The Morning Watch: Captain America And Iron Man's Character Arcs, ILM Revisits 'Empire Strikes Back' & More

The Morning Watch is a recurring feature that highlights a handful of noteworthy videos from around the web. They could be video essays, fanmade productions, featurettes, short films, hilarious sketches, or just anything that has to do with our favorite movies and TV shows.

In this edition, a video compares and contrasts the character arcs of both Iron Man and Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Plus, Industrial Light and Magic takes a look back at Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back for the 40th anniversary, and Conan O'Brien does the first ever virtual commencement address for Harvard University.

First up, Lessons from the Screenplay put together a video essay looking at the characters arcs of Iron Man and Captain America to examine how they're introduced as flawed characters, demonstrate how they're forced into extreme and opposite positions at the midpoint of their journeys, and explore how the completion of their character arcs leads to balance and closure for both of the heroes.

Next, the special effects wizards at Industrial Light at Magic who worked on Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back over 40 years ago gathered for a livestream conversation looking back at the making of the legendary sequel. Dennis Muren, Joe Johnston, Phil Tippett, and Lorne Peterson reflect on their work as ILM's VFX Supervisor Bill George guides the nearly hour and a half retrospective

In case you didn't know this, Conan O'Brien is a Harvard graduate and was a two-time editor of The Lampoon. So Harvard brought him in to deliver their 2020 commencement address, albeit virtually from his own backyard since graduation ceremonies aren't being held in the usual way, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic still shutting down large public gatherings all over. It's a hilarious commencement address as only Conan can deliver.