#WandaVision speculation

[theomenmedia]

Who Could Aubery Plaza's Rio Vidal From "Agatha All Along" Be?

Dive into the mystery with Aubrey Plaza as Rio Vidal in #AgathaAllAlong! Who is she really? A witch, a legend, or something more? #MarvelMagic #AubreyPlaza #WandaVisionSpinOff #GreenWitch #MCU #DisneyPlus

Link to the full story: https://www.theomenmedia.com/post/aubrey-plaza-s-enigmatic-role-in-agatha-all-along-who-is-rio-vidal

[cissa-calls]

Countdown to Agatha: Darkhold Diaries: Day 633

There is something so so chaotic yet elegant about the choice of this hairstyle for Agatha. I’m unsure of if it’s a wig or not - but either way the hair is beautiful (hats off to the wig/hairstyling department).

The center part with a loose, top knot with a small twist sets her apart from all the other witches thus far in the series: Wanda, Evanora, and even Agatha herself. All whilst in their full witch regalia had free flowing hair - adding dynamic movement from the forces of magic and flight. This new bun might imply change and adventure as she needs to tame her mane for logistical purposes. But yet, it is still unable to be tamed, still a presence and weapon of power from whatever angle she faces. Her facade of power.

TLDR: The new hairstyle refreshes Agatha’s look whilst maintaining her hair as a key part of her character design and presence.

(Photos sourced from @ScarletWitchUpd on Twitter)

[scarlet--wiccan]

Agatha All Along, the highly anticipated follow-up to WandaVision, begins airing this week on Disney+. Now is the perfect to revisit some important information about both shows and the context in which some of Agatha's new characters are being introduced.

WandaVision primarily followed the character Wanda Maximoff and expanded on her family history by introducing her late parents as well her twin sons, who are born from magic and age rapidly over the course of the series.

In the Marvel comics source material, Wanda is part of a large, multigenerational family of Jewish and Romani characters whose stories frequently reflect the systemic violence and oppression that both communities face-- including Romani Holocaust victims, who are critically underrepresented in both education and media. In the MCU, these identities and histories are completely erased, and the characters are all played by white actors. Alternate versions of these characters also appear in the Fox X-Men films, and are similarly whitewashed.

The Romani people are a racialized minority that originated as a South Asian diaspora, and who face severe systemic oppression in Europe and North America. The modern Romani population is quite diverse, but they are not of white ethnic origin, and despite the fact that Wanda and her family have historically been drawn with white features, they are minority characters and ought to be considered as such.

Depictions of witches and witchcraft are often entwined with antisemitism and anti-Romani racism. In pop culture, witches and fortunetellers are typically portrayed as visual stereotypes of Romani women. In the real world, fortunetelling is a profession born from survival work, one which Romani families are often heavily policed and racially profiled for practicing. While Wanda usually subverts these tropes, they are often played straight elsewhere in the superhero genre, and any story about witches, especially one featuring Romani characters, needs to be critiqued in this context.

Agatha All Along introduces viewers to a new cast of characters, including Lilia Calderu, played by Patti LuPone, and the enigmatic "Teen", played by Joe Locke, who is heavily speculated to be an incarnation of Wanda's son, Billy.

In the comics, Lilia is a member of a prominent Romani family in Wanda's community. Often lauded as the "witch queen of the gypsies," Lilia embodies many racial stereotypes about Romani women. In Agatha All Along, Lilia is depicted as an older Sicilian woman, however, being portrayed as a batty fortuneteller with a tawdry psychic shop, she still embodies an offensive trope. Although Lilia is far from "good" representation, this is not an improvement-- if anything, it's even more exploitative.

Billy was raised in a Jewish American household and places a very strong emphasis on his Jewish identity, in addition to having Romani heritage. His identity as a young gay man is always presented in conjunction with this heritage, not in spite of it. Though there is a significance to Locke being a gay actor playing a gay character, his casting-- if he is indeed playing Billy-- is not authentic. White gay representation should not supersede racial inclusivity, and it is not an excuse for whitewashing or Jewish erasure.

Marvel Studios recently announced that the character Doctor Doom will be played by Robert Downey Jr., who is returning to the franchise after many years in the role of Iron Man. In the source material, Doom is also a Romani character with a very similar background to Wanda's. This identity is central to Doom's character-- although he is written to be both morally and politically challenging, the liberation of his people has always been a primary motive.

Clearly, this type of whitewashing is an ongoing pattern in the MCU franchise. Although "Teen's" identity is still unconfirmed and Lilia may, ultimately, be of little consequence, they are part of a larger problem, and Agatha All Along needs to critiqued in that context.

[erosia-rhodes]

Speculation on Mizu’s heritage

Blue Eye Samurai on Netflix is one of the best things I’ve seen all year. As I’ve been rewatching it, I couldn’t help but speculate on Mizu’s heritage, and I wanted to share my theory so we can all laugh at how wrong I was in a few years. (I am notoriously bad at guessing plot twists. I was totally wrong about how Wandavision and Loki season 1 would end.)

Spoilers and speculation behind the jump.

Short version: Mizu’s mother was a white woman and her father was the Shogun. The Shogun’s wife, Lady Itoh, put the bounty on Mizu’s life because she was proof that the Shogun broke his own laws.

Who Would Want to Kill a Baby?

We know that there has been a bounty on Mizu’s head since she was a baby. There are only three reasons I can think of for putting a hit out on a child who’s just been born and couldn’t have personally wronged anyone yet:

1) To deny them an inheritance.

2) To eliminate proof of an affair.

3) To eliminate proof of a crime.

The woman that claims to be Mizu’s mother is Japanese, so Mizu assumes her father must be white. But once Fowler reveals that Mizu’s “mother” was actually her maid, it opens up the possibility that Mizu’s mother was white and her father was Japanese.

We know that someone is willing to a pay a lot of money to kill Mizu, but the maid also ran off with enough money to take care of Mizu for several years, so at least one person in this mess is wealthy. We also know that someone still wants Mizu dead when she's an adult because men come to kill her when her husband rats her out, so she’s still a threat to someone else’s interests at that time.

If the Shogun slept with a white woman and fathered a mix-raced child as a result, that would fulfill all three reasons to put a bounty on a baby. Killing her would remove any chance that a bastard might try to blackmail her way into an inheritance, it would remove proof that the Shogun had an affair, and most importantly, it would destroy evidence that he violated his own laws against Western influence by sleeping with a white woman.

But the True Culprit is…

But I don’t think the Shogun put the bounty on Mizu’s life. I think it was the Shogun’s wife, Lady Itoh, for several reasons:

1) Lady Itoh is willing to kill people who learn that her husband broke his own laws.

