So, here we are at Antman and the Wasp. Not one of the best movies in the franchise and it's not trying to be. For that reason, it does end up being one of the best with, in my humble opinion, landing a near 7.7 out of ten.
Thank you to everyone who has stuck with me so far for all your support. I would also like to thank Aragorn II Elessar for the use of the movie text from his story, A Beautiful Journey.
Jinero: Very well. Yep, they will.
Guest543: Yep, they're really not, at least in my opinion.
Agent N: No kidding. The bias was shown all throughout both movies she was in, where Fury was shown as this incompetent person with no clue what he was doing and characteristics that had been shown as a weakness in Thor and Tony were seen as a strength in her. You're fine on the rant.
Watson Smith: It's fine, just don't do it again. I haven't seen the first two and I really dare enough about Frozen to do one, sorry.
Green Hal37: Glad it was at least acceptable. Yep, they will. I personally picture it as the Amazing Spider-Man suit with elements of the MCU Peter's suit. Because the suit was awesome, even if I disliked the films.
Guest 1: I imagine either they were repealed or, after everything was said and done, no one was looking to capture or arrest them with half the population wiped out.
Guest 2: I personally buy more into Howard just not knowing how to be a good father because of his own example. Besides, Agent Carter shows that Howard wanted to replicate the serum long before Tony was even born.
Guest 3: Yep. Anyone can ship whoever they want, but there's no evidence canon Steve and Natasha were anything but close friends (and I say that as someone who would've supported that relationship being canon). And yeah, we don't know if Thanos was thinking of children yet to be born when he used the stones.
Guest 4: The Skrulls being good was a stupid and weak plot twist. If everyone with loved ones being held captive was good, a lot of villain aren't actually villains. The only basis for the Skrulls being good is the fact that their loved ones were held captive by the Kree, nothing else.
Guest 5: Empowerment is fine, but forced empowerment is often annoying and cringe worthy. Both Batwoman and Captain Marvel fall into that category. If the goal was equality, why are male characters always shown to be inferior or incompetent? That's not equality, and it's actually as sexist as if female characters were given the same treatment. In the words of a friend who happens to be female, the best feminist character is a strong character who happens to be female instead of a 'strong female character'. By focusing so much on the gender, the writers usually just end up making unlikeable female characters. Characters like Black Widow and Wonder Woman are the exception because they're not female characters, they're well written characters who happen to be female.
Guest 6: I might, I might not. I honestly haven't made up my mind on Clint yet.
Guest 7: I took it down.
Guest 8: Tony makes mistakes; he doesn't blindly nod and accept orders. If he can help someone, he doesn't just sit back and do nothing. Tony also does not have blind faith in the UN. To sign The Accords, Tony would have to be someone that all three of those things applied to and they never have outside of Civil War and even then, it doesn't apply to Tony because he goes off to help Steve the moment he realizes Steve might need his help. Tony is a smart man, he would realize, even if he never read a single word of The Accords, that would be expected to sit on his hands and do nothing if the UN can't come to agreement and, sicne this UN seems to be even more useless than the real one, he wouldn't sign The Accords. Tony would probably laugh at The Accords before throwing them in the trash. Even if Tony wasn't at his best emotionally and mentally, I just find it extremely difficult to buy Tony being willing to blindly nod and follow orders.
Clint found Wanda sitting by a window, staring out at the city with a blank look on her face. Clint recognized the look all too well; it was the same look Nat had on her face whenever she got in one of her moods about her past. When she started feeling guilty about the things she'd done. Well, he'd had a lot of practice with this, Clint mused before he walked over to Wanda.
"Hey, how are you doing kid?" Clint asked as he sat down next to her.
"I died," Wanda said in a blank voice, her eyes wet with tears. "Viz died to. I killed him."
"Yeah, you did," Clint said gently, watching her carefully.
"Didn't do any good. Thanos still killed him. Killed everyone," Wanda said sadly.
"And you think that's your fault?" Clint asked incredulously and Wanda's silence was answer enough. "Kid, there was nothing you could have done. You did everything you could."
"Then why do I feel this way?" Wanda asked.
