#AND THAT WARLOCK IS OBSESSED WITH SUPER HERO COMICS

[eybefioro]

Hi!! I hope it's not too late but i wanna know about the To be a guardian wip :))))

It isn't too late!! I'm always happy to talk about my wips 😂

This one is something that spiraled out of control from this writing prompt, and now has over 30k words (it was supposed to be a simple one shot lol)

It's an AU, where Aziraphale isn't the angel of the eastern gate. Crowley is a slightly different character, he has been alone on earth since the beginning, so he's more lonely, but he has a lot more power and freedom since the arrangement is with Beelzebub. He ends up adopting Warlock more or less how the prompt suggests. Warlock is an orphan, and Crowley ends up relating to him and being properly good, even if he wouldn't admit it. The whole thing is about loving and letting yourself be loved and taking care of other people. I'm still developing Aziraphale’s part, but here he is Adam's uncle and a literature teacher. Because of some circumstances (the satanic nuns are his family in this one, and they're sort of an angel obsessed cult lol) he will need to take care of Adam and you can guess how A/C will meet.

A (long) snippet:

Time passes.  Crowley keeps meeting with Warlock sporadically, until the encounters aren't sporadic at all – he starts to accompany the kid everyday from school to home, to make sure he's alright. Somedays, he ends up helping him with the homework and laughing about the dinosaur bit (he will never tell Warlock the truth though, the kid likes the dinos). In others, he scolds Warlock for not getting enough sleep, going to bed later to read his beloved comics, or for not eating enough vegetables, of all things (those times he felt especially undemonic and out of place. Those times, everyone around Mayfar suffered a little bit more with his annoyance, just to even things out). On most days though, they enjoyed each other's company and Crowley incentivizes Warlock to be a little piece of work to the teachers who refuse to understand him.  With time, Crowley's flat gets warmer. The lights, always so white and bright, start getting cosier. The throne room now has a wall full of Warlock's drawings – some of them he stole, most of them gifted, only a few that Crowley helped draw. The couch in the sitting room gets comfier, and a fluffy white rug appears under it. Slowly, the walls, before so dark-grey and stone-like, acquire a more light, inviting and less oppressive tone. The kitchen now has food in its  storage besides coffee and alcohol. Actually, he had a proper pantry now, not that he dared to think too much about it; he supposed he was in need of a new hobby to occupy himself, and cooking was as good as anything else, really. The cupboard, having before only one sleek black mug, now also hides a fun colourful one, that he refuse to notice it was super hero themed. Somehow, comic books find their way between Crowley's soul collection, and who could blame him? He watched so many cartoons and talked so much about it with the kid that he learned to enjoy it quite a bit (his favourite were the ones with some Endless beings, that he found while browsing for more comics for Warlock. Crowley thought it was pretty malign to give the kid more books to distract him from responsibilities. No other reason at all for it, obviously). By the door, hangs appear to hold coats, right above a shoe rack, things that Crowley never needed since it was easier to snap his clothes on or off. The passenger seat of the Bentley grows a safety belt. All the big floor to ceiling windows and the balcony gets secured with a safety net. Small changes keep happening all around him without his knowledge and at a slow pace, Crowley not being able to recognize the gradual changes, but, with time, his house feels less and less lonely.

One day, a couple months before the first time he met Warlock completes one year, Crowley is walking towards his bedroom, and notices that the hall is longer. He halts, side eyeing a weird new door by his side. It is a sleek built-in one, the same type from the throne room, but smaller and not pivoting in the middle. It wasn't there before; it never existed before, and Crowley doesn't know since when it has been there, doors like these are supposed to be mostly unnoticeable. A shivering fear crawls behind his back; Hell shouldn't be able to mess with his flat. It's supposed to be a neutral ground, his house being the only place that Hell or Heaven couldn't interfere, an old agreement. He opens it, dreading whatever will be behind the door. He's welcomed by a sight that makes his mind stop in shock. It's a comfortable sized room, not too big to make you feel bad, and definitely not small – just the right amount of space to be cosy and still have plenty of room. The walls are a light greyish blue, still having the stone like texture, although softened by the change of colour. The window is big, having a beautiful landscape of the city framed by soft red curtains. A comfy kids bed with the same shade of covers occupies a side of the wall. There’s a white desk and chair in the middle of the opposite wall, surrounded by also white built-in shelves, ready to be filled with clutter. A soft rug sprawls in the middle of the room, with comfy beanbags, all following the colour scheme of the rest of the room. Crowley slides with his back to the wall, sinking into the floor. The sight of that perfect room burns behind his eyes. He knows who this is all for. He hugs his knees and lets himself cry soundlessly. It aches. He can't run away from it anymore. Nor pretend to run away from it anymore. He likes the kid. Even his house likes the kid (okay, maybe that has to do with his subconscious moulding his surroundings, but anyways). Even if it will hurt in the end, even if it doesn't make sense, he wants to protect Warlock, help him grow up, see him enjoy life and be able to provide comfort and… and care. He won't say love. Demons don't love.

Look, To be a guardian is my roman empire. I'm even making a 3D model of Crowley's flat.

There's so much I wanna talk about lol I could go on for hours.

If everything goes alright, I plan of making this a 3 part series. The first one, is focused on Crowley and Warlock relationship, the second is where there might be a slow burn between Crowley and Aziraphale, and the last one is where there is sorta of a... hm... impending doom. Yep. But just the first part is solid, the rest still need lots of plotting, and the draft is *rough*.

Wip ask game

[gthreepio]

i’ve been thinking about the future of the mcu and realized there’s a LOT that i didn’t know/didn’t remember in terms of where things are going so i figured i’d sum it up incase anyone else was in the same boat!! 

quick recap of (unresolved) mid-credit scenes:

doctor strange: mordo (a sorcerer that is one of strange’s mentors, who by the end of the movie becomes disillusioned with magic/the ancient one and quits) confronts pangborn (the paraplegic who healed himself with the mystic arts, who tells strange about mystic arts in the first place) and steals his magic because according to mordo, there are “too many sorcerers." of note, this guy is typically a villain in the comics but hasn’t been thus far...

gotg2: ayesha (leader of the sovereign, a golden skinned alien race obsessed with genetic purity), after spending most of the movie chasing the guardians for stealing some stuff, is revealed to have created an artificial being named “adam” which is presumably, adam warlock. (other stuff that is less relevant: kraglin appears to take up yondu’s mantle; the ravagers regroup and several old and obscure comic book characters are introduced [charlie-27, aleta, martinex, mainframe]; the watchers are watching things.) 

far from home: j jonah jameson basically tells the whole world spider-man’s secret identity, and frames him for what happened with mysterio....making him public enemy #1. ALSO, turns out nick fury and maria hill in the movie were ACTUALLY the two skrulls from captain marvel (talos and soren) attempting to do their job, while the real fury (and presumably hill) is ... up in space on some spaceship!!!

wandavision: monica (who we can assume is photon) is called by “an old friend of [her] mother’s,” up in space, which presumably means fury, talos, or carol. ALSO, wanda sits in the middle of nowhere reading the darkhold and hears the voices of her children who.. by all accounts, should not exist. 

aaaaand what we know about future movies (i’m not even going into the tv series.....): 

black widow: 

takes place after civil war

nat confronts a “dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past,” likely has to do with taskmaster who has apparently taken over the red room where nat was trained as an assassin

prominent new characters: yelena belova, who will take over the mantle of black widow after this; alexei shostakov aka red guardian, an ollllld marvel hero analogous to captain america except for the soviet union.

tony stark will make an appearance... SOBS

shang-chi and the legend of the ten rings:

shang-chi has never been seen in the mcu before, but he is, essentially, a superhero that is a master martial artist, and in some adaptations can also create duplicate (fake) versions of himself to confuse opponents

main villain will be the the mandarin who we have *sort of* seen before... he is the leader of a terrorist organization called “ten rings” whose main goal is to destroy world peace. brief history -- in iron man 1: one ten rings cell kidnaps tony stark and tries to force him to make weapons (he of course, makes his suit instead). stark and ten rings become enemies and fight a bunch. nat and nick fury fight them too. in iron man 3, the villain aldrich killian hires a dude to pretend to be the mandarin and claim responsibility for a bunch of stuff, but its not the ten rings or the mandarin at all. this makes the mandarin v mad and he has a dude kidnap the faker to punish him. they also briefly show up in ant-man, when a ten rings agent tries to buy the yellowjacket suit that darren cross is selling. BUT IN SHANG-CHI....... looks like we are FINALLY going to see the real mandarin after over a decade!! 

the villain razor fist will also show up, he is lesser known... he has no superhuman powers but he has surgically replaced his hands (1 or 2, depending on the version) with a steel blade, and is highly skilled at hand to hand combat.

besides the presence of these characters, the only bit of plot we know is “shang-chi is drawn into the ten rings organization and forced to confront his past.” so... yeah. we don’t know much at all.

eternals: 

quick explanation: the eternals are an immortal alien race who have been secretly living on earth for thousands of years. they were created by the celestials, who are most prominently in gotg2. 

more entirely new characters!!! their names are: thena, who can form any weapon out of cosmic energy; gilgamesh, who can make a super strong exoskeleton out of cosmic energy; ikaris, who has superhuman strength, flies, and can project cosmic energy out his eyes; kingo, who can shoot cosmic energy projectiles from his hands; makkari, who creates sonic booms, has super speed, and is deaf; phastos, who has enhanced intelligence, and is also gay (and married with a kid!); ajak, who has healing powers; sprite, who can project illusions; sersi, who can manipulate matter; druig, who can mind control; and dane whitman (black knight), a human with a mystical sword. 

regarding the plot... it seems the eternals have kind of dispersed, but have to come together again to fight the deviants, who are their “evil counterparts” (also created by the celestials, though i’m unclear on why). thena and gilgamesh have apparently been in exile, unclear why; sersi, who is posing as a museum curator, has apparently been in love with ikaris for centuries and it seems as if their love story may be central to the film; and kingo is a bollywood film star in his spare time. aaaaand that’s pretty much all we know.

directed by chloé zhao of nomadland fame! 

spider-man no way home: 

based on the post-credits scene in far from home, peter parker will now be known as spider-man to everyone. unclear if he’s going to be seen as a bad guy due to mysterio framing him, but i guess we’ll see! 

jamie foxx is electro, and alfred molina is doctor octopus; which is VERY interesting considering they played these roles in other spider-man franchises, once again stirring up excitement for possible multiverse. 

there have been *multiple* reports that andrew garfield, kirsten dunst, tobey maguire, and emma stone will be in the movie but tom holland has repeatedly denied this... so... who knows. 

there are also rumors that matt murdock / daredevil (from netflix) will be in several scenes! not confirmed though. 

