ORIGINAL MCU SETUP (WORK IN PROGRESS)
Phase One
1.1 Iron Man (2008)
1.2 The Incredible Hulk (2008)
1.3 Iron Man 2 (2010)
1.4 Thor (2011)
1.5 Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
1.6 Marvel's The Avengers (2012)
Phase Two
2.1 Iron Man 3 (2013)
2.2 Thor: The Dark World (2013)
2.3 Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
2.4 Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
2.5 Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
2.6 Ant-Man (2015)
Phase Three
3.1 Captain America: Civil War (2016)
3.2 Doctor Strange (2016)
3.3 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
3.4 Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
3.5 Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
3.6 Black Panther (2018)
3.7 Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
***
General Changes (Applicable To All MCU Movies):
- A dedication to a mix of IRL functional suits and props, robotics, and CGI as was used in Iron Man 1. MCU films became increasingly dominated by CGI as time progressed, and IM especially lost much of his realism and polish. All the superheroes would benefit to greater or lesser degrees, though.
- As has been said over and over again, the MCU's weakness is always been the villains (with the exception of Loki, Zemo, Ego, Vulture, Killmonger, and Thanos). Improve them. Either give them more compelling reasons for their villainy, or make them more menacing to the heroes. This is mainly pointed at Vanko, Killian, Malekith, Ronan, Ultron, Yellowjacket, and Kaecilius.
- Black Widow and Hawkeye have to get their own spy-duo movie, preferably in Phase Two.
- General Ross is court martialed and never comes close to the Secretary of Defense position. A new character of some sort is introduced.
- No foldaway helmets aside from Starlord (where it makes sense).
- After phase 1, no more mirror fights unless it is a team up against the hero.
Phase 1 (Modified):
1.1 Iron Man (mid-2008)
- Don Cheadle is here from the beginning (great acting, amazing chemistry with Tony/RDJ).
- Apply all of this (
). Basically, Stane was never working with the terrorists, and is a warmer, more human character, meant to be an understandable villain that one can vaguely empathize with. He is an anti-Stark, a version of Stark that never went through the trauma that woke Stark to the wider horrors of the world. When Tony fights Stane, he is fighting the pre-trauma Stark, fighting himself in many ways.
- Stane's suit (explained away as a pre-IM version of powered combat armor) is overloaded by the end, but Stane does NOT die (thus not establishing an MCU trend where villains usually die or are never seen again). Stane is instead arrested, tried, and sent to a supermax prison.
- Tony decides to stop making weapons at the end of IM1, not in the beginning of it. The argument between Stane and Stark has finally reached a conclusion, in the sense that Stark makes it quite clear that it is not an abrupt shutdown (as in OTL), and that it will be done in gradual stages to reeducate and provide new jobs for his existing workers; he DID listen to Stane's concerns about the lives of the workers under their employ.
- The first post-credits scene is a shadowy tent with the remains of Stark's original IM Mark 1 suit in a mangled burnt pile, and a figure slowly crawling out of a bed. It's the leader of the 10 Rings, and while scarred horribly, he smiles. Cut scene. The second post-credits scene is the same Nick Fury scene from OTL.
1.3 Iron Man 2 (mid-2009)
- I would have Iron Man 2 come out the year after IM1, guaranteeing people remember the first movies and its story/themes better. This will help IM2, bc its in many ways a continuation and conclusion to themes from IM1.
- Save Vanko for another movie, use Hammer, 10 Rings instead. Use Justin Hammer as a somewhat kind of dumb enemy, while the real villain is Tony's success, and the dawning realization that he cannot fix all of the world's problems by himself, needing the aid of others to do so (thus setting up groundwork for a need for the Avengers program in Tony's mind).
- The rest of the movie, with noticeably less scenes devoted to a Bad Guy, can now develop Rhodey's and Tony's friendship better and more thoroughly, flesh out Tony's father plot/creating Badassium further, Tony's rocky relationship with pepper, and Natasha/SHIELD's plot. Oh yeah, and those 10 Rings guys.
- The actual plot:
- Stark is busy turning Stark Industries around at a record-breaking pace, concerning both Potts and Rhodey bc it is obvious Tony is rapidly going to burn himself out at this rate. Yet Tony is caught up more and more in his success: Stark Industries is selling less and less weapons, lots of money is funneling into retraining/educating Stark employees, and despite government friction (that scene is the same), Stark's involvement as Iron Man in certain precision strikes and small military operations seems to result in victory for US forces while still reducing the number of deaths for both sides.
- The government scene happens, and Stark's claim that nobody is anywhere close to IM tech happens. The scene doesn't go as one-sided as it did originally, the government insisting (with Rhodey backing this, which strains their friendship massively) that if Stark is to remain in sole control of IM technology, insisting on being a "spare arm" for US military needs, he has to undergo a form of minimal military training, and psych evaluations/sessions. Stark has to take this, or they'll be knocking down his house tomorrow to pull the suit from his house's crumbling ruins.
- Hammer, meanwhile, has sent agents out to pull specialists who could develop poor imitations of parts of IM tech, hoping to cobble something together that he could feasibly sell. He finds reports of "metal monsters" in the Middle East (Gulmyra from the first movie, spreading from there), and sends out men of his to establish contact with them…
- …meaning the leader of the 10 Rings, who is not nearly as stupid as IM1/Stane claimed, and has learned enough about the IM1 suit to make his own cruder versions. Hammer approaches him with an under-the-table deal, offering his resources and funding to develop the suits more, and providing the 10 Rings leader with more of the result. Much of this is ripped from the Vanko staged prison break/"capture" scene, just repurposed to suit the 10 Rings guy (captured from his cave, etc). Same result, they partner up against Stark whom they both have radically different reasons to hate.
- Stark's trainer arrives, and it's the guy from SHIELD that in WS will go on to play Crossbones. He's a military fitness/training instructor, but is a SHIELD agent in disguise, sent to evaluate Stark. Stark is put under punishing and brutal military training. This training, combined with the increasing strain of controlling his own company AND being in charge of IM missions, forces Tony to appoint Pepper Potts as the future head of Stark Industries…after corporate training of course, he's not THAT stupid. She does become his protégé though, with him struggling to train her to be a better corporate boss than he ever was.
