Marvel did it again with Ant-Man and the Wasp, taking two lesser known comic characters and delivering a rousing and at times, heartfelt, adventure last summer. It’s finally coming out for home release so fans can watch it as many times as they want and to celebrate, we want to do a giveaway.

One lucky reader will win a blu-ray of the film, and entering to win is incredibly easy! All you have to do is send an email with ANT-MAN AND THE WASP in the subject line to ADAM@BIGSHINYROBOT.COM along with your mailing address (no PO Boxes, and in the U.S. only, please), and that’s it! If you repost this contest on Facebook and Twitter, you will get a bonus entry for each site you share it on; just be sure to let me know in the email which ones you posted it to. The contest will run until Friday, September 28, and the winner will be notified shortly thereafter.

Ant-Man and the Wasp will be available on blu-ray and 4K October 16 and digitally on October 2.

Revisiting Avengers: Infinity War now that it’s on home video formats is an interesting experience. I saw it a couple of times during its theatrical run and then engaged in the online discussion about the film.

There were complaints about it, to be sure, though nothing as vicious as the online discussions from a vocal minority surrounding, say, The Last Jedi. Some felt the emotional resonance of the end of the film is somehow diminished because we know that it’s a comic book movie and that there’s a sequel coming and that the actors are all signed up for other sequels. Watching it again, I’m not sure those who complain about these things are watching movies correctly.

Roger Ebert once said that movies are machines that create empathy. How can one possibly watch a movie as emotionally fraught and filled with loss as Infinity War and ignore those feelings because something better will happen to our heroes in the future? Frankly, that’s how storytelling works. You get the heroes in the worst place they can be, and then show you how they get back out. Did anyone honestly watch The Empire Strikes Back and thinks they were going to leave Han Solo in carbonite forever? Or that Luke would forever be unsure of his parentage? No.

But, like Luke struggling on that weather vane about the revelation of his true parentage, the power of emotion at the end of Infinity War comes not from what happens, but by how characters react. We have to empathize with Tony Stark deeply. When Peter Park disintegrates after Thanos’s cosmic “snap,” how can you maintain your cynicism about the fact that there’s a slated sequel to the last Spider-Man movie? I would argue that if you can’t suspend your disbelief on that point, you’re watching the movie on a meta level you’re not intended to and not actually appreciating the art for the sake of itself, but for something else. There is nothing objectively wrong with how these moments are constructed, it really is a matter of how the audience views it.

After repeated viewings, I find myself even more fully immersed into the world and the story this particular film sets out to tell and all of the other knowledge I have about the future of the franchise melts away and I think it’s easy enough to get into that headspace.

For a film that is intended to cap off 10 years of movies and launch us into another era, it really does its job well. 

As for the Blu-ray presentation of the film itself, this is packed full of more extras than other films in this day and age. The documentaries and commentary are worth the price of admission and will keep you busy for hours. They’re illuminating and enlightening. I’d gladly trade the outtakes and blooper reel for a more detailed behind the scenes look at the film, but I also understand there might not be a good way to do that since the production of this film was so inextricably tied to the next Avengers film that we know so little about. Hopefully, we get a long look at the making of on the next release.

The commentary has a lot of fascinating tidbits as well and is definitely worth your time. This is a set that I can see myself going back to a lot more often than many of the previous Marvel installments. In fact, this one might be the film I’ve gone back to the most in the entire franchise, followed closely by Thor: Ragnarok and Winter Soldier. It’s just so entertaining and dripping with all of the drama and action I want out of a massive team-up of comic book characters.

Avengers: Infinity War comes out on Blu-ray on Tuesday. 

In a blockbuster landscape that is over-populated with world-ending scenarios and mass-scale destruction, the Russo Brothers made a distinct decision to make the stakes more personal in Avengers: Infinity War, even as their story veered jaggedly across space and time. And it was this single decision that made all of the difference in the world.

