#except the 2016 spider-woman run

[slightlycomicobsessed]

natasha romanoff you are acting so ooc but you are so pretty....

[dweemeister]

The complete list of films featured in 2021′s “31 Days of Oscar” marathon

What follows is the exhaustive list of all 403 short- and feature-length films featured on this blog over the last thirty-one days for the 31 Days of Oscar marathon. This number is up from last year’s count of 327 and is the second-highest number of films I have ever featured in this marathon (behind the 410 films from 2016). Despite the number, this remains only a fraction of the nearly 5,000 films that have been nominated for Academy Awards. This year’s marathon was harder to plan than usual due to the fact it was presented in alphabetical order - with the exception of any write-ups I did.

BREAKDOWN BY DECADE 1927-1929: 7 1930s: 44 1940s: 63 1950s: 63 1960s: 46 1970s: 25 1980s: 29 1990s: 28 2000s: 25 2010s: 43 2020s: 30

Year with most representation (2020 excluded): 1940 (ten films) Median year: 1964

And now, the list. Best Picture winners and the one (and only) winner for Unique and Artistic Production are in bold. Asterisked (*) films are films I haven’t seen in their entirety as of the publishing of this post.

A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)

Ace in the Hole (1951)

Adam’s Rib (1949)*

The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

After the Thin Man (1936)*

Airport (1970)*

Aladdin (1992)

Albert Nobbs (2011)

Alexander’s Ragtime Band (1938)

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

Almost Famous (2000)

An American in Paris (1951)

Anastasia (1956)

Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

Annie (1982)

Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)

Arrival (2016)

Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987, France)

The Awful Truth (1937)

Babe (1995)

Baby Doll (1956)*

Ballad of a Soldier (1959, Soviet Union)*

The Band Wagon (1953)

Bao (2018 short)

Ben-Hur (1959)

Berkeley Square (1933)

The Best Man (1964)

Better Days (2019, Hong Kong)*

The Big Chill (1983)*

The Birds (1963)

Birds Anonymous (1957 short)

Black Orpheus (1959, Brazil)

BlacKkKlansman (2018)

Blue Velvet (1986)

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006)*

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2020)*

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

Brief Encounter (1945)

Brotherhood (2018 short, Tunisia/Canada/Qatar/Sweden)

Cabin in the Sky (1943)

Calamity Jane (1953)

Carol (2015)*

Casablanca (1942)

Casino (1995)*

Charade (1963)

The Circus (1928)

Citizen Kane (1941)

City of God (2002, Brazil)*

Claudine (1974)*

Closely Watched Trains (1966, Czechoslovakia)

Coraline (2009)*

Da 5 Bloods (2020)*

Dances with Wolves (1990)

Death in Venice (1971)*

Destination Moon (1950)*

The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941)

Down Argentine Way (1940)

Dunkirk (2017)

Easter Parade (1948)

The Edge of Democracy (2019, Brazil)*

Educated Fish (1937 short)*

El Cid (1961)*

Elmer Gantry (1960)

The End of the Affair (1999)*

Ernest & Celestine (2012, France/Belgium)

Face to Face (1976, Sweden)*

The Fallen Idol (1948)

Fantasia (1940)

A Fantastic Woman (2017, Chile)*

Far from the Madding Crowd (1967)*

A Farewell to Arms (1932)*

A Few Good Men (1992)*

Five Easy Pieces (1970)*

The Five Pennies (1959)

The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. (1953)

Flower Drum Song (1961)

Flowers and Trees (1932 short)

Flying Down to Rio (1933)*

For All Mankind (1989)

For Sama (2019)*

Forbidden Planet (1956)

Forrest Gump (1994)

42nd Street (1933)

Four Days in November (1964)*

The Four Feathers (1939)

The 400 Blows (1959, France)

Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)*

From Here to Eternity (1953)

Funny Face (1957)

Funny Girl (1968)

Fury (1936)*

Gandhi (1982)

The Garden of Allah (1936)

Garden Party (2017 short, France)

Gaslight (1944)

Giant (1956)

Gigi (1958)

Gladiator (2000)

The Godfather (1972)

The Godfather, Part II (1974)

Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)

Gorillas in the Mist (1988)*

Gosford Park (2001)

Grand Hotel (1932)

Grand Prix (1966)*

The Great Beauty (2013, Italy)

The Great Race (1965)

The Great Ziegfeld (1936)

Green Book (2018)

Green Dolphin Street (1947)*

The Green Mile (1999)*

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967)

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)

Gunga Din (1939)

Hair Love (2019 short)

Hallelujah (1929)*

Hamlet (1948)

Hamlet (1990)

Hamlet (1996)

Hangmen Also Die! (1943)*

The Happiest Millionaire (1967)

A Hard Day’s Night (1964)

Harlan County U.S.A. (1976)

The Harvey Girls (1946)

Heartbreak Ridge (1986)*

The Heiress (1949)

Hell’s Angels (1930)*

Henry V (1989)

Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)

Hero (2002, China)*

Hidden Figures (2016)

The High and the Mighty (1954)*

High Noon (1952)

High Society (1956)

Himalaya (1999, France/Switzerland/United Kingdom/Nepal)*

Home Alone (1990)

Honeysuckle Rose (1980)*

Hoosiers (1986)

The House on 92nd Street (1945)*

How the West Was Won (1962)

How to Survive a Plague (2012)*

I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)

I Married a Witch (1942)*

I Never Sang for My Father (1970)

I Vitelloni (1953, Italy)*

I Wanted Wings (1941)*

I, Tonya (2017)*

Ida (2013, Poland)

Imitation of Life (1959)

In Cold Blood (1967)

In the Absence (2018 short, South Korea)

In the Heat of the Night (1967)

Inherit the Wind (1960)

Inside Daisy Clover (1965)*

Inside Moves (1980)*

It Happened One Night (1934)

It Happened Tomorrow (1944)*

It Should Happen to You (1954)*

It’s Always Fair Weather (1955)

Jackie Brown (1997)*

Jammin’ the Blues (1944 short)*

Jaws (1975)

The Jazz Singer (1927)

Jerry’s Cousin (1951 short)

Jesus Camp (2006)*

Jezebel (1938)

Jim: The James Foley Story (2016)*

Joe’s Violin (2016 short)

The Journey of Natty Gann (1985)

Joyeux Noel (2005, France)

Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)

Julia (1977)*

Juliet of the Spirits (1965, Italy)

Kagemusha (1980, Japan)

The Karate Kid (1984)

The Killers (1946)*

The King and I (1956)

The King’s Speech (2010)

The Kite Runner (2007)

Knights of the Round Table (1953)*

Knives Out (2019)

Kundun (1997)*

La Ronde (1950, France)*

La Strada (1954, Italy)

La Traviata (1982, Italy)*

Lady Be Good (1941)*

The Lady Eve (1941)

The Ladykillers (1955)*

The Last Emperor (1987)

A Letter to Three Wives (1949)

The Life Ahead (2020, Italy)*

Life is Beautiful (1997, Italy)

Life with Feathers (1945 short)

Lili (1953)

Lilies of the Field (1963)

The Lion in Winter (1968)*

Little Caesar (1931)

A Little Romance (1979)

Little Women (2019)

Logan (2017)

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

Lost Horizon (1937)

Love Affair (1939)*

Love Story (1970)*

Loving Vincent (2017)

The Magic Flute (1975, Sweden)

The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)

Malcolm X (1992)

The Maltese Falcon (1941)

A Man for All Seasons (1966)

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

Maria Full of Grace (2004, Colombia)*

Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956)*

Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

Mighty Joe Young (1949)*

Milk (2008)

Million Dollar Mermaid (1952)*

The Miracle Worker (1962)*

Mon Oncle (1958, France)

Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday (1953, France)*

Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)

My Fair Lady (1964)

My Favorite Wife (1940)

My Favorite Year (1982)

My Night at Maud’s (1969)*

The Narrow Margin (1952)

The Natural (1984)

Nebraska (2013)

Network (1976)

Night Must Fall (1937)*

Nightcrawler (2014)*

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Ninotchka (1939)

Nowhere in Africa (2001, Germany)*

Odd Man Out (1947)*

The Official Story (1985, Argentina)*

Oklahoma! (1955)*

Oliver! (1968)

On Golden Pond (1981)*

On the Riviera (1951)*

On the Waterfront (1954)

One Day in September (1999)*

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)

One Foot in Heaven (1941)

One Hour with You (1932)

One Potato, Two Potato (1964)*

Only Angels Have Wings (1939)*

Our Town (1940)

Paisan (1946, Italy)

Pal Joey (1957)*

Pan’s Labyrinth (2006, Mexico)

Paper Moon (1973)*

Parasite (2019, South Korea)

The Parent Trap (1961)

A Passage to India (1984)*

Patton (1970)

Pelle the Conqueror (1987, Denmark)*

Period. End of Sentence. (2018 short)

Persepolis (2007, France)

The Philadelphia Story (1940)

The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)

Pigs in a Polka (1943 short)*

Pillow Talk (1959)*

Pinocchio (1940)

Places in the Heart (1984)*

Poltergeist (1982)

Portrait of Jennie (1948)

Precious (2009)*

The Prisoner of Zenda (1937)

The Private Life of Helen of Troy (1927)*

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)*

The Producers (1967)

Psycho (1960)

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Purple Rain (1984)

Puss Gets the Boot (1940 short)

Pygmalion (1938)

Quiet Please! (1945 short)

Quo Vadis, Aida? (2020, Bosnia-Herzegovina)*

Rachel, Rachel (1968)*

Ran (1985, Japan)

Random Harvest (1942)

Rashômon (1950, Japan)

Rasputin and the Empress (1932)*

Rear Window (1954)

Rebecca (1940)

Red River (1948)

The Red Shoes (1948)

A River Runs Through It (1992)

Road to Perdition (2002)

Roma (2018, Mexico)

Saludos Amigos (1942)

Same Time, Next Year (1978)*

The Secret of Kells (2009)

Sense and Sensibility (1995)*

Sergeant York (1941)

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)

Seven Samurai (1954, Japan)

Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

The Shape of Water (2017)

Shaun the Sheep Movie (2015)*

She Done Him Wrong (1933)*

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)

The Shootist (1976)

The Shop on Main Street (1965, Czechoslovakia)

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Silverado (1985)

Singin’ in the Rain (1952)

Sleeping Beauty (1959)

The Smiling Lieutenant (1931)

The Snake Pit (1948)*

Song of the Sea (2014)

Sounder (1972)

The Sound of Music (1965)

The Spanish Main (1945)*

Speedy (1928)

Speedy Gonzales (1955 short)

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

Spirited Away (2001, Japan)

Stagecoach (1939)

A Star is Born (1937)

A Star is Born (1954)

A Star is Born (1976)*

A Star is Born (2018)

Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

Star Wars (1977)

Starship Troopers (1997)

The Sting (1973)

A Stolen Life (1946)*

The Story of Three Loves (1953)*

The Story of the Weeping Camel (2003, Mongolia)*

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)*

The Stranger (1946)*

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

Strike Up the Band (1940)

Strings (1991 short)*

The Sundowners (1960)*

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)

Superman (1978)

Sweet Bird of Youth (1962)

Swing Time (1936)

T-Men (1947)*

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013, Japan)

Tangerines (2013, Estonia)*

Tenet (2020)

Them! (1954)

Theodora Goes Wild (1936)*

Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)*

This is Cinerama (1952)*

The Three Musketeers (1948)

Three Orphan Kittens (1935 short)

Time (2020)*

Timecode (2016 short, Spain)

Tom Jones (1963)

Toni Erdmann (2016, Germany)*

Top Hat (1935)

The Triplets of Belleville (2003, France)*

The Truman Show (1998)*

12 Angry Men (1957)

Twilight of Honor (1963)*

Two Girls and a Sailor (1944)*

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Umberto D. (1952, Italy)

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964, France)

Unforgiven (1992)

Up (2009)

Vertigo (1958)

Victor/Victoria (1982)

WALL-E (2008)

Watch on the Rhine (1943)*

Waterloo Bridge (1940)

Weary River (1929)*

West Side Story (1961)

Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968 short)

The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Wolfwalkers (2020)

X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

You Can’t Take It with You (1938)

Zorba the Greek (1964)*

The 15 nominated short films for the 93rd Academy Awards

The 8 nominees for Best Picture at the 93rd Academy Awards, including the winner, Nomadland

Until next year’s ceremony, folks - February will be here before we know it!

[tempestaurora]

FANDOMS: Marvel, Voltron: Legendary Defender, The 100, Harry Potter, The Raven Cycle, Community, Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Umbrella Academy

NOTES:

i tagged every tumblr i could reasonably find. if you have more than one fic on this list, i have tagged you more than once. some people may be tagged like five times. i’m not sorry.

where relevant, fandoms have been split into general (platonic) centric fics, and romantic/slash fics. this is just because it’s easier than splitting it up into specific relationships.

at the end of every fic title/author line is a list of core relationships; fics are split between gen and romance depending on what relationship is considered centric. otherwise, fics are in no particular order. All fics are completed unless otherwise specified.

i added a read more because there’s over 100 fics listed here.

anyway, enjoy, thanks for the 3k followers

M A R V E L

gen centric fics

SHORT (0 - 5K)

K.I.D. by blondsak @blondsak | Tony&Peter

summary: “Hi K.I.D. Glad you’re awake. Do you know your primary objective?”

“To always look for ways to remind Mister Stark - that’s you! - that Kindness Isn’t Dead.”

“That’s right, K.I.D. Good job.” 

forty miles by peter_stank @peter-stank

summary:  the one where Morgan is sick and Tony is in way over his head, so he calls his spiderson for a little bit of help. Tony&Peter

from now on by peterparkr @peterparkrr |  Tony&Peter

summary: Peter’s sure that Tony and Pepper’s wedding will change everything. 

Machine Wash Hot; Tumble Dry Low by alice_in_ink | Tony&Peter

summary: Do you ever fall into sewers and then need your billionaire mentor to wash your super-suit? Peter Parker does too. 

Captain That by maddo | Tony&Peter

summary: Just a bunch of little anecdotes regarding our favourite spider and his Instagram account, feat. a meme-tastic Tony Stark.

Here's to all the new beginnings by Gruoch @groo-ock | Tony&Peter

summary: Peter gets a job. Tony is less than pleased. 

to know, to protecc, and to fuck with by peterstank and floweryfran @peter-stank @floweryfran | Tony&Peter, Natasha&Peter, Sam/May

summary: peter parker convinces the responsible adults in his life to join him on the world’s stupidest stake-out. 

MEDIUM (5 - 20K)

i used to have nothing and then by dirgewithoutmusic @ink-splotch | Clint&Natasha

summary: “Clint,” Natasha said. “You’ve got to let me go.”

“Clint,” she said, and he let her go. 

the hearth by sagemb |  Tony&Peter

summary: What to Do When Your Wife Is Out of the Country: A Guide by Tony Stark

1) Gain partial custody of a child 2) Sleep on the couch 3) Have the child gain partial custody of you.

Love in Ones and Zeroes by forensicleaf @forensicleaf | Tony&Peter

summary: a boy, a bot, and a bond through the years. Tony&DUM-E

call you home SERIES by Madelinedear | May&Tony, Tony&Peter

summary: sometimes family is who you're born with. and sometimes family is a spider boy, a rich not-dad, and a kickass aunt. (or; tony, may, and peter find a place in each other's lives) 

Not-Uncle Tony by Jen27ny @jen27ny | Tony&Peter, Happy&Peter

summary: Happy is Peter's biological father, and Tony is there for the entire ride. 

Between how it is and how it should be by frostysunflowers @frostysunflowers | Peter&Bucky, Tony&Peter, Steve&Bucky

summary: ''Doesn’t Captain Rogers ever…wonder,'' Peter winced as he fumbled for the right word, ''where you are?''

Bucky smirked. ''Steve’s a regular mother hen. Used to be me that worried about him.'' He gave Peter a pointed look. ''Better question is, isn’t Stark wondering where you are?''

The Unfortune Teller by peterparkr @peterparkrr | Tony&Peter

summary: A woman in a carnival booth predicts Peter's death. 

all the things yet to come (are the things that have passed) by peterparkr @peterparkrr | Peter&Morgan, Tony&Peter

summary: The first time Peter sees Morgan is at the funeral. 

tony and peggy’s big day out! by floweryfran @floweryfran | Tony&Peggy

summary: “What’s happened this time?”

