#also i don’t believe that he knew pete died in canon

[inamindfarfaraway]

TGWDLM AU where on the way to Professor Hidgens’s house, the group see Infected Pete and Ted has a complete breakdown. These monsters got his little brother and he wasn’t even there, he didn’t protect him, didn’t look for him, didn’t even think about him - he was too busy thinking of himself, like always. Now Pete’s gone forever, because clearly whatever happened to Sam isn’t something you can come back from. He swore, he swore after Jenny that he would never feel that bad again. But this is worse. At least she didn’t die! *Audience members cringe* His brother, though, is dead. At sixteen years old. It couldn’t be Ted, the useless bastard with nothing good ahead of him. No, Ted wanted to survive. And Pete - earnest, brilliant, loving Pete, perhaps the last person on the planet to give a damn about him - paid the price for it.

This forces Emma, who has been spending the whole last year dealing with the pain of losing her sibling and not getting to say goodbye because she was off being selfish and neglecting her relationships, to realize: ‘Oh. Fuck. The sleazy asshole has feelings… that I can empathize with. Ew.’ So she tells him about Jane. Although she still hates everything else about him, a) nobody deserves to suffer through that alone, which she knows from doing it alone, and b) maybe if he starts to see her as a person with feelings too, he’ll be slightly less insufferable. And it works. The solidarity lays the foundation for a slow-burn friendship. Will they always annoy each other? Oh yes. But it’s hard to understand someone on such a raw, fundamental level and not reach out to them when you yourself also need support.

Due to his external and internal walls being shattered, Ted has to become more comfortable with vulnerability; he has to be more appreciative of and sensitive to other people. He really, really values the few relationships he has left. He and Charlotte connect more deeply while she’s concurrently processing her complex feelings about Sam and his death, and he might not leave her alone with Sam, imagining how he’d feel to be alone with Pete’s body and the alien inside it. He grows to be an actual friend to Paul and… well, Bill might not have enough time for that, but nevertheless. Maybe in this timeline, a handful of Hatchetfielders get to the PEIP helicopter together. Maybe the Hive doesn’t escape the island. Maybe PEIP figures out how destroy it.

Pete was the good one. Pete was the one with hope. But if Ted’s the one who survives, then he’ll just have to live for both of them.

Or he could let the Infected get him right away and the brothers could sing an epic duet.

@dontsteponthatfish @awigglycultist @blueskiesandstarrynights

[hellzyeahwebwieldingreviews]

Untold Tales of Spider-Man 11: Poison in the Soul – by Glenn Greenberg

Ultimately a good story

Markie Macchio and Ralphie Bernardo have visions of moving to Mexico or the Caribbean to open a bar and captain a fishing boat respectively. They rob a jewelry store in service to their dreams, only to run into Spider-Man and find themselves webbed up, awaiting the police. A stolen ring, found by Spidey in Ralphie’s pocket, reminds him that he has just asked Mary Jane to marry him and has not yet gotten an answer.

The next day, Harry Osborn calls him to tell him about Marty Schultz, who was Pete’s lab partner in a couple of ESU Freshman classes. Pete recalls that Marty called him recently and they set up a lunch date but a need for Spidey prevented the meeting. Now, Harry tells Pete that Marty is dead… a suicide who left a note saying he couldn’t get rid of the poison in his soul. Hearing this, Peter berates himself for standing Marty up. “If I hadn’t been adventuring, I could’ve been there for Marty, I could have helped him through whatever was troubling him. He’d still be alive!” But he also realizes that, if he hadn’t been Spidey that day, all of the people he rescued from a burning building would be dead. “But what about Marty?” he thinks, “Couldn’t he have been there for Marty, as well?” Pete sighs heavily. There is no answer for this.

The next day, Peter goes to Brevoort Funeral Parlor but, riddled with guilt, can’t bring himself to go inside. He wanders to the Daily Bugle where J. Jonah Jameson tells him that the Shocker has broken jail. JJJ demands “photos I can use for my front page!” Spidey finds the Shocker fighting police in the intersection of Broadway and Nineteenth Street. After a short battle, the Shocker uses his vibro-blasts on a building, sending “large chunks of rubble and broken bricks” to the street. Spidey pushes the “dozens of people standing there” to safety allowing the Shocker to blast him from behind. The rubble buries the web-slinger and the Shocker escapes, though Spidey tags him with a spider-tracer. A cop who doesn’t buy into Jameson’s editorials (“That crank?” he says, “He’s just a loudmouthed blowhard looking for attention.”) pulls Spidey from the rubble. Wondering why the Shocker didn’t stick around to finish him off, Spidey follows, searching for his spider-tracer’s signal.

Spidey locates the signal at Forest Hills Cemetery, prompting recollections of Uncle Ben and Gwen Stacy…and Marty Schultz. Remembering that Marty was going to be buried in this cemetery, Spidey locates the grave and pays his respects. The guilt strikes him again and he feels “as if it’s all seeped through me, right down to the core of my soul.” Spidey thinks he understands what Marty meant by poison in the soul…”I’m sure feeling that way now”… but he decides “you took the coward’s way out, Marty…Death is never a solution, no matter what problems have to be overcome.” Suddenly, the Shocker strikes, enraged that Spidey is standing over Marty’s grave. He reveals that Marty was his kid brother and that he escaped jail because the authorities wouldn’t let him attend Marty’s funeral. The Shocker’s own guilt over letting Marty down fills him with his own “poison in the soul.” Feeling sympathy for his opponent, Spidey polishes the Shocker off quickly, then lectures him on his squandered talent and potential. “You have the chance to embrace the future,” he says, “It’s a chance your brother threw away. What’s it going to be for you, Schultz, the future… or a dead end?”

The Shocker decides to go straight after serving his sentence. Spidey lets him pay his last respects to Marty before taking him away. “I still don’t know what the poison in your soul was, Marty,” thinks Spidey, “Probably no one knows, or ever will. But what I do know is that the guilt and anguish that I felt over your death-the poison in my own soul-is gone now. I’m not sure if your brother will really be able to reform. That’s for the future to decide. But right now, at this very moment, all is right with the world, and the future looks bright. And moments like this are so rare, so few and far between, that I can’t help but cherish it.”

Several days later, Spidey stands on top of the Brooklyn Bridge. He’s been thinking about Gwen Stacy lately, particularly since MJ has turned down his marriage proposal. Part of him wishes he could live in the past and avoid the hurts like Mary Jane’s refusal but he knows he must choose the future over the past. “I’ll always love you, Gwen, and I’ll always remember you. But the future is calling, and I have to go meet it head-on. I think that’s what you would have wanted me to do.” Spidey web-slings through the city knowing, “with tomorrow, there was a chance for hope, for opportunity, and maybe, just maybe, for happiness.”

The drawbacks of this story are:

The name dropping of 90s Spidey editors 

The thugs at the start getting way too much page space devoted to them considering how insignificant they were

Greenberg arguably going too far with Peter’s sense of guilt

Everything else with the story works fine, unless you want to hold it in contempt for defying canon (wouldn’t Spidey have mentioned Shocker’s attempt to reform at some point?) but by this instalment that’s rather moot.

I’ve said before how each story in this anthology both takes place during a particular era of Spidey and tries to represent a component of his (then existing) mythology. 

In hindsight the prior story about Fancy Dan is probably touching upon the crime noir elements in Spidey’s mythos whilst this story is about both Peter’s sense of guilt and never say die attitude. 

it uses Peter’s desire to marry MJ and the aftermath of Gwen’s death as the vehicle to explore this. Whilst listening to the story I was prepared to hold the story in contempt for giving so little attention to MJ herself as I thought Peter’s proposal was intended to be the crux of the story but in reality that wasn’t what this story was trying to be about in the first place. As such I don’t mind that being something paid so little attention.

I was also ready to call out greenberg’s handling of Peter’s guilt, the idea that he feels like Marty’s death was his fault at all and his desire to run away from the funeral was at best overwrought and at worst out of character.

Thankfully Greenberg stuck the landing and had Spidey realise (refreshingly all on his own) that Marty’s death wasn’t on him, that he was likely going to take his own life no matter what. 

I can’t say for sure if this was Greenberg’s intention but I think the story illustrates what I have often said about Peter’s guilt. It’s not that he is inherently and perennially guilty but rather his kneejerk reaction to dealing with a crisis, especially death, is to assume guilt onto himself so he feels in control but deep down he doesn’t believe it/eventually he gets over it.*

As for the Shocker this is definitely one of the best Shocker stories of all time but also might be THE best in terms of characterization for him and depth. 

The story also drives home a great aspect of the character that wasn’t exactly explored on panel in the 1970s, Spidey’s ‘never say die’ attitude. We never got to explore Peter’s feelings about trying to find love again after Gwen’s death but you had to figure he did it because he knew there was hope and he wasn’t one to surrender to darkness. If he was he’d have been crushed long ago.

So having Spidey have his hopes for his personal life (and retroactively Shocker’s too) crushed by MJ’s rejection but persevere in spite of it was ultimately very dramatic and spoke to the heroic nature of the character.

