#but at least this is real bruce and not a shapeshifting villain

[le-moons]

Like father, like son

[bimboficationblues]

Top 5 evil comic book women

going to try and focus on like, legitimately evil women? I mean I love my morally grey cutie pies like Ivy, Harley, Emma Frost, Black Cat, Scarlet Witch, Elektra - all of whom would probably make the list otherwise - but all of them have been trending "heroic" or at least antiheroic, often for longer than they were even villains or actually evil (if ever), and I know that's not what you're here for.

Mystique. I really love how deeply she is embedded in the web of relationships between the X-Men and yet fundamentally at odds with their way of doing things even when that way changes. because Mystique is fundamentally a being of sensual selfishness, an embodiment of mutant adaptability and a dark representation of "fuck you got mine" survivalism. this status as a kind of "deviant" X-Man constantly yo-yos her from "outside" to "inside" their circle even as it expands and contracts, forever escaping whatever conceptualization or box Xavier's disciples try to put her into, in a way I find a lot different from how e.g. Magneto is treated. Also the latest retcon establishing that she and Destiny are both Nightcrawler's biological mothers because she shapeshifted into a form that could cum in Destiny is uhhhhhh good.

Makima. I think Makima has like, one of the most interesting psychologies of an antagonistic character I have ever read. One thing I love is that the whole concept of devils in Chainsaw Man demands metaphorical readings of the characters and their relationships, and Denji's relationship to "control" remains contested even up through the end of the first part of the manga.

Cassandra Nova. Definitely a character with extremely diminishing returns, but at her original peak she's incredibly effective. Xavier's imperial shadow-self.

Lady Shiva. Just raw destructive talent pointed wherever she pleases - not without humanity but you wouldn't call those qualities "good" necessarily. Really excited to see her and her daughter lock horns in the new Batgirl series because they're a great foil pairing: Cassandra, the successor of Bruce who is most wedded to his idealism, and Shiva, the peer of Bruce who is one of the most vocally against it from the lens of reason and interest.

Cheetah. I don't really have a good reason, I think she just slays.

Bonus

Amanda Waller. Yes, Waller is (in my view) unequivocally evil. I think where people like her best is that she's a very grounded form of evil - a highly motivated actor within a bureaucratic and carceral system - who still comes across as larger-than-life amidst the huge personalities that typically surround to her.

Isabella (Promised Neverland). On top of being genuinely dangerous and clever, I have a real fascination with this character and what she represents, a portrayal of motherhood as a kind of socially-reproductive middle-management where you're simultaneously offered power through submission, and enter into sincere emotional relationships that you nevertheless sacrifice on an altar of blood. I put her in bonus because I guess she has a face turn.

[bitterrobin]

Small tangent on Bette Kane and how people treat her

re-reading Beast Boy (2000) in order to really get a sense of where Bette was pre-Batwoman run (2014).

Does anyone else just feel sad whenever Bette brings up Titans West and everyone shoots her down? Objectively, I know that no one thinks Teen Titans West is a great team - especially when people like Hawk and Dove seem better off solo. But you do get a sense of loneliness whenever Bette is so excited at the prospect of getting the band back together.

Given that it's become sort of a running gag for Bette to suggest reforming Titans West, it is something that DC is aware of.

As the Beast Boy run continues, Gar gets himself into incriminating shapeshifter trouble and is put in a holding cell by the police. Bette goes to help him in her Flamebird costume (notably the one from the 80s).

After reading a lot of her earlier appearances in older Titans comics, this kind of exasperated annoyance when Bette makes an appearance is surprisingly frequent. She doesn't have a great reputation among the other Titans at least.

Later on in issue #2, Nightwing hears of Gar's predicament and goes to LA. In the next issue, he fights an enemy shapeshifter who was impersonating Gar. Bette shows up back in the police station to try and bail Gar out, but her check is invalid and the police officer from the prior issue rips it in half. Bette mentions, confused, that she's never tried to post bail before and that she even borrowed money from her Aunt Kathy. (Knowing that Catherine Hamilton wasn't created until the Batwoman series, I personally think this Kathy is supposed to be Kathy Kane.)

When the police learn that Nightwing is fighting "Beast Boy", the heroes learn that the murders of the previous issues were the cause of an impersonator trying to frame Gar. Bette leaves and goes to help Nightwing.

This is the first time I've seen Dick and Bette interacting outside of brief Titans crossovers. It's super obvious that he thinks she's annoying and that she's not skilled enough to be a vigilante. He cuts her off mid-speech and tries to sideline her when they fight the shapeshifter. When it inevitable gets away, he puts the blame on her involvement. Later on, he leaves her to deal with the police and the public on her own.

Putting all of these panels together, the writers are making Bette out as not a "real" hero, someone who clings to the past. In comics like this, Bette is always treated like that annoying little girl who doesn't know when to give up. Especially because Bette has never had her own solo comic, all of her characterization comes with the perspective of whoever's run she's cameoing in.

I am willing to concede that Beast Boy is a very early 2000s comic but since Bette is the only other female character in it besides two villains - it doesn't look good overall. Not to mention, this comic still sticks with the continuity of "Bette has a crush on/is obsessed with Nightwing." ANYWAY this leads to some panels that I actually like, even if it comes off rude and a little misogynstic with Dick telling Bette what to do.

It's that last little declaration of defiance that really solidifies to her character to me. Bette Kane has never needed permission to do anything, especially not being a hero. Also, this kinda puts back into canon that Dick was the inspiration for Bette becoming Flamebird.

When it comes to her characterization, I can't help but feel like she should be (rightly) a little bitter about this convo. When we get her back in Batwoman, Kate doesn't treat her as an equal either and also tries to get her to quit. Bette is a bit younger in the Batwoman run since I think it's post-one of many reboots, but it just adds onto the lack of trust anyone has in her.

Despite being Bruce's cousin, she's a blip in the wider Batman comic-verse. I'm pretty sure Bette hasn't directly interacted with Bruce in a comic, much less anyone other than Dick, Kate, or Cass (once).

All of this goes to say that I'm definitely addressing all of that and making it a main point in my fics. My Flamebird-in-Gotham au came about specifically because I want to reconcile the Bette Kane I like with the way others in-universe treat her. Bette deserves to be treated with respect. Trust me, there will be words had in fanfic form.

(Also bc I just think Bette and Damian interacting would be both interesting and funny).

[hood-ex]

I also have a question about writing bat-related fanfic! Whenever I think of a good plot, I always have a tough time building up the beginning because I have to create the initial conflict. And usually that conflict is some villain getting the upper hand (because I love that trope, sue me), but then comes the issue of how that happened in the first place, you know? Like, this one guy is going up against a bunch of highly skilled vigilantes. Got any tips for logicing it out?

The teacher is in!

Your Villain

First, let’s think about who your villain is going to be. We want to figure out who your villain is, what advantages they have, and how we can build a story around those aspects. 

Is your villain a member of Batman’s rogue gallery or is your villain someone new? If it’s someone we’re already familiar with (Joker, Clayface, Riddler) then you’ve already got an idea of what their strengths and weaknesses are. If it’s a villain you created, you get to choose their strengths and weaknesses. 

The villain’s goal

Knowing what the villain’s goal is will help you piece together scenes for your story. Think about what the villain’s ultimate goal is. Do they want to steal money? Do they want to be like the Joker and just cause senseless chaos? Do they want to produce drugs that can be weaponized? Is it something more personal like with Mr. Freeze where they want to help someone they love? Do they want to weaken Batman by killing one of his family members? Do they want to straight up kill Batman?

Once you have an idea of what you want your villain’s goal to be then you can think about what the villain already has/what the villain can do to achieve that goal.  

There are four things you can think about that will give your villain the upper hand. 

1. The villain’s powers and intellect. 

What advantage does the villain’s power/intellect give them over the vigilante? Riddler and Hugo Strange are extremely smart. Scarecrow has fear toxin. Joker has laughing gas. Clayface can regenerate and shapeshift. 

Even though the bats are smart, they are still vulnerable to these types of things. As the writer, you have control over how you want to disadvantage the vigilante. 

Let’s say the bats have been exposed to fear toxin. Okay, well, maybe Batman and Robin have fear toxin antidotes in their utility belts. But Nightwing? He doesn’t carry that kind of thing around with him. Also, maybe Scarecrow changed the dosage/effects of the toxin, so now the antidotes Batman and Robin have are useless or aren’t as effective. Maybe the antidotes are actually in the batmobile, but the batmobile is far away and the drugs are taking effect now. 

Like, yes, the bats are skilled and are prepared for many situations, but they’re still human. They don’t have supernatural reflexes. They aren’t bulletproof. They can’t predict every little trap that the villain has set out for them. Keep that kind of thing in mind, especially if you’re using a villain that you created. 

2. Using the setting to their advantage

Think about the place where the fight/confrontation takes place. What are some things about the place that the villain can use to their advantage? Are they near a river or the ocean? Maybe there’s a boat nearby that makes it easy for the villain to get away in. If the villain’s intention is to abduct a vigilante then they could ride away on the boat with the vigilante in tow before other batfam members show up to help. 

If the fight takes place in the middle of the city then maybe the villain is putting civilian’s lives in danger. Now the vigilante has lost track of the villain because they have to stop and help the civilians. Or maybe Batman has to choose between saving civilians or going after the villain who just abducted Robin. He chooses to help the civilians, so now the villain has successfully gotten away with Robin. 

3. The villain’s connections

Villains can use unexpected means to get the advantage over a vigilante. For example, in Tomasi’s Nightwing run, Two-Face has Nightwing shot with a bullet laced with fear toxin. Normally, you wouldn’t expect Two-Face to have fear toxin, right? That’s Scarecrow’s thing. But that doesn’t mean that Two-Face can’t use his connections to get some fear toxin for himself to use against the vigilante.

