captainwidowspring

[captainwidowspring]

Still one of my favorite puns we've done.

[captainwidowspring]

Indeed, I agree with most of this. There are just a few things I'd like to add.

That whole point about John not having a moral code is just plain ridiculous. And the article claiming that John would rather see Karli dead is highly ironic given that, in the final battle, John was literally presented with a clear choice between continuing to go after Karli or rescuing the hostages, and he chose to rescue the hostages (even though he was never given any credit for this). So the fact that the above claim is not true genuinely could not be more clear.

Also, I'd just like to touch on the article presenting Sam trying to talk Karli down as proof of his moral code. Because it's like, while yes trying to talk things out is good, Sam honestly took it too far. He continued trying to talk to Karli even when she repeatedly made it clear that she had no intention of changing, which just ended up being frustrating to watch. I mean, heck, he literally refused to do anything even when Karli was actively trying to kill him; he would actually have been shot dead if Sharon hadn't shot Karli at the last second for him (while she was injured, no less). Talking things out is good, but at a certain point if someone isn't listening you have to accept it as a lost cause and move on, and Sam refused to do that long past the point when he should have.

And it's just another instance of this article being hypocritical because it's like, it's important to remember that John was initially willing to let Sam talk to Karli, and he did at first. It's just that while he was waiting for Sam, he became increasingly concerned for Sam's safety given that Sam, a normal human, was alone and unarmed with a supersoldier who had previously demonstrated violent tendencies, and he thus interrupted the meeting a little early. (And Bucky agreed with John enough to let him go in—given that he easily could have stopped John from going in if he wanted to—and even went with him, despite the fact that he randomly held Lemar back at the end for no apparent reason.) But even during the short time Sam had with her, Karli clearly showed that she had no intention of changing, which Sam should have seen. And John's concern was actually later vindicated when Karli literally threatened Sam's sister and his nephews, and presumably would have done something if Sam hadn't moved them to safety; one has to wonder if Sam would have kept up with his stubborn insistence on trying to talk to Karli if she had actually managed to do something to them instead of merely threatening.

Additionally:

"And let's not forget, John NEVER had any intentions of killing any one of the Flag Smashers, he was always trying to simply arrest them. Death was something that only happened after they tried to kill him first and killed Lemar instead. He didn't walk into Episode 1 just going all excited about murdering folks."

The thing about this is that, actually, John wasn't even intending to kill Nico! He was focused on trying to find Karli, so he chased down and finally cornered Nico in order to interrogate him. Even after John captured Nico, he made no move to harm him. But then when Nico said, "It wasn't me!" as if he hadn't literally been holding John with the intention of allowing Karli to stab him (which, notably, also prevented John from defending Lemar when Lemar came to his rescue), John clearly lost it: and he shifted his shield, which had been on his arm until that point, into a two-handed grip, and then raised it, and the shield-incident followed. (Though again, as I will never stop saying, Nico could have easily saved himself, and only didn't so the show would have an excuse to take the shield from John.) It is clear, however, that John did not capture Nico with violent intentions—otherwise he most likely would have started attacking before Nico said anything—and if Nico had not said such a cruel and insulting thing to John, the shield incident would never have happened in the first place.

And yeah, the article trying to frame John losing it and killing Nico as bad tactical decision making is utterly ridiculous. I mean, I don't think Steve would have reacted well either if the Hydra agent who knocked Bucky from the train turned to him after Bucky fell and said "Don't blame me!" Because that's basically what Nico did.

Personally, I think John does make a good Captain America. While the guilt and untreated PTSD are certainly things he would have to work on, it's like, Steve had those too, so they don't necessarily prevent one from being a good Captain America. (Though again, working through those things would be greatly beneficial.) And while he might have been slightly lacking in a solid self-identity, he persevered and kept his cool even as quite a few people were very unjustly hating on him, so he was well on his way to growing out of that. John easily could have been a great Captain America if so many obstacles weren't thrown in his way; it is quite accurate to say that, "He wasn't failing because he didn't know how to lead, he was failing because they had refused to let him lead."

