#asgardian gender roles

[silverpen-and-paper]

people often mention how in the mcu’s version of asgardian culture, asgardians don’t consider long hair to be feminine. and i agree; there are a lot of asgardian men with long hair (thor, loki, odin, volstagg, etc etc), so it doesn’t seem like something they look down upon.

but there’s another aspect that i haven’t seen anyone talk about. we see plenty of men with short hair — which on it’s own doesn’t contradict anything — but i don’t think we see any short-haired asgardian women. sif and frigga both keep their hair long, as do all the background women (though i could be missing the ones that don’t). from this, i’d assume that long hair is seen as a gender neutral trait, while short hair is seen as masculine.

women also seem to always keep their hair in full or partial updoes (usually incorporating braids, if i’m seeing them right?). sif is the only one we see who doesn’t do that, instead preferring it loose or in a simple ponytail. there are men who tie their hair up and/or have braids in it, but not as often as the women or in the same styles. asgardian men overall seem to be allowed more variety with their hair than asgardian women.

[midastouch013]

New Recruit

Natasha Romanoff x Gender Neutral Reader

Summary: You're a new recruit to the avengers

Warnings: None

REQUESTS ARE OPEN, I need inspo

P.S the request wasn't wonky, and I did kwum 😁

---------

Nick Fury's commanding presence filled the room as he addressed the assembled Avengers.

"Avengers, gather around. We have a new member joining us today," he announced, his gaze sweeping across the team. "They come highly recommended, and I believe their unique abilities will be a valuable asset to our cause."

The Avengers exchanged curious glances as Fury motioned for you to step forward.

"Allow me to introduce our newest recruit," Fury continued, gesturing towards you. "They're a bit of a wildcard, but I have a feeling they'll fit right in."

You stepped forward, greeted by a mix of intrigued expressions and welcoming smiles from the team.

"Hey there, everyone," you greeted with a casual nod, a hint of amusement in your voice. "Hope I'm not crashing the party too hard."

Thor's booming voice echoed through the room as he greeted you with genuine enthusiasm. "Greetings, friend! What manner of skills do you possess?"

You grinned at his warmth, feeling an immediate sense of camaraderie. "Just a little something to bring some heat to the proceedings. You'll see soon enough."

Steve Rogers, the epitome of old-fashioned charm, stepped forward with a warm smile. "I'm Steve Rogers, but you can call me Cap. Welcome to the team."

You shook his hand firmly, returning his smile. "Nice to meet you, Cap. I'm Y/n . Ready to lend a hand wherever I can."

Bruce Banner observed you with a curious expression. "Welcome aboard. Do you have any specific skills or expertise?"

You shrugged, a playful glint in your eye. "I've been known to light up the room when needed. But I'll let my actions speak for themselves."

Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye, chimed in with a smirk. "Well, whoever you are, you've got quite the sense of humor. I like it."

You chuckled, feeling a sense of camaraderie already. "Thanks, Clint. Figured I'd try to keep things interesting."

As introductions continued, Wanda Maximoff offered you a friendly smile. "I'm Wanda Maximoff. It's nice to meet you, Y/n."

"Likewise, Wanda," you replied warmly. "Looking forward to getting to know everyone."

Natasha Romanoff observed you with a keen eye, her expression unreadable. When Fury finished speaking, she stepped forward with a smirk.

"Welcome to the team," Natasha said smoothly. "I'm Natasha Romanoff. Let's see what you're made of."

You met her gaze, feeling a sense of respect for the legendary Black Widow. "Thanks, Natasha. I'm ready to prove myself."

With introductions complete, the Avengers turned their attention back to Fury, ready to face whatever challenges awaited them. And as you settled into your new role among Earth's mightiest heroes, you couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement for the adventures that lay ahead.

----

As the flames flickered and danced, casting shadows against the trees surrounding Tony's cabin, the Avengers basked in the warmth of the fire and the camaraderie of their shared company.

Tony Stark, reclining in a comfortable chair, raised his glass in a mock toast. "To new beginnings and old friends! Or something like that."

Clint Barton, sitting nearby with a smirk, chimed in, "Yeah, Tony's just happy because he's not the new kid on the block anymore."

Tony shot him a playful glare. "Watch it, Hawkeye, or I might just put you on dish duty for the rest of the night."

Bruce Banner chuckled, sipping from his own glass. "Let's try to keep the peace, gentlemen. We've got enough chaos to deal with on missions."

Wanda Maximoff, sitting cross-legged on the ground, smiled at the banter. "It's nice to have moments like these, away from all the fighting and danger."

Thor, ever the optimist, nodded in agreement. "Indeed! 'Tis a welcome reprieve from the battles that await us. But fear not, for Asgardian warriors are always ready!"

Steve Rogers, leaning against a nearby tree, couldn't help but smile at the scene before him. "It's moments like these that remind me why we do what we do. We're a team, through thick and thin."

Natasha Romanoff, sitting quietly beside you, observed the group with a soft smile. "You know, Y/n, I never imagined I'd find myself in moments like these. It's… nice."

You turned to her, catching the sincerity in her eyes. "Yeah, it really is," you agreed, feeling a warmth spread through you at her words.

As the conversation continued, the fire began to wane, the flames dimming as the night pressed on. Without hesitation, you stepped forward, feeling the warmth of your powers stir within you.

With a flick of your wrist, you summoned a burst of flame, reigniting the fire with ease. The Avengers watched in awe, their expressions a mixture of surprise and admiration.

"Wow,that's incredible!" Steve exclaimed, his eyes wide with wonder.

Natasha observed you with keen interest, a spark of admiration flickering in her eyes. "Impressive," she remarked, her voice low and husky. "You certainly know how to make an entrance."

You met her gaze, feeling a rush of warmth spread through you at her words. "Thanks, Natasha. Just doing my part to keep the party going."

As the fire blazed brightly once more, the Avengers continued to bond, their laughter and camaraderie echoing through the woods. And as you sat beside Natasha, a silent understanding passing between you, you couldn't help but feel grateful for the connections you'd forged with Earth's mightiest heroes.

----

As you and Natasha navigated through the crowded party, you couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. A man in a sharp suit lingered nearby, his gaze fixed on you with suspicion. Sensing the tension, you subtly nudged Natasha and gave her a knowing glance.

"Trouble at three o'clock," you murmured, keeping your voice low as you observed the man's lingering stare.

Natasha's lips quirked into a knowing smirk as she assessed the situation. "I see him. Let's give him something else to watch."

With a quick nod, you took Natasha's hand, pulling her into an elegant twirl on the dance floor. As the music swelled around you, you moved in perfect harmony, your steps fluid and graceful as you danced with practiced ease. The man's gaze faltered, his suspicion momentarily forgotten as he watched the two of you with mild interest.

"Smooth moves," Natasha whispered, her eyes twinkling with amusement as you continued to dance.

You grinned back at her, feeling a rush of exhilaration as you lost yourself in the rhythm of the music. "Just trying to keep up appearances."

As the song came to an end, you and Natasha gracefully parted ways, seamlessly blending back into the crowd as if nothing had happened. The man's gaze lingered on you for a moment longer before he turned away, satisfied that you were just another couple enjoying the festivities.

