#avengers analysis

The mind stone was influencing everyone in the helicarrier lab and here's why

First, before we get knee deep into this, let's break it down piece by piece. We know, from aou and the avengers 1, that the mind stone does many things.

1. Makes people wildly suggestible (Clint and selvig)

2. (If you believe as I do that Loki was in some way influenced as well) can steer people towards certain actions that they might not necessarily take on their own, while still allowing free will

3. Makes people see their worst nightmares (Tony with the space whale, then later Wanda, a product of the mind stone, with everyone)

4. Can be used to send people (the hulk) into a mindless rage (again through Wanda, but I'll get to that)

5. Creates a humanity-hating robot (Ultron)

All that, among other things, but those seem to be the main points there. And so, if we were to sum all of that up, it seems to have the ability to be inflammatory when it comes to people's higher functioning and thoughts. It has the ability to lower people's capacity for logic and critical thinking, at the very least.

And now the scene(s) in question:

In summary, characters cycle through the lab at various points in time. Bruce and Tony spend the most time in there, followed by Steve, then Natasha and Fury and Thor together. The more people in the room, the more chaos ensues.

When it's just Bruce and Tony, there's friction yes, but keep in mind that Tony has been thoroughly schooled probably from a very young age on how to keep his emotions in check (esp in front of important people and the media) and Bruce tells us himself later on that he's always angry and he can deal with it very well.

Steve, however, has always been a man of emotion and that's always helped his cause, so he lets his heart lead him everywhere. So, when he feels any sort of annoyance, he lashes out because that's what he's always done. Tony makes a joke (something that we see Bucky did often in stressful situations) and he immediately gets stern and almost fatherly (an interesting description in itself, since he's almost exactly Tony's father's age in a way, but that's an essay in itself). When he hears Tony's doing something not exactly above board (which Steve himself has done so many times they've made three movies about it), he cracks down again despite doing the exact same thing in his own way two seconds later.

All things considered, everything Steve said there was pretty out of character for him given what we've seen of him before and since.

The kicker then comes when everyone's in the room. Those skilled the most in emotional control (Natasha and Bruce) stay clam throughout most of it. The rest of them get their emotions turned up to 11

Tony, who normally is very good at acting to get exactly what he wants, is caught off guard by the presence of his father's hero ("that's the guy my dad never shut up about?") and therefore conflates feelings of his father with feelings of Steve, childishly lashes out.

Steve, who has been consistently called Captain and has the most military experience out of anyone besides Fury (who is already on thin ice with him, probably, since he's lied about everything since they met), acts as a stern commanding officer figure and funnels all his emotion into that anger. (He also only really knows one person here minus Fury, in a way, and has latched onto Tony as his anchor to the past since, in his eyes, he acts exactly like Howard who was always a blase charmer that was too in his own head to seriously think about anyone else) (also all he knows about Tony comes from his work with Howard and Natasha's assessment when Tony was dying and trying to give up his responsibility so there would be people there to take care of things when he was gone, which to Natasha looked like him being selfish and giving up)

Fury, feeling on the back foot here since he's used to holding all the secrets and not being found out like this, shifts blame, turns on everyone else, tries to push the attention in every other direction.

Thor, a crowned Prince of a world much more advanced, makes himself seem higher than the rest, looking down on them, painting them as "petty"

Then we get the shot of the scepter behind them all, curved over them like an umbrella, encompassing them all.

The scepter plays with people's emotions, plays up their base feelings and overshadows logic and higher level thinking. It enslaves them all to whatever emotion they're feeling, without concern for others.

Then, in all the chaos, Bruce slips. He gets distracted. Everyone's eyes are on him (when we've seen him when he first got inside the helicarrier actively avoid being noticed and shying away from attention) and he's being pushed to talk about things he very much doesn't want to. His control lapses, for just a moment, and the scepter gets its chance.

We know from aou that it's sentient, it thinks and it's interference is finally paying off. It gets Bruce on the defensive, losing control over the situation, so close to the scepter, and so it reaches out. Bruce gets pulled in. He picks it up, unconsciously. He's ready to hulk the fuck out.

And then they find the tesseract and the explosion happens and Bruce, still preoccupied with how they intended to kill him if he got out of line, is told that Natasha is getting her life, which was safe in the first place while he was one wrong move from being out down like a dog at any moment, and he hulks out anyway.

Now we all know the rest. And so, as you can see, the scepter was messing with them, pulling out their more volcanic emotions, pushing and pulling them in every which direction to get someone to use it's power, like they do in aou.

So, if you really break it down, it's easy to see that the reason for the big fight wasn't just big personalities:

The mind stone was fucking with them, and having that interaction be the basis for the team for the rest of the movies is why it all goes pear shaped at every opportunity

So I was doing my normal rewatch of the MCU to prep for Endgame and Captain Marvel, but I noticed something really interesting. If you go back and watch The Avengers (the first one), Civil War makes a lot more sense.

The first fight they have isn’t really that interesting. Basically it just sets up the pairs inherent character differences. (Steve is a very simple “let’s get the job done” guy, Tony is more flashy and is a bit of a showboat and gets things done in his own way.) However, after Coulson dies, the two have a smaller quicker tiff, that informs us a lot more about how the two view the world differently.

Tony is taking Coulson’s death hard, and Cap says to Tony “is this the first time that you’ve lost a soldier?” Tony pretty violently responds with “we are NOT SOLDIERS”.

That right there is the set up for civil war. To Cap, a war veteran who saw atrocities committed by both sides in WWII, the avengers are soldiers. Not all of them come out alive all the time. Cap knows that you can’t save everyone all the time (just look at Bucky. Steve saw him die right in front of him during a mission).

