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taylorinthetardis · 4 years ago

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My theory for how WandaVision will play out and what it means for the MCU as a whole

***SPOILERS WILL BE UNDER THE CUT, READ AT YOUR OWN PERIL***

*sorry if this doesn’t make a lot of sense, my brain is bad at having linear thoughts*

So. Since Agnes has revealed herself to be Agatha Harkness, and she’s been pulling the strings all along, here’s where I think they’re going with this.

I don’t think Agatha is of the normal MCU universe. I think she’s from either the same universe as Evan Peters’ Quicksilver (which is why we didn’t get normal MCU Pietro, but got X-Men Peter instead). She knew enough to know they were siblings, but didn’t know Pietro so she couldn’t conjur him/pull him from his timeline before he died to bring him to Westview. So she got the closest thing. Another thought I have is that Peter isn’t Peter and is actually either Mephisto in disguise or Agatha’s son Nicholas.

I also assume, given the comic book storyline that is being followed here, that she’s working with Mephisto and possibly the Salem Seven as well.

If the Salem Seven are involved, I wouldn’t be surprised if Dottie turns out to be one of its members. I also think she could be Clea, the guardian (Sorcereress Supreme) of the dark universe where Dormammu lives. She could have been pulled there through the Nexus and became unwittingly apart of Wanda’s fantasy.

I think the twins are probably gone for good, since in the comics they were killed when Mephisto came back for the shards of his soul that were used to make them. Agatha was shown to be behind a lot of things in Westview so far, I wouldn’t be surprised if she was behind Wanda giving birth to the twins as well, just like in the comics.

I also think this is going to end with either Vision being totally taken out of the picture or we’ll find out for sure that the twins are gone and/or dead or both of those things, and Wanda will completely snap, causing the Multiverse to become unstable and thus setting up the events of Doctor Strange 2 and probably Spider Man 3 as well.

So, how does this set up Doctor Strange 2 and how might this connect to Loki? Wanda is canonically known as a Nexus Being in the comics. This means that she had the ability to affect probabilities and, by extension, the future. Nexus Beings are keystones of the Multiverse and can affect its stability. What I believe is happening here is that Agatha is exploiting Wanda’s powers to affect the multiverse as a whole and possibly trigger its collapse. I think this is going to set up the so-called “Multiverse of Madness” by either bringing together the Nexus Beings from around the Multiverse, which would destabilize everything and cause a lot of chaos, or by manipulating the other Nexus Beings through Wanda (since Nexus Beings can astral project throughout the multiverse) and causing chaos in each separate universe that Doctor Strange will have to fix by travelling to multiple universes to put things back to rights. It’s also possible, like I mentioned above, that Wanda will become too overwhelmed with grief by the end of this and totally lose control of her powers, causing the Multiverse to become unstable/on the verge of collapse.

What does this have to do with Loki? Well, the Nexus Beings are watched over by both cosmic entities, like Uatu the Watcher and Immortus, but also the Time Variance Authority, or TVA. If you’ve seen the Loki trailer, you may remember that the group that Loki is either working for/with or being held captive by is the TVA. I think it’s possible that something (probably Wanda) is going to cause the timeline to destabilize and Loki will be trying to set things right, but because he’s Loki he’ll probably either make it worse or try and exploit it for his own gain. Either way it seems like it’s gonna be a fun watch.

Another note about WandaVision. So Paul Bethany said there’s one more big cameo that no one has guessed yet and he was super excited to do it because it was someone that he really admires and hadn’t gotten to work with yet in the MCU.

I think it’s Samuel L Jackson/Nick Fury.

So, stay with me on this one. So, when SHIELD was SHIELD, it wasn’t just SHIELD, it was also HYDRA. What if SWORD isn’t just SWORD? Two agencies operating under the guise of one, both with very different directives. What if the SWORD we’ve seen so far is actually just HYDRA or some other evil organization masquerading as SWORD? I believe that Maria Rambeau founded SWORD as an agency to deal with space-based stuff, since she has first hand knowledge that aliens are out there and they aren’t all friendly. But what if somewhere along the way SWORD was infiltrated? I think Nick Fury has been Talos longer than we think, maybe not the whole time he’s been in the MCU, but for a while. I think Maria sent him on the mission with the Skrull that we see in the end of Far from Home. But since Maria died, and Hayward took over running SWORD, things have been headed in a similar direction as when Pierce was running SHIELD. The bad guys are in control and are manipulating things to suit their own ends. That’s why Hayward was trying to bring Vision back online when Wanda took him. He was probably planning on using Vision as a weapon. I think Fury is gonna make it back to Earth and with Monica’s help, is going to take down whoever has infiltrated SWORD. It’s possible that this could be setting up Secret Invasion as well. In the comics that refers to the Skrulls because they shape shift, but we also saw in Captain Marvel that the Kree come in both blue humanoid and flesh colored humanoid forms. What if the Kree are the secret invaders and are trying to take over Earth as revenge for the events of Captain Marvel? Hayward and other SWORD members could be Kree pretending to be humans, biding their time until a major attack/overthrow of humanity would be possible.

The setup to a Multiverse story is super fun to see, anyone who is also a fan of the CW’s Arrowverse knows that all too well. The chances for fan service moments and call backs to previous films and shows that are not generally considered part of that specific universe are numerous. We could see old Spider-Men! We could see both Fantastic Fours! You could, conceivably, have Chris Evans on screen as both Captain America and Human Torch, while also having Michael B Jordan as another Human Torch and Killmonger! Both timelines in the X Men universe could be represented! You can bring in the Defenders, the Agents of SHIELD, the Inhumans! Miles Morales and the various Spider People from the Spider-Verse! The possibilities are numerous once you start talking Multiverse. It basically just comes down to who is feeling up for a role reprisal.

I’m stoked to see where this ends up taking us. I can’t wait for the rest of Phase 4 and beyond!

#wandavision spoilers #wandavision #mcu #mcu phase 4 #marvel

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avengersassemble-fics · 4 years ago

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But Not Us

part 03/?? “an agent of shield”

previous part // next part

word count 4k

an: there’s a lot of background info in this one, with only a couple mentions of steve. so sorry for that but :3

May 2014

What should have been the greatest experience for a newly assigned SHIELD agent turned into the world’s first global (known) alien invasion. A select few were stationed at the Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility in the Mojave Desert in New Mexico, where the only information the average agent had was to protect the scientist, and any and all information at all costs. Serving alongside Hawkeye, Phil Coulson, and seeing Director Fury almost up close and personal would have made your friends still awaiting assignment at the Academy jealous.

But when an Asguardian almost single-handedly leveled the facility, some not making it out or even barely, those who risked their lives demanded an answer. It was one of your golden experiences at SHIELD, and what may have gained you notice from the Phil Coulson. So they revealed the truth: known as Project PEGASUS, SHIELD had been in possession of an otherworldly power source, and was analyzing (and eventually) weaponizing the power it emitted. You, along with the other six agents who had demanded answers, were brought along for the next wild ride. A helicarrier awaited and there was an elite team being brought in.

The Avengers Initiative had been a ghost story at the Academy. Theories of who was being scouted, where the idea had come from, who was behind it.. During your years every theory had been tossed around it seemed.

I heard Fury created it because some alien invasion inspired him in the 90’s.

What? That’s not true! We would’ve heard about an alien.

That’s literally the point of SHIELD. Secrets. We hide ‘em.

They had a point now that you thought back on it. SHIELD was all about hiding knowledge and keeping people safe from the knowledge. How else were they going to explain that JFK was actually assassinated by a ghost story named the Winter Soldier?

Forget you just read that. That’s classified.

Regardless, seeing the likes of legendary Natasha Romanoff, the brilliant Bruce Banner, and chivalrous Steve Rogers aboard that helicarrier that day should have been momentous. But from the moment they stepped on board things had taken a turn for the worse. Hours were spent trying to locate the Asguardian who you heard was named Loki, but when he finally popped up in Germany, none other than Steve Rogers was sent in to apprehend the God. Did anyone expect Tony Stark to swoop in? Or Thor, the God of Thunder? Loki’s “adopted brother” as others heard him say.

As you did your sweeps that day, it honestly felt a little too easy.

You had only met Steve Rogers on one occasion, and that was on this day, right before Barton’s attack on the Helicarrier. You were doing a sweep on one of the lower levels, when you passed by a hallway that led down to a door that from the corner of your eye looked.. Open? Other agents passed you without even a glance to what you were seeing, so with a deep breath you walked down the white hall, and examined the door. You could hear the quiet sound of someone inside and knew what needed to be done. The door was pried open just enough for someone bigger than yourself to enter, so you managed to slide through the door and into the holding compartment.

Crates among crates were stacked on top of one another, almost every single one had the PEGASUS logo next to the SHIELD logo. The closer you got to the sounds of shuffling, you undid your holster on your leg, resting your hand firmly on the hilt of the standard SHIELD icer given to every agent. When you rounded the corner and were met with the back of Captain America himself (who wouldn’t know that iconic blue-starred uniform?) you weren’t sure what to do. You didn’t even know what overcame you to speak to him.

“Didn’t have to break the door y’know,” you said to him. You remember his shoulders tensing, setting something down in a crate he had opened and slowly turning to face you. Your hand still rested on your icer, while your other motioned back from where you both had come from. “It’s gonna take them a couple days to fix that.”

“I’ll send my apologies,” Steve said back to you. He glanced you over, not without noticing your loose grip on the weapon at your side. His eyes hovered there before he spoke again, and his piercing blue eyes met yours once more. “Are you going to turn me in?”

“No,” you didn’t hesitate in answering. His shoulders relaxed, but it looked like confusion was replaced in his scowl. You relatched your holster, and took a couple steps back with some final words. “I just hope you found what you were looking for.”

October 2013

You had come a long way since that first assignment.

You never saw Steve Rogers again, or any Avenger for that matter. Your encounter with the super soldier was soon cached as a one off meeting. He was a hero, you were an agent. And as before, you were following a lead on a secret the world wasn’t ready for yet.

For several months there have been missing person cases worldwide, but there was a catch. They soon turned up found, but encased in rock. SHIELD was called in immediately, and you were assigned to a task force to investigate. Research showed that after time the rock began to crumble, and the person was gone, dust if you will. There was nothing that could be done to save them, no matter what was attempted on the rock formations.

Your task force was a shadow team similar to Phil Coulson (who was alive, but that’s classified. Only a select few know, his team, and now the one you served on). Communication was erratic between his team and yours, but his scientist couldn’t find anything different than yours could.. This was the mission that changed your life.

Locals had come across a set of crystals during an excavation of a nearby temple. The report had said that one of the explorers touched the crystal, and was petrified within seconds. Luckily, for the first time ever, SHIELD was able to finally see what was causing these unnatural phenomenons. You remember it was hot, and being lowered by a rope into the hole the locals had cut out. When you removed yourself from the harness holding you, you examined the explorer before looking to the crystal formation in the middle of the room. It was unlike anything you had ever seen.. It was beautiful. And to this day you swore it had whispered in your ear.

You weren’t sure who knocked the crystals to the ground. Everything had happened so quickly. A blueish-grey mist evaporated into the air, and every agent, you and three others, were frozen in place. Something began to cover your body, unlike the rock that you had seen it didn’t feel rough, or scary. As the solidifying cocoon enveloped you it was as if a voice rang in your ears that you’d be fine.

And a month later, you were. Or at least you thought you were.

You don’t remember falling out of the enclosure, but they told you you did. You remember waking up in a medical room, the sound of different beeps monitoring different things in your body was evident. The first face you saw when you came to was actually Maria Hill. You should’ve known her presence was going to be followed by Director Fury, but you chalked it all up to formalities. Every test the ran on you pointed to you being fine, but you didn’t feel fine the more time that progressed.

It was January 2014 when you got into your altercation. Being back in the field was hard, you were struggling to handle your anger when someone on your team merely bumped into you. But that was it, you remembering blacking out and suddenly being on top of them, their blood covering your knuckles. An hour later, Director Fury himself was signing your suspended leave papers.

You were even more pissed off, upset that SHIELD essentially told you to handle your issues on your own. Ever since that damn mission you didn’t feel the same, something just didn’t feel right to you. You were angry, skittish, and it began to take its toll on you and your family. They didn’t know how to help you, and neither did you in all honesty. One night after having a shouting match with your father, you packed a bag and took the next plane out of there. And it didn’t matter where it went.

There’s a blank between that and when you met Gordon. You could blame it on the transition, or really just blame it on the way you took to bar hopping to mash that anger down to something else. You had managed to piss off a small group of motorcycle men (you didn’t mean to knock their bikes over, it just kind of happened), and when backed into a corner a blue field appeared before you. It shocked not only your pursuers, but you thought you were dreaming. Gordon offered you his hand, and you took it with no hesitation.

Inhuman. That’s what they said you were. A race of altered human beings that were the result of experiments on ancient humans by an extraterrestrial race who embedded their genetic code the potential to transform and/or acquire superhuman abilities through a process known as Terrigenesis.

In all honesty it was a mouthful, and a lot to accept all at once. But it.. Made sense in a way. The woman in charge, Jiaying, asked you if you had ever come in contact with a crystal, which she showed you rolled up in a small handkerchief. You recited your story, a bit modified, about coming across crystals in an old temple, and someone knocked them over by accident. You lost two months, and haven’t felt the same since. She told you that you would be taken care of, and you were safe now.

You met Lincoln a couple days later. He told you that acupuncture was supposed to help your body adapt to the Terrigenesis, but because you were going on three months since your transformation, it was going to take time. You warned him you weren’t an overly patient person, and he laughed and said he wouldn’t be going anywhere. After your first session, you didn’t feel much of a change besides the pain your neck disappeared, but the anger lingered.

You went weeks without knowing what your “superhuman ability” was, and everyday you got more and more irritable.

“Why am I even here,” you expressed to Lincoln and Jiaying one day. You clenched your fist as you paced before them, and motioned towards them. “All I feel is just pissed off because I don’t know what I’m even doing.”

“We just haven’t had a breakthrough yet,” Jiaying explained. “Everyone is different when it comes to this process.”

You couldn’t accept that. You didn’t show up for your next acupuncture appointment with Lincoln, and within 10 minutes he was knocking on your door. You tossed your pillow back to your bed, and stared at the door. Maybe if you were silent--

“I know you’re in there,” Lincoln said to you. You narrowed your eyes at the door when he spoke again. “I’m opening the door.”

