#but what if it isn't endgame? I can't have that happen to me after Legend of Korra and Revenge lmao

[findmeinthefallair]

Wait. IS HE IN LOVE WITH HER

(Bonus: she's the actress who voices San in Princess Mononoke's dub and sounds exactly the same in this live-action role and has to yell a lot too, while he played the jerk Mr Wickham in Pride and Prejudice)

[heartman]

What are your favorite MCU movies?

Hey anon!! I think my faves are as follows:

1. Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers my beloved, I am so in love with her it isn't even funny)

2. Werewolf By Night (because who doesn't love a good shlocky fifties style horror movie? A masterclass in classic horror which surprised me but I adored it)

3. Eternals (I can't gush about this movie enough. There's something about someone being so old and all knowing yet still struggling to find a place even amongst those who are like them and I adored everything this movie had to offer. I love the slower pacing and it was serene and almost sensual in a way and every about it makes me gush I will never shut up about it ever)

4. The Thor movies (always have a good time with these and while Love and Thunder felt a little lacking, every movie has been a good time, Thor never fails)

5. Ant Man 1 & 2 (I love how laid back they are and it's a good starting point because they're so self contained and I loved Ava Starr/Ghost)

6. Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness (Wanda being an iconic horror girl? We love to see it. Also Charlize Theron as Clea is exciting. I loved the creativity with the magic and the set pieces and Christine Palmer is *chef's kiss* perfection. America Chavez was a fun addition and I love Sam Raimi's flair on his movies)

7. Captain America The Winter Soldier (this movie OWNED MY ENTIRE ASS IN 2014 okay I was pretty convinced I was gonna become Sebastian Stan's best friend if we ever met but alas 17 year old me could only dream)

8. Shang Chi and the Legend Of The Ten Rings (the fight scenes! The whole sequence in the beginning where Shang Chi's mom and dad do that fight at the gates of Ta Lo was sexier than any sex scenes I've ever watched like it Did Things ™️ to me and I still haven't recovered)

9. 2012 Avengers (the one that started it all. I still get the same feeling I did that some great was happening with this movie and I love seeing where it all started compared to where they are now. It's a good time and yeah I have nothing more to say on it other than Natasha was fantastic and the fact that Thanos was in Loki's head even back then is mind boggling)

10. Infinity War (Avengers Endgame wants what this movie has and I will not elaborate)

11. Black Panther (a beautiful movie with a superb cast. The way Chadwick Boseman exudes class and charisma and charm through the entire film is stunning and the idea that even family can learn and grow as you learn and grow and try to be better is a wonderful message, I love this movie and Chadwick Boseman is gone too soon. Rest in peace, sir. I am very excited to see Namor in the sequel but it won't be the same without T'Challa, I just know it)

12. Black Widow (a wonderful sendoff for a character who deserves better. This movie came too little too late but it did introduce the wonderful Yelena Belova and Red Guardian. Natasha, I miss you and yeah. Natasha deserved better than the MCU gave her, especially considering she was one of the original six Avengers)

13. GOTG 1 (A great intro to a great team. Gamora has my heart alongside basically every other woman in the MCU and Bucky, and it really was just a fun romp through space after the MCU introduced a much darker tone with The Dark World. I am ecstatic for Adam Warlock's introduction in GOTG 3 and I do wish Dennis from Always Sunny was playing Starlord instead of crispy rat man. It also bugs me that Peter is confirmed to be half celestial in the MCU as of GOTG 2 and it is NEVER TOUCHED UPON AGAIN LIKE WTF FEIGE)

14. Basically the first three movies of the Fox X-Men series (so First Class, DoFP and Apocalypse)

15. LOGAN (made me cry shut up Caliban I miss you)

[lokigodofaces]

I realized this while I was writing one of my fics, but it doesn't really work into any of my current fics and I still want to scream about it to people, so that's what I'm going to do here.

In Endgame, Pierce tries to stop Thor from taking the Tesseract and Loki to Asgard. Thor tells Pierce that Loki will answer to Odin for his crimes, and Pierce says Odin can have "what's left" after Loki answers to S.H.I.E.L.D. That specific line got me thinking, because it sounds ominous. "What's left" implies that Pierce intends to torture Loki or something similar. Which got me thinking, because we know that Pierce is actually Hydra.

