0:00 Welcome back to New Rockstars. I'm Eric Voss. And now that Captain America: Brave New World is on Disney Plus, let's break down way more details we found upon re-watching this movie. And yes, I'm sure this was all of our repeat viewing of the movie after we all watched it several times in the theaters. Yes, right. We didn't just sit this one out and wait for it to come out on Disney Plus and are only now coming to New Rockstars for all the goods. Hey, however you got here, thanks for tapping on this video because I got you covered on all the Easter eggs. And in case you're someone who only watches Marvel movies on Disney Plus, now spoiler warning, I will be discussing plot details from the Thunderbolts film that I now consider to be widely held knowledge as well as some promotional details we've been talking about on New Rockstars concerning Avengers Doomsday. And the best way to support us at New Rockstars is to head on over to nerdride.shop where we got all kinds of
0:46 great merch options like red shirts on Eric Voss. Really bringing out the Thunderbolt Ross reds of this pale face, but we got them in all colors. All kinds of great Marvel designs and yes, they all support us directly. Okay, this film opens with [Music] this. Black and white Marvel Studios presents. There's no flashy comic book images or moments from past MCU films inlaid on the letters like there normally is. Instead, we just hear mischievous political intrigue music from composer Laura Cartman. This is all part of the tone that director Julius Ona wants to set as the template for this movie. The director said he drew inspiration from political conspiracy thrillers like 1973's Day of the Jackal, 1967's Lace Samurai, and 1967's Point
1:32 Blank, as well as Harrison Ford starring Tom Clancy movies like 1994's Clear and Present Danger to try to capture the paranoia of pulling the thread of a political conspiracy thriller within a corrupted government and military organization and opening the film with this with titles designed to teleport the viewer away from the escapist Marvel fantasy back to something closer to the real world much like 2014's Captain America: The Winter Soldier did. And as I pointed out before, I think the Jackal film, both the original one and the remake and the other remake, was probably the inspiration for one of those two brainwashed American pilots having the call sign of Jackal. We see Harrison Ford as president elect Thaddius Ross on the night of his electoral victory. Harrison Ford was cast as Thaddius Ross after William Hurt passed away. We see Ross' campaign slogan together period on the screen in
2:19 front of him and its mirror version reflected behind him kind of boxing the president-elect in ironically reflecting his failure to truly lead America as a partner to Captain America. The campaign slogan of together punctuated this way with a period was probably orchestrated by Samuel Sterns the leader who guided every step of Ross' political career to get him to this point. and just together punctuated with this awkward period at the end also feels like the end of a sentence rather than the opening invite of a conversation. It recalls both Jeb Bush's failed Jeb and Hillary Clinton's failed stronger together. Ross asks the staffer, heard anything from Betty from my daughter? No, sir. Yes, Betty. Ross live Tyler is Ross's guiding light throughout this film and she will appear later on. The announcer says, "All right, New Hampshire, we are moments away." Ah, I missed this part when we
3:06 first broke this movie down. They're in New Hampshire. So for Ross to be holding his victory speech in New Hampshire, it's just pretty interesting. New Hampshire is one of the early primary states. That might have proved crucial to Ross' primary campaign, especially if he's within the same political party as President Ritson. And New Hampshire is also the doggedly independent, lively free or die state. I'm thinking someone who worked on this movie might have just loved the West Wing because it is the home state of Martin Sheen's President Jed Bartlett. Ross takes heart medication as we will also see his heart condition is how Samuel Sterns corrupted him. And these pills are gamma irdiated. Signs in the crowd read, "Ready for Ross." And we see Prince of Thaddius Ross in a style that looks like the Obama Hope poster. Ross says, "From the disappearance of half of mankind to the emergence of a celestial mass in the Indian Ocean. The threats we face show
3:52 no signs of slowing down." Yes, he's referring to the blip from Avengers Infinity War and Avengers Endgame when Thanos, the Mad Titan, snapped half of all life out of existence. and he also refers to the hatching of the celestial named Tiiamut in the Eternals film, a mass whose adamantium core becomes essential to this movie's plot. The Spectrum News anchors are played by real life Spectrum News anchors Sharon Tazwell and Josh Robin. Josh talks about how Ross isn't working with Captain America. And the final photo shows Sam Wilson from the first episode of the Falcon the Winter Soldier when he donated the Captain America shield to the Smithsonian. Sam watches this footage from Abee's bar, which might be a reference to the Abee's head bar, a bar that was smashed through by Red Hulk in 2008's Hulk number 7. Sam gets toasted by other service persons at the bar. And in the background, we see a Ross bumper sticker and a poster that says Ross 25. Hm. So, I will politely
4:39 choose to ignore this detail in order to try to make some sense of the very, very messy MCU timeline. Later, after a time jump, we know this movie takes place in April 2027. So that would mean Ross must have won his election in November 2026, which is already kind of weird because it would mean the MCU election cycle is on off years from our world. That is how the West Wing works. Their elections were 1998, 2002, and 2006. So Ross 2025 would just be all sorts of wrong. But it could be for some other office that that Ross ran for before running for president because, you know, various other offices around the country like the Virginia governor are on oddnumbered years. But that would also be just a little weird because Ross was already a national figure from being secretary of state. So I think this poster was from like a pre-reshoot version of the movie when they thought that this movie would be coming out earlier. Also on the wall
5:25 bar is a jersey for Howard University, a historically black college. It was also the alma mater of Chadwick Boseman. I wonder if this was a tribute to him because Nate Moore did produce this movie and the Black Panther films were really the projects he was most involved with at Marvel. We also hear the anchor's voice refer to Ross as the Hulk Hunter. And these news anchors remind us of Ross' past as a three-star general. Harrison Ford in this clip wears a mustache, recalling William Hurt's look as a character. He kicks over the podium, foreshadowing his swatting of the podium in the Rose Garden as Red Hulk in the final battle. And here, Ross kicking over the podium match cuts with archive footage of him from the 2008 Incredible Hulk film, The Battle of Harlem, as Hulk was thrown by abomination through a bus. So, the edit makes it seem like Ross was the cause of that force. Also, if you listen closely to Harrison Ford and read his lips, he's definitely shouting this unwarranted
6:11 outburst during a press conference. In fact, many blamed Ros for the collateral death. They snuck in an F-bomb there. PG-13 movies are only allowed to have one, depending on the context. For example, the fbomb in Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3. Open the door. But the 2008 Hulk footage here is presented out of order. This bus shot is followed by a shot of Abomination trashing Harlem, which was earlier in the battle before Banner dove down into it. but I assume it's just being presented as general B-roll. This footage is also being shown in the basement lab of Camp Echo1 base as Samuel Sterns tests out the screeching sound effects and flashing lights of his mind control technology. Camp Echo1 is a reference to a base in 2017's Champions number 10, an Albuquerque containment facility for Bruce Banner, designed as a peaceful neighborhood retrofitted by Amadeus Cho.
