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mcu_cosmic2019-08-18 03:13 pm
lynnenne) wrote in mcu_cosmic2019-08-18 03:13 pm
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Magic in the MCU
Hello, and welcome to your weekly Sunday discussion post! This week's topic is about magic in the MCU.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has a number of magic users: Loki, Frigga, Doctor Strange, Wanda Maximoff, the Ancient One, Wong, etc. But their powers seem inconsistent from one moment to the next. We've seen Wanda move cars with her mind. Why couldn't she use the same power to rip Thanos' head off? We've seen Strange open a portal beneath Loki's feet; why couldn't he have done the same to Thanos and sent him to the outer edge of the universe? Or into the vacuum of space?
How powerful is magic in the MCU? What exactly can it do? What can't it do? Do the inconsistencies bother you, or do you just hand-wave them away?
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has a number of magic users: Loki, Frigga, Doctor Strange, Wanda Maximoff, the Ancient One, Wong, etc. But their powers seem inconsistent from one moment to the next. We've seen Wanda move cars with her mind. Why couldn't she use the same power to rip Thanos' head off? We've seen Strange open a portal beneath Loki's feet; why couldn't he have done the same to Thanos and sent him to the outer edge of the universe? Or into the vacuum of space?
How powerful is magic in the MCU? What exactly can it do? What can't it do? Do the inconsistencies bother you, or do you just hand-wave them away?
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No, what drives me bonkers is when it's inconsistent on an individual character level. Whether it's magic or mutants or even technology, they're really terrible about giving characters useful abilities and then forgetting to use them strategically. When you've got people who can do things like Wanda and Strange can do, there have got to be more useful ways to use those abilities than just "punch things." And that applies to tech as well. Like my husband said when we were watching Infinity War, with all Wakanda's tech, is sending out tanks really the best they can do? Where's their air support? What about taking the shield/cloaking tech and deploying it strategically instead of just putting up a big shield?
To be fair, I do enjoy the exhilaration of those fights; I tend to like the lower-powered fights better because they make more sense, but even among the high-powered big-hero fights, I also particularly enjoyed the fight against Thanos on Titan because they did deploy things like Mantis's empathy/"sleep" thing. But even in that case - well, first of all, it all does ultimately come down to punching Thanos and that's A TERRIBLE IDEA when the guy can go toe-to-toe with a shipful of Asgardians, and second, what about the other abilities they have? Strange can rewind time - why can't they do a series of little timeskip do-overs every time they start to lose? Tony jury-rigged armor from a box of scraps, and now he's on a high-tech junkyard planet - why can't he build something? If Thanos is durable enough to withstand having a ship flown into him, then punching or shooting him is going to have zero effect no matter what, so you need a better strategy, and if not, then figure out a way to drop a ship on him!
... I mean, I realize the answer just comes down to "because our target audience wants to watch superheroes punching each other." But yes, like you pointed out with Wanda, if a character has TK strong enough to pick up a car, there are a lot more things you can do with it (can't she just immobilize him long enough to get the gauntlet off? For that matter, couldn't they use Wakandan shield tech to pin him?). That lack of strategy and coming up with different ways to use the characters' powers, or even remembering that they have them from movie to movie, is .... yeah. >__>
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I am getting so tired of seeing people punch things. I'd like to see them do something way more interesting and UNEXPECTED with the fight scenes. Carol flying through Thanos' warship to smash it was unexpected, and one of the coolest things about the battle in Endgame.
I do enjoy martial arts fights where the combatants use actual skills instead of just fists and brute force. The most visually interesting fight in Endgame was Natasha and Clint fighting for the right to die. And I hate how that turned out.
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The bracer/shield/claws Infinity War outfitted Steve Rogers with Just, no. People running at each other is not sound tactics with the sort of weapons in play. (Black Panther it worked because there plenty of the combatants looking to win but not necessarily to kill.) I was okay in the theater with the scrum because it was entertaining and there was some fan service that I'd slogged through the years to finally get.
I think there's an implication that Wanda's TK is stronger the angrier she gets. Which, yeah, that's really 21st century of everyone. Not.
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Yes, I completely agree.
Right?? No wonder they lost! :D
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Even assuming that Steve hasn't thought about science-fiction fighting (like, it's marked right on the tin, strategist of a generation. You have to SHOW that.) Okoye is a General and she knows what Wakanda has and how to use it. With those shields Kill Box.
Hell, Steve may have drawn science-fiction fighting. Transposed Revolutionary War battles into Barsoom (I'm not sure how hard it would have been to get exposed to some of that. He may have bartered drawing for pulps 'for Bucky'.)
I'm really wondering if most of CA:TWS was actually only in my head.
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The characters - maybe? The screenwriters, no. :D
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Bruce, Tony, they may have needs for more advanced history than their last high school class (based on Age of Ultron).
Hell, Pepper probably has some knowledge given how big battles captured in art has been. Damn, there's a premise bunny, Ms Potts and Mr. Rogers giving an advanced seminar on pomp and propaganda versus sound battlefield choices.
"Get thee to a library, screenwriters!"
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I'd think the sensible option would be for T'Challa to gift him with some sort of solid light projectile weapon. Let him rack up total number of chain reactions and bank shots. Him as the gunner in a Wakandan flit-chariot? Let him dangle ridiculously while the pilot does something heroically insane.
(To inject More Cosmic, think about Steve and Yondu in some Appropriate Venue getting competitive. Some sort of racquetball with jousting targets, ultimate frisbee golf, parkour polo...)
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I think Tony was considering his personal starvation and potential asphyxiation was preferable to the witness the other original six underwent.
How often is the resistance to Killing Ones Darlings Idiotball Dependency?
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My hand-waving stutters when the character's powers are inconsistent and not due to character growth (such as, said character has learned more about their powers and consequently is stronger / wiser / more capable of adapting their magic to the needs of the moment), but due to plot devices.
Really, my issue is similar to what
The beneficial thing to this inconsistency is that it allows us lots of leeway with fanfic!
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As for Strange, maybe he did foresee what would've happened if he'd portaled Thanos elsewhere among those 14.6 million possibilities?
Overall, I feel super okay with how handwave-y magical characters are conveniently underwpowered or superpowered throughout the movies.
My take on magic in the MCU is that there will always be consequences for using it. Per what I've seen of it so far, there's a strive for balance. So, characters don't have limitless power forever and most Earth-based magical characters (so far) haven't reached their potential.