Your own villain can do something similar. If your villain isn’t a major player from Batman’s rogue gallery then maybe they can steal a weapon or a toxin that will help them. Maybe they’re super smart and can create their own toxin that other villains would find valuable to have. They could then work together to create an even more potent toxin. Maybe your villain teams up with another villain, and while the other villain creates a distraction, your villain comes in and attacks the vigilante. 

4. Blackmail 

Villains can use the vigilante’s loved ones or civilians against them. This can make the vigilante do things they normally wouldn’t or it can make them give themselves up to the villain. 

Building Around the Villain

Okay, so how can we take all that ^ information and build up to the conflict?

First, figure out which characters you’re going to want to go against the villain. Do you want just one person? A few members of the batfam? All of the batfam? 

Let’s create a hypothetical situation and say that we want a story that starts off with Nightwing as our protagonist. Our setting is in Bludhaven. Dick is walking down the street and talking to Tim on the phone. They’re making plans for Tim to come stay with Dick in Bludhaven for a few days. 

Great. We now know that at least Dick and Tim are going to be involved in the story so far. 

Let’s say the villain of this story is a scientist named Patty Thompson. She has absolutely no powers, but she’s extremely intelligent. She knows that Dick is Nightwing because she lives across from Dick’s apartment complex and once saw him go through his apartment window as Nightwing. She did some investigating about the residents in his apartment complex and put the pieces together. 

Now why is Patty interested enough in Nightwing to go through those lengths to figure out his identity? It’s because she’s managed to create a fear toxin replica that not only copies the effects of fear toxin but also causes temporary paralysis. She intends to use this toxin on Dick. 

Why? Well, let’s think back to our villain’s motivation. Because Patty is a scientist, she needs a lot of money to fund all of her research, equipment, and experiments. She decides she will capture Nightwing and sell him to the highest bidder so that she can get an insane amount of money for her funds. 

Nightwing is far more skilled in physical combat than Patty is, so what are Patty’s advantages over Nightwing? 1. She knows he’s Dick Grayson. This means she can attack him unexpectedly when he’s not Nightwing. She can also blackmail him into coming to a specific location or use one of his loved ones against him. 2. She has a fear-paralysis toxin that Dick doesn’t have an antidote for. Plus, the toxin is fast-acting and before Dick can try to run away, he’ll be paralyzed. 

So far we have our characters, setting, and we know how the villain is going to get the upper hand over Dick. All that comes next is putting all the pieces together to get to the point of the initial conflict. 

Let’s say that Patty wants to nab Dick when he’s dressed in his Nightwing gear so that bidders will know he’s the real Nightwing. She creates a setup for Nightwing that draws him to her (either by pretending she needs help or creating an explosion.) She has the fear-paralysis toxin in gas form. As soon as Nightwing appears or is in a more vulnerable position, she sprays him with the gas. He becomes paralyzed and Patty drags him off. 

Meanwhile, Tim (remember how I laid it out for him to conveniently show up around this time) arrives in Bludhaven to hang out with Dick as planned. After not finding Dick anywhere, he realizes that something happened to him. That’s the cue for him to call in Bruce and to get other batfam members involved. And that’s how Dick eventually gets saved by his family. 

So there we have it. I hope that scenario and the information about the villains can help you think about ways to create the buildup of the conflict in your story!

[ty-talks-comics]

Best of DC: Week of June 5th, 2019

Best of this Week: Justice League #25 - Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Jorge Jimenez, Alejandro Sanchez and Tom Napolitano

The Year of the Villain is upon us.

The book begins with Clark in his youth, impatient and wanting to solve all of his problems by using his power, but being told to be patient by Pa Kent. Cutting to the future where he and Jon can’t light a lamp in Pa Kent’s honor, he’s drenched in rain under the cover of night. In the present an emaciated Superman floats through the Sixth Dimension in total darkness, left there by the glistening White Superman of the Utopia created by the World Forger.

Elsewhere, the League fights their future selves in an amazing action sequence by Jimenez and Sanchez. The clashing of ideals is in full force as these perfect beings from different eras fight each other for the future. Our Justice League fights with the fury of youth, uncompromising in their belief that a future where the lives of billions are lost in order to achieve justice is no future at all. The Future League, however, with their vast experience and tainted souls fight with  certainty, knowing that their world has no pain or injustice.

Their battle is captured excellently through sheer scale and intensity as the book rumbles on. Wonder Woman knows what she’s capable of taking and throws down on her older self with punches and kicks befitting a warrior with the heavy impacts to match. Lantern Stewart has an architectural mind, but his older self has obviously come across bigger, but doesn’t count on the flash decking him right in the mouth. The Flash himself doesn’t see it coming when he catches a flurry from himself and who I believe to be Wally and Bart as they phase in and out of existence.

Martian Manhunter uses his shapeshifting abilities to become something out of any Kaiju movie as he tears through the city and himself. Batman… dear God Batman and his beautiful Bat-Mech. The machine is over designed with sharp edges, a bright white color scheme with a gold Bat logo and big dumb Bat wings, but it is AMAZING to look at. Appearing to be on the side of the World Forger, he tells the team to see the Light, telling them to listen to his words and imagine light as they get beat down by their future selves.

Back in the Sixth Dimension, Batman thinks back to the light ceremony and how the League was there to help him and Jon and suddenly lights begin to appear, not just any lights… suns. In what may be one of the greatest sequence of pages in the last few issues of Justice League, (and there have been some great ones) Superman is reenergized. He dives through one sun and then another and another, regaining the hope and strength that he is so known for and rushes towards his friends,

The World Forger readies his hammer to strike this future reality into existence until he feels the vibration. He tells Future Lois Lane to shoot it down, but she sees the “S” and begins to cry. Flash sees him, Diana, J’onn and especially Bruce as Superman RAGES INTO THE BATTLE AND WITH A SINGLE, WORLD EXPLODING, PUNCH puts and end to the World Forger’s machinations.

Instead of destroying the World Forger in that instant, he extends his hand, telling him that there is another way to save the Multiverse if he joins the Justice League. Batman had his suspicions of the future the whole time and upon learning of Superman’s fate, decided to give him a chance to find his way back to his friends and if he didn’t then the Utopia was meant to be, but he always knew that Clark would find a way. Clark focused on hope and the happy memories. He knew that there was always another way and that the World Forger’s ideas that there was only one path or a few that involved him fighting against the Justice League were misguided and that there was one he hadn’t considered; joining them.

Before jumping into the latter 1/3rd of the book, I have to praise this book for having such a satisfying conclusion to this arc. I love that the League didn’t just have to vanquish another threat, but gained a new ally in their fight against the coming Doom. The art was amazingly frenetic and bright with the colors popping in ways that made everything all the more epic and badass. Shading and detailing made everything seem so much more inspiring and dire at times, which is exactly what this needed with special praise going to the single splash page of Superman roaring his arm back for a Real Superman Punch.

Things finally coalesce with the second story of this issue written by James Tynion IV and drawn by new series regular artist, Javier Fernandez. Paying off the events of the Year of the Villain One-Shot, Lex Luthor has made his plea to the people of Earth. After the Legion of Doom saves the world from a raging Mxypytlk, Lex tells them what a mess of things the Justice League made of the Source Wall. He encourages the citizens of the world to shun the League and become Villains just like him as it’s the only way to save themselves since the heroes obviously can’t.

The people are listening and have already started rioting in the streets. Unlike in The Last Knight on Earth, the League has hope. The World Forger hopes to gain the aid of his brothers, the Monitor and the Anti-Monitor. Starman hopes to gain the aid of other heroes from the Multiverse. Wonder Woman wishes to stay on Earth and utilize the Largest League that there has ever been and J’onn says that they have to do it all. At the same time, after his supposed Death, Lex brings himself back to life in a strange body, saying that Doom is just beginning.

I have never been more excited for Justice League than I am now, especially given how widespread this story will be. There are hints of the same kind of scale as Jonathan Hickman’s run on Avengers, with every small thing in every tangential book affecting some part of the larger narrative and that’s the kind of storytelling that I adore. Offers are going to be going out to every villain in the DC Universe and things are only going to be more intense from here on out and I am here for it.

HIGH Recommend.

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

Slade Wilson is dead.

Runner Up: Deathstroke: R.I.P. #44 - Christopher Priest, Fernando Pasarin, Ryan Winn, Jeremy Cox and Willie Schubert

With a large crowd of mourners, we get an idea of how respected and reviled the Terminator was in the larger DC Universe, or at the very least, in the realm of villainous circles. Talia al Ghul bids him farewell and says that he will be welcomed in hell. Red Lion, Priests pastiche of Black Panther, pays his respects to “de ultimate wheelon.” Raptor, Killer Frost and Deadshot all show up to pay respects, with Deadshot saying that he always thought he'd be the one to take Wilson out and how he feels cheated.

Dr. Ikon, who was put into a coma by Jericho and subsequently hunted by Slade for daring to have a relationship with his son shows up and wishes Slade had at least given him his eye back. Even his ex-wife, Adeline Kane cries as she views the funeral, damming him for dying even after all of mess they've put each other through.

The Legion of Doom appears and tries to assert their dominance over the crowd, but remain calm as Sinestro remarks that Deathstroke was one of the few that could legitimately stand with the group as he analyzes the body.

Superman, who Deathstroke fought all the way back in issue #8, appears above the proceedings to make sure that everything stays cordial amongst the many attendees. Meanwhile, Jericho, angry that his father's even getting a funeral, tries to goad Superman into bringing all of the villains in attendance down, but Superman disagrees. He says that no one is committing and crime and the boy just gets angrier.

