#he literally says so himself. hes the one who kills miles dad.

[glitch-euphoria]

Alright everyone, reblog this post and tell me the most annoying misconceptions in your fandom in the tags. It can be literally anything, as long as people actually think it's canon and it's not. Go forth.

[ironcroft11]

In defense of Gwen in Across the Spider-Verse

Okay. First of all: This post is gonna be super long and have tons of spoilers so if you don’t want to get spoiled for Across the Spider-Verse then don’t read this post. I have seen way too many people hate on Gwen because of her actions and her behavior towards Miles in Across the Spider-Verse. I’ll show you why that hate completely misses her arc in the movie and her true intentions/relationship with Miles. This post will also delve into Gwiles/Ghostflower since that is a big part of what shapes her intentions.  Many people say Gwen betrayed Miles and doesn’t really care about him. They say Miles shouldn’t forgive her and that she is a snake for what she did. I’ll show you why the opposite is true by going through the events of the movie in cronological order: The movie literally starts off with Gwen talking about Miles. She is drumming away, which is, mentioned by herself, a way for her to cope with her feelings. That opening from Gwen is a small glimpse into her head. We see how she feels and what she thinks. The interesting thing is that it’s basically Gwen broadly narrating the events of the entire movie. We even see glimpses of future scenes in that intro. The line of narration that is most important here is Gwen saying “I didn’t want to hurt him. But I did. And he is not the only one.” This shows us IMMEDIATELY that Gwen did not intend to hurt Miles AT ALL. Quite the contrary. It also shows that she is AWARE she hurt Miles. She knows she fucked up. That is going to be important later on when she needs to make the tough decision regarding Miles/The Spider Society. 

We then follow her as she goes home, still thinking about Miles and then, of course, her Peter. Note that this is roughly 1 year after Into the Spider-Verse. 1 year after she met Miles she still thinks about him daily. “I haven’t really made any friends after that [Peter’s death], except one. But there is no way to get there.” She misses Miles and wishes there was a way to visit him. Obviously she still very much cares and thinks about him.

At Gwen’s home we are first shown what her conflict with her father looks like. That conflict is obviously one of the main aspects of her arc and what drives her actions later on in the movie. You can see it is strained but you can still see that they obviously love each other very much. Gwen struggles as her father is basically hunting her down without knowing its is actually her. What pains her the most, though, is that her father is convinced that Spider-Gwen killed her best friend, Peter Parker. That way he, without knowing, makes Gwen feel guilty about the death of her best friend. Gwen is trying to get over Peter’s death but is held back by her dad, unbeknownst to him. 

Gwen caring and missing Miles a lot is brought up again when she sees the picture of her and Miles that they made in Into the Spider-Verse (which she had made into a polaroid so she can actually have it on her/in her hands). Her eyes look on with sadness and her color is dark blue. The colors in Gwen’s dimension are used to portray her feelings. Dark/blue tones for sadness and light/pink tones for happiness/comfort. At this point, seeing Miles again is probably one of her dearest wishes. Miles understands her and knows who she truly is. This is going to be important later on.

During Gwens fight with Vulture at the Museum we are introduced to Miguel O’hera, Spider-Man 2099, who saves her from Vulture. He introduces himself but Gwen seems unimpressed and uninterested. What she is very much interested in, though, is Miguel’s Dimension Watch. “You can go to any dimension you want with that watch?” She just met an entirely new Spider-Man and all she is interested in is his technology that might allow her to go and visit Miles. That is how much she misses him.

As the duo fight off Vulture Miguel calls for back-up and they are joined by Spider-Woman Jessica Drew. Her and Gwen have an immediate bond which will be very important later on. Gwen immediately looks up to her and sees her as a mentor from who she can learn a lot. Gwen impresses Jessica so much that she asks Miguel if they want to recruit her for Miguel’s Spider-Society. “What about her?” “No.” “Why not?” “You know why.” Miguel and Jessica studied the entire Kingpin collider event. They know who was involved and they know that Gwen and Miles are friends. Miguel doesn’t want to recruit Gwen because she is too close to Miles. Why that is a problem we all know. (Miles being the original anomoly) From the start they knew Gwen’s relationship with Miles might end up jeopardizing their goal of protecting the Spider-Verse.

We then go on to this scene. Gwen confronting her father and her father finding out that Spider-Woman, the vigilante he was dedicated to catching and locking up, is actually his daughter. This is a key moment in Gwen’s arc throughout the movie. Her father accuses her of lying to him. All Gwen wants right now is support from her father. She doesn’t get that, instead her father wants to lock her up for the murder of her Peter Parker. At this point she is immensely conflicted. “I don’t know how to fix this.” Jessica Drew notices that and convinces Miguel to let Gwen join the Spider-Society. 

Gwen seeing no immediate solution to her problem decides to accept the invite. She is not yet ready to confront the problem and walks away from it, despite being conflicted. This will be at the back of her head throughout her entire arc and throughout the entire movie. Until she is ready to confront her dad who, remember, wants to lock her up, she CAN’T return to her home dimension. Her going back would mean her having to confront a problem she is not yet ready to confront. 

The next time we see Gwen is after we are introduced to Miles again. This is Gwen seeing Miles again for the first time after 1 year and 4 months. Her immediate reaction is to tightly hug him. You can, in that hug alone, see how much she missed him. You can also pick up all kind of little things in this scene. One is how awkward Gwen is. She is cringing at herself for telling him he had a growth spurt. There are obviously some unresolved feelings between the two.

Gwen then goes through his sketchbook and finds Miles’ drawings of her. She is surprised to see so many drawings of her but plays it off smoothly. “Missed you too.” It’s obvious that both missed each other immensely. But we haven’t even seen the entire extend of how MUCH Gwen ACTUALLY missed Miles. We only find out about that a bit later.

Miles and Gwen then swing through the city and catch up. Their chemistry is on full display here. I absolutely adore this scene. Gwen tells Miles that the Spider-Society is really strict about where she goes otherwise she would have come to visit him sooner. What’s important here is that at this point Gwen KNOWS about Miles’ “condition”. She knows he is an anomoly and she knows that his father dying is a canon event. And at this time she BELIEVES in these canon events. She thinks they must be upheld or the multiverse collapses. That’s what Miguel told her. 

During their swing Gwen uses a moment in which Miles is distracted to place her surveillance device for Spot. You can see, even with her mask, how much it pains her to keep the truth from Miles nd having to leave him in the dark. We find out: Gwen is not here because of Miles but because she is supposed to catch Spot since Spot is an anomoly. 

What follows is one of the biggest Gwiles moments in the movie and also a very important scene when it comes to Gwen and her feelings towards Miles. They sit down at the Williamsburgh Bank Building and have a heart to heart. 

Gwen tells Miles that it is always so great to talk to him and that he is the only friend she ever really made since Peter died. Miles, knowing about Hobie, says “Other than Hobie, right?” and Gwen answers “That’s different.” This shows us that Gwen’s relationship and feelings for Miles are different from the relationship she has with Hobie. That’s because she literally has feelings for Miles, and she knows that Miles, in some way at least, feels the same. “We’re the same, in the important ways.” Gwen then says a line that literally shows she has fallen for Miles, otherwise there would be no need for her to mention it. “In every other universe Gwen Stacy falls for Spider-Man.” This is Gwen telling Miles that she has feelings for him. 

Hearing that reassures Miles and he moves his hand closer to hers. 

This is important: Gwen sees this! 

And then closes her eyes and flinches. She flinches because she wants to take his hand so bad that it literally pains her that she can’t. We find out why she can’t with her next words: “And in every other universe it doesn’t end well.” Gwen knows about canon events and knows they need to happen. She was probably being told that Gwen Stacy falling for Spider-Man and it not ending will is a canon event. 

She then gives Miles a look that I can only describe as “loving”. She would probably love to tell him more about canon events and everything regarding the Spider-Society. But like she said: She doesn’t know how to. She doesn’t want to hurt him and she wants to protect him.

Miles then tells her “There’s a first time for everything, right?” which makes Gwen chuckle and smile at him. It’s the first time where Gwen is confronted with Miles’ philosophy of going down his own patch and not bending to the rules of canon. Even if canon dictates something, Miles believes there is always a way. 

This rubs off on Gwen as she affectionately leans on Miles, enjoying the sunset with him.  Not only is this overall scene incredibly beautiful and masterfully animated but its purpose is to show us that these two indeed love each other. They want to be together but Gwen, at this stage, feels like canon is against them.

Miles and Gwen then enjoy some food in quiet and keep talking about the Spider-Society and how Miles wants to be a part of it. Gwen, without being able to tell him the truth, shuts him down and lies to him. Again, she is not ready to tell him everything, the same way she is not ready to confront her father. These 2 conflicts go hand in hand as they are her 2 biggest conflicts that she has to overcome. Gwen then snaps at Miles because he was about to find the surveillance footage of Spot which would therefore uncover her true reason for being there. Gwen obviously doesn’t want that to happen because she doesn’t want to hurt Miles. She wants to keep him away from the Spider-Society because she knows he is an anomoly AND because she knows he wouldn’t be safe there.

After she snaps at him she immediately apologizes though. They both get REALLY close after that, closer than I had remembered from my first viewing. They also lock eyes. I’m pretty sure if not for Rio, Miles and Gwen would have kissed here. Rio interrupts them and they have an awkward talk. Rio and Jeff obviously think there is something going on between Miles and Gwen which is the source of the awkwardness. 

Gwen then gets a signal from her dimension watch which is caused by the explosion that Spot caused. She missed her time window to catch him because she was having so much fun being around Miles. Gwen quickly leaves after that, having to lie to both Miles and his parents. 

You can tell she doesn’t want to leave Miles. She wants to stay, but she can’t. She is conflicted. And she is conflicted throughout the entire movie. That makes her arc so interesting. 