MJ is still his girlfriend and i hope it stays that way!! 

doctor strange will be featured in the movie, taking on the mentor role now that tony stark is gone :( this will be interesting as i.. haven’t really seen them interact much before. because of this inclusion some people speculate that the film may draw inspo from some comic storylines where peter’s secret identity is restored with magic. 

doctor strange in the multiverse of madness: 

scarlet witch is essentially co-starring!!! it’s going to be really interesting to see if they bring vision or the twins into this at all, though i’m not counting on it. 

seems like mordo will be the main villain -- recall the ds1 post credits scene where he is apparently running around trying to steal people’s magic.

america chavez will make her debut!!!!!! i have no idea how this plays into anything but i am so excited!! 

regarding the plot, all we really know is that strange has been researching the time stone, mordo messes with him, and this results in him accidentally unleashing “unspeakable evil.” presumably there will also be heavy involvement of the multiverse, and who knows what kind of craziness that will bring!! 

initially was going to be directed by scott derrickson who did ds1; however he stepped down to being just EP due to “creative differences.” i am presuming this is because derrickson really wanted to make this more gothic and horror than disney was comfortable with. i REALLY hope they keep some of those elements though and don’t erase the idea entirely! anyway, it will be directed by sam raimi now (of evil dead and spiderman 2002 fame). 

the film also reportedly ties in with the loki series (will loki show up!?) and spiderman 3 (which is obvious enough, given that strange is in that movie and those curious electro and doctor octopus castings...)

thor: love and thunder

directed by taika waititi again, hell yeah!!! and he has stated, the film will be “so over the top now in the very best way" and would make ragnarok look like a "run of the mill, very safe film" .... so.... oh god

so many great returning players!!! including.... valkyrie (now the king of new asgard), jane foster, lady sif, korg, star-lord, mantis, drax, nebula, and kraglin (takes up yondu’s mantle after he dies in gotg2)

in this movie, thor isn’t thor anymore.... it’s JANE!!! she gets cancer :( and is undergoing treatment while simultaneously being thor. i’m a little nervous how this will be handled, but i’m excited. (it’s based off an amazing comic series by jason aaron) 

the big bad: gorr the god butcher, played by christian bale! the gist of it is, this dude HATES gods because nobody helped when his family was dying and in need. his weapon is “all-black the necrosword,” forged from the head of a celestial, and allows the user to create wings and fly at extreme speeds. honestly, he sounds cool as fuck. 

valkyrie is going to be made canonically bisexual!!! 

it will explore more of korg’s backstory, and also include... space sharks!?!?! an alien race from the comics.

taika has called the script “very romantic” so take that as you will 

black panther 2

will again be directed by ryan coogler

not much is known at this point, does not have an official name

t’challa will NOT be recast (which i’m happy about) so..... honestly no idea what to expect for this one. i think we can probably expect shuri to have an expanded role. all we know so far is they will be “exploring the world of wakanda.” not clear to me how this is different from the upcoming wakanda D+ series. 

tenoch huerta has reportedly been cast as a villain, but no one has any idea who. there’s also rumors that donald glover is in “informal talks” to play a role. note all of this is unconfirmed.

captain marvel 2

will be directed by nia da costa (candyman!) and written by megan mcdonnell, who is one of wandavision’s best writers! 

will take place in the present day 

will feature kamala khan / ms. marvel, monica rambeau / photon!!! this will be so interesting.... kamala is a huge fan of carol’s in the comics, she is her mentor/idol. the ms. marvel series will also resportedly lead into cm2. and monica, well, monica knew her when she was a little kid. wandavision implies that there’s some bad blood between carol and monica though, not sure why. maybe because carol left and never came back? (until endgame) 

post-credits scene of wandavision appears to tie into this, having monica go up into space at the reqeust of her “mom’s old friend.” again, not clear who that is. this could also be a tie in to secret invasion though, so we’ll see. or both.

zawe ashton has been cast as an unknown villain... a lot of people are actually speculating that she may play rogue? which would be fascinating, as there’s a comic arc where rogue steals her powers and memories. BUT there’s still no confirmation that X-men exist in the MCU so for now i remain skeptical.

they are looking to cast a ‘john boyega’ or ‘michael b jordan’ type which makes me wonder if they are going to create a new character, a “younger” war machine to be her love interest? (note: carol and rhodey are a huge thing in comics!) carol obviously does not look her age but her and don cheadle.... that just doesn’t work. which is why i wonder.

ant-man and the wasp: quantumania 

in addition to scott and hope, pretty much all the major players are returning including: luis, hank pym, janet van dyne

cassie lang has been recast with an actress 5 years older, which is really making me wonder if they are going to make her stinger in this movie! (aka one of the main young avengers)

the villain: kang the conqueror! this dude time travels. original name nate richards. in the comics, kang travels back in time to rescue his younger self (nate) from an attack that would help shape him towards a life of villainy. kang also gives him some fancy armor. his younger self actually is like, what the fuck dude? and renounces his destiny, becoming a hero. and he makes his armor look like iron man, calling himself iron lad. who is a young avenger. which also makes me wonder about cassie lang.

otherwise not much is known! 

guardians of the galaxy vol. 3

james gunn is returning, i’m mixed about this...he really does *get* the guardians though. 

based on the gotg2 post credits scene, i think we can assume adam warlock will be a HUGE part of this. there are multiple versions of him, some villainous and some heroic, but no idea how this is gonna turn out.

no word yet on whether thor will be involved, or if those ravagers they introduced will be involved. 

fantastic four 

will be directed by the spiderman guy, john watts.

otherwise we know literally nothing.

aaaaand that’s the roundup! 

[scarlet--wiccan]

your ideal billy/teddy duo comic (plot, character designs, artists and writers involved etc)

One thing that I've always wanted to see is a comic about Billy and/or Teddy that was produced entirely by mlm creators. Vecchio, Robles and Gracia are all gay artists who've worked with the characters on recent titles, and I'm eager to see more from them. While none of these artists have ever shown the characters in a way that exactly suits my wants, they've each demonstrated a clear personal vision of who Billy and Teddy are that I can respect. I find that Vecchio and Robles, as illustrators, both articulate a gay sensibility in their designs and are able to represent a range of gay identities and expressions with not only dignity, but real love, which is frustratingly hard to come by. Oh, also, Kevin Wada covers, because duh.

Writers are a little bit more difficult for me. I love Anthony Oliviera and I know that he's got a lot of ideas for the characters, so I'd be delighted to see anything that he might pitch. Vecchio also does write, and his creator-owned series, Sereno, is an urban superhero story in a modern fantasy setting-- something he describes as Batman Beyond meets Sailor Moon. Based on that, I think he'd do a great job telling a story about a witch and shapeshifter from New York. I know that Sina doesn't work for Marvel anymore, but I've always wished he could've done Billy and Teddy in a sweet little rom-com miniseries, or even just a single issue special. He's particularly good at writing tender, funny, and just unapologetically gay characters who signal authentic elements of our culture and community without making them cheap or laughable. That is a quality which I find essential for Billy and Teddy, and it's part of why I want more mlm creators to work with them.

If you had asked me this question last year, I would have had an easier time pitching ideas for these characters. I'm eager to see what the future holds for them, but "rulers of an interplanetary nation" was never part of my vision for how Billy and Teddy would be spending their early twenties. I did have this idea for an ongoing series about their "college years", wherein Billy would be studying magic with Wanda and Agatha, and Teddy would work part time with Carol or Alpha Flight while attending community college or learning a trade, like piercing or tattoo artistry. The idea was that they'd often spend time apart, as they'd each be focusing on their own careers and having individual storylines, but they'd always come home to each other at the end of the day and lend each other support, in ways both mundane and super-heroic.

I used to imagine that they'd stay in that nice apartment Sunspot got them, which would act as sort of a crash pad/base of operations for a revolving cast of their friends. They could convert one of the rooms into a magical sanctum for Billy, and another into a study room or art studio for Teddy. Tommy, America, Kate, or whoever could crash on their sofa whenever they're in town or need to do a team-up. Wanda could help Billy ward the apartment so that he and America are the only ones who can portal in and out, but then Loki would find a way to get around the wards and cause trouble, and there'd be a whole dramatic reunion. The whole idea could easily be adapted as a Young Avengers ongoing if you widened the focus from the main couple and treated it as an ensemble piece with individually chunked plot-arcs, much like the original series.

