#anti crisis on earth x

[rowinablx]

Do you ever think about Felicity basically calling Iris fat by asking if she was pregnant

[the1entirecircus]

The kind of Pokémon I think each Legion of Doom member (along with a few other enemies of the league) would have and why:

The Joker

Mr. Mime- If you’ve been on the Internet long enough, you would remember how the Joker would always get paired with Mr. Mime. This would be true for my version of the Joker’s team. Except there is one major difference: Joker’s Mr. Mime is a Meta-Pokémon (mentioned in previous post about the JL’s Pokémon teams). This Mr. Mime would be Poison/Fairy with the ability Intimidate. Why Intimidate? Its a creepy clown with a creepy smile.

Weezing- Another Meta-Pokémon Joker would have, this version of Weezing is constantly spraying an obnoxious gas that makes people constantly laugh. This is of course in reference to the Joker's toxic gas.

Gengar- Gengar has been noted to being incredibly sadistic from killing people just to make them ghosts like Gengar is. This reason is rooted in a deep loneliness Gengar has, which kind of makes him kind of pathetic. Similar with Joker, who is pathetic, no matter what retelling of his origin you here.

Remoraid- A reference to the Joker Fish, Meta-Remoraid is Water/Dark, sadistically firing water at enemies. Due to it becoming a Meta-Pokemon, it can no longer evolve

Toxicroak- Growing up with the Batman tv show, I am used to seeing the Joker as a capable fighter. Based on its dex entries saying that it sways and dodges attacks from opponents, it sounds fairly similar to the Joker's fighting method in the tv show.

Seviper- A Pokemon with an arch-rivalry with another, Seviper holds similar traits to the Joker.

Type overlap was bound to happen for the Joker's team. It's the Joker, poison is his thing. So, it had felt obvious to me to give him a bunch of poison types.

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Lex Luthor

Silvally- A Pokémon developed to destroy aliens, hmmm, where have I heard that before in terms of DC Characters? But yeah, Silvally felt like an obvious choice for Lex because he totally would develop one to defeat Ultra Beasts and Superman.

Alakazam- Being a very smart man, Lex having an Alakazam would reflect his great intellect.

Porygon-Z- Another artificial pokemon made by mankind, this pokemon reflect's how even with advanced technology, there is some flaw in it that weakens Lex.

Volcarona- Being revered as a "sun deity" by ancient Unovans, this felt like a good Pokemon to be transformed into a meta-pokemon by lex. Now with the ability Red Sun, Lex's Volcarona weakens kryptonian meta-pokemon.

Kryptonian Minior (Green Core)- A radioactive green rock falls from the sky? Why that must be a meteor of kryptonite? Right? Nope! Regional variant of Minior thats Poison/Flying type.

Shiny Palafin- Being a pokemon inspired by Superman, Lex of course had to have a shiny Palafin to reflect how he created Bizarro.

If you couldn't tell already, Lex's team is inspired by the many ways he's tried to defeat Superman over the years. From the creation of a synthetic organism capable of fighting aliens to creating an evil doppelganger of his arch nemesis, these Pokemon all reflect Lex's schemes in some way.

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Cheetah

Chien-Pao- In her New 52 origin, Barbara Minerva would stab herself in the name of her goddess to transform into the Cheetah according to the DC Wiki. She use the god-killer knife to do so, and while Chien-Pao is no Cheetah (A leopard actually) and has a sword and not a knife, there are slight parallels.

Runerigus- Barbara is an archaelogist.

Cofagrigus- Same reason as previous

Sneasler- Sneasler is a femine Pokemon that utilizes its sharp claws in both climbing and combat. Yes I could've used a different cat pokemon, but this one felt better as Sneasler is one of the many pokemon that was worshipped by the Peal Clan in ancient Sinnoh/Hisui.

Spiritomb- Again archaeology, but also a parallel to Cheetah's mystical acts of villainy.

Hydrapple- This pokemon was chosen out of Cheetah's love for Greek Mythology, and while Hydrapple is not the only Multi-headed dragon pokemon, it is the most similar to the Hydra.

If you couldn't tell, Cheetah's team is consistent of Pokemon relating to mythology and archaeology. I didn't want to give her just cat pokemon because that seems really reductive to her character. Yes, she was turned into a cat, but that doesn't mean she has to have a bunch of cat pokemon. Catwoman on the other hand would have a bunch of Cat pokemon.

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Reverse Flash (Eobard Thawne)

Raichu- because of Raichu's problem of getting angry every time it build's up too much electricity, it reminds of a lot of Thawne's angry temperment and how he relieves it by doing petty things...its a bit of a stretch I know. Eobard's Raichu is a Meta-Pokemon connected to the Negative Speed Force. This gives it the ability Negative Pulse, the more damage this pokemon takes, the stronger their attacks become.

Midnight Lycanroc- Its a very angry dog that seems to have more personality than the Midday form. This pokemon is also connected to the Negative Speed Force and now has the ability Pettiness and the signature move Phase Claw. Pettiness activates whenever the enemy goes first or uses a priorty move to go first. The pokemon with the ability then hits the target with an attack boost. As for phase claw, the user's claws move so fast that they sink right into the target, landing a critical hit.

Blaziken- Bred with the ability Speed Boost, this is Eobard's reverse of Cinderace as this pokemon is also charged with Negative Speed Force energy to make it a Meta-Pokemon. The things changed is that Blaziken is now naturally faster than Cinderace.

Ceruldege- Now while an odd-choice to parallel Pawmot, Ceruledge's signature move saps energy from the target while Pawmot's S.M. can restore a Pokemon.

Obstagoon- Obstagoon is meant to reflect how much crueler Reverse Flash is to Barry as Obstagoon is very different compared to the other kinds of Linoone. It is also a Meta-Pokemon with negative speed force power. This gave it a higher speed stat and the ability Revolt, which causes damage to enemy targets who use physical moves on the pokemon.

Electrode- Its one of the fastest pokemon in the game currently. Electrode also has a connection to the Negative Speed Force giving it the Dark type.

Two big components to Eobard's Pokemon is that they're meant to be evil mirrors of Barry's pokemon from my previous post, and that they're all meant to be stronger than Barry's pokemon. All of Eobard's pokemon are either naturally better than Barry's or augmented to be better. Eobard has been shown to know more about the Speed Force than Barry does in the comics. From how to influence time to how to utilize phasing, Eobard knows a lot. Therefore, he would know how to influence his Pokemon's abilities once they were connected to the Negative Speed Force, paralleling his creation of the Acololytes of Zoom in the New 52.

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Captain Cold

Glaceon- Before anyone asks, yes. Every member of the Rogues (the team) has an Eeveelution. Leonard Snart would of course have Glaceon in his team.

Mr. Rime- A major factor Captain Cold has to overcome when performing a Bank Heist is the Flash. So what does he do? Create a layer of ice for the Flash to slip over on. While no dex entries state that Mr. Rime can do this, its pre-evolution of Galarian Mr. Mime has dex entries stating it can.

Delibird- Little known fact about the Rogues is that they're not all-inherently evil. Yes they commit crimes, but its for the money. They don't kill cops, women, or children. So having Delibird is a reflection of that.

Galarian Slowbro- Back during the New 52, Captain Cold fused himself with the powers of his cold gun. A Meta Galarian Slowbro is similar to Cold's transformation as it isn't just a Slowbro now, but a Slowbro with the abilities of a Shellder. Now a Ice/Psychic type, Snart's Slowbro is now capable of freezing enemies with chilling blasts.

Octillery- During the Rebirth era of DC Comics, the Flash went up against Captain cold who had obtained an improved Cold Gun modified by Black Hole's stolen speed force tech. Meta-Octillery reflects this by being a Ice/Electric Type and having the ability to freeze everything with its new attack Octobeam, an ice move which has the ability to freeze targets entirely.

Blastoise- Not only a reference to his cold-gun, but a reference to his current state in the comics. Snart was given cybernetic enhancements to fight Barry Allen with. Before anyone wonders, no, this is not a meta-pokemon, its just a regular blastoise.

Snart was initially just going to have a bunch of Ice-types with no thought added to them. Then I came to realize that the character deserves much more justice than that. He is a strategist, a bad man with a good heart, and a fighter.

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Sinestro

Darkrai- Being that this mythical pokemon causes nightmares, Sinestro having a Darkrai is an easy to answer question.

Mimikyu- Given that this pokemon's appearance can cause death upon seeing it, I wouldn't be surprised if Sinestro used this pokemon's ability to his advantage.

Blacephalon- This Ultra Beast is said to sneak up on people and then violently explode to startle them. As it craves on fear, it feels like a good pokemon for Sinestro to have.

Shiny Naganadel- This pokemon both reflects Sinestro's color scheme, but also provides a sadistic way to scare enemies.

Gallade- A meta-variant of the pokemon, this pokemon is meant to reflect how Sinestro was once noble and one of the greatest green lanterns of all time. Meta-Gallade keeps the same typing but it instead preys on the target's fear. Its new ability "Terrorize" reflects this by having opponents drastically lower their attack when Gallade enters battle.

Due to my lack of knowledge on the character, I didn't give him a full team. I did try to find a pokemon who would fit his time as an ultra-violet lantern, but none felt right.

---

Black Manta

Sharpedo- This felt like an obvious choice considering that this pokemon is regarded as the Bully of the Sea and Black Manta is...something else, I'll tell you what.

Basculegion- This Pokémon is known to have evolved because of its fallen comrades. Black Manta’s origin involves him trying to avenge his father’s death. Now while this is very different from Basculegion’s reason for evolving, it isn’t that different.

Intelleon- Considering that Black Manta is a highly-weaponized killer with many gadgets, Intelleon felt like a good match for him.

Cradily- At first this may seem like an odd choice until you consider that Black Manta has a slight degree of knowledge on Atlantean Archaelogy. Cradily reflects this as while it is a product of paleontology, it is still an aquatic species. Its adjacent to Atlantean Archaelogy, meaning this is a stretch of a choice.

Kilowattrel- According to Lockstin & Gnoggin's video about this pokemon, Kilowattrel is based on pirates, and what is Black Manta? A pirate with a goofy helmet.

Genesect- In terms of desing, Genesect looks like a purple Black Manta with a giant laser canon on its back.

Black Manta's pokemon weren't that difficult to come up with. I didn't want to give him too many water types, but since there are a few pokemon that aren't water-type but water-adjacent, I thought, why not?

---

Non-League Villains:

Darkseid

Scizor- Compared to what's to come, Scizor feels like an out of place choice until you consider Parademons. Parademons are seen as Darkseid's minions, and they do share a small resemblance to Scizor...ignoring that its red and is more bug like. Darkseid's Scizor is a Meta-Pokemon with the ability Army's Strength which increases the user's attack and defense the more pokemon are on your team.

Tyranitar- Being based on Godzilla, Tyranitar's lore states that it has destructive power capable of destroying mountains and flattening mountains. In a few depictions, Darkseid is a force to be reckoned with, demolishing anything to get what he wants.

Malamar- Darkseid's biggest goal that he has often achieved is to obtain the Anti-Life equation. In short, the equation acts as a sort of mind control that extends Darkseid's presence onto others. Malamar is known for mind control, but I would assume Darkseid would want to take a step further on that. So his Malamar is also a Meta-Pokemon with the ability "Anti-Life" an ability that inflicts confusion to any surrounding pokemon once this pokemon enters the battle.

Origine Giratina- While in no way are Giratina and Darkseid similar in origin, they are similar in Power. New Gods affect reality on a grand scale. Final Crisis shows how a New God like Darkseid falling on the multiverse can lead to devastating things. Giratina is the one responsible for the Space-Time Rift over Hisui in Pokemon Legends Arceus. I assume Darkseid would of course want to take advantage of this power.

Dawn Wings Necrozma- While Lunala itself would have been a good way to represent Darkseid's ability to create Boom Tubes, Dawn Wings Necrozma felt like the better option to me for the fact it seizes power over Lunala. Necrozma also connects with my previous statement about Darkseid being a cosmic being.

Primal Groudon- This is an obvious choice but to add context, Primal Groudon has the Omega Symbol on its hands. That and it is volcanic pokemon with tremendous power. It is also one of the strongest pokemon in Gen 7 with a high base-stat total.

Darkseid's pokemon were mostly easy to come up with. Given his status as a New God, giving him several Legendary pokemon didn't feel wrong to me.

---

Mongul

Gloom- A reference to the black mercy, Mongul's Gloom is a meta-pokemon with the ability Fantasize where enemy pokemon have their health sapped away while getting an increase in their strongest stats.

Ceruledge

Armarouge

Gallade

Kommo-o

Iron Valiant- My first comic introduction to the character was in Dark Nights: Metal. In the first issue, the Justice League fight against creations of Toyman commissioned by Mongul. This is a reference to that.

I didn't give descriptions to Ceruledge, Armarouge, Gallade, and Kommo-o, as they're all mostly self-explanatory: They're fighters that Mongul would put in a gladiator arena.