“No you aren’t,” you told him through clenched teeth. When you saw the door slowly inch forward you exploded. “I said no you aren’t!”

The room shook, the door reclosing in a loud smack. You weren’t sure what had happened but saw the lingering blue ripples of energy that danced over the walls. You huffed and looked down at your hands, which were enveloped by the same blue energy. The door flew open and you looked up to see the shocked look of Lincoln. He later told you your eyes looked like they were glowing blue, but after you took him in it all disappeared.

You hadn’t gotten far on controlling your powers (you could turn invisible too, how cool was that?) when Jiaying and Gordon found out who you worked for. Lincoln was the only one who fought for you to stay at Afterlife, he said your ties with the organization didn’t mean you’d turn them in. You were one of them now. And he was right, it hadn’t even crossed your mind of turning these people over to SHIELD.. They were there for you when SHIELD wasn’t. But it didn’t matter. You suddenly shunned from this new community with the promise you’d never return, and never expose their secrets. Those last few weeks were.. They weren’t the best. Your only solace was found in Lincoln, growing closer to one another with every moment you spent together, but before anything could happen you got the phone call that changed your life. Again.

July 2014

It rained that day. The ground was soft and still had little specks of water on them. You only remembered that because your sister pointed out that everyone’s shoes were dirty. You also remembered that she tucked away one of her blankets with your mother, because she didn’t want her to be afraid. She was more wise than you were. You remembered the soft and grainy feel of the dirt you tossed onto both caskets, and when you placed your clean hand on your sister's shoulder you hadn’t noticed Lincoln step to your other side. Not until he grabbed a hold of your damp hand. The light electricity that spread over your palm was welcomed, enlightening warmth in you for the first time in days.

You didn’t see Phil Coulson and Melinda May had been in attendance in the back.

The wake after wasn’t your idea, it was your grandmother's (paternal, ever the doting family figure, god rest her soul) and that was when Coulson approached you. He was more stoic, even had a bit of stubble on his face, and asked you to speak privately. When you were able to slip away and talk outside on the porch of your family home, he offered his condolences. You remember he kept glancing May’s way, hesitant on what he was going to say, but he was very careful. Calculated you could say.

That same year Steve Rogers had exposed Hydra for having deep roots within SHIELD, and Coulson was the new Director. All he offered was that Fury was indisposed at the moment, and he offered you your position back. You wondered now if he knew what you were, what had happened. If Lincoln had any intelligence with SHIELD it had to be someone on Coulson’s team. But you were getting ahead of yourself. He said to take some time to think about it, to process your loss, and told you that you’d know where to find him. With a final goodbye, the two agents left.

Lincoln went back to Afterlife. You took full custody of your sister, and though she didn’t know why you disappeared, your grandmother did. The three of you lived comfortably in your family home (to not disrupt your sister’s life) and when you had to be off on a mission, your sister was always taken care of. Four years of never missing her softball games, listening to her awful Clarinet playing (it wasn’t bad, you just liked to tease her), and being there for any of her questions. Life was good. It wasn’t too hard to balance your work life and personal life.

Two years after accepting Coulson’s offer, you were forced to resign indefinitely. The Sokovia Accords were wanting any and all SHIELD agents who were Inhuman (thanks to the database SHIELD had collected) to sign and continue to serve, or face time in The Raft. Neither was an option you were going to accept, so a compromise was offered to those who refused. The Accords and world nations would keep their own database of Inhumans, or any enhanced individuals, with the notion that if these persons were found to be using their powers, it would be a charge of criminal negligence. And if you were assigned to any government agency (SHIELD, the FBI, anything) you were to resign immediately. All on the down low of course. Reluctantly, you agreed, along with anyone else who didn’t want to be used as an on call superhuman soldier.

It was freedom at a price. But you weren’t leaving your family. Not again.

May 2018

Your sister shut the door to your car abruptly. You remembered how she nearly raced to the bag to grab her gear from your trunk while you shut the engine off. She was eager to get inside and shower after her teams win for the week, even racing past your grandmother who sat on the swing on the porch. You remember feeling your phone vibrating in your pocket, news of Tony Stark’s disappearance was everywhere. Being out of the game for two years now made you feel out of touch, only getting the same information as everyone else. But you tried your best not to stress about it too much, for your sister’s sake. You remembered your grandmother offering to make a roast that night, but you thought it would be more fun to have your sibling choose - a post game tradition and an excuse not to do dishes that night. You nearly tripped over her duffel bag while trying to set your bag down and sighed.

“I thought we had an agreement about putting this away!” You called out.

“Sorry! I needed to get some water, it’s too hot,” she replied. You pushed her bag out of the way (the last thing you needed was your grandmother taking a fall like last time) and walked further into the house. “(Y/N)-”

“You’re lucky it was me and not--”

You stopped mid sentence when your gaze landed on her. She was terrified, and you felt like you had no time to process what was going on. It started from her feet, inching upwards in a dim cloud and she was evaporating before your eyes. You rushed over, but by the time you got there your fingers only barely touched the dust. You were sick, falling to your knees as the sounds from the outside world flooded your home. Your eyes never left the spot where the dust collected, not when far away booms were heard, voices yelling into the air, and you looked back to the open door.

“Nana?” You called out. You stood and rushed over to the door, rounding the archway abruptly. You saw her standing and looking back out to the road, and wanted to cry out.

She died six months later. You boarded up the house and all the memories it held and headed back to New York City. You haven’t been back since. You were able to get a small place in the city, and isolated yourself from the world. That was until Lincoln came knocking on your door. You weren’t sure how he found you, but it didn’t matter in the end, or really that moment. You didn’t feel so alone anymore.

Dancing on the edge of friendship and something more, Lincoln became an integral part of your life. So when people began to go missing, and you both quickly realized they were Inhumans, it felt as if that responsibility fell on your shoulders now. You had a purpose again: helping people.

You know the rest. You began to go to Steve Rogers meetings, and when he didn’t recognize you you were in the clear it felt. He wasn’t overly nosy, didn’t push you to reveal much, really he let you do things at your own pace. You told yourself you went to his meetings to see if you could slyly get information out of him, but really you did enjoy them. They often made you feel better. Not much, but enough to where you didn’t want to disappear yourself.

The fogginess in your mind was replaced with something else. You didn’t know if it was fear (probably) or not, but your exhausted body wasn’t prepared for this fight. You had been followed for a half an hour now when you were on your way to the community center. You tried to shake them, but it wasn’t working. They knew where you were headed and when you lost a pair, two more took their place. You weren’t making it to Steve’s meeting that morning.

Adrenaline laced with fear coursed through you as you rounded a corner. It took all the concentration in you to mask yourself with your abilities. Out of sight you quickly slid your way into the opening of an alleyway and watched as the two men on your tail walked by without even a glance your way. You should’ve known it was too easy, you shouldn’t have let your guard down so fast. Maybe it was the exhaustion gnawing at you, but you took careful steps back towards the other end. If you could get there then you could see about making it to the center.

You were still invisible when a shock was sent through your body. Little jolts of electricity worked its way through you and the sudden attack made you reappear as you fell to your knees. The smell of burning rubber filled your senses first, followed by the sound of boots on the ground. You forced yourself to look up, only to find yourself surrounded by figures behind dark grey skull masks. You grimaced as one lowered themselves to look you in the eye, though you were only met with your reflection.

“Too easy,” the voice said. You took a shaky breath, the electricity not making anything easier for you, and clenched your hands at your side.

“I’m not done fighting yet,” you warned.

With a thrust of your arms, a shield like barrier exploded out from around you. Those closest to you were sent the furthest away, except for the one who spoke to you. Whatever was shot into your side evaporated, and you stood freely bracing yourself against those who were able to get back on their feet quickly. You dodged and countered punches until one grabbed the bag on your back, pulling you towards them. You spun out from the straps and with your hands enveloped their feet with your powers, throwing them away from you. Two more came from your side and you grabbed the arm of one burrowing for your body and shoved them back into another foe.

There were too many, but you couldn’t give up.

The bigger one who spoke to you managed to push their way through the group, facing you head on. You were breathing heavy, you didn’t know how much longer you could fight them off. Maybe if you could hold them off a little longer, Steve normally passed this way, just a few more minutes.

“You’re surrounded,” the deep voice said. You didn’t know if it was their real voice or something modulated, but they began to circle you. “Stop fighting, and we won’t make this hurt.”

“Yeah I don’t think so,” you replied. You cemented your feet into the ground, and it took all the energy in you to produce the blue energy around your hands. In this state your eyes turned the same blue, but it didn’t seem to stop them from coming at you quickly. You redirected their moves, one arm one way, the other in a whole other direction. There was a click too fast for you to catch, they fought your manipulation and grabbed you from behind, arm trapping you around your neck and it made you gasp. All at once your powers disappeared as you grabbed at their arm. There was no way they did that.. Something disrupted your energy.

The sting of a needle into your neck made you push against them. Their stance didn’t falter, and an overwhelming pain began to spread through you. All you could seem to manage was gasp for short breaths as the person eased you down to the ground. You watched the sky grow bleeker, and the last words before you were met with darkness was an order to get you into the truck.

#Steve Rogers #steve rogers x reader #Steve Rogers x you #steve x reader #steve x you #Lincoln campbell #Lincoln Campbell x reader #Lincoln x reader #dormammu ive come to queue

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daisylincs · 4 years ago

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Hi friend! I've never watched agents of SHIELD, but would you tell me about your fave ships and why? I just like hearing about otps :) 💛

Oh my gosh, hi, and thank you SO much for asking!! 😍😍😍 I’ve been grinning down at this ask on my phone intermittently for the last day and a half - because if there’s one thing I really love gushing about, it’s my Agents of SHIELD OTPs. Seriously, finding the time to sit down and answer this has been the highlight of my entire weekend so far. So once again - THANK YOU SO MUCH, FRIEND!! 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍

I’m going to put a cut here, because *coughs* I know myself, and this is going to get long.

#1. Staticquake (Daisy Johnson/Lincoln Campbell)

So to give you a little bit of background information, Staticquake is the (formerly) canon ship between Daisy Johnson (who used to be called Skye, and now also goes by the superhero name Quake) and Lincoln Campbell, an Inhuman who had the power to manipulate electricity. Yes, had - he died, for her. 😭😭😭

Why, then, you may be wondering, do I still count this as my top OTP? Well... I actually have a whole long story behind that!

So in Season 1, Daisy (who was still called Skye then, it’s confusing I know) had this other love interest called Ward. Everyone was super-happy when they finally got together in episode 17... which lasted for about five seconds, because right after that, we found out Ward was working for HYDRA all along.

Yeah. After that, the bar for a new Daisy love interest was very low - basically, “not an evil psychopath.” So when we met Lincoln in season 2, I personally was very excited - because Daisy is my favourite, and I want happiness for her!!

I only started watching this show in the lockdown thanks to one of my friends constantly nagging me to do it, so when I got to the episode where we meet Lincoln, I texted her immediately, like, “Lincoln is going to be the new Daisy love interest right?”

She replied with something along the lines of “yeah but don’t get your hopes up, it’s really not that great a ship.”

My immediate reaction was, quite understandably I think, “oh no, he’s not another Ward, is he?!?!”

My friend was quick to reassure me that, no no, Lincoln’s not another Ward.

Whew. But... “why isn’t it a good ship, then?” I needed to know.

The answer I got was something like “🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️, it just isn’t. Don’t expect to like it too much.”

Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m that stubborn person who will, if someone tells me I won’t like something, go out of my way to like it. (In my defence, I have red hair.)

But, really - she gave me no good reasons why I wouldn’t like the ship, other than a vague “it’s kinda boring.”

And that just does not work for me. You can’t tell me something’s boring and I won’t like it if you can’t give me any reasons why it’s boring and I won’t like it!! So I went on a deliberate search, trawling through thousands and thousands of words of fanfic, meta and theories, most of which were totally archaic by fandom standards, ahahaha.

This is what I found out:

1. Staticquake is a criminally underappreciated ship. My friend wasn’t the only one who thought it was boring and was barely interested in it.

This actually brought up a fairly interesting point for me. Along with being stubborn, I’m also the person who will root for the little guy, or seek out the less popular ship, as it were. The fact that there were so few people who properly appreciated it actually drew me to Staticquake.

2. Staticquake is in NO WAY a boring ship!! The only way you can possibly think it’s boring is if you really go to no trouble to understand the characters, and even then I... fail to see how it’s boring.

Staticquake’s beauty lies in the nuance of it (and I’m going to elaborate on that in just a sec) but even on a surficial level, it’s really very far from boring. First of all because both Daisy and Lincoln are people with awesome powers (and very attractive people, my poor bi heart.) They also both know what it’s like to struggle with things in their past, and to struggle with controlling their powers. Plus, the way they make each other smile is anything but subtle!

And that’s just on the surface. Once you go into the nuance of the ship (which I am guilty of doing far too often) you start to see just how well these two are suited to each other.

Firstly, and I think this is a very important one, because they were friends first. Lincoln helped Daisy out when she was in a very bad place and really struggling with her powers, and gave her someone normal to talk to, someone who got what it felt like, but who also didn’t think she was some kind of monster. He made her smile, which in that particular arc of episodes, was a big thing.

Secondly, because they’re as close to equal partners as you can get. And that’s something that I think is very often underestimated, both in shipping and in real life - just how important it is that your significant other has to be your equal, too.

While it’s true that opposites attract, there also has to be some level of shared interest. I can attest to that from personal experience - a couple of years ago, I was dating this lovely girl who was studying forensic science. I really liked her, I did. But she knew nothing about music, she was allergic to horses, and she had never even seen a single Marvel movie, whereas I’m a music teacher, an avid equestrian, and I adore anything and everything Marvel.

And the thing is, no matter how much I liked her, it was just insanely frustrating that she didn’t have a clue about the things I enjoy so much. You can try to be interested all you like, but there’s a point where it just gets so frustrating that they don’t get it. I want to be able to talk, really talk, about the things I enjoy, and have my SO not only keep up, but add valuable insights. I want an equal partner. Not in everything, maybe, but at least in some things.

Which brings me back to Daisy and Lincoln. For Daisy, becoming Inhuman and getting her powers changed her life. And Lincoln understands that in a way most of her friends and family simply can’t. That’s really special, I think, and important.

Going on from that, they also work together really well as a team (and they look so badass.) I said to myself when I started this that I was going to limit myself to one gif per couple, but...

Talk about a power couple!!