Unfortunately, that idea no longer holds as much water as I'd like because, for one thing, they lost that apartment and never explained why-- it seems like it was passively retconned out in between New Avengers and Death's Head. More importantly, they now live in space, with Teddy being a busy ruler of an interstellar Alliance, and Billy his prince-consort.

I would still like to explore the idea of them pursuing separate goals and working in separate fields while never being truly apart. Empyre introduced a clever plot device wherein Billy is now able to sense Teddy's location and teleport to him instantly, no matter the distance, which, I assume, works in reverse as well. This feat of magic is made possible by their marriage, which binds them symbolically and draws on the power of their love. They can go anywhere and do anything on their own, and still be together again at a moments' notice, which is super romantic and also affords them more flexibility than most superhero couples. I would still pitch a series about Billy doing magic work on Earth while Teddy does diplomacy in space, and one can always warp to the other when they need backup fighting a bad guy. They could even switch back and forth between staying on Teddy's throne-ship, and getting cozy at Billy's little Manhattan apartment when they want to get away from it all.

I guess my final answer is that I want the two of them to be fully realized, individual characters whose love is illustrated through mutual support rather than, like, being glued to each other's hips. The things that I want to see Billy doing are very far removed from the things that I want to see Teddy doing. Superhero characters tend to lose momentum when you marry them off, and superhero couples tend to fizzle when you keep them apart, but Billy and Teddy's unique strength is that they're never truly apart, and their relationship never seems to lose steam-- they've been a pair from the start, and... they're a little obsessed with each other.

The Billy story that I most want to see right now is a full Maximoff team-up. It could go in one of two directions: A) a quest to uncover Natalya's history and finally vanquish the Emerald Warlock, in which they're waylaid by Doom and other magic villains from their past, while teaming up with their magical friends around the world-- basically a sequel to Scarlet Witch; or, B) a showdown with Krakoa and a resolution of their relationship with Erik, which, best case scenario, partially reverses the Axis retcon and proves once and for all that the Maximoffs are mutants. If we got a longer series, we could actually do both plots-- they learn something about Natalya which leads them back to Erik, and the two arcs become a larger story.

The Teddy story that I most want to see is a Guardians-esque space romp with political elements featuring Teddy, Xavin and Noh-Varr as, like, a sexy-alien-boys version of the Gullwings from Final Fantasy X. Does that make sense? I don't have a great grasp on the political landscape of Marvel Space so it's a little hard for me to come up with details, but I know that the status quo has been totally upended, so there are going to be different factions and movements springing up, and likely no shortage of villains and space monsters rearing their heads when the dust of the war has fully settled. Teddy's a monarch now, but he's also been set up as this Arthurian hero-king, so I think there's still room for him to go on adventures and fight his own battles with his magic sword and, maybe, a crew of loyal space knights.

Having said aaaallll of that, I would absolutely die for a full-on fantasy adventure story with Billy and Teddy. I mean, Teddy's a king with a magic sword and his husband is a super-powerful witch. It's gotta happen. I'd actually be into them having a rematch with Mother, who is a pretty adaptable villain, in that her abilities and motives will differ depending on how she's been summoned. I'd also really like them to have a chance to go up against Sequoia directly, and on more even grounds. Quoi is such a great enemy for them because they represent the same generation of Avengers babies, and, actually, Quoi's origins are directly tied to Billy's-- their respective parents had a double wedding together. Sequoia and Teddy's arcs in Empyre paralleled and contrasted each other beautifully, but the two characters had no meaningful interactions. I want to see thems as arch rivals, and maybe, begrudgingly.... friends? Plus, I love that they're both alien princes who live in sci-fi stories, but whose aesthetics and powers are pure fantasy-- Quoi's a dryad wizard and Teddy is King Arthur, if King Arthur was a gay anthropomorphic dragon.

Anyways, that's my Wiccan+Hulkling pitch. The first arc is Billy and Teddy facing off against Sequoia in a magic forest that he's grown on his new planet, only to find out that they've been set up by Mother.

In the second arc, the three of them grudgingly team up against Mother while hashing out their shared backstories and giving Quoi, who's literally never had peers to relate to, a chance to fully come to grips with the way he was conditioned and manipulated by his father. Instead of conjuring dead parents, Mother seems to be able to summon dead children, which makes her particularly dangerous around the Cotati, Kree and Skrull, who've just emerged from a war and have countless recent dead.

In the third arc, Mother has freed R'kll and they've set their sights on Earth. Billy heads out with America and Tommy to ask Loki for advice on defeating her, while Teddy brings Sequoia before the Avengers as his charge in order to ensure that Quoi receives provisional immunity.

Loki is able to provide insight on how Mother might have been summoned and what the parameters might be for breaking the spell that's tethering her to Earth-616. It turns out that Mother is essentially holding Anelle's soul hostage and has been appearing to R'kll in her form. Mother's hold, at this point, has spread to the entire Alliance, and Teddy will have to defeat her or else she'll use it to destroy Earth and decimate his nation in the process.

Teddy recruits Wanda to help face Mother down. (side note, I'm desperate to see more of their relationship as in-laws.) Wanda agrees to work with Sequoia but insists on calling Mantis and making them talk.

The final showdown is the three boys, plus Wanda and Mantis, against Mother, R'kll, and an army of dead alien soldiers. Mantis and Wanda are able to pull Anelle's soul from Mother's grasp, but this doesn't banish her-- Mother's true anchor was R'kll, who'd been carrying Anelle's ghost in her heart ever since the destruction of Tarnax.

R'kll believes that she's always acted in the best interest of her nation, and she thought that bringing back Teddy's mother would finally make him see her way. Anelle and Teddy have a tearful reunion, but he admits that the only mother he's really mourned was the woman who raised him.

Wanda, Mantis, and Anelle, as a trio of mothers united with their lost sons, are able to reverse and seal Mother's power, which was based on lost children. They are not able to banish her, however, until R'kll steps forward and sacrifices herself, believing now that the best she can do for her nation is to rid the Alliance of the curse she brought upon it.

R'kll and Anelle begin to dissipate, but R'kll's sacrifice has called forth the spirit of Mrs. Altman, who is finally granted some closure and dignity in death by getting a chance to see how far Teddy's come and the peace that he's built in her memory.

Lots of crying! I made this sad. I'm sorry.

[cosmic-navel-gazin]

In which I chronicle my Legacy of Kain journey and bridge it with your boy Adam Warlock! (Part 5 of many, and MASSIVE, I MEAN, HUMOUNGOUS SPOILERS for Soul Reaver 2 and the 1970’s Warlock)

Awwwwwwwww yeah we are going there, these compositions are most definitely on purpose.

This is where I realize that my true purpose in this world is to draw and talk about obscure or forgotten works of fiction, and I embrace this destiny. 

Ladies and gents, laughing times are over (not really though), sh*t gets very real again.

I guess it’s a bit late for this but if you have even the slightest interest in checking any of these properties out, do yourself a favor and go experience them first hand. If you just want to see me lose my mind and don’t really care about spoilers then please, proceed.

You know, when I started this little crossover of sorts, I was just having a laugh you know? It was just a cute little thing, I’ll write this one post and maybe I’ll get enough material for a second one and that’s it. THIS IS THE SEVENTH POST (even though it says Part 5). 

Never, and I do mean never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be here one day, talking about having your past and your time-travelling-future selves meet and clash, of seeing your sanctimonious attitude and overall the worst about yourself personified and given free reign to go on bloodthirsty crusades showing off how much of a hypocrite you’ve bee- but wait, I am getting a bit ahead of myself. 

I’ll get there I promise, let’s go back a bit.

Where we last left off, we managed to travel back to an even more distant past than we’ve been before. To the time of the great Vampire Purge, so that Raziel can meet this infamous ancient vampire who knows all the lore and might have the answers we seek on what exactly is causing the corruption of our world.

As we step out into this era of History we notice the fields covered with the Sarafan Order banners, and the impaled corpses and chopped-off heads of vampires. No different no doubt from the kindness vampires showed mankind later when they gained the upper hand during Kain’s 1.000 year old reign. Raziel seems a bit distraught by the sight since he assumed the Sarafan to be virtuous and heroic:

“For all the butchery of Moebius’s crusade, this massacre was somehow more chilling. The killing fields of the Sarafan betrayed a kind of orderly ruthlessness, the cold-blooded righteousness of the true believer.”

“Here at last in the flesh, I beheld my former brothers-in-arms, the warrior-priests of the Sarafan order; their lives devoted solely to the annihilation of the vampire plague. And while I confess I felt a twinge of longing, a pang of grief for what I had believed was my lost virtue, I regarded them now with none of the reverence I formally felt. For I had seen the human face of the vampires, and now I beheld the monstrousness of these men.”

While on the topic of genocidal holy wars, my boy Adam here had a bit of a run with a similar pious little group that goes by the name of Universal Church of Truth, who were going about doing a bit of cleaning throughout the galaxy:

Things don’t go so well:

Interestingly enough, I’ve learned of a deleted cutscene for Soul Reaver 2 that plays out very similarly to Adam’s first encounter with this “holy” order. There was this minor female vampire character that was being hunted down and would be executed by vampire hunters right in front of Raziel.

This scene was probably removed because they knew that almost 20 years later there would be some asshole on the internet trying to compare their games to obscure marvel comics of the 70’s.

