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timeisacephalopod · 6 years

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1, 4, 5, 8, 9

Oh gosh, I’m so sorry these questions turned into essays D:

1. What was the first Marvel film you’ve ever watched?

The Avengers, and I didn’t like it lmao. I was like… seventeen maybe? A friend had worked really hard to get me to watch it and I found it boring. A big problem was Steve- I just found him boring and I had no context for Tony or the rest of the Avengers so I was like ok, superhero people do shit. Boring. When I got into it later (starting with the First Avenger) the film made more sense to me and felt less bleh minus Steve, but that’s because Whedon can’t fucking write him for shit not because of the character.

4. Who’s your favourite Marvel superhero and why?

Boi if you don’t know Tony Stark is my fav then I don’t know what to tell ya lol. But I’m assuming you asked for the why not the who. So as a general thing I don’t like heroes. They’re all ‘we do the right thing always because we’re The Most Morally Correct Always’. Its not relatable- I’m straight up not that good of a person, no one is in my opinion, and their stories all follow the same boring arcs (Steve Rogers fits this personality type and arc very well post skinny!Steve until the latest MCU movies. But Superman is another very good example, and to a lesser extent Harry Potter too).

Point is these characters don’t interest me because A- I can’t relate to being The Best Ever, B- they’re fucking boring and invite zero conflict or character development if they’re already perfect, and C- their villains tend to have way more interesting backstories, motivations, and character arcs. Also villains tend to be coded as minorities (ie, Ursula from The Little Mermaid being based of a drag queen) so between the more interesting arcs, personalities, conflicts, and minority coded status I’ve always preferred the villain. I can relate to Magneto, who has a terrible goal but for a heartbreaking and even understandable reason. I understand him in a way I can never understand a Superman type. He’s an anti-hero I know, but villains are always more interesting because their motivation isn’t always Its The Right Thing with no other explanation as to why or how its right, which could be compelling but isn’t ever written. And villains never start on a basis of perfection, effectively killing any and all development of character.

And then I watched Iron Man. Not only is Tony Stark a fucking disaster and a high functioning one at that, but he’s not always a good person. Its not that he means to hurt people, but he does, and then he learns. He makes mistakes, he sometimes doesn’t see it right away, and when he does he tries not to repeat his behavior to avoid making those mistakes again. Tony is the first hero I’ve seen that’s not supposed to be an anti-hero that does this. For the first time I got to watch a hero that isn’t perfect, but he’s trying to do good even when he fails at it. Then he tries and tries again. Heroes never get those arcs because they tend to be built on perfection, but Tony is what a hero would look like in the real world- he’s tangible.

Not only that but there’s so much about him that I find relatable beyond his general hero arc. He’s sort of an asshole because its easier to hold people at an arms length than it is to let people in, he has trust issues, daddy issues, mental health problems that people don’t necessarily see, and he hides his true nature under sarcasm and jokes. These are all traits I find in myself too, but ones I don’t typically find in heroes, not to the extent they’re written with Tony anyways. Again Tony is the first hero I’ve ever come across who has personality traits that don’t always translate to ‘perfect person all the time no matter what’. He’s a regular man with a real world personality trying his best even if he does have exaggerated traits (like his intelligence, especially, which is where most of his heroism extends from). And underneath all that he’s compassionate, caring, and generous not that he allows people to see that often.

TL;DR: Tony Stark is the first hero I saw with an actual personality you’d find in the real world and he isn’t always perfect, which i found relatable and compelling.

5. Who’s your least favourite Marvel superhero and why?

This is actually a pretty hard question. There are plenty of MCU characters I care about very little, and some I like a lot but hate the way they’re handled, and some that are just fucking irrelevant so I’ll list 3 for 3 different reasons.

1- Clint Barton. I read Matt Fraction’s Hawkeye (and some of his other work- check him out!) and loved Hawkeye. Then I watched shit ass MCU Hawkeye and he’s a fucking OC with Clint’s name. He’s an asshole, his motivations make no sense, I don’t like Jermey Renner as a person or an actor, and I fucking hated that family in Age of Ultron because it makes no sense and doesn’t fit into the rest of the universe. So I like Clint, but not fuckin MCU Clint because nothing about him makes sense.

2- Wanda. I love what she could be and her powers are so compelling and unlike most Tony fans I sympathize with her wanting him dead (but don’t understand why she chose him over the people who dropped the bomb, the terrorists in her country, or at least doesn’t hold blame in other wider structures that influenced her parent’s death like military personal, the POTUS, etc). Anyways- I like what Wanda could be, but not what she is. She whines and cries about being treated like a child while simutaniously throwing a temper tantrum, apparently doesn’t put as much or potentially even more blame on Viz for being complicit in Tony’s (shitty- no excuse for this) choice to keep her on the compound all because romance angle? And while I sympathize with her not wanting to hurt Viz in IW, that’s a horrible position to be in, I don’t understand why she didn’t at least try and feel out a solution to save him while also destroying the stone until they made Shuri do it. One person you care about versus half the universe? That’s fucking harsh, I’d never want to be there, but I’m certain I could never be that selfish. So I lose someone I care about, half the universe doesn’t get to feel the same way. That’s a win.

There’s a lot about her I do like though, and I’ll explore that again out of the context of World War Me, but as she stands her motivations and character actions don’t make a lot of sense to me and it feels contrived just for plot points. She gets the shit end of the stick and I’m convinced its linked to misogyny- its not like characters who aren’t women get shunted like that Bruce Banner aside (one time versus Wanda’s entire character story).

