#but I would expect that Steve would feel negatively towards the Hulk because of his own protectiveness towards Rick

[daydreamerdrew]

The Avengers (1963) #16

[nikkoliferous]

Phase One: Avengers (Part Two)

Apparently I had so much to comment on this crappy book that I had to break this up into two parts (you can read part one here). No, I have nothing to say for myself. Lol

Let’s continue.

Clint Barton and Loki’s hand-picked strike team were in a stolen Quinjet with a faked S.H.I.E.L.D. call sign, 26-Bravo. That got them close enough that by the time the air-traffic officer on the Helicarrier knew something was wrong, it was already too late.

Whoa whoa whoa. I thought you said Loki didn’t care about the details. I thought you said such things were beneath him. Make up your mind.

With a last heave and twist, she freed herself from the fallen beam and ran. At that moment, the Hulk turned and saw her. She vaulted up a stairway and onto the next level. The Hulk swiped at the stairway and shredded it into scrap metal. Loki had gotten what he wanted. He must have been trying to time it so he could manipulate Bruce into becoming the Hulk right as his soldiers came to attack the Helicarrier. The Hulk would do at least as much damage from the inside as the rogue Quinjet could do from the outside.

Yes. Yes, he did. Lol

Natasha kept running, and the Hulk came right behind her. For a moment, she thought she’d lost him, but then he came at her out of the shadows, roaring. He was like walking rage, a single-minded engine of destruction. She shot a hole in the pipe over his head. Steam shot out of it into the Hulk’s eyes, stopping him for just the moment she needed to get a head start. She ran as fast as she could, but she knew she wasn’t going to stay away from him for long. He came after her, smashing through bulkheads and doorways like they weren’t even there and roaring the whole time.

Mood, though.

Steve got to the edge of the turbine mount about the same time as Tony. “I’m here!” he called out.

“Good,” Tony said, dropping into view and hovering in the Iron Man armor to survey the wreckage. He had the suit on, and Steve could hear his voice through the earbud microphone all S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel wore. At least that channel was still intact; if they lost communications, they’d be done for.

Convenient. Clint would absolutely know this, which means either 1) he's incompetent, 2) he's not as mind-controlled as we think, or 3) Loki allowed/arranged for his own team's semi-failure.Take your pick.

“What’s it look like in there?” Tony asked.

“It seems to run on some form of electricity,” Steve said.

Tony was shoving loose huge pieces of debris that prevented the turbine blades from rotating. “Well, you’re not wrong,” he said.

Steve fumed. He wasn’t here for technical support. But that was all he could do at the moment.

Ironic for Steve to call out Tony for being useless without his suit when Steve is apparently useless at anything other than beating people up. Lol

Tony stood inside the turbine housing, looking at the blades. He’d cleared most of the debris jamming the rotors. “Even if I clear the rotors,” he said, “this thing won’t reengage without a jump. I’m going to have to get in there and push.”

“If that thing gets up to speed, you’ll get shredded,” Steve said.

Hey hey hey now, I thought Tony wasn't the type of guy to sacrifice himself??

The Hulk stomped around the flight deck, roaring. He saw Thor and swung a fist twice the size of Thor’s head. Thor caught it in both hands, straining to hold both the Hulk’s arm and his attention. “We are not your enemies, Banner,” he grunted. “Try to think!”

Now, where have I heard that before...?

In answer, the Hulk punched him through the wall.

Jealous.

Thor got up and watched the Hulk coming after him. Now this was a fight! He held out a hand, waiting for Mjolnir to return to him. Mjolnir smashed through another wall and reached Thor’s hand just as the charging Hulk came within striking distance.

What's a little bloodlust between friends, amirite?

The Hulk caught the hammer, and a fierce grin spread over his face… then he toppled backward and Mjolnir pinned him to the floor of the hangar.

None but I can lift Mjolnir, Thor thought. Not even this giant.

Yes, yes. You're very special, Thor. We're all super impressed, promise.

“You like this?” Coulson asked, meaning the gun. “We started working on the prototype after you sent the Destroyer. Even I don’t know what it does.” He powered it up, and rings along its barrel glowed bright orange. “Want to find out?”

But Loki wasn’t there in front of him. Thor saw it too late to do anything. That Loki was an illusion… and the real Loki was behind Coulson.

Lokiception.

“You lack conviction,” Coulson said. He did not move from where he sat against the wall. Blood trickled at the corner of his mouth, and the enormous gun lay uselessly across his lap.

Of all the things Coulson might have said, this was perhaps the one Loki expected least. I have moved worlds out of conviction, he thought. Made bargains with beings who snuff out planets as an afterthought. “I don’t think I…”

"bargains"

“Tasha,” he said. “How many agents did I—?”

“Don’t,” she said. “Don’t do that to yourself, Clint. This is Loki. This is monsters and magic and nothing we were ever trained for.” Better than maybe anyone on the Helicarrier, Natasha Romanoff knew you couldn’t blame yourself for things you did while you were brainwashed. All you could do was try to heal and get things right the next time.

OH? DO TELL.

“Yeah, takes us a while to get any traction, I’ll give you that one,” Tony said. “But let’s do a head count here. Your brother the demigod, a Super-Soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend, a man with breathtaking anger-management issues, a couple of master assassins… and you, big fella, you’ve managed to piss off every single one of them.”

“That was the plan,” Loki said with a grin.

“Not a great plan,” Tony said.

YOU'RE RIGHT, TONY. IT'S AN OBJECTIVELY TERRIBLE PLAN. NOW ASK YOURSELF WHY HE WOULD DO THAT ON PURPOSE.

“You’re missing the point!” he said, and his tone got sharper. “There’s no throne, there is no version of this where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes and maybe it’s too much for us… but it’s all on you. Because if we can’t protect the Earth, you can be sure we’ll avenge it.”

Weeeeeell...

With those last words, he tapped Tony on the chest with his scepter, just has he had Hawkeye and Dr. Selvig. Nothing happened. The Arc Reactor in Tony’s chest countered the scepter’s effect.

Loki tried it again. “This usually works.…”

“Well,” Tony said, “best-laid plans. You know the saying.”

Uncomfortable with mild swear words and dick jokes, I see. Lol

Look at this!” Thor shouted, holding Loki and forcing him to gaze out over the destruction in the city. “You think this madness will end with your rule?”

“It’s too late,” Loki said. Thor thought he was beginning to understand what he had done. “It’s too late to stop it.”

“No,” Thor said. “We can. Together.”

Loki looked him in the eye… and then betrayed Thor again, stabbing him in the side with a knife hidden in his sleeve. Thor dropped to the ground, clutching the wound. “Sentiment,” Loki said mockingly.

OH MY GOD. HE'S MOCKING HIMSELF, YOU ABSOLUTE KNUCKLEHEAD. I swear to god, this author sat down and went, "Hmm. How can I systematically erase any and all complexity this character possesses so he's as generic a villain as possible?"

CASE IN POINT:

On a bridge, Cap huddled behind a destroyed car with the Black Widow and Hawkeye. “Lots of civilians trapped up there,” Hawkeye said, indicating the nearby buildings. A flight of Chitauri went over, and Cap noticed something different about one of them.

“Loki,” he said. He was shooting at the civilians fleeing through the streets. “They’re fish in a barrel down there.”

It can be admittedly hard to tell because most shots of the Chitauri vehicles firing on people are from too far away to tell who's piloting... but I checked the clips from the Battle of NY and the only person Loki can definitively be seen firing at is Natasha. On another Chitauri whatever-you-call-them. Not even aiming for the street.

Thor was still watching the Chitauri zipping overhead. “I have unfinished business with Loki.”

“Yeah?” Hawkeye said. “Get in line.”

“Save it,” Steve said. “Loki’s going to keep this fight focused on us, and that’s what we need. Otherwise those things could run wild. We’ve got Stark up on top—”

Almost as if... according to plan...

Look, I have historically not bought into the full "Loki formed the Avengers so he could lose on purpose" theory because I feel that it contradicts the canon explanation that he was being influenced by the sceptre. But... you'd have to be an absolute moron to think he wasn't sabotaging himself, whether accidentally or on purpose. I suppose one could argue that just because it was amplifying his negative emotions, that doesn't necessarily mean it prevented him from working against his "allies". But if it wasn't affecting his actions at all, I don't know why they'd bother to confirm the theory as canon.

Also, like... according to this book, Loki is somehow targeting civilians and not targeting civilians at the same time ?? lmao

“Dr. Banner,” Steve said. “Now might be a really good time for you to get angry.”

Bruce was already walking toward the Leviathan. “That’s my secret, Captain,” he said over his shoulder. “I’m always angry.”

Same, tbh.

Thor reached the top of the Empire State Building and lifted Mjolnir. Storm clouds gathered and lightning struck down, hundreds of bolts reaching for Mjolnir. Thor turned the Empire State Building’s iconic spire into a lightning rod, gathering the force of the elements into it. Then he thrust Mjolnir in the direction of the portal. All the energy he had built up blazed out in a single forking bolt. It struck and destroyed every single Chitauri between the Empire State Building and the portal itself. Hundreds of them exploded and tumbled from the sky at once, including several of the Leviathans that tumbled down to smash into buildings below.

...so why didn't Thor just keep doing this for the rest of the battle? Too draining, or not exciting enough? Lol

Satisfied, Thor nodded and glanced over at the Hulk. Perhaps the scales were evened from their last fight against each other on the Helicarrier—

The Hulk shot out his left fist and smashed Thor all the way across the block-long gallery. Then it was his turn to look satisfied.

Jealous. Again.

Maybe that was just Loki, but Steve was starting to feel like the Chitauri were going to absorb every punch the Avengers could throw. They had to close that portal, or nothing was going to stop the invasion.

Well then. It sure is fortunate that Loki allowed Selvig to install a failsafe, huh?

Fury stood and listened to the World Security Council explain that they had decided to take the operation out of his hands. They were going to use a nuclear missile to destroy the Tesseract and close the portal—but at the cost of untold civilian lives. Fury protested as strongly as he could and one of the councilors cut him off. “Director Fury. The Council has made a decision.”

These crazy motherfuckers would have killed so many more people than Loki it's not even funny.

...and tbh, it probably wouldn't even have destroyed the Tesseract, so they would have killed them for literally no reason too.

The Hulk paused, confused.

“You are, all of you, beneath me!” Loki raged.

Not yet, sir, but I would very much like to be. 😏

She knelt next to him and said, “It’s not your fault. You didn’t know what you were doing.”

Selvig digested this for a moment and then said, “Actually I think I did. I built in a safety to cut the power source.”

Of note and as alluded to previously:

1) The mind control over Barton and Selvig was not absolute either; therefore, if they are not responsible for their actions over the course of this movie, Loki is not responsible for his either.

2) If The Other could hear everything Loki was up to, it's very likely that Loki could hear everything Barton and Selvig were up to as well. Meaning that, at a minimum, he knew about the failsafe and did nothing about it.

The missile had a lot of momentum built up, and Tony’s Mark 7 suit was not operating at full capacity after the amount of energy he’d expended in the battle already. It was no easy task to get the missile angled up sharply enough to clear the tallest buildings in Midtown—especially Stark Tower. That was where the missile seemed to want to go. So, Tony thought, the World Security Council is jealous of me, too.

Look, I get that he's mostly just being witty, but seriously... this dude is out here accusing Loki of being an egomaniac? Lol

He got underneath the missile and angled it upward, straining against its stabilizers, which tried to keep it on course. But slowly he forced it up, and once he got its warhead pointed at an angle, pushing it into a steeper climb got easier. A little.

Steve Rogers’s voice broke his concentration. “Stark, you know that’s a one-way trip?”

So... you're admitting you were wrong, then? 🙃

The Avengers looked up. On the roof of Stark Tower, Natasha said, “Come on, Stark.”

They saw the explosion through the portal, brilliant as a new sun. There was no way Tony could have survived that.

I was wrong about him, Steve thought. When the time came, he did make the sacrificial play.

Thanks, Steve. That's really all I wanted.

Loki had just gotten himself put back together enough to get out of the hole in the floor. Painfully he dragged himself toward the door. Never had a mortal damaged him as much as that green monster. He would be healing for a long time.

He's literally in better shape now than when he came through the portal. And the author made zero mention of his health there.

But heal he would, and then he would have his revenge. Even though the portal had collapsed and he had lost the Tesseract. Even though his Chitauri army was destroyed. Loki would show the so-called Avengers they never should have opposed him.

Raise your hand if you watched Avengers and thought Loki was thinking about revenge right after getting Hulk-smashed. Why aren't any of you raising your hands??

Seriously, there are two emotions I felt from Loki at the end of Avengers Assemble: relief and anxiety. I have no idea why Alex Irvine is so intent on turning him into a boring, one-dimensional villain, but it made this book absolutely insufferable to read.

Anyway, that's it! I hope you all found this as entertaining and cathartic as I did. Lol

↩️ Back to Part One

[rael-rider]

TFATWS thoughts

Just quick stuff, but I liked it.

That speech with Sam was great and hearing old man Steve’s voice is weird.

I liked seeing Rhodey there and I wasn’t expecting him to appear in this show. I also like that him and Sam are friends and that they keep in touch. I hope this isn’t the last time they interact I liked how they kind of had a very behind the scenes friendship in the movies so like give me more of Rhodey and Sam please.

Rhodey thinks Sam should take the mantle of Cap and I agree (my only request is that Sam gets to keep his wings, he should never lose the ability to fly).

MCU Joaquin Torres is Joaquin in name only but I like him and once Sam becomes Cap I wouldn’t mind him being Falcon (now they both fly).

My man Batroc the Leaper was in this too! Noice. I hope we get to see more of him.

I love seeing Sam and his family. like they changed his backstory from the comics which I’m cool with especially since it’s something unique for the character and you don’t ever think a flying character whose codename is Falcon would have grown up by the sea and in a family that runs a fishing business. I liked it.

Like I wouldn’t mind MCU Sam being from Harlem like his comic book counterpart but this origin is good. I am just glad they ignored that whole Snap Wilson crap (which was retconned, thank god) because I remember Mackie talking about Snap Wilson like it was this cool thing and I was like “nooo".

