Agents of SHIELD- episode 16

The most intense episode YET. Last week, Maurissa Tancharoen addressed fans’ unrealistic expectations for Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD, saying “People were expecting to see a Marvel movie every week.” And, as pointed out on the Mary Sue, that may be valid.. and may be dismissive and insulting but either way, this week fans got a Marvel movie. Surprise twists were a minute by minute occurrence.

Deathlok busts in to Bill Paxton/Agent Garrett and BJ Britt/Agent Triplett’s dwelling.. then, once being met with more firepower than he was ready for: busts out, through the ceiling. Coulson calls a gaggle of senior SHIELD agents together. Including Agent Hand and Agent Blake. They think that the Clairvoyant is a former SHIELD Agent who was dismissed. All hands on deck.. even (Brian Michael Bendis created character) Hand. Meanwhile, FitzSimmons are trying to figure what healed Skye so fast. (Bill Paxton also makes inquiries more subtly later.) They make Skye’s an agent, a Level 1 agent as Hand points out. Ward sneaks coy looks at her while everyone says their congratulations.

Skye designs how they are going to find the agents that made the shortlist of who could be the Clairvoyant without giving away enough info to any one agent that they could use to tip off the Clairvoyant.

Agent Blake gets choked by Deathlok as May arrives. Blake fired 6 shots into him. 5 bullets and one tracker. Blake ends up in critical condition. Paxton keeps calling Agent Hand “Vic” and she gets pissed, she blames Coulson for not sharing how dangerous Deathlok was and getting them into an unknown situation. Hand is a control freak and this was very in character. But the rest of them get back to tracking Deathlok in hopes of finding the Clairvoyant. Except Gemma and Triplett who head for the Hub (where Gemma plans to covertly analyze Skye’s blood sample in their cushier lab and with Triplett! *squee* I actually dig Fitz, I think he takes a lot of unnecessary crap from Ward -who is about to get LESS boring- and I like the quirky underdog academic thing. But I would ship Trimmons. Maybe I just want the brainy chick to get a love triangle…)

Anyway, they bust out their big guns and their shiny toys and find Deathlok. Fitz gets and X-Ray and the tech is all under his skin like Cyborg on Smallville. Which I’m sure made nerds on the internet and their cries of “He doesn’t look like Deathlok! You didn’t read the comics! What are they doing!” cease for ten frigging seconds. I love so much nerd shit, but some of y’alls give me a headache above my right eye. They chase him around, the action is awesome, Deathlok jumps down 6 flights of stairs to escape Melinda May, and Deathlok leads Coulson and Garrett to the Clairvoyant. Or at least.. a disabled man in a wheelchair who is unable to speak in a room full of computers who is taunting Coulson, saying he watched him watch Skye bleed in his arms knowing it was his fault. But Skye has something he wants.. and she’ll die for it.

And Ward shoots him.

Goody frigging two-shoes shoots a disabled man in cold blood. And Coulson doesn’t think he was the Clairvoyant. He didn’t talk, the computers spoke for him. Skye finds that the Clairvoyant has only known things that were in the agents’ files. Stuff from psych evals. Like, he didn’t know that Coulson died because Fury never allowed that in the file.

So Coulson confronts Ward “I don’t want your apologies, I don’t want your excuses, did someone order you to kill the Clairvoyant?!” (And I wouldn’t have considered that, but Agent Triplett talked about killing the Clairvoyant for his ax to grind earlier in the ep, I thought maybe he implanted the idea)

The next twist is seconds later as Fitz attempts to contact Simmons and finds that May has a secret line (the one she’s been using to give someone updates about Coulson) he gets spooked when May comes in and he tells Skye, who tells him to cut it. He does AND MAY FOLLOWS HIM WITH A GUN. But Skye finds Coulson and they pursue May (who I think COULD have shot both of them). The gun is just an icer, but Coulson says he’ll shoot her and does the “Who do you work for?!” bit again. He yells at her about the Clairvoyant and she is baffled. But she can’t talk about it here. Then the plane gets hijacked.