From our knowledge of Hydra in the movies and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., there are a few trends we see. 1) Hydra has an obsession with anything alien (Tesseract, scepter, diviner, Inhumans, monolith, Hive). 2) Hydra has an obsession with experimentation with the aim of creating super soldiers or some other form of enhanced individuals or anything similar (Red Skull, Bucky and other Winter Soldiers, Centipede, Deathlok, Scorch, scepter, Maximoffs, Jiaying, Whitehall, diviner, Lincoln, Inhumans in general, Ruby). 3) Hydra does this experimentation to create human weapons they can control to some degree (Bucky, other Winter Soldiers, Maximoffs, Deathlok, Centipede, Scorch, Inhumans, Ruby).

So there's a very high chance that Pierce intended to send Loki to be experimented on. While we can't know for certain what would happen, I can give a few guesses.

From AoS and the films we learn there are a few main people in Hydra that are particularly connected to human experimentation. Arnim Zola, Raina, Ian Quinn, Daniel Whitehall, Doctor List, and Wolfgang von Strucker.

Zola is dead at this time, but his mind was converted to an AI. Zola was the main person involved in the Winter Soldier program. We don't know much about most of the Winter Soldiers, but it looks like they weren't really used on any missions because they were unstable, and we don't entirely know who was involved in the experimentation that made them. Because they were ineffective and we don't know their names, I'm going to assume they don't matter much anymore. Zola would then be involved with Bucky and Project Insight. In Winter Soldier we learn he made the algorithm for Project Insight (which would launch in just two years), and if we treat What If...? as canon*, there is a Zola unit in the same building Bucky was kept at. Since those are the only two things we really know Zola was involved in with experimentation, and he's kind of dead at this point, I would say him being involved with anything with Loki is a low possibility.

Raina and Quinn are actually not Hydra. Raina worked with Hydra for a bit as a means to her own ends, as was Quinn. They were working primarily for John Garrett. They worked on the Centipede project and Deathlok project mainly. They both would have been very interested in Loki I feel. But Quinn doesn't really have the background to do anything with Loki or the scepter. With Raina, she wouldn't be interested in experimentation. She worked with Hydra specifically to learn more about Inhumans. She knew Inhumans were created by aliens that were described as blue angels. Perhaps Loki would know something. But, as I said, neither are actually Hydra, just consultants. I don't think Hydra would send over an alien weapon with the power of mind control and an alien from legend to two people that can't be trusted in the same way as an actual member of Hydra.

As for Daniel Whitehall, he has a very specific thing he's looking for, something not connected to Loki. He found the diviner and Jiaying, now he's mainly interested in Inhumans. Since Loki isn't Inhuman and there isn't any known connection between him and Inhumans, I don't think he'd particularly care about anything related to Loki, other than to maybe ask for some reports if any connection is found by anyone else.

Which leaves List and Strucker, who work together a lot. We do know from Winter Soldier, Age of Ultron, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Endgame that they are connected to the scepter. The scepter was sent to List, and he worked with Strucker on the scepter and on the Maximoffs, who were experimented on with the scepter. Since they had the scepter, it would make sense they'd get Loki. We also know that they didn't really have an area they were more focused on than others. You're enhanced in some way or alien? Congratulations, you caught their attention. They experimented on the Maximoffs (as well as several others that went through the same experiment and didn't survive), Lincoln (who they didn't know was Inhuman at the time), Mike (some guy with lots of prosthetics), and on the scepter. Why not throw Loki in as well?

As for their track record, like I said, most of the people we know about that they experimented on died. If it weren't for Daisy, Lincoln would have died. And Mike was not in good shape when S.H.I.E.L.D. rescued him. So, I can't say exactly what would happen, but I can confidently say that Loki dodged a bullet.

[theoutermenace1986]

I know I said that I would keep this as spoiler free as I possibly could....but I really can't help it in this case.

Endgame wrecked me.

It wrecked me in a lot of ways, but one particular way literally caused me to break down to the point of clinging to my best friend and openly sobbing.

You may think to yourself "Why is some 33 something nerd crying over a fictional character?"