Somewhere around 2010, Hollywood became obsessed with destroying the planet. This came about, naturally, because studios were too pre-occupied with whether or not they could do it, they didn’t stop to consider if they should. It is why the stakes of a Superman film went from the life of Lois Lane in 1978 to the lives of the entire planet in 2013. There was a clear course of this natural evolution, as filmmakers sought to give audiences a new high every single weekend. The mindset very quickly became ‘bigger is better’. And while the initial roots of all of this began to take hold decades earlier, the easiest film to point to as a crystallization of this thought process is Marvel’s The Avengers.

As the studio brought together its four separate superheroes into one unified universe, the stakes, understandably, had to be raised. Narratively speaking, it had to make sense that one of the heroes alone couldn’t take out the villain this time, that they would need assistance. And from a production/marketing standpoint, this film needed to be the biggest hit out of them all. So, Whedon and company put the fate of the entire world on the line, as the Avengers assembled to fight the alien invaders.

The film culminates in a thirty-minute long third-act sequence which revolves around the Avengers trying to defeat the Chitauri and save the city. During this sequence, it is impressed on the audience again and again that if the battle is lost here, the world will certainly fall after. Inevitably, they succeed, and all is right with the world. Fast-forward to 2015, and this mentality has only festered and gotten stronger among the Marvel creative elite.

Avengers: Age of Ultron does more than put the fate of the world on the line for the last act, it puts the fate of the world on the line in the first thirty minutes. Ultron gains consciousness, escapes, and presents an immediate danger hell-bent on destroying all of humanity. In the film’s third-act sequence, Ultron attempts to raise the city of Sokovia to astronomical heights, in an attempt to use it as a meteorite and destroy the entire planet. So not only are the sky-high stakes dragged out for a much longer period of time, they are more overtly encompassing the fate of the entire planet.

The problem here is that following the success of The Avengers in 2012, every film wanted to have the fate of the world on the line in their climax. From the get-go, the world-ending climax is too big for audiences to relate to. The closest thing to an emotional connection a film can hope to conjure up in this scenario is the audience’s mutual agreement that the world ending would, obviously, be bad. But it’s such a massive event that there is no personal connection there, nothing that taps into the audiences’ own experiences. On top of that, every other blockbuster film having world-ending stakes makes it all just seem like white noise. Audiences grow numb to it and it loses the only base-level effect it ever had.

So then, why does Infinity War work so well? Thanos’ entire goal in life is to destroy half of all life in the universe, with just the snap of his fingers. If anything, on paper, this is just raising the world-ending stakes to an even more ridiculous high, with the fate of the entire universe on the line. But in execution, the Russos, alongside screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, take a wonderful cue from their immediately prior Marvel film.

In 2016, Marvel released Captain America: Civil War, which was a bold subversion of the standard formula. A plot that seemingly revolved around Zemo attempting to awaken six other Winter Soldiers so that he could destroy the world instead gave way to a much more intimate and emotionally-driven conclusion. Zemo has no use for the other Winter Soldiers, instead luring the heroes to the base to show Tony Stark the footage of Bucky Barnes murdering his mother and father. In doing so, Zemo turns Tony Stark on both Bucky and Captain America and effectively splits the Avengers in half. There are no world-ending stakes here, it is all rooted in character and emotion. The stakes are Bucky’s life and the friendship between Iron Man and Captain America, and yet Civil War had what was easily the most compelling third-act of any Marvel film up to that point.

So how would that same creative team tackle a story that, by its very nature, required them to have world-ending stakes and still make it relevant? Turns out that the answer is pretty simple; root it all in character and emotion.

Throughout the entirety of Infinity War’s runtime, the universe is at stake. From the opening frame, Thanos is on the hunt for all six infinity stones and if he gets them, it’s game over. There are numerous sequences of alien invaders decimating sections of locations like New York City, Scotland, and Wakanda. But the film is not interested in convincing audiences that they should care about these cities being destroyed, it instead puts all of its chips on the characters themselves.