*A great bit of writing by Greenberg was the moment Peter acknowledged that had he been there fore Marty people might’ve died in a fire. This then led into an intriguing moment where Peter hears a voice in his mind and realizes it belongs not to himself but to ‘Spider-Man’. 

[rael-rider]

Ewing GotG Interview: Thoughts about what he said in regards to Star-Lord

I originally wanted to write all of my thoughts on everything that Ewing said on his SYFYWire GotG Interview but it got too long and I realized I mostly just wanted to talk about Peter and Rich since he provided more new info about them than anyone else. But here’s what caught my eye. Going to make this a post only for Peter (and Rich’s will come out later) or else it’s going to get long (with bolding done by me for emphasis):

A lot of what I do involves going right back to the first appearance of a character — not because I think that's the best they've ever been and deviating from it is blasphemy, but because I think there's usually a nugget of primal mojo that you can find there while the idea's fresh and not fully coalesced.....Star-Lord's first appearance is weird as all get-out, set in some alternate future and 100 percent not in continuity, so you'd have thought that technique wouldn't work this time — but when I looked back at it, it did have one of those little globules of primal magic in it that I'm going to be making a lot of use of over the first year.

Oh, Peter's a total mess. All the old guilt is back. Old false memories, strange dreams where he's asked if he feels the purpose of his life is wrong. He's got his support system, his found family is around him, but as we'll see, he's still got that deep-down need to atone for the past. Put simply -- he can't sleep at night. We've got a journey for Pete to make over the course of this book -- it's a journey that's been waiting patiently for him for a very long time, and it's a journey he might to have to make alone.

This is really interesting to me considering the talk of false memories and weird dreams and Peter‘s first appearance being in a then alternate future (it was the 70′s when his comic came out and his story took place in the 90′s IIRC) and I want to see how Ewing will incorporate all of that to the character for his GotG run.

Now Star-Lord’s 616 introduction happened in a Thanos mini (now collected as Thanos: Samaritan) by Keith Giffen and we didn’t get much about his backstory other than he was in the Kyln for something horrible that he did (which I’ll get into later). Annihilation Conquest expanded a bit on his backstory but it was still pretty vague as to what stuff from the original comics was still canon or not. We knew Peter still had his old Star-Lord outfit at some point and had a sentient ship that he called “Ship” but that’s pretty much about it what was said in the comics.

The Nova corps files companion comic for Annihilation describe his backstory as being pretty similar to his original one except it took place in the 616 universe but still how much of what he did in his original comic was canon other than the origin itself (Meredith gets killed by aliens, Peter goes to space when he’s older seeking revenge and he becomes Star-Lord) was still up in the air. Around the time Thanos Imperative came out a companion book that had character bios (supposedly written by Rich himself) called The Thanos Sourcebook also came out and it added something interesting to Peter’s backstory. The Thanos Sourcebook entry for Star-Lord mentions that Peter’s father was a “time traveling space man”. It’s an odd little thing that really doesn’t get addressed anywhere else but could have been a nod to Star-Lord’s original story taking place in the future or an explanation as to why young Jason of Spartax was in an Inhuman story when Medusa and Blackbolt were young too. However in Dan Abnett’s Guardians 3000 we meet the Star-Lord from the year 3000 who is related to present time Peter but there’s something odd about him. He wears an outfit similar to the one Peter used to wear, he has the space ship Peter used to have, and he's even named Peter Jason Quill just like him. It’s assumed he’s our Peter Quill’s descendant but there’s a twist in their relationship. I made a post which goes into more detail about it but basically future Peter Quill from the 30th century is present Peter Quill’s Great-Great Grandfather.

The reason I bring this up is because Ewing is a writer who really does his research when it comes to the characters he’s writing and said research usually inspires new ideas and dictates were he’s taking his characters and informs him of who they had met or not and what relationships they already formed (his tumblr is full of posts of comics he’s reading that tie into his Hulk run and you can really see what’s inspiring him and what he’s looking at when he makes a story) . Like with Rocket he mentioned the way he changed as a character from who he was to who he is right now reminded him of Noir characters so he’s writing Rocket as a noir character. As weird as that may seem for someone like Rocket it’s something new for that character and it’s not retreating to the same stuff. With Rocket most of his stories post-Bendis have been that he’s angry and he’s a thief who loves to steal and he's violent but in Ewing’s Rocket mini he takes those elements and tells a noir heist space story and he gives us a look into Rocket’s past and tells us why Rocket went from a sort of space sheriff into someone who steals (and it’s a story that really makes you sympatize with him). Old stories and concept are used by Ewing to build up new ideas and stories from existing ones.

Going back to Peter, Ewing mentions that he’s going to have elements from his original comic in his GotG run and that there’s some sort of journey “that's been waiting patiently for him for a very long time ” and I can’t help but think about what Steve Englehart once said about his unrealized Star-Lord story before Claremont took over the book:

Englehart said he’d planned for Quill to evolve, to become an “enlightened being”.

“I envisioned it as a 12-part series, moving Quill from asshole to Star-Lord,” Englehart explained. “Horoscopes have twelve houses, and it would have been a twelve-part series. But the real distinguishing feature between chapters would have been Quill moving outward through the solar system, having an episode on each planet in turn. Each episode would be keyed to the astrological meaning of the planet, so that on Mercury he would have a fast-action story involving twins, on Venus he would have a love story, on Mars a war story, etc.,” Englehart said.

“As he passed through these different realities, he would discover his humanity, so that when he passed by Pluto he would have experienced all facets of life and be ready to take his place among the stars.” [x]

Could this be what Ewing was referring to as the journey that’s been patiently waiting for Peter for a very long time? Will Ewing have Peter go on a similar journey to the one that Englehart had planned? Is Peter going to reach some sort of enlightenment/revelation from it? Will Star-Lord have a new meaning for him? How will Peter Quill’s character grow from this?

Also the whole “old false memories” and dreams Peter has been having were he’s asked if he feels his life purpose is wrong, could that be Ewing just retconning everything from the Bendis and Humphries run? Will we see Peter’s true origin and the real Jason of Spartax who might possibly be a time traveler? (and is the J’Son that we know a fake?) I don’t think Ewing is much about retconning as he is about connecting and making sense of things but I wouldn’t be opposed to him doing away with everything Bendis and Humphries did when it comes to Peter Quill because it was awful.

The one last thing I will talk about is the mention of Peter “old guilt” and need for atonement. It’s an aspect of the character that’s been a thing since Giffen’s Thanos Samaritan all the way through Thanos Imperative. It wasn’t something that was present in Bendis’ run and we know from Nicole Perlman that the Creative Comittee (which Bendis was in) wasn’t that interested in a Peter Quill who was seeking redemption and found that idea “a bit boring”. Ewing seems to want to touch it, and the one big source of Peter’s guilt and need for atonement has always been his fight against the Fallen One and the 350,000 people in a Mining Colony that he sacrificed to defeat him. It’s such a big source of guilt for Peter that he stopped being Star-Lord over it, turned himself to the Nova corps, and he even tried to lose his humanity because of it. He also refused to talk about it (even Rich didn’t know for a long time but Peter eventually told him because he wrote about it in his files in the Thanos Sourcebook). So I’m thinking that someone that had a loved one in that mining colony or escape its destruction is seeking revenge on Peter and it’s part of what sets him into his journey. Because all this time and I really can’t believe anyone hasn’t tried going after him for 350,000 people that died.

Also seeing how Peter was in charge of Hala’s security in Annihilation Conquest and he was the one that let the Phalanx infected Space Knights into Hala and that caused more deaths and seeing how Ewing’s has plans to involve the Kree in his GotG stories... Peter’s guilt over what happened in that event will definitely come into play. It’s also those events and the Kree still having faith in his Star-Lord persona that makes him go back to being Star-Lord (and they also pushed him into it) and it’s also what makes him form the new Guardians of the Galaxy.

I’m very much looking forward to what Ewing will do with Peter.

[mrsspidermanmaryjanewatsonparker]

“While they're depicted as happy and in love, there are a lot of details that don't make sense.”

Oh boy I can’t wait to hear this from the pinnacle of comic book journalism that is Screenrant....

20 EVERYTHING ABOUT "ONE MORE DAY"

 Okay fair enough

 19 THEY HAVE NOTHING IN COMMON

 Sense of humour. Study different forms of science. Science and acting are both about making sense of life. Troubled childhoods. Living double lives. Living with guilt over relegating on responsibilities which hurt your family. Immense inner strength. Oh and btw having shit in common isn’t the be all and end all of romantic relationships so shut up.

 “It's possible for two people to love each other and not have much in common. ”

 That’s what I said.

 “At some point, however, a couple needs to have something to build a relationship on.”

 And they did see above and add in being one another’s friends, confidants and support group.

 “Peter Parker and Mary Jane couldn't be further apart from each other in almost every single way. He's a science geek with a weird sense of humor and no social skills.”

 Also heroic, also gult ridden, also responsible, also inner strength, also working class, also lost a parent, also lived a double life....like MJ.

 “Meanwhile, MJ is an aspiring model/actress, except for when she's a super successful model/actress.”

 Everyone knows model/actress = a personality right.