---

Vandal Savage

Slowking- Being as old as he is, Vandal has witnessed many things and influenced many historical events. Slowking reflects this through its own wisdom.

Ursaluna- Since Vandal has been in many areas, him obtaining pokemon that are supposed to be extinct is of no surprise. Ursaluna would be one of them.

Kabutops- Although rare, Kabuto is still not extinct. Vandal obtaining one would no surprise me.

Noivern- This choice is a nod to how after Final Crisis, Vandal fought Batman who had been sent back in time.

Absol- Initially this choice would seem odd until you realize that having a pokemon with foresight is a good idea for an immortal like Vandal.

Mega Lucario- Three of the aliases Vandal has taken up was Alexander the Great, Khufu, and Khafre. With these numerous ties to Egypt, giving Vandal a Lucario makes sense, especially if it were a mega lucario as he would have been alive around that time mega-evolution happened.

I had thought about giving Vandal a Meta-Pokemon to stay in theme with the other pokemon, but I like the idea of him having to capture new pokemon as time goes on as death touches everything mortal.

---

Starro the Conqueror

Starmie

Starmie

Starmie

Starmie

Starmie

Starmie

Yes, Starro would have an army of Starmie.

---

Anti-Monitor

Regieleki- Regieleki by itself represents the electric age and can produce tremendous amounts of power. Anti-Monitor's Meta-Regieleki is capable of doing the same, but this time with Anti-Matter. This is reflected in its new ability Anti-Particle where type match-ups are swapped for the pokemon with this ability. The Special Attack of this pokemon has also been swapped with its Speed stat.

Regidrago- Regidrago represents the Medieval age and is believed to have the powers of every dragon pokemon. Anti-Monitor's Meta-Regidrago also has this ability, but its connection to Giratina is enhanced. Its new ability Shadowy Maw enhances both Dragon and Ghost type attacks. Regidrago however is still pure dragon.

Regirock- Regirock represents the stone age and is made purely out of rock. Anti-Monitor's Regirock is very different from this as it is now a Ground type due to its composition. It's defense stat has swapped places with its Attack stat. Its new ability Refract warps any stat changes to do the opposite effect.

Regice- Regice represents the ice age and is made purely out of ice. Anti-Monitor's Regice is the opposite, becoming a Water type due to its composition being different. It also has the refract ability

Registeel- Registeel represents the industrial revolution and is made of an unidentified metal. Anti-Monitor's Registeel is the opposite as it is now a Fire type due to its composition. Its defense and sp. defense have swapped places with its Attack and Sp. Attack.

Regigigas- Regigigas is the creator of the five different Regis. Ant-Monitor's Meta-Regigigas did the same, but since it too is composed of anti-monitor, it is very different from Regigigas. Now a pure Ghost type, Meta-Regigas's attack stat has swapped with its sp. attack stat. Its new ability, Slow Build, its special attack and speed stat are halved for five turns.

The choice to give the Anti-Monitor the six Regis was an idea I made out of the idea that the Anti-Monitor's goal was to create its own anti-matter universe. So, each Pokemon is both representative of its power and destructive ability. I originally planned on giving him Meta-versions of Marshadow, Gardevoir, and Gigantamax Duraludon to represent the Shadow Demons, Harbinger and Pariah, as well as the anti-monitor's tower things.

---

This took forever and I am so glad I've gotten it done. The Bat family will be next followed up by the Teen Titans and then Suicide Squad. Might do the Spider-Man variants after that.

Justice League Pokemon Teams

[itachi86]

i 100% disagree with the statement that barry and ir*s are the most perfect couple

[selkies-world]

Come on, guys, we're over halfway to 500 signatures!!!! If we can reach that milestone, it's got a much better chance of succeeding!!!

KEEP SIGNING THE PETITION

KEEP SHARING IT EVERYWHERE YOU CAN

Sign the petition to demand the creation of a new international law requiring fast-fashion garments to come with a statement of the human cost and environmental harm caused by their creation.

We all know fast fashion is bad for the planet - slave labor, environmental waste, air and water pollution, and unsustainable practices are just a few of the ways they impact our planet, our health and our lives. To date, the fast fashion industry is the 2nd largest consumer of water and is single-handedly responsible for 10% of global carbon emissions (that's more than all international flights and maritime shipping across a year combined). Even the simple act of washing these clothes releases 500,000 tons of microfibers into the ocean each year - that's equal to 50,000 plastic bottles. Fast-fashion is the 3rd leading cause of the climate crises we face, yet is rarely addressed.

Knowing these stats is one thing, and understanding them is important. Being aware of them is somewhat informative. But as long as we keep turning a blind eye to the issue, the stats are only going to get worse, and nothing will change for the better. Ignoring the issue or brushing it under the rug won't help anything. So what if we could see the real-world damage done by each of the garments we buy?

In the same way that cigarette packets have shown the harm their products do to our bodies ("SMOKING KILLS", lung cancer visualizations, etc.), what if fast fashion manufacturers & retailers had to show the harm their products do to our planet?

[Image ID: A type-writer font has been used on a brown craft paper background. The text reads: "32 animals lost their habitat to the field where my crops were planted - 2 of those animals are already endangered species. 2,700 litres of water were used in my production. I was made in a sweatshop enslaving men and women aged 16 - 45, and children aged 6 - 14. I contain 0.22kg of carbon dioxide dye." End ID.]

This is a mock-up of a label / statement for a single T-shirt, with researched statistics and educated estimates for the information I couldn't find a calculated answer for.

Now imagine labels / statements like this for every single piece of clothing: how many toxic chemicals are in those new jeans? How many litres of water did that shirt take to make? How many animals were skinned to make those cute fur-trimmed boots? How many children made that jumper? How many people were forcibly removed from their homes, so production companies could plant crops to grow the materials used in clothes manufacturing? How many families were evicted for no reason other than corporate greed? How many trees were cut down? How many animals were displaced or killed?

Would you really want to buy those items of clothing if the answers to those questions were staring you in the face?

If this information was stated in clear, accessible ways on both the website and the ticket on the actual garment, this would dramatically reduce the number of people buying fast fashion items. It would also reduce the profits being made by fast fashion companies, and could lead to many of them being forced to choose between changing and becoming sustainable, eco-froendly and ethical brands, or shutting down due to being boycotted.

Who would really want to knowingly buy things that are made by slaves, or which cost a family their home, or which contributed to deforestation? Who would continue to buy fast fashion items knowing this is the damage caused by them, when sustainable alternatives are an option?

Whether it's second-hand fashion at affordable prices, or investing more money in sustainable products which were made with high ethical standards and which cost more money due to the fact their price accounts for the time it took a person to make that item... we can say for certain that sustainable shopping is going to become much more popular if people know how important that change is. Sustainable items last much longer than fast-fashion items, which by design are created to self-destruct, as they are made to be worn a few times and then discarded in order to be replaced by the next trend's items - and as trends speed up, these items become weaker and weaker. This then leads to people spending more money in order to keep up with the newest trends, and to keep replacing clothes they throw out after a few washes.

In contrast, buying sustainable items which are designed to last years means people won't have to spend money on new clothes every few weeks, which means they'll ultimately save money in the long term and actually be able to afford those pricier items which will last much, much longer.

Now, despite the amount of harm the fast-fashion industry causes to people and the environment, the last thing we should be doing is getting angry at those who continue to buy them. Being the target of anger doesn't make large populations change their behaviour - even a cursory look through history books will tell us that much. Neither does being the target of resentment or blame.

But guilt? Shame? Those are two of the most powerful emotions to magnify when you want change to happen in waves.

And frankly, if people feel ashamed of buying something, or if buying something makes them feel guilty... they're going to stop buying it.

Those aren't the only emotions that should be felt, though. Because only feeling guilt and shame leads to feeling hopeless, scared, anxious and depressed. And we don't want that. No matter how bad things get... we don't want that.

The only other emotions to provoke are hope and pride.

If there's no hope for the future, how can anyone be expected to imagine a better one?

You wouldn't think it, what with all the climate crises and disasters we experience around the world and the total lack of commitment made by billionaires, multimillion-dollar companies and corporations and politicians.

But it's true. Scientists in Scotland have discovered bacteria which eat plastic and speed up the decomposition of it. ‘Ecocide’ is now punishable by law. Some countries within the EU are already close to meeting their 2030 goals years ahead of schedule! Thanks to scientists and small, individual changes made on a massive scale by ordinary people who are making small adjustments to our everyday choices, we can and are healing most of the ozone layer before 2050. That is something we should all feel incredibly proud of.

So imagine how much we could speed that process up if more people made those changes. Imagine how much sooner we could heal our planet if billions of people made those changes, rather than millions. Imagine how much sooner we could be seeing the effects of a healthier planet if fast fashion companies were forced to choose between going green and transparent, or closing altogether due to a lack of interest from consumers. Imagine the changes we could create if corporations made massive changes in a short amount of time, in order to save their own profits.

Imagine more labels like this, sitting alongside each other on every single piece of fast fashion clothing. A statement like this beneath every item of clothing on fast fashion websites, which transparently states the harm done.

If every single fast-fashion company and store had to display this on their clothing, on their racks, on their websites, and if there were legal punishments for those who tried to evade or lie... fashion would turn a lot greener very quickly. We'd start seeing more and more labels with "I'm made from 6 plastic bottles! I used to be a newspaper! I had 0 pesticides used on me in my production! I only contain natural dye made from berries, beans and sustainably grown flowers. I was made from apple skins and corn! The people who made me get to go home to their families every night, have days off and the adults made £150.35 each in 1 week! The animal who made the wool for me is free-range and well-cared for! I came from a small family farm, and was created with a closed-loop water system!”

That'd be a much better civilisation to shop in, don't you agree?

That is hope for the future.

That is motivation, which can fuel ordinary people to do extraordinary things and create changes they thought were impossible.

If you want to be a part of creating this change, sign the Change.org petition which demands the the creation and implementation of an international law which will require all fast-fashion products to be displayed with a statement which states the harm done to people and the planet by that garment being made & shipped.

[motherlvr]

Your Morally Gray Neighborhood Spider-woman

SPOILERS FOR ATSV, this includes the plot of ATSV

Word count: 2.9k

Pairing: Prowler! Miles Morales x Spider-woman! Reader, Earth 1610! Miles Morales & reader

This is a continuation of Part 1 but may be read as a stand-alone. this will probably be the last part of this for now, thank you for reading!

Summary: During a minor identity crisis, you question your morals. Further adding to your list of problems, it seems like Miles has a twin brother he failed to mention to you.

Warnings: nothing too serious, established relationship with Prowler! Miles, possessive miles, Major spoilers for ATSV, not canon, minimal cursing, jealousy, reader is so silly sometimes, i got sappy at the end sorry, fluffy ending

A/N: just know that if u interact with any of my works then i literally love u with all my heart

You weren't sure where your morals lie, but you assumed they were in the gray area. Matter of fact, you must be colorblind.

Could you even be considered a Friendly Neighborhood Spider-woman anymore? You were sure it was against your moral code to be dating a guy that you had previously described as a "cold-blooded killer." Who were you now? The Morally Gray Neighborhood Spider-woman? It wasn't nearly as catchy. Maybe you were an anti-hero now. Is it possible for a Spider-person to be an anti-hero? Surely not, you thought.

Interrupting your thoughts was the buzz of a phone. Miles' phone. You soon realized your present state, burrowed against your boyfriend on his bed. He had a suffocating grip on you, like he was afraid you'd disappear if he let go. Letting you get a breath of air, he loosened his grip on you to check his notification.

He slowly unwrapped his arms from around you and started to rise from the bed. He pressed his lips to yours before saying, "Lo siento, mami. Uncle Aaron needs me." He started putting on his Prowler gear.

To be frank, you were sick and tired. You've heard the same excuse over and over from Miles. At this point, you didn't understand why he was being so cryptic. What secret is there to hide if you already know he's the Prowler?

"Miles, enough with that vague shit. You keep acting like you're Batman or something." You sass, rolling your eyes at him and laying up in his bed. It was surprising how much he let you get away with. If anyone else had said that to him, he'd claw their throats out, surely.

"Let me come with you, Miles." You suggested, immediately jumping off his bed to follow him. He didn't like that idea. Not one bit, and it was clear on his face. "Hermosa," Miles started, but you interrupted him, pointing a finger at his face. "You know damn well I am fully capable of protecting myself. Just let me into your life, Miles. I want to see what's so important that you have to go and ditch your girlfriend yet again." You dramatically sigh, hoping he'll cave. After a few moments, Miles eventually gave in. "Fine. C'mon, princesa." He sighed and gestured for you to follow him.

He led you to what seemed to be a sketchy, dull, and grimy basement. If he wasn't infatuated with you, you'd wonder whether he was plotting to murder you down here. Upon further inspection, it was actually an apartment. As your eyes scanned the eerie room, you noticed chains hanging on the walls and an abnormal amount of weapons. However, there was also a large flatscreen and a kitchen. You could only assume that this was their Prowler Cave.