What follows is one of the most important interactions in the movie that show Gwen’s motives. She arrives at the explosion and realizes Spot escaped. Jessica Drew, who Gwen looks up to, remember, calls her and asks her where Spot is. Gwen tries to play the whole situation down, not wanting to be seen as a failure. That has one big reason: Since Gwen is a liability to the Spider-Society because of her connection to Miles she has to constantly prove her worth, otherwise Miguel will send her back to her universe. That is one of Gwens biggest fears. Having to confront her father again. She is not yet ready for that so she basically does everything that is asked of her, even if she doesn’t necessarily agree with it.  Jessica notices that Gwen is nervous and asks her if she visited Miles. Gwen again tries to play it down but eventually admits she went to see Miles. Jessica gets angry with her and Gwen tells her she will never see Miles again. Her voice noticeably breaks when she says that. That interaction tells us one very important point: Gwen was not allowed to visit Miles. AT ALL. Miguel has forbidden Gwen to see Miles. He probably also told her why. Miles is an anomoly and him getting entangled with the Spider-Society might end up badly. And Gwen, knowing all that, knowing she might risk the multiverse, knowing she might risk getting sent back to her own dimension and having to confront her father, STILL decided to visit Miles. That is how much she cares about Miles. She literally risked the stabilty of the multiverse for the opportunity to see Miles again. Even if its only for one evening. This alone should end the debate about how Gwen “doesn’t care about Miles”. She obviously does. A lot. 

This can be taken even further.  “You never made a mistake? Never got too close to someone?” This is literally Gwen telling Jessica that the reason she went to see Miles is because she has feelings for him. Jess replies by saying she did but that she got over it, prompting Gwen to do the same. We, of course, know that she can’t. 

This is one of the most emotional scenes in the movie for me. After Gwens dialogue with Jess she knows her only chance to stay on Miguels good side is to follow Spot to Mumbattan and catch him. She has to leave and knows she will never see Miles again. She longingly looks towards the rooftop she and Miles stood on just moments ago, not knowing Miles is invisible and right in front of her.  She whispers a last “Goodbye Miles” as she heartbreakingly decides to leave. As much as it pains Gwen, she thinks leaving now without explaining anything to Miles might hurt him, but it does keep him safe and away from the Spider-Society. It’s a lose lose situation for Gwen. She is fighting a losing battle. On one side she has Miles and the desire to be with him, on the other side the entire Spider-Verse and the conflict with her father. The fact she is even contemplating shows how loyal she is towards Miles.

Miles follows her through the portal and catches her off guard. Gwen didn’t know he was listening and thought she would never see him again. Miles, being in another universe without a dimension watch, glitches and endangers both him and Gwen. Gwen then says that she “never should have visited” Miles.  She obviously meant the fact that NOW Miles is involved and they can’t go back now. She didn’t want Miles to be a part of it and now regrets that she pulled him into this. She is more angry at herself than at Miles here. 

When the canon event approaches Gwen tries to stop Miles from disrupting it. Again, a lose lose situation for Gwen. She knows (or at least thinks at this point) that disrupting canon events can cause universe to unravel. She also knows how dangerous canon events are and that there is a good chance Miles might die if he tries to intervene. 

Miles, not knowing about canon events at all yet, intervenes anyway. (Because he is Spider-Man, duh) While trying to save Captain Singh and the little girl he gets covered by rubble. Gwen and Hobie go down to the scene and while Hobie immediately helps Pav to pull up the bus Gwen literally makes a dash for the rubble and tries to find Miles. All the while screaming his name, her voice breaking while doing so. The relief in her voice when she finds him alive and well is very noticeable. (Great voice acting by Hailee Steinfeld)

After disrupting the canon event, Miles asks Gwen what she thinks of the situation. Gwen, almost affectionately whispering to him, tells him that she always thinks that he is amazing. Another moment that makes these two get closer and it shows how much admiration Gwen has for Miles. Even after disrupting a canon event, Gwen thinks the world of Miles. This highlights her conflict again. While still believing in these canon events, Miles is slowly but surely changing her mind about them. He is not quite there yet but it’s coming.

We then go the Spider-Society HQ where Gwen introduces Miles to Miguel. Miguel immediately becomes hostile and blames Miles for disrupting the canon event. Gwen knows that Miles did in fact disrupt the canon event but still defends him.  “He doesn’t know any better:” Miles has no knowledge about canon events or anything related to it so he can’t be blamed for what he did. Gwen knows that, which is also a reason why she tried to stop him. 

Miles then finds out about the structure of the Spider-Verse and about canon events. Miles also finds out that Gwen did not only try to save him but also stop him from disrupting the canon event. 

When Miles finds out his fathers death is a canon event that has to occur you can see Gwen frowning. She knew this and now Miles knows it.  There is no easy way to tell that to someone. Not if you’re close friends and not if you haven’t seen each other for a year. It pains Gwen that Miles has to go through that, and on top of that she can relate to it as well, because...

... Gwen’s father is also a Captain who’s death is a canon event. This adds another layer to her inner conflict. She believes in these canon events and therefore also believes that her father has to die. Gwen, in that aspect, is similar to Miguel. She accepts it, runs away from it. Similar to how she runs away from the conflict with her father. 

Miles confronts the other Spider’s and tells them he can’t sit back and let his father die. He then tells Gwen, referencing her earlier statement, that she was right and that she never should have visited her. Miles does NOT say that because he hates Gwen. He says that because he is distraught and because of the fact that if Gwen hadn’t shown up he’d still be in his dimension. (Where he wants to be to protect his father) Gwen starts to cry because this is OBVIOUSLY not how she wanted it to go and how she wanted Miles to find out.  The fact is: There was never a right time or way to explain it to Miles. Gwen isn’t an emotionless puppet that never struggles or is perfect. She loves Miles and she simply couldn’t bring it over her heart to tell him that his father will die and that he isn’t supposed to be Spider-Man. She wants him to be happy and to be safe, and from her perspective the best way to do that is to keep him away from the Spider-Society. 

When Miguel traps Miles to stop him from going home Gwen and Peter get really agitated.  “That’s enough.” “Stop it Miguel.” They don’t want to be on opposite sides to Miles. They want to talk it out. Of course the chance for that is now gone. You can still see that both still very much are on “Miles’ side”. Gwen is put into a situation where she is forced to choose between her friend or the Spider-Society. 

While they chase Miles, Jess confronts Gwen and tells her that even though Miles is Gwen’s friend, capturing him is the only way.  Gwen then tells Jess that that’s not what her gut says. This, again, shows her conflict. She KNOWS she is supposed to be on Miles’ side. It’s what her gut is saying. It’s what her heart is saying. Her head is still thinking that the multiverse must be protected, and that canon events must be stopped from being disrupted.

She then listens to her head and tries to grab Miles with her web. The look on her face says it all. It’s pain, love and an apology all in one. Miles destroys the web, symbolic for their trust.  Miles breaks the net, he is saying that he doesn’t trust Gwen anymore.  Gwen knows that, which is why after Miles breaks the net her look is one of complete sadness and disbelief. Not disbelief because she couldn’t imagine Miles not trusting her but rather diesbelief because she can’t believe it has come this far.

She continues the chase for Miles because she doesn’t know what else to do. When Miguel calls for every Spider-Man after they found out Miles’ location you can see Gwen having a look of dread and defeat on her face. She did’t want it to go this far. She still wants to talk it out and make up with him. She feels sorry and is slowly starting to regret her choices. 

While on the train Gwen and Peter keep calling out to Miguel, telling him that he should stop and to take it easy on Miles. Miguel doesn’t listen.

This scene is where the trust between Miles and Gwen is broken completely. Miles finds out that Gwen knew all along that he is an anomoly and that his father is supposed to die. He finds out that Gwen didn’t know how to tell him that and that that’s one of the reasons she didn’t come to visit him. 

Gwen then tells Miles that its for his own good, a lie she told herself to make her feel better. She full on regrets her choices by now. She knows she made a mistake but feels too distraught to really do anything about it. Her world slowly comes crashing down on her.

Miles is able to overpower Miguel and sends him flying down the train. The way Gwen looks down at Miguel is really interesting. Its a look of pride and relief. She is proud of how far Miles has come that he is able to escape from Miguel and reliefed that he was actually able to.

While Gwen thinks that now the way is free for her and Peter to get to Miles and explain everything to him, Miles just gives them a look of hurt, sadness and betrayal. He then says “Goodbye Gwen”, again mirroring Gwen’s goodbye earlier in the movie. Both were sad but for very different reasons.

The change of expression from Gwen says it all.  This goodbye from Miles, in his eyes, is final. He feels betrayed and hurt and just wants to get home to save his dad. While Gwen and Peter probably want to just talk to Miles and explain everything, Miles may think they want to capture him, too. And Miles can’t take that chance.

After Miles decides to jump Gwen, again, has an expression of relief on her face. This time the relief is because Miles managed to really escape Miguel and the other Spiders. She knows Miles will be safe, for now.

Miles manages to escape and Gwen is furious with Miguel. Furious as to how he treated Miles and how he managed the whole ordeal. 

She speaks up and Miguel blames Gwen for the Spider-Society losing Miles.  This is where Gwen starts to see that she actually doesn’t have the Spider-Societies back and that she should have taken Miles’ side from the beginning. She slowly realizes the true extent of her mistake. 

Gwen then proposes to talk it out with Miles, on her own. Miguel refuses, saying they tried that already.

She goes on to tell that Miles is her friend and is starting to question the whole “Canon event” topic. “Do you know for certain what happens when he breaks the Canon?” She is starting to fully side with Miles. 

Miguel tells her he knew from the beginning that her relationship with Miles was a liability. Gwen looks to Jess for support but doesn’t get it. She is now on her own, same as Miles. 

Gwen gets sent to her home universe, the thing she dreaded most. The last thing she tells Miguel is that they are supposed to be the good guys. That shows where she stands in regards to the conflict inside herself. She now knows that what Miguel and the Society does is wrong.  She was on the Society’s side, now she is on Miles’ side. 

She immediately tries to go to Miles’ dimension but she is locked out from using the dimension watch. Miguel denied her access. Gwen is furious and now trapped in her home dimension. 

She returns home and wants to collect the polaroid of her and Miles. She doesn’t want to confront her father yet, but we all knew it was inevitably coming.

