while they're not hitting the highs of phantasm or sub-zero, the mid ones are still better than all the snyder movies

DCAU >>>>> DCAMU

I don't have any N^th^ metal!

Peacemaker is never getting out of salvation now

Yeah, but there are other gangs in Gotham

:yea:

I just watched Thunderbolts yesterday (completely fine, flavorless) and my thoughts for how Red Guardian should have been presented are in this same vein. In the comics, Red Guardian is Soviet Captain America and mostly an anti-hero type, verging on proper hero depending on the writer/guy in suit. In the MCU, he's Soviet Captain America and mostly a washed-up loser whose obsession with the fame and glory he had back in the USSR is played for laughs. He's a lovable oaf obsessed with the USSR purely for the role it played in his personal aggrandizement. He does not behave in any way whatsoever like a communist and displays absolutely no ideological positions.

I think he could still remain a strongly comedic slanted character, but they should have had a writer who actually knows how pro-Soviet Marxists think to handle him. For example, he says early in the movie he would give anything to work for the CIA director/corporate CEO villain and admonishes his daughter (Black Widow) for not relishing the pursuit of fame and glory. He says this in literally the same scene he's watching old Soviet parades with the Soviet anthem.

I think having him be a bit of a loser is appropriate, given that the USSR is gone and it's a tragedy he'd probably never recover from. But his motivation should have been super Marxist: he's obsessed with inspiring the people to collective action and spits all over anything that smacks of the CIA and imperialism. He should throw out one liners at the CIA boss about how she's advancing US hegemony, but when they're actually on screen together they basically don't interact. He has scenes where he demands the team come together, but only to advance their profile - instead he should argue that they need to unify and create a powerful organization, which is the motive force for working class struggle.

The biggest missed opportunity is that the movie puts a few characters in these traumatic psychic flashbacks to their fucked up pasts. RG never gets one of these. He should've had one of the USSR in the late 70's, early 80's, drenched in Soviet nostalgia for the good life in Moscow and the hope and idealism for a unified future for humanity. This would turn to trauma as he sees the rot in the late Soviet leadership, the encroaching of western obsession with fame and wealth, and the eventual collapse of the USSR as the ultimate trauma. We'd get to see a (superficial) perspective on how it felt to be a citizen of the USSR who loved their country but watched it destroyed, and the trauma he experiences is the collective suffering of shock doctrine and neoliberalism. His overcoming it is a commitment to embracing superherodom not as a celebrity but as a role model who tries to involve the people as agents in his actions as much as possible.

Obviously this would be politically impossible in Hollywood, but whatcha gonna do but dream?

I gotta see if I still have that spec script I wrote for a set of graphic novels where each book would cover a decade of history if the Marvel characters who debuted in that decade actually came to be

I play around a little bit with a few characters, like having Thor show up in WW2 and Iron Man not showing up until the year 2000, but I think I did a pretty good job with keeping things grounded

Captain America ends up fighting Thor in the war (summoned by Nazis), doesn't get frozen, comes home, becomes a senator, spearheads civil rights and ends up President in the 80's instead of Reagan

Spider-Man ends up fighting in 'Nam, gets rescued by Frank Castle, comes home to find out Aunt May died when she got the MIA letter, becomes a prominent journalist who exposes the Weapon X program

X-Men are a lot more diverse (i always did like the whole Children of the Atom thing, so nuclear testing is responsible for activating the X-Gene and who got fucked over by nuclear testing more than indigenous peoples?), provide security during the Civil Rights protests, Professor X ends up taking the bullet for MLK Jr.

Frank Castle comes home from Vietnam, family still gets killed during a vicious mob shoot-out, goes on rampage, ends up finding out the shoot-out was orchestrated by NYPD Commissioner Wilson Fisk, dies doing a suicide run on 1 Police Plaza, plunges NYC into a new Dark Age where street level heroes like Daredevil and Power Man rise to prominence

Tony Stark becomes Iron Man, becomes beloved until he only stops half of 9/11, dies saving the entire East Coast from destruction when Obadiah Stane tries to false flag the USA into a war overseas, Rhodey becomes the new Iron Man

There's a lot more, but I'm gonna stop here or I'll be sitting here all night

Superman was maybe a B, Supergirl was real bad but they were at least doing something fun with the character. The TV shows were fine for TV shows.

Very funny they can't get their shit together.

Trust a movie ~~executive~~ about as long as your pinky nail is