#Lies of Heroism

[t0rschlusspan1k]

A realistic depiction of violence also serves to show that even if you do survive a war, you probably won’t feel like a hero. In fact, the impact of combat can be so traumatic that the toll it takes on your mental health can end up destroying exactly what you thought you’d protect, and leave you as a mere shell of your former self that’s neither heroic, nor victorious over evil, nor death-transcending. War don't ennoble men. It turns them into dogs. What is important to remember is that in hero systems, violence and suffering can be redeemed as long as they serve a greater purpose. As Becker wrote; “What man really fears is not so much extinction, but extinction with insignificance.” And so when we’re discussing the cinematic depiction of combat and trauma, this nuance is precisely the reason why many war films stumble in their message. One popular war film that exemplifies this is Saving Private Ryan. The film opens with the invasion of Allied soldiers at Normandy. The 20 minute or so sequence, which is filmed in a realistic-looking documentary style, features graphic violence, terrified soldiers, and the overall chaos and destruction of combat. But after that, as Agnieszka Monnet explains in her essay “Is There Such a Thing as an Anti-War Film?”, the conventions of Hollywood storytelling re-emerge and ultimately frame the violence and cost of human life as heroic, and renders it all meaningful. This is most notably demonstrated as our main hero falls at the end, which could have left us wondering if the sacrifice to save Private Ryan was worth it or not. But instead, the film provides us a clear answer with its epilogue in which Ryan lives to be a good man and beloved grandfather, who remembers and honors the men who died for his sake. In doing so, we are reassured that all is well, that all the sacrifices eventually served a heroic purpose, and death has successfully been transcended to achieve greater significance. To emphasize; this doesn’t make Saving Private Ryan a bad film, but it does make it a comfortable one, and as such, it greatly detracts from its effectiveness as a true anti-war statement. In his review, David Walsh also draws attention to the film’s heroic leaders. “The implicit stance taken by the film” – he writes - “is that only the authorities in Washington concerned themselves with ideological matters, while the men in the field were unthinkingly doing the dirty work.” By looking closer at the representatives of what we could see as the film’s hero system, we indeed see that they are portrayed as righteous, rational, and deeply concerned with the suffering of soldiers and their loved ones. The point is not so much if leaders were actually like this or not, but that it doesn’t at all question the hero system that is driving the violence. The film states the sacrifices were costly, but then assures us they were laid upon the altar of freedom. And this sentiment of meaningful suffering echoes throughout the entire film, and in doing so, redeems it. What it comes down to is that despite showing the gritty reality of combat, war films can still romanticize instead of criticize if they do not question the general function of their hero systems.

— Like Stories of Old, Lies of Heroism. Redefining the Anti-War Film

[lookedinfinite]

𝗙𝗜𝗟𝗘: // tag dump: verses (1)

𝗠𝗔𝗜𝗡 𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗘: // in that moment of revelation

𝗣𝗥𝗘 𝗦𝗛𝗢𝗪: // work is the best antidote to sorrow

𝗗𝗢𝗖𝗧𝗢𝗥 𝗪𝗛𝗢: // the more bizarre / the less mysterious

𝗣𝗢𝗪𝗘𝗥𝗘𝗗: //  heroism all around us

𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗠𝗘𝗗: // your life is not your own

𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥 𝗧𝗥𝗘𝗞: // tomorrow we disappear into the unknown

𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥 𝗧𝗥𝗘𝗞 𝗠𝗢𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗦: // let me go leave me whole

𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗙𝗜𝗟𝗘𝗥 𝗔𝗨: // a curious constitution

𝗛𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗜𝗖𝗔𝗟: //  I'm afraid of what the answer will be

𝗟𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗔𝗚𝗘: //  these lullabies filled with lies

𝗘𝗟𝗬𝗦𝗜𝗔𝗡 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗟𝗠: //  clear your slate and wipe your conscience

[phdiism]

𝗙𝗜𝗟𝗘: // tag dump: verses (1)

[finalgirlsamwinchester]

@paellegere posting and replying to your tags bc yes! love this addition, also i have extra thoughts now.

guy who so desperately tries to find god. who wants to have faith in a higher authority to guide him out of the hole he's in. from the weight of guilt from simply existing, as the person he is. but every time he thinks he's answered his higher calling it turns out he's made the Morally Incorrect choice and his path to goodness and holiness was the road to the devil all along

[ilynpilled]

But if a character deserved better and they don't get it, then that's unsatisfying bad fiction and I deserve better than being left annoyed/upset by a story's ending.

not really. if it is thematically coherent with the rest of the story and how it approaches finding meaning in actions and it works as a tragedy as well then it is not a writing issue. i only take “deserved better” seriously if they deserved better execution/the story left glaring untapped potential. otherwise i dont buy into “good people are entitled to rewards, because that is satisfying” bc i like when art proposes that that is not how it works and also it should not be what motivates us to be “good”. true heroism lies in the desire to try even despite of this reality, so it works if the reality is actually presented in the text. a character arc being incoherent and thematically unfulfilling is a different thing, and that is not about intradiegetic “deserving”

[essycogany]

Sonic As A Villain

I don’t have a name for him, but this is my interpretation of Sonic as a villain. Here’s a hint, imagine if you noticed it, but not through his personality.

I’ve seen many interpretations of Sonic as a villain and instead of having him be a Sonic but on a bad day like Scourge. Sonic but dark and more violent like in Sonic X. Or Sonic but insane like Fleetway or Chaos Sonic, let’s have something different.

Have you ever noticed how Sonic can always manipulate a situation? He does it a bunch when he fights or interacts with people. It’s almost never in a negative way, but it does come across as a bit prideful and egotistical. Usually everything ends up going his way or has to go his way.

I believe if Sonic was ever to be a villain, he’d be a master manipulator. Funnily enough Sonic barely ever lies about things in most continuities, but at the same time is able to trick people or bend things to his will whenever he needs to. I’d like to think a villainous Sonic would be perceived as a good guy. Like standing up for Tails, but instead of moving on and letting Tails join him, Sonic manipulates Tails into beating up the bullies who bullied him.

He’d make Amy feel as if she doesn’t need to fend for herself and tell her to rely on him whenever she needs help. Or tell Knuckles to never trust anyone or ends up not inspiring him, so Knuckles stays antagonistic and untrusting. He’d inspire people to be the worst versions of themselves. Therefore creating a toxic atmosphere. Ideas like that.

This Sonic would be one who’d not care about being famous or rule over anything like a dictator. He’s like normal Sonic in a sense that he goes by his own rules, but it’d be for the worst intentions. He also takes advantage that he’s fast and uses his speed as a weapon. Destroying homes, pulling pranks, stealing, messing up the ecosystem, and all that jazz. He might save the world if it meant he didn’t have to die. But he doesn’t care if some Egg-shaped scientist is destroying the world. As long as he’s not bothering Sonic, why should he care? If he does go against Eggman or any other villains, he’d most likely kill them on the spot. Not out of heroism, but just out of spite. He doesn’t like being bothered.

When he says he doesn’t mind being the bad guy, he means it literally. He’d lack the emotional depth Sonic has and be a caricature of the “Cool guy being a jerk” trope. He doesn’t care if he’s seen as evil or not. He just likes causing mischief. No tragic backstory for him. Sonic’s the way he is because he chooses to be. That includes when he’s the bad guy.

He could act like a good guy in front of a crowd, but in reality, he’s causing the issues people believe he’s saved them from. All you gotta do with an evil version of him is turn his best/worst attributes of his personality and crank them to 100. He doesn’t have to be wild and crazy about it. He’d be just as chill and laid back as normal Sonic. Except he enjoys the chaos around him. Unlike other evil interpretations he’s the most similar to normal Sonic. And it makes things so much worse when he causes problems.

This isn’t the perfect idea, but I do like the concept of Sonic but evil in a way that almost doesn’t change his morals/personality.

[sscarletvenus]

yes suguru's plans to exterminate a vast majority of humanity is undeniably evil, but to say that he is murderous from the very start, cruel for the sake of being so, or lacks compassion or any emotional nuance is a gross disservice to his character's writing.

suguru is a case study of a romantic idealist and self-sacrificial saviour whose absurdly rigid, quixotic ideals are shattered brutally by reality intervening. the intense hatred he has for humanity is born out of, is an inverse of, the intense love he once possessesed for it. this is also why even though satoru is portrayed as brash and selfish and arrogant in the hidden inventory arc, it is suguru that turns "villainous."

suguru places his faith in the goodness of humanity, believes the duty of shamans is to protect the weak, their existence solely hinged upon saving the lives of non-sorcerers, and for that he is disappointed so tremendously, betrayed to an extent that makes it impossible for him to recover his ideals and past self.

ultimately there are also more than one reasons why satoru doesn't become "evil" : 1) "protecting humanity" was never his cause to begin with. he hardly cared about preserving human life, as is evident in his intentions to kill the cultists who cheered on riko's death, and 2) he had someone shielding his inner self : suguru. for it is suguru that tells him the duty of shamans is to protect non-shamans and the weak, suguru who asks him to sympathise with riko, suguru who persuades him to not kill meaninglessly.

satoru is indeed attached to riko, as well. he is the one who decides not to hand riko over to tengen if she wishes to return home, and tries to enliven her last days as a lucid person. it would thus not surpass one’s expectations if satoru turned to villainy post riko's demise, since he never even liked non-shamans to begin with. and yet, he doesn't. suguru protects his heart, which is a part of why he is able to steadily process his grief and anguish over riko's death.

suguru doesn't have anyone to do that for him, he is strong in his own right but not the "strongest", nobody notices how deep of an abyss his soul has sunken in, and he succumbs to the lethal loneliness, falters in this marathon of sorcery.

suguru is brimming with love and compassion: it is what drives his heroism in youth and villainy as a cult leader. he is able to protect gojo's heart but not his own. he fluctuates between two polar extremes : utter distaste of humanity Vs. a duty to protect it despite its horrors. three things serve as final nails to the metaphorical coffin : yuki's words, haibara's death, miminana's abuse. he describes imbibing curses for curse manipulation is "like eating a rag used to clean vomit". how macabre, how grotesque, how enlightening - who is he doing all this for? the humans who killed riko? it was these humans haibara died serving, these same humans violently mistreated miminana.

toji and sonoda encapsulate evil very blatantly, and aren't enough to shake suguru's belief in humanity. but the turning point is the non-shaman cultists rejoicing : suguru is thus forced to confront the banality of evil.

and suguru responds by rejecting what he once loved, embraces the darkness plaguing him. believes the only way to eradicate curses is to uproot their source : humanity. humans, for as long as they will live, will give rise to curses born out of their negative emotions. there is no one to tell him any better, or protect his self-identity. he loses himself to his own sense of empathy, his own ideals.

he isn't indifferent at all, cannot pick and choose whom he loves and doesn't. his love and hatred is collective, in both he gives his all. even amidst his hatred, he doesn't lose his love.

