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fandomnsfw · 2 years ago

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The Harlequin To My Joker - Klaus x Reader

Pairing: Klaus x Reader

Prompt: (Request) ‘hi! can you do it with Klaus Mikaelson ?! 😊 thank you’

Warning: Rough sex, spoilers to suicide squad and all around sarcastic humour! Don’t like don’t read.

ENJOY!!

*****

You walked through the room after another set, making your way to the bar. You stop for a few people who wanted to tell you how great you performed tonight but eventually you made it over to Cami. Once she turned to see you she grinned from ear to ear before pouring you a whiskey.

“Great set today.” Cami complimented as she slid over your drink.

“Thank you honey. How’s your night going?” You questioned, sipping your warm whiskey. You drank warm whiskey because it helped keep your voice loose when you were singing. As much as you’ve never liked whiskey it helps. You preferred a good red wine, however it always closed you throat so you tried to stay away from it completely, for fear of losing your voice.

“It’s good but Marcel was looking for you earlier.” She grunted before sliding someone a beer.

“That I was.” You heard Marcel’s smooth husky voice behind you say.

“What can I help you with Marcel?” You turned coming face to face with not only Marcel but also Niklaus. You rolled your eyes when he shot you a pantie melting smile.

“I need a spell.” Marcel whispered in a sickly sweet voice.

“You mean Niklaus needs a spell.” Gritting you teeth you got up and walked up to Niklaus.

“Niklaus darling if you want a spell, be a man and ask yourself.” You smirked up at him when his jaw clenched.

“Very well love. I need a spell.”

“I’ll think about it. For now would either of you gentle care to dance before my next set?” I grinned cheekily up at Niklaus who was a lot taller than you, even in heels. Marcel grabbed you hand, dragging you to the dance floor silently. You were dancing with Marcel until your next set, afterwards making you way to Niklaus and Marcel.

“Right I’ll do the spell but I’m going out with Cami, Rebekah and Hayley tonight so come see me tomorrow.” You smiled as Hayley and Rebekah made their way through the doors. You looked over at Klaus who was slowly making his way over to you.

“Where are you going?” Nik looked at Hayley and Rebekah as he spoke but you knew he was talking to you just as much.

“We’re going to the new club that was opened yesterday.” Cami spoke as she appeared behind Klaus.

“You’re going….clubbing?” His eyes were wide like he’d never heard something so stupid. You rolled your eyes before dragging Cami out, knowing Hayley and Bekah would follow.

You knew your group of friends was a little strange but that didn’t stop you all. One human, one witch, one original and one hybrid. Really it’s possibly the scariest group of female in the quarter. But that’s what was great about your group of friends. We never had to hide anything from each other.

Everyone was in a long que when you arrived but Bekah soon got us inside, compulsion can be handy sometimes. As you walked in you were shocked by the fact it was very different from any club near or in New Orleans. It was quite well lit for a club but the shocking aspect was the poles and cages around the room that contained half-dressed dancing females. You glanced over at Bekah who was nodding like it was good enough, Cami who had the same expression as you and Hayley who had a grin on her face.

“Jesus who owns this place?” Cami choked as she saw a guy getting lap dance.

“That would be me.” You heard a playful voice speak from behind you.

“KOL!?” Bekah and Hayley’s expression now matched yours and Cami’s.

“I may have watched Suicide Squad one too many times.” Kol voiced like it was the best excuse for why he opened what was basically a classy strip club. Cami looked at him with confusion which made me answer the unspoken question.

“It’s a DC film.” You supplied.

“Kol watched it three times in a week.” Rebekah added.

“I do not need to know what you do in your spare time.” You sighed before massaging your temples softly trying to sooth the head that was currently sneaking in.

“Hey Y/N you could totally be a great Harley Quinn to Nik’s Joker!” Kol cooed at you teasingly.

“I couldn’t agree more! Especially with that Jersey accent.” Bekah snorted sarcastically.

“I will give you a witchy migraine Rebekah. I’m not as sick as Harlequin and Nik is worse than the Joker.” You growled before storming off towards the bar, you stood at the bar thinking about the jokes everyone had thrown at you but you knew they were right. You were a lot like Niklaus and you could be just as sick as him sometimes. Cami always said it was deep rooted issues from my past but you always waved her off saying you were fine. You knew it was mainly the accent that made everyone joke about it though so you ignored them. Once you got the bartender attention you ordered a cocktail sipping the red liquid once it arrived.

When a song from the suicide squad soundtrack came on you literally face palmed the bar surface. You knew immediately it was Kol’s doing, you slammed your glass down and decided to dance anyway. As much as you hate the constant Harley Quinn jokes you loved the film and soundtrack. You saw the girls dancing so you joined them smiling as Hayley patted you back in a comforting way.

“I’m fucked up, I’m black and blue. I’m build for it, all the abuse.” You sang along as you danced with Bekah. After the song had ended I felt someone pat on my shoulder I turned to see Kol who was smirking.

“Puddin’s here and he says it’s urgent.” Kol joked but you knew who he meant. You rolled your eyes and followed Kol silently. Once you spotted Niklaus you noticed his face was not one of a happy Klaus.

“Wait before I leave. Say it?” Kol asked as we arrived in front of Niklaus who now looked highly confused.

“Which scene?” You snapped your teeth clenched as the words came out.

“The electrocution scene!” Kol grinned happily, he had the biggest crush on Harley Quinn which he always got teased about but he didn’t care.

“What are ya gonna do ya gonna kill me Mr.J?” You looked at Kol waiting for him to leave.

“Oh I’m not gonna kill ya...I’m just gonna hurt ya…Really…Really bad.” Kol smirked at you and waited for your response. You rolled your eyes but responded anyway.

“Ya think so? Well I can take it.” Your accent thick and once Kol preened at how he once again had gotten his own way he walked off. I turned back to Niklaus who was trying not to laugh but failing miserably.

“Did you just…Quote….H-Harley Quinn?” Nik gasped between laughter.

“Did you just admit to watching Suicide Squad?” You retaliated with a smirk gracing you face and he soon stopped laughing.

“Aww is Klausy embarrassed?” You mocked putting on your sickly sweet Harley Quinn voice.

“Shut up.” Klaus snapped before grabbing his drink from the table behind him.

“What do you need Klausy?” You teased as you took his drink downing in soundlessly.

“Would you mind posing for me again?”

“You took me away from my night out to ask for another painting session!?” You screamed throwing the glass against the wall.

“Yep.” Klaus smirked up at you from the couch as you stood up.

“Excuse me miss but I think I’m gonna have to ask you to lea-” A man yelled as he came in to the private room ranting.

SNAP!

“Sorry but am gonna have to insist ya shut up!” You screamed snapping his wrist back breaking it without a blink. You turned to Niklaus with a glare ignoring the guys screamed of pain.

“It’s so attractive when you go all psycho on someone.” Klaus grinned mischievously over at you.

In the blink of an eye you were on top of Klaus, hands in his hair tugging furiously as you both fought for dominance over the kiss you currently found yourself in. You don’t know how you ended up there but the screaming guy now forgotten as you ripped Klaus’s shirt open. Your hands made their way down his chest, nails digging in angrily as your hands made their way to his pants.

You hadn’t even realised your shirt was gone, his hands were tugging at your bra but he soon gave up and ripped it off. His hand massaged your breasts roughly as he took the left nipple in his mouth suckling and biting vigorously. You groaned loudly, your hands working open his pants Klaus had apparently thought you were going to slow so he flipped you over onto you front. He dropped his pants then proceeded to rip off your skirt. When he was done he lifted your ass up your face still crushed into the couch.

You screamed out as two of his fingers entered you with no warning. You soon recovered as his thrusts were hitting your special spot. You pushed back onto his fingers craving your realise but as soon as Klaus realised what you were doing he stopped and brought his hand down to your ass giving it a loud smack. You whined wiggling your ass at him, as if daring him to do it again. So head did, several times before kissing the red welts that now covered both ass cheeks.

“P-Please Klaus...” You whined your voice full of desperation.

“Not yet sweetheart. I want you to feel all of me when you cum.” He grunted as he gripped your hips dragging you closer to him. His hand slid from the bottom of you back to your shoulders, his touch sending shivers down your spine. He gripped your right shoulder as he thrust into you roughly making you gasp loudly, gripping the pillows at how full you felt.

“Oh god! Please Klausy..” You taunted your breathing uneven and full of need.

He started thrusting into you angrily, his breathing getting louder. His thrust gained an unhuman speed as you became a moaning mess. Your screams were loud and raw, you had never been with Klaus but you’d imagined the pleasure he could give you with a thousand years of experience. You were gripping the couch so tightly your nails had started cutting through the fabric that covered it.

“Shit, Y/N I’m close.” You heard him grunt his nails digging into your hips, no doubt drawing blood.

You nodded sobbing in pleasure as he started hitting you g-spot as if trying to force your orgasm out of you. You were a writhing mess as he hit your special spot with violent thrusts. You felt your stomach tighten as you orgasm neared its peak. His hand moved to grip your hair pulling you up so he could whisper dirty little things in your ear.

“Cum for me love.” He grunted as his seed started to fill you, his rough sexed out voice pushed you over the edge his arms now gripping your waist as he gave you one more thrust. After your powerful orgasm was over you collapsed into Klaus’s arms.

***

When you came too you knew three things. One, your virgina hurt. Two, you were in a soft bed and three, someone was laid next to you.

You rolled over to see Klaus and then images of what happened the night before came rushing back. You groaned before deciding to wake Klaus up.

“Niklaus why am I here?” You questioned as his eyes started opening.

“Because after I fucked you into next week you pasted out.” He smirked over at you as if he was proud about his achievement.

“There’s some juice on the side and I’ll have Sally bring you some food since you were most likely dehydrated.” Klaus added seriously pointing to the orange juice that was sat next to you. You shook you head but drank it anyway knowing he was right. After you finished the glass of juice Niklaus dragged you back down.

“You know that wasn’t a one off right?” Klaus narrowed his eyes as if trying to search yours for your thoughts.

“What so now I’m your new little fuck buddy?” You snorted your voice sarcastic and full of bitterness.

“No more like I want you to be my Queen.” He responded seriously, staring into your Y/E/C eyes.

You laid there silently thinking about how good that actually sounded but your thoughts were soon interrupted by and annoyingly smug voice.

“Or the Harley Quinn to his Joker!”

Fucking Kol! You thought as you buried your head into the pillow.

#klaus #niklaus mikaelson #niklaus x reader #klaus mikaelson x reader #niklaus mikaelson x reader #klaus mikaelson x you #mikaelsons #the originals #reader #reader insert #smut

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moltengoldveins · 2 months ago

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ALRIGHT LISTEN UP. I am ill. I am tired. And I have an Idea.

As we all know, the two most autistic movies on the planet are Top Gun: Maverick and Pacific Rim. Obviously. I’m sure there are more neurodivergent movies out there but those are the Autism Movies specifically. Plane go zoom = big robot punch, training for suicide mission = finding drift partner to destroy the breach, fatherly admiral dying of health complications = brotherly admiral dying of- you get the idea.

SO. I propose a film. A way for Warner bros or whoever else greenlit the PacRim sequel to redeem themselves. A Top Gun: Maverick- inspired movie about the squads of fighter jets that fought the third Kaiju. Not the first! Not the second! But the third.

PacRim says the second kaiju came six months after the first. It’s implied by Geiszler that the kaiju come regularly, increasing in frequency mathematically, meaning the third would have probably showed up at most six months after the second, twelve months in. that being said, Raleigh names a couple of kaiju in that first little segment, so it’s more likely that it came earlier, and that there were more kaiju before the Jaegers got their act together. The timing is unclear.

Stacker says the first jaegers were built in thirteen months. That’s seven whole months after the first where the first line of defense against these things would have been fighter jets, like we see in the opening scenes, and Raleigh says that the drift technology was inspired by “DARPA Jet Fighter Neural Systems” meaning that, CANONICALLY, fighter pilots were probably the first drift-compatible pairs of military personnel to fight the Kaiju, before the Jaegers even got out of the drawing room.

so, I propose a timeline: it is twelveish months into this war. (You could even put it on some holiday, make the anniversary of the first kaiju a big event.) When the third kaiju appears. Maybe it’s not the Actual Third, sure, but it’s spiritually the third. It’s right before the Mark 1 Jaegers are finished; funding is limited everywhere but ESPECIALLY in the branches of the military that are gonna be made obsolete by the Jaeger program, ie. The fighter pilots. Drift pairs are being picked off left and right to run Jaeger tests; those who won’t ’change with the times’ are being called ‘old fashioned’ or ‘washed up.’ The pilots who are training at this point are splitting their efforts between Jaeger sim time and flight time; none of them are really equipped to fight a Kaiju in a jet right now, but that’s ok. The Mark 1s are three weeks from completion. They don’t need fighter pilots.

Then the third Kaiju emerges, one month off-schedule, and suddenly everyone NEEDS FIGHTER PILOTS.

Literally can you imagine how cool this movie would be? (Obv the plot would be less blatantly inspired by Maverick but I’m going for the Vibes here):

You are a fighter pilot. Your partner died in a training exercise years ago; it took a while, but you’re comfortable with your new drift partner-once-rival. You’ve flown together for years doing espionage, raids, anything and everything. When he stepped back from active duty to become an admiral, he started using his leeway to keep you in the game, get you new drift partners, keep you in the air. Your former partner’s son wants to follow in your footsteps. His mother begged you to keep him out of the drift. You made a call, and it ruined your relationship with the kid, but you can still fly. You can still put your brain in the hands of someone else and soar. For a few hours out of the month, you feel a million feet tall.

Then a god walks out of the sea, and you are very, very small. You’re halfway across the world; you can’t be there in time. But you watch good men, men you know, men you trained with, go down in fiery blips as a Thing, A Great Abomination, A Hand Of God, crushes LA like a styrofoam plate. The government scrambles for a way to defeat it, and they’ve got some Big Thing in the works but in the meantime, they land on… kids. Fresh pilots, paired up with combat sessions and dance competitions and Mario Kart tournaments, shipped bright-eyed and baby-faced to your doorstep so you can train them to fight god and… lose. To fight god and lose. the odds are terrible. You know that. They know that.

