Season 3 - Part 1

The first version of Season 3 as I recall was extremely long. As I mentioned in my last post, I wanted to use short films to bulk out the plot without flooding gameplay-loving viewers. So I had planned something like 4 tutorials and 3 short films.

It should also be noted that we changed the context for the finale fight on several occasions. At one time, it was to be a one-on-one fight between one of our heroes and the villain. Then it changed to be this gigantic showdown where our villain and his lackeys (Deadpool, Taskmaster and brainwashed X-23 and Phoenix) were battling all three of our main heroes, plus Strider, Chris, Jill, and several BSAA agents.

The structure of the season had to be adjusted as we zeroed in on what we wanted to the finale to be. Remember we had already planned the just of the ending for season 2, now we needed to rethink it to work over the arc of one more season.

I really wanted to build on the main characters in the third season. Andrew suggested that to make Max more interesting as a character, we show that he's growing tired of all these superhumans living in his house, getting him intro trouble. So he's getting kind of cynical, and short tempered. Wesker had this whole subplot where he began to feel guilty about his criminal past, and he starts taking measures to right his wrongs. Doom would lose his powers at the beginning of the season and have to cope with life as a normal man.

On top of all that, I wanted our villain to be making his final attack, and that took form in the Superhuman Collection Act (similar to the lead-up to Marvel's Civil War). Our villain used his powers of manipulation to influence the world leaders into fearing superhumans. Rather than make them register, anybody deemed a supervillain was to be captured by SHIELD and imprisoned. Taskmaster and Deadpool (thanks to the machinations of our villain) were contracted to work with SHIELD instead of being targeted by them. Obviously this bodes poorly for Wesker and Doom.

The only script that survived this version of season 3 is Wolverine, which was (in this version) episode 1. It began with Wesker having a dream (a throwback to the Deadpool episode, which began with Doom's dream sequence). Wesker's dream shows him what his life could have been like if he'd pursued an honest career as a biology professor instead of becoming the badguy he is. He's depicted with a wife and a young daughter, and all is very happy and well. Suddenly, Wesker's wife refers to him as a killer (very out of nowhere in this super happy, relaxed scene) and then she says "Your work destroyed thousands of families. What makes you think you deserve one?" She then zombifies immediately in front of his eyes and lunges at him and he snaps awake, and we hear this echoing laugh from our villain.

This abnormally dark intro was kind of setting the tone for season 3. It was going to be a darker story. It still is, in a way. I never wanted to do away with the humor in ASSIST ME!, but I wanted the plot (for those that followed it) to hit hard.

That morning, Doom realizes that they're out of yogurt and badgers Max to go buy some. Max is clearly irritated and tells Doom to go get it himself. Wesker, disturbed by his dream, comes downstairs and leaves. Shortly later, Wolverine shows up looking for Phoenix. This bit more or less survived through to season 3, so I won't reveal much dialog or anything.

During the tutorials, we'd see bits and pieces of Wesker out on the town. He does some people watching at a park, deep in thought about his past. On his way home that night he stops a mugging, and is about to kill the assailant when he realizes the guy is a just a bi-product of people like him (that is to say, rich evil assholes).

Back at the house, the guys get attacked by SHIELD agents who don't see Doom because he's buried himself in the fridge looking for beer. They drug Wolverine with carbonadium (one of his weaknesses) and take him into custody. They leave Max alone. Wesker comes up after the agents have left, and ignores Doom and Max as they try to get him up to speed. When he goes upstairs:

Max: "What's with him? These guys with guns break into our home and he doesn't even care?"
Doom: "Oh my God, Max!"
Max: "What? What is it?"
Doom: "We really need to get that yogurt."

And credits. This script would have setup the guys investigating Wolverine's kidnapping. They would have discovered the Superhuman Collection Act by SHIELD, and Doom's powers would mysteriously vanish over the next episode (he struggled to pull a beer out of thin air in the Wolverine episode, and this was of course due to our villain). It also began a sub-plot where Wesker starts taking down black-market B.O.W. transactions by going straight up Punisher on the dealers.

Ultimately, the  idea with all the SHIELD agents was deemed to be too many extras, too much money, etc. I dumbed down the outline to feature similar circumstances, and similar sub-plots for Wesker and Doom, and re-wrote Wolverine and then the second episode: Nemesis.

The Wolverine re-write started with a shorter version of Wesker's nightmare, but ultimately it was the same sequence.Wolverine shows up under similar circumstances. The big change was the ending. Rather than being attacked by SHIELD agents, Max, Doom and Wolverine take cover when a smoke bomb goes off in the living room. They run downstairs to the garage as Deadpool breaks into the living room. The garage (which serves as Wesker's pseudo bunker) is dark and has a few weapons about. Max goes for a gun and is intercepted by Taskmaster. (Keep in mind Taskmaster's intro in his episode was shot at Max's new place, so we're going with the implication that not only did Max, Doom and Wesker steal Taskmaster's van - they also took over his safehouse and made it their new home. This plot point is still canon but never acknowledged in the series.)