3- Steve Rogers. Now don’t get me wrong, in the recent movies he’s gone through some development- in CW he didn’t even have an argument, he dropped his shield for Bucky, and then when he shows back up his speech to Ross is such a fuckin asshole thing to say/ do and its so disrespectful (and the fact that I care what he says to ROSS is saying something, but that’s due to the wider implications and the fact that Steve would 100% say that to him pending alien invasion or no, not because its an emergency that influences why I even care). Anyways- his negative development is actually interesting! He is a character based in perfection and he’s gotten this amazing storyline that’s made him selfish and sometimes also callus and cruel. That’s compelling, and his motivations! Amazing!

There’s so much the MCU can do with a man who can’t adjust to the future, has PTSD, and doesn’t know how to handle being in a moral situation that doesn’t have a clear right answer- and it shows. To me these things are interesting, sometimes noble, and profoundly selfish in a way that actually makes a lot of sense considering the context and is a super interesting take on a character that’s usually Perfect And Right All The Time. But instead of actually exploring his motivations, actions, and negative character development the MCU AND the fans treat him as this perfect dude who can do no wrong. This is fucking stupid- the guy is on a downward spiral into who fuckin knows what and instead of exploring this loss of identity, morality, and sense of self he’s treated as the moral compass! Are you fucking kidding me! This shit is so much more compelling than just making the dude right because you’re too fucking lazy to actually write him an argument and a reason behind it. And not acknowledging his negative development and giving me an interesting story (finally) about a hero who’s always been perfect and just shoving him back into his Morally Perfect Always™ role instead of exploring him in new, compelling ways personally victimizes me. So fuck the MCU for that and fuck the idiot fans (god that’s bitter, sorry) who think he’s a true moral compass when at this point none of them are- and that’s ok. That’s interesting to explore, creates conflict, and creates story.

This just makes me want to write a character study of Steve tbh. Maybe I will. He’ll actually get to go on a journey of his negative development then, and then come back from it in a meaningful way rather than just handed the Being Right Award that the lazy writers gave him.

Another TL;DR- Clint sucks because he sucks, but Steve and Wanda could have been so much more if the writers weren’t jackasses.

8. Who’s the strongest Avenger?

Wanda lmao. No argument there, the only one who even stood a chance against her is Vision and she put him down easily too. Which is why I think she’s so interesting, but no, she gets handed stupid contrived storylines based in a romance no one cares about instead of exploring her power, origin story, motivations, and further development.

But yeah, no arguing that she’s the strongest Avenger as far as raw power goes.

9. Any underrated Avenger? Any overrated Avenger?

Underrated avenger: Rhodey my dudes. First of all he’s a decently fleshed out, interesting character. Then you have this interesting background of him knowing the military isn’t really perfect but still maintaining his interest in the military and being complicit in some of its actions, which I think is super compelling and I’d like the MCU to explore that further. Plus you’ve got his intelligence in engineering, his strategical genius, his loyalty, his compassion- he’s just a great dude. He’s sassy too, which is always a plus. But then you get these weird moments in the MCU where they go back on his characterization- like in IM3 where he basically tells Tony to get over himself after a panic attack. That’s so OOC- firstly even if he’s never seen a panic attack (doubtful, in the military) he’s a naturally compassionate guy, and especially so to Tony. So where the fuck was that? You will never convince me that there’s a solid reason for that- he spent 3 fuckin months tracking his best friend down only to tell him to get over himself while having a panic attack? And what even WAS that scene in CW when Steve came back? And that scene where he was totes cool with Thor strangling Tony?

This poor man is so underrated the MCU contributes to his being underrated by using him as a plot device instead of an actual fuckin character (quite like Wanda, and they’re both minorities. Hmm). Anyways Rhodey does not get enough love, nor does his status as a hero outside of Tony get enough love, NOR does his friendship with Tony get enough love, and his potential romantic connections with Tony also don’t get enough love. His sass, compassion, and his interesting participation in a system he knows doesn’t always to the right thing, and occasional complicity in this, also doesn’t get enough love. And the MCU can eat my turds for ignoring who he is as a character just to use him as a plot device.

Overrated character- Ok this is gunna be so mean lmao I love him so much I swear but Bucky. Why the this is this bland ass white dude with 3 half personality traits and literally nothing outside of Steve’s character even liked? He is the male Sharon Carter and honestly that’s unfair to Sharon because she at least has SHIELD and spying as personal interests, what the fuck does Bucky have? HYDRA control, which is literally nothing. He’s almost never an active character, he’s barely even constructed as a character, and has nothing outside of Steve to make him compelling at all.

He is objectively so fucking bland that a couple days ago I realized that when I write Bucky I’m taking his 3 traits from the MCU and literally constructing an OC because Bucky is nowhere near developed enough as a character to even write. He’s also a plot device and used as motivation for Steve. Poor dude doesn’t even have interests outside Steve. How he got to be so massively popular, including to me, I have no idea because objectively speaking he is one of the least interesting characters in the MCU- its everyone else around him that makes his story interesting. Seriously. If Steve wasn’t his friend and Tony’s parents weren’t his parents would we even care about him at all?

A good character still stands if you take the people around them away- take that away from Bucky and his story loses all meaning because it isn’t important to Bucky, its important to the people around him. Like his story is sad, but the emotional impact of what happens to him doesn’t even come from us caring about him, it comes from us caring about the people around him. Granted people are overly attached to him so it worked out in the MCU’s favor and the writers won’t need to make him an active, interesting protagonist because people read into him finding things that aren’t there, and seriously I swear I love Bucky, but he really is a stale, uninteresting character if I actually examine him on his own rather than in the wider context of the events he’s a part of.

TL;DR- love Rhodey you heathens, and while I love Bucky I don’t know why because he isn’t interesting if you look at his story on its own due to its complete lack of emotional impact on him rather than the characters around him.

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