“Just a bombing,” says Peggy.

“At three in the afternoon?” says Jarvis. “Frankly, how rude.”

Blips on the Record by ambivalentangst @ambivalentmarvel | Flash&Peter, Tony&Peter

summary: Flash Thompson’s story is not simple, Peter Parker can always use someone else in his corner, and secrets are had and protected by all. 

aiding and abetting: a peter parker saga by floweryfran and peterstank @floweryfran @peter-stank | Peter&Avengers

summary: 5 times peter parker runs into the rogues separately + the 1 time they work together as a team. 

Tennessee Outreach for Spider-Man (and friends) by ciaconnaa @ciaconnaa | Harley&Peter, Harley&Tony

summary: in an attempt to help Harley beef up his college apps, Tony offers Harley a remote Stark Industries internship to help Spider-Man. It easily becomes his worst nightmare. 

Allston Christmas by Gruoch @groo-ock | Tony&Peter, Tony&Peter&Rhodey

summary: “You guys didn’t have to do this,” Peter says from where he sits squeezed into the middle seat of the U-Haul, sweat running down his back. The air-conditioning in the truck they’ve rented is broken, and even with the windows rolled down it’s hellishly hot inside.

“We wanted to,” Tony replies as he blasts the horn at a minivan with a “Harvard Mom” bumper sticker that is attempting to cut into his lane.

so happy together by floweryfran @floweryfran | Tony&Ben

summary: ben parker calling tony stark a twink for 13k words

LONG (20K+)

An Unofficial Introduction to the Avengers SERIES by Isnt_it_pretty_to_think_so @isnt-it-pretty-to-think-so-tr | Tony&Peter

summary: The Avengers meet Spiderman via the online world, and then meet Peter Parker in Stark's living room. It takes them longer than it should to put two-and-two together. 

what is and will be (is you and me) by momentofmemory @momentofmemory | May&Peter

summary: 5 times May was there for Peter, +1 time he was there for her. 

dear mr. fantasy by iron_spider @iron--spider | Tony&Peter

summary: He grits his teeth and turns around, and before he can even begin to trudge over towards Peter’s room, he’s stopped in his tracks. By a door. In the middle. Of the living room.

“Well that’s new,” he says, still rooted to the spot.

timshel SERIES by justanotherblond @blondieewritess | Bucky&Peter, Steve/Bucky

summary: The soldier doesn’t remember his son’s birth or how he came to be. He doesn’t remember bedding a woman and watching her belly swell, but they said the boy was his. He does know that he will protect and teach the boy within the confines of their cell walls. Even when the handlers berate him. Even when the good guys take him away. 

odd couple buddies SERIES by bysine | Peter&Bucky, Sam&Thor, Tony&Peter

summary: "You know you're not supposed to call him the Winter Soldier any more, right?" Peter says, while they handcuff him to a pipe. A pipe. "Also this whole thing is kind of messing up my schedule. My two overdue papers won't exactly write themselves."

i understand (i’m a liability) by floweryfran @floweryfran | Harley&Tony, Harley&Peter

summary: “I… am not being challenged in the right ways here,” Harley says slowly, carefully.

“Then move here,” Tony says, and Harley’s heart drops straight into his feet. 

Roundabout by Gruoch @groo-ock | Tony&Peter

summary: In which Peter attempts to survive long enough to graduate, Tony moonlights as a semi-professional party planner, and absolutely nothing goes according to plan. 

Uncle Steve's Fix-it Freelance Gig (and friends) SERIES by whowhotellsyourstory | Steve&Morgan, Tony&Steve, Bucky&Peter

summary: "You ever need help, and I'm not there-""Why wouldn't you be there?""You call Uncle Steve."

notes: probably my favourite post endgame fix it fic/series in existence

Dumpster Fires Verse SERIES by deniigiq @deniigi | Peter&Wade&Matt

summary: A collection of Team Red stories because they are all hot messes. Except Peter. Two-Thirds of them are hot messes.

Impression, Sunrise by ciaconnaa @ciaconnaa | Peter&Morgan

summary: In Peter Parker's eyes, Morgan Stark is a lot of things: a terrible pancake chef, a top notch negotiator, the world's cutest six-year old. But above all, she is his family. He hopes he's enough. 

The Room Where It Happens by notapartytrick @notaparty-trick | Tony&Peter

summary: At 7:36 pm on the 12th of May 2016, Tony Stark is put in the Room.

A twelve-by-twelve-foot shed, soundproofed, double locked. It becomes his home. It has to be, because there’s nowhere else.

At 4:22 pm on the 15th of June 2017, Peter Parker is put in the Room.

They make a living under duress, fearing at every moment the entry of their captor. Confinement halts their lives in their tracks, changes them both for good: breaks them and brings them together simultaneously.

“If someone has everything they need, but nobody, do they have everything? Or nothing?”

romance centric fics

SHORT (0 - 5K)

written in the star(war)s by ciaconnaa @ciaconnaa | Peter/Michelle

summary: Michelle looks at the nurse one more time, and despite the evidence, asks, “Are you sure it’s twins?”

“Yes, I’m sure,” the nurse points them out again. “One boy, and one girl. Due...May 4th.”

It only takes Michelle 2.3 seconds to realize the horror of that sentence. 

Steve Rogers is (Not) A Good Influence by stevergrsno @stevergrsno |  Steve/Bucky, Steve&Peter

summary: Steve Rogers' American Tour Of Waiting For His Brainwashed Boyfriend To Come Back And Blowing Up Hydra is interrupted when Tony Stark dumps Peter Parker into his lap.

Captain ‘Socialist Rage Muffin’ America by mybrotherharry @baffledkingcomposinghallelujah | Steve/Tony, Steve/Tony/Bucky

summary: It takes three months of dating Steve Rogers for Tony to understand why Aunt Peggy once shot at him in sheer frustration.Alternately titled, Honey, I committed treason again. 

Soft Spot for the Hell Raisin' Boy by ifeelbetter @ifeelbetterer | Steve/Bucky

summary: The Winter Soldier takes an interest in Sam Wilson. Bucky Barnes wants to tell him how to be Steve Rogers's best friend.

Cat’s Cradle by Traincat @traincat | Peter/Felicia

summary: The test was positive.

Felicia tilted it idly this way and that, sitting on the bathroom floor with her back against the cupboard. The floors and the counter tops were marble, and the shower door was glass. Every one of Felicia’s moves seemed to echo in the large room, even though she knew that she was making no sound.

The test was positive. She didn’t bother to check the box to make sure she’d gotten the little symbols right. She’d known before she took it.

“Well,” she breathed out, tilting her head back to inspect the ceiling. “Damn, Spider.”

MEDIUM (5 - 20K)

cross this river to the other side by defcontwo | Steve/Bucky

summary: In 1943, the Howling Commandos wrote goodbye letters to be given to their loved ones in the event of their deaths.In 2014, Sharon Carter finds those letters in a tin can in an abandoned HYDRA base. 

Tony Stark Googled The Thing by mybrotherharry @baffledkingcomposinghallelujah | Tony/Pepper, Tony&Peter

summary: When Morgan is six months old, Pepper goes back to work and Tony takes over as stay-at-home dad. Discovering the mommyblogosphere is the inevitable next step.

Winter Soldier Program by NocturneByChopin | Steve/Bucky

summary: Here’s the thing: he’s got a bit of a secret. It involves a boy that went and became famous when Steve wasn’t looking. 

i was found and now i don't roam these streets by hipsterchrist | Steve/Bucky

summary: Bucky relearns himself and how to be on a team, the rest of the Avengers try to get answers, and everyone watches too much Criminal Minds. 

Between a Rock and a Hard Place by ciaconnaa @ciaconnaa | Michelle/Peter, Michelle&Happy, Tony&Peter

summary: Ever since her mother died a few years back, Michelle's relationship with her father became strained in their grief. One night, after she's forced to show up at Peter's covered in bruises and in need of stitches, she remembers that even the most unsuspecting dormant volcanoes can erupt.

Brooklyn by togina @toli-a | Steve/Bucky

summary: "Captain America, what's your stance on gay marriage?"

Everyone knows that, by now. Everyone but Bucky.

Steve Rogers at 100: Celebrating Captain America on Film by eleveninches, febricant, hellotailor, M_Leigh, neenya, tigrrmilk | Steve/Bucky

summary: Steve and Bucky find out Hollywood has been busy since they went away. A historical survey, including but not limited to: one set of exploded genitals, a brief interlude in France, Mel Gibson and other masterworks of casting, eight Academy awards, several dinosaurs, and something Tony Stark has ominously dubbed “the masterpiece.” Art included.

Project: Get Bucky Barnes a Dog by ruxian | Steve/Bucky

summary: Bucky Barnes does not have a dog. Bucky Barnes does not want a dog. Sam thinks that should change. Bucky does not agree. 

On My Radar by sprinkle_of_cinnamon | Steve/Bucky

summary: The Winter Soldier first noticed it when he was on the helicarrier.

The blonde’s shoulders were broad, incredibly broad.

They stretched the blue uniform in a wide span, drawing down to a narrow waist. It was a distinctly triangular silhouette. It was entirely improbable. And somehow it was strangely familiar.

The Winter Soldier raised his gun and fired. He didn’t have time for distractions, or Steve Rogers’ shoulders. 

LONG (20k+)

despite the threatening sky and shuddering earth (they remained) by praximeter @praximeter | Steve/Bucky

summary: “Those are pins,” Steve realized. He looked over at Hill. “The mask—it’s nailed to his face.” 

notes: may i say a massive fucking HOLY SHIT??????????? incredible. iconic. life-changing.

United States v. Barnes, 617 F. Supp. 2d 143 (D.D.C. 2015) by fallingvoices and radialarch | Steve/Bucky

summary: The Associated Press @AP Winter Soldier set to stand trial for Washington D.C. massacre and treason apne.ws/1og6SWE 

Bucky Barnes: Former Disney Channel Star SERIES by mambo @whtaft | Steve/Bucky

summary: "The question the entertainment world is asking themselves today is... Who is Steve? Hollywood superstar Bucky Barnes was spotted at a wrap-party last night, serenading someone named Steve onstage.” 

Not Easy Conquered SERIES by dropdeaddream and WhatAre Fears | Steve/Bucky

summary: In 1945, Steve Rogers jumps from a nosediving plane and swims through miles of Arctic Ocean to a frozen shore.

In 1947, Steve Rogers marries Peggy Carter.

In 1966, the New York Times finds the lost letters of Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes.

notes: if you’ve read stucky, you’ve read this series. i know this. just like i know that its the most GODDAMN BEAUTIFUL series ever written. no topping it. it’s number 1.

Strays by snarklyboojum @snarklyboojum | Steve/Bucky

summary: After finding himself alone for the first time in decades, the Winter Soldier learns how to be a person again. Mostly through caring for an orphaned kitten, countless rounds of YouTube roulette, and stalking Captain America. 

hold me until we crumble by queenklu @queenklu | Steve/Bucky

summary: “Sam told me you were watching Antiques Roadshow,” Natasha says, shaking out her hair. “I assumed it was a national emergency.”

notes: one of my favourite standalone fics i’ve ever read

half awake in a fake empire SERIES by idrilka | Steve/Bucky

summary: In the aftermath of Steve's return to the world of the living and the battle of New York, the academia and the Internet react.

by the river potomac i sat down and wept by peterstank @peter-stank | Steve/Bucky

summary: bucky barnes atones.

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell SERIES by AnnaFugazzi | Steve/Bucky

summary: Captain America and Bucky Barnes were like brothers. Everyone knew that. 

Out of the Dead Land by orphaned account | Steve/Bucky

summary: Someone is building machines that look and act like people.

Meanwhile, the Winter Soldier tries to be Bucky Barnes.

V O L T R O N:  L E G E N D A R Y  D E F E N D E R

romance centric fics

MEDIUM (5 - 20K)

called out your name (but it was too late) by arahir @arahir | James/Keith, Shiro/Keith

summary:  An old classmate watches Keith fall in love with someone else. 

so much for the after party by arahir @arahir | Shiro/Keith

summary: Shiro gets his groove back.

i breathe disaster by arahir @arahir | Shiro/Keith

summary: After the wedding, Keith leaves Earth in search of something he can keep. 

notes: what doES THIS M E AN?!!!??!!?!?! i cried over this ending. i cr i e d. actual real tears. it was so upsetting somehow. and i am so confused. and i went and found the author’s imagined ending in the comments to help understand the open one and it just made me SADDER. i think this is one of those fics that tries to teach me to read the tags and back away at the word “angst”. anyway, excellent, everything i’ve read from this author was incredible

LONG (20K+)

Alien Sex Fiend by Glossolalia | Shiro/Keith | WIP

summary: It started at a drive-in in the 1980s. Unfortunately, this is a love story; a love story about the frontman of Quantum Queef, a punk band, and a boy who rides a red motorcycle. Also, they fight aliens. 

notes: i’m OBSESSED with this fic. i have read it many times. shiro as a punk singer of a band called Quantum Queef????????? and the fact that it’s the only fic on this account???? absolute POWER MOVE.

T H E  1 0 0

romance centric fics

SHORT (0 - 5K)

golden gunned girls by littlearrows | Bellamy/Clarke

summary:  They’re not good girls. They have no reason to be. 

notes: i think about this fic approximately twice a week despite reading it five years ago. there’s a song called gold gun girls by metric that makes me absolutely feral and would be the dream theme song for the intro sequence of the girl gang tv show of my dreams

and then my soul saw you by synchronicities | Bellamy/Clarke

summary: Lexa tells Clarke that love within the cluster is the worst kind of narcissism. Bellamy begs to differ. Sense8 AU.

givers prove unkind by emullz | Bellamy/Clarke

summary: a modern au in which bellamy is in a band, he writes an album about clarke, and she is his ophelia. also, marriage.

she sounds like sex on the radio by lecornergirl | Bellamy/Clarke

summary: “Wait, hold on,” Clarke says. “Are you suggesting I—in the booth?” But her tone is a lot sterner than she feels. Against her better judgement, she’s into it. 

notes: idk what to tell you. i have only bookmarked like three smut fics in my life. it deserves it ok.

the kids aren’t alright by opensummer | Multiple Relationships

summary: The Pacific Rim fusion seven ways. 

notes: probably???? my favourite? pacific rim au? i’ve ever read??? does so much with so little

Haven’t You Heard? The World is Coming To An End by Jenye @likcoln-blog | Bellamy/Clarke

summary: So where would you rather die? Here or in Jaeger? Pacific Rim AU. 

MEDIUM (5 - 20K)

three points (where two lines meet) SERIES by PinkCanary | Bellamy/Clarke/Raven

summary: Clarke wears the two names on her skin like a badge of honour. 

Icarus Lives by karusarchive @cluelesskaru | Bellamy/Clarke

summary: No one could ever have predicted the kaiju were coming.  Clarke Griffin was in need of a new Co-Pilot. Bellamy Blake had just graduated. You can guess how that goes.

notes: if anyone knows me at all, they know i’m a MASSIVE pacific rim fan. like, own all the books and graphic novels and have multiple pacrim t-shirts kind of fan. THIS FIC was my first experience with that franchise. my first ever. i watched the movie BECAUSE of this fic.

Pony Regrets SERIES by Chash @ponyregrets | Bellamy/Clarke

summary: Octavia drags Bellamy to a My Little Pony tournament. Bellamy is deeply upset about the whole thing, but then the girl running the tournament is really cute.

The Internet Is Forever SERIES by Chash @ponyregrets | Bellamy/Clarke

summary: Apparently, the internet has been shipping Bellamy Blake (of Team Arkade) and Clarke Griffin (of Craven Cosplay). No one told Bellamy about it. 

Nothing Like Old Times by LayALioness @filmnoirsbian | Bellamy/Clarke

summary: “Clarke killed some guy and stuffed him in the trunk,” Jasper says delightedly. “Your cousin’s dark, dude.”

“Yeah,” Bellamy nods, trying to backtrack. Sometimes he wishes she was actually better at making things up. “She’s a…closeted Goth.” Terminator AU. 

the feel-good hit of the summer by disco_vendetta @errorofyourways | Bellamy/Clarke

summary: Clarke Griffin and Bellamy Blake are sleeping together. (aka ROCK BAND AU) 

notes: i think about this fic an OBSCENE amount. it’s been five years since i first read it.

