#Hank henshaw is in it a little but not much

[frozenrose20]

Ways I think JL members could be introduced/referenced in season three.

Personally I think this one would be the most likely because he's big in popularity and isn't overdone like batman. Barry Allen's Flash, I also feel like his personality would fit the show the best and would compliment their version of Clark very well. I think for him there would be two options one instead of having him in the show directly they have Iris come for an episode to be a rival interviewer to Lois much like Vicki Vale and during some scene in the episode she mentions her boyfriend AKA Barry, or Barry actually comes with her to Metropolis and the episode is Barry and Clark trying to hide their powers from each other and being dorks while their girlfriends compete to be the better journalist.

The second most likely just because he is who he is, is Batman let's be real there's many ways he could be referenced or just put in there

Next is a Wonder Woman where I think they could have a fun little episode of either Vicky or Cat challenging lois to interview her. not as Wonder Woman but as either an ambassador or Museum archivist whichever route they go for Diana. they might not even show her but might just reference it as a reason why Lois isn't in an episode

I'm not too sure if the Green Lanterns do exist because of the scenes with Brainiac so if we don't get him as a Green Lantern they could have Hal Jordan be the pilot that replaces Hank Henshaw since he "died" or at least they could just reference him as a viable possibility but say he's mia (taken by the ring to train if they are still around.)

Martian Manhunter could be in the show already and we just never know so I'll be putting him on my list but I wouldn't be surprised that if he ever does appear he'll just be an already existing character and it's just a big reveal that he's been Martian Manhunter this whole time.

I think the two that are least likely would be Aquaman and Shazam as they already have kid characters so they might not want to have Shazam to make it seem like there's too many kid characters and Aquaman just doesn't appear in Superman media as much

Another fun possibility to introduce several of the Richer characters could be an episode focused on Lex and Slade running Lex Corp where Lex just has meetings with other billionaires and Tech groups (Oliver Queen, Bruce Wayne, Carol Ferris, Ted Cord, Maxwell lord and Mr.Terrific all being people Lex could meet with) in hopes to gain their favor that way he becomes global rather than just stationed in Metropolis. The writers could even have a throw away conversation between Slade and oliver/bruce as foreshadowing for their Dynamics in the future.

[madametamma]

MORE THEORIES FOR SEASON 3

Here's my other predictions so far

Now usually "Reign of the Supermen follows" "Death of Superman" But what if we change the order a little bit.

Super boy shows up early in the season, created to outshine Superman and replace him. He's trying to be cool, he's pretty cocky. Clark is a little weirded out over being cloned at first but once he actually gets a chance to talk to the kid, he gets over that really quickly.

The press is trying to ramp up a rivalry between the clone and the Kryptonians. Who's better/cooler and why, but Superman let's Superboy know that he's not going to compete with him. He just wants to do good and wishes Superboy luck in helping to make the city a better place.

THEN we get Doomsday. everyone is trying to help out to beat this thing. Supergirl, Superman, steel, everybody. Super boy is overwhelmed and terrified because this is so much different than stopping crooks with normal guns. His creators tell him to do it because they see him as expendable and replaceable but Clark genuinely wants to make sure everyone's safe, Superboy included.

Superman manages to push Doomsday back to the Phantom zone and him and the monster get trapped with the only one around to see it is Superboy and his creators who've been watching from a body cam. They push Superboy to release a statement that he saw Superman die.

Superboy doesn't feel right about lying but his creators tell him that there's no way Superman is going to get out of the Phantom zone anyway and that this is his chance to be the #1 hero.

This kicks off a string of other heroes trying to replace Superman, or claiming to be the real Superman since no body was found. Most are just ridiculous knock offs and Lois Lane has been on a roll exposing them all (One good thing is that her career is on the rise to the point where people consider her the official word on whether or not someone's legit, the downside is every other aspect of her life is falling apart since Clark's been gone)

One who calls himself 'Cyborg superman' rises above the others might be the best contender for "Real resurrected superman". He looks just like Clark and seems to have all his powers albeit with cybernetic modifications. He claims his memories have been jumbled since the fight but knows a little bit of who he is. (It's actually Henshaw trying to cozy up to Lois just enough to make her release a statement that he's the real deal.

Lois is driving herself nuts trying to find out whether he's real or not. Stuff about him doesn't seem like the real Clark even with the excuse that he doesn't remember everything, but also she's sleep deprived from grief and second guesses if maybe she's just not on her A game.

Superboy knows the truth and after an inner conflict of what is the right thing to do, decides to go to Ms Lane with the truth. Kara and Jimmy race to find a way to free Clark from the PZ and the cyborg Superman turns on Lois, demanding she release a statement of his legitimacy or else. Superboy tries to protect her as best as he can until Clark can be freed, leading into the final battle of Superman vs Hank

[mamawasatesttube]

Hello, I'm pretty new to the Superboy fandom. Can I ask you this question:

This part on his Wikipedia page caught my attention.

Do you know the instances (issues, panels, lines, etc) where Kon-el expresses that he doesn't want to be considered Superman's sidekick or similar sentiments?

I would really like to understand more about his feelings regarding his role in relation to Superman and his feelings toward the big man himself.

Thank you, and I apologize if any part of my ask sounds rude to you.

hoookay this is probably gonna be a bit of a doozy but i'll try and keep it concise!!!

first of all, rec-wise, you're probably gonna wanna read the entirety of "reign of the supermen" and "the return of superman". which is a lot, i know, but there's so much going on there that it's honestly hard for me to pick and choose any single issue out of it that would make sense as a standalone.

so at first, before clark himself comes back on the scene, we get things like the classic "don't ever call me 'superboy!'" panel as well as things like this:

where it's clear that kon sees himself as superman, the "real" superman. he does also acknowledge that he's young and he needs to learn to be and do better, as when john henry irons tells him he needs to accept responsibility for his showboating causing frank the helicopter pilot's death, so it's not like he's a full-on arrogant jackass about being the best already, but at this point "superman" is his entire identity. he's not shy about the fact that he's a clone, either; he tells lois, and later, everyone in metropolis via tv, that he is a kryptonian clone and obviously not the og superman himself, but he's still insistent that he is superman.

a fun side note here: this is actually before the retcon that kon was a human with a metagene, so he is actually a full clone of superman!

in fact that's part of why lois knows something is up with cyborg superman in the wake of the destruction of coast city. it's not entirely relevant to the question of their relationship except that it IS my favorite interpretation and also i think it adds a particular flavor to kon's relationship to superman as the gold standard he was made to achieve, the model he was made to emulate.

"Superman... the first Superman... didn't let Doomsday trash his town... and I won't let these creeps rip it down!"

superman is his role model in every way. he respects him a lot even in death and wants to be as much like him as he can. at this point kon's definitely a hotheaded and easily-distracted kid, but he's also all of three weeks old, so...

"Ripping free of this trap would be child's play for Superman... but I'm his clone, aren't I?"

so we can see from early on kon definitely ties his sense of self and his sense of self-worth to "how am i measuring up to superman?" that's a recurring theme we'll see with him over and over.

by the end of the fight with hank henshaw, kon has fully accepted that superman's back and is The OG:

"Check that, Blondie. I'm not Superman. That guy's Superman! The one and only!"

after this we get the "actually a human clone with a ttk metagene" retcon and kon's departure for hawaii:

he leaves for two primary reasons: a) to make a name for himself because he wants to be worthy of the superboy/superman mantle and the s-shield, and b) because editorial wanted superboy to be its own separate title. he thinks the world of superman and wants to make him proud, essentially, while also maintaining his independence.

(clark is also around and interacting him during that retcon arc but i'm a little tired and don't wanna go hunt down any more panels right now, so ... that's for another day.)

and then of course there's superboy (1994) #59, where kon actually gets the name kon-el, something incredibly meaningful to both him and clark:

in summary: kon really, really looks up to clark. he wants to be worthy of his trust and often berates himself when he feels like he's not being enough like superman. his strong drive for independence is part of that: he wants to be totally independent and capable on his own, just like superman.

[thatonebirdwrites]

yoo thanks for writing up your thoughts on the DEO! i know that j'onn just took on hank henshaw's appearance but i also wonder after reading your analysis about what it could mean for a black man to spearhead the DEO and then to be hot potatoed around along with women leaders, specifically. it's interesting concept that i don't think the show had much of a nuanced take to really consider re: intersectionality. i think the whole thing also raises a big issue of judge/jury/executioner for who are, essentially, refugees. automatic criminal indictment by the superfriends/deo is very fascinating and i think that murky gray waters could have been played well in stronger and more intentional hands. in any case, im all over the place, but enjoyed your essay!