And the last thing I’m going to say about Staticquake - because I’m going to cut myself off here even though I could go on for a lot longer - is how they’re always there for each other, and accept each other. They know they have issues, and they’re willing to talk about them - as evidenced when Lincoln starts telling Daisy about his past in 3x15, and she says, “you’ve told me this.”

This implies that they talk about their problems off-screen, and stay with each other and accept each other despite them. They don’t make it an issue, they just support each other through it all.

And isn’t that just the most beautiful thing?!?!

So, yeah, all the Staticquake content I went and found turned my brain from “liking this out of stubbornness” to “THIS IS THE BEST SHIP IN THE WORLD OH MY GOD.”

And my ship might technically have sunken, but... I’m still that stubborn. And AUs are my life!

#2. Fitzsimmons (Leo Fitz/Jemma Simmons)

It’s hard to think of a fictional couple who has been through more than Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons. They were best friends for ten years, and in true trope-y style, the thought of being together never occurred to them until Jemma almost died, and then Fitz almost died, and then Fitz did die but that’s a whole different story. Anywho, these two have had the most incredible journey over seven seasons, to the point of being recognised as the MCU’s best love story. I could write paragraphs and paragraphs and paragraphs about them, but I’m going to settle for saying that it’s worth watching Agents of SHIELD just for Fitzsimmons. They really are the definition of endgame.

#3. Huntingbird (Lance Hunter/Bobbi Morse)

If you’re a comic book fan, you may know Bobbi Morse, a.k.a. Mockingbird. Well, I’m delighted to announce that she shows up on Agents of SHIELD - and she is awesome. She also has the most chaotically-wonderful relationship with Lance Hunter - if exes-who-are-totally-still-in-love-but-too-stubborn-to-admit-it is your thing, then you will love Huntingbird.

Personally, I live for that trope, and Bobbi and Hunter take it to a whole new level - bickering, snarking, but unable to stay away from each other for long, and secretly so soft for each other. Their relationship is total chaos - as Hunter puts it, “we’re 100% compatible, 50% of the time.” But, damn, that 50% is SO worth it - these two really were the best.

(Don’t worry, the were is not because they die - thank God, no. Their characters got written out because they were going to have a spinoff called Marvel’s Most Wanted - yes, people liked them that much. Sadly, the spinoff didn’t get picked up, and we lost Bobbi and Hunter for no reason. It’s SO sad.)

But yeah, for the season and a half we have them, they’re absolutely great - all chaos, but also all supportiveness, secretly-softness, and off-the-charts chemistry. They’re also another pair of SUPER attractive people, help.

I could actually gush about every single ship on Agents of SHIELD, because it’s one of those few shows where I ship everything that’s canon, and a decent amount of things that aren’t. But if I do that, we will be here all year, I’m not even kidding.

So here are my top three. I hope you enjoyed this gushy and unnecessarily long answer - and, gosh, thank you again, and thank you so much, for asking, friend!! This has seriously made my entire weekend. 💜💜💜😍😍😍

#ask #aos asks #staticquake #fitzsimmons #huntingbird #THANK YOU SO SO MUCH FOR ASKING 😍😍😍😍😍#gushing about my favourite ships is the best. thing. ever!!!

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giveamadeuschohisownmovie · 4 years ago

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So, looking back at the MCU, I thought I’d just reflect on my experiences with the franchise (just for fun):

1) I never understood the Zendaya-MJ controversy when I first heard of it. I mean, I knew that there were some people going off about how Marvel cast a black actress for a traditionally white character but for me, I didn’t understand the controversy since I thought Zendaya was a great pick for the role. She’s a real life MJ, being a fashion model/actress/singer/social media icon. I could totally see her pull the part off. But then, of course, the MCU went a different direction with their take on MJ but still, I thought she was a great pick as the female lead of the Spider-Man franchise.

2) No joke, I understood the Endgame time travel mechanics from the first viewing. It really wasn’t that hard to understand and I thought it was kinda funny that some people replied to my posts, angry that I was trying to help people get the concept.

3) I fully admit that I was on the anti-Finn Jones train when I heard his casting. I wanted an Asian actor in the role, although I would’ve preferred an actual Asian superhero get the spotlight (like Shang-Chi, Silk, or Amadeus Cho). That said, I would’ve been fine with Finn’s interpretation of the character if it was good. And...it wasn’t. Which leads to my next point:

4) I might be a huge MCU fanboy but there are several movies and shows I dislike. Iron Fist is still the worst MCU property I’ve ever seen and it actually ranks up as one of the worst shows I’ve seen. The Defenders sucked. Inhumans sucked. I love Agents of SHIELD but I hated season 3 with a passion. For the movies, I definitely disliked Iron Man 2 and Thor 2. Age of Ultron didn’t age well. Civil War, while still good, is overrated in my opinion (the Zemo plot and the Sokovian Accords plot should’ve been their own movies).

5) I hated the MCU for at least two weeks when the Ghost Rider spin-off series was cancelled. Just...ugh. At least give me one season of the show!

6) So, Spider-Man is not just my favorite Marvel superhero, but my all-time favorite superhero. Among the 3 live-action takes on the character, I’m gonna say that Tom’s take is my favorite. I know that might sound sacrilegious to some people but for me, I just enjoyed the Holland-era movies more than the past two. For the Maguire trilogy, obvious issues with Spider-Man 3 aside, the first Spider-Man didn’t age that well for me (and this is coming from someone who grew up with the Tobey Maguire movies). And I was always iffy on the Andrew Garfield movies.

7) I actually had no idea the Avengers was happening back in 2012. Let me paint the picture; I was going into my freshman year of undergrad so for the past year, all I was focused on was school and work. I watched Iron Man 1 and 2 and the Hulk 2008 movie but I didn’t really think much of them, I just thought they were good movies. So one day, my friends say, “Hey, let’s go watch the Avengers in theaters!” I didn’t want to say that I had no idea what they were talking about so I just went along with them. So imagine my surprise when I saw Iron Man working together with all the other Avengers for the first time. I literally missed ALL the marketing and hype for this movie because I was so focused on school and work. But honestly, I’m glad I did since that made for a unique theater experience.

8) Similar to point 7, I had no idea Daredevil was a thing on Netflix. I went into it blind and finished the show in one day. Fucking amazing series and I was hyped the whole time. Also, I kept thinking that HYDRA was involved with Fisk and the Hand for some reason.

9) As far as actual moviegoing experiences, Far From Home was the worst. I loved the movie but I wish that I wasn’t sitting next to these Hot Topic-wearing fools who smelled like crap. One guy just straight up smelled like burnt plastic.

10) For the longest time, it was a running joke in my family that I was the one person who liked Thor 1. All I did was defend the movie because none of my cousins liked it and because of that, I got labeled a Thor super-fan. Obviously, it was all jokes, but I distinctly remember this one night, we were all watching Thor in the living room because one of my cousins had never seen it. We get to the scene where Jane Foster accidentally runs into Thor after he’s stripped of his power and my eldest cousin turns to the group and says, “Alright, here’s (my name) favorite superhero movie. Get ready.”

That’s it for now. I’m thinking of turning this into a series as I do have a lot more to share. I just didn’t want to make this post too long.

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ultrahpfan5blog · 4 years ago

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Reflecting on Agents of SHIELD

So here we are at the end of 7 years. I have had a bit of a love/hate relationship with the show. There are times when I really haven’t liked the show and there are times when I have loved the show. Unlike many fans in the fandom, I don’t think its a perfect show. It has had more than a few missteps along the way. But it deserves credit on the things it has done right.

I remember the excitement when I hopped on board for season 1. Just coming off Avengers, this was supposed to be the tv spinoff where a whole world of exciting things were supposed to happen, interlinked with the movies. Turns out, it was a huge mistake to market the show like that. Thinking about it know, the potential challenges of that working out were obvious. Movies are written far before tv episodes are so doing that type of synchronization would be extremely difficult even if there weren’t tensions between the tv and movie divisions. In any case, season 1 was a clear case of a show treading water. The first 2/3 of the season was truly dull, barring a few good ones likes F.Z.Z.T. It wasn’t till T.R.A.C.K.S that the show started to find its footing with any sort of quality. The cast also seemed to be getting a handle on things. Clark Gregg smoothly transitioned without a problem as a lead but initially Ward was too blank a slate to really connect to, Skye was really annoying, FitzSimmons were just a bickering couple, and May was just the deadpan badass stereotype. But slowly the actors started to get a handle on things. The first sign of Elizabeth’s talent could be seen in F.Z.Z.T. Ming Na and Brett Dalton started to find more tinges of humanity in their characterizations. Iain really started to open out towards the end of the season and delivered what is still one of the most powerful scenes of the show in his confession to Simmons under water. I will be honest and say that Chloe wasn’t very good initially. It was partly the character and partly that the others seemed significantly better at the dramatic beats. The big Hydra twist gave Brett Dalton a huge boost as a performer. Its as if his handcuffs were taken off and he was suddenly freed and he became the most interesting character on the show for me. The Hydra plot of season 1 may still be the best story arc the show did, rivaled only by the Framework arc. I still don’t know which I rank higher, but that arc was the height of fulfillment that we got from the premise as originally pitched to the fans where the show synchronized with the movie story very well. And it was really the last time it happened. While most of season 1 was unfortunately handicapped, the final arc ended the season on a high which left me with great anticipation for what was next.

As we started second season, the thing that immediately struck me was that the show had completely changed. What again struck me was how Iain and Brett had really become the MVP’s of the show for me. Iain was heartwrenchingly brilliant in the first half of season 2. Again, one of the scenes of the show for me is when Fitz finds Ward in the basement. Brett and especially Iain just acted the hell out of that scene. The story arc of SHIELD vs Hydra was always one of the strong points of the show. That’s where the strength of season 2 lies. They played on the toxic Ward/Skye dynamic really well in those interactions in the basement. Brett really found the perfect balance of creepiness and sincerity in those scenes. In the midst of it all, we got some new additions in Bobbi, Hunter, Mack, and Kyle Machlachlan as Skye’s father and the transformation from Skye to Daisy happened. Honestly, Kyle was the highlight of the new additions in the season. He was there throughout and was kind of the emotional heartbeat of Skye/Daisy’s story in season 2. I wasn’t a huge fan of Mack in season 2. He had this passive aggressiveness towards anyone who wasn’t Fitz. I liked his dynamic with Fitz. Definitely the FitzSimmons stuff was hard to watch with it being so heartbreaking. Little did we know how much more there was to come. Bobbi and Hunter I was largely indifferent to. Bobbi was a badass and Adrianne Palicki is gorgeous but I never got overly invested in her. Hunter was hilarious at times and sometimes annoying. I liked how he was with Fitz. I felt Iain brought out the best in everyone this season. I wasn’t a huge fan of the second half of the season. I think the whole SHIELD vs Real SHIELD arc was pretty dumb and even the Inhumans story could have been better executed. Also, they took a wrong turn with Ward by the end of season 2. They had real potential with Ward being a wild card character who could be on hero’s side or villain’s side depending what benefits him, but instead they made him pure villain by season end.

Season 3 started off ok. Again, Iain was heartwrenching in the season premiere and Elizabeth turned up in full form in her solo outing. I honestly did not care about the whole Will drama. It felt very soap operaish for them to use this to create a love triangle which actually goes nowhere. Again, I felt they didn’t do enough with Ward even though Brett Dalton gave it is all. Certainly it was the most straight up villainous version of the character. Powers Boothe came in and did a great job with all his gravitas as a Hydra leader. It was in season 3 I started feeling Chloe Bennet started stepping up to the plate. In all fairness, one of my issues with some of the initial seasons were that it was so heavily Skye/Daisy dependent and everyone else felt more interesting to follow than her. This season allowed Ming Na and Clark Gregg to show some shades of regret and anger respectively. I was annoyed when they killed Ward because of wasted potential but Brett stepped up to the plate with an excellent turn as Hive. Bobbi and Hunter’s goodbye was sad though, as I said, I never got a personal attachment to those characters. One of the big misfires unfortunately was Lincoln. I have seen Luke Mitchell be compelling in other roles but Lincoln just did not work. Not as a character independently and not as a love interest for Daisy because they shared no chemistry. In a way, his death at the end felt like the writers dumping him and just admitting they didn’t know how to make the character work. We also got introduced to Yo Yo who would last the remainder of the show. It was kind of an uneven season but overall enjoyable. Didn’t reach the heights of the best parts of season 1 and 2 but maybe more consistent overall. I was really sad to say goodbye to Brett Dalton who was my second favorite cast member after Iain at this point.

Season 4 probably stands as the overall best season in terms of quality. Splitting the season into three pods really helped with the pacing with an increased amount of story. It was also the first season since season 1 where SHIELD existed as a functioning public agency and not just a bunch of agents working in secret. Robbie Reyes was incredibly badass as Ghost Rider. His pod was probably the weakest of the season but his presence overshadowed all the regular SHIELD cast members. The villain story was kind of weak but the backstory with Robbie, his thankfully platonic dynamic with Daisy, and the story of the developing technology of AIDA was fascinating. The LMD arc was better because AIDA and Radcliffe became serious legitimate and realistic threats. The acting also was top notch. The finale of this arc, Self-Control, is one of the show’s top episodes where Chloe Bennet was amazing as was Elizabeth and Iain was genuinely frightening as the LMD in the few minutes he had. But Framework just killed it. Brett Dalton coming back was wonderful. I really wished they had found a way to bring back this version to the real world. Iain delivered a seriously terrifying performance as the Doctor. Elizabeth, Chloe, Clark, Henry, Ming Na, John Hannah, and Natalia were all great. But the season’s MVP was Mallory Jansen, who played multiple iterations of the character throughout the season. My one issue with season 4 was I felt that she was built up in the finale a lot but then got taken out too easily. But overall, great season.

Season 5 is where the show kind of lost my interest. I am genuinely not a fan of the season and don’t have much to say about it. I felt it became outlandish and silly, while simultaneously becoming overly grim and morose which just didn’t work tonally for me. The acting continued to be top notch across the board. Iain continued to be a highlight all season with his breakdown episode being one of the most painful to watch. FitzSimmons wedding was lovely and kind of a welcome relief in a very dark season. Clark Gregg, Ming Na, and Chloe Bennet were excellent towards the end when playing out Coulson’s deteriorating health. Natalia also got to have some meaty story for really the first time on the show. But the budget constraints were clearly showing with the entire season being played out in the same grey halls and honestly I just never felt invested in the story. I knew the world wouldn’t end and it just became unendingly morose. Enoch was kind of the highlight in terms of humor in the season. Deke was introduced and I felt the same way as I felt about hunter. He was fun at tmes and other times annoying. The grandson revelation was kind of cool but I feel they have never done all that much with that connection. Maybe if the entire season was half a season’s plot, it would have been more palatable.