"It's called survivor's guilt. Before I was recruited by Fury, I was in the military," Clint said and she looked up at him surprised. "It's where I got the nickname 'Hawkeye'. A lot of the guys I served with then, they saw things, lost people. It messes with your head, you think 'if I had done something different, if I had been stronger, they'd still be alive'. Sound familiar?"
Wanda looked away, unwilling to answer. But it was answer enough for Clint.
"I'm not gonna tell you what to do. But, if you wanna talk, I'm here," Clint told her gently as he placed a hand on her shoulder.
Wanda didn't say anything, so Clint took that as his que to leave. He knew her well enough to know that he couldn't push her to open up; she'd do it when she was ready. Clint got to his feet and, although he really didn't want to, left Wanda alone with her thoughts.
Thor was sitting in a chair in the sitting room, his thoughts consumed by guilt and self-loathing. Hearing someone sit down in the chair across from him, Thor looked up and saw it was Sam.
"That was rough to watch, huh?" Sam asked and Thor didn't answer. "It wasn't your fault you know."
"I should have gone for the head," Thor said roughly. "Do not tell me it was not my fault."
For a few moments, it was silent. Thor expected Sam to get up and walk away, so he was surprised when Sam spoke again.
"You know, before I met Steve, I was in the Air Force. I had a partner, Riley," Sam said and Thor raised an eyebrow, confused about why Sam was telling him this. "We were on a mission, nothing we hadn't done a thousand times before until an RPG knocked him out the sky. Nothing I could but watch, helpless."
"I'm sorry," Thor said after a moment and Sam nodded.
"I replayed that moment in my head a lot afterwards, wondering what I could've done differently, if it would've saved his life. At some point, you have to accept that blaming yourself won't bring anyone back. You haven't failed yet Thor," Sam said before getting to his feet. "Some things we take to war, others we bring home with us. It's our job to figure out how to carry it. You may be a god, but you're also a man. It's not a sign of weakness to lean on your friends."
Sam then walked out, leaving Thor to muse on Sam's words.
Steve was sitting by the office that had once belonged to him, but now belonged to Barton. There was a chair by the door that Steve sat in, lost in thought as Natasha approached him. She lingered, not sure he even knew she was there.
"Don't tell me it wasn't my fault Nat," Steve said gruffly after a moment, having known she was there from the beginning.
"It wasn't, not completely. Like Strange and Barton said, we all made mistakes," Natasha said.
"I was leader. The team failed because I failed," Steve said, almost snapping at her as he got to his feet. "I couldn't keep the team together."
"That's not just on you. I could've had you back instead of going undercover. Maybe it would have made Tony change his mind," Natasha said and Steve shot her a look that said he believed that about as much as she did. "Yeah, that sounded even stupider out loud."
"Tony doesn't change his mind unless he's forced to see beyond a shadow of a doubt he's wrong," Steve said with a sigh. "I couldn't make him see that The Accords weren't the answer he was looking for. Thanos beat us because of it."
"Doubt I would have listened anyway."
The pair looked over to see Tony rounding the corner. Tension filled the hall. This was the first time Steve and Tony had been relatively alone since the truth about Tony's parents had come out.
"Tony…" Steve trailed off, not sue what to say.
"We lost, Thanos won," Tony said bluntly and Steve and Natasha flinched. "Being angry at you about something that happened years before we met seems petty by comparison."
"Yeah, I guess it does," Steve said after a moment.
"I'm not sure what I would have done in your position either, if it was Rhodey and I'd had to tell you," Tony admitted as he walked over. "Considering everything…maybe we should just let the past stay in the past."
"I'm sorry, are you saying let bygones be bygones?" Natasha asked, almost sure she was hallucinating as Tony chuckled.
"Maybe I'm finally growing up Romanoff," Tony joked before he looked back at Steve. "I'm not saying Barnes and I are gonna be besties or anything like that…but I think you and I need to be on the same side here if we're gonna stop Thanos."
"Things usually do go well when you two are on the same side," Natasha noted, looking back and forth between them.
"So what do you say Cap, together?" Tony said as he held out a hand to Steve.
"Together," Steve agreed as he took Tony's hand in a handshake.
Later, when the hour was up, everyone returned to the viewing room and retook their seats. The mood was still rather gloomy, not that the future Avengers could blame them. As he picked up the remote, Barton looked over at the past Avengers.