who does he choose to target first, once amassing enough money, power, and reputation? sonoda, the man who ordered riko's assassination. someone who lies in wait to enact vengeance does it out of love. if he was nothing more than a corrupt tyrant, he wouldn't remember the circumstances of riko's demise or care enough about them. suguru's rise as a hero and his subsequent fall as a villain has always been about love. and it seems, to me, up until his death, he prioritizes satoru over himself. doesn't see satoru as a weapon at all, or he would have directly asked satoru to join his cause. instead he poses to satoru a question, presents him with a choice - which in turn makes satoru shaken enough to question his identity, his place in the system, becoming a teacher and dedicating his all to a fitting reformist centrism from an isolated and dare i say, individualistic person such as himself, who stands on the pinnacle of power. but he wouldn't have come to such a conclusion without suguru's experiences shaping his worldview (he himself apologizes to riko during his fight with toji because rather than feeling depressed over her death, he feels the pure pleasure of the world in that moment. killing toji endows him with a sense of duty towards megumi, and riko's death but obviously impacts him, but the change from full apathy, to neutral indifference except in the case of his students, was losing suguru.)

as evil as suguru becomes, he is not a hypocrite. that he kills his own parents is to show the seriousness and conviction he has in his ideals. his code of operation is consistent, even when it turns from pro-human to pro-shaman.

reminds you of what mahito tells yuuji: does yuuji ever consider how many curses he kills? so why should mahito account for how many humans he kills? suguru geto presents us with a possible answer : someone has to care about how many shamans are killed.

you can condemn him for his use of collective punishment, but suguru is a villain!

you can criticize his killing of innocents, but jjk conveys the carefully crafted narrative of a villain who once held staunch traditional and moral ideals.

suguru is evil for proposing collective punishment, but it is incredibly consistent with how emotional he is. he is empathetic because he cares about a girl like riko, doomed by the actions of the rest of the world, forgotten in her misery. he cares and it drives him to the deepest pits of despair, where life loses all color and meaning, despite only knowing her for so long and haibara as well, he enshrines haibara in his memory, when no one other than nanami does. hardly anyone remembers riko's existence, haibara's laughing face, but he does! and for that he spends each moment sinking in the quagmire of his grief and torment. his empathy is a sword of damocles hanging over his neck! to say that he is cruel and unfeeling is to contradict the very agony that drives his (wrongful?) actions. and he is indeed wrong for externalizing this indelible pain, wanting to inflict it upon innocents. but suguru is a villain! has been set up as such!

mahito raises this question to junpei,"is the opposite of love really indifference?" to satoru, it is. but to suguru, it is hatred which is the opposite of love.

[fluideli123]

I've watched the DP&W movie twice in theaters and three plus times on a pirated site, and I wanted to grant my analysis on Wade and Logan's relationship that not only respects Vanessa--because Vanessa was literally Wade's Soulmate until shit hit the fan and you can pry that fact from my cold dead hands. But also explains how Logan and Wade actually represent a a-spec experience and relationship that I feel like no one has really gotten into. Am I saying they're a-spec? No. But that doesn't mean queer relationships that are fairly normal in a-spec spaces doesn't mean they don't exist outside of them as well.

First of all, the only two reasons I believe Vanessa and Wade broke up was 1) Wade went back in time to save Vanessa and he told her after his usual routine of jokes and lies and 2) Wade finally believed he could be something more, a hero, only to be turned down by the people who are known for their heroism, leaving him lost.

I genuinely believe Vanessa had a hard time taking in that knowledge, but knowing Wade and everything they've been through she would get through that like the badass she is and work through it using her plans A-Z, as she always does. But I think to really stop that woman from continuing to start a family with Wade like she wanted to in Deadpool 2, is if Wade was no longer within the right mindset to do so.

Deadpool 1 introduced Wade as someone who believed he was a bad guy who got paid to fuck up worse guys, he refused the term hero, and the moment he even tried to reach for something selfless. An act that would hopefully spare Vanessa from the pain of cancer, it all got fucked up and he got turned into a monster. Someone he deemed even lesser than he was before. So far gone and completely removed from what he was loved for (his looks and personality, but how could his personality stand alone when he looked so ugly? As ugly as he always felt on the inside?)

So he turned to what he's always known: Tracking people down and making them pay. In his mind this only confirms that he's a monster, he isn't deserving of Vanessa, of anyone. Which is why he finds comfort in Blind Al, a woman who will only have to deal with his personality and not be able to see how ugly he actually is. Symbolism for showing only half of himself and not him in his entirety (not that he can hide it from her, she's too wise, knowledgeable, caring, and knows Wade better than he knows himself at this point.)

Eventually, he finishes his hunt and is still loved despite what had transpired. Vanessa still chose him, still loved him. So maybe despite how ugly he is, he can still be loved. This grounded him, solidified his self worth, have him such stability that he had a thriving relationship with Vanessa that they were SO ready to start a family, aspired to live that dream. Another act of selfishness. Only to, once again, be met by pain. Get his dream taken away, once again resorting to what he knows: revenge.

Wade wants to be a hero? He gets forcefully mutated. Wade wants a family? Vanessa gets killed. Both are immediately solved by death, but that self-loathing and sickening hatred towards himself do nothing to cure that same confirmation he had once thought he got over: That he wasn't a monster, he could be loved, be something else.

So of course Vanessa is who, even in death, looks him in the eyes and tells him he cares, he has always cared. He cares so deeply about the people in his life he meets who unconditionally love him for him as time passes, despite all his flaws.

Wade wants to be a hero? Colossus believes he can be. Wade wants to save the 13-year-old abused kid? Vanessa knows he can. He saves lives by sacrificing himself. He scarified his comfort to show Vanessa the full truth of his ugliness, he sacrificed his life for Russel to give him a better life. Maybe he isn't a complete monster, maybe he can believe again. He can be selfish, he can be reckless. So he goes back and saves more people. Heroes do that. They save the people they love. You don't hold the whole world on your shoulders, no, like Miles learned in ATSV you think of one person of the few people you want to fight against the world to protect. And he did just that.

With Vanessa back and a big family he can finally chase after what he wasn't meant for. Because it's only happened twice, it wouldn't happen again-

Rejection. He can't be a hero because people don't need him. He is the needy one, the one who wants to be needed, needs to be wanted. So, it's the crash. The final straw. He breaks. He breaks so hard because what the fuck is the point to trying if every time he is met with failure? Rejection? Pain? Loss? He becomes so stuck in figuring this all out he neglects his relationship with Vanessa, causing issues. They go separate ways, but still so close, because you don't just lose your best friend like that, even if you're no longer partners. They're always meant to be together one way or another.

So you have this broken man who is searching for purpose, years later still harboring this tiny flicker of hope that he can be greater. He can be great. He can be a hero.

His world is in trouble, he doesn't think twice saving it. He accepts he isn't perfect for this, not like all the big guys back in Avengers headquarters, but he can't let his loved ones die because of someone he's had a vendetta against the last two movies.

He literally fights and fights and fights to find someone to help him, Wade can't save who he loves he has to find someone else you can, anyone else.

Than a broken, desperate man walks into a bar to see another broken man who has since long given up.

The thing about Logan and Wade is that they don't need words. Wade blew himself up in order to die in the second movie, Logan drinks himself away, both knowing they can't die no matter how much they want to. How much they believe they deserve it.

So Wade sees a Wolverine who has potential, who hasn't hurt him (unlike the others, he gets hurt so much, guys) and places his faith in him without hesitation. From that moment on he has never truly doubted Logan's abilities nor his heroism, because he knew his Logan and if his world was anchored by a Logan than all Logan's are built with something he isn't. They're made to be heroes, made to be important. Yeah, they fight, but I strongly believe that's how two broken men say everything words can't possibly describe.

I mean what words could describe the way they go all out on each other, knowing the other can't die, the way Wade looks up at him, not wanting to regrow his entire body because he needs to save his world and understands Logan and has to decide to say something that'll convince him to help. Wade doesn't know if stopping the machine will completely save his world or if a new Logan will patch it up too, it's his own educated wish he passes onto Logan. Because just like Russel, he cares. He understands. He wants to help.

It's that faith, hope, and resistance and face of humor despite it all that causes Logan to stick by that dumb asses side. He lost everything, he is seeing someone like himself before he stumbled home drunk from the bar to find everyone dead. Someone who is capable of doing something he wasn't able to. He wants to help, more and more for Wade and less himself, a silent journey of healing following Wades steps everywhere they stumble into.

Because Logan was just drunk at a bar before being told he was needed to save a world, told he was the worst before being offered help anyone, getting praised over his capabilities, and than told again and again how he is able to be someone he never thought he could be. Much like Wade was and is.

Logan sees it. Wade most likely ignores it, much like anything else. He isn't very open with anyone other than Vanessa as we've learned.

So just- of course Wolverine is the honest one, of course he hits low, he sees himself and Wade and wants to hurt him. Wade wants to hurt him back, but only when he's directly attacked by his words and threats, a way of not taking shit. Logan took shit from the world and than didn't from Wade and his emotional rollercoster right. And I think without whatever happened in that Honda Odyssey things wouldn't have been the same. They needed that fight, that release, that hatred from themselves to burst into the form of someone else who could take it just as much as the other could.

Logan listens to Wade's home at the borderlands. Logan is given kindness and tough love. Logan joins. Logan begins to understand how most linger by Wade's side despite everything. He sees why. He's a force, he doesn't give up, he doesn't quit, not for others. It grants strength, though imperfect and messy.

Logan believes Wade deserves better. So he plans on sacrificing himself only for Wade to once again show how much of a Hero he wants to be and could be. Only for those two idiots to hold hands to madona and come to a mutual understanding and comfort that has Wade making room for Logan in his and Al's apartment.

And there is something so inherently a-spec about not being explicitly sexual with each other, having an understanding that goes beyond direct words and full truths. They they can hurt one another and it feels so good, so wanted and cherished. How they support one another by being fucked up and sloppy. They're wrecks and they help the other heal, do what they're too afraid to do.

What is more a-spec than two people looking at each other with adoration and trust? To be two people who cannot be placed within a single both because their relationship and meaning to one another isn't so neatly cut and within expectations? To love in a way that blood and standing side by side is a comfort? A steadying point in which everything becomes clearer with time?

They make me so fucking sick, they make me so FUCKING SICK.

[tarotofhope]

PAC: ꩜Who is jealous of you?꩜

(Please Read My Pinned post *IMPORTANT NOTE* before selecting a Pile)

Pick an Image by meditating and selecting the image you feel called to. You can be attracted towards more than 1 image. If you are not able to select maybe this reading isn't for you.

꩜Pile 1

Jealous Person -

Cards: The Devil

Astrology Oracle: Acquisition- Sun in the 2nd House in Taurus

Archetype: Hero-Heroine and their Shadow Attribute is 'Escapism and false sense of heroism.'

Your Qualities(that they are jealous of) -

Cards: The Star

Astrology Oracle: Principle- Jupiter in the 9th House in Sagittarius.

Archetype: Prince and their Light Attribute is 'Romantic charm and potential for power.'

