#Secret Society SHOCKER

[bearbench-img]

ショッカー

秘密結社ショッカーは、特撮テレビドラマ『仮面ライダー』シリーズに登場する架空の悪の組織です。世界征服を企む悪の組織で、世界各国に支部を持ち、高度な科学技術を駆使して、改造人間や怪人と呼ばれる存在を生み出し��います。ショッカーの目的は、世界を恐怖で支配し、人類を奴隷化することです。首領と呼ばれる謎の存在が組織を統括し、世界各国の優秀な人材や科学者を集めて、様々な作戦を実行します。ショッカーは、仮面ライダーの宿敵として知られ、仮面ライダー1号・2号と激しい戦いを繰り広げました。ショッカーの怪人は、昆虫や動物をモチーフにした独特のデザインで、印象的な存在感を放っています。

手抜きイラスト集

[marzipanandminutiae]

so the woman who sent me her grandmother's doll has also been sending me images of her grandmother, including a lovely one of her in an elegant dress around the late 1910s

she said it was probably taken before the Veiled Prophet Ball

what is the Veiled Prophet ball? I looked it up

it was a ball held in St. Louis from 1878 to 2021 when they changed the name- but have not, to the best of my knowledge, stopped doing it. organized by a "secret" society of wealthy men called the Veiled Prophets and preceded by a lavish parade

oh and it managed to piss off e v e r y o n e

Irish people didn't like it because the parade twice involved negative stereotypes on its floats (the protest of any Native or Asian people has not been recorded but they uh. they did that too)

Black people really didn't like it because it was segregated until 1979(?!) and for many years the parade route passed by impoverished, majority-Black neighborhoods and was seen as white elites flaunting their wealth. also in one more recent case, the police shooting in Ferguson happened right before the parade, leading BLM to understandably protest outside the ball venue

Feminists didn't like it because the VPs were all-male and the Debutante Ball aspect came to be seen as antiquated and infantilizing to women. Also the ball's queen, the Queen of Love and Beauty, had to be a "maiden" and one Queen-elect who secretly got married before the ball was basically booted from her spot in disgrace and never invited again

Union workers didn't like it because it was seen as an attempt to upstage and replace union parades

Also one time a newspaper mislabeled an image of a man in KKK robes as "the Veiled Prophet" and this led, many years later, to actress Ellie Kemper being called a "KKK Queen" on Twitter because she'd been the Queen of Love and Beauty at the ball as a teenager (the event has no specific ties to the KKK despite its racially segregated origins)

Jewish people didn't like it because- shocker -they were also not allowed to attend

Honestly, this is the biggest number of disparate groups pissed off by a ball that I've seen since researching the PR disaster Bradley-Martin Ball of 1897

it's kind of impressive in a weird unfortunate way

(oh and lots of people went, so I'm not reading too much into this specific woman's attendance. but also like. she was a wealthy white southern/midwestern woman born in 1895. I don't have any illusions about her moral perfection)

[cina-full-moon-xanadium]

Kamen Rider, Hongou Takeshi, is a modified human. He was altered by Shocker, an evil secret society with aspirations for world domination. Kamen Rider fights against Shocker for the sake of human freedom!

[alaydabug2]

Tag list: @paloma-ascends-into-hellfire @nowjumpinthewater @bookwormgirl123 @thishumanformislimiting @aspenaspenaspenaspenaspen

History Repeats

Chapter three

The war is over. Everyone is happy. Years later, Biana is accepted as a councilor. Only then, does she realize she wants what she can't have. Dex Dizznee. She could step down so they could be together, but progress is finally being made with her on the Council. If she steps down, that could reset all the progress that was done. What will she do? Stay? Leave? Have this affair in secret? Will they end like Kenric and Oralie, two star crossed lovers who fate had different plans? Find out in this story.

(Biana pov)

Biana watched as Dex desperately dashed away. That... was unexpected. Pieces wanted to click together in her mind, but she couldn't let them. That would complicate way too many things. Things she could not be able to even dream of happening now she was councilor.

The best thing she could do now was pretend this encounter had never happened. She had a meeting in the morning with the rest of the council to discuss how she wanted to improve the lost cities. She needed to get her rest.

Rest never came. She kept tossing and turning all night at how the day could have gone if she hadn't been chosen for the council. Would she still feel a deep ache inside of her that she had now? Could Dex have asked her out? Would she have said yes.

The more she thought about it... the more she realized she wouldn't be apposed to the idea.

Her and Dex have had an interesting dynamic throughout their time, knowing each other. He had always been in the background of the gossip circles at school. The, quote unquote, 'weird Dizznee child'.

She had never paid much attention, really. Not until Sophie came along. Even then, Dex had seemed to hold a resentment to her family. It took her a while to realize that was because everyone thought the Vackers were perfect. Meanwhile, the Dizznees were outcasts in society.

After getting over that barrier, they just seemed to... click.

She found that he was quite charming and a gentleman. She found what he could do interesting. Slowly, they started to lean on each other when they didn't get picked to go out on missions.

Biana realized... she wasn't against the idea that he might've asked her out. Oftentimes, she wondered over the years, but things were too hectic to worry about those things.

Her alarm blared. Sleep had not been on her side. She spent most of the night wrapped up in her own thoughts.

Biana got out of the plush, canopied bed and padded across the pink carpeted floor. Naturally, she had inherited Oralie's castle after she had resigned. They had similar tastes- shocker -so Biana hadn't made many changes to it.

Many things had been left behind. When she tried to return it, Oralie told her she could keep it all. She had asked how much she took with her. Turns out it wasn't much.

Oralie had moved to an estate in a medow. Biana had visited once to help her get settled. Much to her surprise, Oralie had ditched all of her frilly gowns. She resembled more of, what Sophie had shown her, Little House on the Prarie.

None of it was necessarily bad. Biana just wondered why the sudden change. At one point, she had asked.

The awnser she was met with was, "I want to forget the past."

That hurt Biana's heart. She knew she had meant Kenric.

Biana reached the closet. She decided on one of the big purple dresses that had been left behind. It really was gorgeous.

Once she was finished getting ready, she headed to the main building of Enternalia. That's where the meeting would be.

Her heels clicked across the crystal floor. It echoed off the walls. She found the silence eerie. Especially since she was the first one to arrive at the meeting room.

Bronte was the next one in. He paused when he saw Biana already in her seat.

He bowed at her. "Councilor Biana. Punctual, I see. I knew you were voted in for a reason. I'm eager to see what direction you'd like to take the Lost Cities."

She got out of her seat to curtsy. "Thank you, Councilor Bronte. It's an honor to be able to be here."

rest of the Council arrived shortly. When everyone was ready, she got up to present her ideas.

She cleared her throat. "Hello, everyone. I want to say I am thrilled to be able to be here with you today. You all picked me because we need change in the Lost Cities. I hope you all are able to keep an open mind as I tell you these."

Most of the Council seemed ready to hear her out, as she explained changes that needed to be done. However, a few interrupted multiple times in objections. After the fifth time Alina interrupted her speech, Bronte had to shut her down.

Some of the topics included the talentless, matchmaking, and pyrokinesis. Majority of them heard her out. A select few, however, were scowling the whole time.

