That's My Secret, Cap

 

 I love this movie. I was an MCU fan before Avengers, but after it, I was a mega fan. It’s in my Top 10 movies of all time, the gold standard of super hero movies. And it’s still so early in the MCU, only a few movies in. You’ve got a new Hulk in actor Mark Ruffallo, a huge SHIELD presence and the 21st century debut of Captain America. The DVD Menu Screen music is iconic, only because I’ve left it on so many times while I do other things. Not to mention it was directed by Buffy\Angel\Firefly director Joss Whedon (before his fall from grace).

When Whedon was all done with Avengers filming, he almost immediately began filming a modern adaption of Much Ado About Nothing, filmed at his own house and starring much of the Avengers and Whedonverse cast. It’s such a great movie and I tend to pair them together in my own mind.

 

• One thing I really didn’t understand is if Thanos is after all the Infinity Stones, why did he give one to Loki in the form of the Scepter? Why use one Stone to go after another Stone?
  
  
• Coulson meets Director Nick Fury at the Project Pegasus. Maria Hill (at first very hostile to Fury and second-guessing his commands). He mentions “Phase 2” which is funny because Avengers is still considered Phase 1 of the MCU, looking ahead to Phase 2. We also meet up with Hawkeye and Dr Eric Selvig
  
  
  
  
  
• When Loki comes through the portal, he looks like crap - dark circles under his eyes, nearly collapsing when he leaves in a few minutes. But he’s still an excellent fighter, taking out armed SHIELD guards
  
  
• Selvig mentions that Loki’s brother is Thor, and it really ticks Loki off. Did Thor tell Selvig about Loki? Or was there too much excitement in New Mexico? He probably knew about the family due to his knowledge of Norse Mythology
  
  
• Loki puts the whammy on Selvig, Hawkeye and another agent. He’s compromised
  
  
  
  
  
• Fury puts SHIELD on Level 7. It’s the same level Coulson is on when he stars in Agents of SHIELD. They’re at WAR
  
  
• Onto Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow. She’s tied up and ready to be tortured, but she’s in control, interrogating them. Coulson calls one of the bad guys’ cell phones. 114 Solinsky Plaza, 3rd floor does not exist in Russia. An F22 is a supersonic jet-powered stealth aircraft
  
  
• This screen showing Hawkeye and Black Widow shows her firing twin guns and him with his bow. The Abidjan Operation. It’s on the Ivory Coast in West Africa. They were a part of Strike Team Delta, Sector 310. The coordinates provided on the screen, according to https://www.gps-coordinates.net/, is apparently in New York
  
  
• Natasha kicks their asses in a very Joss Whedon Vampire Slayer River Song kind of way. Oh and Bozhe Moi is “Oh My God” in Russia, the one phrase I could understand
  
  
  
  
  
  
•  Dr Bruce Banner, helping the sick. He’s in Calcutta, capital of West Bengal in India
  
  
• Natasha mentions that she started as a spy young. According to the Black Widow movie, she was already in the program before she was a teenager. Yelena, her sister, definitely started that young
  
  
  
  
  
• Bruce asks if Fury wants him to swallow the Tesseract. Like Goose in Captain Marvel! I also like how he rocked the crib when talking about choice; a nice actorly bit of business there
  
  
• Natasha is genuinely scared Bruce will Hulk out. It’s something she can’t control or fight
  
  
• The World Security Council with their blacked-out screens. Powers Boothe is one of the Councillors. He’s actually HYDRA – part of one of the founding families. He was prominent in Agents of SHIELD playing Gideon Malick. Through trickery, he orchestrated the death of his own brother on an alien planet. He rose through both HYDRA and American politics through evil. He was killed by SHIELD agent Daisy “Skye/Quake” Johnson. He also referred to our Avengers as “Freaks”
  
  
  
  
  
• Prior to the introduction of Steve Rogers, Captain America, there is a GREAT deleted scene involving him trying to acclimate to the new world and time. It also featured Stan Lee and waitress Ashley Johnson (who was also in Much Ado) as a potential love interest waitress but that was abandoned
  
  
  
  
  