 “In recent years, she's shown a more entrepreneurial side, but that still involved opening a nightclub, the sort of place where Peter doesn't fit in at all. They say opposites attract, but there comes a point where that just becomes nonsensical.”

 Yes there is but that point is well beyond the ways in which Peter and MJ are opposite to one another because their traits often balance one another out.

 18 THEY GOT TOGETHER WAY TOO SOON AFTER GWEN'S DEMISE

 They got together almost 2 years after Gwen died shut up.

 “Time in comic books is a funny thing. The Marvel Universe has a sliding timescale, meaning that it's hard to peg down when stories took place in relation to each other. The time that passes in the real world means nothing. That being said, Peter and MJ started dating way too soon after Gwen Stacy's demise.”

 Canonically its still 2 years so shut up.

 “She lost her life in Amazing Spider-Man #121 (1973) by Gerry Conway and Gil Kane. By the end of the next issue, the seeds were being planted for them to get together. They didn't immediately start dating, but Peter seemed to get over his "one, true love" suspiciously fast”

 2 years isn’t too fast and she wasn’t his one true love. Nobody has a one true love.

 17 SHE FLIP-FLOPS ON PETE'S LIFE AS SPIDER-MAN

This list is about stuff that doesn’t make sense. Anybody dating a superhero is probably going to flip flop over their own or their loved ones’ lives being potentially endangered by super powered serial killers.

 “Look, dating a superhero must be hard. Nobody can blame someone for not wanting to deal with it, or trying to convince a loved one not to risk their life. Also, it can make having a social life impossible. It's understandably frustrating, but at some point, enough is enough.

It seems like Mary Jane can't make up her mind about Peter's life as Spider-Man.”

 Obviously she can because she chose to date him, chose to marry him and stayed with him all the time sans stories where she was written as OOC.

 She both likes it and dislikes it which makes her compelling and its realistic too. She doesn’t HAVE to make up her mind definitively and every day stay on track with liking or hating it because people flip flop over shit all the time.

 Shit Spider-Man himself flip flops about BEING SPIDER-MAN!

 “Sometimes she's fully supportive, while other times she wants him to quit. ”

Gee its almost like something as dangerous as a superhero’s life would have lots of factors that impact how you feel depending upon what side of the bed you got up from.

 Also she never wanted him to quit outside of when she was OOC. She only once wanted him to remain retired when she was heavily pregnant.

 “Considering that she knew Peter was Spider-Man before she even met him, it's time for her to figure out her feelings and make a decision. ”

 a)                  She did, hence they married

b)                  She doesn’t need to make a decision YOU the individual reader want her to but realistically the character for her own sake doesn’t have to

 “They both know he's not going to give up being a hero, so it's time to be grown ups.”

 16 THEIR ENGAGEMENT WAS SUPER QUICK

In the history of mankind there have been quicker engagements.

Shit STAN LEE got married super quick, he married his wife Joan of 60 something years literally the day she got divorced.

“In Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21 (1987) by David Michelinie, Jim Shooter, and Paul Ryan, Peter Parker married Mary Jane. Behind the scenes, this occurred because Stan Lee wanted Spider-Man to get married in the newspaper comic strip that he was writing at the time. Marvel liked the idea, and decided to have them get married in the comics as well.

The problem was that they were broken up at the time. So, the writers had to quickly bring her back, rekindle the romance, have Peter propose, and then get married.”

 This is total fucking bullshit.

Mary Jane had been a mainstay in the titles for over 4 years before the wedding, being the most recurring character sans Spider-Man himself.

Moreover broken up isn’t strictly accurate, Peter and Mj years prior to their wedding had been effectively dating whilst being in denial about it to one another or publicly.

Their romance and love was always there they just weren’t being honest about it until Peter proposed.

Yeah the proposal-wedding was a few issues, but the romantic tension and relationship had been years in the making.

“Anyone that's ever planned a real wedding knows how unrealistic this whole timeline was.”

Yeah unless you were having a quick wedding at city hall with a small ceremony and there was a time skip before and during the final part of the story where they tie the knot.

15 DO THEY HAVE A BABY OR NOT?

“The second Clone Saga that ran during the mid '90s had one of the most confusing endings ever written. Basically, the writers needed to finish Ben Reilly's storyline while also tying up all of Peter's loose ends to make it possible for Peter to become Spider-Man again. One of these plot threads was the fact that Mary Jane was pregnant.

The editors felt that Spider-Man being a dad would age him, so they suggested that Mary Jane not have the baby, after all. However, it was also heavily implied at the time that Norman Osborn had the baby taken away. This storyline was teased for a few years, before ultimately being forgotten about.”

This list is about things that do not make sense. This list is not about things that are merely unresolved.

14 WHY DOES PETER STILL USE THE BLACK SUIT?

“In Amazing Spider-Man #299 (1988) by David Michelinie and Todd McFarlane, Venom made his frightening first appearance. Mary Jane thought she saw Peter wearing his black costume, until a mouth formed and turned into a horrific smile. Venom didn't hurt Mary Jane, but the experience was still pretty traumatic for her.

After Spidey defeated the villain, Mary Jane asked him to stop wearing the black costume. This made sense, and Peter happily obliged. Except, he keeps bringing the costume back from time to time.”

 Yeah and it’s justified each time.

He brought it back in the 1990s during McFarlane’s run because he needed something stealthy and he discussed this with MJ.

He brought part of it back in the Clone Saga because he had nothing else to wear but it wasn’t the whole suit.

He brought it back during the Mackie run with Larsen because again he had nothing else to wear and MJ was presumed dead at the time anyway.

He wore it again in Back in Black at a time where he wasn’t wearing it in front of MJ and wanted to send a message to criminals that he was now going to be a more violent and scary fucker (it worked).

He wore it again in Brand New Day when he was impersonating Venom and he and MJ were broken up.

He wore it again in ASM #800 when he needed the power boost from the symbiote to beat Red Goblin.

And all this aside, MJ got over her fear of Venom anyway.

So rather than making no sense each individual instance actually did add up.

“Sometimes there's a specific reason, other times he just seems to feel like wearing it. He knows it scares his wife, but apparently Peter likes the way it looks too much to care.”

Not true as I just explained. Peter himself doesn’t even LIKE the suit anymore.

13 HOW SUCCESSFUL IS HER CAREER?

“Not everyone is a fan of Peter and Mary Jane's relationship. While many fans love her, some feel that it's weird for Peter Parker to be married to a supermodel. That can be a valid complaint, but the problem is that Mary Jane has had one of the most inconsistent careers ever.

She's constantly moving between being a struggling model, a highly sought after model, a soap opera actress, and even giving up on show business completely multiple times. It's understandable for careers to have ups and downs, but it seems like the writers can't even decide if she's famous or not.”

Because a model and actresses career and fame can’t fluctuate right?

 12 THEY'VE BOTH DEALT WITH TOO MANY STALKERS

WTF is too many exactly when one of you is a famous-semi-famous actress and model and the other is a superhero?

Like shit dude, there are people, a lot of them women, who aren’t famous and can have stalkers.

“In the late '90s, Marvel's first attempt to undo Spider-Man's marriage resulted in Mary Jane getting on a plane which then exploded mid-flight.”

Technically that was not their first attempt.

“For the next year or so, everyone believed she had passed away. Instead, she had been snatched away by a deranged stalker, who caused the explosion so that no one would look for her.

Before that, Mary Jane had to deal with Jonathan Ceaser, who attempted to take her away several times in the early '90s.”

 OP misspelled ‘once’ as ‘several times’.

 “Even Peter had to deal with his ex girlfriend, Felicia Hardy, dating Flash Thompson just so she could be near him during that same time period. ”

That isn’t a stalker.

“People really need to give these two their privacy.”

 Again...not a thing that doesn’t make sense which is the point of the article.

 11 THEY BREAK UP CONSTANTLY

constantly

Dictionary result for constantly

/ˈkɒnst(ə)ntli/

adverb

1.    continuously over a period of time; always.

 Hmmmmmm...doesn’t seem to add up with breaking up:

 For the first time in the late 1970s.

Again in Spider-Man vs. Wolverine.

Trial separating (which isn’t a proper break up) in 2001.

Seperating for real in OMD/OMIT

Breaking up again in Superior when it wasn’t even the real Spider-Man. And no her dumping him again twice doesn’t count.

 Gee, four break ups across 40+ years = constantly apparently.

 “Comic books can't just rely on action, they also need to have drama. One of the most common places writers create drama is in the hero's relationships. It's probably very hard to date a superhero, and it's understandable that not everyone would want to sign up for that ride. At some point, however, enough is enough.”

 I’m not saying I’m innocent of lazily repeating the same words and phrases over and over again, but I also don’t get paid to write for a big website.

 Also, wtf does enough’s enough even mean?

They broke up a few times, one due to genuine issues, once because of a misunderstanding, once because MJ wasn’t well and Peter was OOC (which doesn’t count) and every other time also because they were both OOC.

 “It's hard to feel bad for them when Peter and Mary Jane break up, because they do it all the time. He's always focusing on saving people, she's constantly moving to another part of the country to work on her career. When Mephisto forced them to break-up, he could've just waited a few months and gotten the same result.”

Again all the time and constantly does not = 4 times across 40 years.