- Notice there's no mention of Stark dying yet, bc it really doesn't come up in this movie. Its replaced with Black Widow being waved in front of Tony like bait like in OTL, and thus becoming his new "assistant". Stark starts drinking to cope with the stress of more and more responsibilities, and playing around/tinkering with IM tech, which results in…
- …blowing up his own house while having a small birthday dinner with his best friends (Potts, Rhodey, the new girl/BW, several members of the board, etc). This swaps out for the OTL's disastrous birthday party. The party has originally gone well, with a scene where Tony had invited BW into his workshop to "show her around", and in the middle of Tony showing off, hitting on BW (and BW letting him), Potts walks in on both of them, making things very awkward quickly. They all go upstairs to try and pretend nothing was happening, and Tony in his distraction over that leaves something operating he thought he'd turned off. Midway during a happy but with an undercurrent of tension dinner there is a rumble, and the floor pitches upward, gas venting. The ceiling and walls begin to crack and crumble, large pieces falling on the panicking dinner guests. Stark and Rhodey both run downstairs, Stark getting there first and suited up, Rhodey following behind after picking rubble off Potts. Stark doesn't see Rhodey in his panic, blindly blasting upwards through the floor to help. Stark is frantically throwing debris away and getting people to safety, but many are badly injured, including Pepper. Stark starts to lose it as his house begins to explode from his basement up, but Rhodey arrives, and with BW's help the three barely get everybody out before the final fireball which incinerates everything, the house crumbling into a crater as it burns.
- Rhodey tries to calm Tony down, but Tony is dealing with having had every piece of anything he's ever valued just go up in flames, and throws a punch at Rhodes in self-imposed rage and grief. Cue the fight from OTL, but its much more Tony hating himself, and quite a bit darker as a result. How does one stop a man who's falling apart while encased in virtually indestructible armor? Same scene ending with Rhodey taking the suit, but much more…meaningful, lots of relationships damaged or ruined.
- There is a follow up scene with Tony going to the hospital to see "his people" as he calls them (some random board members, Potts, and BW). Potts is fading in and out of unconsciousness, while BW is there mainly for checkups. Cue Tony and incoherent Pepper scene, very sad, very emotional, but Tony can't get the forgiveness he craves from Pepper bc she goes unconscious again and he is escorted out of the room. BW walks up to him and really almost verbally assaults him, playing up the "potential love interest" act to a maximum, that he almost had her killed, how reckless and crazy was he, and how the hell can you think you can save the world by yourself if anything like this happens? She then verbally resigns being his assistant and stomps away, leaving him standing there kind of flattened and numb.
- That night he's back at the ruins of his house, the demolition crews having left their equipment for the night. Stark is literally sleeping in a tent; he managed to rescue JARVIS' armored data core, and some little bits, but everything is beat up and damaged. That's when Nick Fury arrives, and the reveal "Stark's dad worked for SHIELD" occurs (meaning more, with Fury saying his dad managed to save the world a whole bunch of times without any fancy suit of armor). Fury leaves his dad's crate, and Stark, after in silence for over a minute in the wilderness, says he needs somebody to talk and rigs up a battery and spare parts to the data core to talk to JARVIS. JARVIS listens to him like nobody else seemingly will or can right now, and Tony can finally tell somebody about the things he's been hiding from himself all this time, how his responsibilities were literally crushing him. He felt like he was back in the cave again, establishing a connection with IM1 and showing Stark never properly recovered from the experience.
- Cut to a cave, funny enough, with Hammer techs and Middle Eastern soldiers uncomfortably mixing to ship out the crap suits the 10 Rings has. Cue a small montage of them going in trucks, then fast jets, then into more trucks, then backing into Hammer Industries' R&D facilities. Montage suit development with Rings guys and Hammer guys talking, tech stuff, etc. Mark 2 Rings suit is developed, noticeably based off of Hammer's original suit model, but with IM1 suit improvements/features. The montage ends with a scene of Hammer and the 10 Rings leader having dinner, the leader noticeably uncomfortable with the Western settings and style. The conversation goes well but rapidly sours, making clear the differences between the two. The Rings guy stomps out to return to his homeland, and Hammer looks at a shadowy associate saying "better make sure the contingency plan is ready, just in case" (ie Hammer's drones, which don't require people at all).
- Stark the next morning, after a fitful nervous breakfast, stares out over the ocean, breathes, then finally forces himself to look at the crate Fury left. He cracks it open and starts to go through its contents, the day progressing, his house's ruins being taken away as he looks over more and more of his past. Borrowing an intact blanket from the work crews Stark sets up a projection screen on a neighboring rock face, ordering the crews to leave early, and he is very emotional about the father stuff from OTL playing. There's noticeably more references to the house, Stark's mother, maybe even a few cryptic references to Stark's father's work with SHIELD (only obvious bc we/Tony know the truth now).
- The scene with Tony and a chilly, still-bandaged Pepper in Stark's former office still happens. Replace Tony's house/basement with a Stark R&D facility, Tony "borrowing" it from the staff, and the whole Badassium discovery thing still happens. Tony's justification is wanting to be better than himself, and piecing together what his father discovered, and realizing the benefit this could have for the world. His Arc Reactors were a step in the right direction, but this new element…this could make those "revolutionize world energy" plans actually viable, making clear Arc Reactors from IM1 weren't capable of fulfilling that role in Tony's opinion. So, Tony is fulfilling his father's dream, and his father gives him a guiding nudge to have a purpose to his life from beyond the grave at the exact time Tony needed it. (OOC: Also, having a particle accelerator in a Stark R&D facility makes a LOT more sense then one being jury rigged in Tony's basement!)
- The "Tony on top of a donut shop eating in IM armor" happens, but its Tony's only suit of armor now bc he accidentally blew up his own house. The reveal that BW was actually a SHIELD agent is a lot more personal bc of the implied seduction-in-progress and the verbal attack she gave Tony IC, so it's a stronger scene affecting Tony. Tony explains a glimpse of his plans for global energy improvement hoping to get SHIELD support, and Fury faintly approves of Stark's new goals…but what's going to happen with that whole "privatized world peace" thing if Stark does follow up on it? He clearly can't do both at the same time, recent events have made that abundantly clear.