• Steve’s having a bit of PTSD from WWII, thinking about Peggy and his defrosting. He also has several heavy bags lined up for when he punches another one off the hook. Those look pretty old (made of canvas) and don't have modern coverings like leather. Steve’s also has sand in it, where modern ones contain shredded materials. They also weigh around 70-150 pounds
  
  
• $10.00 must seem like a small fortune to Steve. Soldiers in WWII were paid roughly $20.00 to $70.00 a month depending on the year. Google states $10.00 to a WWII soldier would be around $180.00. Plus, Steve was deployed half the time and had no family, so he probably didn’t spend a lot
  
  
  
  
  
• Iron Man – an ARC reactor is powering Stark Tower, and can for about a year. He’s the name in clean energy. More buildings were supposed to go up powered by ARC reactors according to Pepper, but were any more put up? Google says yes
  
  
• Pepper is still CEO of Stark and wants her name on the lease of future buildings
  
  
• Agent Coulson arrives with homework. His name is revealed to be Phil and he’s able to override JARVIS in order to talk to Stark in person. Tony mentions 12% of credit, a writer’s trick and a number used often in the MCU, like Guardians of the Galaxy. A couple Agents of SHIELD Easter Eggs are dropped in a few minutes:
  
  
  
  
  
• There’s a Cellist in Portland (Tony later offers to fly him over there on his private jet). Played by Amy Acker, she mourned Coulson (spoiler alert) and never did find out he was alive, just a suspicion. She was only on once
  
  
  
  
  
• Tony refers to himself as a Life Model Decoy, something that becomes a season-wide plotline in Agents of SHIELD with Coulson himself
  
  
  

  
  
  
  
• Later, on a Quinjet with Steve Rogers, Coulson outs himself as a major Captain America fanboy. He also mentions Steven Hawking as a smart guy. Cap is puzzled because he doesn’t know who Hawking is. Perhaps Albert Einstein would have been more appropriate
  
  
• Loki (through Hawkeye) has recruited lots of "enemies” of SHIELD, soldiers and scientists. Loki contacts the alien middle man known as “The Other.” He’s also played by another Whedon alumni, Alexis Denisof (he played Wesley in Angel and another Much Ado cast member). The Other knows what Loki has been through in his current quest and is familiar with Thanos’ master plan. You can see a Space Whale in the background, something that looked pretty cool in 3D
  
  
  
  
  
• Once again, Loki’s heritage and loyalty flip flop – stating he was a king and yearns to be one again, although he claimed not to want it in Thor
  
  
• On the SHIELD Hellicarrier, the team meets up and Steve gives Fury $10.00. It’s #64, named after a real-life aircraft carrier
  
  
• The Hellicarrier has retro-reflective panels, rendering it invisible. It’s a feature Harley Keener would recommend in Iron Man 3 and what Tony puts on his plane in Spider-Man Homecoming
  
  
• The first mention of the CAPTAIN AMERICA TRADING CARDS!! This was something that Coulson is very proud of, they’re from WWII and Cap’s popularity. Cap made him swoon according to Natasha. Later on, Coulson really will ask Cap to autograph them. For an old joke post, I had made my own set because I was obsessed with the idea that a real-life war hero would have his own trading cards, instant pop culture! From https://www.gobacktothepast.com/blog/167-comic-book-grading-101-what-is-foxing: foxing is when brown aging spots appear on paper. Coulson’s cards were a combination of Cap concept art and actual WWII art. Mine are old Marvel cards from the 90’s
  
  
  
  
  
• Banner tells Fury to contact everybody with a spectrometer, put it on their roofs and calibrate it to Gamma Radiation. According to Wikipedia, a spectrometer is “a scientific instrument used to separate and measure spectral components of a physical phenomenon” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectrometer)
  
  
• Meanwhile, back in Loki’s lair, Selvig is ecstatic by the scientific breakthroughs he’s making on the Tesseract, saying it showed him what to do. However, he’s not looking good – he needs to shave and rest, his clothes are rumpled, etc.
  
