Everett Ross is a longstanding supporting character in the comics, who is used to demonstrate the complexities of Wakanda’s relationship to the outside world.

No, it’s not. They (meaning T’Challa and Everett Ross, who for most of the movie is operating on his own) have the same enemy in this specific instance, for different reasons, which is a typical feature of statecraft.  Wakanda is not supportive of US policy; the whole damn point of the movie is otherwise.  That’s why…

Wakanda is not allied with the US. T’Challa and the other good Wakandans do not support the way the US government’s domestic or foreign policy, as is obvious throughout.

The film doesn’t “side with” the US, other than pointing out that Killmonger’s scheme to change things is a terrible idea that wouldn’t work.  Wakanda enters the world stage specifically to improve the existing world order.

As I already explained, the UK and Canada are constitutional monarchies where the Queen is ceremonial. The governments of both countries are democratic. Absolute monarchy of the sort shown in Wakanda is not a live political philosophy in western politics.

Boko Haram, to cite the most prominent example, is an Islamist terrorist group dedicated to founding a state based on Salafist theology.  Getting rid of small numbers of American military advisors is not going to make them go away.

Which still has nothing to do with what the film is advocating. That some groups disingenuously claim to support something for their own purposes doesn’t make it conservative or a bad idea. That’s like claiming universal healthcare is a Republican idea because Donald Trump bloviates about having a great healthcare…

I’m sure there are political considerations when requesting military aid. However, governments also generally do really want US aid.

Some random people complaining isn’t the same thing as a political party supporting rule by a hereditary monarch. The monarch hasn’t been the directing force behind the British government since the late 18th century, and has been politically neutral since the 1830s.

The small numbers of American soldiers in African nations are mostly there to train local militaries at the request of the governments in question, and in some cases participating in operations against terrorist groups like Boko Haram. They’re not occupying forces.

The UK is a constitutional monarchy; the Queen is a ceremonial figure, as she is in my country. Not even ultra-Tories argue that the Queen should run the country (indeed, the Queen herself doesn’t).

Even aside from the writers having GRRM as a consultant, a lot of the stuff I mentioned relates to how they adapted stuff he had already written.

Looking back, I think if they were looking to give Black Widow a strong introduction they should have done a variation of her comics intro story, where she’s working for the villain, is sent to conduct espionage on Tony, and eventually switches sides.

From what Rourke has said, his part was cut to ribbons in the editing room.  He was quite mad about it.

It’s magic.  The books haven’t gotten as far along in the storyline as the show has; Arya has started using the masks in the books and become reasonably adept at them, but she’s never made her own.  The Season 5 finale idea that the masks would actively harm her because she wasn’t “no one” is show-only.

That line is a good summation of how nonsensical the show’s presentation of the Faceless Men is. How is she no one? She just did everything to demonstrate the exact opposite.

“Incredible” is certainly one way of describing that ridiculous chase scene.

Hrm. I wasn’t in love with the finale, unfortunately. Not that this is bad, per se, and it’s not the sort of finale that would ever harm the reputation of the series. I don’t mind any aspect of where the characters end up.

I think the action in Iron Man is quite good, on the whole.  The escape from the terrorist compound and Tony’s first flight and eluding the Air Force jets are very well-realized, in particular.

If Prince Charles dropped dead tomorrow of a heart attack, the Queen’s heir would be Charles’ son Prince William, not the Queen’s second son, Prince Andrew.