"Before we see how everything with Thanos turned out, there's one more recoding you need to see. Most of it takes place a few months prior to Thanos. You'll need to watch it first, it'll make the second one make a lot more sense," Barton said before, without another word, he started the next recording.
A house was shown as Hank's voice was heard saying how he still thought about the night he and Janet had to leave Hope.
"Hank?" Scott asked as he perked up.
"You know him?" Steve asked and Scott nodded.
"Hank Pym, the first Antman. He gave me the suit," Scott explained.
A young Hope was shown watching as a younger Hank and Janet prepared to leave. Janet knelt down to her and said they were leaving on a last minute business trip and Rose would take care of her. Hope said she didn't want them to go but Janet joked how she won't be able to keep her eyes due to how boring this was and did mimicked a sleeping person, amusing Hope. Hank kissed Hope on the cheek said they had to go and Janet snorted funnily, making Hope laugh.
Everyone chuckled at this, the scene lifting the mood somewhat.
"Hope was a cute kid," Scott said fondly.
The two went off as Hope watched and Hank's voice was heard saying how they had wanted to put down their bags and tuck her in bed but too many lives were at stake. The two were shown in their suits on the nuclear warhead, with Hank failing to penetrate it due to its thick coating. The only way was to go subatomic and Hank was shown trying to, only to fail as his regulator was damaged. But Janet's wasn't. "Tell Hope I love her," She said as she pressed her regulator. "Janet, no!" Hank yelled as she went subatomic and into the warhead.
The mood plummeted once more as everyone stared at the screen sadly. Scott, even though he already knew what had happened, felt sad at the pain he knew this had caused Hope and Hank.
Hank was heard saying how Janet had saved thousands of lives knowing she would be lost in the Quantum Realm. The warhead was shown falling into water while Janet shrunk into the Quantum Realm.
"Whoa," Peter said softly as the past Avengers all felt their respect for Janet grow.
"The essence of heroism is to die so that others might live," Steve said softly as the future Avengers flinched. "One of my superiors told me that after…before I went in the ice."
"He was a wise man," T'Challa noted and Steve nodded absently.
Back at the house, Hope was shown playing with toys when Hank arrived. His expression was all she needed to know what had happened as she burst into tears and the two hugged each other. "Telling you that she wasn't coming home, was the hardest thing that I ever had to do," Hank was heard saying.
Scott looked away, the pain in Hank and Hope's eyes too much for him right now. Even though it was years passed, he still wished he could have done something for them.
Then Hank and adult Hope were shown talking to each other in 2015 as Hank said, "But then, Scott showed up...Or should I say, broke into our house."
"You broke into his house?" Sam asked amused.
"It was his plan!" Scott said defensively. "He set it up so he could break me out of jail!"
"And when he went to the Quantum Realm...And came back, everything changed," A flashback of Scott returning from the Quantum Realm and hugging Cassie was shown.
"You went to the Quantum Realm?" Peter asked as they turned to Scott.
"Yeah. I don't really remember much, I just remember that I needed to get back to Cassie and then I was," Scott said.
"I guess there are some things the human mind can't comprehend," Tony mused.
"I started to wonder...Could your mother still be alive?" Hank mused as the two walked together. "So I dusted off some old plans." He opened up plans of some kind of machine.
"What's that?" Rhodey asked as they all looked curios.
"It's what brought you here," Lila said but didn't elaborate.
"Dad, what are you saying?" Hope asked. "I think it's possible, to bring her back," He told her as both of them looked at the plans.
"Really?" Scott asked shocked but didn't get an answer.
"Just watch," Barton said simply.
In present day, Scott and Cassie were crawling in what seemed to be a tunnel and Scott took out a map, asking Cassie if she was ready. She said she was and Scott said if she showed hesitation or fear inside, they were done. "I eat fear for breakfast," Cassie said and Scott found it cool as the two crawled inside.
"Oh Peanut," Scott fondly as everyone else laughed.
"She was so cute back then," Lila said with a laugh.
The two then saw a model of a giant ant in the front which Scott called Anton and asked which way to go. On not getting a response, he asked a bit more forcefully and Luis heard. He ran to his position in what was revealed to be cardboard boxes put together and pulled a string, making Anton point in the direction as the two crawled away.