6:56 And now we see this movie's title over a grid of lights that are meant to be Stern's mind control lights. These titles were designed by Perception and artist Doug Appleton shared the different phases of these titles through the closing credits and how they tell the story of the film. From mind control to disruption, the red square represents Captain America disrupting the leader plans to teamwork blue introduced to the red to represent Falcon working with Sam to dismantle the leader grid. And then finally, Breaking Free, where the grid is destroyed and all the different squares fly away freely. I have to be honest, I would not have gotten that had he not made this chart. And at this point, there was a deleted scene from this point of the movie that would have preceded Sam's mission to Mexico, introducing Sam and his relationship with Leila Taylor in a different context. As they train together, boxing in Clay's gym in the DC area. I hear the seals are gearing up for a big mission
7:42 in Mexico. That mission's classified. How do you even know about that? Word travels fast. But now in the film, we have jumped 5 months later as a United States Air Force plane flies over Ohaka, Mexico. Danny Ramirez returns from the Falcon the Winter Soldier as walking Torres running support for Captain America Sam Wilson to take out Serpent who has taken over the Cathedral De Santo Ramos. Serpent is this movie's name for the Serpent Society. In the comics, Serpent Society was an organization of snake themed villains opposed to Captain America in the8s comics created by Mark Grunwald and Paul Ner. Captain America Serpent Society was actually the fake title for the third Captain America movie when Kevin Feige announced it in October 2014 before later in that panel saying, "Haha, just kidding. It's actually going to be Captain America: Civil War." Sam's call sign is now Eagle One, which shows the evolution in the
8:27 Bird of Prey progression for the character from Falcon to eagle. Sam soarses in at high altitude, wearing a white cowled suit similar to the one given to him by the Wakundance at the end of the Falcon, the Winter Soldier, but here with a bit less fabric around the head and the neck. He goes into a controlled dive, forming a cloud funnel around his body, which then blows away when he opens his wings like a parachute. But he's still carrying some of that tailwind with him. Because he uses the delayed rush of the air from his landing to blow back the serpent soldiers. Now, why doesn't this landing break his legs? Well, because this suit is made of vibranium, and vibranium can absorb impact. And you'll notice that his helmet retracts with a purple nanite glow like the Black Panther masks do. During this opening fight, Sam does the wing barrel roll move that he did in the opening sequence of Civil War. And then as Sam shields himself with his wings, they glow in that purple hexagonal
9:14 pattern that we often saw on Wakanda Tech. Sam slams the wings back down to form the iconic Black Panther percussive blast move that we first saw Tala use against the Border Tribe in the final battle of that 2018 movie. Sam's drone Redwing returns from the past films and scans the building for hostages. This pulls up the file for Seth Vulkar aka Sidewinder played in this movie by Jean Carlos Essito. We see Sidewinder Serpent Society patch showing a skull and a snake snagging through it. The canister that Sam is under orders to recover containing adamantium is labeled 815° C. This is a deepcut detail. According to the 2008 official handbook of the Marvel universe, A to Z, adamantium is a man-made substance created by mixing chemical resins. And those liquid resins need to be kept at 1500° F, which when
10:00 translated to Celsius gets you 815° C. Now, this book, I believe, might also be the same written source of where we got 1 199999 as the numerical designation of the MCU that everyone quoted Kevin Feige for, even though he never actually said it. So, I'm just assuming this is on a bookshelf somewhere at Marvel Studios. Sam finds Sidewinder in the church. This church's floor in stained glass might look familiar because this is the same Westview Abbey, mausoleum, and chapel in the Atlanta area where Loki season 1 shot a scene that takes place in 1549 France. Icelandic actor Johan Hucker Johansson plays Serpent Society member Copperhead and fights Sam, saying, "Captain America I dreamt of killing was bigger than you. I'm happy to disappoint." Just a reminder that Steve Rogers and John Walker took the super soldier serum, but Sam Wilson did not.
10:47 Sam Stomp kick flips the shield up to his arm. The move Steve Rogers does while beating up the hydra guys in the elevator in Captain America: Winter Soldier. Steel Team 2 arrives, led by Commander Dennis Duny, who in the comics is Dman or Demolition Man, who yes, kind of looks like Wolverine, but that's just a coincidence. He is an ally of Captain America. In 1987's Captain America 328, he's known for superhuman strength and sadly a heart condition, which is how Commander Duny dies in this movie. Now, various rumors and leaked photos imply that this opening action scene, which was re-shot, originally took place at the Cancun airport in Mexico instead of at this church, this monastery. This would have been when the Serpent Society was led by Seth Rollins as King Cobra and Rosa Salazar as Diamondback. Rollins character was removed and rewritten to be Jean Carlosto's version of the character as Sidewinder. Rollins has
11:33 said in interviews that he has no hard feelings and it was implied that his character might have just been removed because the writing of the character wasn't really matching up with the performance ability of the actor. There are also some rumors that the Serpent Society would have had five members, each with cybernetic enhancements that mirrored their comic counterparts. To quote this rumor, we would have had Diamondback Rosa Salazar who would have been able to shoot projectiles from her fingers. Rattler was part of the team who had sonic booms which came from his legs that rattled. Constrictor had charged coils that went up his arms. Asp had light up fire fists. And then King Cobra, Seth Rollins, who would have had fangs coming out of his mouth that could spit out acid. Then we move on to President Thaddius Ross laying flowers at the grave of his late wife Karen. Karen Ross was introduced in 2011's Hulk number 41, who had died of cancer when Betty Ross was 12 years old. Her middle name here of Lee could have been added
12:19 to honor the late Stan Lee. The epitap quote is from Walt Whitman. Keep your face to the sunshine and the shadows will always fall behind you. This comes back at the end of the movie and Ross' fight with Sam when he faces the setting sun and turns back into his human form. Ross has cut a branch from a cherry blossom tree. In an interview, Julius Ona said that the cherry blossom symbolized the film's central theme of empathy. The symbolism is rooted in the cherry blossoms history as a Japanese government originally sent to the United States their cherry blossoms as a sign of friendship in 1912. Zoso Roore plays Leila Taylor. In the comics, she was a throwback romantic interest to the Falcon Sam Wilson introduced in Captain America number 139 in 1971 who after breaking up with Sam actually works as a reporter exposing drug smuggling. Another grave behind Ross reads Lample which could be an on to graphic designer Ellen Lample who has worked on several
