1<!DOCTYPE html> 2<html lang="en-gb" dir="ltr"> 3 4<head> 5 <a rel="me" href="https://mastodon.social/@mdotblind"></a> 6 <meta charset="utf-8"> 7 <meta http-equiv="x-ua-compatible" content="ie=edge"> 8 <title> 9 RocketBomber 10 </title> 11 12 <!-- Google font API --> 13 <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=PT+Serif:400,400italic,700,700italic"> 14 15 <!-- CSS --> 16 <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://rocketbomber.com/css.php?n=default&t=default" /> 17 18 <!-- ...or you can use (faster) external CSS files e.g. <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://rocketbomber.com/css/default.css"> --> 19 20 <!-- specify meta description if available --> 21 22 <!-- specify meta keywords if available --> 23 24 25 <meta name="generator" content="Textpattern CMS"> 26 <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> 27 28 <!-- specify robots, canonical and author --> 29 30 31 32 <meta name="robots" content="index, follow, noodp, noydir"> 33 34 35 36 <link rel="canonical" href="https://rocketbomber.com/"> 37 38 39 40 <!-- content feeds --> 41 <link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" title="Atom feed" href="https://rocketbomber.com/atom/" /> 42 <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS feed" href="https://rocketbomber.com/rss/" /> 43</head> 44 45 46 47 48 49 <body class="front-page" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/WebPage"> 50 51 52 53 54 55 <!-- header --> 56 <header class="site-header"> 57 58 <a rel="home" href="https://rocketbomber.com/"> 59 <img src="http://rocketbomber.com/images/RB_TopBanner_1000p.png" alt="RocketBomber! If It Explodes, We Like It!â¢" title="RocketBomber! If It Explodes, We Like It!â¢"> 60 </a> 61 62 </header> 63 64 <!-- navigation --> 65 <nav class="site-navigation" aria-label="Navigation" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/SiteNavigationElement"> 66 <div> 67 <ul class="section_list"> 68 <li class="active"> 69 <a itemprop="url" href="https://rocketbomber.com/"> 70 Home 71 </a> 72 </li> 73 74 <li> 75 <a itemprop="url" href="https://rocketbomber.com/articles/"> 76 Articles 77 </a> 78 </li> 79 80 <li> 81 <a itemprop="url" href="https://rocketbomber.com/tag/"> 82 Tags 83 </a> 84 </li> 85 </ul> 86 87 <!-- links by default to form: 'search_input.misc.txp' unless you specify a different form --> 88 <div class="search" aria-label="Search" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/WebSite"> 89 <meta itemprop="url" content="https://rocketbomber.com/"> 90 <form role="search" method="get" action="https://rocketbomber.com/" itemprop="potentialAction" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/SearchAction"> 91 <meta itemprop="target" content="https://rocketbomber.com/?q={q}"> 92 <input name="q" type="search" itemprop="query-input" placeholder="Search"> 93 </form> 94</div> 95 96 </div> 97 </nav> 98 99 <div class="wrapper"> 100 <div class="container"> 101 102 <!-- Main content --> 103 <main aria-label="Main content" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Blog"> 104 105 <!-- is this the search result page? also omits the pagination links below (uses pagination format within search_results.article.txp instead) --> 106 107 108 <!-- else is this an article category list? --> 109 110 111 <!-- else is this an article author list? --> 112 113 114 115 116 <!-- else display articles normally --> 117 118 <!-- links by default to form: 'default.article.txp' unless you specify a different form --> 119 <article class="article" itemprop="blogPost" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/BlogPosting"> 120 121 122 <h4 itemprop="name headline"> 123 <a href="https://rocketbomber.com/2026/07/13/what-if" itemprop="url"> 124 What If. 125 </a> 126 </h4> 127 128 129 <small> 130 <p> 131 <strong> 132 Posted 133 </strong> 134 <time datetime="2026-07-13T14:55:09+0000" itemprop="datePublished"> 135 13 July 2026, 10:55 136 </time> 137 <meta itemprop="dateModified" content="2026-07-13T14:55:09+0000" /> 138<br> 139 140 Tagged: <a href="https://rocketbomber.com/?s=tag&t=marvel+monday" rel="tag">marvel monday</a>, 141<a href="https://rocketbomber.com/?s=tag&t=media+diet" rel="tag">media diet</a>, 142<a href="https://rocketbomber.com/?s=tag&t=multiverse+madness" rel="tag">multiverse madness</a>, 143<a href="https://rocketbomber.com/?s=tag&t=obligatory+sorry-this-post-is-late+post" rel="tag">obligatory sorry-this-post-is-late post</a> 144 145 146 </p> 147 </small> 148 <!-- only display comments count if comments posted, or if new comments allowed --> 149 150 151 152 </p> 153 154 155 <!-- set up a variable to check whether an image also has a caption associated with it... --> 156 157 158<!-- ...now use that image caption and wrap img inside a figure with figcaption tags, otherwise just use a plain img tag --> 159 160 161 <figure itemprop="image" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject"> 162 163 <!-- image - overriding the width and height to let the image scale to fit parent container -->