- Thus the ending happens, with a couple of "small" changes. Vanko doesn't hijack WM, the drones are indeed Hammer's drones and under his control…but then the 10 Rings show up in their Mark 2 suits launching a terrorist attack on the Stark Fair, with the aim of killing Tony Stark and revealing decadent Western hypocrisy (ie Hammer's plans to train and exploit the 10 Rings for his convenience, echoing Western…habits…with Middle Eastern countries like Afghanistan for decades now). The fight is a 3-way fight between Hammer's drones, IM and WM, and the 10- Rings. A stylistic change: People die, it is bloody and harmful, and good guys as well as bad guys are seriously injured. The 10 Rings guy is in Vanko's suit (Middle Eastern-ized, with ornate carvings, holy writing/phrases, and lots of suicide bombs). Stark and the 10 Rings leader fight, and its bloody, the conclusion to IM1 and Tony's torture at this monster's hands. The 10 Rings leader (need a name) reveals the bombs and tries to suicide rush Tony, but WM shoves Tony off the ledge and takes the blast himself. Tony rushes forward to WM; the superior armor of Tony's saved his life, but WM is in a coma (explaining why he's NOT in Avengers).
- Hammer is still arrested for his involvement, but less comically inept; have him try to escape, and IM (royally pissed bc of WM's near-death and finding out Hammer did all of this) cuts Hammer's car in half with one of those laser cartridges of his, police get him shortly after that.
- Pepper and Tony finally confessing their feelings to each other, later, in private, after having both left Rhodey's hospital room (maybe driving away?), makes more sense and feels stronger.
- Post-credits scene: Tony going to his first day of official, government-sponsored/mandated therapy/counseling…and his psychiatrist is the guy from the IH movie, the guy who dated Betty Ross.
1.2 The Incredible Hulk (early 2010)
- Bring Mark Ruffalo from the start. Instead of the somewhat boring character arc along with the dull personality they give Bruce in IH, they could make an actual interesting story using that vibe of "shy" he had in The Avengers.
- Waiting 2 years longer to do IH allows the existing state of CGI to develop, and seeing as the IH is at its heart a CGI creation (can't do it otherwise) this is ABSOLUTELY vital.
- The soldier that would become the Abomination needed badly character development and backstory. Contrasting his life with Bruce's perhaps throughout the movie, a scene or two referencing (even in single lines) his childhood, etc. It is critical we feel for the bad guy as much as Bruce, we have to understand what drives him, and how tragic it is that he embraces becoming a monster while Bruce comes to peace and expels much of what made the Hulk initially monstrous. In this sense (having the Bad Guy mirror the good guy), it mirrors what was done in the IM movies a bit.
- Less of a CGI-heavy fight, have parts of it happen in a city that's NOT NYC at all, in less urban places (bc they're leaping around and going miles in one jump), and have elements of the US military involved in a larger scale, more active manner. Actually show Thunderbolt Ross being a General!
1.4 Thor (mid-late 2010)
- Jane and Darcy are fused into a single character, played by Darcy's actress (Nat Portman is a bit dull IMO). Jane's intelligence, Darcy's humor and overall quirky likeability (and hotness, frankly). Give her a different name, say Natalie (to make of Portman not being there) mainly); Jane is too dull, Darcy is a slightly too quirky name.
- Thor ends up meeting both Selvig and Natalie, who is presented as a brilliant student of Selvig's that needs better grades and is following him as part of some kind of test. Thor develops a friendship with both.
- No love interest in this movie, not even for Sif, who's only a friend of Thor.
- The final act, instead of Loki sending the Destroyer, he will instead arrange an invasion of frost giants to Midgard and a smaller elite force attacking Asgard, which the same time will leave their planet defenseless against the Bifrost. The Warrior's Three's, Sif's, and Thor's ass are kicked really hard, and Natalie tries to stand up to the giants alone picking up Sif's sword (foreshadowing later movies). (OOC: I imagine Frost Giants in a desert would be eerily beautiful…and wet after a minute)
- The movie ends with the same way the original did, a good tragic ending. Natalie, having gone with Thor to get the Warriors 3 and Sif medical attention, is stranded on Asgard with him.
1.5 Agents of SHIELD (aka Black Widow movie)
- Timeline Placement: The movie would take place in 07-08, right before IM1 happens basically. The end of the movie would have Stark's first interview playing on a TV or something tying it all together, then BW gets a phone call from Fury...
- Plot: I don't have any definite thoughts aside from having Hawkeye being a cameo in it (much more so than in Thor, for example); I leave the actual plot up to those with more comics knowledge of BW than I have. Though, I have to admit, I've always wondered what happened in Budapest (Avengers reference)...
- Another critical cameo opportunity I feel would be nice to pursue is Maria Hill showing up first here, instead of Avengers. She's one of my fav background characters, yet we never get to know much of anything about her. This movie is a chance to work some extra material in on her without stretching other movies too much.
- Also, I can't stand the modern "women can't be sexy" complaints bc of PC-ness. Allow Scarlett Johanssen to be as gorgeous in this movie as she feels her character would be in the movie's events, and to compensate have male eye candy too. Its not sexist if all genders are treated equally; let's show some skin, damn it all!
- Having a BW movie where you see exactly just how dangerous BW can truly be would solve a lot of trolls online complaining about her "uselessness" in Avengers, bc everybody else are literally superhumans or gods and she isn't.
1.6 Captain America: The First Avenger (early 2011)
- Needs more Nazi killing, not just some secret tech division.
- Have the German spy successfully bring a Serum vial to Schmidt who is still human, until Cap arrives and blows up his factory, forcing Schmidt to take the serum to escape but too late to prevent horrific burn scars that lead to his titular Red Skull appearance.
- Have the blonde secretary who tries to seduce Cap be a HYDRA agent, providing an explanation for the shadow war between HYDRA and the OSS. (OOC: Have the seduction go farther maybe…?)
- Have the montage sequence extended into a series of small actual scenes, providing a stronger second act for the movie.
- Change the bomber with an ICBM-esque rocket with Bucky 'dying' when it explodes, throwing Cap into the North Atlantic.
1.7 Marvel's The Avengers (mid-late 2011)
- More US military involvement (even if its distant CGI shots of US carriers and fighter jets streaking in) in the Battle of New York.
- In response to increased US military involvement, the Chitauri need to be appropriately upgunned to show how them breaching containment is actually possible; either more forces, or higher-quality weapons/gear.
- Instead of the nuke flying in to blow up Manhattan, have the World Council propose launching it into the wormhole to take it out from the other side (aka when happened in canon). Nuke is launched over Fury's objections, but the CHitauri deploy a new space whale creature that generate massive ECM disruptions, screwing with the nuke, which does not course correct instead flying straight into the city. Iron Man still makes the sacrifice call, only for different reasons, and the World Council doesn't seem quite so damn bloodthirsty anymore.
