Well Autism channel viewers, the Marvel Cinematic Universe concluded Phase 2 with Ant-Man and it is going to be a while before Captain America: Civil War arrives next year. However, seeing how two of my great loves are cinema and cuisine, I feel it would be appropriate to compare the Phase 2 Marvel movies to a full-course feast. For a sampling of each dish, click on the posters for their respective previews. Now, on to the menu;
Iron Man 3
Loaded Potato Skins (with fakon)
Starting off this superhero feast is the appetizer. Much like loaded potato skins, Iron Man 3 is filled with many elements as not only is it the follow-up to The Avengers, but it’s also the final movie in the Iron Man trilogy. Directed and written by Shane Black (who has been credited with kick-starting RDJ’s career-resurrection with Kiss Kiss Bang Bang), it is the darkest of the Iron Man movies while also being the funniest as it expertly blends dark humor and darker stakes with the MCU’s signature action and snark. As for the Fakon (tofu bacon)… Well it would be a spoiler to explain exactly what I mean by that.
Quality: 4 ½ stars
Age: Yellow
Sensory: Yellow
Thor: The Dark World
Cheesy Garlic Bread
Yes, I’m going a bit out-of-order with this, but much like bread in a meal, Thor 2 is the “weakest” of the MCU Phase 2 movies, but only in comparison to the others here. Both cheesy garlic bread and Thor: The Dark World fulfills their jobs sufficiently and is fun in of themselves as well. While it does put a little too much focus on the comedy (hence the cheese analogy) and has the weakest villain in all the MCU flicks (seeing how he’s being pushed aside in favor of more Loki… not that I’m complaining) it’s still fun with good action and humor.
Quality: 4 ½ stars
Age: Yellow
Sensory: Yellow
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Smokehouse Salad
A throwback to an older genre much like the movie this is a sequel to (The First Avenger was a throwback to pulp propaganda flicks while The Winter Soldier has elements of political thrillers). This is an especially accurate comparison as each of the ingredients in the smokehouse salad can compare to different aspects of the movie; the lettuce is like the healthy relevance to contemporary concerns over ‘security vs freedom’, the meat is for the narrative heft of Steve Rogers character development in being a solider displaced in time, the cheese is the humor, the fried onion tanglers are the crunch of the more brutal action (relying more on guns and explosives than the fantasy of Thor of the sci-fi of Iron Man and Guardians), the dressing is the fun, and all these elements come together to create one of the best gorram salads/movies of 2014.
Quality: 5 stars
Age: Yellow
Sensory: Yellow
Guardians of the Galaxy
Unexpected Stew
In all honesty, I’m not a stew person and thus I couldn’t think of anything specific, but this analogy still fits. Much like a stew, Guardians of the Galaxy was the result of throwing a lot of things into a pot and hoping for the best and boy does it. It masterfully blends together Whedon-style snarky character interactions, plenty of sci-fi action, and fun to become my favorite movie of 2014. Nobody saw this movie coming, but when it arrived no one was complaining.
Quality: 5 stars
Age: Yellow
Sensory: Yellow
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Turducken
Here we are folks, the hearty main event the previous courses have been setting up for. Much like a Turducken, Avengers: Age of Ultron crams together a whole lot of elements and established characters into a spectacle extravaganza that can seem daunting and a bit bloated, but still works deliciously well.
Quality: 5 stars
Age: Yellow
Sensory: Yellow
Ant-Man
Cherry Pie a la mode
Being the official end to Phase 2, it fits that Ant-Man be a scaled-down dessert to follow-up the huge main course as a cool down. While the stakes are much lower than in the other Phase 2 movies, it still works as much of the focus is on the comedy elements which work really well and they take advantage of the premise (shrinking powers) to deliver really creative action sequences and some of the character development is sweet too. As for the flavor; well Ant-Man’s suit is red and cherries are considered old-fashioned so it more-or-less fits.
Quality: 4 ½ stars
Age: Yellow
Sensory: Yellow
And that completes my film/food analogy. This cinematic feast was a lot of fun and my movie palate waters for what Phase 3 has to offer…