#Not the pretty white man that looks like MCU Loki

[bonesofapoet]

ppl seeing young!silco and THEN deciding he's a Hear Me Out is actually so insane to me like he is a conventionally attractive mentally unstable dilf and if u can't handle his facial scarring and mentally unstable kingpin wiles then what, pray tell, the heck

[ginger-snap-talkin-nonsense]

Hi everyone! A few days ago I posted my rankings for all the films in the Infinity War Saga of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Having never seen any of these movies in full before this moment outside of Spider-Man: Homecoming and Guardians of the Galaxy, this was a very fresh experience and one I can now thoroughly say I really enjoyed! It may have had its ups and downs, but overall this part of the MCU left us with some incredible movies, characters, chemistry, and scenes that will likely inspire creators for decades to come just as their comic book counterparts inspired their own creation. I am really glad I started and finished this project and while I’ll be taking a hiatus before continuing onward, I can safely say I am now a certified MCU fan.

BUT LETS BE REAL Y’ALL WANNA SEE ME BE A HATER SO LETS GET INTO IT WITH OUR BOTTOM 5 SHIT LIST:

1. Dr. Strange

Interestingly enough the at top of this list is the worst superhero in the Infinity Saga. Dr. Strange is a terribly boring slog wherein Benedict Cumberbatch plays the character that Tony Stark haters think Tony Stark is. Annoyingly smug, terrible chemistry with everyone around him, an absolute bore, and a morally questionable at best protagonist. Throughout this whole movie I’m really meant to care that he’s slowly getting over his hands never being able to work the same again, but because this man is nothing but boring and insufferable every time he opens his mouth I could honestly care less what happens to him.

Tilda Swinton is here giving the least with her performance as Sorcerer Supreme but I can hardly blame her because this movie has no idea what to do with her. Same with Wong, who feels like he’s supposed to be the funny sidekick but gets such little to do and say that you forget he’s in the film at all.

The plot is barebones and devoid of engaging character interactions or cool and endearing scenes of Dr. Strange doing cool shit. Instead we focus on some CGI mirrorverse shit which isn’t cool enough to save a 2 hour spiral of muck.

The only thing keeping this at the top of the shitpile and not further down is the final fight scene being pretty clever and the final talk Tilda has with Stephen being pretty okay. It’s no Frigga and Loki or Frigga and Thor but it’ll do in a pinch. Still doesn’t salvage a movie so boring that Nathan and I spent the latter half of it pretending that Dr. Strange was writing letters to Santa Claus to keep our spirits up.

2. Thor

You know Thor: Dark World gets a lot of shit hurled its way and don’t get me wrong it’s entirely deserved shit that movie is needlessly grey and edgy and lame and everything else that’s already been said. But at the end of all things I can still tell you that the scene of Loki being a total mess in his prison cell after realizing that he got his mother killed is genuinely well written and the only time Loki has been a boon for this franchise.

I can’t say the same thing about Thor which was so forgettable and had such little going on that I don’t remember a single scene from it. Thor is boring, Loki is boring, the Frost Giants are lame looking and barely in it, Lady Sif and the Warriors Three are so nothing that I think they legit forgot Lady Sif was part of them by the time they reached Ragnarok, and the plot is so blah that the only thing people remember is a one off gag about Thor breaking a coffee cup. And I say one off because “God learns how Earth works” gets to be a fun idea for that scene and never again.

And now, a series of disjointed musings

Why make Jane a scientist instead of a nurse in this version if you’re going to contrive a older white man scientist who actually does all the science?

Did you know Hawkeye gets introduced in this movie? He has about as much significance as he does in the first half of The Avengers so I wouldn’t be surprised if you forgot.

Dr. Selvig being such an important character to this series is so ironically funny I think I might actually be mad at Endgame for not having him appear through one of the portals.

Kat Dennings doesn’t even get to show cleavage.

Boy Loki sure gets to do less than nothing and be boring and annoying. Hope this isn’t a trend that continues because if it does then fans were really stupid for hyping him up.

This movie is lame.

3. Ant-Man and the Wasp

This one is actually really simple. The first Ant-Man is an incredibly sweet little flick where Paul Rudd gets to charm bomb us into loving Scott Lang and Michael Penya’s silly antics and Scott’s earnest love for his daughter carry us the rest of the way.

In this movie Hank Pym and Hope Pym will mercilessly attempt to ruin Scott’s life by getting him near put away for 20 years where he’ll never see his daughter again because (lemme check my notes) the grown adult is sad that her parent disappeared as a kid and wants her back…we gonna do anything with the Pym’s being selfish towards Scott and near putting his daughter through the same thing Hope went through for their own family with no regard for his feelings while sporting a callous attitude the whole time? No? They’re supposedly justified because Scott Lang got arrested in the Ant-Man suit for helping Captain America? The correct decision by Marvels standpoint? Hm. Interesting.

Oh also this movie has a villain…I think her name was Ghost.

Moving on!

4. Spider-Man: Far From Home

Maaaaaan I hate when I gotta dislike shit I was rooting for.

I’ll be honest, I have mixed feelings about the MCUs Spider-Man. On the one hand Tom Holland is a great casting pick, I love the younger age, and Homecoming has a lot of great stand out moments. I even like some of the Tony stuff-Tony being Peter’s Uncle Ben is genuinely creative and lends a lot more emotion to his relationship with Peter. On the other this franchise doesn’t wanna let Peter cross a street without pondering for 20 minutes about what Tony would do and every villain he ever fights revolves around Tony and Tony Tony Tony Tony.

I want this Peter to be able to stand as strongly on his own as the other Spider-Man’s of the past, but the MCU refuses to let him off the training wheels and just give him his own movie.

Case in point: Tony is dead and this movie is somehow more about Tony than any other Spider-Man thus far. And when we’re not talking about Peter “being Tony Jr. or maybe not or maybe yes and no” we’re quirking an eyebrow at the fans of the series and scoffing about how they dared hope that Mysterio was gonna be fuckin Mysterio. I’m not a comic or spider-man cartoon person and I found it obnoxious.

The final fight is boring and all the drones feel like their made of glass and there’s just an infinite amount of them and Jake Gyllenhaal is a charm vacuum and there’s a weird joke about Peter hiring a prostitute that makes me uncomfortable and the more I sit on it the more I’m just disappointed that Peter Parker played by Tom Holland has not had a single movie where he can just be Spider-Man on his own. It’s insecure and sad. Just like every attempt this movie makes at going “Come on guys! How laaaaaame would it be if the villain was just magic? Multiverse? Cringe! Am I right, youths?”. I’ll get into more in the next entry, but false confidence masking major insecurity is the fastest way to dump a movie at the bottom of my list.

Luckily for this movie it still has enough good will with Tom Holland being charmingly awkward and Nick Fury (even if not the real Nick Fury) having an appearance that it narrowly escapes the bottom.

Well

That and the other thing.

5. Thor: Ragnarok

So this is the one that a majority of people are surprised about.

“Oh my gosh how is this so low? How is this below Thor: Dark World? This is so your kind of movie!”

Taste is a tricky thing for people. It feels so basic and easy to understand, but tastes are more complicated than we care to admit and that means they’re easy to fuck up and misunderstand. Everything on the surface of Thor: Ragnarok feels like something I SHOULD really like. It’s bright, it’s got a BIPOC lesbian, Thor is silly, we’re having a goofy time with the villains, there’s an interesting theme about family and finding yourself. Hell the movie is directed by Mr. What We Do in the Shadows which I notoriously adore (the TV adaptation of)

But here’s the thing: It’s all fake. It’s an unbridled fake confidence hiding indecision and insecurity. I’ll be honest, I was looking forward to this one. After being let down time and time again by Thor being so miserably uncompelling as a protagonist, and his villains being boring and forgettable, and his plots being threadbare and constantly retreading old ground-this should have been my thing.

I mean, I loved the Team Thor shorts they released! They were funny and delightful and very Taika! So why isn’t this movie?

Every joke that feels Taika is shot like it wants to be anything else (which as fans of Taika’s work know the camerawork and shots are what makes the typical joke of his), Thor is just as bland as ever but has a one off gag or two that were Ad libbed or actively fed to him by a make a wish kid so he’s “quirky” now, Hulk is here but they still have no fucking clue what they wanna do with him or Bruce so he’s just kind of taking up screen time.

I want Tessa Thompson to be so fucking cool and instead she’s barely given anything to fucking do except be an alcoholic with trauma. I want Kate Blanchett to be a awesome villain and instead she’s so fucking boring the only thing I can remember is that she does that dumb little hair fade to helmet shit like 9 times. The Warriors Three are all just kinda murked off and they cared so little they don’t even bring up Lady Sif and in fact the way Thor talks about Valkyrie implies that she doesn’t exist! They want to so hard to forget all the previous Thor movies but have nothing to add in a way that matters.

It wants to be important. But it wants to be forgettable. It wants to be bright. But it wants to be washed out. It wants to have deep characters. It doesn’t want you to think about the characters too hard. To paraphrase The Phantom Tollbooth: “When it’s someplace, it wishes it were someplace else. And when it’s someplace else, it’d rather not be there.”

It’s so focused on what it’s not that it never becomes anything.

People say Thor: Ragnarok is bright-but it’s colors are still just as washed out as any other Thor movie. The only difference is it’s a white smear over the lens instead of a black one. Just like the rest of this movie. Just as smudged and flawed and awful to sit through, but with a slightly different filter of terrible.

At least the first Thor was early. It was before they knew what worked. At least Dark World tried. It did terrible but it wanted to make amends for the first Thor being boring as sin. This movie is more than happy to dance around like it’s the golden child of three very unfortunate triplets, and it smirks with confidence as it stumbles just as badly as they did but without the excuses and while smacking it’s brothers for their blunders. I don’t have patience for false confidence.

HOWEVER,

All of this! All. Of. This. I could also say I felt about Far From Home. In fact, I should arguably hate it more because I love Spider-Man and honestly don’t have strong feelings about Thor. So why this and not Far From Home at the bottom?

I sat through:

Thor

Avengers

Thor: Dark World

Thor: Ragnarok

Four movies. Four appearances of this character. A character I was routinely told was sooooooo good and soooo fun and soooooo babygirl.

And every. Single. Appearance. Is the same fucking thing.

Tom Hiddleston does his best to be charming when he can’t be, and begs the audience to think he’s nuanced as he flits back and forth between hero and villain.

“I betrayed my family. Actually I changed my mind. Actually changed my mind again. Oops killed my mom. Sad now. I’m gonna be a good guy and try to fix this. Changed my mind I’m an asshole. Now I’m a hero. Now I’m a villain. Now I’m a hero. Now I’m a-“ until the moment Thanos crushes his windpipe in Infinity War.

I was more than sick of it by Thor: Dark World, but thought that after having that really good scene where he realizes that only he is to blame for his moms death and how much he does, in fact, care about his brother, that finally I would get to see this great character everyone creamed over during these movies release. That after this terrible excuse for “development” this character might finally be worth his time on screen!

And then Ragnarok came out.

And that’s why this is the worst one! Goodnight everybody!

[callsignbaphomet]

Saw some gifs of season 2 of Loki and my brain quickly went "Oh, it's Loke time!"

I have a confession to make about my Loke lol

When I first came up with him I hadn't bothered naming him, hell, he didn't even have a backstory. He was just Jelani's older brother. Like I've mentioned before, he was so bare bones because he was just a plot device and was just gonna die bloody and ugly just to emphasize how evil and a piece of shit Iain is.

Buuuuuuuut I decided to name him and give him a backstory and then I fell completely in love with him and decided to not kill him and make him part of the main roster. I really love this character, he is such a darling of a person.

So I was coming up with this character's background, story and details but I didn't know what he looked like or what his name would be. This is where C comes in lmfao.

During the height of the MCU Loki craze C absolutely hated the character. He has since he was little but when the character got popular his hate for him just tripled and honestly it was amusing. I still like the character ngl. Got a soft spot for the bitch.

So I didn't wanna be totally obvious and outright name him Loki (due to the popularity of the MCU character) but while searching names I came across Loke which is pretty much just another way of spelling/saying Loki.

One of his nicknames is Lo but sometimes other characters will use Loki when referring to him. So in a way I snuck that version of the name in anyway.

Lol

I went with it. Plus it just rolls off the tongue so nicely. So now we have a name and a backstory. He just needed to have an appearance.