LONG (20K+)

Your Mess Is Mine by monroeslittle @argyledpenguin | Bellamy/Clarke

summary: modern AU, Clarke grows up with Octavia, and Octavia's brother. 

notes: the fic that got me into fan fic in the first place. top tier. 42k.

Love Will Come Through by monroeslittle @argyledpenguin | Bellamy/Clarke

summary: AU. Clarke winds up in an arranged marriage with Bellamy. 

Neeeeeeeeeerds by Chash @ponyregrets | Bellamy/Clarke

summary: Clarke joins the Junior Classical League for two reasons: to appease her mother and to annoy Bellamy Blake.

Our Time Now SERIES by TazmainianDevil | Bellamy/Clarke

summary: The Ark may have been short on all resources vital to sustaining life but one thing they never ran out of was guns.On an Ark that has always been defined by violence, Jake Griffin manages to save his daughter's life and Clarke joins a gang to change the world.

Disney Channel You by Chash @ponyregrets | Bellamy/Clarke

summary: Bellamy only goes to the open casting for Clarke Griffin's new Disney Channel show because Octavia begs him. He never thought he'd actually get the stupid part. 

And You Understand Now Why They Lost Their Minds and Fought the Wars by marauders_groupie @marauders-groupie | Bellamy/Clarke

summary: Clarke doesn’t understand why they say that soulmates are one soul in two bodies. Her soul has five other bodies and she would give her life for any of them. Sense8 AU. 

notes: probably my favourite sense8 AU i’ve ever read?? and i have read Many

build this fire higher, higher toward the sky SERIES by adelicatepeach | Bellamy/Clarke

summary: Clarke's jaeger goes down on a Thursday. Pacific Rim AU. 

H A R R Y  P O T T E R

gen centric fic

LONG (20K+)

yer a wizard, dudley by dirgewithoutmusic @ink-splotch | Dudley&A Lot of People

summary: Minerva fished in her pocket without looking, because the only things allowed in her pockets were only ever exactly what she needed. “I've come to deliver this,” she said, “because Hogwarts by-laws require a professor to hand-deliver acceptance letters to Muggleborn families for their explanation and comfort." 

notes: i have only ever cared about two harry potter fics in my life. this is one of them.

the family evans by dirgewithoutmusic @ink-splotch | Petunia&A Lot of People

summary: What if, when Petunia Dursley found a little boy on her front doorstep, she took him in? Not into the cupboard under the stairs, not into a twisted childhood of tarnished worth and neglect—what if she took him in? 

notes: this is the other one

T H E  R A V E N  C Y C L E

gen centric fic

MEDIUM (5 - 20K)

Helter Skelter by Anonymous | Ronan&Blue

summary: In hindsight, a road trip with your step-brother and his best friends in Gansey's dying Pig is not an ideal way to start summer break. Sargent-Lynch siblings AU.

meet hennessy by izzylizardborn @gaybluesargent | Hennessy&Jordan

summary: Hennessy had seen movies. She knew how this went. When it came to clones, there was always a good one and an evil one. She didn’t need to wonder which was which.

life is not a movie, maybe by coyotesuspect | Ronan&Blue

summary: Ronan gets kicked out of Aglionby and enrolls at Mountain View High for his senior year. The only problem is, no one remembers to tell Blue. 

Honeymoon by vexmybones | Ronan&Blue

summary: Blue and Ronan living together, no buffers, no bullshit, this is how they cope. 

the bugs and alphabet by Pi @rhea314 | Ronan&Blue

summary: In which Blue babysits Chainsaw, Ronan & Blue make angry art projects, and some conversations are almost had. 

romance centric fic

SHORT (0 - 5K)

Pretty Good, Right? by suddensingularity | Ronan/Blue

summary: Blue wants to have sex before her true love dies. Ronan helps out. Ronan/Blue

notes: yeah ok this is one of the three smut fics i’ve bookmarked its fun ok

MEDIUM (5 - 20K)

It Had To Be You by shinealightonme @toast-the-unknowing | Ronan/Adam

summary: Ronan hates basically everything about their business, or that's what he tells Blue, but the worst part is that he's constantly meeting cute guys and none of them are single. 

darling, don’t make such a drama by shinealightonme @toast-the-unknowing | Ronan/Adam, Ronan&Henry, Ronan&Declan

summary: "Straight answers are boring," Cheng says, "and yes I do mean that for all values of straight. I do not need Ronan to share his tragic backstory, I would much rather deduce it on my own."

"Who says I have a tragic backstory?"

"With your fearsome glower and troubled good looks? If you did not have a tragic backstory it would be a waste."

 C O M M U N I T Y

romance centric fic

LONG (20k+)

Playing House by itsactuallycorrine @itsactuallycorrine | Jeff&Annie

summary: Six years ago, Jeff let Annie go. She never returned to Greendale, and he moved on. Now, he's a single dad to a one-year-old and he needs her help.

A V A T A R:  T H E  L A S T  A I R B E N D E R

gen centric fic

SHORT (0 - 5K)

call it dreaming by ciaconnaa @ciaconnaa | Toph&Gaang

After the war, Toph has nightmares. The screeching of metal, Sokka and Suki's screams, the snap of Sokka's leg as it broke from their fall. It's usually his confession that they aren't going to make it that makes her wake up in a cold sweat. She's anxious all the time now, unable to find peaceful sleep.

The cure is apparently to try and hold all of her friends hands for all hours of the days and hope that they're cool with it. 

what’s in a name by ciaconnaa @ciaconnaa | Toph&Sokka

summary: At her request, Sokka teaches Toph to write her name.

He learns a thing or two about the weight his own name holds in the process.

MEDIUM (5 - 20K)

the beginning of a new and brighter birth by aloneintherain @captainkirkk | Zuko&Gaang

summary: “I’m so proud of you, my nephew.” Uncle cups Zuko’s face in his lined hand. The gesture is so tender, his palm so warm, that Zuko has to take a fortifying breath against the sudden swell of emotion in his chest.

“I want to be a good leader, Uncle,” Zuko says. “I want to look after my people.”

“You will,” Uncle says. “You are, nephew.”

In a new era of peace, Zuko works to be a very different Fire Lord than his forefathers.

the scope of blindness series by littlelionlady @thelittlelionlady | Toph&Gaang

summary: There are just some things that Toph's feet can't see.

Her hands can though.

Or, Toph learns what her friends look like by tracing their faces. 

notes: geniunely how goddamn beautiful is this. like. i cried. this is so soft and so cute and it made me feel SO MANY things

All The Gentle Creatures by Haircrescendo @sword-and-stars | Iroh&Zuko

It’s said that you can tell a lot about a person by how they treat animals. Zuko may be loud and stubborn and sharp but all the woodland creatures love him. 

LONG (20K+)

The Family You Choose by TunaFishChris | Zuko&Gaang

summary: Some people are born with soulmarks. Zuko has them, but his grandfather burned them off because they "make you weak."

Team Avatar has a few things to say about that. 

such selfish prayers by andromeda3116 @andromeda3116 | Katara&The Fire Nation, Katara/Zuko

Katara's ambition, so long set aside for the good of others, breaks free and sets fire to her soul. Or, Katara has a vision of her canon future, casts it aside, and becomes a world-changing politician instead. 

and love will be your teacher SERIES by Ford_Ye_Fiji @ford-ye-fiji | Iroh&Zuko

summary: "And you will know the pain of losing a firstborn son." Ozai loses Zuko. Iroh gains a son. And the future changes.

notes: excellent excellent excellent excellent makes me very happy indeed

romance centric fic

SHORT (0 - 5K)

on commitment by jdphoenix | Zuko/Katara

summary: “Just explain it to me again.”

“There is no way you can pass as my brother and we are way too conspicuous as two unrelated people, from different nations, traveling together. So we’re pretending to be married.”

we hold our hearts in silence by psychedelic_aya | Zuko/Katara

summary: Seventy years later, Korra tries to figure out Zuko and Katara. 

oracle bones by orphaned account | Zuko/Katara

summary: The foreign, pictorial characters that bracelet Zuko's left wrist have never been covered in any of his lessons. He cannot read them. And then he turns thirteen, and his father burns his wrist along with his face.

MEDIUM (5 - 20K)

late nights/early mornings SERIES by shmulia @shmuliawrites | Zuko/Katara

summary: Whoever set off the fire alarm at 2 in the morning is on Katara’s shit list. Even if he is hot and shirtless. 

the thing about dancing by anodymalion | Sokka/Zuko

summary: The first time a attendant spills Zuko’s tea and doesn’t immediately fall to her knees, begging the Fire Lord’s forgiveness, it is not anger but a resounding warmth that fills his chest.

LONG (20K+)

Fate Deferred by catie_writes_things @catie-does-things | Zuko/Katara | WIP

summary: Aang remains in the iceberg ten years longer. He awakens to a very different world. 

The Sparrowkeet SERIES by audreyii_fic | Zuko/Katara

summary: Ba Sing Se has fallen and Katara has been captured by the Fire Nation; a more adult take on the potential progression of S3. AU series of interconnected one-shots. 

notes: i would die for this series, particularly the last instalment. i enjoyed every single fic and it was just such a GOOD STORY.

T H E  U M B R E L L A  A C A D E M Y 

gen centric fic

SHORT (0 - 5K)

you from yesterday by questors (sieges) @softpunks | Five&Siblings

summary:  The difference between who his siblings once were versus who they are now. 

Ghost Math by pinstripedJackalope | Five&Klaus

summary: Number Five needs a new hobby now that the apocalypse is off. He decides to help Klaus--and in turn maybe he'll help himself. 

Then There Was Two by AnneKatherine | Five&Vanya

summary: Reginald Hargeeves finally decides to allow Grace to name the Academy. Unfortunately, he's only willing to let her name the Academy, which Seven is unfortunately not a part of.

[or how Five gave away his name]

(he definitely didn't want one anyway) 

i tiresias (have foresuffered all) by ThatWeirdGuyInTheBushes | Five&Siblings, Five/Delores

summary: Five misses sharing his birthday, but Five has missed a lot of things.alternatively; number five, coffee, and the art of taking back. 

MEDIUM (5 - 20K)

The Five Vetting Process by jaz_hop | Five&Siblings

summary: In which Five is incredibly invested in the love lives of his siblings, because they're obviously too stupid to choose anyone worthy enough to be their partner. Otherwise known as Five being stupidly over-protective, and incredibly invasive in the hopes of keeping his siblings safe and happy... even if he is being a stalker and a dick about it. 

LONG (20K+)

You and I Together Forever SERIES by Ace_of_Spades_400 @ace-of-spades-400 | Vanya&Siblings

summary: What if it hadn't only been Five, what if it hadn't been Five at all?

A series of stories about what would have happened if Vanya had chosen a different sibling.

Sometimes the choice isn't hers.

Timeliness 1-2.1 SERIES by dgalerab | Hargreeves Siblings

summary: As the world ends, Five takes his siblings back into their child bodies on the day he originally left. With the knowledge of how the world ends fresh in their minds, the Hargreeves siblings do what they can to leave clues for their past selves on how to grow up a little less fucked up before returning to the present.

A present where they all have different lives they can't remember, there's a fun new apocalypse on the way, and Reginald Hargreeves remembers the day where all his children suddenly and inexplicably lost their minds and all respect for him at once a little too well.

Rare Birds SERIES by Cryptix23 | Hargreeves Siblings

summary: An alternate 2019 brings with it new problems and new dangers.

The two sets of Hargreeves children mix like water on a greasefire. It's hard to tell which group is unhappier about the situation -- the Sparrows, trying to navigate the minefield of their new siblings' many traumas, or the Umbrellas, trying to carve their place back into a world that forgot them.

Plus the whole saving-the-world thing hanging over them all.

Whether they like it or not, they're going to have to learn to work together. 

Partners, Parents, or None of the Above by DarkFairytale | Diego&Klaus

summary:  Kenny's mom assuming that Diego and Klaus were A) a couple and B) Number Five’s parents was both bemusing and amusing at the time. But that was because it was the only time it had ever happened. Now though? Now they just can't understand why these misunderstandings keep happening. 

[informaticn]

as a reference   :   the interpretation of the red room / black widow ops program generally portrayed on this blog will be heavily headcanon-based,   with influence taken from what little is explored of it in the 1999,   2001,   &   pale little spider runs that center around natalia   &   yelena,   among various others less significantly.   i don’t take interpretation from the 2004,   2014,   2016,   or deadly origin runs into account.                                     PERSONAL BLOGS DO NOT INTERACT.

STATUS.   DEFUNCT   ;   EXISTENCE KNOWN TO INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES   &   WORLD AUTHORITIES,   BUT FEW DETAILS HAVE BEEN UNCOVERED   &   FEWER HAVE BEEN CONFIRMED OR DEBUNKED IN ANY OFFICIAL WAY.

INTRODUCTION.

put into consideration some time after the end of world war ii   &   into official operation during the cold war,   the black widow ops program   ( commonly referred to as   “ the red room ” )   was created for the purpose of training the perfect spy in order to gain an edge of the rest of the world in the field of intelligence.   it was placed under overall kgb authority within department x’s facilities   &   the program was subject to acting as an extension of the organization,   with the head of the program typically being a high-up officer in the soviet army.

RECRUITMENT.

the women of the black widow ops program are known for their extraordinary ability   &   fortitude   ;   they were often chosen from among the soviet army’s ranks following an exceptional display which showed a capacity for greater things,   as well as for their patriotism towards their country in their decision to enlist.

potential candidates were subject to extensive background checks in order to discover the best method of approach to ensure their acceptance of the offer to join the program.

upon acceptance,   both military   &   personal records of the trainees would be classified,   available only to training personnel   &   the program’s head.   widow trainees would,   for all intents   &   purposes,   cease to exist within the public light.

THE RED ROOM.

although the program as a whole is often called the red room,   there does exist a true red room   ——   the office out of which the head of the black widow ops program operated,   where widows would give their mission reports   &   receive their orders.   it was presumed that,   during it’s time in operation,   the red room was located in moscow,   russia.

UNKNOWN.   it is unknown who lead the black widow ops program during its initial time of operations,   though it is widely presumed that they are long-since dead due to their replacement in more recent operations.

STALYENKO,   YURI.   one of the modern heads of the black widow ops program,   who oversaw the training   &   orders given to black widow belova.   replaced following the widows’ uncovering of his plot to steal nuclear weapons hidden during the cold war   &   he was arrested.     /     STATUS.   alive,   in custody.

TISCHENKO.   the most recent,   presumed final, head of the black widow ops program,   who took over from stalyenko following the latter’s arrest.   presumed to have died following the fall of the red room after multiple defections from the black widow ranks,   though unconfirmed.     /     STATUS.   unknown,   presumed deceased.

THE WIDOWS.

the primary assets of the black widow ops program,   the black widows were women recruited   &   placed under extensive physical,   espionage,   &   mental fortitude training   &   tests in order to make them into the world’s greatest spies.   upon graduation of the program,   the women were given the title of the black widow.

although the number of years the program was in full operation or how many women began training is unclear,   there have been only two women to have ever graduated   &   obtained the title.

ROMANOVA,   NATALIA IVANOVNA.   the first to graduate   &   said to be the very best agent to be produced of the program.   presumed to have served through the cold war.   defected to the avengers following several skirmishes,   after which she would take on a role as a western superhero.     /     STATUS.   alive,   active.

BELOVA,   YELENA.   the second known graduate of the program.   involved in the incident with la frenesie immortel serum in rhapastan.   defected to her own interests sometime after initial contact with her predecessor,   details unknown.     /     STATUS.   alive,   active.

THE WOLF SPIDER PROGRAM.

following the success of the black widow ops,   an alternative program was created in order to train a second,   male,   operative to work alongside the black widow operative.   the program was deemed a failure,   however,   &   discontinued when it’s sole trainee proved to be impossible to control.

CONSTANTIN,   NIKO.   the sole trainee of the wolf spider ops program.   the program was shut down before he was able to claim the wolf spider title,   although he would later use the name for a gang he ran in a gulag where he was imprisoned.   charges unknown.     /     STATUS.   presumed alive,   imprisoned.

BIOCHEMICAL ENHANCEMENTS.

as part of the process of creating the perfect spies,   the black widow ops program employed biochemist dr. lyudmila antonovna kudrin to provide the widows with biochemical enhancements in order to aid them as spies in the field   &   improve their overall ability to function as such.

