#I don’t really like it when in the comics the Hulk makes a decision that aligns with his own moral code | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

jjorbles · 2 years

Text

(Repost) Supergirl’s costume... looks like Supergirl. Weird.

Note: This article was originally posted March 11th, 2015 on the Agony Booth, which I used to write for. Since that site is sadly no longer with us, I’m reposting my old articles here.

Apparently, I’ve developed a bit of a rep as the “anti-DC” guy here on the Agony Booth, which is fair, but kind of weird, because I don’t hate DC. In fact, I love DC, or at least I love the DC Universe and its cast of characters. I wouldn’t devote so much time and energy to something I didn’t care about.

I’ve been a DC guy since I was a kid. Maybe it’s just that DC had better cartoons when I was growing up, but for whatever reason, I’ve always had far more interest in DC than in its competitor Marvel. The DC universe just seems more grandiose, and I prefer their larger-than-life heroes to Marvel’s more down-to-earth style of storytelling (well, as down-to-earth as a comic in which a Norse god clubs a radioactive giant with his lightning hammer can be). Sure, I’ll always love Marvel. I can never turn my back on the universe that gave me She-Hulk, Nightcrawler, and Susan Storm, but there’s nothing quite like the trinity of Wonder Woman, Superman, and Batman. You just can’t top that.

Of course, the downside of being invested in something is it makes it easier for that something to turn on you and piss you off, hence my constant rants about DC’s frequently boneheaded editorial decisions. It’s intensely frustrating when the people with creative control over the things you love insist on ruining them in the worst possible ways all the time. Sure, I should probably stop getting so upset over the way they treat characters who aren’t real, but it’s hard not to be depressed knowing that my favorite superhero (Wonder Woman, natch) is stuck with a company that has repeatedly demonstrated they do not have her best interests at heart.

But justified or not, apparently I’ve talked about this stuff enough that every time DC announces anything, people tend to want my reaction. Not that I’m complaining—it’s the greatest feeling in the world to know people actually want your opinion. And given that one of my all-time most popular articles was an angry screed against Wonder Woman’s new outfit for her movie appearance, naturally it makes sense for me to offer some kind of comment now that a costume for DC’s next most iconic heroine, Supergirl, has surfaced. Having seen the outfit, designed for the Maid of Might’s upcoming CBS TV show, it allows me to say something I don’t get to say about DC announcements lately:

I like it.

Seriously, I actually really like it. Sure, the colors are a bit muted for my tastes, and I miss the yellow background for her S-shield, but otherwise, this is much better than I expected. I was afraid that, like most recent DC comics adaptations, it would toe the company line and give us something resembling her New 52 costume. Instead, they’ve gone with a classic old school look.

The actress, Melissa Benoist, is doing the traditional George Reeves-esque hands-on-hips pose, and even (gasp) smiling! It’s far from the latest DC movie marketing campaign, with all the heroes grimly bowing their heads over desolate, dimly-lit backgrounds. Even more surprising, the costume is actually a more modest throwback to the character’s pre-Crisis look, as opposed to the more revealing, naughty schoolgirl look the character has been sporting in the comics since the ‘90s.

This costume was reportedly designed by Colleen Atwood, who worked on outifts for the CW shows Arrow and The Flash. This is definitely her best work yet in the field of superhero design. The outfits in Arrow were less than impressive, most barely even qualifying as costumes, befitting the overall underwhelming aesthetic of an underwhelming show*. The Flash was a step in the right direction, but was still a bit cheap-looking and lacking in interesting details.

[*Sorry guys, I will just never be an Arrow fan.]

It’ll be interesting to see to what degree these promotional images reflect the actual show. Like Wonder Woman (or really, any female comic book character that’s been in publication for more than a few decades), Supergirl has a rocky history at best. Her personality varies wildly from writer to writer, and DC doesn’t seem to really have any idea what to do with her, mainly keeping her around because she makes for great marketing.

Silver Age comics portrayed her as a classic teen girl adventuress, and a more human, impetuous version of her male counterpart. The ‘90s saw a bizarre revamp of the character’s origin into a supernatural being who interacted with angels and demons, something like Supergirl crossed with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. When the character was returned to her more classic origins, they began characterizing her as a sensitive, curious alien, playing up her inexperience with Earth culture; basically, E.T. with boobs. And the New 52 version is essentially Superman with no moral compass: an angry, destructive force, which isn’t that different from New 52 Superman himself, really.

Of all these approaches, you’re probably unsurprised to hear I’d prefer something closer to the Silver Age version. It’s the simplest and most endearing version of the character, and it’s the one that made her an icon. Making a Supergirl show essentially allows you to do Smallville but without suffering from prequel syndrome. You can have your likeable-but-relatably-flawed, sexy young superhero story without constantly having to beat around the bush. You don’t have to do younger or not-quite-there-yet versions of popular characters. You can just come right out and say “This is Lex Luthor” or “This is Toyman”. Hopefully, CBS’s Supergirl will be another step in The Flash’s direction: Colorful, fun, and unashamed to call itself a superhero show.

#stuff I wrote #agony booth #repost #supergirl #cw #melissa benoist

1 note · View note

crankynewt · 2 years

Text

Well... That was disappointing 😅

Honestly, if Marvel had shared online ALL of the footage that was shown at D23, it probably would've been fine. But considering that this is the second time they've held back Quantumania footage from the majority of their audience as well as limiting viewers for Black Panther, Loki Season 2, and Echo footage, they really skimped out on us.

Yes, the Secret Wars trailer was amazing! So was Werewolf by Night, which although having only been officially announced today was not a surprise to anyone, nor was the casting. While good, yes, neither was the excitement I think most of us wanted.

I had been hopeful along with everyone else that we would learn our Fantastic Four cast today, so of course that is a major disappointment. What was even more disappointing for me personally was that the Matt Shakman directing rumours were true. I hate to come online and share negativity, but Wandavision was such a letdown for having started out so strong nor was I impressed with his manipulation of fan expectations with the Ralph Bohner twist, so I’m terrified. If he pulls a similar stunt in a movie as highly anticipated as the Fantastic Four, the consequences could be disastrous for the future of Marvel's 'First Family' in the MCU.

At this point, I feel we're more likely to know our Doctor Doom actor (through a Black Panther: Wakanda Forever post-credit scene that reveals his own operations fed into conflict and misunderstanding between Wakanda and Atlantis) than know the main team’s cast anytime soon. Even though they will probably only mention the character by name, it is our only chance of knowing anything before the New Year. When we do hear, however, I do believe that Nikolaj Coster-Waldau will be taking up the helm as he has allegedly already filmed a post-credit scene for Marvel (heavy emphasis on the allegedly so don’t @ me).

Where Marvel messed up was that they made no new casting announcements that had not already been leaked or practically been guaranteed through the announcement of the project:

Anthony Ramos was already pictured on the set of IronHeart.

The entire Thunderbolts cast was already known through the announcement of the film (Pugh, Stan, Russel, Louise-Dreyfus, Harbour, John-Kamen, and Kurylenko). They are probably holding onto their Zemo card for a future ‘plot twist’, but again, that reveal would surprise no one.

Ramirez and Lumbly were practically already confirmed for Captain America: New World Order. Tim Blacke Nelson's return really doesn't feel like a big deal with the extensive number of The Incredible Hulk alumnus we've seen return.

Daredevil: Born Again announced no new cast members, while confirming D'Onofrio will also be in Echo lowers the stakes of Maya's show as we know he'll make it through.

Marvel underestimated the comic knowledge as to what characters interact or are natural segways from one project into another. I'm a huge Marvel fan and have very rarely ever found myself disappointed by their announcements or decisions, but there is a first time for everything. Nothing that we didn't practically already know was announced, and underestimating the knowledge of their audience made the expo feel like merely a reiteration of SDCC.

29 notes · View notes

latent-thoughts · 2 years

Note

I honestly agree with you on everything after ragnarok is not canon. Although I love Thor ragnarok, it’s an entertaining movie and ive seen it more times then I should, thinking about it now I’ve never seen Thor ragnarok as canon. it’s just been a movie that’s really shitty but entertaining, and funny when you don’t have context about the characters.

I just hate that it’s so disrespectful to the actual characters. AND what’s even worse, is that I did not even consider the movie disrespectful to the characters until I was on tumblr and found threads of old posts/things you’ve reblogged on why it is.

And everything after it, has come tumbling after.

People need to realise there’s a difference between entertaining cinema, vs actual good Quality cinema. Especially with something like marvel because it’s all “connected”. Marvel is choosing quantity over quality and it’s clearly showing.

Yup. Marvel-Disney has become the 'Five Minute Crafts' of movie making. They're pumping out multiple shows and movies annually, but there's hardly any substance to them anymore. Nothing actually connects in this so-called cinematic universe, but the promos and interviews will try to fool you into believing it.

There's no cohesive story, only easter eggs abound. They're mostly meaningless, because most of them have their roots in different storylines in the comics, not the movies. Like, wtf was Thanoscopter doing in the Loki series? Or why was Sylvie wearing the broken crown (which was originally worn by AoA Loki for very specific reasons)?

Moreover, every new entity boasts of bringing in a drastic change into the multiverse or having a powerful character like no other before them. Yet, all of this is forgotten in the next entity they release. Rinse repeat.

The problem with Ragnarok was that it wanted to be funnier and bigger than GOTG--a movie that somewhat broke the mold for MCU movies at that time. It constituted an unlikely team of antiheroes who became heroic, and it had a more zany kind of humour to it.

What Ragnarok didn't note was that GOTG had heart. It had zany humour, yes, but it also had plenty of poignant moments. It didn't make a joke out of everything, most certainly not the characters. Every character was handled carefully, their trauma and loss acknowledged despite their negative actions.

Ragnarok failed supremely at this. Bruce turned into a parody of anxiety attacks and 'useless' nerdiness (7 PhDs but can't fly a ship, haha). Loki--a character of a subjugated race, taken from his people, raised to hate his own race, a clear victim of Asgard's imperialistic and colonial agenda, was made fun of for simply existing. His trauma was ignored, his relationship to Thor was twisted to make Thor into a victim, and instead, his main oppressor, Odin, was glorified despite his war crimes and invasions. What more, the fact that Thor left Loki to die on Sakaar was glossed over and made into a joke. Valkyrie (she still doesn't have a name, even post l&t) was introduced as a slave trader (does anyone find it sus that a woman of colour was shown as a slave trader?) and this part of her life was never acknowledged again, not even by Bruce, even though she traded the hulk to the GM.

Thor...sigh, where do I even begin? Gone was the considerate and thoughtful Thor we had seen in TDW, the Thor who acknowledged his father's bad decisions and tried to counter them by putting his own life on the line. Gone was the Thor who held his dying brother in his arms and cried. Granted, canon Thor had his issues to overcome, but he was never crass and inconsiderate like Ragnarok Thor. Ragnarok not only uprooted Thor from his growing self awareness and growth, it uprooted him wholly from Asgard. Killed off his friends and killed off his home. And made a joke about it all.

There's so much more to say about that trash movie and it's confused purpose, but all in all, it put the first nail into the whole franchise' coffin. L&T is only a continuation of that, based in the same theme of ridicule and distasteful humour.

What rankles is that it could've been a great movie, had Chris and Taika taken their heads out of their respective asses for a bit to think it over. But they were too busy making toilet level jokes and jerking around the sets, ignoring the script (which btw had Thor admitting to his mistakes to Loki) and just improvising everything with their bs logic. Taika didn't even do his research on the characters.

And that's something he's proud of. A theme that has continued with the creators in other Marvel entities too.

I just feel very sad about it. Because phase 1 (even 2) Marvel was something if quality. Now, the characters these phases had established are either (unfairly) dead or completely unrecognisable. I no longer have any sense of anticipation for their new stuff. I don't even want to watch new movies or shows.*

Anyhow, thanks for visiting my askbox. ♥️

*Moon Knight is the only exception, and you'd note the show had no prominent easter eggs or even mentions of other characters from the MCU. Mayhe there's something to be said about that.

#anon ask #ask #ask box #mcu #Ragnarok #mcu loki #mcu thor #thor: love and thunder #thor: ragnarok

15 notes · View notes

fullofmultitudesfullofshit · 3 years

Note

Clint being happily married makes you cringe?

Hi anon! Lol I was being more dramatic than I probably could’ve been, but yes, it does make me cringe a *little* bit.