Thank you for sharing your thoughts! Honestly, that's a really interesting point. I know that Supergirl touched a little on race when James tells Lena about how hard things are for him as a black man. This in turn really gets Lena thinking about the types of oppression people face, but beyond that conversation, the show doesn't dig into the ramifications too much more. I would love to see more people tackle the intersectionality here. In a way, I do think, likely unintentionally on the part of CW, the DEO has major parallels with how Black people, Indigenous people, and immigrants of color are treated by police and government agencies within America society today. Fazedlight mentioned this in the reply to my essay on how the analysis also covers how secret/black-op agencies in real world fall under the same pitfalls and problems. Often police act as exactly that -- judge/jury/executioner -- during encounters with these communities. The encounter are often benign but the police escalate the situation often to deadly levels. For example, the case of Tamir Rice who was a 12 year old boy playing with a toy gun and police escalated by shooting him dead. Or in the case of Philando Castile, who was pulled over for a bogus traffic stop. He had a permit to carry a gun, and per the rules for such a permit, he disclosed that he had the gun and the permit. As he reaches to get the documents, the police shoot him dead in front of his wife and kids. In fact, lawyers will tell people to never talk to police, because police will use even harmless statements against us. That we should not trust police. That lawyers must be present to navigate anything with police for our own safety. How there are studies that show police interrogations involve problematic "behavior cues," trickery, deception, and leading questions to trap people into confessions (false or not). Our society has normalized the killing of Black people and other people of color due to continuous rampant dehumanization. Our society still perpetuates harmful and untrue myths about people of color to justify the harms done to those communities. People of color are taught to stay calm to deescalate police (who we are told are there to "deescalate" when they often only escalate the situation instead). These communities have very little resources, are consistently defunded of money to build up services and repair their community, how cities will outright allow them to be poisoned rather than aid them (in the case of the lead poisoning in Flint, Michigan.) Finding solutions for these problems is not easy. It will require transitional periods, tearing down the harmful systems, and building up something better, more liberatory, more equitable and equal. (It's why I do a lot of reading within the Black and Indigenous Liberation movements as they have excellent research into this and also possible solutions and ways to build toward that future.) So when I think about how Supergirl portrayed the DEO, I can't unsee these parallels. Although the Superfriends often don't brutally murder alien suspects -- it's not a given that other DEO agents don't do this even if Supergirl and her friends may not -- some of their other so-called "nonviolent" tactics eerily mirror abusive policing practices.

Supergirl has a vow to not kill, but her ways to capture the aliens is often brutal, and the show positions this as unavoidable (is it tho? this is never interrogated). The show doesn't cover what medical attention these aliens are given after capture. I would hope they'd get some medical aid, but we're never truly shown it.

Superfriends automatic indictment of aliens is indeed judge/jury/executioner approach to dealing with conflict and does little to alleviate the conditions that might produce "criminal" behaviors. Plus, imprisoning people with no hope of a trial, lawyer, or parole or bond mirrors what American Police do. (As an example, the Rikers jail in New York City, as here people, who aren't even charged with a crime yet, are trapped there with no bonds, no trials, and some have died.) Alex and even Kara sometimes use psychological techniques similar to the American police -- trickery, deception, leading questions, behavioral cues induced by their questioning, and other psychological methods. Whether the information gained this way is actually truthful or not -- in real life it often isn't -- the show doesn't interrogate but instead acts like it's always correct. I think about how very little is done by the Superfriends (outside a brief arc with Kelly in Season 6 and a few moments in Season 4) to alleviate the poor conditions the alien immigrant communities face. Instead, they imprison aliens without regard for their families or why they may have resorted to burglary or other "criminal" activities. The parallels here are probably unintentional by CW and CBS, but it's very hard to unsee it.

I'd love to see more stories truly tackle this. To examine how we can tear down a harmful, abusive system, and build up something more equitable and equal and humane.

The closest I've seen any story come is actually one I recently found: One is by pcrtifacts, where Kara never becomes Supergirl and Superman doesn't exist yet and the DEO is still run by the original Hank Henshaw. The story doesn't shy away from how brutal, inhumane, and horrific the treatment of aliens in human society and by the DEO often is. It also has the main characters fighting to stop and tear down such a system. To try to find a better way.

There's a parallel there with how immigrant and Black communities are treated, and it's one of the few stories I've seen in the Supergirl fandom that tackles this in a more intersectional way that is fairly respectful of its subject matter.

For myself, I try to be respectful of the subject matter and my approach of these topics in my Unraveling Realities fic, but I feel like I could approach it more directly and a lot better given time and thought.

I feel there's a lot of value in these types of stories. And we can still weave in our favorite romances while still being respectful of these themes. I think our fandom will be richer for it.

And it gives us a chance to redeem the Superfriends, to push them to be better than how CW portrayed them, and to finally start to see what liberation and a more equitable and equal society with aliens and humans could look like.

Anyway, your ask got me thinking. So thank you again! I appreciate it.

[ao3feed-directorship]

A Shift in Perspective

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/0jqbXtD by Musetotheworld Kara and Cat have been dating for a few months, but things have been so busy for Supergirl that they haven't had much time to themselves. But when Kara gets tired of it, and a little too close to losing her powers, she takes a week off to spend some time with Cat. Only to start feeling strange partway through their date night. What caused the feeling? Kara would never have guessed. Words: 13964, Chapters: 6/6, Language: English Fandoms: Supergirl (TV 2015) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: F/F Characters: Kara Danvers, Cat Grant, Alex Danvers, Lucy Lane, J'onn J'onzz | Hank Henshaw Relationships: Kara Danvers/Cat Grant, Background Alex Danvers/Lucy Lane Additional Tags: Established Relationship, First Time, Kryptonian Biology, Kryptonian anatomy read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/0jqbXtD

[hedgiwithapen]

Antumbra

Antumbra: noun. The area outside the darkest shadow of a solar eclipse.

It was sheer luck that the wide space, part desert, part prairie, sand and sagebrush and yellowed grass, was currently being used for tactical practice when, on a clear summer morning, someone sounded the alert. A bright streak arced across the sky, flaming as it crashed. The D.E.O. agents reached the small pod in minutes.

“What is it?” One asked, peering at the singed metal. “An opportunity,” the squad leader replied. “Call base. We need to get this thing underground. Move it, people.” He watched the pod, the way it lay still, a snake waiting to strike. Not if he could help it. He recognized a few of the symbols, soot streaked from entry into Earth’s atmosphere. They would take no chances with the creature inside.

It wasn’t until after the pod was secured in the nearest D.E.O. base, the occupant sedated and locked away without ever seeing sunlight, that news came that a second ship had crashed, this one larger.

Hank Henshaw glared at the man who’d brought the news. His work was never done, but it would be, eventually. It might take years, but Earth would be safe from alien influence under his watch, someday. Until then, he had calls to make, recruits to replace, and assets to acquire. This new Kryptonian had brought disaster, but perhaps it would be useful as well.

(Roughly three years later)

J’onn J’onzz had worn this form--this face-- for months now, but it still felt strange, foreign. Like he was stretched too thin and squeezed too tight, like one of the large earth snakes from the forest he’d hidden in, growing against dying scales. He wanted to shed it, but he didn’t dare. He’d run out of escape routes.  Even in solitude, he could not risk being J’onn, not anymore. Hank Henshaw. That was his name, who he had to be. The problem was, Hank was only skin deep. Even with all the time he’d had trying to train his thoughts, his gate, to turn skittish fear into anger, he had to remain conscious of the role he played. No part of who he had been could leak out, green tint under dark skin.

But he wanted to, especially here, in this work space underground that seemed to sing to his deepest instincts to run, to fly. He knew without doubt that there were no allies here, not any with power. If his deception, his disguise was ever revealed, even the few analysts that seemed like they had a grasp of ethics wouldn’t dare side with him, and the soldiers never would. The captives, the alien criminals kept under lock and key, would be no better, and J’onn knew that even to save his own life he would never release the murderers from their cells. One of the Faceless Hunters, other creatures from planets far beyond the furthest reaches of Martian travel and creatures closer in, nightmare monsters. He was no fool. He knew he was not the only refugee who had come to this place, but those in the cellblocks were not mere travelers who had lost their homes. These were aliens who had taken the fresh start they might have had and thrown it aside for greed, for violence. He would never allow himself to make that same choice, and he could not risk the lives of innocents by using them as cover. He would just have to be careful. He could not afford the cost of being discovered.

It was exhausting. Being Hank Henshaw was so much more than hiding under human skin, behind human eyes and trying not to flinch at open flames. But he learned. He read the files on the computers, feigning memory lapses courtesy of that last failed mission to bring in the Manhunter. He learned what he could, walking the same path into the facility that Hank had, heavy boots and chin up, as if he feared nothing. This was his fortress, his. That meant, to stay safe, he had to act like it.

He had to honor the sacrifice of the man who had died to save him. Jeremiah. He had been an help to another Alien, another peaceful one.  Superman, the press called him, but J’onn had not yet met him--the same alien that had been the cause, he learned, for the D.E.O’s founding. Peaceful or not, hero or not, J’onn was unsure he wanted to get involved--it was far too risky. And his life was no longer his own. He had promised Jeremiah that he would protect his daughter, and an oath sworn as a life-debt to a dying man was not something that could be taken lightly.  In a few years, the girl would be grown, and if she were as smart as her father had claimed, that one night in the jungle, there might be a place for her here.

This would have to be the goal. To slowly fill the ranks of the DEO with those like Alex Danvers, like her late father, perhaps even like he himself--people who wanted to help, not to seek out and destroy. It would take years, but then, J’onn had time, assuming he mastered the part. He was certain he could.

A few weeks after being fully cleared, fully recognized in this second identity, this false name, J’onn’s careful planning almost fell apart.

He had taken to exploring, having little else to occupy non-work hours. He needed to make muscle memory know each corner of the DEO’s underground base, erase any doubt that he was not fit to lead the organization. He read files, histories that only went back a decade or so, and walked the hallways in his heavy boots that reminded him he had to be human. That flying was never again an option.