She sat back down once she was finished, quite pleased with herself. Twenty-two eyes stared into her very soul. She wanted to cower, but she held her ground.

Eventually, Bronte spoke, "I think we could work with these. I'm sure your addition to the council will become invaluable."

[rosetower]

Sorry for the Catholic Movie posting. I watched Conclave last night directly after watching the shitshow that was Emilia Perez and it like, made me nut. I love political drama, I love political thrillers, I love people struggling with faith. I adored the dialogue in this movie. Yeah they weren't kidding when they said it delivered probably the nicest depiction of the Catholic Church in quite some time. Which is kind of funny cause like you can get really emotionally sucked into it if you have any sort of tie to Catholicism (i.e. family, in my instance, quite a bit of Roman Catholic family on the Italian side, not that anyone expects anything else LMFAO) so it was really quite a treat for me.

I've seen some really reductive takes about the twist at the end from dyadic trans people lately and I just wanted to say as an intersex person -- Benitez refusing to get "corrective" surgery is actually quite literally in line with most intersex activists view, so I don't understand what people's issue is? I can understand if people said it was 'cheap' but like. I feel like there's a greater narrative being held within the movie about the role of gender in the Catholic Church, that's precisely what Bellini touches on when he talks about women and is immediately shushed, it's brought up with Sister Agnes breaking her silience as a nun during the Conclave to confirm that Tremblay manipulated a situation that brought harm to both one of the sisters & with Adeyemi being manipulative - the commentary on that being the fact that he took advantage of a young woman's inexperience and used his power unwisely. Benitez revealing that he is intersex and had had no reason to think of this until an appendectomy revealed a uterus and ovaries inside of an otherwise phenotypically male appearance, having confessed to the Pope, having had his surgery scheduled and then him cancelling it -- this is all still a commentary on how the Patriarchal standards set forth by the Catholic Church are not immutable. Yes it's something that remains a secret, but to be quite frank, is everyone's intersex status something that must be absolutely revealed for one to live their life? Do you ask everybody if they have a second spleen, or if they have one and a half lungs, etc. etc.? The status of his internal organs doesn't change the fact that he still participates in the Church.

I would also argue that there have been plenty of intersex people in history that never revealed that they are intersex and held high-standing roles within society. So this being another one, 'the pope is intersex', isn't really too big of a Shocker, Twist, Etc. there have been likely intersex people within the church before and there will continue to Be intersex people in the church now. Even moreso because we know that intersex people sometimes don't even find out that they are intersex, and there's a vast amount of variations of intersexuality that we don't have the research funding to identify.

I think also it's important to remember that even if it's a liberal view of the catholic church that has, in that setting, now, a Pope who is an intersex man, that this also is kind of a double edged sword in that the Catholic Church does still carry out violence, embodies a violent structure... though I guess the message of the movie was "we should change that somewhat" pretty explicitly. Well. Anyways that's my RoseThoughts

[luciferfemme]

So I'm just gonna say it. As a trans woman who doesn't fuck with men we need to stop trying to equate masculinity with man. I LOVE masculinity. I talk about that all the time. Specifically butch masculinity. Equating masculinity with men is just fucking stupid. Like all of that fucking post was. But also shocker of shockers someone telling trans women that we shouldn't hate men because something something trans woman who doesn't pass or trans woman who isn't out yet like... even assuming the kindest reading of that post-- thats just a stupid ass take. But I'm also so tired of everyone constantly dictating how TRANS women need to do xyz. Sorry trans women you have to answer for all of societies ills when it comes to both hatred of women and specifically hatred of trans women AND you aren't allowed to dislike men because you're ACTUALLY the secret middle ground between manhood and womanhood and so you must be the bridge that finally joins us all together in some kumbaya bullshit like shut up actually.

like if you think a trans woman who doesn't pass or has stubble (Satan I hate this webbed site sometimes) equals she's a man or whatever really re-evaluate.

[carbomcoco]

I feel like we gotta start demanding people's information sources more. Unless they're the primary source of the information (like, they're sharing about something they directly experienced), they got the information from somewhere. And if I can't track down what that is, that's immediately a red flag for me. And most of the time it's just annoying little things, like people making up fake origin stories for song lyrics, but sometimes it's big things!

You may have seen a viral tweet claiming that the leader of France said that France has never invaded anyone:

The attached image is just a picture. It's not a video of him saying this. So where did the user get this information? There's basically three options:

1) They were actually there when he said this.

2) They got the information from another source. (Hopefully a credible one, like someone who was actually definitely there when he said this, or a press release or post from Macron's team.)

3) They made it up.

It's probably not #1. This seems to be a random person. It's unlikely that they talk to the President of France very often. They don't seem to be a reporter, and if they were, there would probably be a proper record of that interaction.

It could be #2. But if you do a Google search (or whatever your preferred search provider is), there's no record of him saying this anywhere beyond just this one tweet (which, again, provides no proof that this happened as the attached media is just a photo). But if this is true, they had to get the info from somewhere. So either this random internet stranger has access to information sources that are inaccessible to the general public (i.e. you and me) or...

They probably just straight up made it up. Shocker. And like yeah, it's great that we have "community notes" now on Twitter, but we shouldn't rely fully on them instead of doing our own research. Remember, we're more susceptible to misinformation that makes us scared or mad (Source: American Psychological Society). So if you think "holy shit, that's so bad, I can't believe that", probably a good sign that you should double-check that it's actually true. Yeah, the world sucks, it's gonna be true a lot, but you know what I mean. Make sure we're mad about stuff that actually happened.

And on that note, I think a lot of the misinfo that spreads around here just comes from people saying stuff with their full chest even though it's only a guess or they're just straight up wrong. But even if we're not lying on purpose, it still causes problems! A while back, my favorite guitarist got kicked out of his band and didn't say anything. But noticing his absence when the tour started, fans invented a narrative that he'd temporarily left to help another band and he would be back halfway through the tour, despite neither him nor the band indicating anything of the sort. Clearing all that up wasn't fun for anyone.

I've also seen lots of people claiming that "blood is thicker than water" is actually short for "the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb". There's literally no indication that this is true. The shorter one has been traced back to the 12th century, and the two books (both published after 1990, hundreds of years later) that claim the longer one is true do not cite their sources. (But also, like, it's just a proverb. It's not a law of the universe. If you disagree with it, you don't have to act like it has a secret historical meaning that a conspiracy theory has covered up. You can just be like "nah". You're allowed to disagree with the 12th century dude. It doesn't mean everyone in the world is misremembering it.)

I've even seen posts inciting outrage about a user getting banned, only to look the user up to find that their account is still there and they have no idea what people are talking about.

Anyway. Point is, we can also stop the spread of misinformation by just not making it in the first place. If you don't have proof that something is true, don't act like it is. If someone else makes a post claiming something they couldn't possibly have insider knowledge of and you don't know where they heard it, dig. If you can't figure out where the info's actually from, and they won't say, red flag.

[harajuku-cookie]

IkeVil OC Profile: Dawn

The Angelic Dreamer “The dawn of a new day is a new opportunity for dreams to become reality.”