The Marvel look was not gonna go at all. I already had Jelani with long raven black hair and pale blue eyes. It isn't the same as raven black hair with green eyes but to me it felt similar. So I looked to depictions of the real Loki. Most of the ones I saw were of a pale white male with long wavy/curly red hair with different variations of eye colors. Loved it! Like I constantly say one of my major weaknesses is pale men with long red hair 🧑🏻‍🍳💋

Eyeball color tho was a choice based on a high school memory. There was this one girl in my English class pale, long curly red hair and the palest green eyes I have ever seen. She was gorgeous!

(We come in all shades. Tbh we're kind of a melting pot of rainbows. We range from freakishly white looking to rich and vibrant dark and I love that for us)

So I went with most depictions of the Norse god Loki with the pale white skin, freckles, long wavy/curly ginger hair and a set of pale green eyes. That's how I ended up with a 6'6" teddy bear of a man who's crazy overprotective of his 6'6" baby brother.

So every time I see either Marvel Loki or the real Loki I instantly think of my Loke.

Now excuse me I gotta rb some Loke doodles to satisfy my need to look at my adorable little Nordic teddy bear.

[purplepanda-marvel-leaks]

PRE-SUPERBOWL Q&A

Q: are you happy?

A: Today is a happy day 😇💖. Thank you for asking💖

Q: Anything about born again having 9 episodes or more?

A: RPK has said DD:BA Season 1 will be 9 episodes and I've heard the same thing. No joke, it was going to be one of my posts but RPK beat me to it Imfao 🤷🏽‍♀️

Q: Alex recently said we have already met Hulkling in the MCU. Do you know who he is?

A: AFAIK Hulking WILL be Teddy Altman, and we haven't met him yet. Maybe a random skrull will be retconned as Teddy? It's no one we met by name.

Q: Is wanda in agathas series

A: She's not in the series, no. I have no information on post credits scenes though.

Q: What Fox movies should I see to understand Deadpool 3 ?

A: X2, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, The Wolverine, Deadpool, Deadpool 2

Q: Any update on Tommy Maximoff? Is he getting ignored? 😭

A: Billy is looking for Tommy.

Q: will wolverine be featured in the trailer at all in any capacity?

A: 1-2 shots.

Q: will both white tigers be in DD BA 👀

A: 👀 👀 👀

Q: It's Deadpool interacting with another hero besides Wolverine on the trailer?

A: He interacts with heroes from Deadpool 1 & 2 Not much interaction with Wolverine

Q: Will Daredevil wear +1 suit in Born Again?

A: Yes he will. (see my latest posts)

Q: Do you believe that 4 movies after DP3 (F4, Cap 4, Blade and Thunderbolts) be good?

A: In order: Yes, Yes, i hope so, YES.

Q: Are we getting a red band trailer of Deadpool 3 today?

A: Yes.

Q: How long exactly is the DP3 teaser?

A: Around 2:30. @Cryptic4KQual on Twitter is accurate asf

Q: Can we expect any MCU/ Fox cameos other than Wolverine in this trailer??

A: 👀

Because you read this far here are some leaks:

DEADPOOL 3:

A sneak peek at BABY POOL! His pacifier has the same logo as Deadpool's belt 🥺 👶🏻

Q: Is the titans movie rumor true?

A: I NEED IT TO BE

Q: will Agatha play a role in the witches road special?

A: Yes.

Q: How is Feige feeling about DP3

A: He has absolute faith in those three

Q: are you able to share anymore details regarding agatha ?

A: Yes, LOTS of Agatha goodies coming your way this year

Q: Do I need to finish Loki S2 to understand DP3

A: You better! PS: The famous elevator will make a cameo in the trailer!

Q: Multiple suits for Murdock in DDBA? Or just the one we saw in set leaks?

A: 👀 👀

Q: Where can we expect to see Oscar Isaac as Moon Knight next in the MCU?

A: We will see Moon Knight multiple times before the next Avengers film. We shall see if it will be Oscar Isaac or not 👀

Q: Word on when Xmen 97 is airing?

A: I was told May/June to line up with Deadpool 3. But CosmicCircus heard March. They're pretty reliable and I honestly hope they're right🤞🏻

Q: do you know anything about how billy and agatha meet?

A: He seeks out Agatha.

Q: What's your song?

My Body is a cage - Boundaries. I've been obsessed with this band for the last few weeks 🤟🏻

Q: What can we expect in trailer of deadpool 3?

A: TVA & a lot of action.

Q: What time will the Deadpool 3 trailer come out??

A: RPK is more than likely to be right

Q: Which upcoming projects are you most looking forward to?

A: Deadpool 3, Eyes Of Wakanda, What If...?, Thunderbolts Friendly Neighborhood: Spider-Man. Oh yeah and Agatha: All Along.

Q: will our version of moon knight be returning from the show?

A: Yes, Oscar Isaac's Moon Knight WILL return. 🌙 🌙

Q: What about tobey in Madame web?

A: No, Tobey will not appear in Madame Web 😭 🕷 🕸

Q: Will the Netflix events be referenced a lot in DDBA?

A: They literally brought back Wilson Bethel's Bullseye 😭 🎯

Q: Best and Worst movie you've ever seen

A: My answers change weekly but current best: EEOAO, Current worst: Death On The Nile

Q: Does kamala have any projects we should be excited for?

A: Marvel Zombies

Q: Why did you skip over my questions? 🫠

A: Sorry? There's a lot of questions here 😭

Q: is there any talk about a scarlet witch solo project?

A: Yes, but JUST talks. Don't forget that Marvel and Feige has been going through a lot of quality control behind-the-scenes.

Q:Will Yelena dress up as the white widow in thunderbolts?

A: Yelena will get a new suit, but it won't be white. It'll be similar to this one.

BREAKING NEWS:

DEADPOOL 3 has been renamed!! 👀 🙌🏼

Q: Wolverine Variants???

A: Many

Q: Is Logan in DP3 the same guy from the Fox films?

A: Yes. They wouldn't have brought back Hugh otherwise.

BREAKING NEWS:

First look at Matthew Macfadyen

in 'DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE'

Q: are you able to share the before and after 90s filter for X-Men 97? What does the filter actually do?

A: It mimics the style of the 90's cartoon on the CG models.

Pre-Filter (left) vs. Post-Filter (right)

Q: Are you the GOAT? 🐐

A: WE are GOATs 🤝 🐐

Q: How would you best describe the animation style for Eyes of Wakanda?

A: I'd say it's more reminiscent of classic Disney Animation in terms of art style! It's quite different from WHAT IF..?

Alright, AMA is finished! My brain is fried Hope you all had a great Super Bowl with WOLVERINE & ASSHOLE

[glorioustidalwavedefendor]

Also, there are so many charcters out there that get a pass becasue they are attractive ... but Loki ... who is even hated by fucking disney ... aka the fuckin company who owns him and who made a metric fuckton of money with him...

Is propably the worst possible example ...

In universe, unlike others *tony cough cough* he does not get a pass at all ... is actually punished for things other characters get away with ...

And the majority of the audiende AND the fandom is fine with that ... enjoys it even *ragnarok caugh**therapy session caugh*

Finds it justefied because ultimately Loki is "marked"

„While we may each have a different sense of what is or isn‘t marked, the one thing that holds true is that once a person is marked in our eyes, we will unconsciously be driven to pay them extra attention and scrutenize them disproportionaly. We will likely perceive them as conspicuous, fascinating, unnatural, abnormal, questionable, suspect, or some combination of these qualities … This explains why we treat certain people

(those we mark)

as though they are „public spectacles“, and why we may feel as though they have „invited“ us to interact with them or remark upon them. Becasue marked individuals seem „striking“ to us, we may also want to know how they came to be. Or why they do the things that they do. And this may lead us to question them

(in both the „ask questions“ and „view as suspect“ sense of the word),

and to atribute underlying causes and ulterior motives to them„

– Julia Serano; „Sexed Up: How Society Sexualizes Us and how we can fight back“

And if you are marked as other (poc/queer/ND etc ... )

It is "O.K." to punish you more severelly ... becasue by beeing marked you are more suspicious ...

Although a marked person is no more likely to comit a crime.

Historically they have been punished much more harshly then the unmarked

On the occassion wenn a marked individual comits a crime, the blame is not only placed on the individual but on al of the marked as a whole

everyone who wears the same mark is expected to answer for and apologize for the actions of someone else they have no actual connction to.

The crime is considered evidence of all their dereliction and deviance

On the occassion wenn an UNmarked individual comits a crime, the crime is not only seen as UNconnected to their identity aka their unmarkedness but often as happening despite it.

That‘s why wenn a white streight man rapes a women he is ususally treated as someone who has simply made an error in judgement … one that should not effect the rest of his life …

This is the privilege of the UNmarked

SO, just by the way Disney, directors, writers and the fandom at large treats Loki, it is confirmed that he indeed is for all intends and purposes a maked person someone who is other ... someone who is marked as e.g. poc ...

even if a white passing one

He is even visually coded as "other"

This a good look at how Loki is jewish coded:

Aside from having dark hair while most Asgardians are blond/golden-haired—a standard trope for emphasizing the “Oriental” origins of European Jews, though many (like myself) are blond or (like my mother and grandmother) red-haired—the Loki of the classic comics also tends to have a hooked nose. (Which is pretty common among cartoon villains, especially sly and conniving ones…)

So don't tell me he gets a pass becasue he is white and pretty ...

-> I mean sure I bet there are some people out there who do that ... but it is not the majority ...

Most people (and especially those who fall under the category of "marked") actually like Loki (despit the things he did) becsue he has a compelling backstory and character ... and usually an understandable reason why he does what he does even if that is not the same as justification ...

btw does anyone still have TW tweet about how Loki is just a sad white boy that needs to pull his head out of hIs arse?

I can't find it anymore ... this is the closest:

“Taika Waititi is swift to launch into a description of Loki, the unbeloved son of Asgard, as, “someone who tries so hard to embody this idea of the tortured artist, this tortured, gothy orphan.” He’s discussing the character’s emotional arc in the film, one that sees him put away his childish fixations and step up to save his city from obliteration; to put into perspective his petty family squabbles and realize a home is still a home, however you may feel about its inhabitants.”

SOURCE

Also also on teh matter of white actor:

Yes, Thor and Loki are played by White CisHet Male actors. That does not make both characters White CisHet Males.

[scvrletstrange]

Valhalla | Loki x reader

Thor: Love and Thunder SPOILERS!!! This is also Loki from the original MCU timeline, who, you know died in Infinity War.

Summary: you died on battle after Gorr’s destruction. Once in Valhalla, you search for your dear love. 

Pairing: Loki x reader (no gender specified,  please let me know if you find any discrepancy)

"It's fine..."

"No, no, no!" He leaned down to you, your wound bleeding out so fast, he knew an asgardian wouldn’t bear a wound from the Necrosword.

"Thor, I am fine," a weak smile appeared on your dry lips. "Go with her."

"I shouldn't have dragged you here," he whispered. The tears forming on his blue eyes. “I’m so sorry-”

"No, I wanted to fight... along with you, I am fine... Don't forget that."

Your eyes opened. You blinked once, two times. The light was too strong for you, never in your life you've seen this kind of blinding light.

The last thing you remembered was Thor holding you in his arms. Gorr hurted you bad, but the pain was now gone. You sat down on the soft grass, blocking the light with your hand until you were able to actually see around.

There was a huge golden palace far away, a walking path leading you. The sky was blue and bright, just like you've heard the afterlife would be for your warriors.

Was it real?

“Y/N from Asgard,” a voice called behind you.

The man walked, standing up in front of you. He gave his hand to help you get up.

“Heimdall?”

The guardian smiled.

“Welcome, warrior.”

You accepted his hand, rising from the ground.

“Welcome to Valhalla.”

A smile appeared on your lips, the tears running on your cheeks. You hugged your dear friend, letting him know how much you missed him.

“I have someone who would love to meet you.”

Heimdall guided you through the path until you arrived to the palace. On the way, you encountered a couple of old friends and familiar faces from the Ragnarok and previous battles.

They all wore pretty robes and dresses, just like your clothes. The warriors seemed happy and finally in peace after a life full of worry. It was good knowing you will be able to share feasts with them.

Once you entered the palace, a crowd was able to be seen in the middle of the ball room.

“Is this what you do every day? Eat and drink mead?”

