What If...?

[embee]

With one exception

Spoiler

America gets its hands on vibranium and makes slow land tanks when it could make invincible bombers.... come on!

Strategy is never the strong suit of anyone in the MCU Multiverse.

You know what would have been scarier than Thanos and his giant double-sided blade?

Thanos with any ranged weapon.

 

[Umbran]

You know what would have been scarier than Thanos and his giant double-sided blade?

Thanos with any ranged weapon.

Thanos with a ranged weapon is only as scary as the ranged weapon - his power becomes dependent on the power of the device. Give him a straw and a wad of spit-soked paper, he's not terrifying. Give him a Smith and Wesson, and he's only as terrifying as any other guy with a pistol.

 

[Umbran]

This.

Hell if your dealing with slow zombies, all you need is:

• Two lines of spearman
• A few "spotters" whose job it is to pull any of their buddies out of the fire that get tripped up, or just in case of any shenanigan's. They are also watching for zombies in unexpected places.
• A few supply people, who ensure their spearman always have spears. Obviously some will get lost or broken as the fight goes on.

First line stabs the zombies and steps back. Second line stabs the zombies and steps back.

Doesn't work. You must move slightly slower than the zombies to do this maneuver. If you do that, then zombies flow around the sides of your line and envelop you. For this to function, you need a fixed width channel down which all the zombies funnel. And then you have to worry about zombies coming over the top of their own line, or just overbearing with pressure, because they don't stop just because the zombie in front of them isn't moving.

And, if at any time any member of your line fails to kill their zombie before everyone else needs to step back, the line collapses. Your "spotter" requires room to get in and out, and that room will not be afforded - sombies will pack choulder to shoulder - if your forces are nto similarly packed, then zombies get in between your men, and your line is done. No battle plan dependent on perfect execution is viable.

 

[Umbran]

I have to admit, I found the most recent episode... boring.

This was just a change in plotline. It did not explore areas of character we had not already seen, asked no fundamentally different ethical questions not seen in the original. Overall, this wasn't a particularly constructive or interesting use of the format.

 

[Janx]

I have to admit, I found the most recent episode... boring.

This was just a change in plotline. It did not explore areas of character we had not already seen, asked no fundamentally different ethical questions not seen in the original. Overall, this wasn't a particularly constructive or interesting use of the format.

Now a second half with Shuri, Happy and Pepper could have explored those chars more, but as is, this was What If Killmonger Won?

In which we see the villain, as is the trope, did not change.

As his relationship with Tony grew, I would have hoped he might have seen a different path. He was annoyed Tony didn't see him as a Black man, but ignored that Tony saw him as an equal. He didn't really pause before sinking that spear in.

What If Killmonger got Tony to actively support Black Lives Matter. What kind of crazy over-blown solution would they have gotten to? Coptrons patrolling streets, evenly dispatching justice in increasingly disturbing ways as voiced by James Spader.

That's probably the lack in the episode. BP went there. We all knew why Eric was angry and though we didn't like his plan, he had a point. That was all skipped here, and in the end, all we saw was a successful powergrab and vindictive destructiveness instead.

 

[Rune]

Now a second half with Shuri, Happy and Pepper could have explored those chars more, but as is, this was What If Killmonger Won?

In which we see the villain, as is the trope, did not change.

As his relationship with Tony grew, I would have hoped he might have seen a different path. He was annoyed Tony didn't see him as a Black man, but ignored that Tony saw him as an equal. He didn't really pause before sinking that spear in.

What If Killmonger got Tony to actively support Black Lives Matter. What kind of crazy over-blown solution would they have gotten to? Coptrons patrolling streets, evenly dispatching justice in increasingly disturbing ways as voiced by James Spader.

That's probably the lack in the episode. BP went there. We all knew why Eric was angry and though we didn't like his plan, he had a point. That was all skipped here, and in the end, all we saw was a successful powergrab and vindictive destructiveness instead.

That’s not all we saw, though. We also saw the rise of a charismatic who infiltrates and dominates by swaying hearts and minds.*

We didn’t see nearly as much of that in the movie.



* And just in time for Dune to hit theaters. What a coincidence!

 

[embee]

Thanos with a ranged weapon is only as scary as the ranged weapon - his power becomes dependent on the power of the device. Give him a straw and a wad of spit-soked paper, he's not terrifying. Give him a Smith and Wesson, and he's only as terrifying as any other guy with a pistol.

I don't know about you, but I find a mad titan shooting perfectly balanced spitballs at me is fairly terrifying.

And, Thanos shooting a Smith & Wesson is scary because, after he empties the magazine, he will throw the pistol in a perfectly balanced manner.

 

[Rune]

I don't know about you, but I find a mad titan shooting perfectly balanced spitballs at me is fairly terrifying.

And, Thanos shooting a Smith & Wesson is scary because, after he empties the magazine, he will throw the pistol in a perfectly balanced manner.

Now that you mention it, it’s kind of weird he didn’t commission two infinity gauntlets. For symmetry.

 

[Ryujin]

Now that you mention it, it’s kind of weird he didn’t commission two infinity gauntlets. For symmetry.

He did. He just eliminated the second one in order to save resources.

 

[Umbran]

I don't know about you, but I find a mad titan shooting perfectly balanced spitballs at me is fairly terrifying.

It is still wet paper, with less structural integrity than your skin.

And, Thanos shooting a Smith & Wesson is scary because, after he empties the magazine, he will throw the pistol in a perfectly balanced manner.

Balance is in the item, not in the throw. He cannot make a pitol balanced by throwing it, even if finesse was his strong suit, which it doesn't seem to have been.