Gwen confronts her dad and opens up to him. She pours her heart out and tells him how she really feels.  Remember, Gwen is a 16 year old girl. She carried the burden of her rensponsibility and the conflict inside her while still always trying to do the right thing.  But she says it best in this scene, “She doesn’t know what right or wrong is anymore.” The entire time she believed these canon events to be absolute and followed through with the Spider-Society’s plans because she thought it was the right thing to do.  In the process she hurt and betrayed the only real friend she had. And that was the straw that broke the camels back. Her intentions are now clear.

“I can’t lose one more friend.” She doesn’t know whats right or whats wrong, all she knows is that she can’t lose Miles. 

During her speech her father decides to quit his job as captain, freeing him from the canon event. This is when Gewn realizes that canon events might not be absolute and that they can be disrupted without dooming the dimension. She realizes Miles might have been doing the right thing all along. 

After making up with her dad the only thing left to do for Gwen is to go and find Miles. With the help of Hobie’s watch that is actually possible now.

Gwen arrives in Miles’ universe and finds out that Miles is in the wrong universe. She overhears Rio and Jeff talk about Miles. They mention Miles lighting up when he is around Gwen and that they hope she doesn’t get him hurt. This is where the full realization of her actions become clear to Gwen. She hurt Miles and didn’t help him when he needed her the most, and she hates herself for that.

She blames herself for what happened to Miles, even though it is not her fault entirely. 

Gwen tells Rio and Jeff that she is going to find Miles and bring him back. She also tells them what she learned from Miles. “All is possible.” This is the lesson Miles gives Gwen in this movie. It is a lesson she needed to learn. She now fully believes that anything is possible. This will come into play in Beyond the Spider-Verse when they are going to try and stop canon events from happening. 

She resolves the conflict with her father, parts ways with the Spider-Society and has only one goal left now: To find and make up with Miles. In her arc Gwen faced the conflict of choosing her friend or the greater good. On one hand is Miles, who she obviously has feelings for. On the other hand there is the Spider-Society who tell her how the multiverse works and how dangerous Miles and other anomolies are. In the end, her friend won, though it was a harsh process that damaged their trust and relationship.  Gwen is not perfect and isn’t always right. She is a 16 year old girl with tons of complex conflicts going on. She fights a constant battle with herself and her feelings. She makes mistakes, as do Miles, Peter, Miguel and the others. The important thing is that Gwen learns from these mistakes.  This also shows that she doesn’t hate or not care about Miles like some people have said. If anything her actions show to which lengths she went for Miles to be safe.  She knows she hurt Miles and is going to make up for it in Beyond the Spider-Verse. 

[cucumberteapot]

Individual Expression in Spider-man: Across the Spider-verse and the trilogy's introductions:

So knowing what we do about the other protagonists of the Spider-verse films and the narrative format of characters introducing themselves and other characters, I think BTSV will open with Miles G Morales introducing himself as the Prowler and Earth-42. Not only keeping with the tone of the first film, but also emphasising the theme of "Beyond" the Spider-verse. It only makes sense that we open on a character who isn't Spider-man - even though they should've been.

But what exactly would that opening / introduction look like? Well, first we'd have to examine how our other protagonists have opened the previous films.

When we first meet Miles, he's colouring some stickers, and later, we see one of his hobbies is slapping those stickers around New York. We later learn his dad knows about this and disapproves, so instead, Miles bonds over his artistic expression with his Uncle Aaron. By the end of ITSV, Miles paints a mural for Aaron with his dad but he keeps making stickers, most notably on the clock tower because it's somewhere his dad won't find it (and doesn't know he's Spider-man).

Gwen opens ATSV by drumming and saying she, "didn't join a band to talk about my feelings, I joined a band to hit my feelings with sticks". She also talks about never finding the right band. When she meets Miguel and Jess, her mind flashes to drumming because she thinks she's found her band, and by the end she decides instead of joining a band she just make her own by siding with the people who want to save Miles.

In both films we see this is how these protagonists leave a mark on their environment. It's how they want to live with "no expectations" like ITSV implicates through Miles and Aaron's mural.

Gwen's drumming is a cry to be heard, and her dad quits the police force after listening halfway through her speech.

Miles' stickers are a cry to be seen, and reveals his identity to Rio before showing her his graffitied Spider-man icon (even though it backfires).

It's not just an artistic expression it's also in the way they do their hobbies - Gwen hits her drums, Miles slaps stickers...

So what is Miles G Morales' cry?

Ever since ITSV, Aaron's punching bag has become a subject of interest. When we first see it, Miles is playfully punching it - Aaron even holds it steady for him.

Later on, we see Miles tie up Peter B. Parker on it, and this scene is later paralleled with how Miles G Morales ties up Miles in ATSV. This works because it shows us how like Peter in the first film, Miles is now the Spider-man in the wrong dimension and how the tragedy of this Miles has gone from a likewise bright-eyed, clumsy awkward kid to a hardened but equally lost teenager. Finally, in both scenes, Miles and Peter make an attempt to break free of their bonds.

As unfortunate as it is, I don't think we're going to see an updated version of the 2020 test movement in the next film. Even though it looks amazing, that was a character exploration and not actually supposed to be in the final cut of the film.

Aaron punches the bag when Miles believes he doesn't want to be the Prowler. And that may be true. But either way, Aaron views the Prowler identity as a necessity to the stability and protection of his and Miles G's family.

But Miles doesn't understand that. At least not yet.

For Miles, the Prowler was an unstoppable force of nature that literally hunted him until Aaron unmasked himself and was so entangled in Kingpin's schemes that it got him killed. But in Earth-42, Aaron and Miles G are "the only heroes in that dimension" according to the artbook. Both Miles and Miles G are products of their environment, but that doesn't mean either is more or less heroic than the other. They're just operating on literally different timeframes.

And that's why Aaron punches the bag, and its why Miles G puts his fist near Miles' head because they want Miles to understand that no, the Prowler identity is not a corrupt alternative to the Spider-man identity based on preconceived misconceptions. Without much evidence, we believed Miguel was a "good guy" based on his identity as a Spider-person. Why can't the inverted case be applied to Miles G and Aaron?

This is why I feel like in the next film, Miles G's "Let's do this one last time" will be him training with the punching bag before Miles comes to Earth-42. Not too dissimilar from Jinx's boxing-machine scene from Arcane minus Jinx's psyche, but a scene intersecting with current and past events. Like with Miles and Gwen, Miles G training with the bag is his own cry for "no expectations" of being labelled a hero or villain.

[siryouarebeingmocked]

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse: I may have activated my own trap card

Spoilers for a movie that's two months old and also out on home release.

So, Miles, Gwen, Pavitr (Spider-India), and Hobie (Spider-Punk) all seem to have modern left-wing politics, though Gwen's got edited out. Hobie's introduction specifically says he hates "fascists", which carries over from the original comics.

By the time Hobie came around, I assumed he was just another poser, cooler than the hero rival character, expressing generic leftie politics, and his punk ethos wasn't sincere.

Which is exactly what the writers wanted me to think.

Not only is Hobie perfectly sincere about being anti-authoritarian, but he's been helping Miles since before they even met. He's been blatantly stealing junk from the Spider Society to build his own universe-jumping watch, and disguising it as petty vandalism.

He even tries to talk Miles out of trying to join the Spider-Society before the reveal that Miles himself is an anomaly, and the SS (geddit?) tries to detain Miles.

When Hobie says he's against authoritarianism, he really means it.

Speaking of the left-wing politics, Miles has a "#BLM" pin on his bag. It's very visible while he sits next to his dad.

Who's a cop.

(TANGENT: A few years ago, someone drew a stupid, very bad comic where Spider-Man (Peter Parker) was a) black, b) hated cops, and c) assaulted and subdued riot cops when they asked him for help.

That the comic didn't even show the riot cops were wrong. We were just supposed to assume they deserve to be left to the mercy of an angry mob.

Also, in this comic, Uncle Ben was killed by a cop, not a random thug who Spidey could've stopped but chose not to. Which makes me wonder how that would shake out.

It's kind of weird for someone to look at a character who's about personal responsibility to an unhealthy degree, and use him to express their collectivist anti-cop terrorism fantasies. That, or they didn't think through their fantasies.)

During Spider-India's opening, Miles says "I love Chai Tea!" And Pavitr goes on a rant about how "Chai" means "tea". Later on, The Spot says he's been on a "journey of self-discovery", and Pavitr basically says he's racist.

Which is a tad ironic, because Spot is literally white. And also because Pavitr is the one making the racist assumptions.

And I personally go to a church - in England - that has a lot of non-white non-British people. Mostly Africans. And me, of course. I wonder if any Asians ever went on a journey of self discovery to South London.

And I don't just mean as a cab driver.

"Wait, SYABM, didn't you move to the UK for self-discovery?"

W-well, yes, partially.

Aside: I made the mistake of watching a Youtube video with the Chai Tea joke, and then I looked at the comments.

One guy said "tfw when Twitter users write a movie". An idiot (with much more upvotes) said "bro out here wanting blatant racism in movies".

...When the whole point of the joke is that the racism is not blatant.

It's only "blatant" if you're insufferably Twitterized. There are loads of redundant phrasings in English, like "ATM machine", and words often shift when they're adopted from other languages.

Also, "I dislike this joke" is not the same as "I want racism in this movie", when the "racism" in the movie is only there so it could be mocked.

One of the issues with putting real world movements in worlds that are drastically different - it's one of the main selling points of the franchise - is that it may seem odd that those movements exist in very similar form to the IRL version.

For example, Miles supports BLM in both his video game, and this. Which makes me think "did Trayvon Martin get shot in Florida? How about Mike Brown? Wouldn't the existence of supervillains throw things into a new perspective?"

Did I mention the giant George Floyd-style "REST IN POWER" mural to Miles' dead uncle? I cringed at that in the Wakanda Forever trailer, and I rolled my eyes at it here.

Floyd wasn't a saintly martyr, he was an unlucky violent thug.

Also, Aaron was a supervillain killed by another bad guy who nearly destroyed the city, not a cop.

