Yeah, Scarlet Witch's powers always seemed to be "whatever the writer needs."
Avengers: Age of Ultron (spoiler thread!)
- Thread starter Ravenpoe
- Start date
Like I've been saying had I liked the rest of the movie better it wouldn't have really been a bother. As it stands the lips are the cherry on top of the terribleness that was Ultron.
This. In all the years I've been reading comic books, I never fully understood what her "Hex Bolt" power was supposed to be. It's supposed to have something to do with changing probability or somesuch, but after Avengers Disassembled, she basically became a mentally unstable Molecule Man.
I think we can all assume at what point in the movie Dubyaman took a piss break.
Tony specifically says that the explosion will vaporize most of the mass, that's the reason that he had to hit it with his Unibeam from the bottom at the same time that it was destroyed from the top. It's explicitly stated in the movie.
I don't remember the dialog, but there you go physics whiners.
Yes..but an explosion that powerful would create an airburst orders of magnitude greater than the Tunguska event.
Can't escape physics.
The point, though, wasn't to whine about something I didn't like about the movie. The point was that most movies have dumb stuff like that in them. You gotta let it go and just enjoy the freaking thing.
Man knows the value of leg day.
Well, we're dealing with alien gods, radiation creating a big green rage monster, someone with pretty much magical levels of technology and someone on super steroids. That's kind of a given.
Fun fact, there's a reason why they don't launch nuclear bombs they plan to airburst inside a giant piece of ground... and why underground testing is a thing...
I mean sure, each engine exploding at the exact moment as the others, and with exactly enough force to just take care of the falling mass is unlikely, but not impossible...
Then again a lot of people seem to think a lead lined fridge wouldn't protect you form a nuclear blast if you're far enough and the lead is thick enough to withstand the radiation, when actually Indy was more likely to break his neck then die from the blast... so people have weird expectations.[DOUBLEPOST=1431115871,1431115794][/DOUBLEPOST]
It's magic, because writing bad (or good) luck powers is fucking hard.
PAD did pretty well with Longshot though...
I suppose I should actually throw in with my opinion. As has been stated it was a fun movie and I really enjoyed it, but it wasn't nearly as good as the first Avengers movie.
The Avengers Assemble tease gave me blue balls.
I thought Ultron was very different from his comic book counterpart, but I didn't hate it. He had better motivations than just "I hate the Avengers and want them all dead" Which was his comic book origin. The whole "it was Jarvis the whole time, wait, no it wasn't" story from the comics was kind of lame.
BTW, how many times HAS Jarvis betrayed the Avengers? It's been quite a few. I think only Agatha Harkness has screwed over her superteam more.
My biggest issue wasn't with the movie itself, but the theater I saw it in. They had the volume down so low, when anybody talked below a certain volume, you had to strain to hear, but that's a criticism of Marcus Theaters (which suck, BTW. Their "ultra" screen is set up so cockeyed that when there's a movie with any subtitles in it, they get cut off by the curve of the bottom of the screen).
ANYWHOOO.
Overall I enjoyed it. I liked the quick look into the background of the characters via their greatest fears, even if it was basically setting up future movies.
Oh, and as for Thor knowing about the infinity gems already revealed. Well, he's an Asgardian. Heimdal can pretty much see anything in the universe he wants. It makes sense that they would know about the events of the Guardians of the Galaxy and Thor was directly involved with all other infinity stones.
But doesn't this all mean that in Infinity War that Vision has to die for Thanos to get the Mind or Soul gem (not sure which it's supposed to be, leaning towards mind because of the color)?[DOUBLEPOST=1431116120,1431115987][/DOUBLEPOST]
The Avengers Assemble tease gave me blue balls.
I thought Ultron was very different from his comic book counterpart, but I didn't hate it. He had better motivations than just "I hate the Avengers and want them all dead" Which was his comic book origin. The whole "it was Jarvis the whole time, wait, no it wasn't" story from the comics was kind of lame.
BTW, how many times HAS Jarvis betrayed the Avengers? It's been quite a few. I think only Agatha Harkness has screwed over her superteam more.
My biggest issue wasn't with the movie itself, but the theater I saw it in. They had the volume down so low, when anybody talked below a certain volume, you had to strain to hear, but that's a criticism of Marcus Theaters (which suck, BTW. Their "ultra" screen is set up so cockeyed that when there's a movie with any subtitles in it, they get cut off by the curve of the bottom of the screen).
ANYWHOOO.
Overall I enjoyed it. I liked the quick look into the background of the characters via their greatest fears, even if it was basically setting up future movies.