Your partner’s kid is in the first class they send you. You have to teach him to fight a hurricane with a tiny piece of metal and his mind, which really just means you have to teach him to die standing. It looks like you might be on track, it looks like he has time to find a drift partner, it looks like you might be able to repair things and that disaster might not fall: it’s only three weeks till the Jaegers are finished, and the next kaiju isn’t expected for another month.

Then the hurricane arrives off-schedule, and you have to fight god yourself, or die trying.

CAN YALL EVEN IMAGINE. The sheer Tension of juggling political expectations with personal relationships and the Breath Of A Demon blowing down their necks at every opportunity. The acknowledgment that no, nobody has any ideas what these things are, nor do they have a plan on how to kill them without massive loss of human life. The third act darkest hour where everyone’s’ relationship problems hit rock bottom and you go “well it can’t get any worse” and then it does because BOOM KAIJU. The final stand as planes are getting picked off. The jets pulling off the impossible and taking the kaiju down, just as the first Mark 1 (barely holding together on duct tape and prayer, piloted by a young Stacker Pentecost) stumbles its way out of the docking bay.

the bittersweet realization at the end that they won, yeah, but they’re still obsolete now. They still pale in comparison to the power of the New Best Thing. They still aren’t Jaegers, so if they want to stay in the game, they have to become Jaeger pilots.

THIS WOULD BE AN AMAZING MOVIE. IS ANYONE LISTENING. AM INASNE OOR WOULD THIIS BE SO COOLL ASHFFHGKGKLS—

#molten rambles #pacrim #pacific rim #top gun #top gun maverick

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pants-magic-pants · 10 months ago

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okok, one more ✨

so i know you would like to make the other Goblin King outfits. but are there any other characters you would like to cosplay? or that you have already cosplayed?

Thank you for asking! Yeah, I have cosplayed before. None of the proof of it's here because I've designated it as a Labyrinth blog. My interests and projects do not resemble each other at all, and my cosplay history reflects that. hahahaha

Anyway, my last cosplay was the Mad Hatter from Disney's 1992 series "Adventures in Wonderland". The show is extremely dear to me, and I also love the costumes, so I made his entire outfit (vest, tailcoat, pants, spats, collar, bowtie, hat), which were my introductions to making clothes. Didn't crawl before I ran. hahaha It took about 10 months to complete in 2021. A couple of videos of him can be found on my youtube channel.

Before that, I had been closet-cosplaying Dance Magic Jareth from time to time, and had made a much easier less screen accurate version of his ballroom attire minus the coat, and this blog has that content under the "jareth cosplay" tag.

Before that, I closet-cosplayed Kurama from the anime Yu Yu Hakusho from 2017-2018. I was obsessed with the show and characters, and having a quarter life crisis, so I dyed my hair red and let him consume my entire being.

Before that, I for some reason had a fixation with Jared Leto's Joker from Suicide Squad (2016)... Don't judge me, I know he wasn't a very good joker! I just didn't care! I didn't know how to sew yet, so all the pieces were collected, the bowtie was commissioned, and I had to go all around town trying to find dress shirts for my tiny body. All the while, I holed up in my room practicing his makeup. It took about 3-4 months? @mistahgrape was my handle on instagram and tumblr.

Then finally, there was my first cosplay which is also my cosplans for the future. I used to closet-cosplay Nosferatu when I was a bub (2011-2013) the whole time I was away in film school. I have a degree in film which was heavily focused on the German silent era, so he meant/means a lot, and I would make videos pretending like he visited me in my apartment. lol The blog strange--cargo is all about that. I desperately wanted to commission a screen accurate outfit but just never did, so I'm going to make my dreams come true and hopefully take him to cons and make people laugh/creep them out.

watch out!!

#cosplay history #nosferatu #yu yu hakusho #suicide squad #adventures in wonderland

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bella-rose29 · 11 months ago

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Reverse damsel in distress situation

I felt like more head canons were needed for damsel prince Anthony Lockwood and knight! reader

ok so Anthony Lockwood lives for the ✨drama✨

so I'm thinking of a sort of situation where the knight comes to save him thinking he needs it

and they get there and the prince is... fine?

he's just walking out of the place he was being held hostage

sword (rapier) in hand

fancy coat torn and flapping in some random magical wind that picked up for that moment specifically

(where did the wind come from? nobody knows)

and the knight is just stood there like...

w h a t ?

because they were meant to be saving the prince and he's saved himself???

of course lockwood sees them standing there

comes over and asks why they're here

all confused and adorable and-

and when they tell him that they're meant to be saving him

he perks up

or gets cute sad (I'll explain)

like he gets all mushy inside because "you wanted to save me??? omg I love you"

so he does what any normal person would do

and offers to go back inside and be held hostage again

because then the knight can save him and fulfil their quest

(I got this idea entirely from the film The Suicide Squad [the new one])

but the knight can't decide what to do with this prince who is clearly capable of saving himself and completely annihilating an entire fortress

but somehow also still looks like a small adorable puppy???

so they agree because he looks so proud of his idea

and he runs back inside (ditching the sword) shouting "I can't wait to be saved by you, good knight!"

and they're just staring after him because wtf is this prince on

and when they get to the room that he was originally held in he's sat on the floor, bodies of the guard all around him

"oh, sorry, I forgot that they were dead already"

"uh... why are they dead?"

"I killed them the first time I got out"

he says that with wayyy too large of a smile

far too proud of that

and then the two of them walk out together (because they're the only two left alive oops)

and prince Anthony is brought home

he tells everyone how brave his knight was, going in and storming the place to get him out

#damsel in distress #except anthony lockwood is the damsel #and a huge drama queen #lockwood and co #lockwood & co #anthony lockwood #anthony lockwood x reader #anthony lockwood x you #lockwood x reader

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twosentencereviews · 8 months ago

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Joker 2 will (probably) also be bad

I've gone on record saying Joker (2019) was a badly-conceived film, with ideas that are, at best, inconsistent and muddled.

And now they're making another one. With Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn. Maybe it will be better this time?

...no, probably not. Let me break it down.

So, the entire design philosophy of Joker (2019) from writer/director Todd Phillips was, quote, "we're gonna sneak in a real movie in the guise of a comic book movie". That is, Phillips wanted to make Taxi Driver...but he's only a talented enough filmmaker to make The Hangover at best, and The Hangover Part III at worst, and so Warner Bros only trusted him with an IP that was guaranteed to succeed regardless of quality.

This sucks on two levels. If we judge Joker as a "real film"...it fails utterly, because it's using the visual language of the 1970s to whine about 21st century woes, and even then doesn't have anything to say. The "failed standup act goes viral" plot beat doesn't fit with the media landscape of the 1970s, while the clown rioters echo the "eat the rich, defund the police" sentiment that was brewing in 2019 and would explode with George Floyd's murder in 2020. These things are included because Phillips is the kind of jerk who complains about "woke culture" on Twitter. The only reason Phillips sets the film in the 1970s...is because he's cheating off Scorsese's homework.

But if we judge Joker as a comic book movie, it also sucks, because it completely fails to live up to what makes The Joker so fascinating. See, The Joker is a Batman villain; a standout antagonist against the rogues gallery. You cannot understand The Joker except as a literary foil, as a dark reflection of the Dark Knight. Batman is a solemn, incorruptible force for justice. The Joker is a manic, incorruptible force of destruction. While many of Batman's villains are sympathetic (e.g. Mr Freeze), and others are garden-variety thugs with powers (e.g. Clayface), The Joker is pure. He cannot be reasoned with or negotiated with, he has no agenda beyond causing mayhem, and he has no better nature to appeal to. That charisma, that certainty of purpose, is what makes the Joker such a fun villain. Phillips throws all of that in the garbage--Arthur Fleck is weak-willed, cowardly, and just needs a friend.

And now, in Folie a deux...he's getting one, in the form of Gaga's Harley Quinn.

Now, Harley Quinn is different from the Joker. Harley was introduced in Batman: the Animated Series, voiced by Arleen Sorkin, as a counterpart to Mark Hamill's Joker. Her origin story is that she was Dr. Harlene Quinzel, a psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum, who tried to fix The Joker...only to be pulled in by his madness, taking a new name, costume, and falling head-over-heels for "Mista J", her "puddin'".

This is interesting because while The Joker only really makes sense as a Batman antagonist, Harley only really makes sense in the context of the Joker. Harley's story is one of domestic abuse; she is The Joker's greatest victim, and yet his staunchest ally. She sometimes realizes this and tries to get away, but can't escape his manipulative gravity. This obsessive love, however, is not returned; The Joker's soulmate is Batman, the yin to his yang, his equal and opposite. Nowhere is this more clear than in the iconic Mad Love, where Harley almost kills Batman as a gift to her puddin', only for The Joker to furiously lash out in a "no one kills Batman but me" kind of way.

So while the Joker is fun because he's so unsympathetic, Harley is fun because she is sympathetic. The Joker is fully evil, but Harley is only evil because of her exposure to The Joker; without him in the picture, she's just a manic antihero.

And that's exactly what's happened to her character over time; fan and authorial desire to see Harley achieve independence and escape the cycle of abuse led directly to her more modern portrayals, such as Margot Robbie in Suicide Squad (2016), Birds of Prey, and The Suicide Squad (2021). But even then, she was introduced in Suicide Squad against Jared Leto's Joker, and the start of Birds of Prey is her mourning her breakup with him. Her animated series starts the same way, seeking autonomy and an independent self-identity.

Folie a deux...isn't going to be doing that. It can't. It doesn't work with Arthur Fleck. The whole point of Joker (2019) is that Arthur Fleck is a loser, he's a failed nobody, he is the dregs of society that everyone ignores. His sexual frustration and loneliness form the basis of a major (and idiotic) plot beat with Zazie Beetz. He is a million miles from the "charismaniac" of Hamill or Ledger--there is zero possibility that he could "infect" a brilliant psychiatrist.

To his credit, Phillips realizes this, and is taking a different angle. From the trailer, it looks like Gaga's Harley is going to be a fellow Arkham resident, and she's going to be the one who initiates flirtation with Arthur, in a sort of "love letter to a serial killer" kind of admiration. The trailer leans heavily on the refrain of "what the world needs now is love, sweet love", and overall seems to be framing itself as an honest-to-god romance. Instead of the Joker/Harley relationship being abuser/victim, it looks instead to be toxic enabling, where Harley encourages Arthur to embrace his worst, most destructive instincts.

And...that's probably going to be framed as a good thing. See, if Folie a deux is going to be a romance, then plot constraints demand that there needs to be an obstacle dividing the lovers and preventing their happy union. What obstacle could exist between Arthur and Harley? Why, the entire legal system, of course--we see in the teaser multiple shots of them going up courthouse steps. It's likely that the pair fall in love in Arkham, escape ("let's get out of here", Harley says), are recaptured, and then have to defend themselves in court. This might have a "happy ending" where they win and leave together, affirming that enabling a violent criminal is a good thing. Or it might have a "sad ending" where the court outcome separates them, affirming Arthur's nihilism and anger at a system he perceives as unjust only when it inconveniences him. Either way, Harley is going to be framed as good for Arthur, making him better while making him worse.

Could this be done well? Maybe. It's certainly possible. Canon is already so broken that it's no longer a limitation. A talented director might realize the moral complexity in the relationship between two violent, mentally unstable murderers. One could frame the entire thing as a tragedy, where "boy gets girl back again" is shown to be disastrous (as in The Graduate). Or, it could even be something of an inversion of the more canonical Joker/Harley romance; instead of Harley realizing that she's better off without Mista J, it might be Arthur realizing he is better off without Harley.

But it almost certainly won't be any of that. Because Phillips thinks that Arthur Fleck is relatable. He thinks he's a martyr, a victim of targeted injustice, a doomed hero refusing to bow to societal norms. But he isn't. Arthur Fleck is an entitled white boy who simultaneously sees his suffering as a systemic failing, while also refusing to see how the system harms others, and refusing to see how his own choices make things worse for everyone. Arthur Fleck is an embodiment of denied privilege, where cishet white men expect to be lavished with unearned success, and are butthurt when they don't get it.

And above all, the thing that media has always told men is that a manic pixie dream girl is going to find you and fall madly in love with you despite your obvious failings. That is the heterosexual male romantic fantasy; love without effort, acceptance without labor, companionship without obligation. Todd Phillips might play this straight. Or he might set this up for Arthur, only to deny it as an act of authorial cruelty. But the first film demonstrates that he lacks the self-awareness necessary to actually deconstruct it, to criticize the expectation itself.

So no. I don't think Folie a deux will be better than its prequel. Because for Todd Phillips to make a better movie, he'd have to be a better person. And he's not.

#joker #joker folie a deux #folie a deux #prediction #harley quinn #romance

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poisonousquinzel · 2 years ago

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Listen, I'd have less of an issue with Elseworlds concepts for Harley in live action if we'd EVER gotten an accurate showing of her origin story, the manipulation that runs throughout every second of every session they had together and the sheer and graphic brutality of the abuse she's endured at his hands, but we haven't.

And I doubt we're going to.

Regardless if you want to face it or not, the live action films reach a much larger audience than the animated shows or movies or comics. They're popular, but these live action films have a chance to bring in a Huge outside audience and that's apparent with Harley's surge in popularity after Suicide Squad.

And right now, every version of her origin that's been shown in live action is either a watered down little montage with heavy censoring that can (and Did) leave audiences with a horrifically skewed perspective on the actuality of their relationship, or is reported to be a completely changed and altered dynamic where she's not even a fucking psychiatrist at Arkham, she's a fellow patient.

Like, an important aspect of Harley's origin and the entirely of her character as a domestic abuse survivor is that it's showing that no matter who you are, no matter how much you think "I wouldn't fall for that, I'm smarter than that", or believe that you'd easily pick up the red flags, or that you're trained to see these things so it couldn't happen to you-

That's just not always true. You can still fall victim to these types of people.

Anyone can fall victim to an abusive, manipulative mastermind.

"You little fool. The Joker doesn't love anything except himself.

Wake Up, Harleen.

He had you pegged for a hired help the second you walked into Arkham."

"That's not... No... No!

He told me things, secret things he never told anyone!"