164 <span itemprop="contentUrl"> 165 <img src="https://rocketbomber.com/images/38.webp" alt="" /> 166 </span> 167 168 <!-- you do not need to specify the attribute type="caption" as that is the default setting for Title card, Disney/Marvel's "What Ifâ¦?" [2021-2024] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10168312/ Copyright, trademark, and all legal doohickies The Walt Disney Company; we're talking about the show so I'm citing Fair Use. tag --> 169 <figcaption itemprop="caption"> 170 Title card, Disney/Marvel's "What Ifâ¦?" [2021-2024] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10168312/ Copyright, trademark, and all legal doohickies The Walt Disney Company; we're talking about the show so I'm citing Fair Use. 171 </figcaption> 172 173 </figure> 174 175 176 177 178 179 <div itemprop="articleBody"> 180 <p><a href="https://rocketbomber.com/2026/06/16/scope-of-work">As Previously Discussed</a>, I’m chewing on the big lump of media that is Marvel (film & TV remix ft. <span class="caps">RDJ</span> et al)<sup class="footnote" id="fnrev2064614306a54fc4d2b432-1"><a href="#fn2064614306a54fc4d2b432-1">1</a></sup> and trying to find a corner of it that I can chip off to talk about. It’s like a huge chocolate Easter bunny except it’s not chocolate, not religious (or adjacent), and much more like a metaphor than a confection. And aside from reading a huge amount of background material on wikipedia<sup class="footnote" id="fnrev2064614306a54fc4d2b432-2"><a href="#fn2064614306a54fc4d2b432-2">2</a></sup><sup class="footnote" id="fnrev2064614306a54fc4d2b432-3"><a href="#fn2064614306a54fc4d2b432-3">3</a></sup> I’ve mostly been slacking on the assignment. This weekend though, I took a few hours to catch up on season 3 of <em>What Ifâ¦?</em>.</p> 181 182<p>The animation is CG and⦠serviceable. If anything, I find it too⦠shiny? One the one hand, they do amazing things with lighting and effects but on the other hand, I’m perfectly fine with animated shows being mostly âflatâ when it comes to color and shadow. The stories are also fine. I do have one quibble: moreso than in season 1 or 2, the inclusion of certain characters seemed to rely not so much on the story they wanted to tell, and much more on which of the big movie actors they could schedule to come in and record voice lines. Weird line-ups and clashing culture is kinda the whole deal with What If, comic or adaptation, but even so I never thought the fate of multiple multiverses depended so heavily on appearances by Alexei Shostakov, The Red Guardian. </p> 183 184<p>One thing I did like was how they continued (and concluded) the âbehind-the-scenesâ storyline that was threaded through all three seasons of What If, getting super meta with âWhat if the Watcher did more than just Watchâ. </p> 185 186<p>Roughly a year ago, the âwhat ifâ banner was taken up by spin-off Marvel Zombies, which is fine for fans of Marvel Zombies but not recommended otherwise. And also last year, Diz+ started airing <em>Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man</em>, which seems like a good use for the tech and talent they’ve accumulated at Marvel Studios Animation. There are 10 episodes in that first season and a second season already on the way, coming this Fall. </p> 187 188<p>âWhat Ifâ has also become, unofficially, the slogan of the whole <span class="caps">MCU</span>. The Multiverseâ¢, the whole focus of the back half of âPhase Fourâ and entirety of âPhase Fiveâ, <em>could have been</em> a way to slowly introduce all the various bits and pieces of a fractured Marvel landscape â fractured because of corporate history and ownership and pre-Disney licensing deals. These bits and pieces don’t <em>have</em> to be part of an all-Disney <span class="caps">MCU</span> but there’s at least one executive or accountant at Disney who very much thinks that just about any tv show or movie will do better, financially, if it <em>is</em> an Official <span class="caps">MCU</span> Story. </p> 189 190<p>Actual implementation of the multiverse? Well…</p> 191 192<p>I really liked the end of the second season of Loki. I haven’t been as enthusiastic about anything with Doctor Strange in it. Multiple Spiders-men was neat, but that movie really should have come out at the end of Phase Six or whatever â a nice dessert, a coda â and n
192ot as the unofficial kick-off of Marvel multiversal madness. And then: Doomsday. I feel like Disney is jumping right into a big Avengers title and team-up but without doing any of the ground work for it. <em>Age of Ultron</em> felt rushed (and didn’t really earn the Avengers badge; <em>Civil War</em> felt more like the Avengers movie of that cycle) but Doomsday almost feels worse. Forced. âWe need an Avengers movie, it’s on the calendarâ</p> 193 194<p>It’ll be fantastic<sup class="footnote" id="fnrev2064614306a54fc4d2b432-4"><a href="#fn2064614306a54fc4d2b432-4">4</a></sup>. The directors, Anthony and Joe Russo, know their way around a big, messy action flick with way too many characters and the actors in the core roles<sup class="footnote" id="fnrev2064614306a54fc4d2b432-5"><a href="#fn2064614306a54fc4d2b432-5">5</a></sup> will no doubt turn in great performances. <span class="caps">RDJ</span>, if he chews enough scenery, will get a best actor nom. None of that actually forgives the context in which Doomsday is being made but I’m looking forward to watching it.<sup class="footnote" id="fnrev2064614306a54fc4d2b432-6"><a href="#fn2064614306a54fc4d2b432-6">6</a></sup></p> 195 196<p>Once all this is put to bed (Phase Seven?), then maybe we get more Marvel alt-history. Until then, well, the question always is: What If. [/mblind]<br /> 197..</p> 198 199<p class="footnote" id="fn2064614306a54fc4d2b432-1"><sup>1</sup> and writing about it, which it seems like everyone else is <em>also</em> doing this summer</p> 200 201<p class="footnote" id="fn2064614306a54fc4d2b432-2"><sup>2</sup> âMarvelâ, or any sufficiently large <em>corpus</em> is almost as much about the metatext as it is the actual text. The stuff that goes on around the thing, and the discussion of the thing. And what counts as canon (spoiler: apparently, to a sufficiently large fraction of âthe fan baseâ — it <span class="caps">ALL</span> counts) </p> 202 203<p class="footnote" id="fn2064614306a54fc4d2b432-3"><sup>3</sup>
