Agents of A.R.G.U.S.: Anathema - Part 1

Agents of A.R.G.U.S.: Anathema - Part 1 is a 2015 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 fifth film in the DC Shared Universe. It is a sequel to 2014's Agents of A.R.G.U.S.: Alliance. The film was directed by Kevin Tancharoen and written by 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, Dustin Milligan, Meghan Ory, Joe Manganiello, and Colin Firth. In Agents of A.R.G.U.S.: Anathema - Part 1, Theo Austen and his team of A.R.G.U.S. agents continue to face threats such as the D.E.O., AMDA, and Maavar, a descendant hunting other descendants.

Agents of A.R.G.U.S.: Anathema - Part 1 was released in North America on May 22, 2015. The film was a moderate commercial success, it grossed $652.1 million, although it is less than the first three films in it's series. The film received generally positive reviews, with critics saying the mix of humor and drama was an improvement, while the forced relationship between Alba and Ezra, the confusion about the D.E.O., and Maavar's motivations were said to be the downs of the film.

Plot
In 1834, a cult of six people sit around a table. They each take a stone from a bag. One out of the six has a white stone. The other five drag him to the Megalith, where it turns to liquid and takes him away.

Six months after Agent Olivia Phillips disappeared, Agents Alba Garcia, Arthur Light, and Paul Chang rescue an Alliance descendant from the AMDA (Advanced Metahuman Defense Agency), the agency hunting descendants. The descendant, Parker Lopez, is placed in the Lilypad program to control his powers, which is really a cover for Director Theo Austen to create a special ops team of descendants. Agent Dave Stewart searches for Phillips everywhere until he discovers that Phillips was sent to another world. The team realize that Garcia can hold the portal open if she holds onto any living plant in the other world. As she holds it open, Stewart makes it in and rescues Phillips. However, after time, Phillips reveals that she is trying to reopen the portal, which was destroyed, in order to go back and rescue another man she met there. Stewart soon realizes she fell in love, but agrees to help.

Ezra Carpenter has started a new life as a dentist. However, Garcia and Chang track him down to get him to join A.R.G.U.S. as a member of the Lilypad program. He denies their invitation but soon they are attacked by descendant Maavar, who has the powers to create and shoot energy with the appearance of a blue alien. Ezra is forced to use his powers to save Garcia and then runs away. A.R.G.U.S. and the AMDA decide to join forces to take down Maavar. They learn that Maavar has been using the tracking powers of a descendant named Jim French to find descendants. The two agency interrogate French, although before they can get information, Maavar shows up and kills French before fleeing. However, Garcia sees Maavar turn into a human from a distance and realizes that is how he can escape their clutches so easily.

Light wants revenge on Walter Jale for kidnapping and nearly killing Lyla Michaels. Light recruits Althea Rice, who has still not gone back to work. The two find Jale trying to rebuild the D.E.O. They fight and just as Light begins to win, Jale sends his newest agent, Simon Steel to kill Rice's ex-husband, Caleb Fisher. Fisher survives with injuries while Steel escaped. Steel abandons Jale but is soon found and tortured. Rice and Michaels, who has joined the pursuit, find Steel and rescue him. Rice learns from Steel that Fisher survived because he is Maavar and faked his own injuries to not make it look suspicious.

The AMDA is revealed to be placing descendants they find in suspended animation until they find a cure. Fisher kidnaps Rice to show her he is trying to kill those not worthy of powers. A.R.G.U.S., now joined by Carpenter, and the AMDA surround the building they are at. Carpenter attacks first, angry at Fisher for killing his friends. Garcia saves AMDA's leader Isabella Gold, to show her descendants can be good, while Rice calms Fisher until he can be captured. Fisher is placed in suspended animation until he can be given a cure. Gold and Austen grow close, but Austen wants to know what the AMDA is really doing. While getting her out of the building. Rice, Garcia, Light, Michaels, Chang, and Carpenter inflitrate the AMDA headquarters and discover the AMDA is a subdivision of D.E.O. figurehead Isiah Dercas' D.E.O., and that rather than trying to get a cure, the AMDA is releasing the Empowerment Holders to their own people, trying to build a descendant army. However, Austen learns that Gold truly knows nothing about this.

