Future Adversaries of Marvel's Avengers

The Plot Thickens (Potentially)

[All part of the plan]

Somebody needs to make sure said plan comes together

I saw Captain America Civil War this past weekend and enjoyed the film, so please note there may be some light spoilers which follow. If you don't want to know more than the commercials have shown, don't read on until you see the film. Marvel Studios continues to impress in most aspects of their shared cinematic universe. What seems to be lacking, which Nerdist nailed Nerdist spoiler filled Captain America Civil War Review was question number 3. A recurring critique of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is that with a couple of exceptions the 'supervillains' tend to be lacking in complexity and uninteresting.

I want some more of this in a bad guy.

This seems to be odd considering Kevin Feige is intimately involved in all the films if nothing else, to ensure continuity among all properties. So it stands to reason that there is a plan and a reason some of these villains aren't terribly exciting (yet?). I've also noticed that when the supervillains are allowed to live and return, they continue to scheme in more interesting ways (Arnim Zola creating the algorithm in Winter Solider; ; Crossbones getting a tech upgrade allowing him to fight Captain America; Loki with an army in Avengers; Loki overthrowing Odin).

Cobra Commander wants you... to vote this November

Therefore it seems that some of these villains could and should come back, perhaps even in an association or group if you will, to thwart the heroics of the Avengers. I mean when they lose in the comics, they don't retire from the game. Even Kingpin is getting his game back while behind bars.

The first member to this potential cabal may be The Abomination. He has been shown to match up power wise with Hulk and we know he is still alive somewhere (Stark was tasked with retrieving him from Thunderbolt Ross). Based on the one-shot The Consultant, he is actually wanted by the world security council.

Sending Stark to gunk up the recruitment pitch was perfect.

"So you're not going to give me what I want?"

As of Iron Man 2, Justin Hammer was arrested, but alive. He clearly has an axe to grind with Tony Stark in particular. In addition to having funds and military/business connections that could rival Stark, he in theory has potential research and insight into arc reactor technology due to his short-lived partnership with Ivan Vanko.

Based on Captain America 3, there is Helmut Zemo who is intelligent, saavy, and patient enough to manipulate the Avengers into turning on one another. It might not be the ideal result, but the group is fractured. He even says that his goal is to topple an empire, meaning this super group. He is shown to be special forces trained and left alive, which allows him to think through more ways to disassemble the Avengers.

Finally there is Loki, who can't be happy that he gave his brother more allies. You even see it in a scene in Thor: The Dark World. He never stops with a scheme and he may now realize he needs others personally motivated to destroy members of the Avengers.

Loki nailed the pose and stance.

With a core of Abomination, Justin Hammer, Zemo and Loki, it's not hard to imagine finding more villains (enhanced or otherwise) to join up if only to counter the influence of a superhero team. Vision even hints at just this sort of situation arising. For example, his origin was briefly shown and then forgotten.

It's not out of the question he would work against Bruce Banner/Hulk

Perhaps this is all part of the plan, and we'll see this group come together post Thanos, or even with Thanos as that would be enough of a threat to unite the Avengers.

Let's Get Serious

Sound bites are not designed for complex stances

It may have to do with attention span

RandomDoug here, I want to discuss a more sober topic with you guys. It's probably going to be one of the longer posts I do, but I want to try and explain myself on this topic. So bare with me on this one.

Before getting into the nitty gritty of this post, I was struck by a certain exchange on an episode this week of The Nightly Show.

The exchange is as follows - 
Larry Wilmore: Where do you guys go for news? Do you watch news anymore?
Jenn McAllister: Um, I mean, I definitely go to Twitter first, because it's...
LW: Twitter's the first place you go to find out what's happening in the world.
JM: But I do watch the news, but I think that's because like I grew up in a household that watches the news everyday. But defintiely when something happens, the first thing I think about is going to Twitter to see what's going on.
Ricky Velez: But it breaks first on Twitter. It always breaks first now because the news, they need three separate sources before they can say it.
LW: It's called journalism.
RV: Well listen... I disagree, that's old journalism. That's old school sh*t.
LW: I don't got time to do all of that bullsh*t 'fact checking'.
RV: You don't need that no more. You don't need to go to college and become a journalist. 140 characters, I got this sh*t, let's go.
[The panel goes on to bring up some good points about individuals being able to report events otherwise ignored by traditional news sources and shining a spotlight in real time.]