Other than the random civilian tied up on a punching bag, it looked like a fairly normal room. Almost cozy, if you were being generous.

Speaking of, why was there some poor boy restrained on a punching bag? You could barely see him due to the punching bag being larger than him, but from your current standpoint, you could only assume he was around your age or younger.

Miles stepped in front of you, holding a hand out to prevent you from taking a step further. Curling your lip in a frown, you shooed his hand away and continued walking, but stopped before the hostage could spot you. He stayed behind, lurking in the corner.

Miles' uncle greeted you both, "I've got a surprise for y'all." Apparently, Miles had let his uncle know in advance that you were welcome into his Prowler cave.

Miles, ever loving his dramatic entrances, jumped down from the corner he was lurking in. You had to stifle your laugh.

Uncle Aaron rotated the punching bag, revealing the unfortunate boy that got restrained upon it. Your jaw fell to the ground. You couldn't believe what you were seeing. How was this possible? You started to wish you had paid attention during Physics.

Attached to the punching bag was a near-identical copy of your beloved boyfriend. His eyes were wide full of fear, and for a second, you felt pity for him. Uncle Aaron left the room, leaving only you and the two Miles.

"Your dad is still alive?" Miles asked his impersonator, astonishingly unfazed by the fact that there was a copy of him staring him directly in his eyes. "What?" The impersonator questioned. "Your father, you said he's still alive." Miles repeated, his voice piquing with interest. "Yeah." The copy replied in a low voice. His face had no remnants of fear, it morphed into confusion instead. "Who are you?" The fake Miles asked, his eyebrows furrowing. He reminded you of your boyfriend in that way.

Your dearly beloved Prowler opened his mask, "I'm Miles Morales. But you, you can call me the Prowler." He said, his accent exposing. Those simple two sentences had more of an effect on you than they should have.

"If I don't go home, our dad is going to die." The fake Miles says with fear in his voice. "Your dad." Miles interjects coldly, lacking sympathy. The hope was slowly fading from the other Miles' face. He shook his head and said, "Please, you have to let me go." with more assertiveness than before. Your boyfriend leaned closer to the fake, "Why would I do that?" he inquired.

Deciding to interrupt their stare-down, you stepped out of the darkness and made yourself known to the fake Miles.

His face lit up with recognition. He whispered your name, "Is that you?"

"First off, how do you know my name?" You questioned, raising a confused brow. This whole situation was starting to creep you out. As you stepped closer to him, both of your spider-senses went off.

"You're like me." You both said in unison.

Your boyfriend was watching this interaction, narrowing his eyes. The fake Miles was only giving your boyfriend more reasons to keep him confined here.

"Look, you've got to help me. In my universe, you were my girlfriend too. Except you weren't Spider-woman. Don't you have a sense of morality? Hasn't anyone told you that with great power comes great responsibility?" The poor guy was practically begging you. You were sure that if he wasn't tied up on a punching bag, he'd be on his knees pleading with you. Which would be a fun sight to watch, you think.

You scoffed at the fake Miles Morales and replied, "You said it wrong. It's, with great ability comes great accountability." Rolling your eyes. This impersonator couldn't even get the quote right.

"That's not-" He cut himself off. "Whatever. You've got to help me, please." The fake Miles pleaded with you. He started to glitch, this universe was taking a toll on him already. As you stared into his eyes, he reminded you of a miserable, dejected puppy. Unbeknownst to you, the less-menacing Miles Morales was only stalling to charge up his venom strike.

Fortunately for him, he didn't need to resort to his venom strike just yet. That would only make this situation harder for him to get out of. He wasn't planning on getting on the bad side of another Spider-person.

"I think we should help him." You broke the silence, turning to your Miles. He was about to argue with you when you continued, "Not only because he's a fellow spider-person, but also because it's harder to resist someone when they look exactly like you, Miles." You grinned, teasing him.

As always, Miles couldn't deny you. He growled to his other self, directing the clone's attention away from you. "You're lucky my girl was here to save you this time, spider. I would've had no issue leaving you here to watch you rot."

As you untied Miles from the punching bag, he mouthed a "Thank you" to you and said,

"Do you guys happen to have a watch that can teleport me back home?" in all seriousness. It was almost comical. "No, but maybe I could help you out." You responded. "I have a good friend, Peter Parker. He's a scientist that specializes in quantum physics, I bet he could help. He works at Alchemax." His eyes seemed to lighten, "You know a Peter Parker?"

On the way to Alchemax, your boyfriend decided the phony version of himself was getting too comfortable with you. He was asking you way too many questions such as,

"How did you become Spider-woman?" The same way you did, Miles.

"How long have you been Spider-woman?" Ever since I got bit by a spider.

"Why are you with the Prowler?" He's not such a bad guy. A few seconds passed and you said, Nevermind. But that's what makes it exciting. You wink at him.

And that's when your lover decided to step in. He interrupted whatever Miles #2 was going on about. "Shut up for once." He snarled at him, towering over his clone. Within a second, your boyfriend had his copy in his grip with his razor-sharp claws in his face, a warning. You noticed sparks flying from the other Miles' fingertips. Why don't I have electric powers? You pondered. Not wanting to witness a homicide today, you pulled your boyfriend away before he could get the chance to slaughter himself. Or at least the morally good version of himself.

Your Miles snaked his arm around your waist possessively. He glared at the other Miles through his screen mask, but you were sure Miles #2 felt his sinister stare. He and you were walking a few paces ahead of his duplicate.

Some days, you weren't sure whether you wanted to kiss him or throttle him during his sleep. Although you couldn't deny that a part of you liked seeing him like this.

“Settle down, babe. He’s not my type.” You reassured him. He almost felt appeased, until he rethought your words. “Not your type? Mami, we look almost identical.” Your Miles said with irritation in his tone. You laughed at his confusion as you shook your head.

Although they were nearly identical in appearance, you noticed clear differences. For instance, your Miles had an intimidating and menacing presence. While the other Miles had more of a "Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man" energy to him.

"No, I mean, he's a little too dorky for me." Your boyfriend seemed to approve of your response, gazing at you. You shivered under his watch.

“I heard that." Miles #2 muttered, following behind you two.

Miles’ gaze was still set on you. He didn’t intend on breaking it any time soon. Although you couldn't exactly see his eyes, you could feel his stare. Nervously glancing the other way, you avoided eye contact. Because you knew that if you looked at him again, you'd pull him in and wouldn't be able to pull away. You felt like you were pinning for him all over again.

You glanced back at him, "Miles, stop staring at me. I might kiss you.” In an instant, his mask was off. He pulled you into a searing kiss, cupping your head with his hands. You reciprocated immediately.

His kiss was demanding and forceful. You could hear the thump of your heart, increasingly becoming louder. It was only a few moments long but felt like forever. He pulled away sooner than you'd liked, leaving you desiring more. “Had to show him that you’re my girl. Sólo mía. Right, princesa?” He stared into your eyes, making your heart pound impossibly faster. You cheekily nodded, the words being lost on your tongue. Miles smirked in satisfaction and closed his mask as you all approached Alchemax.

You strode into Alchemax like it was your second home and looked for Peter's office. Your boyfriend treaded right by your side, while the other Miles strayed behind you like a lost puppy. Which essentially, he was.

Successfully finding Peter's door wide open, you knocked. He looked up from his pile of work. Peter greeted you with a smile, "Come on in. It's great to see you, kid. But, uh, why is the Prowler in my office?" He said to you, his voice barely above a whisper. The Prowler in question was menacingly yet quietly standing in the corner of Peter's office.

Peter looked slightly green, but you consoled him. "Oh, don't mind him. He's my boyfriend." You shrugged. Peter shot you an extremely concerned look, judging your taste in guys, no doubt.

You simply smiled and patted him on the shoulder, "But anyway, Peter. This is Miles, he’s from a different dimension." You pointed at Miles, who stood stiffly next to you.

"We were hoping you could help us create an inter-dimensional teleporter. Or rather, a watch that can jump universes?" You told Peter.

The scientist seemed fascinated by this information about the multiverse. “That's a specific request. Lucky for you guys, I've been working on a prototype. Be wary that it is just a prototype, so there's no guarantee it'll work." Peter said.

"Great! I just have to make sure I get out of here before I either glitch to death or Miguel and his spider-team show up to beat me to death." Miles awkwardly said, scratching the back of his head. His glitching issue was getting worse the more time he spent in your universe.

Spider-team? No one's ever told you about this. If this "Spider-team" really did exist, why weren't you invited? No, you take that back. You could name a couple of reasons why you weren't invited, starting with your boyfriend who was standing next to you in his full Prowler suit. This is what you deserve for not being a Friendly Neighborhood Spider-woman, you sigh.

"Let's hope this works then." Peter says with an unsure tone. He cuffs the watch around Miles' wrist and changes the settings.

Silence falls upon the room as you all observe the watch flash for a moment, and then go dim again. How anti-climactic.

"Oops, sorry guys. Wrong settings." Peter Parker awkwardly laughed and fumbled with the watch again, and then said "Alright, this one should work."

Suddenly appearing to your right is a captivating portal of sorts. It was in the shape of multiple hexagons and had an orange hue. You couldn't take your eyes off of it, you'd never seen something so alluring. Other than your boyfriend, that is. You chuckled at your inner monologue.

Peter was ecstatic, “The other scientists doubted multiversal travel existed, but this is a critical discovery in the history of science!”

Miles, the Spider-Man one, was bewildered. He could finally go home and save his father. “Dude, this is awesome! I can't thank you guys enough. Maybe I'll see you guys again sometime." He smiled, referring to Peter and you.

Miles #2 seemed to be leaning in for a hug when your boyfriend interjected. He stood in front of you and glared at the phony version of himself, "Not too friendly now." he scowled.

“Chill, man! I didn’t mean it like that!" Instead, Miles gives you a two-fingered salute and fist-bumps Peter. "See you around." He finally says, jumping into the portal and wasting no additional time.

The portal closed behind him and you couldn't help but feel a sense of pride. Maybe you weren't a morally gray neighborhood spider-woman after all.

Who were you kidding? You're dating a murderous asshole. You must've been guilty by association.

You just hoped that the dorkier version of your boyfriend made it to his universe, and wasn’t sent to a completely different one yet again.

Shaking off the thoughts, you told the scientist, "Thank you, Peter! You were a big help." You hugged Peter and waved him goodbye. "Anytime, kid." He replied. Your prowler followed you out, his hand settling on your waist.

As you returned to Miles' house, you sat on his bed with him and said, "You know, your cooperation has to count for something. Even if you were just brooding the whole time."

"I'm the Prowler. I wasn’t brooding, ma.”

"Whatever you say." You rolled your eyes at him. "Anyway, you didn't kill him, so that's a start. I'm proud of us!" You gleamed at him as you mentally patted yourself on the back.

"You know I love you, ma. But you talk too much." Miles said, pulling you by the waist into his embrace.

You knitted your eyebrows as you replied, "Babe. It runs in every Spider-person. Didn't you hear how-" This time, Miles was the one shutting you up by pressing his lips to yours in a surprisingly soft kiss. His gentle lips moved against yours, and you couldn't help but melt into his touch.

You smiled into the kiss, deepening it. You didn't need words to show him how deep your affection for him lies. If you could, you'd freeze time to forever stay in his hold.

-----------

Dating the public’s enemy number one had to be diminishing your PR. Not that you had one, anyway.

Initially, you worried that your terribly different lifestyles would inevitably lead to the end of your relationship. The Prowler and Spider-woman was an unlikely combination, after all. You snuck out at night to fight crime and restore justice, while he snuck around with his uncle to be a hitman of Kingpin. But you loved him like no one else could.

He invoked emotions in you that you weren't completely familiar with. Your mind was consumed by thoughts of him. You couldn't breathe with him around, nor could you control how fast your heart throbbed. But you would gladly suffocate if he was the one taking your breath away.

And you had a feeling that your sentiment wasn't unrequited.