13:05 Marvel titles. Ween asks Sam, "That means you're finally going to introduce me to Ant-Man." Nope. Remember, Sam was the first Avenger that Scott Lang met at the compound in the 2015 Ant-Man film. So, Sam is probably still a little salty from getting bested by Scott in that interaction. They meet Isaiah Bradley, Carl Lumbley, returning the role after the Falcon, the Winter Soldier. This gym is in Baltimore, Maryland, which would put it not too far from where Red Guardian Alexi Shustikov begins in Thunderbolts. The Falcon, the Winter Soldier explored how Isaiah Bradley was a Korean War veteran who was given the super soldier serum against his will when the test worked. And even after a heroic rogue rescue mission that would be comparable to Steve Rogers saving the 107th Infantry in World War II, the government imprisoned Isaiah because they didn't want a public black super soldier. And there he stayed locked up until a nurse decades later took pity on him and broke him out. But in the Falcon
13:51 and the Winter Soldier, Sam was able to exonerate Isaiah, giving him a statue in the Captain America exhibit at the Smithsonian. In the comics, Isaiah Bradley was a sole survivor of 300 black men that the US government experimented on in hopes of recreating the super soldier serum. During World War II, he was sent on a suicide mission, and he stole the Captain America uniform and shield before leaving. He survived, but was court marshaled and imprisoned for stealing the uniform. In this scene, Isaiah punches the punching bag off its chain, just like Steve Rogers did in the 2012 Avengers movie. Sam pulls flags from Isaiah, and we see how he has trained to go toe-to-toe with superenhanced foes, much stronger than he is, setting up Sam's battle with Red Hulk in the final act. In the back room, we see posters of Jackie Robinson, number 42 in the Brooklyn Dodgers, a historical figure played by Chadwick Boseman in a movie with Harrison Ford, as well as Kareem Abdul Jabbar, number 33 when he was still playing for the Milwaukee Bucks before his time with the Lakers, as well as heavyweight boxer
14:37 Jack Johnson, who rose to prominence in the era of 1902 to 1912, defying all norms at the time as a black boxer, taking on white opponents, and faced a ton of [ __ ] charges under Jim Crow laws. All three of these guys were groundbreaking black athletes in at their times sports that were still very much white dominated. It's the kind of pressure that Sam and Isaiah have found themselves under. Sam reminds us that in Civil War, Ross imprisoned him on the raft andounded him and Steve and Natasha for years. Isaiah mocks Sam for trying to do his counseling [ __ ] on him. We're referring to Sam's time running counseling sessions for vets that we saw in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Sam says, "I know Ross will never change, but he is the president." Yes, foreshadowing Ross' literal change in this movie. On the ride to the White House, Isaiah says that the suit he wears is the one he wore on his wedding
15:23 day with Faith. Faith Bradley was mentioned in episode 5 of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. And we see on the invitation that it lists this day as Thursday, April 16th, 2027. Now, April 16th in 2027 is actually a Friday in our universe, but either way, we're in spring 2027 here. And it's kind of an important date as we look ahead to things like Thunderbolts and how Thunderbolts postredit scene takes place 14 months after that. Outside the White House, Sam Walken and Isaiah posed for the cameras. There was likely a deleted scene from this moment because early trailers showed a shot of Samuel Sterns, the leader, in disguise as a member of the press corps on the other side of the street. You can actually see one man in the crowd here with a ball cap tipped down. I think this is going to be part of his appearance instead of the theatrical version of the movie that showed him back at Camp Echo 1 base. There was another version of this movie where the leader was kind of like out and about. So, this event is the Celestial Island World Summit with a
16:08 logo showing an open hand reaching toward a ring of fire, which feels like a reference to Prometheus, the Titan from Greek mythology, who stole fire from the gods and gave it to mortals. That, in a sense, is what adamantium is in the MCU with an origin point from the celestials, the gods of this universe. Walken takes a selfie and airdrops it to Isaiah after removing his phone screen guard earlier, setting up Isaiah's phone as a device the leader will use to hijack and brainwash him. The term airdrop throws them both for a kind of loop because, you know, as a Korean War vet and an Air Force test pilot, it would mean something very different to them. Ross meets with Sam and he's sucking on this red lollipop which he uses as kind of an oral fix to kick his cigar habit and in place of nicotine gum. And yes, red, the color of the Hulk, he will become and of my shirt. He says, "Lose the mustache or lose the election." It's fun to think of this as part of the political advice that the
16:54 leader gave him as he algorithmically gamed out voter preferences. Like we saw Val do a similar thing to test out different hairstyles and grooming styles for Sentry and Thunderbolts. Ross asked Sam to rebuild the Avengers and Sam says that when Ross passed the Sokovia Accords, he tore the Avengers apart, referring to Ross' legislation in Civil War. Though technically, as of She-Hulk episode 8, the Sokovia Accords have been repealed in the MCU. After Ross poses for a picture with Sam and the Japanese prime minister, there was another deleted scene from this part that was released with the DVD extras with Ross apologizing to Isaiah for what the government did to him. My friend, I want you to know that what happened to you, I consider to be a stain on our country's history. It was before your time. Yes, it was. But that doesn't mean I can't try and
17:40 get it fixed. I've got to go do my dog and pony show. Stick around. I'd like to get to know you better. Ross goes into his slideshow presentation about the celestial mass, showing an image of Teeut, the celestial, in the Indian Ocean. We see the four countries who moved in and what they're hoping to get from it. France, excavation, geological stuff and operations. France has revolutionized the geological survey department. USA tech development, defense and medical, new refined material, adamantium, top secret. It's weird that they put the words top secret here even though they're showing it to all kinds of people in the East Room here. Japan, storage, mining, research, and tech. Japan's leading robotic and defense applications. And India, mining, agriculture, and bioengineering. formidable engineering bases and research labs. A couple just interesting details here. France included on the
18:26 list between this and Black Panther Wakanda forever. It's like Nate Moore is in all these rooms saying like France is definitely one of the big imperialist powers in the 21st century as opposed to like the 18th and 19th centuries. Also, it's interesting how India is getting like agriculture benefits from Tiiamat. And as we saw in the Eternals film, agriculture was one of the earliest contributions of the celestial employed Eternals to early civilizations. Ross talks about the discovery of the millennium found inside Tiamat's marbleized corpse and lists adamantium's application to technology, medicine, and defense. And in the medicine category, we see a scan of the human body, the brain, and the spinal cord, which seems like a reference to adamantium's most famous application, Wolverine's adamantium skeleton. Ross says this metal is more indestructible than vibranium and not controlled by a small isolationist country which is some