Welcome to your reading, Pile 1. There are 2 scenarios here. For some of you, this person is an authority figure, someone who has a lot of wealth or someone who is famous or popular for their work, they've earned a lot of respect from society. They've struggled and climbed up the ladder of success. This could either be colleagues who are senior to you or someone who is a senior(either age-wise or level-wise) but also has a good reputation so they think that you're nothing compared to them and they could be like, 'Know your place, you fool!'(iykyk: I remember this from Jujutsu Kaisen when Sukuna says this to Mahito) whether they've told this to you or not, they definitely give you this feeling. They can't see you thrive, prosper and be successful. They can't see you outshine them.

For the others of you, this person could be a romantic partner/spouse or a potential suitor or someone who came up with a romantic proposal to you, who's got attached to you in a toxic way. They think you'll never find a better partner than them so they curse you for rejecting their proposal/not giving them a chance/for any misunderstandings. They try to put you down and put all the shame and blame on you, saying that you might be a playboy/playgirl, like you don't understand the meaning of love, you play with the feelings of people, you are a person of questionable character and so and so.. This person doesn't want to leave your side but also just wants to torture and harass you while for others, this person could be a stalker who could be stalking you online or offline, who's trying to get your attention and forcing you to accept them.

In the first case scenario, they are jealous of your great potential, they know you have the ability to reach their level or even go farther than them, so they try to keep you at your level by demotivating you, pushing you even more down by telling you how hard the work is or it is not going to be worth it for you in the long run and so on. I can see biases on the basis of gender/level/religion/caste too. In the second scenario, they might be jealous of you being correct from your end and choosing a partner who is suitable to your needs and compatible with you rather than them, or at least you are in the process of making the right choices for yourself and you have the potential to do so(those who are already in a relationship).

In both the above cases, they're also jealous of how luck lies on your side with Jupiter in the 9th House in Sagittarius. Also, you can notice that the jealous one is shown by the archetype Hero-Heroine, while you're shown as the archetype Prince, who has the charm and potential to become a King/Queen one day.

That's all I got for you, my dear Pile 1.

Love, light, peace and hope to you..🌸🍁🌻🌼

꩜Pile 2

Jealous Person -

Cards: The Emperor

Astrology Oracle: Concentration- Saturn in the 3rd House in Gemini

Archetype: Wounded Child and their Shadow Attribute is 'Blames all dysfunctional relationships on childhood wounds, resists moving on through forgiveness.'

Your Qualities(that they are jealous of) -

Cards: 8 of Swords clarified by The Magician

Astrology Oracle: Romance- Venus in the 2nd House in Taurus

Archetype: Engineer and their Light Attribute is 'Ability to give creative energy, a practical expression. Talent for designing resolutions to common dilemmas.'

Welcome to your reading, Pile 2. This person is either a dominating father/mother figure or a dominating romantic partner/spouse. Overly protective and possessive people they are. Whomsoever of the two you resonate with, this person has a total control and power over your mental state and emotional decisions. Things don't seem to be under your control, you're always manipulated into doing things as per their wishes, whims and fancies. You don't like this one bit but you seem very helpless to me, like you don't have another choice, atleast for sometime, you are tied and trapped with this person. I hope you get to resolve and get out of this toxic connection soon. If this is someone you can't totally cut out of your life, you can atleast try to keep your contact as much less as you can, with this person. They don't consider your well being, your needs and they think that their decisions are right for you. They are very insecure themselves with whatever they have and don't have and they don't know how to address their inner wounds so they try to take it all out on you. They're a very self pitying person. They seem confident, courageous and dominating from the outside but might be a coward from the inside. They even appear very arrogant, rude or cold. They don't want you to make the slightest mistakes, they don't want you to fall into any traps by outsiders, they try to sever your connections with other people or force you into connections which they deem fit for you. It can be very serious issues too for some of you like they decide what you eat, drink, wear, where you go, who you make friends with, keeping checks/spying on your love interests, deciding on your educational choices, career and so on. They never like to take the blame for doing all these horrible things to you, they'd always say they were being protective of you. They are jealous of what you could do, if you were never under their control, they're aware of this fact. They know if they loosen their control over you, you would leave them and go for your desired life and you'd also come out victorious. In both these scenarios(whether it's a parent or partner), they can't see you leaving their side, they might be expecting too much of you, if it's a parent, they might want you to take care of them in their old age too so they don't want you to marry and leave them(here, they are being too clingy) if it's a partner, they know you can find a better one, so they try to give you threats, to scare you, so you would stay with them. These people are aware that you're very creative and like the Magician you've got all the resources to change and make your life beautiful, they also know you have a fighting spirit and they may lose their control over your mind someday, so they always try to stay one level up. So, if you're stuck with such people, there's always a way to get out. Try and do your best.

That's all I got for you, my dear Pile 2.

Love, light, peace and hope to you..🌸🍁🌻🌼

꩜Pile 3

Jealous Person -

Cards: 4 of Wands

Astrology Oracle: Fortune- Sun in the 5th House in Leo.

Archetype: Networker and their Shadow Attribute is 'Conveys information only for personal gain. Spreads fear and falsehood.'

Your Qualities(that they are jealous of) -

Cards: The Hanged Man clarified by The World.

Astrology Oracle: Ostentation- Saturn in the 2nd House in Taurus

Archetype: Seeker and their Light Attribute is 'Thirst for wisdom and truth wherever they are.'

Welcome to your reading, Pile 3. This person could be any relative or a friend or roommate or a family member too. It can be more than one person for many of you. You guys have hidden enemies while only some are known to you. They might even put an evil eye on your hoardings and belongings. They don't like whatever you have or earned. They could be envious of your salary, your acquired wealth from your ancestors, wills, etc. They might be someone who likes to gossip and spread rumours about everyone. They like to keep their nose in everybody's business. They can't see others people's happiness. They also don't like your open-mindedness and free-spiritedness. You seem very optimistic, happy and carefree to them while they are very pessimistic or they don't count their blessings, they're not grateful enough. Some of them might even go to the extent of putting a hex on you, stripping you of your happiness, sitting back and watching you suffer, this seems just like watching drama to them, they don't have the humanity to consider putting themselves in your shoes, like what if this happened to them. They might be very insecure and ungrateful about whatever they have like even if they had all the things that you have, they won't make the best use of it and then say that you've got better than them, that you're more luckier than them. Like for example: They earn the same amount of money as you, and you spend the money on trendy fashionable clothes, but they buy different kind of cuisines with that money because they're a foodie, they'd still be jealous of you thinking that you have so much money to spend on clothes. Like in this reading, they can be jealous of your adventurous nature, they can't stand seeing you travelling here and there, enjoying life, learning about different cultures and traditions. You guys those who're reading this pile could also be show offs, so maybe that's why you attract this kind of evil eye energy, you see there's a thin line of difference between being humble with your belongings and gifts, and showing off with pride. You might not be aware if you're a show off, so rather be secretive with your things. They know that they can't have a hold on you neither can they control their actions fuelled by jealousy, so they might find other ways just from the comfort of their own homes, to steal your happiness, such as badmouthing about you behind your back, spreading false rumors about you, putting a spell on you, and so on. You need to stay grounded and you also need to observe the people around you because most of you might not be aware of who they might be.

That's all I got for you, my dear Pile 3.

Love, light, peace and hope to you..🌸🍁🌻🌼

꩜Pile 4

Jealous Person -

Cards: 4 of Pentacles

Astrology Oracle: Practicality- Moon in the 10th House in Capricorn.

Archetype: Saboteur and their Shadow Attribute is 'Induces self-destructive behaviour or the desire to undermine others.'

Your Qualities(that they are jealous of) -

Cards: 7 of Wands clarified by The High Priestess.

Astrology Oracle: Escape- Mars in the 12th House in Pisces.

Archetype: Vampire and their Light Attribute is 'Makes you aware that someone or something is draining your life force.

Welcome to your reading, Pile 4. This person is very practical, analytical in nature. They seem to make decisions based mostly or only on rational thinking and logical analysis. They might also be very materialistic and money-minded. They're also very reserved and uncompromising in nature. They might also not be flexible or adaptable in nature. Some of them might even be a miser who does not like to share their belongings with other people. I'm also getting that some of them might even be very stubborn in their religious and other beliefs and are not open to change. They might follow certain set of rules and regulations. They think only in a certain manner, they know everything that's going on in the world but wouldn't accept various possiblities, rather they're blinded by their own few imaginable possiblities which they tightly hold on to, they love to live in their own bubble where things makes sense according to them, which are acceptable to them. They're jealous of how you think outside the box, how you can be so adaptable and open minded. They just can't seem to digest it. Then they would also try to attack your uniqueness by saying that you must be mad to think differently. They'd even try to force you into doing things their way. They might bully or tease you because most of the people in the world are very materialistic, rational and logical, so it irks them when some people have a good intuition and when people follow their heart. Like for example, people being jealous of you because you're making money through your creative talents/passion but they're doing normal 9 to 5 jobs. I'm talking about people who don't want to explore their own gifts and talents but when some other person succeeds in showcasing them, they'd get jealous. Some people do get really lucky in relationships/career but these people wouldn't even want to give things a try and then complain about nature/God being bias with them. They'd tell you that life is this way or that way and whatever you're trying to do is not going to work out because it is not possible according to them. Try to stay away from such people because they'd even talk dirty behind your back and try to defame you. It really annoys them knowing that you're aware of energy vampires and you know how to protect yourselves.

That's all I got for you, my dear Pile 4.

Love, light, peace and hope to you..🌸🍁🌻🌼

꩜Pile 5

Jealous Person -

Cards: Hermit and King of Wands.

Astrology Oracle: Concentration- Saturn in the 3rd House in Gemini.

Archetype: Prostitute and their Shadow Attribute is 'Places material considerations and security above self empowerment.'

Your Qualities(that they are jealous of) -

Cards: High Priestess.

Astrology Oracle: Isolation- Saturn in the 6th House in Virgo.

Archetype: Trickster and their Light Attribute is 'Transcending convention, stuffiness and predictable behaviour.

Welcome to your reading, Pile 5. You guys might be attracted to pile 4 as well. This person could either be an old person or a person who is known for their spiritual or religious work. They can also be any kind of healers or motivational speakers. These people are mostly older than you. For some people, this is not an age factor, because Hermit represents the sign Virgo and Virgos become mature at a very young age, so, these jealous people can also be the same age as yours but have more experience than you and you both could belong to the same line of work. See, this pile has less of jealousy and more of pride for being at a peak stage especially if they're famous people or because these jealous people are spiritual/religious and mature, so it doesn't seem right to them to appear jealous, so either they hide it well or they try not to be jealous and because they're not outright jealous, their jealousy is not clearly visible on the surface. These people know you have the potential to reach where they are. These people are also known for their wisdom and experiences due to which they get to earn a lot of respect from younger people or people who have lesser knowledge than them. See, because they're older, some of them can have very traditional beliefs about everything and might hesitate to have a modern approach. These people can confront you and say that things are supposed to be a certain way, rather than being open to your ways too. You might be very unconventional for these people. Only a few of you may have a close relation or connection with such an elderly person, so they might be forcing you to fit in, according to their ways while for the others of you, these people are outsiders or distant relatives, who you can choose to not listen to. It would be really really sad to know if there are spiritual gurus, religious preachers or even teachers out there, who are jealous of their students' progress or don't want their students to succeed..😭 Some of these people could have gotten their earlier intentions of giving and healing, contaminated by this materialistic world, and became political, money-minded and a taker. They didn't learn to strike a balance between spirituality and materialism. Also with the Saturn in Gemini(which represents their energy), they're already out there speaking their mind but because both Gemini and Virgo are Mercurian signs, Virgo(which represents your energy) is also capable to do the same. With the Saturn for both of you, you both are disciplined and mature. You who are reading this pile could also see through fake and shallow people and their false intentions with the Trickster energy here.