Also, this is at a party to celebrate how Miles' dad is about to be promoted. Assuming Floyd died and the 2020 protests/riots also happened in Miles' universe, then it seems a tad tasteless to have a mural inspired by an anti-cop movement overlooking it, even if the party is not full of cops.

Spider-India lives in "Mumbattan".

The people who settled the Manhattan area were originally Indian. But the other type of Indian. The Indians we're not supposed to call Indians anymore.

The name "Manhattan" is even Native American.

The first permanent settlement was Dutch. Then the English got it. I guess the English could've shipped Indians to the other side of the world and eventually ceded the area to them, or maybe in this world India was a world-conquering superpower and Mumbattan is the result of...importing Native Americans?

Which would make Pavitr's complaint that "the British stole all of our stuff and put it in their museums" seem a tad hypocritical.

Of course, since I wrote all that, someone reminded me that Pavitr explicitly says the joint is in India.

"SYABM," you say, "you're overthinking this."

Yes, I am. Because the filmmakers didn't think it through. If you want to use ha-ha-funny to make a serious point, you invite examination of that point.

Miles (as Spidey) now works with his dad, though he disguises his voice. At one point, Miles tells his father that men bottle up mental health issues.

This is true (and ironic, considering Miles is hiding who he is from Jeff), but it's not the first time I've seen some progressive work try to address men's issues in an very awkward way. At least here, it's played for comedy.

Also, seems a tad hypocritical coming from a guy who wears a "#BLM" pin in the presence of his cop father.

Also, if you work the timeline, that would mean Miles was about 7 or 6 when BLM started. Which means he's gone most of his life knowing nothing else.

There was a controversy over a "protect trans kids" trans flag in Gwen's room, which was apparently edited out.

IMO, it seems a tad strange for a girl who feels estranged from everyone in her world to join a social movement, but what do I know? Maybe it was there before then.

Some people came to the extremely logical conclusion that Gwen herself is trans. Even though she's distinctly physically feminine and possibly too young for puberty blockers depending on Earth 65′s laws.

Like the "oh great, it's Liv" shippers, people are reaching really hard to see what they want to see.

Some people have said that Gwen's issues with her dad and herself seem awfully similar to the issues LGBTQIA2S+ kids go through.

Gee, it's not like, y'know, feeling estranged from one's family is a common theme in fiction about teenagers and superhero, and the whole "superpowers = minority" thing has been done to death for most of the past century.

Perhaps most notably - and clumsily - in X-Men.

I'm not saying this wasn't the intended subtext. I'm saying if it was, it would just be really, really cliche.

There's this recurring theme of people telling miles "how [his] story is supposed to go".

When he's at a meeting with his parents and his guidance counselor, the lady says his story of being a black-Latino son of an immigrant would sound great in the college application letters. His mom is a tad miffed, given that they're a) solidly middle class, and b) as a Puerto Rican, she considers herself American.

Miguel (Spider-Man 2099) doesn't want Miles in the multiversal council of Spiders, because Miles was bitten by the radioactive spider from a different universe. Which is why his local Spider-Man died, and the spider's home dimension has no Spider-Man.

Also, Miguel is fixated on "canon events". The idea that there are certain things, especially tragedies, that have to happen to Spiders, or their entire universe falls apart.

And he knows this, because he tried to take over for a version of him that got shot dead by a thug. Tried to raise his daughter.

And he watched as the universe collapsed in front of him.

So he's projecting his own guilt onto Miles, a tad.

According to TVtropes and other sources, this was actually about the people who didn't accept Miles as a replacement Spidey, possibly out of racism.

Yeah, that's real hard-hitting topical meta-commentary about a character who debuted 12 years ago. 8 years when the first movie came out.

I'd also like to point out that despite stereotypes of comic book fans, certain minority successors to banner superheros have been fairly well-received. Like Jaime Reyes, or Cassandra Cain.

(Note: I wrote that before the Blue Beetle movie came out. And flopped.)

And, of course, loads of people like Miles specifically because he's a minority Spidey, which is also racist, just from the other direction. In fact, a lot of his fans seem to forget the "Latino" part of "Afro-Latino". From what little I've seen of Miles early comics, they did actually put strong emphasis on his race.

I also suspect the filmmakers may be misinterpreting the usual successor knee-jerk reactions

as racism. If you're using an established brand name for your new hero, you're creating some expectations.

Also, you know the most popular meme about regular Spidey that I see? That Marvel's writers just keep making him suffer and don't want him to actually develop. Which would kinda make Marvel closer to Team Miguel than Team Miles.

Miles also gripes that Miguel is letting "some algorithm" tell him what to do. While I agree with the sentiment, I'd like to point out that, again, Miles supports BLM.

A movement popularized by an algorithm.

A movement made up of narratives and assumptions.

A movement which has never proven a single incident was because of racism.

During the big chase scene, we see a Spider girl in a wheelchair, aka Sun-Spider. She's from the comics. Same initiative that gave us "Web-Weaver".

Who is, of course, an extremely effete gay fashion designer Spidey. I kinda like his outfit, though the Spider-eyes with eyelashes is a little too far.

And Sun-Spider seems exactly like a character a stereotypical 90s executive and focus group would come up with. Down to the backward baseball cap.

(Turns out she's Dayn Broder's actual Spider-Sona.)

Also, while I was looking up that one black and white Spider who said "nowhere to run" (Metro-Spider, played by record producer Metro Boomin [/sic]), I found out that Aunt May's full name is "Maybelle", not just "May". TIL.

There's a bit of a double standard with this version of Spider-Woman, who's black and pregnant. -People in the movie - including Peter B - regularly point out how Peter B endangering his infant daughter Mayday by taking her along with him. But for some reason, nobody says a word about Jessica, who's an active-duty stunt-biking superhero.

Even regular motorbiking can be dangerous for pregnant women.

In fact, the movie portrays this as heroic and impressive. When Gwen sees  Jess is preggos, she asks if Jess can adopt her.

Not to mention the whole "afro and hoop earrings" thing, which seem like a bad idea for a type of hero who often gets into melee combat, even with Spider-Sense.

Yes, I'm aware that female heroes, including the Spider-Ladies, often have exposed hair. It's a genre convention. Incidentally, it was nice to see Batwoman wore a detachable decoy wig in the comics. Some bad guy tries to grab it in a fight? It comes right off.

Also, Jess doesn't have much actual character.

Being pregnant is not a character trait. In fact, her only real traits are basically "cool but stern sassy mentor", to contrast with Peter B. -Incidentally, someone on TVtropes pointed out the double standard. And when I saw the page again, a page-camper had deleted it, with no explanation.

Guess they couldn't stand someone pointing out the flaws of their waifu.

(One) Spider-UK in this movie is Muslim. I know she's Muslim because she wears a Spider-themed headdress. Note that regular Marvel 616 has a muslim lady Spider-UK, but her name is Zarina Zahari and she doesn't wear a hijabi.

(Also, she could be mistaken for Ms. Marvel.)

ms marvel.jpg

You might be thinking "wait, isn't a headdress impractical in a melee fight? Doesn't it give your enemy something to grab?" Yes, it is.

But so are Jess's earrings, afro, and being pregnant, so clearly there's a lot of artistic license going on.

Maybe it's partially tearaway, like Batman's cape.

I gotta wonder about the religious rules of wearing a head covering over a mask that *already* covers your entire head. Did she go see her imam and go "Okay, I have a really weird question..."

Come to think, Spidey is usually slim, but a lot of lady Spideys in this movie seemed to have wide hips. Including muscular ladies. Kris Anka's concept art goes really hard on wide hips. I don't know why. Stronger, faster character reads during the big chase?

I guess Spiders could be expected to have strong legs.

BOTTOM LINE:

I liked the movie overall, though the progressive bits made me roll my eyes a little. I...want to see the third one, with reservations.

[hobiebrownismygod]

Miles G./Prowler Miles being jealous of 1610 Miles cuz he thinks he has the perfect life - BTSV Prediction

So the fandom has basically already established that Miles G./Prowler Miles is most likely a vigilante, and is probably going to help Miles in the next movie. So...what are his thoughts gonna be? He just found out that another version of him, one who not only still has his dad, Jeff, but is also a super-hero AND lives in a version of New York that isn't bursting into flames is in his dimension. If you look at it from his perspective, 1610 Miles' life is pretty much perfect, not considering the whole Spider Society crisis.

We have to consider the fact that Miles G./Prowler Miles is a teenage boy. And what's the fantasy of the average teenage boy(I'm not saying every teenage boy and I'm not saying only teenage boys, I'm saying the average teenage boy so don't come for me)? Being a superhero. Miles G./Prowler Miles isn't a superhero. 1610 Miles is a superhero who's able to protect his version of New York, no problems. Meanwhile, Miles G./Prowler Miles' universe can be seen on literal fire. The Prowler, despite being really intimidating and cool, isn't enough to keep New York safe. So really if you look into it, Miles G./Prowler Miles isn't enough. They need Spider-man.

Earth-42 ⬆️

Earth-1610 ⬆️

Look at the difference! I know these pictures don't really compare that well, but you can definitely see the difference in color schemes! Earth-42 is much darker and more sinister (see what I did there haha) than Earth-1610 which is lighter and easier on the eyes. There's definitely no fires on Earth-1610.

1610 Miles' dad is also still alive. 1610 Miles is heading back to his dimension to save his dad's life. Miles G./Prowler Miles never had that chance. He never had a heads up that his dad would die, and realistically, he would probably kill for a chance to have done that.

Not only does 1610 Miles have it going for him in that aspect, he also now has a group of people who know exactly what he's going through. Miles G./Prowler Miles doesn't have that. Miles not only has mentors in his Spider-gang, but he has other teenagers like Gwen, Pav, Margo, Hobie, Peni, etc... who have gone through the same thing as him and can relate to him and be there for him. From what we know, Miles G./Prowler Miles and Earth-42 Uncle Aaron have been doing this job alone. Miles G./Prowler Miles doesn't have another person his age to relate to, or anyone at all to talk to this about from what we know. Even if he has a Gwen on his universe, or a Ganke, or even a Black Cat, he's doing it by himself. Another valid reason for him to be jealous of 1610 Miles.