-----------

hermosa - beautiful

lo siento - i'm sorry

sólo mío - only mine

princesa - princess

[kryptonbabe]

Best of Blue Ribbon Digest 36, 1983

Some Kryptonites not on the handbook:

Platinum Kryptonite ➝‬ Gives Kryptonian super-powers to humans permanently (Batman Secret Files #1, 2018)

Black Kryptonite ➝‬ Strange and unpredictable effects on Kryptonians (Smallville series, S4E1 Crusade, 2004)

Pink Kryptonite ➝‬ Sexual / gender bender (Supergirl Vol. 4 #79, 2003)

Purple Kryptonite ➝‬ Began as a coloring error / Hypnotic effect, it can control the minds of anyone that is near it (Adventure Comics #171, 1951)

Kryptonite-X (Kryptisium) ➝‬ Not lethal, it restored Superman's powers, but caused him to absorb solar energy too rapidly making he lose control of his powers (The Adventures of Superman #511, 1994)

Slow Kryptonite ➝‬ It affects humans the same way Green Kryptonite affects Kryptonians (Batman Secret Files #1, 2018)

Magno-Kryptonite ➝‬ Tracks objects from Krypton including Kryptonite (Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #92, 1966)

Anti-Kryptonite / Fool's Kryptonite ➝‬ Pre-crisis: Looks like Green Kryptonite, but It's harmful to humans and is harmless to Kryptonians / In Post-crisis: it is the power source for one version of Ultraman, Superman's evil counterpart from an antimatter universe (Action Comics #252, 1959)

X-Kryptonite ➝‬ Granted Streaky the Supercat his superpowers (Action Comics #261, 1960)

Red-Green Kryptonite ➝‬ A synthetic Kryptonite created by Brainiac to mutate Superman, it made him grow a third eye on the back of his head (Action Comics #275, 1961)

Krypton Steel ➝‬ A harmless form of Kryptonite that only Superman could break (Super Friends, S3E30 Rest in Peace, 1978)

Opal Kryptonite ➝‬ Synthesized on Earth 2 this variant can apparently drive Kryptonians temporarily insane (Earth 2 #0, 2012)

Krimson Kryptonite ➝‬ Artificial construct of Mr. Mxyzptlk that eliminated Superman's powers temporarily (Superman Vol. 2 #49, 1990)

Orange Kryptonite ➝‬ Provides super-abilities to any animal that comes into contact with it for one day (Krypto the Superdog #4, 2007)

Periwinkle Kryptonite ➝‬ It turns the victim's skin and clothing periwinkle and causes them to completely lose their inhibitions (Superman Family Adventures #9, 2013)

Amber Kryptonite ➝‬ It removes Superman's powers and grant them to someone else (Dark Nights: Death Metal The Multiverse Who Laughs #1, 2021)

Synthetic Kryptonite ➝ Various effects / In Superman III (1980)‬  it caused Superman's morality to change turning him into an evil and destructive being (Multiple origins)

Bizarro Kryptonites:

Bizarro White Kryptonite ➝‬ It heals Bizarro, curing his instability (Superboy, S2E7 The Battle With Bizarro, 1989)

Bizarro Red Kryptonite ➝‬ Affects humans the same way Red Kryptonite affects Kryptonians (Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #80, 1964)

False Kryptonites:

Yellow Kryptonite ➝‬ Began as a hoax by Lex Luthor / Unknown effects (Action Comics #277, 1961)

Silver Kryptonite ➝‬ Began as a hoax by Jimmy Olsen / It causes hallucinations on Kryptonians and possess mystical properties (Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #70 1963)

Kryptonite Plus / Ultra-Kryptonite ➝‬ fake Kryptonite planted by aliens on the moon (Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #126, 1970)

Fake Kryptonite ➝‬ Superboy's friends are selling these crystals labeled as "fake Kryptonite" to raise money for charity (Superboy, S2E17 Brimstone, 1990)

Purple Spotted Kryptonite ➝‬ Exclusive to the Krypto the Superdog cartoon, it made Krypto chase his own tail (Krypto the Superdog, S1E34 Streaky's Supercat Tale, 2005)

Blood Kryptonite ➝‬ Fake Kryptonite magically manipulated by Felix Faust to drain energy from people (52 #13, 2006)

[yourobedientserpent]

Athelind Long's Superhero Chronology

Cross-Published from my Blogspot blog, Kirby Dots & Ditko Ribbons. INTRODUCTION  There's a tendency to divide the different eras of comic book superheroes into "Golden," "Silver", and "Modern," with occasional, tentative attempts to parcel off the Bronze Age, as well.

Let's just say that this lacks nuance. The Superhero Genre has gone through a lot of trends and phases and distinctive cultures over the years, and lumping almost half of its history into some concept of "The Modern Age" is just phoning it in. 

Some notes: 

This is not quite the same as the ages of COMICS, though there's similar nomenclature, largely because comics history tends to focus on the superhero genre even when it tries not to. This is about SUPERHEROES, in more than just a single medium; the "Ages" only indirectly impact other genres. 

All dates are approximate. 

There's plenty of overlap between Silver/Bronze, Bronze/Iron, and Iron/Aluminum, but when I started looking a keystone events, I was astonished by how neatly everything fell into 15-year chunks! 

THE CHRONOLOGY

Prelude (1830s-1938): The dawn of mass-produced popular culture: penny dreadfuls, dime novels, pulp magazines, newspaper comic strips. Folk heroes and detectives start sharing the pages with costumed adventurers, some with peak-human or superhuman abilities. Professor Challenger, Sherlock Holmes, The Nyctalope, The Shadow, Doc Savage. 

Golden Age (1938-1953): Begins with Superman, of course; ends with Post-War Superhero Implosion and Frederic Wertham's anti-comics crusade. The JSA stopped appearing in All-Star Comics in 1951. Fawcett stopped publishing Captain Marvel in 1953. 

Interregnum (1950ish-1960ish): A lot of historians make much of the gap between the Golden and Silver Ages, but, in retrospect, it's surprisingly brief. Superheroes never really go away, but they are de-emphasized in favor of other genres in comics, including horror, romance, and science fiction. Even at DC, other than Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, superheroes are relegated to back-up stories in anthology titles. Still, The Adventures of Superman with George Reeves remained popular throughout this period. 

Silver Age (1954-1970): The Reign of the Comics Code Authority (est. 1954). Really starts to roll with the demise of EC Comics and the reboot of The Flash; peaks with the "camp" craze popularized by the 1966 Batman TV series; ends when Kirby Moves to DC and Marvel publishes the Spider-Man Drug Stories without the Code Stamp. Early on, formerly-anonymous creators start getting openly credited on the title pages of their stories; this starts at Marvel, but DC eventually follows suit. 

Bronze Age (1971-1985): Begins with O'Neil and Adams revamping Batman and Green Lantern; Ends with the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Both DC and Marvel start paying closer attention to continuity and "relevance", and the most successful titles are the ones that most fully embrace an ongoing serial storyline (Legion of Super-Heroes, X-Men, The New Teen Titans). The specialty comic book shop starts becoming more common at the beginning of the era, and the closing years of the era herald a growing Creator's Rights movement, the birth of the Direct Market -- and the dawn of the independent publishers. 

Iron Age (1986-2000): Begins with Deconstruction: Elementals, The Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen, and the Wild Cards "mosaic novel" series. Ends with Reconstruction: Morrison's JLA, among others. Dominated by a determined effort to Take Superhero Comics Seriously. The Big Two kill off or "reinvent" goofy, campy Silver Age characters. DC tries very hard to bring coherency and consistency to its new, Post-Crisis timeline. Several independent publishers try cold-starting superhero "universes" of their own; most of them fail, but a lucky few manage to sell their characters to the Big Two (Ultraverse, Wildstorm). 

Aluminum Age (2000-2015): When Everything is Recycled. Marvel starts the Ultimate Universe. DC resurrects Silver Age characters who got killed off in the Bronze and Iron Age. The Comics Code finally dies in 2011. DC does a succession of "sequels" to Crisis on Infinite Earths: Identity Crisis (2004), Infinite Crisis (2005-2006), and the deceptively-named Final Crisis (2008), culminating in another Hard Reboot with the New 52 in 2011. Marvel does its own version of Crisis with the Multiverse Incursion story arc in New Avengers from 2013-2015. "Decompression" and "writing for the trade" become common as trade-paperback collections become more economically important than the traditional monthly comic magazines ("floppies"). 

Digital Age (2015-Current): Superhero not only become mainstream, but actually dominate movies and TV for several years -- this starts in the Aluminum Age, with the MCU in 2008, but is solidly codified by the debut of Arrow in 2015 and an explosion of weekly prime-time superhero shows that lasts almost a decade.

Comments are welcome, but be civil! This is intended to provoke conversations, not fights.

[rei-ismyname]

Avengers Vs X-Men and the demonisation of Cyclops

Part 1

Avengers Vs X-Men, or AvX, was a Summer crossover event in 2012. The title is pretty self explanatory, but there's a lot more to it than that. It was a bookend of sorts of the Extinction era and a coda for Wanda (and her terrible characterisation) calling back to House of M, narratively undoing the Decimation and exploring Hope's role as the Mutant Messiah.

I believe plenty of the dramatis personae played idiot ball hot potato and acted out of character, especially Steve Rogers. However, I'll primarily be looking at the event through a Watsonian lens, except for discussing the setup and aftermath. Scott Summers struggled against many forces during the Phoenix crisis but I propose the narrative was the most powerful force that opposed him.

Logan is describing himself here, ironically. Scott is quite happy with Emma. He talks a good one about 'keeping the kids out of the fighting' but he's perfectly willing to kill Hope and his students fight constantly.

Wolverine and the Schism

To do a proper analysis of AvX and the central conflict, we need to examine the previous instance of the narrative defeating Scott - the Schism. The salient dynamic to carry forward from it was Logan and Scott falling out - or Logan throwing a hypocritical tantrum - depending on your point of view. Whichever you believe, it's undeniable that Logan resented Scott and managed to enlist a lot of people to follow on his campaign of 'anti-Scott.' He left Utopia and restarted the Xavier School, renaming it The Jean Grey School - both creepy and petty, in my opinion. The narrative and Cyclops' team kept all the genocidal threats away from the school, an editorial hand strengthening Logan's argument. Realistically the school should have been destroyed several times over.

My editorialising aside, Scott and Logan's relationship was not in a good place. They'd mostly kept away from each other, but Logan used his Avengers membership to escalate the Phoenix dilemma and poison the well re: the Avengers' approach to Scott. Aside from vague and fragmented warnings from Nova, Logan was The Avengers only source of information on the Phoenix - and he was heavily biased and objectively wrong. The somewhat one-sided rivalry from Schism had turned into outright animosity - telling 'everyone who'd listen ... that he was crazy.'

Phoenix Rising

The X-Men and Avengers both received confirmation of the Phoenix's arrival, though mutants in general had varying degrees of faith that it would come for Hope Summers specifically. As mentioned, Logan positioned himself as an expert despite Rachel Summers, long time Phoenix host, teaching at his school. Scott absolutely had an agenda, but it was reactive and had good reason to believe that the Phoenix had good intentions. Though even if he didn't, he didn't call the Phoenix to Earth. The bird does as it pleases. He certainly could/should have treated Hope like an adult and asked what she wanted, but at the same time she was a 16 year old in his care.

Scott's approach was to prepare Hope as best he could for the trial to come, admittedly quite harshly. He knew there was no getting away from the Phoenix, it's simply too powerful to evade or fight head on. He also should have consulted Rachel, though he corrected that mistake swiftly once things kicked off. Not only was he married to the Phoenix for quite some time but he's aware it's spent a lot of time on earth at least 6 different hosts and the Earth is doing just fine. Importantly, his time-travelling son had been to many futures where Hope was denied the Phoenix and they were ashes, the Earth a desolate wasteland. In futures where she did host the Phoenix, mutants were reignited. His extensive time travelling had yielded very reliable information in the past, his claim that Hope was the Mutant Messiah is not one Scott just took on faith. Cable is an expert in such things AND he raised Hope from birth.

He also had a personal connection to the Phoenix.

The Avengers' strategy was twofold - taking Hope into protective custody while Iron Man 'worked on a science solution' - and sending their most powerful members to go punch the Phoenix before it got to Earth. Operating off Logan's dubious intel, they packed every Avenger they could find onto a Helicarrier and headed for the mutant island proto nation of Utopia. They also didn't really share that apparently the Phoenix is just a fickle cosmic troll now, allegedly just blowing up planets on a whim. Yes, Dark Phoenix ate a star and genocided a planet, but that was after immense psychological trauma and needless escalation. Even then, it was nearly talked down (by Scott) until Charles Xavier butted in and tried to overpower it. Hopefully he's not arrogant enough to try that again (he is.) Since then, many mutants had hosted the Phoenix and they're all doing fine.

The Avengers had nothing but bad intel, whereas the X-Men had empirical evidence and decades of experience dealing with the Phoenix.

We need to take Hope

Member of the Illuminati's finest diplomacy

Neither man does a great job communicating here, but the onus is on Cap to explain why he's coming to take your granddaughter based on advice from the Stabbing Guy. He presents no plan (they don't have one) and ignores the suggestion that his expert is not an expert. Scott and co were preparing for what has historically been an internal mutant matter when an army arrives on their doorstep telling them how it's going to be. After a failure to reach any sort of middle ground (not that Cap was offering any) Scott responded to Cap's refusal to leave by blasting him non-lethally.

I wasn't asking

All other X-Men are being oddly timid here. Nice title drop, Spider-Man.

'Wants us to look like bullies' says Tony AKA the military industrial complex and founder of the Illuminati. The Avengers get their mandate from the United States and answer to the President and SHIELD, but generally act as they please. Their sense of righteousness is a constant throughout this event and they absolutely act like bullies from start to finish.