When the nobles are trying to escape the fire in the finale, Lady Itoh makes her sons lock the door behind them and sentence the other Lords to death because they witnessed the Shogun’s shame, the revelation that he broke his own laws by dealing with Fowler, a white man. She’s demonstrated that she’s willing to kill people to destroy proof of her husband’s violations, so she’d do the same to a mixed-race baby he fathered. It would also explain why Mizu’s maid never claimed the bounty herself; she would have been targeted for death too because she knew about the Shogun’s crime. She probably took whatever money was in the house when the killers came for Mizu, and went on the run as much to save her own life as Mizu's.

2) The woman’s a sadist.

Lady Itoh does everything she can to make Akemi’s life hell once she marries into the family. She saddles her with bitchy attendants and serves her disgusting food at the banquet, and finishes it off with the cooked remains of the bird Akemi tried to free. Then she sends her two more birds the next day, claiming they’re breakfast and lunch. I have no trouble believing this woman would put a hit on a baby!

3) She’s a hardliner against Western influence

After the fire, Lady Itoh orders her sons to destroy 2000 guns which they could have used in the future against their enemies because she’d so fiercely against Western influence. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was the one who came up with the law banning white people and talked her husband into enacting it. That would explain why the Shogun was willing to violate the law, because he didn’t completely believe in it and only enacted it to get his wife off his back.

It Fits a Common Theme of Revenge Stories

Another reason I think Lady Itoh is the ultimate villain is because it fits the common theme that revenge is futile. Revenge usually destroys the person seeking it just as much as anyone they go after. There is a famous quote from Confucius that says, "Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves." The implication is that the second one is for yourself.

If it turns out that Mizu has been going after the only four men in the country who couldn’t be her father, it would demonstrate how misguided revenge quests are. She’s spent her whole life pouring hatred into the wrong mission.

It would also be a painful twist to know that Mizu was in the same room with Lady Itoh in the finale, but she was focused on killing Fowler instead of realizing that her true enemy was fleeing out the back door with everyone else.

How It Will All Sort Out

I predict that Mizu will eventually learn the truth about her parentage and ultimately target Lady Itoh for death, not just for revenge, but so she can permanently remove the bounty on her head and live her life freely as a woman.

Akemi might end up assisting Mizu since Lady Itoh is also her enemy. Akemi will probably spend season two battling Lady Itoh for control of the household, and thus the country. If Akemi can put her husband in place as the Shogun, she could remove the bounty on Mizu's head.

If Taigan ends up working as a castle guard, this might put him in conflict with Mizu and Akemi if they target Lady Itoh since he would be honor bound to protect her.

It will be interesting to see how it all sorts out!

ETA: I misspelled Lady Itoh's name, sorry! (According to the subtitles it's Itoh, not Ito) I think I fixed every instance.

[gavillain]

My thoughts and theories after Agatha All Along episode 3. Read no further if you haven't seen the episode yet.

SHARON NOOOOOOO :'( Honestly, with the way Agatha brought her along essentially to be a meat shield, it's not surprising that she died so early on the journey down the Witches' Road, but I was still surprised that they killed off the comic relief this early. But I caught that they didn't add Sharon's hair to the antidote when brewing the potion, and I think that'll be discussed next episode. The show definitely had to establish the stakes of the Road as life or death early on, and Sharon was the only character who they COULD kill off since she was the only one without a mystery to solve. Still, sad to see her go.

In more important news, though, MEPHISTO GOT NAME DROPPED. HE'S COMING ASDFGHJKL; Listen, after all the speculation we were all doing during WandaVision about Mephisto showing up, to hear him get referenced makes me EXCITED to see if that's just going to be a world building detail or if he's going to be relevant in the story.

Agatha giving up her son, Nicholas Scratch, for the Darkhold was established as a part of her reputation in this episode. The trailers confirm that it's a bit more complicated than that, so I'm curious to know the full story. Right now, I'm theorizing that the hair in the locket is Nicholas's, and, if you remember from WandaVision, she plucked that locket off of her mother's corpse after stealing mommy's powers. So, I'm fairly certain Agatha sacrificing Nicholas is tied in with why her mother tried to have her executed back in the 1600s, and maybe Mama Harkness did something that resulted in her grandson's death? I dunno, but I wanna know! I think Nicholas Scratch IS still alive, though, and I think he's going to be the twist Big Bad of the show.

Teen is pretty obviously Billy Kaplan, and it's so obvious in fact that I wonder if it's going to be a bait and switch and he's somehow Nicholas? But like... maybe I'm overthinking it and it's only obvious that he's Billy to us comics fans. For normies watching this with only WandaVision and Multiverse of Madness for context, him being Billy WOULD be a really interesting twist, so we'll see! Regardless, he's the only person on the Road who I am reasonably certain is going to make it out alive.

The hallucinations for Lilia, Jennifer, and Alice were all interesting, though they left more questions than answers: *Lilia saw what looked like Russian royalty taunting her saying "they're all dead" as they took on more decayed and corpselike forms. I joked to my boyfriend that it was the Romanovs, but that's honestly not necessarily out of the question. Lilia in the comics is the "queen of the gypsies" in Scarlet Witch's childhood, so maybe in this verse, she was a part of the Sokovian royal family before their dynasty was killed off by revolutionaries that led to the political turmoil of Sokovia that we saw in Age of Ultron. Being a psychic, I'm willing to bet Lilia survived because she saw the massacre coming but no one else believed her, sort of a Cassandra figure. I could be WAY off base, but I like my theory.

*Jennifer is the one who I have the least read on her hallucination with the weird man trying to drown her. We know that she is bound, unable to use her powers, so is this man maybe the one who bound her? Or is he someone else tied to the events that led to her being bound? She's been bound for a little over a hundred years, and the man's clothes seemed to be from that time period. In the comics, she's from Florida and was an ally of Man-Thing, so maybe something in her story is going to tie back into Werewolf by Night? We'll have to see!

*Alice's hallucinations are the most straight forward, she saw her mother weeping because her grandmother had passed away and the mother felt it. We know her mom was a witch, and we can pretty safely assume that the grandmother was one too, I think. The mother mentions that since whatever killed the grandmother got her, now it's after her, and since we know Alice's mom is dead in the present day, that would mean that this mysterious force is now after Alice too. What is this force, though? Alice tells Teen that she has a tattoo that wards off a curse that plagues her family bloodline that her mother made her get, so is it just this curse that's after her or is it connected to something else? In the trailer, we see Alice exploding with fire as a demonic entity emerges from her. I doubt this is Mephisto, since I think if Mephisto has ties to anyone here, it'll be Teen or Rio, but maybe some subordinate of his? In the comics, she and Wanda worked together to defeat a being called Dark Tongji. I think it's likely that he's the being hunting her bloodline.

Then a few notes from earlier:

1. The Salem Seven - I went back to WandaVision for a refresher, and, not counting Agatha's mom, the coven that Agatha murders and drains of their magic in her backstory numbers at seven and they were in Salem... I'm putting money that the Salem Seven is what's left of Agatha's old coven hunting her down, or at least their descendants.