Heimdall chuckled. “Pretty much so, yes. We don’t get to do a lot of things here, you know. We just live peacefully, eat and talk about our biggest fights.”

The guardian started to look for someone within the warriors, you walked by his side.

“Of course you do...”

Making your way through the crowd of people, you finally saw him. The person Heimdall wanted to show you. He was all alone, resting his back against the pillar. His green eyes looked lost, looking all the people around having their feast, a half smile adorning his lips and his skin as pale as always has been. The green and black clothes he usually used to wear now gone and replaced for gold and white.

“Loki?”

His eyes went wide and the cup of mead fell off from his hand once he heard your voice. The prince raised himself from the pillar to see you. Heimdall gave you some space to be alone.

“My dear...” Loki got closer to you, his hand touched your cheek as if he was afraid of hurting you. Or afraid to think it was an illusion.

“You’re really here,” you cried, letting him touch your face. You grabbed his hands on yours, his skin felt cold. Just how you remembered.

His arms wrapped around you, squeezing you softly agains his body. Tears fell from your eyes. Finally you felt safe. After all these years, you missed his touch, his voice, his charm. Everything.

“Can we go outside?” you sobbed.

Loki took your hand and walked away with you from the crowd. You found a beautiful garden and a small fountain. He leaned until your foreheads touched, his hand caressing on your cheek like if you were meant to break in any second.

“I missed you so much...” a whisper fell from your lips. Your eyes opened and looked at his green gaze.

“Fate already reunited us. That’s all I care right now, I love you,” he mumbled against your lips before placing a soft kiss on them.

“I have so much to tell you,” you smiled. “I can’t believe I am here, in Valhalla with you.”

“Well we have now all the time in the universe, my love,” Loki kissed your lips one more time.

“You know, besides me Thor is very proud of you...”

“That moron,” he chuckled. “He better is.”

GENERAL MASTERLIST | MARVEL MASTERLIST

[stevetonyhorrorfest]

Happy Halloween, everyone! Thank you to all of you who participated in the inaugural Steve/Tony Horror Fest. 

Although the event has ended, you can still fill treat bags and communal feast prompts. For treat bags, leave a comment in the recipient's bag and I'll inform the recipient as they may not check their treat bags after reveals. For communal feast fills, email stevetonyhorrorfest@gmail.com or send an ask/DM via Tumblr or DM via Twitter so that I can share the fill on Tumblr and Twitter and update the master list of works. You can also post the fill to the Horror Fest event AO3 collection.

See all the treats and fills below:

ART

“horrors unknowable but fuckable” - @amysnotdeadyet​/swtalmnd An 8-bit remix of “horrors unnameable and unaccountable” and The Me You Love in the Dark. When Steve finally overcame his nervousness and asked Tony out, he was somehow not expecting his lover to be an eldritch horror, mutated in the womb by the Tesseract. But that didn't mean he wasn't into it.

Monster Tony and Steve embracing - lomku/@oluka​

“The perfect son” - Kota RiverRoad/@unstable-river (also on Twitter) Prompt: "Never satisfied with his disappointing son, Howard experiments on Tony throughout Tony's childhood in his quest to make the perfect son and perfect human being"

“The living animatronic” - Kota RiverRoad/@unstable-river (also on Twitter) Prompt: “SteveTony go to a haunted house for Halloween. The displays make Steve genuinely unsettled, but Tony won't shut up about how badly all of the animatronics are built - until they come across an actual dead body"

Peanuts-inspired Steve and Tony running away a vampire in a cemetery - lomku/@oluka​

FIC

- 616

“Elements” - Albuss  When Steve Rogers is found in the ice, it isn't pretty. It isn't pretty at all.

“Early Onset” - Albuss  It's Halloween. Tony doesn't know that. It's not his fault.

“Mirror Mirror” - ralie  Tony and Steve stumble upon a cursed mirror that pulls Tony into its dark interior. Things might be simpler if Steve knew that Tony was Iron Man or if the key to getting Tony out wasn't something Tony wants to avoid at all costs, even if it means he stays inside the mirror forever.

“Puppet Master” - @nostalgicatsea​ Time flies when you're having fun or so the saying goes, but Tony can't say that he's enjoying himself if he can't remember any of it, even if the way that Steve looks at him now is everything he's dreamed of for years.

Excerpt from a 616 sentient armor and Steve in the ice WIP - ralie Prompts: - The sentient armour can't get Tony to comply to its demands. It realises Tony loves Steve and decides that hurting Steve will make Tony do whatever it wants. - Steve was awake during the ice. Tony finds out in a very bad way.

- MCU

“another look (to know for sure)” - @ishipallthings​ The first time Steve sees Tony again, he’s in his garden planting daffodils.

“Blood Red, Snow White” - SummerKnight717 Vampires. Of all things it had to be vampires. Mix an ancient artifact, incompetent cultists, and a way too curious playboy-billionaire-genius, and the Avengers are left with a problem that is weird even by their own standards. In which things go surprisingly well...till they really really don't.

Excerpt from “Second Turn of a Broken Clock” - @nostalgicatsea​ Endgame Steve getting unstuck in time after a confrontation with Loki when he’s returning the stones leads to Loki casting a spell on him that goes awry.

“sometimes it scratches like barbs” - @ishipallthings​ The back of Steve’s throat tickles in a warning.

“The house on the fifth” - lomku/@oluka​  Stark Mansion has stood empty since 1991. Decades later, Steve Rogers steps inside, and ends up face-to-face with Tony Stark, who, by all accounts, should be dead.

“these bruises leave a trail” - @ishipallthings​ Tony pretends he doesn’t think of that night.

HORROR AND OTHER ASSORTED FIC/ART RECS & MISCELLANEOUS TREATS

You can see the treat bag master list here.

[olderthannetfic]

Your posts about Rhodey/Tony and slash and black Only Sane Men best friends made me think of American Gods, the series with Ricky Whittle as Shadow. Haven't actually watched season 3 yet, and I also haven't interacted with the fandom in a good while, but I remember that back when season one had just dropped, there were lots of Shadow/Mad Sweeney shippers.

I think many people find Only Sane Man types more compelling (and so, more shippable) as the fish-out-of-water protagonists falling deeper and deeper into a rabbit hole of weirdness. Shadow started out working for Mr. Wednesday, following his orders no matter how strange they initially appeared and being the straight man character for his eccentricities to bounce off of, but he never felt like anyone's long-suffering babysitter or nagging mother hen. He had his own troubles, his own sad past as a woobie who got out of jail only to find out the woman he loved had cheated on him with his friend and then died, and scary supernatural shit kept happening to him despite him just wanting a quiet life and a job. And Mad Sweeney was just the aggressive prick who picked a fight with him for no reason, got tangled with him and his zombie ex due to a freaky chain of events that Shadow had absolutely no way to know he was starting, and resented him enough for that to give shippers an unintentionally very gay line like "damn is dark eyes!" that made it into a bunch of crackvids as That One Gay Moment and on many Tumblr blogs as an OTP tag. So right from the beginning, it was clear they were probably never gonna have a "black guy cleaning up after the white guy's messes" thing going on.

And sure, there were also many people shipping Mad Sweeney with Laura, because they had more scenes together and more of an established dynamic... and it was a dynamic where they were both always snarking at each other even when being stuck together, at that. But they often had to deal with a "how dare you ship Laura with anyone, she's a bitch and evil and we as the audience are meant to hate her!!" crowd that sounded suspiciously like many other "don't you dare put a woman between my slash ship" crowds.

Also, a bit off topic from my point but while I never really felt the urge to ship Rhodey/Tony, I also never really understood why Steve/Tony was so popular in MCU fandom before Civil War. My impression when trying to figure it out after watching The Avengers was that comic fans were just really excited to have a liveaction adaptation of a ship that had had years of development (and a Steve/Fem!Tony wedding in a parallel universe, I think?) through the years in comic form... and their enthusiasm ended up dominating the fandom for a while, leaving not a lot of space for other ships. I think the only one somewhat able to rival Steve/Tony was Tony/Loki, but the main Loki ship at that point was Thorki, so Tony/Loki was considered a bit of a crackpair anyway...

I have to say I never checked on Rhodey/Tony before that, though. I just always assumed it had kind of dropped from the face of fandom partly due to the recasting and partly due to people jumping ship to Steve/Tony.

--

Steve/Tony was pretty popular because of existing comics fans (and fic), yeah. I didn't remember it being quite so overwhelming.

Right now, the sidebar for MCU on AO3 looks like this:

James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers (58243)

Steve Rogers/Tony Stark (35675)

Peter Parker & Tony Stark (26000)

Pepper Potts/Tony Stark (21178)

Loki/Thor (Marvel) (14221)

James "Bucky" Barnes/Reader (14103)

James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers (11546)

Loki/Tony Stark (11502)

Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov (11474)

Clint Barton/Phil Coulson (10812)

If I filter by time for 2012 and before, it looks like this:

Steve Rogers/Tony Stark (2874)

Clint Barton/Phil Coulson (1984)

Loki/Thor (Marvel) (1451)

Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov (1372)

Pepper Potts/Tony Stark (1108)

Loki/Tony Stark (843)

Bruce Banner/Tony Stark (833)

Jane Foster/Thor (548)

James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers (418)

Loki & Thor (260)

Stony had more of a lead than I realized at the time, but this was also the height of inexplicable Clint/Coulson's reign. I think some of the Pepperony never made it off of LJ and other sites too.

--

I haven't seen American Gods, but having a leading role usually helps with those writing problems. A canon can still decide to sideline a major character in favor of other characters (Star Wars, I'm looking at you), but a show lead is in a lot less danger of feeling like a babysitter. Even if he ends up cleaning up someone's messes or something, he's more of an audience surrogate annoyed about this job or worried about his friend or having some emotion the audience is supposed to pay attention to and give a fuck about. The classic sidelined supportive best friend ensemble character feels like a prop because the audience is never invited to know or care how he feels about what he's doing. He's not an audience surrogate. He's not someone whose interiority matters.

That's the real key: interiority. Plenty of media represents minority characters as sexy or cool or some other positive attribute but doesn't invite us inside their head and thus subtly tells us that they're set dressing, not a person. A lead who drives the plot is generally written better.

[blackstarising]

coming back to this post i made again to elaborate - especially as the ted lasso fandom is discussing sam/rebecca and fandom racism in general. there are takes that are important to make that i had failed to previously, but there's also a growing amount of takes that i have to, As A Black Person™, respectfully disagree with.

tl;dr for the essay below sam being infantilized and the sam/rebecca relationship are not the same issue and discussing the former one doesn't mean excusing the latter. and we've reached the glen of the Dark Forest where we sit down and talk about fandom racism.

i should have elaborated this in my last post about sam/rebecca, but i didn't. i'll say it now - i personally don't support sam and rebecca getting together for real. i believe what people are saying is entirely correct, even though sam is an adult legally, he and rebecca are, at the very least, two wildly different stages of life. for americans, he's at the equivalent of being a junior in college. there are things he hasn't gotten the chance to experience and there are areas he needs to grow in. when i was younger, i didn't understand the significance of these age gaps, i just thought it would be fine if it was legal, but as someone who is now a little older than sam in universe, i understand fully. we can't downplay this. whether or not you think sam works for rebecca or not, even despite the gender inversion of the Older Man Younger Woman trope, whether or not he is a legal adult, i don't think at this point in time, their relationship would work. i think it's an interesting narrative device, but i don't want to see it play out in reality.

that being said!

what's worrying me is that two discussions are being conflated here that shouldn't be. sam having agency and being a little more grown™ than he's perceived to be does not suddenly make his relationship with rebecca justified. i had decided to bring it up because sam was being brought into the spotlight again and i was starting to realizing that his infantilization was more common than i felt comfortable with.

sam's infantilization (and i will continue to call it that), is a microaggression. it's is in the range of microaggressions that i would categorize as 'fandom overcompensation'. we have a prominent character of color that exhibits traits that aren't stereotypical, and we don't want to appear racist or stereotypical, so we lean hard in the other direction. they're not aggressive, they're a Sweet Baby, they're not world weary, they're now a little naive. they're not cold and distant, they're so nice and sweet that there's no one that wouldn't want approach them, and yeah, on their face, these new traits are a departure and, on their face, they seem they look really good.