Magneto launched Colossus at the Helicarrier (that thing launching at least 12 jets with ~30 powerful superhumans on it) to deny them a force multiplier and press their initiative, though once all Avengers deployed the best they could do was hold the line while Hope was kept safe. The Avengers wanted Hope and the X-Men were determined to protect her.

Remember, dipshit? Stabbing the Phoenix isn't effective. You should know this.

Showing he'd learnt nothing from Jean Grey, any other Phoenix experiences, House of M, decades of knowing Rachel Summers, etc - and in a stunning act of hypocrisy - Logan snuck away from the fight to kill Hope. She manifested Phoenix powers (way before it reached Earth) and burnt him to a crisp. Spooked by the situation and guilty people were fighting over her, Hope fled and successfully sent everyone on a wild goose chase trying to find her.

While both teams were scrambling and pummeling each other, Hope found Logan and proposed a bipartisan plan - they'd travel to the moon and Hope would accept the Phoenix. If she could handle it, great. If not, she'd willingly let Logan kill her. The agreement was to keep the others out of it - she wanted agency over her life and didn't want brawling superhumans ruining her zen. Logan betrayed her and told the Avengers, of course.

Iron Man's genius science solution

The X-Men and Avengers arrived and really ruined the mood. Logan was straight up trying to kill Scott. Just as Hope was about to host the Phoenix, Tony fucking Stark displayed the Avengers' complete lack of Phoenix experience and his own personal arrogance by activating that Transformers-looking thing up there. Everyone held their breath while he shot it with a big gun and something unexpected happened.

Out of Hope

Unsurprisingly this unexpected happening was an utter disaster, splitting the Phoenix into five pieces that ended up in Piotr, Emma Frost, Namor, Ilyana, Scott (or P.E.N.I.S if you're puerile like me.) The Phoenix Five were born against their consent and now The Avengers had 5 problems to deal with instead of one. In terms of culpability it's important to recognise that none of the P5 planned for this or wanted it - The Avengers and especially Tony bullied their way into this situation. Unfortunately, The Phoenix is kinda like the mafia - once you're in you can't leave, so the P5 are stuck with the results of the Avengers' non-plan. In fact, everyone is stuck with the fruit of their arrogance and The Avengers especially do not like the bitter taste. As they're still making demands of them, the X-Men regroup to process what happened. They eventually reach consensus on how to proceed, and the Avengers antagonise them every step of the way. They're convinced that this means the Earth is doomed, and blame the P5 and especially Scott for being there when Tony tried to kill a cosmic fundamental force of creation.

Sure, they're talking like lunatics, kinda. Maybe like people unexpectedly possessed by a godlike being? Completely ignoring who caused this and forgetting how possession works, Cap doubles down on 'we're right and you're wrong.' The P5 are villains now, you can tell because they want to take Hope to help her 🙄.

In part 2, The Phoenix Five explore benevolent uses of cosmic power and the Avengers keep acting like paranoid control freaks. The whole world has to decide how they feel about that, and opinions are mixed.

[aetheros]

There's a post going around post-election claiming that crisis lines will call police on you immediately and by default, and this person is responding to correction with hostility from an anti-therapy lens, creating fear and disillusionment.

I am a crisis responder (volunteer), and I'd like to clear things up. I'm in Canada, so I can't definitively speak on US crisis lines, but I can speak on Canadian ones.

Some safe crisis lines to contact are at the bottom of this post. TL;DR: We do not call police on people in crisis. We might call EMS.

1. We do not call police on you. If you say you're feeling suicidal, you are put at the front of the queue and given priority status & high risk status. We risk assess, learn about your situation, and then work together on bringing you down from your crisis to ensure you can keep yourself safe for at least 24 hours. We may contact paramedics/an ambulance if you inform us you have attempted suicide, or plan to within the next 24 hours. Not police. You can decline this at your own expense. If they are called, we stay on the line with you until they arrive.

We are legally required to risk assess everyone, and contact emergency services only if you inform us you've self-harmed more than intended, just attempted to end your life, or plan to within 24 hours. You can't seriously expect someone to sit by and do nothing upon telling them you just attempted -- everyone on earth would try to help you unless they're an inhumane monster.

A crisis line is NOT a wellness check. It's a safe, confidential, anonymous space for you to vent and get help (if you want it). Where I work, the only time police can be contacted (or you can be reported, rather) is if you admit to a crime. Being suicidal is not a crime. (CPS/APS can also be contacted on your behalf if you're being abused and under 19 or over 60, but you can decline this as well.)

2. Our job is to bring you to a calmer, safer state by listening with empathy, brainstorming coping skills (+safety plans) with you, and providing resources/links/websites for you to access after the conversation ends.

3. You can text crisis lines for more than suicidal thoughts, ideation, and attempts. You can talk about anything. You can vent and leave without a safety plan. It's what you're comfortable with.

4. You can end the conversation at any point. You are never forced into anything. You can close the web chat, reply STOP, or hang up at any time, or let us know you'd like to end the conversation and we can end it for you. _____________________________________

KidsHelpPhone Text CONNECT to 686868 Start web-chat [x]

- Free Canadian EN/FR crisis support - ALL ages - Text & web accessible - Professional counsellor chat/call [x] - Resources near you to explore yourself [x] - You can request a specific identity volunteer (BIPOC, queer, experience with [xyz] condition, etc.) - Partnered with 988 (Suicide Hotline)

Good2Talk Text GOOD2TALKON (ON) or GOOD2TALKNS (NS) to 686868 Dial 1-866-925-5454 (ON) or 1-833-292-3698 (NS)

- Free Canadian text support - Post-secondary students (18+) - Text, phone call & web accessible

988 | Suicide Crisis Helpline Text or dial 988

- Free US/Canada suicide/crisis support - ALL ages - Text & phone call accessible - Partnered with KHP

Crisis Text Line Text HOME to 741741

-Free US suicide/crisis support - ALL ages - Text, web & WhatsApp accessible - Partnered with KHP

Furthermore, I have my own mental illness and trauma, chronic illness, and my own bad experiences (including negligence, gaslighting, and bigotry) with therapy and doctors among many others in life. It took me 11 years to find a therapist and form of therapy that works for me. I volunteer as a CR because I don't want other people to suffer alone like I did. Crisis lines exist for you and for your wellbeing. They aren't some secretly evil corporation out to get you. I encourage you to fact-check. I'm telling you what I know as someone who has been on both sides of a crisis line. Take care of yourselves. ♥

[biblioflyer]

X-Men: It gets worse before it gets worse, no good deed….

We’re back where we started: this setting has no theory of change. It can’t. It’s a showcase of struggle and cautionary tales.

Previously I discussed why X-Men as a setting is fundamentally pessimistic as a necessity according to the creative choices made. It is an essay in 5 parts:

1,2,3,4,5

This is a new series analyzing how experience and social status influences Mutant outlooks on the assimilation vs separatism/supremacy question.

To return to the theme of the intrinsic pessimism of the X-Men setting, the X-Men’s efforts to protect lives from belligerent Mutants are often overlooked as regular Sapiens react more strongly to the original inciting event, the fact that the X-Men had to intervene at all, rather than recognizing the X-Men’s role in damage control.

Ominously, X-Men ‘97 ends with President Kelly, an already fair weather friend of Mutants, at risk of losing reelection to Grayden Creed, the once disgraced Friends of Humanity leader, last seen “catching up” with father, Sabertooth. It's unclear if Kelly is taking heat because of his pro or anti-Mutant stances, or whether he handled the Magneto crisis too aggressively or not aggressively enough (where have we heard this one before?) and it’s not entirely beyond thinking that Creed has had a change of heart.

But let's get real. This is this setting. Kelly is likely being blamed for being too soft on Mutants in the wake of the Magneto crisis, the usual suspects have engaged in widespread gaslighting about the origin and nature of the Prime Sentinels and have shifted the emphasis away from Magneto losing his temper after two massive scale pogroms against Mutants and more towards Magneto having killed electricity (and thousands of people in cars, trains, planes, on life support etc.) and whose asteroid nearly destroyed all life on Earth (after Kelly ordered it nuked.)

The X-Men risked everything to save the world after a handful of Humans with inordinate power almost destroyed it trying to preempt and retaliate against inordinately powerful Mutants, many are presumed dead, and their reward is one of their worst enemies may wind up seizing power.

I’ve articulated why the X-Men setting prefers stasis over progress, and escalating catastrophe over the status quo, but boy, does the messaging around this get under my skin. It's not unrealistic, but as an old school Star Trek fan, it bums me out and alarms me. Maybe the Trekkie in me is too hypersensitive and sees doomerism in the media equivalent of a primal scream on behalf of those perpetually treading water for acceptance.

[fancoloredglasses]

[RERUN] Crisis on Infinite Earths, Issue 10: “Death at the Dawn of Time” (Monitos, the Hand of Oblivion)

[All images are owned by DC Comics, please don’t sue me]

PREVIOUSLY ON…

A being known as the Anti-Monitor has destroyed all but 5 of the universes in existence) with a single survivor on Earth-6 (Lady Quark) along for the ride). Those 5 (1 (Silver Age), 2 (Golden Age), 4 (acquired from Charleton), S (acquired from Fawcett after being sued into oblivion), and X (acquired from Quality)) are being held in limbo (and are merging into a single reality) away from the Anti-Monitor thanks to a being known as Lyla, assisted by a being known as Pariah and the sole survivor of Earth-3 (Alexander Luthor, who is made of matter and anti-matter).

Unfortunately, the process was unstable, meaning that time has merged (meaning mammoths and futuristic aliens are among modern skyscrapers) in the areas where the Earths are merged (which are called “Warp Zones”)

The Anti-Monitor has been quiet since his third attempt at destroying the multiverse failed (thanks to the sacrifices of Supergirl and Earth-1’s Flash)

Meanwhile, Brainiac and Earth-1’s Lex Luthor have drafted the villains of all 5 Earths and have taken over Earths 4, S, and X. The combined heroes of the 5 Earths have staged an assault to free the Earths while Brainiac and Luthor sit back on Brainiac’s ship and prepare to pick up the pieces while the heroes and villains kill each other.

However, Psimon didn’t join the battle, but stayed back and listened. Having heard the Master Plan, he thought it was a good one, only he should be the one in charge, so he destroyed Brainiac and prepares to do the same to Luthor!

Now, on with our story! If you would like to read this issue, it (along with the rest of the series) has been collected in graphic novel form and is available (or can be ordered) at your favorite comic shop, bookstore, or online retailer…or on Read Comic Online.

As Psimon uses his psychic powers to fry Luthor’s insides…

He is shot in his brain bubble (I’m surprised no one thought of this before) from behind by Brainiac, (wait, what?!) killing him instantly (psee ya later, Psimon!) It turns out Brainiac’s consciousness is linked to the ship and knew Psimon was there (and he didn’t do anything about it before then?) and constructed a new body for him after his first was destroyed (if he dealt with Psimon before then he wouldn’t have had to waste the resources) Luthor slaps himself on the back (quick recovery after nearly being Scannered [NSFW WARNING]) and gets on with the plan.

Speaking of the plan…

Casualties mount as the Doom Patrol’s Negative Woman destroys Chemo

…and the Teen Titans’ Kole turns Black Adam to crystal (who world have been shattered by the Doom Patrol’s Robotman if Kole’s teammate Dove hadn’t stepped in)

Earth-1′s Atom frees Billy Batson so he can speak his magic word to become Captain Marvel and begin to wipe the floor with those who held him captive (and why didn’t they kill him exactly?) And so on…

Until…

An energy surge unlike any other seen appears on every scanner across five Earths…

Then…

I had no idea the Spectre could do that!

Anyway, the Spectre tells the population of 5 Earths (kinda hard to ignore a giant white and green head over the entire skyline) that the Anti-Monitor has retreated to the dawn of time, where he intends on being the hand that Krona (remember him? All the way back in issue 7) saw, thus destroying all the other universes (how is this Plan D? I would think this would be Plan A) The Heroes decide to travel to the Dawn of Time to try to stop the Anti-Monitor, while the villains (despite protests) head to ancient Oa to stop Krona.

The assembled heroes and villains gather to make their respective time-jumps.

As they prepare, we see a touching good-bye between Kal-L and his wife, Earth-2′s Lois Lane.

Also joining late to the party is a third Superman (well, Superboy), who explains he’s the last survivor of Earth-Prime (which the footnotes explain was part of a one-shot comic. Gee, nice to see that we‘re creating even more characters for this series. I mean, with five universes’ worth of heroes and villains, isn’t it bloated enough?) Things are finally ready, and off they go.

…after an inspirational speech by the Freedom Fighters’ Uncle Sam.

On Oa, the villains work toward stopping Krona. Now, the reasonable thing to do would be to speak to Oa’s governing body and/or Krona to stop the experiment. However, these being villains, they attempt to raze Oa.

This goes as well as you’d expect.