But yeah bummer for Adam here, we’re a couple of pages in and he’s already failed to save someone. However, through the power of the Soul Gem, he’s able to retain her soul for a brief moment, letting us know more about these holy inquisitors:

Some of these methods don’t seem that far off from the Sarafan, especially on the twisting of good intentions part, but on a galactic scale:

Aye, a great bunch o’ fellas all around, if you submit and “fit in”:

Damn.

Hush Adam, I’ll get back to your predicament give me a moment. I just want the good people at home to keep both this church and the Magus, the god they worship in mind for later.

Now, back to the game. In the Sarafan Stronghold during the first hour of gameplay, Raziel made comments on the vampire he’s currently seeking while looking at some stained glass depictions:

“So this was the legendary Janos Audron - reputed to have been the most ancient and diabolical vampire to have ever existed. According to folklore, he lived high in the cliffs of Nosgoth’s northern mountains, and preyed mercilessly on the defenseless villagers below. His reign of terror ended when the Sarafan finally hunted him down and tore his throbbing heart from his still-living body. (…) But I wondered - could Janos Audron truly have been as monstrous as depicted here? Or was this merely artistic licence by the Sarafan, who sought to lionize themselves by demonizing their darkest enemy?

Keep these stained glass images in mind, they’ll also be important shortly. Neetheless to say, the hype was very real to meet this Janos Audron.

And as I kept hearing about this gentleman, I thought: “I really love this cast of pricks, where everyone speaks in half truths and is hiding something and has some hidden agenda, but you know, I kind of wish there was some slim ray of hope, of goodness and honor, just some good old plain chivalry and honesty. Maybe this Janos lad won’t be as bad as he was depicted back in the Sarafan Stronghold.” 

It took us a while but we’re finally make it to his retreat.

I really love the entire segment, the hopelessness and feeling of dread while making your way through this place, probably my favourite puzzle area of the game.  I also really love the music and architecture here.

When we do make it to the top, BOY OH BOY were my prayers answered!

Lo and behold, enter Raziel’s new daddy/mentor figure, my man JANOS AUDRON! Proabably the one decent and kind creature I’ve seen yet in these games (if you don’t count helpless human npcs who are just trying to live their lives but are caught in all these wars, slaughter and destruction).

FINALLY an understanding, moderate, compassionate man in the midst of all the lies and deception. I love him! Oh and he has what seems to be a Romanian accent. Maybe a nod to the granddaddy of all vampires: Dracula? I think his design is cool as well, so that helps.

Before we go into huge lore dumps and while on the topic of having a brief father/mentor figure for your protagonist when he’s utterly lost, alone and confused, I thought I’d bridge it with Adam’s own once foster parent, the High Evolutionary:

From the few minutes you get to know these dads they’re very different characters with different backstories and motivations. Janos is this sad lonely old man, the last of the ancient vampires and one who has been keeping himself alive solely for his sense of duty. 

While the High Evolutionary was once a man called Herbert Wyndham who performed an experiment that evolved him into a godlike being. This experience proved to be such an assault on his senses and perceptions that he chose to encase himself in this armour. Like the name suggests he is obsessed with genetic manipulation and tampering of various kinds, it is his life’s ambition. 

Despite his somewhat villainous appearance, he’s never portrayed as such from what little I’ve read, he’s just…a bit creepy. Like, he takes Adam in and is super stoked about adopting him, but he also values him not so much as a person per se as you and me would, but more as one would value an impressivly carved piece of work:

I don’t know, maybe it’s his metal face that doesn’t emote much; his sometimes questionable morality; maybe it’s the fact that Adam was 5 years old at this point, a baby boy, and this pink armoured deity is super hyped about him; there’s something a bit unsettling about this guy. Have some more dubious quotes I’ve stumbled upon:

All in all, I think he did care about him, in his own strange way:

Anyway, what’s important is that these adoptive dads serve a somewhat similar purpose, and that is to push/urge our ”“”“"heroes”“”“” (I say with many quotation marks) into a more benevolant role: to guide them in their messianic mission and save a corrupted world. Basically there to provide a chance for them to be good boys. Up until now their track record leaves much to be desired, and they’ve been quite lost on what they’re supposed to be and do.

Raziel:

“So it’s all true, then - what Kain and Vorador have told me - I really am some kind of unholy vampire messiah…”

Janos:

“Unholy? -no. Messiah… perhaps.”

Raziel:

“I don’t like that word - it smells of martyrdom.”

Janos:

“Raziel, your role in this world’s destiny is more crucial - and more benevolent - than you’ve allowed yourself to believe. Your journey will not be easy - dark powers are allied against you.”

Oh and both dads give their sons their toys (Soul Reaver and Soul Gem):

Back to the meeting with Janos, we finally learn tons of things, both new and others that have been hinted at throughout, namely:

Janos has been living a life of a recluse, alone, on top of the Aerie;

Janos knows of Raziel (some old legend I think) and has been waiting for him to hand him over the Soul Reaver, saying it is the key to save Nosgoth;

The Pillars of Nosgoth were erected by the ancient vampires and they were the rightful guardians. Janos was called to be th 10th guardian, the Keeper of the Reaver;

Over time this ancient race started to die out, with their history slowly being forgotten;

Humanity prospered and since the Pillars choose their guardians from birth and vampires were no longer born, humans were called to be their guardians but were “wholly ignorant of their true purpose.”

The Circle of human guardians is led to believe (by whom we do not yet know) that vampires are a cancer in the world. Janos warns that “with their vampire purge, the members of the Circle have assaulted the very architects of the Pillars they are sworn to protect (…) With every vampire they kill, the humans are slitting their own throats.”

Janos being a cool level-headed guy here when Raziel says he must hate mankind for all the suffering they’ve brought to him:

“They fear what they don’t understand; and they despise what they fear. But no - I do not hate them.”

I find it funny how Raziel asks if humanity should be forgiven for trying to exterminate the vampire kind and doesn’t realize that: one, he himself was exterminating vampires just a couple of moments ago back in SR1; and two, how he is just like how Janos describes humanity to be:

“They don’t understand what they’re doing. They are simply unenlightened… and vulnerable to manipulation.”

Again, this last line, completely unlike a certain blue shambling corpse I know. Not like him AT ALL.

Then, as they head inside, we learn something odd as Janos presents Raziel with the Reaver. You see, the two times Raziel has been close to the Soul Reaver still in its physical form, reality started to bend and distort (I show it off in this previous post). 

When we met Kain and decided not to kill him, he explained that when: “two incarnations of the blade meet in time and space, a paradox is  created, a temporal distortion powerful enough to derail history”

This distortion, or sense of displacement however, is nowhere to be found now when Janos presents the blade to him. Raziel feels nothing and says that “this nothingness is somehow worse…” and to get it away from him.

We learn the Reaver was forged by the same ancient vampire race that erected the Pillars (which we’ve seen hinted at when we explored the land and came accross all sorts of old murals).

But now THIS is when the game first impales me through the heart.

Me and Janos are interrupted by the Sarafan warriors who arrive carrying Moebius’ Staff (which disables vampires to the point of being barely able to move at all).

And of course! OF COURSE! Of course the moment my boy Raziel finds a truly positive influence in his life to guide and enlinghten him, and that was willing to put himself in danger in order to save him… he is axed! HEART RIPPED FROM HIS CHEST!

And by whom you ask? Who would do such a deed and kill my last ray of hope?

WHY, ME! 

TWICE!

“Me” because I was the one to open an entrance to Janos’ up until then impenetrable retreat, and literally me: human Raziel of the Sarafan that lived during this time period and was head inquisitor!

A bit different from what was depicted back at the Sarafan Stronghold, we found several centuries later (putting the same image here again so you don’t have to scroll up to compare, am I swell or what?):

The Sarafan escape with Janos’ heart and the Reaver, while wraith Raziel has a final moment with Janos. 

This part destroys me:

Raziel:

“Forgive me; I’m sorry… I failed you.”

Janos: (gently)

“No, Raziel. Perhaps this was my true purpose - simply to save your life this once.”

Raziel: (distraught)

“While I have taken yours…”

That last bit is probably my favourite line-read in the entire series so far (which is the most impossible thing to choose since there are so many great ones). But I think it’s the overwhelming sadness in Raziel’s voice that makes it memorable, you’ve never seen him feel like this for another creature.

Breaks my stone hardened heart every time I listen to it. And here’s why I think it’s an effective emotional scene, even though we only get a few minutes with Janos before he is murdered - it is because of contrast. Up until now everyone you meet is some degree of a bad or manipulative person, and you don’t really have a true friend or someone to confide in, there’s no one that really brings out the best in Raziel and it sucks because there is potential there.  So when you introduce the apparently only decent and noble person in this god forsaken land and you’re so used to by now suspect and mistrust everyone, it is impactful because he was truth and honesty in a sea of deception and moral relativism. He was my light in the midst of the fog and the one who saw good in me. And right when you’re finally relaxing and getting confortable the game pulls the rug from under you.

Now, while on the topic of having your past and future meet, there was a little something about the meeting between Adam and the Universal Church of Truth that I’ve been saving up until now. If you remember, Adam was interrogating the young woman who was killed by the inquisitors about the church and the god they worship. When suddenly:

Good news is, Adam must’ve taken a left turn somewhere and ended up on the set for “Monty Python’s Life of Brian”, where he learned some latin:

This helped him quickly figure out the Magus’ identity:

Learn your dead tongues kids, you never know when it might come in handy when meeting your time travelling, thousands of years old future-self:

So as you can se, we have a similar self-discovery journey going on but reversed in a way. In Raziel’s case you play as his future self, who time travels back in time, meets his past self and sees what a hypocrite he’s been his entire life. In Adam’s case you follow his present self, who meets the Magus (his future self), who has travelled back in time 5.000 years, in which time he has built his empire. Meeting and confronting said empire/future self, leads Adam to see what a hypocrite he’s been his entire life. You see, both Adam and Raziel have always been their own worst enemy (their own shortcomings and character flaws). So it would be only natural that we get embodiments of the worst in them: Raziel, the human Sarafan Warrior and the Magus, their past and future selves respectively.