I liked Sam’s family. His nephews are so cute and I love how they call him Uncle Sam. It’s also not just a sign that Sam was born for the Captain America role, but also a shout out to the fact that Sam was named after the actual Uncle Sam. We also got to meet Sarah Wilson. It also reminded me that she has the same name as Steve’s mom. Sarahs are important to Captain America.

I wonder if we’ll get to see Gideon Wilson at one point. I wonder if he even exists in the MCU. I get that door can be left open. Will he also be a Hulk villain? God that mess with Hulk and the Wilsons but that’s comics for you.

Sam has been hit by how many superheroes? villains? and Thanos himself? Yet Sarah can still kick his ass, Sam really felt that punch, lmao.

That loan guy was a true asshole.

The stuff with Bucky was pretty heartbreaking. Him hanging with Yori because he killed his son and him having guilt about the fact that he caused Yori so much agony and that Yori is bothered about the fact that he will never know why his son was killed. Everything regarding that just gave me anguish

Bucky is such an old man and I love it. I also like that he has personality.

Flag-Smashers coming out of the Snap and wanting the world to return to what it was before the Blip is honestly a good motivation for them. I took forever to watch Far From Home (I really didn’t care for it) but wow it did such a shit job at showing the post-Blip world and it honestly felt like nothing had changed. TFATWS definitely did a better job at it.

Bucky mentioning that he had a sister gave me Becca Barnes feels. Also the stuff with him saying he doesn’t have a family also reminded me that Becca eventually had kids and grandkids in the comics and I don’t think Bucky has met them (he just visited Becca at an old folks home and she had alzeheimer because Brubaker doesn’t know any other way to portray old women). But man if we got MCU Becca and her family, that would be great.

That scene with John Walker coming in with the shield and just fucking winking at the camera was just great. It’s such a gut punch to both Sam and the viewer and I can see why people immediately reacted negatively towards him.

I really want to see the next episode, off to a good start. Can’t wait for Sharon and Zemo.

[boop-le-snoot]

PARTY FAVOURS | THE EMPEROR INTERLUDE

First time reader click here

A look on the relationship from Tony Stark's eyes. Should give you an insight as to how his character growth was plotted - that's hard to see through a first person POV so I came and delivered the "whys" behind his behaviour.

He felt the restless thrumming of the arc reactor between his ribs.

It was the first thing that drew focus of his mind as the situation at hand began to make sense. He was a clever man - the genius in him wasn't just for the academics; sure, he'd revolutionised the world once or twice or three times over the past ten years, but when it came to the rather delicate matters of the heart, he was as clueless as when he was a teenager.

The difference between then and now was only that he knew when to keep his mouth shut. It didn't matter how many poisonous articles the media sharks spewed out, he didn't hesitate to silence and shut every single one of them without a word to the one that started it all.

She lived blissfully by his side. The papers took their worst: without a direct statement, they speculated and called him a cradle robber, a moralless skirt chaser, every name in the book. She wasn't spared too: despite her young age, her social standing and vulture of a mother, the occasional "opportunistic gold-digger" comment made it's way into the NYC socialite column. She never uttered a peep, never shed a tear or even complained and he was utterly fascinated by it.

The world she was living in was much different that the one he was used to. The younger generation used to confuse him but now it was just terrifying; amongst her peers, only the most bitter, jaded ones expressed their disdain towards the press speculations. He'd taken to scrolling through the comments of her social media to make sure she knew what she was getting into by having a relationship with him; the outcome was bizarre - he didn't expect a positive response whatsoever but there they were, people born in the beginning of a new millennia, excited for her, showing their support for the girl who already had made a name for herself in the scientific community.

Another surprise - she was full of them, each day was like opening presents on christmas morning. Banner had nearly turned green when he found out that the "papichulosatan" he was corresponding with on an invite-only biological sciences themed forum was actually a teenager - she had been 16 at the time. Apparently, the inhabitants of the entire planet Earth except for the residents of his tower knew that she was something... Something else.

Not a child, not quite a woman. She hadn't acquired that bittersweetness that Tony associated with women his own age, like Pepper and many more he'd tried to form a relationship with. His girl was pure of heart, clear of soul, but in a way that complimented her maturity. Ever since that fateful night he spent two hours running around the NYC's trendiest clubs just to find her sitting alone with a sense of pride rivaling his own, he couldn't stop thinking about her. She was always on his mind and it was terrifying.

It wasn't like she suddenly made his life entirely something else; rather than changing him, she quietly complimented him in a way that suited them both. They didn't really fight because there wasn't anything to fight about. Sure, they disagreed on things all the time, but the unspoken rule to not force something on one another stood. He learned that with Pepper and she- she seemed to be emotionally mature on her own.

That's what his therapist had said, anyway, surprising herself and him. It was evident that the woman thought, to some extent, that he had made her up. But the honeymoon period passed - and Bruce had joined them - and shit happened, but she still stood quietly by his side, not intruding into his personal space but offering him a shoulder to lean on whenever he needed it. Ever since that, Tony began to feel truly invincible. Not a single event in his life had made him feel this powerful.

She went and made friends with Loki, the unlikeliest of people, and she stood by him, too, seemingly a neverending readiness to tear anyone, who dared to make a negative remark about him, limb from limb. Knowingly or not, she had patched the hole in the team - a gaping, bleeding one, of mistrust and unnecessary cautiousness, and continued to do so every single day without a care in the world. Not just him, Tony Stark, but all of the Avengers were invincible with a back-up like that.

Realistically, Tony knew they still had ways to go. They were begrudging friends at first but now the bonds strengthened; even as his disregard for Rogers lessened, the man himself was taking steps to control his impulsivity and temper. Tony hated that it had to be a teenager cowering in fear in front of Steve for the man to realise his good intentions didn't always get the best results. Tony was grateful to Loki he'd stepped in that time. While he didn't think Rogers would actually strike a woman, two hundred pounds of genetically engineered bulk of muscle towering and yelling over you was no less terrifying.

At least it started to turn gears in that steroid brain of his.

Everything after that seemed like a dream. Quiet and witty until provoked, his girl was insatiable for him in a way that matched his own hunger for her. It was never just sex with her, somehow, each time he was inside her it felt like revelations. They'd sit for hours, her in his lap, his half-hard cock buried deep inside her welcoming heat, sometimes working and sometimes just listening to each other's gentle breathing. All the love songs started to make sense.

Seeing Bruce, his second best friend and partner in crime, handle her like he did provoked an opposite reaction of what he was expecting of himself. Tony had been terrified of her leaving him, every single day, no matter how many times his ugly, rotten inside showed itself and she still accepted him; with time, the ache dulled, but it never fully went away.

Bruce put a gentle band-aid on it, unknowingly of course - the scientist was too busy taming his own demons to look out for Tony's - but he went to Tony and laid his cards out on the table. Not backing down and not being sorry for himself either, so neutral it made Tony's heart hurt. They both had come to an agreement, of course, but she went and shredded it and showed them fair and square that they both - all three of them - could get what they wanted only if they worked on themselves a little bit.

For the first time in their lives, the men were truly motivated. There was none of that manipulative undertone that Pepper liked to use on Tony - "you're an adult man, you should be doing and feeling this or that or I'll have to leave you" - there were just gentle hands and even gentler words and no expectations. One day at a time, every single one of them was learning, happily so.

And it wasn't until Natasha had ambushed him in his workshop that he realised, another one of many firsts, that this was what healthy love was supposed to be. There were no obligations, no covert contracts, not one thing that made the whole 'committment' shiding so toxic and terrifying.

Somehow, Natasha knew. "If you hurt her, that's on you. She won't run the first time, and the second time, it's going to be the straw that broke the camel's back... And I would pity you if that happens. Because people like her... They are dangerous when they are hurt. She would gut you like a pig."

Tony's ears were ringing; he wanted to laugh at the absurd thought of this understanding, kind human being acting maliciously. But all he could focus on was Natasha's choice of words: "If... If..." If, not when. Did the spy really think the three of them stood a chance?

Natasha had unceremoniously picked up and chugged his long-cold coffee, gracefully hopping up on the table. "You two are more alike than you think. Figured you'd be self-absorbed enough to choose a carbon copy of yourself," With that, the Russian left, leaving a gaping Tony to stare into the nearest wall. His brain registered it was a joke way too late, the fury that crawled up to burn his throat was cooled by disbelief. If Romanoff thought he was even half as kind and thoughtful as his girl, was it really an insult? Damn those puzzling Russian spies.

Bruce had come not much later, shaken and pale but not green, so deep in thought that he ran into lab equipment twice before ending up in the same place that was occupied by Romanoff minutes earlier. He muttered something about Loki and a pep-talk; things that sounded more like a discussion with his green side, so Tony left him alone.

The shift in Bruce's and Hulk's dynamic was visible to the naked eye ever since that long night in the lab where they both watched Peter and her working on something personal, perfect symbiosis, well-oiled scientific research machine, unlike themselves. Both of them choking on jealousy and acrid, ravenous envy, feelings too inappropriate but too obvious to conceal. Peter's crush on her was just as obvious and her disinterest was just as transparent. But the what-ifs had eaten at them both until they had to spew them out, and the Hulk had been the pushing force for them to begin to act like adults.

Hulk had proposed, in his limited vocabulary and much too passionate tone, to protect the puny Princess at all costs. Bruce didn't resist much and Tony jumped on the bandwagon as soon as he could. It was the only logical solution.

That's why Tony threw the party; he could not care less about Barnes' desire to see Rogers in something trashy and slutty on all Hallows Eve. He couldn't give any less fucks about the press that was raving for another Stark party. He did care a little about Strange's wounded ego: the man fascinated him, like any other strong-willed, independent character, but nothing more. Tony wanted to know what would make the sorcerer tick.

Tony wanted to give his baby girl the world.

And then, he failed.

Tony felt as if someone had poured a bucket of waste right over his head when his- their baby girl had come in, shaking and hiding behind a furious Loki and announced in a monotone voice that she'd been drugged. Something inside of him broke, snapped just like the pencil that Strange was holding next to him.

Bruce hulked out and Tony felt as if he himself would burst any second. His Princess was fearless, he knew it, yet couldn't help his heart from skipping a beat when she approached the green beast with the same kindness she treated all of her closest people. Tony didn't hesitate to follow the Hulk's orders, eager to channel the murderous rage and regretful anguish somewhere; it just spiraled out of hand. Once again, his head was underwater as his life spiraled further and further into lightless abyss and he was alone-

And then all of a sudden, he was warm. Not on the outside, but on the inside - the arms around his shoulders were comforting like an old, worn out sweater, familiar. Missing s couple of threads and spouting a couple of holes - imperfect, but utterly his. Her breathing steady but a little bit shaky, hands holding on just a little too tight.

You two are too much alike, he remembered Natasha's words. That was probably her way of showing just how scared she was. She could be as terrified of his reaction as of the person who did... That... To her. In his house. Tony wasn't stupid; he could put two and two together. That wasn't the time to mope or wallow in self-pity, it was the time to remove the foreseeable threat.

The team stood in silent agreement. A rare moment of absolute unity, all interpersonal issues pushed aside and locked away. Coulson's side-eye was of cosmic magnitude but nobody paid it any mind. It was very unlikely that even the agent himself would be able to stop Natasha and Clint from dealing with the guy; as more and more details came forward, the clouds in the room thickened.

Nobody batted an eye when Baby was, yet once again, the voice of reason and the operation Baby Thief began progressing forward smoothly. Tony reasoned what himself that letting her go with Strange was the best option - even the billionaire himself could not get a better combo than a sorcerer and a doctor that very day.

The box was retrieved; the mere presence ff it and the terse atmosphere it brought into the room reminded all of them too much of the Tesseract and it's effects. Loki was, perhaps, the worst of them all: pacing like an agitated animal, the god growled under his breath at his brother who was clouded with grief and worry. Tony found himself asking "what would Baby do" and came to a conclusion - nothing that wouldn't require him to step over his pride.

In the end, he conceded. A simple "Walk with me", but it was an obvious olive branch extended to Loki and the Asgardian knew it. He wasn't stupid enough to refuse a truce offering in a situation like that. They walked laps around the SHIELD base in neutral silence, slow steps, each lost in their respective thoughts but being finally able to breathe with a full chest. Thankfully, nobody made a remark that they both returned as soon as the box was secured and placed in temporary containment for Strange to pick it up.

For the second time in those 24 hours, Tony's arc reactor all but buzzed in response to his skyrocketing heart rate. She'd called - Loki's phone - and she sounded broken. All of them froze at the exhaustion in her voice; there was nothing but emptiness in the whispers. Nothing that made her, her.

The scene in front of them was something straight out of a B-rated horror movie. Tony thought Loki had reached the apex of his anger earlier; evidently, the engineer had been very wrong and godspeed to the people who managed to piss off the moody Asgardian. It appeared as his magic exploded out of him, all but knocking the people behind him into the walls of the Sanctum.

Their Baby, laying on the floor and the people who swore to protect her beside her, it set Tony's blood ablaze. It boiled, tipping the heat if his temper dangerously close to it's boiling point. She spoke to them, voice shaky and her own fire - it was burning at least as strong as his blood, something had happened and something had hurt her...

Belatedly, he realised Natasha had been right. She was dangerous. There was nothing of the sad, scared girl that came to Bruce whenever she had been upset; there was no desperation for validation, the very same she'd thought she hid well but it seeped through the cracks of her self-deprecating jokes.

Something... Or someone... Had threatened something vital to her. And she was going to make sure they never, ever get the chance to do that again.

I got a comment on AO3, where I also posted this, complimenting my world building. I took a moment to think about it and I understood that to make the story more saturated I had to include some of the other's POVs. So y'all can count on more of these. And if you feel like the x doctor Strange pairing isn't being fully explored - I am aware of that, it's going to be explored more. After all, it took us 10 chapters for Bruce and Tony respectively, and Stephen is a slightly more complicated man. That said, we'll have some more interactions with him shortly. Thank you for your continuous support, guys. I may not remember every single one of your nicknames my heart but I see the likes and I definitely notice whenever a new person binges on this fic. What originally started as an excuse to write hot boomer porn has now grown into something that's a whole damn book and that's because of you guys being so amazing. I love you all 3000.