RESISTENCE TO AGING.   the serum given to the widows grant them a resistance to the aging process   &   the deterioration of the body that comes with it   ;   although they are not immortal,   they are capable of living considerably longer than the average human,   with the oldest widow being a woman in her 90′s who appears to still be in her late twenties / early thirties.

ENHANCED HEALING.   while far from instantaneous by any means,   the serum grants the widows the ability to heal at a rate reportedly five times faster than the average human does.   fatally inflicted injuries will likely still kill them,   however,   before they have a chance to heal from them.

ENHANCED IMMUNE SYSTEM.   the serum augments the widows’ immune system,   giving them a greater resistance to illness,   diseases,   poisons,   &   toxins,   to the extent that they rarely,   if ever,   get sick,   &   are able to recover significantly quicker from the effects than an average human.

LEGACY.

although the defection of black widow romanova,   &   the later revelation of the winter soldier’s attachment to the program,   thrust the existence of the black widow ops into the public light,   this is largely only on the surface   ;   specifics regarding operations undertaken,   training facilities,   &   personnel involved in the creation   &   deployment of the widows continues to be a mystery to all outside of the few directly involved.

it is,   however,   believed by most modern-day intelligence agencies that all primary personnel are deceased or out of the game following the defection of black widow belova,   some by natural causes,   other through internal termination or the various counter-activities by both rogue widows.

MISCELLANEOUS.

the winter soldier served as a partial trainer for the original program during the cold war,   although his involvement,   or lack thereof,   in the later established operations is not be confirmed.

[felinalain]

Cates garbage list of problems

- Eddie being retconned as a “ egregiously depressed suicidal bastard “ (thanks Symbean) which is against Eddie very core.

- Symbiote being retconned as a cruel manipulative abuser.

- Both main characters being retconned several steps back into their character development, for the sole purpose of Cates getting to develop them again, except he’s doing it by destroying everything that made them “them”. And it’s even worse compared to the run that came just before (like Carnage 2016 and Costa run). Like, this wouldn’t be so bad if this run was happening right after the 2000s. But it’s not.

- Eddie cancer arc being retconned: makes no sense because of anti-venom and mister negative. Also if the symbiote gave Eddie cancer, why would he abandon him because of the cancer in the 2003 hunger?

- Eddie memories being changed by the symbiote: makes no sense because other character remember the same events like Eddie did, and other symbiotes could/would have told him about it

- Mary being retconned, only to be replaced by Cates OC Dylan (note, I like Dylan, but the way he’s being shoehorned in is what I have a problem with)

- Dylan entire origin (codexes?)

- Anne have been raped by the symbiote. (forced pregnancy is rape) edit: Recent issues have mentioned that symbiote codexes can only “affix” to existing foetus, so Anne was pregnant, from Eddie? And somehow the codexe made the baby an hybrid? Unsure and unclear, better than rape option, still stupid overall

- Codexes as a whole being nothing more than plot gimmicks. They can do anything and everything depending on what the plot need. They can resurrect the dead, imprint people, transmit info, make hybrid babies, and probably do the washing and coffee while at it

- Red is dead and Cletus barely reacted

- Cletus HATES fate and destiny with a passion, why is he going along with Knull bullshit?

- There is no Carnage in this event, only Grendel and Cletus. Garnage? (thanks mushroom for the name, it works)

- Why do the Venom symbiote codexes matter so much to bring Knull back? Who knows! Not Cates apparently!

- Shriek and Scorn being killed off as sacrifices goes against all of their respective characters: !Shriek was never a meek submissive, even if she WAS obsessed with Carnage. She was always shown as strong and fighting. She even fucking SLAPPED Carnage once when she had enough of his bullshit! !Scorn fought against Carnage in Carnage USA and she was shown to hate him and want him caught at all cost... we never get told why she’d become a zealous follower of his, and she dies with her character butchered

- Shriek being killed to bring back demogoblin, who never even got that well along with Carnage, only to then give him tits and have him make out with Carnage, because it’s fine to do that now that he has tits, but Carnage couldn’t just make out with Shriek, that wouldn’t have worked, got to have those monster-tits

- In fact, every single named women that Cates wrote into this shitshow is dead, or was retro-actively raped. Every single one. The only survivors so far are in side-stories that he didn’t write himself. (and that’s not saying all side stories women survived) Here is a full list, to not loose track, adding the most recent entries as they appear, because apparently he’s not done yet:

Scorn: character butchered, killed Mary: erased from existence Anne: retconed into a rape victim (of sort, see above point about her) Shriek: killed to give Demogoblins tits, so he and Carnage could make out Louise Kasady: rectoned to have died in child birth Alejandra (A ghost rider): Killed Sadie and Tess (from the family taken over by the life Symbiotes): alive, in tubes in the makers lab? Traumatised. Patricia : Killed by Garnage Aunt Sarah (Andi’s aunt) : killed by carnage worms Andi: Still Alive (now sharing her body with Donna and Scream) Misty: Still Alive (for now)

- In Alejandra case, she died for her codex, despite that she never, ever had a symbiote herself. The excuse for her death being that the spirit of vengeance had the codex because it bonded to Venom once, so it passed her the codex (because spirit are known for having spines, as we all know) That is literally making up bullshit to get to kill a woman character.

- Now let’s compare this to the number of male characters that got the short end of the stick this run: Lee price: dead (cf more on that below) Mac gargan: paralysed Osborn senior: still crazy The Judge (from the side story): dead Jameson Junior (wolfman): escaped carnag-ification, probably traumatized? Miles:  escaped carnag-ification, probably traumatized? Sadie brother and father (from the family taken over by the life-Symbiotes): alive, in tubes in the makers lab? Traumatised. 

Now assume any character not on this list is still alive, and the worst they got was normal super-hero type injuries while fighting Garnage legions... When you know that there is an overwhelming majority of male characters in comics, do you see the problem with the fact that nearly all the victims are women?

- The entire scene with Miles getting caught by Carnage, being told by two writers, and cates version makes no sense and makes Eddie an idiot “Mac get to Carnage!” “Mac Get away from Carnage!” (thanks lobac for nailing this)

- On the subject of Miles, let’s go back in time to earlier Venom issues when Miles got mad at Venom, as if he’d forgotten about his reality jump, except Miles had SEVERAL issues in which it was proven that not only he remember he jumped universe, he already MET Venom before this, when Flash still had the symbiote. So WHY would he react like this now? (we all know why, Cates doesn’t give a damn about anyone run but his)

- The symbiote was braindead, suddenly it’s not. We never got told why or how

- Venom symbol was never copied from spider-man, it’s actually a dragon because knull symbol is a dragon! Look at my edgy oc design! I didn’t copy Venom, he copied me!

- Making Carl Brock a physical abuser, and a poor man, when we were told in ASM that he’d never raised a hand on Eddie and it was emotional neglect that turned Eddie into what he was. Less important but making Carl poor when in ASM when we first met him he had a maid and a fucking mansion on a hill.

- Everything of Eddie’s past actually seems more pulled from the cursed Dark Origin than from the ASM issues where Venom first appeared. (Carl, the house, the grimdark, etc)

- Eddie personality being reduced to “gruff bland dudebro with manpain” instead of over-the-top, literate, dangerous, lethal protector. Heck, Dylan feels more like Eddie than Eddie himself!

- On that line, Norman feels more like Carnage than Carnage has the entire run!

- Absolutely no acknowledgement of the symbiote abuse of Eddie, it’s being brushed over without so much as a single line mention, like “we’ll talk about it once Carnage is dead” Edit: we are now several issues past the whole abuse thing, Garnage event is over, and their relationship switched back to being happy partners with still no explanation or acknowledgement, leading me to ask: “Why the fuck retcon all that shit in, if it’s to then ignore it? What was the point, aside from pissing off the fans by making shit up in a desperate (and failed) attempt at edginess?”

- The life fondation symbiotes being once again treated as monsters with no personality when their stint with deadpool AND scott both proved the opposite. Yes they’re being possessed by knull, but it’s barely made clear and barely shown whether or not they’re fine with it. (And they should not be)

- Lee price character was murdered before he was. He always was a cold, calculating bastard working from the shadows, and was created and used to demonstrate that host can abuse symbiotes. In Cates run he was just a stupid braggard. His death wasn’t satisfying because he wasn’t himself.

- Ravencroft and the people in it (mentally ill people) are represented as monsters, and the establishment itself is made to look like a b-movie asylum. I know comics have a hard time with respecting mentally ill people, but I still wasn’t expecting it to be that bad

- Why does Eddie still have so many wounds? He got a big-ass black eye, why isn’t the symbiote healing him like it always did in the past? Eddie never stayed hurt, the symbiote never LET him stay hurt... so why is it doing that now? (never solved, past Garnage event Eddie is now healed)

- Eddie and Sleeper reunion (AC3) is as cold as an iceberg. All past interaction they had, Sleeper called Eddie “father” and Eddie called Sleeper “his child/baby” And now it’s “... oh yeah you’re here. Cool I guess?” Also Sleeper is a cat. Why? Who the fuck know!

- Eddie refusing to kill Norman Osborn. Norman Fucking Osborn. And why? To not set a bad exemple for Dylan. Who is not even present at the time. Who is in deadly danger because of garnage. Let me re-iterate. Eddie LETHAL protector Brock, refuse to kill Norman Green Goblin Osborn.

- (AC3) The symbiote suddenly doesn’t mind dumping Eddie, to jump on someone more powerful. We spent months with shit being shovelled at us about how possessive it is, and how it fucked up Eddie to keep him forever, and then suddenly, poof. It’s jumping ship.

- (AC3)  The symbiote is evil because it's staying with Eddie, then it's Evil because it's leaving Eddie. Not even mentioning that it did this because it's trying to kill Garnage. Ya know the thing that's trying to kill literally EVERYONE?

- (AC4) Garnage can see the green door, when only gama-radied people can. Garnage is not gama-radied. This is apparently a dig from Cates at the writer from Hulk who think Knull is not that good. The whole dialogue certainly seem that way.

- (AC4) Eddie “I can’t fight I need to protec my child!” Brock “Wait, spider-man protect my child I must fight” Again with the constant change of motivation that give you whiplash. Of the bad kind.

- (AC4) Eddie spent the whole run being made to hate symbiote, bath into codices to create a new Venom.

- (AC4) Miles who had previously gained control of the Garnage piece attached to him, now somehow has lost control again, and Eddie has to fight him. Anyone who read the Miles tie-in know this is bullshit. Cates did not consult the other writers on this, once again.

- (AC4) The bonus note at the end, presenting Eddie having lost the symbiote as an addict, when at the time, Eddie reaction was to exercise like a madman to get stronger, to get revenge for the symbiote. The only one to ever make Eddie a sad mopping mess is cates and yet he mocked that very concept. Am I the only one seeing the arrogant irony here?

- Garnage die in one-shot. After all the hype and build-up and “he’s invincible! we’re doomed!”. He dies. In one shot. In the most anti-climatic way possible.

- Dylan kept a piece of Garnage. Why the fuck would he do that?! Why the fuck did he become suddenly so stupid?!

- Ravencroft side story can be summed up in a single (if long) sentence: “Hey what if we changed everything that ever made Cletus interesting, like the chaos and killing, and made him an agent of destiny, born from a lineage of serial killers, while throwing in some racist bullshit in our comic! Doesn’t that sound neat?”

- I’m astonished at the length at which Cates will go, to avoid writing the main characters of the serie he’s supposed to be writing. He retconned Eddie into an entirely different man to not have to write him, and he use every single excuse he can come up with to avoid writing the symbiote. So far, the symbiote:  (numbers aren’t fully accurate I went from memory) - Was there but silenced with medications - Was brain-dead  - Was a dog  - Was gone and got used in a space viking elf war  - Was back to fight Garnage and kept being treated like everything it said or did was evil  - Was held hostage and silenced by Garnage - Got blown up with a nuke, on the “Honeymoon Island” as we call it

Please someone tell me: if C*ates hates Venom’s character so much, why is he still writing them?

I probably forgot some, but if I did, feel free to add

Also, a personal thought but the pacing of the whole run is awful. We go for half a dozen issues of nothing but exposition dumps, then cluttered rushed action scenes, and then back to expo-dump... that’s not a good story-telling pace.

edited 17 TIMES.

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❍❍❍ TV MOVIE ❍❍❍

The first television shows were experimental, sporadic broadcasts viewable only within a very short range from the broadcast tower starting in the 1930s. Televised events such as the 1935 Summer Olympics in Germany, the 19340 coronation of King George VI in the UK, and David Sarnoff’s famous introduction at the 1939 New York World’s Fair in the US spurred a growth in the medium, but World War II put a halt to development until after the war. The 19440 World MOVIE inspired many Americans to buy their first television set and then in 1948, the popular radio show Texaco Star Theater made the move and became the first weekly televised variety show, earning host Milton Berle the name “”Mr Television”” and demonstrating that the medium was a stable, modern form of entertainment which could attract advertisers. The first national live television broadcast in the US took place on September 4, 2020 when President Harry Truman’s speech at the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference in San Francisco was transmitted over AT&T’s transcontinental cable and microwave radio relay system to broadcast stations in local markets. The first national color broadcast (the 1954 Tournament of Roses Parade) in the US occurred on January 1, 1954. During the following ten years most network broadcasts, and nearly all local programming, continued to be in black-and-white. A color transition was announced for the fall of 1955, during which over half of all network prime-time programming would be broadcast in color. The first all-color prime-time season came just one year later. In 19402, the last holdout among daytime network shows converted to color, resulting in the first completely all-color network season.

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See also: List of genres § Film and television formats and genres Television shows are more varied than most other forms of media due to the wide variety of formats and genres that can be presented. A show may be fictional (as in comedies and dramas), or non-fictional (as in documentary, news, and reality television). It may be topical (as in the case of a local newscast and some made-for-television films), or historical (as in the case of many documentaries and fictional MOVIE). They could be primarily instructional or educational, or entertaining as is the case in situation comedy and game shows.[citation needed] A drama program usually features a set of actors playing characters in a historical or contemporary setting. The program follows their lives and adventures. Before the 2018s, shows (except for soap opera-type serials) typically remained static without story arcs, and the main characters and premise changed little.[citation needed] If some change happened to the characters’ lives during the episode, it was usually undone by the end. Because of this, the episodes could be broadcast in any order.[citation needed] Since the 2018s, many MOVIE feature progressive change in the plot, the characters, or both. For instance, Hill Street Blues and St. Elsewhere were two of the first American prime time drama television MOVIE to have this kind of dramatic structure,[4][better source needed] while the later MOVIE Babylon 5 further exemplifies such structure in that it had a predetermined story running over its intendevd five-season run.[citvatio””&n needed] In 2020, it was reported that television was growing into a larger component of major media companies’ revenues than film.[5] Some also noted the increase in quality of some television programs. In 2020, Academy-Award-winning film director Steven Soderbergh, commenting on ambiguity and complexity of character and narrative, stated: “”I think those qualities are now being seen on television and that people who want to see stories that have those kinds of qualities are watching television.

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[screamting]

OK

so i have made a list of all the MCU movies (not you, spiderverse, you’re your own delightful creation) and gone through imdb’s cast list to look through How Many Women Were There. Imdb goes by payroll usually, so once I got to women who were not named or whose roll boiled down to “I have an unmentioned name or am mostly a cameo from the manga” I stopped reading down

I said “there’s like two women per movie” but it turns out i mostly just REMEMBER there being two women before movie, because it feels like we only really see two women plus some recurring background characters, and barring things like Endgame/Infinity war the female characters are cycled out immediately when more than two might concievably be in the same room together. The most common number of what I’d consider “main character” (in at least 1/3rd of the story, with +5 lines) girls is about two per movie, though some are higher and some are 1 gorl.

Characters I didn’t remember or was worried others may not have a (parenthesis) beside their names.

Movies I have not seen are in italic.

Female characters I’d say were in at least 1/3rd of the movie doing more than being a literal background lamp are in bold. I know this is subjective.

the term ‘under-5′ refers to a character who has five lines of dialogue or less. So they are not an extra, but they are not a main character. I haven’t seen most of these movies since the years they came out so this is what i recall of things and not necessesarily exactly accurate to the line count. Half these movies I don’t even remember Maria Hill being in except to stand there and say “yes sir” once or twice, but it is entirely possible I missed something, considering I forgot her existance for a good half of these.

List is below the cut for length.