Because Tony Stark was the hero I needed during one of the darkest moments of my life. And Robert Downey Jr - both in portrayal and in his own personal life - actually helped me pull through.

I had suffered some trauma in my youth that never really went away. I'd always been brought up strong, independent, and able to resolve things on my own. I have loving parents, a great sister, and a handful of close friends.

That didn't stop the bullying from my peers from making me feel ugly and worthless.

That didn't stop teachers from telling me I wasn't going anywhere because I was willing to question.

I had people telling me I couldn't - so I did out of spite.

College came. Relationships happened. Adulthood hit. And even when you think that you have it great - that's not always the case. Sometimes shit just happens.

Depression got worse. I felt like I burdened people by talking about my problems, so I clammed up. I started smoking more (mainly in social situations, but still...going through a pack of cloves within a few days isn't a good thing). And when the smoking failed, I turned to alcohol.

I. Hit. Rock. Bottom.

I would go out and just drink to forget everything. Even the good stuff. I just wanted to be numb for a while. And for a while, it felt great.

Until I realized the toll it had on my friends - namely my best friend.

She noticed the self destructive patterns and started getting on my case. I insisted I was fine even when I wasn't. The final straw was when I was so drunk that I couldn't even get into the house. Barely conscious and delirious. My best friend got me into bed and woke me every 2 hours or so just to make sure I was still alive. I couldn't even remember how much I drank let alone what. She drew an ice bath and threw me in.

I was 22 at this point. Having just celebrated my birthday. April 9, 2008.

After a long talk because I admitted to my best friend that I needed help (yes. I was cognizant enough to know I needed help even when I was destroying myself from the inside out and let me tell you .... it is A TERRIBLE FEELING), she suggested finding other hobbies to take up my time as opposed to drinking myself into a stupor or worse.

And wouldn't you know it - I saw the Iron Man trailer while cruising through Facebook.

There was my boy, RDJ, looking amazing as all hell...and playing a superhero. Best of all, he was playing a personal favorite of mine - Tony Stark.

Poetic, right?

So we go to see it. Enjoyed every minute of it. We laughed. We cried. We fell in love with Tony all over again. So much that I immediately decided to get back into cosplay:

I literally built that reactor in my cave of a room with a candy tin, computer wires, electrical tape, and stainless steel coils that I had in a box from my prop making days.

My friends never let me live THAT down.

I had never felt more alive, more happy, and more myself in literally years. I was only a month off the sauce in this pic (and trust me, the next pictures I don't look quite so ill)

It's amazing what motivation will do no matter what the source.

So for the next 11 years I followed the journey. Ups and downs, losses and wins...didn't matter because my boy Tony always got out on top.

Then Endgame happened.

I called it the moment they showed his family.

I knew it was coming the moment he said he'd found the method for time travel.

I knew it the moment he looked at Peter's picture.

This was it.

And I can't tell you how much I both loved and hated the inevitable outcome of all his heroics.

On the one hand - he went out a hero. He went out the way he should have - protecting everyone he loved and ensuring a safer world for them. He was surrounded by his loved ones and mourned by all who knew him. It was impactful, it had meaning, and it was everything.

But kn the other hand- I'm angry. I'm pissed as hell that his happy ending - the one we fans have been praying for him to have - was thrown away in the most cruel and crushing way. He had a wife. He had a daughter. He had everything he'd ever wanted. But we just couldn't see him be a happy man; we couldn't see him retire and live a life that he deserved.

I wanted Tony Stark to find the same happiness I eventually did. I wanted him to find the peace I have both with myself and with my partner, my best friends, and my family.

The carpet was laid out....the torn right out from under him.

I'm normally not this bitter over a character death. We all die eventually. But I see it too often that characters like Tony - who work so hard to be the best people they can be, suffer multiple traumas, unhappiness, and stress while trying to do right - always get killed.

I'm at least glad he at least went out on his own terms.

So, thank you, Tony Stark. Thank you for being my hero. Thank you for making me fall back in love with Marvel. Thank you for saving my life.

And thank you, Robert Downey Jr, for reminding me that we can overcome even at our lowest moments. You're an icon, a legend, and you brought my hero to life in a way that changed my life for the better. I hope to see your future projects soon, but I'll miss the life, love, and dedication you brought to the MCU.