#also I like that Strange asks the Hulk to help him rather than just teleporting him away with him and assuming he will

[daydreamerdrew]

The Defenders (1972) #70

[imagine-loki]

Triple Threat, Chapter 6

TITLE: Triple Threat CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: Chapter 6 AUTHOR: fanficshiddles ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine Loki kidnaps Darcy Lewis, in hopes of getting the tesseract in return for her. Imagine his surprise when he grows rather fond of the mortal, finding that she understands him better than anyone else ever has.  RATING: M

Loki was heading to Knowhere with the real Loki, Bruce, Wanda, Natasha and Thor.

Darcy had wanted to go too, but Loki flat out refused to let her go. In-case it was dangerous, which it probably would be. He didn’t particularly trust the Collector, who they were going to see.

‘Wait, so you’re telling me that it’s possible for me and… the other guy, to become one at the same time?’ Bruce asked, eyes wide in surprise.

‘It sure is.’ Loki nodded. ‘Strength and size of the Hulk, but with your brains.’

‘That sounds terrifying.’ Wanda said.

‘Yeah, it really does. Please don’t do that, Bruce. I am NOT sharing a bed with Hulk.’ Natasha said, glaring at Loki.

‘Perhaps not the best idea if you and Nat are… dating.’ Loki laughed.

Loki told them all about more of his reality. The real Loki was sitting at the back, not really caring to hear about it. Wanda noticed and went over to sit next to him.

‘Are you ok?’ She asked him.

‘I’m fine.’ He said in a clipped tone.

‘You’re clearly not. Are you still annoyed at him for kissing Darcy?’

‘Of course I am.’ Loki hissed, but he sighed as he looked at Wanda. She was just trying to be friendly. ‘Apologies. I am just not happy there is another me going around, kissing my girl.’ He growled.

Wanda gave him a sympathetic smile and patted his arm. ‘He probably doesn’t want to be here just as much as you don’t want him to be here. But maybe you could both learn from one another? You are the same person, to an extent. You both tried to take over Earth, just diverted on different paths afterwards. You both redeemed yourself in the long run.’

Loki just grunted in response. She was right, but he didn’t want to admit it.

‘Or are you just jealous that you never thought of pulling the pranks he did when he arrived here?’ She grinned.

Loki narrowed his eyes at her. ‘They were pathetic pranks, I could do so much better.’ He huffed.

‘Course you could.’ Wanda laughed and went back to the front of the ship.

Loki stayed where he was, but he listened in to Loki’s stories until they arrived on Knowhere. Everyone was on high alert as they made their way to the Collector’s museum.

‘What exactly are we looking for?’ Loki asked Loki.

‘It’s a tracker that will locate every stone. But as far as I am aware, the Collector doesn’t know that. Or else he would have them all by now. So it needs to remain that way.’ Loki said firmly. ‘It looks like a necklace, it’s a gold chain with a diamond on the front. It can perform basic healing powers, too. So we need to hope that’s all the Collector thinks it is.’

Loki nodded. ‘Do we have a plan for buying it from him?’

‘I’ll go in alone. Well, with you under a guise as a guard. Everyone else, wait outside so he doesn’t wonder why I’ve taken an entourage with me. If anything goes wrong, I will send a signal for backup.’ Loki said.

‘Who put you in charge?’ Thor frowned.

‘This is my mission. Or do you have a better plan, brother?’ Loki sneered.

Thor looked at Loki. ‘Do you trust him, brother?’

Loki looked at Loki then back at Thor. ‘I do.’ He said, albeit reluctantly.

‘Fine. That’s good enough for me.’ Thor nodded.

Loki transformed into an Aesir guard, then he and Loki went into the museum while the others remained outside, on alert. They tried not to look too conspicuous while people passed by on their daily business.

As the two tricksters walked into the museum, Loki kept looking straight ahead, acting like a proper guard just escorting Loki. Loki looked around casually, hands behind his back and taking dramatically large steps as he studied some artefacts.

‘May I help you… Asgardian?’ Came a voice from the back of the museum.

Loki looked up and saw the Collector wandering down towards them, with a female from a different race behind him.

‘Ah, Collector.’ Loki grinned charmingly. ‘I am looking for a specific item, a necklace with healing properties, as a gift for my fiancé. I was told by some good associates that I’d find it here.’

The Collector raised an eyebrow and turned to the female behind him. She was wearing the necklace.

‘This, necklace?’ The Collector asked.

‘That’s the very one.’ Loki nodded. ‘How much do you want for it?’

‘It’s not for sale.’ The Collector said quickly, putting a finger up. ‘But I am sure I have other, beautiful jewellery that would be suitable for your fiancé.’ He motioned to a glass display behind him.

‘Everything has its price. I have gold and many credits I can give you.’ Loki offered, pulling out a small pouch that was filled with gold.

The Collector looked slightly intrigued, but shook his head. ‘No. As I said, not for sale.’

Loki clenched his jaw. ‘What would you want in exchange for it?’

The Collector frowned, looking at him warily. ‘Why are you so desperate for this necklace?’ He asked, moving in closer to Loki, into his space and glaring up at him.

‘Like I said.’ Loki growled. ‘I want it for my fiancé.’

Loki stepped in and put his arm out, to get the Collector to back up from Loki. The Collector glanced at the supposed Aesir guard and stepped back a bit.

‘As I said. It is not for’ He was interrupted when suddenly Hulk came bursting into the museum, roaring angrily and charging straight for the group.

With the Collector distracted, Loki quickly grabbed the necklace and ripped it off the female, thrusting the pouch of gold into her hands in return. The two Loki’s then teleported outside to Thor, Natasha and Wanda.

‘What the heck happened?’ Loki asked as he transformed back into himself.

‘A passer-by accidentally bumped into Bruce, he was already feeling anxious and antsy so Hulk just exploded.’ Wanda said quickly.

‘Get back to the ship. I’ll get Bruce.’ Thor said as he swung Mjolnir round and flew into the museum.

The team heard Hulk roaring and some explosions and loud bangs. They didn’t bother waiting to see what was happening, so they rushed back to the ship as quickly as they could.