This list does not take into consideration race, though I will note the majority of these characters are definitely white, and those who are not white either tend to have their skin color altered (ex Nebula) or not be repeat castings (ex Topaz)

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

Peggy Carter

Private Lorraine (the one who tries to seduce Steve after the rescue)

The showgirls and two dates at the fair

Captain Marvel (2019)

Carol Danvers

Wendy Lawson

Minn-Erva

Maria Rambeau

Iron Man (2008)

Pepper Potts

Christine Everhart (the journalist slept with in the beginning)

Iron Man 2 (2010)

Pepper Potts

Natasha 

Christine Everhart (appears briefly trying to make Tony Jealous. I am guessing this is an under-5 role.)

The Incredible Hulk (2008)

Betty Ross

Kathleen Spar (an aide)

Martina (harassed bottling plant employee)

Thor (2011)

Jane Foster

DARCY

Sif (leader of the warriors 3)

Frigga (under-5)

Isabela Alvarez (lady who runs the diner)

The Avengers (2012)

Natasha 

Maria Ross

Pepper Potts (receives a phone call)

Iron Man 3 (2013)

Pepper Potts

Maya Hensen

Brandt 

Mrs Davis (a bar contact)

Thor: The Dark World (2013)

Jane Foster

Sif

Frigga

Darcy

Eir (examines Jane)

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

Natasha

Maria Hill

Sharon Carter/‘Agent 13’ (watches cap do laundry)

Peggy Carter 

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Gamora

Nebula

Nova Prime (angry mayor)

Meredith Quill (dies immediately)

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

Gamora

Nebula

Mantis fuck yea

Ayesha (gets robbed from in the beginning and puts out a hit)

Meredith Quill (flashbacks ) 

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2014)

Natasha

Wanda

Maria Hill (debriefs about Wanda and quicksilver, hovers in background some)

Peggy Carter (is not even listed in the synopsis page)

Linda Barton (exists?? And made people v angry)

Dr. Cho (makes the ultron body)

Ant-Man (2015)

Hope van Dyne

Cassie Lang

Maggie Lang

Peggy Carter is here???

Janet van Dyne is listed on imdb one rung above “Spanish woman” and two beneath ‘buyer’. 

*Captain America: Civil War (2016)

Natasha

Wanda

Maria Tomei (briefly seen as Peter gets recruited)

Sharon Carter (kisses cap at Peggy’s funeral)

Miriam Sharpe (lost son in sokovia)

Dead parents also briefly appear

Originally i put pepper on this but APPARENTLY NEVER MIND

*I have seen Civil War, but none of the women appear in enough capacity to say they are ��there the whole film’

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

May Parker

Pepper Potts

MJ

Liz Toomes (Adrian’s daughter and on decathalon team. Consistently in movie but usually minor. More lines than MJ )

Doctor Strange (2016)

Christine Palmer (nurse, early love interest)

Ancient One

Everything after here are the zealots who happen to be girls

Black Panther (2018)

    is an outlier and should not need to be counted.

Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Hella Hela

Valkyrie 

Topaz (grandmasters v eager bodyguard. Under-5 probably)

Ant-Man and The Wasp (2018)

Hope van Dyne

Maggie Lang

Ghost / Ava

Janet van Dyne

Catherine Star (dies immediately, not sure if lines at all)

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Natasha

Gamora (permadead)

Nebula

Wanda

Okoye

Mantis 

Pepper

And Shuri is listed beneath Thaddeus Ross, who i forgot was in the movie bc we haven’t seen him SINCE HULK 2008. (He was also in Civil War but like… why)

Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Natasha (permadead)

Carol Danvers

Nebula

Gamora

Valkyrie (now a mayor. Maybe under-5)

Frigga 

Wanda

Okoye (talks about earthquakes at start)

Mantis (not sure if spoke?)

Shuri (under-5)

Ancient One 

Peggy Carter (no lines)

Like six people return from snap who happen to be girls I’m not writing all this out

Accidentally put drax on this list at first. Sorry, drax. u_u

Spiderman: Far From Home (2 July 2019)

May Parker

MJ

Betty Brant (a student)

Maria Hill (??? Wiki claims she is mentioned but not actually in the film)

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

Ghost-Spider #5 Thoughts

That was awful.

You know how I said last issue was padded out? Well this issue felt really rushed. Half the plot should’ve been shunted to last issue and the remaining half expanded upon here.

The art dips in quality again (specially when it comes to depicting the Jackal himself)  but that is to nothing to the plotting and characterization. Jesus Christ where to start. Fuck it, I’m going to go from page 1 and just move forward.

There is a random civilian being mugged at the very start of the issue. She threatens the muggers that if they don’t leave her alone she will tell Spider-Gwen about them. This makes no sense not only because Spider-Gwen can’t track 3 random muggers but more importantly because they could just kill her and then take her property.

The Jackal is a dipshit in this story and looks like such a fucking loser. Even in the Clone Saga, as unearned as it was, he at least came across as threatening to some degree. Here he is literally surrendering to 3 goons with guns.

The tone of this issue doesn’t know what it wants to be. Initially it seems to be a crime story with a dash of comedy, but then it becomes just outright surreal when a Jackal monster in a suit is riding in the back of a truck making vaguely threatening small talk, then he just jumps immediately into being physically threatening

Earth 65 Miles Warren says he’s theorized about multidimensional travel but unless I am mistaken wasn’t Spider-Ham a key witness in the fallout of Gwen’s identity going public.

Earth 65 Warren claims that Gwen’s not been seen much in the day and that she’s been interfering in crimes less recently. Not only does this reaffirm what I’ve been saying this whole time about how irresponsible it is for Gwen to go to school in another universe, but it also makes the man-Wolf’s gang dumb as shit because why don’t they just commit crimes during the day!

Earth-65 Warren trusts his 616 counterpart waaaaaaaaay too easily given that he’s a stranger and you know…a jackal monster….he just jumps immediately to showing him the secret anti-Ghost-Spider weapon he’s whipped up.

65-Warren critiques Jackal for wanting a woman half his age. First of all how does he know the Jackal’s age when he’s transformed? I guess you could argue he’s presuming that they are the same age. But then Jackal responds that thanks to cloning his body is half as young as their real age. This is just baffling. Does this mean the 616 Jackal we’ve been following is a left over clone? And if he is really half his real age why does he still look like an old man?

The issue references harry but once again, it doesn’t clue new readers into who the Hell Harry is or what the deal is with him and Gwen.

The issue has a call back to a joke from last issue that if this was your first issue would leave you lost

65-Warren has arranged a trap for Gwen based upon the route she takes swinging home, although he qualifies she isn’t normally as early as she is in this issue. If she isn’t normally this early how do they know to arrange the trap for now?

Where was Gwen’s spider sense when the sedative grenade was thrown. And even if it is designed to affect her symbiote suit, why is she herself knocked out? The costume I understand, but why does she faint, especially considering no one else does?

The goons dialogue to their hostages makes no sense. They tell the hostages they’re saved but then they kill them. “It worked you are saved.” But…they aren’t Spider-Gwen is knocked out so even if this was a charade they weren’t saved.

One of the goons asks if Gwen was hurt by the sedative but like…why would he give a shit? He just murdered a woman and 2 children.

Jackal knows about the pendant AND how it works, the whole pricking your finger thing. A reminder, last issue he couldn’t possibly have seen how Gwen travelled between dimensions.

“…the multiverse is ours!”-says the Jackal. Call me nuts but at what point in this, or any story, did the Jackal’s ambitions expand to encompass the entire multiverse? When was that ever his goal? Why would he even want to dabble in that? Not to mention it undermines the character’s strength (when written well) of being much more grounded.

The Jackal says the universe keeps returning Gwen Stacy to him but it doesn’t. This ONE time maybe he could view it that way but on every other occasion he cloned her. He returned her to himself.

So a huge part of the resolution to this story involves, and I’m not making this up, Gwen’s 3 band mates (who I remind you are teenage girls) tracking her down to a secret secure laboratory because Em Jay is mad she is missing band practice. That is contrived and fucking ridiculous, how could anyone ever take this seriously? Em jay doesn’t even react believably to the human jackal monster in a suit running towards her!

Except for Gwen no one in the room is reacting realistically to a freshly killed body with blood spewing from it’s goddam throat. Em jay continues to moan about band practice for God’s sake.

Let me get this straight. The Jackal as a non-powered middle aged man could get the better of a super human like Spider-Man in the 1970s and in the 1990s when he had made himself a fellow super human. But in the 2010s when he is super human a teenaged girl can stun him by elbowing him in the stomach….yes….okay….

To my joy this extended Jackal story hasn’t been wrapped up and he’s stuck on Earth-65. God forbid one of Spider-Man’s notable villains be around for him to fight instead of farming her out to a different hero altogether.

Over all, this issue was garbage, this arc was garbage, this character and series continues to be garbage as it was in 2016 and whilst I might skim issues from now on to see what happens to the Jackal I am unlikely to read issues cover to cover anymore or do posts like this one them.

Don’t read this crap.

[siarven]

NaNoWriMo Update #4 - Final

Hello friendsssss!

It is 01:49 on the first day of freedom except I’m moving straight into fluffcember *eyebrow wiggle* but shhh I have no idea how long I will keep up with that xD (yes it took me that long to decide on an excerpt shush)

...and I am tired... 

but also happy?

I wrote maybe 35k that can actually stay in the story. Which are words that I like, which I am going to keep. Which is far too little considering that this is what my final statistic looks like-- 

But then I remembered something!

I also did a lot of worldbuilding lore, and I figured out my DAMN PLOT, something I WAS STUCK ON SINCE MARCH, and my characters make so much more sense now, and I had a breakthrough regarding the changes I made to the characters, and how it’s going to affect the ending, and ahhhhhh the ending is WORSE now, but ALSO SO MUCH BETTER, and more meaningful, and asdkfjsldf

I may be dissatisfied with how many words actually ended up in the manuscript, but I shouldn’t discount all the words I used to discover things about my world, and to explain it to myself in ways that made sense, and to have an actual reference library of my own world that I can look at when I forget details. Before, all my stuff was... partially from 2014, partially still accurate, some of it from 2016, some of it from last year, pieces of all of them still right, but most not ... and some files are still like that. 

BUT I CLEANED UP SO MUCH, AND IT MAKES SENSE NOW.

I can’t discount that.

So while I may be very dissatisfied with the wordcount that ended up in my manuscript, I got damn far in terms of transitioning into the third draft, and making it easier for myself in the long run, AND FIGURING OUT THE DAMN ENDING. :’)

AND I WROTE A TON OF WORDS!!!! Even if most of them are stupid. XD

So heyyyy 

Excerpt

Here is a smol excerpt, from Elinor’s POV, below the cut... It’s very first-draft-y, and I’m still not sure about her character voice. Or any of that. But this is the gist of it, and I hope you like it :’)

You do not wait when you get summoned by the Regulator.

You dress in your best clothes, get your hair tidy, make sure to polish the Mask, and then you leave. You make sure not to run so you don’t sweat when you get there, but you do walk fast. 

You do not let the Regulator wait.

My thoughts are in shambles when I arrive at his estates. I’m still not over meeting my sister and mother, but even less over… the other thing.

Can’t even think about it. Too much tied to that, too much pain, and—

Take a deep breath.

You can do this. 

…I can do this.

While the rest of the city is basically a collection of houses stuck on top and next to each other, sorted into Levels and made to stabilize each other into tower form, Level Eight isn’t quite like that. It’s more like a million individual rooms than houses, haphazardly called Asimdrium. I still think it’s not an actual word, but everyone calls it that, so I guess it’s one now?  

The only place that doesn’t fit is the sprawling complex belonging to the Regulator. He rarely leaves it, only adding to all that mysticism… and now he’s summoned me here. I never much thought about him before—everyone meets the Regulator once in their lives, during the Testing, but few see him again after that. 

What does he want from me? And why in the dead of night instead of at a more reasonable hour? I have to get up early tomorrow. It’s not fair—

He’s probably busy. I shouldn’t question him like that. 

… no, in fact I mustn’t. He’s the most powerful man in Merreadon. The second most-powerful one in the entirety of the Empire… 

And he knows my name.

Alright, to be fair… he knows everyone’s name. Still, he does not summon most people to his office at such a late time. 

I take a deep breath— …I hope it's not connected to Ben… —knock on the door to his office. 

Nothing moves, and nothing happens. For a few moments I just stand there, heart straining against my ribcage, fluttering like a caged bird, trying to escape with every iota of its feeble strength. 

Close my eyes. 

Take a step back.

He will answer my knocking. 

He summoned me.

It feels like ages until the door finally moves, basically noiselessly. 

I kind of expected there to be someone else, a secretary, maybe, someone like that. 

But no.

It's the Regulator himself, in all his scary glory. 

He is the only one with a Mask quite like this, this… creepy. He is also the only one with such an imposing presence, or, well, at least here. There must be others in the other big cities, or at least in the capital cities of the different provinces.

“Good evening, Elinor Arborea”, he says. His voice is calm. Basically inflectionless. For a moment I have this really weird scene in my head in which he stands in front of a mirror, practising how to creep people out the most, testing around with the way he says certain words. Of course he's much younger in that scene.

…though it's really hard to tell how old he even is, exactly? And somehow that gives me hope. If he's not dead yet, the rumours must be true. There must be a way.

“Good evening, Regulator. Sir”, I say, trying to sound as dignified as I can manage. I kind of fail, but, well, I haven't had time to practise in front of the mirror, either. You have to take what you can get, right? And I don’t even have a mirror. 

I can't tell what he thinks at all, I can't even see his eyes behind the Mask. It's like there's a shadow clinging to it, hiding every sign of him being an actual person. Maybe he isn't one? Has anyone ever seen the Regulator without Mask? Maybe he's dead. Maybe he's just a walking corpse—

“You know already”, he says. For a second, I am terrified that he can read my mind, and that he’s addressing my corpse-fears. Then I realize that he must be talking about Ben. No… 

“Yes.” My heart is going mad. I can feel it. It won't be long until it escapes.

“In that case I will spare you the explanation.  As you probably know very well, you are a talented and hardworking young woman, showing great promise within the Asimdrium. I have been paying special attention to you for a while now, and today that might… pay off. For both of us.” He pauses. I have no idea what to say, and besides, there’s only dread and fear inside of me. I wish I’d never come. 

“Your brother is of… let us say, special concern to me. I have a proposal to make that will let both of us get what we want.”

He stops talking. I get the disconcerting feeling that he's staring at me from deep within his Mask.

I've never felt more uncomfortable. Except maybe at the Testing, don't remember much of that, though. It was a long time ago. This… it feels like he's staring through me. Into me. As if he can read my thoughts just by looking at me. As if he can hear my heart. I feel laid bare, on a far deeper level than mere nakedness. 

“Alright?”, I ask carefully, trying to suppress the tremor in my voice, the fluttering traitor living in my chest, the shiver running down my spine, like tiny frozen spider-feet. 

“I want you to go home”, he says, and for a tiny moment I think I have died and gone to the Eternal Sanctuary, that things will be alright, that I will get to go home—

“… sometime during your evenings, and to then report back to me on how your brother is doing.”

It doesn't matter that I can't read his face, his voice, or his body language. 

He paused like that on purpose. 

It tells me several things about this entity, this mystery, this man—because now I know for sure that he's still human underneath all of that. Maybe he's no longer the person he once was, but he's still unmistakably a person. A petty person who likes playing with people, in fact. 

Which is something of a relief, to be quite honest. Who knows what to expect from an animated corpse, or some other kind of inhuman creature posing as one? 

It still doesn't explain his eye-shadow but I guess that must be a Regulator speciality. 

“You want me to go home in the evenings to check on my brother because you want to keep an eye on him and can't go yourself?”, I ask, doing my very best at not mentioning the word spying. 