THE TAG LIST IS NOW OPEN! @another-stark-sub ​ @mostly-marvel-musings  @vozit ​ @littlegasps ​ @pilloclock ​ @shereadsinquiet @downeyreads ​ @hermione-grangers-wife ​ @individualistfem @sleep-i-ness @capbrie @lillsxd @agustdowney @dee-vn @justanotherblonde23 @fanngirl19 @persephonehemingway @softie-socks @schemefrenzy @letsby @cutenessloading @romeo-the-cactus @jelly-fishy-babie @mikariell95

[heroesmusings]

FULL NAME: Thor Odinson

MEANING: Thunder

NICKNAME: Pointbreak

MEANING: It’s what Tony calls him

AGE APPEARANCE: Appears 36, actually over 1000

BIRTHDAY: Unknown

ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Unknown

SPECIES: Asgardian God

GENDER: Cis male

ALLERGIES: None

SEXUAL PREFERENCE: Pansexual 

THEME SONG(S): Thunder by Imagine Dragons, Sunlight by Hozier, Lover of the Light by Mumford and Sons, Young Volcanoes by Fall Out Boy

APPEARANCE

HAIR COLOR:  Dark Blonde

HAIR STYLE AND LENGTH: At times it can be long to shoulder length but also can be buzzed on the side with a little more on top 

EYES COLOR: Blue

EYESIGHT: 20/20 he’s a gOD

HEIGHT: 6″6′

WEIGHT: 235 lbs

OUTFIT/CLOTHING STYLE: Usually he wears his Asgardian get up but when he dresses down he wears jeans and a hoodie

ABNORMALITIES: Missing an eye

DISTINGUISHING MARKS(SCARS,MOLES): Many battle scars cover his body

SELF CARE(MAKE UP): Sometimes sports a beard

FIRST IMPRESSION ON PEOPLE: He looks big and intimidating but he’s actually super friendly once spoken to  

SKIN COLOR: White to tan

BODY TYPE/BUILD: He’s built like a goddamn GOD, there is no way to explain it.. He’s big and made of pure muscle 

DEFAULT EXPRESSION: He tends to look serious just because he was raised a prince 

POSTURE: Thor has perfect posture he was PRINCE OKAY 

PIERCINGS: None 

DESCRIBE THEIR VOICE: Thor’s voice is deep, with a bit of a forgien accent and when angry his voice carries like thunder 

RELATIONS:

MOM: Frigga

HOW WELL DO THEY GET ALONG: Thor was so close to his mother, he adored her with all his heart and misses her every day

DAD: Odin

HOW WELL DO THEY GET ALONG: Thor has mixed feelings when it comes to his father. He used to think of him as a good man but as things came to light and realized some things Thor has slowly come to realize that Odin was never a good father 

SIBLINGS: Hela, Loki

HOW WELL DO THEY GET ALONG: Thor loves his brother, sees the good in him but Loki doesn’t like him and neither did Hela…. So not well. 

CHILDREN: N/A

HOW WELL DO THEY GET ALONG: N/A

OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS: N/A

PAST LOVER(S): Many one night stands, Jane Foster (ex-girlfriend)

CURRENT LOVER: Bruce Banner

REACTION TO MEETING SOMEONE NEW: He likes making friends he’s really a sweet guy

ABILITY TO WORK WITH OTHERS: Thor is very easy to work with and loves to work with people 

HOW SOCIABLE(LONER,ETC): Thor is vERY sociable he loves going out and being around people 

FRIENDS: Hemidall, Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Carol Danvers, Bucky Barnes, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton and literally anyone else

PETS: None

LEAST FAVORITE TYPE OF PERSON: Anyone who thinks they can take advantage of meeker people 

PARENTAL TYPE(PROTECTIVE,ETC): Playful and Protective 

FAVORITE PEOPLE: Bruce, Steve, Bucky and Hemidall 

LEAST FAVORITE PEOPLE: The Dark Elves, Thaons, 

PERSONALITY:

..WHEN YOU FIRST MEET THEM: He looks regal from a distance but he’s very warm and friendly 

..AS YOU KNOW THEM BETTER(AND THEY LIKE YOU): Teasing, Excitable, Gentle

..AS YOU KNOW THEM BETTER(AND THEY DISLIKE YOU): Gruff, Cold, Confrontational 

FAVORITE COLOR: Silver 

FAVORITE FOOD: a stew his mother would make

FAVORITE ANIMAL: ALL ANIMALS, but he’s partial to snakes

FAVORITE INSTRUMENT: ALL OF THEM?

FAVORITE ELEMENT: Fire

LEAST FAVORITE COLOR: White

LEAST FAVORITE FOOD: Weird midgard foods

LEAST FAVORITE ANIMAL: NONE HE LOVES THEM ALL 

LEAST FAVORITE INSTRUMENT: None?

LEAST FAVORITE ELEMENT: Water

HOBBIES: training, video games, learning anything he can about earth

USUAL MOOD: Usually in a good mood

DRINK/SMOKE/DRUGS: Drinks socially

DARK VERSION OF SELF: Thor would be the perfect weapon, powerful and unforgiving, the realms would tremble at his feet

LIGHT VERSION OF SELF: close to what he is now, happy and unworried 

HOW SERIOUS ARE THEY: IF the situation is a tense one he’s very serious but other than that he’s rather joyful

BELIEVE IN GHOSTS: Yes and no?? He can connect to the allfather but that’s it

(IN)DEPENDANT: Thor thinks himself rather independent but he’s not. He’s very connected to everyone he loves

SOFT SPOT/VULNERABILITY: Talking about any of his family, when people try to threaten the avengers, people hating Hulk

OPINION ON SWEARING: He’s rather clean spoken just because he's a prince

DAREDEVIL VS CAUTIOUS: oooh daredevil

MUSIC TYPE: he leans towards what Steve tends to play, he also loves classical music and typical asgardian music 

MOVIE TYPE: Anything ANYTHING 

BOOK TYPE: Again Thor loves to learn so anything 

GAME TYPE: If it’s Asgardian games, it’s anything that has to do with brute strength or drinking -- human ones he doesn’t really care about

COMFORTABLE TEMPERATURE: Thor likes it a little on the cooler side

SLEEPING PATTERN: When Thor is out HE’S FUCKING OUT, he’s a rock its impossible to move him. 

CLEANLINESS/NEATNESS: Thor is used to being cleaned up after but he is polite so he keeps it as clean as he can

DESIRED PET: ALL PETS EVER

HOW DO THEY PASS TIME: Helping rebuild Asgard

BIGGEST SECRET: I don’t know if Thor really has any secrets? He’s an open book anyone can ask him anything

HERO/WHO THEY LOOK UP TO: His mother, Frigga

WHAT ANIMAL WOULD THEY BE: the biggest puppy dog on eaRTH

FEARS: Bruce getting hurt, anything happening to the avengers, and losing Asgard again

COMFORTS: Being around the avengers, spending alone time with Bruce and training

HOW DO THEY ACT WHEN THEY ARE:

SAD: Thor is a prince, he has always been told to hide negative emotions, so Thor bottles it up, he puts on a brave face because he is a warrior and royal. So for a long time no one knows he’s sad until he starts pulling away and secluding himself 

HAPPY: Thor is like a ray of sunshine, he talks fast, and tends to just want to touch and laugh

ANGRY: ……………………...AN ANGRY GOD IS NOT SOMETHING YOU WANT. It’s pure rage, the sky turns black -- a storm swirls above him and he’s lit up with lightning. He’s brutal and will not show mercy 

AFRAID: Thor doesn’t really fear? He’s never been allowed to fear. He’s a god and he knows his powers but when he is he tries to face it head on, take it by the horns and conquer it. 

LOVE SOMEONE: Gentle, and understanding -- he cares deeply about them and checks up on them often. He’s always around and is expressing his admiration for them 

HATE SOMEONE: He’s cold, which is a VERY rare thing for thor. He doesn’t hate many but its an angry hate, so if he hates you, then you’ve done something so wrong

WANT SOMETHING: He asks permission.. That is what he was taught to do, so he’s polite as he requests whatever it is.

CONFUSED: He wants it explained to him he loves learning okay 

HOW DO THEY REACT TO:

DANGER: THOR LOVES DANGER, but he’s protective if it involves people he loves

SOMEONE THEY HATE WHO HAS A CRUSH ON THEM: I’m sorry if but Thor hate you you are dead no way around it so YOU CANT HAVE A CRUSH 

PROPOSAL TO MARRY: Thor would be ????? so confused. He would have not expected such a thing but he’d of course say yes and would want a human and an asgardian wedding 

DEATH OF LOVED ONE: He interlizes it, he hasn’t ever had a proper way to express his mourning.. He’s still recovering from the death of his family. 

DIFFICULT GAME/MATH/ETC: He’d try the best he can, and usually he figures it out

INJURY: ...he’s a god so he’d just take it as a badge of honor

SOMETHING IRRESISTABLY CUTE: He would want to squish thank you

LOSS OF HOURS OF WORK: Thor doesn’t LOSE hours of work okay he’s always wanted on missions 

KNOWLEDGE:

LANGUAGES: Thor has allspeak so literally everything

SCHOOLING LEVEL: Graduated from formal Asgardian education and warrior school 

FAVORITE SUBJECT (S): Ya know… fighting 

INTERESTED CAREERS: Valkyrie until he realized it was for women only 

EXPERTISE: asgardian physiology, weather manipulation, flight, electric manipulation, combat

PUZZLES: Thor would rather hand them off to someone else so he can do other things

CHEMISTRY: for human, not so great at that because he’s not from earth but asgardian chemistry he excelled in it

MATH: Again, human math? Not so great but Asgard? Expert 

ENGLISH: HE didn’t HAVE ENGLISH 

GEOGRAPHY: he knows how to get to realm to realm 

POLITICS/LAW: Given he’s a prince he had to be very involved in all of it

ECONOMY/ACCOUNTING: Again a prince so its his job

COOKING: Nope not at all, he’s always had things cooked for him

SEWING: Medical sewing he’s okay at

MECHANICS: This is just way over Thor’s head all of it

BOTANY (FLOWERS): Not really interested in all of that 

MYTHOLOGY: HE IS THE MYTH

DRAMATICS(ACTING,SINGING): Not for him, for Loki maybe

READING LEVEL: Proficient in all languages 

HOW GOOD ARE THEY AT PLANNING AHEAD: somewhat? He did have to do battle strategies 

ROMANCE:

DO THEY TAKE INITIATIVE: Yes ALL THE TIME, he’s so touch

HOW DO THEY ACT(SHY,ETC): He’s fairly forward honestly 

GENTLEMAN/LADYLIKE VS KLUTZY: A GENTLEMAN HE’S PRINCE

GO SLOW VS JUMP INTO: With people before Bruce? He usually just jumped right in but he likes taking it slow with Bruce 

PROTECTIVE: uh hell yeah

ACT LIKE FRIENDS OR LOVERS: Both 

WHAT KIND OF PRESENTS DO THEY BUY: Thor likes bringing Bruce all sorts of things from Asgard honestly, anything that he thinks Bruce will like he brings

TYPE OF KISSER: Surprisingly, Thor is a very soft and gentle lover. So his kisses are the same, gentle but VERY through

DO THEY WANT KIDS: i don’t…. Know. i actually don’t think it’s crossed his mind?

DO THEY WANT TO MARRY: YES YES 

MAKE GOOD OR BAD DECISIONS: Uh both, but he likes to think he’s got good intentions 

ARE THEY ROMANTIC: yes OF COURSE

HOW ARE THEY IN BED: Thor’s a god.. And he’s very well versed so sleeping with Thor is truly otherworldly

GET JEALOUS EASY: Actually no, not really

WIFE/HUBBY BEATER: NEVER

MARRY FOR MONEY: LMAO NO NOT AT ALL

FAVORITE POSITION: oh my god.. he for sure likes to top.. Really any position he just likes intimacy 

WHAT WOULD HAPPEN ON THEIR DREAM DATE: DATE ON ASGARD, he wants to treat Bruce to a perfect evening on asgard filled with food and magic and science and watch the sunset over the water

OPINION ON SEX: Sex is almost a ritual to him? It’s a very important and meaningful thing..  He never takes having sex lightly. Its meant to be a celebration of intimacy.

[loraneldin]

Eight pack - Part 3 (Part 1, Part 2)

Bruce wakes to a roaring and can’t decide if it is inside his head or out. Trying to find out almost makes him miss that there are arms wrapped around him. He finally decides that they are in the Quinjet and part of the noise are the engines starting. But the majority of it is actually his head feeling like it has been screwed on the wrong way around. 

He opens an eye anyway to see who is holding him in their lap. Thor’s eyes flicker down to him and for a moment a smile washes the tension off his face. 

The last sense that registers is smell. The smile comes with a waft of relaxing omega but mostly Thor smells worried and … slightly aggressive. That must be a remnant from the fight.

They were called out to Maine to fight a thing. That was what the first responder report said. A giant thing. When they arrived, Tony had looked expectantly at Bruce waiting for an assessment.

“It could be a Malva– Nephro– Odoco– I have no idea. I’m sure it’s not a mineral, though.”

So, they fought the thing. And it sure was vicious. Vicious enough that Steve decided they needed the Hulk, who found some soft spot to pummel while the rest kept the thing’s maws occupied. Then a giant tentacle (or was it a vine?) passed just beside the Hulk’s head and he had tried to bat it away and then he got knocked out from behind. It is the last thing Bruce remembers.

“Is the thing dead?” he asks. Because that would explain why the note of agitation isn’t  disappearing from Thor’s scent.

“Yes, it is. Thor got you away from it, and Tony finished it off with the Unibeam.”

Bruce turns his head to where Steve has been talking. He is standing at the bulkhead all the way over by the pilot seat, his hands held down and out in a somewhat awkward manner.

‘“The police and the army are going to do the clean up. We’re getting you and Nat back to the tower and into medical.”