"Was it his line about the abusive father? Or the one about the runaway mom? He's gained a lot of sympathy with that one."

"Stop It! You're making me confused!"

"What was it he told that one parole officer? Oh yes, "there was only one time I ever saw dad really happy, he took me to the ice show when I was 7."

"Circus... He said it was the circus."

"He's got a million of them, Harley."

/ also I think it's important to point out based on Batman's "You and the Joker?" reaction that, despite her relationship with Joker being near the 7 year mark in this episode, he did not Know this "thing" with them was anything more than the standard henchmen/henchwoman type relationship most rogues have with their goons.

And the minute he does, he tries to get through to her. He tries to get through to Harleen. And then in the end, when he's almost got it, she's almost convinced and seeing the truth, he calls her Harley. He calls her by the name she's going by now, not the woman he believes to be trapped inside, but the one in front of him who's crying while her world is crumbling before her eyes.

It does not matter how trained you are, or how prepared you believe yourself to be, it can happen to Anyone. And it's No One's fault except the abuser for the actions the abuser takes.

But you can be the smartest person in the room and still be abused.

However, now, instead, we've got yet another film that's going to completely miss the mark and make a mockery of her journey. And instead of it being a first Live Action appearance for her and many others and whatnot like Suicide Squad was, this film is different.

This is a sequel to a film that's already got a fan base full of apologists for him. A fan base full of incels who have taken him on as their icon, as their role model, and we all fucking know it.

However they portray her character in this is going to stick with people and a lot of those folks are going to happily believe and treat this as if it's the true reality for her origin. No matter what other medias say, this is the accurate one. This is the one that's finally just allowing them to be together and not toxic. This is the one that's "not butchering his character so she can be the victim", he just gets to be his goofy little self and isn't changed so her story can exist.

And the only other live action movie that these people will or have watched that's got her character is Suicide Squad, as it's apparent so many of them clearly do not care about the 3 decades worth of evidence showing their actual relationship.

Cause facing the fact that that crusty ass disgusting man Is, and Has Been, a domestic abuser would make their constant woobification of him all the more difficult.

And why would they do that when they could just keep pretending he's not the fucking problem.

#tw abuse mention #tw clown boy #mentioned #harley quinn #harleen quinzel #dc comics #batman #bruce wayne #that scene from btas lives rent free in my head #from the voice acting to the dialogue to the little 'clev'a?!' 'brilliant' moment ❤️

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bonni · 11 months ago

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Sometimes I'll be sitting around and I'll just randomly remember what a shockingly good movie The Suicide Squad (2021) was. I'll put my discussion under the cut because I truly believe it is best to go into this movie blind. If you haven't seen it, you should go watch it right now.

The entire concept behind the suicide squad (not the movie, just the general franchise) is that a bunch of villains become antiheros because they're working for the government, and this movie completely deconstructs that by making the American government the main villain. The moment in which the suicide squad become the heroes is the moment they decide they'd rather die than be complicit in government atrocities. Considering the boot-licking of the MCU (and previous DC films as well), I never expected a big-budget superhero movie with a theatrical release to go that far. They fully indict US foreign policy and government interference in South America, as well as drawing direct parallels to Operation Paperclip in portraying the American government as complicit in post-WW2 Nazi experimentation. And they drive all of this home with some incredibly stylish cinematography that goes out of its way to draw parallels between the overly-patriotic (and white) Peacemaker and the jaded-by-incarceration (and Black) Bloodsport, ultimately condemning Peacemaker's mindless devotion to the US government and having Bloodsport, a man representative of everything the government hates and tries to repress, step up and become the true hero of the movie. And let's look at our other heroes: an impoverished street urchin, a victim of parental abuse, a psychiatrized victim of ipv, and a hybrid who is forced to live on the fringes of society due to his appearance. This entire movie is about people who have been done wrong by the government in some way turning against it to fight for the lives of innocent people in the "developing world," people who the government has deemed disposable. I really need to rewatch this movie soon, it is eating my brain.

#chatter #the suicide squad

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jojotichakorn · 1 year ago

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i don't like to overanalyse, but i keep thinking about mew and ray's costumes in terms of not only them being mismatched (i.e. from completely different movies, with mew's harley having an entirely different joker and ray's joker having no harley at all), but also mew wearing the hyper-sexualised male-gasey suicide squad harley quinn costume and ray wearing the central-character joker costume from a movie that's more psychological thriller than typical comic-book-based action film. this could be something. this could also be because everyone and their mother went for that specific harley quinn outfit during 2016 halloween and no other harley look rivals it in popularity, while suicide squad's joker is recognizable through his hair and tattoes rather than his clothes, which is clearly not something the ofts makeup & hair department wanted to mess with while working on any of the characters' costumes.

#only friends the series #ofts #archer speaks

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popculturebuffet · 6 months ago

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Supermay!: Superman Vs the Elite: Chunky Greatness (Comissioned by Brotoman.exe)

Hello all you happy last sons, daughters and that beautiful rainbow inbetween of krypton and welcome back to SuperMay! Last time I took a look at a true classic in superman's long history What's So Funny About Truth Justice and the American Way? You can find that review here

What's So Funny... was a rousing sucess, not only leading to Manchester Black coming back a few times, but the elite getting their own justice league spinoff i've never read. Black would also show up quite a bit post-rebirth, before his recent death so Lex Luthor could make everyone forget Superman's secret identity.. or else. Note that this is lex trying to HELP superman. Lex can't even try to do good without doing a murder, suprising no one.

Despite his promience though so far Black has only shown up thrice in other media: In the arrowverse for Supergirl, in the lego batman games, and in today's subject. While it was likely hard to put black in kid shows because his job, hobby and what gets him off at night are all murder, DC had another way to animate this wanker and adapt this story: The DC Universe Animated Movies

Yeah while many a nerd know of them and i'm sure most nerds reading this post know, a refresher: the DC Universe Animated Movies are direct to video movies put out by dc multiple times a year. They've been doing this since 2007 Superman Doomsday with July's Crisis on Infinite Earths Part 3 being the 55th film overall. They've adapted tons of stories from the comics: The Death of Superman (Twice!), Justice League the New Frontier (A personal faviorite), JLA Earth 2, JLA Tower of Babel, Batman: Hush, Batman: The Long Halloween, The Dark Knight Returns, Under the Hood, the first two arcs of Batman/Superman, several tales of the green lantern corps stories, Superman: Braniac, Justice League Origin, Flashpoint, Throne of Atlantis, Batman and Son, The Killing Joke, The New Teen Titans: The Judas Contract, Superman: Red Son,Batman Year One and the doom that came to gotham, cumilating in their soon to be completed three part adaptation of Crisis on Infinite Earths. The adaptations vary from fairly loyal, to loose as a goose and ready to gander, but i'ts nice to see so many stories get direct adaptations. Some are better than others sure, but it's nice to see DC's finest on the screen since some wouldn't work for live action, either due to budget or the simple mechanics of running a film shared universe.

So that brings us back around to today's film: Superman Vs The Elite. SVE, and god is it nice to have a story that I can reduce to a simple acronym, is the sixth superman film made for these, fifth if you only count full length ones but Superman/Shazam: the return of black adam is too good not to even at only half an hour. DC tends to focus on it's big cash cows, hence the early films mostly being superman, batman, superman and batman or the justice league, with green lantern being the notable exception as they wanted to cash in on his hit movie with first flight.. then greenlit first flight despite that hit being directly to the face because it made me personally happy. I have to assume. We also got the very first wonder woman film and weirdly DESPITE diana's spike in sucess post her solo film only that one and the godawful bloodlines. The films WOULD loosen up in terms of scope in the late 2010's and 2020's, with films for the Teen Titans, Justice Society, Suicide Squad, Justice League Dark, Harley Quinn and Constantine, but it's still very bat and league heavy.

Out of the 55 films so far (counting the soon to be released Crisis Part 3), 15 star batman (including the Batman/Sueprman Duology) and a whopping FORTY OUT OF 55 FILMS, 43 out of 58 if we count stuff they weridly left out like the RWBY crossover and the choose your own adventure adaptation of batman. I love batman but my god give him a fucking break dc.

Anywayas point is they love their man of tommorow too, and it's telling out of a collection of his more recent and influentual stories this one got called up for adaptation, others before this being his death and return (which , once again, got adapted AGAIN for a fuller adaptation later on.. and yes I own both adaptations), the two big opening arcs of Batman/Superman, the all-time classic and goat All-Star Superman which I plan to cover next supermay (And would gladly cover earlier on comission or if I had the time), and after this one Braniac, the Geoff Johns classic redefining the character.

This film's also notable is out of the MANY adaptations present it's one of only TWO films to be written by the same writer as the story it's adapting, the other being Judd Winnick on Under the Red Hood. Darwyn Cooke likewise seemed to at least consult on new frontier, which is good as that story is that man's heart and soul and one I'm kicking myself for not thinking to review sooner. Seriously check it or the film out. True masterpiece.

This isn't a knock against the other adaptations, there's a lot of good ones in there, it's just remakrable. it also makes sense why tap Kelly: At this point Kelly had been running Man of Action stuidos for 7 years having co-created Ben 10 and Generator Rex, both shows I highly love, along with Ben 10 spinoff Alien Force which I also dearly loved and was showrun by the late great dwayne mcduffie, who also wrote a lot of direct to video films including what i'm told is a truly excellent adaptation of All-Star Superman I still need to check out.

So Kelly was an experinced hand at animation, and Winnick likewise was, having created and written a decent chunk of the Life and Times of Juniper Lee. So it does make a bit more sense to tap these guys when they know how to screenwrite for animation already.

Kelly does a phenominal job here, expanding the story and making the elitie more fleshed out characters. Their still assholes, but you understand them a bit more and the ones who don't wear a union jack get to actually talk. Also Coldcast is no longer wearing the most unintentionally racist outfit i've seen in an american comic, for the love of god don't send me competitors. The result is a film that's also awesome. Yeah like the story it's based on I won't hide that I loved this film on watch. It's not perfect, what is, but it is still an exellent film that wonderfully expands on an already great story to make it better. So join me under the cut as the world's saved.. but humanity is lost.

SVE is intresting as an adaptation in that it has the same core, a new group of up and coming superheros shows a darker way of doing things superman disapproves of and they come into conflict over it, but takes an entirely diffrent approach to pacing and the elitie themselves. The Original Story hits you lik ea train, starting with a dead gorilla, piling up the bodies nad having the elitie be pretty one note assholes.. they raise valid points, but Manchster is also portrayed as a racist asshole, constantly saying racist shit and then saying "I can say that because i'm one 45th something", something I forgot to bring up in the original review. I mean he's dead on for Mark Millar's version of the Authority, props to that, but otherwise as they are in the original story, the Elitie are just assholes who think they know better and we only get hints of WHY their like this.

The film .. still only gives hints for the non Manchester members, Minager's backstory with the men in black is removed as their absent from the film, but treats them more as people. Not good people by the end, but more as indivduals and it makes the story stronger. We meet the elitie not as swaggering gods, but as swaggering newbies. Their powerful, but at first have no idea what their doing or the true limits of their powers.

So it also gives us a nice dynamic that helps deepens things wholly unique to this film: Superman.. mentors the elite. When he first meets them stopping an attack from warring nations Bialya and Polkistan, which naturally are both very real nations from superman comics. Biyala was a longtime hive of criminals first showing up in one of my all time faviorite comics, Justice League International as a stand in for middle eastern countries, being a small one itself, and picking up traction afterwords while Polkistan was ran by a version of General Zod that wasn't kryptonian. It was a weird time.

This war between the two is a new addition, replacing both the attack on japan and the men in black from the original.. and it's one I like. It fits the Elite better that the thing their interfering in is two warring dictators who don't care who gets hurt in the crossfire and puts more of a face to the ones their caving in. It's easy to say superman could've dealt with super samurai metal men or the worse version of men and black, harder to have him deal with two nations who refuse to just sit down and talk instead of killing civilians to send a message. They still use fantastical means, the Elite first meet clark when he's trying to take down some bioweapons and are key in helping him stop them.

It's also neat to see how both sides greet each other: Superman.. acts how clark always does with a new hero: he's encouraging, kind, and the only negative he has is some gentle cricisim on collteral damage, a nice bit of foreshadowing to the team becoming what it later is. Likewise the eliite are all happy to meet him, with Manchester dropping the swaggering ego he puts up to be genuinely excited like a little kid. Unlike his comics counterpart Manchester still looks up to superman when this starts and it's adorable and humanizes the asshole really well. The others are also mostly starstruck.. except minagre. She's just super horned up. But like in the comics at the time of the original story, Clark's married so, nope.

The rest of the Elitie are fleshed out more here. Manchester's still the focus character and thus the most fleshed out, getting more depth, but the rest of his crew have actual personalities. The Hat is playful and likes to drink a LOT (the last part was in the comic but is more emphasiesed here), Menagire is flirtatious to a creepy and predatory degree (something to the film's credit seems intentioanl) and Coldcast is sarcastic. Their not super deep, but they make the eliite feel like characters and not hired goons.

Superman seeks the elitie out not because their a danger this time.. but because he geninely wants to know them better and help mentor them. We don't get to see Clark mentor often when it's not Kara, so it's another nice addition to the story.

They end up meeting again in London as .. well Manchester Black, while a mystery to the world, wears a flag on his chest and speaks in a cockney accent. Even Black can't help but poke fun at how fucking obvious a step this was, but in another nice touch instead of being touchy welcomes superman into his past, happy to give out his secret origin.

While we got Chester's origin in the comics, this one is more involved and likely what Kelly flehsed out when he wrote the character more later: here he was a tween whose dad was an abusive alchollic rather than a soldier who died in war, the fourth of five kids, his sister the fifth, and none really loved or wanted. He eventually leaves, taking his sister with him for her own saftey and the two scrape by stealing wallets. Unfortunatlaly a constable is lead to them by one of the couples they stole from and the ensuing confrontation, predictably for police, ends with her nearly getting ran over by a train.. till Chester's powers kicked in. Then a bunch of stuff happened he dosen't get into and boom. He HEAVILY implies she died.. but the fact he dosren't say it outright naturally means sh'es alive.

