Snapback: The Horrifying Implications from Spiderman Far From Home
Not my usual content but I hadn't done too much in the hobby of late and this has been playing on my mind for a few days, so decided to organise my thoughts a little...
I'm gonna assume by now that anyone who would want to see any recent Marvel films has probably done so and what I say won't be a spoiler for you, but just in case you've been living under a rock (or you're like Cap and just keep adding culturally significant events to your list) you'll know what The Snap is.
Obviously in Avengers: Endgame they undid the snap. Did it work? Well there were a few more birds outside and then Hawkeye got a call from his wife (good move keeping her contract going for these past five years since she died) and we know somehow, they were back. Then of course in the final battle Doctor Strange shows up bringing EVERYONE to the final fight...
It wasn't entirely clear on HOW everyone came back, they just did. Nothing else was undone (Tony Stark was quite specific on that) but it was all left a bit vague. It's a summer blockbuster, no one cares. Fine.
But then Spiderman Far From Home came out, and started with a school news report about The Blip.
For those who haven't seen this movie, here is the relevant clip, the critical part being 1 minute in, for about 20-30 seconds.
In essence, everyone who was snapped, snapped back to where they left. Precisely.
Now we're gonna ignore any Timecop esque matter occupying same space stuff and just assume they bump into each other but don't merge, there are still some rather horrifying implications from all this.
A plane full of people flying across the country, half disappear in the snap. Five years later, they snap back into existence... at 30,000 feet. Without the plane.
This of course reminds me of the fact that any flights where the flight crew disappeared entirely would have eventually crashed and burned killing all passengers on board. So essentially if you were flying when the snap happened, you'd better hope that at least one of the flight crew survived, and you did too, otherwise you're fucked.
But it got me thinking, what else would be, shall we say, problematic? Well for starters, anyone crossing the street when they were snapped is now making a serious gamble upon returning. Sure there was nothing coming when you started to cross, but five years later there is a bus and BAM your return has been somewhat shortlived.
Anyone who was on any sort of transportation, bus, train, car... when they were snapped... well they are returning where they left... does beg the question, are they returning at the same velocity? If so, the delicate human form is now travelling at maybe 60mph along a highway and finds itself without a vehicle. As any motorcyclist will tell you, that will be some serious road rash. If the speed isn't a factor, that's still many people mysteriously appearing sat in traffic.
Now sure, half the population died, so there'll be less traffic... I don't think that will empty the roads. If anything, the reduced congestion will mean the vehicles on the road will be going faster.
How about a cruise? Sedate pace, water beneath, that shouldn't be too bad... as long as you are within sight of land and a pretty decent swimmer. Otherwise... "I'll never let go Jack..."
Further pondering brings further deaths... anyone being operated on when their surgeon disappeared may be in trouble, but anyone who snapped out while BEING operated on is presumably going to reappear as they left... better hope that hospital is still staffed and operational otherwise when the anaesthetic wears off you'll wake up in a dark room still open wondering what the hell just happened.
Other death traps? Submarines. The International Space Station (and for the wider Galaxy with more routine space travel, anyone travelling quite frankly) Rollercoasters and other fairground rides. Anyone who was bungee jumping at the time.
Probably less deadly but certainly going to cause some disconcerting scenes would be anyone who snapped while either on the bog or on the job... better hope those bogs and beds are no longer occupied when you snap back.
Anyway, I probably put so much thought into a Marvel movie, but it was something that kept niggling at me since seeing that scene. The Avengers did a good thing in bringing most people back. But it certainly was not without cost. And not just Tony Stark.
I'm gonna assume by now that anyone who would want to see any recent Marvel films has probably done so and what I say won't be a spoiler for you, but just in case you've been living under a rock (or you're like Cap and just keep adding culturally significant events to your list) you'll know what The Snap is.
Obviously in Avengers: Endgame they undid the snap. Did it work? Well there were a few more birds outside and then Hawkeye got a call from his wife (good move keeping her contract going for these past five years since she died) and we know somehow, they were back. Then of course in the final battle Doctor Strange shows up bringing EVERYONE to the final fight...
It wasn't entirely clear on HOW everyone came back, they just did. Nothing else was undone (Tony Stark was quite specific on that) but it was all left a bit vague. It's a summer blockbuster, no one cares. Fine.
But then Spiderman Far From Home came out, and started with a school news report about The Blip.
For those who haven't seen this movie, here is the relevant clip, the critical part being 1 minute in, for about 20-30 seconds.
In essence, everyone who was snapped, snapped back to where they left. Precisely.
Now we're gonna ignore any Timecop esque matter occupying same space stuff and just assume they bump into each other but don't merge, there are still some rather horrifying implications from all this.
A plane full of people flying across the country, half disappear in the snap. Five years later, they snap back into existence... at 30,000 feet. Without the plane.
But it got me thinking, what else would be, shall we say, problematic? Well for starters, anyone crossing the street when they were snapped is now making a serious gamble upon returning. Sure there was nothing coming when you started to cross, but five years later there is a bus and BAM your return has been somewhat shortlived.
Anyone who was on any sort of transportation, bus, train, car... when they were snapped... well they are returning where they left... does beg the question, are they returning at the same velocity? If so, the delicate human form is now travelling at maybe 60mph along a highway and finds itself without a vehicle. As any motorcyclist will tell you, that will be some serious road rash. If the speed isn't a factor, that's still many people mysteriously appearing sat in traffic.
Now sure, half the population died, so there'll be less traffic... I don't think that will empty the roads. If anything, the reduced congestion will mean the vehicles on the road will be going faster.
How about a cruise? Sedate pace, water beneath, that shouldn't be too bad... as long as you are within sight of land and a pretty decent swimmer. Otherwise... "I'll never let go Jack..."
Further pondering brings further deaths... anyone being operated on when their surgeon disappeared may be in trouble, but anyone who snapped out while BEING operated on is presumably going to reappear as they left... better hope that hospital is still staffed and operational otherwise when the anaesthetic wears off you'll wake up in a dark room still open wondering what the hell just happened.
Other death traps? Submarines. The International Space Station (and for the wider Galaxy with more routine space travel, anyone travelling quite frankly) Rollercoasters and other fairground rides. Anyone who was bungee jumping at the time.
Probably less deadly but certainly going to cause some disconcerting scenes would be anyone who snapped while either on the bog or on the job... better hope those bogs and beds are no longer occupied when you snap back.
Anyway, I probably put so much thought into a Marvel movie, but it was something that kept niggling at me since seeing that scene. The Avengers did a good thing in bringing most people back. But it certainly was not without cost. And not just Tony Stark.
Yeah, this has come up before. IIRC, the directors actually confirmed it as correct.
ReplyDeleteEven a fair number of people in what would seem to be more stable situations are also screwed. Like, say, someone who blinked out while at work on the 17th floor of a building that was demolished in the intervening 5 years. Or (not a concern for humans, but there are plenty of other sentient species in the universe) the members of a relatively short-lived species that was near its minimum sustainable population during the snap.
Hell, even beyond that, they should have all still been gone. No planet in the universe is in the same place 5 years later. They're all constantly moving in different directions at mind-boggling speeds. If everyone came back in exactly the same spot, virtually all of them would be somewhere in the middle of space.
And on top of all of that, the creators didn't think through the initial consequences of Thanos's original plan even as thoroughly as they did the consequences of reversing it.
I did consider the movement of planetary bodies but was willing to allow that one as the planet's being the points of reference for departure/return. The people returned in the same spot relative to their planet. But even forgiving that one, there's still a hell of a lot of carnage.
DeleteElevators! Chances are, in one of them, you're screwed.