#ic. the man of iron.

[hero-i-am-not]

Nat, to Peter: Aunt Nat will murder anyone who hurts you

Loki, popping up from behind: And Uncle Loki will cover for her <3

Peter: aww thanks guys!!

Tony: And Dad will buy you Ben & Jerry's

Peter: what flavor?

Tony: flavor?

Peter: Dad?

Tony: ...

Tony: Here are the keys to the Ben & Jerry's factories

Peter: Dad!

Tony: Gotta go, love you kiddo!

Peter: Love you too :D

...

Peter, at the factory: Can I get a strawberry ice cream in a kiddie cup? please?

[illyanarasputinfan]

X-Men: The Wedding Special #1 (2024) Marvel

[iam93percentstardust]

one of the things that really bothers me about modern franchises, and in particular over the last 5 years or so, is their refusal to commit. what i mean here when i say this is that it's not uncommon for a major franchise to make a decision, whether about the plot or the characters, that should have had huge, world-changing consequences... and then just never address that again or worse, immediately go back and undo it. and i'm gonna pick on star wars and the mcu here because those are the two big franchises i'm into at the moment (and i think they're kind of the worst at this), but i don't want you to walk away from this thinking that this is solely a disney thing. i've seen this happen with game of thrones and supernatural and plenty of other non-disney franchises. spoilers ahead, you've been warned:

in ant-man & the wasp quantumania, scott and hope make the life-altering decision to stay behind in the quantum realm and defeat kang instead of going through the portal to return to their world. this should have been a huge meta decision for the mcu, and when i first saw it in theaters, my immediate thought was wow, what is this going to mean for the mcu going forward? are we going to get a movie/miniseries about scott and hope helping to rebuild the quantum realm? how are cassie, janet, and hank going to react to the losses of their loved ones (in some cases, for the second time)? is cassie going to become the "first" young avenger because she has to take her father's place among the team lineup (and i only say first because as of this moment, none of the other young avengers introduced to the franchise are official avengers yet)? except nope, because less than 2 minutes later, cassie had fixed the portal that had broken way back at the beginning of the movie and brought scott and hope back.

and it felt like such a cheat. i was so disappointed in that theater, not as someone who was invested in these characters on a personal level (because yay, cassie gets her dad back!), but as someone who has spent years investing themselves in the story of the mcu. what was the point of wasting screentime on scott and hope accepting their new lives in the quantum realm if it was just going to immediately be undone? the entire scene could have been cut to scott and hope making it back bare seconds before the portal closed and it would have had the same emotional impact. there was nothing added by making scott and hope (and us) think that there was no way back only to rip the rug out from under us and go "gotcha! you really thought we were gonna give this movie a sad ending? haha! you're so dumb!"

and this isn't the first time the mcu has done this. one of the biggest complaints about endgame was the decision to set it five years in the future with no consideration for how that would actually change the setting of the mcu. characters were brought back to the exact place they disappeared from with no consideration for how things might have changed in the interim five years (like planes that weren't in the air anymore, buildings no longer standing, even just something as simple as a chair being unoccupied). and then the mcu didn't even really have the courage to address how this would have shaped the world other than a few jokes and making the bad guys in the falcon and the winter soldier people who cared about how the world had screwed them over during the blip.

and things like this happen over and over and over again. the accords are put into place in civil war, but by the time we get to she-hulk, they're gone with no explanation because, as best as i can tell, the writers didn't want to have to deal with the worldbuilding that went into the accords. gamora is killed in infinity war, but heaven forbid quill not have an emotional investment in a film he appears for maybe 10 minutes in so now she's back in endgame. steve got to go live in the past with his ex-girlfriend (which is in itself a refusal to commit after the mcu both gave her a different husband and had the woman herself tell him to move on) but we need to establish that messing with timelines is bad because that's what the entire next phase hinges on so actually his ending was predestined and it's only everyone else who can't change time. whoever took this entire town and also wanda hostage and forced them to live out a sitcom fantasy is bad and needs to be stopped but wait, it's actually wanda and she can't be the bad guy yet, we need her for doctor strange 2, so actually everyone's going to defend her now and say that no one else could ever possibly understand her grief. thor has decided to accept responsibility as king of asgard, but we can't use him for any more movies if he's stuck in asgard, so actually he's decided to pass it on to someone whose entire leadership capability is developed offscreen. i could list more examples but this is making me angry, so let's move on to star wars instead.

