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The Fandom Portals Podcast
Which MCU Scene will NEVER be Topped? Reliving Marvel Magic, with Christine Giver from the Outside of the Box Podcast
Christine Giver, the mastermind behind the Outside of the Box podcast, joins us. Together, we reminisce about the epic 2018 and 2019 MCU chapters, especially Infinity War and Endgame, recounting the cinematic magic and emotional farewells that had fans worldwide on the edge of their seats.
Feel the nostalgia and excitement as we recount our personal theatre experiences during Avengers: Endgame's climactic Portals scene. We discuss the cultural phenomenon it became and how the MCU's meticulously crafted 22-movie narrative arc set a new standard for franchise storytelling. Comparing this monumental achievement to other iconic franchises like Star Wars, we highlight why Endgame's finale holds a unique place in the heart of pop culture.
As we look ahead, we dive into the latest buzz surrounding the return of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine and his dynamic pairing with Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool. Speculations on potential cameos and future directions for these beloved characters will keep you intrigued.
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I think Scarlet Witch just dominating Thanos, at least for a while, it's like one of those things that you knew from that point that there was going to be something like kind of where that would lead. And, as we can see in like the later series and films with WandaVision and then also the Doctor Strange film, like she's obviously hella powerful.
Speaker 2:Hello and welcome to another episode of the Fandom Portals podcast, where curiosity meets community in a celebration of all things geek. We build connections on every episode by delving into your favorite fandom questions in the time it takes you to hike up that hill you've been trying to conquer. Keep going, champion. You've got this. I'm your host, aaron, and it is amazing to be back here in the Fandom Portals podcasting chair. Guys, I had the absolute pleasure this week of interviewing a fellow podcaster by the name of Christine Giver. Now Christine is the creator and producer of the Outside of the Box podcast, which focuses on BattleBots and STEM, but she is also a massive fan of everything nerdy and everything geeky. She has a spinoff podcast called Talking Nerdy, and the links for those are in the show notes below.
Speaker 2:But we had the pleasure today of discussing one of our favorite aspects of geek culture, and that was what it was like to live through the 2018 and 2019 fandom experience of the Infinity War and Endgame culminating saga of the MCU. Now we chatted through lots of elements of this, including what it would be like, or what it was like to live through this amazing time in cinema, what it was like to finally say goodbye to all these characters that we've watched for the last 11 years and also we kind of realized through this interview that we kind of took that sort of cinematic experience for granted. So it was one of those experiences where you know you, you don't know you're in the good old days until you've left the good old days. So we definitely reminisce about what we loved about those movies, what we thought made them so great and why we thought it would probably not be topped for quite some time. We then started to talk about the different things that we thought might top it, and this was recorded pre-release of Deadpool and Wolverine, so you can hear some of our speculations and some of our hopes and dreams for that movie. Obviously, since then it has been released and if you haven't already, you should definitely go to the cinema and watch it, because supporting the local cinema is a great thing to do for film culture.
Speaker 2:And towards the end of this podcast, you've got to stick around because we can show you the main three ways that you can do to support shows like us, to support small podcasters like the fandom portals podcast. It'll be three simple ways that you guys can help us out big time for and we'll be extremely grateful. So we hope that you enjoy this interview with Christine Giver of the Outside of the Box podcast and the Talkin' Nerdy podcast. Let's go through the portal. This is Christine Giver. She is the creator, producer, host of Outside the Box podcast, which began in 2022, and the podcast is award nominated, and she's also had the pleasure of having guests on the show, including people from BattleBots, stem enthusiasts and people from the gaming and entertainment world. She's very passionate about all things nerdy and she also hosts the spinoff podcast, talking Nerdy, and she is joining us here today to have a chat about some of our favorite fandoms. How are you going today, christine?
Speaker 1:I am doing great. I'm very excited to talk about this. I talk about a wide variety of things on my show, but this is a topic that I'm particularly passionate about, I guess.
Speaker 2:That's awesome and I can't wait to dive into it as well. Before we do that, did you want to give our listeners a little bit of an explanation on what Outside of the Box podcast is, and it's obviously on YouTube as well. Did you want to give us a brief rundown?
Speaker 1:Sure. So it started out just as an idea. As somebody who's a very big enthusiast on BattleBots, I mean really it just started out with BattleBots because I didn't know that there was a whole world of combat robotics outside of that.