but at a certain point, it reaches an inflection point, and, like the aftertaste of a diet coke, that alleged sweetness veers into something a lot less sweet. it veers into a lack of agency for the character. it veers into an innocence that appears to indicate that the person can't even take care of themselves. it veers into a one-dimensional characterization that doesn't allow for any depth or negative emotion.

it's not kind anymore. it's not a nice departure from negative stereotypes. it's not compensating for anything.

it's patronizing.

it is important that we emphasize that characters of color are more than the toxic stereotypes we lay on them, yes, but we make a mistake in thinking that the solution is overcorrection. for one thing, people of color can usually tell. don't get it twisted, it's actually pretty obvious. for another, it just shifts from one dimension to another. people of color are still supposed to be Only One Character Trait while white people can contain multitudes. ted, who is pretty much as pollyanna as they come, can be at once innocent and naive and deep and troubled and funny and scared. jamie can be a prick and sexy and also lonely and also a victim of abuse. sam, however, even though he was bullied (by jamie, no less), is thousands of miles away from home, and has led a protest on his team, is usually just characterized as human sunshine with much less acknowledgement of any other traits beyond that.

and that's why i cringe when fandom calls sam a Sweet Baby Boy without any sense of irony. is that all we're taking away? after all this time? even for a comedy, sam has received a substantive of screen time over two whole seasons, and we've seen a range of emotions from him. so as a black person it's hurtful that it's boiled down to Sweet Baby Boy.

that's the problem. we need to subvert stereotypes, but more importantly, we need to understand that people of color are not props, or pieces of cardboard for their white counterparts. they are full and actualized and have agency in their own right and they can have other emotions than Angry and Mean or Sweet and Bubbly without any nuance between the two. i think the show actually does a relatively good job of giving sam depth (relatively, always room for improvement, mind you), especially holding it in tension with his youth, but the fandom, i worry, does not.

it's the same reason why finn from star wars started out as the next male protagonist in the sequel trilogy but by the third movie was just running around yelling for REY!! it's the same reason why when people make Phase 4 Is the Phase For Therapy gifsets for the mcu and show wanda maximoff, loki, and bucky barnes crying and being sad but purposefully exclude sam wilson who had an entire show to tell us how difficult his life is, because people find out if pee oh sees are also complex, they'll tell the church.

and the reason why i picked up on this very early on is because i am an organic, certified fresh, 100% homegrown, non-gmo, a little ashy, indigenous sub saharan African black person. the ghanaian tribes i'm descended from have told me so, my black ass parents have told me so, and the nurses at the hospital in [insert asian country here] that started freaking out about how curly my hair was as my mother was mid pushing me out told me so!

and this stuff has real life implications. listen: being patronized as a black person sucks. do you know how many times i was patted on the back for doing quite honestly, the bare minimum in school? do you know how many times i was told how 'well spoken' or 'eloquent' i was because i just happen to have a white accent or use three syllable words? do you know how many times i've been cooed over by white women who couldn't get over how sweet i was just because i wasn't confrontational or rude like they wrongly expected me to be?

that's why they're called microaggressions. it's not a cross on your lawn or having the n-word spat in your face, but it cuts you down little by little until you're completely drained.

so that's the nuance. that's the subversion. the overcompensation is not a good thing. and people of color (and i suspect, even white people) have picked up on, in general, the different ways fandom treats sam and dani and even nate. what all of these discussions are converging on is fandom racism, which is not the diet form of racism, but another place for racism to reveal itself. and yeah, it's uncomfortable. it can seem out of left field. you may want to defend yourself. you may want to explain it away. but let me tap the sign on the proverbial bus:

if you are a white person, or a person of color who is not part of that racial group, even, you do not get to decide what is not racist for someone. full stop. there are no exceptions. there is no exit clause for you. there is no 'but, actually-'. that right wasn't even yours to cede or waive.

(it's also important to note that people of color also have the right to disagree on whether something is racist, but that doesn't necessarily negate the racism - it just means there's more to discuss and they can still leave with different interpretations)

people don't just whip out accusations of racism like a blue eyes white dragon in a yu-gi-oh duel. it's not fun for us. it's not something we like to do to muzzle people we don't want to engage with. and we're not concerned with making someone feel bad or ashamed. we're exposing something painful that we have to live with and, even worse, process literally everything we experience through. we can't turn it off. we can't be 'less sensitive' or 'less nitpicky'. we are literally the primary resources, we are the proverbial wikipedia articles with 3,000 sources when it comes to racism. who else would know more than us?

what 2020 has shown us very clearly is that racism is systemic. it's not always a bunch of Evil White Men rubbing their hands together in a dark room wondering how they're going to use the 'n-word' today. it's systemic. it's the way you call that one neighborhood 'sketchy'. it's how you use 'ratchet' and 'ghetto' when describing something bad. it's how you implicitly the assume the intelligence of your friend of color. it's the way you turned up your nose and your friend's food and bullied them for it in middle school but go to restaurants run by white people who have 'uplifted' it with inauthentic ingredients. it's telling someone how Well Spoken and Eloquent they are even though you've both gone to the same schools and work at the same workplace. it's the way you look down at some people of color for having a different body type than you because they've been redlined to neighborhoods where certain foods and resources are inaccessible, and yet mock up the racial features that appeal to you either through makeup or plastic surgery.

it's how when a person of color behaves badly, they're irredeemable, but a white person performing the same act or something similar is 'having a bad day' or 'isn't normally like this' or 'has room to grow' and we can't 'wait for their redemption arc', and yes, i'm not going to cover it in detail in this post but yes this is very much about nate. other people have also brought up the nuances in his arc and compared them to other white characters so i won't do it here.

these behaviors and reactions aren't planned. they aren't orchestrated. they're quite literally unconscious because they've been lovingly baked into western society for centuries. you can't wake up and be rid of it. whether you intended it or not, it can still be racist.

and it's actually quite hurtful and unfair to imply that concerns about racism in the TL fandom are unfounded or lacking any depth or simply meant to be sensational because you simply don't agree with it. i wish it was different, but it doesn't work that way. i'm not raising this up to 'call out' or shame people, but i'm adding to this discussion because, through how we talk about sam, and even dani and nate, i'm yet again seeing a pattern that has shortchanged people of color and made them feel unwelcome in fandom for far too long.

coach beard said it best: we need to do better.

[theamityelf]

(I preordered Infinity War on iTunes as soon as I saw it on opening night, which I never did for Endgame, so let it be known that that's where I stand when I say)

Reasons I'm Mad About Infinity War:

The Wakanda fight. I've already gone into it; saying "We don't trade lives" and then using that as the justification for a battle in which black people get slaughtered in defense of an android is possibly the worst look imaginable. And I like Vision, a lot.

Also, because all of the white people in Wakanda are named, established, main characters and all of the extras in Wakanda are black, we're now in a "disposable black people" situation that just could have been easily avoided by not putting the battle there.

The dismantling of everything from Thor Ragnarok. Finally some real progress in the character development for Loki? Kill Loki. Thor lost an eye? Give him a new eye. Thor discovers that he doesn't need his magical weapon to be awesome, because it only helped him harness his power; it didn't give him power? Give Thor a new magical weapon, which he does need, in order to be awesome, and it pretty much does give him power. As disrespectful as Rise of Skywalker was. If you don't care to honor what a previous installment did for the lore of the series, then maybe you don't need to be making the next installment in a series.

This isn't something I dislike about the movie, because I think if anything it keeps her in-character, but I do feel that Wanda not joining the battle until a lot of casualties have happened gives the impression that she doesn't care about the people dying for her boyfriend; she just cares that so many of them are dying that the bad guys might make it to the lab soon. Super glad she didn't realize she can just make another Vision until after a lot of people died while she watched.

The treatment of Rhodey. His line "I'm pretty sure I paid for that" (or whatever), implying that his back injury was the price he paid for disagreeing with Captain America, is just the grossest thing. And having him pal it up with Team Cap right after adds more insult to injury. It's not a matter of which team I prefer; it would've been disrespectful to do that to Sam, too.

Tony's friends casually betraying him? I'm not a stan for Tony Stark, but it feels mean that Steve's friends are deferentially loyal to Steve and Tony's will be loyal to Steve whenever Tony isn't around. The fact that Vision, who came from JARVIS, verbally states that he is putting Wanda (who, as I've said before, had done nothing heroic in the whole MCU at that point in the canon) before Tony, seems pretty cruel. His relationship with JARVIS was built up for several movies and then demolished in a couple of minutes because for some reason the character who has never shown an interest in preserving human life deserves the utmost loyalty.

No, there is no way this was the only way, man. There is no way that "cut off Thanos's head with a sling ring while Mantis has him under" is a plan that didn't work.

But it's still much better than Endgame.

[lokiondisneyplus]

LOKI 4 PRESIDENT! For a narcissist trickster sorcerer with the personality of a praying mantis, there are few occupations in the world that would suit Loki better than president of the United States. A few years ago, in the summer of 2016, comic book writer Christopher Hastings imagined just that in a satirical limited series for Marvel titled Vote Loki.

Five years later, Vote Loki has found its way to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In the fifth episode of the Disney+ series, “Journey Into Mystery,” a variant Loki (still played by Tom Hiddleston) appears in the desolate “Void” surrounded by a Mad Max-esque posse. On Loki’s tattered blazer is a red, white, and blue “Loki” button, indicating this Loki was, uh, elected to lead. Turn on the subtitles on Disney+ and you’ll find this Loki is credited as “President Loki.”

In an email to Inverse, Christopher Hastings says he had no idea this was going to happen.

“I found out [they were doing Vote Loki] when a trailer for the show featured the campaign outfit from Vote Loki,” Hastings tells Inverse.

When Inverse exchanged emails with Hastings, it was prior to the episode’s premiere, to which Hastings said he was “very curious to see exactly what from the comic gets into the show.”

“I love time travel and multiverse material,” the writer says in praise of Loki. “I am a big fan of the TVA as a setting. I'm eager to see how it goes, and what it might mean for the next phase of MCU movies, especially since multiverse wackiness seems to be a major part of those upcoming movies.”

In 2004, while a student at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, Hastings wrote and illustrated The Adventures of Dr. McNinja, a serial webcomic about a doctor who is also a ninja. The series was a cult hit, at one point attracting 110,000 unique visitors a day. By 2011, Hastings was doing work for Marvel, writing single issues of A+X and Howard the Duck. With Chris Bachalo, he co-created Gwenpool — a bizarre blend of Spider-Man ex-girlfriend Gwen Stacy and Deadpool — and penned the 2016-2018 solo series The Unbelievable Gwenpool, teaming up with Japanese studio Gurihiru to create the character’s deeply unique comedic tone.

But during Gwenpool, Hastings spent the summer of 2016 playing with a different Marvel trickster: Loki. In the four-issue miniseries Vote Loki, Hastings spoofed the chaos that was the 2016 race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. In Vote Loki, an ambitious Loki seeks the seat of the president with a very unique campaign strategy: being honest about lying.

With “President Loki” having a minor cameo in the MCU, Inverse caught up with Hastings to look back on his explicitly political riff that took place inside the Marvel Universe.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

Take me back to the origins of Vote Loki. When did the seed for the story plant in your mind? What was going on in the world of culture/politics at that time?

Gosh, it's tough to come up with one thing specifically, because we were making the comic by the seat of our pants, and so many things got scrapped and rewritten along the way, often at the last second. But one of the core topics I wanted to cover had to do with narratives versus reality. It's kind of a given that in the world of politics, truth is this malleable thing, and now more than ever all you have to do to make people believe a lie is to repeat it enough times.

I liked the idea of Loki playing with narrative in a way that wasn't necessarily outright lying, more bending. (Except the bit about being born in Maryland. One outright lie there.) The other driving point I wanted to explore was how Americans can have a tendency to incorporate their national-level politics into part of their identity, and what that does to a person, particularly when a character like Loki is the one on the ticket.

What sort of conversations did you have with Marvel about a political satire starring Loki? What was the elevator pitch that got approval?

Like I said, things changed so many times, I'm not even entirely sure how many versions were kind of approved and then scrapped on the way to get to what was actually published. I think it was more that I assured editor Wil Moss that I could jump on the book (which Marvel was determined to make; they just hadn't decided who was writing it when I was pitching) after talking about the stuff about narrative and identity, and the basic idea that the viewpoint character shouldn't actually be Loki but a journalist covering Loki's campaign.

Vote Loki introduced the character of Nisa Contreras. What was the primary inspiration for her?

