The Avengers
Countdown to Avengers: Doomsday Official Podcast
In the premiere of the Countdown to Avengers: Doomsday Official Podcast, hosts Iman Vellani and Frank Alvarez rewatch the 2012 film The Aven
Key takeaways
- The Avengers (2012) marked a cultural milestone in superhero cinema, uniting diverse characters into a cohesive team.
Main topics
- Revisiting The Avengers (2012) movie
- Loki's role and manipulation in the Battle of New York
Notable quotes
"I am Loki of Asgard. And I've been burdened with glorious purpose."
Conclusion
The podcast concludes with a heartfelt reflection on how The Avengers (2012) not only launched the
Transcript preview
Speaker 2 (0:00) Oh, I wanted to run some names by you. For Speaker 1 (0:03) the show? Yeah. That we're already doing? Yeah. Speaker 2 (0:05) Just Speaker 1 (0:05) the marketing and the branding is completely out of the window. So, Speaker 2 (0:08) okay, first one. Avengers before Doomsday. Speaker 1 (0:11) That's good. I actually like that one. Yeah, Speaker 2 (0:14) yeah. How about Avengers brand new Doomsday? Speaker 1 (0:18) Topical. I get that. That's good. Speaker 2 (0:20) Assembling Doomsday. Speaker 1 (0:22) Uh, don't hate that. It does sound like a really... TikTok, Speaker 2 (0:25) it's Doomsday o'clock. Speaker 2 (0:28) I like that one. Speaker 1 (0:29) You gotta be a little more Speaker 2 (0:30) playful and punchy. Oh, yo, yo, yo, Speaker 1 (0:31) yo. Doom, you're looking for this. That's good. Thank you. That one actually works. But you gotta hit more Speaker 2 (0:37) on the Doom. Speaker 1 (0:38) I Speaker 2 (0:39) can Doom this all day. Speaker 1 (0:40) That's good. But you have to sing it like Rogers the Musical. Speaker 2 (0:44) Doomsday 101. Speaker 1 (0:46) I didn't mean sing the next title. Okay. Speaker 2 (0:51) Okay. These Speaker 1 (0:52) are a lot. Please Speaker 2 (0:53) stand by for Doomsday. Speaker 1 (1:00) Welcome, everyone. My name is Frank Alvarez, and I'm incredibly excited to be here co-hosting the Countdown to Avengers Doomsday podcast with the incredible, the marvelous, the unparalleled Iman Vellani. Thanks. Ms. Marvel herself. That old Speaker 2 (1:17) thing. Oh, Speaker 1 (1:17) yeah. Oh, that old thing. Speaker 2 (1:19) That old thing. I'm here today as a fan. As Speaker 1 (1:22) you know. And as the world knows, Avengers Doomsday is coming out in a couple of months. Just Speaker 2 (1:27) a couple. Yeah, just Speaker 1 (1:28) the biggest movie of Speaker 2 (1:31) the year. Super cash. Speaker 1 (1:32) Possibly all time. And we have been tasked with revisiting five movies leading up to Avengers Doomsday, not only discussing them and how culturally relevant they are, our experiences with them, but also what they're going to mean to Doomsday. Speaker 2 (1:47) Yeah, and not just that. The Avengers Endgame is coming out again in theaters and I am so excited. I remember seeing it five times in a row and then never again. Because it was such a precious event in my life that revisiting it for this podcast made me very emotional and I don't know if... You were Speaker 1 (2:07) crying too? Speaker 2 (2:08) Dude, I couldn't stop crying. Speaker 1 (2:10) And Speaker 2 (2:10) it's like, I'm not even playing this up at all. I was very fearful of doing... this because I didn't want to like taint the beautiful vision of the MCU that like my 14 year old self had and I didn't want evidence that I had grown up you know. Oh Speaker 1 (2:28) listen you don't need to talk to me about growing up because it makes me cry on a daily basis. Speaker 2 (2:31) Back in my day. Yeah well Speaker 1 (2:33) I mean this is a great segue you have been a legitimate fan we have been legitimate fans forever but we're we're different in our kind of MCU watching history because Speaker 3 (2:47) I Speaker 1 (2:48) was, I think I was 14 when the first movie, 15 when the first movie came out. Oh, geez. And it was like such a pivotal point in