Speaker 1:So I quickly learned kind of the more I got involved in the community and it grew from that into just STEM content as a whole, um, and then into, like, some of my other nerdy passions. So I've just kind of broadened my scope, um, to be inclusive of, you know, all of the things that I really enjoy.
Speaker 2:That's so awesome. It's great to have an outlet. That's exactly why I created this as well, cause I have so many passions and interests and I just want to talk about them all the time, so I can definitely relate. If you guys wanted to check out Outside of the Box podcast, it's going to be in the show notes below for you guys to check out. So make sure you go and support Christine and check out some STEM and some BattleBots stuff as well.
Speaker 2:So we're here today, today because, uh, you reached out on a threads post, filled out the guest application and you, uh, you picked the topic of the, the end game movie, avengers end game. Uh, particularly the portals scene, or the, the climax of the, the long-standing mcu, uh, infinity saga, which I think is, in my opinion, a really, really great culmination to a 22-movie sort of saga. I guess my first question for you, and probably one that is commonly asked or was very commonly asked around, you know, 2018, 2019, is like, where were you when Thanos snapped his fingers? Like it's something that everybody kind of watched and saw and just was absolutely taken aback by the fact that they had built some of these characters up for so long and then, in literally the snap of a finger. Some of them were just dusted away. So where were you, christine? How did you experience that?
Speaker 1:So I mean, I saw both of these films in the theater, obviously as quickly as I possibly could, because, you know, know, unfortunately there are people who will spoil things and I don't want to know. Um, so the really interesting thing is that, you know, I like I was a comic kid when I grew up, but not those comics, I would say. I was probably focused on x-men the most, so I didn't really know that much about any of these characters pre like movies, and so there were people that had read the comics that maybe knew some things that I didn't. So I was going into this completely like, okay, taking it at face value.
Speaker 1:And when you watch a superhero film, the expectation is that bad things are going to happen, people may die, but at the end you come to a positive conclusion and the good guys win. So I'm sitting there in this theater and watching the end of the movie and I'm like surely this is going to work, like they're going to figure this out and they're going to stop Thanos and nothing bad is going to happen. And then he snaps his fingers and people start dusting away and I'm sitting there like literally in shock, thinking to myself what is happening? Like there has to be something else at the end of this movie where they reverse all of this, because I didn't know at the time that there was a second movie.
Speaker 1:Oh, my god, like I thought this is it, like this is everything, and I'm just like what is going on? And then the credits roll and I'm like like, like I don't think I can speak. I'm just like what is going on and then the credits roll and I'm like like, like I don't think I can speak. I was just literally in shock and like I don't think that like I've ever felt that way at the end of any movie that I've ever seen in my entire life, it was just like you could feel the air sucked out of the theater and everybody's just sitting there, like what. So it's something that I will never, ever forget.
Speaker 2:No, I can definitely agree because I had a similar experience. Obviously, I'm in Australia, you're in America, but same experience, you know, and that's like the cultural phenomenon of these kind of movies that they're global and the experience that you have in the cinema as well is probably something that isn't happening that much anymore as well, which is why I think it's like it's also so special for me when you experience something like that collectively, as a group in a theater. But I, too, remember like being just completely gobsmacked at the fact that these characters were just dusting away and then, as you said, credits roll and you always sit there for that end credit scene in a Marvel movie and you know it's just just really, really want to see some of those characters come back. That was in April of 2018. And then the Avengers Endgame actually sort of didn't release for a whole nother year.
Speaker 2:So, as you said before, during that time, you know, lots of people go on the internet and do the thing that they do and sometimes they do spoil. But it actually sort of started to create this cultural phenomenon and I don't know if you remember like a hashtag going around that was like don't spoil the end game. It was just like a crazy time in sort of pop culture and everybody was just sort of waiting to see what happened and leaning on all of the different sort of news stories trying to find out anything that they could. So, speaking of this cultural phenomenon, did you want to sort of get into a little bit about what you think makes this sort of endgame movie so popular for so many people?
Speaker 1:I mean, I think it's just in general, like I don't think that I can think of a series of movies like in my lifetime that's been just done so well and this being the culmination of like all of that.