However, Mirror Master (of Earth-1), Icicle (of Earth-2), and Maaldor (of Earth-1) reach Krona’s lab.

Unfortunately, they were too busy arguing who would destroy the lab that they missed that Krona showed up until they died by his hand.

Meanwhile, the heroes arrive at the Dawn of Time, prepared to enter the anti-matter universe, only to discover the Anti-Monitor waiting for them.

The more powerful heroes immediately attack…

…only to have their power absorbed by the Anti-Monitor (why didn’t he do that when Supergirl attacked three issues ago?) He intends to use that power to become the hand that Krona sees…

…only the Specter pushes back, aided by the mystical heroes.

Krona turns on the viewscreen in his lab to view the Dawn of Time…

and reality…

S H A T T E R S !

To be continued…?

[popculturebuffet]

Wanna Make Something Of It?: A Justice League International Retrospective: Justice League #1 Review

Keith Ian Giffen 1952-2023 "I"m sick of Darkseid, Darkseid has been passed around the DC Offices like a Bong"

Hello all you happy people and happy birthday to me. Each year either on or around my birthday, or in this case a month later because the end of 2023 was a cold and carpal tunnel hellscape and 2024 opened with bronchitis, I take a look at something special to me, something that means something: From the first apperance of the Legion of Substitute Heroes, to the first volume of Scott Pilgrim, to Scott Pilgrim Vs the World , to last years look at the uncanny x-men's rebirth with Giant Sized X-Men #1, i've always set aside my birthday to reflect on my past and celebrate it with something I truly love.

This year I decided on that.. for reasons that still break my heart. On October 9th at the ripe age of 70 Comics Legend and personal inspiration of mine Keith Giffen.. passed away. He had a long, good life and created countless amazing stories and characters.. but his loss will be a void that can never quite be filled.

For those who hadn't heard of him, Keith was a comic book writer who's best known for his work at DC, having helped redefine the Legion of Super Heroes and Darkseid with the legendary Great Darkness Saga alongside Paul Levitz, created the main man Lobo, the fourth wall breaking before it was cool Ambush bug, the incomprable Jamie Reyes whose first arc I covered this year, and of course, the one punch, the only, the bwahahah-ey Justice League international.

If your asking why it took this long to eulogize him if I respected him so much, the answer is simple: I didn't know. In an age where if someone dies it's usually blasted onto my news feed, even if I don't exactly google that person every day, I had NO idea Keith was dead till reading an amazon review.. which is the kind of sick irony he'd find hilarous, so I have that, but not exactly the way to find out one of your personal heroes died. So I scrapped my original birthday review plan (Letterkenny's Three Wise Men For the Curious) and decided to start a project i've been mulling over for a while now. So welcome folks to Wanna Make Something Of It: A Justice League International Retrospective, an ocasoinal look at this long run.

JLI has an intresting history to it so if you'll sit down i'll tell you

The Not Really Secret Origin of the Justice League International

It was the late 80's and DC Comics had just undergone a massive reboot with Crisis on Infinite Earths, the first true big event comic as we know them with tie ins and a massive reboot in the end as Editorial had felt the various alternate earths had made things too complicated. So a big blue murder man named the Anti Monitor tried to wipe out all of creation, leaving only five earths: Earth 1, where most of the action took place, Earth 2 where the heroes of the Golden Age, the Justice Society of america and their various successors lived, Earth 4, where the recently aquiried heroes of Charlton Comics like Blue Beetle, Peacemaker and Captain Atom resided, an earth not concidentally introduced for this crossover, Earth S, home of the Shazam/Captain Marvel Family, and Earth X, a world where the nazi's won WWII and only the freedom fighters stood in opposition. Basically any heroes DC felt like keeping and their shiny new toys.

The result was a new one world earth with a fresh coat of paint to let in new readers. It wasn't without issues: several corners of the DCU got torn up with my beloved Legion of Super Heroes getting some of the worst of it, with every resonable attempt to fix the retcons or bring characters back.. being shot down AFTER the story had already been started or happened, eventually leaving such a giant mess they rebooted in the 90's, while many a hero was left without an origin or clear history, Donna Troy having to have her origin redone again now her connection to wonder woman was gone, Hawkman became a hawk mess in part thanks to this very book, story for another time, and much more I don't have the time or patience to get into right now.

There was a lot of good in it though, as the reboot left room for new heroes like self promotional himbo with a heart of gold, Booster Gold, the now DC flavored Blue Beetle, and more, and for some the fresh start was badly needed, revitalizing Superman, and giving Wonder Woman and out and out reboot that, while taking her history away, exchanged it for one of the best runs on the character ever via George Perez. And eventually, after some growing pains, it gave us room for an all new flash after a lengthy murder storyline left Barry running out of steam. For all the damage it did i've learned over the years, the crisis still did a LOT of good and helped a lot of characters find their place in this brave new world.

One property vital to DC that needed this was the Justice League of America. A few years before the crisis, DC had noticed the sales of the League were down, and tried to revitalize it: the result was a book I hope to read and cover one day.. still called Justice League of America bu tknown to most as Justice League Detroit. The IDEA was good: feeling the league was a bit scattered after a martian invasion destroyed their iconic satalite headquarters, Aquaman called for them to disband and only those who could commit full time rejoin, leaving it with just him, Martain Manhunter, Zantanna and The Elongated Man. They soon added some fresh recurits in the cyborg steel, the horribly named in hindsight but loveable for her father daughter relationship with the Martain Manhunter, Gypsy and the sterotype tastic Vibe, who'd later be heavily reworked for the better by the flash tv series.

The idea was good but even from what defenders I could find after googling the team, the book had the good IDEA of making the team more of a surrogate family like the Titans or X-Men, but simply didn't seem to pull it off. It's part of why i'd love to look at it some day: the roster is good, with even the rookies being intresting Even Vibe at least had intresting power, a low income background not really see in the Justice League at that point, and cool shades.. even if him break dancing was very much

So I do really want to read this run and possibly cover it and if you'd like me to, let me know. It intrests me.

But while it intrests me now, no one at the time was really biting so DC decided to pull the plut. It really didn't help that , thanks to the crisis.. DC now had a wide buffet of characters they could suddenly ad to the league like Captain Marvel, the Charlton gang, and Dr. Fate.

So the team got the axe in the ties ins for Legends, DC's next big event that was also designed to bring the new team together. Legends has another really cool concept: Darkseid, god of evil and dc office bong , wanted to break earth's heroes for defying him so he could finally claim it and thus came up with Operation: Humilation. He sent his lackey Glorious Godfrey to earth , becoming tele-evanglist and far right loon G Gordon Godfrey, inspired by the times and sadly still relevant. Godfrey lit up an anti superhero fervor, causing Ronald Regan to ban superheroes while Godfrey spread the message of hate, helped by Godfrey setting up Captain Marvel to seemingly kill one of Darkseid's minons who was in fact a robot designed to die and scar a 12 year old for life.

The problem is the series is a bit too fast paced for it's own good, taking a message on how hate movements like this spread oh so easily with the power of tv, and speed running it so we go from Godfrey using real life hate tactics that are chillingly relevant, to the point we get scenes with a crowd nearly killing a 12 year old jason todd or a cop killing his partner after said partner lets Black Canary go then blaming her for making him do it, to ... him making people into murder dogs and storming the captial. In three issues. You have to nearly burn the country down to get people to do a insurrection everyone knows that.

On top of that like many an event after.. a lot of it's about setting up tie ins instead of it's core story so we get stuff like Jason being saved happening off panel or Darkseid deciding to take superman off the board.. and then doing it in a tie in.

That brings us to Justice League where one of the biggest fallouts of this event.. happens entirely in it's own book. I'm split on this as on the one hand, the end of the Justice League of America should happen in it's own book.. but on the other given they brought in another writer to end the book, I don't see why they didn't just cancel it early and say "To be continued in legends" and have Godfrey tied into the league's ultimate end instead of Amazo.

Alas instead Amazo and Despero clean house leaving the league battered, demoralized and in the cases of Vibe and Steel dead. Everyone whose left leaves.. .everyone except the person it means the most to, the person who almost never left and whose the heart and soul of the league for the Martain Manhunter vows it'll live on.

Cue the finale of Legends: With things escalating quickly, Dr. Fate, DC's Resident Mysterious Magic Man, gathers a bunch of heroes together to put an end to this: Batman, Martian Manhunter, Blue Beetle (Ted Kord), Black Canary, Green Lantern (Guy Gardner), The Flash (Wally West), Beast Boy (Going by Changeling back then), Mister Miracle (Scott Free), Superman and Captain Marvel (The future Shazam) to put an end to this, with Jonn clinching the heroes return to legality by coming in the save and Wonder Woman making her debut to the superhero community post-crisis by jumping in to help. The day is saved , and a new justice league is formed from the ashes of the old.

So you may be asking: Why this roster and why aren't Wonder Woman, Superman, the Flash and BB on the cover? Let's explore that under the cut as we delve into why this roster, the creative team for the actual book, and the first issue itself shall we?

Roll Call:

So you'd probably think given how team books work nowadays that future writers Keith Giffen and JM Demattis picked this team themselves, with maybe a member or two picked by dc editorial. It's what I assumed.. but nope, DC picked the team themselves, which .. does kinda bother me. A creator should really pick their own roster as chemistry is VERY important to a team book. It speaks to Giffen, DeMattis and Macguire's talents that, even dropping a few members in issue 7, the book comes off as natural as it does and said drops come off less as "this person we were saddled with isn't working" and more "they simply didn't fit into the group so we used the big rebrand to shuffle them out". DC may of picked the roster, but to their credit they choose well. As giffen himself put in the introduction of a collection of the first few issues back in 2008 "That call was DC's to make and as it turned out.. not too shabby"

So before we got into the actual book and who made it, I wanted to take a second to explore this roster as I wanted to show WHY DC might have choose them as I couldn't find any info on why this roster was picked, and simply have my edcuated guesses to go on

First who WASN'T added despite being front and center in legends: Each of the four members cut from the roster so to speak have good reasons for not being in the team. Beast Boy is the most obvious: he was never going to be in the League to begin with, they most likely wanted a titan to represent their flagship book for the crossover and choose one of the most popular.

For the Flash, Wally's a bit more of an actual misdirect as given he hadn't shown up since his decision not to take up the mantle, this was his big coming out party as the flash, with Wally deciding to embrace his mentors roll. It's also why he didn't take it up in story and likely out: he just put on the tights and didn't feel ready for the league just yet and the character would need some time in his own solo before it made since to plop him in a team book.

For Superman and Wondy it's also simple: Superman was being rebooted: He still had a LOT of his history, but major parts of it like his time in the Legion as Superboy or his cousin Kara were cut out, major villians were revamped, and his world was reshaped for the 80's while Diana was flat out rebooted by George Perez after sales had pretty much died pre-crisis, with said run now being one of my favorite comics and one I can't wait to complete some day and share with you all.

So that left the All New, All Diffrent Justice League with a roster consisting of Batman, The Martian Manhunter, Blue Beetle, Captain Marvel (Now known as the Captain or Shazam), Dr. Fate, Black Canary, Mister Miracle and Green Lantern (Guy Gardner). So for those of you less familiar with some of these guys, let's get aquanited, as well as figure out why DC choose them.

Batman: Batman is here because he's batman.. I could end it there but that'd leave the question of why Bats was okay to go but SUperman and Wonder WOman weren't. The answer is simple: Batman.. didn't get rebooted by Crisis. Things were changed like Jason Todd's backstory, some villians erased, some bits of history tinkered with, but that was standard for most post crisis heroes. He'd have a new defentiive origin with Frank Miller's year one, but Denny O'Neil had already soft rebooted batman back in the 70's, so he wasn't in as big of a rut. Crisis took out weird shit from the silver age that I love but understand why maybe it's best reinstated as a drug hallucination, thank you Grant Morrison, and Earth 2 batman, but it really didn't change who Bruce was, his status quo etc. Batman was selling well, Dick Grayson was super popular over in New Teen Titans, it was something DC knew wisely not to fuck with. Granted I haven't gotten as hands on with just after the crisis batman as I have Superman or Wonder WOman, so I could be wrong, but most of the changes were to villian backstories, stuff that was necessary and handy, but not things that really shook up who Batman was or what stories were going on with him like Superman and Wonder Woman. And since Batman is a lisense to print money, for better or worse, they stuck him on this team.