Also that wasn’t Mephisto’s endgame but whatever.

10 HOW DID SHE NOT NOTICE OTTO'S MIND IN PETER'S BODY

Hey look, the secod legitimate point on this list. The answer was because bad writing.

9 HOW DO THEY AFFORD THEIR APARTMENTS?

“A common complaint across various forms of fiction is that characters always seem to be able to afford apartments that they shouldn't be able to. For Spider-Man and Mary Jane, however, it's pretty bad. Of course, there are times when Mary Jane's career is going very well, which explains how they can afford a nice apartment.

For the most part, however, Peter is a struggling photographer and she's a struggling model. Somehow, they are consistently able to afford apartments with giant skylights. ”

 If this happens across most fiction in ways which aren’t more egregious than anything else (because Joey and Chandler’s apartment is egregious given their jobs) then it’s not worth mentioning on this list.

“Seriously, Tony Stark would struggle to afford some of the places they've lived in over the years.”

He really wouldn’t.

8 PETER WAS SUPER SHALLOW ABOUT MEETING HER

First off he wasn’t super shallow, he was as shallow as you would expect any teenager to be in that situation.

Also, a teenager being shallow. Thats certainly something that doesn’t make sense and belongs on a list entirely about shit that makes no sense.

“In the early stories, Peter could be kind of shallow. Granted, he was a teenager, but he always just seemed interested in dating the prettiest girls. ”

Ugh...no he didn’t. He asked out 3 young women who were all relatively attractive but none of whom were like compared to Hollywood starlets of the era. There was something of an implication that Betty Brant, his high school love, was not as attractive as the more glamorous Liz Allan whom he typically rebuffed in favour of Betty.

Also if we’re playing the ‘its super shallow to just date the hottest people you can’ then Peter and MJ were no worse than one another at those ages.

“Considering that he was always getting bullied and picked on, he should've been more understanding.”

a)        Being bullied and picked on isn’t innately going to make you more understanding of anybody

b)        Understanding of who? Who was he being inconsiderate towards exactly? He asked out two girls he was attracted to, attraction being an involuntary thing in the first place. He presumed his elderly not hip aunt who described MJ as being a good house wife was going to pick someone unattractive or boring, especially considering that if she was going to be set up with him she probably couldn’t get a date with anyone else. Meaning in his teenage head she must be unattractive

“Then, when he found out that she was beautiful, he was suddenly interested. ”

 My God how dare characters as teens be shallow and flawed. It makes no seeeeeeense!

 “It turns out, Peter's type was "any girl that looks good, regardless of her interests or personality."”

 That’s true which is why he quickly began to turn away from MJ because he found her shallow and preferred Gwen who was seemingly not shallow...

 7 WHY DID SHE NEED TO BE SET UP WITH PETER IN THE FIRST PLACE?

...huh?

 “Every comic book fan knows the story of how Peter and MJ met. A recurring plot line in early Spider-Man stories was Aunt May constantly trying to set Peter up with her friend's niece. The two didn't actually meet until The Amazing Spider-Man #43 (1966) by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, when Peter opened the door and she said the iconic phrase "face it tiger, you just hit the jackpot!"”

 Wow...the degree of incompetence in this paragraph is truly impressive.

 First of all it was ASM #42 not #43...how do you fuck that up. More importantly it was with Lee and Romita Senior not Lee and Ditko. SERIOUSLY how do you fuck that up.

 “What's weird about this, however, is that Mary Jane was a beautiful and outgoing girl. Peter was busy being Spider-Man, and was considered a nerd by his peers, so it's understandable that he'd need help getting dates. Mary Jane, on the other hand, should have been doing just fine.”

 Lets ignore how this was explained in Parallel Lives a story which has a major plot point referenced by the article more than once.

...why is this presumption Mj NEEDED to be set up. Maybe she just agreed as a favour to her aunt.

6 HOW DID SHE KNOW TO SAY THE JACKPOT LINE?

Because she knew she was sexy and could tell by his reaction he didn’t realize that and was taken aback by it.

“Ok, this might seem like a nitpick,”

Why let that bother you now.

 “The famous scene where Peter and Mary Jane first meet plays out like this: Peter answers the door, and Mary Jane is standing and delivers the famous line. It's a memorable moment, but it also doesn't make any sense.

Mary Jane never met Peter before this.”

Not formally no, but yes she had and knew what he looked like.

“How did she know she was a "jackpot" for him? Maybe she wasn't his type?”

His reaction spelled it out for her.

“For all she knew, he could have answered the door and been very disappointed. Also, maybe he wouldn't care what she looked like? It was a pretty arrogant thing to say, looking back, and she's lucky it didn't backfire.”

 *rolls eyes* oh fuck off.

5 THE REASON SHE CALLS HIM TIGER MAKES NO SENSE

“For years, everyone focused on the "jackpot" part of Mary Jane's famous introduction, but apparently, Peter was focused on a different part. Apparently, he never understood why she called him "tiger," especially because the nickname stuck. In all honesty, it's a good question. Especially during those early years, Peter Parker was anything but a "tiger."

In the original Clone Saga that ran during 1975, Peter actually asked Mary Jane for the reason. It turns out, it's because he's not a tiger and she's just playfully teasing him. That's fine, except why did she say it the first time she met him? How did she know he wasn't a "tiger?"”

a)           Because she called everyone that

b)           Because Aunt May and Aunt Anna probably told her about him

 4 THEY DON'T EVEN TRY TO HIDE KNOWING EACH OTHER

Yeah they do.

 “Peter's never been great at keeping a secret identity.”

Yeah that is why hardly anyone knew it before Civil War...

 “His entire scheme is that he takes pictures of himself fighting crime as Spider-Man, and then pretends that he's just Spidey's photographer. He's basically telling everyone that he's connected to the wall-crawler in some way.”

Yet it worked so obviously he is good at hiding it.

 “Even worse, whenever Spider-Man runs into Mary Jane, they often blatantly talk to each other in public. They always forget to pretend that Mary Jane isn't supposed to know Spider-Man. ”

He talks to lots of people in public and MJ has the easy cover story of knowing/dating Spider-Man’s friend Peter Parker.

“That, or they go way over the top and really awkwardly state that they don't know each other.”

No they don’t.

“At some point, someone's going to notice Spidey flirting with Peter Parker's wife and put two and two together.”

Yet they never have so...

 3 HOW DID SHE FIGURE OUT HIS SECRET ID?

“As previously stated, Peter is kind of terrible at keeping a secret identity. ”

As previously stated no he isn’t

“Often times, Peter doesn't even get caught as Spider-Man, people just end up figuring it out.”

Again a lie from the author who didn’t even know Romita Senior isn’t Steve Ditko.

“For example, after dating Peter during the '70s and the '80s, Mary Jane broke up with him, moved away, and then came back to New York. ”

Actually they broke up in the 70s and began dating after she returned in the 80s.

“When she returned, she revealed that she had figured out his secret.

While that made sense, later stories contradicted this. It was eventually revealed that she saw Peter leaving his house dressed as Spider-Man the night Uncle Ben died. So, she didn't figure it out. Obviously, this was a retcon, but the result is that Mary Jane lied to Peter. She didn't figure anything out!”

a)           Seeing Peter Parker enter an abandoned house and Spider-Man emerge would count as figuring out his identity

b)           She never actually told him directly she figured it out like she was a goddam detective

2 THEY BOTH KEEP HANGING AROUND THEIR EXES

As do most comic book characters...

“Both Peter and Mary Jane had healthy dating lives before marrying one another. There's nothing wrong with that. On the other hand, it's strange how they're both constantly hanging around their exes. ”

Or refreshingly healthy...

“Peter still brings Black Cat around constantly, and he and Betty Brant are still very close.”

He dated Betty as a friggin teenager and the author reaffirms he doesn’t understand what constantly means.

“Meanwhile, Mary Jane dated Harry Osborn while they were both in college, and the relationship did not end well for him. Now, years later, everyone is always hanging out together and that's a little strange. Hanging around with your exes typically leads to disaster, and based on how many ex-boyfriends and girlfriends are around, Peter's Spidey-sense should be tingling.”

Or again healthy and an affirmation of a deep bonded friendship that goes beyond personal baggage from when they were young and dumb.

1 GWEN WAS MEANT TO BE PETER'S TRUE LOVE, NOT MJ

Again, not something that doesn’t make sense. In fact it makes less sense for Gwen to be his true love since they were not a great match and true loves are fairy tale bullshit.

 “The end of Gwen Stacy is one of the most defining moments in comic book history. Up until that point, the hero saved the girl. Part of what made this story so memorable was that Gwen Stacy was always meant to be Peter's one true love.”

As far as Stan Lee was concerned yes but not everyone else.

Also OTLs are bullshit.

“Her demise rocked his world, and he's still affected by it, even to this day.

That's understandable, but it also strains Peter's relationship with MJ. She's always been understanding, but how many times can she come across him crying over Gwen's picture in the attic before it starts to effect her.”

He has literally never ever done this ever.

“She's constantly being reminded that she might be Peter's second choice.

Again with the misuse of constantly and no she isn’t because Peter has told and shown her she isn’t second best more than once.