(I like using the IkeSeries avatars for OC design ideas, kind of like how people use picrew, and go from there. IkeVamp had eyes I really liked along with some other pieces, so I used their avatar.)

Name: Dawn Goulding Pronouns: She/Her Birthday: January 29th Affiliation: Royal Family (also becomes Crown later on) Curse: Sleeping Beauty: Sleeping Beauty Hobbies: playing the harp Skills: fencing, dancing Likes: cake Dislikes: needles Resents: entitlement Weapon: rapier Curse Ability: can manipulate people's subconscious via eye contact and touch. She can also access dreams if the person is unconscious and manipulate the dream. Orientation: pan Extra Features: freckles across her nose

More info about her under the cut!

Notes: •Daughter of a Marquis (who is part of the Privy Council). Her father isn't too fond of Crown and often speaks critically about them, unlike her who doesn’t think it’s right to judge someone without knowing them first. Her father does genuinely love and care for her, however he is overprotective. Her mother does allow her some wiggle room whenever it's possible. •Her curse first appeared when she was an adolescent. There were talks of arranged marriage and even though she knew that it was common in high society, she didn’t want that. She wanted to naturally fall in love with someone and marry for love, not for social connections or status. She noticed that she somehow managed to easily persuade all the parties involved when she communicated with them. She didn’t think much of it, but when she started seeing a pattern of people who would give in to her wishes with just a touch or looking into their eyes as she pleaded, she was wondering if something was up. The biggest shocker was when she was with a younger family member and was watching over them as they napped on her lap. As she softly petted their head, she unintentionally slipped into their dream. She noticed that the dream was starting to shift into a nightmare and she managed to manipulate the dream into a sweeter one. She secretly tested it a couple of times with other family members when they were sleeping to confirm what she had done. At the time she didn’t know that she was cursed, but she thought she had a unique gift. Since she’s lived a sheltered life, but always yearned for more, she sometimes uses her ability to do minor things like sneak out of her family’s estate and explore the city and get out of troublesome situations that she runs into. •Because of the nature of her ability being a form of mind control, she keeps it a secret from her family so no one can make her misuse it. •Her personality is kind, gentle, empathetic, and sweet to the point where people have compared her to an angel. However, she is not a pushover and refuses to let others control her. •She is a very popular and talented harp-player. People who get to hear her perform swear it’s like hearing music from the heavens. •Though her father wouldn’t be too keen about it if he knew, her mother (surprisingly) allowed her to take fencing lessons in secret and she became skilled at it. •Paired with Ellis. One night while out, she happened to accidentally stumble across him while in the middle of a mission. Normally this would be a death sentence, but she managed to use her ability to escape. Victor ended up finding out she was cursed and knowing about her family situation, he secretly recruited her. Upon first introducing her to the group, Ellis and her made eye contact and he felt a sense of déjà vu before realizing that she was the woman he came across a while back. While it was an awkward beginning, they do get along well. When they first started going on missions, he was prepared to protect her, but when she was given a rapier upon joining and he got to see her more in action (aside from using her ability), he realized that she could hold her own and now they protect each other (though he does tend to cover her more). When they’re not on missions and they both have free time, they love going out on strolls and exploring the city. She loves his soft and gentle nature, but she feels like there’s something hidden underneath that leaves her a little worried.

Extra Notes: she’s still a work in progress since IkeVil is still very new, but as time goes on I plan to add more info.

[not-souleaterpost]

The suprisingly bad plot of Bomb Rush Cyberfunk

So I played this little fun Jet Set Radio clone (don't worry, it ties into the iceberg, so I wasnt technically procrastinating with video games-)

And the thing that stuck out besides the expected and fun is how the story was bad. In a surprising way - not as "oh I didnt expect it to suck so much!!!" But nah, what I mean is that it failed in a interesting way.

So what do I mean?

Well lets start with the whole setup "Oh yeah, you get your head chopper of and are actually just a random scrap metal robot controling a should-be lifeless body."

This is weird enough, but the fact that there is that much head switching and body stitching is just strange, you wouldnt really expect that from a skating game - hell it makes the casual light-bulb eye-switching from Naruto look tame in comparison.

Still, one could guess that its just a quirky thing (or more disturbingly that some of the developers gets off from it, like not the weirdest thing that exist) - just some funny detail to get attention and stand out.

But not, this thing actually is the crux of the whole "theme" and "charachter arc"

And its weird that this kind of game trys that, like if mario struggled with alcholism as a framing decice for generic platformer #64. Cause why do something that is overly ambitious and will fail?

Like this game sadly failed - the whole search for "roots" just felt kinda unatural and as if the people were living in a different world from you (like ok I get it the society literally is that much weirder, but I mean in a sense of just procecing information and emotions differently than a standard human would)

Just the fact that the charachters feel empty and you dont really connect with them or their relationships makes everything hollow - yet its weird that they tried at all - cause yeah in the end in Jet Set Radio, nobody gives a shit about that stuff, we just wanna ride the line with carefull cartoon charicatures.

Yet still the story decided to introduce plot twist, thematic foils, villians with pseudo-arcs, drama etc.

But somehow it doesnt get how at the same time it just doesnt work on a basic level - like after its revealed that not only that Faux guy killed Felix for a petty reason but also is about to kill all other Graffiti pals, its kinda irellevant that his "big secret" was "Oh your dad kept you out of trouble"

Yet the game plays that up as some final all revealing shocker, and even gives Faux a death mirroring Felix initial fall.

Also the whole arc of Felix is both weird and at the same time something that seems to be trying to say something - from starting as some random smart hair-dryer, to it being revealed that he secretly was a legendary skater with amnesia, and the whole "you are both now"-

I get kinda that they tried to say "look he died partly because of his arrogance and not letting others be close may sparked Faux's psychopathy", but still at the end it just doesnt click, you know what Im saying - the first thing after coming to life with no memory is "Oh I wanna paint the city, yeah why not and find my original head even if its not really mine" and then "Oh I guess I learned the power of friendship, even if we interacted minimally and in the end only the final thematic attack showed the use of bonds"

Like yeah, it showed literally moments how without other people he would be dead but still it was so subdued that its weird to do a whole story like that.

Especially a story as whacky as it - with a evil skater head taking over the police and brainwashing everyone to do his biding while becoming a giant centipede monster.

But the weirdest part is that it even had the whole meta-commentary about how yeah it IS a rip-off and one cant escape that, but like, we are totally something new too guys!

But guess the only really clever writting was the set up of that weirdo with angel wings actually having a absurd but believable reason for overhearing everything lol.

Yet other things just go nowhere - the sniper kinda disapears from the story, there are obvious times where you are just sent in circles for padding, etc.

And that last thing is kinda what leads me to my attempt to reverse engineer the story -

I would guess they started with the wacky desing of the main guy and someone though "but why do he be having that crazy head thou?"

And from that it sparked the idea, well he lost the head - and that connected with the whole "identity" thing especially when they had to think if they were making something creative or just puppetering the corpse of a dead, head-team less corpse of a faux legendary franchise (I dunno why I said faux, I like JSR, but I had to tie in the names)

The details came later, hence why DJ Cybers Mask is supposedly Felix's, even though it doesnt fit the latter - cause yeah the charachter designs werent made like that originally.