That's all I got for you, my dear Pile 5.

Love, light, peace and hope to you..🌸🍁🌻🌼

Thank you so much for being here. I post PAC readings every Tuesday and Friday. Do love and support by reblogging, liking or following.

——————————— ♡ ♡ ♡ ———————————

[asm5129]

I know this is NOT a popular take in the RWBY FNDM but y’all…I love Jaune Arc. He’s such a refreshing, interesting male character.

He’s Ruby’s best friend, and the two of them parallel each other in such FASCINATING ways. I’m planning a full video essay on this but as some examples:

1) They both have hero complexes, obviously.

2) Ruby is a prodigy who earns her place at beacon two years early, while Jaune cheated his way in and needs to work constantly outside of his school training to be anywhere near capable of huntsmen level combat

3) Jaune’s pain is loud and disruptive, Ruby’s pain is quiet and suppressed (examining their respective expressions of pain through the lens of gender expectations is REALLY interesting)

4) Ruby inherits silver eyes, an invaluable tool in fighting Grimm. Jaune inherited a regular sword, heavily outclassed by most of his peers.

5) Ruby made her weapon but modeled it after her mentor, Jaune had a hand-me-down

6) Ruby leads by developing plans and taking action, Jaune leads by supporting his team and bolstering their strengths with his own.

I’m sure there’s more too but those parallels are why their conflicts in vol 9 work so well for me, they are partners in narrative from literally the second episode.

I also just adore the commentary on masculinity with Jaune. From day one he was deconstructing traditional ideas of masculinity and patriarchal concepts of heroism.

The way he has to learn to reject so many of the things that blockbusters with men at the center have been pushing for decades is fantastic. He tried to pursue revenge like John Wick or Iron Man and it went HORRIBLY.

He can fight when necessary but it’s not where his true strength lies and that’s SO COOL for a male character.

I dunno y’all I just think he doesn’t deserve the hate. He doesn’t butt in on other stories nearly as much as people claim—in terms of Ruby, he actually serves her story quite a bit—and he is a character worth following in and of himself.

[bluegarners]

there tends to be a kind of under estimation in regards to dick’s attitude towards his parents. they’re more often used as The Reason for his path of heroism, and that’s true enough, but it’s a very focused Reason that often fails to include the actual Loving Parents. i would argue that thomas and martha wayne get more attention in regards to their loving on bruce, and in certain time traveling corners on dick as well, but it’s rare to see that kind of respect paid to john and mary grayson. the parallels we can draw between bruce and dick pretty much end after dick is taken in. we can count: loving parents; stable family structure; only child; bright future; horrific murder of parents; witness to said murder; and plot for vengeance as the core parallels between dick and bruce. where they begin to diverge is the point in which bruce becomes the guiding mentor for dick in how to channel that sense of grief and rage (though bruce had alfred, alfred played no part in diverting bruce from his self destructive path and encouraged it)

to that end, there’s a lot of talk about martha wayne’s pearls and mary grayson’s robin, but even then talk seems to only center around dick’s hero name and never what about the history the name implies. “robin stands for hope”, okay what else? martha’s pearls symbolize the catalyst for bruce’s transformation into batman, but does mary’s robin do the same? i think not, bc going back to the divergence between bruce’s and dick’s origins, though bruce remains the defining fork in the road for dick, if dick were raised in extremely similar circumstances as bruce, bruce would have more or less fulfilled the role that alfred did for bruce- which was mainly distant but caring adult figure that served to simply agree rather than direct. a reasonable conclusion, should bruce have fulfilled such a role for dick, would have been that dick should’ve become bruce #2. obviously, dick didn’t and the reason for that lies in john and mary grayson

this may ruffle some feathers, but there is a point to be made in the difference between the wayne parents and the grayson parents. let’s do some quick if thens: if alfred was left in charge of bruce, then alfred holds some responsibility in how bruce turned out. if bruce grew up to be someone emotionally closed off, then bruce is an emotionally distant, closed off adult. if bruce is an emotionally distant, closed off adult, then it stands to reason alfred reflects the same. so, if bruce and alfred are both emotionally distant, closed off adults, then when they take in dick grayson, dick will grow up to be an emotionally distant, closed off adult. right?

well, we all know that’s not how it turned out, and all reason for such a conclusion reside solely in the short time john and mary grayson raised their son. “but bruce had about the same time with his own parents. why did he and dick turn out so different?” and again i point directly at the implied differences in the wayne’s and grayson’s child rearing! the waynes represented a very nuclear family, one that is generationally upper class and in very prominent leadership positions. tracking the assumed and typical rearing patterns for that kind of family, though it may be a foundationally loving one, it’s also one that is radically different from the type the graysons represented. power and job structure rested solely with thomas and martha; bruce had very very little to worry about or any responsibilities other than making good grades and being a generally good son. comparing such a dynamic to the graysons, the power lines begin to blur a little. john and mary are employees, not leaders or heads of anything. however, they work in an extremely team oriented and cooperative environment- their earnings depend on everyone and themselves. though a prominent act in haly’s circus, they are not a completely solo one, and even then, it is a team, FAMILY act. since his birth, dick has been raised in an environment that focuses heavily on teamwork and perseverance. he took on enormous responsibility in being a part of the flying graysons, which likely wasn’t something he was being forced to do, young as he was. taking on a JOB as young as 9 years old, one that tests his physical, mental, and emotional strength sets him drastically apart from bruce when he was the same age. but let’s go back to john and mary again

no parent on earth would ever want to put their child in such a dangerous position as performing on the trapeze. and yet, john and mary did. why? dick’s initiative and his parents’ trust and strength. if john and mary believed that they lacked in some way that could put dick in harms way, i find it impossible to believe they would have ever let dick join them. dick did not learn his strength and endurance from bruce. dick already possessed those qualities before meeting him, otherwise dick would have never become robin and joined batman so quickly. the graysons set an ENORMOUS example for dick, one that set the tone for the rest of his life. taking into account the “it takes a village” familial structure that dick was raised in while with haly, dick would have learned that the strength of individuals COMBINED is what makes a person strong. even the formation of the flying graysons relies on trust in each other, that they will be caught in the next leap and that they can do these amazing stunts without fear of failure BECAUSE of the Faith they have in each others abilities. in addition to that, an environment that encourages strength and teamwork must also encourage FAILURE. one cannot learn from perfection- only through mistakes does one grow, and dick grew EXPONENTIALLY. dick grew, at the age of 9, to PRODIGY levels of talent and acrobatics. john and mary set an example so strong and so steadfast that it fostered dick’s stone-solid character for the rest of his life, even after they were gone from it

dick would have not survived his parents’ deaths were it not for the way they had raised him. it is why dick can move on and grow from it, whereas, as we’ve seen a dozen dozen times, bruce has failed to ever move on. coddled and adored as he was, bruce never had to face a challenge that his parents wouldn’t have gladly taken care of for him. the waynes did everything for their son because they loved him enormously, and what parent in the world would force their child to do difficult things- especially at 10 years old? of course bruce never had to confront things like failure or hardship before, his circumstances in life simply wouldn’t have allowed for it, and that is why bruce was so incapable of handling his parents’ deaths. thomas and martha did not prepare bruce for difficulties in any department, whereas john and mary introduced problems AND solutions to dick very early on. the SOLUTIONS bit is what set up dick for so much success- that’s the key difference between the two. dick had both parents AND guides, while bruce just had parents

dick would not have become a light in the world while with bruce were it not for john and mary grayson and their love and dedication towards their son. the credit for dick’s achievements as a hero may fall to bruce most of the time, but even bruce recognizes that he had zero part in the formation of dick’s strength of character. dick’s continued success and perseverance has EVERYTHING to do with those first 9 years he was with john and mary, and not a single one of the innumerable tragedies dick has endured has ever been able to disavow that

[jxwl4k]

Unspoken Vigilance

Plot: Katsuki Bakugou, known for his explosive Quirk and fiery temper, surprised everyone by displaying an uncharacteristic calmness around Y/N.

UA High School buzzed with the energy of aspiring heroes, where each student's unique talents and personalities shaped the dynamic of their classes. Among them was Y/N, known for their reserved nature and quiet demeanor. They navigated the halls and classrooms with a steady presence, observing more than speaking.

In Class 1-A, Katsuki Bakugou's reputation preceded him—a powerful Quirk matched only by his fiery temper. However, when it came to Y/N, Katsuki's demeanor took an unexpected turn. Instead of explosions and shouts, he exhibited a rare calmness, a protective vigilance that spoke volumes amidst their quiet presence.

The change in Katsuki didn't go unnoticed by their classmates. One afternoon, during a break between training sessions, conversations buzzed among the students.

"I've never seen Katsuki so... calmed," whispered Kirishima, casting a curious glance towards where Katsuki and the reader sat.

"Yeah, it's like he's a completely different person around them," responded Uraraka, equally intrigued.

Across the school, Class 1-B students, who shared several classes and training exercises with 1-A, also took notice of the dynamic between Katsuki and Y/N. They observed from a distance, speculating quietly among themselves.

"I wonder what's going on between them," murmured Monoma, watching with a keen eye.

Among the teachers, there was a mix of amusement and curiosity as well. Aizawa, the stern homeroom teacher of 1-A, observed the interactions with a raised eyebrow, while All Might, the symbol of peace, smiled knowingly, recognizing the quiet strength within both Katsuki and Y/N.

During a particularly intense villain simulation exercise, the reader found themselves in a perilous situation. The simulated villain, more formidable than anticipated, posed a real threat. Katsuki, who had been monitoring from a distance, didn't hesitate. With precise movements and controlled explosions, he swiftly neutralized the threat and ensured Y/N's safety.

Class 1-A erupted into applause and cheers as they witnessed Katsuki's display of heroism. Even Class 1-B, who observed from afar, couldn't help but acknowledge the skill and determination in Katsuki's actions.

After the simulation ended and the dust settled, Katsuki approached the reader with a rare softness in his expression. "You alright?" he asked quietly, concern evident in his voice.

Y/N nodded, a small but genuine smile forming. "Thank you," they murmured softly, their gratitude unspoken but understood.

Katsuki nodded back, a slight quirk of his lips hinting at pride. "Good," he replied gruffly, his demeanor still calm and collected.