‘Did you get the tracker?’ Natasha asked as they boarded the ship and she got it started up.

‘Yep. Hulk’s distraction was actually rather helpful.’ Loki said as he held up the necklace. Then he waved his hand over it and had it disappear for now.

‘Let’s get off this planet.’ Loki said as he closed the ships door.

‘Without Thor and Bruce?’ Wanda asked, looking slightly distressed.

‘They will catch up with us.’ Loki said and he joined Natasha at the front of the ship.

Natasha took off, they got up into the sky and started heading away from the city. But she didn’t break through the atmosphere yet, they gave Thor a chance to catch up. And luckily, he did. Just before they gave up hope.

Wanda opened the hatch underneath the ship and Thor flew in, carrying Bruce, who was wearing nothing but Thor’s cape after changing back.

‘Any trouble?’ Loki asked.

‘Just get us off this planet.’ Thor growled.

At that point, the Collector’s ship came up after them from behind.

‘Hold on!’ Natasha said as she steered the ship on and headed towards the nearest jump to take them back to Earth.

They managed to get away in time, only just. Both of the Loki’s helped by shielding the ship with their Seidr, to help keep the Collector from following them.

The team were all relieved when they got back to Earth in one piece. The rest of them were waiting in the kitchen for their return.

Darcy was so relieved to see that Loki was alright. She rushed straight to him, to the right one, and hugged him. ‘Glad you survived with your good looks still in-tact.’ She grinned up at him.

Loki chuckled and gave her a squeeze. ‘Would you not sleep with me if I wasn’t as good looking?’ He raised an eyebrow at her but with a smirk.

‘Hmmm… Probably not, unless your body was still as smokin’ hot as it is.’ She teased, making him chuckle again as he reached down and gave her bum a cheeky squeeze.

‘Eww. Get a room you two.’ Tony grimaced. ‘How did the mission go? Did you get the tracker?’ He asked, looking at Loki.

‘We did indeed.’ Loki had the necklace manifest in his hands and he held it up to show them.

‘It’s a necklace?’ Darcy frowned.

‘Well done, gold star.’ Loki drawled. ‘It also has healing properties for the wearer, and locates all the stones… with a little help of some magic.’ He headed to the island in the kitchen and placed it down as he took a seat.

The others all gathered around to watch.

Loki closed his eyes and put a hand over the top of it. He concentrated for a while, his Seidr energy growing, then the diamond on the necklace started to shake and there was a small beam that spouted up from it. Like a hologram, it was a map of the entire Universe.

There were seven glowing red dots in multiple places.

Steve frowned. ‘Why is there seven? I thought there was only six infinity stones?’

‘There is, six of them are your stones from your reality, hopefully where they should be. One of them is the reality stone from my reality.’ Loki said as he concentrated on the map.

‘That’s Vormir, so that will be the soul stone. There’s Asgard, where I’m assuming the space stone is?’ Loki looked at Loki and Thor.

Loki nodded.

‘That’s where we’ve just been, at the Collector’s museum, so there’s your reality stone.’

‘What? Wait a minute. Are you telling me you were within reach of the reality stone?’ Tony snapped.

Loki glanced over his shoulder at him, annoyed he was interrupting. ‘Yes. But before you say it, no. The reality stone from your timeline is not what I have come for. I need the one from mine.’ He grumbled at him then continued. ‘That is Xander, so if I recall correctly, that should be the power stone. The mind stone, well.’ He motioned to Vision who was stood opposite him.

‘And there is another on Earth. In New York?’ Loki looked around at the team.

‘Doctor Strange should have the time stone.’ Tony confirmed.

‘Alright. So that just leaves…’ Loki trailed off, looking slightly confused.

‘What? Where is the reality stone?’ Darcy asked, looking at the hologram but she couldn’t quite make it out the same from where she was stood.

‘This map shows it’s… it’s just hovering in space?’ Loki said, just as confused as the rest of the team.

[the-insomniac-cat]

ENDGAME BIG SPOILERS

Complete synopsis of the entire film below the cut.

If you want spoilers but not the whole shebang, scroll down to my other Spoiler post.

Why post this? Because some people want to know, either before they go, or instead of going, or to decide whether to or not.

Look, if you don’t want to know, then use the tag filter. In case you didn’t set it up, then I’ve put in the ‘keep reading’ cut. So you should be covered. So please, no more anon hate! (Haters are so brave when they go anon!)

PLEASE NOTE THIS IS NOT MY SYNOPSIS. I HAVE NOT SEEN THE FILM (and won’t) THIS IS FROM A REDDIT USER. BECAUSE LOTS OF SPOILERS OVER THERE ARE BEING TAKEN DOWN, I DECIDED TO CUT AND PASTE IT RATHER THAN JUST GIVE A LINK.

People who HAVE seen the film have been adding comments to this post on Reddit, saying it is ‘correct’, or ‘basically correct’.

CREDIT:  Reddit Posted byu/Wico90

12% credit to Brontcrab24 and others

First Scene is actually Hawkeye losing his family to the snap. He doesn’t actually see it happen as he is facing the other direction. We then get the Tony/Nebula sequence (paper football, etc). Tony records his message to Pepper. When he falls asleep, Nebula takes him to the front of the ship and sits him in the pilots seat. He wakes up and sees something glowing outside the window. Captain Marvel helps them return to Earth. Pepper, Rocket, Steve and Rhodey all come out to greet him. Tony is very shaken, particularly about losing Peter.

Movie starts with the Avengers trying to find Thanos. Steve wasn’t to know where Thanos is and asks Tony, but Tony says he doesn’t know, They argue. Nebula knows of Thanos’ garden he said he would once go to when he completed his goal. They found him because of the energy he released using the gauntlet. Thanos is alone, and tells them he used the gauntlet to destroy the gems. He is weak and Thor, angry, decapitates him.

Title Card and five years later.

Natasha is now basically in charge of what's left of the Avengers is talking to them via holograms. Basically the world is in ruins and they're trying to salvage it. Carol is there via hologram with a new haircut and uniform and tells them that she's covering thousands of planets and won't be able to come back to Earth for a "long time".

