force” and “Marvel Divas.”

In the former, women are in charge on an island named Arcadia on Battleworld, a temporary parallel world created by the 2015 crossover “Secret Wars” (yes, another one). “A-Force” featured an all-female Avengers, led by She-Hulk and starring Dazzler, Medusa, Nico Minoru (from “Runaways”) and a new character named Singularity.

In the latter, four unlikely women bonded over their lack of romance, while pursuing their own agendae. “Divas” starred Firestar (Angelica Jones), recovering from breast cancer; Photon (Monica Rambeau), who enjoyed an escapade with Brother Voodoo; Black Cat (Felicia Hardy) pondering a return to crime; and Hellcat (Patsy Walker) dealing with an aggravating ex, who is literally the Son of Satan.

I vaguely remember those items, which, based on what's told about Black Cat, and the lack of romance, would be best forgotten, as it's clear they reek absurdly of social justice elements, based on the latter problem.

Other Marvel titles, such as “Hellcat,” “Mockingbird” and “Unstoppable Wasp,” have enjoyed long-running female team-ups or ensembles as organic outgrowths of the storylines. It seems inevitable that the concept will only gain traction over time.

And the article has the gall to gloss over disasters like the Mockingbird book, which didn't last long, while taking no objective view of the Wasp book. There's plenty of potential in various lady-led books and creations - just look at what Birds of Prey once enjoyed - but Marvel missed the boat by miles, and isn't doing any better now. Nor are they "organic", since their continuity was long destroyed.

The second item is this CBR article, which more clearly reveals Falcon becomes Cap, just like in the Alonso-era comics from a number of years ago:

For some time we've known Avengers: Endgame would mark the end of an era with regard to the six original team members. With Chris Evans' contract expiring with Marvel Studios, many expected Steve Roger would either sacrifice himself in the battle against Thanos or retire in its aftermath. Instead, however, the blockbuster sequel has him hand off the shield to Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson in the finale.

But while movie-goers who aren't well-versed in the source material may think this is a happy ending Steve paints for himself, this changing of the guard is actually pulled from the Marvel NOW! era of comics.

In Endgame, bringing back all of those lost in Thanos' universe-altering snap, Tony Stark dies, and it's left to Steve to return the Infinity Stones to their proper places in the timeline. Although his trip through the time should take mere seconds, Steve doesn't come back through the Quantum Tunnel. Instead, a waiting Sam and Bucky (Sebastian Stan) spot an old man on a bench overlooking the lake at the New Avengers Facility.

Bucky instantly recognizes him, and sends Sam to meet a much older Steve, who indicates he remained in the past to live a life of happiness with Peggy Carter. As such, it's time to hand off the mantle, he passes the shield to Sam, who becomes the MCU's new Captain America.

Even if, as I may have said before, this isn't politics-laden like the comics were, it's still silly and trivial, and puts Falcon into a role he wasn't created for. After all, Falcon's got wings for flight, unlike Steve, who doesn't, and having the power of flight would make it less challenging for whoever wears the Cap outfit in battle. And after all the bad directions in the modern comics, that's why it's honestly galling if Tony Stark's been knocked off.

There's also an Entertainment Weekly article, about 5 of the recent stories that served to influence this new movie:

One of the most controversial Marvel comic events of the last decade was Secret Empire, which turned Captain America into a secret agent for HYDRA. This did not go over super well with a new generation of fans who had been introduced to Cap through Chris Evans’ big-hearted performance in the MCU. That disconnect — between the lovable Captain America of The First Avenger and the fascist Captain America overseeing a military takeover of the U.S. — made it hard to believe that the MCU would ever adapt Secret Empire…and yet, Endgame found a sneaky way to do it!

During the scene where Cap goes back in time to retrieve the Mind Stone from 2012 New York, he finds himself in a very familiar-looking elevator, filled with people like Crossbones (Frank Grillo) whom he knows are secret HYDRA agents after living through The Winter Soldier. In order to assuage their concerns and get away with Loki’s scepter, Cap pretends that he too is a secret HYDRA agent…down to saying “Hail HYDRA,” just as his comic book counterpart did in the dramatic cliffhanger that kicked off the road to Secret Empire. The fact that it was played as a winking joke pretty much sums up many fans’ feelings about Secret Empire at this point.

It's not funny, and I'm not laughing. What Nick Spencer and Axel Alonso brewed up was horrific in the extreme, and would've been better avoided by the filmmakers. As would the following:

Funnily enough, though, the rest of Endgame paralleled two other story beats from Secret Empire. HYDRA Cap’s big moment of evil was killing Black Widow, who also dies tragically in Endgame. The comic version eventually got better, kind of, but fans are still waiting for word on whether the promised Black Widow solo movie will be a prequel or some kind of resurrection sequel. On top of that, Secret Empire also provided the most recent comic book example of Cap wielding Thor’s hammer Mjolnir. Luckily, in Endgame he didn’t use it for evil.