It’s nothing against MCU Clint Barton because I know it wasn’t his fault he ended up the way he did -- between Joss Whedon and a little bit on Jeremy Renner’s end -- he really just isn’t the Clint Barton that so many of us fell in love with. A lot of the time, when you hear comic book stans criticizing why Clint just isn’t “comic book accurate” (to use kind of a patronizing phrase, so please excuse me on that end because I don’t always think that comic book accuracy is entirely needed), it’s because most of us have read Matt Fraction and David Aja’s 2012 character defining, Eisner Award winning, New York Times best selling comic book, once-in-a-generation run on Hawkeye. Fraction’s inspiration for the character, making Clint delve into issues of depression, his disability with impaired hearing, the familial entanglements between him and his older brother, Barney, while simultaneously balancing the fact he’s 100% human compared to all of his superhero counterparts, is an incredible look into a very complex, kinda sorta sad, peak chaotic Avenger. Not to mention that Aja’s work in this comic book, with its simple line art, as well as Matt Hollingsworth’s colors, brings a sort of melancholic, cartoonish quality to the characters and the world they live in. Under Aja’s direction, it gives the viewer the effect that the characters Fraction is weaving into the story are all a little sad, or at least deal with something heavy, despite their basic inking. If nothing else, it makes the characters inherently human. All that to say, out of all the adapted Marvel characters in the “OG 6 Avengers,″ comic book Clint is the least likely person to get his life together and do the “family and kids” thing.

As someone who studies adaptation as a grad student, I love depictions of characters who are different and I love it when directions go off book and shove it in the fandom’s face. That’s my favorite! However, and I’ll admit this is my own bias, Clint’s story is...not what I wanted. He’s a complex character for as simple as he seems in Fraction’s run. It’s what makes people love Clint -- he’s the guy with a million bandaids on his face, but despite his emotional disaster energy, he still gets up to be the hero, the Avenger, the Hawkeye. There are, of course, glimpses of this in the MCU (like when he has a funny rapport with Quicksilver in Age of Ultron), but nothing that’s entirely “Clint” as many of us know and love.

This is mostly due to the fact that Clint has never been given a chance to be a “character,” so to speak. In the first Avengers movie, he’s brainwashed; you can’t exactly do character development when the guy has a space rock taking over his brainwaves. :) Age of Ultron, however, is the real heartbreaker for a lot of comic book fans because Clint was given his “family-man” plot point. Where, apparently, he has children and a wife and the whole 1950s suburban nuclear family thing goin’ on. That’s cool, but especially for that movie, it becomes more of a reference point for the other characters. You find out Natasha can’t have children and refers to her femininity as a “monstrous” (another shitty directorial decision on Whedon’s part), Bruce can’t have children because of his “Hulk-ness,” Steve doesn’t think he wants a family anymore, and Tony comes to believe that this is what he wants at the end of the day. So, even if it is a plot that works for the sake of the movie, it’s really only so the other characters can have a moment of self-reflection. Unfortunately, it has nothing to do with Clint himself!

Because of Whedon’s decision (as well as Jeremy Renner’s refusal to read any comics about the character), a lot of his further development in the MCU was hindered by Clint’s family plot point. We don’t ever get to see “disaster” Clint or the “human” Clint or the “almost got it, but not quite” Clint. We only see Clint as this white guy farmer who is married and has kids, which is more or less the diluted, heteronormative “1950s American dream.” The guy literally has a picket fence. To me, that’s not complicated enough. Whedon didn’t ask harder questions of this character, he didn’t care enough to, or maybe he did, but he just didn’t know how to. Either way, that’s not doing the character justice and that’s not giving Clint what he deserves. I’m all for doing something different with a character -- Clint can be married! Give em’ those kids! -- but make sure when you do it, that you’re not sacrificing the heart of the character for a one-off storyline that will hinder this cinematic depiction forever. After all, there’s a difference between preserving the “substance” of the character in the process of adapting comic book to film, and erasing their soul entirely in the process of trying to be different.

So, in case you didn’t want to read ALL of that, which understandable because I wrote a lot, yes, Clint being happily married makes me cringe. :)

Thanks for your question! :)

#clint barton #hawkeye #matt fraction #long post #david aja #hawkeye 2012 #mcu clint barton #anti jeremy renner #general marvel #MCU #age of ultron #marvel #also #clint barton fans please add more of your mcu criticisms! so we can all be sad together!#marvel comics

124 notes · View notes

supercorpkid · 3 years

Text

It’s crossover season – Part 4.

Supercorp, Kara Danvers x Daughter!Reader, Lena Luthor x Daughter!Reader, Iron Man x TeamMate!Reader, Captain America x TeamMate!Reader, Doctor Strange x TeamMate!Reader, Thor x TeamMate!Reader, Black Widow x TeamMate!Reader, Hulk x TeamMate!Reader.

Word count: 2715.

Please check out Part 3 if you haven’t, I think tumblr hid it for some people :( I promise it’s worth it.

You open one eye and look at Wanda sitting next to your bed.

“You should go help.” You say softly, but you cough violently right after.

“The battle is over. After you closed the portal, it got easier. All things considered.” Wanda stands up going to you. “Now go back to sleep, you need to rest. You almost died.”

“Please.” You dismiss her with your hand. “I almost die a lot.”

She chuckles at your response, but you agree with your head, because you are feeling tired anyway, and slowly you let yourself fall back to sleep.

When you wake up again, it doesn’t feel like much time has passed, but Wanda is nowhere to be found. You sit up on the bed, looking around. You get a glimpse of yourself in the window and your eyes widen. Wow, you look a lot worse than how you feel. You look like you’ve been in the middle of an explosion. Oh, wait. Did you really go to outer space? On the list of your life’s bad decisions, this is definitely number one, easy.

“Hey!” You hear, and turn to the door to see Wanda there. “You up. How are you feeling?”

“A lot better than how I’m looking.” You say, making her smile softly at you.

“Stark sent this for you.” She shows you a box of donuts and your mouth drops, almost comically. “He said if you didn’t like donuts, you were probably insane.”

“Well, donuts happen to be my favorite food, so-” You raise your arms, and she gives you the box. “Come on, let’s share.”

You open the box and find a little sticky note there, with a scribbled handwriting

Donuts are for geniuses who save the world - Mr. Playboy

You smile, ripping it off the box and shoving in your pocket. Wanda sits next to you, and you smile at her, before diving in for the food.

“So, is everyone ok?”

“Yeah, pretty beaten down and tired, but we won.” She shrugs, and you agree with your head. It feels good to hear this. We won. You’re a part of it, and she wants to make sure you know that. “Well, we couldn’t possibly have done it without you.”

“Oh please. Mister Thor could have gone to space, or I don’t know, anyone else?” You shuffle in bed uncomfortable. “It’s not like I can actually breathe in outer space.”

“Wait, what?” Wanda’s brows are pinched together at the sound of that. “And you went anyways?”

“Well, we needed to close the portal.”

“Thor could have gone. Do you realize you could have died?” She looks shocked by the revelation and you smile.

“Yeah, but it was either me or millions of people back on Earth.” You shrug, then push her with your shoulder. “Besides, I didn’t, right?”

“You’re a superhero alright.” Wanda says making your smile open wider. That sounds good. Really good. “You know the fight is over, right?” She asks and you agree with your head, mouth full of donuts. “Strange can send you home.”

“Oh.” You look at her, cleaning the corner of your mouth with the back of your hand. “Yeah. That’s great.”

“Wait.” Wanda leaves your room, but comes back a minute later with a polaroid camera. “So I don’t think I’ve imagined you.”

“Oh, you totally did.” You smile, looking at her, sitting in bed next to you. “I’m pretty sure we’re all in a very elaborated dream caused by an imp from the fifth dimension.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” She says, and you shrug, throwing your arm around her shoulder and making a funny face.

“Take two.” You ask and she agrees, taking another one, where the both of you are smiling.

“I don’t mean to interrupt the fun.” Vision appears in your bedroom, coming from a wall, and you jump in bed from the scare.

“Vis! We talked about this. The door is right there!” Wanda points at it, and you laugh.

“Oh come on, if you could phase into a room, I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t use a door.” You tell her and Vision agrees with his head.

“It’s not exactly phasing, I’m just manipulating my density so I can become intangible.” He corrects, and you and Wanda look at each other holding a laugh. “Well, I came to offer you my services.”

“How come?”

“You are looking, if you allow me to say-” He asks and you nod so he goes on. “Rather beat up. I was thinking I could use the solar energy on you, to help your recovery.”

“That would be really helpful, in fact.” You say with a smile, and he agrees, getting ready to shoot you with it.

It all happens too fast. One second Vision is shooting you with solar energy, next second a portal is opening up in the bedroom, and the very next Supergirl is throwing herself on him, yelling:

“GET AWAY FROM MY KID!”

It’s so fast, it takes you a few more seconds to acknowledge the whole scene going on before you.

“Vision, don’t engage.” You ask, standing up. And you look at Wanda. “Wanda, stop her!”

“Stop me?” Kara yells in shock and Wanda quickly separates your momma from Vision with her powers. She involves your momma with it, making it impossible for Kara to move.

“What are you doing?” You ask Kara, who just looks at you so in shock like she doesn’t know what to say.

“He-He was shooting you with a… With that thing on his head!” Kara justifies herself and looks at Wanda on the other side of the room. “And she’s doing whatever this is.”

“He was helping me!” You look at Wanda again, giving her a little nod. “She’s going to put you down if you promise not to engage again.”

“I-I’m-Ugh! Fine!” Kara reluctantly agrees and Wanda puts her down.

“Guys, these are my moms!” You point to Lena and Kara on the other side of the room, and run to them so you can hug them. Kara holds you tight, while staring at the heroes on the other side of the room. “Ok, momma.” You try to get out of her embrace. “Momma, can I hug mom now?”

“Oh. Ok.” Kara finally let’s go, and you move to Lena’s arms. But you see Kara is still in a defensive position, ready to get into a fight at any moment.

“Hey.” You hold her arm. “You can relax now. They’re my friends.”

“No, they’re not. They kidnapped you.” She says without taking her eyes from them.

“We didn’t, actually. She decided to stay for the battle.” Vision corrects her, and you see that Kara is not buying into it.

“What battle?” Lena asks, with furrowed brows.

“Long story! Anyways, you guys are here now.” You look at the device on Lena’s hand. “And that means we can leave.”

“Aren’t you going to say goodbye?” Wanda asks. “To everyone else?”

“Yeah. Let’s go outside.” You guide your moms out of the compound, and look inside with a smile on your face. You know this was your house for less than two days, but still felt pretty good to be here. You press the comm on your ear. “Smart mouth to Mister Playboy.”

“You better have left me some donuts, kid.” You listen coming from your comm, and you smile harder. Well, if donuts are for geniuses who saved the world, he certainly deserves some.

“Come outside.” You ask, and it doesn’t take long for him to show up at the front door. He walks towards you, well-aware of what these two women behind you mean.

“So, you’re leaving.” He says matter-of-factly, and you nod. “Finally.” You smile and roll your eyes. He comes closer and raises his hand at you. You shake it. “We had a good run.”

“We did.” You agree, because he is right. All the bantering, the jokes, him having your back, picking you up while you fell from the sky. It was a pretty good run.

“Ok. I don’t do sentimental.” He says, but still looks at Lena and Kara, nodding like he’s saying hello. “Just make sure she knows that she helped. What she did was very brave, and also somehow very stupid-” He raises his eyebrow at you. “But mostly very brave for someone her age. I’ll be sure to keep in touch whenever I need a little hand here.”

“Maybe with a grown up this time?” Kara says and he waves her off with his hand.

“Nah. I like the kid.” You can see a tiny smile in the corner of his mouth, but he fakes it. So, you hold back your smile too. “Did you guys bring your own portal, or should I call Strange to send you back home?”

Lena shows him their portal, and he agrees with his head.

“Guess you weren’t lying about L Corp.” He says, looking at the logo on the device, and you agree with you head. “Then, expect a bill coming soon.”

“Bye, Mister Playboy.” You wave goodbye and he shuffles pretending to be unbothered by you leaving.

“Bye, smart mouth.”

Lena turns on the device and you’re almost walking through the portal, when you see the rest of the team showing up.

“You forgot to say goodbye to some people.” Stark says and your smile grows wider, looking at everyone in front of you.

Kara looks shocked by the amount of people in the garden, looking sad about you leaving. Her hand goes to your shoulder, protectively and almost scared they’ll take you from her again.

“Hey, kindergarten.” Bucky is the first one to talk. “Thanks for the help out there.”

“Nice work there, kid.” Cap comes forward with his hand raised so you can shake it. You do so. “Thanks for the back-up.” He smiles softly, baby blue eyes turn to your moms, assuring. “Great kid! You should be proud.”

“Forgive me about the kidnapping part.” Strange comes forward and you smile down, while Kara throws a possessive arm around your shoulder, and Lena holds your arm, which makes you smile harder. “She was of great assistance. She fits right in.”

“Superkid, daughter of Kara and Lena, good fight out there. If you're ever in Asgard, come join me for a beer.” Is Thor who talks next.

“Thor, she is a kid.” Banner says, making you, and some other Avengers, laugh.

“Nonsense.” It’s Thor’s answer. “This girl can lift Mjölnir when none of you were worthy enough to do it. For a mighty warrior like her there shouldn’t exist Midgardian rules like such. She can have a beer if she wants to.”

You look up to Lena who discreetly shakes her head in denial to you. You shrug.

“It was nice meeting you, science pal.” Banner says and you smile at that. “Thank you for the lesson about the multiverse.”