Oof, this was a long one, and I’ve reach the character limit. In the next post I’ll elaborate more on their characters and different selves; and we go through the roller-coaster of emotions that is the endgame for both these stories.

Look foward to me losing my mind even further while I go into time travelling, paradox shenanigans… oh, and look foward to happier times with COSMIC SUICIDE! See you in the near future.

[himbosims]

The Simself Challenge? Is that what this is called? I have no idea. . .

The challenge is basically to make a simself then answer a fuck ton of question so here we are. Thanks @willowbomb and @sim-borg for tagging me. I’ll tag: whoever wants to do this because idk who hasn't done this yet

1. WHAT IS YOUR FULL NAME? Taylor

2. WHAT IS YOUR NICKNAME? My childhood nickname was Tot. My friends call me d*ke and slut though so hey

3. BIRTHDAY? July 23, 2001

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE BOOK SERIES? Series definitely The Mortal Instruments or the Infernal Artifacts by Cassandra Clare

5. DO YOU BELIEVE IN ALIENS OR GHOSTS? Both i think, definitely aliens. I don't fuck with ghosts and all that because I don't want to die

6. WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE AUTHOR? Right now my favs are Adam Silvera and Becky Albertalli

7. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE RADIO STATION? Where I live we have five stations, one that plays music from the 30’s all the time, three country, and one that says it plays pop but ends up playing country anyways. So, none.

8. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FLAVOR OF ANYTHING? Idk man, thats a loaded question. Probably vanilla

9. WHAT WORD WOULD YOU USE OFTEN TO DESCRIBE SOMETHING GREAT OR WONDERFUL? ??? lit… idk dude I was trying to think of something that's weird but I can't think of anything

10. WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT FAVORITE SONG? Be My Mistake by The 1975 or Not Warriors by Waterparks

11. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE WORD? Serious answer, lunacy (there's a reason its my username) not as serious, I just heard someone outside yell for the chillin’s and I started laughing because that word is great

12. WHAT WAS THE LAST SONG YOU LISTENED TO?  I’m currently listening to From Eden by Hozier

13. WHAT TV SHOW WOULD YOU RECOMMEND FOR EVERYBODY TO WATCH? Shameless, Glee, Shadowhunters, Grey’s. I could go on.

14. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MOVIE TO WATCH WHEN YOU’RE FEELING DOWN?Love, Simon, Call Me By Your Name, or The Perks of Being a Wallflower

15. DO YOU PLAY VIDEO GAMES? Obviously

16. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR? Spiders and needles

17. WHAT IS YOUR BEST QUALITY, IN YOUR OPINION? nothing

18. WHAT IS YOUR WORST QUALITY, IN YOUR OPINION? Everything, in seriousness, my selfishness or narcissism,  

19. DO YOU LIKE CATS OR DOGS BETTER? Cats are my favorites but dogs are cool

20. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SEASON? fall

21. ARE YOU IN A RELATIONSHIP? Never have been

22. WHAT IS SOMETHING YOU MISS FROM YOUR CHILDHOOD? NOT AS MUCH STRESS

23. WHO IS YOUR BEST FRIEND? Irl- my friend EJ. Online- @hallowiamshebsims

24. WHAT IS YOUR EYE COLOR? Green

25. WHAT IS YOUR HAIR COLOR? brown

26. WHO IS SOMEONE YOU LOVE? Read 23

27. WHO IS SOMEONE YOU TRUST? Read 23

28. WHO IS SOMEONE YOU THINK ABOUT OFTEN? Read 23

29. ARE YOU CURRENTLY EXCITED ABOUT/FOR SOMETHING? I don't remember the last time I was excited for something

30. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST OBSESSION? Writing I think

31. WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE TV SHOW AS A CHILD? Hannah Montana, Ned Declassified, Drake and Josh, Flapjack, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Chowder, Rugrats. I'm a true early Gen Z kid

32. WHO OF THE OPPOSITE GENDER CAN YOU TELL ANYTHING TO, IF ANYONE? My girl best friend, I dont tell him everything because i'm a secretive bitch

33. ARE YOU SUPERSTITIOUS? Nah

34. DO YOU HAVE ANY UNUSUAL PHOBIAS? Read 16

35. DO YOU PREFER TO BE IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA OR BEHIND IT? Both

36. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE HOBBY? Writing, reading, creating imaginary worlds to live in

37. WHAT WAS THE LAST BOOK YOU READ? I am almost done with History Is All You Left me by Adam Silvera and oh boy that book

38. WHAT WAS THE LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Paranorman: “You’re gonna love my boyfriend, he’s like a total chick flick nut.”

39. WHAT MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS DO YOU PLAY, IF ANY? N/A

40. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ANIMAL? Cats

41. WHAT ARE YOUR TOP 5 FAVORITE TUMBLR BLOGS THAT YOU FOLLOW? @hallowiamshebsims @simmerberlin @willowbomb @pollinationqueen @gunthermnch

42. WHAT SUPERPOWER DO YOU WISH YOU HAD? The ability to always have the money to pay for things

43. WHEN AND WHERE DO YOU FEEL MOST AT PEACE? My room probably

44. WHAT MAKES YOU SMILE? People falling down, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJq4jWSQNd

45. WHAT SPORTS DO YOU PLAY, IF ANY? That’s cute

46. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DRINK? Coffee

47. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU WROTE A HAND-WRITTEN LETTER OR NOTE TO SOMEBODY? I have two teachers that are really weird about phones and talking in class so we pass notes instead

48. ARE YOU AFRAID OF HEIGHTS? Nah

49. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST PET PEEVE? LOUD EATERS

50. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO A CONCERT? I went to a christian concert when I was like 5 so there's that

51. ARE YOU VEGAN/VEGETARIAN? Nope, I live in the south how do you expect me to not eat meat

52. WHEN YOU WERE LITTLE, WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP? Teacher since I live in the south and that's the only jobs beside retail or waitress in my town

53. WHAT FICTIONAL WORLD WOULD YOU LIKE TO LIVE IN? The Shadow World, but I wanna be a warlock, not a dumb shadowhunter lol

54. WHAT IS SOMETHING YOU WORRY ABOUT? Everything

55. ARE YOU SCARED OF THE DARK? I’m afraid of what's in the dark, which is a hard ass way to say yes

56. DO YOU LIKE TO SING? All the time but im tone deaf so its bad

57. HAVE YOU EVER SKIPPED SCHOOL? If I was sick, yeah. Other than that, I did twice. Once because I had a really bad panic attack right before the bus got to my house and I called my mom claiming I was really sick, and once a few weeks ago because my dog got sprayed by a skunk therefore making me smell like a skunk

58. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PLACE ON THE PLANET? uhhhhhhh

59. WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO LIVE? New York City, LA, San Francisco, Toronto, Portland, London. Any big city to be honest

60. DO YOU HAVE ANY PETS? A dog and three cats

61. ARE YOU MORE OF AN EARLY BIRD OR A NIGHT OWL? Both. I sometimes stay up super late and sometimes i'm up really early. And if I can actually force myself out of bed I can get a lot done in either of those times

62. DO YOU LIKE SUNRISES OR SUNSETS BETTER? Sunrises

63. DO YOU KNOW HOW TO DRIVE? Yeah but im gay so its not good driving l

64. DO YOU PREFER EARBUDS OR HEADPHONES? Everything that wont break in a week

65. HAVE YOU EVER HAD BRACES? Nah

66. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE GENRE OF MUSIC? I don't really have a favorite, I listen to all kinds of stuff

67. WHO IS YOUR HERO? Uhhhhh, Deadpool, or Spiderman

68. DO YOU READ COMIC BOOKS? Nope

69. WHAT MAKES YOU THE MOST ANGRY? It takes a lot to make me angry but when im angry it's bad and I forget what i do when i was angry so i don't really know

70. DO YOU PREFER TO READ ON AN ELECTRONIC DEVICE OR WITH A REAL BOOK? Real

71. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SUBJECT IN SCHOOL? English and Creative Writing

72. DO YOU HAVE ANY SIBLINGS? Younger sister, younger step brother

73. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU BOUGHT? A starbucks coffee last night

74. HOW TALL ARE YOU? 5’7 or something

75. CAN YOU COOK? Depends on what i'm cooking

76. WHAT ARE THREE THINGS THAT YOU LOVE? Books, music, friends

77. WHAT ARE THREE THINGS THAT YOU HATE? Racists, homophobes, sexists- so basically most the people in my town (hell what am i kidding, this side of the Mason-Dixon line)

78. DO YOU HAVE MORE FEMALE FRIENDS OR MORE MALE FRIENDS? One of each

79. WHAT IS YOUR SEXUAL ORIENTATION? I am on the ace spectrum and I am panromantic

80. WHERE DO YOU CURRENTLY LIVE? ‘Merica the brave

81. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TEXTED? Sheb

82. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? Like, yesterday

83. WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE YOUTUBER? CallMeKevin RTGame The Shane Dawson squad

84. DO YOU LIKE TO TAKE SELFIES? sometimes

85. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE APP?I guess this hell site

