It's been well documented that if you were to paint the Avengers logo onto the side of a cliff face I'd run into it at full speed like Wily E. Coyote, but the fundraiser livestream was pretty enjoyable.
Everyone assembled was their expected warm and charismatic selves, and you can tell these people genuinely like each other. If she's not an actual fan of the movies as she claims, Harris at least does a believable job of pretending to be one, as she was conversant with character names and moments from the films in a way that didn't seem coached. Everything was done in service of the political message, of course, but they managed to loop Marvel themes like power, responsibility, coming together despite our differences to do good, etc. into a broader sociopolitical context without feeling overly forced or corny. A few fun moments:
- While not on the announced guest list, RDJ showed up halfway through, initially hiding his face behind a toy Stark Gauntlet. During the trivia section he correctly answered some questions about ridiculous minutiae to everyone's bewilderment, then turned the gauntlet around to reveal he had crib notes on its palm, and made a crack about using the Time Stone to swipe the answers from the future, including "VP Harris" as an answer to an unasked question. Cute.
- Scarlett Johansson "lives in the woods!" as she kept exclaiming to explain her glitchy connection issues, which often had her cutting out or lagging a few seconds behind everyone else and accidentally talking over them, to Chris Evans' continued amusement.
- Today happens to be Kamala Harris' birthday, and there was a staggered, halting attempt to sing her Happy Birthday which mercifully fizzled out when everyone realized how out of sync they were with each other.
PAUL RUDD: That was the worst rendition of Happy Birthday I've ever heard.
- Asked what superpower she'd like to have, Harris picked Shuri's intellect, as she'd like to be able to use science and technology to solve the world's ills and bring people together. She also had a really inspiring message for young women off the back of some talk about sisterhood (i.e. Gamora and Nebula's relationship.)
- Harris asked the cast what other Marvel superhero besides their own they'd like to play:
DON CHEADLE: I'm gonna say Captain America. I just wanna wear Captain America's pants! The tights.
CHRIS EVANS: *immediately* No you do not.