2. Rio keeps getting hints that keep lining up to hint that she's a genderbent version of Blackheart, which has me excited! I don't know if they're actually going to go this route, and her being a "Green Witch" kinda makes it a bit weird. But they keep reiterating "black heart" in relation to her and now they've referenced Mephisto, his father. So I think if Rio isn't literally Blackheart, she's at least possessed by him. We'll have to see. But I do love the crackship of Agatha Harkness/genderbent Blackheart for lesbian Marvel villain lovers. That tickles me XD

Overall, SUPER into this show thus far, and I LOVE that there's so much mystery and intrigue to piece together! I CAN'T WAIT FOR EPISODE FOUR, I NEED IT NOOWWWWWWWWWW

[triciaisonline]

I have a crazy theory, based on literally nothing - just something I think would be wild to do... IT INVOLVES KNOWLEDGE OF THE ALLEGED FUNKO LEAK (which we don't know the validity of yet) so do not read if you want to remain unaware of it

This is just a theory, and it's probably totally wrong - but I was just thinking of all these pieces and a way they could fit... this is also going to bounce all over the place as I type in a stream of consciousness.

Okay, so it's not fully formed yet - and it connects to another theory that has been circulating. This is just being written off the cuff, so it's not going to properly formulated but....

The alleged leak, shows two pop figures: Rio as Lady Death (just labeled as Death) and Teen as Wiccan. Now these things are not entirely shocking as people speculated these for a bit.

SEE HERE

Now, I had a mini theory that Teen was so obviously Wiccan that it would be really funny if the character took the Wiccan mantle but then wasn't Billy. I'm not saying I think that's what's going to happen - just that it would be a good twist because it toys with out expectations and would remind audiences of the twists with Pierto and Agatha in WandaVision. So, this sort of follows that - but in a different way.

My new clown theory is: Teen is Nicholas Scratch - but leaning into the villian background of the character, is trying to make Agatha think he's Billy. Wild to say, I know - but my crazy clown theory goes as follows:

I think there's more symbolism in the Agnes of Westview part than we believed. When "Agnes" is first seen in her house, she's having the end of a terrible day and is pissed off at the appearance of Rio. She goes to a bedroom that's meant to symbolize the loss of her son, and that's when Rio shows up at her door. It's in the scene that follows that Rio asks her: do you remember why you hate me?

I think this line got forgotten a bit in the fight scene that ensued - because it seemed to imply that Agatha had done Rio wrong at some point, which may be true - but perhaps it was in response to something Rio did first. Why would Agatha hate Rio if Agatha was the only one at fault? We see Agatha interacting with other witches while she's not the most friendly, there's something deep there with Rio.

I am positing that Rio is the one who caused Agatha to lose Nicholas - not Agatha. Now, I'm not saying this to remove Agatha's agency in her wrong doings - but that's something that could justify that hatred. I also think the timing of that initial scene makes me think we are meant to connect subconsciously the two events. I think Agatha's response is what somehow led her to getting on Rio's bad side and perhaps led to her gaining the Darkhold (or book of the dead, I'm forgetting atm if they are one and the same in this version of things). Which Agatha has tried to use to get her son back/get revenge... and as it's want to do, it took Agatha preexisting flaws and exacerbated them in its corruption as we saw with Wanda.

Now, how does this connect to my bold guess? Well, we assume that her son is dead - like a child sacrifice, as that's the comments others have made. But there's more than one way to suffer loss. Nicholas is an antagonist in the original comics, he even frames his mother at one point for horrific crimes. Is it possible that Nicholas was offered up not for death, but taken by whomever is at the center of this to and turned against her?

Teen's comments in the Agnes of Westview interrogation about the homelife she lives are very interesting and seemingly out of character for the rest of his portrayal as an Agatha fan boy. Teen has clearly done a lot of research, and the events of Westview are implied to be public knowledge. Could Teen be Nicholas - either of his own volition or working for someone else (put a pin in this part) - intentionally trying to trick her? The sigil, was it placed by himself or someone he's working with, in order to not be recognized?

"Okay, but how about the Wiccan pop figure leak?" --- okay, so the show is being so obvious about who Teen is possibly.... but the team has done this bait and switch before in WandaVision. Maybe it's obvious because it's meant to trick us and the characters? Maybe Teen is trying to invoke the idea of Wanda's kids - someone Agatha has complex history with, but also knew the kids of. The pop has Teen in very Wanda looking costume pieces. Could it be that it's meant to be on the nose on purpose?

What about Rio? Well, the leak depicts Rio as Lady Death. We have also seen the Tarot card promotional images that back this. Now, if Rio is a fake identity or becomes possessed by Death- no way of knowing. Lady Death often is an antagonistic figure as well, could this plan of Teen's be connected or guided by Rio/Lady Death? Perhaps in some sense of vengeance? It's implied Agatha has killed many in her long life - that could be a connection as well. Plus, it's a small note - but the trailers have that line from Rio focusing on how the bodies are piling up.

TAROT PROMO HERE

Lilia had the vision/hallucination that expressed a desire/need to Protect Agatha. Why? Because she's being played. Rio sets the Salem Seven on Agatha, which makes her desperate enough to go on the Road. The thing Teen wants to get her to go on. Rio also seemingly has interacted with Teen while Agatha was Agnes. Since so much of that was happening in Agatha's house - and she didn't react to them at all? That's strange, unless she already expected him to be there. The Salem Seven are Nicholas' kids in comics, turned against their Grandmother Agatha as additional antagonists. Now, they might not be his kids in this version, we don't know yet - but there might be a connection. "But the Seven attacked Nicholas?" Well, either it was an act or his sigil has him blinded to them as well. So, they could all be working on the same team to sell it.

Teen was also strong enough to break Wanda's spell. Something we've only seen Agatha do in this specific corner of the MCU. Similar magical power, perhaps because of powerful influence and/or being related to her.

Another note - how does Rio end up on the Road? She's not with the coven. If Rio is Lady Death - the death of Sharon Davis might be an opening for her to arrive...

This is all over the place, but I feel there's a possible link here. It's likely not, but it was fun to think about !!!

[alexzalben]

I know you’ve only seen ep 4 so I’m not really asking for a tease more just your opinion but do you think there will be some type of flashback to agathario and their son (assuming nick is their son)

Yeah, I think we will, whether it's hallucination flashbacks (a la Episode 3) or some sort of cold open, we'll for sure find out more of their past.

The reason I'm waffling on a full-on Agatha/Rio flashback episode is I'm reasonably confident we'll get a full-on Teen flashback episode once he's revealed as [REDACTED], walking us through his whole history, up to the point of the reveal, and then we move forward from there. Might be too much to do a Teen flashback episode and an Agatha/Rio flashback episode.

I'd also bet if that does happen, we'll get the Teen reveal at the end of Episode 7, same as the Agatha reveal in WandaVision. And then Episode 8 will be his flashback, leading us into the finale.

Pure, 100% speculation on my part though!