203 … so. many. characters. omg. And everyone gets an entry.</p> 204 205<p class="footnote" id="fn2064614306a54fc4d2b432-4"><sup>4</sup> Fantastic Four pun intended</p> 206 207<p class="footnote" id="fn2064614306a54fc4d2b432-5"><sup>5</sup> I’m not even sure which characters might be the mains, here. Other than <span class="caps">RDJ</span> as Doom. Between F4, X-men, Old Avengers, New Avengers, Wakanda, Talokan [MCU’s Namor’s âAtlantisâ], Team Magic, and Team Space* — I’m not even sure what you do with all of those. <em>I’m Guessing</em> that the New Avengers Thunderbolts Flavor and New Avengers Team Sam-is-Captain-America have some sort of clash before coming together as friends and that our Old Avengers (or versions of them) have some sort of clash with both. Still too many characters. I’d rather this was 12 to 16 episodes of television, though the budget on that would never work out at this scale. It has to be big screen. [* <em>I’ll just note, footnote on the footnote, that Nova Corps, Ms. Marvel, & Guardians of the Galaxy seem to be sitting this one out</em> ]</p> 208 209<p class="footnote" id="fn2064614306a54fc4d2b432-6"><sup>6</sup> even if it’s a train wreck. <em>especially</em> if it’s a train wreck?</p> 210 </div> 211 212 <p> 213 </span> 214 </span> 215 216 <!-- only display categories if they are actually set for an article, otherwise omit --> 217 218</p> 219 220 221 <!-- if this is an individual article then add the comments section via form: comments_display.article.txp --> 222 223 224</article> 225<article class="article" itemprop="blogPost" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/BlogPosting"> 226 227 228 <h4 itemprop="name headline"> 229 <a href="https://rocketbomber.com/2026/06/22/monday-a-non-marvel-monday" itemprop="url"> 230 Monday. A non-Marvel Monday. 231 </a> 232 </h4> 233 234 235 <small> 236 <p> 237 <strong> 238 Posted 239 </strong> 240 <time datetime="2026-06-22T13:16:38+0000" itemprop="datePublished"> 241 22 June 2026, 09:16 242 </time> 243 <meta itemprop="dateModified" content="2026-06-22T13:16:38+0000" /> 244<br> 245 246 Tagged: <a href="https://rocketbomber.com/?s=tag&t=digressions+and+asides" rel="tag">digressions and asides</a>, 247<a href="https://rocketbomber.com/?s=tag&t=media+diet" rel="tag">media diet</a>, 248<a href="https://rocketbomber.com/?s=tag&t=obligatory+sorry-this-post-is-late+post" rel="tag">obligatory sorry-this-post-is-late post</a>, 249<a href="https://rocketbomber.com/?s=tag&t=sometimes+it+do+be+like+that" rel="tag">sometimes it do be like that</a> 250 251 252 </p> 253 </small> 254 <!-- only display comments count if comments posted, or if new comments allowed --> 255 256 257 258 </p> 259 260 261 262 <div itemprop="articleBody"> 263 <p>Didn’t manage to write an insightful, nuanced essay this weekend. In fact, I didn’t even do the self-assigned homework:</p> 264 265<p>Instead of Marvel anything, I watched 6 episodes of the new season of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Legend-Vox-Machina-Season/dp/B0GWM48XPB">Vox Machina</a>, more Time Team [in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/TimeTeamOfficial">new</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@TimeTeamClassics">classic</a> flavors] than is recommended in one sitting, and my usual assortment of music documentaries, comfort youtube, and subscriptions. </p> 266 267<p>Season 4 of Vox Machina concludes with another 3ep drop this Wednesday, so I can finish up the back half of that. I don’t necessarily feel compelled to write an insightful, nuanced essay on Vox or Critical Role or their burgeoning but still tiny <span class="caps">RPG</span> & content empire; like the Simpson’s Meme says, â<strong>I just think they’re neat.</strong>â</p> 268 269<p>I’ll just assume most of us haven’t retired yet and still have to put in the 40 hours a week in education or employment, so like me, y’all can find it difficult to make room for a big media property. If you’re lucky, you have a partner with similar tastes in popular entertainment and you’
269ve set aside at least one evening a week to watch âyour thingâ âmaybe a big binge (<em>say, a Deep Space 9 rewatch</em>), or current premier cable thing (<em>House of the Dragon, whatever’s on Apple TV</em>), or Friday movie night, or whichever of The Office/Scrubs/Law&Order/Cheers and/or Frasier<sup class="footnote" id="fnrev12350725656a3d2283da79a-1"><a href="#fn12350725656a3d2283da79a-1">1</a></sup> is your particular comfort re-watch. It is easy to get into routines and maybe harder to find room for The New Thing unless the new thing is definitely your jam. It’s why so much of a movie’s budget is marketing âtrying to break through, first, through the general background noise and then through the general apathy. </p> 270 271<p>The <em>more</em> there is of something, too, the harder it can be to convince someone to pick it up. â<em>What? There are </em>three<em> movies in that trilogy? Ugh.</em>â </p> 272 273<p>A lot of folks bounce off of Marvel and Star Wars because of the âmoreâ aspect of them.<sup class="footnote" id="fnrev12350725656a3d2283da79a-2"><a href="#fn12350725656a3d2283da79a-2">2</a></sup> Even setting to one side the Netflix and <span class="caps">ABC</span> tv shows, on Disney+ there have been <em>sixteen</em> different shows, some with multiple seasons, some that are sequels to other shows, with something like 6 or 8 episodes each. I’ve previously noted the number of movies.