Entertainment Weekly: This doesn’t exactly fit, but I thought a little bit of the Amish. The Jabari have a separate, traditional culture within a modern one. But then, the Jabari don’t lack technology. Winston Duke: Yeah, they’re not against technology. They’re against Vibranium. Their society is based around Jabari wood.
EW: That’s what we see decorating M’Baku’s throne room. WD: Yeah, this is something we didn’t get to interrogate deeply in the film, but everything for them is based around this Jabari wood that comes from this sacred tree. Everything in Jabari land is made out of this sacred wood that can essentially go toe-to-toe with a Vibranium sword or a Vibranium weapon because it’s this tempered, strong, treated wood.
EW: But it has its own mythology… WD: They believe it was given to them by Hanuman, the ape god. Meanwhile, the people of Wakanda will say, “No, it’s actually the Vibranium that’s seeped into the wood. That makes it stronger.” [Laughs] You have this whole divergence of ideas. They’re quite technologically sophisticated but it’s based around wood. Meanwhile, Wakanda proper is technologically advanced based around Vibranium. That’s kind of where they get separated, but it’s still the same house.
EW: What does M’Baku really want, deep down? WD: Where’s Wakanda going? How are they going to do that? T’Chaka (John Kani) is dead. I didn’t like the direction he was taking the country and now his son is going to take the throne, all these people have been asleep letting these people take control of the country for all these years, and we’ve just been watching from the mountains being like, “This isn’t right. My people have to live, they got to survive.” Instead of him just being this ostentatious dude who’s running around in a gorilla fur costume, he’s this guy who has deep attachments and needs. You can understand, “If I was in that position, I think I would have to make a similar choice.”
EW: M’Baku is a showman. WD: He is. He’s proud and he’s big, and he is a showman. It’s the idea that if I’m going to challenge and take over this country, I’m going to do it with honor and I’m going to do it in front of everyone the right way. I’m not going to use some subversive tactic to take over the country the way other people could.
EW:He does this chant, a kind of grunt that silences people. He’s frightening, and then immediately funny. He knows how to weaponize his demeanor. WD: It’s super fun to play, and we created the entire culture. The Jabari, similar to the Dora Milaje, believe in the oneness. When he speaks, he speaks in a “we,” but he doesn’t talk as a royal “we.” When he says “we,” it’s really we, like me and my people. That means a lot to him. When he speaks of the Jabari, he speaks of them as one.
Shuri gets wind that T’Challa is considered a sex icon and immediately dedicates her social media presence to videos and pics of T’Challa that disprove that Erroneous opinion
Shuri sprinting away after she posts a video of T’Challa dropping a muffin on the floor, looking around, and picking it up to eat it: BROTHER I AM MAKING YOU SO RELATEABLE, OKOYE STOP LAUGHING AND PROTECT YOUR PRINCESS
Queen Ramonda is very happy to supply whatever baby photos Shuri needs
she posts the video of T’Challa kicking the Black Panther suit and getting blasted across the room, and someone replies “he’s still daddy af” and she doesn’t shut down the internet so everyone can think about what they did but she considers it for a really really really long time before sending that tweet to Nakia with the comment “joining the world was wrong”
Guardians of the GalaxyVol. 2 (2017) dir. by James Gunn
Mom Gamora is best Gamora
She’s so naturally good at it; loves this little baby so much. ❤
This is such a great scene though, because Gamora is NOT naturally good at it. She’s cold and hard and has the emotional awareness of a grape. Look at how she treats Peter and Nebula throughout the whole movie; she doesn’t even realize she loves them until they smack her in the face with their own feelings. Repress and deny, that’s how Gamora does feelings.
But she’s soft with Groot. It’s a sweet contrast that shows that she’s working on her shit.
Yessssss. Seriously, Gamora is more afraid of feelings than almost any character I’ve ever seen. She doesn’t just fail to notice her feelings for Peter and Nebula, she’s actively afraid of them (at the very least for Peter, and quite possibly for Nebula as well). Look at how she snarls and wheels on Peter the moment he starts to charm her in vol1. Gamora tenses up the moment she finds herself feeling charmed and then tries to squash the scary feelings under aggression.
Gamora consistently treats the people she loves most by being meanest to them. So her carefulness with Groot is evidence of really, really hard work and character growth on her part. In some ways, she is actually working harder on being nice to Groot here than Rocket is, which is hilarious and terrifying.
I think it makes a lot of sense that it’s Baby Groot she manages to be the softest with as well. Gamora has got to have a lot of thoughts about How to Do Parenthood Right; I’d imagine she’s extremely motivated to do a better job with Groot than Thanos did with her. (I mean, that’s a low bar, but she’s still very determined to pass it.)
Plus, Peter and Nebula might ask things of her she’s not prepared to give, they have their own unknowable motivations, they might (do!) fuck up; it’s all sorts of complicated and messy. But Groot’s a child, and she knows very well that entails a responsibility for her to provide not just food and shelter, but comfort and love.
