By Sam Cha
4. Supercut!
EXTERIOR, DAY, BURJ KHALIFA
The tallest building in the world: a gleaming half-mile icepick. Any taller and it would puncture the sky, pop it like a balloon.
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INTERIOR, DAY, BURJ KHALIFA HOTEL ROOM
TOM CRUISE, suiting up. SHAUN OF THE DEAD hands him some Iron Man gauntlets. They have little ridges, kind of like fish gills. An ominous blue radiance leaks out of them. TOM CRUISE gives SHAUN OF THE DEAD the fish-eye. A laser cuts through glass. This has nothing to do with TOM CRUISE’S eyes. It’s how HAWKEYE opens a window when he doesn’t have a diamond tipped arrow handy. TOM CRUISE steps out the hole in the window. Little visual quote from The Matrix here: camera pans down. It’s a long way down. We can hear the wind. Somewhere behind the wind, KEANU REEVES is saying: whoa.
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EXTERIOR, DAY, CITY OF THE FUTURE
TOM CRUISE is jumping off an automated hovercar .
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EXTERIOR, DAY, NEW YORK
CLOSE UP on KIRSTEN DUNST. She tries to hang on to the crumbling balcony, but she can’t. She falls. Loving slo-mo shot of her mouth opening in a scream.
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INTERIOR, DAY?NIGHT?WHO THE FUCK KNOWS?, MORIA/KHAZAD DUM
MAGNETO has decided to go all hippy on us—he’s grown out his hair and his beard, and he’s wearing some sort of deathly dull grey mumu. He scrabbles at a crumbling rock bridge, trying in vain to hold on. But it’s no use. The BALROG has him by the ankles, won’t let go. He falls into a bottomless pit. Loving slo-mo shot of his mouth opening in a scream: Run, you fools!
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INTERIOR, DAY? NIGHT?WHO THE FUCK KNOWS?, LUCITE OUBLIETTE
GANDALF has shaved. Looking sharp, GANDALF. He’s standing on a hematite Frisbee shaped from the iron fillings he ripped out of the blood of the security guard a few moments ago, in the last scene, and he’s riding it over a bottomless pit.
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EXTERIOR, DAY, FUTURE NEW YORK
MILLA JOVOVICH swan dives off a building. Below her it’s miles and miles of hovercars.
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EXTERIOR, NIGHT, MATRIX “LA”
TRINITY flies into the frame, surrounded by a halo of glass shards and spent cartridges. She twists mid-air so that she’s facing the camera. Look of grim determination. Up come her hands. Twin Uzis. She shoots them at the audience.
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EXTERIOR, DAY, NEW YORK.
HAWKEYE jumps off the Chrysler Building. He twists in mid-air, TRINITY-style, nocks an arrow, shoots it at the audience.
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EXTERIOR, DAY, NEW YORK.
SPIDER-MAN jumps off building. He twists in mid-air. Makes classic Spidey “thwip”-hands. Ejaculates webs at the audience.
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EXTERIOR, DAY, RACCOON CITY.
Milla Jovovich runs down a building.
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EXTERIOR, DAY, DUBAI.
TOM CRUISE runs down the Burj Khalifa.
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EXTERIOR, NIGHT, GOTHAM.
MAGGIE GYLLENHALL slides down a steep slope. CHRISTIAN BALE dives after her. Grabs her arm, just as they both fall off the edge of the roof. They plummet towards the ground.
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EXTERIOR, SPACE.
KIRK and SHERLOCK HOLMES jump into space.
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EXTERIOR, DAY, LONDON, ST. BARTHOLOMEW’S HOSPITAL, ROOFTOP.
Arms held wide out, looking a little like Jesus, SHERLOCK HOLMES jumps off the building.
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EXTERIOR, DAY, NEAR-EARTH ORBIT.
SUPERMAN finally succumbs to kryptonite poisoning. Arms held wide out, looking a little like Jesus, he closes his eyes and plummets back to Earth. Loving slo-mo.
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EXTERIOR, DAY, HIGH OVER SAN FRANCISCO BAY.
THE HULK finally succumbs to lack of oxygen and bitter cold. Arms held wide out, looking a little like Jesus, but a bit more like Eric Bana, he closes his eyes and plummets back to Earth. Loving slo-mo.
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EXTERIOR, DAY, S.H.I.E.L.D. HELICARRIER
THE HULK plummets back to Earth.
TONY STARK plummets back to Earth.
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MARVEL COMICS CINEMATIC LOGO
Behind the logo, the comic book pages rustle and riffle. Sound effect: pages turning, slip patter flip.
FADE TO:
Closeup on a bank teller’s hands, movements fluid, practiced: counting a roll of bills. Same sound effect.
FADE TO:
Stock ticker in, say, Times Square, with the numbers made of moving lights. Image shrinks till it’s running in a thin strip at the top of the screen. New stock ticker image underneath, from somewhere else. Let’s say Shanghai or Tokyo or Seoul. Shrinks again, runs underneath first image. Repeat with other locations, until all you have is a list of stocks symbols and numbers, running in parallel, filling the screen.
START ZOOMING IN.
The camera starts twisting, until all of the stock tickers are running vertically. They
MORPH:
Into familiar Matrix code-rain.
ZOOM IN:
Each of the symbols start to look like people, tiny green-lit people, their limbs flailing, falling through an endless dark. Since they are all falling at the same speed in a straight line, none of them touch each other.
ZOOM IN:
On one of the symbol-people.
ZOOM IN:
Ever closer, on the symbol-person’s face.
ZOOM IN:
It’s your face.
Your mouth is open.
So are your eyes.
The camera zooms right into one of them.
FADE TO BLACK
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