Whoa. That's a lot of info on Ultimates I had no clue about -- thanks? I think? ;-) -- having only read half of one. But your explanation of the Fury/Clint relationship makes sense.
I picked up the Coulson-as-the-handler trope from some early fanfic I read, thinking it had to be canon. But it's perhaps (however vaguely) supported by the call to Natasha at the beginning of the movie, where there was a clear understanding on Coulson's part what "Barton's been compromised" would mean to Natasha, even as he plays a vid of the Abidjan mission in the background.
As for comms issues, clearly there's a distinction between covert and military ops. In full-fledged combat for example, like the battle of Manhattan, when the shit flies in real time, analysis isn't an issue. Covert or special forces ops are a different animal altogether, and I note that Natasha did NOT have a comms device on her during that "interrogation" -- Coulson had to use her "captors'" cell phone.
Good points on convenient lapses and abilities on the part of Tony Stark; but I figure that if I can suspend my disbelief high enough to buy Norse gods, aliens, space portals and cryogenics that works, I can squint through that one with ease.
Re: Technology and communication
I picked up the Coulson-as-the-handler trope from some early fanfic I read, thinking it had to be canon. But it's perhaps (however vaguely) supported by the call to Natasha at the beginning of the movie, where there was a clear understanding on Coulson's part what "Barton's been compromised" would mean to Natasha, even as he plays a vid of the Abidjan mission in the background.
As for comms issues, clearly there's a distinction between covert and military ops. In full-fledged combat for example, like the battle of Manhattan, when the shit flies in real time, analysis isn't an issue. Covert or special forces ops are a different animal altogether, and I note that Natasha did NOT have a comms device on her during that "interrogation" -- Coulson had to use her "captors'" cell phone.
Good points on convenient lapses and abilities on the part of Tony Stark; but I figure that if I can suspend my disbelief high enough to buy Norse gods, aliens, space portals and cryogenics that works, I can squint through that one with ease.