with star wars, i look at first the oft-quoted meme, "somehow palpatine has returned." yeah, i shouldn't really need to go into detail on how that counts as a refusal to commit but. the last jedi was a study in how johnson refused to commit to anything that abrams had laid down in the force awakens, but rise of skywalker was almost like abrams had looked at the franchise and said "screw you for taking it away from me, i'm going to come up with the most bullshit stuff just to spite you for doing that in the first place. and i'm going to start by undoing the most important plot point of the first trilogy: the emperor dies." and yeah, disney's kind of tried to salvage this by dropping hints into the bad batch and the mandalorian about cloning, but that only really works if you're watching the franchise chronologically and not considering that both of those series came out after rise of skywalker.

and then there's the mandalorian, my sweet summer child, who is, in my opinion, the worst at backtracking their plot points. i'm not entirely convinced that any of the higher ups for this show really knew what they were doing when they started working on it and i'm not convinced that they know what they're doing now. yeah, there's the tie-in to the last season of clone wars, but the mandalorian has managed to walk back pretty much every single major plot point it's had. din is this legendary warrior who can't be beat, but no one will watch this show if he defeats everyone too early, so he's constantly getting beat up (tbf, sometimes some of the fights he loses makes sense like the krayt dragon and the mudhorn, but a lot of them don't. at all). moff gideon is dead, no wait no he's not, now he's imprisoned, no wait no he's not, now he's definitely dead, you can totally believe us this time guys. grogu can use the force and must be placed with the jedi, but wait, the only person still actively teaching the way of the jedi is luke and all of his students will be brutally murdered ten years from now, and we can't have that, everyone will be mad at us for killing off such a cute character and no one will buy baby yoda dolls (and also we have to set up luke's character degradation from hopeful, believes-in-love cinnamon roll to "i'm going to kill my nephew") so in between seasons let's have grogu decide to go back to din (and don't even get me started on how frustrating it is that a casual mandalorian watcher also had to watch book of boba fett to understand why grogu is back). din has the darksaber now which makes him king of mandalore, that's totally going to be important and what the entire series has been building up to, right? wrong! he might have spent the first two seasons making connections, learning about the world outside his sheltered upbringing, and demonstrating the various qualities that would make for a good leader, but the entire third season will be about din realizing that actually he's super unworthy and the darksaber should actually go to someone who... saw an animal in the water.

and it's really, really frustrating as a viewer! because how am i supposed to get invested in any of these plot decisions when they almost always get reversed? why should i care that mj and ned have forgotten peter when ant-man 3 has shown me that they'll remember him the next time they're all on screen together? why should i care that tech is dead when half of the last season of clone wars was about how echo was actually alive? if none of these decisions have any permanence, then where are the emotional stakes? why should i watch your movie if all you're going to tell me is that nothing matters?

[avengerscompound]

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur (2015) #37

[ash3]

Hearty desserts!

[duchess-of-oldtown]

One thing that always gets me, is Quellon Greyjoy. You got this ✨tall✨ scary dude who could have been a big fucking threat but decides to be a reformer. He tries to fix the reputation of the Iron Islands and the Greyjoys. And he dies in the most Ironborn way, in battle at sea, probably thinking at least "I did something to be proud of and the Islands are on the way to a better relationship with Westeros". But then his kids are literally an eldritch horror, a dumb thot, a religious fanatic and one short king and they just undo all of his work in like five mins. You cannot convince me that Quellon was not looking up from the depths of the Drowned God's watery halls like

[izzy140105]

Jon isn't a stark

That's your biggest problem with the picture?? 🤨

[bigbadbruin343]

Wolverine #37 and X-Men #26 connecting covers by David Nakayama.

[karmasgonnagetya]

Is the Iron Man armored adventures fandom even alive? anyways i watched it like a month ago, and i have to say it is absolute peak. i love it.

Please watch it if you havent its so good except for the fact that rhodey looks grey most of the time, which is infuriating, but other than that, i think it's a good show.

Gene and tony are Toxic yaoi 💔 "sorry tony stark for kidnapping your dad and making you have shrapnel in your heart and trying to kill you and your friends many times but when we were friends i really liked you but this is my destiny yada yada yada" -gene khan.

Imagine being friends with someone, but boom turns out it's your enemy.

Of course, when Gene first met Tony, he had the intention of just using him for info, but of course, they became actual friends to the dismay of Gene.