That would be my real-life friend, Nisa Contreras. She's not a journalist, but she’s someone I'm sure could take down Loki if he were a) real and b) got on her bad side. I wanted the story to be more about witnessing the tension and the comedy of Loki running for president, about not knowing what was up his sleeve. And so I came up with [a] journalist.

Vote Loki was published over the summer of 2016 when the election was ramping up in awkward ways. (“Pokémon Go to the polls!”) Did the real election influence the comic in any way, including any specific moments?

The comic was a direct response to things that were happening during the 2016 campaign, specifically that a “joke” candidate that was obviously terrible could get pretty far with enough media oxygen and a comfortable political system that ignored the disgust a lot of people had with it.

Vote Loki ran for four issues. Was there ever a possibility for more?

If it was a smash hit, I believe there would have been a President Loki to directly follow Vote Loki.

What do you think of Vote Loki's inclusion in the TV series?

Top five surreal moments of my life.

Do you think Vote Loki could be the focus of its own adapted series/movie?

Oh for sure. You wouldn't even have to take the material from our comic; there's so much more brand-new political madness that a new Vote Loki series or movie could tap into.

A lot has happened in the five years since Vote Loki was published. What are your feelings looking back now in 2021? Did your opinions on the book ever change?

There was a lot happening in American politics in 2016 I missed and wish I had been able to see to include. For example, how broken political polling has become. I had no idea, along with the rest of the country.

It was tricky to do a cohesive narrative amongst a shifting Marvel continuity we had to stay inside; a lot of feedback and demands from various sources within the company and an election that was changing every single day. It was truthfully (heh) a quite stressful book to write, but looking back on it I'm proud to see what we absolutely nailed about American culture. In particular, what we had to say about politics as entertainment and identity, and how a slippery enough politician can not only shake scandal [off] by speeding up an already fast news cycle but embrace and twist it to their advantage.

LOKI WILL AIR ITS FINAL EPISODE JULY 14 ON DISNEY+. VOTE LOKI IS AVAILABLE NOW.

[musclesandhammering]

I'm not fond of the pairing but from what I've seen General public actually loves Sylki very much. Even the trade reviews called the relationship "genius" which,,,ok. Someone did a poll on various platforms, yt, reddit, fb, twitter etc comparing which ship is better (Lokius or Sylki) and it was Sylki who won by large margin in the end. I suppose mostly they just don't care because it's sci fi and a pairing in a totally unrealistic show, and after Wandavision I guess weird ships are 'in' but yeah it makes you think. But the writers already said they won't give in to the fan pressure bc they have their own story to tell (which ok, valid, you do you) but idk. I guess we will get even more Sylki in second season. Tom already said Loki won't stop searching for her

Sometimes I think casual fans are the most irritating thing about being in a fandom :/

Just as a disclaimer (bc I don’t want people coming for me): I think lokius is really cute, and I love fics/art/headcanons about them, but I never thought they were canonically romantically interested in each other. I never thought lokius was gonna be canon, and I never wanted it to (because I didn’t want ANY romance in the series), so I don’t even include it in my argument against s*lki.

Ok so….. listen. This is gonna be a long ass post, so I’m putting it under a cut. Sorry, anon, but you’re the one that opened the Worm Can.

The viewing public, in general, tends to heavily skew towards heterosexual-presenting ships. Partially because a portion of the general audiences are homophobic, and partially because a lot of non-tumblr fans are so sick of hearing tumblr stans go on and on and on about how they were queerbaited by certain gay ships not becoming canon, when in reality, said ships are trash.

Listen. I sympathise with that. I get that. I know I’m beating a hornet’s nest with this, but…. D*stiel? J*hnlock? St*cky? None of those were written in any way to invoke queer undertones, they were always supposed to be platonic, and tbfh even as platonic relationships the first two are literally toxic and abusive as hell, anyway.

So I definitely understand how a casual straight fan on Twitter or Instagram would see some of those same crazy “we were queerbaited” tumblr stans ranting about lokius not becoming canon and how much s*lki sucks and……. it makes sense that they’d be like “These people are just pissed that their gay ship isn’t canon, that’s why they hate s*lki.”

But here’s the thing. I don’t think those people realise how callous it is to say something like that when the only reason queer kids are so quick to ship any two male characters who express a modicum of affection for one another, is that they’re so fucking starved for representation in the first place, they’re willing to see queer romance in any same-sex interaction. They’re just that desperate. That’s where the whole crazy gay stan thing comes from. And yeah, it’s annoying that these people put their whole chest into defending gay ships that are total trash, but you have to realise why they do it.

So, what I’m saying is, for s*lki shippers- who are already winning, because their straight ship had the privilege of easily becoming canon despite all its flaws- to look at queer people who are frustrated to the point of tears that they were once again conned out of any form of queer rep (for the mcu’s first canon queer character, for gods sake) after actually genuinely being queerbaited this time (with his bisexuality/genderfluidity)….. and to essentially gloat that their straight ship became canon and taunt queer people by saying “oh you’re just desperate for two men to kiss”………… idk, man. It just seems real cold to me. Reeks of straight privilege and heteronormativity.

Ok, so with that being said.. let me respond to your actual ask lol.

I’m not surprised at all that s*lki won the popularity polls. I think a large reason for that is the fact that it was pitted against lokius, which sorta rubs a lot of casual viewers the wrong way for reasons listed above. I’m also not surprised that casual viewers liked it outside of its opposition to lokius- because, um, casual viewers aren’t very smart.

They tend to analyse exactly nothing, they don’t look any deeper than the surface, and if the writers of a show stick a hot man and woman together under a blanket, they eat it up. Because the narrative tells them it’s sweet. Just like the narrative tells them Loki is a greasy asshole who had no character development up until this point, and they eat that up too. Just like the narrative tells them that sylvie’s the best thing since sliced bread, and they eat that up too. Just like the narrative tells them it’s completely in character for Loki to try to subjugate a group of 3 random Mongolians in the middle of the dessert for absolutely no reason other than his “narcissism”, and they eat that up too. Just like the narrative tells them that one throwaway line about liking “a bit of both” is somehow this groundbreaking example of lgbt representation, and they eat that up too……… See the pattern here?

And as far as being concerned about the pseudo-incest angle, I don’t even think casual fans even dug that deep. They literally just saw two main characters- a pretty white woman and a hot white man- doing cool fight scenes together and giving each other goo goo eyes, and they were automatically sold.

And the writers saying “we won’t give in to fan pressure, we have our own story to tell” is honestly complete bullshit. What the hell is the POINT of working for a corporate film company and telling a story on screen if not to please the fans??? They do what they do to get people to watch their shows to get lots of money. That’s literally what they’re there for. Mike Waldron must have a pretty damn inflated sense of self importance if he thinks his own “artistic vision” or what the hell ever is the priority here lmao.

And I wanna be mad about Season 2, I really do. But at this point Season 1 ruined the character so much for me that I legitimately don’t even care what direction they take him in.

[thetimelordbatgirl]

MCU Phase 1 was awesome but problems started showing up midway through Phase 2. The thing the MCU does really well is visuals and the action that comes with it. People are so dazzled by the style they don't notice the lack of substance. That's why Endgame was initially so well received. It was only months later people started realizing "you know, this isn't the masterpiece I initially thought it was." I wonder if we'll see the same thing happen with No Way Home.

Phase 1 was basically the starting point, so the movies were pretty good then- even though Iron Man looking back is very um, iffy, given the military aspects off it and such, and it taking Iron Man to adulthood somehow to realize bombs can kill people, it was still the best phase of the MCU. And then phase 2 was um....a mixed bag- Winter Solider? Good- Iron Man 3? Ehhhh- it was okay, but it had at the time, the obvious problem with the Mandarin, but it was an okay conclusion to Iron Man's arc at the time and The Dark World really needs to answer for fridging Frigga still, and....Age of Ultron was bad, and I only enjoyed Ant Man a little and Guardians was at least fun. And Phase 3??? Yeah.....your right to say that people are impressed by visuals and action first, as um....Phase 3 was a mess....it literally has Civil War in it, aka the worst Cap film, let alone the boring and mess of a film Doctor Strange, the continued mess of Spiderman via Homecoming and Far From Home and they really released Captain Marvel between IW and Endgame just to explain why shes important, and its a movie again, replacing the POC with the white hero- and then there's IW and Endgame.....aka the most bad Avengers movies yet, especially Endgame- the only enjoyable parts of Phase Three ended up being Ant Man And The Wasp, GOTG2 and Black Panther.

Phase 4 so far only has one good enjoyable film and thats Shang Chi, but Black Widow came out too late and only the intro was interesting for me, but so far the shows have been pretty bad, with TFATWS becoming bad in the finale, with only Pro being Sam as Captain America....before What If made it clear Marvels more in favor of Peggy as Captain Britain. And it wouldn't surprise me if people do slowly realize how bad No Way Home- MCU has been showing signs of fatigue with fans for a long time, with Endgame and even Far From Home getting some people over time hating them, and shows like Loki served to piss of fans basically, showing that the MCU has definitely been losing its touch, and with No Way Home....yeah, I call it getting some bad reviews soon enough as people slowly realize how bad it is.

[iamanartichoke]

I went through your Jessica Jones tag after a revisit on Netflix. Don't you think the first season was like lightning in a bottle? It just captured the female experience in a way I'd not really seen in a show like that. I miss it.

Sorry for the late response, anon, and I hope you're still around - but, I have been thinking about this ask since I got it and haven't responded bc I keep getting overwhelmed with the amount of how much I love Jessica Jones, and season 1 in particular.

Imho, Jessica Jones is unparalleled in not only capturing the female experience, but in being generally an excellent tv show. The writing, the character dynamics and complexity of each one, the stakes, the villain, etc - it was all just SO WELL DONE. Like, Loki wishes it could be Jessica Jones. I also wish Loki could be Jessica Jones.

Furthermore, I think that Kilgrave is absolutely the best fucking villain in the MCU, and it's really a shame that the character was not utilized on a larger scale (although given the clusterfuck that the MCU is now, maybe I should be grateful that they've left the Netflix series alone). This means that yes, I think Kilgrave is a better villain than Loki, but to be fair, I don't really consider Loki a villain so much as a foil and antagonist. Kilgrave is just pure sadistic evil, and the show followed through. I wrote a (sort of, though in a different context) comparison of Loki and Kilgrave once, in fact, in case anyone is interested.

But, yeah. I miss it a lot, and to go back to your point about it capturing the female experience, I love how Jessica as a protagonist is simultaneously very unlikable and rough yet sympathetic and evocative of so many experiences women tend to universally have - not just with trauma, but just with existing as a woman. For example, in the first episode, when Hope Schlotman's parents first seek her out, the father spending the scene in the background, trying to fix Jessica's broken door, is a great narrative tool to reflect the experience of men who think they know better than women and/or view women as things to be protected. "It's not safe for a girl alone in the city with a broken door," I think he says, and keeps interrupting the mom to tell Jessica, like, what tools she needs, etc. And I'm not saying he's intentionally misogynistic, I'm just saying that his assumption that Jessica can't take care of herself, that she doesn't know how to fix the door herself, or that she hasn't already called a repair company and they just haven't gotten to her yet - these assumptions indicate a man who is used to being the authority and is used to speaking over women.

It's not as black-and-white as that, certainly, and the argument can also be made that he's fixating on something trivial in order to keep his mind occupied so he won't obsess over his daughter being missing, and it could be both, and this is an example - to me - of how the narrative makes so many brilliant choices both to show character complexity and to remind the audience of the themes (the female experience being one of them).

And, I mean, the way they used "Smile!" - when so many women are told by strangers to Smile!, to cheer up, to look happy, to look pretty, etc - as a weapon that Kilgrave uses against a powerless Jessica and how that weapon and that word repeats throughout the season, only to culminate in Jessica telling Kilgrave to "Smile!" just before she snaps his neck is - *chef's kiss* and I don't believe I've ever seen another show that does such a good job in capturing why microaggressions like telling women to smile is invasive at best and threatening at worst (depending on the context).

The show isn't perfect. There were a couple of episodes that were filler, and sometimes the storyline dragged a little, and the plot was convoluted in some places. Some of Kilgrave's murders felt gratuitously gruesome, and there were some loose threads. But overall, it was a pretty fucking spectacular series that didn't shy away from showing its characters as flawed and unlikeable, or from showing the ugly grittiness of things like trauma and grief/loss and just life when you're not Tony Stark or an Avenger and you're stuck in the every-day, living with the consequences of choices made by heroes in shiny costumes who live in golden castles.