Season 6 was a minor improvement though still not great. The villains were again the big downfall of the season. I felt the show showed an inability to let go of Clark. Sarge was really not compelling and not a character that utilized his Clark Gregg’s best traits, which is his easy every man type nature. I could care less about the Shriek and Izel. We got to see May as a badass several times, which was nice but it was the space advanture that I enjoyed more. Whether it was Daisy and Simmons getting high on space mushrooms, or Enoch and Fitz being BFF’s in space, it was the show getting back to having some humor. Certainly a shorter season helped with regards to pacing. But it was still a rather unremarkable season which ended on a promising note.

Season 7 has been the best season since season 4. I feel that the first half the season was awesome. Rediscovering the fun, natural lighting, and better character interplay. Not having Fitz around was a bummer since Iain’s my fav cast member but we got the delightful surprise of Enver joining the cast as Sousa who I absolutely loved on Agent Carter. He has helped fill the void for me. Certainly has brought more than his share of humor and heart to the show. Again, the season’s weakness has been its villains. The chronicoms were initially good physical threats and certainly what they did to Mack’s parents was horrifying, but when Nathaniel Malick took over, the season has kind of stuttered for me. He just doesn’t cut it as a villain, especially for the final season. Chronicoms also don’t really cut it beyond the physical threat. The new additions of Kora and young Garrett are too last minute for me to feel any sort of threat from them. Certainly the time loop episode was amazing and the developing relationship between Daisy and Sousa has completely taken me by surprise. Its a mixture of good writing, good acting, and natural chemistry that this pairing has been something I root for, even though I loved PeggySous. But the show inexplicably got stuck in the 80′ and I really felt they should have gone through the periods to catch up to present day. Certainly the Jiaying story helped with some character reconcilliation for Daisy but I think there could have been more interesting stories had they progressed to more modern times. In any case, that leads to the finale. Hopefully the show ends on a good note. I don’t think it will be everything I want it to be because there are too many things on my wishlist, like a Ward return, which are unlikely to happen. But I hope for that its largely emotionally satisfying. Its been a good, if uneven ride. I would say its probably my second favorite Marvel show after Daredevil, but its longevity shows that it has developed a loyal core of fans. I may not get as emotional as a lot of the core fans, but it will feel weird that there will be no more Agents of SHIELD. It is the end of an era with it being the last of its brand of Marvel shows with all future marvel shows being direct movie spinoffs. I don’t anticipate we will see these characters in this form again, but who knows? Maybe someday?

Edit: My thoughts on finale

Overall, it was.... fine. I don’t know what I was expecting. I liked how the characters ended up but the whole thing felt oddly safe and a little emotionally hollow. They should have been a little braver and genuinely killed a couple of characters. Like I said earlier, there were a lot of things on my wishlist that didn’t happen, but I had kind of reconciled to that. The action was really good, but my apathy for the villains led to me being less interested in the whole story and the whole “empathy being the savior” was a little goofy for my taste. Regardless, far from the worst finale around but also not the greatest but reasonably enjoyable. Kind of like the show in a way, which makes it fitting.

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springmagpies · 4 years ago

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Welcome Back to my Uncle Reacts to AoS--Season 3

It has taken my Uncle months to watch season 3 as his schedule is super busy and what not. But we have finally watched it all and are on to Season 4. Anyway, here are some of his reactions to the third season of Agents of Shield

3x1

*Fitz comes to the lab after his excursion in Morocco* Coulson is like a father waiting in the dark kitchen. Where’ve ya been, Fitz?

*After the Do something scene* Ouch.

Is she on another planet? She’s on another planet. Guys, she’s on another planet!

3x2

He got her back! Oh my god, he got her back. Fitz is the man.

Hunter is the best.

Bobbi is the best.

Fitz is the best.

Oh, Coulson.

*About Jemma* What the hell happened there? What did she eat? She was there months right? Holy shit.

*Fitz sitting by her bed* Oh, Fitz.

3x03

My aunt: you two seem sad. What happened. Steve: Lincoln, Kate. Lincoln killed his friend and he didn’t mean to. And Jemma has ptsd. It was a lot of emotion. My aunt: ...

3x04

Yess May. Great timing. That’s all you needed.

3x05

Dammit, Will is hot.

She’s talking to Fitz? Cute!

3x06

Pauses the show uhh, Andrew turned into lash and kicked some ass. Calling it.

*Later* Called it.

3x07

“He does have a hog face.” Bwhahahaha. That’s amazing.

Well that episode was emotional. The Fitzsimmons thing was so heart warming. And poor May.

3x09

Ward, you asshole. Why can’t they let Phil be happy.

3x10

Shit that’s not Will.

*At Ward’s death* Finally!

*Wards back* Freaking knew it. God dammit

3x11

What is Fitz 3d printing back there? Cool inhuman conversation but what’s he making?

*Anytime the subtitles are wrong on Netflix* That’s not what she said. That’s not what he said. That’s not what they’re saying.

*Steve understanding the Spanish and knowing what they’re saying without subtitles.* That is not what she said, subtitles.

*About Elena* she’s a badass.

3x12

Thank god for Hunter.

Ward is just creepy as hell. I know that’s not Ward, but it’s his stupid face.

3x13

Amadeus Ravenclaw Hunter. That’s fantastic. Is that really his name? Wait, no. Forget I said that. Ravenclaw is not his name.

Wait, so Bobbi and Hunter are just gone? But they can’t do that. They come back right? They’re the best, they can’t leave.

Mack’s crying the hardest.

That guy that’s supposed to be tailing them is very bad at his job.

Now I’m sad.

3x14

*Mack mentions friends being transferred” Aww, Bobbi and Hunter.

Repeats “It’s a building.” In Scottish accent. *laughs* that’s great.

Uh oh Fitz does not like Daisy’s methods of interrogation. He looks so uncomfortable.

A shotgun ax. Holy shit that’s amazing.

That dudes a hologram! Coulson knew. He’s a genius.

3x15

Holy shit we’re seeing the future.

*Hive melts the business men* Eeww, ugh that’s horrific. Aaah!

*Andrew becomes lash permanently* Oh no! Poor May. That’s so sad.

Wait, I bet you it’s not snow. Bet you it’s ash. *Snow is actually ash* Called it.

*Quinjet vision* That vision is familiar. Where have we seen that? Wait, that was at the beginning! Oh shit, that’s the future! Shit!

3x16

*Young Malick and Nathaniel appear on screen.* Maggie tries not to freak the frick out at Nathaniel so as not to spoil season 7.

Steve: oooh, does his brother get volunteered as tribute or something?

*Daisy explodes the mines in front of James house.* Badass.

*Reveal that Malick betrayed his brother* That’s why Ward had the stone! He knew! He remembers the betrayal! Oof, not looking great for Malick.

I hate Ward. Whatever he is.

Shit! Is he killing Malick daughter! That’s way more brutal than killing Malick! Ooooh, evil.

*Lincoln’s past is explained* See, I’m glad he’s sharing, but how do you bring something like that up in conversation normally. Glad their talking, but I get it.

*Giyera escaping from the containment pod* Fitz, please get away from the guy trying to escape. Please. Oh crap he’s got a seatbelt.

*Mack gets knocked out* Oof, Mack. Poor dude.

*Secret Warriors Assemble* Yes! I’ve got to put the baby to bed but then next episode!

3x17

Sorry Joey, I don’t think you’re going to finish that date. You’ve got to go fight people.

Whoa! Lincoln’s powers got even cooler.

That felt a bit too easy.

*Fitzsimmons flirting* They’re cute.

*Mackelena flirting* He’s speaking Spanish. Kay, that’s sweet.

I don’t think Joey is okay. He did kill that Medusa dude.

*reveal that one of the inhumans are swayed* That’s what he meant by someone on the inside! That’s not good. Now they’re all looking suspicious.

*Fitzsimmons find Malick’s body* Is he dead? Holy shit, was there a bomb! Shit!

“Aren’t you a spy, learn Spanish” Hahahahaha! Yes! That line is genius!

Okay, they are pushing for it to be Lincoln waaaay too hard.

*Fitzsimmons soft kiss in the bunk* *Steve Fist pumps* Yessss!

Uhhh, why is Daisy out of her cell. It’s her! Oh no.

Way to go Lincoln on the character growth. Staying for SHIELD!

Is Daisy going to fly? Oh no, she’s destroying the base. And she ruined Fitzsimmons make out session. And she’s bringing the base down. Also that.

Noooo! That’s it? That cliffhanger! *upset that we have to wait to watch the next episode*

3x18

“It’s risky, and irresponsible” Hahaha, May smiles.

Nice flying May!

*FS talking about sex* “I’ll see you in the quinjet” Hahahahahahahaha. That’s amazing.

*Hive talks* That’s not creepy. You know what happened to the last girl Hive kissed. Daisy run.

“Because all you are is big and strong.” Hahaha, Fitz is all pissy about it. Amazing.

Oof, Lincoln just can’t get Coulson’s approval.

Maggie: Fitz is so handsome Steve: He really is

*FS ending scene* Yessss!!!! Finally!!!

3x19

Inhuman backstory!!

Why are they all such jerks to Lincoln? Like, he just cannot win with Coulson and May. No one is nice to him. Except Fitzsimmons, they’re nice to him. Okay, and Mack.

*Piper is introduced* Red shirts aren’t red shirts! That’s awesome!

Oh, Mack, what are you doing? Please don’t get hurt. Daisy please don’t hurt him. Mack noooo!

Wow, Shield is just struggling on all fronts. Daisy’s missing, Mack’s injured, Lincoln’s sick—Wait no after credit scene?! Dammit!

3x20

Okay, they seriously need to lay off Lincoln. Like, he is not a bad dude!

Now I see why they can’t get help from the avengers.

Yo yo is awesome.

Fitz having to play whack-a-mole with security. Gosh, they’re going through it.

Lincoln, nooo! You’re smarter than this! Your character growth! Oh, thank god it was part of the plan.

Yes! Lash! Badass!

Oh my god he’s saving Daisy! Yeah!!!

No!!! Lash!!!!

He couldn’t just have killed Hive? I guess we need a finale.

Andrew saved Daisy!

Shit, he’s got a warhead. Ward’s trying to destroy the world again.

What’s Elena giving Mack? No! Mack put that down! Put the cross down!

3x21

That’s right, Shield is good at what they do.

They done pissed off an alien.

Fitz is amazing.

Fitzsimmons should go on that vacation. Take a break.

Oh no the cross! The jacket! Fitz put it down!

Wait, she wants to go back?! Daisy, nooooo!

3x22

Ooh Yo Yo no!!! She took a bullet for Mack. Yeah, she is not okay.

Shit, they’re going to use the torch to cauterize the wound. That’s majorly going to scar.

Why do I kind of like Radcliffe?

Oh, May was about to be super nice to Daisy and she gets hit over the head.

“You were a murderous wank before all this” Okay, that line’s amazing

Did Fitz cloak a gun?! That’s amazing!

Aaaah, the jacket! Can they stop freaking me out with the jacket?!

I like how they pan from the window so they don’t have to break it for real.

Don’t get rid of Daisy!

“Help me Obi Wan Kenobi” Oh my god, that’s incredible.

Badass shield team is badass.

You know the person who plays Daisy is a great actress.

Wait. wait. Wait. Lincoln. Lincoln? Noooooo! They can’t kill Lincoln. They’re not going to—they can’t. But I loved Lincoln! Nooo!

*Steve is quiet for a long moment* I loved Lincoln.

*Flash forward* Is Daisy on the run?

Director? What? Phil’s not the director??

“No Aida that’s not what we’re celebrating” It’s your birthday. “Today’s your birthday.” CALLED IT! Wait, are we going to have robots?

Shit, we lost a lot of people that season.

Crap, I want to watch the next episode!!

#long post #steve reacts to aos #agents of shield rewatch #agents of shield

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ellsey · 5 years ago

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Agents of Shield Rewatch 4x02 Meet the New Boss

Well I mean I guess the title tells us what’s happening in this ep wheee

Oh yay ghosts my favorite thing

My son is currently watching The X-Files though so I feel like he’d be really into AoS Season 4

So the ghost goes through you and then you see ghosts cool cool this is fine

Fitz and Simmons sciencing while in love is adorable and all I need in this world

May seems kind of bitter that Coulson isn’t still director but also she probably just misses him

Daisy is being a fun awesome spy right now I love her

Robbie looks like he’s really confused by what Daisy’s doing hahaha

Hilarious that Mace calls Coulson “Phillip” or “Phil” but May gets the very respectful “Agent” before haaaaaaahahaha

“A team that trusts is a team that triumphs” I actually kind of adore these inspirational poster sayings

Mace is super passive aggressive though

“Now there’s a riddle I’d like to solve” = she’s hot

“Good luck with that” = hands off Mace

“Maybe she’s just a ghost” “That’s also a theory” omg Jemma you savage

But let’s be real Jemma is probably an amazing tour guide. My husband occasionally has to give tours at his place of work and as he likes to say like 5 words an hour I can’t imagine they’re very enthralling.

But he looks good so there’s that

This ghost interacting with physical things and then making more ghosts is...weird

Robbie is not an Inhuman which is interesting

Omg Piper is so attracted to May which you have amazing taste Piper

This is super violent wow. This must be when the show got a later hour.

Awww I love Mack and Fitz

Our first mention of The Darkhold!

Well Robbie seems to have sussed out that Daisy doesn’t care about being alive (possibly actively wants to die) but can’t kill her without a reason?

Which actually gives me a lot of questions. Surely everyone knew that Daisy wanted to die at this point. Did they not try to get her more help? Did she escape them? Did she somehow convince them she was fine? I wish we had more info on this, because I just can’t see her Shield family just letting her go like this.

I mean I guess it’s kind of implied she struck out on her own but I don’t know I just have a lot of questions

Noooooooo Lincoln :(

Daisy just gave Robbie some important info though

Car surfing wheeeeee

Mace is really good at schmoozing these people I’m impressed

Mack wants better lighting as much as we do

Paranoid May still wants to take care of everyone :(

But also she wants to fight

Mace also has super strength! He’s Inhuman!!!