Oh, and as for Thor knowing about the infinity gems already revealed. Well, he's an Asgardian. Heimdal can pretty much see anything in the universe he wants. It makes sense that they would know about the events of the Guardians of the Galaxy and Thor was directly involved with all other infinity stones.
But doesn't this all mean that in Infinity War that Vision has to die for Thanos to get the Mind or Soul gem (not sure which it's supposed to be, leaning towards mind because of the color)?[DOUBLEPOST=1431116120,1431115987][/DOUBLEPOST]
Luck based powers are just stupid, IMO. But for some reason they keep giving them to people. Domino, Longshot, Black Cat, Scarlet Witch. It's such a vague power.
Black Cat's being written pretty horribly right now, too. SpOck got her caught instead of that will-they-won't-they-again dance Pete always did with her, and it ruined her "rep," something she suddenly cares very deeply about. Now she uses her luck powers to steal remorselessly, assembled a bunch of thugs and C-list villains, and then nearly murdered Aunt May and JJJ's dad in a fire to get back one valuable from her old collection.
Anyway, I agree on the Assemble bit. It happened and I heard someone in the front of the theater say "oh you bastard." It was a good moment.
Anyway, I agree on the Assemble bit. It happened and I heard someone in the front of the theater say "oh you bastard." It was a good moment.
Well Ultron seemed to be doing fine with just a pseudo-copy of the gem, no reason why Vision can't survive without it...
Maybe he just loses some power and is a bit weaker after or something...
My understanding was that the Alien AI was the outer container for the gem, not the gem itself. That means that Ultron doesn't need the gem at all, but Vision was brought to life by the gem itself.
Didn't they mention at the start that the something inside (aka the mind gem) was the thing with the brain like stuff?
No, Ultron even says that human thinking was limited because they were just looking at what was on the outside, not inside. Inside, being the gem. My guess is that the mind gem needed an advanced AI to be able to contain the gem. Hence why Vision can wield it even though it's supposed to be extremely volatile like all the other infinity gems. for instance, the Costmic Cube disintegrating the Red Skull and the explosion that destroys the Collectors lab, and the Aether threatening to kill Jane Foster. Those gems don't like being held by organic creatures, except those with exceptional power. Even Ronin had to put it in his hammer before it destroyed him. I don't think he would have been able to perpetually hold onto the gem without exploding. And Vision is half organic, so that thing should be tearing him apart.
Last edited:
I think they were bonded with it, not encased by it.
Hmm... i distinctly remember hearing Tony saying the thing was containing something when him and Banner where examining the staff.
So Ultron was, at least, wrong.
...
Still, either way, there's no reason to have Vision die witohut the gem, as he's already part Jarvis and part Ultron that got zapped by Thor personality wise...[DOUBLEPOST=1431195276,1431195100][/DOUBLEPOST]
Maybe Ultron was smarter then your average fictional computer expert, and just turned off his damn wi fi when he was in danger of being hacked...
Switched to blue tooth for short range coms with his bodies or something.
It occurs to me that before Ultron started his Gundam Wing Operation Meteor fan recreation, he could've shifted all the numbers around for all sorts of things, destroyed the global economy, and caused a worldwide crisis that would've had countries tearing themselves apart.
GasBandit
Staff member
Three little words: Grey Goo Scenario
Isn't that what Bane was going to do?
I thought he was just screwing with Bruce Wayne's finances.
Oh maybe, most of the movie's a vague memory at this point.
I think that - along with the nuclear missile codes - is exactly what JARVIS was preventing.
Didn't think of that. Good point.
Yeah, Ultron was going with a lot of different options, but Jarvis was blocking almost all of them, so he went with the "artifical verneshot" method because it could only be dealt with directly.
As for why the "1,000,000 pieces of Sokovia don't do the same amount of damage as the one big chunk", it's the same reason 200 hand grenade-sized bomblets launched from a firecracker MRLS round don't leave the same kind of crater as a 200-kilo HE shell would. Even if they're the same grade explosive and same total mass, being dispersed over a much larger area reduces the effect exponentially. In part because all the small shockwaves disrupt each other instead of having one MASSIVE pressure wave.
A large verneshot is a mass-extinction level event. Smaller ones have been documented in 2003 in connection with a 1999 eruption in Taiwan, was possibly was caused the destruction of "Atlantis" on San Torini, and Tunguska may also be such an event.
Stark does say that the resulting explosion will vaporize much of the mass of Sokovia, and we see boulder-sized chunks of debris hitting all over the place, probably dispersed over several hundred square miles. Destructive? Yes, very. And the vaporized rock in the upper atmosphere would probably result in cool summers and severe winters for a few years as well as increased precipitation (the rock dust effectively seeding clouds). But those are survivable; a 1,000,000 ton impact on the earth's crust would not be.