At the Titan's base, Red Arrow tries to comfort Damian, telling him that Deathstroke's death wasn't his fault and that even though Damian wanted him dead, Emiko had to be the one to loose the arrow. Unbeknownst to either, Jericho takes over Emiko's body and attacks Damian, cursing them for killing Deathstroke before taking over Kid Flash's body soon after.

For the entirety of this run, we've seen how negative Slade and Jericho's relationship is. Jericho hates his father and that has poisoned his entire life. Knowing he's being mourned pisses off the former Titan, but hearing that another Titan was the one that killed him sends him into a rage. It's similar to his heel turn in Geoff Johns spectacular Teen Titans run in the mid 2000s where he didn't want more kids to suffer, but this time he's the one suffering.

At the same time, Rose Wilson attacks people dressing up as her father as his face is shown all over screens in a city and Detective Gordon tells her that Slade wouldn't have wanted her to follow in his footsteps as he was told by Wintergreen, echoing the most early issues of Deathstroke, like #4 - #5 I believe

.continuing his rage, Jericho, in Kid Flash's body attacks Sinestro, who uses his Ultraviolet ring to tap into Jericho's repressed emotions and fires upon the crowd. Doctor Light reveals that Superman was just a projection and disables Jericho and the Legion ponders what to do with the boy. With Deathstroke dead, the Legion makes their first Offer for Year of the Villain and gives him a chance to join them and with his current mental state, who's to say that he won't?

Deathstroke has been a weird and convoluted ride at times, but the character work herein has been phenomenal. We've seen the root causes of what makes Deathstroke himself so poisonous and how that's affected his children.

Jericho wears the mask of a hero, but underneath, he's scarred. He nearly kills a man he loves on the off chance that he may tell Slade of it, causing Slade to hunt him and now he himself is falling to the dark side.

Rose has always straddled the line, but her father kept her on the side of good at least by discouraging her from being him. Her anger at his death may drag her into the same pit as Jericho, especially after trying to solve the mental break she had, thinking she was overcome with the Spirit of a Hmong warrior.

There's going to be a war to determine who the next Deathstroke will be and if that doesn't excite everyone, I don't know what to say other than High recommend.

[twitchesandstitches]

the Titans aren’t a formal group, exactly. they’re not a team but they ARE officially their clan. probabloy has a longer name invoking the word Titanomachy but they’re the Titans. its official. they’re basically all married to each other now, all titan ships are simultaneously canon.

(granted the Fleet don’t DO marriage but making a clan together or joining into one is basically similar for romantic purposes)

the Titans formed at some point after the Great Library is discovered by the Fleet; the formation of the Titans clan is fairly minor compared to things such as bringing the world of the Benders into joining the Fleet (Katara, Korra, Aang, Zuko and everyone else joining the Fleet as BIg Name Heroes), Magnus the Red and his astartes rejoining with his kin like Vulkan, and Optimus Prime being discovered in the Library and finding his Autobots again and also Grimlock’s very angry fist in the face, but its important to THEM

as it is, they are an up and coming clan; they’re hardly the most powerful or accomplished, being too young to outdo the likes of the Fleet champions or the oldest heroines of the Fleet like the legendary Redglare, but they are doing their best to be the finest heroes they can. Already they have their own clan ship, presently occupied by their entire extended clan, allies and the offspring they have chosen to raise with the clan’s traditions. Their clan ship, a massive craft meant as a colony ship, has few weaponry because THEY are the weapons, and it is very much a place to live in. They tend to drift at the edges of the Fleet’s routes, or go off and do their own thing. Sometimes they assist with the works of their elders, mentors and creche leaders, but they are fiercely independant and prefer not to if they can help it.

Robin: mentioned before but it bears repeating; there is no SINGULAR robin here! like the teen titans cartoon, it’s ALL the robins, at once. not combined into a single character, but everyone who has ever been A robin is here and occupied the same role: most predominantly Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, and the rest. Others in this group include Terry Mcginnis from the Batman Beyond incarnation (a clone of Bruce, adopted a kid here) and Damien Wayne, and I’m including Batgirls here and those in the general vibe of a Batgirl, like Spoiler and Cassandra Cain. finally, all the Robins can fuse! they’re in fact USUALLY fused and the resulting super-Robin is similar to Teen Titans Robin but generally has it better together; usually identifies as male but if the gals of the Robin flock are involved, they can become agender or female. Depends on the gestalt’s mood.

The Robins took a real shine to Raven after she was introduced to the Fleet; the Bat clan (the extended Batfamily, including Batman himself, associated close friends, and nominally includes Bruce’s loved ones like Diana’s mortal incarnations) was closely involved in working with the library and so they helped acclimitize her to the multiverse. They had the idea to start the clan in the first place. Raven usually has at least one Robin on her, SOMEWHERE.

Cyborg: dropping the ‘angsting over what he has become’ thing in favor of him full out embracing his nature, in keeping with his concept of being a sort of futurism man. his exact lineage isn’t clear but he was definitely an established hero in his own right! Definitely a major science hero and super engineer. Has a bad tendency to go through bodies and need new ones, which he promptly overhauls with cybernetics; its a toss-up if his chosen hero name is actually accurate, or if he opts for purely android bodies that happen to still look partially organic for the Aesthetic.

sort of the Team Dad, he’s closest to his boisterous portrayal from the cartoon, but he can get serious when required and is basically the leader of the group as a whole.

Starfire: the feline origin of her species is a lot more explicit her; Tamaranians aren’t anthro cat people, exactly, but they’re obviously very feline aliens. sort of like how Mass Effect turian’s are birdlike; her massive mane of hair is a LITERAL mane. She’s not adverse to taking on a human-like form or getting a body with that look; she invariably has dark brown skin that gets a gold-yellow effect when she powers up, like a solar battery.

Very, VERY big! 70 feet is one of her SMALLER sizes and she can get far larger, usually scaling up to be bigger than Raven. she’s actually taller than Raven in general, even when not at full power, and she tends towards a broad amazonian body; thick, large muscles, and when she flexes you thank her. She’s warm and loving, but she is a warrior and is rather brutal in battle, and ferociously overprotective of her clanmates. Just insulting them can get her to totally destroy you, often without her even blinking. not so much a powerhouse as a flying juggernaut lady

beast boy: adopted child of the famous heroine Helen Parr/Elastigirl, got his powers naturally but his powers were quite limited until he went through the rite of heroism (Which confers full hero status and is the adulthood rite in the Fleet), and his powers were fully upgraded into his suite of abilities that allow him to transform into any living animal. this incudes mechanical ones, mutants (provided he has seen them) and he can pool the traits of any animal he knows to modify his ‘library’ of animal forms, but it takes work to do so and he has a limited stock of altered animal forms.

the team’s heart and the one who initally kept them together, he’s a sweet guy as lovable as a super kittenpup (a fusion of cats AND dogs, a popular pet on the Fleet), he’s spent the most time around a long-term inter-clan alliance known as the Doom Patrol and he knows the hero business inside and out. despite being the youngest member, he techically has the most experience if you don’t count the Robin fusions. Raven’s number one friend!

some other titans of note. Bear in mind that pretty much ALL titans from any continuity are present as part of the extended clan, but others get more important.

The Young Justice crew: the characters specific to the first two seasons of Young Justice (haven’t seen the 3rd season at all so withholding ideas for that), and assumed to be older than the main group. They include the likes of Static Shock, Aqualad (Kaldur’ahm. a Picuss Volanns here), the Young Justice incarnations of the Superfriends originals like Longshadow and Sam, and so forth. Assume species that do NOT generlaly correlate to their abilities, and they probably predate the Titans as an older group of sorts.

Miss Martian: Mars’ people are quite fine, and in fact are involved in a complex conflict with the other species Mars is populated by in various forms of fiction; they get along fine with the Malacandran races from the Silent Planet books, but the War of the Worlds Martians and the more classic sci fi villain empires have forced the desert and pole martians off-world; M’gan is one born far from the red homeworld, and feels obliged to live up to the great example of her uncle J’onn, one of the greatest heroes to ever honor the Fleet. (Because he is just the BEST.) Raised in a creche of others, including Beast Boy, she became an older sister to them all and a great heroine in her own right! Martians naturally look as they do in Young Justice, though around 14 feet tall at minimum; stronger ones don’t grow larger, but their ability to shapeshift into bigger forms improves.

Terra: The Titans do not talk about Terra. It’s a sore point. Slade from the Task Force seems disinclined to talk about it, but it has something to do with his service on the Task Force.

Jinx: Not actually a member of the Titans! She’s part of a group of up and coming villain gals and boys from the Stingers, operating in roughly the same capacity as the Titans, and the two groups are friendly rivals. She’s very curvaceous and you would THINK her massive hips and breasts would get in the way of acrobatics, but nope! Some possibilities for her species; kobold, really tall goblin, an anthro Jynx from Pokemon (just for the sake of name puns).

[electronicdelusionstarlight]

Not gonna lie, I'm getting real tired of these people makes hot take posts calling Batman/Bruce Wayne a capitalistic fuckboy beating the shit out of good, honest working mass murderers.

I know, right?

I mean, I can understand if it was some sort of, you know, surface level joke, you know, “Dhur Dhur Batman beats up mentally ill people while being rich, which means could just pay people up instead”, except if you start analyzing the whole mess it bloody falls apart?

I mean, Bruce Wayne’s whole shtick and persona is that he’s some sort of dumb trust fund philanthropist, which means he DOES pay people up (hell, there are at least 2 bloody Wayne foundations in the city), who the fuck do they think it pays for all the eventual damage control? he does already contribute to the well-being of Gotham in more ways other rich dudes in the city do, and yes, he does beat up the mentally ill, except in Gotham City some times the mentally ill are giant crocodile cryptids that may or may not eat people depending on the incarnation.