When Gene got the 5 rings and had flashbacks of the time he spent with Tony and Pepper, he wanted to go back to them and be friends with them but he went after his so called destiny instead cause he thought it was more important cause hes been told it since he was a child.

Im upset there's no season 3. What happens with Gene after the end of season 2? Do they ever meet again? Do they ever make it up to each other? do they become friends again? Save meeeee

[fandomsupporter]

will peter parker ever know that tony stark risked everything for him because tony loved him like a son and will the russo brothers ever know that i caught onto their scent and am rapidly gaining on their current location

[yes-i-am-happyaspie]

Soft Serve Stony 🍦

Steve is so vanilla

[a-chaotic-dumbass]

FALIAAA FAAAALIIIIIIAAAAAAAADON'T FALL FOR THE CROW'S EYE FAAAAAAAALLLLIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAA DON'T SLEEP WITH EURON GREYJOY FAAAAAAAAAAALIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[swordmaid]

here's my 2024 art summary! i drew my oc all year but u know what... i may be cringe................ but im free...........

i was actually knee deep in an art block this year (and end of last year too, hence the lack of anything from me) with my old laptop dying and traveling i didn't have much juice to draw but i def was starting to pick up the pace again by may. artfight helped me get motivated again too! i wish i can add more than one drawing since i had a bunch that i liked from that season 🥲 but the six character illustration in the tavern is def one of my faves just because it's a pretty ambitious piece for me.and post july i started to do full illustrations again, with my most fave one being the astarion/shri'iia piece inspired by the storm.

i want to continue making more ambitious pieces tho! i think it's such good practice for me and i def want to start getting into doing more paintings too 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️ will i continue to draw my oc next year tho maybe so.........!

[landure]

GEPARD APPLICATION: WRITING SAMPLE 1.3k wordcount

Belobog, last bastion of humanity, did not stand on its own. That larger than life fact is something every Silvermane Guard sworn to the Oath holds close to heart, closer than their fears, their love of hearth and safety, closer than the deaths that pile atop each other like firewood to be burned, than the ice and hail they mix with brave men’s blood and blood-tasting bravery.

And there’s so much of it - that brave men’s blood.

The naive soldier boys fresh out of Belobog Cadet School end up in only two ways; they die like cannon fodder in the first few seconds, swept up in their first expedition into the merciless Snow Plains, die beneath the shadows of the fortified walls in the Restricted Zone, or they harden to calcite and iron and ride above the storm. Gepard was one of those boys once, but more importantly he is a Landau through and through. Lions each and all, they have their own way of working through things, and that way has never stopped working for Gepard. Not yet.

…If you want to cry after your loss, Gepard, then cry.

But you need to stand back up even when you are crying.

Serval’s right. Always stand back up. Her big, little brother spits out the blood in his mouth and keeps going, his knuckles split inside the tight clenches of his gauntlet and the white glove on his opposite hand is abraded raw, but he ignores those too. It’s not the duty of the wall to give, but to divide; them from us; none of you will touch any of this, not on my life. On this shield. 

“Gunners forward! Stand clear of the Fragmentum volley and return fire on my signal! Halberdiers ready your charge!”

The Shadewalker banshees scream their shrill war cry, humans mouth grit in readiness. Geometric patterns tint the air in precursor, air chills on a monolith of frost made condensed, and behind his wall the gunners and halberdiers do exactly that. Gepard, their Captain, is strong in the sense that nature’s structures are strong, impenetrable and resistant, an unflagging mountain rising up from the earth sturdy and tall enough to divide it, on one side the Fragmentum, on the other his allies. On the average battlefield, they only lose one or two, on the worst, entire platoons or enough soldiers that they’ll be dissolved after the fighting is over. Ever since Gepard was made Captain it’s been the former more and more.

Well. For any effect that isn’t zero, he finds it hard to call that a strength.

❄

“The fortifications and logistics are complete. Good work today, Captain.”

“You too. I’ll take it over from here, Pela. Get some rest.”

He files his paperwork with Pela, gives the verbal report to Lady Bronya in curt, ready tones, gets home. It’s always the same after that.

Two feet in the door, shut door, turn lock, broad shoulders deflate. He lets out a hefty colossus of a breath fit for a whale, melting away all the day with it, pushing out all the exhausting impurities collected in enduring ice. The front lines are filthy business; he strips off the Geomarrow gauntlet, sets his boots aside for later shining, he tries to bathe. Tries. Out there contending with the worst of the Eternal Freeze, insulated clothing is an invaluable lifeline; in Gepard’s flat, it’s a sweaty death trap of annoyance.

