mcuyappinghouse

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The recent punisher bts footage be like

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fantastic four: first steps is a religious experience. i don't even know what to say tbh. it's hard to believe what i just witnessed. one of the greatest superhero movies of all time and it's not an exaggeration. matt shakman, you crazy son of a bitch, you did it

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FF rebrand tomorrow!

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Zeke Stane Character Analysis: Running From (Into) Destiny

Zeke, my beloved. It still hurts, it really does.

But it's that pain that makes Zeke (and Ironheart) so fucking compelling.

We've had many villains in the MCU: From the most diabolical bastards to flawed people with understandable but broken motives.

Zeke, however, is markedly different. He's not even really a villain, just a tragic accident from the destruction caused by Riri's desperation.

Let's rewind a bit: When we first meet Joe, we see a man with no spine, and it's DESTROYING HIM. His interactions with Heather are so telling: this dumb old karen has power over a super genius son of a man who (evil as he was) was an incredibly impressive business man. In the real world (and in universe) a man like Joe should be considered at least a respectable genius, if not even a next Pym or Stark.

But he's not. He's just Joe.

But Zeke WANTS to be Joe, for he fears becoming his father, becoming Stane. That is so interesting, since most sons in the MCU very much either want to be their fathers or want to be better than them but still respect/love them (and that includes villains). Hell, Peter HATES Ego, but we never really see him fear becoming him. This is a fresh new fear to explore in this franchise, improved by the arrival of the Tony Stark esque Riri. Joe can see the warning signs, and he says so himself: that Iron Energy could lead to his own downfall, and he IS right.

But it's how it happens that just HURTS.

Obviously they had a way to go, but one could tell Riri and Joe were vibing: they were singing in the car for christ sake. Something was clicking: Perhaps it was the fact that someone was genuinely respecting him, and a genius too! Perhaps it was just that he finally could tell someone about how he felt. Perhaps they both related to someone trying to deal with legacy.

But it just wasn't to last, was it?

I find it fascinating how both characters are copies AND inversions of the men they long/fear to emulate: I've examined Riri's insane similarity to Tony, but what of Zeke and his dad? Obadiah was a man who worked his way to the top, clawed there, and once he finally reached it, he refused to be brought down until a literal shock to the system from the world's first (modern) superhero. In essence, he fought God and lost, but man did he come close.

Joe can't talk to a woman until a 20 something tells him to man up.

But there is one important similarity between the two: Both Stanes react to what they perceive as injustice with blind rage, with shock. How could you treat me this way? How could you blow it all up? While Obadiah's reasonings were pathetic (no shit the son of the owner who is, to be fair, an actual bone fide genius, gets the keys to the kingdom), Zeke's really aren't: Riri fucked up big time. By mistake, of course, but oops sorry doesn't free you from jail (which is what Riri was practically banking on with that visit).

That scene, that fucking scene, where Joe is walking in prison, the camera turns around, and we hear the world that doesn't know Obadiah was evil lamabasting him for ruining his legacy... That moment when Zeke Stain is born, perhaps forever... It's just so perfect. He had to be imprisoned, literally unable to run away, so that his tragic destiny could catch up to him. It was sort of fate, in a way. A man can only take so much.

Yet, as much as Zeke does blame Riri, he's not absolved of any bad decisions either: He too couldn't resist the call of creation, even if it meant bending the rules, and it struck back. He feared becoming a known criminal obsessed with hurting an armored superhero and hid it all: Now he's a damn supervillain with that exact obsession. Sure, he and Riri are on... Unclear terms, but let's be real, once Champions airs, he will be back to fight here, and only then will he get a chance to escape.

But as we've learned, people in Ironheart tend to run away from their fears by running right into them.

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The movie is peak now

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Dear god the red carpet is happening and I'm still not uptodate XD I'll finally be posting about FF today, promise

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Ironheart Episode Rankings

Episode 6: The Past is the Past: I mean, duh, right?? What else could it be? It might not be the most emotionally resonant episode but it's the cherry on top of a tragedy cake. The episode is worth it alone for Mephisto, but it's that ending, that subversion of superhero tropes, that makes this not just a banger, but a seminal MCU work.

Episode 5: Karma is a Glitch: Perhaps without a tragic ending, this episode would go top. It has all the makings of a perfect post second act pre third act mcu installment, what with the hero learning her lesson and preparing for the battle. But perhaps it is the re-contextualization that makes it work even better: we're not seeing a hero rise from the ashes, but a car crash in slow motion.

Episode 3: We in Danger, Girl: That final action sequence. One of the best in the MCU in ages.

Episode 4: Bad Magic: Zelma makes this rank so high (well, that and all the angst and panic attacks and PTSD)

Episode 1: Take Me Home: An incredibly impressive debut which only pales thanks to the rest of the series being that good.

Episode 2: Will the Real Natalie Please Stand Up?: obviously a fine episode (especially thanks to Natalie) and the car sequence is great, but it slaps the least.

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Been exhausted again, last ironheart posts today then FF posts begin from then on

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PART 2

Pepper in bed/Ronnie in bed

burger king/white castle

Dr. Strange/Zelma Stanton

first iron suit reveal

I'm sure there are more but I am dead tired rn after making some of these

Riri Williams exhibiting that Iron Energy Part 1

"I am Iron Man. The Suit and I are one."//"She built that with her own grant money. I did that, right?"

