The Asterisk Answered

I really like Florence Pugh's dress in this picture.

So, yes, Marvel has spoiled their own movie. I guess they figured it'd be impossible to keep this cat in its bag now. Or maybe they wanted to distract from the fact that people weren't spoiling the film.

Honestly, it's impressive they did keep this secret so long. I guess they have to fight hard now with counter-leak strategies.

It really is a good movie, by the way. It's a pretty good Father's Day movie, actually, so it's a bit awkward that Mother's Day is actually coming up.

I see a certain Ukrainian actress is still promoting the film although one thing that seemed slightly odd to me was how much it foregrounds Russian characters who've done bad things for Russian governments. And the Ukrainian actress' role in the film was cut considerably, to the surprise even of the film's screenwriter, who didn't know about it until he first screened the film. Hopefully I'm reading too much into it but if I were Disney/Marvel, I'd make David Harbour's character distance himself more from the Red Guardian identity.

So after everything fell apart when Disney placed their bets on Jonathan Majors and the Multiverse, they course corrected by hanging everything on Florence Pugh and misfit characters. The latter do tend to be the best in any case. I think everyone's in agreement that Wyatt Russell's failed Captain America is better than the official Captain America. So the villain of Falcon and the Winter Soldier has won.

It's fitting that Wyatt Russell should find his breakthrough role at Disney since his father, Kurt, was handpicked for stardom by Walt Disney himself. After all the characters and actors Marvel has thrown against the wall who've failed to stick (all three of the Marvels, Ant-Man and the Wasp), Russell, Pugh, and Harbour really feel like they could be legitimate successors to Downey Jr. and Evans. Add Spider-Man, Shuri, Deadpool, and Doctor Strange and they've actually got something pretty solid.

Here's hoping it all works out. I'm of the firm belief that good movies improve the whole human race.

X Sonnet 1937

Engrossing cables captured every eye.
At home, the chatter blanked to waking dreams.
Let's walk the kitchen, check the winning pie.
I see the peepers through the ragged seams.
We knew a name before we took the road.
We knew the spot that Google maps ordained.
Beneath our hearts, we had the secret code.
For don't you find communication stained?
There's never just a meeting over cups.
For ev'ry time we look, we see a pit.
To breathe is just to drown, as people know.
And running fast is just to simply sit.
And now a snack to drag the runners down.
And fill the gorgeous little ev'ning gown.