Steve and Nat talk about how the Avengers are family. Inside a storage shed is Luis’s van. A rat is crawling over the Quantum controls and activated the switch which brings Scott out. He’s now locked inside the cage but starts waving at the security cameras. A guard lets him out and he is walking the streets confused as to why everything is so overgrown and run down. He finds a memorial which lists the names of the ‘missing’ on large stones. He starts reading them panicking that Cassie might be listed on them. But she isn’t. He sees her at home, as an older version of herself. Scott drives to the Avengers facility and Nat and Steve let him in and he tells them about the Quantum realm and how they might be able to build a time machine to go back to the past before everything happened. They visit Tony, but he doesn’t want to help. He’s happy with the way that his life is, with Pepper and his daughter Morgan. They leave and to visit Bruce who is now Professor Hulk.

The plan becomes to start looking for the gems in the past. Initially Banner builds quantum time machine and sends Scott back to test but it is faulty, Tony refuses to help at this point, however, he returns Caps shield and they make up. He tweaks Banners Quantum Machine, The catch is that they need quantum particles for it to work.

Natasha goes to Japan to get Clint. He is mourning his family and is not certain of the plan. Rocket and Hulk go to get Thor who is drinking and playing video games with Korg and Meik. (Funny joke involving an online video game troll)

Finally the team then all suit up and discuss their plans to get the stones. They make it clear that they can not mess up because there is only enough Quantum particles for one trip for each of them.

Tony, Scott, Steve and Bruce go to the Battle of New York. Hulk meets the Ancient One at Dr Stranger's future home. Ancient One refuses to give the Time Stone to Bruce but relents when Bruce tells her that Dr Strange will give the stone to Thanos.

Cap, Iron Man and Scott tries to retrieve the Tessaract after Loki surrenders. SHIELD/Hydra agents Crossbones and that bald guy with glasses in Winter Soldier retrieve the brief case containing the Tessaract. Past Hulk funnily has to walk down lots of flights of stairs as he can't go on lift due to maximum capacity. Cap meets with Crossbones with the briefcase in elevator along with other Hydra agents. He convinces them to give him the briefcase containing the staff when he utters two words: Hail Hydra. Cap gets the briefcase. Tony in disguise as a SWAT soldier tells Scott to disable his past self's chest reactor to give him a minor seizure while his past self meets up with Alexander Pierce who demands the Mind Stone and Loki. Present Tony retrieves the briefcase but past Hulk accidentally knocks out Tony and Loki uses the confusion to teleport out with the Tessaract. Present Cap accidentally meets with his 2012 self, and 2012 self thinks he's Loki in disguise. They fought and 2012 has present self in chokehold when he tells his past self that Bucky is alive. He then taps his past self with staff to knock him out.

In Asgard, fat Thor and Rocket plans to retrieve the Aether out of Jane Foster's body. Thor's mother meets his 'son' and know he's from the future. Rocket retrieves the aether out of Jane by prodding her off screen and gets chased by guards. Before Thor leaves, he retrieves Mjolnir!

On Morag, War Machine and Nebula stays on Morag while Clint and Nat goes to Voromir via a ship that Rocket miniatures for Clint. Unknown to Nebula, her past self's nervous system and databanks are connected to each other and Thanos finds out where the stones are and how he meets his fate.

Cap and Tony transport back to 1970 at the SHIELD training site seen in Winter Soldier and goes underground to retrieve that era's Tessaract. Tony retrieves the Tesseract while meeting his dad. He calls himself Howard Potts. Cap makes a prank call to young Hank Pym and sneaks into his office to steal 4 vials of Pym Particles. Cap also sees Peggy. Cap and Tony teleport back to present.

WM and Nebula knocks out Quill during his dance in intro of GOTG. They got the stone and WM and Nebula was meant to teleport together but WM only succeeded. Present Nebula and past Nebula meets and fights and past Nebula takes her place to go back to present.

On Voromir, Clint and May meets the Red Skull as seen in Infinity War and is told how to retrieve the stone. Clint and Nat fought each other. Clint jumped off cliff but Nat catches him and held on by grappling rope. She falls off and dies like Gamora. Clint now has the Stone.

All members went back to present and everyone is devastated by Nat's death. Tony and Bruce constructs the Infinity Gauntlet and Thor wants to wield it but Hulk goes instead as he's the strongest one and the stones emit gamma radiation according to him. He wields it and snaps his fingers restoring all life lost. Clint's wife calls him on mobile. Hulk suffers extreme pain in his right arm due to IG. Past Nebula activates the Quantum teleporter and summons Thanos' warship and blasts the Avengers HQ to ruins with missiles.

Hulk lifting up rubble similar to Secret Wars cover where he lifts up a whole mountain except this is less in film lol.

Clint finds the gauntlet and is being chased by Outriders creatures in last film. He kills them and is met by past Nebula. Gamora and present Nebula meets up and Nebula kills her past self.

Cap, Tony and Thor teams up against Thanos. Thor is losing against Thanos even though he has Stormbreaker and Mjolnir. Thanos is about to kill Thor with SB when:

Cap lifts up Mjolnir and beats Thanos with hammer and shield.

Thanos uses his double blade weapon to break Cap's shield in half.

Thanos summons his whole army including the Black Order and some new creatures. Cap is all by himself against a whole army.

He hears Sam's voice and he turns around and see EVERYONE who has vanished PLUS huge armies of Wakandans, sorcerers and Asgardians (no signs of Warrior Three). Wong, Valkyrie, Wasp and Pepper Potts as Rescue turns up as well. Ant Man becomes Giant Man.

Clint plays American Football with IG and passes it to Black Panther then Spidey. Quill meets past Gamora and gets hit in the balls, not believing he is the one she loves lol. Scarlet Witch overpowers Thanos but Thanos orders missiles to hit everyone including his forces. Captain Marvel shows up to destroy Thanos' flagship and gets the IG and dashes towards the goal. There is a bit where Hope and Scott goes to the van with the Quantum teleporter in the middle of battlefield. Was lost in the moment so forgot why they doing that, sorry.

