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cyanide-sippy-cup · 7 months

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The Batman (2022) isn't perfect by any means, but it is still a phenomenal film and one of the best pieces of Bat-media in recent memory.

Firstly, the aesthetic. Seemingly small but an incredibly important part. BTAS was broody, '89 was gothic, Forever was campy, TDK was... bad. And TB I think finds a real sweet spot in between vibes. It's dark, serious, it's got a technological noir, and yet still has vibrancy and color and (the key to my heart) neon.

One scene, you'll be sitting in an abandoned tunnel with shadows and muddy colors, the next you'll be surrounded by police under white lights, and the next you'll be in a night club with LEDs of every color you can think.

The fights. This film has some of the best Batman fights I've ever seen period. Really just action in general. The night club, the hallway, the finale. It's not like TDK where every fight is slow, precise, methodical, and honestly boring. Each fight or chase here is energetic and entertaining. The choreography is excellent, the stakes are legitimately high, and the settings are always unique.

The night club is crowded and overwhelming, with people swinging, shouting, and grabbing at Bats who aren't even apart of the fight. His skills and equipment save his life multiple times, whether it's block a bullet with a precise pipe throw or survive a shotgun blast with his armor. When he finally grabs Penguin you feel as overwhelmed and animalistic as he does.

The precinct escape is tight and tense. From the punch to the jump, every second makes you feel the absolute abominable stress of trying to escape a building like this. Officers pouring out of every room, bullets whizzing by and beaming off his suit. Merely seconds to get the flight suit on before they come pouring out to the roof. We experience the fall with him as his nerves spike, all culminating in a quick second decision that ends with him crashing into the side of the road.

Gotham. The beloved city feels full here. Subways are crowded, streets are packed. The crime feels real. Vandals, gang violence, thieves, assassins, crime families. It's not just militants and killers. We see the systemic issues in place that cause these. We see the feelings and social strains that make people do this. It's like you're taking a peak into another world with context and history you don't know but understand. It feels right.

The characterizations. I'm not a huge fan of the whole "Bruce Wayne is the mask, Batman is the real you" thing inflamed by TDK. And I really don't like "the Waynes were corrupt and did bad things, even for good reasons".

I think there's so much more to say about the two very different, very real sides to Bruce's personality. The one that comes out as billionaire playboy philanthropist, and the one that comes out as a violent and vengeful demon. Both who are willing to suffer for their causes. And I think there's so much more when the Waynes die from a mugging. That the crime is so bad it took the highest. That it could take anyone at any time, even the beloved elite.

However it does something right that most other Bat-media fails at. It makes Batman a symbol of hope. It demonstrates a growth in himself. That he can do more good to inspire the people than to instill fear in them.

Pandaredd made a good video on this, but in Crisis On Two Earths, Bats' opposite is represented as the ultimate nihilist. This means that at his core, Batman is really the ultimate optimist. And that makes sense. You don't put on a suit and fight crime, you don't try to create resources to help people, you don't befriend and reform your own Rogues gallery unless you believe you can change something. That all the work you do, all the suffering you experience will be worth it when you get to know the world healed.

And that's something The Batman understands. Batman started as a symbol of fear. So that every criminal hesitates at an alley. Panics at a shadow. But he became something else. A symbol of optimism. So that people can walk the streets at night. That they can get the help they need. That they can look into the sky with hope.

#i mean dude literally has a candy pouch on his tool belt. he's just the friendly neighborhood nightmare demon #amywho go watch The Long Halloween. it has good morally-iffy Waynes and a near perfect Two Face #batman #the batman #battinson #robert pattinson #gotham #gotham city #bruce wayne #the batman 2022 #i actually don't really like zodiac Riddler but i can excuse it for this film. i much prefer flamboyant twink Riddler #theres a cool animatic of “Good Songs Never Die” which has scary batman and a unique Riddler. highly recommend it #iceberg lounge #movies #films #i despise The Dark Knight in case it wasn't obvious #I'll probably make a video about the trilogy someday but nearly everything about those films are just WRONG #they are great movies ig but absolutely trash batman films that an entire generation of fans modeled their perception off of #batman fandom #now all I'm saying is maybe one day we'll get harlivy in something outside of the comics or HQ show #lord knows James gunn isn't gonna give it to us

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softquietsteadylove · 2 years

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How about the 5+1 times thing? :D

5 times Gil protected Thena and one time She protected him

Up to you wich AU :)

It was his job to protect Thena. Technically speaking, it was his job to keep her safe and at an appropriate distance from anyone who could be a threat to her or any event tied to her or the label's reputation.