In the days that followed, Katsuki continued to keep a watchful eye on Y/N, his protective instincts unwavering. The class gradually adjusted to the new dynamic between them, appreciating the unspoken bond that had formed.

For Y/N, Katsuki's quiet but steadfast presence became a source of reassurance. They found comfort in knowing they had a protector who understood the power of silence as much as the power of explosions.

In UA High School, where heroes were forged through trials and challenges, the story of the quiet Y/N and the calm Katsuki Bakugou became a testament to the strength found in understated bravery and unwavering loyalty, proving that true heroism often lies in the quiet moments of support and understanding.

[blue-drink]

Baby in the Watchtower (He is Baby pt. 2)

“Marvel!” He turned around to see an exited Flash right in his face.

He stepped back a little, “Woah, what is it?” He asked.

“Bats gave us permission to hold a little party—,” he fake-coughed, “reunion, on the Watchtower, in 3 hours.” The speedster jumped while whispering, “We are planing to connect a Switch to the presentation screen.”

“Oh, well. Have fun.” He wasn’t really sure why he was telling him that, tho.

“Aren’t you coming?” Oh, that’s why.

The Captain wondered for a moment, but his thoughts were interrupted, “Sorry, Billy. But we already made plans, remember?” That’s true; even with the signed documents, they still had to ‘move some strings’ so he was officially adopted in Fawcett’s records and completely recognized as a child of Zeus on Olympus.

His smile faltered a little, he hoped Flash didn’t see it. “Ah, sorry. I have places to go, family matters, y’know?”

For a second Flash looked disappointed, before widening his eyes and asking “Wait, you have a family? Wait, wait, that came out wrong.”

He breathed for a second before trying again, “Well, everyone in the League thought you did not have a secret identity. Because you do not hide your face, and all.”

Solomon, secretly as much of a trickster as the rest, guided him on how to respond.

“Ah, well, you weren’t wrong.”

“Wait-what?”

“Technically it’s not official yet, that’s what I’ve to take care today; and I’ve only been with them for...” “A month,” Mercury whispered in his mind; it was a lie, but it was to throw them off track. “For a month.” He lied.

“How does that even happen???” The hero asked, confused.

“Supes is eavesdropping, answer truthfully to avoid suspicion.” Hercules informed.

“I... Didn’t have a family. I was living on the streets. I’m better now, tho!” He quickly reassured before anyone could start scolding him for keeping that to himself. “I’m fine. I’m going to fix some papers to be officially part of the family.”

“You were on the streets????? And you didn’t tell us???”

He did not know how to keep talking about this, so he let Atlas take control for a bit, “I did not know any better.” It wasn’t a lie, all his foster homes were worse. That would not be how they would be interpreting.

“I found a place, they even know I’m a hero!”

“That’s... So cool buddy.” The speedster said, trying to sound positive, but grimacing all the same. “I’m so happy for you.”

“It’s true, he is happy for you getting a family, but he is sad for you having to live in the streets in the past.” Solomon decoded for him.

“Thank you!” He exclaimed happily, with seemed to make the other more uncomfortable; but his patrons family told him not to mind him, that it was ok.

“Well, see you around!” He said, turning to the Zeta tubes.

“Bye bye.” Flash said, failing to meet his excitement.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“New Marvel lore just dropped!” The speedster exclaimed, running into the room.

“Dude, the party does not start in 2 hours— I mean, the reunion—”

“I know you wanted it to throw a game party,” Batman interrupted. “What were you saying about Captain Marvel?”

“Okay, okay,” Flash jumped into his seat, “so, you remember that bet about if he does or not have a S.I. (Secret Identity)?”

“You got an answer???” Green Lantern questioned.

“I think so? Now the question is if that bet counts until last month or currently.”

“Wha-” Aquaman asked, confused.

“I invited him to the party, and he kinda looked sad for a second, and then he told me he had ‘family matters’ to attend to.”

“So he does have a S.I.! How does he keep it shut?”

“He also, kinda, implied that that was new. He said that...” He paused. “It turns out he was homeless.”

“... What?” That came from Bats, surprisingly high-pitched as well.

“He was living in the streets until a month ago. He said that technically he wasn’t a part of the family officially yet, that he was going to fix that today.”

“Sometimes I forget heroism isn’t a paid job.” Wonder Woman said, “Oh, brother.”

“Is this information confirmed in any way?” Batman asked; if the facts could be a misunderstanding, he would need to know so before putting them in the Captain’s archive.

“I was eavesdropping,” Superman admitted, “his heart rate and breathing were steady, unlike when he does pranks. And he wouldn’t lie about something like this.”

Martian Manhunter raised his hand, “sometimes I received feeling of worry about food and warm places from him, even when avoiding looking into his mind, until recently. Not exactly one month, but that could be because he is used to worrying about it.”

“Now that I think about it, maybe that’s why he doesn’t wear a mask;” Arthur said. “He didn’t have anything nor anyone, so he didn’t worry about losing anything by having his identity revealed.”

“That doesn’t explain why he didn’t tell us.” GL counter-argumented.

“His villains know. In the recordings, they seem to reference a secret identity they know; and if they knew about him being homeless, it would explain them targeting almost empty buildings. That’s probably where he was staying.” Gotham’s knight answered, “And maybe it wasn’t about us finding out about someone, but us finding out about his situation.”

“He is the type to refuse help if he thinks it comes from pity.” Diana added.

“... What now?” The situation was too unexpected, and Flash needed some hint on how to proceed.

“Now, nothing changes. He hates pity; and if he needs help, his new family will provide it for him. Treat him the same you have always treated him.” Bats answered. “If anything, make sure not to say anything that may be hurtful towards his situation.”

************************************************************************

“Oops,” Marvel said. “Double oops,” Billy responded.

“It seems the spell from that user has interfered with the transformation.” Solomon explained through Marvel.

“Well, I can see that. What do we do now?”

“Wait a sec, I’m asking Hecate.” Mercury answered this time. “Okay, that spell is still in you— our? Marvel’s system; if we try to de-transform again it could fragment us further, which is no good, and we can’t re-integrate until it’s out.”

“How long?” “At least two days.”

“Wha— I have a JL meeting! Today!”

“I’m sure we can manage,” Achilles proclaimed confidently.

“Ah-ha, sure. Because any of you know how to act like Captain Marvel.” Billy said, sarcastically.

“I have an idea.” Zeus said.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hey, I kinda have a problem.” Receiving a text from Captain Marvel was not a common occurrence, so Batman was rightfully intrigued.

“Explain”

“I know I have to go to the meeting, I know it's important. But I kinda have to take care of one of my family members. He’s a kid and everyone is busy today, and he really loves superheroes, so if I could?”

“Doesn’t he have school?” The bat questioned. “He is homeschooled” The captain explained. “He is a really, really good kid, I promise”

He was going to regret it. “Very well, but he is your responsibility”

“Thank you so much, Mr. Batman, sir!”

He closed the chat, and opened another with Clark and Diana. “Captain Marvel will bring a child he is babysitting to the meeting, pass the word.”

Let’s hope this wouldn’t be a complete chaos.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Captain Marvel, now arriving.” “Unknown, Captain Marvel’s guess, now arriving.” The Zeta tube prompted.

“Yo, Cap,” Barry appeared in front of them, “who’s the kid?”

The child imminently peaked up, “Oh, gods. Hello, Mr. Flash, sir.”

The speedster felt déjà vu. “Hello, little guy. What’s your name?”

The kid putted, “I’m Billy, and for your information I’m eleven and a half!”

He laughed, “not so big if you are still counting the half.”

“That half is 5% of my life, or 2 years of yours.” Billy said with an almost creepy smile.

He turned to the Captain, “dude, what’s wrong with your kid?”

Marvel just smiled, “Oh, come on. He’s just playing.”

“He called me an old man!”

“First, no he didn’t. That words haven’t left his mouth.”

“He implied it!”

“Second, you implied he was a baby.”

“What a menace.” The speedster gave up. “Anyway, let’s go.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Is everybody here now?” Superman asked, ignoring the exited squeaks from Billy.

“Yeah, sorry, I’m late.” Marvel answered.

The meeting started; a bit boring. Passing reports, making sure everything of the JL was in order.

An hour later; they were technically done, but could not leave until Bats gave them the thumps up.

“Hey, kid, look.” Hal said, making forms with his ring. Billy praised it like he hadn’t seen it a hundred times before.

“That is SO COOL, Mr. Green Lantern, sir!” He exclaimed.

Quickly, all the members noticed the resemblance between the Captain and Billy. Which, for them, was weird. He had only been part of the family for a few months, who could the kid act so much like him? Were all people in Fawcett like this?

That was assuming he wasn’t related to Captain Marvel; but, taking into account that he had managed to hide being homeless for a year, it was possible he was Marvel’s child.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He was searching information about the kid; of course he was, he is Batman.

William ‘Billy’ Joseph Batson, orphan at 5, disappeared from foster care at 8 and reappeared a few months ago. Was homeless, until a couple found and adopted him. ‘Jove Olympia’; he opened one of his archives, this one on Greek mythology, and ran a facial recognition program. 90% match between ‘Jove’ and one of Zeus’ statues.

The facts were clear. The Captain, C. C. Batson, pronounced dead, transformed into the god's avatar, found his son Billy running from CPS and ended up living in the streets with him to protect him.

December is specially harsh on the homeless; the Captain probably asked, begged, his patron to take his son to safety. And so he did.

[wispeth]

Every knight of the round table possesses a trait that Arthur admires about them--a trait that he inevitably adopts himself, trying to mold himself into someone he is proud to be, by looking first at the people he admires, and why. Mimicry is the highest form of flattery after all.

Leon was the first person Arthur ever truly admired. When Arthur was a boy, he took a first notice of Sir Leon during his (Leon's) knighting ceremony. After a boyish bout of asking round the guests, Arthur had deducted that Sir Leon was something of a prodigy swordsman; the ginger haired man was younger than most who'd been knighted that day, but he was given additional honors for a recent act of heroism. It certainly raptured the princeling's attention.

That and, Uther looked genuinely pleased with him, which caught the eye of the little prince, who wished for his father to see him in the same light. Little Arthur wanted also to be something his father was proud of. So he looked to Sir Leon.

The knight was loyal. He was honorable. He was chivalrous. He was obedient. He was a proper soldier. He was everything a knight was meant to be; Arthur could see then why his father would be proud. Arthur took pride in him as well, still did, far beyond those days of youth.

The princeling was not jealous, no. He was awestruck. 'I could do that too,' he thought in wonder. 'I could be a knight.' He couldn't have been older than nine at the time: no idea who he was, but he did know, in his heart of hearts, that he, too, wanted to be a man like that.

Far later, now, Leon is a knight of the round table. His place at the table represents the soldier in Arthur--his roots--reminds him what he's fighting for: for Camelot, for home.

Lancelot, as well, was someone that Arthur admired. He faught only for the most noble of reasons, and was otherwise a very gentle (albeit gently chaotic) soul. He was kind, and he was charming, and Merlin--that was someone else who's opinion mattered--Merlin always looked happy to see Lancelot.