Speaker 1:I think that that's why it's so special, because they were able to put together a continuous story where everything tied in together so well, and I think that's a very difficult thing to achieve. You know, and having watched all of these movies and followed all of these movies to kind of see that come together in this really one, I mean I personally I even think that these movies Infinity War and Endgame surpassed the original Avengers movie as like a great thing to watch. I mean not that it wasn't good, like it was really cool to see all of those characters together in the same movie, but I think going through every movie that they had up to that point and kind of taking you on this very good storytelling and like an emotional journey to wind up in the end like that, I think that's what makes it so special. I mean, people might hate on me for this, but I don't even think that Star Wars did it that well.
Speaker 2:Personally, I actually wanted to talk to you about that as well, in terms of like culminating things that happened in 2019. Actually wanted to talk to you about that as well, in terms of like culminating things that happened in 2019. The rise of skywalker came out the same sort of year, which is a nine movie ending arc through lots and lots of years of star wars.
Speaker 2:Um, arguably, I do also believe that you know the avengers sort of did it better than star wars did and I think, personally, for me, like that comes down to to what they were able to do in their movies with the characters that they did. I feel like they had a story that they wanted to tell and they stuck to that, whereas Star Wars, they played a lot to the fan bases that were loud and really just wanted to see the movie they wanted to see. In terms of the lead-up, the Infinity Saga probably best encapsulates the six characters that are in Endgame and Infinity War. Can you tell us a little bit about your journey with those sort of six characters as we get towards the Endgame and why you were so connected when it came to that climax?
Speaker 1:Yeah for sure. Um, I mean, what's weird is like of those six characters I mean there's probably some that I feel a little bit more connected to than others that I thought were maybe a little bit better defined. Um, I mean, you can't, I don't think that you can not talk about, like robert downey jr as iron man and like that was the first movie that kind of started everything and I think the entire series really hinged on him as Iron man and how much people believed him as that character and liked him as that character. Um, I think if that first movie doesn't do as well as it did, you just don't have the rest of it. Um, it just doesn't happen. And I think that's kind of like so fitting why he was like basically the central character in those movies. So I mean like I don't think that you could have found a better person and I think it's like funny, because of the whole Civil War situation, that Captain America similarly, like I don't think that I could have seen anybody but Chris Evans in that role and how well he played Captain America. So I mean like to have those two very pivotal characters being so strong I think was essential and, you know, people being able to connect with them kind of throughout.
Speaker 1:I mean, like you can say that about any character really of those six.
Speaker 1:I think that they were all just so well cast in their roles as most of the folks in the MCU but it's funny, people don't necessarily think as much about like Black Widow and Hawkeye.
Speaker 1:Maybe they're considered more minor characters because, like Iron man and Captain America, are like the big two, I guess, in most people's minds. But I think that especially in those movies as well, in Infinity War and Endgame that they were such pivotal characters with the Soul Stone, you know situation and everything, and there was so much emotion, like in that scene, you know, and it's like no matter how this turns out, it's going to be really, really sad. So, yeah, I mean, I mean, like you, I don't think you can say enough about any of them, like they're just all so amazing and I think like, even though some of them had maybe less of a role in all of the movies leading up to that um, maybe didn't have their own movie, you know, have their own series at the time I still think like that that core is what really made the movies as good as they were.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I 100% agree as well.
Speaker 2:And you know, talking about those emotional moments, this, this Endgame movie, is sort of packed with it coming, coming full circle, you know, with with Chris Evans as Captain America, always being the character to to do the right thing for the community and serve, and then Robert Downey Jr's Iron man kind of being the arrogant, self-serving character, and then towards the end of this Infinity saga, obviously the ending with Iron man making his ultimate sacrifice is a very sort of sacrificial thing to do for everybody else, which is completely opposite to how he started as the character.
Speaker 2:And you just see that growth all the way through. And I agree with what you said about the the moment between Hawkeye and Black Widow with the Soul Stone, because the whole time I was sitting there thinking, you know, surely they pull off something like they'll get Red Skull and push him down or something like that. I don't know. I just did not believe that the Russo brothers, who directed the film, would go that far, which again plays to that sort of not trying to please the fans with everything they do and not being afraid to make decisions like that in order to just keep the story going and keep the stakes high, so I really loved that about the film too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean it was. It was difficult because, like, even though it was upsetting to see, I also understood it. Like, when I watch a movie, I fully understand where I'm like okay, this makes sense for this character's story arc and I don't think that they could have really gone any further with this character and it made more sense to like put that really strong emotional impact in there. So I hate it, but I can't hate it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I 100% agree as well. And then, obviously, that ending with Robert Downey Jr's sacrifice. Initially, when you saw that, how did you feel about that? When he took the stones, snapped his fingers and did everything that he did for the rest of the world, basically to save it?