With the distraction successfully averted, you and Natasha made your way towards the west wing, where the USB drive was rumored to be located. The hallway was dimly lit, the air heavy with tension as you approached the door to the room where the drive was being kept.

"Ready for this?" Natasha asked, her voice low and steady as she prepared to breach the room.

You nodded, your heart pounding with anticipation. "Let's do this."

With practiced precision, Natasha picked the lock, and you slipped into the room, your senses on high alert as you searched for the USB drive. It didn't take long to locate it, tucked away in a secure safe on the far side of the room.

But as you reached for the drive, the room suddenly erupted into chaos as alarms blared and lights flashed. HYDRA soldiers poured into the room, their weapons raised and ready for action.

"We've been compromised!" Natasha exclaimed, her eyes narrowing in determination as she prepared to defend yourselves.

With adrenaline coursing through your veins, you sprang into action, using your fire powers to fend off the attackers while Natasha engaged them in hand-to-hand combat. The room became a blur of motion and chaos as you fought side by side, your movements perfectly synchronized as you battled against overwhelming odds.

At one point, a soldier attempted to flank Natasha, his weapon aimed directly at her back. Without hesitation, you intercepted the attack, summoning a burst of flame that engulfed the soldier's weapon and sent him staggering back in surprise. Natasha's eyes widened in gratitude as she delivered a swift punch, knocking the soldier unconscious.

"Nice save," Natasha remarked, a hint of admiration in her voice as she turned to face you.

You grinned back at her, feeling a surge of pride at your successful maneuver. "Just returning the favor."

---

The Avengers had been through a tumultuous few months, facing challenges that tested their strength and resolve. In the rare moments of respite between missions, Wanda suggested a girls' night in, complete with a cozy movie marathon to help them unwind and recharge.

As they settled in, Natasha glanced over at you, a playful glint in her eye. "You're welcome to join us, Y/N. Consider it an honorary invitation."

You chuckled at the unexpected offer. "Well, I certainly can't say no to that. Thanks, Nat."

Natasha glanced over the selection of movies, her expression thoughtful. "How about we start with something classic? A good comedy should do the trick."

Wanda nodded in agreement, a smile playing at her lips. "Sounds perfect. Let's keep it light tonight."

Just as they were about to hit play, Sam Wilson sauntered into the room, a hopeful expression on his face. "Hey, what's going on here? Movie night?"

Natasha and Wanda exchanged a glance, suppressing a smile at Sam's enthusiasm. "Actually, Sam, it's girls' night tonight," Natasha explained, her tone apologetic but firm.

Sam's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Girls' night? Aw, come on, why didn't I get the memo? I can hang with the best of them!"

Wanda chuckled softly, shaking her head at Sam's protest. "Sorry, Sam, but tonight is strictly a girls-only affair. Maybe next time."

Sam feigned offense, placing a hand over his heart dramatically. "Wow, way to exclude a guy. I see how it is."

You, sitting nearby, interjected with a grin, "And besides, I'm not a girl either."

Sam turned to you, his expression one of mock disbelief. "Wait, you too? What kind of girls' night is this?"

" One with Y/n the only exception" Natasha deadpanned

You shrugged, your tone light as you replied, "I guess exceptions can be made. Don't worry, Sam, you're still one of the girls in our hearts."

Natasha rolled her eyes playfully. "Alright, enough chitchat. Let's get this movie started before Sam convinces us to let him join."

With a mock sigh of resignation, Sam retreated from the room, his protests fading into the distance. Meanwhile, Natasha and Wanda settled back into the couch, ready to enjoy their movie night uninterrupted.

As the night wore on and the movies played on, you found yourself getting increasingly comfortable, nestled between Natasha and Wanda on the couch. The laughter and banter of the films filled the room, creating a warm and cozy atmosphere.

At one point, as you reached for a handful of popcorn from the bowl between you and Natasha, your fingers brushed against hers. It was a fleeting touch, but somehow, your fingers intertwined naturally, as if drawn together by an invisible force.

You glanced over at Natasha, surprised but not entirely unwelcome by the gesture. She met your gaze with a soft smile, her eyes reflecting the warmth and affection you felt in that moment.

As the movie continued to play, Natasha shifted slightly, leaning her head against your shoulder in a gesture of casual intimacy. You felt a rush of warmth spread through you at the contact, a sense of comfort and connection unlike anything you'd experienced before.

Without a word spoken between you, you allowed Natasha to rest against you, feeling a sense of contentment settle over the both of you. The room seemed to fade away, leaving just the two of you in your own little world, wrapped up in the warmth of each other's presence.

Wanda, sensing the unspoken bond between you and Natasha, smiled knowingly from across the couch. She said nothing, content to let the moment unfold naturally.

---

Several months had passed since that cozy movie night, and in that time, a deep bond had formed between you and Natasha, evolving into something more than friendship. And after you , very nervously, asked her out and you went on your first date, you became official.

Now, as the snow fell softly outside, you found yourselves holed up in a cold safehouse, the result of a mission gone awry.

The bitter chill seeped into the room, wrapping around you like a suffocating blanket. Despite the layers of clothing and blankets you both piled on, the cold seemed to penetrate to your bones.

Natasha sat beside you, her posture rigid and her breath visible in the frigid air. Her stoic expression betrayed no hint of discomfort, a testament to her Russian upbringing and her ability to endure harsh conditions without complaint.

But you could see the telltale signs of her discomfort – the slight shiver in her shoulders, the way she pressed her lips together in a thin line. You knew that she was just as affected by the cold as you were, despite her efforts to hide it.

"We need to find a way to warm up," you remarked, your voice tinged with concern. "This cold is unbearable."

Natasha glanced at you, her gaze steady. "I'm fine, Y/n," she replied, her tone clipped. "I'm Russian, I don't get cold

You frowned, knowing that she was downplaying the severity of the situation. "Nat, we can't just tough this out. We need to do something before we freeze to death."

With a sigh, Natasha relented, her mask of indifference slipping slightly. "Fine, you're right. But what can we do? We're stuck here until backup arrives."

As the fire crackled merrily in the hearth, you racked your brain for a solution. And then it hit you – your powers. With a determined glint in your eye, you summoned your flames, allowing them to dance to life in the palm of your hand.

The warmth spread through the room, banishing the chill and filling the air with a comforting heat. Natasha watched in awe as you worked your magic, a soft smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

"You never cease to amaze me" she murmured, her voice laced with admiration.

You shrugged modestly, feeling a rush of warmth spread through you at her praise. "Just doing what I can to keep us both safe and warm."

As the warmth from your flames enveloped the room, Natasha leaned closer to you, seeking refuge from the biting cold. The soft crackle of the fire provided a soothing backdrop to the otherwise tense atmosphere.

You could feel the tension slowly ebbing away as the heat seeped into your bones, and you found yourself inching closer to Natasha, drawn to her warmth and the comfort of her presence.

With a soft sigh, Natasha leaned into you, her shoulder pressing against yours as she sought solace in your embrace. Despite her usual stoicism, you could sense the vulnerability beneath her facade, a reminder that even the strongest among them had moments of weakness.