86. WHAT IS YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR PARENT(S) LIKE?My mom and I are kinda close, i don't really talk to my dad much (even though I live with him half the week)

87. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FOREIGN ACCENT? Aussie, British, Scottish, Irish… all of them

88. WHAT IS A PLACE THAT YOU’VE NEVER BEEN TO, BUT YOU WANT TO VISIT? Everywhere that’s not my state and the ones touching it

89. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE NUMBER? 23

90. CAN YOU JUGGLE? notta

91. ARE YOU RELIGIOUS? Yes, but not crazy religious. I just believe in fate and that there is some type of higher power

92. DO YOU FIND OUTER SPACE OF THE DEEP OCEAN TO BE MORE INTERESTING? Nasa bitch

93. DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF TO BE A DAREDEVIL? I have an issue with adrenaline. As in, although i am an anxious person with too much adrenaline anyways I like to do things that give me a rush of adrenaline

94. ARE YOU ALLERGIC TO ANYTHING? I can't have my eyes pierced because I'm allergic to metal in the sense of having it in my body

95. CAN YOU CURL YOUR TONGUE? Yep

96. CAN YOU WIGGLE YOUR EARS? Nope

97. HOW OFTEN DO YOU ADMIT THAT YOU WERE WRONG ABOUT SOMETHING? Next question

98. DO YOU PREFER THE FOREST OR THE BEACH? I mean netiehr, but i'm not a huge fan of sand

99. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PIECE OF ADVICE THAT ANYONE HAS EVER GIVEN YOU? You’ve made it through your worst day before, you can do it again

100. ARE YOU A GOOD LIAR? I think so

101. WHAT IS YOUR HOGWARTS HOUSE? Sytherlin, not surprise

102. DO YOU TALK TO YOURSELF? I’m talking to myself right now

103. ARE YOU AN INTROVERT OR AN EXTROVERT? Introvert

104. DO YOU KEEP A JOURNAL/DIARY? Nah, my writing is kind alike my diary

105. DO YOU BELIEVE IN SECOND CHANCES? I give people too many chances

106. IF YOU FOUND A WALLET FULL OF MONEY ON THE GROUND, WHAT WOULD YOU DO? Check the ID, maybe take the money and leave it in a bush or something. I don’t know

107. DO YOU BELIEVE THAT PEOPLE ARE CAPABLE OF CHANGE? For sure

108. ARE YOU TICKLISH? Please don’t  tickle me

109. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN ON A PLANE? Nope

110. DO YOU HAVE ANY PIERCINGS? Read question 94

111. WHAT FICTIONAL CHARACTER DO YOU WISH WAS REAL? Alec Lightwood or Magnus Bane, but young Alec because I can't be friends with 27 year old Alec

112. DO YOU HAVE ANY TATTOOS? Scared of needles, remember?

113. WHAT IS THE BEST DECISION THAT YOU’VE MADE IN YOUR LIFE SO FAR? Doing things for me

114. DO YOU BELIEVE IN KARMA? YES

115. DO YOU WEAR GLASSES OR CONTACTS? Both

116. DO YOU WANT CHILDREN? Not really but if my future partner wants some i’d be open to talk about it

117. WHO IS THE SMARTEST PERSON YOU KNOW? My ex-best friend. I used to hate how she never had to try to get good grades or be good at things, she just was

118. WHAT IS YOUR MOST EMBARRASSING MEMORY? All my memories are embarrassing if you look close enough

119. HAVE YOU EVER PULLED AN ALL-NIGHTER? At least twice a month

120. WHAT COLOR ARE MOST OF YOU CLOTHES? Nutruels and black

121. DO YOU LIKE ADVENTURES? Sure

122. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN ON TV? I think I wa son the news once

123. HOW OLD ARE YOU? 17

124. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE QUOTE? I have a lot, “Words have the power to change us.” “perhaps it is because of time that we suffer.” “I remain a work in progress until I die.” “The thing you are most afraid to write, write that.” I could go on

125. DO YOU PREFER SWEET OR SAVORY FOODS? Sweet

[bringbackwendellvaughn]

Quasar Recommendations

I’m sure I’ve made this post before, but if you’re looking to sample Quasar... here’s the absolute necessities.

Quasar #1-2; character’s origin by Mark Gruenwald and Paul Ryan.

Quasar #19-25; the high-point of his series by Mark Gruenwald and Greg Capullo.

Operation Galactic Storm; Captain America #398, West Coast Avengers #80, Quasar #32, Wonder Man #7, Avengers #345, Iron Man #278, Thor #445, Captain America #399, West Coast Avengers #81, Quasar #33, Wonder Man #8, Avengers #346, Iron Man #279, Thor #446, Captain America #400, West Coast Avengers #82, Quasar #34, Wonder Man #9, Avengers #347, Captain America #401; a huge 20-part Avengers crossover which features Quasar prominently by various creators but mainly driven by writers and editors Bob Harras, Mark Gruenwald and Tom DeFalco.

Quasar Series Reading Order

And here’s his entire series, and some major guest appearances, broken up into story arcs/mini-collections. It’s probably a mess but I tried to use bold to note key things - issues of Quasar, if it’s by Mark Gruenwald and major or important events. Was almost going to list/bold important villains but that made it too unwieldy. It’s also all in reading order.

Quasar #1-3; Origin of Quasar (Gruenwald/Ryan)

Avengers #301-303, Avengers Annual #18 (back-up story); “Super-Nova Saga” story arc, Quasar joins the Avengers (Gruenwald/Buscema/Buckler/Bagley)

Avengers #305-310; “Attack of the Lava Men” (#305-307) and “Journey to Olympia” (#308-310) story arcs (Byrne/Ryan)

Marvel Comics Presents #29 (back-up story); Quasar vs. Quagmire (Gruenwald/Ryan)

West Coast Avengers Annual #4, Thor Annual #14, Fantastic Four Annual #22 (main stories); “Atlantis Attacks” (Byrne/Thomas/Milgrom/Buckler)

Avengers #311, Quasar #5-7; “Acts of Vengeance” story arc (bonus note: all these also stand-alone) (Byrne/Gruenwald/Ryan/Manley)

Quasar #8; Quasar returns to Project Pegasus (Gruenwald/Manley)

Quasar #9-10; Quasar battles MODAM and Doctor Minerva (Gruenwald/Manley)

Avengers #314-318; “Infinity Union” story arc (Byrne/Nicieza/Ryan)

Quasar #11-12; Quasar battles Phoenix and Deviants, introduces Makkari to his supporting cast (Gruenwald/Manley)

Captain America Annual #9, Iron Man Annual #11, Thor Annual #15, West Coast Avengers Annual #5, Avengers Annual #19; “Terminus Factor” story arc (Thomas/Trimpe/Valentino/Morgan/Fry)

Impossible Man Summer Vacation Spectacular #1 (back-up story); Quasar story (Gruenwald/Tyler)

Quasar #13-16; “Journey into Mystery” story arc (Gruenwald/Manley)

Avengers #319-324 (main stories); “The Crossing Line” story arc (Nicieza/Ryan)

Avengers #319-324 (back-up stories), Avengers #325; “Party Games” story arc (Gruenwald/Fry)

Quasar #17; infamous Speedsters race issue (Gruenwald/Manley)

Captain America #379; Quasar and Cap battle the two Moonstones (Gruenwald/Marrinan)

Marvel Super Heroes #3 (back-up story); Blue Shield solo story (Gruenwald/Capullo)

Quasar #18; “The Unbeing” story arc, Quasar gets a new costume (Gruenwald/Capullo)

Avengers #326-331; “Tetrarchs of Entropy” story arc (Hama/Ryan)

Avengers #332-333; “The Many Faces of Doom” story arc (Hama/Ryan/Trimpe)

Marvel Comics Presents #35 (back-up story); Kismet solo story leads into “The Final Option” (Nicieza/Larsen)

Alpha Flight #97-101; “The Final Option” story arc, Quasar battles Galactus and first meeting with Kismet (Nicieza/Bair/Morgan)

Avengers #334-339; “Collection Obsession” story arc (Harras/Kubert/Epting)

Quasar #19-20; “Cosmos in Collision” story arc, Quasar battles Presence (Gruenwald/Capullo)

Quasar #21-25; “Cosmos in Collision” story arc (continued), Quasar battles Maelstrom and gets a new costume (Gruenwald/Capullo)

Quasar #26-27; “Infinity Gauntlet” tie-ins, Quasar battles Thanos (Gruenwald/Hoover/Capullo)

Infinity Gauntlet #1-6; “Infinity Gauntlet” story arc (Starlin/Perez/Lim) (breaking the Quasar and Infinity Gauntlet issues apart like this is the easiest way to square away the continuity problems between them, the costume anachronism is mentioned in...).

Quasar #28-29; Kismet is introduced into Quasar’s supporting cast (#26-27 should probably also be lumped in with these if Infinity Gauntlet isn’t important to you...) (Gruenwald/Capullo).

Quasar #30-31; Quasar travels to alternate universes (Gruenwald/Broderick/Capullo) - kinda a follow-up to a plotline from Quasar #6.