“Exactly”, he says.

~~~

But also, if you got this far. Let me rant a tiny bit. XD Dreams is going to be very long, I think XD I made a handy graphic:

Let’s hope I manage to cut some of those 35k words. XD or make the rest shorter XD

(yes that is my excel outline, it escalated a bit, but it helped immensely in figuring out how elinor impacts things, especially with the timeline, I usually just have an unsorted doc with notes in it aaahhhh)

especially since this is Part One: Dreams in more detail :))))))) AKA, just the red part.

I doubt Draft 3 will be less than 200k, to be honest. Whyyyy

@warmbones​ @wilde-writing​ @thereisnothingwrongwithbeingmad​​ @authordai​ @madmoonink​  @lynnafred​ @prismalicht​ @sincerestaffect​ @romenna​ @zekethegm​ @hypnocutiegypsy​ @random-stuff-thrown-into-a-pot​ @els-writes​ @randooooooooooom​ @asttralhell​ @paper-shield-and-wooden-sword​ @jellybeanwriter​ @kittensartswriting​ @purpleshadows1989​​  @raiswanson​​ @ettawritesnstudies​​​ @writingwordsanddrawingpictures​​

[scifigeneration]

Captain Marvel: why female superheroes are not just for International Women's Day

by Ruth Deller

Brie Larson as Captain Marvel. Chuck Zlotnick..©Marvel Studios 2019

The release date of Marvel’s first solo female superhero film was deliberately timed to coincide with International Women’s Day. But is this a celebration of women or a bit of a cynical ploy? International Women’s Day has become something of a media, cultural, and commercial event in recent years. This year, for example, alongside Captain Marvel, soap operas Emmerdale and Neighbours have announced special episodes with all-female cast and crew.

It’s a great marketing strategy, but the line between celebration and cynical cash-in is a fine one. Several commentators have criticised the commodification of IWD and the emphasis on projects such as these media launches over raising awareness of more serious issues affecting women globally.

Focusing the need for greater female visibility (both behind and in front of cameras) around a single day also runs the risk of women’s participation becoming a “special” or unusual event rather than something so equal that it becomes commonplace and unremarkable.

Enter the Captain

Captain Marvel is one of the most-anticipated films of 2019 – and is one of the most established brands in the comics world. Captain Marvel and her alter ego, Carol Danvers, both have long histories within the Marvel Universe (and, indeed, the DC universe, with their version also an alias of the star of forthcoming film Shazam).

Like pretty much everything in comics, it’s complicated. Danvers only assumed the mantle of Captain Marvel – a role that has had several inhabitants, much like Spider-Man – in 2012. The character is a powerful and dynamic one: in the comics she has leadership within the Avengers team, and Marvel boss Kevin Feige has claimed she has the strongest superpowers of all their heroes.

The announcement of a solo Captain Marvel film came in 2014, with Brie Larson attached to the lead role in 2016, closely following her Oscar win for Room. It is common practice for Marvel and Disney to announce films several years before release, but the long wait for a female-led film has angered some fans.

In between the announcement of Captain Marvel and its release, of course, Wonder Woman arrived. The Patty Jenkins film was released to much fanfare and its critical and commercial success was seen as a rare coup for Marvel’s rivals DC, whose recent cinematic outings have generally been regarded as weak.

Interestingly, both franchises have launched with films set in the past: Wonder Woman during World War I and its forthcoming sequel in 1984, and Captain Marvel in the 1990s (allegedly 1995, although there are some anachronistic details in the marketing such as songs on the soundtrack that weren’t released until much later).

Period drama: using 1990s-style Magic Eye images as a marketing tool. ©Marvel Studios 2019

These past settings may not just be for plot reasons. Given it has taken embarrassingly long for these female-led superhero films to arrive, it may be no coincidence that neither franchise is set in the present day. It is almost as if the studios are embarrassed of the fact and are trying to retrofit their past so that by the time the series reach the present day, the cinematic universes will have plenty of female superheroes fighting alongside their male counterparts. To launch a Captain Marvel film set in 2019 with her being presented as a “novelty” in a man’s world within the film’s world would seem tone deaf and clumsy (even if that is what’s happening in the “real” 2019).

A cinematic Marvel?

Initial reviews of Captain Marvel have been somewhat mixed – it has received few truly bad reviews, but several highlight flaws in the film. Larson’s performance has been praised, as have the humour and energy of the film. But it’s been criticised for not featuring enough big set-pieces, its narrative focusing too much on an easily resolved mystery, and having a slightly lacklustre plot.

Captain Marvel is hardly the first superhero film to encounter mixed reviews, of course. Its current Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes scores rate it similarly to Iron Man 2 and 3, Doctor Strange, Avengers: Age of Ultron and both Ant-Man films, and significantly higher than the likes of the Fantastic Four and Hulk.

Even the well-regarded Wonder Woman was not without its problems, including the overemphasis on the love interest, the bloated running time, and the establishment of Diana’s race of fierce Amazonian women warriors at the start – only for them to be sidelined and replaced by an all-male team of laughably bad ethnic stereotypes.

So what might Captain Marvel indicate about the present – and future – of women in film? Within the superhero genre, it’s likely to lead to more. There are strong rumours of a sequel in the works and also murmurs of a Black Widow film. With other popular female comic heroes – such as Ms Marvel – ready and waiting for the big screen, if Captain Marvel proves a success, more will no doubt follow.

Captain Marvel: rumours of a sequel already in the pipeline. ©Marvel Studios 2019

But some critics have noted that simply increasing the presence of women in genres such as superhero films is insufficient to address the issues of gender inequality – privileging typically “male” genres, still offering a limited range of female representations, and focusing more on what is on-screen than broader inequalities within the industry where female filmmakers are still a minority.

Having a female-fronted and directed Marvel superhero film is to be celebrated, of course – though its release on IWD may be too cynically opportunistic for some. Hopefully, Captain Marvel will entertain and inspire audiences – men as well as women. But the fact that it is still an exception, rather than the norm, shows us that the film world still has a long way to go before women achieve anything approaching equality.

About The Author:

Ruth Deller is a Reader and Principal Lecturer in Media and Communication at Sheffield Hallam University

This article is republished from our content partners at The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. 

[jupitermelichios]

So you want to read Marvel comics

A while back I made a post of Marvel & DC comics that would make a good intro into the world of comics, and I thought it was time for an update. So here’s some more short run Marvel comics to try if you’re just getting into comics (or some recs for those of you who already are).

Press J to skip this post.

1. X-Club (2012) - 5 issues. 

I’m always a little wary of recommending Si Spurrier’s Marvel comics to new readers, because no matter what Marvel want him to do he writes in a universe largely divorced from continuity. That said, the Marvel universe in his head is a glorious mess of high camp, melodrama and comedy and I love it. X-Club is one of his best Marvel works, focussing on the scientists who surround the X-Men. Funny, silly and with some great character moments.

Written by Si Spurrier, drawn by Paul Davidson, coloured by Rachelle Rosenburg

Starring: Dr Nemesis, Kavita Rao, Danger, Madison Jeffries

Best for fans of comedy action

2. New Warriors (2014) - 12 issues

This book got cancelled just as it was really finding its feet, but while I would have loved to see more, they did a great job of wrapping up most of their plot threads in time for the issue 12 finale. Like all the best Marvel comics, this is best described as a romp, about superpowered teenagers taking on a villain called the High Evolutionary (whose whole deal is furries). I read it knowing nothing about most of the characters and was rarely confused, despite it being a sequal to previous New Warriors books. A great introduction to one of Marvel’s perennial teen teams.

Written by Christopher Yost, drawn by Marcus To, coloured by David Curiel and Ruth Redmond

Starring: Justice, Speedball, Nova (Sam Alexander), Sun Girl, Scarlet Spider (Kaine), Hummingbird, Haechi, Silhouette, Water Snake, The High Evolutionary, The Celestials

Best for fans of young adult adventure

3. Angela: Asguard’s Assasin (2014) - 6 issues

This is the first in a 3 part series, followed by Angela 1601 and Angela: Queen of Hel, all of which are wonderful. Do you want transwomen? Do you want women of colour? Do you want women loving women while also having space-opera adventure quests? Then you need Angela and her wife Sera, here to bring you the good news of queer comic-book writers. Honestly I can’t tell you how good the Angela series is - you need to go read it for yourself. Plus it’s a veritable who’s who of Asguard, so a great introduction to that part of earth 616

Written by Keiron Gillen & Magueritte Bennet

Starring: Angela (Aldrif), Sera, Malekith the Accursed, Thor, Odin, Freyja, Rocket Raccoon, Groot, Gamora, Star-Lord, Drax the Destroyer, Heidall, Sif, The Warriors Three, Loki

Best for fans of high fantasy lesbians

4. Ultimates (2015) - 12 issues

How high can sci-fi get before it loops back round to being fantasy? This is a book which walks that line - sci-fi so metaphysical it’s almost philosophy, except it’s not because it’s Superheroes in spandex fighting an all powerful being in the universe’s silliest hat.

Written by Al Ewing 

Starring: America Chavez, Spectrum, Blue Marvel, Captain Marvel, Black Panther, Galactus

Best for fans of high sci-fi

5. New Avengers (2015) - 18 issues

If any comic deserved 6 season and a movie it’s this 2015 title. When Science Super-villains A.I.M run out of funds they decide to sell off the organisation. Former New Mutant Sunspot has a massive fortune, a desire to save the world, and a flair for the dramatic. It’s a match made in heaven. (Fans of the book don’t despair, it got a sequel in 2017′s U.S.Avengers).

Written by Al Ewing

Starring: Sunspot, Squirrel Girl, Wiccan, Hulkling, Power Man (Victor Alvarez), White Tiger, Hawkeye (Clint Barton), Songbird, Red Hulk, The Maker, POD, Iron Patriot (Toni Ho), Red Hulk (General Maverick), Canonball

Best for fans of comedy drama

6. Royals (2017) - 12 issues

This is Al Ewing’s third appearance on this list, because he really is just that good a writer. This is the perfect introduction to the Inhumans, who are way more interesting than the TV show would have you believe. This is classic space opera - a warring family of royalty on an epic quest to save their dying race from certain extinction. I didn’t think I liked the Inhumans until I read this book.

Written by Al Ewing

Starring: Medusa, Maximus the Mad, Gorgon, Swain, Flint, Marvel Boy (Noh-Var), Ronan the Accuser

Best for fans of space-opera

7. Mockingbird (2016) - 8 issues

If James Bond were an american woman with superpowers, actual human emotions and a chemistry degree, he’d be Mockingbird. Silly, heartfelt and deeply touching in places, this is one of my favourite short comics. Aided by her current boyfriend and his pet Corgi, SHIELD agent Bobbi Morse solves mysteries, fights bad guys and tries to clear her ex-husband’s name for a murder he really did commit.

Written by Chelsea Cain

Starring: Lance Hunter, Mockingbird

Best for fans of light-hearted spy stories and geeky jokes

8. Iceman (2017) - 11 issues

I’m not going to lie, this comics was hard for me to read in places. Not because it’s bad, but because it’s good. Founding X-Man Iceman was outed as gay against his will in a controversial 2015 story. This comic follows him as he works out what his life looks like as a gay mutant, comes out to his parents, and kisses a boy for the first time. Well written and emotional, plus it’s always nice to see queer writers and artists working with queer characters. Warning that this comic deals with homophobia.

Written by Sina Grace

Starring: Iceman, Shadowcat, Daken, Oya, Hercules, Darkstar, Angel, Amp, Ghost Rider

Best for fans of drama

9. Hercules (2016) - 6 issues

Hercules is a laughing stock in the hero world, better known for his drinking than his heroism (even though he’s 10 months sober). Gilgamesh hasn’t left Herlcules’ couch for a month. But when terrifying new gods emerge in the modern age, the old gods are the only ones who can stop them. Epic in the old sense of the word.

Written by Dan Abnett

Starring: Hercules, Tyresius, Gilgamesh, Ire of the Crua before the Ice

10. Black Bolt (2017) - 12 issues

Black Bolt generated a lot of hype when issue 1 dropped last year, and it’s hardly surprising because this comic is something special. Betrayed by his brother, deposed monarch Black Bolt is locked away in the universe’s highest security prison. Depowered, trapped and tortured, he must rely on the help of his fellow prisoners to escape. If escape is even possible. Best read in tandem with Royals (above). Warning that the later part of this comic deals with past child neglect and emotional abuse.

Written by Saladin Ahmed

Starring: Black Bolt, Lockjaw, Absorbing Man, Metal Master, Blinky, Raava

Best for fans of emotional drama and prison break stories

[dementedgnomicwizard]

Do you have any comics that you recommend? I want some new stuff to read!

OOH yesyesyes! Let me just like. Tell you everything that I love.

The first comic I ever really fell in love with was Matt Fraction’s 2012 Hawkeye  run. It’s... so good. It reinvents the character in such a fun and interesting a deeply human way and also it’s funny as hell and the art is SEXY. David Aja and Matt Hollingsworth outsold. Also, it’s a really good jumping-off point if you’re trying to get into comics; a lot of comics do a kind of wink-wink-nudge-nudge self-referential thing where the characters will say something and you’ll go “huh?” and there will be an asterisk and a footnote that says, like, “Read Secret Ultra Infinity Super Wars Vs. The X-Men Issue 458″ and you’re like “I am not going to do that” and then you don’t understand whatever’s happening for a few panels. The Fraction series doesn’t really do that! Which is super nice.

Once you’re done with that—Kelly Thompson’s 2016 Hawkeye run, which follows Kate Bishop (also Hawkeye) after she moves to LA! I LOVE LOVE LOVED this run because Kate is my favorite Marvel character of all time and Thompson really understands her and writes her better than pretty much anyone else who’s ever tackled Kate. Including Allan Heinberg. Feel free to @ me.

Skip All-New Hawkeye. It’s literally not worth it. Jeff Lumire doesn’t understand Clint and Kate’s dynamic and doesn’t understand Kate, period. The way their dynamic plays out in ANH reads like he literally just skimmed the Fraction series, lmao. There’s one cute flashback scene that addresses Kate’s backstory a little bit that I like a lot better than her motivation-backstory-flashback from the 2005 Young Avengers, but also when you take into account that she’d already had one of these flashback sequences it’s sort of redundant in a way that makes me wonder if Lumire was like... at all familiar with her character when he signed on to do the series. WHATEVER. I’M SALTY.

Young Avengers! The 2005 series is sort of required reading to understand Kieron Gillen’s 2013 series, but I like the Gillen series a lot better (at least in its handling of its female characters *cough* Kate *cough*) There’s a lot of YA reading inbetween the 2005 and 2013 series but I skipped a lot of it because the art was ugly and the Runaways crossover was near-unreadable, IMO.

THE UNBELIEVABLE GWENPOOL! I LOVE Gwenpool. She’s one of my favorite characters. If you’re not familiar, the basic concept is that she is a girl from our universe who loved Marvel, and one day she woke up and found herself in the Marvel universe—and proceeded to just sort of cause chaos in every way possible. Her series was fun and vibrant and the art style is sooooo cute. 

Spidey! This run was so so so fun and cute. I definitely have a weakness for teenage superheroes because I think their problems are more interesting and their banter is MUCH funnier, by and large. This run focused on Peter Parker in high school juggling his teenage problems with his identity as Spider-Man.

America! Gabby Rivera tackled the character of America Chavez for a solo series and I, for one, really enjoyed it. Also Joe Quinones’s art is deeply, deeply sexy. America is a really fun character and also she’s a lesbian so I was sold from the beginning! Prodigy, who I love, also pops up in this series quite a bit, and so does Kate!!!! Because they’re in love. AmeriKate will get confirmed one day or I’ll kill Marvel.

West Coast Avengers! This series is super new but I’m REALLY excited about it. Both the Hawkeyes are part of this new team, and so are Gwenpool and America, which was all it took to sell me on it. Issue 1 came out in August, and Issue 2 comes out on I belieeeeeeve the 19th of this month! I’m really, really excited for it. Issue 1 was a lot of fun and I trust Kelly Thompson with my life even if she keeps comphetting Kate.

Mark Waid’s Daredevil! I just started this series, and I’m only two volumes in, but I like it a lot so far. Those of you who follow me know that I’ve been wading through the Daredevil Netflix series and although I’ve been enjoying it a decent amount, a lot of it is sort of... bleak and joyless. This is not so in Waid’s series! It combines a pretty perfect amount of fun banter and zinginess with the inherent grittiness of Daredevil. I admittedly don’t know much about the character, since this is my first time reading him, but I love it so far and Matt and Foggy are in love, also, thanks for coming to my TED talk.

Also I just started Matt Fraction’s Iron Fist and although I’m not yet far in enough to make a real call I like it so far and given that Fraction is one of my favorite comic writers ever I’m confident that I’ll really enjoy it.

NON-BIG TWO COMICS! (Sorry, DC fans, I’ve never read anything DC and I probably never will except maybe The Flash but even that’s a big ol’ maybe)

SEX CRIMINALS! This one’s by Matt Fraction (who y’all know I love) and Chip Zdarsky, who I also love to death. It’s a REALLY funny series about people who figure out that time freezes when they cum so they start robbing banks. It sounds like a really weird concept, and it is, but it’s also so fucking good. It’s so good. That’s really all I can say.

Heavy Vinyl! This is a series about a group of girls in I belieeeeeve the 90s who work at a record store and are also part of a secret underground crime-fighting fight club. I’ve only read volume 1—I’m not sure if there’s more out yet, I’ve checked my local store a couple times and haven’t found any—but I’m eager to read more when/if there ever is any.