Deadpool and Taskmaster whip Doom and Max to the floor with ease. Wolverine stands guard as Taskmaster taunts the guys - and then our main villain steps downstairs making his big debut (that's right - in this version of the season, you'd know who the mystery badguy of season 2 was right from the start!) Doom realizes that this villain is the one who haunted his dreams, and Wolverine correctly assumes that he has something to do with Jean's disappearance. Wolverine rushes the villain and gets well and truly owned (!) without doing any damage. Doom tries to use Finger Lasers on the villain, who effortlessly redirects the energy back into Doom, flooring him.

Yeah. Our main villain is a bamf. Just sayin'.

Then, my favorite part happens. Doom springs up and says:

Doom: "Don’t worry, Max! Doom knows what to do! With a glass-cannon like this guy, you just gotta intimidate ’em with a little arcade-age smack talk! (He steps forward with a strut.) Who the fuck do you think you are? You in Doom’s house! You in Doom’s house, li’l boy! Doom’s seen Hsien-Ko’s harder than you, you abyss-tier, cotton-balled, dumb shit, funny lookin’ motherfucker! Don’t like it when Doom talks to
you like that? Fuck you go’n’ do, li’l boy? Fuck you go’n’ do?"

Doom's ghetto talk gets him punched out by the villain. As Taskmaster and Deadpool restrain Max, the villain then sucks away all of Doom's powers. Wesker finally shows up and attempts to save the day, but Deadpool leaps up behind him and shouts "Plot device!" and injects him with an anti-virus. So now Doom and Wesker are without superpowers. Our villain taunts Max with "Fear not. Your friends will live. And now, Max, you’ll finally have what you always wanted - a home without superhumans."

The badguys then disappear as a look of guilt crosses Max's face. For the first time in our series, the goodguys have been beaten.

I actually really liked this version of the season 3 first episode. it had a lot of humor in it (Wolverine is still my favorite episode of the season) and I thought the plot was strong enough to hook people for the season. That's kinda the issue I have with the Dante episode. I think it's fun, but there's no real hook. There's no real reason to stick around to see what happens next. I'm hoping that when the story picks up with episode 3 of season 3, the fans will be intent on seeing it through to the end, but I always thought it was important to hook them from the start.

The outline then called for a short film. It was called "Time Lost" and it was all about Strider Hiryu.

What a boss.

And this is where I got really into ASSIST ME! lore. I had this idea that the events of MvC2 had taken place in our universe long before the show started (explaining Doom's friendship with Strider). So there was this short film that began with Strider returning to his HQ right after the fight with Taskmaster. There, he meets Director Kuramoto, who chews him out for spending so much time helping his friends when he has his own missions to attend to. Strider stands up for himself, stating "My apologies, sir, but I do not see time spent protecting my friends as time wasted." and reminding Kuramoto that he's sacrificed a lot for the order. Kuramoto says that if he could send Strider home, he would.

We then flash forward to the future. 2050 to be exact. In Strider's quarters, Strider is with Lexia, his love interest, and he's about to go on a mission. She's trying to talk him out of it. He tells her that if all goes well, it will be as though he never left.

Flash back to the present. Strider is in the same room he was with Lexia. He starts to write a letter to her, telling her what year he's in, and just kind of talking about how insane his whole mission has been. He points out that if he can't find a way home, he'll be an old man when he meets Lexia. He winds up stopping short, overwhelmed.

Then we see the next scene in 2050. Lexia and a very old Kuramoto are seeing Strider off for his mission - with Ruby Heart.

Which should trigger ALL the nerdgasms, forever.

Ruby Heart uses a TIME GEM to transport herself and Strider to our time - obviously to fight Abyss. Lexia is sad when Strider leaves. Kuramoto reminds her that if Strider never returns, that was simply his destiny.

In the present, Kuramoto comes to Strider's quarters and shows him that Wesker has contracted with the Strider Order to employ Hiryu directly. Kuramoto says "Your friends have just found the way to my good side." Strider gears up, puts his unfinished letter to Lexia in his locker, and leaves. One final scene in 2050 shows Lexia going through the locker. She finds Strider's unfinished note, and begins to cry.

Because Strider would not be coming home.

Because Doom lost the Time Gem when he lost the Infinity Gauntlet.

So as you can see, the short-films would have had this (comparatively to the rest of the series) heavy story element to them.The next episode was the Nemesis tutorial, but this entry has got really long. So next time I'll talk about the Nemesis episode that was cut entirely from season 3, and the rest of the short films that were also cut.