He wasn’t certain why he had not been aware of one of the cell blocks on the lowest level, deep in the earth until then, but he found it almost by happenstance, drawn to the thin red light. As he approached, wondering what creature was so dangerous that it would be kept here, what crime it might have committed, he saw a small figure trembling in the corner.

He may have worn a human skin, too close and itching to be shrugged off. He may have pressed down the use of his powers, for fear of become dependent upon them. But he did not need anything beyond human eyes to see the small form flinch, to hear whimpering (Ieiu, Ieiu)  in a language he was certain he had heard before, but could not place.

He left just as quickly, his stomach acids protesting what his mind translated. It was a child. The prisoner in the cell was a tiny child, pale and thin. He had not needed to read her mind or understand her words to know she had been terrified. K'hym. T'ania. The memory of the last time he had seen his daughters seared like flame in his mind. Was some parent out there wondering for the fate of their own child? Had his children huddled, alone and terrified in a dark prison cell?

He wanted to vomit, and so he ran, slowing only to a halt when he reached the upper levels and the risk of being seen.

What crime could that pathetic creature have committed to be left in almost total darkness? What if she was like himself? Not one who had chosen this planet in malice but in desperation, alone and frightened, with no Jeremiah Danvers to chose her life over his?

“Sir? Director Henshaw?” a young woman asked, voice clipped. An intern, of sorts, the lowest ranking of the already highly ranked officials and agents permitted to work here. “Are you well?”

“I am fine,” he told her firmly. “I need to check our records for any discrepancies. There’s another audit coming up.”

She winced. That meant budget reviews, an endless stream of meetings if not everything was perfectly documented. “Of course, Sir. Understood.”

He waited until she had scurried off, no doubt to let everyone know to be careful with their paperwork, before sinking into his chair and digging deeper into the files. And there it was, plain text. Project KR Eclipse.

A Kryptonian pod had been found, only miles from the crash site of Fort Rozz, with a lone occupant. Unlike the being that had been labeled the ‘Man of Steel’ by Metropolis’s reporters, this one did not seem to possess that same invulnerability, or strength. Notes from Director Henshaw, the real Director, whose face J’onn now twisted in revulsion, filled the screen, conclusions drawn from what files had be salvaged from Fort Rozz and from tests they had run on the child. Blood tests, brain scans, pages of lists that dated even during the time Henshaw had been dead. Nowhere did it list a crime committed, and the mugshot showed only a pale face, dirt marks on her cheeks, dishwater hair mussed and tangled. J’onn closed the files, closed his eyes, and cursed inwardly. He could not compromise his cover. He could not show kindness or weakness (or the weakness that was kindness in the eyes of humans) without risking being discovered. Then what would be his fate, to die on a steel lab table or languish for centuries in a dark cell until he forgot even his own name? His oath--.

He had abandoned platitudes like “everything happens for a reason” when the White Martians had torn his beloved from his arms. Now he wondered, if this was the reason he had been spared the fate of his people, if this was why the old Director himself had been the one to confront him, if this was why he still breathed when Jeremiah did not. Was this how he was meant to pay forward his debt, a life for a life, one refugee to another?

He had lived more than 300 years, his family was dead.

He took his coat from the hook, and started for the exit.

~~ break ~~

J’onn knocked on the door of the large house, feeling awkward standing on the white-painted porch without his uniform on. As much as he loathed wearing it, being Hank Henshaw with all his weapons, it was a measure of safety. Security. But he stood on the porch in civilian khakis and waited for the door to open.

The blonde woman, whiter than she had seemed in the photograph on file, looked at him, the exasperated smile folding into a tight frown, fear and anger lining the creases around her eyes. She paused, as if trying to find words. He spoke first.

“Mrs. Danvers. May I come in?”

“Doctor,” she corrected as if out of habit, and then realized. “You--No. Get out, get away, leave us alone.”

“Dr. Danvers,” he said, formally, no emotion slipping through to the mask he wore. “It’s urgent. I need to speak with you.”

She shook her head, moving to close the door. He stopped her, but only because desperation demanded it.

“It’s about your husband.” It was, in a roundabout kind of way. “ You got my husband killed.” She did not stumble or stutter over the word. J’onn nodded, solemn. “This is not a conversation for your porch and neighbors to hear, Dr. Danvers,” he said, though there were no neighbors near enough to hear or watch the confrontation.

She opened the door wider. “Come in, then.”

As soon as the door was closed, J’onn closed his eyes. He could not back out now. He needed this woman.

“Your husband was not the only expert on Kryptonians, was he, Dr. Danvers?” She stepped back, shaking her head. “No. No, I will not work for you and your sick organization. I won’t. You took my husband, isn’t that enough for you? That you took him from me, from us, that I had to lie to our daughter, about why he never came home? Now you want me, too? Jeremiah gave you his research, and I don’t know any more than that. Now, get out, Henshaw.”

“My name is not Hank Henshaw,” J’onn said softly. Even if he managed to free the little Kryptonian, he could not give her a home, not when it was so certain he would be trading his own life for hers. She would need someone trustworthy, someone safe. Someone who would protect her.  “Your husband died to save my life. I have to pay that forward, and I need your help. Please.”

He held out a photograph, the one he’d risked printing out. Eliza Danvers took the picture, looking at the girl’s tear and dirt smudged face, then up at J’onn. Slowly, she nodded. “What do you want me to do?”

~~ break ~~

J’onn had done his best to get most of the agents out of the underground facility, dispatching teams as far as Ojai on carefully laid trails after more Fort Rozz escapees--perhaps finding some of them would delay the discovery of a betrayal and an empty cell. More agents he had temporarily assigned to the other bases, or loaned to the military to assist on various projects (and spy on the new General, Sam something or other.) Only a skeleton crew remained, and now, in the hour or so before sunrise, was the best chance there would be. He had done what he could. The rest would be up to H'ronmeer, or Rao, or fate.

The cell door opened under his hand, and the disheveled figure flinched, scrambling backward until she hit the wall, arms raised in defense. In the dim light and shadow, J’onn’s vision faltered for a heartbeat, the Kryptonian girl’s face replaced by T'ania’s before reverting back to her own, bone white, with wide, dark eyes.

"Zha,” she whispered, “Khap zha sem, eiahm sem rraop.” He didn’t understand, exactly, but he didn’t need to to see how terrified she was.

He crouched and held out a hand. “Voi,” he said, the word Eliza had told him meant “safe.” She startled, looking at him, trembling. The fleeting glimpse he had had of her, the picture, had not been much, J’onn realized. She had not just been locked in, but chained, like an animal. Like a monster. Her bare feet looked cracked and bruised, but it may have only been the poor lighting. She looked to be perhaps fourteen, if that, thin and pale. Her eyes were haunted, but she kept her head up. She was brave. A fighter. She would have had to be, to survive here, for so long, but she was tired, leaning against that far wall for support as much as for protection.

She chewed her chapped lip, then whispered, “Voikirium?”

“Voikir--voikirium,” J’onn hoped it meant the same as ‘Voi,’ that she would trust him. They did not have much time. He stepped into the cell, and she did not flinch as he used his master key to undo the manacle at her ankle, watching him silently. He gestured to the door, holding out his hand again. She took a breath, and then his hand, her skin icy against his. He led the way up the least used stairs, the narrowest hallways, grateful for his determination to know every inch of the base. It may not do him much good after today, but that would be alright. The girl stopped short as they reached the last doorway before the final stretch of hall that lead out. She looked up at him, and again he could have sworn that the fluorescent lighting gave her his daughter’s features. He opened the door, and walked quickly, tugging her along. Eliza Danvers would be waiting just beyond the perimeter. He only had to make sure that the child reached her.

No one spotted them as he opened the doors, predawn light spilling in. The girl gave a tiny squeak of fear, but he squeezed her hand. The air was dry, smelling of rabbitbrush and sage, as familiar to J’onn as the scents of the rainforest in Peru had been. But she stopped, breathing in as though her lungs would never be filled, staring up at the pearly sky, her mouth open, her ragged clothing shifting in the faint breeze. Tears glimmered on her cheeks, but she did not move to rub them away, only let them fall.

Over the lip of the mountain in the west, the sun started to rise, golden and warm.

~Fin~

~

The following are loose Kryptionese translations, I did my best with a limited dictionary and grammar rules I tried to learn in like 30 minutes so)

Ieiu - Mother Zha - No

Khap zha sem- I do not want (literally ‘want no I’)

eiahm sem rraop - I beg you (literally ‘beg you I’)

Voi- safe, secure, all right Voikirium - deliverer, rescuer, savior

[thewidowsghost]

Agent Danvers - Chapter 4

Series Masterlist

Main Masterlist

Kara struggles on the table, her wrists latched to the table underneath her. 

Kara’s vision fades in and out and she tries to pull her arms out of the clamps. 

“Made of low-grade Kryptonite,” an African American man says, his arms crossed. “Radioactive mineral from your home planet. It weakens you. 

“Where . . .” Kara pants, “Where am I? Who are you?” 

“Name is Hank Henshaw,” the man replies. “And, uh, I believe you already know Agent Danvers.”

Kara leans forward, trying to see which sister it is.

“She doesn’t need those,” Alex says, her voice rising a little, unlatching the cuffs holding her little sister to the bed. 

Alex goes to take her sister’s hand, but Kara rips her hand away. 

Alex looks hurt and she takes a step back, Kara turning and staring at the ceiling. 

“Welcome to the DEO, the Department of Extranormal Operations,” Hank Henshaw says. “The DEO monitors and protects Earth from extraterrestrial presence and / or invasion.That means you.” 