As you wrapped your arms around her, pulling her close, you felt a rush of affection wash over you. In that moment, surrounded by the flickering flames and the gentle fall of snow outside, you knew that you couldn't keep your feelings hidden any longer.

"I... I love you, Natasha," you confessed, your voice barely above a whisper.

Natasha's breath caught in her throat, her eyes widening in surprise. For a moment, she seemed almost speechless, caught off guard by your admission.

But then, a soft smile tugged at the corners of her lips, and she reached out to gently cup your cheek in her hand. "I love you too, Y/n," she replied, her voice filled with warmth and sincerity.

And with a sigh of relief you captured her lips in a soft kiss, planning to give her many more in the foreseeable future.

[lokiinmediasideblog]

Loki + Odin=Marvel!Loki

This is part (2/3) of a series.

This is the most obvious "equation" out of the three, being that all Norse myth adaptations have an Odin and Loki (unlike say, the lesser known Skadi), so they both have high visibility.

Marvel's version of Loki (mostly referring to the comics but some of this applies to the MCU to some extent) is some weird mixture of myth!Loki, myth!Odin, and sometimes the Devil because Christians decided Loki was "the Norse devil" (by this, I mean original Earth-616 Loki being the "God of Evil" and referring to himself as "Satan" in his very first appearance (Venus comics)) that has until fairly recently become more Loki-like (i.e. reincarnation and onwards).

Odin and Loki are quite similar in the myths (They're both SHIFTY BASTARDS and partake in "female interests" to different extents). So it works out especially when Marvel's Loki is raised by Odin.

Marvel!Loki's similarities to Odin:

Myth!Loki is not a master sorcerer (that's myth!Odin) and is merely a shapeshifter. Myth!Loki can shapeshift themselves and others in the myths which is a common ability of the Jotnar. But is not shown to do seidr or seek it out. That's Odin. I am basing it from the Lokasenna where Odin and Loki are arguing over who's more "argr." Basically going "oh yea, well you're gayeyer" at each other. Calling each other slurs. Odin calls Loki argr for giving birth as a woman for "8 winters" and Loki calls Odin argr for practicing seidr and disguising as an old woman. Loki’s shape-shifting is not considered “seidr” and it’s just something Jotnar do all the time. Seidr pertains especifically to clairvoyance magic and rituals, according to Jackson Crawford's video on it.

In the comics, Loki sacrificed himself for himself (to reincarnate and try to break out of predictability). In the mythology, Odin sacrificed himself for himself by spearing himself and hanging from Yggdrassil for 9 days, to gain knowledge (see the runes for Galdr). In the MCU, Loki sacrifices himself for others multiple times to the point where it's a meme. But the thematic elements of self-sacrifice and resurrection are there, and his final sacrifice is associated with a tree.

Loki in the myths is more of a Looney Tunes character sort of schemer. He schemes, cheats, and lies, but it's usually for a short-term goal such as saving his ass from all the wacky situations he ends up in through his fault or by being scapegoated. Not very Machiavellic. He's not plotting to rule take power. Though he may engage in malicious pranks and the occasional murder (Balder). Though aspects of this may still apply to Marvel!Loki.

Marvel comics Loki is associated with corvids. Magpies rather than ravens. But it's interesting his animal that carried a copy of his soul was also a corvid.

However, there are still plenty of similarities with myth!Loki.

Loki is a scapegoat. In mythology, Loki is the only one that receives punishment for misdeeds, and its always disproportionate (mouth sewn shut, horse impregnation, bound by the entrails of his son as a snake drips burning venom on his eyes, etc). This is similar to how the Thor Comics written before 2012-ish expect you not to find Loki sympathetic and add thought bubbles of Loki thinking evil things while being punished to show it was "deserved". He is portrayed as a sympathetic scapegoat and villain within the MCU.

Loki is an outsider. In mythology, he's one of two deities speculated to be associated with the Sámi people, and a Jotnar that was brought into the Aesir fold through a blood oath with Odin ("blood brothers). Some speculate Odin did this to try to prevent Ragnarok, plus Loki was his shifty buddy for a while. In Marvel, he's a Jotun that was adopted into Asgard.

Loki doesn't fit conventional Asgardian gender role standards. Despite Marvel's retcon, it was quite obvious Asgardians had gender expectations (e.g. Thor lashes out at being called "princess" and nearly starts a war over that insult, Sif being a shield maiden being a huge deal, Loki's magic being dismissed as "tricks" and less important than battle in deleted scenes (grain of salt bc deleted scene)).

Loki is closer to his mother. It has been state by John Lindow that Loki's use of a matronymic surname indicates an absent or inadequate father. In the MCU, his adoptive mother taught him magic and is the parent he's closer to. This is not the case in Marvel comics, where Frigga/Freyja (they can't make up their mind how to name her) rejected Loki (*Blood Brothers aka Loki (2004) was so influential to me*). And tried to force them into a villainous role post-reincarnation.

I think the MCU's Sif and Loki dynamic is weirdly similar to Loki and Skadi (and I elaborate on the previous post 1/3).

Loki causes Ragnarok in some way. In Marvel comics, Loki does still kill Balder and cause Ragnarok often. In the MCU, he technically also started Ragnarok, but it was to save the rest of the realms. In the mythology, after escaping his torturous punishment, he leads the armies of Hel against Asgard on a ship made of nails.

Odin and Loki are considered to be similar in both the MCU and the myths. In the mythology, they were considered to be so similar, it was speculated Loki may be a hypostasis of Odin by Folke Strom. In the MCU, Hela remarks how similar Loki is to Odin.

Lazy Citations:

Loki's Wikipedia article (last screenshot)

Jackson Crawford's video on seidr.

Laidoner, Triin. (2012) The Flying Noaidi of the North: Sámi Tradition Reflected in the Figure Loki Laufeyjarson in Old Norse Mythology. SCRIPTA ISLANDICA.

Previous post:

[sewers-headmates]

hii. Can we get an mcu fictive? Just no buckys please also with an interact status

i actually haven’t watched anything mcu for a while but Hawkeye has always been our favorite for the comics! Mcu Hawkeye kinda sucks though :< so i’m going to give you someone actually cool (comic/fanon hawkeye >> everyone else) anyway here it is!

Name: Hela Odinsdottir

Age: immortal

Gender: agender, presents fem

Pronouns: mirror pronouns + third person

Sexuality: bi lesbian

Species: asgardian, god

Source: marvel cinematic universe (Thor: Ragnarok)

Roles: gatekeeper, persecutor-protector

cisIDs: asgardian, black hair, war goddess, powers (strength, durability, speed, agility, stamina, reflexes, healing factor, immortality), older sister, anger issues, BPD, NPD, god complex

transIDs: transGoddess, transHarmful, transAbuser, transMurderer, transInfamous, transFeared, transCultLeader, transADHD, transStalked, nullEmpathy

Paraphiles: necrophilia, consang, thanatophilia, emapihtophilia, haemotophilia, spectrophlia

Other Labels: don’t fully know how to label this but she hates physical contact, and not the biggest fan of men (outsider her brothers who she can tolerate to an extent)

Appearance:

i kinda love her. she would go great if you have any Lokis or Thors! anyway hope you enjoy!