[lokittystuckinatree]

The Best MCU Romance Could Have Been Even Better. Here’s Why and How.

Sylki is f*cking amazing. Sylki is kinda problematic. These two things can coexist. After all, a ship is only as problematic as the way it was written. I don’t think it was intentional, just human error and censorship. This doesn’t change that fact there are issues. I’m not getting into the relationship arc, pacing or the fact I found some of the scenes and dialogue cringy, just some representation issues I find more pressing. And more uncomfortable.

1. The show did not handle gender well. Loki should get to be genderfluid. Explicitly. Possibly Sylvie as well, assuming she isn’t a amab she/they as I usually headcanon her. Imagine a scene where we see a feminine Loki taking to some people, and assume she’s merely another variant, but when we see her up close she looks, acts and sounds a little too much like Tom Hiddleston. Imagine Sylvie telling Loki, who at that time might not be a man or woman at all, “When I was born they named me a prince.” Imagine Loki and Sylvie getting to be who they really are. Likewise, Sylvie’s nexus event should be being born a hero, not a woman...as I already theorize. The line “woman variant” could have been “blonde (feminine) variant with a single knife and a personality somewhere between Fire and ice.” There should be Lokis of all genders and gender expressions. They should have found Sylvie frightening not because of her gender but that dangerous icyness that makes her Sylvie.

2. Loki and Sylvie should be even more bisexual than they already are. Aside from being canon in the script, it’s already been implied that Loki is attracted to multiple genders. (Cough cough Jane and Grandmaster.) Alas, Marvel could have done more. In fact, Loki should have been hooking up with people of all genders in the background thoughout his/their entire track in the MCU. Chatting up a pretty lady in the back of a room. Winking at soldiers in the hallways. Getting walked on on with the Grandmaster. However, it is also important to take Loki at his word. He is still bisexual if he says he is, no matter who he’s been affiliated with on screen. I just would have loved representation that felt more genuine and less like a cop out. As for Sylvie...I’m just asking for a tiny scene or two. Keep her “mailman” and add “we’ve been dating now for long enough” at the restaurant or her calling another woman beautiful in a flirty way...subtle. Another thing to note: people saying Marvel ‘queerbaited’ us by putting Loki in a m/f passing romance after all the (supposed) subtext with Mobius ...as a bi woman who has had crushes on different genders over different periods of time and was still bi during those periods...shut up pls. You sound stupid. Also it’s possible to like two people at once and polyarmory exists.

3. Perhaps Sylvie shouldn’t have been white...Asian or Latina perhaps? She would be Sylvie no matter her race, and not only would it be clearer that they are not “twins,” her looking less like Loki could minimize the ick factor. I love Sophia, she is so cute and beautiful and makes an incredible Sylvie, and it’s impossible to picture anyone else playing her, but there doesn’t seem to be much POC rep in this show other than black people. Its odd and I think it should change. Hopefully it will in season two.

Despite all these problems, I still ship Sylki harder than almost anything. I ship them because of their dynamic, and chemistry, and depth. And I would still ship them with all the changes I suggested. In fact, if I ever create fan content, you better believe I will be incorporating some of them.

TLDR: Sylki is a brilliant ship, one that I would ship almost regardless of circumstance, but it could have been executed better in so many ways. (As with much of the rest of the show). Too bad marvel is too cowardly and narrow minded to make it so. Because I’m almost positive the cast and crew would be 100% down. Plus, I think we and our beautiful Lokis themselves deserve it.

Have a good day and remember to be respectful!

[thera-daydreams]

ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴡᴇᴇᴛ ᴏʟᴅ ʟᴀᴅʏ ɪꜱ ᴀ ᴡɪᴛᴄʜ

ᗢ jujutsu kaisen x scarletwitch!reader ᗢ

08. spellbound

Chapter Index & Synopsis

warning: will contain spoilers from the jjk manga and the latest mcu shows (particularly wandavision and loki, as well as rumors from doctor strange in the multiverse of madness). once again, this will contain heavy spoilers—you have been warned. Another warning? This is unbeta-ed. We shall die like men in the sea of typos and errors! This took a month and I just finished three exams this morning. Ugh. You might see the next update next month. Might. That is, if I'm still alive and kicking after class...

[EDIT] 6/22/2022, 2:02PM: Made some minor edits & changes after Dr. Strange 2.

(word count: 6,293)

(previous chapter.)

Choso woke up to the warm smell of freshly-steamed rice and miso soup. Rubbing his eyes, he exited his bedroom and padded into the kitchen. Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks.

"Oh! Good morning, Choso-kun!" you greeted cheerfully, pouring a cup of coffee for yourself. "The food's ready. You should eat before it gets cold."

As if on cue, Geto and Toji followed right behind him, also stopping in the doorway (which was getting very crowded with all of them in it). They only stared at you. Wondering why they were so quiet, you looked down on yourself. Was it your clothes? The white Pikachu shirt and the mismatched frog pajama bottoms you wore weren't that weird, were th—

Oh. You weren't in your elderly form. You'd just come back from talking to Stephen, Clea, Loki, and America an hour ago and forgot about it while cooking breakfast.

Blinking, you asked them as they stared, "Is... Is it bothering you? I can change back, if you want."

It was Toji who snapped out of his daze first, smirking as he pushed Geto and Choso to the side and grabbed a bowl of miso soup from the stove beside you. "Well, if you stay like that, granny, I can't call you granny anymore." He glanced at you with a deep chuckle as he leaned against the table. "How was work, mama?"

"Mama...? Work...? Well..." You tilted your head at Toji at that last word (normally Yuuji was the only one who called you that), but disregarded it quickly and gazed up at him (he was so freaking tall even if you were in your younger form). "You mean destroying the Darkhold? It went fine. All's good and safe now that it's gone and the runaway demon is with my friends."

"Nice. At least you don't have to keep leaving us now." He shrugged with a shameless grin on his face before gulping down the first bowl (it was scorching hot; you had no clue how the ex-assassin even did it). "Good soup."

Clearing his throat, the more-gentlemanly Suguru slightly bowed his head to you as he retrieved his own bowl of miso soup. "Good morning, Y/N-san."

"Good morning to you too, Suguru," you smiled. "There's also tamagoyaki on top of the rice. Just take it out of the rice cooker if you want."

"A-Ah, thank you," he stammered out, trying to get the image of your much younger and practically glowing, smiling face out of his head. He was not about to have a crush on the older lady who turned his life upside down for the better. No sirree! He had too much respect for you to think about the way you bit your plush lips cluelessly at how he stammered—oh, God. He was praying you weren't reading his mind because that would be totally embarrassing. He knew that you only read minds when the situation called for it but if his brain would be loud enough, he'd be dead!

"Are you alright, Suguru? You seem pale," you inquired worriedly, seeing sweat drip from his temple. Thankfully, you didn't read his thoughts at all.

"Yeah, I'm good! Great! I'm fine!" he hurriedly said, pacing towards the table and forcing himself to eat to distract himself (with your food, it was pretty easy). Toji snorted, but didn't comment on it.

"Well, if you say so," you murmured, turning to Choso who was still in the doorway. "Would you like some miso soup, too, darling?"

The preciously shy half-curse half-man blushed at your sweet terms of endearments—how the hell could someone be so nice and scary at the same time—and nodded wordlessly. Humming, you filled up another huge bowl with warm soup and handed it to him, "Careful! It's hot!"

"Thank you," he muttered, in the same hurrying fashion Geto had before rushing to sit and finish his breakfast. You sat beside Toji, clapping.

"Itadakimasu!" Before you could pick up your chopsticks, however, a knock resounded on the front door of your home. All four of you stopped eating. You glanced at them, "Were you guys expecting anyone?"

They shook their heads.

"Ooh, I'll get it then." You stood back up and rushed to the door. Maybe it was Gojo doing his pranks again. If he did, you really would turn him into one of those three blind mice in Shrek (you'd threatened him once before; he quickly stopped). What you saw on the other side of the door were two girls around the first years' age. One had light hair pulled into a bun while the other had dark hair chopped into a bob. They seemed awfully familiar, like you'd seen them somewhere before.

"Oh God, this might be the wrong address," the shorter-haired teenager whispered. "They said the owner was an elderly woman!"

"May I help you, dearies?" you inquired.

"Are—Are you the owner of Charmed Coffee & Confectionaries? The one... the one they call a witch?"

Your guard heightened (you also sensed their cursed energy), then nodded in affirmative. They seemed hesitant, but it was the one with light hair who spoke up first, "Um... do—do you know a man named Suguru?"

It then clicked to you. Well, now you've met another set of twins apart from yourself, your own kids, and the Zenin sisters. Smiling widely, you opened the door for them.

"Ah, you must be Mimiko and Nanako! Geto-kun's told me a lot about you two!" You also saw their deaths very briefly in the Shibuya premonition, but of course you didn't say that.

"E-Eh? You know us, Miss?" the one with a bob haircut questioned, still apprehensive.

"Well, Suguru tells me he practically raised you two!" you shared kindly, a spark in your eyes as you recalled the former Curse User saying that he was a proud dad. "Come on in. We're having breakfast. Feel free to join us!"

After they removed their shoes, you led them to the dining area. Seeing the visitors, Suguru choked on his glass of water.

"Geto-sama..." Mimiko and Nanako trailed off, eyes wide at the sight in front of them. They couldn't believe that their savior was alive. Breathing. Eating, even (and currently hacking his lungs out while hitting his chest).

"Well, go talk to your daughters, Suguru! They seem very much worried!" you encouraged. "Oh, girls, you should have some soup to warm up your stomachs! December's coming up real soon and it's getting terribly cold."

The twin sisters shared a look, and then turned to you, falling to their knees and bowing deeply, heads touching the floor.

"H-Huh?" you stuttered out, trying to pull them up. "Why are you bowing, sweethearts?"

"Thank you for saving Geto-sama, Miss!"

From that moment on, the two girls ended up worshipping the ground you walked on. Embarrassed, you pulled them up before giving them some breakfast and pushing them to the rooftop area—along with Geto—so that they could talk.

"Gosh, that was a bit too much," you sighed out, sitting back down and using your magic to make breakfast hot again. Toji and Choso stared at their bowls of soup, once emptied but now automatically refilled.

After a long conversation with his adopted daughters, Geto returned back to his seat, head flopping down on the table. "You alright there, Sugu?" you asked, concerned. You could nearly hear his mind buzzing with billions of thoughts per second. It was hard to keep up.

"Daughters," he huffed, voice muffled.

You and Toji snorted at the same time, knowing what he was talking about. Parenting.

"I beg to disagree," Toji commented, guzzling down some hard black coffee. He was basing it off his experience with Megumi and Tsumiki. "Sons are a hella more difficult."

"You were barely there for that Megumi kid, though," Choso mumbled, making Toji roll his eyes. "I don't know anything about being a father, but I have been a parent for my younger brothers."

You grew lost in your thoughts. What if you didn't let the Hex down in Westview? What if you spent a few more sitcom-like time skips in it? Disregarding the other residents, perhaps... perhaps you could've lived more of a life with Vision, Billy, and Tommy. Maybe you could've even had a daughter. A sweet little girl who looked just like you. You could have named her after your mother, Iryna Maximoff, or even your late Avenger best friend, Natalia Romanoff. Hmm... but wasn't Clint's son already named after Nat? Still, if you went with classical names like what you did with Billy and Tommy, you could name her Mary or Emily like—

"Y/N?"

You snapped out of your thoughts, seeing the three men looking at you questioningly.

"Hmmmm?"

"You've been spacing out for the past minute, granny," Toji pointed out.

Geto added, "Penny for your thoughts? Unlike you, we can't read minds."

"A-Ah, it's nothing," you brushed it off, waving your hand. "Yeah. I agree with Toji. From my experience, sons are much harder to raise. It would've been nice if I had a daughter, too, if I got the chance."

That was a first. You barely talked about your family nowadays but here you were, saying something about it. To the boys, all they knew was that you had family and they weren't here anymore. They weren't sure if that meant dead or you'd been abandoned, though (but who the hell would want to abandon someone as sweet as you?).

"... If I had the chance?" Toji repeated, incredulous. "Y/N, if you're my age... younger, even, you're not that old. Go out and have daughters, then."