“Thank you for the lesson about nuclear physics.”

“Sorry about the gunshot, kid. Nice fight.” Natasha says and you agree with your head. “Your Earth is lucky to have you.”

“Thanks for making fun of Bucky.” Sam fist bumps you and smiles, listening to Bucky mumble something like ‘I made fun of her’. “Oh yeah, and for the fight thing.”

“Here.” Wanda sneaks in something in your pocket and smiles at you. “It’s what you’re thinking.”

“I’ll see you around. Around the grey area, maybe.” You say, hugging her and she hugs you tight for a minute, before letting you go.

“And we’ll survive together.” She agrees with her head, and smiles at you.

“Is that everyone?” Kara asks, looking at you and you agree with your head when you don’t see Vision.

“Excuse me, Superkid. I would like to personally thank you for your help and care towards Wanda.” He appears before you, coming from out of nowhere.

“Vis.” Wanda says, blushing a little.

“I hope we fight together again. It’s always refreshing seeing someone genuinely good in the world.” He says and it’s your time to blush. “I won’t keep talking longer. Your moms must be eager to take you home, as we are to keep you here.”

“She’s going home.” Kara’s firm grip tights around your shoulder.

“Unless she wants to stay.” You hear Stark’s voice and you smile, knowing he is absolutely messing with your moms. “There’s always space in the compound, if she agrees not to break it. And as Strange said, she fits right in.”

“We thank you for your offer.” Lena answers, slowly pulling you and Kara back to the portal. “But we have to go now.”

“Of course. Of course.” Thor says, winking at you. “You obviously can’t stay here, but Asgard waits for you. You call, and I’ll send Bifrost for you.”

“Ok! Well, I don’t know what Bifrost is, but she is not traveling to another planet. Say goodbye now, baby.” Kara asks, squeezing your shoulder and slowly walking backwards.

“Bye ‘the Avengers’! Whenever you guys need a hand, Cape-guy knows where to find me and Thor can send Bifrost! I hope we meet again soon.” You smile, and Kara pulls you into the portal before anyone else says anything.

“Oooof, that was close!” Kara says, after Lena closes the portal behind you, and she looks around to make sure you three are alone. “I actually thought they would keep you right there.” She breathes in relief, when she realizes there’s no reason to worry anymore because you are home. She hugs you tight and Lena joins in the hug too. You three stay there for a few good minutes, until you make motion to move.

“No, no.” Kara says still pulling you in. “We’re still hugging. You’re not going anywhere.”

“Momma.” You look up to her face. “I’m not going anywhere.” You assure her and she lets you go slowly.

“I’m sorry little one, but you made a lot of friends.” She reaches for your cheek, stroking it gently. “And they seem to like you very much. And all of them were so impressed by you that they wanted you to stay.”

“I know!” You beam excitedly. “Even Mister Stark.”

“Yeah!” Kara agrees looking at Lena from the corner of her eyes, and she whispers to your mom. “Who’s Mister Stark?”

“Isn’t he the one that said you did something very brave, but also very stupid?” Lena asks and you open a forced smile at them. They raise their eyebrows at you.

“I may have gone to outer space and kicked off a bomb that would close the connection between the worlds, and I almost died while doing so.” You say with the same forced smile, while they realize what you just said.

“You may have or you did?” Lena raises an eyebrow at you.

“I may have did.” You shrug. “But I didn’t die!”

“You don’t say.” Lena pulls you in for a hug again, kissing your forehead. “Is there a way for you and your momma to save the world without putting yourselves in dying conditions?”

“No.” You and Kara say at the same time, earning a sigh from Lena.

“I’m sorry for making you guys worried. They needed help in this battle and I, well, I helped. And also, Mister Strange said he left a card?” You ask and they agree with their heads.

“It could’ve been more direct, though.” Lena says and she and Kara exchange a look. “But he did leave the directions, at least.”

“So, tell us everything. About everyone. I can’t wait to hear about your adventures.” Kara asks excitedly and you smile feeling the same way.

“Sure. But can it be over pizza?” You raise an eyebrow at them, and they agree with their heads.

You look down to what’s in your pocket, and you pick it up to look at the picture of you and Wanda making funny faces. Next to it a sticky note signed by Mister Playboy himself. You can’t help a wide smile that comes to your lips. Good. It wasn't a very elaborated induced dream from an imp of the fifth dimension. It was real. All of that. The fight, the jokes, the friends. Everything was real.

“Ready, kid?” Kara asks and you put both items back in your pocket.

“I am now.”

Notes:

Thanks @oncemoonie for the prompt, I loved mixing my two passions and I hope you guys liked it too!

174 notes · View notes

giveamadeuschohisownmovie · 3 years

Text

My understanding of the MCU multiverse (based on Loki, Endgame, and some details from the comics):

1) Per Kang’s explanation, the multiverse is comprised of an infinite number of parallel universes, each one different from each other. This is why we have an Alligator Loki and a Loki who decided their main form would be female (Sylvie). These universes were separate from each other until some of them reached the 31st century, when the various Kangs developed technology that allowed them to travel the multiverse.

2) Each universe’s timeline can have branches within them which are created by people’s free will. It’s the classic multiverse theory where for every decision we make, there exists an alternate timeline where we made a different choice. So, think of the universes as threads in this gigantic multiverse rope. A branching timeline is a piece of fiber that broke free from one of the main threads.

3) To simplify points 1 and 2, parallel universes form the main threads in the multiverse rope. The threads are represented by the timelines of each universe. Branching timelines are technically alternate universes that emerged from one of the main universes. Sylvie and 2012 Loki are both branching timeline versions of their main universe counterparts. Obviously, 2012 Loki’s main universe counterpart is MCU Loki. Sylvie’s main universe counterpart remains to be seen, but could be extremely different from the one we’ve been following (maybe she’s a brunette and evil in the Sacred Timeline).

4) Per Professor Hulk, traveling back in time does not change your future. Instead, it creates a branching timeline that doesn’t affect the main thread. I’d like to think of this as the timestream always wanting to move forward. Going back to the past is technically the time traveler moving forward in time since the only reason why they’re in the past to begin with is because of what they did in the present/future.

5) Not all trips to the past create nexus events (moments when the timeline branches) and not all nexus events consists of traveling through time. For example, Wanda Maximoff is a walking nexus event due to her ability to change reality. Also, some actions are so insignificant that they wouldn’t create a branch, such as doing anything in an apocalyptic event since everything will be destroyed anyways.

6) That being said, if the event deviates significantly from what is approved by Kang and the TVA, then the apocalyptic loophole is defeated. We saw this when Loki and Sylvie formed a romance, which went against the concept that Lokis are supposed to be alone. Also, you know...they’re technically both the same person, which would definitely fuck the timeline up. I’d like to think of the lakeside moment between Loki and Sylvie as the timeline glitching out since it couldn’t comprehend how this was happening, thus why this was considered a unique branching timeline.

7) The TVA, created by Kang, exists outside the multiverse. It’s essentially the time police since they manage the timelines of all the universes in the multiverse. Because they are outside the multiverse, “time works differently” there.

8) While we’re not sure why the TVA changed after Sylvie killed He Who Remains, there’s plenty of explanations that don’t necessarily involve time travel. Kang the Conqueror could’ve just conquered the TVA and mind-wiped Mobius and B-15. But how could he have done that so quickly? Well...time works differently in the TVA. What was just a few minutes for Loki could’ve been decades or centuries for Mobius and B-15.

9) Because of the Kang Multiversal War, Kang decided that the best way to restore peace was to regulate the timeline. So what he did was he used Alioth to wipe out the timelines of the enemy Kangs. The surviving universes were reorganized into the “Sacred Timeline”.

10) To explain the Sacred Timeline, think back to how the multiverse works. The multiverse is a rope in which the threads are the alternate universes that form it. The main timeline threads form the Sacred Timeline and are allowed to exist. The branching timelines that form from each thread are pruned by the TVA. For example, let’s say Sacred Timeline Sylvie grows up to be a supervillain, like a typical Loki. The Sylvie we follow in the show is a variant who decided to be a hero. That goes against the main thread, thus why the TVA got involved.

11) The TVA didn’t get involved in the Avengers’ time heist since Kang wrote that it should happen. If that wasn’t the case, then the Avengers would’ve been pruned, thus wiping out FATWS, WandaVision, and Far From Home. So because of this, SOME time traveling is allowed, which makes sense since humanity was bound to discover time travel at some point. However, the TVA has already mapped out all the possible trips through time that will ever be made.

12) While the Avengers were supposed to collect the Infinity Stones, 2012 Loki was not supposed to take the Tesseract. What I think happened here was that Kang wrote that the Avengers were going to fuck up and lose the Tesseract. This doesn’t have to be Loki stealing the Tesseract, it could’ve been something like a SHIELD agent grabbing the Tesseract or Endgame Tony Stark getting noticed and stopped by 2012 Alexander Pierce. So the Avengers still followed the path approved for them in the Sacred Timeline, whereas Loki messed up. Just think about it; 2012 Loki with the Tesseract and roaming free, there’s so much he could’ve done to fuck things up.

13) The only plot point I’m still on the fence about is Steve Rogers in the past. I truly don’t think Old Man Steve was in the main timeline this whole time since that goes against the rules of time travel established by Hulk. Now, if Steve Rogers really did live with Peggy Carter in an alternate timeline, why didn’t the TVA show up and prune him? Well, this could just be another case of Kang making that a part of the Sacred Timeline in the same way the Avengers’ time heist was part of the Sacred Timeline. Because if it weren’t for Steve marrying Peggy in the past, we wouldn’t have Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Steve going back to the past was a necessary point for the Sacred Timeline to continue.

I feel like I’m missing something but I’ll leave this post at that.

45 notes · View notes

whatifxwereyou · 3 years

Text

Ashes Chapter 6: Level-Headed

Pairing: Liu Kang x Reader

You meet Nightwolf. Turns out that he's a really good dude. Liu Kang is still having a tough time but he is seeming at least a bit more like himself. He's got a level-head but now you're the one who can't keep it together. And who could blame you?

A/N: I am just so happy that other people like reading the nonsense I write. I know it's not the best but I'm having fun writing it and it's even more fun getting to enjoy it with people <3 Sorry I'm so sentimental lately. Just feeling really loved and I want to spread that love~

First Chapter << Previous Chapter Next Chapter >> Chapter Index

The next day was awkward but you weren’t biting each other’s heads off at least. You were both too tired, it seemed. Liu Kang had a big red comical handprint on his face that morning but it faded by the afternoon. You were both unhappy but you supposed this might have been progress since you weren’t snapping at each other. Either that or you’d taken ten steps backwards and said things you didn’t mean and had done irreparable damage to your friendship.

By the evening you were drawing close to the spot on the map, or at least you thought you were. “Look.” You gestured to a cabin in the distance. You could barely make it out between the trees. Then there was the howling of wolves and you heard their footfalls running toward you, the shadows of the hulking beasts flittering between the trees. It was only seconds before you were surrounded by wolves enveloped in green mist.

You drew closer to Liu Kang and summoned a sword with your ink. Liu stood at the ready but didn’t summon his fire yet. Neither one of you liked to hurt animals, even when they were aggressive. Besides, the floaty green mist made it seem like you were out of your league with these wolves.

They didn’t attack. Instead the voice of a man broke through their howling and the dogs silenced as he walked amongst them. Tall, with messy dark hair, dark eyes and tan skin, the man’s presence was commanding. This had to be Nightwolf or at least someone in close relation to him.

“What brings you to this place?”

Liu made to speak but you grabbed his arm to silence him. He’d caused more than enough trouble with his mouth the past week and you no longer trusted him. “We’ve come to talk.” You dug in your bag and one of the wolves growled. Intimidated, you felt Liu Kang step before you defensively. You reached into the bag and dug for the wolf charm you’d been given. Then you presented it to the man and the wolves disappeared. The man turned away from you.

“Come.”

You exchanged a nervous glance with Liu who remained tense after you’d interrupted him. He nodded to let you know he was okay and you followed the man into the cabin. “You’re Nightwolf.” Liu Kang wanted to make sure.

“Yes, that is what they call me now. You must be trusted to have been given this location and that trinket.” He addressed you and you offered a polite bow.

“I’m Y/N and this is Liu Kang. We’ve come a long way to talk to you.” For a while, the conversation went smoothly. Liu Kang explained the dragon marking and its significance, showing off his own and having you express that you had one too. He explained the nature of the realms, of Lord Raiden, of the war that was likely coming and that you needed him to speak with Lord Raiden and come train in his temple. You were grateful that Liu Kang had somehow managed to have a civil conversation with someone. One point in the win column against a thousand in the lose column. That was something.

But Nightwolf didn’t seem eager to join you and instead mulled over your information. You couldn’t blame him. This was a lot and some of it was beyond belief without proof. If you hadn’t been thrown into the whole mix against your will, then you would have struggled with it too. You’d had nowhere else to run at the time and had been in over your head with unruly arcana and visions from the past.

“I have a duty here in America. I’ll have to think about it.” At least he was honest.