As for why the "1,000,000 pieces of Sokovia don't do the same amount of damage as the one big chunk", it's the same reason 200 hand grenade-sized bomblets launched from a firecracker MRLS round don't leave the same kind of crater as a 200-kilo HE shell would. Even if they're the same grade explosive and same total mass, being dispersed over a much larger area reduces the effect exponentially. In part because all the small shockwaves disrupt each other instead of having one MASSIVE pressure wave.
A large verneshot is a mass-extinction level event. Smaller ones have been documented in 2003 in connection with a 1999 eruption in Taiwan, was possibly was caused the destruction of "Atlantis" on San Torini, and Tunguska may also be such an event.
Stark does say that the resulting explosion will vaporize much of the mass of Sokovia, and we see boulder-sized chunks of debris hitting all over the place, probably dispersed over several hundred square miles. Destructive? Yes, very. And the vaporized rock in the upper atmosphere would probably result in cool summers and severe winters for a few years as well as increased precipitation (the rock dust effectively seeding clouds). But those are survivable; a 1,000,000 ton impact on the earth's crust would not be.
Also, now that I've seen it, I have to say that the complaints about BW revealing she's sterile and the whole "gypsy" thing are stupid. First off, I don't think they mentioned Roma or Gypsy in regards to the twins at all during the movie, they were just said to be "Sokovian", ie a generic Eastern European of some kind. Secondly, Bruce has just seen Natasha get all gooey to the Barton kids, including the one still in the oven, and he says that with him, there's no settling down and having kids, because a) that's one of the things haunting him, and b) he thinks that's what she wants. So it's actually a perfectly appropriate moment for them to talk about it - since that isn't a possible future for them anyway, it's not a reason to not be together. And we see repeatedly from Scarlet Witch's mind influence that her forced sterilization at Red Room is one of the elements of her past that still haunts her. That scene shows both of them as vulnerable, caring people discussing a complicated possible future they both want, and it's emotionally resonant. The Avengers have been beaten by Ultron, badly, a horrific black eye in front of the world, and they all have to re-examine who they are and why they're involved. Between that and Fury showing up with a hovercarrier, War Machine, and rescuing the population of Sokovia - doing the good works that SHIELD *should* be doing - those were probably my favorite parts of the movie.
I cheered a little when the technician from Winter Soldier showed up on the bridge of the Hovercarrier.
Also, I have a sneaking suspicion that Falcon will also show up in final battle in the Director's Cut.
I cheered a little when the technician from Winter Soldier showed up on the bridge of the Hovercarrier.
Also, I have a sneaking suspicion that Falcon will also show up in final battle in the Director's Cut.
There's a laundry list of what I'll call "Joss Whedon's sins" floating around Tumblr and most of it is exactly the stupid crap you'd expect Tumblr-tots to be complaining about, i.e. do not have stories where bad things can happen to female characters. I disagree with almost every criticism I've seen about the Black Widow sterilization seen, except that it did seem like it was brought up more as a support beam for Banner's backstory than to be about Black Widow, but that shit happens when you're making a movie with 20 characters who could each be the main character in their own superhero movie.
Likewise the thing with the twins, multiple contradiction issues there. Complaint 1: that they're no longer Jewish or Roma (funny; no one complained about this when Quicksilver was in X-Men). Complaint 2: they're Jewish and Roma characters associating with Nazis.
The problem is, Whedon is at the mercy of Marvel on how to handle casting, same as when they give him a checklist of plot points his movie has to hit in order to set up future films, even if it detracts from the current movie's story. Then, it's not Jewish/Roma characters helping Nazis, because the characters are no longer Jewish/Roma and the organization isn't Nazis. True to the comics? Not really, but that's how the MCU is doing it. Hydra, at least its modern incarnation post-WWII, is not a Nazi organization. They haven't shown a desire for race-based genocide, but political genocide as they desire control. Not all fascists are Nazis.
Likewise the thing with the twins, multiple contradiction issues there. Complaint 1: that they're no longer Jewish or Roma (funny; no one complained about this when Quicksilver was in X-Men). Complaint 2: they're Jewish and Roma characters associating with Nazis.
The problem is, Whedon is at the mercy of Marvel on how to handle casting, same as when they give him a checklist of plot points his movie has to hit in order to set up future films, even if it detracts from the current movie's story. Then, it's not Jewish/Roma characters helping Nazis, because the characters are no longer Jewish/Roma and the organization isn't Nazis. True to the comics? Not really, but that's how the MCU is doing it. Hydra, at least its modern incarnation post-WWII, is not a Nazi organization. They haven't shown a desire for race-based genocide, but political genocide as they desire control. Not all fascists are Nazis.