So yeah. I also hope that people will stop so thoroughly misunderstanding John, and that Marvel doesn't continue to treat him badly as they've unfortunately already started to do. John certainly isn't perfect, nobody is, but he is definitely a genuinely good person who strives to be his best, and he would have been a respectable Captain America if he had been allowed to succeed. The rabid hate he gets is entirely undeserved, and hopefully more people will see that.

So, Screen Rant recently released an article on the 6 rules of being Captain America in the MCU, mostly it's just about how Steve and Sam fit those rules and John doesn't.

But this article is terribly written and incredibly inaccurate to even just basic factual things, and I'm going to go through and address each of the point it makes against John and tell you why it is wrong and hypocritical.

First, the article claims that Cap must be a strong and sure leader. It claims that it's always hard to imagine John ever having this leadership role and that's why his downfall is spectacular. Yet it completely ignores that John has been in leadership roles AND been successful. He's a Captain, he's been serving and leading his men into war and successfully completed missions for decades. We are not talking about some green young soldier with little experience as Comics John may have been. MCU John has been in the military for nearly 20 years. He has a clear and effective record. This claim also ignores that John's leadership ultimately failed in the MCU because no one wanted to listen to him, they were all still angry about Steve being gone and John getting the shield (that he didn't ask for). They were angry and had no intentions of wanting to listen since day one. He wasn't failing because he didn't know how to lead, he was failing because they had refused to let him lead.

Second, the article claims that Cap must be a skilled and brave fighter. It describes in a previous paragraph about Steve and Sam's fighting skills but when it gets to John, it immediately backtracks to dismiss the point. Even in the one "rule" that John can clearly fit under, this article refuses to do so and instead moves the goal post to talk about John's morality and doing questionable things. Implying that if he thought his time in war were the worst days of his life, then it must not make him a good Cap. But let me just ask here, who the hell thinks war is a good time? Steve and Sam's worst days were also when they were serving in the war, they have all done questionable things, do this now mean they aren't good Caps either? Steve even admitted to Fury that they've done their share of questionable things during the war. Sam served in the same wars in the Middle East that John served in. Pretending that John is somehow the only person to act like their worst days are during war time is to display an ignorance to the realities of war and military service. NOBODY thinks war is a walk in the park, wars have always been the worst days of a soldier's life. There is a reason people end up with massive amounts of PTSD!

Third, this article claims that Cap must make fast and tactical decisions. It claims that John's "quick thinking" led to him killing a Flag Smasher, so this is why he isn't good at quick thinking. But I just want to ask here, since when is a heat of the moment trauma response now considered "quick thinking"? If someone kills your loved one right in front of you and you scream and lash out, are you now bad at quick thinking and tactical decisions? So are we now saying trauma responses are bad tactical decision making? Was T'Challa bad at tactical decisions when he decided to seek revenge on Bucky in Civil War for the death of his father? Was Thor bad at tactical thinking when he chopped off Thanos' head? Was Clint bad at tactical thinking when he went on a five year murder spree? Was Steve bad at tactical thinking when his own rage led him to beat down on Tony after Tony blasted and incapacitated Bucky in Siberia? So not only does this article not seem to grasp that a trauma response is not a judgment on anyone else's tactical acumen, it also ignores the number of times that John IS capable of quick thinking. When Karli kicked Lemar off the truck, it was John's quick thinking and throwing out the shield that saved Lemar. In fact, in that same fight, it was John's quick thinking that saved Sam from getting his head bashed in by one of the Flag Smashers.

Fourth, this article claims that Cap must have a strong moral code. It uses Steve fighting against Loki and Thanos and protecting Bucky while Sam tries to talk down Karli as examples of their strong moral code. It claims that John doesn't have this "gift" because John would rather see Karli dead and killed an "innocent" Flag Smasher. If the act of wanting to fight villains to save people and not wanting to kill someone is enough to fit this rule, then John should too. Why does this article ignore that John taking on the mantle of Cap and willing to risk his life to protect others satisfies this rule demonstrated by its own examples? What about John saving Sam and Bucky and Lemar in that truck fight? What about John risking his life doing hostage rescue? What about John grabbing that truck full of hostages to prevent them from dying? And let's not forget, John NEVER had any intentions of killing any one of the Flag Smashers, he was always trying to simply arrest them. Death was something that only happened after they tried to kill him first and killed Lemar instead. He didn't walk into Episode 1 just going all excited about murdering folks.