All female Marvel characters fight Thanos. Spidey's armoured suit goes autokill mode with the extra arms.

Thanos tries to take the gauntlet off Marvel by headbutting her but didn't phase her.

Thanos retrieves the gauntlet away from Stark and he snaps his fingers. Nothing happened. The stones went to Stark and before he snaps his fingers, he says 'I'm Iron Man'.

White flash of light.

All of Thanos' forces turn to dust including Thanos himself.

Tony dies from using the gauntlet. Everyone mourns.

The battle is won but at a cost.

Holographic Tony gives a message to everyone present including his daughter.

A wreath with Tony's chest reactor is laid to rest at the lake near Tony's hut.

Everyone is present including GOTG, Peter, Maria, Ross, Nick and Hank and Janet.

Thor, still fat designates Valkyrie as Queen of New Asgard in Tonnsberg. Thor is now travelling with GOTG to find Gamora and maybe more Asgardians. Quill and Thor are about to fight for leadership lol.

Scott, Cassie and Hope are together again. Wakanda is back with his King.

Cap goes on a mission to put back the stones and Mjolnir to their proper places. Hulk says to Sam and Buck that he should be back in 5 secs. He didn't. Sam sees a old man at a bench and it's Old Man Steve (who looks like Clint Eastwood now but less wrinkles and bit younger than he is lol). Steve has wedding ring and passes his shield to Sam. Sam is honoured.

Ending shows young Cap dancing with Peggy at their house. That's it.

Credits music is set to 1930s music then shows all cast members. The main cast is shown with their signatures on it.

There is NO post credit scenes which is a first for a MCU.

Stan Lee cameo is set in 1970s where he is shown in his 70s younger self driving a car with a woman, driving past a army base where Cap and Tony retrieves the Tesseract there.

[thecomicsnexus]

Deadly Genesis!

Giant-Size X-Men #1. May, 1975. By Len Wein, Dave Cockrum and Peter Iro. And Chris Claremont, apparently.

Chapter 1: "Second Genesis!" In the city of Winzeldorf, Germany, the normally quiet town erupts in the clamor of an angry mob. They are in search of the "monster", Kurt Wagner. They storm the village and try to capture Kurt. They even begin to burn the village to try and bring him out. Rather than have the city burn, Kurt leaps into the crowd and they overtake him. Suddenly, a voice commands them to "Stop!", and the crowd does. Kurt is greeted by Charles Xavier, who then offers Kurt a place at his school for mutants. Kurt Wagner agrees as long as he is made whole again.

Later, in Quebec, Canada, another mutant enters a secret government agency. The mutant is none other than agent, "Weapon X", better known as Wolverine. Charles Xavier meets with him and Major Chasen. After speaking of Wolverine's past run in with the Hulk, Charles then offers Wolverine a chance as a free agent and to no longer be tied down to the rules of the government. Major Chasen tries to object, but Wolverine slices off his ties and immediately resigns from his duties. He then walks out with Charles.

Afterword, Professor X meets with the Banshee in the Grand Ole Opry. He says he has to talk to Banshee and they talk later in his quarters. The Banshee announces that he is going to accept his offer since he is needing to get on the straight and narrow. Then, in Kenya, villagers cry out to the storm goddess, Ororo for rain. She appears and gives them what they wish. During the downpour, Charles Xavier arrives and announces an offer he hopes she will not refuse. After listening to his request, she accepts. In Osaka, Japan, he is also given an acceptance by Sunfire.

Yet in Siberia, Peter Rasputin is harvesting his crop, when suddenly a fellow farmhand notices a neighbor's tractor heading straight toward Peter's sister, who is playing in the field unaware of the collision. Peter runs towards her and transforms into a metal being and snatches his sister up. Then the tractor hits him and explodes in the impact with his metallic body. Charles Xavier arrives and offers him to come to America to his school. Peter asks his parents and then accepts Xavier's offer. In Arizona, an Apache Indian is seen chasing a bison on the plain. He tackles the beast and suddenly is met by none other than Xavier who offers the man acceptance into his school. The man refuses the help of a white man since he has caused his people grief. Professor X tells him that maybe it is true what people say about the Apache's being selfish. This infuriates the man and he accepts Xavier's offer to prove those people wrong.

Chapter 2: "...And When There Was One!" The group of mutants meet in the school and have been given new costumes designed by Reed Richards. They question Xavier on his reasons for bringing them all together like this. Xavier says he is waiting for the man who can explain it better to them. Then Scott Summers opens the door and enters the room. Cyclops announces that the X-Men have disappeared and the seven new mutants are needed to help find them.

He explains that Cerebro was used to find the seven new members as well as it was used by the missing mutants as well. He goes on to tell them that they had received a signal on Cerebro of an extremely powerful mutant on Krakoa. The X-Men, as well as Havok and Lorna Dane headed off to find this mutant. Suddenly there is a flash and Cyclops found himself battered and his visor missing. His eyes were somehow back to normal and he escaped his attacker and headed home to Professor X. When he arrives his powers suddenly returned and he destroyed part of the school. Professor X helped modify a new visor for him.

Cyclops then asks for their help in finding the rest of the mutants. Sunfire refuses and Cyclops says he's sorry for Sunfire, but the rest of the guys must leave. They all fly out in the X-Men Stratojet. Storm says she disapproves of Cyclops' handling of Sunfire and Thunderbird reminds her that they all have personal reasons for being there and they need to just get the job done. While in midair, the group notices Sunfire flying outside the jet. He tells Cyclops he is going to join the group.

Chapter 3: "Assault Force!" The team arrives at the island and while flying in, Cyclops reads off the attack force teams as well as gives the group their codenames. Storm and Colossus will come in from the north. Banshee and Wolverine from the east. Sunfire and Nightcrawler will come in from the south. Lastly, Thunderbird and Cyclops will take the west.

The teams are dropped at their points and Cyclops and Thunderbird land the stratojet. They begin their search and are not on the island for very long when suddenly the stratojet is "gone!" They then realize a temple has appeared from nowhere and head toward it for answers. They are attacked by creeper vines and take care of them quickly and arrive at the temple.

