#(he and captain america are my favorites — but thor is /special/ to me)

[uniiiquehecrt]

Imagine having a blast subverting a perfectly fine, wonderful, positive and engaging male role model for kids of all gender and ages— who was sensitive but strong, kind but rough around the edges, temperamental yet somehow still patient, impulsive but responsible— a true king amongst his peers quite literally and figuratively...

....but I guess because Thor is a reserved, private, and stately individual who chooses not to actively talk about the emotions so plainly written across his face, he’s too “macho” for taika's daffodil lookin’ ass

That’s not even a diss I made up I can directly quote him from the same interview.

ALT TEXT: What does it mean to bring that to superheroes, which are created to be these sort of bastions of masculinity? I really don’t like macho things. There’s something kind of gross about that. Even though I think I’m a pretty good example of a real man — I’m strong and tough, and I can fight and drink — but I’m also very sensitive, like a daffodil. So, I like looking at the feminine side of men, and how it’s not the weak side. That’s a stupid way of thinking about it. It’s the side that’s the more caring side. So, I love seeing this version of Thor who cares about everybody and wants to help everyone, and he acts cool all the time, but beneath it all he’s deeply insecure, because that’s most men that I know. That’s the way that we make this film interesting: What is the weirdest version of this tough space Viking that we can make?

REALLY goes to show how little he really knew about, or paid attention to Thor, because I can think of a great many scenes in which Thor expressed a deep and profound care and love for everyone around him from the start of Thor (2011), who expressed kindness and wanted to help everyone equally as early as that, and I'd dare wager acted "cool" and "mighty" by showboating all of the time specifically to cover up the fact that he was deeply anxious and insecure the ENTIRE time until Jane came into his life and showed him, hey, maybe being yourself — the Thor who is kind, caring, selfless, humble, and noble to a fault — is IN ITSELF ... what makes you worthy. And she was RIGHT. Cue every single one of his next appearances henceforth.

IT GETS WORSE.

Did you have to tell the Russo Brothers, who will be inheriting your Thor? Oh, I know. I’ve talked to them. We’d show them footage of him because they’d heard we’ve got a really different Thor. I love those guys, but I’m not gonna stress myself out trying to save Thor for the Avengers movies. My plan was just to strip him down and mess him up as much as possible, and then just sort of deliver him to their doorstep: “Here’s this messy version of the character that you thought you were gonna have.”

We’re talking a lot about this tone and the comedy, how does it then reconnect to what the plot of the movie is about? I have no idea. Honestly, I gave it a little bit of thought, but sometimes, often I was like, You know what? I’m gonna let Marvel deal with that. That’s their department. I know how to tell a story, but I’m having so much fun subverting all of this, and like telling weird jokes and making this the weirdest Marvel movie ever. If you’ve seen my movies, you don’t hire me for any reason other than what I’ve done. So Marvel’s job really is to look after their characters, look after their source material, and make sure I don’t completely break it, or it doesn’t negatively affect the rest of the movies or how they all interweave. I don’t understand that, and I’ve never watched all those movies with the eye of like, Oh, how does this link up? Oh, what year was this when, like, Fury encountered this thing? 

(SRC.) / GOOD ONE: TAIKA WAITITI'S THOR: RAGNAROK

[kandisheek]

Cap-Ironman Rec Week 2024

Time Travel Tuesday: July 23rd

Prompt: Rec all those great fanworks where Tony or Steve (or Tony and Steve) travel to the past or the future or to an alternate past or future and discover unexpected realities and new truths!

I absolutely love this trope! And we are truly blessed in this fandom to have so many fantastic authors tackling it. Here is a very small selection of my favorite time-travel / timey-wimey-shenanigan fics:

-- And Has Time Enough by wanttobeatree

Tony asks if they have met. It's a matter of perspective. (A Time Traveller's Wife AU.)

-- Double Time by Sineala

Cassino, Italy, December 1943. Special Agent Tony Stark, former Marvels adventurer, is sent to investigate a Cosmic Cube found by the Invaders -- and it's the perfect opportunity for him to rekindle his secret romance with Steve Rogers. But when Hydra attempts to steal the Cube, an inadvertent wish for help leads to the appearance of a Tony from the future of another world: Director Stark of SHIELD. This Tony is a man with a lot on his mind. He refuses to tell them anything about the future, but he seems to know much more than he should about Captain America. And something's happened that's clearly killing him inside, but he's not talking. When Director Stark's failed attempt to return home leads to the unexpected appearance of another visitor from his universe, all the lies come undone. Now there are two wars to fight, and the second one could ruin all of them.

-- A Shadow Hanging Over Our Fate by CaptainDean13

The Avengers get sent back in time to WWII where they run into the Howling Commandos... complete with Bucky and Steve. Little hard to explain that away, especially when you are trying to keep some major secrets. Secrets like how you ended up in the future and why the hell Bucky is now a scary (reformed) assassin with a metal arm, not to mention that you married your friend's son.

MORE RECS BELOW THE CUT:

-- The Good or Bad Thing by petreparkour

“It’s the metal suit,” Thor informed Steve, his normally-booming voice tinny over the SHIELD comms. “What did Stark call it—Iron Man?” “But he’s down here,” Steve protested as the Hulk roared in Stark’s face, startling him into waking with a shout. “How could—” “It’s damaged,” Thor reported. “But it looks different. More advanced. And he—ah. He’s carrying you, Captain.” “Please tell me nobody kissed me,” Stark breathed out, and then Stark’s voice suddenly came over the comms, but the man lying next to him hadn’t moved.  “Guys, come on, you’re killing me here. What is it, 2012? God, I hate time travel. First, I'm fighting Thanos. Now, I have to deal with my past self and Thor's bad haircut? Oh my God, Cap, yes I hacked their comms, they’re my comms.” Steve nearly opened his mouth to protest that he hadn’t said anything when he realized that this replica of Tony Stark wasn’t speaking to him.

-- Calls Me Home by steve-capsicle-rogers (adorable_lab_rat)

Tony can't help but notice the far away look on Steve's face. The visible pain and loss. It wasn't right and giving Steve back everything he'd lost was the right choice. The right thing. And honestly Tony didn't do the right thing near enough.

-- A Hundred Times, Once by FestiveFerret, SirSapling

The shrill tone of his SHIELD beeper pulls Steve out of sleep and into battle. He fights robots, he fights Tony's shameless advances, he fights the exhaustion that threatens to take over him, drown him. And then the next morning, he wakes and does it again. Exactly the same. And again. And again. And again.

-- hunters seeking solid ground by laramara

In the wake of the battle with Thanos, Steve feels unmoored in a way he hasn’t since before he ate shawarma with a group of virtual strangers and thought maybe, maybe he could one day find a place here. Steve returns the stones, and has a few unexpected interactions and makes some decisions along the way.

-- The Butterfly Effect by itsallAvengers

While fighting with Loki, Steve Rogers from 2012 hears the two simple words: "Bucky's alive." And the whole universe ripples with the aftershocks.

[marvel-fanfic-writer-8675]

Eucalyptus

Pairing: Bucky x reader

Warnings: fluff, cursing, innuendos

Summary: gardening, and someone showed Bucky tik tok

You loved gardening, your boyfriend on the other hand…he definitely did not have a green thumb, that’s for sure. You once left him in charge of your plants while you were on a mission and he killed them all, even the cactus, you were only gone for 3 days.

You had gone to the nursery (plant store) to look around and find a new plant for your garden in the back of the compound. Your garden was enjoyed by everyone, they all loved being able to go out and sit on the bench you had in there, and relax, let all their past bad experiences melt away. It was like the team’s own secret hideout from the world. You came back from the store super excited to show the team your new finds.

“Honey! Can you please come help me get the plants out of the car,” you asked your boyfriend, Bucky. “Of course doll, let me go grab Steve and he can help us too.” After bringing all the plants to the garden the team had come out to see what would be added to the special hideaway.

Natasha, believe it or not, was one of the most excited about the new additions, especially when she saw one specific plant. “Is that, Dagestanian Spleenwort?” She was wide eyed and almost tearing up. “Bless you…?” Tony answered, confused at the long, hard to pronounce name. “Dagestanian Spleenwort,” you responded, “a fern usually only found in Russia but they had one at the store I went to and I thought it would look nice.” Nat smiled softly and went to touch the fern. “Back in the Red Room they had a bunch of these outside in the outdoor training area, I would spend the little free time I had hiding in the plants, they gave me a feeling of comfort.” You set a hand on your friend’s shoulder, “I’ll be sure to take extra care of it, and you can help me if you’d like.” Natasha nodded and you went through more of the plants you had bought.

“I also got a lemon tree for that bare space in the corner,” you continued. “We can make lemonade!” Thor shouted excitingly, it was one of his favorite Midgardian drinks. Everyone chuckled and you agreed that yes, you could make lemonade. After you had finished saying all the stuff you’d gotten everyone went back to what they were doing beforehand, leaving you to plant your new plants. Bucky stayed back a minute to say goodbye, but was surprised when you told him to wait for a minute.

You ran out to your car and grabbed one final, secret plant you had gotten. “What is that doll?” Bucky was very curious at the bushel of green you held in your hand. “I found some Eucalyptus at the store for only $2!” “Eucalyptus dick,” Bucky shouted. You just stared at him in shock. “Eucalyptus dick!” He doubled down on the joke. “Honey, who showed you tik tok?” You asked with a slight smirk at the idea of your 107 year old boyfriend on tik tok. “Peter showed it to me when he saw a funny captain America video,” he admitted. You shook your head and set the eucalyptus down. “What am I gonna do with you,” you pondered as you gave him a kiss. “Love me eternally?” He responded like a cute puppy, enjoying his kiss. “I suppose,” you said, smiling up at him, as he pulled you in for another kiss.

You spent the rest of the day with Bucky out in the garden. He had brought out his favorite book and was reading while you worked with your plants. After you had finished you sat next to him, your head leaning on his shoulder. “All done doll?” You nodded, leading him to the new plants. “Looks beautiful doll, just like you.” You blushed at the compliment, elbowing him softly for his cheesy statement. “I love you, you dork,” you teased. “Good, cause I love you too, my little garden fairy.” You both laughed, walking hand in hand back inside, just in time to join the team for dinner.

Steve had made some chicken recipe he found, he loved to make food for the team, it was his way of showing he cared. He had a book with all the team’s likes, dislikes, allergies, etc. You and Bucky sat down in your usual spots, greeting the rest of the team. “So, how did planting go?” Clint asked. “It was great planting the eucalyptus..” Bucky smirked at you as you said eucalyptus and at the same time, him, Sam, and Tony all yelled “eucalyptus dick,” and burst out laughing. You just raised your eyebrows at your boyfriend as he looked at you, pretending innocence, “love you doll,” he tried. “Sometimes I question how we ever ended up together,” you sighed, kissing his nose, making him blush. The conversation then moved on to how Tony blew up part of his lab…again.

After dinner, you and Bucky volunteered to clean the dishes. You put on your shared playlist and got to work on the mountain of dishes. After the dishes were done, you still had water on your hands so you decided to start a fight, you flicked the water at your boyfriend who immediately turned to you, “oh doll, you don’t know what you just got yourself into…” he took the faucet and sprayed you quickly with the water. Laughing, and soaked, you moved and gave Bucky a huge hug, getting him soaked in the process. While hugging, you grabbed the faucet and sprayed Bucky’s back. You then started running towards your shared bedroom, but against a super soldier, you had no chance. He caught up to you, wrapped you in his arms and dipped you, giving you a kiss in the process. “Really thought you could run away doll? You started this fight,” he smirked. “Yeah and I was gonna finish this in the shower, but if you don’t want to join me then…” Bucky’s face lit up, “no, yeah, let’s go shower, gotta get off all the dirt from the day ya know.” And with that you both showered and got ready for bed. Some nice, warm cuddles in your boyfriend’s arms was just what this day needed to end perfectly.

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: The Terminus Factor - First Half

1990

The TERROR Begins!

The terror of another Annual Crossover! Oh noes!

But, but, but! Instead of trying to make one event for the whole company, Marvel has split into fiefdoms.

The Avengers and related books have their own event, the Terminus Factor. The X Books are doing Days of Future Present. The Spider-Man books apparently have a crossover called "Spidey's Totally Tiny Adventure." And the rest of the annuals (Punisher, Daredevil, Incredible Hulk, and Silver Surfer) get lumped together for Lifeform.

The takeaway here is that I don't have to kill myself trying to cover 14 annuals, Atlantis Attacks. There's just five annuals in the Terminus Factor: Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, West Coast Avengers, and Avengers. All relevant to my interests and within my wheelhouse.

And all written by Roy and Dann Thomas! It's still a lot of material to cover in one post so I'll still be splitting it up. But limiting things to the Avengers and having the same writers for the thing means it should stay on the rails and not go off into some drug subplot so Punisher can play.

Sure, the focus is Terminus and he's nobody's favorite cosmic jerk. But everything is working in favor of this being a better event than Evolutionary War or Atlantis Attacks.

That's a low bar so fingers crossed, knock on wood.

Captain America Annual #9: You ARE What You Eat

Something already neat about this event is this table of contents. Instead of just Part 1 or Chapter 1, the parts are labelled Stage One and so on and seem to refer to... uh, Terminus' life-cycle. Which he apparently has.

Also, Hercules killed him. But it doesn't seem to have stuck. Or, considering the life-cycle... maybe Terminus laid some eggs before he got Hercules'd?

We're gonna find out!

Also, this Captain America Annual starts in the wildest place. Tony Stark dropping Captain America into a volcano.

Okay, once again with context. Captain America is accompanying vulcanologist Dr Ramona Napier in a special capsule to study Mt. Saint-Cloud from the inside. Tony Stark asked Cap to ride-along. The capsule gets dropped into a volcano by helicopter.

I don't know what kind of wonder capsule this is that it's actually dense enough to sink in magma. Truly science is amazing.

But deep in the new volcano, a mechanical looking egg EXPLODES and releases glowing blobs which start rising upward.

The glowing blobs twine around the capsule, so bright that they're blinding in what should be a pitch black environment (despite how magma is usually depicted as warm orange and reds, even in this very comic). Dr Napier bumps the controls and accidentally locks the capsule to plummet deeper into the volcano.

Observers near the throat of the volcano see the glowing blobs shoot out of the lava and into a nearby stream. They have no idea what to make of that.

Meanwhile, Tony Stark.

He's waiting outside the mountain. Anxiously. Because they lost communications with the capsule.

Which, by the way, they tested in simulated lava! Because, honestly, if you're going to drop your friend into a volcano, it'd better be in a capsule that's already proven lava-proof.

One of the engineers manages to track the capsule as sinking out of control. Tony tells the engineers to do what they can while he goes for a walk and think.

Some Guy: "'Think'? What good'll it do him to go walking off into the woods now? He claims he cares so much about the human beings in Persephone-1... Was that all just a pose?" Another Guy: "Nuts! To blazes with Tony Stark, Boy Industrialist! We've got people to -- Huh? IRON MAN!?"

Yup, Tony Stark went for a walk out of sight and then Iron Man shows up.

Tony Stark, Iron Man, being his own bodyguard is one of those things where you have to suspend him disbelief. But in this instance... Tony Stark goes for a walk, Iron Man shows up and goes 'wow good thing Tony had me on call, just in case!' yeah, I wouldn't question it.

Also a good thing that Tony designed the Iron Man armor to withstand 2000 degrees... well, for a few seconds. Just can't fit as much heat-proofing on an Iron Man armor as you can on a volcano capsule.

Iron Man: "See you soon -- or not at all!"

This story could go in a very grim direction.

Also, Iron Man just plunges right into the lava. Yadda yadda density. Although, he once shoulder checked a rock the size of Manhattan. I believe he could force his way through dense molten rock.

Inside the volcano and inside the capsule, Captain America manages to pull the capsule out of the dive. So they're not sinking. But the heat refracting tiles are coming loose so they're cooked regardless.

THEN BIG HERO MOMENT

Iron Man carries the capsule to the surface of the lava. Then he has to fuck off to cool his armor down before it goes into meltdown.

Which does leave Captain America a chance to be cool too. The door is still locked and it's still ridiculously hot inside... because, well, they're resting in a pool of lava. So Captain America kicks the door down and jumps to the lip of the volcano!

Volcano rescue makes for a pretty amazing opening. Probably not remotely scientifically accurate but comics seldom are.

Meanwhile, the glowing goop from the volcano landed in a stream. One of the engineers comments that something that unusual is what they're dropping capsules into volcanoes to study but what can ya do. No harm done if it lands in the stream, right?

Anyway, the goop is eaten by trout who get weird eyes. A bear is fishing in the stream but is scared off by some people from Georgeville who cast a net to catch some fish for a fry.

A fish fry hosted by the that Iron Man, Captain America, and Dr Napier attend. Tony Stark was scheduled to attend too but whoops, he had to go back to California and people have definitely seen him and Iron Man in the same room at the same time.

Cap and Dr Napier don't eat anything at the trout feast, already feeling queasy from being bounced around inside the volcano capsule.

Also, the thing where Tony's fellow Avengers aren't sure whether or not he's Iron Man continues. They also continue to strongly suspect it's him.

I dunno the point of this subplot. It hasn't really gone anywhere.

Anyway, Cap is distracted mid-conversation with Dr Napier when the mayor suddenly gets the same red with white crackle eyes as the trout and starts growling.

He jumps at Captain America, who grabs him mid-leap and flips him headfirst into the ground. Ouch.