In the big third-act battle, the entire nation of Wakanda is in danger, but the stakes are put solely on the life of one character. Vision’s safety is the entire reason the Avengers go to Wakanda and it is also the only reason why Wakanda as a nation even becomes involved in the battle. As Cap says, they refuse to “trade lives” and are all willing to give their all to save Vision’s life. Throughout the fight sequence, the film makes sure to keep us anchored in how close Shuri is to removing the Mind Stone from Vision’s head, with each new layer of added tension in the fight sequence directly relating to how it gets Thanos’ army closer to Vision.

This also gives the villains far more interesting and cinematic motives. In the first two Avengers films, the Chitauri and Ultron’s bots, respectively, both had the sole motivation of destruction. Thus, Earth’s mightiest heroes only goal was to stop them. But here, the villains constantly have a singular individual or object they are after. Sure they’re MacGuffins, but they drive the plot into more complex and interesting territories. Seeing villains whose goal is to acquire Vision rather than destroy Wakanda gives our heroes a more interesting motivation as well that requires more genuine thought than any previous foe.

This isn’t just true in the finale, though. Throughout the film, the stakes are exceedingly personal. Peter Quill’s quest to stop Thanos is solely driven by his love of Gamora. Tony’s entire arc revolves around making the world a safer place for his family (see: his sense of loss and failure at losing his surrogate son, Peter Parker, at the end of the film). Steve Rogers’ arc is centered on him longing to reconnect with those he has been cut off from and refusing to lose any members of his surrogate family. Thor and Rocket build a relationship through mutual loss, with Thor being driven by his distinct sense of guilt over being directly responsible for half of Asgard’s people being eradicated. Even Thanos is painted as an emotionally tragic character, one who is forced to sacrifice everything in order to do what he feels is right.

This is why the film’s climax works so well. Seeing Scarlett Witch and Vision share one final moment as she destroys the Mind Stone, and him in the process, is heartbreaking because it is so thoroughly rooted in their emotional connection. And it’s why it’s all the more tragic when Thanos uses the Time Stone to simply undo that sacrifice, and rip the Mind Stone out himself. All of their love, all of their sacrifice, it was all for nothing and we have to watch as our heroes fail, miserably.

Thanos snaps his fingers and has won the battle. But how the Russos show this to us is what’s of note. They take audiences through a painstakingly crafted gut-punch, in which we are forced to watch some of our most beloved heroes fade into nothing but ash. It’s the most world-ending situation to ever come to fruition in these films, but we aren’t shown it via watching a cast of extras slowly vanish on the streets of New York. We are shown it in the most personal and affecting way possible.

While other franchises are still busy attempting to make audiences care about the ever-rising stakes of world-ending chaos, Marvel has wisely moved on. In Infinity War, the stakes aim for the intimate rather than for the grandiose and the film is far more effective because of it.

This episode features Tom, Lucas, Tyson, Rebecca, and Jon

We talkin’ predictions! Both past and future. 

Listen now on iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher

Be sure to check out our sponsor: The Bohemian Brewery

As always, thank you very much for tuning in! If you like what you hear, please leave us a rating on your preferred casting service. You can contact any of the podcasters via their Twitter handles or get at Big Shiny Robot directly.

I describe the reason why I enjoy comics so much is because comics are just like tv. They are episodic, run in arcs and seasons, and leave you with cliffhangers you know they may or may not (looking at you, Lost) wrap up in the next season.

Avengers: Infinity War is the ultimate season finale to a show that has been running for 10 years. Since I think we are entering a new era of franchise films, an era where creators don’t care about catering to fan service, how are we to predict what could possibly happen next? Filmed concurrently with Avengers 4–which we won’t know the title until July, and for good reason–this two part “episode” is the darkest that the MCU has ventured. This ending is bleak. Impossible to come back from.

Nick Fury has a save, though. A fail-safe for a “code red” event.

What justifies a code red? Apparently, a metaphysical event he can’t immediately write off as “aliens.”

In the post-credits scene, as we watch Nick Fury disintegrate, we watch him use a piece of outdated tech with a Marvel upgrade. A beeper with an assortment of lights and a color screen. He sends a distress signal, and the confirmation screen? A Hala star, quickly decorated with red and blue.