[aparticularbandit]

real talk, though.

if vision quest is about white vision regaining his memories. even if she's dead, wanda should be in that.

you can't give me wandavision and then pretend that vision's memories wouldn't largely involve wanda. or you can, but then that would carry a through line of wanda caring more about vision than he does about her (or, at least, that his priorities were/are different - which you can support with infinity war and his decision to go jump into battle and leave wanda once he noticed the avengers needed his help). and regardless, she would and should still be part of those memories.

that would be the best place to confirm or deny what the mcu official timeline is speculating re: wanda's death because a white vision who truly regained his memories would also probably seek her out, depending on how he relates to those memories, even if he doesn't accept them into who he is or decides to be.

[breckstonevailskier]

Rewriting Captain America: Civil War to actually make it a Captain America movie

Let's face it, the biggest problem with Civil War is that despite Captain America's name being in the title, it's not really a Captain America movie. It's more like an Iron Man 4 or Avengers 2.5 masquerading as a Captain America movie. I mean, the plot relies more heavily on threads from Avengers: Age of Ultron than it does Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Not to mention the creators deliberately trimmed/cut Team Cap scenes because they wanted audiences to be split 50-50 on what side to take, as if they needed to do that to make Team Iron Man Support a Piece of Legislation That Reads Like Something Written By HYDRA look good. And Tony Stark has more dialogue than Steve Rogers gets. And this is around the time when basically, the writing for the MCU decided to stop letting other characters call Tony out on his wrongdoings.

So how does one fix that?

General changes:

For starters, have HYDRA still be as important as they were in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Rather than have them be conspicuously absent, they are still very much lurking in the shadows. Bonus points by having the movie strongly imply (and members of Steve's side speculate) that the Sokovia Accords might be a brainchild of HYDRA's. After all, the Accords (and the ways they basically take away the rights and freedoms of enhanced individuals) read like something out of Nazi Germany, the place that Red Skull's HYDRA originated in.

Scene by scene changes:

Lagos aftermath:

The opening act in Lagos remains unchanged. It's a great action setpiece. However, some extra stuff is added to acknowledge that Rumlow's cell is obtaining the bioweapon with the purpose of carrying out an attack directed at people who pose a threat to HYDRA's existence.

In the aftermath, what I would change is the press coverage that goes out of its way to vilify Wanda. T'Chaka's biased take blaming the heroes for the destruction caused by Wanda relocating the explosion can stay, and maybe the second one where if not for the mentions of Wanda, you'd think they were talking about Rumlow. But I'd also add at least one newscast that is speaking favorably of the heroes, and praising Wanda for her efforts.

I'd slightly tweak Steve's scene with Wanda, and instead of saying, "The deaths are on both of us," he'd say, "It's not your fault, Wanda. It's Rumlow's fault. It's not your fault that he was a spiteful coward who decided he wouldn't let us take him in alive." I'd also have a scene or two of Vision doing his best to comfort Wanda and provide her someone to express her thoughts to, not unlike this scene from WandaVision:

Also a thing I'd fix is that I'd have the Avengers make some sort of press statement to defend Wanda from those who are unfairly vilifying her. Something to the effect of Natasha, Steve, and/or Vision going in front of a gaggle of reporters to read a statement as follows:

For the past month, the Avengers have been in pursuit of Brock Rumlow, international terrorist and confirmed member of HYDRA. Last week, the Avengers tracked him down to Lagos, Nigeria, where his cell was plotting to steal a biological weapon that it is believed they were going to use to carry out an attack that would kill hundreds of people. Acting per their training, the Avengers engaged Rumlow and his men, successfully killing or incapacitating most of them, and reclaiming the bioweapon. Eventually, Rumlow was successfully cornered. However, as Captain America was preparing to arrest Rumlow, he decided to blow himself up. As there were hundreds of people in the immediate area, Wanda Maximoff instinctively stepped in and used her powers to try to relocate the explosion into the sky where it wouldn't kill anyone. Despite Miss Maximoff's efforts, she ended up losing control of the bomb, and it ended up destroying part of one office building. It is a tragedy that despite the Avengers' successful efforts to stop Rumlow, there were still innocent civilian casualties, including the dozen or so people in the office building that were killed by Rumlow when he blew himself up. However, the blame for those deaths does not fall on Wanda Maximoff. Those deaths are the fault of a madman who, two years ago, was part of a plot by an organization dating back to Nazi Germany to use gunships to mass murder 20 million people, and whose motto is "Cut off one head, two more shall take its place." In addition, it needs to be pointed out Miss Maximoff also saved the lives of everyone in that marketplace. If it was not for her split second thinking, hundreds more people would be dead. And if the Avengers were not there in Lagos, a group of terrorists would have successfully released a bioweapon into the world, one capable of killing thousands. The Avengers are not responsible for the destruction brought upon by the bad guys that they are attempting to stop. That blame should start and end with the bad guys.

Because yeah, that would do wonders for Wanda.

Ross blaming the heroes for the destruction caused by the villains:

Yeah, this is something where Ross is a fucking hypocrite. “How about ‘dangerous’? What would you call a group of US-based, enhanced individuals who routinely ignore sovereign borders and inflict their will wherever they choose and who, frankly, seem unconcerned about what they leave behind?” Then his biased presentation showing footage from the Chitauri invasion in New York (The Avengers), the destruction of the Triskelion (Winter Soldier), Sokovia (Age of Ultron), and Lagos. This presentation is clearly done to paint Steve and his allies in a bad light, and Tony in a good light.

Thing is, though, this is just Thaddeus Ross blaming the heroes for the destruction caused by the villains. Not only in every aforementioned situation would things be worse if the Avengers weren't there (New York City would've been nuked by the WSC, HYDRA would've gotten the Project Insight carriers launched and 20 million people dead, Ultron would've wiped out human life, and terrorists would've gotten away with a bioweapon), but Ross is a hypocrite to try to pin this destruction on the heroes given his failures to capture the Hulk and the destruction he caused in his efforts. @thehollowprince posited here that they really should've had Steve call Ross on his hypocrisy right there and then.

Like, in response to Ross's remarks, Steve would speak up to say, "The Avengers as a whole are not responsible for Ultron destroying Sokovia's capital city. If you want to blame someone for that, direct all your blame at that man who decided to go behind his teammates' back to create Ultron," and point an accusatory finger at Tony. And as I said, have Steve throw Ross's failure back in his face to show that he really has no skin in the game.