- Thanos is already portrayed by Brolin. Utilize Infinity War's look, but with the original Avengers version of Thanos' glowing blue eyes (nice, alien, and creepy).
Phase 2 (Modified):
2.1 Iron Man 3 (early 2012) (WORK IN PROGRESS, UNFINISHED)
- Not a Shane Black movie, no bizarre Christmas theme.
- All the OTL Mandarin things are scrapped, leaving more room for the rest of stuff happening (good plot, character moments/beats, etc).
- Stark is non-stop drinking throughout the entire movie, to demonstrate his growing reliance on alcohol to keep himself from self-destructing and panicking any more than he already has.
- Vanko's background: same from IM 2, still a good grounding. Opening scene is Vanko's father dying, and an Arc Reactor being made with old schematics, and schematics/data recordings from the battle of NY, captured from SHIELD (meaning Vanko has unknown contacts in SHIELD, and that's why he can build a small Arc Reactor at all, but who did it…?).
- Killian's new background: Still runs AIM, a new tech company dedicated to "future solutions" for tomorrow's problems. Approaches Stark for funding back in 2000, but NOT as a hyper-nerd, but certainly in a rather bumbling and amateurish way. Tony is portrayed in a much more semi-malevolent light, making fun of Killian's inept attempts to convince him his company is worth anything, and casually brushes him off bc Stane (who is there) says he'll handle it while Tony goes off to party. Stane then rips into Killian again, threatening him with lawsuits if he ever dares to come near Tony again. Stane has security escort him out, and they treat him quite roughly, Killian breaking his leg during the incident. He has much more motivation to step up his game and his aggressiveness (and a reason for extensive physical therapy bc of the leg), never forgiving Stark and Stane for how they treated his attempts to even speak with them.
- During the opening of the headquarters for Damage Control Inc in NYC, Tony's attempt to help with rebuilding the city from the alien attack, he experiences a panic attack during the closing ceremony, which is made much worse by Vanko attacking Stark With a proto-Mark 1 Iron Man suit, half-unarmored but still a marked effort. Stark is heavily wounded before he can un-panic and focus, but Happy manages to throw him the Suitcase Armor, and he holds Vanko at a standstill (basically the scene from IM2, just transferred to here and changed a bit). WM shows up and knocks Vanko out.
- Stark is called back to Congress for another hearing very soon after, where his claim that no nation could make his tech for less than a decade from IM2 has been proven false (Vanko's suit heavily resembling Stark's Mark 1 making this even worse). Stark faces immense difficulties dealing with this, and between this and PTSD dives back into drinking (which is a carryover from the previous movies, shown to be getting worse, and is clearly a strong homage to "Demon In A Bottle" arc).
- Meanwhile, Vanko escapes from a max security prison after a brief sensor blackout as if he just vanished (Killian threw a chameleon/invisibility cloak over him basically). Killian offers Vanko an alliance in which both will get their revenge on Stark due to their separate character backgrounds. Killian offer Vanko help in upgrading his suit and supplying equipment to fund a group of Russian-derived mercenaries (under Vanko's command), in exchange for the Arc Reactor tech he clearly knows how to build.
- Terrorist attacks occur throughout the US a week after the hearings, targeting Stark Industries. Factories explode, suicide bomber "terrorists" blow up personnel facilities causing extreme casualties without seemingly any explosives like in OTL It is noted by news, SHIELD, the President, et al that the bombings seem to indicate an unusually thorough knowledge of Stark Industries' most intimate secrets. Happy is killed by one of said bombings. After Happy's funeral, an enraged grieving Stark offers on live TV to fight whoever is doing this to his people in person, giving his address like in OTL. He then begins investigating the bombings, determining a similar set of issues like in OTL IM3, but this time in Colorado, not in Tennessee.
- The finale buildup is the attack on Stark's house like in OTL IM3. Tony Stark's home security system (some elements of the Iron Legion, only much smaller in scale, plus IM-designed drones) battle the incoming terrorists in helicopters in Iron Man 3. This gives IM time to summon his armor for the movie, but is still defeated as the terrorists manage to severely damage it bc the armor is badly-designed. House still falls into the ocean, but this time Pepper and lady make it out safely without the need for the armor. Jarvis makes an independent decision to get Stark out of there, flying him far away from the battlefield.
- Meanwhile Killian and Vanko unexpectedly bond over their mutual hatred of Stark. I want to develop the two villains, explaining WHY they both ended up here in their parts of life from their own mouths, this is that opportunity.
- Stark's armor blows out over Colorado, forcing the suit to crash land, and Tony wakes up only to find Jarvis is gone and his suit is fried. He does the Tennessee stuff in Colorado, following up on one of the bombings there while drinking to stave off dealing with his problems. Stark is forced into a situation where he is separated from his booze, leaving him to agonizingly detox over a few days (NEED SOMETHING HERE).
- Barely getting on his feet, he is forced to confront an angry mob of Stark employees and their families at the bombing site in town, who recognize and rapidly turn on him. Stark is assaulted during the growing mob by the Russian mercs in improved armor as an attempted low-key assassination, but Vanko isn't in command, still working on his suit of armor. Stark has to take the soldiers out in the middle of a panicking riot, with lots of screaming civilians.
- He looks over the merc bodies afterwards, grabbing one and throwing it in his hijacked pickup truck, driving away before law enforcement can show up. He dissects the armor, hijacking its computer parts to fix his own armor, getting Jarvis barely back online. He talks with Jarvis about why it took it on its own initiative to fly him out to Colorado, and Jarvis speculated something is changing in his source code, or was damaged. Stark speculates about Jarvis possibly becoming self-aware and sentient to a degree he didn't have before, thus planting the idea for the Iron Legion more directly in Tony's head (which he doesn't have already pre-built anymore).
- The suit's computers have info on their initial launch point, and Stark fixes his suit successfully, flying to the compound, where in mid-flight WM catches up to him, demanding Stark stop and explain what is occurring. Stark tells WM his theory on who this might be from, the bombings, the Russian mercs with inexplicable copies of functioning Arc Reactors, everything. Explaining he has to keep his tech from getting into the wrong hands, they both head out to a location in Kansas, where AIM's primary R&D headquarters is located. Stark places a call to SHIELD, requesting whatever reinforcements they might have to deal with potentially superpowered terrorists.