Robbie!!

Poor Fitz has had a day man

Daisy!!

Well Mack has managed to put together that Elena and Daisy have been in touch

Also Fitz is very correct here. Daisy thinks she doesn’t need them, but the fact is that they all need each other.

I get that Mace needs to assert himself as director here and stuff, but also he needs to recognize that Phil’s interest in May isn’t just as her former director.

So anyway Mace needs to learn some things about personal relationships

Daisy and Robbie look really good in this car together just sayin

For some reason I thought this episode would be filler, but it turns out it was anything but. Jeffrey Mace is awarded a 10/10 on the Schmoozing scale because man, he’s good at that. This episode also gets a 10/10 on the Mack and Fitz BFFs 4 Lyfe scale because I just love them, ok? And Daisy gets my official Mom Hug Award of the episode. Because she needs it.

The song for this episode is dedicated to one Robbie Reyes: “Ghostbusters” by Ray Parker, Jr.

youtube

#aosrewatch #aosrewatchs4 #earth vs space #team earth aos #robbie reyes #daisy johnson #leo fitz #jemma simmons #melinda may #phil coulson #Jeffrey Mace #alphonso mackenzie #agent piper

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howtotrainyouragents · 5 years ago

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Agent H’s AOS Rewatch

Season 3 Pro’s and Con’s

We’re done with the season 4 rewatch, and I’m over here still trying to process season 3. First time watching, it was my least favorite season and I nearly stopped watching the show because of it. Second time watching…it’s still probably my least favorite just by comparison, but I have infinite more respect for it. Anyway, I needed to sort out my thoughts on this, so it’s all under “keep reading” and don’t get mad at me.

Cons (because let’s get the bad stuff out of the way)

-I really dislike revenge stories, so all the revenge stuff with Hunter and Coulson and Ward and all did not sit well with me and felt even OOC.

-Speaking of, from the S2 finale through most of this season, there’s this theme of the men protecting and revenging their wounded or fridged girlfriends. It’s not super fun because this is a show where the women are clearly just as, if not more, competent than the men, but they’re not given the same opportunity to protect/revenge the men, much less given the same importance even in their own stories. I’m blanking on what MCU movies were going on around the time of this season, but I remember seeing this even in the movies. If I remember correctly there was a head of MCU who was later removed, but was apparently responsible.

-The use of Ward is muddled. I’m cool with his takeover of HYDRA, that seemed natural. But you expect it to lead to a huge standoff with SHIELD because he, their worst enemy, is now head of their worst enemy organization. Instead, he gets converted to the HYDRA religion and literally becomes a vessel. Which is fine, but the transition was really hurriedly and poorly done. This is a man who has complex views of loyalty (Garrett not HYDRA. Skye and Coulson but not SHIELD), so I’m gonna need a lot more convincing that he’d believe Gideon’s HYDRA.

-This will be on both lists: I’m disappointed about how after three seasons HYDRA is taken out so quietly and quickly.

-I don’t know where to put this, but: I didn’t actually hate the space boyfriend arc as much the second time around, but the potential overall got squandered and I dislike that.

-Rosalind’s death and possibly her whole arc was pointless. She was literally created and killed to serve Coulson’s character. Gross. And it’s a shame because it would have been really cool to use her as an actual foe-turned-friend for SHIELD throughout the season; she could have easily taken Mace’s place in S4 and that way at least would have been important for two seasons

-Okay, this is ABC’s fault not AOS’s. But like I remember how hard they advertised for Secret Warriors. Like that was the name of the arc. And. Then. They were a team FOR AN EPISODE. Imagine my disappointment. Also, there really weren’t enough Inhumans this season to suit me.

-Bobbi and Hunter leave for a failed spinoff and I will never forgive Marvel for doing that.

-I mean…I appreciate that they give Andrew a noble death, but like…was it really necessary to have him turn and later die? Really? It gives Ming Na Wen and Blair Underwood opportunities to do extraordinary acting and they nail it, but like maybe don’t kill a guy to solve your inevitable ship? Don’t kill off your second black actor?

-The time jump in the season finale is too sudden. Like we barely get to grieve over Lincoln and they hit us with a time jump and Daisy on the run and new director in charge. Uncool.

-This was the season I started to dislike Fitzsimmons. Don’t hate me. To me there’s an undercurrent in the writing that seems to favor Fitz over Simmons. FS’s subject to the same sexism that I mentioned in the first bullet. Like the story post-Simmons’ return focuses a lot more on Fitz’s feelings than on hers. He’s the one who has to stop her from getting tortured. He’s the one who saves Will, when it makes way more sense for her to go. He’s the one they all turn to for answers, when it should be both of them combined. And Simmons just gets a little pushed aside in her own story arc, but she just goes along with it anyway.

-I had to write this last because this is the thing that hurts the season the most for me: Lincoln’s treatment. Okay, first, he’s a great character who got a major personality change between seasons. I don’t like the personality change, but I’d be okay with it if they didn’t do worse. For starters, we barely know him. His life and backstory are so vague, the guy he visits in 3x03 is just “a friend”, and like we get zero information on how they know each other. They spend the entire season having everyone in SHIELD (except Daisy) be against him, dislike him, belittle him, and mistrust him WHEN HE DESERVED NONE OF IT. Like they make it really obvious that Coulson dislikes him father-style because of his relationship with Daisy. They make him petulant and act out to prove that Mack and May are right to mistrust him when really given the fact that he was an Inhuman guide and a medical doctor and a recovered addict, he’d be a lot more under control. They make Fitzsimmons talk down to him just because no one can be smart except Fitzsimmons, when clearly he would know more about Inhuman biology and medicine in general THAN THE BIOCHEM PHD (sorry that one will always bug me). Like they make some work on him with Coulson and May, and that’s good, but overall he is not allowed to have a solid relationship with anyone but Daisy. I think the writers 1) knew he was gonna die and decided not to invest in him or his relationships. 2) were trying to get a moody bad boy in the cast, and decided to cast him as it when it didn’t really make sense. Also, while talking about Lincoln, I really wish they did some more interesting things with his powers than lightning blasts. He has electric powers!! There’s so much you can do!!

-Okay, this one is just real personal. LINCOLN IS A MEDICAL DOCTOR. Or at least a medical student or resident or fellow (I mean, he’s in the hospital doing rounds). TREAT HIM AS SUCH. HE WANTED TO HELP PEOPLE, LET HIM HELP PEOPLE. LET HIM DO THE SURGERIES AND KNOW THE STUFF ABOUT BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE. LET HIM RETURN TO HIS OLD LIFE AS A DOCTOR. You had such a good character who turned himself around from addiction, dedicated his life to saving lives, got thrown multiple curve balls, and now has to decide how will he continue to serve others. Yes, he’s a hero in the end. But all that in between time, he could have been saving lives too.

Pros (because there is good stuff, I promise)

-Someone mentioned that this is the first season to have a unified storyline throughout, and that’s so true and it’s so well done!

-There’s a good natural continuation of the HYDRA and Inhuman storylines from S1 and S2. I think we can look at AOS as two large arcs: S1-S3 is about powered people and HYDRA. S4-S7 is about bending the limits of reality with Ghost Rider, LMDs, Framework, Space, and Time Travel,. S1 was about introducing us to powered people and HYDRA, S2 was about developing the history and politics of them respectively and how they relate to SHIELD. S3 is when Inhumans get involved with SHIELD and with the world directly and the fallout from that. For HYDRA it’s when we get the history and reasoning of the group, and even if it’s a retcon, I appreciate that it introduces the background of HYDRA as a way to end this arc

-Overall, I really do appreciate how this season fills out a lot of worldbuilding. We get a complete history on HYDRA, and we get way more info on Inhumans, but we also get to see how the human world is reacting to and divided on Inhumans, which carries over into the net season

-On both lists: It’s good that they take HYDRA out so quickly and quietly. That plotline had run its course, and it was so bittersweet because they finally had defeated their biggest enemy, but now they had even bigger problems to deal with it. That scene of Coulson and May watching HYDRA fall is one of my favorites because it mirrors that S1 scene of watching HYDRA takeover, but it’s so quiet and not celebratory like it should be.

-Like I said, I hate revenge arcs, but I do appreciate how it came full circle at the end with Coulson admitting his mistake and regret in seeking revenge. That’s much more on brand with Coulson and MCU even I had to sit through a painful arc just to get to that point.

-Episode 1, Daisy’s entrance and, for that matter, Fitz’s entrance. HOT DAMN.

-One of my favorite things about AOS is the way that they mix up pairings and everyone feels like friends and family. This season did a fantastic job on that with like Fitz/Bobbi, Mack/Daisy, Hunter/May, and way more.

-I complain that there wasn’t enough Inhumans to suit me, but also I really enjoyed the ones we got. I expected them to do Inhumans with basic powers like water, fire, plants, shrinking. But AoS writers were like nah, how about a guy who melts metal?? How about Medusa eyes?? How about a guy who can predict deaths? Like they just went straight to the extremes and I respect that. And yes, we have our typical speedster and fire guy, but the sheer joy that comes from those characters makes up for the predictability of their powers.

-We get Joey and Yoyo who are the effin’ best and deserve the world. And with Lincoln and Daisy we got SECRET WARRIORS!!!!

-First time, we get introduced to Charles and Robin and manipulating time, which obviously becomes important later, so I like that they introduce it so early in the show.

-I also love the way things come full circle with Lash. I wish he didn’t die, but the reveal of his true purpose was amazing

-THE FITZSIMMONS KISS. THE FITZSIMMONS SEX SCENE. Do I really need to say more?

-THAT FITZ vs MONOLITH SCENE. That is top like five moments of the show for me, and I’m gonna need the Emmys to give Iain de Castecker his belated Best Actor award any day now.

-4722 Hours was a work of art, and Elizabeth Henstridge, I will be getting you that Best Actress Emmy one way or another.

-Brett Dalton’s acting. This rewatch served to highlight how brilliantly he developed Ward’s evilness over the course of the three seasons and then the way he flipped the switch and played a completely different character as Hydra. You can feel it in his voice and mannerisms, it’s a totally different person even if it’s still technically Ward’s body. And to top it off, that finale where he pulls of a brilliant two-minute psychotic breakdown and a kickass fight scene. Standing ovation, good sir. I miss you.

-After S2 fridged three women of color, I do appreciate how this season chooses to take out four of its white characters even if I’m sad that they had to go.

-The Star Wars references were so effin’ funny

-Spy’s Goodbye. I will never be okay about this.

#idk if should tag this #but i want it in my tags #hope no one hates me #aos #aos s3 #aos rewatch #agent aos rewatch #aos s3 rewatch #aos season 3 rewatch #agent h #agent report

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ilosttrackofthings · 5 years ago

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you are about to be spammed with sunday six posts and I won't apologize because you have BROUGHT THIS ON YOURSELF. ha! ilosttrackofthings. tumblr. com /post /111132151964 /sunday-six and ilosttrackofthings. tumblr. com /post /123892691057 /sunday-six (the jemlincoln one) and ilosttrackofthings. tumblr. com /post /126830291441 /sunday-six (the clairvoyant one)

ask me anything (fic edition)

turn turn turn AU

This was a pretty simple AU where Grant and Jemma are married and she assumes Hydra wants her to use her as an incentive against Grant but in reality there’s the horrible turn (heh) where they want her because they have orders to keep her safe or Grant will murder them all.

clairvoyant

Oh, man, I loved this idea so much I tried to write it twice but it never went anywhere. (You actually managed to write a fic with a pretty similar premise that somehow always makes me feel better about never getting it done while also making me wish I had.) During a standoff with Centipede, one of the enemy gets a phone call that they claim is for Grant. After taking the call, he betrays SHIELD and kidnaps Jemma to work on the serum. And I could never figure out how to get from there to the shippiness.

jemlincoln

I actually managed to write a lot of this one (5k) but a lot of it isn’t too good and even my notes don’t know how it gets to an ending so here is a ridiculously detailed play-by-play of what happens with snippets of bits I liked mixed in:

Lincoln and Skye are hanging out at Afterlife before she found out Jiaying was her mom. He has some fun with cluing her in to the fact that while everyone else gets their soulmate’s name on their skin before they reach adulthood, Inhumans don’t get them until they become “truly themselves” via transition. Skye’s shocked/confused/excited because she was always really sad she didn’t have a soulmate. Turns out it’s Fitz and he just never knew because his mark is her real name. [I think I might’ve actually made that into a fic at some point…] Skye starts teasing Lincoln about his own, as yet unmet soulmate, claiming it’s not fair he knows her name but she doesn’t know his.

“Youknow mine,” Skye says carelessly. “And don’t think I’veforgotten that that’s because you people strippedme while I was unconscious.”

Lincolnrolls his eyes and lets the gesture carry him back down the path.

“Iwill find out!” she yells after him.

Heknows she means it, she’s just the sort who won’t ever stop. (Hecan already picture her tackling him to the ground and pulling at hisclothes to find the name.) His hip, where the elegant scrawl isburned into his skin, itches just thinking about the exposure. So,without turning, he calls back to her, “Jemma Simmons,” and hopesthat’ll be the end of it.

Itis, surprisingly. Skye never says another word about his soulmate.

Heshould probably have been worried about that.

When Lincoln wakes up at the Playground after being rescued by SHIELD, he is NOT HAPPY. She tries to get him to see that SHIELD are the good guys, they rescued him from Hydra, but he’s got this weird feeling in the back of his head - like he’s forgetting something or there’s somewhere else he needs to be - that’s making him extra snappy. When Lincoln’s doctor comes in, he gets mad at himself for thinking she’s pretty (she’s SHIELD, she’s the enemy). They get in a mini-argument about how Skye’s powers were treated. Skye breaks it up and quickly introduces Jemma to Lincoln before slipping out.

There are some attempts at warming up to each other and some backslides. Lincoln realizes the strange feeling he has is the bond settling into place, which can only happen if Jemma physically touched him. He understands she was providing medical care when there were no other doctors available but it’s still a major consent issue. He’s also spent a lot of the last few years looking forward to sharing his powers with his soulmate, so he’s hurt when Jemma quickly side-steps his offer to show them off and even passes on the task of indexing him to Weaver.