Passage from thehollowprince's take on what should've been said:

“But, in the spirit of fairness, let’s talk consequences.” Steve went on. “F.R.I.D.A.Y.?” “Yes, Steve?” The A.I. said from the speakers. “Could you roll footage of Culver University, spring semester, 2008?” The screen that had been off immediately clicked back on and began playing back footage from cellphones and cameras of Ross’ failed attempt to contain and capture the Hulk in the middle of a crowded campus, using an unauthorized enhanced human, as well as weapons that put the civilian population in extreme danger. The last image was of the Hulk launching an armored truck at another, the screen immediately going static as the footage was lost. “Harlem, three days later.” The Hulk’s fight with a severely mutated Blonsky showed on the screen next, as well as the atrocities that Emil committed on his own before Banner stepped in to stop him. Ross’s face was reddening at having one of his biggest failures played in front of the very people he was trying to intimidate. Harlem was on of his biggest failures and he did a lot to try and distance himself from it. “Thank you, F.R.I.D.A.Y.” Steve said and the screen froze on an image of the infamous Abomination lifting a car above his head, about to crush it into some police officers. “Tell me, Mr. Secretary, where were your consequences? Because from what I understand, you tried to pin the whole thing on Blonsky and Banner, getting a medal and a promotion for your trouble.”

And, as happens in the hollowprince fix-it, Steve, as a last-minute parting shot, drops a bombshell on Ross that he was on HYDRA's hit list and would've been eliminated by Project Insight in the initial attacks upon the helicarriers' launches.

The Accords debate itself:

The big problem with the debate itself is that it's very one-sided. It's more "Tony and his allies make a lot of flawed points, and no one on Team Cap is allowed to call them out on it." So basically, the way to fix it would be to rewrite the debate using a combination of this one by @thehollowprince, as well as these ficlets on Archive of Our Own.

So, obviously, I would rewrite the debate to be more in Team Cap's favor, while we get multiple opportunities for Tony's side's points to be quickly picked apart and called out. To give examples of how this could go:

Have someone on Team Cap point out the whole fact that HYDRA would benefit greatly from this legislation, since it would curtail the freedom of superheroes' ability to respond quickly. And even for those in the UN who might not be compromised by HYDRA, it's a power grab. And it's also a power grab for Ross.

When Rhodey brings up Ross's medal of honor, have Sam point out (as he does in thehollowprince's fix-it) that a Congressional Medal of Honor doesn't mean shit, and comes off with Ross like a white man being rewarded for doing a subpar job. (Also, have someone remind Rhodey that the Accords would've prevented him and Tony from rescuing the President of the United States from Aldrich Killian had they been in place at the time of Iron Man 3, especially seeing as the Vice President was also in Killian's circle.)

I'd cut Vision's whole BS equation entirely. Instead, I'd have him on the side of Team Cap for this movie, and logic, "The number of potentially world-ending events has risen at a commensurate rate. Oversight is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand, but the form that is being given to us by Ross is one that makes me calculate that the next world ending event has a likelier chance of succeeding.” (Vision's reason for being on Team Cap here is partly because he cares for Wanda, but mostly because he views himself as human, and the way Ross just dehumanized Thor and the Hulk by likening them to nukes makes Vision think Ross would view him the same way; this would actually be consistent with the will he has in WandaVision where he wished not to be turned into a living weapon, the very will that Tyler Hayward disregarded. On top of which, he realizes that he, Wanda, and Steve would be the most severely impacted by the Accords because they seem to be harsher on those who have innate superpowers than those who have removable suits.)

Have an instance or two of Tony being called out on his America centrism. Particularly when he brings up Charlie Spencer's death. In response to that, I'd have Wanda snap at him with a bit of pure rage. Why would I have Wanda do this? Because he's basically ignoring all the Sokovian citizens who died, up to and including Wanda's brother. "And what about my brother, hmm? What about Pietro? Remember him? Does his death matter to you, Mr. Stark? Or do you not give a shit about him because he's not American?"

Use Ross's antics from The Incredible Hulk to posit that Ross or HYDRA or any party with nefarious intentions could use the clause about demanding enhanced give up blood samples so they could use said DNA to create their own army of super soldiers.

Peggy's funeral, UN bombing, pursuit of Bucky

There's few changes here. But one change I would make is that Steve wouldn't just go with Sam to bring in Bucky. I'd have Wanda and Vision brought along too, because after a serious discussion, they think that the best way to salvage Wanda's reputation with the public is to have her going out to do heroism in public. When they get to where Bucky is hiding out, they bring him in, and Wanda gets to use her telepathic powers to render unconscious some of the SWAT forces sent to bring Bucky in. Then T'Challa joins the pursuit, and they are all captured in the tunnel.

Wanda meets Zemo and T'Challa

We then have the whole setpiece at the detention center where Bucky is detained. Natasha is firmly on Team Cap's side, but is taking a neutral stance to gain dirt on the other side. In addition to all the canon interactions, we also have Wanda interacting with T'Challa and recognizing his revenge quest because she still remembers very well what it was like for her last year wanting revenge against the Avengers, and how badly that ended for her. She empathizes with T'Challa and tries to persuade him to look at the bigger picture, not with much success. When Zemo infiltrates the facility to activate Bucky's Winter Soldier programming, Wanda goes down with Steve to subdue him and ends up encountering Zemo. She recognizes him because she knew his wife and son before they died, she once met him at the dedication of one of the memorials to the victims of Ultron's attack, and he's got a reputation in Sokovia as a killer.

Airport battle

The airport battle obviously is very different. Tony has Rhodey, Spider-Man, T'Challa, and a few other superheroes (or maybe Ross's special forces are there as backup). While Steve has Bucky, Scott, Clint, Wanda, Natasha, Sam, and Vision. This airport battle plays out more in Steve's favor, and despite Tony's efforts, everyone on Steve's side makes it to the quinjet and flees to Siberia with him.

Siberia final act

Steve and his team enter the HYDRA base, and make it to the containment area where the other Winter Soldiers were kept on ice, and have been all put down by Zemo. The fact that the Winter Soldiers are already dead, all shot in the head with a pistol, makes Steve surmise that they're walking into a trap.

They've barely had time to acknowledge this when Team Iron Man arrives and corners them. At this point, Steve is fed up with Tony for having such flawed judgement, and T'Challa still very much is on the warpath against Bucky. But as the two sides prepare to clash once again, Zemo chooses this moment to reveal himself. He wasn't exactly expecting to have an entire Avengers team there, but he's willing to improvise. Zemo even tries to liken his crusade to Wanda's misguided revenge campaign, only for her to shut him down by pointing out that she never wanted innocent people to get hurt, whereas Zemo did murder innocent people for his crusade (T'Challa's father and everyone else at the UN; the doctor that he killed and stole the identity of to get into the detention center to activate Bucky). After that, Zemo plays the surveillance footage of Bucky killing Tony's parents.

The moment Steve and Natasha realize what the footage is showing, Steve gestures for the others on his team to get Bucky away from Tony. Rhodey also realizes that Tony's preparing to attack Bucky, and tries to reason with him, but to no avail. Steve doesn't want Zemo to win, so he clarifies that he didn't know it was the Winter Soldier that HYDRA used to kill Tony's parents. This only enrages Tony further, and a nervous Natasha admits that she was also there when Zola told Steve this information.

In that split second, all hell breaks loose. Tony's rage boils over and he shoots Natasha with one repulsor, throwing her backwards and knocking her out. He tries to shoot Bucky with the other, but Rhodey is able to grab his hand and deflect the blast away from Bucky.