Crashing into the mansion/Crashing into the road

"And at 17, he graduated summa cum laude from MIT."/"I mean, finished Ninth grade at age 11... Started college at 15..."

fixing a car in iron man/using the car in episode 5

"J.A.R.V.I.S! Don't leave me, Buddy."/"I love you, Ri."

Vision's birth/Natalie's Return from the Dead

Taking the scepter/taking Mephisto's deal

shooting the microwave at brand/shooting the rocket at clown

getting armor crushed by a stane/getting armor crushed by a stane

armor transitions

suit of armor around the world/i wanna protect you

can't sleep

panic attacks

part 2 in a moment.

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Riri Williams exhibiting that Iron Energy Part 1

"I am Iron Man. The Suit and I are one."//"She built that with her own grant money. I did that, right?"

Crashing into the mansion/Crashing into the road

"And at 17, he graduated summa cum laude from MIT."/"I mean, finished Ninth grade at age 11... Started college at 15..."

fixing a car in iron man/using the car in episode 5

"J.A.R.V.I.S! Don't leave me, Buddy."/"I love you, Ri."

Vision's birth/Natalie's Return from the Dead

Taking the scepter/taking Mephisto's deal

shooting the microwave at brand/shooting the rocket at clown

getting armor crushed by a stane/getting armor crushed by a stane

armor transitions

suit of armor around the world/i wanna protect you

can't sleep

panic attacks

part 2 in a moment.

[mcuyappinghouse]

Sorry for ghosting, been busy AND got hit with tired. I'm definitely posting tomorrow and then it's FF hype era!

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once i believed the funniest thing marvel had ever done was send wilson fisk to couples therapy. that was until last wednesday evening when i watched obidiah stane be hoovered up off the floor

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This has been said before by people better at articulating their opinions than me, but the bad reception Black Widow got from male MCU fans is about so much more than just the simple concept that it's a superhero movie starring a woman, but the fact that it's so clearly a film by women for women. It's in all the little things, like all the amazing braids sported by the female characters instead of having them constantly fight with their hair down, Yelena and Natasha being excited about the vest and all its pockets, zero sexualisation of any of the Widows, the forced hysterectomy being discussed matter-of-factly, and the women getting to wear minimal to no make-up in settings where that makes sense. But it's also in the big things, like the story centred around the epidemic of girls being subjected to human trafficking with a theme of reclaiming your anatomy and freeing other female victims, both others’ and your own.

Obviously this doesn't mean that every single woman on earth is automatically gonna identify with and like the movie, that's an impossible achievement. But it is a movie that's so much more than pandering, and these geeks are just completely incapable of inserting themselves into a point of view different from their own.

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The way that Ironheart incorporates the theme of Magic vs Science in Riri’s characterization is so good

magic is intuitive, it’s not straightforward, you can’t understand it by taking it apart and analyzing it. you have to feel it. Riri’s mom uses magic (although it’s unclear whether she has a magical gift like Zelma), and she’s always trying to be understanding, trying to get Riri to open up and let herself feel her emotions.

but Riri can’t do that. she prefers the cold, logical realm of Science (as she understands it). taking things apart, building new things out of lifeless materials, creating a literal suit of armor that can protect her family and herself from pain. everything about Riri, including Dominique Thorn’s excellent performance, conveys a young woman who is trying so hard not to let herself feel. her forced nonchalant attitude, those mannerisms and tics and facial expressions that show she’s trying so hard to be “hard,” tough, like steel. but her eyes always give her away. there are so many moments throughout the show where Riri is visibly holding back tears. trying to stem the flow of her emotions before she gets overwhelmed. forcing a smile to pretend that she's okay.

the way that Riri takes after her stepfather, trying to live up to his image and legacy, leaning hard into Science. rejecting her mother, and in doing so, rejecting Magic. but Riri fails to realize that her father wasn’t just a brilliant mechanic. he was a family man, a loving protector. the memories she tried to bury to avoid feeling pain were also memories in which her stepfather showed her warmth, kindness, and open affection. the very things that Riri tries to shun so that she can be “strong.”

in rejecting Magic, in rejecting her own feelings, Riri makes herself callous towards the feelings of others. she manipulates people, just like Parker does, and shuts them out, and suffers for her loneliness. and just like Parker, she is susceptible to manipulation. because she’s out of touch with her own emotions, she does not know herself. she hasn’t healed from her wounds b/c she’s only buried her grief instead of directly addressing it.

and that’s how Mephisto gets her. Riri doesn’t really respect magic. she thinks she’s got it all figured out. and that’s why she was such a ripe target for Mephisto. if Riri had been more balanced, able to integrate both Magic (emotion) and Science (reason), she wouldn’t have taken Mephisto’s deal.

Ironheart is a tragedy because Riri becomes corrupted right at the moment she was beginning to heal. she had just started to let her family in. she was just learning how to trust and rely on others. and now, she’s sacrificed her own soul for the sake of bringing back Natalie, a horrifying yet understandable decision.

I can’t wait to see what the MCU has in store for Riri next. a second season is definitely warranted, but I understand if they decide to have her next appearance be in a feature film like Doomsday.

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More ironheart posts today, then we enter FF era!

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Zelma Stanton was too perfect to not draw @ marvel hand over the strange academy spin off rn 🤲🏻

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Spot The Difference Challenge (IMPOSSIBLE!)