There is a low growl that, as Bruce belatedly realizes, is coming from Thor.

Steve stretches all his fingers even further apart as if at a loss for what else to do with them.

“They just need to take a look at Nat and Bruce and if they are alright we’ll take them back home.”

Bruce thinks he is probably alright once the headache is gone. “What’s with Nat?”

“I’m fine.” Nat’s voice is coming from behind Bruce back and he tries to turn his neck that far but winces when pain shoots up his spine and into his skull.

Thor growls again and cradles Bruce’s head against his chest, so firm that Bruce has no doubt he won’t be moving again any time soon.

“Nat, you’ve been stabbed.” Sam’s voice is coming from the cockpit area. Bruce hears it slightly muffled, closed in as he is in Thor’s arms.

“And?” Nat bites back.

Sam sighs.

Everybody expects alphas to be stupid about injuries, but on this team it is basically everybody, and Nat is the queen of them all. Again, Thor’s pheromones are shifting towards uncertainty. If he is getting this protective about Bruce, there is a good chance he thought about trying to do the same with Nat when they were boarding. And there is no way that went over well.

Nat hates people doting on her when she’s injured. Steve is only able to ever get her to see a doctor by swearing to ban her from missions if she doesn’t do it. But Bruce knows without being able to look that Clint is by her side and has already checked the wound too. He is somehow exempt from all of Nat’s suspicions.

“Just let me take a look,” Sam asks again and there is a barely noticeable tremble to his voice, so the wound must have at least looked bad. If everyone is worried about Nat, the air in the jet was probably going to be hell in a few minutes. 

Bruce almost jolts when he recognizes who he hasn’t heard so far. “Tony, you are way too silent there.”

“I’m flying to get you all to the doctors as fast as possible. Although it would really be helpful if you would let Sam check since he’s the only one with medical training here.”

“I think Nat needs that more than me.”

“Ha, if Bruce doesn’t need to be checked out neither do I.”

“Bruce needs to be checked for a concussion,” Sam explains. “The bit that we can do here, I can tell Steve how to do, while I check on Nat.”

Nat harumpfs and Thor growls again. At Steve checking on Bruce? Is that what is going on here?

They have become a lot closer after Bucky spoke up and Tony induced a cuddle fest. But everything has been neither here nor there so far. Team activities have become more and there is a lot more of casual touching and asks for hugs, but that is it.

It sure is better than before and they all know it, but if they’re honest, it’s not enough. 

The reactions from everyone were neutral or negative when Bruce only mentioned the word pack. Back then it was only an observation. But especially Bucky and Steve were horrified by the mention alone, which after all is probably connected to their youth taking place almost a century ago. It still isn’t a common concept, but there are different views on relationships and families today. If one would ask Bruce himself, he knew that the traditional epitome of relationships, one alpha and one omega, was no recipe for joy either. He grew up with the worst possible outcome of that structure.

And doing this thing half assed isn’t an option either as they are effectively demonstrating right now. 

“Thor,” Bruce rasps maybe a bit more pitiable than his condition requires.

A questioning sounds makes him open his eyes. Thor is fully concentrated on him, and Bruce doesn’t even try to ignore how nice that feels. They all know that Thor’s protective streak is a mile wide, but the combination of the intensified bonding and a mission leaving two of them in need of medical attention have apparently send those instincts into overdrive.

Bruce takes a deep breath and lets go of all the things that are scurrying through his mind for the moment. They will be there to worry about when they are through this. He concentrates on not making any distressed sounds when lifting his arm to cup Thor’s cheek. He doesn’t bother to smile. It would look as fake as it feels, instead he tries to project a sense of calm. 

“Will you let Steve take a look? You know he is as worried as you are.” He lets his need for attention filter through as good as he is able to manage. It still makes him feel guilty after relearning and practising it for years. The smell of his longing for connection starts to become noticeable and his first thought is that it is much too strong, but Thor doesn’t react negatively, instead buries his face in Bruce’s neck. 

“Steve can help,” Bruce tries again. “And then Sam can go take a look at Natasha and make sure she is okay too.”

That there is not more growling from Thor is a good sign. Bruce only feels how Thor nods against his neck. The hand still pressing his head to Thor’s chest let’s go and he can turn around to beckon Steve over.

-

Nat has no choice but to let Sam check the wound. Well, she does, but then she would be responsible if Thor sinks further into this overbearing-omega-will-demolish-anyone-getting-too-close-to-his-loved-ones persona. That Bruce managed to get him even so far out of it is respectable. And she doesn’t really have an argument if it isn’t about her but about Thor, does she? 

She would trust Sam with her life, has several times, but she still hates this situation. He asks before he does anything, and while Natasha understands why, she still hates it. It just makes it resemble a medical treatment even more.

“Can you just poke me where you need to and forgo the good bedside manners?”

Thor’s head turns to monitor the situation, and Natasha rolls her eyes. “Everything is fine, Thor. I just don’t need the talk. Sam would never hurt me, right?” She adds the last bit with her most vicious smile. 

Sam looks up from where he is at eye-level with the gash at her side and gives her the stink-eye.

“It’s superficial but still bleeding. It probably will need stitches, though.” Sam stands up and removes the latex gloves. Before he can go back to the co-pilot seat, however, Clint grabs his arm and pulls him back. 

“I think Nat needs some cuddles too until we’re back.”

“We are three minutes out,” Tony interrupts from the front.

“Still,” Clint waves the objection away.

Sam plops down on Natasha’s other side and raises one eyebrow questiongly. With a sigh Natasha lifts his arm and snuggles close, pulling Clint with her, so that they are both half lying atop of Sam. She is still able to see the other three where Thor has allowed Steve to at least crouch in front of them and have a settling hand on Bruce’s back. 

The calm that settles over the Quinjet is hard to ignore. Nat still isn’t sure where they are going with this. So far the developments all have been kind of nice, but she knows that there’s always a caveat. 

She cards a hand through Clint’s hair. With him it’s been worth it. Not that she ever weighed it that way; since they met it has been clear that there was nothing coming between them. Mostly because Clint would never give her up and wasn’t that something completely new. But being lucky once was one thing, repeating that six times? How lucky could one person be? 

Sam is humming some song that Natasha doesn’t know. She takes a deep breath. The worry and aggression and thinly veiled disappointment that have been in the air are mostly gone. Instead, it is a mixture of content and drained omegas and betas. And even Sam, who is usually very much in control of his pheromones and not as communicative that way (one could also say more polite than to push it in everyone’s face), smells highly satisfied. Natasha pencilled him down as a carer the minute they met, but it is nice to know she has been so right. 

Natasha still isn’t wholly convinced of this thing, but it’s hard not to want to try.

Part 4

[abrunettefangirlnerd]

Wont Stop

Prompt: You are the newest recruit for the Avengers. Your room is right next to the Winter Soldier, and since being here you are awaken by the sound of Bucky restless after his nightmares. One night you decide to go in to check if he’s okay.

Part: 1/5

Pairing: Bucky x Reader

Warnings: Slight mention of abuse

Word Count: 1619

            After being recruited a month ago, Avenger headquarters started to feel like home. Of course the team played a big part in this. Steve was the one who brought me in after I nearly drowned him. That’s my power, or curse as some would call it, hydrokinesis. I can manipulate water, yes a lot like Katara from Avatar the Last Airbender but not as glamorous.

             Ever since getting here almost everyone was eager to welcome me in, almost everyone. Bucky, also known as the Winter Soldier, didn’t seem so thrilled upon my arrival. As a matter of fact he’s still not, most of the time he keeps to his room when he’s not training. Nat told me to not take it personally, he usually doesn’t interact with anyone but Steve.

“Hey Steve, will Bucky be joining us for training today?” I asked with a joking smile, already knowing the answer.

“Not today, (Y/N).” Steve sets down his water. “He didn’t sleep well last night.”

             A involuntary snort escapes me as my feet assume a fighting stance. Bucky never sleeps well, he is constantly waking up from some sort of nightmare. Other than his name, the constant nightmares are the only thing I know about him.

Being predictable, Steve starts with a punch that I easily block and proceed to hit him in the gut. Not doing anything to him, Steve easily takes me down with a kick to my knee.

             While sparing Steve doesn’t want me to use my powers, which is completely unfair because he gets to use his. My figures tingle as they will for the water in Steve’s bottle. Knowing what I’m planning to do Steve shoots me a warning look as he pins my body to the ground.

“No powers (Y/N).” Steve teases.

“Scared Rogers?” I snarl. “It’s only water.”

             In that instant not just the water from the bottle comes to my aid, but some of the water from the lake just outside the window. The glass that was once keeping us separated from outside now lays in pieces on the floor.

“(Y/N)!” Steve shouts.

             My eyes grow wide as they take in the chaos. Water is everywhere, leaving Steve soaking wet along with the floor mixed with the remaining glass. I spring to my feet and assess the damage. Not even sure of me saying sorry I turn on my heal and race away from the scene. Steve’s voice present in my ears as he take off shouting after me, but his voice seems distant as though I am underwater too.

             Not noticing where I am going, not really caring, my body hits what seems to be a wall. Looking up did my eyes realize I did not hit a wall but a person, our eyes connecting together like magnets. They are dark, mysterious, and holy captivating. A cool chill of shivers runs up my body as we just stand there gazing.

“Buck,” Steve breathes, hunching over with his hands on his knees. “Would you please tell (Y/N) not to try and drown me next time?”

             Bucky shoots a puzzling look my way, almost questioning if it is even possible I could. My stubborn nature instantly courses a challenge through my veins. I’ll prove him wrong, someday if I can get more than 5 seconds with him.

“Stark needs to see you.” Whatever expression Bucky once had is now wiped clean, along with your presence in the room. “He said it was important.” Yup, I’m completely invisible.

             Steve gives a nod saying his goodbye as he runs toward Tony’s lab. This leaves you alone with Bucky, which always caused the air in the room to thin. After standing there shifting his weight for another minute he saunters off down the hall to his room.

“Good to see to you too.” You shout as he closes his door with a thud.

             Regaining focus you walk into the kitchen for a glass of water. Once in there you are greeted by Thor and Bruce, who are once again trying to explain who won their pervious fight on a different planet. Thor’s hands go flying as he recreates what happened in the arena, while at the same time trying to keep Bruce calm so he doesn’t Hulk out.

“Are you two ever going to let this go?” I huff resting my head on the palm of my hand. “It doesn’t even matter. Bruce you were in this environment for a long time,  and Thor you were trying to protect yourself. You two are friends and made it out of there together.”

“Yeah but I-” Thor starts again but I cut him off with my hand.

“Stop, I beg of you.” Puffing my lower lip out for affect. “It gives me a migraine, so drop it.”

“Ouch, look at who woke up on the wrong side of the bed.” Nat says walking in.

             She grabs a bottle of water from the fridge and stands next to Bruce. I’m not quite sure what is going on between them. Nat gives him the flirty butterfly eyes every time he’s in the room, but I can’t figure out of Bruce is ignoring it or just happens to be that oblivious. Nat told me that he is afraid of hurting her, but she called bullshit on that a long time ago. There is nothing more he can do to hurt her that hasn’t already been done.

**

             Nighttime came a lot sooner than expected, as it does almost every day. About every night I’m woken up by Bucky, though I can’t give him and his nightmares all the credit. My body is practically programed to wake up at certain times throughout the night and to small noises – just like when I was growing up – if that’s what we want to call it.

“No no no!” My ears ring on my pillow.

             It’s not like it’s loud or anything, but this is all I hear night after night so given it has been a month it’s almost expected of me to have a negative reaction. Though tonight something feels strange. I was already up, having been awoke by my own nightmare, but my heart almost aches for Bucky tonight.

             Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always felt for the guy. I know what it’s like to have a past that was easy to forget. I had an abusive dad who thankfully passed while I was still young, leaving me with my aunt who later dumped me on the streets. At the age of 10 I was on my own, I struggled with my powers, finding food, fought with other homeless people, and had one hell of a time trying to keep from getting sick.

             Without much thought I pull a hoodie over my head and walk out of my room. Trying to be as quiet as possible my toes land me right in front of his door. I can hear my heart racing in my ears. What if he can hear it too?

“Bucky.” You whisper as loud as you can. “It’s me, (Y/N).”

“What do you want?” He seethes opening the door just enough for me to see his face.

“I just… I just wanted to – to,” all sense of words stumbled out of my brain just for this moment. “I just wanted to see if you were okay.” I slowly ease out.

             Bucky’s eyebrows knit together but he slowly inches the door slightly open allowing me entrance to his room. My eyes scan the area. Like everyone else there is a bed and a table with a lamp next to it, but that’s it. Other than his arm laying across the little table there isn’t anything else in the room. Kinda odd for someone who used to live before and during World War II.

“It’s all gone.” His raspy voice causes me to jump. “My stuff, it was all lost when I was. No one keeps the things of a dead man.”

“Bucky, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to-” he interrupts me with a shake of the head. “So what were you dreaming about?”

             Clearly this was the wrong choice of words. Bucky’s expression goes nonexistent again, he just looks numb. There is no indication that he will speak. Good job (Y/N), you got him talking but had to go screw it up. Quickly apologizing the room falls silent as my eyes stare at him sitting on the bed.

“You don’t have to tell me, I understand having a past you’d rather forget.” Still no answer, but at least his eyebrows raise in surprise.

“Why don’t you like me?” The words come rushing out.

             Probably not the best choice of words either but at least I get more of a reaction out of him. If my eyes aren’t betraying me I could have sworn I saw a smile spread across his face for a split second. God if only he would do that more often. He doesn’t seems as terrifying and intense when he loosens up.

“It’s not that I don’t like you,” he begins. “You just have a way of making me feel uneasy.”

             Heat rises to my cheeks as I hide my face hoping he doesn’t notice. A little smile plays on my lips as my heart starts racing once more. Turning back around to face him I can tell by his eyes that he noticed his effect on me.

“Well I hope it’s not in a bad way,” I say plopping down next to him. “We fight alongside each other.”

“No,” he pauses. “Nothing like that.”

“Good.” I rise back to my feet and attempt to tower over him. “Because I have hopes in becoming really good friends.”