A fight ensues. Like in canon, T'Challa is the one who captures Zemo, though he also has some help from Scott, Spider-Man, and maybe Clint. Meanwhile, the other Avengers are left either fighting Tony, protecting Bucky, or both. With a fight that basically plays out as a mix of "the Guardians plus Iron Man, Spider-Man and Doctor Strange vs. Thanos on Titan" and a bit of "Payback vs. Soldier Boy from The Boys".

Ultimately, the Avengers still in the bunker succeed in taking down Tony, but Natasha, Rhodey and Bucky take severe injuries in the process. The fight ends when Wanda leaps on Tony from behind and uses her powers to attempt to disorient him, giving Steve an opening to smash his arc reactor with his shield. Vision then tears it out of the armor for good measure.

The Avengers effectively turn their backs on Tony Stark, and the movie ends with them as a whole condemning his misguided actions as well as condemning the Sokovia Accords, and taking the unified position, "After the events that happened in the course of pursuing the person responsible for bombing the UN in Vienna, the Avengers have elected to reject the Sokovia Accords, although we are open to alternative forms of oversight if the UN is willing to negotiate with us and also purge their ranks of anyone who might have ties to HYDRA." They also make publicly condemn Tony for trying to murder Bucky out of misplaced anger. Vision and Wanda settle down in Westview, Clint and Scott return to their families, though they'll still meet up with Steve, Sam, Natasha and Bucky for missions, and Natasha still meets up with Yelena and her old spy "family" to destroy the Red Room.

This then segues into another movie that's about Steve and his team of Avengers (Sam, Natasha, and occasionally Wanda, Vision, and Clint) going around the United States doing everything to get the Accords struck down and Ross removed from office for his abuses of power (especially since while the UN's been forced to let them go, the Raft is a walking human rights violation that no one should be locked up in for any reason).

[ayyaduselessbi]

Thoughts and Speculations about the Agatha All Along Trailer

Wow, the new Trailer for Agatha All Along was amazing. I love how Marvel is leaning towards the horror and supernatural aspect for this show. I honestly can't wait to for the show to come out. I've rewatched the trailer way too many times, and I have quite a few thoughts about it that I thought I could share. Especially about Agatha and Rio (I'm so obsessed with them even though there isn't much content about them yet LOL)

Agatha's Prison

I think the opening scene with Agnes being a detective trying to investigate the Jane Doe is really interesting. Cause if you remember, Wanda removed the hex over Westview but trapped Agatha in Agnes, so presumably this is Agnes getting a detective job after the events of Wandavision. However, one thing that sorta bothered me was:

How have the people of West View not realised anything? They would have probably noticed that Agnes doesn't belong there. Did they just accept her with open arms?

In the trailer, it's implied that after Agatha breaks out of Wanda's spell, she awakens in her Westview house without any clothes on and without her powers. How did she get from that room with the dead body to the house?

Honestly, I'm not too sure. The only thing I can think of is that when Wanda trapped Agatha in Agnes, she puts her in a magical simulation of Agnes being in a detective show. Sounds like a stretch but remember that in Wandavision, Wanda was able to use her powers to project Agatha to an accurate recreation of the time she was almost executed and killed her coven. Perhaps she used similar magic here?

Who Saved Her?

Something that kinda bothered is me is the disconnect between the show's trailer and hypnosis. In the trailer, it clearly shows that Rio was the one who tried to make Agatha realise she was under Wanda's spell and convince her to break out of it. However, in the hypnosis, it states that (presumably) Billy was the one to break her out. So, what's happening here? Outdated sypnosis or something else? Well, I can think of 2 potential ways both could sorta work

Billy projects himself into Agatha/Agnes' mind in the form of Rio Vidal. Perhaps he knew that if he appeared to Agatha/Agnes as himself, she would probably not recognise him or trust him. But if he presented himself as someone who had a big part of Agatha's past, maybe he would have a better chance of getting through to her. It sounds kinda weird and quite unlikely but it could be a potential possibility

Billy asks Rio for help. I'm not sure how they would know each other but one thing that I noticed in the trailer is the 2 scenes of Rio waving and immediately after Billy looking back. It could be nothing, just shots of different scenes in different episodes, but it feels so oddly specific to put those scenes together like it's hinting towards a connection between them. Maybe Rio helps Billy out for an ulterior motive, she does seem to want to kill Agatha after all. (There are rumours that she hates Agatha because she sacrificed their son to Mephisto gain possession of the Darkhold but not sure if it is canon)

Why The Change Of Heart?

From what we can tell from the trailer, Rio Vidal is meant to be an antagonistic character (I don't think she is a villain, just someone who wants revenge on Agatha) However, in the trailer it also implies that Rio will also end up joining Agatha's coven. So why does Rio end up joining Agatha despite the fact she was dead set killing her?

Rio has an ulterior motive. Perhaps she goes with Agatha to monitor her and see what's she's planning to do, then kill her at the best time. Though honestly I don't know why she wouldn't just kill her when Agatha was completely powerless

Rio wants to protect Billy. Above I stated that it could be implied that Rio and Billy could have some connection and also that Agatha allegedly sacrificed her and Rio's son to Mephisto to get the Darkhold. Perhaps maybe Rio sees their son in Billy and wants to make sure that Agatha won't do the same thing to him

Rio still cares/has feelings for Agatha. Rio does call Agatha "Sweetheart" in the trailer despite them being ex wives/girlfriends/lovers, and she is still willing to help free Agatha from Wanda's spell despite hating Agatha's guts for killing their son. She also doesn't kill Agatha despite Agatha being powerless and her being one of the most powerful witches (Though maybe someone helped Agatha or she has good hand to hand combat skills LOL). Perhaps deep down her love for Agatha never went away?

Agatha managed to convince Rio to join her. In the trailer, there is a realm that is green in colour and Agatha seems to go there alone. A few people have speculated that this realm is Rio's realm judging by the fact that it's green and she's the green witch. Perhaps Agatha went there to find Rio? In the trailer, when Agatha is in this realm, she seems alone. Maybe she went here alone since it's a personal mission, I mean what could be more personal than trying to convince your dangerous ex wife to come join you? Perhaps with a combination of reasons above(or maybe since allegedly this show may also be a musical, maybe Agatha sings her way into Rio's heart LMAO), Agatha managed to get Rio on her side

These are all just my personal thoughts and speculation. Let me know your thoughts as well, maybe I missed out something or misunderstood something. Can't wait for this show to come out!!

[starsopinions]

Wanda in Agatha All Along

Today the teaser trailer for Agatha All Along dropped, if you haven’t seen it yet, RUN! It looks so promising and I am very elated to see that Marvel projects seem to actually have some thought behind them!

I have seen loads of people online talk about how this trailer means that Wanda is actually dead and I’m just a little confused how people have come to that conclusion because to me, it seems like this trailer actually confirms Wanda is alive.