And reasonable. Leaving everything that he’d ever known was a huge decision. It didn’t mean that he wouldn’t return someday but there was also a chance that he would die. What you did was dangerous. Your lives tended to be short. You held your bag a little closer.

“I’m to bring you to Raiden’s Temple. I won’t leave without you.” Liu was sounding harsh again so you sighed. Maybe that was why Raiden had sent you together. Liu Kang was too grief stricken and angry to do his job on his own and you were too swept up in guilt to stay focused. You balanced each other in a horrible way.

“That decision is not yours to make, friend.” Nightwolf was incredibly respectful considering Liu Kang’s tone but the air became tense.

“I understand your hesitation, but would you give me a chance to try and convince you? You have a little time to think about it but we’re not sure how much. The longer you get to train the better off we’ll be. We have no idea how long before Outworld strikes again.” You tried to play mediator. Liu Kang’s hand grasped your arm and you nearly snarled in anger but somehow managed to get yourself together.

“We don’t have time for this, Y/N.” Liu scolded you.

“We do. You’re being impatient. Take a breath.” You narrowed your eyes at him dangerously.

“Excuse me, then.” He gritted his teeth and walked out the door, slamming it behind him. His temper was out of control. You winced at the sound of the door slamming. You missed him. You wanted him to be okay.

“I’m sorry. It’s been difficult. This war has taken a toll on us all.” You offered an excuse and a smile.

“He seems troubled.”

“He’s a good man, I promise. Just having a hard time right now.”

“You seem troubled.” Nightwolf added with a knowing glance. He was a good judge of character. He was calming and you were grateful for that because you had enough frustration from Liu’s attitude. If you snapped, it would have made Liu Kang’s poor attitude look like child’s play.

“And I’ll be okay too.”

“So, tell me, Miss Y/N. Why do you think that I should help you?”

“Well, it’s not me that you’re helping, that’s why. It’s not us. Earthrealm is our home, warts and all. If we have any strength then we have a responsibility to protect it in any way that we can, no matter what that means.”

“A wise answer.” He smiled and you were relieved. “Is that why you do this?”

“Ultimately, yes.” You had found, over the years, that honesty was the best policy. There were plenty of times where it didn’t work, but Nightwolf seemed to be looking for honesty. You had a feeling he would be able to tell if you lied. “I was sort of thrust into this at first. I had nowhere to go after my mark and so I was brought to Raiden’s Temple, which I fought, and then I was too sick to leave. I fought at first because I didn’t know what else to do. I was lost. But with time and understanding, I found that no matter what other reasons I had, I would fight to protect the place and people that I loved. This is my home, and I am willing to die to keep it safe.”

“But you weren’t at first?”

It felt like a test, and you hoped beyond hope that you were passing. You’d failed enough the last few months, you couldn’t risk another check in that column.

“I was overwhelmed with the scope of the danger and truth of all this. In the beginning, I treated it kind of like a joke because I didn’t understand. I knew, deep down, that it was the right thing to do but I had no other reason than that. That changed, of course. I think it’s normal to want to think it over. Liu Kang thinks it is too, he’s just not himself right now. I hope that you don’t judge him too harshly for his temper. It’s not like him.”

“I appreciate your honesty, Y/N.” He stood and walked to the counter, picking up a clear bottle filled with tan liquid. “You look like you could use a drink.”

“You have no idea.” You laughed and he joined you in having one. As long as you weren’t with Liu, there was no risk of you making another stupid mistake. And as long as one didn’t become ten, the risk of that was even lower.

Nightwolf turned out to be a kind and interesting man. He had struggled with his mark because the mark meant that he was special. You understood how that felt. Embracing the fate of something beyond your control had scared you too, but it had been worth it in the end. You listened to him as he shared his story and you shared a drink. You were a good listener. You always had been, and he seemed to appreciate the ear.

When your glasses were drained, he took them and set them aside which you were grateful for. “There are couches and some blankets that are open to you and your friend. I’ll make my decision as soon as I can, but I make no promises as to what that decision might be. You have been patient with me, and I appreciate that patience. I will do what I can.”

“This is a big decision but time is of the essence. Still, I want you to take that time.” You wouldn’t push him into giving up his life as he knew it to travel halfway across the world. You wouldn’t push anyone who didn’t deserve pushing. You also had the feeling that he was going to help. He seemed like a kind and powerful man whose motives were morally aligned with yours. You were grateful for that. So many with the dragon marking had wound up being scumbags.

“Thank you. Get some rest, Y/N.”

“I will. You too.” You watched him leave and then were left alone in the kitchen. You set your bag down on the smaller couch and walked outside. There was a firepit near the house and several overturned logs that served as benches. You sat on one of the logs and faced away from the firepit. The sky was overcast that night so you couldn’t see the stars but watching the clouds was soothing too.

Then Liu Kang sat next to you.

This was all too familiar now. You watched the clouds and were at peace for a short time.

“I’m apologizing again.”

“Oh. What for now?” You couldn’t help it. The sarcasm came out. He mulled it over as if to be thinking through the list of nonsense that he’d done in the last few days that he had to apologize for. Then he gestured back to the cabin.

“Being a jerk about this whole thing, for one.”

“That is just not specific enough, I’m afraid.” You turned to him.

“Being short with Nightwolf. He deserved time to mull it over.”

“I know he did. You know he did. You’ve got to figure out this temper that you’ve developed, Liu.”

“I don’t know where it came from. I always had such control.” He slumped his shoulders.

“You’re grieving.”

“Yeah, but so are you and you aren’t jumping down everyone’s throats for no reason.”

“Not when you’re looking, at least.” You were still angry with him even if he seemed willing to talk. He’d upset you. An apology wasn’t enough.

“I’ve got to get it together.” He held his head in his hands and pushed his hair back, disgusted with himself. The sound he made would have been funny if you hadn’t been a terrible mixture of mad at him and worried for him.

“Do you know what I keep thinking? What I keep wishing for?”

“Kung Lao to be back?” He said in a tired drone.

“No. I keep hoping that you find peace. I’m crushed by his death, Liu, but you’re broken.” You watched the clouds again. You wanted him to be okay, but you couldn’t be an emotional punching bag for him to figure it out with. He watched you and you could feel his eyes taking you in longer than they should have. He scooted closer. He probably didn’t believe you, and you couldn’t blame him.

“Your being here helps.”

Bullshit.

You laughed in disbelief. Liu Kang radiated with fire and you knew that feeling all too well and scooted a little away.

“Really? Because I feel like I’m actively making it worse.”

“Well, it’s complicated, isn’t it?”

“That’s a good word for it.”

“You remind me of him. You make it real. But also, you’re my friend. You were more than that.” He shrugged, clasping his hands in front of him, elbows on his knees. “We never really talked about it and it made things so hard.”

“We’re talking right now. We’ve talked and yelled a lot the last few days.” You were tired of talking about your grief in vague niceties. You were tired of being comforting. Of fighting.

“Not Kung Lao. Not grief.” He gestured between you and then returned his hands to his knees as if he had more control of them there. “About this.” You sighed heavily. Hadn’t you slapped him real hard about it the night before? “About what it was before you decided on Kung Lao.”

“I didn’t decide anything, remember? We did talk about it, Liu Kang. And you said that it wasn’t like it meant anything. That I didn’t owe you anything. A keep the change sort of comment. Remember?” You didn’t want to talk about it. You were so tired of fighting with him. It felt endless. How could Raiden do this to you? Why? Had you offended him in some way? Had your grief over Kung Lao not been loud and sad enough? “It doesn’t matter what you meant then, Liu, because that was what I was left with and so that was what I believed for years.”

“Except that I did that for Kung Lao. Do I not get to talk about it?”

“Sometimes it’s better to leave the past in the past and move on.”

“Except that it isn’t the past anymore, Y/N.” He grabbed your arm and urged you to look at him. You stiffened up. “I guess that you were hoping we’d just never talk about the other night. You keep running off. I tried to say something in the motel but you shut me down hard.”

“You can’t do this.” You struggled to speak without your voice trembling. His eyes were so dark and sad and full of fire, his lips twitching in a way where you couldn’t take your eyes off of them. “You can’t just bring it up whenever it’s convenient for you. You can’t just… wreck my emotions on repeat because you’re grieving. I’m grieving too.”

“Yeah, well you can’t just crawl into my bed and leave a bunch of scars down my back and then fuck off because it’s convenient for you.”

You were exasperated and threw your hands up in frustration. “We were drunk! Obliterated!”

“I wasn’t that drunk. I remember, Y/N.”

“Yeah, well I was. It was a mistake, Liu Kang. A grievous, drunken error that has only made things exponentially more difficult. I was sad and vulnerable and wasted. I made a mistake, okay? So maybe, just maybe, you can eat some of those lies you told me years ago. It’s not like it meant anything.” You spat with some venom and were surprised with yourself, covering your mouth after you’d said it. Oh, that hurt.

“I’m done lying, Y/N. I was never good at it. You’re not either.” He hadn’t yelled at you, which surprised you. In fact, he seemed to have a level head on more than you did. “It wasn’t a mistake for me. I knew what I was doing. I get that you’re trying to hurt me because you’re mad and grieving.” He said that in such an annoying way that you could have smacked him again. “But I’m saying now what I should have said all those years ago. It meant something. It meant something then and I knew what would happen if I went through with it the other night and I chose to anyway.” Liu was going to kill you at this rate. You were just going to drop dead. “Maybe I needed to feel something other than angry and sad. Maybe I thought I should try and undo something I regretted.”

Why was he so level-headed? Why, in this moment, had he managed to keep back his temper? If you could just yell at each other and hate each other it would be so much easier. But you didn’t hate him, you were torn between wanting to shake some sense into him and kiss him and it was so frustrating. Kissing him would only leave you more hurt but it seemed like the easier option too. You didn’t. You fought it, even if he seemed to be drawing closer. The tension of Liu Kang was so thick you could barely breathe.

“It was a mistake, Liu.” Your words were shaky but you tried to stand your ground. You’d beaten yourself up over this for too long and there he was, making it so much more complicated.

“Was it, Y/N? It didn’t feel like it was. It didn’t sound like it was.” His voice was low and serious and you felt your stomach twist into knots. “Look me in the eyes and tell me it was a mistake. That it was all a mistake. That it didn’t crush you when I said that all those years ago? That it had ever stopped being passionate between us even when we weren’t together. Tell me that. Look me in the eye and tell me that’s your truth and I will drop it.” He grasped your cheek and urged you to look him in the eyes.

You tried.

You couldn’t.

You were going to burst into tears at this rate and then he’d hold you and kiss you and you’d end up making this even more complicated and you couldn’t do that. Not right now. Not when he’d taken everything you’d known as truth and thrown it out the window. “I’m grieving Kung Lao and...” You couldn’t finish it. You couldn’t because it had never been a mistake to you back then. He was the one who had drawn the line in the sand. You’d just believed what he’d wanted you to believe for Kung Lao’s sake. And the other night was not something you remembered. There were only flashes of hot and sweaty lovemaking and all that version of you had felt was pleasure. Liu pulled his hand back and sighed.

“Figures that you would honor his memory more than think about yourself. He’d remind you that you were a terrible liar.”

You wiped your eyes as they betrayed you with tears and struggled to find words that didn’t involve crying or sobbing. You didn’t want to cry in front of him, damnit. You didn’t want to cry because of him. “This isn’t fair. It isn’t fair, Liu Kang. You can’t just… I can’t take much more.”

“I’m not trying to mess with your head, Y/N. I’m not trying to hurt you. You feel guilty but you don’t have any reason to. You think I don’t feel guilty? It’s eating me up. But we owe it to ourselves, don’t we? To figure it out?”

“Why are you being like this? Why now? Why?” You wiped furiously at your eyes. Stupid tears. You were so tired of your eyes being puffy and painful all the time. Stupid Liu Kang and his stupid emotions and his stupid whirlwind of honesty and misplaced anger. Stupid Kung Lao, dying and leaving you to deal with this. Stupid Raiden not sending you alone.

“I think that you turned down Kung Lao’s proposal because you were worried that maybe you still had feelings for me and had to figure that out first.”

That was the last straw. You broke.

You hated that it was partially true. You’d never stopped being attracted to him and that had become painfully obvious. What a selfish reason it had been to turn down the love of a man who had been dedicated to you and you alone. You swore that your heart was shutting down, it was beating so hard. He had you confused. Was that part of the reason? You didn’t know because you hadn’t been given the chance to figure it out. The truth was that you probably would have married Kung Lao. You would have talked about your plans for the future, what he saw of it, what you saw of it, and then accepted his proposal. You hadn’t turned it down because you didn’t love him. You had turned it down because you’d needed to talk. You were less spontaneous than Kung Lao had been. The only reason he’d needed was love and you’d needed to know more details. That was it. Liu Kang was making you overthink in ways you hadn’t in years.

“I can’t do this.” You stood and Liu grabbed your arm before you could leave. His fingers brushed down your wrist and to your hand and he gave you a look as if begging you to stay. It was killing you.