Arthur could do that as well. He could be kind.

Then there was Gwaine. That one, he, oddly enough, signified Arthur's humility. He was messy, sure, plenty rough round the edges, but he was a serious man when it counted (and not a second more).

Becoming a knight made him no less human. He was just as much of a man as he was before, just as much of a drunk, and a troublemaker, and just as good a friend. Similarly, even being but a mortal man of mortal mistakes, he was no less of a knight.

Arthur took a page from his book: to be a man first, and a king second. He would not make kingly decisions that would hurt his honest heart, and he would not do reckless things with the heart he uses to rule.

And Merlin--gods above, Merlin--there lies the heart in question. Merlin was hope itself. He was everything sacred in the world that Arthur vowed to protect.

Merlin was, well, he was odd, to say the least. He was gangly, and waifish, and awkward and clumsy--sassy, that one--and boyish too. Merlin went about life as if he learned how to be a person from the ground up, as if he was never told how to behave, as if--when he was young, and full of sunshine still--he was simply let loose, and never told to protect himself.

And still yet, it seemed that he wore his heart on his sleeve everywhere he went, as if nothing bad could happen to it while it was on display. And Arthur would wrangle the fates into obedience if it meant never having to prove Merlin wrong.

[linkspooky]

Art credit: @/charscounterattack reposted with permission.

INVINCIBLE VS. MY HERO ACADEMIA: WHEN HEROES KILL

Whether or not heroes should kill people is a hotly debated topic in comics.

There are people who think heroes should never kill, and others who think heroes should kill more. One of the most famous comic book storylines "Under the Red Hood" has Red Hood / Jason Todd debate whether or not it was ethical for Bruce to keep letting the joker live even after the Joker killed Jaso, especially after the Joker killed Jason. If killing the Joker earlier to prevent all future deaths would have been justified. There are like a hundred DC Aus that are like "What if Batman and Superman just started killing people?"

In order to explore this question I'm going to explore two situations in different comics, Invincible and My Hero Academia when the hero, a very idealistic young hero kills someone for the first time.

LET HORI COOK

Storytelling, especially for serialized storytelling which comes out week by week instead of all at once works on the premise of drawing people in by promising that certain future developments and plot points are going to happen. Stories are all about creating expectations, building them, and then paying them off.

Here's an example: The Dabi is a Todoroki theory has existed pretty much since the training camp arc. Horikoshi wasn't in your face about the hints about Toya, but there was just enough hints to make the theory seem more and more plausible. Toya having the same fire quirk as Shoto / Endeavor. Toya mentioning both of them by name. Shoto's two other siblings getting revealed but not Toya. Toya saying that Hawks should have paid attention to him most of all. All of these little pieces came together until Toya finally revealed his identity on live TV in front of both Shoto and Endeavor.

This worked because not only did it give the audience just enough clues that they felt smart for figuring it out, and get invested in the idea of Toya as a Todoroki, it also was well-paced so it didn't seem like Horikoshi forgot about it unlike the traitor plot which went hundreds of chapters without being mentioned. If Toya was revealed to be a Todoroki at the training camp arc with no buildup, it wouldn't be as effective bcause we didn't have years of waiting and theorizing. If Todoroki was revealed to be some guy named Steve after all the hints, it also wouldn't be an effective reveal because there were hints dropped for Toya Todoroki, but there were no Steve hints so it'd feel like the author lied to us.

Themes are like this too. I tend to explain story themes by oversimplifying it as "Question, and answer." The story asks a question, it provides us an answer, and we can come up with our own answer as well. However, there's a middle part I'm skipping out on which is deliberation. Before you can come up with an answer, you obviously need to deliberate it, either by presenting arguments for or against, hearing outside opinions or just thinking things through.

In other words, you need to "Let things cook."

If Toya calling Shoto by his full name at the Training Camp Arc is when we're first asked "Is Toya a Todoroki?" or when the theories first started, then the long middle period between Training Camp Arc and the First War Arc is the deliberation. This is when the story not only added more hints to the idea that Toya was a Todoroki, but also set up why that reveal mattered. Endeavor wanted to atone for his past sins, but one of his victims was no longer alive. Endeavor begins to move on anyway and think he's finally made himself a good hero, but now Toya appears to flip up the reverse Uno Card.

So let's follow this basic formula, for how ideas get developed in My Hero Academia and just any good story.

Question / Introduction

Deliberation

Answer / Conclusion

My Hero Academia and Invincible explore similar themes in regards to heroism, generational trauma and how to be better than the previous generation in both Mark and Deku. I'm going to streamline their arcs down to one basic question for the sake of time. For both the question is:

Can I be a better hero than my Dad?

Deku and Mark might be two characters who cannot possibly seem to be more different, but you can actually list off a lot of similarities between them right away. Deku and Mark are both people who in a world oversaturated with superheroes spent most of their childhoods with no superpowers at all. Also, they were genetically supposed to inherit a quirk / viltrumite powers, but Deku was born quirkless, and Mark was an extremely late bloomer. They are also people who while being powerless civilians for most of their lives worship heroes. Deku collects so much All Might Merch he even stole some from Nighteye after he died, Mark attends comic conventions even after he becomes a superhero.

They also grew up worshipping one hero in particular who was essentially earth's strongest hero, for Mark it was his dad Omni-Man, for Deku it was All Might. They also both get the opportunity to train directly under their favorite hero immediately after they get their powers. At first this makes it seem like they've been given everything they've ever wanted. All Mark has ever wanted was to be a hero like his dad and make his father proud. Not only did Deku just want one person to tell him he could be a hero too even without a quirk, but his very idea of heroism is built around seeing All Might always save people with a smile.

However, both of them suddenly hit complication just when it seems like they've been given everything they've ever wanted. They are both confronted with the fact that their heroes are not who they expected them to be. They are overly idealistic heroes who have been dreaming of being heroes since childhood only to be hit with a much greyer reality. To the point where there innocence becomes a flaw in and of itself. The way they've been coddled and protected all of their lives leaves them completely unaware and unable to spot the grey areas in the world, or the people around them.

For Deku the moral greys exist in the villains around them. In MHA Society, villains are basically just bad guys in suits for the heroes to punch on television. They're seen as a faceless enemy, and there's very little in way of rehabilitation for villains once they're captured. Deku lived in a very black and white world before this point, and he's suddenly presented with the idea that his villains could be morally grey.

Deku's image of All Might is a hero who saves everyone with a smile, so he could never imagine that there are people who All Might has failed to save. He's never stopped to consider where villains came from, or if any of them might have legitimate reasons for their grievances.

This becomes a pretty central theme in MHA. It's first brought up here when Shigaraki talks about All Might acting as if there's no one he can't save. Twice brings it up again in his first backstory chapter, that the heroes only save the virtuous ones.

This is further enforced in the same overhaul arc with members who are loyal to Overhaul because they are society's trash who would have been thrown out otherwise. There is a group of people fiercley loyal to Overhaul who is a terrible boss, because he is the only person who would accept them.

edits belong to @stillness-in-green from bring it all back a tone poem on returning to staus quo located here on ao3.

In the War Arc this long running theme basically reaches a climax with the Hawks and Twice confrontation, where Hawks decides to try to offer Jin a chance to restart because he's deemed him "good" but he won't extend the same helping hand to the league who Hawks has determined as "bad." He then asks Jin to betray his friends in order to be saved, something that Jin rightfully calls out.

That Hawks only wants to save Jin because he's one of the good ones, and he's written off the rest of the league and left them for dead. Hawks choosing to divide between good and bad victims ad only save the one he personally thought was worthy of redemption, makes it impossible for him to save Twice who would never under any circumstances give up on the rest of the league.

Twice's death is a tragedy, but it also presents us a clear example of the failures of the previous generation. Even a hero who sincerely sympathized with a villain and wanted to help them start over wasn't able to help them because of this attitude of selectively picking and choosing who to save. If the heroes only save the innocent the I guess the lives of the guilty are worth less.

This is the questio Toga poses to Ochako, if the heroes killed Twice then are you going to kill me in order to stop me. This is the central subject of Shigaraki's speech to the heroes. That heroes and villains will never uderstand each other, because the entire hero system perpetuates itself on ignoring the needs of societal outcasts and rejects in form of the "innocent people" and those outcasts who aren't having their needs met eventually turn into villains who get systematically put down by heroes. Heroes and villains are incapable of understanding each other and breaking the cycle, because the entire system isn't built on helping people, but merely maintaining the idea that heroes are perfect, faultless saviors so normal people will feel secure, while the people the heroes have failed get swept under the rug so society can keep "functioning."

"You heroes hurt your own families just to help strangers. You heroes pretend to be society's guardians. For generations, you pretended not to see those you couldn't protect. That means your system's all rotten from the inside with maggots crawling out. It all builds up, little by little, over time. You've got the common trash, all too dependent on being protected, and the brave guardians who created the trash that needed coddling. It's a corrupt, vicious, cycle. Everythig I've witnessed, the whole system you've built has always rejected me. Now I'm ready to reject it. That's why I destroy. That's why I took power for myself. Simple enough, Yeah? I don't care if you don't understand. That's what makes us heroes and villains."

So if the starting question is: Can I be a better hero than my dad?

Then everything I've detailed above is deliberation. Here we have, ever since the training camp arc, this slowly built up idea of why All Might was a flawed hero in the end.

Mark has to face the fact that his father is a more morally grey person than he could ever imagine, whereas Deku has to face the fact that the villains are more morally grey in his world, and that makes the heroes look more flawed in comparison as well. The deliberation is all slowly bringing Deku to think over what Shigaraki asked him all the way in the beginning in there first meeting.

Were there ever people that the heroes couldn't save? If so then what are you supposed to do with the victims you can't save after they grow up? This is when Deku begins to start forming his own answer.

Deku hears the advice of both the other OFA users, and The Stinky Old Man (Gran Torino) that killing Shigaraki is the best option, but wants to explore other options.

Scenes like this clearly telegraph what the answer / conclusion Hori is leading us to to be. The same way that Toya is a Todoroki is foreshadowed long in advance, statements like "All for one is a power meant for saving, not killing" clearly set up Deku's Endgame. Deku's end goal is to find a way use his power to save Shigaraki rather than killing him. Everything else is just a matter of deliberation, Deku knows what his edgoal is but the chapters between then and the end of the manga is Deku having to figure out how exactly to save Shigaraki without killing him.

You Heroes Hurt Your Own Families Just to Help Strangers

Invincible is the story of Mark Grayson, the son of Omni Man / Nolan Grayson. He's been told all of his life that his father is a viltrumite, a race of benevolent aliens who send out people like Nolan to alien civilizations in order to uplift their entire civilization. Which is what led Nolan to come to earth and become Earth's greatest heroes.

This turns out to be a big fat lie when within 12 chapters Nolan not only slaughters the guardian's of the globe, but also has a confrontation with his son.