Captain Marvel is our savior for a code red. But that leaves us with more questions than answers:

Who is she?

Where is she?

Why did he?

How will she?

Let’s load up our question gun and go huntin’ for some answers!

Who is she?

Captain Marvel, aka Carol Danvers, has gone through several iterations in the comics. Starting as Ms. Marvel, evolving into Binary and Warbird, and finally settling into the role of Captain Marvel. For the MCU, we will not need to worry about any of her previous aliases.

An Air Force pilot, Danvers falls in association with Walter Lawson. Lawson is a Kree spy sent to Earth, who’s real name is Mar-Vell (he also goes by Captain Marvel, we’ll get to it in a minute). After she is kidnapped by Mar-Vell’s enemy Yon-Rogg, she and Mar-Vell are caught in an explosion of the Psyche-Magnetron. This explosion melds her DNA with Mar-Vell’s Kree DNA and gives her powers as well as all of Mar-Vell’s Kree knowledge and training.

She goes on to spend time on Earth with the Avengers and other groups as Ms. Marvel, but in recent iterations, she reluctantly takes the mantle from her former partner, Captain Marvel.

Where is she?

In the MCU, she is likely on the Kree planet Hala.

When set photos surfaced of Brie Larson in the Captain Marvel suit, fans were surprised to see the suit wasn’t red, blue, and gold. Her suit was…green. The solution that seemed to satisfy most people was this was just a placeholder, and the traditional colors would be added by CGI in post-production.

But if she has been holed up on Hala, the green suit makes sense. Kree military uniforms are green, and it’s possible she is involved with the Kree military as her film synopsis alludes to Earth being caught in the middle of the Kree-Skrull war.

Why did he?

Captain Marvel’s movie is set to take place in the 90’s. The last time Nick Fury probably saw her was in the 90’s, which would explain the pager device he uses to call her. But why is this pager saved until just now, and not used in other cataclysmic events like the attack in the first Avengers movie?

Because he knows how powerful she is. He knew the original Avengers team could handle a situation like the attack on New York.

Kevin Feige has said in interviews that Captain Marvel will be the most powerful hero we’ve encountered, so it is possible Fury was holding this card close to his chest in case of absolute necessity. 

How will she?

This is the big question surrounding the plot of Avengers 4. My theory is since the gauntlet did its job (handle the power of all six Infinity Stones) and is now unusable, Earth needs something or rather someone to be able to hold all six. Enter Captain Marvel. 

What better character to be able to use all six stones at once? She will be the MCU’s most powerful character, it is likely she will be the key to either freeing everyone from Soulworld or reversing the damage done by Thanos. This also allows for the opportunity to explore what happens when Captain Marvel goes Binary and turns her powers up to 11. 

From here, I’ve heard theories aplenty about how she makes it to Earth to help undo the damage: Dr. Strange portals her through or Ant-Man and the Wasp utilize the quantum realm to reach her. Either way, I am looking forward to Avengers 4: Danvers To The Rescue coming out May 2019. 

Looking to get a head start on Captain Marvel’s backstory? I, an obsessive, will tell you to start here. But, if you’re looking for something that will tie in more closely with her MCU space journey, I recommend checking out her story from here. 

THIS IS YOUR OFFICIAL SPOILER WARNING

This episode features Tom, Lucas, Tyson, Rebecca, and Jon

No explanation needed, really. We saw the thing, we talk about the thing. 

Listen now on iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher

Be sure to check out our sponsor: The Bohemian Brewery

As always, thank you very much for tuning in! If you like what you hear, please leave us a rating on your preferred casting service. You can contact any of the podcasters via their Twitter handles or get at Big Shiny Robot directly.

“But wait?” the average reader might be thinking right now, “didn’t Big Shiny already post a review for Infinity War?” Why yes, we most certainly did, and if you haven’t read Bryan’s awesome review, you can check it out right here. But  considering this is the culmination of 10 years worth of movie making and nearly 20 films, we figured a multi-prong approach would be the best here and will be publishing various takes and critiques of the film.