The film wisely plays with this later, revealing that the story is true.. black just sanded off the rougher edges: he KILLED his dad and the train he stopped injured a lot of people. What I like about this though is the lie dosen't come off as Black simply being a manipulative wank phesant. Partially yes, the way he phrases Vera's death is bad.. but it could simply be knowing Superman may not take the news as well, that his hero may abandon him and his friends. Both acts are also gray: he did kill his dad sure.. but we never see the actual act and Chester WAS still a young teenager at the time. He coul'dve easily ratonalized that it was the only way to save his sister. Or simply could've given in to his darker impulses. I'm a lot easier on a scared child whose being acvtively abused than a grown ass man who could've gotten therapy. Same with the train: he knew he could influnce minds from the papa murder but didn't know his telekenisis coudl stretch that far. That one Clark probably would've understood more as growing pains. Finally with Vera it could just be annoyance she didn't join him in quitting the agency or manipulation. I like that the film leaves it vauge instead of making Chester out to just be this massive dick crater. He grows INTO that but i'ts more itnresting to have some ambiguity into how manipulative he was being.

Superman has the elitie help with a nearbye tunnel collapse with a train from terroists.. something their not sure they CAN do as they've only used their powers in combat. Superman however is an excellent leader, it's hinted at the league exists here but wisely they arne't fully mentioned. For all we know he was chairman of the legion at one point and still superboy here. But he's a natural leader and helps the elitie stretch their powers.

The problem is that as much as Superman WANTS to help these new younger hereos learn to be the best they can be... they have diffrent ideas. The divide here is summed up best with this quote from another franchise, from Grant Morrison's incredible run on New X-Men

It's the simple but painful divide that happens as Manchester brutally interrogates a terroist: Superman has his dream of a better world, of inspiring hope to make it so.. and Chester has one of remaking it in his image. Of taking it away from the hands of those he deems to be children playing dangerous war games that end with real bodies strewn across continents. As much as Clark WANTED to guide them.. it was already too late. The world had already made Chester decide what he wanted to be long before he met supes and while he respects the man.. the two ultimately can't coexist. That respect makes Chester more intresting as rather than be just an edgelord who wanted to show up superman, he's simply a 20 something who sees a broken world and has the power to change it and wonders "Why don't we?" instead of seeing it's more complicated than that. By making Chester more of an actual human instead of a mark millar character, it makes the story hit harder and the darker roads he goes down hit harder. IN anotehr world the elitie would've been having teamups with the tians or the justice society, helping make the world better best they can even if they hit harder. Here though... they choose another way.. a way Superman simply can't follow and that puts them at odds. To use x-men again...

Things escalate after two events: Black's message to the world which this time.. we actually get to see which I feel makes it more effective. Having him broadcast to the world "You asked for us world, now you have us". It both instantly puts superman off his game and shows what the Elitie's real plan is.

They also make a welcome change to the attack in japan, now in Biayla: besides the setting being more plot relevant... superman's disabling is unintentional. They still slaughter a bunch of people horrifying clark, but it feels like less of an intentional dick move and fits the change in tone: in the original they were trying to piss superman off. Here it was friendly fire.. but it's clear they've now crossed a line he can't let them keep crossing by slaughting soldiers.

The film is good in asking the question: Should heroes be super proactive and make the world better by force.. or do everything they can within reason? Not buckle to the system.. but not break it over their knees either.

This all brilliantly comes to a head with atomic skull, a plot point i"ve been keeping on the sidelines so let's move it on up front: Before the elitie arrive we get two important events. The first is a dig at superman's cheesiness as Clark lisenses out a very goofy cartoon. I also like when lois presses him on this he points out his procedes ARE going to charity and he has someone looking at it. And he's just so happy to

The more important one is a fight with Atomic Skull. Atomic Skull is a recurring superman villian i'm not super familiar with whose had a dozen iterations... with this version choosing none of them, instead being a remorsless killer with radioactive powers.

He's a good choice though: a villian superman can't depower like certain other parties, who kills and will again and thus brings front and center the biggest part of a debate on the effectivness of normal costumed heroes, a piece somewhat missing from the original with it's faceless goons and men in black: Should a hero kill so a villian dosen't kill again?

The answer Superman gives, and I support is.. no. Gratned i'll add the asterix of "Unless there's no other option". Sometimes your only option is to kill a being or let it kill untold others. Shockingly NOT using x-men for this example, even though I have one ready, let's instead look at Man of Steel. Yes. We're going to THAT scene. And honestly while I have major issues with Man of Steel and most of them involve one man who thankfully chucked himself into a tornado but unthankfully came back as a ghost because god hates me, the idea of the climax isn't one of them.

For those less familiar in the climax Zod, on the verge of defeat, starts letting loose with his eye beams. He's preapred to kill EVERY PERSON he can just to spite clark.. so Clark begs and begs him not to.. and then snaps his neck when it's clear he has no other option. Now do I think having superman kill in his first film was a good idea? no, not at all. But for all Zack Snyder dosen't get Supes... he gets he'd only kill with no other option. If it's this one person or millions in that moment and no where else. No one else could stop zod and he didn't have time or knowledge to incapacitate him. He made the ahrd call and it tore him up. .until it didn't but this is a film where Clark's dad thinks throwing himself into a tornado is more important than clark doing the right thing with his powers sooooo

My point is, unless the situation is that dire.. you shoudln't. If your skilled enough, you can find another way. There's a fine line between doing so because your backed into a corner with no way out.. and diong so because "let's make the bastard pay". It's easier to kill when you have a choice, when you can justify it in your head... and thus it becomes easier. and easier. Until it stops being "because their a genuine threat" and because "They disagree with me". "because it's all I know" or worst of all "because it's fun".

And that all comes together... for the death of the Atomic Skull. The Elitie try to handle it while superman' son the way, get their asses kicked, and are forced to accept his help, despite having humilated him. Our heroes win.. but then comes the breaking point. In the original the killing was just..t here.. but here.. it's been built to slowly, a nicely slow boil over the whole run time: Superman treid his best.. but Manchester Black was a powderkeg waiting to go off.. .and he asks someone to give him a light.

Now remember how I mentioned a UN member was helping superman? Same guy clearly belivied in him and was even shown defending him against Rush Limbaugh. A few more years and it would've been tucker carlson, a good load more and it would'v ebeen.. uh... that other generic white guy they got to replace hm after he got thrown under a bus.

So naturally.. the poor man dies, his son having rushe dout to see his heroes the elitie.. only to instead see his father dies. The following scene is just.. pure pain, it's well done. The kid BEGS superman to kill Atomic Skull.. but he dosen't. It's not what his father would've wanted and would be a stain on his memory. But grief.. grief dosen't care what the person who died wanted... pain dosen't care.. and vengance... dosen't wait. Black, taking advantage of the poor teen, says to "Say the word kid"... and with one do it... Clark can only gape in horror as Atomic Skull dies.. and the crowd ERRUPTS. Only Lois and Jimmy are horrified as a man dies. Did the atomic skull deserve to die? Probably.

He killed a lot of people and you can understand where UN Guy JR was coming from.. yet it dosen't bring his dad back. It dosen't undo all the lives lost. It stops more from being killed.. but also outlines the probelm. People CHEERING for their heroes to kill someone, egging them on, telling them to kill kill. Turning normal people into a bloodthirsty mob who preys fo rthier heroes to kill their enemies. It's the other reason why don't kill: Because it gives the people you inspire the wrong message: that we will solve your problems for you and we will spill blood for you our masses. Pray to your new gods and we will deliver unto you blood.

Now i'm not saying superheroes should never intervene, fuck no, and like I said there are times to kill.. bu tyou see the problem with letting them solve every problem of the world: not only would humanity stagnate, relying on their saviors to do everything for thema nd tell them what to think... but they cease becoming seen as men and become gods. Vengeful gods who can do whatever the fuck they want. It's waht the Manga Death Note and i'ts anime adaptation got at: you let someone be ultimate judge, and they will develop a god complex and what morals they have slip. Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely, and tha'ts why heroes don't give themselves absolute power even if they can move suns.

And it's what the elitie have become: four 20 somethings with a god complex who decide they make the rules and anyone else can die slow die fast now.

This is where the movie dovetails more into the comic as the last act or so adapts it pretty closely, iwth a few bits rearranged: the public starts to cheer the elitie and the scene with the kid saying "superman is so beat"

And clark's talk with ihs dad are in tact, simply done a touch later. Superman's also not AS afraid of the elitie here.

So we payoff the Bialya Polkistan war runner: Superman stops a conlfict with zero loss of life, knowing the elitie are watching.... only this time rather than threaten to kill someone... Manchester did it 20 minutes ago.. or more like two. He just went and killed the heads of state. And the thing was Clark WASN'T sitting it out or planning to let the war go on: he was going to force the two to sit down, an option I badly wish we had in the real world. Instead.. all Chester's done is create a massive power vaccum in two countries already teeming iwth bioweapons and regular weapons. He's removed a diseased lung but taken both countires kidnies, heart and spleen and mugged the patient whlie he was at it. It's the problem with the Elitie's move fast, break things approach: they solve an issue for NOW.. but leave a giant clusterfuck to solve later. And "I'm going to kill you if you don't do better" only works as long as your alive or someone doesn't find a way to kill you for being a tyranical wank phesant.

Superman stews in his fortress.. and the elitie visit and offer him an ultimatium: stay in his lane or else. Clark responds by clocking chester... and Chester decides if your not part of the problem.. etc etc. Tommorow. Noon. Be there.

It's here I want to give some props to Manchester Black's voice actor, Robin Atkin Downes, a vetran voice actor i'd heard of vaugely but didn't really know what parts he played, I haven't gotten around to playing the no more heroes trilogy yet after all. He's done a LOT of dc work including for these films and absolutely kills it as black, bringing that nice combo of arrogance and genuine fire that black has. When you have a character that makes a LOT of grandoise speeches, you need someone who can deliver them with pure power and fire and Downes does so beautifully. Downes gets that right combo of snotty kid and broken man that we need.

We get the lois and clark scene again and i'll say in this film.. Lois is done dirty. She's played by Pauley Perette of NCIS fame, part of DC"s weird obssession with hiring actors from random prime time shows to do the big parts. This film mostly dodges that but she sticks out in a sea of voice actors. At any rate she does her best.. but Lois is just underwritten here. Her needling clark at the start is about th ebest we get: she spends most of the film looking into black's history a good idea.. but her method is just "Scream at mi 6 and hav eblack's sister hand her the goods, then the british government somehow blocks the story despite Metropolis being in america and the US usually not giving that much of a shit." I'd suggest sex blackmail but then the idea of perry white having sex nearly imploded my brain so I won't be going down that rabbit hole. Unless he was fucking bugs bunny, then i'ts impressive. Bugs is a fuck machine.

The climax.. plays out almost exactly as in the comic. While this adaptation changes a lot to make a more compelling story, the end point.. really didn't need to be fucked with. It's remarkable just how much they straight up adapt it. They tone down the violence SLIGHTLY, but only as much as needed to not get this rated R.. if DTV movies get rated r. It' sprobably why bisected Gorilla was left out. RIP Bisected Gorilla

It's chillingly well done. The beat down, superman's hoplesness.. and then... "Thank you". And it's all perfectly delivered by our superman for the evening, George Newbern. Newbern is probably my faviorite superman with close seconds being Tim Daly in Superman the Animated Series (Who Newbern replaced) and Jack Quaid from My Adventures WIth Superman, though Quaid is getting close. I grew up with Newbern's take on justice league, where he evolved Timy Daly's portryal and went on to portray superman a lot when DC neede dhim including in the injustice games.

Newburn nails it here, being the kind, hopeful man we all know.. and then giving us this nightmarish pivot. He makes the wise choice to make superman a soft spoken sadist... to have him not scream at his foes but calmly talk to the elitie as he picks them off one by one. The direction plays this scene like a horror flim and perfectly so, the terror on the Elitei's faces as they each go down, as the killer picks each one off leading it down to blacka nd down to metropolis as the world gazes in horror at what superman has become. It shows what sinking to this level does to you, how EASY it is, and how horrifying it'd be if superman actually did this. We've gotten plenty of "evil superman" takes from Invincible with Nolan to the boys tv show with homelander, that show what an indocirinated good solider or utter bastard with a god complex would do.. but this example still stands out despite all those deconstructions.. because it's clark. Because it's THE superman. It's not someone who wears a similar costume.. it's clark doing it, one of his most recognizable and best performers doing the performance, and it is fucking chilling. The performance was great in the comic.. but it's ASTONISHING here with all the extra florish.

And as before.. it was an act. The film does act like superman actually depowered them all, but I don't think he gave black a lobotomy as the pop is still present and he still zeroes in on the growth his powers come from. So at worst he simply removed a benign growth and at best it was temporary. Some, including tv tropes, think this kinda underminds thing that superman isn't judge and jury.. but I disagree. He didn't kill them, he just took their power away after they'd killed dozens of people and tried to kill him. It's like I said earlier with the superheroes killing thing: if ther'es no other way sure. It's insurance if the elitie hasn't learned there lesson and like the comics he probably coudln't strip them of power permenatnly. It's also why Atomic Skull was a good choice: there's no real way to remove his powers without potetntially killing clark himself, creating a wave of radaition etc. Here.. superman was in a controlled environment for 3/4 and for the last one knew exactly what to do to remove his powers. Superman give shis iconic ending speech about hope and flies off and the movie ends.

This movie.. is a standout, a true classic worth seeking out and most copies aren't super expensive. It takes a great if hard to find story and punches it up considerably, keeping the key points and refining them while making the opposing side less caracatures to make the point stick better. As i've said, Black is accurate to mark millar's writing.. but as a result he's still a strawman. Here he's more a character and the point at large is more fleshed out and naunced: we see the consequences of superman's style of justice.. but then see what would happen if he decided to play it the elitie's way. This film is a true classic and I highly recommend it.

Next Time: Superman fights the Klan as we tackle an old radio serial!