- Vanko, Russian mercs, et al are waiting for him inside the HQ, several with invisible suits courtesy of Killian/AIM. Cue huge battle in a massive R&D complex. The mercs are significant professionals, treated not like cannon fodder like in OTL IM3 but as a very dangerous threat. Killian has a small force of test subjects (read AIM cultists) imbued with EXTREMIS, who join the assault, burning through walls. One explodes trying to take out WM, and Stark realizes this is what killed Happy.
- Mid-battle, WM is heavily injured but still taking on 3 at a time, and Stark is getting brutal, when SHIELD reinforcements show up, led by Hawkeye. Grateful this time for Hawkeye showing up leading SHIELD troops, there's a full-blown battle, where he faces off against first Vanko, is separated, then fights Killian (doped up on EXTREMIS like OTL), then both at the same time. Vanko is taken out by Hawkeye, and Killian melts off Stark's hand before dying himself to Stark and WM turning their beams on him (creating that "cut in half" shockwave from OTL IM2).
- Stark wakes up in a hospital bed, Pepper sleeping by his side, and he wakes up. She rebukes him viciously, then collapses weeping in his arms. Stark awkwardly hugs her with his stump.
- The movie ends with Stark designing a robotic hand as a replacement for his lost one, and designs for the Iron Legion up and running as his house is being rebuilt, bigger and better than before, optimized for use by the Iron Man (which is himself via voiceover, like in OTL). Stark Industries is half destroyed, many assets lost or employees leaving for fear of their lives. Stark is determined to help Pepper rebuild; he picks up his flask, throwing it into the ocean as a symbol of fighting his darkest impulses.
2.2 Thor: The Dark World (mid-late 2012)
- Make sure that Loki doesn't eclipse Thor in the Dark World. The movie must be centered around the two brothers and their struggle to understand each other, both coming to terms with their own imbalances.
- Give Thor a real threat before Kurse.
- Make Malekith threatening in his own right.
- Natalie's character arc in this movie is basically her transitioning into a proto-Valkyrie. She's lost her "fish out of water" vibe, is learning more and more about the Asgardian world, and feels more and more restrained by feeling left out of what is obviously such a critical part of Asgardian culture, combat.
- And the actual plot:
- The movie starts by having Natalie insist to Thor she is ready for training like Lady Sif was, and she has been working hard to become strong and prove worthy. Thor says Natalie doesn't have to do this, and she retorts by saying "do you have to go out and fight the Nine Realms every day?", obviously rhetorical. She follows up by saying she can't sit around and read Asgardian books all day, and knowing even some of what is out there in the cosmos she wants to be prepared. Odin and Thor discuss Natalie's desire to learn Asgardian combat, and Thor points out that Natalie would make a great ambassador between Midgard and Asgard, a concept which confuses Odin until Thor explains the concept to him. Asgard having never followed such traditions, Odin is reluctant to agree until Thor further points out the sheer balls Natalie had going against a quartet of Frost Giants by herself, with a weapon she had never trained in before. Odin finally breaks and agrees to Natalie being trained…
- …transition to Sif's face when she's told she is to train Natalie. Sif doesn't like Natalie all too much, bc she feels mortal Midgardians are too squishy and incapable of true combat against Asgardians, and she is slightly jealous of how Thor is increasingly looking at her (the beginnings of a jealousy subplot). Reference to the extinct Valkyries is made here via Sif and her backstory-exposition, what inspired her to become the badass warrior she is.
- Thor doesn't really feel so powerful in Thor 2. More feats of superhuman strength/abilities wouldn't hurt…
- But it still isn't enough against Malekith and Kurse, even with the aid of the Warriors 3, Sif and Natalie. Malekith still invades, the invasion of Asgard by Dark Elves still happens, and while Natalie does make her first official kill (with Fandral's aid), Thor's mother Friga still dies, and that beautiful funeral still happens.
- Loki isn't just freed for his knowledge of secret ways and a chance to avenge Friga, its also bc as a youth he secretly snuck offworld using said secret passages to an isolated world where the Enchantress dwelt, a sorceress of vast power who had clashed with Odin in the past. Loki being her former student, and them having parted on amicable terms, Thor figured Loki would be a good in to approach her without her trying to shoot them out of the sky.
- They are allowed to approach the Enchantress' small but formidable kingdom, and Thor has to literally crawl on his hands and knees to the Enchantress, a powerful sorceress who Thor had banished from Asgard over 800 years ago. The Enchantress agrees to help them only on strict conditions, and her help is…Skurge the Executioner. He is properly introduced here, and is noticeably more like comics Skurge, with an impossible love for a powerful being way out of his league who emotionally exploits his attraction towards her for her own ends.
- The Enchantress establishes her reasons for massively disliking Odin's reign on Asgard through both her exile and "what your High King did to my best friend" (ie Hela). The backstory is Hela did her thing ~1300 years ago, Odin imprisons her, but the Enchantress uses her magic wiles and manages to get on Odin's good side for a while. That last ~400 years, until Odin's new wife Friga revealed her magical manipulations, and the Enchantress was exiled from Asgard.
- The rest of the movie largely is the same, but Sif sacrifices her life to save Natalie's, showing the mutual respect they both earned for the other. Natalie takes up Sif's sword in her memory. Oh yeah, and Natalie goes back to Earth as a self-styled Midgardian ambassador between Asgard and Midgard (probably to the UN, in a post-credits scene).
2.3 Captain America: The Winter Soldier (early 2013)
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2.4 Agents of SHIELD 2 (Black Widow-Hawkeye movie w/Winter Soldier cameo) (replaces swapped Ant Man) (mid-late 2013)
- Show the absolute insanity erupting in all walks of life right after the plot of Winter Soldier is revealed to the world. Whatever the plot actually is, it has to be anchored in this period of virtual international chaos.
- Actually, I have the perfect foil: The bad guys are the Thunderbolts (a team of Bad Guys in short): Abomination (broken out of cryo-prison), Crimson Dynamo (revealed later to be a crippled Ivan Vanko who can't survive without the suit anymore), Crossbones (evolution from WS into a true villain, he's the guy that recruits the team in the first place), and .