  
• Iridium is from a meteorite that contains “anti-protons.” Iridium does exist and is "hard, brittle, silvery-white transition metal of the platinum group is considered the second-densest naturally occurring metal” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iridium). Anti-protons also exist and are the counterpart of a proton. Iridium does not have antiprotons but does come from a meteorite
  
  
• Stuttgart, Germany. Hawkeye needs a distraction - gets this scientist’s eye in order to open a safe, but the scientist is at a fancy party. Send Loki as a distraction to get this guy’s eye and not see what Hawkeye is doing across town
  
  
• “Schafer Sicherheitsdienst” is a fictional research facility in Stuttgart. Sicherheitsdienst means private security contractor in German. The scientist’s name is Heinrich Schafer. I don’t know if he died after Loki stabbed him in the face – the instrument he used just took an image of the eyeball in order to use it for its biometrics. “Mtzhautscan - kennzeichnung” is supposed to be scan complete but is apparently gibberish in German. “Postive Erkennung” is recognition or identification
  
  
• “KNEEL BEFORE LOKI” became pretty popular at San Diego Comic Con
  
  
  
  
• Last time Cap was in Germany, he saw a man standing above everybody else – was he talking about Red Skull or Hitler? Loki refers to him as “the soldier” and a “man out of time”
  
  
• Tony attacks Loki to the music of AC|DC’s Shoot to Thrill and calls him Reindeer Games. This obviously refers to Loki’s horns but also to the Christmas story of Rudolph. More than likely referring the 2000 Ben Affleck movie Reindeer Games where he plays an ex-con going up against a young Charlize Theron (Clea from Dr Strange) and her boyfriend Gary Sinese. Also calls him Rock of Ages, the 2005 musical (and later movie) with 80’s rock tunes
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Howard Stark and Steve Rogers knew each other very well during the war, even had a brotherly love. This doesn’t apply to Tony (yet). He acknowledges they knew each other later on in the movie, but in a disparaging way. He also calls him a “Capsicle”
  
  
• Lightning starts outside the Quinet, making Loki nervous. He knows Thor is coming.
  
  
• Captain America knows those two are not Gods in the strictest sense. He still puts a parachute on, unlike in his second movie
  
  
  
  
  
• Once again, Loki is confused about his heritage and what he wants, Thor tries to convince him otherwise. Loki comments Odin must have used a lot of Dark Energy to send Thor to Midgard – I think it was Heimdall actually. You can also see Odin’s crows Huggin and Muggin flying around
  
  
• “Shakespeare in the Park? Doth Mother know you weareth her drapes?” is one of the greatest lines ever. Thor’s lighting charges up Tony’s armor to 400%, a trick they won’t use again until Endgame. Thor’s Uru hammer smashing up against Cap’s vibranium shield and producing a massive shockwave is something they’ll use again in Age of Ultron. Throughout all this chaos and the combatants maybe miles away, Loki doesn’t try to escape – it’s part of his plan
  
  
• “A warm light for all mankind to share” isn’t exactly a recognizable quote, but it sounds like a well-known quote. There are similar ones
  
  
• Thor tells the Avengers that Loki is still Asgardian but is adopted. Tony breaks out his overnight knowledge in thermo-nuclear astrophysics. Point Break is the incredible 1991 surfer heist movie starring Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze. Thor’s hair bears a remarkable resemblance to Swayze’s locks. It’s also the permanent nickname Tony gave to Thor in order to start up the Quinjet in Thor Ragnarok. Can I also say that Downey is perfect as Tony Stark in this movie, his best appearance yet
  
  
  
  
  
• “That man is playing Galaga, thought we wouldn’t notice, but we did…” and going on about Fury and Banner. We do notice that Tony planted a bug to get into SHIELD files while distracting the Agents from looking
  
  
  
  
  
• “I understood that reference..”
  