19:12 strong words against Wakanda. Ross names this mineral or adamantium making this the first official mention of adamantium in the MCU. Adamantium was first mentioned in Marvel comics in the Avengers number 66 in 1969 as the shell of Ultron and its name comes from the word adamant meaning firm and resolute unyielding. In addition to being a substance of Wolverine's metal claws, technically Captain America's shield in the comics is made out of protoadamantium, not vibranium. The 3D globe graphics show that Celestial Island is actually in the western Indian Ocean, which is new information. It's between Sri Lanka and Madagascar, making it closer to Wakanda than I thought, which could just be an important detail in Avengers Doomsday. Ross begins to discuss distribution adamantium. And the world's map has lines that arc from Celestial Island to other countries. And the first area an arc hits might be
19:57 Bahrain, which is where Avengers Doomsday is currently shooting scenes with the Wakandons in the Talonal. Then the 1959 song Mr. Blue by the Fleetwoods plays. This is the song used by Samuel Sterns. It's reference to his dark web code name in the 2008 Incredible Hulk movie being Mr. Blue. Like the brainwashing the Manurion candidate, Isaiah suddenly attacks a Secret Service agent and fires on the president. All hell breaks loose. Ruth Batsar kicks into action. Her role seems to have been reduced in this movie and it might be a result of Marvel choosing a historically Israeli superhero without thinking about the blowback that they might get for having a hero with a history in the IDF and how that could just kind of put them in the middle of a very controversial, untouchable political issue. at least untouchable for big companies like Disney to take a stand on. Although, you know, it shouldn't be that hard to take a stand on that. Ruth tries to shoot
20:43 Isaiah, but Sam flings a serving tray to knock her gun loose, always finding makeshift shields. And if she were to flip over that shield, she would see that he wrote on it, "Free Palestine." Isaiah leaps off the balcony, a stunt Steve did in Captain America: Winter Soldier. They filmed it in a similar way with wires. Isaiah runs out into the World War I memorial and gets arrested. Only now does Isaiah come back to consciousness, telling Sam he can't go back inside and begging the agents not to mess up the suit as it's the one he was wearing when he married Faith. Carl Humbly gives a heartbreaking performance in this movie. Sam pushes past Secret Service agents to get into Ross' security bunker. Remember, Sam did not take the super soldier serum, so this is just brute strength and cap confidence that gets him through. At first, it seems like Ross makes an exception for Sam. He stays. But then Ross says the same for Ruth. She stays. And Sam realizes what Ross really means by
21:29 together. Period. Ross says, "You're not Steve Rogers. This is politics, so you better wise up, son." Just that added final word of son is loaded with hostility that Ross may or may not be aware of, but that is what Sam reacts to on his way out. Son, you call him son. Sam. Ross sneaks one of his heart pills, the gamma irradiated ones that Sterns gave him. And in this shot, his hair looks particularly frazzled. Later, we'll see more of the Red Hulk VFX design, and they clearly built on the Mark Ruffalo Hulk template from past MCU movies. All of which had hair tightly buzzed on the sides. So, I think that's why Harrison Ford was given this haircut for the movie. We do hear news reporters say, "The Justice Department has signaled a death penalty case will be pursued against Isaiah Bradley." Death penalty, that's excessive. In the real world,
22:16 federal law states that an assassin must successfully kill a president to face the death penalty. Attempted murder of a president is punishable by life imprisonment. Sam calls Waqen and recalls a friend who is activated by trigger words, obviously referring to Bucky Barnes, who shows up later in this movie. From Ruth's files, we learn the names of the two other service people who attacked the president, Army Colonel Hunter Barcraftoft and Secret Service Agent Max Ventura. On their paperwork, you can see that Barcraftoft has a masters of science in strategic and logistical tactics, as well as a masters in business and organizational security management, two masters from Harvard. Also, Hunter Barcraft is the name of an Atlanta based production coordinator who has worked on Marvel titles, including this film. Good job, Hunter. You got your name in there. Ventura, meanwhile, received a medal in 2019, meaning he survived the blip, and held the president during visits to the Democratic People's Republic of South
23:02 Korea, I'm assuming. We also see a bit at the end of his paperwork about him taking leadership in something demonstrating the inclusion of racial minorities. So, I think Sterns might have chosen this guy as part of a narrative that would make him look sympathetic to Isaiah Bradley's plight and establish a motive for an assassin. A Sidewinder ambushes Sam on the drive in a sequence that seemed to be inspired by the Nick Fury Road ambush in Captain America: Winter Soldier. Stunt coordinator James Young choreographed both sequences. One cool move that Sam does that's kind of hard to spot initially, he disarms Seth by grabbing the gun and it grips the trigger guard to make a kind of arm bracer that he then uses to deflect Seth's flung dagger. But the last of these daggers goes into Sam's chest because as Isaiah said, it's the last hit that counts. In close-up, we see the blue eye contact Shan Carlos Vazito was given for this role. I see. He teases that his buyer is
23:49 a man who operates in behavioral statistics. He mentioned there was a 77% chance you'd try to talk me down. Sam holds on to the ax Seth wedged into his stomach and uses it to deflect one of his shots while running into the salvage yard. Aaron's salvage yard. Could this have been nerdy Aaron played by DC Pearson, Captain America Winter Soldier? Did the guy move into salvage scrapyard work? The brand of bleach that Sam pours on the radiator is Roxson, the recurring energy and retail conglomerate that we've seen throughout the MCU. Moving on to this workspace we're now going to call the Falcon's Nest. We see a collection of memorabilia, including a photo of Sam with his former pal Ronald Riley. Both of them from the X07 Wingsuit program from the 58th Pares Rescue Squadron. the partner whom Sam talked about in Captain America: The
24:34 Winter Soldier, who died because Sam was unable to stop his fall, which sets up Sam's big fear with Waqen later. Behind this photo is Ronald Riley's folded flag to honor his death. And there's a plaque honoring Sam Wilson's service and a photo of Howard A. Wooten, a Tuskegee Airman. Wooten was training to fly B-52 bombers when World War II ended. This is the official image of the Tuskegee Airman Foundation. There's also a photo titled unidentified African-American soldier in uniform that comes from the Library of Congress depicting a black World War I soldier. And the fact that Isaiah Bradley was incarcerated in front of the World War I memorial puts this picture in a different context, doesn't it? We see a photo of Sam with Bucky Barnes. And actually, the production folks just took a red carpet photo of Anthony Mackey and Sebastian Stan from a past appearance at D23 2019 and photoshopped the Capital Dome in the