And thats why there is some weird padding and moments - cause of budget reasons some things had to be stretched, or maybe some things had to be used in a way to maximise what one has done and to not throw away some cool concepts, even if they clash.

Also, Im not knocking this associative way of coming up with storys, just speculating if thats how it all came together.

Still, the fact that the story isnt just "Yeah we are rebels and here are police, lets fight!" without any of the before mentioned window dressing is surprising.

And, being non-generic is a positive surprise, no matter the execution - so see, this "essay" wasnt shitting on this game afterall.

(also contrast for a simmilar story that is unsurprisingly bad - Gravity Rush - but I'll save that for another time, man I wish that games creative direction was done by someone else, cause the gameplay itself has moments of being more fun than a lot of things...)

Oh also the proof that this all relates back to the Soul Eater iceberg - see what I found (sadly not first, cause I googled and some redditor noticed 2 months ago, alas if I played this game way back I would have had this eternal glory, not shame😔):

And if you say: That's it? I expected more!:

Yeah...Sorry

[growling]

could you perchance elaborate on npd squirrelstar because i think i see the vision

ohhhhh absolutely anon, and as I don't get many asks about warriors: hi :3

Honestly it kinda started out as a pure vibes thing, like I just thought "hmmmm which cats to hit with The NPD Beam.. squirrelstar hhholy shiit i think i just had a vision. i didn't see anything in the vision but I had a visionnn" and it stuck. Mostly headcanon stuff, maybe some slight au territory (but wc canon is already flimsy as it is anyway, so really, it didn't change much from the originals) but the longer I though about it the more it just kinda fits in lol, especially with her torment gauntlet storyline but not entirely because of it, either -

(I do not know how coherent this'll be, or if I even say everything I wanted to, as I am. so sleepy rn) Honestly the first thing I thought after initially coming up with it is. her relationships with Brambleclaw and Ashfur gsfdsghsd. It's very common to just believe that the abuser must be The Narcissist (or that just, all people with npd are automatically predestined to be abusers no matter what) while it's actually way more often that people with npd are more likely to stay in those relationships, or get abused because *shocker* mentally ill people actually way more likely to be treated as subhuman by society and the like. And I've already saw one or two people just proclaim that Brambleclaw is a narcissist because um, *checks notes* he's controlling of his wife and extra sensitive of (oftentimes valid) criticisms of his leadership or something idk man which. uhhhhh. no can we not please + shut up forever + now I'm gonna do the opposite nobody can stop me (also happened with rainflower. and clear sky. and sol. but mostly rainflower. lord help me)

(on a sillier note though....... nothing much to say about Ashfur as of now but after his Squilf/Ashf breakup if he was a human he'd become a self-proclaimed tiktok Dark Empath)

And lastly the headcanon stuff, which I completely made up while stirring the muffin batter but they might or might not have canon basis too, I don't know, I'm not gonna look for it and I don't really care either;

Does the right thing not because it's "what you're supposed to do or whatever idk I have no idea how any of you define it anymore", but because it makes her feel good. And even if by the end of the day she doesn't get any praise or reward for it, even if she gets shunned for it, what matters to her is that she did the Good Thing and therefore she is Good and that's what matters, and everybody else is so stupid for not seeing it. Really, why does it always have to be her that actually bothers with helping people nowadays. She's got a so much better grade at Good Person than like 99% of her Clan, StarClan bless

Leafpool was always consistently her equal person, she deserves the world and maybe even more than she does because she's just that great, it's her an Leafy against the world <3 we're eating soft tacos later <3 hold on Squirrelflight's Hope just called and- oh god, oh fuck

neither low nor high empathy but a secret third thing: really fucking weird ever changing empathy that also varies on whoever it is for some unexplainable reason. Based off what I have and how do I even explain this in simple, not-10-paragraph-post length....... just trust me on this. What I'll say rn is that she tends to personally care about nearly exclusively towards people relevant to her, or those she considers "interesting" regardless if she actually likes them.

always sets her goals either incredibly high (because naturally she's gonna achieve this exactly as she imagined and wait what do you mean-), or very low (so that she can do the woohoo!!! whenever she succeeds)

she splashes water everywhere when drinking she spills it so much she puts all her paws in that damn stream then puts them all over the kids and now they're all wet they all shake it off directly at Brambleclaw

> gets criticized once > fucking dies

I'll add onto this if I have time maybe, and don't completely forget about this whole post

[phantom-le6]

Ramble of the month February 2024: 90’s MCU phase 5 – transitioning from Secret Wars to Infinity Wars

Having spent much of last month and a fair bit of this one working on submissions to literary agencies for my autism book, this month’s ramble and the one for next month took a bit of a back seat, and as such I’ve still not been able to vary myself away from delving further into my hypothetical Marvel and DC film universes.  Apologies to anyone who, like me, were hoping to vary things more.  However, hopefully what we cover in this ramble and the next will make up for it, and as April will be Autism Awareness time, I can guarantee something different for then.

By this point, I’m sure readers don’t need as much of a recap on what these posts to do with my 90’s-based MCU are about.  Long story short, I’ve done what the meme makers don’t; looked at the comic book and real-world history of Marvel from that era to create an actual 90’s based MCU instead of putting 90’s actors into a present-day MCU.  However, as we’re into a fifth phase and well past the 1990’s, we should at least quickly review phases 1-4 first.

Phase 1:

1992: Fantastic Four, Hulk, Iron Man

1993: Thor, Spider-Man, Ant-Man & The Wasp

1994: Captain America: Fantastic Four 2, Iron Man 2

1995: X-Men, Avengers, Daredevil

Phase 2:

1996: Spider-Man 2, Thor: Land of Enchantment, Silver Surfer

1997: Hulk vs Wolverine, Fantastic Four: Doomsday, Iron Man 3

1998: Captain America: Society of Serpents, Daredevil 2, X-Men 2

1999: Avenger 2, Spider-Man 3, Doctor Strange

Phase 3:

2000: Fantastic Four: World War III, Thor: Ragnarök, Daredevil 3

2001: Hulk: Rise of the Leader, X-Men: Fall of the Mutants, Avengers: Under Siege

2002: Doctor Strange 2, The Captain, Spider-Man 4

2003: Captain Britain, Fantastic Four: Enter the Negative Zone, Ghost Rider

Phase 4:

2004: Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Secret Wars: Part I

2005: Excalibur, Defenders, Ghost Rider 2

2006: X-Factor, Secret Wars: Part II, Heroes For Hire

2007: Namor the Submariner, Doctor Strange 3, Iron Man: Enter The Mandarin

As discussed in previous rambles, phase 1 was all about establishing the MCU and its characters, phase 2 was about the expansion and development of the continuity, while phase 3 was mostly about many characters and teams losing, being put on the back foot and so on.  Phase 4 then covered Secret Wars, which temporarily deprived Earth of some major MCU heroes to put them through a real alien war, and in the process also allowed some other heroes to come to the fore.  Phase 5 then becomes about following on from some of those plot threads while beginning the set-up for this MCU’s version of the Infinity War.  So, let’s quickly show you the phase 5 slate and then get right into the details of these would-be films.