. . . 

Liho’s little head rubs against (Y/n)’s jaw.

“Morning, my little love,” (Y/n) slurs, blinking sleepily. 

Liho mews, licking (Y/n)’s cheek. 

“Okay, okay, I’m up. I’m up,” (Y/n) swings her legs out from under the covers. 

Liho purrs, climbing up onto (Y/n)’s shoulder. 

“You’re a little nuisance, you know that?” (Y/n) asks the little cat fondly.

Liho lets out another mew, nuzzling (Y/n)’s ear. 

When (Y/n) kneels down, Liho jumps off her shoulder, padding lightly around her food bowl. 

(Y/n) pours some food into the cat’s bowl, and Liho bounces up and down before burying her face in her bowl. 

(Y/n) chuckles, scratching behind the cat’s ears. 

. . .

“Of course, leave it to media magnate, Cat Grant, to put a name to a face,” (Y/n) and Kara hear as they walk towards their desks, Kara carrying Ms. Grant’s usual breakfast, (Y/n) cradling her coffee cup in her hand. “Ms. Grant dubbed National City’s new female hero, ‘Supergirl.’ And if Twitter is any indicator, the name appears to be catching on.” 

(Y/n) fixes her gaze on Kara’s face, and catches her wide eyed look of both disappointment and anger. 

(Y/n) winces, and then she moves to her desk, taking a sip of coffee and shifting drowsily in her sleep, almost annoyed at Liho for waking her so early that morning. Then, she shakes her head, her eyes glittering fondly. 

James rushes past (Y/n)’s desk, and (Y/n)’s eyebrows raise. James motions for (Y/n) follow, and she moves around her desk, following James. “I printed it,” James enters the room, (Y/n) just behind, James waving a folder. “And it’s an even higher resolution than you hoped for.” 

“James,” Ms. Grant says, and then her eyes flicker to (Y/n), who is hanging in the doorway, her eyebrows knit in confusion. “You are interrupting a very craftily worded termination.”

“Kara wanted to surprise you, but she has a teller friend that works at West National City Bank,” James replies. 

“The branch that got robbed,” (Y/n) offers. 

“Right!” Kara says. “Right, yes, I went there. You know, it took me a while to park my car in the streets.”

(Y/n) chuckles, shaking her head. 

“The one way streets are so difficult,” Kara says nervously. She chuckles shakily, turning to James, “You tell it so much better.”

James laughs slightly, clearing his throat, “Kara convinced her source to allow us to use a photograph that she captured. 

James glances at Ms. Grant, stepping forward and showing her the picture after flipping open the folder.

Cat Grant’s eyes widen with amazement, taking the picture from the folder. 

“You got a clean image of Supergirl?” Ms. Grant stares, wide eyed, up at Kara. “Kerah, if you can’t take credit when you do something well, you are gonna be at the bottom of the pile forever.” She rests her hands on her hips; Kara looking down at her hands. “But, mazel tov. You bought yourself another day.”

Kara, James, and (Y/n) leave the office. 

“I was handling the situation,” Kara tells James. 

“What was your plan?” James asks. 

“To get fired?” (Y/n) swats her sister’s arm. 

“I don’t need you are anyone else fighting my battles for me,” Kara retorts. 

(Y/n) stops, looking offended. 

Kara keeps walking beside James, (Y/n) returning to her desk, taking a grumpy sip of her coffee. 

. . . 

(Y/n) sighs, looking annoyed as she stumbles into her apartment later that day, still angry with her adopted sister - well, both of her sisters to be honest. 

The scrambling of little paws race towards (Y/n) and the woman leans down, scratching behind the little cat’s ears. 

“You always cheer me up, Liho,” (Y/n) says, scooping the cat up in her arms.

Taglist:

@imapotatao

@confusinggemini612

@marrymemcgrath

@yeahthatsmelolz

@softballaikido916

@dopeyouth

@maria-403

[ufonaut]

thinking about how all post-nineties takes on the tragedy of coast city and parallax inherently fall flat compared to the original because they fail to hold accountable the least obvious suspects -- the justice league -- as the subtext woven through reign of the supermen does. geoff johns’ parallax-as-parasite takes away too much from hal and is almost certainly the catalyst for his modern no personality space cop characterisation, as much as the value of johns’ general contribution to gl mythos is undeniable. what that interpretation refuses to acknowledge, however, is that parallax in his original form is a completely rational response to the trauma hal has been subjected to.

rereading choice issues of reign the other day has me coming back to this over and over. an important city with a population of seven million is completely destroyed and rendered little more than a crater, there are repercussions stretching across the entire state

(”the smoke blanketing california”)

and hal is running on no sleep and no rest of any kind while fighting through injuries that not even his ring is able to heal. in the end, once he eliminates mongul and meets up with a newly returned to life clark after his own fight with hank henshaw, clark declares

as he hovers above mongul’s engine that had destroyed coast city. he says it casually! as if hal’s got a home to go to! as if seven million people aren’t dead!

two weeks later clark calls returning to take engine city apart “a ceremony” as if it’s some great PR opportunity, he talks about it like it’s a mild inconvenience, the jl just giving themselves a pat on the back for doing too little too late for a disaster they could’ve easily prevented

and then at last, when we’re on the brink of a glimpse of justice for coast city, aquaman insists the engine cannot be destroyed and thrown into the ocean as it might prove dangerous to his kingdom, though he shows no regard for what’s happened here and what hal has been through

even the vague notion of a compromise is telling

as if standing on the tombstone of his home is about to make hal happy!! like that’s an option!!!!

most notably, once the engine is dealt with, clark doesn’t bother to ask the singular resident of coast city among them if there’s any way to help but rather he takes it upon himself to build a useless monument out of the very thing that has destroyed coast city to begin with

no one thinks to say that it shouldn’t have happened in the first place and not a single member of the justice league appears to care that one of their own has taken an unimaginable blow, its enough to them that it likely wont happen again and its enough as proof as they’re always gonna be needed. clark, back from the dead, is happy to see coast city as a reminder that he’s still useful.

the next page of superman (1987) #83 is, of course, a bright and sunny morning in metropolis that clark gets to spend with jimmy without a care in the world

it’s startling! it’s ridiculous! the barely contained anger and all-encompassing grief that marks hal’s every word & movement is a sight to see but so is the justice league’s utter disregard for him. a well-written parallax, as he’d originally been, acknowledges this as the necessary starting point! without a support system, without friends and family and a home, hal needs no parasite to infect him in order to lose it.

parallax as a man on the brink, lashing out at friends and foes alike, slipping further into despair in an attempt to set everything right is not only rational but realistic. hal has endured the unthinkable and not a single person in his life cares. to blame a parasite in the retcon means to pretend so-called superheroes played no part in their friend’s breakdown. very nearly doubling as an early exploration of the dark underbelly of heroics along the lines of identity crisis, hal’s arc before the retcon is almost certainly the greatest arc to happen to any mainstream superhero

[ao3feed-supercorp]

At the Catch

by filament_max

“Whatever you say, cox,” the blonde said, brimming with dismissiveness. Lena’s vision flickered red, rage returning.

“Well, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Or it had better be.” Coach Cat Grant appeared between them. “Kara Danvers, Lena Luthor. Lena Luthor, Kara Danvers.”

Kara Danvers. Well, for as much as Lena tried not to follow her own sport, she’d have to be dense not to have heard of Supergirl, Valcourt University’s star rower. What the hell was she doing at the tryouts for NCU, her biggest rival?

Kara’s brow furrowed, and Lena knew what she was thinking: Lex Luthor’s little sister.

But then Kara said, “I thought you coxed for the men’s team here?”

“Not anymore,” Cat said, her patience clearly waning. “Shake hands, get over it, and let’s get on the water already.”

or

Kara and Lena join NCU's rowing team and don't get along until they really, really do

Words: 6987, Chapters: 1/12, Language: English

Fandoms: Supergirl (TV 2015)

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: F/F

Characters: Samantha "Sam" Arias, Jack Spheer, Astra (Supergirl TV 2015), Leslie Willis, Andrea Rojas, Lucy Lane (DCU), Nia Nal, Lex Luthor, Cat Grant, J'onn J'onzz | Hank Henshaw, Kara Danvers, Lena Luthor, Alex Danvers, Kelly Olsen (Supergirl TV 2015), Eve Teschmacher, James "Jimmy" Olsen, Winn Schott Jr., Barry Allen, William Dey

Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, Alex Danvers/Kelly Olsen

Additional Tags: tw: discussions of past sexual assault in middle chapters, TW: Minor homophobia, it's a rowing au, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, Jock Kara Danvers, Nerd Lena Luthor, Cocky Kara Danvers, Condescending Lena Luthor, Kara is the stroke, Lena is the coxswain, yes Kara calls her cox and I will not be taking further questions on the matter, featuring height difference, and it's a good thing they're on the water because boy are they thirsty, Coach Cat Grant, Trainer J'onn J'onzz, Aunt Astra and her shitdick husband coach the rival team, Lex is good and Lillian is not and I am sorry it just worked better with the narrative, gay bff Jack my favorite trope, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Sports

from AO3 works tagged 'Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor' https://ift.tt/3Kt7neH via IFTTT https://ift.tt/3Kt7neH

[cyclone-rachel]

Gem AU, Supergirl-specific characters edition

(for the “Day 4: Alternate Universe” prompt of Farewell to Supergirl week)

Our heroes/the Super-friends/etc:

Supergirl/Kara Zor-El/Kara Danvers (Facet K4R4 20R-3L, Cut 59): Kyanite, weapon: glaive. This doesn’t change from my original concept of her when I first did the Gem Legion AU, I think I’d have her just be a regular Gem who was stuck in space for a while (something something malfunctioning warp pad, or her ship was knocked off-course and she couldn’t find her way to Earth) before arriving and being found by the Danvers. Because she can’t really hide her non-humanness, secret identity isn’t an issue here, but she does become more human and get used to a human-ish life, learning to love humans and human society, in addition to fighting for them with her Gem powers.