Do I think Miles G./Prowler Miles and 1610 Miles are gonna be friends? Yes. Do I think they're going to be able to understand each other? Yes. Do I think Miles G./Prowler Miles is going to help 1610 Miles save his dad? 100%. But he is going to be jealous. At least until he truly sees what 1610 Miles is going through emotionally, he's gonna be jealous asf. Because on the surface level to him, 1610 Miles has it good.

Whenever I look at this picture the "sinnn, sin city wasn't made for ya" music plays in my head 😭

[phantomrose96]

Okay since I'm waiting for laundry, I'm gonna write up some fuller thoughts on the new Spider-verse. Spoilers abound beneath the readmore!

So I'm gonna start with the good, because it really WAS a good movie. The main thing working against it is that it's the successor to the original Spider-verse, which was such a master-class in style and storytelling.

Things I loved:

I'll shout out the animation to start, because how can you not. Absolutely lives up to the original Spider-verse and more with "oh this is giving me chills" style and animation. The whole sequence of Gwen saving people at the Gugenheim absolutely awed me.

Speaking of Gwen, Gwen. That whole first half-hour-ish of Gwen-focused screentime was so, so good... Loved her character-development. Loved her banter. Loved all the jokes and goofs and punch-out back and forth during the Gugenheim fight against... villain whose name I'm forgetting. Miguel showing up was great. Jess showing up was even better.

Gwen unmasking herself to her father was so so good... That was the precise moment I went "oh, yeah, I want to come see this again." This then rolled into Miles's part of the story, and his whole sequence with fighting Spot while trying to get to the parent-teacher conference *chef's kiss*. Amazing animation. Amazing goofs. Amazing humor.

Then... hmm, I have some critiques about much of the middle of the movie... I'll get back to that in the next section. But it still had its highlights: Spider-punk and Pavitr were fantastic, and I feel they were used just the right amount. The gags at Spider H.Q. were excellent. Spiderman-pointing-meme my beloved.

Then when the twist hit... my jaw was on the floor. I'd noticed Rio's eyes were green instead of brown, and just chalked it up to maybe a small production error or an effect of the lighting. Even the "Who's Spiderman?" I was willing to count as just the most hilarious possible identity reveal, to a mom who's just not really paying attention to the street vigilante scene. Then it hit... and the fact that Gwen and Miles were not experiencing the same reality just ah... AH!!!

Things I felt kinda so-so about:

The middle part of the movie felt a bit... lacking in tightness? The tension with his parents felt a bit meandering, seeming to wrap up and then come back, and I feel Rio's attitude toward Miles changed without much reason to have caused it to change.

There was a discomfort to the scene with Miles and Gwen spidering around the city... which I know was largely intentional due to the romantic tension and the "Gwen lying to Miles", but I just Do Not Like romantic tension between characters that did so well as friends. I really didn't care for Miles's jealousy over Hobie.

The Spider H.Q. stuff... I really WANTED to like... but I always feel a sort of perhaps second-hand embarrassment for the kind of stories that are like "yeah there's literally thousands of us in on this, but we didn't invite you because ummmmm 😬".

In addition to that, I also have a distaste for the trope that's like "Every single rational and highly-qualified individual knows that 'X' is a terrible and destructive idea that can get people killed. However our naive and head-strong main character thinks we should do 'X'! So he fights off literally everyone else (and wins, for no reason, considering any one of the highly qualified individuals should out-class him) because he's the main character, and it'll work out okay just because." Like.. personally I had a very hard time rooting for Miles in all that.

Additionally... why did Miguel even tell him that they were all just gonna sit back and let Miles's dad die? Like I get it was necessary for the plot, but it was done with this expectation that Miles would just be like "oh okay I guess :(".

What I would have liked way more would be this: After Miles saves the (should have died) Police Chief from Pavitr's world, Miguel says Miles has "proven himself" and can come to Spider H.Q. to come be trained. (Really, Miguel has recognized Miles is an active threat as a canon-breaker, and he needs to keep Miles distracted for a few days while the canon event of Miles's dad dying takes place in his own dimension.) Gwen and Peter B. understand what's happening, but are forced to go along with it, behaving strangely the whole time. Then when Miles catches them in a lie and the truth comes out, THAT'S when Miles rebels and tries to fight against everyone to get home...

I also would have liked it if maybe there was like... more of a hint of hope for canon-broken universes to be saved. Like if Miguel's policy was "a universe can be saved after canon-breaking, however it's too risky for all the people in that universe to it's Spider Law that we must let our canon events occur. We all make this sacrifice for everyone's mutual protection." then I'd see Miles's defiance as more of a "well I'm breaking from you and will succeed at the risky thing of saving my universe and my dad". They did a little bit hint at this possibility with the fact that Pavitr's dimension is not necessarily doomed, but like if they made this clearer I'd feel better about Miles's defiance being not doomed to kill his entire dimension.

Hmm, I also wanted more out of Peter B. I know this wasn't his movie, but I didn't totally love that so much of his role in this movie was being against Miles. (Next movie, I guess).

And all of this felt just, way less tight than the OG Spider-verse. The OG hit all its marks like a perfect run of Guitar Hero and exploded into an amazing finale. This one... just meandered a bit. In the OG, Miles's leap of faith hit so perfectly. That was THE moment he could make that leap. Vs in this one when he tells his mom ("mom", lol) that he finally faced everyone and won and whatever... it just didn't really hit right.

BUT, I don't wanna end this on a negative note, so actually I wanna talk about the twist again.

Actually before I talk about the twist again, I wanna talk about the scene with Gwen and her dad. The "I quit being a cop halfway through your speech" (and the fact that this may present the loophole that saves her father now). The unspoken fact that Gwen was maybe avoiding coming back because she knew her dad was doomed and didn't want to deal with it. Her dad choosing her over everything. It just. It's good...

BACK to the twist. I am NOT a "talks in the movie theater" person but I couldn't help going "OH his dad is dead in THIS universe :000000" once the reveal hit. And that reveal was like 10 reveals all at once that had me just :0000000

Aaron walking in. The reveal that the whole city is aflame because, as Miguel had called out earlier, this universe doesn't have its Spiderman. The "what did you do to your hair". The mural for Jeff instead. The reveal that Gwen and Miles are nowhere near each other. The overlap of Jeff returning him in the universe Gwen is in with Aaron returning him in the universe Miles is in. Miles getting knocked out and I instantly knew it was Dimension42!Miles that did it to him. The Prowler is thriving and it's Miles this time.

[weebsinstash]

Ok good you've finally seen it. What gets me in atsv (at least the version I watched) Miguel isn't even stated as having and loosing a family BEFORE he just up and leaves for that other dimension. Like dude decided he wanted a different life and a family and went and took up someone else's, instead of starting his own.

I was thinking about this last night and I eventually went back and watched the scene and it's like. Yeah bro you're right they do in fact never specify if he even had a family before

In the comics, he loses his pregnant fiance, and I, assumedly with a bunch of other people, was just kind of assuming that he had the same backstory in ATSV and it was sometime after her death that he tried a second time around. I'm assuming the canon he broke by going to another universe was HIS OWN canon: as a Spider, you are apparently supposed to lose your first love/first crush and move on, but by him jumping ship into another universe, that was breaking the rules (*cough cough* "but what if Miguel realizes being with Reader in his own universe doesn't break canon and he goes apeshit with it" *cough cough*)

But GOD wouldn't it be fucked up if it really was as literal as the way he phrased it. "I found another universe where I was happy" not "I found a universe where my family survived" is kind of sus phrasing. Like yeah bro you technically uh stole the life of a completely different person and helped raise his daughter and presumedly fucked his wife

But one thing a few people have mentioned that kind of took a while to sink in was like. Him losing that second family was RECENT. He didn't form the Spider Society until sometime after Miles became Spiderman, which he's only been wearing the mask for about a year and a half. Peter B was in the flashback where Miguel lost his second family, so like. It's literally been less than two years since Miguel accidentally broke canon. This man has some piping hot FRESH TRAUMA like he's probably still in a stage of grief???

Like I understand he's an antagonist but I'll be legit angry if he becomes like monstrously evil and it becomes "oh no we gotta defeat miguel" in the third movie because his trauma and his actions are completely understandable, like he could be an antagonist but he better not be like Final Boss. Like yeah yeah "he's technically killing people by not letting people break canon" but I mean as far as he's concerned, for all that he knows, what the evidence shows and what he's lead to believe, saving one person could potentially kill an entire universe and destabilize others so like. YEAH it sucks but no one should have to explain the math. Like the man literally had a small child he was helping raise literally vanish in his own arms as she cried "dad help" and people are like "UGH MIGUEL IS EVIL" like bro at the WORST he is obsessed with making up for his sins, dude isn't DELIBERATELY tryna cause shit. Like when you really get into analysis mode you can completely understand why he's so angry at Miles, Miguel was literally chanting "no puedo mas" ie "I can't anymore" at the concept of another hole being torn in the multiverse, like he's literally shouting and throwing shit around because for him it's "oh great here we fucking go, tons and tons of people will die if I don't get this under control, when does it end, how do i fix this"

His line on top of the train really kind of cements it, where he's all "and I'm the only one who's been keeping everything together" because he's not saying that from some source of narcissism, he's BURDENED by this, he's TRAPPED by this, but he feels a responsibility and a duty to make up for what he did. The man is essentially using his role leading the Spider Society as a punishment for breaking canon.