Captain America: "Maybe I had to rough up his honor a bit more than I'd have liked -- but that was more to stop him from really getting hurt than to protect myself. No northwoods politician -- not even one who suddenly turned into a raving maniac -- is any real threat to a guy who's gone toe-to-toe with the Red Skull."

But he quickly realizes it's not just the mayor. It's the whole crowd. It's Iron Man.

It's nearly everyone aside from Cap and Dr Napier.

Cap quickly deduces that something was wrong with the food so even though all these people are trying to kill them, he doesn't want to hurt them unnecessarily. Or let them hurt those in town unaffected. Or let the berserkers hurt themselves.

He sees an adult man and a child running at a terminal box. The man rips the live wires out and gets electrocuted. The child nearly gets the same but Cap tackles him out of the way and shoves him in an ice barrel so he can't try it again.

Meanwhile, Iron Man lands so Captain America throws his mighty shield and all who oppose his shield must yield their ass to the floor.

Weirdly, the crowd piles on Iron Man instead of continuing to go after Cap. Also, notably, the child Cap shoved in some ice seems to have recovered, regaining his speech and asking if he can get out.

Cap tells the boy to run home. And the gears in his head must have been turning because he suddenly seems to have a plan.

He tells Dr Napier to get to tha choppa, he's got a theory. And just as he predicts, Iron Man throws the dogpile off of himself and takes off after the helicopter.

Captain America flies towards the mountain and nearly gets there when Iron Man blasts the rotors.

The helicoptor crashes on the snowy mountain. Luckily, Cap and Dr Napier survive the crash. Good piloting, Launchpad.

But the townspeople are marching up the mountain path after the helicopter "like the cast of 'Night of the Living Dead'! and Iron Man is circling overhead.

Captain America: "IRON MAN! If you want me -- if there's enough of your brain functioning for you to have any idea what you want -- COME AND GET ME!"

And Iron Man swoops down and fires his repulsors at Cap. And when the guy just backflips away from that, Iron Man punches him in the face.

This glowy eye trout food poisoning sure is an odd beserker status. The people affected don't seem able to talk anymore but Tony is operating a complicated suit of powered armor. Weird.

Anyway, Iron Man beats the shit out of Captain America. And Captain America baits him into flying into a snowbank and also SPTANNGs him in the chest.

It's a very disproportionate fight. As one would expect when a dude, even a peak human dude, is trying to fight a war machine.

Iron Man punches Captain America off a cliff and then repulsors the rock he's clinging to. But as Cap is falling to his death, Iron Man seems to regain his sense and his non-glowy eyes.

He flies down really quick and catches Captain America and flies him back up to the clifftop.

And now is when Captain America Explains It All.

Captain America: "Something in those fish turned people into raging psychopaths -- beserkers attracted to energy sources, like a terminal box and your armor -- or you, to the chopper. But you snapped out of it -- just in time, by my reckoning -- because cold somehow seems to reverse its effects. An accidental ice-dip had worked on that boy -- so I had to pray it'd work on the rest of you. And it did, once the townspeople had tramped up here to the snowline chasing a power source -- you! As you can see, they're slowly returning to normal."

Well, that sure was a lot of correct conclusions you jumped to, based on the available evidence.

Dr Napier adds that the weird glowing stuff they saw shoot out of the volcano was probably to blame. It landed in the same stream that the trout were fished from.

Iron Man: "Then, whatever that glowing substance was -- we can't be sure the menace it posed is over, can we?" Dr Napier: "No. Of course, it's possible that all of it was absorbed by those particular fish -- or else dissipated harmlessly in the flowing stream --" Captain America: "But if it wasn't, it could be way downstream by now. It could be... almost anywhere... And, if something else ate some of those tainted fish... the whole world could be in big trouble!"

Oh no, the bear from earlier was infected by eating a glowy fish!

TERMINUS LIVES!

Well, the cover has Terminus on it and the title of the crossover is the Terminus Factor. So it's not a huge surprise.

But I guess the glowy stuff was Terminus goo and now that bear is Terminused. Got the red eyes.

This introductory issue was not bad. An excuse for Captain America and Iron Man to fight, with Captain America getting to be the smart one. An interesting new angle for Terminus, who was just budget Galactus before now.

And the Iron Man Annual is next so I assume Tony is going to have to fight a bear.

Let's find out!

Iron Man Annual #11: If the TERMINI Come...

THE BEGINNING of the END!

That Terminus-infected bear is looking pretty gruesome. Like an animatronic that has seen better days and is also into murder.

Also, hi, Aaron Stack!

Feels like it's been a while since I've seen you in something. I don't remember if you appeared in any of Essential Avengers before now so it would be the Earth X liveblog instead.

Anyway.

We start with some Aaron Stack, Machine Man (X-51), status quo. Apparently, the Captain's team of ad hoc Avengers found Jocasta's disembodied head floating in the ocean after she blew up the High Evolutionary's gigantic boat. And lacking the ability or motivation to do anything about it, they mailed the head to Aaron.

... That's what Iron Man did with Victor Mancha's head too, when he 'died' in the Vision series.

Avengers, stop mailing people robot heads!

As Aaron tries to repair Jocasta (or at least reactivate her head? She's missing most of her), he's kept company by Peter Spaulding.

Anyway, suddenly a very angry bear bursts through the wall.

Aaron shoves Peter to relative safety and tries to restrain the bear. But it knocks him away, tearing its fur in the process and revealing

ROBOT BEAR.

Wow, Terminus infection is a hell of a thing.

It completely hollowed out that bear and replaced the body with metal, leaving just the fur.

I would have had a seemingly normal bear be the threat for a while, delay the metallic reveal. Perhaps during Aaron's very ineffective attacks on it.

He tries tackling the bear, to no effect. He tries shooting the bear with his finger gun (he has a .357 Magnum built into his pointer). He even tries using his knuckle flamethrower. Which would have been a good time for the fur to be burned away and show what Aaron is really dealing with.

Aaron even tries an extendo-punch but the bear rips off his arm and starts chowing down on it.

Getting his arm ripped off knocks Aaron the fuck out. Peter Spaulding has stuck around despite Aaron telling him to run and he won't leave Aaron to be snacked on. He manually activates Aaron's boot jets and sends him flying out of the shack. Aaron even manages to snag Jocasta's head, despite being unconscious. Nice!

Then Peter Spaulding figures, this thing wants to eat metal, I'll give him metal to eat. He throws a container of liquid titanium at it. While the METAL BEAR chews on that, Peter tries running out the Aaron hole.

But the bear snags his leg and drags him back into the shack. And considering the scream and the SNAPP!... Yeah, Peter Spaulding isn't making it out of this one.

And by this one, I mean this story.

What's weird is that this isn't the end of Peter Spaulding. For some reason, despite dying here, he was brought back ten years later in a X-51 series with no explanation.

SO NEARLY TWENTY YEARS AFTER THAT, Marvel Comics #1001 has to establish that the Peter Spaulding was an impersonator.

Why was someone impersonating Peter Spaulding? Iunno.

Sometimes retcons amount to little more than a shrug. Anything to get out of a seemingly irreversible writing decision.

Over on the Iron Man side of this Iron Man book, Tony Stark is being given a tour of the Baintronics Inc factory by Sunset Bain.

Tony Stark: "Hope you won't mind my asking -- is 'Sunset' your given name?" Sunset Bain: "Yes. Given by me... to myself. I'm very much a self-made woman, Tony."

Tony and Sunset vibe for a bit over robotics. Sunset has a nostalgia for the robots you'd see in old sci-fi. And muses how she always wanted to grab a can-opener and see what was inside.

Odd lady, Sunset Bain.

Something triggers the Baintronics Inc factory reconnaissance radar and Sunset cuts the tour short to go check it out. Tony being Tony decides to check it out too, after finding a spot to change into Iron Man.

Iron Man spies a missile that is very much shaped like a man just hurtling through the air past the Baintronics compound and towards the Columbia River.

He uses his repulsors to nudge the object into landing on the shore and discovers that it's no missile, it's Aaron Stack, Machine Man! Minus an arm and plus a Jocasta head.

Iron Man scoops up Aaron and takes him into Baintronics factory. He lie/explains to Sunset that he took Tony Stark to safety and that he'll call later. But hey, look at this Machine Man.

Tony Stark, that resourceful, clever man, definitely has some tools at his Los Angeles plant that can help repair Machine Man so he asks if he can leave Aaron there for an hour while he goes to get those tools.

Sunset Bain says that's no problem and that's because she's up to no good.

My cursed future knowledge of Dan Slott's Iron Man run makes me aware that Sunset Bain is actually evil. And she has the supervillain name of Madam Menace. She reveals her true colors the second Iron Man is gone.

She's been after Machine Man for a while and now he was just dropped into her lap? Everything coming up Sunset!

She has the deactivated Aaron taken to the Duplikatron, which scans his body and creates a duplicate except with both arms.

And she would have gotten away with it if this wasn't taking place during a crossover.

The Terminus-infected robot bear OH YEAHs into the Baintronics facility and starts tearing its way through men and machines.

Begrudgingly, Madam Menace Sunset Bain sends out her evil mooks to go deal with the robot bear. She doesn't like Madam Menace business mixing with Sunset Bain business. And she also errs on the side of caution and commands Iron Man to turn around and come back.

Sunset Bain: "You've got to get back here!"

Iron Man: "But I'm already halfway to Fresno!" Sunset Bain: "I don't care if you're halfway to the Moon! Get your tin can back here -- fast!"

Iron Man turns around but he sourly thinks that he doesn't really care for that attitude.

And in fairness, she hangs up on him without actually explaining jack. He's reasonably irritated.

When he arrives and sees the giant hole in the skylight and the robot bear terrorizing, he concedes okay this is a real emergency.

Iron Man jet boots right at the bear to welcome it to the slam but gets smacked back, FTHAK!

Iron Man: "That huge metal thingie -- it's terrorized those men, and now it looks like it's eating those titanium rods. Ordinarily, I like to find out what's going on before I take sides in a squabble -- but this time, I think maybe I'd better make an exception! ARRRGN--! On the other hand -- maybe there's something to be said for the diplomatic approach."

So Iron Man tries approaching the bear and asking what its deal is. The bear does not respond... uh doy... so Iron Man resumes resorting to force. He repulsors it against a wall but it manages to force itself loose and KTHANGs him again.

This time Iron Man got a good look at its eyes and recognized the look from what Captain America told him about the Georgeville, Washington fish fry incident. The stuff that shot out of the volcano and infected the fish and the people that ate the fish!

And for some reason, Iron Man also leaps to the conclusion that this is Terminus! Even though he's never been around on the previous times the big guy has been encountered.

I wonder if that's just narrative convenience to establish that this is a Terminus thing or if it will be important in the plot that the word Terminus leapt to Tony's brain.

Anyway, the link to the fish fry incident gives Iron Man a thing to try. Cold killed the terminus spores (or whatevers) in that case. So he'll just dump a big vat of frozen liquid titanium on the bearobot.

(I don't think titanium is liquid at cold temperatures actually... But it sure is in this story)

Unfortunately, the robot bear just absorbs the inexplicably frozen liquid titanium and grows bigger.

Then it smacks around Iron Man some more, except with bigger claws.

Meanwhile, Sunset Bain is trying to relocate the Machine Men out of the path of the bear rampage but her workers tender their resignations, no two weeks notice because they do not want to get beared.

A power surge wakes up Machine Man. He remembers his own encounter with the metal bear and follows the sounds of an exciting action packed comic book fight to see what's been going on without hi.

(Luckily for Sunset, the copy Machine Man was on a lower platform than Aaron and he doesn't look back once he gets going.)

Machine Man joins the fray and Iron Man catches him up on how things have been progressing. He also asks Aaron whether he's ever heard the name Terminus. he has not. And since Terminus was 150 feet tall...

Machine Man: "May we assume, then, that our present foe is still growing?" Iron Man: "At this point, we can't assume anything -- including our survival!"

Stakes: raised.

Aaron mentions that when he ran into this thing and it took his arm, it looked more like a bear. Fur and whatnot. And Iron Man says maybe it was and explains how a more microbial stage was able to mindjack anything that ate it.

There's an error with who the speech bubbles are pointing to but I think Aaron comes up with the idea to try molten metal if frigid liquid metal didn't work.

Machine Man has to swoop down and scoop up Sunset Bain (who has changed out of her Madam Menace mask) when the giant metal bear starts chasing her.

Sunset Bain: "But -- what's Iron Man doing with that vat of hot liquid metal? " Iron Man: "whatever -- i can -- lady -- unnnh! -- Whatever I CAN!"

And he just dumps that vat of piping hot metal all over the giant metal bear. Who melts.

Aaron was right about the first and second Terminus stages having different needs and weaknesses.

Unfortunately, out of the frying pan into the fire.

Right after finishing off the bear, Iron Man, Machine Man, and Sunset Bain hear a news report of hordes of animal-shaped robots swarming towards Seattle's aircraft factories, shipyards, and the Baintronics complex. On the hunt for Titanium.

Metal birds, metal fish, and metal beeeeees.

The problem was not limited to one net full of fish and one bear. Those Terminus spores have gotten all up and down the food chain.

Iron Man and Machine Man head off to go tackle the problem while Sunset Bain stays behind to capitalize.

One of her guys asks if she wants to activate the duplicate Machine Man so he can help deal with the robot animals. Sunset calls him an idiot. She's keeping the duplicate. Going to have to change some details around since the original is still kicking. Maybe use that random woman robot head Machine Man left behind.

Sunset Bain: "What's the difference? After all -- they'll only be robots. Our robots! It's not like robots have any real feelings or anything!"

Scene cut to Machine Man being very sad that (eventually retconned into an imposter) Peter Spaulding got super killed by the robot bear. He also has to comfort friend Gears Garvin who is feeling a lot of survivor's guilt for not being around.

Also, apparently, the horde of animal robots have diverted from Seattle. Iron Man suspects that there's some kind of group mind that told them one of their number got destroyed. Also, he's dubbed the robotocized animals Termini.

Aaron gets a new arm and he and Iron Man take off to go fight lots of things!

So many things.

As covered in one of the annual's back-up stories, which takes the form of a news broadcast about the "Terminus Plague."

Gonna be honest. Terminus Plague sounds like a better name for the crossover than the Terminus Factor.

Apparently, as Iron Man explained it and the KSNN broadcast conveyed it "'Termini,' which is apparently a sort of electronic virus that infects living organisms and slowly transmutes them to rabid, robotic creatures."

Which seems right.

It's cool to follow up directly from Iron Man and Captain America having a weird Terminus-related situation to Iron Man dealing with the same problem but bigger.

Just something you can do with these more contained crossover annuals which just have one writing team.

But, geez. I'm not very familiar with older Iron Man comics but Dan Slott must have loved this era. Sunset Bain making a copy Machine Man and having Jocasta's head. That's all stuff he repeated during the Iron Man 2020 event.

It's always weird, reading through older comics and recognizing some plot points as having been recycled later. Bendis ripping off Darker Than Scarlet. Morrison doing their own take on That Which Endures. Dan Slott loving this Iron Man era, apparently.

Anyway. Anyway. Anyway. Onto the next annual.

Thor Annual #15: Can Terminus Be Far Behind?

The Return of the ORIGINAL Terminus!

Is Thor shoulder dropping Terminus? Because that would be awesome.

More awesome than the title of this part of the crossover. The Captain America annual got to have a title that hinted at the story. "You are what you eat." People ate Terminus spores and got infected by Terminus.

"If the Termini come..." is a little ominous. What are the Termini? What happens if they come? And by the end of the issue, after Iron Man and Machine Man spend most of the story fighting one, they learn there's a whole bunch more. Uh oh!

But then it turns out that the Iron Man annual title and the Thor annual title are just one complete thought. "If the Termini come... Can Terminus be far behind?"

I dunno! I guess not! But, like, so what? Last time Terminus showed his face on Earth, Quasar yeeted him into space. Kind of diminishes the threat of having a bunch of guys presumably growing into Terminus if the big news is the original guy is coming back.

Well, let's dig into things.

Not going to be a lot of panels to share this time because this is the only part of the crossover not on Marvel Unlimited.

Shrug!

So, Thor and Hercules are booking it by hammer throw to San Francisco because Iron Man asked Thor to keep an eye out for the Termini.

Despite the news report back-up story of Iron Man and Machine Man fighting various Termini, according to Tony now in this Thor Annual, the two of them only managed to destroy the bear one. I guess the fights with the others were inconclusive or the Termini fucked off.

Iron Man had to take a break to repair Machine Man at the Stark Enterprises Oregon plant. So he gives Thor the rundown on the fish fry fiasco, the fight with the robot bear, and how Tony thinks Terminus is involved based on zero evidence.

Thor decides to dig into that link so he leaves Hercules behind and fucks off into the depths of space.

Hercules, by the by, barely knows what's going on. Thor brought him to San Francisco without explaining much. Thor does mention that this might be Terminus related, to Hercules' confusion.

Hercules: "Terminus? Why I once did unshell that behemoth like a pitiful lobster!"

Thor: "That, I am told, was not the true Terminus..." Hercules: "What? Dost thou mean -- someone dared make sport with Hercules?" Thor: "So sayteh Quasar, who lately propelled the true Terminus into the depths of space!"

So, apparently... In Quasar #7, Quasar met Terminus and also threw him into space. But before he did, Terminus apparently clarified that the Terminus that destroyed the Savage Land wasn't him.

One wonders why that was retconned. There's some tug of war going on with the canon of a character that's not very interesting. Ah well.