#superman #lois lane #manchester black #the elite #dc comics #dc animated movies #direct to video #animation #george newbern #robin atkin downes #joe kelly

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angstyandromanticwriting · 1 year ago

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Harley Quinn X FemWerewolf!Reader Angsty and Cute Reunion and Experiment Prompt with a hopeful ending

• Occurs after the events of the third film (The Suicide Squad - 2021) + Linked to previous prompts I’ve posted

!TW: Presence of weapons, mention of having a previous near death experience, self-doubt, implied suffering from depression, mention of murder/committing a murder, being held in captivity, mention of previously having an abusive father, injury detail, mention of blood, hint of anxiety + separation anxiety, mention of previously conducting experiments on a subject, mention of death after childbirth, swearing, violent intentions, being administered a death sentence, violence, getting shot, having a wound, stitching!

“So,” Harley began quietly, a pained expression on her face, whilst she was sat outside of your cell, her spear leaning against the wall in the corner, “you’re - you’re back? For - For good this time, right?”

You nodded, and she expressed relief, but wouldn’t dare let her gaze meet your’s; she was trying to hate you, after you’d been so reckless, and almost gotten yourself killed, last year, leaving her alone, again, though she had Cassandra, and the Birds of Prey with her, at the time. Whenever you weren’t with her, she found herself feeling empty, and as if she had nothing, and couldn’t believe, as well, that you’d risked your life for her so recklessly after you’d both previously fought, before the battle with the last of the late Sionis’ goons, and a batch of the Omegas they had decided to team up with. “I promised I would be,” you reminded her, and she nodded slowly, whilst remembering that you had; you’d managed to communicate with her by howling to her after you’d landed in a river, below the cliff edge, “a-and I’ve never.. I’ve never broken any promises I’ve ever made you, right?”

She faltered, glancing up at you, whilst guessing that you knew that she’d briefly been with someone else, whilst you were gone; a man she considered to be a walking red flag, but you didn’t blame her; you never could, believing that she deserved better than you, whilst trying to tell yourself that you were happy she had been searching for someone else, and trying to forget about you. “N-Nugget,” she murmured, her voice briefly trembling, whilst she bowed her head, not daring to meet your searching gaze again; she hated seeing you upset, and as if you’d lost the will to live, like you used to look, before, whilst you were living with your abusive father, “I-”

“No, Quinzels, it-.. it’s fine,” you reassured, “I don’t blame you.. You deserve so much better than me, I know, I.. I’m so sorry-”

“That - That’s not true,” she contradicted, a hurt look on her face, “I love you, Y/n; you’re everything to me, a-and you’re more than good enough for me, I just-.. I don’t know.. It had been - So long, a-and - I didn’t think you were coming back, though you were still howling, before I killed the guy, but then you - you stopped, completely, and.. I thought you were gone, little wolfy; I thought you’d forgotten about me.”

You frowned, managing to bring yourself to look up at her again, though all you wanted to do was break down and cry, feeling as if you had nothing left within you, or anything, but her, to live for. “I could never forget about you,” you replied, your voice close to a whisper, and sounding strained, as well as choked, “I.. I love you, Quinzels, and.. There was never a time when I didn’t find myself thinking about you, l-last year, o-or.. wishing that.. that I could return to you..”

She tilted her head partially, before leaning forward slightly, whilst her eyebrows furrowed a little. “So why didn’t you? Why did you leave me alone for so long, a-and stop howling that night I killed him?” She questioned, desperate to know everything that you’d not told her about, yet, and rightly so; she deserved an explanation, after you’d disappeared the way you had after going over the cliff edge.

You stared down at your trembling, and pale hands, and she frowned when she noticed them, wishing she could hold them in her’s, and try to provide comfort to you; she hated being separated from you, like she was, now, by a row of bars, and locked metal door. “I didn’t show myself to you again before, because-.. I thought.. I thought I would only ruin things again if I did,” you admitted, and she realised, a pained expression on her face whilst she shook her head gravely; she didn’t think you ever could ruin anything, “a-and I stopped howling that night because I thought you were happy; I didn’t stay long enough to hear - hear the gunshot.. But even if I did, I would have felt that it wasn’t you who was in trouble, and because I-.. because I knew then that you were trying to move on from me, I guess I just - gave up, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t trying to protect you from afar, as much as I could, and-”

“You had to show yourself to me again, before that Omega could get to me,” she guessed, and you brought yourself to glance up at her again through glistening eyes, before you nodded, and found yourself getting lost in her stunning icy blue eyes, like you usually did, whenever your eyes were locked with her’s, always in the best way possible, prompting your heart to begin to race at an overwhelming speed, to the point you found yourself struggling to breathe, or almost forgetting how to, at one point. “I’m so sorry, Y/n, I - I didn’t realise you felt that way,” she continued, whilst subconsciously inching closer to the bars of your cell, and you did the same, trying to get closer, but you would be stopped by the chains which were holding you back, prompting you to whine quietly; you just wanted to be close to her again, feeling as if you belonged by her side, and it was painful to be held back from her, when she seemed so close, though the bars of the cell were separating her from you. “B-But - You could never ruin anything for me,” she assured, “and I wasn’t trying to move on from you, that - thing - w-with that guy.. It sorta just - Happened, I guess, a-and like I said before, I didn’t think you were coming back to me, but that doesn’t mean I forgot about you, b-because I spent every waking moment thinking about you; about where you were, a-and about whether you still.. Loved me, o-or.. Or even hated me, after we fought like we did, before you went over the cliff edge with that Omega.”

You shook your head, a couple of stray tears managing to escape your eyes whilst you did, and you soon found yourself beginning to tremble a little, wishing you could get even closer to her, finding the distance between you both next to excruciating, but you found you couldn’t, whimpering whilst you attempted to shuffle even closer, to the point the metal cuffs around your wrists were beginning to cut into your hands a little, but you didn’t care, just wanting to feel her arms around you again, and to know that she truly was there with you; that your mind wasn’t playing a cruel trick on you. “I could - I could never hate you, Quinzels,” you whined, “n-not even when - o-or if you’re holding a gun to my head, b-because I was made for you, and - and I’m happy, existing for you like I am, now; I’m always happy, as long as it’s your name my heart knows, and calls, n-not my own, because I want only to belong to you, n-not myself.. The stone wolf I gave to you, do - do you remember it?”

“Of course I do,” she answered, “I’ve been treasuring it ever since you gave it to me; I love you, Nugget, and - and I could never lose anything you give me. I’ve been keeping it in my room with me, recently, j-just to.. just to prove to myself that you weren’t - that you weren’t just a figment of my imagination, after you stopped howling.”

Your eyes would begin to glint, and she smiled lovingly back at you, glad to see that you appeared to be happier than you were, when she first saw you again, appearing dejected, and as if you had nothing to live for anymore. “You mean you - Still have it, even now? After-.. After that fight we had last year? I thought you’d throw it away, a-and I wouldn’t have blamed you if you did-”

“I could never throw it away,” she interjected gently, pouting a little whilst she did, prompting your heart to skip a beat, “I love you too much to ever do something like that, even if the fight was ten times worse than it was; you’re my soulmate, Y/n - I didn’t realise that, before, but - I’ve known that since I first lost you that day, after the very first time you decided to save my life, and I found out that you were a werewolf - Even then, I knew - It was always you, Nugget, werewolf or not; it could only ever be you. I never felt for him, or Mr. J, what I’ve felt, and still feel for you - I realise that, now; I love you so much, a-and I swear I’m gonna try harder to show you that I do.”

You shook your head again, not wanting her to feel as if she had to prove anything to you. “You don’t have to do that for me,” you responded, “so - p-please don’t feel like you do.”

“I know I don’t,” she chimed, whilst her smile appeared to grow a little more, making your heart skip a beat, overwhelming you a little more, to the point you felt you had to try and get closer again, but by trying, you only made the handcuffs tear into your wrists a little more, making you whimper subconsciously again, evidently in pain; you hated being away from her, like you currently were being made to be. “Y-Y/n, what’s wrong?” She inquired, after you’d doubled over, beginning to cry; your wrists were burning excruciatingly, and she faltered, falling quiet when she noticed that they were gradually becoming blood-stained, like your hands were, alongside them. “It’s okay,” she cooed, “l-little wolfy, just look at me; you’re gonna be okay, I promise, just don’t try and move anymore, at least not - not forward, otherwise they’re gonna hurt even more. I’ll get someone to look at them for you, m-maybe Flag; I’m sure he’ll help; he has to-”

“No,” you interrupted feebly, “I - I’m fine, Quinzels, don’t - don’t worry about me; it doesn’t hurt, I - I can take it.”

“I know you can, Y/n,” she stated, “you’re strong; you always have been, but I don’t want you to have to, a-and I don’t want the cuts to get infected - Please just let me get Flag; he - he has one of the keys, and can help you, I’m sure he can; he knows you, clearly better than that Waller, or Milton does - please.”

You would hesitate, before giving in, not wanting to upset her any further than you had already, last year. “F-Fine,” you murmured, and she cheered, prompting you to smile subconsciously; you found everything she did adorable; you always had, ever since you’d first met her in college, “just because I want to do all I can to make you happy; seeing you happy makes me happy, and it’s one of my lifelong duties, as your mate - well.. If you still want to be my mate, a-and.. To marry me.”

“Of course I do,” she expressed, “I-.. I want nothing more, than to be tied to you, a-and to live as long as you do.”

“Wait, you-.. you still want me to change you, too?” You guessed, and she nodded, beaming over at you; she was certain of herself, that she wanted to be turned into a werewolf, like you, and by you; she couldn’t allow herself to get someone else to do it; she wanted it only to be you, who changed her.

“Please don’t tell me you’re getting cold feet, now,” she whined when she noticed the look on your face, and you faltered, shaking your head quickly, “I agreed to stay with you as long as you changed me in return, remember? And I agreed to, when this is all over, marry you in return, too-”

“I’m not getting cold feet, don’t worry,” you contradicted, and she appeared relieved, glad that you weren’t, “I’m just surprised that you still want me to do that to you, after everything that happened last year.”

“Why wouldn’t I want you to change me anymore? It was just a fight, Nugget - Every couple fights sometimes,” she explained, “nothing, and I mean nothing, could ever make me love you any less than I do, now, and always will.” You smiled warmly back at her, wondering what you’d done to deserve someone as good as her; you believed her to be everything, and yourself to be nothing, and the thought pained you, alongside the pain you were still experiencing as a result of the cuts on your wrists made by the handcuffs. “And, c’mon, you know I could never mean what I said,” she continued, feeling guilty all over again for what she’d said about how your father had been right about you, in terms of him calling you a ‘freak’, “your father couldn’t have been more wrong about you; you’re amazing, Y/n, as well as perfect, funny, kind, a-and-.. the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

You would be taken aback by her remark; you couldn’t believe someone as perfect as her could ever think that you were any of those things; anything that wasn’t nothing, which you had always thought that you were, and had been made to believe that you were by your father. “You-.. You really think that - that-.. I’m.. All of those things?” You inquired, and she nodded quickly again, whilst she slowly rose to her feet, reminding herself of how she had to get Flag for you, to tend to your cuts.

“In fact,” she chimed again, “you’re more than all of those things, and I’m honestly so glad we met, a-and.. and that you came back. You didn’t abandon me, like Mr. J-”

You winced, upon hearing her mentioning of him, and she felt bad for bringing him up again, wishing she hadn’t, as soon as she had. “I could never abandon you,” you expressed, and she nodded, before smiling lovingly over at you again.

“I know,” she replied, whilst grinning toothily over at you, “you love me too much to, right?” You giggled feebly, before nodding, because you did, and always had; you loved her more than you’d ever loved anything else; more than you’d ever loved, or could ever love yourself. “I’ll be back soon, little wolfy, and I won’t let Flag refuse to treat you, I promise,” she assured, “I’ll also try and get him to persuade Waller to let you out; to let you help us - I don’t wanna have to be separated from you anymore like this, because of these stupid bars.”

“They’ll never let me out,” you responded dejectedly, “they think I’m a threat, Quinzels; that I’m like the Omegas-”

“So I’ll prove to them that you’re not like the Omegas,” she planned, “don’t worry, little wolfy, I can do it; I can change their minds, I promise, and we’ll finally be able to cuddle up together again, like we used to be able to do. Just wait here, okay? And don’t move forward anymore than you have, already - I’ll be back, soon.” She then rushed out of the room, and it wasn’t long before she’d returned with Flag, who appeared frustrated, and exhausted; he’d clearly had a long day, and just wanted to go to bed, at this point, but he forced himself to continue, and try to tend efficiently to the cuts on your wrists as a result of the tight cuffs around them.

Once he was done, you appeared more comfortable than you had been, before; he’d allowed for you to be free of the cuffs, so your wrists could heal. “You guys better get some sleep,” he stated, looking occasionally between you, and Harley, “adhere to our light’s out policy, if you want a better chance of convincing Waller to watch you prove our Alpha over here’s innocence.”

“Fine,” Harley uttered, “you’ll suggest it to her, won’t you, at least?”

“Sure,” he replied, “but I think you better try and appeal to her, too, just in case; she might not listen to me, now c’mon - Bed time.”

Harley nodded gravely, before she smiled sadly over at you, wishing she could stay with you; she hated being away from you. “Goodnight, Alpha,” she cooed, whilst Flag respectfully nodded his head in your direct, before he stood by the door, out of your eye line, “and don’t worry - It’s gonna work out, and you’ll be out of those binds, so we’ll be able to cuddle up together whenever we want to, I promise.”

“I hope so,” you mused, “I’ve missed being in your arms, Quinzels, a-and.. it hurts so much, just to be - just to be kept away from you, like this.”

“I know it does,” she corroborated, “but it’s not gonna be for much longer, I’m sure it won’t - Tomorrow, in the morning - That’s when I’m gonna talk to her; try and get her to give us a chance to show her that you’re one of the good ones; that you’re the true Alpha you always have been. Try and get some sleep, Nugget; this’ll be your last night alone in here, I’m certain it will.”

“I wouldn’t get either of your hopes up too much, Quinn, she might say no-”

“You’re not helping,” she interrupted sharply, and Flag winced, looking away, before she looked back at you, smiling apologetically over at you, “ignore him; she’ll say yes. Goodnight, little wolfy, I love you.”