The first reason that leads me to believe this is that Wanda didn’t die in that place or in that outfit. She died in the mountains with her super suit on, in the trailer she is found in the woods and with a casual-looking outfit. Wanda being here isn’t a coincidence and I don’t think they would set her up to use her as just a plot device, besides Wanda is one of the most loved characters in the MCU and Marvel knows this and knows how to milk a loved character, just look at Loki.

I am going to assume that Wanda is introduced in order for Agatha to break free from Wanda’s spell, which was put on her at the end of WandaVision, except that they could easily do that without Wanda there. It would be extremely weird to set Wanda up as a character and then not have it go anywhere. Why would they set up Wanda being found in the woods if she wasn’t important. This is why I believe(/hope) that in the last episode Wanda is revealed to be alive and that could set up her solo movie.

The only concern I have is that there has been some speculation about Elizabeth’s contract and that there has been some beef between her and Marvel? It especially concerns me because they didn’t show her face in the trailer (so it could easily be another actress/double and not Elizabeth) but that could also just be to build suspense. I’m honestly not sure and even if her contract has ended she can always come back I think? I am not very knowledgeable about that side of the movie industry so I won’t pretend to know more than I do, but story wise it seems weird to let her die and not let her story come full circle.

Either way I am thrilled to see what they will do with this show and it looks extremely good from the trailer. I am praying it actually will be up to par but I still have some faith in Marvel and if this is anything like WandaVision, which it does look like, it surely will be a success.

[nerdby]

Please, remember, that by deleting shows and movies, and edging psychical media out of existence Hollywood and streaming platforms are able to censor the media you have access to. It is not an accident that these things are happening at the same time as book bans are happening -- there is already speculation online about The Hays Code being revitalized.

The Hays Code was a set of rules put in place by the Catholic Church in the 1930s-1960s in order to illegally censor TV and film in the US.

The streaming industry is imploding and that is a good thing not just because of censorship but also because they abuse writers and actors.

At one point HBO/MAX swore that DCU content would be exclusive to their streaming platform. But now MAX is hemorrhaging money and is licensing DCU shows and movies out to other streaming platforms including free ones like Tubi. Thanks, Mindy❣️

Another sign that the industry is imploding is that Disney has released Disney+ exclusives like WandaVision and Loki season one on Bluray, and Netflix recently announced a Blu-ray release of the Wednesday series mere MONTHS after canceling their DVD subscription service.

If you want to support writers and actors, please invest in psychical media. If you are in Australia and want to collect psychical media invest in a region free Blu-ray player, and buy movies from Amazon, eBay, etc.

Remember that psychical media is an investment. If you buy a movie or whatever that you end up hating you can always resell it or donate it somewhere, and by investing in psychical media you are helping to preserve film history. If you're able to pirate, I highly recommend burning your favorite shows and movies onto DVDs for more secure storage.

Do not let small children handle your DVDs/Blurays cause nine times out of ten that is how they end up getting scratched and ruined. If you find fingerprints on a disc you can usually wipe them off with a microfiber cloth and the disc will play fine. You can also buy a disc cleaning machine.

If you cannot afford to buy Blurays/DVDs check out your local library as they often have movies you can rent for FREE. Also check out Gamefly which lets you rent movies on Blu-ray/DVD for like $11.99USD a month. It's basically old school Netflix -- and you can rent videogames from them too.

Most importantly remember--

If you buy more psychical media corporations will create more of it. That is how supply and demand works.

Cancel your streaming subscriptions and invest in psychical media.

[tobiasdrake]

Hahaha here we go, Multiverse of Madness. Another movie I was not very fond of.

Going into this movie the first time, I was skeptical of how much it would feature Wanda. I figured, hey, I know she's in the movie but at the end of the day, this is a Dr. Strange film. The principal narrative is going to be about Stephen, and that limits just how much you can do for Wanda. She'd basically be a guest-star, like Hulk in Thor: Ragnarok.

There was a lot of speculation about, like, Strange and Wanda traveling into Hell to save Wanda's kids from Mephisto. And I figured, yeah, that sounds like an interesting premise for a Scarlet Witch film. But since it's Stephen's name on the headline, we're probably in for an experience that's designed more around Stephen's mythos than Wanda's.

I mean. Why would you make a Dr. Strange movie in the first place if you weren't interested in pursuing the established plot threads and mythology of Dr. Strange, right?

...

I also heard the rumors that Wanda would be the villain of the film. But that was just nonsense. The kind of stuff that the anti-Wanda crowd had been peddling for years. Obviously that wasn't going to be the case.

Especially after WandaVision, they wouldn't do that. After spending so much time talking in-depth about Wanda's grief and Wanda's tragedy, they wouldn't be so tone-deaf as to turn around and make her an ax-crazy psychopathic mass-murderer who dies at the end of the film.

They wouldn't.

Right?

[heyyallitsbeth]

Oh okay, its full batshit MCU speculation time.

-In every universe Gwen Stacy falls for Spider-Man (Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse)

-Venom Symbiote licks the TV screen showing MCU Peter Parker (Venom Let There Be Carnage)

-Venom goop left in Earth 1999999 (Spider-Man No Way Home)

-Marvel trying to be faithful to comics, but also trying to do new interesting things with their characters that fit them (Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel, Loki)

-Marvel, Sony, and Fox hate bringing in new people to play fan favorite roles (WandaVision, Doctor Strange Multiverse of Madness, Deadpool 3)

What if Spider-Gwen is brought into the MCU not as the traditional Spider-Gwen, who is famous from the Spider-Verse films, but instead Venom (and a character will quip and call her Gwenom like in the comics-). Sony probably wont want a new Eddie Brock Venom in the MCU when they have their ongoing Venom series, nor would they want a Gwen Stacy to retread Amazing Spider-Man 2 or Spiderverse. This would explain an easy way for her to get her powers and famously white and black suit, by having the Venom symbiote attach to her. Have her start out as Gwenom, but as the film progresses, she falls for Spider-Man, and slowly learns to control her powers, and then using the symbiote as a biological web-shooter to mimic Peter's, becoming Spider-Gwen.

It's even a good way to have Gwen still be transgender like in Spiderverse, make it so that she may not start out as Gwen exactly, but the symbiote lets her attain a form she is fully attached to and what she truly wants. The symbiote does amplify our emotions and desires, as shown in like, every Spider-Man thing with Venom.

[artzychic27]

Just a little fic idea I had to blurt out, I’m tired, feel free to throw in ideas and we’ll see where this goes (Includes elements of WandaVision, I may make a WandaVision au, we’ll see)

One morning, the Akuma Class all wake up to find Paris has become sort of a medieval fantasy world, less dark ages, more Renaissance Faire complete with peasants in colorful clothing, fairies flying about, the occasional dragon flying overhead, phones and laptops are replaced with pen and paper and carrier pigeons, Jagged’s a famous bard, etcetera

At first, a few think, “Oh, I must be dreaming.”