Speaker 1:Again, so hard because, like you know, my partner loves Iron man and identifies very strongly with that character, and so it like, in a weird way, seeing him die it was, like you know, it felt very personal to me but at the same time, like you know, again, I understood why it had to happen. I think, like with given that everything started with Iron man, I think it had to end with iron man, and so it made complete sense and you know, again, hard to watch but completely understandable yeah, especially because they built up his character in that five-year gap, the blip that, as they call it in the mcu, as him literally like settling down.
Speaker 2:He had a cottage out in the woods, it was by the by, was by the lakeside. He married Pepper, they were living the quiet life and he had a daughter. And you know, I Love you. 3000 is just something that is quoted all around and then they go and they pull those heartstrings at the end as well and that left an impact on the MCU that has traveled through the following saga as well. Let's move on to to that sort of climactic scene, that portal scene we talked a little bit through through messaging, about how we don't believe that that scene or this climax will ever be topped in cinema. Can you explain a little bit about what you meant by that?
Speaker 1:Sure.
Speaker 1:So the reason why I say that is because, up to that point, with everything that had happened in Infinity War and the earlier part of Endgame, I and I don't know if, like because you get brought down to such a low place of feeling like, oh my gosh, like all of these characters are gone and you know that you don't expect the high can be that high, like you know something good has to happen but you don't expect that.
Speaker 1:And it was just like I still every time I watch that scene or even think about that scene, I get chills and like all the hair stands up on my arms because it was so, it was such a high to come up off of such crazy lows, and so I think that's why it's hard to top, because I it would be hard for any other film or any other series to take you on that type of emotional journey where you're like devastated and then this amazing thing happens that you're not expecting and so, like that would be very challenging to replicate I agree, and I think the the 11 year span and the 22 movies previous to this really helped sort of build those characters.
Speaker 2:But I feel like they also did a great job within this movie about, you know, reminding you of some of the good points that has happened through the MCU saga or the Infinity saga so far, with the time heist section in the middle.
Speaker 2:You know they revisited all those favorite sort of parts and they were able to to, you know, see New York in three different perspectives and go and recollect those stones and you sort of remember, you know, sitting down in the first Avengers movie when you went and watched that and you see that all the different scenes and it brings you back to that sort of nostalgia.
Speaker 2:And then, towards the end, they also did a really amazing things with, like the soundtrack during that as well. I don't know about you, but that that silence between when, um, captain America was sort of standing there and he hears the clicking of the radio it's almost like again thatholding moment and then the passing on the left, and there were so many full circle moments like that that really just sort of played to everybody's arcs, just coming to a really nice close. So I agree that I think it was a really high climax, but I also feel like, as we suggested, said, like it's, it's hard to top and I don't know about you, but having watched and seen some of the mcu things, since they haven't really measured up, did you want to explain why you think, uh, some of those sort of later additions to the, to the mcu, don't really match up to the, the hype that is endgame, infinity war and the infinity saga, the one that came first sure.
Speaker 1:So some of those later films or, you know, tv series, they've done quite a lot in a pretty wide range of things. Um, honestly, for a lot of it not all of it, but a lot of it I really don't think is as bad as what people kind of have portrayed that they are. There were a lot of those films and TV series that I quite liked, but it's more an understanding of that. I get why maybe it is hard for people to move on from that, because, like, especially with like the TV series, it's really hard to kind of match that, that level of emotion. And even with the movies, like I think that they tried to do it in some parts, especially the latest Spider-Man movie, bringing back Tobey Maguire, bringing back Andrew Garfield. You know, I think people were excited about that, but I think people also expected it.
Speaker 1:So, like before I saw the movie, I had a good idea that that was probably going to happen, which again kind of sucks for spoilers. But it also, like it takes away that shock factor and I think that from what I, from what I've read about it, infinity War and Endgame had like the highest level of secrecy of any films that they've ever done. I mean I think Robert Downey Jr is the only one that received the entire script. Other people received like partial scripts or false scripts or whatever. So like there was a lot of stuff that was kept under wraps that people didn't know.
