Traveling back to Phase 2 this week (three phases ago now if you want to feel some pain).

It has been quite a long time since we visited our Marvel Replay series, as 2022 definitely kept us busy with content. I would like to think we accrued some new fans along the way and I also wouldn’t blame anyone for forgetting what the Replay series is about, so let me provide a little bit of a reminder. Our Replay series looks at the MCU’s first three phases in timeline order. We go back and watch the films and then discuss some of the things the films led to that we didn’t realize at the time, small things we missed, or just general things that no longer make sense due to a continuity issue. This week, we took a look at CATWS (and if I type TFAWS anywhere ignore it) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.1. As always, the full episode can be found on the platform of your choice by clicking the button below or you can listen live right now by hitting play on the link provided.

While there isn’t exactly proof that one of these films happens before the other, as one is in space, I’m going to start with CATWS which should come as no surprise to literally anyone. This remains my absolute favorite film that has ever come out of Marvel and no one needs to be shocked as to why. So because I can’t not talk about him, let me jump in about Bucky aka The Winter Soldier right off the bat. Putting aside my love for him, I, to this day, believe he started the streak of really solid villains and especially sympathetic ones. I think he gets written off a lot, especially now that villains like Killmonger and Gorr have appeared, but Bucky is the blueprint for a villain you feel bad for. He’s fighting for a cause that brainwashed him to keep him compliant. And he is one terrifying villain. Something Taylor and I both noticed (technically I’ve noticed before considering I watch this film like once a month) is that if this movie had had a higher rating, Bucky alone would have made it considerably gory. He’s a ruthless killing machine and this is really the only time with the exception of a section of Civil War that we see it clear as day.

I want to talk about Natasha briefly as well, since this is the best version of her we have ever seen on screen. This version of Nat is what the comics created her like and what an assassin of her caliber is built to act like. I will say it again probably every film she is in and you have heard me say it already, but Nat as a character suffered the most throughout the whole MCU, with different directors struggling to portray her. This film played her just right, mysterious but also insanely reliable and she definitely had those Black Widow moves. She isn’t played down because she doesn’t have powers or abilities and she isn’t made to come off differently because she is a woman (I’m looking at you AOU). She is a lot like the Natasha we were introduced to in Iron Man 2, which would be great if we weren’t getting different versions of her everywhere else. While I agree with Taylor in saying Black Widow the film was too late, putting that Natasha up with CATWS Natasha does actually make a lot of sense as a whole.

Last, as far as characters I want to focus on before other plot points is Mr. Steve Rogers himself. This film is also the only time I feel we get a genuine character study on who he is. I think Iron Man’s trilogy did a great job keeping the focus on understanding who Tony is and his struggles, versus Cap’s who really only had this film. His first movie was focused on origin and his third was pretty much an Avengers movie. In CATWS, we get to really understand Steve as he is learning this new world that he finds himself in. He struggles with modern things but also his inner struggle to want to continue to do right thing or just stop and maybe live a life. But most importantly, we see him find a reason to keep going and that’s finding Bucky. Even after everything with SHIELD and Hydra, he finds the one person he always relied on to be there for him, someone he had thought he lost and that helps keep him here in the present. At least until, Endgame (rolling my eyes so hard).

Moving into a huge plot point from this film, something I know Taylor and I discussed during Black Widow and has now appeared again is the fact that Nat unleashes all of SHIELD and Hydra’s classified documents onto the internet. This is a huge moment in the film, with what should be larger implications, but unfortunately it’s something we don’t really get much screentime on at all. We get maybe a throw away line here or there, but we really never see how much this effects the world. Beyond that, films such as Black Widow start to have some issues in them, when theoretically Hydra would likely have known about the operation of the Red Room, especially since Nat put it on the map to begin with. I doubt Hydra knew it was shut down and that information likely would have been in files that, I don’t know, were just plastered on the web. It’s a plot line that I have somewhat given up on ever getting the full effects of and it doesn’t fall on this movie being at fault, more so some of the others for never really picking up the thread.