-mod martyr

[worstloki]

Title: In The Spirit of Teenage Rebellion

Rating: General Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply

Additional Tags: Fem Thor (Marvel), Light Angst, Hurt Thor (Marvel), Gender Roles, Asgardian Culture (Marvel), Teenage Rebellion, Haircuts, Expectations, Crack Treated Seriously

[tyrannuspitch]

thinking about jotun culture again

as it currently stands my headcanon on why the jotuns we see (all adult men + warriors) are wearing very little is that it's basically posturing, which is expected of warriors specifically, and even then probably not 24/7.

it's not clear exactly how impervious jotuns are to the cold. a lot of people assume that abandoned jotun babies would die of the cold, but it's not actually stated - they might be left to starve. and even if they are, we're still talking about babies, often ones already judged as "weak", so... your average jotun adult might have basically no lower limit on the cold they can endure.

and if that were the case, there wouldn't be much reason for them to wear clothing at all. after all, there are plenty of real life cultures where the traditional clothing is as little or less than we see on mcu jotuns, or nothing at all, because the climate is such that it just isn't necessary.

but if jotun's practical need for clothing is zero, and their everyday clothing is minimal but not zero... then why wear it? modesty taboos, sure - but where do those taboos start? i'm not an expert on these things at all, but i kind of feel like they have to be outside influence...? and if jotunheim and asgard do have a long and closely intertwined relationship, as they do in my headcanon, then that's a possibility...

but we should also consider the armour. mcu jotuns don't just wear little clothing - they wear little armour. they have a sort of short, fitted, armoured skirt/kilt, and then high status warriors like laufey have tiny, decoratively arranged metal pieces over the arms, torso and head that are probably better described as jewellery than as armour.

deliberately making yourself vulnerable can be an effective intimidation technique. it's not very tactical, though, and if it were a new idea it would probably cause panic/loss of trust... which suggests it's deeply engrained in jotun culture. it's not, for example, the jotuns getting desperate after the war and their subsequent isolation left them with a total dearth of resources to make armour with.

and then. there's the fact that the jotun warriors we see aren't only minimally clothed or armoured - they're also all completely hairless.

we know jotuns grow hair. loki in his jotun form keeps all his hair, including eyebrows. but the jotuns raised on jotunheim have neither. all jotuns, including loki, are also beardless, in contrast to the norm for asgardian men.

i've seen it suggested that loki doesn't have a beard because he can't grow one, possibly because jotuns in general can't grow them. but then why the hair, and why the eyebrows? i think it's actually the opposite - both loki and other jotuns choose to shave their beards.

(and incidentally - surely the presence of any hair, from an evolutionary perspective, suggests that they aren't actually 100% impervious to the cold...)

i think, for most jotuns, it's part of their male gender role, and a point of pride, to have as little protecting them from the cold / the elements / harm in general as possible. no armour, no warm clothing, not even their own hair. they actively choose to remove even what naturally occurs - perhaps symbolically linked to actively choosing to face the dangers of battle for their people?

it might sound odd on the surface to say that removing a "male" characteristic like a beard is a male gender role, but there's plenty of real-world precedent. iirc, ancient rome was pretty strictly (socially) anti-beard and thought shaving was a sign of Civilisation. and modern europe has emulated this at various points, although we're not currently strict about it.

which gives jotun men an interesting possible perspective on asgardian men. having hair on their heads could be seen as weak and feminine. but having hair on their faces could, potentially, be seen as barbaric, animalistic, and hypermasculine in a threatening way...

and on the flipside - i think asgardians probably find clean-shaven men intimidating, because they look like enemies such as jotuns and dark elves. but then they're simultaneously being cast as powerful, probably hypermasculine "beasts", and as womanly, and therefore weak...

and in fact, beyond connotations, thor actually canonically views jotuns simultaneously as super powerful monsters who could overrun asgard any day now, and as cowards.

and of course, if we remember half of what's going on with loki... often "weakness" and "cowardice" and "effeminacy" are pretty clearly seen as threatening in and of themselves, even while people claim the opposite...

so. demonisation for contradictory things at the exact same time. the enemy is both weak and strong. this is a very common part of bigotry, but it's always kind of psychologically fascinating to me.

[chaoticrebels]

𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑹𝑨𝑪𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑺𝑯𝑬𝑬𝑻

repost, don’t reblog !

𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐬 !

FULL NAME. Storm Ryder Lokison NICKNAME. Stormi ALIAS. Cosmic Rebel GENDER. Male HEIGHT. 6′0″ AGE. Roughly around 21 - 24 ZODIAC. Scorpio SPOKEN LANGUAGES.  English, Asgardian, Norwegian, Latin, and French.

𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬 !

HAIR COLOR. Black  EYE COLOR. Teal SKIN TONE. White BODY TYPE. Athletic VOICE. Smooth,

DOMINANT HAND. Right POSTURE. Straight SCARS. None. TATTOOS. A few BIRTHMARKS. None. MOST NOTICEABLE FEATURE(S).  Chiseled jaw, teal eyes

𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐝 !

PLACE OF BIRTH. Somewhere in Space. {Possibly New Orleans or New York} HOMETOWN. Asgard SIBLINGS. None PARENTS. Loki Laufeyson(Odinson) and Carol Danvers

𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 !

OCCUPATION. Rebel, Prince, Anti Hero, Anti Villain, Musician CURRENT RESIDENCE. A Private Island, Tønsberg, Norway{New Asgard}, Space. {Moves Around A lot} CLOSE FRIENDS. A Few RELATIONSHIP STATUS. Single FINANCIAL STATUS.  Rich DRIVER’S LICENSE. Yeah, thanks to one of the avengers. CRIMINAL RECORD. None, at least at the moment lol. VICES. Flirty, Sarcasm, Stubborn

𝐬𝐞𝐱 & 𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 !

SEXUAL ORIENTATION. Bisexual PREFERRED EMOTIONAL ROLE. Switch PREFERRED SEXUAL ROLE. Versatile LIBIDO. High TURN ON’S. Lip biting, neck kissing, being pushed up against a wall and kissed, dirty talk, sexual teasing, mystery, knife play TURN OFF’S.  Lack of foreplay, boredom, narrow-mindedness, smokers, drunks, drugs, poor hygiene, someone playing dumb to get attention RELATIONSHIP TENDENCIES. When he is in a relationship he is loyal and devoted to his partner, he also very spontaneous and playful. He definitely loves keeping his partner on their toes, he finds excitement in the mystery so he keeps a bit of a  mystery to his relationship. He’ll continue to try to woo his partner even after getting into a relationship with them, hell he absolutely loves surprising them. He can be quite compassionate and wants them to be happy, but the main thing is he definitely will love them with everything he has.

𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬 !

CHARACTER’S THEME SONG.  My Name Is.. - Once Monsters,  Rules - AViVA  I’m Not A Saint - Billy Raffoul, Dangerous - Royal Deluxe,  Thunder -  Imagine Dragons  

HOBBIES TO PASS TIME. Causing mischief, listening music, singing, flirting, parkour, ghost hunting, using his magic, going on adventures, rollerblading, skateboarding, hiking LEFT OR RIGHT BRAINED. Both. PHOBIAS. Losing people he loves and cares about, not being good enough, messing up beyond repair, being a bother to people he loves and cares about. SELF CONFIDENCE LEVEL. He has high confidence but he still has his insecurities. VULNERABILITIES. His willingness to do anything for the one’s he loves, he has a tendency to over think and doubt himself at times, his inability to choose between his parents.

