#ekuboo

This will discuss Vision, how the narrative handles Cap's dogma, and the involvment of Wakanda in the end. And yeah, I bring up Tony and Civil War 🤷🏼‍♀️ but surprisingly not in reference to one another, haha.  

My first 10 thoughts when I walked out of the theater were “It didn’t have to be that way!” Kind of just… over and over again. I was upset by the ending but more than anything I was frustrated with how we got to where we were.

Why in the name of GOD were we spending nearly half the movie protecting one man (Vision) when literal trillions were on the line? Captain America says “We don’t trade lives,” but dude, what does this even mean when the reality of the situation in saying that actually means you are choosing Vision’s life over literally 50% of the population of the entire universe. Vision was right from the beginning (um, hello, this dude could lift Mjolnir with no problem so we should probably listen to him?): one life shouldn’t stand in the way of protecting all life, but Cap interjects to say “It should.” 

I’m baffled.

Why? Why should one life be more important than protecting the lives of trillions? Sure it’s a catchy line that Vision then gets to return in the last half of the film, but it’s that line that makes it seem that Cap is either morally bankrupt or so blinded by his own dogma, he doesn’t even realize what that line means in terms of consequences. To me, a good turn of phrase is not worth ruining your alleged main character’s credibility. The only answer for ‘why’ is ‘because Steve thinks so.’ There is no other logical way to square that with the situation they’re facing.

The same issues I had with Cap and his crew in Civil War have followed him into Infinity War. In Civil War Wanda shouldn’t have to face consequences for her killing 11 people because Steve says she’s just a kid, her heart is in the right place, etc. His personal experience with her, his personal bias, should be the guiding force in how she receives justice. To Steve, justice is what HE deems it to be. What’s right and wrong is what HE deems it be.

This is also the approach he takes with Vision’s plan to destroy the stone in his head. Cap likes Vision, he knows Vision, he doesn’t think Vision should die, so therefore what’s right is to not even entertain that idea.  He shrugs it off without considering the alternatives, without considering the consequences of that choice. In fact, they should go ahead and use extra resources to protect him, involve Wakanda (THIS MADE ME SO ANGRYYYYY), have them lose their armies and weapons, lower their borders, all just to protect this one person. They actually lose many Wakandans in battle FOR THE SMALL CHANCE TO SAVE JUST THIS ONE DUDE. But we don’t trade lives? Are we SURE????

We don’t trade lives but we sure are happy to use counteless faceless nameless people to protect one main character just because he’s friends with another main character. We don’t trade lives unless it’s people we don’t care about, because that’s much more convenient. When you only care that the trillions are dead when some of those people are your friends, your concern means a lot less to me. 

Wakanda became a tool for Steve Rogers’ and Wanda’s selfish short-sightedness when it came to Vision and the danger his existence on earth posed. Wanda’s entire reason for not considering Vision’s idea to destroy the stone was that she didn’t want to. And who could blame her, I get it, no one wants to kill the love of their life, but those trillions who will CERTAINLY die if Thanos gets the stones will leave loved ones behind, too. The odds are STACKED against Vision’s survival and he’s willing to sacrifice himself to ensure others will not die. It was HIS idea. Destroying the stone truly makes the most sense. Go with the sure thing, people!

Allow me to quote a good friend of mine, @agelade: “This is my absolute all time most hated thing in all narrative stories -- when a group of people pull out all the stops to save one person, and like three nameless non-main characters die in the process. Like good job saving the main character, I guess it was worth three other lives to do it. And in THIS case, it's worth all these Wakandan lives AND apparently worth risking (and losing that bet) the lives of half of all life?? Like, INCLUDING Vision. Does he get that if Thanos gets Vision's stone, Vision will die? Viz dies either way.”

So my sympathy for Wanda comes with asterisks: there is a greater purpose here, get over yourself, and I’m not sorry to say it like that. Her pain is no different or more important than the pain of those who love the 50% of life that will disappear if the stone falls into Thanos’ hands. Hell, even Quill was willing to do what was necessary to keep Thanos at bay, he willingly shot his girlfriend while staring her straight in the eyes to do so. Tony, a newlywed (or newly engaged?), literally looked at his trip on the space donut as a one way ticket. 

Everyone was expected to make the sacrifices necessary to keep Thanos from genociding the entire universe. The only group pushing back against that was Steve’s. 