I really adore the moment in the opening battle of GotG2 where Gamora stops fighting briefly to just give Groot a friendly “hi!”, because I feel like that encapsulates their relationship: Gamora forcing herself to put down her defenses because Groot needs to see her feelings.
Yes. all of this.
Also, baby Groot is the least threatening. Like you said, Peter or Nebula might ask things out of her that she doesn’t expect or can’t give. But Gamora can predict everything Groot wants (affection, brightly colored candy, good tunes, to not get squished, and the odd bug) ahead of time. Groot is simple and wants relatively simple things.
Ok seriously we’re not appreciating M’Baku enough?? Boy challenged T’challa, lost, accepted it and left. Then like 3 days later the king washed up on his shore and he’s like “aye I could use this to become king but nah let’s save the guy until he gets better” so now he has an unconscious, barely-clinging-to-life king in his living room, but he does everything to save him. Then the servants of that king show up, offer him the throne and the Black Panther serum which would pretty much make him invincible, and what does he do? Does he go “Mhm ok niiice” and accept it, thus becoming rightful king? Nope! He shows them the dying T’challa, who they bring back to life with the serum and leave. They ask for his army, but he doesn’t want to risk his people, but in the end realises they should stick together so he barges into the battle like the fucking Icon™ he is ok I just love M’Baku let’s give him the appreciation he deserves
M’baku is the personification of honour imo. You won’t find a defeated warrior with pride and honour like his that easy. Respecting his rival, the needs of his people and Wakanda itself??? Putting all that over his ego???? Someone raised that man right yo.
At the same time, we can’t forget T’Challa’s role in all this. He had M’Baku at his mercy, and could have easily killed him or gone out of his way to humiliate him. Instead he treated him as a fellow warrior with honor, and assured him that he respected his leadership of his tribe. That very much planted the seeds of M’Baku’s respect for him, and wound up serving as his own salvation.
It’s the rarest of unicorns – two competing alpha males whose masculinity isn’t toxic.
so I’ve got this headcanon that Guardians of the Galaxy is really the Avengers playing a table top roleplaying game, where Bucky’s the DM who suffers through heaps and loads of trolling
Mostly from Steve
Especially from Steve
Which means Natasha was the one who sat down and wrote out the long, comprehensive backstory for her kickass space assassin Gamora, that Bucky keeps trying to work into the campaign but they keep getting sidetracked by –
Tony who just created what he sees himself as – the suave, wise-cracking space vagabond.
Thor who needed a lot of help building his character and decided on a couple easy to remember traits (Strong, honor, doesn’t get metaphors)
and Bruce who’s actually too busy to pay full attention so any time Bucky asks what he wants to do he just says “I am Groot” and lets Steve decide
Oh my god.
Headcanon accepted so hard
“We need to break out of this prison. Bucky, do I know anything about it?”
“Roll knowledge, Steve.”
“Seventeen.”
“From your years of experience and multiple prison escapes, you believe that if you can get one of the prison guard’s security bands to get into the watchtower, and one of the power cells to overload the security systems, you should be able to pull off an escape.”
“Perfect. Nat, you have sleight of hand trained, right?”
“Yes I do, Steve.”
“Alright, you get the wristband. Bruce, grab the power cell.”
“Yeah, sure, I am Groot.”
“Even in a board game, boy scout has to give the orders, huh?”
“Alright Tony, what’s-”
“Excuse me, my name Star Lord, thank you.”
“…Alright, Star Lord. What’s your plan?”
“Well…Bucky?”
“Knowledge, Tony.”
“…Four.”
“You’ve never been in prison before, so you have no idea. You think Rocket’s plan makes sense though.”
“Alright, fine. What do you want me to do, Captain Raccoon?”
“Only the most important for you, Space King. Bucky, does anyone in the prison have a robotic arm?”
“I swear if you’re going where I think you’re going with–”
“Okay, leg. Robotic leg, not arm.”
“Yes, there is one guy with a prosthetic leg.”
“Tony I want you to get me that guy’s leg.”
“…Why?”
“Just trust me, we need it for the plan.”
“Bucky, can I sense motive on Rocket?”
“Go ahead.”
“…These dice are weighted.”
“What?”
“What’d you get, Stark?”
“One.”
“Not only do you believe that Rocket needs the leg, you believe it is the single most important part of the plan. Without that leg, everything will fall to pieces.”
“Okay, fine, I’ll get the leg.”
“Perfect. Avengers, let’s get to work.”
“Removing the power cell will set off the alarm, so you believe you should start with–”
“I go remove the power cell.”
“…Bruce, that’s…not a good idea. Like I said, ripping that out will set off the alarm.”
“Right, exactly, sounds like fun. I go to rip it out.”
“But…but I spent all week coming up with persuasion and stealth scenarios for–-”
“This is what, a strength check?”
“…Yes Bruce, it’s a strength check.”
“I got a 20.”
“…You rip out the power cell with a single tug, setting off the alarm and alerting every single guard in the prison to your escape attempt. Roll for initiative, and remember that I hate all of you.”
I don’t wanna forget. I can’t turn away anymore, so if I’m gonna die, well, it may as well be driving my sword through the heart of that murderous hag.
Question of Smoke 