By Hand.

And with episode I am glad that I was liking this show while others were hating. Skye got stuff to do. Coulson got appropriately paranoid, FitzSimmons didn’t follow orders like good little lab geeks, there was a kick ass villain, a billion genuine anxiety producing plot twists and they rectified the biggest social justice fail on the show. With a competent black agent (who might possibly be a love interest *fingerscrossed*). Because up until this point, black people have been villains and victims. That shit is not inclusion, think about it if you haven’t. If you really need that explained to you, leave a comment I will help you. Because you might need it.

BJ Britt is kind of awesome. I need more of him. J. August Richards is doing a fucking awesome job. The Clairvoyant said he cut Deathlok’s feed so I’m wondering where that will lead in upcoming episodes. Is he still going to be pissed at SHIELD and supes for getting him into this? Will he see his son? Will he Go after the Clairvoyant and team back up with Coulson? Possibilities.

Greatest episode ever.

Uncanny X-Men #19.NOW

or Uncanny X-Men vs SHIELD #1

I was reading Uncanny X-Men during BotA and then I stopped when the crossover ended (although I kept up with All-New X-Men) but I decided that the new “jumping off point” was the perfect time to get back into it. Brian Michael Bendis writes stuff I want to read. That’s the long and short of it.

So those other X-men at the Charles Xavier school have been under attack by SHIELD designed Sentinels (this truth came out near the end of BotA when Xorna/Jean Grey forced SHIELD helicarriers to attack the X-Men and exposed this new weaponry) because of this Cyclops has become increasingly reclusive and paranoid. The face of the New Mutant Revolution is considered a terrorist by SHIELD and in the early pages we see Maria Hill trying to track down Cyclops, she confronts and interrogates Hijack. And Raven (who has been living as the disco diva) draining Disco Dazzler of her “mutant growth hormone”. It’s heavy.

Cyclops and Eva (who? I’m not sure) are monitoring cerebro for mutant activity when they see some that is… significant. They rush to be the first there. With a “To me, my X-Men” Cyclops, Magik, Emma Frost, the Cuckoos, Christopher, Eva, et al., rush to the scene.. but it was a trap and they are confronted with these new Sentinels. Emma and Magik make fun of each others shirts before they try to GTFO.

Which they can’t- their mutant powers are being disrupted. Luckily Magik’s sorcerer powers still work (she’s been studying with Dr. Strange lately) and Eva can still create a “time bubble” (and Emma Frost whispers a “you have to tell him” when Cyclops thanks her.. I have questions). The Sentinels run off.

And the X-Men are left in the middle of some serious destruction. People are pissed, people are scared,

And Cyclops declares war on SHIELD… and whoever else.

Jeez. BMB is just phenom. Let’s face it. And if there’s anything I like more that a hero rising it’s an ego maniac driving himself into a paranoid frenzy. Oooh, and I love Magik, I was hoping she’d hang out with KP’s team (they’re in space with the Guardians of the Galaxy right now) but this works for me.

But I have questions:

I’ll link some reviews in hopes they’ll come over and explain.

xmenxpert reviews this week’s Uncanny X-Men and X-Men #12 -and I agree, Magik is her own book worthy… I mean seriously, LongShot (who?) has a book… Wolverine has 3. STAHP

healed1337 also liked this month’s Uncanny X-Men over X-Men #12.

Hi guys, hope that got your attention: Who the heck is Eva and where did Rogue go anyway?

The Movement #6

(Why is this one so LATE?! …I’m so sorry!)

Our hacktivists, The Movement, left off last issue with Katharsis ready to give the cops they had hostage/on trial a beat down when they tried to escape (after knocking Vengeance Moth out of her wheelchair). Tremor caused an earthquake that knocked Katharsis off balance, (and somehow Ven.. who was floating) and the cops got away.