Speaker 1:But unfortunately, with some of these newer films, like stuff leaked and people knew stuff and so they went into it expecting to see certain things. I'm really glad that so far and we'll probably get into that that hasn't been a ton leaked. I feel for deadpool versus wolverine, I mean there are certain things but there's still some air of mystery. So I'm hoping to be surprised. Um, but I think that's probably a big part of it is just the lack of just like that significant emotional journey and also not as much surprise I also think, as we were talking before about the six main characters, they kind of, I feel, don't really have that in this second phase.
Speaker 2:Because they did, it was the changing nature of sort of cinema and media as well, because they obviously moved into the Disney Plus series. So you're getting more content over the year as well and you're meeting all these new people and you know you're getting three or four movies in the year as well, but there wasn't really that core sort of group of characters that people can get attached to as they go throughout. That being said, I think we're only about five or six years into this next phase and the first one took 11 years to develop. So maybe across this next six years they're going to trajectory it in a way that's sort of appeasing to everybody and they're going to make some sort of highlighting characters.
Speaker 2:Um, I did like what you mentioned before about the, the deadpool and and wolverine. Uh, we did chat a little bit and say that you know, this might be the thing that sort of brings the mcu back or at least sort of re-encapsulates that feeling that we were describing about being in the cinema with a group of people and experiencing something that is definitely pop, culturally significant. Give us a little rundown of your thoughts about what's occurring with Deadpool and Wolverine so far.
Speaker 1:Sure. So I think there's a lot of interesting things about this, probably most notably that, you know, with bringing Hugh Jackman as Wolverine back when it was, you know, people thought that wasn't going to happen. I think he said after he was killed off in Logan that that wasn't going to happen. But, you know, understanding that this is potentially a different version of that character it's not the same timeline, so there's kind of that piece of it in play. But it's still exciting to see to me who I think was the best character in any of the X-Men movies coming back and pairing with Deadpool, who is definitely an interesting character in that.
Speaker 1:I think with most of the MCU movies, you know it's stuff that you could probably take your older kids to and you know it was fine. It was a little bit more family friendly. Deadpool is definitely not family friendly, so it's something that's very enjoyable for the adults. Um and again, I think something like this comes down to just phenomenal casting. And the most interesting thing, as we know about that, is that Ryan Reynolds did play a different version of Deadpool in an earlier Wolverine movie. That was not good, it was not good at all, and so to see him be able to play that character in the current iteration and do it so freaking well.
Speaker 1:I think that that is what makes the Deadpool movie so successful is because Ryan Reynolds understands who that character is and knows how to play it to a T and it's a different kind of emotion. It's not the same like emotions in Infinity War and Endgame. It's more humor based. Not to say that there's no emotion in the Deadpool movies, because there is, but it's definitely more. You go to have a good time and to laugh and just it's. It's pure joy and excitement. So it's a very different type of emotion than what we've experienced.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think that the pairing of those two as well Wolverine being the sort of anti-hero, gruff, grumpy, dude demeanor that he is, and then Ryan Reynolds is Deadpool being, you know, the exact opposite of that that's just a pairing that really works well. It kind of cooks, you know, and I think people are kind of down to see that as well, obviously, with the history that they've had with Wolverine, the few movies that they've had with Deadpool and this all coming together. Now in the Deadpool and sort of Wolverine. We talked about spoilers. There are some things that has been released in terms of characters that may appear sort of I believe they've been done to sort of garner some sort of excitement. Did you want to have a chat about because I don't want to tell you what I know, just in case I spoil it for you but if you wanted to and you wanted to talk about some of the things that you have seen in terms of returning characters and how you think that might impact people's experience at the cinema, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1:I mean, some of that has been shown pretty widely. So if people don't know some of these things, I think you've been living under a rock. But you know clearly like there's going to be some original X-Men characters coming back, played by their original actors, which I think is really exciting, because you know again, as I mentioned earlier, x-men that was a comic that I paid attention to when I was a kid. I grew up with the original X-Men cartoon series and so these are characters that mean a lot to me and the original X-Men film was good. They started to get less good and then they started to get a little bit better again.