"Um, I've got a... not so good experience with relationships, so that's a hard no," you sweat-dropped. "I'll just settle for Yuuji as my adopted kid."

"Where's your husband, anyway? Or, uh, boyfriend or fiance? Partner?" Geto inquired curiously.

"Oh, he's dead," you marked impassively. Too quickly. "So are my children."

Okay. That was their confirmation, then. Your family was dead. Gone. It was why you were alone—why the house was empty—before Toji came along to stay with you. Choso's eyes widened. Didn't you tell him before about it? The day he first met you? You'd said that you were an orphan, a widowed woman, a woman who's lost her children, and a sister who lost her brother.

"I... I'm sorry for your loss," Suguru quickly bowed his head shamefully. "I didn't mean to bring up bad memories, Y/N."

You looked out of the open window in the dining room, a nostalgic smile in your face, "It's okay... I think I'm okay now. It's been a few years since then. You did nothing wrong." You glanced at them, smiling, "If I hadn't lost my family, I probably never would have become a witch. And I probably won't be here with you guys, either. I probably wouldn't have met Yuuji, too, so that would've been really sad."

They gave you a concerned look, frowns on their faces.

"Besides, whenever I tried bringing them back to life or getting them back, bad things happened. Really bad things," you gazed down on your hands, fiddling with them on your lap. "The lengths I've gone to have my family back were... not exactly something to be proud of." You laughed humorlessly, looking back up at them, a dark glaze over your eyes. "I may or may not have lost my mind back then."

Choso, Toji, and Suguru stared, unable to help the pity in their hearts as they saw the sadness reach your eyes.

You waved your hand, "But enough of my past! I don't want to remember that. We've got to get to work now."

ᗢ▪︎ᗢ

And so how exactly did you end up here in this situation, a couple of days later, being spoken to by this misogynistic hound of a man?

The other occupants of the cafe, which included your everyday regulars (ahem—Nanami, Gojo, and the first-year students—ahem), gawked at the scene occuring in front of them. From inside the one-way mirror you'd added to the kitchen, your three male housemates were silently glaring at the unwelcome visitor of the shop.

"My father told me that it was an old witch who freed Gojo Satoru and even revived Zenin Toji and Geto Suguru," Naoya haughtily declared to you in front of the counter. "You must be her daughter, then. Or granddaughter. Whatever. Where is the witch? I must speak to her."

Your eye twitched. When you were about to speak, however, the man cut you off.

"I don't have enough time for this, woman. Hurry up."

Seems like you'd found someone more irritating than that volcano-headed cursed spirit. You inhaled deeply and soothed your nerves.

"She's—"

"Are you deaf?" Naoya complained (in the background, Megumi was trying to hold back a fuming Nobara and the I'm-about-to-punch-you-for-talking-to-my-mom-like-that Yuuji). "I ordered you to go call the witch."

With an annoyed tone you, for once, allowed to seep into your voice, you interrupted him this time. "You're speaking to her."

"What?" he repeated, eyes narrowing at you. You raised a brow at him.

"What?" you shot back irritatedly.

Naoya scoffed. "Impossible. You're the witch who resurrected two jujutsu criminals and released Gojo Satoru from the Prison Realm? What a joke."

The said blindfolded man snickered in the background, returning back to eating his favorite red velvet brownies, "Ohohoho, be careful. You'll be the joke here if you continue talking to her that way, Zenin!"

A vein popped on Naoya's temple from the comment, but he focused on you instead. "I have no more time for games in this meager shop of yours, woman. Where is the wit—"

Your hand shot out to his chest, where you briefly ejected his astral form from his body. Just for about a second or two. It was one of the tricks you learned from Stephen (who learned it from the Ancient One). When his nasty-ass soul returned, he was panting heavily.

"What was—"

You innocently (and very much threateningly) smiled at him, "Have you ever seen that in a meager shop before, Zenin-san?" The smile disappeared. "Get out."

It was his unlucky day that there were no civilian customers in the shop right now. His brows furrowed, "What?!"

You nonchalantly pressed some buttons on the cashier, clicking your tongue, "I think you're the one who's deaf here, Zenin-san. Not me. And no one talks to me like that." You pointed at the door calmly, your voice frighteningly soft. "Now, get out of my shop."

"No," Naoya refused, allowing his cursed energy to emerge. He wouldn't go down without a fight.

As if that threatened you at all.

"Oh?" You tilted your head at him, "Okay, then. I'll just forcibly remove you from the premises."

Before he knew it, tendrils of red energy wrapped around his entire form and literally threw him out of the bakery-café. Your mini-Hex barrier wouldn't let him past the doorstep, too.

You leaned on the doorway, unaffected by the barrier and smugly reading his mind as you gazed down at his fallen form, "If you want to ask me out for dinner at the Zenin Estate, do it more respectfully, you chauvinistic pig! And tell your father I'm not interested in any alliances of any sort. If he thinks he can sway me with money and power in the jujutsu society, he's wrong. I don't care about any of that. Goodbye!"

The doors slammed in his face.

You found Nobara with starry eyes directed towards you, "You're so awesome, Y/N-san. I wish I could be as badass as you."

You patted her head, grinning, "You already are, missy."

Sukuna, whose eye had been observing from the now-awestruck Yuuji's cheek, chuckled darkly. He very much liked what he just saw. God, he really did have a thing for scary women. "Well that was a sight to see."

You rolled your eyes. Ever since you revealed your younger form, he'd taken every chance to verbally hit on you. At this point, the King of Curses was terribly obvious with his interest (so was Gojo with his newfound level of clinginess, but for some reason, it hadn't clicked to you yet).

"Aaaaaaah, serves him right!" Gojo happily stretched his arms up and grinning at you. "Nice to see Naoya's ass get kicked every once in a while. Do you know how much of a fanboy he is for you, Toji!?" he shouted to the irked man in kitchen.

"I don't give a damn!" the ex-assassin scowled, kneading some dough with his skilled hands. (The older Fushiguro was very pleased seeing you literally throw the other Zenin out of the shop, though; Naoya totally deserved it).

Geto, who was making rice bowls for the first-years, and Choso, who was adorably concentrated on the sundaes he was perfecting (especially making Yuuji's with lots of love), were relieved that the unwelcome visitor was out, too.

"If Naobito Zenin knows about you, there's no doubt that word has already spread to the elders," Nanami pointed out, reading the newspaper and taking a sip of his espresso.

"Those damn geezers get on my nerves everyday," Satoru muttered.

"Are the elders really that bad?" Nobara, Yuuji, and Megumi chorused questioningly.

"Even worse," Gojo snorted. "Trust me, you wouldn't wanna meet them. Unfortunately, Y/N, you've gotten quite involved in jujutsu affairs."

"Didn't want to, but was absolutely expecting to," you frowned. "After that stunt I pulled in Shibuya, I think I just gained a hundred more enemies here."

Then Megumi spoke up for the first time in all this chaos, pointing at a retreating Naoya outside the window with his thumb, "What if that stupid guy comes back here?"

"I've made it so that the barrier in the shop won't let him in unless his intentions are respectful and honorable," you answered, a hand on your hip as you flopped on the plush sofa seat beside Nanami. "Gosh, my retirement's going down the drain. I need a vacation. Wanna go on that trip to Malaysia, Kento-kun? I can reserve a place there in Kuantan near the beach."

He paused in reading the newspaper, then peered at you from above his round glasses, "Now?"

"Now," you smiled up warmly at him. For a second, he felt his heart skip a beat at the sight. The now-flustered Nanami cleared his throat, shaking his head.

"Unfortunately, we jujutsu sorcerers still have much to do after the Shibuya Incident," he apologized, trying to keep the blush out of his face. "But I'll take you up on that offer next time, Y/N-san. It would be... nice."

"I wanna go to the beach, too, Momma!" Yuuji exclaimed, raising his hand. "I'll be your lifeguard and Nobara can take pictures of us! Megumi can be the floater, too!"

Said Fushiguro hit him on the head, "Why am I the floater!?"

Before you could respond to any of them, you were suddenly glomped by the playboy of a stickman everyone knew. Nuzzling his face into your neck and wrapping his arms around your waist, Gojo wailed, "Heeeeeey! Why are you asking that stuck-up, no-fun guy to go to Malaysia with you and not me, Y/N? I'll go to Malaysia with you anytime! Especially to the beach!"

You attempted to pry him off your body, rolling your eyes, "I know that, but you're not the one who deserves a vacation after getting stuck in that box after I already warned you!"

Toji came out of the kitchen with a paper bag of hot bread. He frowned deeply seeing Gojo cling onto you like a koala. Geto followed with the freshmen's packed rice bowls, a vein appearing on his head as he personally dragged Gojo back to his chair.

"Stop being so embarrassing to her, Satoru," Suguru hissed into his ear. The white-haired sorcerer pouted.

"Don't you find it unfair, too? She invited Nanami to go to the beach! Only him!" Gojo crossed his arms like a child. "Hmph!"

Choso, exiting the kitchen with sundaes for the now-sparkly-looking teenage trio, turned to you after hearing the information. "You're going to the beach, Y/N-san?"

You shrugged, "Apparently not today, though. Well, just tell me when you're available, Kento-kun. And the rest of you guys, feel free to come along! I can just... like, magic all of us there, after all."

Yuuji started eating his chocolate sundae (every once in a while trying to keep Sukuna from stealing a bite), "So we can go there without buying expensive plane tickets, Mom?"

"Yup! But if we do need money, I'll just magic it out of Gojo's credit card," you hummed.

Megumi approved with a thumbs-up and a blank face, "I support you one hundred percent, Y/N-san."

Satoru gasped dramatically, "You would not. You didn't even invite me in the first place!"

"You're the rich one here, not me, so that's your problem," you shrugged. "Either way, the rest of you don't have to worry about paying an—"

Again, you were then interrupted by the doors of your shop opening loudly. Everyone, including you, gaped like a fish when a reluctant yet persistent looking Naoya Zenin entered with a neat white envelope in his hand. He briefly glanced at Toji, Choso, and Suguru before hurriedly rushing to you. He reached his arm out, handing you the envelope.

"A formal invite to dinner at the Zenin estate," he muttered, for the first time speaking to you with some level of respect. You took the envelope from his hands, surprised at his attitude. "We're... expecting you."

As quickly as he entered, Naoya Zenin left Charmed Coffee & Confectionaries.

"That's first," Megumi muttered, a spoonful of sundae in his mouth.

Yuuji spoke first, "Huh. How'd that guy get in the barrier—Sukuna, don't steal my ice cream!"

The King of Curses rolled his eyes (both from inside his domain and the eyes on his vessel's cheeks), "Deal with it, brat. Oy, granny! Don't even bother thinking about going to that weakling's clan manor."

"Why not?" you asked, opening the envelope with interest. You skimmed through its contents. It was indeed a formal invitation. "He got through the barrier, meaning his intentions were... probably decent?"

"It's likely those scumbags in the clan are trying to get in your favor now that they're aware of your power," Toji rolled his eyes. "What's next, the Kamo and Gojo clan?"

Satoru cleared his throat, trying to look as suave as possible, "As the leader and representative of the Gojo clan, I would like to formally override the Zenin clan's invitation to you by asking you out to dinner myself—ow, Nanami!"

"Stop that," the blonde man scolded, glaring at the other man. Suguru, Yuuji, Nobara, and Megumi snorted in the corner.

"Well, I was just planning on stopping by at the Zenin estate for less than an hour," you replied to them, tapping your chin. "I've got more important things to do today, actually. I forgot that it's my special day-off!"

"Special day-off?" they simultaneously asked.

"Yeah," you smiled. "Nobara-chan, would you help me pick an outfit out for later?"

In an instant, the teenage girl was beside you, reverently bowing like a loyal butler, "Anything for you, Y/N-san. I might even call Maki for this if she weren't busy..."

"Why would you need her help choosing an outfit? It's not like it's a date," Suguru pointed out, a hint of jealousy in his voice.

"It's not," you shrugged. "But might as well look my best scaring off the conservatives, right? Plus, they were expecting an old woman. It'd be nice to see the shock on their faces."

...

"... I like that idea," Toji and Gojo agreed (for once, what a miracle).

"Show them what you're made of, Mom!" Yuuji cheered while keeping the spoon of chocolate sundae away from Sukuna's mouth.

"Fucking brat, give that to me!" the Curse King wrestled for control over his vessel's body. The silent Choso sitting beside him was already plotting murder in the back of his mind.