Thor tells Hercules that if he runs into any of the Termini, extreme heat is super effective.

Speaking of the Termini, a bunch of them bust into the Blackrock Nuclear Plant facility. A wolf, an eagle, and a bunch of fish.

And they are brutal. We didn't see a lot of the bear Termini killing people but these ones just shred anyone they come across in the nuclear facility.

Also, they talk now! Which is creepier than all the murder, honestly.

Termini: "Food" Termini: "FOOD"

Meanwhile, Hercules is just hanging around San Francisco. Remember, he barely knows what's going on and has no idea how to find any Termini.

But some cops found him and asked for autographs which Hercules signs with a lot of 'true heroes' flattery. And while he's doing that, the cop car gets an alert about animal-shaped robots attacking Blackrock.

And Hercules goes oh right, that's the thing I'm looking out for and asks the cops to take him there.

After killing or at least maiming everyone, the Termini at Blackrock start upending a giant container of nuclear fuel. Which they succeed at right as more Termini arrive - strangely adorable ones like squirrels, rabbits, and beavers.

All the Termini drink and cavort in the radioactive fuel and transform from animal robots to vaguely human-shaped ones.

They've also gone from just saying FOOD to parroting what people around them are saying.

Even creepier.

Hercules and the cops come in just about then. Unfortunately, not soon enough to save that survivor.

The cops start shooting at the Termini (to no effect, duh) so Hercules tells them to fuck off and cordon off the area. Then he gets down to the business of monster slaying, which is his spech ee ality.

Also, the life cycle of Terminus continues getting weirder. Starting off as microbes that infect other lifeforms and makes them go rabid and be drawn to energy sources. The infection can be slowed or stopped by cold temperatures. If the infection progresses enough, it replaces the creature's meat with metal and makes them crave titanium to nom. The Termini become immune to cold but lose the microbes immunity to high temperatures. These things originally came out of a volcano, remember.

Then there's kind of a gap in my understanding here. A lot of the Termini look pretty shrimpy so it's not like they were eating as much titanium as the bear one. But at some point in the animal robot stage of the Termini, instead of titanium, they start craving radiation instead? And enough transforms them into bigger human-shaped forms. Is it titanium consumption that pushes them to start craving radiation? Just enough Termini in an area? If it's just about Termini population density, what's the point of the titanium? Just so they congregate in the same areas? I dunno.

Meanwhile, Thor.

It is his annual, after all. He should do stuff in it.

And he uses Mjolnir to warp to where Quasar stranded Terminus in space.

And Terminus is just kind of floating in space. Quasar broke his lance so the guy can't propel himself anywhere.

Terminus sends Thor a psychic warning "Worm of Earth -- do not come near!" and Thor, of course, ignores it.

Then he tries to beat the shit out of Terminus. I'm not sure why. And he's not accomplishing much. Hitting Terminus in space just pushes him in the direction of the blow. And Terminus' armor is so strong (despite the imposter Terminus being easily bodied by Hercules) that Thor is having trouble smashing him open. And zapping him with Mjolnir isn't having any effect either.

Terminus is kind of angrily flailing in space, since he can't really control his positioning but he almost manages to hit Thor a couple times before nailing him with a swat.

This makes Thor SO MAD that he finally succeeds at hammerthrowing himself into Terminus' chest.

Like... inside it. He managed to penetrate into Terminus' gooey yet technological insides.

And Thor decides the point of this exercise is for him to GAIN MENTAL MASTERY OVER TERMINUS, THE WAY HE DID TO ATUM IN ATLANTIS ATTACKS!

Sure.

I don't think of Thor as being very psychic but he does have a powerful will and has out-willed things like the Destroyer armor before.

Except this time, Terminus' mind overwhelms Thor's.

But it does provide an exposition dump. So that's helpful, for the readers.

THE SECRET BACKSTORY OF TERMINUS

Once upon a time, the Celestials blew a planet the fuck up. Because the planet wanted to conquer the cosmos and sometimes the Celestials have opinions on that.

The warmongery unnamed alien race couldn't fight the Celestials. So they created a new microbe they called the Termini, shoved it into a rocket, and blasted it off from a doomed homeplanet.

So Terminus is germ Superman?

Anyway, the microbes were created to multiply, infect, evolve into more complex forms of life, and eventually become the Terminus we all know and know. And Terminus is engineered to just hate the shit out of the Celestials.

So Terminus would fly around the universe, finding planets that the Celestials didn't blow up, and basically plunder them. Then he went to Earth and Reed Richards sent him to the center of the Earth.

Terminus didn't die, duh. Instead, he started clawing his way back towards the surface. But, on his way, he met Jorro, a weapons-maker for the Deviants. And instead of continuing to climb back out of the Earth, Terminus deputized Jorro to go pretend to be him. Which got Jorro super-murdered by Hercules after Jorro destroyed the Savage Land.

Meanwhile, Terminus decided to take some of the shit he plundered and recreated the Termini bacteria. And with those ready to go, he continued his climb. Which led to him getting yeeted into space by Quasar.

Just 0-3 for Terminuses around here.

Anyway, that's THE SECRET BACKSTORY OF TERMINUS.

While Thor was distracted getting exposited at, Terminus prepared his blood corpuscles to kick Thor's ass.

Thor fights back but, yeah, he gets his ass kicked. He gets leeched and Terminus tentacle yoinks Mjolnir.

Thor gets thrown out into space with no propulsion while Terminus uses the power of Mjolnir to fix his lance so he can fuck off.

Meanwhile, Hercules continues fighting the man-shaped Termini. Except they start fighting with each other, glooping together, and merging into one big Terminus (with a tail).

Then, the original Terminus arrives.

I like that New Terminus has a different design than Classic Terminus. They grew up in different environments and given what we now know about his life-cycle, it makes a lot of sense.

So, that's the first half of the Terminus Factor.

I liiiiiiiked the Captain America and Iron Man Annuals. Seeing the volcano bacteria infect a town and drive them rabid was spooky and knowing it had SOMETHING to do with Terminus left this ominous note even after Cap saved most of the day.

Then the infected bear from the first part came back and we got to see how dangerous a single Terminus-infected animal was, only to learn that there were dozens more.

Things kinda took a dip in the Thor Annual. Guy barely got to be in his own story, since he had the burden of facilitating all the exposition needed to finish retconning the Savage Land encounter and to give Terminus an origin. And unfortunately, the origin is... meh? Incredibly vague Some Planet and Some Jerks create a germ to plunder as part of a vague plan to get back at the Celestials. Except has any of Terminus' MO been about the Celestials?

And he had to physically make more Termini germs? I dunno. I think it would have been better if spreading Terminus spores is just something that happened after he was dunked into the Earth.

At least the Hercules side of the plot continued showing more of the Terminus life-cycle. So now we kinda have most of the whole picture.

Next post will have the annuals for West Coast Avengers and Avengers and we'll see where the plot goes now that we've got two Terminuses.

Follow @essential-avengers. That's where this liveblog lives. Like and reblog and tell me your thoughts.

[fallenrocket]

Episode 5 of The Acolyte has me fully back in my "fight choreography girlie" era. I've spent the last week watching clips of lightsaber fights and I couldn't be happier.

In honor of this renewed obsession, here are a few of my other favorite shows/movies for fight choreography. Broad strokes--I love intricate set pieces, creative techniques, and fighting styles that are rooted in who the character is.

MCU

Captain America (The Winter Soldier) - omg, I love how he fights like an absolute animal. It's so character-driven, because his brain-washing is all about completing his mission. Self-preservation only matters to the extent that he can't get his target if he's dead. His moves are so sick, I can't contain myself. The highway fight, omg!

The Avengers - I really love how this movie showcases such a wide variety of fighting styles from its very individual array of superheroes (plus Loki!). None of the Avengers fight exactly like the others, and there are a ton of different set pieces showing off what each of them can do. Special shoutout to Natasha fighting while tied to a chair and Thor facing off against the Hulk.

Daredevil - I mean, come on. You know why. Hallway fight! Brutal, visceral action, I love it!

Shang-Chi (Wenwu) - Okay, Shang-Chi is another film that does a fantastic job of letting the characters lead the fighting styles, from Li's serene/fluid moves to the flair and humor of the bus fight to the no-holds-barred Shang-Chi vs. Xialing cage match. But I love the Ten Rings soooooo much. Wenwu is the best anyway (Tony Leung Chiu-wai, my beloved,) and every single time he uses the Ten Rings, it rewires my brain chemistry. So. Damn. COOL!

Captain Marvel - I just adore Carol's glee and cockiness when she unleashes her full power. The "Just a Girl" fight is such a pump-me-up moment.

The Marvels - I love the creativity of the switch fighting! Their haphazard discovery of the entanglement is so much fun, and I'm a big fan of how they later use it to their advantage, switching tactically in battle

Thor: Ragnarok - One of my favorite third-act fights in the MCU. Every character is so on point, the music is perfect, and the whole thing is cool as hell.

Iron Fist (Zhou Cheng) - Iron Fist kind of depresses me, but I've probably watched the clip of this fight literally dozens of times. Love, love, love the drunken-style kung fu. This fight is positively dripping with personality.

Misc.

Shadow and Bone (Jesper & Inej) - The more traditional Grisha fighting is cool too, but my god, do I love the sharpshooting and the acrobatic knife-throwing! Inej is a graceful badass, and I especially like that Jesper isn't just an expert marksman, he also repeatedly demonstrates his intelligence and creativity with his shooting.

Everything Everywhere All at Once - This one's obvious. Bowing down to Evelyn's kung fu skills, all day every day. And Waymond's fanny pack fight is simply spectacular!

Into the Badlands (Sunny) - This is another one where the show is utterly packed with cool choreography and talented cast members/stuntfolks, but Sunny is my first love. Every time he takes on like twenty guys at once, I lose all sense of decorum.

Mad Max: Fury Road - The first time I watched this movie, I came out of the theater feeling like I could punch a truck. Some of the coolest, sickest action around. As with the film's impeccable design work

, the fight choreography is inventive, audaciously eye-catching, and rooted individually in each character onscreen. Looooove!

Supergirl - Okay, I adore the Superfriends, and I really enjoy the wide variety of powers/fighting styles on display here. From Kara's raw power (her thunder clap gives me life!) to Nia's whips of dream energy to Alex's combat skills, the whole team knows how to deliver a hell of a fight! My personal favorite is Brainy and the way he uses physics/logic to use his enemy's moves against them.

Kick-Ass (Hit-Girl) - Do I really need to say more? It's Hit-Girl! Generally speaking, I'm more into the look and style of a fight than the nitty-gritty of the blood and bone-breaking, but I like a bit of the ol' ultraviolence under the right circumstances, and this definitely qualifies.

Kingsman: The Secret Service - Speaking of the ol' ultraviolence! This movie is just balls-to-the-wall action, and I love it. Fantastic set pieces! The church scene is iconic, and the gadgets make me so happy.

Polite Society (Ria) - One of my newest favorites. I love Ria so damn much, and I love how the movie veers between her actual training/fighting skills and the imaginary fights she dreams up in her head. She views her life in general through the lens of an action film, complete with mental soundtrack, and the fight scenes are stamped with her personality from top to bottom.

Monkey Man (Kid) - Oh shit, I almost posted this without talking about Monkey Man! More of the ol' ultraviolence, but in a very different way than the bonkers action of Kick-Ass or Kingsman. Kid will use anything and everything in service of a fight, and he'll stop at nothing. So cool, so visceral, so intense! Bonus points for the badass squad of hijras tearing shit up!

[jules-has-notes]

Avengers: Thunder (Unexpected Musical) — PattyCake Productions music video

Few movie franchises have had a greater impact on the film industry and online fandom in the 21st century than the MCU, particularly when the first Avengers movie brought together heroes from across the Marvel universe. So when PattyCake wanted to match the bombast of this Imagine Dragons banger, they turned to the larger-than-life characters from the silver screen.

Details:

title: Unexpected Musicals — Avengers: Thunder

performers: Jeremy James (Tony Stark / featured vocals); John Wright (Thor); Leah Lowman (Black Widow); Erich Dale (Captain America); Tony Flaherty (Star-Lord / featured vocals); Jackie Stressman Isham (Gamora / featured vocals); J.None (Black Panther / featured vocals); Skeet Karsgaard (Spider-Man); Billy Celiz (Iron Man double); Jason Tibbs (Black Panther double); Eli Jacobson, Tony Wakim, & Layne Stein (additional vocals)

original songs / performers: "Avengers theme" from The Avengers (2012); "Thunder" by Imagine Dragons; "Pray for Me" by The Weeknd, feat. Kendrick Lamar from Black Panther (2018)

written by: "Avengers theme" by Alan Silvestri; "Thunder" by Dan Reynolds, Wayne Sermon, Ben McKee, Daniel Platzman, Alexander Grant, Jayson DeZuzio, & Frederick Hansen; "Pray For Me" by Abel "the Weeknd" Tesfaye, Kendrick Lamar, Adam "Ging" Feeney, Jason "DaHeala" Quenneville, & Martin "Doc" McKinney

arranged by: Layne Stein & Tony Wakim

release date: 8 June 2018

My favorite bits:

reworking the Marvel Studios intro, complete with page-flip sounds

positioning Stark as the ♫ "young gun with a quick fuse" ♫

of course Thor gets the first iteration of ♫ "lightning before the thunder" ♫ as he should

Leah recreating Natasha's iconic landing pose

Star-Lord's little characteristic smirk

the slow bell chord under the end of Gamora's section

integrating the repulsors and blasters into the percussion

J.None spitting those Kendrick bars in T'Challa's accent

that unmistakable horn line under the choruses

sneaking in a nice animated Hulk silhouette

Trivia:

○ This video features a combination of familiar faces and new ones, but most are friends from the Orlando theme park performance community. Of the folks who hadn't appeared in previous PattyCake projects:

John and Erich are both longtime actors and stunt performers at Universal Studios.

Skeet is a costumer and special effects makeup tech.

Tony F. has performed in several vocal groups at both Universal Studios and Disney World. He was also a member of a cappella group Echo, who were VoicePlay's backups for their annual residencies in Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party at Disney World.

○ Although Tony Wakim usually makes all of PattyCake's costumes, this time he had help from some members of the local Guardians of Justice cosplay and volunteering group. That included Skeet wearing his own custom Spidey suit.

○ Several of the other superhero costume pieces and props for this video were created by Dynamic Duo Fabrications in Boston, another small business run by passionate geeks.

○ PattyCake had produced a handful of videos for groups from Jeremy's company, Entertainment Central Productions, so it was only fair that the guys pulled him into one of their own projects.

○ J.None kept his costume and used it for a kid's birthday party shortly thereafter.

○ This video is part of a loose pair celebrating Marvel and DC comic book movies with tracks from the latest Imagine Dragons album at the time. Its companion piece, "Batman: Whatever It Takes", was released a few weeks earlier.

[thedrunkenreadersreviews]

Beginnings & Endings: MCU Edition

Happy New Year's Eve friends! This evening, I thought it suitable to crack open some honey mead as I wiped the tears from my friend's face, watching her slip into a restless slumber.

I made her watch Loki and requested her to not watch the series finale on her own. Well, she listened. She came over. She watched and now I'm dealing with the aftermath as well as once again, facing my own demons. However, I find this oddly serendipitous given that it is New Year's Eve and we watched Loki.

Let me explain.

*Sip, sip*

This holiday season, I took it upon myself to rewatch the entire MCU leading up to Endgame. Mission accomplished, I finished up today with the Loki series finale, and after tending to my friend, taking a few sips of this beverage, and watching as the clock slowly ticks into the New Year, I take a breath.

*Sip, sip*

Marvel's Loki, in the comics, is very special to me. Not only did I start studying the Norse Pantheon at a young age and became fascinated by the God of Mischief, but when I discovered him in Marvel comics and quite enjoyed their take on him, I became hooked. Following the character's success, especially because of the phenomenal performance of Tom Hiddleston in all the movies, Loki seriously upgraded in the Marvel comics. He is now one of, if not the, most powerful characters in the comics, has an incredible redemption arch, and continues to be such an entertaining character.

*Sip, sip*

Simply put, Marvel's Loki was my discovery for my love of comic books. It started with Loki and expanded into something so much more.

*Sip, sip*

I had mentioned previously that when Thor (2011) came out, I did not go to see it in theaters---which I immensely regret---because I did not know who the hell Tom Hiddleston was and did not trust him with my favorite, my first comic book character. And I distinctly remember watching the Thor panel during the SDCC and noticed that Tom did not get asked a single question from the audience. Not one.

How foolish.

*Sip, sip*

Fast forward to after the release of Thor, the Avengers movie is creeping close. You have the entire Marvel cast on Hall H's stage: RDJ, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, and so many more. And then, there is Tom. And just as distinctly as I remember Tom not getting asked one question at the Thor panel, it came to the point that the host of the Avengers panel had to request that the audience STOPS asking Tom questions and address some of their queries to the rest of the cast.

*Smiles*

*Sip, sip*

You see, a nice chunk of the Avengers meet each other for the first time in the movie. The build-up to it, this idea of an intertwined MCU is found in Iron Man and Captain America: The First Avenger, The Incredible Hulk and Thor, but they are all sort of just ghosts to each other. Brief mentions like whispered easter eggs for the audience to catch. And then something changes. Something big changes.

Loki lets go.

Loki, distraught and heartbroken and so incredibly lost, allows himself to plummet into the abyss, uncertain of what is next. His entire life, a twisted lie. He, a monster that probably gave him nightmares in his youth, whispered to him by the tongue of his own father and brother.