Fifth, this article claims that Cap must be willing to pay the ultimate price. It claims that it's hard to imagine John ever willingly sacrificing himself for others. This is perhaps the most egregious claim and the most obvious demonstration of a complete misunderstanding of John Walker as it can get. He's risked his life for Sam, for Bucky, for Lemar, for his own fellow soldiers during his years of active duty service, for the hostages in that truck and any other hostages he's saved previously. He's even jumped on grenades FOUR times. To claim that a THREE TIME Medal of Honor recipient can't sacrifice himself for other is to claim that Simone Byles can't do a flip or Michael Phelps can't swim. Why don't we ask families of dead Medal of Honor recipients who got their medals posthumously, just how willing the recipients are to sacrifice their lives for others? Maybe not everyone knows this, but the military doesn't even like to hand out MOHs, you have to do the most high level and extraordinary kind of sacrifice to even be considered for ONE medal, and some people who have done that don't even get their medals until decades later. For John to have received THREE before he's even hit 40 years old speaks to a level of willingness for self sacrifice that readily matches any MCU hero. And even if we don't count the medals, he's demonstrated in the show itself that he is willing to sacrifice. He threw his only weapon, the shield, to save Lemar, even though it left him unarmed to face all those Flag Smashers. He left himself open to attack and death when he refused to let go of the truck filled with hostages even as the Flag Smashers pounced on him from all sides.

Lastly, this article claims that Cap must be "a good man". It states that the serum has corrupted many greedy and egotistical people over the years and that John taking the serum only made him even worse. Only worse? Are we just going to ignore that despite having taken the serum and supposedly being "corrupted" and have all this evil in him amplified, John still CHOSE to let go of revenge and do the right thing and save people? He didn't need Sam or Bucky to tell him, HE made that choice ON HIS OWN. If he is so corrupted and bad, then why did he willingly make a conscious decision to do good? How much goodness does John have to ALREADY have to overcome all the bad in him and still make the right decision? And when will we realize that the serum isn't a "good becomes great" or "bad becomes worse" but rather "good becomes great" AND "bad becomes worse". Everyone has light and dark, the serum amplifies all, and if John's bad qualities are amplified, then so are his good ones, and those good ones are the reason he CHOSE to make the right choice. And that choice matters. In Ms. Marvel, we have Kamala learn that very important lesson, "good is not a thing you are, it is a thing you do".

The irony of this whole article is that there are actually reasons why John is not suited to being Captain America, but none of those reasons are actually even properly addressed in this article.

It doesn't talk about John's insecurity and how guilt and untreated PTSD plays into that emotional volatility and fear that drives him to make wrong decisions.

It doesn't talk about his lack of a solid self-identity, and how that leads to him being easily manipulated and exploited by others (particularly those in power that he feels loyalty and duty towards) because he has tied his self worth to other people's opinions. And how a Captain America needs to know who they are and be firm in their own self, which is what John does not yet have.

Instead, this article lists a bunch of "rules" and inaccurately applies them to John in some half ass attempt to show how he's not a "real" Captain America. What is even the point of writing an article like this if you're just gonna demonstrate that you were clearly watching the Falcon and the Winter Soldier with your eyes, ears, and brain closed?

People continue to fundamentally misunderstand John Walker, and I can only hope that the Thunderbolts movie will fix this problem.

I don't claim John to be perfect, I don't even claim that he makes a good Cap, but the way some of yall still to this day refuse to recognize any kind of good in John is baffling. He isn't Steve's "total opposite", he IS Steve but 200% on crack. Wyatt Russell himself has even stated that John and Steve share the same desire to help and defend innocent people, but where they differ is the method to achieve that result. JOHN GENUINELY CARES. Even if sometimes he makes bad decisions in that care.