“Goodnight, Quinzels,” you returned, whilst she slowly dragged herself toward the door, her eyes never leaving your’s whilst she did, “I love you, too.” She then smiled warmly over at you, before slipping out of the room, though she wished she could spend the night in there with you, rather than away from you. Once she’d sadly gone, you curled up, and tried not to worry about what might happen, the next day; you knew there was a strong possibility that Waller might refuse to let you and Harley prove to her that you were trustworthy, but, at the same time, you knew that she might decide to let you both try. Though you thought you wouldn’t be able to, you somehow managed to drift off to sleep, dreaming about how you and Harley would eventually be able to get married, one day, after the battle against the Omegas, and hunters, was fought, and won.

🜸🜚🜸

Luckily, the next day, Waller did decide, reluctantly, to give you and Harley a chance to prove that you were good, and could help them against the Omegas and hunters sent by the Omega Prime Minister to kill the other Alphas and Betas. “Unshackle her so she can change, Sergeant,” Waller instructed, and Flag nodded, before he began to unlock your binds, and you expressed relief, glad to be free of them; they had been paining you again, and Harley smiled lovingly over at you, behind them, hopeful that they’d finally let you work alongside her, whilst also quietly worrying that there was a chance that they might change their minds, and throw you back into the cell they’d recently been keeping you in, ever since you’d showed yourself to them, upon saving her life again. “I want to try something,” she continued, after motioning for Flag to draw back to her left side, and your eyes began to glint when Harley was signalled to step forward, “closer; I want to see how she reacts; if she can control herself, in an overwhelmed state due to certain feelings, or emotions, we’ll see how good her self-control is.”

Harley slowly drew closer to you, and you whimpered quietly, wishing you could just rush up to her and throw your arms around her, but you weren’t sure if you were allowed to, and didn’t want to ruin your and her chance to be able to be together again somewhat freely. “It’s okay, Alpha,” she cooed gently, and you relaxed instantly, your eyes locking with her stunning icy blue ones shortly after you had begun to calm down, “you’re doing great, just - just focus on me, okay? We’ll be able to cuddle up again soon, I promise, but first we need to gain you their trust, remember?”

You nodded gravely, beginning to fight harder to keep yourself back, though you wanted nothing, but to hold her close to you again, after you’d both not seen each other for yet another dark and lonely year. “Just a little closer, I reckon,” Waller stated, and Harley winced, not wanting to push you any further, but she knew she’d have to, so dragged herself even closer, slowly, to the point she could tell that you were beginning to tense up, a pained expression on your face, whilst your body began to tremble; you were struggling, clearly, especially whilst her scent was beginning to fill your nostrils, making you want to reach out and touch her even more, but you knew you couldn’t, scolding yourself for being so weak, as your fangs began to unfold, and claws threatened to penetrate through the gaps between your fingers; you just wanted to throw your arms around her, and hold her close to you, after you’d both been separated for yet another year.

You could also pick up the man that she’d been with’s scent, tainting her own, prompting you to growl quietly, and your irises to flicker between a bold orange, red, and their normal colour, for a moment; you were desperate to try and reinforce your ‘wolfy claim’ on her, after someone else had been trying to claim her for themselves. “It’s okay,” she cooed, and you relaxed instantly upon hearing her voice, letting your eyes meet her stunning icy blue ones again, “just try and focus on my eyes, okay?”

“That won’t do,” Waller spoke up again, and Harley glared over at her, “you know what the new bunch are like, Quinn, especially Falcon; he’ll, for sure, at some point, try and provoke her, so - provoke her; we need to see how she reacts.”

“That’s not fair-!” Harley complained, and Waller shrugged, appearing unperturbed.

“Why? Do you think she won’t be able to take it?” She questioned, and Harley grunted, before smiling sadly back at you, whilst you appeared anxious, worried about the possibility that you might accidentally hurt her, if you lost control of yourself.

“I know you can do this, Alpha,” she expressed quietly, before a pained expression crossed her face; she hated what she was doing to you, wishing she could just pull you into a hug; you looked as if you really needed one in this moment, and it would be easy for her to just reach out and touch you, but she knew she couldn’t, not yet, so she tried to hold herself back, like you were, alongside her, “why - why aren’t you hugging me? Did you not miss me?” You faltered, a hurt look on your face, but she quickly shook her head, prompting you to try and stop yourself from responding, though you desperately wanted to speak up and contradict her; tell her that you had missed her, more than anything, and that you’d spent every lonely night, as well as waking moment, thinking about her, wishing that you could be by her side again. “Y/n,” she reluctantly continued, “do - do you not love me anymore, or something? Is that why you’re just standing there, acting as if I mean nothing to you?” You whimpered quietly, and she began to feel worse, like you did, too; you hated that you weren’t doing anything to try and provide comfort to her, like a werewolf naturally would it’s mate, and hated that you were just standing there; it was paining you to not do anything, and to not pour your heart out to her like you were longing, and even aching to do, in that moment.

“Impressive,” Waller commented, “I thought she’d be going mental by now.”

“She has impeccable self-control,” Flag corroborated, “even, surprisingly, whilst we were conducting those experiments on her; she stopped lashing out after the first time.”

Waller looked over at Flag, a disbelieving expression on her face. “Really?” She pressed, and Flag nodded, recalling vividly how you’d just been, after the first time they’d taken you away to experiment on you, letting them take you out of your cell, without any physical fuss, and rarely any verbal fuss, either.

“I had to stay strong for Harley,” you mustered, your voice close to a whisper, prompting both Waller and Flag to look over at you, “I couldn’t-.. couldn’t lash out, and try to escape, because I knew it would be too risky to try and break her out, with me, and abandoning her could never be an option for me to consider; I’d never forgive myself, if I even tried to.” You then turned to face them both, fully, your eyes pleading with them to let you and Harley hold one another. “Please,” you begged feebly, your voice sounding strained whilst you did; you were trying not to cry, “let me - let me hold her, before we go on.”

Waller hesitated, but begrudgingly decided to change her mind when she heard Flag clear his throat beside her. “They are mates, after all, I mean,” he reminded her, “and they haven’t seen each other for a year - Imagine not seeing your partner for a year, Commander - The first thing you’d want to do would either be to hug them, kiss them, or even hit them, right? Depending on what context, or state your relationship is in with them, of course.”

“Fine,” Waller gave in, and your eyes widened a little, whilst beginning to glint, and you quickly turned to face Harley again, before throwing your arms around her, and she wouldn’t hesitate to return the hug, clinging to the material of your vest.

“I’ve missed holding you like this,” you mused in a barely audible, and shaky whisper, “so much.. I love you, Quinzels, a-and - you mean everything to me, y-you.. you know that, right?”

“I know,” she reassured you, and you smiled, expressing relief whilst you did; you’d really believed that she had meant what she’d been saying, before, about thinking that you didn’t love her anymore, because you hadn’t stepped forward to hug her, before, “I just had to say that stuff to show them that you’re strong, and can hold yourself back even when you’re provoked, remember?” You winced when you remembered, and managed a faint smile over at her, whilst she connected her forehead to your’s, affectionately booping the tip of your nose with her’s, whilst she did. “I love you so much, little wolfy,” she cooed, “and you’re doing so well; you’ve got this, I know you have - Hopefully it won’t be too much longer, now, and we’ll be free to be together again s-soon, I promise.”

“We’re short for time, ladies,” Waller spoke up again, and you both frowned, not wanting to let go of one another, but you both knew you’d have to, if you wanted to be able to be allowed to be together again, so you reluctantly let go of each other, before dragging yourselves a step back, your eyes never leaving her’s whilst you did, “now let’s see how you handle it, in your other form.” You winced, knowing it would be a little harder to hold yourself back in your wolf form, but you knew you’d have to try, so nodded gravely, and would be led toward the closest tree by Flag, so you could undress behind it in, not wanting to tear your clothes during the transformation process, which you managed to get though quite quickly, and slightly less painfully as you’d changed a few days ago, to save Harley’s life again. All the soldiers watching, including Milton, would appear surprised by your appearance; you seemed bigger than the Omegas due to your Alpha status, and your fur coat was completely white, whilst your irises were a bold orange colour. Harley smiled softly, whilst she watched you walk back toward the group with a slight air of authority; you were trying to appear unperturbed; to live up to your mother’s previous status as an alpha, herself, before she’d died after giving birth to you. You faltered, for a moment, upon remembering what had happened to her, and Harley would tilt her head partially, her smile soon fading; she’d guessed that you were thinking about your mother, as you often wore the same guilty expression on your face whenever you had, before, whilst you were with her. You huffed, shaking your head, before pushing yourself to continue walking, your eyes beginning to glisten whilst you did, but you tried to hide it from them by averting your gaze down to the ground. “Wow,” Waller commented, after you had stopped a few paces away from her, and Harley, begrudgingly looking up at her, when you felt able, “Quinn was right when she said that your eyes look like pearls, whenever you’re assuming this form.”

You would be surprised, before glancing back at Harley, smiling lovingly whilst you did, and she smiled warmly back at you, making your heart skip a beat, like it usually did whenever she was smiling in your direction like she was, now, her eyes glinting. “A-And they aren’t like the Omegas’ eyes, see,” she pointed out, and Waller nodded slowly, recalling how the eyes of the Omegas they’d seen earlier had been of a more menacing purple colour, not at all like the bold orange colour of your’s.

“That doesn’t immediately mean that she’s not a threat, though, does it?” Waller replied, and Harley grimaced, wishing she’d just make her decision, already; she hated to see you suffering like you currently were; it took you a lot of strength to fight back your urges, and you already appeared somewhat exhausted after the first test they’d administered to you. “Now,” she continued, and you tried your best not to growl quietly, whilst inching closer to Harley, not wanting to be too far away from her, though you’d been only a few steps away from her before you’d decided to try and shuffle even closer, “I suppose it’s somewhat promising that she’s moved only a little bit closer to you, and seems to still be keeping her composure pretty well. Let’s see how fast she can react to attempted attacks, just to test her efficiency - Officer?”

You sensed that something was supposedly wrong, before Milton had taken out what looked like a laser gun, and you snarled when you noticed the pointer aiming up at Harley’s head, before you quickly turned around, and made to lunge over at Milton to protect her, but a chain lasso managed to secure itself around your neck, making you whine aloud, and draw back, whilst you snapped your jaws in Milton’s direction, still thinking that he was going to try and hurt her - something you could never let happen. Harley could see that you were beginning to panic, upon noticing all the guns that were being aimed directly at you, in case you managed to try and escape free from the lasso; you had been trying to, after all. “A-Alpha-!” She called, trying to distract you, but you found you couldn’t move, paralysed with fear, and dangerously close to losing control of yourself. “Lower your damn guns, you’re scaring her-!” She cried, whilst trying to get to you, but Flag would try and hold her back, recognising that you currently appeared to be unstable, and possibly dangerous. “No-!” She shouted, trying to escape his hold, and her shout attracted your attention immediately after you’d heard it, quickly looking back at her, whilst your heart began to race; you thought she was in danger again, and that Flag was hurting her, prompting you to roar, before trying to leap at him, intending to free her from his hold, and maul him for trying to cause her harm.

“Sergeant, look out!” Waller warned, and Flag had to quickly jump out of the way, before you could sink your sharp teeth into his left shoulder. “I’ve seen enough, she’s unstable - She dies-”

“No, you can’t!” Harley shrieked, whilst you would appear dejected, stopping in place, so you could look up at her, a pained, as well as guilty expression on your face, allowing the soldiers to pin you down to the ground gingerly, whilst both Flag and Milton had to try and hold her back again, so she couldn’t try and save you from them, though she desperately wanted to, struggling against their hold, whilst they dragged her back into the base. You felt awful, and as if you’d failed her, and the thought disheartened you, prompting you to allow them to drag you back inside, without any struggle; you believed Harley would be better off without you, again, and that she deserved someone better who wouldn’t easily lose control like you just had, less than a minute ago.

“Please reconsider,” Harley begged Waller, “she - she was scared, a-and - and thought that Flag was trying to hurt me-”

“She unstable, Quinn,” Waller repeated, not wanting to have to change her mind, and she groaned, wishing Waller would just listen to her, for once, finding it frustrating that she wasn’t, again. “She could hurt the others, rather than our enemies-”

“N-No, she won’t,” Harley assured, desperate to save you from being executed by them, “I can-.. I can make sure she doesn’t; she listens to me, a-and Flag-”

“Sergeant,” Flag corrected quietly, and Harley winced, noticing the look on Waller’s face.

“Sometimes,” she added, “w-well.. In terms of Sergeant Nutcase over here, but she always listens to me, p-please give us another chance to show you; she’ll protect all of us against them, I know she will; it’s what she does; she, a-and the other Alpha and Beta werewolves, they-.. they’re here to protect humans from the Omegas, a-and the hunters.”

Waller would be surprised; she’d not heard of such a thing, before, and decided that it may be worth at least something to test you again, as long as Harley could keep you under control, like she said she could. “Sergeant, take Quinn back to the others,” Waller instructed, and Flag nodded, “the execution is going ahead, tonight; I won’t make you offer her any painful goodbyes, either-”

“N-No, please-!” Harley cried, whilst Flag attempted to drag her away. “You - You can’t take her away from me again,” she continued shakily, “I love her, please!” Flag then managed to get her out of the room, and Waller would sigh, before sitting down, and thinking about what she could do to get you to protect her and the others, away from Harley; she wanted to see that you’d protect them if she wasn’t in danger, with them.

🜚

“Just a little to the left, Sergeant,” Waller instructed, and Flag dragged you more toward the centre, “perfect - You know I’m a perfectionist, don’t you?”

“I believe I do, Commander,” Flag stated, managing a soft smile over at her, acting as if he thought, and was a little disappointed, to think that you were going to be executed, when, really, he, Milton, and the other soldiers knew of her plan.

“Good,” she chimed, “now - Bring out the others, except Quinn, Officer.”

Milton nodded, before respectfully bowing his head in Waller’s direction. “Commander,” he acknowledged, before walking back into the base, shortly returning with the other members of the group, excluding Harley, dejecting you as you bowed your head, wishing you could see her again, even if it was just for a measly few painful seconds.