But the rest are, “Uh, how are we all having the same dream?”

While walking around and trying to figure out what’s going on, they end up in the town square where a crowd has gathered, just in time to hear some trumpets blowing and for Butler Jean to announce the arrival of the Prince

And to their surprise… It’s Nath! (They didn’t even realize he wasn’t with him) He looks… Happier. His smile looks more genuine even though he’s not around Marc, and he doesn’t look the least bit embarrassed by all of the praise he’s receiving

Girl: I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

Nathaniel: *Catches a rose in his hand* Love you, too, rando!

Those who are still so sure this is a dream world join in on the cheering, catching the attention of everyone until it’s just awkward silence. Then one guy screams, “IT’S THEM!” The crowd gets into a panic, Nathaniel is escorted away, and when Akuma Class is wondering just what the hell is going on, a team of knights surround them

The only ones who stand out are the two in magenta and mint armor (Psst, it’s Denise and Lacey as the head knights) They order the other knights to seize the Akuma Class, but they manage to escape and find refuge in an alley

They get some answers when they find a few wanted posters with their faces on them plastered on the walls, labeling them as traitors to the crown

Ivan: Kim, what’d you do?

Kim: Nothing!… Though, I’m sure I did do something.

Going against their better judgement, they sneak through the village while avoiding knights out for their heads, (Though, Marinette and Adrien sneak away) and manage to make their way over the palace walls with some help from Ladybug and Chat Noir, and find themselves in a hedge maze. While walking and speculating who could be behind this, they begin to suspect Marc because it’s a fantasy world and of course, he would make Nath the prince. That doesn’t explain why he made them traitors, though

While walking, they come across Aurore, a weather fae watering a rose bush with a rain cloud. She’s about to call the knights, but Rose goes feral and tackles het to the ground with her hand over her mouth. While she’s restraining her wrists, Aurore suddenly goes limp and there’s a brief moment of them freaking out until she seems to wake back up, sounding panicked and wondering where she is until she sees the outlaws and is like, 😑

Aurore is kind of dismissive when the outlaws question her, but before they can notice, they hear some knights approaching, Rose gets off of Aurore, and she goes back to screaming for help all of a sudden while they run away

Meanwhile~

Nathaniel is in his bedroom with Marc, who’s consoling him about earlier, giving him nothing but compliments, and swearing to stop the traitors until Nathaniel asks him to stop talking about them, when they get an alert from one of the knights that the Akuma Class, Ladybug, and Chat Noir have snuck in

The outlaws (Their group name for the time being) sneak all around the castle to look for either Marc or Nathaniel, but come across Jean, now a minstrel. He’s about to warn everyone until Rose goes feral again and tackles him to the floor She restrains his wrist like with Aurore, and it’s the same effect. Jean goes limp for a second, wakes up and freaks out, and he sees the outlaws and is just-

Jean: Oh, it’s you guys.

Ladybug: What’s with the attitude?

Jean: Don’t act like you don’t know. Honestly, I’m surprised he didn’t go all ballistic when he got Akumatized and tried to make you all disappear into like this alternate universe where you never existed or did like a Groundhog Day thing where you’re forced to relive awful moments until you learn the fucking lesson he’s trying to teach you. I mean, that’s what I’d do, but I’m petty like, 24/7; it’s a real problem.

Sabrina: Enough with the pronouns game! “He” who?!

But before Jean can answer, knights storm in, Rose gets off of him, and he goes back to talking like it’s the Middle Ages

The outlaws split up all around the castle to avoid the knights. Ladybug and Chat Noir manage to make it to Nath’s tower where they find him standing on his balcony serenading some song birds like a fucking Disney princess. Chat Noir makes the move to take his wrist, but nothing happens like with Aurore and Jean

Ladybug: Nath?

Nathaniel: … Is that any way to speak to a Prince? No matter, you need to leave. I can’t have either of you interfering when my knight brings the traitors to justice.

Ladybug: Nathaniel, listen to us; Your friends-

Nathaniel: They are not my friends. They are not even my subjects. They are traitors, as are you both. You are outsiders, and you are trespassing here. And I want you both to leave!

Later, when Marc returns, Ladybug and Chat Noir are gone, and he informs Nathaniel that the knights have caught the outlaws

Meanwhile…

Ladybug and Chat Noir emerge through a wall of purple static and find themselves back in Paris… Or part of it, at least. The rest of it is encased by a purple forcefield. While they wonder what that could mean, they’re confronted by Austin Tomassian, who looks seconds close to slapping them both across the face. It’s when he shows them a video Armbruster sent him, that they realize why Nathaniel got akumatized

After yet another- quite destructive- Akuma that went to attack the school, the Akuma Class evacuated with help from Ladybug and Chat Noir, but left Nathaniel to trip, fall, and get his leg crushed by falling bricks. Alix made a move to help him, but Ladybug insisted that they had to keep going since the Akuma was right behind them, and they all just left. Fortunately, Denise rushed out of an alleyway where the Science Kids were hiding, threw the bricks off of Nathaniel, and carried him to safety with the rest of their class before the Akuma saw them

Cue Judgmental/Disappointed Austin Tomassian Glare™️

Tomassian: Go fix this, now! He’s got my boyfriend locked in there doing God knows what! It’s been an hour since we’ve made out, and I’m going through withdrawals, man! *Pushes Ladybug and Chat Noir back into the forcefield*

And that’s all I got. Feel free to add on, or something, but like I said, expect a WandaVision au

[beheworthy]

There is a lot of speculation going on for Thor 5. I think Marvel has taken the right first step by doing away with the comedy entirely to go dark.

But even then, it's still going to have the usual trappings of a Marvel film: an underwhelming villain on a world-ending/pointless quest, aDvEnTuReS going from one set piece to another, macguffins, forced cameos, setting up 300 other projects, and a CGI fest final battle which makes our eyes glaze over.

It's still going to be bogged down. In my humble opinion, since they've taken the plunge away from comedy (something that is a Marvel staple for worse), they should continue down the path and take a step even further and not make it like a standard Marvel film at all.

(Multiverse of Madness was going to be a possibly Rated R horror film but then they chickened out. It would have been a good way to free that film of the Marvel™ trappings.)

Make Thor 5 a character driven slow-paced film like Logan 2017 (that film had barely any CGI or superhero stuff that it could pass off as a regular film). Make it about his grief and journey like WandaVision instead of some TVA organization or multiverse gimmick. It would help bypass the usual trappings while creating something new and unique.

Thor is such a successful franchise that they can take this risk w him and fans will show up. I believe they will show up BECAUSE it'd be different than usual Marvel stuff.

Use the multiverse to show different versions of him (Donald Blake, What if, comic variants, Rune King Thor that I keep hearing of). Or have him meet his future selves based on different decisions he makes. I've already talked about "dream sequences" with all the people who died for him where he tells them how he never wanted this for them.