Lincoln has a really bad reaction to jumping to the other side of the planet all of a sudden after only just meeting his soulmate. Jiaying is super concerned about him. Here and throughout the fic there were lots of details about his history with Jiaying, how she helped him come to terms with his powers, and how the arrival of his soulmark in the midst of that helped. [Honestly my favorite thing about this fic was Jiaying mothering Lincoln lots and all the details I had about their history, not the shippy stuff.] She helps Lincoln deal with his distrust of Jemma as a SHIELD agent, reminding him about the SHIELD vs SHIELD dynamic that was going on and that likely the same people who hunted Skye weren’t willing to allow Jemma to index her own soulmate.

“She’safraid of my powers,” he says softly.

“Oh,Lincoln.” She runs a hand through his hair and pulls him to hershoulder, holding him like she thinks he’ll cry. He might. “She’llcome to understand. Even we fear ourselves when we first transition.”She pushes him away far enough that she can cup his face in herhands. “If Jemma is as kind as you say - as kind as she mustbe, to be yours - then I’m sure she’ll learn to trust you.”

Hetwists away to hide his embarrassed smile - and his fear that she’swrong.

She also tells him that she’s using the meeting with SHIELD to bring Jemma to safety. Either she’ll come with them or Gordon can whisk her away from the Playground while everyone’s eyes are on Afterlife. Lincoln accepts this plan without question, considering it a rescue/protection rather than a kidnapping.

Everyone in Afterlife finds out about Jemma approximately two seconds after Lincoln arrives thanks in part to Raina mass texting everyone that photo from when Jemma was undercover. When Lincoln finds out about those circumstances, his natural inclination to consider Inhumans different people than they were pre-transition means he overlooks Raina’s role in matters and focuses solely on SHIELD sending Jemma undercover and then letting her be exposed.

Jiaying’s meeting with Gonzales goes the same as canon save for Jemma winding up at Afterlife when it’s over. Jiaying uses a shape-shifting Inhuman to make it appear that the guards with Jemma attacked her when things went sideways. That way Jemma will hopefully be turned against SHIELD and Jiaying will be able to keep Lincoln by her side and having her friend will hopefully keep Skye with them as well and all Jiaying’s little family can be united against SHIELD.

And then I literally have no idea where it goes from there. My final note on the fic is simply this:

SomehowJemma and Lincoln both end up on SHIELD’s side and happy and safe.

So that happens, I guess.

#shineyma #ask me anything fic edition

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ayankun · 4 years ago

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real quick before I get into season 6

So this is my second time watching Season 6 and I’m p. excited. This last week or so I’ve been dredging up bits and pieces, but most of it is a blur. It seems the memories that lasted this whole year were mostly of the huge armored truck and the nonbinary character who works at *spoilers*’s tech startup.

I’m curious to see if the second time through it’ll settle in like it belongs. I remember Season 5 really didn’t make any sense to me until I saw it again.

But really I’m just excited that in 11 hours I can watch the new stuff?!

But first, before I forget, here’s my last thoughts on Season 5.

So remember how I was surprised at Season 1′s structure, that it folded up nicely down the middle with some pretty tidy symmetry?

None of the other seasons do that.

Instead, I remember particularly strongly how jarring the end of the Ghost Rider arc was in the middle of Season 4. And then again when the (what I’m calling) Kasius arc also wrapped up mid-season.

I’m not sure when I read about it, but it probably was circa Ghost Rider, that they’d intentionally decided on what I’m pretty sure they called “pods” of episodes, these seasons-within-a-season sort of narratives.

Season 2 sort of kicks it off, what with the race to Terragenesis taking eps 1-10 and the Afterlife/splinter SHIELD stories filling 11-22. Then Season 3 has the monolith/Maveth mystery to start, followed by Hive & the Inhumans for the second half. S4 is super poddy, obviously branded as Ghost Rider/Agents of Hydra, and S5 also splits neatly into future!Lighthouse and present day!Lighthouse.

Two points to make on this:

Kasius is such a rockstar villain that I feel really bad for Hale/Ruby/Talbot. They’re so apples and oranges but having the highlight come first allows for unfavorable comparisons to be made. It’s like asking any well-to-do Kree to compare Xandarian snail to oops all berries.

Good thing they’d had all this practice writing complete stories in 12 eps, since I’m hoping Season 6 (and obvs Season 7) will still feel as fully formed as their longer antecedents.

Anyway, that first point is my major point for S5.

S3 already feels like the second half of S2, and its internal halves are the most similar to each other as any of the other “pods,” so it’s not like people have a reason to go around saying “I liked the first half of the season waaay better than the second.”

(although I might. I might say that, actually. but not because the halves were branded separately from one another)

And S4, though the two halves are barely identifiable as coming from the same show much less the same season, they’re both good. Robbie Reyes is perfect. The effort to incorporate new MCU topics/aesthetic from Doctor Strange is great. Robots who just want to be a real girl is my JAM. All the Framework cameos really make my day! And then Robbie Reyes comes back all deus ex machina (ironic) and saves the day, and

it makes sense that he does because the function and nature of the Darkhold was well established in part 1 and

it’s GREAT that he does because he’s perfect and we miss him.

Then here comes S5. I really really respect so much about the creative decisions that took the story where it went (ie, outside Papa MCU’s sphere of interference), and getting to reuse the same set in a different context while minimizing “on-location” shoots is just technical and financial genius, okay.

But there’s so much about the first half, in the future, that compels me waaaaaaay more than the gritty anger of the second half.

Kasius, WOW what a villain. Dominic Rains, everyone. I have nothing unkind to say about the performance, the character, anything. Impeccable. Spectacular. Perfection.

The mystery of the season opener! We had the tag scene where Coulson’s “in space” and plenty of time to ruminate on the how and why, especially with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 coming out right as S4 ended and Thor: Ragnarok literally sizzling in the theaters at the same time as this season started. They answer the question by the end of the episode, but not before several characters come up with and pursue several different theories, and that’s fun.

What a way to capitalize on the Inhuman storyline your show’s been about for years now, without forcing Papa MCU to contend with all this good work you’ve been doing. Just go somewhere he can’t reach you (the future), and then un-write all of it anyway. V. tidy. Extra style points will be awarded.

LEITMOTIFS. If y’all’ve seen BSG, then you know Bear McCreary is a master of the art. But this season has so many good themes, my friends. The Daisy/Quake theme that’s been knocking around for a season is here in full force, and Sinara’s is the best bad guy theme you could have wanted, and dearest sweetest Flint has the best great guy theme you ever heard.

Just, while we’re here. Sinara. She says nothing for episodes (it feels like, I wasn’t counting) and her first line is a scornfully growled “compassion.” Give it up for Florence Faivre !!! She hardly has any lines but you always know exactly what she’s thinking and what she’s about. Sinara and Kasius have the richest on-screen chemistry of anybody on any show from any era fight me on this I dare you.

Mack’s coming down from his second life in the Framework, and that suuuuucks that these folks never have a moment to rest before barreling into their next story. But he gets to be a father to Flint! And Yo-Yo gets to be a mother!!! UGH why couldn’t they have brought Flint instead of Deke lololol oh well.

I think I know another reason why Lincoln seems overhyped to me. That other Inhuman, Ben I think his name is? He’s in like two episodes, serves a narrative purpose, and is disposed. I know Lincoln’s in like 18 times as many episodes but they have the same exact overall impact on my brain-hole. Imagine if it was Ben that came back with them instead of Deke. That’s how I feel about Lincoln. Like, how did this obviously disposable character make it this far?

Then you have Deke. You love to hate him. He’s a very well-fashioned character who is flawless in making you feel the way the showrunners want you to feel. That’s the kind of character that gets killed off twice and still comes back, and it doesn’t surprise you.

So, Enoch. Enoch is everyone’s favorite character, right? Right. Give me genderless robots with a soft spot for humanity ANY DAY. PLEASE where are they I need them. (I’m un-repressing memories of S6 and I feel like somehow I should be careful what I wish for) Man I remember with 1000% clarity the absolute glee I felt sitting down for the opening montage of S5 the first time, how ballsy weird it was, just watching this freaky bald alien of a man go swimming with some fun electro pop number playing in the background. 100/10 please make more television like this

More monoliths!! The time one is so pretty!

(remember when there were more monoliths and no one knew where they came from or what they did but then it didn’t matter because they got instantly exploded?)

The low-key obvious answers to the season’s questions, what with the Inhumans running all over the shop, Quake there to tear everything down and Flint there to put the pieces back together I’m not crying you’re crying

Oh man, and Simmons getting to mentor not one but two Inhuman youths to be confident and trust in themselves and their powers. What a ways from the fear-panic response to Daisy when she turned.

Also, yeah, it has to be said, this show’s blatant “you’re different and that’s okay” agenda sits very well with me. Agents of SHIELD says LGBTQ+ rights!

So anyway, part 2 falls a little flat for me because its strength is its themes, but I’m not really compelled by the stakes and definitely not by the villains and not really even by the intra-team drama.

Obviously S2 touched on parenthood, but it was pretty specific. S5 digs in and brings us a lot more on the topic.

Kasius desperately desires his father’s approval but very deeply despises the methods and the people who earn it.

Hale was indoctrinated by Hydra and was very earnest in wanting to uphold the values of the organization, until the organization (and Whitehall) shared with her their narrow appreciation of the gift of her loyalty. Even then, she struggles to make sense of this loyalty, only realizing too late that being a good Hydra pawn and a good parent are categorically mutually exclusive.

Ruby, obviously, is like a mini-Kasius, the brave-faced rebel who wears her mother’s disappointment on her sleeve like a badge of honor to pretend that it isn’t crippling her.

The Von Strucker kid, boy is he messed up (and his Hydra dad had something to do with it)

((echos of Ward are still heard even this far after his demise, and we know what his father figures were like))

Poor Talbot, got some brain damage and some Hydra conditioning on top of that, cracked that noggin wide open. He just wanted to do good by his family. Just wanted his son to know he loves him.

Polly and Robin. The daughter who needs constant special care because she’s stuck inside her own mind and the mother who’s been through hell and back and still manages to do her best. Even when she knows she won’t always be there for her daughter. Even when she knows she’ll be replaced.

May getting a glimpse at the life she and Andrew once talked about. Getting a chance to do right by that little girl.

Mack recovering from getting that same glimpse, from the echoing memories of a life time spent with his greatest regret erased. Being roped into being a thug and threatening that dad without knowing the meaning behind his threat -- being told that people like him don’t deserve the privilege of parenthood. But then getting to know Flint, and having Yo-Yo at his side while they fast track this kid through all the things he’s gonna need to know in order to be the Big Damn Hero the world needs him to be.

The timey-wimey promise that FitzSimmons will one day be parents to a brilliant daughter who will unfortunately give birth to a Deke.

Coulson and Daisy. Another parent placing enormous expectations on his daughter, desperate that she be ready for his responsibilities because his time is running out. A daughter who mishandles these expectations and refuses to stop fighting a losing battle, not because she’s not ready to step up, but because she doesn’t want to face the fact that she’s losing the man who raised her.

Anyway, aside from all this good Theme work, part 2 wades perfunctorily through musty remnants of the previous season, from The Doctor to The Russian. Which makes sense, because that season ended in a way that left so many loose threads -- but then this season comes along and summarily ties them up, all cute little bows, the lot of them. Dusts its hands. Nothing to see here. Move along now. Time’s up.

#Agents of Shield #aos

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marvelicious-concessions · 6 years ago

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Golden Hearted

Chapter 2/6

This turned out way longer than expected... over 3.5k words

Quick note, if you're unfamiliar with inhumans... her origins may be a little confusing ~

Oh and I'm swapping the order of 2 of movies, hope no one minds:))

The jet left them a few miles away, having to hide their presence so they wouldn't spook her, but Thor had been impatient the entire the flight there. As soon as the airlock opened he took on ahead, hammer in hand, ignoring The Captain's shouts. He prouded himself for having grown a lot in the past few years, having learned from his lessons and becoming more calculated with time. It all seemed to have gone out the proverbial window as the aircraft hit the ground. He was filled with a thrill he couldn't explain, something akin to the one before a battle. He blamed it on the urgency of the situation, the Tesseract was highly important and it needed to return to Asgard as soon as possible. But deep down he knew he was lying to himself. And doing quite a poor job at it, too.

The mansion came into view fast, golden statues decorating the front lawn in dissaray. It was quite huge compared to other midgardian houses, but not much compared to anything on Asgard. As he got closer, he realized the figures were not statues at all, but human men encased in gold, their faces forever twisted in horror. It was a cruel fate and he wondered if they died instantly or slowly suffocated on the inside. He was not scared of the woman and he was not one to turn down a fight, but even he had to admit what he was doing was foolish - going head first to an enemy he knew close to nothing about. Could she turn him to gold as well? Could she do it from afar or did she need to touch him? Will he join the poor souls scattered in her garden?

None of the scenarios he played in his head as he pushed open the heavy doors could have prepared him for what actually happened.

Evelyn had been expecting the Avengers to make their entrance sooner rather than later. The blue toy she acquired was even more spectacular than she could have ever dreamed, it gave her the power she had always wished her: teleportation. She was happy with her newfound set of skills. Never had she thought a silly supplement pill was going to give her powers and flying was still pretty neat. But as it was human nature to crave just a little more, it could have been better.

Though, apparently she was not entirely human. On the other hand, inhuman was rather dramatic and made her feel like she just had to be bad. Or at least just a bit on the morally gray side. She wasn't entirely sure if the Terrigen did more to her than activate her powers. In the brief explanation she was given by some S.H.I.E.L.D. agents she was left under the impression some people were not as lucky as she had been with her new abilities. She should probably stop complaining about not getting exactly what she wanted and be grateful she hadn't grown scales or went insane instead.

The truth was she had always harbored a darker side, pushed deep down by society's never-ending list of rules and proper etiquette and a desire to make her mother proud. But under those layers of pristine white shirts and ugly plated sweaters there had always been a little devil waiting to burst out. It would have been tragically comedic if she would have sprouted horns and turned red, but in a poetic justice kind of way. Thought it seemed that the Terrigen didn't care much for moral alignment.

She petted the orange tabby that brushed by her leg, one of the many strays she had gathered over the day and a half she had been living there and went to the window. She was admiring her handiwork on the front lawn, wondering if she should add one more statue on the far left corner by the hedges, when he came down from the sky. She had not been expecting the God of Thunder to show up.