Captain America #398, West Coast Avengers #80, Quasar #32, Wonder Man #7, Avengers #345, Iron Man #278, Thor #445, Captain America #399, West Coast Avengers #81, Quasar #33, Wonder Man #8, Avengers #346, Iron Man #279, Thor #446, Captain America #400, West Coast Avengers #82, Quasar #34, Wonder Man #9, Avengers #347, Captain America #401 - Operation Galactic Storm! (Gruenwald/Capullo/Ryan, many many more)

Quasar #35-36; Soul-Eater (Gruenwald/Capullo)

Infinity War #1-6; “Infinity War” story arc (Starlin/Lim)

Quasar #37-40; “Infinity War” tie-ins (Gruenwald/Capullo/Lightle/Smith) - theses mostly retell / embellish events from the main crossover, again, it’s probably best to read them like this since you’d have to jump back and forth every other page between two comics, if you’ve already read Infinity War, it’s fine to read them without it.

Quasar #41-43; “War of the Marvels” story arc (Gruenwald/Smith)

Quasar #44-48; a long continous saga featuring loads of villains (Gruenwald/Smith)

Quasar #49-50; “Starblast” prologue, Quasar vs. Death (Gruenwald/Smith)

Quasar #51-52; Quasar vs. Geometer (Gruenwald/Heebink)

Quasar #53; “Starblast” prologue, Quasar vs. Warlock (Gruenwald/Heebink)

Starblast #1, Quasar #54, Starblast #2, Quasar #55, Starblast #3, Quasar #56, Starblast #4, Quasar #57; “Starblast” storyline (Gruenwald/Heebink/Trimpe/Miehm/Buckler)

Quasar #58; “Starblast” epilogue (Gruenwald/Heebink)

Quasar #59; Thanos (Marz/Smith)

Quasar #60; final issue (Gruenwald/Heebink)

Starmasters #1-3, Cosmic Powers Unlimited #4-5; entire Starmasters run (Gruenwald/Eaton/Wright)

Further Reading

What If? #23-28; “Untold Tales of the Marvel Universe” featuring much Quasar lore (Gruenwald/Wilson)

Captain Marvel #28-30; Captain Marvel vs. Controller, featuring much Quasar lore, first appearance of Eon (Starlin) - or alternatively all of Starlin’s run is Captain Marvel #25-34 and Marvel Graphic Graphic Novel #1.

Fantastic Four #164-165; first appearance of Thelius (Thomas/Perez)

Incredible Hulk Annual #6; first appearance of Kismet (Wein/Trimpe)

Captain America #215-223, #225-230, Incredible Hulk #232, Incredible Hulk #233, Captain America #231, Incredible Hulk #234; “Search for Steve Rogers” and “Corporation Saga” story arcs, first appearance of Quasar (Thomas/Glut/Gerber/McKenzie/Stern/Buscema)

The Thing #42-43, #53-58, #60-74, Marvel Team-Up #113, Contest of Champions #1-3, Marvel Team-Up Annual #5; Mark Gruenwald’s run on The Thing which prominent features Quasar and much of his lore, including first appearances of Maelstrom and Deathurge (Gruenwald and various)

Avengers #246-250; Avengers battle Maelstrom (Stern/Milgrom) - edited by Gruenwald

Gruenwald’s extensive run on Captain America is a whole other beast I don’t have the time to get into listing here.

Squadron Supreme #1-6, Captain America #314, Squadron Supreme #7-12, Death of a Universe #1; the whole Squadron Supreme saga (Gruenwald/Hall/Buscema/Ryan)

[majingojira]

Some Fun for 1001 Followers: The Pre-Runaways Runaways

Just for fun, I thought I’d do a bit of an overview of the other Runaway superheroes out there that aren’t THE Runaways.  Their Ancestors. At least from what I have read.  We’re going to cover Marvel, DC, Milestone, and . . .  Malibu.

This might hurt.

Marvel is the one with the oldest “Runaway Teen Hero” stories I know of, if only because they were the first to have a teen hero be something other than a sidekick.  These were Cloak and Dagger and an old adversary of Power Pack.  Both of these had a pretty high level of success, and really deserve unique posts dedicated to them that I simply do not have the knowledge base to provide. While Cloak and Dagger were definitely more on the street and suffering for their abandonment, Power Pack . . . ran into those in other kids.  Mostly a super powered gang called simply Trash. 

Yes, really. 

Trash is one of those groups that you look at and just cringe.  Agents of a criminal known as ‘The Garbage Man’, who eventually rebelled thanks to Power Pack’s interference with the Garbage Man’s drug ring.  They then became . . . supers for hire and battled Luke Cage once before being shoved into obscurity forever.  Because they were terrible stereotypes. 

I mean, LOOK AT THEM!

When I tell you their names are Brute, Blasting Cap, Crazy Legs, Razor Cut, and Airhead, you can instantly tell who is who and then feel dirty about just how terrible their names are!

Sure, it has two black guys. One is a mentally challenged strong man, the other is a basketball player with super long legs. 

The others are just as bad off: the Irish Kid has explosive powers (they first appeared in 1987 (as a reminder, this was during ‘The Troubles’), the Asian kid has “Karate Chop Action,” and the one girl . . . yeah. The One Girl. 

They later had a “Thor Kid” who I have yet to read up on, but he is apparently just a crazy person who looks like Thor.

Yeah.

What a way to start this off, eh? 

After that, Marvel tried with a spin off their popular New Mutants. 

This team had Sunspot, Siryn, Warlock, and a rogue dupe of Madrox as runaway kids on the street also becoming hitched to an adult (Vanisher) who wanted to use them for protection/thieving.  They were later joined by Devil Dinosaur & Moon Boy.  Because everyone loved Devil, but no one is quite sure how to use him so he gets re-introduced again and again. 

Thank goodness for Moon Girl. 

Anyway, it wasn’t just old characters brought into this.   First and foremost is Ariel, who became a reoccurring mutant supporting character for years afterwards.  Not so successful was Gomi.  Gomi had cybernetic enhancements granting him very blunt use of Telekinesis. He also had two cybernetically enhanced Lobsters named Bill and Don who could survive on land and had human level intelligence and enhanced strength.  For lobsters.  Don dies over the course of the series. He is not, sadly, eaten. 

Finally, there’s Chance.  Chance, I think, needs a revamp and return.  Chance had the power to enhance or nullify powers.  Mutant or not, she could enhance or negate them, but had little control over them.  Small, Korean, and trained in Boxing and Knife Fighting, chance was tough and wore it.  Mostly because Chance was battling a religious cult (“The Glorification Church”) that Chance’s family had been sucked into and that Chance had escaped from. 

Also, Chance . . . is trans. At least from a modern perspective, which is why I am referring to Chance by name each time.  Chance is referred to as “She” officially, but she dresses as a man, identifies as man, and does not like to be referred to or made to dress as a woman.

So yeah, Chance is a trans-man. 

Period. 

Which is why HE should come back.

So yeah, those were Marvel’s attempts.

DC didn’t really have a book of Runaway hero types.  The Nu52 version of the“Bloodpack” currently fit the bill somewhat, but . . . the 2016 Bloodlines series is just as 90s as the original one.  Survivors of an alien infestation that have super-powers + a timer until the infestation kills them and . . . only a few characters are visually interesting, but not that emotionally engaging in the long term.  It suffers the same sort of needlessly brutal troubles that plagues J.T. Krul’ Titan’s run as well.  I’m not against bad things happening, but this went into needlessly cruelty.

Or it pulls the Nu52 thing and darkly revamps characters that really hurt from that sort of thing (such as what happens with Anima – she can just not catch a break in the new millennium).

There’s also “Superboy and the Ravers” which is a really lame Party book.  It has some interesting characters, but they don’t really do anything.

Okay, one more hurt train before we get to the good stuff. Malibu Comics “Freex”.

Ah, Malibu comics. Trying to have a lived in superhero world by giving the reader almost no time to acclimate to it, and diving in head first. God it was hard to get through.  Not helped by the sheer amount of 90s in that company design wise. 

Anyway, Freex is one of their lesser titles.  How lesser is it?  Well, they had a lead in to the series in one of their anthology series (“Ultraverse Permier #9”) which introduced characters pretty well so they could show up in the main series (#15 was included in the back of that issue), and . . . Freex was ended at #18.  Yeah. Anyway, it’s the story of a group of kids who have super powers and run away from home because of them, since they seem to be ‘naturally developed’ “Ultras” and thus outcast. 

Is it any wonder Marvel bought the company? Anyway. 

The metaplot had them meeting up, bonding over having powers, and banding together against overly EXTREME threats (a group of bounty hunting dog people called “Bloodhounds” anyone?) that ran rampant in comics at the time, while they were pretty tame all things considered. 

In the initial run, we had: Sweet Face, who was a self-conscious girl with tentacles growing out of her arms and torso irregularly; Pressure, a former popular girl with a temper, and energized gas/generic blast-y powers that went along with her anger issues (and yes, the blasts were green); A J, who could turn himself into electricity to travel through “Cyber Space” and control machines (as well as animate them); Boom Boy, a slow-witted stone boy obsessed with Huck Finn; and Anything, who was elastic to the point of being liquid.  Later, Boom Boy left and his role as “Big Guy” taken by a kid calling himself Cayman, a big strong reptile man. 

When the series was canceled, and when Marvel bought them and rebooted the Ultraverse, he was the only character to ever show up again. 

With no explanation or reference otherwise. 

As they ran and fought these threats, it was learned they were tied to the character Contrary, who is best described as “What if Emma Frost was in a world without Professor X?”

Her codename comes from the fact that she does horrible things for the greater good. In this instance, she feels the world needs supers for reasons, so she travels through several infant wards as a nurse and infects them with “Wetware” (biotechnology) which will give them powers on a random spinner.  Giving her the nickname of “Wetware Mary”. 

So that’s the team’s origin.

