Agents of A.R.G.U.S.: Alliance

***Agents of A.R.G.U.S.: Alliance*** is a 2014 American superhero film based on the DC Comics organization A.R.G.U.S. (Advanced Research Group Uniting Super-Humans), distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is the third film in the DC Shared Universe. It is a sequel to 2014's *Agents of A.R.G.U.S. - Part 2*. The film was directed by Kevin Tancharoen and written by Jeffrey Bell and Jed Whedon & Maurissa Tancharoen. It stars Chris Messina, Asia Argento, Henry Cavill, Kaya Scodelario, Ed Westwick, Karen Gillan, Ryan Eggold, Audrey Marie Anderson, Yutaka Takeuchi, Elisha Cuthbert, David Harewood, Gal Gadot, Rodrigo Santoro, Emilia Clarke, Dustin Milligan, Edward James Olmos, and Brad Pitt. In *Agents of A.R.G.U.S.: Alliance*, Theo Austen and his team of A.R.G.U.S. agents and allies, who attempt to rebuild the organization following its collapse by the infiltration of the terrorist organization D.E.O.

*Agents of A.R.G.U.S.: Alliance*was released in North America on December 15, 2014. The film was a commercial success, just like it's predecessors, grossing $746.8 million worldwide, although the gross is not as high as the second film. The film received critical acclaim, with critics saying the darker tone and character development were some of the best improvements from the first two films.

## Plot

In a flashback to 1955, D.S.I. agents Martha Kent, Jimmy Olsen, and Steve Lombard raid the last known D.E.O. base following the defeat of Lionel Luthor and arrest everyone there, including latest D.E.O. director David Bones and confiscate all items there, including an alien body and the mysterious Pyramidion.
In present day, Director Theo Austen and his team of A.R.G.U.S. specialists (Althea Rice, Jo, Dave Stewart, and Abraham Twint) continue to rebuild A.R.G.U.S. Two of Austen's new agents Jessica Midnight and Montana along with their associate Arthur Light join the team in finding the Pyramidion. However, once they find it, it slowly begins to kill Midnight. On their way to the hospital, Aaron Helzinger crashes their car and kills Midnight and Montana, leaving Light as the sole survivor. Light joins A.R.G.U.S. in memory of his friends while Helzinger delievers the Pyramidion to Lily just before he is arrested. Lily then gives the object to Joshua Michael Allen, Jo's birth father.

Olivia Phillips was sent by Austen to inflitrate the D.E.O. and gain intel, which is being led by an unaged David Bones. However, she is discovered by Lily who tries to blackmail Austen into handing over Jo, due to Bones wanting the Pyramidion and Allen refusing to give the object back unless he meets his daughter. However, the plan fails and Olivia is extracted by Lyla Michaels, an A.R.G.U.S. agent sent to watch over Olivia, who also happens to be Light's ex-wife. Austen and Rice discover the Pyramidion has the same symbols that Austen has been carving since his resurrection. They learn that a painting in Peru has the same symbols on the back. While there, they get into a scuffle with a brainwashed A.R.G.U.S. agent Etta Candy, who is horribly disfigured by Rice.

A.R.G.U.S. makes a deal with Walter Jale's brother, Shawn, in which they hand over Jale in exchange that the military stops hunting A.R.G.U.S. However, Jale escapes and kills Shawn. Allen allies with Bones to find an alien city that the carvings are actually a 3D model of. However, unbeknownst to Bones, Allen plans to kill Bones for killing his wife years prior due to her ability to touch the Pyramidion without it's effects and her ability to not age, which he used her blood to make himself not age. Bones learns from Allen that Lily can also touch the Pyramidion and sends Candy to find her, although A.R.G.U.S. rescues her first. Lily reveals to them that the aliens that built the Pyramidion and the city, the Competalians, built them so that only those with a specific genetic material, an advanced version of the metagene, can enter. This is proven when Agent Paul Chang enters a transe-like state after entering the city.