My concern is the lack of appreciation for why fact-checking is considered an integral part of journalism that gets dismissed. There are a few recent high profile examples of breaking story facts going viral (and later proven incorrect). There has probably always been the drive to catch the scoop. But with ratings driven 24 hour news networks that becomes even more pronounced. Unfortunately social media in this sense has only exacerbated the problem of 'break news first', not necessary break news right, since network and cable news as noted above are constantly behind Twitter and other social media outlets when it comes the story. 

Now how this ties into my topic is how complex issues are covered, and digested by the masses. This is a country that prides itself on getting news fast, in an understandable way. It's also now expected to be entertaining, captivating and not boring (#noCSPAN). Add this to the ease in which the public can simply choose to watch the version of the news that already aligns with our views in society and mirrors our stances on issues. There is a lack of desire for a full speech, instead we want the condensed sound bite version which we can either agree with or disagree with. We'll absorb what aligns and validates our stance and and reject anything that doesn't.




This sound bite is what gets debated, not the full speech with nuanced viewpoints. This is easier to follow and allows for an easier decision of I agree or I disagree. It's quicker, less thinking, more gut reacting. It's the epitome of this Diet Coke commercial message. 

Which makes sense when you think about it. It's less presenting the facts and having us draw our own conclusions, it's more present something edible that can we can consume, because if anything, we're definitely the best in consumption.

RandomDoug out

Too much beer, not enough Gatorade

So the title came up around the time of my last hangover of Summer 2013. From what I can recall, it might have been a direct quote.

(Most likely the start of the night.)

(Most likely how the night progressed.)

I don't think I slacked off too much during step 1, which is drink and have fun. I clearly didn't do enough prep work [water drinking; food eating; electrolyte infusing] to beat the system and paid for it the next day. I know that at that point in my life Gatorade was my go to drinking. [It has since moved to Powerade, back to Gatorade and finally Pedialyte.] But what generally was my issue was the continued drinking with no break for dinner.

All in all, the hangover was mild, but it lingered like a house guest with a prolonged stay. I clearly invited the house guest, but I definitely assumed it was a sleepover, and I'd wake up and the guest would have left. NOAP!

It got me thinking about creating a checklist, an idea I quickly disregarded for both laziness and awareness that drunk logic is what kept me from drinking the Gatorade I actually had available that night. [That's right, I had it the whole time, like Dumbo.]

Than again this past weekend I made sure to drink the entire Gatorade I had and suffered no hangover. So maybe this checklist idea will be revisited (don't hold your breathe). 

[Written as of 9/9/13]

You made me do this.

First of all, your welcome for the obscure Frankee reference. These sort of things are always running my mind.

(3 minute, 40 second mark for the detectives reading this.)

So looks like I'm back at the rodeo. I'll admit I kind of missed this and can't hurt getting my writing on. So how about that local awards show? Plenty of time in the news cycle, amiright? (Written 10/2/13)

So all of that was written 2.5 years ago. Was forced to contact my sources (re: internet) regarding what awards show was referenced and it looks like the 2013 Emmy's. For the life of me, I can't figure out what was so important about that show, was it this?

(Still pretty awesome tbh.)

or this

(3D glasses really sold this bit.)

I stand corrected, it was definitely the tandem of the Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. Those two are great together [even when not hosting], with excellent timing and chemistry. Which makes it interesting that their film which came out recently, where I assume they had a decent amount of creative control didn't have a better critical rating [IMDB Rating; Rotten Tomatoes Rating; Metacritic Rating]. But hey, it topped $100 million so if they chose to, I imagine a sequel can be done.

(One hopes this isn't how a meeting with the studio would go down.)

There's always straight to video, ahem, on demand.

Blurred Lines aka when Fantasy challenges Reality

Perhaps I am Richard Castle

(I'm definitely not, like to think we'd regularly get drinks though)

(Forgot my wallet, you got these rounds, right...)

I'm generally not the biggest fan of buzzwords because they tend to be very magical,

(That somebody convinced him to do all this is a trick in itself.)

magical in that they are flashy, but really lack substance and full of misdirection.

(Damnit Cyril, that was supposed to be the signal.)

But for this post, I wanted to talk about the synergy at work with the ABC series Castle. Sidenote: it's one of my favorite shows on television and has been for the past few seasons. Big fan of the main character and the dynamic between Richard Castle and Katherine Beckett. In addition the lighthearted tone, and that Castle actually does help on police cases. There's also the feeling I'd be very similar to him if I had that kind of money.

(How rich? Swimming in money rich!)