[captainwidowspring]

More good points in the tags from Amarriageoftrueminds:

#interesting thing to think about#there's also the possibility that steve might not want tony to know about it even if steve didn't know it was bucky...#because it might make tony go into hyper-hydra-hunting mode#in a way which might end up hurting bucky while he's on-the-run/in-hiding#bucky's location being exposed immediately resulted in him being swatted#so steve might keep that specific piece of hydra intell on the dl#to protect bucky... even if steve didn't know it was TWS#another possibility:#tony has had access to shield's files and hydra's files for years#steve might assume tony already knows and is just not bringing it up because it's painful etc??

Personally, I think that last point is the reason that makes the most sense regarding why Steve never discussed Tony's parents' death with him. As I have also mentioned in my Civil War essay, there is seriously no reason why Tony should not already know the truth of what happened to his parents; it really seems like the only reason he didn't was so that the final battle could happen the way it did. But Steve figuring that Tony already knew, since he should have, was not an unreasonable assumption, and such a topic is not an easy or desirable thing to talk about to begin with: so Steve is not at fault for never having such a conversation.

As for the rest of the meta, I disagree with the statement that neither Steve nor Tony were completely right in the movie—Steve was in fact completely in the right, he literally didn't do anything wrong, and only the extremely biased framing prevents more people from seeing it— but the rest I largely agree with.

And I'd like to add another detail, that is very important to this whole situation, but which people seem to always forget: THE ZOLA SCENE HAPPENED BEFORE STEVE FOUND OUT THAT THE WINTER SOLDIER WAS BUCKY!!!

The sequence of events is that Steve and Natasha find Zola in the bunker, the bunker gets blown up, the two of them escape to Sam's house, and this subsequently leads to the highway fight where Steve unmasks Bucky and the truth is revealed. But at the time that Steve saw Zola's newspaper clippings, he was still unaware of The Winter Soldier's true identity. It is thus very possible that, in all the ensuing chaos, the finer details of Zola's revelations were pushed from his mind (if he even believed them to begin with, and didn't think it was just Zola manipulating them), and so he never connected the dots until it was thrown in his face.

And indeed, the video thing is something that bugs me too. Zemo literally frames Bucky with a video, but then later he presents a highly suspicious video that we're nonetheless supposed to assume is completely real? I guess the creative team just didn't want people questioning it because then Tony would look really bad for uncritically accepting it when Zemo literally straight-up told him that he wanted the Avengers to fight each other.

So yeah. There really is a mountain of plausible and understandable reasons that easily explain why Steve never told Tony about his parents, and why Steve might not have even known if the story they were presented with was true.

I'm about 8 years late with this but one thing in the Civil War dispute I have never seen anyone from either side point out (and I could just be completely wrong on this):

There is no indication Steve actually knew Bucky killed Tony's Parents

Steve knew it was Hydra because, and as far as I am aware ONLY because of Zola's little exposition scene in Winter Soldier where he shows a bunch of newspapers clippings of things Hydra is responsible for, including Howard and Maria Stark's death.

I repeat: things HYDRA is responsible for. So, yes, Cap knew Hydra killed the Starks, and knew Bucky was working for Hydra. That does not mean, because of that little exposition scene, Cap decided, 'oh yes, in the last 70 years Hydra has only had one man doing all their assassinations, so that must mean Bucky killed Howard and Maria.'

The thought it might have been him could have occurred to Steve, but either way, that would be a theory, and not something Steve has any reason to tell Tony.

For further proof, this exchange from Civil War straight after Tony & Steve watched the security footage:

Tony: "Did you know?"

Steve: "I didn't know it was him."

Tony: "Don't give me that shit, Rogers. Did you know?"

Steve: "...Yes."

To me at least, that 'yes' means Steve knew Hydra, as an organisation, killed Stark's parents, and he elected not to tell Tony, which he is shown to have found out in Winter Soldier so we know that. But his initial statement, "I didn't know it was him", we have no evidence wasn't entirely truthful.