- The first bout goes…poorly, even with former SHIELD associates helping with SHIELD tech. Black Widow and Hawkeye have to call in Iron Man and the Hulk, who cameo in one small scene mid-movie and at the end for the big fight. (OOC: This is largely meant to fix why IM got back into the game when he said in IM3 he wouldn't to Pepper)
- Sample dialogue: (Pepper) "I know that look." (Tony) "Look, I said no and hung up, didn't I?" (Pepper) "I still know that look. *sigh* Where's your suit?" Tony: "What makes you think I have a suit, when I specifically said I'm
retired?" Pepper: "You always have a suit, something. Where is it?" Tony: "Uh…" Pepper (sidles on over, mischievous and smiling, cooing): "You can trust me Tony, I know your secret identity…" Tony: "Uh, in the shed?" Pepper: Hah! Knew it."
- IM and Hulk help out in round two, partially helped bc the Thunderbolts aren't lasting, internal tensions rising. Many of the villains felt they owed HYDRA for busting them out of their prison/situation, but after that they would head out, and they already fought BW and Hawkeye, so why stay? Combined with a Solid Snake-style ambush, cue huge fight scene!
- Winter Soldier shows up, having been hunting down HYDRA members, leading to here.
- Hulk saves BW's life at one point, and BB remembers it afterwards. This is a subtle leadup to their potential romance which becomes a thing in AOU.
2.5 Avengers: Age of Ultron (early 2014)
- Make Ultron as creepy as in the trailers, and more inhuman. Go with some of the features from earlier designs, such as less human eyes and mouth.
- Ultron going for the nuke codes is a feint. He goes after several elements in the global system that would be vulnerable to a hyperintelligent AI: transportation grids (turning the lights in all cities green, etc), shutting off or overloading power plants (especially fragile old nuclear facilities), releasing all the dams at once to trigger floods that wipe out whole towns and cities, etc.
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- Ultron is a recurring villain.
2.6 Guardians of the Galaxy (mid-late 2014) (swapped w/Agents of SHIELD)
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Phase 3 (Modified):
3.1 Spider-Man: Homecoming (early 2015)
- This is going to sound weird, but I want to put S:H before Civil War. Peter is 16 (having been 9 at the time of IM2 being the kid in the IM mask), so its slightly less pervy about anybody thinking Peter is cute or attractive. Peter is a HS junior despite being 16 bc he's a year ahead of his class, which makes sense bc he is very intelligent.
- Also, in this version, bc Peter has no Stark-made suit, he has the classic spider sense from the prior SM movies. Also explains how Peter did what he did with such a shitty original suit.
- The main plot can stay largely the same, with Peter trying to contact Stark about joining the Avengers potentially bc of financial troubles May is having and not getting through, running into the roadblock that is Happy Hogun. Peter, discovering illegal high-tech weapons on the market beginning to get into the hands of criminals, and when tries to get Stark's attention, but Stark is distracted by working with the government on the Sokovia Accords (ie excuse for Stark not being around). Peter's continuous escalation of trying to get Stark's attention pisses off Hogan, who insists on anything like actual evidence before even believing him, bc Hogun thinks of Peter as a teenage gloryhound who might be delusional, so this puts Peter on track for finding out more info for Stark.
- Certainly a lot of stuff changes:
- There is a mid-movie bit where Peter is upgrading his suit into something less shitty (say new equipment he scrounged from a few tech shops, or dumpsters).
- The ferry incident is still intercepted by Stark, only now it's the first time they meet, and Peter finding out Stark knows anything about him is kind of shocking to him (merge Civil War knowing of Peter's identity scene and post-ferry rebukement scene). Finding your superhero idol doesn't think much of you (bc of the ferry thing being the first time they meet, and Stark knowing Peter can potentially do better) devastates Peter, setting up the end to the movie which is the same as before.
- The Vulture gang stuff is exactly the same, though I don't have Vulture kill the first guy w/the Shocker outfit just to be EVIL. Keep the first guy, but Vulture deliberately injures him (pencil through the hand or something), so he's still an asshole whose morality is unraveling.
- At the end, after Vulture is captured by the authorities, Stark meets Peter and essentially says thanks. However, he refuses him a position in the Avengers primarily bc of his age, saying if Peter graduates high school with honors then his chances are very good. He does leave a surprise for Peter, a guaranteed Stark scholarship which solves a large chunk of May's looming financial issues, a pair of beat-up shorts with a few hundred dollars in 20s (with a note saying Pete found them in a sewer drain) to further help May with some minimal funding one-time, plus the Spiderman-themed beacon which is used in Civil War to contact Stark in an emergency (and him to call in a favor in Civil War).
3.2 Doctor Strange (mid-late 2015)
- More hints as to what horrors are kept at bay by the Masters of the Mystic Arts and less CGI pentagram Kung Fu.
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3.3 Captain America: _________________ (early 2016)
- Plot:
- The movie begins with Peggy Carter's funeral, with Sharon Carter's "river of truth" piece still happening, inspiring Cap as slowly the world seems to turn on him. Since Age of Ultron, resistance against superheroes has been building significantly, and Captain America is specifically targeted in a horrific smear campaign accusing him of virtually everything horrific (cue worst of modern Internet bashing/how everybody hates everybody else). Despite interviews Cap has on TV attempting to fix his reputation (which horrifically backfire bc of plants in the audience), and Stark even showing up in TV cameos supporting his friend and all the good hes done, Cap's rep is catastrophically damaged.
- Cap is interviewed by a female military official named ______ Ross (Ross' daughter, whose just as much an asshole as he is; basically Maria Hill from the comics). Ross, having a personal edge against the Avengers bc of how her father's career was ruined post IH movie, assigns Cap with a horrific hostage rescue mission, Cap not knowing she's set him up to fail. The hostage mission is in a hostile nation, but due to Ross' setup Cap fails hard. The hostages have all been executed, and Cap meets a familiar figure dressed similar to him but all in black (similar to Cap's SHIELD outfit from WS). The figure reveals his bloody visage, and Cap sees…himself. Cap recognizes the SSS working, and though it's a different person its like looking into an evil mirror. The anti-Cap reveals how hes going to take up his shield and his name to complete the ruination of Captain America forever, using the holographic face-mimic thing from WS to take on Cap's own face. Cue horrific fight, an already weakened Captain America (via nerve gas that specifically is designed to weaken SSS-infused individuals ie Cap) is smashed into the ground, the villain picks up Cap's shield, then the building collapses and explodes into fire with him inside of it. Cap legit dies.