And again, not a thing that doesn’t make sense however you slice it.

You what really doesn’t make sense.

This person being paid for this garbage.

[aceofstars16]

“I Can’t Imagine a World With You Gone”

After seeing this ask and the art that @melty-artz drew I just HAD to write a little something...despite it resulting in me staying up later than I was planning on...

But hey, I need more canon Peter and Tony things and maybe this will help inspire me to write the next chapter of my fic *shrugs*

This does have Infinity War spoilers in it, just an fyi...and panic attacks so, just a warning for anyone who is sensitive to that ^^

(I also listened to “Hold On” while writing this so...I just took a lyric from it for the title cause...why not? xD)

Peter wanted to say he was used to nightmares by now. But that would be a lie. Ever since the war, they haunted him every night He couldn’t remember the last time he had a full night sleep without them haunting him.

As he sat on his bed in the Avenger complex, he stared at the wall, not wanting to sleep, to face them, especially not here. Maybe if he just stayed up long enough he’d get more energy, and he could just…go without sleep for the rest of the weekend – there had been a few school nights that had happened. Yeah, he’d just stay up, nightmares couldn’t come if he was awake, right?

Pulling out his phone, he started browsing, looking through different articles, watching videos, looking at memes. It worked…for a time. Every once and a while he readjusted his position on the bed, until he was lying down, his phone plugged in, a show about haunted buildings playing. Peter didn’t even notice when his eyes started closing until it was too late.

He was back there. Titan. Where everything had gone wrong. The planet he wished he could forget.

Chaos ensued, people that – in the day time Peter knew hadn’t been there – ran around, screaming and Peter ran, trying to save them, to make sure everyone was okay. His heart was racing, his breathe was coming in gasps, but he had done it, they won!

“I hope they remember you.”

The voice sent a chill down Peter’s spine and he spun around. The scene in front of him drove all of the air out of his lungs.

Tony, standing in front of Thanos, metal piercing his chest, slowly dying. Every inch of Peter screamed to run, but he couldn’t move, couldn’t yell, couldn’t do anything. And no one was around to save the day, to save Tony.

A quick pull, and Tony was on the ground, gasping for breath.

Tears sprung to Peter’s eyes and a choked whine escaped his mouth, he had to get to Tony, but he couldn’t. His mentor was dying and he couldn’t do anything to save him.

Tony looked up and for a moment, he locked eyes with Peter.

“I’m sorry…”

Then he was gone.

“No!”

Sweat was seeping through every bit of Peter’s PJs. His breaths came in fast and shallow, but his chest was so tight it felt like nothing was going in. His entire body was shaking. He couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, it was like disappearing all over again, only this time he felt even more alone – the vision of Tony’s body plastered in his mind, playing over and over again.

Tony. He had to get to Tony. But his body wasn’t responding. Moving was near impossible, he fumbled to the edge of the bed but as soon as he was on his legs, they gave and he fell on the floor.

Tears built up in his eyes. It was too much, he couldn’t do it.

“Peter!”

The voice sounded distant, as if Peter’s brain couldn’t figure out why anyone out be saying his name, not when everyone was gone, when he was falling apart at the seams.

Something grabbed his shoulders and shook him quickly. Blinking, tears fell, clearing his eyes for a moment, showing him the worried face before him.

“T-Tony?” Even that one word was almost impossible to get out.

“I’m here, Pete. You’re okay, just breathe. In, and out.”

The instructions made sense, but each time Peter tried to follow, his body would start shaking and his breathe would catch in his mouth as he remembered seeing Tony on the ground, dying. And it hadn’t just happened in the dream either, Tony had almost died on Titan and Peter had seen it.

“Pete, you have to try, I know you ca-“

Peter lunged forward, wrapping his arms around Tony and holding tight as tears pooled in his eyes. “I-I saw you die and-“

His breathes started coming in gasps as the panic overwhelmed him again, as sobs started to mix in with his unsteady breathing.

Arms wrapped around him and held him tight. “I’m alright, Peter. I’m right here. You’re safe, I’m safe. It’s okay, just breathe.”

A hand rested on his head and pulled him close. He tried again. In and out, breathing through the sobbing, through the immense shaking of his body. Tony’s quiet reassuring words grounded him, even as tears continued to fall down his cheeks.

Then the rocking started. Just a little, nothing much. But it was what Aunt May had always done on stormy nights when Peter was scared, or on painful days when the sadness was too much. Closing his eyes, Peter felt another stream of tears fall, but that didn’t stop him from hiding his head in Tony’s shoulder, hiding from the fear, from the dreams, from the memories.

“I’ve got you, Pete, you’re okay.”

Peter tried to believe it, but that wasn’t as easy as it should be. However, as seconds passed, he felt his breath coming a little easier, his shaking calmed just a bit.

Then the singing started. Peter didn’t know Tony sang. Sure, they had sung along poorly to random songs they both liked, but this was nothing like that. This was quiet, peaceful, comforting. Slowly, the tightness that had wrapped around Peter’s entire body started to unwind. His sobs slowed down, his breaths came slower and deeper.

“Better?”

Despite the eased anxiety, Peter didn’t want to move, he didn’t want to risk facing the world again and all the dark memories it held. He forced himself to nod, but didn’t pull away, and he was surprised but grateful when Tony didn’t move either.

Silence filled the air for a little while, but then he couldn’t hold back a question that had slowly been forming in his mind.

“What song was that?”

“I don’t know…I never got the title, but my mom sang it to me when I was little…when I found out Pepper is well…you know…I figured I might as well start practicing.”

A small smile grew on Peter’s face, and he pulled back just a little. “I like it…”

“Me too…”

“Tony?”

“Yeah, Pete?”

“You’re gonna be a great dad.” Peter found the words coming out before he could think, but it was the first thing that popped into his mind. Because it was true.

Silence. A sigh. “Yeah…I guess we’ll see.”

“But…” Peter leaned back even more, wondering if Tony really didn’t realize what he had just done for Peter, and what he had been doing for years.

Tony quirked an eyebrow in question.

“You already are…I mean…you’re my mentor but you sat with me tonight, you’ve given me advice, and you’ve been there for me when Aunt may couldn’t be. When I lost my uncle I…I thought I’d just have to figure life out without a…father figure but then you came along.” Saying it aloud, Peter found his cheeks reddening, but he would take that over the panic attacks any day. But even just thinking of the fear hit him and he found himself blurting out one more thing. “That’s why I can’t lose you too.”

Glancing up, Peter saw Tony staring at him, his mouth slightly open, surprise lining every bit of his face. But then a smile grew on the side of his mouth. “I’m not going anywhere, Pete.”

Peter found himself matching the smile, then Tony gently slapped a hand on his leg. “Why don’t you say we go down to the lab. I was in the middle of a project when Friday alerted me to your situation. I can finish up then we can do whatever you want, okay?”

After a nod of agreement, Peter let Tony help him up and then they walked to the lab – Tony’s hand not leaving Peter’s side, stabilizing him even though his shaking had stopped a while ago, not that Peter minded in the slightest. Yes, Tony was going to be a great dad.

[loisinherlane]

“I don’t need to be the hero tonight.” for a drabble prompt

This takes place rooooughly after the Spider-Island arc. Some canon facts may be wrong because I have no memory. This is also z bit long because I can’t drabble and kind of turned into a Harry introspection, but I love my boy. (Also, I am still accepting drabble prompts, particularly for MSM if anyone is interested! Don’t have to be following me.)

Harry wasn’t sure when his feelings for Peter had changed.

Changed seemed to be the closest word for what had happened. Grown was almost right, but it wasn’t necessarily that he felt more. Peter had always been his best friend, since they were kids, and those feelings had started off as strong as any child’s feelings for their first best friend were: a mix of warm affection and childish jealousy, the desire to keep your best friend only yours and the lack of expectations beyond companionship. But no friendship remains like that as you grow up, veering one way or the other. 

Perhaps that was when things had first changed. At ten-years-old, he’d stopped looking at Peter like a possession and more as a person, a person who didn’t care about all the video game systems set up at Harry’s house and the ones his father was building that were still prototypes but open to be played, but a person who would play the old N64 system Peter had, the only game system he had, everyday without any complain. Peter Parker only cared that Harry was there, and that was . . . nice in a way Harry had yet to define. Peter cared about Harry, and that was what made them such good friends. Best friends.

Then along came middle school, and nothing remains the same there, the wishy-washy pre-adolescence. Trying to navigate those memories and pinpoint a moment where things shifted was almost impossible because all Harry remembered was muddy frustration and constant change. Peter was still there, and he was still the most important person in Harry’s life.

Perhaps things really changed in high school. For most of their lives, Peter had always been the gawky one. Though heights fluctuated, Peter always managed to seem just a bit small, while Harry was always a bit too thin for his height. By the time high school started, Harry had maybe an inch and a half on him, and Peter was still small and gawky, but there was something else. When Harry looked at him, he saw the glasses and the thrown-on hoodies and nothing remotely fashionable or aimed at looking handsome, but still-- still-- Peter had a quality about him that made a warmth settle somewhere between his chest and stomach.