"Miguel is selfish" "Miguel is evil" bro Miguel is literally just one really really bad accident away from straight up killing himself, like tearing his own hair out as he beats his head into a wall. Miguel is like when you're so extremely stressed out that when you dropped your fresh toast on the floor jelly-down you legit contemplated suicide "because why can't even one thing go right for me". This man is hanging on by a thread but like I'm convinced the third movie will have a happy ending because it just. Doesn't feel right if it doesn't? The entire first two movies were about finding your own identity and making your own expectations and I feel like the whole canon event narrative inherently challenges what the movies stand for, so, really interested in seeing how the third movie goes, waiting will fucking kill me, and also with all the articles coming out about ATSV having insane crunch, I have a good feeling Beyond The Spiderverse is gonna be delayed. I kinda like that though because like, idk, do you guys ever get sad when a show or series ends. It's like the journey is over and then you move on and kind of forget about everything. I'm enjoying these movies and these characters and I don't mind marinating with em a little while longer

[sevenyeargap]

welcome to my very own analysis of edgeworths character and insane rambling on why i write him Like That. first of all i want to rec one of my favorite essay on political theory/legal philosophy of possibly all time aka the discourse on voluntary servitude by la boétie (which you can read here, its also a fantastic text to read in these coronation/anti-monarchy times)

anyway, if you don't want to read it (although it is quite a short and clear read), the main thesis of this essay is that basically a corrupt political system/dictatorship (here called a tyranny) doesn't stay in place because people are afraid of change and rebellion, but because people don't want anything to change, and they're satisfied with their condition, therefore complicit with the system (see also MLK's quote on white moderates "but the white moderate who is more devoted to 'order' than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says 'I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can't agree with your methods of direct action'")

the tl;dr here is that a system stays in place because no one does anything to change it, and people prefer turning a blind eye to the situation but its not because they're afraid of a new system, it's because they're scared of what it will take to get this new system.

with that being said i think that edgeworths anger and resentment at the legal system post turnabout goodbyes wouldn't be directed at the system right away because he upheld the system. he loved it! (which btw is so so much worse than killing his father. he didn't kill his father but he's complicit in enforcing a terrible legal system!!!!!!!! awful)

and miles loved this system!! i think that even at the worst point of his bratworth era he still believed he was Bringing Fair And Real Justice and was doing The Right Thing. but what happens when you realize this system is deeply, incredibly flawed? when you've spent your whole life fighting for it? deliberately ignoring the ugly parts of it in favor of maintaining a perfect win record?

that's when you choose death!!!! (literally or figuratively depending on how you analyze it.)

i looooove edgeworth celebrating his not guilty verdict but he would start thinking about what he's done. which again is so much worse than simply killing his dad. like he literally says that in rfta

and thats so??? fucking sad!?!!! because how is he supposed to trust in himself now??? phoenix (no matter how good his intentions were) HAS entirely destroyed his whole worldview!!!!!!!! and thus the unnecessary feelings line but you can read more about my thoughts about that line here (tl;dr this line for me a) challenges his views (see supra) b) didn't phoenix "steal" his dream of becoming a defense attorney, in a way? phoenix had the chance to move on and change things for the better but miles... didn't.

ANYWAY edgeworth gets angry at individuals, after turnabout goodbyes, because he hasn't realized how deep the corruption runs yet - he's angry at phoenix, at misty, at everyone who either failed to protect him (misty, mvk, the mvk household, maybe even his own dad for """leaving him behind"""???) OR tried to protect him from this system (phoenix, maya - because how dare they challenge his views on this system he has oh so loved?) also you can read this post here because it really summarizes my feelings about his aa1 arc

every day there is a new media where two people are fighting together for a system. they both come to realise the system is flawed, and while one of them tries to take the system down, the other decides it is still necessary and must be protected at all costs. why is it always the first one who becomes the villain? who is deeply sympathetic but goes too far in their quest for justice? i think for once it should be the second one who is trying so hard to protect the system they believe in that they slowly slip into tyranny

i dont really have a conclusion here but i will say that i think The Note and edgeworths year off were necessary (as tragic as it was) for both edgeworth & phoenix because theyre insane they need some time to think about how much they don't know nor understand each other anymore at this point in time. anyway. thanks for reading?!! i hope this made sense. mwah!

[brewsbrownies]

Theory: what REALLY makes a spider-man?

I don't know about you but ever since I watched across the spider-verse I've been curious about what makes spider man, spider man, if supposedly 'anyone can wear the mask.' It's obviously not appearance:

It's not whether or not you were bitten by a spider:

and we've already seen that it's not one's species or gender.

It's not 'destiny' either *cough*Spider-Man 2099*cough*

And I really don't think it's capability either

So what is it? I'm not sure since nothing is confirmed. I've tried to think about it but there is always something that contradicts whatever I come up with. I can't think of anything that makes perfect sense or has tons of proof but I do have a theory that I think makes the MOST sense and i hope it's good enough.

It's already been shown that every spider-person has a 'with great power comes great responsibility' moment at some point in some kind of way, whether they were directly or indirectly told or shown it.

Well, I think that kind of makes almost every spider-person have a mindset of 'I have to fix my mistake' even if there is quite literally no way they can fix it, not any kind of way to redeem themselves.

Even if they aren't told that it's their fault most spider-people already convince themselves it is. So basically I think it's their mindset. Every spider-person has an 'it's my fault, so I have to fix it' sort of mindset, even if it is their fault, there's never a way to fix their 'uncle Ben' moment.

They try to fix it but it never fulfills anything.

Some of the only solid proof of this is from a DELETED scene so I'm not sure how accurate it is.

in a deleted scene Miguel asks miles what makes a spider-man, miles answers and Miguel says his answer is wrong. That means that there is a right answer (in Miguel's mind) so any spider-person who the 'right' answer applies to immediately has the chance for miguel to ask them to join the spider society. This is what happened with gwen.

Miguel still doesn't want gwen to join even after he sees how capable she is, he doesn't want her to join still when her dad had a bad reaction to her identity reveal, he only decides to let her join right after she says something along the lines of "I don't how I can fix this." He replies with "join the club." And lets her join the spider society.

This leads me to believe that it has something to do with the mindset of the spider-person. If anyone knows anymore proof or has anything they want to add or prove wrong than feel free to say it.

Edit (I keep realising stuff AFTER I post theories): miles was never told in any kind of way "with great power comes great responsibility" he also never could come to that conclusion since when his 'uncle Ben' moment happened uncle Aaron told him "I let you down man" he also told him to "just keep going" and "you're the best of all of us" so miles never blamed himself instead he tried to improve, just keep going. this is one of the reasons he's considered an anomaly.

Some may make the argument that gwen never had a WGPCGR moment either or that she never blamed herself for peter's death, but when Peter died (her peter*) he told her that he wanted to be like her so gwen might've realised that peter did that because of HER and she technically killed him even if it was an accident it was still her. So peter sorta indirectly said that it was HER fault possibly still making her guilty.

[itsentraptasworld]

One thing I noticed is that Gwen was genuinely afraid of her father.

When her father shows up her spider sense kind of goes crazy like she seemed genuinely scared to a point where I genuinely thought she was expecting someone/something else when I was watching it.

And her immediate response was to try and use her web shooter, but not to get away. The angle she was shooting and the way the scene went meant she probably wanted to web up his gun/hand's.

Obviously the reason this Captain Stacy has an issue with spider woman is because he is genuinely convinced that she killed Peter Parker and it was a crazy looking situation he found them in but keep in mind the whole building was absolutely totaled at this point and the reason he even had to show up was because of a villain attack and he had no evidence at all.

Also Peter looked like he got hit by a bus or something there's no way that spider woman (who wasn't armed) did all that, she probably did contribute to some/most of his injuries but she didn't kill him and I stand by that.

Miles dad also thought he killed the prowler in the first movie for obvious reasons , it was a very sketchy scene but in the second movie it's all good because obviously spiderman couldn't do that because uncle Aaron was dressed like a super villain and literally got shot.

But this isn't just a astv thing, the beef between spidy and the police happens in almost every adaptation/comic. in other adaptations Captain Stacy / the chief of police is always READY to shoot Spider-Man , it's not a crazy thing because spiderman is a fugitive and bffr it's the police but like he was essentially only had a real chance of shooting at spiderman when he's literally beat tf up, shot, cant defend himself and that is the only times you really see captain Stacy himself going after spiderman. Miles father is probably one of the only ones that didn't seem like he was going to try and kill, shoot, or even really go after (Peter Parker) spiderman even though he didn't like him.

But back to the main point, he then finds out that it's Gwen but instead of thinking that "hey maybe I shouldn't try and kill my unarmed daughter that can't get away, she probably wouldn't kill her one and only friend like that" he planned to shoot her point blank, his daughter. And even if it wasn't her shooting someone who's unarmed and probably injured because of a theory with no evidence is crazy work. And her hands were up too so he was really just shooting to shoot.

And then when she comes back to their house she instinctively webs up the plushie he was holding because she thought it was a gun.

Now let's let's talk about Andrew Garfields spiderman, because that Peter Parker is the most similar to Gwen's and Gwen is similar to that Gwen Stacy etc. in the first movie Andrew is trying to stop the lizard after warning captain Stacy directly and you know what this 🥷🏾 does, he has a whole swat team going after spiderman and he gets shot and he is just on the floor in pain BEGGING for them to let him go so he can stop the lizard and still Captain Stacy had his glockiana in his face and like MULTIPLE sniper's and officers with assault riffles and the only reason he let him go was because he took his mask off.

Gwen Stacy knows about Andrew Garfields spiderman because they had to of told her about canon event's and that her father was going to die, so it's not to crazy to assume that she might know about that interaction or atleast parts of it.