So if you want to spend a more leisurely time strolling through the Infinity War garden, check me out on the Bored as Hell Podcast while I sit down with Andy, and we spend a good 40 minutes or so on a deep dive into the film and themes. And it’s as spoiler-free as possible, but we will discuss plot revealed in the trailers, so if you want to go in as blind as possible, maybe wait until after the movie.

You can find the podcast here, or check us out on iTunes and Stitcher!

AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR (9 out of 10) Directed by the Russo Brothers; Written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely; Starring Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Chris Pratt, Chadwick Boseman, Zoe Saldana, Josh Brolin, Tom Holland, Scarlett Johannson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olson, Paul Bettany, et al; Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action throughout, language and some crude references. ; Running time 149 minutes; In wide release April 27, 2018.

This review will remain as spoiler-free as possible. 

The Infinity War has come, and the film wastes no time getting into the thick of it and neither shall this review. 

Infinity War isn’t like other movies. It’s not like other comic book movies, it’s not like other summer blockbusters, it’s just… something new. Those going in and expecting something on as personal a scale as Captain America: Civil War, with its high stakes between Tony and Cap and all the personality that that implies, might leave Infinity War disappointed. 

That’s not to say this film is bad, quite the opposite, it just needs you to tweak your expectations going in. All of the Marvel films leading up to this moment were the individual comic book titles that led to the giant crossover event. And who is always the star of the crossover event? The villain that the heroes must try to foil. In this case, it’s played to perfection (granted through a digital performance) by Josh Brolin. If the film could be said to be anyone’s, it’s him. He’s given the richest backstory, a goal, and the largest and most revealing arc of any of the characters.

For the superheroes of the MCU, they all fill in together to create a multi-protagonist story, not unlike classic World War II films or The Phantom Menace. 

Some might get bogged down by this pacing and comic-book installment style of storytelling, but it really does work to the film’s advantage. And by dividing up all of our favorite characters into unexpected combinations, it gives the audience something hopeful to latch onto in a film that is bleak. But the film’s pace is relentless and every time you get into one situation with a set of characters, you get antsy, dying to know what’s happening with the other set. It really is structured like a comic book crossover event, set in four different titles, each one giving us a full issue before moving on to the next. 

For those who know the source material, this film will play out largely as expected (with a number of shocking surprises, to be sure), but for those who aren’t familiar with it, this movie might almost be too dark and too bleak. There’s failure here. A lot of it. Plenty to go around. But if The Last Jedi proves anything, some fans aren’t in the mood to see failure, no matter how well crafted the film is. (I wrote a piece about that worth checking out here.) 

And this film is finely crafted. I’m not sure there is anything the Russo Brothers could have done better to balance the juggling act they had before them. They had to pay off an 18 movie series, they had to do it with dozens of the most iconic characters on the planet and make you feel as though none of them were wasted, while at the same time raising the stakes so high that there’s no other force on Earth that could possibly stand against such a threat.

They pulled off something incredible and they should be proud. 

We’ll be back on Thursday with a roundtable and more spoiler-filled thoughts, but our first impression, overall, is very positive. We need to see it again, there’s just so much going on and it’s all a joy to watch. 

In a manner of speaking.

There’s not much joy to be had in the story, but there is a lot of joy for your inner-ten-year-old watching these events unfold.

This is Marvel’s The Empire Strikes Back moment. Now how will they get everyone out of carbonite, so to speak? 

This episode features Lucas, Nick, Tom, and Jon

Hey…give us a follow on Twitter…

@BIGSHINYPODCAST

IT’S INFINITY WAR WEEK! Jon has all your needed knowledge about Infinity War: Comic Book flavor. 

Listen now on iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher

Be sure to check out our sponsor: The Bohemian Brewery

As always, thank you very much for tuning in! If you like what you hear, please leave us a rating on your preferred casting service. You can contact any of the podcasters via their Twitter handles or get at Big Shiny Robot directly.