Meanwhile, Wolverine and Banshee are attacked by giant crabs. They quickly take care of them and go looking for a strange temple they saw before the battle with the crabs. On the northern end of the island, Colossus and Storm notice the same temple and being their trek toward it. There is a sudden avalanche and they run for cover. The rocks follow them and Colossus hits them with a tree, using it like a baseball bat. They meet with Cyclops and the others who have arrived at the temple. Finally, Nightcrawler and Sunfire battle a group of angry birds. Nightcrawler teleports around the attacking birds while Sunfire just blasts them. They clear a path and head to the temple and meet the rest of the team.

The team enters the temple and behind a tightly-sealed door that is soon destroyed, they find -- the missing X-Men! The island vines appear to be feeding off the captured mutants. The group soon helps free their teammates. Everyone helps and gets the members safely outside. Then, Angel speaks up admonishing Cyclops for being a fool. He explains that the situation is a trap and the attacker allowed Cyclops to escape to bring more people back in the search for the remaining captors. Cyclops played right into the trap. The ground shakes and th temple is raised out of the ground while the entire island moves. The Angel realizes that they had come to find a mutant, but that mutant is the island itself!

Chapter 4: "Krakoa...the Island That Walks Like a Man!" The mutants are suddenly flooded with images of the islands origin. There were atomic tests around the island and the radiation caused mutations on the island. It soon mutated enough to become a linked group-being. It needed to feed and it found the X-Men an excellent source. It fed on them, but then became hungrier and allowed Cyclops to escape to bring back more mutants, which he did.

The island then speaks and tells them that it planned the whole trap and even used Professor X. It then says it is done explaining and begins to fire beams at the team. They split and some scatter and others fight back. All that they attack with does not seem to affect the island. Then Professor X intervenes and tells Cyclops he thinks he knows a sole weakness of the island and explains it to Cyclops.

Professor X attacks the island with his mind to distract it's community-intellect. Storm flies into the sky and shoots electricity down into Lorna Dane and reactivates her magnetic mutant powers. Havok is outraged by Cyclops' lack of safety for Lorna. Cyclops tells his brother that he cannot risk the life of one woman, even the woman Alex loves, for the safety of the world. Professor X's assault begins to fail and Krakoa regains it's strength from the rain Storm has provided.

Then Scott and Alex use their powers to combine with Lorna's and she directs her powers downward. The magnetic power heads to the center of the Earth and then Krakoa yells out in terror. Iceman helps save Lorna and the rest of the gang heads to safety in the stratojet. The island is breaking up too quickly and the group has to quickly jump on Iceman's ice-raft. Then, it is seen what is happening, Lorna's powers disrupted the magnetic energies around the Earth at the island's location. This caused gravity to "cease" to exist at that location. The island suddenly is flung out into space and the vacuum of its location is replaced by a swirling whirlpool.

Iceman covers his raft in an ice-bubble and the group goes into the whirlpool. After being banged around a bit underwater, the ice-bubble breaks the surface and the team emerges. They find that their stratojet also is floating since it is airtight and they all board the ship and fly off. As they are flying back to America, Angel asks the group what they will do as thirteen X-Men.

From Marvel Wikia

Just like New Teen Titans was exactly what the Titans needed all along, the diversity brought by Giant-Size X-Men was the plot generator the title needed. Of course, this means the members of this team are fighting amongst themselves most of the time. But because most of this characters will be gone in a year, I think it was to be expected.

The story itself is a bit too much, but it is a good starting point for this team.

I have to commend Wein on introducing so many characters (plus characters he already introduced), and Cockrum with the costume designs. Chris Claremont helped on this issue as well, as the legend says.

I give the issue a score of 8.50

[scifihorroradventure]

FRANKENSTEIN UNBOUND (1990)

The year is 2031. Completing his work on a new particle beam weapon for the government, scientist Joe Buchanan (John Hurt) assures that the atmospheric "time slips" appearing in the skies are harmless and totally reversible. Unfortunately, as he returns home that day, a time slip appears above his house and sucks him in, sending him through time and space to Geneva in 1817. As he attempts to piece the situation together, Joe encounters none other than Doctor Victor Frankenstein (Raul Julia). An innocent girl (Catherine Corman) is currently on trial for the death of Victor's brother William, but Joe soon discovers that the culprit is none other than Victor's own Monster (Nick Brimble). Despite Joe's pleading for Victor to come forth with the truth, the girl is executed for the murder. Having met her at the girl's trial, Joe spends time with Mary Shelley (Bridget Fonda), the author of the "Frankenstein" novel, though at this point she has yet to write it. When Victor refuses to give in to the Monster's demands to create a mate for him, the Monster lashes out and kills Victor's fiance Elizabeth (Catherine Rabett). Desperate, Victor forces Joe into helping resurrect her as a second monster. Realizing he has to stop Victor and the Monster before they cause any more harm, Joe uses a newly constructed version of his particle beam to teleport them all into a frozen wasteland of a future. Victor and Elizabeth are killed and Joe hunts the Monster down to finish him once and for all.

A downright bizarre film, Frankenstein Unbound is an oddly captivating experience. Its premise is completely insane and yet somehow it works far better than it has any right to. Based on Brian Aldiss' novel of the same name, Unbound was the first film Roger Corman had directed in nearly twenty years (the last one being Von Richthofen and Brown in 1971). Part of why the film works so well is that, despite all the time travel and dystopian framework, once Joe ends up in 1817, the movie mostly forgets about all that and turns into a pretty decent Frankenstein movie. The relationship between Victor and the Monster is portrayed rather well, with the latter much more humanized than most incarnations. Wisely, the film skips the more well known parts of the Frankenstein story - Victor creating the Monster - picking up well after the Monster has escaped out into the world, allowing the story to venture into new territory right off the bat (or at least new territory for most film adaptations). The movie looks very nice, filmed in some very pretty sets and locations. The special effects in the future at the start of the film are serviceable, most notably the purple space-like time slip that opens and absorbs Joe throughout the movie, which is a really striking visual.