All that to say that when she went back she went with the knowledge that if she was peter Parker and not herself, he probably wouldn't of tried to shot when she took the mask off. And she seemed genuinely sad when they showed a Peter crying about his Gwen but it was clear that she had seen it before so it's not to crazy to make the assumption that she would of found out

[milimeters-morales]

stop i listened to it again and fianlly truly felt like I Want You To Know That I’m Awake/i Hope That You’re Alseep is SUCH. a clawcode song, i’m literally thinking about them navigating their relationship post break up (romantic or from best friends) and it’s tearing me up and piecing me back together again this is crazy . ramble below

okay first one! this is honestly such a good part of the song (my fav lol) and is perfect to imagine a confession to, from either side. On Miles’s side it could be about confessing about being the Prowler, and how he needs Ganke to respond in any way so he doesn’t feel like he majorly fucked up in telling him, and for Ganke it could be about confessing his feelings, because silence is like the worst and you’d at least rather someone laugh so you get a chance to ALSO play it off as a joke right??? And both start to doubt themselves the longer a silence goes on!!! and the “you only have so long to capture the feeling before it’s gone” actually refers to SO much. Miles has people leaving him, first it was his old school friends, then his dad died, and now he’s having a hard time making friends at Visions and the one friend he does have he’s obviously not going to want to lose! Think of this as the “leap of faith” moment in their relationship, bc for all Miles knows, Ganke could be dead tomorrow. And on Ganke’s side, you can see it in a time where he’s already in the know about Miles being the Prowler, and wants to confess before Miles gets himself killed out there !!! because that’s a very real fear to have!! and this circles back to feeling stupider and stupider, because he’s thinking “oh no does Miles think i doubt him now? or that he’s so weak he’ll be killed?” in some way. okay next!

now i’m really stretching here, but the whole bleeding thumb leaving a trail? this could mean he hasn’t healed from his father’s death, and who could blame him? it’s an open wound that’s having obvious effects with him becoming the prowler and more rough around the edges (though that’s more bc of the hell that is Earth-42 after Jeff’s death rather than JUST Jeff’s death), traumatized, probably distrusting of MANY people, and trailing = leaving evidence of change, you see what i’m saying? And there’s a denial about it all too, “for some reason” like bro you KNOW the reason. And the rest, “i felt sick and i didn’t know what to do” GOD THIS IS SO. right so he’s lost, he definitely isn’t going about coping in the healthiest way, but to him it seems like all he CAN do. And that last part, could apply to his relationship with his mother as well! very likely to be about his guilt over not telling them about being the prowler/stuff he does as the prowler bc he knows they wouldn’t approve of some of it and would be worried sick all the time.

OH MY GOD????…… okay. we don’t know shit about Ganke much less Ganke M. but i’ll keep the whole “Ganke’s parents are divorced” thing and apply it here. So you have Miles, his parents loved each other dearly and were still separated because his dad was killed (which could happen to him, risks of being the prowler and all) and then you have Ganke, who has divorced parents (another thing that could happen but as a breakup since they aren’t married). And you KNOW how divorces can affect a child’s mental state growing up!!! “Cause we’re not like them” this is a casual sentence that couples in love say a lot, how they vow to never be like their parents, but then the “we are nothing like them” comes off as defensive and trying to convince yourself so you don’t have to face the truth, that you might be just like the people you didn’t want to end up as!!!! dead and/or broken up!!! Miles is a vigilante because he knows the system is fucked up and vows to not end up like his dad, dead for a system that didn’t care about him, but he could end up dead anyway because the system STILL doesn’t care about him!! Ganke doesn’t want to be in a bad marriage and divorce so he tries to love Miles fully and work through everything together, but he DOESN’T KNOW!!! HE ISNT READY!!!

AND IT ALL CIRCLES BACK. “I TRIED TO HARD TO FIND THE RUGHT WORDS. ITS A MATTER OF TIMING” GANKE PROBABLY DOESNT KNOW HOW GOOD HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS WORKS BC OF BEING A CHILD OF DIVORCE. HE PROBABLY FEELS LIKE MILES WILL LEAVE LIKE HIS OTHER PARENT DID AND HE’LL JUST KEEP LOSING PEOPLE SO HE NEEDED TO CONFESS QUICK. “WHICH WAS BLEEDING FOR SOME REASON. LEAVING A TRAIL OF RED BLOSSOMS ON THE NAPKIN.” BOTH GANKE AND MILES HAVENT HEALED FROM RESPECTIVE PARENT STUFF. MILES KEEPS LEAVING HIS BLOOD BEHIND BOTH LITERALLY AND METAPHORICALLY. GANKE DOESNT KNOW HOW TO LOVE HIM OR WHAT HE WANTS BUT KNOWS WHAT HE DOESNT WANT TO DO (END UP LIKE HIS PARENTS) WHICH ISNT A GOOD STARTING POINT FOR ANY RELATIONSHIP AND IT SHOWS IT LEAVES A TRAIL. “I FELT SICK AND I DIDNT KNOW WHAT TO DO” THEYRE 15!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

slams my head on the table and screams

[kell-eramis]

tbh my friend and i have this theory that the reason people are so weird about miguel is that people will either demonize or infantilize black characters, and since miles is black they infantilize him. they ignore the fact he repeatedly refuses to be babied and the fact he is outsmarting and overpowering his opponents constantly, and they just automatically assume miles is not on equal ground with the people around him. that combines with their demonization of miguel to create this.... weird nonexistent dynamic in their heads where miles did Nothing Wrong Ever and miguel hates him for wanting his dad to live. it doesn't help either that miguel is a very flawed person to begin with and miles is 15 years old. it's like people look at them and their ability to think goes out the window because they conveniently fit into the stereotypes in their head

No but for real! And they also see Gwen (a white woman) as an equal to those other spiderpeople in spite of being Miles’ age (and also making many, many mistakes) but Miles is seen as the newcomer who’s less competent and has been doing it for less time (even though Pavitr is also relatively new—though he’s also infantilized by audiences). Miles IS competent, and he IS an equal to all the other spiderpeople. It’s a coming of age story, yes, but he already came into his own as Spider-Man in ITSV. This is a continuation of that story, but he is Brooklyn’s Spider-Man, and has been for a year.

I’d also argue that it’s the way MCU movies especially portray a good guy and a bad guy—so when someone comes in who opposes the protagonist, even if he’s not a villain, he’s going against Miles, which makes him one. Couple that with racist biases against latinos and you have whatever the fuck is going on rn. I’ve seen people even say Miguel is going to try to kill Miles’ dad himself—literally what the fuck?

[xxx-inhibitionless-xxx]

Chapter 66 : Day Three ( Chad & Brad’s Afternoon part 1 )

 Brad and Chad were quiet for a moment as they wondered how to get Chad inside his house without being seen by the growing crowd of guests and Chad’s family they could see walking around the yard from where they sat in Brad’s car in what would be considered Chad’s driveway, totally naked.

 As he was thinking, Brad thought back to their drive to get here. He and Chad had played a game of dares along the way, which was why they were now sitting here naked. They had come up what was a semi-main road, with farm groves on one side and housing developments on the other, until they got to the road leading to Chad’s house.

 Chad’s road led into a wooded area with only two other roads branching off after a mile or so to Chad’s neighbors, if you could even call them that because they didn’t hit the road that was Chad’s driveway for about another half-mile. No wonder Chad was so confident about tossing all the clothes, Brad thought to himself, he literally lived in isolation out here.

 Chad’s driveway was even another road unto itself. It was a dirt and gravel road up a hill, with an access road halfway up. Brad had also noticed some construction equipment as they drove up for what looked like maybe drainage or irrigation, he figured, before being brought back to reality by Chad trying to get his attention.

 Brad, yo, earth to Brad, Chad was waving his hand in front of Brad’s face, come on dude, snap out of it.

 What, huh, Brad said bringing his thoughts back to the present, oh, sorry. What were you saying ?

 I was saying, Chad continued with a level of urgency, that we need to be getting out of here before someone sees us sitting in the middle of the road and wonders who the hell we are and why we’re here and comes to see.

 Oh, yeah, Brad agreed, good idea. Where are we going to go ?

 Back up a bit, Chad replied, we can turn around in the access road back there.

 Right, cool, Brad acknowledged, I saw that when we passed. Good idea, Brad added as he shifted to reverse and positioned himself to look out the rear window.

 As he reversed into the access road to get in position to turn around, Chad remembered his father saying something about being careful in one spot because of a hole with just a board covering it. Before he could tell Brad to be careful and watch out for any boards or holes there was a sound of a loud crack as the car lurched backwards.

 Trying to wrap his mind around what had just happened, Chad realized he was looking at treetops and clouds out the front window of the car as his brain registered that Brad was motionless.

 Brad ! Chad nearly screamed but managed to compose himself in time to just yell. Brad, are you okay ? What happened ? Are you hurt ?

 Shit, f*ck, Brad cursed as he began to beat his forehead on the steering wheel, damn it to hell ! Yeah, he answered Chad, I’m fine, but what the hell happened ? We must have fell in some kind of sinkhole or something. I don’t know if we can even get out.

 They both stretched up a bit and leaned out their respective windows to try and determine what had happened. Surveying the situation, they realized that they did indeed fall in a hole. Not necessarily a full-blown sinkhole, but a hole big enough that the backend of the car broke the board covering the hole and fell right in.

 What are we going to do now, Chad asked as Brad just slumped back in his seat and beat his head on the steering wheel again, we’re going to need a crane to get us out of here.

 My Dad’s going to kill me, Brad responded, I am so dead. It was nice knowing you Stick.

 Dude, Chad asked, what are you talking about ?

 I’m still on my father’s insurance, Brad answered, he’s going to kill me. There’s no way he’s not going to find out about this, Brad continued, I am so dead.

 Before Chad could try and comfort his friend, they heard another crack followed by the car lurching downward again and a jet of water erupting upward from the bottom of the hole.

 You have got to be kidding me, Brad exclaimed as they both rushed to get their windows rolled up as water practically poured in from the fountain that had erupted below them. They both sat there, nearly already drenched from the brief period of time it took to raise the windows, watching the water cascade down onto the front window.

 Dude, Chad finally interjected, I hate to say it, but we need to get out of here.

 Brad looked at Chad as if that were the most ridiculous thing anyone had ever said. Okay genius, Brad practically screamed, where the hell do you think we’re going to go ? We’re not a rocket so we’re most definitely not going to be launching out of this damn hole anytime soon !

 Not the car, Chad refrained from taking offence, realizing Brad didn’t know what he meant, us. We, he emphasized the word pointing between the two of them, you and me need to get out of the car. If we don’t get out of the car, Chad continued to explain, surely somebody at the house heard something and is going to come down here and check it out.

 I don’t know about you, Chad elaborated further, but I do not want anyone to find me sitting here stark naked in a car in a hole.