Next >

[theprocrastinatingalien]

Looking towards Avengers 4 (with major Infinity War spoilers)

I'm aware that this might come across as negative, so I need to get something out there immediately... I absolutely loved AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR.  I thought it was epic, and in the same way that THE AVENGERS shouldn't have worked, it totally did.  Bringing all those characters together and it not being a shambles. I've always had faith in Marvel and (in particular) the MCU... all in all INFINITY WAR is a triumph.  My excitement for AVENGERS 4 is on overload already.

The second (and much better) ANT-MAN AND THE WASP trailer has just been released, and early next year we get to meet CAPTAIN MARVEL.  That's all exciting stuff, but AVENGERS 4... that's where we've heading to.  Kevin Feige has stated that there will be a line drawn for the fans... everything before AVENGERS 4, and everything after it. 

That's something to remember when discussing AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR, because whilst it feels like everything has been leading to THAT film, that's not true, it's next year's outing that really is - as Doctor Strange would say - the endgame.

It's impossible to look towards AVENGERS 4 without  talking about INFINITY WAR, of course.... especially as, well, it killed off a lot of it's characters.  I'm not about to review the film, but we HAVE to talk about the deaths.   They're very important.

Marvel have always, seemingly, been afraid to kill off major characters.  One-off villains, sure.  The odd supporting character, maybe.  But the big players?  Not so much.  During the first two phases of the MCU, the biggest death is arguably Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) in AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON.  Sadly, the death is underwhelming because... we've only just met him.  Barring a tease at the end of a previous movie, the 'twins' were only properly introduced in the film that offed him, so we can't possibly care as much as if, say one of the originals had died instead.  A lot of people thought Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) might bite the dust, and that would've meant more, certainly.  Quicksilver it was though.   Then phase three happened - would things change?  A little bit, and not at first.  Personally I was disappointed with CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR, as it was a film I went in absolutely expecting the exit of a known character.  The comic book source suggested a death should happen, and really if it wasn't known that Chris Evans had more films on his slate I would've really expect Captain America to be a goner.  Knowing that wouldn't happen I expected someone in his place.   The closest we come is (Don Cheadle's) War Machine's plummet. It's dramatic... but it's not a death and it is sadly completely signposted in the trailers.

I've made my peace with CIVIL WAR though, and moved on from my initial disappointment to regard it as one of my favourite movies in the franchise. Since then, Marvel have seemingly cottoned on to the fact that - as much as we don't want to see our favourites die - it needs to happen if the audiences are to believe the jeopardy of the situations the characters are in.  In GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL 2 director/writer James Gunn chose to kill off Yondu (Michael Rooker).  It's actually a powerful moment, and whilst Yondu is hardly a core member of the group, it's affecting enough.   THOR: RAGNAROK took it further... with half the cast of the previous films not returning anyway (Foster, Selvig, Darcy and Sif all missing), the devastation across Asgard at the hands of Hela (Cate Blanchett) sees off Volstagg, Fandral, Hogun, with Odin (Anthony Hopkins) having his swansong earlier in the film.  It's enough.  True none of the 'crossover' characters get taken out... but RAGNAROK does run straight into INFINITY WAR as the fleeing Asgardian race come face to to face with Thanos' ship.

That's precisely where we start INFINITY WAR too.   Whilst some characters are questionably missing - Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie and rock dude Korg for example - those we do see aren't around for long.   The Asgardian bodies are scattered, and the first 'proper' death of film is Idris Elba's Heimdall.  He bifrosts the Hulk to Earth and in doing so is killed by Thanos (Josh Brolin).  Thor (Chris Hemsworth - in his biggest, most important role during an Avengers outing) is shocked, but the bigger shock comes when Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is throttled to death.  Okay, for some of the audience I don't think this is as big a shock as it is for Thor, but it means a lot.  Loki has been a favourite with the fans, especially the favourite villain in the MCU, and whilst I've seen some bemoan a wasted death, I think it's perfect for the film. Loki IS  a villain, and the 'bigger' deaths need to be reserved for the heroes.

Gamora.  That's a big death, which actually guides the film to it's conclusion.  Zoe Saldana's green assassin plays such an important role.... it is sad when Thanos sacrifices her for the soul stone... but again, I'm sure we saw it coming.  ONE of the GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY had to be offed. As the story unfolds, it makes sense that Gamora is the one.... and if it's a permanent death it's going make a big hole in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL 3!  She's the lead female after all.  But her death works... and, let's be honest, it's the effect on Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) that stops Iron Man and Spider-Man succeeding in getting the gauntlet off of Thanos, which could have won everything there and then.

We then have Vision (Paul Bettany).  He dies twice.   Once at the hands of Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) to save half the universe... and once by Thanos to destroy it.  Those deaths all have a lot of weight to them for varying degrees and reasons.  Heimdall is the first notable death, Loki a god, Gamora a guardian and Vision an android who probably could've been the saviour of the universe had his head not been a target.

Thanos then clicks his fingers.  A simple act, that has devastating consequences. Half the life in the universe gets wiped out - including half of our heroes.  Bucky, Falcon, Black Panther, Groot, Scarlet Witch, Spider-Man, Star-Lord, Drax, Mantis, Maria Hill, Nick Fury and Doctor Strange.  They all... disappear.  It's has a massive impact  The bad guy won.  The good guys lost.  The last shot of the film is Thanos smiling.   The credits are black and sombre.  At the very end we're normally told that our heroes will return... but we're not... instead we're told that Thanos will return.

It's a shock.

Until you think about it. 

If AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR was the last film of the phase, then the impact would be astounding, but we know AVENGERS 4 is now a year away. When the third phase was announced, a two-parter was announced - AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR PART 1 & PART 2.  Since then, the writers and directors have tried to undo that.  INFINITY WAR has now 'part one' attached, and the title to the follow up is still a secret.  We've been told that the film is very different to the one we've seen, but the title is technically a spoiler, so they chose to withhold it so audiences could concentrate on the movie at hand.

Having seen INFINITY WAR (and I'll state again - I loved it) I really wouldn't be surprised if the title for the next film ends up simply being AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR VOL 2.   I can't see how it's not a simple 'second part'.  Thanos smiling at the end of this movie might as well have had the words 'to be continued' written across it.

And the more I think about those deaths at the end, the more it bugs me. Why?  Because it's the wrong characters that died.   That might sound like a silly statement, but stick with me here... look at the list again.... in particular, Black Panther, Doctor Strange... Spider-Man... almost all of the Guardians.   They're all characters that will DEFINITELY be back.  Next year sees the sequel to SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING.  The year after, we have GUARIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL 3, and let's be honest, there's no way we're not getting a DOCTOR STRANGE 2 or  BLACK PANTHER 2.  Most of the characters (barring Maria Hill and Nick Fury) are phase 2 or 3 characters, and will have their place amongst phase 4.

Who are we left with?  Iron Man, Thor, Dr Banner, Steve Rogers, Black Widow, War Machine, Nebula, Okoye, Rocket and M'Baku.  These are the characters we'll be following into the next movie - what's odd about that is, except for the last few names on the list - these are the guys who are moving on.  Robert Downey Jr was the first guy we ever saw in this franchise.  Chris Evans has publically said he's done, and Chris Hemsworth's arc seems largely done now.    I'm going to come back to this.   This is important.  Right now, I'm going to start looking at what I know/suspect about AVENGERS 4...

CLINT BARTON, ANT-MAN, WASP and CAPTAIN MARVEL

These four are joining the action.   No question.   There's been a lot of upset that Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) was absent from the marketing, but that's simply because he wasn't in the film.  They probably could've shoehorned him into it they wanted, he could've shot lots of arrows in the Wakanda fight... but he's been saved for something bigger.   The on-set photos of him seem to suggest Clint is now going by the name Ronin.  I assume this is because, whilst he was keeping away from the Avengers to keep his family safe, his family then disappeared with Thanos' click.   He probably blames himself.  Maybe an extra pair of hands could've helped save the day?  With so many characters now taken out of action, I reckon Barton (whatever his moniker) will have a major role to play in the next movie.  Likewise, Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly and Brie Larson get to tag in... with Ant-Man (also noted to be missing from IW) Wasp and Captain Marvel (both ladies kept back until their superhero statues had been revealed officially in their respective movies) coming in the kick ass.  Captain Marvel even gets a tease in the post credits as Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) sends her an emergency message).  She's likely to play a key part too, as she's be noted to be the most powerful of all the heroes.

And it's now I need to go back to my feeling that they've killed off the wrong characters.  You see, think about this... as it stands, with the deaths we've have, we known it's all going to get undone.  We know things are going to be sorted to some degree.   But now switch it.   Imagine the characters that died at the end were Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, Hulk, Rocket, Nebula, War Machine... would we be so certain things would be undone?  Knowing certain contracts were at the end, others happy to leave... and imagine also, that first battle in New York, but with all the new guys - Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Spider-Man, the Guardians... all joining in what was already an brilliant cinematic scene.   How great would that money shot be - you know the one, with the six Avengers in a circle together for the first time, but now bolstered by added Ant-Man, Falcon, Scarlet Witch, Captain Marvel...

I just wonder if the writers have missed a trick.  Because we do, really know things are going to be okay.  But we return to that feeling that a lot of these deaths in this movie were for shock value only, they will be undone.  Maybe not for EVERYONE, but mostly.  It also makes us wonder... is Vision gone?  Will Gamora, and maybe even Loki rise from their graves?  Hell, will the reset button go so far back that even the likes of Quicksilver and all over Asgard come back?

I think what we will see, is the original gang lay down their lives to bring all those characters back.  Going back in time might not actually be the big finale, it might be second act action leaving into a third act where Thanos joins forces with the Avengers against... a Gauntlet wielding Nebula (Karen Gillan's character does get to do that in the comic, and she's still around) or a different character... maybe the Skrulls will appear?  (I don't think that's the case though).

Whilst I am, I guess, disappointed with who they killed off, I do believe we'll have a cracking end to the three phases of the MCU.  I do believe that it'll end the franchise as we know - as certain characters will be leaving us, and there'll undoubtedly be a lump in the throat as they do.   Whilst a lot of the characters will (probably) be missing for large portion of the film, I do believe - if Sebastian Stan can be believed - there'll be the biggest 'money shot' we've seen - with more characters than we've ever seen, including characters like Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) coming into the mix somehow.

Whatever AVENGERS 4 has in store, I am so excited.  This will most definitely not be my last post n the matter.  There's so much to look forward to... what we already know, and all the stuff we haven't got a clue about!

[magicalcrapulent]

Captain America and how he discards his title in CA:CW

Once I have lain in bed one morning and thought about CA:CW. Let’s just say that I have feelings about this movie. I analyzed the movie and Steve’s and Tony’s actions during the plot. I decided to write it down to order my thought, and it somehow became an essay (oops?). And now I want to share my new insights with the world; the insight that Captain America discards his title as Captain America as early as CA:CW.

Okay guys, hear me out! Captain America: Civil War is not about the Sokovia Accords or an argument between Steve and Tony. It’s much more than that underneath the surface. It’s about Steve’s abandonment of his Captain America persona. And this is how it goes:

What does Captain America stand for? Democracy and freedom. He is/was the ideal human being in terms of Nazi standards: big, blonde, blue eyes, intelligent, the perfect soldier. And he punched Hitler in the face. Why? Because it’s the right thing to do. Steve acts on the premise that what he does is good and right, because that’s what he’s been doing all this time since WW2, that’s why he was chosen for Project: Rebirth in the first place: because of his inherent goodness, and Steve delivered (rightfully so). He is used to do what is good and right, because that’s who he is, that’s what Captain America is, what he stands for: The Good Fight.

And then the Accords came. Suddenly somebody tells him that he was acting out of order, that his actions may not be as positive as he was led to believe. Of course he denies it for a while, but CA:CW is not really about the Accords, at least not for Steve. But by brushing those Accords aside he also starts brushing aside everything he stands for: Democracy and freedom. 117 nations decided that the Avengers couldn’t continue the way they were doing. 117 nations decided that they had enough of having an American team of ‘superheroes’ just come into their country, cause mayhem and then disappear again, leaving those nations in shambles, all in the name of the greater good. They had enough, and they used their rights and freedoms to do something against it. They stood up and said “It’s enough”. By denying those nations’ right to say ‘No’, by saying “The safest hands are our own”, by claiming everybody in a position of power is (basically)corrupt and has a secret agenda, Steve denies those countries’ freedom and democratic rights.

Steve is not completely wrong. He has personal experience with hidden agendas. Negative experiences. We have seen it in The Avengers and CA:TWS. SHIELD has, on multiple occasions, withheld information and had their own secret agenda and their reasoning wasn’t all that sound. It starts in The Avengers, where SHIELD lies to Steve’s face about clean energy while secretly making HYDRA weapons. This is the first crack in Steve’s trust towards the established power systems. The second is when the Security Council fires a nuke at Manhattan, at their own civil population. That is the second crack. The next one comes in CA:TWS. Already at the beginning Fury withheld mission parameters from him, and we can see how pissed Steve is that people are not telling him everything he (thinks he) needs to know. His trust is completely shattered when it turns out SHIELD was corrupted from the very beginning. HYDRA has grown inside Shield from the start, and it turns out for Steve that even the organization with the hidden agenda has even MORE hidden agendas. I think we can say that Steve worked for SHIELD because it is the only organization he marginally trusts (and knows), and he only continues to trust them after The Avengers is probably because they weren’t the ones who fired the nuke and they came clean to him when he confronted them with the hidden HYDRA weapons.

So Steve’s skepticism towards established governments and organizations is justified. What he doesn’t seem to understand is, that even he himself has a hidden agenda: Bucky. Rumlow is right by saying that, whenever Bucky is mentioned, Steve’s brain does a full stop and everything else loses importance. So by saying that he can’t trust governments with hidden agendas to give the commands, he is a hypocrite, because he himself has a hidden agenda himself that he tries to protect and fulfill. Because not only does he want to protect Bucky, but he also wants to neutralize the threat the additional Winter Soldiers in Siberia pose, something he doesn’t really tell anybody about who doesn’t necessarily have to know about it. And Tony obviously isn’t somebody who needs to know in Steve’s opinion. The thing he so despises in other – the secret keeping, the lies, the hidden agendas – are all things he does himself through the length of CA:CW. But we get to that again later.