Like, the whole “rich billionaire beats the poor” thing is stale, a cold take, and ignores the fact that Gotham City is a hellhole where slums were built around more slums and fucking fancy opera houses were built directly adjacent grimy murder alleys.

Like, fucking Hitman (1993-2001) fucking teaches us that Batman is necessary to the city, and so are his sidekicks, because Batman is one man but Gotham City is a ever filling hellhole of corruption and death, so when batman is busy stopping Poison Ivy from turning an orphanage into compost for her pet carnivorous plants there are entire districts abandoned to themselves where the corrupt police will not even set foot in due to the fucking… 50+ crime families and shit and so at some point when a fucking… 8 armed murder demon who is actually 8 nazi officers in one body decides to start shit up in the former Irish Ghetto the only things stopping him and the local thugs he enrolled (Because of course Gotham thugs see a 8 armed murder demon with a swastika carved on his forehead and thing “not the weirdest villain I worked with) from fucking… setting the place on fire just to destroy a magical silver riffle are a bunch of "blue collar” hired assassin, another bunch of “blue collar” “heroes”, half of whom belong in Arkham, Catwoman who was there for some reason and fucking Etrigan, LIKE…

The fucking context man. The fucking context is everything, and comics, especially the ones about Gotham, tell us that, in those universe, “rich dudes beating up the poor people” are the only thing standing between fucking… death cults or murder ninjas or belligerent aliens and the destruction/enslavement of the world. Is it realistic? Perhaps not, but that’s how the universe fucking works there apparently, we can’t really apply normal logic to worlds where entire strata of people can blow up other people up with their minds and shapeshifters posing as your spouse can be a thing.

Like, the ONLY complain, ONLY complain You can have about Batman, is the standard Jason Todd Complain, “Why the fuck is the Joker still alive?”, something whose simple answer is, of course, marketing, but which is still such a sore spot for anyone involved? I’m not saying why hasn’t batman killed him either, NO KILLING as a whole makes sense for him, but, like, why has he saved him time and time again every time someone was actually trying to kill the joker? And why not do the same thing for any other villain or even small time thugs, why, specifically, the Joker? The dude fucking gasses elementary schools to deaths and it was proven time and time again that the prison system in Gotham is a joke and they will never be able to contain the fucker, him being “Mentally Ill” (Which is FUCKING DEBATABLE at this point) shouldn’t stop people from fucking blowing his brains out and have Batman none the wiser as he’s in space with the JLA dealing with evil Orwellian starfish aliens.

[wazafam]

Amazon Prime's newest series, Invincible, is based on the comic series by Robert Kirkman of the same name and is a coming of age story that takes inspiration from various other pieces of comic book media to bring a unique and fresh take on the genre.

RELATED: Invincible: The 10 Best Characters

As a result, some of the characters in the series are similar to other popular comic book characters that already exist. Specifically, the primary superhero group of the universe, the Guardians of the Globe, seems to be an obvious parody of several characters from DC comics who are all members of the Justice League.

7 Red Rush: The Flash

Almost immediately, it's easy to realize that Red Rush is a lot like the Flash aka Barry Allen. Both characters are speedsters with the ability to move incredibly fast and both also share a red color scheme when it comes to their costumes, although the Flash's costume often features yellow accents and a lightning bolt logo while Red Rush's costume is just different shades of red with two R's for the symbol.

The first obvious difference is that Red Rush, whose real name is Josef, is actually Russian while Barry isn't. Another difference is when Barry runs, he leaves a trail of bright yellow lightning behind him, however, when Josef is using his superspeed all that is seen is a red blur.

6 Aquarus: Aquaman

Out of all the Justice League members, Aquaman is the one that has been parodied and made fun of the most so it makes sense that Aquarus is based on him. In addition to the fact that both of them are the Kings of the underwater city of Atlantis, both can breathe underwater and on land and both have hydrokinesis which allows them to bend and control water.

While Arthur is only capable of Hydrokinesis while using the trident of Poseidon, Aquarus can use that power without any necessary tools and can even directly generate and blast water from his hands. Besides the ways their powers differ, the biggest contrast between them is in their appearance since Aquarus is more fish than human, complete with fins and webbed feet, while Aquaman is much more human.

5 Green Ghost: Green Lantern

Despite the fact that Green Ghost is based on Green Lantern, she is the character that is least like her DC counterpart in the series due to the fact that some of her powers had been changed for the show. In the comics, Green Ghost has the ability to create energy constructs as the Green Lanterns do but since that power isn't used in the series, her primary ability is becoming intangible, allowing her to move herself and others through solid objects.

RELATED: Amazon's Invincible: The Most Likable Characters, Ranked

Another difference between the characters that is actually accurate to the comics is that instead of a ring that is fueled by willpower, Green Ghost gets her powers from a small green stone that she swallows.

4 Martian Man: Martian Manhunter

If their names didn't make it clear enough, Martian Man and Martian Manhunter are basically the same. Both characters originate from the planet Mars, however, while Martian Manhunter is the last of his kind in the DC universe, Martian Man's homeworld is confirmed to be full of other Martians when Mark visits the planet while overseeing a NASA mission. In addition to their names being similar, they also share a few powers, specifically, flight and the ability to shapeshift.

While Martian Manhunter often uses his shapeshifting ability to look like other people, Martian Man mostly uses his to stretch and contort his body, allowing him to wrap himself around his enemies. Those seem to be his only real powers they share considering Martian Manhunter has various other abilities like invisibility and can even rival Superman in strength.

3 War Woman: Wonder Woman

Another member whose name is similar to the DC character they're based on is War Woman, who is inspired by Wonder Woman. The two both have essentially the same powers, enhanced strength, enhanced durability, and flight. While they are different colors, the design and style of their armors are also pretty similar but their weapons of choice are not.

RELATED: 10 Most Powerful Invincible Characters, Ranked

While Wonder Woman usually uses a sword or her lasso of truth in combat, War Woman instead uses a mace which is a weapon typically used by another Justice League member, Hawkgirl. Another aspect of War Woman that could be a nod to Wonder Woman is the fact that her alter-ego, Holly, is a CEO of a business located in Boston during her free time which could be a reference to the unaired 2011 Wonder Woman pilot which showed Diana as a CEO as well.

2 Darkwing: Batman

The character that is closest to their DC counterpart is Darkwing, who is a parody of Batman. Much like how Batman has no superhuman abilities, Darkwing is the only member of the Guardians without any actual powers. Instead, he relies on his skills in hand-to-hand combat and on a series of gadgets he has, including a glider that he uses to get around since he isn't capable of flight.

It's even shown that, while the other members of the Guardians deal with more powerful villains while acting on their own, he focuses more on street-level criminals. Their costumes are also basically the same since they both feature dark colors, a cape, and a utility belt. The only real difference between them is that the person in the Darkwing costume is Black while Bruce Wayne is traditionally white in the comics.

1 The Immortal: Superman

While The Immortal isn't as close to Superman as most of the other characters are to their DC counterparts, the similarities are still there. Both characters are the leaders and the strongest members of their teams with similar powers, super speed, super strength, invulnerability, and, most importantly, flight. However, the differences in their powers are that The Immortal doesn't have Superman's freeze breath, laser vision, or his super senses.

Also, The Immortal has the power to not age at all while Superman just ages at a much slower rate. As far as costumes go, both characters also feature the first letter of their superhero identity in the design of their suits with the "S" being plastered across Superman's chest and the stem of the "I" appearing on the Immortal's chest while his head comes out of the section meant to represent the dot of the "I."

NEXT: Invincible: 10 Things They Changed From The Comics

Invincible: The Original Guardians Of The Globe & Their DC Counterparts from https://ift.tt/33ZOqMQ

[dc-x-readers]

He Calls Me Kitty (Damian Wayne x Reader)

Where this came from? Good question. It popped into my head last night and I knew I needed to write it. This one is probably going to be a chaptered fic, but I’m not sure if it will be romance or friend ship yet.

Trigger warnings: Violence, mentions of death, really vague mentions of rape, and swearing

Part Two

Being able to shape shift from one animal to another could be really cool, you learned that from experience. When your parents were still alive you would shift to your (hair color) haired cat. It was a fun party trick which you did only with your loving family. You were treasured for being ‘extraordinary’ and special child. It was a fun relaxing life as a human kitten hybrid.

Being able to shapeshift into a cat could also be very useful, a lesson you learned from a different experience. After your parents perished you needed to fend for yourself, sometimes strangers were more kind to a kitten starved and thin that a little child in tattered clothes begging for food to survive. Other times being a cat meant you could twist around in small spaces and reach hard to get food when you needed it.

Being able to shapeshift into a cat could also really suck, an experience you are learning right now.

A huge scary man was following your human self, you knew he wanted to hurt you, and you were terrified, so you ran. His breath reeked of alcohol, and his lumbering steps grew louder the more you ran away. After a series of twists and turns in an effort to lose the man who was easily gaining area on you, you rushed into a dead end, your heart beat fast, and all you wanted to do was scream, but you knew nobody in this neighbourhood would care. So instead of doing what your human body instinctively told you to do, you shifted into your cat form, not thinking about how the scary man could see you fall into the body of a cat.

“Change back!” The man roared, he wanted to hurt you so badly, but he couldn’t not when a small delicate cat.

You started to scamper away, figuring that without the human body to play with he was done with you, you were not expecting a swift kick to the side. You were flung backwards, and let out a strangled mew in surprise. The man clearly was not done with you tonight, and this might be your end.