“We can’t avoid this forever.”

“I let you have your time to process this bullshit, Liu Kang and you are going to let me have mine.” He didn’t let you go. His grip tightened on your hand as if afraid to let you walk away, as if you would never come back. “Liu Kang?”

“Don’t go, Y/N.”

“You will let go of me right this instant.” You avoided his eyes. “You have ignored my feelings in favor of yours for long enough tonight. Let me go.”

Liu’s grip tightened but then he very suddenly let go and turned away with a bow of his head. “Of course, Y/N.”

The panic as you marched back inside the cabin and sat down on the couch was killing you. You held your head in your hands. What were you supposed to do with this? You had to calm down, first and foremost. Thankfully, Liu didn’t follow you inside and you had some peace and quiet but your thoughts weren’t much better than his argument had been.

You’d fucked up.

It would have been so much easier if neither one of you felt anything. It would have been easier if he had been as drunk as you had been. It would have been easier if you could continue believing that it really had meant nothing. It had never meant nothing to you. It had crushed you and taken you months to recover from that sadness with no one to talk to about it. You may not have remembered the other night but you remembered him from all those years ago.

The hot nights, the times you’d spent devoted to each other’s bodies, tangled up in his sheets or in yours. He’d made you feel sexy and forbidden, something beyond desire that no one else had ever made you feel. You hated those memories for so long that it was hard to feel any way other than that.

You loved Kung Lao.

But would you have even gotten the chance to if Liu Kang hadn’t said what he’d said? You had this connection, this fire that you couldn’t put out even after years of letting it simmer down. Even now when you’d fought, you had known that if you didn’t get out of there then you would have given into that passion, that instinct. What a mess of a human being you were. You curled up on the couch and this time you didn’t pull your bag close to you. You couldn’t think about Kung Lao when you were like this.

Next Chapter >>

#liu kang x reader #self insert #reader insert #liu kang #mk liu kang #mortal kombat movie #mortal kombat 2021 #ludi lin #liu kang/reader #liu kang x you #liu kang/you #fanfic #fanfiction #angst #romance #death #tension #grief #beauty through ash

45 notes · View notes

sserpente · 4 years

Note

8 & 29 for the Loki asks 💚 I know the Ragnarok topic can be extremely polarizing, so no pressure to answer that one if you'd rather not!

8: Are you anti Ragnarok or Pro Ragnarok?

I am absolutely fine with answering it but I decided to put this one under a keep reading tag to avoid negativity, haha! ♥ So, the thing is, I don’t hate Ragnarok. I watch the film a lot and I devour the Loki moments like a starved vampire. It’s a good movie and it’s entertaining to watch--but it has its weaknesses. Of course, these are just my personal thoughts and opinions, so here we go:

Decisions were made about Thor that I do not like (I feel like he sort of went back to his old arrogant arsehole-self from the beginning of the first Thor film and the fact he just left Loki behind with the obedience disk on was very out of character. I mean, of course he would try and betray him after Thor tells him that their paths diverged a long time ago and that Loki should indeed stay on Sakaar rather than asking him to return home with him. Loki knew that if he joined Thor nothing at all would change, he would still be treated like a villain with “imagined slights” and Loki would continue to live in Thor’s shadow. He’d rather stay on Sakaar then and make himself comfortable with the bounty he’d get for Thor and at the very same time know his brother safe given he saw with his own eyes what Hela is capable of. See this answer for more on what I think about Loki’s motivation, if you’re interested. ♥

So let’s face it: Tom slayed it. Tom saved Loki and made it possible for me to make sense of his character arc and actions (like him having time to heal and appearing more blithe because of his time spent as Odin on Asgard during Thor’s absence) despite what Taika decided to do.

Loki was humiliated and bullied throughout the movie to the point they made him look weak and powerless (and as I have mentioned in a previous question, as someone who has been bullied before, this is absolutely not okay or funny in any way), there were quite a few contradictions (such as Valkyrie calling Loki out for “feeling the sudden urge to do the right thing” when that was literally what she did five minutes ago) and the amount of improvisation created a few plot holes that could have been avoided as well as OOC characters--I personally don’t really recognise Thor and Bruce Banner anymore, even if the latter went a little bananas after being the Hulk for so long. Just compare Bruce Banner in “The Avengers” to Bruce Banner in “Ragnarok”. Completely different people!

The fact that Loki was the “butt of the joke” like Tom put it himself is the only fear I somehow still had for the Loki TV series, I must admit, and I hope that they won’t make him a bad ruler (since in the VOTE LOKI comics, he loses the election), for he truly isn’t, there is enough proof of that. Loki is smart and mischievous and he is always two steps ahead and most of all, he is one of the most powerful characters in the MCU. ♥

29: Do you have any Loki merch?

Ohhh yes. Where do I even start? I consider myself extremely lucky that I am in the financial position of being able to purchase Loki fan merch that makes me happy every now and then and by telling you about all the Loki things that I own, I do not want to make anyone feel bad about themselves or let alone brag. The stuff I own I started collecting in 2017 so it has been a few years and a lot of things were gifts too, please keep that in mind. I might actually make a TikTok about all the Loki things that I own at some point because let me tell you, it’s a lot.

I have a Loki mug, Loki slippers, Loki socks, Loki pyjamas, a few Loki t-shirts, two Loki dresses, two Loki jackets, two Loki pullovers, a Loki bag, a Loki pen, a Loki wallet, a handful of Funko Pops and Loki figurines as well as my homemade Tesseract, Loki’s sceptre that my dad made for me and a homemade mouse pad, several books, three Loki plush toys, two Loki pillows and Loki jewellery (including rings and necklaces, a Loki head piece, and the “Loki for president” badge that I designed myself). *gasps for air* The next item on my list is an actual costume. ♥

18 notes · View notes

overclocksaa · 3 years

Text

oh boy, are we talking about founding avengers? (mostly bc i agree with taylor like this is one of the only universes where this kind of thing actually fucking matters.)

the avengers aren’t some government / international initiative, okay, they’re a non-profit. and they’re basically a non-profit because tony stark was involved (as an interested observer loaning out his bodyguard to be on the team and his fifth avenue mansion as a headquarters, and giving them money to operate with, and... - that’s the story he told everyone because tony is, at his heart, a dumbass). there was no plan to put together a superhero team, it just kind of happened. it was kismet. there’s tons of comics that cover it from literally every angle and in more detail than the original avengers #1 and it’s fun little trip to see these green as fuck superheros take on loki and decide, hey. this teamwork thing is kind of neat.

the name avengers has nothing to do with carol danvers, she didn’t come in as an avenger until a later iteration of the team (and at the time was ms. marvel, there have been a couple of other captain marvels before her, and she also used to have psychic powers - hey guys, remember when carol had psychic powers). janet van dyne (the wasp) was the one to coin the name avengers. hank pym (giant man / ant-man) seconded it. and that was fucking that. they were the avengers.

the founding line up is important in relation to the 616 avengers, because 1. it does not include black widow and hawkeye (who really got started as iron man villains, tbh, they were in tales of suspense for a while), and 2. founding status has special dispensations in 616. if you’re a founding member, you have certain privileges other members don’t, considering, you know, you started this dog and pony show. kamala in anad points a bit of this out when tony’s talking about them all coming together as a team (them being jane foster!thor, sam wilson!cap, vision, kamala, miles, and little sam!nova), because tony - at that point - is the only current founding member active at the time, so it’s his call to do it or not. like they have little perks that only come by that mythical status, and it does actually matter because there’s...something of a seniority clause? i guess? like avengers organization is very loose but being a founder on the team has weight, and there are a few positions that come with being an avenger, because you have both a chairman and a field commander. chairman swaps from avenger to avenger, everyone has a turn at that hot seat (tony hated it for the record, at some point i’ll go dig up some stuff but it’s right before the korvac saga and it’s why tony can’t let the korvac saga go and why generally you literally never see him act as chairman again - he was chairman when it went down, steve had been nitpicking his every decision and basically making him feel like shit about the job he was doing, and then korvac went and killed them all, so fun times! this also includes the time tony tried to explain himself to steve by trying to reveal his secret identity to steve and steve alone so he’d understand why he was running around like a chicken with its head cut off and steve wouldn’t let him, it was just a whole ass mess, guys.). field commander is usually steve, but also:

steve? is not really a founding member? he’s grandfathered in because when they found him they were still shiny and new and he’s captain america, but he wasn’t actually there for the formation of the team. his signature is not on the original charter (which actually exists, along with the avengers by-laws, they tell you a lot about how the avengers as a whole work).

instead, the actual founders are iron man (tony stark), the wasp (janet van dyne), giant man (hank pym - he’s gone through 8503986039463 superhero names but he was giant man at the time), thor (donald blake), and the hulk (bruce banner). that’s it. that’s all. and that would stay it until they found steve (the avengers found steve in the ice looking for bruce, not shield, shield is its own thing entirely), and then that would be it minus the hulk for a good long stretch until literally all of the founding members peaced out for some personal time and steve ended up leading the team known as cap’s kooky quartet, which was captain america (steve rogers), hawkeye (clint barton), scarlet witch (wanda maximoff), and quicksilver (pietro maximoff). there’s some kind of mythical status there, too, because they were technically the second iteration of the avengers and that matters, too, they just...don’t get privileges.

anyway, this is a long, drawn out way to say that if you’re one of the first six, you get special deferment. like your vote still counts the same and otherwise you’re just like everyone else unless it comes to certain things wherein you have things like veto powers, etc., because the avengers is your baby. it doesn’t get used much like...literally at all, but it’s there, it’s a possibility, and its typically the founders that get used in tony stark decorating 101, thanks for coming.

#. about #. earth's mightiest | avengers #// because tony always decorates with the founding members #// that huge nostalgic streak he has you know #// anyway like it's not even a big deal you can blink and miss it #// which is how rarely it's used #// but it exists #// so that's that on that like #// i know i have a post somewhere on an archive about it but i'm lazy and also #// i think this is good enough so here #// let me piggyback off taylor and tl;dr at you

8 notes · View notes

thebibliomancer · 4 years

Text

Essential Avengers: Avengers Annual #12: MOONRISE

September, 1983

Earth’s Mightiest Heroes battle -- the Moon’s Mightiest Heroes... The Uncanny Inhumans!

With the population of the Moon being just the Inhumans plus Uatu, that’s kind of an overly narrow superlative.

But I do love this cover! The Avengers all forming a big A? Good stuff!

So the timeline of this annual is all kinds of screwed up.

It was released in September and published in November (whatever that means) but its supposed to pre-date Fantastic Four #254.

FF #254 and Avengers #232 overlap. In fact, FF #254 coming out in May and Avengers #232 share the scene where She-Hulk bonks off an invisible wall with what seems to be the same dialogue.

But despite meeting Reed in this Annual, he doesn’t recognize new Captain Marvel in Fantastic Four #256.

But this has to happen before Avengers #233 and FF #254-256. Due to changes that are going to take place in and after that story but also has the FF show up in costume changes that will take place during the listed period.

Its also weird from the Avengers standpoint because Starfox is part of the Avengers in this annual but he just joined in #232 and got sent on his first mission which happens at the same time as She-Hulk is bonking off that invisible wall.

So it makes no sense anywhere but I’ll cover it here to get it out of the way so I can cover Avengers #233 and FF #254-256 in one post, heavily summarizing down on the FF as its not as relevant.

So long story short: this issue fits weirdly in the timeline but lets get it over with.

The issue starts with the Avengers being secretly escorted before the UN Security Council FOR THE TRIAL INFORMAL HEARING OF THE FANTASTIC FOUR!

Why?

Reasons.

Inhuman-related reasons.

In an area usually masked with lunar dust, the SHIELD space platform discovered a whole ass city on the Moon, distinct from the whole ass city that already existed on the Moon.

A city full of all kinds of fantastical life.

Guy who is not Gyrich: “Clearly, the region heretofore known only as the Blue Area, is not only habitable -- it is inhabited by a race of beings possessed of incredible science, technology, and, it appears, superhuman powers! Beings, honored ambassadors, who are not human!”

Ambassador Gregorovich: “Da! Inhabiting Earth’s Moon in a strategic orbital position -- but not human!”

Mr Fantastic: “No, Ambassador Gregorovich, the occupants of the city of Attilan are not human. They are... the INHUMANS!”

Reed... why do you think this is helpful?

He then decides to give their entire ass backstory. Explaining how they were humans once but then aliens came and did some experiments on early human and created a genetic offshoot who became known as the Inhumans.

How the Inhumans kept their numbers low and avoided contact with humans by hiding in various places, including the Himalayas.

The Chinese ambassador complains that the Fantastic Four knew about this entire ass city in China’s backyard but didn’t report it.

Reed defends the decision because the Inhumans just wanted to be left alone. And also that for a long while the city was stuck under a dome and incapable of posing a threat to the outside world.

How when the dome was broken by Black Bolt’s mighty voice, the Inhumans continued to want to be left alone but were eventually attacked by a group called the Enclave while at the same time being struck weak to a mysterious illness called POLLUTION.