Steve knows that there are going to be casualties in every war, but knows that they still have to fight, otherwise more people could get hurt or die.

Tony, on the other hand, is far more keenly aware of how his OWN actions put peoples lives in jeopardy. His own weapons were used to nearly kill him and force him into becoming iron man. His own ideas and efforts resulted in Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, as well as Ultron.

Tony doesn’t see the casualties of war as inevitable. Rather he sees them as the results. Each and every person that dies Tony feels personally responsible or for and feels that he should have done more to save them or prevent their death.

Thus we come to civil war. The after effects of their work as the avengers are a tragedy to both of them. To Steve they are the effects of war though, and the work that they do is more important to avoid a greater tragedy. For Tony, the casualties are a complete betrayal of why he became Iron Man, and are unaccaeptable.

I've never done this, so my theories are really out there so bear with meee.

Ok, so we get a couple shots of Tony talking to Pepper via his helmet along with a couple flashbacks to the Iron Man movies.

Sad Stevie

Clint with a young, teenage girl. Is this his daughter or Kate Bishop? I'm gonna lean more towards his daughter (and perhaps this is the role Katherine Langford is stepping into). It's been a couple years post snap, so most likely this is Lila grown up. It doesn't look like Clint has his mohawk yet, though, so what could've happened between this moment and him becoming Ronin? I'd also like to note the people in the background of the 2nd screenshot, with one seemingly standing beside what looks to be a picnic table...

The two in the field look to be a man and a child, while the person at the table looks to be a woman? Alright, this is hurting my head...let's move on.

Again, what causes this transformation? The loss of his family is of course, the number one theory. Maybe he didn't lose his family as a result of the snap though, and from some other force?

Does she have an umbrella? Do assassins use umbrellas? Who are the two behind her? Perhaps she was sent to collect Clint because they need his help in the Quantum Realm. Idk, she looks kinda businessy.

Clint is the only reason the Avengers vaguely kept it together throughout the infinity saga

As per my last post (I'll link later, I'm on mobile rn) the entire team relationship in the saga is built on a pillar of sand, so to speak, since they were manipulated into arguing incessantly in their first meeting and showing their uglier sides, which is no way to build a lasting healthy team dynamic. The only person not present in that meeting? Clint.

Clint was off being brainwashed, yes, but his was obvious. He was clearly not himself, and everyone knew it, so he worked to get back his image over that first battle with the team. The others didn't know they were being influenced, and therefore took everything at face value, letting themselves be tricked into an easily combustible relationship with all the others. Clint is the only one who gained back his good will and good reputation, and therefore he's the anchor in a bad situation.

We get this laid out explicitly in aou, when Natasha says albeit jokingly that "pretending to care about (Clint) really keeps the team together" but also in a larger sense in that the fighting only dies down when run away to Clint's farm and regroup. Clint is the driving force for piece, here, both as a person and an idea.

He's the anchor to the group for both Wanda and Pietro as well, which leads into my next point.

This beacon of piece bit, admittedly, does fall apart a little in civil war, but for good reason. Clint only appears when Wanda is "threatened." Steve calls Clint in, saying Wanda is in trouble, and Clint jumps at the chance to help. Steve says Tony locked her up, under guard. Says she needs to be rescued.

Clint comes in for her and her only. Wanda, in his eyes, is the only one who understands. She was used by the mind stone, too. She was it's puppet. Everyone else got passing encounters, yes, but Wanda was hit hard and deep by the stone, and therefore has a deep relationship with Clint that we don't necessarily see directly, but we get hints of in how warmly he receives Wanda and how easily he accepts her side of things. They're bonded by experience, and so Clint molds his view to Wanda's.

Tony apparently locked her up? Welp his friend of years is now a backstabber and enemy #1. He fights side by side with Wanda, attacking Tony viciously, not allowing his former friend a word edgewise (his tone with the whole "shot 18, can't seem to miss" interaction is super flat, moreso than usual) and only otherwise either helping others with their bits or reacting to attacks initiated on himself by others.

(Notice how he stills stays friends with Natasha throughout and is very concerned with Nats well-being, despite the fact that she also signed the accords. It's almost a game, with her. He has no stakes in the larger fight.)

And so, in siding with Wanda - who is very firmly on Steve's side - Clint falls into the trap of infighting. In siding with Wanda, the human representation of the mind stone, Clint falls into the same trap the rest of the team did in the original movie.

Clint was the Lynch pin. Without him, their differences seeded by the mind stone are irreversible.

Ngl, it looks like she has a sandwich in front of her. Long hair so this is most likely a couple years later. She's tired, it seems. I would be too tbh.

I haven't watched Ant Man so this place might have relevance or smthg. Anyway, let's zoom in on who's missing for fun. Well, it looks like it says Tony P. Foreshadowing? Or is Tony gonna go missing after they defeat Thanos or smthg. Nope, reading too deep. Let's move onnnnn

Quinjet in New York? Maybe Tony returning to Pepper? Did she survive the snap is the real question though. Probably not because Marvel loves to screw my faves over every time soooo

Small, pained smiles. Marvel's trademark. Is this foreshadowing Nat's death? Suicide mission? No one's safe, so I wouldn't be surprised tbh.

WHY ARE YOU RUNNING

Who is Clint aiming at? This seems to be in the same tunnel as the explosion so whoever it is probably ya'know, exploded or caused the explosion. I think he knows this person. Not well enough to trust them fully, but enough. Otherwise, I have no doubts he would've already shot the person. This entire sequence is reminscent to me of the hold in a helicarrier, which we saw in the Avengers.