Masters of Evil (Unofficial)

This is the second in a series of three movies meant as a capstone to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It involves time travel, which should be introduced in a prior installment in the cosmic movies, Limbo, which functions as a membrane connecting all possible realities and paradox, a phenomenon created when the main timeline diverges and which can be wielded with the Forever Heart to change the prime timeline permanently.

Please note I do not own any of the following intellectual property and this is only for my own amusement. If you own this property and would like me to remove the post, please contact me and I will be happy to comply. Thanks for inspiring me.

The Masters of Evil

CAP ROGUES Controls Europe
Red Skull
Baron Hydra
Crossbones
Sin
Hydra Goons (Obviously)

IRON MAN ROGUES Control California, Alaska and Russia
Iron Monger
Whiplash
Justin Hammer
Extremis Guy and his foot soldiers in iron man tech are their goons.
The Real Mandarin and his followers resist the Tech Rogues in the Middle East. Trevor Slattery is kept around in some capacity.

THOR ROGUES Control Most of North America and Asgard
Loki is President of the US and King of Asgard
Kurse is his Secretary of Staff
Some of Thors allies may be forced to support Loki on Asgard as his rule is mostly benevolent, if invalid, he’s got very little ill-will towards the bulk of Asgard as he holds his Brother and Father personally responsible for his troubles. Rank and File Asgardians may even serve in Loki’s armies on Earth.
Humans with Asgardian tech are his goons.

HULK ROGUES Control Mexico and Central America
The Leader
Abomination

And one of the following returning supporting characters/human antagonist mutated by gamma rays.
The Harpy
Doc Samson
Red Hulk
Their foot soldiers are gamma enhanced monsters

And the rest of the globe is divided among super villains yet to be introduced.

Wakanda stands alone against the Masters of Evil

AVENGERS

Black Panther and Phil Coulson lead the resistance with support from the New Avengers. No Avenger has died yet, but many are missing and several have been incapacitated and are recuperating when the movie opens.

ACT 1

Loki and Red Skull are talking via Hologram about marshalling their troops and preparing to strike at the hearts of their enemies. They villain monologue about what they are going to do with their (so it seems) future conquests. It starts to get very detailed and the last line of Loki’s

“And I’m going to have them put a stripper pole in right above the panic room.” And it is revealed when he gestures that he is in a redecorated oval office.

Red Skull: Yes, we are also nearly done… redecorating ourselves.

Skulls room is revealed to be Parliament building filled with various torture and execution devices, medical experimentation, etc. “Though I must admit, we are fast running out of Jews.”

Slowly the state of the world is revealed as described above, carved into pieces controlled by the greatest assemblage of evil Earth ever birthed. The Avengers remain as the only resistance. Coulson is hard, his team is dead, many of his closest friends and loved ones. He has an eye patch like Fury for a second as he stares at a screen displaying the end of the world. However, when approached he quickly takes it off and reveals an undamaged retina. “I just like to see it how he did and think about what he would do.”

36 Days Earlier

Riding high on the victory in the Destiny War, the Avengers are more popular than ever and have gathered to honor Coulson while he receives a ticker tape parade celebrating his role in saving humanity and his imminent retirement from SHIELD. 

Cameos of politicians and Steve Rogers gives a very moving speech about serving with Coulson in WWII and how Phil was there and could do anything, could murder Hitler, could tell Steve how to find Schmidt years earlier. And he wanted to, because that’s the kind of hero Coulson is. But he also knows the meaning of responsibility, in a stellar career, he’s worked from the shadows with no credit to make the world a safer place but never over reached, never abused his authority and power. And when he had to make those tough decisions, to weigh human lives against human existence, he did what Phil always does, he rolled up his sleeves and he got in there and did what he could and the end, snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. I am proud to have served with him, whatever the contrivance that allowed it, and to call him my friend, my colleague, and my brother. I’m truly grateful we all lived to see the day when the world was safe enough for its sheriff to hang his guns up and God willing, in a few years he’ll be up here being grateful to see my retirement from service. 

ROGERS: Sorry, Sam, if I got two choices for my retirement dinner, I’d have you guys come up here and do a routine. 

FALCON: It’s cool, brother! I wouldn’t accept it if you didn’t ask Phil first!

And we thought and we thought about how to do this. A friend of Phil’s came to us, explained that due to the enormous strain Phil’s work put on him, their relationship had to end. Those close to Phil probably got this figured out already, if you’re not in on the surprise, but Phil, we’re going to have a nice dinner now and you needed a date and you cant say you don’t have time for relationships now, buddy.

Applause breaks out as Phil is joined at the head table by the cellist. During the dinner she quietly explains that she knew all along and she’d just couldn’t handle all the lies and intrigue, despite loving him so much and now that’s he’s retired, maybe he would like to come back to Portland to visit for a while. They smile and then…

The Masters of Evil attack. 

They devastate the event and kill almost all of the attendees and most of the parade watchers. Phil watches the cellist die in his arms as she whispers something in his ear that makes him first shocked then he starts sobbing,

We’re gonna get Stark over here, we’re going to call him over here, and he’ll save’em he’ll save’em and we’ll Fury’s got a machine, you’ll see, it’ll hurt, but I’ll fix you and we’ll be together. This is intelligible as he is absolutely racked with sobs.