  
  
  
  
• What is the Homer Cluster at 600 Terraflops? The Homer Cluster seems to be a SHIELD or Stark Server Farm or Supercomputer. Apparently 600 TFP is a bit low for a supercomputer at the time
  
  
• I like how Tony asks if Banner stays calm due to a huge bag of weed
  
  
• Tony’s Black Sabbath shirt design is apparently from their 1978 tour. He’s also constantly eating something (blueberries) because RDJ would hide food around the set
  
  
  
  
  
• Tony says that the Other Guy (Hulk) saved Banner’s life when he was irradiated by Gamma Rays. Most of the Infinity Stones emit Gamma Radiation. Banner\Hulk becomes the only enhanced human to hold all Stones in a Gauntlet and snap. Was this the higher purpose?
  
  
• Steve is similarly distrustful of Nick Fury and goes looking for clues. He finds WWII-era HYDRA weapons. I wonder if they still have a “charge” from the Tesseract after 70 years?
  
  
• Jane Foster is mentioned, being moved to a far-off observatory so Loki can’t kidnap her
  
  
  
  
  
• Bligesnipe doesn't exist here. Thor could have also been talking about his brother and his horned helmet
  
  
• Time for some Black Widow background! The Red in her Ledger, something that Yelena has as well. Alexi, their adoptive father is happy about it, the two sisters are not. Drekov’s Daughter: As solved in Black Widow, it’s the mistaken idea that Natasha killed Drekov’s Daughter Antonia in Budapest. She was blown up but survived because her father put a chip in the back of her head and made her The Taskmaster. Sao Paolo is Brazil’s financial capital. Don’t know about any hospital fires but there was a bad one recently in a New York psychiatric hospital, displacing thousands
  
  
  
  
  
• A mewling quim: a zinger from the mind of Joss Whedon
  
  
• “Genius. Billionaire. Playboy. Philanthropist.” All describe Tony Stark at this time. Tony also says to Steve that everything good about him came from a bottle. That’s just decades of hatred Tony had for Steve because of his father. The tension between the Avengers are high – they’re a chemical mixture that breeds chaos
  
  
• Hawkeye and his commandos attack the Hellicarrier. Loki and the pilots are the only ones that leave
  
  
  
  
  
• Banner turns into the Hulk – it’s the first time we see Ruffallo Hulk Out and it looks incredible and painful. Once again, Natasha is terrified and traumatized – she’s never faced anything like this. She does get her bearings back because she has to fight Hawkeye to bring her best friend back
  
  
  
  
  
• Hawkeye fires a USB arrow during the Helicarrier battle. Kate Bishop fires another one like it in the Hawkeye series
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Steve is able to breathe in high altitudes, just like he does in Age of Ultron. Cap is barely grasping Wifi, he’s not going to know about relays until Tony tells him about them
  
  
• The “up-close and personal look” that Tony gets at the turbines will inspire him to design better ones. Firing a modern machine gun seems to come pretty easy to Cap
  
  
• Thor Vs. Hulk 1. Thor tries to appeal to Banner but it’s not really Banner, it’s Hulk (something that Cap recognizes later in the movie)
  
  
• “Target Angry!! Target Angry!!” From what I can tell, this is a Harrier jet. They eject using an explosive charge. According to this site: Pilots lose about an inch of height every time they eject from a plane. “An ejection seat on a Harrier jet launches a pilot out of the aircraft in approximately 0.3 seconds, accelerating the seat upward at a force of 12 to 20 Gs. The seat leaves the rails at an initial speed of about 50 to 55 feet per second (34 to 38 mph) before solid rocket motors ignite to propel the pilot to a safe altitude for parachute deployment.” It had to have hurt the pilot to have Hulk grab the seat as it was rapidly ejecting and then throwing it into the air
  
  
  
  
  
• “Are you ever not going to fall for that?” I don’t remember Thor running through his illusions except for Dark World. Loki also states that “the humans think us immortal” but they’re really not, Asgardians are just super durable and can live a long time (Loki says around 5,000 years but Loki is a Frost Giant so that could differ)
  