[ofide]

Girl why is bigger stronger Loki eating frail smaller Loki? What's the lore?

OKAY forgive me for doing this without pictures but i can’t be arsed to go through agent of asgard right now. i’ll try to be concise

agent of asgard stars ikol-loki, who is essentially a copy of the soul of loki from classic comic in the (grown up) body of kid loki, who was his good, reincarnated version. ikol-loki was created to steal kid loki’s body in the hopes that he’d be closer to the original loki but without his reputation already tarnished.

in AOA, we initially see ikol-loki (nobody knows about the body snatching yet) doing quests for the all-mothers to pay for the crimes of his past life. this monster of the week setup gets quickly interrupted when he runs into an older version of himself, king loki.

king loki is from a future in which, after repaying his debt and living a heroic life for years, he was still shunned by the asgardians, nobody trusted him, nobody would allow him to be one of them. so he grew resentful of them, and decided to play into the role they’d cast him in: he turned against thor and against asgard, killed the avengers and destroyed the earth.

to be able to actually defeat thor, he travels back in time and begins influencing the events so that his past self (ikol-loki) will turn into him (king loki) as swiftly as possible and under the best possible conditions to assure his victory. this means, of course, that he is working against ikol-loki’s desire to change and be a good person, essentially cannibalising his past self, consuming him to better himself. the picture in my header is the issue 12 cover, which is symbolic of this. (i edited the colours slightly, but that’s it).

i won’t spoil the ending but i assure you that the whole thing about people not accepting the new version of you and having to reject other people’s perception in order to live the life that is best for you smacks of trans coding - which is only made better by the fact that loki is actually trans (genderfluid) and it’s displayed throughout the series. they actually display more gender variance as they get more comfortable in their own identity as loki, and they change their title in a way that evokes changing one’s name.

[valkyrieandstrangeridingaragorn]

I have theory/headcanon that Asgard isn't exactly patriarchal in the way many earth cultures can be. That while there are gender roles and expectations of what men and women do women and feminity aren't looked down on as lesser or "weak". It's just breaking those expectations is what is frowned upon of questioned. I don't think Asgard would ever look down on a woman standing or question her authority. Basing this mostly on how no one questioned Hela's birthright because of her gender

I see what you mean but even if a society doesn't look down on femininity and women, if they have roles set for different genders and the refusal to follow them makes them uncomfortable then that is still a problem.

I did comment on that post the other day because I think it's important to remember that despite popular belief, having an all-women healing room is actually pretty empowering. Perhaps the issue is that some people tend to see that as women "serving" which is a shame. To have the power to heal the body is something that would definitely set them apart from others in the realm.

I just don't like that Sif and Thor have that conversation regarding the Asgardians' surprise at her skill. It's a line they could have removed and changed to Thor telling her "you thought you wouldn't be capable of learning but I supported you and encouraged you" and she could have still shot back with "yeah but I excelled at training so I did it". It keeps the same meaning, she's still a smart-ass and you still have Thor trying to make somebody else's wins his own.

Sometimes fictional stories are an analysis and a study of current issues, and many authors use that when they're writing their movies, series, etc, but the MCU did nothing with this. It's a passing line, the women in the healing room have little to no dialogue... it's another missed opportunity.

[asgard-segun-elcadejos]

Asgard según El Cadejos

Asgardian Society

As an overview, I divide them in royalty, nobility, and commoners.

Royalty

By classifying Asgard as a principality, it means that “Princess” is already the hightest nobility rank within it, so Hilda is the current ruler of this land, not awaiting to be crowned. Asgardian Royalty is expected to be generous with their people, ensuring food, clothing, and shelter is available to all. In episode 77, Hilda apologizes to Thor for not being able to fulfill this by herself.

Since ancient times, the firstborn is always a girl, and given the name of a valkyrie to honor their ancestor. She receives vast training in both combat (with and without cosmo) and priesthood, since the Princess of Asgard is also Odin’s Representative. Younger siblings receive this training too, but less intensely. They are commonly focused on becoming ambassadors for the realm, and frequently handle political matters with foreign countries.

Characters: Hilda, Freyja

Nobility (jarls)

Old families (some wealthier than others), descendants of the God Warriors from ancient times, that oversee the different Asgardian regions. Ideally, they assist the Royal family looking after the people living there, though this is not always the case. Most prefer to just live comfortably till the end of their days between balls, tournamens, and other social gatherings.

Per law, neither they nor the Royal family have slaves. All members of their staff must receive a living wage and appropriate housing/clothing/tools to perform their tasks. If there are children in the household that serve as the noble’s child’s companion, they must have strict, defined schedules that include school, (their own) household responsibilities, and personal time. It also not uncommon for nobles to send their heirs for a season or two to other noble households for them to learn from and grow with their peers.

Characters: Siegfried, Sigmund, Syd*, Hagen, Alberich, Mime, (Fenrir), Folkner, Frodi, Utgard

Commoners (karls)

Bourgeois: those who are wealthy, but do not belong to a noble family. This group is very interested in bringing Asgard closer to its Nordic neighbours (in several fronts like technology and transport) and have ocassionally found like-minded nobles to help them.

General: those who don’t have wealth to spare, and might or might not be able to sustain their lifestyle.. Most of their jobs focus on direct needs like woodcutting, hunting, fishing, masonry, blacksmithing, baking, butchery, etc. This leads to tightly knitted villages where it is essential to support each other in order to survive the harsh life in Asgard.

Characters: Thor, (Bud), Sannfrid (Bud’s adoptive father), Artica and her family

Slaves (þræll)

Like other Norsemen, Asgard did have a history of raiding and trading during the Viking Age. However, it has long been outlawed and in the present age, there are no slaves in the Asgardian Principality.

-----------------------

Gender roles

There aren’t any. Life in Asgard is already hard enough; people will be allocated where they are useful, and that’s it. They aren’t immune to the influence of foreign individuals, but Asgardian society itself doesn’t enforce any particular gender role.

-----------------------

Perspective on sexuality

Open (literally not an issue in my Asgard).

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

*Syd and Bud’s family seems to have a higher status than other nobles. The way Syd dresses is more similar to how Hilda and Freyja (and Alberich having world domination dreams) dress than to how the other noble characters do so. It is also curious to note that Syd, Bud, and Folkner are the only characters to use a cape, even though the others are also recognized as Asgardian warriors. For reference, the characters that belong to commoner backgrounds (or don’t even belong in human society, like Fenrir) wear simpler clothes.

Sources: http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/society/text/social_classes.htm

[kinnoth]

Ok so I haven't decided all the details etc of this whole thing yet, but this is my lore on elvish biology/reproduction/society:

When elves want to make more elves, they go into the woods, cut a hole into a bydtree, and start whispering stories into it. This might take several hours to several years, but what you're trying to do is to "tempt the spirit of the tree into life" by telling it all the things it could be getting up to out in the world: the range of joys and depths of sorrow, the adventure and curiosity and fascination of life outside.