Act 2

Present Day

The Avengers are planning their last stand and have chosen to go out on the offensive rather than waste away under siege. Although 1/3 of the population has been liquidated, and a great deal have turned collaborator, there are still approximately 2 billion innocent people being held hostage by the Masters. Any time the Avengers take an offensive action, a formula is applied to the captives and a percentage are liquidated. Every day the siege takes place, they liquidate a number of captives. It’s an untenable position and the Avengers are going to have to move as quickly as possible. They’ve called in help from space and the Guardians are planning with them for a two pronged attack against the strongholds of Masters.

In Asgard, Thor leads the cosmic heroes with Star-Lord and the Guardians of the Galaxy. The hope is to pull Loki and his forces away from the Earth to defend his seat in Asgard. All the loyal Asgardians have been using Loki’s old hidden tunnel to coordinate the attack. It seems to work as Loki engages them with all his might plus Hulk’s enemies.

On Earth, a covert infiltration is being led by Captain America and the ground based heroes, street level heroes. In reserve, the most powerful members of the Avengers are held in reserve and led by Black Panther and supported by the Wakandan Military and technology. Coulson coordinates the assaults from an Iron Man HUD and is revealed to be wearing a Stark suit made of cobbled together bits of War Machine and Iron Man (Unless by some contrivances they can appear in a full roll, then he is just wearing an old suit or combination of old suits. Would like to see him in the Mark IV, no repairs.) He is in the field at the head of the main force.

As the battle at Asgard rages, the street level heroes penetrate as deep into enemy territory as possible to gain control of the 2 billion hostages. Once they are discovered, Coulson sends everything in. Just when they start to take control of the battle, an Avenger falls and the Red Skull reveals he has the Infinity Gauntlet.

COULSON: Son of a Bitch must have had it the whole time, subtly using it to take over, waiting to unleash when he knew he could take us in one.

After the Avengers are decimated, Coulson demands the Red Skull’s full attention.

COULSON: Cosmic awareness, yeah, I been there, I know you’re barely paying attention as you achieve your ultimate victory. I mean, what the hell else are you watching, Schmidt? This is it, you won. Now you pay god damn attention to me while I scream your bloody name before I meet you in hell to settle up! Come on, Skull! This is it, the last enemy, the last victory, pay me the courtesy of looking me in the eye when you kill me!

Dr. Strange had been concealing Ant-Man from the Astral Plane where he retreated when he was defeated earlier. In a secret last minute twist, it’s shown that when Strange discovered that Skull had the gauntlet, he faked his own death and began to communicate subtly with Scott Lang. With Skull believing he killed every avenger, he lets his awareness focus on Coulson as he prepares to deliver the Coup De Grace.

SKULL: Yes. It is only fitting I mark this occasion. In truth, I’ve barely even savored Roger’s death. I must make do with memorizing every detail of yours. A pale substitution, but I suppose once resolved I can at least cast my gaze backward and time and watch Roger’s death again. And again.

Coulson tries to get the drop on Skull, but he blasts his arm off and burns half of Coulson’s face.

SKULL: You think because I’ve narrowed my focus you have a chance? Even my gaze upon you is enough to give me every secret of your heart. Nothing you do has not already been seen by my power and handedly dealt with. Before you even think, I have defeated you.

Strange had been waiting for this moment, he also saw into the near future and learned that both Coulson and Lang would attempt last ditch gambits to separate Schmidt from the gauntlet, but only by coordinating them could they hope to succeed. By allowing Coulson to take the fall, Strange was able to mystically shield Lang for a brief moment from Schmidt’s cosmic awareness. In that second, Ant-Man gets his hands on the Gauntlet.

With the gauntlet knocked loose by Ant Man, Phil puts everything he’s got left into knocking Skull out with one last repulser powered punch. 

Ant-Man, Phil and Dr. Strange discuss the moral consequences of using the gauntlet to revive any of the fallen.

COULSON: What do you mean just enough to recover! How do you choose? Who do we bring back?

STRANGE: Well. The most prudent course of action would be to not bring anyone back. Perhaps not even use it at all, secure, behind the most powerful magics and technology we can fashion.

LANG: We have to bring our friends back.

Coulson comes unhinged at the idea of picking and choosing who lives and who dies. He flashes back to what the cellist said. Back home, in Portland which was being devastated by Iron Rogues, was a little boy. She didn’t want to ruin his big night, so she planned to tell him if everything went well. And she had every intention of telling him if it didn’t, she just didn’t know how. She found out she was pregnant after he’d already left and they’d split up, but she knew Phil would be a good dad. The danger in his life kept her from acting before his retirement. Coulson rants on in tears of rage.

COULSON: Why? How do we come back? How do these piece of crap murderers keep standing back up? It’s madness!

STRANGE: Please, try to remain calm. This is hardly ideal, I don’t know if I can even return to my body after so long in the astral plane. It’s all absolutely devastating and the road back is very, very long. But our friends… they would want us to carry on, not risk all of creation to bring them back.

Ant-Man puts his hand on Phil’s shoulder and lifts the glove up, gesturing.

LANG: I think Doc’s right, Phil. I think that’s the right thing to do. We can’t choose who lives or dies.

Coulson looks up.

COULSON: Can’t we?

Coulson grabs the gauntlet and the screen goes white as Coulson, Lang and Strange scream.

No Post Credits Scene