Speaker 1:It was very interesting for me, but I'm excited to potentially see some of these characters that I think maybe could have been had a better treatment in the earlier movies come back and maybe get to be a little bit better. I would say most notably Pyro. Obviously we see an older version of Pyro coming back and also Sabretooth, played by the same original actor, and like it's crazy to watch that trailer and be like he looks exactly the same.
Speaker 2:Like. Do you know how?
Speaker 1:many years have passed and he looks the same. That's crazy.
Speaker 2:That's some healing factor stuff right there.
Speaker 1:Exactly so and really again it's it's. I guess it depends on, like, who you are and what you like, but I like that version of saber tooth. I did not like the whole victor creed thing like that. I didn't like it origins yeah yes.
Speaker 1:So I like, I like this version of saber tooth. I'm down with that. You know, there's obviously rumored to be a lot more. It's like who else from the MCU might pop in, Because this is supposedly all kind of leading towards secret wars. So you know, there's a lot of rumors and this kind of goes back to the whole Infinity War endgame thing because there's like will they have Iron man, maybe just randomly in there? Because you know, Robert downey jr previously said I'm not going to do that again. But then I've heard some things recently where he sounded less that he wouldn't do it again. So it's like what if that happened? You know, I like I would jump out of my seat, I would.
Speaker 2:I would literally scream, I think I would too very like unapologetic way to everybody in the cinema as well. But yeah, I'm very excited to see that movie as well. I think a lot of the cameos that are going to happen do like it sort of brings back the old sort of 20th century sort of Fox movies, as you were talking about with the X-Men, and then bringing it into this new sort of Sony universe as well. But then we've seen images of like the, the Dr Strange portal in the, in the trailers and everybody's. Every time we've seen that the, the destination that they're jumping to, has been completely whited out. So I want to ask you, christine, where do you think they're going? Where are they going when they're jumping through that portal?
Speaker 1:That's a good question. Well, there's, there's also, like the whole, like TVA portals, like the, you know, because they've talked about that too. I mean this clearly when, when you watch the trailer, there's clearly some tie in to the Loki TV show and the TVA there absolutely is, without a doubt, which I'm excited about because, personally, of the TV series that they've done, loki is hands down my favorite of all of those series.
Speaker 1:I mean it all goes back to casting, like Tom Hiddleston, as Loki is just so good, like he's supposed to be a villain and I'm like, no, I like that character. Like you've made me like this character. This isn't fair character. Like you're you've made me like this character. This isn't fair. Um, so you know, but of course, like, if you've watched that tv series, you know that he goes through his own own character arc of, like you know, not being so bad anymore. So, um, seeing what they do with that and the tba, which I, I really hope that this kind of I don't want to say fixes that.
Speaker 2:Yeah like prune, some of the edges, I guess you could say, of the multi-universe saga.
Speaker 1:I don't know that I really loved everything that they did with that piece of it and with Kang, like you know, and like what they did in Quantumania with that Like, I just don't know that. I 100% love that.
Speaker 2:So I'm hoping that they can utilize the TVba and maybe a better way in this movie I think if we look at this sort of saga of the mcu compared to the infinity saga, the biggest difference that I can see is I feel like that first saga had that clear direction all the way to um, infinity war and end game, whereas this, this saga, I feel like they're they're putting out so much content that it's hard to deliver it back to that climactic sort of endgame experience that we were talking about before, which I really hope they do do in the Wolverine or Deadpool and Wolverine movie. I hope they sort of prune those edges and bring it back to something that they can tangibly sort of move toward a conclusion. So If we're talking about, you know, deadpool and Wolverine moving into sort of the endgame space, there has been some rumors that perhaps you know Wolverine and Deadpool will jump into that battle that you kind of remember as as being really sort of poignant to you.