What really makes the film work, though, is its cast. John Hurt makes for a great lead as Joe Buchanan, a well-meaning man who is nonetheless blind to his own creation's side effects, even as giant portals begin to open in the sky. Luckily, Joe proves to be a likeable hero who lets common sense prevail more often than not when he could've easily been a jackass know-it-all type. If there's anything about Joe that could be legitimately complained about, it's that there are times where it doesn't feel like he has very much to do other than stand around and watch the story of Frankenstein unfold around him. This, of course, changes by the explosive finale, where he takes a very active role in things. But while John Hurt may be the hero of the story, Raul Julia steals the show as the infamous Dr. Victor Frankenstein. Julia is such an odd casting choice for the doctor, but like the over the top premise of the movie, somehow it just works. Julia's Victor is a clearly unstable man, having reached a peak of frustration and fury with the Monster, not caring for much else. While he views the Monster as a threat that must be destroyed, he otherwise sees nothing wrong with what he's done, even letting innocent Justine hang so that he can be allowed to carry on with his work. By the time Elizabeth is killed, he has completely lost it, vowing to not let her pay for his mistakes even as he turns her into an even more hideous creature than the Monster. Bridget Fonda plays Mary Shelley and honestly doesn't have very much to do. She acts mainly as a love interest for Joe, but all she really accomplishes is muddling the line between fiction and reality for no real reason. This is supposed to be "real life," yet Victor and the Monster actually exist, and nothing is really said about it either way, not even by Joe. Later, Joe shows Mary a completed version of "Frankenstein," but apparently isn't worried about what possible effect this will have on history. While Fonda plays the character well enough, she's an overall strange addition that doesn't really do anything but raise several questions that otherwise wouldn't have been there.

As the titular Monster, Nick Brimble plays the character less like a hulking beast and more as the lost and confused being that he is in the original story, resorting to violence when his anger with Victor reaches its peak - which is frequent. Brimble is far more talkative and coherent than most screen incarnations of the Monster, though he still has trouble comprehending concepts such as what murder truly means, even after killing Victor's brother William. He also can't seem to understand that Victor didn't make everyone else in the world (he asks Victor why he didn't "make William stronger" and later asks Joe if Victor made him or not), which is odd considering the whole "I am all alone and I want you to make me a mate so I can no longer be alone" thing. While not one of the most iconic incarnations of the Frankenstein Monster, Brimble makes for a good one, his stretched out face prostheses effectively grotesque yet striking in a way completely different from the traditional look most people associate the Monster with. If there's one oddity about the Monster's role in the film, it's not because of Brimble, but rather the film itself. Throughout the film, the Monster is portrayed as an admittedly violent, but still ultimately sympathetic, misunderstood, and tragic character, as he usually is. Which is why it's so disturbing when the film goes full on Jason Voorhees on him during the climactic fight with Joe in the futuristic laboratory. We have to watch him get shot multiple times, impaled, his arm torn off, and then finally slowly, slowly burned to death, screaming in agony and confusion all the while. Yes, the Monster had to be dealt with by the end of the film, but the way they went about it was just so drawn out and needlessly cruel, it's rather uncomfortable to watch.

Upon first glance, one might be inclined to dismiss Frankenstein Unbound. Roger Corman's involvement, the initially odd casting of Raul Julia, the futuristic, dystopian, and time travel elements, when all rolled together, might make one think that this will be a bad, over the top film that does no justice to the Frankenstein story. And while it certainly is over the top and cheesy, it's done in such a serious manner that one can't help but find themselves drawn in by it. At the very least, the performances by the cast alone make this movie worth a watch.

Rating: ★★★★

Cast: John Hurt ... Dr. Joe Buchanan Raul Julia ... Dr. Victor Frankenstein Nick Brimble ... The Monster Bridget Fonda ... Mary Shelley Catherine Rabett ... Elizabeth Terri Treas ... Computer Voice Jason Patric ... Lord Byron Michael Hutchence ... Percy Shelley Catherine Corman ... Justine Moritz

Director: Roger Corman. Producer: Jay Cassidy (associate producer), Roger Corman, Kobi Jaeger, Laura J. Medina (associate producer), and Thom Mount. Writer: Brian Aldiss (original "Frankenstein Unbound" novel), Roger Corman (screenplay), F.X. Feeney (screenplay), and Mary Shelley (original "Frankenstein" novel). Music: Carl Davis. Special Effects: Nick Dudman (special makeup effects), Suzy Evans (prosthetic makeup assistant), Suzanne Reynolds (prosthetic makeup), Renato Agostini (set special effects), Reza Karim (foam latex supervisor), Betzy Bromberg (optical supervisor), Syd Dutton (matte artist), Bruno George (optical effects), Rhonda C. Gunner (computer animation and displays), Richard E. Hollander (computer animation and displays), John Huneck (visual effects camera), Adam Kowalski (special rigging), Lynn Ledgerwood (special engineering), Gregory L. McMurry (computer animation and displays), Bret Mixon (rotoscoping supervisor), Gary Rhodaback (modelmaker), Mark Sawicki (matte photography), Robert Stromberg (matte artist), Catherine Sudolcan (production manager: visual effects), Bill Taylor (visual effects camera), Gene Warren Jr. (visual effects supervisor), Christopher Warren (visual effects assistant), John C. Wash (computer animation and displays), and David S. Williams Jr. (optical effects).

[isakthedragon]

A Dragon Sized Adventure Chapter 25

Chapter 25: Interview with Slinkys

Crash's Universe, N Sanity Island, Crash's Home.

*KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK.*

*Brio has been knocking on the door for a few minutes.*

N. Brio: "I know we haven't been on the best of terms, but you can't just be ignoring me like this. Hmmm... perhaps their off fighting Cortex still?"

*He doesn't have much time to ponder when a portal opens behind him. Sonic pops out first, followed by Tails, Spyro, Cynder and all the others.*

N Brio thinks: *"Hmm, they don't look like mutants, yet they walk on two legs..."*

Sonic surveys the surroundings: "Well, at least Eggman went someplace tropical for once."