"Who's that?" Wanda asked.
"Luis, my best friend and former cellmate," Scott explained. "And my current roommate."
"Oh yeah, he's great," Barton said fondly, having gotten to know Luis while working with Hank on the plans.
Using a flashlight, Scott saw how ants had burrowed into this facility and there were a bunch of red stings as well, which Cassie called lasers. Scott got lased but they still moved to the secret vault.
"You did this whole thing to entertain your kid. You must really love your daughter," Clint said, impressed.
"You have no idea," Scott said with a dreamy smile.
Cassie had brought the contact lens, which was some kind of giant eye as she put it on and Scott opened the vault. There was a 'microtreasure' there, a trophy. They picked it up as Cassie said she wanted it for show and tell but Scott said it was too important and the best birthday present she got him, saying how he was touched she thought of him as the 'World's Best Grandma' as that was plastered at the bottom.
"Grandma?" Scott asked as everyone else laughed.
"It was all they had at the store," Scarlet said amused.
Scott joked how he wanted to knit her a sweater as Luis arrived and said he was looking at the schematics of the Karapetyan Buildings and they had too many security cams. Scott argued as Luis said they needed to land the bird. Scott said the investor could go anywhere and the expression was 'land the fish.' Luis asked how they would land a fish as it couldn't walk and if it swam to shore and battled a hawk, it wouldn't win. Scott said Luis had turned it around on him now and said they would land Karapetyan.
Everyone laughed at the exchange between Scott and Luis.
"I like this guy," Sam said amused.
Scott said he was trying to steal something with his daughter as an alarm went off. They crawled into the tunnel, getting on top of an ant called Antoinette. Scott removed the support and they slid down across the entire house. Cassie had a helmet for protection. They managed to slide out of the house and 'crash-landed'. Luis looked down from the window and said he was headed to the office and apologized for freaking out earlier, saying he had this and was the boss, racing heart and shaking hands notwithstanding.
"I believe Luis will have a panic attack at some point," Vision noted.
"Something like that," Parker said as Scott looked worried.
That was when the alarm beeped and Scott and Cassie realized his foot, which had the ankle monitor, had broken through the fence and was out.
"Ah crap," Scott groaned.
Later, the feds were at the house, searching the place as Scott told Jimmy Woo he just had 3 days and wouldn't try to escape. Woo said rules were rules and they had to search the perimeter if he tripped the alarm as one of the agents broke something.
"Hey, be careful!" Scott shouted annoyed.
"The FBI ladies and gentlemen, no respect for your privacy or property," Barton said sarcastically.
"Dad," Lila said tiredly as Scarlet shot him a look.
"Hey, they monitored our house for twenty four hours a day for two years. I couldn't even go to the bathroom without them knowing. I know I was under house arrest, but come on," Barton complained.
Scott sarcastically thanked the agent before telling Woo his foot had crashed through the fence. Cassie said their flying ant had crashed and Woo gave Scott a look. Scott told him to try to entertain a 10-year old without leaving the house.
"It's hell," Barton said only half joking as Lila rolled her eyes.
"It wasn't that bad," Lila assured him.
"Only because you're a lot more like me than your mom. Your brothers on the other hand," Barton shrugged as Clint shuttered.
Scott said he had gone to lengths, including close-up magic, producing a card from his fingers and showing it to them both.
"Cool," Peter said as Scott looked intrigued.
"Where'd I learn that?" he asked curiously.
"Online Close-Up Magic University. It actually comes in handy a lot," Parker said as Scott looked intrigued.
Cassie asked why they couldn't leave her daddy alone and Woo kneeled down, explaining to her about the Accords in a convoluted way, saying how their school had rules of not drawing on walls and her daddy had gone to Germany and drawn on walls with Captain America.
"I was trying to stop some Hydra assassins!" Scott protested.
Cassie looked confused as Scott dryly said how he was great with kids.
"Yeah, he's great," Tony said sarcastically.
"He should be a youth coach," Clint joked.
Woo also said he was a youth pastor.
"Well, I was close," Clint shrugged as everyone laughed.