Multiple layers of thick fur and starchy regalia may as well be densely packed strata, one great vampiric white-blue leech sucking on his blood slick skin like it can’t have enough. He tries once, twice, gives up with a bullish sound of frustration and merges face down with the couch. His arms and legs hang over the edges. It’s nearly too small for him to lay down on, but that’s never stopped the exhausted Captain from getting his shuteye, sleeping here more than his own bed for its proximity to the door.

Just like faithful Earthwork it’s never given up on old Geppie when it counts most.

The springs scream as he rolls over, he gives the pleated arm rest a tired pat like a dog, and stares thoughtlessly up at the lights. Do it later. Other levels of thinking can’t be applied to that though. The flower pots catch his eye guiltily in the corner. Most people check their flowers during the day, Gepard comes home late enough to see the flowers wilting. This marks the third time - maybe the flowers and horticulture, the softer, gentler cultivations, just aren’t for him.

❄

Gepard isn’t all that soft, not really.

He gets a lot of flack for that outside the hours his hardness is made for. Serval says that he could stand to be softer spoken, especially with Lynx, but he doesn’t really know how. Where does a soldier begin? An iron wall doesn’t stop being iron on account of a playful scolding that he can't be velvet, and doesn’t find it easy either. 

The soldier Gepard only gives the straight answers, walks the straight path. Little Belobogian boys ask how they can be like strong Captain Gepard and he tells them what he knows, honestly, without frills: train hard and drink milk. With the older ones he’s a little harsher.

Another servant of Belobog might say try your best, study hard and pursue your military education to its last legs, someday you’ll be just like me. Gepard, stern and unchanging, tells them not to join unless they’re prepared to give their lives. It’s smart word, hard word, but in that equally selfish. A proper protector of the peace enjoys the bright faces he comes home to, doesn’t want to see those same faces pale and frozen cold beneath the winding sheet tarps.

Gepard will be remembered a hero, a stark pillar of the Silvermanes, their iron wall through hard time and harder time again. As he patrols the streets he sees a group of loping, gangling youths and one of the girls makes him think of Lynx. Pela, to a degree. Soldiers as young as her aren’t rare anymore. They’ll continue to be common with the soldiers that die each and every day to Fragmentum invasions.

“You’ll go no further. I’m Belobog’s indestructible shield!”

“Years of cold hardens the will!”

Their wooden sticks and shields smash against each other, playing out a familiar scene. Gepard watches for a moment longer, arms behind his back and smart black boots clicked together by the heels, not soft enough to smile, not ignorant enough to see it as flattery.

❄

No one tells Gepard anything. Not that he’s a bad artist, not that he snores louder than anyone when he dozes off in the company office with newspaper fanned over his eyes, or that his face takes on a scary looking scowl the closer they get to confrontation with the Fragmentum forces. Some of the Silvermane don’t even need a clock, they get ready by the hour and minute hands of their Captain’s expression.

Some things never change.

Following the advent of two nearly world-ending calamities named Stellaron and IPC, a scowling wall of iron stands with his forces. It’s warmer here in the Underworld, something about being closer to hell, likelier to do with the great prevalence of Geomarrow mining operations, but there’s still a trace of frost. And Gepard on the orders of the new Supreme Guardian, Lady Bronya, will root it out.

The cold prelude of Fragmentum invasion nips at his cheeks but he’s long since learned to ignore it. He’s not a child anymore, he’s said to Serval countlessly, and Gepard isn’t a yellow-bellied private either floating in a lack of purpose like the naive soldier boy who dies first. A wall faces forward, doesn’t question what it protects, because instability is the bane of all upstanding defense, because doubt a disobedient and ineffectual soldier makes.

Gepard can’t deny what he's been taught, that the Architects are the best of Belobog’s interests manifest, he can even lesser deny what keeps him alive. He isn’t made to be soft, he’s made to be iron, and for all that that’s needed—that he’s needed—he wouldn’t change a thing. 

“Gunners forward! Stand clear of the Fragmentum volley and return fire on my signal!”

[fatedroses]

A Judge and his Bodyguard - A Reaper, and his Voidsent.

[merl-merl]

Has anybody done a “drink iced coffee, panic attack” iron man version?