That was how his contract phrased it, at least. But his job was to protect Thena; that was how Gil phrased it.

And he took that job very seriously--always had. And there were different ways he protected her than just being her bodyguard, like most thought.

He could protect her image.

It was early on in his time working for her. They were at some awards show, and neither he nor Thena wanted to be there. But it was part of her job, which made it part of his, too. At least he didn't really have to talk to anyone, he could admit. Thena was forced to socialise with the odd interviewer or contact in the industry, much to her chagrin.

"Are you okay?" he frowned as Thena made the same pinched expression he'd seen a few times now. She kept rolling her shoulders in a way he'd never really seen her do before.

She scrunched up her mouth, obviously debating whether or not to tell him what she was thinking. They were still somewhat new to each other, after all. But she nodded him closer.

"I have to fix my dress, but these goddamn cameras are going to see every move I make."

Gil wasn't too proud to admit he blushed (just a little). He was...aware of how attractive Thena was--beautiful, really. That was part of her job, after all, and he wasn't breaching contract just by noticing that. But he didn't think of her in that way. She was a client, and also the boss of him, even if the label was technically in charge of them both.

Thena huffed quietly to herself, rolling her shoulders again.

"Here," Gil whispered, guiding her off to the side as a few other stars walked along the carpet ahead of them. He moved her in front of him, which was technically behind him, as far as the cameras were concerned. "Just hide behind me."

Thena gave him a questioning look for it, but he put his hands on his hips under his suit jacket, creating a curtain of sorts for her to fix the sparkly and skin tight dress she was wearing. He glanced over his shoulder too, just so she could have as much privacy as possible.

"Thanks," she whispered as she fidgeted with the bust of the dress. Or did whatever she had to do, because Gil was mortified at the thought of even looking at her in the moment.

He could protect her peace of mind.

"Thena, it'll be fine."

"Hey," Gil walked over to them, slipping his phone back in his pocket. Thena was on the defensive, arms crossed and angling herself somewhat away from the rest of the management team. "What's going on?"

Kingo held out a hand at her, "she just gets nervous about transportation sometimes."

Gil wondered what exactly was missing between the way Thena was acting and Kingo's vague statement. He looked at Thena, trusting that she would tell him more specifically what she needed and what had to happen to make it better. "What's wrong with what we've got?"

Thena shrugged, "nothing."

Kingo sighed, "Thena-"

Gil moved in front of her, which he could tell irked her manager/stylist greatly. But he focused on the singer folded in on herself. He nodded his head, asking her to speak in not so many words.

Thena squirmed and pursed her lips, like a kid who didn't want to go home yet. Or maybe wanted to go home right this minute. "The limo has to park on the main street. If we walk to it, there will be fans, and paparazzi, and-"

"And you can ignore them," Kingo suggested with a shrug of his shoulders.

But Gil held a hand out to him, which irked him even further. But he wasn't Gil's client (his priority), Thena was. "She's had a long day, man. And you know how they can get after a performance."

"Well, what do you suggest?"

Gil tilted his head, looking at Thena, who was both being very stubborn and trying not to make a big deal out of it. But her battery was completely empty, that much was certain. She looked ready to drop, and she probably was going to ask if they could go get greasy burgers or cheap tacos or something anyway.

"I've got an idea."

"What?" Kingo asked, but continued to go ignored by the bodyguard. He huffed, leaning past his massive shoulders to peek at Thena. "Just get home safe, and text me when you do, okay?"

She nodded, waving him and the rest of the team away. She looked at Gil, on his phone. "What did you think of?"

"You're hungry, right?" he asked her with a smirk. It stretched into a full grin when she perked up like a flower in the sunlight. "Ubers will take you through the drive-thru if they don't have another ride waiting."

That was one of the first instances of what had since become a tradition for them.

He could protect her physically.

He had done so plenty of times, obviously. He would always remember the first time that not only was he on the job, but rather when Thena actively sought him out for protection.

She wasn't even out as Athena: Goddess of Song. She was just out as Thena, with Makkari and Sersi. They were also in the music industry, of course, so it wasn't as if they could go around completely anonymous. But at the very least, they weren't at a music event, they weren't at a concert--they were just three friends out for drinks.

Thena had asked if he could be on call for the night, for when they had to get to and from different locations. He had easily agreed, not just because it was part of the job, but also because it was Thena; she would be socially exhausted by the third bar anyway. If anything, he was prepared to pick them up and get them all drive-thru on the way back to Thena's penthouse.