Elves do not have "parents" exactly. A bydtree can be tempted to life by the stories of one elf or several hundred. Elvish royalty, in fact, is only born after every elf in the realm comes to tell their tree a story, giving the people an investment in the shaping of their leadership and also making the people a literal part of their conception

The fact of the matter is, an elf does not enter the world unless they want to. There's no plucking out of the cosmos for them: they are brought into life with full consent.

This means that there are young elves (elves new to the world), but no elvish children. An elf walks out of their tree fully grown, with knowledge of the world and how it is.

A bydtree that does not want to be tempted to life will wither and die. That is unfortunate, but that is its choice.

Consequently, there are no reproductive consequences to elvish sex -- it's literally just for fun. Elves don't have sexual organs like the giants or the aesir or the vanir have sexual organs, but there are still bits that are fun to rub together.

An aside: the people most hung up on reproductive monogamy are actually the jotnar, in whose society fated pairs and only fated pairs are socially permitted to reproduce. Giants born outside of a match pair will not be born with coherent leylines and cannot possibly find their own match pair in the future. That is abomination, a perversion to fate -- punishable by death. However, sex outside of reproduction? Potentially disrespectful to one's match pair, but ultimately harmless. Angrboda, for instance, thinks it's incredibly tacky that Loki has taken and gotten so attached to his stupid aesir concubine in his absence, but at least it's not like they've produced any children. He's going to make this marriage work, so he's trying to put up with it. (Loki is very confused why anyone would think thor is his concubine lol)

On the other hand, Asgardian culture is hung up on both sexual and reproductive monogamy, but it's a moral issue and not one of life and death and fate etc. Marriages amongst the aesir can be dissolved, but within a marriage it is expected that one is faithful to one's spouse. Accidental reproduction is not possible amongst the gods, as it takes two to pull a new soul from the cosmos, but sometimes it happens that two young people get carried away, pull down a soul, and consequently have nowhere to put it. The options for that are horrifying: either the girl keeps that soul inside of her until it kills her (no body can hold two souls indefinitely, not even an aesir's) or else that soul will have to go into an unsuitable vessel incapable of sustaining life.

The horror story of the aesir unwanted pregnancy is two young people putting a cosmic soul into a stone with a nursing mouth carved into it and abandoning it in the mountains until its cries alerted a shepherd and the youths were caught and punished.

This is one of the given reasons for strict sex segregation up until marriageable -- and subsequently land inheritable -- age. (The ungiven reason is patriarchy)

/aside

Consequently to that, elves have no biological sexes. There are genders, but elvish genders do not map onto "man" and "woman", and have more to do with societal roles. "Royal" is a gender, as is "historian" and "lute-player". The stories a bydtree is told will affect the gender of its elf, but it's not an exact science.

As we recall, elvish magic is glamours, and they treat glamours as a convention like clothing. To be caught without a glamour is like being caught without pants: embarrassing and a faux pas, but ultimately more mortifying for the person doing the catching than the person being caught. One has a social obligation to be ones most beautiful self in public, because when everyone can do it, why wouldn't you?

("beautiful" comes and goes in trends like fashion)

(the aesir complain that all elves look the same because of this)

Elves who go to foreign lands follow the same social protocol. When Fandral was sent to Asgard as Alfheim's emissary, he deliberately made himself look like a male warrior (the highest valued gender in Asgardian society) and also like thor, but a little uglier (beautiful but not threateningly so)

Anyway, let's talk about Asgardian imperialism on alfheim and svartalfheim

The secret is that bydtrees are saplings of the world tree yggdrasil, and the elves are therefore part of yggdrasil itself in spirit and form. As the world tree takes many appearances depending on who is looking at it, so do its people. The light elves are blessed with a mild climate and warm summers; all of their realm is accessible to them at all times of the year. As they are tree spirits, they produce no food. They live on clean water and the light that shines through the leaves of their great mother tree, and in springtime they will make a delicate wine of the bydtree's fragrant flowers. They do not eat its fruits; they do not eat fruits.

The dark elves are not so lucky. Their planet turns in harsh cycles, and only certain parts of it are habitable certain times of the year. The dark elves follow the seasonal cycles, and they can only reproduce during the times of the year when their sparse forests are hospitable.

The thing is, the aesir are also interested in the life giving trees of the elves. When they are planted on Asgard, the land is blacker, more enriched. The bodies that can be carved of land that has been enriched by the life force of bydtree are hardy and beautiful. The fruit of the bydtree is invigorating and a bushel a week can sustain an entire cohort of aesir warriors on campaign.

Naturally, the aesir want to get their hands on these trees. Unfortunately, they only grow on alfheim and svartalfheim, and they cannot be grafted or planted from seed.

As these things tend to go, the aesir start plucking whole forests from the landscape to be brought back to asgard, one tree at a time.

Alfheim is full of elves who might put up a fight though. But Svartalfheim is blessedly empty, so the aesir start there.

Imagine the mutual surprise when the dark elves show up to find the aesir looting what the aesir thought was an empty house

Naturally, there's war. Naturally, the aesir raze the whole of Svartalfheim's forests to the ground. The gods have always been happier to destroy a thing than let anyone else have it.

Svartalfheim was not always a landscape of black ash and rubble

[thot-son-of-odin]

As someone with a complicated antagonistic relationship to my mother, I support the Frigga slander.The one thing I'll give her is that IDK how much power she has compared to Odin in regards to being able to do something due to the flimsy often retconned Asgardian gender roles. Reminds me of Ursa's complicated relationship to Azula and Zuko, if I am being generous to her. Ironically, in the comics, she really doesn't give a damn about Loki. She seems like the sort of mother that would hold affection conditionally and thus cause a lot of emotional repression in both kids so they can at least have that.

That is so fair. I also think Frigga doesn’t have the same level of power or control as Odin does. (For the sake of this discussion, I’m only going to refer to the first two movies, which I think paint a much more misogynistic view of Asgard).

However I do find her equally as responsible as Odin for most of the parenting decisions they made. Whether or not he agreed, she too could have made unilateral decisions on what to tell Thor and Loki, how to raise them, and even if needed, go behind Odin’s back. I think she implicitly agrees with Odin’s behavior, and she’s the kind of person who, even if she disagrees with him, wouldn’t actually say anything about it.

Definitely agree that she seems like she gives very conditional affection. It’s not that she doesn’t love her kids, it’s that she wants them to behave in the way that she wants, and if they don’t, she punishes that by being withholding. I don’t think she’s the kind of person who would even push Thor to talk about his feelings, and when he does, she doesn’t really bother to understand why he’s feeling like that. Idk, I have a very negative, or at least mediocre view about her parenting.

Haven’t read any of the comics so I don’t know, but isn’t she not even Thor’s mother in one of them??? I’m not fully sure tho, correct me if I’m wrong.