It makes no difference. Those moviegoers with common sense who find out what the original stories were like could feel some cringe, and will at least feel glad they didn't waste money on the comics. And Secret Empire, again, was an embarrassment, so much that to even remotely adapt its ideas into movies is only validating what some of the worst modern writers ever concocted. The article proceeds to focus on Falcon:

Marvel comic readers surely knew what was in the offing as soon as Old Cap beckoned Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) over to talk to him…because a similar thing happened recently in the comics. Around 2015, Marvel was embarking on a publishing initiative called “All-New, All-Different Marvel,” the main focus of which was having a younger, more diverse group of characters take over their universe’s most famous mantles. Jane Foster took up the hammer of Thor, Laura Kinney became All-New Wolverine, Amadeus Cho turned into the Totally Awesome Hulk…and Sam Wilson became Captain America.

After a villain neutralized Steve Rogers’ super-soldier serum, the hero physically reached his actual geriatric age and passed on his shield to his longtime crime-fighting partner. Whether or not we’ll see Mackie in Sam Wilson’s really cool Captain America costume from the comics is a question to be answered by Disney+’s upcoming series Falcon and Winter Soldier.

So no mention of the nasty elements seen in Cap's comics from 5 years ago, nor any mention of the politics. And, no mention of how poor and politically motivated the Jane Foster-as-Thor tale was. Figures. Next is Carol Danvers:

As soon as she appeared in an Endgame trailer, fans were talking about Captain Marvel’s look. Some took issue with the fact that Brie Larson was visibly wearing more makeup than she had in her solo outing, but little did they know there was more to Carol Danvers’ Endgame appearance than that. After the five-year time-skip following Thanos’ snap, Carol reappears with a much shorter haircut approximating the one she bore in the 2016 Captain Marvel comic by Tara Butters, Michele Fazekas, and Kris Anka. That series found Carol taking up leadership of Alpha Flight, a superhero force dedicated to protecting Earth from interstellar attack. That actually matches up with her outer-space role in Endgame, checking in on the planets across the galaxy reeling from the snap. Carol’s short haircut just seems to go hand in hand with outer space adventures!

How interesting. They already proved capable of adapting a SJW-influenced direction with the solo Captain Marvel movie, so we shouldn't be surprised if Endgame wound up the same way. The abuse Carol underwent in the past 5 years was despicable, unfeminine, and made her less an icon for women to admire than before. The claim a short haircut fits with space adventuring is also insulting, echoing more SJW elements, and their description of Alpha Flight is laughably superficial. They surely can defend Earth from space invasions, but AF was primarily a team dedicated to defending Canada, where they were founded, and Wolverine had occasionally worked with their members, as established early on in its original 1983-94 run. They proceed to discuss A-Force:

The sight of Valkyrie, Mantis, Wasp, Shuri, Okoye, Nebula, Gamora, Pepper, and Scarlet Witch banding together to help Captain Marvel transport the Infinity Gauntlet was a spectacle, not least because it seemed like the big-screen fulfillment of recent Marvel comics like A-Force that featured an all-female Avengers team. It took until 2019 for the MCU to release its first solo female film in the form of Captain Marvel, but the franchise has nevertheless racked up a ton of fascinating female characters over the course of its run. And look, they work so well together! Maybe they deserve their own movie…

The problem is that A-Force was written by the awful propagandist G. Willow Wilson, and with all the Islamic propaganda she wrote, that's why having her as the credited writer is such a turnoff. It'd be no shock if she put anything as bad as she did in the Muslim Ms. Marvel series into the A-Force series as well, and Marvel's certainly gone out of their way to cram the Kamala Khan character down everyone's throats of recent. Finally, there's "Asgardians of the Galaxy":

Tony Stark and Steve Rogers both got the endings they deserved in Endgame, but Thor’s story isn’t quite over yet. At the same time, he is done with Asgard, having helped destroy his celestial homeland in Thor: Ragnarok and then turned over the reigns of Earth-bound New Asgard to Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson). So where left to go but…space? Thor bonded with the Guardians of the Galaxy in Infinity War, and now he’s just hitching a ride with them, wherever it may lead. He even goes so far as to christen their new group “Asgardians of the Galaxy,” which is also the title of a recent Marvel comic series! That book featured a lineup of Asgardian characters (Valkyrie, Skurge, and Throg the frog Thor, among others) taking to the stars to fight off Nebula, but the current Guardians of the Galaxy comic also features Asgard’s imprint in the form of Beta Ray Bill, the horse-looking alien who wielded Mjolnir back in the days of Walt Simonson’s legendary Thor run.

At this point, after all the additions of insult to injury in the comics, that's why I'm not happy Shellhead got put to death in the film, and even if Cap survived, the allusion to the SJW-influenced comics is also dismaying. And this is another recent comic that's decidedly not good source material on which to base the movie's elements. Why is it that, when dealing with comics, the screenwriters can't do some research and decide for themselves what ideas they'd like to turn into a script, based on their own development? No wonder the medium's been turned into such a mockery.

Labels: Avengers, Captain America, crossoverloading, dreadful writers, golden calf of death, Iron Man, islam and jihad, marvel comics, misogyny and racism, moonbat writers, msm propaganda, politics, women of marvel