10) Wild Card: The F*cking Leftovers (And Avengers)

Here's the thing folks. You don't understand. The Leftovers, the little HBO show that could, that lasted 3 seasons on HBO, has infected mass media bigger than one ever could have thought, and I have cracked the case into why, secretly, the entire world in May of last year had watched the film version of The Leftovers. What film was that? Only the soon to be 2nd biggest film ever of all time Avengers: Infinity War, to be concluded by Avengers: Endgame. Which shush about that right now (I haven't seen it and I'm avoiding spoilers like the swine flu ebola bubonic plague.) But Avengers, like all grandiose major block busters, has to crank up the numbers.

In HBO's The Leftovers, for those of you who don't know, 2% of the world's population mysteriously disappears and the show explores the world after a secular rapture. Avengers: Infinity War is the big budget prologue to this show. Except in Infinity War, Thanos, the Mad Titan, dusts 50% of all life from existence with the snap of his fingers.

Avengers: Endgame, much like the Leftovers, is to explore the world post "Snappening" or "Sudden Snaparture" and explores in which our heroes figure out how to get them back. In the Leftovers, spoiler alert, they don't come back. But that doesn't matter.

Wanna know something funny? Carrie Coon, one of the leads of The Leftovers (She plays Nora Durst) is also IN Infinity War. She plays Proxima Midnight, one of Thanos' Black Order. Also, I don't know if you know this, but they steal a whole moment from the Leftovers, the very first scene!

Before I saw Avengers: Infinity War, I was spoiled by two very vague ideas, one of which, ironically, stemmed from my knowledge of The Leftovers, a show that nobody really watched so why was this reference made anyways? Well Nerdist, a nerd YouTube channel, made a parody of the Leftovers season 2 title sequence, but with Avengers characters. I only caught a glimpse of this when I saw the frame of Groot departing.

But I just shrugged these away because I thought it was fellow "Lefties" just geeking out over the fact that Carrie Coon had made it into the big leagues of a Marvel film as huge as Infinity War in her short time in the spotlight in recent years as an actress. (Which started with Gone Girl and the Leftovers right about at the same time back in 2014.) But it wasn't until I remembered a moment in the Infinity Gauntlet comic where Thanos snaps away half the heroes and they suddenly disappear. Sure, I should have seen this from a mile away, but in the comic, it happens on the FIRST PAGE instead of the end of the film (which in the grand scheme of things, is now only the first half or beginning of the final chapter to Avengers: Endgame (Which I'm seeing this weekend(omg yayy)))


Ultimately, I just wanted to end this blog as my college career began. Geeking out about The Leftovers (which still nobody has seen, but can always remember me talking about.) But mainly I wanted to see Avengers: Endgame and wanted to relate the biggest movie in the world to the small show I fell in love with years ago. So yeah! Watch The Leftovers.

UPDATE: I had written this before I saw Avengers: Endgame, so I decided to share this bit of information. Without spoiling anything, Avengers: Endgame is amazing. And I think Superhero films get short shrift a lot of time by the Academy, but I think Avengers: Endgame proves that the superhero genre can and is at the same cinematic levels as a Lord of the Rings or Avatar. I legit started a Change.org petition, trying to get ahead of the game, calling to give Avengers: Endgame a shot at the title of the major categories, most importantly, Best Picture.  I'd appreciate it if you believe in the cause to sign and share the petition! And do whatever it takes to get Avengers: Endgame the consideration it deserves.