(Whether Tony hears that 'yes' as 'yes I knew Bucky killed your parents' or 'yes I knew your parents death wasn't an accident/orchestrated by Hydra' is ...debatable, but either way I can't see any reason to believe Steve meant the latter, especially since he has already said he knew it wasn't Bucky specifically.)

Why didn't Steve tell Tony Hydra killed his parents?

I can think of a few reasons, whatever side of the Civil War divide you are you can probably come up with more:

1. Steve knew Zola was trying to distract Steve and Nat when he showed those newspapers, so was just trying to keep them engaged, and hinting there might be more to the death of an old friend and get Steve emotional would be a great way to do that. Steve might have suspected it was true, but with no actual evidence he didn't want to open Tony's old wounds.

2. The avengers were going after Hydra post-Winter Soldier, and Steve was worried about what Tony might do/how reckless he might be/didn't trust him enough to risk telling him the people they were targeting killed his parents.

3. It was more than 30 years in the past. If Steve didn't know it was Bucky, it would be likely the person who did it (or at least authorised it) was long dead or unfindable (again, 30 years cold case, no evidence except in a bunker in nowhere siberia that Zemo spent a year searching for when he knew exactly what he was trying to find), so there would be no justice to get, so it would be only hurting Tony for no reason.

But the point is there are a lot of reasons Steve wouldn't tell Tony (admittedly a lot aren't very good or wishful thinking, and Steve probably should have said something, but it is a common theme across the MCU that Steve doesn't always have as much faith in Tony as he should (and then sometimes Tony builds Ultron because he got scared and you can understand why Steve might not trust him when emotional), I'm not here to idolise either of them or say either were completely right in this movie, just point out one thing I see a lot of people complain about). A lot of those reasons don't hold if Steve knew that it was Bucky, and we will never know if Steve might have told him if he did, but you can't blame Steve for not telling Tony something he didn't know himself.

[captainwidowspring]

Avengers wrapping up after the latest Avenger Mission and everyone’s tired and beat with dirt all over and dents in armour, a single arrow left, scratches all over and hair a mess. Thor walks alongside them looking the same as he did at the start of the fight.

[captainwidowspring]

Right? Like all I want is an unabashedly good movie (or show) with Wanda in it. Something where Wanda is understood and celebrated, and she goes on a nice adventure that doesn't involve her being put in an absolutely horrible situation like she was in WandaVision. It's like, is that too much to ask for? The wasted potential of the Wanda saga truly is staggering. Would that Marvel had more material that supported and lived up to Wanda's brilliance as a character.

[captainwidowspring]

Idgaf if you don't want to write essays for school. I don't care if you don't want to write corporate emails yourself. I don't care if you can't draw well, I don't care if you can't write well, I don't care if you just really really want to talk to your favorite fictional character but don't want to RP with a real person because you have social anxiety or whatever

If you're still regularly using generative ai, chatgpt or midjourney or character.ai or literally whatever the fuck, im personally blaming you when my utility prices start going up.

[captainwidowspring]

i hate viruses so fucking much. literally getting attacked by a fucking shape. a concept. consumes no energy. responds to no stimuli. its only existence is to fuck with you. like fuck offf

[captainwidowspring]

My new favorite genre of picture is a very special thing that most animals (and humans!) do: face nuzzling as an act of greeting/comfort/intimacy. thank God that this is happening all over the world right now

Isn’t it wonderful?!

[captainwidowspring]

I still see posts where John is attributed a variety of sins, come up with all sorts of nonsense (racist, sexist, homophobic 🤦🏻‍♀️where did they see all this) and other fantasies.

And who he really is, just the facts.

he's a loving husband💜

he's a loyal friend

He's really friendly

[captainwidowspring]

I'm literally never going to be brought to the point where I hate Wanda. Like, it's just not an option lol. I love her so much and will be patiently waiting for the MCU to give her a break.

