I'm back home now. It's possible my viewing experience was colored by wine with dinner and a painkiller (beverage, not pharmaceutical) at the tiki bar, but...I feel like Tom -- there's a lot to digest. A LOT.

Going in, I was convinced that the trailers and the MANY online clips had already given away the whole dang movie, so I was pleasantly surprised that that was NOT true. There were a LOT of things I didn't expect. First and foremost, the Hawkfamily. And I agree with you on that, Tom; I was hoping that this film would give us un-brainwashed Clint with a strong Hawkguy streak. But NSM. I really really REALLY don't know how I feel about Hawkfamily.

Totally didn't expect Hulk taking off (I assume for Planet Hulk???), so that threw me for a huge loop as well.

Also didn't expect Quicksilver to die, and sibling stuff is my damn kryptonite, so even though he annoyed me, it still got to me.

I wasn't sure if we were supposed to assume at the end that Hawkeye wasn't in the new Avengers (I actually can't remember if he was there or not), BUT if he's not a part of the Avengers anymore -- can we please please PLEASE get Kate Bishop Hawkeye now now now???

Mark Ruffalo, man. He KILLS it as Banner.

I didn't, actually, find the Spader voice as unnervingly sexy in the movie as I did in the trailers, which was a relief, because I really didn't want to be getting all hot for an evil robot.

Jilli, that was one of my favorite bits. That, and Natasha going "beep beep."

I'm really not sure I liked it. Agreed the fight scenes were too long, and I found them traumatic, especially the one where Tony fought the Hulk.

I didn't buy Natasha/Bruce, even though ScarJo and MarkRuf did their damnedest to sell it .

To me, Joss with this movie was like Wash bringing Serenity in hot through the Reavers. It landed, but not that well, and it was messy as hell. And given the interviews I've read with Joss, the comparison doesn't seem too far off.

He did have me fooled with Quicksilver dying, though. Nora and I were sure Clint was being set up to bite it. "Didn't see that coming, did you?" felt very meta.

Hope I'm not harshing anyone's mellow. It is a hell of a lot to process. On the positive tip, Scarlet Witch is everything, hello!

Just got back! I think I'm agreeing with the people saying it was good but not great; what we got was real nice, but it didn't quite cohere into a whole.

I'm also very pleased that Wanda turned out to EMPHATICALLY NOT be Yet Another Super-powered Mentally Unstable Waif. I'm not planning on holding my breath for the people who were yammering on and ON and ONNNNNNN about that to admit it, though.

I was very pleasantly surprised by how nuanced and likeable Wanda turned out to be.

I'm not planning on holding my breath for the people who were yammering on and ON and ONNNNNNN about that to admit it, though.

Pretty much everyone I know in fandom was pleasantly surprised that Wanda didn't turn out to be what we'd feared. So you won't turn blue in the face or anything if you hold it, 'cause we already did. So.

Okay, I've known you people for 15 years, so I think I can come out and ask the world's dumbest question, and you'll still love me. Is Steve Captain America? If so, who the hell is Bucky?

I have to leave for the Pig in 10 minutes, so I don't have time to answer your second question, but yes, Steve is Captain America.

Re: AoU -- I really was kind of pulled out of the story by Thor's infodump about the infinity stones. I know it needed to happen, because this movie had to set up a LOT for the MCU's long-term plan, but still. It was like the movie screeched to a halt, that happened, and then the movie started up again.

flea, have you seen both Captain America movies?

Bucky was Steve's best friend growing up, he looked after Steve when Steve was small and sickly, then went off to war. After Steve got turned into Captain America, he re-connected with Bucky in the war, and they served together in a special unit called the Howling Commandos. Bucky fell off a train to his apparent death on the mission before Steve crashed the plane and got frozen for many decades. Steve felt Bucky's loss deeply, and everything else is best revealed in the movies.

I haven't seen ANY of these movies. I don't go to movies. And I don't read comic books. Everything I know about this stuff I have learned from you guys. (Seriously, I think the last movie I saw in a theater was Frozen. And before that, the first New Muppet Movie.) (You still love me, though, right?)

And basically, Connie has told me all I need to know about Bucky. Who is clearly not a nickname for the Hulk or Thor or anything, so I am good.