Jale, once again working with the D.E.O., kidnaps Lily and Jo and delievers them to Fiji, the city's hiding place, where Jo reunites with her father, who reveals her real name to be Alba Garcia. A.R.G.U.S. arrives and Bones discovers Allen's true intentions. Austen kills Bones, allowing Allen, Jale, and Candy to escape. Jo follows Lily into the city, with the Pyramidion, revealed to be called a Siv actually, which traps them and Twint in a temple-like structure, killing Twint but giving Jo and Lily superpowers; Jo having superhuman strength, speed, flight, and plant control, while Lily transforms into an animal-like being with an outer shell.

Lily is devestated over her look and after being abandoned by Allen tries to kill herself but is saved by Hogan, another advanced meta like her. An alien arrives on Earth that reveals to A.R.G.U.S. that the ancestors of Lily and Jo are called the Alliance, that were genetically altered humans created by a rogue faction of Competalians in an attempt to win in antergalactic war. He also reveals that there are multiple Sivs and attacks them, forcing Jo to use her powers, revealing them to her teammates. Light begins to suspect Lyla and Chang are working for a seperate party and is abducted by Chang while Lyla mantains her A.R.G.U.S. cover. Jo tries to protect Austen from her still-at-large father but is sent to an isolated A.R.G.U.S. safehouse to control her powers.

Lyla and Chang introduce Light to Darrel Rodriguez, a former A.R.G.U.S. agent who, during the D.E.O. uprising, formed a group of A.R.G.U.S. loyalists that tried to rebuild A.R.G.U.S. Upon learning of Austen's A.R.G.U.S., Rodriguez sent Lyla and Chang to spy on their group and Rodriguez deemed Austen unworthy of being director. Light escapes just before Rodriguez's A.R.G.U.S. attacks Austen's and captures Rice, Stewart, and Phillips, but Austen escapes. Lyla tries to extract Jo, but she uses her powers and injures one of the A.R.G.U.S. agents before being taken away by Hogan. Jo awakens in Otherworld, a settlement for the Alliance, where she meets Ezra Carpenter and Paola, also learning that the latter is her mother, who Allen brought back to life, and that Lily was brought there.

Austen meets up with Light and the two head to the location of Walter Jale but Stewart meets up with them beforehand, having escaped with the Toolbox, a mysterious object given to Austen to protect by Amanda Waller. The three blackmail Jale and Candy, trying to start a life together, into helping them in the fight against the D.E.O. Jo learns that Paola plans to banish Allen from the Otherworld, but Jo pretends that she is going with her father to Portland, Maine to see his old workplace. Hogan transports them and secretly Ezra to spy on them. Allen learns of this and fights Ezra before D.E.O. soldiers show up. Austen, Jale, Stewart, Light, and Candy travel to Portland, where the D.E.O. was tracking Hogan. Jale and Austen fight through several D.E.O. agents, before catching a fleeting glimpse of Jo. Before they can reach her, however, Hogan transports her away and Allen leaps through after them. Jale and Austen meet up with Candy and Light, and the team retreats. However, Ezra is captured by the D.E.O., and thinking they will help him, Austen surrenders to Rodriguez.

Jo is angry at Hogan for leaving Ezra, while Allen confronts Paola about her plan. Hogan reveals what happened to Ezra and Lily eventually convinces Hogan to transport Jo to A.R.G.U.S. for a rescue mission. Rodriguez agrees to help Austen in exchange for the toolbox. Austen recruits Rice, Jale, Stewart, and Phillips for the mission. They figure out where Ezra is being held and prepare to leave when Jo shows up. They leave for the Arctic. They arrive at the base where they rescue Ezra and Austen tells Steve Trevor the location of Sinestro's ring. The two factions of A.R.G.U.S. agree to work under Austen as director with Rodriguez as advisor.

While Jo comforts Ezra, Austen and Rice attempt to recover information about the Megalith, a large stone that Hogan and Lily tried to steal. However, neither of them know. A.R.G.U.S. discovers the location of the Otherworld and agree to have a peaceful meeting with Paola. Jo reveals to Austen that Paola is her mother and is allowed to bring her and Ezra to prepare the community for A.R.G.U.S. Austen agrees to let Rodriguez go to meet with Paola. Lyla and Rice leave for the Otherworld, although Rice is actually Candy in disguise and kidnaps Lyla with Jale. When the real Rice and Light discover this they rescue Lyla, after being shot and Rice tricks Jale into killing Candy. Lyla undergoes surgery.