They never learn this, though they do reject her offer to be a part of her Academy of Tomorrow New Elite before weird time travel stuff happens.  All in all, not the WORST thing from the 90s, but not particularly laudable either.

Now, we get to Milestone.

Milestone is an oddity in that it’s a 90s comic company which have stories and characters that are progressive even by today’s standards.  God Bless Dwayne McDuffie.

Anyway, like early Marvel, their runaway kids on a super team were a true gang, with most things that implies.  This was the Blood Syndicate. 

Survivors of the “Big Bang” gang war that gave many heroes and villains in Dakota their powers, the Blood Syndicate was a team that became a family and had a diverse and engaging set of characters to it.  Initially gathered together by Holocaust (yes, that was his name though he tried to change it to Pyre, everyone still referred to him as Holocaust because he was such a jerk) as a power grab, it eventually came to truly protect its neighborhood more than offer “Protection” and run drugs (whcih they didn’t really toch, with one exception). 

Oh, before I go on, unless I say otherwise, assume the character is black.

Holocaust had intense pyrokinetic powers as well as super strength and durability.  A nasty combination in a gang leader. 

Tech-9 took over pretty early on, but he and Holocaust clashed a lot before Holocaust went off on his own.  Tech-9 had the ability to always generate ammunition in any firearm he held.  Which is such an awesomely 90s power that I can’t get over it.  Unfortunately, his powers destabilized and he died, leading to his dog, Dogg (who was granted human level intelligence and vocal chords in the Big Bang) taking an advisory role to the next leader, Wise Son.

Wise Son is invulnerable with decent Super Strength, but mostly Invulnerable.  Like complete. A Black Muslim, he tries to think things through, but is not as level headed as he’d like to be.  A really solid leader, especially during the “Long Hot Summer” crossover event.

Boggieman/Boggie was the team’s only white guy.  He wanted to be a part of black culture despite being a suburban kid, and his new rat-like monster form let him join the Blood Syndicate.  He also could communicate with Rats, of whom many were intelligent as a person thanks to the Big Bang.

Bickhouse and Third Rail were definitely the strong people of the team, and an adorable couple. Brickhouse, well, was a giant woman made of bricks.  Strongly built too, but with amnesia regarding who she was (it took her almost a year to remember her name as “Marta”).  Third Rail is a Korean-American who could absorb energy and grow in size from it. They eventually quit the gang and opened a restaurant together and I can’t stop gushing over how cute they were together. I mean, how rare is it for there to be a “Beauty and the Beast” story where the woman is the “beast”?  I mean, she’s not that terrible looking, but she had the self-consciousness of that archetype.  They even had an issue dedicated to trying to get her a new haircut.

Flashback is an interesting character because she had the ability to snap time back 3 seconds at a time. This worked in two ways.  One, she used it to have her friends hit someone multiple times for repeated damage.  The other, and more common use, was to save her friends lives.  She saved the whole team several times and watching them die, get injured, or having that happen to herself, took its toll on her and she eventually developed a crack habit. 

Other members include: Fade, a black man who was ghost-like unless he willed himself solid; Masquerade, a transgender male who had shapeshifting powers but was sadly ultimately villainous; Oro, a former cop who had your flying blaster package, and being a former riot cop, clashed a bit with the gang regularly; and Aquamaria, a Latina who was made of Water and could control it. There were two other members who were just plain WEIRD.  

First was DMZ, who at first is thought to be a crashed alien trying to get home, but the truth is far more complex.  It’s not finished in the series, so I don’t’ feel bad about spoiling.  He’s not an alien, but he fell in love with one and when she died, he took up her armor and weapons and tries to do what she did – help people.  And he also tries to signal her people so he can leave the earth. 

Pretty weird, right. 

That’s got NOTHING on Kwai.

A reincarnating Chinese spirit channeling herself through a little Chinese girl who is experiencing time in a non-linear cycle of rebirths, and has various magical powers to combat her evil demon-fox sister.  It’s really complex (and the Monkey King shows up, which is always a plus), but not only does it entertain, it works within the cast of gang members somehow!  I think that’s a testament to how good Blood Syndicate was. 

So, yeah, those were the “Runaway Kid” comic superheroes before Runaways.  As far as I am aware, we haven’t really gotten any other runaway hero teams since them because they left such a big impact.

But I’d love to see a few of them come back (GIVE ME MORE MILESTONE, DAMNIT!), or even in the Marvel cases, meet up with the Runaways.  I’d be up for it! Even the Trash might be fun to use as a “Dark Mirror” sort of situation.

But  that just leaves one question: WHO WOULD WIN IN A FIGHT?

A post for another time, maybe.

[realpaperclipsmagazine-blog]

Characters That Should Have Been in “Avengers: Infinity War”

“Wouldn’t it be cool if this hero/villain was in it?!” The most anticipated Marvel film “Avengers: Infinity War” is getting nearer and nearer. How is it the most anticipated? It might as well be the biggest crossover event in history, memes aside. Imagine more than 20 superheroes all in one film. Imagine the budget for it. In fact, there are still roles not even presented yet like Peter Dinklage, who fans are still speculating his role to be in the film. Of course, it would not compare to the comics, since they have lots and lots of heroes tied in to the story, including the X-Men and the Inhumans. And since the film is almost here, the roster of heroes in the film is getting more and more certain. The Avengers, SHIELD, The Guardians of the Galaxy, Doctor Strange, and more all appear on the big screens. The villains of the film as well were shown, namely Thanos and his gang of mischiefs, the Black Order. However, wouldn’t it be nice if certain heroes and villains were in the film? Here is our very own roster of heroes and villains who we would want to see in the film. Who knows, maybe they will appear in it. WARNING: potential major spoilers as this talks about the comics. Reader's discretion is advice. You have been warned. Illuminati

This may sound strange that the Illuminati exists in the Marvel universe. No, they are not sacrificing people to Satan. That is not what the Illuminati even does. The Illuminati is a group of diverse superheroes which was formed by Iron Man after an alien invasion known as the Kree-Skrull War. His plan was to form a group of superhumans to act like a secret law enforcement organization to avoid alien invasions from happening through their intel and their networks. The Illuminati originally consisted of Iron Man from the Avengers, the Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Strange, the X-Men Leader Professor Xavier, Mister Fantastic from the Fantastic Four, King of Inhumans Black Bolt, and Prince of Atlantis Namor McKenzie. However, more members soon followed, like King of Wakanda Black Panther. In the comics, Mister Fantastic from the Fantastic Four secretly collected all the Infinity Stones through the Illuminati. After he had collected all of them, he tried to use the power of the stones through the gauntlet to will the stones out of existence. However, this plan failed, and he was forced to give the Infinity Stones separately to the members of the Illuminati in hopes that they keep it hidden from the clutches of evil. While some members of the Illuminati are already in the film like Iron Man, Doctor Strange, and Black Panther, it would be nice to see the rest of them in the film such as Mister Fantastic, Professor X, Black Bolt, and Namor. I could imagine Mister Fantastic coiling around Thanos using his stretching ability. After all, it is already possible since Disney bought Fox, who owns the rights to the X-Men and the Fantastic Four franchise. Adam Warlock

Adam Warlock is an artificial superhuman made by a group of researchers whose goal was to create the perfect human being, the pinnacle of future human evolution. He was initially named as “Him”, however Him rebelled against his creators and escaped. After several occasions, he was reborn and promptly named Adam Warlock, Warlock given to him by the High Evolutionary who is his guiding force and Adam given to him by a couple of kids he met on Counter-Earth, as it was customary to have two names. In the comics, after Thanos was defeated, Adam was given the Infinity Gauntlet to him to take care of it and steer it away from evil clutches. To do so, and to use the Gauntlet wisely as a logical being, he, using the power of the Gauntlet, separated his good and evil aspect, with the evil aspect creating his evil alternate, Magus. Although in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Adam was created by Ayesha, the golden leader of the Sovereign in “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” and was shown during the end credits of the film. Side note: it seems that he will not appear in the film, so it is already a given that we can’t have him for now. Still, it would be cool to see Adam Warlock taking on Thanos with his mighty punch. Thane

Thane appears in the Infinity series as the real reason why Thanos would go and invade Earth in the first place. He is the son of Thanos and a member of the Inhumans. He was born from an Inhuman woman, as detailed in New Avengers Vol 3 #10, The Thanos Seed. As Thanos and his super group of baddies arrived to search for him, eventually they learn that the boy was in Greenland, the Inhumans’ secret base. They also learn of the Infinity Stones in Wakanda, so they go there, setting the battle for our film, “Avengers: Infinity War”. Although the Inhumans are not in this film, it could be that in the film, Thanos really is searching for his son, so there are grounds for him to appear. Who knows: maybe he is played by Peter Dinklage. Death One of the potential reasons why Thanos would be after the Infinity Stones would be to impress his longtime lover, Death. At an early age, Thanos was persuaded by Death to kill his fellow people, and eventually he formed an obsession with it, even killing his own mother. Thanos also fell in love with Death due to this, but Death refused him. When Thanos grew up and returned to his home planet after years of being a murder hobo and a deadbeat father in a galactic pirate crew, he tried to court Death once again. He tried to do so by killing everything using the soul gems as a gift to her. If you are confused by now, Death is the embodiment of the literal death. She was created at the same time the Universe was created, as it should be. Therefore, it could be that this is the reason why Thanos would be in search of the soul gems. There are many more characters that should be in the Infinity War, like the Inhumans, or Supergiant. They all cannot fit in one big screen, however. What about you? Which character should be in the “Avengers: Infinity War”? Read the full article