[queerponcho]

WEEWOO WEEWOO i finally watched spiderman across the spider-verse and i have some THOUGHTS-

i’ve been avoiding spoilers so like i am probably not the first one with these thoughts but here we go:

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

- we all know; miguel o’hara = hot as fuck

- BUT everytime hes on screen the music that was played sounded very similar to the vibe of the prowlers theme in the first movie. coincidence? i dont think so👀

-EVERY spider was shown having doubts about their position. they ALL doubted their stance when miles said ‘we’re supposed to be the good guys’ everyone BUT miguel

- WHAT IF miguel isnt actually his universes spiderman

- WHAT IF miguel is ACTUALLY his universes KING PIN

HEAR ME OUT-

- when hes introduced he says ‘i am not like the other girls- spidermen’ while he is LITERALLY injecting himself with some typa green liquid??? like tf is that????

- maybe that shit actually gives him those spidey powers BUT do we actually ever see him like sticking to a thingie upside down or anything? he is always upright and he doesnt have the spidey stickiness

- he only gets like feral kinda and even his webs are like gleaming red??? and his mask is like SUPER evil and as pointed out by dad peter (aka nick miller) HE ISNT FUNNY

-Literally ALL of the spiders have some kinda funny thing or like cool power

- this man only has vampy teeth (hot) and is fast??? and like has these elbow slashes like???? he has nothing unique like all the other spiders.

- like gwen has her entirely different colours scheme and her ballet movements or the british one (kill me i forgot his name but i LOVED this guy) has his punk and guitar, fuck anarchy thing. like all of them have smth thats their thing but all of miguels traits are like super evil and sussy as fuck���

- AND he was SUCH a dick to miles. any actual spidey would NEVER be such a prick to another spider EVER- my guy is afraid of miles and wanted to break him down which brings me to the motive…

- idk what his plan is but he might know that miles can/ will be his doom. OR he knows that one of the spiders might find out and kill him so he makes this elaborate web of lies (pun intended) about these canon events and like scares everybody into thinking they have to just let these bad things happen when in reality he is just looking for this control. this might be a bit far fetched BUT IDK WHO KNOWS the writers lol

that motive thing i am not so sure about but i am certain hes afraid of what miles can do and will do cuz he is acting like a racoon trapped in a trashbag (shoutout to taylor tomilson lol) and gaslighting everybody onto his side…

then theres his alleged backstory;

- he went to a different universe to live his dream life and conveniently that universes miguel DIES????? MMMMHMMMM and u expect me to believe that mr sexy o’hara????

- he literally did what king pin tried todo in the first movie- and it failed

- thing is WHAT IF it failed not because he just went there and took his place BUT because he killed off that other daddy miguel

- what if the universe just collapsed cuz he went there and actually changed the entire universes future by killing this other miguel????

honesty its like 1am and i watched the movie like 5 hours ago so all this might not make sense. BUT I BADLY NEEDED TO TALK ABT THESE THOUGHTS- again i am for sure not the first one i just really need to speak this into the void lol

PLS if anybody wants to geek out over this movie PLEASE dm me i am BEGGING YOU i so badly wanna talk abt it cuz i love it SO MUCH

[alexdelray1]

Miles 1610 x Punk Fem Reader.

Warnings: Mentions of death.

Category: I think fluff but not really.

This one and bloody last time people. I am Reader Mercury and on my earth 241191 I am not only Spider-Woman but also the best rock star ever.

I have my band called 'MJ' after someone close to me. What else to say? I grew up in the US with my younger sister. Mary Jane Mercury. We had no dad or mom, but we were raised by my godmother Alex. It was she who awakened the spirit of rock and independence in us. When I was 15, a radioactive spider bit me, and I've been the one and only Spider-Woman for a year now. I saved a lot of people and played a lot of concerts. Unfortunately, I couldn't save my little sister from falling off the building. The fucking damn son of a bitch Doctor Octopus took her from me.

- Reda * (make up a diminutive of your name or a nickname) ... Are you okay? - Hobie asked me. He's my male equivalent, only we're a little different.

We were walking around the HQ together to find his new friend that he captured during the mission.

-Yup. I just thought a little. So why don't you tell me more about this friend?- I asked him and adjusted the guitar on my back.

-He's fucking good. He not only has the basic powers of Spider-Man, but also electrifies.- he says, taking off his mask. I don't know why he always sounds more exciting with a mask.

-That's good. I hope he's an anarchist. Is he from New York too, like most of us?- I asked Hobie, crossing my arms.

-He is young. Ho don't have too many things an opinion on it yet. And yes he is from New York. - Hobie replied hanging on me.

-How young?- I asked him.

-He's 16.- he replied, detaching himself from me.

-I'm also sixteen.- I said and he raised his arms together with his eyebrows.

-But don't forget you got an extra IQ from being bitten by a spider so you're an adult for your age.- says Hobie. I know he didn't want it to sound like that.

-You sound like a pedophile. I feel sorry for your comic wife.- I said and he sighed.

-Says someone who will be single by 30.- Hobie teased me. I already planned the fucking murder.

-Says someone whose girlfriend broke up with.- I replied fire to fire.

-Oh, you're really nice today. Something happened? Did your boyfriend break up with you or something?- Hobie asked.

-I'd rather become a fas...cist ... - I said with a break because I saw a pretty boy.

-Hobie! How are you? And who are you?” asked the boy who interrupted my sentence.

-I'm Reader Mercury, but for friends Reda. And I guess that you are Miles Morales? - I introduced myself straightening up.

-Yes, how did you know? Do you know Gwen by the way?- Miles asked me and I smiled.

-First of all, I knew because I've seen a lot of your versions and you have a lot in common. And secondly, which Gwen? - I asked him and looked at Hobie also from him, hoping for an answer.

-The one from earth 65. You know, the one who doesn't have a boyfriend and is alive.- Hobie said, and the bulb over my head went on.

-Oh yes. This Gwen. Of course I know her. She helped me find an anomaly that wanted to blow up the Vatican. Nice chick.- I commented on the girl.

-Blow up the Vatican?- Miles asked.

-Yes. It was some kind of satanist or sorcerer. Kind of bad, but smash.- I said and Hobie and I started laughing.

-Your type of man sucks.- Hobie said, calming his laugh.

-Same as yours.- I commented and we started laughing again.

- Good good. I have to go now because this 'dictator' needs me. Bye.- Hobie said and walked away leaving me alone with Miles.

-Tell me, Miles. In your universe, are you more of a victim or a hero or a killing machine?- I asked him like it was the most normal question in the world.

-What do you mean? And I'm a hero. - He replied and my smile fell a little.

-Everyone thinks like that at first, believe me. Victim means that the canonical moments have taken you too hard. For example, you slowly see die not only Aunt Mai or Uncle Ben, but everyone you love. Literally. Hero means you save almost everyone. For example, Aunt Mai will live to old age and you save your girlfriend and then you have children and all is well. And a killing machine means that even if you don't want to, you'll kill everyone you love. For example, this one Peter. He killed his MJ once in an unusual way. Let's say he came and she left. Do you understand what I mean? - I finished my monologue with a question and Miles had a few second brain lag.

-Yes. I'm sure I'm a hero.- Miles replied confidently.

-Let's hope so. And now I must go. The concert won't play itself.- I replied and started walking away.

-Bye, Reda.- Miles said, waving at me.

-Bye, hero.- I waved back.

END. GUESS WHAT I GOT INSPIRED BY WRITING ABOUT THE BLOWING UP OF THE VATICAN CITY.

[kitkatt0430]

Rom is really such an interesting character to me.

At first he's just your typical Ferengi. Works for his brother in a dead end job and mostly hoping Quark will die so he can inherit the bar one day. But he's also a single dad trying to do his best to raise his son and often finding that the right thing to do by Nog is at odds with doing the right thing as a Ferengi.

And, at first, Rom picks being a good Ferengi. He picks being a good Ferengi and nearly helps kill his brother. He picks being a good Ferengi and endangers his son's education. He picks being a good Ferengi and makes himself repeatedly miserable.

But he watches Nog grow up and choose Starfleet over Ferengi business culture and he's proud of Nog for standing up for himself. For choosing what's right for him instead of what's right as a 'good Ferengi'. His son inspires Nog to question what it means to be a good Ferengi and, while I doubt Nog ever tells Rom directly that he's choosing Starfleet to avoid winding up miserable chasing profit the way Rom is... I think Rom knows.

He doesn't know what to make of it, but Rom knows this is the right choice for Nog. And it makes Rom question if he's making the right choices for himself. So when choosing to be a good Ferengi winds up endangering his health, Rom listens when Miles tells him about unions. He's inspired.

He realizes he wants more than just profits. Rom wants to be respected. He wants to stand up for himself. And he can't do that if he's constantly letting other people's expectations for him dictate his actions. Especially Quark, who often pushes Rom to do the wrong thing as much because it's the Ferengi thing to do as because Quark does love Rom and want to protect him, in Quarks own weird way.

Rom realizes as the leader of the forbidden union that he actually is capable of being respected when he lets himself be himself instead of choosing to be a good Ferengi. And so he quits his job at Quarks and takes a new job as an engineer. And, finally, he gets to shine.

And sometimes he backslides. Being reminded by Miles that he's not a conventional Ferengi after he gets engaged to Leeta makes him feel bad about himself as a Ferengi. But it also triggers his trauma from his previous relationship with Primadora - Nog's mother - who used his feelings for her to screw him over. Like a good Ferengi should. So instead communicating his feelings and finding parts of his culture that Leeta would enjoy sharing, he tries to assert the more toxic and harmful aspects instead, nearly destroying their relationship.

So he chooses to Leeta over profit. Quite literally by donating his profit to charity. And while Leeta should make more of an effort to understand Rom's culture - not everything about the Ferengi is bad and as an employee of Quarks it would behoove her to at least have a better familiarity with the Rules of Acquisition than she does - it's satisfying to see Rom choose his happiness - and Leeta's happiness - despite his past experience telling him that choosing to trust the people he loves can bite him on the butt.

According to Quark and Ishka, the greed of the Grand Nagus of the Ferengi must reflect the greed of the people. Brunt's greed is too selfish and that's why he'd make a poor Grand Nagus. So I have to wonder what Rom's greed says about the Ferengi people when he's made Grand Nagus.

Rom, who chooses love over money and learns to value self expression... he is greedy not for profit but for happiness. His happiness and the happiness of those around him.