Martain Manhunter: The Martain Manhunter is Jonn Jonzz, a cop from mars who got accidently kidnapped by an old man to earth and took up resdiense as a detective. Jonn would get a full mini establishing who he was post crisis I have not read by Giffen and Dematties but i'm now dying to now I know it exists. Jonn was a founding member of the justice league and a big hero during the silver age, and comes off as the JLA equilvent to the Avengers Wasp, not in terms of character, Janet and Jonn aren't like each other in the slightest but I do think they'd hang, but in being a hero who has a storied career almost entirely tied to one of their unvierses big super teams, but not much solo wise. The former has meant he's been bounced around a bit and even left out of the team in the new 52 for cyborg, but also means he's a treasured part of it, an elder statesman who gives the team a sense of a heart among a floating lineup. He also gives the team a power house, having most of superman's powers PLUS telepathy and shapeshifting. Jonn is one of my faviorite DC heroes owing to the justice league cartoon

Guy Gardner: Guy is an odd duck in that both John Stewart and Hal Jordan were wearing the ring, this being the first time all three earth lantern's wore it, so WHY Guy was chosen out of the three was a mystery given JOhn was, as far as I know, popular even then and Hal was the old reliable, back before everyone was sick of that and wanted them to remember they had 7 or so people more intresting. Guy was Hal's understudy. He literally didn't get the ring.. because Hal Jordan was closer, and thus was picked to become a space cop later. He was depicted intially as a school teacher before being resculpted into a jingoisitc asshole by Steve Engleheart, something that was cemented and fleshed out here. He also has a three stooges haircut, something I feel adds to his asshole charm and feel had to be brought up at some point.

Dr. Fate: Dr Fate is kent nelson, a vetran of the JLA's predecessor, the Justice Society of America. Originally the JSA was part of Earth 2, but was merged with Earth 1 so now they simply.. existed before our heroes, retired due to Mcarthyism, then came back into action when the new age of heroes launched, with deaging and such used to explain how their still around. Fate was chosen likely because he looks neat, they needed a magic guy, and they wanted a JSA rep on the team. He.. didn't really quite fit as it was clear DC didn't know quite what they were doing with him yet.

Blue Beetle: My boy ted, who I've already covered on this blog before, but this is his shining moment. For those less familiar or who missed the underated blue beetle film, Ted is an inventor who found out his uncle was planning to take over the world with an army of robots, and enlisted his close friend Dan Garret, who turned out to be the OG blue beetle and sacrificed his life to stop Ted's Uncle, passing on the mantle but not the magical alien beetle. Ted compensated by building a ton of gadgets, having plnety of quips and generally being plesant. Ted was part of Charlton Comics, a company DC had bought recently, and having his own series at the time, being fairly popular, and having an outfit created by Steve Ditko himself, he was a shoe in and a nice pick from the b-list. Grante di'm biased and this series is entirely WHY, but Ted's a fresh face in the dcu who comes in hot with plenty of experince and a cool ship for the group to fly around.

Black Canary: Dinah Lance was changed by the crisis, going from an immigrant from earth 2 to the daughter of the original. She was also made a founding member of the justice league to replace Wonder Woman because she as the only prominent dc heroine who who would've been active at the time. And yes she's wearing THIS for her time in the JLI

And honestly it's.. meh. I think they were trying to give her a less casual look, but the fishnets and black leather jacket just fit. Sometimes a superhero just needs something anyone could wear in the right order to have a super outfit. I'm not against civlian style costumes if it fits the hero and dinah's just.. fits. This one just dosen't suit her as it's a bit too bombastic.

Dinah's likely here both for her new jsa connection and new jla founder status. She's also here because the team needed a female member, alongside dr. light, who we'll get to later.

Captain Marvel: Billy is easy. While DC had aquiried their former rival Fawcett back in the 70's, and thus one of the best superman immitators there ever was and ever will be, Billy had been on earth S since they bought him, and like Dr. Fate is there to show off how the earths are all merged now. He's also another power house, and was someone dc was trying to push. DC.. never really knows HOW to push captain marvel and i'm hoping his current series by Mark Waid helps. If you haven't read it check it out, it's possibly the characters best that i've been able to have acess to (Since DC hasn't reprinted the golden age stuff quite yet). For those who haven't heard of him, Billy Batson is a ten year old who was chosen by a wizard to become his champion and thus can act out the movie big but with superman powers whenever he wants. I love him dearly and wish DC knew how to market him.

Mr. MIracle: Last but not least Mr Miracle is Scott Free. Scott is part of the new gods, Jack Kirby's big contribution to DC that also included bong of evil Darkseid. To keep the peace Darkseid and his counterpart Highfather did a son swap, HIghfather getting Darkseid's angsty son Orion and Darkseid getting Scott, who he gave to Granny Goodness, the God of Child Abuse, who gave him othe name to mock how he'd never be free. Naturally this strategy backfired as it only fired up young Scott to escape, becoming the escape artist, hero and wife guy mr miracle. The last part came courtsey of big barda, another one of Granny's charges who came to take Scott back, but was convinced that maybe hellpits weren't the best place to live, and married him in Kirby's last issue on the two. Scott is here to emphasis the new gods,s something DC was playing with more post crisis. His manager Oberon, a cheery fella with Dwarfism, is also here because Demattis and Giffen had a lot of material for the guy it turned out and Oberon is essentially the team's guy in the chair.

So with this motely crew assembled let's see what this dynamite creative team did with them as we begin the storied history of the justice league international... the international part comes later.

Starting with the cover. While usually i'll skip these in an analysis, it's both a habit I need to break and would be a criminal act here as the cover for Justice League #1 is my faviorite comic book cover of all time and my faviorite to see an homage of.

It's simple, but it's perfect. The group shot is well deisgned, showing everyone off, but in a way that's diffrent from the usual action poses we get. Their clearly ready to kick your ass then their gonna fuckin kick your ass, but it's in a way that's unique, shows the team's unity. It also is taken so seriously here.. that it makes it ripe for jokes later in the series. The wanna make something of it ffrom guy both echoes the tough image their going for.. but fits the goofy tone the series is really going to have as it settles in. This comic has been homaged to oblivion and rightly so. Even Keith's memorial image dc put out is this but with Keith and all his creations.

We open the issue proper with a declaration.

It's one of my faviorite opening pages in a comic: It's beautifully drawn by artist Kevin Maguire, sets up the setting well and sets up guy as having his head firmly up his own ass.. it's why he has the bowl cut you see, helps him get it up there nice and tight.

The issue smartly introduces the cast one or two at a time, letting each character get a proper introduction and seeing how they bounce off each other as they file in.

So first in is Black Canary, who marvels at their old headquarters recent reneovations. Our heroes start the run in the Secret Sanctuary, the Justice League's first headquarters built into a mountain in Happy Harbor Road Island. And if it seems familiar to some of you, it should as after the JLI were done with it the Doom Patrol moved in for a bit during Grant MOrrison's Run. Most famously and lastingly, Young Justice, another team I have to cover at some point, made this their main hq, the only team to really make it a home that wasn't a justice league. And to prove that point the JSA also stayed here briefly. It's this weird go to for teams who need a headquarters for five minutes.

Anyways Dinah remembers the good times and all the ghosts, guy's a dick about it humming the twilight zone theme, and assumes he and Dinah will have a sam and diane thing and not a "Stay 50 feet away at all times thing".

Next up is Mister MIracle, whose nervous about the gig, not sure if he belongs there. Out of the leaguers Scott tends to stick to the back, not shy or afraid to speak up when needed, but not as outspoken as his team mates. This nicely contrasts oberon whose all too happy for the box office as even if this lasts a cup of coffee. He's less happy when Guy makes a shot at his dwarfisim and Oberon's grumbling is hilarious.. as would've been him decking guy but we still got a few issues till someone finally does that.

Billy zooms in, shocked by all the press, showing his naivitie: even after all he just went through... Billy is still a bit shocked by just how profile this is and happy to be there. Enter the boys, Martain Mahunter and Blue Beetle, with Jonn not forgetting the whole LEgends fiasco so soon, and having a bit of a mope... though he soon makes a valid point to ted as he turns on the computer.. and shows the Detroit League. It's a nice reminder that even if the team wasn't like.. they were still close and still Jonn's proteges.. and most most of them are dead and those that arent quit due to the trauma. So doing this, while something he feels is necessary. Cue Guy banging a gavel and declaring the meeting started

We then cut to the offices of innovative concepts where we meet the heart and galbladder of this run, Maxwell Lord, a mysterious man in a suit whose watching a row of tv's. Max isn't evil like he'd later be retconned into being.. but he is VERY shady at this point, watching all the coverage on the league and in one of my faviorite subtle little things scratching the "of america' part out of the legue's name on a pad of paper.

I want to take a minute to point out macguire's facial work.. i'ts incredible, nicely detailed, realistic, but still cartoony enough to have tons of personality. Just looking at max you get his smugness, ego and sense of control all at once with him having barely said or done anything. There's been plenty of masterminds sitting behind a row of tv's, but you get Max's vibe immedietly while still wondering what his deal is and what he wants with the team, the latter being the main mystery of the books first year. Back at the Sanctuary, Dinah and Guy argue as SHOCKINGLY the experinced vetran with an eye for the teams legacy dosen't want sylvester calzone here running things. Oberon TRIES to intervene on Dinah's beahlf but get's literally brushed off and Jonn trying to be an adult in teh room.. gets Guy picking him up and making a green giant joke, both funny, both well done.. and enough to get even JONN pissed enough to enter a brawl.

Cue the goddamn batman.. and dr. fate whose here too. That's.. really fate's roll for their time on the team, their just.. here. While Giffen and Demattis did really try to work with most of the roster they were given, seeing who worked and who didn't, Dr. Fate just didn't fit this team. As you can see already.. a key part of this team is disfunction. Some become true companions eventually, but it's mostly a bunch of personalities that barely function together, fairly normal people who put on tights. It's the charm of the series: instead of just getting along or having the usual angst, these guys just make digs at each other and amble along, but DO get the job done and do deserve to be called the justice league. It's just a version of said league that dosen't take itself seriously and has fun with it, and that treats this group like people. Normally the Guy Gardner in the group would just be ingorned but because he actually DOES have the power to toss people around (and props to the creative ways he does), it leads to an actaul brawl.

Fate... doen't fit into this. Fate is an enigma, mysterious and distant. So they simply.. don't work well in a jokey sitcom. It's clear the duo LIKE the character, they'd reinvent him soon enough, but he just didn't fit what they were going for.

So that begs the question how BATMAN does.. and he answers it, cowing everyone else into stopping it and getting guy to sit down before dryly reading out the charter. Bats is the boss in this workplace sitcom, and he's a mean one, being an utter dick to dinah at one point.

This moment horks me off.. but it's also a perfect encapulation of batman's leading style: shut up do what I say. Even someone whose his EQUAL , and who founded the team before him and thus has senority, he just tells them to shut up when she's making a valid point: their fidgity because this meeting is nervous nad because they just went through some crap. What I like is that despite having BATMAN.. the dream team dosen't glorify him. He's still batman, he shuts down the room with a glare, is a tactical genius and thus great at leading in the battlefield.. but it's very clear even this early on he simply.. can't lead this team well. He has a barking "do what I tell you style" and expects them to be good soldiers, treating them like a group of sidekicks instead of experinced heroes.

It's not something the group pull out of thin air either: Batman used to have a team of his own, the Outsiders, formed after Batman walked out on the league for refusing to let him rescue Lucius Fox and turned in his badge when Clark wanted him to sit this one out as a league member. He found a bunch of other heroes along the way, and choose to make them into a team, but it was very clear that the outsiders were partners, and weren't treated as full equals, with the exception of Black Lightning who Bruce felt was on his level. He wasn't bad to the team, helping find the younger amnesaic Halo a home, setting them up with day jobs, but his style is very much "listen to me or there's the door. "

The problem is while the outsiders were mostly fresh faces to being heroes or out of practice like metamorpho or black lightning, Bruce can't let that guard down even whent he heroes have more than proven themselves. It popped up in a crossover with the New Teen Titans where he started ordering that team around, with Dick eventually having to tell him to shut the hell up and let Dick lead his own damn team.

So while it's midly grating here it fits: Batman is so determined to keep this league together he's treating them like his backup i nstead of experinced heroes, two of whom HE'S BEEN ON THE LEAGUE WITH BEFORE.

Anyways Bats does have ONE good point in his leadership so far: he wants the team to keep a low profile. While it's hard given the army of camera's outside, the team dosen't know each other, hasn't trained together yet, and needs time to be in full shape. After all they just barely got superheroes back in the popular opinon: while Godfrey DID juice up people's emotoins, it dosen't mean it won't swing back to negative easily if they fuck up.

Unfortuantely for them... someone else has other ideas.. and i'ts not fate because their in the room. At the UN Kimyo Hoshi is in the bathroom puzzled by receving a JL signal device from Max and not sure if she'll accept. Kimyo is the second Dr. Light, a hero unlike her predecessor and a scientest from Japan who got her powers during the crisis. She.. wont' be here long as while the issue plays her up as a member on the cover, she never fully joins the league. More on that in the future. For now she exits the bathroom.. to find herself a hostage. Terroists have taken the UN. THankfully she activates the device and while Batman's very confused dr. light has one, rallies the team to go anyway.

Naturally Brucey Boy is cautious, having most of the team get in the bug, while he sends Fate and Billy to scout ahead. Guy WANTS to but Batman's response to the idea of sending a human bulldozer who barely listens to him into a tense hostage situation?