- Waking up in a strange building, Cap is met by a series of dead Asgardians, as he's ended up in Helheim bc of his martial nature. One of them is Sif, having died in Thor: The Dark World, and she's among the leaders of Valhalla's dead warriors. Cap recognizes her from SHIELD files on Thor's various testimonies, and she inquires about Midgard and Thor. Cap mentions some vague stuff on Ultron, but pauses and adds that he really doesn't have the time to go into detail. Sif says time is fluid in this realm, not behaving in a linear fashion, so he can and he'll still have enough time.
- They join a crazy Asgardian feast, and Sif and Cap share war stories, where Cap is interrupted by a still-young Peggy Carter running up to him and tackling him in a passionate embrace. Cap is deliriously happy and shocked, but realizes Peggy earned her warrior afterlife many times over. He finishes telling what occurred recently to him, trailing off as he looks at Peggy and realizes, despite every bone in his body telling him to, that he can't stay with Peggy in Valhalla. Turning from Peggy to Sif, he asks her to help him break out of Valhalla, and while Sif says nobody has ever done that she'll help him bc of the rightness of his cause. Steve and Peggy have a tender and quiet moment alone, and then Steve, Peggy, and Sif depart, the other Norse warriors wishing Cap the best in his attempt, nobody truly believing he can do it (bc many others have tried before).
- According to legend it is theoretically possible if done before Cap's soul becomes accustomed to Helheim and loses its connection with his body (which nobody has ever moved fast enough to do before), so they hurry onwards into Helheim. The landscape is bleak and barren, the ruins of cities and jagged towers in perpetual decay, frozen in time. While travelling the Mordor-esque landscape, they encounter a shade flitting from rock to rock. Pinned down, its revealed to be Arnim Zola, who'd recognized Cap and was spying on them. He is an extremely old man, now spry with death, yet he is extremely open to speaking with them bc he describes Helheim as "extremely lonely". Its revealed his involvement in SHIELD being slowly subverted and corrupted into a proto-HYDRA several decades ago, with his recruitment into the US rocketry and nuclear programs from his knowledge of the Tesseract and high-energy physics. "What do you think your beloved country was doing while you slept the ages away, my precious Captain?" He makes a reference to how happy he was that his family was continuing strong "carrying on the family tradition", and when asked he shrugged, saying they'd already met her, and will meet her again.
- They are ambushed by undead soldiers, and a fight commences, Arnim Zola cowering in terror from the "skeletal monsters". The ruler of Helheim is a brutal overlord (Hela, pre-Ragnarok), and Hela has sent her ever-roaming legions of the dead after them, and they forcibly conscript Zola to showing them the hidden entrance to Helheim. It quickly becomes a war of wits as the group must sneak and fight their way through patrols and an ever-tightening net of the undead. Eventually it is the three against small armies of the undead, growing in number as they approach the gate, and a great beast approaches out of the fog. The monstrous form shrinks into Hela's form, but before she can order their deaths the Valkyries attack (as seen in the Ragnarok film flashback).
- The slaughter of the Valkyries gives Sif and Cap time to charge through the gate, but Peggy recognizes somebody needs to hold the dead back so the living world isn't breached, so she stays (cue tragic slow-mo romance, etc), her and a terrified Zola blocking the gate with their own bodies.
- A flash of rainbow light envelops them, as Heimdall immediately saw them from his vantage point on Asgard and retrieved them before Hela could attempt a further breakout. Cap says he has to return, and Sif asks if he could use another shield-arm by his side. Cap agrees, and Heimdall offers them Asgardian armor and weapons (from a small armory behind a retractable wall) where they arm up, Cap and Sif in partial armor, Sif with a retractable spear-staff and sword, and Cap with a sword and shield. They leap into the Bifrost back to Midgard (OOC: Heimdall's assistance here is what gets him later fired by "Odin", ie Loki in disguise).
- Teleporting back to the site of Cap's death, Cap and Sif fight a horde of anonymous black-ops personnel with no markings, and are joined by Falcon, who had been backtracking where Cap had gone, since Cap after his arrival hadn't been acting quite like normal, and Falcon had grown suspicious. Cap tells him what had occurred, and Falcon wonders if he was still buried in the rubble. Cue Cap walking eerily back to the building crater, and they find…a shred of Cap's uniform, blood, and nothing more in the rubble. Creepy.
- Cut to Anti-Cap still looking like Cap, walking past the US Capitol into a nearby fancy building, where he meets Ross in a small private room. At first official, they lean in and kiss, revealing something between them. Ross smiles, saying the plan is proceeding apace, making a reference to their "idiotic patsy", and a time is given for three days later. They both turn to look at the White House.
- The three are shown on a former SHIELD Quinjet streaking back to the US, and Cap remembers his death, and what the Anti-Cap had said, specifically a reference to Ross.
3.4 Captain Marvel (mid-late 2016)
- Since I haven't seen the movie yet, I can't comment on it, sadly.
3.5 Thor: Gladiator (early 2017)
- Tone the humor down in Thor: Ragnarok by ~1/4.
- The majority of the plot is Thor's enslavement and conversion into a gladfiator on the planet Sakaar, his fights in the arena (definitely more than one, maybe two, then the third is the Big Fight), meeting the Hulk and the third Big Fight. Fleshing out Sakaar, the Grandmaster, Loki's involvement, et al is critical here.
- The second half of the movie is the fleshing out Hela's character, the devolvement of Hela's rule of Asgard into tyranny and eventual madness, etc. Hela does NOT slaughter everybody she meets casually, and her power builds much slower, but its much more graphic when she does wield it. Actually defining her powerset would be nice, too.
- Anyways, the Asgardian resistance is formed by Heimdall like before, joined by Natalie Foster in fighting the doomed cause. The noose tightens...
- This movie is the first MCU movie to end on a cliffhangar...leading into Thor: Ragnarok.
3.6 Avengers: Civil War (mid-late 2017)
- Civil War becomes an Avengers story, bc it really is one. Its too much for a Cap-themed movie, and has everybody anyways.
- Given the multiple alien invasions in The Avengers, Thor The Dark World, etc, the UN has been reorganized to better defend the world from massive alien invasion and existential threats. There are small scenes/bits inserted to show more enthusiastic international support for the UN as a flag to rally Earth behind, not just the superheroes bc of their damage.