Mark has wanted to be just like his dad his entire life. Only to be slapped in the face with the realization he's known nothing about his dad his entire life, shown rather brilliantly by these panels where Nolan tries to have a normal father / son conversation with Mark while covered in blood.

Nolan isn't from a futuristic utopia but from a brutal, fascist space empire. He didn't come to earth to help bring it up, but to weaken its defenses and make it prime for conquering. He didn't have Mark out of love, but to produce another soldier for the viltrumite empire.

Mark's entire schtick is that he's invincible, but he's so inexperienced as a hero that he gets beat up constantly despite the fact he has the strongest power set in the series b/c he has viltrumite powers. However, not only does the series introduce moral greys by continually showing how Mark even with the best power set in the series constantly gets his ass kicked, it also challenges Mark's black and white thinking and hero worship of his father by showing him the kind of man his father really is.

Mark has wanted to be exactly like his father his entire life, but now that's suddenly a bad thing. His father is a morally reprehensible person and Mark is now a descendant of an alien race meant to conquer worlds. Not only is Mark confronted by who his father really is, but now everyone in Mark's life judges him by comparing him with his father.

Mark has to work with Cecil and be his on-call Superhero, both to be able to pay for college, and also to prove that he's not his dad. The unspoken part of the agreement is that Cecil gets to keep a leash on Mark and Mark has to prove that he'll never turn out like his father to earn Cecil's trust.

Cecil is automatically suspicious of him because if Mark were to turn evil, the planet would have no defenses against him just like it didn't have any for Omni Man. Mark's mother starts to drink and blames Mark for Omni-Man leaving in a drunken moment of weakness because of how much the information that Omni Man only regarded her as a pet affected her.

The comic even shows us that in most alternate universes, mark actually did make the decision to join his father's conquest, and this universe is one of the few exceptions. This is also where we're introduced to a major reoccuring antagonist in the comics, and also the main antagonist / final antagonist of season 2 of the cartoon Angstrom Levy.

Levy is someone who can jump between dimensions and has traveled to almost all of them collecting his alternate selves. He has witnessed for a fact that in most universes Mark sides with his father instead of fighting against him.

Levy enlists the clone bros to build a device that would combine the knowledge of his alternate selves into one individual. This device ends up breaking tragically (partially mark's fault, but levy himself made the decision to stop the machine in order to stop the clone bros from killing Mark). Levy's memories become confused as a result of the machine malfunctioning, and he can't tell the difference between himself and his alternate universe counterparts. This means that Levy now remembers several alternate universes where Mark did turn evil, and remembers them as if they happened to him.

It's better elaborated upon in this post:

The process by which Invincible has had to condense and consolidate the plot beats of the original comic, coupled with the opportunity it's granted the writers to tighten up and emphasize its themes on a second pass, has resulted in a newfound appreciation for how unbelievably fucking good Angstrom Levy's whole character concept is. What's that, Mark? Your main emotional crisis this season is your fear of turning out like your father? Here, have an archnemesis who's out to kill you because his memories were inadvertently overwritten with the lived experiences of hundreds of alternate versions of himself whose friends and families were slaughtered in worlds where you did, in fact, turn out exactly like your father. Because it turns out that that is in fact the multiversal norm. That you turn out like your father. And now you're left to wonder what set of arbitrary coinflips pulled you back from that abyss in this dimension, and whether your luck is going to continue to hold into the future.

Mark is not only hit with the revelation that his father isn't as good as he thought he was, but also while he's in a crisis about about whether or not he will turn out like his father, he learns the answer is yes, in several dimensions he turns out exactly like his father.

In My Hero Academia there are families like the Todoroki's who balance the difference between a hero's obligations to society, and a hero's obligation to society. However, that's a side plot where I'd argue that the main plot for Invincible and it's main focus is what Mark owes to the world as a hero, and what Mark owes to his family.

It's not just that Omniman is trying to invade earth for the Viltrumite empire. It's not just that he failed as a hero, but that he failed as a father. What makes Mark snap, is hearing Omniman call Debbie a pet. Until that point Mark was in denial and still trying to reason with his father.

Invincible is about two intersecting themes: Is Mark obligated to use his incredible powers to help make the world better? Can Mark be a good hero and a good family man?

While MHA has more far reaching societal implications in its themes and questions, Invincible is more specifically about the Grayson Family. It's generational trauma on a society level, vs generational trauma on an individual level. The way Nolan was raised on Viltrumite effects how he raised Mark causing their conflict, and Mark's conflict with his father effects most of his young adulthood when he's trying to figure out what person he wants to be (read: not his dad), but also the way he parents his daughter with Atom Eve.

Omni-man failed Mark as both a hero, and a father. Mark feels the need to overcompensate for what his father did the world and all those innocent people by acting as Cecil's lapdog and doing whatever Cecil tells him.

However, Mark is much more hurt by the personal betrayal than he lets on. It's not just that his father killed a bunch of innocent people, it's also that Mark's father failed as a father, abandoning both him and mom and choosing to be a viltrumite rather than being Mark's father. Mark's stated reason for wanting to be a hero post the omni-man reveal is to prove he's not like his dad to the world, and also make up for the innocent lives he failed to save. However, his unstated underlying reason is Mark is hurt and betrayed his father didn't put his family first, and this causes Mark to always put his family first.

This leads to two insecurities / narrative flaws. One, Mark is insecure about becoming like his father so he tries to prove he's nothing like him by being the most selfless, perfect hero possible. Two, Mark is hurt by being abandoned by his father and doesn't want to become a deadbeat like Nolan so he gets extremely overprotective of his own family.

These two things are obvious in conflict with one another: A hero has an obligation to the common good which sometimes means sacrificing time with your loved ones. However, being a good family man requires a level of selfishness that directly contradicts the selfless hero that Mark is pushing himself to be. In the comic the way Mark prioritizes his family and loved ones over the common good and justice is made even more obvious. His first instinct on seeing Omni-Man again isn't to call him out for being an awful father, but to hug him and ask him to come home. Mark is a distraught son first, and a hero second.

Mark has two flaws, his fear of being like his father makes him try too hard to be a perfect hero, and his trauma over losing his father makes him prioritize his family over being a hero. It's very much a having your cake and eating it too situation, oftentimes heroes make huge sacrifices for their personal lives in order to be heroes, that's basically a theme discussed in the comic with Nolan being absent for a lot of Mark's childhood, and why Mark's relationship with Amber fails.

The show also introduces us to the idea that Mark is so afraid of becoming like his father that he deliberately holds back his punches. Which is good when he's fighting earth villains, but bad when he's facing viltrumites who can only survive being disemboweled, but will also come to wipe out all life on earth if they're allowed to live. In the show it's directly mentioned that Mark is holding back, in the comic it's implied when we see how helpless Mark is in the fight against other viltrumites. Mark lacks the resolve to kill someone and when fighting a viltrumite, failing to put them down can have consequences because they are galactic conquerors who will not show you any mercy.

This all comes to a head in the Angstrom Levy fight where Mark makes his first kill on-screen when beforehand he'd never fought to kill before, and even held back against galaxy conquering aliens who were out to murder him and his dad.

However. before we begin that.

Should superheroes kill?

People often act like whether or not super heroes should kill their villains is a black and white topic, where it actually depends highly on context.

Batman’s an entire character is written around how he wants to redeem Gotham and save the city, most of his villains aren’t even sent to prison they’re sent to Arkham a facility that’s supposed to rehabilitee the mentally ill so they can rejoin society. Batman has decided it’s his place to stop crime, not his place to decide whether or not people have the right to live or redeem themselves.

Batman is also at risk for being just like his villains, that’s why he’s foils with Harvey Dent, someone who tried to prosecute people under the law who then snapped and went full violent mobster vigilante. Batman actually is at risk for walking the same path as Harvey if he decides murder is an option.

In X-Men 97, there was a character known as Rogue who dropped Simon Bolivar Trask off of a building in an act of vigilante justice. This action makes sense in context for several reasons. One Rogue was raised by Mystique and Destiny, is a former member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and began as a terrorist in the comics. She's not really a "moral highground" character like Batman. Two, Boliver Trask built a giant killer robot that resulted in the deaths of millions in Genosha which Rogue is a survivor of. Number three, Trask had no sympathetic reasons for building the genocide robot, he built the sentinels out of bigotry to wipe out mutants. He's not a victim in any way, he's an oppressor facing consequences for his actions.

Batman shooting Harvey Dent, his former best friend, a victim of severe mental illness and trauma that still has hope for recovery, and Rogue dropping the guy who made a genocide robot off of a building are both wildly different situations.

So in the context of MHA we have Shigaraki Tomura, a terrorist who's goal is to destroy japan enough that it will dismantle the hero system for good. Shigaraki Tomura is a ten year old child who lost control of his quirk and killed his family for mistake, he wandered for days in crowded city streets but not a single hero stopped to help him, then he was found by the main villain of the story and groomed for ten years into becoming his successor. Shigaraki is also surrounded by a group of societal outcasts who were failed by society in similiar ways, so Shigaraki knows he wasn't the only one failed by hero society and he starts to wage his war for their sake as much as his own.

In Invincible we have Angstrom Levy. Angstrom is not plotting mass murder the way that Shigaraki is. He is specifically only targetting Mark Grayson's family for revenge (at least the first time he showed up, the second time during the invincible war arc was different). Angstrom's revenge against Mark Grayson is misplaced, but to be fair the accident messed with his brain hardcore and he doesn't remember clearly what happened. He doesn't remember that he's the one who decided to stop the machine in order to help Mark. It's tragic. Angstrom also has the memories of like hundreds of different universes of evil Marks. Even though he's the victim of a tragic accident, he's also a victimizer in that he doesn't choose to just go after Mark, he deliberately picks Mark's family, his mother, and his infant little brother as a way of hurting Mark.

So both of these characters blur the line between villain and victim, but neither of them are like Trask in that they have no sympathetic motivation whatsoever. Shigaraki's actions don't come from bigotry, and he's not an oppressor. Trask was actually trying to do something good before his machine broke and his brains got scrambled, and now he wants personal revenge and to blame all his problems on Mark which is petty yes, but not on Trask's level of heartlessness.

So, there's a case that can be made here for both of them that there's room to save them. After all Mark and Deku aren't killers to begin with. Mark especially has an incredibly vested interest in not becoming a killer. Even if they don't explicitly go out of their way to save and redeem these two people, we're still at this point expecting the heroes to at least take down these two sympathetic figures non-lethally. Mark doesn't want to be like his dad and Deku has said explicitly he wants to save Shigaraki, and that OFA is a power for saving and not killing.

Also to sidestep this argument before people comment on my post with it.

What do you expect the heroes to just let a mass murderer live?

YES!

It happens in comics literally all the time.

Magneto, Wolverine, Jean Grey / Phoenix, Emma Scott, heck, OMNIMAN himself, all characters who have killed lots of people and all characters who get to live and even be on the heroes side. Of these three Jean Grey of all people has the highest body count.

Shonen Jump also has Vegeta. Have you ever heard of Vegeta? Most popular Shonen Rival of all time? Omni-man and Viltrumites are basically just Saiyans.