Phase 5:

2008: Spider-Man 5, Fantastic Four: Unthinkable, Ms Marvel

2009: Elektra, Black Panther 2, Defenders 2

2010: X-Men: Proteus, Spider-Man 6, Ant-Man 2

2011: Silver Surfer 2, Avengers vs X-Men, Ghost Rider 3

Spider-Man 5 (2008) Directed by Matthew Vaughan

Peter Parker/Spider-Man = Wil Weaton

May Parker = Marg Helgenberger

Flash Thompson = Ben Affleck

J. Jonah Jameson = J.K. Simmons

Joseph "Robbie" Robertson = Denzel Washington

Betty Brant = Parker Posey

Ned Leeds = John Barrowman

Eddie Brock = Wentworth Miller

Randy Robertson = Taye Diggs

Harry Osborn = Ryan Phillipe

Mary-Jane Watson = Alison Hannigan

Herman Schultz/Shocker = Patrick Muldoon

Felicia Hardy/The Black Cat = Elisha Cuthbert

Roderick Kingsley/Hobgoblin = Michael Keaton

Quentin Beck/Mysterio = Nathan Fillion

Captain Jean DeWolff = Jessica Biel

Detective Stanley Carter/”Sin Eater” = James Marsden

In the first three Spider-Man films, we built up to Peter befriending the Osborns and dating Gwen, only for the Green Goblin/Death of Gwen story arcs to play out in Spider-Man 3.  The fourth film then gave Peter a clash with the Sinister Six as he struggles to come to terms with Gwen’s death.  Following Secret Wars, Peter now has the alien costume, and so film 5 is basically the alien costume story arc.  Sounding a little too much like the Raimi/Maguire Spider-Man 3?  Trust me, it’s not like that and for two key reasons.  Firstly, I’m not trying to shoe-horn Venom in for the third act, just set him up for another film.  Second, I’ve chosen Wentworth Miller of Prison Break and The Flash fame to play Eddie Brock, and that’s far from being our only change.

In this film, Peter’s occupied trying to stop a series of illusion thefts being committed on behalf of a new “kingpin”, who turns out to be the Hobgoblin, while also having to track down a notorious serial killer called the “Sin Eater”.  As the alien costume influences Peter ever more, the question becomes less will he stop all the criminals, but rather will he become one.  Matters are further complicated when costume thief Black Cat begins seducing Spider-Man and the alien costume pushes Peter to accept this despite his relationship with Mary-Jane.  The film culminates with a chance clash with the Shocker revealing the alien nature of Peter’s costume, forcing him to finally fight it off.  Eddie Brock gaining the symbiote is then handled in a credit’s scene.

Direction-wise, I picked Matthew Vaughan as he’s a proven superhero film director due to his work on X-Men: First Class.  He’s the fourth director to take a hand on Spider-Man solo film in this hypothetical MCU, with John Hughes having directed the first two, and 3 and 4 being handled by Frank Darabont and Martin Campbell, respectively.

Fantastic Four: Unthinkable (2008) Directed by Roland Emmerich

Reed Richards/Mr Fantastic = Tom Hanks

Susan Storm (Richards)/Invisible Woman = Meg Ryan

Johnny Storm/Human Torch = David Spade

Ben Grimm/Thing = Bryan Cranston

Alicia Masters = Heather Graham

Agatha Harkness = Angela Lansbury

Victor Von Doom/Doctor Doom = Goran Višnjić

Hauptmann = Ronald Guttman

Nick Fury = Tommy Lee Jones

Black Bolt = Pierce Brosnan

Medusa = Elizabeth Hurley

Crystal = Dina Meyer

Gorgon = J.G. Hertzler

Karnak = Alexander Siddig

Triton = Orlando Bloom

T'Challa/Black Panther = Chadwick Boseman

Namor McKenzie/The Submariner = Christian Bale

Barbara "Bobbi" Morse/Mockingbird = Rebecca Romijn-Stamos

Jericho Drumm/Brother Voodoo = Doug E. Doug

Having had the Fantastic Four directed by Leonard Nemoy (films 1-2), Steven Spielberg (films 3-4) and Ridley Scott (film 5), this MCU closes out their share of films under the stewardship of Roland Emmerich, notable for such films as Independence Day, White House Down and Midway.  This film adapts the events of the storylines ‘Unthinkable’ and ‘Authoritative Action’, but leaves the events of ‘Hereafter’ to the comics and begins introducing the Infinity Stones.  Since non-comics fans and fans who haven’t read those stories won’t get those references, let’s do a quick summary.

In the comics, Doctor Doom turned to magic for an attack on the Fantastic Four, which resulted in Reed and Sue’s son Franklin being taken to hell, and the team having to storm Latveria to get him back.  During the incident, Doom scarred Reed before being dragged into hell.  Afterwards, Reed seized control of Latveria to dismantle Doom’s arsenal and craft a permanent prison for Doom, one in which Reed would serve as warden.  However, when the rest of the team tried to stop Reed, Doom somehow began to possess each in turn, ultimately forcing Reed to kill Ben Grimm just to stop Doom.  The events of the Hereafter arc involved a trip into the afterlife to bring Ben back, in the process healing Reed’s scars.

In this film, Franklin is kidnapped and taken to a demon dimension, and Sue leads a rescue team comprised of her, Ben Grimm, Brother Voodoo and the Black Panther to save Franklin while Reed and Johnny attack Doom, aided by the Inhumans and Namor the Submariner.  The attack seemingly defeats Doom, after which Reed leads the F4 to Latveria, seizing control of the nation.  Fearing Doom is somehow influencing Reed, Nick Fury of SHIELD intervenes along with Mockingbird, Voodoo, Namor and T’Challa, only for the seemingly captured Doom to begin telepathically controlling the other F4 members.  Ultimately, Reed manages to force a feedback that wipes Doom’s mind, but in the process, Ben Grimm dies as he does in the comics.  With Ben’s death, the Fantastic Four decide to step back from hero work, becoming a think tank called the Future Foundation.

The bulk of the film’s cast is from past films, with the only new addition being mystical nanny Agatha Harkness, played by Angela Lansbury in better keeping with the comics version of the character.  As for the Infinity Stone I mentioned, that would be the mind stone, which Doom uses to control the various F4 members until Reed works out Doom is channelling the stone’s power and creates the feedback.

Ms Marvel (2008) Directed by Gates McFadden

Carol Danvers/Ms Marvel = Melissa Joan Hart

Michael Barnett = Brian Krause

J. Jonah Jameson = J.K. Simmons

Frank Gianelli = Rory Cochrane

Tracey Burke = Kate Mulgrew

Tabitha Townsend = Kyla Pratt

Lynn Andersen = Amanda Seyfried

Mystique/Raven Darkholme = Connie Nielsen

Rogue = Anna Paquin

Avalanche = Alessandro Gassmann

Fred J Dukes/Blob = Vince Vaughan

Pyro = Hugh Jackman

Irene Adler/Destiny = Sally Field

When it comes to trying to tackle Carol Danvers in films, one story that’s yet to hit the big screen is the story of her downfall against the X-Man Rogue back when Rogue was part of Mystique’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.  Indeed, the 90’s animated series of the X-Men is the only adaptation to handle this, and they did it by neatly sidestepping some disturbing backstory.  Long story short, there was a story arc in the Avengers comics around the late 70’s/early 80’s where Carol (then codenamed Ms Marvel) was mind-controlled and raped by an extra-dimensional being so he could be reborn in a body compatible with Earth, then after fast-growing to adulthood, his presence caused a bunch of time disruptions.  When Carol then agreed to go with this being, the Avengers made no effort to prevent this.