Paola and Rodriguez meet, but the former kills Rodriguez with an Empowerment Holder. She makes it seem as though Rodriguez shot her and A.R.G.U.S. attacked first. The A.R.G.U.S. team leaves with a captured Allen, while Jo stays with her mother. Lily meets with Paola, who kills Lily after she threatens to reveal Paola's plan to Jo, who saw the entire thing. Paola captures Jo to ensure her plan goes through. At the A.R.G.U.S. base, Allen transforms into his metahuman form and attacks Austen, although he manages to convince him to help A.R.G.U.S. not Paola. Allen joins a team preparing to retake an A.R.G.U.S. boat from Paola. On the boat, Paola intends to release the Empowerment Holders across the world, awakening new members of the Alliance and killing those not. Chang finds Jo and frees her. The two chang Paola's S.O.S. beacon to signal Austen to hold off on the attack. Austen, Chang, and Stewart kill Hogan, although Austen's hand is cut off when Hogan tries to release a Siv and Austen catches, forcing Chang to cut his hand off.

Jo inspires Ezra to help her and Rice in defeating the rest of the Alliance before confronting her mother. The two fight, each preparing to kill the other until Allen shows up and kills his wife to spare his daughter the pain of killing her. The attack then ends. However, the Empowerment Holders were released into the ocean and made into Fish Oil pills. Allen's memories are wiped and begins a clinic in Portland that Jo visits. Austen tells Jo his plan of creating a team of Alliance members, which Jo agrees to join, while Rice temporarily leaves A.R.G.U.S.

In a mid-credits scene, Stewart and Phillips study the Megalith, although when Stewart leaves, the stone transfers into liquid form as it does every so often and swallows Phillips. In a post-credits scene, Jale, heartbroken after the death of Candy, gathers the remaining D.E.O. agents and reforms the organization as himself as it's new leader.

## Cast

* Chris Messina as Agent Theo Austen
* Asia Argento as Agent Althea Rice
* Henry Cavill as Agent Walter Jale
* Kaya Scodelario as Jo
* Ed Westwick as Agent Dave Stewart
* Karen Gillan as Agent Olivia Phillips
* Ryan Eggold as Agent Arthur Light
* Audrey Marie Anderson as Agent Lyla Michaels
* Yutaka Takeuchi as Agent Paul Chang
* Elisha Cuthbert as Lily
* David Harewood as David Bones
* Gal Gadot as Paola
* Rodrigo Santoro as Hogan
* Emilia Clarke as Etta Candy
* Dustin Milligan as Ezra Carpenter
* Edward James Olmos as Darrel Rodriguez
* Brad Pitt as Joshua Michael Allen

Cam Gigandet reprises his role as Steve Trevor from the first two films and other DC Shared Universe installments. Patrick Sabongui, Peter Facinelli, B.J. Britt, and Christine Adams reprise their roles from the second film as David Singh, Michael/Lee Lord, Abraham Twint, and Marie Bell, respectively. Melissa Benoist, Aaron Ashmore, and Richard Armitage appear as Martha Kent, Jimmy Olsen, and Steve Lombard, respectively, reprising their roles from earlier DC Shared Universe installments. Mark Allan Stewart, Sugar Lyn Beard, Matt Damon, Eva Green, Dax Shepard, and Tobey Maguire portray new characters Clint, Debbie Blacksmith, Aaron Helzinger, Jessica Midnight, Montana, and Shawn Jale, respectively. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau cameos as Kebo in a post-credits scene.

## Reception

### **Box office**

*Agents of A.R.G.U.S.: Alliance* earned $374.9 million in the United States and Canada, as well as $372.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $746.8 million.

### **Critical response**

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 95% approval rating with an average rating of 7.5/10 based on 277 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "*Agents of A.R.G.U.S.: Alliance*relaxes into itself during its third installment, mitigating the film series' growing pains by focusing on characters while amping up narrative thrills."