I am proud to be part of a family full of geeks, with a circle of friends who are just as geeky. My husband is heavily into sci-fi/fantasy and could state events (and quotes) from any MCU, DC, Star Trek, Star Wars, GoT, and LOTR film/episode at the drop of a hat. My sister is the queen of pop culture and reads fan fic for fun. Our friends are into anime, video games, board games, and cult classic horror films. I am considered the odd one out for attending drink events, but I’m still one to geek out on international culture, languages, history, music, drink facts, and occasionally, calculus (like a bloody madwoman).
Having said that, April 2019 is (naturally) a red-letter month for us. Game of Thrones returned for its 8th and final season (there is a mandate in our house that NOBODY is allowed to disturb me from 9:00-10:00am Manila time every Monday until the season is over), Star Wars Episode IX’s trailer came out (sniffs), and…
AVENGERS ENDGAME.
As with the mental meltdown of 2017’s GoT finale, nobody in our house is making any attempt at productivity, including myself (eheh). Our conversations have been filled with endless theories on what happened after the iconic movie snap that supposedly obliterated half the world’s population.
Given the situation, I once again decided to just give up on trying to find an intellectual drink topic and just allow my wannabe-creative mind to wander in the MCU by thinking about what each Avenger would, could, or should potentially be drinking.
Captain America
In Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), Steve Rogers and his BFF Bucky Barnes (who ended up becoming the Winter Soldier) were sharing what looked to be beer in a bar right before their mission to destroy the Hydra camps, and Agent Carter walked in, dressed to the nines in her femme fatale red dress. In the same film, after Barnes fell off the train, Cap was shown alone in a bar, trying in vain (darn that metabolism!) to get himself drunk with a brown coloured drink.
If this were reality, given that he was in some part of World War II Italy at the time, my hunch the drink was some sort of whisky. He’s not a very fussy guy, so I’d bet he was drinking the first bottle he could find.
Having said that, with the intent of really getting obliterated, I feel like he would have had better luck with a cask strength whisky. A cask strength whisky is not diluted as much as those that are not labeled as such, with an ABV ranging between 58-66%. I also feel that, because he’s such an American patriot, he would have switched to Bourbon the moment he got back home, and would have been content with readily available brands… Again, this is to capitalise on his characterisation being unfussy, and it would go with the (unfounded) notion of Bourbon being such a “grandpa” drink (the dude is in his 90s, after all). I also think that, if this were real, given that he grew up in the Great Depression, he typically wouldn’t drink to get drunk unless he really needed to forget something.
Whisky also gets bonus points for warming a body up (I mean, he did just get thawed out).
Of course, this is fiction, so I think Thor’s Asgardian mead and that mysterious liquor in the second Avengers flick would have done a better job, but I’ll save that for my discussion on Thor.
Iron Man
There are several storylines (whether in films, comic books, or even fan fic) that say Tony Stark tends to be troublesome once drunk… Not that he ever shied away from alcohol. The first film, Iron Man (2008), featured him with a mini freezer and champagne after demonstrating the Jericho missile’s capabilities, and ordering a very, very dry martini in the charity ball scene (right after dancing with Pepper Potts). There was also that scene in Iron Man 2 (2010) where he got drunk on Champagne while wearing the Iron Man suit, and that scene in The Avengers (2012) when he offered a drink of dark liquid to Loki from his beautifully stocked bar.
I think Iron Man’s drinking habits are easier to theorise versus Cap… He is supposedly living the carefree, “let me throw money at the problem” high life in modern day America. That said, I really don’t think he cares what booze he spends on, as long as the names are flashy and comes with a hefty price tag. I’m thinking free-flowing Cristal and Dom Perignon (just like the one he got drunk on in Iron Man 2) for his champagne “millionaire playboy” parties, mixing up his martinis with Morus LXIV (a 700ml bottle goes for £4,000) and ice made from water naturally filtered from some obscure mountain (just because he can), and a bar stocked with the mythical Isabella’s Islay (for special occasions) and Macallan “M” (for everyday drinking, of course).
As I wrote this, my sister showed me a fan fic where Thor tricked Stark into thinking he was getting the same Asgardian mead as the rest of the Avengers, when in fact it wasn’t alcoholic, preventing the potential mayhem that typically happens after Stark has one too many. Teeheehee…
Thor
I keep talking about Thor and his Asgardian mead… Us Midgardians define our mead as a fermented drink typically made from honey and water, sometimes with fruits, spices, grains, or even hops.
In most of the MCU films where Thor was shown drinking, he would constantly be holding a tankard, most likely an Asgardian mead whenever he was in his realm, such as after the attack of the armoury in Thor (2011), and after defending Hogun’s home in Thor: The Dark World (2013). He would drink beer whenever he was in Midgard, and drank Professor Selvig under the table in one scene after a massive beer fest.
Honestly, I couldn’t imagine Thor with a dainty champagne flute, or a cocktail glass… It just doesn’t seem to go with his burly physique and rough and tumble personality, so his depiction of drinking beverages that suit tankards seemed fitting.
There’s also him tossing a coffee mug on the floor to express his delight, but that’s another story.
Going back to the topic of mead, here’s how the Asgardian version is depicted in stories: They seem to be incredibly potent to an exponential degree versus that of ours. This also tells me that Thor can really hold his alcohol (and finds us such lightweights). Even so, I don’t think he’d be averse to enjoying a pint (or twenty) of beer with a friend in Midgard.
Then, there’s this glorious scene in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), featuring a cameo by Stan Lee:
Thor described the drink as liquor that has been “aged for a thousand years, in the barrels built from the wreck of Brunhilde’s fleet.” I don’t think I’ll ever know what it is, and I’d honestly take Thor’s advice about the drink “not (being) for mortal men.”
He didn’t say anything about mortal women, though. Hmm…
The Hulk
Little known fact: There’s actually a cocktail named Incredible Hulk made from one part Hpnotiq and one part cognac. Obviously, the cocktail is green.
In my opinion as a person who tries to advocate responsible drinking, I’ve always been scared of what could potentially happen if mild-mannered Bruce Banner gets drunk. He did say in the first Avengers film that he’s always angry… If he gets drunk, would he break a building in two in a fit of rage? If I were part of his inner circle, I’d probably have a thermos full of chamomile or lavender tea on standby whenever I see the guy.
Then again, in this scene in Age of Ultron, he actually shared a cocktail with Black Widow:
He seemed fine, in good spirits (no pun intended), and did not turn into the big green dude. There are quite a few factors to consider. Maybe he’s not a ragey drunk. Maybe his exposure to gamma rays altered his genetics enough to give him the ability to metabolise alcohol just like Cap. Maybe all the years of keeping his temper in check also allows him to control his behaviour whenever he drinks.
If there’s one thing I understand about how The Hulk gets portrayed on screen though, it’s the fact that he tries very hard to stay calm. So maybe there is some merit to the tea theory… Who knows, he might have a library of tealeaves stashed somewhere.
As I re-watched the scene with Black Widow, I also had a weird thought. Maybe he only drinks alcohol with her… After all, he seems to feel safest when they’re together.
Speaking of Black Widow…
…I’ll save that for Part 2. 😉
This post is a collaboration between family. Thanks to Chad for providing facts, Paulette for the fan fic, and our housekeeper Jolibee for being a fantastic assistant when I did the shoot (yes, her name is Jolibee, single L)