When Chris Claremont wrote Rogue into Avengers Annual 10 and showed Rogue rocking Carol’s powers, the question that came to be asked was why Carol hadn’t sought out the Avengers upon returning to Earth, and the answer was made clear.  The team hadn’t shown any real concern for Carol during her strange accelerated pregnancy, and then let her go off with a blatantly mind-controlling rapist from another dimension.  As such, telling the story of Carol clashing with Rogue and the Brotherhood should never be an exact re-telling.  Claremont’s story in Avengers Annual 10 was as much about correcting what the writer of the main comics at that time had written, and with film adaptations, you’re better off just taking a different path entirely.

In this case, we’re showing Carol working as an investigative journalist for a Daily Bugle-owned women’s magazine, who uses the Ms Marvel identity to tackle crime where needed.  This is based on her original run in the comics, so we have Jameson borrowed from the Spider-Man films while using the magazine staff from the comics for supporting roles.  As for the villains, roles from past films like Mystique and Pyro are combined with newly cast actors to give us our second MCU Brotherhood.  The film draws in a mix of acting talent, with Melissa Joan Hart reprising the role of Carol Danvers, and Trek alumni Gates McFadden directing the film.  McFadden has played the mutant Plague/Pestilence for three X-films before this and has some directing experience, making her a good choice for this project.

Elektra (2009) Directed by Roxann Dawson

Elektra Natchios = Leonor Varela

Stick = Scott Glenn

Stone = Sigourney Weaver

Kirigi = Daniel Henney

Frank Simpson/Nuke = John Cena

Matsu'o Tsurayaba = Hiroyuki Sanada

Kwannon = Kelly Hu

Turk Barrett = Gary Dourdan

The story of Elektra following her death in Daredevil is one Fox didn’t quite get right, in large part because they tried to incorporate plot elements and tropes that didn’t tonally fit with the character.  Having used two Daredevil films to set her up before giving the character a one-shot solo film, I think the best thing is taking those bits out.  Instead, we get the Hand going after the Chaste with Elektra in the middle, and when Elektra proves more than they can handle, they bring in the pill-popping assassin known as Nuke.  It’s a straight-up martial arts action film initially, but then becomes a more Punisher-like action film when Nuke comes on the scene.

Trek alumni Roxann Dawson takes the helm because she’s one of the few women I know of that would be directing anything back around this time.  Considering that films with female leads are often better handled by female directors, it makes sense to try and make this the case wherever possible.  The cast is either retained from past films of picked to be more comic-accurate.  Case-in-point, picking American actor Scott Glenn to play Stick rather than English actor Terrence Stamp.

Black Panther 2 (2009) Directed by Tim Burton

T'Challa/Black Panther = Chadwick Boseman

Shuri = Tatyana Ali

Ramonda = Alfre Woodard

T'Chaka = Courtney B. Vance

W'Kabi = Chiwetel Ejiofor

Okoye = Nia Long

Zuri = Joseph Marcell

M'Baku = Idris Elba

Nakia = Lupita Nyong'o

Monica Lynne = Kerry Washington

Baron Macabre = Sterling K Brown

Jerome Beechman/Mandrill = Joaquin Phoenix

Nekra Sinclair = Toks Olagundoye

Kevin Plundarr/Ka-Zar = Chris Hemsworth

Shanna O'Hara = Scarlett Johansson

Zaladane = Jolene Blalock

Everett Ross = Martin Freeman

In Black Panther 2, T’Challa becomes allied with Ka-Zar of the Savage Land when it turns out his hidden jungle in Antarctica houses a cache of Vibranium to rival Wakanda’s.  Most would-be Vibranium hunters baulk at trying to gain the Antarctic variety due to the dinosaurs, but soon both nations are threatened when the woman-controlling mutant Mandrill, his adoptive sister Nekra, the Savage Land priestess Zaladane and Wakandan criminal Baron Macabre team up.  Due to the inclusion of some of these villains, I opted to switch from Tim Story to Tim Burton from a directing stand-point.  This film also features a change of role for a couple of real-world MCU alumni.

Defenders 2 (2009) Directed by Stephen Sommers

Dr Stephen Strange = Johnny Depp

Namor McKenzie/The Submariner = Christian Bale

Bruce Banner/Hulk = John Cusack

Silver Surfer = David Wenham

Valkyrie = Diane Kruger

Kyle Richmond/Nighthawk = Josh Duhamel

Patsy Walker/Hellcat = Mena Suvari

Wong = Will Yun Lee

Clea = Keira Knightley

Jericho Drumm/Brother Voodoo = Doug E. Doug

Dr Anthony Druid = Mark Strong

Daimon Hellstrom = James Van Der Beek

Dr Tania Belinsky (Belinskaya)/Red Guardian = Beatrice Rosen

Dr Arthur Nagan = Julian McMahon

Dr Jerold "Jerry" Morgan = Stellan Skarsgård

Ruby Thursday = Alyssa Milano

Harvey Schlemerman/Chondu the Mystic = Stanley Tucci

Shuma-Gorath = Geoffrey Rush

The Defenders, Marvel’s superhero non-team, return for a second instalment at this point, and I’ve picked Stephen Sommers as director based on him directing a live-action GI Joe film around the same time.  In this film, the few routinely active Defenders learn via immigrant Russian doctor and superhero Red Guardian that a team of scientists called the Headmen have stolen the Reality Stone from AIM in an effort to seize world power for themselves.  Allying with Namor the Sub-Mariner, the Defenders seek to stop the Headmen while Clea joins with Brother Voodoo, Dr Druid and Daimon Hellstrom to try and bring back Doctor Strange from the extra-dimensional limbo he sacrificed himself to in Doctor Strange 3.  At the same time, the Silver Surfer seeks the Hulk.  The whole team then comes together when the Headmen open a portal for Shuma-Gorath, in the process transforming into their strange comic-style appearances.

Everyone from Dr Druid on down in the cast list is new.  As for why we’re skipping over the original male Red Guardian and focusing on the second female iteration for this MCU, there’s two reasons.  First, the second female iteration served as a Defender in the original comics, and second, these MCU rambles are focused on the main film continuity, which in this version of the MCU is strictly cinematic.  TV shows, while allowed as tie-ins, are optional content, and while I’d happily allow a TV show to dive in on Black Widow and some other characters, I think a film was and is a bit much for a character with so little solo comics content.