The alcohol breath washed over you again, and he stepped closer to you, you wanted to move, but your cat body was more fragile than that of your human. The kick had broken something, probably your leg judging by the white hot pain which flared through it, and you were unable to stand even if you wanted to. “I said change back you stupid -” The man shouted his foot poised above you to crush your other leg.

“TT” the sound came from behind you, and you whimpered at the thought of a savior.

“Hurting a poor defenseless kitten. How dare you!” the voice shouted, and the man turned around in shock.

“Robin? Don’t you have criminals to catch?” The man asked, and you felt surprise ripple through your body. The Robin was here to save you? You were a nothing, a street rat-well street cat- and here was a hero ready to save you.

“You are the real villain tonight.” Robin said letting out a roar and attacking the man who stood above you. The fight was quick, wit Robin, the pint sized eight year old, beating the older more muscled man to a pulp. You tried to limp away from the violence, as much as you looked up to the preteen hero of the streets, you trusted no human, least of all one who covers his face with a mask.

When Robin was finished with your attacker he turned to where you had been, only to see you slowly dragging yourself away with your good paws. Robin came to you, and picked you up with more care than you expected from a child who had just ferociously torn that man apart.

“You’re coming home with me little one.” Robin said, and you let out a strangled mewl, you didn’t want to go home with anyone one. You were content with your life on the street. Sure it was unreliable, but no person would ever get attached, no person would leave you again.

Robin didn’t understand your protest, and just carried you over to the batmobile, carefully taking off his cloak and wrapping you in it before depositing you gently in the passenger seat. You waited for him to get in the back, maybe radio in for batman to drive him home, but instead Robin sat in the driver’s seat and started to speed off.

What was this kid doing? You wondered, because he looked to be about your human age, but if he could drive that was a whole nother story.

Robin drove around town before entering the batcave. You watched in a mixture of horror and fascination as he masterfully parked the car in a well designed cave. Before he exited the vehicle he pulled of his mask with a sigh, and you stared at him amazed. Without the mask the boy wonder looked even younger than he did with it. He was probably eight or nine, your age.

Robin picked you up with the utmost care, and carried you out of the batmobile, you wanted to tell him that you were a human. You wanted for him to let you go so you could return to your life on the streets, but you didn’t trust anyone with your cat secret.

“Damian.” A hard voice said. You turned your head trying to see who was talking. When your cat eyes finally caught sight of the speaker you felt them widen in surprise. Bruce Wayne.

Of course you knew Bruce Wayne, he would visit the homeless shelter you frequent and act like he cared about all the starving children. He would even write a cheque to the place, but then he would leave. Just like all people do.

“What have I told you about taking the Batmobile out?” Bruce Wayne asked, and the Robin holding you- Damian- sighed.

“I couldn’t sleep father. So I went out to fight some crime.” Damian explained. Father? So the Robin and the Bat were father and son, i was a weird development.

“On a school night?” Bruce countered everso fatherly. He then took a look at you, still wrapped in the cape of his son, pathetic and small with a broken leg that throbbed like hell. “What have I told you about animals damian? I don’t want anymore in the house.”

“But father, she is hurt. This is the last one, I promise.” Damian spoke at the same time as you mewled pathetically, asking to be let go. Damian didn’t let you go, and Bruce just rolled his eyes.

“Go to bed Damian, we’ll talk more tomorrow.” Bruce sighed, and Damian smiled in success before climbing the stairs to the main manor.

You were floored with how beautiful the house was, but Damian didn’t let you stop to appreciate it. He kept walking until he reached a goodly sized bedroom and set you down on his bed. In an instant he was wrapping your leg tightly with bandages, and you whined pitifully. Damian hushed you with a gentle word before continuing his work. Once he deemed your bandages good enough he left the room entirely. You wanted to get out in that second, but worried if you changed back he would find you and kill you. This Robin had quite a reputation.

Not even five minutes later Damian returned with a saucer of milk, and he placed it by the door. You eyed him carefully.

“TT.” Damian huffed, “Drink it, you’ll feel better.”

You slowly, ever so slowly, jumped off the bed, careful to not let your injured leg take any pressure, and crawled to the milk. It tasted good. It was the first real meal you had in awhile. After you were finished Damian went to his bed, he gently patted the spot beside him, but you weren’t about to sleep in the same bed as a boy. Even if you were in cat form and he was none the wiser of your abilities to shift, it was indecent and you refused. Instead you curled up under his desk. Damian stared at you for a few minutes before huffing and closing his eyes.

You knew you needed to get out of this house, but you also knew you couldn’t do it with Damian in the room sleeping next to you. You resolved yourself, tomorrow while he was at school you would sneak away. For now, you needed rest.

[ramajmedia]

Titans: 13 Biggest Questions After The Season 2 Premiere

DC Universe's Titans TV series is back - and the Titans season 2 premiere raises a lot of key questions for the future. The first season was remarkably disjointed, in large part a result of extensive reshoots, and it ended with an abrupt cliffhanger in which Dick Grayson fell under Trigon's influence and the demonic entity prepared to eat the world.

The Titans season 2 premiere acts as something of reset. Half the episode is dedicated to resolving the Trigon plot, and the other half serves as setup for what's to come. That means Trigon, the big bad of the entire first season, is dealt with at remarkable speed. From there, the show heads to stately Wayne Manor to introduce Iain Glenn's Bruce Wayne, before Dick Grayson and his team head off to San Francisco to reform the Titans.

Related: Titans’ Season 2 Premiere Is The Finale DC Universe Forgot To Air

The transition in tone and style is quite jarring. It's clear that Titans has picked up on the criticism that season 1 went overkill on the darkness and violence, and is attempting to carry out something of a course-correction. But how did it go? Let's explore all the key questions about the Titans season 2 premiere.

Although Rachel had drawn Trigon into the world, he wasn't truly free until her heart was broken and even she fell under his influence. Trigon did this by making Rachel face a horrific reality in which she watched her friends - specifically her trusted mentor, Dick Grayson - murder Beast Boy. It was only then that Trigon could step out of the haunted house in Ohio, and begin to extend his destructive influence across the entire planet. That seems to have manifested as a point source of corruption that was utterly inimical to life, and resulted in the deaths of all birds and vegetation as Trigon's power grew.

Fortunately for the world, the Titans season 2 premiere revealed that Trigon had made one major miscalculation; he'd failed to realize that Beast Boy isn't so easy to kill. It may be that Dick Grayson retained enough self-control not to kill him; it's more likely that Beast Boy's shapeshifting ability means he can survive physical injuries like a broken neck. When Raven realized her friend was still alive, it broke Trigon's influence over her.

Before Rachel could take on Trigon, she first had to free Dick Grayson from Trigon's control. There was a logical (if, frankly, poorly-explained) reason for this; if she was to beat her father, she had to believe that human nature itself had some innate goodness that could defeat the darkness. Rachel used her empathic powers to enter Dick Grayson's nightmare world, in which he had killed Batman, and to help him break out of it. This gave Rachel the confidence to believe that Trigon could be resisted.

Related: Titans: All The Crazy Dreams The Team Has

Inspired with hope to believe that Trigon could be defeated, Rachel used her powers against him. It was unclear quite how she pulled this off, or even what she did; it's reasonable to assume Trigon isn't really dead, but instead has been forced back into his own dimension. It looks as though Trigon could remain free on Earth so long as Rachel's heart was broken. Disturbingly, that does mean that Trigon could come back at any time. So long as Rachel is happy, and around her friends, Trigon has no access. But all she needs is a single moment of despair, and he can begin to influence the world again.

The transition from Titans season 1 to the Titans season 2 premiere is pretty jarring, not least because it leaves Hawk and Dove's entire arc unresolved. The first season saw Dove put in a coma by Trigon's agents; Rachel awoke her from it in order to get Hawk and Dove to pick up Jason Todd. The problem is that all three characters were pretty much irrelevant to the Trigon plot's resolution, and only Jason stuck around to join the Titans afterwards.

The Titans season 2 premiere rewrites the show's history, revealing that the first generation of the Titans assembled years ago - and consisted of Robin, Donna Troy, Hawk and Dove. They were based in San Francisco, in a building donated by Bruce Wayne himself. All this contradicts Titans season 1, which strongly implied that Hawk and Dove had crossed paths with Dick Grayson in Gotham City, and that Batman had actually disapproved of Robin's alliance with the two street-level vigilantes.

The comics have always treated Batman's secret identity as something of a joke; although the Dark Knight insists he keeps his real name a closely guarded secret, the fact remains that a lot of his allies seem to know who he really is. That appears to be the case in Titans as well, given the Titans season 2 finale opens with the news that Batman has headed off to the other side of the planet with the Justice League - and he's taken his butler, Alfred, with him. Furthermore, it's surely just a matter of time before one of the Titans realizes the connection between Dick Grayson and Jason Todd, the two iterations of Robin, especially now they're based in a building owned by Bruce Wayne. This is hardly the world's best-kept secret.

Related: Titans Throws Shade At Season 1's Justice League Fan Service

Of course, that raises the obvious question; since when has Alfred Pennyworth accompanied the Justice League on missions across the world? The Titans season 2 premiere suggests that Alfred is far more than Batman's "Man in the Chair", but instead is an active associate of the Justice League in his own right.

Has Dick Grayson decided to quit the police force altogether, or has Titans simply forgotten that he was ever a detective in the first place? Titans season 1 opened on Dick's first day as a detective in the Detroit PD, but he promptly skipped town and began to go cross-country with Rachel without any comment from his superiors. The Titans season 2 premiere sees Dick take the new Titans to San Francisco to settle in the old Titans Tower, presumably meaning he's going to be living there, too. It will be interesting to see whether the show ever remembers Dick Grayson is supposed to have a job that he's worked hard to get.