  
• Coulson gets out the Destroyer gun. It was made from the body of The Destroyer from Thor and has the same glowing barrel and energy blast. Apparently SHIELD picked up the "body" after Asgard couldn’t collect their toy. Coulson also says he doesn’t know what it does, but he was there in New Mexico and knows what The Destroyer could do. However, the blast doesn’t seem to kill. In Agents of SHIELD, Fitz uses it once and it’s is nicknamed “The Bambino.” Coulson is stabbed by Loki while being distracted by his illusion. Coulson would later call Loki the “Asgardian Mussolini.” Coulson would later say he only died for a minute before being brought back to life and recuperating in Tahiti. In all actuality, he was dead for several days before being brought back to life in the T.A.H.I.T.I. project and was given Kree blood (like Captain Marvel) and resurrected. It’s a magical place!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Coulson would be really pissed at Fury for destroying his expensive, vintage Captain America Trading Cards. He got blood all over them. It was never really brought up in the series that Fury did that. Coulson’s death was meant to bring the Avengers together as a team. Even Coulson knew this, since he knew every member of the Avengers
  
  
• Speaking of that, “there was an idea…” An idea Fury had in 1995 after meeting Captain Marvel and coming up with a superhuman response team
  
  
• Stark never lost a soldier before. Yinsen perhaps, but nobody he was really close to. Looking at Iron Man 1 & 2, Stark really only did fight for himself: he fought Stane and the Ten Rings when threatened and Whiplash when his own Expo was in danger. Hawkeye should have a damn concussion after that knock on the head
  
  
• Suit up. It’s ironic they use that term when Maria Hill is there. She was on How I Met Your Mother and Barney Simpson would often use that phrase
  
  
  
  
  
• “Son, just don’t.” A very old man thing to say to a young whipper snapper. All the Avengers figure out where to go: New York. I also noticed that Hill is now on Fury’s side after he reveals his plans for the Avengers; she trusts his judgement and isn’t second-guessing orders
  
  
• Selvig is pretty much the only mind-controlled guy Loki has left but he keeps on looking worse and unkempt every time you see him.
  
  
• Tony surreptitiously puts on the bracelets he has stashed behind the bar. They will allow the Mark VII to recognize him. The same bar Val will use in Thunderbolts
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Tony refers to Thor as a “Demi-God.” But he’s not. A Demi God is a mythological being who is part God, part mortal. Both Odin and Frigga are Asgardian, so Thor would be full Asgardian, an actual God of Thunder . Loki then tries to turn Tony using the Scepter’s Mind Stone. Imagine if the Avengers had to go up against the genius of Iron Man? They would get decimated. However, Loki fails. It could be because a) the ARC reactor is protecting his heart, or b) the technology\chemistry of the ARC reactor is inspired by an Infinity Stone. Tony mentions 1 out of 5 failure rate: Hawkeye, Selvig and the 2 SHIELD agents from Project Pegasus were successful
  
  
• Loki will reuse the line “We Have a Hulk” to Thanos in Infinity War
  
  
• I love the rocket-shape of the Mark VII suit, rapidly deployed. Loki is constantly getting hammered by the Avengers – more to come on that. I’ll never forget the HUD changing to red for battle mode and then racing up to the Chitauri. Mainly because it was the cover of a Special FX magazine I was reading at the time (that I can't remember the name of)
  
  
  
  
  
• One of the people rushed into the restaurant after Ashley Johnson is background extra Jillian Morgese, who would get her introductory role in Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing. I don't believe I've seen her since.She did a great job and all the commentary and behind-the-scenes footage really made you fall for her. So she’s somebody I notice every time I watch both movies
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Thor and Loki fight and Thor gets stabbed. After he pulls out the knife, there’s blood on it. I thought for sure that Tony would find that knife and pull DNA from it, thereby creating a Thor clone, like he did in the comics version of Civil War. Liam Hemsworth could have played Clone Thor!!!
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Hawkeye has the coolest quiver. A button on the bow allows him to choose whatever trick arrow he wants on a rotating quiver. Black Widow mentions the battle is just like Budapest. In Black Widow, the Budapest mission is the attempted assassination of Dreykov, blowing up his daughter as well and then fighting and fleeing the police or military. Natasha pronounces it “Budapesht” as usual
  
  
• The NYPD officers Cap talks to are well known. Enver Gjokaj played Daniel Sousa in Agents of SHIELD, and this would have been a perfect opportunity to use in the time travel arc in the show.The second officer is Robert Clohessy, who played NYPD Lt. Gormley in Blue Bloods next to Tom Selleck
  