[astra-galaxie]

"Yes, yes, Adalet, just give us some time to make sure it worked and to make more, be patient, sweetie." - Birgitta Halvorsen

Biographical information

Full Name: Birgitta Halvorsen

Gender: Transgender (Male to Female) (she/her)

Sexuality: Lesbian

Status: Alive

Age: 79 (season 2)

Birth: 1935

Race: Mythonite

Nationality: Asgardian

Origin: Midgard, New Asgard

Residence:

Asgard, New Asgard

Midgard, New Asgard (formerly)

Past profession(s): Pediatrician

Family:

Soffía Halvorsen (wife)

Kára Halvorsen (daughter) (deceased)

Brage Halvorsen (child)

Heimdall Sadik-Halvorsen (son)

Aslan Sadik-Halvorsen (son-in-law)

Adalet (Anders) Sadik-Halvorsen (granddaughter/grandson)

Ahmet Savage (great-grandson)

Affiliation(s): Frigga Memorial Children's Hospital (formerly)

Profile

Height: 6'0" Age: 79 (season 2) Weight: 185lbs Eyes: Blue Blood: O-

The wife of Soffía Halvorsen, Birgitta is a tall woman with pale skin, long, wavy hair that is as white as snow and deep blue eyes. She prefers to wear a dark blue turtleneck sweater, a white coat, comfortable black pants and black boots. She also has black-framed glasses, small silver hoop earrings, and a black and white beaded necklace.

Powers and Abilities

Asgardian abilities:

Super-strength

Enhanced durability

Enhanced speed

Superhuman Stamina

Regenerative healing factor

Flight

All-Speak

Star Generation

Asgardians can create small orbs of light, which they call "stars" that they send up into the sky at night

Magic

History

Birgitta is originally from the continent Midgard but moved to Asgard the summer before she started high school. She met Soffía as the two were on the school's football (soccer) team. They often had extra practice together without the rest of their team, leading to them getting to know each other better and eventually, they started dating.

After graduating, Birgitta went to university to become a pediatrician. She always had an interest in medicine and decided at a young age that she wanted to work in the medical field. She chose to be a pediatrician because she used to volunteer in a hospital's children's unit when she lived on Midgard. She met countless sick children and felt the desire to help them get better and free them of their illnesses and injuries.

She got a permanent position at Asgard's local children's hospital a few years after graduation and helped save the lives of thousands of children. While there would always be children she couldn't save, Birgitta strived to save everyone she could. However, if the child could not be saved, she would ensure their final days would be spent in comfort while surrounded by their families.

She retired a few years before her wife, and the two enjoyed finally being able to relax with one another. They have been able to go on trips and do activities they never had the time for when they were younger. Overall, they have just been enjoying each other's company and spending time with their remaining family and friends.

Events of Criminal Case

Season 2

Birgitta, like the rest of Adalet's grandparents, attended her and Fili's wedding in Pacific Bay. She thought her granddaughter looked beautiful in her wedding dress and was so happy that she got to witness Adalet's special day.

Season 3

While only serving as a minor character during her daughter's murder investigation, Birgitta still had an important role. She had to prevent her wife from revealing any secrets during her drunken mourning. Even through her grief, Birgitta pushed through it to keep her remaining family safe. After Kara's murder was solved and Soffía recovered from her hangover, Birgitta assisted in developing the cure for fire tumours.

Story Information

First appeared: Tying the Knot

Trivia

While she can come off as cold-hearted because of her years working in the medical field and witnessing traumatic events, Birgitta has a heart of gold. She always puts others before herself and ensures everyone is cared for before caring for herself

My grandparents inspired Birgitta and Soffía's height difference. My grandfather was about six feet tall, while my grandmother was just under five feet

As a pediatrician, she always carried stickers, lollipops, and small candies for her patients. To this day, she still carries them by habit, and Soffía always has to get after her to clean her pockets out before washing Birgitta's clothes

It makes laundry day interesting as Soffía likes to play a game she calls "What's in my Wife's Pockets?"

She jokes that she could open a candy store with how much she's pulled out of Birgitta's pockets

Now that she's retired, Birgitta always makes sure she carries her family's favourite candies. If she can't break the habit, then her family should benefit from it!

Disclaimer: Character design was created using Rinmarugames Mega Anime Avatar Creator! I have only made minor edits to the design! Background courtesy of CriminalArtist5.

Links to my stories:

The Case of the Criminal (Ao3/Wattpad)

Killer Bay (Ao3/Wattpad)

Where in the World are the Killers? (Ao3/Wattpad)

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #629

Top Ten Actors Who Could Play James Bond (2024 Edition)

Dum-dada-dum-da-da-da, dum-dada-dum-da-da-da, DA-DA, da-da-dum. Yes, it’s that time again; time to needlessly speculate without any provocation about the casting of an iconic role.

This particular bout of “who will it be” is, of course, prompted by reports that erstwhile Quicksilver and future Kraven Aaron Taylor-Johnson has been offered the role of James Bond. Now, it’s fair to say that this remains a rumour; indeed, if I was a betting man, the very fact that this rumour has come out suggests to me that it isn’t, in fact, true. But it’s still got me thinking about who could be Bond; after all, the gap between the last film, 2021’s No Time to Die is ever-growing, and they usually like to be pretty speedy about these things.

Daniel Craig’s tenure as Bond is somewhat ridiculous, because even though at five films he’s not the most prolific in the role (behind both Connery and Moore), he was technically in the role for a whopping fifteen years. So long, in fact, that when Spectre came out, I actually did a list speculating who could replace him, and even that was nine years ago.

Anyway, we’re at it again; who could play Bond? And that’s what this list is all about, if you haven’t guessed. As usual, I’ve come up with some Rules, because that’s what separates us from the animals. First of all, these actors have to be British. Or Irish. Or maybe, at a push, Australian. Well, they have to be from the Commonwealth, at least. No Americans – that’s the takeaway. No Americans. Secondly, I have decided that they should be under forty. No offence to ancient people, especially the hideously decrepit 42-year-olds; but after Craig spent so long playing a variation on Old Man Bond, I think we should focus on a sprightly young chap. Presumably they’re going to be in this role for, what, six years? Ten? So I think it’d be best to plump for someone in their thirties, better to avoid Moore-style stunt-person-itis in their later films. I mean, look at Chris Hemsworth; it feels like he’s been Thor for a million years, but he’s only just turned forty. Maybe he really is Asgardian. Finally, I’ve picked all blokes. Why? Well, as much as I’m in favour of gender-neutral casting – or outright gender-swapping (if you’re gonna remake Highlander, Karen Gillan is right there) – I do feel that James Bond is, well, a bloke. The line between it not being a big deal or even positive to fuss about with a character’s gender is as blurry as the concept of gender itself, but I just feel like James Bond is a bloke.

That’s it. Now pay attention, 007…

Kingsley Ben-Adir: possibly the oldest actor here, but easily one of the most charismatic. He can be intense and brooding, with serious dramatic roles under his belt; but he’s also done more action-y stuff, big Hollywood stuff, and been a romantic lead. And he’s a Ken. Come on! He danced at the Oscars! Plus he had to be in Secret Invasion, he could do with a break.

Regé-Jean Page: he’s got the suave part down better than anyone (Bridgerton), he can do commanding and authoritative (Dungeons and Dragons), he’s even dabbled in action with The Gray Man. He’s done his bit in the Brit TV coal mines and has proven his acting chops. Look, just picture him in a tux with a martini. He’d rock it, shaken or stirred.