The Titans season 2 premiere unveils its version of Deathstroke, played by Esai Morales. He comes out of retirement the moment he learns that the Titans are back, clearly implying he has a history with the team. That may be the real reason Titans has retconned the team's history; it gives Deathstroke a personal vendetta. In the comics, Deathstroke targeted the Titans in order to fulfill a contract taken up by his assassin son, and that was the beginning of a long-lived enmity. It's possible there'll be a similar arc here.

Deathstroke learns about the Titans because he happens to see them on the news. Amusingly, this is a local news broadcast, which means he'd happened to retire to Ohio State. Given both Angela and Deathstroke had attempted to hide themselves away from the world, it's even possible that they were actually neighbors.

Related: Titans Theory: Why Season 2 Is Completely Ignoring The Original Villain

For their part, the Ohio press don't seem to be particularly good at their job. The reporters claim that only birds died in the mysterious phenomenon, ignoring both Rachel's mom, Angela - whose neck was casually snapped - and a local cop whose body would have been found inside the house as well. Amusingly, they also claim that a group of masked adventurers saved the day, which is more than a little odd given Jason Todd is literally the only one in the Titans season 2 premiere who's wearing his costume. It's safe to assume that this inaccuracy is related to the substantial reshoots.

Finally, another Titans season 1 plot appears to have been forgotten. Starfire was actually wanted by the FBI for numerous acts of homicide in season 1, but she doesn't seem worried to hang around the haunted house when the police arrive. It's clear that this is another plot that's being dropped, reinforcing the sense that the Titans season 2 premiere should really be seen as a reset.

More: Titans Season 2 Cast & Character Guide

source https://screenrant.com/titans-season-2-episode-1-premiere-questions/

[aion-rsa]

Marvel’s Loki TV Series and MCU Timeline Explained

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This article contains Marvel Cinematic Universe spoilers.

It’s been well over two years since the events of Avengers: Endgame, and you’d be forgiven for forgetting exactly what went down during the climax of the Infinity Saga and some of the entries that led to it. There were plenty of Easter eggs and nods to other parts of the MCU in both Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame – some of them edging on “blink and you’ll miss it” territory as Marvel Studios sought to wrap up a decade and change of storytelling.

Ahead of Loki’s release on Disney+ we’ve been revisiting the God of Mischief’s journey to the small screen and pondering all the reasons that this new TV version of Loki will be different to the one we now know and love, despite our better judgement.

In many ways this is a tale of two Lokis: the one we’ve already seen evolve – albeit gradually – throughout the Thor trilogy and the Avengers films, and the one we’re about to see reckon with a new fate in Loki thanks to an accidental temporal intervention.

First, let’s take stock of all the ways both of these Lokis are the same.

Prime Loki

When we first met Loki (the excessively charismatic Tom Hiddleston) in Kenneth Branagh’s 2011 franchise-starter Thor, he was a sly and manipulative prince but still loyal to the realm of Asgard. As he prepared to witness his brother Thor (Chris Hemsworth) become king and take over from their father Odin (Anthony Hopkins), Loki decided to throw a spanner in the works by arranging a visit from the Frost Giants – a race beaten by Odin and left in ruins in the realm of Jotunheim long ago – in the middle of Thor’s coronation.

Though Loki initially sabotaged Thor’s big day as a lark, he unwittingly started a chain of events that would lead to a devastating personal discovery: that he himself was a Frost Giant, rescued as a baby from the Jotunheim battlefield by Odin in the hope that he would forge peace between the two realms one day.

Loki, who always felt like Odin’s least favored son, was overwhelmed by the trauma of what he retrospectively viewed as a life filled with lies and betrayal, so when Thor was banished to Earth for kickstarting yet another battle with the Frost Giants Loki saw an opportunity to take the throne of Asgard as Odin fell into a deep sleep.

It didn’t go as well as he hoped. For a while he was able to rule Asgard, but when the Warriors Three and Sif travelled to Earth against Loki’s wishes to retrieve Thor, things fell apart. Loki intervened and attacked Thor and the gang to prevent them from destabilizing his newfound power, but Thor stopped him and returned to Asgard. The two brothers fought and Odin woke from his slumber.

Odin’s obvious dismay at his son’s actions left Loki bereft. He let himself fall from the broken Bifrost Bridge into a wormhole in space rather than make amends for what he’d done or accept any punishment that might be forthcoming.

Thor assumed Loki died that day, but Loki was very much alive. On the other side of that wormhole was Sanctuary, an asteroid field inhabited by a violent race called the Chitauri. Also installed on Sanctuary was The Other, Thanos’ personal servant, who gave Loki both a powerful Scepter that contained the Mind Stone and command over the Chitauri army to invade Earth. In exchange, Loki was to snatch the Tesseract – a cosmic cube housing the Space Stone – and bring it back to Thanos.

Fearing Thanos’ retribution and feeling he had no choice but to comply, Loki travelled to Earth in 2012’s The Avengers via the wormhole-opening Tesseract and took the cube from SHIELD, eventually opening a larger wormhole over New York and beginning the Chitauri invasion.

Ultimately beaten by the Avengers in the Battle of New York, Loki was set to be brought back to Asgard as a prisoner along with the Tesseract and condemned to a cell in the dungeons.

This brings us to a fork in Loki’s road and the MCU timeline itself.

Dead Loki: Infinity War Timeline

Post Avengers, Loki languished in the Asgardian Dungeons until his mother Frigga (Rene Russo) was killed by the Dark Elves in Thor: The Dark World. Released by Thor, the duo attempted to defeat the Dark Elves’ leader. Naturally, Loki faked his own death during the fight, hopped back to Asgard, and ousted Odin. He then ruled over Asgard for years in Odin’s guise.

Thor eventually discovered Loki’s deception upon his return to Asgard following the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron. The two embarked on a journey to Earth to find the real Odin, who revealed they had an older sister called Hela (Cate Blanchett) who would try to lead Asgard into war against the Nine Realms. Odin suddenly popped his clogs, leaving a confused Thor and Loki to face Hela.

They were no match for her, and both ended up stranded on the artificial trash planet Sakaar in Thor: Ragnarok until Loki reluctantly joined forces with Thor, Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), and Hulk/Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) to try and take Hela out of the equation. They were able to do this by summoning the fire demon Surtur, beginning the all-cleansing process of Ragnarök. This course of action came at a terrible price: the complete destruction of Asgard, during which Loki once again stole the Tesseract while no one was looking.

As promised in The Avengers, Thanos came looking for the Tesseract during Infinity War after Loki failed to deliver it to him. The surviving Asgardians were attacked by Thanos aboard their escape ship the Statesman and half of them were killed. A showdown with Thanos left Hulk unconscious and Thor trapped by the Black Order. In a moment of unexpected redemption Loki tried to deceive Thanos by offering up the Tesseract, and made a failed attempt on the Mad Titan’s life. Thanos killed Loki for his insolence by snapping his neck.

Variant Loki: TV Series Timeline

With Loki dead, half the universe snapped out of existence, and Asgard reduced to a tiny population on Earth, Thor fell into a deep depression during Avengers: Endgame. But there was a glimmer of hope on the horizon when the team put together a plan to go back in time and retrieve the Infinity Stones, reversing Thanos’ snap.

This “time heist” placed Tony Stark, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), Bruce Banner, and Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) back at The Avengers’ Battle of New York in 2012, and their plan to grab the stones went smoothly at first. Steve acquired the Mind Stone in the form of Loki’s Scepter and Bruce convinced The Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) to hand over the Time Stone, while Tony and Scott hit Stark Tower to lift the Tesseract.

Unfortunately, Tony forgot that he made the Hulk take the stairs instead of the elevator when the Avengers originally accompanied an imprisoned Loki down to the lobby. As Hulk smashed through the lobby door he sent Tony and the Tesseract flying. Loki saw an opportunity and didn’t hesitate: he picked up the Tesseract and jumped through a wormhole.

This is the version of Loki we join as the character’s Marvel spinoff series gets underway. Not the Loki who saw the fall of Asgard and perhaps got to make amends for some of his previous crimes by supporting Thor in the aftermath, but the Loki who just led a deadly invasion of Earth.

“With Loki taking the Tesseract, fans will see exactly what that action means and what a bigger ripple he’s made in time doing that,” Loki director Kate Herron explained. “It causes him to be more reflective about his actions and why he’s done what he’s done.”

Responsible for many human deaths – including Agent Phil Coulson on a SHIELD helicarrier before the Battle of New York had even begun – this Loki is still full of rage following the exposure of Odin’s lies about his origin.

He is, by all accounts, a total butthole.

Thanks to marketing materials for the upcoming series we already know that following his Battle of New York escape Loki will be apprehended by the Time Variance Authority – a bureaucratic organization which monitors the state of the MCU’s timeline. It’s unclear if the show will fully redeem the God of Mischief from a post-Battle of New York state of trauma and vindictiveness, but the show has apparently found a different way to do so than we’ve already witnessed, which is a good thing – as charming as Tom Hiddleston absolutely is, we need to see Loki nudged further away from 2012-era villain territory for all this to work long term.

Loki writer Michael Waldron has described the show as a “struggle with identity, who you are” and “who you want to be” so it’s definitely a possibility that Loki will become a better version of himself than we’ve ever seen before.

“Loki is a character that’s always reckoning with his own identity, and the TVA, by virtue of what they do, is uniquely suited to hold up a mirror to Loki and make him really confront who he is and who he was supposed to be,” Waldron explained.

The TVA will recruit the God of Mischief to help clean up the temporal mess he made when he grabbed the Tesseract and skedaddled – it seems The Ancient One was quite right when she said that any major disruption to the flow of time would create branch timelines where things have gone badly wrong. Could Loki really become a valued TVA asset, righting wrongs and setting things straight? Maybe, but as we know, Loki is gonna Loki, and he probably won’t enjoy being told what to do by anyone.