This is actually a reoccurring theme in comics; it’s a thing that especially authorities like the police criticized after WW2 about the way they are depicted in comics. The Lone Hero, most of the time some kind of vigilante who acts outside of the law, defeats the bad guys and lets the government, military and police look bad. People feared that especially children would read those comics and disregard local authority, because obviously they are completely incompetent, and why should children even listen to them?

And that’s exactly what Steve does! After the UN bombing in Vienna every evidence they had at that time led to Bucky being the culprit. We, as the viewers, know that something else is going on and that it wasn’t Bucky who planted the bomb, but the characters in the movie don’t know what we know. They only have the means and knowledge given to them, and, like I said, the evidence points towards Bucky. And so the police, no, more than the police, the fucking GSG9, a German special ops team, goes to apprehend the man who bombed the UN in Vienna. And what does Steve do? He decides that they are not good enough                       and that he can do better and sweeps in himself, verifying everybody’s worst fears and complains to be true. Like Tony said later in the movie, Steve’s actions prove that something like the Accords is necessary, because obviously Steve knows no boundaries. No matter what Steve claims, acting the way he did wasn’t the best for everybody and he was following his own agenda: saving Bucky. The only one profiting from his actions was Bucky, nobody else.

Then comes a time of calm, of conversation and of diplomacy, where Tony and Steve have a long overdue conversation. And Tony brings out the pens he found in his attic (?). But what do these pens symbolize? Tony said that they were used to sign the Lend-Lease Bill, but what does this have to do with the story? What does this Bill contribute? They could have chosen any other Bill or even a Peace treaty that those pens could have signed, but they chose this specific Bill. Why?

This Bill basically allowed Roosevelt to continue his own agenda – involving America in WW2 – while still acting in the boundaries of the law. By loaning and not selling the UK weapons and supplies he acts in the parameters set by his own government while still helping those who need it. It is symbolic to the Accords and Tony’s role in it. He signed the Accord because he thinks it’s the right thing to do, because his own actions (Ultron for example) show that even Superheroes need regulations. They can’t just run around and do as they please without any kind of consequences. In Lagos Cap and his team did their thing, and when people got hurt and died they just left again like “Well, shit happens life goes on”. A normal human being wouldn’t have been able to get away with something like that, and Superheroes shouldn’t be an exception.

No. Tony signed the Accords to take up responsibility for his action, but he isn’t delusional. He knows Ross. In the after Credit scene in The Incredible Hulk we see him talking to Ross. He knows that guy and what to expect. But Tony is a clever dude. He signed the Accords, but he is also manipulating them to suit himself and what he wants to accomplish. It sounds shifty, but so does Steve with his “the safest hands are our own” bullshit. Tony acts in the parameters set by the Accords, just like Roosevelt acted in the parameters set by the American Government and Congress, while still working towards their own ultimate goals.

That is what those pens symbolize, the acting in set rules while having the freedom to follow your own morals. A practical example for this is Wanda’s confinement. Many may shout “Tony imprisoned her!”, but what do you expect? She’s an illegal immigrant without any kind of legal papers, an ex-member of HYDRA, helped Ultron, and got some people in Lagos killed. Do people really think that all those things don’t have consequences? Do they really think that she can get away with all of those things with a simple “Oops, my bad”? It was either house arrest in a comfortable environment, her own home, with all its luxury like privacy, TV, Internet, fitness facilities, and all alone with the guy she has a crush on, or being imprisoned in a cell with a straightjacket and a collar. Tony acted in the parameters of the Accords, but he managed to manipulate them according to his will by having Wanda in confinement, but still giving her luxury and a certain kind of freedom and amenity. Not to forget that Steve didn’t even think to ask about Wanda. Only when Tony brought her up did he care to think what is going on with her. Another evidence is that, at the moment, Steve is single-mindedly focused on Bucky and nobody else, no matter their (maybe shitty) situation. With those pens Tony subtly tells Steve that he can still follow his own goals and still keep his integrity and follow his own morals while still complying with the law, just like Tony has done with Wanda.

But all of this goes right past Steve. All he says concerning the Lend-Lease Bill is that it brought America closer towards war. And again he acts like a hypocrite. Wasn’t it Steve who applied for enlistment through all of New York and even New Jersey so that he can participate in said war? Wasn’t it Steve who said that bullies weren’t allowed to remain in power? Wasn’t it Steve who fought the Good Fight by punching Hitler in the face?  As much as WW1 was a senseless bloodshed, the Second World War was, in a way, necessary. People like Hitler weren’t allowed to remain in power. They weren’t allowed to achieve world domination. And to be frank, it wasn’t really America that stood in Hitler’s way. It was Churchill and the UK. They were the only ones standing in Hitler’s way of completely controlling Europe. Not America, not France, not Russia (who were Hitler’s allies), it was the UK. As much as Roosevelt wanted to participate in the war and help his British friends, he couldn’t. The American people didn’t allow it; his congress didn’t allow it. The only thing he could do was trick the laws and his government as much as he could to support Churchill as much as he could.

By not only forgetting that, but by also first thinking about the (somewhat) negative implication those pens brought up – America joining WW2 – Steve not only disregards the sacrifices the UK brought during that very lonely year where they were the only ones standing in Hitler’s way, but he also insinuates that it was wrong from Roosevelt to sign this Bill. We can compare it to his own situation with the Accords. He thinks that signing those Accords is a mistake, something that will tear the Avengers apart, something that will get them into trouble, something that could be avoided by not signing. But at the same time he betrays everything he stands for in that sentence. By implying that (in a way) joining the war was a mistake he betrays his former believes that you have to stand up to bullies, that you can’t let somebody like Hitler or HYDRA continue as they are. At the same time he thinks that he is honoring those very same ideals with not signing the Accords, because he thinks that the people who support those Accords are the real bullies. But that is, like Rhodey so wonderfully put it, “dangerously arrogant”. To think you are the only person in the world to be in the right and everybody else’s opinion and reasoning is wrong, is indeed dangerously arrogant.

In that moment he represents the American imperial belief, the thought of America as the world’s police force. America comes into a country where there is a problem and gets themselves involved despite the protests of its inhabitants. They think they have the right of it because they say they fight for something bigger like freedom and democracy. And that’s what Cap does, too. He gets into a country in the name of the mission and the protection of the world, does what he wants, and says he has the right of it because he does it for something bigger like freedom and democracy. So it’s doubly hypocritical of him to say that joining the war was the wrong decision to make, not only because he represents the American imperialism, but also because, as we have seen in Age of Ultron, that Steve’s biggest fear is the end of the war. That’s his biggest fear, that the war (no matter which one, WW2, war with the Chitauri, war against HYDRA, war with Ultron) ends and that he is no longer needed. Steve fears peace, and almost craves war, because it gives him purpose. And isn’t that sad? That your only purpose in life is to go to war?

By disregarding the pens, by disregarding the Lend-Lease Bill, Steve is disregarding every single one of his accomplishments as Captain America: his help in defeating the Nazis and HYDRA, the victory at the Battle of New York against the Chitauri, HYDRA’s defeat in Washington, Ultron’s defeat in Sokovia. By implying that joining the war wasn’t worth it he practically says that all those accomplishments and victories weren’t worth it. Tony is right, though. By signing the Lend-Lease Bill Roosevelt helped Steve become Captain America, and thus helped to achieve all of those victories. And Steve is brushing them aside because he has a) no idea about political maneuvering and b) he is unable to compromise and make a detour to achieve his ultimate goal.

But why can’t he make those compromises? What is it that stops him from thinking this through properly? You know the Answer. It starts with a B and ends with an –ucky.

Steve has a certain picture of Bucky, and that picture sometimes doesn’t align with reality. For him, Bucky is his friend, his partner in crime, his brother in everything but blood. They grew up together, fought together, they had each others’ back from the moment they became friends. The problem is that this version of Bucky doesn’t exist anymore, at least not in the beginning. Since the end of CA:TWS Bucky was nobody. He wasn’t Steve’s long lost friend, but he also wasn’t the Winter Soldier. He was nobody, had no identity, no memories, everything that makes a person who they are has been erased by HYDRA, over and over again. But Steve saw him and only saw his long lost brother, when in reality he wasn’t. He was nobody. But throughout the movie Steve tries to protect this friend, even during a time where he wasn’t this friend, not until after Bucky went on a rampage and Steve knocked his head real hard (neuronal recalibrating). Only after that did Bucky really become Bucky. But before that he was the (ex-)HYDRA assassin who bombed the UN. Steve, of course, doesn’t believe that, because he has faith in Bucky and knows he would never do that, that he only ever became the ‘villain’ because HYDRA kidnapped him and brainwashed him over and over again. And Steve is right, Bucky wouldn’t do that. But Nobody-the-ex-Hydra-assassin might. In theory of course, the viewer knows that he wasn’t the culprit, but like I said above, the characters can’t know that because they don’t have all the information the viewer has. The point is that Steve expects Bucky to think and act in a certain way that he is familiar with and that he knows and can predict, but at that certain point of the story that is not who Bucky is. Only after he regains some part of his memories and part of himself, are those predictions Steve made true. Before that Steve predicted the behavior and steps of a different person, not of Nobody-the-ex-Hydra-assassin.

Steve’s predictions get verified then. He always knew that it wasn’t Bucky who planted the bomb but somebody else, that something more sinister is going on, but he didn’t predict that out of empiric evidence but because of a personal, subjective opinion. But now, with Bucky regaining part of his memory, with an actual clue that there is a very real and very big threat on the horizon that could very well make HYDRA or whoever it is take control of those additional Winter Soldiers a very real contester for world domination, what does Steve do? HE KEEPS IT TO HIMSELF!!!

Before CA:CW Steve had a real problem with authorities keeping information from him, even accused the UN and 117 Nations of being corrupt, and here he is, doing the exact same thing! It already started in CA:TWS where Steve found out that HYDRA killed Howard Stark and opted not to tell Tony about it. In Age of Ultron Steve accused Tony of keeping too many secrets from the team, while at the same time he is the one who keeps a pretty big secret from Tony. This is already were it started, this is where Steve starts abandoning his own ideals. He demands honesty and transparency from everybody, because that is how democracy works, but at the same time he doesn’t offer any of that himself.

Steve believes the worst of other people – probably because he was told that he himself was inherently good, which would imply that everybody else wasn’t good enough and thus he was better than them– and in CA:CW he also believes the worst of Tony. He doesn’t tell Tony about this new threat because he thinks he wouldn’t believe him, that he will try to stop Steve from doing the right thing, from stopping those Winter Soldiers. And in the end he feels vindicated (again), because Tony does try to stop him, but not because of the reasons Steve predicts, but because Tony can only act on the information he has, which means that, for Tony, Steve is trying to help Bucky escape and hide him until he can clear his name. That is all the information Tony has, and he cannot act differently because Steve is withholding information. And the airstrip of an airport when tensions are high and people are preparing for battle is probably not the best time or place to discuss this new potential threat. It’s not like they had hours upon hours of time to meet up or talk over the phone about those Winter Soldiers… Oh! Wait!!! THEY DID!!! You cannot tell me that Steve had time to fly two (completely uninvolved) parties from as far as San Francisco (!) over to Germany, but at the same time didn’t have the time to tell Tony (at least over the phone) that there are five killing machines about to be released in Siberia. Tony would have at least had somebody check that out, or would have even gone himself to take a look at those potential Winter Soldiers.

Some may complain now: “Tony was off collecting his own little army! How was he supposed to reach him? Steve had to defend himself so that he could go and stop those Winter Soldiers!” Yes, Tony did collect an army. Why? Because he has seen what Steve was willing to do in Bucharest when people started to become a ‘threat’ to Bucky. He has gotten 36 hours to bring Steve and Bucky in, and he knew that he could only do that properly and with as little violence as possible when he could overpower them. Spider-Man’s task for example was only to web them up so that they could collect them later on. Tony only wanted to stop a wanted fugitive from escaping and stop Steve before the situation could become any worse for him because Steve was helping and abetting an escaped fugitive. Tony couldn’t really know that Steve was collecting allies and a small army himself.

And then, of course, everything goes to shit. Rhodey is paralyzed, Steve and Bucky escaped to god knows where, half of the Avengers is in prison. Of course they blame Tony for that (I’m looking at you Clint and Scott), but let me ask you: WHAT DO YOU THINK WOULD HAPPEN??? You probably saw in the News what happened in Vienna, that Bucky was probably the culprit, that you were basically helping a prime suspect for a terroristic bombing at the fucking UN escape, and you thought that didn’t have consequences?!?!? That’s the exact reason why the Accords are necessary. Team Cap thinks they are right, just like Steve does, that they were fighting The Good Fight and that this justifies their action. But that’s not true. They helped a wanted fugitive and – as far as the world knows – a wanted terrorist and destroyed an entire airport in the process. And they think they are going to get away with it.

It’s like with Wanda and the incident in Lagos: Steve made a mistake by getting distracted, Wanda moved in, but she didn’t have enough control of her power, too little training for a mission like that, and people died. And although it wasn’t her intention, and that she only wanted to help, it still doesn’t change that she and the Avengers made a mistake and people died because of it. There need to be regulations and consequences, or so-called ‘superheroes’ can do whatever they want in the name of the greater good without reporting to anybody but themselves. Tony is right with what he said, that “without rules we are no better than the bad guys”. Because if there are no rules, then ‘superheroes’ can destroy an entire airport or, like in Age of Ultron, half a city, and face no kind of consequences. Again, Rhodey’s comment about being “dangerously arrogant” comes to mind, and it fits wonderfully into the Raft scene as well. Both Clint and Scott act as if they were in the right and that their imprisonment is a huge injustice because they were fighting The Good Fight, and that they got imprisoned by no fault of their own (and what is it with Marvel’s fathers that they just abandon their kids in a heartbeat? Oh yes Clint, retiring and spending more time with your family by going golfing and water skiing is so boring). They are the ones the Accords try to protect the world from, because they have gone out of control.