[captainwidowspring]

God there’s something so refreshing about seeing Steve meet Natasha after seeing the ways everyone else has been treating him

Like everyone at shield has clearly been ignoring him or just allowing him to completely isolate himself (not sure which is worse considering this guy literally just lost everyone and everything he’s ever known, loved, or fought for) bc Fury doesn’t seem to be fully taking him seriously, Coulson (and I’m sure others he’s met up to this point) is such a big fanboy he can barely keep his composure around him

And then there’s Natasha who meets him and immediately starts teasing him (by poking fun at Coulson’s excitement nonetheless) and that’s when we get our first (of very few) genuine Steve smiles in this movie

After being treated like a comic book character come to life (either not taken seriously or fawned over), she’s probably the first person since he came out of the ice to treat him like a person and that is SO important

[captainwidowspring]

JOY HAS A HABIT OF RETURNING. BTW

[captainwidowspring]

I'm done bottling this up. I need to go on a rant about how much Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness insulted me the one and only time I watched it.

I’m still furious that the trailers didn’t spoil that Wanda was the villain, because if they had, I would’ve sworn never to watch the movie.

I liked the first 15 minutes or so fine, and got really excited when Wanda was introduced. But I don’t think I’ll ever forget the way my heart dropped when the reveal happened two minutes later.

It shocked me so much in the worst possible way that I totally zoned out and barely registered anything else that was said in that scene, or the next one for that matter.

The Kamar-Taj massacre legitimately made me want to vomit. I truly couldn’t believe what I was seeing. This couldn’t be fucking happening. And to think it was almost even worse if that horrific BTS footage of Wanda hacking the sorcerers to pieces in melee combat made it into the movie.

This may sound odd, but the visual of Wanda ripping herself apart to get out of the Mirror Dimension truly disgusted me, because I sincerely think it was intended to dehumanize her and make her look more like a monster. Again, it was like the movie was TRYING to personally insult me.

I wasn’t paying attention to anything that was happening with Strange and America when they got to the other universe. I couldn’t focus on anything at all because I was reeling from the shock.

I hate to admit it, but when the Darkhold got destroyed for a moment I hoped against everything that that would be it. But no, immediately after that she intentionally tortured some of the surviving sorcerers to make Wong talk. Again, I genuinely could not believe what I was seeing. How was this real?

The Illuminati massacre, like the earlier battle, insulted me in ways I truly cannot articulate. I feel like everyone involved was trying to insult me specifically with how evil they were making Wanda. [A part of me has grown to morbidly like this scene, however, as the Illuminati are full-on fascists, and with how much I've grown to hate Captain Carter it was darkly cathartic seeing Wanda bisect her, but still.]

During the final battle I was sincerely expecting either those demons to drag Wanda to whatever hell dimension they came from, or for America to do that instead. If that happened then the anti-Wanda whiners would feel even more vindicated about how she was "finally being properly punished".

The way she is written out rung completely hollow, because there was no indication whatsoever that she wasn’t being corrupted anymore. It just looked like she stopped because she wanted to. And again, I feel like the movie was trying to make me upset by saying "no, this is just how Wanda is".

I want to say I felt nothing when it looked like Wanda died, but the truth is it was just the final middle finger. I guess I should be thankful for small mercies since apparently she was originally planned to go on ANOTHER killing spree ending with Strange killing her.

So yeah, TLDR, Multiverse of Madness was the absolute worst movie watching experience I’ve ever had, and cemented itself as my most hated film of all time before it even ended. I made a conscious choice to never watch it again before I even got up from my seat. It truly felt like Sam Raimi and Michael Waldron were intentionally and maliciously ruining Wanda, and the fact that it was just sheer incompetence that caused this to happen is somehow even worse, because that's how little Marvel values this character.

And just for the record, my mom, who got into the MCU because of WandaVision, was also really excited for this movie, and she has no standards whatsoever, so the fact that even SHE hated the movie's treatment of Wanda speaks volumes.

Fuck Marvel, fuck Michael Waldron, and fuck the anti-Wanda losers while we're at it.

[captainwidowspring]

Watched the Thunderbolts* Trailer and….

Hyped for the movie and all but I got reminded of this one thing that annoyed the crap out of me when I watched Falcon & The Winter Soldier..