“I love this idea [of] Loki’s chaotic energy somehow being something we need,” Hiddleston told EW. “Even though, for all sorts of reasons, you don’t know whether you can trust him. You don’t know whether he’s going to betray you. You don’t why he’s doing what he’s doing. If he’s shapeshifting so often, does he even know who he is? And is he even interested in understanding who he is? Underneath all those masks, underneath the charm and the wit, which is kind of a defense anyway, does Loki have an authentic self? Is he introspective enough or brave enough to find out? I think all of those ideas are all in the series — ideas about identity, ideas about self-knowledge, self-acceptance, and the difficulty of it.”

Hiddleston added “[That] was very exciting because in the other films, there was always something about Loki that was very controlled. He seemed to know exactly what the cards in his hand were and how he was going to play them. And Loki versus the TVA is Loki out of control immediately, and in an environment in which he’s completely behind the pace, out of his comfort zone, destabilized, and acting out.”

Perhaps if Loki actually met Loki he’d have a fresh perspective on whether anger and spite are worth clinging on to?

Lokis All the Way Down

Even as the show intends to explore Loki’s struggle with his own identity, it seems set to introduce other Lokis from different timelines and realities, which leaves the storytelling door very much open. Not just in terms of new angles on previous MCU tales and major cameos, but to inspiration from the pages of Marvel Comics as well.

“Part of the fun of the multiverse and playing with time is seeing other versions of characters, and other versions of the titular character in particular,” confirmed Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige.

The comics are certainly ripe with possibilities. There’s Kid Loki – a vessel for the trickster reborn after he manipulated Hela into taking his name out of the Book of Hel. Then there’s Old Loki – a real bastard who makes the current Loki seem like a Care Bear in comparison. Loki even found himself inside a body intended for Lady Sif at one stage, becoming Lady Loki (later incorporated into Loki’s fairly casual gender fluidity).

Loki: Agent of Asgard

Interestingly, Waldron has also said that the show will explore whether Loki could ever make a friend, which is the focus of Al Ewing’s 2014 Agent of Asgard run. In these comics, Loki meets a woman called Verity Willis who can see through any lie, making her the perfect person for Loki to have an open and honest friendship with.

It was around this time that the Loki of Marvel Comics also had an epiphany: that a lie is just a story and a story can be rewritten. This allowed him to turn over a new leaf, redefining his character from the God of Lies to the God of Stories. Thinking back to Hiddleston’s first official comment when Loki was announced, this could be just one way that Marvel has approached further seasons of the show and Loki’s continuing journey through time and space.

“Loki,” Hiddleston wrote. “More stories to tell. More mischief to make. More to come.”

Marvel’s Loki will be streaming on Disney+ from June 9.

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from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/34IInMV

[candy-corps]

Giant Lynx Man

Ratchet belongs to the-explosive-existence, Dae to me. 

Rp under the cut! 

Follow-up-RP is Melodies.

Ratchet's huge shape cast's its shadow over the grown bat of his best friends roof, tackling Dea to the ground before he realize he recognize the smell, this was not Bruce-grr-uh?

“Ohhmondieu.” Okay, so this was what he got for listening to music while he was on a job? He’d listen to music now all the time. Eyes like stars Dae looked up at the … giant lynx, wasn’t it. Goodness. He’d actually not mind get torn to shreds by such a majestic being, but his girlfriend might mind. And so he kept still and blinked one time, real slow. giving the cat a universal cat ‘I love you’.

Removing his weight from grown bat’s body and taking a step back Ratchet tilt his head hesitant to Dae giving out the dazzled shimmer reaction. What to do with this… Throw him of the roof? Felt wrong after this one helped him as a plush. “Alixon, it isn’t Bruce.” He grumbled. -FUCK LIKE IT ISN’T!!- The roof went shouted. “It’s not..” Lynx went over to a camera installed in the vent and carried it over to the Dea, showing his face clearer. -…..???????????-

“Is that a secret camera thing? Did I win? Hahahahaha haha … ha… ” he sighed, up again. He should check if his stuff was alright, but he just ended up looking at Ratchet again. He’s never seen such a big feline … and it was a talking one, too. Kinda like Nova … but taller, which was awesome…

“Is my hair alright” he wondered, and brushed his fingers through it. Being filmed always made him feel overly self conscious … “I don’t know who to thank … ” he kept going, still beaming like he won some prize.

-Right, definitely isn’t.- Alixon agreed on the other line after a long silence watching the teen bat groom himself, which should been awkward if Ratchet know closer how that felt, and Dae was funny and through of his pelt!, lynx man even smiled up to Alixon spoke again. -Your hair is fine, who are you and what are you doing on my roof???…- She demanded to know. -Put the camera back Ratchet.- She gently added and lynx shrugged amused, end of show, before getting problem’s installing the technology back in its place, Baal one who done it.

“I have a friend you might be interested in. Shapeshifter, most often a panther… Know what, I think I can set something up for you” Dae said - not to Alixon - but Ratchet. He didn’t like to talk to voices that came out of speakers, and this was one of the days.

The voice that came from the camera must be the one of his friend. She seemed to be easy to upset, but his dad said something about pregnant and magic and danger and he forgot for now. There was a giant cat man there and they had to become friends and take a selfie, too.

“um.” Tugging the corner of his toothy smirk Ratchet tried concentrate on his work and not ignore Alixon’s agitated bad mouthing too on the other end, by now screaming realizing this shitty kid overlooked her questioning!!! “Maybe we can talk about that after you answered my friend.” The lynx rugged voice proposed looking over his shoulder on Dae, leveling a think brown, hoping the teen gave Alixon another chance as turn again. Attaching this thing was hard with big hand’s, needed his focus.

“Alright” Dae beamed and initially reached out as if to ruffle his fur … but then managed contained himself, just in time. So … what to even talk to. Camera seemed to be safest, so he stuck to that for now while Ratchet set it up again.

“Dad said you need help to secure the area here” he said, hands in his pockets as he looked up and smiled. “So … here I am. You’re welcome. Name’s Dae.”

-….Your Bruce son? He got more then one?- Poor kids. The screaming ended abrupt to be changed too distrust Alixon only meeting the bat’s young Damion, barely month’s ago, this was a teenager! They heard a sigh throe the speaker. -ANyway, you dad is wrong, we don’t need help anymore, particularly not from someone who act like I’m not here and listen to music while on the job.- “You could discuss it with Drago…” Ratchet innocently put in being one of the guards, Dae deserved a white slate and not be compared to his father. Pause, the lynx imagined Alixon trying not to burst. -Dae was it…??- Grumble.

“Yup.” Too bad. He was about to turn on his heels and go back home when she didn’t need his help. He did prefer to have time to spend with his girlfriend instead to spend it on rooftops. Though the lynx’ company was kinda cool, too … and Amelia would sure be impressed when he could show her a picture later today.

“Free help is free help, and four eyes see more than two” he shrugged, still in good spirits. When she wanted someone better, she should just call his dad… so he didn’t take it personal. “Alixon, right?” Now that they were at introductions.

The camera attached to stick in the vent finally and the picture on Alixons side focused the blue women looked over this Dae one last time throe the monitor, toke a screen shot learned by Pandora before gently replied. “Yes, welcome to my roof but dont get too comfortable and your not allowed inside.” And then she moved from the mic to call a surten djinn. Ratched looked between camera and teen bat, frowning faint. “…i hope you know Its not you she’s mad at..”

What? Dae couldn’t decide between smile or frown, and so his expression got a little fun for a moment. So … this was what he had Amelia left for? He shrugged, just going to roll with it.

“Something … … … ‘s up??” he wondered, his gaze shifting back to the lynx again. “And who are you?” he wondered, smiling.

Cat shrugged, not meaning to get catch in the fire. ”Nothing I’ll can explain for you.” And then turned to starred on Dae funny, realized he hadn’t told him they meet before and his questioning face melted away to change out to a natural smile. “I’m what you should call an old friend to Alixon.” He toke a step away from the vent and extended his bigpaw hand to the teen bat. “Call me Ratchet, Dae. Got any experience keeping guard?”

Dae smirked. “Little bit.“ He reached out his hand as well and shook Ratchet’s paw. Huge guy.

“What are we looking out for anyway” he wondered, looking aside and raising his ears. This might be a good opportunity to practice concentrate his hearing on limited sources without getting distracted too much. He could use some training there, so that mission sounded about alright.

“It’s not a question of what but If anything would close in on the loft. That and lower my friends stress, If she tell’s me to keep watch I keep watch. …” Ratchet noticed how the young one started try and hear out the possible dangers and his smile inched up a little extra, before Dae landed on the roof nothing had happened. most was to scared for the couple. Looked out over the tall sky scrapes around them.

That sounded nice. Well, his dad had asked him, and at least the company was good. Dae sat down, getting comfortable merely because Alixon told him not to  before. He couldn’t help being a rebel at times … though it might also help to not draw attention. He tried keeping still and closed his eyes to just focus on his hearing for now. He was used to do this further down, but up here any nearby sounds were farther than expected … though thankfully, not loud, the wind drowning out some. Dae’s ears turned as he listened from one sound source to the other, getting used to them. It wasn’t really easy listening in to th bunch of them. How the heck did his dad fix on just one.

“We don’t worry that there’s something that might come from below?” he wondered suddenly, meaning the staircase or the fire escape.

“heh.hum..” How to handle a guard in training if he would not listen to Alixon? Seemed willing to learn. But If Dae kept act stubborn Drago wouldn’t approve ether, the cat would have to throw him out. Ratchet through down but answered easy hearten. “well, I’m only a mortal so I got placed were I should fit and most of this families threat are sky bound. Also,,,” Glance on Dea grinning, “You are a tryout guard, so your not allowed anywhere I can’t keep an eye on you.” Ratchet replied politely. Staying upright himself during there talk.