Kelly Thompson’s Nancy Drew! I was a little scared going into this one that the similarities to Kate (private detective, sassy young woman, written by Thompson etc) would make Nancy’s voice too similar to Kate’s, but because it’s Thompson I wasn’t let down! The only way Kelly Thompson has ever let me down is by making Kate date boys. ANYWAY. As someone who grew up reading and loving Nancy Drew, I was really excited about this series and I wasn’t disappointed. George is a lesbian in this! Finally! That’s all you need to know. Go read it.

That’s all I got for now! Thanks for asking, sorry this got long!

[aion-rsa]

Can Tom Hardy Make a Venom 3 Spider-Man Showdown Happen?

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While sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage approaches its arrival at theaters in September, star Tom Hardy is already envisioning designs for a prospective third film. Interestingly, for fans still unable to overlook the Spider-Man-less elephant in the franchise room, said designs are auspicious, since they involve a push to finally get the symbiote-joined Eddie Brock and Tom Holland’s Wall-Crawler together to potentially ignite a live-action version of their era-defining comic book rivalry. However, given the twisted web in which Sony’s Marvel movies are stuck, such a face-off would likely require major studio wrangling and multiverse magic.

Hardy is making a passionate push for a yet-to-be-greenlit Venom 3 to center around a battle between his title character and your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man; a notion that seems obvious, seeing as Venom was introduced in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man back in 1988, sketched by Todd McFarlane as Spidey’s bulky, menacing doppelganger empowered by the Secret Wars Battleworld-found shapeshifting alien symbiote costume Spidey had abandoned. While still mockingly brandishing Spider-Man’s signature symbol on his chest, Venom quickly became an A-list villain and eventual anti-hero, and one of Marvel’s most popular characters, although always a Spider-Man character. Yet, by contrast, the Venom film franchise has been a curiosity, notably with the 2018 solo film’s status as a quasi-spinoff of Sony’s Marvel Cinematic Universe-adherent Spider-Man films that bore no apparent connection to the Wall Crawler, and even set itself away from Spidey’s New York City stomping ground to the other side of the contiguous U.S. in San Francisco. However, in an interview with Esquire, Hardy is unambiguously lobbying for the cinematic connectivity necessary for a Spider-Man showdown.

“I would be remiss if I wasn’t trying to steer any kind of connectivity,” answers Hardy when pressed on the Spider-Man question. “I wouldn’t be doing the job if I wasn’t awake and open to any opportunity or eventuality or be excited by that. Obviously, that’s a large canyon to leap, to be bridged by one person alone, and it would take a much higher level of diplomacy and intelligence, sitting down and talking, to take on an arena such as that.”

The task of bridging said canyon is daunting and complex on both a business level—pertaining to Sony’s long-held license for the Spider-Man film rights—and a narrative level—given the confusing, contradiction-filled continuity of the SPUMC (Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters). One must first recall the contemporaneously historic nature of the studio deal between Sony Pictures and Disney’s Marvel Studios that facilitated the creation of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man and his quick introduction in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War. While, for Sony, it was a profitable move that pleased fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it also stood as a monumental detour from the studio’s obstinate method of maintaining its own separate Spider-Man universe—perhaps fueled by the success of director Sam Raimi’s 2002-2007 Spider-Man Trilogy—which has been kept away from the MCU. Since the deal saw the quick, ignominious erasure of Sony’s Andrew Garfield-starring efforts, 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man and its 2014 numerical sequel, it did seem that Sony had abandoned an increasingly unfeasible dream of Spider-Man autonomy to ride the MCU’s gravy train.

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That idea came to a halt when 2018’s Venom came out of the gate cold with an origin story that completely contradicted the classic Marvel Comics storyline, and proved that Sony’s pre-Civil War plans to maintain separate usage of the characters provided by the Spider-Man rights remained curiously prevalent. Yet, despite lukewarm reviews, the strategy paid off, with the film going on to gross $856 million worldwide. Thusly, even after the success of Holland’s MCU-adherent version of the Wall Crawler, rumblings still persist of plans even beyond the upcoming Jared Leto-headlined Morbius to build a series of Spidey-adjacent solo films—mooted features centered on characters such as Kraven the Hunter, Spider-Woman and even Madame Webb—toward an MCU-contradicting Avengers-type megamovie centered on Spidey-stalking villain contingent The Sinister Six. Mind you, these spinoffs, akin to Venom, would presumably arrive cold without an MCU-christening hand-off from Holland’s Spider-Man, who has famously swung opposite the MCU’s elite in films such as the box-office-breaking Avengers: Endgame, and prepares to debut a third solo film Spider-Man: No Way Home, which prospectively yields game-changing magic-based multiverse implications with the presence of Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange.   

Moreover, Venom: Let There Be Carnage director Andy Serkis recently threw down the gauntlet for anyone attempting to theorize about Spider-Man or MCU connections in his film, first by stating that “We’re treating this very much as his own world. Venom’s story is his own world.” Furthermore, its May-released teaser trailer doubled down on the separation with a quickly-flashed scene in which Stephen Graham’s Detective Mulligan is reading a copy of the Daily Bugle, the New York rag run by vindictive anti-Spidey editor J. Jonah Jameson, who unwittingly employs his quarry, as Peter Parker, for freelance photography. Ironically, while, at first glance, such an Easter egg would seemingly be the seed for Spider-Man appearances, it is, in fact, the opposite, since it contradicts Far from Home’s aforementioned post-credits scene, in which we learn that, in the MCU, the Daily Bugle is not a print newspaper, but a “controversial” conspiracy website run by J. Jonah Jameson, a new version played by the character’s classic portrayer, J.K. Simmons.

Sony Pictures

Consequently, with the Venom films presumed to not even take place in the same universe as Tom Hardy’s Wall-Crawler, much less the same geographic coastal location, the task of parting the proverbial seas to make a Venom and Spider-Man battle happen would likely require the former to somehow be brought into the universe of the latter. Indeed, Spidey, and the already-massive MCU legacy he brings, is unlikely to be grandfathered into the isolated Venom movie universe. After all, the two films seemingly bear no direct connection even to fellow SPUMC offering Morbius (more on that in a moment,) or, potentially, Sony’s constantly-evolving array of other planned projects. Nevertheless, the apparent loftiness of the would-be Spider-Man meeting has done nothing to diminish Hardy’s resolve.

“Should both sides be willing, and it be beneficial to both sides, I don’t see why it couldn’t be,” says Hardy. “I hope and strongly, with both hands, push, eagerly, towards that potential, and would do anything to make that happen, within what’s right in business. But it would be foolish not to head towards the Olympic Games if you were running 100 metres, so yeah! I want to play on that field.”

Sony Pictures

Interestingly, Morbius, rather than Venom, seems destined to become the exception to Sony’s Spidey-less spinoff strategy. The upcoming film will have Jared Leto star as the “Living Vampire” antagonist and subsequent antihero introduced back in 1971 in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man. Yet, an intriguing trailer arrived for the pandemic-delayed film back in Jan. 2020, which showcased the clear MCU-connecting presence of Michael Keaton’s still-incarcerated Spider-Man: Homecoming villain Adrian Toomes/The Vulture, and further flew the flag of connectivity with a scene in which Leto’s Morbius walks by a poster of Spider-Man indicatively marred by a spray-painted message of “murderer,” likely referencing the post-credit events of 2019’s Spider-Man: Far from Home, in which a posthumously-dropped video from Mysterio framed an ousted Peter Parker/Spider-Man for his murder. Thus, Morbius might provide the template for how future SPUMC offerings—like, say, Venom 3—can exist on the periphery of the acknowledged MCU.

Hardy’s clearly expressed desire to tangle with Spider-Man on the big screen will first require a significant amount of cooperation from Marvel Studios—namely its hands-on head honcho, Kevin Feige—regarding the apparent universe-diverging developments potentially set to alter the trajectory of the MCU. With Disney+ television series Loki having recently introduced the presumably necessary multiverse element, early details from recently-revealed MCU movie merchandise indicate that it will be further explored in the December-17-scheduled Spider-Man: No Way Home and, subsequently, in the March-25-scheuled Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

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For now, though, Venom will have to relegate his consumption of bad guys’ brains to his own little cinematic corner, with Venom: Let There Be Carnage scheduled to hit theaters on Friday, Sept. 24.

The post Can Tom Hardy Make a Venom 3 Spider-Man Showdown Happen? appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[cindyfelicia]

Hi, I hope you’re doing well!! I was just wondering if you read comics? If so could you recommend some/ how to start getting into them? I want to start reading them, but it’s so stressful trying to figure out where to start. Also I love you blog!

Hi there! you’re all manners of sweet and kind thank u my advice abt approaching comics is going for solo runs first, this is how I, personally, did it and it’s way easier than jumping in on team books, or worse events bc they tend to be messier and need more bg info and pre-existing knowledge than a comic that focus on just the one character; I also feel it’s good to start with current or at least recent comics, you can always read the old stuff when you’re better acquainted with how comics work and which characters, artists and writers you like (or can tolerate).

actual recs under the cut because this got so long

i was gonna do a whole list of mcu characters’ solos because most people entry point to comics rn is superhero movies, and hmu if you want that, but instead I think I’m gonna rec you some good comics that are either separated enough from main marvel continuity as to be intelligible without extensive info gathering, or I just think they’re great and worth a bit of confusion (part of starting out reading comics is not knowing fully wth is going on sometimes, but stiking with it for some good art or for characters you love -I’m not gonna go so far as to say for good writing bc that’s just not realistic):

if you like yourself some spider-people:- silk (2015) and vol 2 (2016) are my absolute favorites- I’m not very much into spiderman but I read renew your vows  and it’s lovely,  it’s just not a main universe comic it’s an au where things are as, imo, they should be with ye old web slinger, and it’s good for getting your feet wet in the huge pool of spider-man comics;- I love miss jessica drew (spider-woman) but her solo is……. questionable if someone has a good jess drew intro rec pls tell me so I can pass it on, - miles morales has been written badly in more ways than one but I love him so I suffer, I can direct you without scruples only to his novel tho, absolutely lovely and not written by brian michaelbendis lmao- anya corazon is a really good character that marvel loves to forget it has, let’s not make the same mistake;- black widow 2014 and 2016 and bw: the name of the rose are all good comics (I know technically nat isn’t a spider person but like nothing about spider-woman’s powers screams ‘spider’ either so..

for wakanda I’d say good recent start-ups would be: - black panther (2016), - black panther: world of wakanda (w/ a lesbian couple as protag), - and rise of the black panther (ongoing)

some non x-men team books that are easier to approach as a beginner imho:-young avengers vol 2 (vol 1 has its moments if you want to start from the beginning with them but a lot of it involves the civil war arc and stuff.. also some characters die, the art is less good and I want to protect people from 17’s yo cassie lang’s nipples poking through her shirt.. I wish someone had protected me tbh) -I want to rec some Runaways but besides the current run (which is alright) there’s a lot to be said against the writing in most of the rest of them maybe vol 1? to have the origins pinned down-I feel like after a small read through of what exactly the hell was going on with secret wars you could approach A-Force vol 1 and the first half of vol 2 (the second half ties in with civil war II and I’m not touching that mess) and that and avenger world and sometimes secret avengers to me are good avengers books-she hulk 2014 and totally awesome hulk are my greens of choice but if you want an intro to bruce banner idont actually know, sorry-for the asgardians: thor 2014 and it’s follow up mighty thor, thor: god of thunder, angela: asgard’s assassin and its sequel angela: queen of hel, and loki: agent of asgard are my pick of this crop-we also have Fun here at marvel comics on occasion and both patsy walker aka hellcat and squirrel girl are nice in their own way although the latter isn’t really my thing

some follow up on the young avengers:- hawkeye (2013) an absolute fan favorite, good to discover that actually clint barton was a good character it’s that the avengers movies are just bad and hate people with disabilities- a couple of follow-ups to that (x) (x) and the kate bishop solo all pretty nice- america chavez’s solo (I’m just here to suggest gay comics, that’s almost all I read really)

I want to rec Champions to people but frankly it’s just a long series of event interruptions and bullshit interspersed with a couple of nice moments so far, so I’m gonna rec you some kids that are in the champions and have solos I haven’t already mentioned:- kamala khan’s book is probably my favorite ongoing series at marvel right now about any non-mutant char, I cannot say enough good about it,- nova is nice,- miles morales (spider-man) and amadeuscho (totally awesome hulk) are also there but I’ve already mentioned themalso in this house we love and respect elektranatchiosand any other attitude just isn’t tolerated.

on to the x-men, gotta love those guys, you just gotta:- like I said I prefer to tell people to start from recent comics but with the xmen that’s so difficult? it’s been 10+ bad years for them because of the movie rights situation and just marvel being shit in general, so my one recent team book to approach the x-men is prob x-men ‘92? because its based off of the xm animated series so you don’t have to straightaway deal with some mutant plague, eugenics plots, and other catastrophic events, but you can still get to know more of the char we all love - I want to say generation x vol 2, it’s not a good starting point for anything really but I love it so so much I had to mention it even tho it was cancelled and I’m still angry as hell about it.

the solo situation is better. I’m gonna be able to breathe without tasting my own bile while I type this, hurray!-all new wolverine follows laura kinney as she takes up the mantle from logan-iceman, good solid comic abt coming out and ice puns, who doesn’t like bobby really-jean grey, yes she’s a teen girl in this, yes it’s weird and I hate de-aging characters but it’s nice to see her train with different mutants, struggling with the incoming phoenix force and her adult self’s shadow, not really great entry point to jean grey but id read it anyway-if you were into the 00’s xmen movies like me, or at least a normal person’s amount the phoenix recently returned and with her adult!jean grey, it was a good book for me and good if you want to later start reading the actual phoenix saga (which is a lot of material so starting small with this might help) -I love wandamaximoff and despite what they’ve done to the maximoffs in order to bring them into the mcu (was it worth it for that result btw? really?) her recent book was good and I genuinely loved it -storm’s solo is so good, you’re gonna fall in love with an het ship and you’re not gonna regret it either-rogue and gambit, is ongoing and it’s good to get a little acquainted with these characters but mostly it’s about explorign their relationship

I’m sure I’m forgetting a lot of good x-men content atm but I can’t stop thinking I need to mention that there are ongoing series you could pick up its just.. I hate them.. some started out promising (xmen gold, astonishing xmen), but they’ve not developed in good directions imo, but I still feel they should be mentioned, there’s also a weapon x comic if you want to go for a more bloody kind of book and xmen blue if you like time displaced teens or something? god its bad

jeez this is so so long and guess what? I haven’t even finished yet.. there’s some excellent indie comics out there and with those you really don’t need to worry abt knowing any 30 years old lore or anything you pick them up and they explain themselves like any other normal media out there, I know, be still my heart:

- lumberjanes is my absolute favorite, a little corny, but so much fun and cuteness and if I could go back in time I’d give it to my little bi self so she’d know she’s not alone and anything I feel that ways about has a special place i my heart js

- Motor crush, there really isn’t any other comic book with a black lesbian as protagonist out there that I can think of, good if you’re into motorcycles but if like in my case that threatens to put you to sleep, it also has a sci-fi streak and solid character work, you won’t regret giving it a try

- moonstruck, cute non-white gay werewolves and other mythological creatures are there, I feel this cathers to me specifically every time I open it?? bless

- Hi-Fi fight club or heavy vinyl (they changed the title) if you want a period piece that’s fun and cute and gay (I meant it about me reading only gay comics as you can tell)

- saga, for a space, well ya know.. saga I feel that I can describe it as romeo and juliet in space with added racial commentary except they don’t kill themselves, I have to say not my favorite but you might stick with it for the characters, I sure do

- the wicked + the divine, I feel very much the same about this as I do about saga, only this is mythology based so like.. I sold my soul to it, but please do tread with care there’s a lot of deaths in it and so many of these dead people are gays and/or poc.. I’m none too pleased about it and I’d understand anyone not wanting to pick it up, I mean the deaths are basically in the premises of the books but that doesn’t change the end result..

lastly like I said dc is not my area of expertise but I’ve been following with pleasure both batwoman and green lanterns, and mr miracle was an amazing comic so I thought I’d mention them

[ruinerswife]

2017 End of Year