Pivoting like Ross on Friends, let’s move into a completely different realm and fly ourselves to space, where we see the formation of the Guardians of the Galaxy. The Guardians’ films was the first (in release order) to really touch on this whole space thing and life that sits beyond ours. Yes, we have Thor, but the Guardians show the galaxy in a more in-depth manner and of course the comedy brought a completely different air to these films. Even just rewatching the first one had me cackling at moments, simply because characters like Drax are written so well to have impeccable comedic timing. All five of them are incredibly awkward beings that have enough problems to cover the whole world for awhile, and their teaming up just becomes a weird bowl of almost Avengers. It’s hilarious to watch them interact with each other and is always a good break from some of the more serious storylines taking place on Earth.

But getting into the film’s meat a little more, I want to discuss something that is going to be a big topic when we get into the second Guardians film, which is Nowhere. We are introduced to this “planet” as a mining area for all sorts of rare but powerful materials because the place is the severed head of a Celestial. This is, at the time, the first mention of a Celestial in the MCU. But I want to talk about this for two reasons, one: did the head become severed when the Celestial died of natural causes and it just floated into space? Did someone beat the Celestial in battle? I like the second theory a little more, as I don’t see how a natural death would have completely severed the head, unless someone ripped the body apart after (sorry this seems morbid but it’s essentially like a robot in my head). My point being, if someone either killed or took apart the body of a Celestial, than that is one likely powerful being that I would like to know of. My second reason about the Celestial is that we now have one on Earth that is rumored to have some great materials in their body (Adamantium) that a certain group might be going after in their upcoming film. Seems interesting that a Phase 2 film possibly and unknowingly set something up for Phase 5 and we had no clue.

Let’s momentarily discuss Ronan the Accuser, who starts this film doing Thanos’ bidding and is gifted his two daughters to work with him. First, I have got to say this dude can’t catch a break. Of course I’m not rooting for him, but nothing goes right for him. When Gamora betrays the whole operation, he is single-handedly blamed for alienting Thanos’ favorite daughter. But I also find it interesting thatThanos simply could have used Gamora and Nebula from the jump and gotten the stone rather than using a go-between, which he does a lot in these first few films. It isn’t until AOU, which we will discuss soon, that he decides to take matters into his own hands. A curious thing for the Mad Titan to do. But going back to Ronan something that I didn’t care for much at the time of this film coming out, but now seems a lot more important since Captain Marvel, is that Ronan is a Kree extremist. Which suddenly has me thinking if he knew Captain Marvel for one, and why didn’t she intervene with him at all since he was widely well known in the Galaxy. And the big one for me is, where was she when he tried to destroy an entire planet? Seems like a massive galaxy-wide threat to me. Clearly I have to learn what her criteria is for getting involved in situations.

This film was a big one for the Infinity Saga, as it brought into perspective the Infinity Stones once again. We were introduced to the Power Stone, which doesn’t really need any explanation on what it does. This stone nearly ends up with the Collector, who already has the Aether (Reality Stone) chilling in his collection, but the Guardians of course take the Power Stone once they realize what it is. Personally, this film feels like the first we really begin to understand that Thanos is collecting them and we see that through the lens of Gamora as well. When she realizes the power the stone truly has, she willingly would do anything to avoid it getting into Ronan or her father’s hands. This is where it begins, as the shift between the halves of the Infinity Saga takes place between these two movies. From here, Infinity Stones are everywhere and very quickly so is Thanos. Those familiar with the Phantom of the Opera will know this quote that fits so well here as we go: “Past the point of no return”.

These films together are a little wonky to look at, but they are both great films to go back and watch. Of course, CATWS is known as one of the best, and as I just mentioned, GOTG1 begins us down the slippery slide that we were only coasting down before. As we go further into the MCU at it’s current stage, it’s a lot of fun to go back and see where some of these older films played a bigger part that we didn’t understand before. I hope you guys are enjoying the Replay series as we cover the Infinity Saga because there’s more to come. Our next episode will pick up here with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Avengers: Age of Ultron! Make sure you watch those films in preparation for hearing all our thoughts on them, coming soon. And as always, before Ant-Man 3 comes around, use this time to catch up on Phase 4 content, along with our parallel content, since Marvel just blew your m find, so let’s talk about it.

Image: “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”, Disney

Image: “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.1”, Space.com staff, Space