<sup class="footnote" id="fnrev12350725656a3d2283da79a-3"><a href="#fn12350725656a3d2283da79a-3">3</a></sup> There is just a whole lot of Marvel and post 2012’s <em>Avengers</em> there’s no good jumping-on point.<sup class="footnote" id="fnrev12350725656a3d2283da79a-4"><a href="#fn12350725656a3d2283da79a-4">4</a></sup> </p> 274 275<p>Well… ok there probably is one. I’m looking for it. So I can watch it and write the first Marvel Monday column. But it looks like that’ll take me at least one more week. [/mblind]</p> 276 277<p>..</p> 278 279<p class="footnote" id="fn12350725656a3d2283da79a-1"><sup>1</sup> other acceptable answers include Gilmore Girls, Buffy, Friends, Sherlock Holmes but only the Jeremy Brett Granada Television/PBS Mystery ones, Just about Anything Else in that British-by-way-of-<span class="caps">PBS</span>-Mystery pipeline [I should do a Poirot rewatch], and M*A*S*H</p> 280 281<p class="footnote" id="fn12350725656a3d2283da79a-2"><sup>2</sup> And the grognard fans, but that’s a different topic/problem/essay.</p> 282 283<p class="footnote" id="fn12350725656a3d2283da79a-3"><sup>3</sup> 37 âofficialâ <span class="caps">MCU</span> movies, out of more like 70 Marvel adaptations total (not including TV; these are additional movies) which is complicated by the pre-2008 Marvel adaptations, three different studios with different pre-Disney licensing deals for huge fractions of the story universe and the whole âcomic bookâ origins of the thing. We’re barely scratching the surface of comic shenanigans: Time-line variants and a fractured or fracturing multiverse to deal with. Also, with Doomsday, we are about one movie away from a (likely) huge retcon and maybe two to three movies away from Diz hitting the big red <span class="caps">MCU</span> reset button.</p> 284 285<p class="footnote" id="fn12350725656a3d2283da79a-4"><sup>4</sup> The Winter Soldier [2014] is damn fine movie and works as a stand-alone. Spider-man outside of Diz, the new Sony Tom Holland Spideysâthose are pretty good, but I don’t like how heavily they lean on Iron Man (or his ghost). The upcoming Spider-man movie [31 July 2026] may actually be a clean, soft ârebootâ but we’ll have to wait and see. Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man (either 1st movie in those arcs) can be decent on-ramps but feel more like cul-de-sacs, each off in their own pocket. Great introductions to odd-ball Marvel characters and each with a trilogy âbut side stories. There’s even a weird side entrance where you come in watching WandaVision on Disney+ and that leads to a whole set of movie choices that center the Magical-Mystical and Ms. Marvel and that’s a <em>fantastic</em>
285 essay waiting to be written but Diz kneecapped me by putting the conclusion, Vision Quest, on the schedule for fucking <em>December</em>. Like, right before Doomsday. I don’t think there’s even a plot/movie/tie-in reason, they just needed a show in Q4. I’ve been looking for some other place to put the wedge. It’s taking a minute. </p> 286 </div> 287 288 <p> 289 </span> 290 </span> 291 292 <!-- only display categories if they are actually set for an article, otherwise omit --> 293 294</p> 295 296 297 <!-- if this is an individual article then add the comments section via form: comments_display.article.txp --> 298 299 300</article> 301<article class="article" itemprop="blogPost" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/BlogPosting"> 302 303 304 <h4 itemprop="name headline"> 305 <a href="https://rocketbomber.com/2026/06/16/scope-of-work" itemprop="url"> 306 Scope of work. 307 </a> 308 </h4> 309 310 311 <small> 312 <p> 313 <strong> 314 Posted 315 </strong> 316 <time datetime="2026-06-16T15:13:33+0000" itemprop="datePublished"> 317 16 June 2026, 11:13 318 </time> 319 <meta itemprop="dateModified" content="2026-06-16T15:13:33+0000" /> 320<br> 321 322 Tagged: <a href="https://rocketbomber.com/?s=tag&t=after+10+end+notes+it%E2%80%99s+probably+time+to+stop+writing+for+the+day" rel="tag">after 10 end notes itâs probably time to stop writing for the day</a>, 323<a href="https://rocketbomber.com/?s=tag&t=marvel+monday" rel="tag">marvel monday</a>, 324<a href="https://rocketbomber.com/?s=tag&t=media+diet" rel="tag">media diet</a>, 325<a href="https://rocketbomber.com/?s=tag&t=new+starts" rel="tag">new starts</a>, 326<a href="https://rocketbomber.com/?s=tag&t=writing+about+writing" rel="tag">writing about writing</a> 327 328 329 </p> 330 </small> 331 <!-- only display comments count if comments posted, or if new comments allowed --> 332 333 334 335 </p> 336 337 338 <!-- set up a variable to check whether an image also has a caption associated with it... --> 339 340 341<!-- ...now use that image caption and wrap img inside a figure with figcaption tags, otherwise just use a plain img tag --> 342 343 344 <figure itemprop="image" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject"> 345 346 <!-- image - overriding the width and height to let the image scale to fit parent container --> 347 <span itemprop="contentUrl"> 348 <img src="https://rocketbomber.com/images/37.jpg" alt="" /> 349 </span> 350 351 <!-- you do not need to specify the attribute type="caption" as that is the default setting for Old celluloid film rolls. 28 October 2010, Marcel Oosterwijk from Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_celluloid_film_rolls_(5201105455).jpg tag --> 352 <figcaption itemprop="caption"> 353 Old celluloid film rolls. 28 October 2010, Marcel Oosterwijk from Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_celluloid_film_rolls_(5201105455).jpg 354 </figcaption> 355 356 </figure> 357 358 359 360 361 362 <div itemprop="articleBody"> 363 <p>The proposed column, if we can call it that, is titled Marvel <em>Mondays</em>. Let’s see just how many that’s going to be.