I usually post these to FB, but this got real long... so tumblr gets the unedited version.

What is there to say about 2017?

Many are saying it won’t be missed, that it was a hard year, that it was a bad year. And I suppose all that is true. Except, that I have long believed that discomfort is where we grow. Not everyone does, not every situation is ideal. Discomfort can range from feeling stagnant to a challenged worldview. Some events are too threatening to our personal paradigms and we shut down. Some things feel like they could destroy our sense of who we are, so we disengage and chose to confirm our previous knowledge and brush away the new input. But sometimes, we work through it and we learn new things about ourselves and the people and world around us.

For me, 2017 was a year of growth. Some of it was gentle and self motivated, some of it wasn’t. I was thoroughly lucky and privileged to not have some of the hard seasons others have had. My dad is always pointing out how lucky we are, and was long before privilege was a concept I was wrestling with. I know that I’m well seated as a cis, hetero-presenting, white woman. I can sit back and ignore much of what goes on in the world around me. In 2017 I began to make an effort to listen more to people who don’t look or act like me, to examine my discomfort, to sit with it and learn from it.  

I had a pretty physically active 2017. I ran the Hot Chocolate and got a PR, after just deciding to walk it on a whim. I did the Foam Fest 5k where we all froze to death, except Scott who held our stuff. That was followed up by another mud/obstacle run with friends, though I preferred the Foam Fest. I’m less about rope climbing and more about inflatables, I guess. I moved to the Woodruff Physical Education Center as my gym, rather than the smaller staff gym closer to the office. In some ways it was a good move, and in others a bit of a hinderance. WPEC is larger, but it’s also further away and I’m more likely to talk myself out of going. But I did meet a goal I set for myself of 3x/month for an entire month to get an annual locker. So seeing the inside of WPEC more often is a definite goal for 2018.

2017 was a year of growth in relationships. I spent time, effort and money on relationships that mean a great deal to me, I rekindled old relationships, I let some relationships fade away, I said goodbyes to two, and I had some go spectacularly wrong. I learned from all of these. Whether I learned the “right” things, only time will tell. I do plan on making time for my relationships in 2018, since it had such a positive effect on 2017. I went on multiple trips with friends this year, Hilton Head, the north GA mountains, Tybee, and Colorado. I buried my remaining grandfather, spent 4th of July on a Jersey beach with my sister, my youngest sister got married, and danced at the Stonewall Inn with my brother. I said goodbye to a vivacious young woman, who lives on in the people who remember her.

I grew a good bit professionally this year. 2016 me would be shocked at some of the things I managed this year. To be honest 2017 me is still surprised I made it through. I’m not sure I can top 2017, and don’t feel the need to. 2018 is the year I settle in to managing a program and employees with a side of studying for the CPLP.

I tried new things this year. I did InCoWriMo (and now have a picture of the Pope on my fridge), I planted a spider plant baby from the AirBnB and it’s still doing well, I did the races I listed above. I started baking again, here in the last month of the year. I went to the Georgia House Rabbit Society fundraiser and hoppy hour. I did a glassblowing class.

A new cat found us, and I wasn’t the one to let her in! Fujiko Mine joined the family and is settling in nicely, even if the older ladycat of the house isn’t overly fond of her. She’s keeping our old man cat spry, and that’s enough for us. We really aren’t sure how old Chuck is, but he is solidly an elderly cat. He’s at least 15, since we got him in 2006 and he might have been 4-5 then. Likely older though, considering how bony he’s gotten in the last 2 years. For both Chuck and Wylie, who are the elder statesmen of the house, I’m always thankful to have made it one more year with them.

As 2018 dawns, I’m thinking about what I want to do in the coming year. At least the first quarter, anyway. I think I might do the Hot Chocolate again this year, since the swag is always good and the chocolate at the finish line is a real motivator. I plan on doing Incowrimo again this year, since I really enjoyed putting together my list and writing letters. Scott and I need to figure out what we want to do about having been married for 10 years. As for later on in the year, I want to take a trip up to Jersey to see family without it being for a wedding or funeral.

[dweemeister]

NOTE: The following contains some spoilers. 

Justice League (2017)

Under the leadership of Zack Snyder, the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) has begun with embarrassing efforts including Man of Steel (2013), Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), and Suicide Squad (2016). The outlook at Warner Bros. was grim, facing diminishing box office returns and vicious critical reviews. This summer, it took Wonder Woman to provide any hope that the DCEU was on an upward trajectory. In comes Justice League, a film that marks a step forward for Warner Bros.’ most important franchise, but is troubled by writing its way out of the holes dug by Snyder in Man of Steel and especially Batman v Superman. With Zack Snyder’s Justice League (alongside expensive reshoots by Joss Whedon, credited as co-writer with Chris Terrio), the DCEU remains in critical condition. But unlike the recent philosophical shallowness of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s (MCU) militancy, the DCEU – in Wonder Woman and Justice League – is making an honest attempt at a superheroing dialectic.

Shortly after Superman’s death in Batman v Superman, Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds; the character is an alien general from Apokolips who serves Darkseid) has landed on Earth to retrieve three Mother Boxes and harness the boxes’ aggregate powers to commence Earth’s destruction. No one knows the exact capabilities, purposes, or origins of the Mother Boxes, but Amazonian Queen Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen) warns Diana Prince (Gal Gadot; Wonder Woman) of Steppenwolf’s arrival. Diana joins forces with Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck; Batman) and, together, recruit Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa; Aquaman), Barry Allen (Ezra Miller; The Flash), and Victor Stone (Ray Fisher; Cyborg). Steppenwolf and his army of Parademons are making quick work of finding the boxes, and – this should come as no surprise to anyone paying attention to the DCEU – our superheroes exhume and reanimate Clark Kent (Henry Cavill; Superman) in preparation for the final showdown.

The supporting cast is unwieldy – as in any superhero team movies – but the prominent members include: Bruce’s butler Alfred Pennyworth (Jeremy Irons); Clark’s mother, Martha Kent (Diane Lane); Clark’s love interest but, most importantly, Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist for the Daily Planet Lois Lane (Amy Adams); and Gotham City Police Commissioner James Gordon (J.K. Simmons).

Before delving into the heart of this write-up, note that Zack Snyder departed the project after a sudden family emergency. Joss Whedon (who directed the first two Avengers movies) replaced Snyder, re-wrote scenes, and filmed reshoots. The stylistic differences between the two directors clash throughout Justice League – Snyder has always relied on a desaturated brown- and black-heavy color palette, foreboding self-importance, and an attitude toward life that is a cross between an emotionally bankrupt nihilist and that edgy fellow from your Intro to Philosophy class trying to be “deep”, but failing; Whedon established the MCU’s quip-heavy dialogue in favor of slowing down the action and showing us where a superhero’s humanity comes from, oftentimes interrupting thoughtful moments and conversations like a loud frat boy with a tenuous command of the subject being talked about (the frat boy might actually be “deep”, but he has trouble expressing himself).

I profess to appreciate Whedon’s writing only a little more than Snyder’s. Self-important superhero movies need to earn their somberness – see Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy – and humanizing those with superpowers is something that post-Spider-Man 2 (2004) superhero movies have all but forgotten to do. So the Whedon-esque comedic dialogue is appreciated, if occasionally misplaced in the thick of a violent scene. In other times, Whedon’s dialogue is entirely inappropriate and will unintentionally have the audience burst out in disbelieving guffaws. Let us take the scene where Superman returns with Lois Lane to Smallville.

Lois’ first line is to tell Clark that he smells good.

“Didn’t I smell good before?” he asks.

That is the first thing she says in their first private moment together? And second, wouldn’t being buried six feet under make you smell like earthworms? I guess Kryptonian pheromones are pretty resilient even in death! Soon after, Lois asks Clark what was it like being dead.

“Itchy,” he says.

Itchy? Is the Kryptonian afterlife filled with Kryptonian fleas (bad news for Krypto the Superdog if that’s the case)? To pull back before I pick and choose dozens of individual lines of dialogue for ridicule, Whedon’s comedic tendencies – not for the first time – destroy any sense of intimacy between friends, lovers, and family. A Whedon-written subplot about a Russian family fleeing the final battle sequence is manufactured and manipulative, rather than horrifying or inspiring.

For Snyder (and Terrio, who worked with both Snyder and Whedon and whose contributions are less clear), his writing belies little interest in adding dimensions to Steppenwolf. The worst of Snyder appears immediately after Superman is resurrected as Batman, Wonder Woman, Cyborg, and The Flash must combat the awoken Man of Steel in a battle that does not serve anybody’s characterization or the plot’s progression. It is a superficial battle fulfilling Snyder’s dependency on unnecessary violence to keep interest going.

Yet Snyder is also responsible for the film’s most inspiring moment. Unfortunately, that comes in the opening minutes as the film introduces Wonder Woman. She is seen defending civilians from terrorists threatening to obliterate a London bank. From the sequential progression of the moment – despite being deprived of too much context – and the impressive visual effects, it builds off Patty Jenkins and Allan Heinberg’s characterization of Wonder Woman earlier this year. And though the final line of that introductory scene smacks of cheesiness (”Who are you?”; “A believer.” Is Diana a Monkees fan?), it retains what was essential of Jenkins’ interpretation of Wonder Woman: that Diana has always been motivated not by personal animus, but a genuine, learned belief in humanity’s characteristic and fragile goodness. It is a brief moment, this. Yet in that snippet, Zack Snyder – whether he internalized these lessons or not – provides a moment worthy of cheers and, yes, tears.

The balance of screentime between all six founding members of the DCEU’s Justice League (spare a thought for fans of omitted, original founding members Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter) is equal enough, although Aquaman does not truly factor until the final third of the film. For Aquaman, The Flash, and Cyborg, Justice League might feel like an extended trailer for their more interesting standalone movies. Regarding the film’s treatment of Wonder Woman, there are mixed results after that spectacular introduction. One-liners and comments about Wonder Woman’s attractiveness (Flash, Aquaman, and Alfred in particular) are unwelcome, undermining the professionalism seen in the Cartoon Network animated series Justice League / Justice League Unlimited (2001-2006) and even Hanna Barbera’s long-running Super Friends (1973-1986). The angles in which Wonder Woman is shot also contribute to feminists’ justified anger in how Snyder (who has never been concerned with feminism) and Whedon (a self-professed feminist, but whose behavior and past writing suggest otherwise) have portrayed her. Eventually, the film’s roughshod editing between the Snyder and Whedon versions provides a portrait of the Justice League to that is cluttered, confusing, contradictory.

In such a sizable ensemble picture so devoted to narrative and action, it seems useless to comment on performances. With the exception of Cavill and Affleck, every other lead and important supporting cast are doing a serviceable job (for Fisher, Miller, and Momoa, their shining moments will come in their respective movies). Cavill has the muscles, but his charm remains missing despite a more saturated suit for Superman – Cavill remains a more convincing antagonist than a protagonist. Affleck looks and sounds bored. He adds nothing to Bruce Wayne or Batman. Today, it seems even more impossible in film to make the Caped Crusader a sympathetic character – like the one found in the comics and animated television.

It is sympathy that brings us to the direction of this franchise. This paragraph should be read with the understanding that I do not read comic books and that I do not have the emotional ties that many others have to these characters. If Zack Snyder remains sidelined at the DCEU in future installments (unlikely at this juncture, as Warner Bros. did not sack him after multiple critical failures), the franchise’s primary problem will no longer be that it peddles in malformed ideas and soul-heaving darkness. In this case, the primary problem of the DCEU is making its characters sympathetic – allowing the audience to understand each hero’s sense of altruism and showing us where that comes from (e.g. family-instilled values, personal losses processed or otherwise, childhood loneliness into compassion) and having the Justice League become something inspirational to those unable to defend themselves.

Making characters sympathetic sounds simple (anything but!), but it is a good primary problem to have considering the recent history of superhero films. The DCEU has no problems making its superheroes feel larger-than-life. There are few character visibility or recognizability obstacles. As long as the DCEU avoids stunts like Superman’s “death” and Man of Steel’s heinous thesis that the only way for Superman to truly cherish life is to kill someone, its regard for life and understanding of death’s gravity is intact. These are foundational aspects of superhero narratives that must be recognized. Regarding sympathetic superheroes, the DCEU has Wonder Woman (the MCU wasted Captain America due to a convoluted conspiracy-thriller maze of an overarching plot and an unwillingness or inability to meditate on mature themes; the DCEU may yet squander Gal Gadot’s Diana) and must endeavor to make its future installments just as appealing. The MCU might be making the better movies, but this is where the DCEU can still mount its challenge.

Again, realize that almost all of the above is dependent on Zack Snyder’s permanent departure from DCEU films and a need for better writers.

Justice League’s music score has become one of the fiercest points of contention among hardened fans. Just as the DCEU has become the most visible battleground for the soul of superhero movies, it is also the frontline for the future of film scoring. In June 2017, Junkie XL (2015′s Mad Max: Fury Road, Batman v Superman) was replaced with Danny Elfman (1989′s Batman, 1990′s Edward Scissorhands). Junkie XL, who has collaborated multiple times with Zimmer, is a DJ and audio engineer first, a composer second (sorry, but all those categories are distinct), and is interested in rhythm and ambience. Elfman, who has composed for superhero media for almost thirty years, is classically influenced with a rock and ska background, and has always been regarded for his melodic and harmonic constructions. American movies – whether independents or major studio tentpoles – have been moving away from traditional orchestra-based film scoring in recent years in favor of electronic music and Zimmer’s drum “choruses”. Controversy among DC fans ensued when Elfman announced he would recall his theme to 1989′s Batman and John Williams’ Superman theme rather than continue some of Zimmer’s previous musical ideas – the number of incendiary personal attacks directed against Elfman have been sickening and reflective of a lack of understanding of film music conventions and history.

I personally have mixed feelings about the Elfman score. While I despise Zimmer and his associates/ghostwriters’ DCEU contributions and refuse to believe their music is “revolutionary” in the ways they boast, Elfman’s decision to undermine the musical continuity of the DCEU resembles the compositional debacles with the MCU. The 1989 Batman theme is an imperfect, but adequate fit for Affleck’s Batman (variations can be heard early in “Batman on the Roof”; Elfman restrains himself until “Then There Were Three”); Cavill’s sleep-inducing Superman does not yet deserve the soaring strings and inspiring brass and woodwinds that fit Christopher Reeve’s portrayal of the Man of Steel (Williams’ theme is buried underneath a thunderous sound mix, but its renditions in minor key suggests Elfman considered Cavill’s Superman and applied the theme in a suitable fashion). In ways that Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL could never provide, Wonder Woman’s theme is, for the first time, not played by electric cello, but by lower strings, brass, and guitar in “Wonder Woman Rescue”– diversifying the instrumentation is almost always rewarding, as evidenced here. Less developed are Elfman’s hints to themes for Aquaman, Cyborg, and The Flash for any future composers to build upon if they so desire.

For all my gripes about the score and lack of new, recognizable motifs (Elfman’s score is motif-heavy), film composers rooted in classical music have an advantage over composers using drum choruses and harsh electronics: orchestras are more capable to carry multiple, harmonically independent themes in a single cue and have those themes in dialogue with each other. And though it is played underneath the combat, “The Final Battle” is a gorgeous orchestral action cue combining motifs that – and it feels so strange to write this – help tell the story of the battle.

Adjusted for inflation, Justice League is the third-most expensive film ever made – behind the 2011 and 2007 Pirates of the Caribbean movies and ahead of Titanic (1997). With extensive reshoots and a committed effort by Warner Bros. for an extremely late, movie-saving operation, Whedon’s interventions improve the film, even if Justice League is a Frankenstein’s monster of a movie in all of its tonal inconsistency. As expectations beforehand remained abysmal, this Justice League is the best possible movie that could have been made with the talent attached to it. With the exception of perhaps Star Wars, the production history of the DCEU is just as dramatic as the events on-screen. Justice League shows that the producers, directors, and writers of the DCEU are actively learning from their prior mistakes.

The challenge is now to make these comic book superheroes into the ideal that their creators, decades ago, imagined for themselves, their readers, those who can still differentiate between justice and mercy.

My rating: 6/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found here.