  
  
  

  
  
  
• When Banner voluntarily transformed into the Hulk, I remember putting my arms up in a “YES!” gesture in the theater! That’s his secret, he’s always angry
  
  
  
  
  
• The classic Avengers circular shot. Captain America is in charge and even tells Hulk to “Smash.” Iron Man calls Hawkeye “Legolas” after the elven archer from Lord of the Rings
  
  
• Thor goes on top of the Chrysler Building and unleashes the lightning. The real building apparently has quite a number of lightning strikes and is a natural lightning rod. The mechanisms built into it make sure that no harm is done to the building, people or its electronics
  
  
• Thor and Hulk crash a Space Whale (Leviathan) into Grand Central Station. I have been in that area of the station several times – it’s a great meetup spot. Hulk then sucker-punches Thor into next week
  
  
• Hawkeye mentions civilians in a bank on 42nd past Madison. Google says there are at least three banks that may fit that description: Chase Bank, Apple Bank and Citibank. Waitress Ashley Johnson is in there and is saved from a Chitauri bomb by Cap. His mask was ripped off and she saw his face. She obviously recognizes him from a few days at her restaurant. Too bad their plotline was abandoned
  
  
• The World Security Council is going to send a nuclear bomb to destroy the Chitauri and New York. It would have done no good since the Chitauri were coming from a wormhole in space. Loki may have gotten vaporized though. The world evidently knows that a nuclear bomb was sent by THE GOVERNMENT TO LITERALLY KILL ALL OF THEM since it’s in Rogers The Musical on Broadway
  
  
• Selvig wakes up from his mind-controlled state (must have a concussion too) and realizes what he’s done. He also realizes he built a safe guard into his wormhole device: Loki’s scepter. I guess he figured out (without still realizing that one Stone can counteract another)
  
  
• Jonah and the Whale is a Biblical story where a prophet is swallowed by a whale and learns lessons
  
  
• Oh and some of the signs on buses and taxis include advertisements for Jared (“Bling Bling”), a group called HWPL (“Shining a light on Human Rights”), the Alvin Ailey Dance Studio on the side of the bus and Farmers Insurance. It’s actually at the Farmers Insurance Building (located in real life at 20 Exchange Place) where Tony also sees an advertisement for the best Shawarma in New York. Shawarma is sliced meats stacked in a cone and slowly roasted. Which sounds delicious. I’ve only had Moe's. The Shawarma scene was influenced by one of the Buffy actors adlibbing a line about Shawarma after saving the world. Joss Whedon again
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Hawkeye runs out of arrows and has to jump off a building through a window using a recycled arrow. This is the exact scene that Kate Bishop sees from her room and models her whole life around in Hawkeye
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Tony saves NYC and the Avengers by directing the nuke into the wormhole into the Chitauri ship. Apparently this is something the rest of the galaxy knew already – the Chitauri have the suckiest army ever. How did Tony fall into the wormhole after being knocked unconscious in space – there’s no gravity! The only way I can see is if the explosion shockwave pushes him through it
  
  
• Loki gets the stuffing pounded on him by The Hulk (after calling him a “dull creature” and feeling invincible. He has a little PTSD about it in Ragnarok. Hulk responds with “Puny God.” Voiced by Lou Ferrigno the original Hulk and originator of the shirt-ripping transformation
  
  
• The Avengers pose up a storm around a captured Loki. We know from Endgame that SHIELD /HYDRA came by to get the Scepter and to try to retrieve the Tesseract.
  
  
• The world celebrates the Avengers! Personal note: the tattoo artist that inks the damaged Captain America shield onto the guy is the same artist a friend of mine used:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  So what’s the aftermath of the Chitauri invasion\Battle of New York?
  
  
• The Avengers are heroes throughout the world! Nick Fury’s screens show tattoos, graffiti and homemade Hulks, skateboarding Caps and goatees (see above). It was reported by Ben Ulrich on the front-page of The New York Bulletin. It’s known by New Yorkers as “The Incident.” A memorial plaque is also erected.
  