25:21 background. Thought we wouldn't notice, but we did. We also see accommodation from the GRC, that's a global repatriation council, the international organization from the Falcon, the Winter Soldier that Sam saved from the Flag Smashers. We see a photo of Sam's sister Sarah from the Falcon, the Winter Soldier, and the family boat in Louisiana from that show. And there's this letter from a kid. Dear Captain America, you're so cool. I wish I was as strong and brave as you. You are definitely my favorite Avenger. Thank you for keeping us safe. Signed, Eevee. PS, you are very patriotic. It's like he has to put this up there to remind himself that the kids of America know he's patriotic despite what the haters will say. We also see a photo of Sam and Waqen with Wen doing the Falcon symbol with his hands. There's a department of veterans award for mentorship. We see another kids drawing of themselves with
26:06 Sam in his suit from the end that the Falcon Winter Soldier with I like you Captain America written above it. And then at workstation we see a Miami Heat jacket draped on his chair. Earlier, he wore a University of Miami shirt, making him the only actual fan of any Miami sports team. Yeah, I'm calling you out, people of the 305. You don't actually love your teams. You just do it in this kind of performative way with your stupid sexy bodies on Instagram. Yeah, obviously this is a dumpy Jacksonville boy talking here. Mortals, there's a lot of hype among nerds right now for Superman, but have you noticed how much they've been featuring crypto? No wonder. Look at that guy with the ears and the tail. That's an A+ dog. If you've got an A+ dog at home, you should feed them A+ food, like Sundaes for dogs. Sundays is
26:52 a fresh dog food made from a short list of human grade ingredients. And look, we get it. Upgrading your dog's diet sounds like it should be a hassle, right? That's because other healthy dog foods require freezer space, unthawing, cooking, and they're pretty gross. I I should know. I've tasted them. They taste awful. But Sunda's is vet formulated and made in the USA with 100% meat, muscle, organs, and superfoods, and zero synthetics or artificial preservatives. Since Sundays has cleaner ingredients than frozen dog foods, you can just pour it right from the bag. It's shelf stable, no hassle, just healthy food for your dog. Every order of Sundays ships right to your door, so you never have to worry about running out. It's super convenient. Give your dog the chance to try Sundays and watch them fall in love. Get 50% off your first order of Sunds at
27:38 sundaysfordogs.com/newrostars or use the code new rockstars. Lenin reports Ross' adviser Ruth Batzarv, she was born in Israel and trained in the red room. She's like widow. So I think originally in the scene there was a different line wording Ruth's Israeli backstory just in a different way. And they cut away from Danny Ramirez while he recorded his line via ADR to say simply she was born in Israel. Ross' adviser, Ruth Batzarv, she was born in Israel and trained in the red room. And also, I think they were going to add some more exposition about this character being a mutant as she is in the comics. Actress Shir Hos is 5'2 and she seems so small in this movie, but I think that was also part of the original idea for the character in this movie, a fighter who seems unassuming, but possesses some hidden abilities. I suppose we're now meant to imagine her alongside Natasha and Yolena in the red
28:25 room with Ruth pushing some other girls out into those snowy woods to get shot by that random dude. When walking pulls up to the coordinates for Camp Echo 1, those latitude and longitude numbers actually do put you in West Virginia, specifically on an unnamed road right next to an airfield. So, I love how the designers really did find a sus looking spot to put this base at. On Air Force One, President Ross works out on a Pelaton. Pelaton showed up as a sponsor on Alexis's new Avengers trackuit and Thunderbolts. And assuming Samuel Sterns has hacked all of President Ross' technology, I like to imagine that he had this Pelaton instructor say thanks to President Ross to get him particularly worked up. It's just worth pointing out that it's right after this workout that Samuel Sterns waits to kill the guard in Camp Echo1, Warden Cooper, and then talking to Ross over the phone to threaten him. Ween plays on his Motorola flip phone, a burner so that
29:10 they can't be tracked as easily. An old arcade game. This is called Planettoid, and it's a 1982 clone of the 1980 game Defender, which the teenage version of Groot played at the beginning of Infinity War. Camp Echo 1 is beneath a giant radio astronomy satellite used as a facade. But this also could explain how Sterns could have remote satellite uplink capabilities and access to various telecommunications and maybe even spot anomalies in space. Things like, oh, I don't know, the arrival of a Fantastic 4 ship if you were still there at the time. But also, if our man has predicted the multiverse colliding and Avengers Doomsday, maybe he's seen all the space set anomalies like Darbin opening up a rift to the X-Men dimension. Now, this whole section of sneaking into an underground base reminds me of Steven Natasha sneaking into the old Camp Lehi base and Captain America: Winter Soldier. But instead of a green-headed phase 1 sub villain of
29:57 Zola, in this basement, they find the greenheaded phase 1 sub villain of the leader. We see a diploma from Greyburn College, which is a university in New York where Samuel Sterns worked, where Bruce Banner and Betty Ross found him. In the 2008 film, this award Samuel Sterns a master of science in cellular and molecular biology. There are other diplomas that are harder to make out, but I assume they give them various doctorate degrees. The computer on a screen background also says Greyburn. We see a surgical device prototype doing surgery on a model brain. I wonder if Sterns was running tests on himself and his exposed lumpy head. The names of the brainwash victims on the wall are Pumo. This form lists his rank. Sergeant Pumo instead of his first name, which is Frank. We see Hunter Barraftoft, Chris Meltzer, James Davidson, Isaiah Bradley, Togo Reed, Isaac Martinez, Theo Wincraft, Lloyd Chavez, Dylan Festy, and
30:42 Nancy Martinez. And you're wondering, yes, I did look up those names and they're just like random names. There are 16 others on the wall to the left and eight more on the right. So, all in all, the leader has brainwashed a lot of people. The first file that Sam opens is for Frank Pumo measuring the plasma proteins and how they tracked post irradiation, meaning that it was a similar gamma irdiation that he used to just initially program him. We see the file on President Ross with a chemical reaction describing the radioactive decay of thorium. Thorium 233 is what thorium 232 becomes after it absorbs a neutron, turning it into a fertile visile fuel, also thorium Thor. It was named after the Norse god of Thor and technically in the mythology of the MCU, all the Norse gods of Earth are based on Thor and his buddies from Asgard. Ross' birthday is listed as August 22nd, 1945,
31:28 making the character 81 at the time of this movie in April 2027. He was also born literally a couple weeks after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He is a true baby boomer. The Japanese prime minister claims to have intelligence that the Americans stole the adamantium sample, which is really just bogus intel leaked by Samuel Sterns, we find out later to destabilize this treaty. Back in the lab, they bring up old lecture footage of Samuel Sterns at Greyburn with Tim Blake Nelson looking as he did in the 2008 Incredible Hulk movie. Use those incredible brains of yours. Wasn't half badl looking, was I? Yes, those incredible brains of yours setting up the sight of him. Samuel Sterns appears in the shadows, his one green eye glimmering from the dark because we know his other eye is kind of milked over and then he reveals himself. Why does everyone think that I want to kill Ross? Is it because he imprisoned