So Loki lets go and he comes across a titan and they strike up a deal.

And the Avengers make that super awesome pose where they all stand back to back in a circle, getting ready to fight off the alien army that invaded New York at Loki's behest.

And so, Loki started the tying of the branches, the impossibility of an MCU now possible. Seeing all of these heroes, together, in one film all because Loki let go.

And I truly think that the writers, the producers, they don't understand just how much of an impact that single choice for that character had. Yes, it is Loki who serves as the Avengers' first villain in the comics as well. The one they have to all rally against. And I do appreciate the beauty in keeping the original villain the same, especially for a group of heroes so grand as this. But still, I get the sense of a lack of appreciation for the character (not the actor) that they may have inadvertently written into such an important role.

In essence, the 2012 Avengers film was a groundbreaking film, something unheard, unseen, and certainly not imagined before.

All brought together, all possible because of Loki. He started the MCU, he started the Infinity Saga, he started the Avengers storyline.

*Sip, sip*

And then, there's this. The new saga in the MCU: the Multiverse.

Loki started that too.

*Sip, sip*

Marvel never did favor releasing their films/shows in timeline order. Which is fair; some are in development, some are done before another, some were planned first, and so on. There are a plethora of reasons as to why it is not "in order." But the multiverse, as has been confirmed by several writers, producers, and in the timeline order of the MCU starts with, that's right, Loki.

Sylvie may have slain He Who Remains, but Loki had ways out: kill Sylvie, take He Who Remains' place, maybe keep time slipping. There were options. Not good ones, but available ones.

But he chose to let that go, too.

*Sip, sip*

The reason why I did not care for his end in Infinity War, I realized after having watched the show and now revisiting Infinity War, is because good writing is not giving a character who has lacked happiness for so long just a glimpse of it before ripping it away. It is not allowing that character to be so close that they might graze it with their fingertips just to be denied it moments later. No, good writing is letting them enjoy it.

Loki was so close ... and then his neck got snapped.

But the reason it works in the show as opposed to Infinity War is because Infinity War feels like such a cheap trick. It felt like such a typical case of "okay, we have this character, they served their purpose, we're not sure what to do with them anymore, so let's just kill them off." Talk about lazy writing. This character who built your MCU, who brought the Avengers together, who knows just how much of a threat Thanos is, who has such incredible powers ... and you have him killed within the first twenty minutes by having his neck snapped when he tried to stab said titan with a dagger?

*Sip, sip*

Pathetic.

*Sip, sip*

In the show, Loki is once more so close to happiness. He has friends. A purpose for once. He's not alone and there are people there who believe in him, who see something in him. And for a moment---just a moment---he is allowed to be happy. Having O.B. help him learn to control his time slipping, reaching out to Casey upon his return, sharing pieces of pie and pep talks with Mobius, and Verity (oh, Verity) on his side and helping him through it all. Loki is allowed to smile and laugh and lean on his friends. He is allowed, if only for a moment, to be happy.

And then he chooses to let that go to save them. And it is not in a cheap trick "kill them because we don't know what to do with him now" type way.

Loki knows how important it is to his friends that those timelines, those universes get to live. And it even becomes important to him too. So he lets go of the possibility of happiness. He lets go of everything he ever wanted, finally within his reach. He lets go not to die but to do something far more tragic than that.

To be alone. Forever. To give the universes a chance. To make sure that every story gets told.

So that the universes can survive. So that the variants get a chance. So that the "what ifs?" become possible.

And so, Loki created the multiverse.

*Sip, sip*

It is an incredible thing what good storytelling and true character development can emotionally elicit from the audience. I still feel immense sorrow and joy. But ... I've only felt this once before.

*Sip, sip*

No matter how many times I rewatch Revenge of the Sith, I, like many others, think, "Maybe he won't, this time. Maybe he won't change."

But he does. He always does.

Anakin falls.

Loki lets go.

I always said that Anakin Skywalker had the best character story in the history of character stories. He was such a well-written character with incredible arcs, both good and bad. So tragic and heartbreaking yet hopeful. And if you had asked me last year who is the best-written character I would have said Anakin Skywalker without hesitation.

This year ... moving on ... the answer is no longer so simple. Because now, the answer isn't one.

The answer is two.

Anakin Skywalker, no doubt.

And Loki.

*Sip, sip*

The Chosen One who needed to be saved.

The villain who became the ultimate hero.

If anything good came out of 2023, it was these two.

Anakin giving Ahsoka one last lesson.

Loki creating a saga for the MCU one last time.

*Lifts glass*

Here's to your end, 2023. On to a new beginning, a new lesson, a new saga.

Excelsior!

[mischief-lies-and-stories]

Marvel Super Hero Adventures: Frost Fight

I tried to get Thor: Tales of Asgard on one of my streaming sites, but it's unavailable (Google's a liar). But I did find this ridiculous Christmas special, and Christmas starts November 1 for me, so I'm gonna watch this and report back. My screenshots are not great quality, apologies in advance.

Spoilers for Marvel Super Hero Adventures: Frost Fight!

I hope I get some Frostiron fodder from this because I'm a fucking fool. [EDIT: I did not. :( ]

Oh fuck I forgot Thor is voiced by Travis Willingham

MATT MERCER IS CAP HOLY FUCK

Fuck hang on now I'm sidetracked by the voice actors. Okay, I just recognized Ironman because he always voices him. Captain Marvel was Delilah Blackwood in Vox Machina!!! Why are there so many Critical Role voice actors in here??!! And Loki is ALSO in Vox Machina what is happening?? The Avengers to Vox Machina/Critical Role pipeline is fucking bewildering y'all.

Reptil, why are you in civilian clothes?? The only hero stuff he has are his wings and I know nothing about him so I can't tell if they're organic or technical but either way they are the thinnest wings I've ever fucking seen. Listen to Cap and stay out of this. Your mentors couldn't even be bothered to suit you up as a precaution.

Who took the time to cross off "on duty"?? Was it Tony? I bet it was Tony.

Yes!!! My boi my love my darling is heeeeeeerrrrrreeeeeee!!!!!! (Caption by me, obvs)

Reptil, you don't have any armor!!!

Loki just called Reptil, "childasaurus" which was not funny at all but I definitely laughed because I'm fucked.

Oh no (not in a shipping way). I'm in tremendous danger of rooting for Loki throughout this movie.

"I'm trying to remember all the positives of a big hole in the sky. Nope. There are none." TONY STARK I'M CRYING.

CAPSICLE!!!

He. He just. I am not kidding, Cap just defeated the frost giant by kicking a shard of ice UP ITS ASS. LITERALLY cause of death: pegged too hard by Captain America. I can't even.

So Reptil gets hit in the head by the frost giant while trying to outfly the vortex caused by the portal. He gets knocked out, the frost giant goes into the portal, and the portal closes. And then IRONMAN TRIES TO YELL AT HIM TO WAKE HIM UP. YOU'VE GOT THOR WHO CAN FLY WITH MJOLNIR, STARK WHO CAN FLY, AND CAPTAIN MARVEL WHO CAN FLY all there on the beach, and NOT A ONE thinks to fly to his rescue. Hulk yells at him and he wakes up. What is this movie??

Ymir get off Loki's throne, you upstart!

Santa is part elf and part frost giant??!!

"Santa Claus is beloved, celebrated. Songs are sung in his name." Loki, I'll write a song for you.

Please I need just ONE episode of Loki where Tom Hiddleston has to say "The hunt is on for Santa Claus." Just one. That's the funniest thing I've ever heard come out of Loki's mouth. [We've gotten a Guardians Christmas special; gimme a Loki Christmas special, Marvel, I'm fucking begging you.]

Can we get this boy [Reptil] some other pants? These sweats are why he's tripping so much.

TONY why are you still in the suit while it's being washed? THIS DOESN'T COUNT AS A SHOWER.

"Hulk that's not shampoo." WAS IT REALLY FOOT CREAM TONY OR IS IT JUST THE PG ANSWER?

ROCKET FUCK YES SECOND FAVORITE SUPERHERO MY LOVE

Damn Loki's discovered outsourcing.

REPTIL SITTING ON HULK'S SHOULDERS IS SO CUTE

Loki: *puts a massive bounty on Santa's head and frames him for multiple crimes*

Thor: 'Tis merely a funny jest! My brother loves his pranks. Have I told you about the time he stabbed me?

"It isn't impossible if you believe." Reptil do not turn this into The True Meaning of Christmas: The Movie.

Okay I'll take some stony shit if we don't get frostiron.

Reptil aren't you a little... old to still believe in Santa?

Why does Santa live on the Candyland game board?

If this movie doesn't end with the Avengers and Loki exchanging presents around the Christmas tree because The True Meaning of Christmas led a LITERAL NORSE GOD to set aside his villainy for the day in the name of kindness and generosity and Christian cheer, I'm going to be sorely disappointed.

TONY MEETING THE ELVES AND IMMEDIATELY LAYING INTO THE MICRO AGGRESSIONS, JESUS

Yeah why didn't you bring Thor? He wouldn't have been racist--actually I watched Thor 1, he absolutely would have.

"Time to separate the boys from the other boys." Captain Marvel I love you.

"Okay this is why I love it. You've heard of Santa, right?" HULK HE'S CENTRAL TO THE FUCKING PLOT, MAN

Reptil, aren't you cold in that t-shirt? Are you able to regulate your body heat?

Why is Loki's only power this damn scepter? Marvel, Stop De-powering Your Cunning God with a Talent for Magic Challenge

Why is Mount Jolly the only name you're using the English sound for the letter J with? Shouldn't it be Mount "Yolly"?

Is Loki's heart gonna grow three sizes? I hope so

"Go easy. We're on the same side." CAP you THREW A SHIELD at them. FIRST.

The b-plot is Thor and Hulk encouraging a random shop owner named Nick to steal Santa's identity (but like, the plot twist is 100% gonna be that he's pulling a Miracle on 34th Street and Nicky Boy is actually Santa).

"The greater the youth, the greater the truth." I CANNOT believe we've reduced (ha. reduced) the light elves to fucking Santa's helpers.

"Evil doesn't observe holidays." CAP. First of all, LAME. Second of all, Loki isn't evil. Third of all, IT'S BECAUSE LOKI ISN'T CHRISTIAN.

Okay so now that they're in the Arctic, Reptil is cold. Why wasn't he cold in the ice cave on Alfheim?

Cap just like waltzed into Santa's house. I don't think he even knocked.

Mrs. Claus drives like a Floridian retiree and she's almost given Rocket a heart attack twice

NOW THE AVENGERS ARE DRINKING SANTA'S COCOA WHEN HE'S NOT THERE

Cap has the SADDEST Christmas story ever.

I spoke too soon. Tony's is the saddest. Obviously he's in the "seeing is believing" camp.

ILLUSION MAGIC FINALLY

I have my new phone background.

I'M DYING. Loki's got Reptil and is holding the scepter to his head. And Cap is like, "You won't do it" and Loki's like, "Yes, I will!" And Thor's like, "End this madness, brother" and Loki's like, "Oh, I'm about to!" And THEN Reptil JUST! slips out under Loki's arm!! He wasn't even holding the kid that hard!!! I'M CACKLING

LISTEN. I've seen pandaredd's video about Santa. I know he's OP as all hell. I FORGOT. He just showed up and Loki fired magic (from the scepter AGAIN) at him. And he barely moved at all! He just swiped the magic away with the back of his hand like he was SHOOING A FLY. WHAT THE HELL

Loki: *gasps* You can control space-time.

Santa: And you can be nice, Loki.

I'M LOSING IT I'M CACKLING SO HARD I'M GOING TO LOSE MY VOICE.

SANTA PLEASE SAY HE NEEDS TO GO HOME AND WRITE "I am very sorry for what I did to the Avengers" a hundred zillion times.

"The power of Santa Claus, all mine!" NEVER thought I'd hear a Loki say that

So far everything he's done with Santa's power he was already able to do. Use your imagination Loki, c'mon!

We packed the cheesy, obligatory Christmas movie lines into the last ten minutes.

Oh, and Groot turned into a fir tree somehow.

I should have saved this as a Christmas post.

[avengersrewatch]

E12-13: GAMMA WORLD!

This two-part episode is one of my favorites from this series. It's just fun. Totally recommend. I know I've been done on some of the episodes and especially the minisodes. But this is one you should watch.

The Leader (Samuel Sterns, who we saw a bit of in The Incredible Hulk and is going to be a villain in Captain America 4) was in the Cube, a prison for gamma-irradiated villains, which is such a specific thing to have. In this world, they have so many guys who have turned into monsters from gamma rays, they have a special place to keep them. And during "the Breakout" (episodes 1 and 2) instead of leaving, he lead the other villains in taking over the prison.

Now they are putting out Gamma rays and turning entire cities (Las Vegas) into gamma monsters, because the Leader can control their minds. I'm kind of sad this will not be the plot of Captain America 4. It would be so fun to have monsters playing at casinos, and monsters dancing in showgirl costumes.

It opens with a very cool sequence of Black Panther and Captain America (on his World War II motorcycle, still puzzling over that choice) chasing Hawkeye, who is still considered an escaped convict even though he helped Iron Man and he's totally innocent. Cap's on his bike, and Panther is running on the side of a building. It's great. This is only really to remind the viewer about Hawkeye.

SHIELD agents interrupt the chase (probably friends of Clint's) and ask for help with the Cube/Gamma World situation. See some of their agents tried to go into the Cube last episode, and they got exposed to the gamma energy and turned into monsters too! So someone has to go into the creepy prison filled with super villains and get the SHIELD agents out. Fun! (Is this really where our tax dollars are going?)

Our Team is: Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Black Panther and Wasp. Ant-Man is away. Doc Samson is also there. He is bummed to see the Hulk ran away because, well, it's Gamma World. You want a Hulk in Gamma World.

Someone should really suggest going to get the Hulk. But they don't. Instead they go inside and they have to be in weird hazmat type suits to keep from being irradiated and it's claustrophobic and about as scary as this cartoon gets. There are monsters in the shadows and if they pierce your suit, you become a monster!

Plus the boundary around the Cube is continually expanding. It will soon hit a town and then a city (I spoiled it, it's Las Vegas).

I just think this is a cool premise. It's obviously a Hulk story. since he is already irradiated. (They really should have at least tried to call him before going in.) Because, first the SHIELD team accompanying them, and then each of the Avengers are taken into the green mist surrounding them and turned into monsters.

That leaves only Thor, who is not human and thus not changed. But he is up against the Leader, the Abomination, the Absorbing Man, Zzzax, the U-Foes, the Wrecking Crew, and all the other Avengers in their monster forms. (Panther is a catlike monster, and wasp has wings. Iron Man looks the most human, but his armor is part of him and the arc reactor dangles from weird black and yellow threads. Cap looks like the Hulk with blonde hair)

Even though this episode tries to make it seem like things will be fine for the Avengers (I guess not to scare kids?). Part two opens with the Gamma Dome reappearing and getting bigger. The Leader makes an announcement to humanity that "I will remake the world in my imagine. You will be perfect, like me. And I will think your thoughts for you."

Someone really needs to go get the Hulk in part 2. And that person is... Hawkeye.

Meanwhile, Thunderbolt Ross is attacking Hulk with the Hulkbusters. Like, dude, did you not see the creepy message about thinking your thoughts for you? Maybe let the Hulk punch that guy. I don't know what that guy's problem is.

Things I like:

-- T'Challa seeming to match the Leader in tactical matters (he is the one who realizes things are traps and such)

-- the Leader is kinda creepy in this. Usually I find his big head ridiculous. Take notes, Captain America 4.

-- Hawkeye being super aggro with the Hulk even though he has zero super powers.

-- The ongoing conversation about whether Avengers should just listen to Tony's orders.

-- Thor gets some action in for the first time since "The Breakout" really. The last couple episodes he was in, he was more of a comedic presence. (I like comedic Thor too I just like a balance.)

-- Hulk's line, "Not stop you. SMASH YOU!" is pretty iconic. I have zero notes.

Rating: Recommend!

[becoming-who-ive-always-been]

My favorite superheroine... Batgirl...

Back when I was in the second grade, Batman started airing, and while it was all the rage for kids my age, I didn't really start paying attention to it until they "introduced" Batgirl... (though, to be honest,, Catwoman DID make me sit up a bit...)

But there something about the Purple One that was special for me...

As kids do, especially boys, we all played "superhero" games - my brother wanted to be Superman, Joey wanted to be Batman, Carmine wanted to be the Flash, David wanted to be Captain America...

I wanted to be Batgirl... (nobody wanted to be Robin, for some reason...) but I knew I couldn't say so... so I went for Thor, because he had long hair, a cape, and a helmet like her cowl...

At the same time, I only "answered" to Thor, but acted like Batgirl with a hammer...

Still and all, I felt like I was betraying not only myself, but Batgirl at the same time...

To this day I wonder what would've happened if I'd admitted/claimed my superheroine... I know I'd've gotten razzed and laughed at, and probably argued "out" of it... I doubt the guys (except maybe my brother if reminded) would even recall it today... but, obviously, I still remember, and still have "fond memories" of Barbara Gordon, Commissioner Gordon's daughter...Yvonne Craig... Batgirl... my superheroine...

...and this is one of mine...

Yvonne Craig

[just-another-blog-of-fluff]

The Innocence of Youth

Word count: 4200

Warnings: just your daily dose of fluffy cuteness and tickles

So I have a couple prompts now to work on, but this one randomly came to me on my drive home (as do most of my ideas apparently) and I just had to write it before it was out of my head!