Knuckles: "It sure is. Reminds me of Angel Island's jungle a fair bit."

Big: "Looks like a wonderful place for fishing."

N Brio: *"And they talk too. They don't look like they belong to Cortex. And I wonder who is this 'Eggman'."* "Uh-oh." *They notice him.*

Shadow is the one who notices him first. "Hey... who is that guy?" *They approach him.*

Brio decides to play it cool since they don't know him. "I'm Doctor Nitrus Brio-"

Sonic interrupts. "Wait, DOCTOR? You mean like a scientist?"

N. Brio: "Yes-"

Sonic: "An Evil scientist?"

N. Brio: "Yes- I mean, no!" *But it was too late. Sonic had already plastered a foot on his big head.*

Sonic: "There! One less evil scientist to worry about- DOWCH!" *Amy hits him on the head with her hammer.*

Amy: "SONIC! Didn't you hear him? He then corrected himself."

*Brio starts getting angry and green and getting taller and bigger, but then he pulls out a beaker of green liquid and drinks it, returning to normal.*

Sonic: "What... the heck... was that...?"

N. Brio: "Sweet, lovely mutagen." *He regains his composure.* "Sorry about that. I need to control my anger, lest I turn into a monster."

Sonic: "Yeah, like the Incredible H-DOH!" *Amy smacks him with her hammer again.*

N. Brio: "No, he's right, it's apt. I won't lie, I was an evil scientist."

Sonic: "I knew it." *He shuts up as Amy readies her hammer again.*

Big: "Hmmm, but you don't hold that very well. You're too... meek. You would rather let others take your accomplishments."

Brio: "WHAT? NO!" *He gets more delusional by the second.* "I created the Evolvo-ray! I INVENTED SLINKYS! STOP PLAYING WITH THEM BECAUSE THEY'RE MINE. I INVENTED LIGHT-BRITE AND WROTE THE BIBLE!" *He turns into the Hulk when he says* "I! WAS! IN! THE! FIRST! GAME!" *He then drinks his mutagen, turning back to normal.*

Sonic: "Oh, great. He's a crazy scientist."

Big: "No... He's putting a façade. The only thing true in that is that he perfected the Evolvo-ray... whatever that is."

N. Brio shows his sanity again. "I see I didn't fool you, eh? You're right. I only perfected the Evolvo-ray, a device to evolve weaker creatures into super soldiers, for Dr Cortex. Now, HE is a evil scientist. He's the one who wants to take over the world."

Sonic: "Sounds just like Eggman if you ask me, wanting to take over the world."

Spyro: "What are you doing here any way? You don't look like you would normally visit here."

N. Brio: "You are correct, I do rarely visit the home of my- I mean, Cortex's creations, Crash Bandicoot, Coco, and Crunch. But I got an anonymous phone call telling me to go to the homes of the bandicoots. The caller was strange, very egotistical. And before we hung up, I swear I heard him laughing 'Bwah hah ha' and I thought I could also hear metal banging on metal in the background."

Shadow: "That sounds quite a lot like the Doctor and Metal Sonic."

N. Brio: "Oh! And sometimes, some robots would question what he was doing, only to get a 'Quiet nincombots!' in response."

Sonic: "Now that does sound like Eggman, he never compliments his robots at all."

N Brio: "So, that is who this Eggman is... Hmmm... I did sense an evil just like Dr. Cortex. Which reminds me, none of the bandicoots are here, which troubles me. I know that they can go off to fight Cortex, but he usually tells me about it. (He is Cortex's friend, no matter what.) But there was no call. Did the bandicoots finally fail?"

*The ground suddenly starts shaking.*

Sonic: "Whoa! Is this an earthquake?"

N. Brio: "No... RUN!"

*Everyone moves away from Crash's home towards the beach as thorns shoot up from the ground, missing them. On the beachfront, the water freezes with ice.*

Amy: "What's happening?"

N. Brio: "It's the mutants! They're attacking us! But why?!"

Sonic: "Mutants?"

*From the forest behind them, Spikes, Snipes and Magmadons rumble their way while from the water, Ratcicles and Eel-lectrics slither and slide out. They gang up on the heroes.*

Sonic: "Ooh! A challenge for once. I got this guys." *Sonic starts revving up in his ball form.*

N. Brio looks at the mutants and notices the new headsets on them. He tells Sonic "Sonic! Aim for their heads! Destroy those headsets!"

Sonic: "Got it!" Sonic uses his Light Speed Attack to decimate all the headsets with no trouble at all. They shatter and fall to the ground.

*The mutants go from their crazed state to a more relaxed state, stepping away from the heroes. But before any celebrating can occur, Crunch, with Crash riding him, comes in. Crunch points his arm gun at the heroes.*

Sonic: "Ah, two more want to meet my speed, huh?" *Sonic starts revving up again but Brio stops him.*

N. Brio: "No, wait! That's Crash and Crunch... but they're different."

Big: "They appear to be under mind control. But whoever did this didn't do a very good job on controlling them. Hmmm..."

*He performs a thunderous clap, awakening Crash and Crunch from their mind control. Crunch drops his gun arm and Crash accidently loses his balance and falls onto the ground.*

*Sonic can't help but chuckle at Crash's fall. Then Amy proceed to whack him over the head with her hammer again.*

Crunch: "Oh, my... what happened? Why are we back home?"

Tails: "You guys were hypnotized into trying to attacking us."

Crunch: "What, you little critters? (Crunch is about taller than OMEGA) Darn it, it was that Cortex and the rotund dude."

Sonic: "Rotund dude? Did he wear a red suit and black pants and shoes?"

Crunch: "Why, yes! He trapped us in cages. He said his name was Eggman or something."

Sonic: "Yep, that's Eggman all right."

Crunch: "Then Cortex took us to his Evolvo-ray and then evolved us to look like this. After that, it's all blank for a few days, save for a command to attack a blue hedgehog and his friends just recently."

Crash has gained more than enough brain cells to speak, but all he says is "New Evolvo-ray!" before silencing himself again, as though he rather not speak.