  So I made this li'l video when Avengers first came out; I had a creative itch at the time. I haven't done another one since. Enjoy!
  
  
  
  
  
• Tony Stark gets PTSD and begins building a massive amount of new Iron Man suits. It also gives him inspiration for the Ultron program
  
  
• SHIELD under Nick Fury gets a massive budget in order to spy on citizens and anticipate the next crisis, AKA Project Insight. They also begin to train Captain America into a modern super-soldier. He also makes numerous PSAs for High School students in New York
  
  
  
  
  
• Bruce Banner is apparently legit. He goes into Tony Stark’s car after handing Loki over to Asgard. It seems he stays on in Stark Industries, sometimes serving as a reluctant therapist and running missions with the Avengers in case of a “Code Green.” I think Hulk’s attack on Lagos set his reputation back but because he literally disappeared from Earth for a few years, people forgot. He then became one of the only superheroes around New York after The Blip (“Hulk Out!”)
  
  
• Kate Bishop’s father is killed and she witnesses Hawkeye fight multiple Chitauri with just a bow and arrow. Kate’s mother opens a security business with Wilson Fisk, AKA The Kingpin. Fisk in turn buys up and repairs much of New York City
  
  
  
  
  
• The creators of Rogers: The Musical write dialogue and music for the hit Broadway show that shows Steve Rogers’ early life and the Battle of New York
  
  
  
  
  
• The Sorcerer Supreme at that time, The Ancient One, is also fighting Chitauri from the roof of the Sanctum Sanctorum
  
  
• Tony Stark establishes Damage Control to clean up the messes that the Avengers’ battles leave behind
  
  
• At the same time, Adrian Toomes’ company is contracted by the city to clean up but is essentially fired by Damage Control. They then start a lucrative business building weapons and devices from the detritus left by aliens and Avengers. Toomes is known as The Vulture due to his own "Falcon-style" flying machine
  
  
• HYDRA does well for itself, profiting in the chaos. They reacquire the Mind Stone Scepter, allowing to begin human experimentation with the Maximoff Twins as well as AI experimentation. Agent Sitwell (another member of HYDRA) is tasked with reacquiring Item 47, a Chitauri weapon. They use the Chitauri equipment to create their own supersuits and weaponry. In Sokovia, they also have an entire Chitauri Space Whale
  
  
  
  
  
• In an alternate reality, Loki escapes with the Tesseract, HYDRA is denied the Mind Stone Scepter and the current Captain America fights an older variant of himself. There are multiple variants of the core Avengers all around Stark Tower, including Ant Man (I think he was spotted by a bystander, that’s why he’s inexplicably in the musical). In yet other alternate timelines, Captain Peggy Carter, The Wasp and even Red Guardian participate in the Battle of New York and its aftermath
  
  
• Perhaps most importantly, Agent Coulson is alive in Agents of SHIELD due to the Tahiti program. The Battle of New York is responsible for many early SHIELD story-lines. Kids (including Mike Peterson’s and a neighbor of Jessica Jones) play with action figures based on The Avengers. There are Chitauri neural devices on the black market and Chitauri helmets teeming with viruses
  
  
•  The end credits showing the Avengers’ weapons are my favorite up until Endgame’s. Classic. I love when other properties (including Marvel) recreate them for their own end credits.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Post Credit Scene #1: The Other talks to Thanos about how battling Earth would be like courting death. I would assume this is how he found out about Tony Stark (cursed with knowledge) and the Avengers (unruly wretches). I would assume he has other spies on Earth. The funny thing about the death comment is that at the time, Thanos was in love with the embodiment of Death and would do anything for her (from the original Infinity War comics)
  
  
•  Post Credit Scene #2: Eating Shawarma in the “Best Restaurant in New York.” I didn’t bother looking up the menu items, but I do see they got an “A” rating from New York’s Health Inspector. Did it even have a name? I know this scene was filmed months later: Chris Evans had a beard by then and put his hand up against his face so we wouldn’t see the obvious prosthetic covering it. Everybody else looks tired

 

Thank you!