X-Men: Proteus (2010) Directed by LeVar Burton

Storm/Ororo Monroe = Halle Berry

Polaris/Lorna Dane = Jeri Ryan

Wolverine/Logan = Tom Cruise

Peter Rasputin/Colossus = Henry Cavill

Remi LeBeau/Gambit = Zachary Levi

Cyclops/Scott Summers = Patrick Swayze

Jean Grey = Milla Jovovich

Warren Worthington III/Archangel = Neil Patrick Harris

Beast/Hank McCoy = Alec Baldwin

Robert Drake/Iceman = Michael Weatherley

Banshee/Sean Cassidy = Liam Neeson

Dr Moira Mactaggert = Olivia Williams

Mystique/Raven Darkholme = Connie Nielsen

Rogue = Anna Paquin

Avalanche = Alessandro Gassmann

Fred J Dukes/Blob = Vince Vaughan

Pyro = Hugh Jackman

Irene Adler/Destiny = Sally Field

Professor Charles Xavier = Patrick Stewart

Kevin Mactaggert/Proteus = Iain De Caestecker

Joseph Mactaggert = John Hannah

Rahne Sinclair/Wolfsbane = Bonnie Wright

Danielle Moonstar = Selena Gomez

Jubilee = Chloe Bennett

Everett Thomas/Synch = Christopher Massey

Douglas Ramsey/Cypher = Devon Bostick

With the third X-Men film Fall of the Mutants having split the X-Men up, and a combination of the Secret Wars duology, Excalibur and X-Factor films following events for the divided team, this fourth X-Men film is intended to reunite some of the scattered team into a new whole.  It also gives Rogue her defection from the Brotherhood following the events of Ms Marvel.  In this film, Moira Mactaggert’s son Proteus emerges as a dangerous mutant and begins a rampage across to Scotland.  With Excalibur unavailable, X-Factor is summoned while the X-Men pursue Mystique’s Brotherhood to Scotland.  The two teams meet up and reunite when they find Professor X is also with Moira, having been recuperating on Muir Island since being released from a SHIELD hospital (this is set-up over end-credit scenes for Fall of the Mutants and X-Factor).

Direction-wise, the X-Men have been handled initially by Jonathan Demme and then Jonathan Frakes in films bearing their team’s name, while Excalibur was helmed by Christopher Nolan and X-Factor by LeVar Burton.  For this film, I’ve put Burton back in the director’s chair.  Casting-wise, I imagine same fans will be perplexed by my choice of Chloe Bennett for Jubilee.  This is because Bennett is of a mixed ancestry that includes having a Chinese mother, and while the ideal is always to try for exact representation from the comics, there aren’t many actresses active in Hollywood around the time of this film with even one parent of Chinese descent, let alone two.

As such, the question becomes which do you compromise; Jubilee’s racial background or her nationality?  My choice, compromise slightly on racial background and bring in some plot threads relating to prejudice against people of mixed race.  Quite honestly, characters of mixed race are among those groups under-represented in film and TV, so if I have to compromise, let me at least try and do so in a positive way.

Spider-Man 6 (2010) Directed by Matthew Vaughan

Peter Parker/Spider-Man = Wil Weaton

May Parker = Marg Helgenberger

J. Jonah Jameson = J.K. Simmons

Joseph "Robbie" Robertson = Denzel Washington

Betty Brant = Parker Posey

Ned Leeds = John Barrowman

Eddie Brock/Venom = Wentworth Miller

Randy Robertson = Taye Diggs

Mary-Jane Watson-Parker = Alison Hannigan

Flash Thompson = Ben Affleck

Felicia Hardy/The Black Cat = Elisha Cuthbert

Sha Shan Nguyen = Grace Park

Captain Jean DeWolff = Jessica Biel

Anne Weying = Michelle Williams

Principal Harrington = Viggo Mortensen

Lance Bannon = Hayden Christensen

Gloria "Glory" Grant = Candice Patton

In the sixth of our Spider-Man films, and the last to both start and end with Peter Parker wearing the webs, we showcase Peter and MJ preparing for their upcoming wedding, but the pair are stalked by Eddie Brock, who has now joined with the Venom symbiote and seeks to make Peter’s life hell.  He attempts to manipulate the Black Cat into being his co-conspirator as well, preying on her jealousy after the symbiote-free Spider-Man resists her seduction.  The story ultimately culminates in Venom trying to force Peter into a no-win situation where he has to choose who to save; Mary-Jane or Felicia.  Matthew Vaughan returns to direct, and we get a few extra supporting cast members in lieu of the various villains of Spider-Man 5.

Ant-Man 2 (2010) Directed by Peyton Reed

Hank Pym/Ant-Man = Michael Douglas

Scott Lang/Ant-Man II = Paul Rudd

Maggie Lang = Judy Greer

Cassie Lang = Joey King

William Cross/Crossfire = Ethan Hawke

Taskmaster = Jeffrey Dean Morgan

Alex Gentry/Porcupine = Nick Offerman

Janice Lincoln/Beetle = Naya Rivera

Having left Ant-Man alone in terms of solo films since phase 1, phase 2 marks a return for Hank Pym, who by this point has been out of action since a mental break-down forced him to retire.  Now of sound mind again, he tries to deal with tech thief Crossfire, who steals the prototype for a new, more aggressive variant of the Ant-Man suit, the Yellowjacket.  However, Hank’s old suit is not safe to use as it clashes with his neuro-chemistry, risking more mental break-down.  Even worse, it’s been stolen.  In tracking down the Ant-Man suit, Hank encounters desperate divorced father Scott Lang, who stole the suit to get money to cover his daughter’s medical treatment.

With this film, the aim is to pass the mantle of Ant-Man to Scott Lang in a more comics-accurate manner, while at the same time preserving certain casting that the MCU got right, hence why Pym, Scott and Maggie are all retained from the real MCU.  In terms of Cassie, I switched to Joey King as she’s had a remarkably steady record of employment for a non-Disney child actress, and I think she’s a great choice to take up this role for the remainder of this hypothetical MCU.  Direction-wise, I figured it best to stick with the choices of the real MCU and go for Peyton Reed, having had to go with Sam Raimi on the 90’s-made first Ant-Man of this MCU.

Silver Surfer 2 (2011) Directed by JJ Abrams

Silver Surfer = David Wenham

Thanos = Josh Brolin

Mentor = Michael McKean

Eros/Starfox = Joel McHale

Gamora = Zoe Saldana

Drax the Destroyer = Dean Cain

Adam Warlock = Chris Pine

Pip the Troll = Peter Dinklage

Nebula = Emma Stone

Mar-Vell/Captain Marvel = Jude Law

Following the events of Defenders 2, the Silver Surfer finds himself drawn into yet more Infinity Stone adventures when Kree hero Captain Marvel and the android Drax the Destroyer come to Earth with Adam Warlock, keeper of the Soul Gem.  Hot on their heels are Thanos and Nebula, each of whom has begun to seek the Infinity Stones.  Worse still, Mar-Vell is dying of cancer.  The film is meant to advance the Infinity Stones plot while also adapting the death of Mar-Vell from the comics, not to mention setting up for the Guardians of the Galaxy to appear in the next phase.

For direction, I’ve picked JJ Abrams based on his Star Trek and Star Wars work making him a decent choice for a space-based hero like the Silver Surfer.  In terms of casting, we have a few reprises from past films in this 90’s MCU and from the real MCU.  However, some shifts have also occurred, most notably with Drax due to wanting to use his original comics origins over the revised MCU/later comics version.  The would-be autistic representation of Bautista and Gunn’s Drax quickly become so much farce, so as an autistic person, I’d just as soon avoid that and go down the android route, thanks very much.