N. Brio: "WHAT! He made a new Evolvo-ray without me?! That does it! Follow me, I'm taking you guys to wherever Cortex is."

*N. Brio jumps into the nearby rubble of what was the old Space Head (From Mind Over Mutants). The others jump in as the Space Head starts working again. N. Brio can be heard saying "Found you!" as they reach the room N. Brio is in.*

N. Brio: "Hop on this teleporter here, it's going to take you were Cortex and this Eggman is."

Crunch: "Why should we trust you? You're not exactly a good guy."

N. Brio: "Yes, I know. But you should also know I am angry that he has thrown out the old Evolvo-ray. I'm done not taking credit! GET ON AND KICK HIS ASS!"

*Not wanting to make Brio go Hulk on them again, they get on and are sent to the Space Egg's / Death Head's lowest levels.*

-----

DEATH HEAD'S / SPACE EGG'S BRIDGE

Eggman is in command when the alarm goes off, saying there are intruders on board.

Ensign Cubot: "Commander, there is an army intruding on board."

Ensign Orbot: "It appears to be Sonic, Spyro, Crash, and the others, Commander."

Commander Eggman: "Excellent, they're right on time. Lt. Commander Metal Sonic, inform the, ugh, Captain that Sonic and Crash and the others have arrived."

Lt. Commander Metal Sonic: "YES, COMMANDER... NO RESPONSE FROM THE CAPTAIN, COMMANDER."

Eggman: "What?! Oh, that's it." *He goes to the ready room and bangs on the door.* "CORTEX?!" *The door doesn't open.* "CORTEX!" *The door is still closed.* "Metal Sonic, force the door open."

Metal Sonic: "Yes, sir." *He overrides the door's security lock, making it open.*

Eggman sees a sight that stops him midsentence, saying only "Cor...tex...?"

*Only one light is on in the ready room as Cortex sings into a microphone.*

Cortex: ♪ "Tonight, I'm gonna have myself a real good time. I feel ali-i-i-ive! And the world, I'll turn it inside out, yeah. I'm floating around in ecstasy. So-"

Dingodile: ♪ "Don't-"

Tropy: ♪ "Stop-"

N. Gin: ♪ "Me-"

Uka-Uka: ♪ "Now."

Nina: ♪ "Don't-"

Komodo Moe and Joe: ♪ "Me-"

Tiny: ♪ "Me."

Eggman: "Oh, brother."

*Pinstripe and Koala Kong raise the lights.*

Cortex (The others take the back-up): ♪ "Cause I'm having a good time! Having a good time! I'm a super star shooting through the sky like a tiger, defying the laws of gravity. I'm a racing car, passing by like Lady Godiva! I'm gonna go, go, go, There's no stopping me! I'm burning thorough the sky, yeah, 200 degrees! That's why they call Mr. Fahrenheit. I'm trav'ling at the speed of light! I wanna make a supersonic man out of you!"

Eggman: "Great, now I have to hate Queen..."

Cortex: ♪ "Don't stop me now! I'm having such a good time, I'm having a ball. Don't stop me now! If you wanna have a good time, just give me a call! Don't stop me now! Cause I'm having a good time. Don't stop me now! Yes, I'm having a good time. I don't wanna stop at all! Yeah."

Eggman: "You're gonna have to stops sooner or later."

Cortex: ♪ "I'm on a rocket ship on my way to Mars, on a collision course. I'm a satellite, I'm out of control. I'm a sex machine ready to reload! Like an atom bomb! about to oh- oh- oh- oh- oh- explode! I'm burning thorough the sky, yeah, 200 degrees! That's why they call Mr. Fahrenheit. I'm trav'ling at the speed of light! I wanna make a supersonic woman out of you!"

"Don't stop me; Don't stop me; Don't stop me; hey, hey, hey! Don't stop me; Don't stop me; Ooh, ooh, ooh! I like it! (Don't stop me; Don't stop me;) Having a good time, good time. Don't stop me; Don't stop me; Oooooooah! Alright!"

Eggman: "Fine, they are doing a pretty good job."

Cortex: ♪ "Ooooh! burning thorough the sky, yeah, 200 degrees! That's why they call Mr. Fahrenheit. I'm trav'ling at the speed of light! I wanna make a supersonic man out of you! (Hey, hey!)"

"Don't stop me now! I'm having such a good time, I'm having a ball. Don't stop me now! If you wanna have a good time, just give me a call! Don't stop me now! Cause I'm having a good time. (Yeah, yeah) Don't stop me now! Yes, I'm having a good time. I don't wanna stop at all! Yeah."

"La, ra, ra, ra, rah, ra, ra, ra, hah, Ha, ra, ra, ha, ha, haaa, Ha, ra, raa, ha, ra, ra a-a-a- Ooh, ooh, ooh..." ♫

Eggman: "Are you guys done now?"

Cortex: "Ah! Yes... I'm just so happy."

Eggman: "So much so that you need to stop all communications out there?"

Cortex is clearly ecstatic. "Well, you saw how much fun we had... now what is it?"

Eggman: "Well, you remember I told you to send Crash, Crunch, and an army to handle Sonic and his friends?"

Cortex: "Ah, yes. Did they kill them?"

Eggman gives a sarcastic response. "Oh, yeah, they did such a good job."

Cortex, cheerfully: "Wonderful."

Eggman starts to rage, but then he calms down. "No, Cortex. They're here in the station."

Cubot comes in. "Reports are that they are in the Prehistoric Terrarium."

Orbot: "We shut them in there, but I don't think we will keep them in there for long."

Cortex: "WHAT!"

Uka-Uka flies over in rage. "That bandicoot is still after us?! YOU STILL FAIL ME, CORTEX, AND I DON'T GET HOW!"

Cortex: "Now, hang on. I got a plan. Dingodile, go to the Prehistoric Terrarium."

Dingodile: "Al'ight, sir. It's gonna be a roast."

Cortex: "The rest of you! To your Terrariums. We are going to stop them!"

*Everyone leave to where they need to be.*

Next Time: Get ready to see some dinos in the Prehistoric Terrarium.