The way that John Walker was treated in and out of the verse! He deadass didn't even do anything bad!

From the jump he was humble about being Cap, he made it clear was wasn't trying to replace Stev, he tried to be friendly and work with Sam & Bucky, and most importantly this was a position pushed onto him! But Bucky, Sam & the Fans somehow saw him as some kind of egomaniac who needed to be taken down a peg.

Dumbasses getting upset over him using a Gun like Steve wasn't using one in the first Avenger. He’s Captain *America*! Not Batman!

“Oh, he killed a defenseless man in broad daylight!” He killed a Super Soldier Terrorist who just a minute ago was trying to kill him and helped kill his best friend. The only reason the Gov turned their backs on John was because it happened in public and they wanted to save face.

“Him getting beat up by Sam & Bucky was so satisfying!” 1. They barely won that and they were jumping him! 2. Sam & Bucky were petty assholes to him the whole time they knew him just because he was assigned a position that Sam refused. Sam ran a support group for Vets with PTSD, he should've been more understanding when it came to John!

John was legit just doing his job. Sam & Bucky were the ones who made shit worse, they helped Zemo, the man who killed the King of Wakanda & single-handedly broke up the Avengers, escape from prison then helped the Power Broker, who was the cause of the issue with the Flag Smashers, get a direct connection to Government resources.

The Writers and Media pushed the narrative that he should be hated even though he didn't do shit and I hope he gets some kind of Justice in Thunderbolts* but I doubt it.

[captainwidowspring]

Post-mission Stuckynat commission for the lovely @frostyemma!!!

COMMISSIONS | PATREON

[captainwidowspring]

Am I the only one who will be discouraged with interacting with any type of media if it has a picture made by AI with it??

Like I can love a concept and want to check it out but if I see it has been attached to a picture of AI by OP I just won't touch it. I won't check it out or even give it a chance even if I really want to!?!??

Am I the only one that feels like that??

[captainwidowspring]

Personally, I think the thing that matters most is intention. In the case of the people on the Raft, they would know full well what they were doing, and they would be doing it voluntarily. In Wanda's case, however, she actually had no clue what was doing: and because of this, the torture she accidentally inflicted on the people of Westview can't really be considered voluntary, because she didn't understand what was happening.

It's also worth pointing out that Wanda did actually receive a taste of her own medicine, when what she did to the Westviewers was reflected back at her. Now, the unique thing about Wanda's case is that she wasn't purposefully torturing people, she was accidentally spreading her own pain to others after she had a mental breakdown. So there wasn't really any medicine for her to taste, so to speak, since her pain was literally the reason why everyone else in Westview was in pain. But she nonetheless received even more pain when she found out that, not only was the happiness she thought she had finally found entirely fake, but also she had been unknowingly hurting other people during the experience. Wanda thus amply paid for what she did.

See, my view of the receiving a taste of your own medicine thing is that sometimes, people need to have something done to them to understand why they shouldn't do it: and I also believe that, if someone is willingly and knowingly inflicting harm and then they have the tables turned on them, it is altogether just. In the case of the Raft guards, I too am of the opinion that Wanda wouldn't be trying to kill the Raft guards, since she quite simply isn't that kind of person: although I do think she might hurt them, so they had some idea of the pain they inflicted on her. However, I am also of the opinion that if some of the Raft guards did end up perishing, that would be their own fault, for they would be a large part of the reason why the situation was so bad in the first place. Not to mention, if they were truly repentant they would help Wanda and the others escape. So Wanda would have done nothing wrong in that case.

In the case of Westview, though, not only was Wanda never intending to harm anybody to begin with, but she also fully understood how and why what she did was wrong. In addition, she owned up to what she did, and did everything she could to fix it. Thus, the Westview citizens torturing her would not accomplish anything except causing even more unnecessary pain, and delaying healing for everyone involved. That is how the two situations are different.

These are my thoughts on the matter.

Sorry, but no. Wanda Maximoff is not a murderer (fuck you Waldron). And her killing anyone, even her torturers, would just make people hate her even more both in and out of universe.