Woo asked if Scott had had contact with Hank or Hope because their tech was in violation too but Scott hadn't. Woo said talking to them would give him 20 years minimum in prison but Scott said he hadn't spoken to them in forever and Cassie said they hated his guts.
Scott winced as everyone looked at him sadly.
"I'm sorry Scott," Steve said but Scott waved him off.
"For all we knew, someone was trying to take the world. Besides, I knew they'd probably hate me once I got caught," Scott admitted.
Woo pulled Scott to a side and asked how he had done the card trick.
"Aw, he wants you to teach him," Wanda joked as they all laughed.
Maggie and Jim arrived, with her saying how they couldn't just show up and search the place but Jim said they could without a warrant to her shock.
"My ex-wife and her husband," Scott said before they could ask.
Later Jim, Maggie and Cassie were going away as Maggie said Scott would be free next time they see him. They both hugged him and Jim did too, twice.
"You two have the most civil divorce I've even seen," Sam noted.
"Plus apparently you're best friends with her new husband?" Rhodey questioned as Scott shrugged.
"Everyone seems to like me. I guess that's my superpower," Scott joked.
They walked off as Scott said once he got out they would have so much ice cream they would puke and Scott ended up puking cards, shocking Jim who asked how he did that as Maggie said he was getting good.
"Yeah man, that's awesome," Peter said as Scott looked even more intrigued.
"I have to learn how to do that when we get back," Scott muttered.
Jim, Maggie and Cassie went off as Scott went back into the house after waving goodbye. Scott decided to have some fun, playing drums to 'Hello World' and later trying to hit pins with a bowling ball but missed.
"What are you fourteen?" Natasha asked as Scott looked embarrassed as everyone else laughed.
He then watched a video, learning more card tricks but failed to do this one in spite of snapping his fingers like instructed.
The light atmosphere vanished for a moment as everyone flinched, remembering Thanos snapping his fingers.
Scott then sang the song on a karaoke set while looking at the lyrics.
"You're pretty good Tic-Tac," Sam said as they were impressed by Scott's singing.
"Thanks," Scott said.
Scott later read 'The Fault In Our Stars' and cried.
"That's not going away anytime soon," Scott said embarrassed as everyone laughed at him.
"Not with them," Steve said amused.
Scott made paper birds in his room and later threw a ball which managed to fall into the hoop. Later, Scott wrapped a plastic bag around his left leg to protect his ankle monitor from water and went into the bathtub, muttering 'easy peasy' as he closed his eyes.
"How do you wash your foot if you can't get it wet?" Peter wondered as Barton winced.
"You don't wanna know," Barton muttered.
He then suddenly found himself in the Quantum Realm and saw a projection of someone else around him as Hank's voice was heard.
"Is that the Quantum Realm?" Natasha asked as everyone watched shocked.
"I think so," Scott said, finding it familiar.
He was suddenly in a house and said in Janet's voice how he was going to find someone, calling the person 'jellybean.' He then opened a red wardrobe and found young Hope in it. She laughed and said how mommy always found her. Scott looked into the mirror and was shocked to see he was Janet. And then he woke up.
"What the hell?" Scott yelped as everyone looked shocked.
"You became Janet," Scarlet joked.
"But…what?" Scott asked his mind on overload.
"Just keep watching Scott," Barton told him, amused.
Scott then took out a secret phone from where he had hidden it and sat on his bed, thinking. He then called Hank and it went to voice mail. He said how he was the last person Hank would want to hear from but he had a weird dream which felt real. He saw Hank's wife back in the Quantum Realm and then he was his wife, not in a weird way or anything. He said it didn't sound like an emergency now that he had said it out loud.
"It does sound petty stupid," Scott admitted.
He apologized for bothering Hank and other things before dismantling the phone. Later, he was watching 'Animal House' when a flying ant bothered him and he was shot by a miniature dart, being knocked out.
"Am I being kidnapped?" Scott asked alarmed as everyone watched, worried for Scott.
"Sort of. Just keep watching Scott, it'll all make sense soon," Barton assured him.
I wanted someone to talk to Thor and Sam seemed the best choice, given his past as a PTSD councilor.
Not one hundred percent satisfied with the Steve/Tony scene, so I hope I did okay there.