Speaker 1:that was like a yeehaw kind of moment that really got fans sort of out of their seats when you were watching it in the cinema I mean, you know, I, I don't know that it's arguable, because to me it seems pretty obvious that like the biggest moment, aside from the portals and the whole thing, was cap wielding mjolnir um, I mean like that. You know, it's like part of everybody knew, like always knew, that he could. Because this kind of goes back to the scene where he tried to pick it up and it moved a little bit and there's been a lot of debate as to whether he knew at that time that he could pick it up and just didn't want to do it like didn't want to one-up Thor or whatever the case may be, because he's a nice guy. So, you know, I think Aileen on the side is that he probably always could and just in that moment decided to do it because I mean, if anybody's worthy, it's probably Cap, exactly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he's the best of us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that that was obviously a really great moment. Um, yeah, aside from the portals, I mean, I think scarlet witch just dominating thanos, at least for a while, it's like one of those things that you knew from that point that there was going to be something like kind of where that would lead. And, as we could see in, like the later series and films with WandaVision and then also the Doctor Strange film, like she's obviously hella powerful.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, yeah, Like I actually think that they could kind of lean into her as a main villain of a saga. You know, like she's got that potential, that reality altering power. It'll be interesting to see what Agatha all along will bring to her, to her sort of story arc as well. A lot of mystery sort of surrounding that one too, with all the name changes and things on social media. I don't know if you saw that, but they finally settled on the Agatha all along. But, yeah, definitely, scarlet Witch, during that scene was kind of the first time you, you saw her exhibiting that raw kind of chaotic power and almost to the point where you're just like, oh crap, you know she's actually got something there.
Speaker 2:Um, yeah, I think I, I really like the hot potato with the gauntlet where they were just passing it around and everybody sort of got a turn. That was really good too. Um, yeah, I really loved it.
Speaker 2:And then, you know, going back to that emotionality that we were talking about earlier with the, the scene with everybody sort of gathered around the house, you know, and it pans through slowly and you see, at the very end of this Endgame movie, captain America, as we said, the best of us and he's an old man and he's sitting on that bench and he sort of passes the torch on, and it's that sort of symbolic nature of things in this Endgame movie that really like hit home for me as a fan. Um, and moving forward, it gave me hope for the mcu, you know, bringing these stories forward as well. So in terms of, like your favorite moment, I'll say, of the infinity war end game, sort of climax to the infinity saga, mine being, you know, captain america finally getting his dance with peggy and growing old, that was my favorite. Well, what was yours, christine?
Speaker 1:um, I mean that's, that's great, like it is. I still it's hard for me to to not say the portal scene, um, but I mean also kind of it's, it's weird, but like the funeral scene is is a pretty strong moment because it was just so like I mean I was, I was just in tears during that because it's like you, you realize there's a finality to it. Like even just showing Iron man dying, I don't think that it really gives that finality, but that scene I think does, and you know, showing everybody together and like grieving, and it's like okay, like he's he's really gone, this isn't, this isn't fake, like he's he's really's really gone. So, um, I mean it's, it's a, it's a strong scene. It's not a happy scene, but like it really left an impression on me, I think, at the end of that movie no, that's really good.
Speaker 2:I I definitely agree. I think that's emotionally powerful, especially coming off the back of like um black widow's death as well. So you're like you're down and then you're up with the portal scene, and so you're like you're down and then you're up with the portal scene and everybody's back and then you're down again and it's just that emotional rollercoaster and then everything that's come from that end game. You know that happened five years ago and I still see things on the internet from like memes and things like that from the end game experience as well. You know we talked earlier about some of the quotes that are from the movie, like I love you 3000. And it's definitely left its mark on on pop culture, or at least it has in my opinion. So I think it's it's a really good installment.
Speaker 1:So I would be curious and there may be an interview out there, who knows if some of the things that would later be referenced were like what came first. You know, did some of these references happen in the past and then they decided to call back on them? Or when they referenced them in the first place, did they have the intention on carrying that through? So one of those things is with, like you mentioned, captain America and, as we'll see, like he passes the, you know the the Captain America torch to Sam Wilson. But this was like a long time coming type of thing. You know, as we've seen the previous movie where there was a scene of them running and you know like trying to race each other and there's the whole on your left thing which later comes back in the portal scene, and then you know the fact that he passes the torch to Sam later.
Speaker 1:It's like, did they make that original scene in the movie with the intention of calling it back later? Or when they decided to write, you know, endgame and Infinity War, did they look at that previous scene and then decide to put that in? And I mean, to me everything is so intentionally crafted, everything that they do, that it really makes me feel like they kind of always had that intention to reference it at a later point, especially for such a really strong, powerful scene. So I mean there I can think of endless callbacks where I'm like, here's this thing that they use later on, that was from something earlier and it's just that's. I think that's what makes these movies so great is because everything feels so intentionally done, and I think that's a big part of why it's able to be so impactful.
