602: The Avengers are all queer. Steve is panromantic and demisexual, Tony is pansexual and panromantic, Bruce is a bisexual trans man, Thor is asexual and biromantic, Clint is genderfluid, and Natasha is asexual and aromantic.
Okay but can we talk about how much import HUMOR has to Loki as a character?
Humor is how he used to derive any semblance of attention from his family independent of being Thor’s shadow. Loki “made Thor laugh as none other could” (comics direct quote) and was raised using humor to receive approval.
Humor is how Loki handles extreme and usually disturbing emotions, but also situations of great emotional merit that make his natural shyness squirm (“Never doubt that I love you.” ”Thank you.” “Now give us a kiss!” )
Humor is how Loki laughs off defeat or humiliation (“If it’s all the same to you, I’ll have that drink now.”)
Humor is now the subversive social device that Loki uses to draw attention both to his own newfound voice/agency and to the hypocrisy and injustice that he suffers in Asgard. Without magic, sardonic words are his only repartee. (See at least half of his Dark World lines).
So when people say Loki was out of character to be so “light” and “witty” and “funny” in Thor 2, I direct them to this fact. Jest is intrinsic to Loki’s personality and psychological coping mechanisms. Just because he smiles and laughs all the time doesn’t mean he’s not hemorrhaging inside. He just will never relent the power of letting you SEE that.
Is this movie going to support my headcanon that Clint just picks up strays and recruits them into SHIELD/the Avengers/whoever he’s working for then?
“If you step through that door—”
“CLINT, YOU’VE GOT TO STOP MAKING PEOPLE AVENGERS. YOU DON’T HAVE THE AUTHORITY.”
“Steve but this one has promise—”
“CLINT THAT IS A PIGEON.”
He made Natasha an Avenger too. And warned Clint Thor was growing on him. So yeah. Clint is your old cat lady, but instead of cats he’s got potential recruits.
So the Winter Soldier here only eats this colorless, tasteless, fifteen-hundred calorie protein smoothie, and he refuses to make it himself. He only takes showers on demand. He has one outfit. Basically, agent, it’s been like watching really angry paint dry.
This idea has been done before and, frankly, done to perfection
let’s be honest! But this particular gag just kind of struck me and,
well, I thought I might as well get it out. Here’s my own spin on the
idea of an Avengers instagram account…
I threw up all the pics of Steve Rogers in his Cap costume across all the movies we have of him so far.
a. That Avengers costume is the absolute worst of all of them. If Coulson had any input on that design, bless you sir but you should never be allowed to design anything for Steve to wear ever again. I could swear there was more coherent meta on this somewhere else, but just from my own perspective, it renders Steve as the most “cartoon-ish” of all the Avengers and it just looks jarring when everything and everyone else looks solidly real – even Loki with his ridiculous horned helmet.
b. Seriously, it says something about that terrible, cheesetastic costume that Steve actually looks more convincing in his soldier’s leather jacket and the silly sweater from the USO stage show.
c. The Age of Ultron costume and the CATFA ones are both practical and kickass and if I remember correctly, Steve actually collaborated with Howard in this costume’s design. I can totally imagine that in-universe, Steve combined the elements of his old and the CATWS uniform and collaborated with Tony to produce this final look.
d. Yeah I’m biased but my favorite is still the CATWS stealth suit. 😀
The reason why Steve’s Avengers uniform reads as “the most ‘cartoon-ish’” is because it is. As theonlycheeseleft pointed out in an excellent meta-post, Coulson, inspired by his WW2 propaganda trading cards, made the uniform match Steve’s USO costume instead of the Howard Stark-designed uniform Steve wore in Europe—and Steve’s USO costume was of course a nod to the original Captain America comics:
Stark, being a weapons-manufacturer, made Steve a soldier’s uniform suitable for missions behind enemy lines (and took Steve’s own wishes into account), whereas Coulson focused on aesthetics (and never bothered to ask Steve what he’d prefer to wear). Steve’s Avengers uniform has that sleak superhero-spandex look but is actually next to useless in combat, offering little protection and no webbing to carry extra gear apart from the Rob Liefeld-esque proliferation of tiny belt pouches. The thigh zippers would be inaccessible if Steve chose to carry a sidearm as he did in CA:TFA, and the uniform doesn’t even come with a harness for Steve’s shield, which means that he doesn’t have the shield with him when Loki’s minions attack the helicarrier in The Avengers—a serious oversight corrected in CA:TWS, where Steve carries his shield on his back even inside the Triskelion.
The issues with Steve’s Avengers uniform are most clearly demonstrated when we see it for the first time in the S.H.I.E.L.D. armoury. Note that every other set of gear in the room is black-on-black, whereas Steve’s uniform stands out like a star-spangled peacock:
If S.H.I.E.L.D. just wanted Steve’s abilities as a supersoldier they’d have given him a standardised uniform, same as Natasha and Clint, who both wear black while working for S.H.I.E.L.D. However, judging by the fact that Coulson’s design doesn’t take into account Steve’s need for additional gear to do any real fighting or his well-established preference for carrying the shield on his back—suggesting Coulson ignored footage from Steve’s actual SSR missions and focused exclusively on his propaganda reels—S.H.I.E.L.D.’s new old uniform design is entirely intentional.
The reason why Steve’s Avengers uniform looks jarring and unreal to you is because it’s deliberately designed to render him into a living (two-dimensional) propaganda poster. It’s not a uniform for guerilla fighting behind enemy lines; it’s for looking good on TV. Why? My guess is Fury knew what was coming—a confirmation of alien life, alien power, that S.H.I.E.L.D. couldn’t hush up—and wanted to avoid global mass-panic by putting Steve on a stage in front of a news camera and showing the public that we’ll win this war; look, we have a supersoldier who can punch Hitler’s Loki’s lights out. Just like back in 1942.
dudestravelinginmotelroomclosets 