32:14 me here without a trial after an infusion of gamma warped the structure of my brain? I love how Sterns choreographs the lighting shifts in this room to put some alphaba green light on himself, showing a bulging brain lobed head, suggesting his gamma enhanced brain bursts through his skull like a Cortiseps fungus clicker in The Last of Us. In the comics, the leader has a smoother green head, and his eyes don't glow green like this, but some depictions do make his head look riged and bumpy, so it seems like they kind of double down on those. In the comics, the leader leads the Intelligencia, a villainous group that includes Modok and Egghehead and manipulated Thaddius Ross to become Red Hulk. But in the MCU, the Intelligencia was just the name of a sexist website and a group of bros who targeted She-Hulk. Now, after this movie came out, we saw other concept art for the leader created by Marvel artist Ryan Minerding that would have looked more
33:00 comic accurate. We've also seen the makeup and prosthetics of what Tim Blake Nelson looked like in the earlier shoots for this movie before all the re-shoots. The final version of the leader, I suppose, is meant to be more monstrous and focus on the visual of his brain to emphasize his freaky intelligence. But looking at these previous versions, I don't know if any version of the leader would have worked in this movie because keeping him in this film at all makes the fourth Captain America movie, in my opinion, more of a sequel to the 2008 Incredible Hulk film than to any other MCU movie. And that's just not a history Sam Wilson has anything to do with. Stern says that Ross imprisoned him here at Camp Echo 1 for 16 years, developing technologies, health remedies, and political strategies that kept Ross alive and led him to the presidency. Since Sterns seems to have really felt those 16 years, I assume he didn't dust away in the blip and was stuck down here for all those years. Since Ross did dust
33:46 during the blip, that could have led to Sterns jumping ahead in his advancements in ways that Ross never knew about. And this would also mean that since the dawn of the MCU, Samuel Sterns has been quietly developing super weapons technology, surveillance methods, and other inventions for any part of the US government that was led by Thaddius Ross. The Sakobia Accords even could have been the leader's idea to divide the Avengers. In a way, the leader and Zemo were both kind of working together and never knew each other. Maybe the leader even knew that doing this would unearth the truth that Steve Rogers friend Bucky Barnes was the one who killed Howard and Maria Stark. Since Thaddius Ross was there when the Red Room crashed at the end of the Black Widow film, that could have included Draov's mind control technology. And maybe Samuel Sterns tweaked that to use it on all of these military personnel. Yes, but you haven't figured out how. We
34:32 also should ask, was Sterns aware of Hydra? Did Hydra know about him? I don't even know if this movie realized how much they were establishing by saying that this guy was down here tinkering for 16 years. Sterns hit Sam with a blast of sonic energy, the same technology that Thaddius Ross' forces used to repel the Hulk in the 2008 film. Stern sticks some brainwash soldiers on Sam and Waqen, whom they're able to take down with the assistance of Ruth. It's clear watching this how much the color palette was on the filmmaker's minds with lots of clashing red and blue lights. The FBI SWAT team that Ross sent comes to recover them and also gets hit with the Mr. blue needle drop. So, the three of them have to escape them. Ross' advisers, meanwhile, tell him the Japanese are advancing on Celestial Island, and in anger, he pounds a coffee table, cracking it, and he orders the US carrier group 5 to beat the Japanese to Celestial Island. Sam and the others
35:18 drive to the SEAL team base at Norfol, Virginia. Sam gives Commander Duny, the president Ross, pills to check. Now, according to rumors around this movie, they did have a scene where they got Amadeus show to check these pills at Stark Industries. Actually, you could find leaked set photos of crew people who worked on this movie at a Stark Industries set that would have appeared in this film. So, we know part of those rumors were at least true. Actually, the actor rumored to play Amadeus Cho, a character who becomes the Hulk in the comics was Logan Kim, who is only 18 years old. Sam chats with Seth Vulker here. Vulkar said that it was his old unit that found Samuel Sterns in the wreckage of the Battle of Harlem with a gamma-enhanced mind and that Ross even upped the gamma exposure to Samuel Stern's brain and that it was Sterns who paid Sidewinder through the CIA black fund to steal the adamantium. At this point in the movie, especially in scenes
36:03 like this, it's really not hard to see how much green screen must have been used to finish these scenes. Pretty much any scene with Jean Carlos and Tim Blake Nelson guaranteed green screen re-shoot. So, this interrogation we suspect was originally going to be Sam talking to Rosa Salazar's character onto Celestial Island. We get new shots of the marbleized corpse of Tiiamut in the Indian Ocean. This time from sea level, allowing us to see the little grooves and swirls in his armored shell. Ruth in these scenes has an armored chest piece under her jacket that seems to have been part of a bigger plan for this character in the sequence that ultimately was never used. There on the USS Millius, which is an actual Arley Burke class Aegis guided missile destroyer of the US Navy. Ross stands before a board that reads in red CAP status, which stands for combat air patrol. This board is meant to track the aircraft patrol over an objective area to intercept and
36:49 destroy hostile aircraft. Though ironically in the scene, the status of CAP is also something that we're keeping in mind. In addition to Jackal, the other pilot's call sign is whiskey, which is an unlikely call sign because whiskey is one of the alphabetic words in the military alphabet. you know, Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, so it would be kind of confusing to have a pilot referred to as any of those words. Look, I come from a family of Navy pilots. Maybe there's a pilot out there with a call sign of Sierra or Foxtrot. I I just don't think it's likely. Sam confronts Ross about his medical history with Sterns in Camp Echo1. And Ross said that he was dying from a failing heart. And Sterns kept him alive with the pills and that he wanted to stay alive to prove to his daughter Betty that he was a changed man who could still be a papa who took her to see the cherry blossoms. But the brainwashed F-18 pilots attack the Japanese fleet, sparking a dog fight. Sam and Waqin take off to