The team enters and despite the disfunction so far... it goes easily: Guy seals the premiters and probably invents some new swears, beetle does his best as the guy in the chair in the bug

And Fate.. well fate left and told Billy batman would understand and left the ten year old to explain this.

The league clean house.. but Batman notices a problem: these guys are ameture, clumsy and their equipment is oudated. Something else is going on here.

Time for that is passed soon though as Guy dive sin and finishes the job quickly. It's a nice sequence overall that shows the team REALLY is this good: this is a setup sure, but they don't know that. The lead terroists plans to detonate himself and batman... tells them to clear the room and let him, knowing somethign we don't as the man prepares to fir eon him and after they exit we get a wrapup via news as Max once again watches

So yeah SOMETHING made the leader kill himself, and max is behind anything. not a MASSIVE twist as the batman conversation set it up, but still a neat one: Max has plans for the league. I also like the focus on optics here: it's something I don't THINK the league had done before, the idea of how the media views a superhero team. This verison of the league isn't bad.. but Batman's refusal to talk to the press allows them to paint the narrative they want instead of the league controlling it. It's what gives Max a leg up on slowly wrestling control of it and makes him a compelling character from the word jump: Unlike Batman, he clearly gets optics, having set this up to force the league into the spotlight bright and early and removing the of america part to give the team a bigger calling. His tactics for doing this are also brilliant but we'll get more on them as we go.

For now this issue.. is as good as ever. Amazingly drawn, sharply written and nicely snappy, setting up the team, the myth arc with max and the situation their in all in one issue while modernizing thigns a bit: instead of space monsters our heroes are now fighting terrorists. Not that I mind fighting a godo space monster, but I get trying to give the leauge something diffrent and more part of the world. And part of the world is a major part of this series: putting the League more into our world an dhaving to deal with things like the media, other nations, etc. It's a brilliant start

Next Time: The last heroes of a dead world try to save ours while a greedy bearded man wonders who he can exploit this and the team gets some gold.

[eaglesnick]

“The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses.”

Malcolm X

I’m no fan of Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves but the deliberate lies and distortions concerning her budget both before and after the event are derisible. For a society to flourish successfully the media must adhere to a certain degree of honesty. Different opinions, backed up by evidence and logical argument, are fine, indeed, welcomed, but the continual peddling of untruths and half-truths by the media is an existential threat to the very democracy many of these media outlets pretend they are defending.

Before the budget the Financial Times, one of the most respected mainstream economic newspapers in the UK had this headline:

“Bankers fear Rachel Reeves is preparing UK Budget tax raid on sector” (11/09/24)

 On the day after the budget we have this headline:

“Reeves spares banks from tax raid after lobbying”  (City AM: 30/10/24)

This glaring headline from the Express is another example of our dishonest media:

“Labour blasted as 'anti-motorist' as Rachel Reeves ‘set to raise fuel duty in budget." (18/10/24)

After the budget we get the true story.

“Rachel Reeves announces fuel duty freeze as motorists spared from Budget tax rises."  (Independent: 30/10/24)

The Financial Times spoke of the “fear” our honest bankers felt concerning Reeves pending budget. Quite why bankers were “afraid” is unclear, especially as Reeves had already promised:

“Banker’ bonuses: No cap under Labour. Says Reeves." (BBC: 31/01/24)

After the budget, when it was clear there would be no tax raid on bankers, it was because she had “spared" them. Spared them from what? She had already promised there was to be no cap on their bonuses. Despite record profits at the six largest British banks (£48bn) Reeves decided not to increase the bank levy introduced by the Coalition government in 2011, or the corporation tax surcharge imposed by a Conservative government in 2016. In short, the banking sector has been left untouched by Reeves budget and this whole notion of “fear" and bankers being “spared" is a non-story.

The same non-story concerning her "anti-motorist" policies was also described as the motorist being "spared" when the prediction she would raise fuel duty just didn’t materialise.

Since the budget Reeves has come under repeated attack for raising taxes. Her budget will result in less wage growth, fewer jobs, an exodus of businesses abroad, the closure of care homes and doctors surgeries, higher mortgages and rents, the collapse of British farming, etc, etc.

The sad fact is we all know our public services are on their knees, homelessness is endemic, child poverty is rising, the NHS is on the brink of collapse, and our children’s schools and some of our hospitals are quite literally falling down around us. UK absolute poverty has hit an all-time high, life-expectancy is actually falling and the nation is suffering a mental health crisis.

While her British critics continue to rant against Reeves budget it is  worthwhile, even enlightening, to see how other countries view her plans for the Britain.

“Britain targets the wealthy as it hikes taxes by $52 billion.” (CNN Business: 30/10/24)

And

“Britain’s Reeves targets wealthy and foreign income with big tax rises” Reuters: 31/10/24)

The question British media outlets have to answer is what do they think should happen to our failing public services and the continuing economic plight of so many working people?  Should we continue as we were under the Tories and just let a huge sector of our society  go to the wall as happens in America? Or should we, as a nation, try and repair the damage done to our public services thereby improving the lives of many ordinary citizens?

If the latter answer is the way forward then who is going to pay for the repairs that are so desperately needed to mend our broken society?  The fair and moral answer is, of course, those who can afford to pay a little extra in tax – the already wealthy.

This is what Reeves is attempting to do and this is what is recognised by foreign observers. We can argue who among the already wealthy should be paying the most in additional taxes but it is the rich who have to pay. After all, Statistica inform us “the UK’s rich are getting richer” (23/05/22) so it is only morally right they should pay a little extra towards the welfare of those less well off than themselves.

The blind loathing that the vast majority of the British media display towards the Labour party is truly worrying. Their genuine fear when Jeremy Corbyn was Labour leader is understandable as his policies were truly transformative in nature. But social democrat Reeves budget is a far cry from the socialist plans of the Labour left. Yet the British media has this negative knee jerk reaction to all things Labour. The danger is that the day-after-day invention of “problems” that don’t exist will , over time, have a drip, drip affect on our perceptions, whereby we all buy into the lies being peddled.

[www-razaya4life]

Good morning everyone; admin here to discuss that has been bugging me for the past week or so. It involves Razer and Aya’s return in tomorrow-verse’s Crisis on Infinite Earths 3. I gotta say, I was majorly disappointed. Don’t get me wrong I’m glad to see them back together again like Peter & MJ in X-men 97. But I don’t think they did enough with those characters.

First off, they should’ve had a much bigger role than established considering Aya was an anti-monitor during the tail-end of the series. I mean c’mon; the parallel was right there! Not only that, they could’ve included Hal and Killowog from that universe as well. Have like some sort of big reunion between the 4 of them. Maybe, even include Carol Ferris. Because let’s be honest, that version of her kicked ass.

Speaking of which, maybe we could’ve seen this version of Carol finally utilizing her ring’s full potential and honor Ghia’ta’s memory. Make it into some kind of arc that carries over from their universe.

Whilst we’re on the subject of arcs; you could have tomorrow-verse Green Arrow team up with Hal to redeem himself from killing his own world’s variant. Then show the two bond as friends with Black Canary overseeing it from the sidelines.

There’s plenty more I could discuss that would majorly improve COIE 3, but I’ll save all that for the notes I’m going to post here later tonight. It should give a clear, concise idea of how this whole movie should’ve been.

[shayera-the-magpie]

About Me

Lydia

Age 30+

Autistic

Currently Reading

All-Star Squadron (comics)

Infinity, Inc (comics)

X-Men v2 (comics)

Justice League Europe (comics)

Avengers v3 (comics)

Batman: War Games (comics)

Favorite Comic Book Storylines

Batman: Under the Hood

JSA: Return of Hawkman

Legends

Rann-Thanagar War

Batman: No Man's Land

Crisis on Infinite Earths

Zero Hour

JLA/Avengers

Favorite DC Units

Hawkmates (Primarily the Earth-One Silver/Bronze Age Hawkmates before COIE and the Pre-Zero Hour Reboot Thanagarian Hawks. Doesn't mean that I don't hate Kendra/Carter and Shiera/Carter. I love them, but I just prefer the Thanagarian Hawks)

Green Lantern Corps (John Stewart is the Goat. Sorry, Hal, Guy, and Kyle. I don't hate you, I just love John more)

Batfam (If you are an Bruce Wayne anti, you are on thin ice. Talia/Brutalia antis DNI.)

I am starting to get into Wonder Woman

Favorite Ships

DC: Talia/Bruce, Selina/Bruce, Shayera/Katar, Shayera/Carter, John/Katma, WonderTrev, Clois

DCAU: John/Shayera (I don't ship these two outside the DCAU), Diana/Bruce

Areas of Interests: Literature, comic books, movies and history (particularly the Edwardian Age to the European part of WWII)

DNI: Same as bio. Terfs, Radfems, Transphobes, JKR bootlickers, exclusionists, and MAPS.

NOTE: there are some days where I might reblog/post something HP on this blog. I do write fan content for it as well. Tags are cw harry potter, cw hp, harry potter, and hp. Anything critical about the source material will be tagged hp critical and harry potter critical. If you haven't had those first four tags filtered, then I must be ticking an box or two in one of your DNIs, and you might want to turn back and block me. DNIs are supposed to go both ways after all.

"Well, JKR did say that the positive proliferation of her works is a sign that you support her views in secret and are afraid to speak it."

Yes she did say that, and I don't blame you if you don't want to touch HP for claim alone. Personally, I think she's in such an egotistical denial that fans of HP pan her views that she wants to believe that those decrying her support her in secret. Egotistic, abusive narcissists like Joanne don't want to believe that people hate them. They even want to believe that their detractors secretly like them and agree with them despite all evidence of the opposite. Alternatively, it could be her way of turning her detractors against each other. Because a abusive narcissistic would gaslight a trans woman for making her believe that her friend secretly agrees with her. However, that is my prerogative and I don't speak for anyone else (and before you ask, what money you want to spend on Official HP merch, donate it to a Trans Charity or spend it on fanmade HP merch created by an trans woman instead, the latter if you want merch bad enough. And no, DON'T even torrent that upcoming HBO Series, as I just learned that even torrents would get it renewed.)

My AO3

caffienated_biblophile

slytherinmarauder (pseud for HP works)

autistic_stephanie_brown (pseud for DC works)

Bottom line: for the record, I do believe that fiction can affect reality in regards how BIPOC, LGBT+, First Nations, Jews, Muslims, and disabled/neurodivergent/mentally ill people are portrayed in media and that those portrayals can affect the way the GP views those groups. However, the term "fiction does affect reality" isn't applicable to freaking fanfiction and videogames.

[thealmightyemprex]

Bronze Age of Comics Supervillain Mount Rushmore

So I am doing a Mount Rushmore for the greatest supervillains

Rules:Just doing DC and Marvel

Will limit the villains to the era they appear in

This time the Bronze Age 1970 -1985

Our 12 contenders

Darkseid

Thanos

Bullseye

Ras Al Ghul

Mystique

Killer Croc

Sabretooth

Anti Monitor

Deathstroke

Taskmaster

Hobgoblin

Trigon

Runners up

Taskmaster is out of the running simply cause I am not too familiar

Killer Croc is a good character but not one of Batmans greats

Sabretooth is a nasty customer, but he is mostly a brute

Anti Monitor isa big threat but he is mostly known for his stor ,Crisis on Infinate Earths and not himself

Bullseye is a great psycho but I prefer other villains for hire

Hobgoblin is a great villain for hire,and he nearly made the list

Trigon is a threat being basically a devil character but....I got a Titans villain on the Rushmore

The one that hursts me the most to leave off is Darkseid,the original cosmic tyrant....But after thinking it over,I decided I could have only one tyrant-

The Rushmore

Thanos-I feel bad putting him over Darkseid,but I feel he has become a bit more iconic ,left a bigger impact on his universe as when Thanos shows up its EVERYONES problem ,and this lunatic is litterally in love with the embodiment of DEATH which is fascniating

Mystique-Has a fascinating dynamic being the mom of TWO X Men (Nightcrawler and Rogue ),leads the Brotherhood of Mutant's,has a great powerset being a shapeshifter,and is so ingrained in X Men lore its kind of surprising shes a bronze age addition

Deathstroke:My personal fave of the choices,a villain for hire who has his own code.A regular thorne in the Teen Titans side and one hell of a badass and I feel a good representative of the Bronze Age

Ra's Al Ghul-the easiest choice ,one of Batmans most dangerous and iconic villains ,the practically immortal leader of the League of Assasins who views the Dark Knight as both worthy adversary and potential heir to his empire

So that my Bronze Age Villain Mount Rushmore :Thanos,Mystique,Deathstroke ,and Ra's Al Ghul .Whose yours

@ariel-seagull-wings @amalthea9 @piterelizabethdevries @princesssarisa @countesspetofi @filmcityworld1 @barbossas-wench @theancientvaleofsoulmaking @the-blue-fairie @themousefromfantasyland