Harry found he liked to do that. Just look at Peter and feel that warmth that came from being with him. Whatever Peter was talking about, Harry wanted to listen. He wanted those feelings to grow stronger. He wanted to keep feeling. 

Most people describe butterflies as a part of puppy love. Harry didn’t get that. If what he had was a crush, he never exactly felt nervous. But he’d never had any competition for Peter’s attention before. They started high school and developed a routine that was all them. Coffee in the mornings, lunch from time to time. If they made new friends, there was no one really close, no one to sit down with them. The others were on the fringe, people they talked to at school. But beyond that, it was still just Peter and Harry.

Horizon High changed that. Not right away, it seemed, or maybe Harry just hadn’t noticed. They tried to keep up their routine, and he tried to make sure he was still around to look after Pete as much as possible. But somehow, things kept happening, and suddenly Harry wasn’t at Horizon and Peter was. 

Harry wasn’t jealous. He wanted Peter to go to Horizon. He wanted him to have the opportunity to explore all these scientific discoveries and get an opportunity to make his mark on the world. 

But there were others there, and suddenly Peter had more friends. Being jealous was stupid. They’d been Harry’s friends too, when he was at Horizon. 

It couldn’t have been jealousy.

The more Harry thought about it, the more he was convinced of that. Things were changing for a lot of reasons, and their friends were only a part of that. Peter was acting different, less goofy, more confident, in smaller doses. He’d ignored that right after Uncle Ben died, but Harry knew his best friend.

He should have put it all together sooner.

Peter was Spider-Man.

Peter wasn’t just building tech for Spider-Man; he was Spider-Man, and he hadn’t even thought to tell him! How could he have not told Harry? They were best friends!

“Harry, if I had a secret, but I know it would really upset you, would you still want to hear it?”

Had that been about this? Had Harry been so stupid to miss it all this time? How many other clues had there been, that Harry had just filed away because he trusted Peter? It explained so much, like how Peter randomly decided to get contacts, supposedly, and why he looked so tired some days.

“My loyalty is to you, not to Spider-Man.”

What bullshit.

“Harry?”

The voice sounded foggy through the glass, and Harry looked up to see Spider-Man braced on his window again.

Harry stubbornly lowered his head back down to his notes, running through his calculations again. He had to have missed something. 

“Harry!”

Harry slammed his notebook down on the bed, the pen bouncing onto the sheets as he moved back to the window. He slammed it open, wishing it had been hard enough to shatter. Maybe that would have been enough to scare him off. 

But Peter Parker didn’t scare so easily anymore. Harry had seen that over the last few days.

“What do you want?” he snapped, crossing his arms over his chest and lifting his head.

“I came to check on you,” said Spider-Man, sliding closer as if he intended to come inside. Harry stepped to block him.

“Well, Os Academy is gone, so.”

Spider-Man’s lenses focused and unfocused as if trying to make some sort of expression. “I’m sorry, Harry.”

Harry didn’t reply. He glanced back to his notebook. “Don’t you have somewhere to be?”

Spider-Man shook his head. Harry tried not to look at him, but it was hard, not now when he knew Peter was underneath that suit. The mask concealed the shape of his face in any detail, but the suit revealed far more than Peter Parker’s clothing did. Peter Parker wasn’t just a kid anymore. Harry wouldn’t have called him a man, as his name suggested, but he had something like a muscular figure packed into a boy still growing. He was . . . handsome. Attractive. Objectively. 

“Harry,” Spider-Man said again, and damn it, it was Pete’s voice. How could Harry not have noticed? “No. I told you. I came to check on you.”

“Great. Spider-Man came to check on me. I’m so lucky,” Harry drawled, his jaw tight.

Peter reached for his mask. “I don’t need to be the hero tonight. I’m your friend, Harry. Your best friend.”

Harry was quiet for a moment. “No,” he said. “Best friends don’t lie to each other like that.” He paused before spitting out, “Spider-Man.”

“Harry,” Peter tried again.

“No! Just . . . go patrol the city.” Harry shut his eyes and tried to block out all the sounds, the faint echo of street noise from down at the bottom of the tower. Peter made no sound beside him, and when Harry opened his eyes, he was gone.

Harry was mad that he’d come. He was mad that he’d gone. Those were simple feelings that he could name. But there was more to the ache in his chest than this. Was it a crush? A few days ago, Harry was on the cusp of believing.

But now there was no gawky friend to crush on. Peter Parker was Spider-Man.

Harry shut the window and picked up his notebook.

[leeegrinnerrr]

Lee Pace Came Out Seven Times a Week. Then He Came Out for Real.

It’s 2018 and we still don’t know what being out and gay will do to an actor’s career.

Five nights and two afternoons a week on Broadway, “Angels in America” sets out on its grueling, eight-hour course. “A Fantasia on Gay Themes,” as its playwright, Tony Kushner, called it, “Angels” is a knotty, furious history play, a jeremiad on the AIDS epidemic originally delivered at crushing ascent. It is also, at the same time, a skein of interconnected stories about love and betrayal and identity, God, man and Eros. Also, there’s a couple of Mormons. Before “The Book of Mormon,” no less.  

Five nights and two afternoons a week, one of those Mormons, Joe Pitt, a closeted lawyer working for the infamous fixer Roy Cohn, goes through hell and out the other side to come out as a gay man.

And so, over the course of this production — now the play with the most Tony nominations in history — does Lee Pace, the man who plays him.

Mr. Pace, 39, has been working steadily in theater, film and TV for the better part of two decades, helping to prop up mega-budget studio tent poles like “The Hobbit” (he is the elven king Thranduil) and “Guardians of the Galaxy” (the ferocious Ronan the Accuser) and cult favorites like “Pushing Daisies” and the recently concluded “Halt and Catch Fire.”

Mr. Pace sometimes attracted attention — from the nominating committees of the Emmys, the Golden Globes and the Independent Spirit Awards — but mostly disappeared into whatever elves, necromancers or sales executives he happened to be playing at the time. That was by design.

“It was a real strategy to draw boundaries,” Mr. Pace said in a recent interview at his New York apartment, as his rescue dog, Pete, dozed by his feet. In interviews, he kept the focus on his work: “I believe very firmly that my work is the reason we’re talking, and my personal life is something I want to protect.”

But earlier this year, Brian Moylan, writing about Mr. Pace’s arrival in the “Angels” Broadway cast for W Magazine, put the question to him directly: What was his sexual orientation?

It seems an entirely predictable question for an interview about the cornerstone of the gay theatrical canon. Mr. Pace had already said in that interview that he “feels it’s important for gay actors to play the gay roles.”

But he was thrown. He seemed “flustered” and “surprised,” Mr. Moylan wrote, and he published Mr. Pace’s response: “I’ve dated men. I’ve dated women. I don’t know why anyone would care. I’m an actor and I play roles. To be honest, I don’t know what to say — I find your question intrusive.”

“He told me his truth, which is all I asked, and all I hope for from any interview subject,” Mr. Moylan said recently. “I don’t apologize for asking the question.”

In the past, Mr. Pace was so not out that occasionally gossip blogs would put him together with an actress, like his friend Judy Greer. He brought her to the premiere of “A Single Man.”

“At the time, I knew he was gay,” Ms. Greer said in an interview. “I didn’t really talk about it to anyone — not even really because he asked me not to, just because it’s his business. When I saw that stuff online, I thought it was really strange. I didn’t think anything of it but to be flattered that anyone would think he would want to go out with me. I was like, ‘Oh my God, whattt?’ He was so tall and handsome! I thought, I’ll ride this wave for a minute.” She laughed. “And I was single at the time.”

The W article made headlines, and Mr. Pace was displeased he had come off angry. In an effort to take back his own narrative, he announced on Twitter that he was a “member of the queer community,” and noted he’d been playing queer characters his entire career, from his breakout role as the transgender showgirl Calpernia Addams in “A Soldier’s Girl” through his Broadway debut in “The Normal Heart” to the bisexual former IBM executive of “Halt and Catch Fire” and now, “Angels.” “Onward,” he wrote, “with Pride.”

The positive response to his tweets — thousands of likes, many comments and now, regular references to them at the stage door after the show — has assured him that he made the right decision, though the old habit of reticence died hard.

“The truth is,” he said at his apartment, “when you grow up queer, you get tough. And perceptive. And you learn how to field it. When someone comes at you that you don’t know, interested in that area of your life, it’s not always a good thing. I certainly knew that when I was a kid.”

Mr. Pace was born in Chickasha, Okla., and grew up in suburban Texas. He came out to his younger sister, Sally, while still in high school. “She cried,” he said. “She said, ‘I don’t know what that means.’” But she was supportive. So were his parents. Mr. Pace headed to drama school.

Unlike Broadway, Hollywood can be less accepting. There are still relatively few out gay actors, along with leading-man parts for them, at least in major studio fare. As his career took began to take off, was Mr. Pace encouraged not to be too open?

He pause for a while. “No,” he said, then reconsidered. “Look — yeah. I remember when I signed with a new agent, we worked together for a year. He took me to some coffee shop in the middle of the afternoon and I knew he wanted to talk about something. He said, ‘I heard you’re gay, is that true?’ I said, ‘Is that a problem?’ And of course he said, ‘No, fine, just felt like I needed to know.’ But within about a year, he was no longer working with me.”