And how to escape POLLUTION, the Inhumans just fuckin’ moved their entire ass city to the Moon.

Cap: “The perfect solution!”

Wasp: “Was it, Cap?”

She-Hulk: “If it were, I have a hunch we wouldn’t be here today!”

Heh. Love the peanut gallerying.

The Security Council objects too because the FF enabled a secret super human race to live on the Moon, which is a great strategic location for attacking the Earth. Just look at any number of sci-fi.

Of course, this argument is slightly undermined by the Inhumans and their ridiculously long track record of minding their own business.

It’s pretty notable that when modern human pollution threatened their entire race, they just shrugged and moved to the Moon.

But despite that, the Security Council needs reassurance that the Inhumans pose no threat to Earth.

The Fantastic Four offer to go to the Moon and talk to the Inhumans but the Security Council says no on the basis of ‘you’ve done enough already’ and says that the Avengers will go instead.

I was wondering what any of this had to do with the Avengers!

I’m actually surprised that the entire Security Council agrees to send the Avengers. Earlier, Ambassador Gregorovich was complaining that Security Council had called American Superhero Team Avengers to the hearing of American Superhero Team the Fantastic Four.

You’d expect him to at least insist that some Russian superheroes be sent too.

Which would be cool, honestly.

The Soviet Super-Soldiers had been introduced a couple years before. Coulda done a combination Soviet Super-Soldiers and Avengers mission. Or heck, superheroes from each member of the Security Council.

I understand why Mantlo didn’t do that since this is pretty much a done in one Avengers vs Inhumans slugfest and what I”m proposing really complicates things. But he also created the Super-Soldiers so it just feels like it works.

Anyway, the Security Council sends the Avengers on a fact finding mission to determine whether the UN will enter into a treaty with the Inhumans on the Moon.

As ya do.

The Avengers travel to the MOON in one of the space quinjets that they have for flying to the Moon.

Also, at some point they picked up Scarlet Witch and Vision. I guess for the former’s ties to the Inhumans through Quicksilver.

The Avengers are met on the MOON by the Inhumans Royal Family, aka the only important ones. I know that there’s an entire city of these dinguses but whenever anyone says “the Inhumans” they usually just mean the royal family.

Anyway, its been a while since the Avengers and Inhumans had a get together, so Cap introduces the Inhumans to the Newest Avengers: She-Hulk, Captain Marvel (2.0), and Starfox.

We get some New To This Sort of Thing from Monica as she marvels, captainly, that she’s actually on the Moon!

Then Crystal shows off her new baby Luna. Named for the Moon. Like how sometimes people name babies Gaia, no doubt. Or Tara.

She-Hulk: “Quicksilver and Crystal’s baby? Oh, gee! She’s so... cute!”

Wasp: “You sound almost envious, She-Hulk!”

Wasp, pls. Just let Jen compliment someone’s baby without ascribing motives.

Quicksilver also has an awkward greeting with Scarlet Wanda and Vision.

Because actually they were on the Moon recently. Where they learned that Magneto Is Secretly Wanda and Pietro’s Father.

And Wanda is not really ready to come to terms with that.

If she waits long enough, she’ll never have to because the retcon pendulum swung the other way eventually and now he’s not their father. And since he was an albatross hanging around their necks, necks that weren’t unburdened by albatrosses already, I can’t say I’m upset about it.

And Also: he never did any parenting of them. He swooped in when they were full ass grown adults and tried to act like their relationship meant anything aside from the whole coercing into terrorism and making Wanda sexy dance for him parts.

Most of the people that are big upset that Magneto was retconned away from being their dad never gave a shit about the man who actually raised them.

Poor Django Maximoff.

Anyway, that’s a long rant to establish that now is when John Byrne’s masterplan to have Magneto and Quicksilver related because they have the same haircut finally came to fruition.

His plan to make Sandman and Norman Osborn related is still pending at the time of this issue.

And the impact of that (Magneto reveal) is a recent bombshell to Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, and Vision.

It doesn’t really affect anything in this issue though.

Annnyway.

Medusa asks whether the Avengers really popped up to the Moon for a social call but Cap says sadly no.

That they’re here because the various Earth governments aren’t happy that the Inhumans are looking down on them from space.

Gorgon and Karnak are a bit upset about this because they had to flee Earth because of all the human pollutions humans were polluting and now humans have sent people to hassle them at their change of address.

Wanda and Wasp smooth things over by saying that they’re just here to assure each other that humans (and mutants and etc) and peacefully coexist with Inhumans across the small vastness of space.

Black Bolt steps forward to react to this offer by doing a shrug which is interpreted as the open hands of peace and friendship.

Wasp: “The open hands of peace and friendship? We’ll tell the nations of Earth they’ve nothing to fear, Black Bolt!”

Cool beans.

Although, I’m pretty sure that the UN expected more than a... uh... ‘we cool?’ exchange.

I believe the term used was “fact-finding mission.” But whatever.

Lets instead talk about fashion, briefly.

Most of the Avengers and Inhumans are wearing the sort of thing that they always wear. But Wasp is wearing an outfit I’ll call ‘the Magneto variant of her ripoff Molecule Man costume.’

The one usually in green and purple except its in red and purple. It looks good on her. But her new (80s?) haircut looks good too. Its maybe a lady’s mullet? But whatever it is, Janet is rocking it.

On the other hand we have She-Hulk who is wearing an aerobics-chic type costume complete with legwarmers. She also was interested in an aerobics instructor job several issues ago. I do not know what’s going on with her lately.

The 80s, maybes.

The Inhumans take the Avengers on a tour of Moon Attilan wherein Lockjaw becomes very enamored with Starfox and would, if this were a modern comic where sensibilities have shifted more crass, probably try humping his leg.

He is very fond of Eros.

Anyway, the Inhumans decide to take the Avengers to the Royal Crypt because I don’t know.

Its kind of morbid for a tour of the city to show the Avengers the crystal coffin that contains the dead, deceased body corpse of Maximus (the Mad). Like, what the heck, the Inhumans.

I guess its important for plot reasons to establish that its here.

But what the heck, the Inhumans??

Medusa exposits that Maximus is the one who initiated the Enclave attack on Attilan that preceded moving to the Moon! But while all of the Inhumans were stricken with pollution sickness, Maximus seemingly had a change of heart and turned against the Enclave, saving Attilan at the cost of his own life.

Maximus is very like a dumber, less charismatic Loki in a lot of most of the ways.

Having doomed and then saved the Inhumans, they honor him by putting him in a crystal box right at the front of the crypt so everyone can look at it.

Weird.

When the Inhumans and Avengers are leaving the crypt, Lockjaw becomes confused and intrigued by a familiar scent from the crystal box and then doggy glares suspiciously at Black Bolt.

Then, as the doors to the crypt are shut, Maximus’ eyes open as he screams internally forever.

So that’s a thing.

A kind of easy to unravel the mystery of thing.

Because, just saying, the Inhumans have the same plots over and over. And I mean narrative plots and scheme plots.

With everything be settled forever by one tour where they looked at a dead body and the Inhumans definitely being no threat to Earth at all ever no way, She-Hulk vows that she’ll use all of her legal experience to present a brief to the UN defending the Inhumans’ right to inhabit the Moon.

In fairness, I don’t think they signed the treaty saying not to weaponize space so...

Now: its time to party down.

Annnnnd its kind of a half-hearted affair.

Half the people are standing around moodily instead of partying. Like Quicksilver and Medusa are glaring at each other. Black Bolt is doing what Black Bolt do and just sitting on his throne.

I know he can’t talk but he can dance, right? Or does that shatter mountains too?

In fact, only She-Hulk and Triton are dancing and Triton is ruining it by making fish puns.

Wait, this side of the party looks a lot cooler!

What the heck, was there an option to have this sweet butterfly lady as a recurring Inhuman all along and they never took it? What the heck!

Anyway, a few of the background Inhumans including sweet butterfly lady are all over Starfox and his come-hither psychic powers.

Meanwhile, Cap takes some time to stare at Black Bolt not enjoying himself.

Scarlet Witch goes over to Medusa and verbally notices she looks bummed. She confesses that Black Bolt has become aloof and distant since they came to the... Moon...

HOW THE HECK WOULD YOU TELL?

Anyway. Wanda tells Vision she’s concerned for those two crazy kids but Vision wants nothing to do with anyone else’s drama.

Scarlet Witch: “Vision, I’m concerned for Medusa and Black Bolt.”

Vision: “As am I... But it is their affair... For them to resolve. We are here simply as ambassadors of peace, my wife, nothing more.”

Scarlet Witch: “But...”

Vision: “Nothing more.”

She-Hulk decides that the thing to do at a party is obviously to go pet the host’s dog. I mean, that’s why people socialize, right? To pet dogs?

But Lockjaw is upset over something and teleports next to Black Bolt so he can growl in his general direction.

The narration says “But what Lockjaw knows... he dares not tell... yet.”

I hope this isn’t during the period where it was canon that Lockjaw wasn’t an Inhuman dog, he was an Inhuman that looked like a dog that everyone treated as a pet despite being as intelligent as any of them.

That was a weird time.

Thankfully retconned to be just a prank that Karnak and Gorgon were pulling on the Thing.

Weird prank but sure.

Later, after the party, Medusa wakes from a fitful sleep to stare dramatically into the night and drama fret over the rift growing between her and Black Bolt.

But Black Bolt has gone to the crypt where he leans in to speak to Maximus’ crystal coffin.

Weirdly, him speaking doesn’t break everything like it usually is known to do.

Perhaps a cluuuue.

Black Bolt (?) asks Maximus (?) if he’s sleeping well and then tells him he must be off to the secret staircase hidden under the crystal coffin.

As ya do.

Elsewhere, Scarlet Witch wakes with a start because her vaguely magically mutant powers have given her a DREAM VISION OF EARTH UNDER ATTACK

Also: I’m always amused when the comic remembers that Vision’s costume is a costume that he can take off. Enjoy some Vision fanservice.

Vision tries to tell Wanda that it was just a dream and that she shouldn’t be afraid of dreams because Logic but then Captain America runs by the room shouting AVENGERS ASSEMBLE because a distress call came from SHIELD about the EARTH being UNDER ATTACK.

Just like Wanda’s dream.

Maybe try not to invalidate Wanda, Vizh.

Anyway, moon rocks are being flung at Earth and you’ll never guess from where!

From the Moon!

The Avengers are obviously not really but kinda implying that the Inhumans might know something about it

But before pointing fingers, Wasp tells Thor to go intercept the moon rocks since he’s the only one fast and buff enough to do it. Also he can hold his breath like a real long time.

Because, yeah, he explicitly has to take a deep breath of Moon air before launching into space.

Out in space, Thor sees where the moon rocks are being launched from (doesn’t look like from Attilan so that’s something) but he’s too busy launching Mjolnir to pulverize some rocks and punching other rocks to follow them to their source.

Also, onslought.

That’s possibly a typo but I like to believe that onslought is just how its spelled in Marvel so that Onslaught is an even stupider name.

But the onslought of rocks is too rapid for Thor to make any headway. For every rock he shatters, there’s two more behind it.

So he’s out of the plot and punching rocks for a while.

Meanwhile, now its the time to point fingers.

The Inhumans are getting pretty defensive at the suggestion that the moon rocks that are being launched from the moon might be from the moon and therefore that the Inhumans might possibly be involved as they are the only ones who live on the Moon except Uatu. And Uatu wouldn’t launch a moon rock unless he could find a way that it wouldn’t be counting as interfering.

Like maybe if it landed on Frank Castle’s family.

Gorgon: “I do not like being accused of betrayal, Karnak!”

Quicksilver: “Nor do I like hearing my adopted home slandered!”

She-Hulk: “Yeah, well, names won’t hurt you -- but those moonstones are gonna break Earth’s bones!”

Unlikely! Definitely be an extinction event but Earth has strong bones.

Also, what a weird thing to say, She-Hulk!

So in quick defense of the Inhumans who are probably obviously not behind this: if they were going to throw rocks at Earth, they’re definitely smart enough to wait until the Avengers are home instead of doing it while they’re within range to punch.

They’re slightly too smart for that.

Crystal asks Scarlet Witch and Vision to mediate since they have ties on both sides but Black Bolt arrives before any mediation can happen.

And Black Bolt clears everything right up!

By declaring war on Earth and ordering the execution of the Avengers!

Yup, no ambiguity there!

But surely, the Inhumans won’t just jump to obey an unjust order, right? Surely, they will object and demand an explanation for this new course of action that’s practically a 180 from his previous position?

Hahah, of course they don’t. These fucking idiots.

Gorgon: “If Black Bolt commands undying enmity between our races, it must be with reason!”

God.

So while the Avengers are still trying to be like ‘lets use our words, people’ the Inhumans just leap right into attacking.

Even Lockjaw jumps forward and locks his jaws on Cap’s shield.

Pietro frets, not knowing where he fits in.

