Fable & The Verbivore

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Episode 145: Marvel Character Arcs

Bethany Stedman

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Ep 145: Marvel Character Arcs Fable & The Verbivore

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Today, Fable and the Verbivore continue our exploration of Marvel storytelling by character change over time in these films.

Contains Spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame

In this episode, we talk about the idea of setting your characters on a path and giving them somewhere to go. The example character arcs we use are Steve Rogers and Tony Stark, who have arcs that basically cross each other. The self-sacrificing to a fault Captain America finally gets a life of his own, and the ego-driven narcissist Ironman makes the sacrificial play knowing at each point in the Endgame journey what it will likely cost him.

We include several other lessons from Marvel storytelling regarding character progression using a variety of examples across the films. Such as:

  • Yondu in Guardians of the Galaxy who goes from an antagonist to an unlikely father figure

  • The evolution of Nebula and Gamora’s rocky and complicated sibling relationship across the Guardians and late Avenger films

  • Natasha’s journey from the opening of Black Widow to Endgame - Starting out as a child who is taken from her family, stripped of her power, and forced to become an assassin. Becoming a hero who is a sort of matriarch in a found family and makes the choice to sacrifice her life in the hopes of bringing back those they’ve lost

  • The Endgame fight on Vormir between Natasha and Clint who care deeply about one another, each of them willing to sacrifice everything for the other

  • The journey of Dr. Steven Strange, who starts out at the top of his game - but is arrogant and self-centered - and systematically has everything stripped away

  • The fantastic establishing of a relationship between T’Challa and his father in just a few minutes in Civil War, and then revealing nuanced facets of his character and setting up additional character relationship dynamics in the opening scenes of Black Panther

Towards the end, we talk about having meat on the bones of characters. That Marvel doesn’t tend to just make a choice and superficially assign it to a character, they dig into what their experiences combined with their personality would do to them. We discuss how Clint’s loss of his entire family from the snap is framed in the opening scene of Endgame, along with who that pain has changed him into over time. The writers hold back Clint as Ronin for a while, but we get hints from dialogue that help to establish a sense of dread in the audience.

We hope you enjoy this episode! We’re enjoying digging into Marvel and what their stories do.

Keep reading, writing, and putting your voice out there!

Into the woods,

Fable & The Verbivore

Notes:

Here are some articles and videos that we found helpful in preparation for this conversation:

At one point, we dig into how Steve starts out willing to lay down his life for others, from the moment he jumps on the fake grenade we know who he is and in the end of the film he gives up his dreams (a dance with Peggy) to save the world. The Verbivore mentions a quote from the writers of Infinity War and Endgame. The full quote is:

  • “And that’s why [Captain America] can’t die in this movie, because he was willing to die in the first one. That’s not a journey.”

The Verbivore references a quote by Tony Stark in The Avengers where he realizes his similarities with Loki. Here is that full quote:

  • “He wants to beat us and he wants to be seen doing it. He wants an audience.... Loki's a full-tilt diva. He wants flowers, he wants parades, he wants a monument built in the skies with his name plastered…[realizes he’s describing Stark Tower] Son of a b*tch.”

We talk about the intersection between Rocket and Yondu’s characters in the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, when they have a moment that digs into what’s going on inside of them. Here is that full dialogue exchange:

  • Yondu : You can fool yourself and everyone else, but you can't fool me. I know who you are.

    Rocket : You don't know anything about me, loser.

    Yondu : I know everything about you. I know you play like you're the meanest and the hardest but actually you're the most scared of all.

    Rocket : Shut up!

    Yondu : I know you steal batteries you don't need and you push away anyone who's willing to put up with you 'cause just a little bit of love reminds you of how big and empty that hole inside you actually is.

    Rocket : I said shut up!

    Yondu : I know them scientists what made you, never gave a rat's ass about you!

    Rocket : I'm serious, dude!

    Yondu : Just like my own damn parents who sold me, their own little baby, into slavery. I know who you are, boy. Because you're me!

    Rocket : ...What kind of a pair are we?

    Yondu : The kind that's about to go fight a planet, I reckon.

    Rocket : All right, okay! Good, that's... Wait. Fight a what?

We also talk about the opening of Black Panther that sets up the relationship dynamics between T’Challa and his friends and family. Here is a snippet of that dialogue:

  • Okoye : Just don't freeze when you see her.

    T'Challa : What are taking about? I never freeze.

    Later

  • Shuri : Did he freeze?

    Okoye : Like an antelope in headlights.

    T’Challa : Are you finished?

Books, Movies, and Graphic Novels Mentioned:

Music from: https://filmmusic.io
‘Friendly day’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
Licence: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)