“I regret to inform you all that - You might have been going to have a new friend,” Waller began, looking over at them, whilst some of them blankly stared back at her, and others sneered in her direction, “until now; she failed to prove herself, yesterday, but - No worries, she wouldn’t have been good for us, anyway; we’re strong without her, aren’t we? We don’t need one of those mutts on our side.” You faltered upon hearing her calling you a ‘mutt’, but found you couldn’t do anything, feeling empty all of a sudden, as if you’d lost everything. “I suppose you all have one thing to thank her for, though,” she continued, and you grimaced, whilst trying to fight back the tears that were beginning to invade your now dimmer eyes, “she’s earned you all a day off, to watch her die-”

You would be startled when you heard shouting nearby, and looked around to find that strange, and a little goofy makeshift Omegas were running toward the soldiers, and you snarled, your irises beginning to flicker between a bold orange and red; your alpha instincts were kicking in, telling you that you couldn’t let the Omegas hurt them, so you managed to tear the ropes that had been binding you by changing into your wolf form, also, unfortunately, tearing your clothes in the process. Waller had ensured that you be bound with ropes, rather than chains, so you could tear out of them, to fight the makeshift Omegas, who suddenly appeared terrified as you threateningly walked up to them, growling quietly whilst you did, your fangs purposefully on show; you knew that, although you wouldn’t consider Waller, or the soldiers being threatened by the Omegas, your friends, you couldn’t let the Omegas kill them, as your purpose was to protect innocent human civilians from them, like your mother had done, alongside other Alphas and Betas. “Thought she would,” Flag remarked, looking over at Waller, who appeared to be deep in thought, for a moment, until the makeshift Omegas - who were actually soldiers dressed up as if they were Omegas to achieve a reaction from you - called uneasily for her attention, alongside Milton who had to try and block you from them - A next to impossible task, especially when you were the same height as him, as well as slightly bigger than him, making it clear that you’d easily be able to knock him down, at best, before he could shoot you.

Waller winced when she noticed that you were still trying to get to them, and quickly rushed over to the group, intending to try and distract your attention, as well as try and calm you down. “Calm down, wolf girl,” she commanded, and you huffed, your eyes not leaving the shaky ‘Omega’ soldiers. “They aren’t Omegas,” she informed, and you would appear confused, looking over your shoulder at her, “settle down - I was just testing you, again.” You grunted, frustrated; you hated being tricked. “That’s better,” she remarked, “I have to say - I’m impressed; I didn’t think you’d actually try and protect us, like you did just then.”

“I told you,” a familiar voice rang out, and you immediately turned your head in it’s direction, your gaze falling upon Harley, who was walking up to the group, prompting your eyes to begin to glint, like they usually did whenever you were looking over at her, or were just with her, glued to her side, “she’s an Alpha; it’s what she does.”

“How the hell did she get out?” Waller questioned Flag, who winced, looking away from her. “You didn’t lock the door,” she guessed, but he wouldn’t respond, at first, “what the Hell is wrong with you, Sergeant? You obey my orders, not anyone else’s-”

“I just did it as a safety precaution,” he explained, and Waller scoffed, before shaking her head; she couldn’t believe he’d disobeyed her like that, “y’know - In case anything went wrong, and we needed the Alpha’s mate to calm her down.”

Waller threateningly got closer to him, prompting you to growl softly, watching them uneasily, and Harley quickly rushed to your side to provide comfort to you, and you instantly calmed down, feeling her tangling the fingers of her left hand within the white fur covering your right side. You smiled lovingly up at her, and she smiled warmly back down at you, before crouching down beside you so she could wrap her arms around your neck, and connect her left cheek to your right one affectionately. “She could have escaped,” Waller uttered, and Flag shook his head, before looking over at you, and you tilted your head partially in response to his action, until he looked back at Waller shortly after.

“I think we both know that she wouldn’t have wanted to go without the Alpha, c’mon, Commander,” he contradicted, “Quinn only escaped without her that time because she thought she was dead; she told me so, herself, and promised she wouldn’t try, again, as long as Y/n is with her.” Flag made sure to leave out the ‘for now’ part, knowing Waller would react badly to it; Harley had basically suggested to him that she intended to try and escape with you once the Omega Prime Minister, his army of Omegas, and hunters were gone.

“But she still could-”

“Sure,” Flag interjected impatiently, “but what matters is that she didn’t, did she? Look, she seems perfectly content, doesn’t she? They both do - Those aren’t really the faces you’d see of future escapees, are they? Think about it-”

“I suppose not, but-”

You then sensed something nearby, and growled quietly again, looking around, and Harley would be worried when she noticed that you seemed perturbed by something. “Alpha? Alpha, what’s wrong?” She questioned, and you subconsciously curled yourself around her, still looking around anxiously, whilst you did. “Something’s wrong; there’s gotta be someone here, o-or nearby, that wasn’t invited,” she stated, but before she could continue, chuckling sounded out nearby.

“Damn right there is,” an unfamiliar voice spoke, and you tensed up, upon hearing it, and would immediately roar when the figure emerged from the forest, behind the group, “and I’m offended by how you think we look, because - Those fools look nothing like us.”

“An Omega,” Flag uttered, and Harley had to try and hold you back, worried about you getting into trouble, if she let you attack it, too early.

“We look so much cooler, and neater, than those - goofy - humans,” the Omega continued, “don’t we, guys?” An assortment of growls began to ring out behind him, and your eyes began to flicker dangerously, as well as seemed to fill up with the anxiety you were trying to fight back; you were terrified of Harley getting hurt, seeing as there were a few of them, whilst she was worried about you getting hurt, too. “Well, I hate to crash the party, but - It was a little lame, anyway,” he remarked, before tilting his head partially, and grinning, “get them.”

“Shoot them!” Waller commanded the soldiers, and you managed to break out of Harley’s hold, panicking her, as the soldiers were now raising their guns, and one of them had managed to accidentally hit you with one of their bullets, whilst you were sinking your teeth into one of the Omegas. You whined aloud, letting the Omega go, and allowing it to pin you down to the ground, but before it could bite into your neck, Harley rushed forward with her spear, not caring if she got shot, too, which she somehow managed not to, knocking down the Omega, before she stabbed it’s left side with her spear, and dug out it’s crystal so it could no longer heal itself.

She then rushed back to you, after retrieving her spear, and helped you away from the fight, with Waller’s help - The others were all fighting with the Omegas. “You’re gonna be okay, Alpha,” she cooed, after crouching down beside you, and hugging you close to her; you couldn’t heal anymore, after losing your crystal the first time you’d saved her life from another Omega, “we’re - we’re gonna patch you up, and we’ll never be separated ever again this time, I promise - It’s you and me against the world, little wolfy, always, r-remember?” You nodded, managing a weak smile up at her, whilst Waller applied pressure to your wound, knowing she’d have to try and get the bullet out quickly, as it was made silver, and appeared to be paining you a lot more than a normal one would; you could feel that it was burning your side, and had to keep trying to stop yourself from clawing it out, distracting yourself to the best of your ability by letting your eyes get lost in Harley’s glistening icy blue ones. “I love you so much,” she expressed, whilst Waller made an attempt to dig the bullet out of your side, making you wince, and whimper quietly, “you make the flowers bloom, and flowers make me happy, like you make me happy, more than anything ever could.”

‘Do-.. Do you want me to buy you flowers?’ You inquired, and she would be surprised by your proposition, before her smile began to grow even more.

“I - I’d love that-!” She chimed, and you snorted, amused by her reaction.

‘Then I will, as soon as I’m good as new,’ you replied, and she nodded quickly, not wanting you to feel as if you had to get them for her whilst you weren’t in a great condition, and Waller was still currently cleaning your wound, and now in the process of stitching it up. ‘I’ll find you the best ones, because you deserve only the best, Quinzels,’ you added, and jolted a little when you felt the needle prick your skin again, and Harley tried to comfort you by stroking your neck, and fondling both your ears affectionately.

“Almost done now, Alpha, I promise,” Harley assured, “our Commander’s just about to start wrapping the bandage around you, now, and we’ll be able to cuddle up in bed together again, very soon; I’ll keep the pain away, a-and - and the bad dreams again, like I did, before.” You nodded, smiling lovingly up at her again, wondering how you’d survived without her, all those times you’d both been separated from one another, before.

‘I honestly don’t-.. don’t know how I.. ever lived without you, before,’ you admitted, and she nodded gravely, not sure how she had managed to before, either.

“I don’t know how I ever lived without you before, either,” she mused, and her eyes seemed to glint when she noticed that Waller had finished bandaging you up, whilst you had both been talking. “Look at that, Alpha,” she cooed, “you did it! You’re honestly the bravest little wolfy I’ve ever met, a-and I can’t wait to live the rest of my life with you, Cassie, and little Brucey.”

You would be surprised; you didn’t know that Bruce had been allowed to stay, whilst Cassandra had been made to stay at the new Birds of Prey base. ‘Bruce is here-?’ You inquired, and she winced when she remembered.

“Well, he isn’t allowed to stay here, but,” she murmured, a pained expression on your face, and you tried to hide that you were disappointed, not wanting to upset her, “he’s currently with Cassie, at our do-gooder friends’ new place - Sometimes they let me go and see them.”

‘Will they - Let me go with you, next time?’ You pried, hopeful, and she smiled softly, before nodding, certain that they would, whilst she looked up at Waller, a hopeful expression on her face.

“She can - She can go with me next time to see Cassie and Bruce, right?” She asked, and Waller sighed heavily, before nodding, too tired to come up with any reason why you shouldn’t.

“Sure,” she replied, before forcing herself to her feet, “I’m gonna check on the others.” She then rushed off, and Harley would carefully carry you inside, wanting to show you your and her new room. “It’s cozy, and the bed is just big enough for the both of us, but I can try and persuade Flag to get us an even bigger one, if it’s too small-”

‘As long as I can cuddle up with you, it’s perfect,’ you assured, and she smiled warmly down at you, glad that you thought so.

“Wanna test it out?” She suggested, and your eyes would begin to glint again.

‘Of course,’ you answered, and she giggled, before carrying you over to it, and lowering you down onto it carefully.

She then rushed around to the other side, and managed to get into the bed beside you, elated, like you were, to finally be able to be this close to one another again, after another dark and lonely year away from each other. “What do you think, little wolfy?” She inquired, and you snuggled up even closer to her, to the best of your ability, whilst she wrapped her arms around you, her eyes locking with your’s whilst she did in the best way possible.

‘It’s perfect,’ you expressed, ‘I love it, Quinzels, and I can’t wait to wake up beside you again.’

“I can’t wait to wake up beside you, too,” she returned, “they probably don’t need us out there anymore, so - We could stay here, for a little while - at least, get some well deserved rest?”

You nodded, clearly liking the sound of her suggestion. ‘I’d love that,’ you stated, and she would grin toothily, glad, ‘but I could never love anything more than I love you.’

“Stop,” she whined, feeling that she was beginning to blush, and you smirked, finding her reaction adorable, like you thought everything she did was, “I swear I’ll steal the rest of the duvet from you if you continue.”

‘I can live with that,’ you assured, certain that you could, ‘as long as it means I can keep teasing you-’

“Fine,” she gave in, “I won’t take the rest of the duvet, I’ll just sleep facing away from you.”

‘No,’ you whined, whilst she made to lay on her left side, instead, ‘come back, I wanna see you blush again-’

“Too bad,” she teased, “you’ll have to wait until tomorrow.” You whimpered quietly, disappointed, and she tried not to feel bad, but soon found that she couldn’t ignore you as she quickly turned to face you again, throwing her arms around you whilst she did. “I love you so much, Nugget,” she cooed, “and of course I’m gonna sleep facing this way; it gives me a great view of you to wake up to, as well as is the most comfortable side to lay on.”

You smiled softly over at her, glad that she was comfortable, and was enjoying the view of you beside her. ‘I think I’ve got an even better view,’ you claimed, and she giggled again, amused by your remark, as well as flustered by it, but she tried to hide that she was blushing again, burying her face into your neck, ‘goodnight, Quinzels.’