my history. And you were, I mean, your whole life has known nothing about these movies. Speaker 2 (3:03) Yeah, I was six when Iron Man came out. Iron Man's like one of those movies where any big moment in my life, this is pre getting cast as Ms. Marvel, like I would just rewatch that movie to remind myself that I'm capable of like feeling things. Gotcha. Speaker 1 (3:17) And Speaker 2 (3:17) then when Ms. Marvel happened, it was like first day of set, I watched Iron Man. First time I had my costume fitting, I watched Iron Man. First time I like held a prop, I watched Iron Man. First time we've like, I just kept rewatching that movie because it was like, I couldn't believe that I was a part of this. universe. Like, Sarah Finn cast him and me? Speaker 1 (3:37) Yeah. Speaker 2 (3:38) No. And Speaker 1 (3:39) it's, I mean, I was, I remember the day that I saw Iron Man 1. Like, I remember, I was, I was, I actually had a meeting with, like, a local government official in, like, in my town. And then, this is where the story starts. It's a long, convoluted thing, but I remember with my friends going and seeing it, I walked out of there and I was just like, You guys don't even know what's coming right now. Stop Speaker 2 (4:03) it. Speaker 1 (4:04) Should we do this like recapping it like we're Luis from Ant-Man? Oh my god. Just try to run through as fast as you can. Please go Speaker 2 (4:10) ahead. No, Speaker 1 (4:10) I'm, I'm, the floor is yours. Okay, Speaker 2 (4:12) I'll, we'll part Speaker 1 (4:12) team this. Okay. Speaker 1 (4:15) So, Project Pegasus, they're in this bunker underground and everything, and Dr. Selvig's like, yo, things are a little crazy right now. Yeah, Speaker 2 (4:21) yeah, yeah. Speaker 1 (4:21) There's a ton of energy, and then Loki comes in, and he's like, I'm here, what's up? Remember, Speaker 2 (4:25) Hawkeye, door opens from both ways. Speaker 1 (4:27) Yes, the Hawkeye's up there, and he's hanging, and he's doing his smoldering face. Give me a Hawkeye smolder. We'll work on that. But then it's like, oh my God, look, something's going on. Loki shows up. He looks not great. Speaker 2 (4:40) And then he has this like insane like death stare and he's like all sweaty and pale and it's somehow still sexy because it's Tom Hiddleston. Oh, we're going Speaker 1 (4:49) that route. Yeah, Speaker 2 (4:49) sorry. It works on me. To Speaker 1 (4:53) each their own. Speaker 2 (4:55) And then he introduces himself and he's like, I am Loki of Speaker 1 (4:58) Asgard. And Speaker 2 (5:00) I've been burdened with Speaker 1 (5:01) glorious purpose. I'll be honest with you. That Speaker 2 (5:04) was a little raspy. Speaker 1 (5:04) It was a little raspy, but I kind of wish I can use burden with glorious purpose for anything in my Speaker 2 (5:10) life. I mean, Speaker 1 (5:11) the only glorious purpose I have been given is like. Speaker 2 (5:14) This podcast! Speaker 1 (5:16) You know what? I love you. Thank you so much for that. That was really great. That was honestly professional. But then, yes, so then Fury's like, you know, whoa, what's going on? We've got to figure out, like, you know, you're taking this. You know, boots and ants and stuff like that are mentioned at different points in time. And then you see Stark, and he's, like, at his new tower, and he's, like, doing stuff. And Speaker 2 (5:33) he's Speaker 1 (5:33) like, whoa, this is so cool. You know, you get 12%. Wait, wait, Speaker 2 (5:36) wait. The title credit. The title credit. He's like, Fury's like, phase two isn't ready, but our enemy is. And then he says something to Maria Hill. and he's like, oh, you know, this, oh, what happened? You're right Speaker 1 (5:47) there. You're right there. You're so close. He Speaker 2 (5:49) said something. Speaker 1 (5:50) As of right now, we are Speaker 3 (5:52) at war. Speaker 1 (5:55) What do Speaker 3 (5:55) we do? Speaker 1 (6:04) Oh my Speaker 2 (6:05) god, it's