</p> 364 365<p>Less, now; checking my notes, I first had the idea for Marvel Mondays back in February. That certainly would have been a more comprehensive look at the <span class="caps">MCU</span>, and actually I’m kind of glad I kicked that can month after month, because even though I like Marvel well enough (at least when the ask is only 3-4 movie tickets a year) I don’t know that I want to write that much about capes. Doomsday will premiere on 18 Dec and [*checking calendar*] hm. That’ll still be half a year. 26 Mondays between now and then.</p> 366 367<p>There’s certainly enough source material â somewhere between 35 and 70 âofficialâ movies, depending on how you want to count the various takes on the Fantastic Four and all the X-Men (once outside direct Diz control but since purchased along with Fox) and of course the Sony Spiders. Reddit, being Reddit, has <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/marvelstudios/comments/1qd091p/a_list_of_all_movies_and_shows/">a thread</a> offering a <em>multitude</em> of takes, whether you want âofficialâ or not or Disney+-TV-show-inclusive or not â or diagetic chronological, or movie release order. </p> 368 369<p>I’m not exactly up for tackling a full rewatch of seven seasons of <em>Agents of <span class="caps">SHIELD</span></em>,<sup class="footnote" id="fnrev6099582166a3d221817fa6-1"><a href="#fn6099582166a3d221817fa6-1">1</a></sup> to cite one of the more peripheral works, though the 12 episodes of Loki (besides <em>totally</em> being worth a rewatch) are probably a bit more central to whatever multiversal shenanigans gives us a <span class="caps">RDJ</span> Doom to start with. Also it’s hard to skip Phase 1 though I kind of want to skip Phase 1<sup class="footnote" id="fnrev6099582166a3d221817fa6-2"><a href="#fn6099582166a3d221817fa6-2">2</a></sup> and even in the Big Team-Up Avengers Movies, not everyone is a starter, you know
369what I mean? Some capes could have stayed on the bench.<sup class="footnote" id="fnrev6099582166a3d221817fa6-3"><a href="#fn6099582166a3d221817fa6-3">3</a></sup></p> 370 371<p>I don’t really want to dig for Doomsday spoilers to see which parts of the <span class="caps">MCU</span> are going to be relevant, so we’ll have to make educated guesses. I also don’t want this to break down, stop being fun, and become just a homework assignment, so we’ll visit with some favorites in the <span class="caps">MCU</span> even if they aren’t going to be Doom-relevant.<sup class="footnote" id="fnrev6099582166a3d221817fa6-4"><a href="#fn6099582166a3d221817fa6-4">4</a></sup> </p> 372 373<p>Let’s consider some big blocks. What the columns might actually cover.</p> 374 375<ul> 376 <li>Captain America: The First Avenger, Agent Carter, & What If…</li> 377 <li>Winter Soldier, Civil War, Black Widow</li> 378 <li>Ant-Man, Ant-Man and the Wasp, and (with regret) Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania</li> 379 <li>Comedy and Capes: Guardians, Ragnarok, Love & Thunder, Deadpool.</li> 380 <li>Infinity War & Endgame</li> 381 <li>The <span class="caps">MCU</span> Spidey<sup class="footnote" id="fnrev6099582166a3d221817fa6-5"><a href="#fn6099582166a3d221817fa6-5">5</a></sup></li> 382 <li>The Sony Spiders<sup class="footnote" id="fnrev6099582166a3d221817fa6-6"><a href="#fn6099582166a3d221817fa6-6">6</a></sup></li> 383 <li>The Netflix Diversion<sup class="footnote" id="fnrev6099582166a3d221817fa6-7"><a href="#fn6099582166a3d221817fa6-7">7</a></sup></li> 384 <li>Ultron. Eternals. Inhumans. Dancing around the X-men.</li> 385 <li>OK, fine: Let’s talk about X-Men. [X-Men, X2, Last Stand]</li> 386 <li>Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings<sup class="footnote" id="fnrev6099582166a3d221817fa6-8"><a href="#fn6099582166a3d221817fa6-8">8</a></sup></li> 387 <li>Loki and the <span class="caps">TVA</span></li> 388 <li>The other time travel movie: First Class & Future Past</li> 389 <li>Doctor Strange, Spider-Man: No Way Home, & Multiverse of Madness</li> 390 <li>Capt. Marvel & Miss Marvel & The Marvels</li> 391 <li>Not <em>Quite</em> Captain America: Brave New World & Thunderbolts*</li> 392 <li>OK, fine: Let’s talk about Agents of <span class="caps">SHIELD</span></li> 393 <li>Revisiting Iron Man: Back to where we started</li> 394 <li>The Fantastic Four: First Steps</li> 395 <li>Wanda Vision & VisionQuest<sup class="footnote" id="fnrev6099582166a3d221817fa6-9"><a href="#fn6099582166a3d221817fa6-9">9</a></sup></li> 396</ul> 397 398<p>There are other corners I’d love to revisit, like <em>Moon Knight</em>, and there’s enough slack in the schedule that I might just do that. And some of the topics I’ve listed above might have to be split into two parts (or might demand a sequel). This isn’t a promise, or a contract<sup class="footnote" id="fnrev6099582166a3d221817fa6-10"><a href="#fn6099582166a3d221817fa6-10">10</a></sup>, but is the current plan. We’ll have to wait and see how much I actually have to say about Marvel. [/mblind] </p> 399 400<p>..</p> 401 402<p class="footnote" id="fn6099582166a3d221817fa6-1"><sup>1</sup> I tapped out at the end of season 4 when it was first airing; I suppose I should get around to the rest <em>someday</em> but other that a rewatch of the Ghostrider arc, I’m not feeling it, ya know?