Mr. Pace has the full support of his current team, he added, with whom he has been working happily for years.

The W article ended up offering an “opportunity to participate,” he said, in a way he hadn't before, even if it was one he hadn't necessarily sought or anticipated.  

What changed his mind were two things. One is a new relationship, with a fashion executive he preferred not to name. (“I’ve never seen Lee so happy,” Ms. Greer said.) The other is the role of Joe Pitt, and the reflection it gave him on his own life. Onstage, in Joe Pitt’s coming out, Mr. Pace sticks on a few particular lines: “I want to live now. Maybe for the first time ever. And I can be anything. Anything I need to be.”

“I remember after it had happened, I was able to say that,” Mr. Pace said, recognizing the thrill of freedom in it. “I can be anything. Once you say those words and the sky doesn’t fall down, or the earth doesn’t open up, a lightning bolt doesn’t zap you. You really can be anything.”

So he has embraced the opportunity. “It feels nicer,” he said, “than I ever thought it would be.”

What comes next, and how this affects his career, if it does, is yet to be seen. One person whose advice he sought as he considered his Twitter statement was his friend Matt Bomer, a fellow out actor and Mr. Pace’s friend since their high school days. “I’ve known Lee since he was shorter than I am, believe it or not,” Mr. Bomer said. (Mr. Pace is 6-foot-5.)

“My counsel to him was, basically, when you decide to make it public, it can feel like you’re operating in a void,” Mr. Bomer said. “Nothing about you has changed, but maybe certain people’s opinions about you have changed. The beautiful thing about that is out of that void come all the people who truly want to engage with you and want to embrace your most authentic self. To me that’s always been far more rewarding than whatever mass appeal you have if you chose not to.”

“That’s assuming that that even happens,” he said. “I don’t know if that happens anymore.”

When asked if he had experienced negative repercussions after his own coming out, Mr. Bomer paused.

“The shorter answer is yes,” he said. “I hate to say it, I really do. I wish the answer were a resounding no. But I wouldn’t change it for the world. What happened was, an entire world of artists who I had always dreamed of working with and who wanted to engage with me on the most authentic level all came to the forefront.”

Mr. Bomer is appearing in the Broadway production of “The Boys in the Band,” just a few blocks away from “Angels in America.”

“I don’t think he stands anything to lose,” he said. “I don’t think any of us do, really, anymore. And if they do, let it fall by the wayside.”

Mr. Pace acknowledged the uncertainty but also said he had no anxiety about his decision.

“I’m curious to know what it’s going to do to my work,” he said. “I’ve played very different characters, and I don’t think that’s going to change. I guess I’m curious to see if this influences that, and the kinds of roles that come my way. Or in people’s perception of the work that I do.”

But he is confident in the future. “The work speaks for itself,” he said, “and I trust that.” For now, that is the grueling work of being Joe Pitt.

“The thing that gets me through the pain of doing it is knowing he’s going to be O.K. after it’s over,” Mr. Pace said. “Once he gets through it, he’s better off. I imagine him on a beach in Hawaii, renting surfboards. ‘How did you end up with this life?’ And he’s like, ‘Well, actually, I was married. I used to be a Mormon.’ Now he’s got a great boyfriend in my imagination.”

[highkingfen]

wiski – marina finding out julia still has magic? (in the world in my head where most things from canon are the same but marina lives)

Ok I got way overboard with this and wrote a near 4 page drabble so I will put it under the cut. I never wrote Wiski before so it was nice to try! Thank you for challenging me :D

I also posted it on Ao3 for an easier read

“Jules, I don’t thinkyou should go”

“Well I am going, youdon’t have to come with me if you don’t want to. ”

“ She’s crazy! Who knowswhat she can do to you. ”

“Honestly Q, after lastyear, Marina is not as scary as you think.”

This shut Quentin’sconstant arguing for a moment. Julia felt bad for bringing up againthat she was raped and didn’t called him because he was in anotherland doing gods knows what. No she called Marina. And despite theirfight and bickering, she knew Marina would come, and she did. She puther back to her feet and when she needed help to kill Reynard, sheshowed up again. This had cost her a finger and her cat’s life, butMartin had open the portal quick enough to save her form moreatrocities. And when they got double crossed by Quentin’s friendPenny and got sucked out of Marina’s apartment, Julia had managed alast desperate attempt to stab the fucker and she’d hit him in theeye. Marina had finished the job, Martin was dead, Penny brought herback on earth against her will. Yeah fun stuff that both frienddidn’t want to remember right now.

“I’ll be fine. Go orderpizza and watch Stranger Thing with Josh. ”

“Can’t belive you watchit without me. ”

Julia smirk and stole thecigarette Quentin had just lit, still wondering when he’d picked upthe habit. She knew it was all Eliot fault but he use to chastise herfor smoking, now he was doing more than her. She kissed his cheekedand walk away, knowing when she’d come back both boys would nerd outin front Quentin’s laptop at the Physical Kid cottage and she wouldtease them not to have seen the finale coming.

As she walked the fewblocks she was from Marina’s apartment, Julia finished her cigaretteand wondered what had brought Marina back to New York. After Reynardcorpse was burn to ashes, Marina had given up all pretense of nothaving been scared by the bastard. She had went on a trip around theworld in hope to find a solution for her missing fingers and to learnnew powerful spell. She’d stop answering Julia’s email at the sametime magic died.

Then Quentin had met Petein one of those desperate hedgewitches house that still believe thatcould do magic but didn’t practice enough. Apparently he’d takenMarina’s spot as the leader of New York which said a lot about thesorry state the Hedgewiches were overall. Pete had mentionned Marinahad came back a few days ago and since then, Julia couldn’t stopitching to go see her.

When Marina open the doorof her flat, she looked at Julia less with surprise than eagerness.She’d lost weight and her hair had grown even longer. She looked sickand yet, had her eternal red lipstick and killer eyeliner trait. Evenworn out, she was herself more then ever. A sence of calm took overJulia that surprised her; she haven’t realize that she’d been worriedabout her since they were appart. Seeing her alive, in those times ofdays, was more than a welcome sight.

“If you are about tostart crying, please don’t. ” Marina said in her eternal sarcasticvoice.

“ Was more thinkingpunching you in the face for disapearing. ” Julia said back in thesame tone.

Both girl looked at eachother for half a second before breaking into a smile. When Juliahugged her, Marina didn’t pushed away and even hugged back. Which wasa victory in itself.

“Who ratted me out?”Marina said, letting Julia enter her underwhelmingly boring andfurniture less appartment.

“Pete.”

“Figures, I am sure hewant you to kick me out and send me back to France. He must shit hispants, fearing that I am gonna come from him. ”

They went into thekitchen were only a table with three chairs, a fridge and a microwavewere present. The lack of decoration meant that she didn’t entend tostay. But yet, she seemed doing something big. There were poulticesand herbs everwhere, notes and books in different language and even abook she saw in Quentin’s room of all the plopper’s exercise forfirst year at Brakebills.

“Something like that. ”Julia said sitting at the table while Marina went for two glass ofwine and a half empty bottle. “When he saw me, he almost hid beingQ, it was embaracing. ”

“Let him swim in hisshitty pants, being a leader there don’t mean anything when magic isdead. ”

The bitterness inMarina’s voice was a melody she’d heard in so many magicians andmagic user in the past months that Julia’s heart felt tired. How shewish she could just give whatever she had to everyone and let themhave magic. They’d fought and jinx each other. But at least, theworld would be what it suppose to be, not this pale replica that theywere living in.

“Your finger are stillholding? ” She simply asked, pointing to the magically reconstrucedfinger Marina had in her hand. She’d explain the whole castingprocedure with an healer from the underwold and a magicians inCalifornia and it looked strangely like darker magic that Julia wascomfortable to deal with. But she get it. A magicians without fingersis like a bird without wings.

“They are not gluedtogether by magic Jules, they regrew. So yes, they are fine thankyou. ”

The conversation diedlike it was started: quickly and dryly. There was so many things shewish she could ask her and tell her. But there was also a lot ofunsaid that needed to be adressed first.

“What brought you backhere? ” She finally ask, knowing it was better to ask now than tomake the conversation linger.

“You. ” Marina saidcrossing her legs and putting her trademark smile on her red lips.

“Me?”

Alright, this one, Juliahaven’t seen coming.

“I know people, thatknow people. You see. And… I know someone that was at a certainparty with a lower god of fuckery. I tought you’d keep away fromthose assholes. ”

Bacchus. Gods, the simpletought of his permanent alchoolic smell and his terrible sweet breathmade her remember the whole night and how wasted she’d been. Thatpink drink was probably not meant for mortal and totally fucked herup.

“I was there for Q. ”Julia said after a large gulp of her wine. Anything to make her stopthinking of the aftertaste of that pink drink.

Marina leaned her smallframe against the table and went close to Julia, visibly excited.Last time she saw her that way, they were burning a god corpse in herbackyard.

“So is it true? Youstill have magic?”