Alex: human, but picks up/learns to fight with Gem technology. I think her and James and Kelly all kind of share the Connie role? like all 3 of them want to help and protect the Earth, and learn to fight alongside their super-powered friends, in addition to having their own skills.

Hank Henshaw/J’onn J’onnz- Oolitic Jasper (weapon- Sword of Mars, because why would you not). I’m thinking he’s probably most like how he was in season 4, and the Tower is basically this AU’s version of the gem temple that Steven and the Crystal Gems live in.

Megan Morse/M’Gann M’orrz- Smoky Quartz (weapon- kite shield) Her backstory is pretty easy to transfer here! I feel like nothing much would change, she’d still be some kind of former prison guard and defect to save someone’s life, then come to Earth and eventually find a friendship with J’onn and the others.

Winn Schott Jr.- okay I did describe him originally as “not-shitty Ronaldo”, like maybe his mom runs a toy store that his dad originally opened and he’s come up with all kinds of conspiracy theories about the Gems? but he never once imagined being friends with them until meeting Kara.

gosh. given that there is also a human in the SU... universe that ends up flying around in a spaceship with Gems, and what Winn’s fate ultimately is, does he become a combination of Ronaldo and Lars? I’m not sure.

Cat, even though she lives in a small town, still has her media thing going, and reports all the time on the goings-on of the Gem Legion, especially Kyanite/Kara, who is pretty much her favorite and so smart and so talented and has such potential. Kara doesn’t work for her here, but she still admires her a whole lot and they inspire each other I think.

Mon-El- Aquamarine, weapon- partizan. The original concept I had for him came about near the end of season 2 and was very mean-spirited, and I apologize. But I think it would still be possible for his story to happen here, like another Gem who’s been isolated for a long time (and coming from a very privileged/looking-down-on-others background) coming to Earth and learning to become a better person, inspired to lead his own little group of Gems somewhere else.

Speaking of which!

Imra- Rhodonite, weapon- chakram. I did originally have her down as a Pink Topaz, but since topazes are depicted differently in SU canon, I decided to change that, and thought rhodonite fit well with her costume/aesthetic in season 3. Anyway I feel like there isn’t much different about her either? she’d probably have a “little sister”/another Gem who was created in the same place she was that she considers family, until that Gem and others start getting corrupted on a large scale because reasons, which prompts her and Mon-El and Brainy to go to Earth (like they’d be on another planet at that time, but Mon-El would know about Earth)

and to round out the Legion that we see, Brainy is a Peridot because of course he is. But he’s also an Off-Color! I’m not exactly sure how I’d do the inhibitors thing in this universe, but he’d definitely look different from other Peridots (although he’d hide that) and after joining Mon-El and his group, he’d act different from them too. I feel like the “family bottling planets” thing would also be very easy to translate to this AU, although maybe another method than actually literally shrinking them and putting them in bottles. But the same kind of vibe for sure. His “weapon” is Gem technology.

I think Nia’s basically our Steven-type character, not literally a child but the one who definitely learns more about who she is and what she can do as time goes on. She’d be half White Sapphire, for reasons. Or maybe just regular Sapphire? Definitely one or the other, that kind of gem. Her and Maeve are probably half-sisters here, same father but different mothers.

Villains/Other

Originally, I had Astra and Alura be Blue and Pink Diamonds respectively, and I don’t know how well that works now? I’ll think more about this later.

The Adventures of Supergirl villains I came up with ideas for-

Facet Jens- Moissanite (loyally served Alura’s equivalent, travels to Earth to make Kara more like one of her court. Bonus points for pretty much coming from a Gem-like species in the comics)

Vril Dox II- Green Jasper (ends up bubbled, I do not remember much about him. probably from the same planet this version of Peridot was created on)

Psi- Dream Quartz (more based on the one we saw in season 3. can speak to people through their dreams/manipulate dreams, has powerful psychic abilities that she uses most prominently to bring out her victim’s darkest fears. A thief, mostly. Although Kara doesn’t beat her at first.)

Rampage- Crackled Fire Agate (helps Alex and others fight corrupted Gems)

The Worldkillers are definitely all Agates as well (because, as the song says, “An Agate terrifies”), I think I originally had Reign as Black Agate, Purity as Turritella Agate, and Pestilence as Blue Agate.

in that post I also had Non as a Blue Pearl, Indigo as a Yellow Spinel, and Rhea and Lar Gand as Platinum and Silver respectively. Although I think I’d maybe want to make Indigo a real evil Lapis Lazuli instead.

OH NO I FORGOT ABOUT MYRIAD BEING THE CLUSTER

anyway Myriad is basically the Cluster in this AU, it’s not a mass mind-control device in how it was used in the season 1 finale but it does involve a bunch of minds being forcibly brought together and a lot of destruction.

also I did fully forget Lena in this AU. anyway I think she’d probably be the mayor’s daughter here? I’m not sure what I’d do with Lex

[ynsimagines]

Supergirl: B!D gets Tortured Part 3

You’re pretty sure you and Kara had the worst night sleep of your entire lives. Your pretty sure you held the world record for how many nightmares somebody could have in one night. You felt like the worst sister in the galaxy poor Kara had to keep waking up to calm you down. Kara was just extremely worried about you she hated seeing her baby sister wake up in the middle of the night shaking, crying and. throwing up. You had so many nightmares thinking you were back there in the hands of Lillian Luthor and Hank Henshaw.

Despite the eventful night the morning went by pretty slowly Kara was called for a Supergirl emergency. She was worried about leaving you, but Alex would be in the med bay on inventory so she would be in the same room.

You felt awful, physically and mentally. You were in a lot of pain due to your injuries because of which you had to be on a lot of pain medications. The medications made you feel so unlike yourself, kind of like a zombie. However you weren’t so out of it that you forgot about the torture you had endured. You also thought about how much you were effecting your sisters lives. They basically had to put everything on hold, and do everything for you. Kara could barely do what was needed as Supergirl only leaving for emergencies. Alex had to rearrange her whole work schedule so she could be with you. Before you know it these thoughts are causing you to panic your breath is getting quicker as you start to tear up. Your heart monitor started beeping faster which got Alex’s attention.

“Whoa hey kiddo, you’re okay calm down,” she said running over to you. I need you to take some deep breaths for me, can you do that? You breathed the way she said and were eventually able to calm down a little, but you were still crying.

"Alex, I’m sorry I’m such a burden.”

“What? A burden? Sweetheart, what are you talking about?”

“To you and Kara, and everyone else. You have to spend all your time taking care of me.”

“Y/N, you are not a burden. You had a horrible, traumatic thing happen to you. It’s Kara, and I’s job to be there for you and help you get through it. I’d give anything to go back so this would never have happened, but under the circumstance there’s no place Kara and I would rather be,” she said smoothing your hair down.

You nodded, “Do you want to talk about anything else? She said hoping you might open up to her a little bit about what happened,” you shook your head. 

“I just want to go back to sleep,” you said feeling a bit dizzy/lightheaded even though you didn’t tell Alex that. 

Your eldest sister sighed, but nodded her head. She checked your vitals and made you drink some more water before she gave you the medication in your IV that would put you to sleep.

.

You slept until Lunch when Winn and James came to visit bringing you food and a giant teddy bear they had brought, you didn’t eat much though due to a slight stomach ache you developed.

After hanging with you for a while they both had to get back to work. As they left Kara came back from whatever she had been needed for as Supergirl. “Kara, you’re back” you said weakly. 

“Hey little one,” she said sounding sad. “I’m sorry I had to leave earlier,” she said sitting down next to your bed.

“It’s ok, I know the world still needs Supergirl,” you said. 

“But my little sister still needs her big sister,” she said grabbing your hand in hers something was weighing heavily on her mind. “Sweetheart, I need to talk to you about something,” she said looking you in the eyes.

“When you were kidnapped, and they were asking you for information on Supergirl why did you not just give it to them?” 

“Because I had to keep your secret  your identity is the most important thing.”

Kara shook her head “Y/N, my identity is not more important than you,” said your sister not believing what she was hearing. 

You realized she was getting upset. “Kara, the world would be okay without me, but not without supergirl.”

“How could you say that Y/N, how could you think so little of your own life,” she said now practically yelling something she never did at you. This wasn’t helping your anxiety as you were getting upset you started crying tears streaming down your face. 

“Kara, I’m sorry,” you tried to say.

“Don’t,” she said standing up, “I need to get some air.”

As Kara was storming out Alex was coming in. She had planned on coming to check on you when she heard yelling and practically started running. “What the Hell Kara, what is going on?” she asked.

“Kara,” you called out, but the superhero wasn’t listening. You began sobbing now that she had left and Alex came over to your bedside.

“Baby, what happened?”