</p> 403 404<p class="footnote" id="fn6099582166a3d221817fa6-2"><sup>2</sup> <em>Iron Man</em> in 2008 was 18 years ago; <em>Avengers</em> (the first one), six films and just 4 years after that. We’ve had a long time with those particular films and those versions of these heroes. Here: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjNdvDY5M38">Overly Sarcastic Productions â Detail Diatribe: The Lost Art of Marvel’s Phase 1</a> [1hr43min]. Better than I can do it and probably not the last time we’ll cite a take from Red & Blue </p> 405 406<p class="footnote" id="fn6099582166a3d221817fa6-3"><sup>3</sup> I’m not saying the Guardians of the Galaxy don’t really belong in an Avengers movie but they had to bend over backward <em>and</em> tie Thanos directly into those films (& two main GotG characters) to get that inclusion to work. It could have been more of a Captain Marvel thing, is what I’m saying. </p> 407 408<p class="footnote" id="fn6099582166a3d221817fa6-4"><sup>4</sup> <em>especially</em> if they aren’t relevant. </p> 409 410<p class="footnote" id="fn6099582166a3d221817fa6-5"><sup>5</sup> Tom Holland, basically. His Spidey is more than just behind-the-scenes studio negotiations but we’ll cover what’
410s on screen and just a little bit of that Sony-Disney dance.</p> 411 412<p class="footnote" id="fn6099582166a3d221817fa6-6"><sup>6</sup> basically an excuse to watch the rest, including the two Miles outings. And make fun of Morbius and Madame Web. why not.</p> 413 414<p class="footnote" id="fn6099582166a3d221817fa6-7"><sup>7</sup> <strong>I</strong> <span class="caps">CAN</span>’T cover all the seasons but we’ll talk about âstreet-levelâ Marvel, the crossovers and about Matt, who seems to be Disney’s Favorite Defender. </p> 415 416<p class="footnote" id="fn6099582166a3d221817fa6-8"><sup>8</sup> I think we need to go back and re-watch this one (or watch it) and find the place for it.</p> 417 418<p class="footnote" id="fn6099582166a3d221817fa6-9"><sup>9</sup> Can’t cover VisionQuest until December</p> 419 420<p class="footnote" id="fn6099582166a3d221817fa6-10"><sup>10</sup> totally non-binding, not enforceable </p> 421 </div> 422 423 <p> 424 </span> 425 </span> 426 427 <!-- only display categories if they are actually set for an article, otherwise omit --> 428 429</p> 430 431 432 <!-- if this is an individual article then add the comments section via form: comments_display.article.txp --> 433 434 435</article> 436<article class="article" itemprop="blogPost" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/BlogPosting"> 437 438 439 <h4 itemprop="name headline"> 440 <a href="https://rocketbomber.com/2026/06/12/habits" itemprop="url"> 441 Habits. 442 </a> 443 </h4> 444 445 446 <small> 447 <p> 448 <strong> 449 Posted 450 </strong> 451 <time datetime="2026-06-12T16:03:19+0000" itemprop="datePublished"> 452 12 June 2026, 12:03 453 </time> 454 <meta itemprop="dateModified" content="2026-06-12T16:03:19+0000" /> 455<br> 456 457 458 </p> 459 </small> 460 <!-- only display comments count if comments posted, or if new comments allowed --> 461 462 463 464 </p> 465 466 467 <!-- set up a variable to check whether an image also has a caption associated with it... --> 468 469 470<!-- ...now use that image caption and wrap img inside a figure with figcaption tags, otherwise just use a plain img tag --> 471 472 473 <figure itemprop="image" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject"> 474 475 <!-- image - overriding the width and height to let the image scale to fit parent container --> 476 <span itemprop="contentUrl"> 477 <img src="https://rocketbomber.com/images/36.png" alt="Dynasoar Spaceplanes" /> 478 </span> 479 480 <!-- you do not need to specify the attribute type="caption" as that is the default setting for https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dyna_Soar_launchers.png, Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar with proposed launch system variants tag --> 481 <figcaption itemprop="caption"> 482 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dyna_Soar_launchers.png, Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar with proposed launch system variants 483 </figcaption> 484 485 </figure> 486 487 488 489 490 491 <div itemprop="articleBody"> 492 <p>Like many folksâeven folks who have been online for decades and grew up on, in, and involved with many different iterations of âInternetââI find myself spending a lot of time on social media.</p> 493 494<p>To my detriment. Social media<sup class="footnote" id="fnrev14422246946a2c2dc7e691d-1"><a href="#fn14422246946a2c2dc7e691d-1">1</a></sup> is momentarily engaging and gives the illusion of being both connected and informed, but it’s not good for the attention span and I feel like I’m running in circles, chasing my tail some mornings. Do I need 15 takes on Bad Thing⢠before I’ve had my coffee. Do I really need to know how The Main Character of the Day⢠messed up so badly that they became the main character of the day.</p> 495 496<p>The link to the article editor in the back-end of my <span class="caps">CMS</span> sits on my bookmarks bar, just five little icons away from the Bluesky butterfly, and is just as easy to click. Except I never do, these days.<sup class="footnote" id="fnrev14422246946a2c2dc7e691d-2"><a href="#fn14422246946a2c2dc7e691d-2">2</a></sup> Blogging <em>can be</em> just as valid an outlet for my errant thoughts, and this editing window on a monitor could just as easily be my sidekick and companion during the workday, instead of the endless doomscroll on the phone. Blogging used to be the way most of us shared things online. Well, âmostâ in this case being the folks who had stepped away from early Facebook and hadn’t yet been trapped by Instagram. Or Twitter. </p> 497 498<p><strong>Why</strong> did we blog? It was the thing to do, for a time.