What? He was heartbroken! “I have to prove myself?” Dae wondered. Though … sure. These people never met him. His younger self, maybe. And they were no bats, so. Generally you could trust one, you could trust all, but when not … he was starting to understand Alixons initial reaction.

He sighed. It didn’t seem right for him. Besides, he could tell that something was off. Tongue stuck out, he kept sitting like that though, pouting a little, but listening. What he didn’t do for his old dad …

“Yes?” Ratchet who again had let his gaze wander over the big city snapped back on Dae with surprise before questioning think browns sink. Was that so weird? hero’s and villain’s alike needed to prove were they stood. But watching how the young bat went into what the cat assumed was disappointment? confusion? He started to puzzle, reminded how different Dae lived compared to Bruce. “I’m sorry… I don’t get the hero villain vibe from you.” He began, his deep voice turning more conserned. “You find it weird a having family want to know who they have around them?”

“I find it weird that my dad send me here when they don’t know that I’m a nice guy. Deep down… someplace” Dae answered that. He looked up at the lynx, remembering to pull his tongue back in.

“I gotta shine with my … personality, huh.” He laughed. Fuck. Yeah. He was going to get kicked off the roof sooner or late. 

The lynx scoffed low and his lids lowered watching Dea curl up before swooping his half long fluffy tail sneaky around the young bat, patting his shoulder elevating. Shouldn’t sit comforting, one of the guards had to stand. “Nice guy routine don’t always cut it here,….if ever. You have a shot. And Alixon’s mate isn’t impossible like Al and rather fair with a scary touch.” He pause, puzzled if it was to soon too ask, ear’s twitch, glancing from and back to the bat. “What relationship do you have with your dad?”

“Dad … ?“ Well, that was a topic change. Ratchet must mean the one from this dimension. Going that it was unlikely he meant Zagam, too … “Normal.” As normal as one could get, given he just met him months ago, they weren’t really related, but good at pretending to. This version of his dad had a thing with his girlfriend not as long ago as he’d wish it to be, but he was happy with Zagam now and accepted his choices, so. He tried to pack him lunch at times, it was really kind of …. nice to be pampered like a grade school kid. Dae nodded slowly. Yep. he’d go with that answer.

He approved of having Ratchet nearby. That had been boring when it wasn’t for him. “I dunno what’s up but he says I gotta help, I help. He asks rarely. Not like I got something better to do.” Except to snuggle with his girlfriend, maybe. Too bad he was aware that any training was important, too.

”You call him something else?” Ratchet wasn’t surprised, might be digging to deep. Used his long arm to playfully ruffle the other one’s hair, one’s pelt was important so of course it was teasing same as appreciation. Getting carried by this little dud before seemed far off now. “….Your a good man. But I’m supposed to believe a young lad like you has nothing else to do with his life?” Smirk. ..Maybe I’ll should just spit the bean and tell you this is not the first time I meet you and you were frolleshing with plenty.” Also, Dae smelled of female.

Oh? "We met?” Well that was strange. He was sure he’d kept Ratchet in good memory and someone as huge as him? Hard to miss. He also didn’t know what it was with people and his hair, but he brushed his fingers through it again, used to getting his look destroyed on a regular basis by now. Because yes, he did a lot of interesting things in his spare time, and one of them included getting groomed by a panther that had too much catnip.

Tugging smirk making whiskers tremble Ratchet glancing down again. “Oh yes we did. You don’t recall my beautiful eye’s?” Ratchet teased, easing the conversation while crossing his arm’s, leaving the young one’s hair as tail dance behind them.

Dae huffed. “Sorry?” To be true …. No. But Ratchet seemed pretty sure of himself. Dae checked another option. When was he ever distracted enough to miss a giant lynx man… ? Nothing really came to mind, just every second he’d spend with Amelia in this new dimension. Which was just the case for like 75% of his day …

And now he missed her.

Naw. He got up to stretch and check. It was fun to meet someone taller than him. “I saw a cat with your ears yes” he joked.

Humble Ratchet chuckled with his low deep voice and leaned back on the vent behind them as Dae finally stood. better he did, what ever bothered him should easier be destroy if he saw the city view matching with the night sky. “See, were coming somewhere.” He purr amused and elbow the other gently. “It be easier to remember if I was small enough to carry through and you spoke in french tongue.” Breath out. “Didn’t understand a word you said, but was comforting at the time.”

“Cube cat - ? No. No … No. No.” Yes, fuck. “You grew” he said lame and covered his mouth with his palm, still watching Ratchet. “I talk to cats in French because it’s … people find it weird to talk to cats. Least they won’t know what it was” he explained. Yeah, that wasn’t embarrassing at all. Least it helped though…

“Gosh … It’s great to see you’re doing well.” He worried about the cute little guy.

“I eat healthy.” Ratchet chuckled, appreciating how easy Dae toke it. “Then you keep do it, your french got soothing when your a distressed cube in a big town.” He smirked. “Got worried when I never returned?”

“I just hoped you found home” Dae said, truthful. “Somehow, with your little stubby legs” he remembered, chuckling. He’s been adorable. Dae sighed. “People kept telling me cube shaped cats ain’t natural … “ Seemed it was just a silly dream then, too.

Then again, Giant Lynx man. That was kind of okay.

Frowning Ratchet curved a small smile. Stubby huh? “I don’t have a home, left because I needed someone breaking my Halloween spell. Smooching your cat’s not cutting it and try on your friends wrong, or you.. So, don’t feel bad. staying over the small time I did was cozy. Lot of petting” He added pleased before hearing the young bat’s next comment. “….” Side glance. “Baal filmed me with his phone, can ask him for a copy if you want to feel sane.”

“Yes I would like to” Dae beamed. His YouTube channel WAS getting popular lately, and he had no chance to film square cat. “Who’s Ba’al?” he wondered. he didn’t meet him just yet. So many new people in this new dimension.

Oh wait though - they had a job, right? He stopped listening a while ago, but now Dae’s ears moved, feeling a little bad about it. But all seemed … well. Birds on the left roof moved a little, radio on the other side of the street playing a new song.

Glancing on the smaller almost grown bat Ratchet smiled, people got exited by the oddest things. Glance away to the distance however after mentioning Baal. Better be quiet with that for now..“If you get accepted on guard duty you probably meet sooner or later, he’s young but a sweet kid.” Adding jokeish. “Ether way you can have the film after you interview, reactive sanity.” “..Want to hear a tip about this work?” Of course he noticed Dae tense little remembered what he was doing on the roof.

“Sure.” He was pretty sure that Ratchet and him followed two entirely different strategies, but it wouldn’t harm to listen, right? One of his ears turned back to the lynx man, right away ruining focus. Talking out loud was plenty distracting. He and his dad used sign language instead, but he somehow doubted Ratchet would know.

“Shut everything far away out.”

It was a shame if Dae through he should have got any good tip from Ratchet. he was no teacher, rather he liked to keep the young one leveled until he meet the djinn, which he was almost certain would come out, not Alixon. “Easy.”

Dae huffed. “I try” he promised. “Listen to what’s not too far away, but also not to what’s super close. Dad makes it look easy” he complained and walked off again. Maybe a higher spot would help.

“It’s not. There’s so much … stuff all around” he tried to explain, wiggling his hands to empathise.

Leveling his big chin spying after Dae as this one tried to get up on higher ground, Ratchet felt misplaced pride, Bruce had visibly explained this better to Dae so the lynx shouldn’t take credit. After all, he had joked. Blocking out sounds toke little time to learn. “I know.. You get it in time, no rush. Maybe your young ear’s have to collected more dust and bullshit throe life.” Smile tilt up. “And patience…”

Patience. What a buzz kill. The sad thing was, that whoever would get here to kill the peace, chances were slim they’d announce themselves loudly. He really gotta concentrate.

“Lynx have good eyes, right?” he asked Ratchet. “Maybe you wanna cover that. I’m really bad at spotting ghosts or any of the like” he warned. He’d prefer to check the audio rather than the visuals.

Smile. “Certainly, very good. But right now I’m supervising your and your work.” The lynx allowed in his inching mouth corner, watching the young one walking over the loft, approving of how serious Dae was even if the bat man’s attention floated away now and then. “Wouldn’t want to miss to report your good work… .. Do you have a mate? I feel a female fragrance from you.” A sudden question without ill meaning Ratchet lightly fished for more info.

Oh? He must be smelling her. It wouldn’t surprise him, to be true. “A girlfriend, yes.” He found the word ‘mate’ a little weird. “Amelia.”

And now he missed her and was distracted. “Maybe you’ve seen her, she’s living with me and my flatmate and shapeshifting Panther. And another Amelia.” It was slightly complicated, but as much info as he meant to spill now anyway. Didn’t Alxon mean to return?

“Girlfriend.” The cat repeated feeling Dae was unlucky ending up with two of the same name with all that existed. Must be confusing. “Suppose you given one of them a nickname?” Smiling Ratchet shrugged assuming. Hand’t he smelled the girl on the bat he still would have assumed something pulled the growing boy’s attention. “Not the privileges. Saw a panther and another dud while staying at your’s but n-” Words thinned out with a surprised look, a pigeon daring to land on Dae’s head and suddenly, Ratchet got still as a statue, starring on mr feathers.

Speaking of distracted. He felt a little mocked, not noticing the bird until it was too late. But, luckily, Ratchet’s gaze in time.

Oh please no. Dae tried to shoo the pigeon away, reaching with his hand for it to push it. Yet another time his hair was being ruined …