37:34 deescalate. While this aerial sequence recalls the imagery of Iron Man flight scenes, I appreciate that we never cut to an internal HUD for Sam or Waqin. Just an internal red tinted goggle vision and then a close-up of their eyes because an internal heads up display would feel too much like Iron Man. Instead, the sequence has more in common with the aerial imagery of Danny Ramirez's other film, Top Gun Maverick. But unfortunately, the gorgeous hazy backdrop of Tiamat rarely serves as more than a backdrop in this battle. In a recent episode of the Marvel Sneak Peek, John and I discussed what types of sequences in movies specifically tend to get people to come back for second and third times to see movies in theaters. And we singled out this example of a sequence that while very good, because they never fly inside of or even through this very cool setpiece of a giant celestial, the sequence never really gets to that next level. Julius Onus said that they drafted scenes that would
38:20 have gone inside of Tiamut's corpse, but to show whatever cool adamantium stagacttites might be in those minds. But Marvel Studios executives told them to stay on the outside of Tiiamut, which I find interesting. The missiles that the Japanese fire at the American warship seem to be using blue Stark repulsor technology. Just another example of how Stark tech has spread far and wide throughout the governments of this world. I do really like the stunt choreography of this sequence. How Sam uses Redwing to fly behind him, carrying his shield to deflect fire from a further back angle, and how Sam stops the final missile by kind of surfing it down into the water. President Ross' headset gets hacked by the leader, and the red glow of the board behind him reflects on his face, making him look like he's drowning in red. Sammy uses the vibranium wing to slice through a wing of Whisy's F-18. And I just noticed the detail that the vibranium in his wing glows purple as this happens to
39:07 show how it is the individual vibranium atoms that are absorbing this impact and shifting in a specific way that allows this to be a clean cut. Jackal fires four more missiles at the Millius. Sam bounces his shield among them, which shows that his practice with the pads on the trees in Louisiana and the Falcon Winter Soldier definitely paid off again. Each time his wings take out these missiles, they and the explosions glow with a color purple of the redirected kinetic energy from the vibranium. We stops one missile but blows up the second one too late and it burns him and he drops into the ocean, reminding us of Rody's almost deadly injury and his fall in Captain America: Civil War. The leader calls President Ross from the home of that retired admiral whom he killed with the admiral's wife and exploits Ross' stress level to try and goat him to becoming the Red Hulk. Ross' eyes turn red, his calves bulge, and he squeezes the metal of the bulkhead. Though, I have to share
39:53 the plot hole that John pointed out here. Why can't Ross just hang up the call? Why can't he just take off the headset? Sam manages to stop Jackal's plane kamicazine into the side of the ship by ejecting him and using his cable to pull the stick up and crash the F-18 in the water beyond the ship. When Japan sees that the US pilots were clearly out of control, both sides back off. As Sam flies over the scene, his helmet vibranium nanites retract in a way that his red visor goes back first and then the rest of the helmet goes back, which I guess establishes that there's some setting where the visor can kind of sunroof back, but the breathing mask stays on. I don't know. I do think we might be done with nanotech helmets, Marvel Studios. We've just done a lot of them. And I'm pretty sure this shot of Ruth telling Sam that rescue recovered was definitely green screen. like they had to come up with something for Ruth to do in the sequence, I suppose. Walken
40:40 recovers at Walter Reed Hospital. Now, in this press gaggle, according to a trailer shot, the leader was supposed to appear going through them wearing an Uncle Sam hat. Not sure why they included the shot in a late trailer when at that point, it definitely would have already had to have been removed from the final cut. Sam is greeted by future Congressman James Buchanan Barnes. Bucky appears on his left, which I normally wouldn't say is definitely an Easter egg. Two people standing together is always going to have someone on someone's left, but the camera did line them up in this particular profile shot for Bucky to suddenly appear on Sam's left side. So, I think it was intentional. The two are close in this scene. It's great seeing them back together after everything they went through in the Falcon Winter Soldier. But, in the months after this, Congressman Bucky Barnes will get involved with the Thunderbolts and will end up on the New Avengers that, according to that movie's postredit
41:26 scene, ends up in a conflict between Sam and Bucky in particular. My theory is that Sam wanted them to turn over Bob Reynolds sent Century, a super soldier who was way too powerful. But Bucky would never do to another misunderstood super soldier what half the Avengers wanted to do to him in Civil War. Sam said the doctors had to restart Waqin's heart. Wo, he almost died. Like Aubrey Plaza was like halfway in the room and was like, "Damn it." I wonder if we saw the afterlife the way Jeremy Rener keeps saying he did after his accident. I'm serious. The quotes are crazy. He's like, "I wanted to be dead. I was mad that I came back to life." Sam asks Bucky about Steve Rogers. How many alien invasions did he stop again? Two. I'm assuming those two were the Chitauri in the Battle of New York and Thanos's forces in Infinity War and Endgame. But also Sam and Bucky both helped stop that second one as much as Steve did. Sam
42:12 wishes he took the serum and says that Steve made a mistake giving him the shield, but Bucky says that taking the serum wouldn't help him protect everyone he cares about. Steve gave people something to believe in, but you you give them something to aspire to. Did your speech writers help you with that? They did. Yeah. The ending a little bit. Did you like it? Was it? Oh, it was good. Solid. B+. Emotional. Very. I felt it but just enough. I love this. He also does a kind of politician hand gesture that looks like something he did while playing Donald Trump in The Apprentice. Duny takes a call. Duny, you check out my report. All right. What am I looking at? Those pills you gave me are loaded with gamma radiation engineered to be absorbed into the blood. Where the hell did you get these? Yeah. The captions here call this caller scientist. I'm almost certain this was going to be the voice of Amodus Cho
42:58 Sterns who strolls into a Navy Seal camp that probably would have been heavily guarded. He stops Duny's heart using a frequency device that might be based on the device Obadai Stain used to paralyze Tony Stark and Iron Man. In the Oval Office, we see old photos of Harrison Ford from the early 90s where a mustache has been photoshopped under his nose. There also photos of Liv Tyler from a younger age around the time when she realized that she was Steven Tyler's daughter. We hear Liv Tyler's voice over the phone as Betty as the daughter and father promise to take a walk sometime to see the cherry blossoms. Ross speaks to the press in the Rose Garden as Samuel Sterns turns himself into Sam in front of Walter Reed, asking for counsel from a man at the end of his rope, reminding us of Sam's time running the group sessions. This scene is certainly the biggest offender when it comes to the obvious green screen plating. They also shot this scene with just a slightly odd anamorphic focus, which