After her encounter with Earth's mightiest and after she stole from them, research had been in order. She spent way more time than she cared to admit to anyone reading about each and every one of them. People everywhere were curious about New York and the heroes that saved them and news, or sometimes just rumors, blasted the internet like wildfire. She found more about some and close to nothing about others, but what everyone was clear on was that the gods of Thunder and Mischief had went back to Asgard. Yet there he was, looking all sorts of hot and just a little bit angry. The smirk on her lips was impossible to control as she made her way to the door to greet her first guest of the day. She was going to enjoy herself a little bit.

Thor pushed the door open prepared for anything. Or so he had thought.

She had been right there by the door and in the second it took him to realize, her arms were around his neck pulling him further inside the hallway, soft lips crashing onto his, sweet and warm and entirely irresistible. And so he kissed her back, their mouths like two pieces of a puzzle. Her nails scraped the back of his neck as she grabbed a hold of his hair. Her body was pressed flushed to his as she was floating off the ground, just a bit above him, and for a moment she felt like she was slipping away. On instinct, his own arms encased around her frame pressing her even tighter to him and she smiled into the kiss, biting his lover lip when she pulled away.

"And I thought you'd never come." She was just as he remembered her from that day: confident and flirty. And a little too dangerous. His grip tightened around her, but this time to make sure she wasn't going to escape. Her intoxicating smile only grew, her eyes lighting up with what he could only call, for lack of a better word, mischief. Still in his arms she let her finders trace one of the clasps on his cape and it started turning golden beneath the skin. It spread like ink on paper and stopped suddenly as her hand took hold of his chin instead and lifted his head to meet her sharp gaze. "Careful there, handsome. It would be a real shame if you'd be reduce to a garden gnome."

"I'm not here for games. We know you took the Tesseract. It belongs on Asgard." She traced a finger from his chin down his neck, her eyes soft and warm. She looked nothing like the killer she truly was. Or was she? Maybe she couldn't have killed him on the spot, but her seemingly delicate hand was still resting just above the collar of his armor.

"Maybe I should visit there next. I imagine it's quite the sight."

"The only place you'll be visiting is a prison cell." She laughed, placing her head on his shoulder like it was the most natural thing to do.

"Oh you're so sweet, thinking any prison could hold me." He wondered if he should demand she be taken to Asagard to be imprisoned. If Loki couldn't escape, Evelyn surely had no chance. But before his thought was fully formed her lips were by his ear, a shiver running down his spine as her hot breath tickled.

"Your friends are finally here." She was out of his grasp in an instant, her hands pushing his apart just enough to fly up and away. As the team barged through the door he finally took her in better, the silky black robe hanging dishevel from her body. Her arms were covered under the long selves, but her legs were bare and neckline revealing. He was glad he hadn't noticed her state of undress when she had been in his grip. She wicked at him when his gaze finally went from the ridiculously low helm of the robe to her meet her eyes.

"Miss Evans, there doesn't need to be a fight." The Captain stepped forwards, reminding Thor there were other people in the room now. What would they have thought if they came just minutes earlier and saw them in their embrace? What had he been thinking? From the air above them, Evelyn sighed and crossed her arms, the top of her breasts even more in sight.

"I imagine there will be, I'm not handing over the cube."

The arrow was shot without warning, but she still caught it with little effort. What she didn't count on was the explosive on it. She was blasted on the opposite wall, the air being momentarily knocked out of her.

"Find the Tesseract!" The redhead took off running along the hallway. Evelyn almost smirked, but she decided to play it as if she was worried. No need to play all her cards just yet. She pretended to go after the other woman, but as the Captain came to intercept her she turned, taking him by surprise mid jump and hitting him square in the face. What followed was a series of dodging various things throws at her, from shields to hammer to arrows. She learned her lesson with the last one, no more catching stuff. They were good opponents,but her focus turned to the one who claimed he was a damned God. She had seen him fight in New York; he was not on his best game. Was it perhaps because of her? She made it her mission to taunt him.

"God of Thunder or not, you're getting slow." She flew around him, his other 2 team mates stuck under a bookcase she punched them in. Her hands went around his neck from behind, her chin resting on his shoulder as he tried to grab at her. "Or maybe your heart's not really into this fight. Rather we'd be up for other things."

"Stop this nonsense!" His large hand took hold of her ankle and he pulled her off him. Or more precisely, she let go and floated in front of him, his fingers still curled around her leg. She smiled innocently, but her eyes spoke of sins, daring him to move his gaze up her leg. He heard the Cap finally help Clint from under the pile of books and splintered shelves and was met with her other led in his face as she spun in mid air. He was sent flying, releasing her ankle in the process. She was gone from sight for maybe a moment, before returning with Natasha, her hand glowing around the Widow's neck, the fabric of her suit already turning to gold.

"Guys, we have a problem." The redhead had the Tesseract in hand, or rather, just the carcass of it, one of the sides smashed open. It wasn't glowing anymore, clearly missing whatever had been inside of it. The sleeve on her right hand, the one curled around Natasha's neck, moved up her arm revealing a blue stone encased in a golden bracelet. She already had the Space Stone on her, they lost before the fight even begun.

"This is going to play in two ways. One, you leave here, never come back and we all live happily ever after. Or two, your friend here is going to be very shiny in a minute." Her eyes snapped to Clint as he was pulling on the bow's string. "I may not have time to fully turn her, but she will have one hell of a hard time ever breathing again." He lowered the bow reluctantly, his jaw clenched.

"Just let her go and we'll be out of your hair." The Captain put his shield down and held his hands up in surrender as he took another step towards the two women.

"And for a short while you maybe actually will..." She looked serious then, lips in a tight line and brows furrowed, no more games. She looked at each of them in turn, lingering just a moment longer on Thor. "You really don't have anything better to do than chase little ol' me and this silly blue rock?"

Just as she said that Stark's voice echoed Natasha's in their earpieces. "Guys, we have a problem."

They didn't get to hear the rest of it, the roof coming down on them in a blaze. Evelyn used the stone to get outside, discarding her hostage there with a push. She went back into the house, zapping in and out of places, making sure all her kittens had gotten out safely and saving one that got trapped behind a fallen door. She got back outside, feline in hand, the once pristine white fur covered in some sooth. She scowled at the small patch of dirt like it had insulted her entire blood line.

The day was turning more troublesome than she had anticipated and she was thinking of just getting out of there and leaving everything behind. It would take them a while to find her in some small town in Japan and she was pretty sure the cherry trees were in full boom that time of the year. She cared very little for the house in particular, but she did long for a place of her own. Next time, she will just buy the damn thing with gold. She turned to see the rest of the Avengers scurrying out of the flames, Thor helping the limping archer. She looked at the Asgardian, his long hair clinging to his face from the heat inside, his jaw so sharp and well defined it could probably cut diamonds. She remembered the feeling of being crushed in those strong arms, his lips on hers hungry for more. There was definitely some chemistry there and it was a god dammed shame he wasn't up for some more fun, even it turned out to be jut that - some harmless fun. Their eyes met across the lawn of golden statues and after a moment he frowned. She blinked out of sight the next second, completely missing the robot that blew her mansion up.

She was halfway across the world, underneath a cherry tree with a bottle of sake, Gandalf - the white kitten - snoozing on her lap, when news of Ultron reached her. She hadn't stopped to analyze why or who fired at her house that day and it turned out to bite her in the ass. The Avengers were an annoyance, sure, but that murderous robot was something else entirely. She scrolled on the phone, her mind already half made to interfere, when she stumbled on a video of the AI.

"I was designed to save the world. People would look to the sky and see... hope. I think I'll take that first. There's only one path to peace: their extinction."

Well she couldn't have that, could she? She looked up the robot a little more, until she found something big was going down in Sokovia. That had to be good enough. She chugged the rest of her sake and let out a long sight. For being called Earth's mightiest heroes, the Avengers were sure attracting a lot of trouble. She stood up, placing Gandalf on the blanket in her stead and straightening her kimono before using the stone still on her bracelet to get to where all the action was at.

She hadn't expected to find Sokovia in the air, slowly ascending. She cocked her head at the sight, arms crossed and lips pursed. She should have probably researched more, but she doubted she'd understand the science behind it or the reasoning of an AI gone rogue. She flew closer to the edges of the city, still cautious of the whole thing when she heard screaming from her left. There was the good ol' Captain America trying hard to keep two cars from falling over the crumbling edge. She was already flying towards them when the cars slipped forward and a second later she was beneath one of the cars, stopping it midair. The other one flew past her, but there was no one in it anymore. As she flew up towards the edge, she saw the Captain and Thor looking strangely at her, car held overhead. She placed it on the ground with a thud, the family inside scurrying away to safety.

"What are you doing here?" The God of Thunder sounder almost panicked. She eyed him curiously, eyebrow raised. He had been missing from a few of the heroes' fights with the AI, but she hadn't taken it as anything. Those reports were mostly speculations and hearsay anyway, but there was something strange about him, something different.

"Well, that's a nice way to thank me. I should just go, let you guys handle... this." Annoyance was seeping through her every word as she gestured towards the edge of the road, large chunks still falling away. He glared at her and turned to walk away.

"Go ahead, we don't need you."

"Actually we could really use all the help we could get." The Captain chimed in, looking her up and down before nodding once more. "Don't think this gets you off the hook for the Tsseract though."

"One crisis at a time, right?" She winked at them and darted towards the sky where a flock of robots were coming in, smashing them to pieces with her bare fists. They looked like the Ultron fellow, but not quite and she figured if she killed the brain the minions would follow. Wasn't quite sure what the floating country would do in that scenario... hopefully descend back in it's place painfully slow. She was scouring the place, punching robots and occasionally helping people to safety when the blonde god turned up again, his hammer getting a robot that had snuck behind her and the two kids she was leading away from the street and into the carrier. She turned towards him, the kids running toward who she assumed were their parents.

"I could have handled it."

"Sure you did."

They smacked a bunch more of the metal pests, their supply seemingly endless. He got quite a few at a time with his hammer and she observed his tactics and tried mimicking a few. She was strong, but had little experience in actual fighting. So as he grabbed a mini-Ultron and swung him at his brethren she copied the move, a little squeal of excitement leaving her lips. She knew how to punch stuff, that wasn't hard, but it was actually kind of fun to smash things in style. They were back to back again, robots swarming around and Evelyn got that deja vu feeling.

"This reminds me of New York." She offered the god a cheerful smile, but his scowl seemed to only deepen. Had she lain insult on him and his family somehow? Was his ego that bruised over not retrieving the damn glowing stone from her? "So, would you fill me in on what's happening around here? I seemed to have misplaced my earpiece." She was met with more silence from the man, albeit they were busy tearing robots apart. Still, it bothered her she had no idea if there was a plan in sight or not. They were evacuating the civilians, so things were not looking good. They were done with the latest batch of Ultron's spawns and she flew away from him. No need to ponder on what was going in that pretty head of his, not her problem.

She made her way to across Sokovia, smashing and punching robots here and there, but still no sight of Ultron. She was about to search for any other Avenger besides Thor to get some information, when she stumbled upon the archer, Hawkeye, with a kid in his arms. A ship came in sight, guns drawn, before she could even open her mouth to ask any question. Now, she had very little experience with any of the mess she found herself in, crazy AI and floating chunks of earth, but that aircraft screamed trouble. It started firing but she was on it, picking up a long metal pole, probably from a street light, and throwing it like a javelin. It hit the guns straight on, but not before she got hit in the shoulder.

The next couple of minutes were a blur. For all her strength, she was a bit of a baby when actual pain hit her. Or perhaps she had gotten too used to not feeling it. She had gotten hurt in New York as well and at her mansion a few days before, but those were scratches and bumps compared to whatever was happening to her then. Blood was soaking her kimono, so it was probably not pretty. She didn't quite dare look.

What she remembered came in flashes. A white haired man appearing out of nowhere and stumbling before them, right leg bloody. Hawkeye helping her and the man to the carrier, the three collapsing on the floor. She remembered hearing thunder like never before, right before Sokovia was blown to bits. And she remembered Thor coming on the carrier, all wet. Even with all the blood loss she would have still teased him a little, if not for the surprise and concern in his steel blue eyes when they landed on her. Her breath caught in her throat at the sight, her patchy vision focusing only on him.

And then he took a step towards her and she blinked away.

#goldenhearted #thor #thor x oc #thor x reader #avengers #age of ultron #ultron #thor odinson

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acrownforaking · 7 years ago

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Infinity War: First Impressions

Needless to say, my ass will be back in the theatre soon to see Infinity War again -- perhaps several times -- but after one go-through, I’m gonna cover my initial thoughts and feelings about the movie. And hooBOY, I have a lot of them.

****SPOILERS****

The Good

Is this Thanos: The Movie? Yes, yes it is. But that’s not a bad thing. Aside from Josh Brolin’s fantastic performance, the writers really outdid themselves with this one. For a giant, purple nutsack from space, he is remarkably human, with understandable motives, that while incredibly misguided, are almost...noble? I never expected to walk out of Infinity War and find myself grappling with a philosophical struggle over whether the villain was right or not. Besides Loki, most Marvel villains are as generic and comic-booky as expected, but Thanos fucking shined in Infinity War.

This should have been a mess. For all intents and purposes, Infinity War (MOST AMBITIOUS CROSSOVER EVENT IN HISTORY HER DE HER) was doomed from the start. Juggling five-times the amount of characters of the original Avengers, while creating a followable plot and introducing a new villain. Sure, we’ve been teased Thanos, but we didn’t really know anything about him. We just knew Grimace was coming, and he was gonna get the shinies, goddamnit. But somehow, everyone had a chance to speak and do something relevant, everyone mattered, in some way, and even though the plot was largely fragmented, broken off into several simultaneous stories, there was no confusion. I still can’t get over how something so massive was so cohesive, so streamlined.

Some people have complained about length, but I didn’t register that the movie pushed a three hour run time until I’d left. I was on the edge of my seat, laughing, or crying for the entire run. I was never bored, never wondered when a certain scene would end. I thoroughly enjoyed every second.

The humor was on point. The Russos took a lot of good cues from the Gunns and Taika, because the GOTG/Ragnorak hilarity was there, with the perfect comedic timing and memorable lines. “Thank you, sweet rabbit.” and “I am Steve Rogers!” will stick with me for a long time. Nothing beats Trash Panda, but this came very close.

They picked some unusual pairs for certain stories that turned out really well.

The dynamic between Thor, Rocket, and Groot was great to watch, and even with Thor rolling with them, had a very distinct GOTG vibe to it. Also surprised by the depth of emotion in that scene between Thor and Rocket (you know the one), but after the tear-jerking brilliance of the Yondu/Rocket scene in GOTG2, I should’ve seen the heartbreak coming.