“Kara, hates me.” you weren’t in the condition to talk just then so Alex hugged you best she could from where you were laying and whispered words of comfort. 

.

After a while you had calmed down enough to tell Alex what happened. Alex was furious with Kara for what she just put you through and getting you so upset. But she was staying calm for your sake you were her number one priority right now. So she put everything else aside for the afternoon and laid with you in bed while you both watched Netflix. You refused to go back to sleep until Kara came back.

“Can you try calling her again? Maybe she’ll answer this time?” you asked Alex. 

Alex’s heart shattered at the pain and innocence in your voice as she honored your request. “Hello?” Kara said.

“Kara, where are you?” Alex said walking far enough from your bed that you couldn’t hear her. Y/N  is refusing to eat or sleep until you get back, she thinks you hate her.”

Kara immediately felt a pang of guilt she knew she was wrong and felt horrible about earlier.  “I know I screwed up okay I’m on my way back, I promise I’ll make this right.” 

“You better.”

When Kara walked back into the med bay she immediately walked to your side. “Hey sweetheart, I’m so sorry for earlier.” 

“It’s okay Kara,” you said weakly. 

She shook her head, “no it’s really not.” She continued talking, but you were having trouble listening. You didn’t feel very good and not just because of your injuries. You were dizzy again and weak, you felt numbness in your hands. You were pretty sure you had a fever along with the worst head and stomachache of your entire life.

“Baby girl, what’s wrong?” she asked noticing how out of it you were.

“Don’t feel so great,” you said feeling like you were losing consciousness. Kara felt your forehead instantly concerned at how hot it was. 

“Alex,” she yelled. “Stay with me little one, whatever it is were gonna fix it. Your eldest sister came running in and Kara moved to the side so she could asses you.

“This isn’t good, she has internal bleeding,” said Alex trying to get you prepared she had ordered some med bay assistant to call Doctor Hamilton, you would need to be immediately prepped for emergency surgery.

[thevindicativevordan]

My Take on a Superman Video Game

I've seen other people give their takes on how to approach this, and given Superman and video games are two major topics of interest for me, I thought I'd give my pitch.

So first off, I’m giving him a health bar. Yes I know some people will b**** and no I don’t care. I don’t care what people who get their Superman knowledge from YouTube or Instagram “fact” pages think about the character, and all the other attempts such as the city health bar in the Returns game didn’t satisfy me. So right off the bat he’s getting a health bar. Second: it’s time to start showing casuals areas of Superman lore they either don’t know about or aren’t very familiar with. The reason for that is people think they “know” Superman so we need to immediately show something they DON’T know about or HAVEN’T seen already to get them to not immediately dismiss Superman out of hand based on memes or whatever. Which leads into my third creative point. Third: I’m not setting the first game in Metropolis. The Arkham games didn’t immediately throw you into an open world Gotham, they built up to it. The Spider-Man PS4 game started off with an open world because they were able to build upon dozens of Spider-Man games that laid the ground work for them. The first Superman game in decades needs to avoid biting off more than it can chew, and throwing Superman into an open world feels like a bad idea. So where can it be? Well there are options. There’s Warworld. There’s Apokolips. But I think the best location is one that’s intrinsically tied to Superman and his Kryptonian background, and serves as a nice counterpart to Batman starting out in Arkham Asylum: The Phantom Zone

The Asylum was a great starting point for Batman for a couple reason: 1. It’s the iconic prison where Batman leaves his Rogues, 2. It’s gothic and horror esque vibe crafts the perfect atmosphere, and 3. it’s place as a center for examining the mind makes it great for exploring Batman’s mental state. For similar reason the PZ is the perfect place to start off Superman: 1. It likewise is an iconic prison for Superman Rogues 2. It’s science fiction and horror mixed together which crafts the perfect atmosphere for Superman to kick ass or be introspective, and 3. It lets Kal come face to face with his Kryptonian heritage in the nastiest way possible as he’s dumped into a place filled with prisoners his father helped exile as well as all the other monsters and criminals other races have dumped there. So he’s going to the Zone but how does he get there and what’s the story? It would be boring if he just walked in. Here’s the pitch: It’s Year 2 of Superman’s career. He’s already established himself as a hero in Metropolis and worldwide. The public knows he claims to mean them no harm and that he only seems to do good deeds, but they know very little about his origins and are divided as to his true intentions. The problem is Clark himself doesn’t really know his origins either beyond knowing he’s an alien from another planet. His only relics from his home planet are the rocket, a tablet written in a language he can’t read, and a curious device that doesn’t seem to have any use. As a show of goodwill, and because he hasn’t made any progress understanding them himself, Clark turns the tablet and the device over to STAR Labs for study. One day as he’s beating down some Intergang thugs, reality twists, and suddenly Clark finds himself in a place that is definitely not Metropolis. The “earth” is chalk white, the sky is a purple, green lightning flashes around as far as he can see, and where the sun should be there’s instead a black hole. Somehow Clark and the terrified Intergang thugs have ended up in the Phantom Zone with no idea of how they got there and how to get back.

The thugs accuse Clark of transporting them there and attack him, with Clark suddenly realizing his powers are fading in this place with no sunlight. Luckily a stranger arrives and aids Clark in dispatching the thugs. Clark thanks him for his aid and then asks who he is. The stranger pauses and tells Clark: “My name is Dru-Zod, a general of Krypton”. He raises a hand for Clark to shake. “I was a friend of your father, Kal-El”. Zod tells Kal about the place he’s in, and his history with it. He tells him that other humans have been brought here as well besides the Intergang thugs, including many of Clark’s foes. Zod informs Clark that the likely culprit for their arrival to the PZ is the very first prisoner Jor-El ever banished to the Phantom Zone: Xa-Du the Phantom King, who has spent so long imprisoned that he seems to have obtained a degree of control over the Zone that gives him strange powers. Kal is told that if he does not collect the scattered humans and escape the Zone soon, he and the humans will become trapped there, as anyone who spends too long in the Zone eventually becomes unable to leave without special equipment on the other side to bring them back, thanks to the way the Zone warps the inhabitants. Kal’s mission is clear: Collect the scattered humans, defeat and pacify his foes trapped there with him so they can be brought back as well, and defeat the Phantom King before he tears a hole between the Zone and the real world that could cause catastrophe for Earth. That’s the basic story pitch, next I’ll go into gameplay mechanics and what Rogues I’d use.

Clark starts the game having been de powered back to “Golden Age” power levels due to there being no sun in the PZ. Zod teaches him about Sunstones that grow naturally in the PZ, which will allow him to slowly re-empower himself. The Sunstones ward off the PZ’s influence and basically act as perk points for Clark to unlock and upgrade his powers. At the start he can’t fly, he can only run and leap. Zod acts as Kal’s mentor throughout the game, teaching him about Kryptonian history and how to read the language. He also tutors him in the dangers of the Phantom Zone as well as training him to hone his powers. Kal gets the feeling there’s more to Zod than he’s letting on though, and some of his comments raise Kal’s suspicions. The base of the game is the Fortress of Solitude.

It’s backstory is that when Jor-El first discovered the PZ, he built the FoS as a research outpost to study the place. It’s packed full of Kryptonian tech and it has the ability to shift back into the natural world. Zod couldn’t use it because it’s caretaker Kelex only responds to House El members. However it won’t shift back until it judges its user “sterilized” in order to avoid contaminating the natural world with the Zone’s influence. Because Kal was brought over so suddenly and without the proper tech, he has to use Sunstones to purge the Zone from his body before the Fortress will respond to his commands. This is a nice way of tying the gameplay and story together. Kal needs the stones to save the civilians and to go home, which helps explain why he might do side quests rather than stick with just the main questline. Civilians Superman has to rescue in the Zone: Lois Lane, Perry White, Jimmy Olsen, Dr. Veritas, Ron Troupe, Dr. John Henry Irons, Dr. Hamilton, Bibbo, Dr. Hank Henshaw and his family, Commissioner Henderson, Captain Maggie Sawyer, Detective Turpin, members of the Newskids Legion, Morgan Edge, and other OCs or nameless civilians. Kal also meets Krypto, who was transported into the Zone by Jor-El in order to watch over the Fortress as its guard, in order to keep it safe so that Kal might one day reclaim it. Rogues: Some of Superman’s Rogues have been teleported to the PZ as well, and unfortunately they have their own plans for escaping the Zone, even if it means they have to kill Superman to do it.