43:45 might be designed to gloss over some of the awkward rendering detail. I'm a bit surprised Marvel didn't even try to clean this up a little bit for the Disney Plus release. Sam asks, "You ever use that big brain of yours to consider that maybe you're wrong about Ross? Want to bet?" This sets up the bet that they bring up about Ross in the postredit scene. The press hounds Ross about Sterns going public about Ross' imprisonment of him, which the scene shows us with the close-up of a reporter getting an immediate news report, which also is probably a pickup insert shot. And the fact that we can kind of see the scenes at this point in the movie, I think undercuts how great the Red Hulk moments are that come after it all just happens really fast. Pre-recorded audio from Sterns plays over the speakers and the Secret Service tries to pull the president away. Why? I don't know. For all they know, he's just getting a little angry. Is it the Secret Service's
44:31 job to pull away an angry president going on a rant? For our past several presidents, our Secret Service hasn't gotten in the way when uh our presidents kind of go off the rails during a press conference. That's a job of like I don't know, chief of staff, press secretary, but it's too late. Ross is too mad. And it happens. I love how disgusting they made Ross red hulking out to be. On his hand, his pinky finger bends sideways. His back shreds out the back of his suit, and we see the lumps of his vertebrae and purple veins through his skin. His clothes all sizzle and burn, spewing smoke. His fingers burn the carpet on the stage. This is a key detail about Red Hulk from the comics. While his skin is not invulnerable like Bruce Banner Hulk's skin is, it does radiate heat,
45:17 causing his thrown objects to become explosive projectiles. The design of Red Hulk is pretty impressive. They used a lot of the same visual assets from the 2012 redesign of the Hulk when Mark Ruffalo took over the character and all the ways it improves over the years through the smart Hulk design for Endgame that we also saw in She-Hulk. But they also included some striations on his pectoral muscles. They gave him a layer of chest hair because we've seen Harrison Ford with the shirt off in movies and we know there's a bit of a carpet under there. And when he roars, it seems like they even kept a bit of Harrison Ford's crooked lower teeth and Red Hulk's jawline. Marvel fans have expected Thaddius Ross to transform into Red Hulk ever since the 2008 Incredible Hulk postredit scene, or rather like the end tag scene that showed Ross drunk in a bar, which was actually based on the World War Hulk's storyline comic issue that revealed Red Hulk's identity by flashing back to Ross drunk in a bar looking a lot like this. So, since this
46:04 has been 17 years in the making, they had a lot to live up to. And overall, I do think they nailed the execution of Red Hulk, at least in the scenes that he's in. And at least in the first half of the battle. And of course, the texturing in the close-ups looks a lot better. His eyes, his nostrils, his cheeks, his mouth, his jawline, a hint of a 5:00 shadow. In some of the wide shots, they clearly put a bit less effort into the detail, but that's probably okay. Sam intervenes. Upon the first punch, the glowing purple vibranium tech on Sam's left shield begins to glitch. Uh-oh. Sam sticks Red Hulk with some blades, demonstrating that Red Hulk, unlike Green Hulk, can be cut and impaled. It's in this moment when Sam back pockets a move that will eventually bring him down when they're on the street. Red Hulk thunderclaps, the beloved Hulk range attack that Hulk did in the 2008 film, but Jos Sweden thought it was goofy, so we didn't get to see it in Avengers 2012 or in Age of
46:49 Ultron, and also didn't get to see it in Ragnarok, but it did come back in She-Hulk, and I appreciated that. Only now did I catch the full impact of the Thunderclap. In addition to blowing back Sam in the chairs, it takes down the entire section of the White House behind Sam. Julius Ona said in an interview that there was originally a part where Red Hulk was going to use a gun like he does in the comics. They ultimately had to cut this because he felt it didn't feel right for the movie. The fight spills up onto the roof of the White House. They use the American flag pole as a bat and then as a spear, taking down a helicopter. Red Hulk then throws one helicopter into the other helicopter and he roars from the roof like he's freaking adult Simba on Pride Rock claiming this turf. There's a particularly well-rendered close-up of Red Hulk right here as he pulls out the daggers and turns back to look up at Sam. I mean, this looks 100%
47:34 photorealistic to me, and I appreciate how after the opening foray into the battle, they peppered his face and his traps now with ash. Red Hulk jumps after Sam, scraping the Washington Monument. We'll see this damage get repaired during the Thunderbolts film. If you look closely at a shot, Sam leads Red Hulk to Hannes Point, the southern tip of the East Potoic Park between the Ptoic and the Washington Channel. Actually, in this park is a sculpture called the Awakening that kind of looks like the emergence of Tiiamat. I think Sam's plan was to use the cherry blossoms of this park to try to remind Ross of his trips with Betty. There is kind of a jump scare though when Red Hulk chases him through the grove. Sam covers our view of the approaching Red Hulk with a shield and then wa Red Hulk is right there and then wham he hits him into the street. This leads to a showdown on the road where here some of the green screen plating and at least a sound stage set really start to be more
48:20 evident. Sam uses his two drones as he charges, flips over Red Hulk, uses his wings to cut his back and then has the drones laser the cut. But Red Hulk uses that lamp post to bat one of the drones and swing it at Sam, sending him bouncing off the cars. Red Hulk ignites one of these cars and tosses it. And Sam leaps over again, slicing it, looking cool, but doesn't get to enjoy this hero trick shot for too long because now Red Hulk is ready for him. He batters the vibranium dome. Sam forms with his wings, weakening them. And when Sam tries to fly away, yikes. Red Hulk grabs the wing. Sam tries to ricochet the shield, but Red Hulk's ready for that one, too, wedging it in the pavement so that Sam wouldn't be able to pry it out now. It is scary to see Red Hulk learning throughout this battle. Red Hulk rips off Sam's jetpack and tries to crush Sam's head under the helmet. Just Red Hulk's hands being that close to Sam's head is a kind of scale difference
49:07 that really makes us nervous that we're about to see a skull get crushed in. I remember feeling a similar dread when Thanos grabbed Tony Stark by the head in Infinity War. Sam kicks the dagger that's still wedged in Red Hulk's stomach. And now with one wing left, the vibranium glow, going haywire from what must be an imbalanced generator. Sam uses a sharp point to stab Red Hulk through the midsection. This overloads the vibranium kinetic energy, causing a percussive blast to blow them all back. But Red Hulk rises from under a car, leading us to this final speech that I got to say looks really green screen. Anthony Mackey is definitely on a green screen for these shots. He gives a speech trying to appeal to Ross' goodness as a father. And I'm sorry to point out the green screen so much, but these are like critical moments that the movie needed to get right and needed to feel like it was a moment between two characters. So to not shoot this in a realistic looking setting really just
49:52 undercut a critical moment for themselves. The first few cherry blossom petals burn when they land on Ross' chest, but as he calms when he holds his hand out, one lands on his palm and it does not burn. And I love this detail.
…
