Day Four - Opposite Team Character

Day Four: Pick a character from the opposite team that you like. Talk about him and/or defend him.

Day Four of Bella's Blog Party is to pick a character from the opposite team I like and talk about him/her and/or defend him/her.

Obviously the character I choose from the opposite team is Bucky.

I mean, I love Steve. Duh. Who wouldn't? But if we are just choosing a member that's NOT Steve, it would be Bucky. Think about this. He is Steve's friend from way back. He always had Steve's back. Even after he was rescued in CAFA, he immediately deferred to Captain America, and literally followed him into death. He didn't choose to become the Winter Soldier. The Russians messed with his brain and made him a dangerous weapon, but it was never something he chose. In fact, once he remembered who Steve was, and who he was, he went into hiding. He didn't "do that anymore."  The only reason he came out of hiding was because THIS man...

 

...Baron Zemo, lost his family in Sokovia and, blaming the Avengers for their deaths, was determined to destroy them from the inside out. So he framed Bucky for killing the king of Wakanda, which brought hordes of policemen swarming to find and capture the Winter Soldier, thus making Steve lose his normally cool-headed perspective to ignore the law in order to protect his best friend.

Bucky has a really tragic story. He's left for dead in the Alps after falling from an impossible height in CAFA, but apparently due to whatever the Russians did to him while he was in their prison, the fall did not kill him. Instead, he is found and apprehended by HYDRA agents, and programmed to become their assassin. He is transformed from the good old Brooklyn kid Steve knew, into a mindless killer who's only job was to comply.

Steve - "What you did all those years, it wasn't you. You didn't have a choice."
Bucky - "I know. But I did it."

The thing I like best about Bucky, he knows fate has dealt him a cruel hand, but he never complains. Even while Steve is trying to keep him safe, Bucky takes each obstacle step and step and accepts it for what it is.

"I don't know if I'm worth all this, Steve." - Bucky Barnes

Even at the end, when Zemo plays footage revealing Bucky was the assassin who killed Tony's parents, Bucky never tries to shift the blame. He just stands there as the video plays, watching Tony slowly losing it, quietly ready to take whatever violence Tony throws at him (which, by the way, I totally get. I dare you to stand and watch your parents get viciously murdered by the best friend of your friend, and just shrug it off).

Tony - "Do you even remember them?"
Bucky - "I remember all of them."

And then, after all is said and done, Bucky chooses to go back into cryostasis, because he is still programmed to be dangerous. He would rather be put on ice indefinitely than to be the cause of any other problems for Steve. And I think that was the most heroic thing done in the movie.

That's a wrap, until tomorrow!

God Bless!

Cat

 

Day Three - Supporting Character

Day Three, I get to talk about a supporting character from my team - which, since I decided I probably agreed more with Tony's logic than Steve's for a change, makes that Team Iron Man.

(For those of you jumping in to participate, you can find the Blog Party rules on Bella's blog.)

The character I became unexpectedly fond of was Spiderman. 

I didn't expect to like him at all. My favourite Spiderman of all times is the first one I ever saw -Toby McGuire. Yes, the effects were terrible. Yes, those movies could have used some work, and I despised MJ. But Toby McGuire was such a cute, sympathetic character as Peter Parker. He was the kind of superhero I could admire. I liked him a lot. (I didn't care too much for the Andrew Garfield remake, and I confess I did not watch the sequel to the Amazing Spiderman. It was mostly that part, where the teacher tells him not to make promises he can't keep, and Peter whispers to Gwen, "But those are the best kind," which completely ruined him for me. I mean, what? You promised a dying man to leave his daughter out of your escapades, and now you're freakin' saying broken promises are the best kind?! That's not cool at all, Bro!)

So, to watch Civil War and realize that, hey, you know what, I kinda like this Peter Parker... well, let's just say I went from violently disliking the idea of Spiderman, to feeling pretty glad he was on Tony's side. (Also, the fact that he's from Queens - that Tony found another kid from Brooklyn to join his team - is cool.)

Plus, he's so genuinely nice. I mean, the first time we even meet Peter, he comes into his house and finds Iron Man having tea and some kind of bread (was it walnut date bread? I think it was walnut date bread) with his aunt, and he's so adorably awkward in that scene. Tony pretends Peter had won some kind of scholarship, and Peter is just terrible at acting along, and I was over there going, well Marvel, I can't believe you have managed to introduce yet ANOTHER Spiderman, and somehow make him someone I might actually like more than Toby McGuire.

Also, during the fight between the teams that I loved/hated (loved because the dialogue was FUNNY, hated because it was friends against friends, and then RHODEY...) it was mostly Spiderman (and Ant-Man) who made the scene less horrible than it could have been.

I liked the freshness Peter brought to the team, the constant geeking out over peoples' suits, armour and abilities, and his overall ingenuousness.

Spiderman - "Are those carbon fiber wings?"
Falcon - "I don't know if you've been in a fight before, but there's usually not this much talking." 
Spiderman - "All right, sorry. My bad."