Metallo: John Corbyn is a cyborg soldier that served in the US Army under Sam Lane and was created as the government’s Anti-Superman deterrent. After a fight with Superman in his early career left him crippled, he was bonded to a nanosuit that equips him with various weaponry capable of killing Superman. He believes Superman transported everyone there as part of a first strike against humanity. Parasite: A Lexcorp lab experiment gone horribly wrong, Rudy Jones is a science fiction vampire who needs to kill to sustain himself. He absorbs the memories and skills of whoever he kills, and he is able to transform his body into various weapons (think Alex Mercer from [PROTOTYPE] to know what I mean). He’s hunting the civilians to feed on and has his eye on Superman as well. Livewire: Leslie was a vlogger with a far looser code of ethics than Clark. Her “reporting” eventually angered the wrong people who attempted to have her assassinated. Instead Leslie ended up with powers over electromagnetism, and a grudge against Morgan Edge who she believes was behind the Intergang hit on her. Edge is her target but she doesn’t mind stepping over Superman’s corpse if she has to. The Terran (Terra-Man): Krypton wasn’t the only planet to discover the Phantom Zone. One alien race banished the immortal hunter known as the Terran, whose human name was Tobias before he was abducted by aliens who were interested in the potential of the human meta gene and wanted to experiment on him. Their experiment was a success and Tobias broke free, using their own weaponry to hunt them down and carve a bloody path across the stars. Eventually he was transported to the PZ and is now desperate to escape. Mr. Mxy: Who is this creature? Neither a human nor seemingly an alien prisoner of the PZ, Mxy engages Clark in a series of puzzles that reveal secrets about the PZ... and foretell of threats to come. Red Cloud: An enforcer for the Invisible Mafia, her only loyalty is to her boss Leone. Her identity is a secret from Clark for now and she intends for it to remain that way. Silver Banshee: Not every human teleported to the PZ was unchanged. Some reacted much more strongly to the Zone’s influence. One former human has now been twisted into the sinister Silver Banshee, driven insane by the whispers in the Zone and the alterations to her body. She poses a formidable threat to Clark in her current state. Xa-Du: The Phantom King and first prisoner of the Phantom Zone sent from Krypton. Zod claims he was insane even before he was sent here but his incarceration has done nothing to improve his health if so. Gleefully plotting his return to the real world, Xa’s only desire is to raise an army of super zombies with himself as their Necrogod ruler. His time in the Zone has given him control over the degraded Phantoms, and he can channel the energies permeating the Zone into a variety of attacks (basically he’s a space necromancer). His aim is to corrupt Kal-El and the Fortress and use both to travel to Earth and he will never stop hunting Kal. Non boss mooks for Clark to fight: Phantoms - Some of the inhabitants of the Zone have degenerated into the ghostly Phantoms, their only desire to spread their suffering to others. They have been so warped by the Zone they’ve become a part of it and are thus incapable of permanently dying. Shades - Much more powerful Phantoms, Shades retain some memory of their former lives and posses some of their former skills. They serve as the elite of Xa-DU’s forces. Shadowbreed - Native creatures of the PZ, these beings feed on the light of the SunStones and thus see Clark as a meal as well. They possess various animals of the PZ to attack and feed on him. Eradicators - Once these machines served House El in their study of this place acting as defenders. But time has eroded their programming and they now seek to destroy even the Last Son of their old House.

That's the basic of my pitch, I think it's a fairly manageable one that addresses a lot of the arguments you get from people about why a game "wouldn't work" or whatever.

[the-antiapocalyptic-man]

The lines didn’t scan as clean as I would’ve liked, but it was a pretty quick job, so I just colored it anyway: head!verse Eradicator

My version of the Reign era is a little different, but this guy is a pretty clean lift from canon. Essentially a modded, suped-up (no pun intended) Superman Robot from the Fortress that collects ambient energy sources to accelerate Clark’s healing process. His “human” face is removable and I wanted a bit of an Old Elvis vibe. The pauldrons are a little bulky, but idk I might just need to do another pass

Hank Henshaw’s done as far as line art but I haven’t been home much and this is sort of a long term personal project, so he’ll go up eventually

[yesmadamepresident]

Writing asks: 32-40

32. Do you have a word/expression that you always use in your writing?

Ooh, good question. There are definitely things that I catch myself using a lot, but it's hard to remember them now. I feel like I use the phrase "in the next moment" a lot, and I think I often write "and then his lips were on hers" (or vice versa) when describing a kiss. I always feel very insecure about writing kiss scenes lmao so I think I come back to a lot of the same descriptions. I also think I use the word "soft" a lot to describe things - voices, smiles, kisses, gasps, etc. etc. etc. Does anyone else notice me using a particular word or phrase?

33. Give your writing a compliment.

My descriptive writing is miles better than it was a couple of years ago. I've improved so much in that area (I've always been more of a dialogue girl myself) and I'm really proud of that.

34. Do you write to improve? Or is that not a concern for you?

When it comes to fanfic, I write the thing to write the thing. I'm aware that I get better as I write, and I'm really happy with the improvement I've seen since I started, but that's not the focus. That's slightly less true when it comes to writing poetry or other non-fanfic stuff. I'm acutely aware that the quality of my poetry correlates with how frequently I'm writing it, and so part of the motivation for me to keep writing poems is that I want to stay good at it and keep getting better.

35. Thoughts on writing challenges/contests.

If we're talking about fanfic (which I believe we are), I think challenges can be fun but they also stress me out sometimes. Like, I can't write a fic every day of fictober, you know? The blake fic exchange was very fun though because we had such a long time frame and so it didn't have to be stressful. If we're talking about writing contests outside of the fic world, I've been a part of quite a few and have won some and enjoyed them :)

36. How do you come up with fic titles? What's the one you're most proud of?

There are kind of 2 ways I go about this. Sometimes I take a line from the fic and make it the title (e.g. Old Habits, It Must Have Been a Romance). And sometimes I take a lyric or line of poetry that connects in some way. I'm really happy with the title of Forever Can Never Be Long Enough. The line itself makes sense from the beginning, when in the first scene Alice tells Matthew she wants to stay in Ballarat "forever." But the line is from Marry Me by Train, which is also perfect because the fic ends with Matthew proposing. So it makes sense on a surface level but it's also kind of a hint to the ending which I think is fun.

37. Do you research before writing or while you write? Is it fun or boring for you?

The answer to both questions is honestly both. If I'm writing a fic that I know requires research then I'll do some before I start. But it's kind of inevitable that additional questions will come up as I go along. I went down soooo many research rabbit holes both before and after writing the Paris fic, as an example. I usually find it fun, but it can also be intimidating because sometimes Google just can't give justice to lived experience. One of my biggest fears when writing fic is that it will be unrealistic, because I'm so young and have experience so little and so I never know if something is going to sound dumb or like a child wrote it.

38. "This never happened" fix-it fics or "this happened but" fix-it fics?

I lean toward "this happened, but." It's always fun to take an existing storyline but come at it a different way.

39. Wildest AU scenario you have written?

Deep sigh. I started (never finished) a supergirl fanfic when I was probably like, 13, where Alex Danvers and Hank Henshaw had to fake date for some sort of investigation. I don't think I wrote more than one or two chapters but I cringe when I think about it. I shipped them in the first season but they ended up having much more of a father-daughter relationship than anything near a romantic one, plus Alex came out as gay a few seasons later, so. Weird. I also wrote a couple of soulmate AUs for madam secretary, but I actually like those.

40. Write a 9-word fic.

They would always have fallen in love like this.

[superman86to99]

Superman #84 (December 1993)

Superman takes a short Paris vacation! Like, one day short. What's the worst that could happen?

Oh, man.

So, for the past few issues, we've been hearing about children being abducted in Metropolis. Now we see that they're being kept inside a giant toy house by some creepy bald man in Quasimodo clothes who seems to be obsessed with toys -- a "Man of Toys," if you will. Side note: no wonder the children haven't been found... all the articles about them are just gibberish! (See clip below.)

The kidnapper thinks that these kids' parents don't deserve them, and that they're much better off here, in an underground hideout with a man who threatens to starve them if they don't play with him. (And I do mean literally play, with action figures and stuff.) Meanwhile, as these children cry for help, Superman is having the time of his life. While helping move a stranded ship with some huge-ass chains, Superman spots a sunken galleon with a treasure chest inside and fantasizes about keeping the booty...

...before turning it over to the authorities anyway, the big boy scout. Then, he wakes up Lois at 6 AM and tells her they should go to Paris right now, which usually means your significant other is having a mental breakdown, but in this case they can actually do it. And so, after deciding that he deserves to use his powers for fun every once in a while, Superman and Lois drop everything and fly to France with super-speed for the rest of the day/issue.

Anyway: back to the child abduction! Cat Grant and her son Adam attend a Halloween party at Adam's school, but there's a disturbed weirdo in a hideous costume lurking among the crowd. Yes, I'm talking about Jimmy Olsen in his Turtle Boy suit.

Shortly after that, a guy in a dinosaur costume (see, all the creeps are dressed as reptiles) lures Adam out of the party with the promise of "superb video games." What child could resist that? Of course, that turns out to be the kidnapper and Adam ends up in his hideout along with the rest of the missing children and, worst of all, not a single "Lextendo" console.

The kidnapper gets angry at Adam when he refers to the toys at the hideout as "old-fashioned junk" (he was REALLY looking forward to those video games), and even angrier when Adam tries to free the other kids. Adam is brave and puts up a good fight, but...

And those were Adam Morgan's final words. "Uh-oh."

Next, we have a pretty harrowing scene of Detective Turpin letting Cat know Adam’s body was found, and Jimmy and Perry White taking her to the morgue to identify the body (most people probably wouldn't bring their former boss to something like that, but Perry sadly knows more than most about losing a kid). As for Lois and Clark, they were gone so long that the Daily Planet had time to print a headline about the murders. The issue ends when the lovebirds walk into the office smiling like two people who just spent the night fooling around in Paris... only to feel like jackasses when they find out what happened.

To be continued!

Character-Watch:

And that's it for little Adam Morgan who, unlike the also tragically diseased Jerry White, didn't even get any post-death appearances. Adam went from a little kid scared of Superman, to a huge brat, to a character who was approaching likeability as of last week. That's why I hate it when DC kills off young characters like Adam or Liam Harper: in long-form storytelling, children represent potential. Look at how much Wally West or Dick Grayson evolved over the years compared to their mentors! Sure, there's a huge probability that Adam would have ended up disappearing from comics for 25 years anyway, but who knows, maybe we'd now know him as Teen Gangbuster or something. GangbusTEEN.