Speaker 2:Even to the point like the first Iron man movie. At the end he says you know, I am Iron man and the very last thing that he says you know that callback was he says I am inevitable and he says, well, I am iron man and that, just that's that complete full circle. So you're seeing all of these full circle moments happen for all of these characters, even even like the hulk. You know a lot of his development happened over the five year, uh blip gap, but he was always struggling with the angry side of him, um, versus, you know, the banner side of him, and he finally found a way to balance it to the point where you know he goes and he tries that gauntlet on that they made for the first time and he's like I was built for this and it's almost like that acceptance for him as the character sort of came full circle upon his sort of journey as well, and you can see that happening countless amounts of times with Thor and his mum, for example, when he calls back Mjolnir and he says I am still worthy, you know, like after he's just had that hard time, after losing everybody. There's all those full circle moments and I think that's what makes this movie really great as well.
Speaker 2:All right, christine, I want to thank you so much for joining me on the Fandom Portals podcast. It's been amazing to chat with you about all the things that we love in terms of the MCU. If you guys want to go and check out the Out of the Box podcast or Talking Nerdy, you can find those in the show notes below. We'll leave links for those. Thanks for joining me, christine. It's been amazing.
Speaker 1:No problem. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2:All right and we'll see you, guys, next time. So that was Christine Giver from the Out of the Box podcast and the Talking Nerdy podcast, and I want to thank her again for taking the time to chat with me at the Fandom Portals podcast. As you can hear, guys, a very passionate person when it comes to the fandoms that she enjoys. I personally loved how we were able to share the experience of Thanos' snap across the sea. Even though she was in America, I was in Australia. We both were able to experience it in exactly the same way, which I think talks to the experience of cinema when it's able to grasp that mutual feeling from the audience, and that's what connects people as well, which is amazing when you get to talk about it all those years later, and it still is a talking point all those years later. So thank you again, christine, for coming on our interview Now.
Speaker 2:At the start of this podcast, I told you that there were three amazing ways that you can do to help out small podcasters like us here at Fandom Portals, and the best part about it is that all of them are completely free. So the first is probably one that you've heard all over the space if you're a podcast listener and it's that the rating and reviews that you leave are incredibly important. Not only do I personally read all of these and am touched by them, they go a great long way into putting our podcast in front of the eyes, and it actually recommends our podcast to people with similar interests to you. So go and leave us an honest review on Apple and Spotify. It does a world of help and we would really really appreciate it, so much so that we're even happy to read some of these reviews on some of our episodes. The second way that you can help podcasters for free is to interact on our social medias. So our social medias are always linked in the show notes of every single episode and you can find us active on instagram and threads mostly, and we are at fandom portals. That is, at fandom portals you can find us and interact with us. Any reply that you get from that page is me, aaron, directly talking to you, and that's kind of what you want to use social media for is to be social. So definitely come on and have a chat about all things nerdy, because, as you know, every single thing from our podcast is actually directed by you guys and the curiosities that you have through the week.
Speaker 2:Lastly, and probably the most important for small podcasters, is that word of mouth is so powerful so powerful, in fact, that if you tell one friend and then they tell one friend and then they tell one friend, it's just an amazing web of networking that happens, and it's the kind of marketing that we can't even buy. So you have a very powerful position. When it comes to podcasters like myself and like anyone at the Geek Freaks Network, your word goes a long way. You are the advocate for podcasts like us, and we appreciate any time you are able to go and tell somebody hey, you listen to this awesome thing on the geek freak show or this amazing thing on the fandom portals podcast. So if you can tell a friend about the amazing experience you had listening to this, or a fact that you heard from fandom portals, or this awesome guest that occurred on a podcast that you've listened to it, it really helps.
Speaker 2:So make sure you go and do those three things. Heck, if you do one of those things, that's amazing, but if you do all three, that's even better. So, guys, every single time you listen to a podcast, those are the three things that you can do to help. They're completely free, and any podcast, including myself, would be absolutely over the moon if you were able to do that for us. So this is me, aaron, signing out. I've talked at you guys enough and, as always, we'll connect with respect and I'll see you guys next time. Bye-bye, thank you.