</p> 499 500<p>There were all kinds of blogs, back in the day (insert your slightly out-of-focus, sepia toned memories from 2006 here) and while some blogs grew (into news sites or fan sites or âcontentâ) a lot of blogs just⦠stopped. No fault, no blame; and I know exactly how it is. We have limited time and attention, and as the internet mutated and developed and grew several new appendages, other bits of the internet figured out how to grab more of that limited time. The itch to share could easily be scratched elsewhere, and the back-and-forth conversation and community found new places to roost.<sup class="footnote" id="fnrev14422246946a2c2dc7e691d-3"><a href="#fn14422246946a2c2dc7e691d-3">3</a></sup> </p> 501 502<p>This blog [rocketbomber.com] was always a bit of a shambles, without a focus for most of its existence and slowly becoming a bookselling-and-publishing adjacent space because I was employed as a bookseller at the time. That’s what I felt like writing about, the rabbit holes I’d dive into. It shouldn’t have survived.</p> 503 504<p>It persists because I do â and because I’m spending the $21 a month (plus annual domain registration fees) to keep this and the rest of my Online Empire intact. Mostly because a couple of those .coms I own have email addresses attached (also, now, 20 years old) and I can’t really afford to ever let those go.</p> 505 506<p>And so. The Blog, this blog, sits there unused. A elegant relic of a more civilized age.</p> 507 508<p>Oh, I suppose I <em>do</em> get the old dog out of its comfy bed for a quick walk around the internet, every now and then. When I’m feeling nostalgic about the blogging-internet-that-was or when the social media platform <em>du jour</em> is either in full melt down or does something so egregious we all threaten to leave in a huff. </p> 509 510<p>Occasionally I have something genuine I’d like to share, or a flag I want to run up a mast, and having the blog as that placeâmy placeâonline has been a comfort.</p> 511 512<p>I still have plans. I will likely open a new storefront on Internet Street (metaphorically speaking, and mentioned on the blog previously) where I can share my game design stuff<sup class="footnote" id="fnrev14422246946a2c2dc7e691d-4"><a href="#fn14422246946a2c2dc7e691d-4">4</a></sup> and as the design ideas grow into games and resources and physical objects, that’ll be the home and space for <em>that</em> portion of my creative output. But I’m also getting an itch<sup class="footnote" id="fnrev14422246946a2c2dc7e691d-5"><a href="#fn14422246946a2c2dc7e691d-5">5</a></sup> to do some long-form writing on media. Given what I like, âmediaâ means TV and movies, and more sci-fi (and superheroes) than not. I could wrack my brain for a new <span class="caps">URL</span> and blog title for writing about sci-fi but I’ve done that, I did that (<em>all</em> the way back in 2008) and the brand I came up with then will serve admirably now: Rocketbomber. The shout the anguished anime protagonist makes as they launch their mecha special move, and more prosaically, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-20_Dyna-Soar">Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar <span class="caps">III</span></a>, the original RoBo [rocket bomber] program. </p> 513 514<p>I’ll be starting with some âMarvel Mondaysâ, mostly just my thoughts as I rewatch various bits of the Disney/Marvel <em>corpus</em> ahead of the December premiere of Doomsday. And after we’re all well and truly sick of Marvel, I’ll probably shift over to Mythic Mondays, as we plumb the back catalogue for 80s sword & sorcery & fantasy flicks, and then to more generic Movie Mondays (if I have to) after we run out of schlock fantasy.</p> 515 516<p>The trick, to both projects, is to step away from the time-sinks, and get back into the writing habit. [/mblind]</p> 517 518<p>..</p> 519 520<p class="footnote" id="fn14422246946a2c2dc7e691d-1"><sup>1</sup> primarily Bluesky, in my case: the methadone of the reformed twitter user</p> 521 522<p class="footnote" id="fn14422246946a2c2dc7e691d-2"><sup>2</sup> current exception, ah, noted.</p> 523 524<p class="footnote" id="fn14422246946a2c2dc7e691d-3"><sup>3</sup> Mostly discord, these days? I think?</p> 525 526<p class="footnote" id="fn14422246946a2c2dc7e691d-4"><sup>4</sup> OH <span class="caps">LOOK</span> an actual topic to hang a blog on! what a crazy happy idea! </p> 527 528<p class="footnote" id="fn14422246946a2c2dc7e691d-5"><sup>5</sup> an itch social media <em>can’t</em> scratch. and no, I don’t want to make a YouTube channel about it either.</p> 529 </div> 530 531 <p> 532 </span> 533 </span> 534 535 <!-- only display categories if they are actually set for an article, otherwise omit --> 536 537</p> 538 539 540 <!-- if this is an individual article then add the comments section via form: comments_display.article.txp --> 541 542 543</article> 544<article class="article" itemprop="blogPost" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/BlogPosting"> 545 546 547 <h4 itemprop="name headline"> 548 <a href="https://rocketbomber.com/2026/04/09/striking-cold-iron" itemprop="url"> 549 Striking cold iron 550 </a> 551 </h4> 552 553 554 <small> 555 <p> 556 <strong> 557 Posted 558 </strong> 559 <time datetime="2026-04-09T12:50:37+0000" itemprop="datePublished"> 560 9 April 2026, 08:50 561 </time> 562 <meta itemprop="dateModified" content="2026-04-09T12:50:37+0000" /> 563<br> 564 565 566 </p> 567 </small> 568 <!-- only display comments count if comments posted, or if new comments allowed --> 569 570 571 572 </p> 573 574 575 <!-- set up a variable to check whether an image also has a caption associated with it... --> 576 577 578<!-- ...now use that image caption and wrap img inside a figure with figcaption tags, otherwise just use a plain img tag --> 579 580 581 <figure itemprop="image" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject"> 582 583 <!-- image - overriding the width and height to let the image scale to fit parent container -->