Meanwhile, Nanami and Geto simply sighed.

ᗢ▪︎ᗢ

All of them, except for a pleased-looking Kugisaki, didn't see you come out of the shop... well, physically. You'd decided you'd just magic yourself to the entrance of the Zenin estate to get this thing done and over with.

It was why all nine of them—the three first-years plus Sukuna from inside Yuuji, as well as an exhausted Nanami, an overeager Gojo, a scowling Toji, a hesitant Choso, and an uncomfortable Geto—were hiding by some nearby bushes attempting to get a peek of what was happening inside the manor. The spying didn't really work because they couldn't see anything.

There were also guards roaming around so that was bad news (except for Gojo who could teleport, Toji who was maximum level in stealth, and Megumi who'd learned how to use his shadows in being uncover courtesy of training with his dad).

"This is useless," Nanami sighed out. "Why am I even here? This is an invasion of her privacy."

"Nanami-san is right," Megumi added somewhat guiltily.

"What if they hurt her?" Gojo hissed back, still acting like he was in Mission Impossible or some sort of action spy film. Heck, he was crouched down like one.

"Satoru, this is Y/N the witch we're talking about. The one who can drag out souls from bodies with a flick of her hand," Geto hissed back. "We shouldn't be here."

"Y/N-san can definitely handle herself in front of those pigs," Nobara muttered confidently (but still used a portable telescope to zoom in on a window).

"Yeah, Momma can kick their asses with no problem," Yuuji nodded, a determined look on his face. "Isn't that right, Choso-nii?"

Pride surged in the half-curse's chest at being called older brother, "Yes, Yuuji. You're right. She can kick their asses. All of them."

"Shhhh, all of you shut up! Look, she's already coming out!" Gojo pointed, before whistling softly at your attire. "Daaaaamn, you did a great job, Nobara-chan. Very Kate Middleton-ish elegance, but you made it work. Classy."

Geto and Choso visibly swallowed. Nanami cleared his throat. Sukuna, from his domain, was watching—giving a single pleased nod with a huge smirk on his face. Toji had a shit-eating grin, too.

You calmly power-walked down the stairs of the huge manor, placing the oversized black sunglasses over your eyes and letting your black coat hang over your shoulders. The helpless guards of the Zenin clan could only watch as you exited the gates with a strut that was nobody's business.

Indeed, you were a force to be reckoned with.

"I was going for a more rich chaebol daughter look from Crash Landing on You, but I'll take that as a compliment, sensei," Kugisaki grinned.

"Where'd you get the white and black two-piece suit dress from? Michael Kors, right? Is the black velvet clutch a Jimmy Choo?" Gojo curiously asked (apparently very well-versed in luxury fashion, but that was a given if you'd seen the absurd prices of the shirts he wore). "Did she actually magic it?"

"Yup!" Nobara popped the last letter. "Kinda convenient, if you ask me. I think the watch and jewelry aren't magic, though."

"I've never seen even her older self wear high heels. It suits her," Toji mumbled, very particular thoughts running through his head with the sharp Louboutins on your feet. Clearly, they could be used to stab someone. Megumi noticed the look on his father's face and cringed as he mentally gagged.

It was absolutely clear to him and the other first-years that the six older men with them had a thing for you.

And so they continued following you for the next thirty minutes, becoming even more suspicious when you entered a flower shop in town.

"Are we seriously going to keep following her?" Choso mumbled as they secretly crept behind you from meters away.

"Well, she's buying flowers for some reason. Preeeetty sus," Satoru noted to himself, attempting to look cool.

"Jesus Christ, stop acting like Tom Cruise. It doesn't fit you," Kento massaged his throbbing temples. His blood pressure must be pretty high now.

"She's going somewhere again," Choso murmured as you exited the flower shop, carrying a small bouquet of lush, red and white roses. Your face seemed blank the entire time, making them wonder what exactly had happened in the Zenin estate and why you bought flowers.

"Is... Momma seeing someone?" Yuuji blinked.

"Only one way to find out," Nobara chimed in.

"Follow her! Let us depart!" Gojo ordered, dragging Geto and Nanami with each of his lanky arms. Toji and Choso rolled their eyes but complied, also curious as to where you were going.

You stopped by a cake shop, which made them even more suspicious of the box in your other hand.

"Oh damn, she must be seeing someone and we didn't even know," Geto realized, feeling a bit hurt.

"Seeing someone? How can she even be seeing someone when she spends most of her time in the shop?" Toji thought out loud.

They kept following you.

About an fifteen minutes later, they proved themselves wrong.

ᗢ▪︎ᗢ

All of them ended up watching as you stopped at an unmarked grave in a cemetery. You set down the flowers into a vase and placed the box by the tombstone, preparing to clean it off.

"God, this was a mistake," Nanami muttered with a deep frown on his face.

"We shouldn't have assumed anything," Geto sighed, guilt gnawing at his heart.

Another woman who was visiting the gravestone right beside you—probably in her fifties or sixties—glanced at the cake box you'd brought along.

"Special occasion?" she asked lightly.

You politely removed your sunglasses, smiling, "Yes. It's their birthday today. My children."

"Children? Ah, but you're so young, dear! My condolences. It must be difficult also losing your sons so young." She gazed at you with pity in her eyes.

"... Yes, it was very hard," you replied, touching the cold stone.

"May I ask why your family grave is unmarked?"

"I felt like it was better off that way," you answered. You left it unmarked because there were too many people to put in one stone. "And you, madam? Who are you visiting today?"

"Oh, just my husband," she brushed off lightly, waving her hand. "He's been gone for... quite some time now." She glanced at her watch and gasped. "My, would you look at the time. I have to go feed my cats now."

She passed by you and headed to the opposite direction, but the moment she did, your right hand instantly shot out to grip her left bicep. The onlookers blinked, confused. Why'd you do that?

The air seemed eerily still now. Even the birds stopped chirping. The leaves and the grass stopped rustling. The sky was turning dark, as if it was about to rain. The atmosphere was almost suffocating.

"What are you doing, young lady?" she asked, trying to remove her arm from your hold. You tightened your grip on her bicep, a faraway look in your eyes as you gazed into the distance.

"Sons. You said sons." Your voice was devoid of any warmth as you spoke out, "I never said my children were both boys." Your lips thinned. You tried reading her mind the moment she spoke those words, but strangely, you couldn't. "How did you know about them?"

It was silent for a moment, but then a wide grin appeared on the woman's face. "Wanda, Wanda. Still as touchy as ever about her dead family."

It was strange to hear your old name being spoken in Japanese.

"Agatha." Your eyes glowed red, "What are you doing here?"

She shrugged, "Hmm. Just thought I'd check up on how the all-powerful Scarlet Witch was doing in this new universe she moved into. You've made a bit of progress, I'll give you that."

The glower on your face was a huge warning that she was stepping over her boundaries. Meanwhile, the rest of your hiding spectators watched carefully, preparing for a fight if necessary. Clearly, you and this person weren't on good terms.

"Don't talk about them," you whispered lowly. "And leave this place while I let you. Just because you mentored me for a time after... what happened to the Multiverse... doesn't mean we're friends."

"Aww, you're hurting my feelings, buttercup. Have you forgotten our days as neighbors?" Agatha mockingly cooed. "Don't worry, I'm already leaving. Wasn't planning on staying too long." She glanced in the corner where the others were hiding.

You frowned. You already knew that your friends had followed you to the Zenin estate and up to this cemetery, but now that Agatha was somehow here, you didn't want any of them to be caught up in a possible fight. Curses and cursed users, you could leave it to them, but another witch and a powerful one at that? They had no place in this.

"Why don't you go first and tell your snooping little friends the truth, sweetcheeks?" your former nosy neighbor suggested, wiggling her eyebrows. "I bet you haven't even told them about your dear parents... Natasha... Billy and Tommy... Pietro... and oh, let's not forget the love of your life, Vision. Judging by how they're spying on you, they don't know much about your past, do they? Do they even know what you've done?" The older witch was clearly implying the events that occurred when you were under the influence of the Darkhold.

Unwanted memories resurfaced.

"Stop," you glared at her. "Leave. Now."

Agatha cackled, "Fine, geez. No need to be so huffy, dearie. I must say, what an interesting place you've... retired in. Cursed energy and curses. Quite different from the world we've come from, hmm?" She hummed, handing you a maroon metal flash drive. "Good thing that Darcy Lewis lady used some fancy technology to keep these... very important files. Trust me, I made some modifications that you might... appreciate. If I was any crueler like you, I'd only give you screenshots! But unlike you, I prefer movies over sitcoms."

Your brows furrowed as you tilted your head at her, "What do you mean? And why are you even doing this?"

She rolled her eyes at you, snorting, "Consider this as my apology and a... thank you for letting me go after the Multiverse fiasco. Don't worry, I'm not going to do anything too bad. Especially since that Strange is the Sorcerer Supreme now. Then that Loki from the other timeline is working with the TVA now. He helped me come up with this... gift, by the way!"

You had no idea what to say.

"Ugh, just open it later. Bye!"

With that, Agatha vanished in a puff of purple smoke. It was silent for a moment until you sighed heavily, "You guys can come out now, you know."

Slowly, the nine individuals emerged from their hiding spots, looking like children caught with candy. Though, they looked pretty curious with the flash drive in your hand, too.

"Momma, what's that? Looks fancy." Yuuji pointed to the flash drive on your hand. You raised it to your eye level, the metal glinting in the light.

"Obviously a flash drive, dummy," Megumi lightly elbowed Itadori, who whined.

"Owie... what's in it, though?" Yuuji rubbed his tummy protectively. Beside him, Choso patted his back comfortingly.

"I don't know. I can't read that woman's thoughts sometimes," you muttered back, pocketing the flash drive.

"Who was that, Y/N?" Nanami spoke up worriedly. He could feel the tension between you and Agatha.

"Old friend?" Gojo chimed in.

"Didn't look like a friend to me," Sukuna snidely commented as a mouth on Yuuji's face, snickering.

"Not a friend. Not an enemy, either... anymore... I hope," you mumbled back, avoiding their gaze and returning your focus to your family's tombstone. "She might be a bit pissed I stole the powers that she stole from her coven... and then locked her in her own mind for a while..."

They all blinked at you, surprised but also not at the same time. Your powers really were something else.

"Anyway, that was a long time ago," you quickly changed the topic, smiling at them and lightening up the mood. "I think it's time I introduce my family to... well, my family."

Nobara was the first one to go along with your cheery mood, "It's your sons' birthday today, right, Y/N-san? We should celebrate!"

You clapped happily, "Absolutely! And I should tell you guys all about what happened in the Zenin estate. Toji, you're right, they all have sticks up their asses. That Naobito had some nerve mocking me..."

Toji chuckled, "Told ya so, granny."

Geto tilted his head at you, "... Did you do something to them? Like, pull their souls out or something?"

"Eh. Nothing as extreme as that." You shrugged. "I just removed gravity from the room we were in and made them stick to the ceiling. It'll wear off sooner or later."

All of them sweat-dropped.

Meanwhile, in the aforementioned Zenin estate, a spellbound Naobito and Naoya were still stuck on the ceiling, feeling like they were absolutely tripping on drugs. The laws of physics were irrelevant. The witnesses in Shibuya weren't lying when they said you were a force to be reckoned with.

(next chapter.)

Author's Note: Hmm... what's in the flash drive and what will they see? And why were Darcy and Loki mentioned? Guess we'll only know in the next update, tee-hee! And yes, I kinda followed a portion of the Marvel comics where Agatha was Wanda's mentor. They sorta like, just frenemies now. 🤷‍♀️

Oh, and about Naoya, yeah... he's attractive but I hate him, lol. Gonna think about if he's gonna like Reader-san or not. The others will definitely be interacting more with Reader in the next chapter. Gosh, I might spoil ya'll if I'm not careful. Imma shut up now. 🤐

What made me sad was that Billy and Tommy (plus Vision) actually died in November. So technically, it really is their death anniversaries after the Shibuya Incident. 🥲

Moving on! Reblogs, comments, hearts, interactions, and constructive criticism are very appreciated! If you wanna be tagged in the upcoming chapters, feel free to message me or comment (just pleaaase make sure you allow yourselves to be tagged in your settings). 🤗❣️

Perhaps you can support me here. Honestly, I need cash and sleep. ☕

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