If you haven't figured it out already, I'm a sucker for pre-dating Loki, so... hope you all don't mind that whole trope because it's probably not going away anytime soon 😅

For months now, your niece had been begging to visit you in the Avengers tower so she could meet her favorite superheroes. So, when your sister asked if you could take her for a weekend while she and her husband were away, you said yes without a second thought.

Maia was five years old now, and you loved spending as much quality time with her as you could. You’d always loved kids, but Maia was one of the sweetest little girls you’d known - so polite for her age, and very inquisitive too.

The moment she’d found out you lived at the Avengers tower, she started asking questions about all of your teammates, positively lighting up with excitement when you would tell her of your adventures. She especially loved the stories about the mighty Thor, wielding his hammer and shooting blasts of lightning out of his hands at will. Nat, too, really intrigued the small girl – she was inspired by hearing of a female warrior, keeping up with the boys (most of whom had some form of special powers) without difficulty. And, of course, she was incredibly excited to see the famous Captain America shield in person, as well as the man behind it.

But by far, the person she was most excited to meet was Loki. Maybe a little bit of that was your doing. You did have a tendency to talk about him often, going on about his magic abilities and his sarcastic wit. Maybe it was the magic she was excited about, although she didn’t express as much excitement in seeing Wanda or Dr. Strange. In any case, you weren’t keen on forcing your little niece on Loki – you had no idea how he was with kids, but something in your gut told you he at least wouldn’t want one he’d never met hanging all over him.

Maia ran from the car as fast as her little legs could carry her as soon as your sister dropped her off at the compound. You swept her up into a hug, squeezing her tight as she giggled with excitement.

“Thanks so much for taking her,” your sister said gratefully, trailing behind her daughter with Maia’s overnight bag on her shoulder. Smiling, you assured her it was no trouble at all. You took Maia’s bag and wished your sister a safe and fun trip, finally relenting to the little girl tugging desperately on your hand to lead you inside.

Immediately, Maia was asking excitedly when she would get to meet the Avengers. You promised you’d introduce her to them later, heading up to your room instead to drop off her belongings. Practically shivering with excitement, Maia allowed you to lead her to the elevator and up to your bedroom.

“Can I stay in Loki’s room instead?” she pleaded. You laughed, ruffling her hair.

“No, sweetie. But you can sleep in my bed, how does that sound?” She seemed satisfied with the answer, her short, five-year-old attention span already having moved on to wanting to explore the tower more.

This time in the afternoon, you thought you’d be most likely to find some of the others in the training room. Maia babbled excitedly the entire way there, stopping only when you entered the training room to find Nat and Bucky sparring. Maia’s shrill squeal of excitement broke Bucky’s concentration, and Nat took advantage of his lapse in attention by sweeping his feet out from beneath him and pinning him to the ground.

“Hey Nat, Bucky – this is my niece, Maia,” you announced. Nat let Bucky up, dusting herself off before coming over to properly meet the small girl. “Maia – this is Nat and Bucky.”

“That was so cool!” she exclaimed, referencing Nat’s successful sparring session against the Winter Soldier. “You really beat him good!” Nat chuckled, crouching down to Maia’s level.

“Thank you. You know, you helped me win – you distracted him.” Maia’s face lit up, a bright smile spreading across her face as Nat offered her fist for a fist bump.

“And that’s the only reason she won,” Bucky countered, wandering over to join you. Maia gasped, staring in awe at him.

“You have a shiny arm!” Maia exclaimed, pointing at the metal prosthetic Bucky wore in place of his missing left arm. He nodded, holding his metal hand out for her to touch. She cautiously extended her little hand, placing it against the palm of his metal one. “Is that why you’re a superhero?”

“Well, maybe it helps. But I’m also super strong!” He punctuated his boasting by scooping the girl up in his metal arm and spinning her around, eliciting squeals and giggles.

“Alright, Bucky, don’t go launching my niece across the room,” you teased. He placed her back on her feet on the ground, and you bade them farewell as you headed off to search for more of your teammates.

Thor and Peter were both hanging out in the common area, playing one of Peter’s video games on the wide screen TV. Maia danced with excitement beside you. You caught their attention, introducing your niece and allowing her to go in and say hi.

“Oh my gosh, aren’t you the cutest little thing!?” Peter cooed, giving the girl a big hug to her delight.

“Auntie!” she exclaimed, rushing to your side so she could whisper audibly, “Is that Spider-Man??” Peter chuckled at her not-so-secret loud whisper as you nodded to confirm her suspicions. “You can swing from buildings??”

“I do! It’s super fun!” he exclaimed.

“That is nothing, little one. Have you seen me summon my hammer?” Thor interjected. She shook her head, eyes pleading for him to show her. Never one to pass up the opportunity to show off, he held out his hand, Mjolnir shooting across the room. He caught it with ease, fingers closing around the handle as your niece cheered and clapped in awe.

“Can I hold it?” she asked. Thor laughed heartily.

“You may try, little one, but only those who are worthy may lift the hammer.” He placed it down on the floor in front of her, motioning for her to try to pick it up. Closing both hands around the handle, she tugged as hard as she could, but the hammer didn’t budge. Maia glanced sadly up at Thor, her bottom lip jutting out ever so slightly in a pout. Thor knelt down on one knee, placing his oversized hand on her little shoulder. “Don’t worry, young one – I could not lift it when I was your size either. You’ll need to grow a bit bigger first, then we’ll try again!”

Maia’s smile returned, and you mouthed a quick ‘thank you’ to Thor before heading out to find additional team members for your niece to meet.

Steve shook the little girl’s hand, much to her awe and excitement, when you found him in the kitchen. He had been wearing his civilian clothes, but he promised her he would bring the shield down at dinner time so she could see it. Outside in the courtyard, you found Wanda and Vision relaxing in the sunshine. Wanda happily demonstrated her magic abilities, and Vision showed Maia how he could fly. You wished you could see the world through your niece’s eyes – with every new Avenger she met, every new superpower she saw, her excitement and wonder grew exponentially.

Despite her excitement at having met so many of her heroes, she continued to ask about Loki all day. Still not sure how he’d feel about a child, you continued to redirect the girl to focus on other things. Luckily, it seemed he must have either spent the day in his room or had otherwise been out of the tower for the day, as you never came across him in your travels.

You brought Maia to dinner with the team, knowing she would be simply radiant with excitement at seeing all of her heroes in one place. Vision was kind enough to cook up some macaroni and cheese for dinner, having done some research in between meeting Maia and dinner time to learn what a small human child might enjoy as a meal. (You suspected Wanda had given him some suggestions as well.) She munched happily on her food, talking animatedly with Bruce and Tony across the table. The girl was certainly not shy, and Tony was basking in the attention as he bragged about his Ironman suit powers.

“Thor?” she asked suddenly, “Where is Loki?”

“My brother Loki is most likely reading in his room, young one,” he explained kindly.

“Will I get to see him sometime?” she asked, frowning. Thor glanced at you, his eyes bright with amusement.

“I’m certain you will see him this weekend! I shall make sure of it!” he assured.

“When?!” she urged. Luckily, Steve re-entered the room at that exact moment, holding his Captain America shield as promised. She shrieked with delight, getting up from the table and running to the super soldier to see the shield up close. You caught Thor’s eye once again, and he shot you a cheeky wink across the table, making your face flush with heat.

After dinner, Peter suggested a movie night, with Maia’s choice of movie. The team got cozy in the common room, Tony showing Maia the list of movies on the TV screen. You knew she would select a Disney princess film before Tony had even gotten to that section of the list, and sure enough, she chose to watch Moana. Thor offered for her to sit on his lap, and she bounced over to the blonde Asgardian without hesitation, plunking herself down on his knee. She fell asleep long before the movie was over, and it made your heart melt to see her curled up into Thor’s chest. You carried her to bed when the film ended, the girl barely stirring the entire way up to your bedroom.

The next morning, you woke to your niece jumping excitedly up and down on the bed, begging to go down to breakfast so she could see her new friends. A quick glance at the clock told you it was highly unlikely anyone else would be awake, but nevertheless you were already up now, so you headed downstairs in your pajamas to cook up some breakfast for the two of you.

You brought your pancakes and coffee (and Maia’s chocolate milk) to the common area, letting her eat away from the table as a special treat as long as she promised not to make a mess. She sat cross-legged on the floor in her polka-dot pajamas, chattering excitedly about the Avengers while eating her breakfast.

“Auntie, want to know who my favorite is?” she asked, mouth half full of her last bite of pancakes. Placing your coffee mug down on the coffee table, you turned and nodded to her.

“Tell me!”

“I think Nat is my favorite!” she declared. You feigned offense at her revelation, your jaw dropping in ‘shock.’

“You like Nat more than your auntie?” you exclaimed. She nodded vigorously, grinning. “Well, I’m just going to have to show you why I am the best Avenger then!” Scooping her up in your arms, you wiggled your fingers into her belly, eliciting bright giggles from the little girl.

“Nohoho! Auntie!” She squirmed to try to escape, but it wasn’t difficult to hold the five-year-old pinned in your lap, gently tickling her sides. You knew she loved it when you tickled her, she never tried very hard to get away. It always lifted your spirits to hear her adorable little giggles.

“Well, this certainly doesn’t appear to be a fair fight.”

You paused, turning toward the baritone voice to find Loki standing in the doorway. Maia saw as well, squealing with joy at finally getting to meet the Asgardian she’d been so excited to see.

“Auntie!” She tugged hard on your sleeve, pointing to the doorway. “That’s Loki!”

“Yes, sweetie, that’s Loki,” you nodded, chuckling. “Please don’t jump on him, ok?” You allowed her to get up and run over to the god, hesitantly watching to see how he would react. “Loki, this is my niece Maia.”

“Where were you yesterday? I wanted to meet you!” she asked.

“You wanted to meet me?” he asked in surprise, looking down at the girl with his eyebrows raised. She nodded, smiling from ear to ear.

“Yeah! I saw Thor, and Bucky, and Steve and Nat and Wanda and Vision…” she counted off on her little fingers as she listed off the people she’d met, missing quite a few of them, “… but I was really excited to meet you! You’re my favorite!”

Loki chuckled warmly, a deep rumble in his throat. He glanced over at you, grinning. “I like her. She understands true power when she sees it.” You breathed a small sigh of relief, happy to see that Loki didn’t actually mind Maia’s clinginess.

“Don’t corrupt my niece, now, Loki,” you warned jokingly.

“I would never do such a thing,” he assured, winking down at the little girl. She tugged on his sleeve, motioning for him to come down to her level. Your heart swelled as he knelt down beside her, his blue-green eyes wide with polite curiosity as she leaned over to whisper in his ear.

“I think you’re auntie’s favorite too,” she whispered loudly. Your eyes widened, heat rushing to your face as Loki looked at you curiously.

“Oh, do you? What makes you think that?” he asked, his voice low in a mock whisper, but loud enough for you to still hear him.

“She talks about you lots! More than everyone else!” she ‘whispered’ excitedly.

“Really?” Loki smirked at you, and you hid your face helplessly in your hands. “You know, I saw that your aunt was tickling you when I came in here. Does she do that often?’

“Hehe, yeah,” she replied shyly. “All the time!”

“Does she?” You didn’t like the mischievous lilt in his voice, peeking through your fingers to see what he was doing. He had leaned over and was whispering something to Maia with his hand shielding his face from view. Unfortunately, Loki was not a five-year-old and knew how to actually whisper, so you couldn’t hear a thing he said.

“Loki… what are you telling my sweet little niece?” you asked warningly. Maia was giggling at whatever it was he was telling her, nodding her head. He turned his head back around, staring you down as he rose to his feet, a smirk on his face. “Uhh… Loki, what did you tell her?”

“I just asked young Maia if she would like my assistance,” he responded ominously. He took a step toward you, and your fight or flight response kicked in, scrambling to your feet with hands outstretched protectively in front of you.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” you asked nervously.

“Because he’s gonna –“ Maia stopped talking as Loki looked down at her, pressing his index finger to his lips. She covered her mouth with both hands, tiny giggles slipping through her fingers.

“No, tell me, Maia – he’s gonna what?” you urged, your eyes never leaving Loki’s.

“Why don’t I just show you instead?” A threat. You turned and started running, but he was faster, predicting your move before you’d even known you were going to make it. His arms were around you in an instant, lifting you off the floor with ease and carrying you to the couch. With some difficulty, given your thrashing, he sat down and pulled you into his lap, your back leaned up against the arm of the couch beside him and your legs outstretched on the couch cushions.

“Alright, you got me,” you laughed nervously, flustered beyond belief at the position you were now in across the God of Mischief’s lap. “Good job, Loki. Now let me up.” Loki ignored you, collecting your wrists in one hand and pinning them to his chest.

“Maia – do you think your aunt is ticklish?” he asked. You tensed up immediately, shaking your head at Maia, who shrugged uncertainly at Loki in response to his question. “Should we find out?” His fingers found your belly, pressed against the soft skin, unmoving and ready to strike. Anticipatory giggles bubbled up in your throat, which you suppressed to the best of your ability, unwilling to show weakness to your captor.

“I’m not, so… you may as well let me go,” you lied, trying to keep your voice from wavering. His fingers twitched against your belly, making you flinch at the unexpected movement. You cringed at the knowing smirk that spread across his face.

“There’s only one way for us to know for certain.”

Loki wasted no more time, clawing into your belly with all five fingers. You hadn’t quite expected such an unbearably ticklish sensation, releasing your giggles immediately at the contact. Maia cheered excitedly as she watched, giggling along with you.

“Ticklish and a liar? Tsk, tsk. Maia, your aunt is in big trouble now,” Loki teased, fingers darting around your stomach and occasionally to your sides, seeking out the spots that made you jolt and squeak. He settled on the sides of your belly, about halfway between your bellybutton and sides, scratching with maddening precision. You stomped your heel against the couch cushion, pulling desperately at your wrists to free yourself.

“NOT THERE, PLEHEHEASE!” you pleaded, unable to take much longer of his focused attack.

“Not there? Where would you prefer? Here?” He reached down to squeeze above your knee, making your leg kick out involuntarily. This was at least more bearable, allowing you the ability to breathe in between giggles.

“Tickle her armpits!” Maia suggested excitedly.

“MAIA!” you scolded.

“An excellent suggestion, little one!” Loki pulled your wrists upward to expose your underarms, digging his fingers into the hollow under your left arm. You tried desperately to clamp your arms to your sides, but in your weakened state there was no hope for you to overpower his grip on your wrists. His deft fingertips found the soft spot right in the center of your underarm and mercilessly clawed into it, applying just enough pressure to make you positively howl with laughter. He released your wrists and shot his other hand under your other arm, finding the same torturous spot on that side.

“L-LOKIHIHI! I CAHAHAN’T!” you begged, pounding your feet on the couch. He relented a bit, fingers traveling down to your ribcage and vibrating into the spaces.

“Are you learning your lesson yet, darling?” he teased, spidering gently up and down your ribcage.

“Lesson?!” you giggled, “Whahat lesson?”

“That you shouldn’t tickle me, auntie! Or Loki’s gonna get you!” Maia informed gleefully.

“She likes ihihit!!” you protested, shrieking as his fingers found those spots on your stomach again.

“So do you, darling,” he smirked. Your face flushed up to the tips of your ears. He wasn’t wrong, but you’d have preferred him not to point it out. “Where else do you think she’s ticklish, Maia?”

“Hmm…” she pondered for a moment as Loki continued to tickle you to pieces. “Her feet!”

“NO! Nope! Nohohot ticklish there,” you insisted, stretching your legs out so your feet were far out of Loki’s reach.

“I believe I will be the judge of that,” he argued, pinning your shoulder down with one hand while reaching his other hand behind your knee, fluttering his fingers there. You snorted, much to Maia’s amusement, and bent your knee involuntarily to protect yourself from his ticklish onslaught. He shouted in triumph, grabbing hold of your ankle and passing it to his other hand so he could reach around the sole of your socked foot, rapidly scribbling up and down the whole thing. You shrieked, sitting up to reach for his hands to get him to stop. A quick series of rapid pokes to the belly made you lean back again so he could continue to torment your foot without your hands in the way.

“LEAVE MY FEHEHEET ALONE!” you pleaded, twisting around in his lap in ticklish agony.

“We can’t leave the other foot neglected, now can we?” he taunted, suddenly grabbing your other ankle and resuming his torture on the other foot. He discovered that scratching along the inner edge of the arch made you squirm harder, focusing his attack there until your laughter grew silent. Satisfied that he’d tickled you into silence, he finally halted his attack, releasing your ankle and allowing you to catch your breath.

“Ohohoh… oh my gohohod Loki… that was mehehean!” you scolded breathlessly, still lying across his lap.

“You loved every second of it, don’t lie to me again darling,” he teased, throwing in a couple pokes to the sides just to see you flinch and giggle again. “Do you think I got her, Maia?”

“You got her good!” she exclaimed happily, grinning giddily. You finally gathered the strength to sit up, scooting off of Loki’s lap awkwardly. A mischievous thought crossed your mind, and you grinned at Maia as you turned to sit straight on the couch beside the trickster.

“Hey Maia – do you think Loki is ticklish too?” you asked, not waiting for an answer before wrapping an arm around his waist and scribbling your fingers into his sides. Loki turned to look at you, unmoving, his face neutral. You at least had the wherewithal to suppress the curse that you nearly shouted in front of your little niece as his fingers closed around the wrist of the arm that was wrapped around him, pinning it to his side.