so epic. Speaker 1 (6:05) The music starts, and Stark is like, he's like doing something underwater, and then he goes into his tower, and it's a new Stark tower, and it's like, oh my god, this is pretty cool. Speaker 2 (6:13) And then Phil shows up. Speaker 1 (6:14) Phil. And Speaker 2 (6:15) then Tony's like, you have reached. I thought his name was Speaker 1 (6:17) Agent, though. Speaker 2 (6:18) Good one. Good one. Good one. Not bad. And then Tony's like, oh, you've reached the life model decoy. Speaker 1 (6:25) That's another Lisa Reg. Speaker 2 (6:26) Very good. You want to tell them about it? Speaker 1 (6:29) I mean, first of all, I will say this. The Easter eggs that these movies are packed with have created just like a basically like a new sector of jobs on the internet where people just scrub and go through and find them and then they make videos and write articles and people like us read them and get excited for it. From there, we find out after, by the way, Loki takes Dr. Selvig, takes Hawkeye. They're under the control of, we haven't even talked about it. The scepter. The scepter. Something else that we didn't talk about, which does play into this part of the movie, is also we have a scene of who was later referred to as the Other talking to an unknown entity saying they got the Chitauri and Loki's coming here. He needs Iridium in order to open a portal, which is going to bring the Chitauri to New York. Speaker 2 (7:15) Yes, and then we get that awesome Germany scene. We Speaker 1 (7:18) do get an awesome Germany scene. For anyone, I don't like touching my eyes. I could do it, but I'm not. Speaker 2 (7:24) I think that's like, honestly, out of everything we've seen. in the MCU, Loki stabbing that poor man with the eyeball thing is so gruesome. Speaker 1 (7:31) It is. And then I will say this, though. Very colorful movie. Because as soon as Tony jumps down and he's got that just star-spangled outfit on, I Speaker 2 (7:40) was Speaker 1 (7:40) just like, that looks nice. Steve jumping down, kind of intercepting the first time we get them together. Speaker 2 (7:46) Also, like, what an entrance. Speaker 1 (7:49) Like, Speaker 2 (7:50) already... Loki having this incredible moment with the old man in Germany and he's like, you know humans crave subjugation It is like your natural state or whatever and then and then he's like at the end you will always kneel and then the guy's like Speaker 1 (8:05) Yeah, the old German dude stood up and he was just like, uh-uh, not me. But he said it, you know, obviously. Speaker 2 (8:09) There are always men like you. That was more British. I don't Speaker 1 (8:13) know who that was. Speaker 2 (8:14) Stop it. And then Steve comes. And then Tony comes with, like, the most epic music. It's just, it's chef's kiss. Speaker 3 (8:22) Mr. Stark. Captain? Speaker 1 (8:25) That's pretty much act one, and I remember watching it and just being like, I'm good if this movie stops now. It already felt fulfilling for me as a fan to watch it. Obviously, it continued. Just Speaker 2 (8:39) seeing Thor and Tony's custody battle over Loki in the forest is so magical. You see them... Because it's like the stepping stones to how Tony's armor also evolves, like the way he uses Thor's lightning later. I love it. I love every bit of it. And then you also get like a little cameo from Odin's ravens, if you look closely. Speaker 1 (9:00) Yeah. Huginn and Muninn, I think? Speaker 2 (9:02) Yes! Speaker 1 (9:03) Is that it? I'm not bad. I'm up to date on my Norse mythology. Is Speaker 2 (9:07) it Speaker 1 (9:07) Huginn Speaker 2 (9:07) or Huggin? Yeah, Speaker 1 (9:08) well, the pronunciation, I could spell it for you. I definitely don't know if I could pronounce it correctly. That's good. But from there, we go into Act 2. And basically, as the Avengers are now kind of together, they've captured Loki. I love the line where Tony says, like, doth mother know you weareth