Jale learns from Dercas that though A.R.G.U.S. and the majority of the D.E.O. believe Lionel Luthor founded the D.E.O. in the 50s, the original cult-like D.E.O. was formed centuries ago, worshipping a god-like Alliance member, Anathema, who created the original Alliance. However, the Alliance feared her and sent her through the Megalith to the planet that Phillips was sent to. Phillips encountered the monster on the planet. The D.E.O. throughout the ages sent a man every so often to the planet so that Anathema could live on. The D.E.O.'s attacks since the 50s have really been to weaken Earth's defenses in order to prepare the planet for Anathema's return and that missions like NASA sending Jeremy Ray and his team that Phillips met on the planet were just attempts at extracting Anathema. Dercas learns that Gold has been together with Austen and sends Jale to assassinate her before she shares too much. Overcome with rage over her death, Austen starts a manhunt for Jale and Dercas to bring down the D.E.O. forever.

Discovering that the facility that sent Ray and his team to the planet, Bismoll, was run by the D.E.O., A.R.G.U.S. sends Stewart, Phillips, and Gold's second-in-command to the facility. However, the latter is killed by D.E.O. descendant Sal, who also kidnaps Stewart and Phillips and brings them to a castle in Paris where Dercas and Jale are. Jale tortures the two to find out how they got Stewart back. The A.R.G.U.S. team tracks them to the castle where they have prepared the portal to open. Dercas sends Stewart, Jale, and several other D.E.O. agents to Bismoll. Austen leaps in after them just before the portal closes. Phillips escapes and finds Fisher. She releases him to transform into Maavar and kill their guards. Garcia, Carpenter, and Lopez are sent in to secure the castle. Dercas escapes and Maavar is revealed to have killed all the descendants in the D.E.O. prison, while also escaping.

While on Bismoll, Ray is found by Stewart and the D.E.O. team. However, Ray and Stewart manage to escape while the D.E.O. team, sans Jale, is killed by Austen. Stewart realizes Ray is actually Anathema in Ray's body. Stewart shoots the flare gun at Anathema, destroying Ray's body and presumably killing Anathema. Jale attacks Austen, and the latter kills Jale. Austen and Stewart meet up and make it through the portal just as it closes. The two meet up with A.R.G.U.S. and they leave the castle, blowing it up. Anathema, as a slug-like creature leaves Ray's body and finds Jale's.

In a mid-credits scene, Dercas plans his next move when he suddenly sees what appears to be Jale standing in front of his car. However, he soons gleefully realizes that this is Anathema in Jale's body.

Cast
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau reprises his role as Kebo from the last film. Bill Skarsgård, Andrew Garfield, Matthias Schoenaerts, Gerard Butler, and Mark Dacascos portray new characters Simon Steel, Jeremy Ray, Parker Lopez, Quentin Cash, and Sal
 * Chris Messina as Agent Theo Austen
 * Asia Argento as Agent Althea Rice
 * Henry Cavill as Agent Walter Jale
 * Kaya Scodelario as Agent Alba Garcia
 * 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
 * Dustin Milligan as Ezra Carpenter
 * Meghan Ory as Isabella Gold
 * Joe Manganiello as Caleb Fisher/Maavar
 * Colin Firth as Isiah Dercas

Box office
Agents of A.R.G.U.S.: Anathema - Part 1 earned $310.9 million in North America and $341.2 million internationally, for a worldwide total of $652.1 million.

Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 82% approval rating with an average rating of 6.8/10 based on 248 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "Agents of A.R.G.U.S.: Anathema - Part 1 has the perfect blend of humor and drama, even if the humor and drama can feel forced at some points."