584 <span itemprop="contentUrl"> 585 <img src="https://rocketbomber.com/images/34.png" alt="" /> 586 </span> 587 588 <!-- you do not need to specify the attribute type="caption" as that is the default setting for Sibley College of the Cornell University was featured in Cassier's Magazine, December 1891. This photo of the Blacksmith Shop appeared on page 110. This is a cropped version of the image available at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sibley_College_-_Blacksmith_Shop_-_Cassier%27s_1891-12.png, public domain. tag --> 589 <figcaption itemprop="caption"> 590 Sibley College of the Cornell University was featured in Cassier's Magazine, December 1891. This photo of the Blacksmith Shop appeared on page 110. This is a cropped version of the image available at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sibley_College_-_Blacksmith_Shop_-_Cassier%27s_1891-12.png, public domain. 591 </figcaption> 592 593 </figure> 594 595 596 597 598 599 <div itemprop="articleBody"> 600 <p>Things don’t always go as planned, and in this case (even with a domain name purchased and a fair amount of intention) we don’t always get the online name we might want. It’s an old story; I wanted to call my very first blog Parenthetical Aside (<em>lol. so young. so naive.</em>) but of course that was, like, everyone’s first pick for a blog name, even back in the early early 2000s.</p> 601 602<p>So I’ve edited the announcement to reflect that. We are now going with [*New Blog Name To Be Determined], which is a lovely placeholder. </p> 603 604<p>The name I had intended to use (the midnight cartographer) is now apparently a new series of middle-grade fantasy books, and that’s on top of a pre-existing YouTube channel, a âcinematic alternative rockâ artist on Bandcamp, and the <em>other</em> series of middle-grade fantasy books that was self published a couple of years ago. The space is getting a little crowded. So far I’m only out around $15 for the domain name registration, which I’ll just not renew at this point, and we’ll go for an easy re-brand.</p> 605 606<p>When? And with a new blog, does that mean no more updates to the venerable RocketBomber? <em>I guess we will see…</em></p> 607 </div> 608 609 <p> 610 </span> 611 </span> 612 613 <!-- only display categories if they are actually set for an article, otherwise omit --> 614 615</p> 616 617 618 <!-- if this is an individual article then add the comments section via form: comments_display.article.txp --> 619 620 621</article> 622 623 624 625 626 627 628 <!-- add pagination links to foot of article listings/category listings/author listings if there are more articles available, 629 this method is more flexible than using simple txp:link_to_prev/txp:link_to_next or txp:older/txp:newer tags --> 630 631 632 633 634 635 <p class="paginator"> 636 637 638 639 640 <a rel="next" href="https://rocketbomber.com/?pg=2"> 641 Older 642 </a> 643 644 </p> 645 646 647 648 649 </main> 650 651 <!-- Complementary content --> 652 <aside class="complementary-content"> 653 654 <!-- feed links, default flavor is RSS, so we don't need to specify a flavor on the first feed_link --> 655 <p> 656 <a type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS feed" href="https://rocketbomber.com/rss/">RSS</a> 657 / 658 <a type="application/atom+xml" title="Atom feed" href="https://rocketbomber.com/atom/">Atom</a> 659 660 <!-- if links exist, renders a links list --> 661 662 663 664 <section> 665 <!-- links by default to form: 'plainlinks.link.txp' unless you specify a different form --> 666 <!-- This is being used as an external links form, therefore rel is set to 'external' --> 667<a rel="external" href="http://rocketbomber.com/2017/10/21/about-the-blog">About the Blog.</a> 668<br /> 669<!-- This is being used as an external links form, therefore rel is set to 'external' --> 670<a rel="external" href="http://rocketbomber.com/nope.html">Find Matt on Facebook</a> 671<br /> 672<!-- This is being used as an external links form, therefore rel is set to 'external' --> 673<a rel="external" href="https://mastodon.social/@mdotblind">Find Matt on Mastodon/Federated Networks</a> 674<br /> 675<!-- This is being used as an external links form, therefore rel is set to 'external' --> 676<a rel="external" href="https://bsky.app/profile/mdotblind.bsky.social">Find Matt on Bluesky</a> 677<br /> 678<!-- This is being used as an external links form, therefore rel is set to 'external' --> 679<a rel="external" href="http://archive.rocketbomber.com/">Old site: now at archive.rocketbomber.com</a> 680<br /> 681<!-- This is being used as an external links form, therefore rel is set to 'external' --> 682<a rel="external" href="http://archive.rocketbomber.com/mmf">Old site: Manga Moveable Feasts</a> 683<br /> 684<!-- This is being used as an external links form, therefore rel is set to 'external' --> 685<a rel="external" href="http://ko-fi.com/mblind">drop me a tip at Ko-Fi</a> 686 687 <p> 688 </section> 689 690 691 </aside> 692 693 </div> <!-- /.container --> 694 </div> <!-- /.wrapper --> 695 696 <!-- footer --> 697 <footer class="site-footer"> 698 <p> 699 <small> 700Words from M.Blind, licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">
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