He was so young, and I liked that we got to skip over the whole "how Spiderman came to be" backstory and went straight to where he had had these abilities for six months, and was now able to apply them. I also liked the little nods to previous movies, like where he says something to Tony that's akin to Uncle Ben's famous line, "With great power comes great responsibility," and how he feels a personal obligation to use his powers to help the "little guy."

I'm glad they cast him younger, too. I almost felt like it was a way for Tony to reconcile his conscience with the boy killed in Sokovia - that by taking this young boy and making him one of his team members, he could make a small restitution. I thought it worked really well, and I'm interested to see how this Peter Parker grows up.

Until next time, that's a wrap!

God bless!

Cat

Day Two - The TAG

So, today is Day Two of Bella's Civil War Blog Catastro-party, and today's the day I do The Tag. (For those of you jumping aboard this blog party, details are here, on Bella's blog.)

Because I'm a little rebel and I don't have sides (Yes, it's a go for TeamGetAlong), I'm doing both tags. So there.

Team Iron Man 

1.) What is your favorite Iron Man movie?
Probably the first one, because that's the first one I saw and the one with the tightest plot. But I love all three Iron Man movies. I absolutely adore watching Tony's constant character development - he keeps growing and changing and becoming more vulnerable as time goes on, and the selfish persona he dons so effortlessly gets gradually more visible as the charade it is.

2.) When did you decide you loved Iron Man?
In the first movie, after his friend Yinsen gets shot. Tony straightens up, and there is that absolutely terrible expression on his face, like someone is going to GET it.

3.) Do you tend to agree with Iron Man's thinking/logic?
Um, I oftentimes see where he is coming from, but I wouldn't say I'd entirely agree with his logic. I feel like I'd become a Pepper Potts quite quickly - I would humour him and, when possible, make the appropriate decisions for him.

4.) What is one thing about Tony that drives you insane?
His apparent inability to take a situation seriously. As time goes on, that does get a little less pronounced, but I would get angry if I told him he was making me anxious and he laughed at me.

5.) Do you think you'd like Tony in real life?
That depends. I probably wouldn't like him upon a first meeting, I don't think, but once I got to know him and became comfortable with his sarcastic attitude, I think I'd be able to give back as much as he gave, and gently snub him when needed.

6.) Do you think you'd get along with Pepper Pots? What about Rhodey?
I love Pepper. I love Rhodey. I think they are both great foils to Tony's character. I think I'd get along smashingly with them.

7.) Would you like to live in Stark Tower?
Not unless there was an area I could turn into a den/library/hobbit hole. Otherwise, it's too sterile for me. It doesn't feel like a home. It feels like an office.

8.) Would you want to try out/own any of Iron Man's robots or fancy little gadgets?
None of the big suits, that's for sure. I'd appreciate some of his gadgets, though. I would like one of his fancy-schmancy computers - I'd love to be able to manipulate simulations the way he does, and physically play with computer generated designs.

9.) What is your favorite Iron Man quote?
That bit, after he finds Yinsen dying and Yinsen tells him his family his dead and he's going to go see them now, Tony just says, "Thank you for saving me." I love that line. To me, that's when he stopped being playboy Tony and started to become Iron Man.

10.) If Tony as he is now volunteered to take you to dinner and a movie, would you accept his invitation? Not a date, just a night out cause he knows you are soooooo stressed.
Again, it depends on how well I know him. If I knew him well enough to be like, "That's enough wine for YOU, mister," and take the glass out of his hand, then maybe. But I think if I was someone he actually cared about, he would make a bit of an effort to be inoffensive. So, maybe.


Team Captain America

1.) What is your favorite Captain America movie?
The first one for sure. That's when Steve Rogers is just Steve Rogers, no-one special or unique, just a kid from Brooklyn with tons and tons of heart and spirit.

2.) When did you decide you loved Captain America?
C'mon, you should know when... After he threw himself on that grenade. 

3.) Do you tend to agree with Steve's thinking/logic?
Steve is a pretty black-and-white kind of guy. He tries to do what's right and questions what he thinks is wrong. Plus, he seems a pretty moral guy, so I think I mostly agree with how his mind works.

4.) What is one thing about Steve that drives you insane?
While I appreciate his stubbornness, I think that's the one thing that frustrates me most about him. He won't back down on things (Bucky, for example) and no matter what you say, he will focus on that issue to the point of obsession.

6.) What is something about Steve that you really admire?
His selflessness. He will do anything for his friends.

7.) Do you think you would like Steve in real life?
For sure! He's pretty much everything I like in a man - strong, protective, manly, gentle, subtly funny - plus, he's got that Brooklyn toughness about him.

8.) What do you think of Steve's motorcycle, and would you want a ride on it?
I love his motorcycle. People that ride motorcycles are freakin' hawt. If it were Cap driving, yes, I'd ride on that bike. 

9.) What was an iconic "STEVE FREAKIN' ROGERS" moment for you?
Again, you know when that was... when he threw himself on that grenade.

10.) If Steve asked you on a date, would you accept?
Yes. 

And that's a wrap! Until next time,

God Bless!

Le Cat