“That was a mistake.” With his free hand, he shot his fingers under your outstretched arm, finding the trigger point from earlier and digging into it mercilessly. You screamed, pushing at his hand with your free one without success. “Haven’t had enough yet, have we? Is this what you wanted?”

“NOHOHO!” you shrieked frantically, leaning your forehead against Loki’s shoulder as you accepted your ticklish fate. He let up after a few moments, feeling you lean more heavily into his side as your muscles turned to jelly. Releasing your wrist, he allowed you to sit up and regain your composure, smoothing your hair down and straightening your pajama top.

“Loki?” Maia asked, wandering closer to the god and leaning with her hands on the arm of the couch. “Are you going to kiss auntie?”

Even Loki, normally cool and composed, seemed startled by the question. You looked wide-eyed at your niece, immediately trying to cover yourself by telling her how inappropriate it is to ask such a thing. She mumbled a little apology, looking a bit sheepish. Seeing her change in demeanor, Loki smiled at her, wrapping an arm around your waist and pulling you closer to him.

“Would you like it if that were to happen?” he asked her. She grinned and nodded enthusiastically. Loki turned to look at you next. “Would you like it if that were to happen?”

Feeling the familiar prickle of heat tingling in your cheeks once again, you considered your response carefully. Of course you wanted it to happen. But was he saying it just to appease your niece? Hesitantly, you bit your lip and nodded, almost imperceptibly. Loki grinned at your response, reaching up to tilt your chin with his fingertips and pressing a chaste kiss to your lips. It was short, sweet, and innocent, likely because Maia was watching intently, but the electricity that shot through you from your mouth down to your toes took your breath away. Maia cheered as you broke away from his lips, unable to hide the grin on your face.

“I knew it! I knew you liked Loki!” she declared.

“Hey Maia – why don’t you go check the kitchen to see if anyone else is awake yet?” you asked. Easily redirected, she hurried off down the hall to the kitchen. You could hear Thor’s booming voice as she encountered him making his breakfast. You looked up at Loki sheepishly, hand rubbing the back of your neck. “Thanks for doing that… you didn’t have to…”

“I didn’t have to. But I’ve wanted to for quite some time,” he explained. “Thank the norns your young niece isn’t too shy to speak her mind freely.” His hand moved to cup your jaw, pressing a more fiery and passionate kiss to your mouth now that there were no curious young eyes to see it happen. You lost yourself in his gentle but solid touch, getting drunk off of the taste of him.

You separated from him again just before Thor appeared in the doorway with Maia perched on his shoulder, giggling rapidly. Standing up from the couch, you looked up at your niece with a mischievous grin on your face.

“Maia… I think you owe your auntie for telling Loki to tickle me,” you warned, reaching up and wiggling your fingers into her sides once again. She squealed, giggling as she protested.

“Loki! Help!” she shouted through her laughter. Loki had his fingers scratching under your arms before you could react. He sighed, as if it pained him to have to tickle you.

“I see we need to repeat the lesson once again.”

The morning was filled with your hysterical laughter. But, if it gave you the excuse to be close to Loki, you’d gladly force him to have to repeat the lesson again and again.

[lokiondisneyplus]

'Loki' takes over: Tom Hiddleston on his new TV series and a decade in the MCU

Ten years after Hiddleston first chose chaos in Thor, Marvel’s fan favorite God of Mischief is going even bigger with his time-bending Disney+ show.

Tom Hiddleston is Loki, and he is burdened with glorious purpose: After playing Thor's puckish brother for over a decade in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, no one understands the mercurial Asgardian God of Mischief as well as the actor. He can teach an entire seminar on Loki if given the opportunity — which he actually did during pre-production on his forthcoming Disney+ show. In conversation, Hiddleston quotes lines from his MCU debut, 2011's Thor, almost verbatim, and will playfully correct you if you mistakenly refer to Asgard's Rainbow Bridge as the Bifrost, which is the portal that connects Loki and Thor's homeworld to the Nine Realms, including Midgard, a.k.a. Earth. "Well, the Bifrost technically is the energy that runs through the bridge," he says with a smile. "But nine points to Gryffindor!" And when he shows up to the photo shoot for this very digital cover, he hops on a call with our photo editor to pitch ways the concept could be even more Loki, like incorporating the flourish the trickster does whenever magically conjuring something. The lasting impression is that playing Loki isn't just a paycheck.

"Rather than ownership, it's a sense of responsibility I feel to give my best every time and do the best I can because I feel so grateful to be a part of what Marvel Studios has created," the 40-year-old Brit tells EW over Zoom a few days after the shoot and a week out from Thor's 10th anniversary. "I just want to make sure I've honored that responsibility with the best that I can give and the most care and thought and energy."

After appearing in three Thor movies and three Avengers, Hiddleston is bringing that passion to his first solo Marvel project, Loki, the House of Ideas' third Disney+ series following the sitcom pastiche WandaVision and the topical The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Led by head writer Michael Waldron (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Heels), the six-episode drama sees Hiddleston's shapeshifting agent of chaos step out from behind his brother's shadow and into the spotlight for a timey-wimey, sci-fi adventure that aims to get to the bottom of who Loki really is. "I wanted to explore slightly more complex character questions," says Waldron. "It's not just good versus bad. Is anybody all good? Is anybody all bad? What makes a hero, a hero? A villain, a villain?"  

Even though Loki — who loves sowing mayhem with his illusion magic and shapeshifting, all with a major chip on his shoulder — has never been one for introspection, the idea of building an entire show around him was a no-brainer for Marvel. When asked why Loki was one of the studio's first Disney+ shows, Marvel president Kevin Feige replies matter-of-factly, "More Hiddleston, more Loki." First introduced as Thor's (Chris Hemsworth) envious brother in Kenneth Branagh's Thor, Loki went full Big Bad in 2012's The Avengers. That film cemented the impish rogue as one of the shared universe's fan favorites, thanks to Hiddleston's ability to make him deliciously villainous yet charismatic and, most importantly, empathetic. The character's popularity is one of the reasons he's managed to avoid death many times.

"He's been around for thousands of years. He had all sorts of adventures," says Feige. "Wanting to fill in the blanks and see much more of Loki's story [was] the initial desire [for the series]."

The Loki we meet on the show is not the one who fought the Avengers in 2012 and evolved into an antihero in Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Ragnarok before meeting his demise at the hands of the mad titan Thanos (Josh Brolin) in 2018's Avengers: Infinity War. Instead, we'll be following a Loki from a branched timeline (a variant, if you will) after he stole the Tesseract following his thwarted New York invasion and escaped S.H.I.E.L.D. custody during the time heist featured in Avengers: Endgame. In other words, this Loki hasn't gone through any sort of redemption arc. He's still the charming yet petulant god who firmly believes he's destined to rule and has never gotten his due.

Premiering June 9, Loki begins with the Time Variance Authority — a bureaucratic organization tasked with safeguarding the proper flow of time — arresting the Loki Variant seen in Endgame because they want his help fixing all of the timeline problems he caused while on the run with the Tesseract. So there will be time travel, and a lot more of it than in Endgame. As Loki makes his way through his own procedural, he'll match wits with new characters including Owen Wilson's Agent Mobius, a brilliant TVA analyst, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw's Judge Renslayer. The question in early episodes is whether Loki will help them or take over.

"One of the things Kevin Feige led on was, 'I think we should find a way of exploring the parts of Loki that are independent of his relationship with Thor,' or see him in a duality or in relationship with others, which I thought was very exciting," says Hiddleston, who also serves as an executive producer on the show. "So the Odinson saga, that trilogy of films, still has its integrity, and we don't have to reopen it and retell it."

Yet, in order to understand where Loki is going, it's important to see where he came from.

Hiddleston can't believe how long he and Loki have been connected. "I've been playing this character for 11 years," he says. "Which is the first time I have said that sentence, I realize, and it [blows] my mind. I don't know what percentage that is exactly of my 40 years of being alive, but it's substantial."

His time as Loki actually goes a bit further back, to 2009 — a year after Robert Downey Jr. big banged the MCU into existence with Iron Man — when he auditioned for Thor. It's no secret that Hiddleston initially went in for the role of the titular God of Thunder, but Feige and director Kenneth Branagh thought his natural charm and flexibility as an actor made him better suited for the movie's damaged antagonist. "Tom gave you an impression that he could be ready for anything, performance-wise," says Branagh, who had previously worked with him on a West End revival of Checkov's Ivanov and the BBC series Wallander. "Tom has a wild imagination, so does Loki. He's got a mischievous sense of humor and he was ready to play. It felt like he had a star personality, but he was a team player."

Hiddleston fully immersed himself in the character. Outside of studying Loki's history in the Marvel Comics, he also researched how Loki and the Trickster God archetype appeared across mythology and different cultures. "He understood that he was already in something special [and] it was a special character in a special part of that early moment in the life of the Marvel universe where [he] also needed to step up in other ways," says Branagh, who was impressed by the emotional depth Hiddleston brought to the part, especially when it came to how isolated Loki felt in the Asgardian royal family.  

There was a lot riding on that first Thor feature. For one, no one knew if audiences would immediately latch onto a Shakespearean superhero movie partially set on an alien planet populated by the Norse Gods of legend. Second, it was integral to Feige's plans for the shared universe. Loki was supposed to be the main villain in The Avengers, which would not only mirror how Earth's mightiest heroes joined forces in 1963's Avengers #1 but also give Thor a believable reason for teaming up with Iron Man, Captain America (Chris Evans), and the rest of the capes. Feige first clued Hiddleston into those larger plans when the actor was in L.A. before Thor started shooting.

"I was like, 'Excuse me?' Because he was already three, four steps ahead," says Hiddleston. "That took me a few minutes to process, because I didn't quite realize how it just suddenly had a scope. And being cast as Loki, I realized, was a very significant moment for me in my life, and was going to remain. The creative journey was going to be so exciting."

Hiddleston relished the opportunity to go full villain in Avengers, like in the scene where Loki ordered a crowd to kneel before him outside a German opera house: "It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation," says the Machiavellian god. "The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel."

"I just knew that in the structure of that film, I had to lean into his role as a pure antagonist," Hiddleston recalls. "What I always found curious and complex about the way Loki is written in Avengers, is that his status as an antagonist comes from the same well of not belonging and being marginalized and isolated in the first Thor film. Loki now knows he has no place in Asgard."

Loki did find a place within the audience's hearts, though. Feige was "all in" on Hiddleston as his Loki from the beginning, but even he couldn't predict how much fans would love him. Feige recalls the reaction at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con: "Did we know that after he was the villain in two movies, he would be bringing thousands of people to their feet in Hall H, in costume, chanting his name? No, that was above and beyond the plan that we were hoping for and dreaming of." It was a dream Feige first got an inkling of a year earlier during the Avengers press tour when a Russian fan slipped past security, snuck into Mark Ruffalo's car, and asked the Hulk actor to give Hiddleston a piece of fan art she created. "That was one of the early signs there was much more happening with this quote-unquote villain."  

Despite that popularity, the plan was to kill Loki off in 2013's Thor: The Dark World, but the studio reversed course after test audiences refused to believe he actually died fighting the Dark Elves. Alas, he couldn't out-illusion death forever. After returning in Taika Waititi's colorful and idiosyncratic Thor: Ragnarok, Hiddleston's character perished for real in the opening moments of Infinity War. In typical Loki fashion, before Thanos crushed his windpipe, he delivered a defiant speech that indicated he'd finally made peace with the anger he felt toward his family.  

"It felt very, very final, and I thought, 'Okay, that's it. This is Loki's final bow and a conclusive end to the Odinson saga,'" says Hiddleston, who shot that well-earned death scene in 2017.  

But, though he didn't know it yet, the actor's MCU story was far from over.

Credit: Charlie Gray for EW

When Hiddleston returned to film two scenes in Avengers: Endgame in 2017, he had no idea where Loki portaled off to after snatching the Tesseract. "Where'd he go? When does he go? How does he get there? These are all questions I remember asking on the day, and then not being given any answers," Hiddleston recalls. To be fair, it's likely the Powers That Be didn't necessarily have answers then. While Feige can't exactly recall when the writers' room for Endgame first devised Loki's escape sequence, he does know that setting up a future show wasn't the primary goal — because a Loki series wasn't on the horizon just yet.

"[That scene] was really more of a wrinkle so that one of the missions that the Avengers went on in Endgame could get screwed up and not go well, which is what required Cap and Tony to go further back in time to the '70s," says Feige. Soon after that, though, former Disney CEO Bob Iger approached Feige about producing content for the studio's forthcoming streaming service. "I think the notion that we had left this hanging loose end with Loki gave us the in for what a Loki series could be. So by the time [Endgame] came out, we did know where it was going."

As for Hiddleston, he didn't find out about the plans for a Loki show until spring 2018, a few weeks before Infinity War hit theaters. "I probably should not have been surprised, but I was," says the actor. "But only because Infinity War had felt so final."

Nevertheless, Hiddleston was excited about returning for his show. He was eager to explore Loki's powers, especially the shapeshifting, and what it meant that this disruptive figure still managed to find a seat beside the gods in mythology. "I love this idea [of] Loki's chaotic energy somehow being something we need. Even though, for all sorts of reasons, you don't know whether you can trust him. You don't know whether he's going to betray you. You don't why he's doing what he's doing," says Hiddleston. "If he's shapeshifting so often, does he even know who he is? And is he even interested in understanding who he is? Underneath all those masks, underneath the charm and the wit, which is kind of a defense anyway, does Loki have an authentic self? Is he introspective enough or brave enough to find out? I think all of those ideas are all in the series — ideas about identity, ideas about self-knowledge, self-acceptance, and the difficulty of it."

“The series will explore Loki's powers in a way they have not yet been explored, which is very, very exciting.”

The thing that truly sold Hiddleston on the show was Marvel's decision to include the Time Variance Authority, a move he describes as "the best idea that anybody had pertaining to the series." Feige and Loki executive producer Stephen Broussard had hoped to find a place for the TVA — an organization that debuted in 1986's Thor #372 and has appeared in She-Hulk and Fantastic Four stories — in the MCU for years, but the right opportunity never presented itself until Loki came along. "Putting Loki into his own procedural series became the eureka moment for the show," says Feige.  

The TVA's perspective on time and reality also tied into the themes that Waldron, Loki's head writer, was hoping to explore. "Loki is a character that's always reckoning with his own identity, and the TVA, by virtue of what they do, is uniquely suited to hold up a mirror to Loki and make him really confront who he is and who he was supposed to be," says Waldron. Hiddleston adds: "[That] was very exciting because in the other films, there was always something about Loki that was very controlled. He seemed to know exactly what the cards in his hand were and how he was going to play them…. And Loki versus the TVA is Loki out of control immediately, and in an environment in which he's completely behind the pace, out of his comfort zone, destabilized, and acting out."

To truly dig into who Loki is, the creative team had to learn from the man who knows him best: Hiddleston. "I got him to do a thing called Loki School when we first started," says director Kate Herron. "I asked him to basically talk through his 10 years of the MCU — from costumes to stunts, to emotionally how he felt in each movie. It was fantastic."

Hiddleston got something out of the Loki school, too. Owen Wilson both attended the class and interviewed Hiddleston afterward so that he could better understand Loki, as his character Mobius is supposed to be an expert on him. During their conversation, Wilson pointedly asked Hiddleston what he loved about playing the character.

"And I said, 'I think it's because he has so much range,'" says Hiddleston. "I remember saying this to him: 'On the 88 keys on the piano, he can play the twinkly light keys at the top. He can keep it witty and light, and he's the God of Mischief, but he can also go down to the other side and play the heavy keys. And he can play some really profound chords down there, which are about grief and betrayal and loss and heartbreak and jealousy and pride.'" Hiddleston recalls Wilson being moved by the description: "He said, 'I think I might say that in the show.' And it was such a brilliant insight for me into how open Owen is as an artist and a performer.'"

Owen Wilson as Mobius and Tom Hiddleston as Loki in 'Loki.'| Credit: Chuck Zlotnick/Marvel Studios

Everyone involved is particularly excited for audiences to see Hiddleston and Wilson's on-screen chemistry. "Mobius is not unlike Owen Wilson in that he's sort of nonplussed by the MCU," says Feige. "[Loki] is used to getting a reaction out of people, whether it's his brother or his father, or the other Avengers. He likes to be very flamboyant and theatrical. Mobius doesn't give him the reaction he's looking for. That leads to a very unique relationship that Loki's not used to."

As for the rest of the series, we know that Loki will be jumping around time and reality, but the creative team isn't keen on revealing when and where. "Every episode, we tried to take inspiration from different things," says Waldron, citing Blade Runner's noir aesthetic as one example.

"Part of the fun of the multiverse and playing with time is seeing other versions of characters, and other versions of the titular character in particular," says Feige, who also declined to confirm if Loki ties into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and/or other upcoming projects.

Making Loki was especially meaningful to Hiddleston because they shot most of it during the pandemic, in late 2020. "It will remain one of the absolute most intense, most rewarding experiences of my life," he says. "It's a series about time, and the value of time, and what time is worth, and I suppose what the experience of being alive is worth. And I don't quite know yet, and maybe I don't have perspective on it, if all the thinking and the reflecting that we did during the lockdown ended up in the series. But in some way, it must have because everything we make is a snapshot of where we were in our lives at that time."

While it remains to be seen what the future holds for Loki beyond this initial season, Hiddleston isn't preparing to put the character to bed yet. "I'm open to everything," he says. "I have said goodbye to the character. I've said hello to the character. I said goodbye to the character [again]. I've learned not to make assumptions, I suppose. I'm just grateful that I'm still here, and there are still new roads to explore."