To the degree that they invited another group of people into it who didn’t even have a stake in Vision’s livelihood to fight and die for him so his group of friends WOULDN’T have to make a personal sacrifice to stop Thanos.  

And while I’m on the topic of Tony, I’d like to point out that because he didn’t want to return to Earth and have Thanos follow, he instead went to Thanos’ turf to make sure the least amount of damage was done to the people back home (those he loved AND those didn’t even know, imagine that). He sent Peter away originally because, unlike Steve Rogers, he doesn’t want to include people in risks they shouldn’t have to take. Meanwhile, Cap and his crew draw Thanos’ and his army straight to a very populated, previously completely safe place where the max amount of damage was done. “I know a place,” Steve says. A place they can USE, a people they can USE, expendable life, unlike Vision apparently.

Tony’s instinct is to get the damage as far away from his planet as possible, Steve’s is to draw it straight to him, involving as many people as possible.

The only reason I bring this contrast up at this point in my rant is because every single Avengers movie has presented this dichotomy of Tony vs Steve and painted Tony as the villain each time, and it’s infuriating. Tony is the stereotype of an arrogant asshole but to ignore his altruism in action is such a superficial reading of who he is. But the same goes for how the audience tends to read Captain America. He’s quiet and “traditional” and he gives good face, but there’s a deep rooted arrogance in this man, too. He’s brimming with self-righteousness. It takes a special kind of ego to believe you alone have the right eye for true justice and morality on the scale that Cap does.

Let me quote another of my brilliant friends here, @rockuzaki: “Tony has shown progression and depth [across the series, yet] Captain [in Infinity War] is still talking about saving one fucking person [at the expense of others].  Tony has OBSESSED over trying to protect Earth and has made sacrifices to do all that he can.   That's been his drive and he's done nothing else but focus on all the possibilities and all the outcomes and have prepared for everything.  I love that [Tony went to Thanos to keep from damaging Earth.] Captain does the literal opposite.”

The outcome of Infinity War never even occurred to Cap, that’s the only reason why he wouldn’t even entertain the idea of destroying Vision’s stone. Why do that when you never lose? Keep fighting the good fight, say your taglines, and eventually you will defeat the enemy. But running headlong into battle, trusting that your logic won’t fail you this time because it never has before is the epitome of arrogance.

On the other hand, the end of Infinity War was what Tony has feared for years, it’s haunted his nightmares.  @agelade said to me, “He's the only one who's been planning [for] this, and not just because he saw the army waiting for them in space, not just because he got a vision of his worst fear from Wanda, but because any person with two brain cells should have realized after the first attack on New York that war with aliens was nigh. He's the only one to have thought to prepare for it.” That’s why he knows what must be done and what sacrifices will have to be made, because all of this is much, much bigger than the individual. It’s trillions of individuals. No one life matters more than another, but that includes his own and anyone he loves. The greater good HAS to be the goal because so much is at stake.

So, every single bit of counterproductive damage Wakanda took made my head scream “WHHHYYYYY???” What convinced T’Challa and his armies to stand up and fight and die for this one person when there were so many other more useful things they could have done? 

Wasn’t the whole reason they didn’t want to kill Vision in the first place because not even 1 person dying was worth it to Steve? Then why were Wakandan deaths worth it?

When Okoye said, “This will be the most noble ending ever,” I literally laughed. For what? Why? How is this noble and not stupid? You could ALL die for this one person AND STILL the trillions Thanos wants to die will ALSO die because you couldn’t keep the stone from him! It is clear that dying in this battle for Vision will accomplish NOTHING. And even if it accomplishes just what Steve and his team needs, you’re literally only dying so one other guy will get to live. And even if he does live, the stone may still not be destroyed in time!

Why and how have we decided that Vision’s small chance at possible survival outweighs the lives of all those who fight in Wakanda and outweighs all the trillions who WILL die if the Wakandan army CAN’T hold them off and Thanos gets the stone (which is what happened)?? 

[my head screams “WHHHYYYYY???” again]

It is truly the STUPIDEST, most SELFISH plan I’ve ever seen. It’s run on self-righteousness, bull-headedness, and sheer blindness to what should be the goal: protecting the trillions that will be genocided with the gauntlet. The reason the Avengers lost is in large part due to Cap’s “old-school” traditionalism. Yeah “We don’t trade lives” is a cute line, but it’s absolute bullshit. We watched lives Steve Rogers and Wanda deemed less important than Vision’s be traded the entire last half of the movie.