Avengers vs X-Men (2011) Directed by Jonathan Frakes

Cyclops/Scott Summers = Patrick Swayze

Jean Grey = Milla Jovovich

Storm/Ororo Monroe = Halle Berry

Wolverine/Logan = Tom Cruise

Peter Rasputin/Colossus = Henry Cavill

Remi LeBeau/Gambit = Zachary Levi

Warren Worthington III/Archangel = Neil Patrick Harris

Rogue = Anna Paquin

Steve Rogers/Captain America = Brad Pitt

Thor = Dolph Lundgren

Janet Van Dyne/Wasp = Catherine Zeta Jones

Iron Man/Tony Stark = Tom Selleck

Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk = Lucy Lawless

T'Challa/Black Panther = Chadwick Boseman

Sam Wilson/Falcon = Will Smith

Peter Parker/Spider-Man = Wil Weaton

Professor Charles Xavier = Patrick Stewart

Carol Danvers = Melissa Joan Hart

Mystique/Raven Darkholme = Connie Nielsen

Avalanche = Alessandro Gassmann

Fred J Dukes/Blob = Vince Vaughan

Pyro = Hugh Jackman

Irene Adler/Destiny = Sally Field

Frank Bohannan/Crimson Commando = Harrison Ford

Louis Hamilton/Stonewall = James Brolin

Martin Fletcher/Super-Sabre = Peter Fonda

Dr Valerie Cooper = Malin Åkerman

Sebastian Gilbreti/Bastion = Bruce Greenwood

Congressman Rev. William Stryker = Eric Roberts

Forge = Jimmy Smits

There have been two occasions in Marvel comics where the X-Men and Avengers have been drawn into direct conflict, at least using multiple issues of a comic and to my knowledge.  The first is the 1980’s mini-series X-Men versus Avengers, where the Avengers attempted to arrest Magneto to resume his trial before the world court, while the Soviet Super-Soldiers sought to arrest Magneto for his actions in X-Men #150.  As Magneto was part of the X-Men at the time, this naturally put all three teams at odds with each other.  The second occasion was the AvX storyline in which Cyclops, Emma Frost, Namor, Colossus and Magik became possessed by the Phoenix Force, something the Avengers tried to prevent and later combat.

While this film draws on the basic concept of both series, that something sets the Avengers and the X-Men at odds with each other, it’s not about arresting Magneto or issues with the Phoenix force.  Instead, the issue is Rogue; her status as a mutant terrorist is used to convince the Avengers to apprehend the X-Men.  This is bad timing, as the X-Men are working with Rogue to help restore the mind of Carol Danvers.  The masterminds of the plot are rabid anti-mutant politician William Stryker and government advisor Sebastian, who in reality is a new form of sentinel in disguise.  Luckily, government advisor and secret mutant Forge is suspicious of Bastion and convinces NSA director Dr Valerie Cooper to set up a contingency plan.

As a result, the film builds to a climax where, after the intervention of Spider-Man ends a major fight between the two teams, Bastion unleashes his prime sentinels.  Enter Mystique’s expanded Brotherhood in their guise as community service government heroes Freedom Force, and the stage is set for a truly epic battle.  Direction-wise, I opted for Jonathan Frakes to helm this entry, and while many actors are reprising roles from past films, everyone from Crimson Commando on down is new to the MCU as of this film.

Ghost Rider 3 (2011) Directed by Mark Steven Johnson

Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider = Connor Trinneer

Roxanne Simpson = Jessica Alba

Eric Brooks/Blade = Jamie Foxx

Rachel Van Helsing = Cote De Pablo

Daimon Hellstrom = James Van Der Beek

Vlad Tepish/Dracula = Mads Mikkelsen

Lilith = Felicity Jones

Mephistopheles = Jeffery Combs

Phase 5 of our 90’s MCU closes out by bringing Johnny Blaze’s time as Ghost Rider to its conclusion, in a story where Johnny teams up with Blade, Rachel Van Helsing and Daimon Hellstrom against Dracula and his daughter Lilith, who are secretly in league with Mephistopheles.  The film is partly an original plot and partly an adaptation of the end of the original Ghost Rider run of comics, though it’s far from being the last Ghost Rider film of this MCU.  Just as the comics would have others take up the Ghost Rider curse after Blaze, so too will this MCU move onto those later riders in turn.  Having used Tim Burton on the first two Ghost Rider films in this MCU, I’ve picked Mark Steven Johnson who handled the 2007 Nicholas Cage Ghost Rider film to take on this third instalment of 90’s MCU Ghost Rider.

This wraps up our look into phase 5 of this 90’s-based MCU; next month, we’ll cover phase 5 of our alternate DC movie universe.  Until then, ta-ta for now.

[dollarstorefern]

wow, me finally make an introductory post??? crazy!!!

- i go by lily/fern (either or, no preference) and use they/she/he pronouns

- most of this is just me reblogging all sorts of house md brainrot nonsense

- this is a hate-free zone! i don’t support ANY sort of bigotry (racism/homophobia/transphobia/ableism/zionism/etc)

- in addition to that, i also wanted to drop this link that lists ways to help palestine!

- (i promise that i’m a friendly person!!! i can just be a bit awkward!!! but please please please talk to me about any of my interests. i love interacting with fellow fans <3)

other info below !!!

believe it or not, i do have interests outside of house md!!!

books: little women, the secret history, interview with the vampire, the bell jar, a series of unfortunate events

tv shows: house, all creatures great and small, fleabag, over the garden wall (i dont really watch shows tbh)

movies: fantastic mr fox, dead poets society (shocker for a house fan), the holdovers, juno, the florida project, labyrinth, rocky horror picture show, any studio ghibli (the list could keep going)

music: idkhow, hozier, fiona apple, young the giant, mitski

games: stardew valley, breath of the wild/tears of the kingdom, read dead redemption 2

(expect these to rarely change because i have severe attachments to everything i ever like)

[iotadoesart]

Billy Kurt Parker was Playing bass for his band at an Underground gig when he was bitten by a radioactive spider and became The Grunge Spyder, his nihilistic music is a rebel stance against the hyper capitalist world he hails from he fights crime and his HyperCapitalist superiors after his friend Mary Jane Watson was captured brainwashed and experimented on to turn her into the Green Goblin a Mercenary for the Roxcorp conglomerate and leader of the Roxcorp secret police the Sinister 7 (including Ben Parker Lizard, Flash Thompson shocker, Dr octopus, Mysterio, the Rhino and Harry Osborn Scorpion) Billy Kurt was introduced into the Spider Society by Hobie Brown and Gwen Stacy and decided to return back to his universe before the events of ATSV.

In the very very unlikely event that he’d ever show up in any films I’d think it only fitting that he’d be voiced by Dave Grohl

[macmanx]

Takeshi Hongo, a young scientist boasting of an IQ of 600 and a racing prodigy, is abducted and his body surgically remodeled by Shocker, an evil secret society plotting for global domination.