[skyahri]

How They'd Do You |Marvel Men HC| NSFW

Characters: Peter Parker (Spiderman), Steven Strange (Doctor Strange), Tony Stark (Iron Man), Thor Odinson, Steve Rodgers (Captain America)

Summary: Just some smut headcannons for you.

Warnings: Mentions of sex and swearing.

Masterlist Ko-fi

- - - - -

Peter Parker (Spiderman)

This man is 100% in it for the foreplay and you cannot convince me otherwise.

Fingering, teasing, playing, kissing, sexting, all of it honestly. Whatever made you happy.

His favorite thing is eating pussy.

He likes when you grab his hair and suffocate him with your thighs.

Something about having you totally at his mercy and begging for more makes him feel proud.

He also enjoys receiving head, he just honestly can't hold out very long.

You'll be down south sucking him off for a solid two minutes before he literally can't take it anymore and he's pleading to fuck you.

Big advocate for missionary, but honestly down for anything.

Sometimes, when he's feeling a bit aggressive he'll fuck you over the side of your bed and totally force you into the mattress.

Not really into hair pulling, but loves to grip your hips and pull you closer.

You tend to be a bit loud, so he'll put his hand over your mouth to shut you up.

He's most definitely a tits kind of guy- always touching and kissing, even when you aren't intimate.

He also likes kissing a lot in general. It's more romantic and that's what he's mostly in it for.

Big fan of aftercare; he's always really cuddly and touchy and lovey (not that he isn't always).

Steven Strange (Doctor Strange)

I feel like he'd be kinda vanilla at first just because he's a bit nervous.

Hes still kind of insecure about his hands, so things are pretty limited at first.

Missionary, not a tone of lead up, nothing like fingering or grabbing or anything like that.

Once he realizes that you literally don't care, things really take off from there.

There's a lot more foreplay, a lot of touching honestly.

You two somehow get into bondage???? He likes to use his magic to tie your hands behind you back or to the headboard.

He gets kind of dominant- not in a 'beg and submit' kind of way, but you both definitely know who's in charge.

Just because he's learned to be less full of himself doesn't mean he's just gonna let people walk all over him.

For him, foreplay becomes a really big part of sex and he can't get off without it.

Anytime yall do it, it's usually like a whole event, lasting minimum of like an hour.

Tony Stark (Iron Man)

I don't care what anyone says: this man is a pump and dump kind of guy.

He thinks all the lead up is insufficient and a waste of time.

After a while he'll get more into kissing and head and everything, but as right now? No way.

Unless it's your birthday.

It's a special occasion kind of thing.

You don't necessarily take offense to it, just because you know how Tony is, but that doesn't make it any less annoying.

I think he'd pick up on it after a while (and when I say a while I mean a long ass time because Tony is blind).

He'll try to get more into it, but it takes time.

It starts with kissing, a nice surprise for you when he tries to be romantic.

Then he'll offer to eat you out a little more often than twice a year.

Things will get more interesting, but definitely not wild.

Thor Odinson

This man is from a world where women are respected, so he most definitely treats you like a queen.

There is no such thing as a quickie when it comes to the God of thunder.

If he's gonna do you, he's gonna do you right.

I'm talking kissing, touching, hair pulling, pinning, the whole nine yards.

He's super romantic anf sensual and loving and nothing will change my mind.

As much as Thor definitely cares about women, he's also very, very protective almost to a point where he's territorial.

He loves hickies and marks of all kinds.

He wants people to know you're taken and you belong to him and him only.

Definitely has a breeding kink.

Has always loved seeing you pregnant and always hated contraception.

Refuses to wear condoms.

He's very open about sex and has no problem doing it anywhere.

Hes been caught a few times by other people; Loki being the victim many a time.

Aftercare is definitely on the menu, but he's not as sweet and soft as most people are, just because Thor isn't a gentle guy.

Will totally clean up while you recover, and definitely lay with you, but he isn't very soft and snuggly.

Steve Rodgers (Captain America)

Cap is from a different time, so don't expect too much from him.

He requires verbal consent to initiate anything, just incase you weren't interested.

He's an old man at heart and absolutely refuses to do anything he deems as lewd.

He already hates PDA, so don't ask to do anything outside of the bedroom.

He prefers vanilla activities, but will try to get out if his comfort zone if requested.

Fucked in the shower once, he felt like everyone could hear it and promised to never do it again.

You sent him an unprompted nude once while he was out doing Avenger stuff.

He called you stuttering and asking what it was all about, but never said he didn't like it.

From then on you liked to send pictures out of the blue (with a little message that said it was nsfw just so he didn't have a heart attack).

Tried anal once.

Said he preffered the "traditional hole".

He really like lingerie.

Anytime you wear it, he prefers you keep it on and he'll fuck you through it.

As time goes on he gets more comfortable with new positions and trying new things, but overall is a pretty standard guy.

[maeve-writes]

Heroes

Pairing: Stripper!Bucky Barnes x Reader x Stripper!Steve Rogers

Rating: 18+, Minors DNI 

Warnings: Adult situations, alcohol consumption, allusion to mild cheating(??). More to be added later.

Summary: It’s your friend’s birthday and you’re dragged to the Heroes club. You’re not one for that kind of place, but you quickly change your mind after you get to play the damsel in distress for a pair of Brooklyn babes. 

a/n: Unbeta’d, any mistakes are my own and please forgive me. This is the second story I’ve written in a while. Forgive me?

You normally don’t go to these sorts of places but it was your friend’s 30th birthday and it was on her bucket list. Luckily, you weren’t talked into planning any of it, just had to toss in some cash for the fee to get in and the never ending flow of drinks, plus the very special Birthday Girl Dance package.

It took you three years after the second Magic Mike movie came out to watch the first one. The idea of male strippers seemed odd. But, when you really thought about it, so did female strippers. 

Nevertheless, the night ultimately wasn’t about you, it was about your friend and her birthday. You were happy to be there with your friends, enjoying the celebration and drinks, seeing hot guys take off their clothes was a weird added bonus.

Heroes was the club to go if you wanted to see buff dudes bare it all. Tara, the birthday girl, had been raving about it for months. She found videos of it online and shared them in your group chat. That, of course, had your other friends looking for more videos and all of them started to have their favorites.

“Girl, some of them even give private shows,” Sonya, the oldest and who was supposed to be the responsible one of your group, mock-whispered excitedly.

You tried not to roll your eyes as your gang was escorted to the front table near the stage. It was a semicircular booth where small round tables came up from the floor, big enough for drinks, but small and spaced out enough to allow for bodies to move around and in between.

Your host was a slender built guy on the younger side, barely old enough to be allowed in. He had a baby face and a boyish smile, but his muscles were well defined as the club forced him to be shirtless save for the small bow tie around his neck with a spider in the middle, and the tiny pair of shorts that cupped his rear which stayed there by what you guessed was his will or magic. Maybe both.

“Here you are, ladies,” he guided, instructing Tara to take her seat near the middle. “The name’s Peter- uh Spider-Man. I’ll be taking care of you tonight.”

That set off a fit of giggles from your friends which caused a full body flush from your waiter. His embarrassment tugged at your heartstrings. “New at this, Mr. Spider,” you asked.

His flush darkened and he rubbed absently at the back at his neck after he passed out the menus. “It’s Spider-Man,” he corrected you, “but is it that obvious?” You tilted your head and scrunched up your nose, parting your pointer and thumb a small ways apart. He laughed in return, his shoulders relaxing a little. You gave him a wink and a smile before the rest of your friends attacked the poor kid with their drink and food orders.

You felt sorry for the guy, but he seemed to have loosened up a bit since your small, playful banter and your friends ate up his boyish charm. 

While you waited for your turn to order, you looked around the club to find its sleek design, not something you thought a strip club would offer. The walls were painted black, accented by silver framed posters of the dancers. Above each were white neon lights that spelt out their Hero name.

The rest of the booths were like your own, made of soft black cushions, black metal bases which were illuminated underneath by white light. The tables that sprang from the ground were polished silver necks with textured tempered glass tops to keep drink slipping and spilling to a minimum.

Of course, all of the booths surrounded the stage, which was mostly closed off by a thick black curtain, save for the large catwalk that split half of the sitting area in two. It was wide enough to fit three large men comfortably across it, shoulder to shoulder, and from some of the videos your group shared, they had done so before.

When Peter- there was no way you were going to refer to him by his Hero name- got to your order last, you could hear other rowdy groups start to file in. A couple of bachelorette parties, a girl’s 21st birthday, and a Happy Divorce Finalization Day were all joining you. Your friends quickly became friends with everyone in the room, so even if the show sucked, at least all of you could get drunk and have fun.

“Excuse me, ladies,” a voice rang out above you. Cheers burst from the crowd and every light in the room popped out and stayed out until the room fell silent. “Now that I have your attention…” A tall, dark man walked out from the split of the curtains. He wore a wireless microphone over his ear, an eyepatch over his eye which rested just above a self assured smile. Dressed in a fitted pair of leather pants and combat boots, he strode to the center crossroads of the stage and catwalk, “My name is Director Fury. I will be introducing you to your Heroes tonight.” He paused for another round of catcalls. “And hopefully we can save you from the Villains, too.” That drew out louder screams from the crowd.

“Now, what do we do to the bad girls like you,” he paused, looking pointedly to the crowd, “we contain,” he pulled a piece of rope from the back of his pants and tossed it into a group nearby, “detain,” he pulled out cuffs and twirled them around a finger before he threw those out as well, “and entertain.” With that, the bass dropped and the curtain flew open, behind Director Fury were the Heroes (and Villains) in all of their sweat slicked glory. 

Once the Director stepped aside, the seven dancers on stage began their opening routine. Dressed in black vests and tear-away leather pants, the men paraded around the stage and catwalk to the thump of the music, pulling off pieces of their clothing as they went. The women around you went wild, snatching at whatever was tossed their way, fighting playfully for it. While it seemed incredibly silly, Tara was having the time of her life and you absently sipped at your Tequila Sunrise while you scrolled on your phone. 

The dance number finished not two minutes later with a screaming cheer and standing ovation from the rest of the already slightly tipsy crowd. Director Fury came out while the dancers disappeared into the back to get ready, he worked the crowd, mentioning the brides-to-be and promised them a very special wedding gift before the night was over. “But I heard there were a couple of birthdays here,” Fury said, looking between your group and the one behind you. “Now, I’m going to get the young gun back there in a moment, but… a little bird told me that you,” he pointed to your friend, “are a very big fan of our first Hero of the night.” 

Tara squealed and stood up, “Fuck yes, I am. God bless Captain America! ...and dat ass!”

It was obvious that Director Fury was trying to keep his composure, but the corners of his lips twitched like he wanted to join in on the laughter from the crowd. “Well, he is certainly blessed,” he replied, “and ladies, you will be, too, when you see him at full salute.” He winked and started to walk off stage, “Captain? Duty calls…”

Some sort of abomination of the Star Spangled Banner started to play, remixed with drum and bass. You looked up to see what kind of horror show would come from something treasonous as what bled from the speakers around you, you were met with over six feet of muscle covered in a fitted blue suit, fingerless leather gloves on his hands, and a round metal shield on his back painted red, white, and blue. 

The Captain’s background was what looked like a large war ship with painted ski-masked bad guys spread throughout the levels. His stage allowed him ramps and poles to move up and down, which he used freely. He used a mixture of acrobatics and dance to move across the stage, tossing the shield around, “fighting off the bad guys” and losing his clothes in the process. By the end of the song he was left in just the leather gloves and a very tight pair of shorts, much like the ones Peter wore, except the Captains had the same pattern of his shield printed across the backside. 

Tara’s screams knocked you out of your daze and you realized you hadn’t stared down at your phone at all during the Captain’s dance. You watched all five minutes of it and couldn’t tear your eyes away. Heroes wasn’t about getting drunk women horny, they wanted to put on a show, too. You clapped lightly, though it was drowned out by the cheering around you, but unbeknownst to you, it wasn’t unnoticed. 

Fury was out once again and he brought up the first bachelorette of the night. He put her in a chair on the catwalk and gave her a candy-garterbelt. Then he asked her waiter, a guy named “Ant Man”, to remove it with only his tongue, which he happily obliged. 

Peter cut off your view with another drink, one you didn’t order. “On the house,” he said with a lopsided grin and placed the red, white, and blue layered drink next to your nearly empty Sunrise. Before you could ask him who ordered it, the candy garterbelt was being tugged between the bachelorette and her waiter. It ended in a tongue-y kiss and the ladies went wild. 

“Let’s hope her future husband doesn’t mind,” you muttered and turned your attention to your phone once again. Director Fury, thankfully, broke up the awkward scene on stage and began to introduce the next dancers. It was a pair, brothers, apparently, and they worked on the good versus bad troupe. Thor and Loki were opposites in every sense of the word. Thor was a large blond with a commanding presence. He had a bright smile and sun kissed skin that looked great in his red and gold trimmed briefs. But his brother was slender, graceful - almost cat-like, with dark hair and a mischievous grin all wrapped in flawless alabaster skin. They didn’t look like brothers, but they moved around each other like they had been together all of their lives, and knew each other’s moves. 

You only caught half of their story, as you were already halfway done with, what you found out was called the American Glory drink, and half wondered if that was what Captain America tasted like. Fury was up again and had the young lady celebrating her 21st birthday take two shots and lick the salt from Thor and Loki’s still sweaty chests. 

Peter found his way in front of you again and said that someone needed to talk to you about your card being declined. You frowned and excused yourself from your friends to find out what was going on. There shouldn’t have been a problem, you got paid the day before, there was plenty of money in your account.

You were taken to a hall that connected what seemed like offices, the dressing room, and the route to the backstage. “Sorry,” Peter said sheepishly, “they said this was the only way to get you back here. Gotta go.” He waved and jogged back out to the lobby.

Confused, you were about to shout out after him when you felt a tap on your shoulder. When you turned, you faced that wall of American muscle beaming down at you. “Hey there,” he greeted, a smile almost blinding you from its perfection. “Don’t be too mad at the kid, I asked him to get you back here.”

“What,” was all you could get out. He was thankfully dressed, but his muscles were straining against the white tshirt and the gym shorts did not hide the package he carried. Even with all of that, what mesmerized you most was his eyes, sparkling blue and bright with amusement. 

“This next bit requires audience participation and he had someone in mind,” the Captain replied like he explained everything.

“We had someone in mind,” a voice corrected behind the door you two stood near. You tore your eyes away from the blond and eyed the wood barrier suspiciously. 

“Don’t worry,” Captain America laughed, capturing your attention once again, “it’s nothing too dangerous or embarrassing. You just have to sit there, pretend to be tied up, and me and Buck will dance around you.” He put his hands on his hips and tilted his head in thought, “Well, actually, you really will be tied up, but we promise we’ll let you go once we’re done.”

“Or not, if you don’t want us to,” came the voice again, which made the Captain laugh.

You blinked up at him and frowned, “What’s the catch?”

“There’s no catch,” he shook his head. “We might dance on you a little, if you don’t mind, the crowd likes it. But if not, we can work around that.” The thought of Captain America in those tiny shorts grinding on you was a very nice thought.

“‘Sfine,” you shrugged.

He beamed and reached out to squeeze you on the shoulder, his touch lingering and his thumb running along your collarbone. “I’ll let the stage team know.” Reluctantly, he dropped his hand and knocked on the door next to you both, “Five minutes.” When he heard a ‘yeah, got it’, the Captain motioned you to follow him. 

The stage crew took over and the Captain disappeared to get ready. You were told about the chair you’d be sitting in, the rope that would be tied around your chest and if you would be okay with it. There was some hesitation on your part, but ultimately you agreed. They brought you on stage, a winter wonderland of sorts and placed you on a log-like chair. The rope wasn’t tight, but it was obvious you were the damsel in distress. 

“One of you was taken,” Director Fury said from the other side of the curtain in front of you, “by The Winter Soldat. Will she survive? Will she be saved?” All of the lights turn off once again and an industrial heavy beat thrummed through the speakers, rattling your bones. Red stage lights shone down on you when the curtain pulled open and your friends lost their minds.

To your right you saw a figure stalk out of the dark, red light bouncing off a silver metal arm. A mask covered the lower half of his face, but his eyes were trained on you like you were prey. His black muscle shirt clung tightly to his chest, one sleeve missing to show off his arm, and his black tactical pants stretched against his thick thighs. You could feel the shaking of the stage from the stomps of his booted feet.

Eyes wide, you stared at him until he stopped short of your chair on cue with the music. His nostrils flared lightly before he moved again, the music flowing with him. He slung one leg over the side over your chair, straddling you. The metal arm clamped the wooden back rest of the chair and he narrowed his gaze. Lights flash around you, strobing from red to white and back again until they settle on the house lights. 

Soldat began to roll his body with the tempo, blue eyes locked with yours. You could hear the screams behind him as he dancing, but neither of you were paying attention. 

His hips circled until he’s seated on your lap, you’re practically nose to nose. He brought his flesh hand to the side of your face and you could feel it trembling against your skin. With him that close you could hear him mutter in some other language that isn’t English, you’re guessing Russian, but you’re not sure. Either way, you felt crushed by his weight and you liked it. You didn't want him to go. 

But the music changed and the lights started to flash again, red, white, and now blue mixed in. Captain America joined the two of you on stage and Soldat slipped from your lap. Just as Thor and Loki had before, these two moved around each other like they were made from the same mold. 