Quicksilver: “Where do I stand? I am not an Inhuman, but a mutant! My child is human, tied to Earth!”

Crystal: “But Attilan is your home, my husband!”

Unspoken: ‘And what the fuck, I’m your wife!’

Quicksilver is convinced though and runs into the fray. Wanda protests so obviously Crystal starts attacking her.

Wow, the Inhumans come off as dicks in this.

So some pointless fight scene summarization.

Starfox ends up rolling around on the ground with Triton where Starfox gives Triton an orgasm. I assume. He pleasure blasts his brain making the guy laugh uncontrollably and collapse into a fountain. And then Triton gets Starfox all wet. By splashing him with the fountain water.

Quicksilver tries to punch Captain Marvel but she’s faster than him.

Because she can go lightspeed.

In fact, she makes him look like a dumb joke just dodging around and then punching him in the back of the head. And also, like, he’s the resident speedster of Marvel and he looks like a slow joke next to Monica Rambeau and Silver Surfer. And they had him flight Flash once and that was like Flash was challenging a baby to a fist fight, just remarkably mismatched.

But since there’s kind of a back and forth dealie going on, he spins her right round like a record round round round by running around her real fast when she makes the mistake of standing still.

Meanwhilelsewhere, Vision goes up against Karnak. And trash talks Karnak about how dumb it is trying to punch an intangible or diamond man. And then he fists Karnak with that fist thing he does sometimes. But Karnak vibrates his hand so he can smack intangible Vision.

Yup.

But nearby, Cap is still trying to wrestle his shield out of Lockjaw’s mouth and the dog flings him into Karnak, knocking the guy down.

The fight turns for the Avengers. She-Hulk punches out Gorgon quipping “steel toes can’t compensate for a glass jaw!”

Captain Marvel blasts out some of her energy, which knocks Quicksilver on his ass.

Annnnnd. Wasp never bothered to fight Medusa. Because designated girl fights are passe. But mostly because eh fuck it.

Wasp: “What of us, Medusa? Are we to fight, too? Will you blindly obey Black Bolt -- though you know some force upon the Moon is attacking Earth? Don’t you owe it to yourself to find out who -- and why... rather than accept the rash dictate of your leader that this battle must go on?!”

Medusa: “Though we have chosen Black Bolt as our king, Wasp, every Inhuman of the Royal Family is of equal rank. That status gives us the right to question Black Bolt’s decrees should we come to doubt their vision! Thus, I choose to exercise my right, Black Bolt, and pose the question... WHY??!”

Now, see, Gorgon? If you had bothered to think with your head brains instead of leaping right to “NEVER QUESTION LEADER” maybe you wouldn’t have had your block dented by She-Hulk. Think about that for next time.

Also, good on Wasp for being one of the best Avengers leaders. She’s super good at not jumping in half-assed.

She-Hulk decides Black Bolt is taking too long and grabs him and demands he speak.

Which would be a hilariously ill-thought out in other circumstances.

Black Bolt: “Unhand me, you -- you savage!”

Everyone is like ‘OH SHIT’ and tries to duck and cover but no mass destruction and loss of life occurs.

Captain America: “Black Bolt spoke -- and we’re all alive!”

Medusa: “IMPOSTER!”

Except its less an imposter and more someone stole Black Bolt’s body, apparently? At least that’s what Medusa figures.

Are... his powers not tied to his body? What??

Anyway, Lockjaw is finally like ‘my moment is here!’ I guess because he leads the AvengersInhumans to the Royal Crypt and Maximus’ cool crystal corpse box.

Captain America: “Of course! That’s the only logical answer!”

Because duh.

Medusa puts together that if Maximus is Black Bolt, Black Bolt must be Maximus so Maximus must not be dead. And then chokes ‘Black Bolt’ until he admits it.

Pretty hardcore, Medusa.

Karnak and Vision combine their respective powers to break the apparently self-healing harder than diamond crystal coffin.

That’s a lot of stuff that this coffin does but I get it. If you’re bearing Maximus and for some reason don’t want to just bury his body in concrete, you do the next best thing and put him in a self-healing diamond crystal coffin to minimize the chances that he’ll inevitably come back from the dead like he did do.

The freed ‘Maximus’ stalks towards ‘Black Bolt’ to real Maximus’ fear and begging that surely Black Bolt wouldn’t harm his own body.

And I’m further confused about how the powers work because Black Bolt in Maximus doesn’t say anything here so maybe the power is with his mind but also as he sternly corners Maximus in Black Bolt, the tuning fork on Black Bolt’s body’s forehead starts crackling with an awesome power.

So is the power still in the body? Or what?

Anyway, ‘Maximus’ lays hands on ‘Black Bolt’ and this causes their minds to swap back. Thankfully, considering how confusing all these qualifiers were beginning to get.

Now with everyone in the right bodies, its time for Maximus to Explain It All.

So back in that story where the Enclave attacked Attilan, Maximus was part of the plan scheming because he wanted to overthrow his brother and become the ruler. As is his repetitive goal.

But the Enclave pressed the advantage over Maximus’ objections when the pollution sickness made the Inhumans to weak to fight back. They were even going to execute Medusa.

So Maximus turned on the Enclave, used an improperly shielded giant laser, and ended up in a coma.

Maximus whines about how the Inhumans should have listened to him and subjugated humanity to stop their evil polluting ways so that the Inhumans wouldn’t have been forced to the Moon.

But ironically, getting forced to the Moon worked out for the dingus because there was a powerful crystal on the Moon which woke Maximus from his coma and gave him the new never before possible power to swap minds with Black Bolt.

And then like a guy that makes good decisions that aren’t bad, Maximus got in contact with the Enclave again.

Gorgon: “You again allied yourself with our human foes?”

Triton: “For good reason is he called Maximus the Mad!”

Or at least Maximus the bad at decisions.

Maximus: “No! Don’t you see? Our strategic location, combined with the Enclave’s tactical expertise, make us invincible!”

In his own defense, Maximus argues that the Enclave is going to bombard Earth with rocks until humanity is mostly dead and then the Inhumans can go back to Earth.

Presumably... I mean... after all that nuclear winter from all the stuff blasted up into the atmosphere?

Maximus is supposedly a genius but ehhhh I don’t see it.

He is squirrely though because he uses his psionic powers that he has to freeze everyone in place and then runs off, all but cackling.

And like a smart person, he flees right to the hidden base where Alpha Primitives have been pressed into the service of the Enclave.

He tells them that they’ve got to flee because the jig is up but the Enclave are less than convinced in their salmon jumpsuits.

An Enclave Guy: “What?! Just run off and abandon our meteoroid launchers?!”

Meteoroid launcher is a fun name for death from above.

Another one points out, hey wait Maximus screwed us over once, maybe he’s lying again.

And summoned by the opportunity to deliver a sweet line, Captain America (and others) are teleported in by Lockjaw.

Captain America: “You can believe him, mister -- this time, Maximus is telling the truth!”

Yeah. Maximus led the Avengers slash Inhumans right to the Enclave.

He’s not smart! Or he has that INT WIS division going on.

The Enclave don’t get a chance to try to fight (and thank god, we’ve had enough fight scene in this book) because Black Bolt just blasts them all in one go, resolving the plot in one panel.

Meanwhile, out in space, Thor is like oh good people have stopped throwing rocks at me. He was holding his breath this whole time after all and even he would have needed to reenter atmosphere soon.

With the Enclave in varying degrees of sprawled on their asses, the Inhumans can turn their attention back to Maximus for the assholery de jour.

He’s not repentant.

Maximus: “You don’t dare attack me, Gorgon! I am your brother, Black Bolt! I have as much right as you to the throne of Attilan! Like you, I wish only the best for our people! But, fool that you are, you refuse to admit our superiority to the humans! It is our destiny to establish dominion over the Earth! We must not be content with exile on this barren world! We must reoccupy the Earth! To do otherwise would be to deny our heritage! You know I’m right, Black Bolt! Admit it! Admit it!”

Black Bolt just turns his back on Maximus and gestures the others to take him away.

Since he never talks, he’s the master of the non-verbal shut down.

With the shooting meteors at Earth and also Maximus plots tied up, the Avengers get back to why they’re up here in the first place.

Wasp: “What reassurance does the Earth have that they won’t be attacked again?”

Gorgon: “What reassurance have we that the Earth will not attack us? Humanity is better equipped for war than we! And it was the human scientists of the Enclave that fomented this battle!”

Medusa: “Of our people, none save Maximus have ever waged war against mankind. The Inhumans will ever seek the ways of peace. That is the solemn pledge of Black Bolt and the family royal. Tell that to your leaders... and ask if they can truly pledge the same!”

Okay, fair enough, fair enough. The Enclave were humans but on the other hand, it was Maximus who invited them to the Moon.

So maybe guarantee that you’ll keep Maximus on a leash?

Or do you not want to make promises you know you can’t keep?

Maybe at least promise you all won’t immediately jump to action if Black Bolt suggests that it’s time to destroy humanity. Please. Apply some critical thinking.

Annnnyway, the Avengers promise to deliver this message to the UN and “pray that our fellow man is wise enough to reply in kind!”

But seriously. Maximus causes like. 70% of the Inhumans’ problems. Get a better handle on him, you dipshits.

Follow @essential-avengers because I’m brave enough to say ‘I don’t always like the Inhumans’ which I can assure you without bothering to google is probably a rare opinion. Also, like and reblog to make me feel appreciated.

#Avengers #Inhumans #the Wasp #Captain America #the Vision #Scarlet Witch #Starfox #She Hulk #Captain Marvel #Monica Rambeau #Quicksilver #I'm not tagging the inhumans #essential marvel liveblogging #Essential Avengers #this took me forever to get through #its not necessarily bad #its just aggressively average #also its not the best lockjaw art I've seen by a very long shot #his teeth bother me

22 notes · View notes

doctorofmagic · 3 years

Note

Hai! You’re the best dr strange blog ive seen on tumblr and coming across your account again made me start reading dr strange comics. I really love when you analyze stephen’s relationships with other characters. I already read the Dr Doom one and i was wondering what your thoughts on his relationship with Tony was? They’re my two favorites and its hard to find people who like them because of the whole illuminati thing.

Greetings and nyoooh, thank you so much for your kind words!!

I’m so glad you’re reading his comics! Not to mention that you appreciate my posts with his other relationships.

When it comes to Tony, there’s a long road before we get to recent comics. First of all, Tony never liked magic and had a hard time to acknowledge Stephen’s powers (which is also common in both Beast’s and Reed’s POVs). When the Defenders and Avengers first met, they fought for the Evil Eye. In the end, they team up to defeat Dormammu (as seen in Defenders v1 #8-11 and Avengers v1 #16-18).

Later, they had a few team-ups (and if you’re looking specifically for Tony, Stephen and Spider-man, check Marvel Team-Up v1 #50-51).

Things start getting a little messy because, as you pointed out, the Illuminati happened. Still, they’re kind of close, despite their dubious decisions. But in my opinion, not THAT close because the members are really cold and professional. The same goes for Reed and Stephen, for instance. They respect each other but that’s as far as this relationship amonsgt the members go.

Stephen and Tony’s bond also went through a lot because of Civil War. Tony hunted Stephen and the New Avengers down fiercely, to the point of invading the Sanctum (despite the drama, I absolutely adore this moment because it SHOWS how powerful Stephen truly is).

However, after the Civil War, things returned to their “normal”. Somehow, Stephen and Tony became friends again, and Tony finally developed great respect for Stephen’s skills instead of simply bashing him. I think this happened probably because of World War Hulk. They were almost killed because of their mistakes.

Whenever Tony needs assistance, Stephen will be there to help and vice versa. Despite that, there aren’t many signs or hints that they’re very close friends as many people assume due to Infinity War, except for Invincible Iron Man v3 #3 and #5 and Doctor Strange v5 #1 (2018).

Coincidentally or not, I really believe that Doom shares a similar relationship with Tony. Everything I’ve said about Doom and Stephen? It also applies to Tony and Doom, only on different levels because they also have some differences. Still, I can’t really go as deep as my other post because, well, I understand Stephen and Victor way more than Tony. In fact, I know very little about him, this is why I don’t risk digging into the character that much.

What I can say is what I’ve read when Stephen is around, and that’s what I have to offer.

That said, here’s a list of people whom I believe are close to Stephen in comics (I think I’d also add Silver Surfer, Illyana and Logan now, since it was recently shown that Logan brings beer to Bats and Illyana just casually teleports to the Sanctum sometimes. Thank you, Savage Avengers, I owe you my life).

As you can see, my analysis is not that as deep as the one with Doom because, honestly? Stephen has spent much more time with Victor (45 days in Latveria in Triumph & Torment and EIGHT YEARS in Battleworld/Secret Wars) than with any other hero/villain (except for Clea, Wong and the Ancient One).

Ok, ok, I’m sorry, this post is about Tony. Focus.