Henry Golding: absolutely nails it in the looks-good-in-formal-wear stakes. He’s tall, he’s attractive, he’s done his share of romances. And he kicks ass like the best of them; of all the guys on this list, he’s probably the closest to being a proper flat-out action star. And if you were hoping Bond was a Henry Cavill type, he’s the best of the bunch.

Dev Patel: the first three guys are broadly similar, in that they ooze traditional suavity. Patel, I think, possesses a looser, fuzzier air; think of the out-of-place charm he brings to the likes of Slumdog or Best Exotic. He’s so naturally charming, you’ll always root for him; but he can really bring the edge, the darkness, the rage. From the looks of Monkey Man, he can bring the thunder too.

Robert Pattinson: tall, lantern-jawed, traditionally gorgeous, with immaculate hair. He’s a superb actor, he can wear the hell out of a suit, he can be funny if he needs to be, he’s not afraid to puncture his own aura, and he’s cool in a Vintage Brad Pitt kind of way. However: can a person be both Batman and Bond?

John Boyega: arguably a bit shorter and scrappier than the other actors on this list, Boyega nevertheless is both a tremendous actor and a ball of screen-incinerating charisma. The Force Awakens really showed how, when put to good use, he can charm anyone off the screen – even, just about, Harrison Ford. I’m not really sure he’d want to be Bond, mind, but it wouldn’t hurt to ask.

Connor Swindells: possibly one of the lesser-known names on the list, and also one of the youngest; he’s part of the ensemble of Sex Education, where he’s very good indeed. He’s also a big, broad, square-jawed fella with a look of John Cena about him; he’d definitely convince as a buff, tough Bond. But he can do sweet and vulnerable incredibly well.

Will Poulter: like Daniel Craig, he probably wouldn’t be everyone’s first thought when it came to Bond; but like Craig, he’s got depths and charm galore. He can be supremely likeable very easily, but also play layers of depth and darkness. And I don’t know if you’ve seen him lately, but he’s hench now. If he’s not Bond, they really need to give him an Adam Warlock solo movie.

Paul Mescal: Mr. Flavour-of-the-Month, he’s the hot new star on the rise. He’s young, good-looking, charismatic; he has a glint in his eye, oodles of charisma. He’s about to star in the sequel to Gladiator, when he’s sure to look ripped with his shirt off and garner even more fans. In fact, it’s quite likely that he’s so hot right now, that there’s no way he’d do Bond. But he’d be good at it.

Nicholas Hoult: what can’t he do? Everyone’s favourite War Boy has the tall, lithe physique, plus a playful, flirtatious sense of humour that makes him convincing as a romantic lead. He made being a zombie sexy, for flip’s sake. And he can do the action stuff. In short, he’d be terrific, but he’s probably going to be too busy terrorising Superman for the foreseeable.

[tyrannuspitch]

okay i've used the word homophobia to talk about a specifically bisexual character too many times recently, so let's talk about potential manifestations of specific *biphobia* in asgard.

please note that i have done no extra research on this (yet?), i'm just extrapolating from what i know about historical ergi stigma (and what i've already extrapolated from not very detailed info on that!), so this is firmly historically *inspired* fantasy territory.

i'm going to leave aside the matter of gender-conforming stone top msm for the moment, because while they are a group who Exist, they're pretty distinctly queer by modern western standards and straight by asgardian standards, which is kind of messy and not the central point here. (also, top/bottom/vers is not a question applicable to all possible sex acts, so the exact requirements of your stone top no-homo-ing are unclear; and the question of identity based in action vs identity based in desire is also possibly complicated, imo a lot more complicated than people tend to give it credit for... it's just super messy okay.)

instead, as the closest equivalent to "bisexual men", let us consider men who a) are definitely queer by asgardian standards (feminine and/or interacting with men as a vers or bottom) and b) are interacting romantically/sexually with women.

a number of possibilities for an asgardian opinion on them:

1: modern-style bi erasure. pffft, this relationship is clearly fake. a queer man could never be a REAL partner to a woman, so either she's covering for him out of pity or he's fooled her.

on one hand, i feel like this is slightly less likely than in the modern day, because it does seem to centre attraction as definitive of queerness, and hence the idea that you can only engage with one gender. on the other hand, the idea that queer and straight men are deeply, fundamentally different with no overlap is very affirming to straight men. so perhaps this could still be one manifestation.

1b. bi erasure specifically through inadequacy. it's not that we don't think queer men WANT women, it's just that they'll never be good enough for them. maybe he's got her fooled for now, but she'll realise soon enough.

these two options mostly invite ridicule, but could escalate into violence towards either partner to try and "prove" what a "real man" is.

2. a sense of threat / unfairness. women are only meant to like masculine men, but this feminine man DOES have a female partner. how? why is this feminine man reaping the rewards of masculinity?

2a. in which the fem man is a usurper and a sinister, dishonourable threat who is stealing/corrupting the woman. the woman is assumed to be victim but probably also victim-blamed, like an antieffeminate spin on the "woman hate nice guys" trope.

2b. in which we do Gender Arithmetic and decide that a fem man could only possibly be partnered with a masc woman. now the woman is the sinister usurper of masc/male power, and the man is the weak/foolish traitor allowing it. in theory, this relationship would be comedic, but actual examples of it would be extremely threatening.

this also raises the most interesting possibility to me - an attitude parallel to modern mononormativity, but instead of claiming that you can only truly be attracted to one gender, it claims that you can only truly play one gendered sexual role. a queer man must ALWAYS be a fem sub bottom, whether his partner is a man or a woman - so a man being queer proves a male partner of his straight, but makes a female partner appear queer too. which from a modern perspective is pretty wild!

anyway. these two options frame the relationship as a more direct threat, and as such, are more likely to result in violence (or to result in it sooner, or worse.) this is especially true if both partners are being interpreted as queer here.

lacking any historical info as pointers, i feel like all of these options are fairly plausible. and all, independently, pretty fucked up.

i'm not sure how to wrap up this post, but in general, when considering ergi stigma, i think it's important to account for the fact that (perceived) gender expression is central, not attraction, so being in an m/f relationship is not necessarily going to do much to protect you. which is also true of modern real-world biphobia to an extent - people can and frequently do experience biphobia in m/f relationships, and i'd be willing to bet there's at least one modern real-world example of every single specific attitude i described here, even if they're not all common. but the irrelevance of relationship status does bear repeating, especially when the central definition of ergi is often euphemised as "passive homosexual". like, yes, but no. it's not just about that act. it's about the gendered implications of that act, which, once acquired, can set you apart forever.

[ao3feed-thor]

In The Spirit of Teenage Rebellion

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/vOtL7Vi

by worstloki

“It was a trim, Father,” Thor explains. She brings the loose hair pushed at the back to the front of her shoulders to show off the new length. “Hardly two finger-widths.”

Words: 1311, Chapters: 1/3, Language: English

Fandoms: Thor (Movies)

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Characters: Thor (Marvel), Odin (Marvel), Loki (Marvel)

Relationships: Odin & Thor (Marvel), Loki & Thor (Marvel)

Additional Tags: Fem Thor (Marvel), Light Angst, Hurt Thor (Marvel), Gender Roles, Asgardian Culture (Marvel), Teenage Rebellion, Haircuts, Expectations

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/vOtL7Vi