In real life they wouldn't let a mass murderer walk away but comics are not the same as real life. That's why characters are always punching dinosaurs all the time. Fun fact, if you were to try to punch a dinosaur in real life it would probably hurt your hand. I would advise against it. Dinosaurs are for the most part much stronger than human beings.

As I outlined above Shigaraki and Angstrom are different characters than Trask. They might all be murderers, but the first two have sympathetic elements and are humanized, they are victims of oppression (Angstrom's been killed by viltrumites in a whole bunch of worlds) whereas Trask is an oppressor.

So for both of these stories we are not expecting to see Deku and Mark kill their final villains (for the series and for this season). Deku because he's spent the final third of the series trying to work out a way to save the villains, and Mark because he doesn't want to turn out to be a violent murderer like his father so he's trying to be the most selfless, most perfect hero ever.

I THOUGHT YOU WERE STRONGER

So we finally reach the scenes in question and I thought I'd compare them without much commentary, just highlighting what happens without adding much spin.

So the final episode of Invincible Season 2 and Issue #33 of the comic is where Angstrom and Mark have it out. Angstrom appears in Mark's home and threatens his family. he brings up the comparison between Mark and his father right away. This is also something Angstrom has seen first hand by traveling to multiple universes where Mark has sided with his father.

In the cartoon he's a lot more confused because he's constantly remembering other universe's memories as if he were his own so he genuinely thinks he's taking down an evil viltrumite, in the comic he's being more petty and blaming Mark for his deformity (I think he doesn't remember that he was the one to take the helmet off by choice). In both versions he uses Mark's family as hostages to keep him from fighting back as he tries to send Markk to his death in several different realities.

Angstrom then ups the threat of violence from holding them hostage to threatening to kill them. In both the show and comic he brutally breaks Debbie's arm. Mark is sent through several more realities, only to discover that Debbie's arm is broken and lose his temper.

Mark and Angstrom's fist fight comes to an end, and while Mark has him on the ground he keeps hitting and hitting and hitting long after Angstrom stopped fighting back. Which is what prompts the famous "I thought you were stronger..."

Now, in this situation it looks pretty justifiable that Mark attacked Angstrom so aggressively,. it was self defense for one against a man trying to kill him and he only got truly aggressive after he saw his mother's arm get broken. Not only that he didn't intentionally kill Angstrom, you can argue he went too far in a case of clear self defense. Other people even tell Mark that this one isn't on him, including Cecil who compares Mark to his father the most.

Then, why is Mark so disturbed?

It's because this....

Is a deliberate parallel to this...

It's not just that Mark killed a man, it's that he killed a man by pounding on him relentlessly long after he'd stopped fighting back the exact same way his father did to him during their fight.

There's a difference between Mark say, fighting against a viltrumite and making a deliberate decision to kill them because of the danger that viltrumites represent to other people considering they are planet conquerors, and Mark killing this man because he lost his temper and couldn't control his own strength.

Mark spends the entire season trying to not be like his father, only to see first hand that he's capable of the exact same violence that his father is. The last episode of Season 2 summarizes this moment pretty perfectly in a montage of season 1 moments while Mark screams and breaks the sound barrier trying to push his viltrumite powers to their limits.

Mark: I'm strong enough and I can do this. It's all I've ever wanted for as long as I can remember. I want to do what you do. I want to be just like you. Omni-Man: You will be, son. You will. Mark screaming. Omni-Man: You'll outlast every single fragile being on this planet. You'll live to see this world crumble to dust and blow away. Everyone and everything you know will be gone. Mark screaming. Cecil: You know who else said that to me? Mark: I'm not my dad. Mark screaming some more. KRegg: Your father will be execute and you can return to earth. You will assume the mission to prepare earth for our rule.

So not only is Mark hit with the realization that he's just as capable of being violent and angry as his father is. He also is being forced by the situation to become more violent out of pragmatism, because if he doesn't get strong enough to fight viltrumites then they're going to come to his planet and take everything.

Not only has Mark lost some of his innocence, he's also being forced to throw the rest of it away. It's why Mark drops out of college at the end of the season because any pretense of balancing between his human life and his duty as a hero is gone. He is basically forced to be a viltrumite full time now and will abandon any semblance of trying to live his own life for a very, very long time until his relationship with Eve starts to get serious.

Which is why a pretty justifiable murder in this context is presented as so bloody, gruesome and traumatizing an event for both the audience and Mark himself. We both know there's no coming back from this.

As for the death of main series villain Shigaraki Tomura, Deku ends up being forced to kill Shigaraki in a situation similiar to Mark. Though I will highlight one difference right away. Mark was trying to reason with Angstrom, but he was at no point like "I want to save Angstrom, he's a victim I want to find some other way of ending this bloody conflict between us." Mark just didn't intend to go so far as killing him.

Deku entered the fight with the explicit stated desire to save Shigaraki rather than killing him, which would make him different from the previous generation of heroes because he wouldn't turn a blind eye to society's faults and victims like Shigaraki accused him of.

Deku makes a journey into Shigaraki's mental landscape to find Tenko in a recreation of the memory of the day of his worst trauma. As Tenko's quirk activates, Deku attempts to grab the little boy's hands to comfort him.

Deku's "Why I am here" is markedly different from All Might's. Deku says the reason he wants to save others is to take their hands, comfort them and give them peace, whereas All Might as the strongest hero tried to keep peace by beating all the villains down. Deku's way to become the greatest hero once again, focuses heavily on saving others, and offering his hand to everyone without hesitation instead of picking and choosing who to save like previous generations.

Deku even says that he has to extend a helping hand to everyone because he's learning that the world is more complicated than he thought, he was ignorant to a lot of people's suffering, and he can't sweep their pain under the rug anymore.

For a moment Deku unconditionally extending a hand to Shimura Tenko even as his mental body begins to decay away wins over Shimura Tenko. Though Shigaraki also resists because much like Twice he doesn't want to abandon the rest of his friends even if it means he personally will be saved.

However, any attempts to save Shigaraki are interrupted by AFO suddenly appearing out of nowhere and taking control of Shigaraki's body yet again.

At this point Deku does exactly what Mark does, which is relentlessly punch Shigaraki's body to death in order to kill AFO along with Shigaraki. In some small defese Shigaraki was also there too punching AFO in his mental landscape so he was assisting Deku in defeating AFO he wasn't helpless the entire time.

But, basically we see the same scene happen with Mark.

A hero who does not wish to kill is forced by circumstance to kill a villain. In Deku's case it should be even more devastating because they explicitly went into the fight wanting to save Shigaraki and they believed their power was for saving and not killing.

Yet, we don't get nearly as horrified a response from Deku.

However, instead Deku's final words are just about how he couldn't forgive Shigaraki and had to put a stop to him no matter what.

Even the way the scenes are presented to us are entirely different. Mark punches Angstrom in a wasteland a dry, dead place, until he's soaked in Angstrom's blood, and painted everything around him red. Once again, it's a visual callback to Mark's father beating him half to death, which was Mark's own lowest point.

Whereas, when Deku punches Shigaraki until he disintegrates not only is the violence or horror of Shigaraki's death not acknowledged, but it's played as a triumphant moment where the clouds clear from the sky and the stun starts shining.

In the cartoon Mark killing Angstrom leads to a total screaming breakdown where he has traumatic flashbacks of his dad beating him and pushes himself to break the sound barrier multiple times. It also leads him to making big life changes like dropping out of college to become a hero full time and giving up any pretense of having a normal life. As seen in a scene where he watches Amber from the sky, and is tempted to go down and greet her and just flies off, because Amber represents his connection to his humanity.

Also, Angstrom doesn't even die. He comes back way worse and that's how invinicble war arc starts.

In the aftermath of killing Shigaraki, Deku gets melancholy about not being able to save Shigaraki only to be reassured he did save him in the end. Only to be told by All Might that it's okay because he still saved Shigaraki's heart even if he killed him.

DEKU: "I couldn't save Tenko's life." "I reached out to his heart, and even though his hatred was crushed," "to the very end, Tenko" "was the leader of the League of Villains." ALL MIGHT: "Let me tell you this as someone who has had a near-death experience," "I think it's in the expression on his face at the end." "If there wasn't a crying boy there," "I think his heart was saved after all,"

People also try to convince mark that he did nothing wrong and that there was no helping what he did in a situation like that, but he doesn't let himself believe them.

The ending lines about the last episode of Season 2, are this:

Eve: I'm sorry Mark. It's not fair. You don't deserve this. Eve: You don't deserve this.

Which has a double meaning. Eve is just trying to comfort Mark, because arguably he shouldn't have to feel guilty for fighting in self defense. On the other hand what Mark hears is You don't deserve this in the context of Eve's feelings for him. An alternate timeline version of Eve confessed her love for Mark. Mark was about to bring it up but decided not to. At that moment as Eve embraces and comforts him, what Mark hears because of his own self loathing is that he doesn't deserve Eve comforting him, or her love for him.

Just to clarify I don't think that Mark is crying over Angstrom Levy specifically. In fact over time he's painted to be pathetic in his obsession with revenge, and what he amounts to is just wanting to blame everything on invincible when it was partially caused by his own actions.

However, it's inarguable that killing (or rather seemingly killing Angstrom) deeply impacted Mark and how he saw himself as a hero. It's less about Angstrom, and more about the loss of control, and the realization of how powerful his anger and hatred can get and what that means for him personally.

It also shows us where Mark's priorities lie. Mark wants to be a perfect hero and a perfect family man, and Invincible shows us he can't be both, his desire to protect his family leads him to staining his blood when he was trying so hard to be a good, selfless hero. This is all a part of a deliberate arc where Mark chooses more and more to value his family over being a hero. I'm not going to say whether or not it's the right choice, but it's a choice he makes, as a part of his character development where as he grows up and becomes a father his priorities change.

My point is that this moment has an impactful change on Mark, for arguably the rest of the comic.

Now my question is, with My Hero Academia will the death of Shigaraki Tomura, the series greatest villain and it's greatest victim have an equal impact on Deku's character that Levy's death did on Mark's?

[garland-on-thy-brow]

I will continue to write and reblog about the catastrophe and ecocide caused by russians destroying Nova Kakhovka dam. The catastrophe of this scale has both immediate and longterm consequences, and both are horrible. It will be getting worse. If not for the heroism of all the people involved in the rescue, it would be a lot worse still.

I know it is tempting to ignore the horror happening far away. This is exactly what many people from other countries do right now. So I ask you not to. Both online and offline, please continue sharing the information about the catastrophe, as well as the ways to help [1] [2], with everyone you can reach. Yes, it is necessary.

It is great if you can donate, quite literally each 1 dollar means fuel for boats to rescue people, means clean water and life-saving medicine for someone.

But information is important too. Especially when news coverage is insufficient, when social networks shadowban posts about Nova Kakhovka dam, when many people are happy to believe lies and stay ignorant if this means they do not have to do anything while still perceiving themselves as good.

Oppose this.

Oppose silence, indifference, ignorance, and misinformation. Stay informed and talk to people.