But Thena called him from the bathroom of the second bar. Apparently someone in there had recognised her and was being pretty aggressive about getting a photo - and her number - and meeting her friends. Without a proper escape route, she had called him.

And Gil arrived ready for a fight. The nerve of some creeps in this part of town astounded him. He easily found the guy, leaning against the wall outside the bathrooms, just as Thena had assumed he would be. Didn't the club have any security of their own?!

"Hey brother, I'm just waiting for my girlfriend t-"

Gil gave him a swift crack in the jaw, his fist sending the guy to the floor in the blink of an eye. He shook out his fist afterward, although his knuckles were well conditioned for impact. "Prick."

He knocked on the door, leaning his ear close, "Thena? It's me. Are you-"

She pushed the door open, nearly pushing it right into him. But she rushed right to him, her forehead pressed to his chest at the earliest opportunity. "Thank you."

Gil heard her loud and clear despite the head-rattling music from the dance floor. He folded his arms around her, knowing that no matter how much she didn't want to show it, that it was one of her worst nightmares to find herself in a situation like that. He pressed his cheek to her hair, "it's okay. I've got you."

He could even protect her from herself--in a way.

"Thena," he called her name for the umpteenth time, watching her pace the floor of her dressing room so consistently he was worried the rug would go bald. "It will be fine."

She wasn't listening to him. She wasn't listening to anything but whatever her head was screaming at her. And it was never kind things, Gil had come to learn.

She was picking at the cuticles around her press-on manicure, since she couldn't chew the fake nails. If she were sitting her knee would be bouncing a mile a minute. In not time at all she would start muttering aloud to herself.

"Thena," he tried again. He had been trying since he got her in the car, though. There was almost no winding her down from this point before a performance. Almost.

Thena grumbled as he planted himself directly in the path of her pacing. She tried to move around him but he trapped her in his arms against him. She huffed. "This is a little over the line, no?"

"So file a complaint," he chuckled, still holding her to his chest. He took a few deep breaths, deliberately letting his chest expand and contract against her.

Despite her attempt to remain cranky, she slowly fell into the same rhythm, her heartbeat slowing and her breathing becoming more even and more in sync with his.

"That's it," he whispered, running a hand over her hair. There was nothing he could say to comfort her in these moments. They would be as good as empty words to her anyway. The only thing that mattered to Thena were results. But to get the results she wanted, she had to be in the right mindset to perform in the first place. "You'll be great."

Thena sighed, dropping her head to his chin with a slight bonk. She would be burying her face right in his shirt if not for her full face of makeup. "You don't know that."

"You've got a pretty good track record so far," Gil shrugged. He didn't have to argue with her with false promises; Thena believed in results, and her popularity spoke for itself. "I'll be here waiting."

But his favourite part of the job was actually the part that was taking care of her. It wasn't actively protecting her from anything--maybe protecting her from burnout.

But it was things like carrying her after a long day in ridiculously tall heels when she was exhausted. It was knowing exactly what her order was at every fast food place in town, or coming over to make her breakfast when he knew she was sleeping until two in the afternoon after a performance. It was buying her medicine when she was sick; it was even running regular old errands for her.

He had come to like tucking her in when she was asleep and already snoring by the time he got her in bed (he had never told her she snored, just a little). He liked running hot baths for her so she could have a soak while he made a nice nutritious dinner for them (fast food was only for after performances). He liked that he spent more time at her place than his, these days.

He liked protecting her from the job.

Gil frowned as Thena's phone buzzed on the coffee table. She was in the shower, losing track of time as she sang to herself with the help of the steam stretching out her vocal chords. "Hello?"

"Gil?--I called Thena."

"Yeah, and I'm answering," Gil set down his breakfast burrito and got up for his own phone, left by the stove. "It's her day off--what's going on?"

"I know, I know, I'm sorry."

If he were really sorry then why was he calling?

"The label got a call from Ikaris' management team. Remember that piece she recorded with him?"

"Yeah," Gil murmured. He knew the piece personally--he had helped Thena rehearse it in this very spot.

"They want her to make a guest appearance at one of his shows he's doing on his tour--over in the UK."

Usually artists would just contact each other personally and let management figure out the details for them once they were or weren't in agreement over it. But then again, Thena and Ikaris weren't exactly friends. Friends through Sersi, and perhaps frenemies with a playful rivalry between them. But it made sense that Ikaris knew better than to slide into Thena's DMs. Not that she would know what that meant.

"We can talk about it tomorrow."

"Gil, come on, I wouldn't be calling if they weren't expecting an answer today."

