It's late. I'm tired. I've been copy-editing for more hours than I'd care to admit, to generate less work than I'd care to terms with. I should be calling it a night.
But instead, the ol' brain is ticking away.
My existence at this moment is a funny one, as all of my rungs of work and fun are blending and overlapping. That's what you get for studying and writing about superhero films when you love... superhero films. On any given day, idle browsing on my facebook news feed will lead to me discovering Screen Rant articles that I will both be reading out of personal interest and stashing away in one of my ever-growing word docs of pertinent reading material for the brewing thesis. So, tonight, I take a break from copy-editing articles about superhero movies for Cinephile by... reading and thinking about superhero movies. Sigh.
Here's what has been occupying my thoughts for these past few minutes, and where the Thor: The Dark World (and otherwise) spoilers really kick into gear.
So. As I said, yesterday I saw Thor The Second. And I was thoroughly amused. The film basically affirmed everything from my thesis by blending levity and wit amidst the titular darkness with welcome, breezy ease, all working toward the project of masking the morality behind some pretty astonishing, neck-breaking (it seems the most 'Divine' superheroes are all about neck-breaking these days) spectacle-violence. Also, let's talk about 'Odin's-Asgard-as-American-wish-fulfillment-global-police-turned-fascist-creepiness' subtext here. Later, perhaps. I am sleepy. The thought is there.
And yes, Loki does not disappoint. Character twists and welcome nastiness persist amidst enough charm to get every Hiddlestonian across the world panting our their lustful "Ehehehe"s.
Also, never did I think a naked Stellan Skaarsgard would be my favourite part of a movie, but he may have taken the cake here. Also, comedy-relief Natalie Portman worked surprisingly well in my books. Screw all the 'Thor and Jane have no chemistry' haters - I'm totally sold on the two of them and their strangely quirky mythic romance.
I also won't discuss "that cameo" for fear of ruining it even for those of you hell-bent on spoilers, but, suffice to say, I HOWLED with laughter.
But, as is now Marvel custom, half the fun lay in the mid-credits tease, which, in the midst of a delightfully jarring tonal shift, boasted the grand reveal of THIS GUY!
In the words of Kevin, and perhaps four other nerds in the theatre: "Squeeeeeee! Best twist reveal since Thanos!"
["who's Thanos again?" ask 90% of my readers. Fret not, non-Marvelites! He's this guy! Remember - from halfway through the credits of The Avengers, when you were all annoyed at having to struggle with the possible significance of this unknown purple dude, delaying your chance to dash out and go empty your bladder?]
In the words of about 90% of the audience: "...huh?"
In the words of everyone in the audience: "MY BLADDER!!!"
Don't worry - this is why we're here.
The weird dude, of course, is Benicio Del Toro playing The Collector, one of the weirder recurring characters in Marvel's backhistory, and very indicative of Marvel setting their sights on going cosmic in future films. He will, of course, figure heavily in the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy, though as a hero or villain (or somewhere in between) remains to be seen. In at least one interview, Del Toro has discussed something about shooting up a room full of people, though it's also unclear whether that was intended as a figure of speech or an actual anecdote from shooting.
What is clear is that his comments, regarding Infinity Stones, definitely tease the inclusion of the Infinity Gauntlet storyline in upcoming Marvel movies - likely Avengers 3 at this rate, if this whole superhero thang remains popular enough for it to get made (fingers crossed). There's a more thorough breakdown of the scene here, for those foolish enough to not indulge in Thor 2 but still curious.
At any rate, I, in my sleepy state, have been ruminating on The Collector, a character I never gave too much thought to in my younger days.
First off, he is anchored on a pretty cool conceit: the Collector is an immortal, who was once married to a fellow immortal, until she died, having simply lost the will to live in the face of the aimless monotony and purposelessness of infinity. The Collector, grieving, realizes he needs a hobby to sustain his existence, so he begins collecting essential artifacts from the universe, in the hopes that, if the universe should end, he can preserve its essence. Take that, Edward from Twilight, listening to all popular music in his century of sleepless nights! Marvel did it first, and better! As usual.
So, rather than having the train of thought stop with "Mmm. Cool. Sleep now yes", Kevin's brain keeps on going. It thinks about collecting. It thinks about how collecting is somewhat of a universal western obsession, and certainly one that helped Kevin himself thrive and get excited about things as a child. And it thinks about capitalism, and Adorno and Zizek, and how this whole narrative boils down into the manufactured desire to possess stuff to support societal infrastructure. By this point, Benicio Del Toro's Collector has, in Kevin's brain, become surrogate mascot for Marvel, speaking to the draw of their products in the first place. Now, Del Toro, rather than simply being a delight, has become the most gleefully flamboyant agent and allegory for fiendish capitalism to date.
Go home, Kevin's brain - you're drunk.
Still, I read a CinemaBlend article this week titled "Loki is the Only Good Villain in Marvel Movies - And That's a Big Problem", and it stuck with me something fierce. This is something I'd only fleetingly thought about, but the article really brought into context. It also really made me reevaluate my own role as a comics fan, and how effective banking on iconography from source material can be for an adaptation: other people may have thought Jeff Bridges as Iron Monger, Tim Roth as the Abomination, and Hugo Weaving as the Red Skull were drab and unconvincing (I won't fight anyone on the lameness of Mickey Rourke's criminally mishandled Whiplash or Guy Pearce's "Mandarin-ish"- at least Sam Rockwell and Ben Kingsley are both more fun than a sackful of caffeinated ferrets as contrast in both films respectively), but for me, this was easily overshadowed by my joy at seeing the comic antagonists embodied in live action. This really made me reflect on how effective textual fidelity can be in terms of selling and masking ideology - to the thesis cave!
And they're absolutely right - as cool as Thor: The Dark World is, it is severely lacking on the singular antagonist front - Christopher Eccleston's Malekith looks cool (although I dearly wish they hadn't digitally fucked with his voice - that trope became tired more than ten years ago), but is given nowhere near enough screen time for sufficient resonance, and is probably the most physically unconvincing villain to date - hell, he's bested in combat absurdly easily by everyone from Thor to Loki to Thor's mom Frigga. I couldn't help but think if Chris O'Dowd's comic relief cameo had taken a swing at Malekith he'd probably topple the head Dark Elf himself.
So the hope is there: with more intriguing, eccentric and weird antagonists upcoming in Guardians of the Galaxy - Del Toro and otherwise - and Avengers 2, with the reveal of psychotic robot Ultron (I. AM. EXCITED.), we might actually get some decent competition for Loki on the "who gives a shit" scale. Granted, they probably won't be real life Disney princes. But they might tip the balance somewhat from the populism of Marvel's hero-centric films to having villains who own their screentime slightly more.
And there we have it!
Oh, a fact?
You want a fact, you say?
Screw you!!!
Okay FINE! Sheesh.
#56: The 'skull-cap' hat is a derivative of 'liberty cap' hats given to freed slaves in Ancient Greece and Rome. They called it the "Phrygian cap" - check it out!
And now you know one more thing - two, probably, since I'm assuming few of you knew about the Collector. Twice the bang for no buck (there's a dirty joke in there...) - you're welcome!
And now, that fabled sleep thing. G'night, yo!
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