This issue also represents a turning point for the kidnapper, who is never named or seen clearly in the story itself but I don't think I'm shocking anyone by spoiling the fact that he's Toyman (it's in the cover, for one thing). In his last two appearances before this storyline, Toyman helped Superman save some kids from Sleez and looked genuinely sad to learn about Superman's death, so this is a pretty dramatic change for the character. We'll find out why he went from big softy to child killer in Superman #85 (but don't get your hopes up).

Plotline-Watch:

The most disturbing part of the issue, all things considered, is still the part where Toyman climbs into a giant crib and hugs a huge stuffed bunny. Look at serial killer Tommy Pickles here:

Don Sparrow says:  “Even with the upgrade, Toyman is still just a man in a suit, a common complaint about Superman’s rogues gallery.” Funny you should say that, because I JUST shared an old Wizard interview in our Twitter in which Dan Jurgens talks about how Doomsday came out of his frustration with the fact that most Superman villains are dudes in suits (plus other interesting tidbits from the era, like how it was actually Roger Stern’s idea to bring back Hank Henshaw, so check out that link!).

Don again: “The entire Superman storyline of this issue feels like filler. Diving for buried treasure and soaring off to Paris -- it all feels like wasted time next to the Adam storyline.” I have a theory that the entire ship sequence is there as an excuse to put Superman in those big chains and make that Spawn joke (which I didn’t get until now, since I’ve always read this issue in Spanish).

Superman says that pulling that big ship was "a little easier than expected" -- that's either another hint that there's something going on with Superman's powers since he came back, or a subtle dig at the state of American ship manufacturing.

Another adorable "window tap" scene for the books, and this is the sexiest one so far. Is it me or has Jurgens started copying more than just Teri Hatcher's hairdo from Lois & Clark? (For anyone who thinks Lois has gotten implants, I refer you to this clip.)

While in Paris, Lois asks Clark if he's ever wondered what would happen if his rocket had landed in other countries. Don: “Clark’s conversation with Lois sounds like a bunch of concepts for Elseworlds stories. We eventually would see a Russian Superman, and a British Superman, but not yet the French Superman. (Hire us, DC!)” Yep, got my French Superman pitch ready, Jim Lee. Or just let us do Russian Superman again, since Red Son wasn’t even the first time you published that idea.

Don once more: “Another thing that makes no sense about the ‘new’ Toyman is his resentment of technological toys—when in previous appearances he himself had deadly high-tech toys to vex Superman over the years.” I especially resent his hatred of video game consoles. Incidentally, I wonder what types of games are available for Adam’s beloved Lextendo. Star Lex 64? Mega Man Lex? Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles & Lex?

No one is more upset at Lois and Clark for going AWOL than Whit. NO ONE. He's so furious that his usually grey mustache turned black.

Patreon-Watch:

As always, shout out to our patrons, Aaron, Murray Qualie, Chris “Ace” Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, Samuel Doran, Bheki Latha, Mark Syp, Ryan Bush and Raphael Fischer! Last month’s exclusive Patreon article was about the recently unearthed sequel to Superman 64 for the PlayStation, featuring Metallo, Parasite, and Lois looking even hotter than in this issue:

Hot damn. Find out more at https://www.patreon.com/superman86to99!

And believe it or not, Don Sparrow has even more to say about this issue. Read his section after the jump:

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow​):

I should start off my section with a big caveat:  I flat out hate this issue. There were several weird decisions made in the post-Death-and-Return era (most of them along the same lines of making the Superman titles more grim-and-gritty), and this story was one of the worst of them.  My theory is that, despite the praise and record-breaking sales of the Death and Return storyline, the Superman creative team felt pressure to have more extreme storylines, perhaps in response to the wildly successful Image books coming out at the time.  Between this story, and the upcoming “Spilled Blood” storyline, the Super books take a hard—but temporary--turn into more violent and upsetting storytelling—even though these stories are by the same writers as the previous few years. While death has always been a part of comics, and Superman comics was no exception, there is a jarring glibness and unfeeling toward the way violence is handled in these pages that is quite different from the stories that preceded it.  It’s made all the more jarring by the fact that well-established personalities suddenly veer wildly out of character, Toyman chief among them.  

We start with the cover, and while it is technically well-drawn (by the familiar team of Jurgens and Breeding) it’s also a very upsetting visual.  I think they should have gone with the pieta type pose with Adam and Superman, OR the scary badass bowie-knife Toyman (who apparently has a Cheshire cat smile now) but not both.  But the cover is a good hint at the tonal dissonance of the comic within.

We open with a splash of the now-extreme 90s looking Toyman, with his serial killer shaved head and spooky cloak, ignoring the pleas of hungry kids he has locked up in a tiny jail cell for days at a time (if that sentence doesn’t ring alarm bells for how wrong this is for a Superman story, I don’t know what will). For much of the issue Toyman’s eyes are obscured by glare on his lenses, further de-humanizing a character who was once one of Superman’s more empathetic bad guys.

We cut to Superman tugboating a huge tanker with giant chains and it’s a cool visual (one repeated in the Batman V Superman film).  It feels especially out of place to focus on, given how upsetting this issue is otherwise, but throughout the whole comic, Lois is drawn smoking hot, especially on the two page spread on pages 9-10.

The scenes depicting the actual murder, while still wildly out of place in a Superman comic, are well done, and give a real sense of darkness and menace, which I suppose is the intent.  Perhaps my least favourite visual is the Big Bird stuffie, silently bearing witness to what’s about to occur.

The edges of the panels on get more slashy and off-kilter (to me, looking very much like the layouts more typically seen in Image comics of the day) and I suppose I appreciate the restraint of how little Dan Jurgens shows of the death of a child, showing only a bloody slash on a black background.  This is still a pretty baroque image for a Superman comic, but certainly less violent than it could be, given what is happening.

Cat Grant’s silent horror is well staged, and powerful in its way.   Lastly, Clark Kent bending in sorrow and regret is a powerful image.

While this issue is handled marginally better, and more maturely than other comics on the shelf at this time, I still believe it is one of the biggest mistakes of the era.  Giving a long-established character an unceremonious death for shock value is gross on its own, but making it a child definitely crosses a line for me.  Making it worse is that, while the Toyman is a criminal and a killer, he has shown in past issues (a similar kidnapping storyline involving Sleez) that he genuinely cares for the well-being of children.  So for a long-time reader, this also felt like a betrayal of a long-established, fully developed character.   Adding to the ugliness of this is that Adam dies heroically, trying to free the children who have been caged, unfed, for days, but even in that regard, he fails.  The headline at the end of the issue confirms all the children are dead.  Adam’s death did not buy the other kids enough time to get away. It was all for nothing. Had Adam died, but the other children lived, maybe this issue wouldn’t leave quite as bad a taste. [Max: It’s weird because it’s all told in a way where it’s told in a way where it would make sense, narratively and within the story universe, that the other kids survived, but then it’s almost casually revealed that nope, they died too. A scene of one of the kids relaying Adam’s heroism to Cat in a future issue would have gone a long way.]

Superman doesn’t come off well in these pages, either.  It’s honestly the type of story they should just stay away from, because the more you think about all the calamity that is going on around the clock, the less defensible the whole Clark Kent persona becomes. Superman carving out time to romance his fiancée directly led to the preventable deaths of innocent children—how do you come back from that?

STRAY OBSERVATIONS:

I’m always looking for hints that perhaps Jimmy or Perry know Superman’s secret identity deep down, and Jimmy’s anger at Lois and Clark on their return to the Daily Planet offices would seem to give that theory some credence, as he’s as angry at them as if he knew Clark really were Superman.  Either that, or he’s ticked that it fell to him, and none of them to escort Cat into the morgue. [Max: Has this issue finally converted you to the “Jimmy is terrible” side now, Don?]

I don’t think I’m the only one who disliked the new Toyman—SPOILERS BE HERE: years later, in Action Comics #865, Geoff Johns retconned this whole story, reverting Schott into the criminal who over-relates to kids, rather than the child-killer of this story.  Apparently the infantile Schott, who speaks to “Mother” a la Norman Bates, is a robot so lifelike it fools even Superman, and the “Mother” he’s constantly replying to was the real Winslow Schott trying to recall the malfunctioning robot. [Max: That’s one Geoff Johns retcon I really didn’t mind, even if it felt kind of derivative of his similar “all the Brainiacs are robots made by the real Brainiac” reveal.]

[ao3feed-directorship]

A Shift in Perspective

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/0jqbXtD by Musetotheworld Kara and Cat have been dating for a few months, but things have been so busy for Supergirl that they haven't had much time to themselves. But when Kara gets tired of it, and a little too close to losing her powers, she takes a week off to spend some time with Cat. Only to start feeling strange partway through their date night. What caused the feeling? Kara would never have guessed. Words: 13964, Chapters: 6/6, Language: English Fandoms: Supergirl (TV 2015) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: F/F Characters: Kara Danvers, Cat Grant, Alex Danvers, Lucy Lane, J'onn J'onzz | Hank Henshaw Relationships: Kara Danvers/Cat Grant, Background Alex Danvers/Lucy Lane Additional Tags: Established Relationship, First Time, Kryptonian Biology, Kryptonian anatomy read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/0jqbXtD