Strange and Tony together was also fantastic. They’ve been compared endlessly since Doctor Strange was released, and to have two massive egos butting heads like that was something that I think was long awaited for many fans, and didn’t disappoint -- and it did show that yes, Strange is not a copy paste of Tony in a different universe. Strange remains pretty Machiavellian while Tony sees more intrinsic value in every human life. Even though they had similar “redemption arcs” in their separate movies, the contrast between the two of them was more on display than anything else, and I loved that.

Peter Quill and Thor. Need I say more?

Some of the sweeping space shots were awe-inspiring. I thought that the Valkyrie scene in Ragnorak was peak Marvel beauty, but Infinity War was absolutely gorgeous.

Red Skull coming back was a really interesting twist.

Those mindless, Resident Evil style monsters that Thanos released in Wakanda were actually scary as shit, and it was a lot more interesting watching the Squad tear into those than say, the Ultron minions, or...basically any other generic evil thing they’ve fought, just because they were so mindless and vicious.

SQUIDWARD. Great small-time villain, and whoever did his voice acting killed it.

Tony and Pepper talking about having kids, the broken-up conversation on the space-ship...oh, it wounds me so...but it was fantastic writing. Grounding for Tony, certainly, reminding us that he’s settled into a pseudo-normal life since Civil War AND HE WANTS LITTLE TONYS AND PEPPERS AND YOU KNOW THAT WHEN HE THOUGHT HE WAS DYING THAT’S ALL HE WAS THINKING OF, HE WAS THINKING, NO, NO, THIS ISN’T RIGHT, PEPPER AND I ARE GONNA HAVE A BABY, WE’RE HAVING A BABY

Bruce really shined and it made me so happy, and I don’t have much to say on the subject other than I’m psyched he got the amount of screen-time that he did. I vastly prefer Bruce to the Hulk, and the comic relief of Bruce basically having Hulk ED was great.

Yes, the end crushed me, of course. But I appreciated that so much was subverted, tropes, expectations, you name it -- they failed. The heroes failed and the casualties are incalculable. The villain goes home to rest and sit on his laurels while the heroes mourn their dead. How often does that happen in blockbuster cinema? What a breath of fresh air. (I STILL HATE YOU FOR PETER PARKER, MARVEL.)

Speaking of me hating Marvel for Peter: that scene was crushing. I started sobbing, and I heard a lot of crying from around the theatre. Just...”Mr. Stark, I don’t feel so good.” ... “No, no, I don’t want to go.” It tore me up inside unlike anything else I’ve ever seen in the MCU.

And so spoke the prophet Ned: “Holy shit, we’re all gonna die!”

The Bad

While everybody shined at one point or another, there were some characters that were really thrust into the forefront in promos that in reality had very, very few scenes in the movie. Mainly, I’m talking about Bucky. He got a new arm, hugged Steve, swung Rocket around, and then died. I was hoping for more.

There were a few interactions I was hoping to see but never got. Mainly: Tony and Bucky, Tony and Cap, Shuri and Tony, Shuri and Bucky. But there’s time for that yet, because let’s be real: ain’t none of these motherfuckers staying dead. Except for Loki, Heimdall, and Gamora. RIP.

While the humor always made me laugh, there were a few misplaced moments that undercut the emotional weight of whatever had just happened. Drax standing there while Gamora asked Peter to kill her if it came down to it is the main thing that stands out in my mind as jarring.

I was a little underwhelmed when I found out that the Soul Gem was on some random planet, but that’s mainly because I was hoping that the “Heimdall has the Soul Gem” theory wasn’t going to be Jossed.

It seems strange at this point that no one in the films has acknowledged any of the canon introduced in Agents of SHIELD, like the Inhumans, but truthfully, I complain about this because I just want Coulson to be in the films and for the original Avengers to know that he’s still alive.

NO HAWKEYE. AM ANGRY.

The Ugly

Some of the cinematography was...meh. Especially when they were fighting in Wakanda, there was a lot of shaky cam and random cuts that made the action pretty hard to follow.

Nebula getting ripped apart. Ouch.

I feel as though Thanos announcing himself by murdering Loki and Heimdall was a great way to establish how dangerous he was (along with beating the shit out of the Hulk) but WOW it was hard to see Loki die like that.

I...I get what they were trying to do with the forge...and, true, it was pretty cool, but holy shit, why did Peter Dinklage need to do that voice. It sounded forced and ridiculous. Any GOT fans remember Tyrion imitating his cousin Orson? That’s what Peter’s character sounded like THE ENTIRE TIME. I couldn’t take him seriously. I get that they were probably trying to distance this character (I can’t remember his name) from Tyrion, but for the love of God, why not just let him do his American voice, then? Or just his Tyrion voice, because most people see Tyrion when they look at him anyway and that can’t be avoided sometimes.

I’ll probably have even more to say about Infinity War once I’ve digested it a bit, but TL:DR -- this is one of the best films in the MCU. Possibly the best. My expectations were subverted and it was better than I ever dreamed it could be...so if you haven’t seen it, you need to!

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carolineaquino73 · 7 years ago

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Speculating on last 3 eps of Agents of SHIELD season 5 (includes Infinity War spoilers under the cut)

One of the main things I keep thinking about is Philinda. There MUST be some progress with Philinda before the end of this season because after May’s profession of love 3 episodes ago, we’ve only had two references to it - and they were just two humorous moments. Ever since we found out that Daisy has the last centipede armband and that the healing component used by Hydra came from Jiaying (that timing actually works: Jiaying was taken by Whitehall and Hydra in 1989 and Project Deathlok started with Garrett in 1990), I’ve been thinking how this will help save Coulson. I can’t recall if the centipede armband is removable. At one point it must not have been or else they would have taken it off Mike Peterson, right? I’m not sure I would like the idea of Coulson using the centipede serum unless he absolutely needed it because he was getting too weak. However, I do like the idea of Coulson being healed in some way by using Jiaying’s blood or something. I had mentioned to a few other people who I wouldn’t mind seeing May kiss Phil in order to distract him while she or Daisy injected Coulson to heal him. But I think it was @weareagentsofnothing who rightly pointed out that their first real kiss ideally shouldn’t be a distraction! I agree!

With all the discussion amongst FitzSimmons and Deke about time loops and multiverses, I do hope we get some sort of idea who is right! I think it was @weareagentsofnothing who pointed out that if the blinking-out-of-existence theory holds true for if/when they break out of the time loop - Deke would not be the only one to disappear. But would “our” Fitz disappear or would it be the Fitz that is currently in cryosleep somewhere nearby in space? I would think it would be the Fitz in cryosleep because if they keep the world from being destroyed, then that Fitz doesn’t wake up in 74 years where the team went anymore, right? Or does it just mean that there is a FItz that will wake up 74 years in the future but the world will be totally different? (Yikes - that’s a headache.)

I want more reveals to the team of Deke’s parentage. So far only Elena knows!

I made a wishilist of things I wanted to see in season 5 before it even started:

More Melinda May {not sure we can say we got more...}

Philinda {we got one major Philinda moment - and I still want more!}

May and Daisy training together again {no - but we got them fighting side by side!}

May and Elena interaction {Yes! Their brief scene in 5x19 was awesome.}

Can Piper have a crush on May? {We didn’t get this. But there are 3 eps left. Maybe it can somehow involve the reveal of Philinda?}

A visit from May’s mom {Seems unlikely unless saving the world doesn’t take up the entirety of the next 3 eps.}

More LT Koenig - the Koenig sister that I didn’t know I wanted/needed. {Once again, unlikely.}

References to either Inhumans and/or Agent Carter {Yes, I know most people were not fans of Inhumans, but I would still like to see acknowlegment of it because it’s part of the MCU.}

Gravitonium from season 1 should make an appearance {Nailed it!}

I’ll put my thoughts about how Infinity Wars might tie into the show under the cut.

SPOILERS FOR THE FILM UNDER THE CUT!!!

Okay - Infinity War was awesome and devastating. The only spoiler I knew about the film was that Loki dies...which I wasn’t happy about knowing. (Little did I know that my only spoiler happens 5 minutes into the film and there were lots of surprises in store.)

I honestly have no idea how the show will tie into Infinity War. I suppose the “simplest” tie-in would be to have random characters disappear. And it’s possible that the main SHIELD team are all among the spared (just as it seems none of the original Avengers disintegrated). Knowing the after credits scene is a setup for Captain Marvel, I think it would be cool if the show could also reference Captain Marvel - especially since Coulson will be in that film. I honestly couldn’t handle it at all if any of the team disintegrated. Hmmm...I wonder whether all the talk about multiverses and such was the show setting up the fact that they are already in the one universe where Thanos was defeated - and no one disappears. For a show that has always touted #itsallconnected with regards to the greater MCU, it is a way to explain everything.

I think that’s all my brain can handle at the moment.

#avengers: infinity war #infinity war #agents of shield #season 5 speculation

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agl03 · 7 years ago

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1. THEY’RE IN SPACE BECAUSE THE MOVIES ARE

There’s no specific reference to Guardians of the Galaxy or Thor: Ragnarok, but those movies are the reason season 5 is in space. If Avengers characters are going into space, so are the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

“We try to follow in the wake of the films a little bit as they plot new territory in the MCU,” Whedon said. “Last year, that was magic with Doctor Strange. We felt like Ghost Rider all of a sudden fit into our show. This is us expanding out even further into the world of space, which they very much are living in now in the features.”

2. THE AGENTS ARE ONE BIG FAMILY AGAIN

Previous seasons have paired off S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents with their own dramas. There was Daisy discovering she’s an Inhuman and Coulson and May’s revelations about T.A.H.I.T.I. In space, every agent shares one common drama: How the heck do we get back to Earth?

“This year we have them together, hunkered down, in this new place,” Tancharoen said. “It’s all a mystery to them together. The audience is also discovering where they are alongside the characters.”

3. THEY’VE LOST ALL THEIR TOYS

You know what didn’t come into space with the Agents? All their S.H.I.E.L.D. databases and weapons are back on Earth. They’ll have to MacGyver their way out of this one.

“We don’t have our resources that we normally do,” Ming-Na said. “We don’t have backup that we normally have, the things that make S.H.I.E.L.D., S.H.I.E.L.D. Meanwhile, May’s got this massive injury to her leg and wrist. She’s not as capable anymore.”

4. JEMMA SIMMONS HAS DÉJÀ VU

One agent has been through a portal before: Jemma Simmons is being rather hard on herself for ending up back in orbit.

“She’s thinking, ‘Ugh, I’ve done this before. How did I end up here again? That’s just clumsy,’” Henstridge said. “Once, that’s just an experiment, but two is just stupidity.”

The one upside for Jemma is that she got out of this once before. She could be the S.H.I.E.L.D. team’s best shot at getting home.

“I also think she feels a little bit more prepared than maybe other people because she has been here before and she got back,” she said. “I think she’s hoping that what brought them here can also bring them back.”

5. COULSON STILL OWES GHOST RIDER

Ghost Rider doesn’t chase souls to space, does he? First things first, Coulson has to get home, but don’t forget he still owes Ghost Rider (Gabriel Luna). Robbie Reyes sure hasn’t forgotten he let Coulson use his powers to destroy Aida, but what exactly did Coulson offer in return?

“The deal he made with Ghost Rider at the end of season 4, that debt will come due at some point,” Gregg said. “It raises the stakes, just raises the stakes on everything going forward.”

6. MACK BECOMES A SUPERHERO

Mack had never shied away from a fight, but all bets are off when he’s in space dealing with aliens. Henry Simmons gets some new toys to play with and finally becomes a true Marvel superhero.

“For the rest of the season, they’re kind of ramping up my character to be more of an action guy,” Simmons said. “It’s always nice to have some new weapons to explore.”

But don’t forget, the best defense is teamwork.

“Yoyo’s his best weapon,” Cordova-Buckley said.

7. SEASON 5 INTRODUCES THE GALAXY’S NEWEST BAD BOY

Ward joins the cast as Deke, a survivor in the outer space colony. Back on Earth, Deke might be someone S.H.I.E.L.D. captures, but here they may need him to escape.

“I immediately was super drawn to his moral compass, kind of an adjusted one that comes out of his environment and out of a need for survival and a need for navigating an extremely dangerous world that is the only world that he knows,” Ward said. “Morality has different bounds.”

Once you’ve walked a mile in Deke’s space boots, maybe you won’t judge him so harshly.

“He does talk about how it’s easy to be good in a place that’s good all the time,” Ward said. “It’s not easy to be good in a place where sometimes mothers would kill their children to spare them from the lives that are the only lives these people know.”

8. FITZ WON’T BE BACK FOR A WHILE

De Caestecker was working on set this week. Fitz is still on the show. There are new photos of him, but don’t expect to see him in the season premiere.

“It seems like if you were to go off the photos, he might be turning up in space, but he’s not there right now,” De Caestecker teased. “I don’t know if I can say when exactly, but it’ll be after episode 2.”

9. THE ALIENS ARE SCARY

Whedon and Tancharoen really wanted to do the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. version of Alien, and that meant making the aliens scary. They even scared the actors when they finally saw the creatures added to their scenes.

“It’s very jumpy,” Henstridge said. “I knew exactly what was coming when we watched the first episode and I jumped out of my seat a couple of times.”

“I love aliens too,” Cordova-Buckley said. “I’m terrified of them. It’s kind of fun to now be in a show where the enemy is aliens, and all kinds. I love Ridley Scott’s first Alien so it’s really fun to be doing another world and all of us getting to do that together.”

Simmons even thinks he underacted now that he’s seen the finished effects.

“[Visual Effects Supervisor] Mark Kolpack has his little iPad, he always carries it around, and he shows us what this thing looks like,” Simmons said. “I was like, ‘Man, if I saw that, I’d have been knocking people down.’

10. THERE’S LESS GREEN SCREEN THAN YOU THINK

You might be thinking all this space stuff is just the cast acting on a green screen stage. Most of it actually exists on set. In fact, they razed existing S.H.I.E.L.D. sets to build the season 5 sets.

“We fleshed out the world in a real way much more than usual,” Whedon said. “They’re acting with real people. The sets are totally different. [The actors] are immersed in the world. They don’t have to imagine it that much. They’re on those sets. We put it a lot more to our production team to build it.”

#aos spoilers

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