During the fight, pieces of clothing were tossed aside and at one point you were freed from your bonds. Soldat pulled you up from your chair and up against his chest, your backside pressed so tightly against him you could almost feel his heartbeat. He moved you with him as he continued to fight the Captain.

Until seconds before the song ended and the music swelled, the Captain landed one good blow to Soldat and sandwiched you between them. The Winter Soldier recalibrated and recognized his old friend and you. He pulled the Captain into a big bear hug and then picked you up bridal style, taking you off stage with cheers from the crowd.

Once you’re all off stage, he sat you down with a hearty laugh. “You did a fantastic job, sweetheart,” the Soldier praised, running his metal hand through his chin length brown hair. “Couldn’t have asked for a better dance partner.” Flushed from embarrassment and arousal, you continued to stare at him until you were joined by the Captain. “I told you she’d be great, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, Buck, you know how to pick ‘em,” the blond agreed with a smile.

“Thanks,” you replied breathlessly, finally coming out of your stupor. “That was… fun. I’m just going to go back to my seat now, I guess.”

“Wait,” the one named “Buck” jumped to stop you, “we were wondering if you wanted a private show?” You heard about those from Tara. You knew that they were exclusive and very expensive… and sometimes had happy endings. They seemed to sense your hesitation because they both added in unison as they eyed you up like you were a four course meal, “For free.”

“I never turn down free anything,” you shrugged. The pair turned to look at each other and their smiles turned to wicked grins. You aren’t sure what you got yourself into, but you’re pretty sure you were going to enjoy it.

a/n: Part Two coming soon... with smut!

[ynscrazylife]

hi there! so i saw that you write about the mcu and dceu which is super cool bc i have this amazing idea of a story between me, the avengers, the guardians and the justice league (platonic ofc!) i was thinking about the three teams were preparing my birthday in a yard and while they are preparing everything, bruce banner is picking me up and him and i could get closer in a romantic way (mostly because he's my fav), and when i arrive everyone is suprising me and then we have a lot of fun 1/2

The Surprise Party | avengers, guardians, justice league fluff fic

Summary: Ignoring how they’re from different universes, the superheroes throw their friend an amazing surprise birthday party.

Authors Note: Thanks for requesting & happy birthday!

Request to be on a taglist (or multiple) here! (Taglists are at the end of the fic)

MCU Masterlist #1 | MCU Masterlist #2 | DCEU Masterlist |  Main Masterlist

PSA: Do NOT copy, steal, translate, plagiarize, republish, etc any of my works on Tumblr or any other platform. Also, do NOT claim any of my works as your own. All of these works are either requests I’ve gotten that people have wanted me to write or original ideas I’ve had for works. If you happen to take inspiration from anything I’ve written and want to write something inspired by that, please a) ask me first and b) IF I say yes, credit me as inspo in your post by tagging me and link whatever work of mine that inspired you. Thanks.

header c @/gagalacrax on twitter

There was a reason why the Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and the Justice League didn’t all get together: with that many superheroes, in one space, chaos was bound to break out. That chaos could be, quite literally, anything. From Iron Man challenging the Flash to an arm wrestling contest to Aquaman attacking Groot when he thought he was an enemy. Long story short, it just wasn’t a good idea . . . Until they found out that besides saving the world, all three teams had one thing in common: Y/N Y/LN.

Y/N had, to everyone’s astonishment, been on all three teams. Born as a Metahuman, she had started out on the Justice League team. Then, on a solo mission, she accidentally entered a black hole and bam! she found herself in another universe, and quickly bonded with the Guardians of the Galaxy. Eventually, it was determined that the Guardians couldn’t help her return to her home world - or universe - so she bid them goodbye and sought out the Avengers.

Y/N was the reason they had met. The reason that they knew of each other's universes. Now, seeing as her birthday was rapidly approaching, she was the reason they were coming together once more. Each superhero had their own connection with Y/N and adored her. Batman and Captain America were like father figures while Black Widow, Mera, and Wonder Woman were her mother figures, Furthermore, Aquaman and Thor were her mentors, Starlord, Iron Man, and Superman were like her big brothers, Gamora and Scarlet Witch were like her sisters, and Falcon, Rocket, Groot, Hawkeye, and Drax were her best friends.

There was someone else who fit into Y/N’s life in an entirely different way, though. That was the Hulk, aka Bruce Banner, who Y/N had a growing crush on. Coincidentally, his role in their birthday surprise was to be the distractor. He’d take Y/N out and about, staying as far away as possible from the Avengers Tower, while the other superheroes set up.

As expected, the planning hardly went smoothly.

Tony and Barry got into another confrontation, this time over Y/N’s choice of music (which went on until Mera and Wanda butted in with the music Y/N actually enjoyed), Arthur began to get on Natasha’s last nerves, and Rocket almost started eating her cake . . . and that was only a bit of what happened in the first half of the day.

Meanwhile, Bruce kept Y/N occupied. He took her out to her favorite breakfast place and breakfast was on him and then they filled the day at a carnival park. Bruce happily accompanied her on all the rides she wanted to go on (despite almost Hulking out multiple times) and even won Y/N some stuffed animals by throwing rings. He even got her lots and lots of cotton candy and then let her ride on his back when she got a stomach ache. All in all, though, it was a fun time. So fun that Bruce almost forgot that they had a party to get to!

Which is exactly why he frantically texted the groupchat that they were on their way and had to practically drag Y/N away from wanting to go on the ferris wheel for the third time. When confronted with questions, the lie that there was an emergency mission slipped off the brunette’s tongue -- probably not the smartest lie because Y/N had declared weeks before that if there were any missions on the week of her birthday, she wasn’t going -- but it worked long enough to keep her distracted, even if she was too busy with pouting and grumbling.

As they got closer and closer, Bruce could barely contain his excitement. Not only had he had a fantastic game, he was about to spend the night partying with the woman he had a crush on and celebrating her birthday. Who knows - maybe he’d even ask her out?!

When they got there, Y/N was ready to march inside and suit up, but Bruce tugging on her arm made her stop. Ignoring her endless questions and cries of frustration, he took his time leading her through the tower and into the backyard so the superheroes would have time to hide. Bruce let Y/N go before him and the moment she opened the doors, everyone jumped out wearing party hats and yelled: “SURPRISE!”

To say she was surprised would be a total understatement. In fact, she was so surprised that she stumbled back, directly into the scientist, and with his quick reflexes he steadied her and lightly nudged her forward and out of her shocked state. She had let out the biggest gasp that any of them had ever heard, her eyes went wide, and her hands flew over her mouth.

Slowly, she walked forward, overwhelmed by the sight before her. Not only were all her teammates - her friends, even family - together, but the place looked amazing. There were streamers, a big sign saying HAPPY BIRTHDAY, balloons, even a fake throne that Tony and Bruce had constructed earlier that week!

“Oh-oh my god, you guys . . . Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She cried out, jumping up and down.

Everyone smiled. “Of course, sweetheart,” Arthur said.

“Go sit on your throne - presents are up first!” Tony added.

Y/N immediately ran and jumped onto the big throne.

“Aren’t presents supposed to be last or something?” Clint muttered to Steve as they walked over.

“Yeah, but Tony keeps boasting on how good his present is,” Steve replied.

Everyone mingled on over there and Tony presented his birthday present, which was definitely over-wrapped, first. After the squeals she emitted, the others were next. Everyone had gotten her their own birthday present, but Arthur and Mera went over the top when they joined together with their powers to make Y/N something super special.

Afterwards, they spent the rest of the time absolutely PARTYING! They had a dance contest which JARVIS was the judge of and Y/N won, but the next round Y/N co-judged with JARVIS and they determined that Rocket and Barry were tied for first place, Peter and Clint tied for second place, and Bruce got third place. Then, they moved onto playing games (Y/N and Bruce teamed up and they CRUSHED everyone else, because they already had experience working together at the carnival that day) and finally, it was time for cake. Y/N got the biggest piece and, of course, Rocket and Arthur fought over the cake (Groot smacked them).

They partied until the sun came up, where everyone either fell asleep or had someone fall asleep on them. In the morning, everyone awoke, only to see Y/N still asleep, her head resting on Bruce’s shoulder and a blanket wrapped around them both. It was the most adorable sight they had ever witnessed and Bruce carried her to bed while Natasha took her shoes off. The superheroes left her to sleep in and she came downstairs a couple hours later, a breakfast full of waffles, pancakes, anything you could imagine waiting for her.

Permanent Taglist: @natasharomanoffismywife @hehehehannahthings @paulawand @blackbat2020 @cerberus-spectre @marrymemcgrath @celestialbarnes @kathryndimitrescu @snipyloulou @big-galaxy-chaos @cc13723things

MCU Taglist: @stephanieromanoff @summerlovingbaby @ineffablebean @okkulta @procrastinatingsapphictrash @prettysbliss @caseyfish @sarahp-stan @thewidowsghost @basiclesbianbitch @mycosmicparadise @kidswhofightmonsters @xtraordinaryfangrl @peggycarter-steverogers @username23345 @ima-gi--na-tion @yori-nakajima @hi-i-1 @mmmmokdok @xxxtwilightaxelxxx @mads-weasley @tenaciousperfectionunknown @afraid-to-be-me @lilclownx @acertainredhead @natromanoffxox @lilymurphy03 @thanossexual @avengersz-biotch @kozumekoi  @mjaudrey

[tobiosmilktea]

nom de plume — bokuto koutarou

1.6k words | genre/s: barista!au, fluff | warning/s: — | pairing: bokuto x gn!reader

↪︎ in which bokuto gives you a fake name every time he comes to the cafe you work at. you’ve been dying to know the handsome stranger’s real name, but here you are scribbling “captain america” onto his stupid caramel macchiato

a/n: here’s something short and sweet to quench my need to write a fic after writing boring essays all week for school. not the most original content either but i needed something simple :p

there were four types of regulars you would see walk through those doors of the cafe you worked at. either to spend as little as five minutes to the entire day inside the shop just to breathe in the serenity of light jazz music humming in the background. you’ve been working at this establishment long enough to relish how different every single person’s life was as they stood in front of you and ordered their special pick-me-up for the day.

you could easily tell what a person was like based on what they order—like that middle-aged office worker with a receding hairline that always entered the cafe in the midst of an angry phone call with a client, disrupting in the calm mornings with bickering. he usually orders an iced americano, bitter and dark enough to match the dark circles under his eyes and wrinkles adorning his forehead. not entirely your favorite, but he tipped well.

then there was the occasional university student, overworked trying to finish three different essays while cramming for an exam. they usually come in small study groups that end up messing around half of the time or they trickle in as individuals, eyes all red and glued to their laptop screens as they try to chug the remaining contents of their cappuccinos with three shots of espresso.

then there were the soccer moms with their obnoxiously specific drinks, ranging from the different flavors of frappuccinos with extra, extra caramel drizzle.

and then there were guys like him—the one with alabaster hair and darkened roots who just walked inside the cafe—your favorite. the door swinging opening and causing the bell right above the threshold to ding. the tall, hot, and beefy regular with a smile so intoxicating that he catches you off guard each time he walks in exactly at two-thirty in the afternoon.

you didn’t know his name, but you recognized his face, all chiseled and annoyingly handsome. this time he was accompanied by his friend again, akaashi with dark frames resting on the bridge of his nose.

unlike his companion, you actually knew his name as he would actually give it to you, unlike the latter who preferred giving out a new nickname each time he comes around to visit. hell, you knew a lot more about akaashi despite seeing him far less often.

to say you were a bit peeved of this fact was beyond question.

the only thing you truly knew about the man you were inexplicably interested in was that he always ordered an iced caramel macchiato with almond milk. he was very particular about the non-dairy part of that order.

“what can i get you two?” you ask the two towering figures before you. though, it wasn’t much of a question when you already knew what they would order.

“a flat white for me,” says akaashi.

the usual, you think. he says he likes the foam art designs you make.

“and an iced caramel macchiato for me,” says the other, giving you that infamous toothy grin.

god, he was so cute. if only i knew your name, stranger.

you input their orders into your screen quickly, the total popping up on the smaller screen in front of akaashi and his friend as he takes out his card. he inserts the chip in for a few seconds, waiting for the beep to emit from the machine before taking it out in a swift flick.

once the payment goes through, your fingers pull the black sharpie clipped onto your apron off as you grab a cup.

akaashi didn’t bother mentioning his name as you were already scribbling it down in cursive—swift, yet satisfyingly neat. on the other hand, you waited for the white-haired boy to mention what new moniker that piqued his interest today. your eyes met his with patient intent.

“captain america,” he mutters with the corners of his lips tugging up into an amused smile. as if he was proud of himself for saying such, you couldn’t help melt into his contagious grin. like a ray of sunshine that would immediately melt away your troubles, you swore your heart skipped a beat.

the brunet flicks his eyes back and forth from you and his friend, temporary intrigue setting in as he holds back a smirk. “sorry about him,” akaashi pats his friend’s shoulder, “we’ve been rewatching the entirety of the mcu and just finished captain america before coming here.”

“oh, no worries, i’m used to it.” you wave it off, “it isn’t the first time he used marvel superheroes as nicknames. just two days ago he used vision after i reminded him that he had already used thor twice in the past week.”

“i’m surprised you remembered them in the first place,” akaashi’s friend confesses.

“how could i forget? i always look forward to whatever name you give me next.”

you thought you saw a hint of red blush dusting his cheeks when you flick a look over to him, but you weren’t too sure.

perhaps it was just your imagination.

noticing that you were only holding them up by making useless conversation, you clear your throat, muttering almost incoherently, “i’ll have your drinks ready in a few minutes.”

you dipped back towards the coffee machine before they could even thank you. their cups were gripped tightly in your hands as you placed them down next to the machine. the ground up coffee beans cascaded down the dispenser and into the portafilter. carefully, you compressed it tightly into the container before brewing the espresso into a small shot glass.

“is that the guy you were talking about?” your coworker, mitsuko, pops up from behind you and asks. you jolt a bit, almost spilling the piping hot, steamed milk in your hands when you give her a look, “you weren’t wrong when you said he was a complete hunk!”

playfully rolling your eyes, you continue making their coffees, careful not to spill anything that could possibly garner more attention towards you as you could see his towering figure over the barrier.

mitsuko’s eyes cast down towards one of the cups, grabbing at one of them to read the name. “captain america, huh?” she reads before glancing at him, “he fits the name well, at least. you think he’s an athlete?”

you shrug, “not sure, but i heard he’s a big marvel fan. he used quicksilver, vision, and thor in the past week.”

“aren’t you ever curious about his real name?” mitsuko asks as you smile contently at the foam art before snapping the cover atop akaashi’s flat white.

“of course i am,” you say, setting the ready-made drink to the side to start the other. “i suppose the guy likes his privacy. who knows, maybe he’s famous or something.”

you say that partly as a joke, but something inside of you thinks that perhaps that this was that one in a million chance. how would something of such a high caliber as him not be inherently well-known, even if it was just a little bit?

mitsuko snorts at your vehemence, slapping the meat of her thigh as if that was the funniest thing she has heard all day. “as if any famous person would ever come into a random cafe in a small city, (y/n).”

you didn’t answer for a few beats as you completed the white-haired boy’s drink, capping it properly. you weren’t ignoring your coworker’s statement, yet rather simmering in the thought of how ridiculous it actually sounded.

maybe this guy just wanted to have some cheap amusement. nothing more nothing less. it was just a name after all.

you let out a sigh, “as much as i would love to know his real name, it’s none of my business. speaking of which, has he ever given anyone else random nicknames when he comes by?”

mitsuko shrugs, “he only ever comes by when you work.”

“seriously?” you’re quite surprised.

“yup, this is the first time i’ve ever seen the infamous regular who only gives out fake names.” she mused, “maybe he does it to get your attention.”

you roll your eyes, scoffing at the thought. how ridiculous. you never wanted to wipe that smirk off of your coworker’s face as you wave her off, approaching the open end of the counter as you readied yourself to hand them their drinks.

they had been patiently waiting at the other end of the counter for a few minutes now, grateful they didn’t complain at your discrete chatter with mitsuko as some patrons would. instead, they smiled at your approaching figure with their coffees in your hands.

“here’s your flat white,” you hand the cup over to akaashi.

he flicks you a charming look of appreciation before making his way towards the cafe’s entrance. you couldn’t exactly pinpoint if he was in a hurry or not as he left you and his friend alone.

you didn’t entirely mind, though, as you shook it off.

you handed the man his drink, “and to the dude whose name that i shall never know.”

he mutters a brief thank you as he takes it from your hand, fingers brushing against each other and causing your heart to rush.

“aren’t you curious?” he asks suddenly.

your brows furrow, “about what?” you replied as you feign innocence.

“my name,” he clarifies.

“well, unless your name is actually captain america, why wouldn't i be curious?” a smirk was slowly appearing on your lips, “besides, with the dozens of people i see almost everyday, i have to say that you’ve caught my attention, stranger.”

he grins, hand fishing through his pocket, “well, since you’re dying to know,” he hands you a tiny slip of paper, making sure the tips of his fingers linger feather-like touches on the palm of your hand. “come and find out for yourself.”

he sends you a wink before walking out of the cafe, leaving you absolutely dumbfounded. your shaky fingers unfold the creases of the paper, eyes scanning the contents of his messy handwriting.

000-000-0000

the name’s bokuto — call me! :)

general taglist: @yongboxerrr @crybabbicus @rosepetalhaven @tvwhoresblog @tanakaslastbraincell @kellesvt @kitsunetea @milktyama