"So tell them she's sick, or she's on vocal rest or some shit," Gil argued. He could hear Kingo getting frustrated with him. It wasn't that they experienced friction that often, and they were both part of Thena's team, and her friends. Gil considered Kingo his friend.

But if it was between Kingo or Thena, obviously he chose Thena.

"Gil-"

"Kingo," Gil pressed, his voice softening as he heard the faint fluttering of Thena's voice. She had left the door cracked; her trust in him was incalculable. "She's exhausted from the show this weekend. She really needs today to just...chill, okay? I promise first thing tomorrow, I'll get her on a call with his label. But today is all hers."

Kingo sighed loudly - dramatically - into his end of the phone. "You're a little too good at your job, you know that?"

Gil smiled to himself, "I take that as a compliment."

"I'm sure you do, Gil. Fine, I'll tell them she's on doctor ordered silence. Just make sure to bring it up in the email so it doesn't sound like uncorroborated bullshit."

"Will do," Gil promised before the call ended. He swiped the notification of it away. It was still in the phone's logged calls, but Thena never looked at that anyway. He set her phone down again, resuming his task of finishing his burrito.

"Who was that?"

Gil smiled, licking his lips as he finished up his last bite. "Just Kingo--nothing that can't wait until tomorrow."

"Are you sure?" she tilted her head, but she hadn't knotted up at the mere mention of work.

She had come a long way since he had first started working for her. "I'm sure."

She could even protect him.

"What the hell is going on here?!"

Gil was being visibly mauled by a horde of fans. They were mostly young, all significantly smaller than him, most of them appearing female. And of course Gil wasn't in the habit of fighting children.

"All of you!" Thena barked at them, storming over without a second thought to her initial desire to find their ride and go right home. "Get off him!"

Gil groaned as Thena pulled him from the grips of the crowd previously shaking and clawing at him. He even had a few scratches on his face.

"What the hell happened here?" she asked him, although the crowd around them was still rioting at them. She backed up with Gil tucked against her side.

"They're fans of Eros'," he sighed heavily, leaning against her. At least, he was until she moved him behind her. "Thena?"

"Get the hell away from him!" she bellowed, knowing exactly how to shout at them loudly and with a sustainable strength in her voice. "I cannot believe you would attack him like this!"

"He deserves it!"

"He punched Eros right in the face!"

"You should've had him fired!"

Thena's back raised, her shoulders tensing. She took a step forward, ready to get in a screaming match with a child.

"Thena, come on," Gil held her hand in his. He was spent from defending himself (which meant letting them tear a strip off of him and not fighting back at all). "Leave them be."

Thena all but growled at the gaggle of little monsters glaring at them. She had no concern what they thought of her. "You should be ashamed of yourselves for attacking an innocent man."

"He's the one who attacked an innocent man!"

"Come on," Gil urged Thena again, before she could argue that Eros was the instigator, which would be a pretty clear and direct breach of their agreement with his team to keep the whole thing quiet. "Just ignore them."

Thena did finally turn away from his assailants. She raised a hand to his face, brushing over a slightly swollen cheek, "what did they do to you?"

"Please," he chuckled, brushing off literally being mauled by a riot. "They're just a bunch of kids."

"If that's his most devoted fanbase, it does nothing to increase my confidence in Eros' character as a person," Thena scoffed.

"This will all blow over soon," Gil murmured, not that he was entirely sure that was true. He looked back at the crowd still booing him as they walked back to the car waiting for them. He walked closer to Thena, pulling her ahead of him--which was technically behind him to them.

Thena reached behind her, finding his hand naturally and slipping her fingers against his. "I'm sorry."

He gave her hand a squeeze in return, smiling despite the soreness of his swollen lip. "You have nothing to be sorry about."

"Still," she whispered, pulling him to walk beside her properly. She squeezed his hand even harder, "are you okay?"

"I'll be fine," he promised her, smiling genuinely despite his little scratches and scrapes. She frowned at him, openly doubting him. But he leaned forward, pressing a kiss to her forehead, "I'm sure."

#Thenamesh Bodyguard AU #so I got another ask #about Eros' fans getting to be too much for Gil #and I didn't know how to make it work at the time #so I hope it's okay I work it into this a little #Thena being protective of her bodyguard is cute #and of course she is #he's the most precious thing in the world to her #and obviously the feeling is mutual #also #when I mention Gil running errands for her #he is so the devoted boyfriend type #he has definitely run out to pick up tampons for her #and she's mortified at having to ask him #but he's a grown ass man he doesn't care #he comes back with one of those fuzzy pouches for a hot water bottle and chocolate and chamomile tea #because he's perfect like that

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