The only one who acts reasonable and logical and like he has even a stint of common sense is Sam. When Tony talks to him and tells him that new evidence has come up and that he now knows that Bucky was framed and that something else is going on, Sam tells him everything. It has basically taken two days for the allegations against Bucky to be proven false. Tony isn’t on some kind of vendetta, a hardliner of the Accords that can’t play with anybody acting outside of them (we have already concluded that above with the pens and the Lend-Lease Bill). He knows what he has to do so that Ross and anybody else who might be out for blood doesn’t get a hint that he is about to meet Captain America and The Winter Soldier. We see that Tony can compromise and prioritize. He is going now to help Steve and Bucky neutralize the other Winter Soldiers so that Tony can regain Steve’s trust he seemed to have lost when Tony signed the Accords, and so that they can have time later to discuss every other issue they have without the threat of world destruction.

And, again, everything goes to shit. Bucky become Zemo’s instrument with which he can tear the Avengers apart. And Steve lets him.

By keeping the truth about Howards (and Maria’s) death a secret ‘to save Tony the heartache and spare his feelings’ and by being to single-mindedly focused on Bucky, Steve has brought by the destruction of the Avengers as they knew it. He may claim that he has kept that knowledge a secret to spare Tony’s feelings, but in reality he was protecting Bucky once again. Again Steve probably feels vindicated when Tony attacked Bucky in grief and rage. He has probably predicted such a reaction from the moment he found out Howard was murdered by HYDRA, probably by Bucky, probably predicted that Tony would try to find the murderer of his parents and make him pay. And again, Steve expects the worst of Tony. What was Tony supposed to do? His parents’ murderer was standing right there, right in front of him while he just saw this very same man murder his fucking parents on video! And Steve, somebody who Tony thought of as a friend, was protecting him. How many other people has Bucky killed? How many other people was Steve denying their justice by protecting a single man? I know – and Tony probably knows, too – that it wasn’t really Bucky’s fault, that he got brainwashed and exploited as a weapon. But in that moment, freshly overcome with grief and rage, Tony can’t see reason. Just like Steve loses any kind of objectivity when Bucky is in danger, it’s the same with Tony when the people he loves are in danger (like when he builds the Iron Man army in IM3 to ‘protect what he can’t live without’, or earlier when Rhodey fell out of the sky and appeared dead). Tony loses any kind of objectivity and reason, and after the break-up with Pepper and Rhodey’s fall he is at his breaking point. He has enough.

But all of that following fight might have been avoided if Steve had just come to Tony and told him that Howard’s death wasn’t an accident but that HYDRA had him murdered. Maybe then Tony might have been able to vent his anger and rage into the right direction, especially when you think about that between CA:TWS and Age of Ultron the Avengers were basically raiding one HYDRA facility after the other. That would have been a good way for Tony to make those suckers pay for the death of his parents. But no. Steve didn’t tell Tony, even dares to excuse his behavior and secret keeping, something he oh so despised in others like SHIELD or Natasha or Fury.

Transparency and the sharing of information are the foundations on which a good democracy is build, so that people can make educated decisions, so that people can regard every aspect of a situation. But Steve denies Tony that right over and over again. By his unwillingness to compromise and meet other people halfway, by always expecting the worst of everybody else, he became the very thing he fought against: despots who only follow their own moral code and agendas. He demands the sharing of information from everybody else while he is not forthcoming himself. He criticizes others for following their own moral code and doing what they think is right while he does the exact same thing. He demands others to be reasonable while he himself is dangerously compromised and biased. Captain America is the symbol of freedom and democracy, the right for people to voice their opinions and their right to tell others ‘No’, but by ignoring their voices – the voices of 117 nations – out of more or less personal reasons, by withholding (vital) information and not offering transparency, he is betraying everything Captain America stands for.

And I think Steve knows that.

Tony’s quip ‘My father made that shield, you don’t deserve it’ is almost pitiful in the given situation, but that sentence has a far deeper connotation. Howard has been Steve’s friend, just like Steve has been Tony’s friend, and by protecting his murderer, the murderer of Tony’s parents, he was betraying them in a way. At the same time Tony indirectly tells him that he isn’t Captain America anymore, that he has become someone not worthy of that shield and the title of Captain America that goes along with it. And I think that Steve knows and realizes that. That final fight against Tony, when Tony tells him that he has been Steve’s friend, too, I think that was the moment when Steve realized that he has fucked up. That he has become so biased and compromised that he disregarded everything and everyone else. But he couldn’t stop anymore. Through his mistakes Tony is about to kill Bucky, his Bucky, and he has already gone too far in protecting his brother than to stop now, even at Tony’s costs. At the end Steve could have been petty or all righteous and say that he was Captain America no matter what so he is keeping that shield, but I think that he has gained at least a little bit of self-reflection and realized that what he did wasn’t okay, that he made some mistakes down the line, and that he can’t go back now, at least not for a while. So he lets that shield drop because he doesn’t deserve it.

So he drops that shield, because he knows that he isn’t worthy of it, not after everything what happened. And it wasn’t Tony who ripped the team apart by signing the Accords; it also wasn’t really Steve who ripped it apart by prioritizing Bucky above everything else, but it were the two of them together. Tony (though by no fault of his own; he couldn’t guess that Bucky killed his parents, and his reaction was entirely human) and Steve (by keeping all of this a secret and by withholding important information) gave Zemo the ammunition and the instruments to pit the avengers against each other.

But Steve has shown throughout the movie how he is unable to think clearly when Bucky is involved, how he can’t analyze the situation properly when somebody just so much as mentions his name, how Steve is willing to break the law and get in the way of proper law enforcement to help him, how he prioritizes him over everbody else in his team. Steve is unable to accept other’s opinions and decisions when they are opposite of his own or deviate from it. He is unable to submit to any kind of governmental oversight, even if it’s a humanitarian one like the UN. He can’t accept that his own opinion may differ and may not be in accordance to popular and political opinion and that some countries may not want him and his involvement in his country. He ignores them and continues to do his own thing, breaking the law, getting innocent people in danger, being responsible for the death of innocent people, and being overall subjective and compromised in his decision making. He overall disregards ideals he stands for (freedom from oppression, democracy, free will, exchange of information to make educated decision), and by doing so he casts away his title of Captain America.

What is left is just a kid from Brooklyn. Not a symbol, not a hero, not even a soldier, just another human being.

[imamotherfuckingstar-lord]

The Curtain, part 8

Steve Rogers x Reader

Summary: You had been Steve Rogers’ best girl for many years, until he took down SHIELD and proclaimed his allegiance to Hydra. And that was when your world came tumbling down. Now you were part of the Underground - a group of rogue heroes and civilians that wanted nothing to do with Hydra. The Mount was the secret headquarters where you lived now, as you all try to find a way to get the world back. And where you try your hardest to forget Steve Rogers or at least the man he is now, but could you ever? 

Then an incident with a piece of cosmic cube has you face to face with Steve Rogers of the past. 

Characters:  Past!Steve Rogers, Hydra! Steve Rogers, Clint Barton/Hawkeye, Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, Miles Morales/Spider-Man, Amadeus Cho/Hulk, Viv Vision, Bruce Banner/Hulk, Thor.

Warning: If you don’t like the Hydra Steve currently in the Marvel comics, don’t read. He is mentioned quite a lot, but he won’t be making an appearance until near the end. Won’t be tagging anyone unless they asked to be tagged. Spoilers for Secret Empire.

A/N: This is mostly based on the comic Secret Empire and most of the characterization is based on comic book counterparts - or at least a mix of the two for those also in the MCU. TBH, this story isn’t what you expect.

Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7

He drowned in your scent, the way your body moved against his - knowing which ways to drive him crazy. Steve moaned at your every touch and it occurred to him, as you placed a hand onto his face. You did know every nook and cranny of his body, knew what he liked and what would send him over the edge. You knew this all, because you knew him - a version of him that not yet existed and for a brief moment, Steve felt guilty. Felt like he was taking advantage of you, of your love for him - his future self, but then you gazed into his eyes as you climaxed and uttered his name so softly with a brace of familiarity. And he forgot everything in the haze of euphoric pleasure.

The two of you laid nude, limbs wrapped around each other on the gym floor mat. Skin a little sweaty, despite the cool air in the room. Your head rested against Steve’s chest and for a moment, it was like nothing had changed. Nearly forgetting about Hydra Steve - as you called him in your mind, because he wasn’t your Steve, he wasn’t the Steve holding you closely against his body. The Steve who brushed his fingers against your back, but then again, he was.

It was confusing in every way, but you still felt comfort in this Steve’s embrace.

“We should get dressed soon,” Steve sighed regretfully. “We don’t want anyone walking in.”

“Right,” you chuckled, lifting yourself off his body. Your eyes gazed down to his and without thinking, you pressed a finger under his collar bone. He lifted his head to watch as you drew five small black dots on his skin, perfectly aligned in a row. Steve felt a warm sensation, but it did not hurt.

“Did you just brand me,” he joked and you smiled.

“Two dates, three weeks,” you explained, running a finger over the mark. “Five is my lucky number.”

“I guess it’s mine too.”

....

Steve walked you to your quarters, after the two of you dressed silently. He asked if you wanted some lunch and you said yes, but you wanted to shower and go see what Stark and Banner were up to.

“Of course,” he smiled, taking a step toward you. “I want you to know, what just happened, it meant something to me.”

His face tighten, waiting for a response and when you took his hand- Steve sighed quietly.

“Me too,” you confessed, giving a light squeeze against his palm before pulling away. “I’ll see you a in a bit?”

“Of course.”

...

After a long warm shower, where you contemplated the consequences of what just happened. Would it affect the future - like Back to the Future? Was it a mistake?

Well, it certainly didn’t feel like one.

You walked into Stark’s lab, feeling fresher in every way.

“Hey Science Bro,” you chimed, when you didn’t see Bruce.“So how the hell are we going to save the world from Hydra Cap?”

Tony snorted and it pained you, because if he only knew what happens to him in the future. Shrugging off all negative thoughts, you smiled brilliantly at the man and walked over to where he worked on a tablet.

“So, Rogers and you,” he teased, not looking up from his work. “FRIDAY warned us not to go into gym.”

“Warned who?”

Tony smirked up at you. “Everyone.”

“Oh, great,” you exhaled. “I’m the slut from the future, well, I do like to keep it classy.”

“Relax,” he chuckled. “We all know Steve and you have history..future.. Wow, that’s going to be a complicated story to tell the grandkids.”

“Very funny,” you nudged him lightly and asked if anything interesting came up from the Tesseract.

“What are you abilities? The last time we spoke in person, I don’t remember you having any.”

“I did, just they weren’t fully developed then.”

Tony hummed and said Bruce went to take a nap. “He’s gotta rest once in awhile or the green guy gets mad. Go grab a bite to eat or go out, come back in an hour and you can give us a show.”

“A show..”

“Of your abilities,” he laughed. “Jesus, get out of here. Go find Rogers, maybe you two can go another round in the gym.”

Not bothering to respond, you waved him off and left the lab.

...

You wandered off back to your room, finding Steve waiting outside - leaned against the hallway wall. He looked up when he heard your footsteps and smiled, pushing himself of the wal.

“So, Stark and Banner have any news?”

“No, I have to go back in a bit to show them my abilities. Hopefully then, they can figure something out, because time travel is for sure not one of my powers.”

“Right,” Steve chuckled. “So, how about some lunch?”

The two of you opted to stay at the Tower, because the surrounding area was still in recovery and both of you had guilt about the mess, and selfishly wanted to avoid the chaos left behind from the battle.

You watched as Steve worked around the Tower’s kitchen, fixing up sandwiches for the two of you. He asked what you liked and you shrugged.

“The works, anything really. Food isn’t the greatest, the Underground, we try, but supplies have ran low the last couple of weeks.”

“The Underground?”

“Yeah,” you sighed, reaching for the water bottle Steve had set in front of you. “Clint, Nat, the kids and a few others, we have a secret hide out, base - we’re a collective of heroes and civilians wanting to fight against..”

“My regimine,” Steve frowned, as he cut the sandwiches in half, carefully placing them onto plates.

“That’s not who Captain America is, that’s not who you are Steve. I know this, Clint knows this - we’ve been fighting to save you. We know something’s wrong, we know we can get you back,” you choked out. “We believe in you, I believe in you and I’m determined to fix it, especially now, that I’m here with you.”

“And what if you can’t? What if you’re stuck here forever?”

You throat tightened.

“What if Stark and Banner can’t figure it out? What’s going to happen?”

“I have faith they’ll figure it out,” you lied. Sure you had hope they would, but you knew things were never certain and everything could go to shit so fast, you’ve seen it first hand. There was a plan B.

Kill Steve Rogers, rid the world of the man you loved so much.

“Well,” he said lightly, handing over a plate. “If you have hope, I have hope.”

You took the food and grinned up at the man. “In the meantime, I plan on enjoying this sandwich to the fullest.”

Steve watched in quiet delight as you ate and tried to hold back the feeling inside him, the feeling of not wanting to let you go.

Tagging: @travelwithwords @bubbleboss15 @frostingsfics @buttercup337 @to-pick-ourselves-up-7@alwayshave-faith @radrouda @rubynationwins  @mo320 @sleepyartistsworld  @artisticniffler @a-michellerae-things

Only tagging those who ask to be for this series.