Besides actually enjoying the show, they maximize his role as a novelist in the real world. There is an ongoing series written by 'Richard Castle' available Richard Castle Books and they never acknowledge that he might actually be fictional. The book sleeve's are written via Castle, the dedications are to characters in the show and the reviews are all made praising Castle. It's great to see that they never break character.

(Unless Deadpool. He can break character.)

There have been a few conversations where arguments broke out on who really writes these novels, and the answer given has always been and will continue to be Richard Castle. This is good synergy and tends to maintain a positive amount of audience engagement in the program besides just watching the program.

Illuminati or Illumin-uh-oh...

Illuminati is always watching, but that doesn't mean we can't watch back

It's time for me to address a particular elephant in the room

[He's coming for you. Watch your back!]

That's right, the infamous Steve Harvey flub. Not this one, though it's impressive how quickly they put this together.

I mean, that's what they want you to focus on, but

I'm talking about the Miss Universe fiasco

Now I gotta ask, in this election year, when Donald Trump

 is surging and was previously linked to the Miss Universe competition, why did they try so hard to have Columbia win. Hold on, are we talking about the same Columbia that got the Secret Service embroiled in their own brouhaha? YES, that same country.

And if the Iluminati wants to contact me for follow up, please watch below.

[I'm unavailable, but feel free to leave a message]

Illuminati, I am not the one. I mean, that's how THEY got Ricky

Randomdoug out

If We Had a Radio Segment (during college)

Unquiet Storm: Session #1

Full disclosure. When talking with some of my friends, we go off on tangents

(like, lots of them, math can be fun!)

It happens, but you know what, some of the best (interesting) conversations come out of these derivatives. For example, when discussing a mix tape, Mr. Kwakatonic Sole & myself continued a convo we had at a wedding with our musical alter egos. This is a transcript from one of our fictional radio broadcasts.

• Krazy K: Good evening fellow Wolverines. This MC Krazy K.
• Kwakatonic Sole: And this is DJ Kwakatonic Sole. Together we are bringing you the 'Un-Quiet Storm'. 
  

• Krazy: Your favorite station, in the nation.
• Sole: Bringing you some great jamz you want to hear. First on our playlist, this goes out to those north campus heads. 
  

Knuck if you Buck - Crime Mob (Featuring Lil' Scrappy)

• Krazy: Next up, by request of those fine AKA's on campus. 
  

• Sole: (bout time if you ask me)

Stilettos (Pumps) - Crime Mob

• Krazy: Time to go regional mix on y'all. Shout out to those hailing from the south.

What's Your Fantasy - Ludacris (Featuring Shawnna)

• Sole: Not bad K, but you know I gotta rep a bit closer to home.

Oochie Wally (Remix) - Bravehearts

• Krazy: Aight. Well let's spread some love out to the Midwest.

E.I. (Tipdrill Remix) - Nelly (Featuring St. Lunatics)

• Sole: Uh-oh, not sure how to take this request from Gina out of West Quad to Pete.

Is That Yo Bitch? - Jay-Z (Featuring Missy Elliot & Twista)

• Krazy: This is more like it, coming from Terra out of Stockwell

My Neck, My Back - Khia

• Sole: Sounds like a freak, with a capital F. Next request from Mark in East Quad. 

Get Low - Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz

• Krazy: For real, Shannon, for real? Alright.

MyBabyDaddy - B-Rock & The Bizz

• Sole: Alright, it is past that midnight hour
• Krazy: (My favorite hour)

• Sole: Ahem, ANYWAY, so the tempo is going to change. This is for the ladies in Bursley

How Many Licks? - Lil' Kim (Featuring Sisqo)

• Krazy: I really need to check out that dorm. Sorry, got sidetracked. This is the final song of the night. Until next time people.

I Can Tell - 504 Boyz (Featuring Jamo, Mac, Mercedes)

Cheese is Crazy

Cheese, you can be crazy sometimes, and I think you know that.

Ahh, that's the good stuff.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't think cheese is a person, an insane person at that. I just mean, cheese has some qualities that are out there, you know?

What, what, what, cheese & weight loss, what world is this?

Apparently, it can help you lose... wait a minute, cheese, why are you so crazy? Won't lie, considered linking the Ray J video, but seemed a little

I really enjoy that it says can stock photo (I do not know why)

Also, for those who watch CNN, Mr. Sanjay Gupta has also decided to weigh in on this.

Cheese --> Crazy Dreams: I'll let you be the judge.

I gave you Ray J, let me have this!

Anyway, RandomDoug is out