I feel you when people hate Stephen or Tony because of one (1) poor storyline. Once I replied an anon who was really interested in knowing why I loved Stephen despite his flaws (the link is actually on my pinned post but here it is anyway). I’ve been learning to like characters more for their general characterization than for certain runs. I have a few exceptions, of course, I’m not supposed to love every single character that exists. But my mind has changed a lot throughout the years. I guess it’s called “wisdom that comes with age”. So, whenever I see discourse, I tend to avoid it.

I guess this is it? If you need more references, I can make a list (in fact, I’ve been preparing several team-up lists but I never find the motivation to conclude them RIP. But one day, I promise!)

Thank you so much for reaching out! Have a great day.

#how can the sorcerer supreme be of assistance?#ask #doctor strange #stephen strange #iron man #tony stark #victor von doom #doctor doom #you know i had to mention victor right?#it's stronger than me #marvel comics

18 notes · View notes

rabidfirefoxfan · 3 years

Text

Avengers (1963) - Vol 116 - Loki Comic Read Through

Classic Loki Masterpost: Rating: Great

Plot: Dormammu and Loki scheme to collect the powerful six parts of the Evil Eye to control the world.

Favorite Moments:

The Avengers were trying to look for the Black Knight and want to get into Strange’s Mansion because they believe that the Black Knight is in there. They try to get into the Mansion but Strange has a force field around the structure. Nothing the Avengers do seems to even dent the field. Thor knocks on the doors. Wong answers and Thor aggressively asks to see Strange.

And Wong tells him to Eff off.

This upsets Thor.

So Thor decides to Bash down the Door.

Mantis throws Wong at the Wall. With this, the rest of the Avengers rush into the Castle. They confirm that the Black Knight is a stone statue in this Mansion. With this knowledge, they believe that the Defenders plot to steal the Black Knight’s castle.

However, before they can collect the Black Knight, Strange throws them out of the castle with a Whirlwind.

So Thor yells at Strange from outside the walls. (It’s so funny seeing Thor act like an arrogant d**k sometimes. Justifiable in this cause, but yelling at a building isn’t going to do Thor any good.)

Back on the Asteroid, Dormammu is gloating about how everything is going according to his plan. Loki, while happy for Dormammu, is really anxious about getting his sight back.

Dormammu dismisses him by telling him he’ll do it later. Loki is starting to realize maybe this team up wasn’t such a great plan.

Back IN the Mansion, the Five Defenders ... plus Hawkeye (LOL) are trying to figure out how to get the Evil Eye.

“Whatever that disturbance may have been...” What an d**k way of referring to the Avengers.

Using the Orb of Agamotto, Strange explains the Backstory of the Evil Eye. (Flash-back to another Comic, come on) Johnny Storm woke up this Old Wizard, Stole the Evil Eye and Johnny’s friend shot the Evil Eye out of Johnny’s hand before it exploded into six pieces which scattered themselves all over the globe. There are Six Defenders and Six pieces so the Defenders plan about how to get each piece.

Back on the Asteroid, Loki finally figures out that maybe Helping Dormammu out isn’t a good plan. If Dormammu actually does get this power, not only would he conquer the Earth, but he’d also be able to conquer Asgard.

(Loki’s banishment from Asgard, while using his cap has a blankly)

Loki hates Asgard. However, Only Loki should be even allowed to conquer Asgard so Loki decides he needs to stop Dormammu’s plan. Because Loki has been banished from Asgard the only person that Loki can ask for help is ..... Thor.

Loki uses a Projection to contact Thor, but ends up in Front of Cap because he can’t see. Loki demands someone (Cap, but Loki can’t see him so doesn’t know who he is) take him to Thor so Loki can warn Thor. Because of their last interaction, Thor is unhappy to see Loki but Vision encourages Thor to hear him out because Loki is blind.

Loki was about to Admit the Truth, but then he’d had to admit that he screwed up so he doesn’t (LOL). Instead, he convinces that Avengers that the Defenders are all Evil and MUST BE STOPPED. If they collect the Evil Eye, it could be the end of the world. I mean, it’s half right so close enough I guess. The Avengers then plan to go to the six locations and fight against the Defenders.

I haven’t read all the comics leading up to these issues, but apparently the Avengers and Defenders haven’t had the best interactions up to this point. Hawkeye and Hulk are both villains/ anti-hero types at this point and cause a lot of collateral damage. Apparently the other members of the Defenders have had some tense interactions with the Avengers as well. I guess there is enough bad-blood between the two groups that NO ONE CAN TALK TO EACH OTHER FOR 5 SECONDS TO FIGURE OUT WHAT’S GOING ON, OR TO SEE IF LOKI IS TELLING THE TRUTH. I mean, like they could just try talking with each other, it would save a lot of time and damage.

First up is The Silver Surfer vs Vision.

Silver Surfer is a the general location of the first Evil Eye but can’t seem to find it.

After talking to the locals, he realizes he didn’t check the volcano. (Every time some realizes they screwed up in this comic they always get these racoon eye and I always think it’s funny).

Wanda and Vision and driving to the locations of the Evil Eyes and they discuss that maybe Loki’s Story. Vision suggests that instead of fighting they actually talk with each other and plans to do just that. Finally, a voice of reason in this group.

The Silver Surfer tries to look for the Evil Eye in the Valcano but the Lava is just getting in the way. So, the Surfer tries to blast the lava away, which causes the Valcano to erupt.

Good job Silver Surfer.

The eruption destroys the Jet Wanda was on. The damage to the Jet severely hurts Wanda, rendering her unconscious. Vision, naturally, freaks out.

However, instead of TALKING about it, Vision actually does save her. Good job Vision, here’s a cookie.

However, Vision says Eff the peaceful opinion because it nearly got Wanda killed.

So Vision starts to attack the Silver Surfer.

The Locals decide to Place Wanda in front of the Lava Flow to “appease the Silver God” (don’t ask)

While fighting, VIsion and the Silver Surfer find the Evil Eye. The Silver Surfer doesn’t understand why Vision doesn’t want to help (maybe talk to each other, oh wait). The Evil Eye is exploded out of the volcano. Both the Silver Surfer and VIsion rush to get it, but Vision spots Wanda and goes to save her instead of the eye (what a good boyfriend).

Thoughts on Comic:

I love this comic, especially the fact that nearly everyone is screwing up on one level or another (Except for maybe Dormammu). The Defenders screw up first by not explaining the situation to the Avengers and not letting in the Avengers in when they showed up. I get that they were busy, but they could have stopped for 5 seconds to have a quick talk. Loki screws up because it was clear that Dormammu doesn’t actually like Loki (who doesn’t want to listen to Loki’s melodramatic speech, the nerve) and only used Loki for his powers. Then Loki doesn’t want to admit such a screw up and then Lies to cover it up. (Great Evil Character decision.) And then the Avengers screw up by not fact checking anything Loki told them.

This set up is so great. They wanted to do a Team vs Team fight and all the character interactions just make sense. This set up also allows each hero to have a specialized scene where they have a 1 on 1 match up. As seen with the Vision v Silver Surfer fight, this allows each character’s powers and personality to really come out.

I also love Loki’s characterization in this issue. It doesn’t delve into his personal history or talk about Loki’s nature or anything deep like that, but it also make him a little more interesting than a 2D villain. In this issue, he’s technically an Evil Anti-hero because he is helping the hero prevent another villain’s evil plan. Mainly because it would hurt his later Evil plans, but it’s still fun.

I wish more comics were written as well as these issues.

#Loki Comic Read Through #Loki #Comic Loki #Thor #Comic Thor #Avengers #Defenders #Comic Moments #Avengers (1963)

7 notes · View notes

always-and-forever-pan · 3 years

Text

MCU Vs. DCU in Character Arcs

The DC universe made me care about their villains, gave them better backstories and semi redemption arcs more in 1.5 movies than the MCU gave any of their characters in 23 movies, 3 short TV shows and numerous shorts.

And I'm honestly kinda mad about it. Mostly because MCU is one of my 3 most favourite fandoms of all time. They're my go-to action movies. But I've only seen Wonder Woman, Birds of Prey and am watching Suicide Squad as I type this.

To make a villain likeable, to bring them back to a hero or an anti-hero, or even just make them a villain we stan, you need to show something that views can get behind, something to make them relatable. Most commonly that's empathy, understanding of wrongdoing, and an active desire to fix their wrongs.

It's why the Winter Soldier works so well, we were given this assassin who's cold-blooded, deadly, the worst of the worst, but once he is a person again he's soft, he feels bad, he's actively trying to make up for it even though it's not truly on him.

And in direct parallel, we have Deadshot, a cold-blooded assassin working for money, deadly, one of the worst people. But then they put him in a team setting and within hours of meeting the team he has formed enough of a relationship with them to literally risk his own head to not have to kill one of the members. And when Harley's plane is shot down any way he is visibly upset and another teammate actually says "You couldn't have saved her".

And we love both of those characters for that. We want that! We NEED that! But where the DCU was able to do that on a smaller scale for some of their others, the MCU didn't do that for anyone else.

(Warning for some salt from here on)

And I hear you arguing "Oh Wanda showed empathy", and sure they showed her feeling bad in CA: CW but the context of that scene, and the lines they gave her made it so she was feeling bad because people were saying mean things about her and not because she accidentally hurt and killed people.

Like don't get me wrong, I was so excited when they decided to make Maximoff's MCU characters because what little of the comic I have seen made me STAN them. But the MCU butt fu*ked those two raw and I'm PISSED.

Like honestly they had the twins join a terrorist organization. Had Wanda mess with Tony's head making her an accomplice to the creation of a murder bot. Had Wanda mess with the teams head and then Bruce's so the Hulk would go on a murderous rampage with no one to stop him. Had them willingly working with Ultron, only to switch sides when he wanted to kill the entire world instead of just a few people making it seem more like a move of self-preservation than actual good motives. Then summed the movie up by saying "Oh her brothers dead so that good enough".

Only to turn around in the very next movie and have her show 0 empathy about the people who died past "They're saying it's my fault". Then they backed it up by her causing physical harm to some she's supposed to love with 0 hesitations.

Then the next time we see Wanda she's with the same guy we just watched her put through god knows how many floors, and within minutes of them being on the screen together she is refusing to allow him to choose between his life and the lives of half the universe. She is an accomplice to the decision of sacrificing an entire Black nation to save her white presenting boyfriend only to decide otherwise at the very last minute as her boyfriend begs her to kill him (Which in itself, MCU WTF!!!).

Even in endgames when she goes up against Thanos they give her some shitty line about "You took everything from me". They made her character revolve around the love of a man like she wasn't a complete person in her own right without him. They made her fighting Thanos seem like she wouldn't have if Thanos hadn't gone for Vision at the base of it when they could have had 1000+ other lines to make it seem like she was fighting for the right things and not just 'cause boy, love'.

The next time we see Wanda she has enslaved an entire town of people. Is forcing them to act against their will and for her enjoyment. The one person woken up while under the influence talks about how it hurts. And then they brush it off with some quip about how the people should be happy because Wanda wasn't doing it with malicious intent, that it was an accident. But still, Wanda shows absolutely 0 remorse for what she's done.

Now having said all of that let's compare her to Harley Quin. Harley Quin also willingly joined a terrorist, in her case, it was a person and not an organisation but still. The first we see of Harley in Suicide Squad we see her enjoying the pain and suffering she's causing, we see her willingly killing people including herself. And they summed it up with "Oh she did it cause she loves him" which I have some massive issues with.

We see Harley willingly steal, and kill, and hurt over the course of both movies. And yeah it's not making her a hero by any standards. But the DCU never tries to push that she's a good person either.

But what they also do is show us a Harley who is affectionate, who wants friends, who mourns when she thinks her love has died. They make us see ourselves in those little moments. They make her funny to offset her heavy crazy weirdness. They show us Harley who is empathic with her team and later with Cassandra.

They make Harley an anti-hero when they have her turn down bringing her love back in favour of saving people. Something the MCU did the opposite of with 'WandaVision'.

Do you see how those are different? Do you get why I can get behind Harley but not Wanda? And I will always say it but I hate that they made Wanda so HARD to like because if you ignore the red flags she is a BOSS ASS BI*CH.

And they did it to Tony as well, gave us so many likeable characteristics and boss moves, but never actually bothered to address personality flaws that lead there. They just made him go from 'not a single F for anyone else' to 'all the F's for everyone except me'.

They did the opposite to Rogers, made him go from 'countries and governments may be flawed but a single dictator having power isn't okay either' to 'I am going to ignore 117 countries and do what I want anyone even if it kills/hurts/maims your citizens because governments are wrong and I know best'

And I'm not saying that one is better than the other, actually, I kind of am saying that DCU did better than MCU here but the point is you cannot expect an audience to love and support a character you are unwilling to show to have humanity, to have empathy. And I really hate (Mostly out of jealousy) that the DCU, a fandom I'm not in was able to get that and the fandom I am in is still wandering in the dark with problematic lessons being relayed to us.

I JUST WANT A REDEMPTION ARC THAT DOESN'T MAKE ME HATE THE MOVIE IS THAT SO HARD!

2 notes · View notes