Julia had played eversenario she could in her mind to explain to Marina that she still hadthat spark and that she was trying to find the root of it. She haddozen of iner monologue trying to find the best angle to put it sothe girl in front of her wouldn’t brand her as crazy or delusional.And there she was, being ask that question. Once again, julia feltMarina had reminded her that she had powerful connexion wherever shewas. Always being able to surprise you when you think you’d seeneverything of her. And this is why, deep down, Julia admire her.

So instead of tellingher, and let’s admit it to show off a bit, she did her spark. It wasbecoming easier and easier to bring it to the surface, like it camefrom her and not from a source outside of her. She was that spark.

Marina’s eyes wereglowing with eagerness but, also, jealousy and awe. The samebefoddled look everyone gave her when she show her power. The oldergirl put her hand over the spark, feeling it’s heat, confirming it’struth.

“How. ” She said aftera moment. Making Marina speechless was a first for Julia, and shecouldn’t help but swell with pride.

“I don’t know. I’mtrying to find out. ”

“Let me help you. ”

Marina had taken her handthe moment she stopped casting her small spell. She couldn’t tellthat two of those finger had been missing a few months ago. The wayshe was clutching her was real and hard as ever.

“There are people tryingwith me too. ”

“I don’t care. ”

“They are fromBrakebills. ”

There was an hesitation.Because Marina knew Eliot and Margo from being one year their senior.Because she knew that Julia and Quentin were still friend. Becauseshe knew that they fucked with the three of them. And now they willhave to put that aside for a common good. She knew Q would be able todo this. Marina’s pride tough, was another monster to tackle.

“ Alright. ”

“No fighting, bitching,straching with them. I don’t want to babysit. ”

Marina rolled her eyesand stuck her little finger.

“Pinky swear. Whateverit cost to bring magic, I’ll be there. ”

Julia grinned at Marina’sreadyness. She linked her little finger to hers in a juvenile promisethat had nothing to do with a word as bonds. But probably meant more.

Magic had brought themtogether, they will bring it back together.

[palindromic1]

in anticipation of season 2...

disclaimer: spoilers abound! if you have not read the magicians trilogy as well as watched the TV adaptation, do not continue.

some things i’ve wondered or thought about regarding the magicians as a whole (which i’ve been rereading and re-watching in anticipation of the second season):

regarding the show: - still bummed about the blase way they introduced and wiped out FTB. it was too important in the books to be rushed like that. - i’m still holding out hope that there’s another time loop so that they can re-do some scenarios like they happened in the book, or veer completely different (a la how she found FTB, recasting pete as pouncy silverkitten (because hello, he totally looks like the description), showing all the years of struggling to learn and mastering spells at brakebills). - will they get to why mayakovsky is significant? i feel like they did a bit of a rush job on brakebills south, which is admittedly not the most thrilling to read at first try, but it does provide an important nudge of what can be possible (in terms of magical ability, the need for discipline). they didn’t really show mayakovsky to be such an incredible magician, just a bitter old man who is a tough professor. - in a previous brainstorm* i wondered if marina would be a sort of dupe for alternate-universe-future plum. but as i was rereading book 2 i was wondering if they got the idea of her from iris, who levels julia up at murs. not necessarily a hazing ritual or seemingly benign friendship, but it reminded me of julia’s earlier days with the bodega hedges. - is quentin’s dad still alive? will he make a reappearance in coming season(s)? - a review i read regarding the first season finale was a little disappointed that it seemed like julia and martin were teaming up as big bads at the very end, since it painted a poor portrait of what happens to rape victims. while i agree that that’s not the best trope to depict, more often than not rape victims are shown as weak from the trauma (as they rightly should be from such a horrible thing). but julia isn’t a raging murderer, no matter what the show might imply from her motives. she doesn’t want to rule a world, she just wants vengeance from trauma and her slain friends.

regarding the magicians: - i don’t know who it was that had a hissyfit in the beginning when they saw the styling of TV alice. it specifically states in the first book that alice is “a small, sullen girl with straight blonde hair” and a couple of years into school “alice had acquired a pair of uncharacteristically hip rectangular glasses over the summer”. there’s canon for you whiners. - did alice’s parents know about the truth behind charlie’s “death” and just give her a white lie to not freak her out? i also wonder if anyone told them about her becoming a niffin just like her brother… - whatever happens to richard and anais? they ditch the others after getting back to earth, and quentin runs into anais, but then they’re gone again. why bother mentioning them if there’s no resurgence of their perspectives? i think richard is slightly reincarnated through the discussion and search of religion at murs, but that’s about as far as i can reach for him. what did anais provide other than another hand for a suicide mission? in a way i’m wondering if that’s what poppy’s role became (from the second and third books), because she was never one to believe in “fantasy” magic/lands, but was involved anyway.

regarding the magician king: - while kady is not strictly a character from the books, asmodeus is, and she is described as “a fast talker with a big smile and heavy v-shaped eyebrows that gave her a naughty-schoolgirl look. she had a bit of a fairuza balk thing going on. shades of the craft.” google image search jade tailor and fairuza balk and tell me there isn’t a striking resemblance… not sure if the producers did that on purpose when casting for kady/asmo, but it was a nice thing to read and realize. - who are the other magicians at murs? julia mentions that before her, there were 9: pouncy, asmo, failstaff, gummidgy, fiberpunk, and iris, but there are still three unnamed members. were they also in FTB? in the showdown with reynard, iris is doing a three-person casting with two others, but there is no 10th person mentioned. continuity error? way to pique my curiosity with minor non-details… - there is some dire foreshadowing with the murs magicians/project ganymede - as soon as julia points out that the myths they’ve heard of with longing for apotheosis usually fail because of some greedy or prideful notion, they dismiss it as just wanting to learn more. but the day before the summoning, back on FTB, pouncy clearly states that he wants to eventually be a god, which basically leads to the prediction that it won’t end well. - i feel like julia is the survivor (and unwilling heir) of the tragedy because she knew she didn’t want divine power and just wanted to be in project ganymede to be with her friends (“she didn’t need this, and she didn’t want it. she didn’t want the goddess to come… she came to murs looking for magic, but she was also looking for a new home, and a new family, and she’d found them all, all three, and it was enough.”). i won’t ever know if that’s why, but that was a conclusion i came to.

regarding the magician’s land: - i wanted to know a bit more about the other members of the heist crew. we obviously know about quentin and get plum’s story in due time, hear a bit about stoppard’s background and come to connect the dots with betsy, but it doesn’t feel like enough. how did the crow find them? quentin and plum had letters on their bed - did that also happen to all the others, including those invited to audition? - who is the couple who stole rupert’s case? how did they come by it? - i like the consistency of asmo being the first on the offensive (like during the reynard summoning); when penny’s crew hijacked the heist crew’s attempts, asmo did offensive magic to protect their group. - i want to know how and when asmodeus found reynard. did she go through the same summoning like she did in murs? did she get assistance? did she go back to murs, and if so, what about the bodies? were they still there when julia left? i’m estimating about seven years between the events at murs and the heist (a rough estimate, as julia’s story in the second book happens during quentin’s time at brakebills in the first). - i forgot that janet specialized in cold/ice magic. it was mentioned in the first book when she’s talking about how she broke down the cottage door (and how that was record-breaking time for how fast it was). - there is a relation i never noticed between the first and third books: in the same chapter that alice is first introduced, the professor tells the tale of philosopher bertrand russell, who was questioned by someone after a lecture he gave, “who told him he was a clever young man but much mistaken in his thinking, because everyone knew that the world was flat and sat on the back of a turtle. when russell asked her what the turtle was standing on, she replied, ‘you’re very clever, young man, very clever. but it’s turtles all the way down!’” in the third book, when eliot and janet go off searching for answers after fighting the lorians, the giant turtle (after almost injuring eliot and getting frozen by janet) retorts “it’s turtles all the way down.” - later when alice describes looking at fillory from the outside, it is confirmed to be flat on top of a stack of turtles. huh. - when janet goes into her backstory (while explaining how she got her twin ice staves), it reminded me a lot of alice’s backstory before brakebills - how her parents sort of lost it when charlie died and forgot about her, and she had to find her own power and wander for a while without guidance. i think the books (and definitely the show) underplay how powerful janet is, especially considering the show’s unofficial catchphrase: “magic doesn’t come from power, it comes from pain.”

hypotheticals: - who is a bigger turd: ember or umber? - what’s worse: accidentally summoning a murderous trickster god and getting killed by him, or becoming a niffin from channeling too much power (possibly while fighting a mutant megalomaniac version of peter pan)? - could a niffin beat a god? alice was able to go back through ancient history, but she didn’t do anything aside from watching (simply because she was bored). she probably couldn’t have done anything about the past, but i wonder if she could have done in ember or umber on her own if she cared to. - in the show it’s possible to bind a niffin. they didn’t mention that in the books (because they don’t go looking for charlie in the books), but i wonder if it’s possible. probably quentin’s method of temporarily encasing alice in his cacodemon tattoo was the best possible way (considering the circumstance), but it leads me to wonder what else (mentioned in the books) could do such a thing.

*(can’t find a way to hyperlink on my phone, the link is here:

http://palindromic1.tumblr.com/post/144096601179/the-magicians-characterization-theory )