[placetobenation]

Steve’s Box Office Report: May 2010

Top 10 Films for the Month of May:

1. Iron Man 2 – $312,433,331

2. Shrek Forever After – $238,736,787

3. Robin Hood – $105,269,730

4. Sex and the City 2 – $95,347,692

5. The Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time – $88,656,132

6. Letters to Juliet – $53,032,453

7. Just Wright – $21,540,363

8. MacGruber – $8,525,600

9. Babies – $7,320,323

10. Sea Rex 3D: Journey to a Prehistoric World – $6,096,582

Honorable Mentions:

None

May Winners: Iron Man 2, Shrek Forever After, and Letters to Juliet

We continue on through the year of 2010 with the month of May as we kick off the summer season. The slate of films for this month was an interesting crop as there were some films that you knew were going to do well in some capacity, but there were plenty of films that could either surprise people to end up flopping in the end. Ultimately, we only had 3 films make it into this category and the first is the next installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe which is Iron Man 2, a film that sees Tony Stark face a threat that has personal implications while coming to terms with his possible mortality with what is keeping him alive. While many felt it was a slight notch below its predecessor, it still did great at the box office and easily surpassed the first one while showing everyone that the MCU was here to stay. The next film from this month that makes it into this category is the animated film Shrek Forever After, the fourth film in the franchise that sees Shrek yearning for the days when he was a feared ogre and Rumpelstiltskin agrees to help him though with possible consequences. The film would receive mixed reviews from critics who felt it was the worse of the series, but it still made quite a good chunk of money and showed that the franchise was still viable even though this film felt like the end of the franchise with new ones starting to crop up. The third and final film from this month that makes it into this category is the romance film Letters to Juliet, a film about a fact checker who answers a “Letter to Juliet” and helps the writer of the letter look for her long-lost love. The film would receive mixed to negative reviews from critics who felt it was rather lackluster even as a romance film, but it still managed to walk away with just over $53 million which was perfectly fine considering some of the bigger films that came out around the same time. While it is a bit disappointing that only three films made this category, two of them pretty much dominated the whole month and attributed to the bulk of the success of the month which is fine.

May Losers: Robin Hood and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

As I mentioned in the previous category, there were a few films that looked like they could potentially be surprise hits though in the end I don’t think we got much in the way of surprise hits which was a bit disappointing. On the flip side, it was going to be interesting to see if anything ended up being a flop and sure enough we had two films that flopped which isn’t good given that they were pretty anticipated going in. The first film from this month that makes it into this category is the epic drama film Robin Hood, a retelling of the classic tale of Robin Hood as he grows to become a hero to England while preparing for a surprise invasion from France. The film would receive mixed reviews from critics who felt it was a lackluster film and not the best adaptation of the classic story, and while the film did reach over $100 million it still fell well short of its budget and as a result it ends up being one of the bigger bombs of the year. The other film from this month that makes it into this category is the action fantasy film Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, based on the video game of the same name of a young man who finds a mysterious dagger that can control time as he teams with a princess to prevent an alteration in the timeline. The film would receive mixed to negative reviews from critics though some felt it was a better video game adaptation than most others, but the film would bomb at the box office even being released over Memorial Day weekend and it was another in a line of video game adaptations bombing. It’s too bad because I’m sure there were people that were looking forward to these two films and had some decent expectations, but in the end both failed to deliver and they ended up keeping the month of reaching the top level.

The Surprise/Story of May 2010: MCU launches to a new level as Iron Man 2 wins May 2010

When the year of 2010 started, there were a lot of films coming out that were going to have plenty of eyes on it and people were anxious to see how they were going to do. At this point two years ago, we saw the launch of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the release of Iron Man which did very well and then the next month was the Incredible Hulk which was a bit of a disappointment. Knowing we were going to have to wait two years until the next installment, the anticipation was pretty high to see if Iron Man 2 would build off of Iron Man or it would play more like Incredible Hulk and become a major speed bump for this fledging franchise. In the end, Iron Man 2 ended up being a major success and while it just missed Iron Man by a few million dollars, it had to come as a major relief to Marvel knowing that there was an audience for this universe. We would now have to wait another year for the next installment meaning that the anticipation was going to grow again, but for now Iron Man 2 was a big success and easily took the top spot for the month of May as nothing else including Shrek Forever After came even close to matching it.

Overachiever of May 2010: Iron Man 2

Back in 2008, the Marvel Cinematic Universe launched with Iron Man and it was a major success, and then a month later the second film in the franchise came out in the Incredible Hulk and that was a bit of a disappointment in the box office. Knowing we would have to wait two years until the next installment came out, you knew the anticipation was going to be high and Marvel had to be on edge to see how Iron Man 2 would end up doing. The reviews for it were fairly positive with many saying that it was a good follow up to the original, though some did feel that there were aspects that didn’t work and it didn’t feel as fresh as the first one though that it always hard for a sequel to do. Ultimately, when the film did release at the beginning of the month it crushed the opening weekend of the first Iron Man by making close to $130 million showing that the MCU was now a viable franchise and had plenty of legs going forward. Now while the film just missed passing Iron Man by only a few million dollars, you can’t take away how well the film did and the complete domination of the month which easily earns it the title of the overachiever of the month.

Underachiever of May 2010: Sex and the City 2

I have made reference to May 2008 a few times and I do it again here as it was that year we saw the release of Sex and the City, and that movie did very well despite the mixed reviews and it seemed inevitable that a sequel was possible. Sure enough two years later, we get the release of Sex and the City 2 which sees the four gal pals travel to Abu Dhabi for a vacation as they deal with their own personal issues. Unlike the first film which had more mixed reviews from critics, this one received negative reviews from critics who felt it was a sad end to the long-running TV series and the film was also criticized for certain aspects of it regarding race and sexism. Also unlike the first film which managed to perform well and exceeded most expectations, this one ended up falling flat on its face as not only did it fail to match the predecessor, it didn’t even finish with $100 million. This happened despite the fact it came out over Memorial Day weekend and looked prime to be solid counterprogramming to Shrek and Prince of Persia, but in the end it was a major disappointment and is more than worthy of the title of underachiever of the month.

May 2010 Awards Watch: Iron Man 2 and Sex and the City 2

After the new award season started fairly strong between February and March, things have dipped quite a bit as the previous month only had one film in this category and now this month only has two films make it into this category. It doesn’t say much for the films in this month when the majority of them don’t make it into this category for any of the big three, and perhaps that just proves how middling they were for the most part. The first film from this month that makes it into this category is Iron Man 2 which was nominated for one Academy Award (Best Visual Effects) which it wouldn’t win, but it was still a win for Marvel to at least get an Academy Award nod. The other film from this month that makes it into this category is Sex and the City 2 which would win three Golden Raspberry Awards (Worst Actress, Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off, or Sequel, and Worst Screen Ensemble) while being nominated for four more (Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Supporting Actress, and Worst Screenplay) which reaffirms its status as one of the worst films of the year. We will see going forward if this category becomes more meatier in the coming months, but right now it is not off to the best start for the 2010-2011 season.

Overall Thoughts of May 2010:

Overall, the month of May 2010 was a pretty solid month though after looking deeper into it, it was not as good as I had originally thought and because of that I had to knock the grade very slightly. Usually when you have a couple of films do very well, you tend to skew the grade for the month towards that and you just assume that the rest of the films from that month didn’t have that much of an impact. But when you compare it to previous months with the same grade, you realize that the month was not as good as originally thought and that happens here as this month was not an “A” level month like I thought. Having said that, this month did have some successes with Iron Man 2 and Shrek Forever After driving most of the business, and the rest of the films either bombed, underdelivered, or met their expectations which were probably low going in and we will see how things continue to play out through the summer. As for the month of May 2010, it is a pretty good month though it does have to be considered a bit of a disappointment given the number of what looked like strong contenders being released this month.

Final Grade: B+

[furederiko]

The closing chapter of a trilogy, but also a prologue to a whole new cosmic adventure...

This year, Marvel Studios has released three movies. "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" in May, "Spider-Man: Homecoming" in July, and of course, "Thor: Ragnarok" in... November. Yep, the last one opened yesterday in my country, meaning we local Marvel fans in several Asian and European countries got lucky and had it around a week earlier than the American. These three movies are different to one another in tone and taste. However, they also had one thing in common: the sensation is hard to put into words.

General consensus for "Thor: Ragnarok" calls it as loads of fun or a riot. That's not wrong, because Marvel Studios indeed delivered its funniest movie yet (it had me LOL-ing real hard yesterday). In a year where most comedies failed to hit the stride? THAT alone is an achievement. But it's also more than just a comedy. It's a dark dramedy, if I can be more specific, though I'm not even 100% sure if that's the most accurate term. You see, the events happening in this movie is DARK. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige was true to his words, because the movie is wrapped in a game-changing condition. A sure end to the Thor trilogy.

Thor Odinson (Chris Hemsworth, who else?) shines in what is easily the best feature in his solo trilogy. If you've been following this character ever since his debut in "Thor", then you would be excited to see how far he has become. The growth in this character is amazing, whether personally or in relationship with others. At long last, the God of Thunder lives up to his namesake and legacy. One that sadly comes with major costs.

Fans of the Incredible Hulk (the great Mark Ruffalo) is in for a treat as well. Much like how "Captain America: Civil War" intertwined the story of Steve Rogers and Tony Stark, Bruce Banner had his fair share in this movie as the second major Avenger. He and Thor even shared a wet fan-service scene that will make any fans blush in laughters. You'll be sooo thrilled to see how different Hulk had shaped up after the events of "Avengers: Age of Ultron". Fans might have shown a degree of hostility towards that movie, but one will easily admit, various elements from it plays out as crucial factor in Hulk's trajectory.

Loki Laufeyson (the ever charming Tom Hiddleston) was a tricky scene stealer in his brother's first two movies. That position has been taken away by the new characters in this one. It doesn't mean that he's been eclipsed or something like that. Suffice to say, Loki is still mischievous as always and important for the plot, but at the same time he also gets an unexpected redemption in his own way. I'm sure his devoted fans, and also those others who favors to ship these two adopted-brothers, would be more than happy with what they see here.

Rounding up the returning cast, we have Heimdall (the famous Idris Elba), Odin (the legendary Anthony Hopkins), and... several others. The first gets to do way more, with much better importance than his previous appearances. I love how Heimdall's ability to see everywhere anywhere is put to good use. The latter, gets to deliver a more casual interpretation of the great Al-Father, and is in involved in the movie's most iconic moments. The movie also reveals a very interesting facet of this character that will surprise any fans of the movies, which is a somewhat grand departure from the source material. There are also other returning characters who show up, but talking about them means dwelving into spoiler territory, so I won't go that route. Regardless, if there's any part of the movie I'm not too fond of, it's definitely concerning these minor ones.

The new characters, are simply astonishing. Director Taika Waititi gets the privilege to introduce them to the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the first time, and because of that, they all exude his quirky personalities in different ways. Hela (scenery-chewing Cate Blanchett), is literally the Goddess of Death. She's imposing, and a scary antagonist with a shocking connection to the Asgardians. Most of her scenes take place in Asgard for the 'Ragnarok' part, being galaxies away from Thor, Hulk, and their friends who are busy with the 'Planet Hulk' part. She spends more time with Skurge the Executioner (a bald Karl Urban), thus igniting some negative feedback from critics. I feel Blanchett does fantastic work in this character. The issue here, is actually due to Hela being in charge for the more serious moments, while audience will easily pay more attention to the fun and glorious rampants of the protagonists.

And then there's Scrapper 142 (the super-talented Tessa Thompson), or The Valkyrie as she is widely promoted. She is a scene stealer who excites audience with her strong and couldn't-care-less persona, both in serious and comedic moments. Many will be comparing her to a recent DC super hero that debuted her solo movie this year, and I'm not surprised. It's hard to say how amazing she is, because I want to respect the actress' personal dislike of a particular phrase (Valkyrie is indeed ba**ss, though. Sorry Tessa... LOL). So I'm going to just sum it in this sentence: she totally rocks! The Grandmaster (the one and only Jeff Goldblum) is vying for the top spot. He might be one of the utmost perfect casting in Marvel Studios' history. Unlike his brother The Collector (played by Benicio del Toro) who has debuted before him, Grandmaster is just... an endless hillarious hoot. Most of the scenes with him had me cackling and giggling like lunatic. I totally can't wait to see him appearing in future movie. Moreso, interacting with that equally eccentric brother. Oh, and have I mentioned the Kronan warrior Korg (motion-captured and voiced by Waititi himself) and his BFF Miek? Brilliant, simply brilliant loveable characters. Nuff said. Lest not forget the fantastic cameos from those unexpected actors. Dang it, if only Liam is part of this too... ;D

This movie is not perfect. It started a bit shaky, particularly during that scene between Thor and Surtur (voiced by Clancy Brown). It picked up as soon as the setting changes though, so not to worry. Also, as I said before, some of its emotional moments are toned down by the humor. Oddly, in a way this also works, because once you stop and think about it, the main storyline is actually really dark, devastating, and depressing. Probably even more than a certain DC movie released March next year. However, on a positive note, this IS Waititi's signature style. If you've seen any of his previous movies, you'd know for sure that they often dealt crushing and heartbreaking moments with casual smiles and some laughters. Waititi doesn't turn them into an overly dramatic moment, but treats it realistically and as humanly as possible. This is the aspect that might NOT work with everyone.

The two post-credit scenes are also a bit of... an acquired taste. I won't spill the details, but here's some hints. The mid-credit one is a WTH moment that wraps the movie in a massive cliffhanger, likely leading towards next year's "Avengers: Infinity War". The post-credit one? Think of it along the line of the first "Guardians of the Galaxy". Yet despite the flaws I've just stated, somehow I'm dying to see more. When the end credits popped out, I just couldn't believe my eyes. Partly realizing how more than 2 hours had flown so quickly, and the other half because I still wanted to see more and more. I walked out the theatre feeling a bit disappointed, not because the movie was bad, but because it left me craving for another serving.

So allow me to wrap this up by circling back to what I said at the beginning. This movie is hard to describe, simply because that's the way it is. It's rich with flavours, those of laughters, sadness, epicness, tension, even deaths, and destruction. It had amazing nods and continuity call-backs to previous MCU movies, but is still highly enjoyable and LOL-worthy for newcomers. It's a riot, loads of fun from start to finish, a weird and playful piece in a very Waititi-way. It's also a bold, brave, boisterous move that advances the Asgardian lore and its characters forward. And I'm not kidding here, because "Thor: Ragnarok" marks the end of his solo trilogy, but at the same time heralds a new age for Thor and his companions. Does this mean we can expect another movie from this team in the next 'Phase'? If it's a genuine delight like this, then I sure hope so...

Overall Score: 8,3 out of 10