So Katharsis is facing down Tremor. Tremor says she close the tunnels and open new ones and the cops will never get back there. Katharsis, who sees her as a traitor (and she’s right, Tremor has been the mole, the snitch, if you will). The “ViewTube” Channel is broadcasting the soon to be brawl, with one, freyafourA commenting: “this just shows that two women can’t get along lol!” Because women have to be representing their gender all the damn time.

Vengeance Moth… ummm… is not glowing and floating as we’d seen her last, she’s on the floor, having been pushed from her wheelchair. Tremor and Katharsis start brawling, which scares the hell out of everyone, since they are underground, Katharsis is a bruiser wielding a sword and Tremor is literally a walking earthquake. So the humans flee.

Virtue and Ven calm the situation down and they prepare to perform an exorcism on Burden (who isn’t really possessed but has mental health problems and superprowers). 

Mouse, meanwhile, is fighting the Graveyard Faction and Cornea Killer. The Graveyard Faction was hired by the Wealthy inhabitants of Coral City when they got fed up with the Movement. The Cornea Killer is trying to wipe out poverty one homeless person at a time… by killing them… and taking their eyes.

The Graveyard Faction must be the strangest assemblance of villains… Anguish, Arson (who barfs fire), Monster baby, the Cornea Killer (who makes a single raincloud over his victims), and Pallas… 

But not this Pallas:

 

Hmmm..

Anyway, the villain Pallas is a man. He looks big and durable… maybe he could be part Themysciran… wait, how does that work?

Anyway, Virtue gets an idea to take the fear from Burden so that he feels cured. She also baptizes him with vitamin water (with mango essence!). Katharsis and Tremor talk it out over sundaes and no one knows that Mouse is in danger until it’s too late.

Roshanna and Kulap walk out of Calvin’s and see Mouse strung up. 

Everything is going wrong, with the world watching, how will the Movement get back on track?

Calendar Man is still reporting for Channel 52 underground since the Crime Syndicate’s take over. So we get our little media update on Bane, the Penguin, et al.

Wonder Woman Villains! (Cheetah and First Born)

Villains month is over. I figured I should catch up before I hit the comic shop today.

DC Comics Unleashes CHEETAH in The HUNT 

 

Dr. Barbara Minerva came to ARGUS, and while she was the curator, came into contact with an artifact called “the God-Slayer knife” which made her faster than the flash and gave her an insatiable blood lust. With Wonder Woman MIA there is no one formidable enough to stop her. 

In a flashback we see an altercation between Dr. Minerva and Diana, in which the still human doctor stabs Wonder Woman with the God-Slayer knife because she wasn’t presenting herself as “Amazon enough” for Dr. Minerva. 

Turns out Barbara Minerva’s Aunt raised them “amazon style” and pit her and her brother against each other Battle Royale/Hunger Games style. Lyta also commands Barbara to find the God-Slayer knife and stab herself with it. …I’m not really sure how Barbara got away from Wonder Woman with Cheetah powers: LOOOK

 

I know you love when I take pictures of my comics with my iPhone.

In the end, Cheetah declares Barbara Minerva dead. TBC in FOREVER EVIL (maybe that will help me like that particular series).

The second villain is FIRST BORN

I know less than nothing about this character.

 

Ohhhh… he was the son of Zeus, like Wonder Woman is now. Zzzzzzz

He was supposed to take over Olympus and rule alone so Zeus had him killed, only the woman charged with killing him couldn’t bring herself to do it. So she dumped the infant in the desert where he was raised by hyenas. And fathered Hyena/Human hybrids…

He became a hateful monster to impress the Gods.

Apollo and his hoodrat oracles narrate the story. It’s fun.

The winner?

Story: Even with the glaring unanswered questions… Cheetah

Art: Fist Born Aco nails it, and the colors are on point. Bright colors in LA and stark silhouettes for the ancient flashbacks. 

Who would will in a Battle Royale Hunger Games style? Cheetah. First Born is fueled by hate (and wanting to impress his “family”) Cheetah has cut all ties and is trained for the hunt. She has the God-Slayer knife, too. Take that demi-god.