- there is a sense that the major events of the MCU have been too clean and bloodless. In Civil War, when Secretary Ross is showing video clips of the Battle of NY, the fall of SHIELD, and Sokovia, the casualties are displayed in the videos, and they're laughably low. According to on screen information, 74 people died in the events of The Avengers. That's simply ludicrous--you had aliens running through office buildings shooting anything that moved, giant flying space monsters that smashed into buildings, etc. I don't think the end of The Avengers should have been on the same level as Man of Steel, with the death toll potentially up to 10,000, but there's no way less than 100 people died, either. The Netflix shows and Spider-Man Homecoming addressed the financial cost of the ruin, but you don't get the sense that this was a 9/11 scale event, either.
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Phase 4 (WORK IN PROGRESS)
4.1 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (early 2018)
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4.2 Black Panther (mid-late 2018)
- Ulysses Klaw lives, and is a bit less crazy/manic.
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4.3 Thor: Ragnarok (early 2019)
- Valkyrie, Thor, and Banner manage to escape from Sakaar, travelling through the wormhole. They travel first to the Enchantress, but she has already departed to join her sister's side on Asgard. They next travel to Jotunheim, then Muspelheim, recruiting both the Frost Giants and Ice Giants to aid in the toppling of Hela from the throne. (OOC: Always botherd me how THAT wormhole just happened to be pointed right at Asgard, at least this way they had to travel a bit. And the recruitment of Asgard's traditional enemies is a clever twist on Ragnarok (where Loki in the Norse legends is usually the one recruiting Frost Giants, for instance).)
- Meanwhile, Hela is gathering up the slain Asgardian peoples, converting them into yet more undead soldiers. The more who die, the more powerful her armies get. Skurge is seen in shadowy glimpses in the Asgardian forges, but what exactly he's doing is not known, aside from carrying large bundles in and out.
- While that is going on, Loki is leading the Revolution on Sakaar, at first deciding to not aid his brother and just stay and take power like his previous plan, but scenes with Korg convince him he needs to show to Thor he's not the same person he once was. Restoring order to Sakaar, he gathers up all the soldiers and gladiators of Sakaar into a vast army, trains and equips them briefly, then leads them through the wormhole to charge into Asgard. (OOC: An ironic twist, now Loki is acting a lot more like old Thor might have.)
- Both armies on Asgard at roughly the same time, shortly after Hela's undead armies begin besieging the Asgardian hidden shelters, forcing a run to the Bifrost to avoid certain death at Hela' hands. Normal Asgardians are show literally killing themselves (something like poison, maybe) to avoid certain death and eternal enslavement at Hela's hands, things go very bad, very quick.
- Multiple armies march on Asgard from all sides of space, Frost Giants, Fire Giants, Sakaarian forces led by Loki, and Thor's Revengers. TOTAL WAR THIS!!!
- The Warriors 3 and Natalie must live, or at least long enough for some of them to meet up with Thor when he arrives. Say two of them are seriously injured (Hogun and Volstagg), they get the Asgardian refugees to safety in ancient bunkers during darker times, then Volstagg dies of his wounds. Very emotional scene, lots of remembrance of better times. Thus we SHOW just how bad current times are getting.
- Hela's power is truly unleashed on the Frost Giants and Fire Giants, and there's huge casualties on all sides…but Hela's minions just get back up again, after a long while.
- When Thor, Valkyrie, and Hulk/BB arrive, Thor gets to actually meet Fandral and Hogun, who tell him of their stand and Volstagg's death, and Thor has to actually show grief over one of his best friend's death.
- Fandral and Hogun can still die by the end of the movie heroic deaths worthy of legend (perhaps standing with Skurge on the Bifrost's bridge against the endless horde, while Loki's Sakaarian ships are loading with refugees), but they need and deserve better treatment than what they got. Have Thor declare the destruction of Asgard the ultimate pyre for his friend's death, "their light will illuminate victory over a thousand worlds", etc.
- After Asgard's destruction, the temporary allies of Jotunheim, Muspelheim, and Asgard go their separate ways, both the Frost and Fire Giants' forces heavily mauled. The now-refugee fleet heads for Earth. Thor is crowned King of the Asgardian peoples, what remains of them, and Natalie Foster and Valkyrie depart from the Asgardian fleet in a smaller vessel. Natalie does so to continue her training, showing her growth beyond her love of Thor as a complete individual in her own right. Its heavily implied they're going to refound the Valkyries.
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4.4 Avengers: Infinity War (mid-late 2019)
- Fix Thanos' goal in Infinity War.
- By Infinity War SHIELD has been reformed, and SWORD also exists to both counterbalance SHIELD and to perform more offensive, proactive missions/duties (the international community having felt SHIELD was being asked to do too much post-WW2, thus setting itself up with weak spots that allowed HYDRA infiltration. (OOC: has to be a defense besides the Avengers)
- By Infinity War show that many First World nations have replaced much of their carrier groups with Avengers 1-style Helicarriers and Helicruisers. SHIELD and SWORD have their own, repulsor-equipped versions of both (basically the Winter Soldier Helicarriers stripped of giant death railguns; the overall design is still a good one).
- A SWORD Helicarrier group comes to Wakanda's aid in the climax of Infinity War, obliterating much of the Black Order's ground forces and forcing the Wakandans to deploy to wipe the elite stragglers out (instead of rushing into melee combat like its the Middle Ages).
- I would have left Thor with a missing eye and an eye patch. And you would have seen Thor shooting lighting and manipulating weather to attack his enemies in A3, not just using Stormbreaker for everything.
- I probably would have drawn the battle between Thor and Thanos out a bit more.
- I would have had the Scarlet Witch throw down with him a bit more too.
Post-Infinity War MCU
General Thoughts:
- The reality fucking with caused by the Infinity Stones, and the undoing of the Snap, is what sets up Galactus to be the next Big Bad.
- Thanos survived Infinity War, and is a complex 3D, evolving character like Loki is.
Ant-Man (???)
- For Ant-Man, make Darren Cross a red herring while the real villain is Hank Pym.
Yes, yes, Hank Pym gets too much crap as it is. And I don't care. Because Evil Hank solves a lot of the film's problems.
- You get a three-dimensional villain, a former superhero broken by his failures and the people he's lost.
- A better explanation for why Hope isn't the protagonist, even though she's obviously more competent than Scott. Hank doesn't want her involved because he's the bad guy who doesn't want her screwing up the plan, and we're supposed to root for her as she comes into her own as the Wasp.