“Goodnight, Alpha,” she returned, before reluctantly letting her eyes close, whilst you hesitantly did the same, hoping you’d both get more time together, tomorrow, alone, so you could both have fun and stay up for longer, like you both had often done before, during your ‘double trouble’ college days.

~~~~~

Hope you enjoyed it! ❤️

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calvincell · 10 months ago

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Suicide Squad KTJL has a Plot Armor Problem

SPOILERS for vague but significant Kill The Justice League plot details

Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League is awful in multiple ways but one that I've found particularly baffling (outside of the disrespectful treatment of members of the Justice League) is the compulsion the game has with granting the Suicide Squad extreme plot armor throughout the entire runtime.

The Suicide Squad genuinely gets through every boss battle with the Justice League COMPLETELY unscathed. The brainwashing that has turned the League, as evidenced by the game, explicitly makes them sadistic & cruel to the point that they are regularly seen slaughtering average non-meta citizens. By all accounts, every instant they encounter any of the League, the Suicide Squad should be instantly brutalized & massacred because of the absence of each heroes morality, compassion & need for restraint. Yet for some reason, each League boss seems to be fine taunting & monologue to the Squad before granting them a sporting chance to fight them via a solo boss battle. That alone already obliterates the stakes of the game's plot but then the game has the gall to have these boss battles conclude with the defeated hero in a Yamcha Crater completely battered, broken, bruised & bloody while the members of the Squad stand around their quarry completely unblemished, barely winded & making C- wisecracks.

The entire point of the Suicide Squad as a team is that the missions they go on are fundamentally dangerous & near impossible ordeals where severe injuries & outright deaths are common. Not everyone in Task Force X who goes on a mission comes back & that's a massive part of the drama & tension that the Suicide Squad comics have. I know that with the limited roster of just the 4 current pre-DLC TFX members in Kill The Justice League makes it so that killing them during the game wouldn't happen. I'd ask why you’re creating a Suicide Squad game at that point honestly but whatever. However at the very least, each boss battle should take a massive toll on the Squad. They should be coming away from fights with kill-happy League members like Green Lantern or Batman with bloody noses, broken arms, hastily patched stomach wounds or broken ribs. At the end of the game, the Suicide Squad should look like they are on their absolute last legs & only a stiff breeze away from falling over dead. If the Suicide Squad barely struggles despite the fact that their opponents are literally the most powerful beings on the planet, the narrative is robbed of any threat or tension or drama or stakes.

Heck, even in great stories about the Justice League themselves, despite the fact that they are powerful, the stories keep you engaged by having some risk. Even though they get likened to gods, the Justice League does bleed & break & suffer & tire. Sometimes the heroes are one step behind, sometimes a villain gets the jump on them, sometimes they bicker amongst themselves & that strife bites them, sometimes they underestimate their opponents, sometimes they’re separated & sometimes de-powered, some members have an ego & an overconfidence that blinds them to their weaknesses, sometimes they get knocked out or wounded or injured, sometimes they’re outplayed & sometimes they miss the bigger sinister plot that the smaller & simpler crimes play into. Experiencing a taxing series of critical failures, bad luck, unsettling mysteries, devastating crises, frustrating manipulations & misdirections, unfortunate infighting & hard-fought battles is what makes the Justice League’s ultimate victories satisfying & that same principle makes teams like The Suicide Squad compelling.

IMO in KTJL, The Suicide Squad should be Die Hard's John McClane to the Justice League's well-armed terrorist army that fills every floor of Nakatomi Plaza. I find it especially egregious when James Gunn's The Suicide Squad understood this principle. At the end of that film, the Squad is nearly halved in size & every hero looks exhausted & beyond their limit reflecting the fact that they stood up to and managed to defeat a freaking kaiju just by the skin of their teeth. It's honestly just astounding to me that such a core part of not only the Suicide Squad's essence as a team but also of dramatic & thrilling storytelling was so completely unfulfilled.

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jasonsutekh · 3 months ago

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The Suicide Squad (2021)

Another team of villains are conscripted to fight against a potentially world-ending event.

There were a few amusing moments, some coming from the oddness of events and the vague morality the characters are wont to employ and other times are from quirks of the characters’ actual personalities and how they interact. It’s useful that it’s the same Harley because at least she’s a focus for the audience to connect with.

It’s a little tedious that we have a team that fundamentally can’t trust each other and are sometimes unironically annoying. The antagonists were fairly generic, although the Thinker had a good actor, we never really see why he’s special other than being a notable scientist, the soldiers and leaders blur together. Killing off decent anti-heroes in a moment as soon as they become interesting was definitely more on the irritating side than humorous.

The action was basic but it at least didn’t shy away from supernatural gore except in the case of the flower-blood scene but that was surreal enough to be more engaging by contrast. There was some subtext about US international corruption and manipulation of other governments which was effective but needn’t have been a fake country.

Although it was slightly amusing that the first team was rather useless, it seemed largely unecessary and introduced even more characters to distract from the little development that the main ones get. Much of the focus was on the two least interesting characters because they were essentially just good killers, and guns are guns.

5/10 -Can’t find a better example of average-

-The sequel series, Peacemaker (2022) was already completed when the film was released.

-The name “Project Starfish” is a play on a Cold War nuclear test where a bomb was detonated in space, it was called “Operation Starfish Prime”.

-The institution in charge of the squad in the movie is called A.R.G.U.S. and in Greek Mythology Argus is a giant with one hundred eyes who can be ever vigilant.

#Film #Review #The Suicide Squad #2021 #Fantasy #JasonSutekh

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wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 2 years ago

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Is It Really That Bad?

Come. Gather round and listen to the legend of the Funny Vampire Director, AKA the Funny Nazi Director, AKA Taika Waititi.

Raised in the way of the director, Waititi was taught to make good movies, delivering the sort of funny and heartfelt films most can only dream of making. He directed, and he wrote, and he acted. He was sensitive, like a smile. And his love of filmmaking did not discriminate in what he could make. He once made a hilarious vampire mockumenatry that got a spin-off TV series. Another time, he proved that you could make Blazing Saddles in the modern day, except with Nazis!

But Waititi's greatest achievement was cameoing in The Suicide Sqaud. Oh, wait. No. It was making a good Thor movie, of all things. But sadly, in making a good Thor movie, he set himself up for failure with the sequel. In fact, he set himself up for spectacular failure. Mediocre reviews. Audience backlash. Criticism from the actors and directors. And bad reviews from all sorts of internet guys, again and again and again. And again.

Poor Waititi had to watch the internet’s respect for him explode. And then he said, 'What have I done?' It seemed that everything he’d worked for with Thor, he lost. And so he maybe got fired by Marvel and went back to making real movies for a change. But just because he was done with Marvel, didn't mean he was done with superheroes. He teamed up with James Gunn and set off to deliver the most powerful and thematic line in The Suicide Squad. He got in shape, putting in the hard yards to become a respected filmmaker again. Taking pains into gains and never skipping the chance to direct a movie based on Tower of Terror. He put in the work to go from the butt of jokes to a guy who would hopefully deserve an Oscar win.

But with all that being said, there was still a confused reviewer just trying to figure out if maybe the backlash to Thor: Love and Thunder was a bit overblown. Because really, this movie couldn’t possibly be as shitty as The Dark World, which committed the sin of wasting Christopher Eccleston. So he sat down and gave the movie a rewatch, accepting he was only good for one thing... Determining that age old question, 'Is Thor: Love and Thunder really that bad?'

THE GOOD

So maybe this is a hot take, but I really did enjoy Jane’s return and her romance with Thor and find it to be one of the film’s best aspects.

Now, don’t get me wrong, a lot of the writing here is clunky and poor Natalie Portman is saddled with a lot of really stupid dialogue now that she’s the Mighty Thor. But seeing her and Chris Hemsworth act off each other again in a less dull and restrictive fashion is so nice, and seeing Portman kick ass is a lot of fun too. She even wields Mjolnir in some pretty creative ways here! And her death is actually a genuinely powerful and touching scene that they don’t immediately fuck up with a lame joke.

The soundtrack, while not even close to touching the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtracks, is filled with Guns N’ Roses banger after banger. I grew up listening to these guys, so honestly I’m predisposed to like any scene where they play one of my favorite tracks by them.”Sweet Child O’ Mine,” “November Rain,” “Paradise City,” and “Welcome to the Jungle” are all whipped out at just the right time to keep my attention from flagging completely, so I’ll give them props for that. They aren’t the most inspired choices, but I’m a sucker for classic Axl.

The Axl above? Decidedly less so. Still, despite this film’s reputation for really bad effects and really bad costumes and just in general looking embarrassingly cheap because Disney abuses the animators, there are some extremely cool visuals here and there. The shot of Falligar the Behemoth in particular is so good they slapped it into every trailer, and a climactic battle on a monochrome planet looks way too good to be in this movie. But by far the most fantastic thing is the comic-accurate depiction of Eternity.

And of course, I would be remiss to not praise Christian Bale’s performance as Gorr the God Butcher. The man immediately has you hooked with the opening scene, which details his backstory and shows how he began his vendetta against all the deities of the Marvel universe. Then we have his fantastic climactic confrontation with Thor on the black-and-white planet, and then there is his final scene before Eternity. Each and every time he shows up, it’s completely clear that Bale is giving it his all and acting his pussy off, giving a performance that is honestly kind of astounding considering what’s going on around him.

THE BAD

Unfortunately, while Gorr is a fantastic performance, he suffers from the fact his character has absolutely no cohesion and is barely in the film. He shows up for maybe one big fight in the first hour, then completely disappears from the film until the third act, during which time he just sits around with a bunch of children and terrifies them. And despite being “The God Butcher,” we see him butcher precisely one single god in the whole film, and that’s in the film’s opening. Groot has as many onscreen god kills as Gorr. That’s fucking pathetic. Bale’s magnificent performance is strong when it counts, but so much of the dramatic moments feel unearned because he hardly does anything outside those moments. The fact they cut out so much material including him meeting with Peter Dinklage’s King Eitri and Jeff Goldblum’s Grandmaster, really stings. Would it have been a crime to cut out those annoying fucking goats and instead give Gorr more to do like, oh, butchering gods?

It doesn’t help that the story never actually refutes any of Gorr’s points. Every other god we see in the film is egotistical, hedonistic, a coward, or all three at once, with even Thor reverting into a corny blowhard for much of the movie. Zeus is pretty much emblematic of this problem; while I actually did enjoy Russell Crowe’s performance (even if it is, ultimately, a half-baked attempt at recapturing the magic of Grandmaster from Ragnarok), the fact that Zeus is nothing more than a blowhard more concerned with orgies and showing off to all the other gathered deities just kind of proves Gorr right. The gods don’t care, they are refusing to help their followers, and frankly the universe would probably be a lot better if it was littered with Knowheres instead of having these horny clowns prancing about.

Then we have the Guardians. The glorified cameo from the Guardians of the Galaxy that was hyped up in all the marketing. Despite being in the movie for maybe ten minutes and despite Star-Lord having 95% of all the lines between them, nearly every single one of them feels completely out of character. Star-Lord, on the other hand, actually feels like he was rerailed in time for Gunn to take the reigns back, but it doesn’t make up for how awkward and pointless it all feels. Although it is incredibly hilarious that after all of them spent Infinity War fawning over him they all now seem to barely tolerate him, with it being confirmed none of them kept in contact with him after the events of this film. I honestly don’t blame them.

A lot of returning characters really suffer. King Valkyrie gets it pretty bad since her subplot where she searches for love was dropped, leading to her feeling really superfluous in the plot. Lady Sif gets it even worse, with her barely even being in this movie; one has to wonder why they even bothered keeping her alive. Thor gets hit especially bad here, because he seems to have reverted from his post-Ragnarok characterization all the way to pre-Thor characterization, with all his hedonism, goofing, gallavanting, insecurity, and egotistical traits ramped up to maximum levels.

But the most divisive returning character of all is Korg. Korg became a fan-favorite due to his appearances in Ragnarok and Endgame, where he was genuinely a funny comic relief character who juxtaposed his intimidating rock golem design with a friendly demeanor and the chipper voice of director Taika Waititi. The thing is, both of those films used him sparingly, so that when he got a lame joke it wasn’t so bad because it’s one up against dozens of good ones. Here though he gets to be a main character and even the narrator, and boy does he get old pretty quickly. The thing is, though, that even if he’s not particularly funny here… I still like Korg. He’s just too damn charming, As lame as his jokes are, as lame as his fake out death is, as pointless as he ends up feeling to the plot, I just can’t hate the guy. I guess it helps that he gets to be Disney’s 52nd First Gay Character, but actually for real this time because in the end he gets to make a baby with a rock guy named Dwayne. I also really like the theory that the reason the whole film is corny is because Korg is narrating it, and he’s an unreliable narrator peppering the story with lame jokes and underplaying elements that should matter. Does it save the whole movie? No. Does it make Korg any funnier? Also no. Does it add an interesting layer that at least keeps me from wanting Korg dead? Yes, yes it does.

And really, every single problem here is something that was there in Thor: Ragnarok. Zany comedy? A terrifying, threatening villain with a murderous vendetta who gets weirdly underplayed and barely interacts with the heroes? A villainous character played entirely for jokes? Jokes that completely and utterly destroy the tension of any given scene? The big difference is that in Ragnarok, at least some of the jokes were funny, and Thor had more interesting characters to bounce off of. And maybe most importantly, that film knew when to dial back the comedy to let cool or emotional moments breathe. And maybe even more importantly than that, it knew to keep Korg to a minimum. This film doesn’t do that at all, with nonstop gags undercutting nearly every dramatic moment. It’s ultimately hard to give a shit about anything going on when the characters give so little of a shit about it that they’re cracking jokes.

And let me tell you, if you couldn’t already tell, the jokes are fucking bad. This is basically what would happen if you asked Seltzer & Friedberg to make Marvel Movie. This is the epitome of all those jokes about Marvel dialogue having the characters go “Well that just happened!” to the point where I’m shocked it’s not actual dialogue. The horrendously unfunny screaming goat meme is a pivotal plot point in this movie; that’s the quality of jokes we’re dealing with here. And while there are a few decent jokes here and there, there’s just too many fucking jokes to pay them any mind.

IS IT REALLY THAT BAD?

Somehow this is one of the most overhated and yet rightfully disliked films ever made.

Like, Schafrillas was right to call this the Shrek the Third of Thor films. It’s not funny, it derails beloved characters, it’s incredibly annoying, it wastes a good villain, and the writing is just so hackneyed and ridiculous. This is absolutely not a good film at all. But the way you hear some people talk about it you’d think this film killed their grandma.

Like I know bad comedies are some of the worst kinds of films out there, and this film is definitely horrendously unfunny at every opportunity, but it has just enough good ideas and just enough strategic deployment of Guns N’ Roses songs that it just barely manages to be passable in my eyes. I definitely think this is a mediocre movie, and it is emblematic of everything a bad Marvel movie can be. But at the same time, it manages to be unfunny in ways I didn’t think were possible from a director and cast this talented. I’ll be honest, on my second watch through of the movie I was more bored than infuriated with this film. It has its moments, but it’s absolutely one of the weakest efforts Marvel has ever put out.

This film is pretty much what critics once accused Batman & Robin of being: An overindulgent, campy, unfunny smear on a cool hero. As you well know by now, I don’t agree with them on that, but it’s a somewhat fitting descriptor for Love & Thunder. I don’t think it’s a smear on Thor, who has been way too inconsistent for me to get mad about him being taken in some wild direction, but overindulgent, campy, and unfunny are pretty apt. Still, I don’t think this is nearly as bad as a lot of people say. It’s not bad in a “crime against humanity” way, at worst it’s bad in a “I know the people making this are capable of better and I kinda feel like this is the fault of studio executives at Disney” kind of way. If you like it, sure, that’s valid! I don’t think there is no value in this film at all, especially compared to some stuff I’ve reviewed for Is It Really That Bad. But if I never have to see this movie again, I won’t exactly lose sleep over it, and I’m sure many people feel the same.

Still, I’d have to have a heart of stone to not find the ending, which features Thor and his adopted daughter (played by Hemsworth’s own daughter) becoming a cute little superhero team and getting a corny title drop right before the credits, really sweet. Yeah, it’s not a good movie, but at least it’s better than the first two Thor movies or the unseasoned oatmeal that is Eternals.

#Is it really that bad #IIRTB #Thor #Thor: Love and Thunder #Taika Waititi #Chris Hemsworth #Natalie Portman #Christian Bale #Marvel #Disney #MCU

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